Chapter 9: Disclosure
Zootopia…Tundratown…Icy Lake…
Vivian awoke with a start as she heard a hard knock on her door, almost banging, jarred out of her sleep she couldn't be sure she wasn't still dreaming. But then the rapping on the door came again confirming its existence. She quickly got out of bed and grabbed a pair of sweatpants from a nearby chair. Quickly putting them on, almost falling over as her drowsy balance wasn't quite there yet, she grabbed her nine mil and walked up to the door.
"Who is it?" she asked loud enough for her voice to penetrate the door.
"It's me Snowball." The voice replied back with a slight annoyance in his voice.
"Nick?...Wilde?"
"Yeah, look We….er I need help."
Vivian relaxed a bit and looked out her peephole, she saw Nick in the center of her view and what looked like Kaiden and Kit at the edges. She unlocked the door, unlatching the security chain and opened the door.
"What's the matter?" she asked drowsily and wiped the sleep out of her eye with her paw.
"I woke you…" Nick replied with gritted teeth.
"Oh no, it's only four in the morning I was going to wake up…in 3 hours." She replied, finishing the sentence with a mutter.
"I need your help…Judy….she's been taken."
Those words made Vivian's awareness snap to attention.
"What?!"
"Look, I'll tell you the story, but we need to get going." Nick stated with insistence in his voice.
"Where are we going?" she inquired.
"The FIB." Kaiden stepped in and replied.
"Why the FIB?" she inquired.
"Because we need to look up a file on a particular mammal."
"Who? Is it the bomber?" she asked.
"I think, I don't know, all I know is he kidnapped Judy."
Vivian rubbed her temple with the forefingers of her paw.
"Let me get dressed."
Vivian quickly went to her bedroom and dressed in civilian clothes and came back, wearing her black slacks, a salmon colored shirt, and her shoulder holster and her credentials clipped to her belt.
"Let's go."
The four of them got into Kaiden and Kit's van and made their way to the FIB. Nick recounted the circumstances of how Judy was kidnapped and what they were doing that night. Vivian's reaction was as one would expect, complete with admonishments and sheer amazement at the seemingly gross violation of not just law but of sheer sense of rightness. Kaiden had commented that Kit and he had similar reactions after they heard.
But in the end, the concern for Judy is what won out, placing blame and accountability would come later, right now the concern for Judy's well being was paramount in the minds of these mammals, Nick especially, even Kaiden was echoing Nick's sentiments when it came to what was discussed as what possibilities they would conduct for her retrieval.
When they arrived at the FIB building, no one was there, it was still way too early for the day shift agents to be in, and the night shift had already gone home, what existed left was less than a skeleton crew of support staff who were either on their way in or out for the day.
After Nick had explained the situation, Vivian understood what they needed to do, the FIB computers had detailed files on most Zootopians, it was an unpleasant fact that people didn't really want to publically talk about but the reality was that Zootopia for all its faults and foibles was surveilled constantly, the traffic cameras alone caught a lot on them, and what the audio visual media doesn't provide, the deluge of files and forms that exist fill in the blanks.
The four sat in the van just outside the building in the parking lot.
"So tell me again why you can't use your connections?" asked Vivian towards Kaiden and Kit.
"Because we don't have that kind of information lying around in our computers, and while we could request access that would mean official channels, and this isn't something I want to make public just yet."
"And the reason for that would be?"
"Because we would have to say 'How' and 'Where' Judy got kidnapped, meaning talking about their 'impropriety'."
"Riiiiiight." The arctic fox answered plainly.
"Well, If Nick and I get in the building; we can go to my desk and simply search out records."
"…and pray my boss isn't here." She added as a mutter.
"Why would that matter?" asked Kaiden
"Ha, you don't know Samantha Varkkas like I do, she has a natural talent for sniffing out when something is up, trust me, she catches me, let alone Nick, in there especially at this time of night, she's going to ask. And she won't stop till she gets the truth." She replied.
"Ah, got it, avoid the boss aggro." Replied Kit.
"Huh?" she replied confused.
"Nevermind."
"I'm assuming when you said "Nick and me" you are meaning that we can't come with you?" asked Kaiden
"Yeah. It will be a lot easier to sneak in two animals as opposed to four, and honestly, you guys look a little "rough" to be confused for FIB agents."
"Rough?" Kaiden inquired with a raised eyebrow.
"Um…." She replied not exactly knowing how to put it.
"She means the disfiguring scars and augments." Kit said plainly with almost an amused grin on his muzzle.
"Ah." Kaiden acknowledged.
"Sorry, I don't mean it to sound the way it sounds…"
"Doesn't matter, just go. We're on comm channel three." Kaiden replied.
Vivian and Nick left the car and made their way towards the building. As they made their way inside, Vivian made a point to avoid people as casually as possible; Sam Varkkas wasn't the only one who could blow their cover with a lot of inane questions.
After taking a roundabout route, they finally reached Vivian's office, which had a lot of frosted glass surfaces, giving the office a carved from ice look. Vivian had a personal affinity for the cold and stoic nature of ice, how something as seemingly weak and flexible as water can turn into something as imposing and immoveable as ice, giving it a sense of strength and hardness to it. While at the same time offering cool comfort to those that seek it. She liked the cold, her arctic nature won out in that regard and why Tundra Town was her chosen district.
She sat down and logged into her computer with Nick looking over her shoulder, but still at the ready to hide in case someone walks into the fox's office.
"Ok, so who are we looking for?" asked Vivian.
"OK, pull up anything you can on a 'Max Hedgeright', a pangolin, working for LAMB." Nick answered.
"Wait, wait, you mean that little nasally guy that's been hanging around you two for the last couple weeks?"
"Yes."
"Oh my god." She replied wide eyed.
"Just type." He insisted.
Vivian typed in his name, species, and as much of the description she could remember into the computer. Sure enough a file popped up with the name Max Hedgeright.
"That's the guy. Now…Where does he live?"
"Wait a sec, this can't be right." She commented, her vision narrowing suspiciously.
"What can't be right?" Nick replied.
"Well firstly, this guy doesn't have any history with demolitions or mining, which means where did he get access to the explosives?"
"Couldn't he just have stolen them?"
"Possibly but I doubt it, the explosives he's using are highly regulated and require specific handling, care and training to use. Not something you can learn by watching videos on FurTube."
"Does it really matter, he's got Judy."
"Yeah it does Nick, because while that alone might not seem like anything, there is something else that is downright suspicious."
"And that would be?"
"Look at the dates all this was entered, birth certificate, social security, driver's license." She said pointing a finger at the screen.
Nick looked at where she was pointing and noticed that the dates had two things in common, they were all the same date and that it was over a year ago when it happened.
"What does that mean?" asked Nick as if waiting for the other shoe to drop.
"I've seen this before with refugees or with some of the people from the cryo pods, the fact they are all entered into the database on the same day means that this identity known as 'Max Hedgeright' can't be real and that someone entered in a new identity into the system."
"How is that possible? I mean how can someone just 'invent' a new identity?"
"Oh come on, you're telling me all those years of being a con man, you didn't at least KNOW someone who could get you a new ID if you needed it?"
"Those IDs were often reclaimed from dead people who were already in the system; you can't just 'invent' a new fake one."
"Yes you can, if you know where the cracks are. Let's just say that a lot of government agencies don't talk to each other and that all you really need create a new identity a seemingly valid birth certificate in one paw and a social security number in the other."
"Wow….that certainly doesn't surprise me actually." Nick replied with an almost incredulous expression.
"Please tell me that you know of a way to find out who this guy really is?"
"I do, but it's going to take more time then you were hoping for." Vivian consoled.
"Damn it." Nick muttered, thumping his paw on the desk with gritted teeth.
"Nick, stop, don't be like that, we will find her, it's just going to take some time."
"She doesn't have time!" Nick exclaimed.
"Nick."
"Stop, just stop, I don't need consoling, just start, do whatever it is that you need to do."
Meanwhile…
The cold splash of water, the jagged rustle from unconsciousness, the water was ice cold, it stung at the skin beneath her fur, the fur itself moist and sticky from sweat, the stagnant air of their location must have made her sweat in her sleep. The deep gasp of air as the ice water triggered her diving reflex. Judy's eyes opened, a point of bright light which cast a shadow on everything around her, it took a moment for her eyes to focus.
"Wake up." She heard a voice.
She turned towards it, at first thinking it was Nick waking her up from a nightmare, that everything that happened was a dream, and that he was going to tell her everything was alright.
The moment never came, instead as her grogginess wore off, the cold truth of reality came rushing in like a wave on a tide, washing away the veneer of that fantasy from the shore of her mind. She shook her head slightly to shake off the water trying to get into her eyes.
Her memories coming back to her, being coerced from the building with the box of material, going down to his car, the powerful scent of the rag stuffed over her muzzle, chloroform, the black haze of unconsciousness that soon followed.
She took stock in her situation, she was sitting in a chair, her legs tied to the feet and her arms to the armrests of the chair, she was immobilized.
She focused on the figure she could hear walking around, but the light pointed at her was obscuring her from making it out.
"Hello, who's there. Max? Is that you?" she asked into the darkness just beyond the light.
The spotlight turned off and the normal room lighting came on, it provided enough light for her to make out the shape a few feet away from her, though the spots in her vision were in the way.
"Good, you're awake." the figure said
"Max, why are you doing this?"
"Oh let's drop the pretense shall we?" he asked walking closer to her.
"What are you talking about?"
Max had dropped his nasally voice and spoke normally, his voice sounded similar but not as deep as on the videos he was sending out, his enunciation proper and his speech clear.
"I think you know exactly what this is about, you just don't want to revisit it."
"Max, I don't know what you're talking about."
"MY NAME ISN'T MAX!" he exclaimed.
Judy sat in silence trying not to inflame his temper even more.
"Then who are you?" she asked calmly.
"It's Brandon, and I am just one of your victims, Judy Hopps."
"What are you talking about?"
Judy was truly confused, wondering how she had victimized him. There was definitely more to this case then meets the eye but she had no idea what place it could have started nor fathom the history behind it.
"I'm talking about, 'ZPD's First Rabbit Officer' and her big case, I'm talking about everything that set this whole god damn thing in motion, the life you have lead for the last two years."
"What the HELL are you on about?" she exclaimed, trying to gain a grip on the situation.
"The 'Savage Case', 'The Bellwether Conspiracy' whatever you want to call it. The truth behind it is a lot deeper than you even realize."
"I also know there was a group even behind Bellwether, animals who put her up to it for some grander plan."
Judy was starting to put some of it together, she realized that this pangolin was putting together the pieces of the puzzle from before, that he was chasing the Illuminati, following down the same path as her just a few paces behind.
"I know." She admitted.
"You know what?" he replied.
"I know who you're talking about." she started.
"They were called the Illuminati, and they put Bellwether up to it, but Nick and I…we took care of them, they are gone. You're safe." She admitted.
The pangolin lurched forward grabbing the chair and getting practically muzzle to muzzle with her.
"Safe? No one is safe! And what you think you've accomplished is pitiful compared to how far you have left to go."
"Left to go?"
"You don't even know…Do YOU? You can't even fathom the total extent of this journey; you think you're finished, you think you've won? Ha!"
"You don't even see them do you?"
"See what? I don't understand."
"The shadows in the dark." He replied cryptically.
Brandon stepped back and motioned to the spot lamp.
"You're problem Judy, is that you have spent so much time in the light, you don't even realize there IS a larger world just beyond the edges."
"That just like this light, it can illuminate so much in great detail, but what people often don't realize, is that the same light washes out their vision and obscures anything just outside its coverage, you don't see anything."
"When Lionheart seemed the culprit, you took care of him, when Bellwether presented herself, you took care of her, the Illuminati, somehow you dealt with them. Each one of these things shows your very good at taking care what's in front of you, but not so good at dealing with the periphery. "
"So why am I here? I remember your message, I have something to learn, well what is it you want to teach me?" she spat almost angry.
"You here to learn that you should clean up your messes, and that what we leave behind is not just history but a portent for the future. But mainly you're here to atone."
"Atone? For what?" she replied incredulously.
"Your sins." He answered.
The statement sent a cold shiver up her spine, she wasn't sure what Brandon's meaning by 'atone for her sins', but she could be assured it wouldn't be pleasant.
"Tell me then. Tell me what I have done."
"Where to start. How about the sin of pride?"
"Pride?"
"Yes. What made you think that a fresh recruit out of the academy was even capable of working on what amounted to be one of the most dangerous cases in police history?"
"Wait, you're saying that I was wrong for wanting to find the missing mammals?"
"I'm saying, What do you think about a fresh recruit from the academy, who hasn't even worn the badge for a week, and you involve yourself in a high profile case? What would call that?"
"I am not going to apologize for wanting to help people."
"Really? And were you helping people when you told all of Zootopia that ten percent of their population was biologically predisposed to suddenly turn savage? Especially since you didn't have a clue why?"
Judy was stunned by the question, she had come to grips with that mistake but to be confronted by it again brought up the same feelings of guilt she felt before.
"I….uh….made a mistake, a big mistake, one that should have never happened. I admit that."
"It's good that you admit that."
"And I learned from that mistake." She added.
Brandon backpawed her across the cheek, he head spun in reaction from it, her cheek burned as she felt the blood rushing back into it. She turned her head back, the hit had caused the inside of her mouth to cut across her teeth, she spat out some blood on the floor.
"Well I'm so glad that you learned from it, I would hate to think the deaths of all those mammals were a waste." He said getting in her face.
"What are you talking about?" she replied with narrowed eyes of anger.
"Oh, you didn't know?" Brandon countered sarcastically.
"After you made your 'mistake' and then you subsequently disappeared, leaving us in the hooves of Bellwether for three months, many mammals died because of the belief that 'predators were going savage due to biology.' Many predators died because of mobs of prey fearing for their lives, and many prey died as a result from the backlash from those predators trying to defend themselves."
"You are responsible for their deaths Judy."
"Their blood is on your paws…" he said with conviction.
"But hey….at least your learned you lesson." He said sarcastically.
"I'm so glad that your education didn't require the sacrifice of more innocent mammals."
Judy's cheek was starting to swell and throb, she could feel it pressing against her teeth, so she had to speak carefully so as not to accidently bite her own cheek, speaking almost as if she had a wad of gum in her mouth.
"So who did you lose?"
The pangolin's eyebrow shot up.
"What?" he asked skeptically
"I'm not stupid, despite what you think, you wouldn't go through all of this just for some bullshit politics. This is personal for you, so who did you lose?"
Brandon smirked.
"Hmph, Maybe you're not the stupid little bunny rabbit that people think you are."
"I did lose someone."
"Who?" she asked
"My wife."
"How?"
"Does it matter?" He asked.
"Yes! If I'm going to be held accountable for these 'crimes' I want to know who." He replied forcefully.
"She died defending a tiger, a predator, who had come into our bar, and a group of prey who saw this, didn't take kindly to his presence, so they decided to claim he was 'savage' and tried to kill him."
"The fight that ensued was eventually ended when the prey decided to set the tiger on fire."
"Of course the drunken bastards missed and set the building on fire. After it was said and done, the tiger, my wife, several patrons were dead, smoke inhalation. The prey apparently barred the door to keep them getting out."
"They locked them inside, to burn them to death" Brandon gritted his teeth, an angry expression on his face.
"My god." She commented.
"Oh it's gets worse, I of course knew who these people were and they were regulars in our part of town. So of course I filed charges against them. See back then I was a believer in the system that justice was for all."
"They were arrested and brought into court, I expected justice, but they claimed that the tiger was savage and that he caused the fire, and that the act of them barricading the door was 'self-defense'."
"The judge of course believed it, the district attorney was reluctant to press the issue, and the public defender played that 'savage' card for all it was worth."
"I've never heard more poisonous words to my ears then when the jury said 'not guilty' and they let them go."
"They let murderers go free, all because they played the 'savage' card. And to my horror that wasn't the least of it. Oh no, I later found out my case was one of but many cases in which prey mammals were essentially getting away with murder."
Judy's eyes welled with water, partly due to the tragedy of these events and the pain from her cheek.
"Of course, I'm sure you can guess who the presiding Judge was in all these cases."
"Jeffrey Evans." Answered Judy.
"Yes."
"So all the people you've killed, it was to get back at them?"
"It wasn't simple revenge. And while it may not have been 'Justice' in the standard sense, at the very least it was…."
"Punishment?" Judy offered.
"Very good."
"You can't just take the law into your own paws." She judged.
"Why not?" he asked.
"Because it's wrong." She refuted
"Who says, the system? Those in power? The problem is those animals have a vested interest in maintaining their power and position. So of course they would say that. They NEED us to believe in them, to have faith in what they have to offer, they need us to believe that we need them, that we need a system to keep things organized and orderly." Brandon explained.
"It doesn't matter if the system actually works or not, just so long as we believe. Look I know the world is messed up, I know it's broken, but the only chance it has is if mammals stand together and fix it from within." Judy tried to console.
"That is unfortunately where you and I differ; I don't believe the system deserves to be saved. I believe that our only hope for survival is to tear it down and start again."
"You have to have more faith than that." Judy replied.
"My faith died with my wife." He replied.