Heroes of Zootopia

Chapter 6 "I Ran (So Far Away)"

By DragonMan1997

Zootopia © Disney

"Woah, woah, woah!" Caleb threw up his paws in disbelief. "You guys were being serious about that?"

"Yep." Sara nodded as she brought her strawberry milkshake up to her mouth.

Daniel silently laughed in his own head at Caleb's surprise. "No door."

Sara snickered at the sight she recalled. "He left the hinges though, which was weird."

"He'll slowly turn them if I'm in my room. They squeak." Daniel couldn't deny that his father was certainly creative with punishment. The hinges stayed behind. It would have been too clean to take the door and hinges off. That way there was a subtle detail that was psychologically unnerving. Daniel almost used his milkshake to toast to his father's skill at mind games.

The three had been sitting at Spanky's Diner, a spot they all frequently visited ever since they had access to the high inducing green paper that was money. Caleb would usually pay for himself and his sister, since she was not yet employed. Caleb worked at the Bug-Burga down the street. He was on his lunch break. As was Daniel, who worked at the very diner they sat in. Daniel had known the owner since he was a baby. An old family friend he was, who was more than happy to hire him.

"Wait." Caleb stared down his sister. "How do you know this? Were you sneaking into his room at night again?

Sara nearly snorted her milkshake through her nose. "Caleb! I was just checking on him."

Caleb squinted his eyes and puckered his lips as he comedically nodded. "Right. Just...checking."

"Will you grow up?" Sara spat.

"I'm the oldest." Caleb shrugged as he looked over to Daniel. "Hey, you've been really quiet, what's up?'

Daniel's mind was locked on the speech he had listened to over the radio when he was working the other day. "The whole Empire thing."

"Superheroes. Pfft." Caleb shook his head as he wiped his mouth with the scratchy brown paper napkin he retrieved from the dispenser. "It's probably a hoax. One of those political stunts to get attention."

"Or steer away attention." Sara chimed in, wiping her face of strawberry milkshake. "But, it'd be pretty cool if there was a group of superheroes like that."

Daniel smiled at Sara's kind attempt to entertain his interest in the subject. It was a genuine gesture compared to her brother's equally genuine gesture of honest opinion. Though, there was more than conversation at work, there was something more earnest about Sara's input. "Yeah, it would be pretty cool." He couldn't quite tell what it was.

"Hey, Daniel." Sara seemed to twist in her seat, a hidden ounce of discomfort leaked through that Daniel noticed. "Did I leave anything in your room?"

Daniel froze in his own way that was not at all obvious to many others outside the small group that was his parents and little sister. He didn't go rigid, rather, he became overly relaxed and natural. Luckily he had already been enveloped in this state, allowing the change in his demeanor to go unnoticed. "I didn't see anything."

Sara was hesitant to press the matter further as she said no more. The wolf merely smiled politely and gave a quick nod.

Daniel knew what she was looking for. The little plastic baggie with the blue powder, only she hadn't left it there. Daniel had stolen it, out of fear, worry? He didn't quite know yet. Maybe it was just chalk or dry brush dust for painting, but something else told him it was something else. Whatever it was, Daniel could see its absence put Sara on edge.

Caleb leaned over and whispered something in his sister's ear, something Daniel could only guess to be a crude comment he wouldn't speak aloud. Whatever it was, it merited a sharp punch the arm from Sara. "Caleb, you're such a pig!"

Just then, an old pig rolled out of the kitchen on a wheelchair with a big old grin on his face. "Someone mention me?"

Daniel haphazardly saluted his boss. "Hey Spanky."

"Daniel mah boy, finishing up with lunch?"

"Yes sir." Daniel stood up and collected the empty milkshake glasses. "Is your ankle feeling any better?"

The pig laughed. "Not at all." Spanky was the owner of the diner and the family friend that had so graciously hired Daniel. He had broken his ankle moving packages of kitchen supplies. But, neither that nor his age stopped him from running his business. "How d'ya like my new wheels."

"Very nice sir." Daniel smiled at the bright red wheels of Spanky's wheelchair. The pig had been getting around on crutches, but they had been hurting his shoulders awfully bad.

Spanky was about to say something else, that would have been more jovial, but his face sunk into a trancelike form that fixated on what Daniel had said. It was the second time Daniel said it, but only the first time Spanky noticed it. The pig worked up the word and repeated it, "Sir…" It was partially a question.

Daniel, under the innocent scrutiny of his friends' eyes and Spanky's, lamely nodded. "Yessir." He awkwardly coughed after her realized he had mashed his words together. Clearing his throat further, he repeated himself. "Yes, sir."

Caleb and Sara watched probably, if not - just as, as confused as Daniel.

A weak smile fluttered on and off of Spanky's face. "Sorry kid, it's just, you sounded like your father when he was your age." The pig backed up. "I -uh. You know what, take another five or ten minutes for lunch." With that, Spanky made his escape, yelling at the wildebeest who was burning some unidentifiable slop on the stove. "Dangit Dwight!"

It was Caleb who broke the would be silence. "Woah, that was-."

"-interesting." Sara finished her brother's sentence with a more polite choice of word.

Daniel's nose flared as he set the milkshake glasses back down and sat once again across from his friends. A sense of bitterness swelled up inside him. He held no serious ill willed feelings towards his father. The wolf had raised him after all. Daniel tried and tried to figure out some rational reason as to why there was this growing discord between them. Maybe it was as he said it. He was thoroughly convinced that his father would never understand, as all young people suppose. Such is the cycle of life, not so easily mended in the minds of the young.

Caleb's phone began to chirp out some preprogrammed jingle. "Well, I got to go. Those cricket patties ain't gonna flip themselves." He side hugged his sister with one arm before heading for the door. "Bye sis, see ya Daniel."

Daniel weakly waved as he was still caught in his thoughts. He watched Caleb head on his way to his job. Is this it, Daniel thought, just working our minimum wage jobs to pay for college just so we get another job to afford an easier life? It seemed ludicrous to Daniel. I have to be here for a reason. He could feel the desire again, to run and fight. By no stretch did he believe it would be easy. He knew it would just be easier to save up for college, get credits in classes he'd never care for, and settle down somehow like his father. It'd be easier.

"Daniel?"

Sara's voice freed Daniel from the trap of his own thoughts. He barely noticed her paw brushing over his still bandaged arm.

"You okay?"

Daniel couldn't lie, not to Sara. "I don't know." He wish he did. He'd even take no as an answer. At least then it'd be an answer. Instead though, his mood was stuck in the limbo of uncertainty. Looking at Sara he could see by her face that she was fixing to say something.

"Daniel, I," there was an idea scrambling to be translated through her lips, maybe a confession, "I get that it's not easy." It was a confession alright. Daniel knew that. He supposed this was her confession that she didn't know either.

"Sara." Daniel stared at her paw which still feathered over his bandaged arm. "I just feel like I was meant for something bigger. I know how stupid that sounds."

"No," Sara squeaked as she leaned in, "it's not stupid that you feel that way."

Daniel stared up at one of the corner buildings. He imagined seeing Whiplash perched there with his paw stretched out, inviting him to the call of heroism, purpose. "Everyone else seems to think so. I just-," no words were left. He couldn't lie about his power, so he elected to withhold that information. It wasn't lying, it was just missing context. "Thanks for listening, Sara." Daniel gave the best smile he could muster for his friend.

Sara smiled in turn, now holding his hand. "Always."

Daniel could see something behind Sara's facade. Maybe like him, she too was withholding something. His brain flickered over to the blue powder. He would find out what was bothering her, in time.

"See ya tomorrow kid!" Spanky waved to Daniel from behind the glass of the now locked front door to the diner. The pig flipped the sign hanging on the door from open to closed.

Daniel weakly waved as he zipped up his green hoodie. How he was dressed would seem particularly strange to any animal that didn't know the why. Whenever he picked up night shifts he'd often run home in the dark after work. His clothing catered to this. He wore a red bandana over his lower face to stop any flying insects from getting inhaled at ridiculous speeds. To help his eyes, he wore yellow lensed motorcycle goggles. The yellow lenses actually did help his vision at night as advertised at the gas station he had bought them at a while back. His most recent addition was the green hoodie that kept him warm in the freezing resistance of the air.

Underneath it all, Daniel wore a light stretchy blue tracksuit. It was the only thing, thus far, that could last through extensive abuse (extensive being a jog home in Daniel's case). The deer was about ready to zoom off when he heard a scream.

Silence.

Probably nothing, Daniel thought. He was about ready to bolt home when he heard the scream again.

Echo manifested on Daniel's shoulder. "That doesn't sound like nothing."

Daniel groaned before swiftly sneaking along the street about half a block. The voice that matched the scream was fearfully begging about something incoherent to Daniel. Another voice, a gruff voice, dominated presence over the squeaking of the voice that no longer screamed, only whimpered. Peeking down the alleyway, Daniel saw that the one who screamed was a doe. The gruff voice belonged to a ram brandishing a knife.

"You heard me missy!" The ram jabbed his knife, a switchblade, in the air in front of the doe's face.

"Please, I gave you all my money," her voice cowered at the knife that flickered in the moonlight.

The ram backed her into a brick wall. "Yessa, and I want dat fancy gold piece hangin' 'bout yer neck too!"

"Please," the doe continued to beg, "It's my grandma's, it's all I have left-"

"I don't care!" The ram thrust his fist up to the doe's neck, eliciting a scream as he scraped some of her fur off with the switchblade.

"What are you going to do..."

Daniel felt his heart racing as he looked around. A spectator from an apartment window closed their blinds,turning up their television to drown out the sound. A homeless mammal pushed his grocery cart faster in the opposite direction…

"...stand idly by?"

"Stop!" Daniel marched down the alleyway. The ram ignored him, his eyes full of goldlust. "I said stop!"

The ram grunted as he snapped his head around to face the one who had interrupted his mugging. "Eh, jogger. Mind yer own business."

The doe cried. "Please, help-"

"Quiet you!" The ram pressed his fist further against the doe's neck.

"Let-her-go." Daniel walked all the way up to the ram, standing his ground.

"Listen, bud," the ram snapped his digits which prompted two other rams to appear, "I gave ya da chance to walk away."

The two other rambs stepped out of the dark and circled Daniel. "Hey b'oss. Get a load of this buck." While the one distracted Daniel, the other tore the right sleeve of his hoodie, exposing the blue sleave of the tracksuit.

Daniel snorted through the red bandana. "You might want to rethink your next moved."

The other ripped off his hoodie's left sleeve. "Or what, horn head?"

Daniel sighed as he clicked his tongue. "Actually."

A whipping gust of winds swept up both of the rams who, daze by the wind, struggled to regain their footing. They promptly fell over, smacking into the pavement. "What the?" They both marveled at the fact that their pants had been pulled down to their ankles.

"They're antlers." Daniel felt something in his mind snap. Some truth filled his brain. A perfect storm of fear and fulfillment swamped his senses. Thoughts from earlier sprung back up. It'd be easier... Yes, a normal life would be easier. And, this path he undoubtedly was going down, would be harder. He had the power, and he could not sit idly by. He had the power to stop these rams. If he were to walk off like everyone else, he knew he couldn't live with himself. "This is your chance to go quietly."

Echo's voice whispered in Daniel's mind. "The easier wrong, or the harder right?"

The first ram let go of the doe and turned his knife towards Daniel. "You're gettin' what's coming to ya!" The ram lunged his knife at Daniel only to fumble further forward at empty air. "Whathe?" The ram turned to find Daniel between him and the doe.

Daniel eyed a broken broom handle sticking out of a dumpster nearby. He yanked it out of the dumpster, twirling it a few times before grasping it defensively with both hands. "Now, give back the money you stole."

The ram growled as the other two pulled their pants back up. "Gett'em boys."

Daniel zoomed past one of the rams. Sweeping the ram's legs sent him flying into a mid air spin. Speeding back, Daniel did the same to the other and ended up back between the doe and the first ramb.

"What?" The ram began to shake at the sight of his associates having been done in by what he understood to be extreme speed. He still couldn't believe it. "You're that guy! But you're-"

"I gave you the chance to walk away." Daniel took one step and the ram dug into his pockets and emptied them onto the ground. Daniel watched as the ram ran past the other two who groggily followed suit. Making sure that the three rams were gone, Daniel bent over and picked up the items. There was cash that had probably been plucked from the wallet that also lay there with a bracelet and earrings. "I believe these are yours, miss."

The doe smiled relentlessly as she carefully accepted the items. "Thank you sir! Bless you!"

Daniel nodded and turned to start off.

"Wait!"

Daniel stopped and looked over his shoulder. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did you want me to run you home?"

"Oh, uh." The doe nervously tucked her wallet back into her pocket. "I'd hate to impose."

"Nonsense!" Daniel stood next to her. "Where do you live?"

The doe smiled at Daniel. "The Clarabell Apartment complex."

"I'll get you there in five seconds flat." Daniel held her head so she wouldn't get whiplash. Picking her up he ran at a speed he knew wouldn't harm the doe. A rush of wind and lights passed them before Daniel screeched to a halt outside a gate bathed in the blue neon of the sign that identified the Clarabell Apartments.

The doe huffed as she caught her breath, spooked by what had just happened. Her nerves came back as she realized she was just outside home. "Woah."

"I'm sorry I lied to you." Daniel shrugged. "It was four seconds, not five."

The doe laughed at the ridiculousness of what he had said. "It's fine."

Daniel couldn't help but laugh with her a little. Laughter became quiet smiles that evolved then into a soothing silence filled only by the humming of the neon sign. The doe stepped closer. "I'd like to say thank you."

Daniel shrugged his shoulders again. "It was no problem real-," he was cut off when the doe suddenly lifted up his bandana and kissed him. She carefully lowered the bandana back down and stepped away. "Oh."

"Thank you." The doe bashfully looked away.

Daniel's brain was spinning as he felt his legs almost fall asleep and fail him. A burning sensation swelled up in his chest as he couldn't seem to look away from the dow who, now that he could see clearly, looked pretty. "Well then. Miss, uh-." Pretty beautiful.

"Daisy." The doe calmly stated. "My name is Daisy."

"Well," Daniel couldn't believe how bubbly he felt inside, "Miss Daisy. Have a good night."

"Wait!"

This time, Daniel wasn't even irritated that he had been stopped from running off. "Yes?"

Daisy stared at him with sparkling tawny eyes. "Who are you?"

Crap! A different part of Daniel's brain began to fire up. He couldn't be doing this sort of business and have everyone know his name. If people knew his name, criminals could learn it too. If criminals knew his name, they could certainly find out where he lived. My family! They could harm his family. He thought of the vigilante Whiplash. An alias, Daniel concluded. He struggled to think of something. He didn't want to be called the quickster for the rest of his life. Then, he recalled his ring and the emblem it bear. "I'm the Grasshopper."

Without warning, the Grasshopper darted off, speeding north towards the Rainforest district. He didn't stop. He ran so fast he flew across the water. He built up enough speed and lunged high above the buildings. Jumping across rooftops he made it all the way back to his house and landed just at the edge of the roof. He swung down to his bedroom window and crept inside.

Shedding the goggles and bandana, Daniel huffed and puffed with excitement as he peeled off the hoodie and tracksuit. After stashing it all beneath his bed, he rolled over onto the mattress. Phone in hand, he quickly texted Caleb about his dad's old radio gear, particularly his police scanner.

Daniel sighed as he put his phone on his desk. His his eyes got heavy as he remembered the doe. "Daisy." He laughed. So, this is it. Daniel pondered the situation he was in. He was really doing this, being a vigilante, like his hero Whiplash. And on the side, there was this doe, Daisy. Daniel wasn't sure of it. Maybe that was just a fleeting "thank you for saving my life" kiss. And, maybe it wasn't. Daniel didn't care. It was all exciting. This was his world now. He thought back to the broomstick he had used to trip up the rams. Then he remembered the broken rake. A staff. Daniel looked and saw the smiling face of Echo, whose light seemed to fluctuate.

"What?" Daniel asked.

Echo smirked. "You're happy."

Daniel hummed as he laid his head back on his pillow. Happy. He felt something inside, something he had been looking for, but couldn't put a definite name to it. Belonging. There was hope, a meaning to it all. There was a purpose his power could fill after all. Daniel fell asleep with his mind wandering back to Daisy.