Chapter 4: A Hare-y Situation
Zootopia…Savannah Central…Downtown
As they were nearing the station Judy was reluctant to waste time on this so-called lead, she felt it was a dead end, some piece of bait to distract from the real culprit. She had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that this Bellwether was involved somehow.
The trio arrived at the station, only to hear the bellow of the chief over the station house chattering.
"Hopps! My Office now!" he exclaimed in a concerned tone.
As the trio went to Bogo's office, they were met by two familiar animals who were standing in front of the chief's door.
The pair smiled at Nick and Judy, to which Judy greeted Kaiden with a hug.
"Hey guys. How have things been?" Kaiden said sweetly.
"Terrible, over one hundred and fifty casualties last I checked." She replied.
"I'm sorry Judy."
As Judy went back to stand by Nick, Kaiden put a paw on each of their shoulders.
"How are you two doing?"
"Honestly….a bit rattled." Replied Nick plainly.
"We're going to catch this guy." Judy replied with conviction.
"Just know that Kit and I are here for you. We won't let anything happen to either of you." Kaiden reassured.
"Thank you." She said quietly.
Kaiden turned to the other mammal that was standing next to them.
"So who do we have here?" asked Kaiden
"Special Agent Vivian Carter, FIB" she replied offering her paw.
Kaiden shook it and then pointed himself and Kit.
"Agent Kaiden Ellison, MIA, and my compatriot here is Kit Ballenger."
When Vivian switched to Kit's paw, they each gave each other a quick once over.
"Never seen an all blonde timberwolf before…" she commented.
"I've never seen an all snow white vixen either, so I guess it's a first for us both" he quipped back.
"I'm an arctic fox, being snow colored is kind of our thing."
"True, but usually there is a hint of grey in the uh….undercoat."
"And how the hell would you know what my undercoat looks like?" she fired back with an annoyed eyebrow raise.
"Just a guess." He replied coolly.
Kaiden interjected at this point.
"As much as I love watching mental tennis matches, we have some business…." He replied pointing both index fingers of his paws at Bogo's door.
The group came into Bogo's office, Nick and Judy standing in front of the buffalo's desk, with the rest of the agents taking comfortable positions around the office.
"You wanted to see us chief?" asked Judy.
"Yes, we got a delivery in the mail this morning."
Judy's ears perked curiously, the chief held up a small yellow-orange envelope; it had a thickness to it which was the result of the bubble wrap packaging on the inside.
"We had the bomb squad run tests three times before we opened it up."
"What did you find?" asked Judy
The cap buffalo reached in and pulled out a clear jewel case with a writable DVD in it, written in black marker "To my student, Judy Hopps."
Judy took a half step back, a feeling of dread upon her.
"Have….have you seen what's on it?" she asked.
"No, we just got it from the bomb squad.
"Whatever is on here, we have got to find something. Because as of right this second, we know nothing."
Judy took a deep breath.
"Just play it."
The chief went over to a nearby small all-in-one flat screen on the table near the other end of the room, he slid the DVD into the attached player and turned it on and pressed Play.
A few seconds of blackness, at first the chief was wondering if the disk was playing, but there was the slight breathing of someone in the audio.
"Judith Hopps." Said the deep voice, it was the same as the one from the message yesterday.
The voice pronounced each word with enunciation and a sense of correctness, often trailing on certain consonant sounds.
"You may address me…as Teacher, for what follows are lessons, designed to educate you on the real truth of the world. The world that you so naively believe in….is an illusion. Yet you cling to it like a babe to its mother's breast."
The black was filled with a small backlight, barely enough to illuminate the screen. A figure walked in front of it. The silhouette that was cast didn't reveal any facial features, but an outline of fur and a feline outline.
"I wish to read something to you: 'Fear. Treachery. Bloodlust. Thousands of years ago, these forces ruled our world. A world where prey were scared of predators. And predators had an uncontrollable biological desire to maim and maul and kill.'"
Judy held her paw up to her mouth, covering it.
"You're probably wondering where I got these words."
The sound of the thumb of a paw rapidly spinning through pages of a notebook.
"It is an interesting play, if I do say so myself. Even at such a tender young age. I have to admire that even then you knew the truth." chuckled the figure.
"But you allowed the shine and veneer of the city to blind you to that truth you knew so long ago."
The figure put the notebook up to the camera; the camera's lens was adjusted and focused on the notebook face, the gathering light made the front cover legible
"The promise of Zootopia by Judy Hopps." Written in crayon and some of the letters disjointed.
Judy took a step back, fear now striking at her.
"Oh my god."
Nick turned to Judy in concern
"Judy?"
She turned to him, she was starting to breathe shortly and rapidly.
"He's been in my home….in my room…" she whispered feeling violated.
Almost as if addressing that statement, the video continued.
"Is the fear gripping you heart? That creep up the spine, the surge of adrenaline? The feeling of being alone in a terrifying place?"
"This is the feeling that all predators endure daily. They live in fear of a world controlled by prey. They live with the uncertainty of what the future will hold. Afraid to look forward or to look back."
"You will understand this before it is done."
"You have learned the first lesson and the second shall be upon you soon. Oh, my dear Judy, we are just beginning you and I."
"So for now live with the uncertainty, of not knowing."
"You don't know who I am….And you will NEVER see me coming…"
The message ended, cutting to a standard dvd menu track. The room looked at Judy, she felt like she was under a very uncomfortable magnifying glass.
"Carrots." Nick said breaking the silence.
"Excuse me." She whispered, as she ran out of the office.
"Carrots!" "Judy" "Hopps." said the cacophony of various mammals in the room calling after her.
"Wilde, go after her." Said Bogo.
Nick hesitated for a moment.
"Damn it Nick, go!" reiterated Kaiden.
Nick took off after her, calling for her.
There was silence in the office for a moment, until Kaiden broke it
"OK, well, does anyone want to say it first or should I?"
The room stood silent.
"Ok, well, I think we can all agree this isn't just some run of the mill terrorist trying to make a political statement."
"This is someone, who has a psychotic obsession with Judy."
"Yeah, but it's someone who's willing to injure and even kill other people just to…teach to her." Commented Agent Carter.
"Which is why you two are going to watch out for her." Interjected Bogo.
The two agents looked at Bogo.
"You don't need to tell us twice. She's our friend."
"She's not just YOUR friend." He snapped back.
Bogo took a breath and sighed.
"I know as chief I'm supposed to hold impartiality among ALL my officers."
"But Hopps isn't just a normal officer; she works twice as hard just to get half as far."
"And she doesn't give up or give in."
"She's a good cop, but more over she's a good person."
"And I'll be damned if I'm going to let some fucking psychopath get ahold of her."
"You two WILL look after her, and keep her safe, you understand me?"
The two agents nodded in respect
"I've never known cape buffalos to be sentimental." Commented Kaiden.
Bogo huffed softly
"We normally aren't. But Hopps showed me that I can be more than just a Cape Buffalo." He replied with a warm smile.
Meanwhile…
Judy ran outside, near the back door of the station. Using her phone to call home to check on her family, worried that something might have happened or that a 'strange' mammal may have paid them a visit. When she got a 'no' to her questions and that everything was alright, it actually worried her more not less. Whoever it was had managed to get into her family warren, her room and make off with her childhood play all without being seen by anyone.
Judy after telling her family that she loved them, hung up the phone putting it back in her pocket. She tried to stifle the panic attack but resisting it only made it worse. Her heart was beating against her chest, scared thoughts were racing through her mind, and she was huffing loudly trying to catch her breath, shifting her weight, her foot tapping nervously and quickly against the ground.
She yelped and jumped nearly a full meter into the air when a voice called her name from behind her. She turned around to see Nick standing there, the worry in his emerald eyes.
"Judy." he whispered.
She hung her head and slowly walked over and leaned it into his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. He could feel her pulse, he could smell her fear, it was the only scent he didn't like from her. He petted her on the back of the head, rubbing the tips of his paws in circles on her fur.
He just held her while she calmed down, quietly crying into his shoulder, a catharsis of emotion more than expression of anything in particular. He didn't have the words to say, but felt that silence was best.
"Thank you." She said, her voice choking slightly from the tears.
"I won't let anything happen to you Judy, I promise."
She looked into his eyes, there was a fire and a determination there, a resolute stance.
"Don't promise that." She said
"Judy. I won't let anything happen." He replied.
Judy's cell phone buzzed, a text from the chief "You need to see this now…"
Meanwhile…
Chief Bogo was standing in front of the TV screen watching it with the rest, the movement stopped the familiar sounds from before, the static, the attention signal, the one second clips. The color inverted 'Zootopia welcomes you.'
Bogo turned his head to see Judy and Nick come back from the back area of the police station. The broadcast cut to a backlit screen, and a silhouette stepped in front of it, the same one that was on the DVD, its feline features more defined
"Greetings….Zootopia." rang out the deep and proper voice.
"I hope now that I have your attention."
"Yesterday's lesson was a wakeup call, to wake the complacent population from its slumber."
"Today, we find out how far mammals are willing to go…"
The broadcast cut to a file photo of a smiling hare in suit.
"This is District Attorney Raymond Hopper, he has been personally responsible for sending over three hundred and fifty predators this year alone to prison on various charges, on circumstantial evidence alone. Some would say 'that is what makes a great litigator' but when you compare that vicious style with the fact that this same mammal often goes easy on prey who are guilty of more severe crimes, and have more evidence against them."
"Plainly put, Mr. Hopper appears to have a particular prejudice against predators."
"And this grave injustice that will be settled today."
"And Zootopia will help me."
There was a moment of silence as if for dramatic effect. Judy and Nick, who were now standing alongside the others, everyone with a look of confusion, as if to ask the question "Who would help the mammal who just hurt the city?"
The answer came forthwith. The broadcast cut to a city map with 5 dots, spaced around the city.
"oh my god…" someone in the station uttered.
"These are the locations, of the five pediatric hospitals in the city."
"I have wired one of them for detonation. Hundreds of sick and injured children will die."
"Unless, someone, anyone, kills Raymond Hopper in the next hour."
"Do this and you will serve a great justice and save the lives of our future generation."
"Or, you can let these poor innocent children die, to save the life of one corrupt mammal."
"The choice is your Zootopia, pray you make the right one."
The transmission cut back to the 'Zootopia welcomes you' then cut back to regular broadcast.
Bogo immediately turned to his officers and activity jumped into action, the shock and awe did not cause them to freeze this time, they had to move fast to prevent further loss of life.
"I want the bomb squad at every one of those hospitals, find those bombs and disable them now!"
"Frost, get me a protection detail out back in five minutes!"
"Higgins, find the DA and get me a location!"
The momentum over the next hour was frantic, bomb squads raced to each of the hospitals to check them, Chief Bogo and Frost readied a protection detail to find and secure the district attorney, the buffalo had assigned Judy, Nick, Vivian, Kaiden and Kit to the detail.
DA Hopper was as much surprised by the message as anyone else, but wasted no time in beating a hasty retreat, the detail found him outside his house about to step into his car. Retrieving him into the safety of the armored MRAP, Frost reversed course and made his way back to towards the ZPD.
Judy sat across from the hare and just looked at him staring off into space, not saying anything. Her gaze must have upset him because he fired off at her.
"What are you looking at officer?"
"Nothing." She defended.
"Good, because these are baseless accusations."
"I didn't say anything, sir." She respectfully replied.
"Well I didn't like the way you were looking at me."
"Like what?" asked Nick
"Excuse me?" the hare fired back.
"Looking at you like what?" the fox asked again.
"Never you mind, chom…fox." He snapped.
The other three predators in the MRAP all raised an eyebrow. With Kaiden leaning over and looking the hare square in the eye.
"Erhm, mind repeating that?" asked Kaiden coolly.
"I uh….didn't say anything." The hare quieted down.
"Right." Replied the older fox and straightened back in his seat.
The rabbit scowled at the hare and spoke plainly.
"Look, I don't care what you're being accused of, the fact is your life has been threatened and we are here to protect you."
"…And whatever your personal feelings towards predators might be, just keep in mind that some of the best mammals I know are in this car protecting you right now."
The hare remained silent.
"They deserve your respect." She said leaning forward.
The MRAP went several blocks before they got to an impasse, a traffic jam of cars presumably people trying to get to or away from the hospitals.
"Frost, get us moving again" order Bogo.
"Chief, the road is blocked."
"Drive up onto the sidewalk if you have to, just get us moving." Advised the Buffalo.
"We're almost back to the station, Mr. Hopper." The chief called back to the rear seats.
Frost took the MRAP up onto the sidewalk to steer around the traffic, the width of the vehicle was that it still was hanging off into the street.
As Frost crossed the intersection they were struck. The force of the impact was so hard it rolled the vehicle; its high center of gravity caused it to roll over.
Nobody was sure of what happened, probably an accident, someone tried to jump the intersection like they did, and in a panic, hit them.
"Carrots!" called out Nick in the smoke.
"I'm here." She called back.
Kaiden unbuckled himself and tried to open the door on his side, it wouldn't budge the door was deformed from the impact.
"Kit!" called out Kaiden.
"Huh, wha, what happened?" he asked in a daze.
Kaiden climbed over the ceiling which was now the floor, and over to the door on Vivian's side, he noticed a bleeding gash on her eyebrow, and she was unconscious.
"Vivian! Agent Carter!" he called.
"Frost, Bogo!" he called over his shoulder.
"Get out, secure the DA!" ordered Bogo.
Kaiden tried opening the door, the latch clicked open but it didn't want to swing open. The fox braced himself next to the door and pushed it with his legs. Kaiden grunted as the sound of the servos grinded in his legs as they pressed against the door.
Eventually the door popped open swinging back and banging against the outside.
"Everybody out now!" he ordered.
Nick and Judy piled out taking a look around, Kaiden unbuckled Vivian and grabbed her, handing her to Kit.
"Get her out."
The blonde timberwolf nodded, taking the unconscious fox, while Kaiden retrieved the hare. They both stepped out. Frost had managed to get his door open and climbed out, helping the chief bound over the center console and out the driver's side door.
"Unpaw me dammit." Scowled the Hare, who was no worse for wear.
Kaiden plopped him on the ground unceremoniously.
"My apologies…..sir." replied Kaiden.
Kit had taken Vivian to a nearby curb and placed her down; she stirred and moaned softly, grabbing her cut.
"Ah shit." As the pain struck her.
Kit searched his vest finding a gauze pad, tearing open the packaging and placing it on Vivian's cut, then placing her paw on the pad.
"Press and hold here, it doesn't look bad, and you didn't break any bones."
Vivian opened her eyes, her focused was blurry but she could make out Kit's face, but she could swear his eyes glowed bright blue. By the time she focused his eyes appeared normal, she dismissed it as seeing things.
"How? How do you know?"
"Just trust me." He said with a smile.
Nick and Judy were securing the District Attorney and trying to walk away from the scene but nearby, Kaiden was having an issue of his own along with Frost and Bogo. They had gone to the other side of the MRAP to see what had hit them. It was a garbage truck, and it's occupants a Zebra and a Dingo had rolled the MRAP over and came out brandishing shotguns. Bogo and Frost had trained their dart guns at the pair, Kaiden aiming with his revolver.
"Drop your weapons!" ordered Bogo.
"Now you listen here, Hoss. We don't want to hurt anybody, but you heard what that guy said on the TV. This guy has got to go." Said the Zebra
"Listen to Bogo, you can't just kill him in cold blood." Said Kaiden.
"Now YOU listen Fox, If that Hare don't get killed in a next few minutes, my kid's gonna die!" the Zebra exclaimed.
"We can't let you do that, now BACK OFF." Bogo ordered.
"Now you listen, I don't want to hurt anyone, but I will if you don't get out of the way" said the Dingo charging his shotgun. The Zebra charged his.
"Stand down!" Ordered Bogo.
"Don't make me kill you." Warned Kaiden.
"Get out of the way!" screamed the Zebra.
"Move damn it!" exclaimed the Dingo.
The sound of a gunshot rang out, it was higher pitched as if fired from a smaller gun. Kaiden turned around and saw that an otter had shot the hare in the chest. The hare going dead weight caused him to fall out of Judy and Nick's grasp falling to the ground.
The spray had hit Judy on the left side of her face; dots of bright red blood speckled her fur. Nick had dove and taken down the otter, who looked just as scared as anyone else after firing the fatal shot.
Several minutes later, when paramedics arrived they worked on DA Hopper but pronounced him dead at the scene; the otter was in custody and was taken back to the station for processing.
The paramedics cleaned Judy up but the white and grey of her fur had a distinct red hue on that side of her face.
The top of the hour had arrived and gone, no hospitals blew up, and later it was revealed no bombs were ever found. The agencies concluded it was a ruse from the beginning, but until they knew for certain they would remain vigilant.
Back at the station house Judy went back to her desk to research anything that might mean a lead, mainly though she was tired of reacting and wanted to be proactive. The fact that this 'teacher' was a predator was something she couldn't accept it, there was something telling her that there was more than meets the eye.
She was going through the case list of the now late district attorney Hopper looking for any cases involving predators that stand out. She worked fervently for several hours, while Nick and the rest were reporting into their respective superiors; Nick didn't wait to be asked but simply filled out the reports, did the paperwork and otherwise kept the minutiae away from Judy and her thought process.
Later he had come to her with two cups of coffee putting one on her desk, placing a paw on her shoulder. He didn't say anything, 'what could he say?' he thought. He just wanted to let her know that he was there for her. She knew, she always knew. She turned to look at him, and stared into his emerald eyes.
"Am I crazy?" she asked.
"Always Bun-bun, but that's why I love you."
"I'm serious."
"I'm serious too, it really is one of the reasons I love you." he continued to play
"Nick." She whined a bit
"Sorry. About what?" Nick going back to being serious.
"There is just some part of me that thinks this is more than just a predator striking back."
"Yeah, it is Carrots, it's a predator who's got an unhealthy obsession with you."
"That's not what I mean…"
"You mean Bellwether?"
"Yeah."
"I don't know, Carrots. I mean I don't think even Dawn Bellwether would go so far as to kill massive numbers of people. And Gillian…." He said stroking his chin
"Gillian what?" she replied lining up with his eyes.
"I'm usually a pretty good judge of character, and Gillian doesn't seem like the kind of sheep to do this."
"Maybe not directly, I mean she could be hiring this guy the same way Dawn hired Doug."
"What like 'terrorism for hire?'" He asked gesturing with his paw.
"Yeah."
"I don't know, I don't see a Bellwether within a mile of this. Besides that doesn't explain all the little….obsessive messages he keeps sending you." He said
"Whoever this is, is doing this because of you, and to be honest that is what scares me."
"Scares you?" she replied.
"Yeah, carrots, scares me. If this pred, whoever he is, is willing to do all these horrible things to random strangers, I don't even want to think what he would do if he got his paws on you."
"Nick." She said softly
"I'm not going to let that happen." He concluded.
Judy reached over and hugged Nick.
"I know, I know." She replied
She broke the hug and reached over for her coffee
"Thanks for getting me some." She smiled as she took a sip
As she placed it back down she noticed an envelope on her desk.
"Hmm, I didn't think the department mail got delivered today." She said as she opened it.
She unfurled the folded paper and gasped when she read the first few lines.
"Oh my god." She whispered.
Nick looked over Judy's shoulder read the letter.
'To my star pupil…'
'Raymond Hopper's death was necessary to show you my next lesson.'
'That simply the perception of fear and imagination is all that it takes to turn even the most innocent into monsters.'
'You can tell your investigators that there are no bombs, their never were. But simply the statement alone was enough to make people panic in fear.'
'Fear makes monsters of us all, and where in the past prey was concerned over predator's teeth and claws. Today, there are many methods of death that anyone can wield. So in that, we are all on the same level.'
'As far as Raymond Hopper himself, he too was afraid, afraid of being found out, afraid of being found guilty. Of his crimes being laid bare.'
'But he was guilty of something else, even more heinous. He was guilty of the crime of betrayal. Of someone he supported openly for a long time, than betrayed when it was convenient.'
'Docket #543-279, I think you'll find it revealing.'
'Sincerely, Teacher.'
Without hesitation, Judy typed the case number into the computer and pulled it up. The header was instantly recognized, 'Mammals of Zootopia vs Dawn Bellwether', it was Bellwether's court case, Judy scrolled down through the notes, the police files, many of which she had written, when she got to the actual court documents, a name jumped out at her. She went wide eyed and looked at Nick. He read the same line and looked back with the same expression.
The line read 'People's Representative: District Attorney Raymond Hopper'
"Well carrots, maybe your theory isn't so crazy after all." Commented Nick.