"Well, that's some gratitude for you," Judy said in a mix of disappointment and annoyance. She and Nick were seated in their casual clothes on a doorstep. "We saved the city; made it safe for all predators. And I don't even get to be a cop again anymore!"
"To be fair, though, we did a few... questionable things," Nick gave a little amused chuckle. "Not the least of which was threatening a petty crook by throwing him in front of a crime boss, or making a train explode, doing who knows how much property damage."
"How'd they even figure out about Weaselton? Did he tattle to the police?" Judy punched her hand into her fist. "That... that weasel."
"All I'm saying is, we should be glad we're not in jail," Nick had a placid smile. "I know I am."
"True, true," Judy gave a big sigh. "Dunno what I'm going to do now. ...It was fun though, huh?"
"Fun in a kind of terrifying way," Nick nodded. "...I could do it again."
"Too bad there's no way to do that," Judy sucked at her teeth.
"Now hold on a second, Carrots, it's not like you to throw in the towel so soon," Nick grinned. "I was talking about being vigilantes. Fighting for justice behind the scenes. That's basically all we did with the Night Howlers after all, and you're um... a bit hard to control under conventions anyway."
"Huh, I hear what you're saying," Judy gave an interested smirk with her eyes narrowed. "But we can't exactly support ourselves on saving the day before the ZPD gets there. How are we supposed to-" Judy froze as Nick was wearing an enormous smile with his eyes-half closed. "Oh no."
"Make ends meet, Carrots?" Nick continued to grin. "I'll give you a hint. It starts with 'H' and ends with 'ustling'."
"Nick, no!" Judy wailed.
"Nick, yes," Nick wiggled his eyebrows.
"I can't hustle!" Judy tugged at her ears, staring at the sky.
"Oh, you most certainly can," Nick kicked back on the steps they were sitting on, wiggling his feet. "You hustled me, after all. You can act when you want to if the museum is anything to go by. Not to mention you have the prettiest amethyst doe eyes I've ever seen. Just train those beauties on some poor sap."
"Well, uh, thanks?" Judy cocked an eyebrow at the sudden compliment. "But I mean I can't hustle. Basically half of Zootopia or more would know who I was by now thanks to that stupid press conference. How is the speciesest bunny that nearly started a pred-prey social war gonna hustle anyone? They'll know it's me!"
"Oh, we can take care of that, too," Nick grinned.
"I'm not sure I like where this is going?" Judy admitted, her eyes squinting.
"C'mon, follow me," Nick launched himself off of the doorstep and onto the sidewalk. "I know everyone, remember? We'll get ourselves set up."
"That doesn't inspire too much confidence, but... okay," Judy got up and began to follow him.
The two ended up on the doorstep of a house high up in the Rainforest District. Nick turned the handle of the door and held it open for Judy.
"After you, former Officer Hopps," Nick beamed.
"Rub it in," Judy rolled her eyes, entering the completely average looking house. "Who... who doesn't lock their door? Does one of your relatives live here?"
"Nope," Nick said tersely. "And she doesn't lock her door because there's nothing worth stealing in here. Now, follow me and stand right here."
"I'm not too big on surprises," Judy folded her arms as Nick got on his hands and knees on the wooden floor. He knocked once, then, waiting two seconds, he knocked again. Then, three seconds, and he unleashed a complicated series of knocks with both hands, and then stopped. "What the...?"
"Okay, I'll tell you what's going to happen then," Nick said, standing up, getting closer to Judy. "We're going to stand right here, a panel is going to open and drop us into a chute that leads to my friend's underground bunker."
"What!?" was all Judy could muster before precisely this happened. Judy squealed in a loud: "Woaaah!" as the two fell down and landed on a large pillow that had been placed at the landing point. Judy looked around in disbelief. There were technological gadgets everywhere and the place was a mess. She couldn't guess at the function of some of the items.
"Welcome!" A cheerful, almost scratchy voice said. "Welcome... to my lair!" Swiveling a chair around was a female badger wearing a black tank top and camouflage fatigues. She had a few earrings in each of her ears and a spiky white shock of hair. She let out a faux evil laugh. At least, Judy hoped it was fake.
"Heya, Honey," Nick chuckled.
"Nick babe! How the heck are ya!? I was wondering when I'd see you next!" Honey got up and rushed over to him. "Oh and you brought someone new- Judy Hopps!? You both... then you must be here about... the sheep."
"The sheep...?" Judy asked meekly. She started to immediately notice a few propaganda posters on the walls that seemed to indicate that sheep were part of some sort of big conspiracy.
"That's right! That whole thing with Bellwether!" Honey nodded. "Did she say anything about the conspiracy before you bagged her?"
"Uhh..." Judy's discomfort level was at an all-time high, "Bellwether's conspiracy was rather... small in scope, really. I mean, not really really, but she didn't actually have too many sheep on her side."
"Ahhh...!" Honey put her hands on her hips and shook her head in disappointment, looking down. "She must have just been a part of the first wave. But they didn't let you come back into the ZPD! It must go deeper! You knew too much..." She narrowed her eyes conspiratorially. "We gotta be ready at any time for them to rise up and try to take over!"
"Honey, we're not here about the sheep," Nick chuckled.
"You better have a good reason for bringing new fur in here, then," Honey gave him a stern look. "Else I'm gonna have to tranq ya and throw you in the back of a truck bound for Podunk."
"Honey, we're here because we want to be vigilantes," Nick explained.
"Ohhhh...!" Honey brought her fists to her mouth and let loose an extremely loud gasp. "Nick babe, you have no idea how long I have waited to hear those words."
"What," Judy said, completely deadpan.
"It's true! Nick would make a great costumed crime-fighter, don't you think?" Honey clapped her hands excitedly. "I've been working on prototypes for his costume even before he came around!"
"What..." Judy repeated, "I mean uh... maybe? But costumes?"
"What's the point in being a vigilante if you can't look cool doing it?" Honey pumped her fist enthusiastically and shook it. "But you'll need something too, hm..."
"Uh, it might go beyond that," Judy said, "even if I wore a mask, if anyone unmasked me, they'd know who I was immediately, and I'd be in the biggest trouble imaginable with everyone..."
"Oh! Pff, that's easy!" Honey threw both of her hands in Judy's direction.
"May I?" Nick motioned to a drawer in a desk that seemed haphazardly placed in the "lair", like everything else.
"No you may not! Off!" Honey padded over to him and slapped his hand away. "You'll mess up the madness to my method!" She opened a few drawers. "Alright, bunny gal, which one do you want?"
Judy looked down incredulously at a drawer full a great number of plastic tubes of substance in every color she could imagine. "Is this fur dye?"
"Yup!" Honey said. "Pick any little color your heart desires! Have any color you'd specifically want to be?"
"Hm," Judy looked over the options, "well any of these esoteric colors are right out. I wonder how I'd look as a tri-color? Ugh, but that would be a lot of work. ...Hm, I'd guess logically, if I were to be making Zootopia a better place from the shadows... I should choose black?"
"Ah, a classic, a dark furred bunny," Honey nodded. "You'll look like a whole new girl in no time!"
"Hm, purple eyes gazing out of midnight fur," Nick considered, "might look nice." Judy gave him a slight awed look that he was still thinking about her eyes.
"Next!" Honey said, scrambling over and yanking out some measuring tape. "Gotta get your numbers for your own costume!"
"Er, okay...!" Judy said as the not-entirely-sane badger went about measuring her. She shot Nick a look, her discomfort evident, and he shrugged.
"Okay, I'll have a prototype ready in about three weeks, I think!" Honey clapped her hands. "Oh this'll be so fun! Until then, see what you think about the dye, and come up with an alias! You'll need one, of course!"
"Right, I will," Judy nodded. "Are you going to use one, Nick?"
Nick shrugged nonchalantly. "Sure! Barely anyone knows my middle name, so I'll just go by Piberius."
"Huh, not bad I guess, but I can't really use mine," Judy grumbled. "No ones going to quake in fear over 'Laverne'."
Honey laughed loudly and Nick stifled a laugh into his hand.
"How about the 'Bun Avenger'?" Nick offered.
"Are you crazy?" Judy made a face, holding her arms out. "What, am I going to be avenging bread? Or butts?" Honey laughed again at this.
"Ooh this'll be such a good time, I can feel it! See you two in three weeks!"
After that time passed, Judy and Nick again found themselves in Honey's "lair", wearing their new costumes. Nick's outfit completely covered him in black patterned spandex with an electric blue edge and accents to the scheme, leaving only his tail exposed. He wore thick, stylish black rubber gloves and a mask as well, with the only defining features of the mask being electric blue colored eye-slits. Judy, on the other hand, had a dark gray, black, and purple spandex costume, including black gloves, but she wore no mask. Her visible fur was now solid black.
"Mine's a bit, um, tight in places," Judy said in mild discomfort, shifting around. The outfit's material was quite clingy, and Judy wondered if it snugged her form even more than her tight police uniform did.
"Ditto," Nick admitted, his mask concealing his expression.
"What's the point in wearing cool crime-fighting outfits if you don't get to look yummy in them?" Honey put her hands on her hips and wiggled her eyebrows.
"Both of us, though...?" Judy protested.
"Both of you!" Honey nodded.
"I don't know if I like Nick wearing a mask," Judy admitted, giving him a glance. "While I agree he won't be able to smug any criminals into submission, I'd like to know where his eyes are looking, especially if I'm going to be wearing something like this."
"Oh, I'm looking at your bunny bum bum," Nick said casually. Honey laughed.
"At least you're honest," Judy grunted.
"Now, onto more important things, like what you'll be fighting crime with!" Honey plunked down two cases down by both of them on a table. "I've adapted some of my anti-sheep weaponry to your more general needs." Opening the first box, there was a short eastern-style sword with only one cutting edge inside.
"A sword?" Judy blinked her eyes. "Now hold on, none of us are going to go around stabbing people... are we?"
"Well, it's really more like a wakizashi, really," Honey said authoritatively, "but for a bunny I guess it might as well be a fully-sized sword. But the sword isn't the important part, it's this sheath." Honey held up the sheath, which at the moment did not contain the sword. It seemed a bit complicated and had a circular vial around the lip of it. "When you unsheathe the sword, the vial is triggered to briefly open and coats the blade with a tranquilizing agent." Honey smiled maliciously. "One nick and you'll send those sheep to dreamland."
"One Nick was all it took to send Bellwether to jail," Judy smirked.
"And one Judy," Nick added, and Judy could sense his own smirk behind his mask.
"I'm not going to be going up against just sheep though," Judy explained.
"Ah, this stuff I brewed up can put anything down safely for the count, mouse to elephant! Just cut a little bit... more for an elephant, I'd say, haha!" Honey laughed. Judy accepted the sword and wore the sheath diagonally across her back. "I call it the Serene Blade."
"What's for me?" Nick rocked back and forth on his feet.
"For you, my finest, of course, babe!" Honey laughed and showed him a metal staff with prongs at both ends. "The Thunder Staff! Bit of a dramatic name, and inaccurate because thunder is just the expansion of air following a lightning strike, but... whatever! You can use it like a staff-" she picked it up and twirled it around. "Or separate it in the middle here to dual wield little sticks like this!" She demonstrated this. "And, both ends have bits that you can-" she pressed buttons on both of the short staffs and the ends lit up with blue electricity. "Do this!"
"Jeez!" Nick looked taken aback.
"Ah, I was wondering why Nick's costume had blue accents, I always thought his color was green," Judy chuckled.
"Uh, how am I supposed to recharge that?" Nick laughed.
"Cellphone charger for both ends, should take about an hour for each minute of charge, up to three minute capacity," Honey rattled off quickly. "Don't worry, the sheep won't recognize any exorbitant energy consumption on your power bill, I've made the power trickle too low for that. Also! Intensity dials on both ends so you don't hurt anyone more than you want to!" She joined the two ends of the staff together and handed it over. Nick gave it a few experimental twirls.
"This is getting pretty exciting, I'll admit," Judy smirked.
"What are you going to use as your alias, though?" Honey wondered. "That's like the best part! Piberius and..."
"Huh, I didn't really come up with a good name..." Judy admitted.
"How about the Bodacious Bunny Booty?" Nick grinned.
"Nick, watch those eyes," Judy warned. "Huh, eyes... what was it you said earlier...? Hey, yeah! How about... Amethyst?"
"Ooh, cool! Goes with the purple!" Honey clapped. "Now call me if you need refills on that tranquilizer vial or different power cells for that staff or anything! I've given your utility belts a lot of fun toys too, so check em out!"
"Are we really doing this, Nick?" Judy sighed.
"Hey, 'Amethyst', when I'm in THIS costume, it's 'Piberius'," Nick retorted in what he hoped was his coolest voice.
"I guess we are...!" Judy smirked.
"Give the sheep heck, you two!" Honey pumped her arm.
And so, "Amethyst and Piberius" inflicted themselves upon Zootopia. For years their capers went off rather well, stymieing the efforts of both any criminals they encountered and the ZPD to catch up to them and bring them to justice themselves. At first, their attempts to conduct themselves as costumed crime-fighters were somewhat sloppy, almost comical. Once, Amethyst had to drag an unconscious Piberius away from their attempt to halt an attempted robbery because she accidentally grazed him with her sword. But as they got into it, criminals began to legitimately fear them.
Judy was having the time of her life, and Nick wasn't far behind. It was more of a shift in the style of the life she wanted, true, but she had to admit she loved having no boundaries and setting her own strict rules to abide by while fighting crime. Every day the hustling got easier, the excuses to her parents became more believable, and she started to like seeing her artificially-colored black fur in the mirror.
Though it wasn't more attention than being a star officer at the ZPD, however briefly, Nick still loved seeing their figures on news stories, magazines, and newspapers. "Who are Amethyst and Piberius?" the newspaper laying on the street said on that very evening, featuring an action shot of the two and their weapons. It might have been a bit childish, but Nick reveled in finally being the hero he secretly always wanted to be, and finally getting to be thought of by the public as "cool".
The two relaxed in an alley, eating a couple of cheese-and-nut burgers. Nick had his mask folded up just enough to expose his muzzle.
"So, Amethyst, still having fun?" Nick asked Judy.
"Do I still like infuriating Bogo and frustrating his attempts to catch and unmask us?" Judy smirked, taking a bite. "Heck yes I do."
"Wow, can you hold a grudge," Nick chuckled, smirking at her. "Remind me to never get on your bad side."
"Believe me, you'll know if you get there," Judy said maliciously. Nick made a face, threw down his burger, and pointed. Judy followed his gaze, abandoning her food as well.
"Look alive," Nick said. "I see a white bunny and something's wrong with her."
"Gotcha," Judy replied seriously, taking out a fold-out pair of small night-vision goggles from one of her pouches and looking. There was an arctic hare staggering and looking like she was about to fall over near a popular bar, the Wet Wolf Whistle. "She's in a bad way." The arctic hare fell over onto the sidewalk, and shortly a rhinoceros started going after her. Judy looked to Nick, who instantly assaulted her with a flurry of nearly incomprehensible hand signs.
"Got it, meet you there," Judy nodded. The two scattered.
The rhino picked up the arctic hare and made for a street light, nudging upwards to smash a traffic camera from below with his sharp-looking horn while he was in its blind spot. The rhino narrowed his eyes as he saw Piberius block the way in front of him, spinning his staff and posing with it held behind him.
"Easy there, big guy," Nick lit both ends of his weapon in warning.
The rhino snorted. "If it isn't Tiberius."
"Piberius, but you were close," Nick said in a snarky voice. "Set the arctic hare down or you're in for a shock."
"Idiot small-mammal," the rhino spat, "even if that little sparkle stick could phase me, surely it'd have enough juice to fry this little rodent I'm holding onto, too."
"You may have a point," Nick considered in a commanding voice, flourishing his staff. "But I'm still not letting you through." His voice turned conversational. "And by the way, arctic hares aren't rodents. They're lapines."
"Think I care?" The rhino said gruffly. "Get out of my way before you become paste! You're just a little distraction to me!"
"Oh congratulations, we have a winner!" Nick exclaimed smugly, grinning from behind his disguise and turning the electricity on his stick off.
"Heeeeyaaagh!" Judy shrieked, leaping right onto the rhino's back.
"What the-!?" The rhino flicked his arm this way and that at her, holding the unconscious arctic hare in his other arm, but he couldn't reach back far enough to get access to the rabbit. Judy readied her blade and brought it up to the rhino's neck.
"Let her go," Judy muttered dangerously.
"If you insist!" The rhino held the hare's body up and then threw it down nearly effortlessly with one hand.
"Jeez! Careful!" Nick dove onto the sidewalk next to the rhino to carefully catch, cushion, and cradle the arctic hare's body so she wasn't injured.
"You're pancakes, mutt!" The rhino growled, bringing his foot up to the defenseless fox beneath him.
Judy quickly drew the blade across the rhinos neck, kicked off of him, and landed on one knee.
"Glkk!" The rhino froze in surprise, bringing a hand instinctively to his neck as Nick took the spare moment Judy had bought him to move away from the tree-trunk of a leg before it slammed down on the sidewalk.
Judy cleaned and sheathed her blade in one smooth motion. In a hushed, but forceful voice, she said: "Serene Blade, cause my enemies to be tranquil."
The rhino looked at his hand and was baffled by the very tiny amount of red on it. "Ha! I knew a tiny little animal like you couldn't slit a throat properly! Maybe you'd like a demonstration!" The rhino whirled around to confront Judy, but as he did, he felt like he was still spinning. He was finding it quickly impossible to stand up, and sat down hard.
"Nighty-night...!" Nick mocked. The rhino fell over into a forced slumber. "And Amethyst, do you always have to say that silly little prayer?"
"What's the point of being a costumed vigilante if you can't say some corny catchphrases?" Judy shrugged, smiling. They headed back into their alley from which they came, Nick still holding the arctic hare.
"Could you get her wallet?" Nick asked. Judy nodded and felt in her pockets while Nick continued to cradle her.
Judy looked at her driver's license. "Karen Skippel. Uh, uh oh!" Judy flipped to a ZPD badge. "She's one of them!"
"Oh dear, a second bunny cop?" Nick grit his teeth at noticing this. "We can't exactly leave her at the hospital or at the doorstep of the ZPD without being noticed and someone getting the wrong idea."
"Yeah, we definitely don't want to be accused of doing... whatever was about to happen to this poor thing," Judy mused, rubbing her chin.
"So what do we do?" Nick pondered.
"Got an idea," Judy nodded. "May not work, but..."
"You're the boss," Nick chuckled.
Karen awoke in her own bed, in her own apartment. Her vision was blurry from whatever drug had knocked her out. She didn't know why, but her first instinct was to launch right out of bed and check that everything in her apartment was in place, but her body didn't quite work fully yet. Blinking, she saw two dark shapes at the foot of her bed. She gasped in fright.
"Who are you!?" Karen felt a chill, unable to see them fully yet.
"Friends," Nick said gently, holding a hand out in caution.
"Yeah right, what are you doing in my apartment!?" Karen willed her body to cooperate and saw... "Piberius and Ameythst? What are you two doing here?"
"Uh, well, you had passed out and we didn't quite want to take you to the hospital unless you really needed it," Nick shrugged apologetically.
"You were in trouble," Judy nodded.
"Don't lie to me!" Karen retreated defensively into her bed, wishing she had a stun-gun or two handy. "I know that... that Blade of Serenity of yours or whatever is soaked with some sort of tranquilizer!"
"Ooh, Blade of Serenity," Judy turned to Nick, "do you think that sounds cooler than Serene Blade, Piberius?"
"Could you drop the character-building for a second, Ammy?" Nick sighed.
"Hey, don't call me Ammy! What's the point of having an alias if you're just going to use a nickname?" Judy shot in frustration, almost calling Nick by his real name.
"Wow, are you two married?" Karen's slightly gravely, boyish voice was beginning to normalize, and now sounded full of incredulous disdain.
"No...!" Both said in exhausted unison.
"Anyways, let's take a step back here," Nick held both of his hands out, tilting his head; knowing he had to be more expressive with his head with his mask on. He nodded. "When did you start feeling strange?"
"At the Wet Wolf Whistle," Karen was struggling to recall. "Where she must have drugged me."
"Hey, my sword just has the agent on it," Judy shrugged. "The only way I can knock someone out is by cutting them. Or maybe poking the blade in someones drink, I don't know."
"We saw a rhinoceros collect your body after you were knocked out," Nick said.
"I don't know any rhinos," Karen narrowed her eyes. "Why should I believe you two...?"
"Because we're about to walk out of this apartment and out of your life," Judy nodded. "We just wanted to make sure you're okay."
"Sounds like he might have spiked your drink," Nick mused. "Were you alone?"
"Uh huh..." Karen admitted.
"In the future, maybe go out drinking with friends," Nick suggested.
"Would need some of those, first," Karen turned her head away. There was a short, uncomfortable silence. "What happened to the rhino?"
"Left an anonymous tip," Nick said, "the ZPD should be picking him up."
"Why, how can you prove he did anything wrong?" Karen challenged.
"We can't, but he did have his horn illegally sharpened and destroyed a traffic camera, so maybe you can get him on that at least?" Judy shrugged.
"A small comfort," Karen twisted her mouth. "You vigilantes should be locked up. I'd arrest you myself if I wasn't just a Technical Officer and completely at your mercy besides."
"Karen..." Judy looked apologetic.
"So you looked at my license too?" Karen gave a huff. "Jeez, I feel all kind of violated. By you guys AND whatever 'rhino' may have drugged me in the first place."
"Sorry, Karen," Judy continued, "we just had to figure out where to get you home. You'll find all of your stuff is still there." Karen checked, and it was. "Just be careful at the ZPD, okay? Heh... they don't exactly like bunnies there."
"Wait a minute..." Karen closed her eyes and her ears twitched, focusing on her voice. "You're Judy Hopps!"
"What!?" Judy flinched. "No. Judy Hopps is a gray and white bunny-"
"And you're a gray and white bunny with a ton of black fur dye on," Karen sniffed the air. "I experimented with that stuff before I joined the force; I know what it smells like. Plus, I recognize your voice from that conference. I have no brothers or sisters to remember the names or personalities of, so my bunny brain fills up with useless information instead." Nick stood there silently, and Judy had a flummoxed expression. "So! The famous Judy Hopps couldn't leave 'making the world a better place' alone even when she couldn't come back to the ZPD, so she took up a different fur color and started raining her own brand of justice on the city."
Judy had a defeated expression; she was completely read, again.
"Well... I kind of think that's a little bit cool," Karen gave a tiny smile.
"Huh?" Nick and Judy both were startled.
"You had the most ridiculous flash-in-the-pan existence in the ZPD ever," Karen gave a soft chuckle. "I don't think it's hyperbolic to say that in your brief stint there you accomplished something more grand than most people at the ZPD ever have in their whole career, and maybe ever will. I hope you don't think I'm some sort of worthy successor to you; I'm not. Just a geek who wanted a comfy job, nothing more." She gave a small frown, but then smiled again. "Don't worry, I won't tell Bogo."
"I mean..." Judy decided to stop making excuses for her identity, "Bogo hasn't caught me yet, but if you told him I think I would probably be able to hear his resulting scream wherever I was in Zootopia..."
Karen offered a half-smile, giving Judy a once-over. "That outfit looks pretty nice on you."
Judy gave a nervous giggle. "We should go." It was still early morning; the perfect time for a getaway.
Nick opened Karen's window and looked both ways. "All clear." He vaulted out the window smoothly and into the alley. He was still visible from the window. "Boy, being on the first floor sure doesn't make for an impressive exit."
"See you around Piberius... Amethyst," Karen grinned.
"Hopefully maybe?" Judy gave a terse wave, and launched herself out of her window, as well.
Author's Note: This super-sized chapter is again one of Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps' ideas they offered to me, so thanks again to them! Also a sincere thank you to all the wonderful reviews and thoughts my readers have given me to this point, especially that massive one by
UnmarkedReLark, that definitely made my day!