Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

In the great city of Zootopia, where anyone can be anything, things had been pretty normal since Assistant Mayor Bellwether was exposed and arrested two years ago and predators and prey were closer than ever. That is, however, until danger finally returned.

Throughout the city, sirens were going off all over and throughout the streets, animals were rushing into their homes and locking their doors, literally all of them, as loud bikes zoomed by and several big burly animals in motorcycle gear laughed at the chaos around them. Of course one of them accidentally ran into a 'STOP' sign because he was so distracted, that his buddies looked back for a second, paused, and then resumed laughing again.

"Priceless…!" One biker remarked.

On the TVs they passed by, Peter Moosebridge and his co-anchor, Fabienne Growley, were currently reporting the news to anyone and everyone watching.

"…A hideous attack on a group of giraffes last night, the latest in a brutal crime wave attributed to the 'Mouser Gang'," Moosebridge said. As he said this, one of the dark-clothed miscreants stopped in front of the TV, broke the window and quickly changed the channel.

"Hate this channel…" he muttered to himself before another anchorperson, a beaver, started talking.

"Crime is at a record high in Zootopia," he said. "The city has fallen into chaos, and no one seems to be doing anything about it!"

"Hate it more…" The thug muttered once more before changing the channel to a more kid-friendly show, quickly entrancing him. "Ooh!"

While the criminal continued to stare at the tube in an entranced state, all the animals that had locked themselves in their home were watching the news, listening to different reporters who were all saying similar things.

"With the ZPD stretched dangerously thin, officials ponder what the right course of action should be taken to deal with this crisis."

"Things haven't been this chaotic in Zootopia since the Night Howler epidemic exactly two years ago."

"These are scary times for us all, but one can't help but wonder; who is in charge of this 'Mouser Gang' and what does he or she hope to accomplish with all this random violence? More importantly; who can stop them?

As these various news reports went on and on, at ZPD Headquarters, where police cars were coming and going, the Chief of it, a buffalo named Bogo, was currently in his office and chatting with someone on the phone.

"I told you before Mister Mayor, we simply don't have enough officers to deal with this. We need more recruits and…" Bogo began, sounding tired. "Yes, I know. I know. Well… if you can do it, do it. I won't stop you."

Just then, Benjamin Clawhauser, a cheetah and a ZPD cop who also works as their receptionist, suddenly burst in, clearly out of breath, evident by his huffing and puffing.

"Uh… uh… Chief!" he finally managed to say.

Bogo let out an annoyed sigh. "I'll have to call you back Mister Mayor, something just came up… again," he muttered before hanging up. "What is it, Clawhauser?"

"Well… uh… we just uh…" Clawhauser said, trying to get his thoughts together.

"Well? Spit it out, Clawhauser!" Bogo snapped at him.

"Right! Uh… we just got a call of an armoured car from the Zootopia bank attempting to be hijacked by the Mouser Gang right now!" The cheetah revealed.

"Ugh, these rats just won't quit," Bogo said, frustrated. "Who do we got to send in?"

"Well, uh… not many… Oh! But there is still…" Clawhauser started to say.

"No." Bogo interrupted, firmly.

"But… you didn't know what I was gonna say. I haven't even said it yet… right?" Clawhauser inquired.

"We are not sending them," Bogo told him.

"But sir! There's no one else left! These Mouser guys have totally thinned our ranks! The entire headquarters is like a ghost town! And it scares me…" The cheetah gulped, holding his tail tightly and with fear in his voice.

"I know, I know. These are difficult times and we're over-extended as it is, but everyone's just gonna have to pick up the slack until the Mayor can allow us to bring in more recruits." Bogo stated.

"But until then those guys are still gonna steal all that money from the bank! What if they come after the money under my mattress next!?" The cheetah questioned, freaking out a little. "Please, sir!"

Bogo sighed deeply. "Fine… I can't believe I'm saying this but…" he began before turning and reluctantly saying… "Get me Hopps and Wilde."

Clawhauser did just that and as soon as the call was received, two certain anthropomorphic animals slammed open the door to the artillery, a bunny and a fox named Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde, the ones who solved the biggest case in Zootopia and were regarded as heroes to all, though Bogo would never admit it.

Jude was especially pleased that they would also be getting a piece of the action after sitting around doing nothing for so long she practically screamed 'finally!' when she got the call. She gazed at all gear and weapons inside while her partner Nick looked as cool as a cucumber.

"Alright, you heard what the chief said; there's an armored car being robbed and he needs us to stop it, let's gear up Wilde." Judy declared.

"You're the boss Cottontail," Nick said with his signature smirk as they both entered.

Both of them quickly got what they needed. Both snapped on their belts, polished their badges, loaded their air-powered elephant tranquillizers and placed them in their hoisters.

Judy was the first one to get set and leapt out of the artillery room, ready to get started.

"Alright! Let's go save an armored car!" she declared, excitedly. She waited but soon realized that her partner was not with her yet, meaning he wasn't fully ready yet. "Nick?"

The rabbit looked into the room again and heard the sounds of struggling as if Nick was having trouble with something. She sighed deeply, soundly impatiently.

"Come on, Nick! Let's go! The bad guys are getting away!" Judy called out.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Nick said as he stumbled out while finally snapping on a bulletproof vest and buttoning up his shirt at the same time.

"Honestly Nick, the one time Bogo finally wants us to do something and you decide to just take your time getting ready!" Judy scolded.

"Ok, ok, calm down Carrots." Nick urged her. "No need to pop a gasket…"

"I just wish you'd take all this a little more seriously…" Judy sighed.

"This is me taking it seriously Hopps." Nick insisted. "What? You wake up on the wrong side of the carrot patch this morning."

"Sorry, it's just that I've been…" Judy began.

"Feeling cooped up?"

"Yeah… a major crime wave has been going on for weeks and Chief Bogo only wants us to stay put."

"Until now that is," Nick added. "You know I think he's actually starting to warm up to us."

"You think so?" Judy inquired.

"Not at all," Nick admitted.

"Yeah, figures…" Judy smiled as she rolled her eyes and shook her head as they began to make their way down the hall.

"Hey, race ya to the car?" Nick inquired.

"Oh, we're not taking the car," Judy informed.

"What?"

"Yeah, Chief Bogo said we could use the department's new crime-stopping vehicle, as long as we don't get a scratch on it though…"

"Cool, so… what is it?"

They soon arrived at the parking where they kept most of the Police cars parked, Nick had seen it several times and these days it was mainly empty but he was stunned when he gazed inside after Judy pulled up the door.

"That," she declared, gesturing to a large truck-like vehicle that resembled a fire truck but was white, had red and blue accents, police sirens and instead of a ladder on top there was a large movable claw, making it similar to a grapple truck.

"Whoa…" Nick said, in amazement.

"I know, right?" Judy agreed, excited. "Fresh out of development. The latest tool in catching bad guys and fighting crime!"

"Well, the tech guys sure had their work cut out for them," Nick remarked as they approached it.

"Got that right." Judy nodded.

"So… who's driving?" Nick inquired.

"Me! I got dibs!" Judy announced as she raced ahead.

Nick groaned a bit. "Oh great… we're doomed."

The bunny quickly jumped to open the door and once it was she hopped inside and onto the driver's seat, while Nick took a seat next to her. Once both the doors were closed the front seat seemed to adjust itself for Judy, it raised her seat up, along with Nick's so that they could see and raised the pedals so that she could reach them.

"Wow… nice features," Nick admitted, impressive.

Judy key put the key in the ignition and turned it and the engine roared to life, loudly. The two partners looked excited by this and turned to each other.

"Dare I?" The rabbit inquired while the fox put on his shades and faced the road up ahead.

"Do it," he responded.

Judy smiled and slammed on the gas pedal, the wheels quickly began screeching as they started to drive out of the parking lot, through the pulled-up door and onto the streets of Zootopia, where night had now fallen and took off down it to where the armored car was being hijacked, whooping and laughing the whole way.

"This thing is so fast!" Judy cried, sounding exhilarated.

"Oh yeah! Look out Zootopia for We. Are. Back!" Nick declared as they continued to drive off.

Around the same time, as the aforementioned armored car drove down the road, with a panicked sheep driving it, several vehicles followed it close behind, the drivers were a mongoose, a bear, a hippo and a tiger. The bear crook got ahead and drove directly in front of it while the mongoose stayed close to its back and also one on each side. The tiger and hippo crooks on the sides soon ditched their rides and stuck themselves to it.

One climbed to the roof while the other stayed on the side, both than took out a welding torch and began cutting circles in the hull, preparing to get inside.

"Keep driving if you value your life, sheep!" The bear-shaped criminal up front yelled out. The sheep fearfully nodded.

"Oh yeah, easy money boys." The mongoose driving behind the car said, pleased. "The boss will be…"

Just then, a loud horn was heard from behind them, surprising them all.

The thieves all turned and saw bright headlights shining at them. The owner of said lights eventually got closer and closer until Judy, Nick and their new Police Truck were finally revealed to them and slowly catching up as well.

"Ok, the thieves are on the car" Judy reported as she looked ahead while driving the vehicle even closer to them. "They're trying to get in!"

"Ok, now what?" Nick asked.

"Hit the button!" Judy told him.

Nick glanced at the dashboard and was stunned by how many colorful buttons there were. "Uh… what button? There's like… a million buttons here!"

Judy pointed to one. "That one!"

"Which one!? I don't see it!" The fox stated, stressed.

"Take off your sunglasses!" Judy told him.

"I really doubt that's gonna make much of a difference." Her partner stated, flatly.

"Didn't you even read the manual before we left?" The rabbit questioned, with a raised brow.

Nick paused. "There's a manual!?"

Judy sighed in annoyance and pressed one of them. The claw on the roof quickly moved forward toward the truck and quickly grabbed the hippo trying to get into the armored truck, squeezing him and making him squeak slightly in the process.

"Ooh! Nice! Got 'em! Now what?" The fox inquired.

"Glad you asked." Judy smiled as she pressed another button on the large dashboard and the claw quickly swerved around, carrying the screaming criminal along with it before stopping in the back of the truck where a hatch opened up and dropped him inside.

"Yes! Bad guy; apprehended!" Judy said, pleased.

"Cool, but what about the other guys? And how the heck do we get closer without bumping the truck?" Nick questioned.

"With this," Judy revealed as she pressed another button and a little port opened up on the front of the new police vehicle which shot out a small hook that grabbed onto the armored truck before pulling it in close. The mongoose behind the armored car quickly moved to the side before they could hit 'em.

Nick was stunned. "Wow. This thing has everything… wonder if it has a cup holder…" he muttered as he gazed around for one.

"Nick! Focus!" Judy reminded.

"Right! Right! Criminals. Bad guys. Gotta stop 'em. On it!" Nick said as he rolled down the window next to him and began to climb out.

"Nick! What are you doing!?" Judy questioned, alarmed.

The fox looked back at her. "What's it look like? I'm going to stop the bad guys," he said, putting on a confident smile. "Don't worry, I got this."

"But…" Judy tried to say before Nick leapt toward the armored car and landed on the back of it, just barely managing to hold on. His claws scrapped against the roof of it as he slid back a bit. "Nick!"

"Relax! I got this!" Nick called out to her as his legs started kicking while he tried to pull himself up onto the roof. Then, the masked tiger aimed his weapon at him.

"I don't think so, fox!" he snarled. But before he could fire Nick managed to swing to the side a bit and kick his gun out of his paw with his swinging feet.

"Ha!" The former con artist declared before he soon found himself hanging onto the armored car with only one paw. "Whoa!"

The mongoose laughed before also aimed his gun at him. "Have a nice afterlife copper!" he declared. But before he could fire the claw on top of the Police Truck swung to the side, hit him and sent him flying back. Everyone turned and saw that he had just flung right into a garbage can, which wobbled on impact.

Nick whooped. "Hole in one!"

The tiger criminal growled. "Why you…!" he began before a tranq dart hit him right between the eyes and knocked him right out. He would have fallen off the car and hit the ground if Judy hadn't grabbed him with the claw and tossed him into the truck's holding area.

"Yeah, yeah, heard it before guy," Nick said, casually. "Ok, carrots! One left!"

"Good!" Judy called out. "I just called for backup! Chief Bogo said that he'll cut him off and…"

"No need, I got this!" Nick declared as he finally managed to climb on top of the armored car.

"Nick, wait!" Judy protested but the fox continued to walk as steadily as he could across the roof of the moving armored car. Eventually, he reached the other side and bent down to the front window so that the scared sheep could see him. He even knocked a bit. "Hey, excuse me? Mister armored car driver? Hi. Officer Wilde here, could you do us a favor? Get. Out!"

The sheep squealed as he hopped out of the truck, which Judy noticed. She quickly grew more concerned, especially when the car began to swerve around, due to having no driver. Acting on impulse, Judy pressed another button that caused the hook that connected the truck to the car to generate a small charge, it seemed to turn off the engine and cause it to stop. The sudden stop caused Nick to be flung right off the roof of the armored car.

"WHOA!" Nick yelled as he flew off.

"NICK!" Judy cried.

But instead of hitting the pavement like he thought, the fox instead landed on the back of the bear thug's motorcycle, making him swerve left to right a bit before Nick used his claws to pop some holes in his back tire which slowly brought the cycle to a stop before the Police Truck stopped behind them.

"Hey there, big guy! Now as much as it pains me to say this, and it really does… I gotta take you to jail. Know why?" Nick asked before slapping a pair of handcuffs on the bear. "Because you are so under arrest here."

The bear growled in annoyance at the time while the Police Truck came around the armored car, flashing its lights and blaring its siren.

Pretty soon, the two partners got the four criminals back to ZPD headquarters where they would no doubt be locked away for their actions and although the Mouser Gang was still active, they all seemed to have gone back into hiding for now, but everyone knew that they'd be back.

At the moment, Nick and Judy were both exiting the building, with Nick licking a pawsicle and looking happy as a clam, while Judy looked annoyed.

"Ok, bad guys locked up, the armored car was recovered, minimal property damage and not a single scratch on the new ride, today was a good night." Nick smiled, pleased as he began to walk away. Judy watched him go for a second before she rushed over to him though, still looking somewhat upset with him.

"Hold on, what was that back there? During the chase" Judy questioned.

"What was what?" The fox asked, confused.

"You know what I mean! You didn't need to be so reckless, but you did it anyway!" The bunny reminded him.

"So? Got the job done, didn't we?" Nick pointed out.

"That's not the point! You could have gotten hurt out there, Nick!" Judy scolded him.

"But I didn't!" Nick stated.

"Not my point! Why weren't you taking that situation seriously back there?" Judy demanded. "Why didn't you listen to me?"

"When do I listen to you?" Nick quipped.

"This isn't a joke, Nick!" Judy told him, aggravated.

"Look, it doesn't matter how we got the job done as long as it got done. Besides, no one got hurt." Nick said.

"You could have." Judy countered.

"Aw, you do care." Nick teased.

"Enough!" Judy snapped, stunning Nick. She sighed. "Look; I think… I think we need a timeout. And you need to start thinking about what you did wrong and start taking what we do seriously, until then I am not speaking to you."

"But…" Nicky started.

"No buts. Time out starts now. Yeah, right now." Judy stated she paused briefly before beginning to walk away. "Have a good night."

"A timeout? What are we in grade five?" Nick questioned, baffled while Judy kept on walking. "Judy, come on! Judy!"

The rabbit continued to pretend like she didn't hear him, even though he knew that she did and Nick watched as she held up her paw to catch a cab's attention and got in the first one that noticed her before it took off.

The fox sighed a deep sigh, almost overwhelmed by the events of the day. "Great…" he muttered, tiredly. "Well… least things can't get any worse."

As Nick made his way back to the super police vehicle to drive back to his own home, he failed to notice something happening behind him; a bright flash of light had just gone off in a far-off alleyway. It went off for a few seconds before it finally faded.

At first, nothing happened after that, but soon enough something or someone finally did come out of the alley and stumbled out onto the middle of the street, like he had just gotten off the fastest ride ever built. He wore a red hoodie that covered most of his face, cargo pants and red and white running shoes. He also panted a bit as he tried to assess his current surroundings.

"Ugh… where…?" The stranger muttered as he continued to stumble before lifting his head a bit along with his hood and revealing his brown eyes, spiky blond hair and the lack of fur on his face and hands. His name was Bart Torres, an eighteen-year-old human boy. "Where am I?"

Chapter Text

The next day, some life had been regained inside the ZPD headquarters, cops that had recently finished their assignments were resting for a bit until the next crime committed by the Mouser Gang reared its ugly head, which they knew was inevitable so they all continued to keep their guard up.

Except of course, the cheetah who worked up at the front desk, also known as Benjamin Clawhauser, a die-hard Gazelle fan and lovable donut-eating goofball who was currently drooling over a picture of said superstar in his paw. He sighed deeply at it.

"Oh, my sweet Gazelle… I promise… we'll be together soon…" he muttered before a voice broke his train of thought.

"Clawhauser have you lost your mind!?" The voice on the radio yelled at him.

The cheetah yelped, he forgot that the radio was still on and scrambled to get his act together. "Uh… sorry… fella's! Uh… keep… keep doing what you're doing ok? Cool. Heh-heh…" he chuckled nervously before finally turning it off and smacking himself in embarrassment a few times. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

Before he could smack himself anymore he heard a whistle, followed by a tongue click, and turned to see Nick heading over to him with a cup of coffee in his paw and a pair of sunglasses on his face.

"Oh! Hiya Nick!" Clawhauser greeted with a smile.

"Hey, Spots," Nick said as he leaned against the counter and sipped his coffee. "How's tricks."

"Oh, you know… same old, same old… Great job on catching those armored car guys by the way!" Clawhauser told him. "You and Judy make a great team!"

"Yeah, well it's gonna be a little hard to keep being a team nowadays… Miss Officer Hopps is currently not speaking to me anymore." Nick said.

"But she's your partner." Clawhauser pointed out.

"Won't stop her from giving me the cold shoulder." Nick sighed, folding his arms. "And what's worse is I can't figure out what I did wrong! I mean we caught the bad guys, no one was hurt and we get to keep catching more, so why am I in the doghouse?"

"Well… you did nearly get yourself killed out there." Clawhauser pointed out. Nick gave him a look. "Uh… Judy told me."

Nick rolled his eyes. "Of course she did…"

"Maybe you could get her something?" Clawhauser suggested. "I know my Mom always forgives me when I give her flowers and chocolates, maybe Judy would like 'em."

"Hmm, giving chocolate and flowers to my best friend/partner…" Nick repeated in a dry tone while giving Ben a raised brow look, one that he did not seem to get. "Yeah, I'll keep that in mind.

"Sweet!" The cheetah squealed, unaware of the fox's flat face. He then noticed Judy herself walking over to them.

"Hi, Ben," Judy said, not even glancing at Nick.

"Uh… hey, Carrots! Happy Anniversary!" Nick smiled, trying to start a conversation while Judy leapt up and began to write some stuff down on a few papers, not responding to him. "Uh… you do remember right? Been exactly two years since we became partners, remember? Buddies? Pals? Best friends?"

The rabbit just hopped off the desk and began to walk away, still not looking at Nick.

"Judy, come on! I know you can hear me! You can hear meters go off a mile away!" The fox pointed out. "Judy!"

After a moment, it seemed like Judy wasn't gonna come back but right before Nick could say anything to Clawhauser about it he noticed Judy walking back toward him. With an unsettlingly serene expression, she silently snatched Nick's sunglasses, let them fall, and crushed them under her foot before departing.

Nick was completely stunned and slowly picked his broken sunglasses back up.

"Wow… someone sure is invisible," Clawhauser remarked, amazed.

"I know," Nick said, flatly. "And hey! Thanks for 'fixing' my sunglasses!"

Clawhauser tilted his head, seemingly waiting for something before finally speaking. "You think she heard you?"

Nick sighed as he placed his damaged sunglasses back on, despite one of the lenses falling off, which irritated him.

Meanwhile, in another part of town, namely, Savanna Central, where Nick and Judy caught the Mouser thugs and where the boy known as Bart Torres unknowingly arrived, said human was currently sleeping back in the alley that he arrived in, using newspapers to cover himself up like a homeless person. When light began to shine down on him, his eyes slowly opened as he finally awoke.

Bart yawned as he sat up, rustling the pieces of paper and cardboard around him. "Boy… I had the most messed up dream…" he sighed. "Thought I was in a different place… but wait… how did I get here…? Eh, whatever."

The kid quickly got back up and put his hood back on before walking out into the street, which he unknowingly stumbled into last night. Like before it was empty, though now that Bart had the sunlight shining he could see the buildings more clearly and saw that they were all different from the ones he usually saw.

"Huh… neighbourhood's changed a little…" he observed as gazed around.

Bart's aimless wandering persisted, and his confusion deepened as he ventured deeper into the city. However, he eventually stumbled upon a peculiar sight that captivated his attention. Once he got close enough he found himself wandering into what seemed to be a miniature city that looked like it would fit rodents, no doubt the reason why many call it Little Rodentia

"Huh… Hey, this is kinda like those miniature museums… but who the heck would have one out in the open?" Bart asked himself before he heard little squeaky voices close by.

"You got the stuff?"

"Of course I do! What do you think I am? Stupid or something?"

"Well, that hasn't stopped you before!"

Bart, filled with curiosity, stealthily made his way toward the source of the squeaky voices, eager to uncover what was happening. As he got closer, the squeaky voices became more and more clearer, especially as they continued their odd conversation.

He soon found that the conversation was coming from between two mini buildings that came up to his waist, almost like a mini alleyway, and what he saw shocked him to the core; two mice, wearing shirts and pants and walking on their hind legs were talking to each other using human words and trying to be discreet.

"Look, this is blue cheese buddy, it's gotta be worth something. Are you interested or not?" The first mouse questioned.

"Ok, ok, just chill, I'll take it… until the Mouser Gang manages to steal it anyways…" The second mouse muttered.

"Aw, shaddap and pay." The first one said, annoyed. The mouse buying the blue cheese began to reach into his pocket before he caught a glance of Bart looking down on them from behind, causing him to bug out.

"Gah! What's that?" The second mouse cried out, pointing up at Bart. His buddy turned and yelped when he saw the human boy as well.

"You… you… you just talked!" Bart finally spat out.

The first mouse then began to step back. "Just back away…" he nervously began to tell his buddy.

Bart leaned closer. "How'd can you talk!?" he demanded, a little freaked. The two mice both screamed and ran off. "Well… that was unexpected…"

He then heard an elephant blowing its trumpet, a lion roaring and a ton of other animal noises on top of what seemed to be people chatting nearby.

"As is that…" The spiky-haired human added before he began to walk out of the 'Miniature World' and over to where the noises were coming from.

Bart soon began to go around a corner but stopped and quickly ducked behind it upon seeing something. He pressed himself against a wall and held his breath as a large elephant and lion, both walking on two legs and wearing human clothing, walked around the corner. He was relieved when they didn't notice him and then spotted a ladder above him that appeared to be part of a fire escape.

He jumped a few times before he finally managed to grab onto the ladder and climb up onto the platform. Once that was done he quickly raced up each of the steps and the other platforms until he got to the top. Upon reaching said top he gasped at what he saw.

As he stood there, a breathtaking panorama of the magnificent city of Zootopia unfolded before his eyes. Towering skyscrapers reached for the heavens, each a testament to the ingenuity of the animal architects who designed them. What made them truly remarkable was their distinct animalistic touch. From his vantage point, he could catch a glimpse of various districts in the distance. One appeared to exude a chilly aura, while another resembled the vibrant energy of Las Vegas.

What was even more shocking was what he saw below him; several more two-legged animals wearing clothing and going about their business like humans did back home. He saw pigs, rhinos, lions, elephants, hamsters, foxes and all sorts of other animals, predators and prey, all living together in peace.

"Whoa…" Bart breathed, amazed.

He also spotted one animal driving a car and watched it go with wide eyes until it vanished from sight, even leaning across the edge of the building for a bit to get a better look.

"This is impossible…" The spiky-haired kid said, to himself stunned.

As he continued to glance around he saw large screens with a singing and dancing Gazelle pop singer, birds talking and flying in the air, and multiple monorails plus iPhone and iPad-like devices being used by the many animals.

"Oh man… I gotta be dreaming here…" The blond breathed before he immediately slapped himself, hard. "OW! Nope. Not dreaming."

He soon noticed that he might get spotted by one of them so he quickly ducked down before any of them could and began to think.

"Ok Bart, think, this-this isn't the first time you've been in a jam so just… try to put everything together…" The human muttered to himself. "I was going to this building, I opened the door… then what? Gah! I can't remember! Why can't I remember!? Oh… I think I'm losing my mind!? Ok… ok… Just gotta stay calm… or really will go totally mad…"

He then saw the door that led up to the roof he was on open up and was surprised when he saw a little Fennec Fox, also known as Finnick, step out wearing baby-like clothing and a pair of large sunglasses. He noticed Bart right away and the two stared at each other for a bit before Finnick finally spoke in his deep, adult voice.

"What?" he asked, annoyed before walking back and closing the door, leaving Bart both stunned and disturbed.

"Too late…" Bart declared, defeated. "I have gone totally mad."

As he cast his gaze downwards again, he couldn't help but notice the animals below, each adorned with stylish timepieces and carrying wallets filled with currency that resembled the money used in the human world.

"Well… as long as I'm here…" Bart shrugged. He quickly turned and walked back to the fire escape. After climbing down he quietly snuck over to a more crowded part of Savanna Central that seemed to be a park of some kind and began to sneak towards the unsuspecting animals before him.

As the animals conversed they failed to notice the hooded human boy sneaking up behind some of them or past them and became startled when they felt the absence of something important in their pockets or their wrists.

"What the… My watch!"

"Hey! Somebody just jacked my wallet!"

"Me too!"

As Bart continued discreetly making his way through the crowd, he swiftly managed to swipe most of the animal's wallets from their pockets or their watches from their wrists, mainly from animals whose wrists and pockets he could reach due to some of them being much smaller than him or too big, so fast and quietly in fact that they all didn't notice until he was gone.

By the time he reached the other side of the crowd and hid behind a small wall of plants he had a whole backpack, another thing he swiped while he was pickpocketing, full of wallets and watches.

The blond kid chuckled. "Just like home; empty pockets and idle hands… or paws, whatever."

He then noticed his stomach growling and began to look around again.

"Hmm… wonder if they have any good food in this wacko world…?"

The displaced human glanced around until something caught his eye; a large pizza sign in front of a small shop just a little ways away, animals exiting it were all coming out eating slices of pizza with various toppings on them, to match their specific tastes.

Bart licked his lips. "Jackpot," he smiled as he began to walk over to the Pizza place to get a supposed 'free meal'.

Chapter Text

Meanwhile, while the newly arrived human was enjoying himself and adjusting to his new environment, Officers Wilde and Hopps patrolled the streets. As their car moved closer to the area where Bart was, unknown to either of them, neither could see any trouble or reason to blare the sirens.

Inside the car it was deathly quiet, with Nick constantly glancing at his calm-looking bunny partner every few seconds, hoping she'd say something but was continuously disappointed. Feeling bored, Nick leaned against his door and began to pull the window up and down, up and down, up and down, over and over again on a continuous loop until finally Judy had enough.

"Will you stop that?" she demanded, annoyed.

Nick faked surprised. "Oh, wow! It speaks!"

"Yes, and still mad at you." Judy reminded him, sourly.

"Come on Carrots, how many more times do I have to say I'm sorry?" Nick questioned.

"It's not just about saying 'sorry'," Judy told him. "It's about why you're saying you're sorry."

"I have to have a good reason?' Nick inquired, baffled.

"Yes. And understand why I'm mad at you for pulling that crazy stunt." Judy added. "Come on, you're a smart fox, I'm sure you can figure it out."

"Uh…" Nick said slowly. Despite his best efforts, he couldn't think of anything.

Before he could do or say anything else, he and Judy began to hear the loud cries of someone nearby and turned toward it. It was a warthog who seemed to work at a pizza place and was pointing to something nearby.

"Thief! Thief!" The warthog called out.

"Boy, sounds like someone's had a bad day," Nick remarked as the warthog kept yelling.

"Focus! He just got robbed! We have to find out who." Judy said, glancing around for the culprit.

"No need. Found him." Nick said as he pointed to Bart's figure in the distance, fleeing the scene. "Red hoodie, a bag full of stuff, making a quick getaway, one o'clock. Let's drive around and jump 'em."

"Right." Judy agreed before she turned the car around and drove to the area Bart was heading to.

Around the same time, Bart got past two hippos before he began panting to catch his breath and gazed at the slice of pizza he had in his hands.

"Boy… all that yelling for a slice of pizza?" Bart remarked as he ate the last bit of it. "Man, these guys are just about as hopeless as us humans…"

The spiky-haired young adult began to resume walking away before the yelling warthog spotted him again when he heard something that caught his attention.

"Halt! Stop right there!" Judy yelled out, causing Bart to turn to her and Nick, they were both surprised by his appearance and how much taller he was compared to them, with Nick just barely passing his elbow and Judy only reaching his knee. "Whoa…"

They continued to stare at each other stunned before Nick finally said something. "Ok, hold on… what… is that?" he questioned to Judy through his teeth.

"I-I don't know… stay on guard!" The bunny told him in a hushed tone.

"Aw, a little bunny." Bart gushed, smiling.

Judy continued to sound stern and aimed her tranquillizer at him. "I said don't move mister uh… uh… w-whatever it is you are!" she stated, trying to stay firm.

"I'm a human, thank you." Bart corrected.

Judy tilted her head, completely caught off guard. "A 'human'?" she repeated, baffled.

"What? You never seen a human before?" The accused human inquired.

"Uh… not really," Judy admitted.

"Nope. We haven't." Nick added.

"Huh… that's odd…" Bart remarked, surprised.

"Yes, and we'll have plenty of time to talk about it once we bring you in," Judy stated. "Because guess what Mister… Human, you are under arrest."

"Wait… you guys are cops?" Bart remarked, amazed. "Well, I guess in a crazy place like this with talking animals they're bound to have cops too… this is a lot like home… anyways, I don't think you can arrest me, because I'm not exactly from here, so your rules don't apply, do they?"

"Maybe not, but we'll let the Mayor and Chief of ZPD decide that now either come with us or we will have to use force, do I make myself clear?" Judy questioned in a professional tone. Bart didn't answer her, nor did it seem like he paid much attention to what she was saying, his mind was elsewhere. "Hello? Did you hear me?"

The human paused before speaking once again. "Aw… you're so cute." Bart smiled, tilting his head and staring at Judy.

"Uh… kid? Only other bunnies can call her cute…" Nick pointed out.

"Yeah… when others do it…" Judy began.

"Well, how was I supposed to know that? No bunny I knew ever complained." Bart admitted, annoyed.

"So missing the point. You've been talking about it this entire time, now hand over the stolen item and that'll go a lot smoother for ya. Ok?" Nick told him.

"Who? Me? Why I didn't take anything from anybody." Bart said, trying to sound innocent.

"Save the act kid, I did routine a hundred times when I was a con," Nick stated, flatly. "Next you'll distract us and then make a hasty exit soon after."

"Like you did with me?" Judy inquired, with an edge.

"Let it go, whiskers…" Nick muttered.

"Uh… still here guys." Bart reminded before he realized something. "Why am I talking to a fox and a rabbit…?"

The fox moved forward, grabbed the backpack strap and pulled it off, despite Bart's constant struggling, pulling and resistance.

"Hey! That's my stuff!" The human protested as he tried to get his bag back, but Nick held it away.

"Your stuff? Uh… I'm pretty sure you stole this." Nick stated as he held up an expensive watch, which Bart quickly took back.

"Yeah? Prove it." Bart challenged.

Nick took some of the wallets and opened them up. "Well… unless you had a major makeover and changed your name and gender… Jake Giraffe… Bobby Squirrelson… Willard Tusk… Mimi Harrington… if those are your names, which I doubt… you're in big trouble mister," he stated while Judy smiled at Bart, victoriously.

"Ok, ok, you got me, one thing I'd like to point out though…" Bart began. He paused for dramatic effect for a second before asking. "You two make a very nice couple."

This quickly caught Judy off guard and made her eyes widen. "W-what!? W-we're… not…"

"Yeah, no way," Nick added.

"Right… and I'm Speedy Gonzales," Bart remarked, sarcastically annoying them.

"Listen, I don't who or what you are… or who 'Speedy Gonzales' is… but I think you need to come with us," Judy said as she took his hand before he slipped it out and pushed her away.

"Yeah… I don't think so," he smirked.

Nick scowled after seeing Judy pushed. "That's it, kid! You're going down hard and you're going down fast."

"One problem with that Fox, you have to catch me first!" Bart smirked as he slid his foot across the ground in front of them to kick up some dust. They coughed for a bit as it dissipated. When they could finally see, they saw him dashing off.

"Hey! He's getting away!" Judy cried.

"After 'em!" Nick declared as they began running in the same direction Bart took off in.

Bart ran as fast as his legs could go, with adrenaline already pumping through his body he pushed through the crowd and made some sharp turns past some predators and prey.

"Excuse me! Comin' through! Excuse me! Heads up!" he called out as he brushed past a few of them while Nick and Judy continued chasing him. "Look out! Ha-ha! Hurry! Heh-heh!"

Bart leapt over a mailbox while he ran, as did Judy while Nick took the 'long way' around it. The chase between them and the human was lengthy and now and then the spiky-haired little thief either leapt over objects, or surprised animals, or even knocked over trash cans and animals to slow the two cops down, Of course, this had little effect on doing so.

"Give it up! You can't outrun us!" Judy yelled out to him.

"Is that a challenge?" Bart smirked. "Then bring it!"

"Oh, trust me, kid, you don't wanna race a rabbit!" Nick called out. He turned to Judy. "Go for it!"

"Right!" Judy declared as she began to use her strong, rabbit legs to speed on ahead of Nick and quickly gain on Bart. She was practically right on his heels and at some points right in front of him but he jumped to the side and turned every time she tried to grab him or got in front of him.

She was so busy trying to catch him that she didn't notice a 'STOP' sign (the same STOP sign a Mouser thug ran into yesterday) and smacked right into the pole. Bart looked back, grimaced but continued running while Nick rushed over to her.

"Carrots!" he cried, as he began to help her up. "You ok?"

Judy helped herself up the rest of the way, rubbed her face and narrowed her eyes. "I'm fine. Let's keep going!" she stated firmly before moving on ahead.

"Thanks for the help, Nick…" The fox muttered, sarcastically. "Oh, no problem Whiskers! Sheesh…"

He quickly rejoined in the chase.

As they ran, Bart saw a metre-high fence up ahead, once that looked tricky to get over, but he couldn't slow down, otherwise he'd be caught and have no escape.

Bart reacted quickly and leapt up to grab onto the top of the fence, not stopping the momentum he quickly lifted himself up and over the fence before he continued running. Judy quickly hopped over it, landed on the ground and resumed chasing him while Nick was having a little bit of trouble climbing over it himself. He soon caught up with Judy who standing close to a corner and glancing to the left and right side of the road, looking for Bart.

"Boy… this kid's got some moves…" Nick panted.

"Yeah, well he's got to be tired by now and is probably close by, so stay sharp…" Judy instructed him.

"Sure… just as soon as I… resist the urge to throw up…" The fox breathed heavily. "Boy… I gotta work out more."

Using her sharp hearing Judy heard the sound of more heavy breathing, only a little further away and through the crowd she spotted a red hooded figure hunched over and desperately trying to catch his breath as well.

"There he is! After him!" Judy cried as ran ahead.

"Oh… now you're just torturing me…" Nick muttered in annoyance as he sluggishly started following.

They soon reached a crosswalk and, after Bart had reached the other side of it, a soccer ball rolled down it until it reached the middle. Soon after, a giraffe kid rushed to it, not noticing an incoming truck coming his way. Judy saw this and gasped in horror.

"Look out!" Judy cried out. The little giraffe turned and completely froze when he saw the truck.

The driver slammed on the break as hard as he could and while the truck slowed down a bit, it was obvious that it would still hit the little guy. Even though she was tired, Judy tried to race over to him.

Time seemed to slow down and images of the truck running the kid over flashed in Judy's mind over and over as she fearfully thought about her upcoming failure, which made her tear up. But before that could happen Bart suddenly showed up and pulled the kid out of the way of the truck just in the nick of time. They both panted when it was over, while Judy stared in shock.

"You ok, kid?" Bart asked the little giraffe, who nodded, shaken. "Good. Next time… look both ways, ok?"

"Ok…" The giraffe kid nodded once again.

"Alright. Now go. Go, to your mother." Bart urged him before he scampered off.

Just then, Bart noticed that his hood was down and every animal nearby had gathered around him. The whole downtown area stared at Bart, some were confused, and others were filled with fear. Since neither humans nor anything remotely similar to them like apes and monkeys, existed all of the other animals were filled with mixed emotions thanks to this apparent new species. Bart looked around the area with amazement; it was nothing like he had ever seen in his life.

"Uh… hi?" he finally said, waving.

The animals around him either screamed in terror or stared at him in confusion or disgust or fascination, or even some kind of combination of the two reactions, all at once.

"What is that?!" One male hippo asked

"Has he come to harm us?" Another hippo, possibly his wife, asked as well.

"Run!" An otter screamed as it fled.

"Maybe it's an animal with a hairless disease?"

"Is it contagious?"

"Get away if it is!"

"It should be studied! Sent to the government!"

"It should be destroyed! Before it hurts or infects anyone else!"

More and more animals then began to mutter to each other out of fascination or fear while also taking multiple pictures of him as they all slowly surrounded and got closer and closer to Bart, who began to look quite nervous. He had to find a way to get out before it got any more out of hand.

"Uh… uh…" Bart muttered as he tried to think of an escape, then he glanced upward and got an idea. "Hey! Look up there! Isn't that the face of a beloved comedian?"

Everyone looked up also out of curiosity or confusion which Bart took advantage of and dashed off before any of them could notice, all except for Judy and Nick that is, who resumed following him.

He ran around the corner of another building and soon saw a tall brick wall standing in his way and no way to climb over it.

"Gah… dead end," Bart grumbled before he heard noises behind him. He turned and saw Judy and Nick rushing around the corner and facing him.

"Nowhere to run!" Judy declared.

"So it would seem," Bart said.

Judy then began to approach him slowly. "Now… just come with us and we can talk this whole thing over, alright?"

Bart immediately looked around for something to defend himself with and impulsively grabbed a long piece of wood that he held like a sword while Judy and Nick stopped in front of him.

"S-Stay back! I have a…" The blond kid began before he saw the kind of weapon he was holding. "…wooden stick."

"Whoa, easy! Please, put down the stick, we don't wanna hurt you…" Judy tried to tell him.

"Well, I do," Nick spoke up. "And I'm pretty sure I can take a kid with a stick."

"Oh yeah? Well, I got a stick and I'm taller than you, so who's at a disadvantage here?" Bart pointed out.

"Uh…" Nick said as he looked around for something to defend himself with and ended up grabbing a stick also and wielding it like a swordsman like Bart was. "Well, now I have a stick!"

"Shall we dance?" Bart offered, with a teasing smile.

"I'll lead." Nick declared, smirking.

"En guard!" Bart declared as the two began to clash with the improvised swords, both appearing to be evenly matched despite the height difference. Bart then began to use his stick to block Nick's and then used it to knock his stick out of his paw, lower it and bring it straight up into Nick's groin, making him squeal and fall over.

"Nick!" Judy cried.

"Aw, do you need a break pal?" Bart smirked at the fox.

Judy frowned and began to stomp toward the human. "Alright, you little…"

Before she could finish, Bart got a fallen can onto his foot and kicked it upward like a hacky-sack bag before knocking it toward Judy, using the stick like a baseball bat. The rabbit just barely managed to dodge.

"Hey!" she cried.

"I ain't going to big house flatfoot, and you can't make me!" Bart stated, firmly as he readied himself again. Just then, a paw reached up, grabbed his stick and pulled it out of his hand before the owner AKA Nick kicked him in the gut and knocked him back before getting up himself.

"Actually… we can," he stated.

"How the…" Bart began.

"It's called playing possum, kiddo," Nick smirked as he aimed his tranq gun at him, along with Judy, both of them circled him to make sure he had no openings anywhere.

"Hey, come on! Give me a break! Since when do they let animals carry around tranq guns?" Bart questioned. "Seriously, what the heck are you guys!?"

"ZPD." Officer Wilde said before he shot a dart into Bart's leg before he could react.

"Ow! Hey! Did you… just… tranq… me…?" Bart said slowly as the tranquilizer took effect and he slowly fell flat on his face.

Nick sighed in relief. "Finally! I can hear myself think again…"

Judy glanced down at the human and kneeled closer to him, curiously. "Huh… where did he come from?" she wondered out loud as she glanced around suspiciously.

Unknown to them, as Judy and Nick dealt with picking the unconscious human up, which was very hard due to him being much heavier than either of them, a small camera inside a nearby lamp turned towards them and zoomed in on the spiky-haired young boy. Someone was watching them, someone very bad…

Chapter Text

Unknown to them, as Nick dealt with picking the unconscious human up, which was very hard due to him being much heavier than either of them, a small camera inside a nearby lamp turned towards them and zoomed in on the spiky-haired young boy. Someone was watching them, someone very bad…

In the dimly lit hideout of the observer, a series of screens displayed different snapshots of Bart, all captured the instant he was seen. There was also a full body image of him that was working on showing every part of his human body.

A tiger thug wearing an eyepatch, named Clawdius Fang, stepped forward toward a tall chair, which the presumed mastermind behind it all sat, and kneeled before him.

"Report." The boss said.

"Sir, we've confirmed that the species first spotted in Savanna Central has now been taken to ZPD headquarters, currently in a holding cell," Clawdius revealed.

"And there's no other reports of a creature like him before?" The boss questioned.

"No sir and we have done the research; there's absolutely zero information on this new species." The tiger thug replied.

"Hmm… Interesting… this boy… he, and presumably the rest of his kind, possesses similar but different traits to us animals… while he is somewhat slower and weaker than us… the potential within his DNA could be boundless!" The mysterious figure in the chair remarked, getting excited.

"What do you want us to do, sir? The police are probably putting him in protective custody." Clawdius told his shadowy boss.

"Find this creature and bring him to me!" The shadowed figure told him. "He could be the very key to completing my work!"

"And what about the two cops protecting them?" Clawdius inquired.

The unseen boss paused before answering. "Dispose of them both," he hissed. "Leave no trace."

The tiger thug smiled sinisterly after hearing this.

Elsewhere, Bart was not having the best of the days… not only did he wake up to find himself in a world with talking animals and no humans whatsoever but he got chased and attacked by two police officers that happened to be a talking bunny and fox. Sure he had fun stealing from many of the animal folk and having the two cops chase him all over the city but all that ended when the fox cop shot him, with a dart.

Then, before Bart knew it, he woke up and found himself behind bars in a ZPD holding cell with a very bitter look on his face which he placed between the two bars he was gripping.

"Hello? Is anyone there? I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to get a phone call!" he called out.

Just then he heard a door open up at the end of a hallway and after hearing some footsteps coming towards him, the human saw Judy, Nick and Chief Bogo approaching and soon standing in front of his cell.

"Finally… can you let me out now? I'm claustrophobic so I really don't like it in here." Bart said.

Bogo ignored him and turned to Judy. "This is the creature you caught stealing in Savvana Central?"

Judy nodded. "Yes, sir."

"And I shot him, with this," Nick said, proudly as he held up the dart he shot Bart with. Everyone stared at him. "What?"

Bogo turned to Bart. "Alright boy, I suggest you start talking. Now," he ordered very sternly. The human remained unfazed and just folded his arms, frowning.

"I want a lawyer." Bart requested, firmly.

"And I want to be Mayor. Disappointment abounds." Bogo said, unsympathetically. "And all you will get is years behind bars unless you start talking."

"Tough choice," Bart remarked, sarcastically.

"Do you have any idea how much trouble you've caused?" Chief Bogo questioned, angry.

"Enlighten me, Sarge." The human said, half-heartedly.

"It's chief," Bogo told him with an edge before turning to the TV set attached to the top corner of the room. "And look."

He turned on the TV and Moosebridge and his co-anchor appeared on the screen.

"Returning to our top story, citizens of Zootopia are still filled with shock and awe after the sudden appearance of a brand new species arriving in Zootopia." The snow leopard revealed.

"While authorities have taken this new creature into custody, many mammals are either demanding that he'd be studied, killed, or even sent back to his 'natural habitat', wherever that may be," Moosebridge added.

"Bounties are even placed on the young creature's head by many wealthy business mammals and scientists, some even fear that the ones behind the recurring crime wave might also be after him, for what reason we don't know." His co-anchor said.

"All in all, as the citizens of Zootopia lock their doors, board up their windows and search the streets as well as wait outside the ZPD Prescient everyone is asking… who or what is this new creature?" Moosebridge questioned.

"And more importantly… where is he from and what does he want?" The leopard finished before Bogo turned the TV off and glared at Bart.

"Wow… news travels fast around here," Bart said, stunned.

"Yes, and thanks to your 'subtle' public debut, the city is growing even more chaotic than before," Bogo stated, clearly frustrated. "Mammals are filled with curiosity and fear, if my officers hadn't picked you up when they did…"

"Nerds would probably take you away and do painful experiments on you." Nick finished, bluntly.

"Exactly," Bogo confirmed.

"Right, right… Ok, so… to sum up… I'm in a world with talking animals… where humans never happened… and now everyone wants to know what I am. That right?" Bart asked.

"Yep. That about sums it up." Nick shrugged.

"Ugh… I feel like such a minority…" Bart groaned.

"You sure you're the only one here?" Bogo questioned, suspiciously.

Bart smirked. "Yep. What you see is what you get, Mayor Pompous."

The chief's blood began to boil. "Don't play games with me, boy."

"Who's playing?" Bart defended. "I told you; I'm the only human here… apparently."

"Hey, it could be worse." Nick reasoned.

"Says the guy who wasn't shot in the leg with a dart." Bart snarked, bitterly.

"Hey, you asked for it," Nick stated.

"No, I'm pretty I didn't." Bart shot back, deadpan.

"You're just lucky that the mayor is requesting that we put you under protective custody since you're apparently not 'from here' nor do we know what your kind is capable of, otherwise I'd have you locked up for resisting arrest, thievery and assaulting police officers." Bogo threatened.

"Aw, he does care," Nick remarked to Judy.

"Quiet, Wilde." The chief snapped before turning his attention to the non-literal elephant in the room. "Now you, what's your name, boy?"

"It's Bart, Miss Manners, thank you." The kid stated, annoyed. "By the way, how did you guys learn to do the… talking thing anyway?"

Nick shrugged. "Eh, just something you pick up, am I right?"

"What he means is… we didn't used to but… then we evolved and now predators and prey live in harmony," Judy explained.

"For the most part anyhow," Bogo added. "That's why we exist."

"To get on everyone's nerves?" Bart guessed, deadpan.

"To keep the peace between mammals of all shapes and sizes." The chief answered sounding very annoyed.

"Well, where I'm from animals don't talk… or walk on two legs, drive be cops or any of that crud. Heck, they don't even wear clothes." Bart informed, making Judy shiver.

"Boy, we should introduce you to Yax, you'd feel right at home with him and his buddies," Nick remarked.

"Ok… don't know what he is… but whatever." Bart shrugged.

"Hold on… animals don't talk where you're from?" Judy spoke up, surprised.

"Nope." Bart shook his head.

"Incredible…" The rabbit remarked.

"Yeah… normally if I meet a bunny they just stare at me and perplex me, like every other animal on the planet," Bart revealed.

"Wow… a place where animals never evolved but you humans did?" Judy questioned in amazement.

"Yep," Bart replied.

"And we're supposed to believe you?" Chief Bogo questioned, sounding doubtful.

"I don't expect you to, I even suspect that you're the kind of guy who doesn't believe in anything," Bart observed. "It's sad."

"Well, I didn't ask for your opinion."

"And I didn't ask to be here, so looks like we're both gonna be disappointed, eh General Personality?"

"It's chief!"

"Yeah, whatever…"

"Wait, if you're not from here… then how did you get here?" Judy inquired.

"I have no idea… the last thing I remember was going to some building, then… nothing," Bart confessed. "Next thing I know… I find myself here."

"And are you dangerous in any way?" Bogo asked.

"Aw, come on, Chief, what's so dangerous about this kid? I mean look at him." Nick said, gesturing to Bart. "He doesn't have fur, fangs, or claws, just a small tuft of hair on his head."

Nick ran his paw through Bart's gelled-up blond hair as he spoke, but the boy swatted it away in annoyance and promptly fixed it.

"Hey! Back off! That takes two hours in the morning!" Bart stated.

"I can tell… boy that's a lot of gel…" Nick remarked, looking at his paw.

"Well, boy? Are you a predator… or prey?" Bogo questioned, leaning closer to him, threateningly.

Bart remained calm, unfazed by Bogo's attempt to intimidate him. "Well… we humans are known as… an Apex Predator, though only when we have weapons. That answer your question?"

Judy looked surprised while Nick looked at Bart disbelievingly. "You? An apex predator?" he inquired, flatly. "You gotta be kidding me."

"Well, like I said; we're considered an apex predator… but only because smaller animals can't feed on his because of our weapons and stuff," Bart explained. "But! …Don't underestimate us, ok? After all… I did kick this guy's butt not too long ago."

Judy covered her mouth to hold back a chuckle while Nick frowned, unamused.

"Ok, first off; you did not kick my butt back that alley I just… had a head cold, that's all." Nick lied.

"Right… and I suppose pigs fly here." Bart scoffed, before turning to Judy and sounding serious. "They don't do they?"

"Uh… no," Judy answered.

"Thank you." Bart sighed, relieved.

"Well, here animals do have weapons and they will use them on you for whatever reason they have unless you remain with us for the foreseeable future," Bogo stated.

"So what you're saying is my only options are either wait to be taken and dissected or stay with you guys?" Bart questioned before he realized something. "Boy… this is one big no-win scenario…"

"Suddenly, I don't think I'll feel bad when they do catch you," Nick remarked.

Judy nudged him. "Nick!"

"What?" he defended.

The chief ignored their bickering and continued to focus on Bart. "You want to rot in jail, son? Fine by me! It's where someone like you belongs, not out there causing a lot of panic!"

Angered, Bart got up and stepped closer to Bogo. "Hey, back off musclehead," he threatened.

Bogo narrowed his eyes as he looked down at Bart. "I would watch your tone, boy. I could get you into trouble."

"Not exactly breaking news to me, Posh Spice," Bart informed.

"I can tell you, a little pickpocket." Bogo snarled.

"I'm not afraid of you." The human stated.

"Then you're dumber than you look." The cape buffalo said.

"I should be saying that to you flatfoot, I mean when's the last time you looked in a mirror? Like… never?" Bart shot back. "I can tell."

Bogo growled loudly as he struggled to hold back his anger before walking to the cell door and opening it up. "Just come along."

"Ooh, you've come to apologize now? Well, it's ok, all's forgiven, no offence taken… though I don't know if I can forgive you for letting me meet you."

"Enough! I said 'Come along'!" Chief Bogo ordered as he turned and made his way out of the cell and down the hall.

"Sheesh, take a pill why don't ya…?" Bart remarked.

"You know, you really shouldn't talk that way to the Chief," Judy told Bart as they began walking down the hallway.

"She's right, he may be a stickler for the rules but he will crush you like a can if you push him too far," Nick added.

"Oh please." Bart scoffed, speaking loud enough so that the chief could hear him. "The guy couldn't beat an egg, let alone me."

The cape buffalo then stopped and turned to him. "Be quiet!" Bogo yelled, loudly. "Or go back to where you came from."

"I can't! I wish I could but I can't. Anymore then you could win a Beauty Pageant." Bart mocked. Judy and Nick winced at this and feared what reaction could come from Bogo, and they were right too.

"Why you…! I could crush you now!?" Bogo threatened as he got very close to Bart, looking like he did want to hurt him before finally composing himself and turning away. "But then... I would get into trouble with the Mayor."

"Yeah... you really should watch that temper, big guy. My advice; Anger. Management. Think about it." Bart said as he pointed at Bogo. He continued pointing with a smug little grin while he walked past him and the two officers.

They soon entered the bullpen with Bart still smirking and Bogo, now with the cuffs off and practically shaking with anger, plus Judy and Nick who were cautiously backing away from Bogo in fear of his temper.

"Anyways, this has been grand, I really, really had a great time in the crazy animal world, but I can take care of myself from here guys, ok? Thanks." Bart told them.

"Ugh, are all you humans so incredibly arrogant?" Bogo remarked, deeply annoyed.

"Try looking in a mirror, beautiful." Bart snarked, angering Bogo more. "But a lot of famous guys on my Earth are outlaws like… Bonnie and Clyde, Billy the Kid, Babyface Nelson, Al Capone, Osama… Justin Bieber."

"Cool names," Nick admitted.

"They sound dangerous to me…" Judy admitted.

"Yeah, and just as cool as yours truly," Bart said, proudly. "Though by the way, that arrogant comment is a little racist."

"Don't care." Chief Bogo grunted.

"Shocker." Bart scoffed, deadpan.

Surprisingly, the chief managed to control his anger this time, albeit with some difficulty. "I warn you boy; my patience does not last long and while your obvious arrogance does, I can promise you that the moment I even suspect that you are out there, loose, and causing trouble or better yet; when your little smug façade ends, I will be there… with a body bag in tow."

"I look forward to it, sir!" Bart declared, acting like an army private. He quickly saluted the chief, throwing in a wink and his trademark cocky smile.

"You know a kid with over a hundred, thousand bucks on his head you sure do have a big mouth," Nick observed.

"My thoughts exactly…" Bogo growled.

"Really A hundred g's?"

"Yep."

"Unbelievable… for once in my life I'm actually worth something. And I can't even collect," Bart remarked, somewhat annoyed. "Boy, this'd be a good story to tell the boys back home."

"Yes, well… until you do get home that is you will be put under the protection of Officer Wilde and Hopps, effective immediately," Bogo stated.

"What!?" The three of them responded.

Bart snickered as he gestured to Judy and Nick. "So, these twinkle toes are gonna protect me?" he asked, amused as he sat down. "Well, this should be fun, I mean who doesn't love a good comedy, am I right?"

The animals stared at him, unamused then began talking amongst themselves.

"You're really making this kid our responsibility?" Nick questioned Bogo in disbelief.

"Yes. Don't like it, there's the door." Bogo stated, pointing at the exit. "Please drop off your badge on your way out."

Judy stepped forward. "No. We'll do it," she said before glancing at Nick and looking crossed. "Won't we?"

"Uh… yeah. Yes, we will…" Nick finally agreed.

"This won't be a problem, will it? You two working together I mean?" Bogo asked Judy and Nick, raising a brow slightly.

"Not at all," Judy said, calmly as she turned and left the room.

Nick looked a little disturbed as he watched her leave. "Yeah… personally; not sure."

"How unsure, Wilde?"

"Uh... very, sir."

"Yeah, well… don't care."

"What do you care about? Besides yourself that is." Bart questioned.

"I'd ask you the same question." Bogo countered.

"Hey, I may be a selfish, self-centered dirtbag, but it takes one to know one! And at least I ain't a prejudiced piece of crud like you ya big bag of hot air!" Bart snapped as he stepped closer.

Bogo stepped closer with an angry face and as he loomed over the human he looked ready to tear him apart in a nanosecond. "Why you little…!" he began.

Nick quickly got between the two. "Ok! Time out guys. Let's all calm down… give me time to sell tickets before you brawl… Hey! I have an idea! Let's bring the kid to a safer place, okay? What do you say?"

The chief snorted. "Fine… just go."

Nick gave him one final salute before he turned and began to pull Bart out of the room.

"Come on, kiddo," he said.

As they left, Bart turned and blew Bogo a kiss while mouthing 'I love you' in an almost taunting way that angered the chief so much that he pounded his stand in anger and broke it in two, due to his strength. He noticed this and groaned in dismay.

"Come on… I just got a new one…" he complained.

A little while later, Bart was walking down another hall in the precinct with Judy and Nick leading the way before he gazed down at the two, saw how close they were walking together and gained an idea in his head.

Bart then leaned down toward them, with a knowing smirk. "So… are you two going out or what?"

They both stopped and turned to him with wide eyes in response to his question.

"What!? Oh, no, no, no, we're just friends!" Judy protested.

"Yeah, and partners! Come on!" Nick added.

"Besides, like I'd ever go out with him," Judy stated, gesturing to the fox beside her before quickly adding. "Uh… no offence!"

"No! I'm with you!" Nicky assured her. "Besides, and I hate to point out the obvious here but… I'm a fox, and she's a rabbit."

"So?" Bart shrugged.

"So, it'd be kinda odd if a fox and a rabbit started going out, don't you think?" Nick questioned him.

The human shrugged nonchalantly once more. "Not really. While I was in town I saw a sloth going out with a pig," he revealed, surprising the two officers.

"For real?" The fox asked, stunned.

Bart nodded. "Serious. And don't get me started on how many guys happen to be into this singing Gazelle girl, heck I'll bet some of them even kiss her poster," he chuckled.

"You have no idea…" Nick shook his head, smiling.

"Regardless…" Judy began with an annoyed edge as they resumed walking. "We won't let anything stand in the way of keeping you safe from damage, least of all romance. That's why I generally try to avoid it."

Nick gained a knowing smirk on his face hearing this. "Yeah… that's why," he quipped. Judy glared at him in annoyance.

"Hey, I've been keeping myself safe for years, I don't need protection especially if the ones 'protecting me' are a talking fox and a rabbit," Bart stated.

"Well it's either us or Bogo and I don't think you're ready to die just yet, are ya?" Nick remarked.

"Good thing you seem to be, right?" Judy said, slightly bitter as she continued to look calm. Bart and Nick stared at her, baffled.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nick asked.

"Oh, nothing," Judy stated.

"No, I'm… pretty sure you said something," Nick told her. "Come on Carrots, what is going on?

Judy raised a brow at him. "After a whole day, you still don't know?"

The fox groaned in exasperation. "Here we go."

"Just try to look at it from my perspective," Judy told him.

"It's a bit of a challenge when your perspective is constantly changing."

"That's because you're too busy trying to get yourself killed!"

"It doesn't matter if it gets the job done!"

"Well back then it did!"

"Hey, it's not like a similar situation will happen during the next case, now will it fluff? Unless your… oh, I don't know… psychic perhaps."

"Guys are… are you really gonna have a lover's spat right now?" Bart spoke up, baffled.

"I know but…" Judy started to say before she pointed ahead down the hall and started talking to Bart, without turning her head. "I'm sorry. Just go on ahead Bart, we'll be right there."

"Ok…" Bart said, slowly as he did so.

"Anyways… during that whole time you never once thought about what would happen if you got hurt Nick, if you got killed, how it would affect me… you just… you didn't seem to care…" Judy continued, sounding hurt.

"But I do!" Nick insisted.

"Sure didn't seem like it… I mean... We're supposed to be a team, Nick, and lately…" The bunny began before she trailed off and looked away sadly. Nick looked at her sympathetically and quickly realized how much he scared and hurt her. He lowered his head as he began to feel guilty.

The fox sighed. "Look, I'm sorry, alright?" Nick finally apologized. "I was being stupid, is that what you want to hear?"

"Go on," Judy said.

"Truth be told, I do care about not dying and you're right; I haven't been taking this seriously and I'm sorry. We are a team and… I probably should have consulted with you before doing anything reckless… I mean while I am the brains of the team and you're the brawn, it's obviously not good when my smart brain wanders off on its own and…" Nick began to apologize.

"Nick." Judy interrupted.

"Yeah?" Her partner inquired as she finally put on a sweet little smile.

"You had me at 'Happy Anniversary'," she said, which also made him smile, though the moment was ruined when they heard kissy noises and turned and saw Bart up ahead puckering up and making kissy noises. They glared at him.

"Ah, would you knock it off, kid?!" Nick told him before he zipped off ahead of them. He sighed and spoke in a resigned tone. "He's not gonna let this go… is he?"

"Nope," Judy answered, resigned also.

"Thought so." Nick muttered before they resumed walking down the hall to catch up with their little 'guest'.

Clancy Brown as Clawdius Fang

Chapter Text

A little while later, they were outside the precinct and heading towards Judy and Nick's police car, in the hopes of getting their new human 'friend' somewhere safe until they can get him home. Of course the human himself didn't look especially happy about any of what was going on and happening to him.

"Cheer up kid, this could be the first day of the rest of your life for you." Nick pointed out.

"Yeah… in an insane asylum… where I probably still am." Bart stated, flatly.

"Trust us, your not." Judy told him.

"Still I'm telling you; this isn't necessary, I can take care of myself." Bart insisted. "I always have done fine by myself."

"So did I, for a while believe it or not." Nick confessed. "But things changed."

"Obviously your deodorant didn't." Bart quipped. "Or is that your regular smell? Either way it smells like a skunk farted on you."

"Hey, I so do not!" Nick protested before he smelled himself just to be sure. He turned to Judy. "Do I?"

"Uh…" Judy began to say before she quickly changed gears. "Let's just get you in, ok?"

"Fine…" Bart sighed as Judy opened a door for him and he reluctantly stepped inside the part of the car where they kept the prisoners while Judy and Nick got in the front seat.

"So… where do you think we should take him?" Judy inquired.

"Well, obviously someplace without a lot of animals…" Nick mused.

"That I can get behind." Bart spoke up.

Nick frowned. "Kid, let me remind you that you have the right to remain silent, so use it."

"Hey, I may have the right but that doesn't mean I know to use it." Bart quipped.

"That's for sure…" Nick muttered.

"Guys! Hello! We need to find a private place for Bart to stay out for a while, any ideas?" Judy asked them.

"What do you think?" Bart questioned.

"Well, let me put it to you this way; we're better company then the ones that are after you." Judy told him.

"I can fight." Bart defended.

"No, you can take a beating, there's a difference you know." Nick countered.

"True enough." Bart shrugged. "But like I said; I know how to take care of myself."

"By stealing?" Judy asked.

"If that's what it takes." Bart replied.

"And look where that's got you; in the back of a police car with two cops that are talking animals and who also don't give a darn about if you like us or not. Try posting that on your blog." Nick said, smugly. Bart just scowled at him.

"Ok, that's enough, new topic please." Judy urged them.

"Ok… So, what kind of special talents do you humans have kid?" Nick inquired.

Bart shrugged. "Eh, it various, some aren't even talented at all… while others are just really good at being jerks," he confessed. "As for me; I can steal you blind without even knowing it."

"Oh please." Nick scoffed. "Your about as subtle as a rhino."

"Yeah? Well then, guess who's lost their money?" Bart inquired with a smug grin as he held up a wallet. Nick looked stunned when he saw it. "Tada!"

"What the… Hey! That's mine!" he cried as he opened the little door to the cage, put his paw in and swiped it from Bart.

"You know, you really shouldn't take things that don't belong to you." Nick told the human, annoyed. "Especially money."

"Hey, not everything's about money Fox, if it's worth something to them then it's worth something to me." Bart stated.

"Yeah… how long have you been doing this?" Nick inquired.

Bart shrugged. "Little while,"

"And how much dough have you gotten for selling some of the watches you take?"

"A couple hundred."

"Ooh… sorry kid, most guys don't go for nickel-dime crud these days. Amateur."

"Hey!"

"Ok! Enough! Let's just get out of here!" Judy stated. "Nick; start the car."

The fox reached into his pocket to grab the keys, but he slowly gained a panicked look on his face when he realized they weren't there. "Uh… Carrots? Where are the keys?" Nick asked, slowly.

Judy's eyes widened. "What!? I thought you had 'em!"

They both heard a whistle and turned to see Bart standing outside the car and holding up the keys with two of his fingers with a smug grin on his face.

"Hey! He got out! And he's got the keys!" Nick exclaimed.

"Sorry guys! Didn't want you cramping my style." Bart called out, as he gripped the keys tight. "Smell ya later."

The blond quickly turned and took off down the street and pretty soon after, the fox and the rabbit snapped out of their stupor and bolted out of the car.

"Get him!" Judy yelled as she lead the chase.

The human turned and saw them chasing him with aggravated looks on their faces that made him smirk. "And… cue the Benny Hills theme," he muttered.

Before long all Bart was running through town with Nick and Judy right on his tail, all three of them running super-fast, like they were sped up by a fast forward button. Bart also continuously bumped into several animals, screaming upon seeing him. Each of them were afraid and stared at the human shocked and fearfully while the two cops chased after him.

Some even became angry after he knocked them down or disturbed their business, causing them to roar or scream angrily at him.

"That kid is a menace!" One lion said.

"Yeah, the sooner he's out of Zootopia the better, and I know just how…" A weasel added as he began thinking.

Meanwhile, the three of them continued to run around every corner of town and around every building, at times one of them stopped and the other two passed by while other times one of them sat back and watched the others run around before rejoining the chase. At times, Bart and even Nick, stopped for a snack along the way before Judy pulled him away.

Bart tried everything to escape from his two pursuers from disguising himself as an old ladies, to posing as a mannequins in a store and to hiding behind tall, small and rather large objects but still they found him chased after them once more.

The young pickpocket then began to run into different houses in Zootopia with Nick and Judy right behind him and then they somehow reappear out of another door before running to another. This pattern repeats itself and quickly became chaotic and confusing till finally Bart managed to get the two of them to collide into each other before dashing away.

They quickly recovered though and saw Bart jumping over a series of objects like one usually does at a triathlon.

"Get back here, kid!" Nick shouted.

"Halt in the name of the law!" Judy yelled out as they begin chasing him again.

"Not today, baby!" Bart called back. "I'm getting out of here and that's that!"

The bunny cop behind him quickly began to put her rabbit legs to work and easily caught up to him.

"You know I'm much faster than you, right?" Judy reminded him.

"Says the bunny who ran into a 'STOP' sign." Bart reminded. "By the way; incoming."

As the human suddenly stopped, Judy looked up ahead of her and pressed her heels down on the ground as hard as she could in order to slow down but ended up bouncing off the belly of a Hippo that had just come out of a store.

"Hey! Watch it!" he complained.

"Ooh… sorry sir!" Judy apologized quickly. "I didn't see you, even though…"

"I'm fat?" The hippo questioned.

"No! That's not…" Judy tried to explain.

"You calling me fat!?" The hippo angrily demanded. "I'll have you know most think I look thin for a hippo!"

"Well I…" Judy began to say.

As this conflict continued, Bart just snickered and continued to watch it as if he was watching a sitcom.

"Ooh, I do not wanna be her right now…" he muttered to himself as he began to turn and leave before Nick suddenly appeared and tackled him. They rolled across the ground before the fox was right on top of the human and twisting his arm behind his back to keep him from trying to escape.

"Gotcha!" Nick declared.

"Hey!" Bart protested as he struggled to get free, but Nick made his grip on him even firmer.

"Are we gonna have any more problems, kid?" Nick asked.

"No, no. No more problems…" Bart responded, quickly. "So… we'll just go back to the car now, right?"

"Yes. But first…" she began before whipping out some pawcuffs.

A short while later, Bart was back in the back seat of the car with pawcuffs around his wrists, he began fiddling them with a annoyed look on his face while Judy drove the car down the street at a safe speed. Nick didn't appear to be next to her at the moment.

"I sense a lack of trust…" Bart remarked, bitterly as he continued to fiddle with the cuffs.

"Well you did try to escape." Judy reminded him.

The human just shrugged. "Hey, can't blame a guy for trying, am I right?"

"Why can't you get that we are trying to protect you? Huh?" Judy demanded.

"Hey, I'm trying to get home here! And I can't if I'm just stuck in one spot and being protected by cops!" Bart stated. "Forget it. You wouldn't understand…"

Judy gazed at him sympathetically and was about to say something before she heard Nick's voice coming from the radio in car.

"Sure you don't need any help keeping 'zippy' under control?" Nick asked.

"Don't worry, I'm fine, you just try to meet up with your contact and see if he knows any places we can hide Bart." Judy told him. "I'll call you if there's trouble, alright?"

"You got it." Nick said before signing off.

After a few moments of silence between them Bart leaned forward toward Judy with a smirk. "So… you sure he's not your boyfriend?" he teased.

"W-what?" she responded, startled. "No!"

"Cool." Bart said, flirtatiously. "You busy tonight?"

Judy scowled. "I know what you're thinking and I already got an answer; no. Why? Answer; way too old for you."

"Whatever. It's your loss anyway." Bart shrugged. "Besides, you're not my type."

"And what is your 'type' exactly?" Judy questioned, as one her eyebrows rose up.

"The non cop kind." Bart answered, seriously.

"Why do you hate cops so much, anyway?" Judy asked.

"Oh, you really wanna know why?" Bart questioned.

"Yes!" Judy insisted.

"Fine, I'll tell ya. See, cops have been hunting me for quite some time and not only are they annoying about it. but they don't even give me a chance to explain and that was before I became a 'pickpocket'." Bart stated, bluntly. "All my life I've seen cops shoot first, ask questions later not to mention make tons of false accusations and arrests and not just with me but with everybody! And they're never around when you do need 'em and let the guy who really committed the crime get away while arresting some loser who just happened to be nearby! And don't get my started on the dirty ones, they're the worst, believe me."

"Oh…" Judy said, stunned by the level of hatred he had in his heart towards the police and the fact that he actually had some good points on him, making her feel somewhat guilty for being a police officer herself.

"Yeah. Well, you wanted to know why I hate cops so much… now you know." Bart stated, as he sank in his seat.

"Bart… I'm sorry about all that… but I'm not like those cops! Honest!" Judy tried to tell him. "And neither is Nick, so trust me when I say we will protect you."

"And I'll treasure those three extra seconds…" Bart said, sarcastically. They began to hear a lower rumbling noise. "Hey… what's that sound?"

"I don't know…" Judy said as her ears became fully alert. "But it's getting closer."

"Boy… this day could not get any weirder…" Bart muttered.

Just then, both he and Judy spotted something large appearing at the very end of the street they were facing; a big herd of animals of all shapes and sizes standing together at the end of the street, each holding an improvised weapon in their paws.

"And… I was wrong…" The human corrected himself.

As the large and apparently angry mob began to stomp towards the police car.

"Whoa… that's a lot of animals…" Bart remarked.

"A mob… they must have all gathered together after you caused such a ruckus earlier." Judy said, giving the human a slight glare.

"Opps…" The eighteen-year old realized.

They then saw that the crowd was headed straight down the street and towards them, leaving Judy no opening to drive around them and if they reached them…

"Oh sweet cheese n' crackers…" Judy remarked in fear.

"What do we do?" Bart asked.

Judy quickly took out a megaphone and stepped out of the car before speaking into the megaphone and addressing the crowd. "Attention citizens of Zootopia, as an officer of the ZPD I urge you to please disperse and go back to your homes immediately," she told them.

"Not until we get rid of that creature!" An armadillo called out.

"Yeah!" The crowd cheered.

"This 'creature' is under ZPD protection, so I cannot allow you to do with him as you please." Judy said.

"Then we'll just have to go through you!" A antelope declared. "Shouldn't be too hard."

"Yeah!" The mob yelled in unison once more as they started to approach the two slowly.

"Please! If you come any closer I may have to use force and arrest some of you!" Judy pleaded.

"Uh… I don't think they care, Whiskers." Bart piped up. The bunny cop soon realized that he may be right and quickly got back in the car and slammed the door shut.

"Ok fasten your seatbelt, this… might get a little hairy…" Judy confessed to him.

"Gotcha." Bart said quickly as he did as he was instructed.

"Fastened?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?" The bunny inquired, raising a brow with a cheeky smile.

Bart made an annoyed face. "Who are you? My mother?"

Judy rolled her eyes and turned on her radio. "Nick? We're gonna need some help, hurry back when you can."

"You got it." Nick said on the other line.

"Alright Bart, hang on." Judy said as she stepped on the gas pedal, causing the tires to squeal before making a 'U' turn and driving down the other side of the road.

"She's got the freak! Get her!" The lion cried as they all began to rush down the streets after them.

Judy quickly drove around the nearest street corner she could find and sped ahead but the crowd refused to stop and continued to chase after them, despite being far behind it. However, some members of the crowd who were particularly fast, like cheetahs sped right ahead of them all and were beginning to close in on the police car.

"Of course this place has cheetahs…" Bart bemoaned when he saw them. "By favorite animal is about to be my downfall…"

"Not yet! Hang on!" Judy told him as she slammed on the break hard, pushing Bart back against the seat and causing the cheetahs to move ahead, due to the forward momentum, and didn't notice that they were behind them until Judy made another turn.

"Whoa! Man you drive like a girl!" Bart commented.

"No, I drive like a rabbit, now keep your head down!" Judy ordered.

"Why?" The human asked before several small and large pebbles began to pelt the car from nearly all sides, each of which was thrown by an animal that was either fearful or hateful towards him. "Never mind…"

"You ok?" The rabbit asked.

"Sure, nothing like animals trying to kill you with rocks to cheer a soul up…" The blond kid remarked, sarcastically.

"Great, glad to hear it." Judy said, barely paying attention to what he said and focusing more on the road, which was hard due to all the angry animals yelling or chasing them.

At the end of the street, however, a familiar red fox, who appeared to be out of breath, saw that the police car was being pursued by an angry mob he quickly started yelling.

"Carrots!" The fox called out as he waved his arms so that she could see him, which she did.

"Nick!" Judy cried.

She zoomed over to Nick, made a sharp turn and skidded a bit before parking right in front of him. Judy quickly opened the driver door.

"Move over! I'll drive!" Nick told her as she scooted to the side seat while Nick hopped into the front seat and slammed on the gas pedal. The car zoomed away from the mob before they could catch them. They all breathed a sigh of relief, though they still noticed that the mob was right behind them.

"Hey, sorry I'm late." Nick said, quickly.

"Oh, no worries, what did the contact say?" Judy inquired, in a surprisingly casual tone,

"That we might be able to lay low at this old abandoned observatory… but it's a long shot." Nick shrugged. "Sorry I couldn't find something more concrete."

"Ah, it's ok, you did your best." Judy assured him, gently.

"Thanks. By the way, nice driving, you're getting better, Carrots." Nick complimented.

"Aw, thank you." Judy said, gratefully.

"Uh, why are you guys practically flirting instead of calling for backup!? When something like this happens you should call for backup!" Bart pointed out, a little stressed and annoyed.

"We would if we could, kid." Nick stated.

"But the ZPD is already stretched thin." Judy continued.

"So basically… we're it, sparky." Nick told the human.

"Great. So… they're pretty much all useless." Bart said, flatly.

"Pretty much." Nick confirmed, nodding.

"Double great… I'm gonna die next to two of the biggest idiots on this planet…" Bart muttered in a deadpan tone.

Just then, motorcycles were heard and after everyone backed up in fear, several fierce looking animals all dressed in leather and well-armed as well came around a corner and began to pursue the police car. Everyone quickly recognized them as part of the Mouser Gang, with the one leading them being Clawdius Fang himself, the same one their boss ordered to catch Bart.

Judy looked back and finally noticed the bikers behind them, her eyes grew fearful as they slowly gain on them. "Looks like we have company…" she observed. The boys looked back and noticed them as well. The bikers chuckled evilly at them.

"Oh great…" Nick sighed, annoyed.

"Who the heck are these guys?" Bart questioned, baffled.

"The Mouser Gang…" Judy answered.

"The what?" The human questioned, confused.

"They're a really big criminal organization that's responsible for this massive crime wave, that's the reason why we're stretched thin." Nick told him.

"Well, what do they want with me?" Bart inquired.

"We don't know." Judy replied. "But we're going to protect you from them, none the less. I promise."

Just then, a spear that was thrown by one of the criminals pierces the back window of the and sticks through halfway, nearly hitting the startled Bart. Nick and Judy look back towards it and then straight ahead with stunned faces.

"Assuming we live long enough…" Nick added.

As the Mouser thugs continued to zoom after the ZPD Police Car with Bart inside of it, the one that had been watching him from the start and was currently watching him now through one of his many cameras began to cackle to himself, gleefully.

"Good. Now… begin the hunt, boys." Their boss declared with a maniacal smile.

Chapter Text

As night began to fall upon Zootopia and the most of the streets were beginning to quiet down, the high speed chase that had been going on ever since the sun started to set was continuing outside the homes of all the mammals living in them. As the ZPD car that Judy, her partner Nick and their new human 'friend' were in zoomed down an empty street various mammals on bikes, led by a tiger zoomed down after them and were closing in the home.

"They're catching up!" Bart informed his two police protectors before rocks and a bunch of other junk began to pelt the back of the car. "And now their throwing stuff at us!"

"I know! I know!" Nick said, stressed.

"Then drive faster already?!" Bart exclaimed.

"No one likes a back seat driver!" Nick snapped.

Then, the tiger known as Clawdius, came close to the passenger door and took out a small grappling gun with a three fingered claw sticking out of it which he fired at the door. The claws pierce the metal door and grab onto it, startling Bart.

"Gah! Metal claw!" Bart yelled before the door was suddenly ripped off it's hinges as Clawdius pulled the claw back and then tossed it aside before he moved closer to the open door and roared as he tried to grab Bart, who scooted to the other side of the car, yelping and kicking the anthropomorphic tiger back. "Back! Back, kitty! Back!"

Nick acted quickly and quickly moved to the left, pulling away from Clawdius before he could grab Bart.

During said turn to the left they went around another corner and began to go down another empty road with no sign of any cars, big or small, anywhere in sight and no sign of the Mouser Gang behind them either.

"I think… I think I lost 'em…" Nick panted as he turned to Judy. "You think I lost 'em?"

Judy looked around and got both of her ears on alert. "I don't know… it's too quiet."

"Oh, that is never a good sign…" Bart remarked.

"Slow down." Judy told Nick who begin to do so as they slowly made their way down the seemingly empty street, keeping their eyes peeled the whole time.

Bart's face quickly shifted from nervous to flat. "Ok, I just know their gonna jump out at any second, don't you guys?"

"Would you be quiet?" Nick shushed him, annoyed. "Nothing's gonna…"

Before he could finish he looked ahead and screeched to a halt when he saw two bears on bikes appearing around different corners and blocking their path.

"Called it!" The human said, pumping his fist into the air triumphantly.

"Not something to be proud of, kid." Nick said, flatly.

After Nick slammed on the gas pedal and began to turn and go down another way more bikers began to follow them down and slowly began to box them in by putting one of them on each side. But following Bart smacking one that was leaning through the opening his missing door made, with the same spear one of them threw at the car, Nick managed to use the opening to break free from the box but still they followed.

"These guys aren't like the ones who tried to hijack that armored car; they're smart." Judy realized.

Nick smirked. "Yeah? Well, so am I."

The fox then made a sharp turn that caused Judy to slam into her doors, due to the sheer force. Bart suddenly started to lean out of the car, screaming as he does so before he pulled himself back in and Bart began driving into an underground tunnel. Because of the forward momentum some of the bikers were unable to stop and crashed.

"We're ok!" One of them called out while Clawdius and the others managed to turn and follow the heroes.

"You are not getting away so easily!" The tiger called out to the coppers.

Bart, who was looking back toward him the whole time, turned to his protectors. "You hear this guy? Did he really think that was easy?"

"For once I'm with you there." Nick agreed, before a rock managed to bounce off the hood and onto the glass, cracking it, much to Nick's dismay. "Aw, come on! The glass too!?"

"Just get us out of here!" Judy exclaimed, starting to get scared.

"I'm trying!" The fox said, stressed before he spotted some more of them up ahead. "Whoa!"

He slammed on the brakes hard and fast, making both his partner and the human bump their heads on the object in front of them before turning and going down another street.

"Ow… that hurt…! I thought you guys were supposed to be protecting me!" Bart exclaimed, as he rubbed his sore head.

"Kid, keep complaining and I will gladly give you to them!" Nick told him, aggravated.

"He's got a point though, if you keep driving like this then we'll be doing him more harm then the guys behind us!" Judy pointed out.

"Your seriously gonna criticize my driving now?" The fox remarked, annoyed.

"Why not? You're always make fun of my driving." The bunny reminded him. "And during some of those times you're the one who's driving!"

"So I'm critical, big whoop! You're the one who couldn't drive faster and then angry mob!" Nick pointed out.

"Hey! Is another slam on my driving?" Judy questioned, insulted.

"Please don't use the word 'slam', especially when I am driving!" Nick stated, stressed. "Now which exit!?

Judy pointed ahead. "Right there! That one!"

Nick glanced around, confused. "Where!?"

"That one!" Judy exclaimed. "The one I'm pointing at!"

"I don't see it!"

"That's because your not looking!"

"I am!"

"Clearly your not!"

As they continued to bicker back and forth, they zoomed right by the exit they were going to take and did not realize it until it was half a mile behind them.

"Gah! We missed it!" Nick said, frustrated.

"Hey, you asked me which turn to take and I did, don't go 'oh why didn't you say something' on me." Judy told him.

"Says the rabbit who should by driving a pogo stick!" Nick shot back, making Judy gasp insulted.

"Ok, seriously, how long have you two been dating?" Bart demanded. "Because you bicker like an old married couple!"

"What!?" Nick responded.

"We are not dating." Judy stated, firmly. "When are you gonna stop that?"

Bart shrugged. "I don't know… when it starts to get on people's nerves perhaps."

"Yeah… that happened a while ago." Nick informed.

"Same as this?" Bart inquired as he suddenly held up Nick's wallet again.

Nick growled in frustration, reached into the cage again and took it back. "Geez… how do you keep doing that!?"

Bart smirked. "It's my superpower, what's yours? Besides being a dork?"

"Uh, that would be night vision, savvy business skills and the ability to bite your face off!" Nick snapped, annoyed.

"Guys! Focus! Bad guys on bikes after us!" Judy reminded them as she pointed to behind them who were beginning to close in on them, some used daring and risky maneuvers to do so also, which included driving around and over other incoming cars..

"Ok… so we just need to go a little faster." Nick declared as he pressed the gas pedal to full speed, pressing everyone back against their seats and giving them a good idea of what a pancake feels like. "Yeah, ha-ha! Boy, we are moving now!"

Bart quickly spotted something up ahead and his eyes widened. "Uh-oh…"

The rabbit officer next to Nick spotted it to; another car, belonging to an innocent civilian, was coming around the corner and beginning to enter the tunnel. It looked like they were going to hit it.

"Watch out!" Judy cried.

Nick reacted quickly and turned again to avoid hitting the car, making Judy slam into her door once more and Bart almost fall out of the car screaming, before driving around it. The car they would have crashed into quickly stopped while the bikers drove past it, one of them even leaped over it. The driver of the car, a beaver, watched with wide eyes.

Bart pulled himself back into the car and panted heavily. "You know… this is practically police brutality!" he complained to Nick.

"Not yet it isn't." The fox smirked.

The car chase soon continued and while Nick managed to shake off and knock away a few of the ones that were chasing them, the ones behind Clawdius remained and stuck to the ZPD car like glue, no matter what trick the fox that was driving pulled or what he tried to get in their way. Soon enough, the sly fox had begun to run out of ideas and bad guys were hot on their tails.

"I can't lose 'em!" Nick said, beginning to sound worried. All of their worries increased when Clawdius took out a dart gun of his own and shot one of the tires, causing to leak air fast and eventually burst with a loud 'pop'.

"Oh… that's not good…" Bart observed, gulping.

"It could be worse." Nick pointed out.

"How?" Bart inquired, incredulously.

"Well they could ram us with a truck." Nick replied. "And you know… it'd actually be funnier if an actual ram was the one driving it. I'm telling you…"

"Nick! Incoming!" Judy cried as she pointed to the side. The boys turned and in just a few seconds a truck came out of nowhere and rammed them in the side, pushing them back far and kicking up a lot of sparks before finally stopping and allowing the police car to start spinning around and around.

The occupants in the car screamed and held on tight as they rode what seemed to be the world's most extreme teacup ride/bumper car match ever.

"Hang on!" Judy cried.

"Obviously!?" Nick exclaimed.

"Ugh… I'm gonna hurl…" Bart moaned as he started to become sickly grin and his cheeks swelled up as he covered his mouth.

"What!? Oh, no, no, no, no, no! You are not hurling in here kid! Just swallow it like a bunny!" Nick told him.

"Hey!" Judy remarked, insulted.

Eventually, Nick managed to get the car to stop spinning by slamming on the brakes and stepping on the gas pedal next when he saw an opening for them go down, which they took while the bad guys continued to drive after the very damaged police car. They managed to lose the truck by going down an alleyway that was only big enough for them, and unfortunately the bikers as well, who were closing in more and more.

Clawdius smiled at his work. "Excellent… just like in the jungle; the pack wears prey down… then alpha male finishes it!"

Bart looked and saw the ones following them before popping his head back in the car looking scared. "Boy… for hired help they sure are persistent!" he remarked.

"Yeah, well, bad guys usually are, especially the ones that have a truck with them." Nick pointed out.

"Hey, don't forget mister 'sly fox', you're the one who jinxed it!" Bart reminded him, annoyed.

"He does have a point." Judy agreed.

"Why are you on his side!?" Nick questioned.

"I'm not on anyone's side!" The bunny cop tried to tell her partner, starting to feel the stress of the situation.

"Well I'm on the side that lives, now is their anything in this tin can that we can use?" Bart asked, quickly.

Judy thought for a bit. "Uh… uh… oh! Yes! In the glove compartment!" Judy remembered as he unlocked the compartment in front of her and smiled at what she saw. "Jackpot!"

The bunny took out a large, wide and cylinder shaped canister that Nick immediately recognized as she turned and held it out through the opening of the cage.

"Tear gas?" Nick remarked, surprised.

"Desperate times…" Judy began.

Bart smirked. "Desperate measures," he finished as he took the can and scooted to the large opening in the car before poking his head out toward the remaining bikers following them.

"Alright kid, I know you're a crook but I'm trusting you to throw that thing out the window and go to work, ok?" Nick ordered. "Ok!?"

"Right!" Bart nodded. "Ok… here goes… something!"

The human pulled the pin before tossing the can of tear gas out the opening and letting it bounce and roll across the street until finally it released a large cloud of white gas right in Clawdius' face. The cloud covered all of the Mouser Gang bikers, and while they couldn't be seen the sounds of them coughing and hacking and also crashing were still heard.

And when the cloud finally dissipated they were all laying in a pile groaning in pain, with Clawdius at the very bottom.

"Ok! That did it! They're gone!" Bart declared, happily before another loud 'pop' was heard.

"Yeah? Well, so is our last tire!" Nick said, alarmed.

"Oh no…" Judy said, fearfully before the whole car began to shake violently.

"This is worse then that bad space mountain ride I took!" Bart cried.

"And the time carrots here beat me at Donkey Dude!" Nick added, the humiliating memory of Judy beating him at a video game that he was best at and dancing victoriously while he remained frozen in shock still remained fresh in his mind.

"Quick! Stop the car!" Judy yelled. Nick tried pressing the brake pedal hard but no results came out of it, not even when he hit it several times.

"Oh crud… the brakes!" he realized in horror.

"Please tell me the rest of that sentence is 'the brake are working'…" Bart said, nervously.

"Oh kid I wish I could tell you 'yes'…" The fox sighed.

The boy looked up ahead and saw that were heading straight for a small wall and with no breaks to stop them from hitting it. His face fell flat. "Boy I hate you…" he muttered.

"Hang on!" The fox cried before the car the wall and was flung up into the air. They all screamed as they spun in the car for a bit before the car tumbled and rolled across the ground upon impact until finally, after tilting to the side a bit, it landed back on all fours. The car was now full of dents and crunched up metal, like it was in the middle of a demolition derby match.

The passengers of the now destroyed police car, slowly climbed out of it, and groaned a bit as they try to steady themselves after such a rough ride.

Nick turned to Judy, who was wincing and limping. "You ok?"

"Yeah… hurts when I laugh but… I don't think that'll be a problem…" Judy remarked.

Bart groaned also. "Man… that ride was horrible… and I think I actually threw up a bit in my mouth…" he admitted.

After panting and panting from exhaustion and dusting themselves off, the trio eventually managed to compose themselves, despite feeling a bit sore and slightly bruised.

"Wow… I can't believe it…" Nick remarked, amazed. "We're alive… and unharmed! We should be dead!"

"Thank you, Jesus!" Bart yelled to the heavens, before his cheeks swelled up again and he turned and tossed his cookies as soon as he got his head back inside the destroyed police car again.

"Nice…" Judy said, flatly before the hood of the car came flying off and landed behind them while steam radiated out of the engine before the whole thing collapsed on itself, and then, spontaneously, caught on fire.

"Ooh… the chief is not gonna be happy…" Nick remarked, shaking his head at the car.

"Exactly when is he ever happy, exactly?" Bart questioned, baffled as he walked back over to them and wiped his mouth.

"Well, believe it or not there are moments of sunlight breaking through the angry storm of his mind." Nick revealed.

"Huh…" Bart said, stunned.

"Yeah… then they're quickly snuffed out by frustration or anger." Nick added, bluntly.

"Figures." The human shrugged.

The trio glanced around them; the area was deathly quiet and void of any mammals, it didn't seem like their pursuers were anywhere nearby, and if they were they seemed to be really good at hiding from them.

"So… you think they gave up?" Bart inquired.

"I don't know… m-maybe they were trying to scare us." Judy suggested.

"Well then… they certainly succeeded." Nick stated.

"I'll say." Bart agreed.

"These guys… they knew exactly where we would be…" Judy slowly realized. "If that's the case then it's reasonable enough to assume that whoever's controlling the Mouser Gang has eyes all over the city."

"And they waited until the crowd wore us down enough before they struck…" Nick added.

"It's almost as if…" Judy continued.

"They were acting like predators did during the old days!" The two partners finished in unison.

"So, we're being hunted then." Bart stated, grimly.

"More specifically you." Nick pointed out.

"Yeah, but something tells me that they want me alive, otherwise that tiger freak would have just clawed my eyes out instead of trying to grab me." Bart reasoned.

"I think he's right…" Judy realized.

"Although… while I do have a feeling that they want me alive, I'm not so sure about you guys…" Bart admitted to them. "So basically… you're screwed."

"Gee… thanks." Nick remarked, sarcastically. He turned to Judy. "Hey, Carrots, think we can ask the Chief for a ride and tell him what happened?"

The bunny held out her radio and pressed a button. "Hello? Clawhauser, are you there?" she asked, but all she heard was static. "Nothing… signal's being blocked.'

"So we can't contact the chief?" Nick asked.

"Not for a while, no." Judy shook her head.

"And… that's the worst thing in the world?" Bart inquired, doubtfully.

"Right now it is." Judy stated. "But we can't stay here, the ones who did this could be back."

"They usually do." Bart nodded.

Judy nodded in agreement. "Exactly. Which is why we need to stay hidden for a while."

"Alright, if that's the case then let's get a move on… before something else happens, which it probably will." The fox said, flatly he gave Bart a strong push that ended up knocking him over.

"Hey!" he cried as he fell flat on his face. "You did that on purpose…"

"Aw, what's the matter? You need a break?" Nick teased.

"Don't make me hurt you…" Bart warned, annoyed as he got back up.

"Ok, stop." Judy said as Bart and Nick stopped what they were doing and turned to her. "Let me take those off."

The rabbit quickly walked over to Bart, took a pair of keys out of her pocket and began to unlock the pawcuffs, much to Nick's surprise.

"Carrots! Why are you…" he began.

"Look, we're not going to get anywhere or survive this if we don't start trusting each other." Judy stated. "And right now… I've decided to put my trust in Bart and have faith that he won't abandon us again and I suggest you do the same."

Nick sighed in defeat. "Fine… but I sure hope you know what you're doing, Hopps."

"You and me both…" Judy muttered as she finally unlocked the pawcuffs around Bart's wrists and took them away while the human rubbed his sore wrists.

"Ah, finally…" Bart sigh, relieved. "Hey, do either of you have any moisturizer?"

"Yeah… no." Nick replied, bluntly.

"Ignore him. I'll try to find you some later." Judy told him.

"Sweet. Hey, think I can have one of those tranq-thingy's?" Bart asked. "I bet I could…"

"No!" Judy and Nick both said, both loudly and sternly.

"Ok! Ok… There's no need to yell in unison." Bart winced.

"Just stay by our sides and you'll be safe, and once the Mouser Gang has been taken care of… we'll ask some scientists if they'd be willing to work on getting you home. I swear it." Judy told Bart, sincerely.

"Alright, I trust you." Bart nodded to Judy.

"Thank you." Judy said, gratefully.

"I don't trust him though." The human added, gesturing to Nick, which annoyed and insulted him

"Say nothing." Judy advised her partner before he could say or do anything, but Nick didn't listen.

"Why? Because I'm a fox?" he questioned, upset.

"Nick, easy…" Judy continued to urge him.

"No, it's because you're a jerk, and that's worse." Bart replied, rendering Nick speechless, as he didn't have a response to that. "Burn!"

Nick continued to look insulted. "And how can you tell that? You don't even know me, kid."

"I don't have to. It's written all over your face." Bart pointed out. Nick's eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

"Come on you two, let's get going." Judy urged them, amused by their antics while beginning to walk away. "And try not to kill each other along the way."

The human and the fox glared at each other. "No promises…" They both said before they both began following Judy.

Chapter Text

While the two ZPD Officers continued to make their way through the city on foot and remain under the radar so that the Mouser Gang could not find them, with their youthful human charge in tow, the ones that were chasing them all over Savvana Central were just reporting to their mysterious boss, who was not pleased when he heard the results of the chase as he pounded the arm of his chair angrily when he did.

"You let him get away!?" Their unseen boss yelled. Clawdius, along with some of the other members of the gang that were talking to him via video screen, flinched fearfully.

"Sir… those cops… they were quite skilled." Clawdius informed. "It was more difficult to kill them then I had originally thought…"

"Oh? Is that right?"

"Yeah! That fox is one slick driver!" A weasel remarked.

"And the kid threw tear gas at us! My eyes still hurt!" A bear added.

"Incompetent fools!" Their boss snapped. "Clearly, you don't understand how important getting this boy truly is, but no matter, just find him and when you do send me the coordinates."

"Sir!" The goons all said before signing off.

"It's only a matter of time… once I possess this creature's DNA… the city will be mine!" The shadowy figure declared, he then turned in his big chair. "Pierce! Pigg!"

Two figures then stomped toward him, and while they were being covered by the shadows anyone could tell that they were both big, muscular and bad news.

"Yeah, boss?" A big fella asked.

"What can we do for you, sir?" The even bigger fella next to him added.

Elsewhere, sneaking around Savvana Central, and avoiding all the predators and prey that were still out and about in the middle of the night, was the Mouser Gang's target and his two ZPD protectors. All three of them were taking great caution in making sure they weren't spotted by anyone even resembling a member of the Mouser Gang, though they were slowly getting tired so they needed a place to sleep and fast.

They soon zipped over to a wall and poked their heads out from behind it one at a time to make sure no one was around.

"All clear." Judy informed.

The three of them then began to tip-toe out from behind the wall and stayed in formation the whole time they were sneaking across the street.

"So… what's your plan exactly?" Bart inquired.

"Find a place to lay low, then find a way to contact Bogo and see if we can get some back up on this." Judy answered.

"Oh, now we might get back up?" Bart questioned, raising a brow.

"Do you ever stopped complaining?" Nick questioned, annoyed.

"Only when I'm asleep." Bart replied.

"That figures…" The fox muttered.

The human then stopped and yawned. "Speaking of which… where are we gonna sleep?"

Judy stopped to think so. "Hmm… well… it'd have to be someplace the Mouser Gang hasn't attacked yet, is comfortable and has a trustworthy staff…"

"Not to mention isn't closed…" Nick pointed out, glancing at several buildings that had glowing 'Closed' signs on them.

"Right, what do you think, Bart?" The bunny asked their young friend, but he didn't respond for some reason. "Bart?"

She and Nick turned and gasped, startled when they saw that the spot where Bart was previously standing in was completely gone.

"Hey! Where'd he go!?" Nick questioned, stunned.

"He ditched us again, didn't he?" Judy asked, flatly.

"God, this is really getting annoying!" Nick said, frustrated.

Judy sighed. "Guess we'd better go find him again…"

"Or we could just have dinner and wait for him to come us." Nick suggested.

"Nick, he could die if we leave him alone!" Judy pointed out.

"Yeah, well, I think that's pretty much how he wants it." Nick countered.

"It doesn't matter, we can't just quit! He is our assignment and we're going to protect him!" Judy told Nick, sternly.

"Hey, I'm not quitting, I just don't think we should be the ones risking our lives for some punk kid." Nick huffed. "Wouldn't surprise me if all humans are like him."

Judy glared at him with a hint of disappointment in her eyes. "Bart."

Nick turned to her, a little confused. "What?"

"That's his name; Bart." Judy stated, firmly. "And you can't judge an entire species over his actions, you of all mammals should know that."

The fox quickly realized her point and felt a strong sense of shame. "Hey… Carrots… I didn't mean…"

"Forget it, you don't care about him anyway." Judy huffed, turning away. "Or me…"

"No! NO! I do! I do care about you! And him! Honest! The kid may be annoying but I don't want him to get eaten! And that's the truth." Nick stated.

Judy turned back around, triumphantly. "Aha! I knew it!"

"What?"

"You do care about, Bart, and I got the recording to prove it."

The bunny promptly held up her signature carrot pen and pressed a button before Nick's voice was heard from it. "I do! I do care about you! And him! Honest! The kid may be annoying but I don't want him to get eaten! And that's the truth."

Nick face quickly feel flat with defeat. "Sometimes I really don't like you…" he muttered. She just smirked at him. "Fine, let's go find him."

"Thank you." Judy said, appreciatively as she turned and noticed something on the ground. "Huh… I don't think it'll be that hard…"

As Nick turned to her, Judy bent down and picked something up. "What is it?" he asked.

The bunny stood back up with a piece of paper in her paws. "It's a note… and I think it's from Bart."

"How can you tell?"

"Easy; the whole thing looks it was written in a rush, which is usually what he is, in plus every other word is misspelt."

"What's it say?" Nick asked.

"That we are being watched… and to follow the clues as to where he is." Judy said as she looked at the paper closely. She and her partner exchanged glances. "Clues?"

"Watched?" Nick added.

The two of them glance around for any suspicious activity and while at first they saw none, they soon began to see odd looking shadows appearing then disappearing behind various corners around them and they could tell right away that one of those shadows looked a lot like Clawdius.

"Oh great… it's that tiger again…" Nick muttered, displeased.

"Bart must have spotted him before he knew it and snuck off…" Judy realized.

"Well, how about that? Kid's not as dumb as I thought." Nick remarked. "Now we just gotta lose 'em somehow…"

"Quick! We need disguises!" Judy said, hushed. "We can't lead him straight to Bart…"

Nick glanced around and smiled when he spotted something; a store with two mannequins wearing two certain outfits that seemed to be pique his interest. "I think I found us some."

Judy looked where he was looking and her face fell flat when she saw what the mannequins were wearing. "You've got to be kidding me…" she muttered.

A little while later, inside a fancy Zootopia Hotel and hiding his face behind a large newspaper was the human himself, seated in the lobby and waiting for the other two to show up. He eventually lowered the paper, looking bored and glanced at the freaked out Hippo at the front desk.

"What?" he asked, flatly.

"Nothing!" The hippo said, quickly before a knock that followed the same tune from 'Shane Had a Haircut' came from the front door.

The blond human then stood up and walked to it. "Well, well, well, I wonder who that could be?" he asked, sarcastically.

Bart then opened the door up and found Judy and Nick on the other side, only this time they were dressed as Dr. Watson and Detective Sherlock Holmes, or rather Sherlock Hound in this world. He stared at them flatly while Nick breathed into his pipe, which blew out bubbles.

"Guys… you look ridiculous," he remarked, deadpan. They both looked at each other and then at him in response.

"Well, I think we look good." The fox stated, he turned to his partner. "What do you think, Carrots?"

"Yeah… except why do I have to be Watson?" she asked, annoyed.

Nick chuckled. "You just answered your own question, Hopps," he said as he entered the building with Hopps following and grumbling. The human watched them and paused before speaking.

"Hey, have you two considered couples counseling?" Bart inquired.

"We're not a couple!" They both yelled.

"Yeah, yeah, sure, sure…" Bart nodded, still unconvinced. "Glad you got my note."

Judy nodded. "Yeah, good thinking by the way," she admitted to him as she took off the bowler hat.

"I have my moments." Bart shrugged.

"Probably a limited amount." Nick muttered, while Bart shot him a glare and Judy gazed around their surroundings while she and Nick both tore off their disguises each with an easy motion, revealing their normal uniforms beneath, gear and all, and dropped it them to the floor.

"Ok… we should be safe in this Hotel…" Judy said. "Oh! And by the way, here's your moisturizer."

Judy handed Bart a bottle which he gratefully took. "Oh, thanks," he said as he began applying it to his wrists and hands. He then gazed around the swanky looking Hotel and whistled. "Fancy!"

"Never been in a Hotel before, kid?" Nick asked.

"Oh no, I've been in plenty." Bart revealed.

"How?" Judy questioned, suspiciously.

"Let's just say… certain folks back where I'm from are very grateful that these places don't charge them if their say… credits were… 'borrowed'." Bart confessed with a shrug.

"You mean stolen."

"Potato, Pohtahto."

"More like potato stolen." Judy's fox partner added.

"Anyway... this place is way cooler than the other hotel's I've been to." Bart stated, still gazing around.

"Well, don't get used to it, it's only for one night." Nick told him.

"How do we pay for it?" Bart inquired.

"Easy, we use these." The bunny replied as she pointed to her badge. Bart narrowed his eyes.

"So you can get away with anything as long as you're a cop, huh?" he remarked, a bit bitterly. "Typical…"

"Hey, it's the only way we can get a room." Judy defended.

"Yeah and unless you got some cash on you kid, we got no choice." Nick added.

Bart sighed in defeat. "Fine…" he said while Judy walked over to the front desk and hopped up to grab onto the edge and look at hippo.

"Three rooms, please." The rabbit requested while pointing to her badge. "ZPD business."

"Uh… sorry mam… most of the rooms are taken… however we do have two left!" The front desk hippo said.

"We'll take 'em." Nick said, quickly.

The elevator dinged when they reached the floor where their rooms were. It was near the top floor so they were sure to be swanky, which was what all three of them were assuming while they walked down the hall to the first room; Room 620, and their guesses were right when they saw the inside of it.

"Whoa! Sweet pad!" Bart smiled as he entered, walked over to the large bed and tested how soft it was. "Soft bed…"

He turned his head towards the TV on a stand right in front of the bed.

"TV…"

The boy brightened up even more when he saw what was in a glass bowl beside the bed.

"Ooh! And complementary sweets. It's almost like heaven…" he breathed before glancing it Nick. "Except you're here."

Nick scowled but decided to let it slide. "Well, afraid your gonna have to get used to me, now let's get some sleep."

"I'm on board with that." Judy agreed as she began to walk over to the bed before Bart stopped her.

"Sorry guys, only room for one, you can sleep in the one next door though." Bart suggested, as he walked outside and gestured to the room next door.

The two of them soon went over and opened said door and were speechless by what they saw; the room had scarlet red wall paper with hearts, pink carpet, champagne, roses, little chocolates all on several counters and a single big bed with red covers and a large pink heart in the middle.

"Ok… wow." Nick finally said, stunned.

"Yeah…" Judy nodded, clearly shaken.

Bart walked over and chuckled at their reactions. "Problem?"

"This… this is a room meant for couples." Judy pointed out, uncomfortably.

"So? Should a nice place for you two lovebirds to get to know each other more." Bart smirked. "Ciao!"

Bart promptly pushed them inside and slammed the door shut afterwards, leaving the two furry cops very annoyed.

"We're not lovebirds!" They exclaimed before glancing at each other awkwardly.

"Ugh! Man that kid is irritating!" Nick expressed, greatly annoyed.

"Well, like you said; he is just a kid, it can't be helped." Judy reasoned.

"Maybe, but remember he said was he eighteen right? So I say it's high time he started acting like one… before I make him… with my paws." Nick stated, firmly.

"Nick, are job is to protect him, not murder him." Judy reminded him.

"Somehow I don't think the chief would mind…" Nick said.

"Why are you so hard on Bart, anyway?" Judy inquired.

Nick sighed as he tried to come up with an answer. "I don't know… I just… I see a lot of myself in that kid. Liking looking into an obnoxious mirror…" he admitted. "Man it's annoying… and so is he by the way."

"Hey look, I know Bart can be… abrasive at times…" Judy began.

"Not to mention uncooperative, disrespectful, disinterested and the furthest thing from a team player." Nick added, flatly and somewhat bitter.

"But… maybe if we can earn his loyalty and trust, maybe we can break through to him." Judy suggested.

"Worth a shot, but it ain't gonna be easy." Nick reminded her.

"I know…" Judy said, knowingly. "But just try Nick, please? For me?"

The fox sighed. "Fine… for you," he said with a smile which made her smile warmly also before a certain human poked his head in.

"Wow, nice room. And just one bed? Man, talk about awkward."The boy teased with a snicker while Nick and Judy rolled their eyes.

"Don't you have somewhere you need to be? Like your bed?" Nick questioned with an annoyed tone.

"Fine, fine… but don't make too much noise while I'm trying to sleep, if you know what I'm saying, huh, huh?" Bart said, with a cheeky grin which made the two scowl. "Boy… you two must be fun at parties…"

"Just go!" Nick stated, further annoyed before Bart finally closed the door.

The two officers then turned around towards the single red bed. The only one in the room, hence why it was for couples only, much to their dismay.

"So… how do you want to play this?" The fox asked, hesitantly.

"Easy." Judy said as she turned to him. "We sleep in shifts. One of us sleeps for a bit while the other keeps an eye on Bart, then we switch, deal?"

"Deal." Nick nodded. "Rock paper scissors?"

"Fine." The rabbit nodded before they quickly began the motions.

"Rock paper scissors!" They both said. Judy picked paper and Nick picked scissors, much to her dismay.

"Darn it!" she said.

"Off you go, little bunny." Nick told her, smugly. "Go on, hop along."

Judy gave him a glare. "You know if we were an old married couple staying in a couples suite, I'd seriously consider a divorce," she admitted before quickly leaving.

"Fine, and while your at it could you order room service for us, honey?" Nick asked with a teasing grin.

"Knock it off!" Judy called out from a far.

Chapter Text

The bunny soon poked her head into Bart's room and saw the human taking a few things out of a wooden cupboard, such as a boom box and some party noise makers as well. After a minute or so of watching him prepare and open up all the cupboards in his suite, the bunny finally spoke up to him.

"Uh… what are you doing?" Judy asked him, confused.

"Oh, just searching around and I happen to find some cool stuff." Bart said, without turning around. "What are the chances of finding a boom box and noise makers, huh? Must be for V.I.P's, or rather… 'V.I.A's' in this case."

"And… your point is?" Judy questioned, not getting it.

"Well, I was thinking… that we should do something fun." Bart said with a mischievous little smile.

"Like what?" Judy inquired, suspiciously.

"Like a party of course!" Bart revealed.

Judy's partner then leaned in. "A party? Where's the party?" he asked, glancing around.

"Us!" Bart told him. "We're the party! It may be just the three of us but look around; we're in a big and super cool hotel with no one telling us what to do, not my folks or your boss or anybody, and if anybody has a problem you should flash your badge at them like you did before! There's no telling the kind of stuff we can do! I'm talking dancing, racing and basically… causing a little chaos."

"Bart, we can't just do stuff like that." Judy told him. "We're cops, not playmates. Plus everyone's asleep."

"Come on, no one's gonna know about it." Bart insisted. "Like I said; Bogo isn't here and you guys are cops so you can totally get away it! Besides, their might not be another time to do so, what with bad guys chasing us and all, and I think we deserve a little fun."

"He's got a point." Nick shrugged.

"Now your agreeing with him?" Judy questioned, incredulously.

The fox just shrugged. "First time for everything, Hopps."

"So what do you guys say? Wanna have a little fun for once?" Bart offered.

"I have fun!" Judy defended.

"Aw, come on Carrots, face it; this case is the most fun we've had all year." Nick told her.

Judy opened her mouth to protest but her face quickly fell flat when she realized she didn't have a good response. "Well… maybe… but it's still against the rules! We could get fired for this!"

"Only if Bogo finds out."

"And he might!"

"Only if too many animals complain, and with all that's going on I really don't think he'll care to hear about them."

"Regardless, I won't be involved in this!"

"Well, every party has a pooper." Bart shrugged.

"Hey!" Judy protested.

"Don't mind her, she's a rule follower and since I'm a rule breaker I'm surprisingly on your side." Nick admitted to Bart.

"Cool. And since she's not… I say she should be the one to kick this off." Bart declared with a smirk.

"What!? Nuh, uh, no way! I am not doing that. I don't know about Nick but I am not in the mood to get fired again." Judy said, stubbornly as she turned away, closed her eyes and crossed her arms. Nick and Bart looked at each and shared a knowing smirk.

Judy finally opened her eyes after her nose started twitching upon smelling something, that's when saw a carrot being held in front of her and because she was so hungry her eyes followed it as it swayed left and right.

Bart, who was the one holding the carrot, smiled at this. "Come on, come on… you want it? You want the carrot?" he asked before turning and tossing the carrot down the hall. "Go get it girl!"

"Hey!" Judy cried before she hopped and dashed after it. Nick and Bart laughed in amusement watching this. Once she reached it she quickly scooped it up and took a bite out of it, happily moaning before noticing the looks Nick and Bart were giving her and scowling. "Not a word…"

The two of them exchanged glances again and then quickly broke into hysterical laughter. Judy continued to look steamed before finally giving in and laughing as well.

Soon enough, the three of them began to give themselves some well needed relaxation and fun time, which included grabbing a luggage cart and rolling down the hallways on it as fast as they could go.

"Wha-hoo!" Bart cheered as he zoomed down the hallway One of the rooms he passed by opened up and a honey badger poked it's head out.

"Hey! Do not disturb! Mammals trying to sleep here!" The honey badger cried.

The human ignored the disturbed guest and laughed. "Eat my guest, old man!" he called out to Nick, who was right behind him.

"Don't get cocky, kid!" Nick smirked.

"Uh… question? What do we do about the brakes?" Judy spoke up.

Bart's eyes widen. "Oh…" he said, remembering that important detail before seeing a bellhop up ahead and screaming. The armadillo bellhop saw them and screamed before Bart slammed into him and zoomed right into an open door, Nick and Judy soon followed and a loud crash was heard along with some clanging and breaking noises. A single wheel then rolled out.

Eventually, Bart's voice was heard. "Well that didn't work…"

Hopps, Wilde and the armadillo all groaned in response.

Soon after the race down the hall, and making sure the bellhop was ok, the slightly sore human and his two police protectors went back to his room in the hotel where the young thief prepared the boom box

"All right! Let's get this party started!" Bart cheered.

"Hit it, kid!" Nick encouraged before Bart pressed the 'Play' button on the boom box which quickly began to play loud and catchy music, sung by Gazelle, which quickly got the three of them feeling the groove.

Bart then got down and began to do the six step before he hoisted himself up and began spinning on his head. Nick began to do the same six step dance as well before doing a handstand while Judy rapidly jumped forward, back and left and right before spinning around and around in a circle like a ballerina.

The three then dropped to the floor and began to do the worm while facing each other. The music stopped when someone on the other side of the wall knocked hard.

"Hey! Keep it down!" The unknown animal yelled. The trio stared at each other.

"Should we?" Judy inquired.

"Hmm… nah!" The human smirked before they all resumed dancing once more.

Once the music changed, their dancing changed and Nick soon stopped his when he saw Judy dancing, even he couldn't help but notice how stunning of a figure she was under the right amount of light. Bart saw him staring and smirked.

"See something you like?" he inquired.

"W-what? Uh… no." Nick stuttered. "I uh…"

"Come on, dance with her!" Bart encouraged her.

"What are you asking about!? I can't! I…" Nick began.

"Yes, you can, just be yourself! Trust me." Bart said before he pushed Nick forward, causing him to bump into her a little, surprising them both before they smiled at each other.

Judy nudged Nick a little before she started dancing, Nick followed suit and soon enough the two were moving and spinning in perfect harmony. They went from doing the tango, to ballroom dancing and all sorts of other forms of dance, all without taking their eyes off one another while Bart just folded his arms and smiled proudly.

The two then rapidly spun around and around until Nick held Judy right above his head and in the air, making her giggle and laugh, which made him laugh also. He slowly brought her down so that she was looking him straight in the eye before an even louder knock ruined the moment and stopped the music.

"If you don't turn that off right now that radio isn't gonna be the only thing I'm gonna break!?" The unknown animal from before yelled again.

"And… party's over. Run!" Bart declared before they all zipped out of the room.

After waiting a bit until they were sure that the angry guest next door wasn't going to chase them and had probably calmed down, the trio walked back to Bart's room and sighed.

"Well… that happened…" Nick remarked.

"Yeah… but didn't you guys see? That was fun." Bart pointed out with a smile.

"Yeah… yeah, it was actually…" Judy realized, smiling also.

"Guess you needed a little fun after all." Nick smirked at her with a playful nudge, which made her turn away with a bashful smile. He then yawned and stretched his arms. "Well… I'm gonna go sleep, goodnight everybody!"

"Night!" Judy said as he went back to the suite.

Bart yawned also. "Yeah… I'm gonna pack it in too," he added.

"I'll keep watch over you, so if you need anything, just tell me." Judy told him.

"Thanks." Bart nodded.

"I should be thanking you." Judy admitted. "I haven't had fun like that… in a long time."

"That's kinda sad you know." Bart pointed out.

"I know…" The bunny agreed. "But now I can say that I have."

"Good." Bart nodded before changing his tune. "And you know… it hasn't really set in until now but… I kinda miss my old home… everything was familiar to me back then, even the wise guys walking up and down the street… but here it's all… different. I wonder if I could be stuck here forever…"

"You won't." Judy assured him. "We'll get you back there, I don't know how or when… but we will. I promise."

"Alright, I'll hold you to that, ok?" Bart asked her.

The rabbit gave him a nod. "Ok. Well… goodnight!" Judy said before leaving.

"Night…" Bart said, a bit quietly.

The human walked toward the bed and climbed into it with a sad look on his face , not noticing a certain rabbit poking her head in again and seeing his sad expression as he laid down in his bed and closed his eyes.

Judy slowly approached the bed, quietly climbed onto it and gazed down at him with a sympathetic look. She rubbed his shoulder as she began to think about how much he might be missing his world and how alone he must feel, while she also knew that he'd probably never admit it, she could still tell.

After noticing that his covers were sliding down a bit she quickly pulled them back up, made sure he was comfortable, got a little closer, leaned down and gave him a quick peck on the head.

"Sleep tight," she said, softly before getting off the bed and leaving. Unbeknownst to her, Bart slowly gained a grateful smile on his face as he slept.

As Judy walked out his door, she slowly closed it till it was open just a crack, after which she let out a long sigh, not noticing that Nick was right near her.

"Huh, guess you are like his Mom," he remarked, startling Judy.

"Oh! Nick! I uh… your shift it's um… not for a while… so… why are you…" Judy said, still startled and stammering a bit.

"Changed my mind, plus I couldn't sleep." The fox said as he yawned and stretched his arms while approaching. "Thought you should rest instead, I'll watch 'em, don't worry."

"Really? A-Are you sure?" Judy inquired.

"Positive. Besides, always was more a night fox anyway." Nick reasoned.

"Oh. Ok, cool." Judy smiled. "Well, enjoy."

The bunny began to leave but stopped when Nick spoke up again. "By the way, I got admit it's impressive how patient you are with him and how your able to tame him like that," he confessed. "Come on, one cop to another; what's your secret?"

"Oh, well, I do have over 275 siblings… and counting… so I know how to handle stubborn children." Judy shrugged.

"275 huh?" Nick remarked.

Judy nodded. "Uh-huh, and counting," she reminded.

Nick looked a bit stunned. "Boy… you bunnies and your multiplying…"

Said bunny shrugged again. "It's both a blessing and a curse… like our hearing."

"I'll bet. Hey, does your Mom happen to have a hobby?" Nick suddenly asked.

"I'm… not sure. Why?" The bunny inquired, confused.

"Oh, no reason…" Nick said as he glanced away, trying to look innocent which made Judy giggle.

The bunny then looked back into Bart's room and smiled warmly at his sleeping self. "You know… he's actually really peaceful looking in his sleep."

Nick looked also. "Yeah… so peaceful… and unaware of how easy it would be to smother him in his sleep," he added with a grin.

"Nick!" Judy hissed at him

"Aw, come on, look around you; who's gonna know?" The fox pointed out while his partner continued to glare at him. "Kidding! Relax! I was just kidding! Come on, have a sense of humor why don't ya?"

"Well, I did choose you as my partner, is that something?" Judy inquired with a smirk.

"Now there's that sly bunny I know and love." Nick smiled as he tapped her on the nose. Soon after, their eyes both widen as stunned looks appeared on their faces they finally turn around and stutter nervously.

"I'll uh… keep on watching him." Nick finally said, smiling anxiously.

"Right. I'll sleep. Night!" Judy said quickly before she high tailed it to the couples suite leaving Nick alone. He sighed in relief and took out his phone, the cover image had a picture of him and Judy on it and as he stared at it with a conflicted look he sighed once again, deeply.

Meanwhile, just outside the hotel, while dark clouds began to fill the night sky, a pair of large figures, the same ones belonging to the pair that was called upon by the mysterious leader of the Mouser Gang, approached the building and looked straight up at it. Clawdius approached them as they turned to him.

"Is this the place?" One of them asked.

The tiger nodded. "Yes. They're up near the top floor," he informed.

"Good. Stay near the front enterance so they don't escape through here" The second one ordered before Clawdius walked off, leaving the two of them to look up at the building again. "Now let's go catch a rat."

The big guy let out a snort before he began to make his way towards the hotel with his partner in tow.

Chapter Text

As the sole bunny officer of the ZPD slept alone in the couples suite, all was peace and quiet, it seemed like she, Nick and Bart might actually catch a break, as things have been quiet for quite a while. That all ended however when a noise, that made one of Judy's ears perk up, was heard. As the noise happened again, the rabbit sat up with a gasp and used her super hearing to locate the noise, and it was coming closer towards them.

"What is that…?" she whispered to herself, confused before the noise, which had now become a loud thumping, became loud enough for any animal to hear it. "Gotta tell, Nick."

Judy quickly hopped out of bed and dashed toward the door, which was quickly opened up by Nick himself.

"Carrots!"

"Nick! Do you hear that?"

"Who didn't? You know, aside from Sleeping Beauty next door and everyone else in the building…"

"Think it's Mouser's guys?"

"With our luck; I have to say… yes."

"We have to wake up everyone and get out of here." Judy told him, seriously.

"Right…" The fox agreed before turning and spotting something that made him smirk. "And I know just how."

Judy looked to where he was looking and spotted the fire alarm, she quickly got the idea. "Perfect! Pull it! Get everyone out of the building."

"You got it." Nick said as he walked toward. "Always wanted to do this. Although… I'm guessing after this that we won't be invited back…"

The fox soon reached the fire alarm and upon pulling it down an ear piercing ringing noise was heard all throughout the hotel, waking everybody up from their slumber almost immediately.

All of them soon opened their doors and stepped out of their hotel rooms before glancing at the cops who pulled it with tired and angry looking expressions.

"Hey, what's going on here!?" One complained.

"Yeah, there's no fire anywhere!" Another added. "Just let us sleep!"

"Sorry, police business, I'm gonna have to ask all of you to evacuate the building immediately!" Judy told them. The guests all muttered words of confusion and surprise.

"Yeah, but make sure while your doing that scream and run around in a chaotic fashion." Nick added.

"Nick!" Judy scolded him.

"Relax, watch." Nick told her as he gestured to the crowd, who were all moving towards the emergency exits in a calm and orderly fashion, much to Judy's surprise and confusion. Nick smirked at her, having made his point. "See?"

"How…" Judy began.

"Well I've noticed that whenever we tell folks to do things they usually do the opposite." Nick reasoned. "It's crazy, but it works."

"Ok… great. Now we just have to keep Bart safe and…" Judy started to say before said human poked his head out the door looking very tired.

"Ugh, ok… who's the nimrod who pulled the fire alarm…!?" Bart grumbled, half-asleep as he stepped out.

"That would be me, slick." Nick stated, not turning his head toward him.

"Why?" Bart questioned before he heard loud footsteps and saw Nick pointing up ahead towards the source, which had just shown up.

"That's why." The fox answered, nervously.

Bart looked and quickly got the message. "Oh… heh, heh…" he chuckled nervously.

The trio gazed at the ones who were creating such a ruckus with wide eyes as they both step forward and revealed themselves to be a large pig and a muscular elephant, both of them dressed in biker attire like the rest of Mousers thugs but with their own personal styles.

The pig wore studded wrist bands, several gold rings and medallions around his neck plus his leather jacket had no sleeves. The elephant wore knuckle dusters and camo pants, had tattoos on both his arms and like his partner his leather jacket didn't have any sleeves also. They both stomped the floor with an angry sore.

"Well, well, look at what we have here…" The pig remarked, pleased. "Two loser cops and their pet delinquent."

"Hey!" Bart and Nick protested, insulted.

Judy quickly whipped out her tranq gun and aimed at them. "Get back! Don't move!"

The elephant growled and stomped the ground again, harder this time, which knocked Judy right off her feet and made her fall over, causing her to drop her air powered elephant tranquilizer.

"Carrots!" Nick cried as he rushed over and helped her up while the Pig stepped on the sliding tranq gun and knocked it back behind them.

"Looks like you guys aren't the position to demand anything, eh fuzz balls?" The pig thug remarked, grinning sadistically.

"Who are you guys?" Nick questioned.

"And what do you want?" Bart added.

"Name's Anton Pigg, this here's my partner Rocky Pierce." The pig answered, gesturing to the elephant next to him. "And as for what we want…"

The elephant pointed at Bart. "It's you."

"More specifically our boss wants you." His partner added.

"How come?" Bart inquired. "Because I don't see anything special about me At. All."

"Hey, don't look at us, we just do what the boss man tells us, and if we do good at it he gives us some mad respect, you know what I'm saying?" Anton answered.

"Enough! Let's just grab him already!" Rocky declared, impatiently.

"You heard the big guy, come with us and we won't hurt your friends and that's the easy way, yo. But do me a favor and say 'no' would ya? I personally prefer the hard way, player." Anton admitted. "And that involves leaving you beaten, broken and barely alive!"

Bart was stunned. "Barely…? Not just fully…?" he remarked before his face fell flat. "Mother of pearl…"

Nick and Judy quickly get in front of Bart in an effort to protect him. "Sorry, you want to get to him; your gonna have to go through us, first!"

"Yeah, and while giving him to you would solve a lot of our problems…" Nick admitted, causing Bart and Judy to give him a look. "…I'm afraid we can't let you take 'em."

"Well, you heard 'em; not happening, but I have to say, you Mouser guys and your apparent great desire to bring back the biker look… nice, very nice…" Bart remarked sarcastically to the pig and the elephant. "You know, if your not from some dumb retro show or something."

"Ho, ho, think you're funny, huh?" The pig remarked, flatly but angry. "Well, ya ain't gonna be laughing for long!"

"Yeah! Especially when I crush your face like a grape!" Rocky declared, cracking his knuckles.

"Easy! Boss wants him alive…" The pig began before narrowing his eyes. "Although… that doesn't mean we can't rough him up a little bit."

"Yeah!" Mr. Pierce smirked.

Judy turned to Bart. "Run, Bart!" she said.

"What!? But I…" The human began to say.

"Just go!" Judy ordered him before he nodded, turned and began to run down the hallway.

"Alright! Let's rumble!" Anton declared as he and Rocky charged forward.

"Here they come, get ready!" Judy told Nick as she readied herself for a fight.

"Uh… right." Nick said as he did the same, looking a bit nervous while doing so.

The two pairs of partners soon met in the middle and while Judy was able to leap over Pigg while he fell flat on his face after trying to leap over and grab her, Pierce managed to grab Nick, hold him up while moving and slam him into the ground before tossing him down the hall.

"Nick!" Judy cried as she jumped and bounced off the pig's back before kicking the elephant in the jaw and knocking him down, after which she started to move towards Nick. She soon reached him and helped him up. "You ok?"

The fox groaned as he sat up. "Ugh… yeah…" he confirmed before seeing the two thugs get up and stomp towards them again. "Though… not for much longer…"

Judy turned and gasped when she saw them but reacted too late as Anton quickly grabbed them before they could move and slammed each of them into a wall.

"Go! Get the kid, I got these punks." Mr. Pigg told Rocky, who snorted and nodded before moving on ahead.

Judy struggled to break his grip on her while watching Rocky quickly stomp down the hall after Bart. "No! Leave him alone!" she yelled.

"No can do, copper. We got higher orders and they involve bringing him alive." Pigg told them. "Unfortunately for you two those orders don't apply to anyone else!"

"Good to know…" Nick said before he chomped on Pigg's giant hand, making him cry out in pain and release him. The fox then followed up by trying to kick the big in the shin, but it seemed to have zero effect as the pig wasn't phased, however Nick was though and held his foot in pain. "Yeow! Man… what the heck are you made of!?"

The pig smirked, evilly. "Fat, muscle and a whole lotta trouble."

Anton promptly kicked Nick in the gut and sent him flying down the long hallway, screaming the whole time.

"Nick!" Judy screamed in distress while her partner slammed into the wall at end of the hallway, leaving an impact crater in the shape of his body.

"Ok… that one hurt…" The fox groaned before he body unstuck itself from the wall and landed flat on the floor.

Angered, Judy quickly slid her body up and out of the pig's grasp before running down his arm and using her strong legs to kick him in the face, knocking him into the wall behind him.

Pigg groaned as he rubbed his sore jaw while Judy readied herself in front of him. "Smooth moves, little bunny."

"You haven't seen anything yet," said bunny smirked.

"I could say the same to you!" Anton challenged. "Come on rabbit, let's rumba!"

Judy held her fists up, like she did whenever she took a boxing lesson back at the academy and narrowed her eyes at her opponent.

Pigg lunged forward but Judy quickly dodged, used her rabbit feet to move quickly under Pigg and bounced off the wall next to him where she spun before kicking him straight in the face with both legs, knocking him into the other wall.

"Give it up! Your outmatched!" Judy told him.

Pigg groaned as he started to lift himself up and then chuckled. "Yeah, maybe… but you know… one the best things about being a bad guy is… you get to cheat," he revealed sinisterly.

Judy gasped in shock as she saw him pull out a taser, but before she could do anything he quickly zapped her with it which sent a few volts through her body, making her fur puff out a little before she finally collapsed, unconscious.

Anton laughed as he stood back up. "Well, love to stay and dance some more sweetheart, but I got another date to attend to," he told the knocked out bunny. "Hoo-hoo! I love being a bad guy!"

The pig thug then began to move down the hall after his partner.

At that moment, the elephant was still chasing after the human, his ground shaking footsteps threatened to knock the human off balance a few times but still he ran.

"Just give up! You cannot outrun me!" The elephant called out.

"Oh yeah? Well, let's see if I can slow ya then!" The young thief challenged as he stop and turned to face his pursuer.

Bart then turned to a little table set against the wall next to him with a flower pot on it, which he took and tossed at Rocky. It shattered on hitting his chest and did nothing to slow him down as he began to slowly approach Bart now.

"That the best you got?" he asked.

"Hardly!" Bart stated.

"Don't worry, boss is gonna take good care of you." Rocky told the human as he stomped closer toward him.

"I wouldn't exactly call that encouraging." Bart admitted he grabbed the table by two of it's legs, picked it up a little and slammed it into the elephant, who had just stopped. But like the flower pot it broke into a little pieces upon hitting him, leaving only one of it's legs in his hand. Rocky stared at the stunned human flatly who chuckled nervously.

Bart promptly dropped the leg and zipped off down the hallway behind him.

"Get back here!" Rocky yelled out as he quickly began to run after him, his footsteps stomped on the floor hard and loudly, making the whole hallway shake as he ran.

Bart skidded around a corner, slamming into a wall briefly before taking off the hall once more while Pierce did the same thing he did earlier, only he pretty much smashed the wall with his shoulder upon impact.

One guest, who had just noticed the alarm and was coming out to see what was going on, saw Bart and Pierce heading his way and freaked before running back inside, dropping the sleeping pill he was going to take in the process.

The human saw the pill and scooped it up as he ran. Once he was a little further away from the elephant, he turned towards him.

"Take a pill, dude!" Bart called out as he tossed the pill in Pierce's general direction and through sheer dumb luck it went right up his trunk and made him choke a bit while Bart snickered at this and continued running.

Pierce soon managed to blow the pill out of his trunk, making a loud noise in the process before regaining his focus. "Hey! Come back here you!" he yelled as he resumed chasing Bart.

The spiky haired kid looked back at his would be kidnaper worried before seeing an antelope step into an open elevator.

"Yo! Hold that elevator!" Bart called out. The antelope did so and waited. Bart skidded to a stop in front of the elevator and went inside with a surprisingly calm face. He turned to the antelope and spoke rather casually. "Going down, please."

The antelope nodded while the doors dinged and quickly closed shut while Pierce and Pigg, who had just shown up, came around the corner to see that elevator was already going down.

"Dang it! We're taking the stairs!" Mr. Pigg said. "Totally uncool, dude."

While the two thugs began to run in the direction of said stairs, Judy, who had just woken up, was just reaching her still unconscious partner and shook him gently to wake him up.

"Nick? Nick, wake up! Nick!" she pleaded. Eventually, the fox began to wake up and groaned slightly, much to the rabbit's relief. "Oh, Nick! Your ok!"

The former con artist groaned more as he started to pick himself up, with Judy's help of course. "Not… if you keep yelling in my ear… seriously, you do a better job then my alarm clock…"

"Oh, sorry…" The bunny apologized.

"It's ok. Now where's Bart?" Nick inquired, looking around.

Judy looked down the fall and gasped. "Oh no! I think those two thugs are after him! We have to hurry!" she said as she began to run ahead.

"But, wait! Do we even know where they're going, or where Bart's going for that matter?" Nick questioned as he began to run after her. He soon stopped when he saw Judy standing in front of an elevator and looking up at something.

"Oh… I think I have a pretty good idea," she stated.

Nick looked up and saw that floor indicator now read 'PL' which meant…

"Parking level…" he said.

"Yep, that's where the elevator is and probably where Pigg and Pierce are headed, and so are we!" Judy declared. "Come on!"

As the bunny quickly zipped ahead the fox groaned from exhaustion. "Ugh… she also does a better job at getting me to run then my landlord…" he muttered. "Can't believe I miss that guy…"

After a taking a short moment to catch his breath, the fox raced after his partner.

Chapter Text

Meanwhile, the elevator, which was carrying Bart and the antelope, stopped and opened up in the Hotel's Underground Parking Lot with a ding. Bart looked around and saw a ton of cars, some tall and some small, meant for all sorts of animals filling the lot but saw no other animals around aside from him and the surprisingly calm antelope who he turned to.

"Thank you." Bart said to the antelope, respectfully.

"No problem." The antelope nodded before handing him a bag. "Here, you might need these."

Bart took the bad, befuddled. "Uh… thanks. But…?" he started to ask.

"Don't mention it." The antelope told him calmly before he walked off, leaving the human very confused. But he before commented on it he looked inside the bag and found a pair of yellow and red rollerblades inside which made his eyes light up with glee.

"Oh ya! Now we're talking!" Bart smiled as he bent down and began to put the rollerblades before strap them up tightly. He then saw the two thugs just arriving and smirked. "Catch me if you can, posers!"

Before the two could react Bart started to zoom ahead on his skates. "Hey!" They both cried out.

"Get 'em!" Anton yelled as they both started to stomp after him.

Bart quickly moved through the underground parking lot as fast as he could, passing by multiple cars while the two goons behind him continued to give chase. His legs moved back and forth and back and forth constantly as he tried to lengthen the gap between them, though it was still quite hard.

As he ran Mr. Pierce made a loud noise with his trunk as he grabbed and flipped multiple cars over using just one of his hands. He also smacked them away with his trunk as well and sent them crashing as he continued to try and catch up to Bart. It was like a day at a demolition derby match or a monster truck show.

"Give it up, kid!" Rocky called out. "You can't outrun us!"

"Heard that before!" Bart stated as he swerved to the right while Rocky accidentally slammed into a column, causing it to crack and the whole parking lot to shake.

"Hey! Watch it ya stupid, elephant! Or you'll bring this whole place down on our heads!" Anton yelled at him.

"It's not my fault the kid is slippery!"

Pigg got close to Pierce with his eyes narrowed. "We're supposed to bring him back alive, remember!?"

"Yeah, but not in one piece!"

"That may be true but…"

"But nothing! I hate you always telling me what to do!"

"And I hate you always messing things up!"

They then heard someone clearing his throat and turned to see Bart sitting cross-legged on one of the cars watching them fight like he was watching some kind of show.

"I'll tell you what; let me go and you guys can try and kill each other, how's that sound?" he offered.

"Hey, butt out!" Rocky snapped.

"Boy, and I thought Hopps and Wilde argued like two busybody's but you guys take it!" Bart commented. "Say, how did you two meet? Computer dating?"

Pigg quickly got angered. "Do. You. Ever. SHUT UP?!" he roared as he raised his fists and brought them down on the car Bart was sitting on, but the human quickly jumped off while Pigg's fists crushed the front of the car, setting off the alarm.

The spiky haired kid landed nearby and turned to them. "Ooh, temper, temper and to answer that question; no, I don't." Bart answered. "Got a problem with it? Send me an email, I'll take it under advisement… not!"

The human quickly took off again, swerving around every car in his path.

"After him!" Anton yelled.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Rocky snapped as they both started to run after the kid, resuming their little monster truck show, with them as the trucks.

Bart quickly spotted a car in front of him and used both his legs to jump up high and land on the hood of the car, denting it a bit with his rollerblades.

"Whoo-hoo!" Bart cheered as he rolled down the car and jumped before landing and skating around the many cars once again.

Eventually Rocky jumped forward and tried to pounce on him but Bart was slightly ahead of him, causing to slam down on the ground, but the shockwave from it did manage to knock Bart off balance and send him flying and skidding across the concrete floor.

Anton chuckled as he stepped forward while Pierce started to pick himself up. "Nowhere to run now, little man."

"You think I'm scared of you, pork belly?" Bart questioned, glaring at the thugs. "You and your better half are just wannabee versions of Bebop and Rocksteady!"

"Uh… don't know who they are… but I am so looking forward to the moment when the boss shuts you up for good!" Pigg told him, angered.

"Yeah. But still… I kinda like that name; Rocksteady. It's cool." Pierce admitted. Pigg face palmed in response.

"Whatever! Let's just grab him!" Anton declared as they began to close in on Bart, who started to back away from them slowly before he heard a familiar voice call out to him. It was Judy's.

"Bart!"

Said human turned and noticed his two protectors were just arriving. "Hey, where were you guys? Taking a nap?" he remarked.

"Oh, sorry, next time I get clobbered by a three-hundred pound pig and elephant I'll make sure I'm moving as fast as my sore legs can carry me." Nick said, both bitterly and sarcastically.

"Guys, now's the time…" Judy tried to warn them.

"Got that right." Pigg added as he and Rocky stomped as they stood in front of them again. "And for your information, I'm only two hundred and ninety-six pounds! Rocko here is two ninety, tops."

"Whoop-dee-doo…" Bart remarked, deadpan. He glanced at the two cops. "So… anyone have a plan?"

"Hmm, well we can't out muscle them, so we're gonna have to out smart them." Judy whispered.

"Ok, how?" Nick inquired.

"Hey! Quiet your muttering and prepare for a bruising!" Anton yelled as he cracked his knuckles and began to approach, along with Rocky.

"Ok, I'll draw their attention while you two prepare to knock 'em out." Judy instructed.

"Sweet, does that mean I get to use that tranq thingy?" Bart inquired.

"No!" They both said, firmly once more.

"Aw, come on, why not?" Bart complained.

"Because! They're too dangerous for you!" Judy stated.

"Then how am I supposed to knock 'em out then?" Bart pointed out.

Nick then began to look through the compartments in his belt. "Uh… let's see…" he said, before he pulled out a little slingshot. "Aha! Bingo!"

Bart took the slingshot, mildly surprised. "You carry a slingshot with you?"

Nick shrugged. "Never know, right?"

"Touché." Bart admitted.

"Ok, get ready." Judy told them before she began to run till she was right in front of the thugs. "Hey! You two!"

As Bart and Nick both snuck away in opposite directions so that they were each right near the duo, Judy pulled down her lower eyelid and snuck her tongue out at the two mockingly, and sure enough the two were aggravated and distracted.

"Why you little…! No one disrespects us like that! No one!" Pigg yelled.

"Yeah! No one!" Pierce repeated.

"Uh, yeah, I just said that, Rock."

"Oh."

"Whatever! Let's just squish her and get the kid!"

"Right!"

As the two began to approach her, Judy didn't look worried and smiled when she saw Bart and Nick each aiming right at the pig and elephant. "Yeah… I don't think so. Now!" she yelled.

Nick quickly fired a dart at the elephant but before it could make contact with him the elephant's trunk suddenly wrapped around it before it could, surprising the fox.

"Ha!" Rocky said, triumphantly.

In response Bart pulled the elastic band back and fired a rock at Pigg but instead of hitting him it whizzed right by him and bounced around a little bit. Everyone's heads turned every time it went in another direction before finally it hit a car and smashed a window, setting off an alarm.

"Kid!" Nick exclaimed, exasperated.

"Oops…" Bart muttered, meekly.

Pigg just smirked. "You're a rotten shot."

"I'm not!" Pierce boasted as he began to charge straight towards Bart at top speed.

"Bart, move!" Judy cried

Bart tried to move, but for the first time in his life he found that he couldn't move his legs, as the walking and talking elephant began to close in on him his eyes widened with fear.

"What are you doing!? Get out of there!" Nick told him.

Just then, Judy began to run over as well before Nick could react or protest against it, using her rabbit speed to get ahead of the elephant and close in on Bart..

"No!" she yelled as she pushed Bart out of the way before Pierce sent her flying with a whack of his trunk, knocking away her tranq gun.

"CARROTS!" Nick yelled in alarm as she smacked into a stone column and collapsed.

The human also saw this happen as he laid on the stone floor. "Judy!" he exclaimed, shocked. He tried to move his sore body but he could only do so much

The pig stomped over to her while she began to come to, groaning while doing so. But before she could get up fully, Pigg managed to grab her and hold her up, prompting Nick to begin rushing over as he laughed evilly.

"Let her go!" he yelled.

"Back off, Fox! Or your girlfriend here gets it!" The Pigg threatened as his grip started to become tighter, causing Judy to begin choking and Nick to stop.

"Great, now the pig's got that thought in his head…" Nick sighed. "Anyways… let her go!"

"Fine, give us the human and we will." Rocky told him.

"N-no! Nick, don't you give him to them! Forget about me!" Judy tried to tell him.

"No! Carrots, I can't! I won't!" Nick stated, firmly.

"Listen! Our job is protect and serve! In this case, that means protecting Bart! It doesn't matter what happens to me, just as long as we do our job, understand!?" Judy told him, firmly.

"But… Judy I…" Nick started to say, conflicted.

"Can you two have this sappy discussion later? We're in the middle of a hostage situation here!" Pigg pointed out. "And to recap; you try anything and we make this bunny's head pop off like a champagne cork!"

Nick growled, baring his teeth at the thugs and unable to doing anything while Judy watched worriedly.

As the tense situation continued on, Bart continued to try and pick himself up, he noticed Judy's air powered tranquilizer and got a bad idea.

"Want her that badly? Then come find us in the old park with the human with ya, without backup." Anton told him. "If we see any other cops show up to help, we'll end her, fox. But if you give us the human, then she's all yours. You got till the end of the day. Don't keep us waiting, got it?"

"Yeah, got it!?" Pierce added.

"I just said that, dummy." The pig said, annoyed. "Now come on!"

The two of them quickly turn and ran before spotting a pair of motorcycles, snapping the chains and getting on them. They revved up the engine and road off, with Judy still being tightly held by the pig.

"Judy!" Nick cried out, but before he could go after him a tranquilizer dart suddenly hit him in the butt. "Gah! I feel like I just got tranqed in the butt by a dart…"

Bart, who was the one holding the tranq gun and therefore the one who fired the dart, lowered it, looking guilty. "Ooh… sorry! That was me… I was aiming for them and I… missed… I'm starting to think I shouldn't handle stuff like this, you know?"

Nick just gave him an epic death glare as he tilted over and hit the ground, unconscious.

Chapter Text

Sometime had past and all Nick could see at the time was darkness. No light and no sound until finally his eyes began to flutter and he groaned as he began to regain consciousness. His vision was quite blurry, and he saw multiple Bart's looking over him along with a muffled voice calling out to him.

Eventually the voice became clearer as his vision started to become less and less fuzzy.

"Nick! Nick, can you hear me?" Bart questioned loudly as Nick's vision of him realigned. "Nick!"

Nick groaned loudly in response. "Kid… could you not yell so loud? Sheesh, now even you sound like my landlord…" he said as he sat up.

"Cool, your alive." Bart remarked, relieved.

"Great… Ugh… how long was I out?" The fox asked, dizzy.

"Uh… about an hour." Bart answered.

"Oh, now I remember!" Nick said, an angry look appearing on his face as it all came back to him. "Those jerks took Carrots…"

"Ya, and I stayed with you to make sure you were ok, so… your welcome." Bart noted as he helped Nick up, but the fox quickly swatted his hand away once he got back on his feet.

"Enough! My partner is in serious trouble because of you!" Nick scolded him.

"When did this become my fault!?" Bart questioned.

"Kid, this is your fault! Judy got captured because of you and your lousy aiming skills!" Nick yelled.

"It was an accident! I missed Come on, give me a break!" Bart said.

"An accident!? You just stood there like a deer in the headlights and let her knock you away so that she could take the hit!" Nick reminded him.

"I would have gotten out of the way!" Bart defended.

"Yeah… and then you wouldn't have shot me with a dart!" Nick pointed out as he held up said tranquilizing dart.

Bart shrugged. "Hey, we reap what we sow, am I right?"

"No, you are not right. You used that tranq gun even though we specifically told you that you couldn't!" Nick stated.

"I thought it would help!"

"Well, it sure helped them!"

"You're dart wasn't exactly effective either!

"At least it would have hit him and not have missed by a freaking mile! And now, my partner's a captive of the bad guys because of you're a rotten shot, which you failed to mention, plus your great desire to not let anyone help you."

"What does that mean?" Bart questioned.

"It means that you're scared about letting people get close to you, so you act like a jerk." Nick stated.

"Have you looked a mirror lately?" Bart countered.

"At least I can admit it!" Nick defended.

"As well as you can when it comes to admitting your feelings for Judy?" Bart teased. "I doubt it."

"Ugh, don't you ever take anything seriously?" Nick questioned in disbelief. "I swear kid, you are just as bad as the guys who are chasing us."

"What was that!?" Bart demanded.

"Did I stutter? I don't think so. But if you'd like I got a megaphone, maybe then I'll get through that overly thick skull of yours." Nick said with a mixed amount of anger and sarcasm in his voice that caused the human to grab him by the collar and pull him closer. He looked like he was ready to pummel Nick that very second.

"Hey, you a got a problem fur ball?" Bart accused.

"A problem? Yeah, I got a problem; it's standing right of me wearing red and too much hair jell!" Nick shot back.

"Hey, don't act you know me or think your better then me! I heard you guys talking, heard you were a con artist once." Bart reminded.

"Fine, I was a con, I scammed people, but at least I got my act together, became a part of something bigger, unlike you." Nick countered. Frustrated, the human pushed Nick back and released his grip on him.

"Maybe I like being what I am." Bart stated.

"Oh please, if I hated doing what I did, I'm sure you do to." Nick scoffed. "Believe me, I do know you kid, I know because I used to be a lot like you and believe it or not I think you can be better then what are now."

Bart raised a brow in disbelief. "Really?"

"Yes, really! And you can't just do and take whatever you want. Actions have consequences kid, and that's how folks get hurt, like Judy for example." Nick stated.

"Now you sound just like her." Bart pointed out.

"And you sound an awful like me." The fox countered before he realized something. "Huh, so this is what it's like to deal with me… I'd hate having to deal with me…"

"Feeling's mutual." Bart quipped.

"See? There it is! That need to make everyone feel miserable just to feel good about yourself! That's exactly what I did." Nick declared.

"Sounds like you still do." Bart pointed out.

Nick shrugged in defeat. "Old habits die hard," he admitted. "But it's not to late for you kid."

"Really?" Bart remarked, doubtfully.

"Yes. I look at you, and I see every bad decision I ever made." Nick told him. "Looking at you, I remember how lousy I was before I met Carrots… and believe it or not I actually want to pay her back for that and I think that involves making sure you don't turn into me. But that's beginning to look like a lost cause because you got her captured!?"

Nick turned away with a huff while the human let his words slowly sink into his head. His expression quickly became filled with guilt and sadness when he realized the severity of the situation and how badly he had messed up by getting Judy captured. He also remembered how Judy was to him, filling him with even more guilt, his fists shook as he struggled to contain his sadness but eventually he let it go with a sigh.

"Look, I'm really sorry, is that what you wanna hear first? Or maybe even me admitting that… I'm stupid and cowardly while you were brave, smart and… an all around better guy then I am?" Bart questioned, with some reluctance.

"Well… it's a start." Nick admitted, begrudgingly.

"Good, because you were right… I was stupid and a coward… I got Judy caught and… well she's been nothing but nice to me ever since we met and I… heh, I guess I took it for granted…" Bart said, shamefully.

"Ya think?" Nick remarked, flatly and annoyed.

"But I want to make it right! Really, Nick. I didn't mean for this to happen…" Bart insisted.

"Neither of us did." Nick stated.

"Listen dude, we can't change the past, I mean no one can…" Bart reasoned. "But we can change the future, and Judy might not have a future if we just continue sitting here."

"That's true…" Nick muttered, slowly.

"Look Nick, we both know we don't like each other and we also know we'd probably try to kill the other in their sleep…" Bart said. "And by the way, that thought did cross my mind…"

"Is that right?" Nick remarked, deadpan as he raised a brow.

"But I decided against, since I don't like tight spaces." The human added.

"Good to know." The fox said, sarcastically.

"My point is…" Bart resumed speaking, sounding annoyed at first. "That if we're gonna rescue Judy, we have to work together. Now usually I'd avoid situations like this since I prefer doing thing on my own but in this case I have to make an exception. Are we agreed?"

The fox turned and began to think hard about it, then he noticed something that caught his eye; Judy's carrot pen, the one she used to blackmail him two years ago and let him keep for over a week, he guessed that she dropped it during the commotion and as he picked it up he gazed at sadly as he remembered her. The former con artist glanced at the kid, scanned him up and down and could tell by his face that he really was sorry and wanted to make it right.

Nick sighed, upon making up his mind. "Your right, and we'd better hurry, I mean who knows what those guys could be doing to her!? She could be… alive or dead or…"

The human put a hand on his shoulder to console him before he could say any more, his usual slick and calm façade was beginning to crack and Bart could see it.

"Relax, we're getting back, ok?" Bart assured him. "I promise."

Nick sighed as he calmed down. "Ok… any ideas?"

"Well… they've already said where they are, so that saves us the trouble of finding them." Bart noted.

"Yeah, but only because they want me to bring you to give to them and they're using Judy as a bargaining chip." Nick reminded.

"Right. So… I say we give 'em what they want." Bart declared.

"What!? You want me to give you up to them?" Nick asked in surprise.

"Heck no! But if they see you with me they'll think your giving me up, but once we're inside their supposed secret base…" Bart began.

"We'll use it as a chance to rescue Carrots." The former con artist finished. "Good idea, kid."

"Hey, I'm full of them." The human shrugged, proudly before Nick gave him a flat look and a raised brow. "Most of the time…"

"Right…" Nick sighed.

"So, how are we getting there?" Bart asked. "We got no car."

"Relax, I know a guy." Nick smiled.

Some time later, after Nick called a friend of his, the two of them were right where Pigg and Pierce told them to meet them at; the old town park, only by the time they got their Bart looked like he had just gotten off the Space Mountain ride while Nick casually followed him.

Bart continued to pant heavily as he walked ahead. "That ride was terrible! Where'd your buddy Flash learn to drive, Wilde!?" he questioned.

Nick followed him close by. "What? It's not my fault he likes to go fast."

"Well… last time I checked; sloths were slow." Bart pointed out, with an edge. "But he was driving so fast I lost my lunch… twice!"

"Hey, you got most of it out the window… and onto a poor armadillo…" Nick noted, slowly. "But hey, we made it."

"Great…" Bart said, sluggishly.

"Anyways…" Nick began before turning and walking back to the three toed sloth inside the red sports car, known as Flash. "Flash, Flash, hundred-yard dash! Thanks a lot for ride."

"No… problem… buddy…" Flash said, slowly.

"And now you my friend will be getting no speeding tickets for a year, guarantee." Nick told him.

"Thanks… a… lot… Nick." Flash smiled before slowly rolling up his window. "Ciao."

Once the window was all rolled up the sloth stepped on the pedal and zoomed off down the street at approximately 115 mph.

"I swear that guy does that to aggravate folks." Bart stated, sourly.

"Keep telling yourself that, champ." Nick smirked as they began to walk toward the park. "By the way, don't tell Carrots about the no parking ticket thing, won't go so well for her, you know what I mean?"

"Whatever…" Bart sighed.

"You nervous?" The fox inquired.

"Heck, no! You?" The human questioned.

"Nope."

"Aren't you ever?"

"Well… if I feel like they're getting to me, I just think of my happy place."

"Which is?"

"I'd tell you… but then you might show up, and why would I want that?"

"Har, har." Bart laughed, sarcastically. "Now… where exactly are we supposed to wait for them in the park?"

Nick then began to look around for something. "Hmm… there's got me some kind… I don't know… special thing that leads to a secret base or something…"

"Like a hidden lever or button?" Bart asked.

"Yeah, like that." Nick nodded as he kept looking.

"But it's a park." Bart pointed out.

"An old park. Place hasn't been used in years, practically condemned to become a parking lot, which we could really use by the way, so chances of some bad guy using it as a secret base isn't too far of a stretch." Nick reasoned.

"Huh, cliché much?" Bart remarked, amused.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Nick agreed as he felt around a tree and then a rock right below it. "Ok… there's gotta be some kind of lever around here or a button… we just gotta find something that looks suspicious…"

As he said all this Bart looked around as well before being distracted by a little flower on the ground. He bent down and grabbed it between two fingers but as he began pulling it out he heard a certain click that surprised him.

He and Nick then heard the sound of something mechanical and moving beneath them, the ground shook a little and suddenly the ground in front of Bart lowered itself and a stairway slowly extended out of it. They both looked down and saw that the staircase led down to a concrete floor with a metal door at the very end.

"Or… we can just go down these stairs." Nick said, slowly.

The two of them quickly proceeded downward and went to the door. Nick twisted the knob, but it didn't budge, not one bit.

"Rats! Locked!" he said, annoyed. "Now how are we gonna get in?"

Bart smirked as he got an idea. "Let me try something, go back up the stairs and get out of sight, I got this," he assured him as he stepped forward, he turned to Nick, who was giving him a confused and doubtful look. "Just trust me on this, ok?"

Nick looked into his eyes and saw how serious he was before sighing. "Fine…"

Bart gave him a nod of appreciation and walked closer to the door while Nick went back up the steps. The human then stood right next to the door, extended his arm and knocked on the door and sure enough, a weasel goon opened the door to answer it. Since the door was blocking Bart from sight the weasel couldn't see him at the time.

"Yeah?" he asked before Bart promptly slammed the door shut and in his face. He then went over to the front of the door, twisted the knob and opened it right up again, just as Nick approached. They took a peek and saw no one there.

Bart gestured to the open door. "After you," he offered.

Nick then proceeded ahead with his new human partner following him close by. The two proceeded down a long metal hallway as quietly as they could, Nick kept his tranquilizer ready while Bart glanced left and right, looking for any sign of the Mouser thugs. For a long while, things were quiet, which made them even more nervous. The human quickly went ahead and looked around an upcoming corner; no one there.

"Hmm, this place certainly has a 'secret base' vibe." Bart observed, smirking as he went around it alongside Nick.

"Just be quiet… this part requires stealth." Nick whispered as he crept ahead, quietly.

"Have you forgotten who your with?" Bart pointed out. "If there's say… a key card to open a door that need's snagging I'll get it for ya, honest."

Nick sighed. "Fine…" he said before Bart held out a arm, making him stop.

"And look, there's one right there, attached to that really big bear." Bart observed as he pointed to the right hallway where a large and scary looking bear wearing leather was currently standing in front of a vending machine.

The fox's face fell flat. "Oh. That figures…"

The human glanced at a door in the middle of the left hallway and then at the bear. "He probably has the key for that door, I'll get it," he said as he prepared to sneak toward him before Nick stopped him.

"Are you insane?" Nick questioned in a hushed but stressed tone.

"Sure am." Bart smirked. "Now watch and learn, fox.

Bart moved on ahead toward the bear, while Nick looked a little nervous. "I'm going to die here… I'm gonna totally die here…" he muttered to himself.

The human boy crept as quietly as he could towards the large bear guard while keeping himself low and not breathing much. Once he was behind the bear he moved his hand slowly towards the key card while Nick bit his claws rapidly with a worried look.

Bart froze though when the bear grunted and scratched himself then resumed moving his hand closer once he stopped, but he soon froze again when the bear started to turn around, forcing Bart to turn also, so that he was still behind the bear.

In one quick motion, Bart swiped the key card from the bear's belt and mimicked his movement as he turned back to his original position. The young thief then started to tip toe backwards towards Nick and finally allowed himself to breath.

"See? Told ya I'd get it." Bart smirked while handing the card to Nick.

"Ok, good. Now be careful." Nick advised as he snuck ahead down the hall and past the bear. "On the other side of that door their could be a bunch of nasty looking guys…"

"Like what? More pigs and elephant's?" Bart quipped, once they reached the door.

"I was thinking more like… lions." Nick stated, seriously.

"Lions?"

"Yes! Plus tigers and bears!"

"Oh my, scary… not."

"This is not a joke. This is serious police stuff." Nick stated, firmly before he realized what he said. "Great… now I do sound like Carrots…"

"Told ya." Bart smirked. "By the way, why don't you ever call her by her real name?"

"I do sometimes." The fox said.

"Not all the time though." The human pointed out.

Nick shrugged. "Don't know, but let's just say 'Carrots' is kind of my pet name for her, you know, sort of like a term of endearment and affection."

"Aha! So you do like her!" Bart accused, with a cheeky grin.

Nick groaned in annoyance. "No. I do not. As a friend; yes. As a girlfriend; no."

"So… she's available?" Bart inquired, suggestively.

"No… she's not!" Nick stuttered a bit. He quickly put the card in the scanner and the door opened right up for them. "Jeez kid, are you always this annoying or… did you have to practice in the mirror or something?"

Bart shrugged, nonchalantly. "I practiced in a mirror, why?"

"Never mind…" Nick sighed, rubbing in-between his eyes as they proceeded through the door and walked before suddenly Nick's ears perked up upon hearing something. "Hey! Incoming! Hide!"

He picked pressed the kid and himself up against a wall while two rhino thugs in leather began to walk past them down the other hallway. Both of them held their breath and stayed as quiet as they could as they waited for the rhino's to pass. They both sighed in relief as soon as the sound of the rhino's footsteps started to fade.

"That was close…" Nick breathed.

"Yeah… course we're probably gonna have to fight at some point." Bart pointed out as they proceeded ahead. "If they spot us, we have to make sure they don't call anyone else or we'll lose the element of surprise, savvy."

"Yeah, but until then… let's just try to avoid any physical violence at all cost, kay?" Nick offered. "Thank you.

"Well, just in case… you should probably let me handle the physical stuff, I mean… you're a slick guy when it comes to fighting… your useless." Bart told him, bluntly.

"Hey! I am not useless! I can totally handle myself in a fight." Nick said, defensively before he and Bart heard something howl at them.

"Well… here's your chance." Bart declared, looking up ahead of them.

The fox turned to what the kid was looking at and gasped softly when he saw an angry looking ram and wolf coming towards them.

"Intruders!" The wolf thug yelled.

"Get 'em!" The ram added.

"Don't worry, I got this!" Nick stated, putting up his fists and trying to look brave.

"But uh… one of those guys is a wolf, do you know what wolves do to foxes?" Bart pointed out.

"That was during the stone age, kid." Nick told him before the wolf thug growled and leaped toward them. The two of them yelped and quickly got out of the way while the wolf hit the floor face first and slid across it.

"Guess someone forgot to tell him." Bart remarked.

"And me!" The ram bellowed.

Nick turned, but before he could react the ram grabbed him, lifted him up while running and then slammed him into the ground.

"Nick!" Bart exclaimed before the wolf suddenly grabbed him by the collar and pulled him forward.

"Any last words?" he snarled.

"Yeah, take a breath mint, you need one." Bart snarked as he raised his leg and struck the wolf thug in the crotch, making him howl in pain and tip right over, freeing Bart. "And also… get those replaced."

At the same time, Nick was struggling to get the ram off of him and keep him from smacking him in the face but the more he pressed his paws into the ram the more they sank into his wool.

"Gah! It's too fluffy!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, too bad for you!" The ram sneered as he raised a hoof and prepared to strike the fox.

But before the ram could get the chance, Bart came out of nowhere and shoulder checked the big fluff ball, knocking him down. Soon after, the wolf, who had just recovered came rushing over but was knocked out as well upon getting elbowed in the face by Bart, who didn't even turn around.

The human then helped Nick back onto his feet.

"You ok?" Bart asked.

"Yeah, thanks for having my back by the way." Nick said, actually sounding grateful.

"For sure." The human nodded as they moved on ahead.

Down another hallway, a racoon was walking down while playing a video game in his paws before he was jump kicked into the wall next to him by Bart, who pinned him to it by grabbing his throat. Nick then got close to him and narrowed his eyes.

"Where's. The Bunny?" he questioned, in a low tone

"In… in… in the prison sector… two hallways to the left and the right… then left… honest!" The racoon squeaked, fearfully.

"Thanks man, now… goodnight." Bart said before he pulled him back and slammed him into the wall again, knocking him out. "Alright, now we know where Judy is."

"Yep, so far so good… though I doubt it'll last long…" Nick admitted.

"So we'd better get her and get out before these guys notice all the unconscious ones." Bart added.

"Yeah. By the way, we're probably gonna have to fight our way out, so we need to know where the exit is when that time comes…" Nick noted. "Just in case, you know?"

"Right! I'll go find us a way out, you go save your girlfriend. See you soon." Bart said with a nod as he turned and dashed away, leaving Nick flustered.

"W-What…? But she's not… she's not my girlfriend, kid!" Nick protested, flustered. The fox groaned in frustration and annoyance before turning and running in the direction of the prison sector, unknown to him a hidden camera had just popped out from a wall and zoomed in on him, it seemed to have been watching the two all this time.

Chapter Text

The fox cop rushed down multiple hallways, panting out of breath the whole time until he reached a set of metal doors when a digital sign that read 'Prison Sector'. His eyes lit up, this was where they were keeping Judy and he could only hope that she was alright when he did find her in there.

"Alright, don't worry Carrots, I'm coming." The fox muttered to himself as he got closer to the doors which automatically opened for him and allowed him to enter.

He soon found himself in a large room with a ceiling that was very high up and reaching up to it were rows and rows of glass boxes, no doubt where they kept prisoners, should the need for it ever arise. He glanced left and right but couldn't see Judy in either row so he decided to run down and see if she was further ahead.

"Carrots! Carrots!" Nick yelled out several times as he continued to run down isles of glass prisons. "Ugh, how many prisoners does this guy expect to keep anyway!?"

Just then, a hippo thug began to come around a corner and noticed Nick, who didn't even slow down.

"Hey, you! Stop right…" The hippo began before Nick jumped, landed on his face and jumped right off him again, knocking the hippo right over. The fox continued his run after he landed on the ground again.

"Sorry fatty, no time to deal with you." Nick said quickly as he kept on running ahead.

Elsewhere, Bart was still sneaking around the base trying to find another way out, just in case, and also doing his best to keep himself hidden from the Mouser Gang thugs. Each time one of them came along he quickly ducked under or hid behind the nearest object or wall he could find, all while moving on ahead.

After avoiding two more of them, he turned, and ran up the staircase. Upon reaching the top he saw a door at the end of the hall, which had opened to admit him. Bart peaked out from a corner across said hall, nipped over to the door, and peered in carefully. He stepped in boldly and found himself in a small dark room.

He felt around the place since he couldn't see much, then eventually he touched a panel that caused a corner of the ceiling to open up and reveal a hole with light shining down from it and a ladder connected to the tunnel.

"Hmm, well this looks like an exit." Bart remarked. "Now… which way to the prison section…?"

Bart turned and noticed that just outside the room was a large sign with an arrow pointing left and large letters that read out 'Prison Section' just close by.

"Ok, never mind." The human muttered as he began to head in that direction.

A little while later, Nick was still running throughout the prison section, searching for his missing partner and he was starting to become frantic and very worried until finally, after accidentally running past it, Nick backpedaled to a glass cage where he spotted the little bunny herself inside it and currently not awake. His spirits quickly brightened up.

"Judy!" Nick called out as he raced over quickly.

Judy's eyes fluttered a bit as she slowly opened them, then they opened fully the moment she saw her partner coming toward her. "Nick…? Nick!" she cried.

The two of them try to reach each other, but quickly find themselves cut off by the wall of the glass cage Judy was trapped in. The two pressed their paws against the wall and gaze at each other fearfully and concerned.

"Carrots! Carrots, are you ok!?" Nick asked, as he banged on the glass, trying to break it.

"Yeah… yeah, I'm alright, Nick… how did you…?" Judy began.

"We've come to rescue you, me and Bart, together." Nick revealed.

"Really? You and Bart? Working together?" Judy asked, very surprised.

"Yeah…" Nick shrugged with a smirk.

"Wow… crazy day for ya, huh?" Judy remarked.

"It's been a lot, yes it has…" Nick nodded. He pounded on the glass wall a few more times but he couldn't seem to crack it. "Come on! Why won't it…?"

"Nick. Nick! It's no use." Judy told him, causing him to stop pounding on it. "It's uh… completely shatter proof, believe me, I've tried…"

The fox was frustrated by this and pounded the glass wall one more time. "Darn it! … Well, don't worry, I'm gonna get you out of there! Just don't move!" Nick told her.

"Um… where else would I go?" The bunny pointed out with a dry tone as she gazed around her. Nick quickly got the message.

"Oh…" he said, slowly. "Right… sorry."

"Well, you can certainly come over here." Someone spoke up.

Nick turned and saw Bart on the other side of the room, standing next to a lever and smirking.

"And pull this while your at it." The human said as he gestured to the lever next to him.

Nick smirked, impressed. "Heh, nice job, kid," he said as Bart pulled the lever down.

The glass wall separating them then started to go up and once it did Judy dashed out and quickly embraced Nick, catching him off guard but he quickly accepted it and embraced her back before they finally separated.

"Hey whiskers, good to see you." Nick smiled.

"You too." Judy smiled.

"Now let's get out of here." Nick declared. He turned to the human behind them. "Bart, did you find us a way out?"

"Yeah, just a few clicks down that other way." Bart responded, gesturing to a door behind him.

"Then let's get going." Judy stated, firmly. The two boys nodded in agreement.

"Oh, no you don't! You chumps ain't going nowhere!"

The trio turned and saw none other then Rocky and Anton standing behind them and stomping the ground as they growled and snorted respectively.

"Well, well, if it isn't the royal weenies?" Bart smirked.

"Hey!" Rocky protested.

"What are you two even doing here!? You were supposed to meet us outside the base!" Anton snapped, frustrated.

"Sorry, didn't pinkie promise." Bart shrugged with a smirk.

"Funny." Pigg snorted as he cracked his knuckles. "Let's see how funny you think this is, punk!"

"Bring it on, little piggy!" Bart taunted with a 'come at me' gesture.

The two thugs began to make their way towards them until a booming voice suddenly spoke up and made them freeze up.

"Enough!" Someone yelled.

They all turned to a large computer screen just a little ways away that suddenly turned on and started to crackle with static as a image slowly started to appear on the screen. The heroic trio waited in anticipation and fear as they waited for the image reveal itself while Rocky and Anton looked at it knowingly.

Eventually, the picture finally did become clear but the face of the image was not what the heroes were suspecting, instead of a big and scary looking animal sitting at the chair, it was actually a old and small glasses wearing mouse with a golden coat, scary red eyes and a patch of white hair on his head. He also wore a lab coat.

"What the…" Bart began.

"Mr. Torres, we meet at last." Dr. Mouser said, sinisterly. "I am Mouser. Dr. Mingus Mouser."

Instead of fear, shock or confusion, the human just stared at the revealed evil mastermind with a stunned look and didn't say a word for what felt like an eternity to most of them and then finally…

"A mouse? Dr. Mouser… leader of the evil gang that's trying to take over the city… is a mouse? I'm in an evil villain base that's run… by a mouse." Bart said, absolutely stunned while the mad scientist only raised a brow calmly at him. "Are you freaking kidding me!? You guys all take orders from a mouse? Come on! He ain't so tough! Heck, even Nick could beat him up!"

"Well, his last name is Mouser so…" Nick pointed out.

"Oh."

"Yeah… and watch your mouth while your at it."

"I still don't see how he's a threat, I mean… look at him! He's then smaller then Judy!"

"You underestimate me… well, no one will ever do that again…" Dr. Mouser said in a low tone which quickly rose up. "Not when I bring this city to it's knees!"

"Why? So we can see eye to eye?" Bart remarked, mockingly. "Surely you must be used to folks looking down on you, right?"

Mouser narrowed his eyes and struggled to contain his anger. "Make all the smart remarks you want, it won't do you any good after I'm done with you!"

"That won't happen! We'll stop you!" Judy declared, firmly.

"Oh, it will happen my dear. Haven't you looked around? The mammals of Zootopia are all hiding, turning a blind eye, soon not even the rest of you ZPD officers will have the courage to face me." Mouser gloated. "Once I've dealt with you two that is."

"Yeah-huh, what exactly do you hope to gain from all this? And me for that matter?" Bart questioned.

"Really? You think I'm just gonna tell you every single detail of my evil plan? Get me 'monologuing'? So you can figure out how to stop me?" Dr. Mouser shot back in a deadpan yet condescending tone.

The human was stunned. "Uh… I don't know… maybe?" he shrugged.

"Wrong!" Dr. Mouser yelled. Everybody leaned back nervously after this outburst. "You'll get nothing from me but I will be taking everything from you! Now get them boys!"

"Yeah, boy! Let's rumble!" Anton declared as he and Rocky charged towards them.

"Three against two? No problem." Nick smirked as the three of them readied themselves before they heard the roar of a tiger, turned and noticed Clawdius entering and approaching. "Ok… now it's a problem."

"Quick! Back to back!" Judy called out.

"Yes, mam!" The other two nodded as they each turned and got close together while each of the bad guys closed in on them. At the last second, Bart leapt up high, grabbed Rocky's tusks and after Nick grabbed his leg and pulled him down the two successfully managed to bring down the elephant. The shockwave from this caused Anton to be knocked off his feet also.

"Yeah! That's right! Teamwork!" Bart cheered.

"Care to take care of the tiger?" Nick offered, casually.

"Put me in, coach!" Bart declared.

"Go for it." Nick nodded.

Bart dashed towards Clawdius then dropped down and slid between his legs before grabbing his tail, catching him off guard and pulling him down in the process. Anton then got up, saw what happened and squealed loudly in anger as he began to charge toward them again. Judy saw this and thought quickly.

"Nick! Prepare to launch!" Judy called out.

Quickly understanding what she meant, Nick nodded and formed a cup with his paws for Judy to step on. Then, combining the strength of Nick's launch plus her strong legs Judy went flying and somersaulting through the air till she was right up close and personal with Pigg before bending her legs and stomping down on him, causing the pig to slam into the ground.

"Yes!" The bunny said, triumphantly. "That one is on me."

Before she could revel in her victory more, Judy was promptly knocked away by a familiar elephant attack which knocked her into the other wall.

Nick saw and gasped in concern. "Carrots!" he cried before Clawdius tackled him.

As he continued to watch this, Mouser chuckled in amusement, smiling evilly. "I heard tales about you Miss Hopps, but it doesn't seem that you learn from your mistakes too quickly, does it?" he mocked. "For just like last time; my men will fight you and they will beat you… to death if possible. So I suggest you give up while you still can, you weak little bunny."

Undaunted by the villain's words and not even noticing the elephant thug slowly approaching to finish her off, Judy slowly picked herself up a bit and raised her head toward the evil doctor, at which point she flashed him a little smirk which caught his attention.

"Hmm? Why so cocky, little bunny?" Dr. Mouser inquired, interested. "You and your friends are doomed so why do you even have that grin on your face?"

"Why? Let me answer that with another question, Doctor." Judy said. "All that time you had me trapped did you really think I was just sitting on my paws doing nothing?"

Mouser raised a brow. "Meaning?"

"Meaning that while I was in there I happen to find something, something that resembled a panel with wires inside it." Judy revealed. "Think about it."

They all leaned back to the glass prison Judy was in and saw a small open panel, just like she said and inside it were indeed wires all tied up together and after Judy quickly stomped her foot on the ground, making a little shake that caused some of the wires to touch and emit sparks. Mouser's eyes widened as realization dawned on him.

"Oh you little-" he began to say before an explosion went off inside the cell Judy used to be in. The blast wave sent Rocky flying and made him land right on Anton, it also knocked Clawdius off of Nick before he could take a bite out of him.

The lights above them also began to flicker and suddenly explode with sparks flying down from them as they went off one by one and many of the computer systems started to crackle with electricity and explode also, plus many of the cages were opened all at once.

"Yeah… I may have found the electrical wires that run all over your lair…" Judy admitted with a sneaky grin. "Took me a long while… hence why I was so tired, but the way I see it, it was worth the wait."

The human stared her in shock and awe. "Boy, remind me never to mess with her," he remarked, impressed.

"Yeah, tell me about it, kid!" Nick smirked.

"Now we have to get out of here; fast!" Judy told them.

"Why? We're winning." Bart pointed out.

"Because I overloaded their systems this base is going to explode on itself…" The bunny admitted.

"What!?" Nick exclaimed.

"Indeed, so I suggest you leave right away." Mouser informed them as an alarm and a red flashing light suddenly turned all. "All personal please evacuate immediately."

Anton, who had just heard this announcement as he got up, turned to Rocky and shook him to wake him up. "You heard the chief, let's roll!" he said. The elephant grunted and nodded before he and his partner began to turn and leave.

"Hey, wait!" Judy cried out, wanting to arrest them but Bart stopped her.

"Jude, forget it, we'll get 'em later." Bart assured her. "If there is a later anyway…"

"Don't make promises you can't keep, my boy." Dr. Mouser spoke up. "Especially since your new friends, who your apparently on a first name basis with, will both be dead… while protecting you I wager."

Hearing this made the human growl, angrily. "A swear, when I find you I'm gonna hurl all over you and then squish you… with a really big boot." Bart threatened.

"Good luck with that." The mad doctor told him, smugly before the screen went dark and Bart threw a piece of broken metal at it, breaking it and causing sparks to fly.

"Don't need luck." Bart retorted with a determined face.

"Hey, nice shot for once." Nick called out to him.

"Thanks, guess I got lucky." The street thief shrugged.

"You won't be lucky for long!" he heard Clawdius say from behind him. He turned just as the tiger leapt and prepared to pounce on him. Bart quickly leapt to the side and rolled out of the way while Clawdius landed on all fours near him and began to approach him, growling like a savage predator.

"Uh… nice kitty…" The human said, nervously as he began to back away before Clawdius leaped at him.

Acting quickly, Bart quickly grabbed a pipe and used it to block his jaws as he tried to grab at him. The human struggled to hold the giant tiger up but the weight and strength of the tiger thug proved to be more difficult then he had originally thought.

"Bart!" Judy cried, wanting to go help him but Nick stopped her this time.

"Hold on, Fluff. Let him handle it." The fox told her, confidentially.

Seeing no other options, Bart quickly used his foot to kick the tiger in the groin, causing him to squeak, meow like a kitty and tip right off of him. The human quickly got up to his feet.

"Heh, a little crude… but what the heck?" he remarked to himself.

"Way to work it, sport." Nick said as he high fived/foured the human.

"Alright, come on! Let's get going!" Judy stated, anxiously.

"Follow me!" Bart said as he ran ahead and began to lead them to the exit he found.

Above ground, the human, and the fox and the bunny all stepped out of the object that was hiding the exit they had found, which happened to be an empty porta potty, more specifically one meant for small animals so it was a little bit of an effort them to squeeze out of until finally they were all out on the streets again.

"Ok… now that we're out we have to get the observatory… we need a ride…" Judy said as she looked around.

"Well, we might have to steal one…" Nick pointed out.

"Why not one of the bad guys?" Bart inquired as he gestured to a truck that had Rocky and Anton's name's spray-painted on the side parked just near them, illegally as well. The trio smiled at it.

"Oh yeah, that'll work." Nick agreed.

"Cool. I'll drive." Bart offered.

"Yeah… no." Nick stated, quickly

"Come on, I know how!" Bart insisted. "I took a driver's test before I became a thief you know. Top scores."

"Is there an echo around here? Because my answer's the same; no." The fox told him, firmly as he walked to the truck. Bart sighed, annoyed before he began following him along with Judy.

Chapter Text

Having escape the lair of an evil mastermind, the ride to the old observatory was pretty quiet, all three of them looking happy to be alive and also quite proud of themselves as they exchanged smiles while they headed up the road and up the hill, where the observatory was located.

After they parked and got the car well hidden, Judy opened the doors for them and together they stepped inside the dimly lit observatory, the only light source coming from the half open dome close by, which the large telescope was sticking out of.

"Ok, we should be safe here for now." Judy said. "We just have to wait until morning."

"If that includes resting… I'm all for that." Nick stated.

"Agreed." Bart nodded. "And hey, at least we get a good view of the stars. That's nice."

"Yeah, it is." Judy agreed.

Nick turned to Bart. "Hey, wanna go up and get a better look?" he offered.

"Sure! Let's go!" Bart said as he and Nick raced up the steps toward the platform that was near the opening of the observatory. Judy watched them go and shook her head with a sigh and an amused smile as she followed them up.

Bart and Nick soon climbed onto the edge of the opening and sat on it, allowing them to get a great view of the city up ahead. They could see all the glimmering lights, hear all the faint noises and seemed entranced by all of it.

"Wow. Now this is a view!" Bart marveled.

"Well, looky here; something else you and I actually agree on." Nick remarked.

"Yeah. By the way… not a bad job you did back there, fox." Bart admitted.

Nick chuckled a bit and playfully nudged the human. "Not to bad yourself," he smiled, which Bart returned.

"Listen uh… sorry about… those things I said." Bart apologized.

"It's cool. You just got to me… which is one of the few things I promised myself." Nick confessed.

"Oh?" The human inquired, interested.

"Yeah. You know… and I know I've said this before but… I used to be a lot like you kid." Nick revealed. "Only cared for myself, not trusting or believing in anybody… then I met Judy and… my whole world changed. And she's really…"

Before Nick could finish he saw the smirk Bart was giving him and also a presence right behind him; a certain bunny smiling at him in a certain way as his face fell flat.

"Standing right nearby…" he finished, flatly.

"Aw, don't let that stop you, keep going." Judy encouraged him as she sat down on the edge next to him and gave him an elbow bump.

"Yeah, it was just starting to get sappy." Bart quipped, inciting some laughs between him and Hopps.

"Alright, alright, make fun." Nick said, amused. "It's very funny. Ha-ha."

"So… if you didn't like being a con artist so much, why did you start in the first place?" Bart inquired.

"Well kid, when you see a fox, what's your first impression?" Nick questioned with a raised brow, which Judy mimicked, filling Bart with uneasiness.

"Uh… is that a trick question?" he smiled, nervously.

"Answer; sneaky, underhanded and distrustful." Nick stated. "I tried to be something other then that but… it didn't work out so… I stopped trying, thought that if a sneaky fox is what animals saw then that's what they'd get."

"A lot of animals in Zootopia are plagued by the stereotypes their species are burdened with…" Judy added, sadly before gesturing to herself. "Dumb bunny…"

"Sly fox." Nick finished, gesturing to himself also.

"Boy… and I thought my species was primitive." Bart remarked, completely stunned and also angry.

"Guess we really aren't that different." Judy pointed out.

"Guess not." Bart shrugged. "Heck, we even have nearly identical money."

As he said this he took out a wallet and then a dollar bill from it, which Nick quickly recognized.

"Hey! Would you quit stealing my wallet, already?" Nick remarked, annoyed as he swiped them both back.

"Sorry, couldn't resist." Bart shrugged.

"You shouldn't steal you know." Judy told him, firmly.

"Hey, I don't steal, I don't eat, it's that simple." Bart said. "Plus it's not like I hurt anybody, even if they deserve it…"

"What about your family?" Judy inquired.

"Yeah… I wouldn't exactly call them much of a family…"

"What do you mean?"

"Well… most families are kind, protect you and raise you… mine? Are mean, never there, treated me badly and liked to use me for a punching bag." Bart revealed as he pulled up his shirt sleeve to reveal some bruises and scars.

Judy put a paw to her mouth and gasped softly in horror as her ears drooped. Even Nick looked a little disturbed by his markings and glanced away while Judy gazed at Bart sympathetically.

"So… guess you finally got sick of it, huh?" Nick guessed.

"Yep, packed my stuff up and sprung out first chance I got, never looked back." Bart stated.

"You ran away?" Judy realized.

"Pretty much. I mean my life was a toilet and then some…" Bart shrugged as he stood up and turned away before walking away a bit. "Thanks to my folks… and all other bad people who wanted to hurt me… I learned that you always gotta look out for yourself. You don't always need people to help you."

Judy turned to him. "But there are times when you do, and if you keep doing things by yourself nobody will be able to help you when you do need help."

This seemed to make an impact on Bart, stunning him. "Oh… right…" he said, slowly. "Well… to be honest… whenever you guys yelled at me… I was kinda glad."

"You were?" Judy said, surprised.

Bart nodded. "Yeah… it's been a while since someone, anyone, worried themselves over me or scolded me or whatever…"

Judy gazed at the human sadly and with tears threatening to form in her eyes before suddenly wrapping her arms around his neck and embracing him tightly, much to the thief's surprise.

"Whoa… what was that for?" he asked, stunned.

Judy released him and gazed up at him. "Felt you needed it."

"Aw, come on, why do you care so much about some petty street urchin, anyway? I don't even like me." Bart admitted, glancing away a bit sadly.

"I don't." Judy began before finally saying… "I care about my friend."

Bart looked at her, deeply surprised by her words.

"You saved me back there, you could have just left but you saved me plus you saved that little giraffe back when we were chasing you. That proves you're a good soul Bart." The little bunny said, softly. "And you can be so much more then just a common pickpocket."

"She's right, you just need a little direction. That's all." Nick agreed.

"Yeah, so I've been told…" Bart sighed.

"Well hey, I needed some direction and look how I turned out." Nick pointed out. "And if I could do it, it should be easy for someone like you."

Bart thought for a bit. "Hmm, yeah, probably," he admitted with a bit of a smug grin.

"Ok, don't get cocky." Nick warned him in a friendly manner before their radio's began to whirl to life and emit static as a voice tried to get through.

"Whoa!" Bart reacted.

"Well, looks like our radio's aren't being blocked anymore." Judy observed.

"I'm guessing the guy on the other head is Chief Jerkface?" Bart inquired.

"Probably…" Judy sighed.

"I got it." Nick said as he answered the radio. "Go for Hopps and Wilde… uh-huh? …uh-oh."

Judy turned to him. "What?"

"It's Bogo, and he does not sound happy…" Nick replied, a little nervous.

"When isn't that chump happy?" Bart pointed out.

"You know… I've been asking myself that question ever since I first met 'em, and that was two years ago. So far… nothing." Nick stated.

"That figures…" Bart said, dryly.

Judy sighed. "Alright, I'll talk to him…" she said as she reached for the radio, which Nick handed to her.

"You sure? That big jerk doesn't seem to like you guys very much…" Bart warned.

"I don't think he likes anyone very much…" Nick admitted. "Well, except Gazelle but… don't tell him I told you that."

"Shame… that's gold." Bart chuckled.

"Nick's right, he's like that with everybody, it hard not to take it personal at times… but he actually does care. Plus, you get used to it." Judy shrugged.

"I hope not." Bart remarked.

Judy listened to what Bogo said on the radio, Bart wasn't able to hear much but he could tell by Judy's expressions that he was indeed yelling and he could almost hear it.

"So… what did he say?" Bart inquired, hesitantly.

"Well… he's not happy about the squad car getting wrecked for starters…" Judy revealed.

"Shocker, go on." Bart requested.

"He also said we caused a lot of unnecessary damage during the chase, disturbed a lot of mammals in the hotel we were at and caused some damage their too…" Judy continued.

"Man… there's no keeping anything from that dude, is there?" Bart remarked.

"Kid, you have no idea." Nick said.

Judy then continued to listen to what Bogo had to say. "Uh-huh… yes, sir… but sir I… but we…" she started to say before sighing. "Yes sir… we understand…"

"What?" The human inquired, curiously.

"He said if we cause any more property damage he'll suspend us…" Judy said, depressed.

"Or worse fire us… especially if we don't catch these guys and fast…" Nick muttered, equally unhappy. The young thief gazed at how disheartened the two were sympathetically and was also quite upset with how Bogo was berating them, sure they caused some damage but they also did so to protect him and knowing that filled the boy with anger.

"Ok, that's it. Give me the radio." Bart told them, firmly.

"Why?" Nick asked, confused.

"Just give it to me." Bart insisted. The two exchanged glances before finally deciding to hand the radio over to Bart who started to speak in a very casual tone. "Hey, Chief Bobo, Bart here, just wanted to let you know I'm fine, we're gonna catch the bad guys and I would really like it if you weren't so hard on my two police protectors here, they're doing the best they can and btw; I need a favor."

"What favor?" The chief asked.

"Well actually I'd like you to do us all a favor… and rot in the sack!" he snapped before he turned off the radio and tossed it back to Wilde. "There, problem solved. You may now thank me."

Nick's face fell flat. "For what? Getting us in more trouble?"

"Nick, he was just trying to help, cut him a break." Judy urged him, gently.

"Ok, ok… thanks." Nick relented.

"Your most welcome." Bart nodded. "Besides, I just love seeing buffalo butt miserable."

"Yeah… I know he can be a little harsh at times… but he's a total bad guy…" Judy admitted to him.

"She's right, mostly, and he only hates you because you're a thief." Nick added.

"Nick!" Judy hissed.

"Sorry! I meant… troubled runaway." Nick corrected, quickly.

"Nah, it's ok, I know what I am, and I've gotten so used to it… I don't even bother to think about what I'm doing," Bart admitted. As he said this, something in his mind just clicked. Like a light switch being turned on. He gasped as his eyes widened and a flurry of images flash through his mind all at once before he held his head an started groaning in pain.

"Bart? Bart! What's wrong?" Judy asked in alarm as she held him steadily.

"Bart, speak to us!" Nick added as he did the same. Eventually Bart stopped groaning and slowly raised his head, his eyes still wide.

"I… I… I remember…" Bart finally said, still looking shell-shocked.

"Remember what?" Nick asked, confused as he raised a brow.

"How… how I got here…" Bart breathed. "To… to Zootopia."

"Really? How? What do you remember?" Judy questioned, concerned and curious.

"Ok… uh… it was a few days ago… I had just helped myself to a free meal…" Bart began, his mind beginning to flashback to when he was in his own world…

Bart was chowing down on a hotdog at the time and looking happy as a clam before seeing a woman carrying a purse beginning to walk past him. He gained a little smirk on his face as he subtly tried to reach inside as he passed her… only for her to grab him.

"Hold it right there!" she declared.

"Whoa, honey! Never on the first date!" Bart chuckled before his smirk vanished upon seeing her whip out a Police Badge.

"NYPD, your under arrest." The female cop told him.

Bart scowled. "Lousy, sneaking cops…" he growled before he pulled his arm away and released himself from her grip before dashing ahead.

"Hey! Stop in the name of the law!" she yelled out.

The young thief ignored her and continued running, he couldn't seem to stop himself or even know where he was going he just knew he had to get away and find some place to hide. He looked behind him and saw that the female cop was still chasing him and talking on her radio, no doubt calling for back up. Soon enough he spotted a building up ahead with a slightly open door and decided to dash to it and get inside.

Upon getting inside, he quickly slammed the door shut and ran down the hallway ahead of him, but the lady cop soon followed, along with a few more police officers that had just arrived.

The cops then began to rush down a hallway, not noticing a puddle of water in front of them. As the female cop's boot sole comes down in it resulting loss of traction hurls her onto her face along with the rest of her fellow officers who came falling over onto the floor as well, and before the lady copy can start to get up she saw Obadiah looming over she with a mischievous little smirk.

"Oh, did I move this?" he asked, smugly ashe held up what appeared to be a folding floor sign-yellow, showing the symbol for a slipping hazard.. "Sorry Colonel Klutz!"

He followed up the gibe by pulling the sign back over his shoulder and swinging at the cop's head with all his strength, knocking her out.

A little while after doing this, Bart whistling 'For He's a Jolly Good Fellow' to himself before entering another room in the building where he stopped dead in his tracks upon seeing something; which appeared to be an old scientist that seemed to be working on something very high-tech and was shaped like hoop.

The Doctor spoke into a recording. "Alright, this is Dr. Stevenson, experimental log, the seventh test of my matter-transporter," he said. "During the first six attempts I've only managed to transport matter to a location but never back again, time to see if seven really is a lucky number…"

The scientist pressed some buttons on a computer next to the hoop shaped machine and lit up before creating a blue, swirling vortex in the center. Bart gasped in astonishment.

"Whoa…" Bart said aloud, catching the scientists attention.

"Hey! Your not supposed to be in here!" he said before the door slammed open again, this time by one of the cops that Bart knocked down previously.

"Hold it!" he said, startling Bart and causing him to turn and accidentally back up into a console behind him. His elbow slammed into it and caused electricity to crackle and sparks to fly before it made a small explosion, knocking Bart down again.

"No! What have you done!?" Stevenson exclaimed, as the blue vortex started to crackle with electricity also and expand a great deal, creating a vacuum that started to pull things toward it.

Bart slowly got to his knees and groaned. "Wha… what's going?"

"Quick! Get out of here! Before-" The old Doctor began to say before a flash of light emitted from the vortex and filled the whole room, blinding and consuming all of them.

As Bart's flashback slowly ended in his mind, Bart had a very somber look on his face.

"Next thing I knew…" he continued. "I found myself in an alleyway… with no idea how I got there…"

"Until now you mean." Nick corrected.

"So… what happened to that scientist in the lab?" Judy asked, concerned, evident by her lowered ears. "Do you think…?"

Bart's eyes widened with realization. "Oh man… I killed him…" he gasped as he put a hand on his face and lowered it, trying to control his emotions. "I didn't mean to… I really didn't…"

Both cops gazed at the human boy with lowered ears and sad expressions as he began to lightly sob.

"Oh Bart…" Judy said as she wrapped her arms around his own and rested her head against it to comfort him while Nick patted the human on the back looking sympathetic.

"Relax kid… I'm sure it wasn't your fault…" Nick tried to console him.

"But what if it was?" Bart questioned, depressed. "Maybe I'm better off being stuck here… I don't wanna be caged up again, you know? I mean… I could handle the holding cell, but an actual jell cell? The one folks have been trying to put me in my whole life? I just… I just don't think I can face all that…"

"No, Bart. You can't run from your problems, you have to face them." Judy urged him.

"Exactly. And when you do get back, you can try and be someone else." Nick pointed out.

"Like who?" Bart asked, raising a brow.

"Uh… maybe a regular kid who obeys the laws and helps people, rather then steal from them?" Nick suggested with a raised brow and a smirk.

"Well, that sounds boring." Bart said, displeased before Judy and Nick gave him a look. He sighed deeply. "But I suppose I could give it a try… once I get back anyway. If I get back…"

"You will. I promise." Judy told him, sincerely.

Touched by her words, as well as Nick's, Bart ruffled both of their heads playfully, making them laugh before wrapping both arms around them as they gazed up towards the moon together. Nick and Judy looked at each other for a second before turning away and blushing with bashful smiles on their faces.

While the trio enjoyed their moment up in the observatory, they were unaware that far down below, gazing at them through a pair of high tech binoculars was none other than Anton Pigg and his elephant cohort. Eventually, Pigg lowered the binoculars and activated the communications device in his ear.

"Ok boss, we found out where he's hiding." Anton said.

"And where our ride is…!" Rocky growled, looking quite upset.

Through the camera's hidden close by, Dr. Mouser gazed at his two minions through a computer screen while he listened to what they said. He also had a monitor that showed Bart, Judy and Nick close by. "Excellent. Maintain position until the young mister Torres separates himself from his two bodyguards."

"What makes you think he'll leave them? They seem pretty tight." Pigg pointed out.

"Trust me, I know fools like Torres, Hopps and Wilde, they'll make a mistake, he'll become angry and storm out, and when he does… hunt him down." Mouser told them. "Understood?"

"Understood…" Pigg sighed.

"Good. Now all we do… is wait." Mouser said as he clasped his paws and smiled an evil grin.

Chapter Text

The next day, around dawn, Nick finally began to open his eyes and sit up from his lying position, because he, along with the others, had to sleep on the floor his body was a little stiff but after a few stretches he managed to loosen up before standing straight up. He glanced down at the human boy near him and smiled when he saw him sleeping.

He glanced to a small opening, which his rabbit partner was currently looking out of with a pair of binoculars, keeping an eye out for anyone that might sneak up on them. He walked over and whistled to get her attention.

"Oh hey, good morning." Judy greeted.

"Morning carrots." Nick yawned as he rubbed his eyes. "So, anything pop up during your watch?"

"No. It's really quiet out there."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, totally, which is good.

"Got that right."

The bunny then glanced at the young human laying on his side in the shadows just a little ways away.

"How is he?" Judy inquired.

Nick looked back toward him. "Still sleeping."

"Good. He needs it." Judy said.

"Yeah, meanwhile we don't have any idea what were going to do next." Nick pointed out.

"I know… Mouser's still looking for us and for all we know he and his men could be on their way here right now." The bunny realized.

"So… what are you saying we do?" Nick inquired, curious.

"I don't know… maybe we should call Bogo?" Judy inquired.

"Are you crazy? The minute we do not only is he gonna yell and fire us but he'll also hunt us down, bury us in coffins and dance on our graves." Nick told her.

"Don't be ridiculous… Bogo would never risk getting caught doing that… and besides with all that's going on we need his help more then ever." Judy stated.

The fox sighed deeply. "Fine, go ahead. But after what Bart told him to do last night, I'm sure he's gonna be real happy to help us." Nick said, sarcastically.

"I'm sure he's cooled off by now." The bunny shrugged as she took out her radio.

"Have you met our boss?" Nick questioned with a raised brow.

Judy paused for a minute before answering. "Ok, I see your point, but still, we have to try. There aren't many mammals out there we can call for help at the moment."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." Nick sighed in defeat.

Judy then turned on her radio and waited until she heard a voice. "Hello? Officer Hopps, reporting."

She then heard Clawhauser's voice on the other end. "Officer Hopps! Hey, how ya doing?"

"Clawhauser, can you get Chief Bogo for me? I have a request about finding another safe location for Bart." Judy told him.

"Oh, sure thing! But first I need to get on waiting list for a meet with the awesomest popstar ever! Gazelle herself!" The cheetah said with a squeal.

Judy quickly started to get excited. "Really? Someone get's to meet her? Face to face!?" she asked, getting hyper before shaking her head and becoming serious again. "Never mind that! Just get Bogo!"

"Uh… right!" Clawhauser said before the sound of him rushing off was heard.

Nick, who heard parts of what he said, gained a pondering look on his face. "You know… I can't quite seem to figure out that guy's deal."

Judy turned to him, confused. "Deal?"

"You know; does he like girls or is he… you know… getting all… touchy-feely with other…" Nick started to explain, making little gestures while doing so that Judy quickly understood, making her flustered.

"Yeah, ok, no, I get it. Stop." Judy told him very fast, trying to hide her blush before hearing something else. "Oh! Chief Bogo! Sir! Listen, I think this location we picked to hide Bart might be compromised, we need a safer location for him, sir. Mouser has big plans for him and while we don't know what they are yet, we can't let him have him."

The bunny listened closely as Bogo said a few things that Nick couldn't quite make out as he subtly tried to get closer while Judy turned away and muttered 'Uh-huh', 'yes', 'I see' and 'but' a few times before finally…

"Yes, sir, I understand, we'll get right on it." The purple eyed rabbit said before turning off her radio.

"What? What did he say?" Nick questioned, expectantly.

Judy covered the other end of the radio and leaned to Nick. "He wants us to confine Bart to a more safer location."

"Like what?" The fox asked.

"Well… it's… kind of the place where we found all those missing predators… remember?" Judy inquired, hesitantly.

Nick's eyes quickly widened as the memory came back to him. "Wait… the asylum? Are you kidding me?" he questioned.

Unbeknownst to them, as they were talking, Bart's eyes suddenly opened and narrowed as he turned his head slightly and listened to the rest of their conversation.

"I-I know it's drastic but… maybe it's for the best…" Judy reasoned.

"He might not go for it…" Nick noted.

"He doesn't have to like it and really he doesn't have much of a choice in the matter, if Mouser gets his paws on him who knows what could happen." Judy stated.

"And yet in the process we put him in a place that he's been avoiding his whole life." Nick pointed out.

"Cliffside isn't a prison, it's a mental hospital."

"Yet was used to hold predators infected by the Night Howlers. You remember those glass cages? With the giant toilet that we had to flush ourselves down? …Try getting that out of your head… Anyway, it might has well be a prison."

"But this time the holding of someone there will be approved and with all of the other ZPD officers there we can better protect Bart. No one will get in, and no one will get out."

"So we just keep him locked up? In a glass cage? With guards outside of it and the asylum?" Nick pressed on while Bart fearfully wanted for an answer from Judy, who looked a bit hesitant but eventually did speak.

"Yes. If that's what it takes." Judy answered, firmly.

A look of betrayal and sadness slowly appeared on Bart's face as dark images of police chasing him, his parents hitting him and being cornered by unknown assailants flashed in his mind before his fist clenched and cracked in anger.

"Well… I guess it would be safer for him…" Nick admitted.

"Exactly. Until Mouser is dealt with Bart is not safe, not even around us and we can't risk him going off on his own again." Judy pointed out.

"Yeah, he is notoriously reckless… guess it comes with being a thief." Nick quipped.

Bart's fist shook with anger before he began to stand up straight and walk towards them, still in the shadows. They still didn't seem to be aware that he was awake just yet.

"Not funny, Nick." Judy scolded, quietly. "And be quiet, your gonna wake him."

"Little late for that." The human spoke up, startling them.

"Oh, Bart! Your awake!" Judy said, surprised. "Listen uh… we need to head somewhere else now, this place isn't safe."

"You mean some place like a nut house?" Bart questioned with an edge in his voice.

"Uh-oh…" Nick muttered, getting a good sense of what was about to happen.

"W-what? What are you…?" Judy began.

"Ah, don't play dumb! I heard you, Judy! On the phone! You guys wanna lock me in a cage just that Mouser does!" Bart accused.

"No! It's… it's not like that see…" Judy tried to explain.

"We just figured that you'd be safer if you were confined somewhere safe… until we arrest Mouser that is." Nick added.

"And by 'confine' you mean 'cage'?" Bart questioned further.

"He didn't say that." Judy stated.

Bart turned away. "He didn't have to," he said before he began to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Judy questioned.

"Any place you guys aren't." Bart said, sharply.

"You can't! Mouser is still after you!" Judy reminded him.

"I handle myself!" Bart stated.

"Oh, like how you've been handling yourself since you ran away like a baby?" Nick questioned, doubtfully. Judy gasped in shock while Bart froze with a look of anger on his face that the other two couldn't see at the time.

"Nick!" Judy hissed, appalled.

It took the fox a little while before he realized what he just said aloud. "Oh… that was a bad choice of words, wasn't it?"

"Yeah." Judy scowled.

"Listen fox, I ran away because I had to!" Bart snapped.

"And we're doing this because we have to as well!" Judy told him as she approached the human and took his hand. "Come on, Bart."

She started to pull him away but before they could get very far, Bart swiped the pair of pawcuffs from her belt and got one around her wrist, catching her by surprised, as well as Nick.

"Yeah… I don't think so," he said darkly before he swung Judy around and then tossed her into Nick before they both collided and slammed into a wall together. As they laid on the floor groaning, Bart got the other cuff around Nick's wrist, attaching them to each other before taking Nick's cuffs as well and putting one on Judy's other wrist and the other around a pole, trapping them.

They soon realized what Bart had done upon getting to their feet and struggled to get free, but it was no use.

"Hey! Kid! What are you doing!?" Nick questioned.

"I'm sorry… but I can't be locked up again, Nick…" Bart shook his head, sadly.

"Bart… Bart, please… don't do this!" Judy pleased. "Your better then this!"

"You don't know me!" Bart yelled. "And you don't care about me either!"

"Yes, we do! Honest! We just…" Judy tried to explain.

"I trusted you guys! I would have put my life on the line for you both! But deep down your just like everybody else; you only see the thief inside of me. Thinking I'd be better off locked up! Well I'm not!" Bart said, sounding hurt and angry as he turned and began to stomp away. "Should have figured, when it comes down to it I'm on my own!"

"Bart! Come back!" Judy called out. "We were only trying to protect you!"

"Leave me alone!" Bart shouted as he ran off ahead and exited the building, with tears in his eyes.

"Bart!" Judy cried, before she began to struggle to pull the cuffs that attached her to Nick apart but to no avail.

"Ow! Ow! Carrots, easy! That's my arm! I plan on using it later!" Nick told her.

"Then help me! We can't let him go out on his own! Mouser's guys are still out there!" Judy exclaimed, getting panicky while trying to pull the cuff that attached her to the pole apart.

"I know! But just try and think! Do you have the keys?" The fox inquired.

"Yes I…" Judy started to say before she saw that it was on the floor a little ways away from her. "Oh no… I must have dropped it when Bart grabbed us…"

Nick looked toward it. "Hmm, I think I can reach it…"

"Really?" Judy responded, surprised.

"Yeah, just give me a second…" Nick said as he began to reach forward, moving forward bit by bit as he tried to get closer to the key.

Judy waited anxiously before her eyes suddenly widened before her face fell flat. "Nick, hands off the merchandise, please," she requested very calmly.

Nick froze, turned and saw that his other paw, the one that was cuffed to Judy's, was grabbing onto her rear for balance and he didn't even realize it till now. He chuckled nervously before moving it up and away, despite the feeling of being stretched too far that he was getting.

"Heh, heh… sorry…" he quickly apologized before he reached even further, the pain in his body increasing, before he managed to put a claw on the keys and move them closer to them. He then brushed it even closer to them using his tail and bent down to pick it up. "Got it!"

"Yes!" Judy said, pleased as Nick used the key to unlock the cuffs attaching him to Judy before using his own to detach him from the pole. "Finally! Now come on, Bart's getting away.

She and Nick then ran in the direction he took off in but upon reaching the exit they couldn't see Bart anywhere outside. Judy tried listening for him with her large ears but she couldn't seem to hear him anywhere. "Where did he…?"

"Oh no… what have we done?" Nick asked, saddened.

"We should have talked it over with him…" Judy said, her ears drooping as depression befalls her. "Ugh! What was I thinking?"

"Hey, you were just doing what Bogo ordered us to do Carrots, that's all." Nick tried to comfort her.

"Yeah, well… sometimes orders… just aren't orders…" Judy muttered, solemnly. "We should have talked to him about it… and not do it behind his back like we were trying to keep some stupid secret from him…"

"Yeah… plus that was a really bad use of the word 'confine'…" Nick muttered to Judy.

"Not now Nick, we have to find him!" Judy stated, firmly. "Come on!"

The bunny quickly ran off ahead down the steps and while the fox looked a bit annoyed, he followed.

"Ugh… why do I get the feeling that bunny is gonna be the death of me?" he asked out loud as he started to run also.

Later on, Bart was making his way down a series of steps that presumably lead up to the observatory and didn't slow down as he began to enter the edge of town, clearly still steamed after his rough argument with the ones tasked with protecting him. He had no idea where he was going and at the moment he didn't care, he just continued to angrily mutter to himself the whole time he was walking.

"Who do they think they are? Thinking they can lock me up. That it'll keep me safe. I'll bet they've been wanting to do that since the day that I…" he began to say.

The sound of distant running steps made him freeze he looked back up the steps, but he didn't see anyone there. Still, that didn't keep him from being suspicious.

"Listen, guys, I already told you-" he began to say as he started to turn back around only to find his path blocked by Mr. Pierce. He gasped, startled.

"You really think you can handle us on your own?" he inquired, disbelievingly and amused.

Bart glanced back and saw Mr. Pigg landing behind him with a loud, 'thud!'. He snorted at the young human.

"Oh sweet cheese and crackers…" Bart gulped.

"Guess it was a good thing that the Doc made us wait till you were alone, eh hothead?" Anton remarked.

Bart took a few nervous steps backwards before turning and remembering that Rocky was right behind him and pawing at the ground, making an angry growl. The human quickly readied himself for a fight while Anton looked at him amused.

"Ha! I'm I supposed to be scared or something?" he remarked as he held out his arms. "Come on, bring it!"

Letting out a battle cry Bart leapt forward and prepared to land a flying sidekick on the giant pig. It would have been a direct hit, except for the fact that at the very last second the pig did a lightning-fast backhand strike and knocked the boy away. He landed flat on his back and groaned in pain.

"Ha! Not so tough without your bodyguard's, huh?" The pig taunted.

Angered, the human got back up and glared at him. "I'll show you tough!" he snapped as he lunged forward and tried to strike him but Anton quickly grabbed his fist before it made contact, squeezed it and twisted his arm in process, causing him to cry out in pain.

"Wow. You showed me alright." Anton remarked, deadpan before swinging Bart one way before tossing him into a wall, making it crack a little upon impact.

"Careful." Rocky warned his partner.

"Right, we need him alive, sorry, forgot." The pig apologized as he and the elephant began to approach the young street thief threateningly.

The human got to his knees and looked at the duo fearfully before scooting backwards then standing up and rushing into a building. He slammed the door behind him, pressed his back against the wall next to it and panted heavily.

"Man… Judy was right; some help would be good right about now…" Bart admitted to himself before a three fingered fist burst through the wall next to him.

Soon after, the entire wall was suddenly smashed into pieces and Bart was sent flying across the room along with chunks of rocks as Rocky burst through it, presumably by shoulder slamming it.

Bart groaned as he slowly picked himself up, the power of the forced enterance and the force from being sent flying across the room caused a great deal of pain throughout his body but still he managed to stand while the pig and the elephant both entered. He turned and tried to limp out but he was suddenly struck in the back by something that sent a shock through his body that knocked him out and caused him to land on his face.

Behind him, Anton revealed himself to be the one who shocked him unconscious using a taser with two long cords. He and his partner both approached the human and loomed over him.

"And that's a wrap." Anton declared before preparing to grab Bart.

A little while later, Judy and Nick arrived at the spot where Bart, Rocky and Anton previously were and while the bits of rubble and a hole in the wall were evidence that they were once there, it was clear that they weren't anymore, due to how empty the place was.

"Whoa… what happened here…?" Nick wondered

"Looks like… signs of a struggle…" Judy observed. She then looked down and gasped when she found a piece of red cloth on the ground, which she picked up. "Part of Bart's hoodie…"

"And look down…" Nick said as he pointed to the ground, which had multiple footprints from three different animals all over.

"Tracks… left by…" Judy started to say.

"An elephant and a pig." Nick finished, grimly. "And their fresh too… this happened just recently…"

"That means…" Judy began to say before gasping in shock and realization. "Mouser's guys must have taken Bart!"

"Oh ya think?" Nick remarked. "Now the only question is; where did they take him?"

"Well, they couldn't have gone back to the base where you rescued me…" Judy mused. "So where…"

Judy and Nick thought and pondered long and hard before Nick finally opened his mouth wide, took a deep breath and said…

"I got nothing." The fox shrugged.

Judy's eyes then lit up. "I got it!"

Nick looked at her surprised. "You know where he is?" he asked.

"I might… hold on." Judy said as she took out her phone and began to call someone. "Hello? Oh hey! Good! I'm glad you're there!"

As the bunny turned and began to indistinctly talk to whoever it was on the phone, Nick tried to listen in but couldn't get hear more then every fifth word that was said.

"Yeah? Yeah? Ok. Ok, thank you, thank you! I'll pay you back for this, I promise. Ok, bye." Judy said to the individual she was speaking to before hanging up. "Alright! I now know where they're keeping Bart!"

"Really? Where?" Nick asked, surprised.

"It's another base, located in the rainforest district." Judy informed.

"Another base?" Nick said, stunned.

"Yes, and they're already half an hour ahead of us so we gotta move before they do who knows what to Bart!" Judy stated.

"Right! But first… we're gonna need some backup and… some gear." Nick said.

Judy quickly whipped out her radio. "I was just thinking the same thing, partner," she smirked. "As for gear, there's no time, Bart needs us. Even if he doesn't think so."

The fox sighed. "Yeah… your right, Carrots. Now let's go get our boy back."

Judy nodded with a smile, which Nick returned before the two glanced toward the city with determined looks on their faces as gray clouds began to cover the sky above them. Surprisingly enough, the rest of the city was quiet, as if it was just the calm before the storm…

Chapter Text

Elsewhere, Bart was just beginning to open his eyes, and was welcome by a 'pleasant' headache that made him groan while he tried to make sense of his surroundings. However, he couldn't see much, nor did he seem able to move, plus it didn't help that he was feeling quite groggy after being asleep for so long.

"Ugh… where…?" Bart asked, as he glanced around the pitch black room. "Oh… this can't be good…"

Right after he said this, a bright light shined down on him from above, temporarily blinding him and causing him to look away while he heard a familiar voice.

"How right you are, my boy."

Bart tried to move but he soon figured out that his wrists and ankles were all strapped down by four metal clamps attached to a metal table, which he found himself laying on. He glanced around and couldn't see much, other then blinking pieces of technology and other items that he couldn't identify.

"Mouser? Mouser, is that you!?" Bart demanded.

The human then looked up and saw a small platform lower itself down from above and when the light shined on it, he was able to see a certain mouse standing on it.

"The one and only." The mouse smirked.

"Why you little…" Bart growled.

"Save your threats boy, they mean nothing to me, understand?You know, my boy… up until you arrived I didn't have any way of completing my work, I would have had to put in even more work on taking over the city." Mouser confessed. "But then… out of nowhere, God brought you here to me… as an act of providence."

"Oh, please." Bart scoffed. "I got here by accident dipwad, not your phony baloney god."

"Eh, either way… your all mine now." Mouser said, sinisterly as he moved over Bart and began to work on the machines behind him.

"Hey, why you even doing this man? What do you have to gain from taking control of the entire city?" Bart questioned.

Mouser turned to him. "My boy, do you really need to ask that sort of question? Why the answer is painfully obvious."

"Right; money, telling people what to do, feeling like you're the most powerful guy around, am I warm?" Bart guessed.

"That… and making this city pay for how it's treated those like me!" Dr. Mouser hissed. "For years, ever since I was young, mammals have picked on, stepped on me, ruined my life… and they didn't even realize it! And not just me, but other mammals too. This city was supposed to be a utopia, where predators and prey lived in harmony… but that goal has failed. This city is broken, always has been, always will, and no amount of 'being something everyone thinks you can't be' will change that."

"But scaring them into behaving will?" Bart questioned.

"Yes, exactly." Mouser confirmed as he moved over Bart again before being lowered down to look him in the eye. "Fear is the only thing these fools understand, Bellwether already proved that but like I said; her method failed because she tried to trick them into thinking predators were reverting to their 'savage ways'… I however plan on giving them all something to fear, and it will be all thanks to you."

Bart narrowed his eyes. "Your insane."

"Maybe, but in a moment… you'll be too busy screaming to care." Mouser stated as he moved back with an evil grin and a chuckle. "Now… time to begin the procedure…"

As he said this, the platform moved him over to the machines on the other side where he pressed a button, causing some of the other machines to whirl to life. Bart saw a nearby screen that turned on and showed an image of himself and words that read 'Preparing DNA Extraction', which made him gulp in fear.

Meanwhile, just outside the underground base, Judy and Nick were just arriving near the enterance to the base, which seemed to be large metal hatch with a wheel on top and had trees on one side and a raging river on the other side. Their didn't seem to be anyone else around but that didn't make the two tops very reassured as they hid behind some rocks and eyed the hatch.

"Ok, this is it, this is where their keeping Bart." Judy said. "Are Bogo and the rest of ZPD coming?"

"Yep, already on their way." Nick confirmed.

"I assume the Chief wants us to maintain our position before going in, right?" Judy guessed.

"Yeah… but where's the fun in that?" Nick smirked.

Judy shared his smile and nodded. "Right," she said as they began to sneak over to it.

Nick glanced around, looking suspicious as they got closer and closer to the hatch. "Hmm, seems quiet…"

"And easy…" Judy noted.

"Think it has booby-traps?" Nick inquired.

"Most likely." The bunny stated.

Nick just smirked. "Bring it on," he said as the two went around the rocks and slowly began to creep towards the hatch. Judy soon stopped Nick though before pointing to something shining dimly nearby, Nick looked closely and saw that it was a trip wire which they both carefully stepped over though afterwards Nick stopped Judy this time before she could step on the one after it.

They then noticed some hidden cameras in the trees near them, exchanged glances and nodded as they began to carry out their unspoken plan. Judy turned and let Nick boost her up before she leapt and kicked the camera right off the tree branch before leaping across to the next one and turning it off.

"Heh, show off." Nick said with an impressed smile as she jumped down before heading to the hatch along with her partner.

"Ok, now how do we get in without tripping some kind of alarm?" Judy wondered.

"I got an idea." Nick declared as he leaned forward and knocked on the hatch three times.

On cue, one of Mouser's minion's began to lift it up to see what it was. "What the…?" he began to say before Nick slammed the lid down on the thug's head and closed it. They heard a crashing sound down below before Nick opened the unlocked hatch open again, with no sign of anyone present.

"After you," he offered his partner.

"Nice!" Judy smiled as she began to climb down.

"Thanks, Bart taught me." Nick said as he began to follow her.

Soon enough they reached the bottom of the ladder and only saw darkness down the hallway up ahead of them and no light at the end of it.

"Uh… did someone forget to pay the electric bill?" Nick inquired.

"Something's not right…" The bunny mused, looking suspicious before the lights suddenly turned on and revealed a whole lot of Mouser's men just standing in front of them, growling and looking for a fight. The duo gulped. "I hate it when I'm right…"

"Yeah, me too…" Nick agreed.

Around the same time, a mechanical arm holding a vial of blood, belonging to an Arctic Wolf, evident by the picture on it, inserted it into a large bowl nearby Bart, nearly filled to the top with a green liquid, presumably the blood/DNA of all the animals Mouser needed. The blood was then sucked out of the vial and dispersed into the bowl of DNA samples. The blood appeared inside the green liquid briefly, becoming dark before finally dissipating.

While that happened, Mouser was currently typing away on a small computer, preparing it for the next sample while Bart tried as hard as he could to get free.

"You know, I can't help buy admire you, dear boy." Mouser admitted. "From what I can tell, your species is just as evolved as the rest of us here in Zootopia yet… also quite different. But it is because of those similarities that your DNA will mesh well with the other DNA samples I've acquired from this city's most ferocious predators." Mouser revealed. "Not only that, but it will also make my creation stronger and smarter then any mammal alive out there, for your species, as I've seen from watching you, is quite intelligent, as well as strong and more adaptable then any species in Zootopia."

"Thanks, that's flattering, now let me go!" Bart exclaimed as he struggled with his restraints.

"Sorry, but I still need to add your DNA to my genetic mixer right there." Mouser said as he gestured to the bowl.

"Your gonna make a monster out of that?" Bart questioned, flatly.

"Of course not, this just fuses the DNA samples together once I've added yours I'll activate it and send it to my Birth chamber, where my creation will soon take it's first breath!" Mouser said, sinisterly as he gestured to a large glass box near the bowl of DNA samples, inside said box was a glass, egg shaped container and a few other machines. Mouser then resumed typing. "Just need to tweak a few things… and then we can begin!"

Bart scowled. "Not if I can help it…" he muttered under his breath as he began to try and break out of the metal restraints.

Elsewhere in the base, Judy and Nick were currently fighting through several of Mouser's men that were determined not to let them passed but were repeatedly kicked, punched, scratched and knocked down by the pair who made it clear that they did not have time for them, evident by the determined looks on their faces as they made their way through.

"Mouser! Mouser! We know you can hear us! Come out!" Judy yelled out as she jumped and snap kicked a wolf away.

"Yeah Doc, don't be a scaredy cat!" Nick added with a chuckle, while spinning one big around him and into a wall. "Get it? Because he's a…"

"Not now, Nick!" Judy scolded, not noticing one goon sneaking up behind her. "We don't have time for…"

Before she could finish, the tiger sneaking up on her was knocked out with a tranq dart to the kiwis, he collapsed right behind Judy, who was surprised that she didn't notice him but pleased when she saw that Nick was the one who tranquilized him.

"Saving your hide? No. No, we do not," he smirked.

"Dork." The bunny commented in annoyance and amusement before grabbing one of the thugs by the collar, threateningly. "Alright, where is he!? Where's Mouser and Bart?"

"Yeah, you know the fleshy guy with five digits on each paw?" Nick added.

"T-T-They're in the lab…" The goon answered, fearfully before being tossed away.

"Come on, we gotta hurry!" Judy declared as she began running down the hallway.

As his rescuers continued to fight their way through the base and try to find him, Bart continued to struggle with his restraints, futilely trying to free himself but it was no use. And as this happened Mouser continued to type on his little computer and activated a certain machine, which the sound of began to make Bart nervous.

"Uh… can't we talk about this, Doc?" he requested, fearfully.

"Um… no." Mouser answered.

Bart gulped as he glanced up and saw two mechanical arms, each rising up next to him and with needles on each end which they both plunged into his arms, making him cry out in pain. He groaned as the needles began to forcefully take samples of his blood. A meter on the computer began to load until finally it reached 100%, which was when Mouser pressed another button and took the needles out. Bart panted a bit, grateful that it was over.

"There! That should be enough!" The evil mouse said, pleased. "For now anyways…"

"Oh, there's more? Great… just when I was starting to miss it." Bart muttered, sarcastically.

"Trust me, you won't be missing it for long…" Mouser said with a dark tone. "For I believe I may need an endless supply of your DNA, as it holds so much potential… why… once I conquer Zootopia… I will build an army and conquer the rest of world as well… and like it or not, you will help me."

As he said this, another mechanical arm extended down from the ceiling, this one having a saw blade at the end of it which suddenly turned on and started spinning, making a sharp, whirling sound that sent a chill down Bart's spine.

"But don't worry… I'll be sure to give you plenty of anesthesia." Dr. Mouser assured him, while flashing a psychotic smirk, further increasing Bart's fear.

Around the same time, another of Mouser's thugs was just tossed into a wall at the end of a hallway before Officer's Hopps and Wilde ran down it and around the corner before moving down the next one.

"We should be close to the lab by now!" Judy stated.

"Mouser's probably begun experimenting on him, you know." Nick reminded her.

"Then we gotta move faster!" Judy said, firmly. "We can't let Mouser hurt him anymore then he already has! I just wish we had stronger…"

As she said this, Nick suddenly stopped at one of the opened doors in the middle of the metal hallway with an amazed look in his eyes.

"Hey! Carrots!" Nick whispered to her, glancing at something with wide eyes and a smile. "Check it out!"

The bunny quickly rushed back and looked into the room the fox was gazing into and was amazed at what she saw; a ton of net launchers, tasers and other trapping devices all neatly set up, it seemed to be their weapons room and Judy smiled when she saw them.

"Oh yeah…" The bunny said, pleased. "These will definitely do the trick. Come on, let's take what we can, might come in handy."

The two then both grabbed a net launcher, a taser and some other items, which they put in their belts and came out holding the launchers in their paws, ready for action.

"I am so tweeting about this, tonight." Nick smirked.

They then noticed some more Mouser goons coming around the corner up ahead and heading their way.

"Hold it right there!" One yelled.

"No… hold this!" Judy exclaimed as she and Nick each fired a net which quickly ensnared their foes while they ran past them.

"Thanks for holding those guys! We'll be back to pick them up later!" Nick called out to them as they went around the corner.

"Don't hurry…" One grumbled.

Eventually, they reached the lab that Mouser was holding Bart in and took a quick look around before quickly noticing Bart still strapped to the table and apparently knocked out cold.

"Kid!" Nick hollered.

Bart slowly opened his eyes, which widened the whole way when he saw his new animal friends. "Nick! Juds! Oh, it's about time!" he remarked in relief as they ran over to him.

"Aw, and I thought you hated us." Judy smirked.

"Eh, what can I say? Getting captured, listening to a bad guy's whole life story… gives you time to think." Bart shrugged. "And… sorry for what I said. I was a jerk."

"Nah, we deserved it." Nick assured him.

"Yeah, you kinda did." Bart admitted. "Still, I'm the one who deserved this… you were right, I shouldn't have gone off on my own. I know now you guys were trying to keep me safe… I was an idiot… guess we all need a little help every now and then…"

"Exactly." Judy nodded.

"I promise you guys, if I somehow survive this, they'll be no more stealing for this kid, ever." The human said, sincerely.

"Good. Now… let's get you out of this." Judy said as she began to fiddle with the restraints holding Bart down. "Ugh! Locked tight. Maybe there's some kind of…"

The restraints quickly snapped off, freeing Bart, much to their surprise. They turned and saw Nick standing next to the console with a smirk on his face.

"Switch to turn it off?" he guessed.

Bart chuckled. "Dude…" he said as he climbed off the table and bent down to his knees as Judy leapt up and hugged him.

"Thank god your not dead…" she breathed, relieved.

"I would have been if you guys hadn't shown up… thanks." Bart said, gratefully.

"Always." Judy told him sincerely, with a warm smile on her face.

"Great, and now that we know he is alive let's get the heck out of here, shall we?" Nick offered.

"I don't think so…"

They all spun around with a gasp and saw Mouser lowering himself down on his platform, giving them all a death glare.

"Mouser!" Judy exclaimed.

"In the flesh." The mad doctor smirked.

"Boy, your even smaller then I thought you'd be. Ever think of wearing a mechanical suit to make you taller? You know, so folks won't laugh at you as much?" Nick suggested with a cheeky and mocking grin.

"Nick!" Judy hissed.

"Don't give the bad guy ideas!" Bart added.

"Sorry." The fox apologized.

"Your too late, officers! I already have what I need!" Dr. Mouser revealed as he gestured to the blood sample he got from Bart that was being loaded into his machine. "I really have to thank you again my boy, your DNA will be most useful to me and my work!"

"Mouser, please, listen! You don't understand what your dealing with here!" Judy warned him. "You don't know what you could end up creating!"

"Oh, but I do! It'll be the thing that ate this town!" Mouser declared, manically.

"Boy, someone's nuttier then a fruit cake." Nick remarked.

"And your just discovering this now?" Bart inquired, flatly.

"True." The fox admitted before a alarm suddenly blared and a red light started flashing.

Dr. Mouser cackled. "Yes! It's finally ready! Oh! This is gonna be good!" he said as jumped down on the button, starting up the machine.

Beeps then started to come from the DNA samples container before all the green liquid that was inside began to get sucked down a drain at the very bottom of it. The liquid travelled down a long tube til it finally reached the glass box and slowly started to fill up the egg inside of it.

When it reached the top, the two machines inside began to blast it with electricity, causing the green liquid inside it to bubble and solidify before the glass egg containing it began to crack up and release a thick mist that filled the whole chamber while flashes of light began to go off, much to everyone's amazement.

The flashing eventually became so bright and continuous that most of them were forced to cover their eyes while Judy couldn't keep her eyes off it and backed away, looking somewhat scared. Her eyes widened when she saw a five fingered paw that looked a lot like Bart's human hand slam against the glass wall, making it crack a little.

Eventually the grass suddenly shattered and a thick mist blew right in and shrouded the area. A pair of glowing eyes shined through the mist, which made the trio quite nervous but their fear only increased as the mist slowly started to dissipate and reveal the monster before them, which stepped forward and growled.

The creature had long dark hair, sunken eyes that seemed to glow, a long nose and ears and a large mouth full of sharp teeth. It's torso was extremely large and had several long, thin arms coming out of it's back and chest along with two large arms that seemed to fit it's large body. It also had a long tail that looked like it belonged to a crocodile only it was made of flesh and not scales and while one of its legs was large and muscular the other was thinner.

The other animalistic yet human looking features it had was a large shark fin on its back, gills, claws that belonged to a bear on one hand and wolf like claws on the other and it growled like the predators that went savage did.

Bart and his friends just stared at the atrocious monster for a few seconds, while it growled a low growl at them, with drool coming out of its mouth along with a long forked tongue, with stunned looks before the human finally said something.

"You're gonna need a bigger jail…" he muttered.

"Oh yeah." The fox nodded.

Chapter Text

Dr. Mouser gazed at the growling monster in awe, seemingly unaware of how grotesque and brutish it looked. "Beautiful…" he said, amazed. The heroes all did a double take upon hearing that.

"Are you kidding?" Bart remarked in disbelief. He gestured to the monster before them. "Look at that thing! It's not beautiful, it's a monster! A freak!"

After the monster snarled at them, Nick started whispering to Bart, fearfully. "Really bad use of the word 'freak' there, kid…"

"Well, it's certainly a nuisance…" Judy admitted.

"A 'nuisance'?" Mouser repeated, surprised. "My dear, this 'freak' has been outfitted with DNA from all of the most dangerous predators in the world plus the DNA acquired from Mister Torres here."

"You mean stolen from me." Bart corrected, narrowing his eyes.

"And now you know how it feels, boy." The doctor told him, bluntly. Bart snarled at him, that clearly struck a nerve. "Anyway, thanks to the DNA of all those predators and Mister Torres, I, Dr. Ignatius, J. Mouser have created the most dangerous predator in creation! And soon… it will allow me to finally bring this city to it's knees, thus allowing me… to rule over all of it."

"So that's what this is all about! Your trying to take over the city just like Bellwether did!" Judy realized.

"Yes, course Assistant Mayor Bellwether made the mistake of trying to trick the animals of Zootopia into giving her control." Dr. Mouser said as his hover pod moved him to the top of the beast's head, which he stroked. "I prefer… a more direct approach."

"For what?" Bart growled in a low tone.

"Pardon?" The mouse asked in a mocking tone.

"For what!?" Bart said, louder. "Why do you think you should control the city!? What gives you the right to hurt all those innocent animals? Is it because your smart enough to build a super monster or something? Because you were the most bullied animal in Zootopia or something?"

"Now that isn't vain." Nick remarked, dryly.

"You really want to know why?" Mouser questioned them.

"Well, I already heard it." Bart pointed out. "But go ahead and tell them."

"Fine." Mouser declared, annoyed "I'm doing this because Zootopia is on the brink. All it takes is one little savage outbreak or the appearance of a new species and the city quickly falls into chaos. Only I can bring order to it."

"By bringing it to the brink of destruction yourself." Judy pointed out.

"Fear is a great motivator, my dear." Dr. Mouser said. "And once I unleash this onto them, they'll gladly bow to me, follow my lead and work to be orderly and kind citizens that do not judge each other and live in peace. Don't you see? I'm trying to create the Zootopia that we all want! They need me!"

"Yeah… as much as one needs the common cold." Bart snarked.

"He's right, scaring animals into behaving themselves is pretty stupid for a smart little mouse like yourself." Nick added. "Kinda disappointed."

"What!?" Mouser snapped.

"Doctor, please, I know Zootopia isn't perfect, that tensions between predator and prey still exist… but some of us are working hard to change that! And we're so close too!" Judy expressed.

"And it's honest, which is ironic coming from me." Nick pointed out.

"It's too late for that now!?" Dr. Mouser bellowed. He turned to his monstrosity. "Destroy them!"

The monstrosity roared with its overly wide mouth and began to rush towards them, using its two lower arms to increase it's speed and distance.

"We'd… better… run!" Nick exclaimed as the three turned tail and started running as fast as they could, though the beast was gaining on them.

The cross-species creature then raced after them, scraping sparks from both walls with its clawed fingers, which it was able to reach thanks to it's two long and large arms while it's extra arms continued to act like a second pair of legs and increase it's speed.

"Hey, why are we running when we can be shooting?" Nick pointed out.

"Right! Let's do it!" Judy agreed as she and Nick stood and turned to the monster while Bart stopped and stood behind them while they took out some of the weapons they snagged from the weapons room and started to fire them at the monster. However, most of the projectiles they fired at it only bounced off it's surprisingly tough skin and it only stopped out of confusion and roared when they tried to snare it with a net, which it ripped off.

They then tried their tranquilizers but the monster simply caught each of them with all four of its hands and crushed them easily. The heroes were stunned.

"Well… that was pointless." Nick remarked.

"Um, maybe it's because I'm new to being rescued but… I don't think the one who needs rescuing should be the one rescuing his or her rescuers, don't you agree?" Bart remarked to them. "Because that's what it's starting to look like now."

"Quit your complaining!" Nick said, annoyed before looking up and noticing a tail coming down toward them. "And move it!"

The other two quickly noticed the tail as well and gasped before Judy and Nick leapt in one direction and Bart leapt in another. Bart rolled across the ground upon impact before getting up in a pronged position while the beast began to roar madly and tear apart the lab as it tried to reach them.

"Great, an all brawn, no brain kind of freak." Bart muttered.

"Then we should be able to out maneuver it." Judy said.

"Yeah, so long as we keep moving and since I also like breathing… I'm gonna do just that!" Nick declared as he and Judy started to run while Bart ran in another direction.

The fox and the rabbit quickly ducked behind a broken piece of equipment and pressed their backs against it in order to keep themselves hidden.

Judy then looked around the corner for any sign of the beast. "Ok, it looks clear for now, but that thing could show up at any moment and from any direction so we shouldn't stay here long."

"Alright, now, here's the plan; you stay here while I distract it and once I got it's attention, you sneak up behind it and take it from there." Nick told her. "Got it?"

"But Nick…" Judy began.

"No time, we gotta stop it. Now." Nick stated, firmly and quickly as he prepared to sneak off. As he started to do so, Judy became very frustrated, so much so that she couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Nick!" Judy hissed, causing him to stop.

"What?"

"Your doing it again!"

"Doing what?"

"Taking another unnecessary risk! What is wrong with you!?"

"Not now Juds…" Nick said, a little tense. "We got a monster to deal with…"

"Don't try and change the subject!" Judy told him.

"I'm not trying!" Nick defended. "There really is a monster out there trying to kill...!"

"Regardless!" Judy said, annoyed.

"But Carrots…" Nick began.

"No! I want answers and I want them now." Judy demanded, stomping her foot.

"Carrots, now is really not the best time!" Nick practically yelled through gritted teeth.

"Well, considering that we have a giant monster trying to kill us, there might not be a next time!" Judy pointed out, frustrated. "Now tell me why! Why are you being so reckless!?

"I'm doing it so that you don't have to! Ok!?" Nick finally revealed, stunning Judy.

"…What?" she finally responded.

Nick gulped when he realized what he had said, what he had been trying to keep to himself until now which he mentally slapped himself for. Once again, Judy had managed to get to him unlike so many, just like she did at the press conference and as usual, he tried to hide it. "Uh… it's… it's nothing, it's nothing really…" he said, trying to turn away and look for any sign of the beast, but then he felt Judy's paw on his arm and turned slightly toward her large, purple eyes.

"Please Nick… tell me." Judy requested, softly.

Nick still looked a bit hesitant but eventually spoke. "Well… you remember when you were trying to hold onto that train we were on… and when you hurt your leg while we were fleeing from Bellwether?" he inquired.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well… during those times I was just so… worried about you… I mean I'm the predator, I should be the one fighting the battles and taking the risks, not you. God! I was such a wimp!"

"Nick, you were scared. And so was I during those times, you know."

"Yeah, well… things are different now. Now that I'm a cop and your partner I don't care about looking out for myself anymore, all I care about is keeping animals safe and protecting the one animal that believed in me, and that's you." Nick stated, pointing at the sympathetic looking Judy. "And if that means having to put my hide on the line doing so then fine, I don't care, just as long as your safe."

As Nick glanced away, feeling guilty and sad, Judy looked at him with a sympathetic expression. She seemed to understand where he was coming from. The bunny then reached forward, cupped his chin and turned his head toward her gently.

"I understand… but I can take care of myself Nick. I may be little, but it takes more then being big and strong to face life's challenges, you know that." Judy said, softly.

Nick stared into her purple eyes and soon realized that she was right, after everything they've been through and everything they've faced, part of him still thought of her as a little bunny that needed to be protected when he knew deep down that she was stronger then she looked.

The fox then solemnly nodded. "I do. Yeah. I was stupid."

"No, you were just being protective, and that's really sweet of you, Nick." Judy smiled warmly.

The fox shrugged. "Well, I do have my moments."

"And… the reason I was so hard on you is because… well… I don't want to lose you again…" Judy added, sincerely, tears beginning to form. "Not again…"

Nick gazed at Judy confused. "Again? What you mean not…" he began before it finally dawned on him. A comforting and understanding smile then appeared on his mug as he bent down to her level while she continued to cry softly. He put his paws on her shoulders. "Hey. Hey… you are not going to lose me… and besides, I already told you; I'm over what you said at the conference two years ago. But it looks like your not, huh?"

Judy shook her head. "No… I know you forgave me but… I still think I got off too easy… like you should have still stayed mad at me even after all I said and did, not that I'd blame you anyway…"

"Yeah, well… I wasn't exactly being fair myself… I pushed you and may have overreacted a little…" Nick admitted.

"A little?"

"Ok, a lot, but still… I'm sorry for scaring you that day, making you feel depressed and for taking all the risks for both of us. Sorry."

"It's ok… I deserved most of it."

"No. No, you didn't. You made a mistake, I made a mistake. What do you say we just forget about them and move on with our lives? Does that sound like a plan to you? Judy?"

Judy sighed and nodded, slowly. "I want to Nick. I really, really do… and I know you said you were over what happened two years ago… how I was a lousy friend… but I don't know if I ever will be… and… I'm always so scared that… something like that might happen again and… you'll leave me again!" she admitted, beginning to tear up. "I just can't… live in a world… without the most important mammal in my life in it…"

As Judy continued to cry softly, Nick gazed at her sympathetically, pulled her close and pressed his forehead against hers. He then lifted his head and planted a kiss on her forehead, which made her smile.

"Well, like it or not Carrots, your stuck with me… until the end of time." Nick told her. "That's a promise."

Judy stared at him sweetly, with a fond looking smile and tears threatening to pour out her eyes as he cupped her face with his paw as he shared her smile while beginning to bring her in close, their muzzles nearly touching… then they were suddenly interrupted by a loud yell.

"Hey!" They heard Bart call out, they turned and saw him waving at them from afar. "Is this Soap Opera over yet!? We still got a monster to deal with here!"

Nick's face fell flat. "Kinda ruining the moment here, kid."

"Oh, I think the monster's got that taken care of!" Bart noted as said creature roared loudly. They all turned and noticed it coming towards them, roaring like a savage animal.

"Yeah, your right, it does." Nick agreed, quickly. "RUN!"

Judy and Nick quickly started to make tracks once again as the monster smashed their hiding place and ripped apart the walls and various piece of tech like they were papers. Sparks flew, cables from the ceiling and pieces of metal were sent flying all over. Judy looked back and gasped when she saw the beast closing in on them, because it was as tall as two Bogo's she and Nick looked like ants compared to it, further increasing her fear.

Still, she knew she had to try something as she turned to a wall and leapt off it, trying to kick the monster in the face, but that only sent a wave of pain through her own body before she dropped down, feeling sore.

Nick saw his and eyes widened. "Judy!" he cried. He then noticed the monster preparing to grab and crush her and growled at it, angrily. "Hey! Get away from her!"

The fox then grabbed a tube that was connected to the chamber the beast was born in and pulled it out, causing it to spray a gaseous substance which he aimed at the creature's face, causing it to scream in pain as it tried to cover it's face, giving Judy a chance to rush out of the way and get to Nick.

"Thanks," she said.

"I told you I wasn't going anywhere." Nick smirked, which made Judy smile sweetly.

"Guys! Over here!" They heard Bart called out. They turned and saw him pointing upward towards a hatch close by. "I found another exit!"

Judy turned to Nick. "Come on, let's go!"

"Ok, but uh… can we talk about that little moment back there when we…" Nick began.

"Later, Nick." Judy stated, firmly.

"Well, considering what's trying to kill us right now, a little confessing couldn't hurt." Nick pointed out.

"Oh boy, you're a lot of work…" Judy remarked, tiredly.

"Yeah, but you'll warm up to me." Nick smiled before they both started running towards the hatch along with Bart.

"Stop them!" Mouser yelled as the creature finally recovered and began to reach for them as they started to climb. They all yelped as it's impossibly long arm reached for them, but stopped just a few inches away, having reached its limit. "What are you doing!? Get closer and grab them!"

Quickly getting an idea, Judy narrowed her eyes. "Grab this!" she declared as she leaned forward towards one of the monster's fingers and chomped on it with her buck teeth, hard. This caused the creature to squeal at the top of it's lungs and hold it's finger in pain.

"Boy, what a baby." Bart remarked.

"Still, that looked like it hurt." Nick stated, wincing a bit.

Judy spat a bit before speaking. "Tasted like Nick's cooking…"

"Hey! It's tougher than it looks! I mean it's not like Pawsicle's." The fox defended. "Anyway, smart thinking, rabbit."

"Thanks." The bunny said, appreciatively.

"Yeah, glad you bit it's pointing finger and not the middle one, otherwise…" Bart began.

"Zip it." Judy frowned, annoyed. "And start climbing, before it recovers."

"Right!" The fox and the human both said as they resumed making their way up the ladder.

Chapter Text

They soon managed to unlock the hatch and push it open, the cover of it was revealed to have been a stump of a large tree, and pretty soon they all scurried out and closed it behind them.

"Whew! That was close…" Judy panted.

"Yeah… hey, where are we anyway? Never been here…" Bart said, as he glanced around the jungle like area while rain poured down from what appeared to be sprinklers of some kind high above them.

"It's the Rainforest District, one of many throughout Zootopia." Judy explained. "Mainly jaguars and otters live around here."

"Man… why did the doc build a lair the middle of a rainforest?" Bart questioned, incredulously. "Wait, check that; why do the bad guys always have to have a base near a swampy area!? Do they not notice that stench or does being evil completely remove their sense of smell?"

Nick grabbed his wrist and began to pull him away as he and Judy started to make tracks across the wet, grassy area.

"Come on kid, we gotta move before…" he started to say.

Just then, they all stopped and screamed the moment a clawed hand, belonging to the monster, suddenly burst through the earth beneath them and grabbed the grassy ground. They all backed up as hole in the ground quickly increased as the rest of the monster emerged out, roaring at the top of it's lungs.

"That happens?" Bart guessed.

"Yeah, basically." The fox shrugged.

"Heads up!" Judy cried. The two looked up and saw that the creature was about to strike them again, but Bart quickly spotted a large piece of wood flowing in the river and reacted fast. He immediately ran and flipped into the air while the beast smashed the ground where they all once stood, separating Bart from Judy and Nick.

"Bart!" Judy called out.

The human sailed through the air for a brief time before landing on top of the wooden plank. It was a little wobbly at first but he soon got the hang of it.

"Surfs up!" Bart yelled. "Whoo-hoo!"

The fox and bunny watched as the human sailed down the rushing river on top of his make-shift surfboard, whooping the entire time.

"He's having a field day…" Judy remarked.

"Ah, to be young… and stupid." Nick smirked.

"I heard that!" Bart called out.

"You were meant to!" Nick called back, before noticing the nightmarish beast roaring as it jumped into the water, creating a large splash. The water went up to it's waist and only seemed to slow it down a little as he pursued Bart. "Of course he wasn't meant to… and it looks like he's planning on using the kid as a chew toy!"

Judy then noticed something nearby and got another idea. "Quick, follow me, I got something!" she said as she began to lead Nick away.

As all this happened, Mouser finally emerged from the hole as well, inside what appeared to be a mini flying car and began to watch what was happening.

"So, you think you can stop my plans before they even begin, eh?" he remarked as he gazed upon Bart moving down the river on his raft while the monster he made continued to struggle walking through the rough waters while trying to reach him. "Well, try to stop this one."

Mouser pressed a button on his mini car's dashboard and up ahead, Bart could see a rectangular part in the center of a tree move to the side before a long cannon stuck out of the hole, aimed at him.

"You've got to kidding me…" Bart remarked, tiredly as the cannon fired mini missile right at him just as Judy and Nick began to swing toward him.

"Bart! Grab on!" The bunny cried.

Bart reacted quickly and to him time seemed to slow down as he jumped and grabbed onto Judy's paw and swung along with her just before the missile could hit him. The creature grabbed the missile with one of his smaller arms before it exploded in it's face. When the smoke cleared, it was revealed to be unharmed and roared at the swinging trio, angrily.

"You ok!?" Judy asked.

"I think so…" Bart said, a little shaken.

"Good… because your really heavy…" Nick stated, feeling strained by the amount of weight he was holding. "Get ready for a landing! One… two… three!"

Nick let the other two just as he did the same and the three of them all flew through the air before landing on the grassy ground on the other side. They rolled across it for a bit before finally stopping. They all groaned as they laid there next to each other

"It worked… it really worked…" Judy panted.

"Yay…" Nick said, slowly.

"Uh… you know you could have just tackled me off the raft to the other side… it's not that big a gap…" Bart pointed out, dryly.

"…boy I hate you." Nick remarked, annoyed.

As they sat up, still groaning in pain, they turned and noticed a certain pig and elephant hopping up out of the hole just a little ways away from them, while the monster continued move through the water, still trying to make their way toward them.

"Hey kiddo! Remember us?" Pigg called out.

"Oh… it's those idiots again!" Bart complained.

"And we got gifts!" Pierce announced as he pulled out what appeared to be an RPG rocket launcher, causing all of their jaws to drop.

"Ok… didn't see that coming." The fox remarked, stunned.

"Man, why do the bad guys always get the cool stuff!?" Bart remarked, annoyed. "I'm telling you, it's just not right."

"Who cares!? Just move it or lose it, kid!" Nick said as he dashed out of the way along with the others while Pierce fired the rocket which hit the ground behind them and created a large explosion. While Bart managed to outrun it and grab onto a vine, Judy and Nick were hit by the shockwave and knocked into a tree.

"Guys!" Bart cried in alarm.

"Now it's time for the bunny and foxy boiler!" Anton declared.

"Yeah!" Rocky agreed with a mad chuckle as the pig loaded another warhead into the launcher while he aimed it at the two cops.

"No! You leave them alone!" Bart yelled as he leapt and swung straight toward the criminal duo.

"What the…!?" Pigg reacted in surprise before Bart double kicked him in the face, knocking him flat on his back.

"Hey!" Pierce exclaimed as Bart landed in front him.

"Crotch shot!" The human declared as he spun around and struck the elephant in the groin, causing him to trumpet in pain and drop to his knees. Bart laughed at his expense. "Classic!"

"Oh… not… funny…" Rocky moaned as he tipped right over, onto his face.

"And that's for capturing me!" Bart stated before he stood up, walked over to Anton. "And this…"

The human promptly kicked the pig in the side, causing him to groan in pain.

"…is because I felt like it," he finished.

"Well done, my boy."

Bart spun around and saw Mouser floating above him.

"I can once again say that it was a grand idea to use your idea to create my weapon against Zootopia," he confessed. "You're kind truly is a unique species, but now… now I have no reason to keep you alive."

The flying car then produced a cannon that extended and aimed directly at him, Judy and Nick gasped upon seeing this though Bart stood his ground.

"Kid! Get out of there!" Nick called out.

"Bart!" Judy cried.

"Any last words?" Mouser inquired.

The human simply looked up and grinned upon seeing something. "Yeah… move," he replied as he turned and jumped across the river, just barely managing to land on the other side. Mouser looked up and noticed one of the long arms of his creation moving down towards the ground. He squealed while it's giant fist smashed the ground in front of him, the shockwave caused his vehicle to be sent spinning backwards where it crashed into a bush.

"Ooh, that's gotta hurt…" Nick grimaced

"Well, good news is Mouser is down for the count." Bart said.

"Yeah… the bad news is…" Judy started to say before they noticed the creature glancing their way.

"Right… that…" Bart finished, gulping. "Shall we run and scream like girls?"

"Oh yes, let's." Nick nodded in agreement before they all started screaming and running down the path ahead of them while the creature roared grabbed a piece of the ground beside it and ripped it out before throwing a small chuck of the earth at them which crashed beside them, causing debris to fly all over them.

The beast continued to throw boulders, trees and chucks of the ground their way while making it's way down the river. Each time it did, the thing it threw hit the ground hard beside, up ahead of behind them. It felt like they were in the middle of a meteor shower.

Eventually, Judy tripped along the way and hit the ground hard. Nick and Bart turned to her with wide eyes.

"Carrots!" Nick cried.

"Judy!" Bart added, just as alarmed as Nick as they rushed over to her. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah… I think… but I'll only slow you down…" Judy tried to tell him.

"No way. No way! I told you last time I wasn't leaving you behind again and I'm still not!" Nick stated, firmly.

"That goes double for me." Bart nodded before they heard a familiar roar and turned to the beast that was finally beginning to get closer to them. The fox and the human quickly stood in front of Judy, preparing to guard her.

"Forget about me guys! Just run!" Judy told them.

"We're not going anywhere!" Bart said loudly as the atrocious monster prepared to strike them with it's giant fist. The three of them remained steely eyed and fearless as they awaited their impending demise, preparing to face it with dignity…

Then suddenly… all of them heard a loud honk behind them and turned to see the Police Truck that Judy and Nick previously drove heading their way.

"Uh… I suggest we move… like now!" Nick exclaimed as he grabbed Bart and Judy leapt out of the way while the truck continued to drive. The beast roared at the vehicle before the front of the truck slammed into it and knocked it back into the waters, creating a loud thud.

Bart was stunned. "Uh… what just happened?" he asked.

Judy turned to the truck. "He happened," she said as the truck drove back and stopped near them while several police cars pulled up all around him. The driver of the truck, which was surprisingly Chief Bogo himself, stepped out while the several officers from the ZPD like Higgins, McHorn, Francine, Fangmeyer, Delgato, Wolford - to name a few, stepped out of their cars also.

"Heard you needed some assistance." The chief smirked.

"Bogo!?" Bart reacted with surprise.

"And reinforcements!" Judy added, happy.

"Looks like every cop in Zootopia is here." Nick remarked. "Hey, impressive response time guys!"

"Surprised, boy?" Bogo questioned. "Believe it or not I actually do care about my subordinates, however that does not make soft, understand?"

"Please, like I'd tell folks the story of 'The Boy Who Cried Bogo'." Bart smirked.

"Good, because I'd crush if you did." Bogo warned him, though Bart's expression didn't fade.

"Cool." The human shrugged.

"Anyways, don't worry, now that we're here, this monster doesn't stand a chance." Bogo declared.

"Thank you, sir." Judy nodded, appreciatively.

"And also thanks for bringing this beauty with ya." Nick added as he tapped on the Police Truck. "I was beginning to miss this thing."

"Ok, now that that's done with… let's go stop a monster." Bart declared.

"Right!" Chief Bogo nodded.

"Oh and… by the way? If it comes down to you or me… well… let's just say I got news for you." Bart admitted.

"Likewise." Bogo responded as they nodded to each other and split up. Bart, Judy and Nick hopped into the truck while Bogo got in his Police Cruiser, as did each of the other ZPD officers before all their sirens started to go off as they drove straight towards the chimera monster as it roared at them, ready to begin the final battle.