The Long Game

by Mikey2084

In Zootopia where anyone can be anything some things are still forbidden. Judy is confronted with a choice between suffering the consequences of protecting her family and being with her soulmate, she chooses to protect her family. As Nick tries to find a way for the two of them to be together our heroes find themselves once again protecting the city from a new threat. A Zootopia AU

68. No Rest for the Wilde

Disclaimer: Zootopia and all Canon characters are owned by Disney. All other characters, product names, trademarks, and copyrights belong to their respective owners.

…..

A/N: No way could I let this story go a whole year without a post. So, sneaking under the wire by one day, I'm back. And hopefully, I'll stay back with every other week posting until the story is finished in time for Zootopia 2, out late next year.

Thanks for all the comments and reviews. I enjoyed reading them, and they motivated me to write even when life got busy. So, without further ado, The Long Game continues…

…..

…..

"Wakey, wakey. It's time to get up."

"Nuh-uh, call back later. It's still Fox bedtime."

"Nope, it's bunny dinner time, and your girlfriend is hungry."

Nick blindly reached out and tapped Judy's nose with his paw.

Judy giggled and, pulling back the covers from her fox, whispered, "Bunnies don't have snooze buttons."

"Don't I know it," replied Nick with a sigh.

Judy fake-pouted, "You didn't need a snooze button last night."

Nick pulled his bunny in for a kiss and, after demonstrating that 'snoozing' his girl was the last thing on his mind, broke the kiss and said, "Last night was great. I mean not the parts with the explosions and gunplay, but all the other parts."

Judy rolled her eyes, "You slept through most of the explosions and a lot of the gunplay. As a matter of fact, how can any mammal in existence sleep as much as you just did in a single 24-hour period?"

Nick shrugged, "I'm a fox of many skills, as was amply demonstrated last night by my ability to keep a certain bunny at bay and operating within agreed-upon limits.

"Ow."

"That was for your stupid phone unlock quiz," and after returning Nick's amazing wakeup kiss, added, "and that's for saving me last night and all the other parts later, including the limits."

Wandering paws snaked around Judy to try to test said limits again, or at least they tried to until someone jostled a remote, and the TV came on tuned to ZNN.

"Seriously, it's almost dinner time, and we need to get going before anyone tries to draw more blood or test you for narcolepsy."

"Narco, what?"

"Never mind, I called Torrie, and she's headed over to pick us up. She's got our spare clothes from yesterday, too."

Yawning, Nick asked, "Torrie? Oh yeah, my car, where is it?

Sitting up, Nick looked more carefully at Judy in an overlarge concert t-shirt and asked, "Do you have my keys on you? Because if you do, I'd really like to know how that works with girls and where they hide stuff."

Shaking her head, Judy said, "No, not this time. I gave the keys to DeeDee, and now she's in quarantine, so unless you've got a second set, we'll probably have to call a locksmith to start it."

Motioning for his phone, Nick said, "I know someone who doesn't need keys to get into my car."

"Sage?" asked Judy, and as Nick nodded, she added, "It's parked about a block away from what's left of the warehouse. Text Chief Bogo too, so he can give her clearance to pick it up."

"Clearance? Except for saving you, last night's excitement is a bit hazy. Is there more than just crime-scene tape up to keep people out?"

Judy nodded toward the TV and turned the volume up.

Breaking News: Possible gas explosion in Savanna Central Industrial Zone.

-/-/-

"Hey Cassy, how's it going on your next Purrlitzer prize winning article?" asked a groundhog boar setting an insulated pizza delivery bag down on the counter and turning on a big screen TV to ZNN.

"Meh," grunted Cassy, scrolling through another redacted document.

In the small kitchen, the boar put together a plate of alfalfa and mushroom pizza, cheesy bread, and some dipping sauce before grabbing a beer for himself and a diet soda for his girlfriend and making his way back out to their living room slash office slash investigative reporter bullpen.

Setting Cassy's lunch and dinner down next to her laptop, the boar gave his girlfriend a peck on the cheek while glancing at her monitor.

"Nice pic. Will that be our Christmas card this year? 'Mikel and Cassy wishing you a killer holiday.'"

Cassy chuckled as she leaned back in her chair and stretched. "Yeah, good idea. Your mom already thinks I'm demented. That'll push her right over the edge, for sure."

Mikel nodded, "Uh-huh, but my dad would laugh. He's kind of twisted."

"Yeah, just like his son," replied Cassy, pulling her boyfriend close and kissing him.

"Thanks for the pizza."

"Sure, one of the perks of working in the business. So, how's it going for real?"

"Slow. Everything about the Mule takedown stinks to high heaven, and no one's talking. That State Department PR flunky I got stuck with, Elkdon, is too low-level to know anything, and all my other Commonwealth sources have gone radio silent. It's like… I don't know…

"I finally had an ex-coroner I know look at the picture Bechtail took, and he doesn't think that the Mule died in that explosion. He thinks the Mule had been dead for at least four or five days before I got there."

"So, you were punked?"

"Yeah. Someone set me up as a witness. I just don't know who or why."

"Bechtail seemed pretty proud of what she did during your interview. Maybe she set it all up to get her fifteen minutes of fame and a promotion."

"Could have, except a bunch of suits carted her off, and she hasn't been seen or heard from since."

"Boss, family, mate?"

"Nope, it's like she was erased."

"What about that rabbit cop you said did a shift with her? Maybe they talked, and she knows something. Or what about your friend Wilde? You said he knows everyone."

"Wilde is in Bunnyburrow, and I already tried to get a hold of Hopps. She's been on leave since the Torch Relay went through town.

"The mob? I remember you saying Big had a bounty out on the guy."

"Yeah, Big wanted him dead real bad, but I don't think he was willing to put any more of his family at risk going after the Mule himself."

"Any more?"

"You don't want to know. The Mule is the only mammal who's ever hurt Mr. Big, and as much as he probably wanted revenge, he wants to keep his family alive more. He would've locked down before he'd risk taking on the Mule directly."

Mikel grabbed some cheesy bread and, munching down half of it, stopped and used the rest as a pointer toward the picture on Cassy's computer. "You know, one of the delivery drivers at the store today usually works Tundra Town and said that he had an order of twenty extra-large Zoolympic specials rejected by the Bigs the day of the Torch Relay. He said the polar bear guards pointed guns at him while they told him the store could keep the money, but they weren't accepting deliveries for a while."

"Guards plural?" asked Cassy.

"Yup, and lots of guns."

Cassy stared at her boyfriend and sighed, "Damn it, now I've got a headache." Locking her computer, Cassy grabbed her pizza and soda and moved over to the couch.

"Turn the volume up, let's watch a movie or—"

Breaking News: Possible gas explosion in Savanna Central Industrial Zone.

-/-/-

"Hey, Dad. Got a second?"

"I suppose," replied Emmett Hayes looking up from a table covered in papers at his daughter Courtney. "What do you need now?"

"Nothing, except some guy from the fire department stopped by the motel today and said we need new fire extinguishers and smoke alarms. And Dalton Diggar was there too. I didn't really get that good of a look at him at the diner that day you told me to watch for him and Janae Hopps. You know he looks a lot less geeky than I remembered from before he left for college."

"Diggar? They're hares. We don't associate with hares, and we especially don't rent rooms to them."

"Daaad, he wasn't there to rent a room. He was helping the firemammal do his fire safety inspection. Dalton said fire safety is very important, especially in motels. Dalton's pretty tall and kind of muscley, don't you think?"

"No, I don't think. And I don't care that someone from the BFD says we need new smoke alarms and fire extinguishers. So, unless they plan on citing us for a fire code violation—"

Handing her dad a pink-colored paper, Courtney said, "Dalton gave me this to give to you…

"Oooh, look," added Courtney, pointing at the TV, "A gas explosion in Zootopia, just like Dalton said could happen at the motel."

Breaking News: Possible gas explosion in Savanna Central Industrial Zone.

-/-/-

Brown tossed his overnight bag in the corner of his apartment and set his phone in its charging station on the counter. It had died last night while locked up in his glove compartment and wouldn't take a charge from his car, so he decided to take a shower while his phone charged up enough to turn it back on.

Water running, Brown combed a hoof through his long beard and checked himself in the mirror, "Not too bad, if I do say so myself." Stretching out his sore muscles, the middle-aged wildebeest grimaced a bit and mumbled, "I need to get away for more than just the annual herd event."

'Maybe once the predator problem is solved, I'll spend more time out with the herd,' and with a huff, added, 'And showing Frankie who's really in charge and exactly how a doe is supposed to act around her betters.'

Stepping into the shower, Brown soaped himself down and relaxed under the spray as the sweat and dirt from his aborted weekend washed down the drain. Damned herd director wouldn't even let him use the lodge's VIP facilities before his stay was canceled.

"Ow," grunted Brown after a joint cracked while drying himself off. He was getting too old for all the herd preliminaries. Once he was in charge and the formula was in distribution, he'd use his new position and power to dispense with the territorial displays and get right to the fun part. In everything.

'Speaking of…'

Brown wrapped his towel around his waist and made his way back out to the living room. Flipping on the TV, he checked his phone.

"Still dead," he grumbled. 'Should have listened to White and gotten a burner phone just in case.'

Walking over to his desk, Brown rummaged through a drawer until he found a backup power brick, and about to plug it into his phone, he was distracted by the ZNN headline flashing across the TV screen.

Breaking News: Possible gas explosion in Savanna Central Industrial Zone.

-/-/-

"Thank you, Stormy, for detailing tomorrow's weather schedule."

"Yes, Peter, my fur will be looking forward to being drenched at six tomorrow."

"Ha Ha, Fabienne, you felines and water. Shall I call in a favor and have the rain moved to seven so you can make it to dinner without getting wet?"

"No, Peter, how about we move on to something more interesting before we end our newscast tonight."

"Yes, let's do that Fabienne. Our next story is about fire safety. So, all you kits, go get your parents so they can watch with you."

"Good idea Peter. Fire safety should be a number one concern for every mammal in Zootopia. As a matter of fact, we here in the City could learn a lot from our neighbors in Bunnyburrow."

"Absolutely, Fabienne. A hare by the name of Dalton Diggar is heading up a fire safety program which we hear is not only a success in Bunnyburrow, but quickly becoming the Commonwealth gold standard for fire safety programs."

"Thank you, Peter, and good job Bunnyburrow. We go now to ZNN's crack investigative reporter, Hog Porkson, who's here to explain to us why fire safety is so important."

"Thank you, Fabienne. I'm here in the warehouse section on the south side of Savanna Central investigating a tip I received that there was a gas explosion last night that damaged an abandoned building. I haven't been able to get close enough to see the damaged building due to the entire area being cordoned off by the ZPD, ZFD, and a Commonwealth Army National Guard unit. Still, I am happy to say that I'm here with District Fire Marshall Terrance Asher so that he can tell us what happened last night and why no one's allowed in close to see the damage."

The picture zoomed out to show a large brown bear in a blue uniform wearing a green Hi-Vis safety vest emblazoned with 'Fire Marshall' in large letters.

Holding his microphone to the bear, Hog motioned toward the camera.

"Yes, of course, Hog. Thank you for having me on tonight. So, is fire safety important? Absolutely, and it's particularly important when it comes to natural gas. Fuels like natural gas are wonderful modern conveniences but quite dangerous if you're not careful, especially around open flames."

"Very true," replied Porkson, "but what exactly happened, and when will I be allowed past this security tape so that I can film the damage for my viewers?"

"Good question. How can your viewers identify a gas leak? Well, the easiest way is by the smell. A chemical called mercaptan is added to the otherwise colorless and odorless gas to make it smell like rotten eggs." Looking directly at the camera, the bear said, "So for all you kits out there, if you smell something yucky coming from your furnace or the stove and it's not your dad's cooking, leave your house immediately and call the fire department once you're safely outside."

"Last question Marshall, we received reports of an explosion bigger and more spectacular than the fireworks display put on by Officer Hopps at the Expo Park Founder's Day celebration. Can you describe to our viewers exactly what happened?"

"Ah, how big was that Founder's Day fireworks display? That's hard to say. My understanding is that Officer Hopps is quite the accomplished pyrotechnician, and it probably took her months to plan out that fireworks finale. I heard it was quite memorable, but I think you should talk with her if you're interested in the details of how she pulled that off.

"And if there aren't any other questions, I need to get back to work. Thank you, and remember kits, fire safety is always number one!"

"Uh, thank you, I guess," replied Porkson as he watched the Fire Marshal leave and a soldier take his place on the line.

"Porkson," whisper-shouted the cameramammal.

"Huh?" grunted the pig, turning back to the camera before scratching his head and saying, "This is Hog Porkson reporting on, um, the importance of fire safety in the warehouse section of Savanna Central. Back to you Fabienne."

"Thank you for that report, Hog. Very insightful."

"Yes, yes it was, Fabienne. This is Peter Mooseberg, with Fabienne Growley signing off. All you kits stay safe, and no playing with matches. Until tomorrow, good night."

-/-/-

Muting the TV, Brown took a long look at his phone sitting in its charging cradle and then down at the power brick in his hoof.

And back to the talking heads still bantering in silence as their broadcast ended.

"What happened?" asked Brown of no one. There was an explosion last night, supposedly a gas leak, and sometime in the last day, my phone died.

"Or it was remotely wiped and disabled," mumbled Brown.

"Shit!"

Jumping over to his charging phone, Brown grabbed it, slid the cover off, and pulled out both the SIM card and the battery. And smashed everything.

It had to have been the self-destruct. He remembered the private briefing he and White had gotten from their 'special' contractor on the lab's built-in security measures and that they included an emergency computer wipe of all data and their company assets. Measures that were modeled after how some IT companies set up their employee devices so if they get lost or stolen, they could be remotely disabled by a company security specialist. A measure resulting from one too many data breaches and all the bad publicity they caused.

Their contractor also explained that to meet Brown's security requirements, he took remote disabling to a whole new level. Once initiated, his version of a self-destruct would wipe everything electronic and then take down the building to destroy everything else.

After sending an encrypted update to the Beta site through a secure line.

"The Beta site," said Brown, nodding.

After throwing on some rugged clothes, Brown grabbed a large duffel and his briefcase. He emptied his desk of anything to do with either him or the formula into his briefcase, and filled his duffel with clothes, toiletries, and whatever food he had left in the apartment. He needed to get out of Zootopia fast. Something bad enough happened that White blew the lab and likely himself, Orange, and the rest of the City crew with it.

'But what in the hell happened? It sure in hell had to be more than a gas leak.'

Shutting off the TV and the lights, Brown made sure the apartment door was locked and headed down to the parking garage for his car.

'Good thing you have an SUV with four-wheel drive. Getting to the Beta site in the dark isn't going to be easy.'

-/-/-

"Wow, Dad. Did you hear that? Dalton was right. Do you want me to call him and ask what kind of fire extinguishers we should buy?

"And if you want, I can ask him about new smoke alarms. Maybe if I ask him nicely, he'll show me all the best places for mounting."

Hayes looked at his daughter with disgust.

"Do you think he's really serious about Janae Hopps?" asked Courtney nearly bouncing out of the room. "I mean, she's a total loser, and I heard she hangs out with that fox who got me fired from my hospital job."

A crumpled up violation notice fell to the floor.

"Can you call someone and have her arrested and sent to a prison super far away?"

Hayes growled his response as his daughter checked her head fur in the hallway mirror before disappearing into her bedroom.

-/-/-

Cassy muted the TV as her boyfriend got up and headed back into the kitchen.

"What are you doing?"

"Checking to see what kind of fire extinguisher we have. You heard that Fire Marshall guy, good fire safety is essential."

Getting up, Cassy grabbed Mikel's paw, "Yes, I heard. That Fire Marshall played Porkson with all that fire safety crap."

"Really? So, I don't need to check the extinguishers and smoke alarms?"

"No, I mean, yes. Fire safety is important, but that's not the point. There's something going on down there that we're not supposed to know about, and whoever is in charge just convinced Porkson to ignore hundreds of soldiers and ZPD guarding an abandoned warehouse. None of it makes any sense."

Seeing they had a fully charged fire extinguisher, Mikel put it back under the sink and asked, "So, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going down there myself to find out what really happened."

-/-/-

Nick grabbed the bags from the back of the truck and watched as Judy and Torrie gave each other a sisterly nuzzle goodbye. Torrie plodded over to Nick, apologized again, and gave him a quick hug. Moments later, the truck turned the corner headed to the expressway.

"All better?" asked Nick.

"Yeah, I forgave her, mostly."

"The outfit she gave you was pretty hot."

"The outfit she gave me was practically non-existent."

Nick shrugged, "Same difference."

Judy rolled her eyes.

"How about you wear the outfit Sister Mary picked out for you to Toni's for dinner tomorrow night?"

"Dinner at Toni's?"

"Oops. Did I forget to tell you she texted and wants to hear more about our adventures in fire safety?"

Judy's eyes narrowed as she said, "Oops. Did I forget to tell you that you still owe me a foot massage?"

Nick gave Judy his best puppy-dog eyes, "But…"

Sighing, Judy lifted herself up on her tippy-toes and kissed Nick on the side of his muzzle, and before lowering herself down, she whispered in his ear, "There were a couple of other much less nun-approved outfits that Sister Mary gave me to try on for you."

"Really?"

Going into the building, Judy turned and gave her tail a little wiggle as she said, "Yup."

-/-/-

Torrie pulled around the corner out of sight of Nick's place and texted her mom.

Judy's fine. I just dropped her and Nick off at his place. Can I be ungrounded now?

Chewing her lip, Torrie waited for a reply text that would hopefully lift her sentence or at least reduce it enough that she could go out with Raul sometime in the next few days.

"And I haven't told anyone that Judy and Nick are a thing, either," grumbled Torrie. "Because I'm being a good sister. So, 'THBPBPTHPT.'"

Wiping the spit off her phone, Torrie waited.

No more fake IDs, and yes, you can be ungrounded on Monday.

"Yes!" Torrie hollered as she dialed Raul to give him the good news.

…..

A/N: For those commenting on Fanfic, notifications are still down for me. So, if I'm slow to respond, that's why. The next chapter will post in two weeks.