And we focus a little bit on Ben and Mike and the sting has made it onto ZNN news!


Chapter 4: Made It to the News

After a harrowing day of pulling off the sting at the Rainforest District, Mikey returns to the ZPD completely satisfied and also exhausted as he enters the entrance and just saw Clawhauser, fiddling on his phone to take a few selfies of himself and he lets out a small giggle as he walks towards the front desk and said, "Hey, Benji."

Hearing Mikey's voice made Clawhauser startle and he turns to see the panda standing right in front of him and said, "Hi, Mikey! I didn't see you there! I was just taking a lot of selfies."

"I noticed. No worries, I take a lot of selfies too." Mikey stated, smiling.

Clawhauser squeals in delight after hearing this from Mikey that he takes selfies too and it definitely confirms that these two have a whole lot in common and Mikey continued saying, "I post them almost everyday on InstaGrowl whether it's what I do on my daily routine or just when I go on an amazing vacation."

"So do I! Well...mostly my vacations are when I'm at home. I just lay around on the couch, take selfies of myself, what I wear, even my feet." Clawhauser responded, quickly pauses himself on that last part he mentioned, which also left Mikey perplexed and curious.

Clawhauser immediately blushes after that and just mentioning that made Mikey a little weirded out and also surprised to hear it and Clawhauser grunts in embarrassment as he lowered his ears and said, "Now I just made it awkward."

"You take selfies of your feet?" asked Mikey.

"Yeah. It's embarrassing and stupid, I know. I have big feet, you know." Clawhauser replied, a little embarrassed.

"No, it shouldn't be. I bet they look cute." Mikey answered.

That made Clawhauser brighten up, perk up his ears and raise his tail joyfully and said, "Aw, thank you! No one ever compliments my feet before!"

Mikey chuckled in response to that and said, "Well, I guess that makes me the first!"

"So...how was your sting?" asked Clawhauser.

Mikey lets out a deep exhale and replied, "It was definitely interesting and nothing short of excitement. We managed to arrest more than the total amout Chief Bogo assigned us with because most of them were accomplices and family members of the criminals. Shockingly enough, one of those family members were parents and grandparents. You'd think that they would know better than to be involved in these kinds of cases."

Clawhauser gasped in shock when he heard that the parents were playing a part in those crimes and said, "That's just terrible!"

"I know! I wish I was making it all up, but hey...officers have seen every weird thing imaginable and it makes you do a double take. Sometimes, a triple or a quadruple take to see what's really going on." Mikey added.

Clawhauser nodded at that notion because officers have seen a share of insane, usual circumstances whenever they catch their criminals and he asked, "Think it'll be on the news?"

Mikey knew that that fact would come in pretty soon as he let out a heavy sigh and replied, "I don't think I'll be the least surprised if I saw it on the 6:00 news...or even later. Who knows?"


10:00 PM, Mikey's apartment

Mikey was just walking around the house, wearing his purple Gazelle tank top and grey briefs as he's talking on his phone with Judy Hopps on the other line as he got himself a little snack while they talk about today's events. He got most of his snacks and said, "...so many times before, Clawhauser and I are best friends. We just enjoy each other's company, that's all."

"Right...then how come you stared at his boxers after you got your officer's uniform on?" asked Judy, on the other line.

Mikey squealed in embarrassment and did not expect Judy to know about that and asked, "Who told you?"

"I found out for myself when I saw you come out of the locker room this morning. I think you have a crush on Benjamin. I already knew it from the blush on your face." Judy said, laughing.

Mikey face-palmed in response to the utmost naievety and said, "You really outsmart me sometimes, Judy. Even Nick could outsmart me and he doesn't have to say a word."

"I know you have a crush on Benji. You can't deny it." Judy replied, sing-songing the last part.

Mikey just lets out an amused sigh as he sets his snacks down on the table and then sits down on the couch and said, "Very funny. I gotta go, I have to see if the sting has captured the news yet."

"Oh, that's right! I gotta see it on my phone too. See you tomorrow!" Judy exclaimed.

"Bye, Jude." Mikey said, hanging up.

He sits back as he sets his phone down on the couch, then gorges himself on some popcorn and chips as he watches what's going on and he heard one news story about Donald Trunks persuading that he'll be the president of the entire animal uptopia if people vote for him to build a wall around every predator and prey alike as he quotes 'Make Zootopia Great Again!' Mikey threw some chips directly at the screen where he sees Trunks' face and boos at him as he says, "You can't even keep your Twhooter account shut, much less make us vote for you!"

"In local Zootopia news, the Zootopia Police Department arrested more than 28 criminals who were involved in the most recent online child predator case ever. 14 of the criminals had already had a record in their name and in a surprising twist, several others admitted becoming either accomplices or related to the criminals in assisting this epidemic. Leading the cause of 'Operation Reverse Predator' is officer Michael Pandahaugton, who's tech savvy smarts and unique sting of luring these technically crime breakers into thinking they won free electronics led them to those arrests."

"What was your strategy of luring these criminals in that warehouse in the Rainforest District?" asked one reporter.

"When I first heard about the case, I was pretty much surprised that many of these guys would take full advantage of kids who think they're friending someone who's above, near or in the same age as the victim, not knowing that they're much older than that...like in their 20's, 30's or 40's. They always use their phones, laptops, pads and whatever electronic thing they can get their paws and hooves on to use it for their own personal evil gratification. So, I thought that we could use those types of electronics to use against them...so, I lured the criminals in by using a fictional FaceZook ad that tells them they're about to win free electronics and they responded immediately." Mikey answered.

"In other words, the predators became the prey themselves?" asked the reporter.

"Yep. People would do anything to get their free electronics these days, even use them for this particular situation when they need that fix. Naturally, with the help of our awesome colleagues at the ZPD, we were able to bring their online predator crime to a screeching halt. What surprises me more is that most of the other accomplices were actual family members of the criminals. I know I've seen a lot of weird things involving family members helping their kids with robbery, assaults and other things, but this is personal first for me." Mikey answered.

Then, the reporter shifted the focus on Chief Bogo as one reporter asked, "Were you surprised by the growing number of people that are involved in this crime?"

"Not surprising that the 14 criminals actually showed up for their trap. But what does surprise me is the growing amount of people involved in this whole thing, most of them are family members, including the parents. In all the years I've been working for the ZPD, I've never seen anything of this magnitude. Were it not for the actions of Officer Pandahaughton and all the other officers at the ZPD, these criminals would still be elusive and would've continued on this crime." Bogo answered.

"Mikey, how did you find these criminals so fast?" asked another reporter.

"Honestly, using many social media apps to find them, but most of them were on FaceZook, InstaGrowl and SnarlChat and they're very quick to find. Next time, criminals should try a little harder to hide their digital evidence because we will find them." Mikey answered.

"Each of the criminals involved are currently booked in the ZPD prison awaiting their next hearing which will take place in a few days. We received several statements of the family's victims thanking Officer Pandahaughton for putting these criminals behind bars and the young kids will hopefully sleep easier tonight, but the parents will monitor what their kids do on their phones and the computers daily so that nothing like this happens again. Peter Moosebridge, ZNN."

Just hearing that the victim's families are thanking Mikey for what he had done made it so rewarding for him and it's just a reminder of why he loves doing what he does...to help kids that are victimized by a lot of internet predators taking advantage of younger kids, due in part that he's been there before and knows what the emotional, mental and psychological effects were. He smiled at that and said, "I knew I would make a difference."

Just then, he receives a text on his phone and he picks it up and there's a message from Clawhauser that read, 'Just saw you on the news! Congratulations!'

He then texts back to him and throughout most of the night, there was a back and forth text exchange between him and Clawhauser, each of them saying sweet friendly things about each other while ending them with emojis and he could talk to him all night if he could.


Wonder what the friendly text exchange between Mikey and Benji would be? You guys can take guesses and imagine what they would say. Stay tuned for more cute moment between Mike and Clawhauser!