"Dispatch - all units be advised, 10-51 at the Cloven Hoof, drunk and disorderly. Need a unit to divert to 327 N. Goldenrod Lane."
"Car 42 to dispatch, copy on the 10-51. We are in the vicinity and able to respond. ETA 10 minutes."
"Dispatch, copy that 42. Good luck."
Nick put the radio receiver back into its place on the dash and nodded to his partner, who returned the nod, turned the wheel of their cruiser and began to drive their cruiser towards the Cloven Hoof.
Nick was familiar with the place. It was a dive in the Meadowlands that tended to be frequented by workers from the nearby brickworks in Haymarket. The clientele was almost entirely prey, and most of those were ungulates – hence the name of the bar. The place had a reputation for being the go-to place for local toughs and bikers. This was far from the first call the ZPD had received about a fight breaking out.
"Well, at least this is a change of pace from traffic stops," Nick said. He stretched his arms and shook his head to force some of the fatigue out of his body. Unlike the endless font of energy that was Judy Hopps, Nick found it difficult to maintain his enthusiasm after a long day of patrol.
Noting that his partner hadn't responded, Nick glanced over at Judy. Her focus seemed to be fully on the road, navigating their cruiser through the streets, but Nick had come to know when Judy was preoccupied. The fox knew that there was no point in trying to dig it out of her. Hopps would open up when she was ready.
Nick didn't have to wait long.
"They should have given us the Canopy Ave Bond thefts. We did all the legwork narrowing the suspects down and following the leads," Judy said, her frustration obvious in the way her ears seemed to wilt.
"Yeah, they should have," Nick said. "But look, we're still pretty green, all things considered. Yeah 'Night Howlers' this and all, but come on – we can't expect every high profile case to drop into our laps."
"Sure, but that's the thing – this wasn't that high profile!" Judy said, grumbling. "We could have done it."
Nick tipped his face down to look over the top of his aviators at Judy. "Definitely, Fluff. But someone has to patrol the streets, and we're not detectives yet."
Judy sighed and nodded. The pair drove in silence for several minutes through the winding streets of the Meadowlands.
"Ok, we're here," Judy said as the pair pulled up to a rundown building butted up against the underside of a freeway overpass. A neon sign for the bar sputtered periodically, reminding Nick of the fireflies that Judy had shown him on a warm summer night in the back fields of her family farm. Momentarily distracted by the pleasant memory, Nick's gaze eventually drifted down to the graffiti on the side of an adjacent brick building.
"No Preds, No Problems."
The phrase was adorned with a stylized wolf's head with a slash through it.
"Charming," Nick muttered to himself as he pulled the handle to his door and exited the cruiser.
It was a relatively cool evening in the Meadowlands, and that meant it was the perfect condition for the district's famous fog to begin blanketing the landscape. Already the glow of the neon sign seemed to grow a halo of red-orange light.
"You good, Slick?" Judy asked as she rounded the front of the cruiser.
She was standing with her back to the graffiti. Nick was thankful for that – Judy was already in a bad mood, and seeing it would just make her more upset. If only more mammals cared even half as much as Judy about the ideals of Zootopia, Nick mused. He nodded to his partner, and the pair turned to enter the bar.
The interior of the Cloven Hoof was somehow both warm and comforting, and oppressively cramped. Low hanging lights dangled just high enough not to be hit by the horns of the patrons, and pipes snaked their way around the corners of the bar. The wood paneling of the bar was almost entirely covered by vintage ads for various kinds of beer, racks of liquor bottles, and one wall was almost entirely covered in fishing memorabilia: poles, mounted and stuffed fish, and many pictures of various sheep and goats posing with their catches.
In the center of the bar, a pool table lay overturned. The patrons of the bar were circled around two loud and angry mammals who were shouting and waving pool cues at one another.
Nick took a deep breath and in his loudest voice announced, "ZPD! Break it up, make some space!"
Several of the patrons – all sheep or goats of various kinds – turned to look at the pair of officers marching in from the doorway. A few even moved to get out of their way, but the majority turned their attention back to the two mammals on either side of the overturned table.
"First ye stole my girl, Darryl, and now yer tryin'a take my money!" shouted one of the two, a sheep in a denim cutoff jacket, flannel undershirt, and trucker hat that was squeezed between an impressive set of curled-back ram horns.
"I ain't took nothing of yours Jessup, you drunk bastard – and Tess is free to associate with the better billy," the other mammal, a goat in a black leather jacket, spat back with a sneer. "Namely – me!"
"You sonova-"
The two clearly inebriated mammals began to swing wildly at each other with the broken ends of pool cues as Judy and Nick muscled their way past the perimeter of gawking bar patrons.
"Enough!" Judy shouted. "Drop the sticks and put your hands up. You two are under arrest!"
If Darryl and Jessup noticed the bunny, they gave no indication as they continued to swing at each other with abandon.
"Nick!" Judy shouted over the noise. "You take the goat, I'll handle the ram." She reached for her belt and pulled out a pair of resizable pawcuffs. Nodding, Nick did likewise and turned to face Darryl the goat.
In the corner of his vision, he saw Judy sidling along the rough circle formed by the gawking patrons of the bar. The key was for Nick to wait for a moment when both he and Judy could jump on the two mammals when neither saw it coming. Nick clambered over the splintered remains of a bar stool to get into a good position. With a slight nod from his partner, Nick sprung into action.
Moving low to the back of the goat's legs, Nick pushed forward to send Darryl sprawling backwards as his center of balance rolled over the fox's back. As the leather-clad goat landed heavily on his back, Nick leaped to the side and grabbed one of the goat's arms. Bringing his weight down heavily on the goat, Nick forced Darryl to roll onto his side as he started to pin the goat's arm.
"Stop wiggling so damn much," Nick growled as he struggled to maintain his grip on the goat and put one-half of the cuffs on the arm he held.
Glancing over to his partner, Nick saw that Judy was faring better. Hopps had managed to cuff the ram and was in the process of trying to calm the drunk mammal into submission. With a lurch, Nick felt himself being flung into the air as the goat underneath him lashed out with sudden, incredible force. Reeling, Nick scrambled to his feet just in time to dodge a wild swing from a now enraged goat.
"HOPPS!" Nick shouted as he backpedaled too quickly and fell onto his back. Fumbling for his taser he watched in sudden amazement as Judy leaped over the shattered remains of the pool table to kick Darryl squarely in the side of the head with both feet. Rebounding off the goat, Judy landed gracefully and grabbed Nick's arm to help him to his feet.
"Gotcha, Slick," she said, beaming with a sudden smile.
A smile that Nick would never forget.
Over the rabbit's shoulder, Nick saw Darryl roll over and reach for something in his coat. Before Nick could say anything, he suddenly recognized the glint of metal that the goat was pulling out.
"GUN!" he screamed, diving into Judy at full force.
He expected the shot to be louder, and as he barreled into Judy, he expected to feel a sudden sharp pain as a bullet tore through him.
Thankfully, the shot startled the gawking patrons into action. Several pinned Darryl's arms, and one knocked the gun from the goat's hooves, kicking it towards the two officers.
Nick was panicking – had he been hit? Had SHE?
As he fumbled over Judy's uniform to check for a wound, he realized with sudden relief – she hadn't been hit. That was right, it had been close but she'd been fine.
They'd subdued the goat shortly after and carted him away to the drunk tank. Nick hadn't left Judy's side the whole night out of overwhelming concern about her, something she would chide him for in the weeks to come.
But … this had already happened, right? Months ago. So why …
"But you didn't save me, did you, Nick?" Judy asked.
The room whirled and Nick fought to keep his balance.
Darryl was drawing a gun again, but Nick couldn't get to his feet fast enough. The shot was too quiet for something so impactful. He saw Judy stagger and stumble. She stared at him in disbelief as a dark red stain began to blossom in her midsection.
"You weren't fast enough," she coughed and began to fall.
Nick leapt forward to try and catch Judy. But she was falling faster.
He tried to dive, to run, to stretch his paws out to desperately grab onto the fast receding rabbit. The walls and lights of the Cloven Hoof stretched away infinitely in front of him, falling away to reveal an infinite hallway that Judy was falling away into.
Nick ran – faster than he ever imagined he could. It wasn't fast enough.
Shadowy figures appeared out of the darkness to jostle him, force him to dodge and weave. It was slowing him down, and they were growing more numerous. As he dashed forward to try and get to Judy, he found it harder and harder to move. Finally, he was forced to push and fight for every inch, all while Judy was getting farther and farther away from him.
Shoving his way through a mass of indistinct figures, Nick forced his way into an opening but found he couldn't keep his footing. He fell forward, and suddenly he found the ground much closer than he was used to.
"Are you ready?" he heard a voice ask, one that towered over him as he looked up. A gigantic figure clad in forest green.
"Pretty much born-" he heard himself start to say before catching himself.
He was surrounded now, a tiny kit of 8 years dwarfed by several towering, shadowy figures dressed in the garb of Ranger Scouts.
"If you thought we'd ever trust a fox without a muzzle, you're even dumber than you look!" boomed the lead figure. It reached out, and Nick could see the glint of metal on the muzzle as it was brought down on him.
"No, please!" Nick begged.
Behind the shadowy manifestations of the bullies of Nick's past, a sudden flash of light. In brilliant blues and purples, a truly enormous creature came to dominate Nick's awareness, eclipsing the other apparitions. The titanic form of a cat, suffused with a strange neon glow – dark purple outlined against the starless void behind. Brilliant orange eyes, nightmarish in their intensity, glowered down at Nick.
He felt himself being pulled into the gaze of this astral cat – he saw layers upon layers of nothingness fold into each other in those impassive eyes – he screamed and clawed at the ground to try to find a way to hold on until –
Nick felt the pained, whiny yelp leave his throat before his eyes were even open, his breathing heavy and paws gripped tightly to the nearest surface they could find.
"Whoa! You okay?" he heard Judy say to his left. The sound of her voice alone instantly had a calming effect on the fox, though his chest was still heaving.
It took a short moment for him to answer, spending that time familiarizing himself with where he was. He noted the faded and patched leather seat he was planted in, a nearly identical one where Judy was sitting. They were in his convertible, and Judy was the one driving, her paws fixed at ten and two on the steering wheel. The top of the convertible was up, and outside the window behind her drooped ears, the tall grass and interspersed trees of the countryside flew past as the car sped down the freeway. The late afternoon sun was starting its descent toward the horizon, and in a couple of hours, it would disappear behind the hills.
Nick took a deep breath. It was just a bad dream, but damn was it the king of unpleasant ones.
"Yeah, yeah…" he said, attempting to assume a more relaxed position in the passenger seat. "Sorry, Fluff. Didn't mean to spook you."
"It's okay," Judy said, sending Nick only the occasional glance as she tried to keep her eyes on the road as much as possible. "I just don't often hear you make noises like that. You sure everything's alright?"
"Nah, I'm fine," Nick lied, trying to slow his breathing.
"Nick…" Judy replied with a furrowed brow. "Your heart rate is through the roof."
The fox's eyes widened, shooting his eyes down to his chest then back to her.
"You can hear that?"
Judy nodded. Not that Nick would ever dare to, but this information would be a strong deterrent if he ever considered lying to her about anything.
As if she wasn't good enough at reading me already…
"Bad dream?" she suddenly asked, rousing Nick from his thoughts.
"Yeah…"
"Do… you want to talk about it?"
Nick turned his head away from her, but still kept the rabbit at the edge of his vision. The incident at the Cloven Hoof had remained a sour spot for him. He hated bringing it up, especially when Judy was around. It all could've gone wrong so quickly. The fact that they'd both made it through unscathed…
"You don't have to," Judy said, not a hint of annoyance in her voice. "I just want to make sure you're okay. Are you?"
The rabbit brought her right paw away from the steering wheel and planted it palm up on the center console. Without hardly skipping a beat, Nick moved his paw over and clasped her paw, working his digits between hers. He gently rubbed his thumb along the back of her much smaller paw.
"I'm good, Carrots. Really."
"Good. Tell me about it later though?"
Nick internally winced, then shook the hesitant feeling loose. If there was one mammal on earth that he could talk about anything with, it was Judy.
"For sure."
She gave his paw a reassuring squeeze, which he instinctively returned without even thinking about it. Soon they each felt their fingers slip from each other's grasp, with Judy's going back to the wheel and Nick's being lazily planted on his knee.
A long comfortable silence hung between them for some time. Nick's breathing slowly steadied as he turned his head towards the passenger window and began watching the countryside roll out around him. If he was being honest, the amount of open space outside the city still freaked him out a little. It was a far cry from the hustle and bustle he'd been used to his whole life. But there was this sereneness to it all that couldn't be matched by anywhere in Zootopia, not even at the parks.
Though Nick's hearing wasn't nearly as good as his partner's, he could still hear the patched leather creak as she shifted in her seat.
"It wasn't about my family, was it?" she asked with some hesitance.
The fox turned his head to face her so fast he swore his spine nearly snapped.
"No! No, of course not! Your family was great, Carrots. Couldn't have been more welcoming if they'd tried. Plus, it wasn't like this was the first time you've had me over."
"Sure, but… it wasn't, you know… overwhelming? I know there were a lot of names and faces to remember."
"It was fine, Fluff. I already had most of 'em down from the last time. Seriously, they were great. More than accommodating enough for little ol' me."
The corners of Nick's mouth tugged upwards as he saw Judy visibly relax and let out a pleased huff.
"Good. I'm just happy everyone seemed to take a liking to you," she said.
"And how could they not? Look at me, I'm irresistible!" Nick gestured to himself.
"Har har. You know how nervous I was for this! I've never really brought any boyfriends home to meet my parents before, least of all any foxes."
Nick snorted a laugh.
"Oh yeah? Exactly how many of those were there before yours truly?"
Judy rolled her eyes at Nick and gave him a playful shove before returning her paw back to the wheel.
"You know what I mean! Bringing you home as my partner on the force is one thing, but doing it as my boyfriend is a different beast entirely. I really wanted it to go well."
"And it did, no need to worry, Fluff. The contact list on my phone has basically doubled in size over the course of the weekend. I'd say that's as good a sign as any."
As their conversation lulled and more time on the open road passed, Nick eventually let out a vigorous stretch, his limbs extending from the floor to well behind the headrest of his seat.
"Ooooh, I can't wait to fall asleep in a bed that actually fits my legs tonight…" he said as he finished the stretch. Judy looked back at him with a grin.
"Really? If it weren't for me you would've missed breakfast every morning. Couldn't have been that hard for you to get some shut-eye."
"Only because I had a very soft, beautiful, and fluffy bunny snuggled up to my side. I must say, Ms. Hopps – you are one incredible sleep aid."
"I try," Judy beamed at him.
The two of them had just spent the weekend in Bunnyburrow for the annual Carrot Days festival. Judy had taken him home for the festivities last year as well, but the two officers had yet to confess their feelings for each other at that point. Admittedly, Nick had been just as apprehensive as Judy, if not more. He'd already made a good first impression towards her parents before, but the fox had held a gnawing fear that it would shatter once his intentions towards their daughter became clear.
Thankfully, his fears had been entirely unfounded. The Hopps family had welcomed him in as one of their own like he'd been there his whole life. Nick had noticed a few sideways glances from some of the other bunnies around town, but when it came to Judy's relatives, it was nothing but friendliness and praise. Their short vacation had truly gone better than Nick ever could've hoped for.
Still riding that high of self-confidence, Nick turned his thoughts back to his bunny in the driver's seat. He'd been trying to work up the courage to ask her to move in with him for weeks now. It was the logical next step in their relationship. Judy already spent more time over at his place than at the closet she called home. If this weekend had done anything for the fox, it made him realize just how committed to Judy he already was.
And after that dream he just had, Nick wanted to do everything in his power to make sure that she was safe.
"Say, Carrots…" Nick began.
The doe's ears perked, and she gave him a sidelong glance.
"What's up, Slick?"
"Maybe this is just those darn feelings managing to get the better of me, but screw it. Do you want to m-"
In the days to come, Nick and Judy could only ever describe the sound that emanated from the aging engine of Nick's convertible as a horrific, metallic shrieking of the damned.
The entire car lurched suddenly, and as Nick and Judy sat stock upright looking in surprise at each other, they felt the car cease all acceleration and begin sputtering to a halt.
"Turn ov-"
"Already on it!" Judy yelled over the noise as she turned the wheel to take the next exit off the freeway: Exit 268, Possum Springs.
As the ailing car spent the last of its momentum, Judy and Nick found themselves a quarter mile away from the exit and pulled off to the side of the road. Judy engaged the parking brake, and the two shared a glance before hopping out of the car and moving towards the engine.
The second Judy popped the hood open, a cloud of dark smoke rose to greet them. Both mammals were sent into a brief but painful bout of coughing as the fumes subsided.
"Geez…" Nick started, waving the smoke away. "That went pear-shaped real quick."
Nick stared down at the mass of wires and metal with utter bewilderment. While he understood the general concept that the engine was what made the car go in the first place, his knowledge on how it actually managed such a feat was basically nonexistent. Whatever the reason that their ride had abruptly shut down, he sure wasn't going to be the one to find it.
That would be Judy's job, at least if she had her way. Nick knew that the rabbit could be quite handy with a set of tools if the right situation came along. Though his confidence in her was practically limitless, he had his doubts that she could manage to fix the problem with just a wrench, some elbow grease, and a bunny-sized package of determination.
"Do you have a flashlight somewhere in the car?" Judy asked, leaning deep into the engine bay to attempt to see the source of the vehicular woes.
"In the glove box. One sec," Nick said. The fox hurriedly walked back to the passenger door and began fiddling through his messy glove compartment, managing to find a small black flashlight and heading back to the hood a few seconds later.
"Shine it there," Judy said, pointing in between what appeared to be the main engine and a series of tubes that Nick didn't for the life of him know what they did.
For a while, Nick was perfectly happy being Judy's assistant, shining the flashlight where instructed and lending a helping paw when appropriate. But once it reached the point that Judy had started doubling back on parts she'd already checked, Nick was sure that his poor ride was dead in the water.
"Not to sound ungrateful about the effort, Carrots, but are you sure you know what you're doing down there?"
The rabbit paused her work for a moment and turned to him, a light scowl on her muzzle. Nick knew it wasn't him that had put her in a sour mood. He'd watched her demeanor slowly degrade over the past agonizing hour of unsuccessful vehicle maintenance.
"Trust me, Nick. I know what I'm doing," she replied before delving her paws back into the hunk of metal.
"Believe me, Fluff, you've got my full confidence. But a car's engine is maybe a little bit different than a tractor's, yeah?"
"Pffft, you don't know the first thing about how an engine works."
"No, but I have seen this engine drive you up the wall for nearly an hour straight. At a certain point I feel like we should just call it quits."
"If you want to call for a tow truck, go ahead. I'm not going to be the one paying for it."
Nick chuckled.
"Uh, this is my car, remember? I'm stuck paying for the repairs regardless."
"Rrrrrggh!" Judy cried through clenched teeth. She leaned back from the engine bay and roughly wiped her grease-blackened paws. "It doesn't make any sense! I've narrowed down every possible fault! That should've fixed it!"
Though his knowledge on cars was far less robust than Judy's, Nick was just as bewildered by his car's sudden breakdown. Granted, it was a fairly old vehicle. It was his late father's car before it was his, and for much of that time, it had sat safely tucked away in a garage. The fact that they'd decided to drive out to Bunnyburrow instead of taking the faster train ride was something that Nick was starting to regret. He'd been looking for an excuse to take the old red convertible for a proper spin, and Judy had wanted to show him more of the sights of the country while actually having a chance to stop and appreciate them.
He'd even anticipated a scenario like this, having taken the car to a mechanic a week before the trip to give it a once-over and ensure that it would actually survive the journey. The shop had surprisingly given it a clean bill of health with only a few minor kinks that they were able to fix up for no charge. The fox idly wondered if they had intentionally left out a key fault in the hopes that he would come back once it broke down and have to pay a hefty fee to get it fixed.
That could be worried about later on. For now, he needed to get his car towed and his bunny free from its metallic confines. He brought out his phone, ready to give AAA a call to come and lend them a paw, but stared down at his screen in utter disbelief.
He had no service.
"Uhh… Carrots? Does your phone have reception?"
"What?" Judy asked, again wiping her paw before pulling her phone out of her back pocket. "Son of a-" she muttered, brow furrowing even more than it already was. "Great! Just great!"
"Easy there, easy," the fox said, planting a reassuring paw on her shoulder. Though her face remained just as vexed, her posture did ease up a bit from his touch.
"Tell you what, how about you give the engine one more shot while I head down the road and see if I can't flag someone down to give us a hand, eh?"
Judy paused for a short moment, then turned to face him.
"Okay. Just don't wander too far, you hear me? The last thing we need right now is to be separated."
"Wouldn't dream of it, Fluff," Nick calmly said, planting a kiss on her cheek and making a quick pace down the road they were stranded on.
A half-mile later, Nick came upon a country road that ran towards what Nick assumed was Possum Springs.
Well, hopefully this is somewhat trafficked, Nick thought.
Standing with his paws in his chinos, Nick glanced furtively up and down the country lane. While Nick didn't consider patience to be one of his virtues, he had to admit that he had a lot more of it than his partner.
Judy was a creature of action, never comfortable with lulls or delays. It was something Nick had grown to appreciate enormously in his girlfriend. She had a clarity of thought and verve in her life and never stopped moving forwards. It could, however, be tiring for Nick – after all, the fox knew how to step back, slow down, and appreciate the little things.
The two of them complemented each other in that regard. Nick tempered Judy's fiery nature, and she in turn prevented Nick from settling or becoming complacent. It was admittedly a strange pairing, but it worked – and he loved her for it.
Pulled from his musings by the sudden flash of light reflecting off the body of a car that had pulled onto the country lane, Nick moved swiftly to stand in the middle of the road, waving frantically.
After a moment of jumping and waving, Nick saw the car flash its headlights in acknowledgment. As it drew closer, Nick recognized the telltale black and white paint job of a police vehicle.
A minute later, a medium-sized police cruiser labeled "Possum Springs Police" slowed to a halt in front of Nick. The passenger window rolled down a second later, and Nick made out the form of a dark-furred cat wearing a police uniform in the driver's seat.
"You alright there, sir?" the driver asked. "You seemed pretty frantic!"
"Been better, Officer, that's for sure," Nick said with a sigh of relief. "My partner and I have been stuck on the side of the road with a broken down car for about an hour now."
The cat frowned and looked past Nick. "You broke down just off the freeway?" she asked.
"Yes ma'am," Nick said. "Just about a half-mile up thataway."
"Yikes, tough break," the cat said, opening the car door and stepping out. "Lemme give you a ride back and we can see about giving you two a helping paw." She walked around to the side of the car.
"Sorry to put you in the back, but-"
"Yeah, no worries, I know how it goes," Nick said as she opened the side door. "Believe me, sometimes the design of these things is a real pain in the ass."
The cat officer furrowed her brow in confusion, but she didn't get a chance to inquire further as Nick sat down in the back of the cruiser. After a second, the officer closed the door, got back into the driver's seat and buckled in.
"So just up the road?" she asked.
"Yup, right after the exit," Nick said.
There was the crunch and crackle of gravel under car tires for a second, and then the officer pulled back onto the road and started to head towards the freeway. A minute or so later, the cruiser pulled up next to Nick's broken down car. The officer came around to let Nick out.
"Thanks, Officer. That's my partner right up ahead," Nick said, indicating the barely visible bottom half of a rabbit up to her waist in an engine block.
"Carrots!" He called out. "Your salvation has arrived, courtesy of one Officer ...?" he turned to regard the cat officer next to him.
"Oh how rude of me," The officer said and then smiled sheepishly at the fox. "It's been awhile since I've had to introduce myself to anyone, so forgive me. My name is Molly, I'm with the Deep Hollow County Sheriff's department."
"SON OF A BEET ROOT!" Judy shouted, muffled by how deep into the guts of the car she was. The rabbit squirmed her way back out of the engine and turned to glare at the two other mammals.
After a glance up and down at Molly, the rabbit turned her laser focus onto Nick.
"For god's sake, Nick, I leave you alone for TWO MINUTES and you get arrested?"
"What?" Molly said. "Oh no no, nothing like that. I found your, uh, partner on the side of the road and …"
The cat suddenly stiffened, looking back and forth between the fox and rabbit.
"Holy crabapple – you two … you're those cops from Zootopia, right? The ones who solved the Night Howler fiasco, right?"
Nick and Judy winced and shared a quick glance.
"Yeah … that's us," Judy said. "You heard about that all the way out here?"
"Are you kidding?" Molly said. "Everyone's heard about you two. You're legends!"
The cat noticed the sudden discomfort that washed over the fox and rabbit, so she tempered her excitement a bit.
"Well gosh," Molly said. "I'm sorry you two got caught out with engine trouble. I can radio into town for a tow truck, there's a mechanic who can take a look at it for you."
"That would be fantastic, Molly. Much appreciated." Nick said.
"No problem," Molly said. "I'll get right on that." After another surprised look at the fox and rabbit, she turned and opened the door to her cruiser to reach the radio.
"So, no luck then, Fluff?" Nick asked.
The groan of frustration that Judy responded with answered his query instantly.
"IT. DOESN'T. MAKE. SENSE," she growled and kicked one of the front tires.
"Whoa whoa, easy there," Nick said. "I do want the car back in one piece."
"Sorry, I just – ugh!" the rabbit threw her hands to her sides and balled her fists in defeat.
"Hey," Nick said softly and moved to pull the rabbit in close for an embrace. "I know you did your best, Carrots. Seriously, don't beat yourself up over things you can't control."
Judy hugged Nick back, and for a moment they forgot the world around them.
Molly coughed politely, giving Judy and Nick a moment to pull themselves apart.
"So I've got a tow truck on the way, should be here in twenty or thirty," Molly said somewhat apologetically. "Seems to me like you might need a place to stay for the night, seeing as it's getting a bit late. I know a great bed and breakfast in town that should have space for you two. Can I give you a lift?"
"That would be great, Officer," Judy said. "Thanks for stopping off and giving us a hand."
"My pleasure," Molly said. "Especially for some fellow officers!"
"I'll go get our bags," Nick said and headed around to the back of his car. Popping the trunk, he began to offload a small suitcase and a duffle bag before pausing to look at a nondescript black case tucked into the back of his trunk.
Damn, Nick thought. Can't forget that.
He glanced over to where Judy and Molly stood. Her frustration at not being able to fix the car seemed to have evaporated quickly, and she and Molly were talking amiably about their experiences as officers.
Setting the other bags down, Nick reached under his shirt to where a small key was hooked on a chain he wore around his neck. Sliding the case forward, Nick detached the key and opened the case with it.
His service pistol was still in the case where he'd left it, nestled into the formed foam of the case along with two loaded magazines. After verifying that everything in the case was exactly as he'd last left it, Nick closed the case and locked it, returning the key to where it normally lay under his clothes.
After the Cloven Hoof incident, Nick had been haunted by how close he'd come to losing Judy. Guns were very rare in the city, and the likelihood of ever encountering another suspect armed with one was incredibly low. But Nick couldn't help but replay the events of that night over and over in his head.
Judy had noticed – how could she not? He talked over his fears, and he told Hopps about his plan to undergo training to for a service pistol. It was a lot of work: extensive qualification training and drills, routine checks to test competency, and the burden of being responsible for safeguarding an incredibly dangerous weapon. But it gave Nick a sense of control, a sense that if things ever got too far out of hand, he could protect Judy.
That sense of security came with some major responsibility; he was required to know where the pistol was at all times and so naturally couldn't risk leaving the case in the back of his car while he drove into town. Sighing heavily, he slid the gun case into his duffle bag. He shut the trunk of the car, grabbed Judy's suitcase and walked back over to the two of them.
"... and honestly, we can't forget all the hard work of the doctors that found a counteragent to the Night Howlers – they're the real heroes," Judy was saying.
"Still, I can't help but be impressed," Molly said with a smile. "You two are something else."
"All lies, whatever she told you," Nick said.
"Shush, Slick. Ignore him," Judy said. "You got everything?"
"Yup, got it all right here."
"Well, hop on in the cruiser, and I'll take you to scenic Possum Springs," Molly said. "I can't imagine it'll compare to Zootopia, but I call it home."
"Thanks again, Molly," Nick said as he and Judy slid into the back seat with their bags.
As the three officers drove towards town, Nick found himself paying less and less attention to the conversation. Molly was by no means a bad conversationalist, and Judy seemed to have rebounded from her previous frustration to talk shop with a fellow officer. But Nick's thoughts kept turning back to the dream he'd had before they broke down, to the strange apparition he'd seen so vividly realized.
A cat with nightmare eyes.
As he mused on this, his gaze turned to a sign on the side of the road right before an old railway bridge.
Welcome to Historic Possum Springs
Original County Seat of Deep Hollow County
"YOU'RE NOT LOST - YOU'RE HERE!"
Well then, Nick wondered. Where the hell is here, anyway?
Author's Note:
So instead of getting to any of the many fics we should be updating, Nehkles and I naturally decided that we should embark on yet another story. However, we've been talking about this fic off and on for literally four years at this point, and I will be damned if I don't get this story out to the world. Zootopia and Night in the Woods are some of the most impactful and important stories either of us has ever seen, and we hope to share our love of these two stories with you all.
Special thanks to DrummerMax64 for being our co-author, springboard, confidant, and DJ. Thanks for correcting our terrible grammar and writing habits. You're the best!