"A Zootopia Story: Outfoxed"
By ZangooseMiner and STT
Chapter 2: "Assault"
Nick set the warm box of doughnuts between the two seats, sniffing the air. "Mm...fresh," he smiled as he buckled up and took off the brake.
Zerrith eagerly flipped it open and took one of the sticky, glistening pastries out with his bare hands, taking a bite. "Mmm~! Sho tashty!"
The fox chuckled and grabbed a doughnut for himself. "Heh, don't talk with your mouth full, kid." He bit into his and pulled the car out onto the street.
The boy finished his first doughnut and reached for another. "Ain't this a little stereotypical? Cops eating doughnuts?"
Nick swallowed. "Hey, don't mess with a good thing, right?"
"Whatever you say...Redhead." The wolf rolled his eyes and bit into his second doughnut.
"Fluffball," the fox retorted. "Anyways, keep an eye out; people looove speeding down here."
"We were speeding just to get over to this parking space. Shouldn't we get a ticket? For speeding at an unnecessary time?"
Nick thought about it, taking another bite, and shook his head. "Naw...copsh don't get ticketsh." In reality, he was supposed to be "setting a good example for the rest of the drivers," as Bogo put it. But what was the point of power if he couldn't use it?
"Well if you're gonna use the power of the law, go mad with it." Zerrith chuckled. "Have you ever tried going mad without power? It's boring, nobody listens to ya."
Nick glanced at the boy, a little disconcerted that he'd seemed to have read his mind. "Yeah, welcome to my life, where I have power and no one listens anyways."
"Hey, you're my boss right now, technically." The wolf shrugged. "As long as I'm your subordinate, I gotta do what you say. So I'll listen to you."
Nick placed a palm to his cheek and made a face of mock surprise. "No, really? I never knew!"
Zerrith opened his mouth to say something but simply tightened his grip on the doughnut in hand and glanced away, a small blush on his cheeks. Great, now he went and said something stupid.
The fox sniffed and stayed silent for a bit, sensing the tension. "So, uh...what's it like at the orphanage?"
"Don't even get me started on how shitty that place is!" The wolf sighed. "I mean, it's damp, cold, creaky, creepy, old, narrow, tall, dim...I could go on and on."
Nick grimaced and returned his attention to the road. "Yeesh, sorry for asking."
"It's fine...I know I'm, like, never going anywhere else though. You get used to it after a while."
He frowned and kept driving. He supposed if Zerrith was okay with it, he didn't have anything to worry about. Right?
"So...what inspired you to become a cop?"
Nick thought for a moment. "I guess it was Hopps. She sorta...pushed me into it, y'know?"
"She did…? So...you didn't really want to be one?"
He shook his head. "Not a bit. I didn't even like cops." He sighed. "And yet...here I am, all dressed up and looking for speeders."
The boy looked down. "Huh...that's news to me."
Nick glanced at him with a pained expression. "B-But, I am a cop now. I mean now. I mean, if I didn't want to be and now I am, you certainly can be."
"N-No, that's...not what I was getting at." Zerrith shrugged. "I...I'm just kinda surprised; do you still not want to be a cop?"
"Pffft, you kidding?" he chuckled. "I'm way better off than I was back then. Do you even know what I was doing before?"
"Nope, not at all." The wolf shook his head. "Though, you do look familiar; you remind me of a guy I saw once across the street of my orphanage, selling popsicles."
"'Pawpsicles.' Yeah, that was me," he grinned.
"Sheesh...you were a jobless bum?" The wolf giggled with a taunting smirk.
"Jobless? No. I made tons of money."
"Hmm...what did you do with that money? Cause you don't seem filthy rich…"
"W-Well...guy's gotta live, right? I mean, that went to food, rent...taxes..." His voice became less confident as he went on.
The wolf slowly turned to look at him. "...taxes, you say?"
Nick looked a little nervous. "Oh, yeah! Looots of taxes."
Zerrith smiled before he started snickering. "Heh...s-sure ya did. I mean, it's not like Officer Hopps mentioned you, oh I don't know...evaded them."
Nick's ears flattened. "Oh, d-did she? I m-must've...forgotten to do them…!"
The boy simply laughed at that, looking back ahead out the windshield, a content, smug grin on his face. What a smartass.
He sighed. "Okay, fine, Fluffball. You got me. I evaded taxes because I was havin' it rough as it was without the city picking my pocket too." He looked sternly at the boy. "B-But, uh...don't skip taxes. That's...not good." Geez, that sounded tacky. One of the downsides of working for "the city."
"I may be young, but I'm not that impressionable. I know not to skip taxes." Zerrith shrugged. "But I'm surprised they hired a lawbreaking con artist like you. Do you pay them now?"
"Con artist?" Nick repeated indignantly. "I was a hustler, thank you very much. And I'll have you know I do in fact pay ta-"
Nick was interrupted as a car blurred past far above the speed limit. He blinked in surprise.
Zerrith grinned and quickly shook his arm. "Snap out of your trance and chase him! You're a cop, right?! Act like one!"
The fox nodded and clicked a switch, making the car light up in blue and red, sounding the siren. He stomped on the gas.
The boy held on to the bar above the passenger door. Things were finally getting interesting!
Unfortunately for him, the "chase" only lasted a few seconds as the other car quickly pulled over. Zerrith groaned in disappointment.
"Booooo!" He crossed his arms. "No fun!"
Nick puffed and unbuckled. "Stay put, I'm gonna ticket this jerk."
The fox got out and walked over to the car, leaving Zerrith by himself.
The wolf sighed and leaned back. With nothing left to do, he started writing stuff in his notepad.
After a mindnumbingly long amount of time, he thought of something. Something he'd want to keep in mind for later.
Nick walked back over to the car and opened his door, though he stopped and eyed Zerrith curiously; the boy was chewing on a sheet of paper. "You know, we still have doughnuts left if you're hungry."
"Hm?" The boy swallowed the paper. "Oh, well, whenever I need to leave myself a personal reminder or whatever, I just eat the paper I write it on. It helps."
Nick couldn't help but snort. He sat in his chair. "If you say so. Sounds like a good way to papercut your stomach to me."
Zerrith was about to explain further, when a song started playing quietly from Nick.
He giggled. "Is that a Gazelle ringtone?"
The fox blushed and fished his phone from his pocket. "Don't act like you don't listen to her." He glanced at the screen; Bogo was calling.
Zerrith rolled his eyes. "I don't. She's good, but not my style of music."
Nick motioned for him to be quiet and answered. "'Yello, Chief."
"Cut the formalities Wilde, we need all officers on standby right now! Get the hell downtown!" The chief of police's voice boomed over the phone.
Nick moved the device away from his face with a wince. He'd once put Bogo on speakerphone and had to get his speaker replaced. "Downtown? Where?"
"The corner of Redhorn and Pine! Stat!"
There was a click as he hung up. Nick sighed. "Okay, Redhorn it is." He started the engine again and started towards the location.
The wolf blinked. "What's going on?"
"Some big issue or something. I guess we'll find out."
A few minutes later, they arrived.
And find out they did; and what they found was far from what they were expecting.
Two hours ago...
"O-M-Goodness, this is so exciting!"
Judy rolled her eyes but smiled; at least Clawhauser was enjoying the car ride. But as long as the mood was bright, then she'd be enjoying it, too.
"Ben, it's just lunch. No big deal," she chuckled.
"But I never get asked out to lunch!" The cheetah giggled with delight. "I'm flattered!"
The bunny knew Nick was busy with Zerrith - she had no regrets signing the fox up for the apprenticing program. Still, she wanted to go out to lunch with someone. Benjamin Clawhauser seemed like the most appropriate choice while Nick was off; the two got along and he always managed to shoo away an impending cloudy mood.
She pulled up to the diner drive-thru and turned to him. "What do you want?"
"A large burger, large fry, large drink…" he listed. "Do they have large dessert doughnuts~?" Ben's tail swayed a bit, a hopeful smile on his face.
She barely resisted a smirk. "I don't think so...smoothies, maybe?"
"A large smoothie sounds sweet~!" The cheetah grinned with excitement. "Make it a strawberry shake?"
Judy nodded. She ordered and picked up the meal at the window, pulling into a parking spot. "Here's yours..." she mumbled, passing a few bags to Clawhauser. "And here's mine."
"Thank you!" he sang, digging through the bag and retrieving some wrapped burgers. "I'll pay you when we get back."
Judy smiled and took a bite of her own burger.
Ben picked up the cup nearest him and took a sip...then made a choking sound, sputtering and gagging a bit. "Oh-ho, geez! That's awful!"
Judy looked over, then back at the cup in her hand. "Oh, that one's mine! Sorry Ben!"
"N-No, it's fine. M-My fault, I grabbed the wrong one." The cheetah smiled, exhaling a bit. Suddenly he felt exhausted from that bout of coughing. "H-Here…" He swapped around the drinks and sipped his. "Ah...m-much...s-sweeter."
Judy furrowed her brow. "You okay?"
Clawhauser set his drink down with a shaky hand, rubbing his forehead with his free hand to wipe away sweat. He felt...hot, even though the car was air conditioned. "U-Urgh...n-no offense but...y-your drink was...the worst thing I've ever had...i-in a big plastic cup…!"
She touched her tongue to the straw but quickly retracted it with a yelp; it burned as it touched. "What the…?"
"H-Hey, Judy? I don't...feel too hot..." Ben slurred.
The bunny turned the engine on. "Come on, let's get back to the station, alright?" What was in that smoothie?
"...s-sure but...c-could I step outside for a sec? I-I need a moment…" The cheetah wiped away more sweat, feeling his insides burn and twist. This didn't feel right.
She backed out of the lot and drove down the street. "Just hold on a minute, we're close."
Ben groaned and held his sides. "Ugh...I think I-I just need...to…" Within moments, he fell forward, slamming his head on the dashboard. He was out cold in seconds.
Judy gave a cry of alarm. "Ben! Ben, come on!" She realized he was unconscious; she had to get him to a doctor. She took a turn and headed to the hospital instead.
The cheetah soon started to groan and his body shivered. He sounded like he was waking up.
Judy was relieved. "Ben? You okay?"
Ben looked up quickly...with wide eyes and small pupils. He furrowed his eyebrows into hateful glare as he showed sharp teeth, snarling at the bunny. Without any moment of delay or hesitation, he lunged at her from where he sat.
The rabbit screamed and shrunk away from him, barely avoiding his grasp. The car swerved. "Clawhauser! What are you doing!?"
The only response she got was a vicious growl as 'Ben' swiped his claws at her, trying to grab her and attack.
In a last-ditch effort to stop him, she managed to unclip something from her belt; a bottle labeled "Fox Repellant." She didn't know if it would work, and she didn't really care. The bunny pointed it at Clawhauser and pressed the cap down.
Like pepper spray to a pair of eyeballs, the cheetah didn't take to kindly to being sprayed, reeling back with a hiss as the detestable substance touched his eyes and tongue. He landed back in the passenger's seat, grabbing at his face angrily.
Judy focused on retaining control of the car while she had the chance. She knew what was wrong, as much as she tried to convince herself otherwise. "Sorry, Ben! You'll thank me later!"
A low rumbling noise filled the air, getting louder by the second. "What…?" A mere second after glancing out the passenger-side window, Judy's eyes widened.
A huge semi truck was hurtling down the road at them.
In an instant, they collided. The sounds of crushing metal, shattering glass and screeching tires filled the air. For half a second it was silent as the car flipped end-over-end into the air, only to be replaced with a horrible slam and a scraping noise as they hit the ground once more, upturned.
Judy momentarily sat upside down before her seat belt snapped, and she landed on the ceiling of her car with a grunt. Everything hurt, but she managed to only let out a wince of pain as she rolled over onto her belly. She didn't want to move in fear of worsening her situation. Glancing around, she noticed Ben, laying out on the road near the car. He didn't look too horribly banged up, but he was definitely out cold again.
The sound of footsteps against the pavement and car doors slamming caught her attention, and she looked out the nearby window to see a pair of...fox paws? She blinked, a bit confused. "...N-Nick?"
After a second of silence, there came an unfamiliar chuckle.
"Ah...so you do know him," they said in a deep, soft voice. "That's nice."
Judy struggled to sit up, but a sharp pain in her arm told her to stay down. She winced and whimpered.
"Damn..." the fox continued. "This could've been a lot less messy, you know? Fat guy wasn't supposed to get that stuff."
She thought for a moment until she realized what he meant by "that stuff."
"You...you poisoned him!" she growled.
Another chuckle. The person squatted down; she could make out some torn-up pants and a red button-up shirt left hanging open, exposing his scarred chest. "No. He'll be fine. Just a little...violent."
The bunny glared, trying to crawl out. Yet, sharp pains everywhere still made her stay put. "Y-You won't get away with this…!"
He laughed and picked something up...the smoothie. "With what?"
She gasped quietly. That drink was the only evidence she had. "S-Stop! Put that down!"
The fox ignored him, standing to leave. "Aw, is there something wrong? I'm sure a good, honest cop like you will have no trouble convicting a big, scary fox like me. You could easily just throw me back in jail again! Isn't that ri-!" He chuckled as his voice raised in volume before he yipped and stumbled back with a cough. He rubbed his chest and growled as he stepped up onto the truck. "Bye-bye...Carrots."
Judy weakly reached out her hand, trying in some way to muster up any and all strength she could to crawl out there and fight back for the evidence, but she couldn't.
Her arm fell to the ground as her eyelids slowly closed, falling unconscious as the fox drove off down the road.
TO BE CONTINUED…