Ok. In these next two chapters, the main plot is about to fall in full swing. You ready? Remember, fair warning: there will be hard times up ahead. Enjoy.
Zootopia belongs to Disney. Spider-Man belongs to Sony.
The old chief had known from the moment the thugs were caught that something was amiss. The wolves had made no attempt to steal anything; they had arrived in an armored vehicle, according to camera footage, but it was never seen again. And these guys were high-brow crooks, probably mercenaries of some kind, robbing a mid-level bank. It didn't add up quite right. He couldn't shake the anticipation of yet another conspiracy, especially in light of the drawings popping up all over the city and the ever-rising crime rate. He was glad the cub was eager to help. He simply needed to attempt to curb his brashness. He could be an outstanding asset to the city. But he couldn't help but think he had encouraged him a little too much. He kept forgetting that he was a preteen.
Of course, he was probably being paranoid. Being chief of the most prestigious - and targeted - precinct tended to have that effect on its chiefs and commissioners. He had the best team in the city. They would figure it out.
Danny spent a couple hours in the gym with Clawhauser and some other officers who frequented it. He figured he could use a workout, so he entered the ring with Fangmeyer and quickly discovered that she was nearly as fast as Judy. He practiced what Judy had taught him. He could see the results immediately. Though he couldn't put her on the mat, he definitely gave her one heck of a hard time.
He then figured out a way to present more of a challenge to himself in weight-lifting. He took the barbell and added all of the weights he could onto it. He lay on the floor and asked McHorn to put his weight on the barbell by holding himself over it in a push-up position above Danny. Now there was a challenge. Nearly five hundred pounds, plus, according to the rhino himself, about three thousand pounds by McHorn who was much heavier than he looked... that was definitely a challenge.
"Come on, come on, one more!" said Clawhauser to the straining cub. He grunted, his face developing a red tint as he pushed. He had already done thirty-nine, and it had begun to get harder around the thirty-first or thirty-second. One... more...
"Come on, Danny! Push!" growled McHorn. "Give it your all!"
Danny reached down and pulled up whatever strength was left and shoved the bar and the rhino up, extending his arms. McHorn held the bar up when Danny let go of it in fatigue. He let his arms fall limp onto the floor with a sigh. Clawhauser grabbed his shoulder. "That was great!" he said with a laugh. "How do you feel?"
He groaned. "Does that answer your question?"
"Comprehensively. It's almost like you've never..." he gestured melodramatically "...experienced the sorrows of an insufficient energy supply."
"I haven't. At least... not that I can remember." He grunted as he tried to sit up but fell back down. His arms felt like they belonged on the weight rack, they were so heavy. He wanted to just lay there for a second. He began to doze off.
...
"Tickle, tickle, tickle..." He shook his head and pawed at his ear.
"Aah! Judy, would you stop that!"
She giggled loudly. Nick and some of the others watching followed suit. Danny rolled his eyes. He'd already had enough for one day. Nick helped him up and they went home for the night.
"So, we've been wondering," said Nick as they drove home. "How do you feel about helping the cause at this point? Do you want to keep doing it, or what?"
He had been thinking deeply about that. The incident, how it had affected him, what he felt right after it ended and how he felt now. Honestly, when he considered everything, what he had done today had not been much different than running into a burning building or being shot at by criminals from a moving car. It hadn't been the fact that he was facing a dangerous situation that rattled him; he faced those regularly before meeting Judy and Nick. It was the reality of how wrong things could have gone - that reality up close and personal, right smack in his face. He realized how close to death he had come, how close to death those hostages had come. And that was a painful realization. But... he felt that maybe now, he was more prepared. And Gazelle had given him a lot of encouragement over text. She told him that he was meant to be Zootopia's resident superhero. He didn't exactly feel like one or want to be - at least not indefinitely. But it helped to know that there were mammals surrounding him who could give him that kind of encouragement.
"I... think I can keep doing it. But I want to be more careful."
Judy gestured and nodded in agreement. "That makes me so happy to hear that, Honey." She turned and smiled at him, squeezing his knee. "I'm so proud of you!"
Danny smiled. "Thanks, Judy."
This was it. He was ready. Tomorrow was the day. He had to be in police custody by tomorrow and then in solitary by the next day. One chance. He could not mess it up.
"Now remember, do not, I repeat, do not do anything until Elkeson sends the message. Until then, you are to wait. Is that clear?"
"Yes sir, perfectly clear."
"I won't have the opportunity to speak to you again until I'm out. Make absolutely certain your team fully understands. You do anything beforepaw, everything falls apart."
"I will, sir."
"Good mammal. Take care in case things don't go well."
"I will. Thank you, sir."
He hung up the phone, failing to keep his bottom lip from quivering in apprehension. He hadn't realized until now how this whole endeavor hung by a thread. If one thing goes wrong, everything fails. It all depended on the police's reaction to a danger and a nuisance such as himself. He nearly... nearly... wished that he had decided to go ahead and scrap the finer details. But... he was not one to take power without first delivering a message: "I am a god."
Nick sat in the kitchen, his mind packed with too many things to process. He scratched his head. Oh, geez. All the things that had happened recently. He thought his life was already crazy. Ten years ago, if someone had told him that he was going to marry a rabbit and adopt a panther, he would have called the nuthouse himself for their sake. From the moment he met Judy, he had been all but dragged into a nonstop adrenaline rush, been killed at least three times - all in the span of two days. Oh, and don't forget the extra close calls three months later. It was the hardest time of his life.
"Whatcha thinkin' about?" Judy's voice interrupted his musing.
He turned at her voice, giving a smile from the side. "Everything, I guess. My life up to now."
She came around to face him, taking his paws in hers. "And what do you think about it?"
He shook his head. "I wouldn't change a single thing about it." He flattened her ears down her neck and petted her forehead with his thumbs, drawing a blissful sigh from the youthful bunny. She smiled at him, wanting to tell him what was on her mind, but it could wait. She wanted to enjoy this for the moment. He stood up and started to hum. Oh, she knew this song. It was the slow song that had played at that coffee shop when they danced together. The night that Nick made clear how he felt about her.
He took her paw in his and placed the other on her waist. She laid her spare paw on his shoulder and they swayed slowly, just like they did that night. She was back in that coffee shop with him. She could still remember the feeling of their first kiss. She rested her head against his chest, letting the blissful enjoyment of her husband soothe the anxieties she'd accumulated over such a short time. It was wonderful.
"I love you so much, Nick."
"I love you too, Judy. You're going to be a great mom." She smiled against his chest.
Nick knew it without a doubt. If he was on the outside, he would have envied Danny. His thoughts turned to his own mother, who had passed away soon after he became an officer... after he had the chance to reconcile with her. When he went to visit her at her house, he was overwhelmed to see that all of the pictures she had of him were still on her walls. She then showed him a folded newspaper on her kitchen table depicting his recent graduation: "First Vulpine Officer Welcomed to Eminent Precinct One". It gave him peace, knowing that she had seen her son accomplish what he'd always wanted before she died. And it gave him greater peace to see Judy fulfilling her dream through this little boy. Huh, what happened to the other Judy, the one who was all business, no-nonsense, driven beyond measure... oh yes, she was still there. Obviously, because she dragged him into this! But, again, why would he change any of it? Once the trial was over and Danny was legally made a Wilde card, then everything would settle down.
Life was good.
"Danny..." Nick whispered in his ear. "Little Buddyyyyyyy... do I need to tickle your ear...?"
"Nope, nope, I'm good," he said, sitting up and throwing off the covers. Nick snickered. That got him up!
He was ready for a new day. They had a new plan. He would swing by each of the precincts, see if any of them needed help with anything - whether it be physical labor or help with an emergency. And, as before, he'd be ready in case he saw any activity - and call for backup if needed. He felt much more confident now than he did in the direct aftermath of the botched robbery the day prior. After getting washed and dressed, and after filling his belly with powerful, energy-packed chemical bonds that would be catabolized and used to produce the energy required for him to kick some you-know-what, he was ready to go.
"Here's your radio." Judy pawed Danny the device while Nick pulled to the side of the road next to the border between downtown and Savannah Central. He switched the power on and inserted it into his ear. Police chatter immediately came on. He turned it down momentarily. He opened the door. "Hey." He turned to her. "Come'ere." He rolled his eyes with a sigh. He leaned forward and she kissed his forehead before he leaped upward and began to swing. She said one more thing as he ascended: "Be careful!"
"I will!" he answered.
Danny had to swing for maybe five minutes before...
"Get it! Shut-shut up!" Danny looked toward the source of the sound, which he had barely heard when he stopped on top of a building for a brief moment. Directly below him, in an alleyway, a pair of mid-size predators were assaulting...
"Help!" cried the teenage mole, trying to escape. The lion grabbed his backpack and pulled him around and threw him against the wall, where he began to pummel him.
"Get it! Shut-shut up!" the lion snapped. "Hurry! Get it!" The porcupine fumbled through his pockets, looking for a wallet or something.
Hiss... The lion looked up too late to see a foot inches from his face before it sent him flying several feet back toward the end of the alley. The porcupine gasped and turned around toward the preteen panther approaching him.
The mole was on the ground, watching in paralyzed shock. The porcupine's quills stood on end in self-defense, a fight-to-the-death expression on his ugly face. Danny chuckled and shook his head slowly. He webbed the porcupine and flung him against the wall, where he immobilized him with silk.
A low growl caught his attention.
"Oh, hey there. Don't think I'd forget my fellow kittens."
"You're gonna get it, kid!" he yelled with teeth bared, inserting an expletive somewhere in there, before unsheathing his claws and charging him. Danny dodged his swipe and blocked the next one, grabbing his wrist. The lion delivered a punch to his stomach.
"Ha! Stop, that tickles!" The lion's eyes widened. Danny then forced the lion around and wrenched his arm behind his back, kicking his knees out from under him and pushing his muzzle to the ground with a painful grunt. "Ya like that?! Feels good, dunnit?" He stood up and webbed the mugger to the ground. The perps kicked and wriggled, but they could not overcome the sheer tensile strength of the spider silk. He depressed the button on his radio. "I got a couple muggers. Over."
"Copy. Be right there, just give me your twenty, over," said Nick.
He walked over to the mole, who was lying on the ground and holding his arm tenderly. But his eyes were wide, having witnessed the scene in front of him.
"You all right?"
"No, I-I think it's broken."
"Here, let me see it," he said. The mole very slowly uncovered his swelling arm. "Does it hurt when...?" he applied very light pressure near the anterior wrist where had been grasping his arm. He groaned softly.
"A little."
"How about this?" He pressed just a bit more proximal. He hissed through his teeth with a grimace. "Yeah, it's probably broken. Dispatch, we're going to need an ambulance, at... wait right here. At... hold on... corner of... Raindrop and... Carapace. Got a mole here. Brown fur, red shirt, gray jacket, blue jeans. Probably mid-teens. And... what's your name?"
"Don."
"Named Don. Over."
Clawhauser answered. "Gotcha, we'll send an ambulance that way. Good job. Over."
"Good work, Danny," said Nick. "By the way, you're new at this, but you only need to give location, species, and maybe shirt or pants color. Over."
Danny rolled his eyes, imagining the other officers laughing. "Right. Thanks for embarrassing me, you useless canine."
Nick laughed over the radio at that. "Touche."
The mole spoke up. "You're the Black Spider, right?"
Judy opened the new text message from Gazelle: "Im gng 2 hve my tailor mke him a nu superhero outfit. What do u think?"
"I bet he would love that! lol..."
"Wut shrt & pants size duz he wear? And... is thr anythng i can use 2 mke a mask frm?"
Danny is finally molding into a superhero persona. Next chapter, you will find out what Kenten is going to do. I mean, it's pretty obvious what he's going to do, but how that's going to play out, let's find out together, shall we?
I'm starting school this coming Monday. And... yeesh, I have calculus I and Chemistry II among a total of five classes. I'm going to be super busy. But I'm going to try to keep writing at least one chapter per week. I will get this story done! But be aware of that, I won't be publishing as often starting next week.
