Chapter Four: The Leo Lionheart Show

A/N: This is another chapter where my brain was on fire so I kept writing and writing and couldn't stop. That's why it's a lot longer than chapter three. It's also a chapter where I had a few scenes already played out in my head for a long while.

Back to the police action again! I can tell from the lack of reviews on chapter three that you want more action and less fluff. To be honest, chapter three was hard for me to write and didn't come off exactly how I wanted it to. I'm hoping to do better when we go back to the Hopps home.

See if you can find the Bugs Bunny reference.

7:10pm At the ZPD Maximum Security Prison

Chief Swinton and several police officers had their backs to the wall. Literally. A good chunk of the guards who were hired within the last year or two were on Lionheart's side and the rest were either sympathizers, dead or had ru n off. The entrance to the prison was the last stand.

"Hey Swinton!" shouted one of the guards. "Thanks for the guns and live ammo! It would have been REALLY hard to get out without them!"

One shot finally hit Swinton in the shoulder. "OW! Damnit!"

"We're not gonna hold much longer!" Higgins replied. "We gotta go!"

"No!" Swinton shouted. "We have to hold the line here!"

Officer Trumpet got shot in his large ear and panicked. "AAH! I'm too big a target! I'm outta here!"

The elephant started to run off and Swinton finally gave up. "Shit! Everyone retreat back to your squad cars! We've lost!"

Delgato was hiding behind a pillar and getting shot at. "I could use some backup here!"

Suddenly, a tiger prisoner came up from behind and got the lion in a choke hold. Delgato could barely breathe.

But backup arrived. The tiger was pulled back and was judo-flipped by Clawhauser. The fat cheetah quickly got some cuffs on the perp.

Ben pulled Delgato off the ground. Delgato was very proud of his new partner. "Alright! Go Team Kitty!"

Clawhauser was delighted. "EEEE! You're finally on board with 'Team Kitty'! "

"Yeah, yeah. Let's get the hell out of here! We have a city to save."

Trumpet got into his large squad car with Higgins. "There's a peaceful protest of Lionheart at the City Center and Gazelle's leading it. It's gonna be a big target fer those stinkin' preds! Let's roll partner."

Trumpet got nothing but silence from Higgins. "What's yer problem?! Is it because I ran?"

"What's my problem?! I learned the truth! You killed that kid for fun! He wasn't even the suspect!"

"That was years ago! I didn't know it would kill him! He would have just grown into another pred punk!"

" 'A pred punk?!' Like Delgato?! Like Wolford?! Like Wilde?!"

"Look around you man! Everything's going to hell because of those stinkin' preds!"

"Everything's going to hell because people like you abuse their power and hurt and kill predators! No wonder they're upset! The way we've put down preds, we should have known this was coming. This anger's been swelling up like a gas leak and Lionheart lit the fire!"

"Maybe we need to just chill out for a little bit. Okay?"

"How about you just don't speak to me for the rest of the night?"

"...FINE!"

As Trumpet was driving, there was a tense silence filling the car. Trumpet spoke up. "...I'm...I'm real sorry I killed that kid. It haunted me for a long time. But it was an accident!"

Nothing but silence. Trumpet finally gave up. "...Whatever."

Meanwhile, inside the jail...

Manchas and the Wilde boys were in a gang fight with the Los Lobos and other prisoners while Jake and Finnick headed towards the prey side of the jail.

Jake was convinced of Finnick's intentions. "Well, since yer goin' my way, I guess you ain't lyin'!"

"Oh NOW you believe me!" Finnick replied.

Meanwhile, two jaguar prisoners who are Rusev's men were trying to get the polar bear out of his solitary confinement cell. "Sorry boss! We can't find the keys! We're trying to jimmy it, but nothing works!"

"Stand back." said Rusev. The jaguars did as he commanded. Then, there was a banging on the door of the cell. BANG! Then another. BANG!

"What is he doing?" asked one jaguar.

"I think he's..."

He got his answer as Rusev manged to kick the steel door right off of it's hinges. "Let's go. I have stoopeed leetle fox to keel."

Jake and Finnick went down the hallway towards the prey cells, but they made a wrong turn and went right into the path of Rusev.

Rusev had an evil grin on his face. "Oh look! Someone heard me call for leetle fox to keel, but you two are not Nick Vilde.

Jake got brave. Brave and stupid. "I won't let you hurt Nick!" Jake lunged at Rusev to bite him in the neck only for Rusev to catch him with one paw.

Rusev smiled at the fox. "You...friend of Vilde?"

"Yeah!"

"You vere." Rusev used his free paw and slashed Jake's chest open. He then threw him into the wall hard.

Finnick screamed. "JAKE! NO!" He ran over and bit as hard as he could into Rusev's ankle.

Rusev just laughed. "What ees thees?! Is like flea biting me!" With a finger and thub, Rusev pinched Finnick's orange shirt and lifted him up.

The polar bear couldn't stop laughing as Finnick punched the air. "HA-HA! Ees so cute! Like leetle baby trying to fight! Keelink you would be too easy. Besides, you are Mr. Big Ears no?"

"Why the hell do you care?!"

"Eef not for your help weeth big plan Rusev might still be in jail. So Rusev not keel you. Just give you leetle warning. Do. Not. Cross. Me. Again."

He flicked Finnick hard in the face with one finger and threw him against the wall. Finnick hit the back of his head hard, causing the fennec fox to lose consciousness.

Rusev was laughing on his way out. "That was so funny! Did you see his pathetic leetle bite on my ankle?! HA! I also get to keel fox on my way out! Thees ees good start for Rusev!"

Meanwhile, Lionheart was still grandstanding front of the camera. He put his sheet in front of the camera like it was a curtain.

"LIVE! From the Zootopia Maximum Security prison...It's the Leo Lionheart show! Staring your new king, Leodore Lionheart!"

The bats in the television studio were watching while the mice crew were tied to the floor.

"This is pathetic." said one of the bats.

"Careful." said the other. "That might eventually count as treason."

"Good point."

Meanwhile, Lionheart finally removed the curtain and showed himself. "And now, here's your host, King Leodore Lionheart!"

Leo stood in front of the camera. "Hello everyone! Sorry for that...interruption earlier. Like I told 'Miss Piggy' earlier, I'm not leaving this prison. Why? Because I'm going to take these prison walls and make them into my castle! I shall give my message to you, the great citizens Zootopia right here! Predators, you been the slaves of this hypocrisy of a city for far too long! It's time to rise! Rise up and show these pathetic prey that WE are their masters! PURGE! Purge the streets of this prey infestation! We shall make them fear us! I shall do that tonight by cutting the head off the snake of the prey-loving filth. Tonight, live on television. I will bring you the head...of Dawn Bellwether. Oh yes! The one who secretly made this city fear us and put prejudice against us even worse than what we were already facing! It's a miracle I even became mayor! The death of her will be the end of the anti-prey movement! And furthermore..."

Suddenly, there was a rap on Lionheart's bars. "Hmmm? Looks like we have our first guest! Who could it be?"

Dapper Dan put out his paw for Lionheart to shake. He was still accompanied by Wolf and Stein. "I told you I might say farewell in person."

Lionheart shook the fox's paw. He was astounded. He recognized the voice and remembered their last conversation. "The adviser! It was YOU the whole time?!"

"Indeed. Sorry about that outburst earlier, but as you can see, the jailbreak is going well."

Lionheart smiled. "Indeed! Would you liked to be interviewed on camera?"

"No thanks. I want to start my new life and I still wish to remain anonymous. Although at least YOU know who I am."

"Indeed. You've been very popular in this prison. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised it was you. You've made quite a lot of connections."

"Indeed. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some people outside who are just...'dying' to meet me!"

"Of course."

"Oh! One more thing. If you run into Rusev, tell him not to kill Nick Wilde. We had an agreement. Besides, I just found out he's going to be our new mayor. Or at least he WAS. Ha-Ha! If he plays his cards right, I'm sure you'll have a place for him in your cabinet."

"Hmmm...maybe. He is one of the reasons I was arrested to begin with. Still, it delights me that Mayor Trunk was beaten by another predator. HA! This night is getting better and better. Farewell Dap-I mean, the Adviser."

"Fare thee well." Dapper Dan walked off with the wolves.

"Well, it looks like the police backed off and it's gonna be a clean break." Wolf said. "Where to now?"

"I've always been interested in people of power...Let's go meet the mayor."

Lionheart went back to the camera. "That was 'The Adviser' folks! He's a big part of what made this jailbreak happen. Hold on. I can hear some heavy footsteps coming my way...Why, it's Rusev! Come in! Come in!"

Rusev was usually a very intimidating man, but he was timid around Lionheart. When they last got into a fight, Lionheart had his nephew killed, so Rusev now lived in fear of the lion. His fear brought respect.

"You weesh to see me your majesty?"

" 'Your majesty?!' I love that! Yes! Yes! Now, from what I understand, you plan to go kill Nick Wilde, correct?"

"Yes! I weel crush heem! He is already very injured thanks to me. He threatened to come after me eef I ever got out of prison."

Rusev then looked into the camera. "Ees thees think on?"

"Yes! We hijacked a mouse studio."

"Good! Nick Vilde! You promised to come after me eef I break out of prison! Well, here I am! Come...find me! Or I weel find you."

"Just one thing. The Adviser said for you not to go after Wilde. That'd he'd deal with him himself. I guess you had some kind of agreement?"

"No way! Nick ees mine!"

"I thought you'd say that...HA! Well I won't stop you! He's part of the reason I'm in jail! Do me a favor would you? Make it a two-fer."

"...A two-who?"

"Kill Judy Hopps too. She'll probably be at his side."

The polar bear showed an evil grin. "You got it your royal majesty."

Lionheart patted him on the back. "HA-HAAA! I love that! Go get 'em killer! I may make you a general!"

As Rusev left, a tiger came in. "Um, sir? We've been watching the news reports come in."

Lionheart bared his fangs. "It's...'Your Majesty'!"

"R-Right! Your majesty, we've been watching the news reports come in."

"Great how wrecked is the city?"

"Not that bad yet."

"...WHAT?!"

"S-Sorry sir! I mean, your majesty, but not that many predators are out there rioting. They say only about a quarter of them are and the rest are staying at home or even counter-protesting!"

"It's that damn 'Preds-for-Peace' thing! Now I'm REALLY glad Rusev's out to kill Wilde! Tell the men to execute 'Plan B'. In the meantime, I need someone to find Bellwether for me. Her death will help unite our people."

A little earlier, at Little Rodentia...

"COBRAS!" shouted Duke and the mice.

The tiger and dingo emptied out the leather sack that the cobras slithered out from their bag. The snakes looked around the outside of Little Rodentia.

The female cobra spoke up. "Oh look Reginald! We've finally arrived in Zootopia!"

"It's a bit smaller than in the brochures, eh Victoria?" The male cobra said.

"Oooh quite! Still, it was it's charm."

"I must say, the accommodations on this travel were quite displeasing. They didn't even offer snacks or a movie to watch!"

Brie showed up with a gun pointed at the cobras. She was very nervous. "ZPD! Freeze! Y-You and your husband have t-to leave this city at once!"

"What's going on?!" said Victoria. "Thought they finally allowed reptiles into the city!"

"Well...umm...no ma'am. Who told you that?!"

Reginald looked up at the tiger and dingo. "Why, these fine gentleman here. They offered to take us on a tour, although I must say, they've been quite rude!"

"Rather." said Victoria. "I'm going to report them to the tourist board!"

The tiger was getting upset. "What the hell are you waiting for! Get into Little Rodentia and eat the mice!"

"Eat them?!" Victoria replied. "Heavens no! Oh! I feel faint!"

Reginald was rather upset. "Now see here my good man! Me and my wife are vegetarians! We're just here to tour the city!"

The dingo got pissed. "Why youuu!" He kicked the male cobra. That was a huge mistake. The cobra hissed and lunged at the dingo, biting him in the butt.

The dingo panicked. "AAH! I've been bit! I'm poisoned! Daryl! Let's get outta here!:

The tiger and dingo ran away from the cobras.

"I wonder if I should tell them I'm de-venomed?" Reginald said which made his wife laugh.

Brie was feeling more at ease and she lowered her gun. "Sooo. You're not going to attack us?"

"Of course not!" said Victoria.

"I apologize for any confusion." said Reginald. "We just came here to tour the city and they used us!"

Victoria sobbed. "SNIFF! Now we have to leave."

Just then, Brie came up with an idea. "Wait! Look! There is chaos in the city tonight. Predators are attacking prey in big numbers and I fear Little Rodentia will be taken over. Will you two help me? Please?"

"It would be our pleasure." said Reginald.

Just then, Duke spoke up. He had lifted his stepson as high as he could off the ground in fear of the cobras. "Ummm...excuse me? So are they good guys then? Cuz I've been holdin' Paco up fer awhile and he's gettin' heavy."

"Yeah!" Brie replied. "They're on our side."

"PHEW! Thank goodness!" Duke then dropped Paco.

"OW!" said the little ferret.

"Sorry son. You wuz gettin' heavy."

Brie then gave them instructions. "Keep that dome up and protect the city from the inside. I'm gonna take the cobras on the outside of L.R. And defend the parameter."

"Oh, so what?! Now we're on guard duty?! You tell yer tiny mayor 'dat I'm chargin' extra fer that!"

"Just do it! Please!"

"Alright! Alright! Paco, yer mudder's gonna be worried sick."

Brie jumped onto Reginald's back. "Alright. Let's ride. HYAAH!"

"I'm not a horse my dear." Reginald replied.

"Oh! Umm.. sorry. Let's go...please?"

"Of course."

Duke took a quick picture of Brie riding the cobra's back. "Dat's gonna go viral! Now let's put some beams up and fortify 'dis place."

Meanwhile, the tiger and dingo found a safe corner to hide. "Craig! Are you okay?!"

The dingo was in a panic. "Of course not Daryl! I've been bit by a cobra! I'm poisoned! Craig. I hate to ask you a favor. I'm going to drop my pants and I need you to suck the poison out."

"GASP! But Craig!"

"Do it Daryl! Please! Please suck my ass!"

"..Oh Craig. I've been waiting for you to say that for ten years."

"...Wow. Ummm...Well this just got awkward."

A little while later at the city center...

Nick, Judy and several other ZPD members surrounded the parameter where the peaceful protest against Lionheart was taking place. In the middle of it all was Gazelle. She was holding hands and singing "Kumbaya" with a crowd of peaceful gatherers. Clawhauser was happy because he and Delgato got assigned to watch her after the prison fell. He held her hoof in his paw as they sang.

"Someone's crying my Lord...Kumbaya!"

"Ooooh Lord, Kumbaya!"

Judy couldn't help but chuckle at the situation which confused Nick. "What's up?"

"You don't remember?" Judy said. She then imitated Nick. "Tell me if this story sounds familiar. Naïve little hick with good grades and big ideas decides, 'Hey, look at me, I'm gonna move to Zootopia where predators and prey live in harmony and sing 'Kumbaya'! Well guess what Red? They DO sing 'Kumbaya' In yo face!"

Nick couldn't help but laugh. "The times, they are a changin'.

Judy then asked Nick a question. "Think Trunk will be safe in his mansion?"

"Sure! He's got two huge grizzly bears guarding him. He'll be fine. We're the ones more likely to die."

"Don't say that! We have the knowledge now. We'll get through this."

"We both heard the news Fluff. Rusev is out there. Looking for me."

"If it comes down to it, we'll stop him. Together." Just then, Judy heard something overhead. "Do you hear that?"

"I don't hear a thing."

"You don't have bunny ears. ...It sounds very familiar...It's the blimp! It's still invisible!"

Judy got on the radio. "Attention all officers! The blimp is in the City Center! Repeat! The blimp is in the city center!"

Higgins and Trumpet were nearby. "She's right!" said Trumpet. I can hear it!" He looked over and saw the City Center building they were near. "I bet they're near or on the roof. Follow me Higgs!"

Trumpet and Higgins went into the building and up the stairs. In the meantime, the blimp had revealed itself. Trumpet was right. It was resting near the top of the building. It started spreading the Nighthowler gas into the crowd.

"Everyone please disperse immediately!" Judy shouted.

Clawhauser pulled Gazelle with him and made a run for the squad car. Gazelle screamed as a puma chomped on her leg, but he was instantly felled when he was hit in the neck by a dart from Nick's gun. "Me and Judy will cover you!" The fox said. "Quick! Get going!"

Ben threw Gazelle into the back of the squad car as he and Delgato quickly got into the front. What Gazelle saw was a grizzly sight. Predators were not only attacking prey, but other predators as well. She saw an otter's head get bitten off by a jackal. Prey were running haphazardly through the crowd.

The one shining light was Nick and Judy. Judy was using her bo staff to knock back some of the savage predators and also using her gas grenades while Nick was expertly aiming his dart gun and downing several predators.

Judy was actually running on their heads as she was hitting them with her bo staff. "Gangway! Gangway! One side! One side! Let a rabbit through!"

It didn't last as she was pounced onto the ground by a puma. She held her staff in front of her to push him back. Just as he was about to bite deep into her neck, he got hit with a dart and passed out.

Everyone had either run off or were on the ground in front of the City Center. The only two left standing were Nick and Judy.

Nick picked Judy up off the ground. "Thanks Slick!" she said. "Y'know, you are DAMN good with that dart gun!"

"Thanks. I actually did get high marks in marksmanship in the academy. Damn good at darts too. Although Finnick can beat me every time. We used to hustle folks in gam-"

"Not now honey."

"Sorry."

They watched as everyone hit with the darts and gas grenades slowly made it to their feet. "Is everyone okay?" Judy asked.

"A wolf rubbed his head. "Yeah. I'm good. What happened?"

Judy pointed at the blimp in the sky. "THAT happened. It sent out Nighthowler gas that made everyone go savage."

"There's a big flaw in Lionheart's plan though." Nick said.

"What's that?" Judy asked.

"You didn't notice? The gas only makes the mammals ignore their own species. Period. This guy didn't attack another wolf, but he did attack another predator."

"That is a big flaw." Judy replied. She then noticed something. "Why is the blimp spinning?"

Moments earlier...

The blimp was near the roof, but a few feet away. As Lionheart's men were gassing the City Center below, they didn't notice the two large mammals heading their way from the top of the roof at full speed.

"Jump Higgs!" Trumpet yelled as they leaped onto the blimp.

The tilt from the two heavy officers caused the jaguar pumping out the gas to fall out of the blimp and to his death.

Trumpet got in first and saw Higgins barely hanging on. He pulled him in. "Let's shut this door and get to the cockpit!"

Before they could, they were attacked by two more predators. A leopard and a painted dog. Trumpet reached for his dart gun and shot at one of them, but it missed and hit the canister holding the gas. It was now leaking in.

With the Nighthowler gas leaking, Higgins had mere seconds to react. He darted the two predators, Trumpet and himself just in case the gas was targeted at their species.

Everyone was passed out except the pilot. "What the hell's going on?" With everyone on the floor, the pilot took a big whiff of the gas and went savage. He immediately bit at the jaguar and was thrashing about.

With no one piloting, the blimp started to spin in the air. Within the minute, all four were starting to wake again. Higgins made a mad dash for the cockpit as Trumpet went for his dart gun. It had dropped.

The painted dog attacked Trumpet again while the jaguar was fighting his own pilot. Higgins had a plan. He pulled the blimp up so it was heading for the sky.

The tilt caused everyone to fall backwards. Trumpet's gun caught up to him. And he hit the painted dog in the neck.

No effect this time. "Shit! We're all immune now!"

"Erik!" Screamed the jaguar "Forget the elephant and get Charlie off of me!"

With the distraction, Trumpet grabbed Erik and the pilot. "Let me help you!" He bashed their head stogether, knocking them out. Then, he knocked out the jaguar with his fist.

Moments later, Trumpet had them cuffed. "We did it Higgs!"

"Yay for us." said Higgins. "Now, I have a plan. The blimp is leaking gas both inside and outside so we can't land it without it affecting people. I'm going to drop you off on that roof and take this blimp right to the ceiling of the dome, explode it and hopefully crack open the dome. This will allow the army to get in."

"Good plan, only how do you explode it?"

"Swinton gave us grenades. Remember? Also this thing is leaking a ton of gas. The only reason we're not going savage again is that the tranquilizer gives you immunity. The gas may be flammable."

"Well it's hard to breathe. Let's open some windows."

Higgin's opened some windows and the door to relieve themselves from breathing in too much gas only to notice the blimp going up some more. "Wait what are you doing?!"

Trumpet came out of the cockpit. "I know what your plan is Higgin's! There's no way to blow up the blimp and jump out that high and survive! You're gonna kill yourself!"

"...At least the city will be safe."

"You have a husband!"

"You have a wife and kids!"

"AND I DISGRACED THEM!...I-I did! The moment I took joy in watching that poor boy suffer. I disgraced my family. I disgraced my uniform...I disgraced you."

"Please Trumpet. Let me do it."

Trumpet knew his friend would not give up on him. "Maybe you're right. How high up are we?"

"We're right above a large lake. If we get up any higher, the splash might kill us."

"Let's hope not." Trumpet said as he grabbed Higgins and threw him out of the blimp.

"No! No! Wait! AAAAAAH!" Higgins was falling towards the lake below.

Trumpet grabbed the others and uncuffed them. One by one he slapped them awake and threw them off the blimp.

SLAP! "OW!"

"Can you swim?"

"Yeah why?"

"Good." Toss.

"AAAAAH!"

Higgins was falling fast. Too fast. Plus his trajectory was changing and he was heading towards a street. "I'm coming in too fast! NONONONO! OWW!"

He was snatched on the shoulders by Zeke the hawk. "Sorry officer! I have to get a tight hold. GEEZ you're heavy! I'm falling with you!"

Zeke glided Higgins safely down into the streets. They tumbled and rolled until they finally came to a stop...Right in front of chief Swinton and several squad cars. They drew their guns onto Zeke. "It's an alpha predator! Freeze dirtbag!"

Higgins got himself off the ground and stretched his arms out to block the chief. "Wait! Trumpet's piloting the blimp and gonna try to blow up the dome! This hawk just saved my life! Let's hear him out."

"My name is Zeke and I am one of the hawks from the Bunnyburrow massacre," Everyone cocked their live ammo guns and pointed at Zeke. "O-kay! Maybe that wasn't the best intro. AHEM! Look, I have come here to redeem myself by helping to save lives. I'm willing to turn myself in, but I'd like to help as well. You don't have an officer that can fly do you?"

"Well...no." said Swinton. "If you're willing to help, you would be a huge advantage. Tell you what? I can't really be judge and jury here, but what the hell. I sentence you to 100 years. But right now, I want you up in the skies."

She put a hearing device on Zeke. "So! For every life you save, you get five years taken off your sentence. Save twenty lives, you can go home scott-free. Deal?"

Zeke smiled. "Deal!"

"And you can't lie because we can hear you."

Just then, they heard a huge explosion and looked up to the sky. The blimp had exploded at the ceiling of the dome, causing it to crack and shatter a little.

"TRUMPET!" Higgin's screamed.

Zeke stared. "Hes' unconscious, but intact. He might still be alive."

"You can see that?!" Higgins replied in shock.

"I'm a hawk. I can see a fly two miles away."

Swinton gave the hawk a deal. "What are you waiting for?! If you can save him, he counts for two! Go1 GO!"

"An elephant?! Hoo-boy. This is gonna be rough." Zeke quickly flew off into the sky to try to save Trumpet.