A/N: Sometimes things really just don't make sense. (Physics I'm LOOKING AT YOU) This chapter was quite long in my master document and ended up being the shortest one. But I still really liked how it turned out so it's all good. And it only took something like 3 hours for my editor and I to blow through it. Man that guy is good. In this chapter Nick and Judy finally meet if you're looking for that.

Disclaimer: Don't own Zootopia as far as I'm aware, just this beloved story of mine of the characters that I've created. Not the Disney created ones.

Chapter 3: Highway To Hell

Growling isn't something rabbits do. That's more of a predator thing right?

Well over the course of the past few days, Judy found herself doing that more and more. Ever since that argument she had with Bogo, she's been on a particularly short temper with the world. Even angry recipients of her tickets stopped cold after receiving a glare from her. What makes it worse is she had to be careful not to bring up her lack of interesting tasks for the sake of not getting fired. So NO complaining.

Bogo has never directly threatened to fire her because of their arguments for reasons unknown, but she secretly believes that he understands why she keeps picking fights with him. Or it could be the simple matter that she's never really given him a reason to fire her. She's not insubordinate nor does anything wrong, she's always very to-the-book. A fact that probably infuriates him as she wouldn't be surprised if he was looking for excuses to fire her. Then again... The arguments... Either way she knows she's been walking on thin ice so she has begrudgingly not mentioned all the other chances at proving herself that she's been missing lately.

Over the past couple days, more and more break-ins occurred and investigations have been started. None seemingly having any connections apart from the fact that they're all well executed by the criminals and they cover their tracks well.

Because of this frustration, she's been far less merciful with her parking tickets than she has been in months, pumping out multiple hundreds a day once more, which has of course pissed off a large percentage of the population. But what did she care? Everyone in this broken city is only out to serve themselves anyways. She's just joining the ranks.

But then that voice in her head always returned and said, "NO... no no you can't do that." She had to remain optimistic. Don't stop believing and all that jazz because-

Oh look it's that con-fox again.

'That con-fox' being a red fox she has seen multiple times ever since she started her meter maiding. Always up to something he was, perfectly fulfilling the stereotype surrounding foxes. Out of sheer curiosity (and boredom) she investigated him for a day to see if he really was up to no good, and sure enough, he was. He'd almost always trick some poor soul into buying an elephant sized Popsicle for him and his 'son', which she quickly figured out, was actually an adult fennec fox. He'd remake a couple dozen smaller 'pawpsicles', sell them, then sell the 'pawpsicle' sticks as 'lumber' to construction mice in Rodentia.

Now, of course she wanted to arrest him, report him or SOMETHING, but again she was just a meter maid and at that point in time she already knew for a fact that Bogo would have none of that. For that would beinsubordination and would give him a reason to fire her.

She also just couldn't bring herself to tattle on this particular fox because... Well. They had a rather... interesting first meeting. They didn't even talk; it was just eye contact, but it felt like she saw his true self for a moment. Since then, she's just sort of left him alone, keeping to herself and her parking tickets and sending the occasional glance his direction.

Which Nick very much took notice to. Every time that meter maid bunny was on the same street as him, her pace would become significantly slower. She'd give out a few tickets, look at him, give out a few more, and send another glance, rinse and repeat. He wasn't entirely sure why that cute bunny would always look at him but he imagined it had something to do with their awkward first meeting.

It was a number of months ago and Nick had been forced to stay up all night to save his skin from a few unhappy customers of another one of his cons. And since he was so stark tired, instead of walking all the way back to his bridge, where he'd usually sleep under, he rode the train. Won't be doing that again.

Before he got on the train, he figured it'd be too early for most mammals to be going to work . As it turned out, around 6 o'clock was practically the pre-rush hour for all the early morning mammals like construction, law enforcement and education workers. So even while he tried to mind his own business in the corner of the car, he still got pushed and shoved around by rhinos in those shiny orange vests or pompous deer in tuxedos. Or any of those other prey members that just couldn't satisfy themselves with where they stood. Knowing better than to respond in any way, Nick just kept his head down, and apologized profusely.

On the other side of the car, stood a somewhat fresh to the darkness of Zootopia Judy Hopps, who was also not having the best of mornings. For the first time since she moved here about a month ago, she was really paying attention to what was going on around her. Particularly the mistreatment of the predators. You could thank a rather large-but-friendly cheetah by the name of Clawhauser for bringing her attention to that.

While a month of course isn't very long time to work in a place, she had thought she'd met or at least seen every officer at Precinct One. But then just out of pure coincidence when she was passing by the restrooms, Clawhauser stepped out and as Judy had never met him, she insisted on saying hello. To say he was surprised would be a huge understatement.

They both quickly came to the conclusion that 'this mammal was actually quite nice,' despite how prey usually are this day and age, and despite what predators are usually projected as being. During their short conversation, Ben, as he insisted upon being called, brought her attention to the twisted view society has given to predators.

"Y'know you're such a gentlemammal Ben, why aren't you like the receptionist instead of that ass over there?"

"Oh hohoho, ooohh there's an idea. Yeah go ahead and bring that to Bogo I'm sure he'll get a crack out of it."

Judy nervously chuckled; she'd already had enough bad run-ins with the Chief at this point in time. "Right, well I mean you're really not that bad for a predator, not anything like the others, so I'm sure he'd agree!"

The super friendly smile that had been on Ben's face ever since Judy had started talking to him as an equal faded into despondence. "Most of us aren't Judy," he quietly said while looking away. "I gotta go. I hope to see you later." And that was the last she saw of him for a number of months. Eventually finding out that the reason being is that he works downstairs in records.

Now as she was watching this poor, tired, malnourished looking red fox get shoved around like a ragdoll, she was wondering what he would be like if he wasn't so mistreated. He was good looking enough, she thought with no small amount of shyness, and given he was a fox and their general aptitude for cleverness, he was no doubt intelligent.

As she kept observing him, she forgot she was still staring and he soon noticed. She should've (and usually would've) looked away, but his eyes really kept her locked onto him. Not just the vibrant emerald color of them, but the emotions held within.

Some mammals say that you can see into a person's soul through their eyes. And for a moment or two, Judy really felt like she could. She didn't just see his though, more like she felt what he was going through. All the pain, judgement, hopelessness and fatigue threw her head for a spin.

She wouldn't know for quite some time, but he was thinking similar thoughts. Before he had made eye contact he had seen or rather felt the cute bunny looking at him from across the train car. Eventually curiosity got the better of him and he had to investigate what she thought was so interesting. He didn't expect to see a pair of beautiful amethyst eyes boring into his own as if she was searching for something.

An interesting sight and feeling that was. He could tell that she was having trouble fighting her own darkness. The way that she would smile on and off at those around her, the fluctuations in the way she held herself. She was clearly once quite the optimist, and the city was no doubt doing its best to put out such a harshly bright light. Looked like it was winning. She was a falling angel. Fitting to call her that too cause she was rather...

No no no, he thought.

Getting rid of those thoughts, he threw up a mask and sent a sly grin complete with a wink in her direction, effectively ending the connection as she looked away in embarrassment. Later he would look back at this memory and fondly think that someone as beautiful as her would be worth fighting for, inadvertently adding an additional reason to why he joined the group. She didn't stay on his mind for long, only until another vixen crossed his path. But then she reappeared on the streets as a cute little meter maid bunny giving out an obscene amount of parking tickets.

Since she had limited to no friends in Zootopia even after all this time, she was admittedly a bit lonely so she couldn't help but be drawn to the fox she shared a short connection with. At the same time she almost despised him for fulfilling his own stereotype and being a con-mammal. In the end, she settled with just observing from a distance and maybe, one day, talking to him.

The feeling was mutual. As a con-mammal, Nick wasn't particularly fond of cops. While he was perfectly aware she was a meter maid and her ability to make arrests was therefore more than a little hampered, the presence of law enforcement personnel still made him uneasy. And even though Nick did his best to not be like the majority of speciest predators, he was still certainly not fond of most prey.

Nick had been so lost in thought while watching the bunny across the street that he almost didn't notice a group of big cats approaching him and his pawpsicle stand.

He frowned. This was a little odd, as Nick often did his best to set up shop far enough away from predator populated areas so they wouldn't fall into his traps like this. If they did so happen to want a pawpsicle (as has happened a couple times) he'd give it to them for free, not wanting to screw over his own kind.

"What you got goin' on here ya pelt?" One of the big cats asked, showing off just a hint of his much larger fangs. His frown deepened, that was a rather derogatory name for foxes and while hearing it from prey never bothered him, as he was used to it, hearing that from fellow predators stung a lot more.

'They're broadening their scope, not going after just prey, but harassing preds as well now. All the more reason to steer clear of these guys. Just as I thought they reached the bottom, they get a shovel and start digging.'

Sensing the direction this was heading, Nick mentally flipped a switch to try and salvage the situation, responding with a smile, "Oh you know fellas, just a predator tryin' to survive in a prey world like yourselves. Pawpsicle?" He asked while holding one out.

The one speaking in front, a black panther, swiped it out of his hand and growled. His collar flicked to yellow, warning him. Nick's facade twitched and almost fell, his own predatory instincts wanting to growl right back.

"Look friends, we're all on the same team he-"

"Oh yeah?! Well we were before you up and QUIT!" The panther yelled, but quickly received a sharp shock, making him almost 'meow' in response. Once he recovered he just looked even mask Nick was wearing finally shattered and his face fell into a scowl. So that's what this was about. 'You gotta be ruttin' kidding me.' Hood probably sent these bozo's after him. He was about to retort when one of the panther's lackeys, a dark brown lion with a black mane, walked up to the cooler holding the remaining pawpsicles and kicked it over. Spilling the contents all over the street.

Nick was a second away from lunging at them, forgetting the collar and the consequences of being outnumbered when they all suddenly heard a loud feminine voice yell, "Hey!"

Nick looked past them to see...'Oh no.' It was that bunny, and she was storming towards them all from across the street. As if the situation couldn't get even worse.

"Hey get out of here meter maid, mind your own rootin' tootin' little business." The lead panther growled.

If the little bunny didn't look angry already, now she really did. Nick almost wanted to laugh at the sight of a rabbit marching towards an angry group of predators. What did she think she was gonna do?

"Actually, for your information Mr. Ragsdale, I'm an officer." She said, flashing the badge hidden under her orange vest. Upon hearing his name, his ears folded back, and simultaneously, all the other predators' ears as well. "Meaning I can arrest your soon to be sorry tail for charges that would include obstruction of justice, vandalism, public indecency given the state of your shirt, and given a little bit of time, which I have LOADS of, I'm certain I could find out about some other less savory activities in your record."

Pausing for a moment, she smiled a far too devious looking smile for a bunny, which did not escape Nick's attention. She was enjoying this! But then in a snap her sharp features returned.

"OR. You could get the hell out of this zip code and if Mr. Wilde here ever sees you or your friends here again, he can come and tell me and I will arrest your sorry tails that time. AM I understood?!" She barked out, using an imposing tone of voice that was making her seem much larger than she actually was, simultaneously reminding everyone of some kind of drill sergeant.

The big cats, which were feeling rather small suddenly, all feebly nodded and began to walk off when she spoke up again.

"And Mr. Scar!" The lion who kicked over the cooler flinched, and turned around slowly. "Before you join your friends with your tail between your legs, why don't you clean up that mess you made. Unless you'd like to test my patience, 'cause I haven't actually gotten to arrest anybody yet and I AM ITCHING totry that out."

With a glare that could wither flowers he stormed on back, picked up the cooler, scooped up as much ice as he could that hadn't already melted under the heat of the savannah district, and placed the pawpsicles back in the casket. As soon as the last one was placed, Judy yelled, "Now get!" And off they ran without looking back.

By this point Nick's mouth was hanging as wide open as possible. He couldn't believe it! That bunny just scared off a bunch of 'vicious' predators several times her size. She might as well knock out a rhino!

After a few quiet moments of them both just staring off to where they ran, Nick broke the silence, "Well, there's something you don't see every day."

"It just... just burns me up to see mammals mistreating each other so badly. And I could finally actually do something about it!"

"Well, I don't think I've ever been so gallantly saved. Much less by someone as small and cute as you." Nick said as he turned to her with a charming smile. The smile that he saw on her face for an instant was then vaporized. "Don't call me cute. Only bunnies can call each other that. It's really demeaning otherwise."

"Ah, right, forgot about that. My apologies." He said as he placed a hand over his heart. He hadn't actually forgotten of course, he was just hoping he could get away with it. And maaaayyybe wanted to see how easily that button was pushed.

While he was indeed grateful for the save, she was still a cop, still prey, and in particular his ancestral prey. Which meant there was a high chance that she was afraid of him. To quickly test this theory he faked a large yawn to expose his fangs, and stretched his arms out to show his claws.

She had opened her mouth to say something polite in return at the time, but as expected, she stopped and nervously took a half step back. 'Typical,'he sourly though. 'And if that is there, so is fear and prejudice.'

"So what is the name of this brave knight that came to my rescue?" He sarcastically asked with only half the honest smile that once was there a moment ago.

"Officer Judy Hopps." She said after recomposing herself and getting rid of the ghost of a memory that flashed through her mind. 'They're not all the same,' she reminded herself.

"Pleased to officially meet you. After all, we met unofficially months ago and you've been staring at me ever since." So he had noticed. Luckily he continued without lingering on that embarrassing detail. "I would introduce myself but somehow you seem to already know my name. Along with theirs... How is that?"

She gave a small chuckle. "Mr. Wilde I wasn't joking when I said I've had a LOT of time on my paws. Paperwork and parking duty doesn't keep one very busy for about 9 months. In my spare time I've taken notes and learned about as many predators as I could. Mr. Rags and Scar I've seen a number of times around so that was easy enough. And… Well, after we first sorta met, I couldn't help but be curious about who you were."

Nick let out a simple hmm to that, lost the fake smile and said, "Well thanks for the save Officer Carrots, but now I must bid you adieu." And sharply walked off with the cooler and mostly melted merchandise in tow.

Judy spluttered and stammered at the sudden cold shoulder she was receiving. Carrots?! What just happened? She just saved that guy! And-

"It's Officer Hopps to you!" She yelled after him.

"Whatever," he lazily called back.'Prey,'Nick thought sickeningly as he walked away. 'They're all the same.' Afraid for no reason, judge without context, and she probably only helped him to further her own cause in some way or another.

'Predators!'Judy spat inside her own head as she stormed off back to her jokemobile. Frustration rolling off of her like the heat of the district.

'Bunnies…'Bogo thought with exasperation. Not that it was particularly a bad thing to turn in more than 300 parking tickets, but that was a lot of processing to take care of, no doubt a lot of complaints would come in, and a number of them were sure to challenge their citations in court. Bogo just didn't know what to do with that bunny anymore. He couldn't win without firing her for no good reason, not long term at least.

And when Hopps clocked out today, and he got a glance at her, he could tell she was in an even less cheerful mood than usual. He swore that every step she took caught the ground beneath her feet on fire. Maybe she did it just to spite him. They were having a passive aggressive war it seemed.

He rested his head on his desk, feeling a headache growing. 'THANKS Hopps.' It wasn't only her fault to be fair; his desk was covered in paperwork, articles, and cases that he'd been looking through. The article on top that he was reading was about the supposed 'savagery' of predators in the years past and the continued need for shock collars. Perhaps even a stricter system. 'As if that was needed.' Bogo often did his best to reason with the mayor against such things. He wasn't stupid; he knew predators had a hard enough time in Zootopia already, but there was very little he could do apart from that. Not that he particularly wanted to do something.

But he does need to do something about that bunny.

KNOCK KNOCK.

Bogo sighed, and then remembered the time. After 5 o'clock not only was Hopps long gone, but so was anyone else that would genuinely bother him. Now he was curious, who was it? After sitting up straight again and refilling his lungs with air Bogo called for whoever it was to come in and in walked a mole wearing a white lab coat.

"Chief Bogo sir, I have the lab results from the last break-in." The small figure of the rodent said with a light French accent, as he walked in with a folder filled with papers.

"Ah thank you Mr. Moliere, what have you found out?"

Since the nearly elephant sized chair was still far too low for such a small animal even while standing, he tossed the folder onto Bogo's desk and climbed his way up. Once he was standing in front of him he continued.

"Some details at the crime scene have confirmed that the suspect is a red fox by the name of..." He paused, blinked a few times, then rapidly opened the file and dug through a few papers until he found the one he was looking for again. "Nicholas Wilde! Apologies for that memory lapse." Bogo just shook his head, waving it off once more as he has done many times in the past.

"A few fibers of his fur were found at the crime scene by the door, allowing us to identify him. But the problem is that the surveillance systems were under maintenance at the time and did not capture any footage of him entering or leaving the premise. Also, while there is no official alibi given yet for obvious reasons, a traffic camera saw him across the city less than a half an hour later than the reported time of the crime. I'll leave it up to the detectives on whether or not that's noteworthy."

Bogo nodded. This is why moles, lemmings and fellow rodents are often great as forensics teams. Since they're so small, they're ideal for seeing miniscule details like a stray hair at a crime scene or a footprint that doesn't match any of the employees. And because of this attention to detail, they often notice other seemingly insignificant details as well.

"So we have a possible suspect. I know of Mr. Wilde as he has made no effort to stay invisible to the ZPD, but we've also never had a reason to arrest him. Every time we've approached him he's either slinked away or proved that we had no grounds against him. Sounds like he may have finally slipped up."

"Good." The mole said as he started wringing his hands together. "Perhaps now we can finally catch that no good dirty stinkin rottin pelt of a-"

"That's quite enough Meryl." Bogo sternly said, cutting off the scheming looking rodent. He liked Meryl enough to be on first name basis with him on occasion, but he did often seem a tad... well, odd. Even for a rodent, his obsession with dirt and geology was a bit off putting. He had once gone on an entire tangent about what he was able to deduce from the dirt in between Bogo's hooves. Granted he was an expert in that field and the head of the forensics team so it was a good thing, still a bit weird though.

But he didn't need any of those under his command going off on prejudicial tirades. There was enough of that junk in society already. So when any cases like that crossed his path, he stopped them with an iron hoof.

A couple moments passed during which Bogo stared the smaller mammal down, and said mammal looked anywhere but at Bogo's piercing eyes. "Uh, right. Sorry." He mumbled.

"Anything else?" Bogo tersely asked. Ready to end the now awkward atmosphere.

Mr. Moliere could tell he lost his chance at this also being a friendly visit and simply said "No Sir." and quickly took his leave, closing the door behind him.

Which unfortunately for Bogo triggered the memory of his argument with Hopps a few days back. She was one of the very few under his command who was able to stand up to him... Not that that is a good thing...

Bogo groaned at having that infuriating bunny back on his mind. He had hoped for a moment she'd be gone for a bit longer with the appearance of a friend, but that didn't happen. And now he had that slippery fox to-

Snapping up straighter than he's been in weeks, an idea started to develop in his mind. A wonderful… Awful... idea. And he smiled. And if anyone knew Bogo well, they'd know when he was smiling, 95% of the time it was NOT going to end well for somebody. Or in this case, two particular mammals that were a constant thorn in his side. He was gonna take out two bunnies with one kick if this went well.

Judy didn't even pay attention during the bullpen meetings anymore. She was honestly unsure why she didn't start doing this month's earlier. She was not being any less optimistic by not paying attention per se; Judy was simply confident in what was going to happen and therefore had no interest in it. Everyone was going to be rowdy: check. The greeting for Bogo: check. Him telling them to shut it: check.

While he called out the various teams of officers and their assignments, Judy didn't even look forward at Bogo. Instead she indifferently looked around the room with half lidded eyes, giving anyone who made eye contact with her a very bored look. A couple of them were thrown off balance by this. 'Could she look any more like a fox right now?' One of them thought. 'I'm starting to think Judy was meant to be born a fox.'Another thought.

Even once the last remaining officers left, Judy still didn't spare Bogo a glance. If she had, she would've seen him grinning. A number of times he hadn't even given her the official assignment of parking duty and just assumed she'd know what to do. So as Judy was about to get off her chair and on her way, Bogo spoke up.

"One moment Hopps. I got something special for you today."

She finally made eye contact with him upon hearing that, but no amount of brightness shone out of them like usual. It made Bogo grin. He was winning, and his plan would only solidify that. Judy mentally intoned, 'oh goody, I probably get to go to another district. Yaaayy…'

"You have a choice to make." 'Between paperwork or parking duty no doubt…'

"You can either go on your way and continue giving out parking tickets..." 'Or paperwork?'

"Or you can make a deal with me regarding a little... case I might have for you." That got her attention. For the first time since he saw her today, her eyes were now fully open and some of that light returned to her features. He didn't mind though.

"A... a-a a case? Sir?" She couldn't believe it. No way. Had- had something finally changed? Was she finally getting a chance to prove herself?!

"Yes, your mission, should you chose to accept it, is to find and apprehend a suspect and bring him in for questioning." He said while grinning and holding up a pointed hoof. But Judy was too excited to notice the abnormality of that.

"Ok. Who am I bringing in?" She was becoming so excited that she was hopping up and down a little. Bogo's grin got even wider, but not because of that. If she wasn't even going to ask what the other end of the deal was, this was going to be even easier than he thought. But then her annoying cute little jumping stopped and she donned a thoughtful expression.

"Wait... why wouldn't I accept the case?" 'Nuts.'

"Because there is a catch Hopps. IF you chose to accept this deal, you'd agree that IF you fail to complete your task within 48 hours starting this morning, you will be reassigned to another precinct."

"Oh!" And just like that her positive energy plummeted. Judy should've figured. Of course there was a catch! Of course the problem didn't just work itself out eventually. 'This isn't so much of a deal as it is an ultimatum,' she realized. 'But if this is the one chance I get to prove myself, than I'm taking it! '

"Ok. Deal."

"Splendid!" Bogo said with a grin that stretched from ear to ear while clasping his hands together. Reaching over to the podium he grabbed a manila folder and handed it to her. "Here is your case file. Have a good couple of days Hopps."

As she gingerly took the folder, she sent a suspicious look towards him. For the first time she started to notice the oddity of his behavior. He seemed awfully happy about her finally getting a chance to prove herself. Granted she did just accept an ultimatum, which he must expect to go his way, but that thought lasted only for a second. She was too excited to let whatever the Chief was planning hinder her mood.

"Yes Sir." She saluted and ran out the door, ready to begin her first case and to prove him wrong.

Bogo smiled as the little irritating ball of grey fluff vanished from his view. No doubt this would be one of the last times he'd see her. 'Have fun going down that road Hopps. No matter what, I win.'

Once outside, she sat down inside the Jokemobile without a single thought of her disdain for it. She was far too excited about this challenge. If she succeeded, it would be the best way of proving her worth possible. He wanted her to fail. And she was gonna shove that up his tail.

'So who am I even going after,' she curiously thought, realizing she still hadn't opened the case file. When she did, her ears, which had been erect even while she was inside the bullpen, finally drooped.

"Oh..." She quietly said upon seeing the top of the page. Her positive energy once more diminishing.

Case File:

Nicholas P. Wilde