The Fox and The Rabbit
Chapter 4: Missing Mammals
Nick winced as he felt the bullet wound in his chest twinge, it'd been a month since Nick had lost both his superior Officer and his Partner. Sam and Bagheera's funerals were in the next week. Conveniently scheduled to match Judy's graduation, Nick thought that it was because Mayor Lionheart didn't want the First Bunny Cop's graduation to be ruined by a group of sombre detectives and police officers.
Nick sighed through his nose, Nick had been informed that in the absence of the Commissioner, Chief Bogo would be taking over the Detective department of the ZPD, which meant that the Missing Mammal case, which had been assigned a week before Sam and Bagheera's deaths, would go over to the Police Officers or, as Nick and Sam used to call them, shiny's. Nick shuddered as he thought about the other cases they'd be exposed to, such as the homicides, the kidnappings and many others. Nick only hoped that Judy wouldn't get assigned anything too major.
*/TFaTR/*
Nick huffed as he hauled himself in a chair in the bullpen. Nick looked around and saw some other detectives, such as Wolford and Grizzoli, Nick had been partnered with Wolford in his early days as a Detective. Nick rubbed at his chest, wincing slightly when his paw passed over his bullet wound. Nick heard someone stop next to his chair. Looking down, Green eyes met Purple.
"Hi, Nick." Said Judy, giving him a small wave.
"Hey, Carrots." Replied Nick, shifting to the side, "come on, there's enough room for us both."
Judy looked up at the red furred mammal before joining him on the chair. Judy looked across from Nick, towards McHorn.
"Hey, ready to make the world a better place?" Said Judy, holding her fist out.
McHorn looked at her and rolled his eyes, before slowly pressing his fist against the Rabbits and pushing her and Nick away, along with the chair.
"Thanks, Seb, feeling the love." Said Nick, looking at the Rhino.
"At least I'm not stuck with the beat-cop." Said McHorn, making Nick wince.
"Don't make me pull rank, Officer." Said Nick, smirking.
McHorn was about to reply when Bogo walked in, holding a clip board.
"Quiet!" Shouted Bogo, his deep voice reverberating through the assembled Police Officers and Detectives.
"I have four items on the docket, first we need to acknowledge the Elephant in the room." Said Bogo, "Francine!" Making a female Elephant jump, "Happy Birthday, making the group go wild.
"Secondly, due to the deaths of Detective Frost and Commissioner Bagheera, We have been saddled with the Detectives, most of whom you should recognise." Continued Bogo, some of the Detectives give small waves.
"Thirdly, we have our first Bunny, but I'm not going to go into detail because I don't care." Said Bogo, making Nick grin.
"How's the line of Inspirational Greeting Cards, Thaddeus?" Asked Nick, grinning and making some Officers and Detectives laugh.
"Shut it, Wilde!" Snapped Bogo, before going back to work, "Lastly, We have fourteen missing Mammal cases, all ranging from a mighty polar bear to a tiny little Otter, and since Commissioner Bagheera is now dead, City hall is right up my Tail searching for some answers."
Bogo then gave out assignments to the Detectives and Police Officers, many of whom were paired together.
"Hopps, Wilde, Parking Duty." Said Bogo, making Nick's eyes widen.
"Sir, I am more than capable with full field duty." Protested Nick, getting out of the chair, his chest twinging slightly.
"I graduated at the Top of my Class, in case you forgot, sir." Said Judy, looking up at Bogo.
"I didn't forget, Hopps, I just don't care. Wilde, you're still healing and it's best for both you and the Bunny work together, since you are the same size." Said Bogo, looking at them.
"Sir, I don't need a kit-sitter." Said Nick, his ears flattening against his head.
"Remember the last time you were injured." Said Bogo, making Nick shut up.
"Sir, I'm not some token Bunny." Said Judy, looking at the Cape Buffalo.
"Then you shouldn't have a problem writing 100 tickets then." Said Bogo, leaving the room. Leaving Nick and Judy alone.
"Nick, if you're still healing, why are you in?" Asked Judy, after a moment's silence.
"They can't get a hold of my mother." Said Nick, walking out of the room, "Coming, Carrots?"
Judy raced after the Fox.
*/TFaTR/*
Nick and Judy walked along the street, next to a line of Parking meters. Nick was checking the odd numbered meters, while Judy checked the even numbered meters.
"Usually with this, we have to leave some lee-way time, such as a minute or two, enough time for them to get back to their cars, hopefully with a good reason why they were gone so long." Said Nick, looking at a meter, "Who the hell puts a parking meter on for twelve hours?"
Nick's question was answered when a sloth walked up to him slowly.
"Good…..Morning…Officer…Can…..I…Help…You?" Asked the Sloth, looking at Nick.
"No, no, everything's fine." Said Nick, walking to the next meter on his list.
Judy looked at Nick, "That usually happen?"
"Sloths are very slow, Carrots." Said Nick, looking at the meter, which had timed out over an hour ago.
"Well, I wonder what this one's excuse is." Said Nick, looking at the van in front of him.
"Well, my excuse is that I had to walk to a customer's garage because their car wouldn't start and it took me an hour to fix the problem." Said a deep voice behind Nick, making Nick sigh.
"Hello, Finn, how are you?" Asked Nick, while a majority of the crowd was staring at the deep voiced Fennec Fox.
"Same old, you ride still working?" Said Finnick, looking up at the Red Fox.
"More or less, how's Tasha?" Asked Nick, looking at his sister's boyfriend.
"Which answer won't get me arrested?" Asked Finnick, before both started laughing, "She's fine man, your Kit is a handful at times, how's the recovery going?"
"Slowly, working with Judy." Said Nick, pointing behind him.
"A parking meter?" Asked Finnick, looking behind Nick.
Nick spun around and saw Judy chasing a weasel. Nick quickly said goodbye to Finnick before chasing after Judy. Nick followed Judy into Little Rodentia. The Weasel, who Nick recognised as Duke Weaselton, had jump atop a train, leaving Judy behind to steady some buildings. Nick was vaguely aware of McHorn calling for back up, while he drew level with Judy.
"Town centre, come on, we can cut him off." Said Nick, pulling Judy down an alley. Judy jumped atop a set of travel tubes, hanging off it and grabbing Duke. The two tumbled into the town, Judy running up to Duke, while Nick ushered the Rodents away from the disruption.
"Have a donut, Flatfoot." Said Duke, kicking the sign of a Rodent sized donut place towards Judy, who dodged the sign but had to stop it from hitting an Arctic Shrew. Nick watched from afar as the pains in his chest stung before dying down, by that time Judy had placed the sign around Duke and picking up his bag.
"You alright, Nick?" Asked Judy, looking at the Fox.
"Never better." Lied Nick.
*/TFaTR/*
Nick and Judy sat in front of Bogo.
"Abandoning your post, endangering civilians but I'll give it to you, you did catch the thief getting away with two dozen mouldy onions." Said Bogo, gesturing to the bag.
"Actually sir, those aren't onions, they're a breed of flower that is often used as a pesticide." Said Judy, looking a Bogo.
"Some mammals also use the extract from them to get high." Said Nick, making Bogo shift his gaze to the Fox.
"Can it, Wilde, you're meant to be taking it easy, since you have yet yo fully recover." Snapped Bogo, glaring at the Fox.
"Thaddeus, you and I both know that I don't do easy." Said Nick, just as Clawhauser spoke through the phone, shortly before Mrs. Olivia Otterton burst into the room.
A/N: Right, shitty chapter I know but frankly I'm behind schedule, Here it it, hope you like it, next chapter will be called 48 hours.