It would only be so long until I jumped on the Zootopia fanfic bandwagon. This is my first, so let me know what's good and what's bad. Don't hesitate to point out grammar issues or plot holes, I'd like to know so I could try and fix it. Anyways, enjoy!
Nothing could compare to the anguish I was feeling. The one time somebody thinks I can be something more than a fox, more than a shifty con-artist, they went and did...this.
"Just when I thought somebody actually believed in me, huh?" I pulled out the slip of paper and handed it to the bunny that caused all of this. "Probably best if you don't have a predator as a partner."
I made my way past the barrage of news reporters and tore off the police badge sticker from my shirt, ignoring the protests of the rabbit behind me.
What a fucking waste of two days. How could she do something like that to me? To think that I was willing to be her partner, to trust her with my life…
After a twenty minute walk to my filthy ditch under a bridge (or home, as I like to call it) I whipped out some shades and settled down on my foldable lawn chair.
It was a cloudy day in Zootopia, not raining yet but a storm was definitely brewing. Aside from the unfortunate occurrences at the press conference, everything was normal. I shivered at the thought of what just happened. Simply being reminded of it filled me with pure disgust.
It was around noon, so morning rush hour has long since passed. Besides the occasional passing of a car, chirping of a bird, or rustle of the wind, everything was relatively silent.
Seeing as the entire 'police investigation' fiasco was over I could finally drift back into my usual daily habits; sleep during the day, hang out at night, and pull off cons in the morning. Rinse, wash, repeat. And now was the perfect time to get some rest.
With an exasperated exhale I hoisted myself out of my sedentary position and dragged my feet over to my makeshift bed. A sleeping bag on top of an egg foam mattress cemented itself on the grainy dirt underneath, the mattress coming from a particularly funny con involving a laughably gullible pig and a phony health inspection card. Reminding myself of the experience gave me a short-lived chuckle.
I curled up on the bed, at last giving my aching body a break.
Jeez, these past two day have been the most exercise I've gotten in years! I really am a scrawny sack of shit…
My self-deprecating thoughts lulled me off to sleep.
The next few days I had an especially low amount of motivation. Considering I have enough spare food stashed away with me to last a week (I always take precautions in the chance of a con gone wrong), I figured it wouldn't hurt to skip a few days of work. I use the term 'work' very lightly.
Nothing could really cheer me up from what had happened. I was completely drained, all because of...her. Judy Hopps. She dragged me into this stupid Night Howler case so she could finally be respected as a cop, and then threw me away once she got what she wanted. She used me. The part that made it hurt most was that her confidence in me almost seemed genuine.
It couldn't have been though. She had forty-eight fucking hours to dump that fox spray but she didn't. She sees me as a worthless fox, just like everyone else. She-
The ring of my phone interrupted my mental rant. I blinked a few times and shook my head to get my bearings back in order when I realized I was clenching my paws so hard that it started to draw blood. I crouched next to my bed to find a Hawaiian shirt I wasn't specifically fond of, quickly wiped off the newly opened wounds, and accepted the call without even checking the ID.
"WILDE!"
I drew the phone away from my ear as fast as I had placed it there; the deep, unnaturally loud voice catching me off guard.
Well this'll be a fun conversation…
"Finnick! Buddy! How's my favorite fennec friend?" I answered, replacing my sour mood with my usual smug tone.
"CUT THE SHIT WILDE! I AIN'T BEEN MAKING CASH FOR FIVE FUCKING DAYS SINCE YOU BEEN WORKING WITH THE FUZZ! WHERE THE HELL YOU AT?"
"Well good morning to you too, sunshine! Did the lack of my presence really make my baby boy that upset?"
"GET YOUR ASS TO MY VAN RIGHT NOW! I HAVEN'T CONNED SINCE YOU LEFT AND I'M RUNNING LOW ON GAS MONEY!"
I let out a pained sigh. Conning was the last thing I wanted to do at the moment, but that little furball would beat my skull in with a baseball bat if I didn't show up. I quickly weighed my options…
"Be there in ten, pal. Get your elephant suit ready!"
There was a slight pause before Finnick answered in a drastically softer voice.
"...Nick, I think we're gonna need to change our game a little bit."
My smirk dropped for a moment before plastering itself back on my face.
"Somebody getting tired of being kissed on the forehead? Finnick, I know you hate it but a man's gotta eat. Besides, if it means anything I think you look adorable as an elephant."
"Shut the hell up Nick. It ain't that. Them jumbo pop sellers ain't gon' trust us no matter how 'cute' you make me look. It's not happening. We need a new plan, ASAP."
The smirk left again.
"I've been doing this since I was twelve, Finnick, you really think I can't handle my trademark con?"
"Nick...some stores ain't even letting predators inside."
I lost all hope of the smirk coming back. I repeated what I had just heard in my head a couple times, trying to make sense of it.
"I...what?"
"The van's still next to that chinese restaurant. Get over here soon."
And with that the call ended.
Something was off. It wasn't obvious at first, but as I walked along the streets of Zootopia it slowly became clear. There was a noticeable lack of predators outside. Those that were had their heads down and paws in their pockets. Whenever prey neared said predators, they either turned around or crossed to the other side of the street. Okay, something was definitely off.
I picked up the pace, the strange nature of what I'd been seeing being slightly unsettling. As I reared around a corner to my desired street, a passing bunny let out a small gasp, backing away from me and pulling her child close. I looked back at her for my next few steps, giving her a quizzical look before returning my gaze ahead of me.
What the hell is going on?
The door to Finnick's van opened before I even knocked, leaving me with my arm held up in an awkward position.
"Get in," he muttered, baseball bat in paw. I climbed into his surprisingly roomy vehicle and turned around to see the fennec looking around outside for an extra few seconds before closing the door.
The back of the van was carpeted and filled with many different colorful cushions. Next to one of the bigger cushions, most likely Finnick's bed, was a CD player and a couple of lit candles.
I sat down with one knee up, draping my arm over it to support myself. "The walk here was...uncomfortable to say the least," I said, cracking the silence. "It seemed like people were avoiding me, some even afraid of me! I know that most people don't like foxes but this is something else."
I looked up at Finnick who was currently fixated on the patterns of his carpet. He slowly looked up and met my gaze.
"It's getting bad, Nick."
Almost all intimidation had left his voice. What used to be an oxymoronically frightening mammal appeared to be almost broken.
"What happened?"
His eyebrows narrowed down in anger. "YOUR FUCKING BUNNY FRIEND THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED!" The frightening mammal was back.
"Judy? I mean, uh, Officer Toot-toot? What does that clown have to do with anything?"
Finnick's face matched a look of pure disgust. "On live television, in front all of Zootopia, she said that only predators go savage. That it's in our biology." He sighed before continuing. "Prey ain't reacting too well to say the least. Not all prey, but enough to make an impact."
I opened my mouth to say something, maybe make a snarky reply to ease the tension, but nothing came to me. I reverted my gaze the healing claw marks on my palms.
It's all her fault. She didn't only use me, but she somehow managed to spark the hatred of an entire class of species.
I reached back to scratch my neck. "...so what does this mean for us?"
Finnick dropped his negative expression and looked back down at the carpet. "We gonna do what we always do...it's just gonna be a hell of a lot harder."
We spent the next few hours discussing possible future courses of action before giving in to our natural circadian rhythms and taking an afternoon nap. At around 11 p.m we were back to planning, but nothing seemed to be plausible considering the current situation. I eventually dismissed myself after the unsuccessful briefing and headed home, the only life outside being the infrequent passing of cars.
I tucked my paws into my pockets and pressed my lips together in thought. How could it have gotten so bad so fast? Surely the ZPD's looked into other possible causes of the savage predators, right? Either way, the sudden shift of opinion towards predators was all but expected. Would they really hate us at the drop of a hat? I can't speak for everybody, but I assume most prey in this city have a pred friends, or acquaintances at the very least.
They're worried for their safety. They think I'm dangerous. They're scared of me.
That thought didn't sit too well. The only person that's ever shown legitimate fear of me was...Judy, at the conference.
Did she plan this? No, she couldn't have, that's not like her...but I had a lot of beliefs about her that were proven wrong.
These theories were short-lived when I picked up the sound of heavy breathing and footsteps. I looked up to see bulky tiger sprint his way around the corner of an apartment complex. For such a dangerous-looking guy, it was surprising to note that he seemed scared shitless.
I stopped dead in my tracks with my mouth slightly open in confusion. He was running straight towards me.
He finally noticed me when he was about fifty meters from where I stood, and raised up a paw motioning for me to turn around.
"RUN! THEY'RE COMING!"
I did not want to get punished whatever this guy's getting chased for, so I did as I was told. I looked over my shoulder to see the tiger nearly caught up to me. Curiosity took over.
"What's going on?! Who's com-"
The screeching of tires drowned out what I was yelling. The glaring headlights from a black pickup truck reared the same corner the tiger came from. There were mammals riding on the back, everybody on board the vehicle wearing masks. One of them leaned out from behind the head of the truck, and he looked like he was holding something.
Wait, is that a-
Gunshots confirmed my assumptions. One shattered on the road ahead of me, with another whistling right past my ear. The tiger ran up next to me as we turned another corner.
"Is there anywhere we can go?" he asked between panted breaths. Genuine fear etched his voice.
Luckily I knew this city like the back of my paw. I grabbed his arm and motioned towards an upcoming alleyway. "This way!"
There was a vixen who I was...friendly with. Jump the brick divider in the alley and her apartment's right there. She was a bit too affectionate so I only relied on her when I was drunk and desperate, but I knew she would still let me inside in a heartbeat. I like to think that I'm charming enough to get to anyone.
We turned into the alleyway and approached the divider. I figured since he's a tiger he'd be able to pull me up much easier than the other way around, so I got to one knee and cupped my paws together to hoist him atop. He got the memo quickly and swung over to the other side, still holding on to the wall reach back and grab me. I grasped his paw and he started pulling me up when a sharp bang echoed through the alley, along with a sharp pain shooting up my arm.
I fell onto the concrete, eyes clenched together in pain, before realizing the life-or-death situation I was in. I attempted to get onto my feet and looked up at the tiger, who was scrambling to grab hold of me again.
"C'mon! Grab my p- SHIT!"
A bullet smashed against the brick next to him, sending flying debris directly into my eyes. I attempted to clear my eyes and managed to see the tiger taking a glimpse of horror at our attackers. He jumped off to the other side of the wall, leaving me alone.
I pressed my back against the wall and slowly turned my head to identify who was doing this. Five mammals, one holding a silver handgun that shined in the darkness, stood before me. Most of them appeared to be on the smaller side, with the exception of a mammal on the far left, who was unmistakingly an elephant.
Why does he even bother wearing a mask?
The one with the gun started moving further towards me, only making me clutch my bleeding injury harder and press further against the bricks behind me. I used my good arm to wipe away the remaining debris from my eyes to get a good look at the mammal now standing inches away from me. His mask was pure white, with two slits for eyeholes crudely cut out. I looked at his eyes and noticed that they refused to shine in the darkness. Looking around at everyone else, I noticed that it was the same case for them as well.
They're all prey...this is a hate crime.
The masked gunman in front of me spent no time stalling. He cocked the gun and pointed it straight at my head.
"Filthy pred."
His voice was tinged with a raging aggression. Without a second for me to think, the gun went off.
Don't worry, this isn't over. If it was, it'd be a pretty shitty one-shot. Let me know how I'm doing. I don't know if I'll be able to consistently update (or finish this story at all) but I had fun writing this so there's hope! If I don't finish however, I'd suggest checking out Fallen: The Lost Story of Zootopia (by Jacato). Wonderfully written AU. I guarantee you'll like it. Oh ya, if anybody has a suggestion or something for a cover photo for this fic, message me or something. Let me know how I'm doing so far so I can avoid making the same mistakes in the future. Until next time (whenever that'll be).
