Disclaimer: Zootopia stories, characters, settings, and properties belong to the Walt Disney Co. This story is written under Fair Use Copyright laws.
The Fire Triangle
-------------------------------------------------------------
Part Two:
Oxidizer
-------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 9: Conor's Story
(Continued...Part 7)
-------------------------------------------------------------
♪ Know I've gone too far
Much too far I've gone this time
Don't want to think what I've done
Coz I don't know how to stop
I don't know how to stop
There are always hidden silences
Waiting behind the chair
They come out when the coast is clear
They eat anything that moves
I go shaky in the knees
Lights go out
Stars come down
Like a swarm of bees ♫
Peter Gabriel - No Self Control
-------------------------------------------------------------
Erin Hopps was able to hold her tongue for a lot longer than even she would have expected-for almost three full seconds after she sat down with Vern Rodenberg.
"So....do you think Conor was telling the truth?"
They were seated at a table in the Mercy Star's wardroom, the only two animals present, her in a chair, him on a modified bandage-roll. set down on the table-top. She had to wait for a response until the grey rat finished taking a long sip of his coffee-and then she was greeted with a small frown and the sound of incisors working.
"Forgive me for playing lawyer here, Ms. Hopps..."
"Oh, please...just call me Erin."
"All right. I'm sorry Erin, but there's no short answer to that question. You see--" he set down his thimble of Java, holding up a trio of bony fingers, "There's basically three types of things he told me. First, there's the items that I can't verify; the ones where I'll just have to take his word for it-like his claim about what happened in that farmer's market. Even if he was telling the truth, there's no way anyone's going to back his side of the story, not after all this time...and that's assuming I can find anyone who was there when it happened."
He ticked off a finger and continued. "And then there's the things I CAN verify-and believe me, I will-like the crummy medical care in the Zoo Jersey Juvenile system. First thing tomorrow, I'm having my investigator check it out."
Another digit vanished, leaving only the grey rat's index finger.
"Last but not least, there's the things he said that I don't need to verify-because I know all about them from fursonal experience." His teeth began to click again, and he leaned forward in his seat. "And in that category, your boyfriend..."
"He's NOT my boyfriend!"
"...gets an A+. Everything he said to me in that regard rings a hundred percent true; all of it, no exceptions, accept no substitutes."
YOU ARE READING
The Fire Triangle -- Part II, Oxidizer
Misterio / SuspensoNick and Judy have gone their separate ways, and the arson attacks plaguing Zootopia have abated. But soon, a new peril will arise, threatening to turn the city into a war-zone, a menace that will quickly become fursonal for Judy Hopps. Nick Wilde...
