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.

79. Chapter 79

Here is the 79th installment. This is going to be a big jump forward and covering that jump and some of the things that happen between Von and getting back to life as normal. At least as normal as it gets for them. Hope you enjoy it.

Notes now live at the end of the chapter, when they exist, 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.

It continues…. Enjoy.

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Judy, Nick, Lizz, and Mike stayed in Von for two weeks, as did Maria and Jarvis. The others returned to Zootopia over that time. The first to return were the Bogo's. Though they enjoyed three days of true vacation as a family in Von, duty as the chief of police called Adrian back. Patricia still had clients and an ongoing case that needed her attention, and Ben was not going to leave either alone back in Zootopia.

Eric and Jeff managed to last five days before both had to return to their jobs as well. They only had so much PTO to burn on a moment's notice, and only got away with it because Eric had initially been assigned to escort and protect Nick and Mike, so he was technically working for the first few days in Von. Amy and Jake returned with them. Jake was only on loan per Chief Bogo's request, so once they had moved beyond those duties, he had to get back to the BPD. Terry and Fran did the flying to get everyone back to the city, only charging Maria for fuel.

By the end of the week the grandparents had returned to the city as well, with Terry's parents arranging to meet up with them all as the family expanded. Given the clear merger of families between Hopps, Wilde, Fangmeyer, and Wolford that was taking place. Adding more was not just a foregone conclusion, but almost expected at that point. The key being, there was a private pact being formed between the families in addition to the more public great pact planned for later that year.

By the time Bonnie and Stu had left Von, Hopps Family Farms, including the meat division, were in negotiations for major contracts with two separate Von grocery store chains. They were also in negotiation with Fangmeyer Shipping services as well. It turned out that Fangmeyer had controlling interests in several freight rail lines, so the possible rebuilding of the Hopps rail depot was something they were very interested in. As for the stores in Von. There was no way that they could, or would, turn down the chance to carry actual Hopps produce from the original homestead, and given that the quality was actually very high only added to the draw.

For the freshly minted parents and their kits, they simply enjoyed the time away from jobs and any other responsibilities beyond just being parents to newborn kits seemingly bent on driving their parents to the brink of madness. As well as the luxury of the Imperial suite provided by Maria. Maria and Jarvis themselves took advantage of the advanced fertility science of Von to seek a shortcut to young of their own.

Visits were arranged to the various districts of the city. A trip to the Von museum of art, Science and Technology, as well as a dozen parks. The Natural History museum was especially interesting as it had records of much deeper history and details often glossed over by the history taught elsewhere.

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Nick and Judy, with Lizz and Mike standing behind them looked at the diorama depicting the exodus from the Hop burrow. It was something they knew of from the historians as they put together a more accurate history in preparation of the pact. Yet there it was in front of them, as recorded by some of the mammals that actually experienced it.

Judy leaned against Nick. "This was the thing that nearly cost us our happiness."

Nick nodded and held her close. "Yet, if you think about it. You and I would not be who we are if this had not happened. If either of us existed at all. Remember, my family was part of those that were driven off that cliff into the river." Pointing to a section of the diorama. "There is no telling how things would have played out, but that is the past. Our jobs are to forge a better, brighter, future for our kits. To make the world a better place. An ethos you claimed from the very day I met you, and one you made me believe."

Mike spoke from behind them. "He's right, Judy. As the curator said when we got here. The reason they record the history as faithfully to what actually happened as they can, good and bad, and regardless of species, is to ensure mammals can learn from the mistakes and successes of the past. If mammals are allowed to ignore the uncomfortable parts of the past, well… That's how you get some of the bigoted and specist policies back in Zootopia. That's how you get things like the Lanolin revival, because mammals forgot the horrors that was the first Lanolin reformation. Sure. We're getting better, but we really need this." Waving a paw over their heads towards the diorama. "We need the updated history your family is building to back up the pact. To give it the strength to survive the challenges you know it will face."

Lizz picked up from MIke. "We, in Zootopia, have allowed ourselves to forget. We don't want to think about those uncomfortable parts. We know that the Lanolin purges were bad, that the Lanolin revival was bad, that the reformations were fueled terrible things, but we forget why. We remember… We are taught about the art, the music, things like that. The good things, and all the bad is glossed over.

We do that because mammals don't want to have to think about it, and under the idea that it is unfair to hold a modern sheep guilty for what their ancestors may not have even had anything to do with. At the same time, we do a disservice to all mammals, including sheep, because while true that we shouldn't hold them responsible for those things, we should not ignore it either. If we hadn't allowed ourselves to ignore just how bad those things were, we would have recognized Dawn for what she was. We also wouldn't treat foxes and others the way we so often do."

Judy nodded. "You are all right. It just makes me sad to know that my family was so easily manipulated."

The curator, a tapir, stepped up next to them with a smile. "Well, the truth is always a bit more complex than that. Let me show you something many miss. We have a timeline. It's admittedly not perfect, because it is really hard to get too specific with dates this far back in time. But it gives a good overall view of how long it took." He led the way over to the timeline laid out with some benches facing it. "Few notice this, drawn in by the diorama and other actual artifacts. I think we will ask your family to send some representatives here for the opening of a new exhibit. Hopefully you can come as well. So you know, we have been working with your family historians to help them write that deeper history. We are building an entire exhibit going through events from the founding of the original Hop burrow to the events that led to the exodus. It was something we were already working on. Your presence here and the breaking of our secrecy allows us, with your plan for the full history and pact, to reach out to them. To lend our expertise and to share."

The curator stepped up to the timeline and passed a paw over it. "It's actually interactive." Touching the founding of the Hop burrow a section of text giving detail lit up above the timeline in a font large enough to be readable to most. "From what we can tell, it took several generations. At least ten, and the careful incorporation of rabbits with that purist mentality to change the culture of the burrow." Indicating the relevant section of the timeline and giving them all a chance to read the text. "Even then, it was a near thing. That's why so many rabbits left with the predators. The burrow almost imploded and it is why the old burrow was abandoned. It simply could not support itself without the larger mammals. The founding of what you think of as the old burrow was those rabbits that stayed behind establishing a borrow they could actually sustain."

Judy looked at the tapir curator in shock. "Wait… You're saying the old borrow is not the original, but actually the second?"

The curator nodded with a smile. "Yes." Touching the relevant section. "I have heard you were granted some things from the author of the prophecy. Well, there is something every curator of the museum has kept safe awaiting your arrival." Producing a crystal tube about as long as Nick's forearm from his coat. "This was entrusted to the first curator with instructions that it belonged to the prophesied you would have no interest in being worshiped. We were charged as its guardians, just as we are the guardians of history. Our mandate as curators, as historians, is to seek to ensure our representation of history is true and accurate. That we should represent and record the horrors of history just as faithfully as the triumphs. That mandate is based on the promise we swear to and upon this. It is my honor to bequeath it to you."

Nick took the crystal tube from the curator with a deep bow. "Thank you. Something tells me we will have a few more gifts like this."

With a chuckle, the curator nodded. "Very likely indeed. We have studied it. It is hollow and appears to have a scroll or something similar within. There is a locking mechanism that we were never able to figure out. Here." Pointing. "It seems to require multiple keys. Keys that were never discovered."

Judy looked at the pattern and laughed. "Yeah. Because those keys were sealed inside the crypts that we only just unlocked. Those patterns are the mate rings that Nick, I, Mike, and Lizz were gifted."

The curator glanced up at their mate rings with a smile of recognition. "That would explain it. I'm told you will know when to open it."

The rest of the visit was comparatively mundane. There were studies and fossils of great reptiles that once roamed the world. Examples of various species in their feral forms, including rabbits, wolves, foxes, and tigers. Even an exhibit of a simian species that went extinct due to the impact that reshaped the world. It had a discussion that them being so much more advanced at the time, had the impactor missed the world, they likely would have been the dominant species and all the species known would not have had the chance to become what they were now. It also showed how modern mammals were similar and yet also different physically. It showed genetic comparisons and how the genetics of modern mammals differed from their ancient ancestors and each other, while being more similar than different compared to their ancient non-sentient ancestors, along with hypotheses on what caused almost all mammals to undergo the changes they had.

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They visited dozens of parks, partook of even more restaurants and street vendors, and talked to hundreds of mammals eager to meet them. With two days left before they had to return to Zootopia, the group was walking through a small park in the original settlement district of the city. They had gotten a private tour of several things including the first burrow dug, and the fortifications established to keep the valley safe from raiders.

After collecting some food from a vendor, they had chosen to take up residence at one of the picnic tables and simply watch the mammals go by. They had enjoyed the museums, the visits to various police stations, a tour of the Von defense forces main base, and so much more. But right then, their kits all napping, a comfortably cool breeze coming down off the mountains and a clear blue sky. They just wanted a moment to enjoy the view of the mountains that had protected the city for so long.

They were granted that moment until a young mammal looking very much like a rabbit doe cautiously walked up. "Uhm… Ma'am?"

Judy looked around and not seeing anyone, looked down to find the doe. "Oh my. Arn't you just the prettiest little thing."

The doe blushed hard enough to show through her silver and cream splotched fur. "Thank you, ma'am. I know I shouldn't bother you, but are you Judy Hopps?"

Judy nodded with a smile, getting off the bench and kneeling down to be closer to the kits level. Mike, Nick, and Lizz watched while also scanning for the kit's parents. "I am Judy Hopps. What's your name, little one? How old are you?"

"I'm Pattica Hop, and I'm seven cycles next lunar. Pappa says we're not supposed to touch the shards, but I did because Bennis challenged me to. I agreed only if he would do it too. I want to marry Bennis, but he said girls are icky."

Judy chuckled. "Well, most boys think that when they are young. It doesn't last."

Pattica nodded with a grin. "That's what mamma used to say. I wanna be like Nik and Judi. I want to make Bennis my Nik."

Judy managed to cover the sensation that something wasn't quite right. The names hitting at something in her memory she couldn't put a paw on right then. "So where are your parents and Bennis?"

The little bun looked down. "I'm not sure. Mamma fell off the cliff with Bennis mamma and Pappa. So it's just me, Pappa, and Bennis. I was first and my mamma was pregnant with my bothers and sisters when it happened." The little bun shook off the darkness and grinned as only a kit can. "But Bennis and I have been chasing each other since we touched the shard."

The sensation that something very weird was going on crawled up Judy's spine. "So Bennis is like your brother now?"

Patticia shook her head. "No way! I wouldn't want to marry my brother. Ew!"

Judy nodded with a grin and stuck out her tongue. "I know. I mean that he lives with you and your Pappa. Where is your Pappa? I'm sure he's wondering where you are."

Patticia grinned. "The white wolf said we will get to go home once I catch Bennis. That we have to be together because we touched the shard together. But first I had to find you. He said I had to tell you… I had to tell you. Uhm…" She got a look of concentration on her face. "It was about a rock that wasn't a rock anymore. It was kinda silly."

Suddenly a fox kit about the same age quite literally appeared next to Patticia. "Patt. There you are!"

Patticia grinned and wrapped the fox kit in a crushing hug. "Bennis! I was just telling Judy about the rock that isn't a rock. I don't remember everything the White wolf told me."

Bennis grinned and looked up at Nick. "Hi! I'm Bennis." Waving. "The White wolf said to tell you that the rock that isn't a rock because it is an altar. It's still there, by the first burrow."

Patticia grinned. "That's right! An altar. Something Nik made. Think we can put our names on it when we get married?"

Bennis rolled his eyes. Hard, and the way only a pre-teen fox can manage when the mammal they see as their sister is crushing on them. "Well, that's the rules according to Pappa." As the kits began to fade and become transparent. "Oh. He also said to find the hollow. Not sure what that means. Said you would know and that you will be gifted something by the big cats with the teeth." Shrugging, he could be seen taking Patticia by the shoulders as he was slightly taller than she was. "Come one. Time to go home."

They all stared at the spot the kits had been. Mike spoke first. "What the actual hell was that?"

Nick blinked and looked around. "That… That was two kits from the time of the exodus. That was two kits that survived the events at the cliff and made it here to the founding of Von. Somehow reaching out across time."

Judy glared at Nick. "Nick! I felt her! She touched me!"

Nick shrugged his shoulders. "I don't have a clue, Fluff. She mentioned something about a shard. Maybe…" Looking off towards the mountain that were actually the crater wall. "They say large chunks of the impactor have weird properties. Maybe… Maybe they were knocked out of time when they touched the shard. Maybe that's how the seer is able to do what he does. Exposure to some pieces of the impactor."

Lizz gulped. "But we have pieces of the impactor in our mate rings."

Shaking his head with a deeper shrug of his shoulders, Nick sighed. "I don't know. Maybe that's what let us see them and interact with them. Maybe that's what drew them to us. All I have for you there is wild guesses."

Judy nodded. "Okay, but what were they talking about? Nik? Judi? I know those names, but can't place them. They're… old."

Nick nodded. "Yeah, a little confused, but I know what he was referring to. A stone altar? That would be a fox tradition. An ancestor stone. Basically we were just told that the original Wilde ancestor stone is still there by the old burrow. If that can be found, we can find that…"

Judy nodded. "Yeah, that would be something."

Mike chuckled. "You know what. I think I want to spend the last day or so we have here in the hotel. Curators with artifacts. Kits from the past just showing up like ghosts. Prophecies? I'm about tapped out on my ability to handle weirdness."

They all laughed and agreed, quickly packing up and heading back to the Hotel.

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The Cerebel landed in the empty lot next to the Misty Cliffs Family Suites apartment complex, the ramp lowering. Onlookers gawked at the machine and a minor accident occurred in the nearby intersection, the car not moving upon the green and being rear ended. Nick, Mike, Judy, and Lizz carefully maneuvering their carriages off the Cerebel's ramp and onto the sidewalk.

Judy looked back up into the ship where Terry and Fran stood at the top of the ramp. "You two are sure you won't come in for dinner?"

Terry shook his head. "Sorry, can't, as tempting as that may be. We really shouldn't land here, as it's not a designated landing zone. So staying here would just be asking for trouble. We promise to visit soon enough." With a wave Terry and Fran turned back into the ship, the ramp closed up and the Cerebel lifted off shortly thereafter, receding beyond view behind the trees of the nearby Rainforest district moments later.

Nick shook his head with a chuckle then leaned over, giving Judy a kiss on the top of her head as they walked towards the entrance to the complex. "Well, that was something. Let's get into our homes and relax a bit. I know we have basically been on a vacation of sorts, but resting in our actual home is really appealing. Mike and my parental leave is only going to last two more weeks. At least you and Lizz get two more months. By then we will have plenty of sitters available, my mom will be moved in, your sister will be as well. Then we have Terry and Darr and their pups. Ed and Elli, etc… Plus all those that live here."

Lizz laughed lightly. "Yes. Oh gods. I have been going nuts already being on paternity leave. Another two months?"

Mike chuckled. "Yes, Love. Two more whole months. However, both you and Judy will be getting paid a bit for consultation. While the task force has been approved, there is a lot of work to do before it can be fully up and running and we didn't exactly get a chance to do much of that before they tried to poison you guys. It's going to mean long hours, worse if we don't get it set up right in the first place. It is a big jump and the city is putting some real faith into Nick and Judy, and by extension us."

Nick nodded. "There's a lot, but with Judy's plan, we have already put in the needed personnel transfers. We have the office space and the construction will be done just before Mike and I end our leave. Which works out perfectly. About the time you two get off your leave and have to return to work, we'll be just hitting fully staffed. We were given six months to get things fully operational. We should be ready to start work in one, and by three when you two are back to work, we'll be kicking tail."

Judy nodded. "One hundred percent." Looking down at the kits with a grin. "Late nights will be far less often, unless absolutely needed. That's why we have others working for us. I don't want to miss out on too much. These little balls of fluff are going to be a handful and I'm not going to abandon them or let others raise them. I'm also not giving up my job and all the good I can do for the world and the world they are going to inherit."

Nick nodded with a smile, he and Judy leaning against each other as they pushed their carriage, Lizz and Mike doing the same. "I think we are all on that same page, Fluff."

Punching in their code at the entrance, the door opened to show Jacob standing there with a grin and clearly only barely containing himself, his eyes flicking between the parents and their kits. "Oh, thank the gods! You are all, alright. I mean, we saw the news and your families have been keeping me in the loop, but still! I can't believe some beast tried to poison you. What is wrong with mammals? Anyway, come on. Get in here!" Holding open the gate. "Those Nightwolves have done some interesting things, but security could not be tighter, and yet it's actually easier to get in and out, as long as you actually live here. So all the residents are actually really happy about the changes.

Oh, and Mike. Lizz. The Alpha left some contracts here that I need you to review and sign at some point in the next week. They're sealed and I was given instruction to wait until you got back to open them. I am hopeful that it'll be for the property next door."

Mike nodded. "I'll swing by the office tomorrow, will that work?"

Jacob grinned. "Absolutely."

A few minutes later, both sets of parents and kits were in their respective apartments, doors locked, kits in their cribs, and despite having been technically on vacation, all were passed out.

From the shadows of the complex courtyard, a snow white and void black smilodon stepped into view, were anyone to have been looking. With nods and smiles, they turned and vanished back into the shadows. Unnoticed by anyone save the small army of Nightwolves present, but also unmolested. Knowing nods from the higher ranking Nightwolves was the only indication that the smilodon's were noticed at all.

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No more than an hour after their heads hit their pillows, the first cry sounded from the first kit. It was almost as if they took turns, or shifts, being the first to start. This time it was James that started them. Within moments, all of them were crying, and unbeknownst to the parents, in a harmony with the other set only an apartment away. The parents woke, played rock-paper-scissors, and then the males got up. The conversation was functionally identical between Nick/Judy and Mike/Lizz.

Judy/Lizz gave Nick/Mike a look. "Why are you getting up, you won."

Mike/Nick smiled. "Oh. I thought we were playing for who got to attend to them. I won. My job to check on them."

"Doofus. Come here."

Both females grinned in love at their mates, pulling them into deep kisses before curling up and going back to sleep. Leaving their mates to handling their kits. Something that with changing, a small bottle feeding, burping, and finally getting them all back to sleep, took a good two hours.

Some hours after the kits were all asleep again, a repeat took place. This time the males simply slept through it, the ladies weren't going to give them a hard time about that, as it was feeding time. The cycle continued for the next three days. Both sets of parents actually awake starting mid day on the second day and sliding into a proper pattern and a semblance of a proper sleep cycle..

Two weeks after arriving home, the grandparents and other extended family appeared to help fill in and look after the kits, and by month's end, things were approaching a new normal save the return to work for the parents.

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After a month and a half, a few extra weeks were granted to Mike and Nick by Bogo after everything and due to some extenuating circumstances. As he put it, he had to deal with the aftermath of the Von reveal. "I don't need the two biggest headaches of my life causing me extra pain right now. Enjoy the time off and your kits. You'll be back to work, and an epic pain in my tail soon enough." None of them complained. It gave them the extra time to really settle in as parents, to get Nick's aunt moved, Nick's mom moved in, Lizz and Mike moved into the townhouse, and so many other things.

Several of Judy's siblings moved into the community as well, not just Alex and Jessica. Because of that, a pipeline of produce appeared in the complex, helping everyone there with groceries and providing a constant flow of fresh veggies, and more. An honor system based produce stand was set up allowing any resident to take what they needed, leaving as much as they could spare in the collection jar.

Back at the burrow, many changes were taking place as well. Expansions were being added with secondary entrances for larger mammals. Guest rooms were added with accommodations for mammals as large as Tigers, for obvious reasons. Permanent rooms were also added for mammals of various sizes, and a full section of the old burrow was set aside specifically to allow for accommodation of Hopps with non-rabbit mates.

Darr, his mate, Terry, and their pups also moved into the complex and the extra help of having mammals they could trust to look after them allowed them to fulfill their obligations in their new jobs, and Darr in his current role as Omega to Mike. Darr proved to be smart and exceedingly competent once settled into the expectations of Mike and Nick, fulfilling the role excellently.

Nick and Mike started back to work part time. Some of the extenuating circumstances being a construction delay on the bridge between the precinct and the ZPD's general services office building where IA lived, the main dispatch center was located, along with other services. There had also been a delay with the construction of the office space for the task force. The result was charges being levied at one of the construction companies and the ZPD dropping the outsourced IT company and hiring a fully internal IT team.

The ZPD's new fully species blind hiring policies earned them some absolutely top tier mammals. Mammals who simply could not get a job paying them what they were worth prior, because they were foxes, or weasels, or raccoons, etc… Once fully staffed, they had five foxes, three racoons, three weasels, a pangolin, a dozen rats, and two mice on staff, as well as two wolves and three elk. And that was just the IT department. The horrors they revealed to Bogo within their first week on the job nearly gave him a heart attack. The ZPD systems were fully and completely compromised. To the point that the hackers could alter online reports after they had been filed.

They were also able to identify who was doing it, with the ZPD systems so utterly compromised, none of the hackers had bothered to hide their traces, because the previous IT company had been in on it, and had been actively selling access. A dozen officers, including a station captain, were arrested because of that. After two weeks of the systems being down, having been scrubbed clean of malware, viruses, backdoors, VPNs that connected to just about every bad actor in the city, the ZPD systems were brought back online. Bogo was left wondering how they managed to catch any criminals at all.

All officers noted that the systems were not just a little bit faster, but without all the bloat on their systems and servers from the spy ware and monitoring software, as well as the VPNs and other non-ZPD traffic,and their network connections were lightning fast as well. They quickly found that what used to take an hour due to having to wait for something to load, really only took 10 minutes.

Bogo openly admitted that he didn't understand everything… In truth next to nothing, that the new IT mammals were doing, but the rats had crawled through every single cable pathway pulling new cables and removing not dozens, but hundreds of devices attached to the pre-existing cabling that gave still more bad actors access to the ZPDs internal network and systems.

It had been… Expensive. But now the ZPD, from the smallest community outpost, to P1 itself, was clean. Most of the costs were being covered by the ex-IT company as part of the restitution required due to their involvement, while the mammals most directly involved were criminally charged. The company was sold to pay off correcting what they had done. What wasn't covered by that was covered by the ZPDs insurance, and without an increase to the ZPDs costs, as they were involved in the selection of the outsourced IT company.

By the time Nick and Mike were back to work, yet more corrupt mammals had been removed from the system, and Bogo was happy to note that, while the four small mammals that were going to be graduating from the upcoming ZPA class were not going to make it to P1, they would have more small mammals on the force.

Even the commissioner had stepped down. The aging deer had not, as far as anyone could tell, known that the company he had signed on for the outsourced IT was selling access the way it was. There was an investigation and he was not shown to have profited in any way. He simply went with the recommendation of the ZPDs insurance company in order to get them a discount when he outsourced IT. It was nonetheless his decision.

When NIck and Mike returned to work to oversee the final items of the task force's office space, Bogo was filling in as commissioner. He had complained more than a few times to Nick and Mike during update meetings in his office, of how he feared that the Mayor planned to make him take that job permanently. Something mentioned in passing at one of their regular lunches as it would allow him to better manage the Von situation, and be open about Ben being part of the family. The issue being who they would promote to Chief of the ZPD and who would take over Chief of P1, as that did not necessarily have to be the same mammal. There were some, as the Mayor put it, very large hooves to fill.

Adding insult to injury. The construction company that was contracted for the task force office space and bridge between the office space and ZPD main building, had tried to sabotage the office space and the bridge. The sabotage was caught out by a recruit doing a tour. Turns out, their entire family was in construction and they had even studied structural engineering before deciding to be a cop. The irony of them being a literal black sheep, literally and figuratively, was not lost on Bogo. A fact he blamed on too much exposure to Nick as he popped several Tigrenol for the migraine just thinking it induced. The recruit had pointed out several issues with how the bridge was being built, and how it wouldn't be able to withstand the weight of much of anything. After another contractor was called in to check things, their findings turned into arrests and charges following shortly thereafter.

It was further revealed that both the construction company and outsourced IT company the city, and therefore the ZPD had been using, were directly linked to Dawn and Doug, through a shell company, or three. It was how they were able to know what the ZPD had been up to, and how to avoid them. As well as how they had access to the Traffic Camera feeds without leaving a login trail.

Through offshoots of the original Nighthowler investigation pursued slowly, carefully, and offline. It was revealed how Dawn and her terrorist cell had evaded capture and exposure on a number of occasions. How they had access to confidential files, restricted areas of the city, and had even had secret passages and safe rooms built into city hall and other city buildings that were not on the public plans.

The City itself took the ZPD's example, given that the ZPD loaned their technicians to do a very precursory examination and found it to be just as bad. As such, the Mayor and council made the quick shift and started hiring internal IT again. The council also passed a law that made it so that the city could never be fully outsourced again. Something that IT professionals had been advocating for years. Basic Help Desk sort of things could be outsourced, but anything higher than that had to be vetted, in-house, actual city employees.

Much to many of the larger mammals loud complaints, and just like the ZPDs new hiring practices, the City adopted the same fully blind hiring system employed by the ZPD. A mammals species was unknown until they actually came in for their final in person interview and had already passed all but a final background check. Thus their IT team, just as had happened with the ZPD, ended up made up of mostly smaller, normally marginalized mammals. This also brought in other unexpected hires. A dozen rabbits and groundhogs were brought on as part of the city's planning department due to their expertise in underground construction to allow for above ground structures.

The very face of the city's employees and the distribution of mammals was shifting. The mayor held a press conference to address the complaints. Many of which had been picked up by the media as some mammals were accusing the city of overcompensating and now discriminating against those who didn't get the jobs.

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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.

So keep those reviews and comments coming. And also remember, if you see issues, misspellings, etc... Let me know in PM, I'm under no illusion of being perfect and want to fix those things I miss.