Just a word from the author: So uh, I have no idea how I wrote this. An idea just came to my mind in the middle of the night, and I started typing away. It probably sucks, but hey, I'm open to all kinds of criticism.

UPDATE: I've re-written the chapter based on the feedback from the review section. Thank you user Vince Fangway for your valuable review!

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Rated M

"Nick, get off the phone! We're on patrol!"

"I know, I know. Just looking up for a place for tonight." Nick replied in a languid tone as he swiped his finger across the screen of his phone a few more times before safely tucking it away in his trouser pocket. "So, Italian?"

The red fox rolled down the window on his side and leaned on the door of the moving police cruiser with his elbow. Cool wind rushed through his fur as he put on the pair of gold-frame aviators that had been hanging on his shirt pocket; adjusting them so that they were geometrically balanced on his triangular canine face.

After not hearing any replies coming back from his partner, the fox turned his head to look at the rabbit while still holding the same laid-back expression on his face. She didn't seem tense like she did earlier that day; her hands were relaxed on the steering wheel, and her eyes were just casually looking ahead at the road and traffic in front of them. So, he decided to ask again.

"Does Italian sounds okay for tonight, Carrots?"

She gave him a brief glance before her eyes went back on the road again. With a slight smile on her face, Judy finally replied, "You know I don't like Italian food, Nick."

A surprised and almost disappointed 'oh' was the word he came up with as a response. He wasn't disappointed at the fact that the bunny didn't like Italian food, but rather at himself for not remembering how Judy disliked them. It was on their first date, and Nick himself had listened to his 'wise advisor' Finnick the Fennec and had taken his date to an Italian joint on the corner of 45th and Jupiter. He had wished that he had never ordered the Chef's Special Spaghetti plate. More like a special plate of disaster, he had thought that night after having to make up for the embarrassing dinner with burgers at Up-n-Down.

It didn't take the fox long to come up with a new suggestion right off the top of his head. "I know, what you like. Mediterranean! How that sounds?" He was sure he'd got it right that time. Maybe.

"Hmm," The bunny hummed, sounding as if she was deciding which of his offers was worse. She knew he would start to scramble for another suggestion soon, thinking that his suggestion had just been shot down again. She didn't need to look into his eyes to know it; his silence pause and quiet gulp gave it away for her. But she decided to stop with the teasing. "Sure."

"Great! I'll pick you up right after work." Nick offered, a sly smirk across his face as he quietly gave himself a pat on the back for guessing the right answer. Not literally, of course.

With one and a half year into their relationship ever since he started working as an officer of peace and order, Nick could confidently say that their relationship was progressing better every day. He would almost regularly buy her coffee for the morning, drive her to lunch, and take her out to dinner after their shift ended. As for the weekends, it was either the movies or simply driving around downtown and having fun here and there. Sure, there had been rocky times between the two, but the bond between them was still as strong as ever.

"Actually, I think around seve-"

The bunny was abruptly interrupted by the garbling noise coming from the built-in police scanner of their cruiser. Nick reached for the volume knob and turned it clockwise to raise to volume up a bit, trying to hear through the static noise coming from the thing. Judy gave it a few quick glances while keeping her eyes on the road to avoid collision with the cars ahead. She didn't think that the signal in Rainforest would be that bad. The garbling sound did not clear up until twenty-something seconds later, and what came through it wasn't distinct enough to be understood.

"...units… a 10-35 a... Gammoth… Bakers… at Marshland.."

"10-35? Is that what he'd just said?" Nick raised a brow as he tried to tune the scanner to the right frequency, even though, he was pretty sure no one had messed around with it. Not to his knowledge, at least.

The fox played around with the tuner for a short moment before stopping as the dispatcher's voice became distinct enough to hear.

"A 10-35 at Gammoth Hardware on Bakers street, Marshland District."

The two officers exchanged a quick look at each other and nodded. Judy flipped the switch on the dashboard of the car, and the signature police siren went off loudly, alerting everyone in front of them to move aside. Once traffic had steered to the sides of the road, the bunny stepped her feet on the gas pedal and sent the cruiser toward the oncoming highway that led to Marshland district.

The street was eerily empty when they arrived at the reported location, with almost no traffic on the road and no one walking around. There were cars parked on both sides of the narrow one-way street, but there was not a single mammal about.

Stepping on the brake a little too hard, Judy accidentally sent the cruiser into a sudden stop motion that sent herself and her partner, along with his aviators, forward in their seat. If not for the seatbelts they had on, both would probably be hitting their faces against the car; one against the steering wheel, and one against the glove compartment.

When he saw the pair of glasses flying off his face, the fox immediately sprung one of his hands out and snatched the shades between his fingers while they were in mid-air. All of that happened in less than a second.

"Show off." The bunny scoffed as she unfastened the seatbelt and lowered her seat before opening the door.

"Just natural reflexes." The fox countered with a line of his own, chuckling as he set the aviators back on before following his partner out of the vehicle.

Ever since he got into the police force, he'd figured that it was best to start keeping himself in shape and try to improve his physique. So, whenever he was not with Judy and had some free time on his hand, he'd be at the gym pushing weights and punching sandbags, or just jogging around Savannah Central. And so far, he felt that he was much faster and stronger than before. Would definitely pay off, he thought to himself once.

The duo stood on the sidewalk staring at a small, old, boarded-up and depressing looking building with a 'CLOSED' sign hanging on its front door. The 'Gammoth Hardware' neon sign on top of the place was covered with dust and rust, with the 'd' had fallen off and dangling on its retaining screw. The place looked very much abandoned, especially with the already fading and peeling exterior paint of the walls. Green bushes of foliage and overgrown plants were also covering pretty much both sides of the place, definitely adding a sense of abandonment to the scene.

"Seems like the right place," Nick commented as nudged his elbow at his partner. His hand reached for the taser on his utility belt and pulled it out, checking to see if the cartridges were loaded. If they were to respond to an armed suspect dispatch call, they need to make sure their gadgets were ready to work, in case they ever need to use them.

Both of them were equipped with the standard Five-Seven pistol, which would be resting in the holster on their belts at all times unless needed. None of them in their entire career had ever needed to pull the firearm out, thankfully.

Nick looked over to his partner, who had already had her taser gun out and ready to go, and gave her a nod. "Just take it nice and slowly."

Both of them cautiously walked to the entrance of the store with Nick in the lead while looking around for any mammals within the vicinity of the building. When they both got to the door, the red fox reached for the doorknob and tried to turn it, but the weathered wooden door was simply creaked open by the fox's touch. Surprised, he quickly looked over his shoulder and motioned Judy to take cover at the empty space next to the door before dashing for the opposite one himself. A slight frown of focus on his face, the fox took one look around the area to scan for any mammals who might have made the call to the police, since he doubted anyone would be calling from inside the run-down place. No one was on the street, and the only sounds there was the buzzing noise of bugs, the howling wind of the swampland, and the occasional static crackles coming from the radio inside the police cruiser.

Something feels off, the fox thought to himself before making eye contact with his partner. "ZPD! Anyone here?" he demanded loudly, but no replies came back. He tried again, only to receive the same result as before. Nick looked over to Judy, and with one hand raised up, he gave her general directions on what they should do while silently mouthing the words. Once done, he mouthed 'one,' 'two,' and then 'three' before stomping inside the hardware store with taser raised and eyes rapidly darting around one section of the room; Judy followed suit and covered the other part with both ears perked up and eyes scanning the place. It was empty. Even with the limited amount of light coming through the two windows on each side of the small building, the red fox was certain that there was no one in the room besides him and his partner. The pair of shades on his face didn't hinder him from making such a confident assertion.

The stench of rotting wood and the odor coming from the water-stained walls made Nick grimaced a bit as his nose wrinkled at the repulsive smell. The pair did not let their guard down until the whole storefront was thoroughly scanned for any potential threats - a.k.a the reported armed suspect. There was one more room behind a blue door that situated behind the dusty counter that stretched for about three fourth the width of the storefront.

While Nick was checking the other side of the storefront, Judy slowly made her way toward the unchecked door. Her ears directed at the direction in front of her, and for a short second, she thought she had heard the subtle noises of someone whimpering.

"Nick," she called out to the fox, sounding almost as if she was whispering to him, but just loud enough for his ears to pick up every word. "I think someone's over here."

Nick, decided that it would be better for his eyes if his shades weren't there, took the pair off the hung it by his belt as he made his way over to Judy. His eyes went from her to the wooden door, and then back to the bunny as he too, tried to listen for anything beyond the blue barrier. Although he wasn't a rabbit, his ears were still able to pick up the faint noises behind the door.

"Sounds like it." The fox said as he steadily approached the door with his feet quietly stepped on the wooden flooring as he moved. His partner did the same as well, and both of them ended up standing on each side of the blue. Just like the same as before, Nick mouthed his signal, and once the countdown ended, both of them bashed through the door. What they found next was something none of them had expected.

Sitting on the floor of the small storage unit were two mammals, a raccoon, and a doe. Both were whimpering and making muffled, frantic pleads through their taped shut mouths, and the raccoon was struggling in an attempt to free himself from the ropes that had tied his tiny hands behind his back and bounded his legs his legs together by the ankles. The female next to him was restrained in the same fashion as well, but she was sitting as still as a statue while only muttering incomprehensible words through the duct tape over her mouth.

There was barely any light in the room, but both officers could spot the blood stains and splatters on both of the mammals' clothes from the few shards of light coming from outside of the dark room. However, Nick also saw something else on the doe.

As Judy was about to rush over to the raccoon, Nick grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her back. The bunny gave him a confused look and wondered why the fox had stopped her from trying to help the injured and traumatized mammals. Then, she saw the tension in the eyes of the frozen fox who wasn't even looking at her. With all of her divine attention, she watched his maw moved as words slowly and coherently came out.

"Do not come any closer to them." He said in a way as if the simple request was a threat to his own partner, even though the audible gulp he made before the sentence and the shakiness in his tone were in complete contrast with the characteristics of a hostile demand.

Judy turned her gaze to the couple behind her, and as soon as she saw what her partner was seeing, a small gasp escaped from her as she took a careful step back.

For all of his years living in Zootopia, as well as his time serving in the police force, Nick had only seen and heard of crimes involving fierce and deadly firefights between the perpetrators and the police, but even then, they weren't common at all, or at least up until a few months ago. However, what laid before his sight was something no ZPD officers would have expected or think of, even though everyone would have been informed of it and how to handle the situation in their training period before officially joining the department. It was something no one would ever wish to encounter.

The green rectangular box was connected with numerous wires of different colors; some of them ran around the doe's waist to her back, and some of them led right into the small makeshift timer that sat directly under the explosive satchel. There was a short antenna poking out of the timer, and the number displayed on the small LCD screen read '00:30'. An expert wasn't needed for both officers to understand what the numbers indicated. Thankfully, the numbers were static and not decreasing or increasing.

Both Nick and Judy flinched back a little bit as the raccoon tried to drag himself toward them. He murmured inaudibly as he inched closer to both officers, with his begging eyes flicking back and forth from the bunny to the fox. Nick finally mustered up enough courage to carefully approach the bounded mammals before removing the duct tape on his mouth.

The raccoon yelped in pain as some of his hair were yanked from their roots as the tape was removed hastily. He let the fox apologize before speaking up, "I know how they did it! I watched them wired the thing."

"Woah, woah, woah. Slow down, Turbo." Nick said in an attempt to steady the distressed creature.

"Don't touch the tape!" He snapped at Judy as she was reaching for the terrified girl.

The bunny jerked her hand back but brought her head forward to take a more detailed look at the mammal. Upon closer inspection, she noticed what was hidden from her eyes by the black veil of shadow. Two wires branched from the explosive charge were strangely connected to the piece of tape around the doe's mouth.

Nick was skeptical of the raccoon, but he took his words for it. Although, the codes of conduct were still needed to be followed, so he reached for his handheld radio and sent out a request for backup, as well as medical personnel.

"Be advised, we have a code Bravo Red," the fox added to his request.

Bravo Red was the code used by ZPD to indicate the presence of explosive substance or substances that might pose as an immediate threat. Everyone on the police force had always joked on how it would never be used because Zootopia was among the safest cities in the world. They were wrong, apparently.

"Just get me out of this, and I can turn it off!" The raccoon pleaded again as he dragged himself further toward Nick.

"Leave it to the police, buddy." Nick was getting highly suspicious of the small mammal, so he took cautious measures and turned to his partner to inform her of his plan in a whispering voice, "We'll cut him loose, but can't let him go anywhere near the bomb. Then, we'll wait for the specialists from Precinct."

As soon as he got an affirmative nod from Judy, the fox holstered his taser and kneeled down beside the raccoon's feet. He fumbled around with the rope in the dark as his fingers tried to locate the knot. Judy exchanged her taser for the flashlight on her belt and shined the light down on where his hands were as she stood behind the fox.

Spending nearly five minutes on undoing the complicate loops and ties, Nick finally managed to pull the last knot apart and freed the raccoon's leg. However, he noticed something unusual about the mammal while he was working on the rope. It seemed like the contour of an object in the shape of a slender cylindrical rod under the mammal's pants, near the right bottom hem. Nick had set the thing aside in his mind as he focused on the tight rope and set his priorities back on releasing the mammal, not knowing it would be a fatal mistake.

The moment the raccoon could move his feet apart from each other, Nick offered his hand out to help the mammal on his feet. Instead of receiving a hand in return like he had expected, Nick was greeted with a small blade that pierced his arm.

The fox painfully yelped in surprise and stumbled back as he held his left arm. Judy, taken by surprise, instantly reached her hand for her taser but was met with an electric surge that cramped her muscles before she could unholster the gun.

After using the fox's taser to incapacitate the other officer, the raccoon stormed his way out and made a run through the front door. He sprinted down the street as fast as his legs could carry him in the hope of getting away from the blast zone. The bomb vest wouldn't be much of an explosion by itself, but the two extra boxes of gunpowder beneath the floor would cause quite a fireball. He whipped his head back to take a look at the place to see if it was safe to slow down but was instantly met with the fox who was chasing after him like a lightning bolt full of wrath.

The rush of adrenaline helped Nick distracted himself from the deep trench in his arm that was oozing out a thick crimson liquid as he pursued after the attacker. He clenched his teeth while pushing himself to go faster as the distance between him and the raccoon started shortening, and once the opportunity arose, he lunged forward with both hands reaching for the raccoon.

The two mammals tumbled down on the pavement with Nick kneeling on the raccoon's back with one knee. The larger mammal grabbed hold of one of the perpetrator's hand and twisted it behind the raccoon's back before attempting to reach for the other one.

"Stop resisting, criminal." The fox grunted as he lunged to grab the free hand, but failed as it went under the raccoon.

After a short period of struggles between the officer and the raccoon, the smaller mammal finally pulled his only free hand out from beneath while gripping onto a small device in his palm. It was a small rectangular block with a few buttons on one side, two little LED lights, and a short, thin strip of metal wire sticking out from one end.

Nick spotted the box and switched his priority to disarming the remote from raccoon for he knew what the device was supposed to be for. As long as the criminal still has the device in his hands, lives are at stakes, the fox reminded himself as he used his other knee to subdue the raccoon from squirming around before subsequently snatching the detonator off the hand of death.

With the remote safely secured in his hand, Nick let out a tired but victorious chuckle as he eyed the defeated raccoon, knowing that he had stopped a catastrophic event from happening. However, he instantly regretted the thought as soon as he glanced down at the device. To his horror, one of the lights were on, and the other one was blinking steadily. Nick knew he didn't press anything on the remote as soon as he took the thing away from the raccoon.

"What did you do?" Between his gasps for breath, he demanded as his eyes switched from the device in his hand to the mammal under his knee.

"Tick tock," the other mammal replied back as he looked up at the horrified fox, followed by a malicious grin.

Without a second thought, Nick threw the detonator aside as he rushed back to the store, abandoning the raccoon on the street without cuffing him like he should have. As he ran, he started counting down from the numbers he had seen earlier on the timer, making sure each second counted was consistent.

Making it through the door, the fox was somewhat relieved to see his partner had managed to recover from the sudden voltage surge. He thanked himself for had always set the voltage level on the taser at the lowest number, despite the scowls and mockeries from his colleagues and the Chief. Setting his narcissistic little thought aside, he quickly raced over to the bunny and wrapped one arm, his right arm, around the bunny's hip to help her get on her feet. He darted his eyes over to doe and the bomb on her. The timer was getting down to single digits, and there was no time to be wasted. Because of that, he decided to scoop Judy up in his arms and sprinted for the exit.

"W-Wait! What about her?" Judy stammered as she looked back at the doe, whose eyes were piercing to bunny's heart as they begged for her life.

"What about her?" Nick hastily replied back even though he knew what she meant.

"We can't just leave her like this!"

The familiar sound of police sirens was starting to approach, along with the distinctive siren patterns of the ambulances and the firetrucks.

"There's no time!" As much as he wanted to save the doe, there was just no way for him or Judy to do so. He would rather lose a stranger's life than losing his partner, even as cold and unheroic as it sounded.

Before disaster broke loose, Nick managed to catch a glimpse of his partner's amethyst eyes staring at him, and those were the last thing he could clearly capture before an ear-ringing sound exploded behind them, followed by an immeasurable amount of force from the fireball that threw both of the officers off the ground.

The only thing that he felt was being sent flying through the air for a second or two before hitting the ground hard and tumbling like a ragdoll. In a short moment, he could feel the heat bashing against his back, and the stinging pain like someone was stabbing his back with tiny needles. Then, it all went dark for a short moment until he could faintly hear the chaotic sound of sirens, and people shouting; although, he couldn't make out all of the words that were coming into his ears.

"Get those hoses over here! ASAP" he heard someone ordered.

"Get the medics over here, damn it!" Another one shouted.

And the last thing on his mind was his partner before it all completely faded to black and he succumbed to the darkness.