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—A Zootopia Fanfiction
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Part One:
Fuel
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Chapter 7—Tying Up Loose Ends
(Pt. 6...Continued)
"Blast it Hopps, I said I wanted those two young miscreant brought in ASAP; I never said I wanted it 'Hold my carrot juice' fast!"
Under different circumstances, that line would have been good for a laugh, or at least as smile—except that Chief Bogo's expression was anything but amused. "What d'you think, you need to bring in EVERY case you're assigned within 48 hours?" he said, harking back to his deal with Judy over the missing Emmitt Otterton, and also hovering over her like a wasp searching for the proper location to insert its stinger.
"No sir," Judy answered, following up with a small swallow. In the next chair over, Nick Wilde's paw began to move towards hers. But then the fox realized what was happening and wisely pulled it back again. He had promised to back her up if this happened, but she had insisted upon carrying the burden herself.
As either one of them could have predicted, the Chief saw things pretty much the same way as Nick had; luckily for Judy, he also saw something of himself in her.
"You're not the first officer I've had in here that looked before leaping, Hopps," he said, softening his manner just a hair, "Truth be told, I did it meself, once or twice, when I was younger."
He got up from his desk and went to the window, leaning an elbow on the sill and gazing through the blinds. Judy recognized instantly what was happening, he was revisiting his early days with the ZPD, he was back there on the streets once more.
"Happened my third year on the force," he said, turning to face her again. "Should have known better by then, but I didn't. I'd chased a robbery suspect into one of the subway tunnels, and then the next thing I knew, there were lights coming up behind me." His face twisted in a rueful smile. "It was only then I realized I'd gone too far, I'd got into the narrowest part of the tunnel; enough space for my suspect to dodge the train, he was a wallaby, but not for a Cape buffalo. If there hadn't happened to be an alcove nearby, they'd have been scraping what was left of me off of the walls. Anyways, I got off with a torn shirt and a scuff on one horn and my suspect got away...from me, but not from the ZPD. He was captured on the Lion's Gate station platform an hour later. It was only then that I realized my mistake Hopps, and d'you know what that mistake was?"
Judy wasn't certain if the question was rhetorical, but then Bogo's gaze hardened into bits of volcanic glass, and she knew she'd better say something, pronto.
"Um..." she tried to answer, but once again words failed her.
Bogo sat back down hard in his chair again, with a thump that made the springs creak; his eyes never left her face.
"My mistake was that I'd forgot I was part of a TEAM, Hopps. I was thinkin' 'me', not 'we'; I'd run off after that wallaby without even so much as a word to my partner." Here, he nodded at Nick Wilde. "It wasn't that I didn't want my suspect to escape, it was that I didn't want him to get away from ME...and I spent more than a few nights afterwards thinking on it, I can tell you."
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The Fire Triangle, A Zootopia Fanfiction -- Part One
Mystery / ThrillerIt's been two years since Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps broke the Savage Predator conspiracy. Now a brilliant and effective team, they're only a few steps away from making the detective bureau and growing closer with every passing day. But even as thei...
