Zootopia belongs to Disney. Spider-Man belongs to Sony.

This past week has been a very hard one. My pastor passed away, and then a good friend a few days later. Both died in their sleep peacefully. God has shown a lot of mercy to their families because they've been able to take it with the same smiles they always wear. "But we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep." 1 Thessalonians 4:13,14

Enjoy.


Claire was always fascinated with science. Be it anatomy, geology, physics, she couldn't help but be amazed. When she was little, she had always wanted a telescope, but had not been able to afford one until she had found her own job in her teen years. And once she had it, she stared through it for hours on end for many nights, studying the stars, the planets... how amazed she was by the constellations and the movements of the planets. She often wondered what life might be out there, if it was even possible. She loved a good mystery.

And once she reached college, she put that passion to good use. Forensic science allowed her to keep her mind seeking for answers that required deep study, and to help solve mysteries in order to save lives. She also enjoyed teaching, which was what she was doing at this exact second as she held up the agars used to test the strange silver substance for the tech-in-training to see, a pair of young hares with tan fur - unrelated, but the resemblance was uncanny. The name of one was Lester, and he listened intently as she explained the results of the test and blurted out answers in a desperate attempt at attention. The other, Kerry, was growing increasingly annoyed. "Not one of these cultured any bacteria whatsoever. Can you tell me why?"

"Because the-"

"Because the substance is an antibiotic..." the young man interrupted his classmate. Claire's smile turned a little awkward and she attempted to ignore the growing tension between the two.

"Mm... not quite. Again, there are no bacteria on any of these tests. This substance is a bactericidal and, even more impressive, a fungicidal. In fact, it's a natural sterilizer, which is extremely rare. I cannot avoid wanting to think that this is synthetic, because there are so few sterilizing agents found in nature anywhere in the world. And all mammals have bacteria that compose the normal flora in their bodies. Only a small percentage of microbes in our bodies make us sick. This stuff, however, contains no microbes at all. Now given that this stuff is decomposing - see the flaking? - that is abnormal, because...?"

Lester hesitated. And Kerry took the opportunity: "Because decomposition primarily occurs by consumption of organic matter by bacteria or fungi," she said triumphantly.

"Exactly!" she answered proudly. Lester appeared ashamed to have not given the answer and tried to keep from visibly deflating. "So, what we have here isn't only a forensics matter but also a laboratory research matter. Let me just publish my results in my case report and get this in the mail to be taken to research. After that, I'm getting out of here and going to the fair."

"Lucky!" Keisha said behind her while looking through a microscope. "You're the only one out of thirteen other techs who are leaving early."

Neither of them noticed as Lester and Kerry both stepped outside of the small room into the lab proper to argue.

"Well, that's what happens when you're diligent enough to get the early off days." There was the sound of breaking glass. Still they didn't notice.

She looked at her and smirked. "I didn't pull a short straw; you got off because you have a daughter and the hospital wants to stay out of court."

"Thank heaven for pushovers," she said with a chuckle. They didn't see Kerry performing a suplex on her classmate, causing him to crash into a cart of test tubes. Two hospital personnel pulled them apart.

Keisha snorted. "World's most efficient hall pass."

She took time to document her findings in her forensic report. And were they exceptional! A heterogeneous, sterile, rapidly-precipitating emulsion. She'd never heard of anything like that in the scientific literature, let alone medical journalism. She had so many questions - where did this come from? How was it produced? What produced it? She was eager to find out.


The doorbell rang just as Arya walked past the door.

She ran to the door and reached up to turn the knob and open the door to see Angel standing there.

The jaguar was rubbing her arm in clear regret. "I'm sorry about what I said yesterday. I shouldn't have tried to make you feel bad so you'd want to go."

Arya smiled up at the jaguar. "Actually, I decided to go with you."

Angel's eyes shot wide and she squealed, bouncing on her toes a little. "I'm so happy you changed your mind!"

Arya smiled up at the jaguar, thinking about what Nick had said last night. He and Judy had also been happy to hear that she wanted to get out of the house a little, despite the circumstances. Arya couldn't help but think that being locked up was no way to live. "Are Nick and Judy taking you?"

"Yeah. Well Nick is. I think Judy's going to work a little while we hang out. Nick's driving me to the fair. They're back there getting ready. You want to come in?" she asked.

"Ooh, merci," she said in a fancy voice as she walked in. "Look at you, inviting me in like you own the place."

Arya followed her to the living room and sat down beside her on the couch. "No, I..." she looked down and finished her sentence in a mumble... "I'm just... staying here for a while."

"Really? It kinda feels like you live here already. My place didn't work out for you because of my stupid brother. Besides, Judy's kinda stir crazy about children right now so it's not hard to see why she'd want to have a few cute sheep around." She leaned in and muttered, "Y'know, bunnies..."

"I heard that," said Judy, who had just walked in, wearing a pair of short jeans with a plain light pink shirt. Pointing at her ears, she said, "You do know I can hear everything in this house, right?"

Angel smiled in embarrassment. "Sorry."

"It's ok," she chuckled. "Nick's almost ready. Angel, if you wanna ride with Nick and Arya, you're more than welcome to."

"I'd love to!"

"Well, we're ready when you are," said Nick as he came in, adjusting his tie. Judy turned to him and her expression dropped slightly. He was wearing the same outfit he'd worn the first day Judy had met him. "Look, it still fits!"

While it gave Judy a tingle of nostalgia, she still asked, "Ehr... why are you wearing that?"

He shrugged. "Thought I'd go old-fashioned-slash-vintage Nick Wilde for today. Besides, no one looks at the village idiot and thinks, 'Shifty fox detective'."

Out of the corner of his eye, Nick saw Arya stick her tongue out, presumably in disgust at the odd mix of colors. The look made Nick have to bite his tongue to keep from belting out a laugh.

Judy proceeded to grab her house key. "Love you, Hon," she said, pulling on his tie and puckering.

"Love you too." They gave each other a peck on the lips. "I'll see you later."

Judy walked toward the door, but then turned around. "Nick, one thing." He looked at her with his half-lidden grin, knowing she was going to add a prohibition: "Please don't take them on the roller coasters. You know they've never really met city regulations."

"Madam, of course I will obey your commands. Your voice alone is enough to send me to my knees," said Nick, laying his hand on his chest briefly while falling to one knee. Judy rolled her eyes, knowing this was his way of intentionally indicating to her that he would have no intention of following such an order. Well, nothing she could do about it. She proceeded to head out the door and up the street to wait for a bus. Secretly, she dreaded having to work with Ellie Futsbauer today.

Nick took the keys to the car. "You guys ready to go?"

"Whoo-hoo!" said Angel.

"Yeah!" said Arya at the same time.

"Let's go then!"


Six hours.

That was how long she had been typing. If she didn't know better, she would have thought that no time had passed. Nonstop, for all that time, her fingers pounded the keys in the construction of several complex programs/viruses for the purpose of attacking the company she worked for and freeing her kitten. She found her eyes flitting again and again to the image on the screen, which captured his suffering in high-resolution detail. It spurred her on, kept her fingers strong.

"Hey, control, good morning. How was your night?" a different voice from last night came through the speaker. She stopped typing altogether from the shock of the intrusion. Slowly, the interruption of a steady adrenaline flow unveiled to her how drained she really was. Fatigue crashed into her, turning her into a metaphorical rag doll waiting to fall.

"Still me," Sarah said. She made every effort to keep typing and to keep the fatigue out of her voice.

"Sarah? What are you still doing there? Where's Cary? No, not Cary. Who's in there with you?"

"Uh, Stan."

"Can you put him on, please?"

"Not right now, he's busy." She waited for a response but one never came. A sharp nervousness pricked the edges of her skull and trickled down her neck. She had been caught. She estimated that she had about five minutes before someone came up to check things out. Ugh! When she was this close! She resisted the urge to bang her fists on the desk agitation from her frayed nerves. I'm sorry, Danny. I'm so sorry.

Steeling herself, she stopped typing and strode to the door to make sure it was locked. Then, she wedged the chair onto the doorknob to keep it closed. She'd have to stand, but she didn't care. With wide eyes and lips tightly sealed in focus, she typed rapidly and steadily, making absolutely certain every line was perfect and that it was consistent with previous data, as well as compatible with the- just focus! she chastised herself.

This was the program that would open all the locks and doors in the compound. This was it. The program that would get him out. She cursed herself for not starting with this one first. Just three more lines of code. Just three. There was a knock at the door and she snapped her head in the direction of the noise, thinking of what horrible things she would do to this mammal who wanted to stop her from saving her Danny.

"Kityarn! Open. The door," the polar bear said firmly. Without answering, Sarah went back to typing. She couldn't help but make several errors that provided maddening sources of delay. "Open it. Now!" he commanded. She ignored him. "Get that door open!" he shouted. There was the sound of a key being inserted into a lock. The tumblers receded and the doorknob jiggled, but the chair kept the door shut. After a moment of silence, there was a loud bang against the wood of the door, splintering it. The memory of her attack on Danny came screaming through the window of her mind. She closed her eyes and groaned. She wiped her eyes to get the moisture out, sniffling as she fought to finish her work.

The blinking pointer descended one space. Her last line.

Just as she began to fill it, the door broke.


The drive to the fair was fun, to say the least. After an hour of waiting in traffic to travel six miles down the road to the enormous shopping center, all three of them were ready for a fun day. In addition to excessive vendors littering the area, there was a small, mobile amusement park, a water park, games and more.

Arya looked around the area, her face filling with excitement.

"Oh! I can't wait! This one looks bigger than ever!"

"Hold your horses," said Nick as he looked for a parking spot on the road just across the street from the entrance. "I have to park first. Oh please," he muttered, "please let me park here forever. If I have to pay to park here, then I'll just bite the ticket."

Arya and Angel laughed. Finally, he got the car parked in what appeared to be the only free parking spot in the entire area, and the group was not a little happy about that. "Look, Nick," said Arya, "there's free parking during the fair." She pointed to a temporary sign plastered on the front of the sign that showed the times in which free parking was available.

"Yay, free parking is my friend!"

"You didn't know about that?" asked Angel.

"Judy and I usually come by train early in the morning. Officers pull straws (metaphorically speaking) to see who will be on duty." He wisely refrained from giving further details. Besides, the girls were all too excited. "Angel, are your mother and your brother coming?"

"No. He's grounded for a long, long time."

"Oh well. Better than being a bum your whole life." Neither of the kids understood the depth of that statement. Inwardly, he hoped that Nathan would straighten out. The road he appeared to be currently heading down was cruel and unmerciful. Nick knew all too well. Though he was never a bully as such, he did resent mammals on both ends of the spectrum. Those scars were still there and continued to haunt him to this day.

As they walked across the street, Nick noticed that there were a few predatorial eyes glancing their direction, particularly toward Arya. Nick felt his instincts kick in. But immediately he pushed down his worry. Everything would be fine. He'd just stay close to them. He was a cop, after all! He fought to ignore the glances their direction.

"We... are... here!" he said once they made it to the massive space filled with innumerable rides, vending kiosks, activities, games, etc. etc.

Arya, nervous about being around so many animals after what she had experienced earlier that month, stayed close to Nick. But even she couldn't help her absolute excitement. Nick led them through the lines to get in the fair and showed the vendor his and Arya's tickets on his phone. Angel showed him hers. They were officially in the fair!

"Well, what should we do first?" he asked. "Get breakfast? Take stupid photos in that little photo booth? Buy a few useless toys you'll only touch twice?"

"Let's ride!" both Arya and Angel said simultaneously.

Nick chuckled at the fact that they hadn't heeded Judy either. "Well, good thing we're starting on an empty stomach, I suppose." Nick walked with the two jittery children toward their first ride, barely able to hide his own excitement.


Judy saw a nice park on her right with a lot near the street. Judy had a flashback to the day Nick got his acceptance letter into the academy. This was where Judy accepted that she had feelings for Nick, confirmed by how passionately he had pursued the chance to be the first fox officer. "Oh! We can park there." She turned into the lot and immediately noticed that the park's lines had faded, which caused her fur to ruffle. She'd have to let the district council know about that.

Aside from that, she deeply appreciated the scenery - how the architecture seemed to blur between the Savannah's urban diversity to the Square's modesty as they got closer to the border.

"I love this area," said Judy. She found herself looking around at the tall, beautiful buildings lining the area.

"Which part?" asked Ellie through the side of her mouth as she drew on her cigarette. She'd been asked to roll her window down by Judy, since the latter had a lifelong distaste for cigarette smoke. She took it from her mouth and tossed it out the window while blowing the white smoke from her nares. "The overcrowded Savannah or the scorching desert?"

She looked at her with slightly narrowed eyes. "Just the scenery."

"Yeah, well, I'm just glad the majority of the area is on this side of the border. So I'm not worrying. And you might want to make sure you get your fill of the scenery, because a lot of less-than-savory kits and cubs come here a lot. Sort of the hang-out for the delinquents who live a block over."

"Don't worry," said Judy as they got out of the cruiser. "I've got your back, partner." To emphasize, she patted her shoulder, though she couldn't hide the forced tone in her voice.

"Thanks," said Ellie deadpan. "First, gotta make sure this is our spot." She pulled out a square device from one of the pockets on her belt and opened it up. It looked like an old flip phone. Judy chuckled at how old the thought made her feel, now that flip phones practically belonged in a museum. Ellie and Judy approached the first camera hub, a lamp post with a door in the side, which functioned as a kind of black box for the street's camera footage. Using a key given to her by Gaines, she opened the door to the hub and pulled out a cable. Ellie inserted the cable into the device, allowing her to punch in a date and time. She punched in the current date and time, and an aerial view of the street appeared, with Judy's body just visible on the margin from directly above.

"Ok, it works, now let's..." she muttered as she typed in the date and time Rhinowitz's cats were spotted: October 1st, 2023, 8:00pm.

"Yep," mumbled Ellie before showing Judy the screen. Judy nodded her head at the Data not available notice. Judy hadn't learned much about these cameras at the academy. Nick gave her a little more insight during the Nighthowler case. But she knew now, after a bit of light research, that if more than five cameras were down, the ZPD would be alerted to be on the lookout for any foul play. The only reason they would be down is because someone deliberately tampered with them. Come to think of it, that was obvious from the get-go; three thousand cameras do not just shut down spontaneously. Ellie downloaded the information of the time of the supposed recording and stowed the device back on her belt.

After checking a couple more cameras a mile away in each direction, they were ready to get started with the search.

They looked up at the name of the moderately dingy restaurant in front of the beginning margin - Borderline Delights: A Serving for All Species. Judy was surprised she hadn't noticed this before - probably because it was so low and so... unimpressive that it was almost a blemish on the two buildings strafing the restaurant. What is this doing here?

"That's a funny name, isn't it?" Judy asked with a humored smile, attempting to conceal her mild disgust.

"I think this place is borderline, to be honest." Judy laughed at that. She then added, "It reminds me of the neighborhood I come from in Purrtland. If it is anything like that, we might not need a warrant regardless."

Stepping inside, both bunnies were greeted with an equally-dingy atmosphere. The wooden structure of the building and general water damage prevalent in several areas made it look like it belonged on a pirate ship rather than in an urban setting.

"Hello there! Welcome to Borderline Delights!" The two bunnies looked toward the speaker to see a black-furred billy goat with a large section of white furr that started under his chin and extended below his blue shirt. "Let me find a seat for ya!"

"Let me do the talking, you do the searching," Ellie whispered to Judy.

"Actually, that won't be necessary, sir." She took out her badge and showed it to the goat. "I'm Detective Futsbauer and this is Detective Hopps. We're investigating an assault and attempted bank robbery. We have sufficient probable cause to require a search of your establishment."

The goat appeared very taken aback, his expression changing from welcoming to surprised, to angry. "E... Excuse me?! You want to what now? I'm sorry, 'Detective,' but don't you need a warrant to search my restaurant? And you... are you accusing me of robbing a bank? Because I never did any such thing." The billy goat gruffed at the bunnies, of which one was already on her way to the back. He glanced at her angrily and then at the phone in front of him.

"Oh, trust me," said Ellie, "we have enough probable cause. But no, we're not considering you a suspect yet. But we're unable to use traffic cam footage at the moment, and-"

"I demand to speak with your Captain!"

"Go ahead. Heh, actually call the Chief," she said confidently, tossing the goat a card, which he fumbled with and barely caught. "I have a feeling we won't find anything, anyway, so once she comes back out, we'll go ahead and get out of your beard."

"Eeyeah, 'bout that..." The bunny turned toward Judy who was standing beside the counter holding a pair of white bags, about the size of bean bags, with a white powdery substance inside each.

"You were saying about calling our Chief?" she asked.

"That-that's flour!" he exclaimed. "What, you think that's-"

"Heroin? Coke powder? Meth, perhaps?" Ellie interrupted. "Because we all know flour always comes in bags that small, sir." Judy frowned at the statement, glancing at Ellie. "So if it's flour, you have nothing to worry about; we'll just go and have these tested and if they're legit, you can have a nice day."

The two patrons in the restaurant, who were also watching the exchange, tepidly got up and left without a word. Also without any evidence of payment made for their food and beverages.

The billy goat stuttered and stammered for a few seconds as his eyes alternated between his leaving customers and the two diminutive officers. Finally, his eyelids drooped in defeat. "I'll need a lawyer," he said.

"Yes, you will," said the bunnies simultaneously. Ellie then side glanced at Judy. "Told ya we wouldn't need a warrant."

Between five and ten minutes later, Judy and Ellie had made it back to the station with the goat and were now headed back out to the cruiser. Judy had remained quiet most of the trip there and back, fighting the desire to dwell too deeply on what Ellie had said about knowing what drugs looked like. She had seemed absolutely sure about it, too - it gave Judy the impression that she had had a few bad run-ins with the law. She had to ask. Remembering what she'd said about trying to understand others as she pulled away from the station, she decided to broach the subject as delicately as she could.

"Well, that was a fun beginning of a long list of places to search."

"Yeah... Ellie, I have a quick question I've been wanting to ask."

"Yeah, what's that?" she asked.

"You mentioned you've seen plenty of drugs where you came from. That made me think... well, what's your story?"

"My story?" Ellie repeated warily.

"Yeah, your story. Like, what was life like before you became a cop?"

Ellie shook her head with a laugh. "Honey, that is a story you don't want to hear." She put a cigarette to her lips. Judy began to feel a rush of irritation, but she kept it inside. She felt, in a way, that the bunny was subliminally warning her to not pry.

"I just mean, you know, you don't seem like an ordinary bunny."

"Ordinary?" she asked, with a tone that Judy couldn't quite decipher as she lit the cigarette. "Define 'ordinary.'

"Well, most bunnies grew up on farms, and... well, I've never known a bunny with a history of drugs-" That was the mistake she was doomed to make here.

"Drugs. Is that really what you think of me, Judy?" she asked, facing the bunny with an offended look on her face.

"No, no. I mean, I just-"

"So I can distinguish heroin from flour, that makes me a junkie?" she retorted. "It was pretty obvious that wasn't flour, don't you think? I mean, haven't you ever seen drugs?"

It turns out that Judy had.

"Well, I figured that since you smoke- I mean, what am I supposed to think?"

Ellie's voice lowered, filled with hurt. But there were no tears in her voice. Just... hurt. "You don't know anything about me, Judy. Or bunnies, for that matter."

Judy winced, deciding finally to keep her mouth shut. Neither of them said anything for several minutes while the car rolled on down the road. The cruiser, which was large for their small size, was now unbearably claustrophobic, and Judy knew it was her fault. There was that familiar feeling, the one she'd had following the disastrous press conference years ago. Only this time, ironically, her victim was a fellow bunny.

Suddenly, she realized Ellie was no longer making a concerted effort at keeping the smoke out of the cruiser. Despite the open windows, it built up slightly, irritating Judy's airways. But she said nothing and took it. She deserved worse, anyway.


"Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uuuuuuuh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh..." Nick, Arya, and Angel moaned with massive grins as they were rocked by the rough track of the ride. Nick sat in the middle, with Angel on his left and Arya on his right in a special seat for smaller mammals. Except for the loops, they mostly rode with their hands firmly grasping the bars, lest they bounce out due to the tumultuous terrain. "Th-th-i-i-i-iss... i-i-i-i-ssss... aw-aw-aw-aw-sss-sss-o-om-me..." moaned Angel to no one in particular. Finally, the roller coaster came to a slow stop. As they got off, they all unsteadily sauntered from the experience with stupid, woozy smiles plastered on their faces.

A minute later, they reached the side of a random building, where Nick leaned against the surface and spoke with a drunken slur: "I-I've been coming to this thing f-for three years... and I still have a feeling that if they did an actual Carrots-approved inspection on this place, it would be shut down pretty fast..."

Angel swooned from side to side in place, her eyelids drooping unevenly. "I agree. These past three rides have been quite a nauseating experience." She gagged briefly. "That's why it's so fuh-" she gagged again "-fun... oh, I'm so glad I haven't eaten anything... oh..." She groaned while rubbing her stomach in discomfort.

Arya stumbled back and forth. "I almost regret not having anything to eat beforehand... it's all part of the thrill..."

Nick noticed his sight was still straightening out. He looked at them and said, "Is it just me or do I see two Angels? How many Nicks do you see?" He crossed his eyes and uncrossed them.

"Uhm, I only see one Nick," said Angel, raising an eyebrow.

"Ah, so I guess it's just me," said Nick in mild concern for himself.

"I see seventeen."

Nick and Angel looked down at Arya. "Seventeen? Are you feeling all right, Sweetheart?"

"Yeah! There's you, and I see sixteen other foxes out there." She pointed out in the crowd. "There's a gray fox over there, a couple cross foxes, and thirteen red foxes."

Nick looked into the crowd, but he could only see like four or five foxes, all red. Arya must have the eyes of a hawk, Nick figured. He glimpsed one of the foxes at a very familiar stand, and he was holding...

His gaze lingered on that particular fox. An idea began to materialize from the bowels of his memory banks. A very illustrious idea. A half-lidded grin wormed its way onto his face, not unlike the species of smile he wore on a daily basis half a decade ago. He turned to Arya and Angel, who were standing there and talking quietly. "You two, follow me. You're going to love this."

"Where are we going?" asked Arya.

"I wonder... how do you two feel about a couple of delicioso pawpsicles?"

"Ooh, I love popsicles!" said Angel.

"What kind?"

"My favorite flavor is raspberry, but grape is good too."

"I don't think these are either of those flavors, but I can tell you now that they're the most special 'sicles on the planet," said Nick in a covert voice as they approached the fox. "And I'm about to show you why."

Nick came to the red fox, who looked at him with a smile while holding out a- "Pawprint, sir?"

Pawprint?! thought Nick. That little runt changed the name of the product that I came up with! Oh, this is gonna feel good.

"What's your name, citizen?" he asked with the slightest hint of authoritative haughtiness.

"Aiden," he said with a smile.

"I'm gonna need you to come with me," said Nick, flashing his badge. "You're under arrest."

The fox's eyes widened, and his smile was gone. "For what?!" he asked, bewildered. The pawpsicle (not stupid "pawprint" or whatever) fell to the ground. Nick felt a tinge of regret for the waste but didn't back down.

"Oh, I don't know. Selling food without a permit, transporting undeclared commerce across burrow lines, false advertising..."

The fox held up a pair of sheets of paper... "Permit, receipt of declared commerce right here, now please officer, I'm very busy-" he trailed off as he looked around Nick at a pair of potential customers behind the fox, who appeared rather uncomfortable. But Nick brought him back to attention.

"You told that mouse the popsicle sticks were redwood yesterday!" he continued, pointing his finger in the fox's face, who held up his hands in anxious submission.

"They were! Wait, how'd you know about-"

"And..." he leaned in for emphasis, taking his sweet time to make sure this guy was plenty intimidated... "I know he's in the recycling bins behind you," he said quietly.

The fox's head tilted, knotting an eyebrow to create an expression of total confusion. Then, above the ambiance surrounding them, there was a deep, throaty laugh. Nick smiled with that half-lidded gaze at the red fox.

"There he is," said Nick. A door opened in the side of the three-fold recycling bin, revealing a tiny fox pup with enormous ears. Deep laughter still rumbled from his throat. He slapped his knee and shook his head.

Now on a normal day, both Arya and Angel would remark at the cuteness of such a baby. But this baby... there was something off about him. Or rather several things off about him.

"That was great, Nick! I could hear him shaking from here!" He erupted in further laughter.

The two girls behind Nick screamed and hugged each other in shock at the baby's deep voice.

Nick pushed past the still-bewildered fellow fox toward the smaller fox, who was wearing a tiger cub outfit. Seemed they had struck the felines' turf today. That meant less popsicles, since they were smaller, but they were cheaper and tasted sweeter. A sacrifice of convenience for quality, equaling higher prices. The magic of business...

Arya, Angel, and Mr. Not-Nick were wondering just what the heck was going on.

"There's my boy!" said Nick with a laugh as he knelt down and embraced the strange baby who had a bass that would shame Beary White. "It's been years!"

The fox "pup" chuckled. "It's good to see you, kid," he said.

"Ah, speaking of kids, introductions," said Nick. "Angel, Arya, this is Finnick O'Grain, my old business partner. Finnick, the lamb is Arya and the panther is Angel. Now, who's the flabbergasted dunghead who saw fit to rebrand my innovation?" asked Nick, referring to the fox who seemed to be getting the picture now, and was still trying to figure out how to feel about it. He stared at the fox, whose eyes were wide with confusion, reminding Nick of the day that Judy blackmailed him. Like, the day after he met her. Yep, that's the bunny he married...

"Yeah. This is Nick Wilde, the old you," he said to the mystery fox. "Nick, this is Aiden Redson. The new you."

"Hmm..." Nick hummed as he surveyed the fox. "I've looked better. Needs a little more Hawaiian, maybe a little spite and smarmy in the mix."

"Nick!" said Angel suddenly.

"Yeah?" he asked, turning to the girl.

"What is that?!" She pointed at the "baby."

"That..." said Nick "...is a fennec fox, Sweetheart, and that fennec fox has feelings, so please don't be rude."

"Sorry," said Angel timidly.

"Anyway, how have you been doing, Finn?" asked Nick, turning back to the small fennec. "I haven't seen you since I started treading the thin blue line."

"Ah, I've been layin' low the past few, y'know, doing small jobs. But then I run into this guy, and he and I teamed up to, well, do what we used to do. Works pretty well. He got arrested yesterday for tax issues but I bailed him out after my last hit. Sound familiar, anyone?"

"Hopefully it doesn't work too well?" asked Nick, wanting to avoid the issue of tax evasion - and the fact that this fox actually was just another him. "Wanna make sure my legacy is secure."

"Huh, ain't no one can defeat the master."

"Yes!" whispered Nick, pumping his arm in triumph.

"Uh, excuse me!" a voice cut in. Everyone looked at the fox, who had ceased looking stunned and now just looked angry. "Are you going to arrest me or not?"

Well, it was him, but with with less wit. "No, of course not, I was just messing with you and this little guy here." As he said this, he ruffled Finnick's ears, causing the fox to scowl.

"Well, get outta here! We have a business to run! And the Pawprints are melting!"

"The what?" asked Nick.

"The Pawprints!"

"I'm sorry, I'm not catching that, can you..." he circled his hand in a gesture for clarity.

The fox sighed in defeat. "The Pawpsicles," he said deadpan.

"Oh! I gotcha. I'll let you two get back to it, then. I bid the two of you, adieu!" he said with a bow while backing up, holding the bow until he was a few feet away. Angel and Arya followed him, thoroughly amused and terrified at the same time. Arya waved at the two half-apologetically. Finnick waved back sweetly.

Nick, however, felt a wave of nostalgia wash over him. I still got it! he thought, relishing in the triggered bout of eloquent charisma he once was so well known and hated for. He may have hated his old life, but he definitely missed that wit. Good to know it was still there, waiting for just the right moment.


The tall lion in a pristine white lab coat shook hands of university students - or allowed them to shake his nail in the case of the rodents - as they exited a large classroom. He noticed a pretty lioness walking toward him and smiled at her with a wave. They smiled at each other silently as the students finished passing by, though he continued shaking hands.

Once the line was through, he sauntered toward the lioness and stopped in front of her, crossing his arms. "Dr. Greggor. You're looking a little..."

"What, messy?"

"Yeah, messy, that's it."

"Oh ha ha, hilarious," she said deadpan. "You should see yourself with your... unwrinkled lab coat and... nice suit. I'm terrible at comebacks, aren't I?" she asked, shaking her head with an embarrassed look.

He chuckled and looked at her for a long moment with a tender smile on his face. "How was your day, Babe?" He put his hands on her hips and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Mm, pretty good. Messy, but good."

"Wow, everything's messy today," Claire's husband mused.

"Intelligent animals always are," she replied.

"Heh. Guess I'm just not that intelligent, eh?"

They both smiled and then locked lips.

"Happy anniversary." First anniversary, to be exact.

"Happy anniversary," Claire replied. The now-not-newlyweds walked out of the building hand in hand toward a bus stop. "Oh, I'm so ready to go to the fair!"

"Pfft! That thing?"

"What?! You've been before," she said.

"Yeah, and if you remember, I got my tail run over like three times. I feel like prey were doing it on purpose, too. And it's not exactly the most safe-"

"Come on, it'll be fine. Nothing bad has happened at the fair yet."

"Yeah, I just feel like there are better places to spend our first anniversary. And I'm not sure Lily would-"

"James, you let me worry about my daughter, ok?"

"...Ok, I'm sorry," he conceded, albeit feeling slightly annoyed. "We can go to the fair." There was a moment of silence between them. "Sweetie, did you have something job-related to give me? You texted me and said you did."

"Oh! Yes! I sent you a sample of a really weird material in the mail. You'll see it tomorrow. I've never seen anything like it. It's completely resistant to all microbes - clinically significant ones, at least, it precipitates very fast in the presence of oxygen, and..." she sighed "...I'm so eager to see what it is."

"Well, give me the weekend and I'll let you know," he said with a smile and raised eyebrows.

"That's my boy," she said with a grin while putting her palm on his cheek.


The two bunnies jumped out of the car. Even over the traffic, there was a strange sound in the distance. She wondered if a storm was coming, though the sky couldn't be more blue on all sides. She glanced at the bunny, still trying to process how to deal with how she'd handled her questioning of her fellow bunny and colleague. She had messed that up badly. It was a familiar feeling. It was the same feeling she'd felt after she'd condemned predators during the disastrous press conference two days into her job as a beat cop. Though this was nowhere in the ballpark in terms of severity. Nothing would ever top the guilt she'd felt that day. But still, she hated lapsing into unintentional bias like that. She wondered how she would apologize.

"There's an hour we're not getting back," quipped Ellie glumly as she closed the door to the cruiser.

Judy responded in a robotic voice. "We can probably still hit between ten and fifteen more of these places before sundown."

"Better get started before-" she froze and stood still for a moment, her eyebrows knitting in focus. "What is that?"

Judy looked behind her, in the direction Ellie's eyes were focused and found herself staring at the blur that was racing down the sidewalk toward them. Her ears fell in anticipation and curiosity as the thing approached. A trail of dust seemed to follow behind it. The noise got louder by the second. Her ears slowly rose halfway and her nose twitched as it was confirmed to her that the noise was caused by the object approaching them. Seconds later, it got close enough to them that she could see that it was a small black cat, his light blue eyes wide and staring straight forward as if single-mindedly focused on escaping a force that was pursuing him relentlessly. A pale garment loosely wrapped around him rippled and flapped in the air as he raced through it. Judy tensed up slightly, tiptoeing back a couple of steps when the creature got within fifty feet. As the kitten blew past, running right between them, she gasped at the draft that slammed into her like a wall. The sound slowly receded as he ran further down the street.

What. Had. Just. Happened.

After only the briefest hesitation, Judy looked at Ellie and then jumped back into the cruiser. Ellie followed close by. Judy was glad that they were on the same page despite her mistake from moments before. Ellie flipped on the siren, not needing to be told, and they pulled out into the street. Judy honked at cars to allow them through. They managed to get onto the road and drove toward the kitten who was still flying down the sidewalk at an almost supernatural pace. This was the most surreal car chase she had ever been in.

"Judy, is that who I think it is?" asked the bunny in the passenger seat, breaking the other from her train of thought. But she didn't answer. "I think that was the kid from last night."

Judy's ears rose high, as did her eyebrows. For the briefest moment, she looked at Ellie. Judy was now certain this was the kitten she'd seen in the video. She knew it from those sky blue eyes.

Catching up to the boy took longer than comfortable even at nearly the speed limit. Judy estimated based on how fast the car was going that he was running around forty miles an hour. Suddenly, the boy began tumbling and rolling down the road like a rag doll. and they blew past him as he quickly decelerated to a violent stop. He appeared to have tripped. "Agh!" Judy cringed, slammed on the breaks and skidded down the road. Cars around them had stopped to allow them to pass, and the road was beginning to congest. The boy, who seemed to be just fine despite his horrific spill, lifted his face to look to the side toward the cruiser that contained the officers. He pushed himself up off of the sidewalk and stood. His and Judy's eyes locked at that moment. The bunny remembered kneeling next to him to provide him comfort when he was struggling to stay emotionally upright, remembered how innocent he'd seemed under that blanket moments after he had been viciously attacked. She assumed that he had figured out they were following him when he looked behind him and seemed to be considering running the other direction. Judy watched as his eyes faded into a dark blue color. She felt a chill at the sight. After several seconds, the boy whirled and jumped a dozen feet in the air, latching onto the skyscraper he was standing in front of.

"What in the WORLD!" Judy heard Ellie shout, followed by the sound of the door opening. Judy stepped out as well and watched in pure amazement as the boy ascended the transparent glass of the front of the office building, using nothing but his bare hands to anchor himself to it.

Judy's body moved as if it had a life of its own. "Come on! We have to try to catch up to him!" she said, finding herself avoiding the word "arrest" and all that implies.

"Right behind you," her colleague answered. Judy could hear the eagerness in her voice. Like Judy, she always enjoyed a challenge. Though the former hoped to be able to talk to him, to see if she could get him to come quietly. The last thing she wanted to do was bring out this little boy in handcuffs. But she was prepared to, even if she didn't like it. But then she remembered the video. Still, she continued forward.

Judy knew this building. It was the center of national trade in Zootopia, virtually monopolized by Lukagi Enterprises. She hadn't come here often except to investigate a couple of important scandals involving the high-ups who worked here, but she did know one thing: two ways in, two ways out.

"I'm gonna get backup here to help search the building," said Judy as they ran into the foyer. "You go around the back and make sure he doesn't get out that way."

"Already on it," said Ellie, who had grabbed her radio and was making her way around. "Gaines, come in. Over."

"Gaines here, over."

"Send some help to the Zootopia Interstate Trade building. We got our 10-38. Over."

"Heard! Help's on the way. ETA five minutes. Over."


Little side note, I wrote in Judy's and Ellie's argument not to make a political statement, but because I feel it is in line with Judy's character. She may understand a fox who has been shunned by the world, but what about a bunny who doesn't fit the "bunny mold?"

"Do not judge, for with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you." Matthew 7:1