Judy's eyes cracked open. Something felt very wrong. Her eyes alighted on the alarm clock a few feet away from her face. 5:31am.
That's it! No alarm going off! What's happening?
She suddenly became aware that this was not her room. The walls were too far away, the bed was too large and comfortable, and there was a fox wrapped around her.
Oh, right, I'm at Nick's. I wonder when he gets up.
She attempted to gently shift away, but the movement caused spasms of pain to wrack her body. At the same time, she felt Nick's arms pulling her back into him. She was now aware of a not-so-dull ache that seemed to radiate from her core out to her whole body.
"Ugh, what did you do to me, fox?" she mumbled.
"I was gonna say the same thing," Nick slurred. He parted his jaws to let out a yawn, then rolled over to stretch his limbs. He let out a quick yelp at the searing pain as he pulled on taut muscles and quickly curled back into a ball. "You know, they say the more it hurts the next day, the better the sex was."
"Then we must have knocked it out of the park. Whoop-dee-fucking-doo," Judy groaned. She flopped onto her back and then shimmied up against the pillows and headboard, cringing at the effort of lifting her torso off the bed. "I feel like a just sparred against Bogo for an hour and a half."
"Still got it." Nick made a weak attempt to hold his paw out for a fist bump. Judy tried to swat his paw away but found the pain in her flank not worth the effort of moving her arm. She settled for trying to examine the room before realizing she could barely see anything.
"Nicky, can you get the lights?"
"Why don't you?"
"In case you haven't noticed, I can barely move!"
"Ugh, fine. But only if you never call me Nicky again." Nick grunted as he scooted over to the edge of the bed, then rolled off of it onto the floor.
"You okay over there? And why can't I call you Nicky?" Nick stood up, wobbling, and steadied himself on the edge of the bed.
"Because a) it's far too ungodly an hour for us to be talking about anything, b) I'm the one who makes up cute nicknames, and c) only my mother calls me that." He started trudging towards the light switch by the door.
"But you like being called Slick."
"That's not cute, it's cool." Nick flicked the lights on, then shot finger guns at Judy. She rolled her eyes in response.
"Fine, get back here and warm me up then."
"With pleasure."
Nick took a couple steps forward, then slowly lowered himself onto all fours. He leapt into the air following a high arc and landed standing over Judy, sinking deep into the memory foam of the mattress.
"Show off."
"You're just jealous of my foxy superpowers," he said, collapsing on top of her. They both sighed contentedly while drifting back into sleep.
"Doc, I swear, I'm fine."
"The mere fact that you assert that does not make it true."
Nick glared at the shrew who sat in an elevated armchair across from him. A plaque on the desk to his left read, in tiny font, 'Dr. Andrew Chettleberry, ZPD Psychologist'.
"Then how do I prove it?" the fox pleaded.
"By answering my questions seriously, Officer Wilde. It's not everyday that we have a new officer get involved in a lethal firefight, let alone be the one who caused that lethality, then the next day he's beating and mauling three mammals senseless."
"It was all self-defense, I feel fine about it."
"That is precisely the problem. Why aren't you more shaken up?"
Nick grabbed his chest in an expression of horror. "Doc, I just realized, I feel horrible. So guilty. I've gotta go to church and say a thousand hail-Marys right now. Thanks for the help, buh-bye."
"Not so fast, Officer Wilde." Nick froze, halfway out of his chair. His ears slumped against the back of his skull and he slid back into his seat, crossing his arms. "Look I understand that you think everything is ok, and outwardly you certainly seem like your normal, agitating self, but I need to confirm that that is true, or you could be a danger to yourself and your fellow officers."
"Alright, so whaddya wanna know?"
"As I said, why aren't you more concerned? A rookie shouldn't have been able to do what you did, let alone so calmly. I will remind you that everything you say here is strictly confidential. You can tell me anything."
"Unless you have a reasonable belief that I am mentally unfit for the job, which can mean whatever you want it to." Nick smirked.
Dr. Chettleberry sighed. "Yes, you are correct there Officer Wilde. But if you don't cooperate you will be placed on desk duty until you do."
Nick sighed, defeated. "Alright, alright. I'll talk."
"Excellent. Let's start somewhere easier. How did you feel the night after the warehouse?"
Maybe a little bit of truth will help me get out of this sooner.
"Honestly, I was pretty shaken up. But I talked to Judy about it and she consoled me, and I feel fine now."
Now it was the shrew's turn to smirk. "Oh really? She consoled you? How nice."
Nick's muzzle immediately twisted into a snarl. "Hey! It wasn't like that! And I won't have you talking about my partner like that."
"Alright, sore subject, I apologize. I must say I can't imagine what it must feel like to have my relationship be the main subject of the office rumor mill."
"About half as bad as it being about you being some kind of psycho-killer."
"And how does that make you feel?"
In for a penny, in for a pound.
Nick looked straight at the shrew, his face emotionless. "Scared."
"And why is that?"
Finally, we're getting somewhere, though Dr. Chettleberry.
"Because what if they're right? I wasn't exactly thinking clearly at the warehouse or especially Pete's. Just 'hurt bad guys, protect Judy'."
Dr. Chettleberry nodded while scribbling on a notepad.
"Uh-oh. You haven't gotten that out yet, doc. That's a bad sign. I should not have said that."
"No, I'm glad you did. If you said you felt completely in control, then I might have been worried. As it stands, I think you're fine, although you'll be seeing more of me in the future. If for no other reason than because department regulations require eight weeks of counseling after a life-or-death scenario."
"So, I'm free to go and keep working on the case?" Nick was ecstatic.
"Yes, run along now. And send in your partner, would you?"
Judy fidgeted in her chair, her foot swinging aimlessly with nothing to tap on.
The shrew looked up from his notepad. "Do go on, Officer Hopps."
"What more can I tell you? I feel perfectly safe around Nick, and so should everyone else. There's nothing wrong with him, believe me." Probably not my place to go prattling on about his criminal background though, medical privacy or not.
"And how do you know that?"
Now Judy was getting frustrated. Why wouldn't this stupid therapist just take no for an answer? "Because he's my partner and I've known him longer than any of you! Nick's a good mammal. Everyone knows he's perfectly harmless and jokey all the time. He just gets… aggressive… when he fights."
"That's a bit of an understatement. Where would have learned to fight like that anyways? Certainly not at the academy. His police training might have explained the warehouse shootout. He was a star student, especially in marksmammalship, and there was a reason besides prejudice that the ZPD used to be all predator. Like it or not, we're not all the same, and preds tend to respond a bit ah, better in fight-or-flight situations than most prey. You know, more… fightey."
Judy was caught. Lie and say she didn't know about the past of her partner that she claimed to know well, or tell him about Nick's criminal past.
Or invent some other explanation.
Oh great idea. He wasn't a mobster, just involved in illegal underground pred cage matches.
Maybe that's just how fox martial arts work?
Oh yeah I'm sure he'd buy that. And if he did, how would that help to have everyone distrust Nick and all foxes even more?
Ugh. So whaddo I do?
Beats me.
You're a real help.
Dr. Chettleberry cleared his throat. "Officer Hopps, hello?"
"Huh? Oh, sorry. Just lost in thought there."
"Yes, I saw. We were discussing Officer Wilde's fighting prowess…" He inclined his muzzle at her.
"Shouldn't you be asking him about that, not me?" Aha! Got him there. Let Slick Nick deal with that.
"Hmmm, perhaps. Well we do know after that whole affair with you and Officer Wilde in the ambulance, and the lack of your usual energy today, that you and Officer Wilde are still getting along swimmingly. Since you don't seem to be showing any adverse effects otherwise from your recent ordeals, I see no reason to keep you here. See you next week!" he finished cheerily with what Judy was sure was a very unprofessional shit-eating grin. She fumed at his insinuation as she slowly and painfully made her way out.
It's not like it's not obvious. I'm surprised more people haven't mentioned it yet if I'm honest.
Nick was waiting for her outside, and as she came out of the door he quickly sprang out of his chair and walked over. Despite his commiserating with her this morning, it was now clear that she was the worse for wear of the two of them.
I'm going to have to change that for rabbit pride.
"Hey Carrots. He manage to discover your Oedipus Complex?" He generously bent down so that she could punch his shoulder without making any extra effort. The hobbling bunny gladly complied.
"Look at me, Fluff. Going all soft on you now that you've been fox-dicked."
"I'll show you soft!" Judy attempted to jump onto his back and strangle him, but found that her legs refused to move once she squatted down to begin the jump. "Nick, a little help here?"
He turned, not having noticed her sudden stop, and burst out into laughter at the bunny who had now rolled over onto her side on the floor. "Right away Grandma Hopps!" He continued in a falsetto, "Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!"
As acting detectives Nick and Judy had some new privileges that they hadn't enjoyed before. Besides much more discretion over how they spent their time on the clock, they now had access to the majority of the ZPD's facilities. Currently, they were in records, surveying everything that was known about the Ney crime family.
"Huh, it says here they almost never hire or work with preds," Judy remarked.
"Their loss," Nick replied without looking up from the file he was surveying.
"You're not bothered by that?"
"I've seen far worse, especially from mafia families."
"So, you find anything yet?"
"I'm reading over the testimonies from the mammals they caught in the SUV I stopped. They wouldn't say anything. Those Ney guys must be scary."
"That's for sure. They and their affiliates have been involved in six shoot outs with the ZPD this year alone. Plus countless murders and missing mammal cases."
"Damn. They make Mr. Big look like a pussy cat."
"Don't make me tell him that next time I hang out with Fru-Fru."
"You wouldn't dare put your fox in danger." Nick batted his eyes at her.
"Talk to Wolford, your puppy face needs work."
Nick and Judy sat behind the one-way mirror and watched the ram who seemed to be melting before their eyes. They had spent two days like this now, while Paul Olafsson, a lieutenant in the Vice Squad, grilled the three mammals that had been in the SUV. Now they had finally made a breakthrough thanks to the intimidating polar bear. Nick put down his notepad and grinned. He enjoyed watching a master at work, no matter what they were doing. Next to him, Judy was barely suppressing a giggle.
"Well, looks like we'll finally have a lead to follow up. Shame that we're off duty for the next two days," Nick said without looking away from the scene. Judging by Paul's reaction, it appeared that the ram had actually just wet his pants.
"Ugh. I forgot about that. You sure we can't convince Bogo to let us work?" Judy's chipper mood was instantly dashed.
"Already tried. He said that he would have considered it, but with the 'mental health concerns'," Nick rolled his eyes and shook his paws, "he's insisting that we at least take this break. But you know what that does mean?"
"What?" Judy was once again engrossed in watching Lieutenant Olafsson.
"Today's your favorite day, Carrots: Sparring Day!" It was department policy that officers complete either hand-to-hand combat training or marksmammalship training on the last day of each duty rotation.
"You ready to get rocked, Fox?"
"You wish. I'm sure we'll have quite a crowd today. Maybe even bigger than the first time."
Nick was right, he and Judy had drawn their biggest crowd yet. Nearly every officer on duty—every one that could make a halfway decent excuse—was there. Even Chief Bogo had showed up to see how the wonderbunny would hold up against the fox. They were always a good show to watch, seeming to trade off who got the better of the other depending on the day, but everyone assumed they would be much more serious today than they normally were.
Nick stood in the middle of the ring, wearing a pair of boxing shorts and nothing else. Judy was leaning against the ropes, yanking on her gloves, headgear already on.
"You still sure you wanna do this, Carrots?"
"We have to spar ya dumb fox."
"Yeah but we could just box like we normally do, or work some jiu-jitsu."
"I told you no holding back, Nick. Now get over here so I can punch that stupid grin off your muzzle."
"Alright, but you asked for it." Judy slapped her gloves together, giving Nick a bring-it gesture as she started circling.
Here we go. Let's get this over with, Nick thought. He dropped on all fours and raced towards her, closing the gap before she had time to react. He slammed into her, paws moving to pin her arms when they hit the ground. Before she could even try to twist free, his jaws closed around her neck, stopping precisely when he felt the skin beneath her fur start to push back against his teeth.
Their eyes met for a moment, a look of mostly confusion and shock in Judy's and something between apologetic and gloating in Nick's. Then he released her and sat back on his knees, still in a mount position over her. Nick looked around and noticed the shocked silence filling the room. He considered his next words.
"What, I mean did anyone really think that a bunny could beat a fox?"
I really should have seen that coming, he thought as Judy's gloved fist connected with his jaw. Nick rolled over with the blow and was back on all fours, facing Judy as she hopped to her feet. He had to momentarily resist the urge to snarl or growl.
Do I really want to rub it in?
After that punch? Yes, yes I do.
With a flick of his tail he charged towards her again. Again, Judy was either too slow or too shocked to be able to do anything about the larger mammal barreling into her. This time Nick just lowered his muzzle until it was inches away from hers.
"You know, pred vs. prey with boxing gloves, this isn't gonna go any other way."
"Watch me!" she spat back.
Maybe I shouldn't rub it in too hard.
"Fine," he said, again rising to a sitting position. "One more round for all the marbles, then we go back to normal sparring." He got up and stepped back a few paces. He tilted his head to the side when he saw Judy taking off her gloves.
"What're you doin', Carrots?"
"Well, we're obviously not boxing, so I see no need for these." She pulled off the padded helmet and tossed it and the gloves to the side of the ring. She lowered herself onto all fours. "Bring it, Fox!"
"Oo, have I inspired another disciple? Cast off thine wicked ways and walk as God meant for thee, my child," he shouted as he lowered himself onto all fours and began to stalk towards the bunny. He saw her nose begin to twitch as he got within a few feet of her. As he raised his left paw for another step forward, she bolted to the right, and they were off.
The assembled crowd watched the grey and russet streaks criss-cross the ring, occasionally bouncing off the ropes, other times following the edge like they were running laps, then spiraling towards the middle before shooting off in a new direction again. Just when everyone was beginning to lose hope that anything at all would happen, Nick and Judy tumbled to stop in heap. Nick had Judy wrapped up in his arms, and they were both laughing like madmammals. They only stopped once they started kissing.
"Alright, we've all seen enough here, everyone back to your posts," Chief Bogo bellowed over the rising hoots and hollers at the couple. "Hopps, Wilde, you're done for the day. Go shower and enjoy that on your weekend, not in my precinct!"
Nick snapped upright and give Chief Bogo a salute. "Right away, Chief! Hopps, let's go shower and fuck in my car!" Judy facepawed. Bogo fixed Nick with a look that would have had any mere mortal whimpering in the corner while the chuckling officers filed out of the gym, some moving quickly to escape any collateral from Bogo's wrath, others attempting to linger to see what would happen next. "On second thought, maybe we should wait until we get home and never bring this up with the you again, Chief. That sounds like a plan." Nick and Judy nearly sprinted out of the gym as the chief's steely gaze followed them. Once they were gone he sighed.
"I've got to pawn them off to Silas permanently before I get heart palpitations."
Anna Burford was having a very bad day. She attempted to shake her head to clear her swimming thoughts, only to be arrested by the jarring pain in her neck and skull. She settled for letting her head loll to the side and spitting out a loose tooth that her tongue had just discovered. She lifted her muzzle back up to face the dark silhouette that stood over her.
"You learned your lesson yet, Badger?" the other mammal asked.
Why give them the satisfaction if I'm going to die anyways?
Anna managed a weak chuckle. "Oh sure, all horses are dicks, it's not just you." The huge, hooved fist crashed into her chest again, making her already ragged breathing come even more unevenly.
Can't be good for my asthma.
The laugh caused by her own joke sent her into a coughing fit. Just as the horse was about to strike her again the door to the small room opened.
"Boss, we need ya outside." Archibald Ney turned away from the badger towards the light of the open door, giving Anna her only brief view of his face. As he walked out of the room she heard him speak to the unseen voice.
"Take the beast and dump it back in front of its shop."
"Right away, Boss."
Archibald clomped into his office and dropped into the chair behind his expansive desk. Ornate wood carvings of scenes from horse mythology separated him from the other mammal in the room. His brother, Angstrom, was leaning against a wall, waiting for him. The two aging horses looked at each other for a moment before speaking. They were both in their 40s. Archibald had always cut the more imposing figure of the two, and was still in remarkably good shape despite the wear and tear of 25 years building and running a criminal empire. Angstrom had always been more bookish, and even now with all his wealth he still preferred to wear simple khakis, a collared shirt, and a sweater, as opposed to the fine, tailored suit his brother wore.
"What happened, Angstrom? I was having fun with that troublesome badger from Plainview."
"Yes, well this is rather more pressing, brother. The ZPD is apparently hot on our heels after the warehouse shootout. Already our informants are telling us that detectives are combing the whole city trying to figure out where the guns came from, how they got into the city, and what we plan to do with them. A few days ago they raided and took down Big Pete, apparently mistaking him for our supplier. What's more, it was done by only two officers, that fox and rabbit duo."
"So Nick Wilde is willing to turn all his old friends and enemies over to the ZPD. That's troublesome, but more so for others than us. We'll have to be more careful for now though, especially with the next shipment."
"Also, sources in the Precinct 1 jail say that they're raking the mammals that got caught or injured over the coals for info. One of them's bound to break soon."
"That shouldn't give them much more than Precinct 8 up here already knows."
"Remember, they have Ronny Carrero. He knows a lot about the operation and if he feels like we've abandoned him, he'll squeal to save his hide. We need to get him out of there, or at least give him hope."
"Fine. Handle it." Angstrom nodded and walked out, leaving his brother to brood alone in his office.
The ram Nick and Judy had observed being interviewed was now sitting in a conference room with his lawyer, not the one the Neys had sent for him. He signed his name for the final time on the document before him. Ronny Carrero. As the Neys had feared, he was turning over a full testimony in order to erase the charges against him and get into witness protection. He'd be going far away from Zootopia, and he had enough of his own money squirreled away to pay the lawyer's hefty fee for a such a quick—and excellent—job, and to supplement his new life. He put the heavy, elegant pen down and looked over to the lawyer, another ram, who only nodded. They both stood and walked back out to the waiting lieutenant.
Anna's head bounced around under the rough fabric of the hood that blocked her vision and much of her sense of smell. The van hit another bump, giving her aching everything a fresh jolt of pain. The van came to an abrupt halt, flinging her forward into the dividing wall between the cargo cabin in which she had been lying and the driver's cabin. The two horses up front laughed at her cry of pain and shuddering breaths. She heard doors opening, then the rough grip of hooves dragging her across the floor of the van, finally pulling her out the rear doors and dropping her on the ground. She got a few kicks for good luck, then the hoofsteps receded, the doors slammed closed, and the engine coughed to life and sputtered away.
Author's note: Well this is certainly an interesting chapter. I knew from the beginning that I wanted it to be a collection of disparate scenes because I wanted to skip time forwards in order to get the plot moving faster without having this case wrap up in some ridiculously short timeframe like three days. I also really wanted to find a way to work in the Nick vs. Judy fight.
I actually had a lot more trouble with that than I expected though. The first time I wrote it, it was almost 2k words with the tone of the chapter 4 fight scene. It was just way too dark, it felt like Nick and Judy were really fighting, and it didn't have a happy ending. Also, the way I was writing it Nick sounded like Kakashi shitting on beginning of series Naruto or something like that, which was both silly and plain bad writing. Both times I struggled with what I feel the reality of Nick fighting Judy (especially my take on Nick) should be, while not making Judy seem weak or worthless. I think I found a decent balance with their being fairly evenly matched in traditional boxing, whereas when he fights dirty and uses his natural advantages she doesn't have much recourse (which makes sense because foxes are predators that eat bunnies).
I'm also actively trying to find a way to showcase how her mind/way of thinking can complement Nick, which is what makes them such a great pair of cops (as opposed to just friends/lovers) and would be the only reason Bogo wouldn't split them up.
P.S. I'm having a lot of fun creating characters in the world of Zootopia. I just need to make sure I don't let it get away from me.
P.P.S. I've been watching Brandon Sanderson's Writing 318 lecture series on youtube, and I feel like I'm learning so much. It's already influenced parts of this chapter, and how I want to write the rest of this story, and just taught me so much more about writing since I have no formal training in creative writing. I highly recommend it if you're into writing fanfics or even just want to understand the process more. I find it all fascinating, even though it makes me wish I could restart this whole story from the beginning with more planning, since I'm mostly discovery writing the whole thing.
P.P.P.S. He's also got a podcast called Writing Excuses that I've started to listen to. They've got roughly a million episodes recorded already if you're looking for something to spend time on.