7

Chief Bogo strolled into the computer room, all the while frowning down at the piece of useless plastic in his huge hoof. The long, hair-like antennae swayed against the draft. Broken.

He sighed and let the door swing shut behind him, drawing the attention of the porcupine as she packed up her bag for the day.

"Excuse me, Eileen," he said. "I know you've finished, but is it at all possible to revive this? Or at least rescue any data somehow?"

He let the tracker dangle by its antennae which she watched with slowly widening eyes.

"Another one?" She scratched her long quills. "They're turning up fast, aren't they?"

Bogo raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean 'another one'? This is the same one I showed you earlier."

"No, no. I get that." She waved her paws and laughed. "But Officer Hopps was in here before with one as well. I helped her trace it because she... couldn't..." She trailed off as Bogo's eyes narrowed into slits.

"Hopps has one?" he asked quietly.

"Yeh. She came here earlier with a little fox."

"A fox?"

"Yeh, a fennec, I think. I thought he was a kid until he spoke to her."

Bogo rubbed the bridge of his snout as he tried to process this. A fox. A fox that wasn't Nick. Judy with a tracker. The same Judy who had been assigned parking duty and let a whole section of Downtown go without tickets all afternoon.

Again.

He'd been looking for her and this is what she'd been up to? Working on a case – alone – when he'd told her it wasn't safe to do so?
Bogo let the tracker drop onto the nearest computer desk and threw open the door.

His loud voice boomed through the lobby, drawing all eyes to the computer room and causing some mammals to duck down. "Hopps?!"

"Erm, Chief Bogo! If it helps..."

He looked back at the quaking porcupine and said, through gritted teeth, "I hope you're going to tell me where she is?"
Eileen gulped and pulled the tracer out of her desk drawer. "I... can't remember off hand. Give me a moment or two to access its history."
Bogo took a steadying breath but his words didn't help Eileen's nerves. "I'll be back in ten minutes."

...

It was already going dark by the time Judy and her little team reached Sahara Square. But despite the time, the place was bustling with desert mammals going from shop to shop or visiting the variety of nightlife. Lights lit up the various buildings advertising the latest in movies, or flickering in an array of neon colours above the doorways of casinos.

The sandy streets wound throughout the Square and Judy stared in amazement. She hadn't often been to this area of Zootopia, especially not at night. Sahara Square was often baking hot during the day time, leaving the streets virtually bare. Right now, it was like another world.

"We're... here." Flash brought the car to a stop and looked down at Judy and Finnick. "It's... a pub."

Finnick, who had decided to sit between Judy and Flash rather than in the back seat, slipped out from beneath the seat belt that was holding him and the rabbit in place and stood on his tip toes to get a clear view over the dashboard.

"Huh, so it is," he said. "'The Dancing Cactus'? Guess our suspect lives above there, hey?"

Judy looked up at the dingy apartment window above the bar. The curtains were drawn and there was no light beyond them. The tracker had traced the culprit to this location, and there was no saying they were even still in it.

If they needed to go inside it was a good job she'd changed from her police uniform into a little blue dress.

"It's worth asking." She opened the door and climbed out of the car, holding the door open for the fennec fox. "We won't be long, Flash. But if there's any trouble just drive away and call for back up, okay?"

The sloth gave her the thumbs up and a smile.

She closed the door and Finnick frowned at her.

"Back up?" he asked. "I thought we weren't tellin' no one."

"It's a precaution," she said.

He simply shrugged and followed her to the open door of The Dancing Cactus. Immediately the smell of stale alcohol assaulted Judy's senses and she tried her best to not crinkle her nose in disgust. The bar was filled with various desert mammals. A pair of addax antelope were sat by the bar talking amongst themselves while a camel served them fresh drinks. In a far corner a cheetah sat playing cards with a hyrax and a camel, their conversation drowned out by a nearby group of hyenas who were gathered around their own table laughing at an apparently outrageous joke.

What stood out to Judy the most was a spotted wildcat huddled at the end of the bar almost hidden entirely by a lion. A margay, if her identification of the feline was correct. He had a wide-brimmed hat placed beside him on the bar and his small form was drowned beneath a large trench coat.

"Well, he's the only wildcat in here," Judy whispered to Finnick.

The fox nodded and made his way towards the bar.

"What are you doing?" she hissed, grabbing him by the sleeve.

He looked back at her and said, as quietly as he could, "Tryin' to look nonchalant. If we just come in, look around, then go out again, we're gonna look pretty suspicious ain't we? Now... you want a carrot juice or somethin' else?"

That was a relief. She'd thought he might have been trying to confront the margay. As much as she'd rather just go and wait in the car and think things over, a carrot juice did sound good. She smiled and nodded, accompanying him at the bar.

The pair of them pulled themselves up onto the tall stools and Finnick waved down the bartender. When the camel saw him, his muzzle crinkled into a frown and he rammed a plastic sign onto the counter with a clatter.

"Not only do we not serve children," the camel said, "we also don't serve foxes."

Judy's eyes went to the sign, reading the words 'We refuse custom to any foxes'. Her stomach tied into knots and she gave a sigh of defeat as she slowly slid back down onto the floor.

Finnick, however, remained on the stool. He thrust the sign back towards the camel and flashed his canines.

"I have you know, bud, I ain't no kid! And if you don't mind, it's hot and the both of us would like a nice, cold drink."

"Sorry, but that's our policy," said the camel. "If I serve a fox in here, my boss'll dump me out on the street with tomorrow's garbage."

"Look, pal." One of the antelope looked down at him and snorted. "Why don't you and your little girlfriend go somewhere else. Like... back to Downtown?"

The pair of antelope burst into fits of laughter and hammered the bar with their hooves.

"Girlfriend?! She ain't my girlfriend! What do you take me for?" Finnick hopped from the stool and stuffed his paws into his pockets.

"Good point!" howled the second antelope. "She could do better!"

Judy stood in the bar, laughter and insults ringing her eardrums. All she could do was stare from the bar to Finnick's retreating form and back. It hadn't even been this bad back in Jumbeaux's Cafe, so much so it took her a moment or two to process what had just happened.

A mixture of sadness and anger welled up inside her and she took off after the fox, spotting him walking down the street away from the car. Flash had wound his window down and was watching him with a questioning look in his large eyes. She thought she heard Flash say something to her, but she was too focused on the fox, shouting his name as she sprinted to catch up. His ears flicked back at his name and he paused, looking back at her over his shoulder.

"Are you all right?" she asked as she caught up. "That was-"

"I'm fine," he said. "I've dealt with worse than that."

"Okay." She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him. "Then why did you attack me?"

"Whatchu talkin' 'bout?" he asked.

"You practically insulted me to those antelope! 'What do you take me for?'"

Her impersonation of him seemed to amuse him slightly but he shook it off and threw his paws in the air in exasperation.

"Oh come on, rabbit! You really that dumb?!"
Her jaw dropped but before she could rebuke him for the term 'dumb' he cut her off in a mini rant.

"Of course I was gonna say that! We might be in Sahara Square, but news travels fast in Zootopia! I can't risk hurtin' Nick's feelin's can I? I might be a fox, but I got respect for my bro comin' out my ears!"

Judy just stood there now looking like a goldfish. Her eyes were so wide she felt they might roll out of her head. Any time she tried to speak it was just a strange 'whu?' sound that made Finnick raise an eyebrow.

"You really are dumb, aintcha?" he shook his head and sighed audibly. "Are you seriously tellin' me you ain't seen the way he looks at you?! Come on, Hopps! I thought you was a cop!"

Did he just call her dumb again? She didn't have time for that, there was too much going on in her mind right now. She placed a paw against her head and stumbled back against a wall as she tried to process it all.

Nick? Looking at her? Sure he looked at her a lot, he had to. That's how you had conversations after all. She knew something was different lately, and it left her feeling funny. But right now she felt like her head was going to spin off her shoulders.

"You alright, Hopps? You've gone a bit pale."
Words failed her once again.

"Okay, come on." Finnick took her paw and led her away from the wall. Her safe wall that had been holding her up for the most part. "Let's go back to the car."

Once back in the passenger seat, things began to come back to her. Most of all, the mission. Nick had been kidnapped, amongst other mammals, and they were trying to catch a wildcat.

The margay.

In the bar.

Her head snapped around to look out of the window at The Dancing Cactus. Had he gone?

"Oh, cheese and crackers!" She looked down at the small fennec fox at her side. "Have we lost him?" She then looked up at Flash. "Did you see a wildcat come out of the bar?"

"Calm down, Fuzz," said Finnick. "He ain't left the bar yet. I got two ears and two eyes, an' I only needed one of each trained on your wobbly form." She caught a smirk and twinkle in his eye and he craned himself to look out of the window. "Think you can keep yerself together long enough to crack this case, Hopps?"

She looked away from him and noticed the wide, knowing smile on Flash's face... and blushed. How many mammals knew about this?!

...

Judy checked the time on her phone for what must have been the hundredth time. An hour had passed since they'd spotted the margay and he hadn't yet left the bar. To be certain he was still there, Flash had gone inside and come back out with proof the margay was still sitting at the bar and three cold bottles of water tucked under his long arms. She'd needed the drink. It was a very muggy night.

"There's still a chance he might live in there." Finnick nodded to the apartment above The Dancing Cactus.

"Then if the light goes on, one of us goes in to check," she said.

"Well it ain't gonna be me." He folded his arms and looked away from her. "I ain't goin' through all that again."
"I'll... go," said Flash.

"No, I will," said Judy. "We might need you to chase after him if he runs."
"Fine by me," said Finnick. "It weren't you they was teasin'."
Judy's ears drooped slightly and she looked down at Finnick. "I didn't know things got to you like that."

"They get to me like they do everyone else. I just don't show it." He looked up at Flash. "They give you a hard time, bro?"

"Yes. Antelope... had... no... patience."

"And you didn't say anythin' when you got back?"

"I... don't... mind," said Flash. "It's... who... I am. A lot... of... mammals... are... understanding... actually."

"'Never let them see that they get to you'." Finnick sighed. "You got that one nailed down to a 'T', pal."

"It's... easy." Flash smiled broadly. "Focus... on... your... good... qualities."

For anyone who didn't know Finnick, it wasn't easy to tell the sloth's words had struck a chord. But Judy had noticed his ears had pricked up a little despite the fact he was still frowning down at his feet. He looked like he was about to say something but he looked up with a sudden jolt, drawing her attention to the window.

There he was. The margay. Slipping out of the bar and moving away from them, walking with an obvious limp on his left leg.

"Okay, what do we do?" Judy asked. "We clearly can't trail him in the car because it's too obvious, but the last time I did this, I lost Nick."

"Easy. We don't make it obvious." Finnick wriggled out from beneath the seatbelt and scrambled around on the back seat.

She craned around to look at him, keeping one eye on the retreating feline. "How?"

"You distract him." He pulled on a white and grey onesie and pulled a taser from its deep pockets. "An' I tase him."
She gaped at him and shook her head. "But we don't know it's definitely him!"

"You want information right? So, do you wanna drag a kicking, screaming, potentially dangerous criminal into your car?"

Her mouth flapped open and closed wordlessly. They didn't know for a fact it was him, yet he was the only cat in the bar the tracker had traced back to. His friends could be anywhere, and a scene might draw them out...

Finnick frowned at her. "See? Makes sense don't it?" He tugged his hood up, displaying a pair of long, floppy rabbit ears which only made her jaw drop even more and Flash to laugh and strike the steering wheel with a large paw.

"You're a bunny now?" she gasped.

"What? Does it embarrass you?" Finnick grinned and popped the taser back in his pocket in exchange for a blue pacifier. "I needed a change. The elephant one was gettin' too familiar in my neighbourhood."
Judy shook her head in disbelief and slipped out of the car, watching the small fox as he tottered on ahead of her and looking to her, ridiculous, but to everyone else like a toddler. She had to admit, it worked in his favour because no one batted an eye.

She trotted after him, trying to catch up with the feline.

"Excuse me!" she shouted. "Excuse me, Mister Cat?"

The margay looked back at her and frowned. "What?"
"Erm..." 'Come on, Judy. Think fast.' "I was hoping you could help me. We're lost."
He looked from her to Finnick and back and raised an eyebrow. "Funny lookin' rabbit, ain't he?"
"Oh no." She waved a paw and laughed. "He's not mine. I'm watching him. I'm actually trying to get him back home. Could you direct me to Aloe Avenue?"
The margay snorted and tipped his hat back so he could see her clearly. "You're miles out, lass. Yous wanna go back that way and..."

His directions didn't register in her mind as all her focus went into not paying too much attention to Finnick. The fox had moved behind the feline without him even noticing – or not caring. One or the other. She had to mask her flinch at the sight of his taser behind a sniffle and a rub of her nose as she tried her best to smile pleasantly at the cat in front of her. She didn't agree with Finnick's method of detaining a mammal they weren't even one-hundred percent certain was a criminal, but it was too late to say anything now.

A loud zap split the air and the cat crumpled to the ground, almost crushing Finnick beneath his weight. The fox dragged himself out from beneath the trench coat and stood beside the fallen feline, quickly hiding his taser back in his pocket while sucking loudly on his pacifier.

"There had to be an easier way than this, Finnick." She placed a paw on her forehead and sighed.

The undercover car pulled up beside her and Flash peered out at her through the wound-down window.

She returned his worried expression with one of her own and quickly grabbed the cat under his arms to drag him into the back seats. Fortunately Flash had thought quickly enough to place the cherry on top of the car to deter any potential retaliation, although it wasn't currently flashing.

Taking an undercover car without permission... twice. Losing her partner. Lying. Tasing a suspect. She could almost hear Chief Bogo's angry rant in her mind.

"Sweet cheese and crackers, what am I doing?"