This here is a shorter chapter, bit of an aftermath of the bank robbery.

Zootopia belongs to Disney. Spider-Man belongs to Sony.


P-cling!

Wes pulled out his cell phone. Text from Gazelle. Just couldn't wait, huh? He opened the message and was surprised to see...

"Hve u cn the news?"

"No, y?"

"Trn it on."

He pulled up the news app on his phone and the headline that greeted him made his jaw drop:

"New Resident Superhero?"

The Bengal anchortiger described the scene. "Four wolves disguised in black, each armed with a minigun, broke into Zootopia Central Bank between 11:30 and 11:45 this morning. Police showed up at the scene fifteen minutes after the robbery began. The delay was due to serious rush hour, apparently caused by faulty traffic lights. Investigators are on the scene as you can see behind me, interviewing the officers and hostages on scene during the robbery. All of them unanimously testify that, to quote Officer Howard McHorn, 'I've seen rhinos bigger than me taken down by less in than what he handled. It was incredible.' The hostages hope to personally offer their thanks to this young panther who saved their lives. And they hope he will always be there to help when danger arises." She concluded with a wide smile before the news story went on to the next issue.

He sent a message to Gazelle. "I dnt hve wrds... lol".

"I no, rn! U no wat Im thnkng? I thnk Ill hve my tailor mke Danny an outfit."

Wes hesitated to agree. That suggestion made him a little nervous. He didn't want to encourage this too much. Danny was still a kid. And this wasn't a story or a comic book. This was real life. Still, all the things that he had done so far... he definitely had the making and powers of a superhero.


Judy drove Danny back to the precinct. She still had a few hours to go.

"If you want, you can go work out at the gym, or if you want, I can give you a little money and you can go grab a snack." She unbuckled her seatbelt, but he remained seated.

"N-no, that's... that's ok," he said, still trembling. He was in the process of wondering what the ZPD was going to do to him for disobeying orders outright. "Judy?"

"Hm?" she turned around, about to leave the cruiser.

"D-did I, um... do something wrong?" his voice shook some. "By going there?"

She looked at him a second before sighing and closing the door. "Danny, you wanna know what I really think about it?"

He nodded slightly.

"I'm thinking, 'Mom, Dad, I am so sorry for what I put you through!'" He tilted his head in confusion. She explained. "I see so much of both me and Nick in you, Danny. You're not someone who sits on the sidelines or lets something happen without a fight; when you think something needs to be done, you go and do it." She rested her cheek on her chin and sniffed a chuckle. "But I never realized how scary it was to see someone you love... sprinting into something like that until you came into my life. So... no, I don't think you did anything wrong, Honey. You did what had to be done. But you also learned a hard lesson. What you just went through, honestly, wasn't much different from what a cop goes through. You experienced exactly what we experience - not knowing what's going to happen and knowing that at any moment, you or someone else could get killed. And that's a heavy responsibility."

"Heavy. That's the word that... th-that came to mind when I was in there."

"M-hm. But you pushed through it, you worked it out. You saved them, Danny. I-I can't be mad about that. I can't punish you for that. But..." she shook her head slowly "...I'm going to worry. You're my son. I'm going to worry about you."

He nodded, burying that deep down. He still was having some trouble thinking of Judy as his... he just wasn't quite there yet. But it was getting easier. He was still coming to terms with everything that had happened in the past two months or so. He'd begun work as an enforcer for that blowhard Kenten. He'd lost his home the second time, along with all the mammals who had cared about him. He'd ended up in the custody of the ZPD, and then by the very same bunny who had inadvertently condemned predators seven years prior. He'd befriended a world-famous pop star and gotten sued by the city for damages. And now he was swinging around stopping bad guys like a great hero bigshot. It was so much all at once. It was like it was all supposed to happen.

...

"Wilde! Arcturus!" the baritone voice rang out over the precinct foyer. A very familiar noise. Danny's eyes snapped up at him in fear. Judy's just kinda... squeaked up at him. Her weary eyes needed a bit of oil. "Come to my office!"

"Come on," she said, gesturing for him to follow. He did, preparing for the berating he was about to receive.

"Close the door," he said as they walked in, though he seemed a bit less agitated than she'd surmised. Judy shut the door carefully. Danny hopped up on the chair and helped Judy up onto it. They stood, both tense at varying degrees. Bogo grabbed the computer monitor and turned it around to face the two. On it was a screenshot of the crime scene.

His nervousness growing, his eyes darted here and there, avoiding the buffalo's scowl. He wrung his paws.

"You disobeyed my direct orders, Arcturus. I expressly laid out your boundaries, and you broke them without hesitation." Danny winced harder with every word. "Within the first day of serving this precinct, you have proven yourself stubborn and insubordinate."

Judy laid her paw on his back.

Bogo finished with a grumbling sigh. "You're even worse than this bunny." Danny looked up at the chief, who wiped his eyes and let out a brief chuckle. "I thought it was bad enough when she got here. And then there was the fox." His voice rose considerably, but mirthfully. "But now there are three psychotic sacks of stubborn fairy dust I have to deal with?"

Judy sighed with a smile. The chief was joking around. It wasn't clear to Danny as of yet. "Fairy dust?" he asked, completely dumbfounded.

"What I'm trying to tell you is, good work, son."

Danny's eyes widened at hearing the grumpy chief say that. "So... does that mean...?

"What it means is, although you've given me a stiff neck the first day here..." he indicated all the paperwork he had to do "...you also saved six of my officers and thwarted a bank robbery. Six officers. That's not something I'm going to overlook. Thank you, son," he said, astonishingly with a nod and a genuine smile. "Thank you."

The cub relaxed. He was afraid he'd be in even more trouble for interfering. He was relieved. "So, what now?"

The chief sat back, the chair squeaking in protest. "Well, I heard that you were a little more than shaken by this. Whatever you want to do, you have our support. You've earned it. Just, please, try not to do anything like that again. We don't want your death on our conscience."

He nodded. "Yes, sir." He didn't have to be told twice. Right now, he just wanted to go and relax, hang out with some of the officers or something.

"Off with you. I have a lot of work to get done, thanks to you." He gave a grimacing smirk.


Judy reassured the cub before going to work on her report for the day. They descended the stairs and parted. She put her paw over her nose and grumbled. "Stop it!" Her nose had been twitching almost nonstop all day. She was constantly at war with herself. She was so proud of Danny for the things he had been doing. And she was scared he was going to get hurt or worse. Ugh, it tore her up. Taking a deep breath, she walked outside for some fresh air.

She was beginning to think that she had a more to learn about raising a kitten than she thought.


He walked into the bullpen and approached Nick's desk. The fox was typing rapidly. He appeared to be more tense than usual, looking down at his phone every few seconds. He saw him coming and stood up quickly.

"Danny, are you ok? I saw what happened on the news."

"Yeah," he exhaled, "I'm ok."

Nick put his arms around him and pulled him close. He didn't respond at first. "I'm sorry I wasn't there. I tried to be, but the traffic kept me in the same place for like an hour!"

Danny reciprocated, still speaking in that same dry voice. "It's ok."

They let go, and Danny basically collapsed in the chair next to Nick's. Nick kept his eyes on him, waiting for him to say something.

"Nick, if I have powers, am I supposed to be a superhero?"

"No."

"But... wait, whaddoyoumean?"

"Listen to me. What you're supposed to be is a kid. You're supposed to be able to have fun and enjoy your life. You are twelve years old. Don't think that you have to be this or that right now. Just worry about growing up, growing into what you want to be. Ok?"

"So... what do my superpowers mean? What do I do with them?"

"You want to know what you do with your powers? Just... use them wisely. If you want to help the ZPD, or if you want to just... do whatever, wait for this trial to end, go to school, then we're with you. But... using your powers in a 'real job' sort of way? You don't need to worry about that. Wait until you're older. When you're older, more mature, and you feel like you should do something with them, then do it."

"But the city thinks I should be a superhero."

"Buddy, I didn't care what anyone thought for the first forty years of my life."

He looked down, chewing on this. He belted out a small chuckle when he realized what Nick meant.

"So... what do you think you'd like to do when you grow up?"

"I don't really know."

"Oh, come on! You love chemistry, right? Maybe you want to study something in that? Go to school, maybe?" Danny nodded. "Then go for it! Let's get all this legal stuff taken care of, get you in school, and we'll get you there. Whaddaya say, Little Buddy?"

Danny sat back and sighed. He felt relieved. He didn't have to be a superhero. Seriously, after the wake-up call he had gotten today, he just wanted to live a normal life.


"Well, well, are we back for more bouts in the ring?" asked a familiar voice as Danny entered the gym.

"No, I'm just here to hang out."

"Oh! Well, come on back, everyone would love to see ya! Especially after, ahem... everything that happened today."

Hm. He must have noticed the kid wasn't as excited about it as the rest of the city was. Or maybe someone told him. He appreciated that.


So, is Danny going to continue being a superhero? What's going to happen next? Find out soon enough.