Loves Bond
Chapter 14 - Caught - (Based on the Zootopia comic by the same name)
The faint autumn sun broke through a crack in the thick bedroom curtains creating a thin sliver of light. As the sun rose, the ray of light crept through the room. It stole its way across the lush, wool carpet and up the edge of the large, futon-style bed. The sun's light did little to warm the bedroom, but the sliver did its best to chase away the deeper shadows that still clung to the walls behind the nightstand and the deeper corners of the closet.
On the bed, the thin, cotton sheets had been tossed aside and piled together in a single corner where they hung over the edge and tried to spill onto the floor. The rumpled liner that covered the mattress was long overdue for straightening and contained more wrinkles than an elephant in the bathtub. Despite the abused look of the sheets, the numerous pillows remained stacked somewhat neatly at the head of the bed.
In the center of the wolf-sized bed, a reddish orange fox with black tipped ears and tail was curled into a circle. His nose was tucked deep under his long tail, creating a large, fox-like ring. The fox's breathing was deep and slow, causing the fur on his tail to ruffle every time he exhaled. He had wrapped his naked body around a small, gray ball of fluff that made the pair look like some sort of pastry confection with a gray dot in the center.
Wrapped around the fox's bare torso, was a pair of gray and white arms and legs. As the sliver of sunlight struck the bare fur of the naked rabbit, she began to stir. At first, she buried her muzzle deeper into the fox's cream-colored chest. When the light neared her head, she squinted her eyes and opened her mouth in a very wide yawn.
Next, the gray ball of fluff stretched her arms and legs, accidentally bumping the head of the sleeping tod. She then wrapped her paws around the fox again, snuggling close to his warm body. Her ears raised and her nose twitched while she listened to her mate's chest rumble as he softly snored. Pressing her cheek to the broad chest, she began to softly hum in tune with the sounds he made.
Sputtering, the reynard's breathing changed over the course of a few minutes and the rabbit knew that he would soon wake. She tried to pull his body close while she squeezed her eyes shut even tighter as if she could will herself back to the world of dreams, "Why does this keep happening to me?"
"What's that, darling?" The sleepy fox whispered into his tail.
"Why do I keep waking up wrapped in the arms of this gorgeous fox?" Judy sighed and sat up in the bed. She stretched her arms again and then bent them at the elbows as she twisted her torso from side to side, stretching her back and stomach muscles. Rolling over, she stretched out on the bed sheets like she was flying.
Nick, opened one eye to the full view of a beautiful and very naked bunny as she started her morning stretches. "You know you love me," the fox's witty comment flew across the bed like a heart-shaped arrow straight into the rabbits swiftly beating heart.
Judy rolled back over and gently shoved her mate's head causing him to giggle, "I thought that mating with you every night would have been more than enough of an answer." She kissed the top of his head before he rolled over and pressed his lips firmly against hers.
The bunny slid off the bed and into the chilly bedroom air. She found some open floor space between the bed and the closet where she began a few morning exercises. Bending over, she grabbed the tips of her toes and pulled, causing the lazy fox to whistle loudly. Ignoring his cheering catcalls, she did a few jumping jacks, followed by some squats, before she fell to the floor for some push-ups. She repeated the motions several times while her mate slowly crawled out of bed.
"Hurry up, slowpoke," the rabbit called back as she rushed towards the bathroom after finishing her morning exercises. "We have to meet with Captain Berenstain this morning and I don't want to be late."
"What is your hurry?" Nick called back while he rifled through the clothes hanging in the closet. "We have a whole extra hour before we have to be there." The only response he heard was the sound of the shower turning on.
A large, dark, wooden table sat in the middle of conference room three. The table was more suited to boardroom meetings, where everyone was dressed in suits and ties, than to a bunch of unruly cops. At one end of the table, sat a large, and mostly untouched box of bagels and three tubs of flavored schmear.
The long room was almost twice the size of the Bullpen, but contained less than half the number of mammals. Plastered onto the longest wall were various maps and police promotional posters. At the head of the table, the short wall held a large, flat, television screen that also doubled as an electronic whiteboard. At the far end was a short counter with a sink and a single-cup-at-a-time coffee maker.
Few of the mammals attending the meeting bothered to sit in the comfortable, high-backed chairs. One polar bear sat in a chair that was three sizes too small for his incredible girth and spun around in it wildly, nearly causing the chair to tip over. Fangmeyer and a cougar named Dickinson were sprawled across the wide table and engaged in a fierce arm-wrestling match. Wolfard and a brown-furred wolf were sitting on the floor playing tug-of-war with a rolled-up gym towel held between their teeth. No one seemed bothered by the wild behavior of the animals running amuck around the large room.
"Officer Wilde. Officer Hopps. Glad you could join us this morning," Captain Berenstain said as the two small cops strolled into the room. "We can go ahead and start this meeting now."
Once the captain spoke, several mammals took their seats. Fangmeyer and Dickinson slid off the table with a growl before each plopped into one of the high-backed chairs. The two wolves sitting on the floor gave up their battle and decided to stand against the wall. With a loud snap, the brown wolf smacked Wolfard with the small end of the towel, before the larger, gray yanked it from his paws.
Judy walked up to the box of bagels and pulled out one covered in everything and passed one with something that looked like berries in it to her partner.
"Um, we can't eat these," the fox whispered to the rabbit while she spread some orange-colored schmear on her bagel.
"Why not?"
"We're cops, duh," the fox poked her in the ribs.
"Nick," Judy exhaled. "Just because we are cops doesn't mean we are only allowed to eat donuts."
"Yes it does," the fox uttered as he watched the rabbit hop towards a free chair that Fangmeyer held out to her. He looked down at the bagel in his paw unsure what to do with it before taking a bite and following the rabbit.
"For those of you who are new to this team," the Captain was explaining. "This is the Western Mob Division Response Group. We have been tracking organized crime in the western half of the city, and thanks to the recent shake-up brought to light by Officers Hopps and Wilde, I have requested that they be read in on our activities. They may have some information that could be useful to our investigation in the Meadowlands."
Looking around the table while the grizzly spoke, Judy noticed a few new muzzles in attendance. Most of the officers and detectives she recognized from the day and afternoon shifts. There was also a rookie wolf and tiger she remembered seeing at Nick's graduation, but the big horned sheep across from her was new.
The rabbit spoke up between mouthfuls of bagel, "I thought the ZBI requested that we stay away from Gatolli."
The grizzly bear scowled down the table at the much smaller rabbit, but she did not shy away from the fierce gaze, "That bobcat is not the only criminal operating in the Meadowlands and we still intend to keep an eye on things. What the ZBI doesn't know won't hurt them."
Wolfard and the polar bear chuckled at the last comment while Fangmeyer only nodded at the captain. Nick smirked and the two other rookies from his class gave the rabbit an odd look that she could not quite place. Not noticing the exchange, Berenstain continued, "Ok, now for the weekly reports. Officer Cherona, what had been going on around The Canopy?"
Starting with the rainforest district, the captain nodded to each detective around the room, as that mammal gave their updates on the criminal activity in their respective areas. The two smallest officers could not tell by the reports if things were simply business as usual or there was some kind of major operation going on around the wetter side of the city.
"Thanks for the updates," Berenstain said with little enthusiasm in his deep voice. "Now, onto the big news that you have all been dying to hear. I will let you decide if it is good or bad." He pulled out a folder and flipped through a few pages before speaking again, "So, thanks to Dr. Phill's examination, our newest guest in the morgue downstairs is in fact Freddy The Ram."
Wolfard pumped a fist and cried, "Yes!"
Without looking up, the ursine continued, "The good doctor determined that he was tortured and then died of hypothermia over the weekend. Someone tried to burn off most of his identifying features before they dumped him in the harbor, dressed up like some kind of super mammal."
The gathered mammals chuckled at the last part as the captain shook his head and gestured to the two smallest officers, "Would the two of you like to expound on what you found in Gatolli's office last week?"
Nick stood up in the plush chair first, "I got this, Carrots." He then straightened his tie and cleared his throat, like he was preparing for an important speech, "Officer Hopps and I, along with ZBI Agent Feldon, found forged shipping documents for a crate that contained three far eastern females trying to gain entry into the city. It also seems that Gatolli has gathered quite a collection of signatures from some of the city's elite and may be using the forged copies to conduct his other illegal activities."
"That is disturbing," Fangmeyer added, shaking her head. "But it could prove useful if we knew who, exactly, he has collected signatures from."
"I would strongly advise against buying property from any new real estate brokers in the Meadowlands," Nick declared with a sly smirk.
"Why is that?" The Captain asked.
"Because his latest victim recently bought a fake resort estate only to have her signature forged, along with those shipping documents."
Wolfard nodded eagerly, "So this means that old bobcat has now got his paws into forgery, real estate fraud, and mammal trafficking. With his fingers in so many pies, he is bound to slip up some time."
"With Freddy out of the way, he is pretty much free to take over the Meadowlands now," Fangmeyer noted and the whole room groaned.
"How do we know he didn't kill that ram himself?"
The captain looked across the table at the small pair of officers, "What do you two have on that vehicle where Freddy's body was found? Is there any way to tie it back to Gatolli?"
Judy stood up and brushed the bagel crumbs from her uniform. "I am not sure how we would tie it back to the mob boss, but here is what we have so far." She thumbed through some papers she had brought inside a small folder, "The Tusker originally belonged to a Dr. William Walia who was convicted of lacing and selling stolen drugs and he was also an accomplice in the Palm Court murder as well as abducting and torturing Officer Wilde when he got too close to the dealer's operations."
Nick's expression remained cold while Judy gave her report, but inwardly, he was glad that she did not go into any great detail of the traumatic time he had spent in that warehouse. He barely remembered the incident except for a few, vague flashes. Waking up in the hospital without remembering how he got there was difficult enough. Smiling over at the rabbit as she described the evidence they had found recently, he did remember that she was the first mammal he saw when he woke up.
"Two days ago," the rabbit explained, "the SUV in question, was stolen from the ZPD impound by an ibex that we assume was Dr. Walia's wife, or ex-wife. She drove the vehicle to a nightclub where she broke in and stole a mask for a costume that was used in the abduction of Joseph Idube, a young foal about the age of 5 or 6. We don't know who wore the costume or who did the actual abduction, but if the ram was already dead then it couldn't have been him."
The fox stood up again and took over where the rabbit left off, "How any of this ties back to Gatolli, we don't know. This could be an elaborate setup to throw us off the trail, or Gatolli's goons simply found the vehicle a convenient place to dump a body. But it doesn't make sense why the body was dressed up in a costume that almost matches the colors and style of what the abductor wore." Nick snapped his fingers as his eyes opened wide, "The abductor must be working alongside the same mammals that killed Freddy The Ram. They might be collaborating to collect young hybrids."
"What is that about hybrids?" The grizzly asked, slightly baffled by the fox's sudden leaps of logic.
"The mammals that were brought in on that shipping crate were panda hybrids," Judy declared, also snapping her fingers. "And the foal that was abducted was also a half zebra hybrid. There have also been a number of other hybrid abductions recently. Nick and I are beginning to suspect that they are somehow all connected. One of the witnesses even described Mrs. Walia to us."
"Is it possible that Mrs. Walia is working for Gatolli?" Fangmeyer asked from the chair next to Nick and Judy.
"Not very likely," Wolfard added. "Didn't you say that she is an ibex? That bobcat hates anything that even remotely looks like a sheep or a goat."
Nick looked over his shoulder at Judy, "Didn't the club owner say that Mrs. Walia was into preds?"
"Yep," Judy remarked. "She said the goat smelled like a pred. And I remember seeing that she had disguised her hooves to look like paws when she stole the Tusker. Plus I thought I saw that she wore a strap-on tail when she walked out of the security shack."
"That is seriously messed up," the rookie wolf finally spoke up with a disgusted look on his muzzle.
Chuckling, Wolfard looked at the captain, "I have done some pretty unusual things when undercover, but now we have an ibex who likes to dress up as a predator working for Gatolli and abducting young mammals from under our noses."
"That is all very fascinating," Berenstain stated, closing his case folder. "But I still don't see how we can solidly pin this to the crime boss who is slowly taking over the Meadowlands. How would a bunch of young hybrid kits, pups or foals help him achieve that goal?"
"We really don't know sir," Judy's muzzle fell and her ears drooped. "The link is superficial at best, and we don't even know what he is doing with them."
"Ok, that is a lot of information to digest, officers," the grizzly said while standing up. "I think that is enough for now. Thank you, Hopps and Wilde. We will keep you informed if any of us run across anything linking these cases." The two small cops were then politely dismissed while the captain turned to the rest of the detectives sitting around the large table.
Before the conference room door closed behind the fox, he heard the loud crack of a towel whip followed by a wolf's yelp. Judy on the other paw could hear the roar of a very large predator even through the solid steel door, "Will you two just quit it!"
A red fox wearing an official police uniform, was casually strolling down the hall towards the second-floor break room. His tail was swishing behind him, like it was happily swinging to a tune only it could hear. In his paw, he held an empty coffee mug and he had been searching the large halls of Precinct 1 for a way to refill it. Despite the long morning of meetings and filing reports for the previous day's activities, his tail wagged gleefully behind him.
His life had somehow magically turned upside down a few days ago and it felt truly wonderful. After a drama-filled weekend in the burrows and a slew of new missing mammal cases, his week had started out by taking a downhill dive from day one. Then, to top things off, his girlfriend had been in a very strange mood, creating even more drama with his mother. But then something surprising happened that changed his whole life.
Two nights ago, after a long day of pawing out traffic tickets, cleaning up accidents on the freeway, and slogging through hours of security camera footage, he and his rabbit had mated together, and not only once. The amorous rabbit seemed to never get enough of the fox and constantly found new and exciting ways to make love with him.
Nick was utterly blown away by the sudden change in his rabbit. They had been friends for over a year and dating for three or was it four months? Now, living together for the last month, she had never shown any signs that she wanted a more intimate relationship with him. At the time, he was honestly unsure how it would even work between them. If he was truly honest with himself, he was mostly afraid that he might cause her physical harm or worse.
A fox's teeth and claws were specifically designed for ripping and tearing open the soft flesh of her species, yet his girlfriend was not afraid of them. In fact, she seemed to take an odd kind of pleasure in his fangs. The little noises she made when he would nip or scratch her, made his heart skip a beat and she even seemed to beg for more. All the prey mammals he had ever met, had an unreasoning fear of predator claws and teeth, but not his bunny girlfriend.
He could not understand Judy's sudden change, nor her never seemingly satisfied need to mate with him. It must be her species' mating season. That must have been the reason why she kept attacking him over the weekend and every night since. He was certainly not complaining. Quite the contrary, in fact. He actually enjoyed this new, intimate aspect to their relationship.
In the back of his mind, he always knew that Judy and himself would eventually become mates. She was very attractive, and not only for her lithe, muscular body, but she also stimulated him in other ways. Whenever she was near, it filled his heart with joy, like no other female had ever done before. He had thought about being intimate with the rabbit before, but it always felt like the wrong time, like he wasn't ready, or was waiting for something.
In a normal, fox relationship, it was the vixen who made the first move towards more physical pursuits. Having only dated one vixen before, he was no expert on red fox courtships, but instinctively he understood what he was supposed to do. Finnick, usually filled in the details of his own exploits over a couple of beers, yet those stories paled in comparison to real life experience. The other females that Nick had dated in the past, each had their own quirks and desires, but none of them could have prepared him for understanding the mind of his rabbit doe.
His relationship with Judy was by far the most rewarding and fulfilling one he had ever been in. The few that he had in the past, were always very short and less than meaningful. Nick had grown to love and respect this rabbit. He felt like she was that one piece of his life that had been missing for so many years. It was like she fit perfectly, completing him and making him feel like a whole mammal. When she was around, his life clicked into place and simply made sense.
Over the last year, they had developed a strong bond both on the job and off. Now, as they had become mates, he felt that bond pulling on him as strongly as a steel rope. She lifted him up and encouraged him to be the better mammal that he had always wanted to become, while he carried her on his shoulders and helped push her, towards her own lofty goals.
Walking down the empty hall as it curved along the building's rounded interior, he heard his rabbit's voice like the ringing of a crystal bell. She called his name like a choir of angels descended from the heavens and his heart desperately desired to sing along. He must have still been dreaming, asleep in his bed, or passed out on top of a stack of those unfinished reports, because the hall remained empty, and yet he heard her voice again.
"Psst…. Nick," Judy's voice called to him sweetly and a bit like it was at the end of a long tunnel.
He turned around in the empty hall again, trying to locate the source of the sound. His eyes continued to fail him in the overly-bright light of the hallway, but his nose quickly picked up the rabbit's scent.
"Nick, can you help me with this please?" Again the rabbit's voice rang in his ears. His nose, on the other paw, led him to a side door that was slightly ajar.
The door in the side of the hallway belonged to the office supply closet for this floor. When he opened it, the light inside was much dimmer, almost dark, and was nearly the perfect level for his sensitive, nocturnal eyes. Inside, were numerous shelves containing all manner of office supplies, for mammals of all sizes. Pens and pencils for elephants sat alongside notepads for rabbits and staplers for mice. A tall mop even rested in its bucket near the door.
As soon as the door was opened, Judy grabbed the fox's tie and pulled him into the room, pressing her lips to his own. She let the door slam shut behind him, as she pulled him deeper into the now completely dark room.
His eyes slowly adjusted to the deep gloom, but there was little to see, as his mate hungrily caressed and nibbled at his muzzle. She never said a word but made a desperate chewing noise while she kissed and licked his long mouth. He held her head in his paws and returned her affections with fervor.
Stumbling, the pair fell against one of the lower shelves, causing a large box of paperclips to fall to the tiled floor, like the tinkling of many, tiny, metal raindrops. Clutching his pointy ears, the rabbit pulled her mate down with her and they almost lay across the sturdy shelf.
Between a barrage of frantic kisses, the bunny undid the buttons on his shirt and began to drive her frisky paws across his bare chest, while a box of pushpins fell to the floor. The fox in turn loosened the rabbit's thick body armor before letting it fall to the floor, to join the random boxes of supplies that had fallen there.
Judy, desperate for more of her fox, struggled to undo his belt. The latch seemed to be caught on something and her paws were unable to function while her frenzied lips tried to devour his mouth. She finally had to pull away from his kisses to open the belt latch far enough to keep it from getting stuck again.
Before she could fully push her paws down his pants, the closet door opened and the lights came on. In walked a large, uniformed elephant who was whistling cheerfully to herself. "Now where around here do they keep those rolls of scotch tape?" Francine Trunkaby asked no one in particular.
Francine walked into the closet, completely oblivious to the two small officers who, in their wild passions, had crawled up onto one of the lower shelves. She rummaged through several shelves before she turned around and bent down. "Where are those things?"
"Oh, my lord!" The elephant cried, when she finally spotted the fox leaning on top of the rabbit. Her trunk immediately covered her eyes and she turned around stumbling, "No, no, no. I did not just see that."
"He was helping me get a hair out of my eye," Judy said reflexively as she pushed the fox off of her.
The elephant stumbled around blindly with her trunk plastered across her eyes, slowly knocking various items off the shelves as she tried to head for the door. A jumbo pencil fell from an upper shelf and the mop, along with its bucket, clattered to the floor, before Francine finally reached the door. When she exited the closet, she shut off the light and closed the big door behind her, like nothing untoward had happened at all.
The rabbit could still hear the elephant's voice mumbling down the hallway, "Nope! Nothing to see here! Nothing to see at all. Just go back to my desk and forget all about it..."
Snorting, the rabbit looked at her fox with a chuckle, "We should probably get back to work, honey."
"That's probably a good idea, darling," the fox replied, planting a soft kiss on her lips in the dark.
Downtown Zootopia glittered like a thousand, brilliant jewels in the waning light of the setting, autumn sun. As the light dimmed, neon signs flashed and sparkled from every available surface above the busy streets. Glowing signs advertised everything from a hot cup of coffee to the latest opera performance. Towering buildings filled the evening sky with their twinkling lights, like they could outshine the distant stars.
Cars of every shape and size zipped back and forth along the crowded streets. A mix of Zuber and Yellow Cabs stopped to pick up or drop off passengers while delivery vans rushed past them. Fancy limos lined up outside the opening of some exclusive art exhibit, while the flashiest sports cars screeched and roared when a nearby light turned green. No matter where you looked at this time of day, every street was filled to overflowing with cars.
Along the side of each street, the wide sidewalks were packed with mammals rushing to get home from work or just strolling around the uncountable number of shops. Many of the mammals were dressed in business attire, with their expensive suits and skirts, while others could have been tourists or common mammals looking for a quick bite of food. When the street lights changed to red, the crosswalks overflowed, with a flood of mammals trying to cross.
Nestled among the herd of cars rushing home, was a large, black cruiser painted with a big letter 'Z' on the side doors. On the roof, was a rack of red and blue lights and several radio antennas. In the front of the vehicle, were a pair of steel bars that rose up from the bumper like two rhino horns, to cover the engine grill.
Inside the police vehicle, sat a pair of the ZPDs smallest officers. Behind the wheel, was a gray rabbit wearing a blue, police-issued jumpsuit with thick, rabbit-sized, body armor covering her chest. Sitting beside the rabbit, was a red fox wearing the standard-issue police blues and a pair of dark glasses covering his sensitive eyes from the bright neon lights.
Waiting impatiently at the red light, the rabbit sipped at a tall cup of coffee she had purchased from a convenient shop three streets over. Drumming her thumbs on the wheel, she turned to her partner with a soft sigh, "I am not a fan of working the second shift you know."
"Why is that, Carrots?" The fox asked while tapping away on his phone.
"I don't know," Judy shrugged. "I prefer getting up before the sunrise and starting my day early. Sleeping in three extra hours seems like a waste of the day to me."
"After all that exercise I'm getting with you at night, I for one am glad for the extra sleep."
With a loud huff directed at her fox, the rabbit explained, "When I start my day early, that means I can get done early so I can spend more time with you."
"Wait," the fox put down his phone and looked into the rabbit's gorgeous, purple eyes. "Don't you already get to spend all day with me at work?"
"Yes," she sighed. "But I mean more time to spend with you at home." Reaching out both paws she grabbed the fox's muzzle and pulled him close until her lips were pressed against his and she forcefully stuck her tongue in his mouth. Prying open his sharp teeth with her soft tongue, she warmly spoke into the kiss, "Where we can cuddle."
Nick enjoyed the taste of his rabbit's lips and the feel of her tiny tongue as it caressed his sharp fangs, but the sensation suddenly ended when a loud horn honked behind them. Leaning back in his seat, the fox saw that the traffic light was now green and a multitude of other cars were passing them on both sides.
Judy hit the gas pedal hard, causing the car to lurch forward suddenly, slamming her fox back into his seat with a loud thump. "Opps, sorry!" Judy apologized, sarcastically.
Unperturbed by the rabbit's poor driving, Nick continued their discussion, "We still get to cuddle even more in the mornings now."
"It is so not the same thing, sweetheart," the rabbit declared, taking another sip of her coffee. "I want to be able to snuggle with you while watching a movie or relaxing with a good book. It's hard to go out dancing or on a normal date when our shift ends so late."
"We can still do those things, honey," the fox countered. "We just have to do them later in the evening. It's not like we get assigned evening patrols every day."
"I know," Judy sighed again. "Shifting my sleep schedule always leaves me worn out and exhausted the next day."
The red tod leaned across the seat towards his bunny as she slowed the cruiser to a stop at the next red light, "You know, darling, we could move our late night workouts to early mornings instead."
Tilting her head towards the fox she nearly smacked him with her tall ears, "Do you really think so?" She gently caressed his muzzle with a soft paw, "So you want to try some ..." The rabbit never finished her question before the radio chirped to life.
"All units in the downtown area a 5-87 has been reported near Second and Peak Street." The voice on the radio was not familiar to either mammal in the car.
Nick picked up the mic and replied while Judy continued to caress his muzzle, "Dispatch, this is unit 240 we are northbound on Peak, please advise."
A few moments later, the radio squealed again, "Unit 240. The 5-87 has been reported as a mammal of unknown species wandering the street in nothing more than a backless hospital gown."
Puzzlement filled the fox's muzzle as Judy slid back into her seat and placed both paws on the wheel, "Can you clarify, dispatch? What exactly is an unknown species?"
The radio hissed for a second before the reply came back, "Unit 240, it means that we don't know. From the description given it sounded like some kind of panda or an equine. We have never heard of any mammal fitting that description before so proceed with caution."
"Roger, dispatch," Nick hung the mic back on its clip while looking at Judy confused. "Half panda and half equine?"
Driving forward when the light turned green, Judy snapped her fingers and her nose twitched, "That sounds like one of those hybrids we discovered at the docks."
The fox also nodded, "Right, and the pregnant one went missing from the hospital."
"That's right, Slick," Judy cried in exuberance as she held up her paw for the fox to high four.
Several minutes later, Nick and Judy were briskly pacing down the sidewalk in search of the half-dressed mammal. This was a busy section of town, with numerous little shops lining the streets, while tremendous towers loomed overhead. The sun was nothing more than a faint sliver on the horizon, causing the streets to literally glow in the darkness of early evening.
The pair of police officers were walking past a bubble tea and yogurt shop amongst a crowd of mammals moving in both directions. Hanging over the counter, was a round, frilly awning that partially sheltered hungry mammals from sun or rain. A small line of sheep and other prey waited at the pickup counter for their chilled treats.
Most of the mammals gave the two small cops about half a meter of space, leaving the officers more than enough room to walk, even in the heavy paw and hoof traffic. Both fox and rabbit stalked through the crowd like tigers hunting their prey in the tall grass. Nick sniffed the air with his long nose searching for the scent he remembered from the docks over two weeks ago, while Judy tilted the two large and fluffy radar dishes she had mounted on top of her head, listening for any sounds out of the ordinary.
As luck would have it, the rabbit was the first to pick up signs of their quarry. Directly ahead, she heard a mammal yelling in distress, "Get away from there, vagrant, before I call the cops. No, don't eat that!"
The rabbit grabbed her partner's paw and pulled him in the direction of the shouts, "Nick, we had better hurry."
"That's it, I'm calling the cops right now!" Yelled the irate mammal.
Both small cops raced through the crowd shouting to be let through, "ZPD out of the way. Please step aside ma'am. Coming through."
"Yes, Zee One One? I would like to report a half-naked mammal who is eating my chrysanthemum display. Yes, that is right, my address is seventeen, twenty-three, ten Peak Street. Yes, that is right, I am downtown."
Breaking through the crowd, Nick and Judy spotted a pig dressed in a purple shirt, standing in front of a flower shop and holding a fancy cell phone up to one of his floppy, pink ears. The front of the shop was painted a rich, forest green, with large, picture windows to let in the light and display the latest bouquets. Sitting on the sidewalk in front of the shop, were a dozen potted plants resting on stair-step-like racks. The blooms were all bright oranges, yellows, and reds.
Sitting on the ground next to one of the racks, was a large creature roughly twice the girth of the pig. She looked like a cross between a panda and a donkey or some other kind of equine species. Her body and head were round and covered in black and white fur while her arms and legs were long, thin, and lanky. The muzzle of the creature was elongated like most equines, but the mouth was filled with a combination of sharp canines and incisors alongside large, flat molars. She was dressed only in a plain, backless, hospital robe that was heavily torn and nearly falling from her round body, while her bare bottom rested soundly on the cement.
The panda hybrid had knocked over several of the potted plants, spilling soil across the sidewalk. In her hooves, was a bundle of red flowers with petals that had bright orange tips. She was unceremoniously chomping away at the flowers like it was her first meal in many days.
"ZPD, what seems to be the trouble," Judy cried as she rushed up to the florist pig.
"Wow. That was extremely quick," the boar spoke into the phone. "Thank you for the quick response." He hung up the device before turning to the rabbit officer.
"We were down the street and heard your call for help," the rabbit replied casually.
"Who is going to pay for all this?" The pig cried, waving his hooves across the mess of dirt and broken stalks laying across the sidewalk.
Nick turned to address the irate florist while Judy approached the large and very hungry mammal. "You are welcome to file charges for any damages, Sir. Then the small claims court will handle any reparations that will be necessary. But please, let us handle this mammal before she can cause any more damage to your wares or property."
Stepping up to the large hybrid, Judy spoke calmly but with authority, "Ma'am, why are you eating this mammal's flowers?"
The hybrid only shook her head and spoke strange words that had no meaning to the small rabbit.
Again, Judy tried speaking slowly to the larger mammal, but she also used common gestures that should have been easily understood by most Zootopians, "Where are your clothes?"
More strange noises escaped the panda hybrid's mouth as she devoured another bundle of live plants. When she finished, she pointed behind her at what Judy could not tell. There were cars and crowds of mammals, more shops and huge buildings. The hybrid could have been pointing at any of them.
Judy gestured again to emphasize her strict words, "Ma'am if you touch another one of this mammal's plants I am going to cuff you." She then spoke into her shoulder mic, "Dispatch this is Officer Hopps, we are going to need a far eastern translator for that 5-87 on Peak Street."
"Roger that, Officer Hopps," the small radio on her hip barked. "Officer Zilu en route to your location in five minutes."
Three minutes later, the panda reached for a third pot of flowers but her hoof was struck by a flying gray and blue blur. Hard, cold steel clanked to her wrist as she was forced, muzzle down into the cement. Seconds later, her other arm was wrenched around behind her back and tightly chained to the first. The hybrid was now sprawled out on the sidewalk with her naked tail sticking up towards the night sky.
"Cucumbers and radishes, I told you not to touch any more of those flowers." Judy turned to Nick with a sad look on her muzzle, "Do we have anything to cover her rump? Other mammals are watching." Behind the rabbit, a small crowd had gathered around them and even a few were pointing their phones in the direction of the strange, half-naked hybrid.
"Oh, I have a towel you can use," the pig offered as he rushed back inside his shop.
Nick pulled their cruiser alongside the shop as the florist returned with a large, green towel, which Judy draped over the bare bottom of the prostrate, and cuffed mammal. At the same time, a second cruiser parked behind Nick, and a water deer dressed in a ZPD t-shirt stepped out from the passenger side. Her badge hung on a clip from her belt. The deer was roughly as tall as a wolf with shaggy, brown fur that covered her entire body and two prominent canines that hung from her upper jaw. The long teeth were nearly 8 centimeters in length and gave the far eastern deer a tough, predatory look.
"Oh, my," Officer Zilu cried when she saw the panda-like creature laying on the ground next to several broken pots and half-chewed plants. The deer had a thick, far eastern accent in her voice. "I have never seen anything like this before. We hear tales of strange creatures living in the wild jungle mountains near where I grew up, but nothing like this."
Judy looked up at the water deer, "So you could not even guess what kind of species she is?"
Officer Zilu shook her head, "No, but it sort of looks like a mountain panda had a cub with a kiang. Is she the only one?"
Nick stepped up to the group while they were discussing the hybrid animal. "We found three of them trying to get themselves smuggled into the city in a shipping crate. They were all different ages too."
"Can you talk to her? Find out what she is doing here and what happened to her clothes?" Judy asked the long-toothed deer.
"I can certainly try," Officer Zilu said. She stepped over to the hybrid and bent down and began speaking in sounds that were unfamiliar to the rabbit.
The panda tried to sit up and look at the police deer. She spoke a few words in similar-sounding but still incomprehensible noises.
After listening to the panda, Zilu changed the tone or pacing in her words to match the pandas. A few more minutes passed before the deer turned back to the two smaller officers, "She has a very strange dialect and I can barely understand what she is saying. There is a lot of slang and words I don't recognize but I think I get the basic idea of what she is trying to say."
"Ok," Judy nodded and her nose twitched furiously. "Did she say why she is dressed like that?"
Officer Zilu nodded, "She said the black-cloaked mammals took them and the white cloaks gave her these."
"Black cloaked mammals?"
"I think she means the immigration agents, Carrots," Nick answered while rubbing his chin.
Judy looked back at the hybrid with sorrow slowly creeping across her muzzle, "Did she say why she was here?" She waved her paw towards the flower shop and the mess of broken pots.
"Yeah," the fanged deer shrugged. "That part was really confusing. Let me try asking again." She stepped towards the panda and began speaking again. Zilu tried to quickly translate as the hybrid spoke, "She says they took her little radish. The space mammals came to the white room and took her little radish. She followed them across this desert to the huge rocks over there, but then went behind the rocks and sealed the door."
Zilu turned back to Nick and Judy, "Sorry, that is the best I could do with her backwater dialect. Would either of you have any idea what she means?"
The fox raised a black-furred finger, "I think her little radish is her newborn cub, or whatever it should be called."
"How would you know that?" The water deer asked.
"Because the last time we saw her, she was pregnant," Judy explained.
"Ok, wise guy. What about that thing about space mammals?" Officer Zilu scoffed at the smirking fox. "What do you think she meant by that? Green, scaly mammals descending from the sky took her cub or what?"
"Naw," Nick shook his head. "More likely some kind of military group or well-armed thugs."
The rabbit tilted her head at the fox for a second before she snapped her fingers, "What about doctors in hazmat suits? Remember she was very sick when we found her. They might have worn some kind of protective gear when they took the cub."
"The desert and the rocks I get, but can she show us where this sealed door is?" The fox asked the long-toothed deer.
Officer Zilu nodded and spoke to the hybrid again. After several words were exchanged she nodded, "Yes she says it's two rocks, I mean buildings north of here. Probably in the alley behind it."
"Come on, Slick," Judy called. "Let's help her to her hooves, and get this towel tied around her so she isn't flashing her tail to the world."
"What about my shop?" The pig florist finally spoke up.
While Judy and Officer Zilu loaded the panda into the cruiser, Nick pawed the pig a sheet of paper, "I will need your signature on this form and you can then log onto the Department of Justice website to file the charges. After that, the court will inform you of the procedures to follow."
Judy drove Zilu and the hybrid to the alley that the strange mammal had described. Zilu sat in the passenger seat up front, while the panda-like creature sat in the back, pointing the way. After a short time, they arrived at a tall office building that looked like it was carved out of pure marble. Behind the building, was a wide alley next to a multi-level, parking garage.
"Yan, says that they came from that pile of rocks and went into the tall white rock over there."
"Who is Yan?" Asked the rabbit behind the wheel.
"Oh, sorry. Yan is her name," the water deer nodded toward the larger mammal in the back seat.
Looking in her rearview mirror, Judy replied, "It's nice to meet you, Yan." Zilu quickly translated. When the panda replied, Judy looked at the officer next to her and asked, "What did she say?"
Zilu shook her head but translated the hybrid's words, "You didn't have to hit me so hard."
Again, Judy looked in the rearview mirror, "I could not allow you to steal any more of that mammal's flowers."
The translation came back quickly, "I am sorry."
"You are going to have to pay him back," Judy stated plainly.
"I don't have any money," Yan said with the help of the water deer translator. "Li-ling, Mei, and I were promised lots of money and homes for our cubs, but I got sick on the big boat and the dhole never came as she promised. That dhole told us your city would welcome mammals like us, but they lied to us and your doctors even stole my cub."
"Sorry," Zilu apologized. "That is the best I can do with her strange dialect. I hope what she is saying makes any sense to you."
"You're doing fine, Zilu," Judy acknowledged as she pulled the car up to a large steel door in the back of the building. "I think I can follow what she is saying. But what is a dole?"
"Dhole. They are a canid, like a small wolf or a jackal," the water deer explained. "It is possible, being from the deep jungles if she met one of those species she might have thought it was a dhole. I don't know of any of their species living here in the city right now. Let me try to clarify."
After several more strange sounds were exchanged between the deer and the hybrid, Zilu explained, "She says the dhole was tall like me, but had very colorful fur with browns, greys, and yellows."
"Yes, that sounds like a coyote or a jackal," Judy's nose twitched while she glanced back at the hybrid. "Or even a hyena."
The hybrid was pointing at the large steel door as Judy drove past it, "That is where they took my cub. I tried to follow but the door would not open."
"Ok, Yan," Judy reassured the hybrid. "Nick and I will have to investigate later when the building is open. But for now, we need to bring you back to the station and then turn you back over to immigration. They will have to decide whether you are allowed to stay or not."
Yan lowered her muzzle and tears began to fill her eyes.
"Look at it this way," Judy tried to cheer up the sad mammal. "Your sisters will be waiting for you there. I know they haven't been sent back to your country so they are still waiting at the immigration office."
The news did not brighten the hybrid panda in the slightest and the tears continued to flow all the way back to the police station.
Judy quickly stepped back with her paws in the air as the hippo crashed to the mat with a loud whump that shook the entire room. The rabbit hopped up and down several times as she punched the air before stomping on the mat and taking a few short steps while running in place. She then punched her puffy, blue gloves together and pointed outside the ring as she slowly turned in a circle.
The night shift had heard about this rabbit cop's prowess in the boxing ring, but they had never had the chance to witness it first pawed. It was late in Precinct 1 for Judy and her partner. They had finished their patrol late as the third shift began rolling in, when one of the night officers, who was a wolf, challenged the bunny to a round in the ring.
For the bout, Judy had changed into a comfortable, fur-tight jumpsuit that she preferred to wear when working out. Unlike her uniform, this outfit was a darker blue with light blue stripes under the arms and it left her shoulders and arms bare for more mobility. On her head, she wore a thickly padded, ZPD issue, boxing helmet, designed for species of her size. She had also changed out her heavy paw straps for a softer, lighter, and more comfortable pair.
Officer Gnash was the third in line to fall to the rabbit's fatal, flying paws. Each of the larger mammals had misjudged her ability to dodge all of their blows while quickly striking at their blind spots. She had far more energy and could easily wear them down, before delivering a hard blow with both of her hind paws. The only mammals on the force that were fast enough to block or dodge her strikes were the younger cheetahs, and none of them were in the gym this evening.
As the fallen hippo was removed from the ring, Judy pointed her glove around at the onlookers tauntingly, "No one else wants to play tonight?"
Every one of the still-standing officers shook their heads as her glove passed over them.
The rabbit punched her fists together causing the padded gloves to make a smacking sound, "Come on guys." Judy hopped back and forth on her paws, "I am just getting warmed up and could probably go another round or two." She ran over to the edge of the ring and pointed at a tall zebra, "Officer Withers, how about a go?"
"Sorry, Hopps," Withers replied, shaking her head. "I've got to go on patrol in a few minutes." She then waved her hoof and walked out of the gym.
"Anybody?" Judy asked, as she turned in another full circle, looking around the room with a dejected expression. Her paws fell and her ears began to droop. She began to unstrap one of her gloves, "Ok guys, and I was having so much fun too."
"Maybe tomorrow," one of the officers from the back called.
Judy pulled off the first of her boxing gloves, when a small cheer rose from the crowd. The cheer started from behind her and slowly grew as it circled the room. She slipped the glove back on with a vicious smile across her muzzle and tightened the straps. Turning around, the rabbit began to speak, "Good, and I thought all the night shift were softies." Her words caught in her throat when she saw the patch of red fur climbing into the ring.
"Put your paws where your mouth is, Carrots," the red fox challenged, punching his pair of red gloves together, as he took a fighting stance.
Hopping and shifting her hind paws back and forth, Judy punched the air, while slowly moving towards the new challenger, "Well, bring it on then, Slick."
The cheer grew in intensity, as Judy threw the first punches directly at the fox's head and followed up with a strong, round kick at his solar plexus. Nick stood and easily blocked all of the rabbit's initial strikes as he took a single step backward.
"Come on, Fluff," the fox taunted. "I know you can hit harder than that."
Not letting up, the rabbit continued to press the fox with a flurry of quick jabs to the chest and head. Inch by inch, she drove the arrogant tod back towards the ropes, while he held his arms stiffly in place to deflect her furious blows.
Before she could push his back into the ropes, she struck for his unprotected flanks with a swift kick. As her hind paw connected with his waistline she failed to notice the red glove until it crashed into her muzzle. Staggering, she nearly fell onto her tail, but a light hop backward helped her regain her stance.
Remaining upright was the least of her worries, as the fox pressed his advantage. "And you thought I was all talk, huh, sweetheart?" Nick chided, as he swung again and again at the smaller rabbit.
She tried to block the incoming fists or step out of the way, but his longer arms always struck past her defenses with a speed that nearly matched her own. "Not on your life, Dumb Fox," Judy began to chuckle.
"What is so funny, honey?" Nick asked as he barely saw his mate's head drop out of sight.
Pretending to fall to the floor, Judy slipped under the fox's next incoming punch and planted both of her hind paws into his unprotected gut. As her shoulder struck the mat and she rolled back onto her paws, she watched the fox stumble backward with a loud groan. "You forgot to guard your midsection," she called to the now stunned tod.
Clutching at his stomach, Nick began to snicker, "That was pretty funny, wasn't it." Lifting his paws, he was prepared for the rabbit's next assault.
Giggling, Judy rained blow after blow down on the tod's head while he kept his red gloves securely between himself and her fists. "You really need to learn some better moves, darling."
"And why is that?" the fox asked, trying not to snort between laughs.
The fox never got to finish his question before the rabbit's paw once again slammed into his gut. When his guard dropped she came in with a stiff right uppercut to his nose. "Your mom taught me that one, dear," Judy chortled loudly.
"Pfft," Nick sputtered, still bent over like he was in great pain while the laughter kept rolling. "The cute, little bunny has to get fighting tips from my mom!" He slapped one knee with a gloved paw, like she had told the greatest joke ever.
"Don't call me cute!" Judy wanted to yell at the fox, but the giggles were slowly taking over. While he was still bent over groaning and chuckling, she turned away from the fox and sprinted towards the ropes.
Leaping into the air, she jumped into one of the ropes with both hind paws pressed against the stretchy cord. The entire gym hushed in awe as they watched the rabbit begin her infamous, fatality move. When the rope sprang back to its original position, she pushed out hard with her legs, doubling her momentum. Turning in mid-air like a cat, she aimed her hind paws directly at the giggling fox's head.
Moments before she impacted with the side of his orange head, she kicked out hard with her legs, "I am not, a cute, little, bunny." But her hind paws only struck air as she whizzed past the fox.
Nick was more than familiar with his partner's signature move and how to bait her with the 'C' word. So, when she bounced off the ropes that surrounded the ring, he was ready. He remained bent over clutching his sore gut, waiting for the exact moment to strike.
He could feel the oncoming breeze, as Judy's large paws rushed towards his unprotected head. In the blink of an eye, he leaned back barely enough to dodge out of the way of the terrible impact that nearly befell him. At the same time his head moved out of the way, his fist swung in to take its place. With a loud pop his glove collided with the rabbit's chest, causing a slight change in her direction.
The rabbit was not expecting the fox to dodge her attack, nor was she prepared for any kind of retaliation. Nick's light punch to her chest sent Judy spinning and crashing to the mat, where she skidded to a stop near the edge of the ring. As she lay there looking back at her fox, her muzzle was not filled with anger, but mirth instead.
A loud snort escaped her nose followed by peels of laughter. Pushing herself off the mat, she slipped and planted her muzzle into the squishy floor amongst a hail of snickers. Again she tried to climb back to her paws, but the laughter that filled her body prevented her from fully regaining her balance.
Like a drunken boxer, she stumbled across the mat towards the waiting fox, who was also struggling to control his own snickers. "I am not going to forget this, Wilde," she chortled, as she took a swing at the giggling fox.
Her punch flew wide and she completely missed the fox. Another swing followed the first and she nearly fell on the floor amidst the uncontrolled laughter, but the fox caught her in his arms. Between his own snickers, he asked the gray and blue ball of fluff, "Are you trying to hit me or something?"
With a lazy nod, she giggled and lightly punched her captor in the ribs several times. When the fox didn't respond to her gentle assault she stomped her paws trying to step on him, but he quickly moved out of the way.
The cheering from the crowd had ceased long ago and someone yelled at the couple, "We want to see a fight you two, not a clown circus."
Judy pushed back from the fox and tried to give him a serious glare but only ended up laughing even harder. Once again in her fighting stance, she jabbed at the fox, but he managed to catch her slow-moving fist with his glove. She swung with the other fist, missing his chest and spinning around until she had wrapped herself around his arm before falling back into him.
For a brief instant, she felt like she was back on the dance floor, wrapped in the strong arms of the fox she that was falling madly in love with. She tilted her head back, looking up into his deep green pools, and dreamt of him holding her there forever.
Sputtering, Judy rammed her elbow deep into the fox's gut, causing him to let go of her and bend over. Free from the red fox's clutches, she fell to the mat, dragging him along with her.
The couple fell to the floor together in a giggling, snickering pile of gray and orange, furry arms and legs. A snorting and sputtering fox was wrapped precariously around the roaring and laughing rabbit. One of his legs was bent and pinned under her hips, while her arm was pressed firmly to the mat by his shoulder. His tail was wrapped under her head while her hind paw was stuck in his muzzle.
"That is just disgusting," a rhino in the crowd declared before he stormed out of the room. His words were followed by a few nods and some "ewws."
Nick and Judy barely heard the crowd as they both continued to giggle and laugh in glee.
"That is probably enough of a workout for the day, Officer Hopps," Nick snickered while he lay bent over backward on top of the rabbit.
"I think you are right, Officer Wilde," Judy chuckled. She spit out bits of foxy tail fluff and tried to push herself off the floor, but the combined weight of fox and rabbit was too much for her smaller limbs and she fell back to the mat sputtering and snickering.
Eventually, the first wolf she had beaten and a reindeer climbed into the ring and helped the couple untangle themselves from the floor.
"We should probably call it a night, Carrots," the fox could barely say two words without chuckling in between.
The rabbit's only response was to collapse to the floor in a roar of wild laughter while she slapped the mat with her puffy, boxing glove.
The apartment was dark, as two, small mammals stumbled through the door. It was long past midnight and the normally busy streets outside were quiet as a church mouse. A single, dim light burned from the kitchen stove, displaying the late hour, while barely illuminating the space.
A small, uniformed rabbit tossed a set of keys on the nearby counter and slipped off her paw straps, letting them lie where they fell. She grabbed the pawsome fox next to her once the door was shut and the lock had clicked. Planting her lips on the end of his muzzle, she quickly loosened his tie.
Between dangerous kisses, the two smallest police officers quickly undressed each other, as they glided across the open kitchen towards the bedroom. Pants, shirts, and body armor lay where they fell, as the amorous couple passed, in a seductive dance to soft music only they could hear.
The bedroom door was closed with a loud bang, followed by several giggles. In seconds, the entire apartment was filled with the sounds of a young couple, seriously testing the springs on their mattress.
[A/N] In the first corner we have small, cute and dangerous, and in the other corner tall, red and sly.
The clues seem to be coming together now, but can our dynamic duo figure out what it going on before it's too late? And it also seems like they are getting a little carried away with their budding relationship.
Find out what happens next when chapter 15 of Loves Bond comes out in three weeks.
PS: Thanks for all the awesome comments from the last chapter. I love reading each one. It was great seeing how many people caught the camel reference in the first scene. Can you spot all the movie and music references in this chapter?
For anyone who is worried about the length of this story, I have 30 chapters planned for part 2 and we are only on chapter 14. I am also planning a part three to make it a trilogy, so hold on, it's going to be a long ride.