Hey everyone!
First, let me apologize for the delay in posting this new chapter. Had a lot of stuff going on and couldn't find that much time to write.
Again I'd like to THANK YOU ALL for reading the story so far and your feedback. It's very heart warming and motivating for a writer. Thank you!
This chapter is slightly longer than the previous ones and I hope you'll like it.
See you!
Their training lasted till 4 a.m., when Finnick called it quits. When he unlocked the cage Nick barely walked out on wobbly legs. He was completely exhausted and his entire body felt as if a stampede of elephants ran over it. His mind was emotionally drained after so many sessions of artificially induced anger. Yet, Nick was smiling. He now knew that they were making progress. The red fox couldn't exactly count which attempt it was, probably near the end, but he felt a twinge of his consciousness reacting against the Nighthowler serum. He wanted to continue but Finnick stopped him, looking at the state his friend was in.
"Ya look like something a tiger chewed for an hour and then spat out." He pointed out to him.
"Hah, that explains why my tie is ruffled." Nick wheezed in response. He slumped down on his back. His fur was sticky with sweat and every possible joint and muscle in his body ached.
"Har har, Mr. Funny. Ya push too hard yer gonna' break." Finnick warned him.
"I wouldn't know." Nick chuckled. "I never took anything this seriously."
*Well, maybe the case with Carrots…* He thought, but didn't dare to say it out loud. His friend could get some funny ideas about their relationship and he wouldn't hear the end of it. As far as Nick was concerned, she was now his best friend and he didn't want to ruin it by having Fin yapping around about them being something else. There was a small sting in his chest as he thought that but he ignored it, as he felt stinging pain everywhere else.
Finnick brought some grub and sat on the ground next to Nick.
"Hey, Fin…" The red fox said, still lying on his back.
"Wha?" The reply was slightly muffled as Finnick chomped down on a sandwich.
"Feed me?" Nick asked with a faint smile.
The fennec put on an annoyed face. "Screw ya!" He threw a sandwich at his friend.
.
.
After Nick regained some energy they put Finnick's stuff back to the van, but left the cage where it was. The small fox argued that it takes a lot of space and nobody is going to take it anyway. After that he dropped Nick off at his neighborhood.
"Tomorrow at the same time?" The red fox asked.
Finnick shrugged. "Fine by me. Don't wanna' have a rabid fox on my tail, ya know?"
Nick sighed. "I'm not rabid, only… sanely challenged."
"Keep telling yourself that. Ciao!" With that, Finnick drove away, a trail of loud, heavy beats following the car.
When the van disappeared around the corner the red fox headed towards a place he called home. Most mammals would rather refer to it as a dirty, dim hole in the ground. Actually, it was a tiny room in the basement of a very old apartment building. Thanks to his negotiating skills he got to live there for free, although others would most likely want to be paid for having to live in such conditions. The damp, worn out room had only enough space for a small sink and a rickety, old bed. There were no decorations of any sort on the bare concrete walls. No wardrobe either. Nick kept his clothes in boxes beneath the bed. One for the clean ones and one for the dirty. All in all, it looked more like a prison cell than anything else. There was a saying stating that you can judge one's character based on the state of their room. If anyone would judge Nick by this standard, they'd have encounter two issues: the first one was that he didn't care about other people's opinions about himself, hard life on the streets have hammered him to a state where almost nothing could pierce the mental armor he wore every day, second issue was that Nick hardly spent any time here so he didn't see any point in investing in a better location to sleep. This place provided with basic necessities and he was fine with that.
He didn't bother with checking his head – he got cuts and bruises on regular basis when he was a kid and that left him with confidence that all minor wounds will heal themselves. After washing off the paint and traces of blood, Nick threw himself on the bed and thought about possible events that may occur in the upcoming day.
*Carrots will most likely be reinstated to ZPD. Heh, she always wanted it and any new mayor would have to be suicidal to refuse such a thing to the city's hero. Here comes the ZPD's shining star…* He actually sniggered at that thought.
But he had to face another issue now. He had to contact the rabbit one way or another. Nick estimated that her wound wasn't too deep so it should require only basic medical treatment and she should be released home shortly. And that would lead to an overly energetic bunny to be trapped inside her apartment, which will get her to think and THAT will result in a simple question 'why didn't Nick contact her?' Maybe it was only a speculation of his guilty conscience but it still made him feel bad. Nick frowned at remembering something else.
*I have to go and give a statement, darn it…*
Nick pondered about it for a moment and eventually smiled when a solution appeared in his mind. It was all child's play when you properly thought about it. With a satisfied smirk he faded into sleep.
.
.
Nick slept until midday and woke up fully refreshed and without any muscle sores. This surprised him a little, as he thought that after such exhausting night he'd be limping for the rest of the day. Glad to begin a day with positive news, Nick headed for the building's only shower (a shared one on the corridor). After refreshing himself a bit and changing clothes, although they looked exactly the same, he was ready to face the day.
He took a longer route to the precinct, stopping by to stock up on stuff necessary for what he had in mind. With all necessities gathered Nick headed to the ZPD station.
Obviously, due to his profession, he disliked cops. Or rather, despised them. Crossing paths so many times left him an impression of grumpy and stuck up mammals that would do anything to ruin your day. It was a biased opinion, as given by someone from the opposite side of the law, but he stuck to it. And that was his truth up to the point of meeting Carrots. Thanks to the hyper-positive officer, during their wild adventure his attitude started to change slightly.
He put on a small smile. *That bunny wrecks everything she touches."
And now he, a conmammal, was about to enter a police station without any cuffs or bulky officers dragging him inside.
Nick once read a sentence in an old book about foxes that he committed to memory: 'Keep your kin close, but your prey even closer'. He found it very inspiring and made it a rule for himself. Considering everyone you deal with as a possible prey, you should know everything about them before you 'bite'. This has served him well for many years and he always followed that rule. That's why he did some investigating and found out as much as possible about ZPD's building and officers beforehand.
After taking a deep breath Nick walked inside. He immediately noticed the world's friendliest police officer at the reception desk. The cheetah was chatting with other policemammals. Nick approached them at stood right behind the feline.
"Benjamin, right?" He said out loud, which made the cheetah jump.
The receptionist turned around to see a red fox with a sly grin. But more importantly, he was holding a huge box of doughnuts. Benjamin's eyes shined like stars.
"You must be him. Judy Hopps told me a lot about you." Nick lied with a smile.
"Oh… well, yeah. I'm me." Benjamin replied, obviously flattered. "I mean, I'm Benjamin. Benjamin Clawhauser."
Nick extended his paw. "Nice to meet you Benjamin. I'm Nick." The cheetah shook it vigorously.
"Ooooh! You're the fox that helped solve the savage animals case!"
For a moment Nick thought that his paw will fall off but he managed to free it from the enthusiastic hold.
"Well, maybe I gave some support."
"Oh don't be so modest!" Clawhauser waved a paw at him.
Nick shrugged. "I'm just honest." Miraculously, the sky didn't collapse from a lie of that magnitude. "Listen, Benjamin. I'd love to stay and chat but chief Bogo asked me to come today and give a statement about the case. So, you'd be so kind and direct me…"
"Oh, right! Sure!" Clawhauser beamed. "Go towards the bullpen to the right and chief's office is right next to it."
"Great, thanks. Oh, I would almost forget, these are for you." Nick handed him the box. "For calling backup in the Rainforest District."
"Ooooh, you shouldn't have! I was just doing my job."
"No, you really helped us." Nick smiled at the blushing cheetah. "Enjoy your doughnuts and see you later." The fox waved to him as he headed towards Bogo's office.
"Thanks!" Benjamin yelled back.
Nick walked up to Bogo's office with smile only he could see.
*Befriend the hungry cheetah, check. Now, onto step two.* He reached for the handle.
.
.
Just as Nick has predicted, Judy was about to explode in her home. With her leg injured, she was supposed to be resting for an entire week. For a usually hyper-active bunny this was the worst torture. And she couldn't even go to Bunnyburrow, since she couldn't drive a car with her leg in this state and the trains were down for few days, due to some electrical malfunction. She didn't have any books or TV and has already gone through her entire playlist five times. Internet didn't help either – she lost interest after an hour.
Lying flat on her bed Judy stared at the ceiling. "This. Is. Hell." She groaned.
.
.
After knocking twice Nick opened the office door and walked in nonchalantly.
"Heya, chief!" He greeted the surprised and angry buffalo with a smile.
Bogo snarled at him. "Did I say you can come in? NO. So why, in the name of-"
"Sorry, I just thought that you wanted to get this statement as soon as possible." Nick cut in. He was still smiling.
The chief leaned over his desk. "An officer will take your statement, not me. Now get your butt to the office at the end of the corridor before I'll send you flying there." He growled.
Nick saluted sharply. "Sir, yes sir!" He quipped and quickly left the room before Bogo would throw something at him.
When outside, the fox grinned to himself. *Step two, check.*
.
.
He didn't pull off any tricks during writing down his statement. Apart for few sentences of slightly exaggerated praise for Carrots, so that she could blush if she ever wanted to read the document. When his duty was done, Nick headed back to the reception. He noticed that the box he brought was already almost empty.
"Hey, Benjamin."
The cheetah waved at him with a hand occupied by a doughnut. "Hey, Nick. Everything good?"
"Yep, no problems." He leaned on the desk with one arm. "Listen, could you do me a small favour?"
Clawhauser put on a big smile. "Sure! What do you need?"
"I wanted to visit officer Hopps and see how she's doing after being released from the hospital." Nick was only guessing but it was not much of a gamble. "Problem is, I don't know where she lives. We were so focused on solving the case that we didn't have that much time to chat about ourselves." He made an 'officially-worried' face. It was an act worth of Oscar. If any film producer would see him right now, he would immediately want him as part of the main cast for a movie.
"Oh, I see…" Clawhauser looked a bit troubled. "But, you know… We're not supposed to give addresses of our officers to outsiders ."
Nick raised his eyebrows. "I'm an outsider? You break my heart, Benjamin." The movie would be a blockbuster. "Look, I just want to cheer her up a bit, ok? Can you imagine that lively bunny trapped within the walls of her apartment? Right now she's probably going insane from all that inactivity."
Clawhauser fidgeted for a moment. "We—ll, I guess you're right. Ok, hold on a second." He turned to his computer.
"You're a diamond, mammal." Nick said cheerfully.
.
.
It was actually closer than the fox thought it would be. The building was rather old and not exactly shining, but it could pass as 'decent' in most mammals' dictionary. He walked in and headed for the stairs. And when he was almost to the right floor, his nose noticed it. The smell of a rabbit. It attacked his nostrils with inescapable tenacity that made his head spin. He leaned on the wall to not fall down. Nick gritted his teeth as he recognized the surge of incoming savagery.
*Damn it! Of all places…* He thought. *Wait, this is no time to panic. Calm down, calm down, calm down!"
He stood still on the stairs, like a statue, the only part of his body moving were his lungs. He was taking deep breaths and tried to stabilize his struggling mind. Eventually, his efforts were rewarded. His heartbeat slowed down and breathing became easier. In two more minutes he felt completely calm again.
*I'm okay, I'm okay…*
He instantly realized the seriousness of the situation. He was a fox. If he were to see a bunny up close right now… Nick didn't even want to think what would happen. He had to get out of here.
*But…* He glanced down at the items in his hand. *After coming this far, I have to give it to her somehow.*
.
.
Judy was right about to die from boredom when somebody knocked on the door. Right after that she heard quick footsteps, as if someone was running. She slipped off the bed and grabbed her crutches to get to the door. When she opened them there was no one there. Judy looked into the empty corridor and couldn't see or hear anyone. She was about to close her door when she noticed something on the floor.
A stuffed rabbit.
Judy was surprised and started thinking why would someone place a toy at her door when she noticed something else. The rabbit had its right leg wrapped with a bandage. It suddenly became obvious who left it here. She picked it up with a chuckle and saw another thing on the floor. It was a worn out book with a torn piece of paper with some message on it. Judy took it with her paw, discarding the crutches for the moment.
She read the text. "One a day. No cheating." The book had a title The Criminal Mysteries.
As she closed the door and hobbled back to the bed, Judy skimmed through the pages. The book was filled with stories about crimes and mysteries surrounding them, one chapter for each. And every chapter encouraged the reader to try and solve the presented case. She brightened up with a wide smile. Her arms were itching to hug a certain someone, but with the lack of foxes nearby she settled with hugging the book.