Nick and Judy found themselves staring at a large, lone house with a winding pathway leading up to it. They couldn't wait to get inside and cool off.
"Does it have to be so hot?" Nick panted.
"It's Sahara Square. What do you expect?" Judy began walking ahead of her fox.
"It's just," he said as he followed, "…annoying. I'm half temtped to buy one of those small handheld fans you always see by cash registers."
The team stopped just a few yards from the house to really get a good look at it. It was a green, three story building with a porch for every level. Each of the three porches ran around the entire building, encircling it. Each story also had large chairs, ceiling fans, and huge windows that faced Nick and Judy.
"Where did he find the money for this place?" Nick wondered as he admired the house. It couldn't have been cheap, but man, it was nice. He'd paint it a different color, though. Something a bit less… green.
They knocked three times when they finally made it to the door. They could hear several locks being unlocked. The door then swung open and a cold gust of air hit them.
"Good evening, sir," Judy said.
"Just call me Bogo, please. Come inside. Both of you."
"I've got to say Chief - I mean, Bogo, this is quite the place you've got here." Nick whistled softly he entered.
"It was an inheritance. Awful location, though." Bogo hated the commute to the ZPD Headquarters every morning. He had to wake up much earlier than he had ever had to in his entire life prior to moving to this house and becoming the Chief of Police.
"Oh." That made some sense, at least. He inherited it. He may be paid better than Nick and Judy, but this house would've taken years upon years of saving up every single penny of his pay check to purchase.
Nick had to admit; he was jealous. Even more so once he saw the inside. The living room was very modern with lights inside the ceiling and a stone floor. The walls mimicked the color of the stonework; a very light beige. White couches on the far side of the room faced a large window with a flat-screen television attached to the middle. A black dining table was pushed against the wall closer to Nick and Judy, but still had a good view of the window. There was also a dark grey fireplace with a small ember twinkling inside.
"You are one lucky buffalo." Nick was impressed. Bogo huffed in response.
"So, back to the matter at paw…" started Judy, "…we need to stop Mayor Keegan."
"But without starting a mini civil war," said Nick.
"We may not be able to. With this much controversy, this much conflict between the predator and prey communities… a civil war may break out whether we like it or not." Bogo sat down and turned on his television.
Nick and Judy glanced at each other. Judy's face looked like it had slightly melted into a somber expression while Nick's face was just normal. This was just another occasion where he kept everything inside.
"We've got to try," Judy was still determined.
"You two still have your jobs at the ZPD. Use them to your advantage."
"Oh I plan to," the fox said as he walked over to Bogo's side. Judy walked to the window and stared out of it. She had a good view of the side of a casino. Though, it wasn't very busy. The heat of daytime was keeping many Sahara Square residents inside, sleeping in the coolness of their homes. Only when the Sun dips below the horizon, with the moon taking over, will the mammals flock to enjoy the activities the casino offered.
Bogo grabbed his remote and began clicking through his hundreds of channels. He stopped when a public service announcement forced its way to his television. The Mayor's small face appeared. Judy heard Nick's quiet growl.
Why? Why now? Can't they get some peace without seeing the Mayor's face?
"Greetings, citizens of Zootopia." Mayor Keegan spoke. He was smiling. "As you all know, we are bringing back collars so that we can continue to live in peace and harmony without danger." Nick's fur was standing on end. Judy grabbed his paw. "It is unfortunate that we must do this, but we cannot continue to allow prey to be hurt and killed by the predator kind. Our paws have been forced. Thus, predators will be required to attend, by law, a taming ceremony for their particular species. There, they will recieve improved shock collars that they will be required to wear anytime they exit their homes. The first ceremony will be held for foxes five days from now, specifically July the thirteenth as the clock strikes three p.m., at Belmont Stadium in the heart of Zootopia. Five days later, a similar taming ceremony wi-"
"Turn that shit off," hissed Nick.
"Nick.. I'm.." the bunny walked over. "…I'm sorry."
"I'm not doing it. To hell with him. I'm not putting a shock collar on."
"I know…" She didn't know what to do.
"I.. I need to get some air."
"Okay, Nick." With that, he walked outside and took a chair.
Judy looked at Bogo. He sighed. "We need to be there. At that stadium. Protest." He sighed again, but this time much more loudly. Almost in a defeated way. "Oh that'd never work..."
"I'm sure we'll think of something."
"I hope so, and not just for his sake," he pointed towards the fox who was leaning forward in one of his chairs with his head in his paws.
"I remember learning about them in school. The way they evolved. How they worked... How they were specifically tuned for each predator... How predators had to bury their feelings... Even intense happiness could set them off." Judy hated the subject, but had an extensive knowledge of those ancient collars.
"You know it'll be worse than that, right?" He was staring right into her eyes. "I saw the schematics for them an hour before Mayor Keegan came and had that… that chat with me. They can kill now, Hopps."
She stole a glance at her boyfriend. "And.. what would the conditions have to be for one to kill a predator?"
"If any mammal feels the need for that predator to be put down, they can do so just by talking. Each collar will have a code, a random series of numbers, engraved into it. Just say the code clearly enough for the tiny microphone to hear… and it'll kill the wearer."
"That's awful," she yelled. Nick heard and turned his head towards her, but then turned back around and continued staring ahead of him. "Someone could just hate a particular predator and kill them for no reason! They could…" she didn't want to say it. She couldn't live without Nick. If he came across someone with a grudge…
"That's what the Mayor wants, Judy. Listen to me. He wants rid of predators. Dead or, at least, out of Zootopia."
"I just don't understand why. Why would someone do this? Words can't describe how cruel it is.."
"We do not need to know the motive. Not yet. We just need to stop this before anyone dies. You and Nick… you two can do it." He believed in them more than himself, now. "I'll be sure to get as much support as I can. We'll shut this down."
"Just another case, right?"
That's one way of looking at it, even if he was out of the job. He actually laughed. "Yeah. Just another case for my two craziest officers to crack only after nearly destorying the city with their antics. And then I'll have a mountain of paperwork while you two go off doing whatever a bunny and fox who are romantically involved does in their free time." He gave her a small, hopeful smile. "If anyone can stop this from happening, it's you two."
Judy hugged him. "Thank you, Bogo."
"No need. Just go out there and cheer up your fox. He needs his partner."
…
"Hey, Nick."
He said nothing back, but at least acknowledged her presence with a glance and a tiny smile. He patted a spot next to him. Judy happily sat there.
For a moment, they both stared foward. The Sun was still high in the sky, burning the sand and dirt. You could almost see the heat waves coming off of the ground.
There was a slight breeze, at least.
"You know I love you, right?" Judy smiled at her fox. Her words shook his soul.
"Do I know that? Yes, yes I do." That earned him a light punch to his arm. He was beggining to lose count of how many times she had done that. "And I'm sure you know I love you too. But more."
Judy laughed and elbowed him. "We'll figure this out. Five days, Nick. We've solved cases more quickly before."
"Hey, at least we don't have a forty-eight hour limit, and your career isn't on the line in this case."
"But your entire life is," she whispered. "He wants to kill you, Nick. He wants to kill every predator in the city."
"Ah c'mon, a dirty hare like him won't be able to put me six feet under." With that vision in her head, she leaned into her fox and wrapped an arm around him. "Okay, maybe I shouldn't have said that. Bad image, I know. But nothing is going to get in between you and I. I would be impossibly bored up there in heaven without my bunny girlfriend to annoy me with every passing second. I have motivation to stay alive, Carrots. You."
She leaned up and kissed him. Nick wrapped his arms around her waist and deepened the kiss. Bogo saw this and chuckled to himself. He then distracted himself with his smartphone, opening up a Gazelle app that allows you to put your face on one of her dancers as a video plays, showing "you" dancing with Gazelle at one of her concerts.
"Just don't let me lose you, either," he whispered as they parted.
"I'm not going anywhere, Nick."
"Just… promise me? I.. I don't-"
"Nick, I'll never leave your side," she had a loving fire deep within her amethyst eyes.
He couldn't help but worry, even with his life actually being the one on the line. At least more than her, anyway.
"If I had to, I'd never leave your side as a ghost and haunt you 'til the end of your days."
It was Nick's turn to elbow her and chuckle. He had the image of a little bunny ghost following him anywhere, making sure he would not return to his conning ways and helping him in any ghostly way she could. He closed his eyes and allowed another image enter his mind. Nick saw himself laying in bed, alone, with his red paw hanging over the side of his bed. A grey paw was brought down onto his own, intertwining her fingers with his as he drifted off into a deep slumber... A sad slumber. A meaningless one.
A soft liquid formed beneath his still closed eyelids.
"Nick…" Judy reached up and wiped the sadness away. "I'll be with you. Always and forever."
"Always and forever," he returned.
They pulled each other closer and closed their eyes. They could feel each other's heart beats, thumping together in perfect unison.
…
Nick and Judy stayed at Bogo's for the rest of the day, planning ways to stop shock collars from coming back. They stayed so long that Bogo ordered pizza.
Even with the pizza fueling their thoughts, they were getting no where.
"We can't do that," Nick's voice shot out. "It's too likely to create even more panic. We need to keep people calm."
"Nick's right," Judy was thinking the same thing. "Why don't we just rally support from other predators? Protest outside of the staduim and refuse to enter?"
"The Mayor will use it against us. He'll somehow make the protest look violent. I've seen it before." Nick knew it would only make matters worse.
"Ugh…" the bunny whined. He was right.
"Bogo, any ideas?"
He looked at the fox. "The way I see it, conflict will arise sooner than later. No one would just sit back and let this happen to their kind, predator or prey. It's only a matter of when." The couple looked at each other nervously. The buffalo noticed their glances and sighed. "There's nothing you can do. That hare is not going to stop his plans, and I see no way of getting him out of office. Perhaps it would be best if we use the conflict to our advantage. Exploit it, perhaps."
"But, sir- I mean, Bogo, innocent lives will be killed." Judy was not liking where this was heading.
"Hopps, what can we do? We can't just walk into Keegan's office and kick him out. Plus, he has most of the prey in the city on his side. What are our options?"
He was right.
"We need to convince prey that predators are good people. Show them that whatever fighting does happen is Mayor Kaagan's fault. They love him. We need to ruin his image. Show people who predators truly are, and who the Mayor truly is."
"But how, sir?"
"Start by digging up his past."