"Are you serious? A burlap sack and thrown into the harbor?"
"Yep, without a second thought."
"Damn, that's cold."
"It's all they would deserve. Damn abominations, they really all should be killed and the mammals who produced them made permanently sterile and locked way. They are a disease to our society, it's completely unnatural."
The two snowshoe hares sat at their workstations typing up the news stories they were writing for the Zootopia Times. "If I ever produced offspring that looked as hideous as them they would be dead as quick I as could possibly do it." He pointed his paw at the second screen with the frozen image of Nathan and Sophia on it.
"I just wouldn't even put myself in that position. Just stick with other hares and wear a condom and you will never have to worry about it. Speaking of which, I hooked up with Melinda last night and damn! She was so tight I thought she was going to break me, one night with her and you'll never look back." The second hare slid over a paper with a phone number on it to the first.
"She better be, the last one girl was so pathetic. I didn't even give her cab money, just got it done and kicked her out." He laughed at the image of the hare naked on the street after tossing her out of his house.
"Stan! Mitch! Will you two shut up about your damn conquests and just get those stories out? We go to print in four hours so I need them in one, now get it done!" The lynx slammed the door to the small office.
"I hate working for that prick. You know he's one of them right?" Stan slammed his paw on the desk scatter a few files around.
"Really? I though he was married to another lynx and had two kits." Mitch looked puzzled at Stan who had already started typing furiously.
"Oh, he is. However, he also has a side piece he meets up with occasionally in his office late at night. That damn zebra intern. She just turned nineteen and wants to be a reporter. So he brings her in pretending he's going to give her a staff position, but all he's doing is screwing her. Just wait until I finish this whole series, he'll be in for the shock of his life. I'm so glad we do editorials so we can write whatever we want."
"As long as the board will approve of it, which I'm still surprised they allowed you a five piece set on this." Mitch looked over at Stan again and the title of his piece, Hybrid's; Zootopia's Hidden Virus.
"Well a good majority of the board feels the way I do, so it was fairly easy to get their okay. Now to just put it all down and show this city the problems these freaks will bring us."
"I'm sorry Judy, but there really is nothing we can do. Nick is right, they did not directly threaten your family so we can't do anything about it. All mammals do have the freedom of speech, even if we don't like what they have to say." The precinct lawyer looked over all the comments the two had printed out. Most were praising them and their family, but a startling number did have hostel tones to them. "We will look into this. With all the mixed species incidents in tundra town we need to keep a close eye on these things. If they escalate, we may have to take action. But we have to do it carefully. One misstep and mammals will come crashing down claiming we're infringing on their rights."
"So infringing on their rights outweighs protecting my kits?" Judy slammed her paw on the arm of the chair.
"Oh course not Judy. We just have to go about it the right way." Nick tried to calm Judy down, but inside he was feeling the same way.
"I don't care who's rights I infringe on. I will do everything I can to protect my kits!" Judy was standing in the chair now, her foot slamming into it hard enough that ripples were forming in the water glass on the lawyer's desk.
"Judy. Calm down please," the lawyer gave Judy a stern look, his wolf eyes trying to get her to back down, "I said we will look into this. It's my job to make sure all the officers here do their job within the law. It is also my job to make look after the well-being of the officers, and if some mammal is harassing them I will prosecute them to the fullest extent possible. I will talk with Bogo about opening a case on this, then we can assign someone to it and find out if there is more behind this. For now, I suggest both of you take the rest of the day to calm down and try to push this out of your minds."
Judy seemed to calm down slightly after hearing this, "Thank you, Leo." She hopped down from her chair and walked out, followed closely by Nick.
Leo leaned back in his chair rubbing his forehead,"What a mess this has turned into." He reached down and took the papers again, looking over the comments, some were very sick and twisted. From drowning, skinning, poison, neutering, imprisonment, the list went on. "This is going to be very hard to prosecute. They haven't taken any overt action, it's just internet tough guy stuff right now. Ugh." He took a drink from his glass and picked up the phone, dialing Bogo, not looking forward to this conversation.
"I just don't know anymore Nick, with all good we've done for this city it seems like they're turning their backs on us." Judy stared out the windshield, guiding their car through traffic to the daycare to pick up their kits.
"I know it seems that way but it's a small group of mammals. You said it yourself, some mammals are just backward and can't be turned no matter what. I promise you though, nothing will happen to you or the kits. I will protect you with my life." Nick placed a comforting paw on Judy's as they pulled up to the daycare.
"I know you would Nick, I just hope it won't come to that." They exited and walked in to see their kits scooting around playing with the others, all smiles and giggles, oblivious to the hate that was being tossed at them.
As they were buckling the kits into their car seats Stacie walked up with a solemn look on her face, "Nick, Judy. I've been getting some weird phone calls today that I think you two should know about." Judy's stomach started to feel sick again, "They kept asking if I allowed hybrid kits at the daycare. When I said yes the first time they started yelling about how could I allow that to happen and wished the building would burn down."
Judy's eyes went large in shock as Nick felt his heart sink into his stomach. He began to wonder how anyone knew this was the daycare they brought their kits to.
"I had a few parents come and pick their kits up early saying they had no idea I allowed hybrids here and what kind of establishment was I running. The phone calls have been going fairly regularly as well but when I say I allow all kits they go off on me again. I never once said that your kits are here, just that I allow all kits to come. So far it has only been phone calls but you may want to look at another option for looking after them."
This time it was Judy's heart that sank. Her ears dropped behind her head and her shoulders sunk as if a huge weight had been placed on them, "But the kits adore you! You're so good with them."
Stacie just hung her head, "I know, and I love watching over them. They are so playful and happy all the time. But if someone were to come here there's not much I could do if they wanted to hurt them. I have my taser but that can only do so much. I'm not saying you have to take them somewhere else, I'm just thinking it might be better."
Stacie hugged Judy as the tears began to fall from both of their eyes. Nick didn't say a word, outwardly he was calm and cool but inside he felt completely defeated. He took the car seats out and locked them into the bases in the car and got it started.
After a few minutes, Judy finally came out. Her ears were still down, one covering part of her face as she used it to wipe the tears coming from her eyes. She got into the passenger seat and buckled up as Nick pulled away. "She said we can still bring them by until we can find someone new to watch them. She gave me a few contacts of mammals who are friendly to mixed species couples. She suggested to see if one of them would do an at home sitting."
"Well if that would be better for them we'll look into it, for now lets go get something to eat. How does going to the Green Bean sound?" Judy just slowly nodded her head okay and looked out the window. The rest of the drive was quiet except the odd sniffle from Judy and the kits making noises in their seats.
Thankfully the traffic had lightened up from when they left the precinct and they made it to the restaurant before the silence got too awkward. When they pulled in they noticed a sign in the window that read "under new management".
"That's weird." Nick commented, "This place was always full and I figured it was very profitable. Wonder why they have someone new running it."
"Maybe the old owners got a better deal somewhere else. Hopefully nothing has changed, it was always so good here" Judy remarked, as she opened the door for Nick as he carried in the car seats.
Entering in the familiar Caribbean music still played and the same decor was on the walls, so at least that part didn't change. The walked over to a booth and as they began to sit down a cheetah came walking up, "May I help you two?"
"Umm yes, I would like the carrot and banana…" Judy had begun to speak when the cheetah interrupted her.
"No not with an order, I'm wondering what you two are doing here?"
"We're trying to get some food like we always have." Nick gave him a very perplexed look.
"Well, you're going to have to find it somewhere else. We don't serve your kind here." Other customers were looking over at the small family. Some were glaring at them while others were just as confused as Nick and Judy were.
"What do you mean you don't serve our kind? We've been coming here for years now and its never been an issue." Now Judy was getting upset again, this was their favorite restaurant and now they were being told they couldn't eat there anymore.
"By your kind, I mean you as a mixed species couple with your… things." He pointed at the kits sleeping quietly in their seats. "We don't want your kind here, leave or I will call the police and have you arrested for trespassing."
"You do know we are police officers right?" Nick stood up and showed the small badge from his wallet he always carried.
"What difference does that make? You are still trespassing if you don't have any official police business and I ask you to leave and you don't. I can refuse service to anyone I want to, this is my restaurant and I say leave!" The cheetah's yelling woke both the kits who started crying after being scared awake.
Judy put a paw on Nicks arm, "Nick. Let's just go, we can eat somewhere else."
Nick shrugged off Judy's paw and got right in the face of the cheetah "No. Call the police! You can't do this to us, we have every right to be here as any other mammal."
"No, you don't. Larry call the police." The cheetah walked back towards the kitchen yelling.
"Nick please let's just go. I don't want to create any more of a commotion than we already have." Judy was now pulling at Nick sleeve to get him to follow her but he stood rock still, staring at the cheetah who had retreated to the kitchen. Realizing Nick wasn't got to move Judy picked up the car seats and began walking to the door, "I'm taking the kits to the car. One of us has to stay out of jail to care for them."
"I won't be going to jail Carrots." Nike broke his stare and looked down at Judy who had tears rolling down her face.
Judy placed the car seats in their bases and just sat crying in the car. Soon a police cruiser pulled up and Wolford and Delgato stepped out and into the restaurant. Judy watched as the cheetah came out of the kitchen and started flailing his arms and yelling like crazy. Nick responded by yelling just as much. Delgato stepped in between them as Wolford pulled out some cuffs and patted Nick on the shoulder. He shook his head as Wolford placed the cuffs on him and escorted Nick from the restaurant, the whole time the cheetah tried to get around Delgato constantly yelling.
As Nick was taken out Judy came out of the car, "Wolford, you can't seriously be taking him to jail."
Wolford just shook his head as he put Nick into the back of the cruiser, "Sorry, Judy. This is mostly just for show to get that guy to be quiet. We'll just be taking him to the precinct to file the paperwork." He and Delgato got into the cruiser and head off toward the precinct, Judy could see Nick in the back his head staring at the floor as they drove by.
She got into the car and grabbed her phone looking through her contacts. Finding the one she was looking for she punched the name and began the muzzle time call.
"Oh hey Judy, how are… Judy hon, have you been crying?" Bonnie looked concerned at her daughter.
"Yes, I have mom. Would you mind having visitors for a few days?"
A/N: Sorry about the lack of updates, the holidays are a bit busier then I expected, but I try to write when I can and then bring it to you to enjoy. Thank you for being so patient and please like, favorite, and comment. It allows me to get better and give you guys a better story.