Chapter Summary
Life on the streets of Zootopia is a hard one, life as a cop even harder. When a child goes missing, no one will feel unscathed. As Officer Judy Hopps will find out today.
Chapter Notes
Warning: Written quickly, not beta'ed, and edits are not in depth. Will continue to edit and refine if I spot problems.
Judy Hopps was top of her class, through middle school, high school, college, and the academy. Valedictorian. She was a rabbit driven to succeed...she was even head cheerleader in Senior year of High School. What most would call a popular girl, and over achieving Type A.
BA in Criminal Justice, qualifications on all aspects of police work. Pursuit Driving, hand-to-hand, air-arms, firearms, impact weapons, tactics. She was slotted for a try out for Sahara Town SWAT next month, SWAT didn't extend invitations lightly. You either had to have previous experience in the military with an active deployment under your belt, or you had to be a officer noted for being able to handle themselves well in crisis situations. Physicality came second to Temperament.
Nick probably would not have fared well under those assessments, or maybe he would? Judy entertained the stray thought, he was still six more months in his academy time, and then two months with a TO. Bogo had assured her, that he would not get thrown into the deep end like she did. Or rather, he wouldn't get a chance to throw himself into it like she did. Not that he would, no, Judy knew Nick well enough for that now. She was his tutor, and his best friend. He'd claw his way to the top like she did...or else.
The stray thought, became a web. Judy Hopps spun it masterfully, in her own opinion. Her blindspots while cut down, still existed. Nick helped with that. He made sure she didn't loose sight of things. Yes, Judy thought, it was better to think about that, rather than what was going on around her...she had enough thoughts about it enough. Even as she walked upon dry leaves and moist dirt, and memories of her childhood sprang into the mix as well, she had enough thoughts about the dirty backpack found under a rock.
Half hidden, with a big distorted paw print showing it was kicked under there. That dirty little backpack with the Mega Power Robots cast on there, in their silly little space suits. Ricky, the pilot of Red Robot, was smiling and giving a thumbs up even with a hole from a errant claw in his snout. She had called it in dutifully, a half mile back, marked it with a flag for the crime scene boys. Her little brothers and sisters loved that campy ass cartoon. Other parts of her had noted the details, for later. Animal, of the none-hooved variety, between her size and Fangmire's by the size of the paws. Was ill kept on claw maintenance, and was not sophisticated enough to realize they'd leave evidence. Too stupid, too much in a hurry, too panicked, take your pick...Who didn't know about paw prints?
"Hopps, over here." Fangmire called, he had Scent Tracking Quals, best nose in Squadron 1. The grey wolf was leading her deeper into their Grid Square in Zootopia's Grand Central Wild Nature Preserve, 30 Square Miles of forest and rivers.
They had called it Critical Missing, thirty hours on. Some chapter of the Rangers off doing camping stuff in what was considered the biggest park in Zootopia. Really, it was more of a national forest than a park. Little wolf pup by the name of Billy Dewlap had gone missing from the back of the group. The ranger master had not been paying attention, who's idea was it to only have only two adults in charge? There was suppose to be another adult, but he had called in sick...and now...little Billy Dewlap was gone. Thirty children walked in, only twenty-nine came out.
Judy knew in her heart, that when she found that pack, that little splash of color among the browns and greens of the preserve, that Billy Dewlap was gone. Fangmire knew too, he had been working Patrol near ten years now. He seen things like this before. Though given what she saw during the Missing Mammals case, he didn't need to tell her how far some animals could go. Either in brutality in the moment, or by craven thought and premeditation. The two of them, assigned to Grid Square G15, deep in the middle of the reserve had held out hope the little cub had wondered out this deep. It had been a easy sell, the easiest sell, in the face of two weeping parents, and the resources of Central's District 1 Police House through on to Sahara Square's air unit.
...Nick was first up in protocol, procedure, and the practical penal codes...and the scholarly ones too. Like her surprisingly. It was one subject that he didn't need help on. Fangmire was leading them to a pond. Nick could cite procedure at her like he was reading the book out loud, from the most obscure to the most relevant. Even she hadn't remembered what the procedure on resowing brass buttons onto their Dress Blues were. It was a over lapping stitch. A call for divers from the Marine Division. Nick was doing good, even if he was overly cautious most of the time. Old Ironlungs was still a Muzzlebook friend, complained that he liked to dance around too much. Too afraid to hit an animal. Better too cautious, than end up on shaky cam with a bad story falling apart.
"Oh..." Fangmire said, turning his head. He pointed towards the reeds.
"Oh..." Officer Judy Hopps replied, her voice soft, as all those stray thoughts and the web they built fluttered away.
It was time to get to work. She took a breath, she counted to four, she let it out. It was time to get to work.
Officer Judy Hopps didn't reach for the radio on her shoulder, instead it was to her phone. She went down her contacts list. There would be no sound bite on the evening news, no overheard tidbit that some news vulture would steal out of the air...at least...that was her hope.
Her voice cool and collected, determined rang out with a finality as Fangmire press the base of his thumb between his closed eyes, and muttered a prayer to the Old Gods of the wolves.
"Chief. We found him...we need Doctor Pearlmonger..."