Option 3: Fight

Nick and Judy entered the bullpen in their customary uniforms, to their surprise a lot of unknown mammals were crowding it, among them was their boss. But instead of towering in front of all the mammals present as usual, Chief Bogo sat on the floor with a casual expression.

-"You called for us Chief?"- Judy said apprehensively

-"Yes, today we are putting together a plan against the new anti interspecies initiative. I have contacted an expert to help us with it, he will be talking to us shortly"- The buffalo said signaling the somewhat empty space on the floor in the middle of the room, the rest was filled with so many mammals they could barely move.

Awkwardly they managed to sit on the floor, they were surprised to see their usually domineering boss sitting humbly next to the rest of the officers, for once the burden of leadership was not on his shoulders and it was obvious he welcomed the feeling.

-"May I ask who this expert is?"- Nick said casually, Bogo's only response was a knowing smile.

The door opened and Clawhouser gave a friendly wave to the large crowd, his smile was beaming as he sat in the desk and addressed everyone –"Hey guys, I came up with a plan to stop this initiative before it gets out of hand, time is running out so let's start shall we?"-

Both the fox and bunny were shocked, they looked at their boss with raised eyebrows, Clawhouser was the expert? There had to be a mistake.

In the words, or more accurately lyrics of the 80's diva Pat Benaclaw "Love is a Battlefield", and in that battlefield there was no better strategist tan Benjamin Clawhauser. It was easy to underestimate him because of his friendly cheerful personality and his obesity, but you don't work on the first precinct unless you are one of the best at what you do, and what he was good at is to manage and interconnect information and resources. That ability easily translated into a fantastic skill when it came to read, analyze and handle social media and its tendencies.

Ever since the Night Howler case that became a very important tool, at the beginning of the anti predator outbreak he was able to spot potential hate raids from both sides either predators or prey. That was until they demoted him into the basement, that's when he experienced firsthand how it felt to be the victim of undeserved hate, he vowed to himself to never let anyone else be discriminated for the way they were born.

He is also one of the most cunning mammals when it comes to planning and plotting schemes, if he were a political advisor his candidate would rule the world. Yet he never cared about power, he only wanted to help other mammals and do something good for his community. Behind his good natured giggles and childish mannerisms hid a maquiavelic mind, if Maquiavelo were more interested in turning the world into a happy sunshine rainbow of love instead of achieving power.

And now his skills were more than necessary, because a new storm of hatred was looming over the horizon. But this time he wouldn't let it destroy the city, not after what he had went through after the species war triggered by the night howler case. This was much more devious than the prey vs. predator war; this would look acceptable at first, since it only seemed to reinforce an already established law. But little by little he knew it would be worse, first this program would target interspecies couples of different genus, then it would go after the ones of different species from the same genus, then the hybrids would lose the little rights and representation they had. Once every inter was erased from the city the next target would be gays, since the main argument for how wrong those relationships were was that species of different genus couldn't conceive and those of similar genus could give birth to hybrids, so gay couples will easily fit that description as well.

To add insult to injury, many mammals suspected that interspecies relationships had been going on from the dawn of history, perhaps even from the stone age. What if everyone was in a little way a hybrid? Where would the witch hunt end?

When Hopps and Wilde fell in love he was happy about them and he saw in those two the promise of a union that would breach the torn relationship between predators and preys. It was kinda cute the way they thought they were hiding their relationship from their co workers and the world in general. He laughed at the idea that those two saw themselves as keeping their love in secret and their interspecies nature in the closet, as if every single police officer in the precinct hadn't seen how they felt about each other several months before they realized about their own feelings themselves.

There were rumors at first when Judy reentered the force after Bellweather's imprisonment, seeing how she went to get Wilde's help instead of contacting the police, but it was sooo obvious after the fox begun to work as her partner. The tell tale signs were the way they looked at each other all the time, or the loyalty they professed on the street every single day and the help they generously gave whenever they needed it.

Sure the bond between partners in the force was usually a very strong one, but it formed over years of working together, between those two it was almost instantaneous.

Clawhauser was not only a strategist, he was also quite the matchmaker, he was a hopeless romantic and couldn't help himself to make mammals happy and try to set them up in dates. In the case of those two he tried to stay away, since it would be an illegal relationship he didn't feel like meddling so they wouldn't have to break the law. But something happened three months ago, something triggered a spark between them and a change of personality in Wilde, after the courtrooms downfall fiasco it wasn't difficult for the other officers to puzzle what had happened. Lapin had hurt Hopps, Nick had taken a gruesome revenge on the rabbit and as collateral damage the entire judicial system was brought down.

Now they were in a relationship and instead of helping to heal the wounds of the previous species war they were about to leave the country under fear of imprisonment, but not in his watch. He would not let hatred destroy his friends and his city once more, love is a battlefield and now it is time to fight the war.

With an iron resolve he walked towards the bullpen, this meeting would be much different from the previous ones. When he entered the room he found a huge group of mammals already there, they were so many that the desks were moved to the sides so all the attendants would sit on the floor, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to fit in.

Inside the bullpen there were several chiefs and officers from the different districts in Zootopia, as well as soldiers from many other forces and even agents of the ZBI, Bogo was among them. It was a little weird to see the Chief humbly sitting on the floor instead of towering over the officers in the precinct, beside him Chief Mau sat with her legs crossed and looked at Clawhouser with a hopeful expression. Now THAT is a couple that needs a matchmaker, screw the anti interspecies law, he would fight until that stupid thing was discarded from the penal code. Bogo is head over heels in love with her, sure he is much better at hiding his feelings than Wilde or Hopps but Benjamin is an expert at reading body language. Mau on the other paw is quite oblivious about his feelings but she does feel admiration for the Chief, there might be some hope for those two, Benjamin will work on them as a side project.

In the middle of the group sat the bunny and fox that are about to change Zootopia for the better and help breach the divide that is threatening to tear it apart at the seams, again. He can tell they know of the idea of the meeting by the hopeful and worried expression on their faces.

The fat cheetah walks into the bull pen and sits on the large desk, everyone stops talking as soon as he clear his throat, he should be intimidated by the fact that he is facing the representation of at least a third of all the police officers in Zootopia. But this is his territory; he is the one in charge when it comes to these matters.

-"I need to ask all of you, which ones here present are interspecies?"- His voice never loses its kind personality but he manages to convey a deep sense of seriousness.

Half the attendants raise their paws: among them there is Wilde, Hopps, Bogo, Garra and many other officers from different districts and agents of several forces, he can't help noticing Mau isn't one of them.

-"I assume the rest are not, but you support our cause"- He said more gravely this time, even when the room was full to the brim, he was hurt that many faces were missing from the crowd. There were many mammals that he had expected to show up yet were now not present, many from the first district.

-"Yes"- the rest of the mammals said in unison, though some just nodded their heads gravely.

-"Good, as you know a new initiative is about to force all members of the force to hunt down interspecies couples and we need a plan to stop this from happening. Because if it does, we will be force to imprison not only a lot of innocent civilians, but also ourselves and our partners in the force. Now you have been called here because I have a plan, but let me warn you that there it a lot to lose, if we fail you won't be able to hide in the closet and you will be targeted by the interphobes."-

Grumbling and growling sounds emerge from the large crowd but everyone agrees that they are willing to pay the price, every single mammal in that room has a determined look on their eyes; if they wanted to hide they wouldn't be here.

-"We have to stop this before it gets worse than the anti-predators attacks!"-

-"We are not hurting anyone"-

Many more angry expletives emerged from the group, satisfied Clawhouser shushed them gently.

-"This is the thing, we cannot attack the vice-president, he is too powerful. But we can make the citizens in Zootopia realize that inters are not their enemies and definitely not a threat to society or the populace. And that is where Hopps and Wilde come along"- Clawhouser pointed at the fox and bunny –"They are charismatic and the media loves them, they also make a lovely couple. They will help Zootopia see inters not as deviate strangers but as relatable mammals, especially after they take the credit for cleaning up the entire court"-

-"Yeah there's just a little problem with that, aren't they gonna hate us when the media finds out their decorated heroes are twisted inters? Because I'm pretty sure that's the way we'll be portrayed"- Nick said bitterly, remembering the talk he had recently with Garra.

Clawhouser gave them a smug smile and told Judy in a cunning tone while he clasped both paws under his huge double chin –"You are so right Hopps, he can be such a dumb fox sometimes"- Judy merely giggled in response.

Then the large cheetah told them proudly-"That is why you won't come out of the closet right away, at first you will pose as the most effective team in the first precinct and good friends, only after you become the most popular officers in the whole city they will know the truth. And when they do, believe me it's not going to be something scandalous. Because when you make your relationship public it will be on your terms and under the approval of god itself"-At the puzzled expression of every attendant he continued while munching a chocolate donut, he would need the energy.

-"I have contacted reverend Carl Skankton, as you might know he is adamant on the inclusion of relegated groups and minorities into the church and society in general. For years he has preached for equality among mammals. He will make sure that interphobes cannot excuse their hatred on the idea that their union is unholy, in fact why don't we let the reverend explain this himself?"- He then begun to set everything up for the teleconference. The reverend would have likely come in person but he was worried that would raise too much suspicion from the higher authorities.

There was a laptop over the desk, clawhouser lit it up and turned the screen at the attendants, the image displayed a small skunk. It would be easy to dismiss such a small creature but everyone who ever heard of the reverend knew his small size contained a gigantic loud and impassionate personality.

His voice was grave and resonated like he were a skilled baritone -"My friends, we are facing a wave of hate and exclusion that will take more lives than the last three wars. But this time we have a secret weapon on our side, the church has gotten tired of carrying the blame of massacres past and it will no longer support the prejudices that had been plaguing our society since it was created. Now the holy spirit will make sure that everyone knows you are loved. When the time is right, all interspecies couples in Zootopia will meet under the same roof and we will give our blessings to your union. Because this time our church has grown tired of looking the other way"-

-"Would it be like a wedding?"- Delgato asked nervous, he and Snarlov had been having a hidden relationship for months now, being both gays and inters they were sure to never show their feelings in public. Coming out in such a public way scared him.

-"Weddings are legal unions that allow rights and benefits to the couples, that assertion only belongs to the law. What we are going to do is let all Zootopia know that god is on your side, that he loves you as much as he loves anyone else. All interspecies unions will be considered right and accepted under the eyes of the church. Besides not all inters are mated, yet they will be accepted as well."- The reverend continued.

-"That will terminate the ability of the media to portray you as a dark filthy fetish, your unions will be considered as holy as regular ones, at least in the eyes of the church"- Clawhouser said smiling, his tail twitched in excitement.

-"And what will happen after that? I don't think the interphobes are going to give up, even if we have the support of the church"- Judy asked

-"All hell will break loose, that is what will happen. When we take a stand as inters the interphobes will attack us through the media and the law. It will be up to us to defend ourselves, we will have to organize protests to bring down the reprogramming facilities and we have to make sure they are peaceful. That is where the non-inters who support us come through, they will have to keep the peace without adding on the brutality. It is possible that once we come out of the closet we will lose our job as officers of the law"- He gave a meaningful look at Mau, for once in his life he was glad she wasn't inter herself. –"Are you sure you want to participate? Technically speaking this is not your fight"- He told the pretty cat.

Cassandra placed her paw on his hoof, her large green eyes locked on his -"The inter supporters will stand up for you, this is our fight as much as it is yours. We will threaten the city with a strike if necessary to keep the city council to fire you based on your preferences"- the determination in her voice made him shudder inside.

-"That is where the other guys are coming in"- The chief of the fourth precinct in Sahara Square, a camel named Kenan C'naan stood up and addressed the crowd. Benjamin was surprised he had showed up since he was very vocal against interspecies relationships and very conservative in general -"Let me tell ya something, I am not an inter and I don't like what you do. But I'll be damn if I waste my resources putting all you freaks in jail while murderers, rapists and robbers get scot free because we are too busy chasing after you. So all the officers in my precinct are gonna help you out on this one, I don't care if we have to besiege this city I am not going through another species war again. Do what you have to do and we will have your back, but you better make it peacefully and fast"-

-"I am an inter myself"- A handsome rabbit in a dark suit said in a smooth voice, a beautiful arctic vixen placed her paw over his shoulder –"But the stance of many members of the ZBI concurs with Chief C'naan, we cannot afford another group of mammals to be prosecuted this way, the united nations would be forced to sever ties with us if this initiative carries on. Many of the details in the small print of this initiative are considered crimes against mammalkind, we as a nation could be sanctioned by the international community. We will lend as much resources as possible to make sure all protests stay peaceful"-

Clawhouser was relieved; his plan might have not work without so much support. Soft knocking on the door brought his attention and he opened it, he had been afraid the higher ups would have found about the meeting and tried to stop his plan before he could set it in motion. When he opened it he saw the rest of the officers in the first district, as well as other mammals from de CSI to the forensics, three fourths of the force had appeared on his doorstep.

-"Sorry we are late, is just that some of us needed a little more time to see if we were up to the fight"- Trunkaby said giving him a large box filled with donuts. His smile was so big it seemed to split his face in two, he gave the elephant a huge enthusiastic hug.

The overly crowded room became even fuller, so much that the smaller mammals had to sit on top of the bigger ones if they wanted everyone to fit in. It got uncomfortable for many of them especially for Nick as he sat next to Judy on top of Mc Horn, turning his head he couldn't help a smile to form in his muzzle at the adorable way Bogo blushed having Mau sitting on his lap, Judy couldn't suppress the sharp 'awww' sound forming on her throat at the spectacle.

The fox had wanted to run away from this upcoming conflict. But when there was so much at stake and so many mammals willing to put their life, career and future on the line he knew there was no way Judy would agree on leaving them alone, she was always the optimistic fighter of the two and this war was worth it. He held her paw and looked at Clawhouser with a determined expression.

-"You call the shots Benj, tell us what to do"- He said determined.

…

"Smile to the cameras" that's what they were instructed to do. Mau had been wonderful at dealing with the press conference, she twisted the facts about Lapin's case to make it seem like Hopps and Wilde had retrieved the evidence through regular detective work instead of an illegal breach of privacy. Judy had been terrified to speak at the reporters at first, considering what had happened last time she did that it was understandable.

Nonetheless shyness and modesty would get them nowhere, their mission wasn't to shed light on an almost closed case, they needed to charm the population. Without Nick's help and support beside her she thought she would have fainted or ran the hell out of there, but by the third interview she was almost as charming as he.

The following weeks had been frustrating, they spent more time talking to the media than doing actual police work, even worse Nick had to refrain himself from marking her as to not tip off any reporter with a keen sense of smell. At least Judy could place her nose over his sometimes, it made him feel giddy inside even if it did not quench the primal need to mark her all the time.

She had moved out to the floor upstairs of his abandoned building, making a place of her own as she had promised she would do when she first came here, before they decided they wanted to be together all the time.

The fox was about to lose his mind, he knew the big ceremony would have to happen soon, all he could do to hold on was reminding himself that as soon as it happened he wouldn't have to hide who he was anymore.

The cheetah had been bouncing around the walls preparing for it, it was taking so much energy from the cat that he had lost a lot of weight. A few days ago he had confided in Nick the fact that this was snowballing out of control, his plan had started when he contacted inter communities through the internet, even he had been shocked of how many inters were in the different forces. When the underground circles heard there was a way to gain acceptance they had flooded Benjamin's e mail account asking to participate, the ceremony was supposed the happen in a church but it was clear they would not fit in, so he had Bogo pull some strings in order to get a stadium instead. Thank heavens for the Hopps clan, after hearing of Clawhouser's problem Judy contacted her family and before the cheetah could say anything a swarm of bunnies came to his aide and helped with the necessary preparations.

Even Nick's mother was excited about the whole thing, something remarkable considering that while Vivien Wilde had been glad by the way Judy turned his conmammal son into a police officer, she had not been happy about her precious vulpine kit dating a bunny. But faced with the option of seeing him happy with Judy on Zootopia or not seeing him again because he was eloping far from the country she set up a meeting with the Hopps to think of a way out of this mess. It had been a very awkward conversation for both sides, but a few heated arguments and some drinks later both families agreed that their children should have the right to be together.

…

The big day, or rather night was coming. A few hours from now Nick, Judy and a thousand interspecies couples (and some singles) would crowd the largest stadium on the city and take a stand against prejudice. They weren't alone, many inter supporters, usually the couple's family and friends would stand by their side. Even mammals that didn't agree with their lifestyle would attend, if only due to the fact they understood that just because you don't like the decisions other do about their love lives it doesn't mean you can't respect them.

Judy's excitement hadn't allowed her to sleep last night, she was literally bouncing on the walls, there were a lot of things to prepare but before she could start she heard knocking on her door.

When she opened it she saw her fox standing near the doorway, not even when he had pretended to be shot by the nighthowler toxin he had looked so predatory.

-"We are coming out of the closet tonight Carrots, you know what that means"- His sly grin showed his sharp teeth.

-"We don't have to hide anymore"- She purred in response, when he lunged at her all she could do was giggle helpless as the large predator took her in his arms and threw her on the bed.

…

The ceremony had gotten too big to be hidden, but by the time the higher authorities realized what it was about they could not stop it, it had grown out of their control.

Thousands of mammals of every different species heard with bated breath the speech of the tiny skunk. Reverend Skankton spoke below the stage lights

-"My brothers and sisters, we are all different but we were all made in our lords image, he made us with our flaws and qualities and he told us to love others as much as we love ourselves. Now society keeps telling us that we are all equals, but as soon as we demand equal treatment we are punished because of our differences. We are told we are too weak, or too small, or too big , or too dangerous to get what we want. Society shields behind notions of morals to do awful things and convince us they are doing what is right, they prosecute the innocents and turn a blind eye on the guilty, and in the meantime they keep the helpless down while the strong gain power. Today, society chose in the inters the scapegoat du jour, but don't think for a second that just because you are not one of them you shall be safe. Because tomorrow when the inters are gone they will come after the homosexuals, and when they are gone they will go after the foreigners, and on and on the wave of hate will continue until none of us are left.

These set of rules do not come from god, they come from us. God loves the inters, the homosexuals, the foreigners, the preys and predators as much as he loves anyone else. We are the ones who hate and divide not him, so today we say no more. Tonight we take a stand so the wave of hate dies before it takes more lives, today we march to the capitol demanding this city and this country to repeal this initiative so we as citizens don't have to carry the blame of the crimes against mammalkind this thing can cause. Tonight we begin the fight so this hate doesn't kill our society from the inside!"- A loud cheer of thousands of voices cause a rumble through Zootopia, it could be heard from every corner of the city. With a tiny paw over his tiny muzzle the reverend managed to shush the gargantuan holler of battle cries.

-"But before our march, a good friend of mine and fellow activist has decided to join us. Please welcome… Gazelle!"-

The pop diva emerged from behind the skunk with her group of tiger back up dancers in tow. This time she didn't sing her usual light pop songs, she sang a cover from an old tune written by her own idol, Growlton John. The old large lion, icon of love ballads for over three decades played the piano and sang by her side.

I believe in love, it's all we got

Love has no boundaries, no borders to cross

Love is simple, hate breeds

Those who think difference is the child of disease

When the song was over she didn't spoke to the crowd, the diva chose to use actions instead of words. In front of every media outlet, broadcasted by several news channels, she placed her arms around one of her backup dancers and gave him a passionate kiss on the lips.

…..

The march towards the capitol was massive, in the front of the march were Judy and Nick, holding hands and posing for the cameras. A lovely picture of them in a Hollywood style kiss went viral around the world in a few minutes. Gazelle marched in the middle, the diva had to be protected from upcoming attacks so a large gathering of protesters circled around her along with her own security team, at her right was her boyfriend and at her left her number one fan. Clawhouser hadn't stopped crying from happiness ever since the pop singer had thanked him for starting all of this and had been more than happy to let him march by her side in the protest.

Yet the most iconic picture that would represent the whole inter pride movement came from an unexpected source. It was a spontaneous shot of Chief Bogo, he stood tall and proud over a large herd of bunnies, riding over his shoulders was Chief Mau waving a multicolored flag representing the inter community.

None or the mammals marching expected to end prejudice against their way of life with just a single protest, acceptance is a long hard road that takes years to be fulfilled and can be destroyed much more easily than they would like to admit. But they were fighting, and for now that is all that mattered.

The end

…

Author's note: There might be an aftermath story in the future to tie up the remaining loose ends but for now I think this kinda open ending fits well with the story. Thank you for all your reviews I hope you liked it.