Disclaimer: I do not own Zootopia or its related characters. All is the property of Walt Disney Animation Studios, Clark Spencer, and Byron Howard. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Under a Green Hood

Chapter Eight:

"Carrots, you're archery skills make me quiver."

Judy did not look up from her computer as she snorted, not with amusement, but with exasperation. She was working on -not only the paperwork for their latest misadventure with the Hood- but also the backlog of paperwork for the Bellwether case. The prosecutor was in Bogo's office now being stalled. "How long have you been holding that one in?"

"About the last ten minutes." The fox replied, leaning back in his seat and stretching. Sitting up straight he pointed to the document he'd been typing in for the past ten minutes. "I've made a list."

Apparently, 'paperwork' held a different meaning for him than it did for the rest of the ZPD. Judy groaned and rolled her eyes. Saving the last document for the Bellwether case and emailing the compressed file to the Chief. If she was lucky, the prosecutor would have his files and be out of the building without Bogo needing to call her or Nick into his office. After spending all of yesterday pretty much living a real-life modern-day Robin Hood adventure, Nick did not have the either the patience or maturity to be an adult -never mind a competent officer of the ZPD.

"Its no wonder you were able to make that shot." He continued. "After all, you've always been a straight shooter. Ba-dum-bum psh!"

Judy turned her swivel chair around to glare at him. "Are you going to make bad archery puns all day?"

"Of course not!" The fox assured her. "When the hospital calls to tell us that Loxley woke up and we can go over there and read him his rights, I'm gonna be making paw puns." A pause. "A lot of them might be what you would call 'inappropriate' though. You know what guy's use their paws for..."

She opted not to acknowledge that last part and just focus on the one remotely important thing he said. "We're not gonna be the ones to read Loxley his Miranda Rights. We won't be arresting him. You and I were -technically- the victims. Remember? Victims don't arrest perps. Delgato and Wolford left for the hospital half an hour ago."

"Why does no one tell me these things?"

He graduated the academy. Nick should have known all of those things. "Because you're not a child and you shouldn't need someone to hold your paw." She reminded him. Her reprimand lost some weight on account of the fact that she was smiling affectionately as she said it. While she was irritated with him, it was all part of the puckish charm that made Nick -Nick. "Meanwhile... while you were wasting time composting archery puns and bawdy paw jokes that you'll probably not have the chance to deliver, I finally finished the paperwork that's been back-logged -literally- since you graduated the academy."

"That's what makes you so amazing, Carrots." He turned that impish grin on her. Reaching a paw up to his shield, he pulled out Goodfellow's badge. "Here. Have a feather."

Judy rolled her eyes again and turned her chair back to her computer. Now that the Bellwether paperwork was done she could work on what was already being called the 'Robin Hood Debacle' around the precent. "Please stop trying to give me culturally specific totems that are likely to offend other Mammal groups. I'm flattered. But after yesterday, I don't think its a good idea."

"But, Carrots, that shot-"

Nick was cut off when Bogo's voice reverberated through the building. "Hopps! Wilde! My office!"

The fox cast a sideways glance at his bunny. "Aw, Carrots... did you accidentally use a hyphen instead of a backslash on the Bellwether files?"

"Har, har." Judy climbed out of her chair to answer the Chief's summons.

If that really was the reason for being called into Bogo's office, the buffalo wouldn't have shouted it for the whole precent to hear. He would have just called her in explain the typo to the prosecutor and fix the mistake before the files were surrendered to the defense. Things like that the Chief liked to handle quietly. Shouting through the building was reserved, specifically, for when an officer was in trouble. Judy couldn't imagine what she and Nick had done -recently (since yesterday)- that could have incurred Bogo's wrath.

So, she was more curious than apprehensive when she and her fox stepped into the Chief's office.

Bogo was standing, talking to another Mammal. But it was not the prosecutor from the District Attorney's office he was speaking to.

A -rather impressively large- brown bear was muttering to the Chief of Police when Nick and Judy entered the office. He was wearing a prefessional looking suit in a shade of green so dark it could have been black and carried an attache case under one arm, so the bunny supposed he could have been from the DA's office here to discuss some detail of the Bellwether case. But then her eyes fell on the small gold pin on his lapel. An arrow and a bow. A symbol she'd become very familiar with in the last two days. The crest of the Loxley estate as well as the symbol of the Brotherhood of the Hood.

So, this had to do with the Robin mantel then. Judy cast an appraising glance at Nick to see if he'd also noticed the pen and gauge his reaction. The fox's expression was neutral and guarded as he studied the bear. After yesterday's mad adventure, he was far less trusting of the Brotherhood than his mother had raised him to be.

Chief Bogo cleared his throat. "Wilde. Hopps. This is, uh, I'm sorry, I'm afraid I've forgotten all your titles."

"That's quite alright." The bear assured him with a friendly and understanding smile. "I'd forget them to if they weren't always shouting them every time I entered a room. Its actually a rather welcoming reprieve to be able to do without them." To Judy and Nick he introduced himself simply. "I'm John Little."

"No yiffing way!" Nick caught himself just a little to late. The words escaping his lips before his paw could clap over his muzzle in a failed effort to stop them. He regretted the swear the moment it was uttered aloud. "I mean- that is- uhm..."

Judy placed a calming paw on his arm. "I think what my partner means to say is that just yesterday we responded to a case having to do with the old tale of Robin Hood and its very jarring -the very next day- to meet someone with the same name as a pivotal character from said story." A pause in which Judy remembered that manners were a thing and her parents taught them to her. "But it's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Little. I'm Officer Hopps. The rude one here is my partner Officer Wilde. What can we do for you?"

"Actually, the matter of the Hood is why I'm here." Little set his attache case on the desk and began unlatching its clasps.

Bogo stepped out, closing the office door behind him. The Chief was letting them use his office. Bogo was leaving them alone in his office unsupervised. If Nick's attention wasn't already completely dominated by the mention of the Hood, he would have been blasting about it all over Zoobook and Twitcher. His paw was once again resting over his ZPD shield -and Goodfellow's feather.

"What about the Hood?" Nick asked slowly -cautiously.

"The succession of the Robin of the Hood mantel has been called into question." Explained the bear as he took out a legal binder and pen. Little might have sat down in the Chief's seat behind the desk, except that the chair was far to small for his more than considerable bulk. He opened the legal folder. "Now, you are Nickolas Piberius Wilde, son of John Wilde and Marian Longstride?"

Nick groaned. "Do you have to use my middle name?"

"Please, just answer the question." Little asked patiently.

"Yes. That's me." He sighed.

Little nodded and made a note on a page in his binder. "And your companion is Judith Lavern Hopps, daughter of Stuart Hopps and Bonnie Skippy?"

"Yes, that's right." The bunny nodded her affirmative.

"I didn't know your mom's maiden name was 'Skippy'." Nick blinked at her. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Judy only shrugged. Like it was an inconsequential detail that she never even thought about. "Its a common bunny name. I didn't think it mattered."

The fox sputtered helplessly for a few moments before the bear gave a knowing smile. He pulled a folded up newspaper from the attache case and held it out for both fox and bunny to read. It was not a local publication and the article he showed them was on page five, not very relevant to the area the paper was local to. But still world news worth mentioning. It was an article on the Night Howler case and how it was solved.

"And this was the both of you, was it not?"

"Yes. That's right." Judy said again.

Little nodded, putting the paper down. "It was after reading this article that Rob -that is, Robert of Loxley VI- decided to send you Robin Goodfellow's feather, the badge of a Robin under the Hood. Normally, that would have been the end of it. The head of the Loxley Estate and custodian of the Robin mantel named a successor he found worthy. But Rob's health was failing and some used that to claim that your succession was the result of an ailing mind and not because you earned the title."

"'Some' being Robert Loxley number seven." Judy crossed her arms over her chest.

"Its not my job to name the concerned party." The bear informed her. "I'm merely here to interview you and decide where or not those concerns are founded. Now, after you received Goodfellow's badge, what was the first thing you did?"

"Why don't you ask Loxley what he did after Nick got the feather?" Judy asked, she placed one stern hand on her hip and glared up at the bear. Refusing to be intimidated by his size. She held the bare with a challenging stare that would have legitimately terrified Nick if it had been aimed at him.

Unfortunately, the large brown bear did not find the tiny bunny nearly as intimidating as her fox partner. "I am not at liberty to discuss my interview with Robert of Loxley VII at this time. At the moment, my focus is on Nickola Wilde. I'll get to you, madam, in due time."

"Madam!?" Judy blinked at him. For some reason she left like he'd just called her 'old'. She was twenty-four. She was not 'old'. Heck! She was younger than Nick and she considered him to still be in his prime. She was not a 'madam' she was a 'miss'! The fact that it was one of the small cultural differences between New World and the Old Country went completely unacknowledged.

Nick placed a pacifying paw on her shoulder. "Its okay, Carrots." He assured her. "Matters of the Hood should be taken seriously." To John Little he said, "I went straight to my mother's after I got the badge."

Little made another note. "And what did you do there?"

"We argued." Nick answered promptly.

"What about?" The bear stood patiently.

The fox hesitated. Took a breath. Sighed. "I didn't think I deserved the Robin mantel. Prior to the Bellwether case -that is, the Night Howler crisis- I was just a small time con-artist. I was only ever looking out for myself and didn't care about other Mammals. Not qualities one usually looks for in a Robin Hood candidate. I decided to give the badge to someone else. Someone I knew represented what the Robin is supposed to be and who I felt deserved it."

Judy turned to stare at him. Academically, she already knew that. But hearing him say it out loud. Declare it to a stranger with such passion and earnest. It made something unfamiliar but not at all unpleasing flutter in her chest.

But Nick wasn't looking at her. He was avoiding eye-contact all together.

"I see." Little was scribbling furiously on the legal pad in his binder. "And who was this other Mammal you felt was so much more worthy of being the Robin?"

That was when Nick did look a Judy, a warm and affectionate smile on his face. "She's standing right next to me."

The bear did not look the least bit surprised. "And after you gave her the badge, what happened?"

"I went home and was attacked in my bathroom by a hooded whiny baby-Mammal who thought he could just take the badge and declare himself the Robin." Nick answered without hesitation. He paused to gauge the bear's reaction.

Little kept his face impassive as he continued to jot down in short hand Nick's narrative. "Please, continue."

So, he did. The fox told him about the chase through the Rainforest District, the fight on the sky tram platform where Loxley ripped the badge from Carrot's chest. How the bunny had beaten him into submission and took the feather back and gave it to him. How Loxley then took her hostage with the intent to trade her for the feather. The shooting contest, and how Nick carefully left a loophole open so that he could win with a gun rather than a bow. And his especially favorite detail, Judy's unbelievably fantastic shot that saved -of not his life- then at least his face from permanent disfigurement.

He might have said it as a joke earlier, but that didn't make it any less true. Her archery skills really did make him quiver.

When Nick was done, Little turned to a blank page in his legal binder. "Alright, and now Miss Hopps. What did you do after Mr. Wilde gave you Goodfellow's badge?"

For some reason, Judy suddenly felt inexplicably awkward. "Oh, well, I didn't really understand what it meant. I could tell it was important to Nick, but he was a little frantic with his explanations. So I just told him I'd keep it safe until he was ready to take it back. Then I went back to work. I didn't really think about it or Nick again until one of my colleagues barged into my cubicle saying Nick was on the radio being held up by an attacker. Nick is my partner and my friend, so of course I dropped very thing and rushed off to help him."

"How very interesting." Muttered the bear.

"What? That Nick and I are partners?" Judy asked, defensive. "We work well together. We did manage to solve the Night Howler case, after all. Not to mention we're the only Mammals on the force in our size class. So, even if Nick was incompetent, I still would have been stuck with him."

"Thanks, Carrots." The sarcasm was thick with that one.

"Actually, I was commenting on how interesting it was that you felt the need to explain why you went to help him." Little explained. "I see you feel very passionately about you... partner." He cleared his throat, signifying that the line of discussion should be dropped. "So, you rushed off to aid Mr. Wilde and found him and a hooded assailant at the sky tram?"

"No. First I went to his apartment. But no one was there." Clarified the bunny. And she launched into a tale of her own. Of how she used her radio to follow the reports of disturbances all over the Rainforest District. The foxes fighting and/or chasing each other through construction sights, open walkways, even zip-lining on the tram cables. That was how she found Nick and his attacker on the sky tram platform where they had their altercation and she was taken hostage. She glanced over the minor detail of Loxley overpowering her and tying her up and instead went into great detail of how he threatened to eat her just to taunt Nick.

Then there was a hotel room where she was explicitly denied the opportunity to use the restroom. An offense that seemed to both Judy far more than being taken hostage. What kind of monster didn't let a lady pee!? Then there was mention of endless waiting while Loxley went back out to deliver his message with details of when and where to meet for the exchange. The shooting contest. How Loxley went back on his word and lost most of the use of his right paw for it.

"You're down-playing just how awesome that shot was, Carrots." Nick interrupted.

Little smiled at him. "I can see she genuinely impressed you."

"I'm telling you, she is Robin Hood." The fox insisted.

"And I'm telling you, I don't want it." Judy reminded him. "This is clearly a fox thing and if you give it to me its gonna piss off a lot more than just Loxley. We have to deal with enough normal city crime on a daily basis. I don't wanna have to deal with this too."

The bear's smile only broadened. "There is an old saying that power is best suited to those who don't seek it. In this case, that seems to be both of you."

They paused, both blinking at him in confusion.

"Yeah, but... there can only be one Robin Hood." Nick reminded him. "One per generation. That's the rule."

"Oh? Is that the rule? Or is it like the 'rule' that only a fox can be Robin Hood?" Little shot back, eyebrows raised. "You'll find there are far more Mammals than just foxes within the Brotherhood."

"But I thought-"

"It seems you've thought many things between now and yesterday morning, Mr. Wilde." Said John Little, glancing back at his notes. "Now, let me tell you what I think."

The bear bent down to the small fox and reached a paw out. Gently -very gently- the large predator pulled the robin father out from behind Nick's ZPD shield. He held it between fox and bunny so that both could see it quite clearly. Little dragged one sharp claw down the feather's center -then pulled it apart. Now holding two almost identical halves of Goodfellow's badge. One in each paw.

"I think you both will make excellent Robins under the Hood and that is what's going to be written down in the histories of the Hood." He handed one half each to the fox and the bunny. He stood back up, groaning. "Ugh! I'm getting to old to be bending like that."

John Little began packing up his legal binder and papers.

Tucking his attache case under one arm he asked, "Now then, where do I go to pay my idiot godson's absurdly outrageous bail?"

He exited the office. Leaving both Nick and Judy holding near identical halves of a red feather. Standing dazed and slightly confused. Not quite sure what had just happened.

"Nick, are we..."

"I think so, Carrots." Said the fox slowly, starring at his half of the feather. "With our powers combined, we are Robin Hood!"

…

END

(A/N: Cheesy ending is cheesy. But I hope you enjoyed.)