Chapter 3 Reasons

Edited by BeeCroftA & DancingLunarWolves

"You haven't seen her?"

Nick sighed as he looked over at his wife while sitting on their living room sofa. She'd been pacing back and forth, calling all of her many friends in the city to find out where her sister had gone. She looked shaken, biting on her lower lip while waiting for mammals to pick up their phones, her ears twitching from the anxiousness growing within her.

She'd been at it since Jessica had fled into the night...nine hours ago. It was nearing five am now, and neither mammal had gotten a wink of sleep. Judy, for obvious reasons, and Nick, because he dared not leave his spouse's side.

He had attempted some of his contacts, putting out messages through Finnick to keep a watch for the missing doe. Mr. Big surprisingly had called him, offering his help in finding his lost family, since, as he put it, 'any family of yours is family of mine. And families stick together'.

"Alright, thank you." Judy hung up the phone.

Her left ear twitched.

Then her right.

She bit her lip.

Nick coughed into his paw, gathering Judy's attention as he patted the seat next to him. Sighing, Judy trudged over to the sleek, black sofa and fell into it, her head in her paws. Nick did the best thing he could think of at the time, beginning to rub her ears. Judy shivered at his touch as he gently massaged her ears from their base to their tips.

"You have so much tension in you that if it were donuts, even Clawhauser would be filled," Nick quipped. The comment earned barely a huff of laughter. Though at least she cracked a smile...he thought. "Any word back from your parents?"

He knew they hadn't called back, as he had listened to every phone call Judy had made that night.

Judy shook her head. "I left messages for them, Gary, Pauline, Herbert, Danielle, Viv and everyone else I could think of who still lives back home. I'm...I'm worried, Nick." Judy raised her head, her amethyst eyes boring into his own with a sense of frustration mixed with pain that hurt him physically to see in his mate. Halting his ministrations, he pulled her into a tight hug.

"It will be alright," he whispered as he felt her body tremble as a quiet sob escaped her lips. "Hey, we'll find her. I'll get every officer from here to Bunnyburrow on the case if I have to."

"We can't even file a missing mammal report though," Judy sniffled as she gripped the back of his shirt in her paws while he slowly rubbed her back. "It hasn't been 24 hours and..."

"I may know a guy," Nick chimed in.

Judy met his gaze with a sad laugh. "You know everyone though, Slick."

"Yes," he replied. "And I also happen to know that the commissioner owes me a favor."

His wife's eyes widened. "Woah woah woah...he owes you a favor?!"

Nick nodded. "Remember that cheetah cub that I rescued from that tree a few months back? The one who tried to rescue his kite?"

Judy nodded. "Yes."

"Well...did you remember to see what his last name was?"

Her eyes widened even further. "That was his son?"

A single nod from the fox confirmed it. "I'll talk to Bogo and see if we can get a BOLO out on Jessica. It shouldn't be too hard. I'll just head in early and stop by City Hall on the way to work."

Nick went to stand to grab his uniform, but found himself unable to move as Judy jumped onto his lap and pressed a kiss into his muzzle. Too stunned for words, he froze as she then latched herself around him, tears already staining her fur.

"Oh Nick...!"

Her arms around him freed his mind. A warm smile graced his lips as he hugged her tightly back. "Anything for you, Judy."

She squeezed harder.

"Okay, a little less tight!" Nick gasped.

"Oh, sorry, sorry!"

Within ten minutes Nick was out the door, or at least would have been. Judy had followed him, suggesting that she could watch the jam cams to be of more help.

"What, do you think because I'm pregnant I can't be of help?" she had threatened him, paws on her hips and a glare in her eyes.

"No, I'm saying you should get some rest, since you have two others inside of you that need some as well."

She had instantly wilted, offering Nick a shy smile, one final hug and a wish of good luck as she bade him off. The trip to City Hall was accomplished in no time, and with a quick step, Nick easily made it to his and Judy's office with time to spare before morning briefing.

His desk phone buzzed.

Nick glanced at it and pressed the receive button. "Clawhauser, what is up my happy feline friend?"

"Bogo's mad."

"Really?" Nick said with barely suppressed sarcasm. "What for?"

"Did you really walk in on his meeting with Commissioner Gordon?" The cheetah asked.

Nick nodded as he leaned back in his chair, placing his paws on the desk. "Did I potentially help save the life of a bunny in need who happens to be Judy's sister by interrupting a meeting? Yes, yes I did."

There was a loud gasp on the other side of the line. "Wait...Judy's sister is in danger?" was soon followed by a pause. "Wait...which one?"

"Jessica."

Another, louder gasp this time. "Noooo..."

"Right in one," Nick supplied before he became more serious. "Clawhauser, something is wrong with her. I'll tell you more after briefing but she needs help."

"Gotcha," Clawhauser said, and Nick could almost hear the cheetah nodding over the phone. "I'll try and calm Chief down. I've heard there is a new Gazelle app that he hasn't gotten yet that if you pay for some extras then it will give you access to a virtual tour of one of-"

"Nice talking with ya!" Nick pressed the 'end call' button and sighed. A brief check of the clock on the wall showed the smaller paw a few minutes away from eight. "Guess I can check the jam cams for a bit."

With a crack of his knuckles, Nick booted his computer.

The morning briefing went well, or about as well as it would go when an angry Bogo is staring you down for the first five minutes, gripping the rostrum so hard Nick could hear it cracking under the pressure. Once he had wiped the smirk from Nick's face, Bogo had started the briefing by placing a picture of Jessica Hopps on the board behind him, with her name, age and last known whereabouts and stating that all officers were to keep an eye out for her while doing their assignments.

Bogo had assigned Nick, Snarlov and Wolford to find Jessica, and the three mammals were now huddled together in Nick's office, with Nick on Judy's computer, Wolford on Nick's, and Snarlov watching from behind. Nick had informed them about the meeting with Jessica the night before and the three went to work, watching the jam cams and trying to trace the bunny's steps. When she had disappeared into an alleyway with two exits, Nick had picked up the jam cams on one end while Wolford looked at the second route out.

Nothing.

They had watched the footage up until recently and hadn't seen hide nor fur of the missing rabbit.

"Do you think she went into one of the buildings?" Snarlov asked. The polar bear had brought in his laptop and had a Zoogle map of the area brought up.

Nick shook his head. "I know the two stores that have back doors on that alley. The owners of each are an alpaca and a lion who run competing bakeries and are convinced the other is sneaking into their stores at night to steal their secret recipes." Nick chuckled at the bemused and confused looks on Wolford's and Snarlov's faces as he continued. "They double padlocked their back doors and put up video cameras attached to motion detectors."

"One," Wolford began. "I don't even want to know how you know so much about their security systems..."

Nick grinned and shrugged his shoulders.

"And two...do you think we could get a subpoena on their video cameras to see where she went?"

The fox shook his head. "Unlikely. They'll fight you in court for weeks, arguing that you are harassing them on behalf of the other."

Snarlov folded his arms across his chest. "You speak from experience?"

"Let's just say I know everyone," Nick admitted with a grin. His eyes widened and ears perked up as a sudden thought passed through his mind. He whirled in his seat, switching the jam cam he had been following back to the entrance to the alleyway that Jessica had entered through. "We've checked the two exits, but we haven't checked the entrance. She could have backtracked."

Nick jerked forward as a giant white furred paw slapped him on the back. "Good work, Nick. You'll make a good detective someday."

Nick rubbed his back as he pressed fast forward on the video footage. Not more than twenty minutes sped by before he saw movement.

"There you are..." he said, grinning as he pressed play.

His grin fell nearly instantly.

Snarlov leaned down to look more closely at the screen. "Why is Hopps in the alleyway?"

"That isn't Judy," Nick answered quietly. "Jessica is her twin, but I can tell that isn't Judy."

Nick stared blankly at the screen. Seeing Jessica in an identical outfit to his wife's was startling to say the least. He knew it wasn't his Judy, knowing how she walked, acted and behaved being vastly different from the bunny strutting around onscreen, but...Jessica made for an awfully impressive doppelganger.

"Well, this solves two mysteries..." Wolford exclaimed.

"What do you mean?" Nick asked, eyes blinking from his stupor as he looked at the screen. Wolford pointed at the blue-jumpsuit clad figure on screen. Nick shook his head as the doe pulled a can of spray paint from a duffle bag and began tagging the wall.

"I don't believe it..." Nick whispered.

A knock on the wall turned the attention of all three mammals to the door. Officer Catano, a female cheetah was half poked into the room. "Officer Wilde, got an anonymous tip on your missing bunny."

"Where is she?" Nick asked, already jumping off the chair and heading for the door. As he passed the cheetah, she handed him a slip of paper.

"Industrial district. Mercer and Howll."

"Any cameras in the area?" Wolford asked as he passed. Catano nodded. "Good," Wolford grunted as he passed by. "Keep a watch and see if she stays in the area."

"Will do." Catano saluted and jogged off as the three officers headed for the cruiser pool at the back of the building.

"Well, let's find us our missing bun."

With all the haste of the three officers exited, as well as the heavy footfalls of the polar bear next to him, Nick completely missed the buzzing of his phone in his pocket.

Judy awoke to the buzzing of her phone. Picking up the phone from her bedside cabinet, she saw a picture of her parents appear.

"Hey!" Judy said, instantly awake as she answered the call.

Bonnie's voice came over the phone. "We got your message. Sorry we couldn't reply earlier. Harold hid all the phones again and we barely caught him before he could pour gasoline on them like last year. Now, have you heard anything about Jessica?"

"No," Judy replied sullenly. "Nick has all the precincts on watch for her and called in a few favors to help find her. What happened to her, Mom?"

"You're sitting down, right Bun-Bun?" Bonnie asked. Judy hummed a yes. "Alright. Well, Jessica was in an accident a bit ago." Judy's eyes widened. "Why wasn't I told?" she asked, panicking.

"Because of that reaction right there," Bonnie answered. "We know you have a lot of stress with this being your first pregnancy and not being able to be with Nick at work for a bit now, and since she seemed okay at the time..."

"What happened?" Judy asked, sitting up on her bed now with her feet dangling over the edge.

"She was helping Stu buck some hay from the loft of barn number four when she stepped on a rotten plank. Fell straight down to the ground but conked her head on a board on the way down. Was out for nearly a day before she came to. Doctor Hobbson took a look at her, but didn't think anything was wrong, but..."

"But you thought otherwise," Judy exclaimed.

On the other side of the line, Bonnie nodded. "I thought something might be up, so I took her to the St. Caterine's for an MRI last week. It was after the trip, when Jessica had walked by your old room that she just… changed. Said she needed to visit you and Nick in Zootopia, packed a bag and just left. I shouldn't have let her go, but, she's a grown adult."

"You didn't know she'd go missing, Mom," Judy replied, trying her best to cheer up her mother. "Did you get the results of the MRI?"

"We did, though only this morning, which was why we waited to call you." Judy caught a building nervousness in her mother's voice and tone.

"And...?"

"And..." Bonnie sighed. "It's not good."

"This the place?"

Nick shut the door to the cruiser, staring up at the abandoned warehouse. He caught Wolford nodded to his right.

"Sure is," the wolf stated. "Catano's been watching the cameras and said Jessica was tagging the left side of the building up until a few minutes ago, then she headed inside through the front entrance."

"Any side entrances?" Nick asked as they cautiously walked towards the building. He didn't know how Jessica would react to seeing him and the other officers coming for her. He hadn't pulled his tranq pistol from its holster, hoping he wouldn't have to use it to subdue the bunny who seemed to only have him on her mind.

"No other entrances besides the back and front," Snarlov said. "I'll take the back in case she heads that way."

Wolford and Nick nodded and the large bear lumbered off around the building. He had barely turned the corner when a roar sounded, followed by a loud buzzing, crackling sound. Nick and Wolford sprinted towards the alley, only to find Snarlov collapsed in it, groaning and twitching. Both canines sniffed and winced as the smell of singed fur and cloth reached their noses. Following it to the source, Nick brushed at Snarlov's pant leg, finding two blackened marks while Wolford scanned the area with his tranq pistol drawn.

"She tazed him," Nick said in utter shock before he turned to the building. Pushing aside a piece of metal roofing, he found a hole behind it, large enough that a raccoon could easily fit through.

Definitely big enough for a bunny.

Nick couldn't believe his eyes. Jessica had really become fully unhinged. As he heard Wolford call for an ambulance for Snarlov, who was groaning on the ground, he caught sight of two ears inside the building as they darted around a container.

"She's in there," Nick stated calmly.

"Go get her then," Snarlov rumbled. He pushed his head up, only to drop it back to the ground. "I'm good here." He raised his arm and let it fall against the roofing that lay in front of the hole, caving it in and blocking the exit. "See, bunny's trapped now."

Wolford nodded at Nick, before starting towards the building's entrance, the fox following after him after sending off a quick text to Judy.

"What's not good?" Judy asked.

"The results show that her pre-frontal cortex and temporal region of her brain may have been damaged in the fall when she hit the support beam. The doctors said she may have amnesia and..."

"That would explain why she was surprised when Nick and I told her we were married."

There was a pause on the other end of the line. "But, that was three years ago," Bonnie gasped, and Judy could tell tears were threatening to form in her mother's eyes. "My sweet Jessie's lost three years of her life?"

Judy gulped. "It's...possible." She halted. "You were about to continue?"

"Oh, right," Bonnie started. "The doctors also said that her ability to define right from wrong may have been altered by the blow too." Judy now heard sniffling on the other end. "I knew something was up, as she was displaying a coldness towards most of us but..."

Judy felt her own heart breaking as her mother broke down and cried. A slight jostling of the phone was heard, followed by her father's voice.

"Hey, Jude?"

"Yes?"

"Bring home our Jess."

Judy's phone buzzed. Seeing it was a message from Nick, she quickly ended the call with her parents. When she opened the message, she nearly dropped the phone in shock. When she recovered, she sprinted for her bedroom, grabbed her equipment locked in their safe and dashed out the door.

Nick entered the warehouse a few steps after Wolford, the two canines scanning the area. Inside the air was dusty and stale. Large storage containers littered the area while heavy machinery of all kinds lay haphazardly about.

"She could be anywhere," Nick stated, scanning the nearby area. Hearing a sneeze from Wolford, Nick turned to see the wolf's nose twitching as he rubbed at it.

"Too dusty to really get a good sniff of where she could be," the wolf growled before pointing towards an elevated office space. "Head up top, Wilde. See if you can find her from up there and we can trap her."

Nick nodded and scampered towards the rusting stairwell, ears swiveling and eyes darting back and forth. Below he saw Wolford beginning a perimeter search, starting below him and working his way towards the back entrance.

His radio crackled to life. "See anything?"

"Nothing," Nick chimed back. The inside of the warehouse had an eerie feeling to it, and just being on platform made the fox feel too exposed. The metal grating he was walking on felt odd against his paws and the constant feeling of someone watching him had his fur standing on edge.

Nick shook off the feeling, watching Wolford carefully while keeping an eye on his surroundings. "You're about to disappear," Nick spoke into his radio as the wolf headed towards the backside of a large container. "Moving to a better location to watch from."

"10-4."

Moving along the raised platform, Nick saw a spot where he'd be able to view more of the warehouse from when his radio blared to life again.

"I see her!" Wolford cried. "Paws in the air! I said...paws...Hopps? Hopps has taken down the target. Repeat, Hopps has taken down the target."

"Judy?" Nick said to the empty air around him. "She's at..." Nick's eyes widened as he smashed his radio button. "Wolford, Judy isn't here, that's the target! I repeat, that's the-"

A loud crackling sound and a pain filled yip filled the warehouse. Nick leapt off the platform, rolling onto the top of a container nearby with a loud thud before sprinting off towards his friend's last location. Jumping from the container, he hit the ground rolling and didn't stop running until he rounded the corner of the container.

He saw a paw holding a tranquilizer laying on the ground at the far end of the container and just around the corner. Jogging towards it, his own tranquilizer raised, he heard an eerie giggle.

A grey paw reached out and grabbed the prone wolf's gun. Nick aimed and fired, his dart missing the paw by barely an inch as it withdrew, before it reached out and nabbed the gun. The fox reloaded, darting around the back of the container to approach Jessica from behind. Leaning against the wall of the shipping container, he peeked his head around the corner.

Spotting nothing, he checked his radio. "Clawhauser, Wolford and Snarlov are down. Suspect has Wolford's tranquilizer."

"Oh Nickyyyy..."

Nick's words caught in his throat at the sound of his name being called, followed by giggling. He gulped. "Requesting a TUSK team..."

The giggling sounded from behind him. He whirled around, seeing nothing but shadows dancing off the walls in the mid-day sun which shone through the smudged and dirty windows far above.

His hackles rose as he spun around again as the giggling sounded from his right.

"Got ya, Lover!"

Nick looked up, only to see a grey bunny jumping down at him, a purple device in her paw before an agonizing pain shot through his shoulder and the world began to fade. As his body convulsed, he briefly caught a glimpse of Jessica, clad in his wife's uniform walking towards him.

"Now you're all mine..." he heard her whisper before blacking out.