Hello, my fellow Zootopians!
Don't have much to say at this stage - I'll have a lot to say in the author's notes towards the end of the chapter. So let's cut to the chase, shall we?
I'm looking at these stats right now: More than 26,300 views, 253 reviews, 117 favorites, and 163 alerts. As of now, this is the story which received the most reviews so far, a few more than "Nightmare." And I cannot thank you enough for this!
As usual, I'm indebted to Combat Engineer, Story. Writer. 2015, Robert Escher, Kenneth Walker, GhostWolf88, honeysucklecupcakes, Stubat, Galaxyexplorer74, Dirtkid123, Melior (Our exchange of PMs was such a joy!), DrummerMax64, niraD, Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps, LupinTheWolf, Viridi. Inanitas, HawkTooth, and Missy2. 0 Frozen forever for reviewing this story.
But, please, Kenneth Walker, if you disagree with what I write, why don't you tell me what your point of criticism is, so I can explain my line of thinking to you? It's perfectly okay to criticize me. I never mind hearing candid opinions, even if they clash with mine. And if you come across a mistake I made, it would be great if you could just tell me so I can rectify it and avoid it in the future. If you don't tell me anything, I'll never know about these mistakes. So, please, the next time you feel the need to point out a mistake or similar stuff to me, please give me at least a little something to work with, okay?
DrummerMax 64 did it again! Not only did he find all quotes hidden in the last chapter, he also discovered two of the quotes being left from the previous ones. Summing it up:
1. The line taken out of the computer game "Tomb Raider: Legend" I hid in Chapter Fourteen was "Oh, you're going to find me extremely credulous today," said by McHorn. Lara Croft says it after finishing the Kazakhstan level of the game, during the cutscene.
2. The reference to the TV series "Magnum p.i." from Chapter Fifteen was, of course, "Higgy-Baby." This is how Nick called Higgins in this story, and why on Earth did it take this long to find it? It's how T.C. usually calls Jonathan Higgins, the majordomo of "Robin's Nest," the place were Thomas Magnum is living. No idea what I'm talking about? Watch the series, it's still hugely entertaining! (My version of Thomas Higgins, the hippo from Zootopia, actually is an amalgamation of both Magnum and Higgins from the series - Magnum's first name, and Higgins's last one, the latter being predetermined by the movie, of course.)
3. "What the hell is going on around here?" That's what lead singer Mike Muir shouts after the awesome intro of Suicidal Tendencies' "You Can't Bring Me Down," and it's what Bogo thought after being confronted by Clawhauser.
4. The quote from the movie "The American President" was "He couldn't find a coherent sentence with two paws and a flashlight!" said by Mastiff. In the movie, President Andrew Shepard (Michael Douglas) describes some of his predecessors like this: "We've had Presidents who were beloved, who couldn't find a coherent sentence with two hands and a flashlight."
5. The movie "Stripes" provided me with a line said by John Candy, who was playing Dewey "Ox" Oxburger, a rather portly private who was dreaming of becoming "a lean, mean fighting machine."
6. And as the diehard fan of Monty Python that I am, I just had to include the line "Life's a piece of shit when you look at it" from the song "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, written by Eric Idle.
7. "Ay, there's the rub!" is a line I actually used once before, in "Nightmare." It was written by William Shakespeare and appears in the play "The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark," Act III, Scene 1, as part of the infamous "To be, or not to be" monologue spoken by Prince Hamlet.
Congratulations, DrummerMax. But there still are two quotes remaining …
The disclaimer can be found in the first chapter.
Chapter Twenty-One
The Gauntlet V
This will be the day we've waited for. This will be the day we open up the door.
Jeff Williams feat. Casey Lee Williams: "This Will Be The Day" (Written by Jeff Williams, from the album "RWBY Volume 1 Soundtrack," Rooster Teeth Productions, 2013)
In Front of the Grand Pangolin Arms Apartment Building, Furrari 330 GTS Spider, Savanna Central, Zootopia
The car was his everything. He had bought it on a whim for next to nothing, an old clunker, a wreck even, more than forty years old, with more than 300,000 miles on the odometer. The engine had been shot, the chassis a bucketful of rust and cracks, the running gear a terrible mess. Today, after countless hours of repairing and tinkering, done mostly by himself, after having invested a huge amount of money, the Furrari Spider looked as good as new. Its engine ran smooth as silk, its running gear was in mint condition, not a speck of rust or even dust marred its looks. It was his pride and joy.
On any normal day, sitting in the car alone was enough to put a smile on Frederick Delgato's face.
This morning, it didn't even register with him.
For two nights in a row, he had barely slept at all. The last evening in particular had been an outright disaster. Having received a verbal tongue-lashing by no other than Adimar Mastiff had shaken him to the core.
He had gone to The Watering Hole to relax, to unwind, to wash away the stress of several days of hard work.
He had left it feeling more wound-up than ever.
When had things gotten that out of paw?
When Bogo had asked him to harass Hopps.
And everything that had happened afterwards had been a huge pain in the butt.
Contrary to him, it seemed that Hopps had enjoyed the last evening immensely. She had happily chatted away with their coworkers; at one point she had even started cracking crack silly jokes. When being asked, she had willingly related tales of her past, of her home, of her time at the ZPA - her impersonation of Major Friedkin had been absolutely spot-on -, of her first days of duty. Of the Missing Mammals and Savage Predators cases.
The only thing she hadn't mentioned at all was him.
It was as if to her, the last two days had never taken place.
The whole evening, she had cast no further look at him. She had, for all intents and purposes, ignored his presence completely.
And it had come as a huge surprise to Delgato when he had realized that her attitude towards him had been causing an almost physical pain.
It seemed like she was a really nice girl, friendly, modest, supportive, funny. They should have gotten along splendidly.
She was hating him.
And he couldn't blame her. It was his fault, and Bogo's.
Or was it?
After having returned home - he had been the first one to leave, much earlier than usual, probably much earlier than everyone else -, he had spent the night tossing and turning in his bed, waiting for sleep, finding none. He had been thinking about the situation, about Hopps, about himself, about the order Bogo had given him.
It hadn't been an order; Bogo had made this abundantly clear. But he had treated it as such. Of course he had. Contradicting his superior officer wasn't even in his vocabulary. He just followed orders, plain and simple. To him, Bogo's word was the law.
Because he naturally assumed that, as far as official matters were concerned, the cape buffalo was right.
But was he? Had he been right when it came to Hopps?
Had she displayed any of the things Bogo had mentioned? Any "better-than-thou" attitude? Any reckless behavior? Any disrespect towards Delgato as her superior officer? Any cluelessness when it came to the situations they had been facing?
The answer, of course, was a resounding No.
At one point during the night, he had realized with a start that he had taken a perfectly wrong approach, pretty much from the very first moment he had joined forces with Hopps. He hadn't tested her for any of the things Bogo had feared, he had merely assumed that she was guilty of all the mistakes and oversights rookies are prone to make. He had approached her with a colossal amount of sheer, unadulterated prejudice.
He should have known better. He should have known much better.
Mastiff had been perfectly right. Delgato hadn't listened with his heart. He hadn't thought with his heart. He had given Hopps no chance to prove herself before passing his verdict on her. In his mind, the verdict on her had already been passed before she had been assigned to become his partner.
That wasn't Bogo fault.
It was his.
Their coworkers had watched and listened. They had seen Hopps excel at everything she had done. As far as they were concerned, she had been put to the test already, and she had succeeded with distinction. That was why they had started treating her as a true equal. They had treated her as if she already was "one of the guys," despite the fact that she had so little experience under her belt.
Even Mastiff had treated her with respect and courtesy. And the old wolf was notoriously hard to please.
The only guy who hadn't even considered the possibility that Hopps might be worthy of being treated with respect had been Delgato himself.
And he hated himself for it.
That was why he was sitting in his car now, watching the entrance of the Grand Pangolin Arms apartment building, the place where Hopps lived. He had already watched her return from her morning run, and it had been obvious that she had been in a great mood. There was a spring in her step that she'd been lacking the day before. She had smiled when a passer-by had approached her, and they had talked for several minutes in a rather animated fashion, with Hopps smiling or even grinning the whole time. The last evening seemed to have worked wonders, as far was her inner equilibrium was concerned.
Now he was waiting for her to leave the building again.
He needed to talk to her.
Grand Pangolin Arms Apartment Building, Top Floor, Apartment 514, Savanna Central, Zootopia
"And we'll never be royals. It don't run in our blood. That kind of luxe just ain't for us. We crave a different kind of buzz."
Judy knew she wasn't the greatest of singers, but sometimes, when she was in an excellent mood, the songs just poured out of her.
"Let me be your ruler. You can call me Queen Bee. And baby, I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule. Let me live that fantasy."
A short banging against the wall, along with a muffled "Oy, bunny, pipe down, will ya?" reminded her that she wasn't alone in the building.
One of the downsides of living in the glamorous Grand Pangolin Arms.
"Sorry, guys!" she said softly, knowing that Bucky and Pronk Oryx-Antlerson, her next-door neighbors, would be able to hear her anyway.
"Just shut it already!"
With a smile, he gave herself one last check-up in the mirror, grabbed her keys and left the room.
What a difference a day makes!
Yesterday, she'd been dead on her paws. Being forced to work with someone who'd treated her like she was the worst scum of the earth had been exhausting, and even her brother's words of comfort had offered her little, had done nothing to ease her mind.
But after having met her workmates at The Watering Hole, her mood had improved massively.
So they didn't all think she was a waste of time and space. Unlike a certain lion she knew.
What a comforting feeling!
Even the thought that she would have to team up with Delgato again didn't bother her all that much. So he didn't like her … So what? Even Adimar Mastiff had treated her in a friendly manner. And he was a Major and Delgato just a Sergeant.
On top of that, when Delgato had left The Watering Hole, she had been under the distinct impression that their workmates hadn't been too well-disposed towards him. Which had come as a surprise to her. Up until that point, she hadn't noticed any signs of Delgato being unpopular among their peers. After all, Francine had welcomed him in a most friendly manner when they had met during the protest rally.
When she had asked Clawhauser about it, he had made a dismissive gesture, assuring her that everything was fine.
Yet, she couldn't shake the feeling that both the lack of friendly tones towards Delgato and his treatment of her were somehow connected. All clues led to this as the only conclusion.
For a few seconds, she had been tempted to confront Delgato directly, but had dismissed the idea as ludicrous. It was highly unlikely that he would be willing to explain their workmates' behavior, especially if her instincts were right and the facts really were connected.
Besides, he was her superior officer. And you don't ask a superior officer about stuff like that.
No, it was probably best to still treat him as if he wasn't there. It had worked quite well the day before, it would work quite well today.
Even if it made for painfully boring duty hours.
When she left the building, she noticed that the red sports car - a Furrari, unless she was very much mistaken -, was still standing at the same spot it had stood before, across the street, parked in front of the hardware store. The occupant was completely unrecognizable through the windshield.
And Judy found herself feeling for the taser she wasn't wearing at the moment.
She didn't know why, but something about the car made her feel uneasy.
Her uneasiness increased exponentially, when the car's door was suddenly opened.
And a huge lion wearing a long, black coat was emerging.
Suddenly she was really longing for her taser.
With long, fast strides, the lion started walking towards her. It was only when he had crossed the street that she finally recognized the mammal.
"Oh, it's you," she said, then straightened herself. "I mean, good morning, Sergeant, sir."
Delgato merely looked down at her, silent, unmoving.
Threatening.
Does he want to attack me? He wouldn't dare!
After almost one minute of silence, Delgato said simply: "Come with me, Hopps." His voice was barely more than a whisper.
ZPD Precinct One Headquarters, Parking Lot, Furrari 330 GTS Spider, City Center, Zootopia
They had driven to Precinct One HQ in silence. Delgato had been concentrating on driving through the rush hour madness that Zootopia offered at this time of day, at the same time trying his hardest to figure out what to say to her.
He had gotten her to be alone with him. Now for the tough part.
Killing the engine, he finally turned towards Hopps.
And almost wished he hadn't.
He had never taken anyone along for the ride to their workplace before, much less a mammal as small as Hopps. So of course he didn't own a booster seat suited to someone like her. He had simply covered her seat in several folded-up blankets to allow for her to sit high enough so the safety belt wasn't choking her. It hadn't been an ideal solution, and it showed. Hopps was visibly struggling with the setup which obviously was quite uncomfortable for her. Seeing that she wasn't able to do it on her own, he undid her safety belt and leant back in his seat, turning his head away, staring straight ahead.
"Uh, sir, is something the matter?" Hopps finally asked after almost two minutes of the most awkward silence he could ever have imagined.
Delgato sighed.
How in the name of all that's holy did I get into this mess?
"Slept well, Hopps?"
Oh my goodness! You're such a moron!
He could literally hear Hopps raise an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you made me enter your car just to ask me how my night has been, sir."
Delgato snorted. "Of course not. I was merely … forget it!" He sighed again. "When you came here on Monday, I was watching you enter the building."
"So?"
"I was talking to Bogo while I did." He waited for her to respond to that, but she didn't, so he plowed on. "We were talking about you."
"So?" she said again.
Why does this have to be so darn hard? Why does she have to make this so darn hard?
"Let me guess, sir" Hopps said after yet another extended period of silence, "you were talking about just how useless I am as a police officer, right?" Her voice was oozing sarcasm, unexpectedly so. So far, he hadn't pegged her as an overly sarcastic mammal.
Delgato tried to pull himself together. "No, we were not. We were talking about how you have exceeded everyone's expectations."
That audibly caught Hopps by surprise. "You were?"
"Indeed. You've done the impossible. You have succeeded where other officers have failed. You received the Medal of Honor, and as far as both Bogo and I are concerned, you earned it."
"Then why …"
Delgato finally turned towards her again. "Please, Hopps, just let me explain!" Hopps fell silent again.
Delgato cleared his throat. "You have succeeded. Still, you are a rookie. You have just a few month's worth of experience under your belt, you're still quite green when it comes to working on the beat. You still have a lot to learn."
"I know," Hopps said quietly.
"Of course you do. You are very good, for a rookie. Still, there's a lot of work that needs to be done before you can call yourself a seasoned veteran.
"So Bogo asked me to take you under my proverbial wings."
Delgato straightened himself. Now for the uncomfortable part.
"He also told me to put you to the test. He wanted to know if you were truly worthy of wearing the shield, of the Medal of Honor you received. So he asked me to … well, let's not mince words here." He closed his eyes and said very rapidly: "He asked me to put you to the hardest test you can think of. He asked me to subject you to the worst harassment I could think of. To use his own words, he asked me to show you what you're in for, preferably in the worst possible way."
To his astonishment, Hopps seemed to take this in stride. "I see," she merely said.
"I don't think you do." Delgato looked through the windshield again. "He told me to subject you to harassment, but he gave me free reign when it comes to the details. He shouldn't have."
"What do you mean?"
"He should never have given me free reign. Because when you do, the outcome is always ugly.
"It was Bogo's idea, but I made it mine. It was me who subjected you to all the abuse, to all the ill-treatment. That one isn't on Bogo. It is on me.
"I made the decision to berate you after you had done what I hadn't been able to do. You caught the drug traffickers, not me. I would never have been able to catch up with them, much less catch them. I should have sung your praises. But all I did was shout you down.
"I should have treated you with respect. But I treated you like a pile of dirt. That one's on me. Not on Bogo.
"Everything you did over the course of the last few days was absolutely flawless. You performed much better than I could ever have done. When I was your age, I was an idiot, absolutely useless as a cop. You got off the starting blocks and pretty much excelled at everything you did. If that isn't worthy of my respect, I don't know what is. Seems like I still am an idiot."
He took a deep breath. "Hopps, I want to apologize for the way I treated you over the course of the last two days. I should never have done so, and I'm deeply ashamed that I did.
"I didn't look at who you are, at what you can do. I merely assumed you were a rookie and therefore had to be taught a lesson, and I tried to teach you that lesson in the worst possible way. Maybe I should have put you to the test, but I should never have subjected you to the kind of harassment I dished out. That was ugly, it was unnecessary, and I'm deeply sorry that I did this to you."
He took off his seat belt and opened the car door. "I'll ask Bogo to assign you a new partner. I'm not worthy to be yours. He should team you up with James or Francine. They'll treat you with the respect I denied you."
He had already almost left the car when he heard Hopps shout: "Sergeant, wait!"
He fell back into the seat with a sigh. "What is it, Hopps?"
When he looked at her, he was surprised to see that her face didn't show the usual loathing she had put on display ever since he had started mistreating her.
Was that … compassion?
"If you were under orders, then why …" Hopps began.
"It wasn't an order," he interrupted her harshly. "He can't have given me that order. It was a mere suggestion. Had he given that order, he would have made himself vulnerable to disciplinary complaints. You can't order harassment! It's against every law in existence." He made a pause. "He merely suggested it, and I agreed to it. And that was the point I made it my own. That's why it's not Bogo's fault."
"I disagree," Hopps said calmly.
It took a few seconds for Delgato to truly realize what she had said. "You do … what?"
Hopps shrugged. "Bogo's the Chief. If he asks you to do something, does it make a difference if it's an order or not?"
Delgato snorted. "It should have made a difference."
He sighed, leant back in his seat and closed his eyes. "You know, I've often been accused of following orders too blindly. 'Start using your common sense,' one of my instructors at the Academy told me. If someone gives me an order, I never question it, I just follow it. And even if it's a mere suggestion, I still follow it. I still see it through to the very, and inevitably bitter end.
"I told you that Bogo and I had a little one-to-one after you had already left for home on Monday. He asked me about your performance, your attitude towards me, your attitude towards the job in particular. When I told him that I was unable to name a single flaw, and how hard it had been for me to keep the façade of the bully, he offered me to reassign you to a different officer. But I refused, telling him that I would see it through to the end.
"Do you see now why Bogo's not at fault here? No, I am to blame. I'm the only one to blame. Regardless of what Bogo told me, I should have used my common sense. I should have realized that harassing you was perfectly stupid. But I refused to even think about it. I just did it.
"I never really thought about whether the stuff I was told to do was right or not. That has always been the case, and my instructors at the Academy were quick to find that one out. They gave me all kinds of silly orders, most of which were completely pointless, and I just followed them to the letter. Made for some really bad grades. Hadn't it been for my skills at paw-to-paw combat, I would never have graduated. I should never have graduated. But I made it, barely. My final grades were so abysmal, they didn't assign me to Precinct One, like I had hoped. No, sir! I was assigned to Precinct Five, Tundratown. And I can't stand the cold! Put me in Savanna Central, maybe even Sahara Square, I'm a happy camper. Put me in a place that's cold or wet, I'm absolutely miserable. So I worked my ass off to make it to Precinct One, and I managed.
"But it seems like I still haven't learned my lesson. I'm still making the very same mistakes I did back at the Academy." He sighed again. "It took an old wolf to give me a wake-up call I should have gotten ages ago."
"Mastiff talked to you?"
"He did. He told me to finally start thinking with both my heart and my brain."
"Sounds like sage advice."
"It is. This is why I'm going to Bogo now to ask him to give you a new partner. I'm not the right guy to team up with you. Not anymore."
"Why?"
He opened his eyes again to look at Hopps, frowning. "What do you mean, why? Because I can't work with you any longer. You hate me, but that's fine, because I was a horrible partner, and I hurt you. And you can walk away …" he broke off.
The bunny was actually smiling at him.
What the heck …?
"You know," Hopps said, "it's funny you should say that, because that's my line."
"Huh?"
The smile faded. "After the first press conference, after I had shot my mouth, accusing all predators of being savages in potentia, Nick Wilde was furious at me, and rightly so, and he told me so in no uncertain terms. But after I finally found out why predators had turned savage, I knew that I needed his help. So I went back to Zootopia and looked for him. And I found him. But of course he was still cross with me. So I apologized to him, and if I remember correctly, I used almost the exact same words you just told me. I told him that after we're done, he could hate me, and that it would be fine, because I had been a horrible friend and had hurt him. And he could walk away, knowing that he had been right all along."
"Right about what?"
Hopps shrugged. "That I'm really just a dumb bunny."
Hopps made a short pause, probably to let that sink in. "Nick forgave me, and I'd given him no reason to. I had treated him like the worst jerk, the worst bully. He had never deserved such a treatment. I had simply proven that I was little more than a naïve little hick, a prejudiced jerk who had blundered along in search for the missing otter. I couldn't have found him without his help. But I still refused to look at Nick as a simple, hard-working mammal who deserved my unconditional trust. All I saw was a fox, and foxes are shifty and untrustworthy. Still, he forgave me when I finally came around, seeing the error of my ways. He even forgave me for almost having used fox repellant on him!
"That's why I try so hard to make sure he can become a police officer. He deserves this chance, and if I can help him along the way, I'll do it, by any means necessary. And if that means I need to train him, I will. It's the least I can do, seeing how I treated him before." She shrugged. "Besides, I need to get used to having a fox around me all the time, seeing that we want to be partners after he graduates."
Delgato just stared at her, incredulity etched on his face. After a few seconds of silence, Hopps continued. "Have you ever been to Bunnyburrow?"
"Not that I recall."
"Well, the place is named Bunnyburrow for a reason. Bunnies are in the vast majority. There are a few families of sheep, a few horses, a few donkeys, several other herbivores, and even a few predators. But for every predator living in Bunnyburrow, we have almost 1000 bunnies. The first day I walked into the ZPA, I saw more predators than I had ever even heard of before. And when I moved to Zootopia, it was even worse, much worse. So many predators in one spot, all the fangs and claws …" She shook her head. "I wasn't used to this. So of course I was worried. I shouldn't have been. We're all civilized mammals, and no predator, no matter how big he is or how ferocious he looks, can ever be a threat to me. Contrary of what the naïve little hick thought, Predators aren't monsters. A sheep tried to tear down Zootopia! Who's the monster now?"
She made another pause. "When I learned that I was to team up with a lion, I was happy. Best way to overcome my fears and prejudices! If I can work with a guy as huge and intimidating as a lion, I need to fear no predator anymore." After yet another pause, she added softly: "You have some pretty impressive fangs and claws, sir."
"I usually make it a point to not show them," Delgato said just as softly.
"No, it's okay. I need to get used to this. You don't need to hold back. Nick doesn't. I told him not to. I have treated him bad enough as it is."
Suddenly she reached out and put her tiny paw on his massive arm.
"I acted like a major jerk towards Nick, yet he forgave me. What does it say about me if I don't forgive you now?"
Delgato suddenly realized that a quite peculiar lump was forming in his throat.
"You forgive me?" he croaked out.
"I would still be a major jerk if I didn't. You harassed me, but you apologized. I accept the apology, and I forgive you. You're not a jerk. You had the wrong ideas, but like they say, we all make mistakes." She took a deep breath. "And if you still want me to be your partner, I'd be honored, sir."
Delgato stared down at her, trying his hardest to get to grips with what he had just heard.
Never, not in a million years, would he have anticipated such a reaction.
He had been certain that she'd jump at the opportunity to get rid of him.
She was doing the exact opposite.
She's a far better mammal than I could ever be!
He straightened himself. "I'd be honored if you'd still want to work together with me."
She beamed at him. "Yes, I want to, sir!"
Delgato shook his head. "Don't 'sir' me, Hopps. I don't deserve it. My name's Frederick. Most guys at work call me Freddie."
"And everybody calls me Judy."
ZPD Precinct One Headquarters, Office of the Chief of Police, City Center, Zootopia
This is a very weird day!
As Chief of Police, Adrian Bogo was used to issuing orders, and he was also used to seeing these orders being carried out without compunction or hesitation. The number of times when someone had outright refused to carry out their order was very small. Most of his subordinates knew better than to contradict the Chief.
Now he was staring at a mammal standing in front of his desk with folded arms and grim features. A mammal who had not only voiced his refusal to carry out a given order, but had also proceeded to give him a piece of his mind.
And this piece of mind looked rather ugly.
"Care to repeat that, Fangmeyer?" Bogo said slowly, accentuating every syllable.
"With pleasure," Fangmeyer snarled. "You want me to team up with Hopps so that I can finish the job Freddie started? No dice, Bogo!"
It was, Bogo thought, probably the first time that James Fangmeyer didn't even acknowledge his rank.
Fangmeyer continued: "Harassing Hopps is the last thing on my mind, and you'll run into a bunch of problems if you try to make me do it. She doesn't deserve this kind of treatment. Nor does Freddie, come to think of it. You're just putting the fact that he would never contradict you to bad use. He's the kind of guy who walks into his own doom without question, just because you told him to. He never grew the balls needed to refuse a silly, illegal, or even deadly order. I have this set of balls, and that's why I say: Forget it, Bogo! You can order me around all you want, I still won't do it." He made a pause. "And should you want me to do parking duty because of this, hell, I'll even do that! But I won't harass Hopps. Not in this lifetime, not in the next one."
Bogo just stared at him for a few seconds. Never, not in his wildest dreams, had he imagined that one of his faithful subordinates would ever dare to say something like that to his face.
Mastiff had told him that all officers who'd been at The Watering Hole were sharing his sentiments. Nothing could have made this more clearly than Fangmeyer's reaction.
Seems like I really have a problem.
Trying his hardest to sound nonchalant, he finally said: "Please remind me, Detective Fangmeyer, when did I order you to harass Hopps?"
And just like that, the grimness on Fangmeyer's features vanished, only to be replaced by puzzlement. "Uh, sir?"
Ah, so he knows how to treat a superior officer!
"I told you that I'm going to split Hopps and Delgato apart. Hopps will team up with you, Delgato will team up with Grizzoli. And that's all I told you."
"But you gave Freddie the order to …"
"I gave him no order at all."
Fangmeyer snorted. "Of course you didn't! You merely told him to, knowing full well that it wouldn't make a difference to Freddie."
Bogo nodded. "I did."
It was obvious that this caught Fangmeyer on the wrong paw. "Wait a second, you even admit to it?"
"Of course I do. A good police officer admits to his mistakes and awaits his just punishment."
"So you agree it was a mistake?"
"I do. I shouldn't have done it. It was a blatant misuse of power. This is why I'm merely telling you to team up with Hopps to show her the ropes the way you see fit."
"Why not let Delgato do it?"
Bogo sighed. "Because Major Mastiff told me they are quite at odds with each other at the moment."
"That's the mother of all understatements! They hate each other!"
"So it would seem. And forcing them to team up again will probably only make it worse. No, I'll split the team apart. It's for the better."
Fangmeyer nodded. "I agree, sir."
"So, does your refusal still stand?"
"No, it doesn't, sir. If you want me to, Chief, I'll team up with Hopps, and do it gladly."
"Excellent! Anything else? If not, you're dismissed!"
Fangmeyer saluted. "Sir." Turning around, he left the office.
He had hardly closed the door when Bogo sighed and leant back in his chair, closing his eyes.
Is it really this bad? Was I really that misguided?
Am I really that bad a chief?
ZPD Precinct One Headquarters, Lobby, Receptionist's Counter, City Center, Zootopia
After having worked as ZPDs main dispatcher for more than a decade, Benjamin Clawhauser usually said that he'd seen it all. He had seen heroes and villains, petty thieves by the bucketful, civilians in desperate need for help, countless mammals in distress, several police officers in really bad shape - the lot.
But he had never expected to see this particular sight.
Judy Hopps and Frederick Delgato entered Precinct One together, engrossed in a rather animated conversation. Hopps was smiling, and even Delgato looked distinctly less grim as usual. When they parted ways - Delgato had to go to the locker room to get changed into his uniform, whereas Judy was already wearing hers -, Judy looked at Clawhauser and gave him a happy wave before walking towards the bullpen.
What in the h-e-double hockey sticks …?
Maybe I should really ease off on the sweet stuff!
ZPD Precinct One Headquarters, Briefing Room A aka "Bullpen," City Center, Zootopia
When Bogo entered the bullpen, he couldn't help feeling a bit wary. If Mastiff's and Fangmeyer's reaction were any indication, there would be several officers in there who didn't feel exactly well-disposed towards him. On any normal day, he wouldn't have minded, as long as they showed him the respect that he deserved. But both Mastiff's and Fangmeyer's words had been severely lacking in respect, and he had the sneaking suspicion that he had deserved it.
Now, what would happen when he was confronted with several mammals who disagreed with his treatment of Hopps? He had no idea.
At least, it should be educational.
The first thing he noticed after opening the door was a distinct lack of noise. Usually, when he entered the bullpen, most officers banged their paws/hooves on the tables, shouting a rhythmic chant. It was an old ritual that predated him by several decades, yet everyone seemed to want to hold on to it, despite the fact that it was just plain dumb. Today, a select few officers still did it, but most other mammals in the room simply sat there in silence. Everyone was staring at him.
And the looks those silent mammals gave him weren't exactly friendly.
As his gaze swept the room, he noticed other peculiarities. For one, Major Mastiff was there, too, which was highly uncommon. Most officers working at Homicide Squad didn't attend roll call, because they didn't need to - assignments were given out by Mastiff, not by Bogo. The squad was, for all intents and purposes, running completely autarchic.
Another thing he did notice was that Hopps and Delgato were still sitting next to each other, like they had the day before.
And they had turned their heads in the other direction, pointedly avoiding to look at each other.
Yup, splitting them up is really what I should do now.
He cleared his throat. "Alright, that's enough!"
Surprisingly enough, the noise died down immediately. He usually needed to resort to more volume in his voice to restore peace and order.
Bogo put on his glasses and read from one of the pieces of paper he had brought with him. "With the election around the corner, there are no less than three party conventions taking place. The Democratic Party is holding a meeting in Savanna Central, the Republicans, too, and the Green Party is in session in the Rainforest District. Now, security will be dealt with by several private companies, but I was ordered by City Hall to tell you to keep a weather eye open for any disturbances, protestors and the likes. Not that I think anything will happen the security companies won't be able to deal with, but you never know.
"Apart from that, there's not much on the docket today, so … assignments."
He noticed that every mammal in the room seemed to hold their breaths.
"All assignments stay the same as before, with one exception: Delgato, you'll team up with Grizzoli. Fangmeyer, you'll team up with Hopps. Any questions?"
He didn't really expect a reply, so he was surprised when he heard someone say: "Uh, no."
His head shot up. "What did you say?"
Delgato looked up, a look of defiance on his face. "Sorry, what I said was 'no.' Hopps will not team up with anyone else but me."
Bogo grunted. What was that supposed to mean?
A distinct murmur had begun the fill the room, but it was quelled quickly when Delgato got up. Bogo noticed that Hopps was looking at the lion for the first time, with an expression that was difficult to read.
"Isn't it funny?" Delgato said. "Once you've established yourself as a seasoned police officer, once you've started climbing up the greasy pole, you tend to forget how you started. You tend to forget that you once were a rookie, too." He looked around. "I guess that goes for everybody here." To Bogo's surprise, most mammals nodded.
Delgato continued: "When I was a rookie, things were very different for me than they have been for Hopps. I was far from having been valedictorian, unlike her, so there was no chance in hell for me to join Precinct One. I was assigned to Tundratown. And the Chief there, he put me in a team with Sergeant Pamela Middendorff. She was a Kodiak bear from the Northern Regions, so she was quite used to the cold. Unlike me. And the old girl was mocking me relentlessly for complaining about being cold all the time. She must have given me a thousand nicknames, all boiling down to the simple fact that I was a pampered city slicker who wasn't tough enough for Tundratown's environment. 'Icicle' was just one of the more harmless nicknames. Some guys at Precinct Five still call me Icicle whenever I meet them.
"I don't think Pam ever called me by my real name. She only did it once, and that was when I had finally received my reassignment to Precinct One, when I said goodbye to her.
"And how did I manage to make it here? Not on my own account, that's for sure.
"No, I made it here because Pam showed me the ropes.
"She showed me what it was really like to be a police officer. She showed me what it truly meant to put your life on the line in the line of duty. She showed me the value of true partnership. She showed me where focus, dedication, and determination could get you. She formed me into the police officer I am today. If not for her, I wouldn't be here today. Yes, she mocked me, but she never mistreated me. She was just a joker, but apart from that, she was the best teacher you can possibly imagine. She treated me with a respect I probably didn't even deserve back then."
He sighed. "And I can't even thank her for that. She was killed in action two years ago. And the thought that I have never really said 'thank you' to her haunts me to this day. When I heard about her untimely death, I made a vow to myself to go on walking in her pawsteps. I made a vow to treat rookies the same way she treated me."
He looked down at Hopps. "And along comes a tiny bunny who was everything I was not. Valedictorian of her class, recipient of the Medal of Honor, way better than I have been at her age, far superior to me in almost every aspect, regardless of size.
"And what did I do? Did I treat her like Pam treated me? Did I show her the ropes, did I try and show her how a police officer's supposed to work? Did I show her the respect she undoubtedly deserves? Did I lead by example?
"No, I didn't. I harassed her. And right now, I'm deeply ashamed I did."
He looked at Bogo, and to his surprise, there was not even a hint of resentment in the lion's gaze. If anything, he looked sorrowful. "Yes, you told me to, but I didn't do it because of that. No, I did it because I really am just a dumb lion.
"I ignored my own vow to myself. I never gave Hopps a chance. I never looked at what she was, at who she was, at what she had done, at what she was capable of. I merely harassed her.
"Some teacher I am!
"One hour ago, Chief, I would have accepted your reassignment without thinking twice. Finally I would have gotten rid of the bunny who was way better than I had ever been, the bunny I was secretly jealous of. I actually wanted to walk into your office this morning, Chief, to ask you to be reassigned. And I actually wanted to tell Hopps about it.
"So I drove to Hopps's home this morning to talk to her. I told her why I had subjected her to harassment. I apologized for it, and I also told her that I would ask you to assign her a new partner.
"But then, the most unbelievable thing happened. You know what that is, Chief?
"She didn't jump up in joy upon hearing that she'd gotten rid of the cantankerous old lion, the guy who'd mistreated her from the get-go. No, she accepted my apology, and she forgave me. She forgave me for treating her like a pile of dirt.
"And she asked me if I was still willing to be her partner."
Delgato looked down at Hopps again, who had started smiling at one point. "She still wanted me to be the one to show her the ropes, to show her how things are done on the beat. She wanted to get used to being around a huge predator."
He looked at Bogo again. "I should never have made your opinion my own, sir! It was my mistake, granted, but you should have held her in higher esteem than you did. It's disgraceful! Hopps deserves better! She deserves to be treated with respect. Yes, she's still a rookie, and she probably still has a lot to learn. But I had way more to learn that she had back then, yet I made it. Because I had an outstanding tutor.
"So I'm going to be her tutor. I'm going to show Hopps what it means to work on the beat. I'm going to show her that the way I treated her over the last two days is not the proper way to treat a rookie. I'm going to show her the value of true partnership. I'm going to do for her what Sergeant Middendorff did for me.
"It's what Hopps asked me to do, and if it really is what she wants, who am I to contradict her? She deserves better, and I'm going to treat her better.
"And nothing you can say or do right now is going to change anything about it, sir."
He turned towards Hopps, raising his paw, holding it in front of her. "Ready to make the world a better place, Judy?"
Still smiling, Hopps got up and gave the lion a paw bump. "I was born ready, Freddie."
They walked towards the exit together, huge lion and tiny bunny, side by side. Bogo noticed that Delgato was looking in the general direction of Mastiff, who returned the gaze, smiling and nodding, before getting up himself and leaving the room along with Delgato and Hopps.
A room which was left in stunned silence. Until James Fangmeyer blurted out: "Damn! Seems like Freddie finally found his balls!"
Bogo's head whipped around to stare Fangmeyer down, and the tiger visibly deflated.
But then Bogo's features softened, and he merely looked down at the pieces of paper.
Probably best this way!
"Alright, all assignments remain the same. Dismissed!"
Veggie Universe Restaurant, Sahara Square, Zootopia
The African civet working behind the counter looked up at her latest customer with a frown. It wasn't every day that a lion walked into a veggie diner. Most of his species were known for giving those a wide berth, despising the mere idea of dining exclusively on salads and fruit smoothies.
Yet he was a customer.
"Good afternoon, sir," the civet said. "What may I do for you?"
"Good afternoon!" The lion nodded. "I'd like to have one medium Caesar salad, easy on the Parmesan cheese, and one tall carrot-apple-smoothie with a dash of basil, please."
It was as if life within the restaurant itself was suspended for a few seconds as every mammal in there turned their heads towards the lion.
"What?" the lion said with a hint of impatience. "My partner's a bunny, and I don't want to make her wait. So may I ask you to, please, get a move on?"
Over the course of the months, I have received oodles of suggestions and ideas for how my stories will unfold. This is always a joy and a pleasure, especially if it turns out that the ideas are so brilliant that I'm dying to incorporate them. But I also enjoy it if the guesses are way off, although it always pains me to tell the reviewer that the guesses are wrong. But on the whole, the number of times the reviewer hit the nail squarely on the head are negligible. But every now and then …
Kudos to honeysucklecupcakes for telling me exactly why I had embarked on this particular story arc!
I wrote it simply because of a part of the story as told by the movie itself. Something that really made me scratch my head, not quite believing what I had just seen.
In the beginning, when Judy joins Precinct One, she's harassed. And that even is an understatement. Bogo treats her so badly, I would have loved to be able to punch him in the face - and I'm not overly prone to violence! And everybody seems to think his behavior is perfectly okay! Judy has to overcome stupendous odds to gain the respect of her peers and superiors. She has to risk life and limb, literally, to finally be considered a worthy addition to Precinct One's roster.
I don't know about you, but to me, that sounds incredibly stupid. Why does Bogo feel the need to put so much pressure on Judy? It's pointless! She was valedictorian, so she would have deserved to be treated with at least as much respect as the other rookies joining the ZPD along with her- and there are several, according to Bogo. Let's face it, he should have treated her with more respect than them. But the exact opposite happens. She's the only mammal to be assigned parking duty. No other rookie suffers the same fate.
And when she finally makes the daring move and takes on the case of the missing Emmitt Otterton, what does Bogo do? Does he tell her to stand down, because it could be too dangerous for her, especially since she's but a rookie? Does he assign her to a seasoned veteran, telling her to watch and learn?
No, he threatens to fire her!
A true "Wait, what?" moment, if you ask me.
And when he can't, because of Bellwether's timely appearance, he even suggests a deal which Judy was sure to lose. He doesn't provide her with any assistance, any help whatsoever.
What an asshole!
He's basically weakening his own duty roster by putting one of his subordinates, a very promising rookie, in a no-win situation. Maybe she simply fails. Maybe this turns ugly, and the tiny bunny is crushed, literally. In any case, Precinct One would have lost an officer even before her potentially very successful career could have taken off.
Does this sound smart to you?
Let's face it, regardless of his qualities as a Chief, which probably are prodigious, Bogo's a world-class idiot! He's basically ignoring his own duty. Every superior has to care deeply for the health and well-being of his subordinates. (That's one of the reasons why cops usually go in pairs - they have to watch each other's backs.) If he doesn't, he's not so much a superior as an abject failure of one.
It took the help of the most unlikely ally, a fox, for Judy to emerge mostly unscathed. She could easily have died, and it would have been on Bogo's conscience.
Great way to do your duty, sir!
Now, when Nick joins Precinct One near the end of the movie, does he experience any of this? Is he subjected to harassment? Is he forced to do menial tasks unbefitting a police officer? Is he put in a no-win situation he can only get out of by putting his life on the line?
No, he's not. To the contrary. His every wish is fulfilled: He gets to team up with his favorite bunny, he isn't disrespected at all, and he's even allowed to crack a joke without Bogo going berserk because of it. And the job he's ordered to do is a far cry from doing parking duty.
And all this happens despite the fact that he's a fox, that he belongs to a species held in little esteem in general.
What in the blue blazes …?
What has happened to Bogo? Why does he treat Nick with the respect that was so suspiciously lacking when Judy joined the ZPD?
Maybe something like the stuff I wrote in the last five chapters?
The idea for this particular story arc irked me for months, ever since I watched the old pictures from my time at the Bundeswehr with my wife. Because harassment of rookies, that had pretty much been the norm back then. And it had always been more than ugly.
And even worse, the usefulness of said harassment is always dubious.
Like I said before, I consider harassment to be completely and utterly useless. It serves no purpose other than making people miserable. You want to make someone settle in, you want to show them how things are done in the real world? Just show them how you do them. Lead by example, not by bullying. You cannot learn how to do your job without being shown how your job's supposed to be done.
And harassment is never a part of your job description.
So, that about wraps it up for this story arc! Thanks to all of you for joining me on this joyride so far!
The song Judy sings is called "Royals" by Lorde. (Written by Joel Little and Ella Yelich-O'Connor, from the album "The Love Club EP," Universal/Virgin, 2013) Her version's great, but I like the one made by Pentatonix much better. It's such a shame that Avi Kaplan decided to leave the group a few months ago. They were (and still are) such a joy to listen to!
Judy would be a good ruler, don't you agree? ;-)
Sergeant Middendorff is named after the Russian zoologist Alexander von Middendorff. The man who taxed the Kodiak bear, Clinton Hart Merriam, named the mammal Ursus arctos middendorffi in honor of Middendorff.
Now, the obligatory quotes:
I hid yet another quote from Eidos Interactive's computer game "Tomb Raider: Legend" in here, completely unaltered again.
There's a tiny line from the movie "Smokey and the Bandit" in here, but while searching for it, I couldn't help noticing it crops up in a lot of other movies. In other words, this should be pretty easy to find.
The title of a song by Dinah Washington pops up in here. That one should also be pretty easy.
Thanks for reading this chapter, and please, send me your reviews! It has to be noted, however, that it'll take some time before I will be able to answer them. As soon as this chapter is published, I'm going to shut down my computer and go on a short vacation. After the craziness that has been the last months, I really need to recharge the old batteries, and my wife's feeling even worse. So don't be surprised if you don't hear from me for about two weeks. I will have my trusty smartphone with me, but since I never learned to proficiently type emails using the tiny thingy - it takes hours for me and my clumsy fingers to put together anything halfway decent -, I can read your reviews, but won't be able to answer them. Please, don't hold this against me! I would still love to hear how you like the story so far!
Next stop, after the vacation: A fox's blood, toil, tears, and sweat!
Until then!
Take care!
J.O. aka TheCatweazle