Mai sniffed the air ahead of them. Of the four mammals, she was the one with the keenest sense of smell. The scent of death wafted along the winds toward them from the south. She shook her head at the most obvious route through the stucco plastered buildings of Sahara Square, bleached a golden tan from the rays of the sun. It was unfortunate they'd have to head north around the central market square but it seemed a huge gathering of bats were feasting on an unknown count of bodies and they couldn't afford to be seen.

She motioned for them to follow her down an alleyway. Deftly sidestepping a few stray soda cans, she forged onward to the parallel street that would curve eastward towards the site of the once flourishing Oasis hotel and casino. Bogo and Higgins managed to avoid the can as well but Rhinowitz was not as lucky. It bounced off his rather large foot and clattered against the nearby trash dumpster.

Each of them slammed up against the walls of the opposing buildings, trying to stay in the shadow cast by the descending sun. Within moments, several clicking noises could be heard above them. Four clawed hands peered over the parapet of the flat roofed building overhead before the grotesque faces of two bats stared down into the alley. They chittered incessantly, trying to see something amiss that could have caused the disturbance. The rest of the murder was still gorging at the bazaar.

All eyes were looking up at the squinting bats, their vision diminished in the blazing evening sun. The clicking of their vocal chords stopped. Bogo cursed under his breath as all could see they were switching to a different way of seeing. They wiggled their noses, feeling out the heat sources present in the atmosphere. One gave a squeal of excitement as it detected several signatures of warmth flowing through four bodies below.

"Look alive!" Bogo shouted as all readied their weapons.

The two creatures swooped down on the four of them with claws and fangs bared. Rhinowitz batted the first out of the way, sending it careening across the alley, slamming up against the adobe wall with a crunch. The second swerved to the side, narrowly avoiding the swinging baseball bat coming from rotund hippo, Higgins. Bogo caught the bat unawares and rammed it with his horns into the nearest wall, hearing several of its bones pop from the impact.

Quickly recovering, the first boosted itself off the wall and swooped low under the next swing from Rhinowitz, going straight for Mai who was already in a stance close to the ground, her arm behind her back and paw on the hilt of her sword. It opened its mouth wide, twisting its body in an attempt to nail Mai in the neck before carrying her up into the air to finish the job. With swift precision, she cartwheeled to the side before swinging back up with her sword, completely severing the creature's head. The body flew several meters more as its head plopped to the ground, its mouth still opening and closing in its final death throes.

With the decapitated body tumbling into the street with blood gushing onto the cobblestone, its partner, galvanized by the threat of death, clawed at the back of Bogo. It got enough purchase to use its hind legs to scratch the buffalo's chin, drawing both crimson and an infuriated bellow. It kicked off Bogo's face and crawled up over his head and down his back before stabbing its fangs into his back in several places. It looked up at a sudden shift in movement to see Higgin's bat smash its skull, several grey chunks flinging out onto the ground. It released its grip on Bogo and collapsed to the ground in a twitching heap.

All were breathing heavy and ears attentive to potential cavalry. They weren't exactly being quiet when they killed them both. After several minutes of tense silence, they all slumped against the alley walls. Mai rushed to Bogo's aid, his condition a bit worse than most. Already he could feel the euphoric tingling of their toxin that they apply to their teeth before every attack. It made him feel good and relaxed; something he shouldn't be feeling at this present moment.

"Sir, are you alright?" She kneeled quickly, helping him lean forward as she inspected the tiny wounds, red seeping slowly from the pricks.

"I'm fine Mai." He grunted. He had felt these rapturous effects before, it could be weathered and eventually pass. It would have been far more dangerous had there been no one to save him after the bite.

"We should have gone into smaller groups. We are too large and too easily seen." Mai admonished the group.

Bogo waved her down, leaning back onto the plaster wall with a wheeze. "No, it was better this way. We have strength in numbers."

"The chief is right." Rhinowitz added, lumbering up next to the petite rabbit. "Look at what just two of them could inflict. It would have been potentially fatal had there been less of us to contend with them."

Higgins just got done poking the convulsing body with his pole and sauntered up to the other two hovering around Bogo. "These things are vile." He quivered, his noise flaring at the smell. In the midst of the commotion, Mai hadn't been overly cognizant of the pungent ammonia odor emanating around them and encircling the two dead corpses.

"You feel able to move?" Mai grilled; her eyes intense.

Bogo grimaced, his lower jaw aching something fierce from the lacerations. "I'll be a bit dizzy but I believe I can press through this. I don't think he injected too much of the toxin into me, I think I'll be fine in a few hours."

"I think this was a bad idea." Higgins shared, his gaze looming over the rooftops toward the market. "We knew the Oasis was overrun and yet we still staged a raid for the last remaining supplies in it."

"We haven't a choice." Bogo groaned, placing a hoof to his thigh to help steady himself to standing. "We must hold out as long as we can. Now that Judy is with us, we have a chance at fighting back."

"If she remembers..." Rhinowitz grunted, clearly not sold on the idea that Judy would ever get her full memory back.

Bogo gave him a riled look but grumbled and began walking slowly down the alley toward their original destination. They each took a look up and down the street before quickly crossing over to the other side, retreating to the shadows once more cast by the buildings. Staying in the darkness, moving with haste towards the bend that opened up onto the avenue to where they beheld the grand spectacle of the Oasis hotel and casino, its singular, rising spire of palm overlooking all of Sahara Square.

Mai kept pace with the hulking buffalo, still in great physical condition even in the present situation. She stole a glance back at the tailing rhino and hippo before whispering to Bogo. "Sir, I am not entirely sure why you thought it was a good idea to let Judy accompany this mission. If she is as important to our cause as Jack says she is, then why risk her getting captured again?"

Bogo kept his eyes forward on the towering palm tree structure ahead of them. "Dr. Madge said her memory may or may not return. Taking her out with us and having her see the devastation and the bats firsthand as well as visiting familiar locations may help jog her memory."

Mai paused before responding, her eyes downcast. "And…if she remembers the wrong things and chooses to yet again leave Zootopia?"

He sighed inwardly, his whole bulk seemingly shrinking an inch. "That is a risk we have to take. This whole operation has always been a gamble. Maybe she'll remember just exactly what we need to gain the advantage and maybe she won't." He pointed a hoof finger at the hotel. "In the meantime, we need to last long enough so that can happen. Those supplies Jack told us about in there are necessary for us to hold out at least a few weeks more until we can get the information we need from Judy…hopefully." He added the last word hesitantly.

Mai looked up at the big buffalo. "Do you think we can trust Jack? I wonder because you kept having me watch him this whole time yet you let him off the leash so quickly and now left him alone with Judy."

Bogo kept walking, his gait becoming a little more confident now that the toxin was slowly being worked out of his system. "I trust Jack about as far as I can throw him."

"That can be pretty far." Mai remarked with a small grin.

"Fine, less than that then." He muttered. "The fact remains is that he's an expert marksman. I've seen him do some amazing shots. Of all of us, I believe he is the most capable of protecting Judy."

"Yes sir, but what makes you believe he won't turn tail and run? I can't figure out why he stays." She lowered her voice, almost whispering to herself. "And his fixation with her daughter is a bit unnatural."

Bogo picked up on that last comment but ignored it. "All I know is that he was with Judy at the time of her coma yet refused to leave her side until they got captured. Since then he has assisted us by discovering the location of her imprisonment at Mercy Hospital and negotiated a sort of truce so that Nick could go in to see her." He slowed a bit when they heard some clicking a few blocks over but kept going. "He has some stake in this because of Judy. How and why is unknown to me but if I can use that to our advantage, then I will. As long as she is here with us and fighting for our cause, I don't believe he is a threat."

"Do you believe he is a cop from the old Zootopia?" Mai asked plainly.

"No." He replied flatly, his eyes never leaving the Oasis. "I don't believe he thinks he's got us fooled. If anything, Judy would be the only one who hasn't seen through his lies."

"You're playing a dangerous game sir." Mai rebuked.

"These are desperate times Mai. I do what I must for our Zootopia…and for Judy." He added.

She smiled at his expression of concern. "You really do consider her like a daughter."

Bogo seemed irritated at the accusation but did not deny it. "She reminds me so much of Arriane, it's uncanny." He shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Regardless, I don't plan on repeating the same mistakes I did with her last time. We need to protect her but we can't coddle her."

"Like you're doing now by not revealing what happened and why she left?" Mai interjected.

He rumbled in annoyance, "Dr. Madge said memory is a fickle thing. She would know better than all of us. If we allow her to regain her memory naturally instead of force feeding it to her, maybe she'll only recall the parts we need and leave out the rest."

"You're afraid she'll leave again." She charged.

Bogo let out a peeved exhalation trying not to look overly worried, "Yes…yes I am." Mai continued to stride silently next to the buffalo for a time, a slight smile on her face after having gotten Bogo to admit his concern for Judy. After a while, he turned his head to regard the small bunny. "So she still doesn't remember you, does she?"

A forlorn look etched itself on Mai as the looming shadow of the Oasis covered them with its shade. "No…no she hasn't."


Judy was staring blankly at the computer monitor, a radio perched beside her open to all incoming transmissions. She was leaning back in the chair, her feet crossed and lounging on the desk next to the keyboard. She was tapping her carrot pen on her front teeth absently, her thoughts swirling around the confrontation from earlier that morning. She couldn't really place why Bogo had shouted at her like that.

She pressed the button again on the pen to hear her voice, "Young lady? I am not your daughter to order around sir! I am your employee, as appointed by the mayor, to administer the law in Zootopia. What I do with my personal life is my own!"

Following her outburst, Bogo screamed back through the small speakers, "That's enough Arriane! You will not be seeing that cub again and that is final! Get to your room now!"

She clicked it off again and kept tapping her teeth with it. What cub would he be talking about? Was Arriane a daughter of his? She never knew Chief Bogo even had a family. He never talked about his personal life. Even when there were social events open to all police officers, he would always show up briefly to make pleasantries and then leave before it actually got underway. The only thing that actually seemed to get him worked up emotionally was Gazelle and her songs. She furrowed her brow at the thought; yet he wasn't as infatuated with her as Clawhauser was. What was the connection then?

"Burning the midnight oil?" A small neigh clucked behind her.

Judy scrambled frantically to grab the carrot pen that had slipped out of her paws. She swiveled the chair around to face Detective Oates, a strapping, brown stallion who had been on the force almost as long as Bogo. He was the star investigator of the ZPD and Judy looked up to him in all things. A huge grin broke across his muzzle, a strand of wheat twitching between his teeth, as he considered the hare sitting in the small cubicle Bogo had ordered set up for her ages ago.

"Detective Oates!" She exclaimed surprised. "I thought you had already gone home!"

Stretching his back, hearing some satisfying pops, he put a hoof under one of his grey suspenders holding up his pants that seemed a bit too big for his waist. "I'm also working very hard to crack some difficult cases. Good to see my young, little protégé has taken a piece off the old block." He chuckled at his own joke.

Judy blushed at his praise. She shyly turned her head away to avoid looking into the horse's green eyes. "Oh, you know, just trying to do my part in making the world a better place."

At the mention of this, Oates grew serious and plucked the wheat strand out of his mouth and leaned over Judy and examined the monitor before her, his garish, purple tie dangling about. She dropped her ears and looked up to see him above her, his eyes intent on the data at hand. She idolized the horse and the multitude of things he had accomplished during his time in the ZPD. She was flattered he had even shown interest in what she was doing right now.

"The way I see it, there is something odd about the way these attacks have occurred." He noted with confidence, raising back up but never moving away from behind Judy's chair.

"I thought so too." Judy agreed, pointing her pen at the monitor. "I've already established that it is the bats causing all these attacks but what I'm unsure of is who and how and more importantly, when the next is going to happen."

"Who would be a difficult question to answer Hopps." Oates nodded his head sagely. "There are literally thousands of immigrants galloping into Zootopia. And we can't just…"

"…single out an entire group based on their species." Hopps finished. "I get it."

Oates nickered a bit, "Granted, I haven't met any of them personally myself but I am positive that they all can't be that bad. I'd wager it is just a few rotten apples that are spoiling the whole bunch and the rest will happily accept your blood bank proposal." He patted Judy lightly on the shoulder which made her blush even harder.

"Thank you sir." She said meekly.

"Oh, come, come now!" He reproved. "We are detectives! One and the same! I am no more over you than you are over me!" He flashed a devilish grin. "We are equals and we need to help each other out if one starts to flag."

"Wow." Came a voice from beyond the cubicle which set the hairs on the back of Oates' neck roaring. Nick stepped out from behind the partition with two steaming cups of Snarlbucks Coffee. "So does that make us equal partners too?" He was clearly not as impressed with the dashing buck.

Oates brayed petulantly, "Hardly! You have a lot to learn if you think you could ever be on the same level as Hopps and I!"

"So you're implying that I would have to work twice as long to get to where Judy has reached in less than a year and you in seven years?" Nick snorted, handing a cup to Judy who accepted it gratefully.

Oates crossed his arms, looking down on the discourteous fox. "You need to put forth the time and effort into the job, something Judy has clearly shown with her work ethic." He gestured to the cups of coffee Nick has brought in. "As far as I can tell, the only reason you seem to even still be at the station past three-o-clock is to provide gopher services for Hopps."

Affronted, Nick placed a paw on his chest, "Carrots needs this nourishment to keep burning that 'midnight oil.'" He crooked two fingers for emphasis. "And I certainly don't see you or anyone else sticking around to help support her in this case."

Judy whispered urgently, "Nick, please, show some respect for Detective Oates. He knows what he's talking about."

"I'm sure Carrots." Nick murmured unimpressed. "But knowledge does not equate wisdom."

Oates sniffed with disdain, "Of course, I had almost forgotten your pet name for Officer Hopps." He made a point to say her proper title. "If it weren't for your relationship with her, I doubt you'd have gotten this far in the police force."

"Detective Oates!" Judy said shocked.

"Now wait just a minute!" Nick slammed his coffee cup onto the desk, spilling a bit out before jabbing a finger up towards the big horse. "Yes, I may have had Carrots help me study for my test but I still put forth the time in learning and I passed just like any of you."

A smug grin spread across Oates' face, "More like cheated no doubt."

Judy stood up in her chair and placed a paw on each of them as soon as she saw Nick growl violently. "Stop it you two! Seriously! This is ridiculous!" They each stepped back a pace, quiet but still giving each other the death glare treatment. Judy fumed, "Now, I don't know what's gotten into you two but ever since Nick became detective, you both have been nothing but antagonistic to each other! Is this how professional police officers are supposed to act? We're all on the same team here!"

Oates broke his scowl at Nick to look off down the row of cubicles, "You're quite right Hopps. This is petty of me, of that I have no doubt." He looked back down at Nick, still upset over the altercation. "Very well…Wilde. You still have a lot to learn but stick with Detective Hopps and you'll manage to reach the finish line just fine."

"Really?" Nick mouthed incredulously at the backhanded remark. Oates still hadn't changed his tune other than saying it in a nicer tone.

"Thanks for the encouragement!" Judy acknowledged, trying her best to dissolve the situation and have Detective Oates be on his way.

"Oh you are most certainly welcome my dear Hopps!" He inclined his head toward the monitor. "I'm sure you'll figure this out in no time and we'll be making arrests on the morrow!" He chortled before swinging his brown coat over his shoulder and sauntering down the row.

"Nice to see you again too Oates." Nick waved with a sarcastic smile. "Thanks for the ride of my life the other day too!"

Judy slapped a paw to her face, "Why'd you have to bring that up Nick?!"

Oates spun around bristling. He clopped up loudly before getting in Nick's face. "How dare you speak to me of that horrible incident! I am not some vehicle you can just ride! I am a horse, not a car!"

"That may be true but our patrol vehicle wasn't available at the time and the perp was getting away." Nick crossed his arms self-assuredly. "Seeing as there were no other modes of transportation to commandeer, you were the only thing left that could catch up to him. Besides," He wiggled his butt, letting his tail swish arrogantly. "You were oh-so-comfortable in the seat!"

"Why you little…" Oates raised a hoof to strike down the cantankerous fox.

"Detective Oates!" Judy shouted, pointing a finger toward the front foyer. "Please, just go home."

Oates whinnied in disgust but rose up. "Good evening to you Hopps." He bowed his head before promptly leaving the small space, not deigning to look at Nick again.

Judy punched Nick in the arm, eliciting a surprised look from him. "Seriously? You could have left it alone…but no, you had to get the last word in." She plopped back down into the seat before pulling it up to the computer. "Unbelievable. What is it with guys and the need to appear macho in front of women? I just don't get it!" After a sip from her drink, she added softly, "Thanks for the coffee."

"You're welcome Carrots." He smiled before pulling up a seat.

She turned to look at him, "I'm still mad at you."

"For what?" He raised his paws.

"For inciting Detective Oates. He's six years our senior, you need to show him the proper respect for his station." She reminded.

"When pigs fly." Nick scoffed, folding his arms. "He's so full of himself it's disgusting."

Judy looked offended on Oates' behalf. "He's not the easiest person to get along with but neither are you Nick P. Wilde."

Nick opened his mouth in shock. "Oh, now I get the full name treatment! I must have done something especially heinous!"

She couldn't hide a smirk at his snarky comment, "The worst."

A gleam in his eye heralded something naughty, "Am I going to get punished tonight for it?"

She gave him a bemused look before returning to the monitor. "Maybe…we'll have to see." She pointed back at the screen. "But I seriously need to focus on the case."

Nick didn't want to admit it, but he really hadn't been paying too much attention to the overall evidence flowing in from the various officers all across the city. Judy had been the primary data collector and had merged it all into a single diagram overlaid over the map of Zootopia. At first there didn't seem to be any discernible pattern to the bat attacks and looked to be completely random.

"So should we segregate all the bats to one area and put a fence around them?" Nick offered casually.

Judy smacked his arm. "No, of course not!" She shook her head and pointed at four distinct points on the map. "There are sporadic assaults throughout the city but these four concentrations at these locations are where they have occurred the most. The frequency of reported attacks is higher in these four areas than any other."

Nick's gaze wandered over the map, taking in the information. After a time, he took a sip from his coffee and suggested calmly, "Well it appears they are targeting the four major crime bosses."

Judy whipped around to him, "What?"

He set his coffee down as he leaned forward to point at each location. "Mr. Big in Tundra Town, Longneck in Sahara Square, Rosco in the Rainforest District and Stipe in Savannah Central."

Judy's eyes bulged. "Ms. Olivia Stipe was a crime lord? Why didn't you tell me?"

He shrugged, "I didn't think it was relevant to the case at the time."

"Didn't think it was relevant?!" She balked. "If high level mob bosses are being targeted specifically by the bats, we need to find out why. This could be a lot bigger than just a random smattering of assault cases done by immigrant bats!"

"Well if we want to get an idea of how this all went down…may I drive?" Nick asked as Judy slide on over to allow him access to the mouse. After moving it around a bit to find the cursor on screen, he continued, "We need to first figure out the order in which all this happened. Did you apply time stamps to these?"

"Of course, I brought over all the data from every report and attached it to each object before placing it on the chart." Judy confirmed. "You just need to hover the cursor over each to get the pertinent info from the object."

"That's pretty handy." Nick complimented. After a few minutes of observing the time stamps, his eyes lit up at discovering the pattern. "It seems the bats got lucky with Ms. Stipe."

Judy looked at the screen confused. "How do you figure?"

He floated the cursor over the attack plots around Ms. Stipe's apartment complex in Savannah Central. "There were only two documented attacks before hers." He moved the mouse toward Sahara Square. "There were a grand total of fifteen reported cases before the sixteenth ended up being Longneck himself."

"What about the Canal District? There are a lot of random assaults there just after the ones in Sahara Square." Judy pointed out. She was starting to see the pattern but she still wasn't sure if Nick was truly onto something or not.

"This is where it gets interesting." Nick grinned, his eyes flickering back and forth between the multitude of times and dates. "Look here," he pointed at the Rainforest District, "it appears they were zeroing in on Rosco's location but none of the victims turned up to be him." He directed her attention to the Canal District attacks. They indeed happened after every single attack in the Rainforest District stopped. "I believe Rosco discovered they were targeting him and further retreated into the canals to evade them. Their sporadic attacks and their eventual cessation support this theory."

She dove for the mouse and dragged it over to Tundra Town's markings. "And since they've stopped tracking Rosco, they are now penning down the location of Mr. Big instead!" It was true. Each of the Tundra Town occurrences had all been within the past few hours. She sat back in her chair, thoroughly blown away by this revelation. She looked at him proudly, "See, I knew you could be an excellent detective."

He returned the smile, "Just don't tell feedbag Oates that, I have a reputation to keep."

"Stop." She laughed before dropping the humor. "But no, seriously stop. He is your superior and you're in trouble enough with Chief Bogo as it is. Starting fights with him will do no good for your career."

Nick shrugged. "I don't plan on starting trouble here Carrots. I just come here to do my work and then go home with the occasional paycheck every two weeks."

"Is that all?" Judy regarded him with concern. "Don't you want more from your job?"

"Don't misunderstand me Carrots," he looked at her with those beautiful, green eyes, "I am actually honored and proud to serve on the police force with you. However, I know less than half of these guys working with us and I'm fairly certain the majority of them have preconceived notions of who I am despite the fact I've been working alongside them. It's easier for you to prove your worth since you don't already have a bad rap against your good name."

"Well that's something that can be altered with time. It may be awhile before people's opinions change but it isn't impossible, with hard work and dedication." Judy offered.

Nick shook his head, looking down at the carpeted floor, undulating in brown swirls that resembled tusks. "Please spare me Oates' adages. You simply don't understand Judy." Her nose wiggled a bit, she had picked up on the dropping of her nickname. "I thought I could finally get a fresh start. I was filled with pride at becoming a police officer, something I never could have imagined myself being. I thought to myself, surely now people will look at me and see more than just a shifty, untrustworthy fox."

"I think that-" Judy began.

He put a paw up to stall her response, "And then I find that it's no different here in the ZPD than it is out on the streets. It's just another kind of discrimination and stereotyping." He pointed up in the general direction of where Bogo's office lay. "That whole spat you had with the chief? You want to know why I always duck out on paperwork or that I'm seen as less reliable than most other officers? Because I tried my hardest starting off and all I got was stepped on by those my senior, the very ones I'm supposed to respect!"

Judy's heart broke for him. This was just as bad as the awful muzzling and rejection at the Junior Rangers initiation so many years ago. She put a loving paw on his arm. "I'm so sorry Nick. I didn't know."

He gave her an askance look before withdrawing his arm from her. "Nor would you…of course they wouldn't say these things about your partner to your face. They'd always do it behind closed doors." He said scornfully. "I'm nothing but an unreliable fox trying to pretend at being a police officer. It's not what they said but it is most certainly implied. This is why I stopped being so adept at my job, the moment I realized that there was a glass ceiling for someone like me."

Judy stood up in her chair and gripped both sides of his snout and brought him to face her directly. "Nick, this is awful and I won't stand for it. Tomorrow I am going to speak to Chief Bogo about this mistreatment and get those who keep putting you down docked or even worse, fired!" She gave him a quick peck on the lips. "You have my word on that!"

He gripped her shoulders, drawing her back. "It wouldn't do any good. You're at the same disadvantage as me." She cocked her head at his statement. "It's no secret that we are dating and romantically involved. You striking out on your own to get Chief Bogo to scold those officers in question would fall on deaf ears. It would only be viewed as you showing favoritism for the one you love rather than defending my job from an objective point of view. Perception is reality and it would only serve to put you in a more negative light and you can't afford that. We can't win this one Judy." He turned from her and redirected his attention back to the screen. "I just want to keep my head down and do what little I have to and get my paycheck. Nothing more."

Judy began tapping her foot on the chair seat furiously, "This is ridiculous! I can't believe this is even happening in the ZPD! I thought we all were above this and trained professionals! If I find out Chief Bogo knew about this and condoned such behaviors, I'm going to go straight to city hall!"

Nick's shoulders slumped in defeat, "You're really not going to let this go, are you Carrots?"

"Never!" She rapped a fist on her chest, beaming as she did so. "I think everyone should be given the chance to prove themselves and be whatever they want to be in Zootopia!"

"Just like you were given a chance at being meter maid?" He simpered.

She narrowed her eyes, "Well sometimes you have to make your own way to be seen for the true value that you are." Nick started busting up cackling. "What?" She asked annoyed.

"Nothing…you just looked dead serious when you said that." He tried hard to contain any remaining fits of laughter. "Maybe Bogo was right, you are reckless!"

"Har har…" She snarked before flopping back down into the seat and rolling it forward to the keyboard. "So what do we do about this?" She gestured to the Tundra Town portion of the chart. "Think we should pay a visit to Mr. Big and ask if he knows anything about this or the other three crime bosses?"

Nick raised an eyebrow, "Seriously? This late at night Carrots?"

She looked over at the wall clock, "What? It's only eleven-thirty. The night's still young!"

He rose up both paws to halt her enthusiasm. "Easy there…Bogo already has you on a short leash by regulating you to the desk. You going out to involve yourself with Mr. Big would probably not be a good idea right now. How about we divide and conquer?"

"How do you propose we do that?" Judy leaned back, arms crossed.

"Easy, you go visit Stipe and Longneck in Mercy Hospital and see if they can give you any information on their assaults. Tell them that you know me and they should open up to you some. That shouldn't raise any red flags back here at the station. Let me, the 'untrustworthy' fox, go pay a visit to Mr. Big and see if he's aware that he is being targeted." Nick sat back, very self-satisfied with his plan.

A slowly spreading smile filled Judy's face. "You are really good at this job." He gave her a look of not denying that fact. She clicked her tongue vexed, "It just irks me that nobody but me can see the talent that you have!"

"Well, thanks for the compliment." He traced her gaze back up to the ticking clock. "So I take it we're not heading back to your apartment tonight?"

"Nope!" She locked her computer and hopped down off her chair, her fuzzy tail bouncing back and forth as she walked. "Get your coat Nick, we're going out!"

He rolled his eyes, "There goes any hope for that punishment…"

"I heard that!" She called back. He couldn't repress his mirth at her response.


"You think they already went inside?" Clawhauser gaped at the small flag ripping in the breeze, hardly noticeable except for those already expecting it to be there.

"It was tied up to the post here, what do you think?" Swinton snapped at the cheetah.

"Simmer down there. We've all had a stressful day." Jack quipped, clearly in high spirits.

"Easy for you to say." Swinton huffed. "We almost ran into a roving pack of bats practically at their dinner table! We narrowly escaped with our lives if Judy hadn't noticed the previous marker having us go another route around the market square!"

"Please, let's not argue. Let's just get inside before it gets dark." Judy pleaded, sweeping past them into the revolving door entrance.

Swinton gave one last glare to Clawhauser who seemed clueless as to why he was being yelled at. They each slipped into the circular enclosure housing the now defunct door. With a single push together, they were able to shove the door around until they were able to reach the interior opening. They stepped into a rather dark vestibule with plenty of scattered tokens, broken glass and ripped clothing.

Judy scanned the environs to see dimly rows upon rows of slot machines and other tables of gaming chance situated along the edges of the lowered central gambling floor. There were several skeletons of various mammals she could only guess at what they originally were, picked clean by scavengers. Something danced along the fringes of her memory, teasing her with potential illumination on the place. Try as she might, she could not recall what was so significant about this hotel.

"By my calculations," Jack spoke softly through the oppressive silence, "Bogo and the others have reached this zone about an hour ago. They should be at our rendezvous point two floors up at the grand buffet restaurant."

Swinton snorted, "Of course that'd be our meeting spot, at the very place where food once was. What a way to torture us further than to tease us with a place we can no longer rely upon for food!"

Jack tapped a few buttons on his watch before eyeing the former swine officer, "Must you always be a negative Nancy?"

"Who is Nancy?" Clawhauser asked, clearly not getting the allusion.

"Nevermind." Judy waved off the question. "We're all tired. It is past sundown and we need to sleep before tackling those supplies." She turned to Jack. "They are here right?"

He stared at her a few moments, "They were the last time I was here about a week ago."

"And the bats haven't eaten them all up?" Clawhauser queried fretfully.

Swinton exhaled loudly, "Of course not! They only feed on blood, not real food like the rest of us."

"Oh, right." Clawhauser felt really dumb.

This was his first outing in over a year. He was overjoyed to finally be out in the field with Bogo. Well, there was the initial task to get Judy back to their hideout, but that ended up in their favor by mere accident. He had quite forgotten how deadly these bats were from being away from their presence for so long. It was hard to comprehend that these bats only subsisted on the raw essence of their bodies to survive.

Judy reached up and put a comforting paw on Clawhauser's arm. "Don't worry too much about it. I'm still trying to remember a lot about them myself."

"Thanks Judy." He smiled back at her.

"You think the elevators still work?" He skimmed longingly across the deserted floor to where they would be.

"I don't think so." Jack affirmed assertively. "We will probably have quite the stairs to traverse."

Clawhauser looked positively depressed. "That would make complete sense."

Jack and Judy led the way across the gambling floor. They skirted around various aisles of machines, noting several games still left un-played on several of the dealer tables. At last they entered the back hallways leading to the restrooms to find the nonoperational elevators. They pushed the adjacent swinging door open and filtered into the rectangular stairwell. Looking up the ninety floors worth of stairs induced a light case of vertigo in Judy.

"Did they seriously need to build it this tall?" Clawhauser whined.

"This was the premiere entertainment outlet in Sahara Square, seen by just about every corner of the district. Of course they were going to make it grand." Swinton whistled. She had never been inside the Oasis herself.

"Let's all be thankful we only need to meet with the others on the third floor tonight. We'll tackle the rest tomorrow." They all nodded at the good news.

For the most part, their trip across Sahara Square had been uneventful. Bogo and his team scouting ahead for a safe route proved essential in their safe passage. If what Jack said was true about the supplies, they not only would need all eight of them to transport it out but also a form of conveyance to quickly make it back into downtown. It seemed to Judy, unless Jack and Bogo has this all figured out, the plan wasn't fully formed from beginning to end.

They met the others exactly where they said they'd be. Jack took first watch that night, settling himself atop one of the glass overhangs trailing the length of one of the buffet counters. He readied his automatic and casually laid it across his lap. This was truly the safest place for them to spend the night since very few windows were present along the edges of the room and there were only two entrances that lead into the dining room proper, something an expertly situated lookout could cover with ease.

The last thing Judy noticed before accepting a light blanket from Clawhauser, that was dug out of the small pack he had brought, was the massive shape of Bogo awake and towering over her. He wasn't in any position to intrude on her sleep. To Judy, it seemed he was more of a watcher over her. She didn't understand why since they already had one present. She followed his gaze across the room and realized he was staring unwaveringly at Jack. She had only begun to think upon this before sleep overtook her.


The dialogue in this chapter was a difficult one to nail down. The entire scene with Detective Oates (Disney game FTW for introducing a new character!) wasn't expected to last as long as it did but it helped provide an opportunity to flesh out a bit more Nick's motivation for his lack of discipline and effort in the ZPD - sort of a way to vindicate him from the allegations Bogo laid upon him from the previous chapter. We haven't seen the last of Detective Oates but this is a good starting point which features his distaste for foxes, Nick in particular, and his love for what Judy has accomplished. The chapter was originally going to include more of the raid but was eclipsed by the scene at the ZPD. So I had to make each raid section count. I wanted to reintroduce the concept of how the bats got their victims to comply with their blood sucking, the after effects introduced way back in chapter 1, but now we get an idea of how it makes the victim feel during feeding. Finally, I wanted to set up the relationship between Jack and the others and that he truly is an outcast among them and to keep his dubious nature a secret. We still have no firm idea who he is, what he wants, why he stays and what motivates his actions - questions that'll all be answered soon.