Chapter 4
Edited by Starfang's Secrets
Artwork by Knoton13 & TheBlueberryCarrots
It had been a bad idea to ask about Judy's sparring record. A week later and Nick was still sore from the unexpected beat down that he'd accrued at the paws of the grey doe.
Now I know how she managed to knock out that rhino in six seconds...he thought, popping his neck again as he walked into Precinct One, ready to start the day with his partner. The grey doe was already at the front desk, speaking animatedly with Clawhauser. He raised an eyebrow, not because of the conversation, but because of a white bandage covering part of Judy's left cheek.
"New uniform there, Carrots?"
Judy turned, ears perking at the sound of Nick's voice. "Oh, um..." Judy's paw unconsciously went to cover the bandage. It had been a smaller cut, given to her by a margay the night before trying to rob a thrift store after hours, but deep enough to need the covering. She'd managed to knock out the feline soon after, as well as swept for any trace of blood and fur before tying the cat to a nearby lamppost.
The doe had ran back to the Mane mansion, making sure her JCJ, jam cam jammer, was working as she sped towards the more ritzy part of town. The butler, Pawford, a rather lean and aged cougar, put in several stitches, applied some polysporin and patched her up, but she still felt stitches would attract more attention than a simple bandage.
Apparently that didn't work...Judy thought with a sigh.
"An accident in the kitchen this morning," she stated, cringing at yet another lie told to yet another mammal. It was the one part of her job that she was growing to despise. She'd been raised to never tell a lie, and yet here she was, not able to tell even her own parents about what she was doing.
I'm sure Dad would faint from shock...
"What happened?" Nick asked. Leaning down, he gently placed a thumb over the gauze, as if touching it would make it better.
If it had been a week earlier, she would have shied away from the touch, swatting his paw away. But that was seven days ago. Today...she felt a slight shudder go through her at the gentle touch. She didn't know why, but it felt good to know he actually cared about her well being enough to ask. Their first day together had been absolutely terrible. Even with his apology, and then sparring practice for both of them to vent with, the second day was still rough. Both were trying to figure out how to work with a partner as they hadn't been trained with one before. Several times they'd both printed off the same pages of a report, finding themselves arguing over who was supposed to print what until Sergeant Higgins would yell at them to stop arguing or he'd get Bogo to assign them to Archive duty. Several more spats had happened between them, yet they slowly became accostumed to the new working condition and their relationship had improved slightly.
Which made lying to the fox all the worse to Judy.
"Slipped while washing some dishes and caught myself on the counter," she fibbed, feeling the guilt well within her gut. She saw Nick frown, pulling away his paw and staring up at her sitting on Clawhauser's desk. "Are all bunnies this clumsy? Or is it just you?"
Hiding a snort, she slapped the back of her paw against his shoulder as she leapt down from the desk. "Come on, Slick. Bullpen in five."
Nick offered a lazy salute to the cheetah manning the desk before heading off after the bunny.
The day had gone by smoothly for the duo. Only three arguments in total. One about mixing up each other's coffees, the second about drinking each other's coffee, and the third blaming each other when Higgins had told them to quiet down.
So all in all a productive day.
They'd been assigned jam cam duty on the Vigilante case and after nearly seven hours of staring at video footage going blank, both were starting to grow bored. And Judy had learned that a bored Nick, was a bad Nick.
"Hey, Hopps?"
"Yeah?"
"What do you call...a three humped camel?"
Judy glared at her partner, eyes already narrowed from looking at the computer screen. The smug grin on Nick's face was absolutely insufferable at the moment. "What..."
"Pregnant!"
The tod laughed, slapping the desk once and nudging Judy's shoulder lightly. The bunny swayed with the touch, annoyed at the joke but couldn't keep a smile off her face from it. It was a bit funny, at least under present circumstances.
"So," Judy stated, trying to refocus her giggling partner back onto the case at paw. "Find anything on your screen?" She had to ask, but she was hoping his answer would be nothing. She was still slightly uncomfortable with being the officer assigned to a case to catch a vigilante, which nobody knew was her.
"...hmm."
Judy's ears perked. "Is that a good 'hmm', or a bad, 'hmm'?
"hmm..."
"Really, Nick?"
"Mhmm."
Judy cast the coldest look she could at the fox who seemed to revel in the annoyance he was causing in the grey rabbit. Hearing the rapid tap, tap, tapping of her foot finally broke the smug grin on his face.
"Well, you know how we can't seem to track the Vigilante, right?"
"That's right," Judy answered. "He just seems to vanish around the city and reappear randomly."
"Do you think it's random?" Nick asked. "Or do you think there is a pattern to his behavior?"
Judy froze, sensing the subtle nuance to Nick's words. "What do you mean?" she asked cautiously.
Nick clicked his computer screen a few times, bringing up a map of the jam cams in Zootopia. "What I mean is-"
He was cut off by the desk phone ringing. Both turned, looked at the device, before reaching for it at the same time. Their paws connected for the briefest of moments. Widened eyes of amethyst and emerald met before both withdrew their paws.
"You get it."
"No, ladies first."
"I insist, you answer it, Nick."
Nick gulped, tail flicking behind him as he picked up the phone. "Officer Wilde speaking. What can I do-"
Nick nearly threw the phone away from his ear as a yell loud enough for Judy to hear came through the telephone. Nick held a paw over the speaker, but Bogo's voice still sounded quite audibly through it.
"Wilde! You're going to cover for Wolford tonight and pull an extra shift so get your tiny tail into the bullpen now for your assignment!"
Bogo hung up without Nick having to say another word. The fox just grimaced at the phone, dropping it onto its receiver with a huff. "Guess that ruins my night plans."
"You had plans?" Judy asked, a hint of snark to her words.
"Oh contraire, Fluff. I had quite the plans for tonight." He held up his paw, counting off his fingers. "First was to go home and eat dinner. Second, fall onto my couch and third, not move until my alarm goes off in the morning."
"Sounds like you just got an improvement in your activities then," she retorted, just as a buzzer went off on the desk clock. She expertly tapped the button to turn it off without looking at it, only her ear swiveling to pinpoint the sound.
"What about you?" Nick asked, folding his arms across his chest while leaning back. "Any big plans for the big city bun?"
If only you knew...Judy thought. She'd found out about a massive drug shipment that was going to take place in the Rainforest Districtn from the Mane family who had learned about it through their computer technician, aka, hacker, Madge "Honey" Badger. It would be the toughest job yet, with most likely five to ten mammals guarding it according to Madge, but if Judy could halt the shipment, it would stop a massive amount of catnip from entering the city. She would have to make a pit stop at the Mane mansion to get more supplies to take everything out, but she was an officer and had sworn to serve and protect, so protect and serve she'd do.
"Not really," Judy replied lazily. "Probably about the same plans as you."
Nick placed a paw on his chest over his heart. "You mean we could have been bored together if I had invited you over?"
Judy and Nick started to laugh until they realized the meaning behind his words. The laughter turned to nervous chuckles, then to strained 'ehehs'. Nick scratched the back of his head while Judy nervously smoothed out her ears which had drooped behind her head and over her shoulder.
"I've gotta go," Judy said suddenly, jumping from her chair and rushing towards the door. "Lots to do and little time to do it in to make the world a better place!"
"Judy wait!"
The doe froze at the entrance to the cubicle farm, her ears catching the fox's frantic plea to stop. She angled her head to look at him, his arm outstretched towards her and his mouth semi-open.
"Yes, Nick?" she asked softly with a hint of nervousness. Her tail flicked as she turned to fully face him, running her paws over each other.
"I..." he began.
"WILDE! WHERE ARE YOU!"
Both mammals jumped at the sound of Bogo's shout and stomping hooves.
"Coming, sir!" Nick yelled, leaping off the chair and scrambling towards the door. He mouthed a silent, 'later' to Judy before dashing out the door.
The bunny stood there, confused beyond belief and wondering what exactly just happened. Several seconds passed by before her phone buzzed in her pocket. The sound and vibration shook her from her daze. As she checked the message, she saw it was an update from Madge.
"Shipments early, gotta get here quick!"
Judy shoved the phone in her pocket before hurrying out the door herself. Keeping her countenance cheerful, she waved goodbye to Clawhauser and jogged out the door. Once out however, a look of determination flickered across her face as she bolted towards the nearest train station.
She had a drug shipment to stop.
Night had fallen by the time Judy arrived at the warehouse. Garbed in her disguise, Judy kept low to the rooftops, hiding her now whitened ears from being seen from below. Using an air conditioning unit to hide partially behind, she looked down at the activity below. She brought out a pair of small night vision goggles, sized for a bunny and incredibly compact compared to public versions. She stopped herself from wiping at her brow. The humid environment made working in this district at any time of the day in her costume strenuous. The fur dye she used never lasted long in the wet climate and she'd have to make this a quick job to not give away her identity.
Pays to save a billionaire...Judy thought with a smile as she put what basically looked like a pair of thick sunglasses over her eyes. The instant addition to her sight was wonderful and she could finally see what she couldn't in the dim light below.
Four wolves...easy. The two rhinos might be harder to take out...Judy thought as she scanned the perimeter. The four wolves were in pairs, meandering about the outside of the warehouse while the two rhinos were unloading the crates from a truck into the warehouse itself, one in the truck pulling the crates out while the second stood on the raised loading bay door, placing them inside. A polar bear and elephant ambled out of the warehouse and onto the bay area, both smoking cigarettes while chatting about the shipment. Judy frowned, realizing that with that many larger mammals around, it would be much harder to take out this shipment than the last one.
Judy leaned back against the AC unit to think. She knew the wolves could be easily taken out with the scent solution Colton had developed. One spray from the small black bottle on her belt would overwhelm any canine's ability to smell to the point of knocking them out. It was the hired muscle that she'd have to strategize for.
"Alright, we're half unloaded boss."
The shout brought her back to the edge of the roof. One of the rhinos was leaning against the truck waving the polar bear and elephant over.
"Keep it down ya nitwit!" the elephant droned, stomping towards the slightly smaller mammal.
"Trunks, nobody was talking to you," the other rhino spat, dropping a crate and heading to his partner's side. The three mammals began a heated argument while the polar bear just shook his head and walked back into the warehouse. The bickering had attracted the attention of two of the wolves, who jogged over towards the truck.
As good a chance as any...Judy thought. Dashing across the warehouse' roof, she reached the fire escape and slid down one of the supporting beams, hopping lightly to the ground. The doe peaked her head around the corner of the building, spotting the last two wolves nearby. She licked a finger and held it up, smiling when she found she was downwind of the two canines.
Perfect.
In the rubble that was scattered about the edge of the building, Judy found a small chunk of mortar that must have fallen off the brick facade. Tossing it in her paw a few times, Judy lobbed it several yards away from the warehouse.
The noise as it hit the cement and shattered captured the two guards attention.
"Did you hear that, Gary?" the blackish grey wolf said, cocking his head to the side while staring towards where Judy had tossed the bit of stonework.
"That ka-thunk sound, Larry?" the white wolf replied.
The first nodded, then tilted his head towards the warehouse. "I'll go check it out. Get Barry and Harry over here." Giving a thumbs up, the white wolf darted towards the truck and the arguing mammals while his partner slowly approached the spot near where Judy was hiding.
The bunny waited. She'd found a hole in the warehouse wall, made by the roots of a massive tree sneaking its way into the crumbling facade, and crept through the hole. The scent blocker should do its job and she simply waited for the wolf to pass her position, peaking out through the small hole in the crumbling brick and mortar.
The wolf brought out a tranquilizer gun, turning the corner quickly and sweeping the area with it. Not seeing a soul, he continued on, right past Judy's position. She saw his foot and lower leg move right past the hole she'd crawled through and waited a second before moving. In a flash, she'd leapt through the hole feet first, kicking out the wolf's shin. The mammal collapsed in a heap and before he could move to push himself up, Judy sprayed him. The canine's nose twitched furiously for a second before his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he collapsed the rest of the way.
Judy checked his breathing before moving back to the corner. Seeing none of the other mammals had come for her yet, she darted across the alley between the warehouse she'd used to survey them and the one they were loading the drugs into, hiding behind a pile of crates stacked as high as a giraffe. She'd barely scampered behind it when the other three wolves rounded the corner of the truck's cab, coming into view. Judy darted up the stacked containers until she'd almost reached the top.
"Boss says to make this quick. He's gettin' antsy about this shipment," the wolf named Larry led the other three, all with their tranq pistols out and sweeping the ground in front of them.
It was a shame they hadn't looked up, otherwise they might have seen the bunny playing with a small round, plastic ball with a pin in its top. The three wolves rounded the corner and spotted their compatriot on the ground. They whipped around, forming a perimeter, their pistols aiming all around them as Larry checked the pulse of their friend.
They never heard the pin pulled, or saw the small, black object landing in the middle of them. There was a flash of light as the ball exploded, consuming the plastic casing entirely and dispersing the item's contents into the air. At once the three began coughing and wheezing before each dropped like a lead sack to the ground.
She knew the flash of light from the scent grenade would attract unwanted attention, so Judy crawled to the top of the box pile and through a broken window of the warehouse. Careful to avoid the broken glass littering the floor of the catwalk just inside, she leapt to the ground and silently made her way across the warehouse, hearing voices yelling at each other.
"That's it, we're outta here. I ain't taking no chances with that bunny stalking about here. I ain't facing no jail time."
A bellowing laugh sounded. "You're afraid of a little wabbit, Horace? Thought you'z was only afraid of mice?"
"Shaddup!"
Judy's ears perked up. She had always known how to take advantage of a situation. Even in some of the rougher spots she'd found herself in, a sudden insight or her great situational awareness helped to turn the tide more than once. She found herself grinning as she slunk towards the open warehouse bay doors. The doe pulled her phone from her pocket and searched through her sound files. She'd made sure to download a massive quantity of natural mammal sounds to be able to intimidate foes who hadn't seen her yet as a tiger's roar could frighten away a badger thug much more than the sight of a bunny.
After finding the audio file she'd been looking for, she crept as silently as she could towards the elephant who was standing half in and half out of the warehouse. His trunk was fidgeting as he yelled at the two rhinos standing just outside. Only a few feet away from him, she turned her phone's volume up as loud as possible, curled up as small as possible and prayed that an elephant's eyesight was as bad as everyone said it was and pressed play.
Squeak!
The elephant froze, trunk freezing still as his head slowly angled towards the sound. His eyes widened when he saw Judy, a very small white mammal. She pressed play again.
Squeak!
"Oh banana pancakes!" The elephant let out a terrified trumpet and stumbled backwards away from the warehouse, trying to escape from the 'mouse'. Judy had already put her phone away and darted after him, watching in amusement as he stumbled off the ledge of the loading bay door. His foot caught the lip of the warehouse's edge and he stumbled back into the truck and on top of one of the rhinos. The massive amount of weight buckled the truck, causing them both to smash through it. The back axel was crushed under their weight and the truck collapsed under them, trapping them both inside the now destroyed truck and the raised platform.
That only leaves one rhino and a polar bear to deal...with. Judy's ears flickered and she jumped to the side as a massive white furred fist crashed into the ground where she'd just been. She then leapt again, rolling towards the wall when a rhino's foot tried to stomp down upon her.
"It's the blasted vigilante! Squash him!"
The two larger mammals barreled after Judy, who sprinted further into the warehouse, zig-zagging back and forth between crates and forklifts. The rhino simply smashed through the crates while the polar bear slowly drew further and further behind, the meandering chase slowing him down considerably.
Judy heard the crashing sound behind her growing closer the further in she went. It wasn't until she found a rope hanging from the ceiling did she get an idea of what to do. Grabbing a metal crowbar leaning against a chest, she made for the hanging ropes on a curve and leapt into the air. Grabbing them was easy, and with her momentum and the small size of the rope, she easily managed to swing off the rope, gaining speed with the upward momentum of the swing as the rhino halted below her.
As always, what goes up, must also come down. When Judy hit the pinnacle of her swing, she felt gravity pulling her back towards the rhino. The mammal grinned, pulling back a fist and aiming for where he thought the rabbit would arrive, hoping for a lucky shot.
Unfortunately for him, luck was on the side of the doe with the two lucky rabbit's feet attached.
Judy leapt into the air just as the rhino went to punch, missing her by several feet as she flew next to the rhino's face. As she passed, she caught his surprised look as she swung the crowbar into the side of his head.
She winced at the resounding crack that split the otherwise quiet warehouse. The momentum of the hit through off her flight path and the bunny twisted in the air to right herself, landing on her two feet and one hand paw, the other still holding the crowbar up and behind her. The rhino stood for a moment, wavered slightly, then collapsed onto a pile of crates, crushing them beneath his weight. Judy brought out a cloth and wiped the crowbar before leaning it back where she'd found it. Going to check the KO'ed rhino to make sure he was still okay, she missed the stealthy steps of paws behind her.
Two spotted paws wrapped around her neck, earning a gasp from the doe. She saw the world turn as she was lifted off her feet, watched the ceiling fly by, before her head crashed into the cement floor. Stars flooded her vision as she let out a moan, trying to push herself to her feet, only to have a foot crash into her sternum, flipping her into the air and onto her back as the wind rushed from her lungs.
Sweet cheese and crackers...Judy groaned. She blinked, watching a smaller feline walking towards her, who was soon joined by an arctic fox. Judy did a quick count in her head and groaned. Ten...Madge said there were ten of them...
Judy struggled to her feet as the polar bear joined in behind the other two mammals. She quickly took stock of the situation.
Three mammals...two mediums, one large. I've got one taser blast and one dose of blind-powder.
Judy smirked as the three mammals lunged at her. She played off her weakness, limping slightly as she made a turn, as if she would flee from her attackers. Bring them in closer and lower their guard as nobody would expect a limping, groggy bunny to be a challenge. The polar bear actually slowed to a stop, maybe thinking he wasn't needed to take down the injured vigilante.
His mistake...Judy thought as she brought out a small plastic balloon like object from her pocket. Flicking a switch on it, she whipped around and sprayed its contents into the face of the fox charging her. A vulpine howl of anguish filled the warehouse as he tripped and fell, clawing at his face as the powder Judy applied to his face took effect.
The margay paused, staring at her friend. The arctic fox was whimpering in pain, rubbing at his eyes painfully. "Mi amore?" the margay shouted in fear, changing direction and rushing to the side of the fox. Judy took the distraction and charged the polar bear, leaping up at his chest while bringing her fist back for as massive a punch as she could muster, a small rubber glove on her paw and a small device across her fingers.
Judy had learned well at the academy that in taking out larger mammals, one could not attack with simple brute force. She could wail on a polar bears stomach as much as she wanted and the worst he'd feel is a slight tickling sensation before swatting her away. So after her first terrible round against a rhino that left her discombobulated for the rest of the day, she had delved into books on animal anatomy, learning the pressure points and weak spots of every mammal in her class, then moved onto the most prevalent mammals who lived in Zootopia.
The polar bear, still wide eyed at seeing his colleague collapsed in pain, didn't even see her coming. Her fist slammed into his chest, directly above the spot where she knew the heart and lungs to be. A buzzing sound came from her fist and as she connected, the bear jolted once, standing straight and stiff. A slight groan came from him before Judy kicked off his chest, backflipping to land on her feet as the bear tumbled backwards to the ground. She stuffed the now used tazer-fist into an inner pocket of her jacket. The bear would most likely be out for around 15 minutes. She pressed another button in her other pocket, and an automatic 911 call went out from her location, calling three times before disabling itself.
With two of the mammals down, Judy turned to see the margay shaking the fox, the gold band around her finger now clearly evident.
I can use that information...
"You want your mate to wake up?" Judy yelled across to the feline. The cat stiffened, ears perking towards her location. The margay turned to face her, rage settling into her features as Judy relaxed into a fighting stance, one foot back and fists raised. "Beat me and I'll give you the cure."
It was a fallacy, of course. All the fox had to do was wash the powder off and he'd be back to normal in about an hour.
But his mate didn't know that.
With a ferocious hiss, the cat leapt at Judy, baring her fangs and claws. Judy easily sidestepped the attack, and as the feline passed, dropped her arm into a judo chop along the cat's back before dodging back, narrowly avoiding a haphazard slash of the feline's claws. The margay winced as she stood, a paw naturally going to her back as she attempted to turn and face the vigilante.
It was too late.
Judy had already dashed towards her and jumped. Wrapping her legs around the feline's neck, she spun fully around the feline before pulling back. In a movement close to what had been done to Judy before, the inverse now occurred. The margay flipped over Judy, crashing onto her back on the hard cement floor. The move dazed the feline, knocking her breath from her as Judy reached back around and landed a punch to the cat's face, knocking her out.
Judy moved to her feet, surveying the area. She already knew there were too many thugs to tie up before the ZPD would arrive thanks to her automated call to them. She probably only had about ten minutes before the first responders would be showing-
"ZPD! Paws in the air!"
Or not...she thought. The gruff yelled filled the warehouse, making it hard to know where it was coming from or how far away. She chanced a glance over her shoulder, spotting a dimly lit figure walking towards her from the shadows.
Fifty feet...she glanced down at the margay behind her.
"I said paws in the air!" the shout was much more familiar now, but Judy already put her plan into motion. Flicking her feet, she pushed the margay up behind her, then twirled to catch the cat and cover her frame completely as a hiss and a pop sounded. The tranquilizer dart landed directly in the center of the feline. Judy heard a curse behind her as she dropped the doubly unconscious feline and bolted for the exit.
The sharp scrapping of claws behind her signaled the chase was afoot. Judy slammed the door to the warehouse open, running out into a twisting maze of back alleys and massive trees that filled the Rainforest District. Sparing a glance at her watch, she nearly stumbled noticing the time. Only two minutes until the next rainfall...
That was the one hazard of working in this district. In order for her to use the fur dye she used, while being able to take it off quickly if needed, was that it wasn't waterproof.
I'll just need to lose him quickly...
Judy bolted for a nearby tree, a massive vine sneaking up its form at a low enough angle she could run across it. She'd noticed it on the way in from the sky trams, noting how it led straight towards the inter-district transportation. As the first splotches of rain began to fall, she grinned noting how the ZPD officer behind her was losing ground. A flash of a streetlight showed the figure, a red-furred predator in ZPD blues chasing after her.
Is that...
Her thoughts were halted when an absolute deluge of water cascaded down the massive vine towards her as the system's sprinklers opened up. The slick vine was made even more slippery and Judy found herself losing her footing as her forward momentum came to a grinding halt. As she began to slide down, she saw several caution signs, warning not to use the ramp during a storm for exactly what she was experiencing now.
"No, no, no, no!"
Even her suits foot grips failed to give her the traction needed against the water rushing around her. The vine, though looking like a shortcut, also seemed to act like a river for the water hitting the tree and Judy found herself being carried back down the way she came, tumbling and rolling in the now riotous stream of water. Several times she found herself spiting up water she'd accidentally swallowed, her vision blurred by the tumbling and rolling the water was forcing upon her body.
She finally landed onto the ground, hacking and sputtering water as she stared blankly up into the branches of the massive trees above. A pointed muzzle blocked out the nearest streetlamp and Judy found an auburn foot being placed upon her chest. She groaned at the weight pressing down on her, coughing out more water as she found herself staring into a very familiar set of green eyes.
"Looks like I've gotten myself a vigilante after all," Nick chuckled, staring down at the white furred rabbit laying on the ground. He'd seen pictures of the vigilante and had expected him to be taller, faster, smarter and...well, anything more than what he saw. The buck beneath his foot looked more absolutely miserable, and not the type of hard-fighting mammal like he'd seen at the warehouse a few minutes prior. As the rabbit's nose began to twitch, Nick shrugged as he flicked out a set of pawcuffs.
"You have the right to remain silent..."
AN: This doesn't look good for Judy...I wonder what Bogo will think of this next chapter... O_O