The Good Life

AN: This story just hit over 5k views! Pretty decent for a crossover, especially one with a fandom that's so new. Thanks to all my readers for the support!

Also, some quick calculations say this story has three, four, maybe five chapters left. In any case, it's getting pretty close to the end. Enjoy it while it lasts, I guess.

A quick heads up, too: I'll be going on a trip and won't be able to post the next chapter when it would usually come out, so sorry to say this, but the next chapter will be a month before it releases.

Disclaimer: I do not own Zootopia or the Bad Guys.

Chapter Sixteen:

"So..." Across from him and Diane, Bogo sat with his hands clasped on the table. They were still in the interrogation room—where else would they be—but the police chief seemed to be in a slightly better mood. It seemed he recognized that with Diane's arrival, they were finally getting somewhere. "Am I to understand that you're ready to talk now?"

Mason opened his mouth to make a quip about how he'd been talking; he'd just not been saying what he wanted to hear. At Diane's glare, however, he wisely kept quiet. "That's right," she told the chief. "He's ready to tell you everything you want to know. But—"

"But you want a deal in return," he finished for the fox. When Diane nodded, Bogo sat back and studied them for a moment. "Depends on what you have in mind...and how useful the information is."

A small nod from Diane was enough prompting for him to name the terms they'd agreed upon. "I can tell you where they hang out and who runs the entire show. I can tell you their rules and what kind of heat they're packing." He shrugged. "Pretty much everything, really, save for everyone's names. It's a small operation, but I still doubt I met everyone involved."

Bogo hummed approvingly, though he sat back up to ask the million dollar question. "And in return?"

"I stay out of prison," Mason immediately responded. "Put me on probation, make me do community service, kick me out of the city, whatever. Just make sure I avoid prison. And I want my car back," he added quickly. Then, he glanced at Diane with a small smile. "My girlfriend got it for me."

Bogo hummed again, this time in thought, as he leaned back again, crossing his arms as he studied them intently. "Over the past few days, I watched all the traffic cam and dashcam footage of both the race and the following chase. You're quite skilled behind the wheel of that car, Mr. Wolf."

Diane shifted a bit, though when he glanced at her, her expression was completely neutral. Mason himself also felt a bit uncomfortable, but not because of the alias he spent half of his life going by. No, from the sound of it, the chief seemed against giving him back his car. "Thank you?" The uncertainty in his voice was plain as day.

The snort Bogo made sounded amused, but his expression was anything but. "Reckless driving doesn't even begin to cover the stunts you pulled, especially with that jump off the freeway." Mason gave a few awkward chuckles before looking away. Yeah, that stunt probably wasn't helping his case right now. "However..." A little spark of hope relit in his eyes as he looked back at the police chief. "I could tell you made conscious effort to not endanger people needlessly. I could tell you made conscious effort to not endanger people needlessly. You didn't drive on the sidewalks or through buildings or hit cars out of the way, which is more than I can say for some of the street racers we've busted."

"Is that a 'yes' or 'no', Chief?" Diane asked impatiently.

"That's me thinking about it, Governor Foxington," he replied curtly. After a brief moment, he stood. "Stay here while I make a phone call." With that, he left the room, the door shutting surprisingly quietly behind him.

Both of them watched the door for a few seconds before Diane looked at him. "Well, that's not a 'no'." He snorted at her attempt to lighten the mood, mostly because it succeeded. "He's probably calling the mayor."

That was an option, but there was one thing that bugged him about that possibility. "Why would he need the mayor's approval to do his job? Maybe he's calling the impound lot or something, see if they're done snooping around in my car."

"True," she conceded. Other than that simple remark, however, she didn't say anything, and the two remained quiet until the chief returned, which took about ten minutes.

Once Bogo came back in, he sat down and then proceeded to give them an update. "Your car has been swept thoroughly, and since there was nothing of note to be found, you'll be free to collect it." Mason was relieved, both because Bogo agreed to give it back and because they'd not found his gun, which only proved to make his theory of Snake taking it before it was impounded more plausible. "However..." At the chief's stern look, his smile fell slightly. "I've decided to give you one month of mandatory community service, of which I already have a job for you, and one year of probation. You'll not be allowed more than ten miles from your apartment without special permission from us and if we track you driving over the speed limit one time, we'll be taking your car until your probationary period is over."

"It's usually three strikes, isn't it?" he asked.

Bogo just snorted, though his glare hardened. "This isn't baseball, Wolf." Mason actually found himself chuckling at the joke. "Any more questions?"

"I've got one," Diane interrupted. Once the chief nodded to give her permission to speak, she did. "What community service position did you have in mind?"

"Something he'll be quite comfortable with, I assure you. One of our mechanics had shoulder surgery, and he'll be out for another six weeks. The rest seem to be falling behind. You'll work Monday through Saturday as if it's a regular work day. We'll provide you meals, and since we'll be keeping you from an actual, paying job, any bills you have will be taken care of, as well." That seemed awfully generous, but he wasn't going to complain about taxpayers' money paying his cost of living. It meant he wouldn't have to rely solely on Diane supporting him.

That just left one question. "So who's going to be my parole officer?"

"Wilde and Wolford will take turns keeping tabs on you since I have the feeling you wouldn't respect anyone else." That wasn't entirely true, though it wasn't entirely false, either. He'd respect whatever officer he had watching over him, but Bogo was right to assume those two would make him keep on his best behavior.

Especially Wilde. As much as he hated the fact he'd have to deal with that fox for an entire year—he knew Nick would use any excuse to make his life miserable—it also gave him the chance to maybe fix their old friendship. And being able to spend any time with Alex was a good thing in his books.

All in all, it sounded like an acceptable arrangement. Being a mechanic for the police wasn't exactly what he'd had in mind for community service, but at least he knew he could do it. "Sounds good."

Bogo smiled sinisterly as he clasped his hands on the table again. "Splendid. Now...shall we return to your part of the bargain?"

Mason and Diane shared a look, the vixen giving him a nod. With that, he began his tale. "The guy running the street scene is a lion called Leo King, calls himself the 'Street King'." He snorted. "Has a throne and everything."

"Leo King?" Bogo repeated. If Mason didn't know any better, he'd say the buffalo sounded surprised. "You're certain?"

"Hundred percent," he confirmed. Bogo frowned heavily but motioned for him to continue. "They gather in an old ZRS warehouse on the old west docks just north of the abandoned part of town. Can't really miss it."

At this point, Bogo interjected with a question. "How many were there?"

"Two dozen at most, though not everyone shows up there every night. There could be more involved I don't know about. Pretty much all of them have guns, too." He did, too, but Bogo didn't need to know that, especially since he'd never found it in his car.

The chief scowled and rubbed his temples as if he had a headache. "Of course they do..." he mumbled. "Just handguns or did they have anything worse?"

"Mostly pistols," he confirmed. "Though I think I saw one guy with a shotgun." As Bogo groaned now that he knew the firepower he was up against, Mason decided to make his day even worse. "And their biggest rule is that no one talks to the police if they're arrested. Anyone who does is killed."

Bogo sighed as he looked at him. "And do you think that's a credible threat?"

"I you're asking, 'Will they?', they answer is 'yes'. If you're asking, 'Can they?', the answer is also 'yes'. One of the racers, Joe Barker, is the receptionist at the building I live in, which means they all know where I live and who I live with." If Joe was arrested, they would all know he talked, and if the cops didn't arrest every single one of the street racers, anybody that they didn't arrest would still know where he lived. It really was a lose-lose situation.

"You're asking for witness protection," Bogo observed, to which both he and Diane nodded.

"You're going to need someone's testimony for anyone who doesn't die in a firefight," Diane pointed out, making the chief sigh in mild annoyance. The fact he was nodding meant he agreed with them, though.

"I'll see what I can arrange," the chief promised. Before he could say anything else, though, there was a knock on the door. "What!?"

The door cracked open, and a familiar wolf poked his head through. "I've been watching the whole thing. He can come stay with me. I've got enough room for Hopps and Wilde, too, if you think more officers are needed."

Bogo nodded, and then Alex pulled his head back out of the door as he shut it. "There you go." The chief stood again. "You've give us plenty to go on. And since I'm in a good mood, I'll give you until next Monday before you need to report back for your first day of service. Wolford!"

Mason jumped a bit at suddenly hearing his name being shouted, but it was directed at him as he soon found out. Alex opened the door again. "Yes, Chief?"

"Finish up here," he directed his subordinate. With that order give, the police chief left the room and headed off to do his own thing.

Alex shut the door and waited a few moments, his ears up to listen to the chief's departing footsteps. After a few seconds, he turned to the two of them and smiled. "So this is your cousin, huh?" Diane asked him as she stood and shook the officer's hand.

Mason nodded, but it was Alex who spoke up. "Alex Joshua Wolford." She nodded at his introduction, and once the handshaking was over, he looked Diane up and down. Not only did the fox appear genuinely uneasy with the close scrutiny, but Mason also didn't like his cousin ogling his girlfriend. "Not that I'm really against it, but...why a fox?"

Mason wasn't too offended by the question, having lived in Zootopia before. He knew what the public perception of interspecies relationships were. At least, he had when he lived here. If anything had changed, better or worse, since then, he didn't know.

Diane, however, was clearly less understanding. "I beg your pardon? What does my species have to do with anything?" While Diane crossed her arms and glared at Alex, his cousin simply stared at Diane in genuine surprise.

Seeing as how Diane was waiting for Alex's response, and Alex was too flabbergasted by her ignorance in this particular topic to speak, he decided to spare both of them. "Interspecies relationships aren't exactly well looked-upon in Zootopia, Diane. And, Alex? People in California couldn't care less who you date, so that's kind of an offensive question for her."

"I see..."

"Oh, geez, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

Those were Diane and Alex's respective responses now that they understood the situation a bit better.

"And to answer your question..." Mason glanced over at Diane with a fond smile. "It's because I love her."

That was enough for the fox to forget her anger at Alex, and she looked over at him with an equally affectionate smile. "Flatterer." It was hard to spot, but Mason could see the slightly darker crimson of her cheeks through her fur. But just as quickly, she went back to business mode as she addressed Alex again. "So what all do we need to do?"

Quite a bit, as it turned out. Not even counting the mess of paperwork they had to go through, Wolf had to get fitted with his new anklet, Alex had to fill Hopps and Wilde in, and those two had to make arrangements and change whatever plans they had. Then, because it was deemed a risk to go back to his apartment to pack up his things, they had to go shopping to get him some new clothes and toiletries. Unfortunately for him, new clothes meant t-shirts and jeans. There simply wasn't enough time to go suit shopping, and he wasn't going to make Alex pay for them, anyway.

Since Hopps and Wilde went off to Alex's house in a police cruiser while the rest went shopping, the three of them could all fit in Mason's car, which they had to collect from the impound around back. "You've still not heard anything from Snake?" he asked Diane as the three piled into his car. Mason was driving, obviously, and Alex had been kind enough to let Diane take the passenger seat while he squeezed into the back. While he and Diane had been sorting out the paperwork, he'd gone to the locker room and changed back into his regular clothes to better blend in.

Diane shook her head, and Mason felt his worry increase. "Friend of yours?" Alex wondered, to which Diane nodded. "Should we wait here for him?"

"Yeah, maybe. I—" A thump from the glove box was enough for him to cut himself off. A second thump was enough for the others to look at it curiously, and a third was enough for Wolf to reach over and open it.

Three guesses who fell out.

Snake gulped in several deep breaths. "I couldn't breathe in there!" Only then did he seem to realize where he was, glancing at himself and then the fox. "Sorry, Diane." He slithered into the back and the fox snickered in amusement as both wolves watched the reptile in stunned silence.

"How long have you been in there?" Mason asked.

"I don't know," Snake 'shrugged'. "Five, ten minutes?"

"And how did you sneak into Police Impound?" Alex wondered, expression serious.

Snake seemed to only now realize there was a second wolf in the car and stared at Alex for a solid ten seconds before, "Who the hell are you?"

Alex blinked, genuinely surprised, before glancing at his cousin. "Yeah...I never really talked about you," Mason admitted a bit guiltily. But, seeing as how there were introductions to do, he quickly moved past that guilt. "Snake, this is Alex. He's my cousin. Alex, this is Snake. He's my best friend." Immediately after saying that, he winced a bit, knowing he'd have to tell the serpent the truth about who he really was. Whether or not he had to tell the whole truth or not, he wasn't sure, but the one thing he did know was that Snake was not going to be happy.

"Cousin!?" The genuine surprise in Snake's voice and expression almost hurt to hear. Then, he remembered the little deal he and Snake made when they first started working together. Neither of them had wanted to talk about their pasts, so they decided that neither would pry. Their pasts didn't define their friendship in the present. "Woah...didn't expect that. Why'd you never talk about him, Wolf?"

The smile he gave the reptile was slightly forced. Hearing that name was just another reminder of how much he needed to catch his friend up on. Diane glanced at him with mild concern, and Alex just huffed. "Because we made a deal, remember?"

Recognition dawned in Snake's eyes. "Ah...it's one of those things..."

"What deal?" Mason just waved away Alex's question as he started the car and pulled out of the impound lot under the scrutiny of a few workers and about a dozen security cameras. Now that everyone was here, they could finally go and get some stuff done.

Hopefully, their little shopping trip wouldn't take too long, and then they could head to Alex's house. Mason really needed to fill Snake in on some things, and he needed to know what he did to his gun.

He wasn't dumb enough to swallow it...right?

AN: Right? So Wolf, who goes by Mason now, and Diane have gotten the deal with police all set up. I think the terms were pretty fair, but what do you all think? Next chapter, when it finally comes out, will have Snake's reaction to learning the truth about his buddy. That could only go well...

Until Next Time

AdmiralCole22