And, I am back. I am REALLY sorry for not updating, but well, schoolwork and all…
Anyway, I've managed to finish the next chapter, and hopefully I can give you guys the next one in a couple of weeks.
Right, Fisher?
Fisher?
Bark!
Bloody hell, Fisher! Why'd you let the dog in? I'm a cat for goodness sake!
BEGIN
"PAWS in the air! Now!" The ZPD's SNARL team surrounded Jonathan Bund with a helicopter and no less than 20 SNARL operatives.
Bund raised his paws in the air, still facing the burning building.
The bright light lit him up from behind.
"Turn around!"
He complied.
The SNARL officers kept their guns cocked, big ones. Gone were the pistols gripped in one hand. These were sleek, long, high-powered rifles. The rounds would be deadly firepower, not tranquilizer darts.
They kept alert. They knew they were facing a dangerous enemy.
Bund looked relaxed, but one look in those blazing brown eyes told one otherwise.
Those same eyes took everything in, calculating, mentally preparing himself.
It was an open rooftop about 50 meters width and 60 in length. There was of course a small enclosed staircase landing leading back down. Air conditioning outlets.
The SNARL officers consisted of 5 lions, a puma, 6 wolves, 3 deer, 4 kangaroos and a mongoose.
"On the ground! Slowly!" the lion officer at the front shouted.
His gun was held steadily at Bund's chest.
Bund slowly moved down. When he was halfway down, he snapped the button off his suit's sleeve.
He flicked it straight on the ground in front of him, and then an acrid white cloud filled the air. Bund leapt the moment the button left his paw. Vaulting up, he grabbed the barrel of the lion's rifle, twisting it up out of his grip.
He felt the barrel sear his paws with heat as the lion pulled the trigger.
Bund gritted his teeth and placed the pain aside, instead deciding to twist the lion's arms into an armlock. He needed to end this, and fast.
The lion felt the excruciating pain ease up for a second, and then he was flying towards one of his comrades, the two of them going down together.
The explosive charge planted on the magazines on the lion's belt went off.
The brilliant explosion of the cartridges gave Bund the cover he needed to snatch up the gun.
Bund twisted a button on his watch, and a sudden burst of brilliant light ignited from a small strip of magnesium ejected from the watch.
Immediately, gunfire erupted towards the bright light.
Bund lay flat on the ground, aiming through the eyepiece.
Bund let a grin touch his face fleetingly. Predictable.
The gun barked five times before Bund moved.
He fell into a crouch and blanketed a wide arc with a spray of bullets. The shouts of pain were indication of his success.
Then he ran, low, snagging a small charge from his belt. It was his set it and slid it across the ground.
He only had one chance. If his mental math was right…
The air conditioner coolant ignited with a roaring yellow flame, and Bund took this chance to run to where his rifle perched against the roof.
Out of the smoke, a canine figure leapt at him.
Bund relaxed his stance and went with the tackle, feeling his breath blast out of his chest.
Bund rolled with the wolf, planting two feet into his jaw. He kicked as hard as he could.
Crack
The wolf slumped to the ground, limp.
Shooting, sporadic, was still coming from within the cloud.
The spotlight was trained on the staircase. Good.
He emerged from the cloud beside his rifle.
Bund glanced up. The helicopter was still training its lights and guns on the smoke cloud.
None of the SNARL officers would have thought that Bund would go opposite of the stairs, and so no one saw him.
He picked up the gun, aimed and fired.
The EMP burst slammed into the SNARL helicopter, sending its lights and controls out for several seconds.
It was enough.
A thin cable marked the place from which Jonathan Bund had disappeared, and from the rooftop it would be almost impossible to pick out the silhouette at the bottom of the building.
From the bottom, it would be much easier.
JUDY Hopps crossed her arms and tapped her feet impatiently. She had been waiting outside the entrance of the building for...for...well, at least 5 minutes.
The SNARL team had refused to let her come with them, citing her lack of training in SNARL work.
She had to bite back a retort about saving Zootopia.
So now she leaned against her cruiser, fuming. Rachel and Nick were relaxing inside the cruiser.
"Come on, Judy. It might even be a false alarm, I mean, what kind of terrorist stands on the roof of another building for an hour?"
Rachel shrugged her shoulders.
"Come back in, relax. It's one guy, anyway. SNARL doesn't need your assistance."
Judy hesitated, thinking. Rachel did have a point, and it wasn't like she couldn't benefit from some of the bonus shuteye that Nick was having at the back of the cruiser.
Judy opened the door.
Naturally, that was when it happened.
A terrifically loud bang! reverberated from the roof, along with a brilliant flash of light.
The sound wave sliced into Judy's sensitive ears. Disoriented, she lost her footing and fell backwards onto the pavement.
In the back of the cruiser, Nick sat bolt upright and brained himself on the roof of the cruiser.
Despite moaning in pain, the three officers could clearly hear the sound of gunfire.
Then they saw the helicopter lose power. It was for an instant, but any lesser pilot would have crashed it.
Their eyes were fixed on the sky, and so they nearly missed Jonathan Bund's landing.
Nearly being the main word here.
Rachel saw the figure first, her hand darting to her pistol. Bund went for his own pistol.
Rachel saw the pistol come up inmammally fast, and she knew that it was not a tranquilizer gun.
But the figure hesitated, and that was enough.
Rachel fired, only to see the figure duck low and lunge, launching itself low to the ground, tackling her.
And then it was over, as Rachel found herself spun hard into a wall, her pistol gone.
Wheezing for breath, she saw the figure-a rabbit, she realised- shoot Wilde with her gun.
Nick Wilde was currently in the process of getting shot. He had noticed Rachel go for her gun, and turned to see her slam into a wall.
Instinct made his paw shoot towards his holster, but it didn't make it halfway there when a grey blur twisted his wrist.
The same dark grey blur, nearly invisible in the night, snatched his pistol from his holster.
Nick screamed in pain, and then he felt a cold barrel touch his shoulder. A tranquilizer dart from his own gun. slammed into his shoulder like a horse kick.
He could already feel the cocktail working.
Then he was spun around and his face headed towards the pavement.
Judy spun to see the figure slam Nick into the pavement.
She'd heard Nick scream, and had instantly been on alert. She felt the raw pain in his voice.
She knew straight away that it was no prank.
Instead of going for her gun, Judy went straight for the rabbit's legs. The grey rabbit's reactions were impossibly fast as he pivoted out of the way and punched Judy on the back of her neck.
She yelped in pain as she felt her vertebrae buckle slightly. And then the whole world went upside down.
Halfway through the flip, Judy planted her hind paws on the ground, pushing upwards to break the other rabbit's hold.
She and her opponent stumbled back, and in the light of the streetlamps, the foyer light and the burning building, they got their first look at each other.
Judy got a clear look at her opponent. A dark grey, nearly black rabbit buck with startling lilac eyes. There was a rifle strapped to his back.
She struck first, a lightning quick snap kick that should've smashed into his side.
But he pivoted on his heel, swaying lightly just out of its path.
Then his right paw was pushing aside her leg as he moved in to deliver an open paw smack to the chin.
Judy barely managed to turn her head, so the blow caught her cheekbone instead.
Pain flared up, but Judy pushed it aaway just in time to block the follow up punch.
Moving elegantly, Judy launched several close in karate hits meant to disable and stun. Every single blow was turned aside and for brief instants she was open to quick strikes that sent her reeling.
Another side kick was sent spinning aside, and a couple more blows struck Judy in the stomach.
Judy seized her chance. Two solid blows landed on the buck's light frame. He skipped back, eyes narrowed.
It was her turn to move first.
Judy attempted to strike his kidney, only for the buck to stop her cold and twist her arm, and then pain filled her from head to toe.
The buck had struck the pressure points in her arm and neck.
Judy fell backwards.
The buck launched into a spin kick.
Judy ducked under it, using her good arm to snatch his ankle.
She twisted it with all her might, pulling the buck off his feet. His other foot came up, flailing.
Then it shot out and nailed Judy right below the neck, driving all her breath out and causing Judy's grip to slacken.
Wheezing, she dropped backwards, feeling the cool cobblestone on her skull.
There was a thud as the buck hit the ground.
Jonathan Bund was up nearly instantly, panting. This was...unexpected to say the least. He hadn't expected her to have so much fight in her.
Then again, those intense purple eyes of hers would indicate otherwise.
Bund patted her down, not as a pervert(although he would not deny enjoying feeling her fur), but as a trained professional.
Now equipped with her keys and pistol, Bund shot her in the ankle once.
Insurance.
"J-Judy?"
Bund was faintly surprised to see the fox conscious.
Judy, presumably the rabbit with which he had just fought, did not respond.
Bund proceeded to open the police cruiser and radio for an ambulance. Then he stripped out the transponder.
Just before he could open the car door and leave, with a shout of "JUDY!" the fox charged.
Instinct took over.
Bund sank five tranquilizer darts into the fox before he went down.
Rut. Bund cursed. He didn't need a fatal overdose. He knelt over the fox to administer the one time syringe for overdose that all agents carried.
The syringe was also a potent sleeping agent.
The fox drifted off to sleep. Bund jerked his head up. He could hear sirens. He made one last decision, quickly ripping out a piece of notepaper to scribble on.
By the time the ambulance arrived, Bund was long gone.
"YOU WHAT?!" Chief Bogo roared at his subordinate.
Commander Mongoosemery of the SNARL Corps of the ZPD winced. Mongoosemery's left arm was encased in a cast, and his head was still pounding from the painkillers.
"I need more mammals sir." Mongoosemery stood his ground, which was admirable if only because Bogo was genuinely angry.
It wasn't everyday that his SNARL commander told him that 13 of his best SNARL officers were out of action, 4 of them dead, and a great deal of equipment damaged, including the 30 million dollar helicopter. The EMP blast had fused several circuits, and when they set down, it became apparent that they were never going back up.
Bogo was really mad.
"SNARL already has enough mammals. You have at least 60 officers throughout Zootopia."
Bogo was doing an even more remarkable job of staying mostly calm.
Mongoosemery leaned forward in his seat.
"60 ain't enough. We have a Rapid Response Task Force in each sector, and ours just got chewed up. There are no reserves. I cannot afford to weaken other RRTFs."
He continued, saying, "All I need is another 10 officers, that will take up temporary roles in the 1st RRTF."
Bogo sat back down. Mongoosemery made sense, at least.
Bogo grunted. "Well, two of my best officers are in the hospital as well. I'll let you have your replacements. Just catch that son of a gun."
Mongoosemery nodded. He had been in the chopper when the pulse hit. The resulting drop had made him break his arm on a console.
His brother had been on the rooftop, and was currently in the ICU of Zootopia General Hospital.
A bullet through the clavicle, grazed the lung.
He would pull through, but the bullet was precariously close to his spine.
"Still no identification?" Mongoosemery asked.
Bogo shook his head grimly.
"Nothing."
JUDY Hopps woke up to the sound of beeping.
It took her a couple moments to figure out its origin. The monitor beside her, with a continuous wave that spiked up and down quickly.
Her mind took a couple seconds to kick in.
And then she was sat bolt upright, gasping for breath.
She felt her heart calm down as the doctor ran into the room. The moose looked her up and down.
"Ms Hopps?" he said.
"Y-yeah?" she answered. She knew where she was.
"You have a broken left clavicle, a concussion, a laceration on your right lower leg, multiple fractured ribs, throat damage, which is why you can't talk much, a torn ligament and minor internal bleeding near your kidneys."
The matter of fact tone with which the moose reported her injuries caused her to shudder in fear, and yet she felt oddly comforted.
The moose smiled. "I'm Doctor Hornery, and I can definitely say that you will recover fully."
Judy nodded, still unable to speak.
Doctor Hornery checked her vitals and her cast, telling her to press the call button if she needed anything.
Just before the doctor left, Judy managed one word.
"Where…"
Hornery stopped.
He took a couple seconds to think.
"Don't talk yet, Ms Hopps. Your throat hasn't fully recovered."
As he continued walking, he added, "Also, Nicholas Wilde is doing just fine."
Judy lay back against the bed, and then she realised that her right paw was clenched onto something tightly.
A piece of paper.
She held it up to read.
Ms Hopps, it read, I give you one chance to find me, for I require your assistance. I know that you may be unwilling to do so. If that is so, dispose of this note. Should you decide to keep it, meet me at this location.
"The stars of the future are found in the seeds of today."
I will meet you there at 5pm two days from now. Share this with no one. Come alone.
Alert the ZPD and I will not show, instead I will disable ZPD's network as a show of force.
It is your choice. I would prefer your assistance, but I will not hesitate to take you out and find another candidate.
Please, do not look up my name. You will find nothing.
Yours truly, Jonathan Bund, ZSIS.
Judy folded up the note and thought.
One building away, peering through his scope, Jonathan Bund watched her do it.
LINEBREAK
EY GUYS! And that was another chapter of Zoofall, hoped you guys liked it, I'll be sending the next one up in...well, hopefully a couple of weeks but probably more. I know, I know, its been a year, but hey, I'm working on it alright?
WOOF! WOOF!
Back, dog, back! Fisher! The dog is loose again
