A/N: One of Nick's worst fears comes true, and he finds himself with his back against the wall.
Things have been pretty rough for me. My Aunt whom I love dearly, who raised me from birth, got hit by a stroke that left her unable to eat, drink, or even swallow. Between looking after her, the rest of the family, and juggling work at the same time, I haven't had too much time to write. Thankfully, she's finally making considerable progress in her recovery. Considering how close we came to losing her, I am just grateful that she's still with us.
This chapter is dedicated to her. To my dear Aunt T, I love you always.
Thanks to GhostWolf88, Indo Fans, aomagrat, Bloodfox22, Wolfx1120, .2015, side-fish, BeecroftA, Blkdragon7, Guest, Declanflannery, demongurl111, InTheLionsDenOnDA, J Shute, Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps, BoltDMC, RassyEyefur, and Wika0304 for reviewing!
Also, a special thanks to BeecroftA for editing this chapter.
Chapter 23: A Cornered Heart
"I-it hurts…someone please help…!"
Nick folded his arms, looking at the stoat on the training floor. She was kneeling on the ground with a bunch of other small mammals who were holding their paws above their heads. Stella was her name if he remembered correctly. The same one that pulled a fast one on him and Robbie during their first scenario training session.
C'mon, Flatfoot. Show them what you can do.
It was scenario training once again, but this time, it wasn't just training. It was a graded test, sort of like a late midterm. Also, Robbie wasn't paired up with Nick this time. The bunny was paired up with the only tiger from their bunk, Kevin Hobbs.
Said tiger was standing a short distance away, his dart gun trained on a wolf, who was standing with his paws raised.
"On the ground, now! Arms to the side!" Hobbs yelled.
The wolf complied, lying prone onto the ground and extending his arms fully to his sides. Robbie stepped forward, training his dart gun on the wolf as well.
"I've got him! You can go ahead, Hobbs!" Robbie called out.
"Got it. I'm moving in to make the arrest," Hobbs replied, loud enough that the rest of the recruits watching could hear. But more importantly, loud enough that the instructor grading them could hear.
Said instructor was standing off to the side of the training floor, holding a small clipboard in his disproportionately large brown bear paws. From Nick's view, it looked like Instructor Shake was checking off some items on his list and taking some notes. Likely whether the officers-in-training were following the proper protocols.
Hobbs holstered his dart gun before moving in to cuff the wolf. He grabbed the wolf's left wrist and elbow, swiftly applying the first handcuff before placing a knee on the wolf's back, making sure he couldn't try making a run for it.
"The other arm." Hobbs motioned to him. The wolf complied, placing his remaining free arm behind him. Hobbs was about to apply the second cuff, but hesitated for a second, seeming to think about which way the suspect's paws were supposed to be facing. After a moment of deliberation, he applied it with the wolf's paws facing outwards. He glanced over at Robbie, who gave him an affirmatory nod.
"Target restrained!" Hobbs yelled, more confidently now.
"Alright, I'm going to check on the hostages." Robbie nodded, sliding his dart gun back into its holster. He began approaching the stoat cautiously.
He probably remembers what happened last time all too well…Nick thought.
"We need to get you out of here, ma'am. Are you hurt? Can you walk?" Robbie asked.
"My leg hurts, but yes, I think I can walk. Could you help me up?"
"Of course. Here, put your arm around me."
Robbie helped the stoat up, bringing her right arm over his shoulder. The bunny began to walk with her away from the middle of the training floor. To anyone watching, it all seemed to be going well, but in the corner of his eye, Nick saw the stoat's free arm slowly inch towards Robbie's belt. The fox immediately leaned forward in his seat, gripping his knees with his paws. He knew that he—and the other recruits watching—wasn't allowed to say or signal anything to the mammals being tested.
Look down, Flatfoot! Nick urged.
Thankfully, as if Robbie had heard him, he glanced downwards the moment that the stoat's paw touched the handle of the gun. Robbie immediately grabbed her wrist and gripped it tightly.
"What do you think you're doing?!"
"Ooh, quick reflexes, bunny boy, I like that." Stella grinned. Her arm was still wrapped around his neck, which seemed to be exactly what she had wanted. She tightened her grip around his neck in a headlock and pushed Robbie forcefully down towards the ground. With little time to react, the bunny stuck his front paws out to stop himself from hitting the ground face-first. He twisted his body and quickly spun around, using his legs to deliver a strong kick to push her away. She was slippery though—not to mention fast—so she was able to block the kick before it struck her abdomen. Still, it was good enough to get her to release the grip she had around his neck.
Robbie stumbled to his feet, shaking his head. Nick's brow furrowed, and he crossed his arms.
"C'mon, bud. You got this." He whispered, soft enough that no one else could hear.
Robbie reached for his dart gun, but Stella didn't give him a chance. She closed the gap in a couple of seconds, forcing Robbie to quickly raise his paws to defend himself. The stoat threw a flurry of punches, hooks, and uppercuts—not hard enough to hurt, but fast enough to be an actual threat. Robbie was barely able to keep up with her pace, but thankfully, he was blocking her blows with his forearms and elbows well, just like during the practice sessions. He kept shuffling backwards, trying to keep his footing firmly on the ground.
With a forceful shove, Robbie managed to push Stella a few feet away. He took the chance to pull out his dart gun, but as he raised it to aim at the stoat, she had closed the gap once again, grabbing the underside of the gun before Robbie could even squeeze the trigger. The bunny grunted, trying his hardest to point the barrel of the gun at her. But she wasn't having it. In a swift motion, Stella twisted the gun out of Robbie's paws, making the bunny yelp audibly. But before she could wrestle it away from him, he managed to raise his leg to kick the gun out of her paws. The dart gun flew through the air and clattered to the side of the training hall, far enough away that neither of them could reach it.
"Heh, still too slow! You think you can beat me like this?" Stella smirked, breaking character for a moment before rushing at him again with a right hook. They were predictable swings, but Robbie seemed to be struggling this time round. Notably, he seemed to be flinching every time he blocked a punch with his left arm.
No, don't tell me…Nick thought.
All of a sudden, Stella feinted a punch, before she swept her leg across the floor, causing him to stumble and fall backwards. Once again, Robbie's paws shot out to take the impact of the fall. This time, he used the falling momentum to roll himself back up to his feet, just in time to block another punch. He grabbed her fist with both paws this time, gripping them tightly.
"N-no, I can't." Robbie replied between pants.
There was a moment of confusion from Stella, and then she yelped as Robbie yanked her straight towards him. The unexpected lurch pulled her straight off her feet. Robbie fell onto his back, tucking in his legs quickly before delivering a powerful push straight into her stomach, launching her right behind him in a perfect judo move. She landed on all fours, but before she could move, a large paw slammed down on her, pinning her to the ground. She yelped, looking up to see that the paw belonged to Hobbs—who was still kneeling on the apprehended wolf.
"…but he can." Robbie finished, in between pants.
Stella's eyes widened in realisation. "So you purposely led me towards your partner, knowing that you couldn't take me on yourself, huh?"
Robbie fell to his knees with a large sigh of relief. He nodded sheepishly, gently rubbing his left wrist with his right paw.
"Very resourceful." The stoat smiled. "Alright, I give. We're done here." She motioned towards Instructor Shake, who nodded in response.
"Alright, that's it for today. The full debriefing for this graded practical will be tomorrow morning, after breakfast. But to give a quick summary, other than some mistakes, this was much better than last time. Perform like this on the final training exam, and you'll all pass just fine." Shake then turned to Robbie and Hobbs. "Go and collect your equipment, you two. Everyone else, get down onto the training floor for equipment check! This is the last one before dinner. Move it!"
There were some audible groans from the crowd, but everyone else got to their feet as the remaining 'hostages' on the training floor scattered, not wanting to be in the way of the much larger recruits. Said recruits sprinted down the stairs, beginning to line up in rows of three as they had become so accustomed to doing.
Nick stood up, exhaling gently. It was a close scare, but it seemed that Robbie had pulled through despite the obvious pain in his wrist. He made a mental note to check on that with the bunny later over dinner. He strolled down the stairs—though he tried to make it look like he was running—and headed straight to the end of the line where Robbie and Hobbs were standing. As he did, he gave a quick pat over each of the pouches on his belt.
Yup, looks like everything's here—
"Oh god."
The sudden exclamation cut Nick's thoughts off. He turned to his left.
"Hobbs?"
"Oh my god oh my god oh my god." The tiger mumbled repeatedly, rummaging through his pouches over and over again. He looked like he'd just seen a ghost.
"What's wrong?" Robbie asked.
"I can't find it. It's not here…!" he croaked. Now that he was holding one of the pouches on his belt open, Nick could see what exactly was missing. One of the compartments that held the practice training darts—which were identical to the real thing, other than the tips being completely shaved off—was completely empty. Normally there would have been five darts inside.
"Where are they?" Nick whispered back, taking a step closer.
"I don't know! The clasp came undone! It was good when I checked it after lunch today but…oh my god I'm screwed."
Normally, Nick would've been telling him to relax, but he knew what losing the darts meant. The academy had been issuing special police training gear for their lessons recently. To get the recruits familiar with using them, and to see whether the recruits could look after them properly. They weren't the real deal, but they were still licensed training models. And more importantly, they were controlled items. The instructors had made it very clear—multiple times—that misplacing or losing a controlled item would mean having the precious weekend burned away. At minimum.
"Can you go and find it now? Just tell Shake that you have a bathroom emergency or something."
Hobbs shook his head.
"I can't! The bunks are too far away, and I don't even know if I left my stuff there or not. Dammit, Nick. I can't afford to be confined this weekend! I promised…"
Nick sighed. "…to bring your girlfriend out to a fancy restaurant, right?"
Hobbs did a double take. "Y-yes. How did you…?"
"Never mind." Nick waved it away and leaned forward to look down the line. Instructor Shake was already starting to walk down the line from the other end, pointing at each recruit and shouting 'Clear!' after looking through their set of items.
There isn't much time…Nick thought. The inspection would only take a couple of minutes, at most. The gears in his head began turning.
"Hobbs, swap places with me." Nick shuffled over, motioning for the tiger to move. Hobbs complied, though he still looked confused. The tiger was now at the end of the line, with Robbie in between both of them.
"What are you doing?" Hobbs whispered.
"Just trust us." Nick whispered back, before glancing to his right. "Flatfoot, I need your help."
The bunny nodded.
"I got it. What do you want me to do?"
Nick started emptying his pouches onto the floor. "No time to explain. I'll distract Shake. Wait for my signal, then help Hobbs out."
Robbie was about to open his mouth to ask, but he held it as Shake's shadow approached, looming over Nick. Robbie quickly started emptying his own equipment onto the floor, as the brown bear stood in front of Nick.
"You're slow, Wilde." Shake tapped his foot on the ground.
"Sorry, sorry, I kinda got lost on the way here." Nick grinned, standing up straight. "Everything in order, sir?"
Shake didn't even flinch, although he did look for a moment like he wanted to make a snarky response.
"You're clear," he sighed, moving on to Robbie.
Alright, here we go…Nick took a deep breath. As Shake's eyes began scanning through Robbie's equipment, Nick picked his belt up and held it up around his waist. He didn't fasten it on just yet, though.
Gotta time this right…
Nick waited, holding his breath until Shake nodded at Robbie and said: "You're clear too."
That was the cue. He made a show of trying to tighten it, jumping about on one foot He then 'accidentally' let go of one end, resulting in the belt whipping around his waist and slapping Shake right on his right leg. The bear yelped, stumbling to the side before regaining his balance. He glared down at Nick, who gave him a sheepish grin.
"Wilde! What in blazes do you think you're doing?"
"Sorry, sir. I think I slipped trying to put on my belt."
"On what?!"
"Uh…the floor?"
The other recruits to the left were all looking over now. Some of them were already rolling their eyes.
"Oh yes, I'm sure you did. I think you owe the floor an apology. You know what comes now, don't you?"
"Uhh, I wouldn't suppose it would be something like 'sorry sir it won't happen again'?" Nick held a paw up.
"It would. But I think a little more than that is required." Shake nodded. He then pointed straight at the ground.
"…yeah, I thought so." Nick mumbled. He quickly got onto all fours. "Permission to carry on, sir!"
"Proceed! And apologise to the floor for slipping on it, Wilde!" Shake crossed his arms.
"I'm sorry for slipping on you, floor! One…two…three…"
The rest of the recruits—bar Robbie and Hobbs—were erupting in laughter now. Nick forced a grin; these kinds of punishments tended to go better when he played along. But more importantly, he had to keep Shake's attention on him. He couldn't glance over at Robbie with his face so close to the floor, but he hoped the bunny got the hint.
"…Nineteen, twenty! Permission to recover, sir!" Nick gasped. Despite how much practice he had with push-ups due to being punished—which was a lot—he still hated doing them.
"Get up, Wilde. And be more careful next time. I swear, it's like you want to get punished…" Shake sighed, while the rest of the recruits went back to whispering among themselves.
Nick got to his feet, holding his breath as Shake resumed the inspection, going over to Hobbs. Nick glanced over at Robbie. The bunny had already donned his belt, and all his pouches were shut. He gave Nick a brief nod. Nick's eyes travelled down to the ground in front of Hobbs, and to the fox's relief, there were five training darts sitting neatly right next to his open pouch. Robbie's own darts, quietly moved there by the rabbit while Shake was distracted.
"Clear! Alright, proceed to return your equipment, and then you're free to go for dinner. I want to see everyone seated by nine sharp tomorrow morning, understood?"
"Yes sir!"
"Dismissed!" Shake yelled, marching straight out of the training shed. The rest of the recruits quickly followed, heading straight towards the canteen. Only Nick, Robbie, and Hobbs remained. When it was clear that there wasn't anyone else in earshot, Hobbs ran up to them, grabbing both their paws and shaking them vigorously.
"Oh my god, Nick, Robbie, you two saved me. Thank you so much."
"Eh, it was nothing." Nick replied, letting the tiger have his way with his arm. He knew he was shrugging it off as though it wasn't a big deal, but internally he was already doing fist pumps in the air while soaking in the applause from the imaginary crowd as he collected his Oxcar award.
"It's the least we could do for you." Robbie said with a small smile. "I do need my darts back, though…"
"Oh, of course. Here." Hobbs pulled out all five darts and handed them over to Robbie. "You two are great; I really owe you one. I can't believe you came up with a plan so quickly."
"It only worked because these training darts are the same size." Nick shrugged. "If it had been any other equipment that you lost, this wouldn't have been able to work at all."
"Whatever it is, I still owe you one. Both of you. There's not much to get here, but can I at least get you a drink from the vending machine later?"
"Sure, I wouldn't mind one. It'll help to wash down whatever garbage they're serving for dinner." Nick stuck out his tongue.
"Yeah, it's too bad the food here stinks. What I wouldn't give to have some real food. Like a seafood pizza. Boy I wish I had some of that right now." Hobbs laughed.
"Pizza? Gee, now you're making me crave some, too."
"I sometimes dream that Friedkin would let us order some food in for a change. Can you imagine that?"
Robbie chuckled, casting a glance at Nick. He smirked in response.
"Oh yeah, I can imagine."
As the sun began to set over the academy grounds, the lights around the academy grounds flickered on. The recruits who weren't still in the canteen were already relaxing in their bunks or doing some revision in the campus library. The front gate was shut and locked, with only a singular sentry standing guard—or more accurately, falling asleep on the job. Other than him, the only other mammals hanging around were a fox and bunny sitting outside a locked storage room on the second floor of the empty building nearby.
"Gotta thank Hobbs for the suggestion today." Nick commented, chewing on a slice of pizza. "I totally forgot pizza was a thing. Haven't had it in ages."
"We had it in the canteen three days ago." Robbie deadpanned.
"That one was so bland, I wouldn't even count that one as pizza. This one actually has chewable crust at least."
"Sure, Nick…" Robbie chuckled, taking a sip from his soda can. "By the way, can I ask you something?"
"Hmm?"
"What do you think of Hobbs?"
"Hobbs?" Nick raised an eyebrow. "Well, he smiles a lot. A little ditzy, but that makes him just dumb enough to not be unpleasant to be around. Why do you ask?"
"I was wondering if we should have invited him for dinner. I mean, this dinner." Robbie held the illegal pizza slice in front of his face. "He seemed like a nice enough guy. And he seems trustworthy enough."
"That's where you're wrong, Flatfoot. Take it from me, he isn't anywhere near the level that I would trust them with a secret like this."
"Why not?" Robbie retorted. "He doesn't laugh at us. I mean, he does, but not really like the others, you know? And he likes to give me a thumbs up whenever I walk by."
"I wouldn't put too much faith in others just based on arbitrary thumbs-ups. Lots of outwardly nice people turn out to be horrible once you dig a little deeper. It just takes a little push."
"But what about trying to get along with the rest of our bunkmates?" Robbie finished off his last slice, disposing the empty paper plate into the bag it came in.
"There's a difference between getting along with them and sharing a potentially expulsion-worthy secret with them. I'm surprised you even brought it up. I would have thought you of all people would have been terrified to even think of letting someone else know about this."
"I know, but…as much as I like having a real meal with you like this, I just feel a little bad that we can't share this with anyone else. I mean, the rest of our bunkmates complain about the food in the canteen all the time. I can even hear their stomachs growling when we sleep at night. It would be a way for us to get on their good side, right?"
Nick let out a slightly exasperated sigh. "They're more likely to take it as a perfect opportunity to get rid of us, if not just me. Trust me, Flatfoot. I've seen what begrudging acceptance looks like, and this is exactly how it is. Give them the chance to throw us under the bus, and they'll lap it up in a heartbeat. It's just how the world works."
"If that's so, then why did you help Hobbs just now? You even got yourself punished just to get him off the hook."
"I…he just had a good puppy-dog face, that's all. And it's not like doing twenty push-ups was particularly difficult. But look, even if we did tell Hobbs, I wouldn't call him the sharpest tool in the shed. I doubt he could keep this a secret from the rest of the bunk for longer than a day." Nick stood up now, wiping his muzzle clean with a napkin.
"I guess…anyway, thanks for dinner."
The two headed down to the main garbage area, pushing their trash bags to the bottom of the main trash bin to make sure that any evidence of non-sanctioned munchies were hidden under the rest of the comparatively giant piles of trash. With that, they made the long trek back to their bunk. It was an uneventful walk for the most part. As they stepped through the courtyard that they had to cross to reach their bunk, Robbie stopped in his tracks, reaching into his pocket.
"Oh right. Here's my share for dinner today." He pulled out his wallet, fishing out several bills and holding them out for Nick.
Nick looked at the bunny's outstretched paw for a moment, before reaching over and grabbing his wrist gently. Robbie let out a surprised yelp, letting go of the bills in his paw.
"W-what are you doing?"
"It hurts again, doesn't it?" Nick asked with a frown, before letting go. "You looked like you were struggling in the test earlier."
Robbie sighed, reaching down to pick up the fallen bills before they blew away in the wind.
"Yeah, I think I made it worse during the scuffle with Stella; I panicked when she grabbed my gun. I held on when I should have just let go, and she twisted my wrist. And before you say anything, yes, I'm going to see the doc about it tomorrow. I just hope that this isn't going to affect the other tests next week…" he handed the bills to Nick once more.
"Well, at least you're not being stubborn about it now. That's good at least." Nick took the bills from him as they resumed their walk towards the stairs.
"To be honest with you, I don't know what would happen if…" Robbie's voice trailed off as his ears suddenly perked up, twitching in the direction of the bunk.
"What is it?"
"I hear a lot of shouting going on in our bunk. It sounds like Frank." Robbie replied with a frown.
"Frank? He's not even from our bunk. What's he doing in our room?"
Robbie shook his head. "I don't know, but he sounds angry."
A few seconds later, the shouting became audible enough for Nick to hear it too. It also sounded like there was a lot of furniture being dragged around.
The two exchanged glances, before both jogging back towards their bunk. As they sprinted up the stairs and up to the front door, Nick could see several of their bunkmates scrambling around the room, turning pillowcases and bedsheets inside out, looking underneath their mattresses, but mostly shaking their heads and shrugging.
Nick stepped into the room, with Robbie close behind. There were six other mammals currently in the room: a leopard named Lenny, a lynx named Hames, two grey wolves named Blake and Asher, a black bear named Lothar, and of course, Frank the hippo, who also happened to be the largest one in the room. The only bunkmate that wasn't in the room was Hobbs.
Frank Strongjaws. From bunk two next door. He's never even stepped foot in here before. So what gives?
"Hey, what's all the commotion about?" Nick called out.
Some of the mammals closest to the front of the bunk turned to see him. Frank immediately shoved his way past the others and stormed over with a large scowl on his face.
"You! It was you, wasn't it?"
"If you're talking about who won 'most handsome fox' three years running, then yes, that was me," Nick replied with a grin.
"Don't play games with me, Wilde! I know you took it! Now hand it over!"
Nick's grin vanished.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, Frank. And keep it down, would you? You're going to give me hearing damage."
"Still trying to play dumb? You see this?" Frank held up a small, empty red box.
"Yes, it's an empty box."
"This was where I kept my engagement ring, the one I was going to propose to my girlfriend with. It went missing earlier today."
"And? What does that have to do with me?" Nick frowned. He felt the fur on his arm instinctively stand on end.
"I know the ring was in there when I got up this morning, and I also know you were the only one who wasn't in the cafeteria at breakfast time," Frank glared, "You weren't in your usual spot with bunny boy, I noticed. So if you weren't filching around in my room, then where were you?"
Nick let out a slow but sharp exhale. The reason he hadn't been at breakfast was that Kong had given him a pre-wrapped egg sandwich the night before, which he had opted to eat in bed. He glanced around the room. All the other faces stared back at him. He knew those looks all too well. And what followed was an all too familiar sinking feeling in his gut.
"If you must know, I was catching up on my beauty sleep," Nick retorted, "And in case you forgot, your fist is bigger than my face." Nick retorted. "If a ring that size did go missing, there aren't many places I could hide it. Here, you can see for yourself." He stormed over to his locker and quickly punched in the combination to the lock, yanking the door open for the rest of the room to see. He pulled out the folded clothes and tossed them onto his bed, turning them inside out to show that there wasn't anything hidden in them. He then pulled out his textbooks, stationery, and other knick-knacks he had and threw them on the pile, presenting the room with the sight of his now-empty locker with an aggressive flourish.
"Satisfied?" Nick glared.
"That doesn't prove anything." Frank grunted.
"How so? As far as I remember, to accuse someone of stealing something, you need a little thing called proof. You might know that if you paid more attention in class."
Frank gave an angry snort. "Obviously you wouldn't keep it in your locker. You might be a thief, but you're not stupid. And you're obviously up to something—you think I haven't noticed you and Robbie conveniently disappearing every other day after dinner? Where do you go, huh?"
"First of all, I don't go snooping into how many other cows you go sleeping with behind your girlfriend's back, so where I choose to go in the evenings is none of your business. Secondly—"
"You wanna say that again, Wilde?" Frank interjected, taking a step forward.
"Would you like it in writing?" Nick fired back.
"Acting all defensive all of a sudden, eh? And trying to change the subject. He's obviously hiding it!" Frank roared. He took two more steps closer, his heavy feet causing the ground to shake with every step he took towards Nick.
No…this can't be happening. Not again.
This situation was far from new to Nick, especially in his younger days. He remembered never backing down from a fight whenever anyone accused him of something he didn't do. But as he grew older and started hustling mammals far bigger and more dangerous than he was, he learned—the hard way—that it was always better to deflect, or to get away as fast as possible. There was no point taking a fight he would most likely not emerge from unscathed.
Nick took a step back. His heel struck the edge of his metal locker, sending a painful reminder to him that there wasn't any running this time. He couldn't. If he did, everyone would have thought he would've done it.
They already think that I did it.
"Hey! He didn't take your ring. Back off!" Robbie's voice called out, snapping Nick out of his thoughts. The bunny got in front of Nick, but without even breaking his stride, Frank grabbed Robbie by his t-shirt, lifting him straight into the air and holding him to the side while he stepped towards Nick. The bunny yelped, struggling and trying to pull himself free, but to no avail.
"Hoi, Frank, what are hell are you doing?" Lenny the leopard jumped out of his bed. The other mammals in the room did a double take at the sudden escalation.
"Let him go!" Nick growled.
"Not until you tell me where you're hiding it!" Frank growled.
Nick knew what the only option was now. Even if it meant being expelled from the academy, he didn't quite care. If he was going to get expelled anyway, he wasn't going to just stand there and take it from Frank.
I'm sorry, Carrots…
Nick glanced at Robbie in the corner of his eye. Robbie nodded knowingly. Nick instantly grabbed one of the hardcover books from his bed and threw it directly at Frank's face. The hippo instinctively raised his free arm to block it. In that moment, Robbie grabbed on to Frank's left hand with his own two paws, and pulled Frank's pinky finger sideways as hard as he could. As small as Robbie was, the forced bending of the digit was enough to make even a large mammal like Frank roar. The hippo's hand opened, and Robbie tumbled onto the ground. Nick immediately ran over to help the bunny to his feet, but Frank recovered quickly, immediately swinging his arm around towards them.
In a flash, Nick saw the arm coming and was about to jump away, but realised Robbie was still in the line of fire. There wasn't enough time to pull them both away from the swing. With no other option, he raised his arms to block the blow, bracing for the inevitable impact.
There was a loud thud that reverberated across the room, enough that the floor shook slightly. Oddly, Nick felt no pain. As he lowered his arms, he realised that there was a large paw that had grabbed Frank's wrist, stopping him right in his tracks.
"That's enough, Frank." A voice growled. Nick couldn't see who had grabbed the hippo's arm, but he did recognise the voice. As he slowly lowered his arms, a tiger's face came into view. Frank turned his head towards the one who caught his arm, yanking his arm away.
"What do you think you're doing, Hobbs?" Frank's eyes narrowed.
"That's my line. What do you think you were you doing, Frank? I just got back from the bathroom, so I don't know what's going on. But holding Robbie in the air and trying to punch Nick's lights out? You better have a good reason for this."
"Frank thinks Nick stole his engagement ring." Hames the lynx said.
"He wasn't spilling the beans! I had to loosen his lips a little. I wasn't gonna hurt him or anything." Frank replied defensively.
"That's bull, and you know it." Hobbs took a step closer. He wasn't as big as Frank, but he was still intimidating enough to make Frank take a step back.
"I stopped you. And I could feel it for myself—that could have taken his head off." Hobbs snarled. "And you just accused him of stealing something without any kind of proof. You should know better; you're supposed to be a future cop!"
"You're saying you believe him?!" Frank replied, incredulous.
"I do. Does anyone else here think Nick did it?" Hobbs turned to the rest of the room now. Nick hesitated to even look around, for fear of what he might see. But Asher—the grey wolf—immediately stood up.
"…No. I don't think he did," Asher said.
"Neither do I." the other grey wolf—Blake—added. "And you're way out of line, Frank."
"What?!"
"You wanted to 'Loosen his lips'?" Lenny the leopard pointed an accusatory finger. "Wanna try explaining that to our CO, Frank? It wouldn't look good for you if any of us were to report this. Especially since we saw and heard everything."
"And you know what's funny, Frank? I didn't hear you going around accusing anyone else other than Nick. In fact, I'll bet you went straight to accusing Nick once he stepped into the room. Is that true, guys?"
The rest of the mammals in the room nodded in unison with some affirmative murmurs.
"I wonder why, huh?" Hobbs narrowed his eyes at Frank. The hippo looked startled.
"I…I…"
"Come outside with us for a second, would you?" Lothar the black bear motioned. "We need to have a little talk. And we'll see to finding your ring."
With all eyes on him, the hippo seemed to shrink a bit. With his proverbial tail between his legs, he walked out of the room, followed by both Lothar and Hames.
Nick was still frozen to the floor. He could hardly process what was happening, and he almost didn't notice Hobbs walking up and kneeling on the ground in front of him.
"You okay, Nick, Robbie? I'm sorry you had to go through that."
"I'll live…" Robbie groaned, sitting back up on the floor and rubbing his wrist.
"I…uh…" Nick stammered, uncharacteristically so. "I'm fine. Thanks for that."
"It's the least we could do," Hobbs replied.
"Yeah, sorry we didn't step in earlier. We should've stopped him from being a complete moron." Asher raised an apologetic paw.
"But…why help me?" Nick asked, genuinely confused. "You all don't have any reason to think I didn't take his ring. Why do you believe me?"
"That's kind of a funny thing to ask, isn't it?" Hobbs chuckled. "People are idiots, and I know what it's like to be on the receiving end of an accusation like that. In fact, I think we all do."
There were affirmatory nods around the room. Looking at them now, Nick realised that with the exception of Robbie, the other mammals who had gathered around him were predators.
The Nighthowler incident…
"Also, Hobbs told us that you did him a solid during the test earlier. And from what I've seen of ya, I figure you're not the kind of person who would do something like that, Nick." Lenny assured him.
"Yeah, you're just a smart-mouth, that's pretty much it. The only fox thief I know wears a feathered cap and steals from the rich to give to the poor," Blake said. The others in the room chuckled.
Nick could barely believe his ears.
Someone believes in me?
Not just one person. It was several. He pinched himself to assure himself that this wasn't a dream. Despite the adrenaline still pumping through his body, he could feel the pinch clear as day. This wasn't a dream; this was real.
"…You guys…thanks. Really." He finally managed.
"No problem, Nick. And don't worry about Frank, we'll deal with him." Hobbs placed a paw on Nick's shoulder. "We got your back."
As he glanced around the room, he could see the different mammals all giving him reassuring looks. Hearing those unfamiliar words from Hobbs sent a strange warm feeling through his chest, slowly spreading throughout his body. He wasn't sure what it was at first, but as the fog in his head finally began to clear, it hit him.
It was relief. Something he never thought he'd feel in a moment like this. And as the realisation finally began to set in, he could hear a familiar voice echoing softly in his head.
"Whatever anyone else might think, prove them wrong. Always show them your best self, and then you can win their hearts over."
Nick felt a genuine smile beginning to grow across his face.
He was starting to believe.
Judy turned the key in the lock of her apartment door, pushing it open with a heavy sigh. The room was dark, with only a dim green glow coming from the digital clock sitting on her desk. As she stepped into the room, the digits on the screen stared her right in the face, reminding her of how late it was. Another hour and it would be midnight.
Her phone vibrated in her other paw again, with some text flashing across the screen. She didn't need to look at it; she already knew what it said. She had set a reminder for herself today as it was exactly three and a half months since Nick joined the academy. She should've have been happy about it—Nick was still doing well in his training, and he was on track to graduating from the academy without any issues. But there were still a couple of issues that were still troubling her.
Like that fight with him, to begin with…
She lifted her left leg, delivering two swift air kicks while balancing on her right leg. She then swapped over, doing the same while balancing on her left. As expected, she didn't have any difficulty in doing so. Her leg had been healing well in that regard, but when she had been training with a punching bag a couple of days back, the force of the impact was still enough to send a dull throb through her left leg. It wasn't enough to be crippling, but it definitely wasn't ideal. And it probably wasn't going to get much better by next week.
She tossed her keys and wallet onto the table. It seemed like just a week ago that she'd sat with him on that roof garden and made that bet with him, putting her dignity on the line in the process. But that was already almost two months ago. And now, she had less than two months left before the fight. Despite how far away that still was, she couldn't shake the anxious feeling that she was running out of time.
Am I really ready for this?
She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, trying to picture how the fight would play out. All she had to do was to knock him down to the ground. She obviously couldn't take him in a straight up fight; he was twice her size and would have had the same training as her by then. She had to get a little creative. Maybe something involving using the boxing ring perimeter ropes, like how she dealt with the larger mammals back in the academy. Or would that be too obvious?
She began pacing back and forth in the small space between her bed and Nick's mattress. The thought of finding other foxes to spar with returned to her head, but she dismissed it once again. It was unlikely that there would be any foxes offering such a service in Zootopia. And even if there were, there was the chance that Nick would've gotten wind of it—he did say he knew everyone in Zootopia. The statement might have been hyperbole, but Judy really didn't want to draw any attention to herself. She had to think of something else.
Is there anyone who knows Nick's weaknesses?
A name immediately came to mind. But Judy immediately shook her head, giving herself a mental slap for even considering it.
"Geez, Judy, what are you thinking? You can't just go up to Nick's mom and ask her whether she has any tips on how to beat up her son!" she exclaimed, before freezing and holding her tongue. A second later, she exhaled in relief, remembering that Bucky and Pronk were both out of town for the week. The last thing she needed was their commentary on that particular statement.
The ridiculous notion aside, she didn't even know where to find the older fox in the first place. And although Judy knew she could just force Nick to tell her where his mom lived once she beat him—if she beat him—she didn't plan on doing that. As much as she believed that they could make amends with one another, letting twenty years of pent-up feelings between the two of them clash right at the front door didn't seem to be the best idea for reconciliation. Which was why she had to find Evie Wilde by herself first. To find out what the vixen was like, and to see what her side of the story was.
The question now was, how?
For months now, Judy's search for the elusive fox had been on the back burner. Between the pressures of her job, her predator/prey reconciliation work, and training for the upcoming fight, Nick's mom had often slipped her mind, sometimes for days on end. And no matter how many times she rechecked the ZPD database, there were still no Evie Wildes in there. Short of looking through every Wilde in the system one at a time, she had basically exhausted all methods of searching for her that she had access to. She wasn't even sure she had the right name, a doubt that had continually grown since her first time thinking it.
If only I could find someone who knew her.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a buzz from her phone. For a brief moment, she thought that her hopes had been answered, but the message on the screen was accompanied by the face of Robbie.
"Hi sis, sorry for the late reply. I'm still up, if you wanna have a call now."
Her mild disappointment quickly disappeared, and she typed out a quick reply.
"Sure, call me when you're ready!"
A few seconds later, her phone began to buzz, this time accompanied by a pleasant ring. She set the phone on the small phone stand on the table and gave the green button on her screen a little tap. Robbie's face came into focus on her screen; the brown bunny looked a little dishevelled, like he'd been in a tussle of some kind. He was sitting in what looked like a stairwell again; it was hard to tell with how dim his surroundings were.
"Hey Judes," Robbie said with a smile. "Sorry to call back so late, was kinda caught up in something earlier." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
"That's totally fine. Hope I'm not disturbing your studying."
"Oh no no, you're not disturbing me at all. I'm done studying for the day anyway. What did you want to ask me?"
"Ah, I just wanted to know if you would like to meet up again. We haven't seen each other since the carnival."
"Sure! Just let me know when you'd like to meet. How's things with you? Oh, and did you hear about that special Gazelle concert that's coming up in a few months? Have you already bought tickets?"
"I'm doing good. I'm definitely thinking about going for the concert, though I haven't bought any tickets yet. I haven't had too much time to think about it. Been busy with a lot of…stuff."
"Really? I thought you would be first in line for something like that. Is everything okay, sis? You sound a little…distant."
"It's nothing…" Judy replied, instantly knowing that her voice had given the lie away. "Well, it's just a couple of things on my mind, I guess."
"If you're okay to share, I'd be happy to hear it." Robbie replied over the phone. "It's not like I have anywhere else to be at this time."
Judy hesitated. Up to this point, she hadn't told a soul about her plan to find Nick's mom, partly out of fear that word would get around, and Nick would somehow find out with his inexplicable knowledge of everyone in Zootopia.
Well, he only met Nick once, and he's Robbie; he's always been good at keeping secrets. I can trust him, right?
"Okay…do you remember Nick? The one who went with us to the carnival last time?"
"How wouldn't I? He's hard to forget." Robbie replied with a laugh. "He's still in the ZPD academy, right? What about him?"
"Yeah, he's still in the academy. It looks like he's going to make it all the way through the program, in fact. The thing is…" she took a deep breath. "Well, I haven't really told anyone else about this before, but I'm looking for his mom."
Robbie blinked a couple of times. "His…mom?" he parroted.
"Yeah. It's a long story, but he and his mom had a little…quarrel, and now they're not really talking to each other. I think it's just a little misunderstanding, so I'm just trying to reach her. Just to try and talk things out between them."
There was an odd pause over the line, as if Robbie was thinking about something, before he spoke up again.
"…I'm guessing Nick doesn't know about this?"
"No, he doesn't," Judy replied. "And, well, I know this isn't my business or anything, but…I feel like it's the right thing to do. I really want to do this. I really want to see them reunite at his graduation."
"I see…" Robbie pondered for a second. "I think it's sweet of you to care about Nick and his mom this much. And you sound pretty set on making it happen. But…why tell me about this?"
"Well, the thing is, I haven't actually been able to find her. I looked up her name in the police database, city records, all of it, and there was nothing. There were a bunch of foxes with her last name, but not her first name. I'm not even sure that the name Nick gave me was real. I feel like I'm banging my head against the wall, so I was wondering if you had any ideas."
"You're desperate, huh?" Robbie chuckled.
"Kinda." She groaned.
"Hmm…" Robbie tapped his chin. "Well, I'm not sure how much help I can be, but I'll try. Nick's staying with you, right? Maybe he's got her number written down somewhere?"
"No, I've checked. And besides, I hardly ever seen him write anything down on paper. He types everything onto his phone. Says it's the modern way of doing things."
"I'm pretty sure he would have the number on his phone, but I imagine he's not going to give it to you if you asked nicely. You could steal his phone from him to find the number that way, but I definitely know you wouldn't do such a thing." Robbie chuckled.
"Hahah…yeah, of course I wouldn't…"
Because I already tried. Her mind finished the sentence for her. Thankfully, that part stayed nice and cozy within the walls of her head.
"Well, did he leave any old stuff at your place?" Robbie asked, "Mementos, a journal, something like that?"
Judy's ears gave a flick.
A journal? Come to think of it…
She leaned back to open her desk drawer, pushing a couple of files aside to reveal a small metal box. She pulled the box out and placed it on the table. Flipping it on its side, she turned the dials on the combination lock a few times before popping the lid open. There were a few valuables inside, including Nick's red neckerchief which was sitting at the top of the pile. She wasn't looking for that right now though, so she gently brushed it aside and reached for the single brown sketchbook inside. Lifting it out, she brought it in view of the camera.
"Yeah—there is something, actually. Nick left this with me before he entered the academy. Though it's just some old plans and ideas from his…" she paused. "…his less-savoury former line of work."
Robbie nodded understandingly. "Right. Have you read through that? Maybe there's something about his mom in there."
"I've been so busy I forgot I even had it. I don't think there's anything about her in here though…" Judy started flipping through some pages. "…But it's still the best lead I have right now. I'll spend some time reading this, see whether I can find any clues. Thanks for the good idea, super sleuth. I knew I could count on you." Judy beamed. Robbie smiled sheepishly, seeming to go a little red under his fur.
"I hope you can find what you're looking for, sis. Let me know if you need help with anything else." Robbie replied.
"No no, that should be all. Thanks for your help," Judy said. She opened her mouth to change the subject, but the words caught in her throat, and she hesitated. A second later, she exhaled softly.
"Actually, do you think I could ask you one more thing?"
"Sure, what's that?"
Judy took a deep breath.
"Do you think I'm…doing the right thing?"
Robbie blinked, cocking his head to the side.
"What do you mean?"
"The truth is, Nick shared his story about his mom with me a while ago. How he grew up, how their relationship fell apart…I told him back then to try and make things up with his mom, but he refused. He even made me promise bunny's honour that I wouldn't try and find her, but I had my ears crossed. I think he's being stubborn, and I think I'm doing the right thing by trying to get them back together, but…do you think it's wrong of me to go against his wishes like this?"
Robbie fell silent, looking away from the camera with a frown. He closed his eyes, seeming deep in thought.
Yeah, I thought so, Judy thought.
"…I think you already know the answer, sis." He finally replied. "I think you'll regret not doing this more than you ever will trying it. I think your instincts are right. I do think that Nick would want to see his mom again. And obviously I don't know her, but I'm sure she would feel the same way. If you can find a way to find her, I think you should take it."
"You really think so?" Judy's eyes widened, not having expected such an answer from him. Robbie nodded, smiling warmly.
"Really."
Judy felt her own lips curling up into smile of her own. She leaned forward and gave a short kiss onto the screen, before pulling back with a wide grin.
"You're the best, bro! Thanks so much for hearing me out, it really helped a lot. Okay, I've really gotta look through this book now. Let's catch up sometime soon, alright? How about next week? I'll let you know if I find Nick's mom!"
"Sounds great, sis! And don't stay up too late reading that thing. You should get some rest too, you look pretty tired yourself."
"Alright, alright." Judy rolled her eyes. "Oh, and please don't tell Nick anything about this, okay? It's supposed to be a surprise."
"I got it, sis." he chuckled.
"Alright, good night Robbie! Love you!"
"Night, sis. Love you too." He waved, before ending the call.
Silence filled the apartment once more, but now, Judy's head was a lot clearer. She felt refreshed, energised. But most of all, she felt relieved after hearing Robbie's words. She thought that he would have been opposed to her plan, but he seemed strangely supportive of her. She wondered if he was just saying it to cheer her up, or if he was actually sincere about it.
Either way, she had to get to work.
With her neighbours not in the building, the only sound that filled the small apartment room was the sound of Judy flipping through the pages. She eventually began humming to herself and reading some of the words out loud to fill the silence in the room.
"Carnival game claw machine rigging, PC 'download more RAM!' booth at Tech Show, Dihydrogen Monoxide Testing Kit…?" she raised an eyebrow. Not the most inspiring of titles, but interesting enough regardless. Some of the pages made mention of Finnick, which made sense, since Nick said he'd been hustling with the fennec fox for quite a long time.
It seemed each hustle took up one to two pages, though some of the more elaborate ones spanned three to five. Mostly about the relevant laws, and how to circumvent them. She hated to admit it, but the book really did seem well-detailed. Especially the more recent hustles towards the end of the book. The popsicle hustle was one of the later entries. The pages for that particular hustle had plenty of highlights and crude stars drawn across the pages. Likely one of the more successful ventures in recent time.
Until tax evasion and tenacious bunny, that is. Judy couldn't resist grinning to herself.
She flipped the pages backwards, glancing through the earlier entries. As she went back, the writing became messier, and the plans became less detailed. One thing that remained constant was a date written on the top right corner of the starting page of each plan. The years went further and further back with each flip.
She flipped the pages a few more times.
"Note, operating hours can only be until 5 p.m. Finnick will…"
The words caught in her throat. Her eyes backtracked, scanning through the entire page once more. She read the last few sentences again. And again.
"Note, operating hours only till 5 p.m. Finnick will cover for me on Wed and Fri. Mom home early."
With as much care as she could afford, Judy quickly flipped further back, eyes darting all over the pages for the mention of the salient word. Sure enough, there were more mentions of 'mom', especially nearer to the start of the book. Mostly about how Nick planned to lie and make a cover for himself. And a lot of the times, the excuse would involve…
"…Finnick," she whispered.
She couldn't believe she hadn't thought about the connection earlier. Nick had known him for many years. It stood to reason that Finnick probably knew Nick from when he was a kit, and from what it seemed in the book, Finnick would cover for Nick when it came to his mom. Which meant that the smaller—but older—fox would at the very least, know what she was like. And more importantly, where she lived.
Judy immediately leapt up from her chair, her second wind now kicking into high gear.
"I've got to find Finnick!"
With her heart racing in her chest, she tucked the book under her arm, grabbed her keys and wallet from the table and dashed out of the room.
…only to about-turn when she realised that it was still the middle of the night, and trying to find the fennec fox at this time would probably have resulted in him hitting her over the head with a baseball bat. Multiple times.
Despite having to do the walk of shame back into her room, Judy felt a renewed sense of hope, something she hadn't felt in a long time. She went back to the open metal box on the table, lifting out both Nick's red neckerchief, as well as the singular photo of Nick as a kit in his Junior Ranger Scout uniform. Her eyes lingered on young Nick's happy smile in the photo once more.
There was no guarantee that Finnick had the information she needed, but this was the biggest lead she'd had in a long time.
She had to make it count.