“I said I’m fine, okay?” Nick said once more, as the antelope paramedic checked him for the tenth time, under Judy’s request.
The bunny had been very worried in the moment she saw Nick in the ground, and she had insisted for the paramedics to check him very thoroughly, to be sure that the cougar had not caused him any lasting damage with whatever he had done to Nick. The fox knew that his bunny partner was just worried with him, but that didn’t made the situation any less annoying to be checked over and over, as if he could have a hidden injury that would cause him to drop dead hours or days later if it wasn’t found and taken care off.
“Well, the only wound you have is a slightly burn mark in your back.” The antelope said, and Nick passed a hand over that area of his back, which was somewhat hard to reach. That had been the place…
Soon after, the antelope dismissed him, telling him that he was perfectly fine and that he could go his own way and so Nick did. He took only a moment to find out Judy, and she was speaking with Fangmeyer, a tiger officer, who was taking notes from her.
“I didn’t saw where he went, but he took that road and turned to the right, and I’m pretty sure that he is heading somewhere else.” Judy said as she gestured, and she gave a thoroughly description of the cougar, and of what he was wearing, and Nick approached.
“Hey guys!” Nick said, and Judy turned to him.
“Nick! Are you okay? What did the doctor said?” Judy asked; her voice filled with worry.
“Well, just that I have a small burn mark in my back from where I took the shock, and other than that I’m fine.” Nick said, and Judy looked at him, before sighing in relief. Right after, she punched Nick in the shoulder, hard.
“Ouch…” Nick said, after a few moments of silence, rubbing his arm, and Judy looked up at him, before saying.
“Next time you see a suspect we are looking for, you call for me!” She sounded very serious as she spoke that, and she was making it clear that she was not joking or anything of the like. “What if he had actually managed to hurt you bad!? I am your partner! You can’t leave me out like that! I need to get your back!”
Nick looked at her, and he could only sigh, and say an “I’m sorry” as he was unable to even look at her. He knew that she was not going to forget it easily, and that she would make him remember that for a very long time. Still, Nick felt very sorry for having slipped like that, and for causing her this kind of worry. He could see very well behind the anger that masked the true worry that she felt for him and for his wellbeing, and knowing that somehow felt even worse than what the cougar had done to him, even if Nick barely even remembered that…
“So, I’ve got Hopps testimony, now I have to get yours Wilde.” Fangmeyer said, approaching the fox and kneeling to his eye level, and Nick nodded. He knew that it was standard procedure, and that now that the cougar had officially attacked a law officer, he had escalated to a possible criminal who was possibly dangerous. Fangmeyer had to get their testimony to know exactly what had happened.
“But… before I do, let me ask you one thing.” Fangmeyer said, approaching Nick and whispering to him. “Is it true that you wet your pants?”
Nick closed his eyes and groaned.
Indeed, once the paramedics had arrived, they had soon noticed that there was a damp spot in Nick’s pants, and it wasn’t just from water that had spilled.
Composing himself, Nick said, “You too would if someone suddenly gave you an electric shock.”
Nick had already dealt with the prejudice that any animals had of foxes, since he was young. So, he had already dealt with all the kinds of items against foxes that were fabricated, like the horns, which made his ears hurt like mad; the fox repellents, which itched like mad and smelled like sweaty rhino’s butt; and the fox Tasers.
Nick had already been tased enough times to know what is the feeling of a sudden electric shock into his body. As he had felt with the moment that he had his back turned at the cougar. His mind barely even registered the sudden feeling of his body convulsing and of his muscles moving against his will as an electric current passed by them.
“He probably had a hidden taser with him somewhere.” Nick said as he gave his testimony to Fangmeyer, who wrote everything down. “But… I’m not sure…” Nick added, and the tiger looked at him. “I mean, sure, the electric thing surely reminded me a lot of a taser, but, it didn’t really felt like a taser. Also, I was pretty sure that I was out of the reach of a regular fox taser, and I don’t think he was carrying any kind of special equipment with him that would give the taser a greater range…” Nick said, as he thought about it, and as he was speaking with Fangmeyer…
“HOPPS! WILDE!”
The booming voice called both fox and bunny’s attention, as they both looked at a recently arrived police car, from which came out a very pissed off buffalo in police uniform. Judy and Nick shared a look, and they both looked at Fangmeyer, as if they were asking for help, but the tiger shook his head, showing that he had nothing to do at this situation.
The two smaller mammals looked back at the chief, who gestured at the space in front of him, and it was a silent signal for the two mammals to come at him immediately.
They both knew that they were, most likely, in trouble.
XXX
“Bad use of your time!” Chief Bog said at the two, “Conducting a parallel personal investigation! Rendering a suspect without back up or evidence! Allowing yourself to be knocked out by the said suspect and letting him escape!”
The two animals winced slightly at each sentence that the buffalo completed. Bogo only looked down at they both, and he sighed deeply, as if to recompose, before he spoke to them once more.
“You did so many wrong things that I don’t even know where to start, or how to actually pushing you two.”
“What about going bed without dessert?” Nick said with a smirk, and Judy punched him in the arm, at the same time that Bogo shot him a glare that would make animals twice Nick’s size corner and whimper in fear.
The chief took another deep breath and he sighed, and he said, “Any clue of where the cougar must have gone now?” He was massaging the bridge of his nose as he spoke that, and Judy was the first to answer.
“He took the Herd Street, by what Nick told he is probably heading for a place to hide.”
“He has to.” Bogo said, “After all, he just attacked a cop, of course that he will search for a place to hide. If he is still sane enough to think of it.”
“He seemed sane to me.” Nick said, and the two other animals looked at him, “I mean, he seemed to be in perfect control of himself, and he actually seemed pretty nice.”
Bogo eyed him, and he said, “Right… that was before or after he shocked you with a taser?”
Nick looked at him, and at the ground, as he said, “Before…”
Bogo sighed, and he said, “Now we have to emit an alert to a lunatic predator into the streets.” He said, and he turned to the two. “We are going to need cops who have some experience with the case.”
The two looked at him, and the buffalo said, “You had the most contact with the cougar, and you two already got the case back in the hospital.” He spoke that rather reluctantly, and he said, “You two are still in the case. Take care of that quickly and without causing trouble. No more of these. If you see the cougar, shot him with the tranquilizers.”
That said, Bogo simply turned to leave, still massaging the bridge of his nose, as he thought: These two are still going to cause me a stroke.
The two smaller mammals looked at the departing Buffalo, and Nick was about to turn to Judy to say something, but she was already out of his sight. Soon after, Nick heard her voice calling him.
“Come on Nick!” The fox turned his head to see her head and upper body perking out of their car, and she was calling. “We have a cougar to catch!”
XXX
Alex was walking into the street, barely paying attention to the animals in his way, as he only wanted to open the greatest possible distance between himself and the place where he left the fox guard unconscious and cuffed with his own cuffs.
Alex knew that he was in trouble for having attacked a law officer, and that he was now officially a criminal and he was officially in the run, for the cops would be after him. If the police was any like in his home world, then Alex was sure that they were all going to come for him for having attacked one of their own.
Even though Alex was pretty sure that the fox had not been severely hurt, Alex was sure that they would not take it lightly one of them having been attacked.
Now Alex was not sure of what he should do, but he knew that he needed to get to somewhere where he could hide and remain out of sight before he had his description running across the streets.
Still, Alex found it hard to think as he was deeply worried, and it didn’t helped that he had not a decent way of locomotion, like a car or even a bike. Alex would be happy if he even had a skateboard.
Sighing, Alex decided that he still had some time before the cops would all come after him, and he decided to use walk more calmly into the street, even to avoid calling attention to himself. Alex had learned long ago how to go unnoticed, and it was important for him for a long time. It was the kind of lesson that he never forgot, and he was glad that he still knew how to walk without calling attention to himself, even if he was in a city full of animals.
Alex wondered what would be needed to be able to actually call attention in a place like that. Though he was pretty sure that, if people discovered more about him and about his past, and the things that he could do, he was sure that they would surely have him as the center of attention, for good or for bad…
XXX
Nick was still trying to scratch his back, and Judy looked at him as she continued to drive.
“Still itching?” She asked him, and the fox said, “That cougar burned me pretty bad with that taser…”
They were talking about the slightly burn mark that was left on Nick’s body, into the place where the cougar had tased him. The burn itself was hidden beneath Nick’s fur, the feeling of that was still clear to Nick. It itched and even stung slightly when he moved much, or as he pressed it into the back of his seat.
“These taser burns are the worst.” Nick said, talking about his own experience. “But, a taser never did knocked me out cold…”
“Maybe it was a modified version.” Judy offered, “Some animals do request modified versions of tasers that not only shock, but also can cause unconsciousness. Some even modify them themselves.”
Nick was still trying to reach for that place, he knew that he should not scratch directly about it, for it could cause irritation of the skin, but he wanted to at least be able to scratch a little around the area, to alleviate the feeling that it was causing him. As he tried to do so, his partner continued.
“This kind of modification means that the weapon is made specifically for someone, or that who modified it has some understanding of the matter. That actually can make it easier to find and identify the taser, especially if we get our paws into it.”
Nick looked at Judy, and he noticed the deadly serious expression in her face, and he said, “It is in the taser you want to get your paws, Carrots?”
Judy knew the meaning of that question, and Nick knew that she knew. She simply continued to drive, and she said, “That cougar is not getting away with this.” She made a turn into a corner, and she added, “No one hurts my partner and gets away with it.”
“You know, if chief heard you say that he would reconsider letting us stay in the case.” Nick said, looking at Judy, who didn’t looked back at him, and he said, “Carrots, I’m fine, he didn’t really hurt me. I just need to let my uniform dry for a bit, but other than that I’m fine.”
“You were down.” Judy said, as she continued to look at the road, and her eyes still avoiding Nick. “I heard you screaming into the radio, and when I saw you, you were down.” She seemed to almost be pained as she spoke that, and she continued to drive. “You were with a dangerous mammal, screamed into the radio, and I saw you down.”
“Carrots, I-” Nick tried to say, but suddenly, Judy braked into a red light, and Nick was propelled forward, almost hitting his head into the front of the car as she stopped. The fox took a moment to recover, and he did just in time to see Judy looking back at him, as she spoke:
“Do you have any idea of how worried I got!?”
The expression on her face caught Nick off guard as much as the tune of her voice.
Judy always had a way to make him feel bad for not doing things her way, usually with that cute baby doll eyes that made him comply, or that look of a mother that made him feel like a kit caught stealing cookies from a jar. However, that look was different from these.
That look was one of the purest worry, and he also could see some form of sadness in there, as if Judy was truly suffering. For some reason, that made him feel horrible.
“Nick… When I heard you screaming into the radio, and you didn’t answered me, I had assumed the worse…” She spoke, as she looked deeply into Nick’s eyes, “You were with a dangerous animal in there, and I heard you screaming in that way…” She stopped, and she almost shuttered at the remembering of the way that Nick screamed, as if he was dying.
“When I saw you in the ground… I really thought that…”, she stopped, her voice fading, and she looked down, diverging her eyes from Nick’s.
Nick looked at her, and now, once more, he saw just how well that bunny could affect him. She had just caused him to feel absurdly guilty for not following the protocol. Not because of the protocol itself, but because it was making her be like that.
“Nick… You are my best friend.” Judy said, looking up at him once more. “If something happened to you, I don’t know what I would do…”
One more look into her eyes was enough for Nick. He had to look away; he could not stand looking at these sad eyes anymore. She continued to look at him as he looked away, and she looked down. For a long moment, none of them talked anything.
Soon, Nick felt something in his writs, and he looked to Judy, to see her looking in his eyes once more, as her paw was holding his wrist. “Please… don’t do this again.” She said meekly.
Nick looked at her, and he placed his own paw into hers’. “I won’t.” Nick said, “I promise.” And he truly meant it. He didn’t wanted to be the one responsible for making Judy have that look in her face again. Seeing that look in her face, specially being caused by something that he did, was a feeling that Nick truly didn’t liked, and that he’d rather avoid if possible…
BIIIIII
The sound of a horn behind them broke their attention and made them look back. There was a car right behind them, and the light had gone green a while ago. Right now, they were locking the traffic. Judy quickly went back to the steering wheel and soon they were moving once more.
“Talking about a ruined moment…” Nick said, as they both continued their way, and the silence started to reign once more. “I won’t do it again, Carrots.” Nick said, causing Judy to look at him as she continued to drive, and she could see his smile, and he said, “I promise.”
She felt that he was serious about that, and she was glad for that. She was actually able to smile at him once more, and she turned her attention back to the street. Still, her smile didn’t lasted for very long, for she was immediately remembered that they still had a suspect to find.
All that was left for them to find out was where their cougar was…
XXX
Bogo entered the station, walking with firm steps as other animals, civilians and officers, passed by him and he was about to head back to his office, when he heard Clawhauser’s voice calling him.
“Chief! Chief!” The overweight cheetah called as he waved his paw in the air, causing Bogo and some other animals to look at him.
Bog could not help but roll his eyes. The cheetah was very dear into the place, and he was rather good at his work, but he really needed to learn to be more subtle and not to call so much attention. Sometimes this was one of his flaws.
The buffalo sighed, and he walked in direction to his desk, and as he approached, he noticed that the cheetah had a worried look in his face. “What is it, Clawhauser?” Bogo asked, and the cheetah answered.
“They are calling you in the forensics!” He said that in a whisper, as if it was a secret, Bogo raised an eyebrow at him, and the cheetah said, “They told me to call you and to keep t rush-rush.”
“What do they want with me?”
“I don’t know.” The cheetah said back, “They say that is something that they only can talk about with you.
“And why?”
“They only said that is something you told them to keep an eye open to.”
This was enough to make Bogo immediately get straight, he looked at the cheetah with a surprised expression, and he said something that Bogo himself did not truly understood, and he simply rushed in direction to the forensic lab.
Clawhauser was left behind, not understanding what was that about, and Bogo was glad for that.
Could it be? Bogo asked himself as he rushed past many mammals as he rushed to the door that lead to the forensic labs.
He opened the door, and he was met with a room that was much colder than the rest of the precinct. It was due to their equipment, that needed to be kept in a colder room due to their sensibility. At first, the room seemed to be empty, but soon, a voice called Bogo’s attention.
“Chief! Thank God you arrived!”
Bogo looked down, to see a ferret walking in his direction. He was wearing a white colored coat and he seemed to be frantic as he walked in direction to the bigger buffalo. This was Ferris, he was recently hired to help into the forensic lab as an assistant, though many knew that the truth was that, with him in there, the results of all of their forensic evidence came out far faster.
“Ferris. What do you have?” Bogo said, his face as serious as it was possible.
“Well, I was taking care of things here, when we arrived the security footage of the hospital from which the cougar escaped. I was able to see the area where he left the hospital and walked away and… Well, you gotta see this.” The ferret gestured, and walked in direction to the computers, and Bogo followed him closely behind.
The computer was smaller than what Bogo was used, and the ferret tapped the controls a little, and he showed an image that seemed to be from the side of a hospital, seeing from a perspective from a camera into a post. Bogo looked at the small screen as the ferret played the footage, and what he saw next made his eyes widen.
“What the…” He mumbled, as he pushed his hand forward and touched the image, making it replay again, and again. Bogo was left speechless by what he was witnessing into this image. “Are you sure this is real?”
“I double checked and made sure to run a few tests into the video, and it seems pretty real.” He said, “But it is not all.” Bogo looked at him, as he started to tap into the controls again. “After I heard about the event with Officer Wilde, I accessed the traffic cams from that area, and I got this.”
As he said, another image, this one showing the familiar fox in blue with his back turned to a cougar, which undoubtedly was the one they were all talking about: Alex Hunter.
Bogo looked attentively at the image, and what he saw next made his eyes widen more than the last video. Once again, he forced the image to replay itself again and again.
“It too seems pretty real.” Ferris said, and Bogo continued to look into the video playing into the computer, and the ferret said, “Chief, I know that when you hired me for this job, you asked me to keep an eye for weird things and to inform you if I ever saw one. I didn’t knew exactly what you meant by ‘weird’, I mean, I already saw a lot of weird things in my life and in this job, but this…”
“Have you showed this to anyone else?” Bogo asked, his expression serious and his face unreadable.
“No, sir.” Ferris said, looking up at him, “I have kept it quiet for now, and Hurriet made a pause for coffee, and I guess so won’t be back for at least one more hour.”
Bogo sighed, and he said, “Keep this footage hidden.” He said, and the ferret looked surprised at him, “For now, this stays only between the two of us. And track the cougar through the traffic cameras, try to find out where he went and where he is now.” And he turned around to leave, and Ferris continued to look at him.
“W-where are you going, sir?”
“To make a call.” Bogo said without looking behind, and he exited the forensic labs, leaving behind a stunned Ferris.
The buffalo didn’t slowed down and he passed by many other officers on his way. He passed by Clawhauser’s desk, and he didn’t stopped or slowed down as he said, “Clawhauser! Hold all of my calls!”
“What? Oh! Yes sir!” Ben said in a hurry, as his boss passed by him and walked to the stairs in direction to his office, and he closed to door, locking it behind himself.
He rushed to his desk, and he opened the last drawer from the bottom. There were a few things in there, but instead of looking inside the drawer, he instead started to fumble the underneath of it, and he felt his paw touching a piece of paper.
He yanked it from there, and he looked at the numbers write in there. Picking up his phone, he started to dial the number that he got in there, and then, he waited.
These few moments seemed like an eternity to him, until someone in the other end picked up.
“Hello?”
“Savage?” The buffalo said, drumming his blunt claws into his desk.
“It is him talking.”
“It is Bogo. We have a certain situation…” The buffalo said to the mammal on the other end of the line.
XXX
Judy and Nick were still on the move, their eyes glued on the roads around them as they were searching for any clues of that cougar. They were searching for quite a while now, and they still had no clue of where the cougar could have went. Still, this time they were sure that they had more chances to find him now, once there were others on duty, searching for the cougar, and maybe they could pass his description to the public. A predator with mental problems roaming free into the street was surely a matter that would leave many animals worried, so, of course it was a job for the police to take care of.
They were going by the street that the cougar went on, but they were unable to find traits of him. Mainly because the cougar could have turned several corners by that time, and he could very well have moved to another part of the city. Still, the two cops continued to keep their eyes open for any sighs of their cougar.
Suddenly, their radio started to chime, and Nick was the one to grab it. “Here is Wilde and Hopps talking.” He said, and Clawhauser’s voice said on the other end.
“Wilde, Hopps, I have a call on the other line, is a doctor Moosard, from the hospital. He said he wanted to talk with you two.”
Nick and Judy shared a look. Moosard was the moose doctor from the hospital the cougar had escaped. He said that he would call them to talk with them as soon as he had some news from the exams that they made from the cougar. Nick pressed the button of their com and said, “Can you pass him to us?”
“Sure, I’ll transfer the call right away!” Clawhauser said from the other side, and after a while, they com chimed in, and they could hear the doctor’s voice.
“Officers?”
“Doctor Moosard.” Judy said, and Nick added, “So Doc, any news about our cougar?”
“Indeed, I have. We just received the results of the tests we ran in his blood, and we find something quite interesting…”
“He was high?” Nick asked, but the Doctor soon answered.
“No, we didn’t detected any drugs in his bloodstream, but it is not the more interesting. The more interesting is about the rabid.”
“What, he is rabid?” Judy said, sounding alarmed. A crazy predator was already bad enough, but a predator who was rabid was somehow even worse. Nick and Judy shared a worried look.
“Doctor, are you saying that Alex Hunter has rabid?” Nick talked to the cougar, and he gave a good look at him, and while the cougar did seemed to be quite confused and that he was not willing to go back to the hospital willingly, he was pretty sure that he was not drooling nor foaming. If he had rabid, he was hiding it pretty well.
“No.” Was the doctor’s answer. “We didn’t found any trait of the rabid virus in his system.”
The two animals shared another, confused look. “So?” Nick asked, and the doctor continued.
“We didn’t found any trait at all of the rabid in his system. He was never vaccinated against the rabid.”
This really surprised the two officers.
“Rabid vaccine is standard in all mammals.” Judy said, as she looked at the fox, who looked back at her with the very much look that she had in her face. “Everybody has already been vaccinated by the age of five.”
“Doctor, are you sure?” Nick asked, and the moose on the other end of the line said:
“Yes, we ran the tests, and we are sure that he was never vaccinated against rabid.” He explained, and he added: “But not only that, we also were able to see that his blood is free from several other antibodies, what tells that he has never received half of the standard vaccines.”
Nick and Judy shared a look, and the doctor continued. “Also, we are making some other tests with his blood, because his antibodies seemed weird.”
“Weird how?” Nick asked.
“Well, it is hard to explain, so we are still running the tests to be sure that is not just an impression. We will have more solid results by the end of the day. Still, I recommend you to be careful around him, and to locate him as soon as possible.”
“We will, thanks, doctor.” Nick said, and soon after the doctor hang up on his side, and Nick put his intercom back in place. Judy looked at him, and she said:
“He didn’t received half of the standard vaccines when he was a child?”
“Yeah, it is what it seems.” Nick said, and he added, “Maybe his parents didn’t had access to the vaccines?”
“I was born in Bunnyburrow, and I can assure you that it may not be very advanced, but we all have access to vaccines in there, I have been vaccinated, as well every one of my brothers and sisters.” Judy said, and Nick continued to think a little more.
“Maybe his parents didn’t believed in vaccines?” He offered, and Judy thought a little more about it.
“Maybe… but we will know for sure once we get him.” She said, going back to look at the street. So did Nick, as he added in a low voice “IF we even find him.”
They continued to look at the street, seeing many animals pass by, including a few cougars, but none of them matched the description of their cougar. By what they knew, by this time he could be in another precinct, and he could very well have hidden his traits not to be found. It would help if they would receive a message from back into the headquarters, to tell them the probable location of their cougar and where they should go to find him.
Still, Nick found himself pondering just where the cougar planned to go next, and what he could be planning to do…
XXX
Alex was walking into the city for a good minutes now, and he had time to look around the city, seeing all shorts of banners and promotional posters on the way, most of them talking about marketing, and Alex could not avoid a certain feeling of familiarity as he looked at them. One had the back of a tiger, with the words “Just zoo it”. Other showed a gazelle wearing highhells, with the words “PREYDA” on top. Not to mention many more things that he was seeing into the street as he passed.
Zootopia? Alex thought in his head, as the familiarity of all of these posters and banners passed by him. It is more like “Puntopia”.
Alex continued to walk into the street, and he made his best to look regular and convincing. Still, he could not avoid the crazy twitching of his tail. Alex groaned as he put a paw on his own stomach, feeling the pressure building up inside of him.
Maybe that was what happened when you made junk food your only meal of a day.
Groaning, Alex continued to walk. He knew that he should keep walking to open a good distance from the cops before they were able to find his tracks, but he knew by the pressure in his loins that he would not last very long if he continued to walk.
He needed to take a break, and he was pretty sure that he could not simply do it into the street. Looking around, Alex searched for a place in which maybe could have a restroom, a public one, a chemical one, any one.
As he walked, Alex could see what seemed to be a shopping mall at the left. It was a white building, with black strips in it, much like a zebra, and it had the readings: SAVANNA SHOPPING MALL.
Shopping Malls like that usually had a bathroom in there. Alex knew that, and he knew that he wanted one as soon as possible, for if he continued to walk for much more time, it was probably going to happen a tragedy.
His mind still tried to rationalize with him that, if he actually made a stop in there, he could possibly be followed. Still, Alex soon rationalized that he had walked a while since that place, and that he could very well make a stop without any danger, as long as he made it quick and he resumed walking soon.
So, Alex turned and started to walk in direction to the entrance of the place. Many other animals were walking in and out of the place, some tall giraffes and also some really small rodents. Alex barely minded them, and no one gave him a second look as he passed by all of them, aiming to find the nearest male restroom as soon as he could.
As he walked inside, Alex didn’t even noticed the traffic cameras that were on the nearby posts, including one that was pointing straight at him as he walked inside…
XXX
Ferris was looking at the recordings of the traffic cameras, following the steps of the cougar since he had left Officer Wilde unconscious and cuffed to that bench.
He had to fast-forward a few parts, but he was able to keep a trait of the movements of the puma as he walked into the streets.
He had went by the Herd Street, and he moved on the 28th, and then he made the curve into the Giraffe Neck Street. He continued in there for a while, and Ferris was wondering what he was planning.
After a while, the cougar seemed to stop, and he looked at some direction, and he started to move to another place.
Ferris followed his moves through the traffic cameras, and he could see the cougar entering into the Savanna Shopping Mall. The time of the cameras was showing that it had been only two minutes ago!
“Got you.”
XXX
Bogo just hanged off his phone, and he pressed his temples with his hoofed fingers, trying to ease the pressure that was building up and making his head hurt.
Suddenly, the intercom buzzed to life, and he could hear Clawhauser’s voice. “Chief, are you there?”
Bogo pressed the button, and he said, “It better be important, Clawhauser, for your job’s shake!”
The cheetah surely flinched at the other end of the intercom, for he hesitated a while before he spoke. “I-is that, Ferris is on the other end, he said that he tracked the cougar, and that he known where he is.”
Okay. THAT was important.
XXX
Nick and Judy were on their car, and Nick sighed, as he spoke.
“Maybe we should go back, Carrots, I think our cougar is out of reach now.”
Judy was about to answer, when their radio buzzed, and the voice came, but it was not Clawhauser’s, it was the voice of Chief Bogo.
“Hopps, Wilde! Are you two there?”
They looked at each other, and Nick picked the radio, and he pressed the button to talk to their chief.
“Wilde talking, me and Hopps are here, we are going back to central.”
“Change in plans, we tracked the cougar through the traffic cams, he is at Savanna Shopping Mall.”
“Oh…” Nick said, and he looked at Judy, before their boss continued.
“You two are the closest to the place, and we want you to go in there.”
Judy seemed to be happy to hear that, and Nick pressed the intercom, and he said, “So, we are going to make the arrest?”
“Negative.” Bogo’s voice said, and this surprised the two mammals. “You two are going to put your vehicle in front of the establishment and wait outside. Do not approach the cougar unless he tries to leave. I’ll be sending the SWAT to back you up.”
The SWAT?
Bogo was really planning to send up the SWAT in order to help them with a cougar?
“Chief, are you sure that you need the SWAT?” Nick asked, and he said, “If is because of that shock he gave me with the taser, he only managed to do that because I was distracted.” Judy rolled her eyes, and Nick continued, “Look sir, I’m pretty sure it is not needed.”
“I decide what is needed or not.”
“Sir, seriously, I think Hopps and I can easily-”
“YOU WON’T APPROACH THAT COUGAR!” Bogo’s voice boomed through the radio, startling Nick and almost making him drop the. Judy too had been startled by that sudden explosion by their boss part. There was a silence, as Bogo seemed to be recomposing himself, and then, his voice came again by the radio:
“That cougar is much more dangerous than we thought.” He seemed to be still trying to keep composure as he spoke that to them by the radio. “Don’t approach him until the SWAT arrives. If he tries to leave, you two stop him, and if he offers any resistance, than you are clear to dart him on spot. And don’t turn the sirens on, we don’t want him to know you are coming. Copy?”
The two animals shared a look among themselves. More dangerous than they thought? Bogo was really considering him so dangerous that they needed the SWAT to take on him, and they had permission to dart him at the minimal sign of resistance? It couldn’t be just because he had tased Nick…
“Wilde, Hopps, do you copy?” Bogo’s voice came again, and Nick looked at the bunny. Judy looked at him for a few moments, and nodded. Nick pressed the button of the radio, and said.
“Okay, approach the place with no sirens, watch the cougar from distance and wait for the SWAT to arrive, copy.”
“Good. Good luck, officers.” Bogo said, and the radio buzzed off. The two animals shared another look among themselves, and soon, Judy was driving in direction to the Savanna Shopping Mall.
They arrived in less than five minutes, and they parked in a place where they could get a clear view of the entrance of the mall, and they keep an eye open for that cougar, if he ever came out of the mall.
They stood there for a good ten minutes, and neither of them was seeing the cougar come out of the building, though many other animals were coming in and out. “Well, sees like Gazelle’s beneficent event is making some success.” Nick mentioned, and Judy only nodded, paying attention to the entrance of the mall, as she was able to detect some suspicious movement in the entrance.
It was an elephant, by his side was a lion, and they both were wearing black clothes and they were standing into the entrance, as if they were waiting for something.
Soon, a group formed by a few wolves came, and they greeted each other briefly, and soon, they all were entering the place. Judy was able to notice that some of them were carrying heavy baggage, excessively heavy for a walk into the shopping mall. She also noticed that the lion had a piece of cloth coming out of a pocked into his pants, and it was black as their clothes, and even from that distance, the piece of cloth looked quite like… a ski mask?
At that moment, a lot of alarms started to go off in Judy’s head, telling her that there was immediate danger into what she was seeing, and making she be suspicious about the group of animals that just entered the mall.
They were up to something, Judy could sense it. But what they were planning? Did it had anything to do with the cougar?
“Nick.” Judy said, catching the fox’s attention. “We need to go in.”
“Oh, wait a minute.” Nick said, as he saw that same familiar determined expression on his partner’s face. “Bogo said for us to wait until the SWAT arrives. I don’t plan to make him angry, do you?”
“I have a feeling about this.” Judy said, and she looked at her fox partner. “We gotta go in there.” And she didn’t even waited for Nick’s answer, as she exited the vehicle, and Nick was trying to find something to say for a few moments, before he was finally left alone, and he groaned, rolling his eyes as he opened his door, and jumped out of the car in direction of the shopping mall. He was only glad that, by now, the wet spot in his pants had dried, and he would be saved some very embarrassing situations.
Little did they knew that, as they walked out of their car and in direction to the shopping, someone had an eye on them.
Into a big, black colored van without windows, a black colored sheep was sitting into the driver’s seat, and he was looking at the two animals into police uniforms who walked in direction to the shopping mall.
His paws griped harder at the steering wheel, as he muttered under his breath. “Shit.”
He reached on his pocked, and pulled out a carrot phone, and he quickly dialed a number in the fast dial, and he held the carrot phone up to his ear as it was calling.
“Pick up. Pick up. Pick up.”
Soon the strong voice came into the other end, saying, “What is it?”
“Boss, cops going into the shopping!”
“What? Have we been discovered?”
“I’m not sure, there is only two of them.”
“How are they?”
“It is that duo we heard about, Hopps and Wilde. The bunny and fox. Should we be worried about it?”
There was a silence, before the voice answered.
“Any other cops or cars around?”
“I only see them, and I don’t see other police cars around.” The sheep said, looking at all sides, trying to catch sight of any other cops or any vehicle of the ZPD around, but he was seeing none. “What do we do now, boss?”
There was another moment of silence, before the voice said once more. “We’ll stick with the plan. We’ll do our part in here, and we will keep an eye open for these two little officers. You stay out there and be ready to pick us up on the right moment. But keep an eye open, if you see the shadow of another cop in there, you give me a call and we go for plan B. Got it?”
The sheep swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat, and he said, “Y-yes boss.” And he hung down the phone. Plan B really was something that made him feel very uneasy…
XXX
Alex sighed as he came out of the cubicle and walked to the sink, to wash his paws.
He had a little trouble to find a bathroom in there, and he had to walk for around ten minutes before he was able to finally recognize a sign that showed a bathroom around. Still, he had trouble to understand the signaling, which was the blue head of a stag with big antlers. He took a while to figure out if that meant that the bathroom was for males or only for deer.
Alex was admired with the different sized urinals in there, obviously made form animals of different sizes, and they had different volumes. However, Alex noticed that there was a predominant size that seemed to be for mammals around Alex’s size. It seemed to be very interesting that this size seemed to be predominant in there, and Alex noticed that it made sense, for most animals that he saw in that city were approximately of his size, with the rhinos being slightly bigger, but overall, they all ranged around the same size.
Soon Alex was moving out of the bathroom, and walking back to the path he had made in direction to the bathroom, back to the exit. As he walked, Alex could not avoid passing by many stores that once again made him think back of his land, at the same time that they remembered him that he was into somewhere new and kind of strange.
Passing by a store that sold cell phones, he was seeing the special offer of carrot phones. They were basically normal cell phones, like the ones of Apple. However, instead of the bitten apple, they had the logo of a bitten carrot on the back.
Next Alex passed by a video game store, which showed a few games, like Beast Inside, Paragon, Zooborn, Overwolf, and City of Roars.
He also passed a small comic store, which had some comics of heroes like “Bat Wing”, “Super Wolf”, “X-Mammals” and “The Dash”. There was also a few books of something called “Beasts and Battlefields”, with the acronym being “B&B”.
Finally, he passed by a record store, that has a poster showing of a special promotion of the CDs of the “Fur Fighters”, “Guns n’ Rodents”, and “Lady Baa Baa”. This all besides the CDs of someone called simply “Gazelle.”
“…Puntopia indeed…” Alex said to himself as he continued to walk, and now that he was not in a rush anymore, he had time to stop and give a good look at the agglomeration of animals in the part directly in front of the entrance, right before the moving staircases. There was a lot of animals of all varieties gathered in there, and many of them were into a line of some short, and they seemed to all have CDs, posters and magazines in their hands.
Curious, Alex looked at them, and at the other end of the line, and he saw a face that was familiar to him.
He saw the same gazelle that he had sighted into the capes of the CDs of the records store back there! She was wearing a black and white dress, and by her sides, there were two burly tigers, both wearing black suits, probably her bodyguards. She was surely a pop star of shorts. She seemed to be autographing some of the brought objects, and even taking photos with the people who Alex assumed where her fans. As she was doing so, some animals deposited money into the nearby boxes.
Looking over, Alex could see a poster that had the readings. TAKE PHOTOS WITH GAZELLE! THE MONEY WILL ALL GO FOR THE REFORMS TO TUNDRA TOWN’S SCHOOL FOR BLIND CUBS.
“A communitarian campaign…” Alex said to himself as he looked at it, and the gazelle, whose artistic name seemed to truly be “Gazelle”, was smiling brightly at everyone who came and donated, and she seemed to really like the work she was doing.
Alex didn’t knew why, but he had a nice vibe on her, and he had the feeling that she really liked to help…
As Alex was busy looking at the beneficent event, he failed to noticed some animals that entered.
Judy and Nick were both walking into the mall, and they looked at the great agglomeration of mammals in front, all of them taking photos and autographs from the pop star Gazelle.
“Yeah, truly successful event, indeed.” Nick said, as he noticed that many mammals were excited to be in there, and he could not help but remember of their dear friend Clawhauser. He was like, Gazelle’s #1 fan, and he would love to be in there. Sadly, he didn’t found any reason that would let him escape from his work in the front desk for a few hours to go in there, otherwise, he would surely be on that line, excited to take a picture with his idol.
Nick remembered that the big cheetah was sad for three whole days after that.
“Maybe we should try to get Clawhauser an autograph, since we are here.” Nick suggested, but Judy barely heard to him, as she was focused into the animals that she saw into the entrance, and soon she was sighting two of them: the elephant and the lion.
They were both standing into the sideline, right besides the great line of animals that was making up the people who wanted to see Gazelle, and they were blending with the rest of animals who were around, seeing the event unfold.
She noticed the absence of the wolves that had came inside with them, but she noticed that mostly of the suitcases that they had brought was gone, and that the lion was holding one of them in his paws. They were standing in there, looking at all the mammals in the line, as if they were waiting for something to happen.
Judy felt her senses flaring up, as he nose was twitching and the fur on the back of her head was starting to stand. The behavior of these two was, in her opinion, very suspect.
She looked around, and she sighted a few of the wolves, and they too were standing into the sides, as if they were waiting for something too. Looking around, Judy was able to sight more wolves into the footbridges of the floor directly above, and looking over, she saw two more of the wolves sitting into a nearby coffee, and they seemed to be drinking something, as if to pass the time.
All of her instincts were telling her that something was going to happen.
“Judy, what exactly are we here for?” Nick asked, and Judy turned to him.
“I saw some mammals enter in here, and they seemed suspect.”
Nick raised an eyebrow, and he asked, “Suspect, how, exactly?”
“I’m… not really sure.” Judy said, and she continued to look, “I had a bad feeling about them. Look.” She said, pointing over, and Nick saw the elephant and lion on the side, dressed all in black. “And there!” Judy pointed up, and Nick saw wolves dressed the same way into the above footbridges.
Nick looked at them, and he saw that they were in there as if they were resting. Actually, besides the choice of black clothing for a day like that, they didn’t seemed that much suspect. Actually, they seemed to be just other mammals taking care of their lives into the mall.
“Carrots, I’m sorry, but they don’t seem very much suspect for me.”
“I saw them carrying some big suitcases inside the mall.” Judy said, “I can feel that they are going to do something.”
Nick already knew Judy and her “feels”. The bunny was convinced that she could feel when someone was up to something, sometimes she was right, and sometimes it even seemed that the bunny had a sixth sense of shorts for this kind od thing. However, at that given moment, Nick failed to see how the behavior of these animals could be suspect. They were behaving just like any mammal that was in the mall along with them.
“Carrots, are you sure that we came inside because of these ‘suspicious’ mammals?” Nick asked, and Judy looked at him. “Are you sure that is not because of a certain cougar that we have been chasing by half of Savanna Central by now?”
Judy knew where Nick wanted to get, and she sighed, and she said, “Nick, I know what I saw. These mammals were acting suspicious… And is possible that the cougar has something to do with that.”
“Hah!” Nick said, pointing at her, Judy quickly turned to him.
“Nick, he entered in this place just minutes before these other animals came in! It is possible that they are related to him, and that they are all plotting something together!”
“Okay, you are milking it again.” Nick said, and Judy turned away from him, her eyes crossed and her nose twitching.
Nick sighed, and he said, “Oh, come one, Carrots, you know that this seems a bit forced of your part.” He said, and Judy didn’t say anything in answer, so Nick continued. “Look, I know that you were worried about me, and that you are angry at our cougar, but you can’t simply assume that he is up to something bad.” Nick said that, and he turned his eyes to look around, and he saw something that made his eyes widen.
“Speaking of our cougar, there he is.”
Judy perked her ears, and she looked over to where Nick was looking, and she saw him.
The cougar was looking at the event with his paws in his pocket, and he seemed as if he was simply looking at it with interest.
Very much like the elephant and lion…
“Well, we confirmed that our cougar is here, now what about we go back outside and wait for the SWAT…” Nick started, but soon Judy was walking in direction to the cougar, a determined look in her face.
“Wha… Oh, come on!” Nick groaned to himself, as he was now pacing to get to his partner.
Alex continued to look at the event. He didn’t noticed the two small animals walking in his direction, until a voice called his attention.
“Alex Hunter!”
The voice was female, and it seemed to be very close to him. Alex almost jumped as he looked to the sides, and after a few seconds, as second voice, male and very familiar to Alex, called him. “Down here.”
Alex looked down, he saw two animals, one of them he already knew, and it was the fox cop whom he escaped from. The other was an animal that was slightly shorter than the fox, and it was a bunny. She had a pissed look in her face, and her foot was thumping into the ground as she looked up at him. She was wearing what seemed to be a bulletproof vest, with the badge of the police in her chest.
Oh, boy… Was all that Alex could think as he looked at the two officers in front of him, one of which he had knocked out less than one hour ago, and that other one was probably the partner that the fox had talked about. Well, he never saw a bunny wearing police uniform, and actually, the way she was dressed, and the way that her little nose was twitching as she looked at him, seemed to be actually kind of cute.
The bunny stood up, and she said, “I’m Judy Hopps, from the ZPD.” She said, pointing at her badge, and she added, “You probably already know my partner, Nicholas Wilde.” She pointed at the fox, who made a small salute at the cougar. As Alex looked down at the bunny, suddenly her name rang a bell in his head.
Judy Hopps.
He remembered her!
She was talking to him when he was almost losing consciousness!
Man, talk about coincidences…
“Hmmm, hi.” Alex said, and the bunny continued to look at him, and Alex said. “Well…. Ms. Officer…” He tried to come up with something smart to say, but soon, he realized that there was no easy way out of that one.
He sighed, and he said, “Okay, don’t tell me, you are here to arrest me, right?”
“For escaping a hospital, smuggling wallets, resisting to prison, and attacking a cop with a taser.” Judy said as she counted the charges of the cougar in her fingers, and Nick looked at him, and he said, “You have been in a lot of bad situations.”
“It is the story of my life.” Alex said as he looked at the two officers, and specially at the bunny. Still, Alex didn’t felt as threatened by her as he normally was when he was dealing with cops. Still, her look made him feel very uneasy.
“Also, you can right now tell us if you have anything to do with these mammals in there.” Judy pointed to the other side of the mall, Nick slapped his own face, and Alex looked over, to see where she was pointing.
“Which ones?” Alex asked, and Nick said:
“I think she is referring to the elephant and lion dressed in black.”
Alex looked over, and soon he saw the two mammals they were talking about. The elephant was HUGE, and the lion was by his side, wearing the same set of black clothes that the elephant did. Alex looked curious at them, and then back at the bunny.
“Do you know these two?” She asked him, and Alex took a second before answering.
“I was supposed to?”
“Carrots…” Nick tried to say, but Judy talked first, directly at the cougar:
“Look, they have entered into this mall only minutes after you did, and they were behaving suspiciously.” Judy said, and she looked at the cougar as if he could know what she was talking about. Alex was about to answer, telling her that it was probably a coincidence, but them something clicked in his mind.
“Wait, how do you know I entered in here minutes ago?”
“Oh, we have been following your moves by the traffic cameras.” Nick said casually, with a grin in his face. “We started following you back in the moment you knocked me out and walked into the street.”
In that moment, Alex could feel like the blood was being drained away from his features.
They… had him on TAPE!?
“Enough of that! Now you must answer a few questions!” Judy said, turning at the cougar, who looked down at her, and she said, “Now, I want to know who you are, exactly.” Alex looked back at her, half in a daze, feeling like he had been caught. “You have knocked down my partner, what is bad by itself, but you must have done other things in the past! Chief Bogo believes that you are dangerous, and he seems to be sure of that, otherwise, he wouldn’t have gave us permission to shot you in the spot, neither would he be sending up the SWAT to back us up against you!”
“What!?” Alex cried out, getting the attention of a few passing mammals, who looked at him.
“Yes.” Judy said, looking at him, “The chief believes that you are so dangerous that he is sending the SWAT to capture you, and he would not do that only for you escaping the hospital and attacking an officer. They could arrive at any moment now, and before they do, I want to know why Bogo thinks you are so dangerous!”
XXX
Truth to Judy’s words, right as they talked, two black colored vans with the capitals S.W.A.T were coming in direction to the mall. They parked around it, and soon, several mammals with weapons and uniform were walking out of them.
Nearby, a ZPD car stopped, and Bogo stepped out of it, and he walked in direction of the entrance of the mall, the agents of the SWAT following him closely behind.
Around, some animals were paying attention at it, between them, a black sheep that was on the steering wheel of a white van.
His eyes widened when he saw all these animals with dart weapons and uniforms, his heart started to beat loud and he started to sweat bullets.
“Oh shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!” He said, as he pulled the phone, and dialed the number on fast dial, and soon, he was talking with his boss.
“Two dozens of SWAT agents right outside the mall!” He said, his other hand sweating and squeezing the steering wheel hard. “They know about us!”
He heard his boss cursing on the other end of the phone, and then he said. “Now we go for plan B. Wait for us into the back exit of the mall!”
“R-right!” The sheep said, and hung off his phone, and he started to maneuver the van, getting out of there as subtly and normally as it was possible, knowing that now things would get really ugly…
XXX
Inside the mall, the elephant hung off his phone, and turned to the lion, who had heard what he said about plan B. The lion looked up at him, and they exchanged a single nod.
The lion brought his paw to near his head, and he spoke into the communicator in his writs. “Plan B, everyone. Be ready.”
Right after that, he reached in the pocked of his jacket, and he pulled out the ski mask. He wore it over his head, while the elephant by his side did pretty much the same, with a much bigger mask. The lien then reached into the suitcase, and pullet an object out of it…
The mammals around where all taking care of their lives, when suddenly, gunshots were heard.
Everyone in and out of the mall flinched, and some animals screamed.
The wolves in the footbridges all pulled out Gatling guns, and aimed down in direction to the crowd, while the two that were near the entrance also had weapons, and they stood into the doors, one facing the outside while the other was turned to the inside.
“Okay now!” The elephant in black clothes and mask said, his voice booming, while the lion was on his side, holding onto an AK47 at the crowd. “No one moves, and no one gets hurt!”
The animals all cried out as they ducked into the ground.
On the other side of the mall, three animals had their attention immediately called by the gunshots. The bunny, fox and cougar all stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to the elephant and lion, the later having a weapon in his paws, and seemed to be ready to use it and not be afraid to do so.
“Oh my god!” Judy said.
“What!?” Nick cried out in surprise.
“You can’t be serious…” said Alex, just not believing into how bad his luck could actually be…
