Two Weeks.

Two weeks shackled to a hospital bed. Two weeks without sunlight. Two weeks of no humans, no news of the outside world, and absolutely no way for him to entertain himself. Alex had taken to mimicking the distinct whirs of different medical instruments to pass the time. He'd asked desperately to be moved to a different room, but every attempt to be relocated was rejected.

Colin, the one connection he'd made at the ZBI, hadn't stopped by for a coffee chat in almost a week. The armadillo was the only mammal there that helped him maintain his social sanity. Nick and Judy were a great alternative, but they hadn't stopped in since their visit last week, and I'm sure McCarthy was doing all she could to keep them away.

Alex had made a few attempts to strike up a conversation with the various researchers that came by, but very few of them made it past a couple of sentences. Those who came in to collect biospecimens were never too pleased being in his proximity and responded curtly, most of the time with 'Yes', 'No', 'Ok', or 'Good'. He thought he'd have a better chance with researchers who came in for information gathering, but they shot down any attempt of Alex steering the conversation in another direction.

His despondent figure lay still on the barely comfortable bed, apathetic glare chipping away at the ceiling tiles. He hadn't looked away in almost 20 minutes, and he planned to move on to the back wall once he was finished there.

Click

The door latch turned and the barrier to the room whispered open. Two mammals walked in.

"The Bio-Team would like an extra collection of nail samples, please," One of them said.

Alex gave no reply, his eyes remained fixated on the ceiling. His right arm lazily flopped out and lolled over the bed, fingers outstretched for them. There were a few moments where nobody moved before the figures finally shuffled forward.

Click

They 'would like' nail samples.

Click

'Please'

Click

As if they were asking for permission.

Click

"That should be enough," the same mammal said. "Thank you."

Alex responded by exhaling slowly. The two figures said nothing and swung the door closed as they left.

Click

His life had become a series of these clicks. Things happened in between them, but his memory didn't quite retain anything. The last couple of days had begun to meld into an amorphous blob of passing minutes. A clock was pinned to the wall, but he could just as easily know the time by listening to the frequency of clicks dwindle near the end of the day. Not a single twinge of fear remained about living alongside mammals, but the fear of never leaving this room boldly took its place.

Click

The sound of the door latch again followed by the soft thud of the door bouncing off the wall stopper. That was one of the shortest breaks between clicks. It was a bit late for them to be bringing him dinner. Maybe they dropped his nail samples and needed more. There was a solo shuffling of paws into the room, the sound of a stool scratching briefly across the linoleum, then silence.

Then more silence.

"Plenty of human samples to go around," Alex told the ceiling. "Step right up and take what you need."

"Um… Hi?" A nervous voice answered.

Alex furrowed his brow, then slowly turned his head to find a feminine lynx looking back at him, awkwardly sitting on a stool. She was a swirl of gray and white fluffy fur, patches of black and brown accents speckled throughout. Her eyes were such a deep azure color that her body fur almost took on a shade of baby blue. Two pointy little tufts of black hair extended past her ears that swung lazily when she moved her head.

It was obvious she wasn't with the ZBI. She acted equally as nervous as the lab technicians, especially during their first sample collection. But, she didn't bring any equipment into the room, and her jeans, t-shirt, and unzipped hoodie didn't strike Alex as 'data collection' attire. Oddly enough, it didn't feel strange that she was allowed in the room. Almost as if they'd already met and his memory was being forcefully jogged. He just couldn't pinpoint when he'd seen her before.

"Hi…" Alex cocked an eyebrow at her.

There was a very pregnant pause between the two.

"I was asked to talk to you…" She adjusted herself on the stool. "Just in general, I guess? I'm not exactly sure what they wanted. They gave me a list of questions I could ask. We don't have to use them, though. They said we could talk about anything."

Suspicion melded with the confusion already on Alex's face. She responded by shifting nervously on the stool again.

"I guess I could start with a thank you," she said.

The memory finally clicked.

"It's you…" Astonishment sat comfortably in his tone. "The first night I showed up here…"

"Yep…" She scratched the back of her neck.

Alex paused briefly, lost in thought. "They just want us to talk?"

"I guess?"

Alex turned his head back to face the ceiling. "Huh."

A quietness settled between the two. Alex wasn't sure what to make of it. It made sense that the ZBI knew who she was, but why would they have her question him? Were they trying to extract information or test if he's lying with some weird emotional tactic? If so, it was the strangest interrogation technique he's experienced by far.

She cleared her throat awkwardly. "So… did you have a job? Like… Where you're from?"

Alex rolled his eyes at the ceiling knowing she pulled that from the list they gave her. He didn't look over at her, though. His eyes were focused on the fluorescent bulbs almost bright enough to hurt.

"Accounting," he said.

"Oh," she mumbled. "That's… uh… Interesting"

"No, it's not."

She flinched slightly at his retort, a bit apprehensive to say something back. But, before she could think of anything, Alex rolled his head to face her.

"You know, the one good thing about having the universe suck me up and spit me out, is that I never have to go back to that awful place ever again."

He returned to his staring contest with the lights.

"Crunching numbers," he chuckled to himself. "That was my life. I mean, It paid pretty well. Made Mom and Dad proud-ish. But, I got out of bed every day for math… The rest of my time was spent either vegging out on garbage television or sleeping. Then, I got up to do it all over again the next day. For math. Does anybody actually like math that much? I honestly feel like some of my coworkers would get hard talking about their Excel formulas."

The very distinct sound of somebody rapidly exhaling from their nose ended his musings. He turned back to see one of her paws partially covering her mouth, a smile peeking through her fingers.

"Ok, so not interesting," she chuckled. "And to be honest… I think I might know the feeling."

"Yeah?"

"Receptionist…"

"Oh, riveting I bet," He laughed.

"It pays the bills. Unfortunately, my actual degree isn't useful for anything… lucrative."

Alex just stared expectantly at her.

"Art," she said almost shyly. "Painting in particular."

"Huh," Alex nodded his head with an impressed look. "Could I see some of your work?"

"Oh, I wasn't allowed to bring my phone in here. Sorry."

"No, of course not." Alex shook his head. "I forgot that fun wasn't allowed in this room."

There was a brief lull in the conversation as she glanced at the various instruments strewn about the sterile space.

"What can you do here?" She asked.

Alex met her gaze with an almost inquisitive look. He knew that question wasn't on the list she was given.

"I guess the research techs keep me… entertained," he scratched the back of his head. "There was this one guy that would stop in every so often to chat, but I haven't seen him in a little while. I'm also kind of kept in the dark about the outside world, so I can't watch or read any media. Which… sucks. But honestly? I mostly just think about the insanity of what happened to me – or what's happening to me. I think about my family a lot. Friends too. I wonder if they know I'm gone? I kind of buried the idea that I might never see them again deep down somewhere. Don't tell my therapist that, though."

She didn't laugh. "I'm… sorry all of this is happening to you."

"Thanks," Alex lingered on the word.

Another lull in the conversation.

"I'm surprised you don't think I'm an alien spy like some of the folks here." Alex chuckled to himself.

"Oh, please," she almost snorted. "The way you ran screaming down the sidewalk? Very inconspicuous Mr. Alien spy."

Alex's cheeks burned a deep red while she laughed.

"Seriously, thanks for the help, though," She smiled. "I really couldn't afford to lose my purse."

"I only did it because it didn't match his outfit," he smiled back. "You're welcome… um..."

"Emily."

"You're welcome, Emily."

Click

Alex and Emily turned their attention to the door as it flew open at sonic speed. In marched Nick Wilde, his chin held high and his paws imitating the shape of a trumpet.

"Brrr Br Br Brrrr!" He mimicked the brass instrument's call. "Please enter to meet the newest official citizen of Zootopia!"

Slowly, a parade of mammals walked into the room. Judy rolled her eyes, no doubt at Nick's behavior. Samantha and Colin followed behind her and one face he didn't recognize trailed in back.

"Nick," Judy scolded, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Not now, please."

"Well, I for one think this calls for a celebration," Nick countered.

"What's going on?" Alex wasn't sure whether to be excited or frightened.

"You heard me," Nick said. "It's official. You're a Zootopian."

"We have your citizenship documents right here," Judy joined in, waving a manilla folder.

"What?! Really?!" Alex launched into excitement.

"You have your pal Colin to thank for it." Nick patted the armadillo on the back.

Colin waved his claw shyly, then reached into his lab pocket and revealed Alex's cracked phone. If armadillos could blush, he'd be seeing it now.

"Everything at the core was the same; It was only the surface that varied," Colin said. "Your operating system functioned identically to my expectations, and I wondered if everything just looked strange to me. So, I started randomly testing the pins on your charging port to see how they responded. I discovered that the device wasn't 'alien' at all; things were just configured differently! I made a couple of adjustments to the port, and then voila, the interdimensional 'Samsung' device popped up on my PC like a Carrot iPhone would! I got the entire file contents extracted with all of the missing data recovered."

"Everything you said about the 'purple lightning storm' was there," Nick added. "You're either the best spy and VFX artist of all time… Or, you were telling the truth."

"So, on behalf of both the ZPD and ZBI: You're an innocent mammal." Judy finished.

"You mean… I-I'm finally free to go?!" anticipation built in Alex's voice.

"Well, we didn't say that…" A slight grimace popped onto Nick's muzzle. "You're a citizen… But, you're still unidentified. So, as a citizen, you get access to all of that sweet sweet opportunity that Zootopia has to offer. But, as an unidentified, you're going to need some help getting access to it."

"What..." Alex's smile dropped off his face.

"Let me introduce you to James Horner," Nick gestured behind him. "He represents the Mammal Inclusivity Initiate. His whole job is about integrating mammals into society. I recommend calling it the 'MII', though. It's a lot less of a mouthful."

That was the cue for the nearly seven-foot-tall Elk that entered the room last to shuffle past the others and approach Alex's bed. His body was huge, but his frame leaned slightly on the skinnier side. Eight-point antlers sprouted from his dark brown head, which faded into a reddish cream color near his chest. He wore a fitted dark blue suit coat and khaki pants that looked like they were ironed minutes ago. Poised was the best word Alex could think to describe him.

He took Alex's hand without hesitation, the hoofed fingertips feeling strange to the human.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Baker." He said in a soft British accent.

"Uh, Alex is fine," he replied.

"Alright, Alex," he smiled, standing up straight. "I'm terribly sorry you've been kept chained up for this long. Can somebody please do something about that?"

That was Samantha's cue. Nick and Colin arched their bodies to avoid brushing up against her as she walked to the bed. Alex revealed his cuffed ankle from under the sheet as she pulled out a small black box from her pocket. She reached over and touched the box to the metal cuff, then paused. She then swung head to face Alex for a fearful few seconds. her stare was unreadable and unwavering.

Click

Alex felt the chain relax around his ankle, his body hit with a wave of relief.

"Wonderful," James said. "Now, let's get you out of this room and into some real clothes. Follow me, please."

Alex shifted his legs so they hung off the hospital bed. He looked at Nick, Judy, and Colin, all of whom were smiling brightly, Judy tossing in a little encouraging gesture. He briefly glanced around for Emily but found she wasn't there anymore. He eased himself off the bed and took his first steps as a free man. As he passed the threshold to his prison, he felt a pair of yellow eyes watching him intently. He chose not to return eye contact.

"There we are. These are yours, yes?" James handed a stack of folded clothes to Alex, a pair of shoes perched atop the pile. "I hope you don't mind, but I had these sent off to a tailor to begin working on some other clothing articles for you. If you happen to find something you like while out shopping, you're roughly a wolf-small. Though, I'd recommend coming to me for lower garments, as your… erm… tail-less situation may make some of the things you find less than ideal."

"Um, thanks," Alex said.

"Of course," James gently encouraged him towards an open door. "Now please, get dressed. We will start reviewing your citizenship once you're decent."

He shuffled into the room and flicked on the light. A simple toilet and sink sat in front of him accompanied by the familiar buzz of fluorescent lights. He quickly finished putting on his old clothes and then looked around the room in awe. There wasn't a single interesting thing about the bathroom, but it was the first new environment he'd seen since arriving, and he just felt like he needed to soak it in for a minute.

Alex opened the door to find James texting while leaning against the far wall. The elk finished his text, glanced up at Alex, then gestured for him to follow. Alex trailed closely behind as they traversed the ZBI hallways. There were a few mammals whose stares would linger on him for a bit too long as he walked by, but I guess Alex couldn't entirely blame them. Eventually, they arrived at a conference room, Nick and Judy already sitting at a round wooden table inside of it.

"Before the fun can start, we have to knock out the paperwork snooze-fest," Nick said.

"Oh, come on," Judy dismissed Nick with a wave of her paw. "It's not that bad."

It was that bad.

Alex sat at that table for almost an hour listening to the bunny rattle off about Zootopia policy in rigid legalese. She pulled out document after document on the different district laws, regulations, and permits. All of it was neatly bundled with a long education on the social norms and expectations, plus a bonus anti-harassment discussion. He twirled the pen in his hand and signed each document, half listening to what she was saying. Not from boredom, but his mind was occupied by the thought of finally leaving this building. He must've signed at least 15 documents before Judy finally began shuffling the papers back together.

"Just about finished," she said, sticking the stack of documents back inside the manilla folder. "We have one more item that's a bit unique to your situation." She pulled out one final piece of paper and slid it in front of him.

"The Endangered Mammal Act?" Alex questioned.

"You're the rarest mammal in existence, bud," Nick answered.

"Huh…"

"It's basically for your safety," Judy continued, coughing into her paw. "It states that you'll be provided some basic accommodations and protection to ensure you can thrive in the city."

Alex stared at the title of the document, not entirely sure how to feel about it. He then glanced at the written policy, but the blocks of text quickly made his eyes glaze over. After sliding the pen across the dotted line, Judy quickly added the document to the folder while half-smiling in Alex's direction.

"Alright, it's official," She said, her smile increasing to full capacity. "Welcome to Zootopia!"

Nick stood up from his seat and nudged Alex. "I think you're really going to like what comes next."

The group ushered Alex out of the conference room and around the corner to a set of elevators. The metal doors slid open revealing an agent manning the elevator keypad. The group shuffled in, and the agent entered a code into the panel on the wall. The anticipation swelled in Alex's chest as the doors closed and the elevator lurched upward. It took almost a full minute for the elevator to reach its destination, Alex's nervousness hitting its peak as its motion ceased.

The doors slid open to the ZBI lobby, a massive open space of blue, white, and chrome. The floor was pristine to the point you could see your reflection. The light of the moon peeked past the floor-to-ceiling windows covering the front wall, as a sparse group of mammals milled about the area. One figure stood alone by the front entrance, waiting patiently for the group approach. Alex was hoping he wouldn't ever have to interact with the panther again, but it looked like he didn't have much of a choice here.

"Alex Baker," McCarthy addressed him, her tail completely still. "I'm sure you understand that my treatment of you was purely out of safety for the city. But, I must acknowledge your honesty and cooperation while we gathered evidence. It didn't go unnoticed."

Alex rolled his eyes at her non-apology. "Mhmm."

She then reached inside her suit coat, pulled out a phone, and extended it to Alex. "A peace offering. It has all of the content from your broken one. Photos, videos, texts, everything."

Alex took the phone and gave it a once over. "And my old one?"

Samantha's eye twitched so subtly that Alex almost didn't catch it. "We hope you don't mind us keeping it for further experimentation."

"I thought so," Alex smirked. "Thanks."

Nick pulled at his collar from the awkward exchange as the group finally exited the building. The night air felt unbelievable on Alex's skin. He took a deep inhale just standing on the concrete plaza in front of the building.

"I bet it feels nice," Nick chuckled, taking a deep breath of his own.

"Yeah," Alex said a bit unsurely but with a smile, nonetheless.

A black vehicle pulled up to the curb of the horseshoe road leading up to the building. The vehicle looked unassuming at first glance, but the tinted windows and subtly armored portions of the frame told a different story. James walked up, opened the back door, and gestured for Alex to enter.

"This is where we leave you for the night," Nick patted Alex on the back. "Don't worry, you'll be seeing our ugly ZPD mugs again soon."

"You're in very good hands with James," Judy added. "Welcome to Zoootopia, again."

Alex gave a half-smile to them both. "Thanks."

Alex entered the vehicle followed by James. The door closed with a suctioning thud, then the car rumbled forward. Alex watched Nick and Judy waving from the curb fade as they drove out of the ZBI plaza. They rolled down the street in silence, the human watching the familiarly unfamiliar buildings pass in his peripherals. A few mammals still roamed the sidewalk, but the city was mostly still at this hour.

"Alex, we have a couple of things to go over before we drop you off," James said.

"Where are we going?" Alex asked.

"Your new apartment. It wouldn't be fair to keep you locked up somewhere if we truly wanted to integrate you into society. It's in Savanna Central; not too far from here."

Alex's eyes lit up. "My own space?"

"Yes," James chuckled. "That's one of the things I wanted to go over. We want to ensure a smooth transition for you, and that's going to require a bit of cooperation on your end. I'll go over the details tomorrow, but for now, I'll just say this first week might seem quite intense."

Alex didn't like the sound of that. "Ok…"

"With that being said, I'd like to ask you not to leave the apartment without supervision. At least for a little while. We've made sure your accommodations have been adequately stocked with everything you'll need." The elk reached into his breast pocket and produced a business card for Alex. "But, if you need anything, please don't hesitate to call."

The car slowed to a halt. Alex looked out his window to find a small townhome nestled between some neighborhood businesses. It was simple but cute. Alex was just pleased that it didn't end up being some concrete compound.

"It's nothing too fancy," James said, pulling out a keyring. "Two beds, two baths, and a small pool in the back. We had a very sophisticated security system installed for you, too."

"Wow, uh, thanks," Alex took the keys from James.

"Of course," he said with a light smile.

Alex popped open the door and stepped out of the car. He turned around just as the back window rolled down.

"I'll be back to pick you up around 10 tomorrow. Sleep well."

Then, the car slowly began to roll away. It rolled off down the street until Alex couldn't hear the engine anymore, and he was left with only the sound of the night breeze. He turned toward the house, then looked at the key in his hand, then back to the house. His steps clicked on the pavement to a non-existent beat as he approached it. He walked up the short wooden flight to the deck, drove the key into the lock, and turned it until the tumbler rattled. He pushed open the door and rubbed his hand along the wall, flicking the first switch he came across. The room lit up to reveal a modern living room. A white upholstered L-shaped couch, turquoise throw pillows, glass side tables, a silver rug, and a flat-screen TV were all perfectly placed about the room like the staging of a home improvement show.

Alex briefly mulled over seeing the rest of the place, but all he could see at the moment was the soft cushions of the white couch. He made his way to the object, slowly removing articles of clothing on his way. Each step another piece came off until he had whittled himself down to boxers. He's been locked to a bed for almost two weeks now, so a change of sleeping arrangement was justified. With his final step, he let gravity take control and plummeted for the cushions.

Hello! Thank you to everyone that has followed, favorited, and commented on this story so far!

The upload schedule is changing to a chapter every ~1 month moving forward. I'll do my best to update you if scheduling changes!