The Pursuit, Chapter 8.5 – Challenge
July 20th, Wednesday – Precinct One
Nick felt as though he would disappear into the seats from the pressure against his body as Flash raced them through the city streets. Once he made the mistake of looking at the speedometer, and when he saw it pass one hundred and fifty on a relatively short, straight section of road, he decided not to do that again. Instead he kept Judy cradled in his arms as she slept and prayed Flash could keep from crashing them into something.
In the backseat Officers Cannus and his partner, Officer Spetz, cowered and kept their eyes tightly shut. All of their bravado had gone out the window the first time Flash had stomped on the gas pedal, and by the time they had reached the border of Savannah Central, Nick was certain he had heard both whimpering…and possibly at least one prayer to a higher power. Neither seemed particularly religious and if what Nick overheard was correct, they were making up targets of their prayers out of desperation.
They had made only one stop along the way, and that had been at Nick's insistence. Cannus and Spetz had wanted to leave Jack, Nick's mother, and Mister Big behind for their safety, but Nick did not trust that the mansion was without any more boobytraps. They had all crammed into the car, then deposited the civilians at a fire station on the path to the precinct. That at least gave Nick some semblance of peace, knowing they were safe for the moment, which would let him focus on what needed to be done.
Minutes later the car skidded to a stop in front of the ZPD station, and Nick once again heard the whimpers from the backseat. With the car's final lurch, Judy woke up and looked around in complete confusion, blinking hard.
"No time for questions," Nick told her as she sat up, ears high and turning about. Digging around his belt, Nick pulled out Judy's tranquillizer gun and put it in her paw, leaving him with Spetz's tranquillizer gun, while Spetz carried his service pistol. "Rolen's done something to the precinct. We've got four-on-one, but he probably knows we're coming."
Judy nodded and took the gun. With her other paw, she touched the cuts in Nick's shirt that she had caused, her ears and nose going bright red. She did remember everything, if he was reading her face correctly.
"We'll talk about that later," Nick said, and Judy nodded reluctantly. "You back to normal?"
"Not completely," she admitted, her voice a little hoarse. "I still feel really sick, but I'll manage. I don't think I'll do anything…weird…anymore, if that's what you mean. Do we know if Rolen has others with him?"
From the backseat Spetz replied, "No idea. I'd assume so. Even with our low numbers, I can't picture one mammal taking down a whole department."
Nick shoved open the door of the car, and Judy hopped from his lap to the sidewalk, lifting her weapon in both paws to cover them. Given that Flash's car only had two doors, Nick followed Judy out and reached back to release the lever on his seat to allow Spetz and Cannus out. Within seconds all four officers were on the sidewalk, weapons drawn.
"Are we going lethal or capture?" Cannus asked, patting the regular handgun at his hip. "He's killed how many so far?"
Nick wanted to argue for restraint, but to his surprise, it was Judy who spoke up first.
"Take him down by any means," she snapped, her ears low as she swept her attention across the front of the precinct building. "A single dart won't even slow him down. Use bullets if you have to. There probably won't be time to wait around for four or five darts to sink in. Unfortunately we've only got the two pistols and three tranq guns. Use what you feel comfortable with, but be mindful of your shots. Overkill is recommended."
Behind him, Nick heard Cannus draw his pistol. Two tranquillizers and two handguns. Between those, Nick could not imagine even a bear as large as Rolen standing long. Given that most bears could take bullets as easily as tranquillizer darts, Nick was not certain either had an edge over the other.
"Judy, you sure you're up to this?" Nick asked, noticing that Judy was blinking rapidly.
"Yeah," she replied immediately. "The sunlight hurts. I might throw up along the way, but let's go."
The four of them advanced quickly on the precinct, while Flash drove off behind them, leaving them to fend for themselves. To Nick's dismay no one came out of the precinct doors, despite four officers—two looking as though they had already been through a warzone—approaching with drawn weapons.
When they neared the doors, Judy glanced back at the others. "Spetz, go right once we're inside. Cannus, left. Nick and I will head for Clawhauser's desk and then upstairs. Call out if you see anything. I don't want anyone facing Rolen alone, so run if you encounter him. Don't stop moving. Given what we've seen from this mammal, there will probably be traps of some kind."
They paused briefly at the doors, each of them double-checking their weapons. Finally Judy gave a nod, and they rushed inside, then parted once they cleared the door, with Spetz rushing toward the locker rooms and bullpen, while Cannus ran for the staff offices.
Nick followed doggedly at Judy's side as they walked quickly through the lobby. He kept one eye down the sight of his weapon, searching for any movement along the edges of the room. Judy held hers up a little more, watching the balcony and stairs. Neither of them had weapons that would be able to hit anything more than about thirty feet away, but their training was adamant about how they should move with a drawn weapon.
"Clear," Judy called out, stopping at the foot of the stairs.
Nick leaped onto the front desk, ignoring the agonizing pain through his chest. There was no time to worry about a little internal bleeding. Sliding across, he dropped alongside Clawhauser's chair, finding the large cheetah lay back in it, his eyes closed.
"Benji," Nick whispered, stepping up alongside his friend. When he saw no movement, Nick touched Clawhauser's neck and felt a faint pulse. Looking him over, Nick spotted three tranquillizer darts in the back of Clawhauser's neck.
Glancing around the room, Nick tried to guess what angle could have hit Clawhauser from behind. The only place he could imagine would have been either the balcony or stairs, which meant Rolen had already slipped past by that point or had mammals on the inside. Given the limited range on the tranquillizer handguns, that meant that the attacker managed to get right up near Clawhauser or they had gotten into the SWAT gear downstairs, among which were several longer-range tranquillizer rifles. Using those, they could have easily hit Clawhauser from the balcony.
Judy glanced over her shoulder at Nick, her ears high overhead as she waited for him to let her know what he found.
Motioning toward Clawhauser, Nick indicated the cheetah was okay. Pointing toward his own eyes, he then motioned toward the balcony. Judy nodded in reply and returned her attention to the upper floor.
Nick reached up and plucked the darts from Clawhauser's neck and back, though he could see all of them were empty. With luck Clawhauser might wake in under an hour, though Nick knew they did not have that kind of time.
"Nick!" Judy hissed, drawing his attention back.
Rolen moved along the upper floor near the top of the main staircase, now wearing a ZPD uniform with a tranquillizer rifle slung across his massive shoulder. He stopped walking, placing himself about ten feet beyond the limit of Judy's tranquillizer range near the top step. Grinning—showing off those awful fangs—Rolen leaned on the wall that ran around the balcony edge. To Nick's horror, the bear's forearms were coated in dried blood.
"You both survived," the bear said, chuckling and shaking his head. "Plenty of surprises from you both. No matter. The video will go out anyway. Hopefully there's some decent violence on it. I actually expected I had at least another hour before one of you managed to make it back here. Only had time to kill a few so far. I'd intended to have the bodies laid out by the front doors for your arrival."
"What possible reason do you have to do all this?" Judy demanded, taking a step closer to the stairs. In response, Rolen shifted back, maintaining his distance. "You aren't even from here. This city has done nothing to you."
Rolen laughed and shrugged. "Keep telling yourself that, bunny. If the fox would be so kind as to turn on the television beside him, I believe all of your questions will be answered soon enough. Any you cannot work through, I or another will answer after. No reason to remain cryptic anymore. If you do try to close in on me, I will run and you will miss out on the answers you want so badly."
Nick reached back and felt around Clawhauser's desk until he found the small television. His fingers searched the frame until he located the power button. Behind him, the sound of soap operas came on softly.
"Eleven twenty-nine," Rolen announced, looking across the lobby at the large clock on the wall. "Less than a minute."
Suddenly the television began issuing a blaring siren—the signal for a city emergency announcement. The sound had always put Nick on edge, which he had to assume was the point. After three seconds of the alert noise, Rolen's voice came over the television.
"Citizens of Zootopia," his gravelly voice announced calmly. "You have been lied to. This city is put forward as the shining symbol of unity, when it has stood as an affront to the natural way our people evolved. This so-called 'great experiment' has trapped you, turning you all into slaves for a new master. They hide from you what has already begun. Soon it will be too late. Be ready to fight for your families."
Nick turned slightly to look at the screen and saw that the broadcast was showing footage from the SWAT raid on the warehouse weeks earlier. Judging by the angle, Rolen's sniper had filmed it, showing Fangmeyer and Wolford firing into the warehouse. Unsteady zooms of the camera showed mammals in ragged clothing being hit and falling. The entire scene appeared as though the ZPD was firing indiscriminately on civilians. To emphasize that, the camera repeatedly zoomed in on Fangmeyer's uniform and once on the coy smile he always had when firing a weapon.
"This is no isolated incident," Rolen's voice continued from the television. "Time after time, those controlling you have put your lives in danger. I do not have long before they stop this transmission, but please watch if you can. Turn on those who control you before it is too late. They will kill me for letting you know the truth."
This time the screen showed Nick and Judy at Mister Big's mansion. The video started after Judy had begun to feel the effects of the serum. Within seconds, anyone in Zootopia watching a television was seeing her attacking him wildly. Nick could barely watch as a thin spray of blood from his leg nearly hit the camera. The video ended before he had managed to get her under control.
Another round of alert tones concluded the broadcast, and Nick tapped the power button again.
"Please tell me you understand?" Rolen asked, leaning fully on the balcony wall. "Or does this fine city's public education lack any truth behind it, the same way its founders lied to the people of that time?"
Judy looked back at Nick, but he shrugged in reply. He honestly could not remember much about history in school.
"Zootopia was the compromise," Judy yelled back at Rolen, inching forward. This time he did not back away. "Predators and prey. We came together to build something to unify us. This was to be the hub of a new world."
"A hub of a world built on lies and betrayal!" Rolen snarled, standing up sharply. "Tell me, bunny, four hundred years ago, who called for the building of this city? Was it a partnership between the species? A community of unified predators and prey? Tell me who called for its creation!"
Judy's ears lowered nervously, but Nick saw her manage to slide her paws a little farther forward, closing the gap between her and Rolen. She would have to be at the foot of the stairs to even attempt a shot. "The local villages of prey went to the leaders of the predators…"
"Lies!" Rolen roared. One of his paws came down on the railing and Nick could hear the metal bend under his grip. "If that were true—do you know what or who I am? Do either of you? Which of you has ever seen one of my kind? Heard of my family? This great compromise included everyone, yet you both look at me as though I am a monster."
"That has nothing to do with how you look," Nick snapped in reply, getting a blink of surprise from Rolen as his rant was sidetracked.
"I suppose that has truth in it," the bear answered, sounding far less angry. "Do you want to know what the children in my lands teach? Do you want to know why we hate this city and those who stand up for it? Or would you rather fight at the side of your bunny, serving the very mammals who enslaved your ancestors?"
Nick froze and looked to Judy for some kind of explanation. She appeared to be just as confused.
Rolen sighed and relaxed. "That's what I thought. They tell you nothing. The lies have gone on long enough that you believe you are their equals. How often have you truly felt an equal, Wilde?"
From the corner of his eye, Nick saw Spetz emerge from the bullpen, listening to Rolen too. With luck the bear would not know they had another gun approaching until after Spetz could take his shot. They had to keep him talking, which appeared to be exactly what he wanted to do.
"Judy's more than my equal," Nick called back. "Sounds like you just don't like prey."
Rolling his eyes, the bear eased his rifle off his shoulder and set it on the balcony wall. "You really don't understand, Wilde. This region was at war…at war with my people's lands. The prey amassed armies to stand against us, but the predators would not join them. Have you ever stopped and asked yourself why the inner portions of Zootopia—the oldest parts—have massive walls around them?"
"Those walls house the heating, cooling, and moisture-transfer systems," Judy yelled back. "They regulate the districts' atmosphere. That's pretty much the key to keeping Zootopia ideal for everyone."
"Yes, yes," Rolen muttered. "Twelve districts for each type of mammal, blah blah blah. Four hundred years ago, they did not have those systems. Geothermal and hydro-electric energy were concepts far beyond their ability to use. Those walls were not built for the atmosphere of the city. Go tour them sometime. You have the authority. Ancient cannons still sit in storage. The conditioning systems now fill what were once bunkers. The walls were to keep my people out and yours—and their captive predators—in. The fact that Zootopia is an island only helped further that cause. Your lands were under the control of the prey…nine prey to one pred ratio, I hear these days. If you look into the smaller villages and cities…how does that ratio change? Fifty to one? A hundred? More? Tell me that doesn't frighten you when you imagine what will happen if food becomes scarce? Most prey will happily eat insect proteins when starving. Where does that leave the predators? Please spare me the smart-assed fox answer this time."
Nick realized that was not unreasonable. Bunnyburrow had around eighty million mammals in its borders. Zootopia as a whole had a little more than four million and still left predators outnumbered nine to one or more.
"They enslaved the predators, Wilde," Rolen continued. "Collared us. It doesn't matter if we're stronger, faster, more deadly—a hundred bunnies will kill you far easier than one predator. A thousand will wipe out your village. A hundred thousand can lay waste to an entire region, clearing away all that you have built to make enough farms to support their growing population. Why do we enslave the prey? This is why. They cannot be allowed to outnumber us again. History is filled with the atrocities they caused. Famine, plague, and the more obvious acts of war. Did you honestly think I did all this simply to commit a few crimes in the city? To get attention? Gather a handful of new slaves? This is about the survival of all mammals. Prey are like locusts—they will scour the world if we let them. We were meant to control their population, and we have failed. Either we do what we were supposed to or we will cease to exist."
Nick found himself growling instinctively and moved to stand beside Judy. The venom and hatred he could hear in Rolen's voice left little doubt that he would kill Judy if given half a chance.
"My species stood up to them," the bear went on. "We aren't in the history books because we were all but wiped out. A civilization exterminated. The last family now stands in front of you. I am the only one left. That is why I am making my stand against this city. Once I am gone, I don't know that anyone else will remember or care what has happened and what is to come. I kill because it is my only option remaining and it is what nature created our kind to do. We kill to maintain balance that is sorely lacking."
Spetz neared the edge of the stairs, keeping himself flat to the rail so he would not be seen. He just needed the right moment and he could open fire.
Throwing both paws in the air in dismay, Rolen added, "Do you even know what Bellwether meant to do with your kind, Wilde?"
"Nothing creative. Just a small civil war," Nick answered, but Judy's abruptly lowered eyes and sad expression told him he had missed something. His weapon wavered a little as he tried to figure out what she was leaving out.
"No, no war," Rolen replied. "Slavery. She tried to do the same thing her ancestors did. It was already in the city long before I arrived, Wilde. Bellwether commissioned thousands of shock collars that were to be placed on every predator in the city. You would obey or you would suffer, possibly die. You would likely have been put to work on whatever menial tasks she came up with. That is the city you now defend. It's the city you obey, even without the collar. They see us as such a threat that we must be enslaved, and they have the numbers to make it happen. We let them outnumber us."
Nick turned his attention to Judy, but she would not look at him. "You knew?"
"I found out after," she admitted. "Bogo decided that we should keep it from the predators. No reason for more bad blood. Once the collars were destroyed, there was no sense in announcing it."
"Did I hear correctly down there?" Rolen asked, stepping forward onto the edge of the staircase. Spetz turned, ready to move out from the wall and fire. "Destroyed? How ignorant or deceitful of you, bunny. Wilde, I leave it to you to determine whether she is lying or stupid."
Digging into his pocket, Rolen produced a simple collar with a large attachment. He threw it down the stairs, where it clattered to a stop near Nick's toes.
"This is what they have always tried to do to us," he added, sounding truly tired. "Every few generations they overwhelm us and destroy those who resist. My family died out because of this. Wilde, help me fight this before it happens again. That collar was in your chief's desk. How many more do you think we can find in this building? I will not ask you to kill your loved ones, but I do ask that you reconsider this fight and help me protect our people."
Nick slowly knelt to pick up the collar. It was lighter than he had expected, aside from the pack attached on one side. Turning that over in his paw, Nick could see two electrodes that would dig into the wearer's fur. A closer examination of the box showed a small wireless receiver and an LED light.
"They were really going to do this to us?" Nick asked, the violence from Rolen almost forgotten. "They were going to collar preds? Shock us into submission? Is he telling the truth?"
Before Judy could answer, Spetz finally stepped into the open and began firing at Rolen, each shot echoing painfully in the lobby. The first bullet struck the rail, sparking at it went wide. The second and third slammed into the bear, who stumbled, putting a paw to his side where Nick could already see blood staining his uniform. Before a fourth shot went off, Rolen grabbed the rifle and ran, disappearing past Bogo's office on the second floor.
Both Judy and Officer Spetz took off running, and in the distance, Nick heard several more shots fired.
Nick knew he should go after them. Instead he found himself unable to move from the spot, staring at the collar in his paws. The collar that was exactly the right size for him. The collar that, when he examined the metal near the prongs, was clearly labeled as "Raccoon/Fox." With no raccoons on the ZPD and only one fox who had even begun spending time with the department while Bellwether was around, there was no question who it was meant for.
Collapsing with the collar in both paws, his weapon and the chase forgotten, Nick only barely heard Spetz shouting that Rolen had escaped. Nick could not get anything else to occupy his mind other than the idea that the city had truly meant to collar him and his mother, and that Judy had actually chosen to hide that from him.
By the time Nick was able to force himself to shove the collar into his pocket and get moving, Clawhauser was awake and helping other officers with their footing. Up on the balcony, Bogo stood unsteadily, accepting reports from officers even as he struggled to stay conscious. Taking a seat along the edge of the lobby, Nick watched as two cadets were placed on stretchers and covered with sheets.
Two more dead ZPD members, and he had allowed their killer to flee. Putting his face in his paws, Nick wondered if he really could find the strength to get through this. His mind kept going to vague thoughts of taking Judy, her family, and his mother, and fleeing the city before things got any worse. He simply could not think he was cut out for this.