The Disappeared

[Lord Dominator]

It is always interesting how quickly something can turn from simple to complicated just through a sudden surprise. 

Judy had been expecting to meet a representative from Camelot; the way the second message had come through, it might have been easy to assume that a large number of people from Minas Tirath had suddenly been kidnapped. On arrival at the bustling Capital, however, that assumption had been challenged. There was no wild panic on the streets; in fact, the fortress-city remained an impressive example of solid, unyielding security. Perhaps a little low-tech compared to the norm that Judy was used to, but the white stone city was beautiful, and ran almost like clockwork.

That made it easy enough to find the local Guard, and for Judy to be ushered into a small, private building where Minas Tirath guards stood at the ready to ensure there were no further unpleasant surprises. 

Guard Captain Tybalt was an older man, of dour disposition and stern demeanour. His slate-grey hair was abandoning him, though he held himself in such a way as to suggest that his skills had not. The gleaming armour of the Minas Tirath guard looked good on him, though he was carrying a heavy iron cudgel rather than the sword more commonly associated with the guard. The cudgel was more practical when it came to subduing suspects. 

He was also professional enough not to register surprise when Judy was allowed into the room. 

"You must be the contact from the Avengers." He said, voice low and serious. "Apologies that the others won't be joining us today. We'd hoped to establish formal relations, but this kidnapping business has thrown the relevant parties into a panic. They are ... elsewhere."

At the mention of the kidnapping, the other figure in the room suddenly stood up. He was a slender man, clearly no more human than Judy was. Tall, pointed ears were the most obvious factor, but the rest of his features seemed to have been sharpened to a razor's edge. Even the long, blonde locks he had been gifted with seemed like they might be sharp to the touch. 

"They have lost my SISTER!" The Elf spoke, his tone cutting through the air as though it were a weapon. "What I want to know, Captain, if why you aren't out there with them trying to find her!"

The exhausted look in Tybalt's eyes told Judy instantly that this had been a common theme of conversation over the past few hours. 

"Because someone had to be here to brief our Avengers contact." He said, with as much patience as his taxed nerve could muster. "Ms. Hopps. This is Prince Rigalt. According to him..."

The implication of doubt brought a hiss from the elf, which the Captain diplomatically did his best to ignore, continuing as though he hadn't heard it.

"His sister, Princess Elaria, should have made it to the Capital from their village some three days ago. She was due to petition the Kingdom for official recognition and open diplomatic relations. Unfortunately, as far as we can tell, she never arrived. There's nothing in the logs, none of the elf-friendly inns have so far admitted to seeing her."

Rigalt folded his arms across his chest, shaking his head slowly. "This is all some sort of conspiracy." He muttered, darkly. "You people are hiding my sister somewhere, probably torturing her! I told her that we couldn't trust you humans."

At that, the Captain turned so that the Prince could not see his expression, looking down into the police officer's face as he lowered his voice. 

"He hasn't been very helpful with me. You're not human either. If I leave him with you, can you try and find out more? Something strange is going on here, and I don't know what."

[Moon]

Judy Hopps was a very clever rabbit. And she knew this; Nick seemed very content with reminding her of it. But she couldn't wrap her head around the hatred of humans around here. At least, what she assumed were humans. The lanky mammals with not much fur except for on their heads. The ones she had met, the Captain, Blink, Marcus, and Hal, were great people. Some of them a little rough around the edges, but then, so was Nick. She just didn't quite understand it yet. It did, however, remind her greatly of how broken Zootopia was, where speciesism ran the city. And she hated it.

The Prince turned to Judy as the captain left, clearing his throat.

"So you're the representative from the Avengers," said the elf, with a tone that suggested that he held her in low esteem. His words were laced with condescension and distrust. After all, she worked with humans.

"That's me, sir. Judy Hopps, at your service!" Despite being all too aware of his thought process, she smiled, albeit somewhat forcing it. She wasn't too happy about these kidnappings, nowhere close. She understood Rigalt's pain nearly perfectly. Someone close to her had been taken from her, too. But she didn't want to fall into that again. There was so much anger, worry, sadness. Just like now. 

"I've heard. Tybalt said that you're a diplomat. There is more you can do. Correct?" Judy nearly scoffed. Of course there was more! She was one of Zootopia's finest! Then, he couldn't have known that. 

She mentally facepawed, reminding herself not to blame him for accidental prejudice. After all, to humans, apparently, all rabbits were simply meek prey. Like... like things used to be. Judy made a mental note, that humans were from a version of the world where animals didn't evolve. Instead, the humans rose to power. Odd, she didn't believe in the multiverse theory before.

"Yeah. I'm actually a trained police officer back where I come from. Top of my class in the academy, in fact." The rabbit looked back on that memory with pride. It was certainly a defining moment of her life. When everything fit together, and she knew that it was destiny. Of course, then she was given parking duty, but that was irrelevant. The point was, she was a cop through and through, in all but title.

"Police officer. Right." His voice still carried that patronizing tone. She found the fur on the back of her neck bristling. This guy was irritating. But not in a good way, like Nick. Unlike Rigalt, he had boundaries. 

"Well, anyway. What's your sister like?" And then the prince went off on a tangent like she'd never heard in her life. A few assorted curse words that she'd never heard, a lot of yelling, and maybe some crying? She'd lost track somewhere around 17 minutes. Hell if she'd stop him now, though. That was asking to be hurt or scolded. 

At last, his rant reached its conclusion, and he sighed.

"You'll have to forgive me. I'm just... very proud of her. For what she's become now." Judy smiled, genuinely for the first time. She still couldn't tell if it was because he was finally done, or if she was touched by his love for her. It seemed that perhaps Rigalt was more relatable than anticipated. That was good, at least he wasn't a total jerkface. 

She'd need that positivity later on, that was for sure.

[Lord Dominator]

When the ranting started, Captain Tybalt let himself back out of the room. Dealing with grief-struck individuals was not a major part of his skill set. Better to leave that to Judy, who seemed to have opened that whole can of worms to begin with! As the ranting and raving reached a fever pitch, and Tybalt could even hear some manner of sobbing within the private room, the grizzled Captain rolled his eyes in exasperation. One word summed it all up, as far as he was concerned:

"Elves."

Back within the room, the Prince exhaled, doing his best to recover some manner of decorum. It wasn't like him to lose his cool so spectacularly, but, the pressure he had been under with the unexpected loss of his sister was... immense. At least Judy does not seem to judge him. Even his own people - no, especially his own people - would have looked on such a lapse as a display of unconscionable weakness.

"My thanks for your understanding." Rigalt said, straightening, and carefully brushing his hair back into place - not one strand can seem to have been ruffled when he leaves this room. "Perhaps, it is feasible that the human's allies won't be entirely useless after all."

Talk about your damning with faint praise! But he genuinely seemed to mean the thanking part - the arrogance? Well, that might just be for show. Still, composing himself took a few more moments, adjusting his clothing and making sure his voice was steady and could be trusted before he began to speak once more.

"I am not a fool, you realise." He said, "I understand that if the Guard could simply wave their hand and bring my sister back to me, they would do so. But..."

Sniffing, the haughty elf allowed himself to sit, pausing and positioning himself deliberately - so that he can look Judy in the eye more comfortably for the both of them. An attempt, perhaps, to bridge the gap that had been set up before his long explanation about the virtues of his sister. And what virtues they were! According to him, there has never been a more peaceful and loving soul in all the long and storied history of his people; neither of them were certain how they had come to be in this place, but both had resolved to do their best to keep their people safe. He, through force of arms, and she, through negotiation and outreach with the younger, more inexperienced races - with whom her patience was legendary where his was, quite clearly, not.

"You see." He said at last, "If I had been with my sister, she would never have been ... lost. But I was too proud. I thought myself too good to come to this hateful city of ignorant, pig-headed humans, and so she went with only a few of the more tolerant guards. It was, supposed, to be an easy journey, just an introduction and then return home, but... no. My incompetence in this is as much to be blamed as the guard of this city. Perhaps even more so."

He sighed deeply, and his head bowed. The weight he was carrying on his shoulders was crushing; this was not a problem that he could solve with violence, or shouting. The two tools in his repertoire which he used to solve most of life's problems. Nor did dancing feel like it would be of any great assistance. What was an elf to do?

"I had hoped." He murmured softly, "That they would find her in this place, that she had merely been delayed somehow, but, if she never came here... yes, I can help you. I can at least show you the route that she would have come. There might be, clues, of some sort, as to what might have happened."

His eyes hardened, then, and he was not just an injured man any longer - he was once more a Prince. His voice carried with it all the sombre warning that the seriousness of the situation demanded.

"But I should warn you. If someone has harmed her... be they human, elf, or the Gods themselves, I will not rest until their blood, and the blood of every living being that has granted them succour, has watered her grave."

If it wasn't for the deadly hiss in his voice, the fact that his knuckles are white with tension, it might be difficult to take such a melodramatic threat seriously. As it was, though, there could be no doubt that he meant it. Whoever, or whatever, had harmed his sister, would not live to be a threat to any other.

"Do we have an agreement, Police Officer Hopps?"

Well it... it wasn't exactly 'by the book' policing, but, crime and punishment was a little more lax out there in the wild and dangerous wilderness, wasn't it? The question was, could Judy swallow that and deal out the Law of the Sword .... or at least, string the anger-blinded Prince along in his quest for revenge.

[Moon]

"Do we have an agreement, Police Officer Hopps?" the elf asked, a steely tone to his voice. Judy opened her mouth to answer, but any words she tried to reply with simply died in her throat.

He was asking for her to let him murder someone, if his sister was injured or... worse. She hoped it hadn't came to that. While she completely understood his anger, she really just couldn't decide whether to let him go through with his threat. On one hand, murder was a very serious crime. She didn't want to have to do anything to do with it. Even then, Judy may have to bring him in herself if that were the case. But on the other hand, they kidnapped his sister. Quite possibly killed her. Now, Judy wasn't an expert in loss, but she understood what that could do to a person.

That was not to say she agreed with him. Because, despite herself, she didn't. Murder wasn't okay, and two wrongs didn't make a right. It was a question of morality now. And she had made her choice.

"Well?" Rigalt said, eyebrow raised. "We don't have long until the sun sets."

The rabbit took a breath, before speaking. "No, Prince Rigalt. We don't have an agreement."

Rigalt was silent for a moment, before replying with a simple, "Pardon?"

"You heard me. We don't have an agreement. Regardless of how you may feel on the matter, I'm not going to just let you kill someone. They deserve a fair trial, just like anyone else." 

"But they kidnapped my sister! Don't you understand that?!" The prince was understandably mad now. This rabbit was standing in the way of his vengeance!

"I... do understand that, yes. I've seen my fair share of kidnappings. But going so far as murder? It's wrong!" Her own voice was raising in volume now. He needed to understand, what he wanted to do wouldn't fly. Not with her, anyway.

"But it's justice! They'll be getting what they deserve!" It was clear now, how different their view of justice was. While Rigalt believed that death should come to those who do evil, Judy believed in the right to have your side of things heard. Maybe this person was being held at gunpoint while kidnapping his sister? Unlikely, but possible.

"That's not how it works. Not where I'm from." 

The prince sighed. "Then how exactly do you propose we do this?" He sounded exasperated, more than angry. Perhaps that was a good thing?

"Well... First, an investigation is in order." The flatfoot stopped, for a moment. "Do you, um, know where your sister was when she was kidnapped?"

"I believe I have a good idea as to where that was, yes."

--

Judy was struggling not to vomit onto the ground. They found their spot. The guards of Rigalt's sister were still here. And they had been gutted. It was obvious that the perp, or perps, weren't screwing around.

"Hopps, are you quite alright? You seem a little sick." Hopps swallowed down the bile in her throat, taking a breath to calm her nerves. Corpses were never quite her strong suit, and this many? Almost unbearable. Besides, the smell was terrible. She found herself actually happy that Nick wasn't here. He'd be dying.

"Y-yeah, I'm okay. Let's just see if we can find any clues." The dead guards were even neatly arranged in a circle. A sick joke. The prince and the police glanced toward each other for a moment, before slowly approaching the circle. There was a folded note in the center.

"Rigalt. Will you...?"