Chapter I: Stand Clear of the Closing Doors, Please
The sound of jackhammers and pile-drivers woke her, as they had for the past three months, ever since work started on a new extension to the MetroTrail through her neighborhood. Judy groaned and turned over in bed, hugging the blanket and grasping for her phone. There were four more minutes until her alarm was supposed to sound. She appreciated the workers' punctuality and tendency to wake her up around her scheduled time, but she preferred to wake up on her own terms and to the sound of her chirpy alarm. Her neighbors weren't too pleased about the construction either, trading insults with the workers below in a fashion she was sure should have been grounds for citation for domestic disturbance, but with ZPD understaffed and underfunded, she knew that unless she took her personal time to cite them, Central Precinct would never actually send her to keep the peace.
She struggled out of bed and got ready just in time to make the bus to Savanna Civic Center, her phone in one hand and vegetable shake in another, getting off to join the crowd of suits and blues making their way around the city's center of government. A quick look around easily told her that times were getting harder: the plethora of food trucks around city hall had been reduced to a few vegetable stands and an insect grill that the mayor frequented; the main intersections were well-lit, but farther down on the side streets, even downtown was covered in darkness. The streetlamps, she realized, would be turned on slightly before rush hour traffic hit the plaza, to give the illusion that happy times were still here, but otherwise, the early risers and the high-achievers coming into work just as the black sky started to brighten had to deal with the uncomfortable realization that they were managing a great city's decline.
As Judy arrived at headquarters for her daily workout before the day's briefing, she noticed that Clawhauser was already at his desk, his head periodically dropping to the side as he struggled to stay awake.
"Hey Clawhauser! Good morning!" She chimed, skipping up to his desk. "Isn't it a little early for you to be in?" she said. Checking her phone, it was only a quarter past six; usually Clawhauser didn't get in until right before the morning briefings started two hours from now.
"Budget cuts," he managed to murmur, keeping his head stable by propping it up with both hands. "They got rid of third shift and transferred Howl to traffic duty. I've got four extra hours on my shift now!" He tried to whine, but the words came out as only a high-pitched mumble.
"Aw, don't look so down, Clawhauser. Think of it as more time to serve the public!" she said, smiling and standing up straight, trying to cheer him up. He looked and her and sighed, sitting up in his chair, trying to imitate her expression. He lasted three seconds before his head hit the desk.
"I wouldn't be so down if Donkey Donuts didn't open until seven." he said, resting his head on his arms. "How are you keeping, Judy? You're not going to bust in here and throw criminals at my feet through donuts again, are you? I appreciate the gesture but not this early."
"Oh, no! Last week the chief had me and Nick patrolling around civic center and the skyway entrances. They're the most visible areas of the city, so I guess he wants to keep showing us off , but they're also the safest. It's kind of boring, actually," she said, leaning on the desk.
"Yeah, well, at least the Skyway has donut shops open this early. I'd take that. How's Nick doing, anyway? I haven't seen him in forever!" he said, lazily, beating back sleep.
"Wait around for a minute and he'll catch up. He started working out with me in the morning before everyone gets here. Told him if he can keep up with me on the track then he could choose the radio stations in the car," she said, turning around to face the door. Sure enough, as she said that, she red ears bobbing up and down on their way up the steps, before she made out Nick's figure coming through the entrance. "Speak of the devil!"
"And he shall appear. Hey, Carrots. I'm surprised you're not already at it. And Clawhauser? What are you doing here so early? I could've sworn you didn't even wake up this early," Nick said, tilting his head to the side. He waited for a response, but heard a faint snore coming from the cheetah. "Haha! He's sleeping! This is going to be so good," Nick whispered, excitedly, looking at Judy before taking out his phone and wrapping his arms around her. "Smile!" he said, clicking the camera and taking a selfie of them with Clawhauser slumped over in between them.
"Nick, stop that!" chiding him and slapping his arm mildly.
"Fine by me. Won't stop me from setting it as my background image though," he said, throwing a grin her way.
"You always make selfies your background image. I think you've got a narcissism problem," she said, motioning for him to follow her to the gym. Putting his phone away and picking up his bag, he complied, easily grinning wider than before.
"Only the ones you're in, Carrots," he pointed out.
"You should vary it up a bit. Get some photos of home in there or something."
"What can I say? I grew up on the streets. The whole city's my home. I just happen to be more comfortable here," he said, opening the door to the gym for her. "Besides, home is where your heart is, isn't it?" he said, noticing Judy blush and she shuffled past him, letting out a chuckle before following her inside.
Their daily routine was pretty tame by ZPD fitness standards: ten kilometers on the indoor track, followed by one hundred push ups, one hundred sit ups, and one hundred squats. Every day they did this. They weren't lifting industrial tires over their heads and sprinting with them like Chief Bogo, but they made do. Judy usually won their daily competitions, but Nick has been catching up lately, keeping pace with her to the point where it didn't even seem like they were competing. Afterward, he would always make some smart remark like how she's slowing down because she was "built for running" and that, even if they finished at the same time, he was the faster one. She just rolled her eyes, opened the door for him, and led the way to the briefing room. The department might be in a bind with the budget cuts, but their jobs – their lives – had been as stable as ever.
"On your feet!"
The chatter of the briefing room was cut short when Chief Bogo entered, looking down at a stack of folders in his hands before making eye contact with the room. "Take seats, take seats," he waved, "good morning everyone."
A unanimous "good morning, sir" roared through the room.
"Right, first things first: we've had it easy these past few weeks, but city hall wants us to step up our transit presence as work on the MetroTrail expansion continues. Officers Trunks, Hoofowitz, and Gallup will be patrolling the border walls of Savannah Square and the warehouse district. Officers Pardus and Onca – you have the central business district. Officers Hopps and Wilde," he paused looking up at the only two officers sharing a chair in the room, "civic center and central railway station. Can't have the two most notable officers in this department straying too far from home, now, can we?"
"Civic center and central station, huh? Well, there are worse places, I suppose. At least we'll have reception the entire time," Nick said, jumping off the chair and picking up a log sheet from the chief's desk. "Come on, Hopps," he motioned toward the door. They could overheard Chief Bogo rattling off more duty assignments to some of the newer officers – subway duty, parking enforcement, litter patrol. Compared to the newbies, they had it pretty good – in Nick's mind anyway; Judy's shoulders slumped over as she closed the door and they made their way to the garage.
"I don't mind this assignment, but this is the second week in a row we've been assigned to cover the Civic Center," Judy said, disappointment in her voice. "It's actually more boring than I thought. Cameras and private security do most of the work downtown anyway."
"Well, city hall needs protection, too, you know," he added, "besides, there's a new bakery at central station that I wanted to check out. They've got blueberry pie!"
Judy looked over and shook her head, "you've got a serious blueberry problem."
As they made their way down to the garage, they waved off their colleagues already pulling out. Doing this had become both routine and ritual in their two years together, so much so that when the other was off, Judy would have imaginary conversations with Nick in the car, and Nick would sometimes forget that he was supposed to drive himself. Buckling in, Nick got on the radio as Judy pulled them out. "Dispatch, this is unit 07-11, heading out on patrol."
They could hear Clawhauser pawing at the dispatch radio on his desk before they could hear him. It made Judy smile. "Unit 07-11, this is dispatch, confirming. Have a safe day."
"You too, buddy. Don't get too drowsy," Nick said. A smile on his face, he rolled down the window so he could put his arm out. They turned onto the main boulevard in the middle of rush hour. Thankfully, they were heading away from business district. They could see officers Pardus and Onca – a leopard and a jaguar – cursing the morning traffic from inside their vehicle. They probably wouldn't reach the central business district for another hour.
"Poor souls. See, Carrots? At least we don't have to put up with that nonsense. It's just a straight drive down to the train station and we can walk essentially our entire shift."
He was right – he usually was. From a stress perspective, maintaining order in a well-to-do area like civic center was worlds better than donning riot gear and facing down the angry residents of Tundratown. The ubiquity of security cameras and witnesses in central station would make the paperwork on any arrests they made easier as well. But easy policing wasn't what Judy had signed up for, and she took umbrage with how laid back Nick was at their celebrity status.
"Wouldn't it be nice to work on a big case, for once?" she asked, parking next to the station.
"Like what?"
"Like our first case, before you joined the force."
"I'd rather not relive flying through the air that many times. We don't exactly have wings, you know," he said. Opening the door, he put on his sunglasses, scanning around to see if anything suspicious was going on. Satisfied, he looked back at Judy while she was getting ready to exit the car. "Besides, I don't think the city could handle it."
She nodded in agreement, closing the door and walking next to him toward the mezzanine overlooking the incoming trains. The central station held a lot of memories for Judy. She could never forget how curious everything seemed, from the pneumatic tubes meant to ferry smaller mammals around to the intricate water-tubes and air-dry vents that served to ferry amphibious animals to their destinations in style and comfort. It was here, and in the districts along the train route, that she learned for the first time that the entire city, by engineering and design, was truly meant to encapsulate the ideal that animal should not fight among animals. The city was built for them as equals, and she loved it as much. The proof was by her side.
"How many times have we patrolled this station now?" she asked, turning around on the railing to face the station while he kept watch over the rail yard. His ears twitching every time a train whistle went off, he looked off into the distance as the last of the rush hour trains came in.
"I don't know. Must be hundreds, by now. First there was the whole 'you're not leaving civic center' after you got injured and then it was 'you're not leaving civic center' after the new mayor made us the poster children for the force. Now it's 'you're not leaving civic center' because of budget cuts. Yeah, it's got to be hundreds," Nick said, tail slowly kicking back and forth, as if recalling a dream. "I'd say I know this station as much as I know you."
"Yeah?" she said, nudging him in the shoulder. "But neither of us has really spent time here, have we? I mean, when I came to Zootopia two years ago, this place seemed so," she paused to tilt her head upward. The digital billboard that looped Gazelle advertisements during her first trip to the city had been updated to feature an oversize image of Nick and Judy, back-to-back, with the words 'Every Animal is Welcomed at the ZPD'. Closing her eyes and turning herself to Nick, she opened them before smiling. "Everything seemed so magical to me. It's not like we had all this back at Bunnyburrow. Now it seems as if my entire career with the ZPD is just an everyday chore. So many times through this station and how many times have we actually caught a criminal?"
"Well, I did arrest that one kid who kept throwing fire crackers in the toilets that one time," Nick said, putting his hands on his wastes. "And there was the other time where you so daringly brought down a graffiti gang. Cute kids, otherwise, though."
"I mean real criminals, Nick. I wanted to make a difference to this city, not be a glorified graffiti cop," she said, sighing. She wondered how many of the incoming trains carried animals like her, filled with dreams about what Zootopia was, only for them to get through that initial jubilee and settle into the long haul of anxiety and fear. What was her purpose here at ZPD now? If she wasn't catching criminals or making the city a safer place, what was the purpose of putting on a uniform and badge every morning?
"Listen, Carrots, you can only do so much. It's not your fault that the Chamber of Commerce corruption case didn't fall in your lap. And, to be honest, I think it's better that it didn't. It means our side of town is doing what's right. Quiet days are good for us. They're good for the city."
Again, Nick was right. As boring as civic center was, the fact that there were so few incidents in this part of town meant that it was a safe space. People often left their car doors unlocked outside of city hall and ZPD headquarters because they thought the area was as safe as their own home. It should be as safe as their own home. That didn't stop her from wishing that, just once, a case could fall in their lap that made the job exciting for her again.
As she thought that, however, she heard the slightest of noises coming from inside the station: hooves clacking against the polished stone of the station floor, and in a faster tempo than even the busiest rush hour crowd would generate. Intermittent clacks, followed by shouting.
"Nick, do you hear that?" she said, tugging on the sleeves of his uniform.
"Hear what, Carrots? I don't hear a thing."
"There's something going on inside the station. Follow me!" she said, running inside and down the first flight of stairs to the arrivals level. Through the gap in the central lobby, she could see two yaks wrestling on the departure level downstairs. They were dressed in bloodied suits, with a few pools of blood off to the side, stemming from, what she could tell, were injured bystanders. She sprinted down the stairs and shouted to her partner behind her. "Nick! There's two yaks fighting with their horns! Ground level! I'll need help!"
"I got you! I'll loop around to the other side once I get something! Keep them distracted for me!" he yelled, running across the arrivals area toward the parking lot as she arrived on the departures floor. Reaching for her taser in one hand and her radio in the other, she first got in contact with Clawhauser.
"Dispatch this is Officer Judy Hopps. I have an incident of two horned animals charging each other at central station. Multiple wounded. Send officers and medical personnel, over." As she was done rattling off the situation to Clawhauser, she raised her taser to the two yaks, standing her ground almost a dozen meters away from them. Even at that range, if she enraged one of them, they could spear her within seconds. She saw two pigs lying on the ground, unresponsive, and a sloth struggling to apply pressure to his wounds. The owner of a juice shop had apparently closed the protective gates to his store, keeping his customers safe inside. They were recording everything with their phones.
"Both of you! Stand down! I'm an officer with the Zootopia Police Department, and you will cease fighting at once!"
The two yaks did disengage, snorting at each other before looking at Judy, and looking back to each other again. One of them spat in her direction, getting on all fours and snorting at her. Blood dripped off both of their horns.
"I say again, stand down and surrender! This is your final warning!" she shouted, apparently having little effect. The yak on all fours stomped his hooves while the other one sat down, adjusting his tie. She readied her fingers on the trigger. One shot – she would have one shot and then would need to do something about the other yak. This wasn't good at all.
"I'd listen to her if I were you. A voice came from on top of the juice shack, calm as it was commanding. Coolly raising his sunglasses, he pointed a large net gun at both yaks. "Better to head down to the station in handcuffs than a sack, am I right?"
As the yaks turned their attention toward Nick, Judy fired off a shot from her taser to the yak on all fours, while Nick fired the net gun toward the one sitting down. While Judy's taser hit its mark, throwing the yak off balance, his movements post-shock threw him in front of the net fired by Nick, forcing the other yak to stand up and charge Judy. Dodging to the right, she used food court furniture to make her way to a branch of a decorative palm tree, fiddling inside her uniform for a spare set of probes to load into her taser.
The yak, however, ran for the exit, not allowing Judy or Nick time to reload their less-than-lethal arsenal. As he rounded the final departure gate, however, a large, black figure tackled him to the ground: Officer Onca. She could see Officer Pardus walk through the first departure gate as his panther partner subdued and arrested the yak. Both cats looked up as Nick was helping Judy climb down from the palm tree, and gave them a thumbs up.
"So, you were saying about excitement?" Nick said, nudging Judy off her balance. He winked as he went over to the yak in the net and began tying it up.
"That was," she managed to break out, gasping for air. She didn't have a problem breathing so much as she had a problem working through the adrenaline in her body. "That was amazing. That's why I joined this department."
"Well, you got your wish and city hall got theirs," Nick said, pointing to the juice stand full of customers, some of whom were still recording, some of whom were clapping. "This is probably the best footage they're going to get all year. Can't say the same for us, though. Man, is this going to be a lot of paperwork," Nick sighed, finishing tying the knot on the yak's net and paramedics rushed into the station, ready to tend to the wounded. It was, for the first time in two years, Judy's first day back to the fight.
