Disclaimer: I own nothing!
"Hello!" – normal speech
"Italic on the whole sentence." – thoughts
Italic on individual words – emphasis
The Missing Otter
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It was still somewhat dark out on Sahara Square's streets, but the red-and-gold glow of the dawn was already starting to make its way around the rooftops of the tallest buildings. Soon, the sun would shine in the blue sky, the sweet smell of oily food would fill the morning air, and the streets and stores were going to be full of stupid mammals just waiting to be bled dry of their hard-earned cash. It was going to be a beautiful day.
The kind of day that Finnick treasured.
There was just a little snag marring that lovely prospect. It seemed his usual partner-in-scam was not at his full game.
The cream-furred fennec fox could not hold it any longer. "All right, what's crawling up your ass?" he asked in his deep and gravelly voice, completely at odds with his diminutive size.
Walking beside him in his typical languid stride, Nick Wilde spared him a distracted glance. "Huh?"
Finnick snorted. The larger vulpine had been out of it since they met up, about half an hour ago. Most other mammals would never notice it, just like they never noticed how the con artist was always aware of his surroundings. The fennec had known Nick for decades though, and he knew how each lazy turn of the head was a complete scan of the environment, how each slow breath was a careful cataloging of all nearby scents, and how those dark-tipped ears were even sharper than his own.
He also saw how the fox's scrutiny was a bit less intense that day. Just enough to tell him Nick was thinking heavily about something, and he damn well was going to find out what it was. Not out of concern for the fox (of course not!), but a distracted Nick could mean less money for both of them and that was inexcusable!
"You got your head in the clouds, fox!" he prodded his partner's leg with a claw. "Your ego that swollen so soon in the morning?"
Nick paid no mind to the poking digit, but answered anyway. "Nah, just thinking."
Finnick barked. "No, really?! What about, shitstain?!"
An old pair of zebra mares passing nearby looked shocked and scandalized at him, likely not expecting a 'cute little fennec' using such language.
"Well, fuck'em and their stripes!"
Nick saw them too and smiled. He knew Finnick's very short temper, and it looked like he did not want to bother with their standard game of taunts today as he came straight out. "I had another run-in with that rabbit cop after we parted yesterday."
The smaller of the duo made a look of distaste. "Ack, the sickeningly sweet meter maid? I wanted to wash my paw after she took it, it felt so sugary."
"Ah, she probably couldn't help it." he put both paws beneath his muzzle and gushed in a high-pitched voice. "You make such an adorable kit!"
Not too distracted for taunts, after all.
"Watch that tongue if you wanna keep it!" Finnick snarled with bared fangs. But Nick was not worried, not that he had any reason to anyways, so the fennec just sighed. "What did she want?"
"To arrest me." the fox answered calmly.
"Oh, boy!" he snickered. "You at least left the cottontail?"
Nick smiled and shrugged. "Meh, she's fine. I was in a good mood." then that same distracted air from before returned. "And Carrots is way tougher than she looked at first. She's an… interesting doe." he concluded, then frowned. "Too soft-hearted for her own good, though."
"An interest…" Finnic's eyes widened and he stopped. "You telling me that Nick Wilde spent all night thinking about a bunny?!" he laughed for real now, a full belly-holding laugh. "And-and you even gave her a nickname?!" he almost choked on his own mirth. The other fox kept walking, so after he calmed down a little he ran over to him and gave a punch to his ribs. It was like punching a furry wall. "You dirty, deviant old fox! I knew you had a Prey fetish! And a rabbit cop, of all things?! Oh, that's just rich!"
"Well…" said fetishist drawled while inspecting his claws. "I am a gonner for a set of wide hips and strong legs." then he thought for a moment. "Handcuffs, too."
That sent Finnick into another fit.
As the fennec struggled to get himself under control, the pair walked a shadowy side street into one of the less respectable, outlying parts of Sahara Square. It was not a slum; there were no slums at the 'main' Districts, thanks to the 'noble' efforts of dear departed Mayor Bronzehoof, which were continued in Lionfart's administration. It was just the kind of neighborhood where the buildings were smaller, the colors a little faded, the apartments tighter, the streets narrower, the public lights a little sparse, with no parks to speak of and where the trashcans stayed full for a couple of days. Where the inhabitant's clothes were simpler and their fur less shiny. And where a knowledgeable enough mammal could get himself some unofficial merchandise, if he knew which stores to look for.
The streets here were almost deserted this time of the day.
"So," Finnick asked when he could finally breathe properly again, "what's the plan today? We're running out of 'suppliers' for the pawpsicles." he still left out the occasional snicker.
Nick scratched his muzzle while he considered. "I know. We might want to give that particular venture a break for a few weeks." the fox's green eyes narrowed in thought. "I was thinking about 'the sleeping kit'." he suggested.
Finnick grimaced, he hated that stroller. But hey, money was money. "Yeah, sure."
The fox gave him a sideways glance. "Just try not to actually fall asleep this time? Your snores are really hard to explain away."
He waved a paw haughtily, a smirk on his face. "You'll figure it out."
"I always do."
Finnick laughed. "And which District do we hit?" he got a sly look as he continued. "Central? Who knows, we might run into your little bunny again…" he said suggestively.
Nick's response, however, surprised him. "Humm… I hope not." he said with a slight frown, staring at the ground.
"What the hell do you mean by…" the fennec trailed off when he noticed another change in Nick's stance.
Again, it was a subtle thing that only a handful of mammals would pick on. His red ears twitched for just a second, then his pace became a hair slower and his posture relaxed even more than usual. A clear sign that he was ready to spring into action.
His larger natural cousin smelled trouble. It was not long before Finnick saw it too.
Another aspect of the more peripheral parts of Zootopia was a less thorough patrol schedule by the ZPD. That meant unsavory characters (like them) could operate a bit more freely. The average mammal still felt relatively safe though, and so they were often too careless.
Careless enough to let themselves be cornered into a dead-end back alley at dawn by some nasty criminals, for example.
Finnick saw the shifty-looking young cheetah (really, what an amateur) acting as an obvious look-out at the alley's entrance, still some distance away from them. As they walked closer, the fennec's big ears started to make out the familiar sounds of a mugging in progress. There was a strong aggressive voice making demands, and a fearful old one trying to plead. The overgrown cat saw them at that moment, stiffened for a second, but soon after relaxed and gave them a dismissive look. Probably thought a pair of foxes would stay the hell away from any trouble. Did not even try to warn his partner.
Finnick tried not to snort, as the thug was not too far off the mark there. Still an amateur, though.
Instead, he turned hard eyes to his own partner. "Leave it, Nick." he hissed. "This is not our problem."
"…I know." the red fox answered. His voice was still the same smooth drawl, but Finnick could hear the faint displeasure beneath it. Still, they turned away at the next intersection. Just when the fennec thought they had avoided that mess, his ears caught the distant sound of flesh-hitting-flesh, and a feeble voice crying out in anguish. He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. If he had heard that pitiful scream, then...
By the time he opened his eyes, he was alone. Just as he expected. "And he has the nerve to call the meter maid a softie." Finnick grunted to himself. He put his hands in his pockets and called out to the empty air. "Just make it quick, Wilde!"
A few seconds later, there was a terrified shout coming from the alley. He looked back in time to catch the cheetah running inside to see what was the problem. There was a steely glint in the crimson morning light, it seemed he had a knife in his paw.
The fennec snorted and walked away. "Heh! As if that will help you, kitty."
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"My mommy says she wishes you were dead." the young hippo told her innocently, before said mommy dragged him away with a last glare of burning hatred.
Judy sighed as she put away the ticket printer and went back to her tricycle. She was getting much more grief from the citizens that morning than she had the day before. It seemed they were quickly getting over the sight of a rabbit wearing police colors, and their bemusement was promptly replaced by the traditional disgust reserved for traffic wardens.
It did not help that the rabbit was very good at the job. But to be honest, Judy was barely hearing the complaints. Her attention had been on other things that day.
Nick Wilde's words had plagued her all night, giving her only a few hours of slumber (luckily she was very used to sleep deprivation). She never for a second considered following his 'advice' and going back to Bunnyburrow; that was just not going to happen; but his implication that bigotry ran much deeper in Zootopia than she realized kept her up into the late hours.
So this morning, as she roamed the streets of Zootopia and hunted down parking violations almost on autopilot, she kept a close eye on every little thing around her, using the investigative skills drilled into her at the Academy. And sure enough, she saw some signs that… saddened her.
'On the surface, Zootopia works, sure. It would not have survived as long otherwise.'
The more she paid attention to the city where she now lived, the more she reluctantly understood what the fox had meant by 'on the surface'. The citizens here all lived in the same space. They walked the streets, went to work, ate at restaurants and visited shops.
But for every widely mixed group that she saw talking friendly, there were ten others formed only by mammals of the same kind. Most businesses seemed to prefer hiring workers of a given species, and many catered to a very specific crowd. 'Refuse service' signs were not uncommon. Even some occupations seemed to be filled by a particular sort of mammal. It was common to find whole neighborhoods inhabited only by folk of the same natural Family or even Genus. And when it came to Predator and Prey, the division was much, much more obvious. Of course, she understood different mammals had different needs or were more comfortable in the appropriate environments for them, but it did not account for even a third of what she observed.
She saw many exceptions too, and that encouraged her somewhat. But Judy's sharp mind would not let her deny what she had realized that second morning.
The mammals of Zootopia existed together, yes, but they did not really mingle all that much.
"And I still don't understand what Wilde meant with all that talk about a 'dark side to the city'." she thought as she climbed aboard her little transport and casted a distracted gaze around the busy street. So yes, it was dismaying to find out the great Zootopia might not be that different from Bunnyburrow after all. But it was not like the end of the world or anything. "Was he just trying to be dramatic to scare me off?" that seemed like something the sleazy vulpine would do.
Suddenly her left ear went up, as a sound of breaking glass came from the flower shop right next to where she was parked. When it evolved into what sounded suspiciously like a scuffle of some kind, she went on full alert. Before she could get down from her car, the shop's door was flung open violently and a small furry shape flew past her.
"Weasel, male, brown fur, white sleeveless shirt, black shorts with red-and-white stripes, carries a traveling bag too big for his size." her mind cataloged all the information from a single glance of the suspect. When a second later she saw a pig wearing the shop's uniform coming out with a frantic look in his eyes, she had all the confirmation she needed.
She took a fraction of a moment to draw her radio and address the anxious worker. "Stay there, sir! I've got this!" and then she was in pursuit. "Dispatch, this is Officer Hopps! I have a 10-31 at Flora & Fauna in Magnolia Street! One unarmed weasel! Pursuing on foot!" she spoke in her radio. Technically, a 'meter maid' was not supposed to run after criminals, but she was a frigging police officer and she would be damned if she let a robber escape right under her nose!
"Stop in the name of the law!" she yelled at the fleeing mammal. He took one look at her and his big red eyes widened in surprise, before a mocking smirk formed on his snout.
"Catch me if you can, cottontail!" he challenged her. He scurried into an empty, twisting passage between two blocks that she knew would lead to a large open area where one of Zootopia's main train stations was located. If he managed to get there, there would be a lot of civilians to be endangered and complicate the chase at the same time.
So he was not getting out!
"He's fast." the officer admitted, seeing the guy's little legs almost blurring with how quickly they moved. But she was a rabbit, and she had not spent countless hours running around the Academy's track with ragged feet for nothing. With eyes narrowed to slits, Judy put a burst of speed to her sprint, clearing the distance between them in seconds. The robber's ears twitched as he heard her approach, and he took another backwards glance that turned into a look of shocked horror when he saw just how close she was. Desperation gave him an influx of energy too, and he sped up even more.
"Too little, too late, pal."
The rabbit managed to grab the weasel's shoulder in a steely grip, just before he could leave the alley. She dug her feet in the ground and easily spun them both around, making him loose his balance and crash to the cobblestone floor back inside the passage in a rolling mass of limbs. The bag he carried flew from his hands, and she deftly caught it before it could land on the ground.
Judy decided to give the suspect a chance to surrender, especially considering she had no handcuffs or any other easy way to restrain him. While she watched him gathering his wits after the rough landing, she once again contacted central. "Dispatch, Officer Hopps. Suspect is currently down but still a threat. Side alley connecting Magnolia with the Visitor's Square. Will proceed to detain, over."
This time, the voice of Benjamin Clawhauser answered her. "Acknowledged, Officer Hopps. Officers MacHorn and Wolford en route to provide assistance, ETA two minutes, over." she felt a feeling of gratitude for the large cheetah when he did not question her actions or even sounded in the least bit disapproving. In fact… "Be careful, Judy." he added in a concerned voice, and she gave a little smile.
"Understood. Will do, Ben. Hopps, out." in that time, the weasel managed get himself back together and up to his feet. "You're under arrest, weasel! Get down on the floor and put your paws over your head!"
His red eyes glinted with hatred as he looked from Judy to the bag next to her. He seemed to evaluate his options, and was apparently emboldened by her species, her size, and the fact she was still wearing the meter maid coat and hat. He assumed an aggressive stance, fangs bared and little claws poised threateningly.
"Big mistake! Ya in over ya fluffy head, bunny." he snarled.
Judy was not intimidated in the slightest, she put her paws on her hips. "Think this through, buddy. You're already facing a robbery charge. Do you really wanna add resisting arrest and assault of a police officer to that?"
Her lack of fear and hard gaze must have unnerved him, because he seemed to lose some of his confidence as his eyes once again darted nervously all around the empty passage. But then he blinked, and the expression on his face turned victorious.
"I'll take my chances, carrot face."
Something in the way his eyes had lingered behind her for a moment sent alarm bells trough her brain. It was pure instinct that made Judy jump and roll to her left just a heartbeat before she heard the familiar sound of a tranquilizer gun being fired, and a dart whizzed past the space she had just vacated. She was still operating on reflex as she jumped to the safety of a nearby large doorway, hearing the gun one more time, its projectile missing her by mere inches. As soon as she had some cover between herself and the shooter, she could finally assess the situation.
The weasel had decided to ignore her, running instead towards his precious bag. A quick look over the edge of her cover revealed her second attacker, an incredibly large and bulky ram that stood at the end of the passage. He wore non-descript clothes, but had an ugly-looking scar covering the left side of his face and also carried the tranquilizer gun which he once again tried to nail her with. She ducked back behind the wall.
Time slowed down to a crawl. Her mind work a thousand miles a second. The weasel was almost on top of the bag and he was being covered by another, armed felon (most likely one that had stood back to assist the robber if things went south). She had no gun of her own, her backup was still a whole minute away, and there were a good 50 feet to the shooter. Mercifully, the alley was otherwise empty.
This should be easy.
Judy recognized the ram's gun. It was a standard Tuskmaester & Sons Model 9, and it could hold a maximum of 5 darts. Assuming it had been fully loaded to start with, the scum had two shots left. Quickly, the rabbit took out her bright orange security coat, making sure she was hidden from the ram's view, and then flung the garment into the open. As she hoped, the shooter not only wasted another dart by firing in reflex at the coat, it also gave Judy the opening to dash out of her cover and towards the weasel, who already had the bag in hands. The smaller perp was between her and the ram now, which made the larger foe slow to target her, just like she planned.
Not bothering with restraint now, Judy gave a running jump that covered the distance in a flash, and delivered a double-foot kick to the weasel's turned back. The crook barely had time to yelp in shocked pain as her powerful legs flung him into the air and straight into his partner's equally surprised face. The two mammals met each other with crushing force, and both bag and gun escaped from their respective owner's grip. The weasel looked down for the count, but the ram had barely moved and recovered faster than Judy thought would be possible. He immediately charged her with horns down and an enraged bleat.
"Never try to overpower a larger foe, Hopps. Dodge, deflect, redirect, counter."
The words of Drill Sergeant Ursula echoed in the back of her mind, and the rabbit did just that. She jumped right into the ram's head, using his horns as a springboard to launch herself upwards and simultaneously directing his charge straight into the brick wall. The groan of cracked stone echoed through the passage, along with the caprine's agonized yell, but Judy was not done. Hitting a windowsill two stories up at the end of her rise (and coming face-to-face with a very surprised moose) she took impulse and shot like a cannonball right back to the stunned ram's head. Using the combined forces of her muscles and gravity, she pile-drived the criminal to the ground.
And it was over.
Not ten seconds later, Officers MacHorn and Wolford came running into view, stun pistols at the ready, only to stop cold at the scene inside the alley. The looks on their faces were of incredulous astonishment.
"Sorry, had to be a little rough." Judy told them nonchalantly, as she picked up her security coat and dusted it off. Then she waved a paw to the two unconscious lawbreakers. "They are all yours now, officers."
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"You abandoned your post, Hopps!"
Chief Officer Bogo smashed his hoof on his desk so hard, his name-plate almost went off the edge. The cape buffalo's big nostril flared and his brown eyes narrowed as he glared at the rabbit sitting in front of him. He towered over his smallest officer like a dark-furred mountain, and one could almost picture a thundercloud over his horns.
But Judy was not a rabbit to back down in front of a larger mammal. Her voice was respectful, but firm. "Sir, it's my job to stop felonies."
Her superior gritted his large maw, and it sounded like two slabs of rock being ground together. "Traffic wardens do not try to detain armed criminals, Hopps!" he told her pointedly. "They report a problem, keep civilians out of danger, and wait for qualified personnel to resolve the situation!" he finished angrily.
Truly, the bunny had expected something like this. After her fellow officers put the two suspects in chains and secured them inside their car (they were not injured enough to necessitate an ambulance), they quickly took her statement and MacHorn told her to expect a call from the Chief at any moment. She went back to her post while they went to speak with the worker at Flora & Fauna, and she never got to see exactly what had been stolen. She had barely issued ten new tickets before the summons came for her to report immediately back to the Precinct.
As expected, her boss was not a happy buffalo. But she would defend her position until the end.
"Sir, with all due respect, you may have assigned me to parking duty, but I am a fully qualified field officer. I've trained for months to take down dangerous targets, to deal with unfair scenarios. I know what I'm capable of, Chief." she put her paws at the desk, she could barely reach the edge down on her seat, and gave him an earnest look. "I knew I had the situation under control."
She must have done something right, because instead of screaming at her some more, the buffalo closed his eyes and took deep calming breaths instead. When he looked at her again a minute later, he seemed far more collected.
"I'm not so sure your actions inside that alley were done out of professional tactical assessment, and not simple recklessness, Hopps." he told her with a critical expression. "You were outnumbered and outgunned. You should have kept your head down and waited for backup." when she opened her mouth to protest, he put an imperious hoof up, so she quieted. The officer massaged his head for a second, before giving a rumbling sigh that echoed over the office like a drum. "That being said," he started again, "by all accounts, you did neutralize the suspects quite handily despite those odds. The report on the skirmish was very… impressive."
She tilted her head curiously, one ear up. "Report, sir?"
"Officer MacHorn found a witness, Hopps. He saw the whole thing start-to-finish from the window of his house, and gave a most detailed statement that completely corroborates yours."
Oh, right. The startled moose.
The chief kept going. "And Wolford described the second suspect as the largest ram he has ever seen. In fact, I believe his exact words were 'that was one sheep I would avoid getting on the bad side of'." he told her, making quoting marks with his fingers.
Judy could not help the feeling of pride that welled in her chest at that. Officer Wolford was one tough-looking lupine.
The buffalo put his hooves together on the desk, and spent a long minute looking hard at the bunny. It was not an angry gaze, Judy could deal with angry, but a calculating one. She did her best not to fidget.
After what felt like an eternity, he spoke slowly. "I may…" he paused and gave another mighty sigh, face collapsing into a grudging expression. "I may have been wrong about you, Hopps."
Judy's little bunny heart started beating so fast, she was afraid it would burst out at any moment. Could that mean she was finally going to be taken seriously?
But her superior did not elaborate. He simple sat there, staring at his hooves with distant eyes. It went on for so long, that the bunny started to think he had forgotten her presence.
So she chose to speak up herself. And since he now seemed in a rare accepting mood, she decided to voice a question that had been plaguing her since he first assigned her to parking duty. "Chief Bogo, sir?" she began softly. The buffalo's eyes snapped to her as if he had woken from a daydream, but he recovered quickly. He gestured for her to go on, so she did. "Sir, please, can I know why… all of you… sir, I appreciate how unusual it is for a rabbit to enter the ZPD. I-I can understand how hard it is to accept. I don't like it, but I can understand." she clenched her paws tight and took a deep breath. "But Chief… not trying to sound like a showoff here, I am not just a random bunny wearing a uniform. I finished the Academy, sir. I graduated with the highest honors. I worked my ass off for those scores, and they should speak for themselves!" she took another breath and looked down on her lap. "Why… why is no-one willing to give me a chance, sir?" she finished quietly.
He did not answer right away. Instead, she heard his chair groaning in protest as the 2.000 lbs bovine got up and went to look out his office window, his back to her and his arms crossed.
"Do you know what Mayor Lionheart's Mammal Inclusion Initiative is all about, Hopps?" he asked suddenly.
She hesitated a little, trying to see what that had to do with anything. "Hum… it creates equal job opportunities for all mammals, sir?"
He grunted. "That's the slogan, Officer. What it effectively does is wave off job requirements that are deemed too 'prejudiced'." he once again made quotation marks. "Makes it illegal to demand certain physical qualifications out of the applicants. In some cases, it even establishes a certain percentage of vacancies that must be fulfilled by… different than usual workers." he waved a hoof dismissively. "We can argue about the merits of the Initiative all day, but the fact is that it is a very intrusive piece of legislation that has left a lot of citizens angry."
Judy was starting to grasp what this was all about, and a sense of dread began to form. "And-and what does that has to do with me?" she asked, even though she now had an inkling.
Bogo grunted again and turned back to her, reclining next to the window with his arms still crossed. "Do you really think you're are the first tinsy little mammal to apply for the ZPD, Hopps? The first rabbit, even?"
She felt her ears growing hot. "I… huh… yes?" she winced at how stupid that sounded.
The buffalo snorted, a knowing smirk on his face. "Well, you're not, Officer. There has been plenty others along the decades. But the Academy has always demanded a minimum size for prospective cadets, Hopps. You would never have been accepted for training if it was not for Lionheart's new laws."
She found it hard to speak past the lump in her throat. "So… the other officers… the-the citizens… they think…"
The look the Chief gave her could almost be called one of sympathy. "Everybody knows you only entered the Academy because of the Mammal Inclusion Initiative, Hopps. Is it so hard to see they also 'know' you only graduated because of it, too?"
The rabbit's ears flopped uselessly down her back, and she felt herself begin to tremble. "But… my scores! The graduation ceremony! The Mayor even told everyone…"
The buffalo interrupted her with a short, grim laugh. "Ha! You believe that little media spectacle helped your position, Hopps? Yeah, sure, it might have been a symbol to those on the better end of the MII, but to everybody else? Think, Officer!"
Judy's mind was spinning. "They think it's all a lie?! Everything I did, everything I suffered… all those sleepless nights, all those hours of training, every single one of my damn achievements… they think… they think…"
"They think I am a-a P.R. stunt?!" she all but screamed at the buffalo, her small body really trembling now.
He closed his eyes and gave a weary huff, as if this was painful for him, too. "Did any of the other graduates took photos with the Mayor, Hopps?"
A flurry of emotions battled for a place in the rabbit's mind. Shock, anger, dismay, indignation, sadness, bitterness… every one of them seemed to tear out another little piece of her soul. And through it all, a voice whispered inside her head. A memory.
A memory of a tired-looking fox.
'Go back to your farm, Carrots, before this city takes those noble ideals of yours and crush them.'
She raised angry purple eyes to her Chief. "You too, sir?"
The buffalo did not answer. But he would no longer look at her, staring fixedly at the map on his wall. They stayed silently in the Chief Officer's room for many long, uncomfortable minutes.
Until a beep from the Chief's phone broke the stillness, followed by the nervous voice of Clawhauser, the cheetah.
"Chief?! Huh, Mrs. Otterton is here to see you again?" he informed, though it came over more like a timid question.
Bogo went to sit back down and pressed the microphone button. "Not now, Clawhauser." he told the cheetah quietly. Or as quietly as such a large mammal could.
The cheetah talked very fast. "Okay, I just had to know if you wanted to take this since she seems really…"
"This is not a good time, Clawhauser." the buffalo interrupted, this time in his usual no-nonsense manner. "Tell her to wait."
The receptionist did not call again. Chief Bogo turned to the listless rabbit in front of him. "Look, Hopps." he began, almost gently. "Take the afternoon off, okay? Try to get some sleep. I promise you that tomorrow I will see what I can…" he trailed off, a sudden pensive look on his face as he seemed to consider something. The small part of Judy that was still paying attention wondered what it was.
Slowly, he once again pressed the button on his phone, not taking his eyes from the bunny officer. "Clawhauser? I've changed my mind. Please, ask Mrs. Otterton to come up."
The answer was immediate and very relieved. "Oh, thank goodness! I-I mean, of course, sir, right away, sir!"
The weird exchange had managed to drag Judy a little out of her funk, and she looked at him curiously. "All right, Hopps." he addressed her, all business. "Do you want a chance to prove to everyone here you're more than just Lionheart's pet cop?"
Her nose twitched and her ears started to rise again, but she was still a little hesitant given this last disappointment. "Ah… yes, sir?"
"Good. Then let's wait for our otter."
They did not have to wait long. As soon as the Chief finished, there was a quick knock at his door and he was barely able to speak 'enter' before Mrs. Otterton came inside.
"Chief Bogo! Thank you so much, sir. This won't take five minutes, I swear." promised the mammal in a sweet, matronly voice. Mrs. Otterton was a lovely little sow with light-brow fur and kind green eyes, wearing a lavender sweater over a periwinkle shirt.
But it was clear something weighted heavily on her tiny shoulders. She had a sad and frantic air around her, her fur was dull and her face looked thinner than it should be.
Chief Bogo raised from his chair to meet her. "Mrs. Otterton, I…"
"Please, Chief Bogo, my husband has been missing for ten days, his name is Emmitt Otterton." she interrupted the buffalo, pleading and desperate. Judy got down from her chair and saw the otter take out a photo from her purse.
"I know, ma'am. This is exactly what I called you here to discuss." he told her firmly.
That stopped the sow in her tracks. She raised hopeful eyes to the much larger mammal. "Oh?"
"Mrs. Otterton, may I introduce you to Officer Judy Hopps?" he gestured to her.
"Oh! Hello, Officer."
"Nice to meet you, ma'am."
"Officer Hopps," the cape buffalo brought their attention back to him, "Mrs. Otterton's husband is one of the missing mammals we have been looking for." the bunny suddenly understood where this was going. Bogo turned to the sow. "Mrs. Otterton, ma'am, Officer Hopps here will be taking over the investigation on your husband's disappearance."
Judy expected many things. She expected the otter to just agree, or to begin asking her questions, or to question the Chief's decision, or even to look at her with disbelief or disdain.
She did not expect to find herself embraced tightly by the smaller mammal while she cried tears of relief.
"Oh, thank you! Bless you! Bless you, little bunny!" Judy could only hug the otter back while she recomposed herself. It took a few moments, but the sow eventually let go of the rabbit and dried her glistening eyes. "Please, Officer, I beg you, find my Emmitt." she gave her the photo. It pictured Mrs. Otterton along with her middle-aged boar and their two pups. "He's a florist. We have two beautiful children. I know he wouldn't just leave us."
The bunny took a quick look at her Chief, who nodded seriously. The raw, naked hope on Mrs. Otterton's face was tearing at Judy's heart, and suddenly her own problems seemed like nothing. What did it matter that the other officers doubted her, when this poor otter was willing to put her trust on the rabbit? What was her disappointment, compared to this sow's pain?
Judy gripped the photo tightly, committing the faces there to memory. Her back straightened and her eyes lit up with purple fire. "I will find him, Mrs. Otterton. If it's the last thing I do, I swear I will find your husband." for the first time since she was assigned to parking duty, the bunny felt her old determination come back with full force.
Screw proving herself to anyone! This was no longer about pride.
The otter looked ready to cry again, and gave her another hug. Unseen by both, the cape buffalo gave a little smile.
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"Yaikes! That's the smallest case file I've ever seen!" Clawhauser exclaimed.
"Yeah, the Chief warned me about that." Judy nodded grimly as she read the depressingly short file on Emmitt Otterton. They were inside Precinct's 01 reception desk, and the gluttonous cheetah had just handed her what little had been gathered about her missing mammal.
After the thankful Mrs. Otterton left the office, having answered all of Judy's questions to the best of her ability, Chief Bogo came clean with her. He explained there was a reason why no detectives had been working on this particular mammal. Simply put, there were no good leads whatsoever. A quick investigation ten days prior had revealed that Otterton, who worked from home, left his house while his wife took their pups to school. He told no one where he went, and none of his known acquaintances had seen fur or hide of him from that day on. The otter was a kind, peaceful mammal who never hurt a fly and had no grievances with anyone. The only thing they had was a picture of Otterton taken by a city camera on the morning of his disappearance, and it revealed nothing about his whereabouts.
Bogo believed that, until some new evidence presented itself, the case had all the hallmarks of a dead-end. As all the other cases looked more promising, and he was already short on detectives as it was, he decided to focus the ZPD's efforts on the other mammals, hoping that one of them would eventually provide a clue to locate the missing otter.
It would not have been Judy's choice, but she knew it was a tough call and understood the Chief's decision.
Though she was no longer doing this to prove herself (and she would knock on every single door on Zootopia with the photo of Otterton in hand if she had to), she could not stop from bluntly asking the chief if he was assigning her such a hard case on purpose. And he bluntly answered that yes, he was.
"Here's the deal, Hopps." the buffalo had told her. "It's gonna take something major to change opinions about you, and you can't go around all day hunting mutant sheep to wipe the floor with. If you crack this case, chances are good you'll get some respect around here. And if you don't, well… it isn't like your reputation can get much worse."
So, yeah.
"Find anything?" the cheetah asked her after she spent a few seconds looking at the street-cam picture of the victim, face so close to the paper her pink nose almost touched it. The image was taken from a distance, though, and was a little blurry to boot. There was something there… if she could only look closer…
The sound of Clawhauser slurping on the straw of his empty soda bottle caught her attention. Perfect.
"Can I borrow… thank you." she took the bottle out of the surprised receptionist's hands and used it as an improvised magnifying lens. With that she was able to properly see her otter, and her attention was instantly draw to the frozen candy in his hand, one that she would recognize anywhere.
A pawpsicle.
"It can't be!" she thought, scanning the rest of the photo. But sure enough, there on the bottom right was the familiar image of a red foxy tail.
Just what were the chances?
"Ah… Judy?" Clawhauser's voice snapped her back to reality. She turned her head to the cheetah so quickly that he jumped away in fright. And then he had to scramble to catch the doughnut he let drop. "Oh, my precious, you're safe! *aham* Eh… sorry. It's just that you were kind of standing there with this scary-focused look…" he trailed off.
"I… think I have a lead." she told him.
And her voice must have sounded as uncertain as she felt, because he asked hesitantly. "That's, ahh… good?"
Was it?
Just one way to find out.
"I'm going to check this out, Ben." she jumped over the desk.
"Wait!" the cheetah called to her, and she turned with an inquisitive look. "The Chief called while you were on your way down, said you're to go to the Armory. You know, get yourself a pair of 'cuffs and a stunner. Jeremy will be expecting you."
"Oh, okay." she told him, a little surprised. She had not even contemplated getting a gun. She obviously had not been allowed one as a meter maid.
"Hey, Chief said he heard you're one hell of a shot, Judy. That true?"
She blinked. "The Chief said that?"
"Yep."
She suddenly noticed how they were in hearing range of a lot of officers in the entrance hall. A few could even already be seen whispering and stealing glances at her. She felt a small smile form on her mouth. Chief Bogo might be a hardass and not the most open-minded mammal around, but he owned up to his mistakes.
On her way down to the precinct's Armory, while she thought on the best way to approach her slippery target, she caught a conversation between two other officers drinking coffee on the stairs.
"…some kind of message for their gang, most likely. I mean, why else would they just leave them beaten half to death there?"
"Well, criminals beating criminals is just karma, I say. But no leads to the attackers?"
"Nope, no traffic cameras in the area and those thugs won't be speaking anytime soon. Their wounds indicate some kind of blunt weapon was used. The two scum both had blades near them."
"Hum, a hippo and a cheetah? Not exactly lightweights there."
"Nope, must have been really outnumbered. Sahara Square is going to the curb, I say. Real glad my sister ditched that useless boyfriend and got herself out of there."
"Serious? when?"
"Just last week, went back to our folks..."
Judy's ears twitched in curiosity as she tuned them out. Gang wars in the Sahara? But she quickly dismissed the thought. She had a fox to catch and an otter to find, she could not waste time thinking about mysterious assailants.
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0000000
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"Your lawyer is here." the pig police warden informed from the other side of the cell's bars. In short order, the large ram was escorted by a pair of tigers to the small private room. He tried to not let his disgust at the stinking Predators show, instead keeping a stoic face.
Entering the room, he saw the familiar face of a black-woolen ewe. She wore a business suit whose strict cut contrasted sharply with its soft pink color. The name Maria Gimmer – Attorney at Law was written in her suitcase's name tag. Her blue eyes tracked him as he was sat on the chair by the guards and hardly even blinked until they left the room.
When they were finally alone, she crossed her small hooves on the desk and spoke to him in a sweet high-pitched voice that belied the steely undercurrent to her words.
"Big Sister is very disappointed in you, brother."
He felt his heart constrict painfully. "I… I know." in contrast, his voice was gravely and gruff. As if he seldom had reason to use it. "It was all the weasel's fault!" he exclaimed suddenly. "And that meddlesome rabbit's. She was a meter maid, she wasn't supposed to interfere."
The large mammal still could not believe how easily he had been defeated by that slip of a doe. His head still throbbed painfully and the tips of his horns were broken.
The attorney's mouth became a thin line. "The weasel is Predator trash, brother. Of course he botched everything up. And the bunny was just doing her job. You should've just let her detain him. Stealing the plants was simply the more expedient way to make sure they wouldn't be traced back to us. We have other means to get what we need."
He opened and closed his mouth for some seconds, until finally giving a sad huff. "I just wanted to help the Flock."
She took his hooves in hers, patting them lightly. "We know, brother. Big Sister knows." she told him softly. They sat in silence for a minute, before Gimmer put a hoof on his chin and raised it gently. "And now we will need you to help us more than ever, brother. The weasel knows nothing. But you…"
"I would never betray us!" he almost shouted, only the knowledge of where they were kept his voice down.
"We know." Gimmer assured him. "We don't doubt your loyalty. But the amount of sedative on your darts would have been lethal to that rabbit, brother. And she isn't just any rabbit, as you well know. Do you think either Bogo or Lionheart will let this attempted murder go? They will try to destroy you. The Chief won't rest until your life is an open book, we need to stop this investigation."
"How?"
The ewe reached inside her wool cap and extracted a small pill. "The Chemist made this. It is a special formula that will make you appear dead, but you will only be in a deep coma. The medical officer here is one of ours, brother. He will confirm your 'death', and then we will make arrangements to have your 'body' liberated."
Hope sprung into him. "Will this work?"
"I won't lie to you, brother, it's risky. The formula is not perfect and it could be... too much." she told him seriously.
He closed his eyes tightly, took a deep breath, and then looked to her with conviction. "If anything happens, my son…" he pleaded.
"Will be well-cared for." she assured him promptly. "The Flock looks after its own."
He nodded resolutely. "All right."
The ewe gave him a look of sympathy, before she put the pill inside his hoof, and then closed her own over it, squeezing him in comfort.
"Wait until tomorrow and take it. It will work in a few hours. We won't forget this, brother, I promise."
He nodded again. He took a moment to think about his beautiful, precious little lamb, and to trace the fearsome scarring on his face.
"Never again." he repeated their mantra. The words that Big Sister had instilled in all their hearts.
Afterwards, as she watched the ram being escorted back to his cell, Maria Gimmer thought sadly to herself. "We won't forget this sacrifice, brother."
She had lied to the ram. It was awful, but necessary. They did not had anyone in the Precinct's medical staff, or in the city's prison. But they really needed to stop Zootopia's Chief of Police from digging too deeply into the large sheep's dealings and, more importantly, there were no guarantees that he would not spill something eventually. Big Sister said they could take no chances.
His lamb would be looked after, though, she had been honest about that. The Flock always took care of its own.
ANs:
Hello again, everyone. One more down. Did I mention that the pacing would be a little slow? Now you know.
We got a small taste of what both of our heroes can do. Don't think Nick is way stronger than Judy, they both still have tricks up their sleeves. And they will need them, trust me. Also, don't read too much into the foxes' comments about 'wide hips and strong legs'. That was just banter…
…or was it?
Remember how I mentioned changes? Well, we saw a few here. On one hand, Judy impressed her boss. On the other hand, she never got to save Fru Fru. We will see how that turns out.
Thanks to WritingWolf14, Zero1606, Dreemurr009 and upplet for their reviews or PMs. You rule!
And thanks to everyone for reading!
