Along with the obvious gender swap, I'm also tweaking the base story a bit, taking the tack that the movie was a dramatization of the actual story, made more 'interesting' with extra action and comedic inserts and somewhat contrived logic at times, rather than a more no nonsense police procedural.

Me and my big mouth, Julius raged to himself. The enormity of what he had just committed to was beginning to sink in as he left Bogo's office. After all the years of dedicated focus on getting to wear the ZPD uniform, he had just hung everything on this now Quixotic quest. Of course he was going to give it his all, he was Julius P. Hopps, after all, and the idea of disappointing the poor little otter lady was unthinkable.

That's the stuff. Now let's get to it.

And then he saw the file, or lack thereof. But, there was a clue in that cute brush on the edge of the security camera frame. And maybe a little pay back.

He had felt so played, so flustered, yesterday with that sharp Vixen that his cop brain hadn't caught up with the circumstance. She sure knew how to push his buttons, a surgical strike into the middle of his insecurities. But not today.

Using one of the other officer's workstations, he did a little refresher on the various codes and statutes, then called up what he could on this Nichole L. Wilde. Surprise, it didn't seem to be an alias or fake name. And, the more he dug, the more a plan emerged.

Gah, how he hated the clown car, but that's all he had to go with, and armed with what he had found out, he was able to track her down without too much trouble.

"Hello, Ms. Wilde. I'd like to ask you a few questions about a missing mammal."

"Officer Toot Toot. Playing real cop today?"

Julius made a face and then held up an all too sweet family photo of an otter and his family. "Seriously, I'm trying to track down Mr. Otterton. He's been gone for two weeks now. Do you know him?"

"I know everyone."

"And I know you were among the last to see him before he disappeared."

"And?"

"And I'd like you to help me find him."

"Why would I help you, Officer?" Nichole gave him an icy look.

Julius was a bit taken aback by that. Though he expected some small resistance, he didn't expect such overt hostility to such a reasonable request, even from the likes of her.

"Or, I can arrest you for all of your criminal activity."

"What 'criminal activity', I've got my papers in order."

"Well, there is the matter of the health code violations for the manufacture of the pops, not that you have a license for that step. And your general business license also didn't include a food vendor permit, or health inspection, and I bet you haven't been filing any sales tax on the proceeds. And I can't wait to see what your income tax data might look like."

Julius had just the slightest touch of glee in seeing the honestly shocked expression on the Fox's face.

"Then there is the matter of the 'red - wood', technically a food waste item, not dealt with properly, doubly so that, having been in some mammal's mouth is now a bio-hazard waste issue."

"So, I don't know if a judge would include jail time, but there would be a TON of fines, and revocation of all your permits, and given the extent of the violations, likely permanent. And an extended probation, so we can keep a very close eye on you. Not that you'd do anything actually illegal."

He could see that her shock was turning to anger, and maybe just a little hurt, but that was likely just another play.

"But. On the other hand, with maybe the exception of the pop manufacture," And at that, Julius made a little 'ick' face. "These have been largely technical crimes, short cuts for someone on the edge of society to make a go of things." His implication was obvious. Also, while she didn't have an adult criminal history, she did have a juvenile record and several social worker notations. As much as she'd jerked him before, he had a little context and wasn't going to hold a grudge - yet.

She gave him a dirty look, he was still a condescending jerk, but he also was so disgustingly earnest in his desire to make the world a better place. And she had heard about the missing mammals. "Okay, Officer Shake Down. I help you find this otter, and what, you just happen to forget me and my transgressions?" She gave him a more overtly poisonous look, "Or then you'll bust me anyway and you get a two-fer."

Julius grimaced. In a lifetime of scrupulously honesty, and where he had enjoyed unquestioning trust, this stung. He paused to collect himself. Then, "Ma'am, cards on the table. I'm in a jam with my boss. He gave me two days to find Otterton or I'm out the door."

Nichole was a bit surprised. Was this some kind of hustle? On one hand, he was dripping in fresh-off-the-turnips-truck rube, and his vibe was Ranger Scout cranked up to eleven. But he was also a cop, and they had never done anything but use their authority to keep her kind down. Then a question came to mind.

"Why or how did you connect me to Otterton? Yeah, I saw him and know where he went. But that was two weeks ago."

"I know." He confided, "They had a traffic cam image of you and him. That they never followed up makes me wonder as to what kind of clown show they have going on with the investigation." He hadn't considered that. Weren't they taking this seriously after all? Bogo seemed almost dismissive in the initial announcement, as though it was more of a nuisance from City Hall than a real case.

"Damnit." Julius finally said in realization. "Look, the rest of the ZPD doesn't seem to give a pellet about this, but I met his Wife. And the rest of the missing mammals have wives and families and all that. I joined to help them, not be just some guy with a badge. Will you help me?"

Nichole was honestly surprised. This crazy bunny might be the real thing after all. "Okay. I don't happen to have anything going on at the moment. But you're buying me lunch."

"Whatever it takes. And thank you."

Nichole regarded the bunny boy. He really was something. But she still had some suspicions. Sure, she'd help him, but maybe test his resolve in the process. This could be fun.

And boy, was it fun. Nichole knew they didn't need to go into the Oasis Springs compound to get the info on Otterton and the taxi he took, pumping Yax more directly would have been easy enough. But to see his look, especially in how he seemed so embarrassed for her sake as much as his own squick-out. Totally worth it. Old school gentlebeast, or total cherry-boy? Bunnies are supposedly total sex machines, and he isn't that young, but who knows?

And he didn't cheap out on lunch.

Nichole found that she was getting invested in the case. She knew Otterton, just slightly, but the more she thought about it, the more she felt for the little fellow and his family. Maybe sticking around to see how it ends was worth it.

Julius was delighted, he now had a trusty native guide to the city. And she seemed willing to bounce ideas back and forth on the case. He didn't know how much, or even if she was all that shifty after all, but she was sure sharp, and he delighted in her witty asides.

Finding Manchas from the Taxi Company was no stretch, though the cryptic non-answers at the dispatch center about his current status was troubling. Then, of course, there was his own cryptic comments before going crazy savage.

"Carrots, he could've killed me, thanks!" Nichole gasped, still recovering from the chase and looking on at the secured big cat.

"Carrots?" Julius gave her a puzzled look.

"Yeah, 'cause you guys eat 'em all the time. Ya know bunnies - carrots?"

"Actually we don't, more of a grass and greens diet. Too much sugar in them, can mess us up."

"Another pop culture image destroyed." She theatrically lamented.

They both noticed the scream of police sirens and saw that the cars were heading to a lower level, likely where his comm, and its GPS, had dropped. Seeing that the Panther wasn't going anywhere, they picked their way down to rendezvous with, what appeared to be half the total ZPD.

Julius became increasingly dismayed recounted the events of the last few, see the incredulous glances from his fellow officers and the dismissive comments from his Chief. Then, when arrived at the location that they had left Manchas secured, he wasn't there, nor were his cuffs.

"So, this 'savage' mammal is also a magician?" The big Bull was now thoroughly disgusted with this bunny-based farce.

"Sir, he really was right here. Ask Nichole, she was with me the whole time."

Bogo looked Nichole up and down and he sneered in distaste, "Believe a - " Wasn't going to say that, even though she undoubtedly was one, "Fox?" Turning back to Julius, "You've wasted enough of the department's and my time already. Badge!"

Julius could think of a myriad reasons why this was so wrong, so unfair, so arbitrary, so plain stupid, but the Bull had the power. There was nothing he could do.

"No." It was Nichole. "What happened to the righteous cop I knew back at central?"

The Bull pulled back at that.

"Yeah, we've met before. What is it with the ZPD anyway? Does it make everyone in the ranks specie-ists as well as lazy and stupid?" She stood toe to toe with the massive mammal. "I was an easy lead in your missing mammal case two weeks ago, and it was only today did anyone bother to ask me about it. Him!" She pointed at Julius.

"Sure, I can see why it wasn't a priority for you, being all preds, ya know, but what's with the rest of you?" She glanced at the mixed group of officers. "Don't any of you care? Or are you all just too dim to do your jobs?"

She waited for an answer, but saw the collection of big beasts were more angry at her daring to challenge than anything she had actually said.

Not waiting any longer, she grabbed Julius by the arm, "Come on, at least one cop in this damn city has a job to do."

Bogo let them leave, scowling more to himself than at the two little creatures.

Once on board a sky gondola to get back to downtown, Julius turned to the firebrand who was now glumly gripping the railing, "That was - wow. But what that about with the Chief?"

"The Buffalo didn't jack me up years ago. I almost thought there was still one honest cop in the city."

She looked out on what would otherwise be a spectacular vista and sighed. "Other than the kind of violations you caught me on, I've never done anything more overtly 'criminal' since I was a kid. But that didn't stop the cops from rousting me for just about anything they might want to pop me for. Never actually arresting me, of course, that would need something like real probable cause. Just being a fox wasn't quite enough."

"I know," Julius added with a guilty twinge. "I did my research. Sounded like you had some bad times earlier on."

"Yeah, being a fox, being a vixen, is pretty much the shittiest end of the stick." She rubbed her brow, "Even as a kit, especially in a next to no pred neighborhood and the only fox in the school. Even as a little kit!" She wasn't going to tell about how they had gone on about her, the slutty bitch, and how they had - hurt - her. No. She wasn't going to share that sob story with anyone.

"So, I gave up on trying to conform, to play by the rules. What difference would it make anyway? I'd never be anything but a shifty fox to everyone anyway."

But when she looked at him, she was surprised. She could tell if he was simply buying her tale of woe, but there was something more. "So, you've got a story to tell too."

"Oh, boy." Julius sighed. "I would have been just another country bunny, but wanted to do more, be more. To be a cop." He made a face, "Though to tell the truth, in retrospect, I could be a self-righteous little snot. But no one would take me seriously. Of course a rabbit couldn't be an officer. I was 'uppity', even in my family. Even with a pile of my own kin around, I'd get thumped by the class bully and they never backed me up. Likely figured I'd get some sense knocked into me."

He gestured to himself, "But here I am, trying to make the world a better place, despite their best efforts." But at the moment he didn't look like he believed that.

'So, what do we do now?" Nichole pondered, "It wasn't like Manchas could get loose by himself."

"I wonder if there is any security footage? But it isn't like anyone is going to bother to look." Julius was realizing that he wasn't going to be taken any more seriously here than he had back in the 'Burrow. "And if he was taken, there might be enough traffic cams coverage to follow where he went."

"But will you be able to get access to them, now that you're on Buffalo Butt's shit list?"

"I didn't have my own access to the system yet before, so very not likely now. But, I might have a friend in City Hall."

Getting the attention of Assistant Mayor Bellwether wasn't hard; Hopps was the bright new boy of the MII and the ZPD. Moreover, he had shown Dawn some courteous concern after Lionheart's rude handling of her at the graduation ceremony as well as their meeting at Bogo's office. So she was delighted to help in his investigation, and was half-tempted to linger after she showed him the system access in the little cubbyhole. Not that Julius was paying any attention. Well the Ranger Scout was going to do his duty, and that was going to work out just fine.

Once she was gone, Julius signaled to Nichole, who was trying her best to be invisible in the common area. "I got in, no problem."

Nichole looked around, sniffing. "Why would the assistant Mayor spend so much time here?"

Julius gave her a look. "I though she had been dumped on hard and this was her office?"

Nichole gave him a look in return, "While she may well be Lionheart's scutter, she does has a proper office and everything." She took a closer look at the computer display. "This looks like a pretty high-level access link, not the kind of thing you'd expect in records storage." She poked at a few keys, "And it is off-account. An anonymous connection."

'Well, it does give us access." But Julius offered Nichole the control, "You know the city better, so go to it."

And so they saw the capture of Manches, and the subsequent drive out to, presumably, the old sanitarium out of town. As they left the records office and down to get the clown car, Nichole had a thought.

"If there's a bunch of wolves out there, we're going to need some mask-all. They might not be the brightest lights, but they've got the best noses. So if we need to get sneaky, were going to need it."

Julius was impressed. He had totally missed that detail. Along with the obvious overall spraying of the scent reducer, Nichole gave herself an extra long shot up her skirt, "A girl can't be too careful." And she half-expected him to react.

He smiled, "Too many sisters to be embarrassed by that."

"That's right, you have gazillion siblings, don't you?"

"Sort of." He tuned conspiratorial, "We rabbits have a thing about numbers, so the temptation is to count as many kin as possible in the family totals. So, while my folks might claim something like nearly three hundred offspring, only a couple score are actually their issue. The rest are cousins and such."

"That's still quite a lot."

He shrugged. He wasn't going to mention the rather high mortality rate and iffy fertility rate that kept the rabbit population more in check than most realized.

"And you?"

'Nope." There was finality in that which Julius was not going to pursue.

Finding and infiltrating the old Cliffside Sanitarium proved to be easier than expected. It was remote, long closed, and the weather was getting nasty, so it wasn't the kind of situation in which there was going to be a lot of guards standing around getting their tails soaked. They were shocked with what they found. After getting some good images and transmitting them back to the ZPD, once they were able to convince anyone to actually believe them, bless that Clauhauser, they sat tight for the cavalry to arrive.