After Franklin had been picked up and was being taken back to the precinct, Nick and Judy began walking back to their car, awkward tension fading but still present. They reached the car in a few short minutes and sat down without a word. Nick leaned back in his seat and sighed. "Still curious about what happened?" He asked her.
"Yeah," she replied. Starting the engine.
"In case you're worried, you didn't do anything, okay, this is all on me," he reassured her. "Basically, as a general rule, predators never show their fangs in public. Ever."
Judy blinked at that, looking over at him.
"Yeah. Haven't you noticed that I always take such small bites when I'm with you? And that I always keep my lips closed when I smile?" He asked her. "Never let prey see your fangs, one of the core rules of pred survival back in the day. Along with never growl or snarl, take small bites and keep your claws filed down." He held up a paw to show her that indeed, his claws had been filed to dull, rounded points. "Those 'rules' were taught to young predators pretty much as soon as we could speak. After segregation ended and it became less 'okay' to taze a predator, they kind of stopped doing that, but still…" he sighed, looking at his dull claws. "Old habits die hard."
"That's… That's not right!" She exclaimed.
"Prey see fangs, they panic, they panic, you end up getting tazed or with a face full of fox repellant," he explained nonchalantly. "Used to be that way, anyway."
She frowned. "You think I'm like that?!" She asked, offended.
"Not at all!" He hurriedly replied. "I think you're the exact opposite. I just freaked out for a moment for breaking that rule. It's my bad. Just… Forget about it?" He offered.
"Yeah. Okay, but now I'm mad about other things," she told him. "It's not fair that you have to act that way."
"I agree, but like Bogo said, the city's always broken, and we can only fix it a little bit at a time."
Judy went silent after that but began to think. Nick had confided in her that he was attracted to small prey species, and she certainly fit the bill, that means she absolutely had a chance with him- 'WOAH there! Slow down Judy! You haven't even figured out if you're attracted to him. Maybe go and Talk to Sheena.'
By the time they got back to the station, the mood had brightened between them considerably. "Ready, Carrots?" He asked.
"Once more, unto the breech." She held up a fist and Nick bumped it.
Franklin was groggy he woke up chained to a metal table, but he shot wide awake when he remembered why he was there, adrenaline flooded him and he tried to break the chains, only to give up after a few seconds. He began thinking, trying to figure out an escape strategy.
He knew he should have laid low for longer, been a bit faster, but he had no idea that they would be able to get him that easily. Maybe he could cut a deal, this was almost certainly about the weapons, maybe he could cut a deal with the cops?
He desperately hoped so.
"Good cop bad cop again?" She asked.
"Nah, he's already about to crack. I think we just need to apply a little pressure and he'll spill his guts like Duke over Mr. Big's ice pit."
"Alright. Let's get to work, partner."
They entered the room and walked in a circle around Franklin, watching him squirm as they silently regarded him.
"I assume you know why you're here?" Asked Nick.
"N-no," answered Franklin.
"Really? So you just happened to be fleeing police detectives with ten thousand dollars in cash in your backpack, along with a few changes of clothes?" Asked Judy.
"So what? That's not a crime!" He protested.
"No, but it is suspicious, especially the part where we told you that we were detectives and you ran from us," Replied Judy. "Even more suspicious is that this came just a day after you and your gang were involved in a deadly shootout. Wanna tell us about that?"
"You can't prove if I was there!" He quickly blurted out.
"Ah, but you admit that you know the people who were?" Asked Nick.
"Yeah, yeah I do. I figure you already know that, so why pick me up? I wasn't there, like I said."
"But I bet you know where the weapons came from. Don't lie, she'll know if you're lying."
"… Even if I did, which I'm not saying I am, why the fuck should I tell either of you? I'm not looking for a ticket to prison."
Nick grinned at Judy. "Tell you what, if you cooperate, my partner and I might just be able to get you a deal."
Franklin looked between them. "What kind of deal?" He asked, ready to do just about anything to avoid jail time.
"We'll agree to let you go for now and you'll help us set up a sting operation at the docks. You'll get arrested again for being there, but if it works out, we'll be processing a lot of people later that night. Your paperwork might just get… lost in the shuffle," he offered. They had already discussed the idea of this with Bogo beforehand, he was on board with the idea.
"So you go and arrest the gun runners and I'm home free?"
"Of course, we arrest the sellers, the buyers, and you slip out unscathed."
"What? No deal," he told them. "I'm not selling out my crew!"
"Franklin, this is not a good idea," warned Judy. "We might not be able to prove that you were there, but we have enough to get a warrant to search your home. Is there anything for us to find?"
Franklin couldn't suppress a wince at that. He had one of the illegal handguns in his bedroom, hidden under his bed.
Nick caught it. "So we would. Unregistered weapons are a serious crime, we might even be able to try you as an accessory to the murders that night. And if you don't fess up we'll keep cracking through your gang until we find someone who will. So are you going to give us what we want or are you going to go down?!"
"Fuck you! You don't know what life is like for preds out there! You're a fucking cop!"
That got Nick angry. He slammed his paws down on the desk. "I don't know?!" He shouted. "I'm a fox just like you! I've had it worse than you ever will! I grew up in the nocturnal District Happytown during the days of predator segregation! I barely avoided getting a fucking collar!" He ranted. "You want to talk about hard?! How about watching your father get dragged off by the cops for saving someone's life when she went into labor early and nearly died of collar-induced seizures!"
Franklin recoiled, he hadn't been expecting that response.
"Everyone out there wants to put us down, we're the scary ones! The ones with the claws and teeth! So you become what they say you are! I spent twenty-six years wasting my life as a criminal and pawpsicle hustler because I could never see myself as anything more than a shifty, shady fox! And then one day, I realized I didn't have to be that, so, with the help of a friend who was far better to me than I ever deserved, I got out of that life! Why?! BECAUSE I AM NOT THAT FOX!" Nick roared in his face before pushing off the table.
Franklin watched as Nick caught his breath, the shouting leaving him somewhat short of it.
Nick took a deep breath. "You're a smart kid. You don't have to be the predator gangbanger everyone tells you that you are. Take the cash, start over, get your diploma, get a degree, and make something of yourself." He turned around and looked Franklin in the eye. "We're giving you a way out before you become another statistic. Come on Hopps, we need to give this guy some time to think."
Judy nodded and followed Nick out of the interrogation room. "You okay?" She asked as she closed the door.
Nick took a deep breath. "I will be, Carrots. I will be." Nick looked at her. "He just reminded me a lot of myself when I was his age, stirred up some bad memories."
"Wanna talk about it?"
"No," he answered. "Maybe some other time. We have work to do, if I'm right, he'll come around and crack soon. Then he'll help us and we'll lock up Darius for possession and he'll at least be off the streets for a few days at least."
Judy nodded but put her paw over his and gave him a hug, smiling before letting him go. "You're a good fox, Nick Wilde."
Nick took a deep breath of her scent before she let go, feeling it flood his nostrils and tickle the pleasure centers of his brain. He smiled and let her go. "And you're a dumb bunny," he quipped.
Judy laughed and punched his shoulder.
"Excessive use of force!" He cried dramatically. "Bunny cop assaults innocent fox!"
"Come on Slick, I'm hungry. Let's go see what's for lunch. Give him some time to think."
They went to a nearby diner for lunch, they both got salads as Nick wasn't in for the mood for any meat, Judy sent her sister Sheena a text asking if they could meet up later tonight. When they got back to the precinct, they learned that Franklin was ready to cooperate.
"Alright," began Franklin. "He sells his shit out of a couple of huge vans, he's a deer named Richard Hooveson. We have a meeting for tomorrow night scheduled in a junkyard, I can give you the location, but I have to be there, I'm the only one he trusts to not do something stupid like steal the cash."
"And where is this Junkyard?" Asked Judy, writing down everything he said even as it was recorded.
Franklin later signed a statement agreeing that everything he had said was true to the best of his knowledge and agreed to wear a wire for the sake of the bust. The officers were all briefed and they began planning the bust.
By the end of the day, everything had come together and as long as Franklin followed through on his side of the bargain, they might be able to put down their first closed case as detectives. Right as they were on their way out the door, Judy's phone buzzed. It was Sheena, telling her that she could come right on over whenever she wanted.
"Hey, Nick, I'm gonna go. I have plans with my sister."
"You have a sister in Zootopia?" He asked.
"Yeah, Sheena, I told you about her, right?" She asked.
"Oh! Right. The punk one who's dating a Hyena?" He asked. "Give her my best."
"You've never even met her!" Laughed Judy.
"I wanna keep my options open, if things don't work out with her boyfriend it would be nice to be on good standing with a cute bunny who's into predators."
"Nick…" She warned him.
"Right, right. The whole 'cute' thing," he said. "Well, she is your sister so…"
Judy rolled her eyes but smiled and waved goodbye to him.
"See you later Carrots," he told her, still watching her cottontail wag as she walked away, needing to bite the inside of his cheek to stop from running over there and giving it a squeeze. 'It should be illegal for anyone to have an ass that great, bunny or no.'
Nick was tired so he just went home and heated up some leftovers before going to bed, turning in early because he knew he would have a full day tomorrow and then some.
Then again…
He cursed his weak impulse control, and grabbed his laptop and opened it up. 'Hello, Rosie Palm, been a few days…'
Judy knocked on her sister's door, she knew it was her sister's apartment not just because it matched the number she had been given, but also because she could hear loud punk rock blasting from inside the apartment even through the door. Luckily her sister could still hear the nock, because a moment later the door swung open and Judy's ears were blasted by the full force of the music her sister was listening to.
"JUDY! NICE TO SEE YOU!" Shouted Sheena above the music.
Judy winced at the volume. "Could you turn that down?! Please?!"
Sheena realized what was happening and grabbed a remote to turn the music off. "Hoe have you been? Big police girl, come to see her punk rock sister! Thanks for the warning by the way, gave me plenty of time to flush the drugs," she joked.
"Ha ha," remarked Judy dryly. "This is serious, well, serious to me, I need your help figuring out something…"
"Shoot," She replied, leading Judy into the apartment and offering her a seat. "Want a beer?" She asked.
"Yeah, yeah I might need some alcohol to get me through this." She took the offered beer and cracked it open before taking a long drink. "So you know how my partner is Nick, a fox, right?" She asked.
"Yeah, cutie too, If it wasn't for Sid I would be all up on his tail," she smirked. She saw the expression Judy was giving her. "What? Cute fox in uniform, what can I say? That just does it for me."
Judy took another deep pull on her drink. "Well… That was kind of what I wanted to talk to you about… I think I might be attracted to him, and to predators in general…"
Sheena blinked a few times, and then burst out laughing, clutching her sides and doubling over on her couch as she laughed and laughed. "Sorry, sorry," she replied. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. It's just that, the straightlaced Judy Hopps, is a predophile!" She breathed. "Okay, okay. Seriously now. Why do you think that?" She asked, wanting to support her sister through this.
"Well… I like spending time with him, and lately, I've been having these thoughts. Like, I saw his fangs earlier today and, well, it was exciting. Really exciting."
"Good, good, that's a sign, anything else?"
Judy thought back. "Well, earlier he confided in me that he dulls his claws so he appears more nonthreatening, and I thought he would be really sexy with sharp claws. And I realized that I have literally never been interested in a Buck back home."
"Sounds like you really have it bad. Anything else? Maybe you're just attracted to him, and not predators in general."
"Well… I don't think that's the case. Remember how you used to hide those Predator porn magazines under your mattress? Beck in the days before the internet?"
"Yeah…" Replied Sheena, suspicious.
"Well… I used to steal them, and look over them. I did this once or twice. And then did it many, many more times than that. I think I've just been in denial my entire life but now that the attraction is emotional, not just sexual, and also focused on a particular mammal, I can't keep denying it anymore."
Sheena gave a look at that, shocked that her little sister had EVER been raiding her porn stash. She shook her heads to clear it. "You sound like you have it all figured out? Why come to me?"
Judy chewed her lip nervously. "I just, this is really new to me, and I was hoping I could talk to you if I needed to get some stuff off my chest. Like, this is all really new to me, help me figure this out?" She asked.
"Of course, Judy. Come and talk to me anytime. We have to stick together! Not just as sisters, but as predator lovers!"
Judy stood up and gave her sister a hug, which she returned happily. "Okay, you need to get back home or are you going to crash here for the night?"
"I think I'll head home, thanks Sheena, it's nice to know I have you in my corner for this. This really means a lot to me, knowing I have someone who knows what I'm going through."
"Now you just need to find out if he likes prey, that would be the perfect solution."
Judy opened her mouth to tell Sheena what Nick had told her, and then thought better of it, that wasn't her secret to tell. "Yeah, that would be the ideal," she sighed. "This won't be easy will it? If we decide to go for it?"
"Nope. Lots of people, well, you know how they feel about interspecies relationships, those are barely accepted, but predator-prey, that's a whole 'nother ballgame." Sheena smiled and looked at Judy. "But hey, if he's worth it, it'll work. That's how Sid and I do it. We take it one day at a time, sometimes it's great, sometimes it sucks, but we keep on keeping on, because he's worth it, you know?"
Judy smiled and gave her sister another hug. "Yeah, I think I do. Thanks for the talk Sheena, I'll see you around."
"Don't be a stranger, and bring that fix around if you ever hook up, Sid makes a fantastic grilled salmon fillet."
"How would you know?" Asked Judy, smirking.
"I've eaten it." Sheena looked at Judy's gobsmacked expression. "Oh don't look at me like that, you know just as well as I do that a little fish won't hurt us."
"Right, just a bit of a shock to think about you eating meat. See you later?"
"Later, sis." She closed the door behind Judy and cranked the music back up. She walked to the bedroom and began to undress. Her beau would be home soon, and she wanted to be "ready."
"Swinton, I told you to never call me unless it's an emergency-" the heavily modulated voice was cut off by Swinton.
"It is! Our cop on the inside of Precinct One just told me that Franklin of the Spots just agreed to help out with a sting operation! If we don't do anything, Hooveson is going to go down and spill everything!"
"Calm down, Swinton. I already know, you may remember that 'your' inside man on the ZPD was originally mine. I am aware of the situation and have this under control. We've always considered the possibility of having to give up one of the dealers, they're expendable, and Hooveson hasn't always been the most, cooperative, of the bunch.
"SO what? You're just going to let the cops arrest him?! You may be anonymous but what if he gives me up?! You lose me and you lose your line to the city! Who else is going to get all those authority figures to look the other way? Huh?"
"He won't talk. I will make sure of that. He will be found dead in his bunk before the ZPD can get anything useful out of him, this I swear."
"You had better! I have way more on the line here than you do! I go down and you lose a payday, but I lose everything! I am not going to prison!"
"Swinton. Calm down. I promise you. You will not go to prison, I have already made a plan for you in case you ever get found out. You may not ever be able to hold an office again, but the money you have stashed away from your 'business' should allow you to live comfortably, and I will personally make sure you never go to prison."
"Fine," she huffed. "But don't fuck me on this! You need me as much as I need you!" She hung up the phone before pouring herself another glass of scotch and downing it all in one go. "Fuckin' asshole," she muttered.
On the other end of the line, a figure sat in their chair, fingering a necklace made of teeth, all of them from various predator species. Such a necklace was macabre, certainly, but important. To the owner, it was a reminder of the proper order of the world, a world of disarmed predators, of safe prey. Swinton, weather she knew it or not, was instrumental in the ploy. The figure reached over and grabbed his phone again. Untraceable and encrypted, a secure line. He scrolled through his contacts and selected one of them.
"Boss?" Came a tied voice, clearly the other person had been sleeping.
"Listen carefully. Tomorrow night, Hooveson will be arrested by the ZPD and held in precinct one. Listen to my instructions very carefully…"