The following day at Precinct 1. Bogo stood in the bullpen. "Ladies and gentle mammals of the ZPD... such as you are." He began sardonically. "You may have noticed that we have an unexpected visitor today." He said, gesturing to a nervous-looking Benjamin Clawhauser.
"Uh... h-h-hi everybody," Ben said anxiously.
"As for why he's here... there has been a major development," Bogo said grimly. "As you all know, the Cliffside Asylum was where Officer Judy Hopps, and then citizen and con-artist Nick Wilde found the missing mammals of the titular Missing Mammal case."
"Oh, we know!" Said a young Japanese White Rabbit doe with a noticeable Japanese accent, sitting next to an Island Fox tod. "We heard all about that case at the academy."
"On a completely unrelated note. Meet our newest officers, Pinku Usagi, and Robert Isla... and as ever, I couldn't care less about introducing new people." Bogo said. "Now, back to the subject at hand. What none of you know, is the dark history this place has, even before Dawn Bellweather framed ex-mayor Leon Lionheart for kidnaping Mammals that she orchestrated to go Savage."
Benjamin started hyperventilating. "Please tell me you're having a panic attack over something important," Nick said, face palming, and having long since lost track of the number of times he's seen the overweight cheetah have a panic attack.
"It is something important... as back we both first joined the force. This was one of our earliest cases." Bogo explained. "And we have a very special guest with us to better explain." He then picked up a jar. "This is Clancy. He is a time traveler spider-watch that, in about twenty years. Nick and Judy's daughter, Pandora will invent."
Usagi gasped in childlike wonder. "Officer Usagi, please contain your excitement," Clancy said.
"And it talks!" Pinku said.
"I think we can all guess how my partner takes her coffee," Robert said sardonically. The entire room burst into laughter.
"Okay... enough of making fun of the recruit," Bogo said, sniggering. "Now Clancy, if you'd start at the beginning of this particular story."
Clancy then began projecting the past.
XXXX
Thirty years ago, Bogo and Benjamin Clauhauser were patrolling the streets of Zootopia. "Hey, did you know that they call a cheeseburger a royale with cheese in France?" Bogo asked his partner.
"Well duh," Benjamin said sarcastically. "How many languages do they even have on that continent? Two-dozen?"
In their younger days, the two officers were radically different from their present selves. Bogo had an afro that was about the same size as his chest would become. While Benjamin was thin, as one would normally expect from a cheetah.
"Attention all cars! We have reports of a disturbance!" The car radio said.
Bogo grabbed the radio. "This is car 113, we're on our way!" Bogo then drove the car wildly through the streets. Until it arrived at a warehouse.
"Bogo?!" Said an officer at the scene. "I called for backup, not for a wrecking crew!"
"Well good news, you don't even need to send anyone in," Benjamin said as he and Bogo entered the building.
"YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON!" The officer screamed.
XXXX
"Officer Timothy Gold-Hoof was right." Present-day Bogo said. "Benjamin and I had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. On the surface, it looked like any other gang hold up in an abandoned warehouse." He explained grimly. "But then... we got a good look at what they were doing."
Benjamin was hyperventilating loudly. "So... so many bodies."
"I know Benjy," Bogo said. "I still have nightmares about it." Bogo sharply took in a deep breath. "So anyway, there was a cult in the warehouse.
XXXX
Bogo and Ben were surrounded by mutilated corpses, while Mammals in robes were chanting in a language neither of them could understand.
"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn."
Bogo managed to free himself and Benjamin, just barely escaping from the cultists with their lives before the ceremony climaxed. The two were a mess of scars, they were barely recognizable when they stumbled out. "What in tarnation happened to you?! Officer Gold-Hoof said in disbelief.
"Th-Th-There's a cult in there!" Benjamin yelled. "A-A-A-A-And the hostages- the hostages they!-"
"It's... so much worse than we believed then we could imagine," Bogo said in shock.
XXXX
"And of course, it was. Those cultists were attempting to summon this." Clancy then showed a picture. A monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind. "This... is Cthulu, one of the most well-known of the Great Old Ones. The namesake of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulu Mythos... and one of the most terrifying creatures I've ever seen."
"That actually explains a lot," Nick whispered to his wife.
"And unfortunately. That wouldn't be the last time we ran into this... Cult of Cthulu." Bogo said grimly. "Now for the benefit of Clawhauser, and those of you with weaker constitutions. We will be skipping our second encounter with the cult."
Benjamin breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes... that's why we won't be covering that. And not because the Author feels rushed for time writing this, and feels uncomfortable with the topic in general, and doesn't feel the need to look at an immediate need to-" Bogo then banged his fist on Clancy, stopping his rambling. "Right... back to the story."
XXXX
Bogo groggily tried to sit up. "Mistress, there waking up!" Said a nasally sounding voice.
"Where... where am I?" He said, covered in bandages. The first thing he saw was a fox bat. And Benjamin laying on a nearby couch. "Benjy! What... what happened?"
"My mistress and I found you... were it not for us. Those benighted cultists would have killed you, and you're friend officer." The bat said.
Then a rabbit doe entered the room. "Oh thank goodness. When we saw what happened... I couldn't sit by and do nothing." She said, speaking with a posh British accent.
"Who... who are you?" Bogo asked.
"Just call me Anna." Said Anna Blackpaw, the Vampire rabbit who helped found Zootopia, and would one day marry Judy's brother, Davies.
"Where... are we?" Bogo said, still feeling the effects of his injuries.
"My home," Anna said. "It took a lot of work getting you and you're partner here."
"I... can imagine. How bad is it?" Bogo said.
"Pretty bad, honestly it's a miracle that Josephus and I could stabilize the both of you," Anna said.
"Why didn't you... take us to a hospital?" Bogo said in pain.
"All I can say is that putting you two in a hospital would've just put your lives at further risk," Anna said. "I'm truly sorry... but I have as much an interest in destroying the followers of the Great Old One as you do."
"You know?-" Bogo's side was killing him. "What happened to my ribs?"
XXXX
"Apparently, all of my lower ribs were fractured... don't remember how that happened. For which, I am eternally grateful." Bogo said earnestly. "While I can't get into the full details about Anna Blackpaw's interest in the Cult of Cthulu. Ironically, something that Anna herself will explain when pressed." He paused, expecting a laugh. The most he got was a knowing wink from Nick.
Benjamin looked like he was one push away from running out of the bullpen screaming in terror. "Please... make it stop... why am I even in here?!" Benjamin said.
"Because after so many years. You need to finally come to terms with what happened." Bogo said. "Not to mention, that it could be vital to the safety of our city."
XXXX
At the Cliffside Asylum, Bogo, Benjamin, and Gold-Hoof were sneaking through the hallways. "You sure about this kid?" Gold-Hoof asked. "You sure we should be following a lead from that Blackpaw doe? Or that this... thing she gave you will work?"
"Look, those cultists have almost killed Benji and me twice already. Whatever we do, it needs to stop before they finish what they started in that warehouse." Bogo said, brandishing a totem. "And this can contain something of Cthulu's caliber... you're doing okay Ben?" Bogo asked his partner, as the great cat was shaking. His nerves were shot by the entire affair with the Cult of Cthulu.
As time went on, they found secret passages that led to an underground temple where the cultists were in the middle of a ceremony. "Where in tarnation did this come from?!" Gold Hoof said in disbelief.
"We can worry about that latter," Bogo said. "We need to keep Cthulu from being freed. If he does... Zootopia's survival will be the least of our worries." He said as they glared over a stone wall into the center of the temple.
Then, in the middle of the cultists. A portal cracked open in the fabric of space and time. "Yes... just a little more... and at long last... I shall decimate this benighted world!" Spoke the draconic voice of the Great Old One.
"And we're running out of time!" Bogo and the other charged into the ceremony, firing at cultists left and right.
"No... DRIVE THEM BACK!" Cthulu roared. But it was too late.
XXXX
"This artifact. The Totem of Restraint absorbed Cthulu." Bogo said. "It's been down in that abandoned temple ever since... and last week. While Officers Wilde-Hopps were investigating, what seemed to be a run-of-the-mill burglary. Found Dawn Bellweather, former acting Mayor of Zootopia... found the temple."
"Yeah... yeah she was covered in tentacles. Apparently, she thought that she could use the stolen electronics to barter something with Cthulu." Nick said. "And I'm not going to lie... when I saw her mutations I... screamed like a little girl."
"It's alright Nick," Judy said earnestly.
"Yes, and if nothing is done. She will release Cthulu... and all we love will be lost." Bogo said grimly. "Now let me make this as clear as I possibly can. If any of you see Mammals in black cloaks. Figure out what there doing, tail them for as long as possible, gather every scrap of evidence you can get ahold of... and for the love of all that we hold dear on this Earth. Don't. Try. To be. A hero." He said sternly. "That goes double for the rookies." He said pointing at Pinku and Robert.
XXXX
Later that day, Pinku and Robert were (predictably.) on parking detail. Writing up parking tickets. "Dios Mio, I don't know which is worse," Robert complained. "The fact there we're stuck in this heat without AC... or that apparently, there's a giant squid monster that's just barely kept away from destroying the world."
"Calm down Robert," Pinku said. "We only graduated from the academy two weeks ago. I doubt they'd put us on anything interesting on the first day."
"Say's the bunny, whose been shaking like a leaf since we left the station," Robert said, as indeed, Pinku was shaking.
"You weren't expecting to hear about terrifying monsters either." Jinku shot back.
"Hey!" Said a gruff-sounding voice. "We just got here!"
"Take it up with the court's buddy," Robert replied.
"Well, it's not fair to give a parking ticket to someone who just got here." A woman's voice said.
"Please take... you're." Pinku then recognized the two 'parking violaters'. "Oh... Officers Carrotson and Otocyon!" She said excitedly.
"I don't think we met before," Harry said. "You're new with the ZPD are you?"
"Huh, the other rabbit/fox cops in the ZPD... what're the odds?" Robert said.
"Look. We literally just got here. The meter had money in it. We didn't pay... just tare up the ticket kid, and we'll leave you alone." Harry said.
"We have a busy schedule to keep, and we can't spare time for this sort of thing," Sawa said.
"I really shouldn't, even if I'm in error," Pinku said as she slowly removed her phone. "But... we could look the other way. For something."
"A selfie?" Harry said in disbelief. "I refused better offers on our first day."
"Come on, one picture won't hurt," Pinku said playfully.
"Harry, we're running late as it is." Sawa pointed out. "Let's just do the picture and be done with it!"
Harry rolled his eyes as he and his partner got into position for the selfie. "Now was that so hard?" Pinku asked.
"Only if you don't use any of those weird filters on us," Harry said as he and Sawa entered a building.
"Okay, I couldn't have been the only one who thought they smelled like formaldehyde," Robert commented.
"They did smell funny," Pinku said. Both were unaware that Harry Carrotson and Sawa Otocyon had been turned into Vampires a few months ago.
XXXX
"Sorry, we're late," Harry said to the heads of the Cabal of the Unseen Eye.
"Traffic was a headache, and we were waylaid by rookie cops on traffic detail," Sawa said.
"Regardless." Said the First Among Equals. "We need to discuss this latest matter with Bellwether."
"I say we finally kill that ewe." Said Ebenezer McBlackpaw. "Her family has been a thorn in the backside of this Cabal since the city's founding. Not to mention the antics she's been getting up to since the Night Howler Crisis."
"That isn't for you to decide McBlackpaw," Umbra said. "The Bellwether family has made life hard for us so to speak. But she isn't Jebediah Bellwether."
"Look, we can talk about old crisis' all day." The First Among Equals said. "Right now, what we need to do is figure out how to prevent Cthulu from breaking free."
XXXX
Meanwhile, in the depths of the abandoned temple to Cthulu. Dawn was looking through old tombs of Eldritch lore, penned by her distant ancestor Jebediah Bellwether himself. "Okay... just what do you have to share with me, great-great-grandpa?" She struggled to open the book. "COME ON!" She roared in frustration, as even with her 'gifts' from Cthulu, she couldn't open this grimoire.
"Patience... you're sires' words will be made available soon." Said Cthulu, still bound within the totem that he was bound to. "Though I am surprised that it's still closed. I won't lie. It's... odd. You are of his blood. You should be one of the only mortals to open that in the first place."
"Then you don't... quite know... my family... as well as you say!" Dawn said as she tried to open the book with a crowbar. The crowbar broke off. "I swear If I ever met Jebediah after this. I am going to slap that ram in the face for making this harder than it needs to be!" She kept trying to pry open the book with her new tentacles.
XXXX
"I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting Bogo and Clawhauser to have been partners," Nick said to his wife during lunch.
"I probably would've found out sooner... but Bogo plays things close to the vest," Judy said. "I mean... that was how he and Anna met? I expected something bad, but not 'Lovecraft Monsters' bad. No wonder he's as cranky as he is... though now I'm more curious as to how he and Imbali met."
"Sounds like something that might happen tomorrow," Nick said. "Though I have to admit... I think the two of them got off pretty well. I mean they saw a monster than can drive Mammals mad. Being dour, and having an eating disorder is pretty light for seeing something like that in person."
"Yeah... shame about Gold-Hoof," Judy said. "That horse had an entire series of crime novels based on him, you know."
"Well you do have a giant bookcase filled with them... so, no. I was not aware of the Gold-Hoof books." Nick said sardonically.