"It's not like you were going to eat it," officer Wilde said and took another chomp out of the donut in his paw.
"It's still gross, Nick. It fell chocolate-side down and we've tracked mud and grime and all kinds of filth into this car. Now your breath is going to smell something rancid," said officer Hopps with a scoff. Her fox partner returned his gaze out the windshield as he continued to eat his late night snack. The car was completely dark on the inside but the only light they could see was the street lamp about a quarter mile down the road.
"Huunh," Judy sighed. "The night is so quiet."
"First stakeout?" Nick asked.
"Yeah . . . wait, is it not your first too?"
"You have no idea. That was one of the first odd-jobs I did for Mr. Big back in the day," he explained.
"Who were you . . . nevermind. The less I know about Mr. Big the better," she concluded without scolding him about the subject again.
"Doesn't look good on a cop's guest list, huh?" Nick suggested. Another minute or so passed in the dark as the lamp on the end of the street flickered a little. The rainforest district was home to many creatures of different shapes and sizes, so there were bound to be a few mammals in earshot that they could not see in the darkness.
"So," Nick began trying to fill the silence, "You going home for the long weekend?"
"Uh-huh," she nodded. "It's been too long since I've seen my parents or Billy, or Casey, or Johnny, or Matilda, or Sarah, or Willie, or—"
"Ok, if you're going to list every last one of your siblings off by name, we'll be here all night whether we spot the guy or not," Nick interrupted.
"Aww but Nick! Don't you want to hear about my family?" Judy teased him.
"Psh," he scoffed. "As if they'd want to hear about your fox-partner."
"Nick! Why would you say that? My parents like everything about you." She scolded him.
"Wait, you told your parents about me?" Nick said a little surprised.
"Of course, Nick. And I told them you're an upstanding young officer. Didn't you tell your mother about me?" she asked. Nick thought back to his phone call to his mother a few weeks back. He wasn't expecting much, but for some reason his mother seemed especially overjoyed. She mentioned how good it was for him to have someone that close.
"Yeah . . ." he remembered. Then he looked over to Judy who was looking up at him from the passenger seat with a smile. "Do you talk about me a lot?"
"Well, we spend 12 hours a day working together and we even hang out outside of work, so yeah . . . I guess I do," she said a little bashfully, embarrassed that she did not have as many friends as close as Nick. Did she even have anyone as close as Nick?
"Makes sense . . ." Nick said and again there was another long pause. He looked back at the street corner near the lamp and shifted in his seat to get more comfortable.
"You know, I never got the chance to thank you," Judy said quietly. Nick looked over to her but her gaze was fixed forward as well.
"For what?" Nick said quietly.
"For . . you know, joining the force, being my partner, being my friend even when I wasn't a good one to you," she said softly. Nick wanted so badly for her to be joking but the look on her face was dead-serious. He felt nervous for some reason.
"Ok? You're welcome? You do know I may have signed up because I'm good at this job? And you're the only one on the force I'm taller than so I couldn't be partnered with anyone else," Nick jested. This got a sneer from the rabbit who rolled her eyes and looked back towards the street lamp. That's what she got for trying to be mature around her partner. Just then, the first rain drops began pattering against the roof of the car, quickly building into a steady shower.
"Hey, carrots, look . . . I'm—" he started, but was cut off by his partner again.
"Our suspect. What are the details again?" she asked, getting him to focus on work again.
"Let's see here," Nick said as he flipped through the case file. "We're looking for an adult Grisly male, 11'9'', 460 pounds and brown fur. Arrested for possession of illegal meat products at age 18, did 10 years at ZDC, and a desperate need of some shampoo by the look of his picture. It also says he's built up resistance to tranqs, so we'll need to use elephant grade" Nick said.
"Does he have a chunk of his left ear missing?" Judy asked. Nick leaned in closer to the photo to get a decent look of the case file.
"Yeah! Wait, how did you know that?" He asked. Judy did not waist any time. She simply pointed towards the lamp post and began strapping her walkie on. Nick followed her finger and saw a massive dark blob hobbling towards the street corner. The massive figure loomed in a shadow between them and the lamp, but sure enough, the left ear was missing a considerable amount. Once upon a time, this bear pissed someone off, and that someone had teeth.
"Jeeze! A little urgency here Hopps?" Nick said. Judy already had her thumb on the button for her radio and was confirming the suspect's position to dispatch.
"Roger that, Hopps, 22-30. Keep an eye on him until the informant arrives."
Sure enough, a few moments later a smaller, thinner figure emerged on the street corner and leaned up against the nearest tree. It was rare to see a creature so large risk going up into the canopy of the rainforest like this, but carnivores addicted to real-meat products would often risk odd places to stay private.
"Dash cam on?" She asked. Nick nodded and watched as the massive bear and smaller creature started talking. It was too far for his earshot, but Judy was picking things up well enough.
"We have both the suspect and the informant in view, dispatch, confirmed. Are we moving in?" Judy asked on the radio.
"Negative Hopps. Keep them in sight," a voice came through the radio.
A moment later and the bear swiped at the smaller figure with a massive paw and sent him flying into the wall violently.
"Crackers! Things just went south," Judy exclaimed and fumbled for her radio again. "Suspect is engaging the informant. Requesting green light!" Judy said. Wilde's eyes widened as he saw the massive creature pick up the thin mammal in his maw and throw him against the wall yet again with a sickening crunch. He put the keys in the ignition and readied himself, making sure his tranq gun was in his pocket.
"Green Light to engage!" the voice said from the radio. Not a second later the car was started, in gear, and roaring forward with the lights on and blaring. Red and Blue filled the darkness from their sides and the massive bear lurched up and stared at the sirens in front of him. Nick wheeled the car around and it skidded to a halt with the bear firmly between the car and the wall.
"ZPD, Paws up!" Judy called out as she opened the car and readied her dart gun. The bear growled loudly before bellowing out a full roar and raising his paw upward. A furry balled-up fist came down on the hood of the car, shaking them both madly. The hood of the car bent and mangled and the engine spun to a stop loudly.
"Dammit, I like this car!" Nick said loudly and fired his tranq at the beast's neck, landing a firm hit. The Bear seemed agitated by it, but not moved by it. He looked down at Nick and growled loudly. "Uhhhh, Carrots? What do we do when we have no ride?" he asked.
"Lookout!" she called out and ducked. Another swipe came from the side and the car soared upward and to the side over Nick before rolling twice and smashing to the ground. The lights and siren still spun, but the car was more like a turtle upside down.
"This way!" Nick said and bounded to the side, avoiding another blow. They both ran towards the higher branches. The bear was now sprinting after them, and with their speed, he would catch up quickly.
"Where?" Nick asked frantically.
"Remember how we dealt with the savage panther?" she asked, and Nick nodded. They followed the narrowing path upward and towards the sky-tram dock. They soon found themselves cornered with a massive bear facing them.
"Great, we're cornered, and I don't think you can sneak behind him to cuff him, so what's the plan?" Nick asked hopefully.
". . . Uh," Judy said.
"UH?!" Nick protested.
When the bear was upon them, he raised both his claws again and swiped down at them hard. They both bounced backwards, avoiding the crushing blows, which were instead delivered to the wooden walkway beneath them. The floor began to crack as wood shifted and broke.
"Lure him out farther?" Judy suggested in a furious whisper.
"Really? That's all you got?" he hushed back, not breaking eye contact with the murderous monster in front of him.
"Just do it!" Judy said and bobbed her head as she dodged another downward blow. The rain was now down pouring and the bear's fur sagged with water.
"I'm doing plans next time!" Nick said and dodged again, following her lead backwards towards the edge of the platform. More wood creaked and broke beneath them as the heavy creature followed them out. He growled and roared as he continued to swipe down at the two of them. Right after one final thrust downward, the floor began to shift beneath them.
"Now!" Judy called out and bounced up as high as she could and somersaulted over the beast. Nick tried to prowl around his side as he was pre-occupied with the twirling bunny, but the bear noticed.
"Grrrraaah!" he bellowed and, instead of swiping with his claws, he lurched forward and bared his teeth at Nick. Judy saw.
"Nick!" she called out and bounded again as soon as she hit the ground. She slammed her body into Nick, who flew back towards the pathway with a thud and shook his head, regaining his bearing. When he looked back at the suspect, he lost sense of what he was seeing.
Judy, held in the massive criminal's teeth, cried out in pain as the bear bit down. She swung once as the bear shook her in his mouth and flung her towards the pathway where she hit the ground with a thud and rolled to a stop, lying motionless in the rain.
"JUDY!" Nick cried out and ran towards her. The bear was hot on his tail, but the last of the supports was giving out and the floor began to collapse beneath all of them. The bear sank a little into the floor and backwards as he tried to regain his balance and hang on to what was remaining on the floor. Nick grabbed his partner off of the ground and ran towards the ground. He leapt in the air as the last of the supports gave way and the entire platform began shifting and falling down off of the cliff face. Nick turned and for a moment and saw the brown mass of fur tumble downwards into the darkness with a echoing cry.
Nick regained his breath, looking down over the cliff face and seeing and hearing no sign of their attacker. He quickly returned to Judy and felt his breath get caught in his throat. Her shoulder was bleeding intensely and her vest was torn right into her chest. Her eyes were closed and she wasn't moving at all.
"Carrots!" he called out and took her face in his paws. "Judy? Come on now, stay with me. Judy?!" Then he remembered the radio and pulled the microphone off of her shoulder.
"Dispatch, 10-00! We have an officer down, repeat, officer Hopps—" he said but noticed that the cord connecting the microphone to the radio had been severed completely by the bite.
"Errah!" he groaned and threw the radio to the side. "Come on, Carrots, let's go," he said and scooped the frail bunny up in his paws, lifting her up off the ground. The patrol car was smashed, so there was no way to drive her to the hospital, but backup would be on the way by now, so Nick began running. He held his partner close to his chest, being careful not to shake her too much as he ran forward. Cold rain splashed his face while warm blood trickled down his forearm.
"Come on, . . . huff* stay with me Judy . . . . huff* . . . don't worry, I gotchyou. You're going to be fine . . . it's alright Carrots, just keep breathing . . . huff*" he muttered as he continued to run with Judy in his arms. He passed by the smashed patrol car and found his way to the freeway entrance soon after.
"Come on . . . please . . . huff* . . . not this," he said. The freeway leading back to city center was dark and empty at this time of night. "Come on Judy, please . . ."
As if someone could have heard his plea, sirens and lights began to emanate from the rainfall in front of him. The sounds grew louder as the backup roared towards them. Nick fell to his knees, still holding his mangled partner.
"Here!" he called out and looked down at Judy, who's face remained oddly peaceful in the rain and blood.