Chapter 63: Proof

"Hands up! Don't move" repeated the police officer once again when he noticed the three figures standing by the police cars. The three of them, embarrassed by the situation, calmly put their hands up so as not to provoke unnecessary discussion. It was only when Commander Bogo appeared that he took the gun for the young policeman and put it in his pocket. He looked pleased to see the two of them in one piece, although it was obvious that they had been through quite a lot in the complex they were locked up in, their uniforms were tattered and all dirty. In addition, there was an unpleasant smell in the air...

"Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde, you made it! I don't even know what to say, but you've got it all figured out! Our guys are already combing the area from the inside, the military have even descended so there's going to be a lot going on inside" The commander communicated. He looked at the fox who was standing between Nick and Judy, dressed in a suit he didn't look like someone aggrieved or who wouldn't know what he was doing here. He looked like someone important in all this.

"And who are you?" Bogo asked curiously. Mark didn't answer right away, he glanced at the doe and his son, who didn't look like he was going to cover for him, he didn't even try to show it. Judy had a more compassionate approach to him, her eyes didn't burn with fire, you could see she didn't want it to end like this for him, but as she was - she had to stick to the rules.

"Mark Wilde," replied the fox. Bogo nodded with a movement of his head. He cast a glance at Judy and Nick - all three of them knew who he was. He took out a pair of handcuffs from behind him, rather it was already certain that this was just how it had to end.

"Caroline, your accomplice said you were the one leading all this. All told, you are under arrest," pronounced Bogo. What seemed obvious turned out not to be clear to Mark, who took another look at Nick and Judy. There was nothing they could do about it, it just had to be that way. He turned his back to the commander, who cuffed his hands.

"Take him to the police car," the commandant called out. Two junior aspirants approached the fox and led him to the car.

"Did you catch Caroline?" Asked the doe for reassurance.

"Yes, when she gave you something in your tea, she most likely wanted to slip it to me too. To her misfortune the powder fell out of her bag, I caught it and guessed why you weren't speaking on the radio. Unfortunately, it was already late. We took her to the police station where she explained almost everything." The commander explained.

"So you know what's going on here..." Judy sighed.

"Unfortunately yes. Temu are the most dangerous services here, there are no jokes here. Unfortunately, but anyone who has received this injection must be neutralised. No other option' replied Bogo grimly. Nick seemed to be absent from this conversation, looking at the building being penetrated by the relevant services, where the sound of gunfire could be heard practically all the time. He was disappointed in both his father and Caroline. He had no idea how she had gotten into the business with his father, but he was surprised and disappointed by it. She'd told him she'd changed and that she was good now, it turned out it was all a sham. It pained him, again life had shown that it can be cruel and all you can do is just pretend everything is fine.

"Nick, are you okay?" Judy asked, seeing the thoughtful fox. Nick shook his head vigorously focusing on Judy.

"Yes, it's fine...we've finally got it over with. Now them others will get on with it." Nick replied.

"That's the plan. Of course it will take a while to find everyone involved, but that's not your problem anymore. Once again you've done your bit, congratulations. Just one thing puzzles me...where are the ones who were kidnapped? Caroline mentioned that it was just a ruse, but we don't know where they are."

"There's a room sort of on the top floor for VIPs. That's where they're all located," replied Nick. Bogo nodded with a movement of his head. That would explain a lot.

"All right. You can leave, get the police car Mark is in and go to Zootopia to our police station. Get new outfits and above all, take a shower..." Issued the commandant. Nick and Judy nodded with a motion of their heads, the fox took the keys from the commandant and they got into the car driving the arrestee back to the city.

They were on the outskirts of Sunshine City, about 100 kilometres from Zootopia. It was late at night, it was cold, it was foggy, visibility was close to zero and the roadway was slippery, but this did not stop the officers from returning to their city. The case on their part was finalised. They found the missing persons, all secrets were uncovered and the head of this plan himself was captured and overpowered. This seemed to be the good ending, but all the time something was gnawing at Nick from the inside, preventing him from enjoying this undoubted success.

"Nick, you can see something is wrong. What's going on?" Judy asked. Clearly Judy had her eye on her partner the whole time.

"I know we've done everything we can, but you know how it is...again the foxes turned out to be the bad guys, my father was the head of this project, my ex worked with him, it all seems abstract, impossible...I wonder how Caroline got herself into such trouble"

"I paid for her" interjected Mark. The words irritated Nick, who waved his head disappointedly but refrained from commenting for the time being.

"The fact that she wanted to be in the police force was true Nick, she really has changed. But because of her being a fox, they didn't want to accept her anywhere, so she joined the police force in the Fox District. When the strikes started in our city, I knew that sooner or later the Zootopia police would ask for our help. So I met with Caroline, explained my project ... I paid a little and she agreed. She's a good girl Nick, just a bit lost," explained Mark.

"Yeah, I think she's just plain sick" chuckled Nick dryly. They didn't speak for a while. It was a hard subject to talk about if the bad guys were talking to the good guys and vice versa. Judy, however, continued to see Nick's anger coupled with hatred for her father. She didn't broach the subject, she knew it wouldn't lead to anything. As she touched her pocket next to her right leg she felt something hard, she remembered she had been given a memory stick by the doctor from the complex!

"That's right Nick! I got a memory stick from the doctor at the complex when they kidnapped me. I wonder what's inside..."

"Probably nothing good," replied Nick briefly.

"A memory stick?" Mark asked.

"Yeah, let's see what you were doing in there," replied Judy. She took out of her pocket the blue memory stick she'd been given by the Doctor...let's hope he was still alive. The device was blue in colour and there was a piece of paper with the word 'evidence' on it.

"Please, what you are about to see may be a little...violent. Any chance you won't provide as evidence for the police?" Mark asked. Nick laughed sarcastically. He couldn't help but laugh hearing his father's arrogance. He was acting like he'd kicked someone and I want to avoid the consequences!

"You've done such brutal things and now you want to clear yourself of guilt like that? Are you kidding me!" Nick asked. Mark didn't reply. It sounded stupid, and what was more stupid was just admitting it.

"Nick, I know you're angry with me for what I've done to you in the past, but you have to believe me that I've changed!"

"You've changed? You wanted to do some chopped-up preparation to attack Zootopia, when you've changed it's for the worse! Anyway, I'm not angry about what you did to me but to my mum. Do you know how much she suffered because of you you psycho?"

"Nick, stop it!" He was interrupted by Judy. Nick glared at her, with razor-sharp eyes that scared the doe slightly! It had been a long time since she had known such a look in him. That gaze was downright cruel, breaking the courage in anyone, forcing them to lower their gaze, just to avoid his.

"You're right Judy, I'm sorry. Let's just go to Zootopia and end it all," Nick replied.

Two hours later

After two hours of slow driving, they finally arrived in Zootopia. They were killing themselves with the light of neon signs and lamps of flats, blocks of flats or other buildings, but finally they felt relieved that it was all over, over. This affair had taken them almost a month, it was probably the most difficult time of their lives! So many obstacles in front of them, risks, but they made it! Finally they could take care of themselves...or at least for a while. Even though it was 2.00 a.m. at night, they did not feel particularly tired. They were happy to finally be in their home, safe. Nick visibly slowed down when they were in their city, and relaxed in his chair, relaxed.

"It's good to go home knowing it's over isn't it?" Judy asked.

"And it's still like...maybe we'll finally get something enjoyable, maybe patrols?" Asked Nick.

"Sounds like a good idea...as much as I'd like to watch the parking meters for a day! And I used to hate them so much..." Said the doe, after which they both started laughing. Even Mark's presence didn't seem to have exacerbated Nick's humour, who was just happy to be in his own home. Anyway, it was hard to complain. They had been under stress for so long and now I could relax.

When they pulled up in front of the police station there was hardly anyone, just two cars standing, the rest were practically on night patrol. The lightly falling snow lightly snowed the deserted car park where the two cars stood, Nick stopped between them. He got out of the car, leaned against it and took a deep breath. He looked around at the view of the city, snowy and beaming with neon lights. It was a wonderful sight, and more wonderful was the knowledge that he would be able to enjoy it in peace. After a moment of relaxation, he opened the door and led Mark out of the car. He didn't take it easy on him, even though he was his father. He pulled him by the neck placing him firmly on the ground, then they took Mark between them and walked to the entrance of the police station.

In the police station, a Glawhasuer was sitting at the reception desk, most likely he had a night shift tonight. Hearing the sound of the door opening he glanced to see who was entering the facility, he was stunned to see Nick and Judy.

"Judy! Nick! You're alive after all! Phew, what a relief! Nobody wanted to believe that something could have happened to you and yet there were already rumours..." Said the cheetah pleased to see his friends.

"Fortunately, it only ended in rumours. This is the end of Glaw. We won!" Replied Judy. The cheetah glanced over at Mark, who was standing with his head down, the policeman's attention thrown by the fact that he was cuffed.

"And this one is who?" Asked the Glawhasuer curiously.

"Our perpetrator of these events, we need to see something with him. Is the confessional room free?" Nick asked.

"Yes, naturally." Replied the cheetah. At this hour all the rooms were practically vacant, it was hard to find an occupied room after midnight. Nick and Judy went with Mark to the conference room located on the first floor so that they could see the evidence that Judy had received from the doctor at the complex.

A red room with a long red table with lots of chairs around the furniture and a large projector standing against the wall giving a good view of the whole picture for all to see. It was here that Nick and Judy wanted to see the footage they had received of the doctor who would most likely inevitably die at the hands of the psychopaths. Judy sat Mark down, who was visibly stressed by the evidence that is on this memory stick, Nick however left no qualms. He wanted to see the evidence. He walked over to the laptop, switched it on and plugged in the memory stick.

"Oh, it's even working! Great, let's see what's in there," Nick said sarcastically. Everything was working, which was rather strange looking at what this little device had experienced. But that wasn't the most important thing. In the device was a folder called 'Evidence' and in it were 10 recordings, which they began to look at. Nick stood over Mark to be sure he wasn't trying to do anything stupid.

"Trial number 5, preparation 5. We have another prisoner who wanted to escape, he did not sign a consent to voluntarily participate in the experiment. We unfortunately have to use force to perform the test on him. Let's just hope he doesn't survive or manage to functions normal, slight cough, most likely a slight runny nose, fit to take the preparation. We are starting the test phase "

The grim voice of the doctor talking about his patients, and in the background the screams and pleas for them not to be injected with the preparation was something frightening. Both Judy and Nick had never seen anything so sick and depressing. All these people who supposedly voluntarily agreed to be injected with this thing was a simple bluff, they were all forcibly forced to take it! They were all strapped to the bed where this injection was administered. They were all strapped down because their bodies almost immediately got uncontrollable convulsions, which only subsided after 5 minutes. The doctors watched this calmly, even taking notes or photographs! Some of the footage showed Mark, standing behind the glass, with a security guard beside him to defend him if something went wrong. When Nick and Judy watched it they were horrified by what they saw, Mark himself seemed fascinated by the frames, something had taken hold of him, interested him. It was apparent that he had no regrets about what he had done, he seemed as if he was slightly proud of it! The officers sitting with him did not react to this, they were too distressed by the sight.

When the recordings were over Nick walked away from Mark and disconnected the memory stick and put it on the table.

"You won't understand what it was supposed to be. No one will understand. It was supposed to be the key for foxes to be taken seriously, for no one to despise us, to treat us like rubbish, like outcasts. It was so close, just a little bit more and we could have lived a completely different life," Mark said calmly.

"That's the way life is. You don't change something with violence and fear. You had good intentions, you just chose the wrong path" said Nick. They sat in silence for a few moments, the materials having made too strong an impression on them to say anything. Perhaps it was better not to say anything about it? However, the subject of what to do with the memory stick remained, it was now clear why Mark did not want them to show the device to anyone. Once they show it, it's guaranteed life.

"Let's go now, we need to get him back to the detention centre," Judy said. Nick nodded with a movement of his head. The time had come. Nick and Judy escorted him out of the room and down to the ground floor and finally to the basement where the pre-trial detention centre was located. There were a few offenders in the cells, but none were that dangerous, most here sat for theft or multiple speeding offences. At the end was Caroline. They approached her, there was an empty cell opposite which Mark obediently entered. Judy locked the cells and they were about to leave when suddenly Mark grabbed Nick's hand.

"Nick, think about that flash drive. I know you might hate me, but at least do this much and destroy it," Mark said. Nick laughed ironically, jerked his hand to get Mark to let go of his hand.

"We'll see what we can do. " Nick whispered grimly. He turned towards Caroline, who was chained sitting on her bed.

"And what did you say? You said you'd changed, that you were good and you were working with him?" Nick asked. Caroline didn't answer. He was visibly distraught that it had ended this way. She was ashamed of it, even afraid to lift her gaze to Nick.

"If everyone sees foxes as I do you now then I can understand why we are being so mistreated" said Nick. He and Judy walked out of the detention centre playing with the pendrive in his hand.