Zootopia
Earth-45

It's been a few months after the whole Night Howler incident and things have been running smoothly. Until now a building was on fire and people were in trouble.

"You okay in there Carrots?" said Nick Wilde over the radio inside his oxygen mask.

"For the moment," replied his partner, Judy Hopps.

"But this fire is getting out of control fast; we need to get these mammals out of here now!"

The fox glanced up at the burning building, smoke had already been billowing from the windows when they heard the dispatch, but now, tongues of fire were starting to erupt from within, despite the best effort of Zootopias Fire department. This was supposed to be a slow day for him and his partner,
ever since the pair had cracked the Night Howlers case and he had graduated the Police Academy, the two officers had proven themselves in the field time and again. However, in recent weeks the stress had been telling, so they had been relieved when Chief Bogo assigned them a routine patrol of Sahara Square.

Neither of them had been expecting that their patrol would turn into a rescue mission. They had only been out for a few hours when dispatch reported a fire from an apartment building, the pair had responded immediately and now Judy was inside the raging inferno trying to evacuate as many of
the panicked residents as she could, while Nick remained at the front door to help guide them outside. As he directed a pair of coughing cheetahs through the door towards the police cordon, he saw Judy come running towards him with a bundle wrapped in her arms.

"That everyone?" he asked.

"No," she replied. "We've still got mammals stuck on the roof and there's a kit trapped on the fifth floor. I'm going back for him."

"Are you nuts Carrots?!" he exclaimed. "You said it
yourself that this fire is getting out of control!"

"I can't just leave a child there to burn Nick!" she replied, thrusting the bundle into her partners arms.

"Get clear and stay back, have the Fire Department direct water to the upper floors, which should buy me some time!"

Before the fox could protest, Judy was sprinting towards the apartment's staircase, her athletic legs allowing her to leap up the stairs in quick succession.

Seeing that the bundle he held was a Cheetah kitten, and with the smoke getting thicker and thicker, Nick Wilde had no choice but to fall back to the police cordon, handing the kitten off to its parents before turning to face the towering inferno. The fire had nearly claimed all the building now, dense black smoke was billowing into the sky and Nick could clearly see the flames burning away the walls. He looked over to where the Fire Department had set up their engines, high powered hoses spraying gallons of water onto what was becoming a lost cause.

He jogged over to the fire chief, a burly elephant who was spraying water onto the blaze from his trunk.

"Officer Wilde, I'm going to have to ask you to remain back here, it's too dangerous for any mammal to be near it anymore." He said.

"Listen, my partners still in there rescuing a kit from the fifth floor. I need you to try and keep it under control until then, please." Nick said.

"We'll do our best," he replied. "But it might not be
enough."

The heat was overbearing, the smoke suffocating, but Officer Judy Hopps had a job to do. Leaping her way to the fifth floor had been easy; however
the stairs had collapsed shortly after she landed, meaning she would need another way out. Keeping as low as possible, ZPD's first rabbit officer quickly made her way under the smoke and along the row of apartments to the door at end of the hall.

"Hello?!" she cried, banging her paw on the wood.

"I'm with the police; I'm here to get you out!" Judy cried out.

When no one answered, she pressed one of her sensitive ears to the surface, and managed to pick up muffled sobbing from the other side. Taking a short run up, she kicked in the door. She barely had time to take in the small apartment, as she zeroed in on the sobbing that was emanating from a closet
near the back of the living room. Quickly moving across the room, she threw back the doors to reveal a small fox cub cowering among a layer of clothes.

"Hey there," she said gently, as the terrified cub tried to scrabble back from her.

"Easy, I'm here to get you out of here, see," she showed the cub her badge, and a split second later he threw himself into her arms.

"There there," she cooed. "Let's get out of here."

The cub's size relative to her meant that he was just under the rabbit's height, so she had to take it slower than she would have liked, with no staircase back down, she had little choice but to try and get them above the flames.

"Nick, do you copy?" Judy said.

"Glad to hear your voice Carrots," he replied through the radio static. "What's the situation?"

"I've got the kit, but the stairs have collapsed, I'm going to try and make it to the fire escape on the other side of the building.

"That's not going to happen, the fire has nearly engulfed that whole area, can you make it to the roof?" Nick said.

"I think so, the stairs going up look intact from-"

She was cut off as an explosion rocked the building; the fire had breached the gas line. Looking forwards, she saw a fireball racing towards her and the helpless kit; instinctively she threw her body across him as a shield, and then there was a flash.

Outside Nick Wilde saw the explosion erupt like a volcano from the side of the fifth floor.

"JUDY!" he screamed in despair.

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

Far across the metropolis of Zootopia, something
happened.  A wolf was enjoying his drink when suddenly the liquid started to float. Any mammal that got the briefest of glimpses would have seen a swirling vortex open right in the middle of a busy highway before a bolt of yellow lightning shot out at breakneck speed, the vortex closing behind it. The bolt rocketed down the road, sending papers, plants and even rodent vehicles spiralling through the air in its wake. No creature got more than a fleeting glance as it expertly ran over cars, around corners and in-between mammals. It covered the entire city in the blink of an eye, speeding down streets, roads and even over buildings before it changed direction and headed straight towards Sahara Squares raging inferno.

Instead of burning pain, Judy Hopps instead experienced what could best be described as a 'whoosh' of air. Tentatively opening her eyes, she saw that she was no longer inside the burning building. She was instead standing safely behind the police cordon, where her partner was screaming her name.

"JUDY!" Nick screamed.

"Nick?" she replied, disorientated.

The fox spun round at the sound of her voice, he stared at her for a split second before scooping her into a relieved embrace.

"Don't ever do that to me again," he replied,
struggling to keep himself together. "I thought you were dead."

"I.. thought I was." she replied. "What happened? How did I get out here?"

They were interrupted by another bust of air and suddenly a bewildered fox couple were standing next to them.

"Daddy!" cried the kit as he ran straight into the arms of his father.

"What's going on?" said Judy, as another two mammals, this time a koala and a dog, appeared alongside them.

"I don't know, but you might want to look at this," said Nick.
Judy returned her attention to the apartment block, and saw that yellow lighting was shooting in and out, bringing more and more of the stranded mammals with it every time it returned to where she stood. It ran through doors, windows and even up the sides of the building to the roof, always returning with another mammal or two. After the roof was clear, the lighting sped back inside, and through the smoke, they could see it flitting between different rooms, like it was checking to make sure every
creature had got out. It then returned to the building's exterior and began running in circles around it, getting faster and faster.

"What's it doing?" said Nick.

"I think it's...trying to create a vacuum," replied Judy.

"It wants to starve the oxygen that's feeding the fire." She said.

Every mammal present felt the wind pick up as the lighting continued to move, causing a funnel of air to form around the building. The flames inside became weaker and weaker as all the oxygen was sucked away, until the fire went out like a candle. Every creature present was stunned, but the day had one last surprise to throw at them. The lighting stopped right in front of Judy and Nick, and they finally got a good look at what, or rather whom, had just saved so many lives. The creature stood about as tall as a wolf, and wore a bright red suit that covered most of its face, but left the eyes and mouth exposed with two gold boots. A gold and white insignia with a gold lightning bolt was emblazoned on its chest, gold belt, and Nick could see two small fins on the side of its head. It didn't resemble anything Nick or Judy had ever seen in Zootopia before. It stood for a moment, smiling at the crowd of mammals that stared back in awe, before approaching the two officers.

"Is everyone alright?" it said.

Judy hadn't expected the thing to speak and found herself at a loss; thankfully Nick managed to find his tongue.

"Yes, thank you," he replied. "That could have been a lot worse.

"No problem," it replied, that smile reappearing on its face to reveal set of white teeth that were similar to a prey animal, but Judy was certain she saw a set of canines in amongst them. It got up and took another look at the crowd.

"Animals," it said, and she was sure it sounded amused.

"Animals... I love this Earth." It said.

It stepped back from the pair and took a runners stance.

"Wait!"

It stopped and turned to look at Judy.

"Thank you for saving me," she said. "But, who are you?"

"Me?" it replied, grinning. "T'm The Flash."

Then it disappeared in another burst of yellow lightning, leaving the two ZPD officers, and a large group of mammals, to wonder what had just happened