Disclaimer: Zootopia and all related characters are owned by Disney. All other characters, product names, trademarks, and copyrights, belong to their respective owners.
…..
An old corsac fox carrying a bag of crushed aluminum cans over his shoulder was winding his way through the alleys of Happytown, searching dumpsters and trash bins for anything valuable. Unfortunately, this was Happytown, which meant that most buildings were either empty or on their way to abandoned as soon as the current occupants finished running out of money.
It hadn't always been this way. The old fox remembered growing up not too far away in a neighborhood made up of working-class mammals that weren't rich but did well enough to be happy and help their kits to a better life than they'd had. Mother Nature and Progress were two forces that couldn't easily be contained, and in Happytown, they conspired together to make life miserable.
Of the two, he didn't know which was worse. Progress beget automation, which eliminated most of the paws on manufacturing jobs that Happytown used to be known for, and competition, which moved the jobs the robots couldn't do overseas to mammals who said they could do the work on the cheap. Mother Nature, on the other paw, was more subtle. She liked to tear down hope by rotting away any chance the old factories might have had to come back to life.
Fortunately for him, the two she-devils couldn't be everywhere all the time, and occasionally they let an old building, or a passerby, shed enough valuable metal to pay for a hot meal.
Dropping down from another empty dumpster, the corsac fox rounded the corner of the warehouse and spied a couple of somethings different from last week when he'd walked this way. The padlock on the mammal entry door had been cut off and tossed to the ground, and one of the two large truck doors wasn't closed as tight against the old concrete floor as usual.
'Someone's come and gone in the last few days.'
"Got an oil leak too," said the old-timer to himself as he smeared a recent oil drip into the concrete with his toe.
Taking a quick look around to make sure no one was watching him, the fox turned a rusty doorknob and pushed his way inside. No one he knew had ever been in here before. And after his eyes adjusted to the dim interior, he knew why. Except for stacks of broken down pallets and a few piles of what looked like old bricks on the far side of the building, the place was empty.
And dusty.
Well, except for where tire tracks cut through the dust on their way to the other side of a large pile of empty wooden crates. Following the tracks, the old-timer saw something pretty big, covered with a tarp, tucked away behind the pile.
He wasn't a thief, but enough others were. If this was something someone else stole and dumped here, there might be a reward for finding it. He'd made a little money in the past reuniting owners with items they'd thought were gone forever. Today might be another one of those days.
Getting closer, the fox made out the shape of his possible prize and saw where the tarp hadn't completely covered one of its tires. Taking a closer look at the tarp, he could see that it was brand new, no stains, no dust, someone had left this here, all wrapped up, sometime in the last week.
Walking around to the passenger side, he figured he'd look in the glove compartment and see who might be interested in this car. Lifting the tarp, the old fox reached in and then jerked his paw back. The light wasn't great, but it was good enough that he let the tarp drop and stepped back.
He was old enough and had spent enough time on the streets that normally he'd make an anonymous call to the cops and let them take care of this. But Finn had put the word out to the community that that vixen cop with the long ears had gone missing and if anyone saw her, or anything else unusual, to let him know right away.
This was unusual.
Pushing open the door to the Foxburg diner, the corsac fox set his bag in the corner behind the door and waved down Finn. Leaning over the counter so he could whisper in Finn's ear, the two foxes spent more than a few moments with their heads together. The corsac talked, Finn listened, nodded, and finally waved Tiffany over.
"Anything he wants, on the house. I'll be right back."
Wishing he hadn't switched shifts with his day manager so he could have stuck him with this, Finn went back to his office and grabbed his phone. About to call Nick and dump this turd on him, so he could flush it and keep the Happytown foxes off this level of radar, he hesitated.
"Plumbing problems."
Was this something unusual? Sure, it's Happytown, though. But did it have anything to do with a bunny attacked on the other side of town? Not likely. It's probably the trash left over from some 'family' business dealings. Important enough to risk a call to Wilde after his sorry excuse of a muzzle was splashed all over the internet yesterday? Probably not. Did he want this mess out of his fur quietly? Hell, yes.
"So, who's left with enough juice to quietly clean this up?"
'Work through my Howler friend.'
Putting away his phone, Finn opened a drawer and fished around in the back of it until he pulled out one of his burner phones. Entering a number that his boy Rat had dug up for him, Finn keyed in a message followed by a special emoji, hit the send button, and then as soon as the text was gone, pulled the battery and smashed the burner.
-/-/-
Judy heard the pitter-patter of small feet pass outside her door and stop a few steps down the hall. Stepping into the hallway, Judy interrupted Sunni about to open Nick's door.
"Hey guys, need some help?"
All the does, started nodding as Sunni sagely said, "Mr. Nick is very hard to get out of bed, without us, he'd sleep right through breakfast."
"And his morning exercise," said Sasha.
"Saturday morning chores, too," added Susan.
Judy pushed through the small group, opened the door, and whispered, "How about I give it a try?"
Padding over to the bed, Judy knelt and put her muzzle next to Nick's, "Wakey, wakey, time for breakfast."
"Mmmm…" followed by an unconscious sniff and then some more mumbling. "Not a Sunni, smells like a… Carrots."
Judy stroked her fox's head fur and whispered, "Got it in one, Slick."
"Carrots?"
Nick's eyes popped open to see his bunny nod while scritching his head. As smile met smile, Nick snuck his paw around Judy's back and started to pull her in for a good morning kiss, when–
"Wow, he woke right up."
"Yeah, how'd she do that?"
"Come on, let's jump on Mr. Nick's bed."
Quickly pulling away from Nick, Judy turned in time to deftly catch Sunni in mid-air and set her down by the bed, "How about I finish waking Mr. Nick up, and we meet you at breakfast?"
Sasha stepped forward and waved her mom-finger at Judy, "Okay, but Mr. Nick has work this morning, so he needs to wear his clean uniform."
Susan joined her littermate in finger waving, "Yeah, it's hanging over there."
"Along with one of his new shirts. Don't let him wear the flowered one, he has a meeting with the Mayor," scolded Sunni.
Judy looked away from Nick's kerfluffle of personal assistants and, raising an eyebrow, gave Nick her best 'seriously' look.
"What? They're better than a day planner."
As the kits all hopped away, Judy sat up on the bed and ran her paws through Nick's chest fur. Nick closed his eyes again as Judy's gentle ministrations worked their way up to his shoulders, and then he felt her warm breath on his muzzle as he opened his eyes to see her almost–
"Nick!" yelled Janae as she poked her head in the door.
"Oh, you're awake."
Judy straightened up and let her head drop, "Yes. He's awake."
"Good, make sure he wears his–"
"Clean uniform, got it."
"And–"
"New shirt."
"Remember–"
"Meeting with the Mayor, I know."
"Okay, see you guys at breakfast."
Judy pounded her head against Nick's chest, "I can't believe you. I'm surprised you don't have someone doing your patrols for you too."
"Give me a few minutes, and I'll see what I can do," chuckled Nick.
Judy glanced at the open door to make sure no one was there and then grabbed Nick by the muzzle and kissed him. Humming, she parted his lips and searched out his tongue with hers. After a few moments of passion and before Judy completely gave in to her crazy bunny side, or another sibling wandered by, she broke the kiss and hopped off the bed.
"Hurry up, we don't want to be late for breakfast."
Nick silently stared after Judy's bobbing tail as she slowly sashayed across the room, grabbed the door handle, and then stopped. With an extra tail wiggle, she turned her head back toward Nick and asked, "Like the view?"
A moment, and two expertly thrown pillows, later, Judy was in the hallway smirking at a closed door.
-/-/-
"Morning, Hun. Have a seat. Breakfast is almost ready."
Connor stopped in mid-motion. He'd just walked out of the bedroom, tucking in his shirt, when he heard his mate's unexpected morning greeting.
Olivia was busy in the kitchen, frying something, baking something else, and stirring a pot of a third thing all simultaneously.
"Uhhh, breakfast?"
"Yup," came a sing-song happy reply from the other side of the counter. "You've been working so hard and stuck drinking coffee all the time, I thought I'd make sure you got at least one good meal today."
Sitting, tentatively, on a barstool, Connor sniffed and said, "Smells, um, good."
"Thanks, I made you all your favorites. Chicken sausage burritos, turkey bacon, portobello eggs benedict, and," setting a large bowl on the counter next to all the plates of food, "Malt-o-Meal with honey and banana slices, just the way you like it."
And then, leaning on the counter with her paws clasped, Olivia started to purr.
Taking in the counter covered with plates and bowls of food, enough to feed most of pack Black Paw, Connor grimaced and said, "Wow, yeah, smells delicious. You didn't have to do… all of this. I mean, yum, but last night. You know. Wow, you really cooked all my favorites, like at the same time.
"Is everything okay?"
"Uh-huh," replied Olivia nibbling on her lower lip. "I'm fine."
"Are you sure? You kind of went green when you saw the salmon sushi I picked up for dinner last night, and then you tossed and turned all night."
"I can make you some avocado toast if you'd like."
"No, no, I'm good, thanks though, maybe–"
*bzzzzzz*
"Hang on, Bogo's texting me," said Connor as he grabbed the cell phone his boss had given him so they could communicate securely. Except…
"What's wrong, Hun?"
"I don't know," mumbled Connor reading the text.
Come alone, stay quiet, stay out of sight, asap. Followed by an address and a…
"What the hell, how did he get this number?" mumbled Connor staring at the Pawpsicle emoji.
"Sorry Babe, I gotta go," and then grabbing a burrito, he kissed his mate and hurried out.
"But, Connor, Hun, we need to–"
*slam*
"–talk."
-/-/-
"Good morning, Mr. Nick, Miss Judy."
Nick looked up from his mostly-demolished plate of blueberry pancakes to see Ruthie standing next to him.
"Hey there, Ruthie," standing up, Nick pulled out a chair for Ruthie and then peeked into her carrier, "Looks like your kits are happy."
Blushing a bit, she replied, "Yeah, I was able to feed them this morning. Katlynn showed me how to do it right."
"How about you?" asked Judy, "How are you feeling?"
"A lot better now. Dinner last night was delicious, and…" looking down at her sleeping kits, "Lewis brought me a snack late last night while Katlynn was feeding the kits."
"Speaking of…" Nick whispered to Judy as he nodded toward the teenage buck making his way over to the table carrying two plates of food.
"Here you go Ruthie."
About to set a plate of mixed vegetables and hash browns in front of Ruthie, Lewis was halted by his father storming into the dining hall carrying an antique book. Everyone watched as Stu maneuvered his way through the room toward where Nick was sitting, only to pause when he saw Lewis serving Ruthie her breakfast. Glaring for a moment at the doe and then longer at Nick, Stu grumbled something to himself and then made his way to his office, slamming the door hard enough that it bounced back open.
Once Stu was out of sight, Ruthie whispered, "I don't think he likes me being here."
Nick chuckled, "No, I'm pretty sure the one he doesn't like being here, is me."
"Nick…"
"Carrots, you know it's true."
"I'll talk with Mom–"
"No, I need to take care of this myself."
Standing and straightening out his uniform, Nick gulped down the rest of his coffee and, with a deep breath, said, "Wish me luck."
"Thank you, Mr. Nick."
Nodding to Ruthie, Nick made his way toward the kitchen and Stu's office.
Knocking lightly on the half-open door, Nick cleared his throat and said, "Excuse me, Mr. Hopps, do you have a moment?"
Stu looked up from the ancient tome he was reading and glared at the fox disturbing him. Nick stood straight and withstood the angry stare until Stu nodded.
Moving further into the room, Nick gently pushed the door closed enough so that he could speak with Stu privately and said, "Sir–"
"Is this about the banished doe and her kits?"
"Yes."
-/-/-
Slowing down to read the address on an old abandoned warehouse, Connor sighed, 'Happytown, not so happy for a lot of years.' Continuing past his target, Connor turned at the next street and, using an alley, backtracked to park in a sheltered spot where no one walking by should see him or his Zoobaru.
Connor grabbed his gun and checked himself over. Decent jeans and a black polo, so much for blending into the neighborhood. Reaching into the back seat, Connor grabbed an old sweatshirt he kept hidden there because Olivia had threatened, on numerous occasions, to "Throw away that moth-eaten, torn up, pathetic excuse for a piece of clothing," if she ever found it in the laundry again.
'Females, they just don't understand.'
Pulling the threadbare sweatshirt on without enlarging any of the holes, Connor made sure his holster was hidden and walked around to the front of the building.
Stopping in front of the mammal entry door, Connor spied the cut padlock on the ground, and then glancing over to the large truck door, he saw it was slightly raised too. Not sure what his Pawpsicle-loving informant was expecting him to find, Pawson pulled his gun and quietly pushed open the door.
Crouching close to the slightly open truck entrance door, Connor's eyes quickly adjusted enough to the dark that he was able to see tire tracks and paw prints in the dust leading deep into the warehouse.
Following all the various tracks through the dust on the concrete floor, Pawson ended up next to a tarp-covered car hidden behind some stacks of old wooden crates.
Gun at the ready, he lifted part of the tarp out of the way, opened the driver's side door, and shuddered.
"Gawd, what a smell."
Holstering his gun, Connor unlocked his secure phone and tapped the bull-shaped icon on the screen.
"Yes, Pawson."
"Sir, you won't believe what I just found."
-/-/-
Judy lasted only a few seconds watching her fox make his way out of the dining room before she got up and followed him. Reaching the kitchen just as Nick stepped into her parent's office, Judy tiptoed the rest of the way to the door and maneuvered an ear across the small door gap so she could hear what her fox was saying.
"Judy, what are you doing?"
Startled, Judy waved for her mom to be quiet and then whispered back, "Nick's talking to Dad about Ruthie."
"Oh," replied Bonnie as she leaned close and extended an ear out next to her daughter's.
-/-/-
Stu glared again at Nick and then, lifting up the old book he was holding for the fox to see, said, "Found it down in the shelter among my parents' old things," and then setting the open book on a table next to him, "I've spent the last couple of hours reading up on what you did, and according to the Old Law, you were well within your rights to do what you did with that doe.
"I find it interesting that you seem to know more about the law in Bunnyburrow than most of its citizens."
Nick gestured toward Stu's duplicate original of the Old Law, paw written in the same basic business cursive as the Burrow Meister medallion he was wearing, and asked, "You can read Lapine?"
"Yes, a byproduct of growing up in an orthodox household. And you?"
"No sir, before I left Zootopia, I met with a History Professor in the city, and she emailed me a copy of the Old Law translation, along with some information on rabbit, uh, culture."
"So, you did your homework before coming out here? I heard from Bonnie how you told her and some of my kits that you're an expert at twisting the law, finding loopholes, and working your way around laws you don't like."
Nick looked down, "I'm not a criminal."
"But you are a fox."
Nick nodded.
"So, about the doe, are you here to apologize?"
Nick straightened up, "No, sir. I came to explain myself and possibly find a new place to live afterward, but I won't be apologizing for rescuing Ruth Anne and her kits."
"Go on."
"It didn't matter to me if I found a loophole in the Old Law or not, that girl didn't deserve to be kicked out of her home and left to fend for herself and her kits. I spent a lot of time on the streets, and it's not a life I'd wish on anyone, especially not on a young mother."
"I want to say Ruthie and I have a lot in common, both of us alone with no family at sixteen, but she has it so much worse than I did. Her mother was chased away by her father, and then her father kicks her and her kits out of the house. At least I had loving parents that tried their best before they died."
"When I saw her there sitting behind a trashcan, alone, unable to feed her kits, and that old bun Furston trying to tell me that it was her fault for having kits without being mated and no one cared about her, and there was nothing anyone would do to help her, I lost it.
"I know what happens when animals don't care enough to help, because I've lived it."
Paws trembling at his sides, mouth gone dry, Nick took a few breaths and, doing his best to focus on Stu, said, "My dad was killed by a drunk driver. He was crossing a street and got clipped by some mammal that started drinking at lunch and was three sheets to the wind by quitting time.
"The drunk killed himself wrapping his car around a tree a few blocks away from where my dad was thrown into a ditch.
"When the EMTs showed up, they did everything they could to try and save the driver, crowbars, jaws of life, a saw to cut open the door, everything, and why wouldn't they…"
A whine escaped Nick's throat as he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, "A cop, an old elephant bull, backtracked the tire marks in the road, saw where the guy came from and kept walking until he heard a moan from the ditch on the side of the road.
"I found out later, don't ask how, the warthog that called in the accident never mentioned a fox had been hit. Turned out he didn't think a pelt was worth worrying about, he didn't care enough to let the emergency operator, or anyone else, know."
Looking down, Nick whispered, "I never told my mom. It would have destroyed her. If that caller had cared enough, if someone had told the EMTs, if they'd been able to get to him a little sooner, he might have made it."
Stu swallowed.
Nick talking more to himself now than to Stu, said, "She probably knew. She must have, I could tell. She was always a lot smarter than I was. She cried a lot, wouldn't ever let me see her when she did though. I hated that she cried. I hustled more, I tried to take care of her as best as a twelve-year-old could, but it wasn't enough, a few years later, she died too."
"You were just a little kit."
Looking up, Nick's face hardened as he extended a claw and pointed it as Stu, "I stopped being a little kit the first night my mom cried herself to sleep, the same night I vowed on my dad's memory that I would never stand by and allow what happened to him to happen to anyone else.
"Unlike that warthog, this pelt cares."
"What happened to Ruthie never happens again. I don't care if it costs me my job, I don't care if I end up in jail, and I sure as hell don't care what laws I have to twist or abuse.
"Never. Again."
Nick steadied himself, and facing Stu, he inclined deep enough, barely, for a respectful bow, and said, "If you want me to leave your warren, I'll be out tomorrow. But I'd be indebted to you if you would allow Ruth Anne to stay here under the protection of your warren until she's able to take care of herself and her kits on her own."
Straightening back up, Nick watched as Stu thought about his bargain, and after a few moments, the elder buck nodded once, agreeing to the fox's terms.
Nick stared at Stu for a moment and then, sighing, inclined his head, slightly, in thanks, and then quietly padded over to the door. Taking a breath, Nick opened the office door and stepped out into…
…a gauntlet of doe ears.
Realizing that his conversation with Stu hadn't been as private as he'd intended, Nick bowed slightly to the older doe and said, "Mrs. H., if you'll excuse me," and then to Judy, "I've got to go to work." A few moments later, the front door opened and closed.
"Oh, Judy, what Nicholas said, it was so terrible. Did you know all that about his father?"
Judy glared at her mother, "Of course I did. Nick told me, and I knew the investigating officer who gave me all his old case files before he retired."
Waving a finger as she took a step toward the office, Judy growled, "Dad's wrong about him."
"Honey," replied Bonnie, putting a paw up to calm her daughter.
Brushing the paw away, Judy spat out, "Mom, let me–"
Judy's ears shot up at the sound of Nick's car door slamming shut, and a moment later, she jumped toward the front door, yelling, "Nick!"
Flying out the door, Judy caught up with Nick as he started his car. Putting her paws on the car door, she leaned her head into the open window, "What else happened in there? What are you doing?"
Nick slammed the steering wheel and yelled, "I have to be out by tomorrow. Alright."
And then, without looking at Judy, he said in a more subdued voice, "Carrots, I'm just a damn pelt, and no matter how hard I try, I'll never be good enough for him." And then looking Judy in the eyes, "No matter what I do, all your dad's ever going to see when he looks at me is a shifty, untrustworthy fox."
"Nick, that's not true."
Putting his car in gear, Nick grabbed the steering wheel tight and said, "I'm sorry that it was me that screwed up everything between you and your dad."
"But…" was all Judy got out before Nick's car was out of earshot, "…please don't leave me."
-/-/-
Connor bided his time waiting for the Chief by checking out as much of the car as he could without disturbing the scene.
Popping the trunk, he'd been hit with another rancid smell. It was days like today that he hated having one of the best noses in the precinct. Carefully untying the black plastic bag, Connor confirmed what his nose had just told him. Closing the bag back up and then fishing around the trunk to make sure there wasn't anything else that was going to require a mountain of paperwork, Connor shut the trunk and stepped around to inspect the car's back seat.
A few moments of holding his nose later, Connor closed that door too. Nothing in the back except some empty take-out bags from one of those high-end, all organic restaurants Olivia kept trying to get him into, and a trash bag half-filled with empty glass bottles of ultrapure spring water.
Leaving the rest of the car alone, Pawson sniffed around the outside, especially near any of the disturbed dust, and tried to identify the mammals he was smelling. The easiest, freshest scent was of a fox. Pawson assumed that he'd been the one to find the car.
The prints in the dust weren't from a fennec fox, so whoever it was must have gone straight to Nick's friend Finn, who in turn, dumped this on him to take care of it quietly.
"Yeah, quietly. Like that's going to happen."
Another few sniffs, and he'd cataloged three other scents on the ground around the car. None of them as distinct as the fox's scent, so he couldn't tell what species, but he'd definitely be able to identify the animals if he ever found them.
Connor expanded his search radius and continued to look for anything else important until he heard the warehouse door open and the grunts of a large mammal making his way over to him.
"So, what have we got here?"
Pawson pulled the tarp off the car and said…
-/-/-
Four days earlier….
"Thank you, your dying scream was music to my ears," said the Mule looking at the rabbit's dirt and dust covered body lying on the pavement, "So much for the Hero of Zootopia, and her rabbit BB gun, time to pay the bills." Coughing, the Mule readied his claw, if the client wanted messy, he'd give them messy.
Stepping toward his victim's body, he quickly jumped back as a large plastic bag on top of the overflowing dumpster split open and gave way. It had been ripped during the fight and waited until now to cover the rabbit's corpse with a nail-covered board, drywall bits, and sawdust.
The Mule smiled, "Resigned to *cough* the scrap heap."
Chuckling at his own joke, the laughs devolved into coughs just as Minnie pulled up with their car and pushed open the passenger-side door.
"We have to leave now! Her partner's headed this way."
Looking back at the pile, the Mule saw that one of the rabbit's feet was sticking out from the rubble. "I want a souvenir, something to *cough* bring me luck."
The Mule moved toward the exposed limb with his gloved hoof held at the ready when he heard in the distance, a yell.
"HOPPS!"
"Get in the car now! If that cop sees you, he'll know a pred didn't kill her. Move! Now!"
Staggering a bit, the Mule moved to the open door, all the while looking back at his latest victim, and then, about to fall into the front seat, he saw it.
Her foot moved.
Trying to reverse himself to get back out and finish the job, he heard it.
A weak moan.
She was still alive.
He'd missed.
Rage colored his face. Landing in the seat, he lifted his clawed hoof to the ready and started to get out of the car, when instead, he felt Minnie grab the collar of his vest and pull him back into his seat.
"Noooo."
The Mule was further pressed into his seat as his partner hit the accelerator, and the car jerked forward so quickly that the door slammed shut, trapping the Mule, and his failure, in the car as it sped down the alley, leaving a trail of burnt rubber skid marks in its wake.
Driving like a demon, Minnie glanced in the rearview mirror, and not seeing the rabbit's partner yet, she turned hard left just past a fence and sped down the connecting alley out onto the main road.
"Idiot. Another couple of seconds and he would have spotted us. Lucky for us, now all they've got are pieces of a body and skid marks."
Minnie heard the clatter of metal and glanced over to see her partner's evil-looking glove, with bits of blue material on the tines, discarded on the floorboard by her partner's feet.
Letting out a breath, Minnie relaxed a little, the rabbit was dead, and they'd gotten away without there being any witnesses.
"Next time, listen to me. In and out, you kill the mark, we get out, and then we get paid. Got it?"
*Cough* The Mule's arm went up, and he waved his hoof a little keeping his muzzle pointed toward the door window.
Shaking her head, she ground out, "Don't be an ass. As soon as we switch cars, you and I are going to have it out. We should have hit her somewhere less exposed. We got lucky this time."
"Lucky?" The Mule said, coughing, "No, it was destiny."
"What the hell are you talking about? For once in your life, cut the metaphysical horseshit and get to the point."
As Minnie drummed her hoof on the steering wheel, she heard something she hadn't expected from her partner.
Laughter, a wet-sounding, choking laughter.
"What's so funny?"
"The rabbit, she's alive. I missed."
"What! You never miss. Now we'll have to go back and kill everyone, so much for the fucking bonus."
"No."
"No? What the–"
The Mule turned toward Minnie so she could see all of him, "She's the one, *cough*, my destiny. My… release."
Minnie gasped. The Mule, the most feared assassin in the world, was smiling. He was showing all his oversized teeth, teeth coated in blood, blood that was dripping out of his mouth and nose as he choked, sputtered, and… laughed.
"Shot me."
Minnie reached over and felt her partner's chest, "No, no, you have your vest on." Moving her hoof lower, below his vest, she felt something very wet. Pulling her hoof back, she saw it was covered in blood.
"No!" Minnie hit the steering wheel and tried to keep from crying, "What am I supposed to do?" She was stuck. There was nowhere safe to stop anymore. She'd already spent too much time traveling side streets and alleys to get to the only route she knew of that had been fully cleared of JamCams, and now that she was on it, there was nothing she could do until she switched cars in Happytown.
"All my life, searching. She killed me. A rabbit *cough* was the one."
Minnie heard a shudder and then nothing.
Staring straight out the windshield, Minnie whispered, "Oh, Bobo, please… no," and then wiped away a tear. Checking her speed to make sure she wasn't going too fast, she breathed deep and mentally reviewed her retirement plan and where she could find a hole deep enough to hide in until this mess blew over.
-/-/-
"…the Mule," finished Pawson.
"Are you sure?"
"As much as I can be. His scent matches a drop of blood I found at the construction site, and take a look on the floorboard in front of him. That has to be the weapon he used on Hopps, it still has bits of her uniform stuck in the tines."
"And back here," Pawson lifted the trunk door and handed Bogo a driver's license, "Hopps' landlord. He was reported missing the day she was attacked.
"And his scent matches the bloody scrap of Hopps' dress I found in her apartment."
Bogo nodded, "The shredded dress Jackson found. Yeah," looking at Pawson, "The pieces fit. I'm guessing the Mule was hunting for Hopps and found her landlord instead."
Stepping around to the passenger side of the car, Bogo opened the door and took a closer look at the corpse. Seeing all the blood and fluids soaked into the seat, he grimaced, "You said Hopps got off a few shots?"
"Yeah, she thought she missed."
Pointing to three small holes in the Mule's vest, "She hit him alright, made a mess too. Looks like he bled out while making his getaway. You also said Hopps talked about a mini-horse accomplice?"
"Yeah, a mare. She lured Hopps behind the construction site where she was attacked."
Pointing to the driver's seat that was adjusted for a smaller mammal than the Mule, Bogo said, "She must have been the driver, left him here." Bogo went back around to where Pawson was and pointed to the dusty concrete floor, "Another car was parked right there. She left the Mule, and their getaway car, here and took off in something else we have no way of finding."
Pawson held out his phone, "Shall I call in CSI and have them lock down the building?"
Shaking his head, Bogo replied, "No," and then looking the wolf in the eye, "Pawson, as far as I'm concerned, we aren't here, you never found this car, and the Mule escaped."
"Sir, what are you talking about? We can't ignore this, it's the greatest takedown of all time. Hopps will go down in the history books, she brought down the best, the most feared assassin the world has ever known."
"No, she didn't. The Mule got away." Putting an arm on the shoulders of the confused wolf, Bogo said, "Look, Pawson, what happens to Hopps if the world finds out what she's done?"
Pawson looked at the corpse and shrugged his shoulders, "Book tours, movie deals, talk shows, I don't know, she'll be famous."
"Think about it, a rabbit took down the Mule. Once that gets out, every hitmammal who wants to make a name for themselves will be after her. She won't be able to go anywhere without worrying about being hunted, shot, or worse. Do you really want that for her?"
Connor folded his arms across his chest, "I don't know, sir, an endless horde of heavily armed, trophy hunting hitmammals, versus Hopps?" Nodding toward the car, he smirked, "My money's on Hopps."
Bogo chuckled, "Yeah, mine too, except, I don't think the Zootopia Tourist Bureau would appreciate the body count, so let's play it my way."
"What about Hopps? Are you going to tell her?
Bogo shook his head, "No, not right now. Whoever hired the Mule is still out there, and Hopps needs some time to heal. If I tell her now, she'll be back here in a heartbeat with Wilde in tow, and both of them will be royal pains in my tail until I put them back on the case."
"Yeah, you're right, I guess, it's just," sighing, Connor waved toward the body, "it's the Mule, sir. I mean, I know a guy who would give his hind teeth to be standing here right now, and now he'll never know what happened. Hell, nobody will ever know." Turning to Bogo, "So, what's your plan, call Big and have him send a cleaning crew, or are we going to torch the building and get rid of the bodies that way?"
Both mammals turned as they heard one of the building's truck doors go up and then watched as three black sedans with tinted glass and a large covered truck all pulled in.
"Neither, I called a friend."
One of the sedans pulled away from the pack and parked about ten yards from the two Officers. Pawson watched as a distinguished looking elk got out of the unmarked vehicle and walked over, "Adrian–"
"Professor Elkdon?" Pawson interrupted, and then turning to Bogo, said, "You called the ZBI. How is that going to help?"
"Officer Pawson, how nice to see you again. I've heard good things about you since you graduated from the ZPA. Please give my best to your mate, and congratulations to you both."
"Huh?" grunted Pawson.
"Enough Hari," Bogo grunted, "he's over there, in the front seat."
Prof. Elkdon went around to the open door and took a look. A moment later, everyone heard a shout, "You got him, how the hell did you do it. I need to know everything."
"No, not until you agree to take this mess off my hooves. I want that bastard out of my city, I want him to die somewhere else, anywhere else, and I want you to disappear the bodies, so there's no blowback on my people."
"You want me to fake his takedown somewhere else? What the hell happened? How many bodies are we talking about? I can handle maybe five or six, but if you lost more Officers than that, I can't disappear that kind of carnage."
Bogo motioned to Pawson, who walked over to the trunk, "There's only one other body, a red panda, a Nip dealer fronting as a landlord, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. That's it."
Elkdon's eyes widened, "No other casualties? The team that did this, they're all still alive?"
Pawson huffed, "Solo kill."
Elkdon dove down and ran a hoof over the Mule's vest, "Three hits, small caliber, decent grouping," and then pulling the straps off the vest, he pulled it away, "Level II vest, rounds went right through it like it wasn't even there, and, oh my god, what a mess. I'm not sure it's worth doing an autopsy on what's left."
Standing back up, Elkdon glared at Bogo, "How? What the hell do you arm your people with? There's no way–"
"Mousermann," replied Pawson.
"A Mousermann?"
"Yeah, an Elite Custom," and then tossing a small evidence bag of shell casings to Professor Elkdon, added, "Ultra Mag loads."
Turning the bag over in his hoof, the wide-eyed Professor replied, "Bogo, I want your equipment budget."
Shaking his head, Bogo replied, "It's personally owned."
"Well, hell, I want your payroll then."
"Will you do it?"
Elkdon chuckled, "Yes, but I've got a condition of my own. I want whoever did this."
Pawson barked out, "It was self-defense. Look at the clawed glove in the front seat, it's covered in shredded uniform bits."
Putting up a paw, Elkdon halted Pawson's plea, "Nobody's getting arrested. A mammal capable of doing this solo in the middle of being attacked is a mammal the Commonwealth needs. I want whoever did this on my team. I want them bad."
Bogo shook his head, "No, that's not on the table. My Officer stays ZPD."
Elkdon rubbed his muzzle, and with a final look at the Mule's corpse, he nodded, "Fine, I at least want a meeting then, I want to know what happened, blow by blow, or no deal."
"Done," and then Bogo reached over the car and shook hooves with his old friend.
Negotiations concluded, Elkdon signaled his associates to move the truck around so the car, and its cargo, could be loaded. On the same signal, two sedans' worth of doors opened, and eight large mammals, all wearing dark suits and sunglasses, took up positions around the building to make sure no one happened in while the cleaners erased all evidence that anyone had ever been there.
Bogo grabbed Pawson by the shoulder and pulled him toward the exit. "Time to go. They'll take it from here."
"He said 'Commonwealth.' They're not ZBI, are they, sir?"
"No Pawson, no they are not."