live & let die

03

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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.

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The feeble Miss Ramses, L's all-around secretary, gave the jackrabbit a smile as they walked through the double doors of the ZCIA Building. An impassive middle-aged lion in dark blue overcoat and black cargo pants stared at the ZMI6 personnels. On the front desk, the ewe introduced the two to each other.

"007, meet Mr. Del Gato," she was deferential. "Madam L expects you to assist her agents and see everything they would need or want, Captain."

Jack turned to thank Miss Ramses, but she already had her back to him as she explained something about his case file to another officer. He looked past her across the glass windows. Cerulean eyes narrowing as a Maybuck S600 Guard pulled sharply out into the traffic, right in front of a taxicab which braked hard, its driver banging a paw on the horn and holding it for a while. The limousine kept going, only caught the end of the green light, and disappeared straight Downtown.

It was a decisive bit of driving, but what startled the jackrabbit was that it had been a polar bear at the wheel, in a black chauffeur's uniform, and through the rear window he had caught a glimpse of a single miniscule passenger - a grayish-brown fur of an elderly shrew with tuft slicked-back hair, enrobed in all black ensemble, and accentuated by a red boutonniere - which had slowly turned towards him and whose eyes that were covered by heavy black eyebrows looked directly at him.

And Jack was sure of it, that the mammal waved his diamond clad paw at him as the vehicle accelerated pass the building's entrance.

Del Gato touched his arm impatiently. "We'll head through the conference room right across the commissionaire's office. And would you please refrain from using your code name while inside the premises, Mr. Savage."

As the jackrabbit followed the lion into a series of hallways, he reflected that it was almost certainly too late for precautionary measures. Hardly anywhere in Zootopia would someone find a polar bear driving a Tundratown licensed car. A polar bear acting as a chauffeur for a mammal hundred times smaller was even more unprecedented.

Is the mouse-like creature in the back seat? That grayish-brown fur shrew? Mr. Big?

"We've got a little surprise for you, Mr. Savage," said Captain Del Gato, without, Jack took notice, much enthusiasm.

'Hmn,' the jackrabbit said as they slowed up by a corridor. The officer unlocked the door and shut it behind them. The commissionaire's door opened and an attractive Welsh Springer spaniel in a plaid suit and white slacks came forward her arms crossed, frowning at the males who stood rooted in place.

"What the hell is he doing here? Don't tell me he's to accompany me in my job, Captain?" Both mammals earned nothing but silence from the lion and turned to each other instead. "Well, I'll be damn Savage," she said. "Of course, L, or that sheep never told me. I suppose they think it might influence my decision to carry on or not. And though I have no qualms about our arrangement, I do want you to understand something, Jack..."

A thin smile appeared on 009's face as his muzzle painted a quizzical expression.

"Your jurisdiction comes last."

(-from Chapter 3, Live Let Die, Book 3 of The Savage Seas series, by J. L. Hopps.)

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Both ZEMTs moved quickly to set up the IV drip and oxygen mask as the ambulance took off. The ride to the hospital was quiet except for the occasional sniff from J.L. Hopps in a corner and the paramedics relaying information about Jack's vitals. Skye was too overstimulated to speak and remained still as she gazed at the unconscious rabbit's face. Not ten minutes after, they were pulling up at the Hospital of Zootopia in Tundratown.

The stretcher was pulled out with its wheels down as the buck and the vixen was rolled through the emergency room where a middle-aged female badger ran up to the gurney.

"What's the situation?" Her jaw almost dropped when she saw who just got wheeled into their emergency room, then came unhinged when she noticed the frantic author right behind the group.

"It was stabbing, Dr. Madge. Miss Winters here has his axillary artery pinched between her paw pads," the male paramedic explained to the doctor. "There are no other injuries though he's lost 'substantial' amount of blood."

The doctor checked Jack's pupils. "Move them to a bed and immediately transfer them to the OR," she commanded her nurses. "Call for 'both' Dr. Stouthearts."

The nurses wasted no time in lifting Skye and Jack onto a bed and rushed them through the emergency room. A female squirrel nurse wrapped the arctic fox in a blue gown as best as she can before placing a blue cap over her head.

"Stay behind the glass, ma'am," another nurse, a male zebra, told J.L. Hopps. The vulpine gave her a reassuring smile as they're wheeled through the surgical doors. The doe's eyes, filled with pain and worry behind them, made Skye's stomach turned over as they're pushed away.

The medical team set up all necessary equipment before two squat rodents, who the vixen presumed to be the doctors walked through the small mammal doors. "Hello dear!" the female said cheerily, walking towards the bed with freshly cleaned hands. "I'm Dr. Bianca Stoutheart, and over there is my husband, Bernard. You must be Miss Winters."

"I am." the vulpine could only nod, watching the squirrel nurse cover the doctor's paws in latex gloves. So much has happened within the last hour or so that everything else was a little hard to process at that moment.

"Mr. Savage's a lucky mammal you knew how to put pressure on arteries," Dr. Bernard Stoutheart affirmed, moving towards where Skye's paws were still pressed into Jack's wound.

"Skye?" a whisper was heard coming from the rabbit, making every eye on the room snap over to his.

With tears swelling in her eyes, the vixen answered softly. "I'm 'still' here, Jack." She took in how frightened he was. "I told you, nothing's going to happen to you. The doctors are here now and they're going to fix you up."

"You swear?" he shakily asked, tears also rolling down the side of his muzzle.

"With all my heart." Skye nodded. "You're going to be alright."

The female doctor smiled at them. "Okay, Mr. Savage, you're about to feel a little loopy, now." She said, holding a tad bit larger syringe on the other side of the buck. "Could you count 'backwards' from ten for your friend and I?"

"Skye," His terrified eyes pushed more tears over the arctic fox's lashes. "I'm scared, Skye. Please, don't leave." He choked out as his breathing turned unstable.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Jack." she assured him. "I'm going to wait for you. Make sure you'll wake up quickly, you hear?"

"I will," he exhaled, eyes fluttering shut as he clearly lost the battle against the anesthesia shot.

"Alright, officer-" The male doctor addressed Officer Fangmeyer who was also covered in 'personal protective equipment'. "-Miss Winters won't be able to walk on my count, so I'll need you to pick her up when I give the signal."

The tigress cop nodded and placed her arms over Skye's shoulders and under her knees like earlier, getting ready to pick her up bridal style again.

"Skye, our nurse here, Phyllis, is going to unwrap your paw so we need you to be still, okay?" Dr. Bianca motioned towards the female squirrel.

With a nod, Nurse Phyllis, very gently and slowly, untied them - taking a good few minutes to peel the fabric away from the vulpine's paw. While her paw pads were still deep inside Jack's armpit, the other nurse began cleaning around the wound in attempt to sterilize the area as much as he can.

"Are you ready?"

The vixen's eyes snapped down to Dr. Bernard and started to cry. "Uh, I know you're not allowed to make promises-" she sniffed. "-but please don't let Jack die. I 'pretended' to be strong for his sake, but I'm really scared for him."

"It's going to be fine, dear," his wife answered for him, beaming confidently through her surgical mask. "Not to sell our own tails, but you currently have Zootopia's 'top medical staff' in this room."

Skye gave her a small smile back and looked down at the buck's handsome face once more. "Jack, I'm telling you; I'll stab you myself if you don't wake up and bring me to your premiere like you promised..."

The male doctor cleared his throat and asked the team, including the female officer who tightened her grip on the arctic fox's body. "Three, two, one. . .go."

Officer Fangmeyer rushed them both out into the hallway and set the vulpine down on a chair. With the latter's eyes glued to Jack's face the entire time, she didn't even notice the J. L. Hopps. running towards her.

"Are you okay?" she asked, kneeling in front of the vixen but the only respond were her painful sobs as reality finally crashed over.

The doe ignored the blood stains all over Skye's body and wrapped the larger female in her arms, taking the surgical cap off in the process. "Thank you, Skye. Thank you for saving him."

The arctic fox cried into her favorite author's shoulder for what seemed like hours. She eventually calmed down enough for the rabbit to cup her face and smoothen her cheeks. She heard a sniffle as the smaller female moved to take a seat next to her. Both pairs of sapphire and amethyst eyes silently watched the ongoing operation through the glass window. More than half an hour passed when both squat rodents stepped away from Jack's body. Dr. Bianca, who was standing on the hooves of the zebra nurse knocked on the glass and gave them a double thumbs up.

"Oh, thank Serendipity!" J. L. Hopps tearily exclaimed.

"Inari's grace!" Skye, who fell into her knees instead, exhaled.

A minute passed and the medical team wheeled the buck to the ICU. Dr. Bernard walked out of the OR, tossing his gloves unto a bin. Climbing up so he was at a 'conversational' height he told the pair in the waiting area: "Mr. Savage is stable for now. He flatlined once but was brought back right after. No brain damage whatsoever was found."

"Thank you Dr. Stoutheart," the doe smiled. "The city's in debt of you both." She glanced at the female doctor who was talking to Nurse Phyllis.

"We're only doing our job, Miss Hopps." he curtly said. "My wife is an avid reader of your works, as our children look up to Mr. Savage. Now if you'd excuse me."

The male doctor disappeared down the hall as the medical team made it to the ICU department. Nurse Phyllis who was waiting for them handed Skye a pair of shirt and pants. "Here, ma'am. Dr. Stoutheart asked me to give you these. She's hoping to be the one to do it, but she was needed back in the ER."

"Go ahead Skye," the author told her. "Best to take a shower or you'll scare Jack when he wakes up with you still looking like that."

The vixen smiled weakly before heading towards the bathroom - her numb heart doing a tiny 'cartwheel' as she remembered that she was talking to J. L. Hopps.

Slowly removing her blood-stained clothes, the arctic fox stepped into the warm shower and tried to process the whole ordeal.

'Holy shit! I feel like I'm in an actual Savage Seas movie!' she breathed out. 'I wonder what happened to that crazy lady? Was she a stalker? Or a deranged fan?'

Skye thoroughly cleaned her entire body - her fur almost removed as she tried to get rid of the stench of Jack's blood. About twenty or twenty-five minutes later, she got dressed and head back out into the buck's room, a pretty large suite with its own living area and bathroom, only to 'freeze' in place as her muzzle met with guns pointed directly in her face.

"Are you Miss Winters?" A lion ZPD officer angrily questioned her.

"Uh, yes?" The shaking vulpine replied as she put her paws in the air.

"Cuff the bitch," Another officer, a sheep, told Officer Fangmeyer who gave them an 'unreadable' expression before pulling the vixen's paws behind to bind them.

"Wait, what's happening?" She looked over at J. L. Hopps who had an expression somewhere between indignant and horrified. "Jud- Miss Hopps what are they doing?" she frantically asked the rabbit, feeling the metal cuffs pinch her fur.

"Release Miss Winters, now!" The doe cried in outrage.

"I'm afraid we can't, Miss Hopps." The lion cop huskily said. "She's under arrest."

"For what?!" Both females demanded.

"Attempting to 'murder' your partner, Jack Savage!"

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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.