Nick Wilde was staring at Judy. What she had just finished doing to him that morning was impossible to put into words. She said it was her first time, but Nick had met many… well… experienced women. None of them could pull off what she did. So he couldn't help but keep his eyes locked on her small, curvy form as she put on her police uniform for the day. She did look dashing in it, he had to admit. She, of course, did realize that Nick was looking at her, and decided to add a little extra performance because of it. By the time she finally had all her police gear on, Nick could barely speak.
"Looks like I have to go now, Nick." She said with a bit of a flair as she walked up to her partner, who was still laying on the bed. "I'll miss you a lot. If you need to talk about anything, just call me" she declared, taking on a more tender tone. "No more hiding this pain from me..."
"I'll miss you too, cottontail. Try not to get hurt, okay? I don't know what I'd do without you" Nick replied, putting a paw on her cheek.
"You know me, Nick. I do my best to keep this city safe, just like you do. I don't do anything at half throttle"
"Oh, believe me, I figured that out this morning"
Judy couldn't help but laugh. "God, Nick, flattery gets you everywhere, doesn't it?"
"It got me here. And I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, darling."
"Okay-" she said, before kissing him for a moment, slipping her tongue against his with her eyes closed before pulling away. "Now can it, you smooth tongued fox, I got to get to Bullpen."
"You forgot your pen, carrots." He said, tossing it to her. "I'd also not recommend hitting the play button in front of any other officers today."
"Why?" She asked, hitting the play button, releasing into the apartment the sounds of the fun they had been having only an hour earlier. "Nick, my god!"
"I couldn't resist, carrot cake! I just love to see your face blush."
Quickly, she cleared the recording from her pen. Nick told her his plans to help patch up Finnick's storefront that morning; the two told each other they loved each other before Judy left, leaving Nick in the room alone.
The fox sat there for a while. Nick and Judy were in a relationship. There was no denying it, and Nick knew this. His heart fluttered every time he saw her, and his thoughts would constantly drift back to the way she treated him, how she could get him to open up to her.
In any case, he had some time to kill before his dinner with the chief at 7:00. Slowly getting himself out of bed, he put on his standard Hawaiian shirt and khaki pants. He noted to pick up some other clothes from a store. Considering he was planning on visiting Finnick at Sahara Street to help him fix up his storefront, he would want to wear something new.
Stopping by a Targoat on the way to pick up a green polo shirt and cargo shorts (close enough to his style without being noticeably the same, he supposed), he walked over to Sahara Street. He'd carried a revolver with him for protection which he was supposed to give back to the ZPD the previous day. If the previous day had done anything, it'd made him paranoid. He regarded any prey animals wearing black closer than usual. By the time he'd caught Finnick at his storefront, he had almost drawn the weapon ten times. Bogo had a point the previous night, it seemed. His head was not in the right place.
"Finnick! I almost passed right by you. Still getting used to seeing you without an elephant costume and a pacifier" Nick teased, doing a good job covering the fear he had just walking around that street.
"Typical Nick, man. I was gonna tell you I feel for you and yo' house too, but fo'get about that, f'you's gon' be actin' all condescendin' an' shit" Finnick said, taking a break from sweeping up the broken glass of his baseball shop on the sidewalk. The two shared a quick laugh together before giving each other a high five. "Real talk though, Nick. You doin' all right after yesta'day, man? Heard all about that shit, that's rough."
"I'll get through it, Fin. It'll be fine, just need to replace some stuff, nothing too expensive" Nick said as he grabbed a broom and started to help Finnick.
"What about a place to live, Man?"
"I'll figure it out. I'm staying with Judy for now."
"Ah, I get ya'. I was startin' ta' wonda' why you be smellin' like you was half rabbit, man. Was staht'na think you two's was mo'n jus' work partners."
Nick froze for a moment, a detail that Finnick picked up on.
"Ah, damn man!" Finnick said, starting to laugh. "You ain't got no snide comment fo' that, do ya'? You tellin' me- no way- you two's is -"
Nick put a paw over his mouth before he could say any more. "Not so loud, Finnick! Jesus!"
Finnick broke away from his hand still busting up. "Hey man, Jesus ain't got nothin'a do with this!"
"Yeah, yeah, man, I get it. I finally find a girl I love, and she's a rabbit cop, very funny."
"Ah, man, tha's… hey man, I'm happy you found yo'self a nice girl, Nick. But this jus' be too damn funny!"
"Mhm, hilarious. So funny, in fact, that I think I won't cut you a third of this $8,000 check from Mr. Big so that you can pay to fix your storefront."
Finnick stopped laughing right at that moment. "A'ight. Imma shut up now. Glass repair be comin' round 'bout 2:00. My girl Petunia gon' be comin' 'round 'bout five fo' some grub at the Grand Palm hotel."
"Grand Palm? That's swanky; what's the occasion?"
"Hey man, 'sides this whole nine-two-one hit, e'rythang been goin' damn good fo' me. I managed to get a sto'front in Tundratown. Looks like another one comin' at Rainforest District. Petunia moved in with me while you was at police academy. We perfect fo' each other, Nick" the small fennec said as he reached into his pocket with a kind of soft sincerity that Nick had never seen from the usually fierce animal. He produced a small diamond ring out of his pocket.
"Fin! That's great! I'm really happy for you, man! Don't understand why you're bagging on me for being with Judy, though, if you were planning on slapping on the handcuffs with Petunia" he said, getting that sly grin on his face.
"I don't know. Maybe 'cause Petunia ain't a rabbit who can kick my ass. Or my work partner. Or in denial 'bout my relationshi-"
Both of the foxes' ears perked up suddenly. "Uh, Fin, you hear something in the distance?"
Finnick looked around, suddenly worried as he found the street empty. "Wait… hell no. Did e'rybody ruin off while we was talkin', man?"
Suddenly, Nick felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. Quickly, he picked it up and turned to Finnick as the distant sound got closer. "It's carrots. No, no, not now!"
"Answa' it, man. Maybe she know wha's goin' on!"
Nick hit the answer button. "Hey, carrot cake!"
"Carrot cake? You goin' off the deep end, man" Finnick said, earning a glare from Nick.
"Nick? Honey? You said you were going to help Finnick redo his storefront, right?" Judy said from the other end.
"Yeah. Is everything alright, Judy?" That's when Finnick's ears really shot up. He knew that Nick only referred to Judy by her name when things got really serious. "One second, Judy, let me put you on speaker, Finnick is right here." He hit the speaker button.
"Nick, Fin, get out of Sahara street right now" A worried Judy blared from the other end.
Immediately, Nick pulled out his revolver and grabbed finnick by his shirt collar, dragging him into a nearby back alleyway. "Damn, Nick! You didn't tell me you was carryin' a piece!"
"You have a gun? Nick! Were you expecting confrontation?"
Nick kept dragging his friend through back alleyways. "Not now, Judy! Just tell us what's going on!"
"It's Sanchez, Nick! He cooped up in his store expecting a Nine-Two-One member to come to kill him. He was right, Nick. He managed to shoot the intruder, fatally."
"Sanchez… damn" Finnick said when Nick had paused at an alleyway corner. At this point, the fennec fox wasn't being dragged around by his friend, and was moving on his own.
"He's innocent of any crime because it was self defense, but ZNN spun the report by failing to mention that the Zebra who broke into the flying fish to kill him was armed, and later they forgot to mention that he had actually broken into the bar. Nick, that ZNN report started a riot. Prey animals are marching on Sahara street to loot predator businesses."
"Fin, does Petunia work on Sahara Street?"
"Nah, man, she works at the train station in Precinct One. She's safe."
"Tell her not to come back to Sahara Street! Do you have a place away from there to stay?" Judy asked.
"Yeah, 'bout five blocks!"
"That won't do! The analysts are saying that they expect this to consume about ten blocks! Get your girlfriend and yourself to Tundratown or the Rainforest district, Nick and I will pay for a hotel there. But move quickly. And Nick! Be careful, please! The rioters are armed. I can't lose you" She said with a very real quiver in her voice, as if she was about to cry.
"Of course, Carrots. You think this is my first riot?" He said, hoping to calm her down with the suave she'd grown to love.
"Please, Nick. Just be safe. Goodbye."
She hung up the phone, leaving Nick and Finnick to their own devices. "Damn, Nick. She really do love you" The smaller one said.
"Yeah, well, I won't get the chance to love her back if we don't find our way out of this riot! So I say we should probably get a move on that so you can propose to your girlfriend and I can make it to dinner with the Chief of Police by 7:00!"
"Damn, you changed. All of a sudden you wants to make it on time to thangs. Funny as hell what police school teach you."
"We got bigger things to focus on, Finnick. Hmm… there, that street looks empty!"
Nick walked over to the end of one of the alleyways. Peeking around the corner, he saw a massive wall of prey animals walking in their direction carrying baseball bats, molotov cocktails, and signs. The fox quickly ducked back behind the wall, pushing his friend back farther as well. "Uh, Finnick, we have every prey animal in Zootopia coming from that street. What about the other side, over there?" He asked, pointing to another alleyway escape which Finnick promptly peeked around the corner of.
"Dammit! Nah, Nick, s'all protesters. See dat fire escape, though?" Finnick asked.
"Yeah, well, it's better than nothing. We have to take it. Come on!"
Quickly, the two scurried up the fire escape to the roof of the building, where they could get a better view of the streets below. "Oh my god" The two said in unison as they looked around.
They were entirely surrounded by prey protesters, all four sides. They were all carrying something sufficient to smash windows in, which they promptly did whenever they saw a business they recognized as predator owned.
"We're trapped. We are completely trapped. Isn't this just perfect? What are we going to do?"
Finnick, hoping to get his partner's head right, jumped up to smack Nick in the face. "Nick, shut the hell up! We gotta keep our heads right. We's is foxes, man! We can get outta this. We're smart. Now, some 921 zebra got capped at the flyin' fish, right?"
"Yeah. That's probably where the mob is going."
"Exactly. What do police do when there's a riot?"
"They set up a perimeter, standard procedure."
"Then all we got's to do is keep hoppin' roofs in the opposite direction of the protesters, man!"
"I'm sorry, but do you see the distances between these roofs! It's insane!"
Finnick looked around for something, anything that could be used as a bridge, but to no avail. "Dammit."
"Yeah. And even though the buildings seem tightly knit now, what happens when we need to cross a street?"
A ding came from Finnick's phone. "Hold up, I just got a text. Say there be a group of predators holdin' up on the roof of the Sake Mart liquor store."
"Sake mart? What is that, Japanese?"
"Korean, man. Store owner be a Raccoon Dog named Bae Yong Joon."
"That's our best bet. Where's his business at?"
"'Bout two blocks east of here."
"Okay. We just need to find a way to get over there."
The two looked around for a way to go. "We gonna have to jump some roofs, man."
Nick sighed. "I know. Well, after you, Finnick."
"Ah, hell no, man, ladies first."
"Oh, I got an idea, maybe I can throw you across the gap to the next roof, you take this rope-" He said, grabbing a rope that was sitting on the rooftop. "-and I climb across on that!" He sarcastically exclaimed, as if it were a bad idea.
"You know what, Nick! F'you's gon' be a condescending prick about it, I might just do it! Gimme that damn rope!"
Nick shoved one end of the rope into Finnick's hands. The small fox put that end into his mouth and hopped up into Nick's arms.
"Do it, Nick! Just throw me 'cross this gap. You clearly have the best ideas!" He said angrily through gritted teeth.
"You know what, fine! You risk your life getting thrown across a damn rooftop!" Nick picked up the fox, ran across the roof, and threw him angrily across the gap onto the next rooftop. The small fox hopped up and dusted himself off.
"Look what you did, you sarcastic idiot! You just came up with a good idea! Wait. Damn, man, you just came up with a good idea!" Finnick got to work immediately, tying his end of the rope around a railing on the rooftop he had landed on.
"All right, Finnick! I'm going to swing across and use the rope to climb up the side!"
"Be careful, dude!"
Nick pulled the rope tight, and sat on the edge of the roof he was on. He counted to himself, down to three, before swinging down and hitting the side of the building feet first. Quickly, however, he lost his grip and fell two stories into the alleyway below.
"Nick!" Finnick said, panicking and sliding down the rope to check on his friend. "You all right? That was a nasty drop, man!"
The fox rubbed the back of his head in pain, but slowly got up. "Ah… I think I broke a rib, ach… this hurts like hell!"
"Man, you lucky a rib is all you broke. I thought you damn near cracked yo' skull!"
The fennec looked to his right to see an empty street. "We got one block to go on that street, then we at the Sake mart!"
"What about the rioters?"
"Give me yo' gun! I'll shoot at 'em if they try anything stupid!"
Nick handed over the gun; he was in no condition to be shooting at that point. "Once we're on the roof of the Sake mart, I can probably give the Chief a call. He can send a helicopter or something to come pick us up. It'll be the one time I enjoy hearing the sound of his voice."
The two rushed out into the street as fast as they could, hoping to beat the wave of rioters that was headed their way. But they were short on time. Nick had to hobble along, clutching his broken rib. Finnick did his best to drag him further out, but after ten seconds of running, a mob of prey animals had rounded the corner, with a pickup truck in the center of the crowd. On the flatbed was a gazelle wearing black with a megaphone and a lit molotov cocktail. In the distance, the pair could hear him shout slogans. "My homeboy Lucky gets killed by some shop owner at the flyin' fish, and what do the police do? They protect him! Sayin' it's self defense! You know what I say to that?" The crowd responded in unison. "Nine to One!" The gazelle continued as Nick and Finnick picked up the pace. "That's the ten percent gangin' up on the ninety percent. That's the fact that they put a Cheetah in the Mayor's office when most of they citizens is prey!"
"It's called an e-lec-tion" Nick said with a labored breath as he picked up the pace, finally seeing the Sake Mart in the distance. "Ow, ow- now is not the time for jokes!"
"Yeah, no bullshit, Nick!"
The gazelle on the pickup truck spotted them. "Hey, there's two of 'em right there! They was born to eat you! They was born to oppress you! Now it's time fo' you to get yo' pound a' flesh!"
With a mad fury, the crowd of young, hotheaded prey animals started dashing towards them. They only had 500 feet to clear to get to the two running foxes. Nick disregarded the pain in his rib, and started to dash wildly toward the sake mart, Finnick in tow, pulling out his gun and aiming it at the crowd.
"This revolver got five, six, or eight cylinders, Nick?" The finnick asked, wondering if he had the ammo to fire a warning shot.
"Eight!" The larger fox yelled at the top of his lungs.
"I got you, Nick! Cova' yo' ears!"
Nick did exactly that, as Finnick swiveled his ears back against his head and aimed the revolver just above the crowd, firing a warning shot that hit a storefront just above some of the rioters. It was a miracle he didn't shoot one of them in the head, but it seemed to work, and kept the less foolhardy protesters back. However, the truck pressed on, and some of the larger prey animals charged forward with even more speed.
"Nick, keep runnin!"
The two sprinted at full speed now, seeing the owner of the Sake Mart on top of the roof with a shotgun in his hand, and various other Korean predators on the rooftop with an assortment of firearms being brandished to deter rioters. Shopping carts were piled up to the eaves as a barrier along the entire storefront. They saw the two foxes running away from the crowd. The raccoon dog with a shotgun yelled something in Korean, and suddenly, a barrage of lead was put up between the two foxes and the protesters, keeping everyone back. The foxes kept running towards the storefront, and the roof Koreans kept up the wall of bullets that was keeping their fellow predators safe.
By the time the two managed to reach the store, the owner had dropped a wood and rope ladder for the two to climb up. Nick went up first, collapsing and grasping the right side of his ribcage as he got to the roof. Finnick went up second, deciding not to spend the other seven bullets he had. He turned on the weapon's safety and put it in his belt, climbing up the ladder.
"Bae Yong Joon… thank God fo' Raccoon Dogs…"
