Zootopia -Springtime Circumstances

Chapter 19 – Pretty much born ready

POV Judy

It was close to 6PM and Nick and I didn´t had a single calm minute since we got Max and Daniel back down from the roof this morning. Not only were we asked repeatedly who did all that, and what happens with those criminals, we also had to prepare for the press conference which was about to begin in a few minutes, because Nick and I were the main executing officers on this case.

Also, somehow the rumor had been spreading that Cammy was in heat because of Nick, and the press were creating every possible theory there was into that. It was ridiculous. According to the news reports, Nick was in love with her and has been part of that hostage taking to get her back out of prison. They even spread in the news, that Nick actually is part of the whole drug-dealership and misuses his power as a police officer for his own profit. And the people where believing that. From the earlier newspaper report about that night in the sex club, where we had arrested Cammy and the other dealers, they collected every bit of info they could find and created stories which weren´t even slightly true. But the public was believing them without thinking about it twice, and his reputation was dropping massively in the media this afternoon. He really was pissed about hearing it, and I knew already, that he would absolutely tear those reporters apart for that later, if they asked him about that. I tried my best to calm him down a little, but he actually had a right to be pissed.

We were sitting in our office since half hour and we had locked the door so nobody could interrupt us for a little while, not even our colleagues.

"What are we going to tell them?" I asked him, still cuddling myself into his chest. He had been massaging my back for the last couple of minutes and he had his chin laying on top of my ears, which I absolutely adored every time he did it.

"I was thinking about just telling them all of it" he stated, sounding a little unsure though, "Simply smack the truth into their faces and shut them up!"

"We can´t do that!" I chuckled, "We´re police officers, Nicky!"

"But we are animals too, just like Max, Daniel and even Cammy! Two of them had to fear for their lives today and the other one, I guarantee you, didn´t want that to happen either!"

"I know! And I understand you totally, but we´re professionals and we have to stay like this today!"

"Guess you´re right" he sighed.

"Whatever they say, I know it´s false and I will defeat you with whatever it takes!"

"I know you will" he chuckled back, "And I don't care what they say! I love only and just you, carrots!"

"Awww! You´re so cute, my cuddly little foxy!"

"Yeah, yeah fluff!"

"Well go home after that, I promise!" I grinned, "But first, you have to clear things up!"

"I´m going to!" he pointed out with a lot of confidence suddenly, "And I know what to say!"

POV Nick

The podium had already been erected and the lights where turned on, when Judy and I went through the entrance hall of the ZPD and right towards the little stage. Chief Bogo was already here too, and about ten cameras and twice as many microphones where pointed at our little press conference podium. The press was impatiently waiting for us, and he most important person in the room was, in fact, me. They already turned their attention towards us when we moved there. I had planned a strategy of starting it, and I was fairly confident that I could cross out the weird theories altogether with that. I had a lot of self-confidence suddenly.

Without any further hesitation I went in front of the microphones and waited for them to calm down a little, before I began talking. It took them quite a while to calm down, because questions where thrown at me from everywhere, but eventually they shut up and let me begin.

"I know, it´s not professional in any way, but I have to talk about some private stuff first!" I announced calmly, "I know it´s not professional, but making up fake stories about somebody, because he is from the same species just by chance, is even less professional."

I gave them a minute to let that sink in.

"One of the prisoners who was forced to be released today, the white vixen you all saw outside these doors this morning…a few of you trustworthy media people made up the flamboyant and brilliant tragedy that I´m in love with her, and that I´m actually part of all that to get her out of prison! …What a story, huh?" I asked sarcastically, and nobody in the whole room said a single word.

"Breaking news: I´m not in love with her. Not even slightly. And I didn´t want to get her out of prison either, I´ve personally arrested her."

"But you were half naked in the club where you have arrested her!" somebody in a row at the back yelled shamelessly, "Witnesses said she was in heat because of you!"

"Well yeah, right, that proves that I´m in love with her, how could I forget?", I asked myself ironically.

"Why did you take your shirt off then?" the same guy asked me dogmatically.

"That, my friend, is called undercover work!" I told him dryly, "And since the scene of the dealership was a sex bar, that is what undercover work should look like in order to not get suspicious. And it worked brilliantly, as you surely noticed."

"Where are those prisoners now?" somebody else asked, "Where is that vixen who is in heat because of you? Why had nobody found her already?" they asked. What a bunch of idiots.

POV Cammy

I was among them since the beginning. I had heard every single word Nick said to the press and I nearly caught myself chuckling a little from time to time. I was like invisible for them, probably because I didn´t wear the orange prison clothing I had on this morning, and I had nothing left to lose anyways so I just went right into the ZPD building to hand myself in. At least I was going down in style.

"What an incredibly stupid question" Nick sighed, "If we knew where she was, wouldn´t you think the press knew about it already? Don´t ask me where she is hiding!"

"Who do you think is behind all this?" a badger guy right beside me asked loudly.

"At first, we thought this is just about some simple drug deliveries, but that action of freeing those criminals was much too professional for something as simple as that in my opinion…" Nick explained, now calmer.

"Do you know who exactly was part of the sabotages at the power plant meanwhile?" somebody else asked, and I thought that that was a good time to make my move.

"We do. And apparently, it really had been those five prisoners we had to release today. At least we know they were involved in it…" Nick told them plainly, but he didn´t tell them any more details, luckily. That was followed by a short silence from the press and I decided to use that for myself.

"I´m sorry!" I said loud but calmly, and I immediately got all the attention with that. It took them a little while to realize it though, "I´m sorry for what I did earlier, and I´m sorry for what happened this morning!" I began, not stuttering for a single word, unlike I was expecting it, "I never wanted that to happen! That´s why I´m handing myself in right now and promise to tell you everything I know!"

The dumbfounded looks on their faces where priceless. Everybody around me had stepped back a little suddenly. and I was the middle of the whole ZPD from that moment on.

"It really is her!" somebody commented lowly, and now that I had clear view on Nick for the first time, who was standing behind the podium, I looked right at him and tried to find out what his reaction to this would be. He wasn´t as surprised as I anticipated though. He was talking to Judy for a second, and I was expecting all hell to break loose in the next moment, but it didn´t. I just stood there and was being stared at for a couple of moments. It felt better than I anticipated it to.

POV Judy

What Nick had just whispered to me made absolute sense. Followed by a very smart "what did I tell you?", he asked me, if I could arrest her in front of the crowd, so it would look less suspicious. I wasn´t even doubting that it wouldn´t be a big deal to arrest her, because she was calm and clearly aware of what she was doing. She felt sorry and she was meaning it.

"Well…I can tell you where she is now…" Nick chuckled at the press, still pretty relaxed about it, "And that was a big step into the right direction!"

"I also want to personally apologize to the Officers Fangmeyer and Wolfheart for what they did to them this morning!" Cammy continued with sad eyes, "I´m glad they´re alright!"

I dismounted the handcuffs which I had hanging on my belt in the meanwhile and opened them with the keys I had in my back pocket. With a motivating little smile, I simply threw the handcuffs over to Cammy and she caught them with her paws, looking a little surprised about my trust in her of course. But she understood and began cuffing her own paws together in front of the whole audience. She really was serious and she didn´t want to make any further trouble.

Nick was watching that of course, but soon afterwards he turned around and whispered something to the chief quickly. I went towards Cammy in the meanwhile and signalized her to follow me. The press made room for us immediately and Nick turned his attention towards them once more.

"Well, yeah…that was indeed a little unexpected, but probably really helpful also! If there are any more questions, please ask them now or talk to Chief Bogo afterwards! We have no more time to lose!" I heard him telling the media people, as Cammy and I were nearly out of earshot already. Obviously, he wanted to talk to her too, and he wanted to find out where the others were hiding. But he wasn´t done with the press for now, sadly.

POV Nick

"She seemed pretty calm for being in heat!" a reporter lady asked loud and dryly, with the same amount of doubt about it as they had before. I had anticipated that they wouldn´t let me off that easy. That was more important than everything else as it seemed. What a bunch of assholes.

"Yeah" somebody else supported her, "She seemed way too calm for being still in heat with you!"

"And I…" I nearly yelled out harshly, "…seem to be a really nice person. What about that?" I asked back equally dryly, "Even police officers have something called a heart!" I told them, and they didn´t say a single word to that anymore, it really shut them up.

"Yeah, that´s what I imagined… No more clever words now, huh?" I asked sarcastically, and with that I left the podium to Bogo.

I went on my way to follow Judy, and I didn´t lose another single word to the gazing press people. The cameras and microphones were still pointed at me, but I just kept on going until I was out of sight. I knew, that that also would be discussed in the whole city, but I didn´t care anymore.

"Now they knew. Now everybody knew. So what?" I asked myself, "What can they do about it?"

When I arrived in the prison hallway, I found both of them just a few seconds later, and Judy already had a notepad and a pen in her paws.

"What do we have, where are they?" I asked while joining them.

"Bareclaw-road" Cammy repeated for me, "That´s a little street, a dead end, in the dogtown-district and…"

"I know that place" I told Judy, "That used to be a daycare center for young teenagers, until they opened a new one a few years ago!"

"Exactly" Cammy nodded.

"Are you sure they were there too?"

"Yeah! They picked us up with a van after we ran away this morning and brought us there without telling us more. I had to escape through the toiled window, because they didn´t allow me to leave."

"Okay, glad you made it! So, they may know that you´re here…" I concluded, "…when did you leave?"

"About noon I would say…"

"About noon?! And you didn´t think of telling us earlier!?" I nearly yelled at her in anger, but she seemed to have a reason.

"I…I…I wanted to say goodbye to a good friend…I was scared they would find me!" she stuttered, "I feared they were searching for me!"

I sighed deeply, because I could actually understand her a little, but that also meant we really didn´t have any more time to lose.

"Anything we should know about this place?" I continued.

"Security! They have two very buffed polar bears equipped with knives and tranquilizers taking care of the exits!"

"Alternative hiding spots?"

"I have no idea, I´m sorry…"

"Alright… that still helped us a lot, thank you! Judy, what do we need?"

"Highspeed chase car, heavy armor, at least four or five more officers…" she yawned into her paws, "…and some coffee!" she added lightheartedly.

That made not only me chuckled a little.

But she also was right, because it was a freaking long day again already.

"Good call!" I told her, "Let´s get cracking!"

"I´ll search Delgato quickly! He can take care of Cammy in the meanwhile!" Judy announced, just before she left me alone with her in the Hallway. I nodded with a little sigh.

I had a slight feeling about what was about to come.

POV Cammy

Now that I finally did something good and helpful, I actually found the guts to look him into the eyes again. He looked tired and a little unnerved, but he also was glad about what I did.

"It was a good choice" he sighed after a short little pause, and he meant it, he wasn´t looking away, "The worst thing you did was the damage on the power split, you won´t stay too long in here over all…I guess half a year or something like that."

"Can I please get somewhere else than the other guys, if you should really find them?" I asked, a little bit of fear was left in my voice.

He understood me perfectly well.

"I´ll personally make sure they won´t get anywhere near you" he confirmed with a little nod, "And we will give you great credit in front of the judges for helping us now."

I was happy with that, that sounded fair for what I did, but I was still looking him in the eyes. I wanted him to confess something, and he knew exactly what it was, there was no doubt about it.

"Alright" he finally sighed with a tiny little smirk, "And yeah…I am a little sorry for being such a dick yesterday!" he confessed.

I nodded with a content smile.

"Happy now?" he added ironically.

I was happy, and a little proud too. But I really wasn´t mad at him anymore anyways, although I didn´t expect to ever change my mind on that again.

"I´m sorry too!" I confessed once more, just as Judy came back into the hallway again, followed by Officer Delgato, "I guess I´ve earned it a little."

He nodded very slightly, but a second later he was fully concentrated on the police bunny once again.

"Ready?" Judy asked the red fox, who handed me over to the always friendly officer Delgato.

"Yeah, let´s go!" he confirmed, following her without waiting another second, "Pretty much born ready!"

Yeah, I know, that one was a little shorter than usual. But I hope you still enjoyed it a little! Tell me what you think! ;)

The next one is going to be good, I´m really proud of that one! Hopefully I can present you that very soon!

Hope you have a great day, love you all!

~furrwolf