"Kevin!" The captain forced a smile. "And Kevin's associates! What are you doing on my ship?"

The polar bear stared at the fox for several seconds before responding. "You are missing rendezvous." His voice was deep, and somehow sounded almost hushed even though it resonated throughout the nearly empty cargo bay. "We are coming for delivery of package."

"No, what I mean is, how did you get on my ship?"

Kevin stared at the red fox and spoke slowly. "We are walking through door."

Nick spoke just as slowly. "I distinctly recall closing and locking the door."

"We are coming for delivery of package." Kevin walked towards the crate, followed by the other polar bears.

"No!" the doctor and the captain shouted simultaneously.

Kevin stared coldly at Nick, then spoke again. "Fox making agreement. Are you breaking agreement, fox?"

"No! Of course not!" Nick struggled to maintain a smile. "It's just-"

"The mendicampum holicithius is leaking," the buck bunny blurted. He gestured to the sedated cape buffalo and continued. "We think M'bogo touched it, and it sent him into a violent rage. We were barely able to sedate him. And we are not prepared to sedate anyone else, any of you."

"What are you saying?" the polar bear demanded.

From overhead, the shepherd's voice rang out. "He's saying that if you touch the package, go off-the-rails crazy, and try to kill everyone, then the only way we can stop you is to shoot you." All eyes looked up at the starboard catwalk, where the graying ram was positioned with a rifle. He nodded towards the port catwalk, where the tigress was positioned with another rifle. Then he continued speaking. "But the bunny's a pretty good trauma surgeon, so you might make it even if we do have to shoot you."

"Duraki," the polar bear growled. He placed his massive paws behind his head, and his companions did likewise. "We are not touching... noch' sinyaya... blue poison, not wanting blue poison. How is package leaking?"

"I can't say for sure," Nick said. "It might have been leaking already, or we might have damaged it. Things kinda fell apart down there when Bogo went crazy and tried to kill us with his bare paws… his bare hooves… his bare horns and hooves..."

Kevin held up an open paw and closed his eyes. Finally, he spoke. "Your security chief, he is still needing antidote, yes?"

"You have an antidote?" the bunny doctor shouted.

"Why you think we needing package? Yes, we have antidote. Needing more antidote, so needing package."

"Wait!" the fox exclaimed. Any pretense of a smile was gone. His snarl revealed his fangs as he stared up at the massive polar bear. "You knew? You knew what this stuff does, and you didn't warn us?"

"You say you not wanting to know."

"No, I asked your boss if there was a reason I needed to know." The black tip of his tail curled up as he gestured at M'bogo and shouted, "I think this is a pretty big reason!"

Kevin looked at the other polar bears, and then shrugged his shoulders. He looked down at the much smaller fox that was glaring up at him. "Is not agreement before but is now agreement changing. Now you are knowing. Now you are getting antidote."

"Mmmm…" Everything felt strange. The cape buffalo opened his eyes and saw only white. Blinding, bright white.

"Welcome back, M'bogo," the bunny doctor said. "Don't try to move yet. You're still under the influence of multiple medications, not to mention any residual effects of the mendicampum holicithius and its antidote. It will take a while before they all wear off completely."

"Cap'n?" the patient groaned. "Fangm'r?"

Nick jumped up and walked over. He rested an arm on M'bogo's shoulder and calmly said, "We're fine, Bogo. Don't worry about us."

"Job?"

"Job's done. Got paid. Mr. Big even seems happy with us, which is a small miracle given… Actually, I'll fill you in later. Right now, you just rest and get better."

The sounds of footsteps echoed in the corridor outside the infirmary. Judy hopped into the infirmary next. "I heard the good news!" she shouted. "It's good to have you back, M'bogo!"

The graying ram entered next. "Well, look who's awake. How are you feeling, Son?"

Gazelle followed, saying, "I am glad you are doing better, M'bogo."

"Oh, em, goodness! How... how... how..." Sherani stood behind Benjamin, supporting him as he struggled to catch his breath.

"Everyone! Out!" Jack shouted. "I'm afraid I must insist. I know you're all relieved to know that M'bogo is pulling through his mendicampum holicithius poisoning, but my patient needs his rest. So everyone who isn't a patient or a doctor, out of the infirmary! Now!" He looked at Nick. "I'm afraid that includes you too, Captain."

A few minutes later, the assorted mammals had wished the cape buffalo well once again, and made their way out of the infirmary, leaving the bunny doctor alone with his patient.

"Thanks," M'bogo groaned.

"Just part of the job. But before I let you sleep, I'd appreciate it if you could answer a few questions."

M'bogo nodded, and Jack continued. "First, how much do you remember?" M'bogo took a breath, then opened his mouth. Then he closed his mouth again.

"I'm sorry," Jack said. "That isn't fair, to make you talk right now. Do you remember being in the baggage car with the Captain and Sherani?"

M'bogo nodded.

The doctor continued. "Do you remember attacking them?"

M'bogo closed his eyes. He opened his eyes, blinked away a tear, and nodded again.

"I'm so sorry," Jack said softly. "Do you remember being pulled back up to Serenity?"

M'bogo shook his head.

"Thank goodness for small mercies," Jack said. "I'm sorry. For what you're going through right now. I didn't have enough bovine-approved sedatives on hand, and… well, I had to use what I had, and you're suffering for it now. I'm sorry."

"Thank… you," M'bogo groaned. He gently rested a hoof on the doctor's shoulder.

After a long moment, the doctor said, "You're welcome. Well, you should sleep now. Get some rest."

Jack entered a small stateroom. "Brooke? Brooke, you weren't in the infirmary with the others. Are you okay?"

Inside her room, the dark gray doe was curled into a ball. "Two by two, nose of blue... Two by two, nose of blue… They didn't want you to rescue me."

Her brother sat on the bed next to her and gently stroked her ears. "No. No, they didn't."

"Two by two, nose of blue... Two by two, nose of blue…"

A timberwolf entered a small white-walled room, then brushed a non-existent hair from the shoulder of his immaculate uniform. He faced the room's two occupants and said, "My apologies for the delay, gentlemammals. What can I do for you?"

The seated mandrill removed two photos from his briefcase, set them on the table, and slid them towards the Alliance officer. The other mandrill, standing behind the first, spoke.

"We have a warrant for these two bunnies. They are siblings, brother and sister: Jonathan and Brooke Savage. You will provide any information you have that relates to them."

Author's Note:

That concludes this installment of the "Zootopia That Was" saga. I really don't know what I'll work on next. Maybe another adaptation of one of the original Firefly episodes, maybe an original "Zootopia That Was" story, maybe another installment of "Nebula Nine", or maybe something else. If you have any suggestions, then I'd love to hear them.

Thanks to Steefwaterbutter for beta-reading this story (as well as my original "Zootopia That Was" story). I appreciate all you've done to improve the quality of my writing. And thanks to everyone who has left comments/kudos.