FSE

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All characters belong to Disney. Please do not sue me and take all of my money.

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Lawful and Indecent

Part Seven: The Overwhelming

All in all, Nick and Judy confessed without a word: they weren't thinking about the job. At the end of a long road, it was all for good fun.

Giddiness under a miserable sky. They felt it when they shouldn't, so they made excuses. And the further it mixed, mashed and blossomed within the depth of their lust, the more it played like a hook, line and sinker to their next little scandal.

Everywhere was the scenic route. The sun setting blurred over city smog like watercolors in the sky brought romance as a garnish. Orange sky on orange fur; he couldn't catch a break, could he? That's what she liked. All he needed was a person like that. A face where the world melted away.

But a face is just a face. Inside, Nick fought to keep his focus. He'd gotten off easy playing hooky, but nobody had saved him the rest of the week. Cooperation: a word never heard between the public or the Z.P.D. this week. Even a hand-in-hand connection with his favorite rabbit wasn't enough to wipe away the past. Nothing ever was. So it wasn't a surprise when tonight he'd let everything go, like stray furs in a gentle breeze.

They stopped by the park when the moon shone off the fountain. Birds slept in the treetops. Wind dragged on the grass. His hardened pipe sprouted high in attention, and from its tip squeezed a single drip. She bit on her lip. Fuck it. A walk home wasn't good enough. That slick fox being naked in the open air was enough for a touch, fondle and a kiss on the way back.

Secrets come like him when nobody was looking: fast, with plenty of detail. That rasp, that moan...as she coaxed him by the cock, he told her how the first night felt: that first walk home in the nude: peaceful in a word, sexy in another. She touched and stroked every thick, impressive inch; how all of it throbbed and ached to conjure all the might of its user and slam inside her tight, wet bunny pussy for hour after hour, until it showed her the undeniable fact that tomorrow would happen whether they cared for it or not.

Home at last. Those foxy digits clamped around soft skin and fur as sloppy, wet slaps reverberated out the window, as if it were a rooster calling daytime. The beads of sweat; dewdrops. Cum stained everything from the sheets to the kitchen table to the shower where they'd spent their lust on each other. Their resting periods lied in naked cuddling as they whispered sweet nothings into their ears. Hour after hour, he took out all the anger of humiliation in the form of a good dicking, and Judy was happy to oblige, bending to his will in more positions than she even knew she could do. It was like something you'd see out of a college fantasy. Pure lust from the doormat to the bedroom, and they never even flinched at the newest image on the clock.

Something clicked from the crumpled uniform on the floor. Twice.

Thrice.

Flinching, Judy jumped off the bed and pulled out the walkie talkie, the alarm clock in the background reading 12:38 P.M.

On the other end was Wolfard's frantic yelling: "Officer Hopps, do you read me? Is anybody there?! Is Nick there?!"

Nick sat up, puzzled.

"I'm here," he said.

"Oh, thank God! We need all the backup we can get!"

"What's going on?"

"While you were gone, there was a huge ransacking in East Lake City! They ran through everything! All of our officers have gone completely missing! Including Bogo!"

"What the hell?!"

"I-I don't know where they are, it all happened so fast, nothing's goi-"

A wave of static swept in.The fur stood up on the backs of their necks. Judy stepped back into her outfit, a cautious grimace; her afterglow ruined.

"Hello, Wilde."

A new voice. Nick's eyes widened. Zane. How he even got to the line was a mystery to begin with, but it was like he had a grip on the entire department by then.

"Patch in Bogo," Judy muttered in disbelief.

"Too late." He clicked on the receiver. "What do you want?"

"I hope you enjoyed your time with the Z.P.D. Because you're never coming back. You will bring me every combination to the safe in East Lake City bank, or I will kill each and every one of them."

"Fuck you."

"Don't look for the officers. You'll never find them. Just give me what I want, and no one gets hurt."

Anger rippled through Nick's blood. His teeth bared instinctively, so Judy held him close. To think Zane did it in such little time. Why hadn't he captured him, too?

"There's only one car that contains the correct directions. It'll be in the center of town surrounded by red tape. You have six hours. Good luck."

The line went dead. Judy threw on her uniform while Nick bolted out the door with his hat, badge and belt. She caught up with him making his way down the neighborhood.

"We could've stopped this if we didn't screw around so much yesterday!"

"So what? Dragging your feet over it isn't going to do you any good! Keep moving!"

The world was a blur as they sprinted from grass to park pathways. Out from the neighborhood, through the park, into town, the sweat and muscle burning meaning nothing in the end. Wherever the officers went, there had to have been a clue somewhere.

You could feel the wealth when you walked down the street leading up to the bank. Off the diamond jewelry in the display windows, the pair could see their reflections; all of it fragmented, like surrounding animals never averting their gaze. Under the white canopies beyond the clothing, gadget and seasonal ornament stores, the lovely vixens, skunks and felines talked amongst each other as their long dresses flowed like festive oceans. And not far down was a huge, red sign that read, "World Famous Opulent Zootopia Ball: Today!"

Beyond that was a problem insurmountable to them. A construction site leading up to the bank was cut off. Nick panicked. The only way to get to that bank was to go around. But how long would that take? Then he looked back to the ballroom, and realized the one sting he'd been in six months back, where a side door was busted open straight to that same bank.

It won't take long, he thought.

Judy cried, "Nick! Wait!"

There was no getting to him.

Nick flashed his badge at the man standing in the doorway and slipped past without warning. Line after line of suits of black and white waiting to enter, arm-to-arm with the bedazzled lasses stood in wondrous awe at the bare fox butt bouncing through the lobby. But that was just the first wave. Inside, a velvet red across the vast walls felt like an opulent version of the Z.P.D.'s main lobby. A huge chandelier of glass gleamed under a honeycomb of seemingly endless, white-dressed circular tables, seated to by hundreds of sharply-dressed guests. Through the middle he sprinted, cheeks burning with instant embarrassment, the booming gasps, recoils, gawks, urks, guffaws and mocking circling him with every excruciating step. His huge meat flopped freely in front of dozens, unable to cover it from his hurry, mind fully on the end of the line.

The lupine waiters nearly dropped their silver platters as he blew past them. Laughter by every corner, camera flashes, clicks, all blending to white noise; the pompous "haw-haw"s and "tsk-tsks" of the wealthy at his bare naked body. His chest puffed hard as he turned to the right, spotting the double doors towards the end of the room, but tripped and fell as something snatched onto his tail.

He whirled around and saw a brown bear security guard in a bulletproof vest and a pair of soul-piercing, dark eyes. Casting a round shadow, he stood like a golem of anger, five times larger than Nick in every way. And to his victim, he sneered in absolute disgust. His big, meaty paw gripped the tail while a mortified Nick fought for composure.

"Please! It's an emergency!" he said, whisking out his badge. "I'm from the Z.P.D.!"

Without a second of hesitation, the bear snatched it away. He studied it briefly, then blankly pocketed it in his shirt.

"So you're that guy," the bear growled, then pocketed the badge.

Nick gasped as he reached out, but as he did, the bear undid his utility belt and swiped away his hat. Still aghast, Nick now stood stark naked, surrounded by dozens, his mind beginning to race.

"I know it looks bad," he stuttered weakly, "but I have to-"

"Stop." The longer he stared, the more intense it felt. "There's a no-running policy."

"It's urgent!"

"Tough shit. I better see you walking."

Nick was out of words. The bear stared at him in place to see the light slowly leave his eyes. He meant every word. In fact, he didn't even let go of his tail. There was no reason to argue, unless he wanted to walk out the other direction.

The dozens out before him didn't move a muscle.

With no options left, he let out a heavy, quivering sigh.

The string quartet off in the corner played its graceful muse while the beefy bear gave Nick the slowest naked walk of his life. Body shuddering in peril, he covered himself in shame as the excited, smug looks on all their faces left him utterly humiliated. Table after table gave their polite laughs and guffaws as they saw the once-rascal now cowering for cover. This was nothing like the nightclub. Nobody asked him for sex. Nobody slapped his ass, called him names, or cat called a particular body part for the room to hear. It was nothing but handkerchief-to-mouth snickers, and amusement for miles and miles, end to end.

He was approaching the door soon. Just a hundred steps away. Relief began to wash through his face.

Instead, he felt a tug on his tail.

"Nah," the bear said. "Turn around."

"What?"

The smirk on his pause screamed a hymn of pure evil. "You don't see this happen every day." He paused, studying the tiny, helpless vulpine. "Everybody's on board."

Nick's mouth hung open, his cheeks flushing twice as hard. Desperately he sputtered for an excuse, only to find there was nothing he could say.

With a single turn, the endless pit had opened.

His legs were heavy bricks. His whole body shook like an earthquake as his breath became shrill, snapping his eyes shut to deny all reality. It did nothing to quell the pit in his stomach. He thought to turn and let the tail brace shock them both...no. Someone would stop him. This was what had to be done.

In every moment, there were infinite eyes on him. Flashbacks to the day he walked the marketplace surged like rabid slide projectors. The pressure of his chest was rising so sweetly. Something else had happened then, hadn't it? Something that felt...so familiar.

No, he thought. Not now.

And that's when the worst came in a storm.

Anything but that....

_ _ He did his best to deny all his senses.

This can't be happening...

But it was.

The longer he walked, the more his penis swelled beneath his paws. His heartbeat quickened as his length grew even quicker, hushing and hushing to himself for another way. As the feeling rose, and the circle of disgust grew stronger, the feeling became impossible to deny. And finally, at once, he succumbed to the truth.

"I love this," he muttered, staring from his full erection to the furthest wall. "I love this, and I don't know why."

The security guard grumbled in rage.

Just when he thought it couldn't possibly get worse.

His wrists were seized from his crotch area and yanked behind his back. With a click, they were shackled in place. In shock, he was still. The feeling was familiar. And when it hit him, it pricked every strand of fur on his body. It was the same cuffs from his belt.

"Keep walking," he ordered. "Slower."

He spent the next hour weaving around every table that they had as the hundreds and hundreds of patrons sneered, then chuckled, clinking their wine glasses together. Nick bowed his head and sulked through every unique embarrassment: naked before all the foxes, wolves, giraffes, bulls, turtles, sloths, hippos, lions, panthers, jaguars, possums, yaks, eagles, tigers, bulldogs, raccoons, frogs, pigeons, falcons, zebras, hamsters, rats and mice, all joining together for the ultimate humiliation. A few of the more perverted guests asked him to stop and pose in ridiculous, unattractive ways. Some had the gall to ask him to "lower it". To Nick's horror, as well, his dick refused to soften. There was no grace period. He kept walking, and walking, and walking, and walking, and walking, until he felt even lower than the vermin waiters toting the appetizers between his legs.

At one moment, he caught a couple scoffing at the screen of a phone. He shouldn't have craned his neck. Because what he saw was the back of a particular rabbit blowing him in front of a graffiti wall.

He began to cry. To think he'd fallen so far in just a week. He began to miss the loud, rambunctious cat calls of the busy street corners. At least they noticed his badge. He missed the rampant yells from the stores as he walked with the vibrator strapped to his penis. At least some cheered when he came all over the sidewalk. Now here he was, at the lowest of lows, paraded naked for the entertainment of the richest animals in the world. They didn't care about his status, or his honor. They didn't care he was sobbing as he continued to march in the nude. All they wanted was to see his ears flat as he presented himself as exactly what he is. A pathetic, skimpy, nobody fox with no clothes, no status, no dignity, and somehow, in a sick, twisted paradox: no shame.

"Please stop," Nick squeaked. "I'm begging you."

"Stop crying."

"It's so embarrassing...."

The bear snorted. "All right. A few more minutes."

Nick sighed in half-relief.

"Or hours," the bear added. "Whichever I'm feeling."

His hard dick throbbed at his words as if the tongue that let them loose was dragging over his shaft.

There was no denying it.

This was, without a doubt, the most absurdly humiliating moment of his life.

____________________________________________________________________________

A roar of ironic cheers accompanied him when he was at last allowed to leave. He'd gone cold and silent at the threshold of the door. And was actually surprised when he heard the handcuffs click off. Even so, he wouldn't give anything back. Not even his badge.

"Go," he said.

When the sun touched his body, he was back in full sprint, pumping his arms while his face flushed red, bursting down the front doors of the bank.

"I need all the combinations to the safes!"

Nick's yell boomed through the lobby. All the wolves behind the counters stood in their maroon suits, dumbfounded by what they had just heard. And they looked even worse when they saw his junk hanging out for everybody to see.

"What?" one of them finally asked.

"I need them now! Something bad is about to happen!"

"He's with me," Judy said, standing at the furthest counter. "They already know. They've just finished. We'll take the combinations and request backup in the meantime."

The twinge of relief in their eyes was replaced with absolute disappointment. Judy gave thanks before ushering the nude fox out the door.

"What took you so-?" Judy stopped the second she saw the look on his face.

Nick was distracted. "Okay, okay...right, the car, where's the car...?" Zane must've been watching. He always wanted to exploit the worst in him. The longer he thought about it, the more sense it made. It was in the place that terrified him the most.

A clueless Judy followed him as he sprinted through the honking crosswalk to the clock tower in the distance. That's where the small markets were. And it's where his ride was about to pick him up.

All the crowds bustled between the marketplaces without care; a couple of those faces were a little familiar, somehow. It was beyond humiliating, but a part of him was becoming numb to it, now. Somewhere in there was a car. He took a deep breath, then went for it.

He pushed through, his cheeks flushed, immediately barraged with enough comments to burrow in every fold of his brain; yet in his flash of bravery, he didn't cover himself. In fact, it seemed quieter than normal. Wading through the bodies, left and right, he motioned Judy to check the opposite side.

After a few more shoves, he found it: right in the center. The windshield was shattered in the center, probably by the brick to the side of it. All of it was surrounded in a crude octagon of "Do Not Cross" tape, a body of tape on the ground, but Nick knew it wasn't anybody dead. This was a setup.

"In here!" he yelled as Judy excused herself through the last few figures.

He stepped on the pedal and honked, the crowds instantly parting from either side. Around the side windows, animals looked inside in wonder and all, but now to Nick, it was a potemkin village. Once again, he was frozen. As she climbed inside, Judy found the GPS directions in the glove compartment and plugged them into her phone.

"Just get going," Nick said, blanker than blank.

The crowds subsided like two rows of smiling faces, their phones alive with humiliation. Nick flushed with shame, but he had to go on. The Z.P.D. would hear about this later, but they didn't have a story until the sting worked. Long after they were gone, he could still feel their eyes.

____________________________________________________________________________

Gone were the towering buildings-or all forms of life, for that matter. The ground crunched with pebbles and sand as a single point stood in a landscape of tan and white. A warehouse in the western side of Zootopia, right next to the junkyard. The air reeked of metallic substance and mashed grime in the cracks. But the one thing it had was silence. That alone was enough to roll the window down.

He parked long outside the huge warehouse, which was worn down in streaks of rusted brown beneath the faded green. It was like a barn made by a construction team on night howlers with hammers and sickles.

Nick picked up one of the tan rocks that surrounded him, cradling it in his hand. He threw it forward and watched it clatter to the ground with ease. No traps. He took a step forward and felt her footsteps behind.

He then put his paw out to her. "Stay here."

"What?"

"I can't risk him finding you again!" The inner pain strained his voice. "This is our deal. Just let me do my thing."

Judy clenched her fists. "When has that ever worked out for either of us?!"

"You don't understand. I don't want you to be hurt."

"You can't just throw yourself in front of danger every time you want to do something right!"

"So what does that leave us with?" Nick scowled. "It's my responsibility. Not yours. It's just what I deserve."

"You don't deserve any of this."

"Oh yeah? Why's that?"

She stammered at first. "I can't look at anything that's happened and say it's your fault. So, what? You're naked on the job and that caused a criminal organization to fire up in the sewers? Why didn't they just start whenever they wanted to?"

"They were waiting for the right moment."

"No they weren't, Nick. You know that."

He grunted. "I'm a distraction. That's all I am."

Judy was silent.

"What?" Nick said.

"I don't have to say anything," Judy said. "You just admitted it wasn't your fault."

Nick thought about it carefully. It was confusing. It was frustrating. It was right.

It was...emasculating.

"Stay back," he urged again.

The beaten path had brought him rightly so. Alone, he looked straight up to the metal doors and pushed them open as he sighed.

Why is he leading me straight to him?

Darkness cloaked all. The windows far above his head were the only source of light, and they were only a glimmer. The silhouettes of boxes, metal crates, and other silhouettes stacked to the top surrounded him. And when the metal doors slammed with their own weight, they echoed like the loudest gunshot imaginable. He made his way through, the humidity getting to his head.

Only for it to be pushed back in. Nick looked around and saw no one. He ran faster, though, around the boxes, still in darkness. He listened closely for any voices, but didn't hear a thing.

Someone pulled his tail in front. Wasn't Judy.

Then someone pulled it again. This time, he fell to the ground on his knees. No matter. He'd keep going.

Still dim, he turned the corner and saw a light shed over a pile of bodies stripped to their undershirts and boxers. Nick felt cautious. The pleading eyes of fellow officers lying prostrate, paws bound behind their backs by rags, gagged, no chance. In the middle was a desk, spider webbed with a thousand cables, it seemed, but Nick paid no attention to it.

Something in the air didn't taste right. Tiptoes on the ground, darting eyes for a laser trap. This was a choke point. Lungs tight, ear up for a satellite. A pin dropped. A half-breath. A step forward.

A bludgeon to the head.

Just as he hit the ground, a boot clamped on his neck. Heart thudding, the corner of his eye told no lies. Nick felt another boot to the oblique that rolled him on his stomach, then one more on his back to pin him. First thing he found was the object lodged in his anus.

He tapped on it. "You have my combinations?"

Nick nodded. "Y-yes..."

"Where is it?"

Nick stayed silent. He was so trapped inside himself, he'd left it in the car. It was a hilarious, humiliating mistake.

"Very well. Take him up."

The claws in his shoulders dug deep. The same time, some round, metal object was forcibly shoved inside of his ass. He whined in pain as he was seized by the arms and legs by a pair of raccoons wearing tattered sweatshirts and jeans, slamming his back against a cold, metal chair.

A whirring in his ass quelled the whimpers. Next, his wrists were zip-tied to the chair. To his left, Zane's smirk, a face that had tattooed to his skull so long ago; to the right, the gagged officers, and right down the middle, a circular lens crawling out of the dark like a predator in the wild. He peered a little harder, and in a second, wished he didn't. It was a camera, and a man behind it.

Zane commanded him, "Tune in to the Z.P.D. official broadcasting service."

Nick's eyes widened. "What?!"

"Let him show them all how much he means it."

Zane triggered the vibrator once more, the tremor in his ass to a rumble, the whole organization watching as his dick sprung up.

"What difference does that even make?!"

"They thought it was a protocol," he said. "I'm here to convince them it was all on my order. And then, they'll never feel safe under their police system again."

Without thinking, he charged his tail in front, then felt the sharp shock coursing through his body. Gritting his teeth, he let it back down, frantic for a solution.

Zane's paw went to the air. "Broadcasting in five!" He smirked hard. "Four!"

Nick struggled and struggled. Worse, still, his ass was feeling the heat, his penis becoming erect by the second.

"Three!"

His wrists burned, but he kept tugging.

"Two!"

And after all that had happened, he just stopped.

"One!"

He shut his eyes tight.

It was no use.

It was all no use.

And then, a violent crash. He opened them back and saw three of the officers tackling the guards at the camera crew, knocking it over. All the goons from around the warehouse showed their faces, now, jumping in to help. Nick looked around wildly for an answer, only to see Judy in his peripherals, undoing the handcuffs.

He sprang out the chair the minute he spotted Zane dashing off, Judy following behind. It was a shadowy chase of twists and turns that slowed them down with every fragile second. By the time they reached the entrance, he was already a good way ahead, gaining on their one and only car. Judy knew what was happening and burst into the longest sprint of her life, just hearing the engine rev up.

She grabbed onto the handle and held as the car roared to a raging chase, Nick failing to follow behind. He watched in horror as the car swung side to side, and Carrots' ears swayed like arrows pointing to her demise. The minute he lost hope, there was a presence by his side.

It was Wolfard! He grabbed a big rock from the ground and threw it as hard as he could. It arced and dropped with vicious force, smashing through the back window and landing in the back seat of the car. Judy made her way over and climbed through the hole. Zane looked back in awe and shoved her, but she reached forward and forced the car into "Park". The wheels skidded to a halt, and the car tumbled twice before stopping.

Zane kicked his way out and tried to make it on foot as Judy lay unconscious from the blows in the car. His leg was hurting, though, so he limped and thrusted his body down the road; towards nothing, but still confident. Nick was in a rage as he took off with his strength. Screaming, he leapt, sank his teeth into his leg and collapsed him to the ground. Wolfard came up behind him with the handcuffs in Judy's belt, cranking them open.

"You have the right," he breathed in exhaustion, "to remain-"

"NO!"

Nick leapt out in front.

"Let me at him!" Nick roared. "Let me! Let me!"

"It's not worth it, Nick!" Wolfard said. "We need to bring him to justice!"

"Let me!" Nick dropped to his knees. "Let me..."

He no longer had the strength. Either way, it was over. It meant nothing, except everything. The rest of him collapsed into the sand, the thought in mind bringing his consciousness to a hazy, black space.

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Backup arrived in due time. When they had received enough vehicles, they began to transport the goons one by one to their jail cells. Zane was among them. As he sat outside the warehouse in handcuffs, his head was down, lost in thought. It angered Nick. In truth, nobody that dangerous should remain silent. They should say everything they believe for the world to hear.

Suddenly, a smile crept up his face. Same cockiness. Somehow, that made it worse. It etched deep into the fox's skin until he jumped up from anticipation.

"What are you smiling about?" he sneered.

Zane said nothing.

And even as he was being toted off to the car, Nick expected something else. The shine in that raccoon's eye cut like the glint of a knife. His throat felt weak. Even his steps to the car felt careful, calculated. The car's door shut in Zane's face, and Nick still couldn't put his finger on it. It all felt so lucky. Lucky to be alive.

Lucky.

"Wait...Zane!" Nick ran up to the car. "Zane!" He clashed his paws on the window. "What did the die mean?!"

He scoffed, and said nothing. Worst case scenario.

Nick tried again: "What did it mean?!"

"Nothing."

Nick froze. "But you built an army."

"Oh, but Wilde," he said, studying his wrist, pulling down the cuff to reveal the scarred fur, "it's not so much the vice grip that binds you to one place, but the suggestion of malice that scares them to inaction." He pulled up his cuff. "I had my fun, and you had yours. But, still, I had my fun." He flashed a carnivore's grin. "And to me, that's all that matters."

That horrible grin stuck as the car drove away, kicking dust on his bare, scarred legs.

____________________________________________________________________________

News had already spread. Nick had gotten most of the credit for bringing the sting operation to the abandoned warehouse. Passerbys telling the story of his chase felt like a brilliant journey, and it was clear that the streets would be safe now. It was official. Nick Wilde was a hero again. And though it was controversial, the end result of the nudist protocol was a massive success that would leave the animals in peace for a long time. But Nick wasn't there for the party. He was still wading through the storm.

Zootopia felt cold as Nick and Judy sat on a park bench. A tiny group of rats walked by and got in the taxi cab beside them. Nick remained stagnant as he watched it go. When she saw him, she saw a monument. To her, the power was in his example, his size, that which had dominated her moments ago, even while he was sulking and downcast. The creeping, sun-kissed icicle dripped down her vertebrae like ticking each step of a ladder.

"What did you mean back there?" Nick asked.

Judy turned to him.

"About me throwing myself in the face of danger," he added.

She put her paw on his shoulder. "I meant a lot of things, Nick. Things were just moving so fast." She hesitated. "You could've called for backup. Officers do it all the time."

"I did when we were at the nightclub."

"That was a last resort. I can't help but wonder why you always have to be the one to take control. It got you in a lot of really bad situations."

Nick's eyes were full of confusion. "I was doing what's best for the Z.P.D."

Judy looked at him. And she looked at him for a good, long while. And as she stared deep into his eyes, she saw the resolve of a man humiliated time and time again fall to its truest collapse, right before her.

"I was doing,"

he muttered,

"what I thought was,"

his frown grew deeper,

"best for,"

his head pointed down,

"me."

And down came the sun. They watched it disappear behind the buildings until the silhouettes they cast mimicked planets in eclipses; one large, one small. At the end of it all, the least they could say was it was over.

"I guess everybody needs a little help," he said.

They embraced each other long after it went dark.

____________________________________________________________________________

"Chin up."

Nick followed his order. He'd forgotten how stalwart the Chief looked with his chest out. The light must've been changed, because its blinding white was nothing like the mood of last week. His horned head waded in front to eclipse it as he paced. On the table behind him sat the medium-sized navy blue uniform, neatly folded, unlike the wrinkled casual clothes he'd worn a week ago. Bogo, himself, held the most punctual, chiseled scowl of discontent he'd ever seen, and it reminded him how his naked body on the front page of Zootopia Weekly probably gave him all the time he needed to perfect it.

"Your punishment is complete," Bogo said. "From now on, you vow never to disgrace the Z.P.D. again. You adhere to the handbook and keep your paws to yourself. If you do not, then any consequence is yours and yours alone. It is not the interest of the officers around you, or the people who participated. It was all on you. And if I ever catch you violating our trust again, there will be no technicalities. Understood?"

"Yes sir."

With a snort, Bogo sat back down behind the counter.

"Go."

Nick didn't move. He gazed at his clothes as if he expected them to be booby trapped. It wasn't clear to him if the light made those colors look faded. Either way, they looked the part.

"You may go now, Officer W-"

"Please don't call me that."

Silence fell. He took the seat closest to him just to feel his legs and stared at his reflection in the finish of the counter.

"Chief," Nick mumbled, "do you think we're good people?"

"Don't start this."

"Honestly. I feel so betrayed. And ashamed. And humiliated. I made it out the other end, but I can't shake the thought that I deserved it."

"It's not about what you deserve. It's about what you've given back."

"And you think that's okay?"

"It matters."

Nick sighed, drumming his fingers on the table. To him, it was like talking to a brick wall.

"I waited a long time, Chief," he sighed. "Not for the end. For the part where I'd get used to it. This whole story has been the strangest blend of kinky sex and absolute darkness, and I don't think I ever got the hang of it. Even if I could go back and change it, it wouldn't be any different. I'd still be-"

"Yes. But you caught three of the most wanted criminals in Zootopia. You've regained loyalty to the Z.P.D., and you've reclaimed my trust in you. By all means, the operation was a success."

Angered, Nick laughed it off with a smirk. "You're not so good at reading between the lines, are you?"

"You do not have the authority to speak to me that way."

Nick's paws smashed on the table. "Haven't you humiliated me enough?!"

"The sooner we move on from this, the-"

"Seven days spent-"

"The sooner we can-"

"-naked in the streets of-"

"-streets of Zootopia, yes, the Z.P.D. takes full responsib-"

"Of what? What? What did you take care of? Oh God, the videos, the pictures, all the social media post-"

"You did this to yourself!" The bull's voice shook the room. "It's over. Get out of my office. Now."

Nick took a moment to consider that. In that moment, his word had power over the Chief's. It was an interaction he'd never seen before. Strange of him now to put the blame on him. Though given his nature, it was hard to deny.

Something was dawning on him. Chief had dominated every conversation. Changing his shift for the parking lot on Monday. Allowing him to enter the strip club. All in the face of imminent danger, yet he didn't bat an eye. "No clothes, no exceptions," he said. So then, when Nick suggested going to the old rulebook, why was he so quick to comply?

"Just one more thing," Nick said quietly, fidgeting his fingers. "Why am I not a criminal?"

Bogo tapped on the desk. "Protocol T-74 states that public nudity is a crime only if-"

"There was no crime."

"Let me finish."

A shiver ran down Nick's spine. He wasn't sure why.

"It is a crime only if the people of Zootopia decide to reject it. In most cases, that is how all laws are made and repealed."

Nick pondered it over like looking directly into a shadow. His own. Sometimes the words we say are thick enough to cloak the ones beneath them. This wasn't one of those moments.

"They laughed at me," he breathed. "That means it's not okay."

"Are you saying the handbook is wrong?"

"I'm saying what you said is wrong," Nick said, and lost his train of thought. There was no reason for Bogo to say that. No reason at all.

"Is there a problem?" he asked.

"No, no, sir, it's not-" He cleared his throat. "I'm confused. The handbook. You said it was from the older handbook."

"Yes."

"And we had to use it because there was no other way."

"Yes, we know this."

"I'm not testing your patience, Chief. I'm just surprised that was possible."

"The older law was resurrected from a newer one," Bogo said with the matter-of-factness of a professor. "Public discourse caused the older one to become relevant."

Nick's eye twitched. "That's not how it works."

Bogo raised his voice: "It works because I said it works, now if you're done with your interrogation, you can take your clothes and leave." His scowl furled deeper. Tantalizing. And all at once, Nick realized something he hadn't considered on that Sunday walk back home.

"No," he said. "It doesn't work. So you didn't tell them. You told them it was a-"

"-nudist protocol." Said together. Bogo went on: "By telling that to the press, we made it inherently acceptable."

Nick scowled, growling low. The stiffer he got, the more he clenched his fists.

"What?" Bogo asked.

"You knew that they wouldn't."

"It was either that or admitting the truth."

"You protected my reputation by destroying it."

"Stop it. Nothing of yours was destroyed."

"Bullshit, the animals would've been over it by yesterday if you had just told them the truth!"

"Why are you still in my office?!"

"Because it didn't have to be this way!" Nick barked back. "Why was it so hard to just follow the rules?!"

Now he was leaning forward. Nearly put a finger in his face. Forgot his posture. Forgot his poise. Forgot he was naked. First time for everything. But Bogo was unfazed. Something in his posture had changed. He rose from his chair with the speed of a turtle exiting its shell.

"And would they have remembered your crime?"

The room was growing smaller. Nick felt himself slink.

Again, Bogo asked, "Would they have remembered you robbing that safe?"

Nick thought about it. All the headlines. All the pictures. A couple news stations cover it, maybe twice. And then, they suddenly cancel and die. How many times can a safe be stolen before it gets boring? Many times. What about a cop getting naked in public? From the smallest delinquent to the poshest of fatcats, all of them couldn't get enough. The terrifying truth was clear and present. Nudity will always be more fascinating than a stolen safe.

Bogo was breathing at the countertop now, fogging up the finish, glaring down at him. "Does it crush you to think about it?" He paused. "The humiliation of exiting the front door."

Nick said nothing. Terror grew.

"Yes," he said. His teeth were chattering. A part of him had just figured it out. This bull was furious. More than he could've ever known. That evil eye of anticipation. The stars on his uniform glimmering. They ballooned out with his suit as his low, growly voice rumbled like earthquakes.

"Do you think it's possible," he said,

quietly,

slowly,

"that it all worked as intended?"

Goosebumps ran down Nick's spine.

"I made it all up," Bogo admitted.

Nick froze. Shaken. Eyes bugged. Everything around him was spinning.

"What the fuck is going on..."

The room was silent again, but somehow louder than ever. Every design on the ground, screaming. Every book on the shelves behind him, opening and closing. Laughter. They were laughing at him. Just like they always were.

"Why would you..."

"The phones would've rang all day if I hadn't done it," Bogo went on. "Every real crime would've been left on hold. And there would've been no answer left for what you did."

He was still frozen. Stammering. "How could you do this to me?"

"Obedience. It'd be a waste to throw a good officer in prison. So we find our ways." He was standing, now. "I never trusted you in the first place, fox."

Nick fumed, body shaking. "Jared is dead."

"Good."

"You made me lure a man to his death."

"And Officer Hopps?"

"Don't you dare talk to me about Carrots."

"You nearly left her to die."

"You're a monster."

"Monsters don't fail their strategies."

"Everybody saw me naked-"

"And yet you've claimed a decent reputa-"

"I'm not even decent now!"

Baring his teeth, every vein begged him to lash out at him. The impulse he'd been shoving down from the start. He flinched, half expecting him to receive another punishment, but collected himself when the silence sank in. Mercy.

"You and I don't have a lot in common, Chief," he started, "but we have one thing. We know nothing at all."

He laid his badge on the table and nudged it closer to him. Then he took two steps back from the desk. Bogo nodded solemnly, eyeing the badge like he was seeing his reflection.

"You leave this room," he growled, "and you will never have a life in Zootopia again. You won't even get your clothes back."

"Burn them," he shot back, and his paw hesitated on the doorknob, realizing what he was about to do.. All while he was watching.

"You can't be a hero forever, Officer Wilde."

The world slowed to a stop.

"That's just the problem, Chief," he replied. "I'm a hero."

He closed the door behind him.

His mind was cloudy, but all of it was over. He walked out to the front door in slow motion. He pushed on the door, only to find it locked. Then he turned around and saw Clawhauser smiling at the desk.

"What's the magic word?"

Nick chuckled. "Please."

And the door chunked open.

"Guh'bye, nudie pie!" Clawhauser crooned.

Again, he chuckled. "No sweat, fatcat."

He tasted the nighttime air.

Revitalized.

Feeling alive again.

Until the red lights of the alarms fired off.

Nick broke into a dash. He kept running faster and faster, until he turned the corner and found Judy in her parked car. Throwing himself in the passenger seat, he ducked under the window.

"Move, Carrots, move!" he yelled, and the engine roared as they made it towards her apartment, out of sight, but not out of mind, far, far away from Zootopia.

Mile after mile passed without a word. Finally, they were able to make a turn onto Bunny Burrows, and didn't look back. They kept driving until the hills covered the remaining tracks, shrouded in layers of wheat and corn. Behind one of them, they hit the parking brake and exited the truck, feeling the cool air pierce their sweat.

They weren't done. Judy nodded to him with cautious concern. Nick nodded, and promptly reached to his ass. He pulled out the carrot pen and clicked the "Record" button, finally ending the recording. As he did, Judy opened the trunk and revealed Zane's livestreaming equipment inside, the encrypted username and password on the back.

The laptop primed the stream while the camera recorded. Judy looked out and around each road for a single car while Bogo's words echoed to the stream. A viewer or two slowly crept to a dozen. It peaked at twenty-two. Not much. But enough.

Nick's look to her in the starlight said it all. An inquiry for whether or not they'd ever be able to come back. Maybe they would. They'd just have to wait for how this works.

As the recording stopped, so, too, did the stream. The lights went dead, bathing them in starlight. Judy was alert from her ears to her legs, but Nick collapsed on the ground, arms out. She laid down with him in a similar way, saying nothing, herself.

"It's so quiet," Nick whispered, and cried.

The sky was alive with diamonds. If they ever heard a sound, they'd scurry off and run along their great journey to somewhere else. But that never happened.

It was quiet.

So quiet.