RJ

Chapter II: A Cold Reception

Written by Berserker88

Edited by Mind Jack & DrummerMax64

Cover art by SaittaMicus

The evening after the Larson case was an awkward affair for everyone.

Nick and Judy had both been given leave to head straight home, in part due to their major bust today, in part due to Nick's "Scourge" disguise making the rest of the precinct too uncomfortable to be around him. It made Judy uncomfortable too, so even the workaholic bunny had no objections to Nick getting back to normal ASAP.

Which was why she was now laying casually on their shared bed, listening to her husband wash off in the shower of the master bathroom. He had decided to leave the door open, supposedly to let the steam out, though that never seemed to be a problem when she wasn't one room over. She half-expected him to invite her in with him, but then they'd both end up covered in dye, and this was taking forever as it was. "Seriously, I appreciate the advancement of modern cosmetics, but did it have to be this hard to get off?"

"I don't know, this kinda feels like karma to me," Judy said, smiling to herself. "You did seem pretty attached to your disguise back there…"

"I was just getting into character!" he protested. "It's not like I wanted to be that way permanently!"

"Of course, you wouldn't want to…" Judy paused. That last remark sounded a bit too forced for comfort. Most mammals probably wouldn't read anything into it, but she hadn't married the guy without learning how to read him. "Is this about what Larson said before? Are you still on about that?"

"No." Yes.

She shook her head in exasperation. "Nick, why are you letting a thug like that get in your head now? What happened to never letting them see that they get to you?" Not that she wasn't grateful for him opening up more, but there was a time and place for that and on the job was not the time and place.

"It's...complicated."

"Try me."

The shower abruptly turned off. How long had he been done? She waited patiently as Nick dried himself off and came out into the room, towel wrapped around his waist as he hopped up on the bed next to her. She figured this would be long enough to form a response, but Nick was still struggling. He opened his mouth, then closed it again, opened, closed, opened...closed. "Nick!"

"Okay, okay!" He sighed, reclining back onto the pillow. "It's just that...I wonder sometimes where I could've ended up if I hadn't met you back then. It's something that's been on the back of my mind pretty much ever since, and Larson just dredged it back up again."

"Where you could've ended up?" Judy echoed. "You mean in jail?"

"Possibly." He shrugged. "But that's not what bothers me. What bothers me is that if I didn't end up in jail, the only other conclusion I can come up with is that I would've just kept spiraling downwards, until I emerged as something much worse than some shady, pawpsicle-selling conmammal."

"Like what?" She was almost afraid to ask. "I mean...you'd still be the same Nick, right? It's not like you'd be capable of something that bad…"

"I used to work for Mr. Big, Judy," he said bluntly, noticeably avoiding eye contact. "The mafia isn't exactly known for misdemeanors."

A chill ran down her spine. "But...you got out."

"I was thrown out. Had I stayed in his good graces, who knows what I might be doing right now? Certainly not working for the ZPD."

She didn't have a response for that.

"You need to understand, I've resented prey for a long, long time, Judy. Just like your hidden biases against preds. Maybe all I needed was a similar push to go over the edge for good."

She still didn't respond.

He couldn't avoid her eyes anymore. He was starting to need the comfort himself. Nick gently grabbed her by the cheeks and turned her head to look at him. "Can you tell me that it's impossible?"

"N-No…" Even so, she pulled his arms away. "I just don't understand why this is troubling you so much now. You've proven how good of a mammal you are more times than I can count, saved numerous lives, brought down terrible criminals, and now we're married, with two beautiful children," a loud crash resounded from outside the room, "who need to be put to bed soon. The point is, you've got such a wonderful life now, Nick. What's the point of even dwelling on this?" she asked, almost pleadingly.

He smiled back, very slightly. "Because now we have a way of finding out for sure."

Judy's confidence started to wane halfway to Tundratown. Perhaps it was only then that she finally managed to process all the information that was dumped on her. Mayor Bellwether had been arrested, the savage predators were all a part of a conspiracy she had led, that conspiracy was now fully exposed thanks to a mysterious whistleblower, that whistleblower may or may not be Zootopia's newest crime lord, and to top it all off, Chief Bogo trusted her of all mammals to investigate him.

Any sane mammal would have turned around by now, but Judy was still driving. She knew exactly why, of course. She was doing this because she was desperate to prove herself, despite the fact that the same attitude had resulted in her losing her police badge. If someone asked her yesterday whether or not she was satisfied being a PI, she would have answered yes without hesitation, but clearly she was just lying to herself. The second Bogo opened the possibility up to her, she jumped headlong into it like Clawhauser at a Gazelle concert.

Great, I'm already making ZPD-themed similes.

If there was any small comfort in all of this, it was that her hours of research and planning had at least given her a solid idea of what she was going to do when she got there. With that amount of preparation, nothing could stop her. Hopefully, she wasn't just lying to herself about that too.

The place wasn't difficult to find, not when she could hear the music coming from it almost the second she entered Tundratown. Not like anyone was going to file a noise complaint against the mafia. It served as a decent enough distraction as she drew closer, observing an interesting phenomenon going on in the streets in front of her. Most of the cars went out of their way to avoid going anywhere near the source of the music, even pulling illegal u-turns that she forced herself to ignore. Many other vehicles, however, were following a close, single-file line directly towards the place. It was this line that Judy joined, and once another car came in behind her, there was no turning back.

Thankfully, she wasn't entirely conspicuous or her mission might have ended right there. Her choice of car was a modest brown, and in no way rabbit or carrot-related. She learned quickly as a PI not to give such obvious details away before even getting to the location. The immense anxiety coursing through her also did a good job of keeping her ears lowered and out of sight.

She should be safe for now.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much longer to go before they arrived. The guests entered through a stone gate that, at one time, must have looked very sophisticated. Now it was adorned with a neon sign that read, "WELCOME TO THE FOXHOLE!"

There was polar bear guard standing by it, verifying the identity of every mammal that passed through. This was the first hurdle, but Judy had expected as much. Once her turn came, she lowered the window and gave the bear the fiercest scowl she could. "Hey, what's da big idea?! Youse don' know who I am or somethin'?!"

The bear stared blankly back.

Then laughed. "Well, aren't you cute? Don't worry, Boss says this is an open invite to anyone who's not a cop." He leaned towards the window and glared at her. "You're not a cop, right?"

"Uh…"

Then he laughed again. "As if! Go on in, Ms. killer rabbit."

Just take the invite, Judy. "...Thanks." In a considerably soured mood, the bunny passed through the gate. Sadly, her backup plan was to feign ignorance and play up the cute bunny angle to charm her way through. Maybe she hadn't planned this out as well as she thought.

She continued to follow the line of cars around the next corner, coming out into a massive courtyard behind the estate. Bright lights hung over the place, illuminating tables packed with the best of Zootopia's worst. They were a colorful bunch, to be sure, and almost entirely made up of predators. If she weren't feeling out of her depth before, she certainly was now. There were drink fountains, confectionaries, and even a giant ice sculpture of an impressively lifelike bear. RJ really went all out on the decorating.

The same could not be said for the parking. As Mr. Big hadn't been one for parties, unless his daughter wanted one, there wasn't much in the way of space. All of the vehicles were more or less crammed together in a giant ring surrounding the event, which Judy ended up forced into, effectively trapping her here. It seemed that RJ hadn't planned this out too well either, yet his inadequacy was actually making things harder for her. For a second, she almost wished she was still on parking duty just so she could slap him with a safety violation. But for now, she was going to need more than a little bit of luck just to make it out of this alive. While she hated the stereotype, she gave both of her feet a quick rub anyway, then stepped out of the car.

Her first instinct was to stay put until the traffic around her cleared out, but she knew she would blend in much better if she joined the crowd of much larger mammals heading for the party. She just had to be careful not to get stepped on, a skill she had a lot of practice in. She walked at a slightly fast pace to keep rhythm with the crowd, and as they passed by a table, quickly darted under it.

She mentally slapped herself for not checking which table she chose to hide herself under, for this one was full of wolves in biker gear who detected something wrong immediately. She held her breath as the sound of sniffing rang out above her. "Hey, how long is it until dinner time? Something smells more appetizin' than a fishery up in flames."

"Patience, brother. Just sit down and have your water."

"Ugh, fine." There was a loud sipping noise, followed by gasping and sputtering.

"Not that fast!" The rest of the wolves started teasing the choking victim, promptly forgetting all about her.

Relieved, Judy cautiously poked her head out of the tablecloth, seeking a safer hiding spot. One ear pointed towards some faint, scratching sounds, coming from some itchy Outbackers who were clearly very distracted already. Perfect. Judy zipped from under one table to the other, so fast that she was barely even a blur. Her presence in this new vicinity didn't elicit so much as a leg twitch, making her far more confident to hunker down until she saw an opportunity to get inside the building.

She didn't have to wait very long. The music was abruptly cut short as a loud, aggressive voice boomed over the speakers. "Ladies and gentlemammals, it's the moment you've all been waiting for! Now presenting your host with the most, the foxy with the moxie, Reynaaaaaaaard Juniooooooooooor! ...Can't believe I had to say all that crap." As soon as the introduction come to an end, a series of loud booming noises erupted around them. Too curious for her own good, Judy once again chanced a peek outside.

Several sets of fireworks were going off all at once, shooting into the air and exploding into a pattern that spelled out "RJ" in giant letters. No wonder the parking was such a mess; all the budget had gone into the special effects.

"Oi, why do we hafta' listen to this great bloomin' wanker speak again?"

"Because we need ta know if he's gonna be a problem for us. We'll be back at tha club soon enough."

"I hope so. This suit is bloody torture, it is."

The constant scratching was only a minor distraction now that Judy was finally getting her first look at RJ in person. The fox was as stylish as he appeared in the photo, wearing that same black suit with a fountain pen stuffed into his front pocket. He stepped up to a podium on the deck overlooking the crowd and was greeted by a chorus of applause, genuine or otherwise. He removed the pen from his pocket, popped off the fox-shaped headpiece, then placed it into the stand normally used for a microphone. This was exceedingly odd behavior until he started speaking, his voice echoing across the courtyard just as if he were speaking into an actual mic. "Greetings, fellow mammals of the legally-adjacent variety, and welcome to my humble celebration!"

Humble, my fluffy little rear. But Judy soon realized that this was her chance. All eyes were on RJ now, and he was more focused on making himself look good than anything else. Her eyes instantly searched out the next closest table and she disappeared under it, this one occupied by some festive felines in...mariachi uniforms?

"Thank you all for accepting my invitation, even though half of you are just here to scout me out and the other half are already considering killing me. Let me show my appreciation with the great unifier...free food! My foxy ladies here will now be serving you. Food. Let's keep things civilized, folks."

From her new position, Judy spied a trio of scantily-clad, arctic fox vixens wheeling out food carts. They wore the bare minimum of clothing, matching gold earrings, and name tags that identified them as Pearl, Opal, and Crystal. Their arrival was met by a hail of wolf whistles, and not just from the wolves, raising RJ's approval rating a few notches already. "Join us in the hot tub later, RJ?" Opal asked coyly, blowing a kiss at him.

"You know it, babe." He winked back.

Judy wasn't sure why, but she hated them already.

"Repulsiva! I don't see any appeal in canine women. I feel the need to sing about my immense disgust."

"Please control yourself, Jefe. We must not draw attention."

At least she wasn't the only one. Judy waited as a cart crossed directly in front of her, then leapt across the floor to another table, the patrons more distracted than ever.

"I know it's hard, but if you could draw your attention back to me? Thanks. Now, let's not beat around the bush here, I'm guessing most of you don't trust me. Which is a good call, by the way. But if there's one thing I can get behind, it's honor among thieves. We've all been put down, spat on, trampled underfoot by mammals who think they're above us. Prey, the cops, prey cops, you name it. Me? I'm not about to be another link on that chain."

Judy bit her lip. This table was as close as she could get to the estate unnoticed, but not close enough. She needed another vantage point.

A loud, girlish giggle drew her ire once again. The vixens were passing around meals of fish, insects, confectionaries, and even pawpsicles, all while being ogled from every possible angle. Shameless, but it might just provide an opening.

"So I'm here to tell you all, I come in peace. I'm not gonna mooch off your resources, I'm not gonna encroach on your territory, I'm not gonna go on some homicidal rampage against all of you, okay? Hopefully, that helps to settle some of the more paranoid members of my audience. Yeah, I'm talking to you, Lady Lang! Or should I say, Lady Lang's representatives? Say hi to Momma for me!"

Ignoring the sounds of lupine growling, Judy stayed hidden and let out an alluring whistle. The response was immediate. "Oh? Wasn't expecting to hear anything from you boys," one of the vixens cooed, already coming towards her position.

It occurred to Judy then that this group of guests was particularly odd. None of them had legs at all and, in fact, appeared to be sitting in a large water tank. "No! We cannot eat your wicked food! We are forbidden!"

"Away with you, heathen!"

"Aw shucks, that is the second-worst rejection I've ever gotten." The vixen, Crystal, pouted and rolled away again, but not before Judy hitched a ride on the covered bottom of her cart. "Even the cart feels heavier. This must be, like, weighing on my soul or something."

"Hey, don't feel too bad. I'm surprised Narwhalter sent anyone at all, but maybe I shouldn't be. Don't worry, guys, the 'Predator Agenda' isn't planning on eating your boss yet!"

Between RJ's speech and Crystal's vapid flirting, Judy wished her ears weren't so sensitive. She reminded herself of what awaited her should she pull this off, and how much better that would be than being stuck on this food cart, then it suddenly became a lot easier. Crystal's path took Judy far from her goal at first, but eventually looped around again as she started to run out of food, all while RJ continued rambling on.

"I'm sure some of you are wondering about Mr. Big and what he thinks about my new position. Well, I'm happy to share that he has been very supportive and gave me full blessings to-oh, who am I kidding? We all know what happened there, and that's because we've all been there. So let's not pass any judgements...unless your judgement is that I'm really awesome for pulling that off, in which case, judge away!

Finally, Crystal parked her cart back on the deck and stretched out, going back to "mingle" with the guests some more. Judy was almost there now. Only problem: there were two entrances into the estate and both were guarded by a heavyset polar bear. After her extensive training in the academy, she didn't doubt her ability to fight a bear if she had to...but not silently.

"And let's be honest, it's going to be a lot easier to do business with someone who you can see without a magnifying lens. I know none of you were going to say that, but we're all thinking it. Whoa, put the pie down, Finn! It was a joke! Geez, talk about sensitive."

Judy's ears shot up, curling together in such a way that vaguely resembled a light bulb. She reached her tiny paw up through the covering and onto the cart, making sure to pick the side not facing the crowd. There wasn't much left after the guests had picked it clean aside from scraps and piles of fish paste. Judy shuddered at the touch, but this would do the job alright. Holding a big glob of paste in her paw, she leaned slowly around the side and scanned the group for the biggest, meanest mammal she could find, settling on one of the biker wolves. Then she threw the glob as hard as she could at his face.

"GAH! What the-?!"

She missed, but it quickly became apparent that it didn't matter.

"In conclusion, you have nothing to fear from me. So I'll stay out of your way, you stay out of mine, and we can all live happily ever-"

"Whoever threw that is deader than a lemming on a skyscraper!"

"...after?"

Judy had hidden herself again before the fish paste even finished its journey. Her unfortunate victim had no chance of signalling her out as the culprit. But she did just so happen to be in the same trajectory as the feline table. "It was you, wasn't it?!"

"Amigo, I don't have to stoop to your level to prove myself your superior. You are proving it quite nicely already."

There was a snarl, and then another whooshing of food.

He missed too, hitting the Outbackers. "HEY!"

"Uh, security? Do you maybe wanna do something about-?"

"FOR THE PACK!"

"FOR THE OUTBACK!"

"FOR SHUTTING UP THIS HACK!"

The feast erupted into chaos soon afterwards, food flying every which way. No one was safe, not even the three vixens, letting out high-pitched shrieks over their soiled fur. Judy considered that a bonus.

"Really, guys?! This is seriously not how this was supposed to go! At least, I don't think it was..." RJ was promptly struck by a rogue pawpsicle. The result was the most deadpan expression of pure annoyance Judy had ever seen, somewhat undercut by the pawpsicle now stuck to his face. Too low for anyone but her to hear, he muttered, "Maybe I should have just killed them all." Without even looking, he signalled both door guards to help break up the fighting.

This was working out so much better than Judy could have hoped. So far at least, her luck was holding steady. Whether or not her feet were responsible, she still used them to rush inside the building as quickly as she could, not looking back even as the pandemonium outside faded behind her.

Compared to what she had just left behind, the interior of the compound was eerily quiet. She got chills just walking through it, though that could have been due to the low temperatures the bears kept it at. On the plus side, she hadn't had to avoid a single guard thus far. Even considering the incident she had just caused, this was some pretty lax security for an aspiring crime lord. Pride before the fall.

As soon as she got a feel for the layout, she beelined it straight for the main office. Judy pushed open the double doors with some effort...and was instantly repulsed by the horrific sight inside.

The place was disturbingly clean, the floors and walls shining with a polish unlike anything else in the building. No doubt the result of heavy renovation efforts as even the doors she just came through looked brand spanking new. Perhaps the most sickening change of all was a portrait of RJ himself grinning at her from atop the mantle.

Fighting down her revulsion, Judy looked around for anything that could give her some info on RJ's operations. As she headed over to tear the desk apart, she noticed a second hallway to her right. This one led down to a rodent-sized bedroom, a sign reading "Fru Fru" large enough to be visible from here. Judy couldn't help but close her eyes out of respect for the poor girl and her father, crime family they may have been.

It was during this moment of silence that one of her ears twitched. The bunny nearly dove for cover until she realized the sound was coming from that very hallway. It didn't sound like a guard either, but something much more frantic and muffled. Even between the silence of the room and her hypersensitive hearing, she barely caught it. Poking her head into the corridor, she saw something else to her left: a giant metal door that seemed to be some sort of walk-in freezer. Given the locale, she could make a few guesses exactly what sort. Judy slowly approached the door and pressed her ear to the cold surface.

The sound of panicked screaming was much clearer now.

Suddenly, the desk didn't seem so important anymore. Judy stood on her tiptoes to reach the large wheel that kept it shut, pushing up against one of the spokes. With her stubby rabbit arms, it barely budged, and she didn't have much time to waste. Flipping over to stand on her paws instead, she kicked the thing as hard as she could again and again. Not the most delicate method, but it worked. The door creaked open slowly and Judy rushed inside nearly without regard for her own safety, but the sight inside brought her to a sudden stop.

Bound and gagged on a steel chair was a shivering black panther, dressed in a white shirt and slacks. The feline had suffered greatly, and not just from the extreme cold, as he was covered in cuts and bruises from methods she shuddered to think about. His eyes shot open the second he saw her, pleading to her for help. Judy wasted no time in doing just that, yanking the gag from his mouth and starting to undo the ropes on his legs. "Th-Thank you," he stammered, still shivering as he spoke.

"Just doing what any decent mammal would," Judy said, somewhat bitterly. It took her a second to remember proper courtesy. "Detective Hopps, Private Investigator."

"Ma...Manchas. I used to be a driver for M-Mr. Big."

Judy reminded herself that criminal affiliations didn't make him any less worthy of rescue. "Then why did RJ do this to you?"

"Because h-he's a madmammal."

"I noticed. Why else?" She grit her teeth. These ropes were being terribly stubborn.

"He w-wants something from m-me. Get me out of here a-and I'll tell you e-everything."

Then again, criminals did tend to make rescues difficult. Not that she could blame him, considering the conditions he was trying to escape. The poor guy must be desperate. "Alright, I'll get you to safety, Manchas. You have my word."

"Oh thank you, thank you!" He started bouncing around in his seat with newfound energy.

"Gonna need you to hold still though."

"Sorry."

With the panther's cooperation, Judy finally managed to get his leg bindings off, then moved around to his backside.

"You gotta be kidding me…"

She stopped dead in her tracks. The sudden voice was punctuated by a loud creak, the sound of the freezer door being pulled open the rest of the way. Standing between them and the exit was a short, fennec fox and two bears, all three clothed in black suits and various foodstuffs. "RJ tells me to go check on the prisoner, thinks there might be an intruder," the fennec said. "I tell him that he's reading way too much into this, so he asks me if I want to bet on that." He glared daggers at her, beating a baseball bat into his open palm. "You just cost me twenty bucks, rabbit!"

Judy stiffened. Either RJ's intuition was better than she thought or, somehow, this had all been a trap. But was that even possible? She found herself subconsciously getting into a defensive stance, academy flashbacks going through her head. Either way, she knew she wasn't getting out of here without a fight.

"Should we tell the boss, Finnick?" asked one of the bears.

"What, that we couldn't handle a rogue bunny by ourselves?" the fennec snapped. "I don't need to embarrass myself any more tonight. Just lock her in."

The other bear went to shut the door again, but Judy was faster. They hadn't expected a meek little bunny to rush them and that moment of surprise was all she needed to land a flying kick straight between Finnick's eyes, launching the small fox into the opposing wall. He seemed almost glued there for a second or two, then flopped comically to the ground. The bears gaped openly, glancing between Judy, Finnick, and each other.

"Kick their butts, Detective Hopps!" Manchas cheered from behind her.

That finally spurred the bears into action, swiping their large claws at her almost in tandem. Judy was forced back into the freezer as she leapt away, both massive bodies charging in after her. His legs freed, Manchas managed to prop himself onto his feet and rush out the door, apparently leaving her to her fate. Criminals.

Even with her speed and agility, Judy struggled to keep ahead of them. She ducked one bear's swipe and kicked him across the jaw, springing back to sock the other in the eye, then barely dodged away from an attempted bite. She wasn't doing much damage and either of them could kill her with one blow. Not good odds.

It wasn't long until they finally cornered her. Because of her size, they had to lean down to get at her, and that's when she saw her opening. She leapt over the bears' heads and onto their backs, quickly grabbing them by the ears and slamming their skulls together. Briefly stunning them, Judy took this chance to sprint out of the freezer.

She was so focused on escape that she failed to notice Finnick's dropped bat until she tripped over it. Eyes wide, she looked back to see the bears charging straight for her.

Until the door was abruptly closed in their faces. Pressing his back to the surface, Manchas smiled at her.

Okay, so he's not so bad. "Thanks."

"Just doing what any decent mammal would."

Fierce growling arose from the other side of the door as its new prisoners pounded on it, but it seemed like it would hold...for now. "Guess they should've picked on someone their own size," Judy snarked.

"Good thing I don't have that problem."

They turned around. Across the hall, Finnick cracked his neck and snarled at them.

"The party haaaaaaaaas, come to an ennnnnnnnnnd!"

"Our differenceeeeeees, we could not meeeeeeeeeend!"

"The food, it flieeeeeeeees, all through the niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!"

"It seems that weeeeeeeeee, can't help but fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!"

RJ had seen enough. By this point, even he was covered in food from his rowdy guests, though mostly from the torso up due to his conveniently placed podium. Deciding it was time to put an end to this, he pulled out a megaphone from seemingly nowhere, combined it with an air horn, then blew the latter into the former into the microphone.

The riot was brought to an immediate halt, its perpetrators literally stunned into silence by the deafening sound wave, but not before they had effectively destroyed the entire area. Snatching up his pen again, RJ finally stepped down from the podium and gave the crowd a look akin to a disappointed parent, eyes narrowed and pen twirling. "So...what do you have to say for yourselves?"

"He started it!"

"No, he started it!"

"He made me start it!"

RJ facepawed. "Okay, can I get any other perspectives?"

"We're not beautiful anymore!" the vixens wailed, hugging each other for support.

"Girls, girls, you're still beautiful where it really matters," he reassured them. "The heart."

"Awwwwwwwwwww!"

"But seriously, you can go inside and clean up if you want."

They raced past him in a heartbeat as a sexy, white blur, vanishing into the building. RJ took a moment to stare off at them appreciatively before turning his attention back to the guests. "As for the rest of you, congrats on ruining my party before it even started. Luckily for you, I never cared about it in the first place or else I might have to get all stabby again. So with all due respect, if you don't mind, get the hell off my property."

There were grunts of derision mixed with relief as the guests slowly sauntered away and drove off...as soon as they figured out which order they needed to escape the parking system.

Not giving them a second thought, RJ whirled around on his heels and headed inside. Indeed, the party was the last thing on his mind right now.

Judy yanked Manchas out of the way as Finnick lunged, which kept him safe, but unfortunately allowed the fox to retrieve his weapon. His ire focused entirely on her, Finnick swing the bat ferociously again and again, once again putting Judy on the defensive. "You think you're better than me, huh?! You self-righteous prey are all the same!"

Judy dodged away down the hall until her back was up against what used to be Fru Fru's room. "This coming from a crime lord's sidekick? You don't need my help being on the bottom."

"We didn't have a choice!" She sidestepped his next swing, which struck the wall with a loud crack. "Society's treated us like dirt since day one!" Another swing smashed the sign over the door. "And it only got worse once those savages started popping up!" Then the door itself was caved in. "It was either come out on top or wind up dead in an alley somewhere!" The wall's foundation began to cave. "Where were you when we were in trouble?!"

Judy rolled under his last, desperate blow and came out behind him, kicking out with her hind legs and nailing him in the back. Finnick stumbled forward and crashed into the weakened wall, which crumbled on top of him. She didn't feel entirely good about it though. "I'm sorry I couldn't help you back then. It was my own failure...in more than one regard."

"It doesn't matter now anyway." Finnick slowly picked himself back up, shaking dust and rubble off of himself. "We didn't trust prey to begin with and then we find out that a sheep was behind all of it? No, it's too late for your lousy apologies. N-RJ is gonna run this city into the ground and I'll watch it happen with a smile on my face and a bag of popcorn."

She tried to ignore the persistent guilt in her chest. "So it was you that exposed Mayor Bellwether?"

"Damn straight. I only wish I could've seen the look on her stupid face."

"Thanks." She withdrew her carrot pen and played back that very admission. Morally conflicted or not, it was worth it for the look on his stupid face.

It quickly turned into a far more dangerous expression. "Bad move, rabbit." Without warning, he sprung forward, spinning Judy around and pressing the bat up against her throat. "Now I know I gotta get rid of you."

They stumbled back into the rubble grappling like this, a fight that Judy was only just managing to keep ahead of as she lost more and more oxygen. Getting desperate, she slowly reached down to her side, towards her can of fox repellent.

"He's coming!" Manchas suddenly shrieked.

Finnick was just as caught off-guard by this as she was, but Judy recovered faster, using the slight opening to elbow the fennec hard in the gut. He gasped and dropped the bat, staggering back. Judy picked up another blunt object that she only just realized used to be Fru Fru's bed before she smashed it over him.

Seeing stars, and feathers, Finnick collapsed to the ground and didn't get up again. Judy looked back at Manchas, rubbing her throat. "Nice distraction."

"It wasn't a distraction," he said, still not looking at her. "We need to leave, now!"

Feeling the adrenaline coursing, Judy switched from fight to flight, looking for a way out. Going back the way she came in seemed inadvisable, but there were so many doors lining this hallway alone that she had no idea where to go.

"That way!" Manchas yelled, as if reading her mind. He pointed his head sharply at a door, still struggling with the chair tied to his back.

Increasingly grateful to her new partner, Judy didn't waste the time to question it, bolting through the door and shutting it as soon as Manchas made it through.

His knowledge of the layout proved accurate, and even as her sharp ears picked up mammals scrambling throughout the building, they burst out through a side door and made a run for it. As Judy had feared, there was no getting her car back now, a sacrifice she would gladly make in exchange for her life. Not daring to look back, they kept running until the Big estate was no longer in sight.

"This night just keeps getting better." RJ strolled silently across the vacant hallway, stopping only briefly to knock on the freezer door. "Hey, mind giving me an update?"

"The prisoner escaped!" Raymond shouted back.

"Yeah, kinda gathered that. Wanna tell me how?"

Both he and Kevin hesitated to answer.

"Actually, forget about it. I think I'm just gonna let you guys cool off."

"Thank you, sir!" they were about to say before realizing that he meant leaving them in the freezer. Like revenge, a good pun was best served cold.

He next made his way over to Finnick, still lying unconscious in a pile of rubble. "I know I gave you the role of delegator, but that doesn't mean you can sleep on the job. Wakey wakey." He not-so-gently kicked him in the side.

Finnick groaned as he was finally stirred awake. "Gonna kill you, Mom, I swear to-Nick!"

"Flattering, but it's RJ. What happened?"

Finnick looked him up and down, confused to see a perfectly clean and groomed fox again. "Did you stop at the spa on the way here?"

"Focus, Finn!"

The fennec staggered back to his feet. "You should've seen 'em! A dozen, no, two dozen armed mammals just came rushing in! There were lions, and tigers, and, uh, bears!"

"Oh my." RJ rolled his eyes. "Just answer me one thing." He kneeled down to his level, his expression so intense it made even Finnick flinch.

"Was there a rabbit with them?"

I warned you there would be in-jokes. The scene at the party was probably the most you'll see in one chapter, featuring several characters from BtBW's various criminal gangs all mingling and getting along (or trying too anyway). It's for this reason that I didn't describe them in much detail. If you know who they are, hope you enjoyed all the cameos. If not, no worries because they won't be coming back anyway.

You probably DO recognize those vixens, however. They come from Zootopia's concept art as secondary members of Mr. Big's (well, Koslov's) organization. They don't have official names as far as I know, so I went with white gemstones. They each have a certain way of speaking that you will quickly learn to differentiate them by...because they're all incredibly obnoxious habits of valley girl stereotypes.

Another trademark of my writing comes through in this chapter: crazy, over-the-top fight scenes. This one was pretty tame by my standards, but it won't be the last of 'em, don't you worry. ;)