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"Well if it isn't the Fantastic Mister Fox! Ha! How's your head?" The striped honor-hound smiled excitedly at Nick as he made his way through the interrogation room.
The interrogation chamber had obviously been constructed for much larger animals than bunnies and foxes. A massive metal table, which was bolted to the floor, capitalized the center of the room and was framed by two identical metal chairs on either side. A one-way mirror occupied the wall across from the striped criminal, and allowed for anonymous observation. Adorned in a numbered grey ZPD jumpsuit; the hyena sat, paw-cuffed to a metal bar which skirted the edge of the table.
Nick climbed up into one of the matching chairs to look over the table at the hulking mammal. Sipping coffee, and leaning lazily against the back of the chair, Nick addressed the giggling criminal; "My partner tells me that you're responsible for my occasional bouts of Priapism that we've been enjoying…" Nick sipped his coffee as he watched the hyena's excited muzzle contort into a disturbed frown, snuffing out his laughter completely. "Good stuff, really… if I do say so myself." Nick nodded his head and gave the hyena a subtle thumbs-up for added emphasis.
"This is supposed to be a good-cop bad-cop thing… isn't it" said the hyena flatly. "And I suppose that makes you… bad-cop?"
"Oh-no," chuckled Nick patting his ribs with his free paw "I'm still a little laid-up right now after our last encounter. And besides, bad-cop is more her thing…"
A phone book flew into the interrogation room and impacted the side of the Hyena's head before landing on the massive metal table with a thud, prompting a wave of giggles from the cuffed predator. Judy Hopps bounded into the room before landing on the table with a metallic thump which was much too loud for how much the rabbit weighed. Charging the striped prisoner, Judy grabbed the hyena by the collar, and glared menacingly into his excited eyes.
"I swear to GOD!" yelled Judy into the trapped predators face, "you're going to tell me who's stealing my rodents, even if it's the last thing I do on the force!"
The hyena laughed and clapped his cuffed paws in excitement at the assailing rabbit. "You're not gonna hurt me, you're a COP!" The hyena spat between giggles, prompting Judy to throw the massive mammal backwards into his seat.
"Firstly," Judy said holding a single digit up for emphasis "I'm not a cop… I'm a detective." Judy sucked air past her flat teeth as her ears folded back in anger. "And secondly… I ain't even a detective right now…" Judy pulled her badge from her uniform and threw it over her shoulder at Nick.
Coolly, Nick snatched the badge out of the air with his free paw, and placed the voided symbol in his pocket. Nick hid his amusement behind his coffee cup as he took another sip.
"Now are you going to tell me who's abducting my rodents…" seethed Judy as she retrieved the massive phone-book from its resting-spot on the table. "Or are the Rainforest-District and I going to have to knock those pearly-white teeth down your throat?"
The hyena's eyes grew wide with excitement as Judy leveled the imposing phone-book with the criminal's chin. Observing the weapon, which was nearly half the size of the furious bunny whom wielded it, the honor-hound replied with a simple excited smile.
"You little!" yelled Judy as she wound up for her grand-slam into the side of the problematic hyena's skull. A primal roar escaped her compact form as the monstrous book careened towards its target.
"Wait!" came Nick's calm voice, stopping Judy mid assault.
One of the hyena's clenched-shut eyes peaked open, noting that Judy's book had stopped meager inches short of destroying his skull.
"We're wasting out time with this…" Nick waved his free paw at the hyena as he searched for the words. "This nameless… thug."
"I am not a nameless thug..." growled the hyena with indignation.
"Oh yeah?" questioned Nick with an egging tone of complete sarcasm "what's your name then, sweetheart?"
"My name…" the hyena puffed his chest up in pride, and spoke without the slightest hint of laughter or humor "is So-Shen Lightning… and I am no thug..."
Judy took a step back, lowering the phone-book to her side as she listened to the Striped Hyena.
"I am a member of th-" the hyena was interrupted as Nick took a loud slurping sip from his coffee.
The hyena continued; "a member of the Three-Storms; an elite squa-" *Slurp*
The hyena paused, mouth open mid-sentence, before repeating himself "an elite squad of three, whom are assi-" *Slurp*
"Whom are assigned to the royal FAMILY" *SLUURP*
"THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SHANG HI'ENA AN-" *SLUUUUUURP*
A snicker escaped Judy, prompting her to cover her mouth.
"AND WE SERVE LO-PAN!"
The infuriated predator now panted with the frustration of attempting to speak over Nick's coffee. Nick nodded his head in acknowledgement "hmmm… I burnt my tongue." The hyena flexed and pulled against his cuffs as he attempted to throw up his paws in frustration.
"Grab your book, carrots" said Nick turning his half-lidded attention to Judy as he readied himself to hop out of his chair. "I'll bet you money we'll get better information out of Lo-Pan's brain-dead-royal hide."
"Ha!" the hyena barked at the detective duo. "You think that… peasant is Lo-Pan? That pauper was merely a mouth-piece, a test-run for Lo-Pan's glorious machine!"
Nick raised an incredulous eye-brow at the now smug hyena. "What machine?"
"Wouldn't you like to know!" laughed the hyena at Nick's question.
"See what I mean, carrots?" Nick shook his head in disappointment at the honor-guard. "Grab the book, we're leaving…" Nick gave Judy back her badge as he spoke, prompting the hyena to sink back into his own chair. "Laughing moron, like they'd trust him with anything important" Nick mumbled the last part under his breath, just loud enough for the hyena to hear.
"Lo-Pan tells me everything!" barked the hyena, clearly hurt by Nick's remark.
"Shure he does…" mocked Nick.
"She, tells me everything!" the hyena repeated himself, shifting forward as he spoke. The criminal was dead-set on proving Nick wrong. "Her machine is some sort of controller; it allows her to project into and control targets. When you tazed that peasant, you shorted out her connection!"
"I don't believe you," said Nick in a near childish tone, folding his arms at the hyena.
"Then go see for yourself, there's a secret entrance in the machine-room." The hyena now smiled smugly at Nick, certain he had proved the detective wrong.
"Have it your way," said Nick, shrugging his shoulders in mock defeat.
Hopping off the chair, Nick made to leave the interrogation room with his partner. As the door closed behind them, they caught the faint sound of giggles returning to the captive hyena.
"Well I'll be," said Judy tossing the phone book to the side as they made their way through the police precinct "Detective Wilde; master interrogator."
Nick shrugged as Judy smiled up at him "I told you, fluff; Bad-Cop Incredulous-Cop works every time…" Nick held out his free paw as the duo walked side-by-side "Now pay up."
Judy groaned at Nick as she fished out her wallet to pay the embarrassing wager. Signing the one-dollar bill; "Nick was right, again –Judy" the bill was begrudgingly given to the victor of their bet.
On their way past the front desk, Nick made a pit-stop. "Oh Clawhauser," Nick sang, grabbing the large-cat's attention. "I've got another one for the betting-board." Nick waved the signed note excitedly, prompting Judy to face-paw.
"Oh bunny…" Clawhauser made a mock pouting face at the embarrassed rabbit. "When are you ever going to learn?"
"Probably never," laughed Nick as he guarded for Judy's incoming strike, which knocked the wind out of him. "Ribs…" coughed Nick, prompting Judy to recoil as she realized what she had done.
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," said Judy as she tended to the fox, whom was now doubled over. "I forgot about your ribs; are you okay, Nick?"
"I'm fine…" wheezed Nick as his breath began to return. "Be a doll… and give this to Clawhauser" Nick held up the signed note, prompting Judy's sympathy to all but fail her.
Taking the bill from Nick, Judy slapped it on the counter and shot the concerned cheetah a death-glare.
"I'll put it on the score-board," mumbled Clawhauser, as he took the bill and left for the break-room.
Nick, having finally caught his breath stood strait again. "Come on Carrots, we've got a case to close."
In a whirlwind of sirens and screeching tires, the duo had arrived at the underground. In stark contrast to Judy's first visit, the pair ran through the subway stile entrance to the throat of the under-city. Standing quietly in the intermediate room, Judy took hold of Nick's paw as the sterile white light dimmed to the near-perfect night, which was trademark of the district. However, the scene which greeted the rabbit-fox couple was somehow even livelier than their first trip to the underground.
Standing in odd contrast to the hordes of partying animals, the two uniformed mammals began to push through the crowd. Judy led Nick by the paw, as he looked about the subterranean wonderland with an excited smile. As she fought through the crowd, it quickly became apparent that they had stumbled into some sort of "out-door" live concert.
The overpowering atmosphere of cheering died down just long enough for Judy to look back at Nick excitedly craning his neck to get a look of the center stage, dangerously distracted.
"Nick," Judy tugged on her partner's paw in an attempt to grab his attention. "We've go-" however, Judy was drowned out as the velvety chords of a bass guitar all but ruptured her eardrums. In a curious juxtaposition to their first trip, Nick slipped the escorting rabbit's grasp and wove his way towards the stage.
Judy's frustrated and worried yelling was entirely drowned out by the roar of the crowd and the blasting rock music, as she lost Nick in the sea of midnight-animals. Nick had been absentminded and easily distracted since his injury, and Judy worried that she might not find him in the mass of dancing mammals. Making her way closer to the stage, where consecutively shorter and shorter groups of animals watched and danced, Judy caught sight of a pair of raised red paws with a blue uniform; clapping along with the crowd above their head.
"Nick!" yelled Judy grabbing Nick by the chord of his radio and spinning him around. Nick's expression was near childish as he locked Judy's violet gaze. Concern met excitement as Nick leaned in and gave the rabbit a deep kiss.
"Bunny Bunny, 1981, Billy-Goat Idol; I haven't heard this song in ages!" Nick yelled over the blaring music, entirely unaware of the concerned look he was receiving from Judy. "Can you believe this guy still performs? He's like sixty years old now!" Nick gestured towards the aged Billy-Goat on stage. Returning his attention to Judy, Nick finally recognized the worry which danced behind her deep-purple eyes. "What's wrong, Carrots?"
"Are you okay, Nick?" yelled Judy as the song moved into a slightly quieter solo which afforded them the ability to talk.
"Yeah, why?" asked Nick cocking his head to the side in confusion.
"Then what are we doing down here?" asked Judy crossing her arms at Nick in a guarded mixture of worry and frustration.
"We're…" Nick fought desperately with his own battered brain as he tried to remember why they had come to the underground. "We're here… to…" Painful bolts of lightning struck Nick's brain as he fought for memory. Sifting through the wreckage of his own thoughts, it was Judy who spoke first.
"Come on," Judy grabbed Nick by the paw and drug the confused fox out of the crowd. Making their way through the streets, Judy only stopped once the duo had made it a fair distance away from the blaring stage music to where the crowds had all but died off.
"Nick, I need you…" Judy whispered to the recovering Fox, taking Nick's paws in her own. "But if you can't focus, I'm not going to put you in danger and risk losing even more of you."
Nick swallowed hard as he caught the tears which fought to escape the edges of Judy's caring eyes. "I'm fine, trust me Carrots."
"Are you?" asked Judy, cutting down Nick's reassuring smile with a prying gaze. "Because you don't seem like it. I'm not trying to be mean; but the doctors said you should still be on med-leave, and I'm beginning to think they may have been right."
Nick opened his mouth to interject, but was talked over by Judy; "I want you to get better, and I wish that you currently were better, but if you're not ok… Then I don't want you to try and help me… I can't be responsible for you getting hurt again."
Nick's heart broke as Judy turned away from him. Setting his Jaw, Nick spoke; "Carrots, you need to stop blaming yourself for accidents which are beyond your control. I am getting better, but trying to avoid me, keeping secrets from me, and lying to me is not going to help me recover any faster. We've only got four hours left on the case, and there's a lot more at stake here that just you or me. Okay?"
Judy stood quietly, unable to turn and face her fiancé.
"Okay?" repeated Nick, more tersely than he meant to.
Judy's shoulders hitched as a single cry escaped her.
Nick's shoulders dropped in defeat as he realized that his girlfriend was crying. "Come here," Nick grabbed Judy by the shoulders and spun her around to face him before pulling her into a hug. "I know I'm a mess, but you're just gonna have to realize you're stuck with me."
A chuckle escaped Judy as she began to regain her composure. "Once this case is over…" Judy sniffled; "you wanna go on a vacation?"
"One I'll never forget?" joked Nick.
"Mm-hm," mumbled Judy affirmatively into Nick's chest.
"Sounds like a plan to me…" the pair stood, wrapped in each other listening to the distant thump of the concert's bass.
"I'll love you later, carrots" spoke Nick, breaking their embrace. "But first, we gotta close this case."
With no further delay, the duo began to run down the deserted streets of old-town. Nick followed Judy as they wove through and around deserted warehouses and apartment complexes. Making their way down a destroyed hallway, Nick's breath caught as they entered a room which was choked by an electrical jungle of strange humming machines.
"I s'pose this is what Chuckle-Head meant by 'Machine Room'" said Nick, amazement thick in his voice.
Searching the large chamber for signs of the supposed secret door; the duo searched high and low. Singing to himself as he looked, it was Nick who found the first clue.
"Hay, Carrots" Nick shouted, waving his partner to him. "Check this out."
Looking to where Nick was pointing, Judy caught sight of two large gouges in the exposed concrete floor which populated the center of the room. Following the offending tracks, Nick and Judy were lead to an exposed concrete wall, where the tracks ended abruptly. Pressing a sensitive ear to its surface, Judy wrapped her claws on the wall and listened.
*CLANG*
The deafening sound launched both detectives backwards off the wall as they leveled their tazers at the presumed hidden-gateway.
With a pneumatic hiss, the wall split down the middle and slid open. In the secret-door's wake, a lavishly decorated elevator appeared. Holstering their defenses, the detective duo stepped into the elevator. Turning their attention to the control panel, Nick and Judy realized the transport only had one button; down.
"Looks like progress to me" remarked Judy. "Do you mind?"
"By all means," Nick smiled as he moved out the way of the button.
Biting her lower lip in excitement, Judy jabbed the button; prompting it to light up and the doors to close.
Oh hot-diggity!
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