It was late morning on Whitefall. In the scrubland a few miles west of town, on the side of a hill, Nick and Sherani crouched under a small tree that was barely more than a bush. In the valley below them, three well-used trails met in a small clearing. The pair scanned the terrain near the rendezvous point.
"Nice place for an ambush, Sir."
"Yes," Nick replied. "Yes it is."
M'bogo approached quickly and silently, then crouched beside the tree. "It's buried, where you said. Gear's back on the ship."
Still scanning the terrain, the fox spoke. "Okay, Dawn will assume that we've hidden the cargo. They won't shoot us until we tell her where it is." Pointing, he continued, "She'll approach from the east, show us the money, demand proof we've got the goods. We'll show her, get the money, and give her the location. And then snipers hit us... from there... and there. Bogo, they should already be in place. You know what to do."
"No rabbiting this time?" the cape buffalo asked.
Nick shook his head. "Not this time. Keep quiet. I want Dawn to think they're still in place. And don't kill anyone unless you have to. This is just business."
"Understood," M'bogo said as he turned to leave.
After a few moments, Sherani sighed. "This is still a bad idea, Sir."
Nick grinned at her. "I've had worse."
Sherani tried to hide a grin of her own. "Oh, yeah. Much worse."
The graying ram gently knocked on the door to the weasel's room. "Officer, it's Shepherd Woolrich." His greeting was met with silence. He opened the door and entered. "Officer Weaselton, I prepared a plate of-"
There was a blur of motion and a dull thud, then the ram collapsed to the floor. The weasel closed the door quietly, and then more dull thuds followed, one after another after another. But no one else was around to hear them.
In the small valley, Nick and Sherani stood on the west edge of the clearing, their paws resting gently near their holstered weapons, their eyes and ears alert. Dawn Bellwether, a petite ewe, approached up the trail from the east, accompanied by four huge rams. Their eyes stared intently at the fox and the tigress. They were followed by three donkeys who stopped well before the edge of the clearing and waited.
"Nick Wilde!" the ewe exclaimed, her voice cloyingly sweet. "How's my favorite fox?"
"Dawn Bellwether," he replied, smiling. "How's my favorite sheep?"
"Sherani Fangmeyer, you still skulking around with this tod?"
After a moment, the tigress quietly said, "That's an awfully big crew to haul three crates."
"Well, you know how it is," Bellwether shrugged. "You're both predators. I can't be too careful."
Nick swallowed and maintained his smile, "This is just business, Dawn. Everything's on the table."
"I don't see my cargo anywhere," Bellwether said.
"I don't see my money anywhere," he countered, still smiling.
"Do you really expect me to trust a fox?" she said coldly.
Slowly, Nick gently pulled open the left side of his long brown coat. The rams' shoulders tensed, as they moved their hooves closer to their weapons. With his other paw, Nick slowly removed a metallic golden bar from the inside coat pocket. With practiced indifference, he tossed the bar to Bellwether. The ram standing next to her caught it, then handed it to her. She tore the golden foil at one corner and sniffed the contents.
"It's the real thing, Dawn," Nick said. "Top-of-the-line universal rations. Complete concentrated nutrition, vitamins, minerals, proteins, probiotics, immunization, the works. One of those will feed me and Fangmeyer for months. It'll feed your crew here for weeks."
Taking a tiny nibble, she nodded, "Yeah, that's the stuff." She removed a small pouch from her belt and tossed it to Nick. It jingled as he caught it. "So, where's the rest of it?" she asked.
"We buried it," he explained. "Follow that trail to the north about a mile, until you see three stones stacked on top of each other. From there, head half a mile due east. At the bottom of the first hill, there's a double-trunk tree near another double-trunk tree. Between them, you'll see freshly dug soil."
After a few moments, Bellwether smiled. "I suppose I will, dumb fox."
Nick clenched his jaw. After a few more moments, he said, "Pleasure doing business."
One of the rams glanced up at the hills surrounding them. Another glanced at the ewe. The others continued to stare at Nick and Sherani. Bellwether continued smiling. "Yeah, pleasure doing business... with a dumb fox."
"This is win-win, Dawn," Nick said. "You came out ahead. I came out ahead. You know that's good business."
"Good business." The ewe scowled. "Nick, I have a simple business rule: I don't just give money to filthy predators like you. Dumb fox."
The rams' hooves moved closer to their weapons. Nick tossed the pouch back to Bellwether. It landed on the ground at her feet. None of the sheep even looked at it. Nick said, "You've got your money back, Dawn. There's no need for shooting."
The ewe smirked. "You foxes are supposed to be so cunning, but you're really pretty stupid, aren't you, Nick? Do you really think I'd let a couple filthy predators like you walk away? Dumb. Fox."
Nick nodded at one of the rams, commenting, "That sure is a beautiful gun he's carrying. I bet he really knows firearms."
The ram grinned menacingly. Bellwether said, "That's Doug. Don't worry. He'll make it quick and painless. Dumb! Fox!"
"Pleased to meet you, Doug," Nick said casually. "Nice hat."
The ram's worn, dusty hat suddenly flew across the clearing, as the report of a rifle echoed through the hills. The ram's lifeless body fell to the ground. Chaos erupted in the clearing, as the fox, the tigress, and the sheep scrambled for cover, drew their weapons, and started firing. Another ram fell, and then another. The tigress fell. Then the last ram fell.
Blood dripped down the fox's leg as he limped over to the cowering ewe. He aimed his gun at her. Then he felt a gun barrel touch the back of his neck. He raised his paws as a donkey stood behind him, holding him at gunpoint.
On the ship's bridge, the chubby cheetah faced the buck bunny. "Jack, please? I'm serious. Please ask the captain to drop you off somewhere else. Whitefall isn't exactly the best place for a couple cute little... well, for anyone really. Gazelle's right, you and your sister-"
"You don't need to worry about us," Jack said.
"Hey, it's what I do," Benjamin said, smiling. "When Sherani's working, I always worry. It's just part of the job. I've got plenty left over for a couple cute... for you two."
Lights flashed and the console beeped. The cheetah's eyes grew wide. "Oh... Em... No, no, no, no, no!" he shouted at the display. His eyes filled with terror, he whispered to the bunny, "Howlers!"
In the infirmary, Brooke woke and sat up. Judy looked towards the sudden movement.
"Johnny?" Brooke called. Jumping off the bed, she looked around the infirmary, her eyes wild and confused. "Johnny? Johnny?!"
"What's wrong?" Judy asked. Brooke backed away from her, cringing as her eyes darted around the infirmary.
"Look who's all bright eyed and bushy tailed," Weaselton sneered, suddenly standing behind Brooke. He held one gun under Brooke's chin, and pointed another at Judy. Looking at Judy, he continued, "Look, if you know what's good for you, you won't make a sound. Not a sound! Or the next one goes through your head. Through your head! Understand?"
Without waiting for an answer, he led Brooke out of the infirmary. Her nose quivered as she complied.
The petite ewe glanced around the clearing, coldly observing the bodies of the four rams and the practiced smile on the face of the surrendering fox, who was held at gunpoint by the one donkey who hadn't fled when the shooting started.
"Wipe that smile off your face, you stupid fox!" she shouted, kicking him in the groin. He dropped like a stone. "Did you really think I'd let a filthy predator like you just walk away? Stupid, filthy fox." She stomped on his bleeding leg. Nick groaned.
Seething, she continued, "Now, I should have Eddie here just put you out of your misery, but... but after what you did to Doug... and Woolter... and Jessie... and John James..." She punctuated each name by stomping on his leg again. She grinned menacingly. "I think you've earned something a little more... a little more special."
"Please..." The fox gasped. "No..."
"I told you to shut up!" she shouted, stomping on his leg again. "Something special... Yeah, I know just-"
The report of a rifle echoed through the hills as the donkey collapsed in a heap. The ewe screamed, then collapsed next to the donkey, her face contorting as her hoof flailed uselessly at the electric probes embedded in her side.
Lying on the ground, the tigress smiled briefly and dropped the stun gun.
"Report?" the fox grunted, struggling to stand.
"I... I need that doctor, Sir. And a stretcher. And my gun. Where's my gun?"
The fox hunched over, resting his paws on his knees. "For the record, you were right. This was a really bad idea."
The tigress nodded. "Still not your worst."
Nick hobbled over to the still-twitching ewe and turned her face towards his. "Can you understand me?" he asked, pointing his gun between her eyes. When the ewe nodded, he continued, "This is just business. I don't care what you think of me, or of foxes, or of preds in general. But I have a simple business rule: I do the job, and then I get paid."
Taking the money back, he forced a smile. "Pleasure doing business."
He looked up to see the cape buffalo running towards them at full speed. M'bogo shouted, "Howlers! Clawhauser called! Ship coming! Followed us! Howlers! Howlers followed us!"
Author Notes:
Yes, I know that Dawn hadn't told Nick to shut up previously. Sometimes characters make mistakes.
The names of Dawn's first three rams came from the rams in the Night Howler lab. Her fourth ram comes from a different movie. SICNR.
Again, many many thanks to Steefwaterbutter, who has continued to provide a lot of valuable advice while beta-reading this story.
There is one chapter left in this story. In the meantime, I've started working on a sequel, based on the Firefly episode "The Train Job". I'm taking more liberties with the original plot for that one though. Essentially, I'm starting with the original premise of the Firefly episode, but letting the Zootopia characters take things in a different direction.
I might continue this series by adapting other Firefly episodes. "Shindig" would make some WildeHopps shippers happy. And I'd love to do "Out of Gas", although a lot of the flashback scenes would have to be completely changed, given the differences between these Zootopia characters and the original Firefly characters. Given the differences between Jayne and M'bogo, "Jaynetown" is right out. And it might be fun to do some completely new stories.