This is the first chapter of this series, so if you like it, please hit that favorite button so I know if you are into it or not. In the mean time, read on! :)
It was two past twelve when Judy heard the explosion from her apartment.
Her ears pricked up in shock and alarm as the ringing in her ears from the explosion lessened a bit. She threw the covers off of her body and looked out the window and vaguely saw a pillar of black smoke about fifteen blocks away.
She rushed to her phone a couple feet away on her desk, picking it up she quickly swiped the screen and dialed Nick's phone number onto the keypad of her carrot phone. She expected it to ring three or four times before he picked up but after the first ring Nick picked up.
"I'm already up to speed Carrots" Nick said before Judy opened her mouth to speak.
"Nick I need you to get to the ZPD as fast as you can" Judy said quickly as she turned on the lamp on her desk.
"I'm already on my way there" Nick said.
"I'll meet you there then, see you soon" Judy said and hung up the phone. Judy quickly got dressed into her police uniform and thought that it was weird that Nick was already on his way there because she was usually the first one to arrive at the ZPD or crime scene and had to get Nick caught up to speed on the emergency.
She placed the phone in one of the pockets on her belt and grabbed her keys and rushed towards the door to leave but stopped.
"Does Nick know something I don't" she wondered to herself.
She argued with herself for a couple of seconds then she shook her head slightly and said to herself "If Nick knew something important he would tell me". She rushed out the door to the first floor and took the stairs because the elevator was undergoing maintenance.
She hopped down three stairs at a time tripping a few times and almost falling several times. On the last flight of stairs she slid down the railing and jumped off at the end of the railing. She quickly remembered to let her ears fall down to her back so they didn't hit the ceiling, again.
She sprinted out the door and pricked her ears up as she felt the brisk and chilly air of Sahara Square in two in the morning graze through her fur and a chill ran down her spine. She thought to herself "It's really chilly this morning" then she patted down her fur on her head with her paw and ran to the police vehicle that Chief Bogo allowed her to use for transportation to and from the ZPD and to crime scenes if she was close enough the the emergency.
She got in the vehicle and turned the key into the ignition until the car started and speed off down the street. Turning on the sirens and lights just in case there were any cars on the road this early in the morning. She almost drove to the direction of Nick's house out of habit because she usually picked him up to go to work because Chief Bogo didn't clear him to use police property by himself.
Nick's theory was that the Chief didn't really like him, but he and Judy both knew it was his constant wisecracks that got under the Chiefs fur.
Judy said out loud to herself "Nick's jokes weren't that bad except when they where about me, although they are kind've charming from time to time", Judy said as she speed through multiple intersections, she wasn't going to tell Nick that though.
A couple minutes later her phone chimed in her pocket, she slowed down and quickly grabbed it out of her pocket and read the text.
The text read "Carrots I'm at the ZPD, where r u?".
Judy driving sixty miles per hour with one arm and the other holding the phone responded by clicking the audio recording message button and said, "Ok, go inside and ask Clawhauser all the details you can about the explosion, I'm about three minutes out I'll meet you there". Judy put the phone back into her pocket and sped off down the road.
Nick went inside the ZPD building and listened the audio message Judy sent him. He smiled as he heard her say she was only three minutes away. Nick locked the screen on his phone and placed it in his pocket on his belt on his police uniform and jogged over to Clawhauser.
"How are those donuts tasting Clawhauser?" Nick said smugly.
"There really good, but I'm assuming you're not here this early just to ask me about how my donuts are tasting"? Clawhauser said curiously.
"You're right I'm not, Judy wanted me to find out as much information as I could on the explosion in Sahara Square" Nick said.
"I was just going to mention that actually, where is Judy by the way" Clawhauser asked questionably.
"First off, that's good that you know about the explosion because that would've made it harder to get information on it and second, Judy just
texted me that she was three minutes out from the ZPD" Nick said with a smirk.
"OK then, let me see what I can find out on that explosion" Clawhauser said to Nick.
Nick sighed and turned around and walked to one of the vending machines and put a dollar in the machine. As he put the dollar into the machine with his right paw he smoothed his fox ears back down with his other paw.
The dollar Nick put in got rejected and Nick quietly growled under his breath. Nick grabbed the dollar back out of the machine and smoothed it against the corner of the machine and put it back in.
But it gets rejected again and this time he growled out loud and forcefully grabbed the dollar and accidentally stretched it too far and it ripped in half.
Nick howled in frustration as held the two halves of the dollar in his hands.
"That was real slick, Nick" someone said behind him.
Nick turned around and saw Judy standing there staring at the two halves of the dollar wearing Nick's trademark smirk. "Ya I know right, I already asked Clawhauser to find more information on the explosion earlier this morning" Nick said.
"How come you were already on your way this morning when I called you about the explosion?" Judy asked with curiosity.
Nick replied "The reason why I was already heading to the ZPD before you is because, I was going somewhere I haven't gone to in a long time". Nick lied to her and then said "I was going to call you and tell you where I was going but you called me instead and that's when I heard the explosion".
"Well then where were you going" Judy asked.
"It's kind've complicated" Nick said.
"If it's personal you don't have to tell me if you don't want to but, if you need an extra dollar I have one right here"Judy said as she began to reach into one of the pockets on her belt and started to pull out a dollar bill.
But then Nick said "Thanks anyway but I'm not really that hungry anyway I was just waiting for you to get here".
Judy was going to speak but Clawhauser interrupted by yelling "Hey Judy there you are, I found some info on that explosion you wanted" Clawhauser then turned his tablet to them showing a news report of the scene.
The news reporter Peter Moosebridge said "I'm here live at the scene where an abandon warehouse suddenly exploded, luckily no one was killed in the explosion but there are to minor injures. "The police are searching the rubble of the building for any clues of how this happened". "All the police know at this point is that the warehouse was abandon and that there was nothing inside of it so this definitely wasn't an accident, we will keep you updated every hour with new information".
Clawhauser closed out of the feed as it cut to a commercial about Furkes. "If I knew it was this bad I would of went there first" Judy said regrettably. Judy wiped a single tear away on her cheek with the back of her paw.
"I just can't believe someone would do that" Judy said.
"Well, I can don't you remember that whole Mayor Bellwether fiasco we had six months ago" Nick said.
Judy did remember that, that was when Judy first joined the police force and in the process met Nick and within forty-eight hours he became her friend and partner in both work and normal life.
"I know that building" Nick said as he straightened up from his slouched stance.
"You do?" Judy asked.
"Again, It's complicated with me" Nick said his tail and ears lowered slightly as he said it, just enough for Judy to notice.
"Nick, what's wrong?" Judy asked, her voice sounded concerned.
"Nothing, I'm fine Carrots" Nick said. Nick turned around and saw Clawhauser eating two donuts at once. "Boy, I wonder how many donuts Clawhauser has eaten this week" Nick said trying to change the subject.
Judy thought to herself this is what he did last time he expressed his feelings, he thinks he can just scoot by and act like it never happened, but not this time.
"Nick, your not fine your ears are droopy" Judy said copying her mom from when she said that to her.
"Hey, that's your tell not mine, just because my ears droop doesn't mean I'm hiding something" Nick blurted.
"Only sometimes it's your tell too, your tail drooped this time" Judy said glaring at him with Nick's trademark smirk on her muzzle.
Nick growled in frustration under his breath knowing she had cornered him.
Nick sighed and said "Alright Judy you got me, I guess I can't hide the truth from you forever". With a hint of a smirk Nick added "Sly bunny".
Judy thought to herself "Nick only calls me Judy when he's really concerned about me or something is REALLY
bothering him".
Knowing that Judy had him cornered Nick rubbed both of his emerald eyes with his paws. He then said "A long time ago, I made a deal with a very bad crime boss-".
Judy interrupted him and asked "Mr. Big, right". Nick gave her an annoyed look that meant, hey interrupting people in the middle of their sentences is my thing. Then Nick continued and said "No, not Mr. Big, someone worse, way worse-".
Judy interrupted him again and asked "So what's his name".
Nick said "Okay, can you stop trying to outfox me, it's really annoying and I'm supposed to be the fox with the flair, not bunny with the flair, that's garbage". "Well now you know how I feel all the time" Judy snapped back.
Realizing Judy was right and that he was getting off topic he smoothed out the fur on his muzzle and said "He's called the Fox Freak" as Nick said his name he felt a chill run down his spine and through his fur.
"Well, what did you do to make the Fox Freak so mad at you" Judy asked knowing she had already asked that question but for a different person, knowing that the answer wasn't going to be good.
"We met once to make a deal because I needed money for a project I was working on" Nick said.
Judy waited until Nick was done talking because she knew this was serious and asked "What was the project you working on".
"I was going to call it Wilde Times, it was supposed to be an amusement park for predators with rides and merchandise, and that warehouse
was supposed to be the location" Nick said as he gestured to the picture of the demolished warehouse.
"What does an amusement park have to do with this Fox Freak" Judy asked.
"I needed money to pay for the building and all of the materials so I made a deal with him to get the money" Nick paused and took a deep breath and said "Judy just so you know I'm not proud of what I'm about to tell you".
Judy's nose twitched in anticipation and her ears ready and alert to what Nick had to say.
"He said that he would get me the money, if I helped him with something he needed to do" Nick said his voice trembling.
"What did he need you to do" Judy asked, expecting the worst.
"He needed my help breaking into a bank" Nick said lowering his voice so Clawhauser didn't overhear him. Judy's ears twitched and her eyes widened as she processed the sentence. It felt like a knife to the stomach.
"Nick, you didn't, you couldn't of" Judy said completely stunned her ears slightly turning red and her eyes glossy.
"I know that now that I'm a cop and I'm responsible for what I did" Nick said.
"He told me to be the getaway driver, so long story short, he broke into the bank and I waited outside in the car for him to get the money" Nick said.
Judy slowly took a step back from Nick and said "Nick, I thought I knew you, I thought that deep down you were a good predator". But I guess I was wrong about you" Judy said with tears running down her cheeks and her lip quivering.
"No Judy please wait, please let me finish" Nick said, hoping she would listen to him.
"No Nick, you let ME finish, I knew that you were a lowlife, a cowering scam-artist but I didn't think you would go that far just for a stupid amusement park" Judy yelled, echoing throughout the entire station.
"I thought that you changed that you were a good fox" Judy paused and lowered her voice.
"I thought you were my friend, I thought I actually liked you more than a friend, but I guess not anymore because if I can't trust your past than I will NEVER
be able to trust you in the field, especially if I get hurt or worse" Judy said, crying and her voice sounded like someone crunching broken glass to
Nick's ears.
"Nicholas Wilde, were DONE!" Judy yelled at Nick with tears streaming down her face not even bothering to wipe them away.
Nick interrupted and yelled at the top of his lungs stepping right up to Judy's face yelling "Judy, I didn't steal the money".
"Wha-, what" Judy replied, her voice still harsh from before, but more concerned.
"I didn't steal the money Judy, when I was in the car waiting for the Fox Freak to come out I argued with myself on whether this was right right or not and I told myself this was wrong so by the time the alarm rang and the Fox Freak came out with the money I was long gone, and I'm he escaped temporarily because about two hours later he called me and said "If you think you can pull a stunt like that and get away with it, you are sadly mistaken Nickolas". This isn't over Nickolas, I WILL find you and when I do you are going to PAY".
"Then I heard sirens and loud noises over the phone and then I heard the police find him and the call ended" Nick said. "Last I heard he was shipped out to prison somewhere in Deerbrook County" Nick said.