Work Text:
‘We are now approaching, Troop Street Station, change here for…’
“-Best shortcut in town,” the goat yelled, face to his Gopher-Pro. Whoops and cheers cut through, overcrowding the belligerent passengers in the car as the caprid, camera affixed to his horns, cut his way through. He glanced back at a tahr, ready and waiting with his camera recording from a seat, then down to the rest of his crew.
“Heard it’ll be full gale tonight Gi’, careful you don’t get blown into the climate wall.”
A foreign word of likely high vulgarity was shot out of the red furred flying squirrel, the mammal jumping up and scrabbling high onto the goat’s shoulder. Beside them, a snow leopard looked on, waiting, ready along with a few other crew members.
“Please let vulnerable passengers off…”
“-Go go go!”
They raced out, arms pumping, pivoting left, right, the larger ones pushing up the stairs against the current while the smaller ones raced between the handrails, paws and hooves drumming away as they went.
Leaping off, turning sharp or bouncing off walls to pivot the tight curves, -left, right, left, ticket barriers ahead they leapt up or slid under, shouts and calls ignored as they charged out into the blazing sun.
Goat, snow leopard, giant flying squirrel, bunny, sugar glider, ocelot, markhor, wheeling out and already cutting through the traffic, racing with its flow and sliding across bonnets, whoops singing out to the blare of horns.
“Hup, Hup Bruv!”
The two smallest mammals were tossed up, opening their limbs and catching the wind as they sailed on, a look down seeing the rest of the troop race across the easy side of the traffic. -A glance ahead, a few signals and the runners caught on, adjusting their course as they weaved into the opposing flow, ready to cross through. A truck arrogantly rumbled along, petulantly slowed down in good time, the group forced to detour.
-Bar the bunny, leaping down on all fours, powering on and under before jumping out the other side in a blur of caramel and dusty charcoal. She stood up again, heart beating, racing on as the two gliders sailed down and hooked themselves into the markhor’s horns. The group pivoted and charged straight through the entranceway of a coffee shop, patrons pulling back, a few mammals yelling, phones up.
Ever so briefly the bunny paused, glancing at the chaos their stampede was causing, then down the main road. -Down the long avenue, reaching from the centre of Downtown and then cascading in one grand flow to Watering Hole Plaza far below. The station stood proud, their target, their destination.
“C’mon Jade!”
She snapped to it and, realising she was falling behind, ducked onto all fours and darted in, cutting beneath tables and stalls before joining the others on the other side.
.
.
“Parkour?” Judy asked, thumbing the title of the briefing. An ear twerked. “That’s jumping from building to building right?”
“Indeed,” Bogo spoke. “Rooftop running, cutting through pedestrians, at best trespassing and, until recently, at worst causing chaos for whatever poor civilians are trying to mind their own business when they come barging through.”
The bunny nodded slowly. “Is it really that big a…”
As if seeing the curious look on Bogo’s face, Nick cut in. “Ahem, let me educate the non-Zootopian for a moment.”
He earned a light punch on his arm.
“First lesson, that’s called fox abuse. -Second lesson: To tree and mountain climbing species, parkour gangs are their graffiti gangs -and often one and the same. Mammals join them, they run with them, everyone gets very cross with them but ultimately most of the time they don’t cause any real problems…”
“Other than signalling that the law is being ignored and they are bringing areas into disrepute,” Bogo huffed. “-Especially when there are official parkour parks and routes they could be using.”
“Alas,” the fox sighed. “To the teenage mammal or hip young adult, the word ‘official’ is diametrically opposed to the word ‘cool’…”
“As is, to your boss, the word ‘Wildeism’ to ‘not getting stuck on parking duty’,” Bogo warned, turning back to Judy. “-We have some members of those generally medium to large species in the force, some are practiced in the art, but more and more small mammal parkour is picking up, something we are finding we cannot deal with. Especially when some of these gangs are getting more audacious and traditionally criminal in their activities.”
.
.
Clatters came from mammals jumping up and out of the way, metal tables and chairs sliding apart as the marauding gang swept through, hoof and claw clicking on the brick pavement. Around them tall chisselled concrete and gold tinted glass buildings rose, the emblem of the UoZ festooned proudly, its dominion for them to play with. Jade was already up on the rough concrete wall at the edge of the dining terrace, racing on fast before, breath in, she jumped into the void. Arms out to catch the air then tucked in and body folded to take the roll, the metallic roof of the sunshade rang like a cymbal as she turned over and came onto all fours, thankful for her paw grips giving her traction on the slick surface. Thankful more as she pulled her speed back into a forward direction and added to it, body pulsing before she leapt, forearms out to meet the edge of the next sunshade. Hind limbs tucked in, front pulling herself forward, toes caught the precipice over the void and pushed, letting her drive on again.
The ringing of the others on the now shaking street furniture was sounding out an overture, overtaking the bubbling fountains, rustling leaves and murmur, then exclamations, then cheers of the massed students below.
On, on, on, then… -One push up and her arms out wide, she hit a steel drainpipe of a research building and hugged it tight, her grip winning against gravity before her body began the work of jacking her up. A bang from a window, the sound of it sliding open, a grizzled pig professor of something or other was leaning out and yelling, not that it mattered. A tongue out in response was all he got.
Up she went, fellow runners above, below, to the side of her, climbing up the pipe or using their hooves to latch on to the coarse concrete surface; they were unstoppable as they reached the top, Jade hoiking herself over an edge and landing in a sea of sun warmed pebbles that crunched under her feet, a forest of AC towers humming around her.
More crunches rang out as the rest arrived, quickly finding the concrete paving stones laid between the roof equipment and racing along, cutting left, right, pushing on past warm blasts of air and over trailing electric wires, their images reflected in the windows of the ziggurat-like building’s next layer. Mammals inside watched as they scurried over catwalks, jumped over voids, the smallest catching air on vent fans and the largest flowing over a whole web of hulking air-plant, twisting and turning as they danced over the ladders, catwalks and access stairs that festooned the roof like spiderwebs.
Jade watched them go above and dove down below, under the hissing equipment, past dripping condensate, twisting around supports and wires and pipe upstands before pushing on fast, ears clipping the metal above and forcing her to pull them down further. -She was off the roofs now, back down in newly dug burrows, bombing through and -She hissed as a gob of water splashed down on her, paw going back by instinct and coming forward, her buck teeth biting down on her bottom lip. Eyes closed, focus, she pulled down her tank top, buttons and badges rattling, and dove on, cutting through the undercroft like it was a newly dug warren before jumping out the other side, blue sky screaming down as the others jumped down next to her, racing on towards the edge, and the towering old brick townhouse beyond.
“That the best you can do Milo!” she jeered, the snow leopard raising an eyebrow before fluidly racing on. Up onto the wall parapet next to them, charging along it on all fours, body pulsing and rippling before he leapt, crossing the void to the regal townhouse and landing straight on a sheer vertical cliff of a wall. He raced along it, turning as he went, before leaping out as if he were casting himself out into the centre of the University Plaza. -Instead, paws grabbing the railings nestled along the roof, he pulled himself over and around, landing perfectly. Top half of his body peering over the gable wall, one side higher as a foot rested up the pitched roof, he could only snigger.
“Nah, that was Bun-Bun.”
Any revelry from the rest of the crew down below was broken off as a door slammed open behind them, yells for them to stay where they were coming out.
.
.
“So,” Judy said, looking over the brief. “I’m going to be going on a parkour course?”
Bogo nodded. “Indeed. Meet Zachary Falaise,” he gestured to an athletic chamois waiting in the corner, the mammal nodding in acknowledgement. “One time silver medalist, three times bronzes, two gold…”
“-and aiming for three next year,” Zach added.
“Sir, I…” Judy began, only to be met with a chuckle from the buffalo.
“Have we found the one thing the wonder bunny will not do?” His smugness was suddenly wiped away. “And if this is the moment I learn you’re scared of heights, so be it…”
“-No,” Judy began. “It’s not that sir, just…” Her foot thumped a few times. “Practically speaking… -I’m not a good climber, am I? I’ve seen what Bûcheron, Chèvre, or any goat or squirrel can do, I…”
“-And I’ve seen rabbits in motion,” Zach spoke. “Yes, there are species that can climb a sheer brick wall, straight up.” He gestured to himself. “But that’s one dimension, when endurance parkour is about how far you can go and how fast. It’s about speed, flow, nimbleness… Quick thinking, exploiting opportunities, grace and keeping the motion going.” He shrugged. “Species can be born to climb. You can be taught to run.”
“And that’s where you come in, Hopps,” Bogo said. “We’ve even had the Flying Squads coming up loose, unable to track the mammals we want or even getting attacked on the wing, left with permanent flight disabilities. You, though, are tough as nails by comparison and once you’ve locked on, once you’re able to put the training I know you will master to good use, you’ll be able to follow them on until the very end or until we have what we need.” He paused, managing a smile. “-Or, at least, until a squirrel passes the academy.”
.
.
“I said…”
Jade didn’t think, she ran. -Milo’s leap across was far too far for her, though a tossed sugar glider and flying squirrel easily made it. Instead she cut along the edge of the wall, the gable end of Milo’s building only getting higher and higher, the lethal drop below ever more perilous. Hoof and paw stamped on concrete and gravel behind, yells to halt echoed out, her heart screamed, her brow furrowed.
She…
Was not…
Gonna be…
Caught.
She was gonna to show them what a bunny could do. -Up ahead the markhor, goat and ocelot leapt up onto the rumbling hulks of ventilation plant, the cat leaping straight into the void, running on the wall before hooking himself over, just like Milo had on the other side. All while the caprids jumped up higher, reaching the top of a lift head house, standing sentinel and alone before picking up speed and leaping, reaching towards the cat. He waved them on, one cleanly over, the other misjudging. Steel rail hit midsection, screams came from the guards behind, arms hooked over, hoof tips found the thin spaces between the bricks and he levelered himself on.
All as Jade met a leap she couldn’t make.
She leapt up onto the air handling unit, the ringing of metal beneath her footfalls a sticcato against the screams, yells and begs behind her. Another fast ringing came out, she didn’t turn, her ears told her enough and her instincts took over.
Danger.
Hunter.
Don’t look back.
Run.
Run for your life.
You see them, you’re DEAD!
Pivot around, don’t trust your instincts with your claws, they won’t dig in - they’ll slip. Let the paw grips grab and hold, let them power you on, let your body ripple, ripple, faster, faster, your body heaving and panting as the oncoming precipice comes and…
She sailed through the air, screams behind her, a flat wall in front, oblivion below.
She felt calm.
Peaceful.
She saw what lay ahead, her body tucked up and in, her aim perfect as her head and forearms dove into the small gap left in the parapet, hind legs and tail packing themselves into the downpipe funnel below it before pushing on, the bunny squirming through the hole before popping out the other end, body panting and paws hot and warm against the heat from the dry dusty rain gullies.
“Way to go Jade!” one of the gliders yelled, Milo peaking the roof and sliding down the copper to meet her, tucked in and balancing to avoid the minefield of solar panels along the way. He leapt up almost at the end, front flipping and landing with a foot paw balanced on the parapet wall, tail swishing behind.
The goat was already racing on, they all followed, Jade giving one glance back to the mammals on the other side and giving a toothy wink and a two finger salute, even as they split apart and redeployed.
.
.
“It’s not going to work.”
Usually those words were met with the eternal ‘excuse me, Fox’ or ‘Don’t care - orange dog’. Instead a chuckle rang out, Zach walking over with a cocky spring in his feet. One that only increased as he leapt up, hopping between the back of two chairs and then launching himself up onto the highest perch available.
“I… GET DOWN FROM THERE!”
The instructor glanced down at Bogo below him, his hooves effortlessly shifting their point of contact as the cape buffalo moved his head about. A short buck to throw the mountain mammal off his horns seemed to work, only for it to turn into a fluid wall run that ended with a balance against a bookshelf. A scramble to the side and back against a seemingly plain wall, the chamois held himself still before performing a gravity defying walk up.
Small curved horns resting against the ceiling, Zach shrugged, smiled, glanced at the fuming cape buffalo and then down at Nick. “I tend to think a demonstration is worth a thousand words. -And unlike them will actually stick. So, still don’t think it’ll work?”
“Yup,” Nick shrugged. “But don’t take it personally. You really are the wrong species here to say this but you are the GOAT.”
“I can say the same for her,” Zach said, looking down at Judy. “You don’t think she can do it?.”
“Oh, she can,” Nick said, settling back and holding up a paw. A few seconds were stayed, both the instructor and Bogo about to break the silence before Nick did it for them. “-I bet you that, together, you two could produce the first bunny parkour gold medalist. -But, that’s not our aim, is it? You have, what, spent your whole life training on official courses, official routes, doing things by the book, right?”
The instructor glanced at Bogo. “In the same vein that we always stick to the speed limit on the motorway or stick to the marked ski slopes, you could say that.”
Nick cracked a grin. “Yeah, clean but with a bit of adventure. -But what we’re up against here isn’t that. Let me guess, this is up against something much more dirty, right?” He leant in, looking down at the brief, his ears perking up and a chuckle coming out of his throat. “Sweet mother Marian, I might have undersold myself there.” He turned around, arms crossed. “Gentlemammals. You are going against criminal street parkourists, mammals who may have started out on the official courses, but then ran on streets. -Or rather the walls, roofs and whatever. And trust me, it’s the same wherever you go, whatever discipline you have. Bring them onto your turf,” he pointed to the instructor. “You’ll beat them paws down. But we’re not going to be fighting them on your turf are we? We’re on their streets, up against their tricks, their experience, their knowledge, their teamwork, their world. And with our clean playing, they’ll wipe us.”
.
.
The leap across the next void was easy. Two storeys, a long fall, but plenty of time to sail through, tucking themselves up close and spinning into a roll, crunching against the pebble covering and letting it cushion the worst of the hard hit, taking the fall and then flipping it into speed. Waves of pebbles sloughed forward as they uncovered the asphalt beneath, all before getting up once more, as fast as ever.
The throbs in their shoulders didn’t register, just the pace, the never ending pace that no mammal could keep up with. Legs and arms pumping, Jade was glad this roof had no real parapet, just a slight asphalt lip and shaky railings nestled in the pebbles. -It gave her a look over and down, at Zootopia below. All her glory, all her rooftops, an endless playground, escape route, dominion.
Hers now…
The first time she’d been up here, it had been a shock. The scale, the height, the fall… But every push, every new trick, every practice and run… She’d learnt to master it, make it her own, though the image, the wonder, it never left her. It was always the same, taking her breath away like the first time she’d laid eyes on the city. No idea that she’d find herself up here.
They pivoted around and waited at a door, Jade glancing up to a small hole in the wall, hanging out over a precipice, obvious now, yet how many other mammals would never…
With a jolt the door in front of them opened, the sugar glider and flying squirrel hanging from the push bars, giggling.
A slight chide from the others about taking forever or being part sloth didn’t sully them. On they went, through the blackness, across catwalks and passing hulking water tanks. Jade’s ears pulled down to protect them from screaming fans, waves of air pressure coming from locked vent doors and the rumble as a lift motor began whirring up fast. The goat in the lead, horns down, smashed into the escape handle of the next door, letting the sunlight blast in again, and the slope of a massive rooflight reveal itself beneath them.
The larger mammals leapt up and ran down the gullies to the side. The smaller ones were tossed and took flight. Jade ducked under the metal railing, let her tail hit the glass, and slid down, picking up speed as she went. Speed she’d need as she looked ahead. A glance down, an endless spiral of floors hung below, sweeping past, tiny dots of mammals off in the distance.
Ignorant of the world up here.
All as she took a breath, fast, in peril, in control. A moment of grace in the whitewater, her fur bristling from the wind, her eyes already tracing out her path on and… -Ooooh, hello. She smiled to herself, knowing now she just had to do that. She cut her head forward, coiled her legs and sprung out, body stretching as she bounced off an errant antenna, sailed across a street, flashed another wink and salute and tucked herself in ready to cannonball into some mammals rooftop pool.
Water crashed around her, the bunny rising up, arms and legs kicking as she pulled herself out. Whoops and wolf-whistles came as the rest of the posse caught up again, maybe even the odd look of concern.
-She didn’t need it.
Her clothes were selected to not suck up water. Instead they shed it fast, what weight she carried irrelevant now. In fact, the cooling from them in the wind was blissful. The buildings were tighter together, closer, stepping down and down with easy jumps between them. If anything, as they raced along tiles, slates, asphalt and glass, as they leapt across humdrum alleyways and weaved between condenser units and steaming saliva-inducing vent stacks from whatever establishments were below, this wasn’t merely gentle. It was a bit boring.
A crack came over, a can tossed her way, the markhor smiling as he handed over what must have been drinks swiped from a mini-bar.
She forced down a frown, instead flicking the tab and letting the sweet mango soda jump into her mouth.
The roof surfers spoils of victory.
Stolen, a flash of bitterness coming through as they jumped onto small rooftop terraces and balconies, cutting through each little safe haven a resident had nurtured out for themselves in the big city.
She stomped the niggle into the back of her mind. At the end of the day, it would all be the same.
.
.
Nick sat down again. “Do you know how best to break into a convenient building or hit a window so you can go clean through? Know how to barge through a crowd the best way? -Know how to work as a team together to cross an impossible route, or ones you wouldn’t think of, or don’t even know about?” Nick shrugged. “By all means, start her out.” Nick said. “By all means, teach her the fundamentals. But if we want to do this, -I mean really want to do this… -She is going to need an entirely different kind of expert to teach her.”
The room hung quiet for a second before a thump rang out, the chamois walking over, chuckling. “Must say, I’m still a demonstration guy, but I like what he’s saying.”
Nick nodded. “Words get a bad rap these days…”
“-Words by themselves don’t sway me much,” Bogo huffed. “I get your point Wilde, or at least, I get the gist. But, if you’re saying what I think you’re saying, there’s the rather large question of how.”
Nick nodded. “Let’s just say, Judy Hopps will start her education with us. But we’ll need some unconventional mammals to finish it.”
.
.
“Drainpipe, left!”
With a call and a whoop they crested the roof of the Natural History museum, their lungs and legs burning.
“There-there bruv!”
Hoof out and pointing the larger mammals turned, leaping out one after the other to grab the cast iron pipe, shuffling their way down part the way before jumping off, landing in a run down a flying buttress. A leap over some decorative crenolations, another run down a lower support, then it was leaping over low level roofs, chipping their way down before, finally, solid ground was beneath their feet.
And then, it was just a run around Watering Hole plaza, yells of mammals sounding out as they cut in front, honks of horns and the shrill ring of tram bells signalling their race. Jade glanced up above, the small sight of the fliers gliding above getting closer, all as a rap song began playing up ahead.
“Move it! Move it!” Milo yelled as they leapt into the maw of the station entrance, running down the metalwork between the escalators, horns up and out to catch the fliers as they jumped off, cut through, raced up and over the barriers as mammals, ZTA workers, the police yelled out and began following.
It didn’t matter though, another leap over a guard rail, a hard land and roll on a platform, and a sprint as a warning signal rang out. One last stomach curdling, vomit inducing charge and Jade slid through the gap as the doors nipped at her foot toes.
No more grace, just an undignified roll and slide to a stop, slamming against the feet of some mammals; confused, annoyed, smiling in wonder as they clocked it, it didn’t matter.
What did was the cheers and whoops of those of their crew. All had made it, all joining those who’d stayed on the train and taken the long way around.
Jade, heart thumping, spit working its way up her nauseous throat, raised a closed fist and bumped it hard.
They’d done it.
Heck yeah…
.
.
…
A soft knock on the door and the bunny froze.
She’d been idly scanning the news, the media feeds, everything she could, riding off the high and excitement of their exploit, waiting like a spider in a web to see what ripples of it they could feel.
The small student flat, lit up in warm orange and reds, the smoke of incense coming out, the music singing hard, was all cut off by the knock on the door. The red mammal in his police blues. The badge held high.
“I don’t believe I need to explain why you’re in trouble?” he said.
“Can’t a doe just have fun,” Jade huffed, sticking her tongue out.
The fox gave a chuckle, closing the door behind him and Howlowitz as they entered.
“You know,” the wolf sniggered. “Embracing the cover is one thing, becoming the cover is something entirely different.”
“Jealous,” she muttered.
Some more sniggers, Nick looked around. “Might need to save some fur dye. -I think Jade is winning me over.”
Another tongue out, Judy leapt back onto her bed and stretched. “So, what’s the buzz around the Big-P?”
“Oh, let’s just say that this was the coffee point and water cooler topic of choice,” the wolf said.
“-No one clocking me?”
“Not yet,” Nick said, glancing down. “Seems your splash didn’t cause any real damage to the dye… -Still, risky…”
“The makeup mammals said it’d be fine.”
“And did you believe it?”
“Not until I got a gob of cold water on me and nothing ran,” Judy said, shivering. “Besides, it’s a moot point now, isn’t it?” She leant forward giving an edgy little horizontal wave with her paw. “Deeze rooftops are mine. Lit Bruv.”
“And she’s going native,” Nick said.
“You know we have a code for this,” the wolf agreed.
“Code?” the fox gawked. “I’ve seen the asylum for the former cops where the persona has taken over. A tragic end,” he swooned, head up and paw over it. “For a bunnycop of such promise.”
He earned a punch to the gut. “And fox abuse on top,” he said, looking down.
“In all seriousness,” Judy said, stepping off and shedding all personality of the brown bunny she played as. “Even before this run, the instructor was saying I had what it took. -I was keeping up with them, I was learning every one of your street techniques and dirty plays. And,” she said pausing. “-Those mammals are just kits…”
“Twenty five isn’t a kit,” Howlowitz said.
“-I mean… They’re not bad mammals. They’re dumb goofs, but no real harm…” She paused. “Nothing to do with what we’re really after. I got in, I tricked them, I learnt from them.” She took a breath in and out. “Time to move on.”
“Which is why we’re here to arrest you,” Nick said, Judy’s ears perking up. “Hopefully the news that Joanna ‘Jade’ Leaps has been arrested for trespass and criminal damage, and that she is having her student visa revoked and is being deported will be good enough to give them pause for thought.”
“Damn,” Judy muttered. “Lectures were boring, but I was enjoying student life two-point-oh.”
“You knew it was just a cover,” Wolfowitz said.
“I know…” she said, standing up. “Still, gonna be fun seeing this from the other side.” She gave a wiggle. “Give me the full works, no special treatment.”
“Anything for the best bunny cop parkourist in the city,” Nick said, clearing his throat as Wolfowitz brought out some cuffs. “Joanna Leaps… You are hereby under arrest.”
.
.
.
The night was cold, a soft autumn rain had just graced the city. The wind rustled and rooftops were spread out beneath her. Lynxcra tight, Judy surveyed the sight across from her, the towers of one of the University of Zootopia buildings rising high. -After the fuss she’d caused them it felt good to return a favour.
Things had come around in other ways too. Turned out, Jade Leaps hadn’t quite gotten the message that she wasn’t wanted in Zootopia anymore. Sure, her old crew were dumb jocks and mammals in it for the fun, but when working her way into the more criminal elements, references, even if unknowing, were useful.
Getting in, learning plans, getting a scope of where the next hit would be.
Clarity to the many conjectures and theories that had run rabid with all the heists, exploits and other activities taking place as she trained.
Training that was now ready to come into use.
Fixing her night vision goggles tight, making sure her paw-grips were firm, breathing out.
-A short hiss in her ear. ‘Flying Squad has spotted activity moving along rooftops towards the building, it’s them.’
Judy nodded. The first in a chain, dead drops and transfers, safe houses and get away vehicles. Enough to have thrown all attempts to track them before.
‘Going to give you a fly over to get closer, at that point track, hold off, get ready for the right time.’
“Affirmative,” she said, tapping the small dart pistol full of trackers she had. Couriers could be replaced, to get the hydra you had to go for the head.
A flap to the side and a flying fox came down, harness ready. She slipped in and took to the air, the city beneath her.
Bejewelled, the streets thriving, bustling, heaving with animal life. The sounds of traffic from below, music from Sahara Square, the thrum of the climate wall.
And the rooftops?
Black, alone, hers…
She scanned down and saw the unfamiliar outline of three mammals making their way towards the UoZ building, just in time for one of its doors to open, the inside mammal placing a briefcase down. -Medicinal secrets? Cutting edge research? Key business records? All had been leaked out before.
But it ended here.
She swooped down and disconnected, rolling and leaping forward, through the blackness, through the hum of the rooftops at night. Along paths she’s studied and simulated, across streets she and the boys had leapt. Following through crooks and crannies that were unfamiliar to her and over buildings that came and went in seconds.
Hunting her prey, the mammals oblivious, all as they did their job, raced along, before…
“They’re splitting,” came a call from one of the bats silently monitoring.
Judy nodded as she leapt over onto the roof of a lecture theatre, pushing under the mass of huge AC units and air handlers, weaving through the undercroft beneath, water splashing up as she pursued. A glance over, she saw a mammal with a case and followed on, right as they weaved into a narrow gulley between two rooftops.
She leapt over.
On their tail, following as the large mustelid clambered up into a lift head-house, working their way through a rotten timber door.
Judy pushed behind, shimmying up a drainpipe and racing in.
“Tango just came out,” the bat said, only for Judy’s ears to perk as a hatch slammed close.
“Distraction,” she said. “That one called the lift, the briefcase mammal is going down.”
She leapt forward, the roof of the lift there and suddenly plummeting below. Judy let gravity help her play catchup, hugging the lift cable and gritting her teeth as she slid to a halt on its roof.
“This is overwatch, that lift…”
It fizzled out, Judy tapping her earpiece a few times before shaking her head and pulling off her night vision. Paws working under the hatch, she was going to have to time this well. -Either follow out, hoping not to be clocked, or…
-Reaching in, she held the dart gun only to pause, her vision suddenly bathed in light and colour.
.
.
“Is there a code?”
“Huh?”
Nick looked at the bunny, nested up in her covers. The smell of incense hung tight in the room, something he’d never smelt from her before. But now?
Whisps of smoke from the joss stick flowed up, meeting the red tinge of her eyes. “For becoming the cover…” She muttered, pinching the brow of her nose. “-I, it’s stupid, sorry… I…”
Nick didn’t listen, reaching down, tail around her, paw on back. “Miss being Jade?”
Silence.
“It’s silly, I…”
“You not saying yes? Yes, yes it is…”
He earned a punch, she earned a ‘that was Fox abuse’
Light rain with heavy drops rattled the window, the austere warm light glinting off of it.
“I was a naughty bunny,” she said, taking a drink of the spiced carrot and fennel chai from her mug. -Another pick up. “Cheeky, rude, irresponsible. -I didn’t feel guilt, I felt fun.”
“Naughty stuff is fun.”
“I was never naughty as a kit…”
“Oh, come on now, not once?”
She managed a smile. “You know what I mean.” Another sip. “Always working the hardest, always being the stickler for rules, always doing what was right. -Looking down, shaming, not understanding those who didn’t…” A soft sniff. “And then I had a chance to be that. The naughty kit, the slacker, the rut the popo mammal. -All part of the mission, but…” Another sniff, deeper, longer. “I miss it now.”
“You don’t think I miss parts of being a hustler?” Nick asked, leaning down, claw under, bunny chin up. “That I don’t reminisce about hustling and selling and winging a deal when I’m stuck on an e-learning course I swear they got Flash’s cousin to narrate.”
“But… -Well you pull some of that into doing good, don’t you?”
The fox shrugged. “Yeah, and innocent fun as well.”
“So what…”
A pawpad to her lips. “And if I can do it for Hustler Nick, why not you with Jade huh?”
“I…”
He reached close, holding her tight, glancing at her new room decorations. “Must say, love the set up. 100% a Jade thing, though…” He brought out another tea light and lit it. “Might need another half-dozen, Jade it to the max.”
She sniggered.
“There we go!”
A light punch.
“And Fox abuse,” he said gently. “Who said you enjoying being Jade was bad?” He leant in. “Let her inspire you.” A foxy grin grew across his muzzle. “Maybe she can teach you to lighten up a bit. -Get some more from Zootopia. After all, how much has Judy given to this city, huh? - I Think Jade has a point that you can get some back, right?”
Judy didn’t answer, at least not verbally. Instead she held her fox, her chai, her comfort closer. “Thanks. I’ll try.”
.
.
The lift shaft opened up, the caves of the Nocturnal district sown out in front of her, tight knit buildings reaching up and down, narrow streets thronging with mammals and steam, countless neon lights fizzing an assault of colour. The air swam with bats and, as the lift slowed, the noise of this new domain rose up to meet her. Chatter and wingbeats, dripping water, fizzing electricity, endless chatter, the hiss and spatter of food cooking.
With a ping the door opened and her mammal leapt out, weaving through the viscous crowd before making its way up a wire festooned pole, weaving its way through a nest of neon signs, catwalks, tight cave entrances and who knew what else.
Judy braced herself and leapt on.
Training may have been the starter, the surface runs the main course, but, with the taste she’d developed, this was dessert. And, with Jade egging her on, she was going to eat it all up.
