Credit

* All Zootopia characters, included the mention of Mickey Mouse, in this chapter belong to Disney

* All Sonic characters in this chapter belong to SEGA/Sonic Team

In the private meeting room, I turned away from the table, got off the chair, and thudded next to Sonic as he encouraged, "You can take Nick home and make sure that he gets his rest and stays off his hind-paws as much as possible."

"I am planning to do that. After all, I am his mate. Thank you for extra morale boost," I nodded.

I walked around the table to reach Nick's chair then I took him off the chair. He was sitting bride-style in my arms when I glanced at Sonic and Judy, who vanished from the scene. That rabbit was in her civilian clothes when they left. I started to move toward the only door of the meeting room. In my sight, I brought up the form for physical details and conditions then I typed the details on it. Once it was filled out, I faxed it to the hospital where Nick had been attended a couple hours ago. I now walked down the hall. The e-mail icon flashed at top left corner of my sight then a signal appeared at the top right of my sight. The second signal told me that someone approached me from behind. When that 'someone' was next to me, I glanced at that mammalian. That mammalian was Chief Bogo, so I had to lifted my muzzle to his face so I could see his eyes.

"I faxed the form to the hospital, informing the doctors about Nick Wilde's physical details," I replied.

I noticed that his eyes were focusing on something else - a large paper. The cape buffalo wrote something on it then moved his left hand to my back so fast that I couldn't get a sufficient scan on it. I blinked as he slapped it on my back. He bent forward to reach my back, but we kept walking.

"That will keep the mammalians from sending the cops up your tails. For safety," he explained the reason for slapping my back.

I nodded, "Thank you for keeping me from having a rough evening while I am in public. I will vouch for you if they accuse you for some reason."

"Sure thing, Prower. And I am sure that I sent the data to your... mind from Fangmeyer's phone," Chief Bogo said, straightening up.

I realized that he referred to the e-mail icon that had flashed recently then I nodded, "Yes, I obtained it before you came up to me. And I need to go now as I have a patient to look after."

I turned to the lobby and worked my way toward the double doors. Nick seemed like he was little slow with what went on around us. By the time I was about to leave the building, he startled and patted my chest.

"I need to sign off..." he replied, reminding us of his cop duty. However, the loud grumpy voice answered his desire; "You're already signed off - be grateful that I went out of my way to get you signed off. Now go home and rest."

"Better get yourself comfortable in my arms - it's a long way home," I assured, beginning to walk my way to Nick's home.

Along the way on the street, the mammalians surrounding me and Nick were starting to take an impression of my appearance as well as the 'something' on my back. I turned on the route system in my head to pick up the phone signals. I could see many red square outlines that were located behind me on the map. Those were working phones, so I selected one of them to take a look at. The screen of that phone opened on the right side of my sight, displaying an image of my back. It displayed the elephant-sized sticker on my back with what Chief Bogo wrote down as following;

'From Ch. Bogo

Treat this mammalian as one of your own.

Do not remove or tamper with it.'

I blinked as the picture reduced to the save icon. I now knew what that cape buffalo did with the sticker. It served as a warning to the mammalians to keep me from having trouble, which was true to his words. Nick blinked while he looked at me, while I glanced at his handsome face.

"So... what have you learned?" he asked.

I blinked and replied, "The sticker on my back - your chief spoke true to his word to keep the mammalians from recognizing me as a terrorist or put the cops on me. It read; 'From Ch. Bogo - Treat this mammalian as one of your own. - Do not remove or tamper with it.'."

"Ah. That big ole' buffalo has a soft heart for us; the foxes! That sticker made it easier to get through the traffic," he said, smiling happily.

I had been walking for fifteen minutes to reach Nick's home. While I stood on the porch in front of the locked door, I glanced at him as he reached for the key in his pocket. He turned his attention to the door, proceeded to unlock it with the key, then he opened it. I walked inside, turning my body slightly so I didn't dislocate his shoulder when the door swung far from him. Once we were inside, I adjusted my walking position, turning my body to my left to keep my front to the door, and he slammed the door shut once he felt safe to get it closed.

"Hmm," I produced a sighing noise, turned away from the entrance and worked my way down to the living room.

After I entered the living room and reached the couch where Nick and I had spent the night together, I laid his back on it gently. My scanner detected his changing attitude and I turned my attention to his face, seeing many lines pinned on his muzzle.

"Shouldn't I go and change my clothes?" he asked.

I blinked, pulling back to take my arms from beneath of his body. I looked at his appearance and scanned him to see how well his body responded to his clothes. There were two results; 'Calm' and 'Acceptable'. I blinked then looked at his face again.

"For now, your body feels 'at home' in those clothes. Until you get a shower, those clothes stay on," I replied, receiving a whining groan from him. I continued, ignoring his kit-like behavior, "All you do is to rest until your physical condition become stabilized. Please be a good kit and lay still while I go fetch your cup of tea."

He sighed in distress then he nodded in understanding. I took a step back from the couch then stood up. I turned to the door and left the living room. I worked my way to the kitchen, and once I was inside that room, I approached the refrigerator, opened its door, displaying several storage containers and kettles on each shelf. I scanned the refrigerator since I had not owned one when I was with my former team. Nick was very lucky to own one here. The kettle of tea looked like an old-fashion one once my scanner pointed it out. I reached to grab it, pull it out and back from the refrigerator. I glanced at the cooking table to the left of the refrigerator, where a silver platter sat, then I set the kettle on the silver platter. With the weight of the tea on the table, I turned my attention to the refrigerator then closed the door carefully. My right paw unfolded and pulled from the handle as I looked at the kettle that I was still holding. My scanner showed me that the tea in the kettle was still in good condition to drink. The analysis was what Sonic labeled as 'Captain Obvious' as the tea was freshly made, like, yesterday. I unfolded my left paw from the handle of the kettle. I turned to one of the pantries and opened it. I hesitated in the middle of reaching for the canine-sized glass cup. I was still aware of myself being roboticized, which made my body out of metal frames. However, the joints of my body; the fingers, the elbows, the knees, etc., were all covered with flexible materials, but they were placed under the frames. That led to the certain problem-

"Scene Analyzed... use the small-sized towel to avoid scratching the glass. Also use the digits at the bottom of the glass for better grip," my scanner detailed, producing the red triangle that pointed at the towel to my right.

I blinked, pulling my stretching paw back then turned my head to where the red arrow pointed at. The towel was on the table next to the silver platter. I reached to grab the towel and put it on my left paw to cover it. I glanced at the opening of the pantry then reached to grab the canine-sized glass cup. Following the instructions of my scanner, I lifted the glass cup with my digits encircling its bottom. With the cup in my left paw, I moved to the silver platter without dropping it. I had to repeat this method to get a second cup - it's better to have a back-up supply just in case. With two cups and the kettle of cold tea on the silver platter, I twisted my left arm to let the towel drop onto the empty spot of the platter then I grabbed the handles on each side of the silver platter with my paws. I lifted the platter from the table, turned to the door, and carried the platter through the hall on the way back to the living room. Once I entered the living room, I set my sight on Nick. He was still laying on the couch in the position that I left him. I walked to the table and set the platter on it gently. I grabbed the kettle handler and poured the tea into one of the cup, filling it up. When the cup was close to full, I lifted the mouth of the kettle and set it on the platter. I glanced at the towel that I dropped earlier then I grabbed it, rearranging it on my pad paw, then used it to grab the tea-filled cup. With the cup leading to my pad, I turned to Nick and pawed him the cup of tea.

"Please have a drink," I urged, watching him reach for the cup slowly.

Once he got a grip on the cup I was holding, I uncurled my digits to let him take it out of my paw. I lifted my other paw to my towel-covered paw, rotating my left paw to let the towel falling onto my right paw. At same time the towel transferred to my different paw, Nick brought the cup to his mouth and sipped a little of his tea. With that out of the way, I turned my focus to the e-mail icon at the bottom right corner of my sight, which I had received forty-five minutes ago. I opened that e-mail and I learned that it came from Fangmeyer's phone as Chief Bogo had claimed. I started to read what it had, picking the data, and learning that most of it covered Robotnik. That wasn't so much so I decided to make an additional route. I entered the MuzzleBook app and searched for Fangmeyer's thread. It appeared that the majority of her posts were private, so I had to become her friend in order to get access. In this way, I learned that Fangmeyer's hunting team had failed to accomplish their goal. And that was two minutes ago. I couldn't blame them for being unable to find that furless mammalian in Zootopia - after all, it was my former team that hunted him down using the same method back then and Doctor Robotnik had learned his mistakes.

"Hmm," I produced a sighing noise once more.

While I read the thread to pick up more details, I heard a clink on the back of my left paw. It told me that Nick wanted to put the cup down. I made sure that the towel was on my right paw pad then I withdrew my left paw. With my right paw pad covered with the towel, he put the cup there. The scanner displayed the small screen of cup being half-filled of tea. With my right arm set in a balancing motion, I turned my attention back ot the thread, scanning Fangmeyer's friend list to find Judy Hopps in there. I entered that thread and started to search for the timestamp of her last active post. Judy's last post was at 11:08 AM and now it's already past 2 PM. I could guess that Sonic had encouraged Judy to keep her mind off the phone at this minute, to encourage her to take a break from her duty. I blinked as I saw the contour of the paw that appeared on the screen I was reading. That paw moved up and down then left and right. I shrank the app into the small version at the bottom left corner of my sight and I saw that it was Nick's right paw that waved at me.

"What's with the silent treatment?" he asked.

I blinked again, "Ah, I was checking on the MuzzleBook app and proceeding through the threads of Fangmeyer and Judy to learn the details. Judy is off her phone as we speak and Fangmeyer posted private posts that they failed to locate Robotnik."

"How can that be possible?" the red fox said, feeling offended.

I produced a sighing sound from my chest and explained, "It's because of my former team that hunted him in the same way your officer pals just did. Doctor Robotnik learned his mistake and is able to avoid being hunted in that way. So... in other words, we, along with Sonic and Judy, are the best candidates to take him down. No offense to your fellow cops, but this is the only way that can stop him for sure."

"I see... Hmm..." he nodded, thinking a little bit. He put his right index digit in the air and shook it when he thought up of something, "Ah! Do you have access to a keyboard and some kind of monitor screen?"

I nodded, assured of what he would say next; "You've got an idea and want to post them on the MuzzleBook now. Is that negative?"

"You're right, actually. And please move my cup in between my arms, so I can grab it whenever I need to drink," he suggested an extra detail.

I adjusted my position to lift my left forearm and set it in a horizontal line at the level of my neck. I blinked and a white light emerged from my eyes and formed a 'monitor screen' in front of my face. The metal frame on my forearm lifted from its resting place then slipped down to reveal the hidden keyboard that made for a canine. I could almost see him mumbling something about having a mechanical mouse to use to click on stuffs.

However, I picked up what he wanted to know and started to explain; "Just use your paw to tap on the monitor screen of where you want to open or activate, also using them to move the screen around, treat it like your cPhone. At least Mickey Mouse gets a break."

"Good. Glad that you told me ahead of time. So, um... here I go," Nick said, brought his digit to the monitor screen and 'clicked' on the message box in Fangmeyer's thread.

The 'monitor' screen changed, turning into a page with an editable comment box. He immediately withdrew his paw from the screen and put his paws on the keyboard of my left forearm. He started to type down his thoughts into the 'monitor'. While he was busy writing down the information, I made a separate box in my sight screen so I could see what he wrote, and I saw the typed sentence that he made. It seemed like a strategy of how to get around the conflict. As soon as he stopped typed, he hit the 'Enter' button on my forearm to post it. I read the rest of what he typed, the full message that he had posted was a strategy to help the cops to cover terrain easier. He paused to grab his cup from my right paw and sip the cold tea then put it back down. After a few minutes of waiting and reviewing, the bunch of messages came up, telling him that it was a failure. I guess that they were referred to the part where they hunted Doctor Robotnik to catch him rather than actually followed the instructions.

"Ugh," he groaned, put his paws on my left forearm.

He gave an explanation to the cops, including Fangmeyer, that his strategy was to help them seize the terrain and bases rather than go out looking for him. I figured him out - he actually wanted the cops to capture the bases and prevent Doctor Robotnik from using those locations again. I blinked then I glanced at his green eyes through the white light and that made him flinch when the 'monitor' screen flickered one time.

"I hope you remembered to include the location where Sonic went to fetch the emerald and where I picked you up after Sonic left you to save Judy's scalp from being permanently colored red," I said, reminding him of the specified location.

He nodded as he typed, "Yes. And thank you for reminding me about that location - I am typing that down right now."

After a few minutes of him putting the information and locations in the editable comment box, he flung his digit on 'Post' button to post it on Fangmeyer's thread. He pulled his paws from my left forearm and picked up his cup of tea from my right paw. I could assure that he was satisfied with his efforts helping the cops out through the MuzzleBook app. The metal frame moved up and covered the keyboard, sealing it down. I blinked and the 'monitor' screen turned off, which toned down the white light in the room. He blinked to get his eyes adjusted to the room light.

"Whew..." Nick sighed then grunted at his sore back, "Ugh, can you please go get a pillow? I am sure that is in the guest room next to the bathroom on your left after you leave this room. It's at the end of the hall."

I could see what he was talking about - the couch was treating him badly and the muscles in his back were not satisfied. He wanted to relax, and that was the doctor's orders... well, the chief's orders. When I looked at his face, I could see many tags of 'Stress' floating around his muzzle. The tags were pointing at the nose of that muzzle.

"Certainly, Nick. Do you want me to refill your cup now?" I said, waiting for him to gave a response.

He shook his head while he reached for the towel and removed it from my paw. I stood up, turning to the door and starting to walk toward that door, all in one motion. I closed all apps as I walked through the doorframe to the hall. I turned on the map apps that covered my sight, which I had it on when I made my way back to Precinct One. I turned to my left as I turned the map nontransparent then shrank it to one-sixteenth the size o the screen, put it at the top left corner. The arrow pointer was at bottom of the map screen with two horizontal lines at top representing the doors. Since I was in the building, the map scale was small, rather than large. I could see two doors at end of the hall, just as Nick mentioned. I remembered taking a shower this morning, right before I woke him up. The shower room was behind the left door. That labeled the left horizontal line as 'Shower Room'. Ergo, the 'Guest Room' was behind the right door next to that room. I started to move forward through the hall as my scanner labeled the right horizontal line as 'Guest Room'. Halfway down the hall, I heard a phone ring, which my system detected as a phone call signal.

"Ah," I blinked as I glanced at the speaking message.

It came from my mate's cPhone. Their speech was transcribed onto my screen, I looked through it and learned that he was having a conversation with his mother. Once I reached the end of the hall, I moved to the right door and lifted my right paw to the doorknob. I twisted the doorknob, opened the door to the bedroom then stepped into the guest room. Once I was inside the room, a menu bar emerged from the right side of my sight screen, displaying all the equipment that I had in my appearance. One of them was 'Scent Detector' that lit up. It allowed me to pick up the scent in the room through my muzzle. The first scent I could pick up was Judy Hopps'. That meant she had spent a quantity of time in here. I glanced at the bed, seeing two pillows on it. I walked to the mattress and reached to grab a pillow. With a pillow in my paws, I turned away from the mattress and walked back to the door. I left the guest room. While I walked through the hall back to the living room, I wondered why Nick had decided to make a call and talk with his mother... for what?

"Mmm," I produced a sighing sound as I entered the living room, walking to the couch that Nick occupied.

I gripped the pillow with my left paw then I slid my right paw under his back gently and lifted him to tuck the pillow between his back and the armrest of the couch. I gentle set him on the pillow. But as soon as I withdrew my paw from him, he suddenly got angry and barked at the phone. After a few loud words, he pulled his cPhone from his head and glared at it furiously.

"Doggone it, mom! What kind of secret are you keeping from me this time?" he snapped at the disconnected screen of his phone.

I stood here, watching him throw his head back. He howled at the ceiling in his fury while I watched my screen display a shuffled screen of vocal messages that I received from his phone.