Chapter 6: Missing Mammal

Night had fallen across Zootopia, and Judy Hopps sat on her bed, alone in her cramped apartment, flipping through her phone. Settling on the picture of her kissing her old boyfriend she had been looking at the other day, a small, wistful smile tugged at her lips. Suddenly, a knock brought Judy's attention towards the door.

"Coming!" Judy called as she slipped her phone into her pocket, hopped off her bed and walked over to the door, opening it to reveal Nick standing on the other side with a pair of food containers.

"Steamed veggies, as ordered," Nick stated as he held one of the containers out to Judy.

"You are the best!" Judy exclaimed as she took the container and turned back to her apartment, "Would you like a seat at the best table in the house?"

"Of course," Nick replied with a chuckle as he stepped into the apartment and closed the door behind him.

Walking across the room, Judy opened the window that sat next to her bed before stepping out onto the fire escape. As Nick followed her, Judy sat down on the metal platform with her legs threaded through the bars of the fire escape's railing, the view of the city stretching out before her. Opening the container, Judy sniffed hungrily at the steaming vegetables inside before digging in as Nick settled down next to her.

"I swear, nothing hits the spot after a long day like Pandanisian food," Judy said through a mouthful of her supper.

"Ain't that the truth?" Nick agreed with a chuckle, "And it's been a hell of a day. But, we've definitely got a lead on this Primal stuff."

"You think the Chief will give us the official go ahead tomorrow?" Judy questioned as she looked at Nick.

"Well, as far as I can tell, we've whipped up some pretty convincing evidence connecting this Bopper guy to the shooter who killed Duke," Nick answered, "Add in the fact that this hippo he works for is apparently some pharmaceutical mammal and I think we have a solid enough lead to warrant an investigation."

"That hippo isn't just some "pharmaceutical mammal,"" Judy retorted, "I did some research. He's Munroe Potamus, the COO of Jakes BioPharma, the biggest pharmaceutical company in Zootopia. Aren't you worried that the kind of power someone like that wields could make Bogo skittish? To say nothing about how we came by this info in the first place."

"Wasn't it your idea to go to Mr. Big?" Nick inquired as he quirked his eyebrow at Judy.

"Yeah, but I'm not really comfortable where that's led us," Judy answered with a troubled expression, "I get that we're trying to help people by getting Primal off the street, but I'm not okay with turning a blind eye to all this other stuff we keep seeing."

"You mean like everything Rocket does?" Nick joked while taking a bite of his food.

"Yeah, like that," Judy agreed with a chuckle, "Though honestly, I don't think he's as bad as he pretends to be. Like he's bad and more than a little dangerous, but I don't know, I just get the sense that if push came to shove, he would do the right thing."

"I don't know, Carrots," Nick replied with a doubtful shake of his head, "I think you might be putting your faith in the wrong mammal."

"Well, you weren't exactly the nicest guy when we first met," Judy countered with a smirk, "But I trusted you and you turned out pretty great."

Blinking his eyes in surprise, an embarrassed smile spread across his face as he scratched the back of his head.

"Geez, Carrots," Nick said with a chuckle, "Tell me how you really feel."

"I'm not kidding, Nick," Judy insisted as she reached over and punched the fox playfully on the arm, "You're the best partner a bunny could ask for."

As Nick looked down at Judy, he thought back to what Clawhauser had talked with him about the day before and a nervous expression spread over his features.

"Hey, Judy, can I-" Nick began to say.

"Oh, that reminds me!" Judy suddenly exclaimed, seemingly not noticing as she interrupted Nick while fishing her phone out of her pocket, "You have to see this thing Clawhauser sent me!"

Turning her phone towards Nick, Judy watched as a look of confusion came across her partner's face.

"Clawhauser sent you a photo of you making out with your old boyfriend?" Nick questioned in confusion.

"Oh man, sorry," Judy apologized as she quickly pulled her phone back and swiped away from the picture, "I had just been….obviously, that wasn't the right picture."

"It's...It's fine," Nick muttered as he looked away.

An awkward silence fell between the two as Nick took a few more bites of his food and Judy put her phone to the side.

"Who was he, anyway?" Nick asked after a moment, "Your ex, I mean."

"You want to know about my ex-boyfriend?" Judy questioned as she quirked an eyebrow at Nick.

"Seems like a better subject than talking about work," Nick replied with a shrug.

"Alright," Judy relented with a shrug of her own, "His name is Jackson O'Hare. We grew up together in Bunny Burrow and we started dating in high school."

"Sounds like a freaking romcom," Nick commented with a snort, prompting Judy to smirk and roll her eyes.

"Yeah, I guess," Judy agreed, "It was pretty nice while it lasted though."

"What happened to him?" Nick inquired.

"Well, basically the war with Avarianation broke out," Judy explained, "Jackson wanted to do his part so right after we graduated, he joined the Army. We tried to keep it going but it…."

There was a pause as Judy seemed to search for the right words.

"It what?" Nick pressed, causing Judy to let out an aggravated sigh.

"It seemed like he just expected me to just stay in Bunny Burrow and wait for him," Judy explained, "Like he thought he'd come home and we'd settle down on some farm and raise twenty kids or something, but obviously that wasn't what I wanted."

"So you broke up," Nick surmised.

"So we broke up," Judy confirmed with a nod, "He stayed in the Army, I went to the Academy and you know the rest."

"I do," Nick agreed with a nod, "Any idea what happened to him after?"

"Not really," Judy replied with a shrug, "I've heard from folk back home that he served the rest of the war, and stayed in afterwards, though most people, not even his parents, hear from him anymore. Until recently that is."

"What happened recently?" Nick inquired.

"He just showed up again in Bunny Burrow, kind of out of the blue," Judy explained, "He's the one who posted that picture of us. I guess he must have gotten out of the Army recently and came back home."

"Do you miss being with him?" Nick questioned, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible while picking at his food.

"Why are you so interested in my love life all of a sudden?" Judy asked as she looked at Nick suspiciously.

"Just making conversation, Carrots," Nick replied with a shrug, "Look, if you want all the gritty details about my exs afterwards, feel free to ask."

"Be careful, I might just take you up on that," Judy replied with a smirk before she let out a sigh, "To answer your question, I guess kind of."

Glancing over at Judy, Nick watched her as she looked out over the skyline of Zootopia.

"I mean, I love it here," Judy explained with a wane smile, "And I love being a cop. But it can get lonely sometimes, you know? And when that happens, part of me wonders how things could have been different. So yeah, I guess a little bit."

An awkward silence fell between the two as Judy took another bite of her food, not noticing the saddened expression on Nick's face.

"I'm sorry," Judy spoke up, hoping to break the silence as she looked back at Nick, "Were you going to ask me something earlier?"

"Was I?" Nick replied with a chuckle, "Honestly, I don't even remember what I was going to say anymore, Carrots."

"Oh well," Judy said with a shrug, "I guess it must not have been important then."

"I guess not," Nick mumbled, "Anyway, you ready to continue the investigation tomorrow?"

"I suppose so," Judy answered with a nod, "As long as we can get Bogo's go ahead, we're going to meet up with Howard and Rocket at Jakes BioPharma and see if we can't have a conversation with Mr. Potamus and his bodyguard. Hopefully they can give us some answers to what's going on."

"I have to admit, as crazy as it was last time, it's nice to be back on one of these twisty cases again," Nick commented with a smirk, "I know together, we can get to the bottom of it."

Before Judy could agree, her phone began to ring, playing the latest Gazelle single. Looking at her phone, Judy's brow furrowed in confusion before she answered the call and held her phone up to her ear.

"Mom?" Judy questioned, "What's-"

Blinking in surprise, Judy briefly pulled her phone away from her ear as Nick heard a loud but indistinct voice emanating from the device.

"Mom, calm down, I can't understand you," Judy said as she brought the phone back to her ear, "Say that again."

As Judy listened to what her mother was saying, a look of surprise and then horror spread across her face.

"W-What?" Judy questioned, the expression and the sound of her voice causing Nick to begin worrying as well, "Are you….are you serious?"

As Judy listened to her mother's response, she raised her paw to cover her mouth in terror and despair.

"I-I understand," Judy finally said as she lowered her paw, a haunted expression on her face, "I'll be back home as soon as I can. We'll figure this out, Mom. Don't worry."

Judy listened to her phone for a moment while quietly nodding her head.

"I love you too," Judy said before she hung up the phone and stared at it for a few quiet moments.

"Well, that didn't seem like good news," Nick observed with concern, "What's going on, Judy?"

"It….It's my sister, June," Judy observed, looking at Nick with a lost expression, "She….She's gone missing."

Meanwhile,

On the far edge of Bunny Burrow, the rolling fields and farmland gave way to a thick, ancient forest. The trees grew close to one other, their long roots entangled with those of their neighbor, almost as if they were huddling together for protection against the encroachment of civilization. So thick was the leafy canopy that virtually no light reached the forest floor, rendering the already dark night almost pitch black within the confines of the trees.

Deep within the woods, the silence of the night was broken by someone quickly but quietly making their way through the underbrush. Breathing hard, the animal stumbled to a stop next to a particularly old and gnarled tree, leaning their paw against the thick trunk of the oak.

Even in the dark gloom of the forest, it could be seen that the animal was a young, female rabbit, almost full grown but not yet an adult, with light brown fur and brown eyes. She wore a black hooded sweater shirt and a pair of worn blue jeans, along with a green trucker's hat with an orange carrot emblazoned on the front that perched on her head between her long ears.

As the rabbit fought to catch her breath, her ears twitched and her eyes went wide as she heard the sound of something moving through the forest towards her. Crouching down and putting her back against the trunk of the tree, the rabbit attempted to make herself as small and unnoticeable as possible. A moment later, a grey wolf and a bobcat, both dressed in grey and black security uniforms and armed with tranq rifles, came bounding into view. Slowing to a stop, the pair looked around wearily, causing the rabbit to go as still and silent as possible.

"You sure you saw something over here?" the bobcat questioned, his voice low.

"Positive," the wolf replied, "There was something moving through the trees."

"Well, was it a big something?" the bobcat inquired, "Because we're supposed to be looking for the creature, not chasing after shadows in the dark."

"Look, we know that someone on the outside helped that thing get out," the wolf snapped, "For all we know, this could be that someone!"

"Fine, fine, I get it," the bobcat replied in a placating tone, "Look, I'm just trying to not get on the bad side of the higher ups."

"Yeah, that vulture doctor gives me the creeps," the wolf agreed, trepidation in his voice, "What's a bird even doing around here anyway?"

"I wasn't talking about him," the bobcat stated, "I was talking about the new head of security."

"The little guy?" the wolf scoffed, "You're scared of him?"

"It's the fact that he's a little guy that's got me on edge," the bobcat explained, "You know how someone like him gets put in charge of security at a place like this? By being dangerous. I mean really dangerous."

"Are you serious?" the wolf questioned, clearly not buying it, "That guy? Dangerous?"

"Yeah, man," the bobcat insisted, "He's definitely ex-military, and some of the other guys think he was special forces. Like real black ops stuff."

"Oh come on!" the wolf complained, "There's no way you're going to convince me that that runt is some kind of-"

"You know it's impolite to talk about someone behind their back," a new, cold voice suddenly said.

The rabbit felt her heart skip a beat before a chill ran down her spine. Whoever this new person was, they had managed to approach without making a sound.

"Sir!" the bobcat exclaimed nervously, "W-We were just-"

"Talking about me," the new voice interrupted, "I know. My ears were ringing and everything."

"Look, sir, I-I didn't-" the wolf began to apologize.

"No, I get it," the new voice said in a placating tone, "The head of security is supposed to be this figure that the rest of the staff can look to for assurance and the other guards can aspire to be like. And at a glance, I'm not that guy."

As the head of security spoke, his voice grew louder, indicating to the rabbit that he was walking towards the guards as he was talking.

"But you have to trust me," the head of security continued.

Suddenly, there was a sickening crack before the wolf began screaming in pain.

"I know what I'm doing," the head of security finished with an impassive voice.

"My leg!" the wolf shouted, his voice filled with anguish, "You broke my leg you crazy-"

The wolf's words died in his throat, replaced by a painful choking noise.

"Quiet," the head of security said, "We're supposed to be hunting, remember?"

The wolf's only response was more choking coughs.

"You," the head of security said, "Bring him back."

"Y-Yes sir," the bobcat replied, before the rabbit heard the sound of movement, guessing that the bobcat was helping the wolf to his feet. Soon enough, she heard the pair shuffle off, and silence fell.

For a long while, the rabbit did nothing but remain in her hiding spot, afraid to breath, let alone move from the spot she was rooted too. The head of security, whoever or whatever he was, had approached without making any sound. For all the rabbit knew, he could be standing just out of sight, waiting for her to accidentally reveal herself. The rabbit sat there for what felt like an age, watching silently as the moon crawled across the sky.

Eventually, when she had convinced herself that there was no way the head of security was still lurking nearby and slowly crept out from behind the tree. Looking around, the rabbit saw that no one was around and sighed in relief. After taking a moment to stretch her stiff muscles, the rabbit headed further into the dark forest.

The rabbit hiked through the forest for a long while, relying on her sense of hearing and smell to guide her through the dark. After splashing through a shallow stream running across a bed of smooth rocks, the rabbit found herself standing at the mouth of a cave that bore into an embankment on the side of the stream.

"H-Hello?" the rabbit called out, her voice echoing back to her, "Are you still here?"

Silence, save for the gentle babble of the stream behind her, was the only reply she received

"I-I'm the one who helped you earlier, remember?" the rabbit continued, a nervous tone to her voice, "I think I was able to lead the people who were keeping you captive away from here."

Receiving no reply yet again, the rabbit grew more clearly worried.

"It's alright to come out now," the rabbit insisted with a nervous smile, "It's safe."

The words hung in the air for a moment, and for an instant, the rabbit feared that something had gone wrong. Then, something moved in the cave.

Something large.

As the sound of heavy footsteps echoed out of the cave, the shape of something that easily stood ten feet tall came into view. Stepping back, the rabbit watched with wide, awed eyes as the figure fully exited the cave, and stood before the rabbit, illuminated by the pale light of the moon.

The creature looked nothing less than like a walking tree. While it had a long torso from which four thick, but lanky limbs branched off it, numerous smaller branches grew from all over its body, most notably down its back and from the top of its head. The creature's arms ended in large, three-fingered hands while its legs terminated in thick flat feet that reminded the rabbit of the trunks of a tree. Looking up at the head, the rabbit saw the creature had the vague approximation of a face, with knots in the wood forming a nose and mouth while it looked down at her with glowing yellow eyes.

"H-Hi," the rabbit said nervously before she paused and took a calming breath, "You remember me, don't you? I'm the one who found you in that lab and let you go."

The creature said nothing in reply, tilting its head curiously to one side as it continued to stare down at the rabbit.

"I have no idea if you can even understand me," the rabbit observed with a shake of her head, before she placed a paw to her chest, "My name is June Hopps. I am June."

For a few, long moments, the creature did nothing but stare at the rabbit, June, with the same bland expression. Then, slowly, the creature lifted one of its arms up and placed its hand against its chest, before speaking with a low, rumbling voice that reminded June of an old oak tree swaying in the wind.

"I am Groot."

A/N: Quick chapter, but one with a big impact. Hope you guys liked it! As always, feedback and critiques are always welcome, so please review! Later!