Chapter 8 For Whom the Bugle Tolls
The empty, tumbleweed and cactus filled countryside before him was giving way to scattered homes placed among the brambles as Bogo and his entourage rolled their way down the dusty road into Zootopia. After his group had crested the hill, he grinned, spotting the adobe buildings that marked one of the newest, yet most important of Califurnia's cities, due to its port and agricultural economy that fed the rest of the colony.
Bogo grinned, his wagon jostling as it wove its way through the outskirts of the town. Two soldiers peddled the contraption, allowing for him to make the 5 day journey in just two days, causing his massive grin to widen further as he was certain he had beaten that pathetic rabbit to the town. He hadn't even seen her along the road, which he viewed with some amount of dissatisfaction, as he had hoped he'd have been able to see her just so he could discharge her from the army and get rid of the pest all together. He still had several other cities to visit, so shortening this trip to just firing Capitan Hopps would even make the minor stop worth it.
"Lieutenant Hooverson?"
"Yes sir?", one of the bison peddling the contraption responded.
"Put us down just outside the town square for our entrance. I want to make a statement as I enter."
"Sir, yes sir," the bison saluted, beginning to peddle faster. The carts behind them, carrying the rest of the Comandante's gear, began to match his speed, as well as the horses guarding the caravan that were trotting alongside each wagon.
Comandante Bogo scratched his chin, idly musing about what he might find at the fort when he arrived. Several other promising officers had joined him in this tour of Califurnia, so if she wasn't there, he could simply assign one of them to the town and be down with this fiasco the Governor had pushed upon him. The cape buffalo chuckled, imagining the poor rabbit's face as she showed up to her station, only to find her position already filled and her worthless pelt hung out to dry.
Leaning back into the seat of the wagon, he placed his arms behind his head. If the inspection of the fort was short enough, maybe he visit Moovin's pub and see if Mooweenia was in before leaving for San Pawdro.
The wagon lurched to a stop, Bogo's musings cruising to a stop as he noticed his wagon now was near the very center of the city, the fort just within view.
"We have arrived Comandante Bogo."
The cape buffalo grunted his response, waiting for the door of the vehicle to be opened for him by one of his soldiers before stepping out of the cart. From where he stood, he could stand and watch the entire city center, all the way from the fountain, to the fort and beyond. Several of the citizens of the city saw the massive mammal in his impressive uniform and quickly ran inside their shops and homes, while several others could be seen peeking from behind windows.
Snorting in amusement at the site, Bogo began forward, halting a step when he noticed two soldiers standing at attention in front of the open gates.
"That's strange..." he muttered, walking towards the soldiers. At no point in any of his visits to Zootopia had there ever been sentries at the entrance of the fort. It was a matter that he had brought up with Capitan Doug and Capitan Koslov, so maybe it had been fixed before Doug's departure? Or maybe their issues with The Fox have gotten worse? Bogo mused sourly.
As he and his entourage approached the gates, the guards saluted crisply, catching him momentarily off guard as they shouted a joint greeting at the Comandante. Now thoroughly confused, Bogo finished walking the rest of the way to the front gate, turning to enter and halting at the sight.
"Welcome to Zootopia, Comandante Bogo."
His jaw dropped.
*Fifteen minutes earlier*
Judy watched as her troops scattered across the yard, and as an elephant she had yet to learn the name of, dragged Rhinovitch towards the medical ward in the fort, the doctor, a smaller skunk, running out to greet them.
"Sergeant Clawhauser," Judy stated, trying to control her foot thumping in nervousness. The cheetah jerked to life nervously, tail twitching behind him. "Could you rally the men to attention in two rows lining the entrance to the fort for me? I have some business to attend to before Comandante Bogo arrives."
"Si, I can do that for you, Capitan Hopps," Clawhauser stated with a salute. Judy didn't even wait for him to finish before she jogged to her quarters, shutting the door behind her. She leaned against the door, letting out a huge breath she had been holding, as well as grabbing her head in her paws as her eyes went wide.
Why did I do that...she grimaced, thinking of how savagely she had attacked Rhinovitch. Not even at the academy had she given it her all after what had happened to her four years ago. Or rather, what had happened to...
Judy shook her head of those thoughts, pushing them back down into darkest corner of her heart and mind she could hide them. Even though she knew her actions were justified, and any military court within Animalia would sanction her actions as the rhino had been about to run his sword through her, yet she still couldn't bring herself to believe she would ever lay a paw on one of her own men.
It was something she had just swore to Clawhauser she wouldn't do, and yet not even half a day later she had already broken another promise.
Judy gently massaged her ears, closed her eyes and began counting up to fifty to calm herself. After what Sergeant Clawhauser had told her earlier, with how previous officer's had acted, she really didn't want to be like them in any fashion.
So she began to pace, and to think about how to diminish the fear of her wrath from her troops, and replace it with respect and honor.
Fifteen...sixteen, seventeen...
She had broken Rhinovitch's horn, and that was the first thing that needed to be amended. The most humiliating, shameful thing to do to a rhino was to break their horn, and she had just done that to him in front of all the soldiers at the fort.
"Note to self, apologize to Rhinovitch and the other soldiers."
Twenty seven, twenty eight...
"I am not like them," she muttered quietly. "I will not be cruel like them. I will atone for my actions, regardless of whether they were justified, or not."
She had to figure out a way to earn her soldiers respect, without resulting to violence or threats. Sure, her demonstration of her abilities in taking down Rhinovitch might give her loyalty for a day, maybe a week, but...
Forty three, forty four, forty five...
"I can do this...I can be better than this. I can be better than the previous Capitans. Change starts with me."
Fifty...
With a deep breath, Judy pushed herself off the ground, ready to face Comandante Bogo as he arrived. Dusting and straightening her uniform as she put on the biggest smile she could, she headed for the door, only to have her smile falter as she reached it. Whatever reason Bogo was here, it was bound to be bad news for her, and something she wouldn't be looking forward to.
"This has been your dream Judy. You can do this," she psyched herself up. "You've earned this, and there is no way anyone will take what you've worked so hard for, away from you."
The rabbit opened the door, taking one final deep breath before walking outside, shutting the door behind her and padded towards the parade grounds.
"Oh, I thought she'd never leave..." came a groan from the rafters, as a dark shape jumped to the floor. Standing up made several loud pops come from his back and as he stretched, more came from the rest of his joints and bones.
"You really need to stop doing this to yourself Nicholas." The fox crossed to the window, lifting the curtains a fraction to glance at the assembled troops.
The Fox frowned, tail swishing behind him as he studied the rabbit, standing at attention at the end of two long lines of soldiers as a large buffalo he recognized came into view. "Ah, what do we have here?" Nick surveyed the large train of soldiers marching into the plaza, following after the rather large comandante. He was very much interested in seeing how this would play out, as the rabbit, from his current observations, seemed somewhat jittery, which was an emotion she hadn't displayed when facing off against him the night before.
His frown furrowed as Nick tried to juxtapose the actions of yesterday's rabbit, with the bunny he walked and talked with today. They seemed like polar opposites of one another, pure contradictions all bundled up into one cute, fluffy, angry and surprisingly strong, little package called Capitan Judy Hopps. Yesterday she had been so surly, and as he had watched her destroy Remmy Otterton's toy sword, Nick had believed that she was just as heartless as the previous Capitan's, and was in need of immediate removal. So he had switched his target from that night, instead of following Rhinovitch into town to remove an ulcer from the fort, he had gone for her to cut out the cancer in the heart.
But that was yesterday. And even her comments made him wonder about her true concerns for the city as they fought. She was so sure in her belief that he had killed Capitan Koslov, even though the last view Nick had seen of the bear, was him leaving the fort late one night after receiving what appeared to be an urgent letter from someone.
"Aye, yi, yi...the letter you dumb fox," Nick groaned, mentally slapping himself at being so distracted by the bundle of fluff currently looking like she was being chewed out by her Comandante. As it appeared by the muddled yelling that rolled out from underneath the door that the current haranguing of the bunny would take a considerable amount of time, Nick loosened his hat and set it upon the nearby table, before going through drawer after drawer in the hopes of finding that now months old letter.
"As long as it hasn't already been destroyed..." he grumbled, while taking a ledger book out of a desk, thumbing through it before pausing on a page dating back to Koslov's reign.
"Interesting..." he thought, noting the strange number of expenditures and receipts that were going back and forth between him and an unnamed contact. As he flipped through more pages, a pattern started to emerge. Nick's grin was coming back, only to be replaced yet again when the ledger went blank halfway through Capitan Doug's rule over the fort. "What the..."
The fox flipped pages back and forth, holding back a snarl when the trail of receipts went cold. He went back to the last entry, scrutinizing the page carefully. It was only then he noticed a torn edge at the very bottom of the book, and as he looked closer, he noticed there were actually quite a few pages missing that had been torn out.
"You, my little friend," Nick spoke to the book, closing it with one paw. "Are coming with me tonight, where we will dine together on the fanciest of rigatoni alfredo and sip the most divine of champaigns together under candlelight."
Nick cackled at his own joke, stuffing the book into a cross body bag he carried with him. Sure he was still missing the letter, however, this book would be a helpful substitute until he could decipher who the mystery cliental who were in business with the previous capitans were.
He doubted Judy would even know the book was gone, probably rack it up to another careless mistake or oversight from previous commanders of the fort. She probably didn't even know it existed yet, as his escapades the night before had probably thrown her regimen so off kilter that it would take days for her to remember everything she should have done her first day as Capitan over Fort Zootopia.
"That poor rabbit," Nick chuckled, beginning to sift through paperwork again. He paused though, as what he said resonated through his mind.
Why am I taking pity on her?
That singular idea stood out to him. He had never pitied any of the previous soldiers in charge here. He felt anger towards them, but never felt sorry for them. Did his current feelings have something to do with today?
Hopps had been quite kinder today than what he had seen yesterday. When he met her today under different circumstances, she was an entirely new creature. Kind, affable, warm...she was everything she wasn't the night before. She had even been kind to his father after he had literally relegated her to nothing in the older fox's eyes.
Her reaction to Weidii was even more surprising, and when Nick thought it would have broken her, it had done the complete opposite. Capitan Hopps' response wasn't to return the margay's verbal and physical assault with one of her own, but was instead an effort to try and calm and assuage the hurt feline. Then to Nick's astonishment, she had even paid for all the damages incurred, and cleaned up the mess herself, something Nick hadn't thought to do.
"This rabbit is quite interesting," Nick mused, fingers drumming against the bag on his side. He hadn't bothered to change into his disguise, as when he had heard the bugle call at the fort, he had recognized the notes as one of an approaching emissary, not a call to battle. It meant that all the soldiers would most likely be scampering to leave as soon as possible to avoid meeting with a higher ranking soldier than themselves. A perfect opportunity to pry into places he shouldn't be.
He was a fox after all. Being sly was of second nature to him.
Feeling a bit apprehensive, Nick walked back over towards the window, peeking out to notice that the yelling seemed to have stopped, but looking at Capitan's paw gestures, the argument was far from over. With how she stood, poise perfect, back straight, all while staring down a mammal most likely a hundred times her weight was somewhat...
Bewitching...he thought with a smile, though just as quickly as that thought came, he tried to toss it aside. There was no need for thoughts such as those, and with his luck, she would chose a side and become corrupt, just like all the others had.
It's just a matter of time...he thought sadly. Clarice had been a nice, humble Capitan before she disappeared. Maybe, this latest one might channel the panther before her? Nick walked back over to the stairwell, pausing as he heard voices nearing the door.
"You better have a good explanation for this Hopps..."
"I can assure you sir, that..."
Nick filtered out the rest of the conversation as he dashed upstairs, his tail disappearing from view just as the doorknob turned.
AN: It's been a while huh? Sorry about that, been working on Kisses and the adorable kits in that one. XD Just putting this here that I'll have a busy few weeks coming up. I'm in retail, I'm in management, and Black Friday is coming up. So I just want to give everyone a heads up that posts may be sporadic shortly. XD
In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Do you all hate Bogo now? What about both Judy's and Nick's inner thoughts? Interested in their history now? And did Nick forget something? Dun dun dun!