Well, here we are. It only took almost a year… I'm not sure I have an excuse for this delay. I'll just say that I'll try to get through the next one quickly. I just hope you readers are still around for this!
A big thank-you to J Shute, LordKraus, and ubernoner for beta reading this beast, and to the good folks at the Zootopia Author's Association Discord server for giving me the encouragement to sit my butt down and actually write something.
I hope you enjoy this!
BACKGROUND MUSIC:
1) Kenji Kawai – "MEMORY" – from Mobile Suit Gundam 00
In the short time she'd been working at SV2, Judy had found that days off were few and far-between. Usually this didn't bother her, partly because she wanted to devote as much time as possible to her job, and partly because actual deployments only came so often. Most of her time 'at work' was either doing Animazon-Rule required repair work, or doing paperwork in the Ready Room.
Still, Judy was glad to have today off. It felt like the grey bunny hadn't seen enough of the actual city. It had been months since she'd left Bunnyburrow and she still felt like a tourist.
In fact, right now Judy was reading a tourist booklet as she made her way through town. She'd figured she might as well get her parents' minds off all the danger she was in as a Zeeplabor Forward by sending them selfies in front of Zootopia's major landmarks. Just her luck they'd seen meme of Unit 2 getting clonked with a dome panel! Frith only knew what they'd have thought if they'd gotten footage of Hylander getting his Labor decapitated by that bridge…
Anyway, Judy had decided to start her 'tour' in Sahara Square, near the Oasis Hotel, then work her way across Downtown to Savanna Central, maybe taking in the Rainforest District or the Meadowlands if she had time.
Located in the heart of Savanna Central and ringed by streetcar tracks, Aquavitae Plaza had easily become Judy's favorite sight to see. Surrounding the Plaza were the tall, hoof-shaped City Hall, the art nouveau Natural History Museum, the organic-gothic Central Library, and of course, the imposing Zootopia Police Department Headquarters.
The bunny had to admit she felt lost in the big city, and having to weave her way between larger mammals didn't help at all. The idea of taking Robin with her popped into her mind. If nothing else, it'd look funny seeing a giant Labor act like a lost turista.
Judy was still giggling at the mental image as she walked out of Aquavitae Plaza. Then, she looked ahead of her and saw a giant, flat object ambling down the street, with a thick tail dragging along the ground behind it. Judy's pace was faster even at walking speed, so she came close enough to find that the odd sight was an otter, groaning under the weight of an enormous book. Obviously the book had been bound with larger animals in mind.
"Excuse me?" Judy asked. "Can I help you with that?"
The book dipped briefly as the otter nodded. "Please."
Judy moved to the tail-end of the book and held it up as the otter swung around so she could see the rabbit, allowing Judy a better view of her.
"Thank you," sighed the green-eyed, purple coat-wearing otter.
Judy glanced at the book and shook her head. "I'm surprised there isn't a smaller edition."
"There isn't; this is the only copy in the library system," said the otter. "Normally my husband picks these up, but he's dealing with a client and I offered to pick it up for him." The otter shook her head. "I've seen him carry big books like this home before, but now I'm wondering if I should drag him to the nearest chiropractor."
Judy chuckled.
"Sorry to bother you with this," said the otter.
"Oh no. It's no bother," Judy assured as they carried the book down the street. "I've got nothing better to do anyway." Judy's eyes travelled over the book again, taking in its aged cover and the gold-embossed words, A Natural History of Toxic and Hallucinogenic Irises. "Are you into flowers?"
"No, my husband is," said the otter. "It's part of his job."
"Is he a botanist?"
"No, a florist."
"Ah…" Judy smiled. "I'm from the Tri-Burrows myself. You gotta know your plant husbandry out there. So, where are you taking this?"
"Oh, my husband's shop. It's just a couple blocks away."
The walk was indeed rather short as the two smaller mammals weaved their way around larger ones, occasionally chatting about flowers. Eventually, they reached a narrow street – narrow, at least, by the standards of elephants and other megafauna. To Judy, it was about the same width you'd see in central Bunnyburrow, albeit with much taller buildings on ether side. Not surprisingly, most of the mammals Judy saw in this street were smaller ones – no bigger than a wolf or so – even though the shop entrances were still 'omniscaled' – built to a standard so all species could conceivably enter.
Judy and the otter made their way to one such shop – "Blooming Savanna," read the logo on the awning. Judy caught a sign in the window saying "Fiona's Flora," and with slightly different hours than what was in the other window. The rabbit's nose twitched; why would a flower shop have two names and two sets of hours?
"Uh, Fiona, is it?"
"What?" The otter looked back. "Oh no, it's Lily – Lily Otterton."
"Oh…" Judy was even more confused as they passed through the door. Behind the counter stood an elderly reindeer.
"This is Fiona," said the otter, gesturing to the reindeer. "Hello!"
"Oh hi, Lily," said the doe. "Still no sign of Emmet?"
"No, he's busy with a regular – a rich one," said Lily. "Emmet says this one's planning for a wedding and he's rather particular."
"Ah…" The reindeer nodded.
"Uh, where do you want it?" said Judy.
"Oh, right behind the counter is fine," said Lily, and they guided the book around the counter, laying it by Fiona's pedal hooves.
The otter sighed as she straightened her back. "I can't thank you enough, Miss…?"
"Oh, Judy," said Judy, extending her hand. "Judy Hopps."
"Judy…" Lily accepted the handshake. "Thank you."
"No problem." Judy remembered the second sign. "I've been meaning to ask, what's with that sign in the window?"
"Oh, Fiona's moved her business here while she finds a permanent home," said Lily. "Her shop got damaged by those rampaging Labors on Okavango Road."
A chill ran down to Judy's tail.
"I can't thank Lily and her husband enough for letting me stay here," said Fiona, smiling down at the otter.
"How goes the search?" said Lily.
"I found two possible sites," said Fiona, idly waving a hoof. "One's here in Savanna, but it's a bit close to Bisondale for my liking. The other's in the Rainforest District. It's hard to get an affordable place for a shop close to the Market Axis these days. I'll just keep looking and if I can't find anywhere better, I'll go with one of those two."
"Okay," said Lily, shaking her head. "Still, the times we live in… having to worry about rampaging giant robots…!"
"Well, it's a good thing we have Zeeplabors then," said Judy.
"That's what I thought, too," said Fiona. "Only thing is, they're just as bad if what happened to my shop is any indication."
"Amen to that," sighed Lily. "You'd think the police would be more careful. I'm surprised no one's been killed yet."
"Only a matter of time before her impetuousness has lethal consequences."
"Is something wrong?" Lily said abruptly.
"No, nothing's wrong…" Judy shook her head, trying to get her stamping foot under control.
"Oh, that's right, you're from the Burrows," said Lily, putting a warm paw on Judy's shoulder. "I'm guessing there aren't that many Labors out there – this must be a lot to process. Lord knows it is for me, and I've lived in Zootopia my whole life."
"Oh, th-there's a few farming Labors here and there," said Judy. "A-anyway, I'm sure the police are doing their best."
"I know I've asked this before, but am I really that bad?" Judy turned to her co-workers, her legs dangling off the kitchenette counter.
The rest of SV2 stiffened at their desks.
Clawhauser glanced from side to side, a spoonful of Lucky Chomps still in his mouth.
Beaverbrook buried his nose in An Illustrated History of Semaphore.
Hylander coughed, adjusted his glasses, and stared out the window. Nick soon joined him.
Judy pushed herself off the counter, landing with a thud. "You guys…!"
Lee looked around the room, sighed, and set down her copy of Barke's All the World's Labors on the desk in front of her. "Since no one else wants to mention it, you've been acting reckless since this Division was formed, and it's given the public a bad perception of us and of SV2 as a whole.
Everyone stared at Lee.
"What?" The opossum's tail twitched. "Someone had to say it."
"I could have done that, Pouchvenger," said Nick, prompting Lee to stare at him with horror – he hadn't found her Zoovenger Robo boxset, had he?!.
The fox then turned to Judy. "Fact is, Carrots, you have a bit of a tunnel vision problem."
Judy's nose twitched.
"What Wilde is saying," said Lee, with a quick, worried glance at Nick, "is that a lot of the time you become so focused on dealing with the operation's target that you don't notice when you create collateral damage."
"Well, I can't help that," said Judy, her foot beginning to stamp. "With Labor-criminals, I have to keep my eyes on the target."
"She's not psychic…" muttered Beaverbrook, before ducking his head behind his book again.
"She has a point," said Hylander, glancing momentarily from the window. "And it's not like she isn't improving."
Nick was stunned for a moment by the idea of Hylander coming to Judy's defense, but then turned back to Judy. "You started on an agricultural Labor, right? Out in the Burrows?"
"Yeah?" said Judy.
"Well, that's part of the answer right there," said Nick, turning to Lee.
Lee's brows rose. "I see…"
"I get it!" said Clawhauser, raising his spoon triumphantly. Then he tilted it back down. "What do I get?"
"Agro-Labors often require laser-like focus on the crops you're working on," said Lee. "And Hopps was working out in the Tri-Burrows, so…"
"So she had more room to stumble around," Beaverbrook realized.
"I didn't stumble around!" said Judy, scowling at the floor. "Not after the first two times, at least…"
"You know what we mean, Carrots," said Nick. "It means you're not used to tight spaces with more things to damage."
"So, multitasking's our main problem," said Lee. "I think Captain Bogo had the right idea when we had that sparring match with the barrels. Maybe we could try that again?"
"Uh…" Judy's ears drooped.
"Against Hylander," Lee hastily added, prompting a sigh from Judy and Nick. "Or maybe just regular training simulations."
"Those sims are made to test things like reaction time and accuracy," said Nick. "They're still working on decent programs for things like avoiding objects."
"You'd think they'd have done that by now," said Beaverbrook.
Lee shrugged. "They're trying, but each Labor's different; those sims were made for older Labors like the Tigersyo or Python. They're still catching up to the Ingrowl – remember, it's not fully in production yet."
"So, it's about the movement parameters?" Hylander asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Not just that," said Lee. "Those older Labors don't have the engineering for quick reflexes; it's the hardware and the software that's too advanced. This means the only way to prep the pilot is to focus on them individually."
"So it all comes back to the psychology," said Hylander. "In that case, I'd be happy to take part in a sparring match."
"Let me stop you right there, Blunderbuss," said Nick. "Captain Buffalo-butt wasn't exactly eager to hold the last one, and that was before Carrots and Pouchvenger gave him a faceful of paint, so I'm not sure he'd be up for another one."
"That's what I'm afraid of," said Lee. "I don't suppose anyone has any other ideas for avoiding property damage when fighting?"
"Or avoiding fighting at all," said Nick. "The less either Labor's moving around, the less chance there is for them to damage something."
"Is that why you've been trying to talk pilots down?" said Lee.
"Something like that," said Nick.
"About that, Nick…" Judy sat in her chair backwards, laying her arms on the chair's back as she regarded the fox. "I've been wondering – are you a pacifist?"
"Nope, just a coward." Nick's trademark smirk wormed its way across his muzzle.
Judy's jaw hung open for a moment. Before she could say anything, Hylander cut in.
"How can you sound so smug about that?!" the hyrax snapped.
Nick shrugged. "Cowards live longer; that's a fact of life."
"Police can't be cowards," snarled Hylander, his brow furrowing. "We're supposed to be bold – disciplined! You can't just make light of that!"
"H-Hylander…" Beaverbrook murmured as Hylander got out of his chair and stomped over to Nick.
"'Trust, Integrity, Bravery;' those aren't just words on our badges!" The hyrax grabbed Nick by the chest of his shirt. Nick's mouth hung open in surprise.
"If you can't understand that, you should just take off that badge and get out of here!" Hylander hissed. "Gah! It was naïve of me to think a fox could-"
"QUIT IT!" A voice shook the entire room. Everyone now stared at Beaverbrook, who covered his mouth, startled at his own outburst.
Hylander stared a bit longer, then let Nick go. "Discipline, Howard," he muttered, before turning to Lee and standing to attention. "I apologize for that, Lieutenant Fox-ape; I lost my composure. I assure you this will not happen again, but you may take whatever disciplinary action you see fit."
Lee's brow furrowed. "It's not me you need to apologize to."
"No, no," said Nick, raising his hands, his usual smile returning to his muzzle. "I'm not making a complaint. Right now I figure we all want to forget this and get on with our day, so let's just go and do that."
[OST]
Nick went to the door. "I'll be out fishing if anyone needs me."
As the fox left, Judy glanced at Hylander, who stared at the door, his mouth hanging open. Then he studied the floor, fists and teeth clenched, muttering, "Dignitas et ingenium et muneris, Howard…" or something like that.
Judy then ran out of the room, taking a while to look for Nick before catching him toting his fishing pole and folded lounge chair out the hangar door.
"Nick, are you alright?" she asked.
"'Course I am, Carrots." The fox was still smiling, but he didn't turn to look at Judy.
"You should file a complaint, Nick," said Judy.
"Nah, it'd just be a hassle for us both," said Nick, continuing out the door. "Besides, we'll be rid of each other soon enough."
Judy's ears drooped. "You still plan on getting kicked off the force?"
"Mmm-hm."
"Then… then why have you been helping me?" said Judy.
"Hey, if you get kicked off first, they'll be less willing to let me go; they're short on qualified mammals, remember?"
Judy stopped walking as her jaw dropped, before running to catch up with Nick again.
"But-"
"Don't take this the wrong way, Carrots." Nick flashed Judy a quick grin. "You've still got a future here if you work at it. Don't let a crook like me get in the way."
Judy stopped again, watching the fox disappear into the overgrown weeds.
