A/N: It's finally here. There is one thing that I need to get out of the way before you are going to read this chapter:

*GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF VIOLENCE*

It's not all that bad, but I know that some people can't handle blood and stuff like that, so I might as well just put it out there. Otherwise, enjoy!


She felt like she was floating in midair.

She couldn't feel anything, she couldn't see anything, nor could she hear anything. Everything around her was a blur of light and dark. Slowly her hearing started to return, but it came back in nothing but a sharp ringing. It was hard for her to judge time, but it felt like hours before she could see anything of her surroundings. But the space that she was in was simply too dark except for the small area that she occupied, which was illuminated by a lamp somewhere overhead. She could only see herself and that she was tied to a chair. It was about this time that she was able to feel again.

The ropes around her arms and legs were tied incredibly tightly which caused very little circulation to make it to her paws and feet. She still couldn't feel much, but the pain from the rope digging into her wrists and ankles was already excruciating. She tried to move her arms and legs, but that only made the pain worse. To try and ease the pain she sat still, but it seemed that no matter what she did she would still feel intense agony. She couldn't help but think that was how it was supposed to be.

As Judy's hearing finally returned, she could hear a strange high-pitched humming coming from right in front of her. She tried to see who it was, but the lights in her eyes were too bright and allowed her to only see a few feet around her position. She heard the humming get closer and closer and eventually turn into a high-pitched shriek of laughter as the form it resonated from came slightly into view. Only white fur was visible along with a pair of glowing red eyes.

"We were wondering when you'd wake up, sleepy rabbit! Haha!" said the shrill male voice as he jumped about the edge of the lamp light. As she tried to catch a glimpse of her captor, all she could hear was a quiet chuckling. Judy coughed slightly to clear her dry throat.

"Doesn't help much when you greet your guest with a tranq dart to the neck. Why don't you show yourself instead of hiding like the coward I know you are!" Judy shouted back. The creepy giggling stopped and before she knew it, a white furred weasel was up close and right in her face.

"Better, rabbit? We were sure you'd rather not see this beautiful face,"

The weasel continued jumping about, but this time he stayed within the realm of light. Judy could now get a much better look at the weasel. He was all white, with the exception of his piercing and rather unsettling red eyes. His fur was matted and messy, looking as though it had been months since it had been washed. Judging from the smell in the air, Judy didn't think that was all that crazy.

"Who's we? There's only one other mammal in here, and that's you!"

"You wouldn't understand, rabbit, but let me explain it to you. There is me, the albino weasel that everybody thinks is a freak because he can't go out in the sun. Even this lamplight will get too intense after a while. That's why you'll be spending most of your time here in the dark." The weasel got into Judy's face once more, his voice dropping much lower and into a sort of growl.

"And then there's the part of me that takes those who get in my way and eventually will make you my next game," The weasel's voice returned to its original high-pitched tone.

"You see, we are one in the same. I can't control who is who. I'm just two individuals in the same body. That is why we have taken you, and that it why we will kill you!" The weasel broke into full-bellied laughter, but his laughing fit was stopped when Judy angrily spat in his face. He stopped in the middle of his little dance and wiped his face with his paw. He narrowed his eyes and brought his fist back and delivered a swift and powerful punch to the rabbit's jaw

Judy's head snapped to the side and her chair nearly fell backward from the force of the punch. He remained a few feet away from Judy and stared at her with a longing to finally put her down. He shook the paw that he hit Judy with and let it rest by his side.

"Believe us when we say, you need to learn your place, rabbit. You will feel things during your time here that you thought you could never feel. We will inflict so much pain on your body that you won't even be able to hear the sound of your own bones breaking. Believe us when we say you are not going to leave this place alive, especially when you pull things like that. A little respect can get you a long way, and that rule still applies here." The weasel delivered a chilling full-bellied chuckle as he paced back and forth.

"Well, if you want respect, may I please know your name?" The weasel smiled as he continued pacing around Judy.

"They call us Ray. Jamison Ray. Many know us only as "The Boss," but most will call us Ray. The name would be quite familiar to your little friend, Nicholas." At the mention of Nick, Judy's ears shot up, but she quickly relaxed and continued trying to figure this weasel out.

"Well then, Ray. What exactly do you want from me?"

"There is nothing physical that you have for us to desire. We want nothing more than your screams. We find great pleasure in hearing them when money is not available. That's why Mr. Meyer is seated a lot like you in a different room. We've already gotten his screams, so you're just extra ear-candy." He once again filled the seemingly large space with echo-y laughter. Judy looked at the weasel, completely baffled by his reasoning for capturing her. It was all just because he wanted some entertainment.

"Really!? You're just going to torture me!? For the fun of it!?"

"Hit the nail on the head there, rabbit! No one ever accused us of being completely sane!" Ray was now standing behind Judy's chair and he brought his muzzle close to her ears and whispered.

"That's why we're going to have lots of fun with you, especially now that we have the ZPD like putty in our paws. Your poor little foxy is going to have to leave the force if he wants to get you out of here alive. There's no way he'll find us any other way." Judy gasped as she heard what Ray just told her.

"You mean the only reason I'm here is that you don't want Nick to be a cop!? How ridiculous can you get!?"

Ray ignored Judy and skipped from behind her chair and out of the light. Judy could hear some metal clanking in the direction that Ray had just gone, but she didn't know what it was.

"Ohhhh! We're going to have so much fun trying out some new toys on you! The eighth-inch bit is still shiny from the package. We think that will be used first…"

All of the blood in Judy's face rushed out when she heard him utter those words.

Did he mean eighth-inch drill bit!?

In the distance she could hear Ray speaking, but she couldn't make out any of the words. She began squirming in her chair. She didn't know what he planned on doing, but she was not about to go along with his plan willingly. She had to get out of this chair. No matter how much the ropes hurt her wrists and ankles, she kept trying to free herself. It was no use, though. Judy heard some shouts, and soon enough Ray had finished talking to himself and had now come out of the shadows with a cordless drill and a shiny eighth-inch bit designed for wood sticking out of the tip. Judy squirmed even more, doing anything in her power to get out of the chair.

Ray set the drill down by her side and grabbed a large strap that was lying on the ground behind her chair. Ray pushed her forehead back so that it was touching the wooden seatback and he tightened the strap so Judy couldn't move her head forward.

"Didn't want you getting nippy while we did some work. That wouldn't be very good if you decided to bite down on an arm or something!" Ray grabbed the drill and pressed on the trigger a couple of times causing the bit to spin with incredible speed.

"This should rip through your tiny paws no problem!"

Judy was shaking so much that she felt like she was going to pass out, and she hoped she did to prevent her from feeling the pain that was about to curse her paws and entire body.

Ray took the drill and jabbed the bit on top of Judy's right paw with one of his and held down her fingers with the other. The pain from him just stabbing her paw with the bit was enough to make her clench her jaw. She tensed up as she braced herself for the coming onslaught of mind-bending agony.

"Smile for the camera!"

Then he pulled the trigger.


The weather in central Zootopia had strange ways of working. It was common knowledge to most mammals that the climate controlled districts had something to do with the weather that acted strangely in the city center, where it was supposed to be the usual temperate climate. And in a bizarre contrast to the previous morning, it was cold and rainy, only about 65 degrees rather than the scorching 92 degrees it peaked at yesterday.

The rain came down quite heavily atop Nick's umbrella as he walked to the station. Even with the large buildings and the umbrella that covered Nick from the top, rain droplets still managed to get his uniform wet from the strong wind that managed to blow through downtown.

Nick walked along with a frown on his face. The memory of his fit of crying last night was a bit fuzzy, but he knew that it happened and that he didn't get very restful sleep because of it. The entire night was filled with nightmares which woke him up about every hour and he wouldn't sleep again for a while, usually crying himself back to sleep, only to be woken once again by another nightmare.

A blast of wind blew several large drops of rain into Nick's face and he squinted and grimaced as they attacked him. He quickened his pace as he caught sight of the station. He trudged up the stairs, into the building, and past Clawhauser's desk, who didn't even greet Nick. The cheetah took one look at Nick and decided he was best left alone.

Nick headed straight for his office, his tail dragging on the linoleum and ignoring everyone that said hello to him on the way there. Before he made it, however, he noticed Officer Wolford standing right outside his office. The wolf seemed to be waiting for Nick. He turned his head and saw the fox walking towards him, an apologetic look on his muzzle.

"Wilde, I know we couldn't get anything from Hopps' apartment, but-"

"It's fine," Nick interrupted. "We'll find something else, I'm sure. But it's not like we have much else to do. We've got one day to figure this out and we don't even know who our kidnapper is, nor where they are." Nick opened the door to his office without looking at Wolford and he walked inside, Wolford staying outside the office space. "I don't know what you want to do about that, but for now I have some things I would like to get done." Nick shut the door before Wolford could even respond and he sat down in his chair and turned on his computer. Nick tapped his fingers on his desk while he waited for the computer to start up and he looked around the mostly empty office space.

It was designed for mammals about Wolford's size, but it comfortably fit two small desks and computers for him and Judy. There was an analog clock hanging on one wall and was otherwise a pretty boring room. Walking inside, a set of small filing cabinets were directly in front of the door on the opposite wall. Two similar desks were to the left and the right, Nick's being on the left. A small fake tree sat in the corner by Judy's desk, the only object that gave the room much life.

Nick twiddled his thumbs as he waited a moment for his computer to be all loaded up and running at usual speed. When it was ready, he logged on and then clicked on the icon which brought him to his inbox. There was a single unread email with an address which he did not recognize. Most unusual was that it had not come from someone else in the ZPD either. Nick wasn't sure how that was possible, but he clicked on the email anyways.

There was no subject, no text in the body. Just a short video attached to it. Nick played the video, which began with something he did not want to see.

The only thing on the screen was Judy tied to a chair. There was nothing else that he could see, just black surrounding everything.

Nick watched with wide eyes as a face appeared in front of Judy, a face that Nick unfortunately recognized.

"Hello there, Nick. Thought we were out of your fur for good, didn't ya?" the face whispered.

This cannot be happening…

"Well, things don't tend to work that way. Your past will always come back to haunt you, even if you think you did everything to get rid of it. That is why we're here with your precious rabbit. We would have called it good with the mink, but you decided to get in the way, so now we've decided to get a little payback. Remember how you ruined our future and everything we had going for us all those years ago? No... Well, we still do! And now it's time for some long awaited retribution!" Nick looked in horror at the video, knowing full well what he did to warrant this overreaction.

"You have one more day before both of them are finished. But for now, how about we give you a little taste of what will be happening to your little rabbit friend in the meantime, no? And don't forget, you have the power to stop this all. Just quit, and I'll drop both of them off in an alley somewhere and this all can go away. But if not, then the plan will be brought to fruition and they will suffer. But hopefully, you will suffer the most. They will at least have the privilege of being brought out of their suffering. You, on the other paw, will have to live the rest of your life wondering why your own selfishness got two innocent mammals murdered in cold blood." The weasel walked away from the screen and over to Judy, where he tied her head back to the chair and taunted her with the drill that he was carrying.

Nick watched in horror as he saw the blood spray from the drill bit and he heard Judy's unmuffled screams of agony. And then the video ended.

Nick pressed the button on his radio.

"Chief. I've got a bit of a situation."

Bogo's response took only a few seconds to be heard by Nick.

"What is it now, Wilde?" Bogo responded with agitation.

"I'm going to forward you an email that I just received. Get Wolford up to your office and wait for me to get there before you do anything with it. We might have just gotten the biggest lead yet as to where Hopps is."

Nick released the button and sprinted out of his office straight up to Bogo's office. He could hear some shouts from Bogo and Wolford on the radio, but he couldn't make out what they were saying. Nick sprinted up the stairs and as he was about to Bogo's office, he heard a shout from behind him.

"Wilde! What the hell just happened!?"

Nick turned back to see Wolford sprinting down the hallways after Nick.

"Just get into Bogo's office and I'll try to explain! I think we're in for a long day!" Nick allowed Wolford to catch up with him and then they both ran into Bogo's office. They didn't even bother knocking on the door. They just burst inside and Nick immediately started yelling about what happened. Bogo was barely given a chance to speak.

"Wilde, you best explain everything this instant!"

"Sir, just play the video attached to the email I sent you. It will explain everything I said over the radio."

"This better be good, Wilde," Bogo grunted.

"No, sir. It's really bad what is in that video. That ransom note was serious."

Bogo shook his head and both him and Wolford began watching the video. Nick watched Wolford's and Bogo's expression change as they watched the video go from bad to worse. Nick didn't watch the video again, but he could hear what was going on and cringed when he heard Judy's screams again. Wolford looked like he was about to throw up and Bogo actually looked terrified at what he saw.

After the video was over, Nick spoke up.

"I also know the weasel in the video. I used to work with him many years ago, back when I was on the wrong side of the law. I don't know exactly what he's into today, but I have a feeling that if Duke Wealeston is working for him, it's probably pretty serious-" Nick's ears shot up as he made a shocking revelation.

"Duke Weaselton…" Nick said quietly.

"What? The weasel that attacked you early Monday morning? What about him?" Bogo asked.

"He was trying to get me to quit the police force that night. It was his boss that wanted me gone! I know how we can find where they are!"

"You want to interrogate Weaselton, don't you?" Wolford added. Nick shot him finger guns.

"Bingo, Wolfie. I'm sure he knows plenty about our weasel." Bogo stared down at Nick with an angry expression.

"Do you even know the name of our weasel?" Bogo asked.

"I do. His name is Ray. Jamison Ray, and he's one of the biggest scumbags I've ever met, and I know everybody, so that's saying something. He used to be alright, but then he got dragged into the really nasty type of crime, not the petty hustling that I used to do. I'm talking sex trafficking, drug trade, any type of organized crime he could get his grubby little paws into. I knew deep down that he was a good guy, so I tried to get him out of it."

"What does this have to do with anything?" Wolford asked.

"This is where that revenge part of it takes place. You see, he met some guys who were into organized crime. They told him that he was going to have some super important part in working for them and that he would be getting paid mega bucks for it. Well, since I was a good friend and cared about his well-being, I told his cronies that Ray would not be helping them, and they believed me. Ray tried to tell them otherwise, but they wouldn't budge." Wolford looked at Nick with disbelief.

"I thought you were just a regular old troublemaker back then. That's what Hopps always told me."

"First of all, never listen to anything she has to say about me. Second, I actually had a sense of right and wrong back then. I just didn't care about doing something slightly illegal." Bogo stared at Nick with increasing rage. Nick looked up at the buffalo with a guilty smile before continuing.

"So basically he hated me for it since he lost a crap ton of money. He threatened to kill me in my sleep and he actually tried a couple of times without success, of course. That leads us to here, where he's now a murderous psychopath that is completely paranoid that I'm going to take down whatever organization he heads. Not too sure what got him there, but I don't think that matters."

Bogo had sat completely silent throughout Nick's retelling of his story with Ray. He actually recognized the name from somewhere a long time ago, but he hadn't heard much else about the weasel.

"Wilde,"

"Yes, sir?"

"I'll get you in a room with Weaselton. We'll trace the email to see if we can find out where it was sent from. We're going to get a team to search Ray's home and try to find any clue as to where he has Hopps and Meyer. And in regards to the interrogation, make sure you take nothing from that nippy little weasel while you're in there with him. Have Wolford accompany you if you like, but otherwise, we cannot let this lead take us to a dead end. We have too little time to waste it all."


Nick walked down the brightly lit hallway that was deep within the recesses of the ZPD. It was already past noon and Nick had been hard at work ever since he arrived this morning.

Accompanying Nick to the interrogation was Officer Wolford. The wolf's experience with the ZPD would prove to be quite useful to get good information out of Weaselton. Plus he told Nick that he hadn't interrogated anyone in a while and he really wanted to get some action in.

Standing at the end of the hallway was Chief Bogo, who was to be overseeing the interrogation and making sure that everything remained civilized and under control. He stood at the one-way glass window that gave them a full view of the bare interrogation room.

Nick and Wolford walked up to Bogo who nodded at them and acknowledged their arrival.

"He's ready for you. Wilde. Feel free to ask anything relating to the case, but only this case. Remember, he has the right to remain silent, but don't be afraid to try to force an answer out of him if he refuses to give something very important to solving this case." Nick nodded while staring at the form of Duke Weaselton through the window.

"Yes, sir. Anything else I need to know?" he said, looking up at Bogo. Surprisingly, Bogo looked back at Nick and smiled.

"Have fun in there."

Nick grinned as he and Wolford entered the chamber. His feet hit the floor with each step he took and they echoed off the walls, floor, and ceiling. The heavy metal door shut behind them with a loud clank that caused Weaselton to jump a little. The weasel gave Nick a nasty glare as he walked across the room and over to the opposite side of the metal table. Nick flashed him a wink, which threw off Weaselton's stink eye.

"Well, well, well, Weaselton. What would you like to tell us about your boss? Anything that could give us a hint as to where he may be hiding a couple of mammals while simultaneously doing terrible things to them?" Weaselton leaned back in the large metal chair as much as he could with his paws chained to the table.

"I ain't givin' the boss up, fox. There's no way I do that to him. I know he'd have my tail if I did that, so I ain't sayin' nothin'!" he finished with a triumphant smirk.

Nick glanced at Wolford and then back at the weasel.

"I figured you'd be a bit more cooperative than this. But need I remind you that assault on an officer has a maximum sentence of ten years and fines up to $25,000. That's a long time and a lot of money that I'm sure you don't have. And if we get you for attempted mammal-slaughter, it would be more like thirty years with your record. Now, if you give us some helpful information, I'm sure I could convince the judge to reduce that sentence and possibly do away with any fines at all. I know how much you like your money, so doesn't that sound good?"

Weaselton gulped as his smirk turned straight into a frown of defeat. He really didn't want a lengthy prison sentence, and he definitely didn't want that fine. Weaselton sighed as he leaned forward.

"Alright, I can tell you that the boss took that mink because he owed him some money. The mink…"

"Damien Meyer." Nick interrupted.

"Right. Meyer wouldn't pay him, so the boss threatened to kill him if he didn't fork it over immediately. Meyer moved away, dyed his fur and tried to hide from the boss. Everyone knows that's a bad idea because the boss still found him and now look at what's happened."

"Alright, anything you can tell us about "the boss" as you call him?" Wolford asked.

"Well, he's pretty much insane at this point. It was right after you became an officer that he started to get all paranoid and stuff. Now he's gone completely mental. He used to be such a reasonable guy, but now I feel like I barely even know him."

Nick caught Wolford's gaze and they both nodded. They only needed one last thing from him.

"Where are they?" Nick asked sternly.

"I don't know."

Nick slammed his paw down on the table causing a loud bang to nearly make Weaselton's ears ring.

"I can tell when you're lying, Weaselton! Tell us where they're at!" Nick yelled.

"I promise I don't know!" Weaselton cried out. "All I know is that he does this sort of thing kinda far away from the city! I swear that's everything I know, please don't hurt me…" Wolford placed his paw on Nick's shoulder hoping to calm the fox down. Nick hadn't realized it, but Weaselton was actually shaking in fear after Nick snapped on him.

"Is there anyone else that would know where they are?" Wolford asked.

"As far as I know, no, there isn't. Boss likes to stay pretty private. Ya never really know what he's doin'."

Nick placed both of his paws on the table and he let out a sigh.

"Thank you, Weaselton. That is all we need from you."

Nick and Wolford turned around and walked out of the room, leaving the weasel behind them. They continued down the long hallway the direction that they originally came not saying a word to each other.

Wolford thought the interrogation went quite well. They got a lot of good information out of Weaselton and they were much closer to figuring this out. They knew that Judy was still alive, which was probably the best thing that he'd figured out that day. All they had to do was figure out where they were and they could get this guy into custody.

Nick, on the other paw, did not think it went very well. Sure they got some info, but the one thing that they really needed was still the only unknown. He still felt like Weaselton was hiding some things, but Wolford didn't want him to keep using that intimidation to get what he wanted.

"Why did you stop me?" Nick asked.

"Because," Wolford replied. "He didn't know. Didn't you see the way he was acting once you snapped on him? If he knew he definitely would have given everything up right there."

"Yeah, right. You don't know what he's like. You don't know him personally like I do. He's about as good at acting as Alec Boardwin, the greatest actor on the planet. There's no way you could have known when he was telling the truth or acting." Wolford stopped, turned Nick's back to the wall and placed both of his paws on his shoulders. Wolford bowed his head before looking back up into Nick's eyes.

"You don't seem to understand, Wilde. This was your first interrogation, so I didn't expect you to know when to stop. He was afraid of you. Now I think I know any mammal well enough to know that if he knew where Ray was, he would have said so, and I wouldn't be having this conversation with you. I've done plenty of interrogations and not a single mammal has stayed quiet when we scared the living daylights out of them like that."

Wolford sighed while removing his paws from Nick's shoulders and then he started walking down the hall. Nick stayed pressed against the wall, watching as Wolford spoke right before he disappeared around the corner.

"You act like we have nothing else to go on. Hold your head a little higher and everything won't seem so bleak."

Nick stayed leaning against the wall, staring at the floor. He didn't know how long he was there, but when Chief Bogo approached him, he looked up and saw an unreadable face on the cape buffalo.

"Wilde, the team from Ray's home is back."

"Lay it on me. What'd they find?" Nick asked somewhat snarkily. He knew that was probably going to get him into a bit of trouble. Not showing proper respect for his superiors was something that Nick usually took seriously, with the exception of pushing Bogo's buttons, but at the moment he really didn't care.

Chief Bogo's hesitation was all Nick needed to get his answer. Before he spoke, Nick had already slumped his shoulders in disappointment.

"Not a thing. It appeared that his apartment had been abandoned for months."

Nick was about ready to get up and walk away. He'd heard enough bad news in the last day and he was tired of it. Nick thought back to the previous morning and his usual conversation with Clawhauser. The cheetah mentioned how he liked seeing Nick in such a good mood. Nick liked feeling that way, but then again, who didn't want to be happy? Mammals who remain in constant darkness tend to be some of the most dreadful to be around. After the last day, Nick was beginning to wonder if darkness was really all that bad. His overall attitude towards life had gone from decent to rock bottom in a little over twenty four hours.

As Nick removed himself from the wall and started walking away, Bogo stopped him with a hoof on the shoulder.

"However, Wilde. Your friend Martin from forensics told me to tell you something. As he is currently out at the moment, he wasn't able to tell you himself. The evidence you and Hopps recovered put Ray in Meyer's home." Nick reached over to his shoulder and gently pushed Bogo's hoof away.

"That's what I figured, but it's not really helping. I'm coming to the conclusion that I only have one option left if I want Hopps and Meyer back alive. It'll cost me my career, but I'd rather have nothing than live with the knowledge that I could have saved them. I'll write up a short speech and deliver it tomorrow if that's what it takes."

"Wilde, I don't think that will be-"

"No," Nick interrupted. "It is necessary. Unless you want to have a fallen officer and the death of an innocent civilian on your hooves as well as my paws, I find it very necessary. We don't know where they are, and Ray will not hesitate to kill them both. Unless we can somehow figure this out before tomorrow ends, it's the only way this can end. I have the power to prevent that ending from happening, and I'll do it no questions asked if that means those two get to live."

The buffalo watched as the fox disappeared around the corner. He thought about stopping him to tell his something else, but seeing that Nick was already in a sour mood he figured it was best not to tell him that they were unable to trace the email. As Nick walked away, Chief Bogo was the one coming to terms with the truth. He had been chief long enough to know that a situation like this could only be solved the way Nick said considering the circumstances. It was hard to take, but he knew that tomorrow he'd be saying goodbye to a fresh-faced, yet talented officer. Nick was the epitome of all the good qualities a young officer should have. He was brave, loyal to a fault, not afraid to put his life on the line, put others above himself, and most importantly, he loved what he did. Bogo could tell that Nick didn't want to give up his career, but he wanted his partner alive more than anything.

That was his most admirable quality.


A/N: Be honest, you hate me a little more now, right? This was still my favorite chapter to write. I absolutely loved writing the torture scene, and guess what... there's more where that came from! Next chapter is also going to include the graphic depictions warning. Be prepared...

Also, remember that Judy has very small paws. An eighth-inch drill bit would be plenty to put a good-sized hole in them.

Of course, I would love to hear your thoughts. Please leave a review and tell me what you liked or didn't like. I am open to criticism and I welcome it with open arms.

Be sure to follow and favorite if you haven't already, and I look forward to seeing you next chapter!

Cheers!

-Ande