Watching him move around the office with the purpose of searching every room made her very aware of how quickly things could change in a life. In her first day in Zootopia, she had found the way he checked every corner of the tiny office to be ridiculous. Even after the encounter with the tiger, which some stubborn voice in her mind had quietly tried to convince her was an isolated incident, she had found his desire to keep the doors open simply overbearing. Bordering on creepy, if she was completely honest with herself. Now, as he reached the final step in his search and went down on one knee in front of her desk to check under it... If he had done that on the first day, she had no doubt she would have rolled her eyes and complained.
Now, she simply stood and waited until he rose and gave her a quick nod. "All clear, Carrots."
"No wiretaps under the desk then?" she asked, though her tone was playful rather than annoyed.
"Bombs," he said simply, walking over to what she now thought of as his chair in front of the desk, shrugging the jacket from his shoulders and tossing it over the back.
"What?" she asked blankly as her ears dropped, not quite able to quickly process exactly what he was suggesting.
"No bombs," he said, sitting and resting his elbows on his knees, paws folded in front of him as he looked at her. "The wolves were a tactical unit. A good tactical unit is trained in explosives."
"Great," she muttered after her brain caught up with her, causing her stomach to sink as fear trickled down her spine. She felt jittery all over again, which annoyed her after she had so effectively managed to save Otterton's life earlier that day. She walked around the desk and dropped her briefcase on top of it before sinking into her chair. "Something else to worry about."
"You let me worry about things like that," he said, his voice holding that professional edge that he had begun to shed when talking to her recently. Somehow, it made her feel a little better. Something about the stern certainty in that voice, a voice that now came with steely green eyes unshaded by sunglasses. It was a simple reminder that he was very aware of the danger and, as he had been doing since she'd entered the city, he would protect her.
Bolstered by this, she released a slow breath, perked her ears and gave a quick nod before she popped open the briefcase. "I have a lot of information to go over now," she said calmly, setting her notepad beside it before she pulled out the flash card that had been quietly in the corner of her mind for a long time. "I realize that most of what I have here will be inadmissible as evidence if it is helpful at all."
"Because it was obtained illegally?" he asked, easily unbuckling his shoulder holsters and carefully hanging them from the back of the chair so that the guns and baton were still within easy reach.
"Yes, and it goes without saying that I wouldn't be able to give my source for verification," she said, slowly turning the tiny disk in her fingers as she stared down at it. "But if I can use some of the information here to verify what I already know, then I'll be able to build a stronger case of doubt without ever showing the actual evidence. Or it could lead me somewhere to gather more evidence."
"Then why are you hesitating?" he asked, causing a frown to crease her muzzle.
"I'm not sure," she said, gazing at the drive for a moment longer before shaking it off and turning to the computer. "Flash said that you would know how to access the files here and in the e-mail he sent?"
"Hm," he replied, his head cocked to the side as he looked at her curiously. "Did he? He didn't set you up on your own account?"
"Was he supposed to?" the bunny replied, lavender eyes following him as he rose from the chair and walked around the desk. She forced herself to remain perfectly still, which took some effort when he leaned over the desk beside her to look at the e-mail she'd pulled up. It surprised her, how much she wanted to lean into him, though she was forced to wonder why it surprised her after how close they had been on more than one occasion.
"I've never known him to create a joint account," he commented, his voice easy even as she felt her heart speed up. For a moment, she almost considered holding her breath when his scent washed over her, then silently berated herself for acting like an idiot. He lived in the office with her. His scent was all over the place, including drifting around her in a delightfully heady way as he tapped away at the keyboard.
She managed to focus on the fact that his claws were tapping on the keyboard as he looked at an e-mail that didn't even seem to have an attachment included. 'Make your fur lustrous and Bright! For only 12.23!' was the subject, from an address that seemed like little more than an assortment of letters and numbers. Typical spam. She was about to question him when the horrible ad in the body of the Email pixelated and started to fade, displaying an entirely different message.
Nick,
As always, you have one minute to download the attachment and enter the password. Failing that, everything will be deleted and the normal recovery fee will apply.
F
She felt a little skitter of panic. "One minute?"
He didn't reply, only calmly typed in a series of commands, commands that were completely lost on her, that caused the file to start downloading. "Don't think I'm a computer genius or anything," he commented at her look, giving her a toothy grin, "I've just done this a few times already."
"The mystery deepens," she deadpanned, turning her eyes away from the orange and cream that continued to tempt her and watched as he double-clicked the file that now sat on her desktop. When he started to enter the password, which seemed to stretch on forever, she tilted her head. "With all of this security, shouldn't the password change rather than using the same one every time?"
"It changes," he said, seeming to pause for a moment before he added the last four keystrokes that caused the file to open. Or in this case, extract itself. "How it changes and how I know the change is my little secret."
"Uh huh," she said, rolling her eyes slightly as she took the mouse and opened the folder. The number of files inside was staggering, considering the limited subject matter, and she stared at the list in silence for a long moment before she saw a file named 'NickSuit'. She wasn't oblivious to the fact that name recognition had drawn her eyes to the file, and after a quick glance at Nick, who didn't seem to have noticed it himself, she double-clicked.
When she opened the file, it took her a moment to realize that she was looking at a receipt of sorts. Handwritten, sloppy, but legible enough for her to get the gist of it:
Tailor fitted suit
Graphene lined shirt/pants x2
Second Kevlar lined jacket on request
carbon fiber insulation on all
$150,000 est
Nick P
She stared at it for a long moment with her muzzle open a fraction. The price was outrageous, and while her experience in these things was limited to almost nothing, the mention of Kevlar at least told her that this was exactly what she was looking at. An order for body armor. One-hundred-and-fifty-thousand Bucks worth of body armor. As much the price was the date of the receipt, as printed, was the day after she had received the call and accepted his offer of protection.
Her wide eyes turned to him, seeing his frown turning his muzzle low as he looked at the receipt as a sure sign that he had not intended for her to know about the ludicrous amount of money spent.
"We still haven't talked about how I am supposed to pay you," she said from a suddenly dry mouth, a number of questions running through her mind so quickly that she couldn't grasp on long enough to settle on one.
"No, we haven't," he said simply, tapping the arrow key on the keyboard quickly to move to the next image.
She stared at him for a moment longer, wondering if he was going to say something else, only to be met with silence. Opening her mouth to question him further, she stopped when she glanced at the screen. A little 'huh' escaped her as she leaned in close to look at the picture of the crime scene, the outline of where the body had been, and the bloodstain on the floor, taken from an angle she hadn't seen in the case file. It was also slightly grainy, low resolution, which made her think it had come from someone's phone rather than a professional forensic photographer. She looked back when she realized that he was crouching beside her chair, leaving him at eye level with her as he looked over the image.
"Where did he get this? Who took this?" she asked, frowning slightly as she clicked the button to show the next image. It was another of the crime scene, something that told her there was likely an obvious order to the files in the folders.
"Questions like that will make this take forever. If I expected he would send you things you had already seen, I wouldn't have taken you to see him in the first place," he added, tilting his head at an image that appeared to be Otterton himself climbing into his car in front of a building he didn't recognize. "We've already established that a lot of this is probably illegal."
"Yeah," she said as her ears lowered. For a moment she almost considered just deleting the files, tossing the flash drive, and keeping her path straightforward. She stopped when the next image on the list was a closeup of the bloodstain on the carpet. Squinting, she leaned in closer. There was the faint discoloration in the shape of what might have been the knife, along with faint, tiny claw marks in the blood. "Do you see that?"
"Yeah," he said, his own eyes narrowed as he stared at the image with her. "It looks like someone picked up the knife."
"Which could mean the assumption in the police report that Otterton held the knife the entire time was false," she said, her earlier trepidation about where the files had come from vanishing as her ears perked up. She snatched the notepad and pulled out her carrot pen as she scribbled quickly. "I'll have to review the existing images in the case files, see if I can find an angle that shows this, even faintly."
"That was quick," he said, one brow raised as he gave her a slightly amused look. "So, we're done here?"
"It doesn't prove anything either way," she said, her mind distracted as she noted the file name and time stamp. "But anything that goes against what was force-fed through the trial is progress. But the images can wait. I want to see what's on this flash drive."
The routine repeated itself the moment she accessed the flash drive, though this instead of a junk mail cover, a couple of videos were all that showed on the drive. Her ears burned hot when she browsed the names as he started to type the information. ReynHARD, Lusty Lunar Lapins, and Deep in the Burrows jumped out at her from the list, causing her to cast a cautious glance towards Nick. A glance that she found returned with a smirk that caused her skin to heat under her fur before she released a short burst of laughter.
"Not something most mammals would want to poke around in, I suppose," she admitted, watching as the file names started to rearrange themselves into less direct files names. The one that instantly caught her attention was the audio file called 'Dbel'. She waved his paws aside with an almost playful wave of one of her own, earning a slow grin from him as she reached for the mouse and double clicked it. "I've been wondering what this was."
"I'm not sure why I keep doing these personal journals," came the somewhat familiar voice of Chief Justice Dawn Bellwether, "But sometimes they help to clear my head, I guess. It has been… a month since my last entry and a lot has happened. Leodore continues to be all the distraction I need. He remains ever the talkative one until given other things to do with his mouth, but I'm not sure what I would do without him…"
"I knew I smelled sheep," Nick muttered, the idea that Nick presented and the words from the lambs own mouth causing Judy to silently groan. Thankfully, the Chief Justice didn't linger on the subject before she moved on.
"What is on my mind today? Well, that's easy. One Judith Laverne Hopps, from Bunnyburrow. Anyone in law has heard of her. The first bunny to willingly, and successfully, defend a fox outside of Zootopia in a murder trial since the city became a bunny free zone. Here to oversee the appeal of Emmitt Otterton. I'll admit that, at first, I considered her a token. Some attempt to show that there are still some favorable relations between the mammals of Zootopia and the bunnies of The Commonwealth. That was until she started to speak.
"I don't know what I expected then, or honestly what I expect now. If she was meant to be a token, she's not playing the part assigned to her. I don't recognize that fox who stood beside her while she presented her case for an appeal, but I do know that she wasn't being used as a mouthpiece. Her words were compelling, even accusing towards the state of law in this city. Even without Leodore's request that I accept the appeal, I don't believe I had any other choice after hearing her point out every flaw in our justice system so plainly. And if nothing else, I do believe that justice, and the law, must win in the end. Others obviously don't agree with me as I learned only moments ago that there was an attempt to kill Hopps. Which leads me to further questions, ones that I won't voice here. I would wish her luck if that were proper, but I still have my oath to remain impartial. If she can prove her case, then it will be proven and my ruling will be appropriate. If she can't… Well, at least here I can wish her luck."
She sat in silence for a moment, at first trying to make sense of why the recording was sent in the first place. Soon that question was gone as she listened, digesting the words in shared silence with the patient fox beside her. That the entirety of the system in Zootopia wasn't corrupted was not a revelation to her. There would always be those with good intentions and those who understood that any system was only as good as those who upheld it. But in this, there was the feeling that the one who would hear her appeal would take the evidence as what it was: an attempt to find the truth. It eased something inside of her, an ease that was almost physical as she released a slow breath.
"You all right?"
"Yeah," she said, offering a slight smile that she was sure reached her eyes. She felt it. Determination mingled now with a little spark of hope. "She'll listen. Now I just need to find enough to make what I say mean something."
She hadn't realized that her paw was still on the mouse until she felt his rest over it. Rough pads and large fingers were gentle as he guided her, and the mouse, over the next video on the list.
"Then we keep looking," he said, causing her smile to return and turn a little wobbly when he pressed her finger down on the pointer twice quickly, "Until we find what you need."
That he was helping her, rather than just being a silent figure in the corner watching over her as she had expected him to be, gave her the compulsion to hug him. That he was incredibly hot, incredibly close, and smelled so incredibly male made her want to climb all over him and forget that he was a fox and she was a bunny. The middle ground, in a mind that was more relaxed and happy than it had been since she had decided to come to Zootopia, was a kiss. Close as he was now, his muzzle turned towards her and his ears erect, she could feel his breath whisper over her lips. She had never been compelled on so basic a level as she was when she looked into his eyes, felt his paw lightly squeeze onto hers as the distance closed of her own accord…
The burst of static from the computer caused her to jump, snapping her out of the trance of her own making as she glanced at the screen with a nervous little titter of laughter. "Right, keep looking until we…"
She trailed off when she saw the gas station that was so often mentioned in the reports, her mind instantly returning to the task at hand even if her hormones were currently trying to wage a war in her blood. It wasn't a good view, either. It looked like a recording from a wide-angle security camera set down the street, probably a few buildings down and across the street. From the time stamp, it had been recorded on the day of the night. In the lot of the gas station, she could clearly see the rear end of a ZPD patrol car illuminated by the overhead lights, obscured largely by the gas station itself. While she couldn't see the car number, from the testimony and the fact that it was night, she could assume that she was looking at Weaselton and Fangmeyer's car.
"Well, we can confirm that they were there like they said," Nick commented, then narrowed his eyes and squinted as another, smaller vehicle pulled into the lot. "And that might be…"
Nodding in agreement to the statement he didn't finish, she watched the tiny shadow of a mammal jump down from his car and hurry into the gas station. There was no actual visual confirmation, the quality was too poor and he was in the shadows of the gas station itself, but the car matched the model he drove. And the time stamp on the recording put it at 9:55 pm.
She felt a hard rush of professional excitement that almost managed to wash away her awareness of the fox who was watching her very much like the predator he was.
"This is it! There might be more in here, but this might be what I really need," she said excitedly as she paused the video. "This is why the ZPD was so quick to respond because the unit was just down the street. But the call reporting the disturbance came in at 9:54 pm, saying there was angry shouting. If that is Otterton, there is no way he could have murder his wife, cleaned himself up afterward and gone to the gas station in less than a minute. It would take him longer than that to make the drive to his house. And even if he did manage to time it somehow, why would he have returned to the scene of the crime?"
"You need the receipt," he commented, resting his forearm on the desktop so he could lean closer to her. A motion that she was completely aware of, even as she took her notepad and took some more notes. Enjoying how close he was, she didn't try to move away or change the subject. Instead, she grinned at him.
"Look at you. A bodyguard and an investigator," she said, her tone playful as she tapped the pen against the notepad while looking him up and down in a way that caused his brow to quirk. "You have been paying attention. Looking to be a lawyer now?"
"And spend my time in a tiny office all day?" he huffed lightly, a smirk climbing his muzzle as he returned the favor by giving her a once-over before he replied. "How dare you."
"But you're right," she said after a light laugh, still smiling as she set the pen and pad down. "But we can't go out looking for it now. It's either in the impound or it's been auctioned off, and that information won't be available until morning. Failing that, or including that, I need to find the stoat that was running the register. Thank you, Nick."
"It wasn't much," he said after a moment of surprise at the sudden gratitude, giving a little shrug. "There is still a lot to go over."
"Yeah," she said, reaching out to slide her finger down the length of his tie slowly, her eyes on his until she saw them go dark and heated when she ran one finger down the front of his shirt. A chest that she then poked, nudging him back an inch as he blinked in surprise. "But don't think I've forgotten the other receipt I saw. We need to talk about some things, and soon, Mr. Graphene Lined Shirt."
"Of course, you haven't," he muttered as they turned back to the screen.
Meetings with the Council. Incredibly important, though not for the reason many members of the Council believed. The Administrator wasn't even thinking about them as the elevator silently and uncommonly slowly descended, instead using the pad in her paw to review the latest news articles that involved one as of yet un-named fox. An attack in prison. Another daring rescue of both the bunny and the prisoner. Another leak to the press. The fact that no one knew his name didn't surprise her in the slightest. In fact, she very much doubted anyone would be able to find anything more on him than the fact that he appeared like a phantom when Miss Hopps came to Zootopia. Even she had not been prepared for his coming, so the fact that there were whispers of Yurei within certain dangerous circles of the city seemed apt.
Without more information to go on, there was a good deal of speculation by the press, some seen as she swiped the screen to the next news organization, ZNN. None of it was confirmed or commented on by herself or the Council, of course. But the glaring question on the front page of the site 'A Hero in Zootopia?' sat above yet another leaked picture of the handsome Todd easily dismantling a larger, and armed, predator inside of the prison meant that it wasn't something that could be ignored by the government forever. How, and if, she should spin it was something she was still considering. Not that she expected Nick would ever stand in front of a camera, shaking Lionheart's paw in a glorified photo shoot, but there were ways to make it seem as if everything was business as usual without actually trying to bring him into the fold.
She tapped the screen of the pad in her paw, locking the screen when found the sand fox standing just outside of the elevator with his arms folded behind his back, dark eyes sparkling as he gave a slight bow upon seeing her. The flick of her ears and the surprised pleasure on her face was faux, something that she was sure he knew as well as she did.
"Andrew, darling," she said, her muzzle spreading in a pleasant smile as she stepped out and immediately past him. He fell into step with her, respectfully one step behind, as she kept walking towards the Council Chamber. "I assume everyone is gathered."
"Of course, Administrator," he said, the low hum of his voice keeping with the somewhat amused tone that told her he knew that she hadn't been asking a question. "They are eager to discuss the recent developments, not the least of which is filling the void left by General Valter."
"There will be the standard election, of course," she replied simply, keeping her pace steady even as she saw the holographic walls of the Chamber come into view. The members of the Council itself had been more than eager to allow her to redesign it, once she had made it clear that it would make them the most advanced and envied government body in the world. Currently, the relaxing canopy of trees that ringed the room sang with the unobtrusive but constant songs of birds and the gentle whisper of the waterfall. These were all clearly made of light, being partially transparent, but the effect would and often did change depending on the mood of those within. Particularly hers. "But there is no rush to fill his seat, is there? He was such a dear friend and there are no pressing matters of governance that would require a full voting body."
She doubted that he had missed her tone when she had called him a friend, as loose as the term might have been. "Of course, forgive my lack of compassion in what must have been a horrible loss for you," he said, and though she didn't look back she was certain she could hear a hint of a smirk in his voice. "I know he was one of the first to endorse your position as Administrator, along with myself. Though we shouldn't wait too long to put forward candidates for the election. The rest of the Council will not be so understanding if we find ourselves at a standstill because of a deadlocked vote."
"There may be someone on the Council willing to abstain from important votes until the political climate would welcome new candidates," she commented, pausing for a moment as she turned to look back at him. "We will have to consider that they will be the future leader of the armed forces in Zootopia, after all."
"I would be willing to abstain for the time being," he said, causing her to fully halt her steps and raise her eyes to his face with a small smile playing over her muzzle as he continued, "and take over the burden of his considerable administrative duties in the interim."
So humble, was her thought, though having known the male for most of her life, she didn't buy it for a moment. But it was a part of her position to be paranoid.
"That would be a weight lifted, Andrew," she said, warming her voice as she glanced towards the chamber ahead. Her platform was just beyond the waterfall now and even over the birdsong and babble of water, she could hear the Councilors growing restless. Ignoring it, she turned her attention back to him. "I will have the proper administrative powers transferred to you after the meeting is completed, though I see no reason to burden you with command of the armed forces themselves. Nathanial was experienced, and a transfer of leadership at this point would unsettle those who served under him. For the time being, I will retain silent command and deal directly with the generals myself."
The broadly furred male opened his muzzle as if to offer protest, then closed it with a slow nod.
"Whatever you think is best, Neveen," he said, his own ears flicking towards the Chamber again before he waved a paw for her to continue. "I assure you, I will take care of everything. And I can't fathom that the other Councilors would argue with having my vote temporarily removed from matters of law."
"No, I don't image they will," she said, a coy grin playing over her muzzle before she turned and made her way to the waterfall.
The light shimmered around her as she stepped inside once they parted ways, pausing for a moment while inside to allow Andrew time to reach his place before she stepped out onto the podium that overlooked the Seat of The Council. The moment she left the water, the room started to change. The peaceful wilderness setting melted away, rippling as walls seemed to solidify around the room. Elegant oriental craftsmanship flowed outward from her place at the head of the table, dark-toned wood in vibrant reds circling the table now. The curves and lines suited her, pleased her, as did the spires of the Zootopian flag that became her backdrop as she faced those on the Council.
Without Valter, there were now eight mammals sitting around the table. There was a sort of balance to it now, one that had not really existed before. Four foxes of various species, three representatives of the prey species, including the good Doctor Lyndon, and a lioness to balance the larger predator votes. They all grew still and silent with her appearance, whatever their species, and she looked over them with a cool eye. Like Valter, most of them still believed themselves to be far more important than they were on the road to remaking Zootopia. It was, perhaps, time that she gave them a small reminder of that.
"Good morning. It is a pleasure to see you all again," she said, her voice pleasant enough as she swept her golden gaze over each one of them. Then her muzzle curved in a smile that was as cold and hard as those eyes as she nodded. "We have a lot to cover today. But let us begin by talking about the bunny."
