Chapter I: The Day It All Began

I vividly remember that whole day down to the last detail, but let's back track just a little. My name is Nick Wilde, and I'm a Zootopia police officer... well, I am as of recently anyway. Up until about seven years ago, I was... for lack of better words, a 'nobody'. If society was only going to see me as a sly fox, why try to be different? Okay, there's a bit more to it than just having a damnable stereotype shadow me everywhere I went. Let's just say that, something really bad happened to me as a kid. Something no other kid should suffer through. Anyways, my first interaction with Judy was when she had unwittingly helped Finnick, whom was disguised as my "son", and I pull off a pretty successful hustle. We (Finnick and I) gave the clerk behind the counter a good sob story, but Judy was the one that enlightened the clerk and customers on something else coming with the ice cream (apparently an ungloved trunk is a class three health code violation). All of that to get a Jumbo Pop to melt down, refreeze, and resell as Pawpsicles (yes, that's what we called them). She confronted me about lying to her and using her for my own gain. Now, sure, she was absolutely right, and I was being an insufferable asshole, but that didn't stop me from sending rather harsh reality checks her way. The next time I saw her, she had me help her with the missing mammal she'd been assigned-... well, more accurately, she essentially blackmailed me into helping her by waving the possibility of prison time over my head (for the record, it was tax evasion). The missing mammal she was assigned was Emmett Otterton, one of thirteen other missing mammals. She had very little to work from and it just so happened Emmett was one of my pawpsicle customers. The real kicker was that she was given two days, forty-eight hours, to solve a case that the other, far more seasoned officers hadn't solved in WEEKS. By and large, she was just a rookie cop carrying out her duties, and I didn't really take her situation seriously. The case led us to an old friend of mine, the crime lord of Tundra Town, Mr. Big. Mr. Big was about to "ice" Judy and I, that is, leave us to die of hypothermia in a pool of arctic-temperature water below his quarters, but we were saved by Mr. Big's daughter, of whom Judy saved the day before. Mr. Big repaid Judy's blind act of heroism with information about Emmett. He'd apparently gone crazy, or what people soon after called "savage", and attacked Mr. Monchez, his limo driver. This lead us to the Rainforest District with the intent of speaking with Mr. Monchez. We barely got any words from him before he suddenly went crazy too. After narrowly escaping death not once, but twice over in the window of about ten minutes or so, the police arrived... a moment too late. Mr. Monchez, irrefutable proof that predators were going savage for what at the time was an unknown reason, was gone. I'm not entirely sure why I snapped at Chief Bogo like I did. I tend to think it was this unwarranted prejudice and disrespect he showed towards Judy back then. Maybe also the aforementioned odds deliberately stacked against her. Whatever the case was, we (okay, mostly she) later discovered that Emmett Otterton (as well as the other thirteen missing mammals) had been drugged with a concentrate made from "Nighthowler" plants (they apparently grow wild on Judy's Parent's farm). The best way I can describe it is that the petals of the nighthowler would be juiced and, as said before, concentrated to bring out the worst effects, at which point, when ready, it would fill an empty paintball. The one contracted to make the drug was Doug the sheep, and his method of administering said drug was by firing the paintball from a high-velocity CO2 paintball pistol. The biggest twist in all of it was the mastermind. The individual behind the entire scandal was former Assistant Mayor Bellwether.

It's been about seven years now since the Nighthowler Incident happened. In that time, both of us went through a rough patch. We hardly made enough money to keep ourselves alive, it got worse for Judy though. There was a time for about two years where I left the force. It became too much to bare, but Judy's unstable condition then was what made me come back. She fell behind on payments to her landlady. Her parents offered monetary support, though unfortunately she ended up getting evicted anyways. I offered her a place to stay at my apartment. She accepted without hesitation and thanked me ten fold. I told her it's fine, and that I wasn't about to leave a friend on the streets. Especially someone her size. I haven't told her everything about who I am, but she knows enough to understand I've seen how dangerous of a hellscape this city can be. While that's not something limited to small mammals like us, it's definitely a bell that tolls much louder to us than anyone else. I'm sat here in my cruiser in complete silence, head against the steering wheel because of what transpired six hours ago. I'd arrested some crook in Rainforest district who'd stolen a purse.

"Ah c'mon, flatfoot, cut me some slack!" he said.

"Yeah, sorry. Not happening, pal." As I was cuffing him, my cell rang, so I finished cuffing the guy, put him in the back of my car and pulled out my cell to check who was calling. It was Police Chief Bogo, so I answered. "Chief, what's up?"

There was a long silence before he finally spoke "Officer Wilde, how soon can you get to the Central City's hospital?"

"...why?" I asked, sensing something was very wrong.

He sighed before responding. "Officer Hopps was admitted just ten minutes ago."

It was as if all had gone completely silent in that moment... the phone slid from my hand and hit the ground, cracking part of the screen and damaging a corner. I just stood there, frozen, not even thinking of anything. It was like I was in a trance, completely unaware of my surroundings, only feeling the wind lightly brush through my fur.

I could barely hear the crook in the back of my cruiser saying "Yo, flatfoot...? You okay...?".

That moment felt so surreal that I was sure I was dreaming.

It was when I heard Bogo call "Officer Wilde?" from my phone did I snap from my frozen gaze.

I fumbled to get a grip on the phone, and when I did, I said "I'll be there as soon as possible." and closed the call.

I dropped the would-be thief off at the Rainforest district station and wasted no time getting to the central city hospital. When I made it up to her room, I saw that Chief Bogo was talking to a doctor. I couldn't hear what they were saying, it didn't matter to me. Judy's condition left me frozen on the spot. She lay unconscious in a bed, a small gauze bandage patched the upper left of her forehead, another patched down near her right hip. Both were lightly stained with blood. An EKG monitored her heartbeat, and an oxygen mask her only supplement of breathing. The table beside Judy's bed had several scalpels on it, unused gauze pads, stitching wire, and disinfectant wipes. I was so lost in my frozen stare that I hadn't even notice the doctor walked up to greet me. He was a otter, fairly tall, but a little out of shape. Oval-framed glasses sat upon the bridge of his nose, his facial features were soft and made him easy to approach. His doctor's coat was adorned with pens in pocket, and a stethoscope.

"You must be Officer Wilde. I'm doctor Mark Mollar. It's nice to meet you." He extended his hand toward me.

"Likewise." I replied as I shook his hand slowly. I couldn't look away, no matter how hard I tried. The haunting sight of Judy unconscious left me speechless.

I used what crumbs of strength I had to bring the question on my mind into words. "What happened to her?"

A momentary silence followed my question before Chief Bogo explained. "According to the witness that called the emergency services and attempted resuscitating her, she stumbled out of the stairwell to the Sahara Square subway line shortly before collapsing and passing out from blood loss."

"Blood loss? What from?" I asked.

"The primary source was a gunshot." Dr. Mollar said.

"What!?" I uttered in shock.

"Here," Dr. Mollar said as he pulled a tablet from his left coat pocket, selected something, and handed it to me. "these are the x-rays I did twelve minutes ago. The bullet entered through her lower right abdomen." He explained.

I looked at the x-rays of her hip, the bullet struck several organs. I paused to consider what to say. "It... hit several organs." I told him.

"Yes. The worst affect was her kidney. She will need a transplant if she has any more hope of survival. On top of that however, the entry wound and internal damage are only a small fraction of the main concern." I gave him a confused look. "Blood loss, even minor, can be dangerous for mammals like you, me, and her. That's due to our heart rates being fast due to our size."

"What do you mean, doc? Is she going to live or not?" I asked worried.

"There's not an easy question to answer, Officer Wilde..." he said as he took his glasses off and began to clean them with his handkerchief. "The severe blood loss Officer Hopps suffered caused her to slip into a coma."

"She's in a coma...?" I repeated softly. "How long until she wakes up?"

"Unfortunately, only time will tell. It could be a matter of days, weeks, even months before she might wake." Dr. Mollar explained.

"That reminds me..." Chief Bogo said, as he reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and sent something to mine. I pulled mine out and saw it was a sound file. "If you're interested... this was the Emergency Services call from earlier today. It was recorded by Joseph Barker, the first responder who answered it." My phone in my hands, I just stared at the screen and debated with myself whether or not to play the call. Hesitantly, I pressed the play button and silently listened...

That call will haunt me for as long as I am alive. Almost immediately the recording started with Joseph Barker's voice.

"9-1-1, what is your emergency?" he said.

There was a whoosh of wind, the caller on the other end who was apparently named Chris Lambert then spoke while the sound of crying could faintly be heard in the background. "Hello?"

"Hello?" both said, slightly out of sync from one another.

"I hear you, sir. What is your emergency?" Joseph said.

"Hey I-, uh, there's a wounded officer here. She... she's shot." Chris said.

"Officer you said? Can you tell me their name?" Joseph asked.

"Uh..." he said quietly, "Hopps, Officer Hopps."

"Officer Hopps!?" there was a trace of surprise in Joseph's voice. I could hear him talking to someone in the background, I heard him say "Shit, did you catch that? Yes, THAT Officer Hopps. Who else could it be?"

"Yeah. There-there's a lot of blood." Chris said, shuddering slightly.

"Okay, where are you by the way?"

"East subway entrance in Sahara Square."

"Alright, ambulance is on it's way now. Please stay on the line and keep me posted until it arrives." Joseph said. "Do you have a clean rag or cloth of some kind?"

"I do."

The details of the call get fuzzy, as I had begun to feel sick just from listening to the recording.

The last parts of the call I remember hearing was Chris saying something along the lines of "The ambulance will be here soon, can you make it?"

And I swear I could hear Judy... cry out... "I d-... I don't... I don't know..."

The call ended and the sound of the sirens was abruptly silenced.

"They were able to remove the bullet. It's already been sent to a local weapons expert, a good friend of the department for analysis." Bogo added.

Dizziness and nausea overtook me as the recording finished. "Excuse me... I'll- be right back..." I stumbled out of the room and darted for the nearest men's room. I made it just in time to throw my lunch up in one of the sinks. I tried to collect myself... only to puke again. Coughing and sputtering, I splashed my face with water from another tap. My head began to pound and my sight blurred as I washed the foul taste of vomit from my mouth. Through my blurred eyesight, I saw myself in the mirror. In a few short minutes, I had gone from looking like my normal self to looking disheveled. My fur had gone from tidy to unkempt. I didn't want to believe this was happening. "This isn't real. This can't be real. This is... this is just some twisted nightmare. It has to be..." I spoke softly to myself. I splashed water on my face in a desperate attempt to wake myself up, but it was in vain. I pinched myself as hard as I could in another attempt, again, to no avail. I was wide awake, and this... was all too real. I sat, looking towards the mirror with my head in my hands as reality began to set in. To reiterate, I didn't want to believe any of this was happening... but I didn't have a choice. I didn't know how to process it at all. My friend, my partner on the force, the person who believed in me when I didn't even believe in myself, was in the other room. In a coma. I slowly walked back to Judy's room.

"Are you alright?" Dr. Mollar asked.

Internally, I was saying Are you shitting me? But my actual reply was "How do you think I feel?"

"Forgive me; I-... I didn't mean it like that, Officer Wilde."

"It's-... it's fine." I assured him.

I proceeded with the next question that was on mind at the time. "Does the media... or anyone else know about this yet?"

"No, but it won't be long before they do." Bogo responded.

"Do Judy's parents know?" I asked.

"I haven't informed them yet." Dr. Mollar said. "If you'd like I can call them-"

I stopped him from picking the phone up. "I'll tell them myself."

"Oh... okay, I understand." he nodded.

I turned to Bogo. "Chief?"

"Do you what you have to do, Officer Wilde." He said, knowing what I was about to ask.

I went back out to my cruiser, but I didn't start it immediately. I sat there and let everything soak in. All sorts of emotions were swirling in me at that moment. The life of the person most important to me was in jeopardy. Pain, sorrow, fury... but most damning of all was one question that refused to leave my mind the moment it appeared. Why? What kind of ruthless, heartless bastard would harm someone like her? Down one avenue or another, I was going to find out.