When she was still in high school, Judy had gone out on a second date with a rather determined buck from Podunk - Jimmy Something-or-other. The fact that she'd even agreed to go out in the first place had been an anomaly, partially because she'd only had a small pawful of dates up to that point, and partially because he was the first buck that had managed to score a second one.
It had actually been going rather well for a while. He'd been quite nice to talk to, a complete gentlebuck for the most part. Judy did have to admit that he'd been rather handsome. Warm smile, well groomed, and a pair of piercing green eyes - which Judy now recognized was clearly a weakness of hers.
Things took a turn when the conversation topic shifted towards their respective futures. He'd had the same goal as most other bucks from out in the country: find a nice doe, start a warren, grow carrots, live happily ever after. When Judy had started to tell him about her dreams of becoming a cop in Zootopia, he'd started laughing like it was the funniest thing he'd ever heard. He'd thought that Judy had been joking, so she'd made it explicitly clear that she wasn't by clocking him square in the jaw and leaving without another word.
The bucks of Bunny Burrow steered clear of Judy for a good while after that, but it was only a matter of time before more of them worked up the courage to try and "tame the beast within her," as some of them had put it.
Such thoughts had always bounced off Judy's steel resolve. She'd always known what she'd wanted and was never going to let anyone get in her way. Judy was going to become an officer for the ZPD. She was going to get up for work bright and early every day and show the world exactly what she was capable of, be it high-speed pursuits or monotonous paperwork.
Much to Judy's annoyance, her current workload fell into the latter of those two categories. Sitting in the office she shared with Nick, Judy was slowly but steadily working through the stack of files and reports that she hadn't managed to complete over the course of the last week. It wasn't a glamorous part of the job, but it was something that Judy had known she'd have to do well before becoming an officer. Nonetheless, even when she was filling out the dullest of forms Judy tried to do her best at it.
Nick had a sardonic take on the ordeal of paperwork that he'd explained to Judy on her second day back on the job: "Think of it like a puzzle, except take out everything that could make it even remotely engaging and replace it with soul-siphoning bureaucracy. Add in a little emotional dread on top, because one wrong word might just make you the next big scandal on the evening news."
That had gotten a chuckle out of Judy at the time, and even thinking about it now caused a corner of her mouth to involuntarily curve upwards.
She did disagree with Nick on one thing; the paperwork actually could be engaging on occasion. Having all the details of a case spread out in front of you, being able to see how every little thing fell right into place. It could be pretty interesting to go through, even if the wording was a bit on the drab side.
However this only held true if the case itself was actually interesting, something that could not be said for the cases behind the current forms lying in front of her. There was a good reason Judy had left these reports on the backburner: they were all low-profile cases that at their worst could result in a misdemeanor charge, and the lot of them probably wouldn't even get that far.
Despite the lack of pizzaz in her current task, Judy knew that getting it done was important work. Not every day on the force was going to be full of excitement.
Judy let out a sigh and leaned back in her chair. She'd been at this for several hours at this point and was beginning to feel her morning coffee start to fade. The doe gingerly hopped down from her chair, strolled out of the office and walked towards the break room coffee machine. The other officers who were in the precinct on a weekend were generally busy with their own paperwork, and most were still in uniform unlike herself. Thankfully nobody had batted an eye when she'd showed up at the precinct in plainclothes on her day off. Clawhauser had been thrilled to see her come in, talking about how she was starting to get back to her old self again. Judy idly wondered if Clawhauser ever took a day off, but maybe he was just as dedicated to his own part of the job as she was. Striding into the break room, Judy climbed up a counter and began to fix herself a fresh cup. As it poured, she turned to see that the other officers around her seemed just as unenthused with their tasks as she had been, the facial expressions ranging from general neutrality to outright boredom. It seemed that she wasn't the only one that would prefer to be out and about in the city rather than cooped up in the precinct on a Sunday afternoon.
Finishing this paperwork was something Judy could've saved for tomorrow. The only reason she'd arrived in the first place was to get more information on Mr. Big, but the thought of ignoring her work and using the police database for what at the moment could only be considered a personal errand did not sit right with her moral compass. So she'd decided to get at least a couple of the forms she'd put off finished before looking into Big.
After she flew through the first two forms, Judy figured that she might as well get a few more done and save herself more hassle tomorrow. Before she knew it, the rabbit was down to her last report with lunch having already come and gone.
She let out another sigh, absentmindedly mixing some creamer into her coffee and taking a quick initial sip to ensure it was how she liked it. Just enough creamer to dull the bitter taste of the coffee, but not enough to mask the rich flavor. Even the cheap grounds that the station bought could be perfectly satisfying, when paired with just enough cream.
Turning her attention away from her coffee, Judy hated to admit there was another reason that she hadn't yet gone to investigate Big any further.
Rabbits were generally skittish mammals by nature, a genetic holdover from ancient times when they had to constantly be on alert, lest they be claimed as a midday snack by some unseen predator. Their resting heart rate was significantly faster than most other mammals relative to their size, and this tended to make the average rabbit rather anxious. This meant that coffee was usually a no-go for most bunnies, as the increased energy may very well be enough to cause them to keel over on the spot. (Judy thanked her lucky stars that she was able to handle the stuff.) Anxious had never been a word that had applied to her before. She had always tried to charge in headstrong and tackle her problems directly, no matter how difficult or uncomfortable they might be.
But now Judy nervously rubbed at the back of her neck, her anxiety spiked at the thought of Nick actually being a dirty cop - slim as those odds might be. She only remembered knowing him for a little over a month now, but he was undoubtedly her best friend. Nick really seemed to know her in a way that even her friends back in Bunny Burrow had never managed to achieve. A deep friendship that now had her pinning after him like she was some love-struck teenager trying to build up the courage to ask a crush to prom.
She didn't want to believe that Nick was crooked. The only real evidence she had was the tail end of a muffled conversation and his nervous demeanor immediately afterwards. It was hardly enough to call him out on.
'Well why not? Why don't you just go and ask Nick?'
An uncomfortable groan escaped Judy's lips as soon as the thought entered her mind. She wanted to be straight with him, to ask exactly what he'd been talking to those polar bears about. Every instinct in her said that Nick could be trusted, save for one minute voice deep in her psyche that was screaming at her that something wasn't right. She needed to be smart about this, she needed to think.
The odds that Nick would upend the life he had worked so hard to achieve was slim to none. The way he'd spoken about how much this job and being her partner meant to him was far too genuine to be farce (and his saying that had managed to make butterflies appear in her stomach).
She knew that Nick hadn't always been on the right side of the law. He was a hustler back before he was a cop, and that was apparently how the two had met. Perhaps Mr. Big had some blackmail on him from way back then? Something that Nick wasn't proud of that he would prefer not come into the light, or something that might harm his career?
That theory immediately clicked with Judy. All the time Nick had spent helping her get back in shape for duty, all the time dedicated to the job and making sure that Judy would only make it better. It made much more sense that he was simply trying to keep his past under wraps instead of trying to make a quick buck on the side.
Still it was just a theory, but it was a more solid one than she'd had before. A theory however wasn't going to solve this thing on its own. She needed to find evidence, and there was only one place she could get that right now.
When the doe finally made it back to her office, Judy hopped onto her chair, neatly organized her one unfinished report inside its relevant folder and moved it to the side of her desk. It was mostly finished, and she would have no trouble getting it done tomorrow morning. The doe then set her coffee to the side and pulled her keyboard closer to the edge of her desk.
With renewed resolve, Judy browsed through the database until she found the file for Mr. Big. She was immediately annoyed at just how little of it was available to view. Her security clearance was much lower than it had been before the accident, but she was still able to look over the preliminary information.
What she initially found wasn't of much help. Most of the information she already knew: Mr. Big was a shrew crime boss operating out of Tundratown. He had led an organized crime ring in and around that district for decades, and the fact that he was even a mafioso in the first place was something of an open secret.
As Judy pursued more of the available files it became clear as to why Big had been able to stick around for so long, even with the ZPD knowing more or less what he was up to. He was well connected, positively loaded with capital, and had a firm grasp of police procedure and the inner workings of the justice system. Various raids on his properties over the years had all come up empty despite the solid evidence that they'd find proof of his criminal misdeeds. Some politicians that had promised to be tough on organized crime were suddenly much more lax on the topic once they got elected and received a generous "donation" from Mr. Big. Only once had the city actually managed to take Big directly to trial for anything, and that was for an embezzlement charge that had only landed him with a rather negligible fine for a mammal like himself. The ZPD had evidently hoped that getting a subpoena on him for any reason would lead to more evidence on his other crimes, but that gambit fell through thanks to the quick thinking and smooth talking of Big's lawyers.
Such files were extensive and Judy would likely be sitting there for the rest of the day if she wanted to properly look through all of it, so she elected to narrow her search down to a few key specifics, starting with looking for any evidence of police corruption.
That query didn't give her much to go on either. There were reports from Internal Affairs about a few potential dirty cops located in Tundratown and a couple bordering districts, but none at Precinct One. She couldn't help but feel a tinge of pride at that revelation, though it didn't surprise her much. Precinct One was supposed to be where the best of the best went after graduating. No mammal in their right mind would try playing both sides if they were skilled enough to make it here.
That thought poked another hole in Judy's worries about Nick. If he was here, then he no doubt deserved it. It didn't make sense for him to do anything shady. Not unless he had too…
'Getting ahead of yourself, stay focused.'
Looking further into the files, Judy found a mountain of case files going back years that were associated with Mr. Big in some manner, from the tiniest traffic infractions all the way up to the noted embezzlement case. Combing through the details of every associated file would be a gargantuan task, and that wasn't even counting the ones that Judy didn't have access to.
She'd have to use a keyword search if she wanted anything close to a tangible result before the day was out. Judy took a short moment to deliberate on what she should look up first, eventually coming to the conclusion that "Wilde" would be as good a place to start as any.
0 results
A perplexing combination of relief and dread flooded through Judy. She was relieved to see that Nick's name didn't appear anywhere in the long list of files, though she did recognize that it wasn't all that surprising. He'd only been on the force for around four months at this point, and officers in Precinct One were rarely needed out in Tundratown. Plus, it wasn't like she was going to find anything incriminating just sitting there in the database. If there had been then Internal Affairs would've caught a whiff of it as soon as Nick's application hit the recruiting office.
However, Nick had been a hustler for many years before becoming an officer. Judy witnessed the effectiveness of his silver tongue firsthand when they'd dealt with Weasleton, not to mention numerous other examples over the rest of the week. He seemed to know every trick in the book to get a mammal to talk. That same knowledge could have been used long ago to keep things like his name concealed from official records.
Judy needed to broaden her search, while keeping it fairly contained at the same time. She didn't want to spend the whole day doing this, and if she took too long to get back to their apartment Nick might get suspicious. She created a subsearch for all of the case files related to Big, quickly typed in the word "Fox", and clicked the enter key.
37 results
Browsing through the files that had been flagged by the search, Judy quickly found that the majority of it was completely irrelevant. A good chunk of it was witness accounts, with most of them never being able to confirm with absolute certainty that it was a fox that they'd seen commit a crime. Judy was disturbed to find that some of the officers that had made these reports had listed a "gut feeling" that a fox had been involved in the relevant incident.
Any reports where a witness had actually seen a fox were busts as well. None of the descriptions were a match for Nick. Different eye color, too short, too tall, a white tipped tail instead of Nick's brown.
Before long Judy had burned through half of the reports without much to show for it, just a growing sense that she was wasting her time and needed to try something else. But leaving any of the found entries unread left room for error, room that she might overlook something. Once she was done with all of these reports she could begin formulating her next move.
Judy hadn't even bothered looking through any files where it clearly wasn't a red fox that was being talked about. As talented as Nick was she doubted that he could pull off a halfway decent disguise as an arctic fox and get away with it. Plus as far as she knew, Nick was more the type of guy to hide in plain sight when it came to his old cons.
So Judy had no qualms ignoring the file on a gray fox named Jamie Clawson, nor the bengal fox named Elizabeth Fieldworth, and certainly not the fennec fox named Victor Zerda.
Judy had already cycled over to the next file before realizing what she'd just seen. Victor Zerda? V. Zerda? A fennec whose own name was basically the same as their scientific classification? It was too ridiculous for her to overlook. No mother in her right mind would ever give their child a name like that! Relieved that she'd managed to find something of note (even if it wasn't yet directly related to Nick) Judy began looking over the report.
Fennec fox, male, approximately 40 years old. Sand colored fur, brown eyes. The individual in question was suspected to be operating as a lookout for a nearby smuggling operation (see file 11B297A) Uncooperative when questioned. Individual lacked photo identification, self identified as "Victor Zerda." Suspect was silent for the remainder of questioning. Insufficient evidence to effectively prosecute. Ultimately inconsequential to the overall case. Released the same day without further incident.
The fact that the officer on the scene had actually let this fennec get away without further questioning had Judy idly thumping her foot, especially when they had used such an obvious alias. She supposed that it wasn't the worst slip up one could make while on duty. There were plenty of mammals out there that could hardly remember their own species classification, let alone anyone else's. However, officers of the law were supposed to be held to a higher standard in all things, and Judy saw no reason why they shouldn't be able to remember basic binomial nomenclature.
Clicking the link to the relevant file, Judy was brought to a report detailing a police sting on a smuggling operation in a Tundratown warehouse. At least four of the individuals arrested had some sort of connection to Mr. Big in the past.
Seeing all the information in front of her, Judy couldn't help but feel more drawn in. Something about it was capturing her attention, like her subconscious was taking the reins and veering her attention towards something her eyes couldn't yet see.
Determined to find more information, Judy went back to her subsearch and added the word "Fennec" to the query.
4 results.
The first file listed was that of V. Zerda, dated around five years ago. The file after that was for one Renard D'algerie. The name "Renard" instantly set off alarm bells, and the details of the report were remarkably similar to that of Mr. Zerda. Fennec fox, male, sandy fur, brown eyes, uncooperative with officers but non-hostile. The only difference was the approximate age, which the officer assumed to be around the mid-30s. That would've been inconsequential, were it not for the fact that this report was just over five years older than the one for V. Zerda.
The fact that both reports shared nearly identical details had fully encaptured Judy's attention. She had something going here, something that she wasn't sure any other officer had noticed up until now. Her hunch was growing larger by the minute. She needed to figure out exactly who this mysterious fennec fox was.
Then a thought slammed into her head like a semi-truck smashing through a guardrail.
'I know them already…'
Judy had never had many encounters with fennec foxes before, at least not that she could remember. The only one she could recall was Nick's bartender friend Finnick that she had met when they'd gone out for drinks with some of the other officers from the precinct. Now, Judy didn't want to assume … but looking back on the details, Finnick was a damn close match to the description of the fox in these reports.
That was the key info Judy needed: a connection to Nick. She recalled her partner mentioning that he used to do cons with Finnick back in his old life. Perhaps they'd both done some work for Mr. Big as well? However, she didn't want to jump to conclusions just yet. There were still a couple other relevant reports for her to look through first.
The next file was for one "Kenneth Cox." The same details she'd seen before were once again present. Fur, eyes, demeanor, and an estimated age that lined up with the rest.
'Kenneth Cox the fennec fox? Serious, why did these officers not catch this stuff?'
Serving as the final nail in the coffin, Judy looked through the last remaining file. One belonging to "Finnick Fauxs."
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me…" Judy grumbled to herself. She sincerely hoped that the officer who missed that one wasn't on the force anymore.
The details matched up, same as with all the others. The rabbit now had a firm hypothesis on who this fennec actually was. It wasn't quite the smoking gun she'd been hoping for - all circumstantial evidence - but it was still one hell of an indication that something else was going on behind the scenes. Was Finnick an agent of Big's? Was Nick working through him? Did any of this actually matter or was it all just one big coincidence?
Whatever the outcome was, Judy knew that she wouldn't find any more answers sitting at a desk. She needed to get out there.
She needed to find Finnick.
Judy glanced down at her phone, wanting to be certain that Zoogle Maps had led her to the right building. The directions pointed to the drab and worn down apartment complex just down the block. Chips in the paint were visible on the building's exterior, along with the numerous weeds that definitely poked out of cracks on the pavement and sidewalk.
The other buildings around it weren't much of an improvement. Judy hardly considered herself an expert on the city and all its districts, but she knew that Happytown was generally considered the poorest section of Zootopia by a wide margin. Crime in the area was decisively higher than in the neighboring districts, largely a result of the economic disparity among the local populace. The precinct in Happytown was likely overworked and understaffed. To top it all off, it was one of the few places in the city where predators outnumbered prey, and so the neighborhood tended to be overlooked by prey-dominated civic institutions.
Some ancient part of Judy's brain screamed at her to scatter away from the potential danger of walking into a place with so many predators, but she hushed the voice down until it was nothing more than a minute tingle of fear. The rabbit was more than capable of defending herself if the need arose, not to mention the fact that she could always flash her badge should some shady mammal get any ideas. Not even the most desperate criminal would try assaulting an officer in broad daylight.
Stowing her phone, Judy resumed her even pace towards a three story brick apartment building. Finding out where Finnick lived had proved to be more difficult than she'd anticipated. The fennec hadn't seemed to have any official entry in the police database that could provide her with an address, or if there was it was under another alias that she hadn't been able to find. Asking Nick where he lived was obviously a no-go if she wanted to avoid making him suspicious.
After deliberating on the matter for some time, Judy eventually got the idea to go down to the bar Finnick now worked at to see if she could find out his address from there. The bear that owned the place had initially been hesitant to give away private information about one of his employees, but Judy had been quick to come up with an excuse about wanting to leave a surprise for his birthday. That had evidently come as a surprise to the bear, who asked Judy to give Finnick his best wishes which only served to make her feel even guiltier about the lie.
As she grew nearer to the building, Judy thought over how exactly she planned to confront the small fox. She'd have to be firm and make it clear that she knew something shady was going on, while at the same time refraining from showing any outright hostility. Her end goal was to make sure that Nick was free from any criminal entanglement, and she was more than willing to do the same for Finnick if he needed it too.
Judy walked along the side of the dingy apartment building, getting a much better look at its dilapidated state. It wasn't in the worst shape it could've been. She'd passed by several other buildings that had been far worse than this, but it was still obvious to Judy that the whole area was in desperate need of additional funding and support from the rest of the city.
As Judy rounded the corner towards the parking lot, the sight ahead of her caused the rabbit to let out a faint squeak and scurry back behind cover. She faintly peeked an eye and the tips of her ears around the corner to confirm what she'd seen.
Finnick was walking through the parking lot, moving with an annoyed expression plastered across his muzzle and an envelope in his left paw. Though she could recall seeing him only once, the fennec's brow seemed almost permanently chiseled into a furrowed state of disdain and contempt. Nick had described him as grumpy in the past, and never before had Judy see someone so fully embody an emotion.
The fox slowed his pace slightly, and Judy's reaction time was quick enough for her to duck fully behind the wall when she noticed his head begin to turn. After a few agonizing seconds, her ears perked at the soft pitter-patter of Finnick's small paws continuing down the pavement. Judy again peeked around the corner.
Finnick approached a van sitting in the far end of the parking lot. Painted along its side was an intricately made decal of a masculine wolf clad in an ancient warrior getup holding a passed out female heroically in his arms. As he made it to the driver's side door, Judy's ears again perked at the sound of a faint buzzing coming from his pocket. She continued to watch as Finnick wrestled his phone free and brought it up to his large ears.
"'Sup Wilde," Finnick said.
Judy instantly felt a surge of adrenaline at the mention of Nick's name. She had to lower a paw to keep her leg steady as it tried to excitedly thump on the ground.
"Uh huh… Yeah, I still got it. Headed to Big right now."
'Oh no…" she worried. Though all of her worst fears hadn't yet been confirmed, hearing the two of them talking about Mr. Big in any capacity was a bad sign.
"Yeah, you don't need to remind me… And what about you? You dealt with Hopps yet?"
A tinge of worry ran down Judy's spine. Why would Nick need to "deal with" her? Did he know that she suspected something? Before she could theorize any longer, her attention turned back to the one-sided conversation as Finnick let out an annoyed huff.
"I knew you'd chicken out… Yeah, and you told me you'd do it this morning, so why the hell didn't you?"
The fennec brought his free paw to rub at his temple as he listened to Nick's response on the other end of the call.
"That's a shit excuse and you know it… Whatever… Wilde, if you don't do it the next time you see her, I'll make me a nice scarf out of that tail of yours, ya hear?"
A deafening silence echoed throughout the parking lot. Whatever response Nick ended up giving was just as inaudible as his previous words.
"I'll believe it when I see it." Finnick replied. "Either way, I'm gettin' my end of the deal done. You'd better make sure the same happens to yours… Uh huh… Later."
Ending the call, the small fox opened up the door to the van and hopped up on what appeared to be a stack of books piled up on the driver's seat. Slamming the door once inside, he lowered the van's window and set the envelope down on top of the van's dashboard before turning his attention again to his phone. After tapping away at the screen for several seconds, he again brought it to his ear.
The sudden upbeat tune of Gazelle's "Try Everything" rumbling through the confines of Judy's jean pocket was enough to cause her to jump a good two feet off the ground. She steadied herself against the wall and hurriled reached into her pocket to silence her phone before it gave away her position. However, Judy couldn't even attempt to silence her device once she saw that name that appeared on the screen.
Finnick.
An audible gulp came from Judy's throat. She'd thought that she was being rather quiet, but evidently that wasn't the case. As the phone continued to ring, her brain suffered through a heated internal strife as she weighed between answering the call or booking it down the street and into the nearest alley. Though only a short moment had passed, it felt like an eternity before she was able to come to a conclusion.
Judy still didn't have all the answers she wanted, and she wasn't going to get any more by running away.
A nervous paw reached up and tapped the button to answer before bringing the phone up the base of her ear.
"H-hey, Finnick…" Judy said, a paw awkwardly rubbing at her arm. At the same time she peeked around the corner and flashed him a small, uncertain smile.
The fennec was silent, opting to simply stare back at her with his same unamused expression, though his brow did seem to have lowered a good half inch. After a long silence Finnick gave a quick nod, gesturing for her to get in the van. Before Judy could inquire further, he hung up.
For a brief moment Judy again considered beating feet, but the thought was already lost to the wind as she started to half-jog towards the van. Upon reaching the passenger door, she stood on the tips of her toes to reach the handle and pulled it open with a grating creak.
Still Finnick said nothing, simply continuing his disapproving stare. His eyes glanced to the open seat next to him, then back to her. Not requiring any more hints, Judy climbed into the seat and closed the door behind her. The lingering silence continued for several more seconds before Judy finally spoke.
"So… how did you know I was there?"
The fox let out a gruff chuckle, though his stone expression remained the same. He gave her a sidelong glance and pointed up to his large ears, perking them up for added emphasis.
"You rabbits ain't the only ones good at hearin' shit you ain't supposed to."
"I… I suppose we aren't…"
Another long silence descended upon the interior of the van. With how good Finnick's hearing evidently was, Judy guessed that he could hear how rapidly her heart was pounding. Mercifully it wasn't long before more of his words cut through air like paper.
"The hell you doin' here?" he asked.
"I'm just… following up on an investigation…" Judy replied.
"Alone, really? I know you and Nicky both got the day off, and doubt this shit is sanctioned by your boss."
"You'd be… correct," she said, feeling her ears droop slightly. "This is more of a personal matter."
"Aight. So spill the beans then," Finnick said.
Judy let out a deep sigh, trying to formulate the right words before she spewed out the wrong thing. She considered keeping her suspicions about Nick a secret, but ultimately concluded that it would be pointless now. Finnick had already caught her snooping.
"Look, I'll level with you. I'm concerned about Nick."
"Uh huh…" he replied, keeping his neutral tone. "What about?"
"Last night, we were watching movies at our place. Everything was normal until there was a knock on our door and a couple of polar bears were standing outside. Nick was… I don't even know. I've never seen him that… skittish before."
Finnick said nothing, simply nodding along as she spoke.
"I only overheard a bit of what they were saying, most of it involuntarily, but what I've heard has… Well, it's had me on edge all day."
"Right," he plainly replied. "What'd they say?"
"Nick said that they shouldn't be there, they said something about Mr. Big and how he'd be disappointed if Nick didn't do… something. I've been trying all day to figure out what that something is."
Finnick rested his head back against the seat, letting out a groan.
"Wilde, you fuckin' idiot…"
"Finnick please," Judy pleaded, turning and resting her paws on the center console. "I don't want to turn this into some huge scandal. I'm not looking to make any charges or arrests. I just want to help Nick, okay? I know you used to be involved with Big, at least in some capacity."
For the first time Finnick's cold expression faltered, a single brow raising high up to his forehead as he turned to face her.
"How the hell'd you find out about that?"
"I did a little digging through our database at the ZPD. I found some… discrepancies in a few reports about certain fennec foxes near some of Big's crimes. Victor Zerda, Kenneth Cox… Finnick Fauxs? Those names ring a bell?
Judy was surprised when the corners of his muzzle shifted into an amused sneer.
"Shit…" Finnick said with a laugh. "You're the first cop to ever call me out on those birdshit names. I was real fuckin' surprised when they didn't think twice about Fauxs. I even spelled that shit out for 'em and the idiot didn't even blink."
"Yeah, not the ZPD's finest moment… Is Finnick even your real name?" Judy asked.
"Nope," he said, followed by another brief silence.
"Are you gonna tell me what it is?"
"Ha! Hell no, Finnick is the only name you need to know," the fennec chuckled. "And before you ask, Nicky ain't gonna tell you either."
"Fair enough," she responded. "Look Finnick, I don't know what exactly you and Nick have been up to, but I want to help you guys get out of it. The ZPD can ensure your safety in exchange for cooperation. As for Nick, well… if everything goes okay then he might get out of this with a suspension at least. I just don't want to lose my partner, okay? Nick is the closest friend I've ever had. He means the world to me, and I don't want to see him lose this job that he's worked so hard for. So whatever you can do to help clear all this up-"
"Chill rabbit, chill," the fox interrupted, raising a paw in her general direction. "Whatever ideas about Nick you've gotten into your little bunny brain, they ain't true."
"They're… they're not?" Judy asked with a hopeful twinge.
"Nah. I mean, don't get me wrong or anything. Wilde can be a real moron sometimes, but he's got a good head on his shoulders. Doubt he ever woulda gone turncoat with you if he didn't."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because, he-" Finnick started, interrupting himself with a clenched fist. "Ah, fuck it."
The fennec reached a paw into his pocket and began rummaging through it. Evidently he didn't find what he was looking for, as he quickly turned and began searching through his other one.
"Uh… you okay?" Judy asked.
"Fuckin' peachy," he responded, continuing his search. "I shouldn't have to be the one cleanin' up after Wilde's mess, here I am with the damned wonder-cop, so I guess I'm stuck doin' it anyway."
"Uh… and what exactly are you doing?"
Finnick's paw rummaged through his pockets, soon pulling out a loaded keychain and singling out the one for his van.
"It's probably going to make things harder for Nick, but I'm gonna show you what that dumbass should have a month ago." he said, turning the key and bringing the van to life with a loud rumble. He took one quick look at the envelope on his dash, then turned his head to give Judy another sidelong glance.
"Buckle up… or don't - not my fault if you fly through the windshield again."
