July didn't know what to really expect going into Chiefs office but she definitely didn't expect to see the Chief sitting in his chair sitting upright with his eyes closed taking slow breaths. When the door clicked closed his eyes shot open to look the interruption.

"Sit" said Nick as he pointed at the open seats in front of his desk.

Watching his cautiously walk to the invitation she couldn't refuse he took in her appearance. Even though she was Hopps kin he couldn't really see that much of a physical similarity between the two outside of the fact they were both rabbits. July stood a head taller than Judy, the top of her head reaching to right below his chin. Her fur was a pure white in comparison to the gray that she proudly wore and her eyes were a dark brown rather than the rich violet.

Personality wise they were identical. The pair clearly were overly optimistic at the world and hoping to make a change. However just like Judy she had a huge chip on her shoulder and felt she had to prove herself just like Judy had.

In short she had the same fucking death wish that Judy had.

"So..." he started calmly belaying the anger that bubbled underneath the surface, although with the flinch from the rabbit it was clear she could plainly see.

"So.." July responded carefully.

"How long have you wanted to be a cop, Ms. Hopps?" asked Nick. The conversation taking a personal route that she didn't expect had her sitting there frozen.

Taking it as his queue to keep going Nick decided to continue with his train of thought "Let me take a shot at the dark with this one, you let me know if I'm right or not here." he stated leaving no room for her to say no, instead she was curious on where he was going with this.

Getting up from his chair he paces around the room, circling around her and continuing around.

"You grew up in a large farm with thousands of siblings and you grew up thinking that you weren't really accomplishing the things you wanted to do and to be one in a sea of faces must have meant your family didn't give you the affection you wanted."

Her shifting in the chair would be imperceptible to most but not to our former conman who could read body language like a book.

"So you came to the big city to hope to change that!" he pumped his paw in front of him for dramatic effect "Now not only would you be the badass you wanted to be but you were hoping to be THE Hopps mammals would remember, am I right so far?"

She nodded dumbly, starting to feel trapped as his circling started getting closer to her.

"But Whoopsie!" He suddenly paused to her side and ticked off a digit on his paw "Here this bunny comes to the big city with big dreams and aspirations and she doesn't end up as a hot shot officer but a meter maid!"

Pulling down the next digit he continued his walk around her to his desk "Whoopsie number two, everyone in this city isn't all snuggly wuggly rabbits who just want to get along and this is the first time our hot shot rabbit cop was really exposed to differing views that extend past hill billy carrot farmers."

That was insulting to July, her family wasn't just a bunch of bunny inbreds that just farmed carrots all day "But Si-" she started before being cut off by the increasingly loud Chief.

"Whoopsie number threesie" he said while ticking off the third digit "Looks like the ZPD's second rabbit cop, in a display of sincere bravado and stupidity" at this Nick stopped his movements in front of his desk to sneer at her "Neglected her duty and chased an armed and dangerous suspect alone and without backup!" She jumped in her chair when he slammed his paws onto his desk. The hidden strength in his slim limbs causing the heavy oak table to shake violently before settling.

Even though she was intimidated she had dealt with bigger and worse predators in her youth so she responded to the accusations "S-sir I know what I did isn't standard ZPD protocol but if I had waited the-" before she was cut off by the Chief swiping his paw through the air.

"THEN LET THEM GET AWAY!" he snarled out, quickly fishing into his pockets to pull out his wallet and started throwing various pictures of Officers she didn't recognize.

"Look at all these mammals, all fine cops, all cops better than you and all cops that are now dead because they had to be fucking heroes and go in without backup!" He was now leaning into the table, his muzzle getting uncomfortably close to her.

Picking up a collection of photos he shifts through them "Higgins" he throws one photo on the table "Delgato" throwing another "Fangmyre and the rest" he says throwing the remainder onto the table.

The tirade taking it out of him causes him to slope back into his chair and for a moment July sees not the distinguised Chief of Police but an old fox full of sorrow and regret.

"201 tickets" he mutters.

Not sure what he had meant asked to clarify "202 tickets sir?"

"I want 201 tickets every single day from you before noon if you think you're just so much better than a meter maid this should be no problem for you." and then he sat up in his chair face hardened "and if this happens again I will get you removed from the ZPD and do everything I can to make sure you can never apply again."

Once again his muzzle was inches from her and the look of deadly calm both unnerved and frightened her, the intense gaze melting coherent thoughts and the only thing she could think of was to get out of there.

"Y-yes sir." she meekly responded.

With that he relaxed slightly but didn't lose his edge "Now get out" he said sternly before sitting back in his chair.

She couldn't escape the room fast enough, uttering a yes sir before scrambling out. Closing the door behind her she felt her heart thumping in her chest in a way that not even the criminal she fought earlier did. This was getting ridiculous he was her boss and he wasn't going to eat her, she'll just have to talk to Casein later.

Not happy but satisfied with her decision she decided to trudge to the lockers to hit up Casein and change out of her gear.

In the silent room laid a fox with spirit laid bare. July didn't quite know it but that outburst was the most personal Nick had been since Judys passing, he had no idea why he had opened up to the rabbit. 'Maybe it's because she's related or maybe I'm just taking my anger out at her' he mused while running his paws lightly over the chairs handrails.

Even though he felt emotionally spent he knew he had to prepare himself for the night and if he did get into contact with the lamb it would do him no good to go off on her, he desperately needed information - both from her involvement and what the Great Apes ultimate scheme was for the city. Nick wasn't dumb, he suspected that the corruption went far deeper than just a mafia group. There simply isn't any way the Apes could move so much hardware and mammals into the city discretely and had bribed and bought their way in. There was obviously some vector into the city he was not considering otherwise he would have stamped it out long ago.

He was well aware of the Mayors involvement in all this, the pig Swinton had been selfish and greedy and her own pride revealed too much to him to stop him from digging. All he could find in her involvement with the Apes was handwritten notes and destroyed chemicals which is hardly enough to go off of so that's why Bellweather excites him as she could be the keystone to unravel everything.

Nick laid back and began daydreaming back to an old memory he had with his lost mate.

"Hey Nick" said Judy, licking on a pawpiscle that Finnick was kind enough to give them for a 3% discount (Cheap bastard).

Not wanting to interrupt his lazing he didn't bother turning his head and simply responded "Yeah?"

"Have you ever thought about where the name Zootopia before?"
Curiosity piqued he turned to face her in his lounged position. "What do you mean carrots?"

She continued between licks of the pawpsicle "Well it's a Zoo Utopia you know, even a country bumpkin like me can figure that one out" as she fluttered her lashes at him "But everyone is just so separate, mammals keep to themselves and don't really trust one another. Sure you can have things like the ZPD that uses many different mammals but when everyone goes home they're not really hanging out with each other you know?"

Nick wasn't really sure where this was coming from but he wasn't particularly in the mood for a political discussion so he decided to lighten the mood "Maybe they're all secret lovers and don't want anyone else catching on?"

She rolled her eyes and threw up her empty paw "I'm serious Nick, think about it. When I was a kit I read about how Zootopia was some place where you could be anything and all mammals respected eachother. Then I come here and realize that, no, bunnies aren't respected as Cops and no one trusts foxes to be anything more than swindlers and all the separation still continues to exist even though all these different mammals are basically forced to live together."

Realizing there wasn't any way he was going to realistically stop this discussion Nick sits up to reply "What did you really expect Carrots? I told you life isn't a fairy tale, maybe mammals are just not meant to live together."

"You know that's not true Nick, there is nothing stopping Mammals from living freely with each other, there is no reason it can't be a Utopia. All this separation is a mental trap we willingly put on ourselves." she stated, having since finished her pawpsicle and began chewing on the wood.

"Look Carrots it's just unreasonable what you want, at the end of the day you can want to be anything you want but we're still the mammals we're born as. Day one of meeting me you thought I was some sort of criminal and if you didn't catch the two of us doing our routine I'm sure I would have gotten hit with the mace" said Nick indifferently.

Having the decency of looking guilty and shamed "I said I was sorry Nick."

Heaving a sigh he reaches over to pull her to his side "I know Carrots but it just shows you how we just are who we are, if we didn't have that case together I'd doubt either one of us would have thought to pursue each other any further you know? You'd always just be a dumb bunny to me and I'd always be a conniving fox to you".

Judy thought about what he said, not the way he said it but how he sounded so defeated - as though Nick was a mammal waiting for their execution with no hope.

Several moments went unsaid between the two of them.

"No" said Judy finally, piercing the silence.

"No?" asked Nick quizzically.

"Chief Bogo once told me that the world was broken but I don't believe that. If it were broken as badly as you two make it out to be then what we have should have never happened." With that she turns around in his hold to look straight at him "I love you Nick with my entire being I love you, it doesn't matter that you're a fox and that I'm a bunny. If we're truly meant to be separate then this should never be possible."

Nick was overcome with the forcefulness of her expression "I love you too Carrots but we're the only couple that I know of like this, maybe we're just a freak occurence?" Nick couldn't help being cynical, when you've lived your entire life being beaten you'd rather stay on your knees and accept it then risk it again.

She violently shook her head "No I don't believe that, we love eachother because we love eachother and opened our bodies and minds to let it happen. I admit I didn't come to Zootopia as open minded as I expected -"

"That's an understatement" smoothly replied Nick.

" -But I learned. I was willing to learn and risk loving something everyone said I shouldn't and I'm so glad I did" she replied while snuggling into him.

"The world is finally ready, Nick. I know people are willing to learn and I know we can make this place a true Zootopia. We just have to do everything we can to make it happen."

Nick didn't know how to respond to this so he remained silent.

Pulling back she stared directly at him and he could have sworn he saw directly into her soul and the raging inferno of her passion threatened to consume him.

"I can't do it alone and I need the help only a dumb fox can bring, will you help me?" she asked while smiling.

'God this bunny is going to kill me' he thought as he stared at her. Nick had been betrayed and beaten his whole life. He didn't think there was anything in him beyond the cynical and goofy trickster but having her here, with her dreams and hopes so open and bare..

At first he was scared, his instinct was to crush it. To snap up her dreams in his jaws and rip it to shreds to save her the pain and agony that he had to endure when his dreams were destroyed.
But he knew she was special, first day upon seeing her in that bright vest with the proud label of ZPD emboldened on it told him that. Truthfully he knew about the bunny hire well before she showed up, how can a successful conmammal survive without remaining on top of the flow of information otherwise? But her very presence shook things up as the first rabbit on the force since its inception. Then when she showed him that he was so much more and even revealed personal details that only his mother and Finnick knew to her he knew he was gone for her.

Her dreams were to create Utopia, to make this place perfect so that mammals could interact and live together. There is no hate, no anger, no more greed nor pain. Where they can be who they want to be and the only thing stopping them were thereselves.

He knew the answer to her question before she even asked it.

Ever since her death he refused to let her dream die, now instead he was working for the two of them. The problem with it is they had begun to realize that there was a surprising amount of pain in the city that wasn't brought upon by the citizens but the forces that be. For example he found out that if you're a CEO of a clothing retailer where the workers were planning on unionizing in a city which allowed it then what do you do?

Well normal thoughts would have went with negotiating with the workers, establishing a fair balance between what they want against your profits.

What Cierre Leon decided instead is to pay some actors to stage fake protests against pred/prey violence conveniently in front of local news agencies. Then when the second group of actors, all predators, came in to beat them up and break up the protest then it's all of a sudden a species war. Now the group that had been a fair mix of prey/pred that cooperated and fought for their benefits were at each others throats and suddenly the strike threat is gone.

Nick was cynical but this was beyond him, it just seemed like so much work and so destructive for such little benefit he had thought.

Until of course he found out that the past mayor had paid the Lion off to do so, inspired by Bellweathers efforts to rule with fear the porcupine formerly known as Patches, now known as inmate #532, apparently he did so because of his hatred of predators which Nick guessed working with a Lion CEO must have been painful for him.

Nick made sure to reveal the whole thing, it was quite fun to see the look on their faces as his investigation found them out.

Still the hate lingers, even though it was shown to be all a fabricated hoax the city was still on edge and Nick knew that there was so much more to this than he could understand. Two major players just so happen to slip up and let themselves be caught and almost right after that comes in a new mayor and right afterwards comes in a massive criminal force the city hadn't ever seen or dealt with before? Dollars to donuts there was a conspiracy here or his name wasn't Nick Wilde.

'I just have to take this one day at a time' he reminded himself, the virulence of the city digged far deeper and it would take some serious digging to root it out entirely. Still it gave him hope when he saw the subtle changes in the city and how just as Judy had always suspected mammals naturally wanted to be with eachother and it was unnatural to separate them rather than the other way around.

Still he doubted that Judy would appreciate the lengths he went to achieve her dream. Working underground as a secret double agent that no one on either side knew about. Using ZPD resources along with underground contacts to dig up hidden contacts and potential plots and conspiracies. Working the nefarious route allowed him to find potential headaches and with his authority as Chief allowed him to do something about it.

'It still wasn't enough' he thought, specifically because he was fighting against the corruption made him a huge target of the powerful mammals in the city, he had popular support of the people and he knew his officers respected him but that still doesn't stop News painting him as a 'controversial' figure. He figured Joe Camel who controlled the majority of the media in the city had some part in all this as well.

Coming back to the thought of his officers. He didn't 'hate' July but what she did was beyond reckless and how her sibling had died for going off on her own really struck a chord with him - almost to the point that he couldn't contain his condition. With the way she responded maybe the chewing out was all he'd need to do, he doubted the bunny was treated so firmly before so he hoped that was enough. As much as he didn't want to admit it he really enjoyed her spunk, her attitude was something he couldn't handle. Not only would it get her in severe trouble but she was just SO similar to Judy that it frustrated him whenever he saw her.

Looking at the clock on his desk he read 1600.

'One hour until showtime.'