The Fire Triangle, A Zootopia Fanfiction -- Part One

The Fire Triangle, A Zootopia Fanfiction -- Part One: Fuel - 48

Disclaimer: Zootopia stories, characters, settings, and properties belong to the Walt Disney Co. This story is written under Fair Use Copyright laws.

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The Fire Triangle-A Zootopia Fanfiction

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Part One:

Fuel

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Chapter 5 -Aftershocks
(Continued...Pt. 2)

All foxes have their secrets; when you're the animal other species tend to write off as shifty and untrustworthy, it comes with the territory. Why bother sharing your story with anyone if they're not going to believe it anyway? Nope, best to keep some things to yourself.

Nick Wilde certainly understood this. Look what happened when he'd tried to offer Judy some support after Renato Manchas mysteriously vanished from the light-pole where she'd shackled him. Chief Bogo had cut Nick off at the pass before he could utter even a single word, "You think I'm going to believe a fox?"

It was hardly the first time Nick had heard something to that effect...or the last. He had long ago lost count of the number of times he'd taken the witness stand against a suspect, only to have the defense counsel try to paint him as a flaming perjurer, courtesy of his species. (THAT was why hearing Jerry Guilford had entered a plea of Not Guilty hit him like an ice-bucket test.)

He glanced over at Finnick, seated behind the steering wheel and keeping his eyes on the road. Maybe so but Nick could tell that his former partner's mind was elsewhere, most likely already waiting at their destination.

But then Nick felt the corners of his mouth angling downward. There were secrets even now that he had never shared with the fennec fox-and more than likely some that Finnick had never shared with him. In fact there were a few things Nick knew about his former partner, that even the desert fox himself didn't know-and he strongly suspected that this was something else that cut both ways.

They had made it out of the Sheriff's Department yard without being spotted by the press...or, more importantly, by Judy Hopps. (Prudently, Nick Wilde had concealed himself in the back of the van until they were well clear of Courthouse Square.)

He hadn't liked making an end run around her like that, but as the red fox saw it, he'd had little choice. He had given his word to another of his species-among foxes that was almost a sacred trust-and the only way he could keep that word was to keep his partner Judy in the dark.

But what about his own secrets, the fox now wondered to himself. There was no rule saying he had to keep THEM to himself. More and more Nick Wilde was coming to understand that he could not; he must not make the same mistake with Judy that he'd made with Robyn.

These thoughts were interrupted by a low, rumbling growl.

"There they are." Finnick was pointing through the van's windshield at the roadside up ahead.

They? There should have been only one animal waiting for them. But when he looked at where the desert fox was indicating, he saw the Hopps Family Farm's produce stand. It was empty now-everything not nailed down had been moved to the Festival Grounds for Carrot Days and none of it would be back until Wednesday at the earliest. The stand was not unoccupied however. Nick could also see a pair of young mammals, seated on stools beneath a Buckeye tree out front.