A Friendly Hustle

by Blkdragon7

A few years after the Missing Mammal & Nighthowler cases, Nick and Judy are officially mates. They have managed to keep it a secret until they discover that their friends Lizz Fangmeyer and Mike Wolford are also in a mate level relationship. To help their friends, Nick and Judy draw Lizz and Mike to a restaurant to reveal their knowledge and their own relationship.

58. Chapter 58

Here is the 58th installment. Hope you enjoy.

Notes now live at the end of the chapter, so here is the obligatory, on with the show.

Sadly, I do not own and thus can claim no rights to Zootopia or its characters. They belong to Disney.

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Saturday Morning - WildeHopps apartment, 9am

Judy woke to nature's call and carefully disengaged from her mate. After returning she smiled down at him and checked the time. Leaning down and placing a kiss on his muzzle just below his brow. "Wake up, sleepy fox. You have an Omega that is going to be showing up in an hour. I'm sure you and Mike plan on making him wait a little bit, but you don't want to look totally disheveled when you meet him."

Grumbling, Nick yawned. "Yeah… I guess." Reaching up quickly, he grabbed her and pulled her back onto the bed and into a deep, passionate kiss. Then with a roll, delivered her onto the bed, capturing both ears in his mouth and running his teeth up her ears, causing Judy to gasp and shiver, before he slipped off the bed. Nick grinned down at his work, as Judy shivered and tried to calm herself.

"Evil fox!" Judy exclaimed breathlessly. "Just for that you get to make breakfast."

Nick chuckled. "Happily, my beautiful bunny." With a very happy swish of his tail he exited the bedroom and made his way to the kitchen, only to dive back into the bedroom a few moments later. "Jason and Garret are here… In the kitchen, making breakfast."

Judy laughed. "You know, Nick. If you want to flash people with your bare fur, we can just take a trip to the Oasis."

"Not funny, Fluff." Putting his shorts on. "Now I need to know how they got in here." Leaving his chuckling bunny to get herself dressed, Nick headed for the Kitchen. Once there, he stood there and watched the Nightwolves for several moments. "So…"

Garret jumped up and spun around. "Wha? Nick? How? How long have you been there?"

"Actually my second time. Couple of questions. First being. How did you get in here? Second, how did you not notice me, either time?"

Garret shrugged. "You're quieter than I expected. Jason?"

Jason shook his head. "Didn't hear him either time. You are scary quiet, Nick."

Judy popped up next to Nick, wearing a large robe. "And what about me?"

Garret blinked, clearly surprised by the sudden appearance of the bunny. "And she's just as quiet."

Smiling warmly, Judy laughed. "Good to know. Food smells great, but Nick is right. How did you guys get in here? I don't remember giving you a code."

Jason nodded. "You didn't. We were testing the security system. It's pretty good, top of the line, but not up to our standards."

Nick laughed. Yeah, but at the same time, it took you how long to hack it?"

Jason shrugged again. "Too long. So we're not too concerned about it. Though we will be adding some monitoring and some minor updates. The core admin user is who we ended up hacking, so that is going to be updated. However, we never did break either of your accounts. We're still waiting on that, and it has been more than six hours since Levi started. He's the computer nerd, and he called in help. Breakfast will be ready in a few."

Nick nodded with a smile. "Well, that doesn't surprise, both of our passwords are made up of three unrelated words, with a number or symbol substituted in two of the three words, and the third has a random capital letter."

Jason nodded. "Gerald, give Levi a call really quick."

Gerald pulled out his phone and dialed. A moment later he had it on speaker. "Hey, Levi. I have Nick and Judy here and they are telling us the construction of their passwords. Have you been able to crack them yet?"

"No. Which is driving me nuts."

Nick laughed. "Yeah, sorry. I have a friend who is, as he describes it, a Hacker God. He made sure that Judy and I would always set up our passwords in a way he described as functionally uncrackable on their own. According to him you would need to crack the encryption on the password store itself. Or so he says. Does that make sense?"

Levi groaned over the phone. "Oh gods. What is your password construction?"

"Three unrelated words, two of them with a number or special character, and the third with a random capitol, not the first letter, or the first and another letter."

Levi laughed. "Well shit. Yeah, as your friend said, I'll crack the encryption on the password store before I crack those passwords. Easy to remember, impossible to break. Even just two words would do it. Probably at least twelve characters in length, too."

Judy laughed and responded. "Hi Levi, this is Judy. Yeah. Mine is eighteen characters, and Nick's is twenty. Nick's friend even lets us use a small collection of three, similar but different, passwords on all our stuff. He says that with ours being so impossible to crack on their own, and with reporting requirements if a company gets hacked, we're in little danger by using the same password in multiple locations."

Levi sighed. "Your friend is correct. Even if a hacker or other bad actor got a copy of the clear text passwords, by dispersing between three or four passwords, you could have those accounts that use the compromised one changed before they could even try to figure out where else you may have used it."

Judy nodded with a giggle. "Yeah, he makes sure we don't use the identical username. Similar is fine, but not identical. So the bank may be JudyOne, but the credit card is JudyTwo, etc… Not my actual usernames by the way."

"Yeah, I know. Those are stored in clear text. I have had those since I started. Okay, I'm giving up the effort to crack their passwords. If I may ask, and you are willing to state, who is your friend."

Another, mechanical voice came over the line. "I am the friend in question. … I tell Nick and Judy how to stay secure in cyberspace. … I am Nine."

Nick smiles. "Hey, buddy. How's things? You should come by the new apartment and see it."

The voice of Nine over the phone. "I will do that. … Nick. … … The Nightwolves are good, but they are not as good as I am. I am watching. I have blocked several attempts to get to your information since the wedding. … As well as Lizz and MIke. … I have a routine watching. Levi. … Blackbolt. … I will send you information on who was trying to hack them so you can take action. We will coordinate to protect my friends."

Levi, with reverence in his voice. "It will be my honor, Nine, to work with you in any capacity."

Nine spoke again. "This is good. … Look for the file ... soon. You are good, Blackbolt, but you have much to learn. I look forward to teaching you."

The grin in Levi's voice was beyond clear. "I look forward to learning from you." An audible click was heard and Levi continued. "Wow… You know the Nine?! No wonder your stuff has been unhackable. Worse, you actually know who Nine is, in person! Don't tell me. I don't want to know. Not yet. Nine will reveal himself to me if I am deemed worthy." There was a long pause before Levi continued. "Nick, I don't know if you understand this really, but Nine is not kidding. He is, assuming he is a he…"

Nick chuckled. "I'll give you that much. Nine is a he, and he has a girlfriend that goes by… Judy?"

Judy shook her head and signed. "Her handle, or whatever, is SlowBurn."

Levi gasped audibly over the phone. "Nine and SlowBurn are together? Oh my gods! Nick! Judy! Do you understand the kind of cyber-firepower you to have access to?"

Nick laughed as Judy shook her head and responded. "Levi. This is not a conversation for the phone. Why don't you come over and have breakfast with us. Drag Gloria, Mike, and Lizz over while you are at it. I think we need to have a conversation with you four. You need to understand who you are protecting."

Levi chuckled. "Yeah, I'm beginning to get that. Though now I understand why it was impossible to dig up additional information about you two that wasn't public, and why the stuff on Mike and Lizz seemed to be slowly vanishing."

With that Levi hung up and Jason laughed. "I'm glad I made extra. Still." Looking over the spread. "I need to make more."

Jason, with Gerald and Nick's help, quickly generated more food which was ready as the rest of the group appeared. Judy and Nick shared a look, and she returned to their room and then came back out with a small, baseball sized sphere and base. The sphere had the representation of a galaxy in it, and the base would light up that image from underneath with colored LEDs.

Judy set it in the middle of the table, folded her ears down, as Nick folded his flat to his skull. "All of you. Fold or cover your ears if you care for your hearing." Seeing everyone do as they were told, Judy turned the base over, flipped the on switch in a pattern of on-off-pause-on-off-longerpause-on. After which she pressed the switch into the housing with an audible click. Setting the base down in the center of the table, she set the sphere on the base, rotating the sphere until the galaxy inside it lit up brightly from below with red light. There was a loud electronic screech, a high pitched tone, a loud click, and buzz that lasted for several moments. Then the sphere started its light show, turning bright green for a moment before sliding through a rainbow of colors. Judy lifted her ears. "Okay. We're clear."

Levi looked at the sphere in awe. "That's a bug killer, and surveillance killer. No one outside of this room can listen in on us now. But in such a hidden form, and so small… Where did you get it?"

Nick smiled as he cut into his pancakes. "That little toy is a contribution of my background, with some brain power from Nine to make it so small and hide it in the desktop bauble."

Jason sat down after laying the last platter of pancakes and other items in the center the table. "Okay, Nick. Then tell me. What in your background is it that gives you access to such things?"

Judy sighed. "Since you four are going to be protecting us, you need to understand a few things. First, as we have mentioned. Nick and my family, along with the Wolford pack, essentially lived and worked together in ancient times. The Wilde foxes even lived in the same burrow as the Hopp rabbits. It is why we still raise chickens, why we build our burrows larger, tunnels taller and wider, than we need to as rabbits. Large enough that even you wouldn't need to do more than duck in the deeper parts of the burrow, and wouldn't even need to do that in the public and guest areas. It is why I am able to eat meat. Our families interbred back then. It has thinned out since then, but both Nick and I have a few percent of the other species' DNA."

Nick nodded. "Now, that was ancient times. You're providing historical documents and such to the Hopps historians, who are putting together a proper timeline and history. You can't base the supposition and publish the fact that a skulk of foxes and clan of rabbits lived together without several lines of evidence."

"Okay, that makes sense. Our historians should be reaching out to yours in the next few days."

Judy smiled. "That's great. Now, to modern times. I am the only student of the survivor of the Cheth assassin family. The only thing I have left for them to declare me a master is to teach at least one mammal myself." Pointing to Lizz and Mike. "Those two are my mammals."

Nick jumped in. "To add to that, I am the only, actually ranked, surviving member of the Helketta, and inheritor of all their knowledge, as Judy is from her teacher. We have since also taught each other and since her teacher is the only known surviving master, I will also be teaching Lizz and Mike. Thus explaining where I got the knowledge to create the initial device that I gave to Nine to then miniaturize. Not that it wasn't pretty small already."

Jason leaned back and shook his head with a dark laugh. "So… The two of you are assassins?"

Judy shook her head with a shrug. "Could we be, yes, but neither of us are interested in becoming that, nor is my teacher. Though the skills do come in rather handy as a cop, as Lizz and Mike's First's, and in our former lives as The Bunny Avenger and Vengeful Vulpine."

Levi gasped. "No way! Oh wow, that just explains it all. Jason, why are we needed again?"

Nick laughed. "I will happily answer that Levi. Because neither Judy nor I can be with Lizz and Mike at all times, nor would we want to be. They need their privacy as much as we do, nor can Judy and I monitor things at all times. We need sleep, especially Judy with how close she is to giving birth."

Judy looked sharply at Nick. "Is that so?"

Smiling and pointing at his nose. "Yep. You should be dropping within the week."

Judy shook her head and crossed her arms with a huff. "Figures." Looking over at Jason. "Remember, both Nick and Mike are on the K9 team, and are constantly jockeying for ranking as the top nose."

Nick shook his head. "I still hate the whole act."

Judy grinned. "And yet, whose tail goes nuts when he gets praise?"

Glaring at her. "Don't start. It's bad enough while we're working a job."

Lizz reached back behind Mike's ear, giving it a scratch. "Yeah, who's a good boy?"

Mike's tail started wagging before he turned a glare at Lizz and batted her paw away. "Oh, no. Not unless we're on the job and I've earned it."

Nick nodded with a frown, crossing his own arms and giving Judy a look. "Exactly." Turning his attention back to Jason and the other Nightwolves. "We, Judy, her teacher, and I, discussed it, and we are also going to teach you some things. Techniques, a few concepts. We will see how you fair and handle what we teach you and then will add to from there."

Gloria grinned and raised her paw. "What about that guy with the videos that claims to be the survivor of the Heeth?"

Nick groaned. "That moron… He was part of the Heeth for about six months, and was about to fail out. Failing out means that you ended your time with the Heeth, just like any other such organization. Surely you understand what I mean by that.

The only reason he is still alive is because the Heeth were wiped out. As far as I can tell, he was in a cell awaiting his fate when it happened and those that did it let him go thinking he was a ransom prisoner or something. Once released, there was no point in going after him again. Anyone who actually was part of such an organization can see through him. Yes, he has a few skills, but not remotely at the level he wants you to think.

I was away when they were wiped out. I returned to the destroyed compound and collected everything I could. Destroyed anything I didn't need to, not that there was much left. Whoever did it took all the obvious stuff, but did not find the real information. All their books of secrets, writings, the masters training notes, all of that are now in my possession and in my head. The only other mammal I consider an actual survivor was a third year trainee. They're more skilled than any of you, but still two years from making actual rank. They survived because they were in the hospital, under their real name, for a surgery that had nothing to do with training."

Judy picked up speaking. "We also know the survivors of a few other clans. Though none of us are interested in recreating what the Helketta, Cheth, Heath, Meltra, or any other group that once was. The knowledge has value, but the use is our choice. We will not allow the knowledge we have to be turned back to that use again. Not while we live and can prevent it. We do not wish all that knowledge to die, but it can gain a new life in helping mammals instead of ending their lives."

Jason nodded and leaned back. "I see. So we are your backup. We are your night watch and fill in the gaps that you cannot."

Nick nodded. "Exactly right. Which is why, under most circumstances, neither Judy nor I will have you stand in for us in a fight. You will be fulfilling the very role from which your name derived. If anything, I expect our opponents to tap into Jesel at some point. That will be fun. He's just dumb enough to take the job."

The other Nightwolves looked across the table at Nick and Judy, clearly realizing that things about the two smaller mammals were not at all what it seemed. Jason let out a long sigh. "Okay. This is certainly a lot." Turning to Levi. "Has that Darr guy shown up yet?"

Levi glanced at his tablet. "Yep, he's been there for about five minutes, so twenty minutes before he was told he needed to be there."

Nick nodded and walked over to the intercom. "Good morning Darr. Have you eaten this morning?"

Darr startled and nearly dropped his small backpack before he realized he was being addressed from the intercom, he reached over and pressed the button. "I had a protein bar this morning, sir."

"Okay, I'm going to buzz you in. Come to our apartment, number 140, and have a proper breakfast. Then we will discuss what you will be doing today."

Darr pressed the button again. "Yes sir." A few moments later Darr knocked on the door and was let in by Gerald, after being checked and frisked. Nick motioned him to an empty chair. "Use that chair. Eat your fill. We're going to be putting you to work today."

Ears back and tail tucked in submission, Darr nodded, before loading up his plate. "Thank you sir."

Nick nodded and they all watched him eat for a few moments. Nick finally shook his head. "Jason, why don't you and your team finish getting situated. Darr, slow down. Take your time. Enjoy the food. Also, unless the situation is properly formal, I'm giving you a direct order or something, it's just Nick. I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt in the start of this probation you have found yourself in. It is up to you if you earn more or lose privileges, etc… In the long run, your status with the pack is up to you."

Darr nodded. "Yes sir… I mean, Nick."

Mike chuckled. "And the same goes for me, Darr. You, in informal situations like this, are allowed to call me Mike. Now, as Nick suggested, your fate is in your hands. You are however in an even more unique position than I think you may realize. You have the opportunity to turn this mistake into something that elevates you and your family."

Darr looked up in surprise. "Sir... I mean, Mike?"

Nick nodded with a smile. "A valid point, Mike. You see, Darr. Actually, let me first ask you. Did you do as you were instructed?"

Darr nodded quickly, his ears snapping fully erect. "I did. I went directly to my job and quit. I simply told them that I was offered a position that I couldn't turn down."

Nick smiled. "Good, and technically true. Now a few questions about those that you had been working with. Your mate said that when they first got hired you disliked them. That they didn't do much work, were not good at the job, but spent most of their time talking. What did they talk about?"

With his ears folding back and tail drooping. "They would go on long discussions about how unnatural interspecies relationships were. How they could never stand it if the alpha was not a wolf, and how having an interspecies alpha would destroy the pack. They claimed that any hybrid pups would be sickly if they survived at all and the alpha would never be able to sire a proper heir."

Nick nodded and scratched his chin and glanced at Mike. "It would seem you and Lizz were known about for some time, Mike. This is both good and bad. It means that they have been moving against you for some time, which is bad. That also means that the wedding and such caught them fully off-guard. Which is good. Darr… do you have names, photos, anything like that?"

At this, Darr's ears righted themselves and his tail wagged happily. "I was hoping you would ask, or I could offer that up." Pulling a folder from his backpack he handed it to Nick. "I thought long and hard about what happened. Laying on an uncomfortable couch because your mate is livid with you gives a mammal a lot of time to think. What brought me to that spot, and it was a real low spot. They started talking about needing to take some action, to unseat the Designate, while also talking me up. They got to me and before I realized it, I had put not just myself, but my mate and pups' positions in the pack, and livelihoods in jeopardy. My mate was less than thrilled with me when I got home."

Mike laughed. "Oh, I imagine so. Just be glad she isn't a tiger."

Lizz glared at Mike. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Mike smiled. "Simple. When you are mad at me, your growl is nearly constant and it just leaves me on pins and needles. I'd not stay in the house if I didn't know that leaving the house would make it worse."

Lizz nodded. "Yeah, I'd think you were leaving me, and that would simply be all bad for you."

Mike nodded. "Yes it would. So, Darr… I guess you've realized just how bad a spot you put yourself in."

Nodding slowly as he swallowed the last of his pancakes. "I do. That you chose to give me this chance is an opportunity to redeem myself to you, the pack, and my mate."

Nick smiled. "Yes, and as we were saying. With this opportunity, as we fight against those that targeted you and turned you into a blunt missile against us. Well, you could end up finding yourself in the position of a Beta within the pack. Assuming you play your cards right. You have the skills in some areas, you just need to train in some other areas and then, with the help you will provide us." Tapping the folder. "The help you had the foresight to obtain without prompting. What I'm saying is that you did really good."

Darr couldn't help his tail wagging or the shy smile on his muzzle. "Thank you, First. That will make my mate very happy."

Mike smiled and patted Darr on the back. "Nick is right, you did well obtaining that information. Where exactly do you live?"

"We live in a small apartment a few blocks towards the city center. Close enough to walk."

"Have you considered moving?"

Darr shook his head. "We would love to move… Mike. But there is no way we could afford it."

Mike nodded. "Well, once you find out how much you'll be making at your new position, I might suggest you check with the owner and manager of this complex. Especially as you need to tap into the pup sitting."

Darr nodded. "Yeah. That was part of what she was angry with me about. When we got home from me quitting, we got a call from our regular cub sitter. Basically, we don't have one any more. They gave us a week to find someone else. I was hoping to talk to the mammals here about maybe having our pups come here after school. We confirmed they have a few friends that live here. We really need the help."

Judy smiled. "Well, I'll be happy to introduce you."

Darr nodded and bowed. "I will be eternally grateful, First."

Judy smiled. "Call me Judy, again, it is on you to earn the position, or fail. If you are finished, let's go talk to Sasha."

Darr suddenly got nervous, clearly not sure who he should be listening to. Mike took pity on him. "Go ahead, Nick and I will retrieve you if you have not returned by the time we are ready."

Darr nodded with a nervous smile. "Thank you… Mike." Darr then followed Judy out of the house.

Once the door closed, Mike turned to Nick. "So… What exactly are we going to do with him?"

Looking up from the file, Nick smirked. "Simple. They know he quit his job and that he failed, fabulously, in his challenge. So now, we need to show him off. I'm going to close a few accounts, and he's going to act as my bodyguard. These will be some of my ancillary accounts, the rest will be transferred using a process Bill's bank and Ed is developing so mammals don't get screwed over. From what I gathered, they're abusing a feature of inter-bank electronic transfers, letting them empty a mammal's account into a new one at the new bank, without losing any funds."

Mike smiled. "Nice. So I take it the banks you will be hitting are here within or on the edge of pack territory?"

Nick nodded. "That's right. Wanna come?"

"Absolutely."

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A/N

Remember to share the love. Review and Fav. It is the life blood of every writer to know you are enjoying their work. I also want to thank everyone who has Fav'd, followed, and reviewed this little project. I know that isn't much, but to me, it's huge. Even as a writer of original fiction, that you enjoy this means a lot to me as an author. You can check out my original work and link to my Blog, Scribblings, where a lot of it lives by hopping over to dcballard . com ( Direct: ascensionnovel . / scribblings (remove the spaces) because the forwarding is misbehaving.)

If you enjoy this, and you are not also reading my original Log Entries series over on my Blog. Why aren't you? (takes a Nick-esk pose of hurt) Also. I am now posting them on AO3, so you have even less excuse. It's free, ORIGINAL fiction. "An original story told through the log entries of the pilot and captain of an experimental star ship."

You should really be checking out my bestest bud, Bear678, and his story What Foxes May Come.

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