Hybrid Conundrum
Chapter 14
Nick stared at the ceiling, he hadn't slept all night. For once it wasn't his feral blood keeping him up. Normally when he couldn't sleep but was too tired to jog his other selves would chat him up. Especially before Juniper was born he would have little conversations in different voices till finally sleep took him.
But not tonight.
Judy often dealt with the same thing but tonight she was asleep clinging to Nick with all four paws, her face buried in his neck, her little breaths ruffing his fur. Just like every time they had an exciting day of work. Normally after some more intimate fun to finish off the adrenaline.
But not today.
Like her mother Juniper was fast asleep. Though she was in her crib in her own room. The monitor tuned up to pick up any change in her sleep. She was the only mammal in the house who was content, the benefits of not having anything more to worry about than if she could eat something and what to play with next.
Her father wasn't so lucky.
The faces of Jesse Whitmaker and Gus Plincin were burned into Nick's mind. Images of their fear and pain clear to him as the moment it happened. Everytime he closed his eyes he saw it. Jesse getting thrown back and breaking against the barrier, followed by Gus getting shot. Over and over again each time more vivid than the last.
Every time he closed his eyes.
With sleep not coming anytime soon and the sun coming up in about two hours, the fox decided he might as well get up when he heard the sound of the paper landing on the driveway. He pondered why they still got it as he tried to gently pull Judy's paw off his chest.
The bunny's fingers only tightened on his fur. "No, don't go." The bunny whispered looking up at him with her lavender eyes shimmering slightly in the darkness. A gift of the bunny's feral nature.
"I'm not running away. If I can't sleep, I might as well get up and do something."
Judy kissed his cheek then muzzle. Holding it with her strong paws for a moment before saying. "Just remember you have a family that needs you home."
Nick pulled away and sat up. "Carrots…don't, please." He stood and grabbed a shirt to wear. Judy watched him in the darkness not sure what to say as he paused at the door. "They…didn't have to… do what they did." He had to pull his paw away from the door frame so not to dig his claws in. "And I have to live with that, while whoever's fault it really is. gets away." He slipped out of the room while Judy pulled her knees to her chest, hating that she couldn't help.
Silent paws carried the fox to Juniper's room, the sleeping kit was curled up in a ball. Nick leaned down and gave her a kiss on the head then watched her for a moment. She twitched a little but just went on sleeping peacefully. The fox's ears turn to the silent padding of Judy joining him. She pulled herself close to Nick which he didn't fight. "I only kind of know what you're going through." She whispered. "So pleas-"
"Don't worry." Nick cut in. "I'm not mad at you." The first real smile he had since it happened grew on his face.
"I know, I just." She choked a little as they pulled themselves closer.
"Emotional bunny." Nick whispered and rubbed her back.
"Dumb fox." Judy replied not having anything else to say. After a moment the trembling bunny calmed and the shaking only came from a jaw splitting yawn.
"Why don't you get some more sleep. I'm going to get the paper and some coffee." Nick said. Judy agreed and just climbed into the large crib to curl around Juniper. Something the kit happily accepted.
The rest of the morning was less emotional but far from comforting for Nick. After throwing out the paper cause the headline read "Killer Cop?" The fox ended up watching old cartoons while drinking his coffee. It was nice seeing the good guys fairly easily beat the bad guys with no one getting hurt, plus who can say no to some classic slapstick.
Shortly after sunup Juniper came scampering into the room wearing a fresh diaper and nothing else. Nick scooped up his daughter mid hop and chuckled. "What do you think you're doing?" The kit squeaked and growled as she tried to free herself.
"She's sneaking away from her momma when she gets a phone call." Judy said walking into the living room. A onesie in one paw her phone in the other.
"Whose on the phone?"
"Bogo called to ask if I would like to lead an investigation of a stock of drugs we found yesterday." The bunny's face told Nick all he needed to know about where it came from. "I said I would ask my husband." Judy added, giving him all the power in this moment.
"Oh." He hummed as he let Juniper crawl all over him. He looked up at the TV as the GI Moles did some sort of PSA. "Yeah go. I'll be fine. I got the squirt here to keep me company."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. Justice be served and all."
Judy eyed him unsure. "Okay, but if you need me just call and I'll drop everything." the bunny said slowly returning to the bedroom to change. She told Bogo she was coming in hung up. It didn't take long for the bunny to change after a quick shower. With her ankle supports on, the mother bunny stood and made sure everything was in its place. Then a thought hit her. She looked up at the closest she shared with Nick.
Her ears were up as she debated with herself on something. "Take it." Nick said from the doorway having silently approached.
"I thought…" Judy trailed off not sure what her actual argument was.
Nick shook his head as he approached the sound of baby cartoons distracting Juniper wafting past him. "I want you to be safe. I got lucky yesterday." He hugged her. "Today, you might not be, even with two rabbit feet."
Judy giggled lightly as she returned the hug. "Used'em all up catching you." Her little claws tugged at his shirt. "I love you." She whispered.
Nick gave her the biggest sign he wasn't in the best place when he didn't make a joke and just simply said. "Love you too." He meant it though and that's what truly mattered.
"Call me, if you need anything." Judy reiterated as they split. Nick agreed as the bunny put her nose print and the code into the safe in their closet. Retrieving her little pistol she did a quick check, chambered a round and turned on the safety. Gun on her hip and a kiss from her husband and daughter Judy Hopps headed out.
The bunny had to turn off the truck radio on the way, she in fact had to stop herself from punching it. All of her normal radio stations were talking about the same thing. That Patrica Whitmaker and Melinda Plincin were not dropping their suit even after the news had released the dash cam footage. It got worse when the radio stations took callers. Some thought the footage had been edited. One mammal said so definitively before explaining what really happened like he had been there. The final straw for Judy was how the hosts just kept humoring the nut case who claimed Nick told the boys to get out of the car before using advanced black ops kill techniques to murder one then shooting the other.
"Don't they all know what Nick did for this city." The feral bunny growled.
Judy parked her truck, her blood simmering as she marched into the precinct. She was too late for the morning announcements in the pen but her team should be waiting for her. She would have gone straight back to meet them but Ben hurried out from his desk. He was still very big for a cheetah but that girlfriend of his had gotten him trimmed down noticeably. "Judy." He called, pulling her into a hug that she kind of needed. "We need to talk when times aren't, you know..."
A smile grew on the bunny as she melted into that soft hug. "Yeah, This a friendly talk or just like a double date?"
"Need some advice." Ben said as he put Judy down. Despite being four years older than her, the cheetah acted like her little brother sometimes
"Sure, but first-"
Judy was cut off by Chief Bogo bellowing her name. Without making plans the bunny hurried up to the chief's office. The chief watched her with his back against the open door. Once inside he looked the bunny over and said. "Just wanted to check your status."
"Good to go, little hot blooded but that's usual for me, lately." Judy answered truthfully Bogo was pretty good and reading his officers, so she didn't bother hiding anything.
"This needs to be clean." The chief said, making a mental note. "Reyes will be joining you. He did the on scene investigation for IA."
"Sounds like they want to kitsit me." Judy deadpanned, Nick's cynical nature was rubbing off on her.
"Well yes, but sometimes they need to do some real police work." Bogo replied. "Officer Reyes is yours so treat him like any other officer."
"Got it." Judy said, sounding much more like herself. After a quick goodbye and good luck Judy headed to the cubicle she normally shared with Nick. Peter and Dom were in their cubicle to the right, they weren't alone.
Officer Raul Reyes was a maned wolf. lightly built like all his species with long almost dainty limbs. Despite being noticeably taller than both the wolves he was probably only about as heavy as Nick. He wasn't as old as Judy expected, or as young as she hoped. There were streaks of gray around his muzzle and along his ears but his coat still had a good shine to it.
"Good Morning, Officer Reyes, I'm Sergeant Judy Hopps." The bunny said offering a paw.
"Good to meet you." Raul said, bending over to shake her paw. "Wish we were meeting for better reasons then-"
"Making the world a better place is as good as any reason." Judy forced a smile.
"The rumors are true." Raul commented to which the wolves chucked.
"So catch me up to speed." Judy ordered.
Raul explained that the massive amount of drugs in Plincin's car had been packaged and sorted much like the mail, everything was coded to make it impossible to know where it was going. There was thankfully no howler in the car, much to the relief of the three former taskforce members. A check of the boys' finances revealed little out of her ordinary, Semi-steady deposits of cash but never more than would come from a part time job. Some preliminary investigations show neither had any recent extravagant spending, no videos of them with an absurd amount of money, nothing like that. Which pointed to them just being carriers, maybe taking on such a big amount was some sort of test.
It was one of the many questions. Judy rubbed her fuzzy chin and asked. "Has any chemical analysis been done?" Hoping it would give them a place to start. It's not like drug labs label their product.
"Yes." Raul said with a small smile. He looked at Peter. "Can you pull it up, I just saw that there was a match."
"On it." The white wolf replied, turning to his computer. With a couple taps of his fingers the info appeared on screen. "The techs say they have preliminary matches to several other busts." He hummed, skipping over a few lines of legal and technical jargon that wasn't important right now. "They match products of the Kolisnyk cartel."
"That's international stuff." Judy commented, "Above our paygrade." her little group agreed. "Any locals?"
"Several but I know what you're looking for." Peter replied. His practiced eye scanned the screen mumbling, "not the docks, too far." After eliminating dozens of possibilities he said. "Okay, one more double check." He whined as he concentrated, "Got three likelies. Long Paw Run near Westmoore High, Gold Coat Lane near the track and all along Pack Trio Boulevard."
"Wide range." Judy commented.
"You can see just how big later."
"Okay, I'll head to Long Paw Run to poke around." Judy announced.
"I'll go with ya." Raul said.
"Thought so." The bunny looked at Peter and Dominic, "Y'all head to Gold Coat, unmarked. Sneak around, you know the drill." the two wolves nodded joking about swankville and spooking some blue bloods. "After that we'll meet up for hipster town."
"Just us?" Dom asked.
"I'll text my uncle, he's got-." She looked at Raul and dropped her ears.
The IA officer sighed and asked. "Ever help with anything illegal."
"No." Judy replied flatly. "Most I've ever done is give hints when an opportunity is about to arise." She was vague but truthful. "Friend of the family, never paid and not made."
"Don't. It's a price that gets too high after a while." Raul said, looking away. "But info for info, everyone does that."
A smirk grew on Judy's muzzle, she was starting to like Raul. "Anyway, my uncle should be able to smooth things along." A quick glare from the bunny trapped any lewd joke in the wolves muzzles. "Get going." With a couple of salutes the lupines hurried off. "Oh, can you tell the motor pool to have two cars ready?"
"Sure thing, Jude." Peter called.
"Thanks." Judy sighed less than happy about the nickname. The bunny turned to her phone glancing at Raul, she sent off a quick text. After spinning in her chair she started writing out a text.
"Who you texting now?"
"Husband." The bunny looked up over her phone at Raul. "Just checking on him and the baby while waiting to hear from my uncle's, if he's free."
"Oh…I didn't know you had a kit." The mane wolf said letting her finish the text before saying. "Mine are grown. With little ones of their own on the way."
"They grow too fast?" Judy replied, already bringing up her picture gallery. "And this job makes us miss so much."
"Too much," The male replied, pulling out his wallet. Raul was in for a shock when Judy showed him one of her favorite pictures of Juniper, Nick holding the newborn Juniper with Judy herself drapped over the fox's shoulder taking it like a selfie. The surprise wasn't that Judy's loose shirt almost showed too much, but the truth of Judy's offspring.
He wasn't sure how he felt about it, it seemed unnatural. However as he looked at more pictures he realized this family was as natural as can be. A text came through that Raul didn't get to read. Apparently it was good cause Judy made a call. "Howdy uncle B, how are things?" Raul couldn't hear the other end of conversation, "Oh yeah same same …and you're just grandpa and you're that busy." Judy giggled, "Anyway, I'm sure you saw the news." The bunny's voice shifted to a more serious tone. "Perfect, I'm looking into some stuff related to that on Pack Tio Boulevard and Gold Coat can you…" Judy's eyes shot wide. "Oh really…well then, maybe I can help with that, can you pull your guys out for a while?" The bunny nodded. "Thank you so much. Oh real quick, who's the provider for your boys?" her ears lowered as she was scolded. "Sorry sorry. Just need to know if they are selling Kolisnyk stuff?" she nodded. "Okay, good as long as they ain't selling to kits I won't have words for them." Raul could see that last bit bothered Judy. It wasn't something she actually agreed with. After a few more pleasantries Judy hung up.
"Sounds-"
"Like my uncle is dealing with a two year old." Judy said, forcing a smile. "I am not looking forward to the terrible twos with Juniper."
"They are a hassle." The maned wolf said as Judy stood joking about hearing that a lot. They headed out to the garage where an unmarked sedan waited. It was for medium sized mammals so Raul reached for the driver's side. "Don't mind if I drive right?"
"Was going to ask if you wanted too." Judy replied as she hopped over to the passenger side.
Riding with someone new was always a little awkward. What should they talk about, neither Judy or Raul really knew much about each other, but was that really important to do right now? Then Raul asks. "You've only been on the force for about 3 years, right?"
"yeah." Judy looked up at him, "I've seen a lot in such a short time."
"My captain always says, it's not the years, it's the miles. " Raul commented.
"I've gone far, I guess." Judy said as she watched the city pass by. "Cracked several big cases, Made sergeant, led a task force, all big things and that's just work stuff. How 'bout you?"
Raul thought for a moment then replied. "Going on 15, some years rougher than others." After Judy agreed Raul added. "But keeping places like that safe, make it all worth it." He pointed with his nose towards the highschool. "Even if I'm doing it indirectly."
"Yep." Judy agreed as her lavender eyes scanned the area, there wasn't much going on. Out in the highschool fields a class of students were practicing pawball while most were inside doing school work. The streets were mostly empty. Couple mammals here or there. Nothing out of the ordinary.
But one of the few mammals on the street stood out to the bunny.
Leaning on a shop corner one paw up against the wall was a snow leopard, her large tail curled around her straight leg. She wore some relaxed fit jeans with an oversized hoodie with the hood up. Judy only recognized her when the cat pushed back the hood to take a drag of a cigarette.
"Is it that easy?" Raul asked not believing it himself.
"No." Judy replied. "But she might help."
The hood shifted as the snow leopard's ears underneath turned to listen to the approach of the cops. "It's only tobacco, I'm eighteen, completely legal." She said before looking toward the approaching officer. The snow leopard nearly jumped out of her fur, her tail bushing out nearly as big as her torso.
"Veronica Sawyer, snow leopard, age eightteen and one of five surviving members of the feral pack we called The Named." Judy said without judgment, though Raul had plenty of judgment in his eyes.
The snow leopard stared wide eyed at the bunny. "It's only four now, that's why I'm Vanessa Samms now."
"Kept your initials, nice." Judy said with a small genuine smile.
"Look, I wasn't doing anything. I'm still going to all my meetings and." She coughed as fear and old injuries flared up to worsen everything.
"Calm down, I only bumped into you while on the trail of something else." Judy had never intended to upset the young cat. "But I have to ask why you're here.
Veronica now Vanessa held the lower left side of her chest. The scars of the wound that brought her down hurt in moments like this. "I was in the area…got nostalgic for highschool."
"Smoking is not a good idea when you're missing part of a lung." Judy commented as she looked at the half smoked cigarette smoldering on the pavement.
"Nor is it a good idea for someone that should be in prison to be looking suspicious." Raul said, glaring down at the leopard.
Vanessa froze as she rubbed that spot more. "I swear I had a tempt…" She grunted and rubbed her scar harder. "I do temp IT, printers and network stuff. I did a job just around the corner and got… nostalgic." tears started to form in her eyes but she didn't have the drive to run. "I reported everything." she rasped.
Judy stared deep into the worried girl's eyes and said. "She's not lying." Turning to Raul. "She really does try to avoid trouble..." The bunny looked back at the snow leopard. "now. You see anyone around that might be?"
Vanessa still held her chest breathing shuttered breaths. "I don't-"
"Everyone sees things." Raul commented.
"We don't." Judy smiled.
Vanessa stared at the bunny, so small yet so terrifying, but the motherly smile and friendly demeanor calmed her. Even the ach in her chest seemed soothed. The rehabilitated feral took a deep breath. "Okay, um, I think I saw some shady looking dudes." The cat looked down the road apparently counting. "Third alley way but they might have taken off by now."
"Probably." Judy commented before wishing the snow leopard good luck then left Vanessa to her reminiscing of what could have been. The bunny and maned wolf knew there would likely be nothing, and their beliefs were shown true. There were a few signs that there had been activity mostly behind some dumpsters. More so than would be normal in an alleyway like this. After a quick conversation with one of the workers in the building, they learned that every so often there was a seedy group of mammals in the alleyway but they definitely never got involved with them.
Ignoring the obvious lie the temporary partners hoped back in the car and headed off to meet Dom and Peter.
Across Zootopia in the Wilde residence. Nick half listened to the music for Juniper's cartoon. She giggled and followed along with the moves of the "dance" the characters were doing. Supposedly they helped paw eye coordination, the father found those claims dubious but his little girl seemed happy which is what mattered.
Nick looked at his phone, then saw another paw push it back to his chest. Slick didn't want his real self to keep doom scrolling. Half the news was just pictures of the smiling fawns that had grown into the young bucks he had killed. Nick shook his head, he imagined Todd doing the same beside him. The savage fox growled "our kit first." He agreed and rolled off the couch onto all fours with the savage self beside him.
Juniper's long ears twitched but she didn't look away from the tv. Nick smirked as he slinked around the coffee table his silently paws bringing him behind her. He smiled and waited.
It took a moment for the kit to notice the breathing on the back of her head. She looked back and yip that her father was so close. She scampered away and Nick gave chase. Juniper was quick but not faster than a full grown feral fox. After darting around the furniture for a moment Nick pounced on his happily squealing daughter. Scooping her up as he rolled hugging and nuzzleing her. He had no need for words right now, Juniper knew what her father was saying. He loved her. She yipped and giggled as she returned the affection.
However the moment was marred by one thing, a heavy rancid smell. "Whoo…looks like it's time for a change." Nick said holding Juniper up above him, she just smiled obliviously happy. He was happy to have this to focus on, even if Rodin had to hold his nose.
In a small car park on Pack Trio Drive Dom picked up the radio's mic and said "What we looking for, Sarge?" beside the two tone lupine, Peter scanned the area with ears up despite the windows blocking most sounds. It's was just how his kind hunted instinctually.
In their own unmarked car across the street Raul looked at Judy as she checked her phone. The bunny hummed as she swiped past a few pictures she had received. Keying the mic she replied, "One of those healthy food trucks." She sent the best shots of it to her team. "I don't know what that sign says so just keep an eye out for it." thankfully the truck fairly distinct.
This wasn't the excitingly tense prowling like on tv, where the cops felt danger around every corner. They were mostly bored just driving around checking parking lots for their target. Annoyingly, without a name they couldn't really find a website to tell them where it would be.
After nearly an hour as Raul pulled the car around one corner Judy saw it. Two roads down in a strip mall parking lot was the food truck. With a quick call the wolves came in from the other direction. They didn't expect there to be spotted but better safe than sorry.
A section of the parking lot was cordoned off with an AstroTurf carpet, white picket fencing, and some yellow string lights. Half a dozen tables filled the area with almost twice many eating in them. More mammals were in line as well. The food truck itself was fairly modern with a body kit that made it look like a vintage bunny make vehicle, older than Judy's family truck and sized for medium large mammals. Most of the box truck was painted black with green letters written in such a way that the cops still couldn't read it.
Peter and Dom hopped out of their car and made a straight line for the food truck. Raul took a moment longer before following. Letting Judy slip out her door and sneak around a few parked cars then some then behind some low shrubs. A good thing about being a bunny was her great peripheral vision, meaning as she jumped on the roof of the food truck she was pretty sure that no one was watching her. The bunny landed on the top of the food truck without a sound. Fluffy paws are very useful for this type of thing.
The smell from the truck was incredible, this place really did have good food apparently. Judy stayed low as she walked across the roof of the truck. With her ears along her back she peered through a raised vent. There was a big enough gap she could possibly slip her head in but for now she just watched.
The three other cops avoided the line and walked over to the door of the truck. Peter rapped his knuckles on the metal. A wolf much chunkier than the ones in uniform opened the door to talk. A few customers decided to finish their meals quickly and leave while others just watched.
Judy examined the small kitchen team inside the truck from above. The cook, a leopard, just kept on cooking. Though he did keep glancing over at the cops as the vulpine busboy hurriedly tossed boxes and empty packages in a large tub. With how the fox was acting Judy honed in on him. She sent a text to Dom while Peter and Raul talked to the wolf.
The busboy fox carried the trash tub out the back of the truck. Judy never took her focus off the fox as he hurried away with the tub. She waited for a moment then jumped from the truck without a sound. Feral muscles sent her sailing to land next to the line of shrubs. She smiled as her other selves snuck along with her and after a quick check behind her she slipped under the bush and watched where the fox was going.
The busboy kept looking back at the food truck as he made his way through the parking lot. Judy followed close behind completely hidden from him, Ripley, the savage bunny, loved the primitive role reversal. Sneaking from cover to cover tracking her prey. If the bunny cop couldn't slip under a car she would jump on it then the next before dropping down to the ground again. Never once making a sound.
Once the fox was at the alley Judy texted Peter then dashed over to the building and peeked around the corner. The bus boy paused at the dumpster hidden away here by a little dirty fence. He looked around as he slowly tossed cardboard into the dumpster one piece at a time. He continued until a large suv rolled around the far side of the building. The fox tossed the rest of the garbage on the ground by the dumpster and approached the vehicle.
Judy was low to the ground as she watched with a paw on her pistol, body tense, ears set and her tail wiggling. She focused her senses on the driver and the fox. She could just pick up the sound of the driver growling about being noticed while the fox apologized. Judy checked her phone, they were ready and just needed the signal.
She sent it.
As the fox finished handing over a large bundle of cash both police cars screamed around both the corners pening the SUV in. The occupants snarled and the large vehicle shook until Judy landed on the hood and roared. "Paws or Hooves where I can see them. Now!" she had her little pistol ready with a little twitch she could end either threat. One tall bunny ear pivoted towards the busboy as she growled. "All three of you."
The fox looked from the bunny to the driver, a bear, he nodded and the young fox gulped. If the fox had any intention of action he never had the chance. Before he could turn around Judy jumped down and yanked the fox away, Peter taking her place in ordering the driver and the reindeer passenger out of the car. The wolf had his feral hunting rifle out, while the other two cops had their non-lethal side arms trained occupants.
The fox whined as the unbelievably strong bunny held him down and cuffed him. He begged like all the other mammals she had arrested that weren't meant for "The Life" always did. Judy tried to ignore it as she watched the bear and reindeer step out their arms up in surrender. However the bunny caught how the fox whimpered about how they would hurt them if he doesn't do something before trying to bite Judy. The bunny moved like lightning, the images of her savage self biting the back of the fox's neck flashed in Judy's mind as she grabbed him in the same place, Ripley may go for the kill but Sarah and Judy wouldn't, they simply slammed the larger mammal to the ground with ease. "Y'all just made a big mistake." Judy grunted with a drawl so thick it smelt of molasses.
Meanwhile the bear was lifting his jacket as he turned around allowing Raul to take the pistol from his waistband. The female reindeer was kneeling at the back of the SUV while Dom came to switch with Judy so she could pat down the female.
Judy's nose twitched something was off but she couldn't figure it out soon.