DISCLAIMER: I had my bid to own Zootopia under the Christmas tree, but two tiny elves that called themselves Wayne and Lanny thought it was a letter to Santa and took off with it. So I still don't own Zootopia, and I have to figure out how to deal with these little home invaders.

Thanks to GusTheBear and TheoreticallyEva for reviewing this chapter!


"I've never been to Zootopia." Madison Hopps sat in the passenger's seat of a pink, tan, and cyan delivery van as she and Gideon made their way through the countryside towards the eponymous city. "Actually, I've never been outside the Bunnyburrow area at all." The doe glanced across the van at her foxy friend.

"Me neither, Maddy. Well, ah been to a couple other towns and villages with ma parents, but ah never did get ta see much. Was jus' a kit back then, an' didn' really care too much to pay attention. Some relatives over on my ma's side, they live over near Prairie Den, 'bout an hour outside Zootopia. Maybe more. Ah got bored pretty quickly of the drive, and there was nothin' to do when we actually got to their farm neither. They didn't have cubs then, so I only had whatever I brought along, which wasn't much." The portly fox cringed at the memory. "We were there for a week."

Madison shuddered at the thought. As a bunny, there were almost no relatives who didn't also have kids when growing up. With so many aunts and uncles, though, they never all visited each one. She and her siblings had only ever met a small number of them. Different groups had met different aunts and uncles, and typically only really knew those ones. The others were just names that floated around. Even more were out there, but none of her siblings had ever met, because her mom or dad wasn't close to that particular sibling.

In any case, her aunts and uncles had always had something to do or cousins to play with when she, or they, visited. She couldn't imagine just doing what amounted to nothing, or the few books and toys she could fit into her backpack, for a week.

Outside the windows, the scenery rolled by. Mostly rolling hills of f armland, but she knew there were some forested areas on their journey ahead, thanks to Judy's overly enthusiastic description of the ride into the city from their last MuzzleTime call the night before.

The fields of grain, corn, vegetables and the occasional poultry or fish farm flew by. The highway was relatively empty, with few other vehicles coming and going at that moment. As they got closer to the city, traffic got even sparser.

The city had only opened to limited non-essential traffic a short time prior, and even then, only residents of the region were allowed in. According to Judy, however, very few mammals actually made the trek. From what Judy was hearing, there was a large amount of trepidation in terms of the visitors they did get, and they usually only stayed long enough to conduct whatever business they needed and then left as quickly as they could. Tourists still couldn't enter. If someone didn't have a valid Zootopia passport, or an essential business-related reason to be in the city, they were barred entry, even if that meant they had to pay for an impromptu train ticket or flight home.

Judy had assured Maddy that the purpose for her visit was valid, and they shouldn't have any trouble getting into the city. Of course, Nick had quipped that he might tell the officers guarding the city boundary to really put the screws to herself and Gideon, provoking a harsh glare and an elbow to the gut from the gray doe seated next to him.

Of course, Madison had laughed at that, earning a mock pout from the fox and a grin from Gideon, who had been watching the whole exchange as they'd cleaned up the bakery. Gideon was only going to drop Maddy off and see the city, while Maddy herself planned to stay a couple weeks to help her sister out.

"I'm actually lookin' forward to seein' the city for real," Gideon remarked, jarring the doe from her thoughts. She turned to watch the fox in the driver's seat as he continued. "I mean, I seen pictures of it, seen videos, the news, and heard what Judy's said about it, but I jus' have a hard time imaginin' the city that big, ya know? Bunnyburrow's the biggest town I've ever been in. I ain't even been to Podunk, and it's bigger than Bunnyburrow. Lot smaller'n Zootopia, though." The fox's face fell a little. "I'm a little scared o' gettin' lost or somethin'."

Maddy laughed and pulled out her phone. "That's why we have GPS on our phones! I'll guide us to Nick and Judy's precinct!" She waved the little handheld device in the air. The doe's grin faltered. "I'm kind of scared too…but, you know, for different reasons."

Gideon took his eyes off the road for just a moment while he glanced at the doe seated next to him. "How come?"

"Well, you know what happened in the city. I'm kind of…scared something more might happen. I know Judy says they got all the ones they knew about, but can they really be sure? I mean, I trust Judy, but the news was painting it like it was some huge operation and dozens of mammals or something!"

Gideon couldn't help but nod. "That's what I heard, too, it was a pretty big group. But aren't they just cleanin' up now?"

Maddy nodded. "That's what Judy said."

"Well, I trust your sister to be extra careful with that, and I'm sure she trusts the mammals she works with to make sure they didn't miss any." The fox looked sideways at Maddy.

The doe nodded. "That's a good point. And I do trust her. But what about all the mammals that are scared of predators now?"

Gideon thought for a moment. "I been facin' prejudice all mah life. Not just for bein' a fox, but all the things that gave me self-doubt when I was a cub. Just… Well, you just gotta be better'n 'em, yah know? Don't let it bother ya, 'cause they're the small-minded ones." He grinned over at his passenger. "You worried about me now?"

Maddy nodded. "Yeah. I am. You mean…a lot to me, Gid." The doe blushed hard under her fur, her tan ears falling down her back.

The portly fox gave her a warm smile. "Shucks. I care about you too." His grin faded. "I was worried, after what I did ta Judy, and after realized what I did was wrong, that none of your family would ever forgive me. Now look at us." The grin was back.

Maddy couldn't help but make a sound of affirmation, a grin on her face as well.

The expressions of both mammals turned to simultaneous looks of wonder as the van rounded a bend, and the trees seemed to part to reveal the full vista of the city of Zootopia. For the first-time visitors that they were, it was a mind-blowing sight. The sprawling metropolis stretched out as far as the eye could see. In the center, skyscrapers rose to impossible heights. Smaller buildings and tiny houses filled the landscape. The highway crossed a long high bridge spanning the bay area, where dozens of massive ships were waited to dock, and several more being unloaded. Sandy beaches on the Savannah Central side of the bay seemed oddly empty, in Maddy's opinion.

She and Gideon shared a slack-jawed glance with each other, then turned to staring back out the windshield. After crossing an island, with a brief stop at a police checkpoint where the officers waved them through when they were told that the duo was there at the request of the doe's sister, they crossed a suspension bridge with statues of lions as the cable anchors on either end. The highway reached land once more and wound its way into the outskirts of the city itself. The buildings on each side of the road bore a distinctive difference in styles. On the right, on the other side of a wide river, they appeared to be almost sandstone, with a predominant tan colouring. By contrast, the buildings on the left were more conventionally styled, with brick, stone, or glass-clad office structures, dull grey and brownish industrial structures, and highrise apartments.

Maddy risked a glance down at her phone. "OK, that's Savannah Central on the left there. Sahara Square is on the right. GPS says to turn westbound onto the 'Deer Foot Freeway' at Exit 3. Should be a couple miles ahead." She looked up. "It doesn't say what lane we should be in."

"You be mah navigator, Maddy. I'm gonna be totally lost without yah."

Maddy grinned. "And I'd be lost without my phone GPS. I wonder how Judy can respond so quickly to an emergency in here. She can't have time to plug in an address any time they get a call."

Gideon moved over into the rightmost lane. "Maybe Nick sets up the GPS. Or maybe he knows the streets and just tells Judy where ta go." He shrugged and grinned. "Or maybe they just clap their paws and they are there."

The fox took an exit ramp marked for the freeway in question, and they found themselves in much denser traffic than they had been in before. Space was a premium, and Maddy felt more than a little nervous mixing in with personal cars the size of what she considered a small house, no doubt belonging to rhinos, hippos, and elephants.

"OK… Next turn, Exit 12… Big Bear Road… Two and a half miles. We want to go north. If we had time, we could take this freeway around the whole city. It runs around in a circle."

As the two drove, the buildings became more and more dense, and taller, and almost felt like they were pressing in on the freeway they were on. Another exit onto Big Bear, and they were headed north again, the road getting smaller and traffic squeezing in to fit. Every other light they hit was red, and there was a baffling amount, considering the actual town of Bunnyburrow had five total. Enclosed pedestrian bridges going from building to building crisscrossed the roadway above. Most seemed to be empty, as with the wide sidewalks on either side of the road. The few mammals they did see seemed nervous or in a hurry.

Neither mammal dwelled on that, doing their best to navigate the unfamiliar city without causing an accident or getting lost. Things weren't helped when the GPS insisted that they turn the wrong way down a one-way road. Gideon tried the next road, which proved to be a dead end, and they had to spend fifteen minutes trying to find an alternate route around what seemed like a wall of skyscrapers. They finally did, with the GPS ordering that they "make a U-turn when possible" the entire time. The skyscrapers thinned out slightly with smaller buildings becoming more common until Gideon noticed a sign for Zootopia Central Train Station.

"Hey, didn't your sister say that the police station was right near the train station?" he asked.

"Yeah," Maddy replied. "She said to follow the signs for the train station, and the parking lot for it is right next to the police station." The doe put her phone away, staring out the window and helping Gideon watch for signs. It didn't take long to find the train station and, from there, the police station. Both buildings made Maddy think they build everything bigger in Zootopia. The train station in Bunnyburrow was just a small building with a small covered area, and the police station—singular—was in a squat little box not much bigger than the Hopps mechanic garage on the farm, which was barely big enough to hold a tractor and a couple pickup trucks.

Of course, she knew there were practical reasons for the larger structures. Bunnyburrow was almost never visited by mammals bigger than wolves, and those larger ones that did visit were usually there for a very specific purpose, not as residents. The small population further contributed.

The overall effect of the giant buildings in the city, though, made Maddy feel very small, and she unconsciously shifted closer to Gideon as he parked the van. The two got out and walked around back, grabbing a pair of large pastry boxes they'd brought before heading across the lot, into the plaza, and up to the ZPD's main entrance. They went through the small mammal doors, and, for the first time. Maddy could see what her sister had been babbling about in some of her calls home.

Like almost everything else in the city, the station's lobby was huge. Big enough to fit her entire family's dining room, in terms of floor space, and still have room left over.

Maddy led Gideon over to the reception desk at the far end of the lobby, where a haggard-looking deer was yelling into a microphone, using some police jargon that Maddy couldn't understand. She'd picked up a little from her sister, but she had no idea what a Mike in a Hotel in Quebec had anything to do with Zootopia.

The doe waited until the deer was finished doing whatever he was doing before she made her presence known. "Excuse me?"

The deer peered over his large desk at the comparatively small bunny, both mammals unknowingly re-enacting Judy's first arrival at the precinct a year prior. "If you are here to open a case for a missing mammal, please fill out the form online. If you want to inquire about an existing report, we don't have any information unless you've been called. If you're here to complain about that fox standing next to you, well, I can help with that."

Maddy's jaw dropped, and the pastry box she was carrying almost did the same. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Gideon's shoulders droop and his ears fall back. Shaking her head, but no less angry at the deer, she put on her best customer service smile. "Actually, I'm here to see my sister, Judy."

The deer barely looked up. "If you're here to file a complaint about her or her fox partner, you can—"

"That'll be quite enough, officer. I'll be takin' them from here." A voice with a bit of a rural accent cut into the conversation, and Maddy turned to see a lioness walking towards them with a tired but warm expression on her face. "I'm Detective Nolwazi Longtooth. I… Well, I guess you could say I'm your sister's boss right now. She said you'd be comin' by today. Who's this?"

Maddy glanced at Gideon. "Oh, he's my friend. He offered to drive me to the city rather than take the train." She looked down at the pastry box in her arms. "We brought something here for you guys. We figured you could use the pick-me-up after the weeks you've had." She smiled up at the larger predator.

The lioness smiled. "I'm sure the mammals here will enjoy that. It's true. We haven't had a lot of good news lately, though I'm sure Judy's told you that."

"Yeah, she's said that things haven't been going too well here. You know, the news, and morale and stuff. So Gid and I thought we could bring a few treats." She looked over at an elephant officer who was walking across the far side of the lobby. "It may not be enough for everyone, though…"

The detective laughed. "It usually isn't. We're used to it. Heck, it's a good thing Clawhauser isn't here, or none of us would be able to enjoy those treats you brought. They'd disappear faster'n you could say 'sugar'. Follow me. I can take you to Judy, but first, we'll drop those off in the break room."

The tall lioness led the bunny and fox through what seemed to Maddy was a maze of corridors before stopping and pushing open the door to the break room. "You can leave that stuff in here, and we'll go find your sister."

The two mammals left the boxes on the counters and turned to follow the lioness again. After a moment, Maddy spoke. "Detective? Your name. I don't think I've heard it before. Where is it from?"

Nolwazi Longtooth laughed. "Oh, you have no idea how often I get asked that. It's actually a Zulu word. It means 'knowledge'. My ma was big on things from her ancestral home, and she figured a baby with a name that was a word from her ancestral home would be the bee's knees. Or maybe she just foresaw what I'd end up doin' with my life and decided to give me a name that matched. She's used both excuses on me." She snorted, eyes shining with mirth. "Dad wanted to name me Cleopatra for some reason."

Maddy and Gideon both chuckled at that as the three entered a cubicle farm. Nolwazi led them through the false corridors, past officers of all different sizes, until the two country mammals were thoroughly lost. After a while, and a few more turns, the lioness stopped and knocked in front of a comparatively small cubicle, though still big enough to be considered roomy by bunny standards. "You have visitors, Judy."

Maddy peeked in to see her sister with her fox standing behind her, looking over her shoulder at something on her computer screen. "Hey Judy! So, this is you in your natural habitat, huh?"

Judy broke into a huge grin upon seeing her sister. "Maddy! Thanks, Nolwazi, I'll take care of them from here."

The lioness nodded and left. Judy in turn hopped down from her chair and ran over to hug her sister, Nick following at a more sedate pace.

"Hey, Maddy." Nick grinned, Maddy rolling her eyes. Judy had warned her that Nick was bound to give her a…well, a nickname at some point. Or as Judy had phrased it, a "Nick name", complete with the air quotes, when she'd talked to her sister on MuzzleTime a week ago. Nick, of course, had objected off-screen. Fortunately, he hadn't given her anything…yet.

"Hey, Gid! Maddy dragged you all the way out here, I see!" Judy walked over and hugged the portly fox as well.

"Actually, Judy, I kinda volunteered. Maddy asked me for the time off, an' I said I'd drive her, 'cuz I kinda wanted to see ya, too. So, here I am." He smiled warmly. "Glad ta see your doin' OK, though. The news outta here hasn't been good at all. So, we brought a couple treats along from home we thought you and your friends might like. They're in the break room."

Nick's eyes went wide. "You brought pastries?"

Gideon nodded. "Among other things, yeah. Some pies, some cookies, some other baked treats. Basically, what we could fit into a coupla' boxes in the back o' my van."

Judy looked at Nick. "We'd better go grab some before it all disappears. Clawhauser's not here, is he?"

The taller fox shook his head. "He's still off."

"Hey, that detective, she said something similar," Maddy said. "And you've talked about Clawhauser before. He's one of your friends?"

Judy nodded. "He's actually the first mammal I met in the force. And the first friend I made here, too. He's a cheetah."

"And he has the ZPD's biggest sweet tooth," Nick said with a grin. "Hey, Carrots, you done with that report?"

Judy nodded and ran back to her computer. "Yeah. Just let me close it up. We can grab a few treats and head outside. We're done for the day anyway." The doe did something on her computer and turned it off.

"How about you take them to the break room, Carrots? I'll clock us out."

Judy nodded. "Sounds good to me. I'll make sure you get half a donut or something," she added with a grin.

"You wound me, Carrots. Only half a donut?"

"That's all there will be left if you don't get your fluffy butt going!" Judy laughed and shooed the fox away while leading the other two back to the break room in question. "You guys made good time coming here."

Gideon nodded. "Yeah, there wasn't much on the roads after we passed the turn-off for Prairie Den, and once we got to the city checkpoint, we were waved right through." He shrugged. "Honestly thought we'd hit more traffic there. How have things been here?"

Judy sighed as she rounded another corner. "Better than feared, worse than hoped for. I'm still desk-bound, but the officers out in the field are having a tough time of it." She hesitated. "Contrary to what the news might say, our track record for finding missing mammals alive has dropped off in the last week, to the point where some of my friends are just calling it a body search." The doe sighed. "In other words, it's awful, especially when someone has to call the family of the mammal to tell them their loved one isn't coming home."

Maddy and Gideon's ears were both down at this point. Each privately hoped they never had to get that call about the other.

"Are you doing OK, Judy?"

The question had come not from Maddy, though it had been on the tip of her tongue, but from Gideon. The fox was genuinely concerned for the grey doe.

Judy stopped. "No, I'm not. Nick and I have been talking through all of this, and it's hard for us to sit back in our cubicle while we know that there are mammals out there that need our help." She gave a one-shouldered shrug as she pushed open the door to the break room. "I've tried telling Nick he should go out there with another partner, but he won't do it."

Maddy caught Gideon nodding subtly, an expression of compassion on his face, and she suspected it was as much for Nick as it was for Judy. She'd have to ask him about it later, but she suspected that there was a certain protective instinct involved, similar to bunnies being known for…multiplying. Still, it was good to know that Nick and Judy were at least talking about things and not trying to bottle up their emotions like she knew some of her siblings did.

They weren't the only ones in the break room. Nolwazi Longtooth, along with an elk, bear, and a tigress whom Maddy didn't recognize, were already there dividing up one of the pies they'd brought, quietly announcing their enjoyment.

"Looks like your stuff is well-liked already. It probably won't last long at this rate. Maddy, Gideon, these are my friends Shawn Dancing Rivers, Liz Fangmeyer, and Bert Grizzoli." Judy indicated the elk, tigress, and bear in turn. The cops greeted the two newcomers warmly.

"Good thing you showed up when you did, Judy. I doubt I would have been able to keep these guys away from the treats for too long." Nolwazi grinned and winked at the other three.

"Hey, we're not Clawhauser, OK?" Grizzoli tried to look indignant. "But we can appreciate fantastic baking."

"Hope you at least left me with more than half a donut," Nick intoned as he walked into the room, his easy grin on his face.

"Yeah, we did, silly fox, so come over here and grab some pie, and we'll head home."


"So far, we have over two million applicants for the economic relief fund. Two thousand dollars for each of them. And we have mammals threatening to sue the city for lost property value, and others are demanding that the city buy the property out at fair market value." The Rainforest District councillor, Pablo Garcia, shuffled the papers in front of him. "That's just the latest. We still have mammals demanding a timeline for the examination and decontamination of the districts."

Mayor Clawheed rubbed his temples. "Tests of the waterways through the Rainforest and Canal districts are still showing dangerous levels of seepage. The last tests showed that the level of the terrorist's product in the rivers was almost ten times what was considered safe. That's down from twenty times immediately after the attack, but it's still too dangerous."

"That's another thing, too." This time, it was the Savannah Central District councillor, a giraffe named Kamanyi Mahamat. "Fish stocks have all but disappeared from the rivers in the Canal and the Rainforest District. Most has just floated out to sea and been eaten, but Savannah Central has had a devil of a time keeping the beaches clear of dead fish. It's causing a huge stink in the coastal communities, too. Mammals are complaining."

The mayor raised his brow. "About the stink, the mess, or the environmental disaster?"

There was a slight chuckle from the assembled councillors before the giraffe continued. "All three, to be frank, Mayor. The whole coastal area smells like a fish market gone bad, and that's on a good day. On a bad day, we've had mammals check into area clinics for headaches because of the smell."

"And that's not even counting what's happening in the hospitals." The tapir councillor from the Rainforest District distributed a folder to each of the other twelve mammals on city leadership. "Tens of thousands of inpatients still waiting for beds and waiting for Night Howler treatment. More in city precinct holding cells because the hospitals just can't keep them all sedated. Families are demanding action be taken, either to provide better living conditions or to expedite the procurement of the antidote."

"Furston is claiming they can't produce it any faster," the giraffe councilor pointed out.

The Rainforest District councillor was quick to argue. "Well, then they need to be made to contract manufacturing time from other companies or offer their formula up for public use and dissemination."

Mayor Clawheed shook his head. "They offered their formula up for a twenty percent royalty a week ago. So far, to my knowledge, no one has taken the offer. Brayer addressed that in a response to an email I sent them. They said they began mammal trials yesterday on small-dose subjects and mammals who volunteered to be dosed with Night Howler. Anyway, they said that 'they wouldn't participate in the actions, nor indulge in the whims of a morally bankrupt company', and stated that once their research was complete, they'd be offering the antidote to the city at cost for the duration of the crisis.

Garcia raised his brows. "What's the catch?"

"The catch is that they want to have unlimited access to bidding on future city medical contracts."

The deputy councillor from Tundratown scratched his chin. "That doesn't seem unreasonable at all. We should be open to more international bidding in general, not just the medical sector."

The mayor nodded. "I'd actually like to table that as a motion. Should we accept Brayer's offer? Any seconders?"

The beaver from the Canal District raised his paw. "I will."

"OK, motion to accept the offer of medical help from Brayer in exchange for future medical contract bidding access. Presented by Mayor Clawheed, seconded by James de Havilland, councillor for the Canal District," the mayor summarized, raising his paw. "All in favour?"

All but three of the councillors raised their paws and hooves in approval.

"Opposed?" All of the arms dropped. The three who had not been in favour raised their arms.

"Passed. Councillors opposed, may I ask your reasons?" the mayor inquired.

The hedgehog who represented downtown shifted in her seat. "I believe the city should focus more on reopening than containing and treating a few savage mammals. Families should pay for the alternative treatments themselves if they so want it."

"I agree, Ms. Marchment. If we don't get the city reopened, there won't be any funds to pay for the treatments, regardless of the costs or who is making the antidote." Hector Smalltail, the rat representing Little Rodentia crossed his arms and glared at the Canal and Rainforest District representatives.

The camel councillor from Sahara Square nodded his agreement. "If we have no money, we can't pay for the antidote."

"If we can't get the medical situation under control, it won't matter if the city is open or not! No one will visit, and no one will ease the trade restrictions! No one will use our ports to ship to the rest of the continent, either, because they won't know if we'll have the mammal power or even shut down again!" The Rainforest councillor's arms were flailing.

"I concur with the Rainforest District's councillor. Whether or not we're opened is academic if we are seen as an unstable state internationally. You guys remember how long it took to recover from the gang wars the city was mired in years ago?" Rezu Kun said from his perch. A fruit bat from the Nocturnal District, his constituents had been the least affected by the attack but were still feeling the pressure.

"Thank you for your input, councillors. Brayer will have unlimited access to bidding on medical contracts in exchange for providing us with their version of the antidote at cost when it's ready." The mayor gestured to the stenographer, who typed it down. "I will have the city legal department contact them immediately and draw up a contract."

James de Havilland and Pablo Garcia visibly relaxed. "Maybe then we can get our people the treatments we need," the Rainforest tapir muttered. The beaver nodded his agreement. It was a big change from earlier that year, when the beaver had been in favour of stricter measures against predators. Now that he was in the hotseat, though, with his district quarantined and his constituents scattered throughout the city, savage, or dead, he had shown predators much more compassion.

"On to the next item on our agenda, we have thirty-six bids for the assessment into the environmental impact of the attacks a month ago, most international. Edalta Oilfield Services is currently the lowest bidder. They are quoting us five hundred million dollars for an expedited assessment of both districts, including atmospheric, soil, wildlife, and vegetation assessments, and a quote on cleanup costs. Bids go up from there to a little under three billion dollars."

The mayor sighed as the council chambers descended further into heated discussion.


A/N

Merry Christmas/Season's Greetings/Happy Yuletide/Happy Hanukkah to all of you awesome people! So, Maddy and Gid finally get to see the other bun/fox couple, and it looks like the City Council is getting a little closer to resolving the issues plaguing the city.

No one found the reference in the last chapter either! Am I hiding them too well? There IS one in this chapter, I promise!

Coming up on January 8: Not a Bumper Sticker Slogan!

Questions? Critiques? Did you get coal in your stocking? Leave a message!