06
live & let die
A reminder to everyone that this work is under 'T or PG-13' rating as it contains situation that would require some form of 'trigger warning' (like assault, blood, suicide, violence, etc.) which the author (yours truly) wants to reiterate with an imperative sentence: PLEASE READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.
'He's been receiving more threats lately," announced Captain Del Gato as the group walked back to his office. "About the same as the dead mammals turning up on ice. Shouldn't we finally do something about it? Because if you're right and these are works of prey supremacist, they must be pulling all the stops while we sit on our assess doing nothing.'
'L and Commander Bogo says to lay off,' Agent Muttler explained to him. 'Hope we'll get some development before long.'
'Well, the case is still yours,' the lion said begrudgingly. 'But the Commissioner doesn't like having that shrew waving on his own front doorstep in broad daylight while he sits down well to leeward of the funk. Why don't we put him on tax evasion or misuse of services or illegal parking in front of government building or something? If ZBI won't do it, we'd be glad to oblige.'
'There's nothing against him and you know it, and we know it.' objected the Welsh Springer spaniel. 'If he wasn't bailed in half an hour by his dozen lawyers, his adoptive children and their polar bear chauffeurs would start marching from Tundratown to here.' She sourly continued. 'And we didn't ask for the case — at least I didn't — Madam L of ZMI6 gave it to us and we're going to stick with it.'
'Thanks for the help, anyway, Captain,' Officer Mousawitz said with forced cordiality, as farewells were made. 'Been most valuable.'
'You're welcome,' Captain Del Gato replied stonily. 'Elevators are to your right.' And with that he closed the door firmly behind them.
The mouse winked at Jack behind Agent Muttler's back as they rode down to the ground floor and walked back to the ZCIA lobby, an attendant handing them their coats and hats.
On the sidewalk and out of the confines of the atrocious building, Roxanne turned to them. 'Had some instructions from the supervisor this morning,' she unemotionally recounted. 'Seems like I'm to look after the Goatshorn end, and you Savage are to go down to Frosty Road tomorrow. Mousawitz's to find out what he can at Mogul Street and we all reconvene back in Iceberg Boulevard without our gears. That is,' she added. 'If you wouldn't care not to have them along. It's your choice.'
'Of course,' The jackrabbit confirmed. 'I was going to dispose them anyway; in case it's bugged on either end.'
The mouse tittered. 'Beware the devil bearing gifts, huh?'
Jack nodded amiably.
'Good, then it's settled.' said the spaniel. 'I'll tell the right-hand mammal everything's fixed. Anything else I can do for you Vince?" He shook his head. "All communications with ZBI, ZCIA, ZMI6, and ZPD are off the table. The supervisor has inside mammals in three of those agencies, they know all the signal routines and so forth.'
'If Savage's interested and if you don't mind," Mousawitz interposed. "I'd like very much to go up the Polar Mountains this evening and have a look around. Might help to have some idea about the playing field.'
Roxanne reflected. 'Fine,' she said finally. 'Probably no harm. But don't show yourselves too much and don't stir up trouble for us. There's no one to help you there." she warned. 'Our mission isn't ripe yet. Until we haven't fully cleared our mammal is the devil, our policy is live and let live.'
Quizzically the jackrabbit turned to the mouse. 'In this job,' he said, 'when coming up against mammals like them, I have another motto — live or let die.'
(-from Chapter 6, Live Let Die, Book 3 of The Savage Seas series, by J. L. Hopps.)
"Did you really pay Byron a visit?" Skye asked her cousin softly, the devastated part of her not really wanting to hear his answer.
Nick nodded, averting from her gaze. "Finn and I went to his place Downtown and were forced to leave." Glaring at the desk his russet arms were idling on. "The Sherlock Hooves wannabe actually thinks you stabbed Jack. I mean, how could that bastard think you'd even do something like that? He knew you just as well as we do."
Leaning back to her chair the vixen shrugged, unable to feel anything else than a sharp heavy pain in her chest. "You and Finn seemed to be the only mammals who believe I'm innocent."
"That's not true Snowflake," His eyes were a little sunken, as he smiled weakly. "I'm sure Mr. Savage does too, and he'll tell that to the court himself."
The arctic fox let out a wry smile that shattered the todd's heart. "Not going to hold my breath on that one," There's a dull ache, as she continued. "And even if he does wake up, we can't disregard the chance that he might suffer from amnesia or whatever, so it doesn't matter."
"Right. And being pessimistic about it would lower that possibility."
"Hah! Exactly." She grinned, but there's not a trace of amusement behind her eyes.
'The Zootopian Justice system has officially broken you, Skye.'
Of course, the first week or two she fully believed Jack would finally regain consciousness and all of it would disappear — like waking up from an endless nightmare. Yet for every day that would pass, there was still no news about the rabbit's condition. Every day, what's left of her hope was taken from her, both in the physical and mental sense. And every day, she got closer and closer to wishing she had never been born in the first place.
"Thanks again for coming by, Nicky," Skye said softly. The two of them established a routine for the length of his visitation (which was an hour at the most, three days a week) — chatting before he gets the five-minute marker. "And tell Finn I appreciate him taking my shifts at the shop and cleaning my apartment.
"Glad to be of service, m'lady." The red fox smiled, but there's discomfort behind his emerald eyes.
Eyebrows shooting up in confusion, she asked him. "What is it? Why are you making that face?" He desperately held her gaze, almost like he wanted to tell her something yet doesn't know how. "Nicky, tell me." She sighed, running her paw through her head. "My life couldn't get much worse than this."
"It really can though." Nick whispered so quietly, even a mouse wouldn't almost catch it.
The vixen smirked. "Yeah. . .try me," And crossed her arms over her chest.
"It's your. . ." The todd trailed off and his cousin patiently wait for him to continue. "-e'hm it's the shop, Skye. Well, your dad's old auto repair shop. . ."
"What about the repair shop?" the arctic fox sat up straighter in her seat, eyes widening as he continued avoiding her gaze and shifting uncomfortably. With a clenched jaw, she pushed more. "Nicky, what happened to it?"
"Finn said it was burned to the ground."
And like that, all the air was sucked out of Skye's lungs. That repair shop held all her memories of her parents, especially with her dad. He may have sold it to Ransom five years ago, but it was still a special place that she even applied to work there after he died.
"No no no!" Shakily standing up from her chair. "Please tell me you're lying."
Nick kept his gaze down, shaking his head. "Wish I was, Skye." The timer buzzed and an elephant officer came to escort him out. "Ransom salvaged what he could—" He sniffed, jumping out of his chair. "— but Finn said it wasn't much."
Sapphire eyes burned as they glaze over whilst watching a red fox get ushered out the visitation area. Before she could even break down, the vixen felt a paw wrap around her wrist. Without turning, she knew it was none other than the only ZPD member who's been somewhat kind to her — Officer Fangmeyer.
"Not here," she tells her softly. "I'll take you to the solitary confinement so no one would bother you." The vulpine numbly followed her, ignoring all the scowls and threats of the other inmates as they pass by the cells. "I'll be back before noon," she informed her before shutting the door.
The tigress cop would take her there every once in a while, to give her a breather, especially during days where no one's allowed to visit. Though she can't let anyone spend too much time in secluded cellars or the others will accuse her of playing favorites.
And so, for a good twenty minutes, like she has been doing for the last week, Skye laid down the frail futon and cried out her frustrations silently — until the ZPD officer came back to escort her for lunchbreak.
"Inmate 817," the pig warden yelled from the cafeteria entrance. "Better finish that up quickly, you have company."
No one was supposed to visit after Nick, so the vixen was a bit confused as she swallowed another mouthful of her bland prison meal, then follow behind the sow officer all the way back to the visitation area again. Except they didn't stop there, they entered the room where inmates were allowed to see their visitors face to face with no glass. For the first time in a long while she felt a twinge of excitement.
"Go on, get in." she said in irritation, opening the door for the arctic fox to slip through.
Stepping inside she was greeted by a totally empty room which was unusual. Her eyes travel over the marble floor and up the cement walls painted in white. A noise from behind could be heard and she turned in time to see multiple different figures entering through the door.
"Holy shit," Skye breathed out as her wide eyes took in the mammals before her: the famous popstar Gazelle, the villain in the last Savage Seas adaptation Jagged Depp, the actress who played as the love interest Cheyenne Leymour, and two unknown (yet seemingly familiar) rabbits.
Adrenaline coursed through the vulpine's body as she took a few steps towards them. "How's Jack?" she asked anxiously. "Please tell me that he's finally-"
"Don't even mention his name, bitch." the princess hissed through gritted teeth.
Her heart got lodged in her throat as the vixen stop dead in her tracks. Now that she had a better look at their faces, she realized there's no sign of relief or happiness inside them. The only ones who didn't look like they wanted to kill her was Gazelle and the brown rabbit (but she couldn't really tell what's going on behind the latter's cerulean eyes).
"Uh, what are you - why are you all here?" Both legs trembling, the arctic fox stepped back.
Jagged Depp glared at her so viciously it sent a shiver down her spine. "We wanted to see how miserable you've been with our own eyes." His voice filled with malice as he continued. "In hopes that it would make us feel better about what happened to Jack."
Tears welled in Skye's eyes as she took in the hatred and animosity emanating from their bodies. 'They're here to see the evil bitch who stabbed their precious Jack,' she thought, scraping the idea of them bearing good news. And even if that was the case, they probably hate her enough to withhold any vital information from her.
"I-" the vixen choked out. "I swear I didn't do it."
She flinched as a brown blur, the doe, took a step closer. "Will you really still not admit to it?"
"There was someone else in the alley besides me that night."
"Oh, we know there was," the buck with cream fur growled, also advancing forward. "Too bad you're an idiot for thinking we would take a fox's word over hers."
"Wait a minute," Skye was dumbfounded. "You know who she is?"
He scoffed. "Why the rut wouldn't we know who—"
"Tommy!" the doe cried out.
"I don't give a damn about proper language, Molly!" Tommy exclaimed as he took another step forward, and the vixen felt her back press against the wall behind her, as she backed away from him. "And we do know her. We also know you kicked her, twice."
"Of rutting course, I kicked the crazy lady! She—"
"She was examined by our doctor," Gazelle spoke for the first time, her normally soft, welcoming voice was now strained and curt. "The poor mongoose had bruises to prove it."
"Ma'am, she was trying to murder Jack," the arctic fox tried to reason out. "I didn't even know it was him who got stabbed until after I helped him in my apartment."
Cheyenne Leymour chuckled, rather sarcastically. "So, pelts like you just throw themselves into a fight for a mammal you didn't even know?"
"And she even brought him into her den..." interjected by the middle-aged male jaguar.
The popstar frowned and tsked. "Jagged, please."
Skye stared at them with eyes almost protruding from their sockets before bursting out into laughter. Jack Savage would have been six feet under now if it weren't for her, and these mammals were there, castigating her. They all recoiled when she began to double over, still cackling.
"Oh, my Karma!" the vulpine forced out through her guffaws. "Everything makes sense now! It really doesn't matter what I do or don't admit to — I'll be charged guilty either way." She tried standing up straight again when she felt her head jerk to the left followed by an intense burning sensation across her right cheek.
"Thomas Stuart Hopps!" Molly shrieked. "You did not just hit a female."
'Hopps?' The vixen's eyes slowly travel over to Tommy's, as alexandrite eyes spilled out tears, then traveled to his opened paw that just slapped her across the face. 'No, Jude couldn't be related to this half-witted buck."
"Do you feel better now you've seen my situation?" Turning her attention to the veteran actor, in an attempt of distracting herself from how the buck's eyes resembled that of her favorite author.
She yelped when she was slammed into the wall again by her prison shirt's collar. "You think this is rutting funny, bitch?" the princess gritted through her teeth.
"Cheyenne," Gazelle said sternly behind her. "Let Miss Winters go."
"No, Gazelle!" Her grip on the arctic fox's top tightened. "She clearly hasn't suffered much for what she did to Jack!"
Jagged Depp carefully ripped the smaller mammal away from the vulpine. Her body slumping back on the concrete wall as she met the other females' gazes.
"I didn't do it," She repeated shakily. "And I know there's a part of Jude that somehow believed in me — she knew how I saved Jack after all."
Both rabbits visibly winced at her words, while the rest continued to stare in disbelief, hostility, and (oddly enough) shock.
"The crazy lady's a mammal you all know and trust, I see that now." The vixen smiled weakly, confusing her audience. "Unfortunately, none of you couldn't seem to look past your own ignorant tails to see how she's playing you."
The Hopps buck tried to lunge for the arctic fox again, but Molly and Gazelle blocked his path.
"Pickled parsnips! Stop it!"
"Tommy, listen to your sister."
Skye chuckled and reached a paw up to cup her cheek, moving towards the exit.
"Molly," she addressed the Hopps doe over her shoulder. "I want Jack to wake up, but I guarantee you that mongoose friend of yours doesn't. Tell your sister to place extra protection around her partner — he's not safe."
Cheyenne scoffed. "The only mammal he's not safe from. . .is you!"
The vixen flipped her off as she walked out of the room — hoping she came across as compelling, because in reality she's nothing but a hollow shell of a mammal losing their will to live.
The characters, miscellaneous, and settings are owned and trademarked by Disney, and in no way, shape, or form do I claim ownership over them nor the world of Zootopia (aside, of course, from my original characters and some fictional places that I added) - though I would never not thank Byron Howard and Richard Moore for giving us these anthropomorphic mammals that we love to hate (I don't know, Jack and Skye are growing on me...particularly in this work) or hate to love (still a Nick and Judy shipper...if you have an issue - there's the door!) because without them, this retelling would not have existed.
Part 2/3 (featuring Chapters 5 — 7)
Jump to or Wait for Chapter 7 for the full version of the Author's Notice.
P. S. A dumb question (but please indulge me on this): Do you guys 'actually' read the Savage Seas excerpts, or do you skip ahead to the main plot? Because I'm telling you now. . .I didn't put them there (or write my own version of the novel for Judy's character in this story) without a reason. It's called easter egg hunting, my sweethearts! *Wink-wink*