No Different (for Cimar)
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"We're real proud of you, Judy."
The bunny couldn't help but smile at her mother's statement. Here it was, the big thing she'd been working for all her life. She was gonna be a real cop!
And not just in the burrows, or some small town district, oh no.
Zootopia, here I come!
"Yeah," her father added, his grin breaking just a bit. "Scared, too."
"Yes," her mother added, the conversation beginning to move into an area that Judy would prefer not to have to deal with.
"Really, it's a kind of proud/scared combo," Stu carried on. "I mean, Zootopia. So far away! Such a big city!"
Judy shook her head and put on the ol' reassuring act. "Guys, I've been working for this my whole life."
"We know," her mother agreed. "And we're just a little excited for you, but terrified."
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," the young doe bunny reassured them, hoping it would work.
"And also bears…" her father said.
Evidently, not.
"-We have bears to fear too. Say nothing of lions and wolves…"
"Wolves?" her mother cut in. Well, at least she had one of them on her side.
"Weasels."
"You play cribbage with a weasel."
"Yeah, and he cheats like there's no tomorrow," Stu carried on. "Oh, and foxes…"
Judy looked at him, an eyebrow raised.
"-And ocelots, and cheetahs, and polecats, coyotes, wolverines, Tasmanian devils…"
"Dad, that's enough," Judy said, cutting him off. "I mean, I've dealt with that before. Remember Gideon Grey, he was a jerk who happened to be a fox, but I know plenty of bunnies who are jerks."
"Sure, sure," Stu smiled, nervously. "But… I just imagine that there will be a lot more predators who there, so lots more predators who will be jerks. And some of them won't be foxes, they'll be polar bears and such. So, just in case, we made you a little care package."
"Mm-hmmm," her mother agreed. "And I put some snacks in there."
Judy smiled, only for it to fade as Stu brought out a small can. "This is self-defence repellent…"
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A few days later, full of sweeping city vistas, cramped rooms, crazy neighbours, disappointing first briefings and a morning full of rampant ticketing, Judy was just busy sticking number two-oh-one on her three wheeled joke mobile, when a loud horn caught her ears. "Watch where you're going, Pred!"
She turned, spotting a sheep driving his van out of an alley, an irritated looking fox to the side, paws out. After that, the sheep drove off and the fox carried on his way.
Judy just shrugged, and carried on ticketing.
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An hour or so later, a bagged salad down her mouth and a rest time spent cruising around one of the city parks, Officer Hopps was back on the meter-maiding beat. This time, in Sahara Square, putting another ticket on another overdue car.
And this one was way over…
BANG…
Another loud noise, and Judy's ears were pulled up. Looking over, she saw an old orange van, drivers side door replaced and art mural on its side sputter past, a fox kit driving…
She looked back down to her meter, before snapping her head back around. Fox kit driving?
She couldn't see now, but she was sure…
Rubbing her eyes, she thought for a moment. Was she just being a dumb bunny, or…
She turned back to her three wheel jokemobile. She was already waaayyy over her quota already, so no harm if she was just seeing things. And if she wasn't?
Well, she thought to herself, getting in and starting to groove along. There was one way to prove to the Chief that she wasn't just a token little bunny cop!
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"Hang on, is that…" Looking in through a chain-link fence, Judy spied the fox she'd seen earlier in the day walk into a small shed with a jar of red stuff. And, soon after that, out came a tiny little fox… kit?
He was sized right, but looking at his face he didn't look right. Either that or he was the grumpiest kit she'd ever seen.
And then he barked out an order.
No, he was one very small but also very adult fox.
Judy could have walked away there, buuuuttt…
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"An Ice lolly stand?" She asked to herself, smiling.
Yup, that seemed to be what they were doing. Set up outside of Lemmings brothers bank, they began hawking their 'pawpsicles' as the workers left the building. And, as she watched, a little thought crossed her mind. Yes, she was a little chilly after waiting an hour or two in Tundratown, making a few poorly grossing rounds into nearby areas as she waited for the foxes to finish. But now, with her curiosity sated, she thought she might as well treat herself.
Meanwhile, the fox was quickly selling off his stock to the passing lemmings, chewing voraciously as soon as the frozen treats were in their paws.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you…" he went, with each set of bills handed back to him. "Thank you, Thank…" He paused a little as a collection of coins was handed over instead, and he looked up to see a bunny meter maid standing there, smiling.
He took the money, and handed over his last one. "You."
"You're welcome," the bunny doe smiled, beginning to lick at her treat as the fox began packing up. "What's your name."
"Nick," the fox smiled, out of customer satisfaction instinct over anything. After all, he was a bit curious about why this customer was interested in knowing his name right now.
"Judy," she said, pausing as she heard a clunk from the side. Out of a recycling bin, the small fox (which she'd researched and found was a fennec, or in this case an abnormally small fennec) came, dragging behind him a cart full of all the sticks the lemmings had deposited. "So, is reusing those part of your set up too?" she asked.
"Oh those," he said, shrugging. "I happen to know everybody, including a few mammals who'll pay fair money for 'ethically recycled' timber. Win win for both of us."
"Well, you really do cover everything, don't you?"
He let a smirk grow on his muzzle. "Now that's nothing fluff. I pick up jumbo pops that would otherwise go to waste at a knockdown price, I have a guy in Sahara square who lets me melt the thing down there in his building, another guy in Tundra Town who let me put up a shed where I do the refreezing… You can call me zero waste Wilde, as I've got this little business of mine perfected out to infinity."
Taking a chew, Judy nodded. "Well as long as all your permits and stuff are in order…"
She was cut off, eyes wide, as he held up a laminated sheet.
"-I didn't mean I wanted to see them," Judy chuckled.
Nick rolled his eyes and put it away. "Well, if a cop goes asking about permits and stuff, acting like you're hiding something tends to make them think you're hiding something, so…"
"Yeah," Judy said, only to pause. He'd called her a cop.
"Uh… Everything okay? Uh, Officer? Officer Carrots?"
Officer! Officer Carrots!
"Yeah, great!" she said, snapping back to attention. "Just, it's my first day, and that's the first time I've been called an officer, and it's really exciting!"
"Yeah, I can see," he said, his eyes following her up and down. "Also explains the meter maid getup?"
"Huh, this?" she asked, pulling at her vest.
"Yeah," he said. "Heard it through the grapevine, new rookies, especially from out of town, get stuck on parking duty for a week or two to help them learn the city streets." He smiled a little. "And in the case of some who come in a little too hot and need a bit of cooling off."
"Oh," Judy said, blinking.
"Little tip kit," Nick said, suavely. "Pays to be a people pleaser."
"Oh, right, I…" she began, before looking up and smiling. "Thanks. Are you here every day?"
He shrugged. "Weekdays, yeah…"
"Well," she said, walking off with a spring in her step as she licked her pawpsicle. "I might come back once in a while to pick one of these up."
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The next day was a little worse. She'd started the day by going the Chief Bogo and explaining that she'd heard about the parking duty thing, and would just like to know how long it would go on for until she was given a partner to start learning under. He'd mentioned that one officer's partner was due to transfer over soon, and he'd talk about fitting him into that space.
Very noncommittal…
But better than nothing!
She'd just said she'd be happy to rotate around, pick up things until then, and he'd said he'd see what came up.
So, it was something! As long as it didn't drag on too long, like her parents had hoped for.
After that, there were a few incidents involving very angry motorists getting tickets, but she'd told herself to take it in her stride. After all, if she wanted to be a real cop, she'd be meeting with some much angrier mammals than that!
And so, pulling her cart up for a rest and to stretch her legs, she was broken off as a door nearby slammed open, a weasel racing out, duffelbag over his head.
Her nose twitched and she began getting out of her cart, the irate shopkeeper following snapping her into a sprint. As the yell of thief came out, Judy was already yelling at the weasel to stop, while inwardly cheering! Heck yeah, Officer Hopps IS GO!
He glanced back at her, only for his eyes to widen in shock as she jumped, grabbing him by the feet. A wacky writhing war dance followed as he tried to weasel his way out, Judy straining to keep a grip. He swiped a claw at her and she let go of one leg and stopped it in its tracks.
The weasel gulped.
Her other paw pinned his other arm and onto the ground he went. "You are hereby under arrest," she began, as the ground shook.
"Huh… Nice work, metermaid."
She looked up at Officer McHorn, looming over her. "That's Officer Hopps," she said, pulling the weasel up. "C'mon."
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"You wanted to see me Chief?"
He nodded. "Why did you arrest that weasel?"
She blinked. "I saw him race out with stolen goods sir. He was right next to me, so I easily took him down. I'm a cop after all, that's my job."
He looked at her for a second, before shaking his head. "Hmmmm… Seems I underestimated you. What we discussed before still counts, I'll want you to spend a week or so on parking duty to get to know the city. Howlson and Tusker won't want to be spending their last few weeks together giving you directions on top of everything else." Judy began jumping up and down on her toes, not that he noticed. "As for the rest of today… Spend some time with Clawhauser, learning the codes too. Dismissed."
"Thank you, sir," Judy said, smiling. And off she went. Helping out at the front desk and with dispatch sounded fun!
Even if, as she got there, the cheetah was nowhere to be seen.
-Oh, there he was… Chasing after an… otter?
She shook her head, getting into position on the desk. She'd have to stand, but doing that for the next few hours was nothing compared to a week-long harvest drive. Just wait until the friendly cheetah returned, and hope nothing big was going to…
"Judy?"
"Oh! Assistant Mayor Bellwether! What brings you here?"
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"That poor little otter," the cheetah sighed. "The fact she's so adorable just makes it sadder."
"Well," Judy shrugged, trying to find a smile. "At least she's got the assistant mayor on her side."
"Yeah, but I don't think she's good at looking into police clues," the cheetah said, beginning to sip on a bottle of pop.
"Which officer is working on her husband?" the bunny asked.
"Hmmm, well let's see," Clawhauser began, starting to type along… "Oh, no one."
The bunny shook her head. "That can't be right!?"
"'Fraid it is," he said. "They think there's so few clues on it, they're better off working on the other cases with more. After all, we usually only have five or six missing mammals. We're a bit snowed under, and we're not Tundra Town so that really is bad!"
Judy shook her head. "How much evidence really is there?"
"Well, let's see," he said, beginning to type in.
A few minutes later, she was up talking to a shocked Bogo about a fox they might want to talk to.
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"Uh, hello officers?"
"Hi," Nadine Fangmeyer said, taking the lead. By the tigress's side Judy, smiling at Nick, took some notes. "We believe you saw this otter a while back. Do you know where he went after that?"
The fox shrugged. "Yeah, Mystic Springs Oasis."
The tigresses facepawed, letting out a hiss, leaving Judy confused.
"Trust me," Nick explained, a little nervously. "Not the kind of place a pure little country bunkin would tend to hang around at." And with that, he was off.
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Sitting back down at his sofa chair at home, Nick relaxed back into his seat. He couldn't help but feel… a bit off…
Sure, it had been a good day.
It had been a good week.
But…
A long while back he'd started his frozen treat business after deciding that the regular rat race just wasn't for him.
Fair paw, and he'd made good of it.
Buuuttt…
While better, was he really satisfied?
He looked around his flat. It was small, but there was easily enough space for a single bachelor fox like himself. It was boring, but it was clean and dry. He wasn't rich, but it wasn't like there were things he needed more money for that would make him happier. He was stuck with a load of problems, but they were first world problems.
His muzzled furrowed. He was not going through a midlife crisis, okay! He was thirty-two, that was not mid-life, and this was not the middle ages when it would have been.
He settled back into his chair.
Sure, if he was that bored with current life, he could try a new business…
But once the novelty and risk wore off and he was sitting pretty?
And of course, if this risk didn't wear off…
He frowned. He'd never had it bad, foxes were just another random mammal in this big city, and his species had served him… fine.
But what to do?
His eyes slowly wandered over to a frame picture. He and a group of other mammals, their junior ranger scout uniforms pressed clean and adorned with badges. He smiled. Now that he thought about it, he'd been the first fox in the junior ranger scouts, hadn't he?
That had been an amusing surprise when he found it out. The whole thing was just something that foxes didn't really do, but he'd done it.
And sure, thinking back one or two of his first pack had been… a bit iffy. They'd all be on hikes or hanging out, and they'd say something just a bit mean or something about someone or other. He'd erred away from those few, but found plenty more friends. Friends who he'd followed all the way through to becoming eagle scouts.
He smiled. He was the first fox eagle scout. A real achievement, part of a pack…
He sat back and smiled. Was that nice bunny cop also the first bunny cop?
He'd have thought that bunny towns would have their own bunny cops, but then who knew?
Here she was in Zootopia, part of a pack.
Just like he was back then.
Maybe that's what he needed, or something like it.
But what?
And so he sat back down to his foxy musing, flicking the TV on. Stuck on the news, so turn away and… HOLY BLUEBERRY ICE LOLLIES!
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"Scenes in Tundra Town have turned ugly, a major standoff between the ZPD and local mafia forming," Peter Moosebridge announced. "The stand off occurred when a large force of ZPD mammals arrived to arrest local arctic shrew citizen Angelo Grande, also known as 'Mr Big', for questioning. However, the taskforce interrupted what reports have suggested was a wedding. Attempts to deescalate the situation quickly failed, and turned into a physical incident. The ZPD reports no deaths from either side, but multiple injuries."
Fabienne Growly took over. "The incident started following an investigation into what this network has been led to believe was a shell company run by the syndicate. According to the ZPD, evidence suggested a link with one of the missing mammals they have been searching for, and an investigation into the site led to a warrant to bring in Angelo Grande for questioning. They also state that, while they regret the timing, they did not know of any private event going on. Regardless, all those who resisted arrest or assaulted peace officers in their lawful duty will be subject to the full force of the law."
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"What did you do to Otterton, Big?"
"You come into my own home, in the middle of my daughter's wedding, and expect me to betray my family?"
Bogo kept his eyes fixed on the tiny shrew in front of him. Today had not gone to plan. Sure, he was thankful that Hopps had found that fox, who'd pointed them towards that yak, who'd given them that license number, which they'd then traced to one of Bigs businesses. And, while he didn't like what he'd seen in that limo, if something had to have happened to that otter then at least his death could bring down the biggest criminal in town.
So, late night warrant finally received, off the organised crime squad had gone, to bring him in for questioning…
Right near the end of his daughter's wedding, after much of the party had a lot to drink, and any old mafioso restraint was almost out of the window. From what he'd gathered the whole thing had been ice cold when they went in, reached absolute zero when they told Big they wanted him in for questioning… And then his hysterical daughter, mad at the ruination of her perfect day, took a bite of one of his officers' fingers.
He didn't blame said officer for immediately arresting her on a very real charge, but part of him wished he hadn't, as then the polar bears had lost it.
But, at the end of it all, they had Big in, and they were going to tame this shrew!
"I saw what was in that limo," he huffed, staring him down. "For all your talk of family, there's an otter and two pups missing their father out there, so I'd say get betraying away. Because maybe we can't pin this on you, but our teams are already digging, and sooner or later they'll find something they can." He let a smirk grow across his mouth. "Maybe they already have."
"Then I will take it with honour," the shrew said. "A quality you seem to not possess."
Two blasts of hot air came out of the buffalo's nostrils, before he had an idea. Well, if you were without honour, then you might as well pull the dirtiest trick in the library.
"Of course, if you help us, we could drop the charges."
"Mweh…" he swooned off. "When you know them, we can negotiate. I am not swayed by baseless accusation."
"Assault against a police officer isn't baseless, Big."
The shrew froze, paws beginning to curl up, claws scratching into the armrests on his chair. His muzzle riven with bitter folds, his bushy eyebrows lifted as he stared venomously at the chief. "It is no more than if he scratched himself against a thorn!"
"For one so happy to remind us of the might of your species, that sounds like a big understatement, Big," Bogo said, leaning down to stare him in the face. He was enjoying this.
"He was in no risk!" the shrew hissed. "And you came in and ruined her wedding, arresting her own father!"
"But it was still assault on a police officer," Bogo carried on. "Your lawyers will do their best to bring it down to the lowest charge, and beg for leniency, but at the bare minimum she's spending two years behind bars."
"No… Please!"
"Then help us," Bogo said, looking to the one-way mirror. "We'll get our lawyer in here and sign it up for you. You tell us everything. We'll then drop all charges against your daughter, she can go walk right out of here this very night." He smiled. "I'm sure she wants to spend her wedding night in her husband's bed, and not one of ours."
The little shrew twitched with rage, but nodded his head. "Then do it. Bring them in, I'll sign. I'll tell you everything."
"Good," Bogo said, keeping his gaze at him. "And remember, if I don't leave here knowing exactly what you did with Otterton, then this deal is null and void."
The shrew scoffed. "Bogo, I did nothing to Otterton. It is what Otterton did to us!"
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"So this is the driver's place," Bogo said, making his way across the bridge. Getting to the end, he waved at McHorn to make his way over, one at a time. As the suddenly queasy looking rhino started across the rope bridge, the cape buffalo pressed the bell. "Mr Manchas. ZPD. We're here about Emmitt Otterton."
The door creaked open, the black jaguar looking out. "Have you found him?"
"No, we were led to believe that you were the last mammal to see him."
"Si," he began, the door opening fully, revealing a scarred up eye. "I don't know what came over him. He started screaming about 'The Nighthowlers, The Nighthowlers', and then… He went savage!"
Bogo looked on unconvinced. Savage Otter? Really? Still, he'd had a lot of smaller mammals punching above their weight recently. So, who knew? "If you feel unsafe, we can bring you in to protective custody for further questioning. Do you want that?"
"I…" he began, before closing his door. "Let me just…"
He was broken off by the sound of breaking glass and a hiss, Bogo immediately charging in. Smashing the door down, he watched for a second as the jaguar writhed and twitched on the ground, somehow knowing exactly what was happening.
It took the slit eye staring back to drive it home, and spring the Chief of Police into action. "MCHORN! SAVAGE PREDATOR!"
Manchas pounced up, only for Bogo to lunge down, gripping his neck and slamming his head against the floor, before letting his mass drop down and pin the big cat. There was a painful crack, only for the slicing and swipes to increase, quickly stayed as he pinned down his arms and legs with his own.
The rhino stormed in, stepping back for a second at what he saw, before grabbing his tranq pistol and firing the dart into the depths of black fur.
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Far away, at city hall, a certain ewe trembled as she read the headline. Oh, Lionheart had been clever… Managing to get her first two savages. She'd wanted them to hurt or spook him, to pay him back for all the mistreatment he'd caused her. Maybe even kill him.
If anything, being turned savage himself was just too good for him. Besides, way too conspicuous.
And yet, he'd managed to keep them under wraps.
After that, she'd almost chosen to dart someone out in public, to stoke that fear. Only to spot how stressed out he was. She'd even see him pulling mane hairs out!
And so, she began playing a little game. Darting those he could get, making him manage this crisis alone, making him dig whatever hole he'd started deeper and deeper and deeper.
She'd expected him to mess up earlier. It had genuinely amazed her that he caught the otter, the one unplanned darting. One of her stupid sheep trying to buy the entire stock of the things from his store. Whatever he knew, be it all or nothing, he had to go.
But now, with the ZPD on the scent trail, there was another pred to silence. And in this case, no cover up. Chief Bogo had witnessed it all, and even if he was onboard with whatever Lionheart was doing, the chance to cover it up was gone for good.
"Oh Lionfart," she smiled. "Your time is up-up-uppity-up! How are you going to tell the world that you have fourteen more of these in your own little zoo!" She slammed both hooves down on the desk, cracking the cheap fibreboard. "You're finished!"
Bing…
"Huh?"
Looking at her new notification, she reeled back. 'Savage Lion found in Savannah Central warehouse.'
Then another. 'Savage Grizzly in Tundratown.'
And then more, and more, and more…
Her eyes darted around, before her phone rung. "Bellwether!" Lionheart barked. "If you haven't seen the news, get new glasses. Major press conference, right now!"
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Judy stood to the side. Nick watched from home. Lionheart, standing up on his podium, was flanked by Bellwether to his left and Bogo by his right. "Citizens of Zootopia," he spoke, gravely. "Today we were shocked by the discovery of the various missing mammals that have vanished from the city these last few weeks. All have returned, in a savage, some might say feral state. We don't know what has caused this, but we do know we'll find the cure!"
He waved over to the side, a honey badger walking onto stage.
"Dr Madge Honeybadger, one of our best disease and toxin specialists, has already reached out to me to help lead an investigation into finding whatever sick poison or disease is causing this. She and a group of our best scientists will work tirelessly to return to us these proud, tax paying, citizens."
"Is it true that all these mammals are predators?" A sheep yelled from the crowd.
"Are all these mammals predators?" Lionheart asked, fingers working just a bit tensely into each other. "I think the more accurate question is, are all these predators mammals? And the answer to that is yes, they possess nipples."
The crowd murmured. "Why is this happening?" Someone else yelled.
"We don't know. That's her job now," the lion explained, pointing down at the honey badger.
"Why is this happening?"
"We don't know," she explained. "But it is something to do with biology. All these mammals are predators, so it must be something common to them. Be it a reaction, a toxin, a disease…"
And on she went, slow and boring, as Dawn glared at her, then Lionheart. He looked… relieved. She grit her teeth. Once the secret was out, he'd gone all in. If one predator could go savage, then fourteen could, he'd just dropped them off around the city, wiped whatever operation he'd been performing before and was right now rebooting everything, in the public eye.
Stupid politician…
He was definitely going to get darted now!
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"Hey there, same as usual?"
Judy nodded, handing two dollars over and getting a pawpsicle in return. "Blue this time?"
"You'll never guess the flavour," Nick smirked, before looking up to the sky and sighing.
Judy's ears heard it. "Everything okay?"
He shrugged, murmuring out some illegible grunt of some kind.
"How's all this savage stuff been on…" she began asking, gesturing over to his business.
"From the regulars," he said, "nothing. The none regulars…" his features slumped. "Yeah, taking a bit longer to sell out."
"So, you're still making money," she said optimistically.
"Yeah, but if I can't spend most of my day rotting my brain on my phone, what's the point," Nick snarked back. They shared a smile for a second. "-Honestly, it's the chance that I could get caught up in this… Have a savage attack me, or become…"
He choked himself off, glancing away. Judy though couldn't help but let her ears sink. "Nick, we don't know for sure it's just…"
"Isn't it approaching triple digits now," he cut in, paws waving out and claws on display. "And not one prey. Thanks for trying to spare my feelings Carrots, but no thanks. I'm a big Tod."
She stepped back. "Right, sorry."
Truth be told, yeah, she was kidding herself too. Preds were turning savage. The mayor, a predator, had turned savage. And despite pleas for calm, things were starting to get tense. And to think, it all started with her bumping into a mammal as obscure and random as this fox.
"I want to do something."
"Huh?" she asked, looking up. Nick was looking down, looking all sorts of things. Hurt, afraid, serious, determined, worried… All mixed up in a blender.
"I want to do something, anything, just to help this," he said, staring at the ground to the side. "Something more than just being a pawpsicle seller. But I don't know how. I don't know what to do." He turned, looking up at her. "I'm… I'm scared."
She stepped forward, paw on his shoulder. "I'm sorry," she said. "But I'll try. I'll try to help you. I'll try to help all the predators in Zootopia. Because that's what we do at the ZPD."
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"This is Peter Moosebridge, at six. Two years of fear and worry, over a thousand predators turned savage, over seven thousand injuries and twenty-seven deaths. But today, it is over. Today, the cure has been found."
"Already, twelve savage predators have been cured as part of a test run, with a plan to cure every one of the mysterious toxin by the end of the month," Fabienne Growley continued. "In a statement, the University of Zootopia team who worked on it state that a toxin derived from the Midnicampum Holicithius, or Night Howler plant, was discovered in all the affected predators' bloodstreams. How it became present in them is, as yet, unknown."
"While acting mayor Bellwether has heralded the news as fantastic, criticism has been levelled about how a side-research team with a fraction of the research funding or time beat the city team, headed by Dr Ramses ever since the former head, Dr Honeybadger went savage six months into the operation. A city hall spokesman said that the damage caused by said event, combined with the new team looking in fresh places, all contributed."
"Regardless," Growley rounded off. "Bellwether's support is at a record high, with her upcoming re-election, in place of Lionheart, a seeming certainty. While praised by Prey groups for her bold actions in limiting prey deaths and promoting safety and security, a number of pred groups were critical of what they claimed was discriminatory restrictions and attacks on civil liberties. However, Bellwether has assured that as once the number of new savages starts going down, they will be eased. However, for one night only, she has stated that all restrictions will be eased, given the 'celebratory mood' the city is likely to be in."
Outside, the greatest party in Zootopia's history was held. Every building, every street, cheers and whoops and hollers. Pred and Prey danced, even if the whole thing technically wasn't over just yet.
Who knew though? There hadn't been a new savage in two weeks, so maybe, just maybe, whatever was causing this had given up now that the cure had arrived.
On her fire escape, Judy Hopps boogied around to the music. These last few years had been tough with a capital T, but looking to the future.
She, and the city, had hope.
"Room for one more there?"
She nudged to the side to let Nick slip in.
"Always room for my future partner on the force, Slick," she smiled.
It had taken a while, and she'd been surprised when he announced it, but Nick Wilde, the pawpsicle seller, had chosen to become an officer. The first time at the academy he'd been a bit underprepared and after twisting an ankle slightly had had to pull out. Second time, with a bunch of extra help, had been the charm. And now, she had volunteered to take him under her wing.
After all, he'd helped her at her beginning, in a roundabout way.
"Yup, so, what do you think our first task will be?" he asked, smiling and gesturing out to the city, lit up with raining fireworks. "Catching whichever big bad guy was behind all this?"
She looked at him funny and shook her head. "Is there even a guy behind it?" she asked to the air. There was a pause, the awkward silence between them growing.
Nick shrugged. "Who knows. But if there is, I'd like to go after them."
"Well, that's for some higher ups," the bunny shrugged off. "But who knows?"
"Yeah," Nick said, looking out across the city. All that worry and pain, but why? Why would someone do this? He looked to the city and sighed. Who knows?
And from her office, Dawn Bellwether looked down, at what was still technically Lionheart's city. Not that he mattered. She had wanted to divide predator and prey, divide and conquer and rule her part as its protector.
But time had caught up and now, together as one, she could rule that too.
Lionheart had changed his plan, so she could change hers.
She took a sip of her wine and sat back. Everything of the old plan had been burnt to a crisp, every track covered, no preds would go savage again under her watch. And for it, the city would vote for her just as eagerly as if she was the only thing protecting the prey from the predator menace.
"Ahhhh," she said, relaxing. "Fear always works. But sometimes, peace does too." She gave a little cackle and sat back. "Karma, eat your face off. I'm having my cake and eating it."
.
.
AN: An interesting little thing from Cimar, who asked 'what if foxes are treated normally/ no different to other mammals.' From that, I wrote it as a 'what if/ what next' story, thinking through the story bit by bit. Nick not getting muzzled would mean he wasn't broken or cynical, though at the same time I don't think it would really give him any major 'push' so to speak (plenty of AU swap stories have Nick's muzzling being an inciting incident for him to stand up and become a cop). Cimar kinda agreed, thinking that Nick would actually be running the ice cream shop…
And I was going to write that too, until I realised Judy would have no real reason to go in and meet him.
So instead, he's doing a more legit/professional pawpsicle business, living a fairly normal life.
Of course, him having no problem with Judy means he'd easily give her the next clue in the chain, and things would carry on at a semi-similar pace (the lack of delay at the DMV made up with getting warrants and such). Manchas is captured, Lionheart figures that as he can't keep it under wraps anymore he can use the chance to 'reboot' his scheme and lead the public response, leading to Dawn darting him and his Doctor in due course.
What to do with Bellwether… I feel that she'd want the crisis going, but would want to be seen managing it. She wants it going on to gain power, rather than some grand scheme to stick preds in collars, and so if someone else works out the cure… She's devious and clever enough to swing around to riding on the peace wave instead. I suppose that writing what Dawn would do in this was the biggest hang-up I had, as you didn't really know where she planned to finally end up, and I couldn't really think of a way for Nick, Judy or the cops to link her too it. (There was another fic that ended with Nick deciding to help Judy without the need for tax evasion threats, and they got Manchas in for questioning, linked Nighthowlers to the plants and to Duke, and busted Doug's lab… But couldn't figure out the endgame).
Anyway, regardless, I hope you enjoyed this what-if!