Fox Point

by MaveriKat

Those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it but so are those who cannot let the past go. With the rise of the Mammal Inclusion Initiative, one vixen is going to be uprooted from what she knew to live and breath the tenants of the ZPD: Trust, Integrity, and Bravery. Even if the city doesn't believe she can. Rated M for Violence, Adult Language, and Adult Situations.

7. I am the Law

Disclaimer: "Zootopia" is owned by the Magical World of Walt Disney Pictures and Walt Disney Animation Studios. The "Sly Cooper" videogame series is owned by Sony, Sucker-Punch Productions, and Sanzaru Games. There are also aspects that will be borrowed from or directly inspired from Zootopia's pre-production works and concepts from Nicolaswilde's "Zistopia" Tumblr blog. Said story itself is a fan-based non-profit work of fiction written strictly for entertainment purposes only. Please support the official releases. Thank you.

Fox Point

By MaveriKat & Nanya
Beta Read By Innortal

Chapter 7: I am the Law

In the kitchen on the second floor of a small brownstone townhouse that served both as home and business for a small family of foxes in Happytown District of Zootopia. The trio of vulpines was gathered around the eating and cooking area, dressed in their Sunday best and reveling in the wind-down of the day. Despite the rather poor conditions, the tenants were a happy lot. After all, it was a great time for a predator to be alive! If the news was correct, the collars they were forced to wear were but months away from coming off and for the first time, the carnivores of the city-state had hope for their future. Although for most it was the promise of a better tomorrow for their children but for them that was enough.

Father and son were still settled at the kitchen table, the larger and–surprisingly–broad-chested adult as spending the evening regaling his son about his time in the armed forces, the boy hanging onto his every word. "I tell you, Nicky, Sinai was QUITE the place... they stationed me there in September of '80 as part of, "Operation Bright Star". So quiet and serene... there weren't even that many locals to interact with during the day... but I tell you those nights were beautiful. I'm sure our mission was named such because of religious connotation but when we were out there? You could see ALL the night sky, all the stars..." he waved his hand about in the air, trying to give his son the impression of the great expanse that he once beheld. Then after a moment, he added, "Although you had to be bundled up if you were going to be outside when the sun went down. Despite us being stationed in a desert, it would get colder than a bitch's tit!"

The lithely built and very feminine vixen who had been standing by the kitchen sink and working hard washing the dishes from dinner with her hands adorned in yellow latex gloves–despite being decked out in blue dress and pearls–turned her head to look over her left shoulder at her husband. "John!" She snapped at the male red fox. "Mind your language in front of our son!" She pouted at the male vulpine when he just chuckled in response. She didn't want her boy picking up any of that, 'sailor talk'.

Even as his wife gave him a meaningful glare, the male red fox continued. "Anyway, I was there thanks to 1979 Peace Treaty President Sadat signed with Israel in exchange for reptilian troop withdrawal from Sinai... unfortunately for them, making peace with someone considered, 'the enemy' led to Egypt's expulsion from the Arab League. That meant while they didn't have the reptiles in their borders, they had no protection from their former allies either! That meant we, thanks to the Camp David peace accords, had to be there four months to train the Egyptians into an armed defense force... I tell you, it went a lot smoother than we expected. The local mau cats and jackals were rather enamored with us: we were the first U.S. military forces in the region since Zoo War II and they thought we were the greatest thing since sliced bread!" He smiled wide as he thought back on his times in the service. "I tell you, Nicky, I thought being able to work without a collar was good enough but it was really nice to be appreciated... especially by the females..." he wagged his thick black eyebrows at his son meaningfully.

The boy blinked his big and rounded bright green eyes a couple of times in curiosity. "Really, Pa?" He chirruped. "How were the ladies appreciative? Did they make you and all the other guys breakfast?" Nick loved when mom would get up early to make them a nice meal for breakfast to start the day off right. She made the best blueberry cobbler in the whole world!

John began to open his mouth... only to clamp it shut with an audible click as he could see–and practically feel–his wife glaring daggers at him. A rather mischievous grin crossed his muzzle as he began lying expertly through his teeth like foxes were stereotyped for in reply, "Yes son. Every morning, someone was getting breakfast from the locals." Particularly from this one rather busty Egyptian mau but he wasn't about to tempt fate or the wrath of his wife...

...Didn't mean he couldn't needle the latter though!

"Still though," John began anew, steering the conversation away to another subject. "I wasn't one who went to the local ladies for sex~onds at mealtime," he quickly corrected himself. "Oh no, I was saving myself for when I got home. More than anything, I knew that Francine was the woman for me..." he puffed his chest out as he inhaled deeply. "More often than not, my thoughts would go to your mother, wondering how she was feeling, what she was getting up to, if she had moved on without me around. It made it difficult to even think about enjoying any of the offered... pie..." he finished rather lamely, although he was still gazing towards the love of his life with an affectionate gaze even as he did so. "It was like she was tugging on the red string of fate, reminding me to come home for dinner rather than seek out exotic delicacies."

The fox kit blinked his eyes in surprise at that. "A red string?" He chirruped in confusion. "How did it reach across the ocean? Was it like, a super-long string?"

Coming to a stop while scrubbing one of the plates, Francine couldn't help but roll her eyes in a good-natured fashion. At least her husband was trying to keep things clean for their son's sake, even if all that did was confuse the poor cub. "The red string of fate," she spoke up, offering her spouse and her son a warm smile as she got their attention. "That's just an old wives' tale, like how foxes scream their mate's name upon finding them. Don't take your father too seriously, Nick. Your dad's just a hopeless romantic at heart." She let off a soft chuckle before turning her attention back to the dishes.

The adult male fox raised an eyebrow at his wife's comment. "Oh? I'm the hopeless romantic, am I?" He leaned over the table, turning his attention back to his son, almost in a conspiratorial manner. "Nicky, let me tell you about the time I finally returned home from the service." His shifty eyes turned towards the direction of his lovely lady's backside. "And it was at the docks where I reunited with a girl I knew from high school..." he said, rather meaningfully, waiting for his wife's reaction.

She didn't disappoint. The vixen's eyes snapped wide open and she practically dropped the plate back into the sink. "Oh Johnny," she began firmly as she turned about to give her husband a firm stare. "Don't tell him that story!" The warning tone to her voice let her husband know that she meant business if he began to squeal. She knew how excited both of them could get and... well, she didn't want to scare Nick if they ended up setting off these damnable devices latched around their necks in front of him.

She really should've known better than to tempt a fellow fox like that. Turning his attention back to his son, John continued, "Mind you, we only knew each other briefly before that. She turned me down in our last year because, and I quote: 'There's something unnatural about a vegetarian fox'." A small spread across the man's muzzle. "But that day, in front of all those mammals, there came a shriek from behind me!" The vulpine inhaled deeply as he bent his arms up so that his hands were at either side of his head, the male fox's eyes wide as he let off a shrill cry of, "JOHNNY!" He began waving his paws for added effect, reveling in the laughter he elicited from his son.

The woman standing by the sink blushed so brightly that it managed to blaze through the natural crimson of her pelt, lighting her up like a Christmas tree. "JOHNNY!" The woman shrieked in embarrassment as the green light on her collar turned yellow in warning. "SHUT UP!" She begged him as she turned about fully from her chores to the love of her life who so loved to tease her whenever he could.

The man's grin became a rather toothy one. "Yeah!" He chimed out as he pushed his chair back from the table and stood up. "Exactly like that!" He began to walk towards his wife, the woman bringing her gloved hands up to try and cover her face to hide her blush, knowing his close presence was just making it worse for the woman... and he knew both of them were loving every minute of it!

It took a bit, but the young fox cub was able to get over his fit of giggles. "That is so embarrassing!" He squeaked out, looking at his mother who was shaking her head rapidly as she tried to hide behind an expanse of yellow latex as she repeated, 'oh my goodness' over and over again. His attention going to his father, young Nicholas asked, "What did you do, Pa?"

Shrugging his shoulders, the man adopted an expression of utter confusion. "Why, what else was a gentlemammal like myself to do?" He shot back at his own boy. He allowed his son to mull over it for a moment before the uncertainty that had marred his expression broke out into a mischievous smile. "I ran up to her and I said..." John then turned about to his wife, arms reaching out to his sides. He then blurted out his own cry of, "FRANKIE!"

"Oh my goodness!" Francine squealed in utter humiliation as her husband embraced her tightly suddenly, the woman hugging back even as she tried to hide her face in the crook of his neck where the right side of his neck met his shoulder.

"Then I picked her up like this," he said mischievously, getting a startled cry out of his wife as he lifted her off her feet and held her bridal-style. "And it was then I realized I would never put her down." He craned his head forward, giving his fretful wife a kiss on the cheek before turning his attention back to their child. "And you were born the next Spring," he told Nick, unable to resist getting in that one last mischievous zing.

The poor vixen's blush went absolutely nuclear as her collar started beeping, letting her know if she didn't calm down, she was getting an electric shock. "That was the line and you just crossed it!" She squeaked as she leaned forward in his arms, both to simultaneously hug him around the neck for being a sentimental love and strangle him. "Shut up, Johnny! Shut up!" She begged her husband, afraid of what terrible ideas they were likely filling their poor, innocent and impressionable five-year-old son with... as well as trying to calm herself down before she set off her collar.

Laughing even as his wife attempted to get a stranglehold on him, the buff red fox with slicked back haired turned his head to face back towards his boy, even as his woman continued to try and wallop him playfully with her bright yellow latex-gloved fists. "Nick," he said his son's name firmly to make sure the young fox was paying attention. "You are going to be one lucky fox if you ever get to love a vixen as much as I love your mother."

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The male red fox's emerald eyes slowly opened as an immense feeling of sadness filled him. Slowly but surely, his natural night-vision began to adjust offering him clarity of sight in the softly illuminated room. As unknown surroundings began to take shape, the phantom feelings of grief that echoed in the back of the vulpine's mind were immediately replaced by surprise. Even his sensation of touch was alerting the fox he was atop of and surrounded by things that, while soft, were unfamiliar. His body began fighting at his bindings without the fox needing the think, his ingrained fight or flight response kicking into high-gear, demanding he get away from whatever was going on!

However, the moment of wariness came to a halt almost as immediately as it began when realization came to the pawpsicle hustler, understanding hitting him harder than a freight train on the Zootopia's closed subway line. The nice soft 'bed' was actually Clawhauser's couch with one of the sofa's throw-pillows and a spare blanket finishing off the sleeping space... ironically, one of the nicest he'd had to rest on in years. That's right, Wilde realized with growing relief. I had taken Benji up on his offer. And in doing so, he would be staying with the policeman for at least the next two weeks, the feline's living room becoming an impromptu bedroom for the fox.

Guy's really too nice for his own good, the vulpine thought as he closed his eyes again, pulling the blanket around himself once more. Hasn't seen or talked to me in practically a decade and he's willing to practically give me the shirt off his back. Really, such generosity and altruism was practically unheard of in the canid's long and sordid career. And yet Wilde understood that perhaps that was why the chubby feline was able to successfully become a cop. He really took the whole motto of, 'To Protect and Serve' to the logical extreme.

The red fox rolled over so that he was facing the couch's backrest. Then again, Nick began to think. He's also been one of the most naïve animals I know. It was one thing to be compassionate... but a whole other to be taken for everything one had. Not that the vulpine would ever do anything like that to spotted feline, far from it! Benjamin, Fennick, and the red fox himself were like the three amigos! They had worked hard together at Chez Cheeze's during high school, sacrificing blood, sweat, and tears to earn their minimum wage paychecks signed off by their figurative and literal rat bastard of a boss. They had suffered for the almighty dollar together and by whatever God was up there, such was a bond that would not be broken!

If anything, that was probably why Nick felt guilty crashing at the cheetah's place. He felt he owed the guy even if the portly policeman insisted he didn't. The simple fact Benji wanted nothing in return for going out of his way to aid an old friend in need was just foreign. It seemed outright wrong to the scam artist vulpine that his feline pal would do all this without any compensation. The mystery of it all was enough to keep him up at night...

And I would much prefer that keeping me up than my memories, was the sentiment that went through the back of the canid conman's mind, the unwanted train of thought making his emerald eyes snap open once more in a fully alert state of being. Nick understood his thoughts had initially gone to Benjamin's situation on reflex. It was almost a defense mechanism to keep from thinking about times long since passed. "You can't go home again," the red fox softly told himself aloud as he pulled the blanket over his head, not wanting to face reality at the moment... the reality that he would never see his father again, even if he wanted to.

He couldn't help it. As much as Nick practically lived by the promise of, 'never let anyone see they got to him' he made that night long ago outside of the headquarters for Zootopia Junior Ranger's Troop 914, it was in his quiet alone moments that everything seemed to break down. When traitorous thoughts that perhaps he'd been wasting his life would pop into his head and taunt him with the possibility that perhaps he could move beyond being something besides shifty and untrustworthy...

...Like Carmelita.

"...Ah hell..." the vulpine murmured from underneath the blanket he was using to try and hide away from the rest of the world. "Damn it, Nicholas Piberius Wilde," he cursed himself aloud. "Don't do this to yourself. So what if you're a fox? You are the result of four-billion years of evolutionary success! So fucking act like it!" He threw the top half of the blanket down over his legs, exposing his chest before he sat up on the couch. "If you're damn good at what God designed you for, then take pride!" He shouted to himself as he pulled his legs out from underneath the covers and threw them over the side of the couch so he was facing the television set. His gaze lowering to the coffee table between him and the big screen TV, the vulpine reached forward and lifted his cell phone off the piece of furniture.

He winced as he realized it was only seven minutes after four in the morning. "Whelp... so much for sleeping tonight," he murmured in annoyance. He had already made plans to be up early for Carmelita, that he and Finnick would get breakfast ready for her and drive her into town her first morning on the job... and that would be in two hours or so. Not enough time to relax and get back to sleep.

Sitting there in the darkness with his eyes drawn to his phone, Nick decided if he had to suffer through this, he wasn't doing it alone. So quickly bringing up his contact list, he pressed the screen atop of the name Finnick and brought the phone to the side of his head, listening to the ringing of the phone. One chime, two chimes, a third, a fourth. "Come on, come on..." he murmured under his breath as he began to shake his left leg, the red fox smacking his heel against the front of the couch in a rhythmic pattern. "Pick up the damn phone, big guy..."

Finally, just as it got to the eleventh ring, the line picked up. The vulpine felt relief as the very groggy baritone voice that he recognized as his partner's came over the line. "Wilde... I swear to God almighty! If this is a social call, I am going to stab you when I see you next. I am going to stab you and I don't think I'll be able to stop!"

Before Nick could offer an excuse in his defense, he was surprised when he heard a female voice pipe up on the line. "Now Finnick," the tired but still melodious voice chimed sweetly. "It's not nice to threaten people. For one thing, it's not good for your blood pressure."

The male red fox blinked his eyes once, twice, thrice. "Is... is that Cherry?"

"And besides, this isn't worth getting upset. I mean, this is Nick we're talking about." The lovely feminine voice continued. "He can't help that he's so needy and pathetic."

Wilde's ear's flattened back against his skull as his eyes narrowed in irritation as the vixen blew him off as a lost cause. Darn Modern Literature Majors thought they knew everything. "Hi, Cherry..." he greeted with a slight tone of annoyance but otherwise held his tongue. A difficult task considering he was already on edge from that haunting memory that plagued his sleep. "I take it Finnick has the phone on speaker mode?"

"Hi, Nick," the voice replied sweetly before a yawn came over the line. "I don't think my sweetie meant to. He just probably switched it on when he was reaching for his phone in his sleep." A giggle sounded. "But that's all right. We weren't asleep for long anyway," she added with a husky tone of voice.

Despite the fact she'd insulted him unknowingly or not, the male vulpine couldn't help but let off a chuckle. "Really now?" He chirruped with a tone of interest. "So I take if you've been keeping my pal busy on a work night, have we?" He clucked his tongue in a playful manner. "Oh for shame, for shame... he knows we have to be up for work in a couple of hours."

"Pshaw!" The female vulpine scoffed cutely over the line. "My poor little Finnick-pooh has been so stressed out these days. You've been working so hard lately and he hasn't had a chance to unwind. Moving your furniture, sending him to a police station... and you never gave him his dues," she chided in a surprisingly gentle tone. "You really need to be kinder to him, Nicholas or else Finnick might just pick up and find another line of work."

A small laugh sounded from the red fox's throat. "Yeah. Perhaps I do..." he replied softly as he brought his left hand up to the other side of his face, idly scratching at his head. "Listen, Cherry? Can you tell Finnick to turn his phone back to its regular settings? No offense to you but I really want to speak to him about private matters."

"Oh sure!" She chirruped. "Finny-pooh, if you'd be a dear and help your friend with whatever drama he has going on? We can snuggle up after!"

Nick twitched. Either that Arctic vixen was innocently insensitive or she was secretly brilliant and deliberately fucking with him in ways he couldn't prove without him seeming like the bad guy. "Thanks... that's appreciated."

Again, there came the sweet and innocent reply of, "No problem, Nicky!" Really, with how jubilant the youngest of the triplets was, Wilde couldn't help but wonder if it was her real personality or if it was all an act as part of her job as a, 'Comfort Vixen'. She might have had family to rely on during tough times, but they were all foxes. They all faced the same sort of prejudices no matter where they lived in Zootopia and that could take its toll.

Finally, the voice of canid conman's partner came back on the line. "Okay, I'm here, Wilde. Can we make this quick? I want to at least catch an hour while I can," he said meaningfully.

"Sure, sure," Nick agreed. "I mean, Cherry said it all. Literally." Despite how he felt upon waking, a smile managed to make its way across his muzzle at the fennec's groan. "But besides a girlfriend keeping you up most of the night..." he trailed off, taking a moment to consider his words. Closing his eyes, he brought his left hand up to his head once more, this time rubbing the bridge of his snout. "I had that dream again."

There was silence over the phone for a moment. "The night the cops took your dad away?"

The male vulpine couldn't help but flinch at that memory. "No, no... not that one," he replied honestly. "The one about... well... foxes' screams." He admitted.

"...Nick," the voice of the desert fox came over the phone firmly. "You are getting stabbed. With a pencil, with a straw, a spoon, or whatever I can wield... one way or another you are getting stabbed when I meet up with your pathetic ass tomorrow."

Lowering his head, the vulpine sighed. "I'm serious, Finnick," he told his fellow fox firmly. "It... just remembering those times, I can't help but feel off my game, you know?" He took a deep breath, trying to steady his nerves and gather his wits before he continued speaking. "Makes me wonder if I did the right thing... reminds me that life could be so much better. That I once tried to make something of myself before I settled on being a shifty fox." Raising his head, the vulpine looked at the ceiling... and frowned as he noticed some unusual stains on the ceiling tiles. "Do you think maybe, and I mean just maybe I took on this gig with Carmelita because deep down, a part of me wants to be a better man?"

Silence was on the line for a moment, before he got the response of, "Did you really call me at four in the Goddamn morning to tell me you're having a mid-life crisis!?" The male vulpine on the other end snapped irritably. "Look, if you need help, call Vanilla–during waking hours! She's the one that majored in Psychotherapy, all right? I'm a mammal of action; the kind who leads instead of reads! Like that Jack Savage guy from the movies! You know, the spy series with all the neat gadgets, fast cars, and a new leading lady for him to bang every installment!"

Mentally comparing the fennec to the jack rabbit, the red fox had to nod his head in agreement with Finnick's assessment. "Lord knows your ears are big enough to pass for Jack Savage," Nick muttered under his breath before he began speaking aloud once more. "Yeah, I get you. I just figure out of anyone, you're the one who's been there for me the longest. That out of any mammal, you would perhaps have the best insight to the sort of person I am. So tell me... am I overthinking this? Am I just getting caught up in feelings over my folks that it's causing me to take my eyes off the prize?"

"Wilde," the voice on the phone chirruped. "If it helps, I'll give you a much needed bitch-slap in place of a stabbing when I see you again." The offer was completely genuine. After all, who wouldn't want to give Nicholas Wilde a firm smack across the face when he got like this? "That'll set your bitch-ass back on the straight and narrow again. The road to CASH!"

Taking a deep breath, the red fox let off a wistful sigh. "I don't know pal. Sometimes... I just wonder if I couldn't do something better with myself." The canid shook his head. "I've been doing what I have for so long that I don't really, 'think' about it anymore. But when I do, it hits me like an oncoming freight train. Eversince I met Carmelita..." he trailed off for a moment, bringing his left paw to the side of his head once more to rub at his temple. "It makes me think that maybe, just maybe... I could do something better with my life too." He growled in annoyance. "I just don't think I can be happy just running scams for the rest of my life! I want more than money!"

It was a tone of annoyance which the other vulpine picked up on... and lord almighty, it served to open the floodgates. "Oh for the love of Christ! For people like us, there is nothing more than the money!" The fennec snapped irritably. "Look I admit that I'm the luckiest man to have found and hooked up with Cherry! She's the best thing in my life! But you have to look no further than her and her sisters! Nick, they are in a similar situation to us! All three are graduates, in higher education even! And what happened? No one will hire 'em because they're foxes! And it doesn't matter if they can't get a job in their chosen fields because those damn student loans sure as hell ain't going away! They realize they gotta do what they gotta do. And YOU gotta do what you gotta do! So stop acting like a little bitch and MAN THE FUCK UP!"

Holding the phone away from his head as his semi-friend screamed over the line, Nick had to blink his eyes a couple of time. Once the ringing in his ear finally teetered off as his hearing returned proper, the vulpine in his underwear pouted as he resettled himself on the couch cushion. "Listen, I am many things but I am not a bitch," Nick told his partner in all seriousness.

A laugh barked out over the phone. "Oh please! If it mopes like a bitch, whines like a bitch, and wakes me up a couple of hours before I HAVE to be up and ruins my sleep, then it–i.e. YOU–is a bitch, BITCH!"

Nick twitched, several times before releasing a tired sigh. "You know what? Fine! Whatever!" He really didn't want to deal with his friend's complaining right now. Sure, he needed a distraction but this wasn't necessarily a welcome one. "Listen, it's just... I don't know... life just catches up to you sometimes... and it makes you wonder."

"Oh wah, wah, wa~aaaahh!" The desert fox mock wept. "You couldn't have waited until I was up to whine about this stuff? I mean, Jesus! You're the one who offered all our free time to the cop! I mean for good money certainly, but now my ME-time is at a premium! That includes sleep!"

"No... no I couldn't," the male vulpine replied as he held the phone to the side of his head again. "Look, sorry for interrupting you. It's just... you know. Things happen and it gets a person thinking. Makes a man question his place in the food-chain."

"And that is your problem, Nicky! You're thinking! You shouldn't be thinking. Thinking only leads to trouble for people like us. We think we can do better, that we deserve better and you know what happens?" He paused, allowing the other vulpine a moment to ponder that. "Well, I'll tell you, in case you either forgot or, as Cherry suggested, are willfully suppressing the memories of: it kicks us in the tail! Even if we try, it just pisses off everyone else and puts an immediate target on us! Better to just be ignored than actively despised. You make the best of what you got and we have been making it great!"

The red fox sighed. It was true. He had to put up with a lot of that. The crimson-pelted vulpine could remember a time he wanted to open up an amusement park of all things, to try and bring some color and happiness to the dark and dreary Downtown District. The canid hustler had visited all the banks in Zootopia to get a loan... only to have each and every one turn him down. Leaning back against the couch, the man nodded slowly in bitter acceptance. "Yeah... you're right. I just wish there was a better way to do this on the up and up."

There was silence on the other end again, the petite vulpine obviously considering things. "Look, we're lucky we can take it easy with Miss Fox for a while but don't get cozy," Finnick told his partner in a warning tone. "Just because we have her here now doesn't mean Miss Fox will be around forever. The woman told us herself that she's going to be here for how long now? Six, maybe seven months?" He snorted. "And then she'll be gone and it will back to business as usual. So keep a stiff upper-lip, Wilde and don't let yourself go soft in the interim. We got business to make happen and money to earn."

"Well then, we'll have to make sure we get enough while we work for her then so we have an easy transition back to being our usual, miserable selves," the red fox male commented as he brought his hand up to his face and used his fingers to rub the sleep out of his eyes completely. There was no way he was getting back to bed after this.

"Darn right! Besides that, we still have to be careful around Carmelita. She may be a fellow fox–and a most lovely vixen at that!" The fennec was more than willing to admit. "But at the end of the day, she's nothing more than a tool of the people who've been keeping us down."

Nick snorted at that. "Oh please! Let's be honest here, big guy! If anything, Officer Fox would use them as a tool!"

That actually managed to get a snicker out of the desert fox. "You might have a point there, Wilde. She may be working for the man but Carmelita is still a fox. She can twist those idiots around her fingers with sultry feminine wiles. I know from personal experience just how effective they are thanks to my sweet Cherry here... sweet Cherry pie..."

A feminine giggle managed to sound out over the line, making Nick smirk again. It was amazing how there never seemed to be a middle ground with his tiny vulpine partner in underhanded business practices. Finnick was either on one end the emotional extreme or the other at any given point. "Thanks for the pep talk, buddy. It's appreciated."

"Right," the desert fox chirruped in his usual baritone. "And for services rendered, that'll be a five-percent extra cut of tomorrow's profits or I get to stab you... really, don't matter to me which you go with. I'll get satisfaction either way!"

The red fox frowned. "Zerdan..." he growled out his petite friend's family name. He was getting tired of threats to both body and finance.

The fennec was quick to response with, "Don't give me that tone, Wilde! A guy's gotta eat and support a fine and loving piece of white fluffy tail."

Realizing that his buddy wanted the extra cash for his lady always took a lot of wind out of the male red fox's sails. He couldn't blame Finnick for wanting to treat Cherry right... even if she did seem to have it out for Nick himself. "Fine, fine..." the crimson-pelted canid grumbled. "You'll get your extra five-percent." Anything to get his somewhat-friend to stop bugging him was a win in his book.

"Excellent!" The fennec chirruped excitedly in victory. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to make the best of the next two hours with Cherry. You enraging me got my blood pumping... and fortunately it's pumping to ALL the right places..." he chuckled deviously as again, Cherry's giggle also sounded off over the line.

The pawpsicle hustler nodded his head in acceptance. It looked like the little guy won this round. Still, that didn't mean the male red fox couldn't get the last laugh. "Whatever you say! Have a good night... little buddy." Before Finnick could go on a tirade, the crimson-pelted canid slid his thumb over the screen, cutting off the connection before he lowered his phone back to the coffee table. The male vulpine let off a depressed sigh before muttering under his breath, "Well that certainly could have gone better..."

"Maybe," the familiar voice of Clawhauser spoke up from behind him in agreement. "So what's this about bad dreams?"

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!" Nick cried out in surprised as he jumped–quite impressively considering he was in a sitting position–up to the ceiling and grabbed on...

...Or rather tried to, since ceiling didn't have much in the way of a grip-friendly surface, the small vulpine quickly found himself crashing back the floor. As he laid on the hardwood floor just outside the border of the fluffy carpet, the canid twitched. "...Owwies..."

"Awww... sorry about that, little guy," the chubby cheetah said as he came around into the downed fox's line of sight, allowing Nick to see the larger feline was decked out in a pink t-shirt that didn't have enough material to cover his stomach in full adorned with the image of a Gazelle headshot and a pair of white boxers with pink hearts that had the female singer's name on them. Kneeling down beside the twitching vulpine, the portly pred reached a hand to gently grasp the red fox's shoulder to move him to a sitting position. "I thought I heard you talking and I came out to see what the matter was." He frowned slightly. "So... Carmelita's leaving you all confused, huh?"

That last comment caught the smaller predator's attention; his pointed ears rising up suddenly. "Eh?" Was the only response Nick could manage for a moment as he blinked his eyes in confusion before going immediately into denial. "Whatever do you mean by that?"

Seeing his fellow mammal try to lock down his emotions, the spotted wildcat let off a sigh, causing his chest to visibly rise and fall–as well as pull his shirt up further along his extended stomach before it settled back down over his belly button again. "Nick, I'm not going to pretend I know what your life is like but I'm going to guess it's been rather... shady..." he admitted softly. "Just remember. Carmelita is here to help push the Mammal Inclusion Initiative. It's supposed to open up avenues in life once barred for the smaller and unwanted mammals, be they prey or predator. That does include you. If you decided you want to turn your life around and make something more, there's no shame in it..." he chuckled softly as he shook his head. "I know, I know... it might seem hypocritical coming from me but I understand better than anyone how difficult it can be. Why do you think I'm so fat?"

"Too many jelly donuts?" Nick snarkily replied, getting a laugh from the both of them.

Nodding his head, the spotted feline took a moment to get over his laughter before answering, "That's the physical reason, sure... but do you know why I indulge so much?" He still smiled, although it seemed to lessen in its intensity. "Because I'm not much different from you, Nick. We're the last of a generation who understands. The beginning of our lives was in a collar and then we had to adapt to being out of it. I was never able to get over the advice my first boss ever gave me. Do you remember what it was?"

Considering that for a moment, the crimson-pelted canid could only frown. "I can remember no advice but that he was always threatening to fire you because, 'you scare the customers' and..." his eyes widened in realization. "The only cat they're not afraid of is an overweight housecat."

Again, Benjamin nodded his head. "I stuck to a heavy cheese diet while I was working there. It helped me gain a 'pleasantly plump' build..." the feline explained. "Even when I moved on to bigger and better things, I wasn't able to really stop. Because the animals around me felt better as I was fat. Oh sure, lions are seen as noble and just. Tigers are exotic and majestic. Cheetahs? We're cast in the public mind as speed freaks. And if I can't run, then I'm not seen as a threat and everyone else can relax." He sighed as he moved to sit on the couch. "Admit it, Nick. Even you feel calmer around me because in the back of your mind, your instincts are telling you, 'I can outrun this lard-ass if I have to'..."

And just like that, Nick gave him a flat stare that bordered on being an angry glare. Closing his emerald eyes for a moment, the vulpine countered backwards from five before he spoke aloud. "Benji," he said his friend's nickname softly. "Just because you're fat doesn't mean you're slow. I'm betting that you could still outrun most everyone if you had to."

"And then I'd fall down flat from a heart-attack because I'm so out of shape," Clawhauser remarked, getting a nod of agreement from Nick.

"Really though, Benji," the red fox started to reply. "If you think that I'm relaxed around you because you're fat, then you're shallower than some of those idiot rabbits can be." Considering what he knew Carmelita went through because of them, that was saying something.

Turning his faze down towards the smaller predator, the pudgy policeman raised an eyebrow. "But are you relaxed?" Benjamin brought up once more.

"...Yes," Nick finally admitted after a moment. "Because you're my friend..." he said honestly. "Again, thank you for giving me a place to crash while I get my own affairs in order." He tilted his head to look back up at the larger predator. "And sorry to get you up so early... I didn't think my call would wake you." He chuckled apologetically. "I guess I was louder than I thought."

Waving off the tiny–in comparison–mammal's apology, the chubby cheetah cheerily chirruped, "Oh that's no problem, Nicholas! Tell you what though. Since we're both up this early, we might as well get dressed and I'll take you out to a nice breakfast. My treat!" He said as he pat his smaller friend on the shoulder. "I know the best food truck for Pred food in the city! He sells the cheaper stuff like bugs and tofu but he makes excellent protein-packed fish and egg treats! There are just SO MANY breakfast sandwiches you can get there!"

Mulling over the offer for a moment, Wilde eventually shrugged his shoulders in acceptance. "Sure. Sounds good to me." It really did. After a rough night and an early wakeup, decent food and some coffee sounded perfect.

The pair chuckled as they went their separate ways; Clawhauser back to his room and Nick to his suitcase... if they had to be up this early they might as well get a good start. The vulpine was hopeful he would be energized when it came time to pick up Miss Fox and take her to that stupid press conference.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The vixen had to admit: Honey's home was a lot nicer than it appeared during her first inspection of the place. Sure, the style of the architecture and the furniture was rather dated and many of the rooms could use some serious sprucing up, but that didn't matter. More than anything, the woman needed a safe haven in Zootopia where she could get her bearings and figure things out for herself in peace. Sadly, the fact of the matter was that at the moment, Inspector Fox just couldn't focus on anything specifically as far too much had been going on lately. The situation her life had ended up with was definitely a trying one. She'd faced many trials and tribulations over her career, from chasing a well-known master thief for five years to being betrayed by corrupt Interpol officers to helping destroy an evil immortal owl–twice–to wining and dining that same master thief for another three years!

But oh, over the eight years of her life spent with Sly... those last three had been magnificent. The happiest in her life! Even if during the last six months the raccoon had held tightly onto some unspoken tension–unease which she now realized was him trying and failing to keep from back-sliding–it had still been a wonderful time and she wouldn't have traded it for the world.

However, nothing Carmelita had been through could have prepared her for turn their lives took. Sly possibly lost in time... and her unable to do anything but pass her days being a publicity stunt for a specist City-State while others did the work the vixen should have been doing herself.

Dropping a white towel the Latina beauty had been holding onto the bathroom floor, the vulpine policewoman stepped in the bathtub; her hand reaching for the dial in the wall and turning it. As the first drops of moisture hit her pelt, she couldn't help but remember how their last day together had gone, the memory vivid and clear to an almost haunting level. From the breakfast she made them, the kiss on the cheek Sly had given her, the mission rundown and prep work at both Interpol and the museum... catching him in the act and the feelings of betrayal that tore her heart to shreds before it burst forth into an inferno of pure, unadulterated rage.

Rage which made her careless... rage that got her captured and ejected to an era not her own, to where she was forced to be a damsel in distress on a runaway stagecoach as if she were starring in some bad Spaghetti Western flick! Fortunately, Sly and his gang–including his ancestor, Tennessee–had saved her but even after she teamed up with them once more in the Ice Age, she had spent the rest of their time while hopping between eras being petulant. The Hispanic red fox refused to hear the Ringtail's apologies or explanations out because of the hurt she felt and held onto. She stayed mad at him when they should have been spending that time figuring out how to save not only his family's legacy but their relationship!

And she wasted it.

Releasing a long-suffering sigh as the droplets of water began to heat up and form steam, the vixen stood there without moving at all. Instead, she could only focus on the voices chattering in the back of her mind, the memories of their past few months together. The remembered conversations that kept repeating the same words while imagery flashed before her eyes, over and over again, all of it clear as crystal.

No matter what angle the woman looked at it, she couldn't deny it. Yes, it was obvious that Sly had been lying to her... but his return to thieving had to do with stealing from Le Paradox who was also a thief. It was no wonder the raccoon had regressed to his old ways. He'd been fighting off and suffering through the temptation for a while. Suddenly having such an enticing target, one that was plainly visible from their Paris apartment for that last month must have driven him crazy. And it's partly my fault it got that bad for him, Carmelita thought with growing despair. I could see how much something was bothering him and instead of helping him, I went into denial! I tried to pretend nothing was wrong. If I just talked to him, none of this would have happened. We could have worked things out and I wouldn't be stuck out here in specist central while Cooper's out there with no way home...

Shuddering, the Latina vulpine lowered her face as she moved closer towards the showerhead. Placing her hands against the wall, she propped herself up directly underneath the running faucet, putting as much of herself beneath the water as it pounded down in steaming droplets. Her soaked navy blue tresses started cascading at either side of her face as the stream of hot water collided with her furry body, easing the release of tension. Taking a deep breath, the woman closed her chocolate eyes and exhaled slowly as the flow of steamy water enveloped her body.

For a long while, Carmelita allowed the hot shower to soak into her fur, trying to lose herself to the slowly growing burning sensation that was building over her body. Finally, she straightened up to full height once more, her right hand reaching over to a small alcove in the wall, taking a bottle off the shelf within. Looking over the bottle of shampoo for a moment, the Latina beauty popped the top of the cap, the scent that came forth aromatic and fresh. Quite pleasing, actually.

Taking a large handful of the cleansing gel in her left palm, the vixen placed the bottle back onto its alcove. She rubbed her hands together, forming the liquid soap into a foamy lather before she worked the sudsy body wash gel into her fur, hoping to ease lingering pain that remained in her body. She needed to be at her best for this upcoming press conference and that included being alert and limber. The female red fox would be damned if she gave Zootopia any more reasons to hate and distrust her. They already saw her as untrustworthy and shifty; Miss Fox certainly didn't want to give them reasons to add, 'lazy' to the list.

And that was when the door to the bathroom swung open; a certain Hawaiian shirt-clad vulpine's hand on the handle. "Hey, Carmelita, are you... in... here?" Nick trailed off, his eyes practically bulging out of his skull as he got a full look of Carmelita butt naked, water running down her fur. His emerald eyes couldn't help but take in every curve, every detail. The only thing that would have made it better was if she was more bent over. Still, he got a peek at the hidden goods between her legs... wouldn't have minded seeing more of her breasts as well either.

At hearing the male voice in the room with her, the woman's eyes snapped wide-open, the sudden burst of adrenaline immediately bursting through whatever lamentations her mind may have been processing. "Nicholas Piberius Wilde!" She snapped as she turned about, the woman pressing her legs together as her left arm was drawn over her breasts for decency. "What the hell? What the actual fucking hell!?" She snapped at him as her free arm grasped the edge of shower curtain and quickly drew the barrier closed. "DON'T YOU KNOW HOW TO KNOCK!?" She yelled at him, even as the steam that clung to the plastic curtain and made it partially transparent, allowing the male red fox to see a blurred visage of the vixen.

Having been thrown completely off-kilter by the beauteous visage before him, Nick stood there for several minutes, his face redder than his pelt as his blood was rushing everywhere but his brain during that time. Finally though, the woman screaming at the top of her lungs managed to jostle some sensibility into him; the male vulpine averting his gaze as he tried to explain himself. "Um... uh... I... did?" He finally managed to offer. "You just didn't... hear...?" It sounded more than a question than an answer but it was the best he could offer on such short notice.

"Hear what? Knocking?" She called out to him from behind the thin plastic barrier. "Honestly Nick, no. I did not. More importantly, what brings you here already? It's not that late is it?" She queried quite curiously, the Latina vixen frowning as she didn't have access to a watch or her phone. "What time is it anyway?"

"It's..." the male vulpine withdrew his phone from his pocket with his left hand. He squeezed the volume button on the side, causing the screen to flash back on. "It's just after six." He blinked his eyes as he returned his cell phone to his pants. "Why do you ask?"

Letting out a sigh, the woman replied, "I didn't expect you for another hour. Besides, how did you get in here anyway? I thought I locked the doors."

Once again, the canid conman's hand slid into his other pocket and brought up a key-ring, shaking his wrists to jingle and jangle the small metal pieces. "Keys. Remember?" Nick chirruped his answer as he also returned the keys to his pants. "I got a set too. Anyway," he coughed into his hand, wanting to change the subject and prolong his presence with the naked woman. "I just wanted you to know I brought you breakfast. It's downstairs in the kitchen with Finnick if you want to eat there with us..." he offered, still a little flush from the sight he was oh-so-desperately trying to burn into his mind.

The woman sighed. She couldn't fault him for wanting to be helpful. It's what she was paying him for. "I'm so installing a buzzer for this room," Carmelita grumbled to herself. Taking a deep breath to calm her now frazzled nerves, she then responded aloud, "All right! Just give me about ten minutes to finish getting cleaned up. I'll be with you and Mr. Zerdan shortly!"

Nodding his head, the male vulpine started to turn about... but paused in his tracks. Despite his instincts telling him to get out, the fox couldn't help but press his luck. The opportunity was too good to pass up! "By the way, do you need a hand, Carm?" He chirruped sweetly. "I'm good with my hands! And only thirty bucks an hour too, as per our agreement!"

The artery on the left side of the vixen's head visibly throbbed through her pelt. "Nick!" She snapped irritably. "Stop acting like a horny cabrón and give a woman some privacy, will you!?" The vulpine practically shrieked at the top of her lungs, for the first time making Wilde witness to one of her key defining traits: her hot Latin temper.

And oh, she was spicy today!

Realizing that yes, his luck had indeed met its limit, the male red fox nodded his head quickly in understanding. "Ah! Right then! I'll... um... I'll see you when you get out!" Nick replied as he quickly stumbled out of the room, slamming the door closed behind him. "Holy moley!" He gasped out breathlessly, knowing exactly what he was going to be dreaming about for days to come.

It sure as hell beat memories he fought so valiantly to suppress, that was for darn certain!

When no immediate verbal threat to his genitals came through the door, the crimson-pelted canid took a deep breath to try and calm himself. "Oh be still, my beating heart..." the vulpine whispered before pushing away from the bathroom door. Walking through Honey's home, the vulpine male soon entered the kitchen where he caught sight of his partner in crime tearing into one of the breakfast burritos. "So, you like 'em, big guy?" He chimed merrily, not letting on just how hot and bothered the vixen got him.

The desert fox noisily chewed on a mouthful of scrambled eggs, sliced pieces of red and green peppers, and bits of tofu sausage crumbles as he tore into one of the delicious burritos. "Gotta say, Wilde..." he garbled out with a mouth full of cooked egg goodness. Swallowing the food, the smaller vulpine then chirruped in a far clearer tone, "The breakfast you had us pick up was excellent! How did you discover that place?"

Nick smile down at his partner. While he was usually one to revel in praise, he decided to give Benji his due. Who knew? It might help speed up the fennec's acceptance of the cheetah having become a cop. "That, my dear Zerdan, we have Clawhauser to thank for. He's the one who showed me that food truck!" They served decent coffee too! Not as good as Snarlbucks but it would certainly do in a pinch!

Nodding his head, the petite sandy-furred vulpine admitted, "He's got good taste." He took another bite of his meal before commenting, "By the way, I heard screaming. What did you do to piss her off, Wilde? You walk in on Miss Fox while she was dressing or something?"

A shit-eating grin spread across the red fox's muzzle in response. "Walked on her naked in the shower..." Nick muttered, as he turned to look away to hide the fact his face turning red from the image that flooded his mind yet again.

Dropping the uneaten half of his breakfast burrito onto the sheet of aluminum foil it had been wrapped with, the smaller vulpine's ears lowered to either side of his head as his eyes widened while the pupils dilated to the size of pin-pricks. "...No foolin'?" He queried with an incredulous tone as he looked at his fellow vulpine. Catching the sight of his partner's face managing to somehow go a brighter shade of red despite being crimson-furred, Finnick couldn't help but whistle. "Well... hot damn! Good on you, Wilde!" He chirruped with excitement. "Please tell me you were quick with your cell's camera and snapped a couple of pics?"

"I was too shocked to move..." the vulpine replied as visions of that perfect hourglass shape danced before his eyes. "Well, that and she may have killed me if I tried," the hustling red fox replied in a deadpan monotone as he made his way towards the seat opposite of the fennec.

Watching as his fellow vulpine made his way to the breakfast nook, the small predator sighed irritably. "Well, I can't say it's too much of a loss. I mean, I got a girl of my own anyway..." he trailed off as he gave the taller canid male a knowing smile. "I might not have gotten much sleep last night but she made all my worries go away," he said meaningfully, letting Nick know that yes, because of him waking them up, the desert fox got laid TWICE that night.

Nodding his head in understanding as he reached for one of the tinfoil-wrapped breakfast items that wasn't a burrito, the canid conman couldn't help but query, "I take it that is why I haven't found myself stabbed yet?"

"Well, that and the extra five-percent you're going to owe me for any of today's work," Finnick replied in a firm tone of voice that booked no room for argument before he went back to chewing on his own burrito. "Mmm... gotta admit, whoever made these scrambled eggs had the perfect mix of egg and cheese."

Opening his mouth and taking a rather large bite out of his bagel sandwich, Wilde nodded his head in agreement. The food was pretty darn good. "This ain't bad either," he said around a mouthful of protein and carbs.

His gaze turning from his faux-Mexican breakfast, Finnick looked at the egg sandwich the other vulpine had gotten himself and raised an eyebrow. "I'm surprised you didn't get a burrito too." He smirked deviously as he added, "I mean, you seem to be quite into Latin cuisine lately..."

Deciding to ignore the baiting for once, the taller vulpine shrugged his partner off. "I'm not really one for peppers," the vulpine admitted as he took another bite of his bagel sandwich. He chewed thoroughly, his maw snapping open and shut a few times before swallowing. The fox then continued with, "I was always more of a waffles and coffee guy." He couldn't help but smile mischievously. "The guy even told me if I come tomorrow, he'll bring his waffle iron so I can have that as the bread for my sandwich."

Looking towards his partner-in-law bending, the small desert predator raised an eyebrow as he gave him a speculative gaze. "Just be careful that the guy doesn't use the waffle iron on your face then," Finnick commented before taking another bite.

"What's this about waffles?" A feminine voice spoke up, both men turning to see the lovely vixen in that blue terrycloth bathrobe they saw her in yesterday... only now she was fresh from the shower. The garment clung closer to her body, doing little to hide her curves while her navy blue tresses were nearly flat against her skull, the curl and airiness to her hair currently subdued by all the moisture it contained...

To Nick, it was almost like he was witnessing the painting of the Birth of Venus! Only live... and a fox...

Usually Nicholas P. Wilde was much more articulate with his thoughts but this woman seemed to knock the common sense out of him and send the red fox's brain straight into the gutter with how badly dumbstruck he would get in her presence.

Never one to hesitate when it came to throwing someone under the bus–figuratively or literally–Finnick thumbed over at Nick with his right paw. "I was just telling him to watch out! I've heard stories of foxes who went to get waffles and ended up with their faces put in the iron when it was hot."

Taken aback by such a proclamation, Carmelita blinked her eyes once, twice. "Seriously?"

The petite vulpine nodded his head. "Yeah... there are stories from back during the Fifties and Sixties about stuff like that happening." He frowned. "It's why if you saw a sign or anything that stated, 'Prey Only' you knew to stay the fuck away! Back then, those Herbivores were crazy and the law let 'em be!" He said in all seriousness as he threw his arms up for emphasis.

Twitching a bit, the Hispanic vixen sighed as she got a nasty feeling one of Bentley's photos she'd yet to look at was an instance of just that. Shaking her head, the woman looked at the tinfoil wrapped items on the small table that jutted up between the pair of male foxes from the base of where they sat in the window space of the breakfast nook. "Is any of that for me?" She asked curiously. "And if they are... you didn't order burritos just because I'm Spanish, did you?"

The canid conman shook his head, pleased he could be honest with his fellow red fox. "No, I got them on good authority that they were pretty good," Nick promised the woman as he tilted his head towards her direction. "Besides, if you don't like them, I can give yours to Honey." He smirked. "But seriously: try it! The eggs are delicious!"

The vixen with brownish-orange fur blinked her eyes at how the tie-adorned vulpine praised them. "Really?" She piped up curiously, eyeing the oblong tinfoil-wrapped shapes.

"Oh yeah!" The male red fox chirruped as he gave the lovely vixen a firm nod of his head in positive affirmation. "I watched the guy make them! He used milk while he scrambled them in the skillet! Made them all light and airy!" He motioned over the wrapped burritos, putting emphasis on them. "Seriously, try one! The eggs taste absolutely divine!"

Nodding her head, the navy blue-tressed vixen leaned in and took hold of one of the foil-wrapped breakfast burritos. Tearing open the aluminum, she brought one end of the sandwich to mouth and opened wide before clamping her jaws down with a firm bite.

Carmelita's chocolate-colored eyes widened in shock at the onslaught of flavor that assaulted her taste-buds. That was one thing she had to give Zootopia. A lot of the attitudes may have been rather tasteless but the culinary skill of some of these mammals was absolutely masterful! She thought only Paris had chefs that could coax tastes and textures out of food to this level! "Dulce Jesús, es perfecto!" She praised in her native tongue before taking another large bite, her cheeks practically puffed up with the goodness of eggs and flavorful spices.

Finnick stared at her for a moment before shook shaking his head. "Should be a crime..." he muttered, mentally bemoaning fate. It just wasn't fair that someone who was that sexy could also be that cute!

...AND be a cop atop of it. It was as if life was mocking him!

A large smile blossomed on the pawpsicle hustler's face as he saw the woman enjoy her meal. "So... I take it I'm forgiven for disturbing your shower?" He chirruped merrily as his emerald eyes were drawn towards where the top of Miss Fox's robes where they had opened slightly, allowing the male vulpine a peek at her cleavage. He had yet to see a vixen anywhere near as busty as Carmelita and frankly, every little sight was a Godsend that made life a worth living just a little bit more.

Her chewing coming to an immediate stop, the policewoman gave him a dirty look. Swallowing her mouthful of breakfast burrito, the Hispanic vixen firmly answered, "Get a buzzer installed by the bathroom so that it doesn't happen again and I might think about it."

"...I'll take whatever forgiveness I can get," Nick replied, knowing it was easier to beg forgiveness than ask for permission. With a way to appease the woman at hand, the vulpine turned his attention back to more pressing matters: his own breakfast! With his bagel sandwich in hand, he began wolfing it down, despite being a fox. Smacking his lips, the red fox took a moment to lick his fingers of the sweetness that glistened on them; his sandwich also had a dash of maple syrup to it. "I have to say, I wish I knew of this food truck earlier. I might just become a regular."

Carmelita nodded as she took another bite. "Agreed," she said as she continued to attack her burrito, chowing down on it bite after bite until all she had left was a lump of aluminum foil. "This was superb..." she said in all seriousness before offering her fellow red fox a grateful smile. "Thank you," the Latina vixen said honestly. "That should keep me going to lunch time. Now if you gentlemen will excuse me, I need to try and dry off a bit more before I get dressed."

As the pair watched her head out of the kitchen and off into further the building, the fennec rolled his burnt orange eyes. "How come you're the one who always gets thanked?" He asked in a huffed. "I'm the one who has to cart all your lazy butts back and forth around this city."

"Maybe because I found her first?" Nick offered, albeit he was only half-serious. As the small guy continued to gaze at him with that half-lidded stare of his, the taller canid offered, "I mean, if you found her first, maybe she'd be more inclined to thank you."

Finnick snorted. "Eh, whatever. When it comes down to it, I don't need any sympathy or gratitude. I got Cherry and she's more than enough sweetness in my life." He grinned almost deviously. "I tell you, Wilde... it's a shame you never landed Vanilla. I could tell the two of you had at least a little something going... too bad you had to screw things up with her."

Nicholas twitched. It didn't help that the eldest of the Arctic vixen trio was a Psychotherapy Major. Girl was always trying to, 'fix' him.

"Just like you did your first girl, Gwen," the desert fox chirruped.

The male fox's ears flattened back at the memories of his first ex. They had known each other back when they were kids, only for things to fall apart when the vixen let him know SHE preferred vixens as well! Really, considering how much of a tomboy she was, Nick should have seen it coming.

But the desert fox wasn't done yet. "...And there was Krystal... remember her?"

The taller vulpine shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "...She was just feeling blue; couldn't get over her first boyfriend..."

"...And Tammy..."

Nick tried to shrug that one off. "She was a bit of a gold digger and I wasn't making the kind of money she wanted."

Finnick wasn't letting up. "...And Marian..."

"To be fair, she was on a rebound like Krystal... only she went BACK to her first ex after," the male red fox said in his defense. A Robert something-or-other...

"...And Tika..."

That made the poor crimson-pelted canid twitch. Okay, the little shit had a point there. He could have done better to keep the relationship going...

"...And Betty..." the petite fennec continued to count of Wilde's ex-girlfriends. He smirked as he saw his partner lower his head. "I believe she left you for the same reason Susan did..."

Gritting his teeth, the seasoned pawpsicle hustler raised a hand up in a motion for the fennec to stop. As the dread at his failed relationships continued to build, Wilde felt as though he was about to be the one that did the threatening if the little shit kept this up.

"...And Janet... and can't forget Marble either," the petite predator chirruped. That corsair vixen had QUITE the legs on her.

Raising his head, the taller of the two foxes opened his mouth, about to argue with him.

But then the little prick hit home. "...AND Sheryl..." Finnick reminded him.

Lowering his head, Nick sighed. He had no words for that one. He had screwed it up big time.

"...Who," the smaller vulpine continued. "I believe Gwen then hooked up with because you were apparently such a terrible boyfriend you turned her gay," the desert fox added, simultaneously rubbing salt in the other fox's emotional wounds and pride.

Turning his head to look at the smaller guy, the taller vulpine queried, "This is your vengeance for waking you up at four am, wasn't it?"

Letting off a noise that was a mix between the laugh and a snort, the desert fox replied, "Nah! Not at all, Wilde! I'm just still amused by the fact that you're so bad in the sack that not only did you go through ladies like most people do tissues but that you could be bad enough to turn someone into a lesbian!"

The red fox glared at his smaller compatriot. "One of these days I'm going to find a way to rent you out as a kickball to make a couple of extra bucks."

Crossing his arms over his chest, Finnick replied, "Yeah, right! We both know you won't, Wilde. And that's because I'm the best there is at what I do and you need me for way too many of your sca~Aaaaandalously wonderful ideas!" He quickly altered his speech as the vixen walked back into the room, the lovely lady now in her police shirt and pants.

"Hey you guys," the woman spoke up as she stood in the doorway of the kitchen. "I wanted to ask if I could retain your services this afternoon to do some grocery shopping." She lowered her head in an almost pathetic manner that even Finnick felt a little sympathetic. "Really, I apologize for having to depend on you two so often but there's so much that still needs to be done while I adjust to living and working here. Please know I do appreciate your time and effort in helping me get settled here."

Not one to let someone know they were getting one in on him, Nick calmly waved her off in a welcoming fashion. "No worries, Carm! It's why I hired myself out to you in the first place," he reminded her with a pleasant tone.

However, that didn't mean the desert fox wasn't going to pass up the chance to get a dig in, especially since this conversation almost got them caught. "He means, 'whored himself out to you'." Finnick smirked at the dirty looks he got in return from both red foxes. "What? You do whatever she asks and she pays you, just how is that not whoring yourself out to her?"

Crossing his arms over his chest, the male vulpine settled his emerald eyes down on his petite partner. "...I would prefer the term, 'gigolo' if I had to accept a designation under such circumstances." Then after a moment, he amended, "Or at the very least, 'manwhore'."

Nodding his head, Finnick chirruped, "Manwhore it is then." As motioned to himself with his right paw, the small fennec added, "And that makes me your Pimp! Now get to working for her, Bottom Bitch! You got money to make for your daddy!"

Watching the back-and-forth between the pair for a little bit, the woman had to blink her eyes once, twice, thrice. "Sometimes I can't tell if the banter between the two of you is just friendly chatter, if you genuinely hate each other's guts, or if you're an old married couple."

Both male foxes turned to look at the vixen as one, before replying in sync, "We're heterosexual business partners."

To have such a practiced response ready at the drop of a hat made it apparent to the policewoman such was a statement along the lines of something the two got asked quite often. "Sorry," she apologized to the pair. "I didn't mean anything by it."

Seeing the woman was genuinely apologetic about that took a lot of the steam out of the tiny vulpine's annoyance. "To be fair, it might seem that way. Heck, Cherry thought I went both ways when we first started dating," Finnick muttered, deciding to not bring up that Cherry had, on more than one occasion, hinted at having a threesome with him and Nick... and even once asked outright! Thankfully he shot that idea down REAL quick!

I blame all those friggin' Modern Literature classes she took in college, the fennec thought with annoyance. They really filled that girl's head with kinky ideas! Darn books about emo bats warring with needy wolves over bland pre-teen does and others about the various colors of gray... five or something. He surmised there couldn't be more than a dozen shades of gray.

Nodding her head in understanding, the vixen replied, "I'm still thankful for your hard work." The seriousness in her tone of voice conveyed how genuine she was with that statement. Taking a deep breath, she looked back and forth between the pair of male vulpines. "Now then... if you two will give me a moment, I need to finish dressing. Then I'll return with your cash and we can get going. I don't want to be late."

Smiling, the taller of the two male foxes nodded his head. "Hey, completely understandable! You go get yourself suited up to kick ass and chew bubblegum while my pal and I finish cleaning up here." He smirked. "We'll also stop for coffee along the way."

Blinking her eyes, the woman looked down at the table of the breakfast nook, noticing the two empty Styrofoam cups. "I thought you already had coffee?"

"No, this is just a little something to wake us up. Snarlbucks is real coffee," the desert fox explained before narrowing his eyes, making himself look rather fearsome despite his less than impressive three-foot stature. "Even if the bastards charge you for a falsely-named cup what most places list as the cost for actual food!" It always annoyed him that he would ask for a 'grandé' coffee and get a medium instead. Medium cups were NOT grand unless they were sized for elephants!

Noticing the unleashed ire that was stirring in his partner's head, Nick merely shook his own in exasperation. "They also don't care who you are, so long as you got cash," he added rather pointedly, explaining why someone as skinflint as him would spend the money there.

"Which is why we keep going despite how much of a rip-off it is," Finnick said in agreement with the taller canid. "Darned yuppies are out to fill their tip jars, learning the mercenary skills that will keep them alive in this harsh economic climate." He smirked. "And that means kissing up to even us foxes."

Carmelita nodded her head as she told the pair, "Be that as it may, do what you need to. I'll be right back." As she said that, the vixen turned about, the Hispanic beauty walking back into the house and towards the bedroom she had claimed as her own; one which the male red fox noticed was in the direction of the guest rooms... or what could have been the kids' rooms.

When he heard the door close, Nick let off a wistful sigh. "Do you see what I have to deal with, Finny?" He quietly asked his fellow con-mammal. "She's just too..." he trailed off, unable to bring himself to say it, knowing the petite badass would just harp on him some more.

Rolling his eyes, the fennec let off a sigh. He wasn't a fan of that nickname either. Still, Widle had a point. "Yeah, yeah... too spicy for Yog Sogoth, huh?"

A small smile curled at the corners of the red fox's mouth. "I might not be one for peppers... but she is one bit of Latin spice I would happily partake of." He smacked his lips for emphasis.

Snorting, the desert fox replied, "Still not as good as my sweet Cherry."

Shrugging his shoulders, the taller of the two vulpines answered in turn, "Maybe. But that's because you're a bit of a sourpuss. You need her sweetness to get a bit of tartness in your life."

"While you, dear Wilde, are just as salty as they come," the fennec shot back as he began gathering up thin sheets of crinkled wax-paper, using the aluminum they came wrapped in to collapse the mess into one big ball for easy disposal. "But hey, at least you're not bitter."

"Better her than him," the candi conman replied. He blinked his eyes once, twice. "...Man... we are TERRIBLE with food puns aren't we?"

"Like curdled milk," Finnick nodded, grimacing as he realized he let another one off..

Nick sighed at that. "I blame the fact we had too little to eat growing up and then our first job was in fast food," he surmised. "At least, I'm pretty certain that's how Vanilla would reason it."

Giving a nod of his head firm enough that it made his large ears bob, the desert fox had to admit, "You got it in one, Wilde." He shrugged his shoulders before he looked at the open waste basket in the opposite corner of the kitchen. He made a little jump before tossing the small ball of refuse towards it. The crumbled mostly-aluminum ball hit the rim before bouncing in, making the tiny vulpine cheer, "Three points!"

Scoffing, the taller fox quickly argued, "No way! It clearly bounced off the rim. Two points!"

Turning to stare at his partner-in-scamming, the petite vulpine declared, "From this distance! It's easily three points!"

Crossing his arms over his chest, the taller of the pair of predators shook his head. "You know the rules. They state it has to go straight in," Wilde countered, getting a huff from Finnick.

"If it went straight in," the desert fox continued to argue. "It would have been worth five points!"

"I swear to God," Carmelita called out as she entered the kitchen again, now decked out in the full regalia of a Zootopia Police Officer they had seen her in yesterday–including the steel-toed boots she added to it. "You two are like an old married couple!"

Again, the Latina vixen was treated to the sight of the male foxes turning towards her and speaking in unison, "We're heterosexual business partners."

That earned a snort for the woman as she shook her head, causing her hair to wave with the motion. It was still slightly wet but a lot of its volume returned as it got dryer. "Anyway, are you two ready to head out? I believe you said something about getting us some coffee before dropping me off."

"Sure, we... uh..." Nick trailed off as he stared at his fellow red fox, his eyes were drawn to her waist–and not because of her hypnotic hips this time. Instead, they were honing in on the large and rather boxy red weapon holstered on her right hip. "...Is that loaded?"

"Hmm?" She looked down at her right, where her weapon and a set of her own handcuffs were holstered. Raising her head back up, the vixen replied, "I'm going on duty, so of course it's loaded. You never know when you'll need it."

The male fox continued to look down at it before he took a deep breath and then began exhaling slowly. "Yeah. Sure," he said in understanding. It was one thing to have seen that weapon in its case the other day. To see it primed and ready was a whole other experience. "It's just you usually don't see the cops in Zootopia with shock pistols. Muzzles, yes. Tranq guns, sure. Tasers, definitely. But shock pistols are a whole different kettle of fish."

Rolling her light brown eyes, the vulpine woman sighed. "We can talk about it later. Right now, we do need to get going. I have to get to the ZPD on time! So either skip or your coffee run or we leave now!"

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Looking down on the masses gathered in the station from the safety of the second floor, Chief Bogo let off a sigh, causing his already impressive muscular chest to expand and deflate immensely. The lobby was full of mammals, leaving little to no room for movement; the place packed! "I can't believe you're making a media circus of things already," he said to the lion that stood at his right. "Shouldn't you have waited for Officer Montoya to have a chance to get integrated with the station and used to our protocol first?"

A chuckle reverberated in the maned feline's own broad chest. "Relax, Bogo," the leonine bureaucrat replied as he fiddled with his ear-piece in his right ear. He tapped the bud once, then twice with his index finger. "Testing, testing... is this thing on?"

"It's on, Mayor Lionheart!" He heard the chirrup of the cheetah who was managing the station's front desk, despite the static interference the little device picked up as well. "It's crowded down here but I can hear you loud and clear!"

Nodding his head, the lion gruffed out, "Wonderful!" At least his tech was working. Having the ability to take advantage of cues and corrections live was important.

As the Mayor played with his ear-piece, Bogo shook his head. Something about all of this was bothering him. Namely the fact that Officer Montoya had, apparently, tried to check in with the condo but due to some sort of misunderstanding, was booted out. That reminds me, I need to have a talk with that manager sometime, the Police Chief thought to himself. Straightening himself up, the African buffalo then told his fellow mammal, "Mayor Lionheart, I still feel this is a terribly bad idea. We should have taken a moment to at least vet her ourselves, first. Make sure she knows how to publicly speak!"

Turning his attention to the herbivore to his left, the proud feline queried, "Is she or is she not a proud and decorated member of Interpol?"

Nodding his head, the cape buffalo replied, "She is."

"Right," the lion chirruped. "And did that portly cheetah confirm that she does indeed exist?"

Again, the large pret mammal nodded his head. "That he did. We got her signatures on file and he swore up and down it was her," the horned bovidae replied before furrowing his thick eyebrows at the Mayor. "And for the record, his name is Officer Clawhauser. If you're going to remain in office, you best be nice to the boys in blue. Benjamin is well-liked around here."

The opinionated leonine politician snorted. "Of course I'm good to you and the others!" He replied firmly. "I mean, I make sure to give six digits to the policeman's ball every year, as does nearly every member of the city council. The least you could do is trust me to have the best interests of the city in mind!"

The nostrils on the African buffalo's snout flared in response as he let off a loud snort of his own. "I might have believed that if you hadn't been here a week ago pushing this whole Initiative down my throat and begging me to help you make it work."

"Didn't happen," Leodore insisted as he took a moment to adjust his tie once more. "If there's no recording of the event, be it visual or audio, it didn't happen. Therefore, this is merely a completely altruistic campaign on my part to help the needy and disenfranchised mammals of the city and can't be proven otherwise!" He smiled wide, showing the prey mammal his sharp and pearly white teeth for emphasis.

As the predator politician's rhetoric grated on his nerves, Bogo took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Tell me, Mayor," he began firmly. "Do you really think anyone with more than two brain cells to rub together is going to buy that?"

A chuckle reverberated in the suited mammal's throat. "They always do," the Mayor replied rather haughtily. "And when they do, my approval rating is going to jump back to over ninety-percent!" He said with quite the bit of apparent self-assurance. "Because they'll know it was Mayor Leodore Lionheart that made this possible for them!" He rubbed his impressive paws together. "And when they have a police force they can envision themselves being a part of, then I can see if I can get money into other venues: put into a private space program! Imagine it, Bogo! We'll be the first to put a sheep or some other meek prey mammal into space!"

Rolling his eyes, the burly slab of beef decided to get off this topic that was the leonine politican's enthusiastic self-aggrandizement my asking, "Speaking of sheep, where is Assistant Mayor Bellwether?

Opening his mouth to give an answer... the mayor then had to snap his jaws shut as no answer was forthcoming. He blinked his eyes as he thought about it. "...Did I accidentally leave her behind today, leave her under a stack of books, or did I have her run out and get me coffee?" He murmured, trying to remember what he did with Smellwether...

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Standing beside a stretch of long and lonely road by a rusty bus stop sign, a poor petite sheep looked back and forth in either direction of the impressive expanse of asphalt. Bringing her left hand up to the side of her head, she adjusted how her glasses were settled on her face to make sure she got the best focus out of them. "...Hello?" The little lamb called out, wondering what was taking so long. This was the agreed location and time that Mayor Lionheart said he was going to have a chauffer pick her up. She'd been in Bunnyburrow for a week and all she wanted to do was get home and kick her feet up...

...Mostly because she wanted to make sure SHE was in the best shape when she gave him the bad news. "I still can't believe I only got the one applicant..." Still, Bellwether could see that Miss Hopps was rather enthusiastic about the opportunity. Hopefully the little bunny could make it through the rigors of the Zootopia Police Academy.

"Hello~oooo?" Dawn called out again before a tumbleweed went blowing past her along the stretch of deserted road. Lowering her head, she let off a depressed sigh. "Oh muttonchops..."

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Shrugging his shoulders, Leodore scoffed, "Bah! It's not all that important! I'm sure she'll show up eventually!" He rubbed his hands together a second time as he looked at the clock that was part of the wall, settled above the set of glass doors that made up the main entrance of the police station. "Ah... almost time to start. You wish to open this up, Bogo or shall I?"

The Chief of Police snorted once more at the blasé attitude of the politician. "Normally I would but I have the common sense to NOT get tied up in this," he said in all seriousness. "If you want me to, I can head down after you to field questions but this is your shit show. It's up to you to take the center ring of this three ring circus and make it work."

The mayor clapped his hands together. "Excellent!" Now he wouldn't have to share any credit with the uppity herbivore either! He chortled at such luck before turning his gaze towards the city's police commissioner and smiled. "Wish me luck."

Considering that for a moment, the horned herbivore smiled. "...I wish you everything you have coming," the ebony-skinned bovidae replied in all honesty in a calm and gentle tone that belied the true and devious intent of said words.

The back-handed compliment went over the Lion's head. "Why thank you kindly, Chief Bogo!" He chirruped as he began to walk away from the burly bovine. Making his way towards the closest staircase, he descended it as elegantly and graceful as his feline nature allowed him to. His head held high with perfect poise as he heard the sounds of cameras going off along with the flashes of light that managed to shine in his field of vision. It was never a bad idea to take every opportunity one could for a photo-op. And best to make sure they get my good side, he thought with a bit of mirth as he reached the bottom of the staircase.

Mammals tried to get in close, to get the lion to speak about the reason of the conference before it was time but he held his lips firmly shut with a handsome smile, taking comfort in the officers on the ground floor who worked to hold back the press and help him make way to the stage that had been sent up at the left corner of the police station's reception area. Again, more flashes of light went off as the man strutted as if he owned the place. Eventually, he reached the steps at the right of the stage and made his way up before to stand on the platform before heading to take his place behind the desk that had been set up for him central on the raised surface.

Looking over the podium, Lionheart smiled. There were so many professional mammals of the media today for this press release. It seemed every channel he reached out to with the offer, in turn acted in kind and had sent some form of representation to his conference. All around him were cameras and microphones from Channel 2 News, Channel Cinco Noticias, News at 9, Eye on 11, Channel 13 News, Paws on the Pulse, the Sahara Square Broadcasting Service, Z-TV News, ZNN, and many, many others. It was a perfect turnout to help spread that news that would ensure him victory at the next election. His eyes darted to the clock, awaiting for the hours hand to reach the eight. He would start neither before nor after but on the mark. Punctuality was a sigh of professionalism!

When it did, the large feline brought his paws down atop the podium, being careful not to disturb any of the microphones there. "Greetings, ladies and gentlemammals of the Press. I want to first take a moment to personally thank you for gathering here at ZPD's Precinct One at Savanna Central, because today is history! Now for those who may not be in the know, particularly any audience on a national or even global level, allow me a moment to introduce myself..." seeing the various animals with their cameras flashing and camcorders rolling, the lion gave a beatific smile. "I am Leodore Lionheart, Fifty-Second Mayor of Zootopia and the first Predator to hold that office in our fine city. I know I am blessed to have managed to reach such a lofty position thanks to the efforts and sacrifices of my own blood, sweat, and tears... but my presence here as the leader of this city isn't just the promise of a better tomorrow, it's a beacon of a new age. The citizens see that a predator can successfully hold down office and demand that we give others the best opportunities as well. And I am happy to say, I am proud to deliver."

The leonine politician allowed the reporters to murmur amongst themselves before he continued. "Zootopia has always claimed to be the place where, 'anyone can be anything'. I am pleased to announce today, we begin honoring that promise with the Mammal Inclusion Initiative." He paused once more, smiling as the animals were jumping, trying to get his attention, to have him indulge further information as to what THAT meant. Got them eating out of my paw, he thought with delight before speaking aloud once more. "The Mammal Inclusion Initiative is a new act, signed into law by myself and the city council, which will provide all animals with high-ranking opportunities! It will ensure equality among predator and prey citizens alike in the job market. In particular, this policy will give a much-needed leg-up the members of Zootopian society who have long-since been disadvantaged, whether historically or even currently! These poor mammals have been handed lemons for so long without being able to make lemonade! Well, it's high-time we make life take those lemons back! Today, we get mad and demand to see life's manager! We make life rue the day it thought it could give these poor oppressed predators and innocent, innocuous prey lemons! Today we burn life's house down! With the lemons! Combustible lemons that will burn life's house down!"

There was quiet murmuring of confusion as most of the press didn't know what to make of that.

Blinking his eyes, the lion brought his right hand up, coughing into it to both clear his throat as well as draw the attention of the media once more. "Sorry about that. I sometimes get carried away in my passion," he said to excuse his little outburst. Seeing all the eyes and cameras on him, the Mayor continued once more. "Now I know some of you may be scared. After all, from what it sounds like, we're letting animals take a stab at jobs they might not be qualified for physically or mentally! Positions in society that their species, at first glance, makes them appear outwardly ill-suited to!" He spoke up, knowing that was how he felt too. "Well, just remember this. As a wise mammal once said, 'there's nothing to fear but fear itself... and maybe some mild to moderate jellification of bones'. To borrow from the voodoo sham known as psychiatry, it sounds to me like many of us gathered here are partaking in what they'd call, 'projection'." He crossed his arms over his chest and looked over the crowd of news reporters, be they television, radio, internet, or printed paper. Leodore then continued, "Now, I make no qualms about it. I'm no psychiatrist but I do know this! These are the mammals who not only helped mold this city but history! They were with us when we stormed the beaches during Zoo War II, beat the Red Menace to space, and brought back the gold at the Animalympics numerous times, snatching it from other nations and allowing us to wallow in our pride! We did it together! It's you and me against the world! So remember, when it comes to giving these poor, disenfranchised mammals a shot, it isn't about why–it's about why not!"

Up above and out of sight of the masses, Chief Bogo shook his head as the members of the media cheered the lion on. Despite his distrust of politicians, even the herbivore had to admit, the predator knew how to play a crowd perfectly. It was almost like he was a former professional wrestler, the head of a science company, or something along those lines that required a lot of public speaking or manipulating a crowd of mindless mammals.

However, before he could mull over the matter further, that was when Bogo caught sight of one of his policemen making their way into the throngs of mammals that filled the lobby from underneath the overhang of the second floor where he was settled, signifying this person was entering from further in the building. Odd. He could have sworn all active duty officers were to help maintain the peace at this conference. Everyone available was already accounted for and no one should have been returning from any assignments: they hadn't even had a chance to have a proper meeting in the bullpen outside of roll call this morning because of the damned press conference.

And that was when it dawned on the Chief of Police. This wasn't one of his usual officers. This was a uniformed female all right, one that was making her way for the stage. He narrowed his eyes and tried to get a better look. Idriis knew he had weaker eyesight than he would have liked to be sure–it came with growing older– but he would have sworn that woman looked like she was a… a...

His eyes widened in understanding and horror as he realized just what was being dropped into their laps. "Shit!" He cursed heatedly under his breath as he made his way for the staircase in an effort to cut the woman off before she could be noticed and hopefully avert any disaster.

Bringing a hand up to the side of his head and over the ear-bud, the leonine mayor of the city nodded his head. "Ah! It would seem the guest of honor has arrived," he chimed merrily. He took a deep breath before continuing, "We of Zootopia are most blessed that the Mammal Inclusion Initiative is being kicked off by a very proud canid woman of Latin background. Multilingual and a known globetrotter, she has solved crimes in many places in Europe such as England, France, and Italy, to Asia where she cracked cases in Russia, India, and China, to stopping illegal acts in the island nations of Australia and Haiti, and even busted some baddies in our own neck of the woods in the Zoonited States and Canada! There is no one more adapt to transverse between all the Districts of Zootopia than the paw-picked protégé of one of Interpol's very own top Commissioners! Ladies and gentlemammals of the press, I am proud to introduce you all to Inspector Carmelita Montoya—FOX!?"

With the exception of the rotund cheetah at the front desk who applauded her as she entered into the fray, everyone gathered in the room went silent as a tableau of stillness fell over the lobby of the police station, cameras held high and rolling as, even as their operators where frozen in place. Every animal from officer to reporter to politician was focused solely on the woman that made her way through the crowd as she honed in on the stage. She was tall and feminine canid that some would have thought to be a coyote or even a smaller wolf at first glance. But the colors of her pelt, the fluffiness of her tail, and even the scent–for those who were close enough and had the noses for it–knew without a shadow of a doubt that this was a fox.

A uniformed and armed fox who was decked with all the authority of the Zootopia Police Department behind her badge.

The vixen continued to transverse the room until she made it to the right side of the stage, climbing up the steps that creaked under the firm footfalls of the thickly-soled, steel-toed boots that adorned her lengthy, feminine legs. That she didn't stop but made her way to the podium, confirmed that she was indeed the woman that Mayor Lionheart had been waxing poetically about. Without pause, the Latina vulpine made her way between the larger lion and the stand, climbing up the ladder bars built into the back before sliding her feet into the foot-hold platform that was at chest-height with the larger feline. Her hands came to the top of the podium to help steady herself as she looked out at the awe-struck audience.

Standing at the mid-way point of the staircase that travelled along the left wall of the station Chief Bogo stared awe-stuck... before needing to clamp his right hand around his mouth to keep from letting out a bout of nervous laughter. Just freaking perfect, the muscular bovine thought with a mixture of amusement and bitterness. Figures my old friend would do something like this to me. He was too late to stop the farce from happening so he might as well just enjoy the show. Hopefully the cape buffalo and his officers would be up to controlling the fallout that was going to result from this.

"Hola," the woman finally greeted, her voice coming out over the speakers. "As your mayor has stated, my name is Carmelita Montoya Fox." She looked over her shoulder at the man for a moment and wondered why his eyes had dilated into pinpricks before shrugging it off as awe at her professional presence and continued, "I admit, I've never been that comfortable in front of a camera but I will do my best to speak to you today." Straightening up, the vixen gazed out over the crowd for a moment at all the mammals gathered. "I am a fourth generation member of law enforcement, with peace-keeping being a tradition that actually goes back three-thousand years in my family, originating in Ancient Egypt where my furthest ancestor of recorded history, Foxhotep the First, was Captain of the Pharoah's Royal Guard. At a young age, I studied at the Sleuth Academy in Madrid and graduated at the top of my class before going off to train at the Trinidad & Tobago Police Academy at the Port of Spain in my home-country. After graduating from the Police Academy with High Honors, I began working for the Investigative Services Division of Interpol, under the guidance of then-Inspector James Barkley... who today is currently the Commissioner-in-Chief of the Paris Branch of Interpol. He was like a second father to me and taught me much about the ins and outs of the field, helping to guide me when it came to handling rules and regulations as well as to be an even better person than I already was."

Taking a deep breath the woman looked out over the crowd. "I know that in Zootopia, the motto is, 'anyone can be anything'. Let's be completely honest though. Such is simply NOT the case..." she practically clenched her fingers against the top of the podium before continuing, "Within the first twenty-four hours of arriving to this city, I found myself victim of assault... twice... vandalism in form of destruction of personal property... and heard more specist remarks than the rest of my life combined! You mammals put on a pretty picture for the public but deep down? You're still animals and you let your instincts guide you."

She straightened up again, staring out into the lobby, at those gathered for the press conference. "The Mammal Inclusion Initiative had to be passed into and enforced by law because the mammals here can't seem to remember that it's been a half century since the Zoonited States' Civil Rights Movement. This city needs that push to get with the times on both an emotional and mental level. I'm not going to mince words: you can put up all the bright lights, coat structures in splashes of warm colors, slap positive bumper stickers on your cars, and publicly play all the pop music you want as loud as you can... but if you can't help a fellow mammal in need because of their species? If you hold negative assumptions about other species tight to your chest and view stereotypes as gospel truth? Then it's no wonder a new law had to be initiated!"

Seeing numerous sets of animals' eyes go wide with shock at the fox's–rather accurate and truthful –heated accusations, the Hispanic policewoman continued. "Now, I know this may be scary for most of you, as you're so used to getting your way or seeing things done, 'as always' but that doesn't mean others are any less deserving. Once upon a time, when the truth about the shock collars came about... yeah, remember those?" She looked around the room. "Zootopia was more than willing to give up the status quo you held a literal death grip around the necks of the predators with to get with the times!"

She took a deep breath. "And yet... it's still the same story: yours is a society based on a form of oppression. Only now you go by, 'survival of the fittest' with the physically biggest and strongest members of society dictating the way things are to the point your city actually excommunicated an entire phylum of animal species for profit! And worse, you still go about stereotyping the animals that remained and treat them by such labels. Filthy raccoons, smelly skunks, shifty weasels, dumb bunnies, nutty squirrels, timid sheep... sly foxes..." she snorted. "All these and more play in your minds as that, 'gospel truth' I mentioned earlier."

Crossing her arms over her chest, the woman said, "It's time to break you out of that ignorance you built up around your minds like walls with a dose of hard reality and basic facts! I am a fox, yes, but my history speaks for me. I am a successful policewoman and damn proud of it! If you have any problems with that, then you can take solace in knowing..." she smiled. "That's just how people regularly feel about the police! I am Interpol Inspector Carmelita Montoya Fox, now Officer Carmelita Montoya Fox of the Zootopia Police Department as per the ruling of the Mammal Inclusion Initiative. In the words of the famed actor Sylvester Stallion: I am the Law!"

It took a solid five seconds before the lobby of the police department exploded in an uproar, voices rising as cameras began flashing in rapid succession. All mammals of the media were loud in expressing their confusion, the impassioned questions they screamed at the top of their lungs drowning out one another. Still, despite the disturbed state of the agitated animals, a number of inquiries did manage to be heard above the chaos.

"Miss Fox, what do you mean about, 'specist'?"

"What do you mean you are the law?"

"Why bring up old history of the shock collars?"

"What's this about a police officer being assaulted?"

"What about the vandalism?"

"I'm interested to know what your measurements are!"

"Shut up, Carl!"

"Mayor Lionheart, are you okay? You look like you're having a heart-attack!"

"Who the heck brings up such disgusting remarks at a news conference? Doesn't she know proper decorum?"

"What's this about a species being excommunicated?"

All the voices that went up at once made it difficult for Carmelita to keep track of, but she did her best–particularly to answer the questions that mattered. "I remind you because you still act like people are still wearing them! That they cannot retaliate to whatever disgust you heap upon them! And yes, crimes have been committed and I will see to it they are sorted out." As the ruckus began to get louder and drown out the speakers, she had to shout into the microphone, "AND I AM THE LAW BECAUSE OF EVERYTHING I HAVE DONE IN MY EIGHT-YEAR CAREER TO UPHOLD AND DO RIGHT BY IT!"

The feedback that screeched out over the speakers made everyone gathered cringe, but at least they went silent as many brought paws and hooves up to protect their ears.

As the room began to settle down once more, Carmelita then more calmly answered, "And no. You cannot know my measurements."

"Darn it!" A voice called from the back.

"I said to shut up, Carl!"

Nodding her head, the vixen was about to continue to offer to answer more questions if the audience remained calm... only to let off a yelp as the Mayor suddenly grabbed her. Struggling with the woman as he held her underneath right arm, the lion was quick to declare, "This press conference is over!" Before he turned tail and ran, the members of the press' voices all raising once again and becoming even louder, wanting more information than had been given, numerous members of the ZPD needing to get involved among the throngs of the media to keep order.

Taking a deep breath, Chief Bogo shook his head as he watched the Mayor come up the stairs with their face of the Initiative in tow. And now he's going to blame me for this fiasco. He thought to himself. Oh well, at least it was somewhat amusing. No wonder we couldn't find her, a 'Chihuahua'! HA! Figures a tiny mutt couldn't be in Interpol. As it was, it looked like there was going to be a much needed conversation behind closed doors... ASAP. "And all I wanted to do was just get the officers in the bullpen..."

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Author's Notes: First off, I would like to give a shout out and thanks to Nicolaswilde, who some of you may know better for his "Zistopia" Tumblr blog and web-comic. When I was in the planning stages of this story and talking to him about including aspects and ideas he came up with his story, he gave me permission to use and do certain things... including using the dream sequence Nick had. I changed some things about it but it still contains that core message that came from his Tumblr web-comic.

A remembrance of an old wives' tale/stereotype. When foxes find their mates, they end up SCREAMING their names...

Really puts a new spin on all those times Carmelita was roaring out Sly's name, doesn't it?

And yes, thank you Zistopia for the list of Wilde's ex-girlfriends! Poor Nick has a real tough time staying in a stable relationship, it seems.

I also received an interesting question from someone I shall keep anonymous for now as they asked me via PM rather than the reviews. Still, it was an interesting question.

"I enjoy your story a lot but why so much focus on dreams and phones?"

And excellent question, which shows my readers are starting to pick up on the message of the story.

And that message is simple: Communication.

Whether we're talking with each other or over distances with our technology, the whole point of this story and even the movie was that communication is one of the most important aspects of life and getting along. This whether a person's subconscious is trying to tell them something through dreams or they are getting things done with a cell phone or in person, we see things get done through communication... and how crazy things can get when we don't properly do so.

Also... holy shnikes! This story for featured on the Zootopia News Network! What an honor!

Now some of you may have noticed that this was still a pretty lengthy chapter. Well, I am sad to announce, as much as I prefer to keep to a weekly schedule, I need to take an extra week again. My home's services have been incredibly wonky and work has been coming down harder on me. I barely had the opportunity to get THIS chapter ready in time.

Next update will be Saturday, August 6th! Hope you all enjoy and keep on reading.