Heroes & Villains

Heroes & Villains

I've been in this town so long that back in the city

I've been taken for lost and gone

And unknown for a long long time

-The Beach Boys, “Heroes & Villains”

Chapter 1: Hannah

It was a balmy afternoon in Orlando, Florida. That’s when WildeHopps were spotted walking through the Disney Parks paw-in paw. “I love you, Nick.” Judy spoke softly and smiled. Giving her paw a gentle squeeze, he answered aloud without thinking twice.

“I love you more.” That may sound cloying, especially coming from Nick Wilde, but not if you factor in the fact that these guys are crazy competitive.

“I love you more than more,” Judy simpered. Her violet eyes sparkled with laughter and challenge.

“I love you most,” Nick declared. Judy drew up her free paw to flaunt her trusty carrot pen, the one that she carried around—even while off-duty—as a good like charm. It had, after all, helped her tame her tod.

“I’m gonna need that on record,” the rabbit said. She attempted to call forth her cop mode, but failed miserably because she wanted to laugh. “Could you repeat that, please?” She was poised now, pen at the ready. Realizing the stakes had been set, Nick spoke smoothly.

‘What I said was, ‘I love you the most-est.” Suspecting she’d been hustled, his honey rolled her eyes.

“I’ll take it, but...” She shook her head and snickered. “Dumb fox.” She replayed the recording, and they both laughed.

A stone’s throw away, obscured by the crowds, was Mr. Smee, relishing his rations while sitting on a bench. His ears had perked up at the noise made by that mechanical marvel, and he caught sight of the carrot just as WildeHopps rounded a corner. They’d disappeared—but not for long.

“I’ve got to find the Cap’n!” said Smee, knowing his commander would want to see such splendor for himself.

Chapter 2: Nick

I’m moseying down Main Street with Carrots, the bright colors and sunlight muted by my awesome shades. Fluff, though, loses no sparkle as I watch her from behind the lenses. Even though we’re working a shift with Mickey—which we do on the regular—she’s still taking everything in, soaking up the sights, as psyched to be here now as she was on day one. Wow…!

The tint of my lenses lulls me into a pipe dream. I imagine we’re in some old-fashioned movie—maybe like Mickey and Minnie did back in the day—and I have to save Judy from some thug who’s tied her to the railroad tracks.

But, who am I kidding?! That would never happen. Back in the city, I’m with her around-the- clock, and—let me tell you—the bunny kicks butt. You probably already know that, but what you don’t know is that I’ll bet you she could do it alone. She’s that tough.

Still--hear me out here—that doesn’t stop me from wondering what it would be like to be Judy’s hero. Not the sleazy fox who needs to be saved, or even the savior of an entire city...but her hero.

That thought puts me on top of the world. But just as I tip my shades up to look at Judy, I see a shadow cross in front of us. I can just make out the crest of a feather and—I swallow hard—the razor-sharp tip of that unmistakable...Hook.

“Surrender the quill pen, Wilde,” he sneered. Quill pen?! Huh?!

“Look, Hook, I don’t...” Just then I see Smee run up behind the ol’ codfish, panting for breath.

“We—have--the quill pens, Cap’n. It’s a—c-c-carrot pen.” Hook shot a menacing look at his first mate.

“Why didn’t you say something, Smee, before I made a blasted fool of myself?!” Meanwhile, it was obvious to anyone but Hook himself that Smee had been left in the dust. (That happens a lot, apparently.) So rather than ‘rock the boat’ (a little pirate humor there), he just said,

“S-sorry, Cap’n.”

“Now, where was I? Ah, yes, the carrot pen. You see, I knew it was some sort of mineral, or vegetable..” He waved his hook around thoughtfully before pointing it right at me. “Where is it, Wilde?!” I needed to keep talking.

“Well, that doesn’t really matter, because said pen is a valuable piece of police equipment, and I’m an officer of the law.” The hook dug into my chin just a pinch.

“If you’re an officer,” he growled, “where’s your finery, then?”

“As you can see, I’m not on the beat right now, so I’m not wearing it.” Bingo. Never let them see that they get to you.

Chapter 3: Hannah

Whoa! Nick and Judy needed help—and fast! Luckily, that’s what I am. (With my chair, at least; otherwise I’m a little slow.)

But then I realized, ‘this is WildeHopps we’re talking about! They deal with bad guys every day!’ I figured they’d hustle their way out of danger in no time. They might even be insulted if I tried to insert myself as back-up. Besides, how many mammals can say they’ve watched WildeHopps, ace cops, in action up close?

Chapter 4: Nick

“But I am.” Judy stepped forward. I could feel my heart in my throat, right in the spot where Hook was about to impale me. He looked at her and laughed.

“Well, well, well...But we’re not in Zootopia anymore, are we, Judith?”

The second I saw the fire go out of Judy’s eyes, I got the sickening feeling that we were sunk. Around here, nobody would realize we were in trouble, because the villains are usually just bluffing...except when they aren’t, I guess, and it looked like me and Carrots were about to find out the hard way.

“It’s me you want,” Judy spoke defiantly. “I have the pen.” She held it up, and all I could think was that she looked like a queen with her scepter in paw.

Meanwhile, I didn’t dare move a muscle; I was sure that if I did, I’d be mincemeat. It was weird to be standing in an open space and still feel trapped—this was way worse than what happened with Bellwether. At least then we were able to figure out a plan, and we could’ve ducked for cover if we had to. Here, we’d been ambushed and held hostage.

I would’ve been humiliated if I wasn’t also feeling guilty as heck for not being able to protect Judy...oh, and scared for my life, too.

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I see the sun bounce off something shiny. I glance at Judy and see her face light up. Less than a minute later, she leaps to catch something, then lands on her feet again. Hook was still staring me down, and Smee was, well...

“Don’t just stand there, you idiot! Find out what Hopps is mucking about with! Go on!”

“Y-yes, Cap’n.”

“I’d do it myself, but I must make certain that Wilde here won’t run off,” he mocked. The way he said my name gave me the creeps.

“Hey, Smee, go—fetch!” Judy tossed a balled up piece of paper as far as she could—that’s quite a ways, folks—and Smee went scurrying after it. I wanted to know what the heck was on that paper and why, after reading it, Judy looked like she could jump for joy. I’d find out soon enough; Carrots would show me. I trust her with my life.

“Hey, Nick, it’s a scorcher out here today.” Carrots spoke casually, cool as a cucumber. “Don’t you want to cool off with your bandanna?” Oh! Riiiight. Good one, Carrots. Cautiously, I reached into my pocket, my paw closing around my bandanna—with my very own carrot pen hidden inside.

Judy got it for me as a gag gift, but—don’t tell her—I almost got choked up, because it meant that pen could never come between us again. I pulled out the bunched-up bandanna and swiped it across my forehead, all the while concealing said pen—and my thumb pressing ‘record’. There was no need for pretend perspiration; I was sweating bullets, not so much from the sun, but because...

Speaking of gagging and choking...“Foolish fox,” Hook taunted. “Masquerading as a pirate won’t do you any good. I know you’d never betray your precious city, which is why I’ll just have to dispose of you…!” His menacing words trailed off into a laugh; I cringed, feeling the hook graze my neck.

Judy laughed, too, and just as I thought one or both of us were going insane, she said, “You’re in a world of trouble, Lory Birdton!” Hook jerked his metal hand away from me and pointed it at Judy.

“YOU! Who revealed that vile moniker to you?!” he bellowed. “Parrots are but the lowly servants of pirates! Do I look like a parrot to you?!” While he was busy ranting, I dove out of the way, jogged to Judy, and from there we both took off running for our lives.

“A cop always protects her witnesses!” Carrots called over her shoulder.

“And ‘no comment,’ I added with a smirk.

Animals are always faster than humans (except sloths, heh), and soon Hook was out of sight. “That was epic, Carrots!” I gave her a high-paw. “How’d you know what to do?!” She grinned at me, paws on hips.

“You mean, besides the fact that I’m an awesome cop?” I smirked back.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Besides that.”

“It was in the note.”

“Where’d that come from, anyway?”

“I’m pretty sure it was...Uh-oh.” We both turned in time to see Hook, only a few feet away and catching up fast. We took off again, but this time we only made it a few paces before a noise echoed through the loudspeakers:

TICK, TOCK. TICK, TOCK.

Hook stopped running, went white as a sheet, reeled around and ran the other way. “Help! Smeeeee...!”

Chapter 5: Hannah

I was hanging out near some of those really cool topiaries when I saw WildeHopps walk by. “Hey, guys!”

“Lil’ snowshoe!” Usually when Nick sees me, he’ll give me a quick hug and say something snarky. But that day, his eyes lit up, and he gave me the biggest hug! I love hugs, but that one caught me off-guard (although...since I used to have a crush on him, I wasn’t complaining. Did I mention that it’s so sweet that he gave me a nickname?). Once he pulled back, he seemed more like his old self. “What brings you here?”

“I’m on vacation! Didn’t you notice I wasn’t at the bakery?!”

“We’ve had rotten shifts lately,” Nick said, then smirked. “We figured you were just slacking off.” Judy nudged him in the ribs.

“I noticed you were gone, Hannah,” she said. “...And missed you.”

“Awww!” I gave her a hug. Nick hung back for a minute, and then he joined right in.

“Ugh, you should’ve seen what happened to us, ‘lil snowshoe! I was almost a fox-kebab!” Judy and I were laughing our tails off. One, because of Nick’s dramatics (he’ll exploit anyone—even himself—to get attention), and two, because…

“I know, Nick; I wrote the note!”

“You what now?!” He was totally shocked. At his reaction, Judy giggled some more, and then asked,

“Seriously, though—how’d you know that?!”

“I have my ways,” I smirked. “And guess what else I have? A fancy new watch!” I held up my wrist so they could see; the look on Judy’s face was priceless.

“Nick, look! It has us on it!” His eyes went wide.

“Whoa, nice swag.” He paused, and a lightbulb went off in his head. “Say, ‘lil snowshoe, did you hold that watch up to the speakers?”

“Yes, I did,” I told him proudly, sounding like a leveret in the process.

“Well,” he scoffed, feigning disinterest, “Everyone knows the ol’ codfish freaks out over the croc, but how did you know that he…?”

“Leave Hannah alone. You weren’t so bored with the tried-and-true trick when she saved your tail!” Judy teased.

“You’re something, ‘lil snowshoe,” he said, smiling.

I smiled back. “I’ll be here all week...Literally.”

“Well, Carrots, we’d better get going before Mickey thinks we’re slacking off.” I waved to them and said,

“Have fun, guys. I’ll see you when I get back.”

“Have a good one, ‘lil snowshoe, and stay outta trouble.”

“You should talk!” I retorted, sticking my tongue out at Nick. He laughed, and then he and Judy left, headed who-knows-where to their next adventure. I have good ears, so as they walked away, I heard:

“You know I got those pens at the dollar store, right?”

“Wait...what?!” Poor Nick was floored; I would’ve laughed, but I didn’t want them to know I was listening. “Crimini...” he sighed. “Carrots, listen—the pen doesn’t matter. It’s you that matters...Always has been, always will be.”

“Nick…!” I could hear the smile and happy tears in her voice. “You’re a hero. Whether we’re in Zootopia, here, or anywhere else, you’re my hero. Always have been always will be.” They were quiet for a moment. Then came Judy’s, “Mostly!” I was surprised to see Nick punch her in the arm.

“Hey—once a hustler, always a hustler. But...sly bunny.”

“Dumb fox.” And so…

They lived happily ever after. (What else did you expect?!)