hapter 2: Roller Mobster
A morning starts differently for everyone; some people enjoy it as a very slow and lazy routine where they spend an extra hour or two in their beds. Others shoot up like lit rockets in the early hours, eat their breakfast in a hurry and rush off to whatever it is that demands them to do so.
Being the one or the other often reflects the characteristics of said riser and his or her approach to his or hers daily duties, whether it be work, an important meeting, getting to school/college in time or simply catch up to something they've overslept for.
It's this type of energy that coursed through the veins of pre-lunchtime Zootopia, giving the great city life and setting it to it's own personal rhythm, as it and every other major city does when setting itself up for a brand new day.
Officer Nicholas P. Wilde was one of the city's slow risers, something which was more than often reflected by his devil-may-care-attitude. In his past life as hustler, slow mornings had pretty much been his only mornings. He hadn't expected any major change in that even after becoming a cop, or when he became the partner of the one little bunny that changed his life.
"You know carrots," the fox said softly, flashing his usual coy grin at said partner's direction, "its days like this like that you have to take things slow and appreciate the beauty of everything around us."
"Nick, with all respect, we might enjoy this day later on. But for now if I may ask you kindly, would you please…STOP SMASHING TROUGH THESE DAMN FRUIT COURTS!" Judy yelled at the top of her lungs, just as their police car went trough yet another fruit court.
As big colorful bunches of fruits flew all over their car, some of them rolling in through the open window on Nick's side, the fox left hand shot up from the wheel and grabbed a peach in mid-flight.
Judy meanwhile course had to look into the side view mirror, as she saw the ever shrinking image of an angry boar yelling and shaking his fist in their general direction. Judy couldn't even yell her usual 'sorry' through the window which she had said for probably a hundred times in only the last twenty minutes. Instead, she glared at Nick who took a bite out of the peach and then cringed, throwing the reddish fruit out the window.
"Carrots, remind me later to report that boar for selling rotten fruit. Seriously, I'm sure it's some kind of health-code violation." The fox replied, spitting aside as Judy groaned and face palmed in the process. Needless to say, she was an early and quick riser, who just as quickly had regretted letting Nick drive the car today.
The reason for this high speed fruit market-genocide was because the two were in hot pursuit of a van that had been seen leaving a bank robbery which had occurred a few blocks away from their patrolling route.
Apparently a few masked mammals had figured this was the perfect day to dress up in ski masks and shoot up the Central Zootopia Bank before making it off with at least nine large bags of cash and valuables, blowing a poor banker away in the process…!
Being the closest car nearby, they quickly responded, and it was because Nick knew some "shortcuts", they had now run over at least nine fruit courts.
"Ten…." Judy said to herself as she heard a gorilla yell something angry in spanish after them. But despite their "hit-and-run-fruit-fun" as Nick called it, of which Bogo would clearly chew 'em out for, Judy had to admit that Nicks little shortcut did shave off at least forty-five minutes of pursuit.
As their car rounded a corner, they finally managed to catch up with the dark blue van that was speeding like the Devil and his entire demon-hoard was after it, except in this case, El Diablo was replaced with a very angry bunny cop, and instead a demon-hoard, she had her sly vulpine partner.
Inside the van were least five figures with two in the front and three in the back. The driver was a gray wolf wearing a dark blue jacket and a ski mask that covered his muzzle. Adjusting the rearview mirror, he noticed the police car that was on their trail, covered from hood to roof in fruit salad and with screaming sirens. The wolf stared in astounded awe at the unusual sight.
The figure next to him was a golden jackal, wearing a messed up, unbuttoned suit with an undone tie, covered in blood splatters. Having taken off his red ski mask, the jackal was currently busy with a razor, dividing some white and purple powder into two thin lines on the dashboard of the van.
It was a mixture of cocaine and night-howler extract, which together formed a drug which the ZPD and media had dubbed Scream. It had been reported to really screw with an animal's brain, giving them a deluded sense of invincibility and a tendency to scream on the top of their lungs, thus the name.
Leaning forward and snorting the two lines in a zig-zag-like motion, the jackal gave off a pleased moan, flashing his sharp, gold-filled fangs in an ecstatic smile. He began to wipe his nose, as he heard the police sirens in the back. Flashing a manic grin at the driver, the jackal took up his shotgun from his side, along with couple of red shells.
"Oi! Oi! Jackie, fuck ya doing mate!?" The driver yelled at the jackal, who was busy with loading and cocking his weapon.
"Hehehe…This is gonna be awesome…" Jackie said before rolling down the window and sticking out his head. He looked backwards, wind rushing past him, and laughed like a crazy person. "Whoa, is the drugs really this good, or are we really being chased by a fruit salad on wheels?!"
"Are ya fuckin' nuts?! Get back inside the van and put your mask on!" The driver yelled, looking positively freaked out. But Jackie wasn't paying him any attention whatsoever.
"I AM GAME COPPERS! AHAHAH! IT'S WAR! IT'S FUCKING WAR!" The jackal yelled, as he began to climb further out of the window. "Today's forecast is heavy fucking hail!" He screamed and then began to fire the shotgun at the police-car.
Anyone with some working intelligence would have understood that firing a shotgun from a speeding vehicle from a distance won't do much damage to the car chasing after you. So was the case with Nick's and Judy's car, as hot pellets flickered off the hood, with a few managing to blast off a side mirror of the car. Nick was driving from side to side to dodge some of the incoming traffic in their direction.
"What is it with criminals always yelling lame one-liners?!" Judy asked as she removed the strap over the service-pistol in her belt. She picked it up, locating the safety cylinder and pulling it down with a click.
She aimed at the van through the window, trying to get a clear shot on the jackal, which was a big challenge in itself.
Now, for those who doesn't know, ordinary police officers in Zootopia aren't usually issued lethal firearms. What they do get issued with are a wide assortment of non-lethal weaponry, such as dart-guns with highly potent tranquilizers, rifles that fired rubber-bullets and tear-gas filled pellets, beanbag launchers and stun-guns of varied caliber. Judy carried a X-21 Paw-Printer, which outwardly resembles a smaller Mauser C96. Instead of ordinary bullets it fired rounds of artillery-taser pads which could generate nearly fifty-thousan volts, pierce glass and upon impact form into a shape which resembled a paw-print, therefore it's name.
"Well, I think it's because they've either watched too many heist-flicks, or they're in the mood of going out in a blaze of glory." Nick replied, as he spinned the wheel dodging an oncoming jeep. "Or maybe it's because they feel an inner fear, and it's their way of compensating."
Judy turned her head and briefly stared at her partner in disbelief.
"Inner fear?! This is ain't Dr Phil Nick!" She yelled before returning to aim at the jackal. She attempted a shot and squeezed the trigger. The shot managed to hit the van's right brake light, making it shatter and spit out sparks down on the road.
Suddenly their radio clicked several times, as they heard chief Bogo's voice on the other end.
"Hopps! Wilde! What's the situation?! I'm sending additional units in your direction!" The buffalo's voice came out. Nick grabbed the radio and responded.
"Hiya chiefy, me and Carrots are doing perfectly fine. Just having a lovely morning drive, sun in our hair and she's all hopping mad here because of some Sunday driver."
The jackal fired several more shots, and as he ran out of bullets, he began to slap the side of the van.
On cue, the backdoors flung open, and both the officers went cold, with Judy's ears dropping and Nick gritting his teeth. The two of them were now staring at a barrel of what looked like a gatling gun manned by a medium sized grizzly bear, with two assault rifles in the hands of a panther and zebra on it's sides.
The barrels of the gatling gun started to spin, while the other two shooters took aim.
"Ummm… Chief… We'll have to get back to you. Me and Hopps are about to have a smaaaalll problem…!" Nick said, as Judy quickly pulled him down as the gatling gun and assault started firing.
Both officers yelled at the top of their lungs, as bullets flew over their heads and was pretty much turning the car into Swiss cheese, blasting the sirens to pieces, shattering the glass in front and back with the remaining side mirror. In the mid of panic, Nick turned the car, making it spin out of control and crash into a nearby flower shop.
The grizzly gave a yell of victory while the other two were busy reloading as Jackie the golden jackal spun his emptied shotgun around his fingers like a western-revolver, howling in drug-induced triumph.
Peeking out from behind their cover both Judy and Nick looked at each other with wide eyes. Besides fruit and bullets, their car was now covered and filled with the remnants of potted plants and neatly arranged flower-bouqets. Nick quickly grabbed the wheel and floored the car in reverse to spin it around and continue the pursuit.
"A gatling gun?! A gatling gun in the back of a van?! Who even does that?!" Nick yelled, as they were catching up. "Seriously, where are we?! In a Hambo movie?!"
"Nick, less complaining and more STEPPING ON IT!" Judy said, her eyes narrowing, as it was clear the bunny wasn't gonna be fooling around.
Then, hearing fresh police-sirens, the two looked back to see more police cars coming around a corner and catching up to them. Nick smiled at this.
"Well look, the cavalry has arrived." He commented, as one of the cars managed to catch up to them with officers Jane Spautley, a cheetah, and Eric McHorn, a rhino, in it.
"Hey Wilde, hell happened to your car? I thought you were a good driver!" The cheetah joked through the radio, as McHorn laughed in the background.
"Well, usually that doesn't involve gatling guns!" Nick shouted back, making the cheetah and rhino look at each other.
"Gatling gun?! Who uses a gatling gun!? Is this Neighminator 2 or something!?" McHorn yelled, causing Nick to snicker.
"I dunno, seems more like something from Hambo if you ask me!" The fox yelled back, as Judy rolled her eyes.
"Nick, this isn't the time to discuss movies!" Judy yelled, as she began leaning out the window again.
"Sorry dudes, seems we'll have to save this little chat for later!" Nick yelled as the car began speeding closer to their target.
Meanwhile ahead in the van, Jackie was having another big sniff of Scream as he saw the approaching cop-car in the mirror again. Smirking, he then knocked the back wall of the van.
"Oi boys! Prepare! They want to go another round!" He yelled, but then felt the driver pulling at his sleeve. "What?! What the fuck is it?!"
Seeing the panicked-looking driver pointing, he turned his head to see a police blockade with blinking lights in a crossing right ahead of them, waiting and cutting of any means of escape. Jackie cursed up a storm, hurriedly pushing in new ammo in his shotgun.
"Full speed! We'll ram trough those sons of bitches!" He yelled, and prepared for the impact properly by putting on his seatbelt.
At the same time in the back, the gatling gun was reeving up it's barrels, as Nick's car got closer for a good shot.
"Carrots, you better make that shot count, 'cause if you miss I'd say we'll have enough lead to make monuments on our graves!" Nick called out, while Judy was busy concentrating.
Licking her lips, Judy closed one eye as she kept looking at the opening behind the gatling gun, where she could the heads of both the driver and the jackal. Losing the glass of the front-window had actually been blessing wrapped in bullet-storm, for it provided her with much better means of aiming.
Having gone over this back at the academy and practically memorized the thing like a ol'melody, she took a deep breath, relaxed herself a little bit to control her heartbeat, her muscles tensing as her index finger began to carefully squeeze the trigger.
The shot rang out and rocketed out from the gun, away from the mangled police-car, over the space between it and the van, into the van, over the gatling gun and straight onto the neck of unsuspecting driver.
The wolf gave of a big, involuntary spasm as fifty-thousand volts coursed through his body, paralyzing his muscles and making him reel over the wheel.
As that happened, the van began to spin out of the control, causing the grizzly bear to fall to the side and slam his entire body weight onto the zebra, who in turn fired his rifle into the ceiling as the panther fell forward, making him drop his rifle and making it fly out of the open doors in the back. As the van spun, with the jackal tried to desperately reach to the side and grab a hold of the wheel. But this proved futile as the van slammed into a lamp post.
At the same time, Nick and Judy's car pulled over. Both the fox and the rabbit jumped out of the car with their guns out and pointing at the van, as surrounding people began to gather and stare at the spectacle.
The panther and the zebra dropped out of the van with their hands behind their heads. The grizzly bear wasn't conscious, sporting a nasty cut on the side of it's head, and the wolf weren't gonna move anytime soon, still twitching and with his face buried in the released airbag.
But the jackal, who had speedily removed the seatbelt and jumped out of the car, made a run towards a mother sheep and her child who stood nearby. Grabbing the little lamb, he pressed the shotgun barrel to the little boy's head and snarled.
"Oi! Step away coppers or I'll blow this lamb chop's head clean off!" He yelled, bearing his teeth as the kid began to shake. His mother stood nearby, gasping and reaching for her child with tears in her eyes, but being forced to remain at a distance as the jackal waved the shotgun around.
"Let go of the kid punk! Now!" Nick yelled, keeping the jackal in his cross-airs with his own gun, which was a bigger version of Judy's.
"Like hell I will, I call the shots here you donut-munching hacks! Unless you want the brat's future to end right here right now, you drop the fucking guns!" Looking around in all directions with blood-shot eyes, Jackie's gaze eventually settled on Judy. "… I'm up for a trade though! You get the kid, and the bunny gets over here instead!" He called out. Judy blinked, then removed the clip from her pistol and tossed them to different sides.
"Alright, I'm coming over. Just stay cool and don't hurt the child." She said, approaching the jackal and the lamb slowly with her hands raised. Nick eyes bulged at this.
"Carrots, are you nuts?! He's gonna use you as a hostage to weasel himself out of there!" He called out in fear and anger. "Get back here dammit!"
"Nick, it's alright just trust me on this," she said without looking back.
As Judy got close enough, she waited for the jackal to release the child. Once he did that, his hand shot out to make a grab for her arm, and that's when she kicked off the ground and kicked him square in the jaw with her knee, making him lose his balance and fall down. Growling, the jackal rolled around and sat up to take an aim at Judy and was about to fire, only to be shot in the shoulder by Nick.
Dropping his shotgun, the criminal fell down and made a gurgling sound as electricity coursed through him, a black little paw print visible on the shoulder of his blood-stained costumed. Spautley and McHorn, who had already cuffed the other criminals, rushed over to grab him, while the lambs mother rushed over and picked up her son, looking very relieved and holding him tightly.
Judy exhaled softly, as she turned around and met with Nick's stern look.
"What?" She asked calmly, giving a friendly smile to her partner who was tapping his foot, almost like a disapproving parent.
"That was the most insane thing you've ever done! Seriously, what if your plan didn't work?" He asked, throwing his hands into the air.
"Hey, you're the one who usually comes up with insane plans on the fly, I thought it was time I tried something." The bunny replied, as Nick groaned.
"This isn't a joke you know…" He said, rubbing his temple and looking at her with concern, which soon smoothed out into a little smile. "If you get hurt, you know I'll have nobody to tease…"
Judy gave off a little laugh, and then stretched out her fist toward her partner, who playfully responded with a light fist bump.
"Well, I'll admit that plan was quite insane and it did work." Nick mumbled, watching the other officers drag away the robbers "So, think Bogo will give us a medal for this?"
"Hardly, you two will be lucky if he doesn't kill you for all the damage". Spautley said, pushing the the zebra and panther into the car.
"Specially for trashing a police car like that." Added McHorn, as both Nick and Judy looked at their wrecked patrol car, which now in all it's fruit-covered, bullet-ridden and flower-filled glory looked some nightmarish parade-float.
"Maybe he won't notice?" Judy asked innocently, just as the car's left door fell off along with it's bumper, which made the bunny's ears drop in response.
Giving a sad little sigh, Judy then felt someone pulling at her sleeve. Turning her head, she saw the little lamb giving her a sweet smile with his mother standing behind him.
"T-Thank you for saving my little boy, officer." The adult sheep said softly, as Judy couldn't help but to smile back, then let out a gasp of surprise when she got hugged by child.
Nick smirked at this and quickly fished out his phone and took a picture. Looking at the image, Nick then closed his eyes and exhaled softly.
It was strange, but days like this was when he loved being a cop the most. Slow days were all fine and dandy, but on the days when he and his partner could actually make a big difference, was when the fox truly felt what a different person he had become since quitting with small-time hustling.
Then, feeling someone poke at his side, the fox opened his eyed and saw Judy smiling at him.
Nick would have said it was just outright "cute", but using that word in her presence would have probably earned him a merciless kick from her foot.
"Hey, if you're done day dreaming. We need to head back to the station and do a full report, plus you'll be buying me coffee~" She said, making her way towards the wrecked police car before Nick could even utter a word.
Standing there awestruck, the fox then sighed hiding his phone away as he followed after her.
"I swear that bunny must have hidden powers that make it impossible to say "no" to her." He muttered under his breath.
Just as the police were busy making sure nobody could approach the crime scene, a single figure stood among the crowd, carefully taking a sip of her paper cup of coffee. Studying the entire scene, with her eyes delaying a bit on the the sheep mother and her son, a faint smirk spread across her muzzle. She then pulled out her phone and began dialing a number. Placing the phone to her ear, she spoke into it as someone picked up on the other end.
"Да, это я (Yes, it's me). I wish to ask you for a small favor, I need to find out some info on one individual. Species of a golden Jackal, around 30 years of age. Yes, part of a bank robbery that just happened…Mmm… I see… And his phone number? Heh, I see…Спасибо, это очень мне поможет...(Thank you, this will help me a lot)" Having gotten the information she needed, she pocketed her phone and vanished among the crowd, a faint flicker of her ocelot tail.