Disclaimer: Zootopia stories, characters, settings, and properties belong to the Walt Disney Co. This story is written under Fair Use Copyright laws.
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The Fire Triangle
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Part Two:
Oxidizer
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Chapter 5—Unintended Consequences
(Cont'd...Part 2)
"WHERE is he?"
Officer Rex Jackson would later swear that the angry red panda in the doorway had appeared in a puff of crimson smoke and was big enough to fill the frame. "No kidding; she had eyes like super-bright headlights and a mouth like one of those martial-arts throwing stars—and FANGS. And whoooo, that voice; like death metal on triple espresso."
"Where IS he!" Zootopia City Councilmember Claudia Nizhang screamed again, sweeping her gaze over the room before zeroing in on the animal perched on the desktop in front of her. "You!" she snarled, and stormed into the office on her cane, at the same time waving a manila envelope above her head. "You STUPID idiot, you incompetent little jerk; do you know what you've DONE? Do you have any idea?"
Without waiting for a reply, she tore open the envelope and slapped the contents down in front of Lieutenant Tufts like a winning poker hand...so hard it nearly blew the hapless squirrel off the desktop.
It also caused one of the documents to fly free of the pack and drift away—almost directly into Judy Hopps's lap.
It was a 5" X 6" photograph of what looked like a massive tree-trunk. Gouged into the bark was a crudely rendered version of the V-for-Vendetta/Fox-Face logo. The surrounding flames and accompanying text had been applied with bright-red spray paint. The vandals, whoever they were, had apparently run short on time.
The message they'd written read, 'We're Not Gonna Take It!' and below that, three more words in all-caps, 'LET! THEM! GO!' Still further down, hastily inscribed, was a final word, in bold text and underlined for effect, 'ACAJ.'
Judy felt her skin beginning to crawl. She knew that acronym; there wasn't an officer on the force who didn't know it: ACAJ–All Cops Are Jerks.
And it didn't take a whole lot of brainpower to guess which 'them' the second part message referred to...or that the rest of those pics showed more or less the same thing as the one she was holding.
Lt. Tufts, meanwhile, had recovered most of his composure and had drawn himself up on his haunches.
"Councilmember Nizhang, you have no business here. Officer Jackson? Kindly escort this red panda..."
She spun on her heel, pointing her cane right between the lion's eyes.
"Back off, cat...before I put this thing so far up your nose, you'll need a team of doctors to remove it."
Raising his paws–and suppressing a grin–Jackson did as he was told. It wasn't that he was afraid of her...or of what might happen to him if he was caught putting his paws on a member of the Zootopia City Council. Noooo, he was just thoroughly enjoying this; Claudia Nizhang was saying all the things to Lieutenant Tufts that he wished HE could say. Those were Judy's thoughts anyway; it was sure as heck what she'd like to have told that bushy-tailed little tyrant.
In the meantime Claudia had turned to face him again. Judy saw her reach out with talon fingers and for a moment, it looked like she was going to pick the Lieutenant up by his tail. Okay-y-y, that was out of line, but she knew she'd never make it out of her chair in time to intervene. Officer Jackson was quicker, but pulled up short when the red panda only snatched up one of the photographs instead.
"You know where these were taken, Tufts?" she said, waving it in his face like a big, diamond ring, "Sequoia Park. That's right, the toniest neighborhood in Old Growth City. So imagine what it's like down in Happytown and the Marshlands right now. Congratulations idiot, you just turned Zootopia into a powderkeg!"
The Kaibab squirrel reeled back slightly; stunned but also bristling with indignity.
"A powderkeg...seriously? Oh puh-LEASE; take your fake news somewhere else, Councilmember."
She only leaned over him on the head of her cane.
"Don't tell me," she purred, "Tell the officers out on the barricades, in front of Precinct-1."
"Wait, what?" Judy's chair had suddenly turned wobbly. Claire Swinton hadn't said a word about any standoff on the ride over from the hospital. But then, maybe she simply hadn't known; Rex Jackson looked every bit as flabbergasted as she was.
Lt. Tufts wasn't dumbstruck, he was dubious. "Oh, reeeally?" he chittered, paws against his hips. "Then how come I haven't heard a single word about it, Ms. Nizhang?"
"Fine," the red panda sniffed, folding her arms, "If you don't want to believe me, how about your own eyes?" she pointed to a large-rodent laptop, lying open on the desktop beside him "Go on, call up the Savanna Central CCTV cams and see for yourself."
Tufts glared at her for a second, but then pulled the notebook computer in close and began typing. Someone else also had access and, unlike the squirrel, didn't hesitate. From behind her Judy heard a roar that made her want to duck and cover beneath her chair. Turning to look, she saw Rex Jackson, holding his phone in a shaky paw and staring bug-eyed at the screen.
"Ssssst, can I see?" she asked, and the lion obligingly moved the cell in front of her face.
For a second or two, her mind was unable to process the scene taking place on the screen before her. And then her good paw was flying up to her face and she was gasping under her breath, "Ohhh, sweet cheez n' cannon-crackers!"
Arrayed in a crescent around the Precinct-1 entrance was a two-deep phalanx of officers in riot gear. Directly in front of them was a black-painted prefab metal fence, about waist-high to a larger mammal. On the opposite side, a swarm of angry younger mammals had gathered, at least two hundred with more still arriving. Some of them were holding signs, many more were pumping fists and everyone appeared to be chanting something. Judy didn't have to think too hard to guess what it was. 'We're not gonna TAKE it!' Wait, no, it was only three words; so it had to be 'Let! Them! GO!'
"That's ERIN they're talking about!" she realized with another gasp. And Ho-leee Carrot-stix, how the heck had those kids managed to get organized so quickly? Judging by the state of things on the other side of the line, they must have shown up en masse and caught the ZPD by surprise. At least half the officers she saw were wearing riot gear that looked ill-fitting and unkempt—as if they'd thrown it on in a last-minute rush. Likewise the fence-line had been erected in a haphazard zig-zag; many of the sections appeared to be held together by zip-ties, and a few were even secured with duct-tape. If those kids decided to charge, it wouldn't last two seconds.
Judy had just enough time to digest this information before Jackson took the phone back and then there was Tufts, on the desk in front of her again. Oh-kay-y-y-y, now Claudia had managed to get under his skin; his tail had frizzed into a bottle brush and was shivering like a divining rod.
"Pleased with yourself, Lieutenant?" the red panda growled, pointing to the laptop, "That's all on you."
In the next few seconds, Judy Hopps had to grudge the Kaibab squirrel one thing, if nothing else; you could put this little so-and-so off his stride—but you couldn't make him stay there.
"So, what should I have done instead, Councilmember?" he demanded, fluttering his fingers in gesture of derision. "Maybe we should have just let those poor, misunderstood, little angels go and given them lollipops?"
Claudia threw up her paws like an enraged red-panda and leaned over him again, this time with her fangs showing.
"DON'T you talk to me that way, you little twerp; I was busting crooks when you were getting stuffed into your high-school locker!" She lowered the paws and also her voice. "No, what you should have done was to keep everything low-key; interview those kids one at a time, and only gradually bring up the subject of Conor Lewis. And absolutely, having them arrested should have been your last resort." She snarled and swatted the air, as if wiping away something filthy. "But no, YOU had to go charging in there like Elephant Ness and make a big show out of everything—and this is what happens!" She was pointing at the laptop again. "And quit pretending Lieutenant; we both know what your game is. You busted those kids in the hope that the Lewis kid will give himself up in exchange for their freedom...didn't you?"
Judy startled and felt her ears lay back again, instantly realizing that Claudia was right; that was exactly the squirrel's plan. You could see it in his face; set in stone but with a smirk attempting to break though. And now she understood the purpose of that veiled threat in regards to Judge Schatten. Anyone hauled up in front of that groundhog was as good as on their way to juvie—and who'd know it better than the silver-fox kid he'd once ordered put in V3 restraint?
Well, if this nut-cracking little jerk thought he was going to drag HER kid sister into his scheme...
"In that case, Lieutenant, you might as well save yourself the trouble—it won't work."
All eyes immediately turned in the doe-bunny's direction.
"And just why would you say that, Hopps?" Tufts asked her, drawing himself up to his full height. Had it not been for his rank...that gesture might have been good for a snicker, a bushytailed Benito Mouselini.
"Yes...why?" Claudia Nizhang echoed. The tone of her voice was curious rather than caustic.
Judy looked at them each in turn before answering.
"Because the Lewis boy is absolutely terrified of what will happen to him if he gets caught; he's ready to die before he'll let that happen."
"Oh, give me a...!" the Lieutenant started to say—but then stopped when Claudia waved him to silence.
"Go on..."
Judy puffed out her cheeks and continued. "Conor Lewis, don't forget, is not that boy's real name. We don't know who he really is...but after what I saw in that auditorium, I'm willing to bet that if he's ever caught, he'll end up facing something a LOT worse than anything we could ever throw at him."
Claudia Nizhang pursed her lips and raised an eyebrow.
"Hrrmmm, even I have to admit that's a bit of a stretch, Detective."
"Is it?" the doe bunny asked, leveling her gaze like a laser-sight at the red panda, "Think about it, Councilmember. He broke out of jail, even though had better than a 50/50 chance of beating the charges against him. For crying out loud, he had Vern Rodenberg as his defense counsel. And then, when I surprised him in that theater, he just plain refused to surrender and attacked me. That's right, he struck first."
"He did WHAT?" Claudia's paws were up again, but this time not in a gesture of anger. And then she was pointing at the doe-bunny's bandaged eye "You mean....HE did that to you?"
Ohhhh, Judy wanted to groan. Right, right, right...she wouldn't have known about that. Neither, for that matter, would Officer Jackson, who was looking at her as if he'd just seen an apparition.
"You better believe he did," the doe-bunny said, "and this time it wasn't any post-traumatic reaction; he knew exactly what he was doing." She turned back to Lieutenant Tufts, "And I actually heard him say it. When I told him that Mr. Rodenberg was still willing to represent him, all he said was, 'He can't help me,' and then later on, he told me straight up, 'I'll die before I go back there.'"
"What, now?" Claudia asked her, head tilting sideways, "Go back where, Judy?"
"I...don't know," she admitted, shrugging, "But wherever it was..."
"Wait, hold it...what's this about Vernon J. Rodenberg?"
Albert Tufts was standing with folded arms and a cool expression...and Judy was once again fighting the urge to reward herself with a facepawlm. Just when she'd thought her head had cleared completely ...
Ah, well....now that she'd spilled the beans there was nothing to do but go with it.
"Yes, when I met with Mr. Rodenberg earlier—when he helped me get in to see The Red Pig—he asked for a favor in return for his assistance."
"For you to be put on the Lewis investigation...yes, yes I know." Tufts was waving and looking elsewhere.
"Yes, that's true Lieutenant," Judy nodded. Oh-kay, here came the tricky part, telling him just enough to make her point but not enough to give cause for disciplinary action. "But he also asked a fursonal favor of me; to pass on a message to the Lewis boy if I got the chance—that he was still willing to represent him in court."
"Which you did," Tufts was working his incisors against each other, the way a member of his species does when spying an particularly tasty morsel. "And I hope you realize something Detective; going out on your own like that is a direct violation of ZPD police procedure. And this is the second time you've done that."
Nuh-UH! This time, Judy felt no need to plant one in the center of her face. She was ready for the Lieutenant wagging a finger and shaking her head.
"Actually, sir...no, it isn't," she said, and then threw up her paw as if tossing a carrot-green into the wind, "Ohhh, it might have been if I'd set up that meeting with the Lewis boy in advance—with the express purpose of giving him Mr. Rodenberg's message. But that's not what happened; I practically stumbled right into..."
"Now, wait a minute," Tufts tried to interrupt, but it was no good; this bunny was on a roll.
"And the first thing I did when I saw that fox-kid was try to apprehend him. It wasn't until later that I passed on Mr. Rodenberg's message...and even then it was to try to persuade him to give it up." She leaned forward, regarding the squirrel with her one good eye. "If you think Chief Bogo...or anyone on the Police Board is going to call that improper police procedure, I have an iceberg in Sahara Square to sell you."
"Then why am I only hearing about your promise to that sleazeball lawyer now?" the squirrel demanded, sounding not unlike an adolescent who wants to know WHY he can't go to that party.
But whoops...petulant or not, he had just put Judy on the spot; there was no easy answer to that question.
Or...was there? From out of nowhere, Claudia Nizhang spoke up again.
"Oh, come on Lieutenant...don't tell me you've never strung someone along in order to get them to cooperate."
Judy couldn't help grinning, she knew he had; there isn't a cop on the planet who hasn't played that game.
And in that context, her agreement with the rat-attorney was something she wouldn't have needed to report to her superiors. After all, who'd a-thunk she'd ever get the opportunity to make good on that pact?
Lieutenant Tufts regarded her for a moment with a look of boiling acid. What she hadn't said—but what both of them knew—was that Mr. Rodenberg's offer might yet prompt Conor to give himself up and take his chances in court. It was an extremely unlikely scenario, given the events of the past 24 hours—and the young fox's fear of whatever awaited him if he surrendered—but it was by no means impossible. As Judy had pointed out earlier, he was going to need medical attention every bit as much as she...and the only sure way for him to get it would be by surrendering to the ZPD. If, somehow, it came down to that or dying—perhaps then the fugitive young silver fox would be willing to put his fate into the paws of John Law. It's all too easy to say you prefer death to this or that fate. But when you're faced with the actual choice...
"That's it, I've heard enough." Tufts slapped his paw against his legs, and then jabbed a finger at Judy and Claude Nizhang. "Jackson...get these two out of my sight, and right now."
"Why Lieutenant," the doe bunny smiled sweetly, "Don't you want to hear my full report?" D'aggggh, what the heck had made her say that? There was no point in antagonizing him any further. "It must be the aftereffect of those tranq-darts again."
"As a matter of fact, I do," He told her, returning her smile with an added dose of venom, "You're to wait outside in the hall until I call for you; you too, Councilmember Nizhang."
The red panda smirked and narrowed her eyes, as if the squirrel just challenged her to an arm-wrestling match. "YOU don't give me orders, bub," She sneered, turning to go nonetheless.
"Come on Detective Hopps, you too." Officer Jackson said, looking extremely unhappy. She patted his paw as he helped her down from her chair; none of this was his fault.
Outside in the foyer, she was greeted with another unpleasant surprise. Claire Swinton was nowhere to be seen. When Judy called out the pig-cop's name, Kii Catano told her that she was somewhere over in the Lionheart auditorium, "The Crime Scene Unit wanted her for something." In other words, her driver had become unavailable.
"And I'M the one who called in that CSU Team! Way to go, Jude-the dude." If it wouldn't have hurt like heck, she would have thumped her foot in frustration.
Someone tapped her on the arm; it was Claudia Nizhang, beckoning her close with a crooked finger and speaking under her breath. "Y-You're not thinking of leaving are you? You heard what the Lieutenant said." She sounded partly wary, but mostly conspiratorial; a kit making plans to ditch school for the rest of the day.
Judy thought for a second and decided to trust this red panda. Narrowing her eyes, she dropped her own voice down to a whisper.
"The heck with him, I'm going to go see my sister," she said. And then, in for penny, in for pound, "Do you have a car?"
Claudia started to shake her head, but then another voice spoke from behind them, "I do."
Both of them turned...and saw Gazelle standing a couple of feet away. Those big, funnel ears of hers might not have been quite as sensitive as a bunny's...but they still got the job done.
The popstar bent down and also lowered her voice.
"I have my limousine waiting outside,"
"Okay let's go," Judy whispered right back, but Claudia quickly waved a paw.
"Hold it, hold it; if you're going to do this, do it right. Put your arm around me and pretend like you're in pain."
"Ummm, I don't need to pretend..."
"Never mind, just do it..."
Judy followed the red panda's lead, putting an arm around her waist and letting the other animal take hold of her, just beneath the shoulder. And then, with Gazelle walking ahead of them, they began to make their way towards the door, the doe bunny dragging her foot for added effect.
Inevitably, a voice called out, "Hey you, the Lieutenant told you to stay here until he calls for you."
Claudia turned and looked back at Officer Quino.
"What's the matter with you?" she demanded, indignantly raising her muzzle, "Can't you see this bunny needs to get back to the hospital?"
"Mom?" Judy groaned blearily, "Mom, is that you?"
Claudia hissed out the side of her mouth, "Don't overdo it, rabbit!" And to the alpaca she said, "Or maybe you'd rather explain to the Police Union how you kept an officer, injured in the line of duty, from getting..."
"All right, all right...go, go, GO!" Quino waved his arms and hastily turned away.
Gazelle's limo turned out to have just what Judy needed, plush seating, with plenty of room to stretch out. It was no surprise; the popstar was a large-animal species after all.
She was also in a king-sized funk.
"I-I cannot believe it." She said, pointing and shaking her head sadly. "Conor...he really did that to you, mi coneja?"
"I can hardly believe it myself, Gazelle," the doe-bunny admitted, "Especially after he saved my life."
"He did WHAT?" The words flew out of her companions' mouths almost simultaneously. Judy briefly related the story of how the young silver-fox had caught her in a flying tackle—just before a pair of electrical cables had hit the water in which she'd been standing.
"Madre de Dios," Gazelle crossed herself and then nodded, "THAT sounds more like the Conor Lewis I know."
"If you don't mind my asking," Claudia Nizhang queried from the seat next to Judy, "How the heck did that fox kid manage to lay that kind of pain on you? You've handled much tougher animals than him according to some of the stories I've heard."
Had it been anyone else asking, that would have been an offensive question. Yet coming from this red panda, somehow it wasn't. In fact, it was kind of flattering...knowing that a member of the Zootopia City Council had been keeping tabs on her career.
"Well, first of all I need to point out—again—that I gave at least as good as I got." She said this and then sighed. "Annnnnd...okay, I admit it, Conor got the jump on me. I was trying to talk him out of resisting; reminding him that I was a cop and he was just a kid...and before I could get even halfway finished he was on me." She sighed again and shook her head. "I swear...I knew he might try to fight, but I never thought he'd attack first."
Claudia looked at her for a second and tapped her fingers together, "That's WHY he attacked first, Judy; he knew you weren't expecting it. Ever heard of a sea-mink named Kieran McCrodon?"
The name was only vaguely familiar to Judy but, surprisingly, not to Gazelle.
"Of the McCrodon family, the one that used to own Finagles nightclub?" she asked.
"That's them," the red panda pursed her lips and bobbed her head. "He was The Mister's nephew, once removed. Mmmmm, you used to be almost a regular at that club if I recall correctly."
"Si, I used to love Finagles," the popstar admitted, "It was right near The Heights, so it was very popular with the local Latino animals—that is, when they could afford it." And then she shuddered slightly. "I'm just glad I wasn't anywhere near that club, the day it burned down in that police raid."
"As well you should be," Claudia informed her dryly, patting her bum knee. "I was!" And then turning once more to Judy she said, "But getting back to Kieran McCrodon. He was the head of the Company's hacker crew...but he was also an awesome fighter. He won several MMA amateur championships before his uncle made him give it up, and he was even more dangerous on the street. Anyway, one of his favorite tactics was to attack the minute his opponent started spouting trash talk. He took out more guys that way; I saw him do it. He even had a little rhyme he made up about it. She took on a bad Irish accent 'When they open their yap, it's time to scrap!'" And then resuming her own voice she shook her head, "And believe me, he's not the only animal who knows that tactic."
Judy sucked on her lip for a second.
"Ahhh, yeah...that's probably true. Every time afterwards when I tried to say something to that fox kid, he went right after me again." She stopped, frowning as she remembered. "Exceppppt for the one time I started talking to try and make him come after me. Didn't work, he just stood there."
Claudia smiled and her eyes crinkled.
"Let me guess; you pulled back into a defensive stance first, right?"
"Yes that's right, I did." Judy blinked in surprise at the red panda, "How did you know...? D'ohhh....riiiight!" Once again she had to resist the urge to treat herself to a face pawlm. Of course; that was how Conor had seen through her gambit...dumb bunny!
She decided that a quick change of subject was in order.
"How bad was the riot anyway? Swinton told me what happened backstage, but what about the rest of it?
The rest of it wasn't nearly as bad as it might have been. No deaths, thank goodness and most of the injuries had been minor.
Most, that is...but not all of them. Assuming that Judy's theory about Conor's escape-ploy was correct, he'd have had little difficulty hitching a ride in an ambulance—no questions asked.
The next thing she wanted to know was, "What about the amphitheater?" Lieutenant Tufts had made it sound like the place was a write-off.
As with so many other things, he'd exaggerated.
"Ai...if it hadn't been a GREEK amphitheater, it could have been so much worse," Gazelle's smile was both stoic and forlorn, "After all, it's a little bit hard to tear up seats made out of stone."
For some reason, the rioters had elected not to touch the lawn, and except for some spray painted graffiti and two broken mirrors, the bathrooms up front had also emerged largely unscathed. Where they'd done the most damage was the stage itself; torn up curtains and ripped up flooring. But even that hadn't been the debacle that it might have been; ZPD SWAT had shown up just in time to prevent the rioters from tearing down the lighting scaffold.
But unfortunately, the relatively light damage to the Gazelle Amphitheater was only partly due to the SWAT team's timely arrival. The main reason was that the rioters had chosen to direct most of their wrath against the officers trying to protect the theater rather than the theater itself—and the ZPD hadn't gotten off quite as easily as the rioters and/or bystanders. At least three other officers besides Judy had needed to be taken to the ER—including Officer Wolford, who'd ended up with a broken fetlock and had nearly lost his tail in the melee.
"Ohhhh," Judy groaned and looked away. Of all the cops...Wolford had been the last animal she'd seen before her fateful encounter with Conor Lewis. And when she'd fought with the fugitive young silver fox, she'd been wielding the tonfa-nightstick HE had given her. For some reason, that made it really sting.
"How many arrests?" she asked, unable to think of anything else.
In response Claudia rolled her eyes.
"At least three dozen...I know, right? That èrbī squirrel went overboard there too, any kid who so much as looked at a riot-cop crossways got taken into custody...his orders."
"Hnnnngh," Judy let out a ragged breath. "I'm beginning to understand the reason for all the graffiti and all those protesters out in front of Precinct-1."
"And today is only the beginning, Judy," the red panda reminded her with a growl, "Just you watch; by tomorrow afternoon the Savanna Central greenspace will be the ANARCHY Central greenspace, maybe thousands of kids instead of a hundred or so." She rapped her knuckles on the armrest of her seat. "I mean it Detective; this is going to be much worse than last summer....worse even than after the Lewis kid escaped from jail. And that's even if we don't get any more incidents. "
"All thanks to El Tiente Tufts." Gazelle moaned, slapping a hoof against her own armrest. "I only wish I could see his face when he's fired from this investigation!"
Claudia looked at her for a second and then at Judy. Seeming not to find what she was looking for in either of their faces, she shook her head and sighed.
"Ahhh don't bet on it sister. Like it or not, that squirrel's got two big points in his favor." Leaning forward, elbows on her knees, she looked once again from the popstar to the bunny-cop. "Tell me something Gazelle...Judy, did either one of you think Conor Lewis was actually going to show up at today's auditions?"
"Uh, no," the antelope confessed, sucking air through her teeth and shifting her gaze through the window at the passing scenery.
"Me neither," said Judy. For her the admission was easier. Up until the moment she'd fallen into that hidden tunnel, the fugitive young silver fox had been the furthest thing from her mind.
"Neither did I," Claudia sat back, letting out air through a pair of puffed cheeks. "And neither did practically anyone else—except for Lieutenant Tufts. And guess what...he was right; he was right when everyone else was wrong. That's why he's going to keep his job. That...and because of the SWAT team he brought in. Like I already said, if it hadn't been for them, that riot could have ended up a lot worse than it did."
Judy grimaced, showing all of her teeth, and again, it wasn't from the pain of her injuries.
"Yes, and did you know that almost didn't happen? No kidding, Chief Bogo nearly laughed that squirrel out his office the first time he made the request; turned him down flat. So, he was right even when the Chief was wrong; if he gets pulled from this investigation now, it's going to look like sour grapes."
"Ai!" Gazelle smacked her hoof against the armrest again, still directing her gaze out the window.
Claudia Nizhang, for her part, was more curious than frustrated.
"If that's the case, then how did he end up finally getting that SWAT team?" It was a well-known fact around the ZPD, and elsewhere, that when Chief Bogo said 'No', he meant 'NO!'
Judy shrugged as best she could and flipped a paw. "The usual; he went over The Chief's head to the Attorney General's Office and...bingo, here's your SWAT team; is there anything else we can do for you?"
"Hnnngh," The red panda grunted and folded her arms. "Why does that not surprise me?"
"Well, I have to admit, it surprised ME," Judy told her, half confused and half exasperated. "For the life of me, I've never been able to understand WHY Lieutenant Tufts always seems to have the AG's office in his corner."
"Ahhh," Claudia raised a finger, her face assuming the placid expression of a Zen master. "Allow me to enlighten you, Detective Hopps. You see...the Attorney General happens to be an elected official. And being a politician myself, I know a thing or two about how that works. Suffice it to say, the Bankers Lobby has been all over Attorney General Sayanov about The Phantom ever since they first became aware of him. And, being as they're one of his most generous campaign contributors, you had better believe that when they speak, HE listens."
"And since the Lewis boy is the only lead we have on The Phantom, they've naturally taken an interest in recapturing him." Judy nodded bitterly, "Right, I get it."
"The Phantom; who...?" Gazelle started to ask, and then answered her own question, "Oh, wait...that big-time loan shark, isn't he?"
"Not that big, but yes you're right," Judy said and then, probably needlessly, she added, "The Lewis boy was his cash runner."
"Mmmm yeah," Claudia Nizhang was scratching at an eyebrow. "You know there's something about that whole business that's never felt quite right to me."
"What's that?" her two companions asked, almost simultaneously.
"Well, look." The red panda's paw had moved to the back of her neck. "The reason the bankers SAY the Phantom's such a big deal is because he's gotten way up into their databases—far enough inside that if he wanted to, he could cause some serious damage, am I right?"
Both Judy and Gazelle nodded...though somewhat warily in the popstar's case; all of this was new to her.
Claudia nodded back and threw up her paws, bumping her knuckles on the limo's roof in the process.
"Exactly, so why the heck hasn't he? If he's as clever as everyone says is, he HAS to know that the Bankers Association is the real force behind the drive to take him down—and if he's that deep into their computer mainframes, he has the power to make them go away any time he wants. Hit them with a ransomware attack, and tell them to lay off if they ever want to see their files again. That's what Kieran McCrodon would have done, and in a Zoo York minute. So why hasn't The Phantom done it?"
It was a rhetorical question, and so Judy didn't respond, instead waiting for the red panda to answer it herself.
"I don't know, but I think that's not the real reason the Bankers Association wants that loanshark's pelt so bad. There's something else going on, something they're keeping to themselves." Her shoulders jumped in frustration. "But what that something else could be, I have no idea."
"Madre de Dios, look there." Now Gazelle was pointing out the window. Judy looked, and what she saw wasn't quite as big a shock to her as it was to the popstar.
But it was still a shock; the protesters massed in front of Precinct-1 and the lines of riot-police facing them. No screenshot could compare with seeing it live and in furson.
"Does that crowd look bigger to you than before?" She was speaking to Claudia Nizhang.
The red panda worked her mouth for a second. "Maybe a little...but did you notice something else, Judy? Look at the barricade."
She already had...and had noted that the steel fence had been replaced by a row of concrete barriers, of the type used in highway construction zones.
"Yes I know," she said, "looks like Chief Bogo thinks we're in it for the long haul."
"We probably are," Claudia pulled at the back of her head, "Unless at least some of those kids who got busted today are let go on Monday
"E-Excuse me Ms. Gazelle," a tentative voice interrupted from the front of the limousine. It was the driver, a blackbuck, speaking through the sliding window that separated him from his passengers. "I-I do not think we can go any further this way."
Judy craned her neck. She was unable to see, but she could guess. The way ahead was likely choked with angry young mammals.
"We should use the back entrance anyway." she said. "There's an alternate route. Do you know how to get from here to...?
The driver did...and in practically no time at all, the limo was pulling up to the rear entrance of Precinct-1's parking lot. Back here there were no protesters, not a single one in sight. Even so, Chief Bogo wasn't taking any chances. Two officers in tac-gear, McHorn and Snarlov, were standing sentry duty by the gateway, and a series of concrete barriers had been set up so that any vehicle entering the lot would be obliged to move in a slow zig-zag pattern.
They really were in it for the long haul.
At the limo's approach, Officer McHorn stepped forward, making a stopping gesture with one hoof and a rolling motion with the other.
When the window came down and he saw who it was, he snorted in surprise and then tipped up his visor.
"Office....err, Detective Hopps. Aren't you s'posed to be in the hospital?"
"I'm here to see my sister," she informed him, flatly...in a voice that brooked no argument.
Nor was she going to get one; since her breakup with Nick, the rhino's attitude towards her had mellowed dramatically.
"Understood," he said, waving the limo through. "You can go in, Detective...but only you."
Another face appeared beside the doe-bunny.
"She'll need some help, officer; I'm going with her."
"Ah, didn't see you there, Councilmember Nizhang." McHorn looked slightly abashed. "Yeah, you can go too. But I'm afraid you'll have to wait outside Gazelle."
"Si, I understand."
But then, after her limo driver had threaded his way through the barriers and pulled up next to the curb, she asked Judy and Claudia to hold up a second.
"There's...something I need to tell you." Her mouth pulled inward and she took a short breath. "You are not going to like this, either of you, but I'd rather you heard it from me. Judy, when your sister Erin was the last one picked to perform, that wasn't the luck of the draw; it was done on purpose."
"What!" The doe-bunny's ears were standing up and her foot was trying to thump against the floorboards.
"What do you mean, 'on purpose' Gazelle?" the red-panda next to her demanded, speaking in a near-snarl.
"It was El Tiente Tufts," the popstar replied, head hanging and shoulders slumping, "He had a search warrant that would have allowed him to close the school while he conducted it. But he said that he wouldn't serve it, if we agreed to his 'conditions'."
"One of which, let me guess, was moving Erin Hopps to the final slot, am I right?" Claudia was beginning to look the way she had when she'd burst in on the Kaibab squirrel.
"Si that's right." Gazelle answered, blinking wetness from her eyes, "We would have had to postpone the auditions for a day at least...maybe until next week. And all of the kids from out of town who'd come to audition; they could not wait for that long."
"But...WHY?" Judy cried out, causing another glassy pain to stab into her chest, "Why would he do that?"
The antelope-singer's face became a study in melancholy.
"Because he thought—he KNEW—that Conor Lewis was coming to see your sister perform, mi coneja..."
"And the longer she stayed, the longer he'd stay." Claudia finished the sentence for her, showing her fangs.
"That dirty, stinking, little..." Judy was just glad she wasn't back in that office right now...or else she'd be the one picking up Tufts by his tail—and then slam-dunking him into the nearest trash-can and then they could go ahead and fire her!
"I am so very sorry," Gazelle sniffed. She sounded exactly the way she had at the peace-rally she'd held during the Savage Predator crisis. "Can you ever forgive me?"
Judy looked her straight in the eye. "Just tell me one thing; when my sister won that scholarship, she won it fair and square. It wasn't done, in any way, to make it up to her for having to go last; tell me I'm right."
The popstar held up a hoof and crossed herself.
"I swear mi coneja...yes, you're right and no, it wasn't. The only animals on the judges' panel who knew about it were Dr. Vignius and myself; not anybody else."
"It's true, Judy," Claudia nodded, "I was on that panel too. And you already know that I had no idea the drawing was fixed. Your sister earned that award all on her own." But then she turned and cast a flinty gaze at Gazelle. "That being said, it's just a good thing you decided on your own to come clean about this. If I'd had to find out for myself, I'd resign from the Academy Board of Regents right now. And rest assured, I WILL be taking this up with Dr. Vignius."
"I would have expected nothing less," the popstar told her quietly.
Judy reached out and laid a paw on top of her hoof, "All right then I understand....but you know, it's not me who deserves an apology."
"Si, I know," Gazelle was contrite and yet firm in her resolve. "The first chance I get, I will speak to your sister, I promise."
"Okay," the doe-bunny answered and then reached for the door handle, at the same time speaking to Claudia.
"Come on, we need to get going."
"Yes, right," the red panda agreed, sliding out of her seat, and reaching to offer the doe-bunny a helping paw. "Only...she's your sister Judy, but if I were you, I wouldn't tell her about this just yet."
"Don't worry; I'm not going to," the doe-bunny answered firmly, "Later, for sure, but not yet." She said this while looking at Gazelle
They almost made it. On any regular day, they would have made it—but not tonight. Judy and Claudia were halfway across the Precinct-1 lobby when an all-too-familiar basso-profundo voice hailed her from behind.
"Hopps! What the Devil? What d'you think you're doing here, then?"
"G'ohhhhh." The doe bunny groaned silently and then screwed her eyes shut. Chief Bogo should have gone home by now; if it wasn't for that mob of protesters, he would have gone home. But not now, not with another potential riot brewing—right outside of Precinct-1's front-door! In his way, the great Cape buffalo was every bit the Ranger Scout she was. And now, here he came, striding purposefully in the direction of her and Claudia, with not an ounce of nonsense to spare.
"You're supposed to be in hospital Detective," he said, pointing straight at the door where she and her companion had entered. He said nothing further, but his meaning was clear.
Judy felt herself shrinking inside. She could pull rank on Swinton and tough it out with Tufts—but there was no such option here. All she could do was throw herself on The Chief's mercy and hope that he'd show some sympathy.
She looked up, paws clasped, and ears falling backwards.
"Sir...please; let me see my sister first. She needs me; just a few minutes, that's all I ask.
Bogo snorted and folded his arms, drumming his fingers in the crook of his elbow while gazing up and to the right.
Then his ear flickered and he looked at her.
"All right then, five...fifteen minutes and then straight back to hospital, no ifs, ands, or buts."
That was good...but not good enough.
"Sir, I need to see my family first, and then I can..."
"I'll take care of that, Judy," Claudia Nizhang interrupted, "You just go talk to your sister and then get on back to the hospital. I'll fill your folks in on everything they need to know."
"Thanks Claudia," the doe bunny answered, smiling weakly...and then, it was just too much to resist. "But er, Chief...Lieutenant Tufts is expecting me to make my full report and..."
"I'LL deal with him!" the big Cape Buffalo rumbled; clearly every bit as unhappy with the squirrel as she was—just as she'd known he'd be.
Claudia could only accompany her as far as the City Youth Jail's reception desk, but that was just fine with both of them. Chief Bogo had elected to tag along, and the red panda wanted to have a word with him in private.
As for Judy, she intended for the conversation between her and her younger sister to remain strictly confidential. Towards that end she had already given the order for the recorders to be turned off.
A moment later she was seated at a table in one of the small-mammal interview rooms, and—thank God—it wasn't either of the ones where she and Nick participated in the questioning of Conor Lewis. THAT was a memory she didn't need right now.
The door opened and Erin entered.
She had traded in her stage clothes for a pair of jeans and a simple chambray shirt. Good; mom had been able to get in to see her–which meant she'd also gotten the note that Judy had sent her.
Equally obvious was that over the past few hours, the young, white-furred bunny hadn't been through nearly as much of a wringer as her mother; her fur was still relatively in place, and her cheeks were still dry...but she wasn't in a good place, either, and was that any kind of surprise? One minute she'd been the toast of the ZAPA auditions, and in the next, she'd been listening to an officer inform her that she had the right to remain silent.
Erin's face at the moment was a kaleidoscope of emotion; defiant one second, contrite the next, followed by fearful, dignified, embarrassed, proud...and ultimately horrified.
"Oh, my God Judy, what happened to you?" Her eyes were half again their normal size and her paws were pressing into her cheeks. Hmmm, Mom must have told her only that her sister had been hurt, and avoided giving any details.
"In a minute, sis," the older bunny said. She'd tell Erin how she'd acquired her injuries soon enough...but not until the moment presented itself. In the meantime, she got up and held out her arms to the younger bunny, "Take it easy though, 'kay? I'm still pretty sore right now."
"'Kay," Erin nodded, and if the hug that followed wasn't the tightest one ever, it more than made up for it in warmth...
...If not in length; they had a lot to talk about, and not much time. Seating herself at the table again and inviting Erin to do the same, Judy got right down to business. She had heard from Swinton about her sister's confession to Lieutenant Tufts and Gazelle, but...
"...but how, sis? How did Conor manage to get you out on that stage?" The question had been gnawing at her ever since she'd heard about what happened.
Erin looked away for a second and came back with a 'show-me' stare.
"He told me that if I didn't get out there, he would...and that when he did he'd tell everyone who he was."
"Whoa, wait, hold it, stop right there!" Judy said this and made the 'time out' sign with her paws. "All right sis, did anyone indicate to Conor that if he did that, he'd get caught by the ZPD?"
"Um, yeah," the answer came out slowly accompanied by a nose twitching in perplexity. "I forget who said it, but they told him with that many cops around, there was no way he'd make it out of that theater without getting busted. And then he said, 'then that's what's going to happen' and.... Uhm, why are you asking?"
Judy let out a rough breath and then leaned across the table as best she could.
"All right Erin, now listen very carefully. Until I tell you otherwise, this is the last time you're going to say that...and I mean to anybody, the correctional officers, the other kids in here...and especially anyone from the ZPD. Until I give you the all clear, you don't talk about how Conor got you to perform to anyone...not even mom, not even ME. Are we clear on that?"
"Um, all right Jude...but why?" Her sister looked more confused than ever.
"Because," Judy tapped the table, looking very serious, "Technically what happened on that stage was, Conor nearly got caught—and he might have BEEN caught if you hadn't stopped it from happening...I know, I know," she said, hastily lifting her good paw. "And I don't blame you, not one little bit...but a judge may not see it that way."
"Judge?' The word came out in a wobbly squeak." J-Judge...you mean I might have to go on trial or something?" Erin's eyes had gotten big again and her paws were working, as if she was making a snowball. She plainly hadn't thought her situation through—but then what girl her age ever does?
"I hope it won't come to that sis," Judy informed her frankly, "But we have to be ready for any possibility. In the meantime, I've already spoken about you to a member of the Zootopia City Council and also to Gazelle; they've promised to do everything they can to help.
They actually hadn't but the doe-bunny had no doubt that they would—and in any case, Erin needed all the reassurance she could get right now.
"Thanks, Jude," Her young sister answered, laying a paw atop of hers, "I know you're doing all you can."
Judy took the paw and clasped it. Okay-y-y...now comes the hard part.
"Sis...this isn't going to be easy for you to hear, but there's something else I need to tell you. She allowed her face to harden and then pointed at her bandaged eye "Look at me, Erin. Do you see this here?" She lifted her shirt to show her other injuries. "Do you see this here?"
"Y-Yes I see," the younger bunny swallowed, stared, and then asked it again. "What happened to you?"
Judy answered her in a taut, icy voice, "Conor Lewis happened to me, Erin; he did this."
Her sister jumped back from the table as if 110 volts had just gone through it.
"Wha...? Noooo, no way!"
"Yes way, Erin," the older bunny informed her pointblank, "I caught him trying to escape and instead of giving up he went for me." She leaned even further forward, enunciating every word. "He...went...after...ME. He attacked first; do you understand?"
The younger bunny understood all right, but that didn't mean she believed it. She stood up, shaking her head wildly, as if a hornet had just landed on it.
"No....Conor wouldn't; he couldn't. He'd never do a thing like that...NEVER!"
Judy looked at her, mulling her next move. This was exactly how she'd known her sister would react. What she didn't know was what in the world she was supposed to say next. But...at least she knew what not to say.
So maybe the best course of action would be to take the opposite approach.
"I know sis, and I don't blame you one bit for feeling that way. I wouldn't have believed it myself if it hadn't happened to me. And I'll tell you something else; even now I don't think Conor's a bad kid."
Erin said nothing to this; she fell back into her chair and then her head fell forward onto the table...and then she began to sob. Okay, Judy sighed inwardly, she had gotten through to the younger bunny—but it sure as heck didn't feel like a good thing.
She pushed up out of her chair and, using the table as a support, edged her way around to the other side and laid a paw on her sister's shoulder. Erin tried to bat it away, but it was a feeble gesture at best, and she didn't try again.
"Oh, sis, I'm so sorry I wasn't able to come and help when you called for me."
"S'alright Jude," Erin sniffed, face still glued to the tabletop, "Mom told me you got hurt."
That was when Judy realized something. If Swinton had thought she'd been injured in a fight with one of the rioters, her mother probably thought so too. Well, she could straighten things out with mom later. Right now...
"Erin...look at me again for a second?"
The young white-furred bunny sniffled and looked up; her deep-blue eyes shot through with red.
"I just want you to know...if I could have, I'd have come running when you called me. What my Lieutenant did backstage was way out of line—and I don't just mean when he had you arrested. When he busted those three other kids, he was also wrong. And believe me; I'm not the only one who thinks so."
"Really?" Erin asked. Her smile was weak, but hopeful.
"Cross my heart," the older bunny replied, making the appropriate gesture, "You should have seen Councilmember Nizhang when she spoke to him. For a second there, I thought she was going to grab him by the tail."
"Wha...Whoa!" Okay, there we go; her sister was sitting up straight again and so were her ears. As someone with a squirrel for a best girlfriend—and a cop for an older sister—she knew all too well that picking up a member of that species by the tail was grounds for an assault charge.
"Yep," Judy grinned, "That's the kind of support you have, Erin. So just hang in there for one more day okay?" And now it was time to bring up the other unpleasant fact. "We'll do everything we can to get you out of here, but it'll have to wait until Monday when the courts open up."
"Wha...?" Erin's nose was twitching and her foot even thumped once or twice, "What do you mean, 'not until Monday.' Conor got out on a Sunday!"
"Yes he did," the older bunny reminded her dryly, "with a fake writ of release."
"Oh...uhhh, right," Erin's eyes turned upwards and the insides of her ears flushed sunset red.
Judy smiled but inwardly, she was uneasy. Even after learning of her fight with the fugitive young silver fox—and the damage he'd done—her younger sister could still speak about him in... Well, if you couldn't call her tone admiring, it wasn't exactly disparaging either.
Someone was going to have to sit this bunny-girl down and have a long talk with her about...
Any further thoughts along this line were cut off by a knock at the door. When it opened, she saw Officer Howell standing there, pointing uncomfortably at his watch. "Sorry Detective," the red wolf told her, almost apologetically, "It's time."
"Okay," Judy nodded and spread her arms for a farewell hug. This time, it was way too tight, but she barely even noticed. "Don't worry, little sister, it's going to be alright...I promise you, everything's going to be alright."
Returning to the City Youth Jail reception desk, she found Claudia Nizhang waiting for her. No sign of the Chief, though.
"So, how'd it go?" the red panda asked, getting up from her chair and folding away the document she'd been perusing.
"About like I expected," Judy answered with a drawn-out sigh. She actually wanted to say that it had gone, 'way too fast,' but instead opted for, "Erin just about cried her eyes out when I told her about my fight with Conor...but not because of what he did to me."
"Ahhh," Claudia answered, offering a sigh of her own...this one of the knowing variety. "I SO am not looking forward to when my Lisa turns thirteen."
Judy's ears went up. "I didn't know you had a daughter."
"Yep...apple of my eye," The red panda replied, offering an elbow. "Shall we go?"
On the way back, she informed Judy that she'd had 'a nice talk' with Chief Bogo during her absence. "He promised to do everything he can to help your sister, too."
"Ohhh, thanks," the doe bunny said, speaking as much to the absent Cape buffalo as to Claudia. Chief Bogo's word wasn't just ironclad; it was plated in face-hardened steel.
That wasn't the only thing Claudia had talked to him about, though. Most of their conversation had swirled around the antics of a certain Kaibab squirrel. She and the Chief had both been of the opinion that this time he'd gone too far. "Of course what happens next depends on how Attorney General Sayarov feels about it--and he's out of town until Monday. I'll say this though. The Bankers Association can't be any too thrilled with Lieutenant Tufts right about now; they want The Phantom, not another outbreak of vandal...Judy, are you all right?"
She had doubled over and was clutching her midsection.
"I...I think so," Her voice was half a gasp, half a groan. "But I...I think I'd better get back to that hospital right now."
"Okay," Claudia ducked down slightly to give her access, "Put your arm around my waist again; there, that's it. Okay now... slow and easy."
"'Kay," Judy wheezed, letting the red panda take the lead again—and this time it wasn't an act. "What was that I said about 'giving as good as I got?' Yep, right...surrrrrre I did."
She might have reclaimed those words had she been able to see her opponent right then. Conor Lewis wasn't in quite as much pain as her, but that came mostly from the fact that he was currently zonked out on Purrcocet. At the moment, he was floating in a waking dreamworld, not even certain of which planet he was on, much less of his exact location. If Tuffguy Tufts were to come strolling in right now, he could have taken down the fugitive young silver-fox with one paw tied behind his back.
That fact didn't greatly upset Conor, very little did, in fact...although he had a lot of things to be perturbed about right now.
He had escaped from that theater only through pure dumb luck; if even one of those tranq-darts had hit him, he'd be cuffed to a bed right now, with an officer standing guard outside the door. It didn't bother him; if that SWAT Team hadn't shown up he might have escaped anyway; heck, he probably would have gotten away. At the moment they'd broken in on him and Judy, there'd been something he'd known that she hadn't.
Earlier, when she'd caught up with him in The Lionheart Auditorium, he'd been the one to draw first blood. But that didn't bother him either; it was how he'd been trained to fight:
"Ye can ferget right now about, 'Never throw the first punch, but always throw the last one.' That un's rubbish, boyo! In a street fight, lotta times the first punch IS the last one. And bein' able to say 'At least Oi didn't start it' is no kind o' comfort when yer laid out in the casualty ward, put there by the animal that did start it. So you listen to me now, son...any time yer gettin' ready to scrap an' yer opponent gives ye an opening, don't think—TAKE it!"
Conor had heeded that advice...and in the process he'd ended up hurting the bunny whose life he'd once saved. Cripes if that didn't seem like a million years ago.
But that didn't bother him either. If anyone were to ask him, he'd have insisted that Judy had fought by the Golden Rule—and then some. She had actually given more than she'd received. If hurting her was a sin, then he had already done his penance.
Most of the damage he'd done to her had taken place during that Post Traumatic episode; the worst one since the first time it had happened to him. That should have bothered him but it didn't. Never once, since the day he'd had his face broken, had anyone grabbed him from behind in the heat of battle—much less in the midst of a desperate fight.
Of course Erin wouldn't feel that way when she found out; she'd hate him through and through for what he'd done to her sister, never mind how he'd helped with her audition. That didn't bother him either...no really, it didn't; he was probably never going to see her again anyway.
But now she was in jail, along with three of his closest friends—and okay, THAT bothered him, it bothered him a lot. Erin and his buds had been locked up for helping HIM...and even in his semi-fugue state Conor was aware of Tuffguy Tufts's game. 'Give yourself up and I'll let them go'.
As!
IF!
He'd had to ditch his weapons before leaving the theater...but not before wiping them down, and making sure the dart-gun's magazine was empty—and then disposing of the contents in a restroom toilet. It was no great loss, he had plenty of spares where they'd come from.
So, why did that bother him? He had no idea—or perhaps he did, but he just didn't want to own up to it.
On the other paw, there was something that should have bothered him, but didn't; when Judy had called his bluff with that dart-gun. He'd been unable to pull the trigger on her, and she'd known that he couldn't—and then she'd disarmed him. THAT was something he was actually glad for. Only...dumb fox; he should have loaded that thing with tranq-darts instead of...never mind; what was done was done.
He couldn't help being bothered about his injuries—or to put it properly, being bothered BY them. The painkillers helped, and he had plenty more where the ones he'd popped had come from, but he couldn't rely on those things for too much longer, not unless he wanted to end up on the hook again.
But even that wasn't his biggest worry; the top spot belonged to something else entirely.
His cover was blown. Up until now, he had managed to stay off Aker's radar screen and by extension, Jack La Peigne. Not now, not anymore; if that hulk-bunny and his goon-squad weren't on to him already, they would be very shortly. Conor didn't know how he knew this, or even why—but he knew it in the very depths of his soul.
They were coming for him.
And it couldn't be happening at a worse possible time...when he was injured and especially vulnerable.
"I should never have gone to those audi..." he began to tell himself. But before his brain could complete the thought, the Purrcocet took hold of him the rest of the way. In the blink of an eye, he was sleeping the sleep of the damned.