Chapter 1
Judy could not believe it. Of all the outrageous things to happen, she was stuck on parking meter duty. She was top of her class, one of the best to ever come out of the Zootopia Police Academy. And what did Chief Bogo go and do, leave her to check parking meters around the city, and writing out tickets.
And she knew the reason, it was not because she lacked experience, nor the skills. She had gone through weeks of training, to prepare her for any spot in the police department. No, it was the fact unlike all the others in the department, she was a bunny. The next smallest was a wolf who was nearly twice her size.
But unless Judy got really lucky there was nothing she was going to be able to do about it either. To go against Chief Bogo in an act of insubordination, would mean removal or demotion from the Police department. And as a newly hired officer, she knew there would be nothing for him to consider before throwing her out in a heartbeat.
"Oh well, I just need to work my way up," Judy said, a small smile creeping onto her face.
She knew in about a year's time she could push out from this job to another a better one. But Judy had never been one to just wait and let things happen. She would always pushed and worked her way towards them. Her parents often commented her drive was more suited to that of a predator than a prey. Something Judy thought was rather funny considering rabbits were never thought as predators by anyone.
As she turned onto the next street, her radio beeped grabbing her attention. A second later, Bogo's voice came through it, calling for Judy. Judy was a little surprised by this, but none the less picked up the mike and turned it on.
"Judy here," Judy said, pulling her so called patrol car off to the side.
"Good, could you give me your position," Bogo asked.
Judy looked back up the street towards the signs, "Just turned onto Maple from North 35."
Bogo was quiet for a few moments at this. Judy supposed he was figuring her position and seeing how far she was along in her route. Personally, she felt she was behind currently. She could jog for faster and longer than her so called car could. And it was really quite annoying to be honest.
"I see, good, I have decided to give you a small challenge," Bogo replied after a few moments.
"Okay," Judy said, kind of confused. This was her second day, and Bogo had made it quite clear his dislike of her being in his command. Why would he give her a challenge?
"At the end of the block you might be able to spot a donut shop," Bogo said.
"Chief if the challenge is to bring back donuts to the other officers, it is a really bad joke," Judy commented, as she glanced around, "But, I do see the shop."
Judy heard Bogo let out a short low laugh, which seemed kind of unlike him, "That is would be. No, I want you to try and follow someone who goes to the place regularly."
"I can, who is the person?" Judy asked, looking at the shop.
"He is a Snow Owl. Name is unknown to us currently, but among the criminals in the city, they call him 'The Night Watch'. He is not a vigilantly, but he does seem to know about almost everything that goes on in the city. I need his information," Bogo explained.
"And you think I can catch him?" Judy asked surprised.
"No I really don't," Bogo said, catching Judy even more by surprise this time, but he continued before she could reply back, "But, as no one else has been able to catch him, I am going to let you take a shot at it. Bring him in within two days, and I will promote you. Fail and you're stuck on Meter duty till I say otherwise."
Judy did not really see anything bad about this. She would only go up in standing if she succeeded, and even if she failed, it was not like anyone else had been able to succeed either. Still though, even as she looked back over at the Donut Shop she saw the owl, Bogo had spoken about, landing and enter.
"Sure, I will take a shot at it, can you have someone pick up my car?" Judy asked, as she grabbed her little bit of needed gear from the vehicle.
"Can do. Good luck," Bogo said.
Judy nodded to herself and took off down the road, making sure to leave the keys hidden safely under the seat of the car. As well as her orange vest in the back. As she jogged she noticed the shop was not really that big, or out there. In fact, the shop seemed rather mundane compared to many of the places around Zootopia.
But as she glanced inside she saw the owl Bogo had been referring to. He stood twice her height easily, and seemed to be have a rather pleasant chat with the animal at the register. Judy moved still closer till finally she was standing by the door, but even with her hearing capabilities she was unable to hear what was being said.
It was weird but before she could figure out what was going on, the owl turned, and looked directly at her. His eyes were focused on her and she felt a small pang of fear. But she did not run, nor turn and look away, but stared back. They held each other eyes till he had left the store, and set the bundle he had been holding down by his side.
"So you the next one to try you luck," The Owl said, leaning down a little bit to get a better look at Judy.
"Yes," Judy said, her apprehension growing.
Judy try but could not help it as a shiver of fear ran down her spine. Though his feathers were the purest of white and well taken care of, and his eyes the deep green of a forest. His beak and claws told a different story entirely. Sharp and deadly, marks of the savage nature that his ancestors had once known.
"Very well," He said, his tone deep, but not dark or harsh.
"Could I ask you your name?" Judy asked, as the owl stood back up fully his feathers fluttering a little bit.
"You can learn my name if you can catch me," the owl said, before spreading his wings.
Judy moved to try and grab him, but he was in the air before she could move and inch. Judy tracked him as he rose higher still and then dove straight for Judy. Judy did not wait for the attack but rather rolled to the side hoping to avoid the blow. Drawing her dart gun she looked about for him, and saw he was flying away, the package of donuts, hanging from his beak again.
Judy let out a small groan of annoyance and began to give chase. Her legs working easily as she tried to keep pace with the owl, who seemed to be in no hurry to outrun her, flying along at a rather sedate pace. Even as he turned and headed down different road, he made no move to fly over anyone of the buildings nor pick up speed. Judy was rather confused by this, had he somehow forgotten she was tailing him.
Well at least it seemed like this till he turned onto one of the main streets. At this point his wing beats turned from one ever few moments to one every other second. His speed picked up at a frightening rate, and soon Judy was going full out to keep up with him. But still his speed continued to increase and Judy began to realize just why Bogo doubted she would be able to catch him.
Even at her fastest she was still being left behind. Judy glared up at the owl who was now two blocks ahead of her and still adding to the distance in-between them. She knew if she did not do something soon she would lose sight of him. And as much as she would like to believe she would get a second chance at chasing him; the thought of failing then being stuck with parking duty was almost too bad to think about.
"No I am not going to lose to him," Judy said, as she did something she had not done for ages, she dropped to all fours.
Now, though it was rather rare for an animal to take up a four-legged stance to run, it was not unheard of. It afforded the user great speed, indeed much greater than one normally could achieve on two legs. However, the act itself was rather disgraceful to some, and downright revolting to others. Seen most often as a link back to their dark and savage history.
Judy did not care about this. Her body, in shape as it was, allowed her such speed she began closing the gap between her and the owl. Two more blocks after that and she was almost on top of him again. And as he turned a corner, she leapt landing on a poll and leapt off never losing speed.
She saw the owl look down, and give her a bit of a grin. But he did not slow, nor give her any chance to somehow to bring him down. Judy wished that she could jump up and grab him. But she doubted she could even touches his feet from where he soared overhead.
It was then Judy realized where they were heading, towards the outer wall of the city right towards the Tundra District. How he was going to slip through the airlock was beyond her however. After all the airlock were designed to keep the climate from shifting, she doubted he have any chance of slipping in that way. Or at least that was what she thought till she saw the rail pass over head, and he angled off following it.
"Oh no," Judy said, turning nearly tripping as she tried to follow.
Now she was sure it was a lost cause as she changed direction. He could follow the tracks without a problem. She could not. At least not without risking getting hit by the train. Still Judy could not bring herself to slow and just give up, not after deciding to give it her all.
As she passed another building she saw an answer to her conundrum. Around the edge of the city was a huge dirt embankment, which acted as a large foundation to support the massive glass dome that surrounded Tundra Town. And right before the train would enter the town the rails would became level with the top of this embankment.
"Yes," Judy said, a grin growing on her face as she turned and sped across a street, narrowly missing getting hit by a car.
As she felt the grass below her paws, she could not help but let out a small moan of joy. It was nice to feel real grass again after so many weeks training in the city. She was a country girl after all. And this run reminded her so much of her home town.
Reaching the top of the earth embankment she leapt sideways onto the track. Then continued down it, heading into the large glass tunnel. But before she could reach the other side, she saw something that had caused her to nearly panic. It was a fast-moving train, heading right towards her.
Skidding to a stop Judy stumbled and took a tumble. Getting up, gasping for breath, her heart hammering she took off back down the track, the sound of the train now audible. She could feel the rail rumbling as the train got closer, but she knew that she would not make it. Then right as she cleared the tunnels exit, she felt something smash into her side.
Flinching she closed her eyes as she felt the rails disappear from beneath her feet. She kept her eyes closed waiting for the impact with the ground she was sure to come. Yet, it never came, and as Judy's senses returned to her fully she realized someone was holding her.
Opening her eyes, she nearly wished she hadn't. For Judy, could only guess that she was a hundred or so feet above the ground. Taking a few deep breaths, she looked above her and saw the same owl from before, flying high, carrying her in his claws.
"I… Thanks," Judy said, feeling her heart still pounding out a mile a minute.
The owl did not reply but began heading for the tunnel again, and swooped through it. As they left it, the arctic air of Tundra Town hit her. Still though even now though they were both safely on the other side, the owl did not set her down but kept flying on.
Judy was treated to a rather amazing sight as they flew across the town. And it was not till they came into land, near a large abandon looking factory building did the owl slow his wings beats. Sitting Judy down, he back winged away a little bit before settling down on the roof as well. Sitting down the package he nodded towards it.
"Carry that, so we might be able to talk as we walk," The owl said.
"No, I need to take you into Chief Bogo," Judy said, moving to draw her dart gun.
However the moment her paw touched the handle, the owl's wing tip rapped hard against her hand. Judy let out a sharp gasp of pain and drew her hand away, not grabbing the gun and looked at her paw. It was not broken, but that had sure hurt.
"No, if you want to know anything you are to follow me first," The owl said, and began walking towards a door.
Judy let out a groan of annoyance, but grabbed the bag that contained the donuts and followed the owl. He held the door open to her and she went in. The owl followed a few moments later, closing the door behind him.
"So why do I have to follow you?" Judy asked.
"The blizzard is about to hit. It always hits around six to seven every night to add a fresh layer of snow to Tundra Town it will not stop till about midnight. I don't care to fly in that weather if I can help it," The owl answered.
"I see, so what is your name?" Judy asked.
"You can call me Harry," Harry answered as he made his way down the stairs, gliding from landing to landing.
Judy followed as fast as she could, burden as she was by the package of donuts. As they came down to the second floor, Harry stopped and went through another door and out into the main part of the factory. Judy followed not too far behind him.
"So, if I am right, you are Judy Hopps the newest officer on the force. Graduated at the top of your class from what I know, and stuck on parking duty. You are shorter than I expected," Harry said, glancing down at Judy, a small smirk playing across his face.
"How do you know all that!" Judy asked, her ears, which had been lying across her back now standing up fully.
"Now you're the right height," Harry said, "As for how, your name is on your vest. And the rest I have heard from off duty cops talking around the city for the last few weeks. And I see you probably met nick and Finkic based on that concrete dust on your feet."
"I did not know I was that well known," Judy said a little taken aback.
"You are but not in a good way," Harry said stopping by a door, "Most say it more as a joke than with respect."
"I am not surprised by that," Judy grumbled.
Harry smiled again, and tapped the door causing it to swing inwards, "You don't earn respect by being the top of the class you learn but by doing your job."
Before Judy could reply to this, she heard someone cough inside. Harry turned and went inside at this, making long hops between spots as the ceiling was a little lower not allowing him to fly about like he would have normally done so.
Judy before entering looked about where factory about her. Currently they were in the office section of the building. They had walked along the cat walk on one side. The room inside was furnished like a home might, and it was extra warm inside.
"Hey Senera," Harry said, to someone inside the room, "It seems someone finally caught me."
"Really now. And who, of the many incompetent officers, was that?" a slight rough voice said in reply.
"Miss Judy Hopps," Harry said, gesturing for Judy to come forward into the room.
"Miss Judy Hopps," Serena voice said, a little surprise in the tone.
As Judy came into the room and saw who was on the couch, she found herself a little surprised. It was not another owl, but rather a white tiger female. However, she was still very young, barely taller than Harry, and right now she looked to have a head cold. Her eyes though surprised Judy some as she saw her own violet irises staring back at her.
"Hello," Judy said, keeping her tone level.
"You were beat by a rabbit," Serena said, turning to Harry, "A rabbit!"
"Well no, he, kind of… saved me," Judy said, feeling a little ashamed to admit it.
"I see, and he still brought you here anyway," Serena said, getting off the couch and moving around to kneel down by Judy.
Judy could barely hold the stare with the tigress. She could stare down anyone else, but for some reason staring into those violet orbs left her feeling uneasy in the extreme. Yet Judy did not look away, stealing herself to keep eye contact.
"You will do," Serena said finally, her giggle turning into a slight cough as she turned away.
Harry shook his head, "Get back on the couch and rest Serena."
"Like you can tell me what to do," Serena countered though did as she was told.
"While you are sick, yes I shall," Harry said, before nodding to Judy and took off towards another door.
Judy followed a few moments later, her eyes lingering on Serena for a few moments as she set down the package of donuts. What was going on here? Why had Harry saved her, and even more importantly why was he showing her around his own house? Did he think she would feel indebted to him enough to not bring him in, or maybe he felt he could bribe her?
Finding Harry on a catwalk around the edge of the factory, Judy hurried over. The metal flooring was cold on her feet, and already a heavy chill filled the air of the factory. Harry did not seem to notice it as he turned and spoke.
"Serena likes you," Harry said.
"Thanks, I think," Judy said, taken a little aback by this.
Harry chuckled, "Be happy she does, only one other person got this far. But she did not like him."
"What happened to him?" Judy asked, slightly worried.
"She threw him out the window and onto the factory floor," Harry said his tone rather indifferent.
Judy looked up from the room they had left and down to the factory floor, and realized one thing. The fall would be nearly fatal to all but the luckiest of animals. She began to feel a little sorry for the guy whoever he was.
"That would have killed him," Judy said.
"People like him don't deserve to live," Harry stated simply.
Judy looked at Harry in shock. Her anger growing inside at this, at least till Harry fixed her with his stare again. It seemed to bore into her. She slowly felt her anger fizzle out in spite of herself.
"Trust me, scum like him don't deserve to live," Harry said, a hard edge to his voice.
Judy nodded, and decided to leave it for a later date, "Okay, now can we please talk about going to see Chief Bogo?"
"Sure we can talk about it," Harry said, "I expect he wants my help with the missing Mammals cases."
"Why do you say that?" Judy asked.
"Fourteen missing animals, all predators, that is not something that just goes unnoticed. Nor does it go unnoticed when one of them is also my friend," Harry said.
"Well that explains it," Judy said, "But why have you not gone looking for him yet?"
"Two reasons really, I was not aware he was missing till recently, when I checking up on something else. And two, Serena is sick and I have to stay here and watch over her. Or I would have done something long before now," Harry said.
"Those are as good of reason as any," Judy admitted.
Harry nodded, "We will leave once the storm ends, and I will talk with Bogo. With some aid, I should be able to solve this quickly enough."
Judy nodded, feeling rather grateful that Harry was willing, or at least seemed willing to come in quietly. She doubted she could bring him if he resisted, at least if his reputation was anything to go by. The only thing that bugged her though, was why he was willing to come in at all. Or even more importantly why had he risked his own life to save hers. Judy doubted he would answer those questions at least right then.
But as Judy's eye moved away from Harry and out over the factory, and her curiosity for what it had once made grew. But before she could ask Harry about this, a sound caught her attention. At first she was not sure what it was, as the tone was very low. But as the volume grew, the sound began to fade away. But it had left Judy a little shaken as to what had caused the noise.
"What, was that?" Judy asked, mostly to herself.
"I am not sure," Harry said, his head turning about, looking for the source of the noise, "I don't see anything however."
Judy nodded, but she could not help it as her hand moved down to the tranquilizer gun at her hip. Slowly they calmed down, still looking about the place for any sign as to what had caused the noise. But there was no sign of source, and worse still they knew that it was not some figment of their imagination, not when they had both heard it.
They without warning Harry seized Judy in his claws and took to the air. There was a loud roar a second later as a tiger landed where they had been moments before. Judy was so shocked she did not even draw her gun. It was Serena, and she looked, were there was no other word for it, savage.
Harry landed on a cat walk several yards away from Serena. Judy got up and looked over at Serena in surprise. Looking over at Harry, she saw he was just as confused as she was, as well as rather scared. Judy's felt her hand grab the dart gun, and begin pulling it out of her belt, but before she could draw it and aim it. Serena leapt from the other walkway and right at them.
Harry had leapt away, but Judy fumbled dropping her gun. But she was able to get away before Serena's claws cut her open. Serena landed lightly, her claws keeping her from skidding off the metal walkway. She turned looking from Judy to Harry and back again, as if deciding which would be a better meal.
Judy felt her pace increasing, this was not something she had trained for. She could fight any animal and win, but a fight with a savage animal was another matter entirely. All the normal rules of fighting went out the door, as normal attackers aimed to hurt not kill, but savage, that was a fight to the death. Taking a deep breath and a half step back, Judy got ready to try and fight. But before that happened, something not even she expected happen as a full-grown wolf with pure white fur leapt out of nowhere and attack Serena.
Serena distracted like she was, did not react in time, and was bull over by the bigger mammal. Judy used this time to take off down the walkway, and leapt out and over the pair of wresting mammals and landed on the other side. She spotted her dart gun, and quickly picked it up and leveled it at the pair. The wolf seemed to notice this, and leapt clear of the fighting.
Serena, let lose a low roar, but before she could do anything else Judy let a shot fly. It struck home in Serena's side, and moments later Serena slumped sideways out cold. Judy then looked about and saw the wolf, looking at Serena with something akin to horror and shock.
But then something happened Judy did not expect. For it seem to be shrinking down, as if the horror it was seeing was too great, that it wished to hide from the entire world by vanishing. Then Judy realized with a shock it had shrunk down, not only that, but its body had changed. No longer was a large white wolf standing before her, but instead a young rabbit was now kneeling down next to Serena.
Judy loaded another round into her gun, and approached slowly. The young rabbit, looking at Serena with a look filled with shock, horror and confusion. However, as Judy reached the pair, the rabbits ears twitched and before Judy could even react, the rabbit attacked. Judy's gun was yanked by some invisible force from her hand, before to her great worry, the rabbit had changed into the full-grown wolf again, pinning her, teeth bared.
However, as the wolf saw who she was, it backed off. Then shrank back down into the young white rabbit again. Judy, saw several long scars across his chest before he turned and walked over to Serena again. Judy picked herself carefully back up, and walk back over, though much more warry this time.
"Who are you?" Judy finally asked.
"I said before, call me Harry, it is my name, no matter what form I might take," Harry said, looking at Serena for a few more minutes before standing up fully.
Judy looked at Harry closely studying him. Besides the fact he was nude, he looked very much like any other rabbit Judy had seen. He was a few inches shorter than her currently, and his fur like all the other forms he had taken was pure white in color. While his eyes were bright green. But then her eyes strayed to those scars across his chest, and wondered how he had got them.
"This is not normal," Harry said, a small growl of anger just audible.
"I know, I have never seen any animal go savage before," Judy said, coming to stand besides Harry.
"I have, but not for several years," Harry said, as he began looking over Serena as if looking for something.
"Is that how you got those scars?" Judy asked.
"Yes, when Serena and I were much younger, we were being hunted down by a bunch of bullies. They were determined to muzzle Serena, and torment me as I never left her side. Serena freaked out, and lashed out in a feral fear, I actually moved to protect those idiots and got badly cut. The act caused Serena to calm down," Harry explained.
"What happened afterwards," Judy asked, her hand rising to her own cheek where she had been cut by claws before.
"I was taken to the hospital; Serena beat herself up a little bit. We made up, and the bullies were taught a lesson by the Head of the Orphanage," Harry said, rather dispassionately.
"And how are you able to change?" Judy asked, trying to get as much out of Harry as she could.
"Magic, and it is also the same way I disarmed you just now," Harry said, before he paused, looking at a slightly off colored spot near Serena's neck.
"Magic, you know that is not real," Judy said, though she did not even sound convincing even to herself at the moment.
"Then let me show you some magic," Harry said.
Stepping back, Harry's eyes began to glow. A large glass vial appeared in his hand, and then from the spot-on Serena's fur, a weird blue purple liquid came away and began slowly filling the vial up. It took several minutes before Harry spoke again, or the glow to fade. But once it had, the vial was filled with a little more than a teaspoon of the weird liquid.
"What is that?" Judy asked, before she noticed her dart gun was floating a few inches from her.
"I don't know, but I think I am going to need the help of the ZPD for once," Harry said, his own eyes wide with worry and anger.