Chapter 6: Intentions (written on January 10th, 2020)
"Right, right, I hear you loud and clear, sir. Heh, heh. No worries. They're right here. I can see them in my rearview mirror."
"Oi, this female is very resistant and crafty... I have every reason to suspect that she is formulating an escape at every chance she gets. I need them ASAP!"
"Heh, heh. I know, sir. But you know how bad traffic can be in Savana Central."
"Excuses, excuses. If Hopps escapes, the cops will know where to find ya'."
"Oh, no! I can't go back to jail! All those wretched felons sharing my space! Please, don't do this. I can assure they will be there in no time."
"Assure me with the best of your ability. It would suck to have a jailbreak offense on top of false imprisonment sentences."
"You broke me out though..."
"And you, Mayor, were dumb enough to follow. Get them here within an hour, or it's your head." The line went dead. Lionheart closed his flip-phone. With his other hand, he swerved the limousine to the right, entering an on-ramp that led to the rougher neighborhoods.
"What am I doing?" he whispered to himself. "I love Judy. This is all wrong, but what choice do I have? The white rabbit has trapped me. I can't shatter my reputation more."
"Is uhh.. everything alright, Mayor?" said Stu from the back. He and Bonnie sat anxiously in the stretch limousine. For most of the trip, they reminisced about their oldest daughter and looked through countless photos in their gallery. Although it was their first time in Zootopia since Judy graduated from the police academy, they stayed absorbed in the photos, caring less for the glorious skyscrapers and diverse animals. It was clear that the city never engaged them. They were simple farmer folk, and all they wanted was their daughter safe and sound.
"Uhh, yes, everything's fine," Lionheart replied. It was also clear that Judy's parents did not pay much attention to the Howler Case that had consumed the news cycles for a while. They were under the impression that Lionheart was still the Mayor, that he hadn't gone to jail for secretly confining Night Howler-affected predators. The white rabbit was right again, the lion realized. The crime boss knew Judy's parents didn't pay attention to the news. How did he know?
The lion had to keep a low profile. The car windows were extra-darkened, so pedestrians couldn't easily recognize him. The extra-darkness was illegal, so he had to avoid cops as well. The drive was already a long one. He needed to get to the boss on time.
Politicians never drove themselves. Normally, at least when he was mayor, a chauffeur would be present. He was surprised that the bunny couple didn't find it odd that he was driving the limo himself. Any Zootopian would notice from that fact that something was off, but Lionheart had to constantly remind himself that they weren't Zootopians.
"That car is going awfully fast. Speed limits must be higher here," said Bonnie, looking out of the right side window. The limo was stuck at a red light at the edge of the intersection.
"What car?" the lion replied. They were on Cheddar Street next to an area called Hamster Dam. Down the intersecting road of Hamster Dam Avenue, a reddish-orange van was barreling toward the crossing. "That's definitely over the speed limit." It soon became apparent that the van was heading towards the limo and wasn't slowing down. Lionheart's first thought was that this was the white rabbit's doing. He and the bunnies were going to be axed off! He had fallen into another trap! "We need to get out of here!" he screamed.
In the intense rush, the lion accidentally broke off his interior door handle. The bunnies in the back tried to escape, but their door was mysteriously locked.
"We can't get out!" said Stu. "It's locked or something!"
"What?! How is that possible?!" said Lionheart. He then opened the door to the passenger seat on his right, but a pole on the sidewalk was preventing the door from opening wide enough where he could slip out. He decided he was going to drive out of the tight space despite the red light but, by that point, it was too late. The van crashed into the limo's right side.
Animals in other cars started screaming in terror. After a minute, an antelope came to help. He opened the van's driverside door, causing someone to weakly fall out, but the antelope caught him before he hit the asphalt.
"A fox?" The antelope laid him on the ground gently and looked at the limousine. The darkened windows were gone, reduced to millions of shards, revealing a dead body resting on the steering wheel. "Lionheart?" He turned back to the fox as other mammals joined him in his confusion. In the red fox's bloody right hand was a shiny item, a bracelet.