Ch. 7: Trouble on Rails
Judy walked into the precinct the next morning to see Nick and Clawhauser enjoying donuts and coffee.
"Good morning," she smiled happily at them, skipping over.
"You look like you're in a good mood," Nick noticed, "Despite it being six in the morning, you monster."
"Something good may have happened last night," she bounced on the balls of her feet.
"I know," Clawhauser spoke up gleefully, looking as excited as when he met Gazelle, "I heard about you two going on a date!"
By the look on Nick's face Judy knew Clawhauser wasn't supposed to have said anything. Judy wondered how many other animals he had told, she bet they had all had a good laugh.
"Actually, no," Judy said, her smile straining, "That was a misunderstanding, and I met someone last night."
The two predators stared at her in surprise and she continued, "His name is Percy, he's a really handsome bunny."
"I thought you weren't planning on settling down yet," Nick said and Judy thought she could hear accusation in his voice.
"I'm not," she answered. "But it wouldn't hurt to have a cup of coffee with him once in a while."
"I thought you were all crazy about solving this Ironclaw case," he said and this time she was definitely hearing accusation.
"Oh, so now it's okay to be all impatient," she demanded, her paws on her hips.
"Woah, woah now," Clawhauser spoke up; he was flailing his chubby arms around to get their attention, "We're all friends here, remember? The best of best friends who don't want to fight and argue because it's not what best of best friends do."
The two looked at him strangely and he went on. "But I have to say Judy, I do not like the sound of this Percy guy. He sounds shady."
"Shady," Judy echoed. "I told you two things about him, his name and that he's handsome. I didn't even bring up the part where I nearly ran him over."
One day Judy Hopps you will learn to keep your mouth shut.
Nick nearly fell over laughing as the two left the precinct to patrol.
"Seriously, Carrots are all bunnies' bad drivers or is it just you?" He snickered.
Judy ignored him, her body flushing as Nick's laughter caught the attention of other animals walking around the precinct.
"Wait, did his life flash before his eyes and he saw you in a wedding dress and realized you were the one? Oh, oh! Maybe he saw you standing over his grave and thought he better seduce you out of that future plan!"
"Yeah, because no one would ever find me, pretty or interesting enough to date," she muttered to herself as Nick continued to laugh.
"What," Nick smiled, not hearing her words.
Judy just shook her head, "If you're making such a big deal why don't you drive, then?"
"I'd rather walk, actually," he told her. "It's a nice day, plus I feel like it's going to be a slow day. Ever have that feeling?"
Judy didn't answer, only turning onto the sidewalk, looking around for anything that could be considered suspicious.
"For the record, he's a big fan of mine," Judy told Nick, not looking at him, "Because I'm the first police bunny."
"We still talking about Perry?"
"Percy."
"Right, right."
"And you were just laughing about him a second ago."
Nick didn't answer; apparently he had quickly gotten over her car incident despite the big scene he had made. The two walked in silence, the streets bustling yet calm as they continued walking, looking for any disturbances to clear up, Judy looked over her shoulder to see the fox watching a group of rodents walking by them, one of the children holding a balloon that nearly carried him away.
"Why didn't you want me to take you home last night," she asked cautiously.
"Because you're a terrible driver, obviously," Nick replied easily, his eyes going to a balcony window where a sheep was watering her flowers.
Judy thought about angrily retorting but ultimately sighed and turned to face forward.
"…Carrots? I was just kidding."
"Hmm," Judy replied, still annoyed. Nick caught up to walk by her side, "I'm serious, it was just a joke. I wasn't trying to make you angry."
"Were you angry at me," Judy asked him, "Last night?"
Nick frowned, "Of course I wasn't angry at you. I was just frustrated that everyone refused to give us decent information. Plus I think better when I'm on the move; I was hoping I'd think of a better plan than just…wait."
"And did you," she asked not really caring she realized, she was too busy trying not to show her relief that he hadn't gone to visit a pretty fox.
"No," Nick replied flatly, "Really, all we know is she's angry and is Lionheart's estranged sister. I can't work with that. I'm an ex-con artist not a miracle worker."
Judy nodded, "We'll figure out something."
They walked in silence for a few moments longer when Nick suddenly grabbed her paw, Judy tensed up at the unexpected touch and Nick pulled away, looking guilty.
"I am sorry, Carrots," he insisted. "I wasn't trying to hurt your feelings."
"I know," she sighed but her lips curled up into a small smile, "You just can't help being a dumb fox."
Nick smiled back and it amazed Judy how easily her anger melted away. Nick actually could be a miracle worker once in a while.
Judy's phone suddenly rang Gazelle's 'Try Everything'. She answered it, "Hello Clawhauser-"
"Judy! There was another fight! This time on the train! Citizen! Conductor! Train's going too fast! No co-conductor!"
"Calm down, Clawhauser," Judy ordered, "Where is the train headed?"
"It's about to come through the crossroads at Leo Street!"
"On it!" Judy hung up and raced down the street that was conveniently named Leo. Nick raced after her, "Feel free to catch me up anytime now!"
"We have a run away train," Judy didn't have time to give him the details. "I hope you know how to stop it."
They skidded to a halt at the end of the crossroads. Judy's mind raced to figure out how they'd board a moving train. Her eyes went to a tall lamppost beside the rails, then to the giraffe next to it.
A few moments later with the helpful assistance from the giraffe the two cops balanced precariously on top of the lamp post, making out the speeding train heading their way.
"Some animals are fighting in there, aren't they," Nick asked.
"Yeah,"
"How will I stop it?"
Judy touched the elephant tranquilizer gun at her hip, glad she had taken it before she left the precinct.
"I'll stop them. You stop the train."
Nick didn't voice his opinion on the plan but Judy suspected that he didn't like it. But there was no time for hesitation; innocent animals could be seriously hurt if they didn't do something.
"On the count of three, okay," she spoke as the train grew closer, "Ready?"
"No, but I'll jump anyway."
Judy tightened her grip on his arm as the train got closer…closer…
"One…," she began, "THREE!"
Pushing a startled Nick the two fell from the lamppost and slammed into the roof of the train, rolling across at least three cars before skidding to a halt.
"You nose-twitching, cotton tailed, carrot sucking, liar," Nick moaned as he sat up, the rushing wind nearly blowing his words away.
"I'm sorry," Judy yelled above the wind. "We can talk about it when we stop this train!"
The crawled forward, their ears whipped back against their skulls as Judy jumped down to land at the next car's door. "Get to the engine!" She called to Nick.
She opened the door, walking inside she noticed only a few animals in the car, cowering at the end of their seats. In front of the car two animals were fighting ferociously, fur flying. It was a pair of wolves, one gray, one brown.
"Stop!" She yelled over the sounds of snarling and howls, "This is the ZPD and you are under arrest!"
The wolves ignored her completely, Judy swallowed and picked up the tranquilizer gun, she had to hurry and subdue them before they killed each other.
One dart flew through the air and struck the brown wolf just below the ear; he released his opponent and fell to the ground, unconscious. Judy noticed his outfit that was the conductor.
As she reloaded the dart gun the gray whole whirled around to fix a feral yet blank gaze on her.
The wolf lunged but just as Judy lifted her gun she was tackled from behind. The wolf went over their heads and crashed into the door. Judy glared over her shoulder; the animal that had pinned her down was not much larger than her, hiding his identity with a large overcoat, scarf, and hat.
Judy struggled against the stranger who pinned her down as the wolf stood up, shaking his head. His eyes looked for Judy and narrowed when they found her, he licked his chops and a new wave of fear suddenly washed over her.
The stranger kept her pinned and even kicked the dart gun out of her paw as the wolf slowly stalked toward them. It disturbed Judy that the wolf's hungry yet empty eyes stayed on her, like she had been the target all along.
A sudden high-pitched shrieking made the wolf halt, and then a gang of rats jumped on the overcoat stranger, making him stumble and release Judy. Quick as lightning she reached for her dart gun, grabbed it and fired just as the wolf went for her throat. The dart stuck him in the nose and he landed on top of Judy, out cold.
With the help of the other passengers she crawled out from under the wolf and looked around, the rats that had saved her were still there, but the stranger had vanished.
.
Nick walked into the engine car, where the controls laid. He whimpered when he saw this control panel was more updated than the last train he steered.
"Okay, Wilde, you got this," Nick told himself as he walked to the panel. "Yeah it's a little more needlessly complicated but you can adapt, you're a sly fox…a sly fox whose remembering he crashed that last train before he could figure out how to stop it."
Nick shook his head, "Keep it together, Nicky, keep it together. This whole train needs you, Judy needs you; you can-"
He looked through the window and saw a traffic jam up ahead, one car was stuck on the train rails.
"Oh sweet cheese and crackers…"
Nick looked around desperately for a train manual, seeing none in sight he deduced this conductor was one of those jerks who actually knew how to do their jobs.
Panicking he dropped to his knees and opened up the control panel, revealing messes of wires, he took notice of a green wire and a red wire.
"Green's for go and red means stop," he told himself with a chuckle bordering on hysteria. "But I think today's opposite day so-" he ripped the green wire and covered his ears as the train started to screech to a halt.
Shaking Nick rose to his feet to look out the open side window to see the train had just barely tapped the car stuck on the rails. A sheep stared up from the car in stunned terror.
"You okay," he asked her and realized he was hyperventilating.
The sheep nodded mutely.
Nick spent a couple of seconds taking deep breaths, "You sure?"
"Nick!" Judy suddenly shrieked and Nick had horrifying visions of his partner being torn to shred but then he saw her jumping out of the train and running into the street. She was chasing some animal in an overcoat.
"After him," she called and Nick slipped through the window and raced after them even though he hadn't fully caught his breath.
Judy and Nick ran through zigzagging corners, between legs of smaller animals but the stranger was able to keep a yard away from them. Judy put on a burst of speed and turned a corner.
The suspect had vanished.
"What," Judy gasped, her heart pounding in her ribs, she looked around the street. Empty. "No!"
Harsh panting had her turning around to see Nick struggling over, falling to his knees when he got to her side.
"What…" he gasped, "…happened?"
"I don't know who that was," Judy continued to look around. "But he held me down when one of the wolves that were fighting tried to kill me; he's behind this somehow, probably working with Ironclaw."
Nick nodded, "We can…we can go check surveillance cameras…find him."
She nodded, "Right. I forgot." But she was frustrated she couldn't get him on her own.
She kneeled down and patted Nick's head, "You okay? You need to exercise more."
Nick breathed out, "Remember when I said it was gonna be a long day?"
"Yeah," she replied.
"I was wrong."