A/N: So I bet you're wondering what this new story is about and why I've started one with all of my other ones already in progress. Well, this story was originally started by a friend, Akanomie1. It was an intriguing premise but unfortunately he and his co-writer, Germanygsg91, are unable to continue writing it and have asked me to take over. The story is already in progress so I am mainly doing some rewrites in my style. It will be a side project and not hinder my other stories so no worries there. I do hope you enjoy it :)
Disclaimer: Not mine! Sort of. So only aim 50% the harsh criticism my way. I don't own Nick or Judy or Bogo or Zootopia. Yet. One day your Miraculous's will be mi-...Sorry, wrong story.
Chapter 1 - A change in routine
Eight o'clock. I wonder how this morning will go, Judy thought to herself bitterly. Probably stuck in an orange vest and a stupid little hat again. Is it really so unbelievable that a bunny could do just as well as any other mammal?
Glancing around, Judy took in several of her fellow officers. I'm much faster than McHorn. He wheezes after running two blocks! Scrutinizing the gray timber wolf behind her she felt her eyes narrow. And Wolford is so unprofessional. Always pulling pranks on his partner. He let a purse snatcher get away last week because he was 'busy' pushing peas into Snarlov's straw when he wasn't looking.
Though her ears were currently slumped down her back she did not fail to hear the heavy thumping of hooves coming towards the room. Sighing she began to stand even before the large hippo called for attention. Wincing slightly at the heavy pounding of fists all around her, Judy tried to focus on what was happening before her but just as every morning, the growls and roars shot vibrations through her chair legs up into her own making her just a bit unsteady.
The massive cape buffalo that entered the room headed straight for the podium without looking around, only addressing the assembled officers once he had placed his papers down. "Alright, quiet down!" he bellowed. All eyes were on him, though there was a difference that morning.
To say Judy was tired would be an understatement. There was no yawn slipping from her lips or drowsiness in her gaze. No. Judy Hopps was tired of not being Officer Hopps. And for the first time in her many months of being on the force, her bright and chipper self was not present. She was such a nobody within the precinct though that none of the mammals around her noticed her attitude change, nor would they have even cared if they did. The Chief however was not quite so flippant about details.
"Hopps? Are you feeling alright?" Astounded and caught completely off guard by the almost pleasant tone coming from her boss, Judy leapt to her feet once more, her ears snapping upright.
"Y-Yes sir!" For the first time in so long she allowed herself to feel a small bit of hope that maybe, just maybe, she would be noticed and appreciated. "I'm fine! Better than! Ready to prote-"
"Splendid," the mammal cut her off, a sickly sweet smile on his face. "I would hate for our meter maid to be unable to write those tickets."
The snickers and laughs from her coworkers felt like knives being driven deep into her spirit. Her ears slumped once more while climbing down from her overly large chair. The rest of the assignments were given out but Judy heard none of it as she slunk from the room and headed for the garage. Passing through the entryway, she snagged the orange vest and slipped it on without enthusiasm. The small hat made it's way back between her ears which seemed would be it's permanent spot. Reaching the small vehicle's designated spot, she stared vacantly at what she had named the 'Three-wheeled joke mobile.' A joke. That's what my job has become. Sighing heavily, she climbed in and started it's small engine and headed out making sure she cleared the garage before the rest of the officers made it to their vehicles. One close call to being run over during her second week was enough for her.
The hours trudged along slowly as they did every day. Where her first few days had been spent zipping around and trying to impress her boss with going above and beyond the quota he had assigned her, now she had to force herself to do the bare minimum. She did not bother even leaving Savannah Central. After a month of rotating through the different districts, she discovered no one seemed to care where she was giving tickets, just that she was and that she was out from underfoot. So she stayed where the climate was easiest on her.
While ignoring the angry threats and rants sent her way with each ticket she wrote, Judy reflected on her last few months. She had such high hopes after graduating at the top of her class, but from the moment she had stepped into the atrium, those hopes had come crashing down around her ears. She was trapped in a stagnant job with what looked like no end in sight. Judy knew that without a chance to prove herself, she would be stuck in the reflective vest for the rest of her career, and her boss seemed to have zero interest in giving her that chance. Hey, maybe I can make supervisor in a few years, she thought bitterly.
Her parents on the other paw had been overjoyed to find out she was the token meter maid. "It's the safest job on the force!" her mother had cried joyfully. Her father was even worse. He had written a letter to the Chief praising him for his 'smart and insightful' decision in making Judy a meter maid as he was certain she would excel at it. Bogo had taken great joy in posting the letter on the case bulletin board where everyone could see it. She didn't speak to her father for a week after that incident.
With her mind consumed by ever-increasing negative thoughts she failed to hear a call-out aimed at her by a cyclist. As such, she barely escaped being hit by the raccoon barreling past her. The sudden jerk backwards to avoid the tires caused the doe to fall on her rear and a sharp pain radiated through her tail bone.
"Hey! Bicycles are not allowed on sidewalks!" Judy started to scramble up with half a mind to chase down the small mammal and ticket him for reckless behavior but the thought was banished a moment later when a flake of black snow passed by her eyes. Catching it in her paw, she felt the oily texture and smear it left on her fur. Ash? Where would ash be coming from?
Now back on her feet the bunny officer was staring down at the flake that was steadily falling apart. Raising her head, she looked at the buildings surrounding her only to see no flame or smoke anywhere. A few more stray flakes however drifted over the building directly in front of her. Perking her ears as high as she could, Judy strained to listen, desperate to catch any sound that she could. And that was when she heard it. An incredibly faint cry. High-pitched and in distress.
Working out the way the wind was carrying the ash, Judy hurried down a nearby alley that would lead to the next street over. She was forced to leap over a low chainlink fence that had been erected by a neighboring restaurant but with her strong legs she cleared it easily. Hitting the ground with a tight roll, she sprang back into a dead run never losing a ounce of momentum. She could feel the blood pumping through her system carrying the adrenaline she needed to race faster than she had moved in weeks.
Emerging onto the next avenue, Judy looked around frantically. It took her only a moment though as several mammals had gathered beneath a two story duplex with their gazes sent skyward. Tendrils of smoke could be seen pouring from the window directly above the street and Judy's strong hearing picked up a much clearer cry coming from within.
"HELP! Anybody, please!" A distressed rabbit doe appeared in the window holding a small kit in her arms. Judy ran across the street and used her small stature to maneuver through the crowd.
"Officer!" A pig who had been standing nearby noticed the badge on Judy's chest and, ignoring the bright vest, correctly assumed she was a cop and addressed her. "The fire department is on it's way but you gotta get her out of there!"
"I will, sir. Don't worry," she told him while her eyes never left the doe twenty feet above her. "Ma'am!" she called out as loud as she could to reach above the noise of the street and what must be roaring flames inside the building. Seeing the mother rabbit look down, Judy waved hastily to get her attention. "Ma'am, can you get to the stairs?!"
"No! They're blocked and now my bedroom door is starting to burn too!" Mentally cursing, Judy began to sweep her eyes around the area looking for ideas. Her gaze landing on an exceptionally tall male tiger next to her, she thumped on his leg to get his attention. It could not have been more than a light tap to the powerful feline so she was thrilled to see him take notice instead of keeping a watch on what was happening.
"Sir! I need your assistance!" Looking between Judy and the trapped mother, the tiger gave her a nod and moved forward. Thank god for the good mammals in this world, she thought. "Okay ma'am! I'm going to ask you to do something and I need you to cooperate even though it may seem scary, alright?" A hesitant but affirmative nod of her head told Judy the other rabbit was most likely aware of what she was going to ask. "On the count of three, drop your kit down and we will catch her."
If it had been only Judy or really any other mammal nearby, the mother would have been more than unwilling to let her young child drop from such a height. But seeing the large paws of the tiger, paws bigger than her, she felt reassured enough to take the risk especially with the flames now licking at her heels.
"One." Kissing the baby on her forehead, the doe started to hold her out the window.
"Two." The mother lowered her daughter as much as possible without falling out herself.
"Three!" A gasp reflexively went through the crowd as the baby fell. Twenty feet disappeared in less than the blink of an eye to Judy but the tiger's sharp eyes and quick reflexes allowed him to catch the kit and cradle her easily. Lowering the young child down to Judy, the bunny took her into her own arms and, after quickly looking her over to make sure she was unharmed and that the shrill crying was mainly fear and not injury, cast her eyes back up to see the doe already climbing onto the ledge for her own jump.
"Okay ma'am, now we're going to have you do the same!" This time a moose who had been on the opposite side of the street had joined the tiger, waiting to help. "Are you ready?!"
"No! But I don't really have much of a choice do I!" Fair enough, Judy thought to herself. Least she knows the reality of it all.
"Okay! One. Two." Before she could utter another word Judy watched in horror as a backdraft hit the room and the explosive force caused her to be flung out the window. Several screams rang out when the mother's limp body plummeted to the ground. Only be the grace of evolution that let tigers keep their size and speed did the doe survive, having been snatch her from the air and bring her down to the pavement. Cheers rang out but they went unnoticed by the officer now checking on both mother and kit who seemed unharmed, though the older rabbit had some deep singes to her fur. It would be up to the paramedics when they arrived to give her a more thorough examination.
Judy started to pull her cell phone with the intention to call and see how far away the fire department was when another sound reached her ear. It was extremely faint and seemed to be coming from the small corridor beside the duplex rather than from the front. Peering around the side Judy could just see a set of stairs leading to a side door through the shadows. Heavy smoke was coming from a slightly opened window but also stemming from it was the sound of crying.
Hurrying forward, Judy stood underneath the window placed well above her, out both paws under the bottom of the pane, and pushed upward. Or at least she tried to since the frame had seemed to warp from the heat and was now jamming the window in place. "Oh you have to be kidding me!" Undeterred, Judy looked around wildly and cried out in joy when she spotted a trash can nearby. Quickly clambering on top of it, she crouched down and took a deep breath to settle her nerves. With a powerful push from her legs, Judy shot towards the window, twisting her body in midair bring her feet to bear on the glass. Such was her speed and force that she crashed through with barely any effort and continued into the apartment.
Unfortunately she had not planned for what she would find inside the room. Through the thick smoke she could just see a countertop in front of her before slamming into the cabinets directly below it. A gasp of pain caused her to inhale a small amount of smoke which left her coughing and on all fours but she pushed herself to ignore the throb in her shoulder and tried to regain her footing. A wave of dizziness came over her and when she went to touch her forehead, her paw came away glistening with blood. At some point whether it was the glass or the impact she had split the skin. It wasn't deep but it wouldn't be pretty for a few days. But for now she set that aside and began crawling on the floor, hoping to quickly find the source of the sound.
Turning her ears side to side, Judy narrowed in on the crying she could still hear, but this time it was in stereo. And young. Two children. Oh this isn't good. Taking the risk, she got back on her feet and tried her best to keep her nose beneath the smoke. It wouldn't do for her to succumb to the smoke before she could find the young ones.
"Hello? Can you hear me?" Her call went unanswered for a moment which filled her with a flash of fear that they may be too scared to respond and would possibly cost them too much time.
"Yes!" Judy sighed internally, not wanting to breathe in too deeply to limit her exposure. "We're over here!" Rushing forward and having to only twice dodge around cabinets that sprang out in front of her through the smoke, Judy rounded what she thought was a kitchen table to find two small fox kits huddled around a larger vixen.
"Mommy won't wake up," the girl said. She was the older of the two judging by her size, but not by much. She had her arms wrapped around the younger boy, most likely her brother, protectively.
"It's okay. I'm a police officer. I'm going to get you out of here, alright?" The two nodded but didn't move away from their mother. Gritting her teeth against the pain, Judy reached down and wrapped her arms under the unconscious vixen's arms and pulled. Thankfully the floor was linoleum, the kind installed in cheaper apartments and was significantly glossy allowing the larger mammal to slide easier. The two kits followed along closely not wanting to get lost in the smoke.
Soon enough, even with the darkness obscuring their way, the group reached the window she had busted open. She could see the hesitation in the two young children's eyes at the broken window but Judy grabbed the only thing within reach that luckily happened to be a pan still on the stovetop and began to break the rest of the sharp glass out of the frame. It was cleared shortly and the two kits scrambled out. Judy grunted with the effort of lifting the vixen considering she weighed about three times as much as the rabbit. Once her top half had cleared, the fox tumbled out of the window. Judy feared for the female's safety on hitting the ground but suffocating in a burning building would be far worse.
About to climb out herself, the sound of cracking wood forced her gaze upward. Her quick reflexes and powerful legs was the only thing that allowed her to launch herself backwards to avoid the collapsing ceiling. Sitting up from where she had landed, Judy looked in dismay at her only avenue of escape suddenly blocked by an inferno. The fire had surrounded her and the smoke was becoming heavier with no exit for it to flow out of.
Is this really how it ends? Years of dreaming. Months of training. To end up a footnote in a police record. The heat washed over her causing her head to swim. No close friends even after being here for months. No boyfriend. Feeling herself begin to have trouble breathing, she could do nothing but lay back. I'm sorry mom and dad, was her last thought before darkness took her.
It could have been minutes of even just seconds before she felt something again. The first thing she noticed, even while still struggling to regain consciousness, was that the air felt a lot cooler. The second was that something warm and soft was pressed against her lips. The sensation was heavenly though it only lasted a moment. The sudden loss of the feeling was enough to rouse her and let her eyes snap open. The blurriness of her vision kept her from seeing too much in front of her, but she was able to perceive a pair of brilliant green eyes.
"Welcome back to the world of the living, Carrots."
Carrots? Her head was still clouded but she blinked away the haze and shapes began to emerge. A long snout tipped with a black nose. An orange furred face mixed with a light cream throat came into being. A smirk on lips that were very close to hers. Lips that were soot stained much like her own must be.
Oh my. Did he…oh god. A fox gave me mouth to mouth. A sudden thought occurred to her, one that made her eyes open wide. Sweet cheese and crackers! My first kiss and I wasn't even awake!