Heyo Last here once again

It's been a little while (I kind of got distracted by a war story - World War Zoo, if you hadn't noticed) but here is the latest chapter of BC.

Part of this was planned the other half was written on the fly, can you tel which is which?

Anywho, have some fluffy, drama-y, backstory-y goodness

Chapter 22

"I'm telling you Carrots, you haven't eaten in Zootopia till you've been to Ricetta's"

Nick and Judy were sat in their cruiser. Today Bogo had sent them and Lunette to the Rainforest District which meant a slightly lazier day. The mixture of terrifying heights, deadly drops and far too much moisture in the air, even if it wasn't time for a scheduled rainstorm, discouraged the sort of low level crime that they normally looked out for on patrol.

Crime never stopped of course but patrol in the Rainforest District was normally a bit calmer than the other parts of Zootopia. At least it was as long as you were confident with driving in conditions that ranged from damp to drenched.

It turned out that Lunette had never driven in such an environment before and one hair raising moment driving past a very long drop was enough for the rabbit and fox also in the vehicle. Judy took over and it was agreed that the next time they were in the Rainforest District they would take Lunette to ground level to get some practice in.

Of course, Lunette still needed to get some experience around the district on foot as well. This was why the wolf was not present in the cruiser, currently she was out trekking to the nearest café to get a round of drinks while they were on break, Judy had specifically parked with what seemed like a natural obstacle course between the car and the shops.

"Alright Slick" said Judy looking away from the scenery and towards her partner "what's so special about this 'Ricetta's' then?"

"Special?" Nick scratched under his muzzle as he pondered "not really anything special about it, Ricetta is just a damn good cook who owns her own restaurant now"

Judy just kept staring at Nick, he could see her nose twitching slightly in a way which he'd learnt to recognise as a sign that she didn't believe him.

An extremely adorable sign he thought to himself with an internal smirk not that I'd ever tell her that.

"Okay, okay" said Nick in mock defeat "so she may have been Mr. Big's personal chef at one point" Nick raised a paw before Judy could open her mouth "no ties to crime, she's just a chef. And now she's gone solo as it were, lots of big shots frequent her place, though she still has a soft spot for Mr. Big. Ricetta did the catering for Fru Fru's wedding you know"

"Really? That stuff was delicious" Judy raised her eyebrows at this piece of information.

"I know, right? Just a shame that she had prepared for a shrew sized event, the portions were tiny"

There was quiet for a minute as the two of them kept waiting for Lunette to return.

"Wait a minute" said Judy frowning "if it's a restaurant for the rich and powerful then why did you bring it up, we'd never be able to get in"

"Ah, you're right" said Nick as if a lightbulb had lit up in his head "why didn't I think of that? Officer's Hopps and Wilde certainly aren't the type to get a table there"

"So why-"

"However Nick, the fox who is half of Broken Clockwork, and his good friend Judy will most definitely be welcomed there" said Nick with a devious smirk.

Judy shook her head with a sigh as she watched Nick look so very pleased with himself.

"Spill it Slick" she said "and none of your 'I know everyone' spiel this time"

"Alright" chuckled Nick as he sat up in his seat a bit more "as I said, Ricetta was the personal chef to the Big family for a while, this was back while me and Noct were still under Mr. Big's wing. So of course we got to know Ricetta, her and Noct get along like a house on fire since he's pretty good in the kitchen himself" Nick paused and seemed to get lost in some memories for a moment while Judy just waited patiently "She's one of the few mammals that know who Broken Clockwork are. Ricetta took to mothering us quite a lot, especially Noct once she found out about his family or lack of one, she did her best trying to fill in for me too after-"

Nick's eyes widened when he realised just where exactly this conversation was heading and he winced a little. Judy blinked a few times in surprise at Nick's action as she thought about what he said.

"Nick?" asked Judy quietly "Is- is your mother-"

"Judy!" Nick barked.

Judy flinched at the tone of Nick's voice and shrank into her seat unconsciously, she'd never heard Nick speak like that before, it was harsh and it was final. She clamped her mouth shut when she realised that she may have stepped into a dangerous topic.

Nick immediately regretted how he'd spoken when he saw Judy curl up, she didn't know anything about his family life which was why she asked, it wasn't her fault that Nick did not want to think about that sort of thing at the moment.

"Nick-"

"Judy I-"

Nick snorted and there was a little chuckle from Judy when they spoke up at the same time.

"I'm sorry Judy" said Nick in a much softer voice "I really didn't mean to snap like that, I just really don't want to talk about my family right now"

"No, I'm sorry Nick" said Judy cheering up again "I- I mean I should have guessed something given you never talk about your parents and instead I just ran straight in and started asking questions that I shouldn't have and I don't want to make you remember something you don't want to and-"

"Carrots, you're rambling" said Nick with a gentle smile as he watched Judy getting all flustered.

"Ah, right, sorry" said Judy as her ears flopped down over her face to hide her embarrassment.

There was silence in the cruiser but it didn't last, slowly but getting faster and louder, raindrops began to fall onto the car with a pitter-patter sound. There was still no sign of Lunette as the rain began to get heavier, Nick sighed and checked his phone, it was just coming up time for the scheduled rainy period. They had thought Lunette would have plenty of time to get to the nearest café and back before the weather turned but for some reason or another the wolf would appear to have been delayed.

"My mother isn't dead, if that's what you were going to ask" said Nick quietly as he stared out of his passenger window "we're just… estranged. My father however passed away when I was young, long before that story I told you about the scouts…"

Nick paused, even just being alone with Judy, this was about all he could manage to make himself talk about. His distance from his mother was entirely his own fault and he knew better than anyone that he had no clue how to fix that relationship.

Nick blinked when he felt something on his paw that was resting in his lap. Glancing down he saw that Judy had leant across the middle of the car and placed her paw on his, she didn't say anything, in fact she was distinctly not looking at him. Nick looked back out the window as well but he shifted his paw so that their fingers intertwined.

What is it about Judy? Nick thought to himself she always manages to do something that cheers me up, gives me strength, pushes me forwards to be better.

"You know foxes have a weaker immune system?" he could just make out her reflection nodding in the window "well when I was three years old there was a terrible winter in Zootopia. Illness spread like wildfire, just coughs and sneezes, the flu, but that was danger enough for us foxes. Add to that how foxes were still discriminated against at this time, both mum and dad had jobs just to put food on the table, but that was about all we could afford" Nick only knew of this from what his mother had told him and what history he had learnt over the years as he had been too young to remember anything clearly "Medicine was a luxury that we couldn't really afford. Dad made mum stop working, she stayed at home looking after me, and dad… he went and took another two odd jobs on as well as his first, I don't know what it was he did but it wasn't glamourous. He worked himself to the bone to make sure we had food on the table and medicine to keep the colds at bay. My father obviously overworked himself over that winter, even with the medicine it wasn't enough to keep illness at bay, not with his body so worn out" Nick felt Judy tighten her grip on his paw and he squeezed back "he fell ill and passed away not long into the spring. But my mother and I were perfectly healthy, that's the sort of lengths a fox will go to for their family. If I wasn't around mum would probably have wasted away without him but she had a kit to look after."

Nick watched the raindrops running down the window, he wouldn't cry, never let them see that they get to you, but for a moment it felt like the world was crying for him. Hearing a quiet sob Nick turned back from the window to find Judy crying, noticing his attention she hastily rubbed her eyes with her free paw, not moving the one holding onto Nick in the slightest.

"Not many people get to hear stories like that Carrots, least of all rabbits" said Nick trying to lighten the atmosphere "you should consider yourself lucky"

There was a light laugh as Judy turned to look over at Nick. Her eyes were a little red around the edges, and still seemed shiny with moisture, but all that just seemed to emphasise the way she was looking at him. It was concern, it was worry, it was so very pure, it was-

Nick jerked his head round and focussed on the raindrops while it felt like someone put out a cigarette on his heart.

Really? Just a look now?

Yeah but what a look, I mean did you see that? How did you get a mammal like her to care about you?

… I don't know… I really don't know…

"So when are we going to Ricetta's?" asked Judy, her voice only slightly shaking as she calmed down.

"Not this weekend at least" said Nick, trust Judy to know exactly when to change subjects "my apartment should hopefully be finished and I want to give you the grand tour, I guess we'll just have to see after that"

"Oh good" grinned Judy "because apparently someone told me that until I go there I haven't actually eaten anything in Zootopia"

This got a chuckle from her partner and the car was back to feeling cosy once more. Apart from the fact that Judy was still holding Nick's paw, a fact that she was becoming increasingly aware of as everything went back normal, she tried her hardest to stop the slow blush that felt like it was running up the back of her neck towards her ears. But despite how flustered or embarrassed she was getting Judy didn't want to let go, his paw was so much bigger than hers, it gave her this safe, warm feeling.

There was a sudden knocking on one of the windows before a door was flung open and a sopping wet Officer Furle collapsed into the back seats. Nick and Judy sat up like they'd been struck by lightning, disentangling their paws in record time, though Lunette was in too much of a state to notice.

Lunette held out a plastic container that had two cups of coffee wedge in it towards the front seats which Nick hurriedly took from her. Judy rummaged around under her seat for a moment before pulling out a towel which she passed back to Lunette.

Nick passed Judy's coffee over, he could smell carrots mixed with the scent of coffee, and they had a brief moment just to drink while Lunette dried herself off as best she could. The coffee had gone slightly cold but given the weather Lunette had just been caught in that was understandable.

"So what happened Nix?" asked Nick curiously as he took another sip of his drink.

"We're sorry" apologised Judy "we thought you'd have plenty of time to get back before the rain hit"

"It's fine" said Lunette draping the towel over her shoulders "Just… don't ask. I don't think I like the Rainforest District very much"

"Well, an incident like this is very good for encouraging you to keep a close check on the rain schedule out here" said Nick "it's happened to me enough times over the years"

"I'm just not sure what to do about this" Lunette gestured to her uniform that was still dripping all over the place "we haven't even gotten to lunch yet, I don't know if I can deal with a soaked uniform all day"

Judy frowned, she could certainly understand where Lunette was coming from, unfortunately it was a bit of a treck to return to the precinct. She turned to look at her partner, it was times like these that Nick turned into a veritable fountain of Zootopian wisdom. Almost as if sensing that his time had come Nick shot a smirk over at Judy before turning back to Lunette.

"What the Rainforest District provides, the Rainforest District can also take away" he said mysteriously before going back to talking normally "there are public full body air dryers dotted all over the district, once it stops raining we'll find you one of them and you'll be good as new in one glorious three-minute cycle"

Lunette seemed content with that and sank back in her seat and closed her eyes. Nick and Judy smiled and sat back facing forwards again, at least any criminals would be just as inconvenienced as they were, all they could do was wait for the seemingly endless rain to stop. Which it eventually did, right on schedule.

The gentle sound of flowing water was the only thing that could be heard in the room. Noct was sat naked in a full lotus position, with his legs crossed up onto his thighs, on one of the cushions in the centre of the meditation room. He was breathing very slowly, you would be forgiven if you didn't notice it, and he seemed to meld into the scenery like a statue.

It had been two days since he had accepted the job from Adeline Rover, not that many of Broken Clockwork's missions had a time limit, most clients simply left the agency to their own devices. There was a good reason why Noct waited till Friday, and for why he was currently meditating surrounded by stone and water. Noct would of course utilise all his skills and abilities, every aspect of his body that was enhanced, in order to complete his task.

For this to work however Noct had to be free of the restraining effects of his Suppressors. There were two ways of doing this; wait until the Suppressors had naturally left his system while he didn't take any more of the tablets, or take a Catalyst.

A Catalyst was another drug that Noct manufactured which served as a sort of counter balance to his Suppressors. The name Catalyst was a bit of a misnomer, the drug didn't actually stimulate his condition, it simply broke down any Suppressors in Noct's body at a very rapid pace. This would bring Noct into his peak form very quickly, however the sudden flood of information to his senses meant that Noct did not enjoy taking a Catalyst, the drug was more of a panic button to be used in emergencies.

Another factor was that Noct very rarely needed to be in peak condition for his jobs, trying to use a great sword as a letter opener was how he tended to think of it, so unless the job was particularly risky Noct would allow his Suppressors to wear off naturally as it would usually take about a week for him to be completely free of their effects.

After two days Noct was at a state where he felt that he could deal with anything untoward that may happen when he visited Mr Wombach. Other than spending time with Asra while the pup was awake, and just being with his mate when Lunette was home from work, Noct had spent most of the past few days in the meditation room. As his senses began to increase in sensitivity Noct would use meditation to help keep himself calm and under control.

While his body was completely adapted to his capabilities, and his mind was suitably trained to cope as well, Noct disliked being overly sensitive at all times, hence why he takes Suppressors. If he did not meditate while the Suppressors wore off Noct often found himself becoming very irritable and grouchy, this was okay if it was just him alone but now he had a family and did not want to subject them to grumpy Noct.

So two days of meditation without taking any Suppressors was the route he had opted for and it had worked perfectly well. A sharp beeping rang in Noct's ears three times before it stopped. There was nothing else in the room, and in fact most other mammals wouldn't have heard anything. Noct knew his own body perfectly so left his alarm clock two rooms over, his current sense of hearing was even better than Judy's.

Noct opened his eyes, they seemed deep and clear despite the slit-like pupils, like the water that flowed round the edges of the room. The panther smoothly unfolded himself from his position and stood up with a slight stretch. With a small bend of the knees Noct leapt into the air, he flew a good four or five metres over the artistically raked gravel and landed beside the door to the room.

Shutting the meditation room behind him Noct headed two doors down, the room where he had left his alarm. This room was much smaller than the others, it did not have any particular use and only seemed to hold a table but no chairs, if asked Noct would call it a changing room. The table was covered with various different things that Noct had prepared for his 'outing' to Mr Wombach's nightclub.

Working from left to right across the table, Noct picked up one of two different tubs of what looked like gel, gathering a generous amount he began to meticulously coat himself in it. After making sure he had covered every single part of himself he stood and waited for the gel to dry in and work its magic. A few minutes later and he repeated the process with the second tub of gel.

The first gel was a particularly powerful deodorant Noct had devised, his own scent was quite strong and, more importantly, unique. The deodorant would completely erase any scents on Noct and would keep functioning for up to six hours before it naturally degraded. The only downside was that the stuff was highly soluble in water.

That was where the second gel comes in, it was a waterproofing agent, after applying and waiting for it to dry it would leave a thin hydrophobic layer covering Noct's skin and fur. So proper application was very important so no part was missing a coat. This waterproofing meant that fluids would simply roll off of Noct and not interfere with the first gel's job.

Once both the gels had been used, and left to dry, Noct moved on. Noct picked up what looked like several pieces of very narrow tape, two short curved pieces and two longer straight pieces. With a practiced paw Noct parted the fur behind and around his ears and stuck the 'tape' in place. A few moments later and he parted the fur vertically down each side of his throat and placed the longer pieces. The 'tape' was thin enough that his fur simply moved back into place and covered it all from view.

Reaching down for his wrist Noct pressed lightly, as if he was taking his pulse, and waited. A few moments later and-

"Hey Noct, are we ready to roll?"

Noct smiled when he heard Bakari's voice inside his head. It would be very odd for a mammal not used to it. The 'tape' was in fact a microphone and earpiece, the piece curved around his ear would send the sound straight into his head ensuring no one else could hear what he did, and the mic was extremely sensitive meaning that he could talk without attracting attention.

"Just testing my gear right now, I'll tell you when I set out" said Noct barely opening his mouth, probably only Judy would have been able to tell that he'd said anything at all.

With his communications sorted Noct let go of his wrist, they were of course connected to the microchip embedded there, while not something out of science fiction it did have a small switch for functions like this.

Next on the table was a thin over shirt, it was soft as silk and seemed to ripple and flow when his picked it up, the material would not hinder him in the slightest. Not that this was his outfit for the evening, no that was why he had such a varied wardrobe upstairs, this undershirt had another function.

Pockets.

It was covered in pockets, almost completely, it was difficult to find a space that wasn't a useful hidey-hole. Noct shrugged the top on over his head before looking down at the selection that covered most of the table. There were many, many little packets of powders, some black but many of various colours as well, you might have mistaken them for packets of vibrant powder paint.

They were certainly not powder paints. Each had a different effect, ranging from merely sending a mammal to sleep, to inducing various emotions and feelings like happiness or rage, to more… darker functions. Noct did not normally need to use his various concoctions, except maybe for the sleeping powder, however he would prepare all of his resources for any mission he took. That was an old habit of his, and as Broken Clockwork were fond of saying, old habits kept you alive.

After the last of the packets were secreted away in the various pockets of his undershirt, the table now looked a lot more bare than before. A pile of clothes was the next stop, a black jacket worn unbuttoned over a grey T-shirt, with a dark pair of jeans to match. Nothing like the black shirt, black trousers and red tie Noct normally wore. Certainly, for some jobs Noct would wear clothing more adapted for his line of work but he did not feel it was necessary this time.

This left only three things lying on the table now, his phone on which he had set his alarm, a USB stick and a small box. Noct swiped the all of them, the USB went into a zip up pocket of his jacket, his phone into his trouser pocket and he held onto the box.

The USB stick was very important, it was something he had picked up from Bakari, and was the key to getting her help tonight. The USB contained a virus the caracal had designed, extremely hard to detect and had no malicious effects except for one thing, it opened a backdoor in any system you plugged it into. A backdoor that Bakari would be waiting for and once she was in their electronics Bakari could do pretty much whatever she liked.

Most missions that involved a location with at least some form of intranet or computer system would start with Noct searching for the easiest place to get Bakari piggybacking their technology. The virus was also designed to delete itself after a few hours but that was just another thing that put a time limit on Noct's work, he already had several so that didn't bother him.

Scanning the room one last time, Noct was happy he hadn't forgotten anything and walked out, shutting the door behind him. Asra had been awake enough to see Lunette when she got back from work and they had an early meal before the pup fell back asleep. They had moved him back to his bedroom and left him breathing gently. Noct smiled slightly before heading for the steps up to the penthouse.

The ceiling/floor split apart as he ascended the steps and Noct glanced around the living room as his head popped into view. No sign of Lunette, his ears twitched and his head then followed to look towards the office. Silently Noct walked over to the open door and leant against the frame.

Lunette was typing away on the computer, for the first time ever she could finish her reports at home, and it was a welcome luxury. She had never had enough money for a laptop, and when she did save up enough there were so many other things that the money needed to go on back in Los Antleres. Lunette often had to stay in the department far later than many other mammals simply because she had no other way of doing her work.

Having Noct waiting for her at home had always made things more tolerable but she always wished she could get back to him a little earlier. And now she could. Lunette smiled to herself and stretched her arms over her head. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a pair of arms wrapped round her from behind and made Lunette freeze up in shock. Moments later she realised who it must be and relaxed a little as she held their paws with her own.

"Fenrir's blood!" she swore quietly with a sigh "don't do that to me honey"

"Sorry couldn't resist" grinned Noct as he looked down at her "thought I'd pop in and say goodbye before I went out for work"

"Work huh? Still not going to tell me about it?" asked Lunette gazing back up at her mate, his savage eyes no longer phased her at all after two days.

"Nope, I'll have you know I'm very professional" Noct said kissing Lunette gently on the top of her head "I take client confidentiality very seriously though I expect you'll find out about this job once I'm done"

Lunette just shook her head slightly and leant back against Noct happily. It was a few moments later when, despite the cosy atmosphere, she noticed that something didn't feel right to her. She sniffed the air a few times and frowned.

"No wonder you snuck up on me" she said looking up at Noct curiously "why can't I smell you?"

"Scent remover" explained Noct "you know I smell rather unique, can't be leaving any traces like that"

Lunette frowned again and tightened her grip on Noct.

"Is it permanent?"

"Of course not" Lunette relaxed at his words "it only lasts a couple of hours, it will probably have worn off by the time you see me again"

"In that case, good luck with your job, and you're sure you aren't doing anything bad?"

"Bruma, you don't need to worry, this job is going to put some serious heat under a rather bad mammal. You'll understand what I mean when you see it, it won't be hard to miss"

Lunette leant her head back and Noct leant down forwards and their lips met in the middle. It may seem slightly awkward with the shapes of their muzzles but the two had long ago found that they fit together quite well like this. Breaking apart Noct planted another kiss on the top of Lunette's head and turned to go.

"Don't take too long with whatever it is you're doing" he heard as he reached the door.

"I'll be back before you even notice" he said over his shoulder as Lunette returned to her reports.

He tossed the little box in the air a few times as he headed for the front door and the elevator beyond. Noct was in a very good mood right now, along with an anticipation, it had been far, far too long since Broken Clockwork had been active in Zootopia. Stepping inside the elevator Noct did not reach for the buttons to his left, instead he reached out and waved his wrist over one of the seemingly identical panels to his right.

The elevator dinged and the doors slid shut behind him, Noct looked down at the box in his hand for a few moments before he opened it up. Inside, two vials were slotted into the box, each of which contained a contact lens. Even with Noct's reflexes, and the smoothness of the lift, it was still just shaky enough that he couldn't be bothered to put them on when he could wait just a few seconds more and reach his destination.

The lift dinged once more as it came to a halt, if another mammal had been present and paying attention they would have known that the journey was too long for reaching the lobby, they must be in the underground carpark. Except that the doors didn't open, at least not the doors you would expect, in front of Noct the rear wall of the elevator split open to reveal a darkened area. This led to a secret exit from the Chrysalis Tower, Noct couldn't just be seen coming and going whenever he was on a mission.

Now that everything was still Noct used the mirrored walls of the elevator to put his contact lenses in. They weren't because Noct had bad eyesight or anything and this time they weren't some high-tech gadget for him to use either. They would cover his savage eyes and, if anything, you could call them a tradition. Noct blinked a few times and grinned at himself in the mirror when he was sure everything was fine.

Red eyes stared back at him… and the Shade went to work.