Chapter 24.2: The Hollow of the Sun Goddess

When lightening arced across the sky again, she frowned in mild annoyance as she turned her eyes to look out over the city and the misty gray that now hung over it. Drawing a deep breath slowly enough that it wouldn’t be noticed by those around her, the vixen released it with a light, airy laugh.

“This was all a little melodramatic, don’t you think?” she said, forcing her gaze to soften as she looked between the Todd and bunny for a moment before she walked towards her desk after gesturing for them to follow her. In part, she did it get her eyes off of him so she could gather herself and brush aside the pestering sentimentality that kept pulling at her. Making her want to be closer to Nick than either of them was ready to admit. And in part, it was because she wanted to show off. Just a little. To make herself feel better and more in control. “Let’s change the mood, shall we?”

Stepping onto the dais and taking her seat, she tapped a few keys on the display to her right to bring up a menu. Once she saw Nick and Hopps take their seats, and felt the presences of Jack on the edges of her vision, she made her selection. The dome around them rippled silently for a moment before light started to slide over the surface, shimmering as the storm outside was slowly transformed. Clouds went from dark gray and angry to white, fluffy and sparse. Gloomy skies and rain became the warm glow of sunlight, which radiated down on the city as the storm was replaced by a picturesque sunny day.

A pleased sigh escaped her as she looked around for a moment and was gratified when she turned her eyes back to Hopps to see an expression of surprise, pleasure, and a little bewilderment on her face.

“Illusions, of course,” she clarified, waving an idle paw towards the dome around them. “The Apex dome is not simple glass. It’s a weave of holographic emitters, not unlike Jack’s suit. Unlike his suit, however, when the object is stationary any number of illusions can be brought to life. Generally, the projection is just what you would see outside as if you were truly looking through glass, but when there is a drastic need for a change in scenery I can look out over the city however I want.”

“Is that how you see Zootopia?” Hopps asked, violet eyes returning to her with a very slight incline in her head. “Something where you can project to illusion of peace and stability, no matter what’s really happening right under your muzzle?”

“All cities do that, Miss Hopps,” she said, her tone kept pleasant easily because she was feeling more in her own element again. “Every government for every city on the planet puts forth an illusion of perfect beauty and serenity. It attracts those who want to come and take part in it, brings tourists, allows most of the population to live in peace with the knowledge that they are a part of such a great and culturally advanced society. And in most cases, these governments don’t do it because they want to fool anyone: they do it because that is what they really want their city to be. It gives them and the mammals that live under their umbrella something to strive for.”

“While at the same time keeping them blind to the rot at the heart of it all,” Nick said, drawing her narrowed gaze for a moment before she relaxed back into her chair.

“Not to argue against you, because a lot of what you said is partly true, Madam Administrator,” Hopps said, even her professional courtroom tone, which she used very well, far less neutral than the words of the Todd had been, “but Nick is right. Glossing over the truth with an illusion of perfection never helps anything. I consider the Otterton trial to be a prime example of what happens when someone interrupts the illusion, forcing hands to move to keep the illusion in place.

“And I don’t believe you had anything to do with that,” she said quickly with one paw raised when Neveen narrowed her eyes, “but when the illusion benefits certain groups that are cloaked within it, they will act to protect it with or without your consent. Such as sending alleged assassins after a lawyer who is working to undo a wrong perpetuated by the system.”

“A lawyer who I invited into Zootopia,” the vixen replied with a benign smile curving her lips as she leaned back in the seat and idly tapped her paws on the arm of her chair. “What you’re talking about is governments trying to keep control by offering ideas and doing nothing to make those ideas come to pass as long as it secures their office. That is when the promises of a great city like Zootopia become an illusion and it is not what I am doing. I am trying to change the city for the better, trying to bring what Zootopia could be to reality.”

She paused for a moment, taking some small pleasure in the fact that Hopps seemed to be considering her words, and far less pleasure in the way Nick was watching her. Watching her if he didn’t believe her. Watching her like she was the enemy. She had to resist the urge to look away from them, kept her ears upright as she focused her attention on the bunny instead.

“As people who know the truth, you have to ask yourself,” she continued as she looked over and gestured to the sunny day over Zootopia that they all knew was a trick of light and technology, “would you rather bask in the sun while working at clear the shadows, or would you rather struggle to stay dry in the storm while the shadows surround you?”

Hopps frowned slightly, looking unconvinced but thoughtful as their eyes met. It was going to have to do for now. If the Otterton case could be proven and at least that piece of the puzzle was laid bare, then maybe the idealistic little bunny would come to realize that Zootopia would heal under the careful attention of an Administrator. Something that Neveen knew she needed to happen if her plans for the city were to move forward as she planned. The idea of needed to rework her plans at the whims of a Common Wealth lawyer did not sit well with her, but it would have to do.

With that she had learned from the reporter, however, it seemed that everything was indeed going as planned if not by the same course she had intended.

“I suppose with that said, we both have our parts to play,” she said, her tone cheerful as she rose from her seat and moved towards the two of them with a sway of both her tail and her hips. “I have shadows to chase and you, Miss Hopps, have a case to win in the morning.”

“Yes, you’re right of course,” Hopps said as they both rose, though it was Hopps who looked up at her and extended a paw. A small smile played over Neveen’s muzzle as she reached out to take it, russet paws closed over the much smaller one in a courteous if cool shake on both their parts. “I am glad to have had this chance to meet you and thank for the token gesture of choosing me to represent Otterton.”

“As I should thank you for accepting it,” she replied, aware and amused by her insistence that it was a token gesture. She was certain that Hopps didn’t believe that any more than she did, as a token would not be expected to create change. And while they both had different ideas of what that change might be, that didn’t make it any less amusing.

“You should call Big,” Nick said a moment later as she was walking them towards the elevator, aware that Jack was following her even with his lack of input or sound in general.

A quick sliver of annoyance rippled through her particularly because of the curious, suspicious interest that the bunny directed at him when he dropped the name. She didn’t allow it to reach the surface however, pausing with the key in her paw as they reached the elevator.

“I’m not sure that would be the best idea right now, Nicholas,” she said, keeping her expression carefully neutral when she turned to face him. “There is nothing to say that hasn’t been said already and nothing that can be said that would change anything.”

“All right,” he said, surprising her with the softer unhappy notes in his voice. And more when he stepped closer to her, raising one paw to rest it on her shoulder while green eyes gazed into hers for a long moment before he drew her into a warm hug. “I’ll let him know that you’re as stubborn as ever.”

It brought a little smile to her muzzle even as it caused a little crack in Neveen’s heart, but she returned the hug with her muzzle pressed into his shoulder for a few seconds. The familiar scent of him tempted her to linger, to hold onto this sliver of her life from before, to ask him to stay at her side even. But the moment the embrace was broken, all of those things evaporated as quickly as the warmth in his eyes. She turned to insert the key into the elevator lock, watching the doors as they opened before she turned to face them.

“Good luck with your case, Miss Hopps,” the Administrator said, her gaze following them as they stepped into the elevator while she held the door open for a moment longer before turning the key again to let them close. “And do be careful of the wolves.”

**********

Not a word was said between them during the ride down the elevator, and the silence was not comfortable. The tension in the air was so thick that her nose twitched as she stared at the reflective surface of the doors. A quick look at Nick in that reflection showed her a male that looked troubled and unhappy, even if he was trying his best to put on his normally stoic mask.

The Administrator… No, the vixen had gotten to him.

Judy had seen many sides of him since he had taken up the mantle of protecting her, even if the calm was the face he normally wore. He could be warm, serious, sarcastic, determined, supportive, passionate, funny and cold as ice. But those faces, the ones that he kept hidden, were almost always for her. Today, she had seen new emotions: sadness and hopeful.

And wasn’t it strange and narrow of her, that seeing these emotions brought out in him by someone else made her feel jealous?

It was far from the only thing that troubled her, however. Everything about the short conversation had bothered her, even if it had been enlightening. There was some degree of relief in the knowledge that the Administrator did seem to be on the side of the law in the Otterton case. Her reasoning for not interfering made perfect sense, on one level. But it still came across as cold to allow an innocent mammal to sit in prison when the belief in his innocent and the power to release him was there, whatever the reaction of the public might have been.

She remained silent as they walked to the car, running the entire conversation through her mind again.

All in all, she had no idea what to make of the Administrator. It was easy enough on the surface to say that the vixen had the best interests of the city in mind, but her beliefs simply didn’t align with Judy’s. But working in law, Judy was often faced with aspects of law that did not suit her well. Criminals were often released on technicalities, unfair sentencing was common, biased juries that were perfectly within their rights to be biased as long as they didn’t say they were biased out loud. The world was not a perfect place, so it was hard to hold a candle to someone stepping outside of the realm of common decency in an attempt to make it better. Or at least her idea of better. But what price was there to pay for that sort of improvement? Involvement with a rabbit that Nick believed was one of the most dangerous mammals in the city? The alleged assassination of a high profile military leader?

What lengths had she gone to, herself? Aligning herself with a fox she knew nothing about; one who was capable of killing without signs of regret or that he was impacted by it all. A fox who dropped the name of the well-known mob boss, Mr. Big, to one of the most powerful people in the world without batting an eye or twitching an ear. She had even questioned whether or not he had been Yūrei while still under his care and had simply taken him at his word that he was not. Not because she hadn’t believed him capable of doing what the seemingly mythical figure was famous for, but because she hadn’t wanted to be believe that he would. 

But in reality, could she make that assumption with a clear conscience? 

When she pulled herself out of these thoughts long enough to realize where she was, the car was coming to a stop in front of her office. The silence was almost overwhelming when the fox beside her shut off the engine. Her paws tightened in her lap as she tried to work up the courage to say when she needed to say, something that might well damage whatever feelings the two of them had started to form for each other. And when he reached for the door handle to exit the car, she finally did speak.

“How do you know the Administrator, Nick?”

“It’s not important.”

The tone was as distant as it was dismissive, and just as the door popped open, she reached out to grab the sleeve of his jacket. When he stopped, she met green eyes with anger reflecting in her own.

“That’s not good enough anymore, Nick,” she said firmly with her ears pinned flat against her head, squeezing her fingers painfully tight around the fabric when he tried to pull his arm away. “There is too much going on around me that I don’t know, and almost all of it revolves around you. This is too dangerous for me not to know anything, when I should know everything.”

His paw fell away from the door handle, his ears dropping to the side as his eyes turned forward, staring blankly out of the windshield of the car for a long moment as she let the words hang between them. But she only let them hang long enough for her to gather her courage and her sanity, before she continued.

“You’re going to tell me everything, Nick, or we’re finished.”