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
(Concluded...Part 8)
"Lieutenant Tufts," Bogo pronounced it 'Leff-tenant,' "There is very little I can say to you that you don't already know." He pulled out his reading glasses, and put them on, but made no move to reach for a corresponding document. Judy knew what that meant and could only be grateful it was the squirrel in the hot seat and not her. "However, as police procedure compels me, I fear that I must say something." He snorted and leveled a finger across the desk, "Your phone call to Officers Hopps and Wilde, on the day in question, was an inexcusable breach of security. I won't say why as the results speak for themselves." He withdrew the finger, replacing it with a glowering face. "But what I find particularly infuriating is that it was also entirely frivolous. You made that call, not so as to relay any important information, nor to issue any sorts of instructions. No, you made it merely to vent your anger over the fact that, up until then, you were unaware that the OIC's were familiar with the suspect, Conor Lewis." He sat back and grunted. "You didn't need to know that information, Lieutenant, and in any case, Hopps and Wilde had been unawares themselves until only a short time before. Furthermore, even if you HAD been justified in making that phone call, in the middle of a tracking operation was not the time and place for it. And even if it had been, there is no excuse for you having made that call on an unsecured phone." He shook his head, more in frustration than anger. "Good God, Tufts; what the Devil were you thinking? You, of all mammals, should have remembered we were targeting the courier to a master cyber-criminal. In any event, we all know the result; the only reason we were able to take young Mister Lewis into custody was because he bit one of our officers in a fit of desperation. Worst of all, had it not been for your breach of protocol, he might well have led us to The Phantom, as planned."
At the mention of his nemesis' name, Tufts threw up his paws and grimaced as if he'd just been hit with a steam-hose.
Bogo let him stew for a moment, and then pulled off his glasses and dropped them onto his desk-blotter. Judy knew what that meant too, and felt a burning ball rise into her throat, never mind that it wasn't HER head on the block. "Here it comes..."
Not...quite...yet.
"I've already spoken by phone to Attorney General Sayanov." Bogo continued, his gaze never wavering from the squirrel seated in front of him. "I will spare you the full text of his remarks, as there are bunnies present." Judy's ears went back, but somehow she managed to hold her tongue. "Suffice it to say, he and I are in complete agreement...and I expect the police board will also concur with my decision."
He paused to give Tufts an opportunity to answer the charges. The squirrel responded by standing up on his chair and pulling out his badge. "I...understand sir," he said, forcing himself to meet the Chief's eyes, "And I take full responsibility for my actions." He allowed himself a dramatic pause. "MY actions Chief; no one else in Cybercrimes Division was involved; this is all on me, all of it."
Judy stared at him...blinking and feeling her nose beginning to twitch. What the...? Was this the same officious little jerk she'd faced down in Dr. Vignius's office only the night before? The last thing she would have expected from Lieutenant Albert Tufts was a terse admission of responsibility. She could almost begin to feel some sympathy for him...almost.
Then Bogo cleared his throat again.
"Duly noted, Lieutenant," he nodded gravely at the squirrel and then, at last, delivered his verdict.
"Ordinarily, such a serious violation of police procedures would be grounds for immediate dismissal. However," he put on his glasses again, "There are certain mitigating factors to be considered. First and foremost," he peered at Tufts over the rim of his spectacles, "You came to us with this information of your own volition, without any prompting from the outside—and you acted upon it as soon as you became aware. Secondly, the fact remains that you correctly predicted the Lewis boy's appearance at the Performing Arts Academy auditions...and you also made sure to have a SWAT team on stand-by. In light of these facts, I have made the decision to suspend you from active duty—with pay—pending a disciplinary hearing."
The glasses came off and his expression changed from stern to sardonic, "You're not in safe harbor yet, Leff-tenant. You may yet still lose your badge...or you may still keep it. In any event...I'll have it now, please." he reached across the desk again, this time holding out an open hoof. In response, Tufts leaped up and dropped the badge into the Chief's grasp, a move that reminded Judy of someone dunking a basketball.
"Thank you sir," the squirrel said. And did he actually sound grateful? Before Judy was able to decide, one way or the other, he had hopped down onto the floor again. "Can someone get the door for me?"
Yes...of course, the doe bunny realized; now that he was officially under suspension, Tufts could no longer take part in any official police business. She almost got up to open the door for him but stopped when Serena Leonard rose up from her chair as well. This time the look she gave the squirrel was anything but scornful.
The door was halfway open when Bogo's voice boomed out, "WHY, Lieutenant?"
Judy stared in confusion, "Why WHAT, Chief?" she wanted to know—and so did everyone else in the office, judging by the looks on their faces.
Everyone that is, but Albert Tufts–who seemed to know exactly what the big Cape buffalo was getting at. "The Lewis kid told me to do the right thing, sir...and so I DID the right thing. And besides," his whiskers stiffened and his tail became a bottle-brush, "I'd rather be fired than let that sneaking little fox-punk pull my strings!"
He skittered out the door and Serena closed it behind him.
For some time afterwards, a moody silence reigned in Bogo's office. When it finally broke, no one mentioned the Kaibab squirrel; they had other business in front of them.
"Right," the big Chief cleared his throat a third time, and then looked in the direction of the lioness and roan antelope. "As of right now, I'm transferring responsibility for the Conor Lewis investigation to ZPD Youth Crimes." The tone of his voice suggested he wished that he'd done it weeks ago. "Cybercrimes will still be responsible for apprehending The Phantom, but nabbing his—apprentice, assistant, whatever you want to call him—that will be your division's responsibility, Lieutenant Redding."
"Yes, sir," the roan antelope's nod was firm and yet also hesitant. While he didn't seem to want the case, he could hardly deny the reasoning behind Bogo's decision.
Neither could Judy; they'd been treating Conor as a cybercriminal when they really should have been treating him like what he was—a kid! Ironically the only one who'd done that up until now had been Albert Tufts, but even so, his insights had taken him only so far. He had known that Conor would be at the ZAPA auditions but had reckoned without the young mammals in the audience—especially the ones who had come there at the fugitive young silver fox's beck and call.
Hopefully Lieutenant Redding wouldn't make the same mistake. His reputation, what the doe-bunny knew of it, certainly seemed to suggest that he wouldn't. He supposedly had a rapport with the younger members of the Zootopia community that no one else could touch.
And then Serena Leonard's paw went up. "'Scuse me, Chief? I 'gree with your decision and all; Youth Crimes should have had the ball on this from day one, but..." she rolled her shoulders in a leonine shrug, "what-all am I doing here? The Lewis kid ain't part of a gang; he's a lone operator."
"IS he?" Bogo's ear was flicking and his mouth had become a crooked line. "Don't forget, the young mammals who started the ZAPA riot were there at HIS invitation."
That brought Judy sailing into the fray. "Well yes Chief, but he never told them to riot; he didn't even know it was happening...not at the time anyway. "She tapped her chest with a finger. "And I should know; we were trying to take each other out at the time."
"Maybe not," Spike Redding countered, already getting into his role of OIC, "but it also never occurred to him that they might start rioting on their own," He sniffed and pawed the floor with his hoof, "Neither did that idiot, Tufts."
He had more to say but was interrupted when Bogo bought his hoof down on the desktop.
"That's enough, Lieutenant! Tufts is my problem; your problem is the Lewis boy—and nothing else, do I make myself clear?"
"Perfectly sir," the antelope responded; properly abashed.
Bogo regarded him for a second and then snorted, turning his attention back to Serena Leonard. "But to answer your question, the Lewis boy may not be part of any gang, but possibly half of those rioters were...at least the ones we arrested. And have you heard the talk that's been going round the Precinct One juvenile detention facility?" He pointed in the direction of his office door, "Or that crowd of protestors out front? Our young Mr. Lewis may not be part of a gang yet, but whether he wishes it or not, he's slouching towards becoming some sort of supreme gang leader."
"All right sir, I get it," the lioness nodded, lifting a paw as if in mock-surrender, "but what, exactly, do ya'll want from my division?"
"What I want," Chief Bogo rumbled quietly, "is for your officers to start working on their informants, not only for any information regarding Conor Lewis, but also for anything in regards to any further 'demonstrations' those young miscreants out in front of the precinct might have planned. I don't think I need to tell you how easily such things can get out of control."
"Yes sir," Serena responded, nodding...and then her tail began to swish back and forth, a sign of unease in a big cat. "But Chief...someone gotta say it. That whole thing out front is coz of those kids we got locked up for allegedly helping that silver-fox boy to get away from us. That's the official reason, but we all know why they're really in custody."
She said this while looking at Spike Redding, who, judging by his expression, had been foursquare against Lieutenant Tufts plan to use Conor's friends to leverage him; give yourself up or they go to Juvie. Instead, as Judy was only just now coming to understand, it was Conor who'd blackmailed the squirrel. All right, maybe he hadn't managed to get his friends out of jail—but he HAD managed to get back at Lieutenant Tufts for daring to arrest them. Dang, but that fox-kid was a tricky one.
"So," the lioness went on, pointing a finger in the direction of the city jail, "What are we going to do? Are we going to charge that gang of four, let them go...or what?"
"Well, that's the problem isn't it?" Once again, Bogo's ironwood hoof came down on his desk this time with a dry, slapping noise. "I should recommend their release, first thing tomorrow morning—and I know the Attorney General would agree with me—except if we let them go now, young Mr. Lewis is going to assume we gave IN to his demands, isn't he? And so will everyone else, once the word gets round."
Judy groaned, wishing the fugitive young silver fox was here right now—so she could body slam him again. One of those kids in question was her sister Erin...who might already be slated for release, except for that DUMB little silver-fox's attempt to help her. Hmmmm, maybe he wasn't so clever after all.
But hey...wait a minute...
At once, her paw shot up. "Excuse me Chief, but aren't we forgetting something?"
"And what would that be?" he asked her, folding his hooves on his desktop...while the other two animals in the room, both of whom seriously outranked her, turned to give the rookie detective their undivided attention.
Judy tightened her jaw and took in a long breath. In her head, a voice that sounded suspiciously like Nick Wilde was delivering a carnival pitch.
"And now...live, without a net, the Great Hoppsini will perform her death-defying high-wire act!"
She knew right away what she had to say first—what she'd better say first. "All right sir, let me get this out of the way. Yes, I admit it, I have a fursonal interest here; one of those kids you're talking about is my sister, Erin...and yes, I promised my family I'd do everything in my power to secure her release." She took in another breath and steeled herself.
"That being said; let me ask you all something. Would any of you have expected Lieutenant Tufts to come clean on his own, after getting that phone call from the Lewis boy? I sure as heck wouldn't...and it's a sure bet that fox-kid won't be expecting it either."
Again crossing her fingers, this time for real, Judy paused to gauge the others' reaction. Their faces, skeptical mere seconds ago, were now regarding her with interest.
She hurriedly pressed on.
"So, what I propose is this. First thing tomorrow morning, we announce that Lieutenant Tufts has been removed from the Conor Lewis investigation and temporarily suspended from duty. That'll short-circuit the Lewis boy's blackmail scheme right then and there; even if he makes good on his promise, so what? If Lieutenant Tufts is already under suspension, there's nothing left to threaten him with."
It was a good proposal, she thought; unfortunately not good enough to keep Spike Redding from raising his hoof...and with it, an objection.
"Well yeah, but there's just one problem Detective; how are we supposed to do that without revealing that the Lewis kid hacked Lieutenant Tufts' phone?" He glanced over in Bogo's direction. "Correct me if I'm wrong Chief, but that's something we absolutely don't want the public to know about—at least not yet."
"No, we most certainly don't." The big Cape buffalo responded, offering a tight, firm nod. But then Serena Leonard broke into the conversation.
"Aw heck boss-bull, there's only 'bout million other reasons for kickin' that squirrel loose from this case. I been sayin' all along he shouldn't have been put in charge to begin with."
"Water under the bridge, Leonard," Bogo snorted and then re-directed his gaze towards the antelope in the chair next to hers. "Just the same, she's right, Redding. I've already had a petition from the Performing Arts Academy, demanding his removal from the Lewis Investigation." He glanced briefly at Judy, "Delivered fursonally by none other than Zootopia City-Councilmammal Claudia Nizhang."
Hmmm, the doe bunny mused, so THAT'S what Claudia had been up to while she'd been visiting with Erin. My, my...such a busy little red-panda...
"And that's not even mentioning all the phone calls from angry parents," the Chief was saying. He gave Judy another, longer look. "Very well then, Detective, what else do you propose?"
Judy chewed on her lip for a second and then she was off and running—hoping like heck that she wouldn't trip over her words.
"Well, assuming the Attorney General agrees with the idea, we give it a couple of hours and then announce that the kids arrested for aiding and abetting the Lewis Boy—yes, including my sister, Erin—are being released with no charges filed at the present time...and we make sure to emphasize that last part.
"Oooo," Serena Leonard was almost purring. "Turnin' the tables on that fox-kid; I do like your style, bunny-girl."
"But..." it was Spike Redding, "I'm guessing we're not actually going to file those charges later on."
"As long as those four stay out of any further trouble, I see no need for it," Bogo told him—and it was all Judy could do to keep from whooping and throwing a fist in the air. Oh, sure...there was still a lot to be worked out, but woo-hoo...he had bought her suggestion; Erin was going to be set free! Ohhhh, she couldn't wait to tell her mother and Violet.
"All right," Spike nodded, "But what about those other kids, the ones arrested for taking part in the riot. I don't think we want to let them walk." He said this while giving Judy a measured look.
"Neither do I," she answered immediately. That seemed to satisfy the antelope and he sat back in his chair again. However, there was one more subject the doe-bunny needed to address. "What about those two young rabbits we arrested for digging those holes; Max and uhhhh, Zack March?"
Bogo waved a dismissive hoof. "Tufts agreed to let them go yesterday, as they agreed to cooperate with us...and for once I supported his decision."
"He did?" Judy blinked. This was news to her...and not only to her.
"Really?" Serena's tail was flicking. "I never heard nothin' about it"
"That's because he kept it dark from everyone but me," Bogo answered with a grunt and an ironic smile. "He seemed to have the idea that those two young rabbits might have been Mister Lewis's secret accomplices... and that by letting them sweat for a while, he could get them to admit it, should that have been the case."
"Mrrrgh." Serena growled again, crossing her arms. "Ain't that typical? I wouldn't pull a trick like that on one a' the Outsiders' BoyZ, much less some poor kid from out 'n the country. An' I bet dat squirrel didn't get nothin' more out of either one of those bunnies."
"I thought I said enough, Lieutenant," Bogo rumbled in her direction, and the lioness swiftly raised her paws.
"I'm done, I'm done."
"Very well then," the big Cape buffalo informed her curtly, and then he said, "I'm going to adjourn this meeting. We shall reconvene tomorrow, first thing after roll call."
"Right before the courts open," Judy thought, but did not say. What she did say was, "Begging your pardon Chief, but does that include me?"
For a second, Bogo looked taken aback, and then leaned towards her with an elbow on the desktop
"Why wouldn't it include you, Detective Hopps?" he queried, raising an eyebrow.
She was ready for that one.
"Well sir," she pointed out, gazing up at him with big, earnest eyes, "you haven't actually given me an assignment as of yet." In fact, he hadn't even told her what she was doing here, (although by now, she had a pretty good idea.)
Such a comeback might have thrown a lesser mammal...but not this big Cape buffalo.
"Do I not know that Hopps?" he snorted and then blew a note through his nostrils. "And why wouldn't I want to include you? You know young Mr. Lewis better than anyone else on the force."
"Not quite," Judy answered silently, once again keeping her thoughts to herself. There was one other animal in the ZPD who was at least as familiar with the fugitive young silver fox as she was—perhaps even more so, since Nick was a fellow member of Conor's species.
However, since he was in Zoo York right now, it was largely a moot point.
"Yes sir, I'll be here." she said.
"Right then," Bogo answered, assuming the clipped, formal tone he always adopted when preparing to wrap up a meeting. "As for you, Lieutenant Redding, Lieutenant Leonard, when next we meet, I expect you to have some ideas as to how to best apprehend young Mr. Lewis," he angled his head towards the door again, "and also...how to keep the lid on that kettle starting to percolate on the front steps outside of Precinct 1."
The two division heads answered him immediately, each in their own way.
"Yes sir."
"I gotcha Chief."
Bogo stood up and stretched his shoulders; another gesture that, by now, the doe-bunny knew quite well.
"Alright, then...dismissed."
Judy had no sooner exited the office than her cell-phone was out and she was scrolling through her 'favorites' directory, looking for her mom's number. But then she hesitated and two steps later, the phone was back in its holster with no call made or even attempted.
No...she decided, there was only one way to deliver the news that Erin was being released—in furson.
The limo-ride back to the Palm Hotel seemed to take forever and a day. If Judy hadn't known better, she would have sworn the driver was taking her there on a roundabout route, like a cabbie hustling an out-of-town rube. He wasn't, of course...but that was how it felt.
At the door to Gazelle's private suite, she was greeted by the popstar's fursonal assistant, Mirasol Jácara.
"Hola Judy...you were gone a long time; where were you?"
Her expression was not a happy one, and at once the doe bunny's elation burst like a pricked soap-bubble. Ohhh...Gazelle must have wanted the limo for her own use, but then whoops, Judy took it and she should have been back by now. Dangit, she should have at least called to inform the popstar of the change of plans; why the heck hadn't she done that?
"Because..." she told herself, "A, Precinct-1 was only a little bit out of my way and B, I only expected to be there for a few minutes; Sunday afternoon and all." All true, but still no excuse and she knew it. "I-I'm sorry, I got sidetracked and it took a lot longer than I thought." She would give a fuller explanation if Mirasol asked, but really hoped that she wouldn't. She wanted to save it for her mom and Violet. "Did Ms. Gazelle need her limo for something?" she asked, hoping the answer would be in the negative.
"Ahhh no," the olingo said, "we were just wondering where you were." and for the first time Judy noticed that she didn't look angry, but rather depressed, and also a little...anxious?
Well, whatever it was, it could wait. "Are my Mom and my sister Violet still here?"
Mirasol's expression became even more uncomfortable.
"Si, they are," she answered, nodding backwards over her shoulder. "They're in the living room with Gazelle, watching ZMT-TV on the big screen.
"Z...MT?" Judy queried hesitantly, feeling her nose twitch. What the heck would Gazelle want with those gossip-mongers? And what the heck were her mother and Violet doing, watching that program? Especially mom; she loathed celebrity trash-talk TV.
And what the heck was going on with Mirasol Jácara? Sweet cheez n' crackers, Judy had seen funeral directors that looked more upbeat than her.
Never mind, she told herself, shunting it all aside; she had news to deliver—great news!
She found Violet and her mother sharing a lounge-sofa with Gazelle, a contrivance way too large for a bunny, but that only meant there was plenty of room for all concerned...and anyway, who cared? A commercial for an insurance company was showing on screen at the moment. Perfect; no one would mind the interruption.
Hurrying into the room, Judy waved as she approached, "Mom, Violet..."
That was as far as she got before her mother and sister raised fingers to their lips and shushed her. "In a minute Judy," Violet's voice was almost a hiss. "The ads are almost done." At the same time Bonnie was patting the spot on the sofa beside her.
Sighing inwardly Judy hopped up next to her mother, wondering what the heck...? Oh riiight, Mom and Violet had no idea that she'd been to Precinct-1, much less that she might have anything new to tell them about Erin.
But still...what was up with Gazelle? She wasn't even so much as acknowledging the new presence in the room; staring intently at the TV screen as though her life depended on it.
"What the heck is so important?" Judy whispered to her mother, waving a paw at the display.
"I don't know dear," Bonnie admitted, also sotto-voce, and then nodded across the couch at their host, lowering her voice even further, "but Ms. Gazelle insisted that we watch it with her."
"She said it's something we need to see now, instead of later," her sister Violet chimed in, further inflaming the grey-furred bunny's curiosity. Ohhh-kayyy, the news about Erin could wait a little while longer—she supposed.
She turned to look at the screen, just in time for the ad to end and the ZMT logo to appear on the screen.
Appear...? Explode would have been a better term...it burst forth in a flash of neon-red and then the view shifted instantly to a playback of Gazelle performing Nothing Else Matters....not at the Academy auditions, but at an earlier concert in a club somewhere.
Only a few seconds into the song, the view cut to a medium-shot of a muscular puma in what looked like an unfurnished TV studio. He was dressed in a white polo shirt and leaning over a partition with a red-plastic 'pong' cup in his paw. He might almost have been Joe Anybody, hanging out at his favorite watering-hole with his buds. Even the background seemed to suggest it. Look, there; a wildebeest was walking across the screen behind him.
When he spoke his voice was both firm and authoritative, as if his opinions brooked no argument.
"We've seen Gazelle perform that Metallicat tune several times at her live shows, most recently just yesterday." It was here that the appropriate footage appeared in the lower right corner of the screen, a slightly fuzzy view of the popstar's unplugged rendition at the ZAPA auditions, the footage obviously shot with a camera-phone.
Judy managed to keep her ears from rising but was unable to stop her nose from twitching. What now? Was ZMT attempting to tie her to the riot...just because she'd been onstage, right before it happened?
Gazelle should have been so lucky...
"And now, we're beginning to understand exactly why she keeps that song in her repertoire," the cougar said, and immediately the screen cut to a grainy view of a darkened street outside the Palm Hotel...not the front entrance but a different location. That was the place though; clearly visible just behind the limo was a sign with two arrows reading, 'Palm Hotel - Kitchen Deliveries...All Other Deliveries.'
As Judy watched, a pantherine figure stepped into the frame, instantly recognizable in spite of the grainy quality of the video. It was Renato Manchas.
Okay...Judy shrugged inwardly, a little unusual, but no big deal. Except...wait, that couldn't be Mr. Big's limo; not in Sahara Square, not in the Red Pig's territory! And also...why wasn't Mr. Manchas in uniform? He was literally dressed to the nines, silk dinner jacket and silk slacks, topped off with an emerald stickpin. And if that wasn't Mr. Big's limousine, then whose was it?
The answer came when the jaguar opened the rear door, and Gazelle got out, dressed in a burgundy-red evening gown.
All right...yeah; maybe her regular driver had been out sick and she had borrowed Mr. Manchas for the...Holy Carrot Stix!
On the TV screen the limo had pulled away from the curb, leaving Gazelle and the jaguar alone together. No sooner had it gone, than the big cat took her in his arms and kissed her; a kiss the popstar returned with more than a little passion.
At once the view cut back to the mountain lion.
"As ZMT only recently learned," he said, attempting to sound somber, but with a smirk peeking through from underneath, "That was not an isolated instance."
To prove it, a montage of images flashed on the screen, Gazelle and Mr. Manchas, entering a movie theater together, the popstar and the big cat, lounging poolside with her hoof in his paw. The two of them schmoozing in an outdoor café, somewhere in the Rainforest District; it just went on and on. The last picture to be shown was by far not the least of them... a late night shot of Gazelle helping Manchas into her tour-trailer—by way of an open window.
When the view cut back to the cougar, his expression had become almost sorrowful, except for the fact that it looked—and he sounded—about as genuine as a three-dollar bill.
"Sad to say, this something Gazelle is absolutely not going to want to go public...especially right now. Just recently, a major controversy erupted in her home city of Zootopia, regarding predator-prey relationships. "
Another video snippet appeared on the screen, seeming to jump out of the background and yell 'boo!' And this one made Judy want to leap up and bolt from the room; a crowd of animals chanting "Pred and Prey, Keep AWAY!" She recognized them at once as the mob from outside the Flora and Fauna fire. She should have; she and Nick had been their target—although mercifully, neither one of them was visible in the footage.
The view cut back to the mountain lion; who was now affecting an air of scholarly wisdom. "The big question now is, will this have an effect on Gazelle's career?" In response the camera panned right to a slightly geeky female gopher, sitting at a computer desk.
"I don't see how it can't, Rick." she said, "If the animals of Zootopia became that upset over a couple of regular pred and prey mammals getting into a relationship, how do you think they're going to react when a celebrity like Gazelle hooks up with a predator species?"
"I-I-I'm not so sure I agree with that, Sherri," another small voice responded off- screen, and the camera cut quickly to a bat hanging from a perch. "That's kind of old news by now. And let's face it; celebrities can get away with a lot more shenanigans than the average mammal."
Again the camera cut away, this time to a camel, lounging on a circular sofa. "Well if you ask me, it really kind of depends on whatever happens next." His voice was deep, faintly reminiscent of Chief Bogo, but without the accent. "Rock Hardesty was the animal who started that Pred-Prey-Keep-Away business. What's he going to do; will he jump on this, or leave it alone? If he goes for it, then yeah, it'll hurt Gazelle professionally; it won't be the end of her career, but yeah, she'll be in trouble."
"Well," another voice ventured, and the camera made a short move to the left, alighting on a grinning zebra, dressed up as some sort of NASCAR wannabe, "All I can say is, this gives a whole new meaning to 'Try Everything', doesn't it?"
He was answered with a burst of laughter from his fellow hosts.
"Looks like the Angel with Horns' halo is slipping a little," someone else remarked, and the laughter became even more raucous...to the accompaniment of an angry whimper from Gazelle.
Gazelle! Judy had forgotten all about her. When she looked, she saw the pop-star's face buried in her hooves...and the dark rivulets streaming down her cheeks.
She immediately sprang into action, bounding onto the carpet she leaped up, snatched the remote from the weeping antelope's hoof and hit the 'power' button. In response, the image on the screen shrank abruptly to a pinpoint and then nothing. That was it, Judy decided, Gazelle had seen enough; they had all seen enough. On her right, she could hear her mother and Violet speaking.
"Can you believe those heartless jerks, talking about the story as if someone else broke it, when it was THEM all along?"
"I know Mom...I know."
Judy let out a silent breath of relief. At least Gazelle was still in their good graces; and she knew that she was still behind the pop-star—all the way.
Even so, it was a little bit odd. After all the cold shoulders she had received over her relationship with Nick Wilde, here were her mother and sister, throwing their full support behind Gazelle...even though the popstar had committed roughly the same transgression as Judy herself.
That fact should have been upsetting but it wasn't, although she didn't have the faintest idea why.
But ahhh...what was it she'd come here to tell her mother and Violet again? Oh yes...that. Well, 'that' was just going to have to wait awhile now. Gazelle was hurting right and needed all the comforting she could get. It was the least the bunnies could do after all the help she'd given them.
"Ohhh," Judy groaned, silently to herself, "Just when you begin to think the day is out of surprises; I swear...tomorrow can't get here soon enough!"