"Atten-Chun!"
The bullpen filled with cops eager to start their shift filled with growls and shouts and pounding on the tables. All except for one grey bunny in the front row. She still smiled at the noise though. It had been like this every day since she joined the ZPD as the first rabbit officer. Judy watched as Chief Bogo went to the podium and glanced around at all of the officers.
"Alright, shut it!" He called out. Once he had order, which never took very long, he started speaking again. "As I'm sure you lot know this Howler pandemic isn't getting any better. There have been five more attacks last night alone, and we are no closer to finding the distributer. We're doubling up on patrol today. Fangmeyer, Delgato, north end of the Rainforest District. Grizoli, Tibbs, south end." The chief went through his list and finally came to the last district and last team. "Rodgers, Cassings, Savannah Square shopping district; and Hopps and Wolford Savannah Square warehouse district. There's been reports of a gang of foxes hanging around that area so stay sharp. Dismissed!"
Wolford met with Judy at the back of the bullpen and smirked down at his pint sized partner. "Hear that? Foxes are loose. Think you can handle it?"
Judy snorted and kept her ears firmly elevated. "Please. I can take you to the mat. I think I can handle some foxes."
"Okay," Wolford said flippantly, "just remember I've got your back in case one of them tries to eat you."
"You're so kind," Judy drawled.
The partners checked out their squad car and soon were on their way.
Wolford picked that day to drive so Judy leaned over and flipped on the radio.
"Reports of Howler induced attacks have sky rocketed over the past month leaving many of the city's prey mammals wondering if they are safe. Mayor Lionheart and Assistant Mayor Bellweather have so far not returned any calls from ZNN to confirm nor deny allegations of an initiative to put collars on predators in order to prevent further outbursts whether they be drug induced or not. Doctor Vance of the University of Zootopia had this to say—"
"Turn that shit off, Hopps," Wolford growled.
Judy had honestly been a little interested, but she flipped the radio to a common music station and glanced over at her partner. "You okay?"
Wolford kept his eyes on the road. "Collars. Did you hear that? Collars on predators. What would that accomplish? What would that look like on the force? Most of our colleagues are predators. I'm a predator."
"Well… Maybe you would be exempt. And maybe so would they?" Judy's ears flopped down at Wolford's snort.
"Yeah and that would make our jobs so much easier," he said. Wolford sighed and his ears seemed to pin straight back to his head. His lips curled showing specks of white teeth, but then he quickly got ahold of himself. "All these predators – Never thought so many of them would start wanting to go savage."
Judy frowned and put her paw on the wolf's arm. "Hey, I got your back, Partner. Don't worry. We'll stop this."
Wolford glanced down at the fearless little bunny before him and felt himself relax. She had always been so sure of everything. Maybe she would be right about this. He nodded to her and looked back at the road.
The warehouse district wasn't really much to look at. It was old, dilapidated, and a hot bed for criminal activity due to the copious amounts of places to hide. It was really no wonder that the less reputable mammals liked to hang out there. Judy and Wolford kept their eyes open as they did a scan of the area. Judy spotted them first.
"Three o'clock," Judy said.
Wolford leaned over and nodded. "Let's stop by and say hello."
It wasn't a large group of foxes. Mostly reds but there were a couple of greys and a fennec that were all leaning against the wall and smoking. Their ears and eyes went straight to the patrol car as it slowed to a stop and the officers got out. Snickers started up.
"Holy hell, boys. They did hire a bunny cop," the leader said. He pushed himself off the wall and took a few steps forward to meet the cops head on. The wolf didn't bother him so much. Not when this bunny was far more interesting.
Judy kept her ears perked and looked up at the red fox with a cool, calm expression. "We've had reports of suspicious mammals loitering about. Care to state your business?"
Gideon laughed in her face and looked back at his buddies. "Hah! Listen at her." The other foxes laughed and then Gideon turned back to Judy. "I gotta tell you, Officer, you are just too cute when you are trying to be intimidating."
Wolford smirked and leaned back against the car. This was going to be good.
Judy's amethyst eyes flashed and she drew herself up to her full height. She took a breath to speak, but was cut off by another voice from the shadows.
"Careful, Gideon, bunnies don't like to be called cute by non-bunnies. Isn't that right, Officer Fluff?" The red fox who spoke slid out of his spot with his hands in his pockets and a lazy smirk on his face. He was dressed in khaki pants and a yellow shirt with what looked to be pineapples decorating it. The tie coordinated, but overall the ensemble was just odd.
Judy narrowed her eyes at the fox. "Officer Hopps," she corrected.
"Right. So tell me if this sounds familiar," he said as he strolled closer taking Gideon's spot in front of her. "Naïve little hick with good grades and big dreams decides 'Hey, I'm going to move to Zootopia where predators and prey live in harmony and sing kumbaya' only whoopsie, we don't all get along, and that dream of making a world a better place? Double whoopsie, all she gets to do is ride around in a car with a smelly wolf hassling mammals who are doing nothing wrong, and whoopsie number threesie she gets to go back to the police department with her fuzzy little tail tucked between her legs because she wasn't able to get anything right today."
The whole time he spoke, he stepped closer, very nearly looming over her, but Judy refused to back down. In fact she waved off Wolford when he pushed himself off the car to give her a hand. Judy flashed the fox a big smile.
"You know what? You're under arrest."
The fox laughed. "For what? Hurting your fweewings?" He reached out and poked Judy in the shoulder. He barely had time to react before his face was smashed against the concrete sidewalk and his arms were jerked behind his back.
"Assaulting a police officer," came the voice from just above his ear.
"Oh, come on! I barely touched you!" He said, his voice somewhat muffled by the fact the floor.
The foxes behind them started making a scene, and Wolford quickly put himself in between the mob and his partner while she loaded the red fox into the car. "Don't worry boys," Wolford said. "He'll be back soon, I'm sure." He didn't turn his back on the group as he made his way to the car even if Judy was watching with her hand on her tranq gun. They had enough officers get ambushed to know to never turn their backs on a group of suspects.
Once they were safely in the car, Judy could hear the fox in the back squirming about, but she didn't say anything until the pawcuffs were dangling from one of his fingers and he was rubbing the side of his face.
"Damn, Carrots, did you have to slam me down that hard?" he asked.
Wolford noted the cuffs and almost slammed on the breaks. "Hopps!"
Judy turned in her seat and grinned. "Aw, did I hurt your fweewings?" she asked. Then she looked back at Wolford. "Don't worry. It's not like he can get out of the car."
Wolford looked in between the two and then the nickname registered in his brain. "Wait. Carrots? You two know each other?"
"Yeah, where are your manners?" the fox grinned from the backseat.
Judy rolled her eyes. "We met at the Academy. Nick, this is Officer John Wolford, Wolford, Nicholas Wilde, ZBI."
A/N: So I'm pretty excited about this actually, and I hope to do regular updates. Not sure how long it's going to be, but anyway. Please feel free to read and review!
