Judy watched Nick get out of bed, noting he seemed a bit tired this morning. She never asked Nick to wake up early to make breakfast, it was just something he did. Even so, she didn't want to see him forcing himself to do something if he was getting sick. Judy pushed herself to wake up, she wasn't about to let Nick work himself to death just to make her oatmeal. Getting out of bed, she went to the kitchen were Nick was starting breakfast. He didn't seem to notice as she walked up behind him.
"Hey." Nick jumped a little, he hadn't heard her apparently.
"What are you doing up so early?"
"You look tired, I figured you could use some rest. Let me make breakfast this morning." Nick gave her a surprised look.
"Judy, you haven't made breakfast in over a year." Judy looked a little miffed.
"So? That doesn't mean I don't remember how to cook." Nick took Judy's paw and smiled gently at her.
"Carrots, last time you attempted to make oatmeal you tried to use eggs."
"I forgot okay?" Figuring she wasn't going to let this go Nick figured that it would be better to compromise.
"Alright, tell you what. Why don't you cook while I assist?" Judy seemed to accept this offer as she opened the fridge and started to pick out ingredients.
After a bit of arguing about the merit of cloves in oatmeal Nick had more or less coaxed Judy into making a decent bowl. That out of the way, Judy set the table as Nick went and got the kits out of bed. Something still didn't feel right to her though. Nick didn't just look tired, something about the way he was acting made it seem like something was bothering him. Sitting down at the table, Judy opened up a tablet and started flipping through the morning news feeds. She paused when she saw that a protest had been organized against the demolition of one of the buildings in Canidae.
"Ah good, they're learning."
She looked up at Nick as he came back with Marcus and the girls, a theory brewing in her mind as to what was bothering him. As he sat down she reached out and grabbed his paw, passing him the tablet.
"I knew something was bothering you. It's okay, I understand that it's hard. If I could do something to change it, I would." The kits didn't seem to notice as they reached to serve themselves some of the hot steaming oatmeal.
"It's alright sweetie. Besides, I have an idea about how to turn this from lemons to lemonade."
"Huh?" Turning to the kits Nick showed them the article.
"Who wants to see a building get blown up today?" All of them agreed with gusto, Judy gave Nick a concerned look.
"Nick, maybe you shouldn't. It seems that this whole thing is leaving you pretty beat up as is."
"Well Carrots, sometimes you just got to learn to let go, and sometimes the best way to do that is with explosions." Judy gave a meek smile. She wasn't sure if Nick really meant it or if he was just putting on a brave face.
Judy walked into the ZPD and immediately noticed the deafening silence which greeted her. She could hear that everyone was listening to some sort of video, while others talked in hushed voices as they stared at various devices. Getting to her office she logged into her computer and saw an email had been sent to her from Bogo. It was simply titled 'Important.' Clicking on the link in the email she was redirected to a video sight and the image of an individual in all black with a stylized red wolf mask. Judy watched the video, her eyes fixed on the image of the scarlet rogue. The voice in the video was clearly altered, a synthetic combination of highs and lows which worked to obscure their voice. She didn't like this; she didn't like this at all. Chief Bogo walked into her office, not looking up as he tapped away at his tablet.
"Wilde, we've got a situation in case you can't tell."
"Yeah, I got that. What do we know about them?"
"Other than they are members of the 'Tragic Pack' and they seem to be threatening Santiago Ramirez and his company? Nothing."
"Great. So what exactly did they do last night?"
"Broke into the trailer of the demolition foreman at one of the buildings that they were planning to tear down." Bogo passed her his tablet before he continued. "As far as we can tell, it seems that all these clowns did was break in and then steal a bunch of emails. They've already published them online, and a lot of them have some pretty strong evidence that Santiago is manipulating city hall."
"Great!"
"Not great Wilde. This evidence isn't admissible in court because it is stolen. Besides, even if it had been obtained legally it still wouldn't be able to prove anything."
"What? It shows that he is manipulating the institutions of Zootopia, is there really nothing illegal there?"
"There's no law saying that city inspectors have to inspect buildings chronologically based on when they are requested to do so. So in a word, no. Besides, we have bigger problems now. This evidence is drawing a fair amount of support for this 'tragic pack' and it will probably serve only to make the protesters bolder."
"Right. I guess that's what they were going for. So let me guess, you want me to go to the building that they are planning to demolish and make sure that the protesters don't get out of hand huh?"
"Yup. I have given you every officer that I can spare and some of our most elite units. You have all resources at your disposal Wilde, make use of them. Oh, and one more thing."
"Yeah?"
"Start them off in riot gear this time." Bogo left the office, apparently he had places to be and people to see as usual. Judy put on her headset and got ready to organize another day of riot control.
Judy's task force had arrived at the site a few hours later and got set up before the protesters arrived. With a bit of intimidation and careful organization the protesters were being held at bay. Then again, Judy couldn't help but suspect that they had become more organized than last time. What was a little more concerning though was that there seemed to be more of them. Apparently, the evidence that the Tragic Pack had presented was beginning to sway more citizens to the side of mammals of the Canidae neighborhood. The time for the demolition was nearing though and Judy could tell that the workers had placed most of the explosives into the old apartment building. At this point, it seemed that everything was ready to go. As the time drew near she heard over the radio that a massive silver car was asking to get through.
"Assistant Superintendent Wilde, Santiago Ramirez is requesting permission to visit the site over." Judy groaned a little bit at this.
"Roger. Let him through over."
"Roger. He wants to speak with you over." She took a deep breath and stepped out of the command truck.
Being led through the protesters by the officers was Santiago's car, gliding silently through the protesters. A metal cocoon, shielding him from the insults that were being hurled towards him. Judy waited for the car to roll up to her, trying to compose herself by taking deep breaths. The car came to a graceful stop next to her and the driver got out to open up the door for Santiago. Stepping out and straightening his suit he cast a casual glance to Judy.
"Mrs. Wilde, what a pleasure it is to see you keeping the order."
"High praise I'm sure. Why are you here by the way? You're making my job harder coming here." Santiago gave a mirthless chuckle.
"Ah my dear, I am about to make it even harder in just a few minutes." Judy tried to catch his meaning but lost focus when she saw a certain fox in the crowd.
Standing as close to the police barricades as he could with the three kits was Nick. The girls walking along next to him and Marcus sitting on his shoulders. Judy quickly dashed over to him and the kits.
"Nick, what are you doing here?"
"Well, they didn't have anything to do this afternoon so instead of letting them watch TV I figured that we could watch a building blow up. Isn't that right kits?" Their excitement seemed barely contained.
"Yeah! This is going to be so cool!" Judy gave a halfhearted smile and then looked back at Nick.
"Nick I'm serious. This whole situation was really bugging you yesterday, I really don't think you should watch this."
"Well, doesn't really matter at this point. I promised these little guys that they could watch it so I have to stay anyway." Judy looked at the kits who were obviously extremely excited about the spectacle.
"Alright, just… Just let me know if you need anything alright?"
"Alright Carrots, I will let you know if my heart suddenly breaks into a million tiny pieces. Oh hey, it looks like the puma in the white suit is about to make an announcement."
Santiago had moved to the top of one of the trucks that were at the demolition site and had a bullhorn in paw. He raised it up and announced his presence to the protesters arrayed before him.
"Citizens of the Canidae neighborhood! I am Santiago Ramirez, and I am here today to remove a blemish from the face of our fair city. For too long your neighborhood has stood as impediment to progress. No more! Today, we begin a new chapter in the history of Zootopia. A history, without you! When I press this button the detonations will start and this building, the first of many, will fall! Foreman, if you please!"
A deer in a hard hat passed the puma a small detonator that was presumably hooked up to the explosives in the small apartment building somehow. Santiago motioned for the foreman to begin the countdown. Santiago returned to the bullhorn to announce the countdown.
"Ten, nine, eight, seven," the protesters were now booing, threatening to drown out the sound of his voice. He responded by turning up the volume.
"Ahem! Six, five, four, three, two" Judy turned to look at Nick, but his face was not one of anguish or nervousness. He was placid, completely calm. She couldn't understand it.
"One!" Santiago pushed the little red button that he was holding.
At first, it seemed that nothing had happened. Santiago seemed to examine the device in his paws and experimentally tried pressing the button a few more times. Then, sporadically at first, then growing in both tempo and volume firecrackers could be heard going off. Roman candles and other fireworks began to shoot out of the old building as sparklers began to ignite in other areas of the structure. Santiago stared off disbelieving at what he was apparently bearing witness to. Nick let out a single laugh.
"Ha! I hope you kept the receipt for that dynamite!" Soon enough the entire crowd was laughing. Marcus sat on Nick's head still looking confused.
"I don't think that's what's supposed to happen." Nicole chimed in next.
"No, usually the building falls down I think." Jessica agreed.
"Yeah, that's what happens in all the videos at least."
Judy found herself laughing a little too. Santiago though looked enraged. He stalked down from the top of the truck amid the jeers from the crowd, heading straight towards Judy. She walked towards him, trying to make sure that he didn't get too close to the protesters who might do him harm. As she came within ear shot he shouted at her.
"We've got a big problem Mrs. Wilde!" Judy was still trying to keep herself from laughing at this point.
"Seems to me that it's yours, not mine." The puma shook his head.
"No. Obviously, something happened to that dynamite my dear. Something that I am sure you can figure out if you think about it for a mere second."
"The Scarlet Rogue." She said, the realization hitting hard.
"Exactly my dear. That terrorist has enough dynamite in his paws now to blow up a building. Based on his threats it would seem prudent to me that you set about finding him and that dynamite before someone gets hurt." Santiago stalked off towards his parked car, where his driver was waiting patiently. "Crowley! Let's go."
Judy felt her breath quickening as she got on the radio to inform Bogo of the situation. Santiago was right after all, a terrorist with a quantity of high explosives was more than a bit of an issue. She took one last look at Nick, but it seemed that he was already leaving with the kits to go back home for dinner.
"Chief Bogo, we have a situation, over." Waiting for his reply, she mused quietly to herself. "Looks, like I'm not going to make it home for dinner tonight."
