Nick swiftly stuck his arms out to the side in a last ditch attempt to catch his balance. He swayed back and forth a few times before managing to steady himself. He glanced back to Finnick, who's only response was a disapproving shake of the head. Nick smirked to himself and continued prancing across the railing of the cobblestone bridge.

"If you fall, I'm not driving you to the hospital," Finnick warned.

"It would be a waste of the doctor's time anyway," Crevan muttered, trailing behind the two other foxes as they made their way across the bridge.

"What's that? Do I hear a lack of confidence back there?" Nick hopped down onto the dirt path at the foot of the bridge and spun to face his two companions. "In me?"

"I don't exactly see anything here that would inspire confidence, no," Crevan responded as he took in his surroundings.

Nick had to concede the truth of his statement. Everything around them was deserted and decrepit, from the overgrown grass, to the bridge they were standing on, and especially the abandoned factory to his immediate right. If Nick didn't know any better, he would have assumed that no mammal had set foot there in about a decade. The complexities of city life had no place here. It was quiet. It was tranquil. It was perfect.

"Hey, I promised you the opportunity of a lifetime, didn't I? Well, I'm a fox of my word." With a flourish, he stepped to the side to reveal the large dilapidated warehouse behind him. The same warehouse that would serve as the foundation for his dream. After so long, it was finally his.

Crevan scratched his head, looking confused. "What am I supposed to be looking at here?"

"This," Nick replied in his best salesman voice, "is Wild Times!"

Crevan squinted, his confusion deepened. "Or at least it will be!" Nick hastily added.

Finnick smacked his paw to his forehead. "You're really going with that name?!"

Crevan's eyes darted to Finnick. "You know what he's talking about?"

The fennec fox gave a curt nod. "What, you haven't heard this guy yap about his little project before?"

Crevan's eyes came back up to Nick, who could feel himself being judged by both foxes. "I think I'm beginning to piece this together," Crevan said. "This thing" – he pointed at the warehouse – "is yours now. You're trying to come up with a way to use it. I think I have some ideas." Before Nick could stop him, Crevan's "ideas" came flying at him fast and furiously. "How about using it as a drop point? I doubt that any cops will come sneaking around here any time soon. Oh, maybe you can charge for storage. The docks are right down there. I know the Bambino herd uses them for a variety of shipments…"

"Woah, woah, woah! I'm going to have to stop you there," Nick interjected forcibly. "I already know what I'm going to do."

"Oh? What would that be?"

Nick held an imaginary microphone up in front of his muzzle. "Wild Times is the only amusement park within Zootopia's city limits. With attractions for each and every mammal, Wild Times is the perfect option whether you're looking to get away from it all, entertain the kids, or just want to try something new."

Crevan chuckled and wagged his finger in Nick's direction. "This guy." Nick remained completely stone-faced, causing Crevan to falter. "Wait, are you serious? An amusement park?" He looked to Finnick, who simply crossed his arms in response. "Oh no, you're serious."

"Completely. I've thought about this a lot. The closest amusement park is out in the Meadowlands. Think about it. We can offer kids something they can do after school. Not only that, but Wild Times can be a place that all mammals can go, interact, and, of course, have fun! Together."

Crevan was completely slack-jawed. "What has gotten into you?" he finally managed to say. "Where is this coming from? You sound like a naïve little kit."

Nick had anticipated such a reaction, and he was able to shrug off Crevan's words like they were nothing. The arctic fox wasn't exactly an idealist, but Nick knew that there was one part of his little sales pitch that could catch Crevan's attention.

"I'm going to need all the help I can get. You can actually help make a difference. Oh, and make quite a bit of money for yourself along the way too."

Crevan smirked. "You know me too well." Suddenly, his expression became downcast. "You're in on this?" he asked Finnick.

"This," the diminutive fox replied, gesturing to the warehouse. "This is my way out."

Nick jumped on Finnick's point faster than a hippopotamus into a watering hole. "This is one hundred percent a legitimate operation. Crevan, you would no longer have to look over your shoulder for the cops at every turn. Now wouldn't that be nice?"

"One hundred percent legitimate, huh?" Crevan scoffed. "So tell me, how'd you get the money for this thing? Come on, I know you didn't win it in a bet. This must have cost a fortune." Nick stared at the dirt path beneath him. "This, this dump is what you spent your money on!?" Crevan cried accusatorily.

Nick looked up, flashing a sly smile. "Well, not all of it. Just most of it," he replied.

"Alright then. Question time. How were you even able to purchase this, Mr. No-credit?"

Nick shoved his paws into his pockets. "You know what? Fine. It's not in my name. Technically… Mr. Big owns it. It's my money though."

Crevan's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head. "Really?! You got Mr. Big to go out on a limb for you?!" He took a few moments to calm himself before muttering "I wouldn't trust that shrew as far as I can throw him."

"That's probably a long way…" Nick quipped back at him, but Crevan made no acknowledgement.

The arctic fox continued: "And you really want to give up everything you have going here to try and pursue, what, some stupid idea? Or should I say some stupid dream you had as a kit?"

Of course Crevan knew what Nick's proposal was going to be beforehand; he somehow always knew things that he shouldn't. "You're not as dumb as you let on." Nick shrugged. "If you don't want to be a part of it, fine. I really don't care."

"Clearly you do, though. You wouldn't have dragged me out here otherwise."

"Sure. I could use your help. But I could also get any of ten thousand other mammals to help me. I thought I would be nice enough to give you the first crack at it."

"Nicholas. Listen to me. It doesn't matter how much time you put in, or how hard you work, or how much you want it, it's never going to get off the ground."

"Killjoy," Finnick spat, then fell silent again.

"I don't want to say this dream of yours is stupid." Crevan paused. "Alright, I do want to say that. Your dream is stupid. But it's also dangerous. You have a good thing going here. You're practically in Mr. Big's inner circle. Some mammals would kill for that. Literally. And you're going throw it all away for… what?

"Oh, I don't know." Nick looked skyward, his attention focused on nothing in particular. "Maybe just a chance at a normal life?"

"A normal life?" Crevan shook his head. "Ohhh…you want to be like them? You want to play by their rules? Do you not see the way they look at you? You're a fox. You're a con. This is what you're good at. Don't try to be anything else."

"You know, I've always thought the same as you do. That's why I need this. I need this because I let this city get to me a long time ago, and this one single, little, crazy idea is the only thing keeping me going. Beyond this, I have nothing; nothing to wake up to in the morning, nothing to push me forward, nothing to get excited or even nervous about, nothing." Nick locked eyes with Finnick, who gave him a nod. Nick grinned and returned the gesture.

"You're gonna have less than that when this all falls through," Crevan grumbled.

"I guess we'll just have to see," Nick replied, his grin growing wider.

"We'll see," Crevan whispered, his voice barely audible. He didn't know why at the time, but the words sent a chill down Nick's spine. "We'll see."


"Nick! It's almost noon! Are you planning on getting out of bed today?" Judy called out from the kitchen, tapping her foot impatiently. You would think he had a long night last night or something… She turned an ear toward the bedroom and heard the rustling of sheets, followed by a yawn.

"Don't make me get the spray bottle," Judy said, laughing as she did so. Even with her impeccable hearing, she could barely make out Nick mumbling something about "cruel and unusual."

"I have sly, dumb, and now lazy written down. Is there anything else you want me to add to the list?"

"Handsome… I'll go with… devilishly handsome," Nick replied sluggishly.

"Just for you, I can do that. Now get up."

"… so bossy…"

Judy swiped the cruiser keys off the counter and headed for the door. "Hey Nick, I'm going to the store. Is there anything you need?"

"The store… what for?"

"My parents are coming by for dinner tomorrow. I just thought I would get some things ready."

Judy heard Nick get out of bed. "Wow. That's a quick reunion." He poked his head around the door. "What are you thinking of getting?"

"Hmm. I don't know. I'll figure it out when I get there." She clapped her paws together. "Ohhhh, how about a blueberry pie! We'll see whether Zootopia can measure up to Gideon."

"What's that now?"

"Oh nothing. I'll be back soon." That's weird. I thought I locked the door last night…

Judy skipped down the stairs and to the parking lot. The sun shone brightly and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Judy stretched and let the sun soak in. The day couldn't get much nicer. Judy shook her head at the thought of Nick still lying in bed; he was missing out on so much. She made her way to the cruiser. She figured that she would just go to Targoat and try to get everything she needed in one trip. The store was close enough that if she ever felt like she needed the exercise, she could jog there and pick up some small items, but she definitely needed to grab a little more than carrots and coffee beans this time around.

It took Judy a while to find a suitable parking spot (parallel parking the cruiser was always a pain) but she eventually found that wasn't annoyingly far away and got out. The sunlight had made her a little drowsy, so she stretched again and did a little pirouette on the sidewalk to get some blood flowing. She felt a pair of eyes fixated on her and turned to see an antelope with a confused expression on his face and a half-eaten stalk of celery sticking out of his mouth. Judy gave him a little wave and he shook his head like he couldn't quite process what he was seeing. Judy supposed that a bunny dressed in a bright pink t-shirt and jeans wasn't what most mammals anticipated as the driver of a police cruiser.

Judy made her way down the couple of blocks to the cross walk in front of the Targoat and waited. It almost would have been quicker to jog here, Judy thought as she waited for the light to turn.

"Oh, oh, look over there! Is that her?" Judy heard an excited voice female voice in the direction she had come from. She turned to find two llamas working their way through the crowd of animals, both waving their hooves as they went. Judy instantly pegged them as a couple and she vaguely recognized one of them from somewhere, but she couldn't quite put her finger on where…

"Look at her, Keith! She's so cute!" the female llama exclaimed. Judy pursed her lips upon hearing the "c" word, but figured that she meant no offense and didn't pursue the topic. "Sorry… do I know you?"

"Oh my gosh! I still haven't introduced myself! I'm Marcy and this is my husband, Keith." The two llamas interlocked arms. "From apartment four-twenty-eight! We're your neighbors!"

"Ah, I'm so sorry! I should have recognized you guys! I'm Judy, by the way."

"It's so nice to meet finally you, Judy. When Keith told me one of our neighbors was a bunny, I was so excited!" She turned to her partner. "I think she lives up to the hype!"

This is a little weird… oh well… Although it usually irked her, Judy was used to some city animals reacting rather… enthusiastically when they first met her. Just as long as it didn't become too diminishing, or go on too long, she could put up with it.

"Say, where's your boyfriend? Ow!" Marcy recoiled as Keith gave her a quick elbow. "Oh! Right. I mean, if he is your boyfriend, that is."

"I should add that we support y'all. If you're even together that is," Keith added breathlessly.

Marcy covered her mouth with her hoof. We're so sorry!" she breathed. "We just assumed…"

"No, no, don't be!" Judy said, her face flushed with embarrassment. "Yeah, I guess Nick and I are together." Judy realized that she had never causally said those words to anyone before. The words felt like they were pulling a weight off of her chest as they left her tongue and she felt a warmth flood through her.

"Nick. Niiiccck." Marcy worked the name over slowly like she could taste it. "It's great that you're so open about this! We're really happy for you two. I really mean it!"

"…really mean it," Keith parroted next to her.

"I mean, a bunny and a fox? I think it's absolutely adorable." Just then, the pedestrian crossing signal lit up and the crowd of animals began to filter across the street, taking the trio with them. Keith used the distraction to quickly change the subject.

"So… ya'll are police officers, aren't you?" he asked.

"Yes. Yes we are," Judy replied, momentarily thankful for a new topic of conversation.

"Oh, Keith, you didn't tell me that! That might explain what they were doing last night," Marcy butted in.

Keith turned his head to her. "No, I don't think so. They didn't have their uniforms on."

"Oooohhh, an undercover operation maybe?" The two llamas sped up, seemingly forgetting about Judy.

"I'm sorry, what are you guys talking about?" Judy called out to them as she broke into a jog to try and keep up.

Marcy looked down with an apologetic look that communicated that she had, indeed, forgotten about the bunny in their midst. "Oh… er… we saw you two out late last night… and were, uh, just wondering what you were up to."

Judy's ears shot up and her brow furrowed in confusion. "Late last night?"

"Well, more like the early morning."

"Wait, now that I think about it… I guess you weren't there." Keith added.

"Yeah, I think it was two foxes. A white fox, maybe?"

Two foxes? And one of them is Nick? Judy felt a feeling of uneasiness roll over her. She fell silent, lost in thought.

Marcy stopped when she reached the other side of the street and stared at Judy with a concerned expression on her face. "Oh, no! We're being nosy, Keith, we're too nosy!"

"Yeah, sorry. It's probably police business, anyway," he offered.

Judy barely heard him; her mind was racing a million miles a minute. Is Nick trying to hide something from me? No, he wouldn't do that. This could just be a mistaken identity, she thought. But no matter how hard she tried to convince herself, she couldn't shake her detective instinct that something was wrong. Very wrong.

"Yeah. Police business," she finally managed to say. "That's what it is."


Nick ever so slowly closed the front door and looked up and down the hallway to make sure the coast was clear. He took a deep breath and rued the fact that he was getting so good at sneaking out without waking Judy. He tiptoed down the hallway and then hustled down the stairs, taking two steps at a time, the cruiser's keys jingling in his pocket as he went. Regardless of the outcome of the night, Nick wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.

"Woah, look out!"

Nick jumped at the sound of the squeaky voice and his left foot slipped out from under him. The next thing he felt was the back of his head slamming onto the concrete step underneath him. He slid down the last remaining steps and ended up lying on the ground clutching his head.

"A-Are you okay?"

Nick rolled over and found himself nose-to-face with Max.

"Yeah, everything's just peachy." Nick sat up slowly, rubbing the throbbing spot on the back of his head. "What are you doing here?"

"What? We were supposed to meet tonight, remember?"

"What are you doing right here, you idiot. Do you normally hang out at the bottom of stairs? I almost stepped on you!"

"Hey, it's up to you to look before you step!"

Nick grumbled to himself and worked his way into a kneeling position. He looked down at Max and scoffed at his all-black getup, including a black turtleneck and stocking cap. What does this guy think he's doing?

Nick did a double take when he noticed the duffle bag that lay behind Max. The thing must have been twice the tiny mammal's size. Nick picked it up with two fingers.

"Now how did you manage to get this here?"

Max shrugged. "I took a Zuber."

Nick got up and started for the cruiser, but doubled back to Max, who was struggling to keep up. "So… uh…. do you need a lift or something?"

Max gave him an affirmative nod.

"So how is this supposed to work? Do I pick you up by the scruff of your neck or by the tail or what?"

"Ha ha. Very funny."

"You think I'm joking." In one swift move, Nick reached down with his one free paw and grasped the dunnart, who was too stunned to offer any protest. Nick dashed to the cruiser and deposited Max and the bag in the passenger's seat before getting in himself.

"You should ask before you do that, you know!" Max protested.

"I'm not in the mood, little guy. We're going to do this my way, or not at all."

"I don't see what…"

"Zip it," Nick snapped as he backed the cruiser out.

The drive to the precinct should have been a quick ten minute jaunt, but, to Nick, it felt like it was taking forever. He briefly contemplated turning the siren on to blow by what little traffic was on the road, but ended up just impatiently drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. He watched Max out of the corner of his eye, but the minuscule mammal just sat there looking at the dashboard after he discovered that he couldn't put on the seat belt because it was thicker than his entire body. He wasn't very keen on it, but Nick needed something to keep his mind off the task ahead, so he decided to try his paw at making conversation. Maybe I can work some information out of him…

"So… how exactly did you fall in with Crevan?"

"W-What do you mean?"

"You don't strike me as the type he usually associates with."

"Well, I'm not really working for him. It's more like a one-time arrangement. Boss's orders."

Go on…

Max looked up at Nick with a look of realization on his face. "Never mind."

"What? I'm part of this little operation now too. I need to know what's going on."

"Yeah, but you're not exactly here willingly." Max shook his head. "Sorry."

Nick rounded a corner and the precinct came into view to their right, its large visage seemingly blocking out everything else around it. Nick gulped as a wave of emotions flooded over him at the sight of it; emotions that he hadn't felt since… well, since he had been on the other side of the law. Nick pulled to a stop in front of the entrance. He noticed that the parking lot was almost full, but that wasn't surprising. Most officers didn't take their cruisers home, even if they were allowed to.

"This is my domain," Nick said, trying more to work up his own confidence than intimidate his accomplice. "If you want to leave here on your own freewill, you'll do exactly as I say."

"Um, I have a question first. How are you going to get me inside? Do I have to crawl in your pocket or something?"

"You are NOT crawling in my pocket." Nick looked around the cruiser and his eyes settled on the lavender purse laying on the floorboard. Cute. "This looks like our only option. Get in."

Max shook his head in objection, but Nick simply smirked in response. "Come on…"

Moments later, Nick walked up the steps to the ZPD's main entrance with the lovely lavender purse slung over his shoulder.

"Oh, oh, oh, hey Nick!" A familiar cheerful voice rang out across the lobby. "I didn't expect to see you here this late!"

"I could say the same thing, Clawhauser," Nick replied. "Are you ever not working?"

"Yeah…" The cheetah let out a sigh. "Hey, isn't it your day off? What are you up to this late?" Clawhauser asked, resting his round chin on his paws.

"Up to? Ha ha! Nothing!" Nick chuckled nervously. "I… uh… just forgot something?"

Suddenly, Clawhauser jerked straight up as something caught his attention and Nick instinctively jumped back, preparing to turn and leave.

"Look at that bag!" Clawhauser breathed. "If I had to guess, I would say that's not yours. Let me guess: that's Judy's, isn't it?"

"Uh… yes, actually."

"And you're here to pick some things up for her so that she doesn't have to waste time during the weekend."

"Uh… yes. Yes, that's exactly what I'm doing."

"O.M. Goodness! You two are so adorable together!" Clawhauser cried in his normal overenthusiastic manner, causing Nick to flinch. He thought back to the events that had transpired not forty-eight hours prior.

Clawhauser, you blabbermouth. You might think that, but I doubt that everyone else here does.

"I must say though, I think it surprised a few of the guys…"

Knew it. Internally, Nick felt like ripping into the cheetah for his lack of discretion, but he knew that doing so would simply lead to a profuse amount of apologizing, something that he didn't have time for at the moment. Instead, he responded with a meek "what now?"

Clawhauser gasped, as though he just now realized what he had said. "Oh, I think I'm holding you up. Forget I said anything. Go, go!" he said hurriedly and made a shooing motion. "Don't leave Judy waiting."

"Well, alright then." Nick gave the cheetah a little salute and turned down the hallway toward the offices. Dolt.

Nick nervously glanced around for any signs of his fellow officers, but there were no signs of anyone anywhere.

"Psssst!" he whispered down at his purse. "I should have asked this sooner, but what am I doing?"

"You have a work computer, right?" came the muffled reply. "Go there."

Surprising, or perhaps fortunately, the offices were just as empty as the rest of building appeared to be. Nick hesitantly made his way to his desk and sat down. He turned the purse over the desk and gave a shake, causing the little mammal inside to tumble out with an "oof."

"That was uncalled for, you brute."

"Yeah, yeah. Now tell me what your evil plan is."

"Log on to your computer. I need access to all the ZPD case files."

Nick folded his arms across his chest and cast an eye at the dunnart. "Well, I can't get you that."

"You can't, but I can. Now log on so I don't have to spend five minutes figuring out your password."

Nick begrudgingly smacked at the keyboard before sitting back and watching as Max unzipped the bag he had brought and drug out a flash drive and a miniature keyboard. "Isn't that novel," Nick muttered to himself.

"Hey, don't just sit there! Plug these in for me, will you?" Max squeaked up at him.

"You sure you're the best mammal for the job?" Nick asked, annoyed, but he did exactly what he was told.

Nick could do nothing but sit back and watch as Max went to work. He tried to stay engaged at the start, but he really had no idea what was going on. Something about "spoofing," maybe? Nick soon became lost in his own thoughts. For the past few hours, Nick had been trying to keep himself moving and occupied so that he wouldn't have to think about what he was taking part in. Now, he had nothing to do but sit and think. He still couldn't quite process how things had gone the way they had. Here he was, inside Precinct One of all places, aiding and abetting in a crime against his own friends and coworkers. He kept on trying to tell himself that he only had good intentions, that this was a means to an end and he would find those responsible and set everything straight in the end. Nick sighed to himself. He could keep lying to himself, or he could face the fact that he was just trying to look out for his own selfish interests and had no real plan beyond that. What would Judy have done in my situation? He thought. Definitely not this, but then again, she wouldn't be stupid enough to find himself in such a position in the first place.

"All done," Max harshly whispered, breaking Nick out of his meditation. "On to the next one."

"Next one?" Nick asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I need to access two different computers for what I'm trying to do. Blah, blah, it's all very complicated." Max turned an eye toward Nick. "You can get on another computer, right?"

Nick gulped and balled his paws up, digging his claws into his own pads. "Um… yeah. I can do that," he replied quietly, feeling subdued. He only had to go a couple of feet to find a computer they could use.

Nick couldn't bring himself to sit down in Judy's chair, so he simply stood while he waited for the computer to boot up. Of all the things that he had done the past couple of days, he knew that what he was about to do was going to bother him the most. Nick took a deep breath. Judy had never directly told him her password, but she didn't need to. He knew what it was. Nick felt faint. What he was doing now was a direct violation of her trust and… and it was unforgivable. He didn't know how Judy would react if she ever found out, but at this point, Nick would honesty understand if she never wanted to speak with him again.

"You done yet?" Nick complained impatiently after a while of watching Max incessantly type away at his keyboard.

"Actually, yes I am," came the reply. "I can now access all the ZPD's files remotely. Cool, huh?"

Nick, who had found himself leaning on the desk, snapped to attention. "That's just great… let's get out of here."

"W-Wait! We still have to do one more thing."

"You have got to be kidding me…"

Max gave him an apologetic look. "How do we get to Chief Bogo's office?"

"Son of a…" Nick almost kicked the desk, but just barely managed to compose himself. "Come on." He scooped up Max and his gear, as well as a paper clip (just in case…) and tore out of the offices, but skidded to a halt when he reached the hallway. "Clawhauser's still there. We'll have to take the long way." He doubled back and dashed up the emergency stairwell. Nick stealthy moved along the second floor until the grand ceiling of the lobby came into view. He kneeled down slowly looked over the railing. Below him, he could make out the back of Clawhauser's head as he sat at the reception desk. Outside of the cheetah, the building was still shockingly empty and deathly quiet.

Nick pressed himself against the wall and slinked over to the door of Chief Bogo's office. He tried to turn the handle, but, as he expected, it was locked. Nick fished out the paper clip he had grabbed earlier and began the process of picking the lock. His suspicions about the city cheaping out on locks was soon proven correct and they made their way inside the office, and Nick deftly closed the door behind them.

"Do what you need to do." Nick said as he sat Max down on the chief's desk. "What do you need to do?"

"Some good old fashioned wiretapping," Max replied with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes as he rooted around in his duffle bag.

Just then, Nick's ears registered the faintest sounds of a deep, baritone voice echoing out in the lobby. It can't be… He pressed his ear up against the door.

"… Heck of a night out there, Clawhauser. Something weird is going down on Herd Street." Nick sucked in a breath. It was undoubtedly Chief Bogo.

"Hurry up! Bogo's downstairs!" he hissed at Max, but kept his ear pressed against the door.

"Chief! Have you heard the new Gazelle single yet?" Clawhauser inquired.

"Clawhauser! We've talked about this! Not on the job." Nick heard the chief's footsteps sound as he made his way across the lobby. "Anyway, I need to grab some things from my office. Then I can finally enjoy my blasted day off."

We're so dead…

"Max, we have to go now!"

"Almost there!"

"No 'almost!' Now!"

"Hey Chief, whaddarya we are going to do about Judy and Officer Wilde?" Clawhauser's muted voice filtered through the door, causing Nick to freeze.

"We'll have to figure it out tomorrow, won't we?"

What they're going to do… about us?

"Nick! I'm done! Let's go!"

Nick's attention snapped to Max, who was waving at him from Chief Bogo's desk. Nick gave him a shushing gesture and snapped his head back to the door.

"Chief, uh, just to let you know, Officer Wilde is…" Before he could finish, a ringtone sounded, filling the precinct with music.

I won't give up, no I won't give in

'Til I reach the end and then I'll start again

No I won't leave, I wanna try everything…

"Uh, Clawhauser, I have to go," Nick heard Chief Bogo say quickly, followed by the heavy sounds of his hoof-falls as he swiftly exited the lobby.

Nick remained rooted in place. Of course he knew that Chief Bogo wouldn't approve of their relationship, but he now wondered if it was a fireable offense. Get it together, Wilde. You still have a job to finish…

"Hey! Hey! Fox! Let's go!" Max was incensed, but Nick was well past the point of caring.

"You asked for it," he responded and swiped the dunnart off the desk and shoved him in the purse.

"I was just going to say that Nick's here," Clawhauser muttered to himself. "Somewhere. Where is he?"

Just then, Nick came rushing down the stairs and blew past the reception desk.

"Oh, there he is. Hey Nick!" Clawhauser called out.

"Hey, Clawhauser," Nick called back. 'Bye, Clawhauser!" With that, he blew through the front doors of the precinct and out into the safety of the night.

Nick and Max sat in the cruiser wordlessly for a long time, waiting for their pulses to return to normal. Nick had felt an adrenaline surge that he hadn't had in a long time. It was different than the kind of rush he experienced when chasing a criminal or even when he was hustling. In fact, now that he thought about it, he hadn't experienced it since… since the last job he had pulled off with Crevan. Speaking of the devil…

"So that's it, right? I've done everything Crevan asked."

"Er… I probably should have mentioned this sooner, but Crevan wants you to do one more thing," Max said hesitantly.

Nick could do nothing but let out a sigh. Of course he does. Did I expect anything else? "What does he want me to do?"

"He wants you to meet him."

"Where?" Nick asked, but his intuition already told him that he wasn't going to like the answer.

"The Nocturnal District."