Judy just remained right where she was, her expression blank as she tried to process what she had just heard.
"I'm sorry, Chief. I don't think I follow." The bunny said; looking at her boss as she and Nick stood on the chair in front of the desk. Across said desk, Bogo looked at the two of them.
"Then I'll say it in the simplest possible terms for you, Hopps." The buffalo said, "You are now on a special assignment, which is to go to the Manechester mansion to take part on this little reunion that Chandler Manechester is making. All three of you."
As he spoke that, he looked at the two smaller officers standing on that chair, and to the pudgy cheetah that was sitting on the other one. Benjamin stood in there silently, as he looked back at the Chief, before the buffalo resumed:
"So, for this assignment, I am giving you the rest of the day off to go and choose your masks and your costumes."
The three only stared back at the buffalo. This certainly wasn't what they were expecting when the buffalo called all of them to their office because he wanted to "have a word with them".
"So, let me get this straight." Nick said, looking at the buffalo. "You are telling us to go to a costume party as our assignment?"
Bogo looked at him.
"Basically, yes."
"This includes going there, eating free food, sleeping in some very fancy bedrooms, and overall having a good time?"
"If that ends up happening, yes."
"And we already start by having today's day off all so we can pick on which costumes we will wear?"
"Yes."
Nick looked at the buffalo, almost as if he was trying to see through the bigger mammal.
"Okay, what's the catch?" The fox finally said; looking at the buffalo with crossed arms. The buffalo looked back at him.
"Do you think there is a catch?" He asked, and Nick shrugged.
"I'm pretty sure that there is one." The fox said, looking back at the bovine, "Sorry, Chief, but I don't just see you as the type who tell his subordinates to go having a good time as a mission, not even as a joke."
Bogo looked at him, and after a few moments, he sighed.
"During the course of your stay, you three will act as added security to the Manechester house and to everyone inside."
"Knew it." Nick said simply, and Judy looked at the buffalo before she asked:
"Added security, sir?"
"Yes, Hopps." Bogo said, looking at the bunny.
"Yesterday, after you all received those invitations; I actually called the Manecheter estate to know what it was all about." The buffalo said, and he was serious as he looked at each one of the present mammals. "The conversation was... rather interesting."
"Did you talked to Mr. Manechester?" Judy asked, and Nick was the one who answered this:
"Which one? Because we have Chandler Manechester, we have his father Adrian Manechester, and we also have-"
"I talked with Adrian Manechester." Bogo said, cutting the fox, "He was the one who told me more about this little reunion that his son is currently planning."
"According to his words, it is something that young Manechester has devised as a last minute thing. A reunion to only a few mammals, including a few members of his own family." Bogo said, "It was all quite short notice."
"So, he is throwing a small party on a whim?" Judy asked, and Nick shrugged.
"Yeah, I guess that he felt like doing it and decided that it would be a good thing to do." The fox said to his partner, "Rich people love to make parties and boast to others how they can do such things. They love to show." The fox then seemed to realize something, and he turned to Ben.
"But, I am sure that your family is not like that." He said rushed, in an apologetic tune, Ben looked back at him.
"Well... I'm not sure about that... Sometimes Mom and Dad do like to make a party."
"Anyways." Bogo said, wanting to steer the conversation back to the important topic at hoof.
"Chandler Manechester did made this party in short notice, and he did invited a few mammals to the event. Among them you three, and Gazelle."
Ben's eyes widened as he heard that.
"Yes, Clawhauser. That Gazelle." The buffalo said, looking at the cheetah. "She will arrive at the mansion on her own limo, along with her manager and one of her tigers to act as her bodyguard."
"Oh, so we will have a celebrity among the guests." Nick said, looking at the buffalo, "Well, that certainly makes the event as high profile as it can be."
"So, is it the reason why they want us to do added security?" Judy asked, "Because Gazelle will be present?"
"Yes." Bogo said, looking back at the bunny, "That, and the fact that they have been worried lately."
"Worried?" Ben said, looking at the buffalo, "Worried about what?"
Bogo looked at the cheetah and, after a few seconds, he started explaining.
"The Manechesters believe that there is someone stalking their house."
The three cops remained in silence as the buffalo said that.
"Sir. It has to do with the hidden camera?" Judy asked, and Bogo nodded.
"It is one of the motives, but it is not the only one." The buffalo said, looking at the three.
"In the past months, there have been a number of incidents in their house that is causing them to worry." The buffalo said, looking in between them. "Things like claw marks on the sides of the house, graffiti spraying with rude messages or even threats on the walls, broken windows, and even sightings of someone, or something, lurking around the house."
"Goodness gracious." Ben said, and Bogo continued:
"Not only that" Bogo said, "But there are indications that something is also happening inside of the house."
"Inside?" Judy said, and Bogo nodded.
"Yes, inside." He said, looking at the bunny and at the other two. "A lot of things have been happening inside of the house lately. They have been hearing sounds inside of the house, and they found evidence that someone has been invading their house."
"What evidence?" Nick asked.
"Some objects that have been misplaced." The buffalo said, looking at them. "Vases and cups left in a table of one room have been found over the fireplace or under a desk."
"Well, maybe someone has simply put them in another place." Judy offered, and the buffalo continued.
"Also, they have been finding out that some of the food of the place have been going missing, as if someone had been eating it and leaving the scraps around. They claim that it weren't any of the residents or the house." Bogo said, looking at them. "However, it gets more disturbing. According to the family, they found what seems to be traits of bodily fluids on the floors, on walls, and on some furniture."
"Bodily fluids?" Judy asked, "You mean, like blood?"
"Actually, Hopps." Bogo said, looking at the bunny, "They found signs that someone's been urinating on the floors and carpets, as well as... other kinds of bodily fluids. The kind that... makes them certain that it came from a male."
The three looked at Bogo for a few moments, before Ben covered his mouth with his paw. Nick had a surprised expression. Judy was the last one to be able to understand it, but when she did, she looked scandalized and she blushed heavily.
"Yes, I know, unsettling. And there is even more." The buffalo said, "The mansion of the Manechester family is in the Vole Gardens, the gated community for wealthy mammals."
"The place full of mansions and big elegant gardens." Nick said, and Bogo nodded.
"Yes. They have a neighbor who has a collection of many exotic birds as his pets, all legalized." Bogo said, looking at them. "The thing is; birds of his collection have been disappearing. They have been kill, and every time that this happens a trail of blood and feathers is leave behind, leading straight to the Manechester estate. This led to some discussions between them, as the neighbor accuses them of killing his precious birds. The Manechester deny it, of course, but they told me that, every time a bird vanishes from the neighbors cage, a pile of bloodied bird bones and feathers appears somewhere inside of their mansion."
"Sweet goodness!" Benjamin said, looking at the buffalo, and Bogo nodded.
"Of course, the Manechester family have been doing their personal investigations, and they found no signal of forced entry of any kind. However, such events continue to happen, and they continue to indicate that someone is moving in and out of the house."
The three mammals took in what the buffalo had told them.
"Why haven't they called the police about this?" Judy asked, and Nick looked at her.
"Well, maybe because they own a private security company and thought that they could solve it by themselves."
"Indeed." Bogo said, "They tried to investigate on their own, but up until now they've found no evidence."
"What about the bones and feathers?" Judy asked, "And about the... evidences of bodily fluids?" She said, blushing a bit at this.
"All of them lead to nothing." Bogo said, "They found traits of saliva on the bones, as well as some traits on the urine and semen, however, by the time they found these, the DNA apparently had degraded, and they could obtain nothing significant from that."
"Why haven't Chandler told me?" Benjamin said, more to himself than to the others.
"Probably because his father didn't really told him about that." Bogo said, causing the cheetah to look at him. "Adrian Manechester is trying to keep it all as under wraps as. They don't want word going around that someone is invading their house and doing such things."
"Yeah, it would not be good for the image of the owners of a private security company to not be able to protect their own house." Nick said, and Bogo looked at him.
"Adrian Manechester was very keen on the importance of being discrete over this ordeal." Bogo said, "As a matter of fact, he even said that I was allowed to share this information with you three, for the three of you should be the ones in there. But he was very emphatic the fact that I was not to share this information with anyone else, for otherwise he would be displeased."
"They don't want to have space for any gossip or rumors, huh?" Nick said, his arms crossed, "That is also typical of rich mammals. Again, no offense, Spots." Nick said, looking at the cheetah.
"So, these events are happening, and the responsible has not been caught?" Judy asked, looking at her boss. "And they are planning on having a party?"
"They reinforced security ever since." Bogo said, "However, they are still worried that, with guests on the house, there could be a certain risk. That is why they decided to have cops come to offer extra security. However, since they don't want the other guests to realize that there is something wrong, you three are going to go as guests to this little reunion that they are making. Chandler already had decided to invite you to this gathering, and his father seemed to have gone along with it, according to his own words, it was because of your... 'past experience with magecraft'." The buffalo threw air quotes as he said that. Ben looked at him for a few moments, before he looked away.
"You don't have to go if you don't want to." Bogo said, looking back at him, "I can send only Hopps and Wilde to act as added security."
There was a silence, before the cheetah looked up, seemingly making his resolve.
"I'm going." He said, looking at the buffalo. "If there is any danger for Chandler, for Gazelle, or for anyone else, then I want to be there to help."
Bogo looked at him for a few moments, as if he was evaluating him. Nick looked at the buffalo, and he could swear that he saw admiration on the eyes of the buffalo. Bogo nodded at him, and turned to the others.
"So, any more questions?" He asked, looking at them.
"Actually, I have one, Chief." Judy said, looking at the buffalo, who looked back at her. "You just said that Adrian Manechester accepted Ben to come for his 'past experience with magecraft'. Does this means that there is a mage involved?"
"Apparently, he does." Bogo said, "Don't ask me why, but he firmly believes that it does involves a mage, or something supernatural. Anything else?"
A few moments of silence, Nick was the one who rose his paw to speak.
"What kind of costumes should we wear?"
"That's up to you, I don't care." Bogo said, looking at the fox, but he soon was adding:
"But just for you to know, if you dress in anything inappropriate you will be using it while you scrub the toilets with a toothbrush until Thanksgiving."
"So, no Tarzan and naughty nurse?" He said, gesturing to both himself and Judy, and the bunny actually glared a bit at the fox for suggesting her to wear something like that.
"Wilde, I am serious." Bogo said, "Things are tense enough between the Manechester and the ZPD, you need to behave if you are going to be a guest at their house. The Manecesther are old fashioned."
Judy looked at him.
"By 'old fashioned', do you mean prude?" Judy asked to the buffalo, and Ben was the one who answered:
"It means they are conservative." The cheetah said, "They are not really bad mammals, but they have some traditional standards of decorum."
"In answer to your question, yes, they are prude." Nick said, looking at his partner. "Although, I know some guys who would use a few more words to describe them."
"Things that you won't mention while on that mansion, Wilde." Bogo said, looking at the fox. "I'm serious, the last thing we need is even more tension with the Manechester family. We are still reeling from the incident of five years ago."
As he said that, Bogo noticed that Ben had become a bit crestfallen. The cheetah was now looking at the ground, and the buffalo did felt a bit bad for the cheetah.
"So, I really would like to nothing else happen that causes more tension, so you two, behave the best you can and don't do anything stupid." He said, looking at the two, and turned to Benjamin.
"And, Clawhauser." He said, the cheetah soon was standing at attention on his seat, and his gaze met the buffalo. That was not a hard gaze, but actually seemed gentle. "If in any moment you feel like you are uncomfortable on that place, you are free to leave at any time."
The way he spoke it surprised the three officers.
"Just let Chandler Manechester know that you will be leaving and give me a phone call so I'll know too. If Adrian has any problem with this, I'll deal with him myself when I have a chance."
Ben looked at the buffalo for a while, and Nick could swear that the ample cheetah was blushing.
"I'll be fine, sir." He said, and Bogo nodded.
"So, any chance that we could leave the party earlier as well if we feel too uncomfortable, sir?" Nick asked, and the buffalo snorted at him.
"In your dreams, Wilde." He said. "Okay, so that's it." Bogo said, looking at the three. "So, from his moment on you three are in this special assignment, and it starts immediately. You three will have the rest of the day off to choose your masks and costumes, and remember not to wear anything improper. Dismissed."
With this, the three cops got up and were ready to leave.
"Actually, Wilde, Hopps. You two stay a bit more." Bogo said, as the two smaller officers were about to jump out of the chair. "I want to have a word with you. Clawhauser, you can go."
Ben hesitated, giving a look to his two friends, before he complied, leaving the two smaller officers alone with the horned mammal.
Silence lasted for a while, as Bogo looked in between the two mammals.
"So... About yesterday..." The Chief finally said, and he looked at the two mammals.
"If it is about the request for those rolls of toilet paper, I pretend to donate them."
"What rolls of toilet paper?" Bogo asked, looking at him.
"None, so, you were saying?" Nick immediately said, adopting a poker face, and looking at the buffalo. Bogo looked at him for a few moments, and he seemed about to start asking questions, however, he pushed it aside, as it was something that he could worry about later. He did, however, made a mental note that, if anything involving toilet paper was to happen in the near future in the precinct, he would know who to look at.
"So, yesterday, I was going through the reports of all the officers, to make sure that everything was in order." Bogo said, looking at the two. "When I came across two reports that said something that called my attention."
Judy and Nick shared a look.
"So, we are assuming you are talking about our reports, right?" Nick asked, and Judy looked expectant at their boss.
"Indeed." Bogo said, looking at the two. "So, I read your reports, and I found the writing to be... something."
"So, you read about the fiasco with Blackwall?" Nick asked, kind of matter-of-factly. "I swear that it was not our fault."
"Yeah, I read about that." Bogo said, "And, even though it was something that... called my attention, it was not the thing that I found the more disturbing on those reports."
Judy and Nick looked at him, and Bogo looked back at the two of them.
"The part that talks about the 'package'." Bogo said, looking at them with a serious expression.
The two mammals shared a look, as they immediately understood the thing that Bogo was referring.
"Now, I'm not going to ask if what I read in both of your reports is true, because I know that you two know better than to make a joke over something so serious." He said, and looked at Wilde, "Even the one among you two that is a jokester by nature."
Nick shrugged, and the buffalo now continued:
"But, I do want to talk about you two on how serious it is what I read on these reports, and the kind of development that it could cause. So, I have to ask, there is any kind of exaggeration on these reports? Maybe something that you overvalued and that is not as bad as it seems in there? Or maybe even something that you misunderstood?"
Judy and Nick were serious as they looked back at the buffalo.
"Sir, we would not have written anything to overvalue anything." Judy said, looking at her boss. "We wrote down what we remembered from the event, and I even added a complete transcript of the words of Blackwall as he described the package to us."
"Yeah, I sometimes exaggerate things, but I already learned not to do that with my reports." Nick said, looking at the buffalo. "That three hour lecture that you gave me on my first week really did settled in. I just wrote down what I remember of the event, and what that rat told. You can even noticed that I didn't put any joke on that specific annex."
Bogo looked at both of them, and he could tell that they both were serious. Well, Wilde at least seemed to be serious. With this, Bogo nodded, and he started to pinch the bridge of his snout with his hooved fingers.
"Great." He mumbled to himself, the other two officers remained in silence as they watched the buffalo did that.
"As if dealing with criminal mages, a terrorist attack and a family of arrogant horses being stalked by a possible mage was not enough." Bogo said, "Now I have to worry about having a mass destruction magic weapon on my city."
"Actually, it is a piece of a mass destruction magic weapon, sir." Nick said, "Just to be precise."
The glare that Bogo gave to Nick was positively poisonous. It was enough to make the fox stand down, and for another long moment, a heavy silence hanged in the air, as the buffalo sighed, and looked at the two.
"So, have you two mentioned about this with anyone?" He asked, and the cops said that they haven't.
"Okay, let's keep it like that for a while." Bogo said, "The last thing we need now is to cause panic."
Judy and Nick nodded. They agreed that it was better to avoid having everyone get scared, however, they both thought that maybe it would be good for them to have a plan to deal with this.
"So... are you going to tell the other officers this?" Judy asked, looking at her boss.
"Yeah, perhaps I should." Bogo said, "But first, I want to have a word with the ones who kept this information from us."
"So, you will be having a word with the enforcers?" Nick asked, and Bogo looked at him.
"Oh, I will." Bogo said, looking at the fox, "You can be sure that I'll be having a word with those two."
Now that was a face that Nick was familiar with. It was the face that the Chief usually had when he was getting ready to admonish someone or to give them a good scolding and a reduction in salary.
At that moment, Nick actually felt bad for the enforcers...
"So, this was all. You can both leave." Bogo said, looking at them, "You need to get your costumes, don't you?" he asked, and the two nodded. However, before they left, Judy had one more thing that she actually needed to ask:
"Chief Bogo?" She said, looking at the buffalo.
"Yes, Hopps?" he asked, looking at the bunny, and she looked back at him.
"Is just that... I couldn't help but notice." She said, looking at her boss.
"It seems to me that both you and Officer Clawhauser seem nervous with the fact that he will be at the Manechester household."
Bogo looked at her.
"I noticed that, while you spoke, it seemed that you were particularly worried with him. He also actually seemed worried too. That as far as I could tell." She said, and the buffalo was looking at her with an unreadable, but hard, expression.
Nick now felt like nudging his partner and giving her the cue to stop talking.
"I'm just saying that from observation, but it seems that the fact that Clawhauser is going to be going at the Manechester mansion is making other mammals worried." She said, "The conversation you had with him about it, and what you said just now about him being allowed to leave if he felt uncomfortable. It is almost as if his very presence in there would somehow make things uncomfortable."
Bogo said nothing, and only looked at the bunny.
"It is as if somehow the Manechester family has a problem with him." She said.
"This is what you concluded, Hopps?" Bogo asked, his tune was calm as he spoke to the bunny.
"It was the impression I had." She said, looking at her boss. "So, I can't help but wonder... why would the Manechester family have a problem with Benjamin Clawhauser?"
Bogo looked at her for a few moments and, to Judy, it seemed that he was deciding if he should tell her something or not.
Eventually, Bogo finally spoke:
"Because, in the opinion of Adrian Manechester, Benjamin Clawhauser is the one responsible for his misfortunes."
Nick and Judy now were walking out of the buffalo's officer, and they were able to catch up with Ben, who had just finished talking to Deermond once more. The deer would be the one designed to stay in the front desk while Ben was on that "special assignment" along with them.
"So, what are your plans for your costumes?" Nick asked, and Ben looked at him.
"Well, I have a few ideas, actually." Ben said, looking at the fox, "I just have to decide which one is the right one."
"Could you share one of these ideas?" Nick asked, looking at the big cheetah. "Maybe this will help me with my own costume."
The cheetah and the fox continued to chat, while Judy said nothing. She would have taken part on the conversation, but she was busy thinking about what Bogo had revealed to her moments before.
Adrian Manechester considered Ben responsible for his misfortunes.
Judy thought about that that could mean; that was when she was able to connect the dots: the incident. The thing that happened five years ago, when one of the Manechester assaulted Chief Bogo with a broken bottle, what caused Adrian Manechester to lose the election for mayor.
So, did this meant that... he blamed Ben for the incident?
How could that be?
How could he think that one of his own children assaulting a police Chief was Ben's fault?
Of course, she didn't had any details on what had happened. This was before she moved into Zootopia, and was something that she had not heard about until recent times. It could be that there was more to the story than she actually knew.
Still, she could not imagine such a thing being Benjamin's fault, as he was one of the sweetest mammals that she had ever met, and she could not imagine any scenario in which he would have been some kind of instigator to something like that.
This only made her think and wonder what exactly happened five years ago...
"Caaarroooooots~?" A voice suddenly called her back into reality, and she looked over to see a foxy snout really close to her face. This nearly made her jump back, and she did looked a bit startled.
"Well, won't you look at that." Nick said, looking at his partner. "Looks like I finally managed to sneak on you! And I did that without even trying!" He said, looking pretty smug and proud of himself.
"If you didn't tried than it was not sneaking." Judy said, recomposing herself and hoping that her nose wasn't twitching too much. "Sneaking is an act that infers on active effort of oneself to approach unnoticed.
"Yeah, whatever." Nick said, and Judy looked around.
"Where is Ben?" She asked, and the fox looked at her.
"Wow, you were really zoning out good, weren't you?" He asked, looking at his partner, "He already went two minutes ago. I have been talking to you ever since... and now I realize that I was being ignored, and this makes me a tad bit offended."
"Sorry." Judy said, "I was just thinking."
"On our new missions?" Nick asked, "Yeah, I kind of think about that too. Never been inside of a mansion before, much less the Manechester mansion. I mean, it's the Vole Gardens, they call the cops if a fox, weasel or raccoon is seen anywhere near the gates."
"Oh, come on, it cannot be that bad." Judy said, looking at her partner.
"Oh, you'd be surprised that it actually can." Nick said, looking at his partner, "These old-money families are full of traditions, and some of them can be actual arseholes, sometimes without even trying."
Judy looked at her partner and, once more, she was having the distinct impression that her partner really disliked the super-rich.
"And, the Manechester are among these?" She asked, looking at him.
"Yeah, they sure are." Nick said to his partner, "They act like the correct goody two-shoes, but deep down the guys aren't really the kind you should want to associate with. You should just hear the kinds of rumors that go around about them."
Judy said nothing, and after a few moments, she decided to ask Nick:
"And about the thing that happened five years ago?" She said, and Nick looked at her, "The one where one of them assaulted Chief Bogo?"
"Oh, that?" Nick said, looking at her, "That is one of the rumors that go around the most, and it is among the ones that they try the harder to fight, they still have it bad for having one of their kids doing something like that."
"And the rumors mention anything about a cheetah?" Judy said, "Anything about Benjamin Clawhauser?"
"Well, the rumors don't really mention specific names." He said to her, "Some rumors talk about a cheetah present. Others say that it was a tiger. Others that it was a zebra. Some say it was a pony. You know how rumors are; they change depending on who you ask."
Judy looked at him, and she then looked away.
"Is just... I can't imagine Ben actually being involved with that."
Nick looked at his partner. "It is still about what the Chief said, isn't it?"
Judy said nothing, but she didn't had to. Nick sighed.
"Yeah, guess Spots will be the one who might need our support in there." He said, looking back at her, "So, think that Officer Hopps is good enough a cop to support her fellow officer at the same time that she ensures that everyone in there is safe?"
She looked back at Nick, and saw the fox looked at her with that usual smirk, and flexing his eyebrows at her.
"Yeah, I think I am."
"Think?" Nick said, looking back at the bunny, "Oh, come on, you can do better than that! You are the same bunny who dragged my tail halfway through the city to find one missing otter! Be a little more emphatic, a little more determined, like you were back on the day! So, are you a good enough cop?"
Judy looked at the face of her partner, and she knew that he wanted an answer of the kind that she would give in a good, normal day on her job.
The way he was asking for it actually put a smile on her face, and she all of sudden was feeling a bit more positive and to give him what he actually wanted:
"Of course I am a good enough cop!" She said, in her usual spunky way, "After all, I am Judy Hopps, right?
"Now that is my bunny girl friend!" Nick said, and right after these words, a sudden silence fell between them two, as they looked at each other, before both looked away.
"Anywho..." Nick said, still looking away, "I guess that we should do as Buffalo Butt said and use this day to pick up what we will wear for the party."
"Yeah, right." Judy said, as she also recovered from that moment embarrassment. "So, any ideas?"
"Yeah, I talked to Spots and he gave me a few, but I'm not sure if any of them matches my style." Nick said, shrugging. "It has to be something with masks. Matter of fact, we could go only with simple masks if we want. The invitations did said that the costume was optional."
As the two walked outside of the precinct, they continued to discuss.
"What about Robin Hood? You could wear a green or black mask?"
"A fox as Robin Hood? That is so cliché. What about you go dressed as a nurse?"
"Nick! Bogo said it can't be anything improper!"
"Hey, I didn't said it was a naughty nurse. Just a regular, old-fashioned nurse, of the kind that wear surgical masks."
"Oh... that could be an option, but I don't really see myself wearing one of these dresses. What about Loner Gunmammal?"
"Nah, I never did well with the old west. What about you dress like a ghost? You could use along white dress and a white mask, you know, the kind that has a painted ghost face?"
"Yeah, but doesn't it has to be a masquerade mask?"
"It didn't said anything about that on the invitation. It just said to 'wear a mask'."
"Maybe we could go as cops?"
"Cops going as cops? Now that is not very creative, is it? Besides, cops don't wear masks, do they?"
"Maybe we could improvise something with makeshift tactical gear. Who knows?"
"I'd rather go as someone from a movie. Maybe I could be Darth Voler, from Star Trunks?"
"Yeah, I don't see you wearing that big helmet and making that heavy breathing."
"Hey, I can make heavy breathing if I focus. Here, listen." Nick said, and made his best version of the heavy breathing of the villain of the movies, which caused Judy to look back at him.
"Sounds like you are having an asthma attack.
"Well, the guy was a little asthmatic, wasn't he? Why else would anyone breathe like that?"
This caused Judy to chuckle a little bit.
"Maybe we could go for the classic kind of thing? I mean, we wear some fancy clothing with some masquerade masks?"
"Like they do in the actual Manechester Halloween party? Yeah, I don't see myself dressed in old 1600's suits, not really my thing."
They continued to talk back and forth, and they were both seeing that the discussion could actually be a lengthy one.
"Man, in times like that I wish I was a raccoon." Nick said, "I would face pretty much the same problems that I face as a fox, and I'd be always ready for a masquerade at any time."
"Well, I guess that anything will do, right?" The bunny said to her partner, "We just need to dress on something that will be comfortable so we can participate in this little get together of two or three days, right?"
"Yeah, I guess so." Nick agreed and, after a few moments, he pulled out his cellphone. "Well, if it is to be just anything, then I have an idea. Wheel Decide."
"Yes, Nick, I know that we'll decide. That is basically what we are doing in here right now, right?"
"No, you didn't get me, Carrots." He said, and he pressed a few things on the screen of his phone, and soon, he was showing his partner what was appearing on the screen.
It was a flashy screen of a big wheel, like the ones you see in those prize and competition shows, on the top, colorful words were appearing, written: WHEEL DECIDE.
"It is a fun app for when you don't know what to decide on things." Nick said, looking at his partner. "There is a lot of themes up in here, and one of them is 'Halloween costumes'. You can just let the wheel spin and whatever it lands into is what you will dress up as."
Judy looked at him, and at his phone.
"We'll let an app decide what costumes we will wear?"
"Why not?" Nick said, looking at his partner. "Let's just give it a try, yes? Please?"
Nick looked almost like a kit begging his mother to buy a toy, and Judy had to admit that it was somewhat endearing. She saw herself with some difficulty to refuse, and so, she decided that there was no harm in giving it a go.
Soon, she and Nick were both looking at the screen, deciding that first they would do for Judy. So, Nick pressed the "GO" button, and soon, the digital wheel was spinning, and spinning and spinning.
After nearly a minute, it was slowing down, slowly coming to a stop as the titles for the costumes passed by the pointer, until it finally stopped on...
CLOWN
Nick had to hold back his laughter. Not as much for the suggestion where it landed, but for the face that Judy was making as she glared at him.
"O-okay, okay." Nick said; his voice a bit strained from holding back a laughter. "My turn."
With this, the fox once more hit the GO button, and soon, the wheel repeated what it had done, spinning round and round, until it finally stopped on...
SUPERHERO
"Hmm, not bad." Nick said, looking at it, and then looking at his partner. "So, should I choose someone from Marvole or ZC Comics?"
"I am not dressing as a clown." Judy said, looking at her partner. "I already don't like wearing makeup; I won't be painting my entire face with a fake grin."
"You don't have to." Nick said, "You can use one of those festive masks."
"Let's keep thinking, okay?" Judy said, as both she and Nick walked out of the precinct. "Maybe we could ask someone's opinion. Maybe one of my siblings."
"And you think that would help?" Nick asked, and Judy said:
"Sure they would. You should see the kinds of costumes that my siblings used for Halloween back in BunnyBurrow. The Hopps family really knows how to dress up."
"Let me guess, you were a cop every Halloween, right?" He asked, and Judy looked away as she blushed.
"Wait, you actually were?"
"W-well..." Judy said, "I-it was kind of my dream ever since forever, you know?"
Nick actually felt like laughing about that, but he knew that this would grant him a punch from the bunny. Instead, he only said:
"Yeah, maybe we could ask your siblings for suggestions, I see no problem in that. Maybe we could even ask someone else from the precinct."
"You mean, like Fanghanel?" Judy asked, thinking of the wolf, "He told us about how he likes holydays, and that Halloween was one of his favorites. I bet he could give us some suggestions for our costumes."
"Yeah, I am pretty sure that he would love to give us suggestions." Nick said to her, and he mentally added:
And that every single one of them would be couples.
"By the way, have you seen White Fang today?"
"Last time I heard he was going with Clawrence for an assignment. They would be investigating some vandalism that has been going on in Downtown."
"-and she looked so pretty in her wedding dress!" The white wolf said as he showed yet another picture on his phone to a mammal that he had handcuffed. The lion looked at the smaller mammal with an annoyed expression, while the panther continued to search him and the bear and tiger that were with him for weapons.
"Didn't she looked pretty? That dress was so beautiful! Nearly as much as her!" Eliot Fanghanel said, "I took several pictures of her when she was walking down the aisle, and some more during the ceremony, and some with the family! Well, my family since hers' didn't wanted to come for our wedding. That made her quite sad, but she looked so happy during our honeymoon! Oh, that was such a magical night!"
"Hey, panther!" The lion said, looking over his shoulder at the black feline. "Could you dart me, please? I can't stand this wolf's rambling anymore!"
Clawrence looked at the lion for a few moments, before he resumed searching the tiger, who was the last one of them. The lion and bear had both been pawcuffed already, and now only that big stripped feline was left. They had just arrested the three for being the suspects of being responsible for the string of vandalism that seemed directed to some old places across the city, many of which also involved theft.
"Why do you guys even do things like that?" Eliot asked, looking at the damage that they had done to a nearby house. The front window was broken, and there was some graffiti in the walls, most of it of some crude nature and content.
"Oh, come on." The bear said, "We were just having fun."
"Shut up, you idiot!" The lion said to the bear, "Don't say anything until I've called dad! He is a lawyer. He will know what to do."
Eliot and Clawrence both shared a look. It really seemed that these three were nothing more than delinquents. They looked not to be any older than twenty, and they were nicely dressed, actually seeming that they had a lot of money. Was it another case of the problematic young mammals who did things like that because they thought they could or because it seemed to be cool?
Well, either way, they were in deep problem for having been vandalizing and stealing.
Clawrence had just finished searching the tiger, and he was about to pawcuff him as well, when the tiger made a sudden movement. Maybe the feline had some actual combat training, because the way that he swiped his leg up and missed Clawrence's head by just a few centimeters, it actually seemed something out of an action movie.
The tiger was on his feet in no time, and he was soon running away, wanting to escape as fast as possible.
"Stop!" Clawrence said, immediately reaching for his dart gun, and firing at the tiger. However, the feline seemed to be lucky, for he was able to dodge all of the darts and to keep running.
"I'll get him!" Eliot said, "You finish it with these two!" The wolf spoke as he now dashed in pursuit of the tiger, his own dart gun drawn and ready to fire.
The tiger was fast, but the wolf himself had a lot of training with the ZPD to allow him not to lose a suspect easily. The big feline was even able to keep himself out of the wolf's reach, but he was unable to lose him, for Fanghanel's keen sense of smell made sure that the wolf would not lose his track. He just needed to sniff the air to know which direction the feline was going, and he was obstinate enough to not knowing when he should stop or quit.
The feline was not getting out of that easily.
Still, the tiger looked like he wanted to try, as he did not slowed down and made as many turns as possible. However, he knew that the wolf was still hot in his pursuit.
"Darn canines!" The feline said, "Why is it so hard to lose them?"
The feline continued to run, but he knew that he needed to think of something else if he actually wanted to escape from the wolf. He needed something to use to his advantage.
He was thinking of that when he turned a corner into a dark and rundown alley.
"Hey!" Said someone, as he nearly ran into a mammal that was coming from the other side. This male mammal had canine features, and he stood on 4'4'' feet tall, with fur of a sand coloration with white muzzle and hands, and black on the trim of his ears, around his eyes, on the bridge of his muzzle and trimming his hands and feet. His eyes were of an amber coloration, and they were looking back at the tiger. The mammal was dressed with a white shirt, a jacket, and a pair of jeans, and he had what seemed to be a necklace of teeth around his neck (it was hard to identify what the teeth were from, but the tiger was certain that they were not mammal teeth, for that would be too creepy).
"Try to be more careful!" The thylacine said, looking at the other guy, who looked back at the smaller carnivore, and was about to say something, when suddenly:
"Freeze!" Eliot said, as he walked forward with his dart gun pointed at the tiger. The feline looked at the approaching wolf, and then at the thylacine. It was a no-brainer.
With a sudden movement, the tiger now was standing behind the thylacine, with an arm around his neck, using him as a shield.
"Hey!" The wolf said, "Let that thylacine go!"
"Not a chance!" The tiger said, holding the smaller mammal as he kneeled behind him and had an arm around his neck.
"You are making a huge mistake." The thylacine said, and the tiger continued to hold him.
"You really like thylacines, don't you, cop? The proof of it is that you are married to one!"
"Hey! Do not bring my Pumpkin into this!" Eliot said, and he quickly added:
"And let the thylacine go now!"
"You should do as the wolf says." The thylacine said, "For your own good." The tiger, once more, completely ignored him as he kept his arm around the thylacine's neck.
"Not until you've lowered your weapon!" The tiger said, "And not until I'm somewhere you won't be able to follow me!"
"Then how will I know that you will actually let the thylacine go?"
"You will have to trust my word!"
"Yeah, can't do that. You see, in the academy, they teach us not to really trust perps!"
"Well, you don't really have a choice!"
"Yes, I have!" The wolf said, "I can wait for the right moment to dart you!"
"You try that and I'll use the thylacine to block the darts!"
"I'll wait for the perfect shot!"
"You don't have an aim that good!"
"Oh I actually do! I took great scores on my academy training!"
As they both spoke, the thylacine seemed to be forgotten, even thought he was literally between all of the action. As they continued to kip back and forth, the mammal was getting increasingly angry, until at some point...
"Enough of this!" He said, and he rose both paws. However, instead of taking them to the neck of the tiger, trying to get him to let go, he rose them and made a few gestures.
"Mundie ja-boo!" The thylacine whispered, and immediately, something happened with the ground beneath the tiger's feet. The ground shook and broken, changing shape and turning into a pair of paws, which quickly grabbed his ankles and squeezed hard.
"Gaah! What the!?"The tiger said, as he felt something grabbing his ankles and looking down, seeing the arms that now were coming from the ground and grabbing him with a rock-hard (quite literally) hold on his legs.
This was all that the thylacine needed. He used this chance to elbow the tiger hard on the ribs, knocking the air out of the feline and allowing him to free himself from his grasp. The feline was spluttering, and he looked at the thylacine, who still had his paws raised and looked at him the same way that a professional fighter would look at a weak newbie that was challenging him.
"Y-you..." The tiger said, feeling the grip on his ankles from the arms, and at the raised paws of the thylacine, which were now poised as if they were holding something.
"You are a mage!" The tiger said, finally realizing his mistake. However, it was far too late now.
The thylacine looked at him as he made another gesture with his paws. Immediately, a second pair of arms formed from the ground and they punched the tiger on the legs, causing him to fall forward.
As the tiger was getting up, yet another pair of arms materialized from the ground, and this one grabbed the tiger by the head. The next thing the tiger knew, was that the arms brought his head into the ground, hitting it hard again and again, until the tiger had gone limp. Only then the arms stopped.
The thylacine stood where he was, looking at the tiger on the ground for a few moments, before he finally lowered his paws. On cue, the arms sank back into the ground, melting back into the material that made the floor. He then turned around, looking at the wolf, who was looking back at him with a surprised expression.
The thylacine looked at him with a fierce expression, tensing his body and giving a step on his direction. This immediately caused Fanghanel to adopt a fighting posture, with his dart gun raised and pointed at the other mammal. However, the thylacine didn't attacked, he only looked at the wolf for a few moments, before he relaxed, and only looked back at him for a few moments.
"So?" The thylacine asked.
"Huh?" the wolf said. The thylacine then gestured at the tiger on the ground.
"I already did half of your job and got him unconscious. Aren't you going to arrest him? I mean, you are a cop, right?" He said, looking at the wolf with a certain air of arrogance. Eliot blinked.
"Oh! Yeah! Right!" The wolf said, and soon, he was moving in direction to the tiger, who groaned as he moved his body on the ground. The wolf had no problems into moving his arms behind his back and cuffing his wrists.
"Also, if you are thinking of trying to take me in as well, I recommend you to rethink it." The thylacine said, looking at the wolf, and the wolf, who had finished cuffing the tiger, looked up at him, with a cocked ear and a raised eyebrow.
"Did you committed a crime?" Eliot asked, and the thylacine looked back at him without saying a word, "Because, unless you did committed a crime, I would have no reason to arrest you."
"Really?" The thylacine said, looking at the wolf, as if he was trying to see through him.
"Yeah, really." Eliot said, "I am not the kind of mammal who goes arresting others unless they have done something. I'm not that kind of cop."
The thylacine looked at him, for a few moments, and then, he said:
"Well, that's interesting." The thylacine said, looking at him, Eliot looked back at him with a raised eyebrow.
"You know, I always was among the ones who had the belief that, once mundanes learned about us mages, they would always treat us with mistrust and hostility, like they did during the middle ages."
Eliot looked at him for a few more moments, before he said:
"Oh, you thought I was going to be a jerk to you because you are a mage?" He said, looking up at the thylacine. "Oh, you don't have to worry, dude, I am not one of these guys. I have nothing against mages."
"Really?" The thylacine said, still looking at him with a certain mistrust, as if he was trying to see through some kind of act, or at least detect some hint of hidden hostility on that wolf's actions.
"Yeah, really." Eliot said, looking at him, "Actually, I think that mages are kind of cool. As a matter of fact..."
The wolf made a pause, he looked at the tiger, who was still groaning but certainly unconscious, and he looked to all sides, before he leaned on to the thylacine and whispered:
"My wife is a mage too... Well, ex-mage, actually."
The thylacine looked at the wolf with a raised eyebrow.
"Is she?" The thylacine said, "An ex-mage being married to a mundane?"
"You can bet." Eliot said, and then he added:
"By the way, you should not refer to non-mages as 'mundanes', it is kind of offensive, from what I've heard."
The thylacine looked at him for a few moments, before shrugging.
"Well, can't really say that t is a big surprise, after all, once they give up magecraft, some of them also give up associating with other mages. So..." He stopped, and now looked at the wolf once more.
His gaze had shifted slightly, and he still looked like he was trying to figure out the wolf. However, now it seemed somewhat different.
"Wait... didn't the tiger said that you were married to a thylacine?"
"Yeah, he did." Eliot said, "He was talking about my Pumpkin. I was talking about her casually, and I think he overheard it."
The thylacine continued to look at him.
Could it be?
"And, would you have any photograph of this 'Pumpkin'?" The thylacine asked, looking at the wolf. "Maybe in your wallet?"
"Oh, I have plenty of photographs of her in my phone!" He said, pulling out his phone and opening. "You know how it works, right? They are mostly to make calls, but they can also make pictures and videos and..."
"I know how the modern cellphones work, thank you." The thylacine said, and soon, the wolf was opening a gallery of pictures, and showing a picture to the male thylacine.
"See, this is my Pumpkin. Ain't she gorgeous?" The wolf said, looking at it dreamy, right before he turned to the male and adding:
"But you better not be thinking of coming for her! She is my wife!"
Eliot's tune had become aggressive all of sudden, but the male ignored him, as he was too busy looking at the photo.
"Well, I'll be dammed." The thylacine said, as he looked at the picture that was being shown to him in the technological device. "If it truly isn't Chloe Dapperclaw."
"Actually, it is Chloe Fanghanel now." Eliot said, "She took on my surname when we got married..." All of sudden, the wolf stopped, as he suddenly realized one thing:
"Wait, I haven't said her name... much less her maiden name." Eliot said, now looking at the thylacine, "How do you know Chloe?"
The thylacine looked away from the picture, to look at the wolf with a smirk on his muzzle.
"So, you are the one who she run away with, huh?" He said, looking the wolf up and down. "Well, I'm not sure what I expected, but I guess I expected... something else."
Eliot looked at him.
"I asked you a question. How do you know my Pumpkin?" Eliot asked, looking at the thylacine, who finally answered:
"Well... before 'your Pumpkin' ran off with you, she was promised to me, as per the agreement between our clans."
Eliot looked at him for a few moments, and then it clicked.
"Ah! You are the fiancé! The one her family wanted to marry!"
The thylacine looked at him. "Yes, that's right, Officer Fanghanel." He said, looking back at him with a smirk. "Your wife used to be my fiancé, before you came along and snatched her."
All of sudden, the situation seemed to become really awkward, and Eliot looked at the thylacine in silence for a few moments, while the other male looked back at him with no hostility at all, but only what actually seemed to be a mild amusement.
"So, how's Chloe going?" He asked, and Eliot looked back at him.
"Why do you want to know?" He said, looking at him with a bit of mistrust.
"Because I haven't seen her in a long time." The thylacine said, "Well, we didn't talked much while we were engaged, but we did talked a few times, and she seemed really nice. I haven't heard of her ever since she renounced magecraft, and I just want to know how she is doing. You can't really blame me, can you?"
Eliot was still unsure, but he told him that Chloe was doing okay. That she was now a housewife and that she and him had a really happy marriage. He put a certain emphasis on how they were happy as he described it to the ex-fiancé.
"Well, that is good to know." The thylacine said, looking at the wolf. "It is good to know that she is doing okay."
Eliot looked at him, and he couldn't help but say:
"Well, I am glad that you are not grumpy over what happened." He said, looking at the thylacine. "You know, for the whole 'Chloe breaking her engagement to marry me' thing."
"Oh, that? There is no problem." He said, looking at the wolf. "It was an arranged marriage, anyway. My family worked on finding another fiancé for me within a year. Of course, I'd be lying if I said I was not disappointed, but I did understood, eventually." The thylacine said, looking at Eliot. "I don't really hold hard feelings on her, or on you."
"Well, I really glad to hear that, Mr. ..."
That was when Eliot realized that he didn't knew the guy's name. The thylacine smiled back at him.
"Call me Koby." He said, looking at the wolf, "That's how my friends call me."
Eliot looked at him.
"So, we are friends?" Eliot said, and the thylacine shrugged.
"You are the husband of my ex-fiancé. This practically makes us family." He said, looking at the wolf with a smile on his face, and Eliot looked back at him, before smiling as well.
"Well, thanks, Koby. This is really nice." Eliot said, "I'm really glad that you are cool with everything. Hey, maybe you could call your wife and we all can have dinner together."
"Yeah, I can't do that." He said, looking at the wolf, "I think that I would make Chloe a little awkward if I appeared. Besides, my wife is not in Zootopia. I am only here to take care of a business, and I'll be leaving as soon as possible."
"Oh, okay." Eliot said, and the thylacine looked at him.
"You really love Chloe, don't you?"
"You can bet that I do!" Eliot said, looking at Koby. "I love my Pumpkin more than I ever loved anyone or anything in my life! She is the light of my life! The wind on my fur and the ground beneath my feet! I'll keep loving her until all of the stars of the sky stop shining! She is my world, my all!"
"Okay, I got the picture." Koby said, looking at the clearly lovesick wolf, who actually seemed a teenager talking about his first love instead of a young adult.
"I'll do anything for her, no matter what it is!" The wolf said, seemingly not having heard the male thylacine. "I'll always be by her side when she needs me, I'll fight the world for her, and if any evil mage tries to hurt her, I'll be there to protect her from them!"
There was a brief silence, as the thylacine looked at the dramatic wolf, before he started laughing.
Eliot blinked, and looked at Koby, who was still laughing as he looked at the wolf; however, he stopped when he saw his face.
"Wait, are you serious?"
"Of course I am serious!" Eliot said, feeling slightly offended; "What, you think I don't really love Chloe?"
"Oh, I know you do. That little speech you did was enough proof of that." The thylacine said, looking at him, "But... do you actually think that you can protect her from other mages?"
"Wha... of course I can!" The wolf said, and the thylacine looked at him.
"Really?" He asked, looking at her. "So, if a guy came forward, and he was a high-level mage, you would be able to bring him down to defend Chloe?"
"You can bet I would!"
"Even if he was able to shoot fireballs hot enough to ignite your fur and melt your flesh out of your bones?" Koby asked, "Even if he was able to make the ground open and swallow you up?"
"Even then!" Eliot said, looking at him.
"Even if he was able to summon mutant familiars to keep you busy while he goes for Chloe?"
"Yes!"
"Even if he was able to hypnotize you and leave you completely action-less while he does whatever he wants to your wife?"
"He won't be able to! I'll snap out of it before he gets the chance!"
"Only a strong enough mage would be able to snap out of hypnosis."
"I would be able to!" Eliot said, "My love will help me do it!"
Koby once more laughed. Eliot continued to look at him.
"I can protect Chloe from anything!"
"Oh, can you?" Koby asked, looking at the wolf. "You and your wife were both on the mall in the day it was taken by these golems, right?"
"Yes, so?"
"Did you protected her back then?" He asked, looking the wolf dead in the eye. "Did you actually fought these golems and saved her from the danger? Were you actually able to fight them back and protect Chloe with your own strength?"
Eliot didn't answered, and only looked at the other male.
"You face says it all." Koby said, looking at the wolf. "It was Chloe who had to save your tail, wasn't it?"
"They caught me by surprise." Eliot said, and Koby shot back:
"Even if you were ready, you'd hardly have a chance against the golems. They are the kind of familiar that mages will use to perform tasks like fighting, and they can be made pretty efficient in this."
The thylacine and the wolf looked at each other.
"You could even have a chance with a smaller one, but the golems that were made to fight certainly would be a challenge too great for you." Koby said to him, "And if you needed your wife to come and save you from some familiars, then you really believe you would have a chance against an actual mage?"
"I am sure I would!" The wolf shot back, looking at him dead in the eye. "I'll never allow anyone to hurt Chloe, and I'll fight anyone who tries!"
"You won't be able to fight a mage." The thylacine said, looking at him, the wolf said nothing, but now he was glaring back at the other male.
"You would not be able to protect her if a mage wanted to threaten her. Another mundane maybe, depending on the species, but even then, it would only be in the case Chloe could not defend herself." Koby said, looking at the wolf, "After all, you probably saw her skills, and you know that she is not a helpless little damsel, and that she surely can take care of herself. Come to think of it, I don't see any point in you even tried to defend her, she doesn't need you for that, and you would not be able to do anything if she needed."
Eliot was starting to lose his cool with that guy, as the proof of it was that his fur was standing on end and that he was now snarling at him. The thylacine, however, remained completely unfazed, and he only looked at the wolf.
"You already convinced me that you love Chloe, and that you really do want to protect her." He said, and he sounded very kind as he spoke that. The kind of kindness that you expect from an adult that is explaining to a child why they can't grow wings and fly.
"But you are just not capable of doing that." He said, looking at Eliot. "You are just a mundane wolf."
They looked at each other for a few moments, before Koby said with a smile:
"Tell Chloe that I said hi."
And just like that, the thylacine turned around to leave, not even bothering to look at the wolf as he made his way out of that dark alley.
Eliot remained in place, looking at him as he departed. The tiger was coming to himself, and looking at the wolf. Eliot looked back at him, and he said:
"I really don't like that guy..."
AN: For everyone who follows this story and got used to the weekly updates, I'd like to inform in advance that this story will have a small hiatus of 2-3 weeks, while I work in other stories. Hope you understand.
Anyway, hope you have enjoyed this chapter. Please, R&R, no flaming, but constructive criticism is always welcome.