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.

8. Law and Disorder

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 & Kacey Antelope

Chapter 8: Law and Disorder

The door to Police Chief Bogo's office was pushed open roughly; the lion mayor's impressive left paw still on the frame and the opaque glass as he stormed into the room. The mane-adorned feline turned his torso to the left in an attempt to slam the door shut behind him in his rush, only to have the herbivore who worked in said ZPD office come up behind to catch the wood and viridian-tinted glass barrier in mid-swing along the edge of it with the hoof-like digits of his hand. "Be careful with this, Mr. Mayor," the cape buffalo said in all seriousness. "Slamming the door will break it!" The way he snapped out at the felidae made it clear the thick-skinned prey mammal was speaking from personal experience.

As he Turned about to glare to the herbivore, Leodore squeezed his right arm in an attempt to keep ahold of the vixen that was fighting against the tight grasp he held on her. Ignoring the woman's heated cursing of, 'gilipollas' and, 'el cabrón' the suited individual waited for the chief of police to enter and fully close the door before he told the African buffalo, "Oh we have bigger problems than you would with a broken door!" His lip curled back in a snarl as the fur on the back of his neck stood on end. "We have this scheming fox trying to ruin us with a scam!" After all, there was no way in a hell a shifty fox could hold an honest job! "I refuse to believe Interpol would send us a vixen of all things! They are untrustworthy cowards looking out only for themselves!" He screamed at the police chief, clearly in denial about the situation.

At hearing the mayor's energetic assassination of her character, the woman's temper flared. "I am not an untrustworthy coward, let alone a stupid fox, you egoísta hijo de puta!" She shouted at the tall feline's muscled backside. "I am Inspector Carmelita Montoya Fox! A decorated veteran member and agent of the International Police's special investigations! Now put me down! PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!" She screamed as she flailed out her legs, kicking them violently as she squirmed and twisted, trying to free herself from the large arm that kept her bound. She pressed her hands firmly against the Mayor's right elbow and back lumbar region, forcefully sliding herself out of the hold the larger mammal had on her.

Feeling the woman starting to slip free of his clenching arm, a frown crossed the Zootopia bureaucrat's muzzle. "Oh no you don't!" Leodore snapped angrily as he crossed his left arm over his chest and firmly grasped the base of the woman's tail, tugging on it roughly and pulling her back into place; ignoring the woman's scream of pain as he tugged on the smaller mammal's spine. "We are getting to the bottom of this, little missy! That I guarantee! And I don't want to hear any more of that foreign taco talk either! I want answers in Gouda-darned English!" He emphasized his point by forcefully pulling on the vixen's tail by the base again.

Flinching at the sound of the woman's pained scream, Chief Bogo's inhaled deeply, his nostrils flaring in rising fury. His thick eyebrows furrowed in anger, changing his field of vision into that of a glare on his already stoic features. The mayor's rough mammal-handling of the female red fox was intolerable! "Mayor Lionheart! Stop this stupidity at once and put that woman down!" He snapped in a commanding fashion befitting his rank as chief of the ZPD. "I promise you, we'll get some answers but there is no reason to be physical with a uniformed officer of the law!" Needless to say, personal experience made Idriis more than willing to give the Hispanic vulpine the benefit of the doubt. Considering what he knew of the old badger, he wouldn't be all that surprised if this whole thing was one of James' life lessons the man often went on about. The bovidae just needed to get cool heads to prevail so they could figure things out.

The lion scoffed as he flexed his muscles and squeezed his paw, effectively tightening his grip on the woman's tail even further, keeping her from getting away. "Uniformed, yes! But a police officer? NOT A CHANCE!" He snapped at the horned herbivore. "Now, you get your handcuffs and muzzle on her and keep your Taser at the ready! We'll interrogate this no-good slutty piece of foxy tr~RAAA~AAAAAA~AAAWWWWRR!" Leodore roared out in pain as the steel-toe cap of the woman's right boot came into contact with his right knee with a surprising amount of strength behind it, forcing the leonine politician to release her as he fell forward onto the green-carpeted floor of the Chief of Police's office, the woman scattering away on all fours for a moment to quickly put distance between the two of them.

Needless to say, the ebony-skinned herbivore's eyes widened in utter shock and disbelief at the spectacle before him. The Chief of Police was frozen where he stood as he watched the lion drop to the ground like a sack of potatoes, taken down by a mammal not even half his size with only a well-placed kick. "Mayor Lionheart!" He was finally able to gasp out in surprise as his mind caught up with what was happening. The muscular prey mammal gazed down at the fallen form of Zootopia's elected official; the feline curled up into a fetal position, both paws over his knee. Getting down onto his right knee, the bovidae policeman gently grasped the politician's shoulder, rolling the man onto his back to make it easier for him to breathe. "Are you all right?"

Hissing through the spaces between his fangs, the lion's eyes snapped wide open, the iris of his brown pupils feline slits of rage before they rounded out as he got over the pain. "She kicked me!" He snapped out before needing to breathe quickly through gritted teeth to work through the pain. "SHE KICKED ME IN THE KNEE!" He was looking about from where he lay, trying to catch sight of the woman. "Where is she!? WHERE IS THAT DAMNED YIFFER!?" He had every intention of throwing the book at that bitch when he got his paws on her.

Hearing that comment made the woman stand up from where she had gone for cover behind the desk; ignoring the pain that pulsed through her backside from the tip of her tail to the base of her skull as she did so. Adrenaline allowed the female red fox to climb up into the cushioned faux-leather chair before she took a stand atop Bogo's desk, claiming the high ground as it were. The Latina policewoman withdrew her shock pistol from the holster on the right side of her hip and took aim at the downed mammal, pressing her finger down on the trigger and firmly holding it there. Such an action allowed the Charge Shot function of the firearm to kick in, the weapon gathering energy for an impressive blast that would fire off once she released her finger. "Mayor Leodore Lionheart!" She shouted the man's title and full name to grab his attention. "You are under arrest for contempt, obscenity, assaulting an officer of the law, sexual abuse of an officer, and whatever the hell else I can think to legally charge you with once I calm down!"

Both men went wide-eyed at both the humming of power and the accusatory declaration of the vulpine woman. Bogo raised his head to see the lady standing there with her legs slightly spread and arms held high with the firearm in front of her; a crackle of electricity dancing across the dual green muzzle bulbs on the weapon's barrel. "Now hold on a minute, fox!" He shouted as he brought his hand up, motioning for the woman to stop. "You're only going to make things worse!" The mammal told the smaller predator in all seriousness. "You can't just go slapping the mayor with criminal charges!" Tempting as it was, such was career suicide!

The vixen ignored the water buffalo and instead continued to read the lion his Miranda Rights as even if Zootopia was a sovereign state, they were still technically on ZS soil. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have a right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you."

The politician's jaw dropped and landed on his muscular chest from how he laid there with his head craned forward to get a look at the vixen. This... this was inconceivable! He was the mayor for crying out loud! He was Zootopia's elected authority! How dare this little scam artist try to pull one over him? Shaking his head firmly and causing the many strands of fur that made up his mane to flutter, the Mayor began to shout, "Listen here, you—"

"You do not have the legal authority to process the man!" Bogo snapped, interrupting the mayor to keep him from making the situation devolve even further. He then stood up from where he'd been kneeling beside the downed feline predator, his eyes drawn to the angry glare of the heavily breathing vulpine woman. Now at his full height, the African buffalo crossed his arms over his chest, taking on an imposing presence. "I am willing to believe you are Officer Montoya but—"

"Fox," Carmelita spoke up suddenly, interrupting the buffalo. Seeing she had the bovidae's attention, she corrected him, "My name is Inspector Carmelita Montoya Fox." She narrowed her eyes, meeting the man glare-for-glare as she refused to back down. "And who's going to stop me from charging him? Considering that I'm still an Interpol officer, I'm pretty certain I can get Lionheart here to face a completely fair trial nowhere near here!"

Despite being coated in a lovely golden tan pelt, the fur around the politician's face managed to pale; the action most visible on the scars that went across the bridge of his nose. "You can't do that!" The mayor protested... only to let out a yelp as the gun seemed to spark in her hands as the longer she held the trigger down, the brighter a charge it maintained.

Glaring down at the leonine bureaucrat that looked ready to piss his pants, the woman firmly stated, "Yes. I. Can."

"No you can't!" The mayor protested again, scooting his rear along the floor with both of his paws in an effort to put some distance between himself and the glowing weapon she held. "You can't do this! I'm the first predator mayor of the city! I have huge popularity here! Huge!"

"As much as I hate to admit it, he's right," Chief Bogo spoke up and got between the, understandably, irate vixen and the fearful mayor. "Miss Fox, if you don't discharge that weapon and put it down, this could cause some serious problems for all of us." Well, admittedly less for him but he suspected that if he didn't do something about it, there would be a massive blowback coming his way in the near future. Stupid politics, the big guy mentally groaned.

The vulpine policewoman stared up at the much taller cape buffalo, able to meet his gaze thanks to standing atop his desk. Although the Hispanic red fox kept her weapon drawn, she lowered it slightly. She had no intention of firing upon a fellow officer but she felt it was best to keep it out in case either the mayor or the chief did something very stupid in the next five minutes. "That's part of why you have me ready to call Barkley and have the man extricated. After what I've experienced over the past seventy-two hours I'm not all that trusting of your city's judicial system, let alone its higher-ups in general."

Closing his eyes, the ebony-skinned prey mammal took another deep breath, making his massive muscular chest expand to the point it stressed all the buttons of his shirt to nearly the busting point before he exhaled and allowed the material of his police dress-shirt to relax. Opening his brown eyes, he met the woman's own chocolate gaze again albeit with a much calmer expression this time. "Look, I can understand your anger. Those ear-splitting howls of pain were rather impossible to ignore." He brought both his hands up in a warding manner, trying to placate the irritated woman. "But please, put the weapon away so we can discuss things like civil mammals. I promise that nothing is going to happen to you, all right?"

"Like hell nothing is happening to her!" The lion snapped from where he sat on the floor. "Damn it, Bogo! Take the muzzle off your belt and put it on her! Even if she doesn't try shooting at us, I don't trust that conniving little tart to not attempt biting one of our faces off once we let our guard down!"

Rolling his eyes, the large and muscular bovidae mentally groaned as said tart growled and pointed her gun once more, her finger still holding the trigger down to where it looked ready to blow out a wall in his office once she released it. "Stop helping," he deadpanned to the mayor. His eyes meeting the irritated vulpine officer's, he stated in gentler tone of voice, "Miss Fox, if you would please...?" He motioned for her to put the gun down, hoping to diffuse her temper.

Needless to say, the woman wasn't relenting. "Take two steps to the side so I can deal with this el tonto personally, then we can talk." Carmelita's voice was tinged with anger and her eyes seemed to be glowing as she growled in a predatory fashion.

The larger mammal felt a tad nervous as he realized said glimmer in her eyes was actually the reflection of the power sparking at the front of her shock pistol. "Officer Fox, please..." he said in a soft yet commanding tone, now using the woman's name and rank. "I understand the mayor says and does stupid things. You can't blame him for sticking his foot in his mouth. He's a politician. That's just what politicians do!"

"Hey!" The lion snapped indignantly from his place on the floor as his massive paws stroked back and forth along his right knee, trying to ease the throbbing pain that was shooting throughout the limb from where she put a possible hairline fracture in his kneecap with that solid plate of steel she had on her boot for toe-protection.

Rolling his eyes at the feline predator's continued irritability, the African buffalo offered, "Look, just hit discharge on that thing–and I don't mean by releasing the trigger," he quickly added. "Once the blast is dissipated, we'll calmly call James Barkley and have him sort this out, all right?" For Chief Bogo such would also be the clincher to discover the slightest off-chance that this was maybe, hopefully some kind of intricate fox con job.

The woman met the larger mammal's gaze for a moment, just wanting nothing more than to fry the leonine bureaucrat and haul his ass overseas to an Interpol facility for trial and incarceration. "Fine..." Carmelita finally agreed and lowered her weapon, pressing a button on the side of the handle with her thumb to allow the shock pistol's charge to release harmlessly, the front of the weapon's muzzle no longer shining with electricity. "But one crack, just ONE more specist crack from him... and I'll break his kneecaps."

"YOU ALREADY DID!" Mayor Lionheart yelled, rubbing his right knee to soothe the pain.

The vulpine officer couldn't help but snort in response. 'Please! If I did, you would be screaming bloody murder, cursing me out, and talking incoherently," Carmelita countered. She had broken more than a few kneecaps in self-defense to know the general reaction animals had to such damage, particularly the larger ones. "Probably vomiting all over yourself too while your face was covered in an immense amount of tears and mucous."

Bogo raised an eyebrow at that response. "Sounds like someone has broken a lot of kneecaps in her day..." he murmured quietly. That was definitely worrisome. Being a City-State, the ZPD had its own rules, regulations, and statistics but with their land being situated within the Zoonited States, that meant there was a prevalent bit of stereotyping going on. And the chief of police would rather not have to deal with any civilian blowback from her doing that to anyone.

Finally holstering her weapon, the Latina vulpine replied, "More than I would care to admit, el cúmbila," she said in all seriousness as she stepped back, walking towards the top left corner of the furniture. She motioned to the phone on his desk with a wave of her right hand. "Do you want to make the call or should I?" She queried as she pat her pants pocket with her other hand, signaling to him that yes, she did have her cell phone with her.

"...I'll make the call." He replied as he came closer, taking a moment to rub the side his head in aggravation. Oh, this was going to be a long day. He just knew it. Still, it was best to just get on with it rather than to draw out the despair. So grasping the phone's handset and pulling it free from its cradle, he pressed one of the three red buttons below the number pad; that first bulbous square button shining red as it was pushed in.

Soon, the sounds of both the familiar voice of the chubby front desk attendant and what appeared to be a riot came over the line–background noise the cape buffalo realized match the audible thrumming that could be heard through the door of his office. "Yes, Chief! What can I do!?" The voice spoke up loudly into the phone to be heard over the audible background interference.

"Officer Clawhauser!" The police chief snapped, booming his voice out. "I need you to bring up the phone registry and—"

"Sorry chief!" The happy-go-lucky officer of the front desk spoke up, interrupting the man. "I can't hear you over all this ruckus! Everyone's going bananas down here and we're swamped with trying to keep the peace!"

Furrowing his eyebrows Bogo growled in annoyance. Well so much for having the man look up the call history of the station to pull up the Commissioner-in-Chief's number. "Fine, just keep people from breaking stuff."

There was a loud crash heard over the phone. "Sorry, someone broke one of the security cameras."

The horned herbivore twitched. "Don't let anyone get hurt."

"EEEK!" A screech sounded out over the phone.

"Someone fell over and got stepped on!" Came the cheetah's cry of despair.

Bogo twitched. How much worse could this get? "Don't let anyone—"

"IT BURNS!"

A surprised gasp of Officer Clawhauser sounded out over the line before the cheetah snapped, "Gotta go! Someone accidentally set themselves on fire!"

A perplexed expression of awe dawned over the muscular herbivore's face before he slammed the handset back onto the cradle. At the looks the other two mammals gave him, all he could answer was, "If I kept going, somehow a tornado would have struck and it would all be my fault." He shook his head in disbelief before turning his attention back to Carmelita. "Miss Fox, would you please be so kind as to use your cell phone and make that call? Things are too hectic outside right now for me to get any assistance from the officers." He couldn't help but wonder if perhaps it wasn't time to actually look into a secretary of his own. After all, Dawn Bellwether was most helpful to Mayor Lionheart. He could use that level of assistance.

Nodding her head in understanding and sympathy to the man's plight with the chaos that both surrounded and filled the station, the woman withdrew her cell phone and used her thumb to move through menus. Eventually she was able to bring up her contact list where she went straight for her boss. The vixen then pressed her thumb down on the listing, before she then brought her other hand to the front of the screen, clicking a button and turning it to speaker mode as the first ring sounded out. The vulpine then reached her arm forward to the cape buffalo, offering the cellular phone for the larger officer to take.

Gently taking hold of the woman's phone–a smaller model than he was used to–Bogo held it before him so he could look down at the communications and media device. A part of him was actually now hoping more than ever that this was some fox scam so at least the media and city would have someone to blame all the insanity happening downstairs on!

Hence, why the buff bovine was both upset and relieved when he heard the familiar voice of his friend James Barkley answer on the other end of the line. "Hello, Inspector Fox," the voice chimed out in greeting. "How is everything going over in Zootopia?"

Exhaling deeply, the African buffalo spoke up, "Actually James, it's me. Chief Bogo."

"Ah!" The badger on the other end gasped in delighted surprise. "Good to hear from you Big Driis! I take if you've finally met my protégé? What do you think of Carmelita?"

The horned herbivore's left eye visibly twitched. "Oh... let's just say Officer Fox has made quite the entrance..." he growled out.

Jovial laughter sounded out from the other end of the line. "Ah! So you have met her! What do you think? Perfect for your Mammal Inclusion Initiative, right?"

Before the muscular side of beef could reply to that, Mayor Lionheart sat up as he roared out in aggravation, "YOU SENT US A FOX!"

There was only silence on the other end of the line for a moment. Finally, the voice of the badger came back on, speaking in an innocent, dulcet tone. "Is there a problem with that? I mean, I could have sworn Zootopia was an enlightened beacon of equality and opportunity for the rest of the world."

The bovidae police chief frowned at the tone his old mentor took with him. "Don't play dumb with me, Barkley. We both know that I wasn't expecting a fox of all things to show up."

The man on the other side sighed. "Look, I had no interest in correcting your misconceptions; that much is true. However, the simple fact is, you were the one to make those misconceptions, not me. Now, tell me, old friend... how have things been with her showing up? I'm certain that there's been no trouble right?" He knew that if Carmelita did something rather... insane... that he would have probably hear about it by now.

"SHE KICKED ME IN THE KNEE!" The leonine politician shouted out in righteous indignation.

Her eyes narrowing into a glare, the canid cop placed her left hand on her hip and snapped out, "He assaulted me first, Barkley! I'm going to need to see a chiropractor after the way he tried to pull my spine out!"

The Mayor of Zootopia's eyes widened in shock at the female fox's blatantly false–in his opinion–accusation. "Now see here! I did no such thing!"

Feeling the hair stand up on the back of her neck at such blatant disregard for his appalling treatment of her, the Hispanic red fox's eyes practically blazed as she glared at him with unbridled fury. "Yes you did!" The vixen screamed back.

Huffing, the leonine bureaucrat maintained his innocence with, "No one saw it, no one recorded it, therefore it didn't happen. Security cameras might have seen me proactively escort you offstage but there was never any assault let alone rough handling caught on tape."

Her left ear twitching in irritation, the woman stared down at the asshole politician. "Ah! But you see, by that same bit of logic, you can't prove I ever kicked you in the knee."

"THERE ARE WITNESSES HERE!" Lionheart snarled as he raised his left arm and pointed at the police chief. "BOGO HERE CAN TESTIFY!"

While what she was about to do was a low blow that would have normally made her angry with herself for even considering it a valid option, the vixen found she didn't have the sympathy to not use it thanks to everything these mammals put her through. "Yes, and I'm a Hispanic woman," Carmelita countered. "People of Western culture, particularly the court of law, will be far more sympathetic to me than they would a straight male mammal of the one-percent." She took her hand off of her side and crossed her arms over her chest. "And besides, if you count Bogo as a witness, then you should remember that he also witnessed you assaulting me!"

"No he didn't!" The lion was quick to argue. "Zootopia City Hall's Seal and the signatures of the Town Treasurer and myself are on his paychecks!" Granted they were digitally signed but that was still his name on their pay-slips! "He knows better than to otherwise bite the hand that feeds him!" He pointed out stoically. "Ergo, we have a witness for police brutality!" He raised his right hand, waving it energetically. "POLICE BRUTALITY!"

"...Well then..." the badger's voice finally came over the phone again. "Sounds like you're in a bit of a pickle there, Big Driis. Being torn between a blowhard politician and my temperamental protégé. Oh I do not envy you!"

His shoulders sagging, the herbivore brought his left hooved hand up to his face, rubbing his eyes in an effort to avert the migraine he could feel coming. "I'm caught between a proverbial if not literal rock and a hard place." Taking his hand off of his long face, the policeman asked, "Is there anything you can do to smooth things over? I mean, if I give the phone back to her, would you please talk some sense into Carmelita? I can handle the mayor but..." he looked over to the aggravated woman, taking a moment to choose his words carefully. "I don't have the experience to successfully assuage her temperament due to lack of previous interaction with Officer Fox."

A chuckle sounded over the phone. "Well said, M'Bogo my boy..." the older mustelidae's light-hearted laughter continued a bit more before he could bring himself to speak again. "Sorry to tell you this, but I am certainly not one of those who can be prodded. In fact, if anything, I am the prod."

The African buffalo groaned at the badger's particular choice of words. "More Churchill?"

"He is always prevalent to any situation. I believe even more so than ever in this day and age," the Interpol Commissioner-in-Chief insisted.

Lowering his head, the horned bovine let off a depressed sigh. "At the very least, I now know she's legit..." Bogo grumbled as he accepted this was indeed Commissioner-in-Chief James Barkley. He then turned his attention back to the mayor, telling him in a more audible voice, "Which means this isn't a scam and that little hope w—you had is gone." He was quick to correct himself but he was certain the vulpine probably caught that slip of the tongue.

Fortunately, the politician didn't catch the cape buffalo's attempt to shift all blame onto him as his mind TRIED to process what he'd been told. Leodore's jaw eventually dropped in shock as he got it. "No... it can't be! It can't be! You mean we're stuck with a fox of all things as the face of the Mammal Inclusion Initiative!?"

"The best fox," James insisted. A small bit of background noise could be heard from the phone... which oddly enough sounded like Carmelita talking. "Ah, speak of the devil. It looks like Inspector Fox's speech is the top story on ZNN right now... heh. You should see your face, Mayor. You look like you're about to have a heart-attack..."

"THAT'S NOT FUNNY!" The lion roared. "She'll sink the Initiative before it even gains momentum! Foxes are nothing but shifty, conniving, untrustworthy con-artists! No one will ever take the idea of a fox being a police officer seriously!" The politician continued to rant, ignoring that the vixen in the room was getting agitated once more.

"They do in the rest of the world!" The badger snapped, the first time he'd actually gotten angry over the phone since this call began. "And if you want me to not send a covert force of specialists to investigate the suspicious specist activity that goes on in Zootopia, you'll forget all this talk about charging her for assault–which sounds more like a case of self-defense to me–and begin making reparations to Officer Fox immediately."

His eyes practically bulging out of his skill, Mayor Lionheart sputtered out, "Ruh-reparations?" The feline violently twitched. "You want us to give her reparations!? FOR WHAT!?"

"I count assaulting an officer for one... I wonder how many more charges... oh yes!" The badger on the other end of the line stated rather boldly. "There's blatant specism on your part just now, and I'm sure that attacking a woman who is much smaller than you won't look good in the eyes of the general public."

"There is no recording!" The lion snapped out angrily. He was about to defend himself further, only to find his tirade derailed as a buzz sounded off from his jacket's breast pocket; that section of his attire vibrating as it did. Brining his left paw up and pushing the handkerchief aside, he reached in and removed his cell-phone for private political use... and his jaw dropped once more as he saw he saw the name on the screen.

Carmelita raised an eyebrow in curiosity. Being elevated higher than Mayor Lionheart was, thanks to her place atop the desk while he was on the floor, the Hispanic vulpine was intrigued to watch as the phone began to prick at the instincts of her Inspector's Intuition. The cell phone was practically coated with an image overlay of orange sparkles in her vision to be certain but the name on the screen of the device was practically popping out as orange lights.

Hornaday.

Before the female red fox could comment on that, the mayor forced himself to his feet, grunting in pain as he had to put pressure on his right leg. "Bogo... just... just handle this! I've got bigger and more important problems on my plate right now!" So saying, the man turned about and began limping for the door before exiting, leaving the pair of police mammals to have a calmer conversation with the badger on the end of the line.

With his honor the Mayor having left, Idriis took a deep breath and sighed, trying to get his thoughts together. "Well, I hope we can take a moment calm down now," he said as he stepped towards the semi-opened wood and glass barrier before closing it behind the mayor. Turning his attention back to Carmelita, he bit his lip. "Well this has been one giant SNAFU."

"Gee, you think?" Carmelita snapped back, still rather upset about the whole ordeal thus far. Not just with Lionheart but every challenge the city had been throwing her way!

"Yes, quite so..." Barkley agreed. "By the way Carmelita, that was quite an impassioned speech you gave. I'm certain it may start to turn international attention back on the city." He chuckled. "It also might strike a chord with some of the locals too. A small reminder of what some mammals and their parents did might be enough to get some people thinking if not talking... and hopefully make an impression on the innocents, the children who came after."

The chief of the ZPD stared down at the phone in his hand for a moment. "...I'd comment on that sentiment of yours but I have a feeling no matter which way my opinion falls, you'd be reprimanding me with some sort of Winston Churchill quote."

Outright laughter sounded out over the line. "Oh, you know me so well!"

A guttural growl sounded from the back of the herbivore's throat. "Please, be honest with me James. Is there anything I can do to try and smooth things out for now so we can start this over on the right foot? As suspicious as the Mayor's reason for wanting to start this Initiative is, I can admit... it might do some good. And she has the no-nonsense attitude it will take to get some of the more... shall we say, thick-headed mammals to listen."

"You mean besides giving Inspector Fox the number of a good chiropractor?" The mustached mustelidae queried. "Well, that's quite simple really. Give her a car."

Blinking his eyes in confusion at such a blunt response, the African buffalo could only reply, "Pardon?"

"You heard me," James firmly replied before he kept on pressing the issue. "I did some digging on my own time. It seems that some of the car models made exclusively for Zootopia are... impressive, to say the least. Give her one."

The Chief of Police twitched. "James? You know I love you as if you were my own father but tell me... why? Why should I give her a police cruiser?" Considering he was talking about, 'impressive cars' that were specific to Zootopia, the horned herbivore was certain that the older mammal was referring to one of theirs in particular.

"Well to be blunt, I had an informative talk with Carmelita yesterday about everything that's happened," he honestly replied. "And don't forget Big Driis, you DID tell me you would personally handle her living arrangements... which I believe fell through terribly so. Now, considering she had to find her own place and is now living out in the remains of the Happytown District, Inspector Fox could really use something to help her make the commute in a timely manner. So could you please be a mammal of your word and help her with at least that much?"

Cringing as the man twisted the figurative knife verbally, Bogo took a deep breath. Taking a moment to reconsolidating his pride, composure and thoughts, he eventually exhaled fully in acceptance. "Fine. We'll give her one of the squad cars on loan: she can use it as long as she's living in Zootopia..." a small chuckle reverberated in his throat. "In fact, I'll do you one better. Since it's a police vehicle, I'll give her one of the station's gas cards."

"My, how generous of you..." Barkley went silent on the line for a moment. "What's the catch?"

"Nothing much. Just makes a nice tax write-off for the station that City Hall will have to foot the bill for." A smirk graced the bovidae's muzzle. "I admit to my own incompetence playing a part in this little episode, and am mammal enough to admit it... consider this my way of trying to start over on the right hoof with you and the Inspector." He turned his gaze to the woman on his desk and tried to offer her a smile, hoping there would be no hard feelings between them.

The man on the other line was silent for a moment, considering what his friend had offered. "Well, how lovely," he finally replied. "Now, about that chiropractor she mentioned needing. I'm pretty sure that Inspector Fox's back is probably going to start killing her soon."

Again, the African buffalo's gaze turned towards the vixen once more, this time with worry. "How soon is soon?"

"As soon as the adrenaline wears off, I suspect," Barkley replied, obviously speaking from experience. He could remember all the times she ended up needing to see a doctor when she first began her career of chasing the late Sargent Cooper across the globe. While some of the moves and techniques were used as exercise, the mustached mammal would have sworn the two practically created modern day parkour with their antics!

Mentally tabulating such for a moment, Bogo caught the gasp he wanted to release in his throat before it sounded off. Finally, he began to explain a calm tone, "That's a bit much to have the department pay for all at once... how about I just give her a paid day for now so she can have a chance to rest up before we need to dig into deeper pockets to send her to a professioanl?"

Hearing that comment about time off made the vulpine woman raise one of her navy blue eyebrows up so high it went into her hairline. "Hey now!" Carmelita spoke up, taking part of the conversation again. "What makes you think I want to just rest? I have a duty to uphold the law, damn it! I've also taken nastier tumbles and been handed worse treatment from perps on the streets. I can handle myself!"

The badger's voice came over the line once more, this time addressing his protégé. "Yes, Carmelita... you are a tough woman... but I have a feeling the situation may be a bit tougher on you right now than you let on..." he paused, giving the woman a moment to digest that bit of information. "So it might be in your and the city's best interests to take that offer. I'm certain things are in an uproar right now thanks to your impassioned address to the city. It might be a good idea to keep your head low for the day and, as Bogo suggested, start over anew tomorrow."

The woman pouted... a pout that Chief Bogo was surprised to find looked absolutely adorable on the woman. "But Chief Barkley," the vixen began firmly. "You can't just a expect me to forget working after YOU were the one to insist I be here in the first place!"

"Who said anything about forgetting work?" The badger calmly replied. "Taking time off doesn't mean forgetting work. Go for a swim, go to a spa, or just drive around the city and get used to it. You'll be here for some time so it won't hurt to learn the lay of the land."

The Hispanic policewoman twitched. "But Chief..." she began, trying to think of a way to logically argue with him.

Her boss was having none of it. "Trust me," Barkley insisted. "You do need to get to know the city. Only now you can do it from the safety of a vehicle... still..." he trailed off as a thought occurred to him. "It wouldn't hurt if you had someone with you. M'Bogo! Do you think she can borrow one of your officers as an escort?"

The Interpol Inspector frowned at the thought of that. "I don't need an escort!"

However, as with Bogo, the man kept calm and merely stated facts. "Having someone to help you remain calm and assist in guiding you through the city isn't a bad idea," he said in all seriousness. "That and you do need someone there in case your back goes out..."

The woman huffed in annoyance at her superior's show of worry. "My back's fine!" Carmelita insisted... only to suddenly twitch as a spasm ran up her spine. "Completely fine!" She stated, although her voice was a little strained there.

Bogo shook his head at the vulpine's instance of getting out there. While he could admire Officer Fox's work ethic, the last thing he needed was the woman falling ill somewhere in public and blame being directed back at the ZPD. "Right, James. I'll make sure she has a proper escort. I'll call you back. And thank you again."

A soft chuckle sounded over the cell phone. "Don't thank me, just do. Good luck, Big Driis."

"Later," the bovidae replied as he brought his left hand before the phone and slid his left hooved index finger over the screen, shutting the connection before he handed it back to the woman. Watching the female red fox pocket her phone, he spoke once more, addressing the Latina vixen directly. "Again, I do apologize for all of this..." he trailed off, thinking of the best way to put it. "This interesting morning."

With her phone safely tucked away, Carmelita's frown deepened. Returning her attention towards the African buffalo, she firmly stated, "Personally, Chief Bogo? I find the idea of you people wanting to have someone watch over me rather demeaning. I am a capable and experienced officer of the law. I don't need a baby-sitter!"

"Who said anything about a baby-sitter?" Bogo scoffed at the woman's show of bravado. "Having an escort show you around until we get the paper-work finalized for you to work the station regularly with the other officers isn't a bad idea." He shook his head. Meeting the woman's gaze as he began to pull his chair back, he firmly told her, "And don't say that you don't need to partner up with any of the officers here; these people are Zootopia's finest! Even if you were some gosh-darned Super Simian from those weird Japanese cartoons, it never hurts to have someone watch your back."

The woman rolled her eyes as it appeared the herbivore was going to be adamant on that issue. Well, if the man and her boss were going to stick her with someone, only one person really jumped to mind right away. "Clawhauser."

The cape buffalo paused in mid-swerve; the man having been about to sit down at his desk. With his rear held aloft, he looked at the woman standing on his desk with a raised eyebrow. "Pardon?" He queried, a tone of disbelief evident to his voice. Did she really say she...

"I want Officer Benjamin Clawhauser," the vulpine stated seriously. "At the very least, as my escort today." At the confused expression the police chief gave her, the Latina beauty explained, "He's the first Zootopia police officer outside of you that I've had any extended interaction with. He seems like a good enough mammal and he probably knows a lot about this city." She expected Nick knew even more but it wasn't like she would get the station to sign off on a civilian... especially one that was likely to demand monetary compensation for it. "So can I borrow him for today? If we're just driving around it won't be too hard on him." After all, she had to take the cheetah's... well... physique into consideration.

Bringing a hand to his chin, Bogo took a moment to consider the request. Finally, he eventually nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah, that actually sounds pretty good," he admitted. His other officers were likely going to be on edge from keeping peace during the press conference debacle, and he could easily get someone downstairs from records to handle the front desk while the cheetah was out keeping the woman from getting into further trouble. "To be honest, he's not my first choice but I think after the insanity that's been going on out there—"

"OH GODS! IT'S EVERYWHERE!" Someone screamed from outside, causing both officers to look at the door and wonder what was going on.

Blinking his eyes at that, the uniformed police chief shook his horned head in annoyance. "As I was saying, after that insanity, he would probably like to get out of here." The dark-skinned herbivore grumbled as he settled himself down at his desk. Picking up the phone from the cradle and bringing it to the side of his head, the man pressed his hooved index finger to the button below the keypad once more, connecting his line to the front desk. "Clawhauser?"

"OH GOUDA ALMIGHTY! THE VOMIT'S EVERYWHERE!" An unfamiliar voice wailed over the line.

Both officers twitched, wondering what the hell was going on down there. It was the African buffalo who voiced his concerns with a mighty shout of, "CLAWHAUSER!"

"Sorry, chief!" The familiar voice of the haggard feline sounded over the line. "We've still got something of an emergency down here!"

Nodding his head, Idriis queried, "Well, are the walls still standing?"

*CRASH!*

"Uh... that was someone sliding on the floor and through one of the walls..." the front desk attendant hesitantly answered.

Rolling his eyes, the chief let off a groan. "Are the lights—"

"AAAAHHHHHH!" A scream sounded off, interrupting the man.

"One of the fixtures just came crashing down!" Benjamin's voice cried out in terror. "Those poor mammals!"

"Clawhauser," the black-skinned herbivore spoke up. "Come upstairs to my office when you can. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to hang up now before I cause Armageddon to start." And with that, he put the phone back firmly onto the cradle.

Carmelita blinked her eyes as she watched the man sit there, his hand still pressed down firmly on the handset as he stared off into nothing nice. "Uh... Chief Bogo?" She chirruped. "Are you okay? I mean, shouldn't we..." she trailed off as the larger mammal turned his gaze towards her. Not that he intimidated her, but she could see so much weariness behind those eyes that it made her feel a bit of pity for the man.

The man's heavily muscled chest expanding impressively as he inhaled through his nostrils, the man then eventually opened his mouth, letting out a deep gasp of breath. Again and again the large prey mammal breathed like that, calming himself while the vixen was unable to do anything else but watch in silence. When he felt he was more in control, he firmly told the Latina vulpine, "I'm going to let it calm down before I head out there." Reclining back into his chair, he then asked in a surprisingly nonchalant manner, "Are you thirsty, Officer Fox? I've got some cold lemonade or Kool-Aid to drink."

Needless to say, the sudden friendliness of the police chief caught her off guard. Blinking her bright, brown eyes a few times, the navy blue-tressed vixen had to finally to ask, "Really?"

Police Chief Bogo merely nodded his head. "After doing this job for four years, I learned it's best to keep snacks and drinks on hand for the late nights... particularly the ones where you don't get a chance to go home before your next shift." He sighed as he finally withdrew his hand from the phone's handset before turning his attention to the woman. "Again, I know I've said this a lot already but please believe me when I say I am terribly sorry for the way things have gone so far," he apologized to the vixen as he reached for the top draw to his left and opened it before his hooved hand dug in and began rummaging through it. Pulling out a small baggy, he brought it before him and opened it. He then let a number of the fruit-flavored, star-shaped gummies fall onto his other palm before bringing them to his mouth and downing them in a single gulp. "Mmm... artificial flavoring and sugar... perfect."

To top it off, the cape buffalo then leaned to the other side of his desk and opened the drawer there to reveal a secret to the canid cop standing atop the furniture.

Looking down into it, the vixen was absolutely surprised at the chill that rose from it. Turning her head to her left, she looked at the Chief and asked, "You have a fridge built into your desk?"

Bogo merely smirked, the first relaxed smile the Hispanic vulpine had ever seen of the African buffalo's face since she met the man. "It saves space, plus I get cold drinks whenever I want without having to use the public fridge in the break room... meaning I don't have to worry about assholes like Officer Delgado filching my snacks!" He then leaned to his left and withdrew a can of lemonade and offered it to her, along with the rest of the bag of gummy snacks. "It's very useful to have lemonade, Kool-Aid, iced coffee, and other things on hoof while I work."

Although he would never admit to his Gazelle Pop Song breaks. Oh no! Anyone who was unfortunate enough to discover that dark truth about him wouldn't live to tell the tale! He might not have minded sharing his snacks but he still had an image of a badass to uphold. No one could ever know the man's love of the superstar musician.

Looking down into the open freezer draw and gazing at its contents, the vixen brought a hand up to her chin, idly scratching it in thought. Finally raising her head to look at the much larger mammal once more, Carmelita couldn't help but query, "No soda?"

Snorting, the police chief shook his head. "Of course not! I might like a jelly snack now and then but soda has far, far too much in the way of salt, sugar, and empty calories. I'd balloon up like a blimp if I had too many of those regularly. I've seen it happen with Officer Clawhauser with all those Cub Sodas he downs on a daily basis."

She blinked her eyes as she looked the man over, as if she was really seeing him for the first time. "You are really nothing like I imagined you would be," she admitted, coming to terms with the stories of the war-hero Chief Barkley told her about and the actual person before her.

A small smirk played on the larger prey mammal's lips. "The same could be said for you. A fox policewoman..." he murmured as he popped the top on a can of lemonade, the sound of metal slicing giving way to the air. There was no fizz of carbonation as such wasn't part of how the drink was packaged. "But the stories Barkley told me and the lengths he would go to, put himself on the line for you like that? To me, that speaks very highly of you." He told her in all seriousness. "I'm not going to lie. I have my own preconceived notions when it comes to your species but I'm willing to push them aside when it comes to you and give you your fair shot."

"Gracias." She nodded in acceptance as she popped her own can open. The two waited there in relative silence, enjoying the cool canned beverages, as the background noise that seemed to hum in through the closed door was getting noticeably softer. "Hopefully things calm down soon."

The African buffalo nodded his head in agreement at the woman's sentiment. "That may..." Bogo started, only to trail off as the phone began to ring. Bringing his hand over and hitting the red call button for the system's speaker, he leaned forward in his seat. "Hello?"

"Hey, chief! Clawhauser here!" The familiar voice of the front desk attendant chirruped. "It's finally calmed down with only a few thousand dollars in damages!"

The man twitched, realizing he was going to have to fill out a lot of insurance and requisition forms because of this stunt of Mayor Lionheart's. "Well that's just... lovely..." Bogo sighed as he took a long drag of his drink, suddenly wising it was hard lemonade. "I hope no one was too hurt from the insanity that followed."

The feline was happy to report, "We have a few people waiting for the ambulances, but otherwise no."

Nodding his head, Police Chief Bogo was genuinely pleased to hear that. He was more expecting the numbers to be in the dozens rather than a mere, 'few'. "There weren't any more damages were there?"

*CRASH*!

"Oh dear..." Benjamin's voice whispered sadly. "Well, poor Officer Higgins just tripped and fell down the stairs," the feline admitted. "I think he took out a few steps at the bottom on the left staircase."

The horned herbivore couldn't help but twitch at that. "I guess we'll need to repair those as well..." Darn hippos! They needed to watch their weight better. "Can you get to my office?"

"Well, yes!" The voice chirruped. "Do you need me to bring anything?"

The bovidae paused for a moment as he considered the request. "Yes, actually. Bring up a set of keys for one of the newer vehicles. You're on escort duty today. And before you ask, just get in here." Bogo sighed as the cheetah gave him an affirmative and hung up. At the curious look the vulpine woman gave him, the man told her, "I swear! With the way things were going, a volcano would have erupted beneath our feet if I stayed on the line any longer."

Carmelita couldn't help but give off a little chuckle at that.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Upon entering the police station's parking garage, the rotund cheetah was quick to go off to his left where the station had the supply closet set up near the entrance into the parking area. "Here we go," he said as he opened the door to the large steel cabinet for the vixen. "Grab a booster seat for yourself. This is going to be amazing..." the feline policeman promised as he motioned for the Hispanic beauty to come over to claim what she needed.

Carmelita stared at the exuberant spotted feline, feeling rather unsure about that. However she wasn't one to make waves–particularly since she NEEDED a vehicle if she was going to commute–so the female red fox did as asked and began riffling through the cabinet, grabbing a black Kevlar booster seat.

Once she was out of the way, the uniformed spotted wildcat went to the other set of doors on the same cabinet, retrieving what looked like a pair of adjustable stilts. Turning away from the upright container, the feline gave the metal door a smack with his hips, causing the barrier to swing shut. Looking down as the Latina held the black-colored booster seat, he told her, "All righty, Officer Fox! If you'll just follow me..." he told her as he then turned away from Carm and began to lead the vixen down the line of police cruisers, passing car after car of various sizes until he came to a stop at the woman's designated vehicle.

The police cruiser Officer Fox was being gifted with by the department to make up for all the hassle she had to deal with was less, 'car' and more, 'armored vehicle'! It was a high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle; a four-wheel drive, all-terrain military truck! The Humvee's widespread body and studded and highly siped reinforced off-the-road tires would make it so the vehicle could easily negotiate the treacherous desert sand of Sahara Square and wade through the water-logged jungles of the Rainforest District, the grip and weight that would allow the police cruiser to remain stable on the icy roads of Tundratown, and an exterior with armor thick enough to possibly repel a shot or three from a TANK. It was a majestic miracle of modern engineering, designed for any of the much larger mammals of Zootopia's Police Department. To top it off, its sleek exterior was coated with a shiny black paint with white zebra striping on the side for an added stylish effect! Overall it was definitely an imposing piece of machinery that practically screamed, 'Respect MY Authority'!

Her brown eyes going wide with shock, the booster seat fell from the navy blue-tressed vixen's nerveless fingers as she gazed upon the absolute monster of a police cruiser. The gasp that escaped past her lips was quite audible to Clawhauser. It took a moment for the female red fox to gather her wits, but finally the Interpol Inspector was able to quip, "I think all this thing needs is a cannon barrel to be fit for military use..."

Needless to say, this was exactly the sort of police car Honey would have wanted her to drive back to Happytown with. Anyone who saw this thing parked outside the badger's home was going to think twice before messing with the house's occupants!

Nodding his head in agreement with the smaller predator's assessment, a wide grin spread across the cheetah's chubby cheeks. "Oh, you are going to look absolutely amazing behind the wheel!" The perky feline cooed in delight as he came up to the side of the police vehicle and grasped the handle. Pulling the driver's side door open, he continued to smile as he went to work. The portly policeman placed the pedal extensions he grabbed on both the gas and the brake panels, securing them into place and giving them little shakes now and then to check for stability as he would fasten locking mechanisms. Nodding his head in satisfaction, the feline then turned about and bent down, grasping the booster sear the woman had dropped on the floor. He then proceeded to secure it into place on the driver's seat. Looking it over, the policeman nodded his head. "Need a hand getting in, Carm?" He paused as a realization hit him. "Er... I can call you, 'Carm'... right? Don't want to step on any toes here."

Although considering her steel-toed leather boots, Benjamin couldn't help but feel that perhaps he was the one that should be worried about having his toes stepped on.

While she was appreciative of the jolly feline's efforts, the vixen had to admit she wasn't too comfortable with the idea of acting all, 'buddy-buddy' with someone she had barely met, and it showed on her face with how she pursed her lips. Still, she didn't want to outright reject the cheetah; she could see he was a gentle soul and he'd been nothing but helpful. "While we're on the clock, I am Officer Fox and you will address me as such, Officer Clawhauser. I may not be your senior in the ZPD but I don't go by a first name basis with anyone while on duty." The Latina lady did offer him a gentle smile though. "Off hours, though? We'll see."

For the time being, that answer was enough for Benjamin. "Hey, no problem!" He said politely as he saluted the female red fox. "Not like we're on duty all the time. So in return, you can call me Officer Clawhauser!" He bent down a bit and offered her his paw. "Again though, you need a hand getting up?"

Nodding her head, the Hispanic vulpine graciously took the feline's offered mitt, allowing him to aid her in getting into the large police vehicle–considering she could feel her back twitching at the thought of having to get in herself, such was a godsend. Settling herself into the seat, the woman pressed her feet down on the pedals, getting a feel for everything. She nodded her head to the man in affirmation as Benjamin seemed to have estimated her body dimensions pretty spot on. The lady needed only a moment to adjust the rear and side-view mirrors before she buckled her seat belt. She then reached over and placed the key she had been given by Chief Bogo into the ignition. "All right! Get in and buckle up, Officer Clawhauser! We're going for a ride!"

"Right-o, Officer Fox!" The feline chirruped as he closed the door for her. He then came around to the right side of the vehicle before opening the door and climbing up into the front passenger's seat, taking a moment to settle himself in. As he began to buckle up, he couldn't help but murmur, "I tell you what... I can't remember the last time I actually went out on a ride! I'm so used to giving and taking instructions to the on duty officers on the other end of dispatch that I forgot how comfortable these seats were!"

Nodding her head as the hyperactive–despite his considerable weight–cheetah prattled on, the woman turned the key, causing the vehicle's engine to roar to life, thrumming through the bodies of both predators. "Oh yes," the Latina policewoman cooed at the power she felt reverberate through to her very core. "Now THIS is a police cruiser!" Oh if only she had something like this baby back in the day during any of her earlier cases! The Interpol agent currently on loan to the ZPD was certain she could have cracked those assignments much sooner... albeit such might have involved running Sly over directly. Still, she could have easily charged him and seen the raccoon fit to stand trial after a lengthy stay in a prison hospital.

A small, sad smile graced the woman's muzzle at the thought of the Ringtail. Shaking her head, the woman let off a soft sigh before turning her attention to the feline sitting next to her. "Ready to head out, 'partner'?" She asked him... and immediately regretted it as Officer Clawhauser let off such a high-pitched, girlish squeal of delight, causing the woman's ears to flatten back in an effort to muffle the noise.

"YOU BET!" The spotted wildcat chirruped happily before blinking his eyes as a thought occurred to him. "Hey! Since we're more or less free, do you want to hit up Bug Burga before we come back to clock out at the station?" He knew she was upset that they were more or less being put on the road because the higher-ups were trying to keep her out of the public eye while giving her a chance to recover from the day's earlier abuse, but that didn't mean the cheetah couldn't make sure she had a good time! As her appointed chaperone he felt it was his sworn duty to make the lovely Latin lady feel welcome in Zootopia!

Carmelita sighed a little, realizing that Benjamin was right. Even if on the clock, they were otherwise, 'free' to do whatever. It both upset and made the vulpine officer feel guilty to know the city was paying her to do nothing if it meant keeping her out of the way. She wasn't exactly happy with the arrangement but considering how the standoff in Bogo's office went with the mayor, she supposed she should be thankful if she was allowed to step into the station tomorrow.

Realizing Officer Clawhauser was still awaiting an answer regarding food, the woman's gaze turned to the digital clock in the dashboard. It was only ten am but she supposed a snack wouldn't hurt. "Sure..." she finally replied. "Although, I must ask: are there any fish outlets in the area?" At the curious look the spotted feline gave her, the vulpine woman explained, "I never was a lover of food comprised of an insect-base, but I'll eat them if I have to. A predator tends to only have so many options..." particularly in Zootopia. At least in other countries, feral beasts were up on the chopping block as part of the evolved animal diet.

Oh, this was going to be a long six months without bacon...

Considering that for a moment, the spotted wildcat slowly nodded his head. He preferred fish himself but he could barely get the time to enjoy it during work-hours as he was stationed at the front desk nearly every day; today would be a rare treat indeed! "Hey, I got an idea! If you don't mind a little bit of waiting, I know a food truck that specifically caters to us predators. Chef Louis makes these wonderful tofu hot dogs, bug burgers, fish and chips, and this lovely creamy clam chowder to name a few of his specialties." The man smacked his lips as he thought about that steaming bowl of deliciousness. "In fact, I could go for a bowl of clam chowder..." his eyes widened as a thought came to him. "Oh! And we could also buy some tofu dogs to snack on while we drive around town!"

Raising an eyebrow, the vulpine policewoman considered that for a moment. "Tofu, huh?" The vixen queried as she thought about the tofu she had with Nick, Finnick, and Honey. It had been rather flavorful; perhaps the locals took to mastering the art of crafting such to new heights because of the lack of protein in this city. "Oh, what the hell... I'm game!" She would have preferred fish-based meals if she couldn't get any red meat but really, she would take what she could get in Zootopia! In Carmelita's mind, it sure as hell beat out eating bugs! The female red fox didn't believe in all that, 'Hakuna Matata' crap some Naturalists spouted... not to mention she certainly worried what eating such would do to her digestion!

Seeing the woman was agreeable to his suggestion, the cheetah's cheeks puffed up as he grinned. "Nice!" The feline cheered happily. "Looks like we're going to Wannabite's!" He chimed out most gleefully. "Okay, you're going to want to take a right out of the garage onto Savanna Street and keep on going to where it becomes Plaza Street at... oh about five or six city blocks. At that point, you'll come to a four-way intersection with North Furton Road and South Furton Road: take the left onto South Furton. Louis normally sets up his truck there and he should still be there. I even saw him this morning when I took Nick out to pick up some breakfast."

That last comment caught the vixen's attention. "Que?" She chirruped sweetly as she turned her head to look at the police officer she was being partnered with... as more or less as her baby-sitter... and questioned, "Is this the same person that made those breakfast burritos?"

Nodding his head, Clawhauser was more than happy to chirrup, "YEP! Louis Jamal or, 'King Louis' is something of a local legend here! Makes the best Gouda-durned predator-centric meals in all Savanna Central; only thing better is Clark Halibut's in the Tundratown District and frankly most mammals–myself included–don't make the kind of money that's required to eat there regularly." He smirked. "Seriously though, I cannot praise this man enough! He makes every other food truck in the city seem like sugar-honey-iced-tea!"

"I see," the woman said slowly in understanding. "Well, at the very least it's a distraction." With that said, the vixen pulled out from the parking space, carefully mading her way through the police garage so as to not hit anything. Once she had driven to the exit, she put the pedal to the metal with the intent of pulling out into and joining traffic. Instead, she ended up rocketing them from the garage a bit quicker than she anticipated thanks to the ungodly amount of horse power and torque the vehicle's twelve-cylinder engine could muster.

It took a bit of doing but eventually Carmelita was able to find a balance so she wasn't, 'lead footing' the gas pedal. Still, it was surprising just how fast this thing could go despite all the weight it had from all the protective plating that covered it. Armor... power... the city is lucky to have such close ties to Saddle Arabia... this thing would be a finance and logistics nightmare for any other police force, she thought seriously. This thing could probably pass anything on the road but a gas station!

It took fifteen minutes to get from the Zootopia Police Station to South Furton Road–mostly due to traffic lights–but once they were at their destination, the vulpine was able to pull the massive vehicle up into an open spot alongside the curb at a designated parking meter three cars behind the back the white food truck she could safely assume was this, 'Wannabite's' from how excited her passenger got.

Practically bouncing in his seat, the rotund cheetah practically squealed in delight. "Oh, this is it!" He happily cheered as he began to unclasp his seatbelt. "We're here, Officer Fox! The best place for predators in Savanna Central: Wannabite's!" He pushed the seat belt off of himself and reached over to his right, grasping the interior handle and opening the front passenger door of the police cruiser.

Despite the air of seriousness she tried to keep up, the Latina red fox couldn't help but smile a bit at Benjamin's innocence and naivety. He reminded her a lot of Murray, and in a good way no less. "I suppose you're right, Officer Clawhauser..." she trailed off as the cheetah, ever the sweet guy, walked around to the vehicle's driver's side door and opened it for the female fox.

"Here we are, m'lady," the feline said as he bowed his head to her and extended out his paw to offer her assistance. "May I give you a hand?" He asked with a tone of faux-sophistication to his voice. Obviously the spotted feline was trying to be a good sport about everything that happened at the station and show the canid woman a good time, and that meant doing what he could to coax a laugh out of her when he had the opportunity to.

Nodding her head at the feline's attempt at being kind, the vulpine officer gave him a small but genuine smile as she replied, "Gracias, Officer Clawhauser." She then unbuckled her own seat belt and turned the key in the ignition, cutting the engine. With the vehicle no longer trembling from the pulse of the motor revving up to unleash its power, the vixen was able to carefully slide out of her seat before dropping down and out of the tall police car. Turning about and closing the door, the pair made their way for the line already taking up space on the sidewalk.

Admittedly, it was a bit of an imposing sight–in fact, the already present trail of predatory mammals WAS what had drawn the woman's attention to this being the correct area–but it was nothing too bad. A burly bear in mechanic overalls was already at the counter, and behind him a lioness mother with her two children at either side of her, the small family then followed by a lithe male cheetah that was tapping his foot impatiently as he looked down at his cell phone, then an older timber wolf in a fine suit holding onto a nicely carved wooden cane to help keep him upright, and finally a pair of teenagers who were obviously in a relationship. The last two were of particular interest to the Inspector as they were an interspecies couple. A male hyena that had his arm wrapped around a female rabbit rather affectionately; both of them dressed as though they had stepped out of or were ready for a punk rock concert's mosh pit.

Interestingly, the female rabbit set off Hispanic vixen's Inspector's Intuition. She had no clue WHY the lapin in Goth attire would pique the ingrained ability of the Fox family line but there she was, covered in orange sparkles. It was definitely something the female red fox had to mentally file away for later.

But in having to wait, Carmelita was given a chance to look at the food truck itself. Through the open pair of service windows, she could make out a set of ovens with what looked like eight burners spread out and a warming unit to the left comprised of a fryer at height with the ovens and a microwave above it. Over the set of stove-tops was a vent system that sent the excess heat and the delicious smells of cooked food–that were currently filling the area–out into air around the truck, which made her all that much hungrier. She was a bit shocked at the sight of a sink, which meant it has a water-hookup and drain access somewhere on it, even if she wasn't sure where it led into. Definitely asking for bottled drinks with no ice, she firmly decided.

Although what she wasn't sure about was what the other side of the kitchen due to the line of much taller mammals in the way, the Interpol officer could tell it likely contained both a fridge and counter-top prep area from the shapes she could make out. Overall, the canid policewoman would admit that despite a few dings in the exterior of the vehicle from the rigors of everyday city traffic and the possibly questionable water utilities they would have access to on a street corner, the food truck had a very professional appearance and an interior lay-out designed for maximum efficiency.

Not to mention waiting in line also gave Officer Fox the opportunity see the Menu propped up and pasted to the side of the truck in the space between the two open service windows. There was a listing for things such as tofu dogs, the tofu dog topping options, grilled cheese sandwiches, French fries, cheese fries, bug burgers, bug cheeseburgers, something called, 'the bug burger deluxe' with an option for tofu bacon, a tuna melt, fish and chips, a fried fish sandwich, fried clams, New England clam chowder...

...And an advertisement for a seasonal item: lobster rolls!

Needless to say, Carmelita's attention was now drawn directly to the lovely advertisement that was slapped at the bottom of the menu. "Ooh! Lobster rolls sound quite tasty," she chirruped as the feline beside her nodded his head in agreement with that sentiment. "I'm torn between those and fish and chips... I mean, you didn't say this place had so many fish dishes on the menu!" Trying one of the tofu dogs the feline had been going on about might have been interesting but she was definitely in the mood for some good seafood at the moment, and she knew that fried fish and potatoes were always a treat!

Seeing the woman's growing excitement made the larger predator smile, glad the decision for an early lunch was proving to be a good one. This was the happiest he'd seen Miss Fox yet... and the spotted feline was delighted to discover that when she was happy, the red fox's accent had a lovely tone to it that reminded him of Gazelle in all the right ways! "May I suggest both?" He happily supplied, such being his usual answer for whenever he had a tough food choice to make. "Remember we do have to drive around awhile, so you'll want to eat to your heart's content... my treat!" He quickly added after a moment of internal debate. With how people had been stepping on the poor lady, she deserved a little bit of a pick-me-up.

The woman nodded her head. "Muchos gracias, Officer Clawhauser but I'll do my part," she told the taller–and portlier–predator in gratitude before turning her attention to the pair in front of her, managing to get the names, 'Sheena' and 'Glen' from their conversations. Overall, the line was a little bit bothersome but nothing too unbearable; she gone through longer waits with Sly during the Christmas season due to all the holiday shoppers.

Finally, when the interspecies couple left with their grilled cheese sandwiches and orders of cheese fries, the police officers' turn came. Carmelita looked up, going wide-eyed as she saw the mammal behind the counter and obviously manning the food truck was a zebra of all things! He was wearing a white apron over a red, yellow and green tie-dyed t-shirt over his torso, a pair of wide-rimmed pure ebony sunglasses, and on his head was a Rasta dread knit tam hat, the traditional, 'Dreadlocks cap' of Jamaican culture. A large and round black wool knitted hat with red, yellow, and green stripes that went down the right and off center... and he needed it too, considering all the alternating dreadlocks of white and black that hung from his mane. He looked down at the vixen and gave her a smile, showing off a perfect set of pearly white teeth. "Well, well, WELL! Do my eyes deceive me or is dis little lady da vixen dat was on TV?

Coming up to the food truck beside his fellow police officer, Benjamin flashed the equine inside the food truck a grin. "Hey, King Louis! How's it going?" He raised his right paw and waved it in greeting at the apparent Rastafarian. That right hand then came down on the woman's left shoulder as he answered, "Yep! Officer Fox here is the newest member of the ZPD!"

The equine's eyes widened with delight as he saw who was with her. "Hey, hey, my mommal! I usually don't see you dis time of day! How is you hangin', Benji-boy?" The zebra greeted the spotted feline in a very familiar fashion as he spoke in a rather thick Caribbean accent, the teeth of his smile glistening like the polished ivory tusks of an elephant. He looked down again at the shorter woman with them and queried, "But what is dis, my mommal? When did da ZPD get themselves a fox? I mean, she in da uniform and all!" His lips closed as his smile changed into a smirk. "And lookin' darn good at dat!"

"Oh, she just joined up today," the pudgy predator replied with a wide smile of his own. He looked up at the equine behind the counter of truck and back to the vulpine beside him before inquiring, "If you would both allow me to make some proper introductions?" Seeing the pair nod their heads, the feline turned his head towards the zebra. "Louis, meet Officer Carmelita Montoya Fox, the spiciest officer I've ever met!" He smiled at the vixen. "And Carm, meet Louis Stripeamol... or as he's known better on the streets: King Louis the Wannabite!"

That title made the blue-tressed vulpine blink her eyes once, twice, thrice. "Wannabite?" She inquired with a curious tone. "Why are you called, 'The Wannabite'?"

The zebra let off a hearty laugh in response to both the cheetah's energetic introduction and the confusion on the vixen's face. "Old nickname from me childhood. Comes from growin' up in a predominantly predator neighborhood. Da other kids, dey always called me a Wannabe Pred or, 'Wannabite' because I couldn't help but, 'want a bite' of da local faire..." his smile became rather lopsided. "Da Neighbors loved when I would attend da block cookouts. Was a joke at first but then dey realized I was purty good." He leaned into the service window, arms folded and elbows on the counter, his right hoop tapping on it. "But dat's enough about me. Onto more important t'ings! What you be havin', me good mommals?"

The vulpine didn't have an immediate answer, as her attention was still drawn to the equine himself. Officer Fox had to admit she was rather surprised by the fact that it was a zebra cooking food for predators! She had seen predators serving up meals for prey mammals but never the other way around given the obvious taboo. Even if it wasn't sentient life, he was serving up animal protein as chow for preds to sink their teeth into. Most prey animals across the world were still uncomfortable preparing such and were often seen as unsavory for doing so.

This King Louis had a lot of guts to be doing so in Zootopia of all places!

Seeing the flash of various emotions across the woman's face, the zebra nodded his head in understanding, knowing all too well what she was probably thinking. "What can I say?" He chuckled. "Iffin' a fox can be spittin' in da eye of stereotypes, why can't a zebra?" He gave her a kindly smile before raising his head up to look at the cheetah. "Hey, Benji! Do you know what de little lady be having?"

"Well..." the corpulent cop began to speak before taking a moment to consider the woman's earlier comments in the tank-like cruiser. "I think Carmelita wants a big basket of your fish and chips but..." he looked over at the vixen and smiled in a gleeful manner. "Do you have enough lobster to make a couple of rolls for her too?"

Straightening up, the hoofed mammal smiled. "Why of course, da very best dis side of the country!" Louis said, the striped equine puffing up with pride. "In fact, I'll be a nice guy and give her a buy one get one free deal for it being her first day and all." He turned his attention back to the pudgy feline. "And yourself, me mommal?"

A smile split across the chubby cheetah's muzzle. "Oh, I'll take a bowl of New England clam chowder, two grilled cheese sandwiches–add a slice of tomato to both–and I'll take..." he trailed off, pursing his lips together as he thought about it. "Oh... a dozen tofu dogs and some fixin's on the side for them if you can. We're going to be driving around awhile and will need to keep up our strength! And... make it two rhino-sized bottles of water?"

Raising one of her navy blue eyebrows at that comment, the vixen realized even Officer Clawhauser knew to avoid the fountain drinks. Either her fellow officer had made the same observation she did... or he experienced it firsthand from being a regular at some point.

"Sure me mommol, sure!" The zebra chimed as he came around to the other service window and turned towards the cash register he had sitting there. The dreadlocked equine began tallying up the prices and ringing in the sales tax. "Dat'll be fifty-six dollars and thirty cents!"

The cheetah couldn't help but whistle at the price tag. "That's a bit steep!" In comparison, Clawhauser knew he could get a dozen breakfast burritos for under twenty-five dollars in the morning. The price jump for the lunch prices was staggering!

The Rastafarian zebra let off a small snort. "Hey now, da Lobster Rolls are twenty bucks a pop and da little lady is getting one free, so don't you try to haggle me on dis, Benji-boy," the equine proprietor and cook replied.

Nodding his head, the feline cop murmured, "Okay, okay..." he said as he reached into his back pocket and took out his wallet to retrieve a pair of dollars bills: a fifty and a ten. "Keep the cha~HEY!" He cried out as the vulpine was holding out the same thing. "Now, come on, Officer Fox... this is my treat to you. Let me pay, all right?"

Ignoring the indignant cry of her fellow office, Carmelita merely continued to hold out her own cash as well. She had to admit that she wasn't especially fond of being called a, 'little lady' or 'my mommal' but she let it slide for now. The food certainly smelled good and the fact that the line had built up again behind them suggested that this food truck was popular and there had to be a reason for that. She was very much looking forward to eating once they were in the car.

Admittedly though, she had been caught off guard if not outright surprised that the bill was as steep as it was, that it took her a moment to realize the feline wanted to straight up pay for the entire thing. He'd said so earlier but she was certain the cheetah would have caught onto the fact that she could handle herself. "Now Officer Clawhauser..." the red fox began, only to see the man hold up his other hand, his left index finger pointed up as he wagged it in a chiding motion.

"Now, now Officer Fox... you're the one who's had the rough morning. Please allow me to treat you to something nice." He smiled down at the petite red fox once more, telling her, "Anyone who is a friend of the Nick's is a friend of mine. And I treat my friends like family."

That little comment caught the canid woman's attention. That was rather kind of the feline policeman to say. He barely knew her and yet he was willing to go out of his way to be kind and gentlemanly by offering to pay for her meal. Honestly, if more mammals were like Benjamin here, I don't think this Initiative or I would be needed, she thought before offering him a kind smile. "That is generous of you, Officer Clawhauser but I try to be independent. What kind of woman claims to want equality and then goes demanding that men pay for her meals?"

The spotted wildcat blinked his eyes once, twice, thrice. That was a rather good point she made. "I know... but... maybe I want to?" He offered with a nervous grin. Benjamin wasn't about to force the issue but the plump feline did want her to know that he wanted to make things easier for her, all things considered

"Look me mommals," the striped equine spoke up, getting the attention of both members of the ZPD. "I personally don't care who pays but would you guys please do it quickly? Da line is getting longer and da customers, they be growin' hungrier!" And from his time living on West Fang Drive, there was nothing scarier than an irritable hungry predator.

Turning her head, Carmelita went wide-eyed as she saw the amount of the gathered predators had practically doubled since she last checked. Felines, canines, and ursine of all ages and styles of dress, indicating their varied walks of life–including a group that looked like a camera crew if the equipment they were holding was any indication–were gathered one after another behind the pair of officers. There were even a few varied other species, like a pair of raccoon teenagers, a pair of badgers in electrician jumpsuits and tool-belts, and even a tusked boar was waiting amongst them for their turn at the Wannabite's counter.

Seeing that, yes, a considerable wait had begun, the woman shifted her attention to her fellow police officer who in turn tilted his head down to return the look. "Split fifty-fifty?" She finally offered.

Returning the fifty dollar bill to his wallet, the chubby cheetah agreed, "Fifty-fifty." He then flipped through some bills before pulling free a twenty. He reached his right hand up to the counter, placing it beside the equine on the other side of the service window before the vixen beside him stood on her toes and reached up, placing her own set of bills on it that matched his own. "Keep the change, Louis," he replied, watching as the zebra brought his right hoofed hand up to take the money and bring it over to the cash register. "All righty. Now you two just wait a moment while I get everything together!" The equine chimed as he went to work.

Carmelita found it interesting to watch the man show off his culinary skill; the Clam Chowder had been the easiest to prepare as Louis kept it simmering in a pot and ready to serve. Good thing too, as it kept Benjamin quiet and eating happily while the vixen gaze on. Slices of bread went into pans as the man sliced a fresh tomato and a block of cheese at the prep station before setting them onto the bread. He then to the fridge and used another butcher's knife to split tofu dogs. The zebra then took out a bowl of pre-mixed lobster and mayonnaise before putting the contents into one of the currently empty frying pans on the stove top.

The aroma was heaven.

The vixen now understood why people crowded the service counter whenever their turn was up. It was simply amazing to watch him prepare food–the mammal proving he understood the art of showmanship! Each movement timed expertly, not a moment or move wasted! It was almost a shame that he was done within five minutes and returned to them with their order. "Thank you and come again!" He chimed merrily.

"We will if we can," the portly cheetah replied as he reached forward and placed the now empty Styrofoam bowl and used plastic spoon on the counter before taking a plastic bag in either hand. He turned about and motioned with a nod of his head for the vixen to walk back to the cruiser with him, the pair getting out of the way of the next mammals in line so that other hungry predators could order their own lunches.

As she made her way for the driver's side of the vehicle, the woman questioned, "So, do you eat here often, Officer Clawhauser?" The zebra certainly seemed to be quite familiar with the feline.

"Like I said earlier, as often as I can..." he chuckled as he carried the two plastic bags filled with protein goodness and one with their large water bottles to the vehicle. "Sadly, he has a strict rule about serving eggs after ten am. Unless he saw you in line before the cutoff time then King Louis won't do it, like, at all! Not even on a bug burger!" He sighed most sadly. "I think it's his way of making sure people come early if they want to experience the nirvana that is his breakfast specialties." As the woman opened the door for him, the feline shrugged his shoulders. "Still, it's not too bad. I rather enjoy his grilled cheese sandwiches! Especially when I can get them with tomato slices!" He licked his lips. "It adds a nice meaty texture to it... gives me the sensation my body craves."

Smirking as she watched the man load the bags into the car, the Hispanic vulpine couldn't help but joke, "I thought that's what you got all those tofu dogs for."

"Variety is always needed for food," the large cheetah replied in a surprisingly solemn manner. "Without it, things would get dull." He brought his right hand to his chest, motioning to himself. "Why, not even I can survive on sugar alone! Even I need some nice dairy and protein to keep my bones and pearly whites healthy and strong!"

Mulling over that, the vixen nodded her head. If the man were on a solely sugar-based diet, his teeth would have rotted out of his skull long ago. "You do have a point," the Hispanic vixen eventually relented. "Even if you have your favorite meal, you can't eat it all the time without getting tired of it." It was why as much as she loved Sly's waffles, she couldn't put up with them EVERY morning... even when the raccoon changed up the flavored syrups he used for topping.

"Righty-o!" The portly police officer replied as he got into the police cruiser on the passenger's side. He smiled as he pulled out a box with condiments from one of the two white plastic bags and smiled. "Yep! All the essentials for a good tofu dog! A choice between yellow and brown mustards, some ketchup, sweet relish, and he even gave us a small tub of saur kraut!" The feline couldn't help but giggle in excitement. "Oh my, I cannot remember the last time I got to eat here for lunch that wasn't a day off! This is gonna be great!" He chirruped merrily as he brought his hands near his face and balled them up into fists; a sparkle of delight shimmering in his eyes.

Opening the driver's side door and climbing in, the navy blue-haired vixen raised an eyebrow in curiosity at her current partner's excitement. Carmelita watched as the portly feline began to grasp one of the ketchup packets between his two massive paws and frowned as he began tugging on it rather roughly. "Careful now, Officer Clawhauser. Just because I'm allowing you to eat in here doesn't mean you can go about it all willy-nilly!" She told him in all seriousness. "This cruiser is going to be my personal transport for the foreseeable future and I'd rather not have to clean up any messes I didn't cause."

The spotted wildcat blinked his eyes as he consider what she said. "Good point..." he murmured as he lowered his paws. "I understand. It's not like the interiors of these things are made out of durasteel or something," the cheetah muttered before rolling the window down and hanging the plastic bag with all the condiments outside of the car. "This way if anything breaks open, it will least it comes off in a car wash."

The vulpine blinked her eyes as he improvised with the door-handle and the plastic bag's handles, using the two plastic extensions of the bag to keep the excess toppings outside while he ate one of his orders. Watching the feline male retrieved and begin to partake of a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich, the Latina vixen nodded her head as she kept her door slightly ajar so she could exist easily enough when it came time to throw everything out. So reaching over into the bag between them and holding a box with her lobster roll, Officer Fox stared at it for a moment. "Be that as it may," she began to speak. "Whether the inside was or wasn't metal, I would rather not have to hose out the inside of this thing... let alone the outside," the canid cop said pointedly.

Benjamin nodded his head in agreement. "Nu kheffeeng," was his muffled response, the spotted feline's mouthful of molten cheese and toasted bread; sending crumbs flying onto the dashboard with his breath. Seeing the smaller woman glare at him, the male cop pursed his lips together before swallowing fully. He then spoke with a much crisper tone, "No kidding. I mean, I've seen videos of why we should be careful speeding in these things. The exterior's dense enough to make mammals my size simply explode into giblets if we were hit head on at full speed!"

Carmelita blinked her eyes at that bit of information and brought her hand to her muzzle. She idly tapped her chin in thought before letting off a small giggle.

That caught the cheetah odd-guard. He didn't expect such information to make the officer laugh. "What?" He chirruped, obviously confused.

Smirking, the vulpine replied, "This had to be what they based those GTA videogames around."

The cheetah blinked his eyes in surprise at such an assumption... before cracking a smile and letting out a roaring bout of laughter. "Wow! I didn't think of that," he murmured in awe. "I mean, it's possible to do that in the game... at least, all the versions except the one sold at the Outback Island District... but I didn't think they pulled it out of the same physics simulation tests that came from the creation of our police cruisers..." he chuckled. "I mean... wow! Just wow! Do you think I could honestly put, 'game developer' down on my resume because of this?"

Shaking her head, the woman politely told him, "I wouldn't quit my day job if I were you. Personally? I think you're doing fine just as you are, Officer Clawhauser." She meant it too. He was surprisingly cheerful, despite the tedium and drudgery of dispatch. It was difficult to keep up that level of positive energy in such a situation and yet he kept on trucking.

A big warm smile appeared on the spotted feline's features, causing his grinning face to appear extra doughy. "Awww... that's one of the nicest things anyone's ever said to me! Right up there with the time Chief Bogo told me I did a, 'good job on the coffee'!"

The Latina red fox looked at the larger predator in shock. She understood he probably wouldn't hear much in the way of positive reinforcement due to him being a predatory mammal, but to hear he got so little recognition? That was some seriously messed up crap.

The vulpine policewoman might have felt better if she realized that's just how Bogo was to everyone but she had still yet to learn that little truth.

However, had Carmelita not been looking at Clawhauser in shock and worrying for him, she might have noticed a rather large and shifty individual looking around suspiciously before walking up beside the Wannabite's food truck. Coming around the corner, the massive rhino in black t-shirt and camouflage pants looked to his left and right for a moment as he made his way up to the line currently comprised of predatory mammals, most of whom were considerably smaller than he was.

Realizing after a moment that the vixen in the driver's seat had her attention on him, the cheetah took a moment to swallow his bite of food. "What?" He asked in all curiousness. "It's not like I get out on the streets all that often for my job," he readily admitted. "Besides, I'm a REAL good animal person. I can deal with mammals who are rude, just plain loud, in crabby moods, upset over genuine reasons, you name it! I keep a smile on my face, a song in my heart, and my disposition SUNNY!" HE smiled as wide as he could, showing off all his pearly-white fangs.

"...How you manage to do it in Zootopia, I have no clue... but you're a Goddamn miracle, Officer Clawhauser," the woman praised him with genuine awe. If anything, the female red fox felt the rotund feline should have been the face of the Mammal Inclusion Initiative.

In response, the happy-go-lucky cheetah smiled at her. "If I don't keep myself happy, I'd probably be depressed." It was a sad thing to admit, but he shrugged before continuing. "Besides, the world's serious and sad enough as it is! Everyone should strive to be happy and/or silly as much as possible!" It was his motto. After all, life tended to kick people in the nuts often enough, even if they were women! So why not try to smile as much as possible?

Considering the man's outlook for a moment, Carmelita couldn't help but eventually nod her head in understanding. Benjamin had probably grown up during the tail end of the electric collar era in the city and it tilted his own views on the world slightly. "Despite my own reservations, I must admit that's rather mature of you, Officer Claw—"

Before Benjamin could reply, a scream interrupted the two officers, the pair looking on ahead through the windshield of the car to see a tall rhinoceros pushing down at least three predators at a time–one of which was holding a camcorder–before he merely grabbed Louis' register in both his massive hands and took off running down the street in the opposite direction.

"Shit! Smash and grab!" The vixen hissed as she tossed aside the box with her lobster roll and kicked out with her left steel-toe boot to swing the door to her side open. "Clawhauser! Call in a robbery! I'm pursuing on foot!" She snapped as she pushed herself out of the vehicle and began running as soon as she hit the ground, travelling in the direction the large horned herbivore went.

The feline shrieked at the women just throwing herself into the fray without a second thought, despite her injuries she attained from, 'mysterious sources' as Chief Bogo had explained. Realizing after a few seconds she had shouted instructions at him, the man quickly dropped the other half of his grilled cheese sandwich back into the wax papers it had been wrapped with as his hands began fiddling with the radio. "Officer Clawhauser to Dispatch! 10-5, Dispatch! We have a 62b! Officer Fox in pursuit! I repeat! Officer Fox is in pursuit and I can't drive this vehicle!" He wailed as he looked down at all the pedals that would have jammed him in the crotch and a steering wheel plunged into his stomach if he tried to get behind the driver's seat.

The radio crackled with static before a male voice came over the line. "10-4, Dispatch reads you. Where are you at, Officer Clawhauser?"

"South Furton Road in Savanna Central!" The man shouted as he pressed up against the windshield, watching as the pair disappeared on the horizon. "Suspect is continuing in a southern direction! I think the big guy intends to create an 11-15!"

Indeed, the rhino was practically charging down the center of the road now, the cash register tucked under his arm as he crossed over into a busy intersection and kept going, making vehicles swerve around him and into each other if not onto the sidewalk causing property damage; the jerk even kicked one smaller rodent vehicle out of the way with his foot in mid-step like it were a soccer ball. He didn't care about the destruction he left in his wake, as all he needed to do was get to Lions Gate! He could easily lose any pursuit amongst the heavily populated throngs of mammals there. It had been a tactic that served him well for a long time when it came to his smash and grabs.

However, the petty crook was in for a rude awakening when he heard an angry female voice call out, "STOP IN THE NAME OF THE LAW!" The scream sounded out not all that far from behind him.

Taking the risk to look over his shoulder for a moment at his pursuer, the horned mammal mentally scoffed as he caught sight a vulpine of all things chasing him. Foolish fox, he mentally grumbled and put more effort into his sprint, running even harder. There was no way he was going to be stopped by the cops, even less by some mangy vixen of all things! What were the police even thinking, letting a friggin' mammal more crooked than he was wear a badge?

As the larger prey mammal started to make a considerable gain in distance between them, Carmelita grit her teeth and began pumping her legs harder to keep up with the rhino who charged in the opposite direction in an effort to make his escape. "STOP OR I WILL RESORT TO THE USE OF FORCE!" She shouted in warning, hoping that would stop the nose-horned perp! The longer he kept on running, the more damage he was likely to cause along the way.

The smash and grab thug snorted through his large nostrils at the measly threat. Oh yeah, like he was afraid of some dinky little tranquilizer dart. The standard ones the police were stocked with had nowhere near the punching power needed to actually break through his skin. All he had to do was keep running; the tiny mammal would get worn out eventually. This was, after all, a world where the strongest survived! And he was strong! Practically rock-steady, even!

It was almost too bad someone like him was lowered to working he worked with a porcupine and a boar but still! It was good exercise and money! Truly, he was living the Zootopian dream!

As the larger mammal ignored her command, the Latina vulpine began to see red. "Okay, that's it!" Officer Fox yelled angrily, "I gave you fair warning!"

His ears rising up as that voice sounded closer than it should have been, the rhino looked back again and was actually shocked at what he saw. The damned copper was somehow gaining on him. What kind of freak is this Chomper!? He thought angrily as he pushed himself harder, working his muscles even more to the point where he actually began to sweat. The increased force also caused the ground shake with each pounding step he took. "Just step off, lady!" He shouted back at the pursuing policewoman. "Something as tiny as you can't keep up with me forever!" He snarled as he bowled on through a glass pane a pair of window repair-mammals had just taken out of their truck to fit into a nearby shop's front display.

As fragments of glass went flying everywhere while onlookers screamed and started to move away from the free-flying glass, the Hispanic vixen growled in rage at the mammal's blatant disregard for the lives of others. "Final warning!" The woman belted out. "Your flight and destruction of private property ends now or there will be consequences!" She screamed at the fleeing herbivore as her right hand already withdrew her favorite crimson device from its holster in one smooth motion while the Latina red fox brought her finger on the trigger and pressed down. In response, a hum of energy began kicking in as she charged up a shot.

The larger savanna herbivore laughed heartily at the threat, not even bothering to look back at her. "Your mama was a snow-blower!" The rhino bellowed out, taunting her.

At the obviously specist remarks towards Arctic vixens, the woman's angered frown turned into an outright glare of righteous fury. She didn't know what was worse: being mocked with a fox stereotype or that even in being a specist asshole, the jerk couldn't even get it straight! "Friggin' idiot," Officer Fox huffed as she stopped running, the soles of her boots skidding before she came to a half. Taking careful aim, the vulpine released her finger's hold on the trigger. In response, a pulsing shot rang out as an electrified current discharged from the weapon, the blast immediately filling the surrounding area with a heady aroma of burnt ozone; the streaking energy obviously iodizing the air as it traveled through it to hit the culprit in the center of his back.

Upon impact, the rhinoceros went stock still for a split second before he went sailing forward, the man violently shaking as the jolt of energy coursed through him. His brain losing its ability to communicate signals to the rest of his body, the horned prey mammal went falling through the air thanks to the initial momentum from his charge before he finally came crashing down harshly. The cash register went flying from his outstretched grasp on impact and bounced across the sidewalk as if the large herbivore had been trying to skip a stone across a lake's surface.

Laying there in an undignified heap as steam came rolling off his thick skin, the herbivore felt incredibly dizzy from the sudden crash landing. "Durr... I don't like dose stankin' toitles..." he groaned deliriously in his pained state of delirium.

Calmly walking up to the now downed culprit, the woman gazed down at him. "Don't worry. There are no turtles around here, big guy... you are, however under arrest for theft, resisting arrest, and destruction of public property. You have the right to remain silent—"

"I can't feel my legs..."

Ignoring the larger rhino's complaint, the vulpine officer continued as if he hadn't interrupted. "Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have a right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you."

Raising his head, the horned herbivore asked, "Can I get one from Baxter and Stockman?"

Shaking her head, Carmelita calmly replied, "Probably not. You would be getting an attorney that works for the state. I don't know who Baxter and Stockman are but I would be willing to bet they're a private firm and such is out of the Zootopia's purview."

The downed petty thief pouted. "Aww... nuts..."

The two weren't alone for long however, as a certain presence made itself known. "Off... huff... puff... hooo... haaa... Officer Fox!' Clawhauser ran up, his belly jiggling with his motions as his tongue was hanging out while he panted. "I... came... to~ooooh..." the tuckered out feline fell backwards with a loud thud, looking just as out of it as the rhino who had gotten a taste of the vixen's trusty shock pistol. "Ooooh... why do my legs hurt so much?"

Carmelita blinked her eyes in surprise, outright shocked as her fellow officer of the ZPD crashed onto the sidewalk. "Officer Clawhauser? Are you all right?" She asked, genuine concern in her voice.

"I... I will..." the overweight and out of shape policeman said between huffs and puffs of much needed air. "Just... wheeze... just give me a second. Been a..." he couched out. "Been awhile since I ran... that... hard..." he looked up at her with a pleading expression. "Why... why didn't we just... chase after him in the car!?" He wailed. "It had... speed and... and air-conditioning!"

Bending over and meeting the fallen officer's gaze, the female red fox politely explained, "Officer Clawhauser I just got that car! I wasn't about to put any scratches, let alone major dents in it by running down a criminal of this low caliber."

"I take offense to that..." the rhino said from his place on the asphalt. "Can I get up now?"

Narrowing her eyes, the vixen turned about, giving the perpetrator her attention as she threatened, "Do you want another shot of my shock pistol?"

The larger herbivore shuddered at the thought. "...No..." he finally squeaked out.

"THEN STAY DOWN!" She snapped irritably at the perp. "Officer Clawhauser here called for a pickup transport..." she turned her gaze once more to look at the cheetah as he lay on the sidewalk, his clothes sticking to him thanks to all of his sweat. "I mean, you DID put in a call for one, right?"

The chubby cheetah nodded his head, his belly jiggling as he tried to suck as much air in as possible. "I got... hack..." he coughed. "I got four... huff... squads!" He finally managed to croak out. "They should be... here... ten minutes." The poor feline mewled pathetically. "Ugh. Talking like... Willion Shatner."

As soon as he said that, a van started to pull up close to the group... however, it wasn't one of the ZPD's, oh no... this was a white communications vehicle that had a satellite dish, numerous antennae, and various electronics on the roof while the body was covered with the red ZNN logo plastered on either side and the back doors as part of its paint job. Almost as soon as it was fully parked, the back doors opened and out stepped a male jaguar.

Carmelita had to blink her eyes as the man was somewhat familiar. The feline predator was covered in a golden-pelt with brown ring patterns and had bright green eyes, albeit such was sight rather common for his breed. However, he was immaculately dressed, the mammal decked out in a nice pin-stripe black suit with royal purple tie and matching handkerchief in his breast pocket. He appeared gentlemanly and prominent but nothing over the top; just enough for the man to appear as a clean and professional individual. What was unique however, was the mammal's upper right whisker. It wasn't uniform with the rest that were straight and slightly droopy, instead darting off higher and out like a porcupine's quill.

It was the whisker that immediately caught her attention and made the vulpine officer realize exactly who this was. "Excuse me... are you Boi Chá? ZNN's Latin American Correspondent?"

The mammal nodded his head at the sound of the female voice. "Sí, Señorita. We were at the food truck waiting to pick up some lunch when that man down there," he motioned to the rhinoceros with his paw. "He went and bowled some of us over to grab the zebra's... register... and..." he trailed off, blinked his eyes in surprise as he got a good look at the woman he was talking to. "Say! You're Officer Carmelita Montoya Fox, aren't you!?" He inquired in genuine surprise. The feline newscaster was pretty sure but he had to be certain.

Keeping her expression calm, the vulpine officer carefully nodded her head in affirmation. Even as she did, she couldn't help but wonder just how badly this was going to go.

The smile that blossomed across the Hispanic jaguar's muzzle was absolutely ecstatic. "Wonderful! This is absolutely perfect! We need to get an interview with you!"

Carmelita blinked her eyes as she slowly processed what she'd been asked. "An interview?" She finally repeated, making certain she heard that right.

Nodding his head, the feline predator excitedly replied, "Sí! Of course! Everyone, and I do mean everyone is talking about you right now! We all had so many questions and you were just carted off unceremoniously by the mayor!" He held up his right hand, bringing his microphone in close to her as not one but TWO camera-mammals began to climb out of the vehicle. "So may we ask those questions here? Please?"

A smile slowly spread across the woman's muzzle. "Sure... I would enjoy that..." she turned to look over at the downed cheetah and grinned in a more whimsical manner. "As long as you don't mind making sure my friend here gets some accreditation for his assistance in all of this. Best backup a woman could ask for."

"Aww... gee... thanks..." the pudgy feline replied. "Just... just five more minutes. Be right... up as… as soon as I can!" He gasped that last word out.

Blinking his eyes a couple of times as he only then noticed the Zootopia police officer laying on the sidewalk, the jaguar leaned in towards his fallow Latin mammal and quietly asked, "Miss... is he going to be okay?" He was trying to be sensitive about the man's weight but he couldn't help but worry.

"He will be, just give him a moment..." she replied, the smile of her face practically devious in a fashion that only foxes were capable of attaining. Oh, she was going to get back at Mayor Lionheart SO hard with this...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As a set of elevator doors opened, a blue-suited leonine politician stepped out from enclosure and onto the carpeted top floor of City Hall with a noticeably visible limp. Normally being there was just an everyday affair for the feline, business as usual as it were. However, receiving that text while he was trying to get Chief Bogo to see things his way made him realize that the most important thing at the moment wasn't playing damage control at the police station... it was coordinating damage control at Zootopia's seat of legislation!

Doing his best to suppress the shudder he could feel from the chill that was traveling along his spine, the thick mane-adorned predator took the left down the hall, the direction opposite of his familiar and comforting office, towards the section of the building where he wasn't the loudest, let alone the most important voice to be had. Oh yes, Mayor Lionheart was not looking forward to this meeting with... the Zootopia City Council.

The City Council was the nine mammal legislative body–including him–that governed their fair city. It was these upstanding men and women of wealth and influence who proposed bills, held votes, and passed laws to help govern Zootopia and make sure it ran smoothly and efficiently.

And Leodore absolutely loathed the fact that when it came to actually getting anything done in any of the Districts let alone the city as a whole, he was beholden to them.

Normally Zootopia's mayor was the mammal who served as the Chairman of the City Council and was granted not only the traditional voting rights but the more important veto power over city legislation... however, that depended on the actual vote count. To get the executive position, one had to attain the most votes of anyone, be it the mayoral ballot or for someone running for a council position outright. So while the leonine politician had managed to unseat former Fifty-First Mayor Randolph Buckington to become Zootopia's first predator mayor... he did not have the majority of overall votes. Oh no, there were not one but two council members that attained more votes on the council ballot forms than he did in the race for mayor against the reigning red deer, something which usually wasn't the case. So instead of being top dog as it were, the honor of being the Council President and Speaker fell to someone else in the party...

And it was Head Councilman Hornaday that summoned him and the other members of the City Council to this emergency meeting.

Okay Lionheart. Stiff upper lip now; you are Mayor of Zootopia! Poise and grace! The feline bureaucrat thought as he brought his paws to the handles on either of the twin doors that lead into the council chambers and gripped tightly. Hopefully Hornaday and he would have gotten there before everyone else arrived so he could speak with the herbivore in private. Considering the timing of this emergency meeting, the lion had a distinct feeling what this was about and he wanted a chance to explain his innocence to the man before he would have to be scrutinized by the council. Truly, this whole thing about a fox given municipal authority wasn't his fault!

As soon as he pushed the doors inward into the expansive board room filled with a surprising level of refinery and luxury, such as furniture of expensive woods and modern electronic conveniences, the mane-adorned feline's hopes were dashed. Not only were he and Mr. Hornaday not alone but the entire council was already present! All eyes turned to him upon his entry and the lion couldn't help but gaze around at all the faces that made up the legislative body of their fair city-state.

On the right side of the length rectangular piece of furniture were the Conservatives. In the seat closest to the head of the table where the lion would be seated was Mr. Edward Velveteen, a longtime resident of the Tundratown District. Being the President of the frigid district's Snow Bank, Mr. Velveteen was a considerable presence in the city, despite being a lapin. As an Arctic hare, the bunny politician was one of the largest lagomorphs, putting his size on par with a red fox, albeit with ears shorter than other lapin species and a slightly chubbier frame to protect him against the cold. He was all business in a black suit and tie with white dress shirt, the only color on him being the gold chain on the coat pocket that indicated he had a watch in there.

After the rabbit and to his right was a rather portly individual that lived up to a lot of the pig stereotypes. Mr. Ronald O'Hoggish was an obese porcine of Southern heritage with strong Christian values and a hell of a lot of money... particularly since he was the President of the Piggy Bank, a firm that had grown in presence over the past two decades in the Downtown District thanks to being one of the first financial institutions in the city to actually accept predators as clients. He was decked out in a green suit, the pants pressed tight against his skin and the jacket left unbuttoned, as well as a white dress shirt. The neck of the shirt was forcefully kept closed with a black lacquered chord and silver-capped bolo tie. Overall, his appearance was a strong indicator of his corpulence and access to resources. The man was lacking nothing to live a rich lifestyle and he knew how to throw his weight around... figuratively and literally!

Fortunately, it appeared Mr. O'Hoggish was abiding by the council's ruling that he be clean before entering. Lionheart lost count of the number of times the pig had simply waltzed in there covered in mud, leaving stains the room's carpeting in his wake.

At the end of the row of Conservative mammals was the City Council's long-runner, Mr. Jumbo Loans; the massive male mammal decked out in his traditional blue suit with white shirt and solid red tie to invoke classical patriotism. With his long trunk, large ear and tusks, the massive elephant was said to smell all, hear all, and speak with a silver tongue. He was the current head of Zootopia's Conservative Party and had been since the hay-day of the Sheep Party, back when Sahara Square was still a primarily a reptile district. And while he was still a staunch politician with clear-cut ambition, the pale gray to his skin, the sinking of his eyes that now required glasses, and the yellowing of his overgrown incisors made it perfectly clear that the elephantidae was showing his age. Still, he kept a sharp mind running Sahara Savings and was in good with the camel population there thanks to having been one of the mammals that spearheaded the Saddle Arabian Peace Accord; right alongside Zootopia's Forty-Ninth Mayor Gerald Hippopottus and OPEC Representative Lord Kahmal Punjob the Second.

Which made it no surprise that to the large Herbivore's left and sitting at the head of the table opposite of Lionheart's seat was the single nominee of Zootopia's Independent party to make it onto the council, Mr. Kahmal Punjob the Third. The even-toed ungulate was something of a local celebrity, particularly within Sahara Square thanks to his father's involvement with strengthening ties between Zootopia and Saddle Arabia. It was also his family that had founded the famed Golden Palm Resort that became one of the city's stunning landmarks, which he was the currently the primary owner of after his father's passing the previous Autumn. However, unlike his dear old dad, Kahmal was more into modern fashion... particularly with the full white hoof-tailored silk suit with a silver stud in his left earlobe and the massive cigar that hung from the left corner of his lips was proof of that...

...Although he did share his father's taste in jet-black Ray Bunny sunglasses.

And then on the side of the table opposite all of the right-leaning mammals were the members of Zootopia's Liberal Party. The line beginning from the back and off to the Independent camel's right was Mr. Woodrow Chipper aka 'Woody' to his friends. The groundhog came from a long line of left-leaning large rodents who tried to instill pure 50's American beliefs into the modern youth through childhood programs such as the Bunny Scouts and the Junior Ranger Scouts, which were kept going strong and funded by the Chipper family and their own loan offices of Daylight Savings and Loans–a company which Woodrow served as a senior member of. Decked out in a designer green suit with four leaf clover pin on the lapel and a red tie over a yellow shirt, the petite marmot was practically trying to invoke the symbolism of the boy and girl clubs of America... it was a tactic that had kept him on the city council for four terms now and his thumb on the pulse of Zootopia.

Coming forward a seat was the rather lovable Mrs. Harriet Beaver, the semiaquatic rodent decked out in a smart pink suit that invoked former first lady Jacqueline Kenneighdy. She was something of a, 'Team Mom' as she was always so polite, sweet, and ladylike to everyone she met, able to put out a, 'mother knows best' vibe to any debates. With such a skill, the woman was able to get people to donate to worthy causes like school sports programs and general funding, particularly the clients of the River Bank in the Rainforest District that she could guilt into doing so. As the President of that particular finance business, she made sure that each and every accountholder knew every charity event in the city was going on so they could happily give 'til it hurt. After all, they wouldn't want to upset Mrs. Beaver.

Coming closer to Leodore's seat and to Mrs. Beaver's right was the only other woman on the City Council and the North American Beaver's polar opposite. Proudly self-proclaimed third-wave Feminist, the middle-aged Ms. Monica Harshwhinny was dressed well enough in a blue blazer and skirt with white frilled shirt and ascot and smart blue glasses. As the President of the Zootopia branch of the international banking firm J.P. Mare-Gan, she had to be to put on a sense of professionalism. A pure-bred mustang that could trace her lineage back to the Iberian horses of Spain, she was bilingual and able to rouse up the rhetoric amongst not only most of the female mammals in the city, but its Hispanic population as well! More than enough support to get such a rather outspoken equine firebrand elected into a position of legislation again and again.

And finally, in the seat closest to the head of the table with Leodore's chair and seated opposite of Mr. Velveteen was Head Councilman William Hornaday himself. Current head of the Liberal Party and President of the City Council thanks to getting the most votes this past election, the greater kudu was one of the more unique individuals at the table. A reddish-brown pelt with white chevron that ran between his eyes, the same color as the goatee that few from his throat and chin, the woodland antelope had two large horns that extended into two and a half twists making them considerably fiercer than either of Mr. Jumbo Loans' yellowed tusks, despite the two being of similar age. Dressed in a fine black velvet suit with white shite and golden tie, the President of the Zootopia National Bank–the city's first and longest-running financial institution–looked very much the part of a professional bureaucrat.

The African bovidae blinked his eyes as he stared out at the leonine politician he outranked in this setting and gave him a malicious smile. "Ah, Mayor Lionheart. I'm so glad you could join us so promptly. Fifteen minutes is a new record for you." He chuckled as he took the small cigarette out of his mouth with his right hand and placed it onto the crystalline ash tray set on the table in front of him before his hooved digits motions over to the empty chair at the head of the table. "Now come, Mayor Lionheart. Take a seat. There is much we need to discuss..."

The lion gulped nervously, realizing that this couldn't be good. "Ah yes... about that Chairman Hornaday! You see—"

"Mayor Lionheart," the greater kudu repeated the leonine politician's name firmly. "I said, take a seat," he told the feline, his hand still extended and motioning to the empty chair to his right once more.

Leodore did his best to fight down the cringe he could feel wanting to make its way to his face. He had to appear calm and professional before his peers, after all. "Yes, yes..." the mayor grumbled as he took his seat. There was no use in beating around the bush so he might as well get on with his verbal lashing. "Shall we skip the pleasantries and get down to business?"

A snort sounded from the other end of the table. "What's this? Actually getting matters at hoof? Why, that's not like you at all, Mayor. I'd be lion if I said I wasn't at least a little bit concerned." Punjob commented, getting more than a few headshakes in disgust at his bad jokes. "But then again, at least I didn't make a donkey of myself on live television." He said as he motioned to the screen hanging in one of the corner of the board room, showing that ZNN was STILL going on about that morning's press conference.

Turning her head to the left and towards the direction of the Saddle Arabian transplant, the semi-aquatic rodent raised an eyebrow in curiosity, her lips pursing in disapproval. "Was that dissing or cussing?" Councilwoman Beaver asked of Councilman Punjob.

The desert mammal shook his head and smiled at the woman. "Neither. It was merely... an observation. Besides," he began as he reclined back into his chair once more. "I'm trying to cut down on the cursing a little bit, so I'm using alternative ways to speak that you rodents came up with." Removing the cigar from his lips, Kahmal nodded his head in at the direction of the semi-aquatic rodent. "But what have you to complain of? At least you weren't pulled from an actual job! I have seven digits I have to deal with daily at the hotel! And that's cash!" Ignoring the huff of the female beaver, the camel looked at the leonine mayor. "So can we please get on with this? I have to get back to the Golden Palm even though I would like to do some lion around. Eh, eh?" Punjob queried as he winked at the mayor while others gathered at the table groaned at the humped herbivore's atrocious puns.

Bringing a massive paw up to rub his face, the mane-adorned feline groaned in disgust as Kahmal continued to live up to the family motto of felonious punnery. "I do apologize for any wait, ladies and gentlemen. The delay wasn't due to me wanting to slight any of you by wasting your time. Heaven's no," he said in all seriousness. "I found myself assaulted in Chief Bogo's office by the ZPD's... er... latest recruit..."

The equine immediately butted in. "I saw what you did at the end of the conference, Lionheart. If she did, you had it coming!" Monica commented with her eyes narrowed, gazing at him in an accusatory fashion. "Despite the fact she turned out to be a fox, you really should have checked your privilege at the podium, Mayor! Doing something like that?" She shook her head. "I can keep certain... parts of the internet from have a fit... save for those blasted gamer nerds who will call us hypocrites again, but you should count yourself lucky that she is just a fox."

Mrs. Beaver nodded her head in agreement with the woman sitting next to her. "Indeed! I mean, sure she's a fox of all things, terrible nocturnal predators that they are... but you simply do not mammal-handle a woman so roughly, Lionheart!" The petite lady in pink attire said sternly, shaking a finger at him with her white-gloved hand as if she were chiding a cub. "And worse, you didn't even try to salvage anything! You just buttoned your lip and ran for it!"

Cringing a bit as it felt like he was being ostracized by his own mother, Leodore looked over to his fellow Liberal and questioned, "Was... was it really that bad?" He thought he kept himself collected and emotionless as he nipped things in the bud before they could get worse.

"Absolutely atrocious!" Ms. Harshwhinny butted in again, answering for the smaller female mammal. "As I said, what you did was complete and utter misogynistic!"

The elephant across the table from her snorted, his trunk extending out for a moment to do so. "Darn it, Monica! Enough with the accusations of sexism already! He just firmly dealt with an outsider who was lambasting our fair city in a timely and efficient manner! Sometimes doing the right thing isn't the easy let alone pretty thing to do! Sometimes you need to get your paws dirty, and in the case of Leodore today, literally!"

Crossing her arms over her chest, the female mustang glared at Jumbo over the rim of her glasses. "I told you this before, Mr. Loans! Stop using my first name! That is a completely and utterly sexist, specist and misogynist thing to do: acting so familiar and chummy with me! Me, a mammal of the opposite gender and a different phylum of species!"

"Oh come off that soapbox already! We've known each other for twenty years!" The elephant snapped irritably.

Woody snorted at that. "You really shouldn't be surprised, you old elephant. You heard what happened to Josh Wheaties, right? You can be a good ally or know them your whole lives but as soon as you say or do something that they find even remotely offensive, they'll turn on you like a pack of wild dingoes or hyenas." The rotund rodent shuddered at the mental image such a statement gave him.

Realizing why the tiny mammal was trembling for his own two-cents, O'Hoggish snorted. "Of course you would immediately liken Ms. Harshwhinny's crowd to some Chompers when you want to insult someone." He then brought his hands up, speaking in almost a mocking tone. "I mean, oh look! The little woodchuck is afraid of a predator so that means they're the worst things on earth! Big fudge pawpsicle surprise right there!" He bit out sarcastically.

His eyes narrowing, the groundhog glared at the ACTUAL hog. "Hey! I'll have you know that you idiots forcing my family to accept predators into the Junior Ranger Scouts has done nothing but ruin the morale and sanctity of the brother and sisterhood we develop amongst these kits and cubs! None of the good herbivores can focus on earning badges or learning valuable life skills when they have some tiger or even a bear among them!" He crossed his arms over his chest. "In my day, we knew exactly what to do with preds! Muzzle and beat 'em into submission!" He then proceeded to punch his tiny right fist into his open left palm for emphasis. "Those fiendish meat-eating pelts learned their lesson darn quick!"

The porcine Conservative snorted–something his species was particularly good at. "And that sort of thinking, my dear Mr. Chipper, is also why your youth groups are also seeing their lowest enrollment numbers on record. You don't give them a chance to make you money." He grinned wide. "I mean, sure, dealing with predators is dangerous and risky but their green is just as good as anyone else when you make investments!"

"Now, now..." Kahmal interrupted before an argument could break out. "I know things are tense and we're all chomping at the bit here, but we do have to bury old grudges." He gave a smirk to side of the table to his right where all Liberals were sitting. "I do believe, though, that it was your party that set up the laws that made them into second-class citizens in the first place."

The female mustang scoffed at the humped herbivore's historical fact the party did their best to keep dead and buried. "At least we don't hate women, old people, and orphans!" She snapped, her gaze going straight to the largest mammal in the room to imply she was directly accusing him of such atrocities in particular. It was one of her favored tactics: ignore answering any damning inquiries and immediately deflect the attention to another pressing issue.

The head of the Conservative party threw his massive mitts up into the air in frustration. "Oh for the love of Gouda and all the good herbivores on this great green earth, Monica! I am an old person!" Mr. Jumbo Loans cried out in absolute aggravation.

Smirking a little at the sheer audacity of the woman, the arctic hare on the end of the table leaned into his left towards Leodore and whispered, "Really? Mr. Loans sure had me fooled."

Despite himself, a small chuckle rumbled in the lion's throat. Oh, he could always be thankful for the constant backstabbing of various party members on both sides of the divide. If they could stay focused on each other he might be able to get through this unscathed.

The female equine merely neighed in disgust. "Oh and there you go, bringing religion into this!" She huffed angrily. "God... or as the rodent population likes to say, 'Gouda' is just a construct of Western mammal society who are trying to use a celestial boogeyman to get all other mammals to fall in line with their idea of systemic straight herbivore male privilege!"

Realizing this was going to devolve into yet another one of those debates, the lovely motherly figure of the City Council stood on her chair. Her little paws raised high, Mrs. Beaver clapped her hands together to get the attention of all those gathered. "Ladies, gentlemammals, and those of undisclosed genders or species identity, please! Quiet down now! Can we at least, for today, focus ourselves on the task at paw? We can save our sniping for the campaign trail but right now we have a much bigger problem to deal with!"

"I agree! Well said, Councilwoman Harriet Beaver!" Hornaday spoke praised, having been waiting for the woman to rein the others in for him. The woman just had an effect on animals that even he, despite being the President of the City Council, did not. He gazed about the table, making sure everyone was settled and willing to work together before he began speaking to the group as a whole. "I do thank you all for making it to this important meeting. Due to the gross incompetence of Mayor Lionheart here, a serious threat has been levied against us."

The leonine bureaucrat blinked his eyes in shock at the head councilman's statement. "A... a threat? Really? Her, a threat? You mean that one little fox?" The large wild feline asked as he brought his impressive paws up and held them apart only a little bit to show an exaggerated amount of minimal height for emphasis.

"Indeed... a fox that could ruin everything we've worked to maintain!" The greater kudu replied in all seriousness. The African antelope pushed his chair back and stood tall, looming over the lion to his right, his right hooved hand extended and pointing his index finger at the predator in a dominant fashion. "Leodore, do you remember WHY we let you run office?"

His vision going cross-eyed as his brown orbs came to focused on the hooved digit pointing directly his nose, the lion replied, "Because I've got charisma, ideas, and the will and desire to lead Zootopia into greater prosperity?"

"WRONG!" Hornaday practically barked out. "It's because you're a predator who knows its place in the food-chain!" He said with a commanding tone. "Predators overall don't know any better! They're children that need proper guidance! Stupid children that will cut themselves and us with all the sharp and pointy bits of their biology that evolution mistakenly gave them and cursed us to having to deal with! But you, Lionheart? Oh no, you know better! I say jump, you ask how high! I say run, you ask how far! I say be a good puppet and you sing, 'I've Got No Strings' from that rodent entrepreneur's animated version of Pinocchio!"

Mayor Lionheart twitched as the others–including the Conservatives–around the table nodded their heads in agreement, driving home that he was nothing but a pretty face for them to quell any predator outrage while they could run things business as usual. Oh how he hated to be reminded of that fact, but it was all too true. Then again, hardly any mammal can run for office in this day and age without their special interest masters controlling them, the lion politician mentally reminded himself in an effort to soothe his bruised ego.

Well... save for a few politicians but they were generally old animals whom were tired of the establishment and wanted to buck the system, such as that Ron Pawl fellow... whom notably failed to become President of the Zoonited States and was easily dismissed as being Koo-Koo for Cocoa Puffs.

Reaching forward for his cigar again, the camel tapped it on the rim of the ash tray before him before bringing it back close to him. "So then, how do you suggest we go about vixen this issue, President Hornaday?" Punjob asked in all seriousness, despite still working another pun of his into the inquiry. "I don't know about any of you, but I think trying to push thing back to the way things were will cause a riot and I'm not really up for dealing with that." He knew that the more 'progressive' members of the council would be willing to try it, but he sure as hell wasn't.

After all, this time there would be no way to keep the predators from rioting in the streets if they tried to reinstate the Tame Collar Initiative. The Chompers had learned about and lived a new level of freedom and they would be willing to fight literal fang and claw to keep it.

"I'm pretty certain that the rest of the predators appreciate your concern, Councilman Punjob, but you don't need to worry. There's no way the rest of the Council would even consider such regressive tactics," The Mayor replied...

...Only to be immediately silenced by a glare from the prey mammal with the set of killer screw horns that adorned his head.

With the pred cowed in his seat, the antelope turned about and stared out at the gathering of his fellow herbivores. "I was getting to that, Lord Punjob," the elder cervidae answered in a firm if not outright aggressive tone. The horned prey mammal waited for the camel to begin smoking–as such would keep his mouth shut–before he addressed the council once again. "I've been down this road before... I've seen it firsthoof what they're capable of, those... those foxes..." he spat out the breed's name as if it were the vilest of curses. "They so conniving and shifty! They've got an unnatural cunning to them! Even if they're not smart there's a wisdom about those creatures that lets them make a dollar out of ninety-nine cents! They know how to find business opportunities and don't give us our due! We're just fortunate enough that we've been able to keep them down thanks to the common mistrust ALL mammals correctly have of that filthy, thieving species."

The head chairman then turned about on Leodore once more. "And look at what you did, idiot! You have given one of them the undisputed reins of authority! You and other predators know to toe the line in Zootopia but this woman? This outsider!? She's lived all the lies and crazy ideas of the rest of the world! Ideas that put predators on equal footing with their prey superiors! Ideas that support the falsehoods they are better suited than US at any aspect of life!" He roared in the lion's face. "AND YOU PUT ALL THAT ON CAMERA! YOU PUT THOSE SPECIST FACTS OUT THERE FOR EVERY ANIMAL TO SEE!"

"No kidding!" Jumbo said in agreement as his trunk motioned to the eighty-six inch television set hanging on the wall; the screen showing Peter Moosebridge and Fabienne Growley are still going at a heated debate with one another. "ZNN has been talking about this darned press conference of yours non-stop since you ended it abruptly, Lionheart! You got everyone talking and speculating! And worse! You even got them digging up so-called, 'positive' information about the woman because you foolishly built her up so high!" He said, lambasting the fifty-second mayor of Zootopia. "It sends the wrong message for mammals to hear she's managed to take down bigger and meaner pelts that are already superior to her flawed fox species but it's a shame if not an outright sin to hear how this woman has bested PREY! I mean, these are criminal herbivores to be sure but it spins the false narrative of outright predator superiority!"

"Oh, you're just upset that one of her latest capers had her take down a criminal elephant, this Decibel-something-or-other," Woody said in all seriousness... although a part of him was pleased to see a little guy manage to overcome something huge, even if it was a... he paused to shudder in disgust. A filthy fox.

Before the mayor could speak, the television had its, 'special news bulletin' music jingle play, the louder tone catching the attention of those gathered. "Hey, someone turn that up," Leodore called out as he looked at the table for the remote control. The large feline saw it to his right and went to grab it, only to have Mr. Velveteen quickly take hold of it.

"I got it," the lagomorph replied as he held the remote device up in his left paw and pressed his right index finger down on the up button on the volume control, the voices on the television now coming in clear over the television's speaker system.

Looking at the camera so that he appeared to be facing the audience, it was a bewildered looking experienced Peter Moosebridge that spoke, even as his fellow feline news-caster looked absolutely smug. "We now take you live to our news correspondent Boi Chá with the newest recruit of the Zootopia Police Department who has just apprehended wanted criminal Rock S. Teddy for what witnesses say was a smash and grab."

"WHAT!?" Was the chorus of the mammals gathered as all their seats–minus Hornaday's–swiveled in place to look towards the large TV set. The image on the screen changed to that of a male jaguar in a fine suit standing beside the slightly shorter vixen, the woman clad in the recognizable uniform of the ZPD.

His right paw over his ear, the ring-patterned feline brought the microphone with a prominent ZNN logo on its handle up to just below his face with his other. "This is Boi Chá, live from Blue Grass Boulevard in Southern Savanna Central!" He said, speaking directly into his microphone. "I am here at the scene of arrest with the ZPD's latest recruit, Officer Carmelita Montoya Fox!" The camera zoomed in, getting a better image of both mammals on the screen. "Officer Fox, can you tell us how you managed to keep up with such a large and powerful prey mammal in a foot chase of all things?: As he finished speaking, the predatory mammal tilted the microphone he held in his grasp towards the vulpine woman so it was between them.

Looking into the camera, the vixen replied, "Well that's rather simple, Mr. Chá: hard work and a lot of cardio. I used to do parkour for a living as part of my job BEFORE it was even called that by the hipsters and adrenaline-junkies!" She said in all seriousness. "Back when it had been part of Interpol's military-grade training."

"Really?" The jaguar said in surprise. "So you're saying you invented the trend as it's commonly known today?"

Shaking her head, the Hispanic policewoman replied, "No. If anything, the crooks and thieves of France did. I had to pick up on it to keep up with them in high-speed pursuits. So managing to gain on a big, muscle-bound rhino who was only weighed down by his own massive body was a cakewalk."

"Someone..." a male voice spoke up, causing the camera to zoom back a bit pan down to the ground where the source of the voice originated, revealing it to be male overweight cheetah in ZPD uniform was lying flat on the ground. "Someone mention cake?"

The woman chuckled as she knelt down beside her fellow policeman. "It's okay, Officer Clawhauser. We'll get you some cake after."

"Oh... oh thank you!" the tuckered out feline managed to gasp in relief. "We never got to even dig into lunch! I'm absolutely starving!"

The expression on the jaguar's face easily conveyed his confusion on how a mammal that fat could be hungry. Still, he was professional enough to not bring it up–particularly since the man was a fellow feline. "Yes... well then," he stumbled a bit, trying to get the topic off a pudgy police officer needing his nom-nom's. "How were you able to take down such a large rhino? I highly doubt that you could have put him in a choke hold."

"Dat fox has a zappa!" Said rhinoceros yelled, the camera panning over past the pair to reveal the large mammal as he was being pushed into a heavily armored transport van by a pair of uniformed officers; a fellow member of his species and a polar bear. "IT REALLY HURT!" He whined as the door was slammed and he was driven off.

The camera's view zoomed back to the pair in time to catch the vulpine nodding her head at the horned herbivore's words. "It's true," the red fox said as she brought her right hand to her side and withdrew her firearm. "This is a shock pistol or as I like to call it, 'The Equalizer'. It's a weapon of non-lethal force designed with the sole purpose of discharging ions for a stunning effect. It is Interpol-issued and I am both licensed and trained in proper handling. Needless to say it's a very potent self-defense tool, able to take down a criminal as large and durable as... well... for obvious example, a rhino."

Staring down at the red weapon in the woman's paw for a moment, Boi blinked his eyes in surprise. "Aren't you worried about accidentally killing any animal smaller than you are with that thing?" He questioned in legitimate concern. He knew of a weasel that barely survived getting electrocuted after hooking up illegal cable television so he could pirate Disney movies. That guy's fur was STILL singed and growing back in odd patterns.

"Of course not," Carmelita replied firmly. "It has a power gauge setting that I can use to make certain its charge is set to handle any animal no matter their size. I could even use this to snipe rodents from ten paces if I put it to the lowest setting without doing more than momentarily stunning them."

The jaguar nodded his head in understanding, his gaze drawn to the woman's weapon. "Amazing, simply amazing! That is an incredible piece of equipment! I'm surprised the ZPD hasn't looked into such a weapon to arm their officers with. The closest they have are those Tasers! And those things are purposely charged to a single animal body-type!"

A thoughtful expression came over the vixen's case for a moment. "To be fair, these weapons could seriously hurt people. Too strong of a charge and you could accidentally kill a little lamb, let alone turn its snow white fleece as black as coal," the Latina vulpine said in all seriousness. "That's why a lot of training is needed before someone can be issued one of these for use in the field. You need to be able to know how to accurately recalibrate this thing on the fly, especially when multiple targets are concerned."

"I see, I see..." the predatory feline said in reply to his fellow Latin mammal. "So getting certified for that thing must take a lot of physical testing... and..." he trailed off as he brought his right hand up to his ear. "Wait a moment. I'm getting some information here." His eyes widened with genuine surprise. "Wow! Officer Fox, do you realize you just ended a two month-long crime wave that has had the entirety of the Zootopia Police Department stumped? And within three hours of being authorized no less!"

Needless to say, the female red fox was caught off-guard by the newscaster's proclamation, shock dawning on her features. All the woman could say in reply was, "Que!?"

"Sí,sí!" Boi cried out excitedly. "Mr. Teddy has had a warrant out for him for an ongoing five months total and that these smash and grabs of his have been nearly a daily thing all over the Savanna Central and Downtown Districts the past two months in particular! Over twelve grand in stolen property and thirty-four thousand in assorted damages! You've taken down a career criminal by yourself that has left the entirety of the ZPD in the dust!"

Realizing where this was going with the man trying to prop her up, the vixen quickly added, "I didn't do it alone. I had help!" She motioned to the ground. She had to make sure the department got some of the credit, otherwise she could be off to a rough start with the other officers once she got a chance to interact with them.

Again, the camera panned down, following the motion of the vulpine woman's hand. "...Hi..." the rotund cheetah replied from his place on the sidewalk. At least his heavy breathing had stopped and he was able to finally sit up.

Gazing down again, Boi pursed his lips as he cringed. "Oh dear... ZPD's best doesn't seem all that great. No offense my fellow feline," he quickly added in apology.

Raising his right paw, the cheetah waved off the newscaster. "None taken," he told the jaguar. "I'm mostly a desk jockey anyway. I was just chosen to be the one to show Officer Fox around the city... admittedly though it seems she got through a lot more of it on foot faster than we could in the car."

"Oh, that's okay..." Carmelita said as she brought a hand down, patting the rotund officer's head. She looked towards the camera and firmly stated, "Officer Benjamin Clawhauser is one of the best law-keepers I've met. And I mean that on a global level," she reaffirmed. "He might not be what you want for a beat cop but I've yet to meet anyone in the ZPD with the zeal and attitude it takes to be an honest cop outside of your city's fine Chief Bogo." Granted, she hadn't had a chance to really meet anyone else yet but she hoped to soon.

She then brought her shock pistol up into the camera's shot. "So don't worry your heads, Zootopia! You've got the best management a police station could ever want! And I'll be out there to help keep your streets sa—"

The feed was cut off as a crystalline ashtray smashed into the front of the television; the coloration going extremely pixelated before simply going black. The knick-knack broke up into a quintet of chunks as it created a huge indentation that cracked open the twin glass panels and fluorescent lights of the front of the plasma screen on impact. In moments, that sizeable break expanded out across the surface of the screen in a pattern of cracks akin to that of a spider-web.

"Hornaday!" Jumbo shouted as he swiveled his seat back around to look at the heaving form of the greater kudu. "What in the ever-loving hache-eee-double-hockey sticks are you thinking!?" The elephant wasn't upset about the now broken television so much as how that thing could have hit him in the back of the head!

His chest heaving from how heavily he was breathing in barely restrained rage, the greater kudu eventually let off an audibly growl turning as he turned to his right, grabbing Mayor Lionheart by the lapels of his jacket and pulling him close. "You idiot! Do you see what you've done!? This is no longer an issue of a conniving fox in power. This is something my grandparents warned me about: predator superiority and the end of herbivore rule!" He then firmly pushed Leodore back into his seat with enough force that he caused the feline's chair to roll back on its wheels a few feet. "And you, Mr. Mayor, are going to fix this!"

As soon as his chair came to a stop, the leonine politician blinked his eyes as he looked up at his fellow bureaucrat. "Huh-how?" He managed to gasp out as he used his feet to try and roll his chair back to the head of the table in an effort to regain some semblance of respect.

When the predator he had gotten propped up enough to get elected as mayor was close enough to him, the African antelope firmly told him, "You are going to get her to leave Zootopia. I don't care how you do it, you just do it! Because if you don't, we're going to be heading South so fast we'll be in Tiajuanna before we know it!"

Hearing the man to her right say that, the female equine scoffed in outrage. "That's Speci—"

"Quiet!" The head of Zootopia's Liberal Party and President of the Zootopia City Council roared in the face of his subordinate, making the female mustang yelp out in shock that a man would actually have the balls speak up to her. "I don't have time to deal with your petty agendas and political correctness, Ms. Harshwhinny! You can whine at me all you want later but right now I need you to shut your trap!" Hornaday yelled at Monica. When she was cowed, the horned herbivore turned his attention back to the lion. "So let's get one thing absolutely clear, Mayor Lionheart... your job is to get that..." he grit his teeth. "That fox out of our city, using any means necessary! If anything goes wrong, I promise you we'll see to it your head rolls!"

The others looked slightly confused at his outburst, but the mammal ignored their stared. Hornaday knew exactly what was going to happen. "If we don't do something now, soon the predators will be pushing for even more equality! Some may actually try to push for supremacy!" He shouted in bewilderment. "But the real and immediate problem will be that the predators wouldn't be cowed if they side with this... outsider. A symbol of everything that's wrong with the rest of the world!" He reached out with his hooved hands pulled the mayor close by his tie. Butting his nose against the other man's, he narrowed his eyes and glared into the predator's fearful gaze. "We may have had to start accepting those damned chompers into more aspects of our once great society to keep the corrupt American government off our backs but because of you letting that idiot Chief Bogo open up to hiring even more pelts, the police force has a disproportionate number of predators in the ranks. We wouldn't be able to enforce law and order if they decided to side with the predators over us!"

The mayor nodded his head in understanding. He didn't need to be told what to do.

Letting go of the feline's red necktie, Hornaday stepped back and brushed his suit off. "Well then, so long as we have an agreement..." he said in a surprisingly nonchalant manner, almost a complete one-eighty from the attitude he'd been displaying. "I suggest you go and... take care of her as soon as possible."

Leaning forward in his seat, the elephant brought his trunk up, using his nose to adjust the glasses on his face as he stared at the greater kudu. "You aren't talking about illegal means or anything, are you Head Councilman?" Jumbo asked, knowing full well that they couldn't cover up something like that if he did. As tempting as the thought was to just go and take care of the fox like they did back in the old days, she was an Interpol agent! They'd have the International Police all over their city if she disappeared or turned up dead somewhere!

The horned herbivore scoffed. "Of course not! We just need to make her feel completely unwanted and that it would be best to leave on her own." He smirked. "I'm sure even if Mayor Lionheart has trouble, we can all find ways to feel as unwelcome as possible in this city. That a fox cannot rise up to be a community leader."

"Ah yes... such as forcing her jobs on her no one in their right minds would want comes to mind," Jumbo said as he nodded in understanding. Now that he could at least get behind.

"In fact..." Hornaday began, the wheels in his head turning as his gaze returned to the feline mayor. "I think it would be in your best interest to PUSH a certain fact home with the city... you go to that bull-headed idiot Bogo and you two see to it that this Carmelita can be nothing more than what her breed allows for: a sultry vixen."

Blinking his eyes once, twice, the leonine politician queried, "What do you mean?"

The smile that split across Council Chairman William Hornaday's muzzle was absolutely sinister.

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Author's Notes: Well holy shnikes, THIS chapter was a Herculean effort and I couldn't have done it without my best bud and Beta Reader, Nanya. I would only get a few hours a day to work on this with everything going on in my life, but he kept me on track and so I was able to get it ready for the day I promised and put all I could into it. In doing so, I was able to make this the longest chapter to date! So much comedy, drama, soapboxing, world-building, etcetera, etcetera... I do hope this was worth the wait.

And finally... finally! We meet most of the villains of the piece! They may not be Zistopia's Cud Club but I believe this will be a group of mammals the readers will love to hate. And the best part? They've all existed in one form or another, whether in pre-production art or deleted scenes... and in one case in particular, actually existed in the film Zootopia. Because even if I have to come up with the personalities and backstories characters, I do prefer to use a base that was grounded in the original intent of the film to give this story a feeling of legitimacy.

In fact, the only OC so far has been 'King" Louis Stripeamol who appeared this chapter, with a job and a food truck being something of a little nod to The Weaver's Pack Street Tumblr comics and stories. Because Rastafarian themes were one thing I noticed missing from the actual film and darn it, predators need to eat too!

Also a big, BIG hand to Kacey Antelope for aiding me in fleshing out the concept of a prey mammal in the predator food industry! I already had the concept in mind but this lovely lady helped me with the little nuances and just get that flavor–no pun intended–for what it might truly be like to run a food truck even if you're not what's expected for a chef.

And speaking of King Louis' service and customers... yes, one might recognize a little nod to Sheena Hopps and Glen Muttlock from Nicolaswilde's Zistopia Tumblr. Will I do more with them? Only time will tell...

And now the other news... sorry to say but it's going to be another two weeks to the next update. Life keeps me super busy but at least it will be for a fun reason for a little bit. My birthday is this following week. So please be patient with me. I will do my best to deliver something awesome when I return.

And finally, try looking up ZNN's New England Meet-Up Party. If all goes well, I have every intention of being there. I look forward to meeting the likes of Redman404, author of the rather delightful, "Hopps and Robbers" fanfiction... a story which gave me the drive to write this one.

Until next time! Remember to, 'Try Everything'.