The media had been shut out of the courthouse entirely, on the off chance that someone would try to slip a camera past the security within the building to gain access to the courtroom itself. The decision by Chief Justice Bellwether had faced criticism from various directions, most noticeably the City Council who saw the appeals trial as a farce that should be televised for the entertainment value that it would undoubtedly bring. No one actually expected that the 'bunny bumpkin' from a farming family in the Commonwealth would bring anything more than a good chuckle from the courthouse.

Which was why the doors were sealed, and the only unusual presence in the near perfect silence of the large chamber was the crisply dressed Red Fox standing only feet away from Judy Hopps. The confused rippled had followed the two of them in from the courthouse steps, as flashing lights and shouldered cameras had tried to bend over the two lions who barred further entrance through the large double doors leading into the courthouse itself. Those ripples had continued all the way into the courtroom, until Bellwether had slammed her decorative gavel into the sound block and called for order. Otherwise, his presence was not mentioned.

It was not like anyone questioned the Fox's right to be in the courtroom, after all.

The silence that followed was one filled with curiosity as the bunny was called forward to present her opening argument. The sheep watched the well-dressed bunny as she made her way to the marble podium between the Defense and Prosecution's tables. The prosecution was absent, likely because they saw no need to bother with the case, and that did not sit well with Bellwether. The law was the law, and even if there was small chance that anything would come of this, the law demanded respect. But there was nothing to be done about it. This was, after all, an informal hearing: one set to determine if there was any cause to continue with the final appeal of Emmett Otterton.

Those who did attend included a few dignitaries who were there for the sake of watching the rabbit fail, including some representatives from the fox population from various sectors throughout the city. The fact that they were all staring at the Red Fox, who kept himself a few paces behind Hopps at all times, made Bellwether all the more curious about him. No one seemed to know who he was or why he was there; they didn't understand why the rabbit didn't seem overly concerned with his presence or even acknowledge that he existed as she jumped easily onto the stool that had been placed in front of the central podium. All business, she waited in silence to be recognized.

"You may state your case to the court, Miss. Hopps," the sheep in the dark robes of her station said evenly, leaning forward with her hooves folded together on top of the table as she looked down.

"Thank you, Your Honor," Hopps said, and without a single note set out before her, she did just that.


"I am here today to appeal the case of Emmett Otterton, a mammal that has been wrongly accused of murder. Not the murder of a stranger, not the murder of a political rival. But the murder of his wife. A wife that by all reports he loved more than life itself. We're all familiar with the case on some level – even all the way out into the Commonwealth – because of the resounding shock it caused, not only through his community, but through all of Zootopia. That such a well-respected member of his community, such a well-known and beloved leader could commit such a horrible crime against someone that he loved so dearly was unthinkable. I don't think that I am out of line when I say that everyone expected him to be cleared, and the hunt for the real murdered to begin very quickly after the arrest was made.

"Of course, public option doesn't matter in cases like this. Good people sometimes do horrible things; they make mistakes that they can't take back, no matter how much they wish they could. Otterton was found over his wife's body with the murder weapon in his paws, her blood on his hands and soaked into his sweater. That much we know is fact. There was no sign of forced entry into their home. That is also fact. Other basic facts in the case include the fact that she was stabbed once in the heart with a long bladed kitchen knife, and that it was only moments after the determined time of death that Emmett Otterton himself called Emergency Response. And that is where things get less factual, and more circumstantial. And worst, unusual.

"According to police reports, an anonymous tip was received at 9:54pm to report a murder. Mrs. Otterton was confirmed alive at this time. The fact that this caller was never identified was omitted from the case. The ZPD arrived on the scene at 10:02pm, ten minutes before the EMT, and reported leading a sobbing Otterton away from his wife's body without resistance. And because they knew him, no arrest was made until later in the week. Then stories began to surface of a heated argument between the two at a public event the night before, an argument during which Otterton supposedly threatened his wife's life. An argument that many their close friends, who were also at this event, continue to say never happened; testimony which never made it into court during his murder trial. Expert testimony was never requested during the trial, such as the coroner's report that confirmed death was caused by a single, precise knife wound between the ribs that pierced the heart. The question was never raised as to why, if this was a crime of rage and passion, he only stabbed her once. Or how there was no sign of a struggle inside of the house. Or the fact that there were also no defensive wounds on Mr. Otterton, even though there were signs of some struggle given tearing in Mrs. Otterton's blouse.

"What I am saying, Your Honor, is that justice has not been properly served in the case of Emmett Otterton. It is true that Justice is blind, but at the same time, Justice cannot be blind to the truth. All of the facts have not been considered. No, many of the facts were outright ignored or conveniently barred from the case. The eyes of Zootopia were on the Otterton murder trial, and I fear that those eyes saw a miscarriage of justice, and because law and order are slowly dying in this city… Accepted it without complaint. And until Emmett Otterton is given a fair trial, with a defense that is interested in absolving him of a crime that he did not commit rather than accepting that the 'system' in Zootopia cannot be broken, I fear it will only get worse.

"I plead with the court to consider my appeal, to look beyond the gavel, and allow me to defend an innocent mammal."


Walking beside her out of the courthouse felt odd. It all felt odd. Not because he was walking beside a rabbit in a neat black suit, carrying her suitcase in one hand while trying to fend off an overly aggressive microphone from one of the reporters with the other, but because he was more visible to the daylight world than he had been in years. He could feel the heat beating against his fur and the back of his suit as the afternoon sun moved just past its pinnacle; could see mammals of the everyday variety going about their business in open view of the public. This was what normal mammals did, after all.

He was no longer 'normal' by the standards of this society.

After spending years in a self-imposed state of near indistinctness, lurking in the darker corners of the city and moving mostly at night when no one would question or take interest in the presence of a fox, being this public was like an itch between his shoulders that wouldn't go away. He wanted to scratch it, to get out of the public eye and away from the glinting lenses of over a dozen cameras even though he knew it was already too late for that. Along with the rabbit, his face would be plastered all over the news in a matter of hours. He had known it would happen from the moment he had decided to help her, and accepting that meant that the itch could be ignored for now.

"Miss Hopps! Now that the appeal has been accepted, what are your next steps?"

"Miss Hopps! Would you consider an interview now that your foreseeable future is here in the city?"

"Miss Hopps! Do you really think you can win this case?"

"Miss Hopps! Victoria Harrigan, ZNN. Is this your personal protection? Did the Administrator provide for your safety?"

"Miss Hopps!"

"Miss Hopps!"

That didn't mean he needed to tolerate the presence of the reporters past the courthouse steps, as a flood of questions continued to follow them once they reached the sidewalk. He felt the slight jerk in her body when he laid his paw on Hopps' shoulder briefly, but she stopped and looked up at him with half wide, half curious eyes as he turned to face the reporters. Reporters that grew silent, even as they thrust their microphones forward and focused all cameras on him in hopes that the mysterious fox was about to say something riveting and newsworthy.

"Stay," he said, point at the ground where they already stood. More than a few of them actually took a step back from that particular spot on the sidewalk, causing one camera-mammal to almost trip over the courthouse steps and drop his camera. All except for the white furred vixen he had seen question Judy the night before. And the only reporter who had questioned his presence beside the bunny. Wearing another slightly too short dress skirt, this one a business like beige that hugged her hips on the way up to a blue blouse that accented her curves perfectly. All he felt when he met her ice blue eyes was a twinge of humor when she frowned at him in a way that screamed 'Who do you think you are?' But she still stayed where she was, even if she did cross her arms over her chest and level a steady, weighty gaze at him as the mammals around her muttered in their confused uncertainty.

Once the silence had taken a moment to sink in, and he was sure all of them had clearly seen where his clawed fingertip was point, he simply turned and gestured for the surprised bunny to continue their walk. The reporters didn't follow, no doubt because the question about his being an agent of the Administrator had gone unanswered.

They walked in silence for a few seconds, until he was certain they were out of direct earshot of even the most sensitive ears among them before he spoke to the bunny who kept glancing at him out of the corner of her eyes. "Go ahead. Ask it."

"Do you work for the Administrator?" The question was quick, came easily and not without a hint of accusation on the edges of her tone. He glanced down at her without turning his head, seeing the tiny female frowning curiously with her violet eyes locked on him. Of course she would try to read him when he gave his answer, and he made sure to turn his head out towards a passing car on the street for a moment as he answered. Just to get under her fur.

"No." When he turned his muzzle forward again, there was a tiny bit of gratification to see annoyance on her face. A tiny bit of that, and an odd gnawing feeling of guilt that was just as tiny. But the fact that it existed at all made him frown, release a low sigh, and answer her in a way that he hoped would kill the subject. "No, I do not, and have never worked for the Administrator. Does the defense have any further questions?"

"Who do you work for?"

"You," he said easily, keeping the mild irritation at the question in check. He knew that she didn't trust him, and wasn't entirely sure why that fact suddenly annoyed him. Fighting to keep his ears erect and unmoving, which was unusual in itself, wasn't doing his mood any favors. He was slightly gratified that she seemed just a little surprised by the answer.

"No, I mean who sent you?" she asked, increasing her pace slightly so she could look at him more easily, her ears high. He was sure so she could try to catch the tone of his voice as they radared in on him. "What agency? What policing body? What member of the city Council? Someone must have sent you, and I think the answer is why you've been refusing to talk about it. You're under orders."

"I don't work for an agency, or a policing body, or a member of the council," he said, snagging the back of her suit's blazer with one paw and correcting her when she almost overshot their turn out of Savanna Central. This brought a glare, which he returned with a calm expression as he took the lead again. "I wasn't sent by any governing body, or clandestine organization, or one of the corporations. I don't work for anyone."

"You work for me," she reminded him, with a triumphant little smirk on her muzzle that caused one of his ears to twitch finally.

Damned adorable bunny.

"Yes, I work for you."

"Then if you work for me, I need to be able to trust you," she said, increasing her pace again so that she could come to a stop directly in front of him. Once he paused his steps to stand facing her, looking down at her through the dark glasses that seemed only marginally effective at dampening how bright she seemed in the light of the midday sun. "I need to be able to trust you with my life, and I don't know anything about you."

"Look, Fluff," he began as he assessed the three mammals in the immediate proximity to them now. The otter in khaki shorts and a T-shirt was busily chatting on his phone as he wandered past on the other side of the street, seeming completely unaware of his surroundings. The giraffe that plodded past them in a long legged and quick pace angled her neck around to give the bunny a wide eyed stare and him a cautious one before moving on her way without a backward glance. And the badger in a poorly fitted business suit, sitting at the bus stopped reading the newspaper, only held his attention for a moment before he dismissed him as well. All of this was done quickly enough that she didn't notice the pause in his thoughts before he continued. "Maybe if it were that easy, I would tell you everything you could ever want to know about me. But it doesn't. Trust doesn't come from hearing someone's life story. Trust doesn't come from someone asking you to trust them. So I will skip those steps.

"But I will tell you this." He stepped closer to her, and noticed that this time she didn't shrink away as she had on the train; didn't curl in on herself, or lower her ears. And he saw from the look in her eyes that she stood her ground more out of defiance than bravery. Which in itself was brave enough. "If there is ever a time when you can't trust me? You're going to die."

"You keep saying that," she said, seeming far less disturbed than she should have been. Her ears remained high as she turned to follow him when he stepped around her again. "You've already tried frightening me into going back to Bunnyburrow, and it didn't work then. And it won't work now, especially now that the appeal has been accepted."

"Yes, using what I said about the system in Zootopia to make your point," he mumbled, which gained a glowing smile from her that was half delighted and all pleased with herself. "And I keeping saying it because I want to drive the point home about how dangerous this city is for a…"

He saw the movement as a shadow against the corner of his glasses, briefly blocking out the glint of the sun off of a window in the adjacent alley. Fast moving, very large, and almost on top of them. She noticed the motion herself about a second too late. The flicker of the straight knife in the simply dressed tiger's paw came at a low angle, and Nick's reaction was instant and only based partly on thought as he grabbed her arm and swung her around to switch places with her. The underhanded arch of the stab was meant to be quick and precise against the smaller mammal, which meant it lacked the full power the tiger was capable of; a fact which worked in the fox's favor as he used the momentum he already had to slam his body into the forearm as it passed inches from his own chest. The impact sent the point of the knife sliding harmlessly past the rabbit, and sent his dark glasses flying off to skitter across the sidewalk un-noticed. Seeing the moment of surprise on the tiger's face, which was already quickly becoming annoyance and determined rage, Nick ducked the returning blow that was now directed at him intentionally. The scratch of the hot sidewalk under his paw pads preceded his forward lunge after he pivoted away and made sure that he was between her and the tiger.

Deep emerald green, only a few degrees below boiling, met the stunned and frightened amethyst of the bunny on the ground. He stood, took a single step back, and tugged on the hem of his jacket to smooth it as if getting ready for just another day at the office.

"…cute little bunny," he finished his thought almost calmly, before he turned and met the charging tiger to do his job:

Protect Judith Hopps.