An hour later, the ZPD burst into Lionheart's office.

 

"Mayor Lionheart, you are under arrest for the kidnapping and false imprisonment² of innocent citizens," Judy said as she cuffed³ him.

 

"You don't understand!" shouted Lionheart. "I had to do it!"

 

"You have the right to remain silent," Judy continued.

 

"I did it for the city!" Lionheart exclaimed.

 

Later on, Bogo addressed the press. Behind him were posters of the savage⁴ animals—each one of them sporting a muzzle⁵. "Ladies and gentlemammals," said Bogo. "Fourteen mammals went missing, and all fourteen have been found by our newest recruit, who will speak to you in a moment."

 

"I am so nervous," said Judy as she and Nick stood off to the side.

 

"Okay, Press Conference 101," said Nick. "You wanna look smart, answer their questions with your own rhetorical questions. Then answer that question. Okay like this, ‘Was this a tough case? Yes. Yes, it was.' "

 

"You should be up there with me. We did this together," said Judy.

 

"Well, am I a cop? No. No, I'm not," answered Nick.

 

"Funny you should say that...because I've been thinking. It would be nice to have a partner," said Judy, handing Nick an application to the ZPD. She offered the carrot pen to him. "Here. In case you need something to write with."

 

Bellwether⁶ gestured to Judy to come up to the podium. "Officer Hopps, it's time."

 

Nick looked down at the application, clicked the pen, and began filling it out.

 

As Judy stepped up, Bogo saluted⁷ her. She saluted back, and then the reporters started shouting out her name and asking questions. Judy pointed⁸ to one of them. "What can you tell us about the animals that went savage?" the reporter asked.

 

"Well, the animals in question...Are they all different species? Yes. Yes, they are," said Judy, looking toward Nick.

 

Nick smiled and gave her a thumbs-up.

 

"Okay, what's the connection?" shouted another reporter.

 

"All we know is that they're all members of the predator⁹ family," said Judy.

 

Nick frowned. The press reacted. Again, they yelled questions all at once. Judy was surprised.

 

"So predators¹⁰ are the only ones going savage?" demanded one reporter.

 

"That is accurate," said Judy, hesitating before she spoke¹¹. "Yes."

 

"Why is that happening?" yelled several reporters.

 

"We still don't know—"

 

The crowd rumbled¹² with disappointment.

 

"BUT, but, but...it may have something to do with biology," said Judy, surprised by the escalating¹³ tension in the room.

 

Murmurs¹⁴ rippled¹⁵ across the press and a reporter asked, "What do you mean by that?"

 

"A biological component¹⁶. You know, something in their DNA¹," Judy said.

 

"In their DNA? Can you elaborate on that, please?"

 

"Yes," Judy nodded, as the crowd got louder. "Thousands of years ago...predators survived through their aggressive hunting instincts. For whatever reason, they're reverting¹⁷ back to their savage ways."

 

Her comment caused a big hubbub¹⁸. Nick didn't like what he was hearing. Clawhauser looked up. He was feeling uncomfortable, too.

 

"Officer Hopps, could it happen again?" asked another reporter.

 

"It is possible," said Judy. "We must be vigilant¹⁹. And we at the ZPD are prepared and are here to protect you."

 

The press suddenly went into an absolute frenzy²⁰, asking questions like "What is being done to prevent it?" and "Should all predators be quarantined?"

 

Bellwether stepped up, eager to put an end to the questions. "Uh, thank you, Officer Hopps. Uh, no more questions."

 

"Oh, okay...but...I...didn't—" Before Judy could say another word, Bellwether ushered²¹ her away.

 

Unsure of how she had done, Judy walked across the lobby to Nick. "That went so fast. I didn't get a chance to mention you or say anything about—"

 

"Oh, I think you said plenty," said Nick, interrupting her.

 

"What do you mean?" Judy asked, confused.

 

"Clearly there's a biological component," he said sarcastically²², repeating her words. "These predators may be reverting back to their primitive²³ savage ways." He looked at her incredulously. "Are you serious?"

 

"I just stated the facts of the case," said Judy. "I mean, it's not like a bunny could go savage."

 

"No, but a fox could, huh?"

 

"Stop it, Nick! You're not like them."

 

"There's a them now?"

 

"You know what I mean. You're not that kind of predator."

 

Nick gestured at all the posters. "The kind that needs to be muzzled²⁴? The kind that makes you think you need to carry around fox repellent? Yeah, don't think I didn't notice that little item the first time we met."

 

Nick got angrier and angrier, "So, you scared of me? Think I might go nuts? Go savage? Think I might what...try to eat you?"

 

Nick lunged, like he was going to bite her, and she flinched²⁵. Automatically, she put her hand on the fox repellent.

 

"I knew it. Just when I thought somebody actually believed in me," Nick said calmly. Then he handed her back the application. "Probably best if you don't have a predator as a partner."

 

As he walked away, he took off the sticker badge, crumpled²⁶ it up, and tossed it into the trash.

 

"Nick!" Judy called after him, but he went straight out the door.

 

Judy had broken their friendship, and she didn't know how to fix it.

 

一小时之后，动物城警察局的警员们涌进了狮市长的办公室。

 

“狮市长，你现在以绑架罪和非法拘禁罪被捕。”朱迪说着把他铐了起来。

 

狮市长大喊道：“你不明白!我不得不这样做!”

 

朱迪接着说：“你有权保持沉默!”

 

狮市长呼喊道：“我是为了我们的城市才这样做的!”

 

随后，牛局长召开了新闻发布会。他身后张贴着那些发狂的动物们，每一只都戴着口套。牛局长说：“女士们，先生们。我们市有14只动物失踪，但这14只动物全都被我们的新警员找到，接下来让她来讲讲。”

 

“我好紧张!”朱迪说着，和尼克起身站到一边。

 

尼克说：“好吧，101号新闻发布会，你得表现得机灵点，回答问题的时候要先反问他们，然后再回答他们的问题。比如说‘这个案子是不是很难侦破呢?是的是的!’”

 

朱迪说：“你应该跟我一起到前面去，案子是我们一起破的。”

 

尼克回答道：“嗯，我是警察吗?不，不，我不是。”

 

“你说的这个很有意思……因为我也一直都在想这个问题。我要是有个搭档就好了。”朱迪递给尼克一张动物城警察局的职位申请表，还递给他一支胡萝卜笔：“给，以防你需要填表用的笔。”

 

羊副市长示意朱迪到演讲台上去：“霍普斯警官，该你了哦!”

 

尼克低头看了看申请表，按下笔头开始填起来。

 

朱迪上台时，牛局长向她敬礼，她也回敬了。接着，记者叫着她的名字，开始提问。朱迪指了指其中一个。那个记者问：“你能和我们讲讲那些发狂的动物吗?”

 

“是这样，这些出了问题的动物……他们是不同的物种吗?是的，是的!”朱迪边回答边望向尼克。

 

尼克笑了起来，向她竖起了大拇指。

 

另一个记者大声问道：“那他们之间有什么联系吗?”

 

朱迪答道：“据我们所知，他们都是食肉动物。”

 

尼克皱了皱眉。媒体开始骚动，大家再一次异口同声地要提问。朱迪有点惊讶。

 

一个记者问：“那么，发狂的只有食肉动物吗?”

 

“你说得没错。”朱迪说着，顿了顿又补充了一句：“是的。”

 

几个记者一起问道：“为什么会这样?”

 

“这个我们现在还不清楚——”

 

人群中开始传出不满的声音。

 

“但是——但是，但是……这个可能会跟生物特性有关。”朱迪说着，惊讶于屋内不断升级的紧张气氛。

 

媒体间开始窃窃私语，一个记者问道：“你这话是什么意思?”

 

朱迪说：“就是一种生物成分，在他们的基因里。”

 

“在他们的基因里?能请你详细说说吗?”

 

“好的。”随着人群中的声音越来越大，朱迪点点头说道，“几千年前……食肉动物因为他们的捕猎特性而存活下来，而现在因为某些原因，他们又回到了以前原始的野蛮状态。”

 

她的话立刻引起了人群的骚动。尼克不喜欢他听到的这番话。克劳豪瑟抬起头，他也不太舒服。

 

另一个记者问：“霍普斯警官，那这种事情还会发生吗?”

 

朱迪说：“有可能。我们必须保持警惕，我们动物城警察局也已做好准备，保护大家的安全。”

 

媒体突然陷入大混乱，各种问题不断被问及，比如“你们通过什么措施来保护我们?”“所有的食肉动物都应该被隔离起来吗?”

 

羊副市长赶紧上台，试图终止提问：“呃，好的，谢谢霍普斯警官。提问到此结束。”

 

“哦，好吧……但是……我还——”还没等朱迪说完，羊副市长已经将她领了下去。

 

朱迪不确定自己表现得怎么样，便穿过大厅走向尼克：“整个过程太快了，我都没逮着机会提到你，还有——”

 

尼克打断她说：“哦，我觉得你已经说了很多了。”

 

朱迪不解地问道：“什么意思?”

 

“很明显是一种生物成分。这些食肉动物有可能回到原始的野蛮状态。”他重复着朱迪的话，其中不无讽刺意味。他疑惑地看着她问道：“你是认真的吗?”

 

朱迪说：“我说的只是事实。我的意思是，就像兔子不会发狂一样。”

 

“兔子当然不会，但狐狸就会了，对吧?”

 

“不要说了，尼克!你跟他们不一样!”

 

“现在已经有‘他们’这一说了?”

 

“你知道我的意思。你不是那种食肉动物。”

 

尼克指着墙上所有的海报说：“是那种需要戴上口套的食肉动物吗?是那种你觉得你需要随身带上驱狐剂的食肉动物吗?你别以为我们第一次见面时我没看到那个小东西。”

 

尼克越说越生气：“你害怕我对吗?觉得我会发疯?会发狂?觉得我会……吃了你?”

 

尼克猛地冲过来，像是要咬她的样子。她畏缩了一下，手不自觉地放在了驱狐剂上。

 

“我就知道。我本以为有人会真的相信我。”尼克平静地说着。接着，他把申请表还给了朱迪：“你最好还是不要找一个食肉动物当搭档了吧。”

 

他离开时，把身上的徽章摘了下来，捏碎扔进了垃圾堆。

 

“尼克!”朱迪在后面叫他，但他头也不回地往门外走去。

 

朱迪搞砸了他们的友情，她不知该如何挽回。

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