The Fire Triangle -- Part II, Oxidizer

The Fire Triangle: Book II - Chapter 23

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.