The large room was empty, but Judy could sense the calm before the storm. The lighting was still dim, making Judy paranoid of what might be lurking in the darkness. Judy, Maurice, and Nick were all standing in front of a large, mechanical steel door. Beyond this door lies a lot of drones. If Lionheart is able to access the panel and get past this door, he wins. Of course, there's always the possibility that he runs to the entrance, but thankfully Bogo is guarding that. It would only make Nick look like a fool. Judy wondered why he was willing to take that gamble.
"Hey, Wilde." Judy asked nervously.
"Yeah, Carrots?" he replied, not taking his eyes off the corridor ahead of him.
Choosing to ignore the nickname, Judy continued. "What made you so sure that he'd come here?"
"The same reason he kept a drone with him in his office. The same reason he took a hostage, forced everyone else out, and holed himself up. The same reason his name is on this building. He's scared, and he's retreating into things that makes him feel safe. It would be truly crazy if he fled his own territory, away from his own weapons."
"Well, isn't that what he is? Crazy?" Judy pressed.
"Work this job long enough and you'll realize that crazy people aren't unpredictable at all. Most are just impulsive. Easy to predict. If they still seem a bit sane, then they'll think harder about how to outsmart you. And after taking a Paralyzer shot, there's no way he's thinking straight at all."
Judy looked to Maurice, who merely gave a sagelike nod. Without warning, Judy's ears perked up, hearing something skating their way. "He's coming." Judy warned the others.
Nick smirked. "Right on time."
Maurice braced himself. "An A+ to my star pupil." he said jokingly.
"You ready for the hard part, Teach?" Nick bantered back.
"Hell no. I'm getting old."
Judy braced herself as well, and adrenaline shot through her as she saw Lionheart round the corner. He did so on top of a drone, which looked like a big metal spider, but it only had 4 legs. The legs ended in plates that let the drone glide across the floor. In Lionheart's grip she could see the puma hostage, looking very worse for wear.
Lionheart stopped some distance away from them. He looked haggard, his mane going every which way in various clumps, and his pinstripe suit in tatters. Both he and the puma had visible scratches on their skin. She had clearly put up a fight, but came out the loser. She sported a black eye and a worrisome amount of blood on her body. Her clothes must have been torn off by Lionheart, as she was completely naked. She was actually clinging to Lionheart, visibly fearful of what would happen to her if she started struggling again.
"Out of my way!" Lionheart roared. "You shouldn't be here! I'm perfectly fine. The ZPD, and all the other ministries...you can't touch me. I'm Leodore Lionheart! I'll kill everyone before I let them put me in a cage!"
"Stall." Nick whispered to Judy.
Taking a moment to search for something to say, Judy called out to the distraught lion. "Mister Lionheart, please release your hostage. With that drone you are plenty capable of defending yourself from us. There's no need to involve an innocent mammal. You don't want to hurt her, do you?" With this, Judy could see the puma perk up and look towards her with pleading eyes. She looked so hurt and vulnerable, it gave Judy pains.
"No. I know that your weapons are capable of destroying this drone. She's protecting me. Put them down! All of you, put those fancy guns on the ground, and kick them over! Nice and slow, or I swear I'll gut her right here!"
Nick and Maurice immediately complied. With some hesitation, Judy followed their example. With a kick of her footpaw, the third Dominator was at the feet of Lionheart's drone.
Continuing to stall, Judy started again. "Now will you let her go?"
Having transferred the Dominators to his paws, Lionheart shifted the puma gently down to the floor. "I'll be coming back for her."
"But why?" Judy pleaded. "You have our weapons, you don't need her anymore."
"I do need her!" Lionheart roared back.
"Why?"
"I...I don't know. I have these...urges. I can't control. I stopped being able to control them earlier today. I thought I was just getting sick but...I realized something was wrong. I wanted to hurt others. To maim prey and battle other predators. I saw her and all I saw was a female that I wanted to make into my mate. The more I tried to hide it the harder it became...and no matter what I did I couldn't stop my Crime Coefficient from rising! What...happened to me."
The agents listened intently to what he had to say. Judy recognized a tonal shift. It sounded like he was struggling with getting the words out. Like he was confused and scared instead of the previous tones of aggression.
"We can help you, Mister Lionheart. Just please get off that-"
"No! You can't trick me!" Lionheart snarled down at Judy. "I'm going into my armory, and then nobody will be able to hurt me. I will slaughter every last one of you if you try to stop me-"
Judy cut her attention from the lion and instead listened to something down the corridor. She could hear something on wheels speeding towards them.
At this point Lionheart became paranoid of the approaching noise.
Suddenly, Honey rounded the corner on top of the metal ZPD supply cart. She was racing right towards Lionheart at incredible speeds, and let out what Judy could only describe as a warcry.
'This badger has no fear.' Judy thought.
Lionheart tried to move away, closer to the armory door, but Honey tracked him and slammed right into his drone, pinning it against the wall.
"Take that!" Honey shouted triumphantly. "Yo, Nick! Catch!"
Not wanting to be so close to the blast, Honey tossed her Dominator over to Nick with a wink. Nick jumped up and caught the gun in mid-air. He gave Honey a quick wink back, and Honey took this as a sign to abandon her cart for the sake of self-preservation.
"User authentication, Enforcer Nick Wilde." spoke the Dominator. "Crime coefficient is 272. He is a target for enforcement action. Enforcement mode: Lethal Eliminator. Please aim carefully and eliminate the target." The shape of the gun morphed to allow for a much larger barrel, signaling the increased power of Eliminator mode.
This left Lionheart with two choices: take a chance at moving the drone fast enough, or abandoning it. Luckily for him, he chose the safe option and rolled out of the way. A brilliant blue blast of energy fired forth from Nick's Dominator, piercing through the drone.
"Now you're unarmed." Nick called out to the lion threateningly.
Lionheart was dangerous without the drone, however. He attempted to bolt past Nick towards the injured puma that Judy had been attending to, but Nick cut him off. Lionheart roared down at Nick, and despite the size difference, Nick stood his ground, growled back, and kept the Dominator pointed at Lionheart.
Despite his frenzied state, Lionheart backed down, knowing the Dominator would spell his end if he attacked. Instead, he turned tail and ran away on all fours. Judy saw Nick furiously chase after the lion with a crazed look of his own in his eyes and a vicious snarl on his muzzle. She sat there, still shielding the puma from the threat that had already fled, amazed at Nick.
'This fox is out for blood.' Judy thought.
Nick chased Lionheart, forcing the larger mammal to take a left towards the corridor. Honey blocked his path, her devil-may-care expression plastered on her face having reclaimed Nick's Dominator that Lionheart had dropped.
Lionheart made another panicked turn, only to come face-to-face with Maurice holding his own Dominator. He was not backing down either, an expression of pure resolve on his face.
Lionheart slowly turned back to Nick, staring into the fox's glare. For a crazed predator, Judy couldn't help but feel that he looked so pathetic and utterly defeated.
He let out one last, desperate roar.
"Enforcement mode: Lethal Eliminator. Please aim carefully and eliminate the target."
Lionheart reached into his pocket, grabbing hold of an old fragmentation grenade.
"My deepest sympathies." Nick told Lionheart earnestly.
Nick's Dominator let out an incredible blast once again. It struck Lionheart directly in the chest before he could do anything else with the grenade. What happened next was incredibly fast, but Judy saw it in slow motion. Lionheart's entire torso seemed to balloon outwards. It spread a bit to his arms, but mainly stayed confined to his chest. He expanded outwards, and she saw his flesh turn from being covered in fur to a texture akin to raw flesh and blood. The scream he let out was one of pure agony. And just like that, he exploded. Chunks of the lion flew every which way, and a rain of blood splattered the vicinity around him. A little of it even landed on Judy, despite sitting far away.
The spacious room was dead silent. The puma suddenly let out a scream at the gruesome display and began to stir, a bit more active now that her tormentor was in pieces. Her breathing was rapid and shallow.
"You're okay now, miss." Judy gently spoke to her, holding her much larger paw in her own. "We're the ZPD, we'll take care of you."
The puma actually quieted down and gave Judy a warm, albeit nervous, smile, and Judy smiled back. It was good to know that Judy was able to make the world a better place today. At the very least, she made this puma's world a better place. Protecting mammals like her is why Judy wanted this job.
Suddenly the puma screamed once more, and began backing up, scooting back across the floor.
"Honey?" Judy asked, in shock as to why the badger was pointing a gun past her and directly at the scared puma.
"Check her on your Dominator." was the badger's solemn reply.
Judy did just that, and hesitantly pointed the Dominator at the frightened woman. "Crime Coefficient is over 160. She is a target for enforcement action." Her Dominator told her, confirming the worst.
"No...no...please..." Was all the shell shocked puma could manage to mutter.
"No! She's the victim here! She needs to be taken into protective custody!" Judy shouted.
"Yeah, that's why we have the Paralyzer mode." Honey bluntly replied, taking careful aim.
"Let her do it, Judy." Maurice warned.
Judy jumped forwards and tackled the badger. She was incapable of knocking the stout mammal over, but managed to stop her from firing. From behind Judy, the puma scrambled up and began to haphazardly sprint past Lionheart's remains and down the corridor. "We can't just use violence against her! She's already been through so much! She's scared!"
Honey struggled to get the bunny off of her. "Hey, she's getting away! I know you're the Inspector here, aren't you supposed to obey Sibyl? The Dominator said she needed enforcement. Why are you doing this?"
Judy backed away from Honey. "I don't care. We're going to go find her, and help her because it's the right thing to do!" Judy scanned the room. "Where is Nick?"
Maurice nodded down the corridor. "Already tracking her."
Sirens went off in Judy's head. She set off in a full sprint after the puma, and after her Enforcer. Honey stomped her foot angrily, muttering something about a bunny thinking she's above the system. Maurice looked towards Honey with a shrug, at a loss for words from the sudden initiative that Judy had shown.