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 8: Everything You Know is Wrong
(Part 3...Cont'd)
ZPD Precinct-1, Savanna Central, Zootopia, 11:07 Hours, ZST
Judy Hopps never made it to Mammalcide.
Less than a heartbeat after she left Juvie Division, a velvet-brass voice came over her two-way. "Detective Hopps...Detective Judy Hopps; respond please."
Judy sighed and unclipped the radio from her belt. Somehow, she sensed, this was not going to be something she wanted to hear.
"I read you, Clawhauser; go ahead."
A crackle of static followed and then, "The Chief wants to see you in his office right away."
"Oh, Sweet cheez' n crackers!" Judy grumbled and thumped her foot. Yep, just as she'd predicted. But before she could thumb the switch to make a reply, Benjamin beat her to the draw...or rather Chief Bogo did, by proxy. "He's already notified Mammalcide, Detective."
At once her thumping foot gave way to a twitching nose. What the heck could he want to see her about that was more important than...?
"Roger that Benjamin," she answered, masking her annoyance. "Do you have any idea what he wants to see me about?"
She expected, as usual, a negative reply: Bogo was notoriously tight-lipped about the reason for his summonses.
Not this time; for once, the plus-size cheetah had at least a partial answer to her inquiry.
"I-I can't say for certain, Ju...I-I mean Detective, but some bigwig VIP went up to talk to him a while ago, and I haven't seen them come back down again."
"Okay, Clawhauser," Judy was more perplexed than ever. "Who the HECK...?" Well, there was only one way to find out-and she wasn't looking forward to it.
It wasn't so much the interruption that bothered her; she was used to that sort of thing by now. No, the problem was...paying a visit to the Chief meant having to ascend that long, winding concourse to his office. In times past, she wouldn't have given it a second thought. Now, still recovering from her injury at the paws of Conor Lewis, it was a different story. She'd either have to stop and catch her breath a couple of times, or else get someone to assist her. And since Bogo wanted to see her right now, the second option was pretty much the only option.
Not that she'd have any trouble finding that assistance; with all the post-riot camaraderie still permeating Precinct-1, it would be a slam-dunk for sure. Nonetheless, Judy was loathe to ask anyone to help her; ever the self-sufficient farm-girl. In the end, as always, she swallowed her pride and asked Officer McHorn to assist her up the ramp-although she balked outright at his offer to carry her upstairs.
When the door to Bogo's office opened, it wasn't the Chief she found waiting to greet her, but his visitor...a wolverine in a midnight-blue business suit. At the sight of him, Judy felt herself shrinking inwardly. Although the big mustelid carried not the slightest air of hostility about him, neither did he appear to have even the merest hint of conviviality. Truth be told, he was showing no emotion whatsoever. And, as if that weren't enough, this was not your average run-of-the-mill wolverine; even for a member of his species, he looked exceptionally fit and hard. As the old chestnut goes, this was not someone you'd want to meet in a dark alley.
There was also something vaguely familiar about him...although for the life of her, Judy couldn't remember where she might have seen him before.
Then Bogo spoke and the spell was broken.
"Detective Hopps...come in." His voice was both clipped and formal-even more so than usual, what the heck was going on here? "Sit down, please." He told her, indicating the smaller of two chairs in front of his desk.
"Do you need any help?" the wolverine asked, noting that the seat was still a bit high for her and extending a paw covered in dirty-white fur. Judy managed not to shudder while politely declining the offer.
It was only after they had taken their seats that Bogo explained his reason for having called for her on such short notice
"Detective Hopps," he said, indicating the wolverine in the chair next to hers, "this is Mr. Seth Whitepaugh, Chief of Field Operations for AKER Security Management."
"Detective," the wolverine nodded, reaching down to offer her that off-white paw again. This time, Judy took it, although she had to force herself not to turn away. And whoa-those pads of his were so hard and rough; it was like shaking paws with a belt-sander.
"Mr. Whitepaugh," she acknowledged, feeling her nose beginning to twitch. "Have we...met somewhere before?"
"Ah, we've never been formally introduced, Detective," the big mustelid replied, sitting back in his chair once again, "But I believe we may have crossed paths during the Carrot Days Festival earlier this summer. I was flown in following the, er, 'incident' with your Uncle Terrence, to deliver the antidote serum."
"Oh yes," Judy answered, forcing a smile. Good Lord, did this animal ever show any emotion? He might have been reciting from a textbook just now.
What she saw next did nothing to reassure her; turning to Chief Bogo and nodding as if giving him permission to speak.
"There's a reason for Mr. Whitepaugh's visit here today, Detective; and it has to do with last night's incident involving the Lewis boy-who, by the way, is now confirmed as having been on board the boat we were pursuing. I'll let him explain."
"Yes, well," the wolverine replied, still in that same toneless voice. "Last night, one of our hovercraft crews, on a training exercise in Zootopia Sound, made contact with the fugitive vessel and engaged in pursuit." He raised his paw defensively, an odd gesture, Judy thought...until she heard him go on.
"This was a completely unauthorized action on the part of the crew; they went after that boat without even so much as notifying Command of their action. And they did so in the hope of collecting the supposed reward being offered for the Lewis boy's capture."
Again, he spoke without feeling...but this time Judy could see his lip curl upwards and his fur spiking. Creepazoid or not, she could hardly blame him...especially in light of what he said next.
"I'll spare you the full account, Detective Hopps, but the upshot was the loss of a hovercraft worth six figures, and the threat of a seven-figure lawsuit by the Bearsk Shipping Company." His back straightened slightly. "Needless to say, the animals responsible have been dismissed with prejudice, and AKER intends to fully cooperate with the City of Zootopia should they choose to pursue any criminal and/or civil actions in this matter."
Cripes...now, he sounded almost robotic.
"That, of course, is a matter for City Hall and the Attorney General's office to decide," Chief Bogo interjected, nodding in the wolverine's direction "But there is another reason for Mr. Whitepaugh's presence here today; it seems that in the course of investigating the incident, AKER Security turned up some rather significant information regarding Conor Lewis."
Judy's ears shot up at once, her apprehension vanishing like vapor in the wind. All right, now we were getting somewhere
"Really, what did you discover?"
To her immense surprise, Mr. Whitepaugh began to fidget uncomfortably in his chair.
"Hm, yes, welllll...in light of...ah...recent events, we felt it unwise to relay this information via any sort of...erm, electronic means."
"Yes, of course," Judy nodded, wondering what the heck? Okay fine, no phone or internet, she got that; but here he was in furson, so...what was he waiting for?
His answer left her even more bewildered.
"My employer, Mr...La Peigne," he said the name as if it were being drawn from him with forceps, "wishes to relay that information in furson, Detective...at our headquarters office downtown. He..." His black eyes darted away for a second, "He specifically asked for you."
"What, me?" Judy was now completely flabbergasted. What in the name of all-git-out could Jack La Peigne have to tell the ZPD that was for her ears and hers alone? No use asking Whitepaugh, he probably didn't know either...although now at least she understood the reason for his discomfort; he was being forced to carry out a fool's errand.
She could almost begin to sympathize with him.
...Almost.
Instead, she looked questioningly at Chief Bogo, who responded by taking off his reading glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose. It was a gesture she knew well; what the big Cape buffalo did when he didn't like something but was in no position to argue.
"Frankly, I'd rather hear it from Mr. Whitepaugh meself, Detective. However..." he raised a finger. "If those are Jack La Peigne's conditions, I see no reason not to accommodate him. This isn't the first time AKER Security has offered to share intelligence with the ZPD." He nodded briefly in the wolverine's direction. "And in the previous instances, I must concede, the information that they supplied turned out to be immensely valuable. To say nothing of their stellar record in managing Zootopia's Correctional facilities."
"Yes sir," Judy answered, offering a quick nod of her own. She couldn't think of anything else to say.
Chief Bogo could, however; the next few words he spoke were short, sharp, and to the point.
"Go with Mr. Whitepaugh. Talk to Mr. La Peigne, find out what he knows, and then report back here as soon as you're done."
"Yes, sir," the doe-bunny repeated, but then remembered something. She had expected to be on her way to Mammalcide again as soon as her visit with Bogo was over, but now... "Ahhhh, I'm supposed to report to..."
Once again, he was one step ahead of her.
"Yes, I know....and I've already notified Detective Sergeant Drescu that I need you for something else at the moment. She understands."
Judy allowed Seth Whitepaugh to get the door for her, but declined his assistance in descending the concourse. Not that she would have needed it anyway, being as this time it was all downhill. Likewise, when the limo in which he'd arrived pulled up, she allowed him to open the door for her. When he offered to help her inside however, that was where she drew the line, even though she could have used the assistance.
She did NOT want this animal touching her.
While Judy had long since shed her remaining prejudices concerning predators, there was something about this wolverine that set her teeth on edge. And it didn't help that the last time she'd taken a ride in a limousine, it had almost been the proverbial LAST ride. "Ice em!"
But when she finally managed to hoist herself inside-holy carrot sticks! This chariot made Mr. Big's limo look like a third-world rust-bucket. The floor was covered in Persian carpet; the lighting was LED, and...were those car-seats done up in...silk? There was a mini-fridge, there was a flat screen TV, and when Judy hopped into her seat, not only was it just the right size for her, it conformed to her body almost perfectly.
Ah, but then, why wouldn't it? Jack La Peigne might be a good deal bigger than the average bunny, but a bunny he was nonetheless. Oooo, she had never sat so comfortably; she wanted to live in this chair...
That was as far as her train of thought managed to get before Seth Whitepaugh climbed in after her, breaking the spell like a matchstick. And as the wolverine settled into his own seat, Judy became aware of another one of the limo's features; an option she hadn't noticed until now.
It was the windows. After three years with the ZPD, you had better believe this doe-bunny knew armored-glass when she saw it-and these panes looked thick enough to stop an anti-tank round.
When the limo pulled away from the curb, it moved like a blocky juggernaut, only gathering speed very slowly.
"Would you care for some carrot juice, Detective?"
It was her companion, indicating the mini-fridge with a wave of his dirty-white paw. He was trying to be gracious, but he was creeping her out again. That paw, where had he ever gotten that thing? He hadn't been born with it; that much was obvious.
Again, Judy managed a smile while declining the offer. Whitepaugh nodded and then removed a tablet from the side pocket on the opposite door, burying himself in an unspecified task and ignoring the doe-bunny as if she wasn't there.
No problem; that was perfectly fine by her.
They were on course for the Oswald Tower, the newest-and tallest-skyscraper in Zootopia. Opened the previous year, the building was known unofficially as the drill-bit for its geodetic, spiraling shape. Depending on who you talked to, it was either the most beautiful or the ugliest building in the city.
Judy had never been there, but she'd heard about it; the Oswald Tower was practically a city in its own right. There were shops, there were spas, there were restaurants and clinics; the food court supposedly took up an entire floor, all by itself...as did the 25-screen multiplex theater known simply as Cinetopia.
And if you still had doubts as to the size of the place, The Oswald Tower had not one but two zip-codes all to itself; one for the businesses on the lower half, and one for the upper floors-which were occupied exclusively by the offices of the various AKER Group firms.
These thoughts were cut off as she realized the limo was slowing to a stop. Hm, they must be coming to one of the checkpoints set up around Savanna Central Plaza.
No, wait...they had already passed through that area; the squat, sprawling architecture of the ZPD's home district was giving way to the soaring grandeur of downtown.
All right, but why were they stopping? The partition between the driver and passenger compartments was up, and it was impossible to see what was ahead of them. Nonetheless Judy was certain that they were nowhere near an intersection; policemammal's intuition.
"What's going on up there?" a voice beside her asked, in a soft, deadpan growl. It was the wolverine, Seth Whitepaugh, speaking into a phone receiver-presumably talking to the driver. As he listened to the answer, his face became even more expressionless; not just a mask, but an unfinished mask.
Without warning, he turned to Judy
"Stay here, I'll take care of this."
"Wha...? Take care of what?" she asked him, completely mystified.
But he had already opened the door, slipping away from the baffled doe-bunny as easily as a wisp of smoke.
Judy was sorely tempted to follow him, instructions or no instructions. Had it not been for her injuries, she would have. What the heck was going on out there? Wait...the phone he'd been talking on.
It was big for a bunny; she had to wrestle it from the cradle with both paws. The good news was that was all she needed to do. At once she heard the driver's slightly nettled voice. "Yes Detective, what is it?"
She decided to skip the preliminaries.
"What's going on; why are we stopped?"
There was no answer and at first, she thought he was ignoring her.
"Hey, listen..."
But then the front partition began to slide downwards, allowing her to see through the windshield. At once she had an answer to her question. Directly in front of the limousine was a double phalanx of tough-looking young mammals, and directly behind them was a crudely constructed barrier, a mash-up of dumpsters, trash-bins, ripped-up benches and what looked like the remnants of a bus-stop shelter. It was fitted with an even more crudely-rendered gate, really just a felled palm tree, sans leaf.
Ohhh-kay, now Judy got it; she'd been hearing about these things all morning. They had come to what the Precinct-1 Officers euphemistically referred to as an 'unauthorized toll-booth.' Cross our pawlms with silver, and you can go your merry way; otherwise...you don't REALLY want your car turned over, do you?
"As IF you could lift this vehicle!" Judy retorted, silently and tartly
Nonetheless, she felt her ears beginning to turn backwards. Dangit, why had Whitepaugh told her to stay put? A quick flash of her badge and those kids would be gone with the wind. And where in tarnation had that wolverine gotten to anyway?
Wait, there he was, standing toe-to-toe with...
Sweet cheez an' crackers; even for a full-grown grizzly bear, that kid would have been a big 'un. For a grizz his age, he was just plain ginormous, a walking, talking, walk-in refrigerator. His mode of dress wasn't exactly encouraging either; done up in biker duds and carrying an iron pipe-which he menacingly slapped into his other paw with slow, rhythmic, precision.
At the moment Whitepaugh was the one speaking, although she couldn't make out what he was saying. Ahhhh, stupid armored glass; if only Nick was here; he'd be able to read their lips...maybe.
Well, her former partner WASN'T here...and that wolverine hadn't said for her not to roll down a window, so...
She got it open just in time to hear the grizzly's guttural sneer.
"What're you gonna do. big guy...kick ALL our tails?"
He was answered by a chorus of laughter from the rest of his crew. Judy wanted to scream, "Run, get out of there!"
...at him, not at Whitepaugh.
"No," the wolverine responded coolly, offering an indifferent shrug, "just kill one of you."
All at once something was in his paw; it looked like a stalk of rebar. Judy missed what happened next; she blinked. But she did see the bar go shrieking through both sides of a dumpster-embedding itself in what was left of a wooden bench.
"I'll let you guess which one," Whitepaugh informed his adversary by way of conclusion-and that was the conclusion, because the grizzly kid wisely decided right then and there that this was not a good place to be.
Ditto for his homies. In mere moments, they were nowhere to be seen.
When the wolverine got back into the limo, he once again slipped into his seat like a shade.
For the next two blocks, Judy remained silent; too taken aback to speak. Whoa, she'd thought Conor Lewis was quick...but compared to Seth Whitepaugh, that kid was like a sloth on tranquilizers. And there was something else...something far more worrisome.
At first glance the wolverine had seemed to know exactly what he was doing. It's an old, established principle that if you put solid force on display-and show that you're willing to use it-chances are, you won't have to. And in this case, it worked to perfection.
Except...except...
Judy couldn't, for the life of her, shake the feeling that Whitepaugh had meant exactly what he said to that young grizzly, "...just kill one of you."
She couldn't wait to part company with this animal.
Her next surprise came when the limo turned down a driveway with the Oswald Tower at least a block away in the distance. (She could see it out the side window.)
"Private entrance," Whitepaugh murmured, having anticipated her question. He never once looked up from his tablet.
They descended down a shallow ramp and into a dimly-lit tunnel...which brightened noticeably as soon as the limo entered. As a burrowing species, Judy shouldn't have been bothered at being taken below ground and yet, she shouldn't help feeling creeped out again.
At the end of the tunnel, they exited into a parking garage; so cavernous, they might have accidentally driven into the Nocturnal District. Wheeling around the perimeter, the driver pulled to a halt before a bank of elevators, four of them with red doors, and four with blue doors.
The reds, Judy noted, were equipped with card-readers, and the one on the end was also fitted with a retinal scanner. Those, she guessed, were probably the ones that went up to the AKER floors.
And so, it came as no small surprise when Whitepaugh conducted her to a blue door instead.
"Taking you up to Reception to get your ID," the wolverine explained, having once again foreseen what was on her mind.
When the doors opened again, they found a smiling opossum waiting for them; an electronic clipboard clutched tightly in her paw. She was nicely dressed, but had a frazzled air about her. It reminded Judy of the time she'd caught up with Dawn Bellwether at City Hall, while seeking access to the 'jam-cams.'
"Detective Hopps," it was Whitepaugh speaking. "This is Ms. Polly Walters, Mr. La Peine's fursonal assistant. She'll be taking care of you from here on in."
Judy wanted to cheer; she almost did. At last, she'd be free of this one-mammal strong-arm squad.
She settled instead for offering a paw to her new escort.
"Ms. Walters."
"Detective Hopps," the opossum responded, offering her own paw-and immediately dropping her clipboard. Oh Lordy, now she was practically channeling Zootopia's former mayor.
Judy bent down immediately to help her retrieve it. When she stood up again, there was no sign of Seth Whitepaugh; he seemed to have disappeared into thin air.
That was a little spooky, but also highly gratifying; goodbye-and good riddance.
"All right Detective, follow me please," Polly turned and beckoned with a pair of fingers.
Judy had no idea where the opossum was taking her. She might have, if she'd bothered to look where she was going, but she was too overwhelmed by her surroundings to take notice. Sweet cheez n' crackers; the Oswald Tower lobby was as big as a sports arena and as opulent as a luxury liner.
The ceiling-an ingenious hybrid of a gothic vault and a geodesic dome-seemed to soar to an impossible height, supported by a circle of spiraling, art-deco columns. Behind these, wrapping around the perimeter was a post-modern mosaic mural, depicting the history of the city of Zootopia. Here was the meeting of the Pred and Prey species at Council Rock, where they first agreed to set aside their differences. There was the construction of the Climate Wall, and further on, the dedication of Little Rodentia...although Judy couldn't help noting that Mr. Big was conspicuously absent from the image. Oh well, that was hardly surprising.
At the back of the lobby, there were two sets of escalators, one that went up to the food court and restaurants, and a second, taller pair, that led up to the cineplex. Good Lord, you could lose yourself for a month in this place.
Approaching the reception desk, which appeared to stretch for miles on end...Judy halted for a second with her nose twitching. What now? It was all of a uniform height...LARGE mammal height. There seemed to be no accommodations whatsoever for smaller species-much less rodents.
That was doubly surprising when you considered that the firm occupying most of this building was headed by a bunny...a king-size bunny to be sure, but the counter in front of her looked way too high, even for him.
She glanced curiously at her escort. "Uhhh, how am I supposed to...?"
"Just step up to the desk," Polly told her, looking almost...mischievous?
Judy was in no mood for games, but she did as the opossum suggested. At once there was a blue flash and she found herself being painted by a laser-scanner. A split second later, the floor beneath her began to rise upwards, while at the same time, the section of the reception desk in front her began to lower itself-until she found herself eye-to-eye with a big-horn sheep across a marble countertop; real marble not the processed stuff, a part of her couldn't help noticing.
"Good morning, Ken," the chipper voice of Polly spoke up from beside the doe bunny, startling her a little; she hadn't realized the opossum was there. "This is Detective Judy Hopps of the ZPD; she has an appointment to see Mr. La Peigne this morning and needs an ID badge."
"All right, then," the bighorn replied, nodding first at Polly, and then holding out a hoof in Judy's direction, "Detective Hopps, may I see your police badge please?" His tone was cordial but with just the slightest of edge to it.
"Yes, of course," she replied, laying it on the counter-top. Ken took it, placed it on a scanner and then returned it.
"Very good, speak your name please, last name first and middle initial last."
For a second Judy hesitated. She knew what was going on of course, he was recording her speech for voice-print...only, what the heck? She didn't see any microphones.
"Hopps, Judith L." she said...and then nearly started again when a snake-like object rose up from behind the counter; its singular red eye aimed directly between hers.
"Place your eye against the aperture please." The security ram told her, and again Judy hesitated-this time out of annoyance. A retinal scan; was that really necessary? Well...Jack La Peigne was a billionaire-and as such, a tempting target for kidnappers and/or extortionists.
She leaned forward and did as she was asked.
That was not, however, the end of her tribulations. Next, a device rose up from behind the counter; a gadget that looked like a cross between a microphone and a scaled-down blow-dryer.
"Hold your paw beneath the end please," the sheep instructed her. Judy complied, but her patience was rapidly ebbing.
"All right, but what the heck is this thingamabob?"
It was Polly Walters who answered her. "It's a scent reader," she explained quickly, having caught the impatience in the doe-bunny's voice. As if in response, the device whirred, sucking in a small plug of air. "And that's the last of it," the opossum said, hastening to reassure her guest, "you're now fully registered."
"Yes, just give me a second to get your badge, and you can go on your way," Ken, the bighorn sheep added, typing something into an unseen keyboard.
It literally did take only a few seconds before Judy heard a ping and saw him reaching over to his left. He came back with a laminated card, attaching it to a lanyard with a small flourish and then passing it over to her.
Judy took it but then frowned with her nose twitching. There was her picture on the front, but she hadn't seen any camera. And it had clearly been taken just now; there was that halo around her eye where the bandages had been.
Hmmm, she wasn't sure, she liked this...but then she felt herself being lowered back down to floor level; no chance to ask about it now.
Polly took her next to a security station between the banks of escalators...where a long row of metal detectors stood waiting. Unlike the reception desk, here there were passages for species of every size you could imagine. There was even an entrance that could have accommodated Mr. Big and/or Fru-Fru-and not much else. The entire affair was coded in bright, cheery colors; an effect somewhat muted by a starkly-lettered sign.
ATTENTION:
AUTHORIZED FURSONELL ONLY BEYOND THIS POINT!
Underneath the sign was a rolling display; presumably the same warning in a myriad of different languages.
Judy felt herself swallowing. By rights, she should have no worries; she certainly counted as authorized, and had the badge to prove it.
Still...there were at least half a dozen security guards minding the metal detectors, including another pair of wolverines. Lord a'mighty, the Zootopia Municipal Courthouse hadn't deployed this much security, even for the Dawn Bellwether trial!
Beyond the security station was a long bank of elevators, also color coded for the different floors. Polly ignored most of them and led Judy to the one in the far-left corner; the only one with a door covered in what looked like gold leaf.
"Let me guess," the doe-bunny smiled wryly, "Express elevator to the penthouse?"
It was meant as half a joke, but the opossum nodded instantly. "Mmm, something like that, Detective." She said, placing her eye against the retinal scanner
The door opened and they got on board.
But when it closed again, nothing happened; the elevator just sat there. It was on the tip of Judy's tongue to ask what was wrong when she happened to glance at the display panel-and saw the rapidly ascending floor numbers.
They were moving...rising at breakneck speed in fact. You just couldn't tell by the feel of it. And when they reached the top floor there was no sensation of stopping; the door simply opened as if this was where the car had always been.
Exiting in the wake of her escort, Judy found herself in a wide, curving hallway, illuminated by soft-spoken LED lights set in art-nouveau sconces. The walls were paneled in fine, dark wood, hung here and there with either a painting or vintage photograph.
And yet...something was off here, something the doe-bunny couldn't quite wrap her head arou...
Wait...yes, that was it; there were no doors along this corridor, at least none that she could see, just those endless, empty walls.
Empty, that is, until Polly brought her to the end of the hallway, and she found herself standing before a towering, teakwood double door, adorned with a simple, gold name-plate 'Jack La Peigne'.
For some reason, it reminded Judy of the entrance to a throne-room-an impression greatly enhanced by the dozen or so mammals seated around the foyer, presumably waiting their turn to see the big bunny. She even recognized one of them; Ray Louis, the muskrat who represented the Canal District on the Zootopia City Council. Hrm...it was no surprise to see him out and about today; last night's boat chase had taken place in HIS bailiwick. Only...what the heck was he doing here; shouldn't he be back in his office at City Hall right now?
These thoughts were interrupted when Polly Walters spoke, apparently to no one at all.
"Sir, this Ms. Walters; Detective Hopps is here."
"Good, good," the deep, familiar voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once, "Please...show her in."
Polly reached for the door, but then La Peigne added, seemingly as an afterthought, "Oh...and please inform Councilmember Louis that I don't need to see him today."
It wasn't necessary, of course; the muskrat had heard it for himself. Letting out a squeak of frustration, he slid out of his chair and went stalking down the hallway, all the while muttering under his breath.
Watching him go, Judy couldn't help but be impressed-and not a little intimidated. She had known, from their first meeting, that Jack La Peigne was a powerful mammal.
But holy carrot sticks; she'd never imagined that he wielded enough clout to casually order around a member of the Zootopia City Council. It was quite the...
Oops...Polly was holding the door open and regarding her with a curious eye.
Judy strolled past the opossum and into the office. At once the impression of a throne-room vanished. This place was more like a cathedral; a high-tech cathedral-the First Church of the Next Millennium.
One soaring wall, for example, was occupied by a scrolling, holographic stock ticker, letters and number that meant about as much to Judy as a row of hieroglyphics. The overhead lighting was mounted on tracks, which, she suspected, could be moved with a simple voice command, or shifted to a different ambience. Here and there the mahogany paneled walls were graced with paintings; either brutalist, or expressionist, or a combination of both-exactly what you'd expect to find in the domain of a so-called 'Master of the Universe.' Ditto for the vault-sized refrigerator and well stocked private bar. There was no sign of a flat-panel display, but for sure there had to be one in here somewhere; probably concealed behind one of the walls. The most interesting feature of La Peigne's private sanctum was a small workout area, complete with treadmill, free-weights and a hard-bag that looked as if it had been pummeled on a regular basis.
And there, at the far end of the office, behind an Admiralty Desk, approximately the size of an aircraft carrier, sat the bunny whom she'd come to see.
Jack La Peigne might have been incredibly big for his species, but in this gargantuan space. he could almost have passed for a dwarf rabbit. For all that, he easily dominated his surroundings.
At first glance, there seemed to be nothing different about him from the first time he and Judy had met, the same dark eyes, the same blue-steel fur. If you were willing to discount his elegantly tailored, three-piece suit and matching tie, this was easily the same rabbit she'd initially encountered at the Carrot Days Festival.
And yet...
There was something different about him, something intangible...something the she couldn't quite grasp. Perhaps it was simply the fact that she was seeing him on his home turf for the very first time. Whatever the case, something told her that this was not quite the Jack La Peigne she knew from the Carrot Days Festival...and she wasn't sure how she felt about it.
At the moment, he was leaning back in his chair, tapping his fingers together while speaking through a headset.
"Very well...let's give the fox access, but make sure he's under escort at all times."
Judy felt her nose begin to twitch. Could 'the fox' he was referring to possibly be...?
Just then the big bunny happened to glance in her direction. At once, the tone of his conversation altered slightly. "Yes, I'm sure. We have nothing to hide, and this may have some bearing on what's been going on here in Zootopia." He paused, frowning as he listened; responding at irregular intervals with only a 'yes' or 'no' answer.
All the while, his eyes kept flicking in Judy's direction; at one point he raised an apologetic paw, spreading his fingers and mouthing the words 'four minutes.'
Judy nodded in response, more in resignation than understanding, but then her gaze happened to fall on the panoramic window, wrapping halfway around the office and offering a sweeping view of the city below.
For a moment she forgot why she was here. Whoa, she had never seen Zootopia from this angle before; she just had to get a better look.
Going to the window, Judy gazed in awe at the vista before her. She was instantly enthralled...except, why had the floor suddenly turned to a waterbed...and why was the scenery wavering in front of her? She tried to step back, but found that her feet had their own ideas about where they wanted to go.
A paw fell on her shoulder and she felt a tail wrap itself around her left leg, steadying her up again. It was Polly Walters. "Easy Detective."
Judy could have kicked herself-if her leg had been under control, she might actually have tried it; what a perfect way to start things off!
But then a voice spoke up from over on her left.
"Yes, I know; I've been in this office for more than a year now-and I still get dizzy when I look out that window sometimes."
Turning to look, she saw Jack La Peigne rising up from his desk with a wry expression on his face, "You know how it is, Judy; you can take the bunny out of the burrow, but you can't take the burrow out of the bunny."
That was almost good for a laugh; yes, they WERE both country rabbits. Instead, however, Judy frowned. She had not come here on a social call.
But the big bunny was already raising a paw. "Ahhh Detective...Detective; sorry, my bad." He went back to his chair and sat down again. "Please-have a seat, Detective Hopps."
He was gesturing towards one of the chairs in front of his desk.
"All right." Judy nodded and went over to it. It was a bit high, but nothing she couldn't...
Without warning the chair swiveled in her direction and lowered itself to the proper height. D'ohhh, after what she'd seen in the lobby-and since entering this office-she should have expected something like this.
Judy hopped into the seat, feeling it rise up to put her in eye contact with the big bunny on the other side of the desk. Polly Walters remained standing...but not outside the range of her boss's attention.
"Thank you, Ms. Walters," he said, consulting his watch for a second. "Hmmm, almost noon...why don't you go get some lunch, and then take the rest of the day off?"
Polly blinked...and then stared. "Sir, I still have to finish..."
"That wasn't a suggestion, Ms. Walters," La Peigne interrupted; his voice was sociable, but also firm. "Go on...get lost. We'll still be here when you get back."
"Very well, Sir." The opossum responded, sounding oddly stiff.
The big bunny watched her go and turned his attention to Judy, shrugging and sounding a little sheepish.
"I know, I know...I work her too hard; but what I don't know is how the heck I'd ever get by without her."
This time, he did manage to get a laugh out of the doe-bunny; quick but genuine.
But then she turned serious.
"Mr. La Peigne, you asked me to come here because..."
"Yes, yes, of course...business first." The big rabbit nodded and waved a paw. It disappeared for a second and then returned, holding an inch-thick folio, which he laid on the desktop in front of her. "Perhaps I'd better just cut to the chase, Detective...we've uncovered the Lewis boy's true identity."
Judy almost fell over backwards in her chair; in fact, she started to do just that, but it managed to catch her in time. Sweet cheez n' crackers, she'd been told that AKER had some valuable intel to share...but she'd never dreamed it could be this vital.
La Peigne, meanwhile, had his paw up again. "Before we go any further, Detective, I need to explain how it is that we came by this information; you'll understand when you hear."
He didn't say the next two words out loud, but Judy could swear she heard them just the same. "...I hope."
She sat back and folded her arms. "All right."
"It was Mr. Whitepaugh who made the discovery," the big bunny told her, indicating the file folder with a pair of fingers. Judy was mildly surprised; the wolverine hadn't said one word about it to her. Had he even mentioned it to Chief Bogo? Never mind, Jack La Peigne was still talking...with his ears laid back and his brow furrowing. "He made the discovery in the midst of the investigation into last night's 'incident' involving our hovercraft." He seemed to be barely maintaining his composure; hardly a surprise, but still... "As you know, Detective Hopps, our crew went in pursuit of that other boat in the hope of reaping a rather substantial reward for one of the animals on board, a young silver fox by the name of Conor Lewis." His foot began to thump like a kettledrum; so hard that Judy thought she could feel the floor, beginning to shake beneath her feet. "That reward, as I'm certain you're also aware, was nothing more than an online hoax, but anyway..." His foot stopped moving and he waved paw as if batting at a fly. "For reasons I'll explain momentarily, that information piqued Mr. Whitepaw's curiosity. He asked for, and received permission to examine the Lewis boy's police file-and discovered that he was living under an assumed name, and that furthermore, the ZPD was attempting to identify him by way of his DNA signature. While the lab had managed to isolate Mr. Lewis's genome, they'd, so far, been unable to match it to any other fox."
Judy felt her nose twitching and her own foot trying to thump. La Peigne saw her and spoke quickly with his next words.
"Please Detective...bear with me for just a few more seconds. On a hunch, Mr. Whitepaugh asked for a copy of the Lewis boy's genome file and ran it through the AKER database." His dark eyes locked with hers, "...and came up with a 99.8022% match."
What the...? Once again, Judy felt herself reeling backwards...but this time in disbelief rather than surprise. How the heck would the AKER group be in possession of THAT information? She folded her paws and waited.
But La Peigne said nothing more, only regarding her, silent and stone-faced.
All right then...
"Mr. La Peigne, with all due respect... how on earth could your company have come to have that information on file?"
He nodded at the folder again, "Because Conor Lewis, as it turns out, was a fugitive long before he ever set foot in Zootopia. Several years previously, he escaped from a youth facility in Zoo Jersey managed by the AKER Correctional Division-Granite Point, to be precise." He tapped a finger on the folder. "That's how we happened to have a copy of his genome in our data records."
"Ohhhh, sweet cheez n' crackers,'' Judy gasped under her breath. It was like watching someone throw a picture-puzzle into the air, and seeing all of the pieces fall perfectly into place. Oh, there were still a lot of questions to be answered. How the heck had Conor Lewis managed to pull off that identity change for instance; where the heck had he found the resources? It would have taken more than just the cash from those diamonds to make something like that happen...a LOT more
But at the same time...ah-haaa, so that was why he'd chosen to break out of jail when he'd had at least a decent chance of beating that assault case-and why he'd gone after her when she'd caught up with him in that auditorium. No matter what he did, he was on his way back to juvie....so what did have to lose by fighting her? It was as if the rabbit on the other side of the desk had pulled back a veil, revealing a dark and sinister world behind it.
And it was about to get a whole lot darker.
"I should mention, Detective, that Granite Point was-and still is-the proverbial end of the line in Zoo Jersey's youth correctional system. There's even a sort of joke about it. 'Q: how does a kid end up in Granite Point? A: He messes up everywhere else.'" He sighed and wearily shook his head. Judy was almost ready to do the same...except in her case, it would have been in disbelief, and perhaps even a little outrage. Okay, so perhaps that young silver fox wasn't such a good kid after all. That didn't make him a bad one and certainly not that bad. Craig Guilford...HE was that bad; bad to the bone and all the way through to the marrow-but not Conor, not him.
No!
Stinking!
WAY!
"I know Detective," La Peigne was all heart and sympathy. "He's the same young mammal that once saved you from being electrocuted." He reached forward and flipped open the file folder, pointing with a finger claw at a pair of photographs prominently displayed on the very first page.
Judy picked them up and looked-and immediately wanted to fling them away, wishing she could unsee the images before her-and once again grateful that her species was incapable of vomiting.
"Wha...what happened to those kids?" She asked, unable to stifle the tremor in her voice.
La Peigne's face became set in onyx.
"Alan...excuse me, Conor Lewis is what happened to them." He flipped the folder to the next page, pointing a second time. "On his first day in custody, he assaulted those other boys-and another young mammal who managed to escape without serious injury.
Judy felt her ears go up again. "Wh-Why would he do a thing like that?" she asked-and immediately wanted to bite her own tongue. Of all the dumb-bunny questions...!
Well, maybe so, but if that was the case, Jack La Peigne didn't seem to notice.
"For the same reason a lot of new inmates go out of their way to pick fights on their first day in jail-to establish themselves as someone you don't want to mess with." He shook his head again, looking almost disappointed, "Of course, it didn't quite work out that way. As you're no doubt aware, the Lewis boy ended up biting off more than he could chew-a LOT more." He took another sheet from the folder and offered it to her.
Judy took it only reluctantly, and even then, only because this time, there were no photographs.
What was written on the page, however, wasn't much better...a graphic description of how the young silver fox had come by his broken muzzle. Twice she had to stop reading, close her eyes and take a breath. She kept at it, though; horrified as she was, another one of her questions had been answered. There it was, right in front of her...
"...Grabbed him by the back of his neck..."
...And then...
"Ohhh, sweet cheez n' crackers, no wonder that fox kid went berserk when I grabbed him from behind like that."
It was almost enough to make her feel guilty; no, scratch that, she did feel guilty. What she didn't feel was, capable of reading through any more of that file. Who knew how many more Photographs from Hell awaited her in the following pages? Rummaging through her mind, she searched desperately for an escape hatch...and thought she found one.
"Mr. La Peigne, there seems to be a tremendous amount of material here; it would likely take us hours to go through all of it. Perhaps, it might be best if you just gave me a quick, verbal summary, and then we can study this information in detail when I bring it back to Precinct-1."
"Sounds like a plan," the big rabbit nodded sagely, clasping his paws atop his desk, "To be honest, I don't have a lot of extra time to spare myself today...Hmmmm." he rubbed at his chin with a finger. "Let's just start from the beginning. Al...Ah, let's just stick with Conor Lewis for now. The Lewis boy was initially arrested at a farmer's market in Pompton Plains, Zoo Jersey."
A...farmer's market? The news hit farm girl Judy Hopps like a kick to the midsection.
And it was only going to get worse. On the other side of the desk, Jack picked up the file folder and flipped through several pages before finding the one he wanted.
"He was caught stealing blackberries from a farmstand. The owner shooed him away, but didn't call the police or security." He looked up from the document, regarding Judy with a pair of hooded eyes. "That turned out to be a mistake on Mr. Bramble's part, because a short while later the Lewis boy returned and threw a makeshift Moletov cocktail into the stand."
"No!" Judy gasped and her paws went up to her face. No, no, no...that was exactly what Craig Guilford had done to that farmstand back in Bunnyburrow. Conor wouldn't...he couldn't have done a thing like that.
"Yes, I'm afraid so, Detective," La Peigne replied, a perfect portrait of more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger. "It was all caught by a security camera...you'll find it on disc, in here." He was tapping the folder again, nearly causing Judy to shrink away from it.
The big bunny noticed and gave her a moment to collect herself before moving on.
"Luckily, the bottle didn't break and Mr. Bramble was able to extinguish the fire before there was any damage. There's no camera footage of what happened next, but apparently the Lewis boy tried to resist when the officers took him into custody." His eyes met hers for a second. "Not violently, you understand; he just attempted to make a break for it. However, under Zoo Jersey State Law that counts as resisting arrest."
Judy could only nod dumbly at this, although she didn't want to. The Zootopia revised statutes said pretty much the same thing...and if she couldn't picture Conor trying to burn down a produce stand, she could easily imagine him running from the police; she had seen that for herself, after all.
"His booking and arraignment were more or less uneventful," the big rabbit continued. "except for the fact that he refused, point blank, to give his name. And as he carried no ID, the court had no choice but to assign him one." He picked up a document and consulted it. "Alannnnn...let me make sure...yes, Alan Murphy, there it is. Anyway, being as he'd been arrested for a violent offense, he was transferred to the Juvenile Medium Security Facility at Beardentown; standard procedure...and it was there that the assault described in those photographs you saw took place. From there he was transferred to the Juvenile Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Woolridge, Zoo Jersey and finally to the Maximum-Security Youth Facility at Granite Point." He regarded her with those hooded eyes again. "And that was where he really broke bad...and I must confess, AKER Correctional bears at least some of the responsibility for his downturn."
"How is that?" Judy's eyes were wide and her nose was twitching; she wasn't quite bowled over this time, but it was darn close.
La Peigne responded with a sound that might have been either a sigh or a grumble, and then heaved himself out of his chair. He seemed almost to be taking the weight of the world on his shoulders.
And then he turned to face the window with his paws behind his back.
"It's one of the sorriest episodes in the history of AKER Correctional Management, Detective Hopps." He turned and glanced over his shoulder for a second, "And as head of the corporation, I bear full responsibility. The long and short of it is that the mammals put in charge of managing Granite Point turned out to be corrupt to the core." He turned away again, and Judy saw his shoulders bunch-as if he was preparing to throw someone out through the window in front of him. "And I mean everyone-from the Superintendent's office, all the way down to the janitorial staff. Practically every single mammal who worked in that place was dirty...and it was the kids under their supervision who suffered for it." He turned to face her and she almost felt herself shrink again. It wasn't until Jack La Peigne stood up to his full height that you realized how truly colossal he was. "To put it bluntly, they turned Granite Point into a cross between a concentration camp and a gladiator school. I'll spare you the full details...except for one important item. They left much of the policing to the detainees themselves, specifically to a 'Goon Squad' of young offenders who were given extra privileges in exchange for keeping the others in line."
"And...the Lewis Boy," Judy almost choked on the name, "Was he...one of them?" She was praying hard that the answer would be no.
"I'm afraid so," the big bunny answered, shoulders slumping once again, "Though, if it's any consolation, he wasn't the ring-leader. That honor, if I could call it an honor, belonged to another young detainee; someone you may have heard of; Wesley McCrodon, aka The Bearfoot Bandit, aka 'Crazy Wez.' No sooner did the Lewis boy land in Granite Point than McCrodon brought him into the enforcer crew. Why he did that, I have no idea," He shrugged, "Except to say they didn't call that young sea-mink crazy for nothing. In any event, the Lewis kid eventually became his closest friend and confidant."
"I understand," Judy nodded. She didn't but she was beginning to; ohhhhh yes, she'd heard about that kid. "But when the Lewis boy escaped, did Crazy Wez go with him?" She knew he hadn't, or else the big bunny would have mentioned it already.
"Nope," La Peigne shook his head tightly; his expression was enough to put the 'iron' in irony. "The Lewis boy went off by himself and left him...which I thought was a sort of poetic justice, given that Wes McCrodon had done the same thing to a few of his 'partners' in the days before his arrest. In any event, that was what finally sent him over the edge. He just completely withdrew from everything and, as I understand it, he's been in that same state ever since."
"And Conor Lewis...what about him?" Judy asked. The information about Crazy Wez was all well and good, but it wasn't going to help her nab a certain fugitive young silver fox.
She was answered by yet another raised paw.
"I'll get to that in a moment, Detective-but for now, please indulge me."
"All right," Judy conceded, watching him take his seat again.
As if she had a choice...