Judy ran to the car lot, eyes darting back and forth in search for her cruiser. To her dismay, it was not there; obviously, one of the other cops had used it today for their patrols. So she looked around for her backup, only to find it, too, was missing.
In fact, the more Judy looked at the lot, the more she realized that the only vehicle left was the jokemobile—and there was no way she was going to catch up to the lion with that.
She growled in frustration, tapping her foot on the ground rapidly while she tried to think of what to do next. She didn't allow herself to ponder her options for long; with every passing second, the lion and his vehicle moved that much farther away from her. She crossed her arms, struggling to think of an option other than going back inside and having Clawhauser call it in to the others.
Absently, her eyes flickered to the right. There was one cop car left, parked in the spot reserved for the chief of police.
Before she could talk herself out of it, Judy ran over to it, digging her keys out of her belt pouch as she moved. The thought of her being so, so fired when she got back crossed her mind for a split second, before she dismissed it, threw the door open, and began adjusting the seat to suit her needs.
Within seconds, her seat belt was fastened, the pedals were raised to meet her short legs, and the engine was roaring to life. Judy flicked on the siren and lights, pulled a quick J-turn, and began her pursuit of the lion. She grabbed the radio with one paw and began spewing police jargon into it. "Dispatch, Hopps. 10-80, in pursuit of suspect. Heading south on Grizzle Street." It was about 3:30 in the afternoon, so luckily, the streets were mostly empty.
Clawhauser's voice crackled back a few seconds later. "Hopps, dispatch. 10-4." There was a pause, then he spoke up again. "Hopps, how did you get a car? I thought the chief assigned all the cop cars to everyone else today."
Judy's right hind paw floored the accelerator as far as possible. "That's not really important right now, Clawhauser." She glanced at the speedometer, which held steady at one hundred and five miles per hour. When she looked back up, she saw the lion's car slowly coming back into view. A few cars passed by going the other way, their occupants staring at the chase in curiosity. "Suspect is driving a red Furrari, custom license plate SW0608. Going about one hundred miles—"
Her voice was cut off by a screaming that filled the cruiser. "Hopps!" She winced at Bogo's exclamation, half-wondering if the volume in his voice was caused by just the radio, or if he had somehow yelled loud enough back at the ZPD to be heard all the way out here. "Did you steal my cruiser?"
Judy gritted her teeth, but did not allow Bogo's voice to ruin her concentration. Every passing mile—miles that came and went every forty-five seconds—she closed in on the lion; she was just glad that the street was mostly deserted at this time of day. "I'm sorry, Chief Bogo. This was the only cruiser on the lot, and I didn't have time to ask you for permission before—"
"That's my car!" Bogo retorted. "I don't care what the reason was, even if there was an active shooting in progress. You do not steal a chief's car!"
The lion ahead seemed to see her; his Furrari sped up significantly, and Judy had to slouch in her seat to push the accelerator down a bit more. "Would it help if I said I'm sorry, Chief?" Judy offered, feeling even smaller than usual.
"Not in the slightest." Bogo's voice dropped ever so slightly. "Clawhauser, call in the other patrols. Tell them all to get back here now," he ordered.
"Now, Chief? All of them?" Clawhauser asked, a bit surprised at the water buffalo's request.
"Yes! Now, Clawhauser! I want to personally catch up to Hopps and give her a piece of my mind. Give me that car's GPS information so I can—"
"Um…" Clawhauser cleared his throat. "We're on vox, Chief."
A short burst of static told Judy that Bogo had turned off the radio on their end. She dreaded what awaited her when she got back to the station—but with the Furrari so close now, she was sure it would all be worth it. She picked back up her radio, switch the station, and called out, "Attention, lion! Pull over immediately!"
Her voice carried through the cruiser's megaphone system. The lion definitely heard her, but did not slow down in the least. Instead, he swerved right suddenly, darting toward the on-ramp to the highway. The swerve was so immediate, Judy barely made the ramp herself, leaving skid marks in her wake. Within seconds, they were on the highway, hogging the left lanes.
The radio burst back to life. Bogo's voice sounded again. He spoke more calmly, but somehow that made him seem all the more angry. "Hopps, I swear, if you get one scratch on that car—"
The Furrari braked suddenly. Judy didn't have time to stop, despite pressing both hind paws on the brake pedal as hard as she could, and rear-ended the Furrari. She grunted as she felt the seat belt pull tight, and her vision blurred for a split second—plenty of time for the lion to take off once again and put a fair amount of distance between them.
Bogo was eerily silent for a few seconds. "What was that?" he inquired.
Judy, not wanting to deal with the chief any longer while she was in such a hot pursuit, pressed the radio as close to her mouth as possible. "Oh, sorry, Chief. I can't hear you. Kkkkkk." She made a crackling sound at the back of her throat, as convincingly as possible. "I'm going through a tunnel. Kkkkkk. Must be bad reception. Kkkkkk. I'll have to call back later."
Bogo snorted. "Hopps, I'll put you on parking duty for a week! No, a month! No, a year!"
The Furrari began darting back and forth between lanes of traffic. This area of the highway was reserved solely for larger vehicles made for the likes of rhinos and elephants. The lion's Furrari and Judy's Bogomobile were practically dwarfed in comparison, and Judy knew at any moment, a single mistake would result in one or both of them getting hit. And at these speeds—the speedometer now read over one hundred and thirty—that would definitely be fatal.
With that in mind, Judy took a moment to gulp, say a prayer asking mercy on her soul for when Bogo was done with her, and turned off the radio. She gripped the wheel with both paws and set her sights straight ahead, unable to afford any distractions, and made sure the Furrari was never far away from her.
Whether the lion was panicking or simply out having a good time, she didn't know—and, really, it didn't matter. All that mattered was now, instead of being out on a joyride, he was endangering himself, her, and many other civilians driving in the vehicles around them. It seemed the dotted lines separating lanes were invisible to him; if a car was in his way, he went around it, forcing Judy to do the same. More than once, the dodges were so close that their tires would screech in protest.
At these speeds, her police siren didn't help whatsoever. By the time upcoming vehicles heard it, they were already a blur through the side windows. Judy had never gone these speeds before; in fact, she had never taken part in a car chase before. All she had to go on were instructions drilled into her head at the police academy.
To help calm her nerves, she started reciting them out loud. "Rule number one, protect the innocent civilians. Never put yourself in a position that will endanger them, even if that means letting the suspect go." The Furrari darted across three lanes of traffic, hugged the right shoulder to avoid a semi-truck, and darted back two lanes. As Judy struggled to keep up, she continued. "Rule number two, seize every opportunity to halt the suspect before he can further endanger the public." The Furrari jerked back to the left lane and accelerated once more. "Rule number three, don't be afraid to rely on backup. Every little bit of help counts."
Judy realized she was, at the moment, actively breaking two of the three rules. She should have just left the lion speed along by himself; this chase was endangering too many other mammals. And she certainly couldn't ask for backup without turning on the radio, and she didn't want to have to deal with Chief Bogo any more than necessary. All that was left was stopping the suspect, and even that was proving difficult. A PIT maneuver at these speeds would almost certainly kill the lion, and possibly force his Furrari to crash into anther vehicle and cause collateral damage to someone else.
All she could do was stay on his tail, as close as possible. So far the chase had lasted a total of only fifteen minutes, but to Judy it felt like fifteen hours. Her heart pounded in her chest, her senses on high alert to help her to be as aware of her surroundings as possible.
She wished she had driven on this highway more in the past. Usually, her patrols in Zootopia were restricted to the area around Precinct 1, which mostly meant Savannah Central and Sahara Square. Sometimes she had to go to other areas of the city, but rarely did that involve using the highway.
In fact, she was a bit surprised when she looked past the Furrari for a split second to see what was coming up next, and was greeted with the sight of Zootopia's Meadowlands skyline coming up quickly.
She felt a slight panic in her stomach. It's almost four o'clock. Mammals are going to start getting off work. The streets are going to be crowded. If he gets off the highway in the middle of the city, he's going to hurt someone.
Judy figured she had two options: the first was to try and force the lion to stay on the highway, where there would be less cars to worry about—or at least, where there would be cars going closer to their speed. The second option was to try and stop him as quickly as possible, even if that meant putting him, and quite possibly herself, at the risk of getting injured.
The decision was made for itself when the lion took the first Meadowlands exit, still driving at over ninety miles per hour. The exit sign showed that the road led straight into the center of the Meadowlands district, and Judy knew that the Meadowlands' roads were all too narrow for their cars to safely traverse at these speeds.
Judy followed him and glanced ahead. The off-ramp rose into the air and curved to the left, creating a bridge over the highway from which they had just exited. The Furrari was forced to slow down enough to safely make the turn, or else it would risk running into the concrete barrier and possibly fall off the bridge.
Judy's claws dug into the steering wheel. "Okay," she breathed, trying to calm herself. "You're crazy, Hopps. This is crazy." She gulped. "But it just might work."
While the Furrari slowed down to make the turn, Judy sped up. Just before impact, she closed one eye, hoping it wouldn't hurt too much.
The cruiser knocked violently against the back of the Furrari, just off center. Judy could see the lion take a quick glance back at her, shocked by her actions. The Furrari jerked forward due to the added momentum, which caused it to skid across the bridge. Judy quickly switched to the brakes to help distance herself from the out-of-control car, which began spinning in circles as it bounced back and forth between concrete barriers on either side of the bridge, all the while keeping its forward motion going.
It wasn't long before the car was no longer able to stay upright. It balanced dangerously on its left two wheels, still skidding to the side, and then smacked once more into the right barrier. Judy gasped in disbelief as it toppled over the side, and she felt her heart skip a beat when she heard the sickening crash a few seconds later as it hit the highway cement twenty feet below.
Judy parked her cruiser on the bridge, turned off the siren, and opened her door. She quickly ran over to the side of the bridge and looked down. The Furrari was now upside down on the highway below, smoking from the hood. The lion was nowhere to be seen; she could only assume he was trapped inside. She quickly ran back inside the cruiser, flipped on the radio, and shouted into the microphone, "Dispatch, Hopps. 10-52, Zero-Hotel-1, just past Exit 89 at Meadowlands. Repeat, requesting EMT immediately. Make it lion-sized."
It was not long before Clawhauser responded. "10-4, Hopps. Sending an ambulance immediately."
Judy quickly re-exited her cruiser and ran back to the edge of the bridge. By now the traffic behind the car was backed up, but that was the least of her worries. The smoke was getting blacker and blacker, and Judy worried that the gas line had sprung a leak.
She turned to walk down the bridge the same way she had come up, rationalizing it was the fastest and safest way to reach the Furrari. However, she barely took a few steps before an explosion behind her caused her to rethink her decision.
The Furrari had become engulfed in flames. Judy ran back to her original spot on the bridge, squinting into the car to see if she could catch any sight of the lion.
His paw flopped out of the broken driver's window, lifeless.
Judy didn't think twice. She hopped over the edge of the bridge and dropped the twenty feet down to the ground. The jolt in her legs hurt when she landed, but the perfectly-timed roll she executed afterward kept her from receiving any serious injury from the fall. She refused to pause for even a second, letting her adrenaline rush take care of her pain, and immediately ran over to the vehicle.
The fire was mostly contained to the hood area of the car, but she knew it would spread in very little time. She ran to the driver's door and peered inside. The lion had at least done one thing right; he was dangling upside down in his seat, secured safely to his seat belt, unconscious but breathing. However, that seat belt was now a harness that kept Judy from helping him out of the wreck.
The fire was already beginning to spread father back in the car. Judy knew she had mere seconds to make this work. She ignored every instinct in her body begging her to run, and dived head-first through the broken window and into the car.
Already the heat from the flames was overwhelming. Judy began panting almost immediately, since her body was incapable of sweating. The fur on her paws made it difficult to get a solid grip on the seat belt. It didn't matter anyway; she quickly realized that it was jammed. In desperation, she began to bite through the belt with her buck teeth.
Smoke began to fill the interior of the car, and the flames began licking through the floor of the car, almost directly above Judy's head. She forced her ears to lay as flat on her back as possible, but she still had to deal with that pesky seat belt buckle, which was now very close to being engulfed in flames. Judy kept biting into the belt, hoping it would be fast enough to cut through before the fire killed them both.
The flames had reached the dashboard by the time Judy had bitten through the belt. The lion fell out of his seat, landing in a heap on the ceiling. By now, the cabin had completely filled with smoke, and Judy found herself coughing profusely, her body struggling for oxygen. She ignored her aching lungs and pushed against the lion with all her might. Within seconds, she had him through the window of the car. She jumped through herself, ran to the other side of the lion, and dragged him away from the Furrari as quickly as she could.
Even after she was sure they were a safe distance away, she kept dragging him. It was only when she saw a few flames on the lion's mane that she stopped, slapping her paws against the flames as quickly as she could to put them out. When she was sure the mane was no longer a problem, she turned her attention to the rest of the lion. Thankfully, he was dressed in a leather jacket and blue jeans, so the rest of him was free of any other embers.
The adrenaline wearing off, she slowly became aware of how much pain her body was in. Her front paws were burned slightly from the fire in the lion's mane, her hind paws hurt from falling twenty feet and landing on hard cement, her lungs were sore from breathing in so much smoke, and the rest of her body was generally exhausted due to the intensity of the chase.
She collapsed on the lion's shoulder, barely having the strength to stare at the car as it continued to burn. The heat beat against her face, making her eyes water, but she was too weak to care. She was too weak to hear the sirens of approaching emergency vehicles. She was too weak to feel the lion come to underneath her, and too weak to resist when he slowly rose to a standing position, letting her fall flat on the ground.
She was vaguely aware of the lion rubbing his head, looking around in confusion, and looking down at her. He raised an eyebrow and murmured something she couldn't understand. Then he looked over to the car, took a long minute to piece everything together in his mind, and his eyes widened in shock. "Oh my God!" he exclaimed. "Are you okay, Officer Hopps?"
Judy suddenly found herself not so weak. "Am I okay?" she repeated with a croaky voice. She could feel her voice contorting into a scowl as she struggled to a sitting position. "Am I okay?" she repeated. She got to her knees, then finally managed to stand up. She stared at the lion in disbelief. "Am? I? Okay? You led me on a car chase that almost got us killed, fell twenty feet off a bridge, and almost burned alive inside your own Furrari—and you're asking if I am okay?"
The lion raised an eyebrow once again. "I'm sorry, did I miss something, Officer Hopps? I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about." He gestured to his car, which was now little more than a pile of burning metal. "I honestly don't know how I got here."
Judy's eyes widened. "I… You… We…" She growled. "That's it." She reached to her belt. "You're under arrest for…" Her voice faded away as she realized her handcuffs were not on her belt; she must have left them at the ZPD.
The lion, who had seemed genuinely confused this whole time, slowly developed a smile on his face. "Officer Hopps," he commented. "You seem to be in no position to arrest anybody." He stroked his chin. "In fact, it seems like I am the—"
His voice was cut off by the tranquilizer dart that appeared on his arm. A second later, his eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he fell face-first onto the ground, once again unconscious.
The dart did not come from Judy, who quickly turned around to see who had shot it. To her great relief, and her great dismay, Chief Bogo was just lowering his gun and making his way to the two of them.
Bogo walked silently, his face unreadable. Judy didn't dare say anything to him; after all, what was there to say? She had stolen his personal cruiser and damaged it significantly, almost killed herself and the suspect, had headed a dangerous chase through Zootopia, and now there was a car burning to the ground not fifty feet away from where they stood.
All she could do was lower her head in submission, trying to mentally prepare for whatever Bogo might say or do to her.
Bogo walked right past her, toward the burning car. He stopped about halfway there, reached down, and picked something up from the ground. Then he turned back around and approached Judy.
The bunny could barely bring herself to look at him in the eye, expecting him to rage at her and probably fire her on the spot, ready to keep her badge forever. Instead, to her utter surprise, Bogo seemed worried. He looked her up and down, taking in her appearance very slowly. Then he raised his hoof. "This belongs to my best cop."
He lowered his hoof, and Judy saw her badge inside. She didn't even realize it had fallen off her uniform; it must have happened when she was dragging the lion away from the car.
Bogo offered it to her. "I would hate to see her lose this again. She means a lot to me, and to the rest of Zootopia."
Judy couldn't help but sigh in relief. "Thank you, Chief," she responded. She took the badge and affixed it back to her uniform. It was only now that she had a moment to look over herself. Her vest was burned in a few places, a result of it having a lower ignition point than the rest of her clothes. Her left sleeve was torn almost to shreds, and her pants on the left side had several missing patches. On the whole, both her clothes and her fur was covered in smoke, but surprisingly, she didn't have any cuts on her body. At most, she probably had some bruises.
Bogo seemed to come to the same result. "I expect you to be back at the station tomorrow morning, usual time," he said as he knelt down to cuff the lion. "The EMTs are on their way. Let's hand this one over to them and interrogate him tomorrow. I've had enough nonsense for one day."
Judy nodded in agreement. Bogo finished cuffing the lion, brushed his hooves, and began walking to the backed-up traffic. "I'll take care of the ambulance and this traffic jam. You go ahead and drop my car off at a body shop somewhere on your way home. Just text me the address," he called over his shoulder.
The nonchalance in his voice shocked Judy. She had fully expected him to drive his own cruiser home, but now he seemed to fully trust her to take care of it—and he had made it sound like it was no big deal, either, despite the fact that she had just taken it without his permission and had damaged it quite significantly.
I guess the chief's always going to be full of surprises, she decided. Her limbs automatically walked her to the car on top of the bridge, got her inside, put on the seat belt, and started the engine.
It was only when she absently looked over to the radio that she left her dazed state of mind. It read 5:00. She quickly began driving back to Precinct 1, mentally trying to calculate how much time it would take to get there, put the car in a body shop, get home, and get cleaned up and ready for her date with Nick tonight.
It was only halfway back that she realized she had called it a "date".