The Fire Triangle, A Zootopia Fanfiction -- Part One

The Fire Triangle, A Zootopia Fanfiction -- Part One: Fuel - 74

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 9 ...There's Mirrors—(And Fire)
(Pt. 1)

Meerkat Market, Sahara Square Beach Promenade, Saturday, 07:51 ZST

"...and am I right in assuming you get the Glazed Carrot Macchiato, Hopps?" Officer Kii Catano's face crinkled mischievously as she asked the question; typical feline.

Judy accepted the cup without comment, remembering to sip carefully. Depending upon the vendor, Sahara Square coffee could be 'strong enough to run a triathlon,' as Nick Wilde liked to say.

That actually was fine with Judy, she could use a little boost right now; it had been well after midnight when they'd planted the surveillance cameras in the large-mammals locker room. Behind her, Catano took a short pull from her own cup, gazing over the bunny's shoulder at the trio of monitor screens. Looking downward for a second Judy noted that the tip of the cheetah-cop's tail was clocking back and forth across the floor; as with most open-air dwellers, she found close quarters to be confining and even claustrophobic.

Being a denning species and burrowing species a respectively, Nick and Judy didn't have that problem; as far as they were concerned the interior of the ZPD ComServ (Command and Surveillance) vehicle was not at all oppressive; to them it seemed almost cozy.

It was a considerably smaller ride than the produce truck the ZPD had employed for the Rafaj Brothers blood-diamond sting, a hi-cube van done up in the blue and white livery of the Zootopia Department of Water and Power, (a not uncommon sight in perpetually thirsty Sahara Square.)

Even so, the fox and bunny-cop couldn't help feeling a wee bit uncomfortable.

It had nothing to do with the size of the vehicle—or even the heat outside; in fact it was ten degrees cooler today than when he and Judy had located the Phantom's dead-drop, (and anyway, the van was fully air-conditioned.) This vehicle could have been as big as a balloon shed and it would still have felt prickly in here...and the explanation was psychological rather than a physical in nature.

One of the 'perks' of being in put command, (and one the fox and bunny hadn't considered before,) was that you had to stay out of sight and let someone else do the footwork...at least until the bust went down. It was an unhappy position for Nick and Judy both; they had always been paws-on types of officers, ever wanting to be out there in the thick of things.

Or that was how Judy felt; Nick seemed to be carrying far less than his usual zeal for getting his paws dirty. In fact, although the fox was keeping it safely hidden, his enthusiasm for today's shindig had cooled to lukewarm at best—and this, while also psychological in origin, was completely unrelated to the fact of him and Judy being forced to remain inside the ComSurv van.