RJ

Chapter III: Bun on the Run

Written by Berserker88

Edited by Mind Jack & DrummerMax64

Cover art by SaittaMicus

"You want a scenario where you're...evil?" Martin Fitwik sat back in his chair, regarding Officer Wilde with a look that questioned both his motives and his sanity. "Haven't you already done that? Like the one where you're a hitmammal? Or the one where you're both hitmammals?"

"Yes, but that's not what I'm looking for," Nick explained patiently. "Even in both of those scenarios, there was still one thing keeping me from being truly evil, and you're looking at her." He gestured down to his beautiful wife, who was right now giving him a similar expression. "I want to know what I would be like without Judy's influence. Completely."

"I...I see." He started pivoting around in his chair uncomfortably, rotating once, twice, three times before he finally came to a stop. "But I don't have anything like that for you."

"Really?" He didn't miss Judy's quiet sigh of relief next to him.

"You need to understand, Officer Wilde, the PIXAR machine is designed for entertainment purposes above all else," Fitwik stressed. "Sure, it's fun to play the villain every now and then, but no mammal is going to pay to see their actual dark side made manifest. That's just too close to home."

"Then I guess that's just another way I'm unique," Nick said, undeterred. "Can you make one?"

"Of course I can." Fitwik noticed the silencing gestures from Judy a second too late. "But...maybe I shouldn't?"

"Carrots, I thought we talked about this," Nick said, looking down at her.

"We did." She bit her lip. "That doesn't mean I'm comfortable with it. Martin is right, Nick. This is way too close to home for comfort. Did you ever stop to think that maybe I don't want to know how bad you could have been? The Nick I fell in love with is right in front of me."

"That's so cute," Fitwik gushed, making both Nick and Judy glare at him. "I'll be checking the logs when you need me." He took off behind the curtain.

Nick kneeled down to look his mate in the eyes. "I'm not doing this because I'm unsatisfied with the life I have now. This is for a sense of closure, so I can put any lingering darkness behind me for good and keep my full focus on you and the kits. That doesn't sound so bad, does it?"

"You have such a way with words," she grumbled. "Making me feel like an idiot just for being concerned."

"You're not an idiot, just very emotional," he chuckled, pecking her on the forehead. "It's not like you're wrong either. This is probably a terrible idea."

"But you still want to do it?"

"Hey, I never said I wasn't an idiot." He grinned back, getting Judy to smile as well in spite of herself. "Just remember, this isn't permanent. If it ever gets too scary for you, this is still just a simulation and we can yank ourselves out at any time. And then I'll give you a nice dinner and a foot rub to make up for it, alright?"

Now he had managed a full laugh out of her. "Oh, okay. If it's that important to you, I won't stop you just because I'm not completely comfortable with it. We've been through worse."

"Like the mob of killer rabbits."

"Or getting attacked by a shark."

"Or being lawyers. I still have nightmares about that one."

Fitwik cleared his throat, poking his head out from behind the curtain. "Have we come to a decision?"

"Against my better judgement, Nick talked me into it," Judy answered, Nick feigning innocence behind her. "So what do we have to do to make this happen?"

Fitwik emerged, still looking a bit unsure about this himself. "Well, normally I design a basic template and give you guys the memories to match. But in this case, since we're basing it off of what might have actually happened, we'll need to do the opposite."

"What does that mean?" Judy asked, suddenly on edge again.

"It means that he needs PIXAR to read from my own memories and construct something based on that," Nick said, his face unreadable.

"That's right," Fitwik confirmed. "I know you're not very open about your past, but I'm afraid that's the only way we're going to make an accurate simulation. Either that, or I create an elaborate questionnaire with a few hundred questions to-"

"I'll take the brain-sucking machine, thanks," Nick said quickly. "Though you better keep this under wraps before the government confiscates PIXAR. You could start a war with this technology."

"I'll take that as a compliment. Right this way." Fitwik beckoned Nick to follow him through the curtain. The fox took one last look back at Judy, giving her a reassuring wink, then disappeared behind the fabric.

Somehow, that only made her more nervous, but she shook it off quickly. It felt silly to even be worried at all when they'd done this a hundred times already. So what if this one was a bit more personal? What was the worst that could happen?

"Alright, I think we're safe for now…"

Judy peered cautiously out the window of their shared ski lift. The vehicle was small and too creaky for comfort, but it would do. Without a car, it was a good thing Tundratown had several options available to travel about. Skidoos were too fast, Flow Ped too slow, but this moderately quick, well-concealed flying box was just right.

And while they made the journey back to Savannah Central, it gave her ample time to question her new ally. "Alright, Manchas, are you ready to talk about what RJ wanted from you yet?"

Manchas flinched. She wasn't trying to intimidate him, but he'd been pretty jumpy ever since she met him. It was to be expected after who knows what those beasts did to him, so she forced herself to be patient. "...Perhaps, I should start from the beginning, Detective Hopps."

Judy nodded, already with her pen and notepad to glean as much info as possible.

"It all began with a fox named Nick Wilde. Long ago, he used to be one of Mr. Big's best suppliers, bringing in all sorts of illegal goods. Until one day, he made the mistake of pawning off a very expensive rug...made from the butt of a skunk."

Judy paused in her note-taking, raising an eyebrow. "Sweet cheese and that's really gross."

"As you can imagine, the boss didn't take it so well when he found out. Frankly, Wilde was lucky to escape with his life." He sighed, leaning back against the cold, metal wall. "But that's not where the story ends."

"I should hope not."

"Many years later, the machinations of that sheep, Bellwether, took their toll. With his very livelihood threatened, Mr. Big decided to lay low and not get involved. It was a move intended to protect our family from the chaos outside, but not all of our family agreed. Some saw it as cowardly, feeling that we should be doing more to protect our fellow predators outside. A cultural difference, perhaps. Shrews aren't as social as bears."

"And then Wilde came back?" Judy asked. "It's not hard to guess," she added, seeing the look on his face.

"You are correct," he admitted. "But it wasn't any kind of grand entrance, at least not at first. He just started showing up around our territory, talking with our less-satisfied mammals outside the job, giving insights that just so happened to correlate with theirs. Mr. Big wanted to do something about him, but he couldn't. Wilde was too careful; he knew our policies and stayed just within the boundaries of what he could get away with. Mr. Big couldn't break his own code to intervene without damaging his image even further."

Judy stayed silent, finding herself more invested in this story than she expected. It was enough that she had to remind herself to keep writing.

"In the end, it didn't matter. Once the level of dissent had reached its peak, something much worse happened. Evidence was discovered in Mr. Big's possession...evidence of a conspiracy."

No points for guessing WHICH conspiracy.

"With the organization as unstable as it was, it didn't take anything more to convince the dissidents that Mr. Big had betrayed all of predator-kind. There was a coup…" He shuddered, clearly pained by the memory. "In one night, both Mr. Big and Fru Fru were killed, along with many loyal bears. Before anyone could even begin to discuss who would take over, Nick Wilde returned to do just that."

"And no one found that suspicious?" Judy asked incredulously.

He shrugged. "The fox has a way with words. Besides, he curried favor almost immediately by choosing to expose this knowledge to the world, a move which kept him in the good graces of the traitors he surrounded himself with. Even if someone did suspect his involvement, I doubt they cared. They still got exactly what they wanted out of it."

"So then he took control, rechristened himself 'Reynard Junior', and started wreaking havoc," Judy summarized. "But I still don't get it. How could he have possibly come by this knowledge of the conspiracy in the first place?"

"I have no idea," he said. "And I'm not sure I want to know."

Not like I was expecting anything more. "That's okay. He can answer that in person once he's behind bars. One more question."

"What's that?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "The one I asked you to begin with. Did you think I wouldn't notice you trying to divert my attention?"

Manchas looked away, very guiltily. "Uh…maybe?"

She would not be diverted again. "What did RJ want you for? Based on what you've told me, you were never loyal to him, but anyone like that should have been killed during the coup. He doesn't strike me as the type to just torture someone for kicks, which tells me you have information that he wants. And for someone who was able to uncover a city-wide conspiracy on his own, it must be a very well-kept secret." She drew closer to him. "See? You weren't wasting my time after all. Now talk."

Cornered as he was, Manchas was surprisingly forthcoming after that. "He wants...a password."

That was not what she was expecting. "A password?"

"More specifically, an access code. To Mr. Big's private vault. Even if RJ took over his home, he does not yet possess all of Big's resources. To solidify his position and put whatever schemes he's plotting into action, getting into that vault is his highest priority."

"Couldn't he just blow it open?"

"Maybe, but not without sullying the legitimacy of his takeover." Manchas paused, a bit uncertain. "Plus, it's a really nice vault. I don't think he wants to damage it unless he has no other choice."

"Petty, but not surprising from a narcissist like him," she noted, shaking her head. "Now, why would a driver have knowledge of something like that?"

"You said you only had one more question," he replied cheekily.

"I changed my mind."

"Mr. Big always valued loyalty over position. He trusted very few subordinates with the code to his vault. His head of security, Koslov, was one of them. Another was his closest family friend...myself. But RJ killed Koslov shortly before you arrived. Perhaps he thought I would be an easier target."

From what little she knew of the giant polar bear compared to this scrawny panther, Judy was inclined to agree. "Then it sounds like it's a good thing I got you out when I did."

He nodded, though not with much enthusiasm. "Yes, but that also means RJ will be coming after us full force."

"He can go ahead and try." Judy surprised herself by how firmly she said that. She knew herself to be brave, but taking on a crime lord was borderline suicidal. Then again...she had already done so. And won. Sort of. "Alright, that's enough for now. I need to report this." She pulled out her phone and dialed Chief Bogo's number, the one he had entrusted her with.

And which took him a full five rings to answer. "Hopps? Is that you? Are you alright?"

Don't sound so surprised to hear from me. "Yes, but it wasn't easy. I have just the information you were looking for...and a witness."

Manchas tried to protest. "I never said I would-"

"Really? Tell me what you've got," Bogo said, sounding skeptical, yet hopeful.

Judy gave him a brief summary of her mission thus far, the infiltration, the great escape, and all the information she had just learned from Manchas, plus Finnick's recorded confession, which also served to remind him of a similar recording she had on him. (The pen could only actually hold one recording at a time, but he didn't know that.)

When she was done, he was no longer skeptical. "This is perfect! Just the kinda dirt I needed on this punk! Not bad, Hopps. You might just have a bright future with the ZPD after all."

"Thank you, sir." Judy brightened up. A part of her still wasn't particularly fond of the chief, but that was quickly being overshadowed by the part that saw a second chance at her dream job. "We're on our way back to Precinct 1 now. Then we can-"

"No!" he cut her off, so suddenly it almost made her jump. "This is still a covert operation, Hopps. You can't just come waltzing in here with some beat-up panther. That would raise far too many questions. I have another way."

She scowled, her bright mood dissipating just as quickly. "Like what?" I mean, it's not like I'm risking my life out here or anything.

"I'll send a squad to a rendezvous point, somewhere you won't be seen. How about...Aurora Park?"

"That place lovesick teenagers hang out? Whatever works, I guess." She ignored Manchas visibly trying to signal her in the background.

He continued on as if he hadn't heard her. "Think you can make it there within the next hour?"

Manchas shook his head firmly. "Of course. No problem," she said.

"Good. Then I will see you soon. Good luck, Officer Hopps." He hung up, keeping things as short and sweet as ever.

Officer Hopps? It could've just been another slip of the tongue, but even so, just hearing those words again brought back images she could not ignore. Her, Judy Hopps, back in uniform, fighting to make the world a better place…

"Excuse me," Manchas said, interrupting her daydreaming. "Not to get in the way of your delusions of grandeur or anything, but no problem?! Do you know how far Aurora Park is from here?! We don't have a car, Detective!"

She bowed her head, embarrassed. "I know. It's just...this is the only chance I'm going to get to win my way back into the ZPD. I can't give the chief any more excuses to keep me out."

Manchas glared. "Your priorities need shifting. Need I remind you what RJ could do if he gets ahold of that password?"

"Alright, alright." She sighed, dragging her paw down her face. "The fate of Zootopia is more important than my personal ambitions. We need all the help we can get keeping it safe. Does that about cover it?"

"Close enough," he answered, smiling. "Call him back."

She hesitated. "Uh…"

On cue, Judy's phone started to ring of its own accord. "Alright, fine!" Taking a deep breath, she answered it. "Chief? There's something I need to tell you…"

"Oh, I'm sure you could tell me plenty, Carrots," a smooth, familiar voice replied. "But let's start with my lost cat and the reward for bringing him home."

Judy nearly dropped the phone in shock. "RJ?" Manchas gasped, practically throwing himself to the floor to keep as out of sight as possible.

"In the flesh. Figuratively speaking, of course. Good to finally touch base with you, Carrots." He clicked his tongue slowly. "No...no, that name isn't doing it for me. How about 'Twitchy'?"

Judy wasn't concerned about her nickname right now, even as her nose was already justifying it. "How did you get my number?" Her mind was already racing with possibilities. Even if he had already identified her car, she had left nothing on it that could trace it back to her, and certainly not fast enough to already get her phone number.

"Easier than you think," was all he said. That only made her more anxious, which was doubtlessly the intent. "Quite the interesting life you lead, Judith Laverne Hopps."

She struggled to regain her composure. She couldn't let this creep get to her. "I could say the same, Nick Wilde."

"Oh no. You know that name. What ever shall I do?" He didn't even try to sound surprised. "You sure you wanna play this game, Twitchy? Bonnie and Stu might not approve. Wouldn't want your humiliation to spread all around Bunnyburrow. Then you might never accomplish your lifelong dream of becoming a cop, like you told them all back in that school play of yours. How's that scar doing, by the way?"

It took Judy a moment to realize she was hyperventilating.

RJ laughed softly, mockingly. "I know all about you, Twitchy. Frankly, a lot more than I want to. So let's just skip to the part where you surrender your fuzzy little friend to me."

She clenched her fists, her fear buried as fiery defiance bubbled to the surface. "Guess you don't know me as well as you think. Haven't you heard? I don't know when to quit."

"I do," he said bluntly. "Before you got in my way."

He hung up.

Manchas hadn't budged since the conversation started, but now peeked out through his fingers at her. "W-What do we do?"

Judy's tiny paw tightened around the phone. "I'll tell you what I'm gonna do. Call Chief Bogo, get some backup, and take this psycho down!" She didn't hesitate now to redial Bogo's number and put the phone to her ear.

"Seven daaaaaaaaaaaaays," an eerie voice whispered. "Just kidding. You won't last seven hours, Twitchy."

Judy shrieked, chucking the phone as hard as she could at the wall of the ski lift. It broke on impact as the screen turned black, but Judy wasn't satisfied until she stomped the device into several, barely-distinguishable pieces. It was more embarrassing than anything. "How did he do that?!"

"Oh, this is bad, this is really bad." Manchas rocked back and forth on his heels. "We need to get out of here."

"Way ahead of you." Without hesitation, she unlatched the door and kicked it open, letting the cold winds howl through. "You wanna go first?"

Manchas was deeply regretting his choice of words. "Are you crazy?!"

"We don't have a lot of options here!" she shouted back, long ears flapping in the wind. "RJ was probably tracking my phone, and if he was, it's only a matter of time until he suspects we're taking a ski lift! So unless you want to deal with his goons at the next lift station, we need to jump!"

The panther took a deep breath and stood up. Evidently, his fear of RJ was stronger than his fear of heights. "O-Okay, I can do this. Just give me a second to-AH!" He stepped towards the door, but stepped just a bit too far, the sudden shift of weight in the small car causing him to stumble straight out.

Judy winced. "That'll do." Not wanting to get seperated, she quickly jumped after him.

The plan wasn't as suicidal as it seemed. Much like the recreational kind of ski lifts, these vehicles were purely for convenience and usually didn't ascend too high. On top of that, Tundratown had more than a few veritable mountains of snow that would cushion the landing.

Judy didn't hit any of them. Instead, she landed in a freezing river nearby, but it wasn't her first time doing that either. The bunny gasped and shivered as she scurried frantically out of the plunge, flashbacks from the academy running through her mind. "S-S-Still n-not d-d-dead."

As soon as she managed to shake some warmth back into herself, she started looking around for Manchas. It didn't take long. Luckily for him, the big cat had landed in the show, creating a comical outline of his flailing body that he slowly crawled out of. "That...wasn't so bad, I guess."

"S-Speak for y-yourself."

He remained skeptical. "But we still have to get to Aurora Park and now we don't have any mode of transport."

Judy looked around. No sign of pursuit yet, just a lot of arctic mammals who must have thought them insane and the towering building that formed the famous Halibut's Cafe. She smiled, all thoughts of the cold pushed to the back of her mind. "Leave that to me."

A few blocks away, a black van was patrolling slowly down an isolated street. "Ugh, this is, like, boring. Why'd some stupid rabbit have to interrupt our RJ time?"

"Don't complain, Crystal," Pearl scolded, practically leaning over the steering wheel. "She slipped in under our watch, remember? This is so our responsibility."

"Ugh," Crystal emphasized again, slumping against the back wall. She had lost the right to ride in either of the actual seats as a direct result of paper beating rock.

Opal, the paper in question, was perfectly content painting her toe claws on the dashboard. "Think of it this way: once we literally bag the bunny, RJ will have to reward us, right? Maybe we'll get something even better than the hot tub." She winked knowingly at her sisters.

Pearl's tail wagged as she smiled back at her. "That's the spirit. So just stay focused and this night may just pick up after all."

*THUMP*

The entire van lurched violently, causing Pearl to smack into the steering wheel, Crystal to topple over, and Opal to ruin her pedicure. "What now?!" the former snarled.

"Uh...girls? Look." Crystal pointed a shaky finger ahead of them. Lying in the middle of the road, covered in a copious amount of blood, was a black panther.

Opal froze. "Is that…?"

"Only one way to find out," Pearl said hesitantly as she hopped out of the van, Crystal following close behind while Opal chose to stay put.

Crystal lightly kicked the panther's body, eliciting no response. "Yep, that's him alright. Think he's dead?"

"He is so dead," Pearl replied, kicking him again.

"Should we tell RJ?"

"That we killed his prisoner? What do you think?"

"I think you should have, like, kept your eyes on the road."

Pearl narrowed her eyes. "Are you saying this is my fault?"

"One of us was driving and two of us weren't, sooooooo…"

"Screw you, I am so not going down for this!"

"Can you girls hurry it up? I am literally freezing to death in here!" Quickly losing interest in both the conversation and the body, Opal reached under the glove compartment for her dropped claw polish. "Now where did that thing go…?"

"Need a paw?"

"Huh?" She turned towards the open driver side door just in time to see Judy's fist flying at her face.

Oblivious, Pearl and Crystal continued staring at the body. "Maybe one of us should give him, like, CPR," Crystal suggested.

"Ew, not me, he is so not my type."

There was a loud bang behind them, the sound of Opal being forcefully kicked through the passenger side door. They were barely able to process this when the van suddenly revved up and came hurtling straight at them. The two vixens screamed and dove to opposite sides as it flew past, also missing the dead panther who was suddenly a lot less dead as he ran on all fours to catch up with it. He leapt into the vehicle through the passenger side door, then both doors slammed shut.

Pearl, Crystal, and a dazed Opal could only watch as the van tore off down the road and out of sight.

"So it's agreed?" Pearl asked. "Not telling RJ?"

"Like, no way..."

"Literally not saying a word."

"Uh…."

Three heads turned at once to a smaller, much more heavily dressed arctic fox in winter gear. He just stood there and stared, frozen mid-shovel as he cleared out a driveway, and had been for quite some time.

More importantly, he had a skidoo.

In a fraction of a second, the vixens closed the gap between them and practically wrapped themselves around the petrified male.

"Hey there, cutie. Like what you see?"

"We do too. Your ride, that is."

"Give it up or die."

They were going for seduction, but their hearts just weren't in it anymore.

Manchas groaned as he buckled himself into the driver's seat. Judy had no problem driving the large van, but steering was a different story. "You got way too much enjoyment out of that."

"I might have," Judy said, smiling. She hadn't stopped smiling for a while now. "The things you can do with a block of ice and a few bottles of ketchup..."

"You mean aside from staining perfectly good fur?" Manchas asked distastefully, already trying to lick himself clean while still keeping his eyes on the road. "Where did you learn that trick? The academy?"

"Would you believe a school play?"

"Based on your performance record, yes actually."

"I'll take that as a compliment," she said, still smiling. "Now, all we gotta do is make our way to Aurora Park."

"You say that like it'll be easy." Manchas grimaced, either from her comment or because he didn't particularly like ketchup.

"You heard those vixens, they won't tell RJ a thing. And the last place those guys will look for us is in one of their own vehicles. I don't want to speak too soon, but I think we're good to go."

RJ was getting restless, tapping his claws against the backseat of his limousine. The car was parked haphazardly in front of a lift station, accompanied by another black van. Any civilians around had cleared out at the sight of them, except for those who had the misfortune of getting off here.

"Where's the rabbit?" Raymond demanded, shaking down an old goat couple for info. They bleated helplessly in response.

"I don't think she's in league with the elderly, boys," RJ called out from an open window. "Come on, it shouldn't be taking this long. What about the next one?"

As the next lift came by, Raymond and Kevin ceased all niceties and grabbed the thing, yanking open the door and literally shaking its contents onto the ground. The only thing that came out was a collection of small objects that landed in Finnick's paw. "Hey, I think this is her phone! What's left of it anyway."

RJ's claws clenched. "What?"

Kevin peeked curiously into the empty car, instantly spotting another open door on the opposite side. "Uh, boss? I think they jumped."

Finnick let out a low whistle. "Wow, for such a meek little bunny, that's pretty ballsy."

RJ leaned back in his seat, thinking aloud. "She's more sly than I gave her credit for. Even I didn't predict she'd do that..."

"So now what?" Finnick asked. "They could be anywhere by now and we have no way of tracking them."

The taller fox smirked. "Actually...that's not entirely accurate. Remember those GPS trackers you thought were me being paranoid?"

He stared blankly. "You can't be serious."

In response, RJ pulled out his phone and flipped through it. "Hmm...according to the trackers, one of our vans stopped in place for a few minutes, then kept going without a word back to me."

"So what? Maybe they just pulled over to take a piss or something."

"It's the van I registered to the vixens."

"...Still."

RJ looked back at him, bemused. "Look, we can try calling the van and listen to them try to imitate their high-pitched, feminine voices, but while that would be pretty funny, it's just gonna warn them we're coming. So just get in the car and let's move out already."

Raymond and Kevin shrugged in unison and moved towards their van, but Finnick remained rooted to the spot, crossing his arms. "How about first you tell me how the heck you knew she was going to steal a van?"

He sighed impatiently. "I didn't know, Finn. It was just good intuition, reading between the lines, and being prepared. All qualities required of anyone who wants to name himself after the great Reynard."

"You talkin' about the myth or your dad now?"

"Does it matter?"

Finnick threw his arms up in a show of surrender. "Okay, fine, I'm coming! Just stop talking crazy!"

"Crazy like a fox?"

"Any kind!" Finnick moved around to the front side and hopped in, readjusting himself in the driver's seat. Almost as soon as he put his paws on the wheel, his face shifted into a scowl. "I never paid up for our bet, did I?"

"No worries. Already took care of it." RJ smiled coyly, holding up a crisp twenty pinched between his fingers.

He didn't even bother checking his wallet to confirm. "Course' you did." Finnick put the car in drive and took off, followed closely by the black van. At this rate, the rabbit was going to cost him a lot more than money tonight.

Hey look, a chapter that actually falls within the word count guidelines! (At least until I finish this author's note.) This one is about exposition mainly, getting more into the backstory of this scenario, with some fun character moments on top of it. The vixens are quickly topping my list of most fun to write and I kinda want to import them into my main fic now. Only one cameo this time, but it isn't exactly subtle.