Judy Hopps trembled. Sitting in the waiting area of Zootopia's Central Hospital, nose twitching, hands shaking, she let the last hour, which led to this situation, pass before her inner eye.
They stood outside of an old factory near city limits. After two weeks of investigation, they were able to find the hideout of a potential dangerous kidnapper, who imprisoned maybe up to five hostages. McHorn and Wolford had arrived soon and joined her and Nick, her partner, to storm the dark building. They split up, McHorn covering the outside, waiting for the other officers and the paramedics after he opened the steel door with an intimiding crush of his head. Wolford, Nick and Judy swiftly ran in and tried to make the least possible noise. They searched the dark corridors and empty rooms.
"Psst. Carrots." Came the first words from Nick. "I think I found our suspects bedroom."
They quickly managed to reach the door on the other side of the messy room, in which half empty takeaway boxes and a stinky, dirty mattress indicated that not long ago a mammal has been here. Strange noises could be heard from the next room. The door was not locked, but had a big bolt which needed Wolford's full power to open up. They prepared their tranquilizer guns.
As the door opened Judy and Nick already aimed their guns at the door only to see nobody. In front of them was a long hallway. Judy gasped as she saw what the walls of this corridor were: At least a dozen cages made of wire and steel bars were alongside the bad aired room. The most were empty, but she spotted moving in some of them. Though they were too dark to see details, because of the single lightbulb hanging from the wet ceiling.
Wolford began moving towards the door of one of those cells, but Judy stopped him with her hand on his back. She opened her mouth, when Wolford looked at her, making clear he understood. The first target was to find the criminal. A group of stressed and confused mammals in the hallway would surely not help them. They started moving towards the door at the end of the hallway as Judy noticed that Nick was still standing in front of one of the cages, not moving. As he did still not look over, she stopped and whispered.
"Nick." Nothing.
"Nick." Still no movement. Wolford stopped and looked confused at the red fox, who looked like a statue.
"NICK." She said a bit louder. Suddenly a mammal jumped out of a shadow in the corner and ran past the two officers in front of the door, running towards the exit.
"FREEZE!" Judy shouted, but it didn't stop the badger. "Wilde, do something!" Wolford shouted as he jumped to his feet again. As if he was in trancé Nick turned around and looked at them dumbfounded. By his sudden movement he was right in front of the badger, who desperately searched for an escape route. He dodged the tranquilizer fired at him and crushed against Nick, who was thrown against the cages like a doll. But the kidnapper's victory was not for long as he was stopped by a rough wall of blue fabric.
McHorn has already handcuffed the escaping badger, when Wolford and Judy reached the door. Only shortly enthusiastic by the triumph, she remembered Nick.
"Nick, what was that right now?" She asked turning around only to see the fox grabbing the metal bar reaching out of his body. All blood seemed to leave Judy's body.
"Wolford, get the paramedics."
"Huh?" He turned getting the same stare as Judy.
"Go get the ambulance!" Judy shouted at him while kneeing down to her partner. Wolford rushed out of the building as Judy grabbed her partners paw in concern. He was still staring at her unbelieving as the white suited mammals rushed in.
