A/N

HAHAHA! I'm Free!

I wasn't going to go, I swear. But Disney said there'd be free starbucks coffee! Who could resist that? And yes, it was a trap. The stuck me in a deep dark dungeon of a prison with other fanfiction writers on their hit list. However, I still had my spare coffee spoon and while the other authors scribbled stories on the walls to stay sane, I shawshanked my way out of there! Ha, didn't even dig in the wrong direction. Take that Monte Cristo!

As a serious note, the combination of this annoying thing called real life and a lack of coffee and a savage attack by plot bunnies that has lead to the creation of a second story, (To my shame, I've been informed by the readers guild that my Reader status is officially on probation) caused a bit of a longer break between updates than I anticipated. Sorry for that. I'll try to be a little more consistent. I'm hoping to stay with 2-3 updates a week right now, but things might stay a bit hairy till Christmas season is over. (many grinchy things to do, and I have a meeting with Ebenezer Scrooge I simply can't miss)

Disclaimer: Runs around beach in Joy, "I'm Free!, I'm Free!" looks over and sees pirate crew, "Oh, Crap"

Chapter 24 – Surprises Part 3: Equipment

Judy was feeling much better as they re-entered the subway than when they left it for the mall. She boarded the train with Nick, headed toward Taigra Ave north of the city center. She was still coming to grips with the unexpected pangs of jealousy regarding Nick, though pangs might have been slightly understating the towering, protective and possessive rage she'd been feeling. The doctors had mentioned that it might take a while for her to adjust to her sudden bonding, They also mentioned the possibility of 'light mood swings'. She let out a laugh at that and Nick looked down at her sitting in his lap with a quizzical expression. She just shook her head and gave him a quick kiss before asking, "Almost done with that chapter?"

Nick with the paw that wasn't wrapped around her waist like a comfortable seatbelt, flipped a few more pages to the end of the chapter in the academy handbook.

"Almost, Carrots. Got a few more pages before you get to quiz me." He said, and she snuggled back into him feeling his arm wrap more tightly around her.

Judy, sighed happily; while her reactions may have been, okay, certainly were, out of proportion, Judy didn't feel any regret for the cause of those feelings. She had managed by fate or luck to get the single best mammal in the world and now that he was hers, she wasn't going to give him up to anyone else. The way he hadn't even snapped back at her emotional outburst, but had just continued to show her his love for her was only another example of why he was so perfect. Nick's steady constant presence and caring was making it easier and easier to handle her rampaging feelings, well that and having him quite literally covered in her scent helped too. She blushed a bit at what other mammals most be thinking, but she couldn't bring herself to regret it.

The Mall had been wonderfully fun, but she had enjoyed it more because Nick had been there to show it to her, than by the grandeur of the mall itself. Her favorite part of the entire experience had been how her fox had tried in his sly way to sneak around in order to get her a surprise. She wanted so badly to tell him how much she loved him for that, but thought that it would be better to show him in the same way. She couldn't wait to see his face when she pulled her surprise on him. She smiled just at the thought.

Nick would need to get used to how good her hearing was if he was going to try and slip anything by her, but because of the effort she thought that she might take it a bit easier on him tonight. She was still going to get her revenge on him but she might let him survive the ordeal now. Thinking about it made her smile grow larger and caused her to squirm a bit in his lap.

She felt a light rumble in response, before Nick shoved the Book into her paws and said, "Okay, you need to stop that or I'm not going to be content with just winning kisses, and you'd better start quizzing me before my mind starts thinking of exactly what I want to do with you instead."

Judy gave a bit of a hum before opening the book and starting. She couldn't help but think that if kisses could get these kinds of results what upping the prize might do to his learning rate. It was certainly something she might try tonight, purely in the interest of seeing Nick pass his exam of course. She smiled as she asked the first question; it might just be possible for Nick to learn everything before Friday.

…

"Nick stop grinning so much!" Judy said as she quickly tried smoothing out the fur around his muzzle. She knew she shouldn't have taken his bet on whether he'd get every single question right. Granted it had been one amazing and passionate kiss even despite disgruntled noises from a few other mammals. She gave his muzzle one last brush with her paw; well that will have to do, at least now it looks like he's just a little wind blown, not like I was eating his face.

"Come on Nick! This is Taigra Ave." she said and pulled the still grinning fox with his wagging tail off of the train right before the doors chimed and closed. "Okay, slick you're going to have to lead from here. I don't know where your friend-but-dead-mammal-if-she-makes-a-move-on-you lives."

He gave her a nuzzle, before leading her toward the exit and grinning even wider now, "No need to worry Judy, I actually think you'll get along with my friend once you meet her. She's a bit… hum, odd, but every mammal is in one way or another."

Nick stopped at the bottom of the medium mammal sized escalator, and looked back at Judy.

"Darn it, I forgot. You've got shorter fur than me even without my winter coat."

Judy shrugged, "Isn't Taigra Ave in the Mountain Zone, not Tundra Town?"

Nick smirked and shook his head, "I keep forgetting that you're still new to Zootopia. Tundra Town and Sahara Square have the Climate-Wall that separates them, but it's the Mountain Zone that separates Tundra Town and The Rainforest District. Out of all the different climate zones in Zootopia, the Mountain Zone is by far the most varied, It runs from the north edge of downtown city center all the way to the meadowlands and has portions that range from moderate in the north section to high altitude jungle on the west side and finally," he gestured up the escalators, "to frigid mountains on the east side."

The air coming down the escalators was a bit chilly but it didn't seem that bad, so she shrugged again, "That doesn't seem-"

"And," Nick cut in with a smirk, that seemed to laugh and say that she was still missing something, "It's high enough that the artificial climates of the different climate zones on each side of it not only clash with each other but also the natural climate of Zootopia. Makes for some seriously erratic and interesting weather."

"Well, there's not much we can do about it now that we're here, so we'll just have to deal with it." Judy said resolutely, before squeezing his paw, "And if I get too cold I have a handsome warm fox that will warm me up." She bounced up, kissed him on the cheek and pulled him onto the escalator.

As they rode up, with Nick's tail still wagging despite his obvious effort to slow it, he called across to an old billy goat on his way down the escalator next to theirs, "How's the weather today?"

The goat gave them a glance before doing a double take, head snapping back to take a closer look at them. "Winds been picking up." He finally said, "but you never know here, hope you two don't have far to go."

It was just a moment later that they passed under some air blowers at the top of the escalators and the very frigid air slapped Judy hard. She immediately snapped her ears down against her back and scooted close to Nick who wrapped his tail around her.

"So how far do we have go?" She asked, trying to not let her teeth start chattering.

Nick chuckled, "It's only a few blocks!" he said raising his voice at the end as they left the cover of the station and the screaming wind hit her like a knife.

Nick started hustling along the sidewalk, which she thought were far closer to stairs than any sidewalk. They continued moving uphill passing houses here and there sticking half in, half out of the rugged and steep slopes. Judy let out a surprised "Eeep" as something very very cold slapped into her nose. She looked up just in time to have another half frozen rain drop hit her and freeze to her fur. Her jaw was chattering hard now, and even Nick was looking like the cold was getting to him.

He looked down at her after glancing uphill with a worried expression, and said, "Gonna have to make a run for it."

And before she could respond, he'd shifted his hold on their shopping bag and swept her off her feet, sprinting along the path. She could feel more drops of freezing rain starting to patter on her back.

Instead of arguing with her fox she just buried her frozen nose into his unimaginably warm ruff.

Had she thought that he was comfortable to snuggle into before? No, this was a whole new level of comfort, one that was ridiculously, sinfully pleasant. His musk wrapped around her and the soft fluffy, russet and cream fur just beneath the slightly coarser hair of his outer coat fought against the cold and begged her to try to get as much of her body against him as she possibly could. If this is his summer coat, How fluffy will his winter coat be? She couldn't help but think.

In less than a minute, Nick had stopped running and was pounding against a door.

There was a click and an irritated voice came over a speaker, "What do you want, I'm busy!"

"Honey!" Nick nearly shouted, as his muzzle started chattering with the increasing downpour. "Open this door now! Or you're going to have to bring an ice pick to get our frozen bodies out of your doorway!"

The voice over the speaker changed to a surprised tone, "Nick? Wait you aren't supposed to be here until… Oh, damn, I lost track of time again working on a project. Sorry, it was-"

"Honey!" Nick shouted, now with a note of pleading in his voice.

"Ohh, right, right." There was a click as the speaker shut off, and a short wait that seemed like forever, before the door finally opened. Nick hustled inside and the voice from the speaker said, "Over to the side, give me a second."

Nick chattering just as hard as her now, took a few steps over and then there was a gloriously warm stream of air coming up from the floor. Judy sighed but didn't move away from Nick. She thought she might pass out from the comforting pleasure when Nick dropped the shopping bag and started rubbing feeling back into her hindpaws.

"Thank gods you finally took my suggestion to get a heating mat, Honey. I still don't know why you choose to live in this place."

The voice, with a touch of the irritation coming back, said, ""You and everyone else allways complain so much that I finally got it just so I wouldn't have to hear your grumbling, so stop griping! And I get a view here to rival the penthouses in the downtown skyscrapers, you know that!"

"Still not worth it." Nick grumbled.

The voice gave an irritated snarl, but stopped for a moment before shifting into a very smugly pleased tone, like she'd just caught Nick in the middle of a hustle, "So, for a self-proclaimed life time bachelor you seem to wearing an interesting cologne and a new jacket there." Nick stiffened and Judy shifted her head, and saw a badger in a camouflage patterned labcoat over jeans and a t-shirt pointing at her. Judy blinked, her mind seemed to be trying to make some sort of connection but wasn't succeeding.

"I thought that you might have been suckered into that marriage by that old coot in city hall, but you seem to be holding onto her rather… protectively." The badger said with a snicker.

Judy couldn't help the gut reaction as the female badger, one of Nick's close friends, pointed at them, at him.

"He's Mine!" she blurted out, before blushing and muttering a quick apology.

The badger though only laughed, "And you can have him. His snarky attitude would drive me crazy and I'm not into foxes, he's too thin for my tastes." She said, with a disdainful sniff.

Well her loss, Judy couldn't help but think with a smug smirk, thinking about Nick's long frame with his lean predatory muscle and how it felt as he held her close, like he was unwilling to ever let her go or let anyone take her away. How that wonderful body felt as it moved against hers showing her in every way how he loved her, how he…

Nick took an involuntary sharp inhale and started nuzzling hard against her neck.

"Hey, Now! None of that here!" said the badger angrily waving a claw at them. "Watching Nick be affectionate might scar me for life, now come on." she said and turned heading down a corridor from the house's front room.

The view of the badger in the lab coat turning around triggered a memory and Judy spurted out, "Hey! The Missing Mammals case, the doctor at the asylum?! Was that you?!"

"Couldn't be," Nick said, though he was looking at the badger with narrowed eyes and a confused look, "The scents different, but…" he trailed off looking more confused.

The badger turned around and smirked. "You know me Nick, I nearly failed biology. I'm a tinkerer not a doctor." She gave them, particularly Nick's confused face, a smirk, "My cousin, Madge Badger however is a doctor, and the one Lionheart commandeered. He was a fool for trying to hide those mammals and getting only one doctor to find the cause. With her team, she was able to produce an antidote within a day, once they knew what the cause was. I already talked to her and got a bunch of details on what happened but I want your side of the story too. I've been saying for years that the meadowlands policies have been encouraging sheep isolation and supremacy attitudes!"

Nick groaned a bit at that. "You're going to hold this over me forever, aren't you?"

The badger looked extremely pleased, "Damn straight!" she said before heading out of the room.

Judy looked at nick and asked, "What was that about?"

Nick just shook his head and intertwining their paws before following the badger. "During high school Honey made a presentation in a social studies class. She's argued that some of the policies certain regions promote keep species from mixing with others and foster ideas like species supremacy. She used sheep as a prime example but ended up getting laughed at by the class. But being the stubborn badger she is, she dug in her claws and wouldn't let the issue go. She got labeled as the sheep 'conspiracy' quack for it, but between us and a few other friends of ours it's turned into a running joke."

He snickered and leaned over to whisper into Judy's ear, "When we get together every now and then Finick and Flash both staunchly support Honey's sheep 'conspiracy'," Nick said the last couple words in an overloud whisper, grinning. There was a shout from down the hall,

"It's Not a Conspiracy! It's stupid laws and prejudice that leads to idiocy and bigotry!"

Nick smirked at the response, "I like to play devil's advocate with Trevor on the other hand whenever it comes up."

"You all know each other?" Judy asked, curious about her fox's past.

"We had all met by the time we were in highschool." Nick shrugged, "They're probably the only real friends that I have. Most other people I know are closer to acquaintances or business partners."

Judy was about to ask him more about his friends, but right then they entered the main living space of the house buried in the mountainside and Judy seemed to lose track of her thoughts. Whatever she had imagined the badger's house looked like, this wasn't it. Maybe the lab coat should have tipped her off, because the mostly open floor space of the house was some sort of cross between a very nice apartment and a crazy science lab, and it was all set to a stunning back-drop view looking out over the mountainside, provided by a large floor to ceiling window that ran the length of the room.

There was a small bar counter in front of a kitchen area, tucked eloquently into the corner of the room next to an area with comfortable looking couches, and the most expensive looking tv, speaker and entertainment set she'd ever seen. The rest of the room was filled with computers, work benches, tools, half completed projects and an assortment of equipment that Judy could only start to guess at. And the view. They were looking out over the mountain side as it fell away to Tundra Town and could watch in comfort as the small but furious squall raced down the mountain. It was like something an evil mad scientist would choose as their secret lair in a movie. Ok, a mad scientist with a bit of style, she admitted still looking around the house, but a mad scientist none the less.

"What is this place?" Judy asked, still a bit stunned.

Nick smirked before saying, "Welcome to the Honey Badgers hideaway."

The badger in question came out of the kitchen area with a tray of drinks, scowling, "Now don't you start in on that again. It's not my fault my parents gave me the most obvious name they could think of."

"Don't worry Honey, I call her Carrots, so you're in good company." Nick said as he sat on one of the couches.

Honey turned to Judy, after setting the tray down on a coffee table, "You want to be married to this bag of bad jokes?" she said with a pitying look at Judy, before reaching out a paw, "And yes, the name really is Honey Badger."

Judy smiled back and shook her paw. "Judy Wilde" She said stressing her new last name and smiling wider at Honey's returned grin. She could see why Nick had become friends with the badger, she was starting to come to like her a lot too. Despite her gruff demeanor and (she thought back to the bizarre living room/work room area) eccentric-ness, she had a streak of humor as well as hidden empathy and friendliness.

Judy sat next to Nick and used his tail as a lap blanket before deciding to do some teasing of her own, "And he does an excellent job of keeping the bed warm. Besides he comes with some nice fringe benefits too." She smirked.

The badger looked at her, looked at her hold on Nicks tail and looked at Nick, who appeared to be quite content with the situation.

"She's got you totally whipped doesn't she?" the badger asked incredulously.

Nick Just shrugged and smirked, "I'm her one and only bed warmer. I find that position very satisfactory, besides," he gave Judy a happy and slightly hungry leer, "It comes with some nice fringe benefits too."

"What the hell did that sheep do to you?" Honey questioned, looking like she didn't have a clue who Nick was.

"Bellwether didn't do anything," Nick said taking Judy's paw, "This bunny just hopped into my life and decided to take my tail with her. So, if I want to keep it attached to me I've got to stick with her forever. Simple as that." Nick gave Judy a chaste kiss on the cheek, which caused the badger to break out in a fit of fake gags and choking sounds.

When she was done with her acting, she turned to Judy, "Seriously what the hell did you do to him? He's always been a little more open with me than others, but nothing like this!" she waved a paw at Nick who was still smiling, actually smiling. "And I've never, ever seen him do that." She pointed at the tip of Nicks tail which was hanging off the other side of Judy's lap and flicking back and forth like a happy excited kit.

"Well," Judy said, wanting to nestle into the side of her fox, "He stole my heart so I had to chase him down and make him marry me properly."

"You are such a liar." Nick murmured at her, and she felt him wrap his arm around her, sliding her closer to him

"Okay, forget that I asked what you did to him, he's obviously too far gone to save, but" she gave them both a glare, "If you don't stop the lovey-dovey act I'm going to go get my modified super soaker." Nicks arm immediately withdrew and he scooted a few inches away from Judy, much to her displeasure. She looked at him, and he leaned over and whispered, "Last year she warned Finnick that if he didn't stop stacking the deck at our monthly poker game that she'd use it on him… and well, let's just say it's the only time I've seen a doctor actually believe 'fell down in the shower' as the excuse for an injury."

"Hey" The badger replied, "I fixed that problem, I now have a special setting for fennec foxes so I won't send him flying across the room."

Judy just looked at her quizzically, trying to imagine what 'modifications' she could have possibly made to a kits toy to get that kind of result. She looked over at all the equipment and then back at the badger. What by Carrots and Cabbage did this badger do? Her mind tried to put all the various pieces together and fit it into some sensible whole.

Honey leaned over to Nick and whispered, though Judy could still easily hear it, "Why'd she go all quiet and what's up with her nose twitching like that? Is she alright?"

Nick chuckled, waving at the room, "You're too big of a mystery for her not to try and figure out, and that's her deep thinking expression," Nick let out what might have even been called a giggle, "Watch this! It's something I love about her" he said, and still grinning maniacally leaned over and kissed judy lightly on the nose.

Judy, who had heard their conversation but not really paid attention to it, too far into her thoughts froze for a second before blinking. There was a muffled, "Oh that's precious!" before a few coughs and some gruff unpleasant mutterings about mammals not being able to control themselves.

"She is certainly far more than just some tinkerer, is she part of some research and development project?" Judy asked, deciding to just ignore everything that the other two had done in the last thirty seconds.

Honey looked at her and murmured, "Bunny's too damned smart." Before looking at Nick and asking pointedly "Is she trustworthy?"

The question surprised Judy. She was already considering Honey a friend and the question stung, but before she had more than a moment to register the feelings, Nicks answer made her heart swell.

"I trust her with my life, Honey, If anything she's more trustworthy than me. Hell, she's gotten me to go legit and signing up to become a police officer."

Honey looked at her with an evaluating gaze for a minute as if judging if she could trust her life to Judy before giving a nod and speaking.

"I've always been good with building things, tweaking things to work better, and such. I actually helped Nick and Finnick set up some of their more complicated jury rigged attractions at Wilde Times, which is where I got the money to really start tinkering with stuff. I do it mostly because I like to but I also get contracted out for jobs. A few years after Wilde Times, I got a few contracts from, let's just say the government for specialty equipment. Ever since then they've been my primary customers."

Judy looked back around the room at different projects here and there, some she had no idea what they were but others looked familiar. A standard ZPD tranq pistol stripped down and being worked on, something that looked similar to swat team armor. Electronics that looked like what had been covered in the academy's familiarization with undercover agent and surveillance specializations.

"Do you work for the ZPD?" Judy blurted out, pieces starting to fall into place. "No, maybe research for new police equipment? Or specialized operations?

Honey shrugged, "Can't really say more than I have, I get paid by Zootopia that's something you can confirm by going through public records, but I can't tell you details about exact jobs." She waved her paw toward her work room, "Most of this is stuff I'm tinkering with so you can't even tell what's a job and what's not. I think Nick has guessed a lot, we've known each other since we were kits and we trade favors and help each other out," Honey shrugged at Judy and gave her a smile, "But he's never asked too many questions about it, not that I'd tell him even if he did. So, I just call myself a sort of freelance tinkerer for hire."

Nick leaned over and kissed her nose, which, Carrot Sticks, had started twitching madly again. "Just think about it Carrots, and we can swap rumors and hearsay later without putting Honey in a tight spot with the source of her primary income." Judy blushed a bit, seeing Honey try to stifle a laugh and whispered to her fox a, "Okay, slick."

Nick turned back to Honey. "Speaking of jobs and favors, I actually came her with Judy today to do more than just introduce you to my stunning wife," he shot Judy another smoldering look, causing her blush which had just started to die down to flare up again, "and swap some stories with you."

Honey sat up and looked completely serious now. "Ohh, this should be interesting." She crossed her arms, "Since you're claiming to go legit this isn't going to be for a hustle, and from what I read in the paper you're not going to be able to get on the police force any time soon, so what are you up to? And why do you need the services of a tinker for hire?"

Nick tossed his flip wallet, which landed on the coffee table and flopped open, displaying the ID and badge.

"We," Nick said in full hustler mode, "Need to get fitted out with some proper gear, and anything we could buy from police surplus would be sized for mammals far larger than us. Who better to make us some custom gear than a tinkerer for hire?" Nick crossed his arms, "And one who wants some information from us and owes me a few favors?" Nick smirked.

A/N

Redacted Typo Disclaimer: Also I am posting this before my proof reader has had a chance to review it so beware. I'll change this Note once it's been corrected so you can wait till then or just read it now and wince at my bad grammar and typos. (I'm betting that it's easier to run from the wrath of my proof reader than the wraths (plural) of wildehopps addicts that are currently going through withdraw)

Answer: Nope he caught me