Chapter 3

...traitor…

…all lies…

…typical of a fox…

On her bed, Judy could still hear every single insult her partners had said to Nick. She was petrified, unable to speak while Fangmeyer took her home with the police car. She could not believe it yet, it had to be a prank and Nick was about to come out from under her bed with a video camera yelling: "You should have seen your face, Carrots!"

But it didn't happen.

Fangmeyer was irate. The white wolf was almost as hurt as Judy, since he and Nick were friends. Once, shortly after the fox joined the police force, Fangmeyer tagged along with her and Nick to look for an arsonist who had set five buildings on fire in that week, and after an exhaustive investigation the three of them drove the criminal into a corner and captured him. However, Fangmeyer was knocked out and the arsonist managed to light a fire inside the building, shutting the unconscious wolf up.

She remembered trying to get into that place to rescue him and Nick stopping her, and then… He pawcuffed her to a street lamp, just like they did before to the criminal, and smiled just before entering the building engulfed in flames. She tried to flee herself, but she couldn't. That damn fox was going to kill himself. One minute passed, two, five, ten. The firefighters arrived and started to put the fire out, and the backup the Judy requested finally appeared.

And then, two bodies flashed past a low window, jumping to the floor. The firefighters reacted quickly, trying to soften the blow, and a fox and a white wolf, covered in ash and coughing like crazy, saved their lives. The doctors at the hospital said that it was a miracle that Nick didn't faint due to heat exhaustion and the huge amount of smoke in his lungs. Actually, even Fangmeyes was in better shape than him since the room where he fell unconscious took a long time to be filled with smoke.

After that, the white wolf, who didn't trust Nick at the beginning, visited him during his recovery as much as the rabbit and helped him to befriend the rest of the officers, growing closer to the fox and establishing a healthy friendship between them. That was the reason he was so mad at him. And so in pain.

"He has fooled us all, Judy, even you. That untrustworthy bastard…" Fangmeyer said furiously "He has been playing with us since the beginning. Nobody blames you Judy, it's just that… We feel so impotent. He was our partner, fuck! He was a friend! He even saved McHorn's life. He saved yours! He saved mine! And, at the end… Everything was a lie."

Judy, who was holding back her tears, finally let them go now. Everything was a lie. From his compliments to his taunts, from their arguments to their agreements, every smile, every one of his beautiful smiles, were nothing more than a lie. Maybe some pieces were true, but they had been twisted and wasted on a swindle.

¡No!

No, something was happening beyond that. Nick knew that there was some trouble coming. He told her that he trusted her and he begged to be trusted by her. Yeah, something was happening, and it was too soon to draw any conclusions. She had to believe in him.

Judy clung desperately to that hope, knowing that it was the only possibility of his innocence. She knew he was innocent, he had changed, he had become a police officer who sought justice to make the world a better place, just like her. Probably this was all a misunderstanding, and their partners had jumped to conclusions because he was a fox and the prejudice was still there, but soon they would find out that he was actually a good mammal who cared for them and they would free him, and everything would be like always.

She had to trust him, this could not be a lie. Their friendship could not be a lie. That warm sensation that burned her chest when he was smiling, that small spark of light, which turned into a star of pure life when he was close, that feeling, that feeling she refused to accept, could not be a lie.

Tomorrow, she would speak with Bogo. Tomorrow, she would speak to Nick. Tomorrow, she would find out that this was a mistake.

That last thought protected her while her last tear ran dry on her face and she sank on a deep sleep. As Nick, she was thankful when the darkness consumed her.

Judy heard once that you remember nothing until three seconds after waking up. She didn't know if it was true or some of those myths that had spread among the population and now no one could tell if it was a lie or not. However, this time it looked like it was correct. The first second, Judy could only know how good she slept that night, feeling her body relaxed and her mind clear. The second one, she stretched her legs and looked at the window, the Sun shining in the sky forecasting a warm, cloudless day. The third and last second, she started to sit up in bed, feeling a bit hungry, feeling a sudden desire to eat some blueberry cereals. And then, she remembered.

Nick.

She sighed and looked at the clock: it was still eleven o'clock. She would wake up far earlier, but yesterday was a tiring day, she went to bed late and she could not get to sleep until a while after arriving home, so it was understandable, but she felt guilty. Guilty, because she should have gone already to the ZPD to make sure Nick was okay and clean his name. Grabbing something to eat during the way, she rushed to her car, turned on the radio and started driving.

The famous Howard Ottern was speaking calmly and his voice filled Judy's car. He seemed to be arguing with some guest.

"Well, you know John," was saying Ottern to the other, "I'm going to get a lot of hate for this, but I do believe that Wilde is innocent. I mean, he saved the entire city and then joined the ZPD as the first fox officer ever. He became an idol for all those small mammals who wanted to overcome what the rest thought about them, just like Judy Hopps did before him, but," he stopped talking, and his voice got touched, "what is more, he became an idol for those who were believed to be good for nothing. He is admired by foxes, weasels, hyenas, jackals; those mammals who saw in him a hero who showed the rest that they are trustworthy, kind and caring. I believe in him."

"But Howard," the other radio sounded as moved as him, but also sad, "I want to believe as much as you, and he has done a lot of good, but, at the end, it was a lie. The ZPD's very own chief has stated that he was arrested because he betrayed them! Every good action he has done has been a collateral damage of his scam. As chief Bogo said during the press conference a couple hours ago, he had leaked a lot of confidential information to an unknown illegal group since he joined the ZPD. God, he even knew they were after him, so he destroyed his mobile phone! If that doesn't proves that he is guilty of something, I don't know what is. Anyway, the trial will be soon so—"

Judy turned off the radio, regretting her choice of listening to it. She felt her chest oppressed, and fought back the tears again. She had to clear up this case as soon as possible, or the consequences could be greater than losing her best friend.

"Judy!" Clawhauser greeted her as soon as she came into the police station. The cheetah seemed tired, but forced a smile nonetheless. " What are you doing here? I thought you had your day off.

She looked at him sadly. Clawhauser was obviously upset about what had happened last night, but he was still trying to pretend that there wasn't anything to worry about, also wanting to cheer her up.

"You know why I am here, Ben. I need to talk to Nick."

He looked at the rabbit for a long time with dull eyes, almost being able to feel the pain in her words, even when she tried to hide it. Finally, Clawhauser exhaled a glum sigh and pressed a button on his intercom after picking up the receiver.

"Chief, Judy is here," there was a little pause before he spoke again. "Yes, I will tell that to her right now," he then hung up and looked at her again. "He is waiting for you in his office, he knew you would come," he let out a lugubrious chuckle, "well, everyone knew. Go, don't make him wait."

"Thank you, Ben," the cheetah smiled. No jokes, no nervous smiles or choppy laughs. She hadn't realized before, but the atmosphere in the station was heavy and the air was stale. Some officer waved at her, trying to seem normal, but she could see pity in their eyes. Nick joined the ZPD being seen as nothing more than a fox, even when Judy had showed them that it wasn't right to judge a book by its cover. Still, he didn't let this discourage him and worked hard to win his partners' trust, saving McHorn from a bullet, Fangmeyer from an arson fire, and Judy countless times in the process.

"Judy!" she turned again to the reception desk and saw Clawhauser smiling to her. "Don't despair! I'm sure everything has an explanation, Nick is a good fox."

She smiled back. That cheetah, always saying that everything is going to be okay.

"Thank you, Ben," replied the rabbit, feeling truly gratefully, "Thank you."

Without another word, she left the room, heading to Bogo's office. Clawhauser's smile faded as soon as she turned her back on him. "I'm sorry, Judy," thought Benjamin, "but this time, it won't come out right."

"Come in."

Judy got in the office and took a seat in front of him. He had the same exhausted look as Clawhauser, he probably had slept only for a couple of hours tonight, maybe none. Nick's charges were grave and had been a huge blow for the whole station. The officer working for the ZPD received the fox with suspicion, but they ended trusting him. They would have entrusted their lives during a mission to him and the mere thought of having been conned by someone they thought was their friend had devastated everyone. Thinking he had even conned Judy…

No. She shook off those thoughts and forced herself to focus on Bogo. The chief would explain everything down to the last detail and, together, they would clear up this case, discovering that all was a system's failure, a trap or any other rational reason that would give her back her partner. And there must be one, she was sure of it.

"Hopps, I wanted to speak with you," Bogo started talking looking at her while he organized some documents he had over his desk, "I know why you are here. I know that you think there is some explanation, something we don't know," he sighed, "There isn't. Wilde is guilty."

She exploded. After that night, she just couldn't control herself.

"No, I can't believe it, chief! Nick is a good fox, he is our partner!"

"Hopps, he…"

"He saved my life, and more than once! And do you remember when Fangmeyer tagged along with us to take down that arsonist? He risked his own life to save him!"

"Hopps."

"And McHorn! He threw himself in the middle of a bullet! That can't be a lie!"

"Hopps!"

"And he has done so much good, I can't believe it, there must be something that—!"

"HOPPS!" his shout echoed in the room with anger, "He confessed!"

That caught Judy by surprise. Impossible. Why would Nick do all this just to stab them in the back? It didn't make sense. No, no, no, there was something more, something that even the fox wasn't able to say. Anything.

"I assume you haven't see the news. I had my suspicions, Hopps, he was acting strange, after all. And yesterday, we received a file. It contained information about Wilde's personal computer's data traffic, which showed he had sent confidential documents to a coded receiver that doesn't exist anymore. There's also a couple of videos of him meeting unidentified mammals—and I mean we don't know even their species—and handing them some archives that we later found out that had been swapped for fake ones. There is no doubt."

Judy's ears fell flaccid, completely shattered by this new information. It couldn't be. His friend couldn't be a traitor.

"I didn't want to believe it neither, but it is true. And I need to know if he told you anything important while you two were having dinner, it could be of an immense importance."

"Nothing." Judy was immobile, her face between her paws, broken, "J-Just that I was a great agent. A-And that horrible things were g-going to happen. He spoke as he was going to be executed… He scared me."

The buffalo stood up, looking at his watch. He didn't seem disappointed about what the bunny had told him, more like satisfied, and that was strange. He gestured to Judy to indicate that he wanted her to follow him, which she did without complaints.

"Where are we going?" the rabbit's voice was so in pain that she wasn't able to hide it.

"Wilde's interrogation should have ended a few minutes ago. I guessed you wanted to hear all of this from him."

Bogo and Nick looked at each other silently. The first one, with absolute seriousness. The second one with an insulting smirk, with a gesture so arrogant the buffalo wanted to punch him. Judy was observing them through the other side of the one-way mirror, nervous. She would never had believed that they would attend an interrogation from different places. She wanted to scream. Nick was the one who started talking:

"Well, chief, you sure took your time. You seem tired, didn't you sleep a good amount of hours tonight?" he chuckled, "I recommend you some tranquilizer darts. Works for me.

The buffalo seethed.

"It's not a good moment to joke, Wilde. Have you been leaking secret ZPD's information?"

"Again?" the fox made an exaggerate nuisance face, "I have literally just told it to Wolford and Fangmeyer. I will take the liberty to say they did a good impression of a bad cop/good cop. A bit forced anyway, do you want me to give them some lessons?"

"Just answer the question."

"Okay, okay, Buffalo-Butt. Yes, I leaked secret ZPD's information."

"Since when?"

Nick folded his arms, smiling with superiority, and started to recline his seat glancing to the big one-way mirror that dominated the room. Then, he clicked his tongue.

"Seriously, Bogo, I prepared an authentic labyrinth of half-truths and ambiguous statements and you come here just to disappoint me. But well, I will play your game: I have been leaking information since the very moment I set foot into the station," he did a good impersonation of the buffalo's deep, emotionless voice.

"What kind of data have you leaked?"

"Not your bra size, you can relax," Nick laughed again, "about the rest, who knows."

Bogo kept himself calmed. Obviously, the fox wanted to get him on his nerves, and he didn't want to give him the satisfaction.

"Why did you do it?"

Nick burst out laughing, genuinely amused this time. He banged on the table, breathing heavily. When he finally calmed down, he stood up. And started walking to the mirror.

"Are you seriously this stupid at interrogations?" he glared directly at the mirror, "we all know why you are here. What do you want?"

The last sentence was headed to the bunny, who felt her heart sink when she saw nothing more than anger in his eyes. She couldn't bear up the situation anymore and leaped to the intercom.

"Nick, please tell what is happening. Tell me that this is all a lie, that there is a reason," she fought the tears back. "Just tell me why."

He wasn't smirking now. This time, there were no jokes nor taunts.

"I don't know why you need more evidence. Why are you unable to believe that, at the end, I lied? That, at the end, I am nothing more than a fox!? Why do you still believe in me!? " he sounded angry, almost desperate.

She couldn't help it anymore and started crying. How couldn't he understand? He continued:

"Always so ingenuous, trying to see something good inside everyone. Bad news, rabbit, welcome to the real world. In the end, it is still the same: dumb bunny, sly fox," he shook his head and talked down to her. "You are brave, gentle and, overall, a good mammal, but, above all else, you are weak. Above all else, you are a prey."

Judy and Bogo froze. In a flash, Nick's expression changed from seriousness to pleading, then to concern, and, finally, went back to a smirk. He sat down again, not speaking anymore.

"What did you mean?"

The fox bit his tongue, had he made a mistake? Had he been too direct, or not clear enough? He hoped no.

"I meant that she was only prey to my wiles, of course," he winked at Bogo, "you know I don't know how to lie, chief."

"I will repeat it one more time. What did you mean!?"

"I will not answer anymore."

From that moment, nothing left the fox's muzzle, simply smiling to the buffalo with the same high-handed manner he had when Bogo entered the room. After a while, the chief just stopped asking and left the place, feeling that damned smirk of him piercing the back of his neck. When he entered the room at the other side of the one-way mirror, Judy was nowhere to be seen, which comforted Bogo a little. At least, she couldn't see Nick's expression while he was being taken to his provisional cell into the ZPD.

About half an hour later, Nick Wilde was lying on his bed. The cell was impressively boring, as it was designed to keep criminals inside for, at the maximum, two days while the waited for a trial to be appointed or to be transferred to a penitentiary. Also, it had another aim. After spending one or two hours inside without being able to do anything, strong emotions, that were the results of a crime and its subsequent arrest, fade. And when the prisoner loses the anger, the excitement; and only fear and boredom prevail, there is just one thing that he or she can do: to think.

And Nick was in that condition since the very beginning, since his emotions didn't control his actions. He thought about Zootopia's society, wishing that foxes wouldn't be too punished for his actions. He thought about his ex-partners repudiating his very presence with glares of hate. And he thought about Judy and her broken expression. The one that haunted him since last night. He had lost everything, but he convinced himself that everything would be worth it at the end, when the whole plan was complete.

There was one thing that still bothered him. Why was she so obstinate with proving his innocence when he was obviously guilty? He betrayed her and, yet, she trusted him. The plan included this, of course, that was the reason he spoke like that during their dinner yesterday, but he regretted to deceive her. He had to gain Judy's confidence, as he has ordered to, but she saved her life. She had done so much for him that he didn't want to hurt her more, so he tried to be rude and insulting, to keep her away from everything; but yet, she trusted him. Maybe he had to kill someone to show her how wrong she was.

And maybe he was going to.

"You shouldn't be here, but… Five minutes."

That was Delgato's voice. Nick opened his eyes and Judy Hopps entered in his field of vision. He made a gesture of desperate annoyance that didn't slip unnoticed to the rabbit.

"Nick, I—"

Her voice was tremulous. The fox wanted to scream.

"What do you come for, bunny? I'm not going to tell you anything more, so just go away," he wanted to hurt her, to make her flee and never return, "Is it so difficult to live without me? Do you want me to tell you a joke, huh?"

"Nick, you stupid fox!" she yelled, and the fox got surprised from her unexpected anger, "O-of course it's difficult to live without you! Of course it's difficult to find out that everything you told me was a lie, that I never truly knew you!" `don't cry' she thought `not now, you have to be strong', "I need to know why! After all you said, after all you did… I refuse to believe it wasn't real!"

His face cracked. There were no tears in her eyes, there were not hate in her voice. She was suffering as much as she did when she thought he hated her under that bridge at what seemed to be years ago. "Keep her away," he said to himself, "save her."

"Everything I said inside that interrogation room was true."

This time, a voice that wasn't his own was the one to speak to him inside his mind: "keep her close," the voice said, days ago, "we will need her." He had to follow his orders, the plan must go on.

"But," he continued, "everything I said last night was true, too. You choose which of them you want to pick. Now, go away."

Judy tried to reply, but Delgato, who was the one chosen to keep an eye on him until the next shift, entered the room and put a paw over the rabbit's right shoulder, looking at the fox with contempt. He start to pull her back, while Nick laughed in front of the shocked bunny.

"C'mon Delgato, no visits allowed!" he mocked, "Do your job! If you need help, I could lend you a paw, since I am an exemplary officer."

His guffaw echoed in the suddenly lonely room, and the fox was alone with his thoughts again. He was now more determined than ever, willing to do anything necessary to reach his goal, even if that meant becoming a true demon on earth. But now he had to wait until darkness surrounded everything and Growlson would then do his thing. It was his ordeal by fire, and he surely would carry out his task.

He closed his eyes again. The first part was complete.