"Patrol 172, Dispatch. Respond code 3 to 183 Waterfall Lane for a possible 10-31." came crackling over the radio.
"Dispatch, 172. Responding code 3. Will advise when on scene." Judy responded, looking over at her fellow officer, Nicholas Wilde. "Well, so much for a quiet day." She said with a grin, as she flipped on the lights and siren.
"What did I tell you about that word?" Nick said with a sigh, before grabbing onto something to keep himself still as the cruiser suddenly darted forward, running code 3 towards the address. "That word is jinxed. Now we're gonna be busy all day."
"And that's bad because?" Hopps asked with a grin on her face. "Better to be doing something than to sit around all day."
Nick groaned. "Maybe you think so Carrots, but I'd rather get to take at least one nap after the past week's workload."
"Awww, don't be a baby. After this call we can stop for some lunch or something." Hopps replied as she navigated traffic at pursuit speed, as the duo pulled up on scene.
"Dispatch, 172. 10-23, Officers Hopps and Wilde investigating."
"Copy 172. Advise when you're clear."
Judy and Nick both dismounted the cruiser, taking a look around as they scanned for any signs of trouble, or any situation that might be about to escalate.
"Down there." Nick said, pointing. "See them?"
Judy nodded. "Yup, that'd be the reason we're here I bet." she said with a sigh. "Come on, let's get this over with."
The pair walked down the street towards a shopkeeper who was currently yelling at someone nearly half his size, wearing all black clothing. "...and just wait until the police get here! I'll make sure you're locked up for good you little-!" he shouted, cutting himself off as he saw the two officers approach. "Ah, good. You're here. I need you to arrest this useless trash." He said smugly, gesturing towards the mammal in front of him.
"And why would that be?" Hopps asked, as Nick walked to make sure that he'd be able to monitor the full situation, including the shopkeeper.
"He stole from my store, again. This is the first time that I managed to actually catch him in the act." The otter said smugly, glaring at the mammal. "He deserves what's coming for him."
Judy looked over at the mammal, who was clutching what seemed to be food to his chest. "Unless you say anything, I'm going to have to arrest you for theft. Or you can pay for the items you stole."
The mammal just shrugged, not responding. He shifted the backpack on his shoulders slightly, adjusting the weight on his shoulders.
Hopps sighed. "Alright, fine. Drop the goods and just walk away." She said, stepping closer to the mammal, noting that he stepped back, maintaining the distance between all of the people there.
"Last chance. Drop it, or I'm going to have to place you under arrest." She said, motioning for Nick to move around and cut the suspect off.
Nick moved, but Hopps noticed that the suspect had noted the movement, and then suddenly darted between Nick and Judy, sprinting down a street and into an alleyway. Judy and Nick were seconds behind him, yelling for him to stop.
"Dispatch, 172! Suspect fleeing on foot, officers Hopps and Wilde in pursuit!"
"172, Dispatch. Copy-" The officer working dispatch finished his reply, but the duo were not paying any attention as Judy and Nick turned the corner and slid to a stop.
In front of them stood two rams and a weasel, all engaged in the exchange of drugs and money. The trio there looked up at the two officers, both just as surprised to see one another as the other pair was. The suspect they had been chasing was nowhere to be seen.
"Drop the drugs and-!" Judy never got a chance to finish her sentence as the trio in front of her and Nick suddenly went to opposite sides of the alley, dropping the money and drugs, but drawing sidearms from their belts and opening fire on the two police officers.
Judy reacted on instinct, twisting around the corner and drawing her own weapon, then reengaging the threats in the alleyway. As she fired, she then noticed that her partner was down in the alley, not moving.
"Dispatch, 172! Shots fired, Officer down!" She shouted into the radio, still engaged with the gunfight between her and the drug dealers. "Officer down! Request backup and medical to my location asap!"
Dispatch responded, but Hopps wasn't paying any attention to her radio. She instead focused on shooting back, and trying to make sure her partner was ok. "Officer Wilde! Nick!"
She saw a slight movement of his body and heard a groan, but other than that he made no movement. Judy ducked behind the corner, reloaded her sidearm, and then snapped back around the corner, reengaging the drug dealers.
A sudden movement caught the attention of her eye, and a black shape suddenly darted out from behind a dumpster in the alley, moving to the body of her fallen partner.
"Freeze! On the ground!" Hopps shouted, still engaged in the gunfight. "Keep your hands off him!"
The mammal didn't listen, instead choosing to grab Nick and begin dragging him out of the center of the alley. Unsure if the new contact was friendly or not, Hopps couldn't chance it. She levered her sidearm and squeezed off a shot, hitting the person dragging her partner. He dropped, but then the hail of gunfire from the drug dealers forced her to take cover back around the corner.
"Dispatch, 172! I need that backup now! They're attempting to move the fallen officer!" Hopps called again, but then she heard the sirens.
Moments later, two units from the ZPD downtown SWAT turned the corner, and multiple officers dismounted, rapidly joining the gunfight. Minutes later, it was over, except for one single issue.
"Officer Hopps. Officer Wilde was downed right here, correct?" Chief Bogo asked, his voice gruff with worry and anger.
Judy swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded, fighting back tears, looking at the spot where Nick had been hit. His body was no longer there, and neither was the body of the mammal that had been dragging him. "But I don't know where he could have been taken..." she trailed off, glancing around the alley, before she finally noticed a set of rappelling ropes laying out a window.
"Up there!" She shouted, and in a flash she was almost up the rope and climbing through the window.
"Hopps! Wait for SWAT!" The chief shouted, but Judy ignored his voice and climbed into the building, upholstering her sidearm as she began to clear the room. A trail of blood led the way.
"Come on come on come on..." She heard a voice muttering from an open room. "Stay with me Officer."
Judy stepped into the room. "ZPD! Hands up!" She shouted, leveling her pistol at the mammal who was kneeling next to an unmoving body. With a start, she realized that the body was Nick, and the one kneeling over him was the suspect from earlier. "Get away from him now!" She shouted again, and the sounds she heard from outside made her realize that the rest of the officers knew that she had found someone in here.
The mammal didn't move away. "Officer, if I let go right now, he dies." a male voice said calmly, but tinged with pain, as Judy noticed that he curled slightly to one side. "I need medics in here before I can stop."
Judy kept her weapon trained on center mass. "I said step away from the officer.". Her voice was cold and hard. Looking around the room, she noticed that the bag that the suspect had been wearing was now on the far side of his body and appeared to be open. She couldn't tell what was inside the back, and that made her even more nervous.
The male just shook his head. "You're going to have to shoot me officer, if you want me to move before I have paramedics in here. I'm not losing another one." The voice was obviously in pain, but filled with the same determination that Judy had.
As she wrestled with the decision she had to make, she heard the sound of pounding feet, and then a voice from down the hall. "Officer Hopps! Where are you?!"
"In here!" She yelled back, still trained on the suspect. "Officer down inside! I need those medics now!"
As she called back, the SWAT team, including one of the SWAT team's tactical medics, rushed forward, bursting into the room, as it turned into a scene of chaos.
Judy watched as the medic dropped down next to the unknown mammal, who was violently pulled away from Nick by two of the SWAT team members. They yanked off his hood and forced him onto his stomach, which the arctic fox responded to with a yelp of pain.
"Chief, we're gonna need another medic in here. Suspect is injured and in custody." One of the SWAT members said into his radio, and then listened to the response.
Judy felt her legs start to shake as she watched the scene unveil in front of her. Her closest friend and partner was down, and she had no idea if he was going to survive it or not.
"Hopps." She heard the voice of the chief behind her, and she turned around to face him wordlessly.
"You're off duty as of right now. Go with Officer Wilde and the suspect to the hospital. They are your responsibility until we get someone there to relieve you." While his speech was gruff as always, his eyes showed the worry he had for his officers. "And if you need anything, you talk to the staff there."
Judy nodded again, and turned back to watch the medics working on both the suspect and Nick. Anger gnawed at her, as she knew that had that suspect not ran, her friend wouldn't have been shot in the first place. There would be hell to pay for that fox, whatever his name was.
The only thing that I 'own' in the sense of this story is the OC, whose name will be revealed at a later date.
First time doing something like this, so any commentary would be appreciated to help me improve. Hopefully I'll be able to capture the correct personality of Judy and Nick for the time's that I'm writing from their point of view, but it will shift over to my OC later on, which should resolve any issues that I'm having if I'm unable to catch it.
Outside that, thank you for reading this, and hopefully I'll have the next chapter(s) up soon.