"Everyone, please exit this way!"
"Whats going on?"
"Can I get a quote?"
"Shut up and run!"
"This is a disaster!"
"I'm not paid enough for this!"
Evacuating the guests was not going smoothly. The persistent alarm as well as the frequent rumbling and shaking of the building had many in a panic, with the more flighty mammals already scrambling for the doors. Security was doing its best to direct the flow out the emergency exits, but with so many mammals, and lacking the intimidation offered by Maximus's, it was quickly becoming a stampede.
Quickly, but still somehow casual, Malcom Calico slid through the chaos like oil and out the front door, straight into the limousine that just happened to be waiting. An aardvark, in the black and green security uniform of Calico Industries, opened the rear door for his employer, slipping inside after him.
"Take us to the office in Zootopia," ordered Calico, tapping the tinted glass partition separating the spacious passenger compartment from the driver. The vehicle pulled away moments later, the unseen driver honking the horn at fleeing mammals.
"You look nervous Otis," commented Calico, calmly analysing his companion.
The aardvark in question was fiddling with the company logo stitched to his vest, a single, luminous green, feline eye.
"Just a little Mr Calico," he stuttered. "You sure we're going to be safe from this thing in Zootopia?"
"Of course Otis," reassured the panther. "You've been with me for years, when have I ever steered you wrong?"
"Never, Mr Calico," he replied, mopping nervous sweat from his brow with a napkin from his pocket.
Calico let out an amused chuckle.
"Don't worry my friend, everything might change by the end of today, but I assure you that it means good things for Calico Industries."
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Judy sprinted after the Hare, his flashbang had done a number on her senses, but thankfully things were returning to focus as she closed the distance to her target.
Ears trailing behind her, she rounded a corner in time to see one of the doors flap open on its hinge. Putting on a burst of speed she shoved through it and caught herself on a metal railing, having discovered a spiral, concrete staircase.
She cautiously lent over to see if she could spot her target, noting how deep down the stairs went, only to have him wrap a wire around her neck from behind. The hare hauled back with all his strength, Judys arms flailing as the cord dug into her throat, tranquilizer pistol clattering to the floor. Managing to slip a paw underneath by the edge of her jaw, she was able to twist it around her wrist and grab her attacker's own paw in a lock.
The two struggled for control as the Hare attempted to resume throttling her, but Judy had strength born from hours of farmwork and refined by police training. With a mighty heave she threw herself backwards against the wall, smushing the hare between herself and the concrete. The wind knocked from his sails, his grip slackened enough for her to slip free.
Coughing and spluttering, she stumbled against the railing as he blindly charged her, attempting to push her over the edge. However, she caught his arm and used her attacker's own momentum to throw him over instead.
There was a moment of silent horror as Judy realized she might have just killed the lapine, cautiously peering over the edge, the rabbit saw he had managed to grab one of the steel banisters and was hauling himself back up onto the stairs. So she took a second to recover her tranq pistol.
"Freeze!" she ordered, pointing the weapon at her assailant.
The Hare looked up for a split second, then took off once more, using his legs to leap several steps at a time in an effort to put some distance between them. However, he underestimated the determination inside the ZPD's first rabbit, as she jumped across from where she stood before kicking off the opposite wall in a series of jumps that had her land right in front of the fleeing hare.
Recovering quickly from the surprise, several pellets dropped from his utility belt and erupted in thick, black smoke as a sharp puff of air by his cheek told him Judy had fired and missed, giving him the opportunity to disappear through the only door on this level.
Eyes streaming, Judy was blind, but her sensitive ears picked up the sound of the door opening and she stumbled through the smog after the intruder.
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The lift doors opened with a *ping* and Nick raced down the corridor.
"So, why do you guys even have your own generators?" he enquired through the radio.
"It was primarily so we could experiment without the need to worry about causing a blackout if something went sideways" replied Clawdon.
"You mean like now?" snarked the fox, shoving through a pair of double doors.
A dozen titanic generators loomed before the vulpine officer, turbines roaring as their dials and displays spun and flickered with the ever increasing output of power. A thundercrack caused Nick's to snap his gaze upwards as a lance of golden lightning had him diving for cover as it struck the ceiling, chunks of masonry raining down from above.
"Clawdon, I'm here." He barked.
"Great! The Hardline is on the far side of the room, by the controls in the second level control pod."
"Of course it is," muttered the exasperated fox as he ran down the line of machines, spotting the raised pod resting on thick steel beams. However, in order to get to the stairs he would have to run between a line of lightning shooting generators.
"Really?!" he complained aloud, watching sparks fly from the abused technology.
Scanning the room for a solution he spotted three open lockers lined against a wall, and one had a hazmat suit dangling inside.
He grabbed the suit in his paw, confirming it had a rubbery texture. It was for a bigger mammal, probably a wolf, but he didn't have time to complain as an idea quickly took shape and he slipped it on. Holding up the excess suit in his paws, the fox took off in a waddling run towards the generators.
Golden lightening lanced past the suit's plastic visor as he puffed and panted between rumbling machines, mentally praying he wouldn't end up like a crispy cricket stick. Stumbling as a boot slipped loose, he fell sideways into a generator with a loud clang. Even in the suit, he felt his fur stand on end while the deep thrum from the machine's steel casing reverberated in his bones.
Shaking his head, he hoisted up the excess once more and stumbled on as fast as he could, glad that Judy couldn't see how ridiculous he looked.
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Judy reloaded her tranquilizer, the mechanism giving a soft click as she closed on the Hare once again. This time she didn't give him any warning, and leapt forwards on her powerful legs, wrapping her arms around his midsection as she tackled him to the ground.
With a startled yelp, Edward Screws fell forwards, rolling as Judy Hopps fought to restrain him. He kicked, fought and bit at the ZPD officer as the fight devolved into a desperate struggle for dominance that ended when Judy roughly slammed him face down against the cold, tiled floor, managing to pin both his arms to the small of his back.
"You, sir, are under arrest!" she stated firmly.
"Sorry to disappoint!"
Flicking the screen on his arm with a fingertip caused harsh, white light to erupt right in Judy's face and she instinctively brought a paw up to shield her eyes. Allowing Edward enough leeway to buck his body hard, throwing her off with a startled cry.
Scrambling to his feet, the hare felt a tranq dart angrily buzz past his cheek before he took off yet again, heading deeper into the laboratory. Blinking spots from her eyes, Judy hissed in anger as she reloaded for a second time.
"This guy is going in a cell if it's the last thing I do."
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Huffing, panting, and a little singed, Nick finally made it to the observation pod stairs. Tongue lolling out of his muzzle, the vulpine shed the suit and hauled himself up to the platform as fast as his aching legs could move, gulping down electrically charged air into his burning lungs.
"I'm at the platform," he huffed into his radio. "What does the hardline look like?"
"It's a box with a yellow lightning bolt on it," replied Clawdon. "There's also a big lever on the side."
Scanning the wall, Nick quickly spied the box in question. A thick, black cable ran out from inside it down to a computer terminal that had a big red button labelled EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN.
"I see it, there's also a button on the console."
"Pull the lever to sever the generator's connection, then hit the button to shut them all down!"
Not needing to be told twice, Nick clambered up on the console and pulled the lever as hard as he could. The metal screeched in protest as he forced the seized hinge to move after years of being ignored, but then suddenly stuck. The fox pulled on it with several sharp yanks but despite heaving as hard as he could, he couldn't budge the neglected machine. Thinking quickly, he climbed up and wedged his body behind the lever, against the wall.
"Move! You! Piece! Of! Junk!"
With each declaration he angrily stomped both feet against the rusted metal, the lever shaking and shifting until, with one final kick, it suddenly gave way, falling forwards with a shrieking wail of neglected steel as Nick tumbled down behind it with a yelp.
Thudding into the console, the disorientated vulpine staggered to his feet, shaking his head as he slammed a fist on the shut down. The generators were abruptly silenced and the room engulfed in darkness, red emergency lighting snapping to life a moment later.
"Wilde to Clawdon, hardline is cut, generators are shut down."
"That's great news!" celebrated Clawdon, but then another rumble shook the building.
"Uh, Doc?" questioned Nick. "I thought that would stop this."
The radio was silent for a moment, then Clawdon began frantically speaking.
"It wasn't enough! The reaction is still going on!"
"What!?" he exclaimed. "Why didn't it work?"
"It must have become self-sustaining, it's not being fed by the generators so it won't explode, but the reaction will still be an exothermic expulsion of radiation!"
"English Doc!"
"If we don't redirect the reaction into the labs, it will expel radiation over Zootopia like radioactive fallout!"
Nick felt the blood drain from his face.
"Judy! Did you hear that?!" he fearfully relayed into the radio.
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"I heard it, Slick. Standby," she replied, kicking one of the laboratory doors open. The sudden loss of main lighting had allowed him a momentary chance to hide, but Judy's ears proved just as sensitive as ever, as she heard which room he had ducked into.
Tranq pistol raised, she swept the room but there was no sign of her target. Quickly moving inside, her ears picked up creaking from behind.
Spinning on her heel, the rabbit witnessed a steel shelf unit toppling towards her and immediately scrambled out from underneath before it slammed into the floor in a cacophony of shattering glass and clattering equipment.
"Where are you?" crackled Nick's anxious voice.
A petri dish ricochet off the wall by her shoulder as the Hare reappeared from where the shelf unit once stood. Judy returned fire but the dart missed yet again as her target ducked left and disappeared into the maze of shelving units which filled the room.
"Funny thing," she replied, hesitantly. "You know that guy I was chasing, he went into the labs."
"What! Don't tell me you followed him?!" he cried.
"Uh...,"
"...I'm coming down! Clawdon, keep that stuff contained as long as you can!"
"I can't do that," protested the tiger. "The pipeline is already nearing its limits, there's just not enough time."
"You should leave Nick," stated Judy, loading another dart. "I can handle this guy."
"Not a chance Carrots," he replied. "It's either both of us or neither of us. Clawdon, keep me posted, I'll see you in a moment, Judy."
"Nick, hold on!" she argued, but he didn't respond. With an aggravated huff she dodged a flying beaker as the Hare came out of hiding.
"Loyal partner you have there, unlike mine." he stated.
"Give up and maybe we can see he goes to prison instead of you," she replied, trying to reason with him.
"Afraid that's not how it works," replied the Lepid. "Guy has an army of lawyers and the money to pay them, then I'll be dead in a week anyway, he hates loose ends."
Judy charged the Hare, firing her weapon as he ducked between two shelving units of chemicals, the dart pinging harmlessly off them.
"We can protect you," she argued. "Keep you safe."
"Not from him you can't," came the resigned reply.
Judy rounded the unit and was swiftly tackled against it, wrestling with her attacker once again, as the building violently rumbled and shook for the last time.
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"Energy levels redlining!" yelled Sarah.
"It's going Critical!" shouted Brian.
"Dammit! Close the blast doors!" ordered Clawdon.
The two mice typed as quickly as they could, ordering the heavy doors to seal off each level as they created a path for the reaction that should let it safely burn out.
"I can't reach Nick or Judy!" cried Clawdon.
"We can't worry about them!" barked Brian. "We need to contain this, now!"
"Blast doors sealed!" confirmed Sarah.
"Aslan forgive me," muttered Clawdon. "Open the pipeline."
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Nick felt the lift shudder, his mind too focused on Judy to realise the reaction was flooding out of the pipeline and into the building. As the doors opened he sprinted right into the laboratories, only to be thrown backwards as a wall of energy slammed into him like a stampeding rhino.
The fox impacted the back of the lift car with a thud, before falling to the floor, unconscious.
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Edward kicked Judy backwards into the shelf, chemicals rattling in their beakers as she crashed into the metal. Clutching her side, the rabbit braced herself as the Hare lunged for her once more and she lashed out with a kick moments before the reaction hit.
Edward Screws was kicked sideways then propelled like a ragdoll by the energy from the accelerator, his body crashing into a junction box with a shower of sparks and electricity before crumpling to the floor in a cloud of smoke and the smell of burnt fur.
Simultaneously Judy was thrown backwards into the shelves with enough force to topple them like dominoes. In a crash of shattering glass and twisting metal, the rabbits body was bathed in a multitude of chemicals and radiation from the accelerator.
In that moment something impossible was re-energised, something once saved her life and whose remnants had been dormant inside her body for months.
The rabbits eyes snapped open, mouth split wide in silent anguish as fire and electricity burned through her veins, muscles spasming and twitching as golden lightning erupted from deep inside her core, arching across her body and within the whites of her eyes. She felt everything at once, the vibrations of cells, the heat of the radiation, even something greater she couldn't comprehend as she was connected to some new force, before falling mercifully unconscious, sparks sputtering from her fingertips.