six months 》junick

Chapter 5: Research

The next day, Judy was not looking forward to going to work. She hated her boss for doing this.

"Who in their right minds would pair a bunny and a fox together on a case?" She grumbled to herself as she slammed the door to her car behind her. "We're natural enemies! All he'll do is get in the way!"

Judy pushed open the heavy glass doors to the ZPD and was immediately greeted with laughter. Her ears perked up at the happy sound, making her grow even more irritated seeing as she was in such a bad mood.

She growled softly once she located the source of the laughter. Nick was standing at the desk, cracking jokes with Clawhauser, and Clawhauser was enjoying it!

"Great, now he has Clawhauser fooled," she muttered as she marched up to the desk.

"And then I said-" Nick stopped halfway through his sentence when he saw Judy standing beside him, a scowl on her face.

"Ah, mornin' Carrots," he greeted, smirking as usual.

"Hi," she replied in annoyance as she grabbed the pen from on the desk and scribbled down her signature, storming off to her office afterwards.

Nick and Ben stood there for a few seconds, watching as Judy angrily made her way to her office, and angrily slammed her door shut. They then looked at one another before shrugging and Nick decided to follow her.

Logging onto her computer, Judy huffed as she pondered having to work with Nick on The Preds case. All he would do was get in the way, in Judy's eyes at least, so what was the point?

"Is this Bogo's idea of a joke?" She spat to herself as she typed in her password.

"What joke?" Came a voice from the door.

Judy's head snapped to her right, in the direction of which she heard the voice. Her eyes, however, narrowed at the sight of the fox, standing in the doorway with a smirk plastered on his face.

"What's the matter, Carrots?" He asked teasingly, shutting the door behind him. "Fox got your tongue?"

Judy rolled her eyes at him before turning back to her computer and opening Zoogle. Grabbing the case file from next to her, she began to flick through the pages until she found the page she needed.

"Pull up a chair; we've got some research to do," Judy ordered sternly, not looking at Nick as she did.

Nick did as he was told, afraid that if he didn't, there would be consequences. And, as much as he wanted to annoy Judy, she was the one filling out his report of custody in the end and he would prefer if it was positive.

"So what are we researching?" He asked once he was next to Judy.

"The Preds' background," came Judy's plain reply, her eyes focused on the screen in front of her in such a way that Nick found it cute.

'Come on Nick, pull yourself together. She's a bunny; just a dumb, stupid, carrot farming bunny,' Nick told himself, over and over again until he was convinced, and turned his attention to the case in hand.

"Ah!" Judy exclaimed, her ears perking up as a triumphant smile appeared on her face and her back straightened. "Nick, could you pass me that carrot pen please?" She asked, pointing to a pen in her pen holder across the table.

Nick smirked and reached for it, admiring it a little before handing it to Judy. "You have a carrot pen?"

"Of course," Judy answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "A bunny always comes prepared."

With that, she smiled brightly at Nick before turning back to the computer and scribbling down some important notes.

"What'd you find?" Nick asked, peering over Judy's shoulder to see what she was writing, but he could barely make out any of it because she was writing so fast and messily.

"That The Preds attacked Zootopia seven years ago, with their set goal in attacking again being to avenge the fifty members of their gang that were killed when they first struck, hence there being fifty murder victims," Judy explained, scrolling down the page a little, then pausing to write down more notes.

"Wait, so why did they attack the first time?" Nick asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"Well, you know how ninety percent of the population of Zootopia is prey?" Nick nodded. "Well, The Preds wanted to make things even with the amount there was, so they planned an attack which - obviously - didn't work."

"Oh~" Nick replied. "But I don't understand; why would they want to lower the number of prey living in Zootopia? Weren't we all getting along in the first place?"

"That's what I thought, but obviously not," Judy answered sadly. "And I understand where they're coming from - it is harder for predators to fit into Zootopia with all the crime pointing to them. No offence obviously."

"None taken," Nick shook it off with his paw. "Let's just get back to the case in hand."

Judy nodded assertively before turning back to her computer screen and scrolling down the screen slowly, scanning the page for any important information that could help them in their search. Nick leaned in closer to try and get a better look at the screen, and even though he did he couldn't concentrate on that for long, as the scent of Judy's perfume hit his nostrils.

He couldn't quite explain it, but Nick thought it smelt like summer: the flowers, the ice cream, the beautiful summer breeze and sun. It was all summed up in the fragrance of Judy's perfume.

"Nick~?" Judy drawled, waving a paw in front of his face. "You still in there?"

Nick shook his head and blinked a few times before pulling back slightly and looking over at Judy. Her purple eyes were filled with worry, and her brows were creased above them. Nevertheless, Nick nodded and smiled - a genuine smile that Judy had never seen before. In fact, Judy had never seen Nick do anything but smirk, so even this was new to her, the gesture setting her heart alight slightly.

'Come on Judy, pull yourself together. He's a fox; just a sly, shifty, fast-talking fox,' she told herself, and had no trouble believing it.

"Sorry, I was thinking about something else," Nick laughed apologetically, and Judy almost swooned. Almost.

But in the midst of her feelings came her job. She wouldn't let herself fall for someone as low as Nick, someone who was literally a convicted criminal. She was better than that, and wouldn't succumb to such a level.

"Well we haven't got time to think about other things," she scolded, her look of worry turning to a look of annoyance and anger as she turned back to her computer.

Nick just played it off as a girl thing and continued on as normal, this time actually focusing on the screen in front of him and not on Judy.

"A-ha!" She exclaimed again, grabbing her carrot pen. "The names of the gang members are the ones in blue. Could you read them out to me so I can write them down?"

Nick grunted in response, Judy sliding her chair along the desk to allow Nick in front of the computer. He scooted over and began to read the names out to her.

"Harry Clawford, who is the leader, Mark Wolfsburg, Ray Stevenson, Codename: Tigger, Pauline Scott and Barry Lionheart," Nick read, pausing after each one to allow Judy some time to get them written down.

As soon as Judy wrote down the last name, she gasped loudly, causing Nick to jump.

"What? What is it?" He asked in panic, turning to face Judy, who looked like she was having a panic attack in her chair. "Carrots?"

"Barry Lionheart is the mayor's brother!" She spluttered, grabbing the desk to steady herself.

"Are you sure?" Nick asked, the uncertainty clear in his voice.

"I'm positive," she reassured once she had calmed down, a slick smile appearing on her lips. "Looks like we found our first lead."

~*~

Hopefully, this makes up for the shortness of the last two chapters! If not, then I'm sorry, hopefully the storyline will though. There are longer chapters coming up, bearing in mind this is only the build up 😉