The Fire Triangle, A Zootopia Fanfiction -- Part One

The Fire Triangle, A Zootopia Fanfiction -- Part One: Fuel - 6

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 2 – Taking The Bull By The Horns
(Continued...pt. 2)

Inside the bullpen, things were pretty much the same as they'd been in the lobby—with one notable exception. If looks could kill, the one Francine Trunkaby gave to Nick and Judy as they passed her by would have wiped out half the room. The fox just insouciantly flipped down his eyeshades but Judy couldn't help being bothered.

She had known something was coming of course; nobody gets on the fast track to career advancement without drawing at least a little resentment—and she and Nick had been offered their chance at the detective bureau over the heads of not a few cops with both more experience and higher rank...including a certain cow elephant.

But this was different; this wasn't just a case of simple jealousy, it was envy mixed with species prejudice. And when you threw in what had gone down in Dr. Hocico's office only a short while ago, the upshot was an even more noxious brew. Without meaning to—certainly without wanting to—she and Nick had just made their first enemy in the department, and it didn't help much that Francine Trankaby was hugely popular with her fellow officers.

Judy glanced over at Nick, thinking, "We made a mistake back there, fox; we came down way too hard on that elephant. And one of these days, it's going to cost us."

She would have to discuss this with him—later when they could talk privately. Francine's humiliation had occurred in private, not in public; no one else knew and no one else needed to know about her spying. Perhaps even at this late date, there was still some way the three of them could bury the hatchet.

Judy quickened her pace towards the front of the room, drawing curious a glance from Nick—until he noted the clock above the podium. The delay inside Dr. Hocico's office had taken longer than he'd realized; The Chief would be arriving any second...and when he did, everyone had better be in their seats.

Some modifications to the bullpen's furnishings had occurred since Nick and Judy had joined the ZPD; two newer chairs now graced the front table, tall enough for the fox and bunny to see the lectern without having to stand on their seats.

At almost the very instant they pulled up their chairs, the hippo Dan Higgins called, "Atten-SHUN!" and the side door to the bullpen swung open. As Chief Bogo ducked his way inside the bullpen, he was greeted by the usual round of whoops, hoots, and pounding of fists on tables. And just as typically, he seemed to find the display irritating.

"Right, right," he rumbled taking his place at the podium, "Quiet down everyone."

They all hushed up at once. Bogo nodded curtly and then slipped on his half-moon reading glasses, at the same time reaching with a hoof to his right.

"Looks like a slow morning for a change." Nick Wilde observed under his breath. The clipboard Higgins was passing to the Chief seemed to hold considerably fewer sheets of paper than normal.