Author's Note:

Alright, I'm a bit dissapointed that I didn't get any reviews on the last chapter. So here's another one with a slightly changed writing style. Let me know how it works for you.

Anyways, I'm exhausted, and I have to be up in four hours for work in the morning. So there might be some typos or errors. If you spot any, let me know.

Otherwise, enjoy, and good night!

*Insert generic copyright disclaimer here*

A Tale of Two Thoughts: Chapter 6 (D)

J: Than what I've been handed / N: I'm not to blame if your world turns to black

Chief Snoots' trunk snaked its way around Judy and grabbed hold of the podium. Judy stepped out of the way just in time to avoid getting smacked by the thing as Chief Snoots raised the microphone to in front of her mouth.

"Alright you lazy scrubs! Break time is over! Time to get your asses back to training! Everyone out!" Yelled chief Snoots at the mass of grey and brown ears in front of her.

After a furry hurricane left the room, leaving only a few officers behind, the chief turned to Judy. "Gotta be tough on them, since they're all new, we need them to be at their very best at all times. One mistake in this job can get you killed. But you already knew that."

Judy, for her part, was still holding her ears, partially in shock at what the chief had just said, and partially in pain at the volume at which she'd said it.

Three mammals, however, had not left the room and were approaching Judy. Chief Snoots gave them a look then turned to Judy. "You can have 15 minutes for a question and answer period, but afterwards I expect you to be in my office. Understood officer Hopps?" She said loudly.

"Understood ma'am!" Judy saluted, holding the salute until chief Snoots had left the room.

As Judy looked at the mammals in front of her, she noticed two of them were collared weasels, and the third was officer savage.

"Officer Hopps, just wanted to thank you for your words about these tame collars." One of the weasels said while fidgeting with their collar.

"You're welcome, officer…?" She responded, not knowing the weasel's name.

"Slip, and I'm officer Slide." Responded the second weasel. "We've had some real trouble with the new recruits using the remote activation to shock us in the past. Sometimes as a joke, sometimes as a way to one-up their superiors. It'll do them good to learn some empathy."

"That's horrible!" Judy responded, shocked that some of her new recruits could do such a reprehensible thing, especially to their superiors.

"Yeah well, after the first dozen times, when we realized they were doing it on purpose, we taught them exactly why we are their superiors. I doubt anyone's going to try that little prank on us again." Responded officer Slip.

Officer Slide chuckled and so did officer Savage. "Sort of why they call us the savage trio." Chuckled out officer Savage.

Judy looked at the jackrabbit. "Let me guess, these two because of their reaction, and you because of your name?" she asked.

"No, me because I helped officers Slip and Slide teach those arrogant little shits a lesson." He explained.

"That's a surprise." Judy said, actually somewhat impressed. "I've seen too much of prey mammals not caring about the suffering of predators recently. I'm glad you defended your fellow officers."

"I was glad to do it. I'm actually glad you'll be teaching the newbies not to use the tame collars. If anything deserves the term 'savage' it's those collars. I hate them myself."

Judy felt her heartbeat quicken. Here was a like-minded lapin who wasn't afraid to stand up for what was right and fair. And judging from the fact that he sat in the back and was associated with the predators, she could bet that he was part of the initial ZPD force in Bunny Burrow.

"I thought I was the first rabbit officer in the ZPD." Judy mused, quickly raising her paws to cover her mouth. "I'm so sorry, that came out wrong, I was just..."

"It's fine, I'm actually a jackrabbit, semantics I know, but it's what let mayor Lionheart get away with a lot of his publicity stunts. I'm actually about two years your senior." Officer Savage interrupted her with a raised paw. "Look, we just wanted to say thanks for your empathy, and to wish you luck with training these scrubs. If you ever need any help, let us know." He finished, Officers Slip and Slide nodding their agreement. "You'd better go see Chief Snoots. She gets angry if you're late." He said as they walked out of the meeting room.

Oh Carrot Sticks! Judy thought as she realized she didn't know where chief Snoots' office was.

"Glad you could make it officer Hopps. Take a seat." Said chief Snoots from her desk.

Judy leapt up and in to the strangely rabbit-sized chair that was raised to be able to see over the desk. Looking at the elephant nervously, she waited to hear what her new chief had to say.

"Excellent presentation. I'm glad we have you here to teach these newbies how to be real officers, deserving of their badges. Your training schedule starts tomorrow. You will have the old team in the mornings and the newbies in the afternoon. If there is anything you require to set up the training field, please let me know by the end of the day."

"Yes, Ma'am. Understood." Judy said, she was impressed by the business-like fashion in which chief Snoots handled these meetings. Very different from Chief Bogo's silent simmering stoicism.

"Good. Now that that's out of the way, I just got a call from officer Francine before you got here. She said she had a message for you but that she couldn't reach you on your cell."

Judy reached into her pocket to pull out her cellphone. "Yes ma'am, I had it turned off for the presentation. I didn't want to be rude." She explained, not really seeing where this was going.

"Understood, and commendable of you. However, we will need to have a reliable method of contacting you at all times in the future. I recommend you leave your cellphone on and either in silent or vibrate mode. Understood?"

Judy felt her ears go red with embarrassment. She wanted to hide her face, of course she needed to keep her phone on for communications. She was just too nervous in this new police department and made a rookie mistake.

"Understood ma'am I'll turn it on right now." She quickly got out as she turned it on and changed the sound settings to vibrate.

"Good. Now, as to officer Francine's message. She wanted me to tell you that they did manage to catch the pernicious pachyderm who caused that fox to perish. And that she is currently building a case against him. She will need you to testify however as, without any eye-witnesses, the case is extremely flimsy. In all likelihood, he will go unpunished."

Don't let them see that they get to you. Judy thought to herself as she fought to keep her anger from showing. You don't know how chief Snoots will react to you prosecuting another elephant.

"I for one, am extremely disappointed," began chief Snoots. Judy felt her ears lower, upset that her new chief might actually be willing to forgo justice in favor of species favoritism. "that ZPD's finest can't build a stronger case against that criminal. I will be giving you the day of the trial off in order for you to go and testify in person." Finished the chief, a small smile on her face. "Yes Judy, I know that I am the same species, but despite that, justice must always prevail and apply equally to everyone."

Judy's eyes were wide and filled with respect for this chief in front of her. She felt nothing but pride for her new chief.

"Right, so in conclusion. I want a report of all of the training gear and equipment you will need for teaching my force proper savage capture techniques on my desk by the end of the day. Actual training begins tomorrow morning with the veterans, and in the afternoon with the newbies. Dismissed." Said the elephant briskly as she returned to her reports.

Quite happy with the business-like demeanor and dedication to justice that her new chief demonstrated. Judy gave a sharp salute before stuffing her phone back in her pocket and hopping off of her chair.

"Thank you chief Snoots, I wont let you down." Said Judy as she saluted again at the door.

*bzzzzt*

Judy quickly walked out of the room.

*bzzzzt*

Judy reached into her pocket and grabbed her phone.

*bzzzzt*

Alright, alright! She thought, as she picked up the call.

"Officer toot-toot!" came a deep and gruff voice. "I got a line on my boy Nick. Last anyone saw him was about a week ago. He was at the northern border of Zootopia, wandering around naked in the woods."

"Finnick?" Judy asked, a little surprised to be hearing from the tiny fennec fox. "Is that you?"

"Course it is dumb-ass. Know any other mammals that call you officer toot-toot? The hell have you been up to anyways, no one's seen you 'round for over a month."

Judy felt shame wash over her. She had dutifully spent the month off as chief Bogo had ordered. But even if she was ordered to do it, she had abandoned Nick. She'd let him down again. She opened her mouth to tell Finnick, but couldn't quite decide on how to explain her failure.

"Never mind. Listen, I just thought you might want to know what I found out while I was out here doing your job. See you later officer toot-toot."

*click*

Damn. Judy thought. She finally had a real lead on where Nick was and how to find him and she already had other duties and responsibilities holding her back!

It was infuriating the number of times she'd let Nick down. After all he'd done for her, after helping her with the savage mammal case, after defending her badge from chief Bogo, after believing in her and her dream when no one else would. And she'd repaid him with bigotry, betrayal and abandonment.

She would just have to look for him on top of training the Bunny Burrow ZPD. If she left work and went directly to the train station, she could be at the northern border of Zootopia on time to get two hours of searching done before having to catch the last train home and getting to bed at 3:00 a.m.. Starting today.

Judy knew that it would be exhausting, having only three hours of sleep, but she could do it. For Nick, she had to do it, she owed him that much.

Nick had woken up in plenty of strange situations before. There was that one time where he and Finnick landed a large "hustle" and went drinking to celebrate, then when Nick was passed out, Finnick had dragged him into a back alley, drove his van right up in front of him, turned on the high-beams and blared his horn until Nick woke up. Nick had been terrified to wake up staring at the bright reflective grill of what he thought must have been the devil's own truck trying to run him down. Finnick had laughed for days from that one. As a result, Nick had refused to sleep in the truck with Finnick for a week, which led to the second strangest situation he'd ever woken up to. This time, Nick had no idea what had caused it, he had fallen asleep on a park bench near Otter's Bridge, and the next thing he knew, it was morning and he was flying through the air on a direct trajectory to the, then very cold, river. There wasn't even a mammal in sight that he could have blamed for the event. And the strangest time he had woken up was when he was in Mr. Big's employ. Nick had gone to bed in his closet of a room that Mr. Big had provided, and when he woke up, he was on the dining hall table, tied down with toothpicks, sewing needles and thread while a small horde of half-naked field mice danced around him chanting. Nick had seen Mr. Big and even his friend Raymond standing nearby with smiles on their faces, so he played along for a little while…that is until the mice started biting. Afterwards, Mr. Big had thanked Nick and given him a sizeable reward, which is what led to Nick finally being able to rent an apartment of his own to sleep in. Raymond however, in small and quiet ways, never let Nick forget.

The situation Nick currently found himself gaining consciousness to however, far surpassed anything he'd experienced previously. Nick was still naked, in the "shower room", and fighting with Chief Bogo for possession of the bedsheet he'd used to dry himself off with earlier. Chief Bogo was having a hard time holding on to the fabric with his hooves, Nick however, was having no trouble with holding the fabric…in his jaws.

As Nick regained consciousness, apart from the situation he now found himself in, he also discovered that a large part of him was very much afraid of the large buffalo. He was also feeling strangely possessive of the bedsheet still in his mouth. And so, hackles raised, naked and all fours, with his back to the wall and a bedsheet in his mouth, Nick growled around the bedsheet at the bulky bovine.

"Let go of the bedsheet, and back out of the room shlowly. I'm having a hard time controlling myshelf right now."

Understanding that the frightened fox in front of him was once again sane…somewhat, chief Bogo let go of the bedsheet, put both hooves up, and backed slowly out of the room.

"Finally awake fox? You got the sleeping on your bedsheets part right, but they're supposed to stay on your bed." Came the chief's voice through the intercom.

Nick stood still a moment, fighting the feelings of fear, anger, intimidation, and possessiveness that were raging through his body. Once he stopped shaking with adrenaline, and felt the fur on his neck start to settle, he padded into his "cell" and looked at the brazen buffalo through the window.

"Not funny buffalo butt." Nick half growled out. "I'm honestly still fighting the urge run from you, and since I can't run away, I'm also fighting the urge to tear your throat out."

The chief's nearly imperceptible grin faded as concern crept around the corners of his eyes. Bogo barely knew this fox before him, but he had enjoyed every interaction they'd had together. The chief had even lamented last night that if things had been different, Nick would have probably been one of the best officers in his precinct.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, just peachy. Just give me a moment, I don't think I'm entirely out of the woods yet, so to speak." Nick growled out, anger being the predominant emotion he was feeling now that there was a wall keeping the monstrously large mammal safely at bay.

Acknowledging the fox's request for time, the chief just nodded and left the room. Only to return a few moments later with a massive file box in his bulging biceps. He set the box down in front of the large armchair, bending at the knees of course, and left the room again. Again he returned with a large box braced in his arms, which he set down beside the first.

Looking around for a safe place to store his bedsheet, Nick decided to fold it up and stash it underneath the mattress. For some reason, he was quite attached to that little comfort, and didn't want to risk it being taken from him.

"Whenever you're ready fox. I could use your help with this case."

Of all the arrogant, insufferable, smug….arg! Was he even listening to me!? Nick thought as he spied the chief through the window, sitting in the large armchair and staring at Nick with a long-suffering expression on his face. Perhaps working on the case will help. More thinking, less feeling. Never let them see that they get to you. Nick snorted in amusement at his mental musings. Never let them see that they get to you, what a joke that motto became. Nick had certainly allowed certain mammals to see that they got to him. He'd let them get to him, he'd let it show, and he'd acted based on his emotions, which was what got him here in the first place. Ok, less feeling, more thinking. Deep breath, walk out there cocky and charming. There's no need to be afraid of ol' buffalo butt, he wont harm you. Can't get information out of a pancake.

Nick took a deep breath, then another…then one more. You're stalling. No I'm not! Shut up! And with all of the natural grace of his wild ancestors, Nick slunk out of the cell, out of the following shower room, and into the main room.

"Alright," Nick said as he sat down in front of the boxes, facing the chief and the boxes together. "let's see how good the grazer is at scavenging."

"Better than a fox at dodging whistles."

"Shut up."

Nick began rummaging through the first box, finding folder after folder filled with files from each incident of savage mammal attack.

"I don't need all this junk! Look at this!" Nick exclaimed, pulling out the last page of a report "Investigation has proven inconclusive" he quoted. "If it was conclusive you would have solved it by now. What I need is the newspaper articles, color photos of the savage mammals, a list of all of the mammals who went savage, and a map of where and when each incident occurred."

Unable to contain his smile this time, chief Bogo reached under the folder balanced on the top of the second box and pulled out everything Nick had asked for. "So you do know something." He smirked at the fox as he held out his hoof with the documents requested.

"No. I have a suspicion, what I'm looking for is evidence to support my suspicion. Pretty slick hiding the important stuff. Perhaps you have potential after all, as more than a walking steroid advertisement I mean." Nick quipped back as he laid out everything the chief had handed him in front of him. "Can't say the same about your officers though." Nick added as he looked over the photographs of some of the savage mammals. "Bunch of idiots if you ask me." He mumbled, frowning at the photos.

The chief remained silent as he let the fox do his work. For his part, the chief suspected that it wasn't a matter of intelligence, but motivation. His remaining officers were all prey mammals, some with serious prejudices against predators. Chief Bogo wouldn't be surprised if more than a few mammals were intentionally investigating poorly.

"Ah, I thought so." Nick said, more to himself than to the chief. But as the larger mammal shifted to see what Nick was looking at, Nick noticed his attention and handed the chief some of the color photographs. "Look at their necks. Each and every one of them has a small patch of blue colored fur. I'd noticed it when Judy and I found the first twelve, no thirteen savage mammals. I didn't trust my memory though."

"Meaning?" the chief grumbled out, genuinely curious about the blue patch of fur.

"Not sure yet, but it is a connecting factor. If I had to guess, I'd say that it relates to either the cause, or a symptom of their turning savage." Mumbled the fox as he began examining the map of savage attacks. Without further explanation, Nick grabbed a pen from the second box, having known it was there from seeing it when the chief had first fetched the map and photos out of the box. He then proceeded to write down a number beside each marked attack and drew lines on the map connecting attacks that occurred on the same day. Nodding to himself, and examining the map one more time, Nick then draw a circle encompassing every attack that occurred on the same day, with the attacks being located on the circumference of the circles. Finally, Nick drew lines between the circles to link them in order of when the paired attacks occurred.

Holding up his finished work for the chief's inspection, Nick asked "does this look like the pattern of infection for an infectious disease?"

Taking the map in his own hooves, the buffalo just shook his head, still trying to comprehend exactly what the fox had drawn. While he didn't know exactly what it meant, he did know that the pattern of mammals gone savage did not seem to radiate out from a central point, or patient zero as the ZCDC called the mammal who first showed symptoms. Instead, the pattern showed a series of circles, all roughly the same size, with exactly two reports of savage mammals on any day when mammals went savage, and no discernable pattern in which direction the so-called infection was travelling.

Trying to play devil's advocate, the chief asked "What about contaminated food?"

"Already thought of that, the reports would still have been heavily focused around a central area, possibly with more outliers. And we would have seen far more reports than a mere two per day. Particularly more on days after most mammals eat out, like on Fridays." Nick responded absent-mindedly, the newspapers now spread out haphazardly in front of him. "Pass the map back for a bit, and a stapler. Please."

Chief Bogo did as Nick asked, quite impressed with how quickly the fox's mind operated. While some of his officers investigating the outbreaks had expressed doubts that it was the result of an infection, none had drawn the inferences Nick had just drawn. Nick's defaced map alone was leading chief Bogo to conclude that the savage mammals were a result of a mammal's deliberate and calculated actions. As he came to that conclusion, he realized Nick must have already come to the same conclusions and was now looking for proof. The chief was curious as to why Nick would look at the newspapers instead of the police reports for his proof, but decided to remain quiet and watch.

"So, any idea what can cause a mammal's fur to turn blue?" Nick asked conversationally as he stapled a few more ripped up newspaper clippings to the map.

"Whatever it is, you wont find it in the newspapers. Why aren't you reading the police reports?" Chief Bogo couldn't help himself. He was curious as to why the fox was deliberately avoiding what was potentially his biggest source of information.

"I don't trust them. I haven't trusted the ZPD in a long time. Carrots was the first officer I've ever trusted, and after seeing how your officers treated injured predators, probably the last." Nick responded absently as he stapled the final newspaper clipping to the map. "Take a look at this and tell me what you see." He said as he handed the map back to the chief.

Looking at the map with the added newspaper clippings, the chief noted that each circle had at least one article stapled underneath it, sometimes folded up so that you could see underneath the article. The chief heard a derisive snort come from the fox as his eyebrows slowly rose in shock. Each attack had occurred on the same time, and in the same place as, an advertised event.

Chief Bogo read each and every newspaper article stapled to the map, unable to believe the implications of what he was reading. When he finished, he lowered the map and looked at the fox, his jaw actually hanging open at both the fact that Nick had managed to discover more in a few hours than what his officers had discovered in week, and at what these facts implied.

Nick was carefully avoiding looking at the buffalo as he scanned the police reports. From each report, he tore out a single page, read over it briefly, then set it down beside him. "As you can see, every time a mammal went savage, it was in a highly populated area, at the same time and place as a large gathering was guaranteed to be due to events being advertised at least two days before in the news." Nick said as he tore out another paper and scowled at it. "And there's always a news crew ready to record the incident due to them being there for the event. Someone is deliberately turning mammals savage, and in such a way as to maximize news coverage." Nick snarled angrily.

"So, someone is deliberately turning mammals savage. But why? To what purpose?" mused the chief as he processed all of this information. It really was far too late for him to be up, and he was already sleep deprived before today. However, something big was happening in Zootopia, his city, and he had to stop it from destroying the peace he had fought so hard for.

Chief Bogo found himself waking up to the fox's arm once again being thrust in his direction. This time with a collection of loose papers in it. Picking up the papers the chief noticed two things. The first was that they were victim lists from the police reports. The second was that each page had a tally written in pen at the top listing out the number of predators and prey on each list. Overwhelmingly, the victims were predators.

"That much is obvious. By remaining silent and letting the public think that all predators are inherently a threat, they are hoping to spark a civil war between predators and prey. And your police force is so incompetent, or prejudiced, or both, that it's actually working!" Nick responded with clear disgust on his face. Hey, you're getting too worked up. Don't let him see that it gets to you! Screw that! It does get to me! All these mammals, too stupid to evaluate each other on an individual basis, having to put others into mental boxes and then coloring them all with the same brush. It goes beyond prey mammals having an instinctual fear of predators. Labels, mental groupings, it's all just a tool for the mentally lazy that ends up hurting innocents! The ZPD should be better than that, but they're not. Now their mental laziness is threatening to allow some evil bastard to create a predator-prey war!

"Look at the list. Each attack has at least one prey victim, but also many more predator victims. If I had to guess, I would say that it is a prey mammal who is doing this to both harm predators and to cause prey to fear them." Nick continued, letting his analysis of the attacks disguise his internal thoughts.

At this point, the chief was so tired that he simply decided to trust the fox for now, but verify his claims tomorrow. The chief checked his phone…today.

"…so we have five questions left to answer. Who is doing this? How? What is that blue mark? Are they working alone? Is there a cure? And when are you going to let me go?"

Damn. Thought the chief of the Zootopia Police Department. It was too much to hope that he'd just let it go until tonight. Stifling a yawn, chief Bogo leaned forward in his chair to stare eye to eye with the fox. Good thing I prepared for this conversation earlier today. I need to say this just right.

"About that…" The chief started slowly. "I will let you go. Tonight if you want, but there is something I'd like to ask you about first. Especially now that I believe that citizens of my city are being dosed with some sort of…savage injection." He finished, dropping his usual no-nonsense mask and letting his concern show on his face.

Sighing loudly, to stifle the next yawn he felt coming up, he continued. "There is an underground group of predators called the 'Carnivorous Mushrooms'. As far as I know, it's a small group consisting only of predators. They have believed for some time that some organization was attempting to kill off predators or start a civil war with them. If your theory is correct, they may know more about it than we do."

Chief Bogo paused and stared heavily at the fox, as if weighing him. Not that the chief was, he already had a good guess as to how Nick would respond, but he needed Nick to know that the chief was taking a risk on trusting the fox.

"It's entirely up to you, but as I have no predator officers at my disposal right now, and as they might have crucial information to preventing a civil war, I need to ask." The chief took a deep breath. "Will you infiltrate the Carnivorous Mushrooms and report back to me on any information they might have about the mammal or mammals responsible for turning my citizens into savage predators?"

The two mammals stared at each other for a long time. The fur on the back of Nick's neck slowly rising as he began to suspect that he was being manipulated.

"Why me?" Nick asked quietly.

"As I just said"

"No. Not why do you need someone else to go. Why ME? You don't even know if you can trust me." He emphasized.

Chief Bogo leaned back in his chair, Hook, line and sinker. He thought as he kept used the lighting, angles and his size to keep Nick from seeing the small smile on his face.

"You're right. I don't know that I can trust you. But you are a smart fox. You've come up with more information on the mammals going savage in a few hours than half of my remaining force has in just as many weeks. I have no doubt that you could play both sides here if you wanted to."

"That's because they're either incompetent or traitors." Nick growled out, his ears pinned to his head, tail fluffed out, and fur rising in anger.

Nick was about to open his mouth to say something more when the police chief silenced him with a hard glare. "But" chief Bogo emphasized "I do trust my assessment of your motives. You want to avoid a civil war. I want to avoid a civil war. Simple."

Nick shook his head. No, it can't be that simple! Nobody trusts a fox. Remember that night on the bridge at Vine and Tajunga? He specifically said 'you think I'm going to believe a fox'?

"Bullshit." Nick spat out. "You don't trust me, you said so the first time we met. And what could you possibly know about my motives?"

This question caught the chief off guard. Not the part about Nick's motives, but that he remembered the night on Tajunga bridge so clearly. Sighing, the chief leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, and his head on his hands.

"That was…a mistake. I was trying to get officer Hopps to quit. I thought I had to keep her away from dangerous work in order to protect her. I didn't believe in her as much as I should have, as much as you did. Perhaps I've been underestimating smaller mammals too much."

The chief took a moment to adjust his position in the chair while he let his words sink in. "As for your motives. I know you saved the lives of some rodents in Little Rodentia when their apartments collapsed."

"And what if I was the reason the apartments collapsed in the first place?" Nick shot back. He wasn't, not directly, but he had sold the 'redwood' that made up those apartments. It had been his fault.

"I know that you went to great lengths to secure medicine for one of the victims, even asking the crime boss Mr. Big. That must have cost you."

"The injured rodent was a member of Mr. Big's 'family'. He would have killed me if I'd let anyone in his family die."

"I know you believed in Judy, that you protected her, even against me, even when she had given up."

Nick's eyes widened, surprised to hear that the chief had remembered what he'd done for Judy. His surprise quickly turned to sadness, and partially shame. Nick had to look down as he was certain his eyes were tearing up.

"She…she believed in me." He choked out. "She was the first prey mammal to ever believe in me. Even after being hustled by me." Even now, he had a hard time believing how special Judy was, how much her actions meant to him. How much he enjoyed that she didn't fear or resent him after being hustled, but had instead returned to hustle him back.

"Well maybe." The chief said quietly. "I believe in you too."

After a few minutes of silence, the chief fighting sleep, and Nick fighting with his emotions. The chief had sounded sincere. Does he really believe in me? Nick wondered. It doesn't matter what he says, watch what he does. Talk is cheap, actions speak louder than words and all that. Say 'no', if he still lets you go then he may actually be telling the truth.

"I'll do it." Nick heard himself whisper. So much for saying 'no'… wait, half of his remaining force?

"If, you explain what you meant by 'half of my remaining force'." He continued, louder this time.

If Nick had thought he could read the chief of police after spending a few hours with him, he would have said that chief Bogo's reaction was one of….nervousness?

The chief fidgeted a little and readjusted in the chair before once again reaching into the second box he'd brought in with him.

"About that. There's a bit of a story behind it, but it's something we need to discuss before you leave this room." He pulled out a tame collar.

"The big bad ZPD frightened of a little ugly jewelry?" Nick asked mockingly.

"Yes." Came the chief's simple answer. "This is called a tame collar. A few weeks ago mayor Belleweather asked the ZPD's predators to wear it as a role model for Zootopia. The idea is that they can be activated either remotely by the ZPD, or when a predator shows signs of aggression or going savage. Once activated, the collars shock the predator wearing them in order to prevent further aggression."

The chief was cut off by the very loud sound of growling coming from Nick. The fox's eyes were narrow with disgust. He was standing on all four paws, ears lowered to his head and fur standing out all over his body. The fox was clearly very pissed off.

"Exactly the same reaction most of my officers had. Instead of demonstrating the collars to the citizens, they resigned. Not that it mattered as mayor Belleweather passed a bill a few days later mandating that all predators within Zootopia must wear a tame collar while in public."

"No." Growled out Nick, already knowing where this conversation was heading. "No fucking way." He was already backed up as far into the corner as he could get. Nick felt that…other part of him fighting for control, demanding that he either run or attack. Nick struggled to maintain his control.

"Nick. I need you to calm down." The chief said, falling back on training from when he was an officer in training.

"No fucking way you're putting one of those torture devices around my neck!" Nick's voice rose in pitch with his fear.

"Relax, this one's a dud. I've modified it." The chief said as he strapped it onto his wrist.

Confused, Nick calmed down slightly as he tried to figure out just what the chief was up to. What was the point of strapping it on to his own wrist? He thought.

The point, of course, was to confuse you into paying attention to me and not your fears. The chief thought, knowing exactly what was going through the fox's head. "I've gutted a growl activated collar meant for a female mongoose. Unless you squeal like a girl, it shouldn't be activated by you at all."

Nick slowly paced towards the chief, when he got to where his nose was nearly touching the collar turned bracelet, he quickly tried a variety of noises, from growling to squealing. Seeing no signs of activation, and no signs of reacting to being shocked by the chief of police, he accepted the chief's explanation.

"So in order to be join the Carnivorous mushrooms, I need to be able to walk around in public. And in order to walk around in public I need to wear this collar. But you've made it so that I wont accidentally get zapped while spying for you. Sneaky."

The chief nodded. "Yes, unfortunately, that is the price of your freedom. You must wear this collar…and clothes. We are civilized mammals after all."

Nick looked down at his still naked state. "Eh, I'll put them on before I leave." His eyes hardened. "What about the ZPD?"

"Pardon?" deadpanned chief Bogo, pretending he thought the fox was asking if the ZPD needed to wear clothes.

"Can the ZPD remotely activate this collar?" Nick asked, eyes narrowed again.

"Yes. It would be too suspicious if they couldn't, and we'd be forced to replace your collar if anyone thought it was faulty."

"Fine. Give it to me." Nick said curtly, clearly still very unhappy with the idea. However, he was going to go crazy if he had to spend another day in this…room. He could still feel the Fox demanding that he get out of this large cage and threatening to take control to do just that.

A few moments later saw Nick and chief Bogo standing just outside the ZPD front entrance. Nick was fully dressed and wearing a collar, chief Bogo looked about ready to fall asleep where he stood. Fortunately, since none of the remaining mammals of the ZPD were nocturnal, all of the mammals had agreed to take a police radio home and respond to calls from their homes at night, they hadn't had to explain the presence of a fox at the ZPD.

"Report back to me when you learn something. Oh, and your old pall Weaselton should be able to get you into the group." Chief Bogo said as he gave Nick a hard pat on the shoulder and walked back into the ZPD.

Oh great, and how am I going to do that? Nick thought before he realized a new weight in his shirt pocket. Reaching in, he pulled out a cellular phone, sized perfectly for foxes. He quickly turned on the phone to find out that the contacts were already open, and there was a single unnamed number listed there. That sneaky little….big bastard. Nick thought with a grin. Despite everything, he might actually be starting to like the bulging buffalo.