Judy stood tall in the mirror and smiled. "Time to wake up Nick." Letting out a soft sigh of contentment, Judy crossed the room and opened the door. She hadn't even taken a step when somebeast ran by at top speed, carrying something under his arms. "Excuse me! Excuse me!" called out the animal as he zipped down the hallway and towards the exit staircase.
The cop within Jusy stirred excitedly; Go after him. He's being suspecious. Judy thumped her feet aprehensively against the floor, shooting a yearning look towards her fox-partner's door. It was no use. She would just have to investigate without him. Straightening her cap, Judy rushed down the hall. "Move aside, police!" she called, trying her best to sound polite as she rammed her shoulder into the exit door. Down the staircase she ran, cheating as she hopped down each flight. Getting closer, closer... The animal just reached the bottom floor; the rabbit discovered his species to be a goat. The object under his arm squirmed within a robin's egg-blue blanet. Did he just kidnap a child? Judy leaned over the railing and shouted: "Stop where you are! Police!"
But the goat ignored her, didn't even glance up or quicken their pace. The goat opened the door and stepped out into the streets.
"Oh, cud..." growled Judy. She hurried down the remaining flights and kicked open the door at the bottom, stepping into the sunshine. Big and small, tall and short; the world became a maze of legs. Where did that goat go?
Suddenly, her ears picked up the sound of crying. Judy turned towards the source; between an elephant and a pack of wolves waiting to cross the street stood the goat with a small kitten in his arms. The kitten was crying.
The rabbit ran over, hoping that the traffic light would stay red just a little bit longer. Long enough to investigate the scene. She grabbed at her badge, reflecting the light, making it known.
"Police!" she shouted. "Police!" Animals respectfully moved aside until only the goat and the kitten remained. "Wh-what do we have..." Judy panted, scolding herself mentally. The rabbit swallowed air hungrily. "What do we have here, sir?" she asked at last.
"I'm sorry?" the goat's voice was faint, almost turned mute by the wailing of the unhappy kitten. The blue blanket fell crumpled in the space between them.
"Who is this?" she pointed at the crying kitten. "Is there a reason why he's upset?"
The goat looked at the kitten between his hooves, then back at Jusy. "He's just cranky because he misses his mommy."
Judy's jaw clamped shut angrily. I knew it... What a psychopath. "All right, sir, I'm going to have to ask you to come down to the office with me."
"What did I do wrong?" he whispered.
"Hand me the child, please." Judy opened her arms. The kitten fell into Judy and clug to her fur, his sobbing subsiding.
"Wh-what are you doing with Wally?" asked the goat nervously.
"He's coming with us."
"I was going to drop him off with his mother, I..."
"Wait, what?" Judy blinked, her certainty churning into doubt. She swallowed hard.
"His mother works at the daycare, so she has enough to deal with... But Wally cant stand it when Mommy is away..."
"Your wife, she's..."
"Yes. She's a cat, officer." the goat said with a gentle nod. Here, he began digging through his pocket. He withdrew a wallet, within it being a picture of a cat and the goat with a little one in the mother's arms.
"I'm...I'm so sorry..." Judy hung her head in defeat.
"Oh, all is well..." the goat shrugged, putting his wallet away. "Wally seems to have taken a liking to you."
"Oh, yes..." Judy forced out a short laugh, cuddling the happy kitten who purred against her vest.
"Do we still have to go down to the office?" asked the goat.
"No!" Judy shook her head, "No, of course not." She handed the kitten back to his Daddy. "I'm sorry for the mix-up." She bent down and picked up the blanket he had dropped and offered it to him as well.
"You aren't the first," the father replied with a bitter smile, taking and tucking the blanket under his arm. "Next time, try not to be so judgemental." With that, the goat walked briskly down the street, carrying the kitten with him.
Dejected, all Judy could do next was go back to the apartments and make sure Nick was up and ready to go. Part of her was thanful he hadn't been awakened and had witnessed her major mistake. But as she turned around to head back she spotted the fox approaching her with a smile.
"It sure is a nice morning, eh Carrots? One could even forget the duties of an officer on a day like this..." Nicholas said humbly.
Judy turned on him. "It's not my duty to wake you up! I just do it because-"
"Because you care about me?"
Judy blushed. "Yes..." And about my reputation, she thought.
"Aww..." Nick leaned close to Judy, his long, slender face inches from hers. Frantically, Judy pushed him away, glancing around at the crowd. "Not here, Nick!" she scolded him in a whisper.
Nick's ears turned. "Oh. All right then..." He scratched the back of his neck with a paw, looking like a wounded animal.
Judy stared at the fox. What was it she was so afraid of? Did she not believe species could mix together? Was it really such an impossible thing? If they became a couple, then they would be harshly judged... Surely there were plenty of female foxes and male rabbit just waiting around the corner... So why settle with a loveless devotion?
The rabbit took a step back and brushed off the cat hairs from her vest. "We should head on to headquarters." she said.
"You're the boss." Nick replied thinly, following her at a distance. During the walk to HQ, Judy felt as if she were being stalked.
After the morning huddle, Bogo dropped a heavy case-file on the duo's desk. The rabbit and fox blinked up at him sheepishly. "This is a case I'm assigning you two for one reason, and one reason only: Because I know I can trust you two with this information. This file's been touched off and on through years, but never solved."
"What kind of case is it?" Judy put a paw on the file and flipped the page. The first thing she saw was a picture of a warehouse.
"That building-" Bogo broke off in mid-sentence and quickly closed the door. The ox cleared his throat before continuing. "That building was marked for demolition ten years ago, but was instead bought by the meat industry. At first we thought it was like any other industry; synthetic meats, tofu, that sort of thing. But recent packaging has hinted at something a lot more sinister."
"So what was found?" asked Nick. "Traces of bone? Blood?"
"In one of the meat-free packages of Hotdogs," Bogo spoke slowly. "...We found a piglet's hoof."
"Oh my gosh..." Judy whispered.
"Well wasn't there a brand recall?" asked Nick.
"It's not so simple. This warehouse is using the same marketing as the animal-friendly ones. They're getting mixed up on the shelves; no one can tell between the real and the fake-"
"Unless they bite into something that actually bleeds." says Nick.
"Exactly." Bogo nods.
"But why would anyone want to do something so...horrible...?" Judy asked softly.
"Probably the same crack-heads who thought it was a good idea to infect the predators with Night Howler's poison." Bogo shrugged.
"No, that cant be right." Judy spoke up. "Bellweather wanted to get rid of predators so the prey would come into higher status. But here, we have a machine thats killing prey."
"So you think it's the predators?" asked Nick, looking at Judy.
Judy stared back, afraid to speak.
"Well, whoever it is, I trust this infromation will stay secret. If word gets out, I'll know who to point my hoof at. Do I make myself clear?"
The rabbit and the fox nodded. Shortly after, they left the office and sat on the front steps, their stomach hurting and the case heavy on their minds. Nick looked sideways at Judy, his ears rotating towards her. "You can say it, you know. I wont get angry."
"Huh?" Judy looked at him. "What do you mean?"
"You and I both know predators are behind this mess. But look, I'm fine, see? I'm not taking it personally."
Judy felt touched with guilt. Of course; he could never be her enemy. She scooted closer to the fox, and leaned against his side. "Oh, Nick..." she sighed.
"Something bugging you, Jude?" he asked, petting the soft fluff between her ears.
Judy smiled, closing her eyes. "No. Everything is all right now..."
"Technically, that's not true though." Nick sat up straighter and flipped at the case file. "...still cant figure out why no one has investigated before us. Unless, of course, the ones who did investigate were turned into chicken pot pies."
Judy sat up, frowning. Nick grinned at her, all bright white teeth. She couldn't help but laugh. Judy hopped to her feet and stretched her arms high over her head, casting a sideways glance at her partner.
Nick stood up, securing the file under his arm. "Someone's an eager bunny."
Judy shrugged, hiding her smile. "If you mean I'm eager to solve this case, then yes, I am."
Half an hour later, the duo pulled up the police car outside a large grey building.
"We might as well scout the area while we wait on that search warrant." Judy said as the two of them strolled towards a large warehouse, the parking lot of which was vacant aside from the police car. The pipes on the roof were also silent: no black smoke rose up into the sky. "Wow. This place looks empty." Judy sniffed the air.
"Empty for now, maybe..." Nick muttered. "I don't like the smell of this place. It's too bleach-y."
"Of course it smells like bleach, you clever fox; the warehouse is a food-producing factory, of course they'd keep it clean. Wait. Where are you going?"
"I want to get an inside look, if you know what I mean..."
"But- Nick!-" Judy followed the fox to the side of the building. "...we have to wait until we're given clearance."
"Since we do I ever play by the rules?" Nick asked with a long smile.
Judy's ear twitched once, then sighed, taking off her ZPD cap and stuffing it into her pocket. "All right, fine; a quick look around and that's it! I mean it."
"They won't even know we were there." Nick promised smoothly.