"Ok, so we are out of the prison, what now? They aren't exactly gonna let me walk out of here you know." We were looking through the window of the door leading back to the lobby of the station. Judy was so short I had to pick her up to get her up to window level. The station was mostly empty.
Judy thought for a moment, and then said "Well we can try to just walk out. Maybe they won't realize what happened until we are gone?" Really Judy? That's the best you got? I looked at her in disbelief.
"What do we do if they notice us? Because they are probably going to notice a guy in a bloodstained shirt trying to leave the station!"
"Well if that happens, just take me hostage again. You've gotten some practice in with that already."
"Ouch Judy, that hurts."
"So does my forehead from where you hit me." She gave me a smirk, then looked back out the window more seriously. "Either way, we need to leave soon. Most of the officers haven't arrived yet, but they will soon and that will make getting out of here a lot more difficult, one way or another. Put me down and lets go."
I set her down and she pushed the door open, with me following her closely. I tried to keep my head down and hands together. Maybe it would look like she was escorting me. We were about half way to the door when from behind us came a loud voice.
"Officer Hopps is trying to help a prisoner escape!"
I swung around to look, and staring at us from across the room, looking mad as hell, was that elephant Judy tasered. Damn, he recovered really fast.
For a second, Judy and I just stood there as every face in the area turned towards us. Then Judy grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the door. We burst through the front doors and ran down the road away from the station as fast as we could.
"Do you have a plan here or are we just running?" I asked Judy between breaths.
"I have a plan…and right now its running." She panted back. Dammit Judy! You need to learn to think on your feet more.
"Well I need to find a change of clothes, this bloody shirt sticks out like a sore thumb!" I said as we passed multiple onlookers. "And where are we going? Do you know?"
"I was hoping you might have an idea for that actually." She said, "But for now let's stop in this alley." We made a turn off the road into a dark alley and stopped to catch our breath. I decided it was time to lose the bloodied shirt, so I took it off and threw it into a garbage bin.
"So, Nick, do you have any ideas about where we can go? I think my apartment is probably out of the question, and we should try to lay low until the meeting tonight."
"You really didn't think very far ahead with this plan did you?" I asked, shaking my head. Judy looked a little offended. "Well, I guess we can go to where I live, most of the time."
"Won't that be as obvious as my place?" she asked frowning.
"No because it's not exactly an official residence. It's in Happytown. I got multiple hideouts there, but this is my favorite one. But before we go, we need to get a car, and a change of clothes for you and me. We are going to stick out. Luckily I know a guy who is actually nearby."
"But I don't think it's a good idea for us to go back out on the streets right now, we are still sticking out." Judy said.
"Oh don't worry." I said looking down at our feet. "It just so happens there is a manhole here. And I know the sewers around here like the back of my hand. Call it insurance." She looked disapproving.
"You were expecting to get arrested?"
"Never hurts to be prepared." I pried open the manhole cover and gestured towards it, "Ladies first."
Judy gave me an annoyed look, then climbed down into the sewer. I followed after her, closing the manhole lid after me.
"Good Lord, it smells terrible down here!" Judy said from behind me. I turned around smirking at her.
"Well yeah, it's a sewer. Of course it's gonna smell. And that's half the point of coming down here. The other cops could probably track our scent, especially with all that blood that was on me. Coming down here masks the scent and with no witnesses, they will have no idea which way we went.
Sounding impressed, Judy said "You really did think all this through, didn't you?"
"Of course I did. I'm a clever fox, I always think ahead. A skill you could work on admittingly," I turned around, "why did you tell him you recorded him? That might have been info you would want to keep close to your chest." She looked puzzled for a second, then realization apparently struck.
"Oh that?" She pulled the pen out. "That was a bluff, this is just a normal pen."
"A carrot shaped pen." I said unable to contain my smile. "You really are such a rabbit, you know?"
"I knew you were gonna give me crap about it." She said smiling back.
"So why even tell him you were recording him at all?" I said more seriously. "It just gave him another reason to want us dead you know?"
"I panicked I guess. I was hoping that showing I had evidence against him would make him back down."
I laughed. "Well you definitely guessed wrong there. I'm pretty sure if anything it's gonna make that dumb elephant more eager to stop us himself. But let's not worry about that, we gotta keep going."
We walked in silence for a while. I wasn't sure what else to say. I wish I knew what Judy was thinking about. This must be hard for her. She is now as much of a fugitive as I am. I'm sure that elephant told the rest of the police that she helped me escape, so they will be hunting her just as much as me. And it was my fault for dragging her into it. I didn't know what was best to say, but I felt I had to say something.
"Hey Judy?"
"Yeah?" I heard from behind me.
"Thank you for believing me."
And then we were back to silence. But that was alright.
About 20 minutes later, after many twists and turns, I stopped. "Alright, up this ladder and then our stop is across the street." I said turning to look at Judy.
"Are you sure?" she said looking a little skeptical. "That was a pretty winding route we took, are you sure you know where we are?"
"Judy," I said in a joking tone as I climbed the ladder to the manhole, "I'm hurt. I know what I'm doing. And," I said as I pushed the cover off and took a look outside, "I know we are right where we need to be. Come on." I scrambled up onto the street, then waited for Judy to climb out too before pushing the cover back into place. We were in a warehouse district now. I looked around and saw the warehouse I was looking for and made a beeline towards it with Judy following me.
"So who is this friend we are meeting? Judy asked from behind me, clearly a little nervous.
"Just an old acquaintance. She owes me a few favors." I said as I knocked on the door.
A minute later it opened to reveal a badger in a jumpsuit. She looked shocked. "Nick, is that you? What are you doing here?"
"Hi Honey, it's nice to see you too. Can we come in?" I said pushing my way inside. Honey shut the door behind us.
"Nick, seriously, why are you here? You are all over the news. You and that bunny you got with you. What did you two do?" She looked nervous. I tried to smile.
"The full story would take a long time to tell, time we don't have. So instead I am going to call in that favor you owe me. I need a car. And I suppose a change of clothes for me and Judy here." Honey didn't look happy.
"Dammit Nick, figures that you'd only come around when you needed something. Well I have a truck you can use in the shop. It's not ideal, but it'll work. And I'm sure I have clothes around here somewhere."
"Thanks Honey, Judy'll owe you." Judy looked at me angrily. "What? Its two favors, and I'm giving up mine, so I figure it's only fair you take some of the debt."
"Really Nick? You are such a fox." She said shaking her head, but I could see a small smile.
About 10 minutes later we were both in new clothes. Judy was folding up her uniform.
"Judy, I dunno if you really need to bring your uniform with you. You probably won't need it you know."
"I know, I just would feel bad leaving it behind and…wait, what's this?" She pulled a piece of paper out of one of the pockets of her uniform. "Oh yeah, that's right, that wolf gave me this. Said I should read it when I get the chance." She opened the note, and began reading.
I turned to Honey and said "So you got the keys ready for us?" She was about to reply when Judy loudly said "Nick! Nick! You need to see this now!"
I rushed over to her and took the paper she held to me to read it. At first it was just about how he knew some guys who worked on the device that deactivated collars, I started skipping through until I came upon a passage that caught my eye.
"Oh shit. That's how they found us last time!" I said quietly, for I had just read that there was a small chip in my collar that emitted a small pulse that would let the police find us. It was small enough that they couldn't see everyone in the entire city, it only worked when they had detection devices nearby, but hiding out in Happytown wouldn't work at all as long as the chip was still active in the collar. We'd stick out horribly.
"What are we going to do Judy? They will be able to find us!" I said to her nervously. She looked scared too, but then said "There is more isn't there? Let's keep reading." Good thing we did. There were instructions on how we could remove the chip from my collar, though it wouldn't remove the collar itself. Admittingly the instructions looked like Latin to me, but it just so happened we had a tech savy person in our midst.
"Hey Honey? I think I am about to owe you a favor." I said to her. She didn't look happy.
"Ok Nick, hold still, I am going to open the collar now." We were sitting in the shop room, next to a bench with a bunch of tools.
"Just be careful Honey, I don't want you to break something and have the device go off or something." I said clutching the chair I was in. I was feeling nervous about this. But there was nothing for it, it had to be done. Judy sat next to me watching anxiously.
"It'll be fine Nick, she seems like she knows what she's doing." She said, then turned to Honey, "You…you do know what you are doing right?" Honey snorted.
"Of course I know what I'm doing, and Nick knows I know what I'm doing, I'm a professional. And these instructions are actually very straight forward. It'll just be a minute longer and then you will be all set."
I admit I actually wasn't all that reassured feeling someone digging around on this leash around my neck. But a minute later I heard a clicking sound and Honey say "Aha, there we go."
And then there was a huge WHAM that made both me and Judy jump. I wheeled around to look at Honey, who had a hammer in her hand. "What?" she said, "I was just destroying the chip. Wouldn't be good if it was still working."
I sighed and so did Judy. "So the collar is all set then?" I asked Honey.
"Yep, they won't be able to track you with it, though otherwise its exactly the same as it was before."
I got up. "Thanks Honey, we both owe you one." Honey tossed me the keys.
"Go on and get out of here, you've taken enough time out of my day. Go on."
"Thanks Honey." Judy said as we walked towards the truck.
I hopped in the driver's seat of the truck and Judy got in the passenger side. I started the car and we were off. It was about Noon by this point so we still had time to kill before the meeting. Knowing it was a bad idea to just be out and about til then, I decided to take Judy to where I live.
I started driving towards my father's old shop in Happytown.