A/N

Hello everyone. This is proving to be quite popular, much to my pleasure as the author. I love hearing how much y'all enjoy this dalliance of my muse.

Of course, I do not own Zootopia, and can therefore make no claims to Zootopia or its characters. I only make claim to my own OC's included herein as needed. Though I think I could do more with it than Disney is at the moment. So many awesome ideas that they could use, and they're sitting on their asses.

I blame Bear678 for this.

Anyway, on with the show.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Wilde Cardz - Savage Territory - Chapter 13

Two hours later, Lizz, Mike, and Nick had packed up everything, loaded their purchases and were ready to head out. Looking over everything, Nick smiled. "Well, guys… As much as I hate to say it, and as fun as this has been, I think we're ready to move on."

Mike nodded. "Yes, sir. Some great purchases you scored." Turning his head towards the settlement. "Oh, Del is heading this way, along with Eric, Ben, and a few others. I think we're about to have a goodbye party."

Lizz groaned. "Oh gods. They tried so hard to get us to sign on here."

Nick laughed. "Del tried himself directly. Told him that what he needed to do was push towards a merger of our two settlements. That way we can work more directly together, or with Jake. Really, I'd probably have him act as the go between."

Delgato and Ben walked around the corner into view and Ben gasped. "Nick! Did you say Jake?"

Giving Ben a grin, Nick nodded. "I did. Jake is my second in command over at Haymarket and Vole. As a matter of fact, he is who I left in charge while I'm on this little expedition. And yes, Ben. I do mean your cousin Jake."

Ben vibrated. "Oh my gods! Del, you have to let me go on the trip to H and V. I know all about setting up the repeaters, and I can help with my speed and how hard I am to hurt."

Del shook his head with a laugh. "I was already going to ask you, Ben, and for those very reasons. So I guess I don't have to ask you now."

"Yes! I'll go!" Ben almost screamed in joy, but then just as quickly deflated. "But first we have to say goodbye to our friends." Turning to face Lizz, Mike, and Nick. "You guys are going to come back, right?"

Lizz laughed. "Oh, don't give us those eyes, Ben. Of course we're going to stop back by again, and with any luck, we'll have a bunny in tow."

Eric McHorn and the others arrived, and like several days prior when it was discovered who had arrived at the settlement, the area was packed full of mammals all wanting to give their goodbye's and well wishes to Nick, Lizz, and Mike, before they left. Two hours later, Nick, Lizz, and Mike, were finally exiting the gate and leaving the Otterdamn settlement.

Nick stood on the seat and pointed. "That way, Lizz, is generally the direction we need to go."

Shaking her head. "And it is the direction of the hint of Judy that you have picked up."

Nick nodded, not even pretending. "Well, yeah. You both know I sold this expedition to the council as a way to make contact with other settlements. Well, we have done that with Otterdamn. But my true purpose is to find Judy, and don't bother pretending that you didn't know that."

Lizz chuckled as she maneuvered around a wrecked vehicle that was burned out and had scorched the building it was next to. "We knew that, Nick. It is why we signed on. So, what do you think you're going to find?"

Nick shrugged. "A message of some kind. I really don't know, but she was alive within the last three or four weeks. That alone gives me so much hope." An actual smile on his muzzle and a wag to his tail.

Mike laughed from the back seat. "Well, let's go find out then. You have a direction, but where exactly do you think she has this item that she has marked for you as a message?"

Nick looked through the window, then closed his eyes as he mapped the direction the scent came from. "I think it is probably one of our caches."

Lizz glanced at the fox to her right in the passenger seat. Even now, after everything, it amazed her how she considered him, a fox of all mammals, a friend. Him and his rabbit. Then again, she had grown a lot since her first interaction with them and the missing savage jaguar. She saw nothing but their species and she was sad to say that if they hadn't opened her eyes, she probably wouldn't have been open to the love of her life, in a wolf. With a shake of her head, Lizz chuckled. "A cache? Of what?"

Nick didn't even skip a beat. "Depends on the cache in question, but when I started creating them, they held changes of clothes, items for my hustles, a few weapons I really shouldn't have had, but needed in that life, etc... After Judy, and especially after we were targeted so heavily by the Bellwether sycophants. Judy and I converted them to caches that contained backup uniforms and badges, darts, ammo for our lethals, backup weapons, and anything else we could think of that we might need."

"So not a big change, just adding stuff for Judy to them."

Nick nodded. "Pretty much. At this pace it's going to take an hour, at least." Pausing and looking at his friends. "I'll be honest. If we find what I think we are going to, I'm going to leave you two to the main mission and I'm going after Judy."

Mike laughed. "Yeah. Not happening."

Nick frowned and looked back at Mike, ears canting to the side. "What do you mean?"

Lizz sighed. "Simple. Judy is our friend too, Nick. That means, where you go in looking for her, we go. We signed on for that part, too. Making contact with the other settlements is just a bonus. We knew your real purpose was to look for Judy. One thing that you can be sure of however, you are not going without us. So, lead the way, dear leader. Lead us to your Bunny."

Nick smiled and wiped a tear. "Thanks guys. That means a lot. However, I know in my heart already where I am going. I'm heading to Bunnyborrow. I'll let you lead me to this cache and we'll all hear what it says. However, Haymarket and Vole needs you guys far more than I do on that trip."

Lizz chuckled. "You're just going to walk almost three hundred miles? I think not. When we find her, probably protecting what remains of her family, then and only then will we leave you and come back. Not before, and that, my good fox, is final."

Mike nodded and grunted in agreement in the back. "What Lizz said. You're not leaving us behind on this, Nick. Judy is our friend, and we need to know that she's still alive nearly as much as you do. Even if you run off and use your speed, we will follow you. You may be faster than we are, but between the two of us, we can, and will, track and follow you."

Nick smiled with a sniff and sat down, his ears folded back, tail curled into his lap as he combed it with his claws. "Okay. I get it. … Thanks guys. It means more than you know. Really it does."

Mike reached over the seat and gripped Nick's shoulder. "We know buddy. You need friends on this mission. So don't overthink it. Just accept that we're in this with you. End of story." Nick nodded, but didn't trust himself to say anything. It really meant a lot more to him than he was ready to admit.

Turning to look out his window, Nick sighed and watched the remains of Zootopia slide by slowly. These were his friends, and mammals who survived the literal global apocalypse created by insane mammals bent on murdering large swaths of the population. They didn't kill as many as they had hoped, but they may have done far more damage than if they had succeeded in their efforts. They basically ended mammal civilization globally.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

6 months prior to the end.

Nick walked into the office he shared with his partner in all things, smiling as he saw her hunched over her computer keyboard, a string of H's filling up the text field of her report. Stepping over to her, he shifted her gently so she wasn't laying over the keyboard. He then used her pointer to clean up the H's from her report before saving it as a draft for her. He then picked her up, having already punched them both out for the day, carrying her through the precinct to their car. Groaning silently as she failed to wake but instead curled into him.

Passing through the lobby, the 3rd shift front desk officer chuckled. "I see she worked herself too hard again."

Nick nodded as he paused and turned to face the maned wolf officer. "Hey Fran. There is only so much I can do, and then I just have to carry her home. Sometimes, like with this case right now, the best I can do is make sure she eats."

Fran smiled. "I wish I could find a male, or female, that cared for me half as much as you do her. I'm currently trying this new app, Mate dot com. Supposedly it matches you with mammals that are the ideal fit according to several tests it has you take. They're long, and there are five of them, and then you have to wait a week for their system to process it all. I'm supposed to get my first match some time late this week."

Smiling, Nick shrugged gently. "I've heard good things about it. Supposedly that is how Frank met his mate, Heldreth. I cannot really recommend how Judy and I got together. Multiple brushes with death, serious injury, and everything else that happened. Sure, it formed a bond between us that only grew once I joined her as her partner, but there are better and sanity preserving ways."

Fran gave a bright smile and nodded. "Oh, for sure. Still. I checked the inter-species neutral box. That means, according to the app, that if they find a really strong match outside of species, they'll present it. Considering how happy Rast and Root are, I can't ignore that maybe I need to widen my horizons. The other maned wolves I've dated have all been jerks, at best. The females are just as bad. My longest relationship was with a timber wolf, but we wanted different things from the relationship. Anyway, I'll stop bugging you about my lack of a love life and let you go take care of yours."

Giving her a warm smile, Nick nodded again, his ears flicking. "I'm sure you'll find someone, Fran. Either via that app, or just walking down the street one day. As Judy says, there is someone out there for all of us, it just takes some of us longer than other. As you say, time for me to get this one home." Indicating Judy with a dip of his muzzle. "Have a quiet night."

"You too. Drive safe."

Nick left the precinct and carefully placed Judy in their car, driving them home. As he expected, she never woke up, having worked until she simply passed out. Shaking his head as he carried her into their home, she did this to herself whenever they had a big case. And this was a big case. Two of them actually. They were leading a group of investigators on two cases big enough to rival the first two they had worked on; the Missing Mammal and Nighthowler cases.

Their home wasn't large, but it had a nice yard they enjoyed taking care of together, plus two bedrooms, a bonus room that they turned into a workout room, a kitchen that fit them both so they could cook together, and enough room to have a few friends over, as long as they were not bigger than Mike Wolford. They had Lizz over once, but she was just a touch too big, though they were doing a barbeque that day, so her having to stay outside wasn't that big a deal.

It again, wasn't a huge place, but it was theirs, and was in a nice mixed species neighborhood on the edge of the rainforest. They got more real seasons there, were close to a main subway access, and had parking for their personal cars and the cruiser.

They had worked hundreds of cases at that point, and closed every one. These two were different though. The first started as a simple thing. A billionaire was targeted by a bunch of specist tail-holes because he happened to be in an inter-species relationship. It started simple, but as he and Judy looked into the situation, they found hints of something more, and more sinister.

They got permission from Bogo to focus just on it and chase down the leads, and when they did… They found themselves a full blown conspiracy. Worse, as they kept digging, they tripped over a second and third conspiracy. They found a conspiracy of specist mammals, both pred and prey, who were working together at all levels to go after interspecies couples. They had mammals in the prosecutor's office, judges, defense attorney's, city clerks, and worst of all, ZPD officers.

When they took their information to Bogo, Nick learned that he had never actually seen the Buffalo angry. After Bogo got done looking through what they had found, he was beyond livid. He put them in charge of a group, secretly, that reported directly to him. They were to dig out who all the members of the group were.

Only, as they dug, they found two more groups that overlapped within the anti-inter-species group. A newer group of predators that had formed after Bellwether. That group was small and had little power, but was concerning, as they found they had members who embraced eating other mammals. Their mentality was that if prey was going to accuse them and brand them that way, they might as well live up to, or down to in Nick's opinion, the accusation.

The other group was all prey, and it was the truly terrifying one. They were an offshoot of Bellwether's conspiracy. They were organized into insulated cells all over the city, and were found to be responsible for seemingly random attacks all over the city. With Bogo's backing, they were hitting those groups as hard, fast, and quietly, as they could. Being set up in insulated cells, they didn't talk much or at all with other cells, so they were able to take out other cells without the rest being aware.

They believed they only had a pawful of cells left. Three or four at most. However, these were also the most powerful, and most radical. Getting information on them was proving difficult, and they had good intel that they were preparing to make a major attack. They were considering bringing in the ZBI or other federal help, but since they were still isolated to just Zootopia as a city, bringing in the feds was problematic. At least until they could show hard evidence of a real threat, and not just rumors gleaned from members of the other cells they had taken down. It didn't help that they were almost on their own again, the rest of their team pulled away to other duties because of all the cops that got quietly fired and arrested for being members.

Shaking the thoughts of what was only a rumor, and all they had gone through, Nick laid Judy down on their bed and carefully undressed her before tucking her in. He then got their water and then crawled into bed, wrapping himself around his bunny. A smile on his face as he quickly joined her in sleep.

xxxxxxxx

The next morning, Judy woke to the smell of turkey sausage and blueberry pancakes. Nick smiled as he watched her walk into their eat-in kitchen. "Morning sleepy bun. Feeling rested?"

Judy smiled tiredly up at him. "As well as can be expected. I'm going to guess you carried me home, given I woke up in bed and not at my desk."

"I did. Fran commented on wishing she could find someone that cared for her the way I care for you."

Judy nodded as she reached for the tea he had already prepared for her when he heard her getting up. "Well, she can't have you. She will just have to find her own fox."

"So, get anywhere before you passed out? I only saved what you were working on, didn't read it. Get anything from that deer you were going to interview?"

Judy nodded. "Yeah. Though I need to review my notes again before we discuss, just to make sure the conclusions I made were not based on exhausted thinking."

"Well, I'm sure Bogo will forgive you eventually. I mean, he was hiding something, or rather, someone."

"Someone, plural. Two wives and a husband, who happens to be Benji of all mammals."

"Yeah, and only one of his wives is a buffalo, so…"

"Still not sure what I was thinking."

"Simple. You were worried he was on the take or otherwise dirty. He was being secretive and suspicious. If anything, things have improved. He and Ben are both more relaxed when not in uniform, and hell, Bogo even goes home now. I'm sure both wives and Ben appreciate that fact."

Judy nodded. "Okay. Point. So lets finish breakfast and head in. We may not have set hours anymore, but we're also not being paid to sit on our tails."

Smiling and sliding her a plate of pancakes and sausage. "Of course. Now eat your sausages, you need your protein."

Quickly munching one of the sausages as Nick drizzled her pancakes with strawberry syrup. "Mmmm. Thank you, Nick. So hungry."

"Well, of course. Because you are overworking yourself again. At least I managed to get you to eat yesterday, and I didn't even have to use the eyes."

Chuckling, Judy shook her head. "Oh gods, please no. You have no idea what that does to me."

"I think I have an idea. Now eat, so we can get to work as you said."

"Did you use the nighthowler extract in the batter?"

Nick nodded. "Yeah. I don't even feel it anymore. I wonder if we should increase the dose?"

Judy shrugged. "We'll need to talk to the doc first. Though we are already at the same level as the original formula. So if we go higher, we'll need to be monitored. As it is, the doc is already concerned about the toxicity."

Shrugging, Nick sat down with his own plate. "Sure. Just because it hasn't had a negative effect on us yet doesn't mean that it won't."

Taking a bite, then swallowing as she pointed her fork at him. "Oh, there have been effects. Increased strength, improved senses, denser bones, increased libido, etc… Not sure you were paying attention, but as of our last checkup, I weigh as much as you did when you got out of the academy and you weigh almost three times that now."

"I know. But considering what happened with the last time we got hit by the Bellwether nutters, I'm thankful for it."

"You and me both, Slick."

They finished breakfast in silence, just enjoying each other's company outside the job, and knowing as soon as they left the house, they would be back to work. Sharing a long kiss, they finally left the house and hopped back into their car. Twenty minutes later they were pulling into the precinct.

Walking into the precinct, they waved to Ben at the Front desk. "Hey guys, getting a late start?"

Nick shook his head and pointed at the rabbit in front of him. "No, someone worked till she passed out at her desk and I had to carry her home. Again."

Ben frowned. "Judy! You know better. Did you at least eat?"

Judy nodded as she rolled her eyes. "Yes. Nick makes sure I do."

"Not having her crash on me again."

Ben nodded. "Okay, well Bogo wants to see you two for an update once you get settled."

Judy smiled. "Great. I wanted to take him an update today anyway. Come on Nick!"

With that Judy took off quickly towards their office, Nick shrugging with a smirk and pointing at where Judy was rushing off before picking up his own pace to catch up.

Bogo's office, an hour later

Sitting behind his desk and leaning back in his chair, Bogo reviews the documents his two smallest officers had printed up for him. Shaking his head and tossing the folder onto his desk. "Okay, so what does this translate to, exactly?"

Judy smiled up at their boss. "There are several take away's sir. Starting with the predator group. For the moment, they are still in the early stages. If they go the way of a predator rights group, they will cease to be an issue. If they go towards predator superiority, they will need monitoring, but as we already know about them, they pose a much lower risk. Nick and I plan on turning over everything on them to the organized crime and terrorism groups to monitor once we're done."

Bogo nodded. "Okay, that sounds good. What else?"

Nick nodded and took over. "As for the anti-inter-species group, we have identified all but some of the most tangential members. We have identified their backers and even have evidence to take to the prosecutors office of all but two of them taking part in activities." Handing over another list. "This is the list of ZPD, ZFD, ZBI, and other government employees we have enough evidence to charge. We need to organize a massive team to hit them as close to all at once as we can. Especially those I've highlighted. All of them have the resources or skills to vanish if we give them a chance."

Snorting, Bogo's brow furrowed. "You have three precinct captains and half a dozen station chiefs on here."

Nick nodded, his ears folding back. "Yes sir. We actually waited to present this to you until we had irrefutable evidence. We understood how delicate that is going to be." Nick handed over another document, which Bogo unfolded. Nick had it folded as it was actually formatted for Bogo and Nick could have used it as a blanket. "Here is the action proposal. We have included vetted officers organized into teams of two to ten, depending on the target. There is also some proposals to get some of the higher ranked or richer targets in places where they can be picked off more easily."

Flipping through the pages. "Okay. This all make sense. I hate how many officers we are going to lose to this. I see you even have Mammal Resources mammals picked out."

Nick nodded. "Yes sir. The last thing we need is a sympathetic MR rep tipping someone off. One of them gets wind of it and they all start running." Bogo grunted as Nick continued. "Once we have captured the higher value targets, we can then spread out and pick up the rest that we have identified as active members who have actually done things. The rest will be turned over for monitoring. The worst part however is that we can now say without question that there are hundreds of cases that will all have to be re-examined. Judges that will be arrested, and a dozen prosecutors that will find themselves on the other side of the court room, as well as public defenders.

The case review is going to take a long time, and the city is going to be sued. There is no way around that, but considering two council members are on the high value target list… Both are financial backers, but also have documented actions that have resulted in false imprisonment at best. One of them was present for, and we have the video proof, the murder of at least three inter-species couples."

Bogo leaned back and rubbed his forehead with a tired and pained groan. "By the gods. This was just supposed to be locating and arresting the crazy mammal that tried to frame a billionaire. What else is there, because I know this touches the Bellwether nutters as well."

Judy chuckled darkly. "Yes sir. We have taken down all but four of the cells that we have been able to identify. We are nearly ready to move on three of those four tomorrow and you approved the plans last week. The last one is where we have an issue. We have managed to identify some low level members, and I interrogated one last night. Sadly, they don't tell their lower level members much. They do seem to be preparing for some big move, but we don't know what yet. The one from last night was convinced that it was going to be a biological attack and would rid the world of predators once and for all, and all without hurting any prey.

Sadly, that is pretty much the stock answer. It was just the suggestion of some sort of biological attack that has me worried. That takes the level of risk higher. That said, it could just be something this specific cell is telling it's members to motivate them. What they understand as a biological attack could just be weaponized Nighthowler gas or something similar. Where we think of something far more sinister."

"Okay. So you take down these others, then your whole focus goes to preparing to take down the anti-inter-species group and this final cell."

Nick nodded. "Yes sir. Since there has been a great deal of overlap between the Bellwether terror cells and the anti-inter-species group. We are hoping that interrogations of the mammals we pick up from the anti-inter-species raids will score us some cell members high enough to be useful."

Bogo grunted with a nod. "Better than just waiting for them to make whatever move they are planning. I'm sure they have something planned. I just hope we can stop it before they take action."

Judy nodded sadly. "Agreed, sir. This final cell is the best funded for sure, and also the most experienced. We suspect that they are the cell that Bellwether herself was part of, along with Doug, Woulter, etc… We have known from early on that they were not operating alone, but could never get anything from them. Sadly, since they were all looking at life already, we just couldn't get more information out of them. I would still like to meet with Dawn one more time. I think we have enough that Nick and I can pull something out of her. At least I hope so."

Bogo nodded with a snort. "Fine. Do it, but after the inter-species raids. Go in with as much as you can. You have my sign off. Make it happen."

Nick and Judy saluted and headed out at that point. They had a lot of preparation to do, and a hundred phone calls to make. Schedule changes to slip into multiple precinct systems, and raid teams to brief.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx