A low grumble emanated from the bunnies throat, groaning as she lied in bed. A large headache caused Judy to rest her head in her hands as she tried to soothe the pain. She attempted to open her eyes, but her vision was hazy. The bunny tried to remember what happened last night. Her and Nick were working, then they went out for a drink to celebrate a year long partnership. It's hard to believe it's already been that long. She's so glad that she saw him going into that ice cream shop, so many great things have come from that little happenstance of them meeting. However, her memory became a little fuzzy when she tried to remember what happened at the bar; she remembers getting there but after that it is all just a blur. She'd have to ask Nick when they meet up later today.
Judy pushed herself up to a sitting position, but something was off. This didn't feel like her bed. Maybe Nick took her to his place and put her in his bed, but she doubted Nick slept on this thing. It was all lumpy and full of holes, not comfortable at all. What was going on? She rubbed her eyes, trying to clear up her vision so she could see. Eventually the bunnies vision became normal; however, her heart started pounding from seeing where she was. She was in a small room, probably a five by five foot space, with metal bars keeping her in here. It was like some sort of prison cell. But it wasn't a normal one like they have back in the station, it's darker, colder, and a lot more creepy. Something was happening and its making Judy's fur stand up.
At this point, Judy figured she had two options: sit here and wait until the situation unfolds itself, or take the initiative and find out what is going on now. It is honestly quite obvious the choice she was going with.
Jumping up from her bed, the bunny ran over to the bars and began to examin them. She pulled on them to test their structural integrity and they were held solidly in place, not budging and inch. She looked left and right down a poorly lit corridor but didn't see anything to give her any clue as to where she is. In front of her is another row of cells that were seemingly empty. Judy could be sure about one thing however, this wasn't a police holding cell, which meant all sorts of bad news. She just wishes she could remember what happened last night, wanting to know exactly how she ended up in this cell.
"Hello, anybody out there," she shouts into the dark hallways, but there is no reply, only silence. "I am officer Judy Hopps of the ZPD, and I demand to speak to someone," she yells more aggressively, even though she figures whoever is keeping her here isn't a big fan of the law. Still no response. Tapping her foot aggressively on the ground, she starts thinking how exactly she is going to get out of this. Judy examines the room for any flaws, but everything save the bed seemed to be made of solid concrete. "Just great," the bunny breathes out impatiently, "I'm trapped in a cell with no idea how I got here and there isn't another animal in sight."
"I wouldn't be sure about that sweetheart," Judy nearly jumps out of her pelt from the sudden voice. She flips back around towards the hallway and peers out into the darkness but doesn't see anything. Her eyes aren't the greatest for the dark. She wishes Nick was here, for multiple reasons.
"Who said that?" She asks into the nothingness.
"Just your friendly neighbor," an elderly voice says to Judy. Judy wanted to groan at the vagueness she was getting. She just wants to know where she is and how she can get out. Hopefully she can get a little more information out of this person.
"Alright neighbor, where am I and why am I here?" Judy questioned the voice.
"You're really talkative aren't you? Well, I wish I could answer your questions but I, myself, have no clue as to what's going on. I just woke up here one day and have been trapped by this group of animals." He begins explaining to Judy who listened with growing anxiousness. The more he spoke, the more she feared what was going to happen to them.
"So there's a group, what do they look like?"
"Beats me, they all wear masks to hide their faces, and I've only seen three of them. Their species vary from what I've seen. They also seem to take turns checking in on us and bringing us our daily food, if you can even call it that," he tells the bunny. Whoever they are, Judy suspects that they've done this before. It seems too elaborate and professional to be done by amateurs. Now if only she knew why they wanted her.
"Wait, did you say us, as in others," Judy came to the sudden realization.
"yeah, from what I know there's you, me, and five others. That's just who I know of. Most of them aren't the most talkative, however; they can all probably hear us talking and they're just listening in," he explained. "Isn't that right Conner?"
"Shut up Earl, and keep that cop quiet would you," a much younger voice says with clear annoyance.
"Come on lighten up a little. Sure we're all trapped here for unknown reasons but it could be worse." There was no response for a while giving off the impression that Conner is done talking.
"Earl, honey, would you mind keeping it down, some of us are trying to sleep. It's already bad enough having to be in all this filth," another voice cut in, this time belonging to another female.
"You know you don't need all that sleep to be beautiful, Katherine, your quite purrfect as you are," Earl said, starting to flirt with the other captive. Judy inwardly groaned at the terrible pun, assuming Katherine is a feline, it reminds of Nick's bad jokes. Which reminds her, how is Nick going to react when he finds that she's gone and how long will it take him. Knowing the clever fox, it won't take very long before he starts looking for her. If she doesn't break out of here, she'll bet her life that her partner will come to the rescue.
"Everything alright over there officer," Judy heard Earl ask her.
"All things considered, it could be worse," Judy admitted. Besides the headache from her hangover, and the loss of memory, she feels fine; though she could go for some water.
"That's the spirit, you could learn a thing or two from the cop, Conner," Earl laughed, earning an audible groan from Conner.
"You know you don't have to refer to me as officer, or cop right? My name is Judy," The bunny tells Earl.
"Yah, but it's more fun calling you officer." Judy just sighs, deciding to drop it; it isn't what's important anyway. What's important is figuring out where they are and coming up with a plan to get out of here. Unfortunately, something tells her those two things will take some time. So the only thing to do is investigate. There has got to be some sort of connection between all of them.
"Hey Earl, mind if I ask you some questions?"
"Sure, I'm not going anywhere so talking is really all I've got."
"Do you have any idea who would do this to you; any enemies or something like that?" Judy questioned.
"Ah, those kinds of questions. I'll save you some time in saying none of us are connected in anyway. I'm a middle aged worker, Katherine is a millionaire model, and Conner is a college kid. Our backgrounds don't mix at all. Whoever these psychos are, they're taking animals by random."
Judy frowns, she doesn't think that's the case. Everything seems too perfectly planned out to be just random. This has to be connected in some way.
"Alright, since we're already here I guess we should get to know each other," Judy proposed. She hears Conner mumble, Katherine scoff, but Earl seems fine with it.
"I do like meeting new people," He said.
For the next little bit the two talked about themselves. Judy told Earl all about home in Bunnyburrow, told him about her dream of becoming a cop and the reality of it today. She didn't bring up the nighthowler case at all, mostly because it's still a rough subject that most animals don't like to dwell on.
Earl was about to talk about his life, but stopped at the sound of footsteps coming towards them. Along with that, Judy could hear a soft mumbling noise. She could only assume these are her captors.
Moments later four large figures appeared dressed in tactical-like gear, all of them wearing masks to cover their faces. However, she could still tell one was a bear by his size, and one a rhino from the horns. Other than that, she couldn't see any features. Two of them were in front while the other took the rear. As the hot closer, Judy started making out another body on the back of the bear.
They walked until they were right next from Judy; there they opened up the cell straight across from her and tossed the animal on the bed, getting him to release an uncomfortable groan. The locked up the cell and were about to leave, but Judy wasn't going to just stand here and not say anything.
"Hey you four, I demand you tell me where I am," she shouted at the animals who were much larger than her, by a lot. They turned towards her cell, faced each other, then back at Judy; they stared at her for a second before breaking out laughing which didn't sit well with the rabbit.
"Who are you to demand anything from us, little bunny," the bear said mockingly, threatening her by flashing his large claws.
Judy stared coldly at the animals, a ferocity clear in her eyes, "I've taken down criminals much larger and scarier than you, you'll have to try a little harder than that to scare me," she growled at them. This unsettled the four slightly, but evidently just laughed it off. What could this little bunny do to them?
"Your lucky we ain't aloud to harm ya, but we can have our fun by a different means," a smaller animal said, reaching behind his back and pulled out a large pole. After pressing a button and releasing a large electrical current, Judy realized it was not just a pole. It is a large cattle-prod and it did scare her a little. She had to get tazed As part of training and that's wasn't a fun experience. That was under a controlled environment though; God knows what they would do to her.
"Now I suggest you be a good rabbit and we won't have to use this," he threatened her, getting his message across quite clearly. Nothing more was said and the four went on their way.
"Well, I for one can say that you are much braver than me," Earl said, "I wouldn't be able to stand up to them like that," he admits to the bunny.
"These aren't the first 'intimidating' criminals I've come across. Most of them are the same though; all bark and no bite." Judy isn't scared of them, even if she knows that they can hurt her. She wasn't about to let some low life thugs get under her skin. Besides, give her some time and she'll be out of here, one way or another she will get out.
It only took a week for her to slip past them. In the days leading up to her escape she examined everything she could about the guards movement, trying her best to memorize their schedule. It seemed that twice a day at the same times they would bring in another poor soul and lock them away. Some were nice and talkative but most kept to themselves not uttering a word to this growing 'community' of kidnapped animals. With all this activity going on, it just confirmed Judy's suspicions of this group. Whoever they are, they are professionals. With all these kidnappings it has to have people on high alert and yet they still manage to get who they want on a daily basis. These animals are good, and it concerned the bunny of just what the fate of everyone here is going to be.
Judy still couldn't figure out the reasoning for this, none of it made sense. With every animal she questioned, at least the ones who would actually talk to her, they all came from different backgrounds with no clear connection between them. It made no sense to her and it was starting to drive her mad. But it wouldn't matter if she could just escape. If she gets out of here then she can blow this whole operation out of the water. It would be the the biggest bust since Bellwether.
The unfortunate thing was that the guards animals didn't seem to make any kind of mistake, and that was going to be the only way for Judy to get out of here; exploiting some kind of weakness would be her key out. And they may be professionals, but their still just mammals and were bound to make a mistake. That opportunity came about a week after Judy first arrived.
It was that time of day, early in the morning, when they would bring in another prisoner; however it was different this time. Instead of the usual four guards, it was only one, him being the smallest of the group; a wolf of she had to guess. She was near the bars of her cell and saw him walking down with a body slung over his shoulder of a smaller mammal and he was mumbling some angry words under his breath. An idea popped into the mind of the bunny, and she knew she has to at least try it. Worst case scenario, as far as she could tell, is that she would get tazed.
When the wolf got close enough, Judy hopped up and tugged the body just hard enough for him to slide off his shoulder. The wolf didn't even realize it was the bunny who caused it. He just cursed loudly and went to pick him up again, fall directly into Judy's trap. When his face was close enough, Judy grabbed onto his shoulder and slamming his face into the bars as hard as she could. There was a brief look of surprise on his face before being knocked out on impact.
"Uh Judy, what was that?" Earl asked.
"The sound of freedom," Judy said quietly yanking a set of keys off from the wolf. She unlocked her cell and pushed the door open, having to also push aside the bodies of the wolf and the other prisoner. Within a few moments she was in front of Earl's cell getting her first look at him. On the other side of the bars stood an older looking fox who looked astonished at the bunny.
"You really are something, you know that officer?"
"So I'm told," she giggled, "Now it's time to get the rest of you out," she stated bringing up the keys, only to be stopped by the sounds of other voices. Judy looked over and noticed the rest of the guards finally catching up.
"Looks like you don't have anytime," Earl said.
"But I cant just leave you here," she seethed.
"There isn't time to argue, just get out of here and tell others. You'll save us then. Now go," he urged. She knows he's right, but she was still reluctant to leave them. However, the sounds of their voices getting closer got her to finally just leave them.
She ran the opposite way from the guards and down the long hallway of cells, most of them being filled with animals, until she came to a split hallway. Down the left were some more guards and the right was clear, she took the obvious route. Not long after, she could here shouting from far behind her, no doubt they were searching for her now. She needed to get out of here quickly, but this place just seemed to wind in endless hallways. She sprinted from corridor to corridor trying to find an exit, but she was having no luck.
She turned around a final corner only to see a whole squad with guns in paws. She flipped around and was going to go the other way only for that direction to be blocked as well. She was trapped. There was only one place for her to go. She drove into a room, closed the door and locked it. She has nowhere to go, but at least this would slow them from taking her back to that cell.
The room she was in seemed to be some sort of office. A large desk was placed in the middle of the room, which wasn't anything special. However, whoever's office this is left a phone on the desk, giving Judy a burst of hope and energy. She jumped on the desk and grabbed the phone seeing if she could get any information. However, the phone wasn't anything special, just an old flip phone which Judy guesses is a burner phone. There was nothing on it, but that didn't mean she couldn't do anything. There's always one animal out there that the bunny can rely on.
She dialed the number and jumped under the desk as she heard the sound of many voices get near her. It rang a few times before a confused voice picked up the phone. Just hearing his voice made the bunny come to tears, she misses him so much and there hasn't been a moment she hasn't thought of him while trapped here.
"Nick, Nick is that you?" a barley audible whisper came through the phone, but Nick would know that voice from anywhere.
"Judy?!" The bunny heard him nearly scream. Judy jumped at the sound of the guards trying to break down the door. She was running out of time.
"Nick, I don't have much time, they're already looking for me," Judy was in a full panic, it would only be moments until they get through that door.
"Judy, do you know where you are. What can I do to help?" Nick asked sounding desperate.
"I don't know exactly when I am. It's dark, wet and cold, and everything seems to be made out of cement. Nick, I don't know how much longer they're going to keep me alive, please you need to save us. They're going to…" And that's when the door gave out. A squad of guards filed into the room, one immediately spotted the rabbit and pointed her out.
"There you are, bitch," he said, dragging her out from under the desk and punching her in the head, knocking her out cold. Immediately after the phone was destroyed.
"So what are we going to do with her?" one of them asked.
"Orders say to take her to the boss," one stated.
"I almost feel bad for the little bunny," another snickered before carrying Judy away and towards their boss.
Judy jerked awake, ready for a fight but as she jerked around she realized that she couldn't move. She looked down a saw that both her arms and legs were strapped to a metal chair and there was no way to move them. As she examined the straps, a wave of pain hit her, suddenly remembering the fist coming into contact with her head.
"I've got to hand it to you, Ms. Hopps, you sure do live up to expectations." Judy looked up towards the voice as out from the shadows emerged another mammal, only this time there was no mask. The rabbit could see his face clear as day. He's a raccoon with a punchable smug face.
"Who are you, and what do you want," Judy growled.
"Oh Judy, it's simple what I want: peace and order," he smiled with his arms opened wide.
"So you kidnap others, how does that make sense?"
"Maybe you aren't as clever as they say," he taunted, "You aren't just normal mammals, no you are all criminals who never paid for their crimes," his demeanor suddenly changed to serious. He walked off into a corner where Judy couldn't see him.
"What are you talking about, I've never committed a crime in my life," Judy hollered. All she heard behind her was a hushed chuckle. Suddenly the sound of a cart being pushed over filled the room until it stopped right next to the bunny. She looked over and became wide eyed. On the cart were an assortment of different things, from surgical tools to torture tools. She gulped and looked fearfully at the raccoon as he stood in front of her.
"Officer Hopps, a true hero who is no better than the criminals she arrests," he picks up a scalpel and presses it against her throat, "Using the mob to get her way, threatening their life's of they fail to cooperate. That's not what I would call justice." He jerks the blade down slashing through Judy's shirt and into her skin. She let's put a yelp and seethes in pain. "You're no hero," the raccoon slashed across her leg gaining another yelp from Judy who was starting to tear, "You're just as bad as the rest of them," he spits as he jams the scalpel into her leg. Judy screeches in pain, begging for him to stop, but the raccoon was just getting started. He doesn't want his prisoner to even think about escaping again. He is going to break her. He grabbed another tool from his cart and went to work.
Well there you have it, the story so far in Judy's POV. Hope it's everything ya'll wanted.
Sorry for such the long wait, in the final two weeks of this semester for college and it has been busy. I wouldn't expect another chapter for awhile and I apologize for that.
Thanks to everyone who has supported this story, you are all great.
Keep On Keeping On
Peace Out