III: A Flame Before the Wind

by Jayme F. Midorikawa

The third installment of my Zootopia series. Set one year after the end of Leaving the Past. The sudden investigation of a series of arsons across the city will provide Judy and Nick's greatest challenge yet; uncovering a conspiracy that will dredge up some preferably forgotten mistakes of the past.

10. Underground

Alright everyone, now that our heroes have made possibly one of the hardest decisions they've ever had to make in regards to their future and throw away the possibility of remaining officers of the ZPD in exchange for a more secure life, now it's time for the ball of the plot to really get rolling. What exactly lies at the end of this long and winding road that now seems to hold all of Zootopia in its grip? Only time can tell.

Update: 12/25/2018

I honestly have no words that can adequately describe the regret I feel for having left this story in limbo for as long as I have. I swore to myself and to all of you I wouldn't let this happen, and I cannot begin to apologize enough for having betrayed all your trust. Life has simply found another way to interfere with my creative calling.

I've been struggling with adapting to a whole new job, but mostly with crippling episodes of depression all throughout this last year-and-a-half. To the point that I'd lost my flow with this story and simply stopped. But this story, this series, and all of you, deserve far better treatment than that. Zootopia always carried an all-too-important message of never giving up in the face of any adversity on top of its still incredibly relevant social commentary, and as a fan, I owe it to myself and to all of you to remember that message. No matter how bad things seem, and no matter how hard life gets, you should never just give up on what makes you happy; and for me, that's writing, this story especially.

I suppose it's incredibly fitting I was finally able to finish this chapter in time for Christmas morning. So I suppose you could consider this my long-overdue present to all of you that still remember this story and never forgot about me. But it's here I also want to give a personal resolution: I'm going to officially see to it this story is given the attention and care I promised it would in the beginning. 2019 is going to be the year I finally see this story to its rightful conclusion, and I can only hope I deliver what you all had silently been hoping for all this time.

I will admit, I'm not entirely 100% sure how I feel about how this chapter turned out. I'd been out of my typical flow for writing for this property for a while, so I suppose you could consider a majority of this as my attempt at getting back into the rhythm. Plus, the ending was my attempt at trying to maintain the overall sense of mystery I'm going for with this story, and showing that there is far more going on in the grand scheme of things here than we'd been primarily focusing on up till now. I can only hope I manage to tie things together in an intriguing yet easy-to-digest way as this story continues on.

I hope you all can forgive me for having been away for so long, and I can also only hope that this chapter can somehow begin to make up for the wait. So with that, I hope you enjoy.

Zootopia and its characters are the property of Disney, not me.

"Okay, so remind me again why I'm chauffeuring two of the most recognized and, more importantly, volatile mammals in Zootopia straight to the heart of the city that's been calling for your heads all day?" the tiny fennec grumbled in his typically mismatched deep voice, not even bothering to hide his skepticism as he casually drove the maze of back roads, as his former partner in hustling had asked.

"Would you believe me if I said it's because we have far too many years-worth of history together, and you therefore think of me as your only real friend and therefore owed it to me and my partner in law enforcement to give us a safe ride from prying eyes?" Nick mused with a nostalgic naiveté; the kind that always sparked an instinctual eye rolling from Finnick while his face remained as bemused as ever. "You never even pretended to show that kind of sickening optimism when we worked together, Nick. It's unnatural to hear coming out of you, if not downright scary."

"Oh, don't be like that, old pal. Is it really too much for an ex-con to beseech an old partner to give him a helping paw every once in a while?" Nick asked overdramatically, as though pretending to be gravely offended, earning respective grumbles of annoyance from Finnick and giggles of amusement from Judy, currently squeezed between the two foxes. "It is when said partner is practically Zootopia's Most Wanted. I swear, as if bringing the cottontail cop with you wasn't bad enough," Finnick grunted in particular distaste. His van was his home, his pride and joy, his only real means of making ends meet since Nick decided to go goody-two-paws on him, and having a cop ride in it was almost enough to make his stomach twist in distaste.

"Alright, let's not get too ahead of ourselves, okay? Nick and I aren't officially cops anymore, so if you could just remember that, the rest will be a lot easier for all of us. Just think of this as doing old and new friends a big favor," Judy intervened, but the indifferent look on Finnick's face showed he clearly wasn't impressed just yet. "Yeah, follow your own advice and don't get too ahead of YOURSELF, flatfoot. We ain't friends, and we never will be; especially after you took my partner from under my paws. You have any idea how much harder swindling has been without Wilde around? You think any other two-time con mammal in this city can haggle stolen and off-market goods even half as well as he could? Yeah, right. A stolen HDTV nowadays only gets me a quarter of what I'd usually get if you were still in the game, Nick," Finnick spat before descending into a grumbling rant; mostly for the sake of hearing himself vent his long withheld frustrations after Nick had up and decided to turn honest.

"Well, maybe that's a sign you should go honest too, don't you think? You know, the ZPD could always use a new mascot to get along better with the kids," Judy stated half-joking; trying hard not to laugh until Finnick instinctively let out a growl from within his throat. "Wilde's razor wit isn't nearly as amusing coming from you, Fuzzy Bunny. Keep it up and you can both walk the rest of the way, see how much I care. Maybe I'll throw you out in front of an extra riled up crowd for good measure, see how much you like that," the fennec spat back with much more venom than either had expected; automatically causing Judy's ears to shoot up and the friendly glimmer in her eyes to altogether disappear.

"If that's how you get when someone gets even a little under your hide, maybe I did Nick a favor pulling him away from you. Heck, that attitude's probably really why you do such bad business like you say," she fired back; and for a second it looked like Finnick was going to slam the brakes and leap for her, before Nick forced his arms between the two small mammals. "Mommy, Daddy, please stop fighting. Can we please just focus on what we really came here to do? Carrots, don't prod the midget fox at the steering wheel, that's just common sense; and Finnick, if it'll make you feel even a tiny bit better, I can give you the contact info for some of my…well, freelance contacts, back whenever you weren't available. That's bound to pick up at least some of the monetary slack, right? So can we please just go back to being a happy, dysfunctional little family like everyone else?"

The air inside the van was understandably tense, with both Judy and Finnick refusing to even glance at each other and huffing like a couple little children in time out; but it ultimately subsided as Finnick let out a heavy sigh of defeat. No matter how angry he could possibly get with his former partner in crime, it couldn't possibly last for long. But it thankfully didn't mean he had to like having Nick around either. "Fine, whatever. Now again, no jokes, why am I driving you two beasts of burden to city hall?" Finnick grumbled while Nick let out a breath of relief.

"Okay, well, I'm not entirely sure how up-to-date you are on current events, but somebody recently caused our apartment to go up in flames, so we—" Nick began to explain before Finnick suddenly slammed on the brakes; nearly causing Nick and Judy both to face-plant on the dashboard, were it not for Nick bracing them both with his paws. "WHAT?! Your place is just GONE?! Wait, does that mean-?" Finnick began to ask, his otherwise deep and deathly serious voice given away to genuine emotion; only to be rendered silent by Nick solemnly nodding his head. "I'm afraid so, old buddy. I'm gonna have to take a serious rain check with those Prints (Prince) records I promised you."

With that, Finnick let out a cry that seemed almost unnaturally loud coming from a mammal his size as he slammed his face into the steering wheel; shoulders shaking like a small child who'd just gotten all his toys taken away. Needless to say, the silence became very uncomfortable as Nick and Judy just exchanged glances, as though at a loss for when to speak again.

"Okay…so how does me driving you to city hall, assuming you can even get inside without everyone recognizing you two, fix anything?" Finnick finally asked once he lifted his head from his steering wheel. "Well, we're hoping we can access the traffic cameras and see if the one across the street from home might've caught a glimpse of whoever was responsible," Nick explained, to which Finnick nodded in understanding as the van thankfully began to roll out again; but the look in his eyes clearly beckoned either of them to keep going.

"And if we're that lucky, we're gonna try and track them down," Judy finally finished; unexpectedly earning a laugh out of Finnick, though they couldn't tell if it was out of genuine amusement or some kind of sarcastic mockery. "No offense, Cottontail, but even if you find them, what are you gonna do, write them a citation? Once a cop, always a cop, and you don't strike me as the 'unforgiving, vigilante justice' type," Finnick stated as bluntly as he could, sounding like he was going to bust a gasket from how hard he was laughing, until Nick suddenly clutched onto his shoulder. Once the fennec was able to stop laughing hard enough to focus, he was visibly alarmed by the silent intensity in Nick's gaze.

"Look, Finnick, speaking as an old friend, I'm only going to warn you once: don't underestimate what my Carrots is capable of doing, to say nothing of what she's WILLING to do to get this case done…or me for that matter. We have had a very, VERY long and trying day, between being exposed to an entire city that's now all but howling for our blood, becoming fugitives and nearly getting killed by god-only-knows-who and losing our home at the same time. So do you think you can maybe, at the very least, show my partner a little more respect; that way everything else can go MUCH more smoothly?" Nick resisted the urge to hiss through his canines while staring his former partner down. Lifelong friends or not, the sound of Finnick mocking and insulting Judy lit a fire under his tail the likes of which even he hadn't thought possible. Thankfully, from the speechless look on the fennec's face, he seemed to get the message and nodded feebly.

"Okay, take it down a notch or two, scary fox. Maybe save some of that energy for whoever sent our place up in smoke, okay?" Judy thankfully intervened; her soothing voice amid the sound of her amused chuckling fortunately appeasing the red fox as his expression softened and he let go of the still-frozen fennec. If Finnick had been brave enough to look, he would've seen how genuinely apologetic Nick looked at how easily he'd lost his once unbreakable calm demeanor.

"H-Hey, Finnick, I didn't mean to—"Save your breath, Wilde. I know you're not the violent type; so don't worry about me. But I gotta say, that put some real intimidation points in your favor, so you going straight wasn't ENTIRELY for nothing," Finnick cut Nick off before he could try to string together an apology. The little fennec had never been very good at hiding his emotions, definitely not as well as Nick could, and for all intents and purposes he didn't look as scared anymore once Nick actually spoke up, which was all he could've asked for from his oldest friend. "So, I get you two to city hall, you find the mammal that torched your place. What then?"

"Well, the initial plan was we at least leave it at knowing who was responsible, but I think it goes without saying neither of us could live with just leaving that kind of business unfinished. So we're hoping we can at least track the guy down and somehow leave them for the ZPD. Afterwards, it's a matter of finding out where we go from here in the Pantera case. Either way, a promise is a promise. I asked that you only take us to city hall, and you're doing just that, so once this is over, you're free. We can't ask you to put yourself any more at risk than you already have by driving us all over town, so-" Nick explained before catching Finnick shaking his head out the corner of his eye.

"Alright, better question. You two catch whomever it is you're chasing, the guy burning all these places around town. What happens then? You two ain't got badges anymore, and I doubt your old ZPD buddies are gonna let one arrested firebug distract them from what you two are doing, not to mention the rest of the city. What are you two gonna do when this is all over?" the weight of Finnick's question could be felt between the three of them as Nick and Judy exchanged contemplative gazes with each other, as though to silently confirm whether their conclusions were the same.

"Well…my parents in Bunnyburrow actually offered to let us stay with them, help out on the farm. They love Nick, so it's honestly the—, "Okay, I'm sorry, Bunnyburrow? Nick, you and the bunny are gonna live it up in the sticks as a couple of carrot farmers? Nick Wilde, ex-con-mammal, ex-cop, and now full-time wannabe bunny bumpkin!" Finnick burst out laughing before Judy could continue; only this time Nick couldn't help but start snickering to himself as well. "You gotta admit, it actually does sound kinda funny when he puts it like that, right, Carrots?"

Two irritated bunny paw smacks upside two fox heads later, the van had finally come upon the steps leading up to City Hall. Thankfully, it looked like the typical hustling, bustling crowds of mammals had retired this late into the night, but even just a handful of them walking around and enjoying the relative peace and quiet still left Nick and Judy feeling more than a little apprehensive to step out into the open. "There should be a ramp leading into an underground parking lot for the staff if this place is anything like ZPD HQ. Just park us right outside it and we'll be out of your fur," Judy suggested; Finnick doing so without a word as he continued rubbing the now sore spot on the back of his tiny head.

Once they were inside the underground lot, Nick was the first to step out and check the coast was in fact clear. "Alright, Sherry, Mr. Bullba's daughter, gave me her personal cell number when I saw her earlier, in case we ever needed her help. I'm gonna ask her to come meet us here and hopefully she can get us where we need to go without any trouble from security," Nick explained in a hushed whisper. He'd already stepped aside and gotten on his phone when Judy made to follow him out, only for Finnick to suddenly grab her by the shoulder and pull her back, shutting the passenger door. "What are you doing?" Judy asked impatiently, never liking to be handled so roughly by anyone.

"Look, I'm just gonna ask you a question, and I want you to just be quiet for a minute, okay? This isn't easy for me, but it's something I just have to know," the fennec hissed through his canines; his tall ears perked to make sure Nick was in fact still talking outside and not listening in on them. "The radio's been going on and on about the two of you and your little…y'know. Only thing is that I know how much these media bloodsuckers love to blow everything out of proportion for ratings; stirring the people into a frenzy practically for kicks. Now that you two are here, I can get the truth from the source. This thing with you and Nick…is it true?"

For once, Finnick's typical low, rumbling thug mannerism had given way to a much quieter, approachable tone. If anything, one could've even described it as…sincere. Even the usual tough and impenetrable spark in his often angry-looking eyes had softened. Perhaps that was what made Judy lower her natural defenses as quickly as she did. "Yes, it is. You can go ahead and laugh if you really have to, but yes, it's true," she stated with no hesitation or faltering in her words; looking the fennec right in the eyes. "Y'know, I'd never seen Nick react like he did when I was giving you flak back there before. That alone should've told me it was true, but I guess I needed to hear it out loud from you; being a cop and therefore having some stupid obligation to tell the truth all the time, or something like that.

"So, now comes the real important part: I've known Nick for much longer than you might think. For all the hard times we give each other, and even though I'd rather die than straight up admit it to his face, that stupid, silver-tongued devil is like a brother to me. And in all the time I've known him, I've never seen him come to someone else's defense like he did with you. Honestly, I never thought he'd have it in him to even care THAT deeply about another mammal again, let alone…l-love another mammal at all, especially after he ran away from his mom. So for that, for bringing him back emotionally like that, I guess I should thank you. But that's just as far as Nick is concerned. What I need to know about is YOU. Look me in the eyes and tell me the truth: do you feel the same way with HIM? I've had my fair share of relationships with vixens fall apart because they wrap suckers around their little claw and string them along with pretty words. For all I know, Nick's never been that close with any kind of female before, so you're the first time ever as far as I'm concerned.

"So I'll ask again: is Nick coming to your defense because you've just been telling him stuff he wants to hear? Or is this sinking ship you're both in yours to share?" Creative metaphors aside, the core of Finnick's surprisingly deep question was crystal clear, and honestly, Judy couldn't bring herself to blame him for feeling the need to ask. For the very few times they'd met, he ultimately didn't know her from a hole in the ground, and from his perspective, it did make sense to think why she might've just been using Nick to her advantage.

A small mammal, one of the highest on the list when it came to typical 'prey', having the advantage of their natural predator to come to their aid when the odds became too much; using them to absorb the brunt of the physical and social blowback while they themselves get away without a scratch? As much as it pained Judy to admit it to herself, if this circumstance had been placed onto any other two mammals of opposing sides, that probably would've been the first instinctual conclusion she would've made as well. But sense or no sense, she wasn't going to let Finnick hold that kind of suspicion or doubt over her head any longer, not after today. "I was the first of us to admit how they really felt. It wasn't something that came on a whim either; it was…it was growing inside me for a while, and I'm kind of embarrassed to admit it took me so long to realize what it was. At the time, the way things were between us…with Nick especially, if I hadn't worked up the courage to admit to both of us how I really felt…I never would've forgiven myself.

"I realize how hard it must be for a lot of people to wrap their heads around, and if a part of you still held onto some doubt in spite of what I'm about to say, I wouldn't hold it against you. That all being said though, Nick means more than the world to me. I've never loved anyone, be they another bunny or another species entirely, as much as I love him, and that's the honest truth. Yes, I'm prey, and he's my natural predator, but I could never want to be with someone else as much as I want to be with him. I honestly couldn't imagine living the rest of my life without him, and if I were to just abandon him in the face of everything we've been put up against today just for my own sake…I'd never be able to even look myself in the mirror.

"The whole reason we're in this mess to begin with was because I wanted to be able to comfort Nick in a time when he was going through serious emotional struggles, because that's what mammals do for those they love. We've gone through all kinds of incredible hardships together, and I'm not going to abandon him now or ever. This time won't be any different, nor will any that could come after." The sheer conviction, the confidence, the courage with which Judy carried herself and spoke was astounding to Finnick to say the least. Every fiber in his being had been screaming that she would've caved under the pressure and admitted it was all a ruse. But for this little bunny with practically nothing left to instead step up and willingly subject herself to everything that was to come right alongside Nick? The fennec for once had no idea how to react to that.

"I…uh…okay, well…geez, I don't really know how to respond to that," Finnick admitted amid his flustered stuttering while Judy's expression remained the same, almost as if she were about to keep going. "Please, spare me the continuous play-by-play or else you're just gonna start repeating yourself, you've made your point. Lots of other mammals I've known would've folded, tried to pull their tails out the fire first chance they got, but you didn't so congratulations, I believe you."

"Okay, so you got your answer. So what happens now?" Judy didn't even sound nervous or scared anymore. If anything she just sounded tired, as if just beckoning him to just get the verbal lashing over and done with. Wouldn't have hurt any worse than anything else that had happened today. "I'm not gonna say what either of you is doing is right, but I ain't saying it's wrong either, so you can relax. Frankly, my philosophy has always been to just worry about what happens to me first; everything else is practically inconsequential. I could honestly care less what the two of you or anybody else in this lousy city does on their own time. But like I said, there's a lot of history with Nick and I, so…I guess all I wanna say is just…whatever you two ex-flatfoots decide to do, wherever you end up going, just make sure he doesn't do anything stupid, or anything else that might get him killed, okay?"

In spite of his bluntness, the manner in which Finnick spoke betrayed just how much emotion he struggled to convey. Beneath the rough exterior and the unwillingness to express as such, he ultimately cared a great deal for Nick; and the fact he was asking this of Judy, in spite of their naturally opposing sides of the law, said all that and so much more. So much so that the bunny couldn't help but smile in understanding in spite of the fennec's attitude.

"I'd say you don't even have to ask, though I doubt the word of an ex-cop counts for much in your book. But don't worry, I'll keep our dumb fox safe no matter what, and that's a Bunny Scout promise," Judy swore, even capping it off with the traditional two-finger bunny ear salute; earning an involuntary and barely restrained chortle from deep in Finnick's throat. "Seriously? You were a Bunny Scout too?" he reluctantly felt the need to ask. "Former cop, remember? Would it really surprise you if I said yes?" she shot right back, and for a second Finnick looked convinced, until he could make out a faint yet devious look in her smirk; the one crack in an otherwise perfect mask.

"God, Nick has really found a silver-tongued liar protégé in you, hasn't he? As if one of him wasn't bad enough. Get out of here and do what you two idiots need to do. And if you so much as breathe a word of what I told you to him, I don't care what he does; bunny stew goes back on the menu. Got it?" the fennec replied in a confusing mixture of amusement and aggravation as he began hurriedly reaching to open the door and push Judy out of his van. Once she was out, with a deafening slam of the door, the van roared back to life and peeled out; leaving Judy and Nick once again on their own in the cold, empty underground parking lot.

"Always figured there was a soft spot somewhere behind the big ears and bad attitude," Nick suddenly broke the silence with an amused smirk. "Before you even think to ask, I heard everything. These ears aren't just for show like yours, Carrots. But don't worry, what he doesn't know won't get you put in a stewing pot," he went on when Judy nearly snapped her head in his direction to ask the obvious.

"Can't keep anything from you, can I, nosey fox? So what's the story with Sherry?" the bunny relented as Nick took her paw in his and made for the lone elevator doors. "Turns out, our only friend in City Hall is quite the tech wizard. She's already turned off all the security cameras leading to her office, says she can get us access to the traffic cameras from there. She's even gonna meet us and help make sure none of the graveyard shifters notice us, just in case," he explained as he hit the button and the two instinctively watched the floor numbers above the door descend.

As the two waited, Judy found herself naturally resting her head against Nick's shoulder in a state of drowsiness; the contact immediately bringing her back to her senses. "Finally losing some of that fire there, Fluff?" the fox asked as Judy rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. "Yeah. I guess finally being able to slow down for a minute made me realize…everything that's happened to us, ever since that first news report; it hasn't even been a full 24 hours since then." The way Judy sounded as she made this realization sounded nothing less than utterly drained.

"Well, if you ever needed any proof about that whole 'time flies when you're having fun' thing, right?" Nick asked in bemusement; bringing an amused yet grateful smile to the bunny's face. "Don't worry about a thing, Carrots. Once this is all finished, we'll leave for Bunnyburrow first thing and never have to think about this town ever again," Nick said reassuringly, petting her folded ears the way she always liked.

"You almost sound too eager to move out to the sticks, Nick. Where did that city fox I love run off to?" she asked teasingly. "Oh, what're you giving me the third degree for, Carrots? I figured you and your parents would be just chomping at the bit to finally school me on what you're best at," the fox said with a roll of his eyes just as the final ding of the elevator's arrival sounded. Just as they hoped, only Sherry Bullba was there to greet them.

"Hi, guys. If we wanna avoid running into any other late shift workers, we gotta move fast. Get in," the female antelope urged them inside before hurriedly hitting the button for the upper floor. "I heard about what happened to your home. I'm really glad you weren't hurt. God, I can't imagine how you must be feeling right now," Sherry finally said once they could feel the elevator moving. The visible weariness in the two mammals' eyes spoke volumes to her sentiment.

"It's…it's been very hard, I won't lie. But knowing that there's at least one person in this city that still wants to help us…well, it helps more than you can imagine. Thank you for doing this, Sherry. I just wish we could apologize to your father. We never meant for this to happen and mess up his campaign so badly." Judy admitted with unmistakable regret, while Sherry couldn't help but slightly smile to herself to know she was at least doing something helpful for these two heroes.

"You don't have to apologize for that, Judy. I just…I just hope you don't resent daddy for not immediately speaking out in your defense once this all started coming out. It wasn't to spite either of you. He's just been scrambling like crazy today to keep his biggest financial supporters in his corner, while trying to maintain his stance of support for the ZPD at the same time. The anger everybody's showing out on the streets and online hasn't been making it any easier, I'm afraid."

"Yeah, I guess that's to be expected. Try to appease everybody all at once, and you end up appeasing nobody. Do it gradually and you'll have everyone on your side, if you're lucky. Politics in a nutshell." Nick mumbled to himself, either unable or unwilling to hide the bitter undertone in his voice at Sherry's attempt to excuse her father's lack of support. Thankfully the young antelope didn't seem to notice the fox's mumbling, or simply chose not to react.

With the only sound now being the hum of the elevator, Judy tried to think of something, anything to say to break the uncomfortable silence. Her violet eyes began panning across, looking for anything noteworthy, when she noticed something peculiar.

"Hey, Sherry, what happened to that pretty bracelet of yours?" she instinctively asked, and while at first Sherry looked legitimately confused, a glance to her right wrist instantly made her realize. "Wow, you really do have a good eye for detail. I guess you should if you're a cop, huh? A-anyway, I don't usually wear it in public, just in case some mugger or pickpocket tries to snatch it when I'm on my way to work or home. I mean, being a gift from daddy, it would just destroy him if it were to get stolen," she explained, earning an understanding nod from the little bunny.

With that, the elevator gave a resounding ring at long last. "Okay, there should only be janitorial staff and a couple graveyard shift workers at most right now, so if we just hurry, we shouldn't run into anyone. Thankfully, my office is pretty close." Sherry whispered, urging Judy and Nick to stay on her tail as they hurried out into the open.

Shortly after…

"You know, déjà vu is all well and good, but I can't be the only one finding us back here for the exact same reason more than a little unsettling, right? Or do all of Zootopia's politicians call dibs on this place for their assistants at different hours of the day?" Nick couldn't help but ask as he and Judy had followed Sherry into what she'd called her 'personal office': the exact same cramped boiler room/broom closet that had been the office of none other than Dawn Bellwether a couple years back. The fox couldn't decide if he wanted to laugh at the coincidence or shudder at how…deliberate it all felt, and Judy's lack of a reaction wasn't helping.

"Alright, and we're in. So what exactly are we looking for?" Sherry announced once she got them into the entire city's traffic camera network. "We're hoping to find out if Pantera was the one who blew up our apartment. We get closure, and hopefully we'll be able to track his movements and at least get an idea where to start searching for him. Two birds with one stone." Judy explained, to which the antelope immediately got to work patching them into the camera directly across the street from their former home.

"You know, you don't have to stay here with us if you don't want to, Sherry, we can take over from here. I'd hate for you to get in trouble for not being where you need to be." Judy suddenly began urging her away from the computer, much to Sherry and Nick's shared surprise, but she didn't raise a fuss as she gave the bunny the seat. Feeling the need to break the awkward silence, Nick began ushering Sherry to the door. "Thank you so much for all your help, Sherry, seriously. It means much more than you realize," he assured her as she gave another concerned glance to the back of Judy's head before giving an understanding nod and letting herself out; once more leaving the two partners to themselves.

"Hey, Carrots, you mind filling me in on what the heck that was? She was only trying to help us; you didn't have to go and force her out—"It's precisely because she's helping us, Nick!" Judy unexpectedly snapped once Nick began to express his disapproval, rendering her former work partner stunned silent. "Nearly everyone in this city hates us, the last thing I want is for one of the last friends we have to risk getting in trouble or worse just for helping us. The less time she spends around us, the safer she is."

Unable to argue with her logic, Nick let out a remorseful sigh and soon joined her side as she focused intently on the front view of their apartment building.

Their first few minutes of watching the recording on fast forward seemed to crawl by as their eyes darted to every last ounce of movement, as if just waiting for the next car to drive by to stop, or the next mammal to come walking down the sidewalk to conspicuously step inside the building. But with each held breath came an unspoken disappointment as everyone they saw kept walking right past, and the only activity in the building itself was of mammals walking out for a jog or work.

"This is getting us nowhere. You know if any of the other tenants might've been a plumber, and decided to hijack our gas line before leaving?" Judy finally asked after five minutes of silence had passed. "If that were the case, they'd have to throw their tools away in order to get rid of evidence. Something like this happening to the home of two ZPD officers, of course they're going to interview every last resident of the building. And of course they'd be combing the surrounding area for probable tools as well. If one of our neighbors was in fact the culprit, their only option to get rid of the evidence would be to take it outside with them and dump it somewhere far off. Obviously impossible when you realize someone's always operating the cameras."

Despite Nick's thorough explanation of why the culprit couldn't have been any of their neighbors, Judy just let out a defeated groan of aggravation, silently pleading for a lucky break. And it was just then, that a white van with the words 'Ajax Plumbing & Home Maintenance' stenciled across the side, suddenly pulled to a stop right across from their building; sending her ears straight up as she and the fox leaned in to get a better look at the driver.

As they stepped out of the driver's seat, they made a noticeable effort to keep the brim of their cap pulled over their face; the clearest sign that this person knew the camera was there. No regular plumber would just do something like that on a whim. In that instant, every fiber of Judy's being was screaming this had to be the culprit. And the fact their physique was identical to nearly every other large cat species she knew of, even despite hiding their face and wearing gloves to cover the color of their fur; left her certain of just who they were looking at.

"It's gotta be him. It's just gotta be," she started whispering repeatedly to herself as she followed him into the front entrance. As soon as he was out of sight, she immediately hit fast forward, anxious for Pantera to show his face again, while Nick leaned in over her shoulder to get a better look. "Ajax. I've seen those vans around town a few times. You think he might be working there under a different name?" Nick asked; figuring it made perfect sense as to how Pantera was able to get around the city without being spotted so quickly, and why nobody had thought to report seeing him after his name and face had been released.

"Doesn't seem likely. Pantera's got a pretty distinctive face, so I don't think working under an alias would make much difference if the police released his photo, unless of course he got some kind of surgery over the last ten years. No, I'm willing to bet he stole the van and the uniform some time recently just for—oh, wait, he's back!" Judy began to theorize, only to immediately get back to watching the monitor intently as the large cat driver exited the building, made a beeline for the van, and was soon driving off.

"You know, maybe it's just me, but after he's been managing to avoid even getting glimpsed on camera up till now, why do you think he would suddenly show himself like this? Doesn't add up to me." Nick mused as Judy had already begun switching from camera to camera, following the van as it began driving down the winding back streets of their neighborhood. "I'm willing to bet he knew he'd stick out if he just went in civilian clothes; just in case a couple tenacious ex-cops decided to go over all the recent surveillance of the building, comparing those that go in and out with the known tenants. Again, he's probably banking on whoever watches this just passing him off for another typical plumber."

"Well listen to you, such confidence in how you think a deranged serial arsonist's mind works." Nick remarked teasingly; and even though her gaze was still on the screen, Judy couldn't resist the resulting smirk. "Valedictorian of my class for a reason, lover; and don't you forget it." By now, the van was approaching one of the dividing walls that set up the three major sections of the city. "Okay, looks like he's heading for the Rainforest District."

However, just before reaching the tunnel that would leave Sahara Square for the Rainforest District, the van took a sudden turn to an off-ramp; Judy hurriedly having to switch cameras so as not to lose it as it began taking more winding side roads further towards the City Center.

"He's probably looking for a remote place to ditch his ride and disguise, or at least somewhere the cameras might not see him." Nick thought out loud as Judy worked like a machine to keep the van in her sights. Right now, she was the spitting image of a mammal on a mission, and nothing was going to get in the way of her seeing justice delivered. "Not if I have anything to say about it."

After another minute of sharp turns and narrow misses, the van finally ducked into a smaller traffic tunnel, once more heading in the direction of the Rainforest District; and just as Judy brought up the feed for the camera waiting on the other side, there was suddenly no van coming out. She even took the good measure of fast-forwarding all the way back to the present moment, and the van never emerged, still. "Getting aid from a politician's assistant, watching traffic camera footage in a broom closet, and magic mystery tunnel. We are officially three for three for creepy sense of déjà vu. I was even getting ready to bet you for it, too," the observant fox chimed in, unable to make up his mind if he was amused or unsettled by how familiar this whole scenario felt.

"Yeah, yeah, we can discuss what I owe you later. So, you know every crack and crevice of this town like nobody else; you know if that place also has a maintenance tunnel he could slip through?" Judy asked; arms crossed over her chest as she looked about ready to hit the streets running. While needing a moment to really recall, the look of confidence in Nick's eyes was a very good sign. "No, actually; it's just got a little side lot or alcove that serves as a rest stop for long-distance travelers. Finnick and I sometimes stopped there for the night when he first got his van."

"Perfect. If that van hasn't come out even until now, then he must be trying to lie low so he can blend in with the morning rush hour. This is our best chance, Nick. I've got all the directions memorized, so let's go nab ourselves a firebug." Judy was nearly bolting out the door while Nick looked to be debating whether he should've been dialing Bogo right now or not. However, the possibility of getting arrested for desertion and vigilante action before even getting the chance to bring Pantera down quickly diffused any uncertainty as he was quick on the bunny's tail.

City Center/ Rainforest District Tunnel

It took a good while on foot, even longer when having to duck out of the open every so often to avoid any wandering civilian's eyes, but eventually the bunny and fox duo found themselves at the mouth of the tunnel. Judy was visibly hyping herself up for the inevitable confrontation, as was Nick if not for the fact he looked a bit more apprehensive. Had he known this was where this endless day was going to lead him, he would've tried to see about nabbing one of the ZPD's tranquilizer pistols before leaving. They were about to go after the serial arsonist panther that had just blown up their home, with nothing but their own two paws and their wits to help them.

Before he could express his doubts, Judy grabbed Nick by the wrist and set off into the tunnel. The only sources of light were the sporadic overhead lamps lining the tunnel's roof, but Nick's natural night vision forced him to take the lead as he and Judy continuously hugged the wall, just waiting for the first sign of the alcove Pantera had to have stopped his van at.

"Alright, guess this is my last chance to say it: what do we do about apprehending this guy, Carrots? I didn't get a tranquilizer, and I doubt the chief left you a complimentary pair of cuffs when he dropped you off." Nick mentioned in a very hushed whisper, practically through his teeth as they inched along. Nevertheless, Judy was unperturbed. "We work as a team. Using a suspect's size and weight against them was always my strong suit in combat training. What about you?"

"Um…typically evading and trying not to let them get a hold of me. I guess maybe you could consider that 'making the suspect tire themselves out'?" Nick admitted, unable to help sounding embarrassed. However, Judy didn't seem as bothered by that as he'd feared. If anything, the gleam in her eyes showed she'd already put their plan together in her head. "Alright, we can work with that. You try to keep his attention while I try to get behind him, just in case this gets ugly." Before Nick could note just how poorly thought out that sounded to him, the alcove entrance finally came into view, forcing the two to stop in their tracks.

Barely visible from where they were, but visible regardless, was the white rear of the van, with thankfully no other parked vehicles nearby from what they could see. Judy's grip on Nick's wrist suddenly tightened. "Alright…moment of truth, I guess. Let's just hope he actually decided to stick around for this long." Nick said with a sigh. Even when trying to sound hopeful, he couldn't hide just how doubtful he was. The odds of someone who'd managed to stay hidden this long in a city this big suddenly deciding to stick around in a stolen vehicle, and not try to make a run for it first chance they got after blowing up someone's home, were astronomical.

"This is the best and last shot we have, Nick. He has to be there…he just has to be." As confident as her words were, Judy still couldn't hide the trace of desperation in her tone. She needed this to work out. Today had already been filled with too many painful losses. They needed a win after all of this, for her sake. So with that, the two finally ducked into the alcove and began carefully approaching the solitary van from behind, all the while silently hoping their suspect wasn't watching them from behind the clearly tinted rear windows.

Once they finally reached the van, both were shocked to find the stenciled 'Ajax' logo was no longer adorning the sides. At once did Judy silently scold herself for not even thinking to write down the license plate number back at City Hall. "Okay, looks like Pantera's a lot more resourceful than we thought." Nick mentioned in a whisper, motioning for Judy to keep her voice down as she looked at him to further explain. "Me and Finnick used to stop by a few chop shops throughout the city way back when, and some of them would forge known company stencils and license plates. You know, for mammals making unexpected house calls that don't want to be followed after. I'll bet he's got a stack of replacement license plates inside already, if this one here isn't one of them."

Judy momentarily couldn't believe she hadn't stopped to think of that. It was one of the most obvious things a criminal would've done to cover their tracks, and one of the first hypothetical scenarios trainees were taught. It couldn't help but make the bunny momentarily worry that her stress and obsession was making her reckless, sloppy. But when she managed to get her head back to reality, a question instantly came to mind: "Wait, if Pantera did already swap plates and get rid of the stencil…then why would he bother staying here?"

She and Nick both looked nervously to the van again, and with their fur bristling with tension, they quickly ducked back behind the alcove entrance, out of sight. Scanning the immediate scene for something to defend themselves with, Judy grabbed a stray brick and a discarded lead pipe; handing the larger of the two to her partner, who looked at it with momentary distaste at what this was implying. Only now did the worse image of vigilantism come to their minds, as they took in what they were about to do. But without backup or better equipment to help them, this was all they had to make do with outside of their own wits.

Creeping on the tips of their toes, Judy silently motioned for them to get down, even proceeding to crawl her way underneath the van so she and Nick with both on their stomachs, the fox clearly disliking the cramped conditions. "Okay, if Pantera hasn't already tried to escape, that must mean he hasn't heard or seen us. So here's the plan: you've got the longer weapon, so knock on the rear doors and get out of sight when he reacts. When I give the signal, we get the drop on him."

Needless to say, Nick looked at his partner skeptically, to say the least. "Okay, is this going to be some kind of elaborate signal we need to memorize, or one of those simple ones any moron can recognize? I feel a plan that hinges on timing like that might need that little detail ironed out." Judy just rolled her eyes with an exasperated sigh, uncertain if he was just trying to stall, or genuinely had managed to stop following her typical train of thought. "Look, just assume that when I look ready to nail him, that's the signal, okay?"

"Okay, and what if he's got a gun? I can't imagine someone who's planned ahead like this guy might not carry a little precaution like that." As Nick brought up yet another flaw in their strategy, Judy had to consciously remind herself to keep her voice to the softest whisper. If Nick was indeed right, the last thing they needed was Pantera blasting several holes through the floor just cause he overheard their bickering. "Alright, look, you knock on the doors then get back down here. When he comes out to investigate, we knock his feet out from under him. That's always managed to work for us with the bigger lugs, right?"

"How about, instead, why don't I just call the chief, tell him where we are, and we hightail it out of here before he brings the cavalry to bring Pantera down? Surely he'd realize we have no reason to lie to him about finding the mammal that blew up our home, right?" By this point, Judy couldn't help but look accusingly at Nick, as though he were deliberately trying to keep them from finally taking this criminal down and being done with it all. The fox's ears immediately folded when he saw the look in her eyes.

"Don't look at me like that, Carrots; I'm just trying to play it so we can actually be able to leave this town in one piece, and two mammals our size playing live bait and trying to get the jump on a violent full-grown panther with just a pipe and a brick doesn't sound like the best way to get there, you know?" As much as Judy wanted to straight-up tell Nick how this was going to go, she couldn't justify it. She knew he was right. This plan was reckless, if not downright stupid, and that was putting it mildly. She honestly couldn't tell if it was her long-repressed anger brewing since this awful day had started that was making her act this way, or if her ever-growing exhaustion from the last several days was finally starting to cloud her better judgment. Just the thought made her want to acquiesce to her partner's suggestion and just call Bogo with their location and just leave and never look back.

But then the fresh memories of watching their home go up in smoke came back, and she could feel her fur bristling with anger. Yes, bringing the ZPD here to arrest him was the lawful thing to do, and every instinct in her said as much. But her emotions filled her with the desire for catharsis, to personally deliver some kind of retribution to the mammal that had helped make their lives a never-ending nightmare. Torn between reason and emotion, Judy's body was essentially on autopilot.

Hence, without another word, she scrambled out from under the van before Nick could grab her or tell her to stop, and with brick in paw, heavily pounded against the rear doors. Nick felt his blood freeze in his veins, as each impact seemed to ring louder than the last. His fur was practically standing on end, his heart caught in his throat as he was just waiting for a resulting cacophony of gunshots or a roar to follow, and he wouldn't be able to save Judy in time. In that moment, Nick felt time come to a stop.

But even as Judy's reflexes allowed her to quickly leap to the side and scramble back beneath the van in wait for the desired response from Pantera, all the two were met with was silence. Nick momentarily failed to notice, as when he realized Judy was right back at his side in one piece, he felt ready to give her the scolding of a lifetime for doing something so suicidal. But the look of confusion in her violet eyes was able to stop the fox before he could say anything he'd come to regret, and that was when he too realized…there was no response at all. They were still met only with the droning silence of the empty tunnel, with the distant hum of city traffic permeating the background.

Exchanging worried glances, the two tried to listen carefully, nearly putting their ears to the van's undercarriage, for any kind of sound resembling a response, even something as subtle as a distribution of weight making the vehicle groan, or even a grunt of physical strain, or even heavy breathing. But again, there was nothing.

Either Pantera was terrifyingly good at masking his presence, like a panther-sized pyromaniac ninja, or he wasn't here after all. Neither possibility was good, but regardless, they both felt the irresistible need for certainty. And so, still trying to be as silent as possible, Judy and Nick carefully crept back out from underneath and positioned themselves on opposite sides of the van, just barely peeking around the corners to the rear doors.

Both their hearts were pounding hard with adrenaline. There was no more time for stalling. One way or another, everything was going to change starting now. Knowing he had the longer weapon, Nick carefully tried to reach the hooked end of the lead pipe into the handle for one of the doors. Once he was sure it was snagged and he could open it from where he was, he gave one last apprehensive glance to the bunny across from him. There were so many thoughts racing through both their heads as they shared that glance. Anticipation for the possibility of nabbing their criminal, and terror for what would come next if they weren't able to stop him. For all either of them knew, this was going to be them going out, not in a blaze of glory, but in an insignificant struggle that no one would ever hear about or at least remember.

As nick began to pull the door handle, Judy could only think about how much she wished she could have just cast her pride away and just called in for backup and accepted those consequences, rather than whatever was waiting for them on the other side of those doors.

With a resounding click, the door slowly swung open, and once more, the dreaded and long-awaited savage roar and subsequent struggle with their devious panther, never came. Once their hearts managed to slow down to the point they weren't about to burst, Judy and Nick shared an immensely heavy sigh of relief; neither one able to help the subsequent trembling of their bodies at the recognition of just how closely they'd managed to dodge yet another potential bullet. Without further ado, the bunny and fox slowly peeked through the doorway to the van's interior.

Inside were several small stacks of license plates, an assortment of plumbing tools, and several rolls of different attachable stencils. Even in the dark of the van's interior, Nick could make out part of the Ajax Plumbing stencil from before. But all evidence of this being a disguisable getaway vehicle aside, the most important thing was still missing: Leonard Pantera.

"I don't get it. We didn't see him sneak out the tunnel on the cameras, so where could he have gone?" Judy asked mostly to herself as she hastily climbed inside to check the front, all her recent fear instantly vanished without a trace. Climbing in through the small rear view window, she immediately noticed a small key ring with a single key sitting on the floor. If the video before hadn't shown the culprit was wearing gloves, her first thought would've been to pocket it to check for prints or a trace of fur.

But now all she could think was how nonsensical it was for Pantera to ditch his only getaway vehicle and the key. There were all kinds of variables at play in a city like Zootopia. How would he know some random mammal down on his luck wouldn't think to steal this seemingly abandoned ride with the keys practically in the ignition? Compared to how carefully he'd covered his tracks before, this sudden carelessness was baffling.

"Judy, get out here! You're gonna want to see this!" Nick's voice suddenly called to her from outside, and the urgency in his tone had Judy practically kicking the driver's side door open lest he was in trouble. The fox was standing in front of the van, and while the bunny was glad to see he was alone and seemingly unhurt, she immediately saw his green eyes had grown very serious, focused on something she had yet to notice.

However, that's when the faintest but most dreadfully familiar scent came to her attention, and following Nick's gaze, Judy felt her heart momentarily skip a beat when she finally saw it: a few small droplets of what was unmistakably blood spilled on the concrete, and looking further, there were several more similar stains trailing away from the scene.

"Oh, god…what do you think? You think some pedestrian might have accidentally spotted him and he…he…?" Judy began to ask, trying to calm herself before Nick swiftly came to her side, holding her shoulders firmly and looking deep into her eyes, trying so hard not to let his own fear show for her sake. "Don't think about that now, Carrots. We don't know what happened yet, so just look at me and take a breath, alright?"

Following her partner's advice, Judy took the moment to take a deep breath and calm her nerves, her trembling thankfully coming to a stop as she let it out. Once nick was satisfied, he pulled his phone from his pocket, already beginning to dial. Judy didn't even need to guess whom. Now that they knew someone for sure had gotten hurt, there was no way Nick was going to just let them continue the pursuit by themselves. The obvious consequences didn't even factor in anymore.

"Hey, Chief. Listen, I—yes, yes I know we should've stayed put, but—Chief, please just listen for a minute; we—we think we might've caught Pantera's trail!" Listening to Nick struggle to get a word in once he'd gotten an answer, Judy could just imagine Chief Bogo was positively raging on the other end, but once her partner had finally forced his point out into the open, there was a dreadful lingering silence. Then finally, Nick slowly handed the phone over to the bunny; who only took it with the greatest reluctance.

"Hopps, if what Wilde says is true, then please; just tell us where you are and I'll come with as much backup as I can ASAP. Just tell us, and this time stay put." Once more, the noticeably forced calm in Bogo's voice was the most unsettling thing about hearing her old boss' voice again. Clearly the idea that they might actually have a chance at closing this case tonight had done much to diffuse his no doubt explosive anger.

Judy had to decide what to do. If they did as the chief was asking, then yes they could potentially catch Pantera and put another threat to Zootopia behind bars where he belonged, but then she and Nick would be left at the mercy of the justice system, without anyone to back them up or give them a helping paw this time. But if she decided to stay silent, then they could potentially end up following the trail into a death trap, and there would again be no one to help them. Neither option had any possibility of a happy ending, but Judy knew she had to pick one. And so, with yet another deep breath, she answered:

"Chief, we're at the City Center/ Rainforest District Sub-Tunnel 3. Traffic camera footage showed a single van stop in front of our apartment before it blew up, and the driver, while keeping their face hidden, clearly had the physique of a large cat-type mammal. We have reason to believe it was Leonard Pantera. We followed the van into this tunnel, and while he currently isn't here, Nick spotted a small trail of blood leading away from the scene."

"Alright, Hopps; you and Wilde stay right where you are, and we'll be there ETA five minutes. Do not move from that spot, understood? That trail could mean anything, and I won't have you two putting yourselves at risk any further." Judy honestly couldn't tell if the tone Bogo spoke with was anger, or legitimate worry for their safety. But neither one would've stopped her from what she was about to do next.

"I'm sorry, sir…but him destroying our home and nearly killing us was the point of no return. If we don't do something now, there's no telling how many people may suffer the consequences. We're going to try and make it so he can't escape. You just get all the officers you can and hurry." With that final declaration, Judy shut the phone closed before Bogo could get another word out; slipping it back into Nick's pocket while never taking her eyes off the grisly trail they now had to follow. Before she could begin to move, Nick placed a gentle, compassionate paw on her shoulder, forcing her to look back to her partner. The look in his green eyes was deep, conveying a number of different emotions he simply couldn't find the right words to express. But Judy could understand it all the same.

"I'm okay, Nick, really. We're just…we're so close to finally seeing this all be over. I just…we need to see this through ourselves, right? After coming after us personally, it's only fair we be the ones to end this, right?" While she was trying to convey confidence and that same sense of lawful righteousness that typically made her seem so inspiring; the bunny wasn't able to hide her underlying nervousness either. It was as if she was trying to convince herself they were making the right decision by following that trail themselves, as much as him.

Just as desperate to finally put this case and this city behind them, Nick knelt down and pulled Judy into one more compassionate embrace she gratefully returned. As always, just the knowledge he was here at her side was all it took to make Judy ready to take on the entire world and more. "Fair or not, what matters is that we end this together; right, Carrots?" he whispered as he could feel a grand swelling of emotion build up in his chest. With an emotional chuckle, Judy stepped back to look Nick in the eyes; her violet gaze shimmering with confidence and gratitude for everything they'd experienced together up till now. "That's right. Always together, Nick; always."

Sure that they were now both ready, she began to head off after the trail again, but Nick's hold didn't let up. Looking back confusedly, Judy was surprised to see the fox looking particularly conflicted, or rather, contemplative. When he finally looked into her eyes again, there was an emotional depth in his gaze that the bunny for once actually couldn't recall ever seeing before, which killed any words she'd begun to form.

"Judy…if we somehow manage to make it through this okay, there's something….t-there's something serious I need to ask you." Judy could only manage a feeble nod in response. She'd seen the otherwise always emotionally composed fox express all kinds of emotions with his eyes and the way he spoke, but never once had she ever heard him sound so nervous. In a way, it actually left her feeling rather anxious to hear just what was on his mind that could rob him of his normal confidence, but she also remembered time wasn't on their side. And so when Nick finally let go of her, she firmly took his paw in her own as she began to lead the way. "Then let's hurry up and put this firebug on ice, partner."

The trail was small but consistent. Judy's sense of smell wasn't quite as developed for something like blood as Nick's was, so he could more easily tell that while not fresh, this trail had been left relatively recently; just a little less than an hour if he had to guess.

"I don't remember Pantera looking hurt at any point in that video, do you?" the fox instinctively asked as the trail rounded the corner of the wall separating the alcove from the wall. Judy absently shook her head in response as she began taking in the whole scene. There were no traffic cameras in this tunnel, and since it wasn't the main highway tunnel, the traffic in this area was probably less than half the amount; so at this time of night, this place was probably ideal for Pantera to hide away whatever unlucky mammal had laid eyes on him without running into anyone else. Just the thought sent her protective instincts into overdrive as she began following the trail faster, desperate to catch their criminal in time before he'd do god-knew-what to his hostage.

Moments later, the trail disappeared at the edge of a manhole cover sitting in the middle of the road. Thinking ahead, Nick latched his lead pipe into the hole on the rim and pried the cover off. It was pitch black down below, but shining the light on his cellphone into it, the two ex-cops immediately noticed a couple small bloodstains on a few of the ladder rungs leading down.

"He probably had to carry the witness on the way down. If he wanted to get rid of them, why would he bother to do that instead of just dropping them down?" Judy mainly asked herself in an attempt to understand Pantera's reasoning, but Nick knew just staying up here and theorizing wasn't going to solve anything. "We don't know anything about what he did or didn't do yet, Carrots; so let's just see what we find down there. Don't forget to breathe through your mouth."

Without another word, he took a deep breath and began quickly descending the ladder, with Judy quickly following suit. She figured once Chief Bogo and the ZPD reinforcements arrived, they'd see the open manhole cover and put two and two together as to where the bunny and fox had gone in their pursuit.

Once they reached the bottom, the two mammals were immediately hit by the lingering, permeating stench that only the sewers of a major metropolis like Zootopia could muster. They could both practically feel their fur stand on end, but were quick to remember Nick's advice and began breathing through their mouths. Turning the cellphone light to the floor, Nick was pleased to see the blood droplets did in fact continue towards the one door.

Their ultra-sensitive hearing could pick up the distinct roar of rushing water on the other side, and upon opening were immediately met with the intimidating sight of a colossal subterranean canal; the rushing water nearly churned white with the force and speed it was moving at. Thankfully, Judy and nick were on an elevated stone walkway overlooking it, and with the widely separated overhead lights dotting the walls, they could tell even from where they were that there were a number of steel bridges along the walkway that crossed the canal.

The only real issue was the noise. They could already feel their heads ringing from how relentlessly loud it was, to the point they couldn't even hear themselves think. They knew they would have to practically scream in order to remotely hear each other over this barrage on their eardrums.

"This must be one of the main waterways connecting the districts. These tunnels run like their own little maze underneath the city. No wonder Pantera was able to go for so long without getting caught on the cameras." Nick said in realization. All the while, Judy was still eagerly trying to take the lead, pulling the fox by his paw as she continued following the trail.

As they continued on, Judy couldn't help wondering just where this was taking them. If Pantera still had his hostage with him, then getting close enough to immobilize him was going to be next to impossible, especially if wherever he was currently holed up had only one entrance and exit. For now, the best she could hope for was that they would catch him before he'd reach wherever he was currently putting his feet up.

But then came the environmental factors involved in a confrontation with him. She and Nick were both on the smaller side of the mammal size and weight chart. Animals like panthers, jaguars and lions were practically giants by comparison; and they were scarily faster than both of them. No matter how fast Judy had proven to be in every footrace or marathon or track exercise she'd partaken in, she knew someone like Pantera could close the distance between them in a matter of seconds, even if the bunny was at her physical peak.

And that wasn't even considering even bothering to fight. If he even got lucky for a second, he could send both she and Nick flying over those puny guardrails and right into the canal. And with how fast those waters were rushing, and just where every adjoining waterway met, it would pretty much be game over right then.

Knowing all that, all Judy could do was mentally chastise herself for not thinking to give the inside of the van another look for a better means of defense. If Pantera had stashed a pistol in his glove compartment and had momentarily forgotten to take it with after dealing with his surprise witness, she'd feel considerably safer.

But just as soon as that thought had crossed her mind, the cop's instincts still deep inside scolded her again. Using lethal means on any mammal was to be the very, very, very last resort; regardless how personal this whole mess had gotten. It wasn't even about violating her ethics as a former cop; it was about just violating her sense of right and wrong as a civilized mammal. Her family had never condoned violence in any circumstance, and for her to suddenly be legitimately considering using a gun on another mammal just left an uncomfortable twisting sensation in her stomach.

If anything, for Judy, this was simply another sign of just how much everything today; heck, this whole week, had finally started to wear down on her emotions. All the more reason for her and Nick to help get Pantera put behind bars, and then leave Zootopia and its madness far behind them.

"Whoa, hey; think maybe now's a good time to come back to reality, airhead bunny?" Nick suddenly called out, snapping Judy back to her senses. She'd pretty much been following the trail on autopilot and had nearly started to walk off after the trail had suddenly made an unexpected detour left down a smaller tunnel. The bunny honestly couldn't help but crack an embarrassed smile as she gave Nick back his phone, and he began to take the lead.

From here, the noise of the canal thankfully started to die down and they could actually hear their own footsteps again. The lights along the walls thankfully illuminated the trail enough that Nick tucked his phone away. Last thing they needed was Pantera seeing the obnoxiously bright light down the way, warning him to their presence.

After a few moments, the tunnel took another turn to the right, and as soon as they rounded the corner, Nick and Judy instantly froze and hurriedly backed behind the corner. There was one single door to greet them, and the trail definitely went behind it. But what really got their hearts racing was that there was clearly a light on the other side, and for a second, they could both see a single shadow moving across it.

Communicating what the next step was with only their eyes, the bunny and fox slowly and carefully crept, nearly on all fours, to the door until they both stacked up around it. Nick had his pipe raised and at the ready while Judy tightened her grip on the brick she'd still been clutching this whole time. They still detested the idea of resorting to these methods of subduing their criminal, but there wasn't any backing down now. If they blew it here, Pantera would flee and likely never take the risk of giving them something resembling a lead to follow him ever again. And that was just their being foolishly optimistic enough to think he'd bother letting either of them live.

Just before giving the cue to move in, Judy could just barely catch the sound of a voice from inside. It was deep from what she could hear, fitting for a mammal Pantera's size. But the door was too thick for her to properly make out any actual words. As she and Nick continued trying to listen, it became apparent there was no second voice. Either he was talking to himself, or he was talking to his hostage. Just knowing they were still alive lit a fire in both of them as they prepared to make their move.

On the silent count of three, they simultaneously shoulder-tackled the door, but the instant it gave way, both their ears picked up the distinctive sound of a wire snapping. In an instant, the entire room was filled with a blinding flash of light, catching Judy and nick off guard and momentarily stunning them. An immense heat instantly consumed the room as the unmistakable sound of an igniting fire filled the air. As they struggled to get their eyesight back to normal, a massive presence immediately rushed past them and out the door. There was no need for second guesses to who it was.

"Oh, God! Where's the hostage?" Judy immediately asked in a panic, before she realized the entire room was quickly being consumed in flames heading right towards them; the air thick with that familiar lavender scent amid the suffocating smoke; just another piece to the pile of evidence that they'd finally found their firebug. But there was no sign of the hostage anywhere, and they didn't have the time to investigate before potentially being roasted alive.

With literally no other choice, she and Nick were forced to retreat back out the door just as the flames caught up and now consumed the entire room. But there was still no time to lament this incalculable failure. The best they could do now was to apprehend Pantera now while he was on the run. So forcing her painful emotions back down, Judy quickly turned on her heels and took off in a mad dash after him, with Nick hot on her tail.

Rounding the corners back to the walkway along the canal, Judy immediately picked up the lavender scent heading to their left further down. She could only silently express gratitude that Pantera was in such a hurry so as not to get rid of it. As she and Nick continued to chase after him, the wind was practically rushing through their fur, they were going so fast. It was almost as if they were both on autopilot, simply going by gut instinct to deliver some well-deserved justice.

After a minute, they were finally able to see Pantera's back turned to them as he continued to run. For a large cat, he must've gotten considerably winded if they were already managing to close the distance. He was wearing a large, thick hooded jacket pulled up over his head, thick gloves and boots, and had even taken the measure of tucking his tail into his pants. Thorough measures to keep from getting caught on anything, but it wasn't going to do him any good here if the bunny and fox duo had anything to say about it.

"Pantera, stop! Stop in the name of the law!" Judy ordered on instinct. She obviously didn't expect him to start being cooperative now, but at least she could tell herself she still tried to be peaceful about it. But, as was to be expected, Pantera only seemed to break out into another mad dash, only to start getting winded only moments later; a hopeful sign if nothing else.

"We're willing to let bygones be bygones if you just stop and kiss the floor, Leonard! Scout's honor!" Nick tried calling out. Given his natural aversion to straightforward conflict, Judy wasn't sure whether to take him at his word or not, but what really mattered was if Pantera would. Judging by the fact he only proceeded to try breaking into another sprint in response; she could safely say he wouldn't.

This pattern of momentary sprints and slowly but surely closing the distance continued on for what felt like a good five minutes, until finally rounding another corner, Pantera came to a grinding halt at the sudden railing blocking his path. Judy and Nick were quick to do the same as they rounded right behind him. They now found themselves standing at the edge, overlooking a colossal pit of numerous waterways turning into seemingly bottomless waterfalls. This was clearly where all the waterways in the City Center and the Rainforest District met before descending into what had to be the deeper underground passages that led out to the river running along the city's western border. No mammal, no matter how big, strong or adept at swimming, could possibly survive down there. For all intents and purposes, Leonard Pantera had nowhere left to go, and the two ex-cops both knew it.

"It's over, Leonard. There's nowhere else you can go. Just put your paws in the air and surrender peacefully." Nick tried to reason with him as he began to take a step forward. Pantera kept his back turned to them, not saying a word. But he did proceed to raise his paws over his head. Liking the looks of this, Judy began to approach further alongside her partner, dropping the brick from her paws.

"Leonard Pantera…you've thrown Zootopia into a state of perpetual panic, fear, and mistrust. You've destroyed numerous pieces of city and public property…and you even went so far as to destroy our home. But I promise that you will still be treated within all the confines of the law as soon as the ZPD arrives. Just please, get down on the ground, and—"

Just before the last words could leave Judy's mouth, before her and Nick's eyes, Pantera's whole body suddenly seemed to lean forward, and it was only when they finally realized what was happening, that it was too late. He'd actually leaned the whole of his body weight over the railing, tilting his whole body forward and over it. Judy and Nick practically flew forward to try and catch him before gravity could do its job, but it was too late, as cold and unforgiving concrete was all they met as they hurried to the edge.

Just like that, Leonard Pantera free-fell into the shadows of the waterfall pit below, and out of sight. Neither of them could even speak as they tried to comprehend what they'd just witnessed. Unable to do a thing to stop it, they'd just watched their prime suspect, take his own life rather than get taken into custody. It almost felt unreal, despite happening only seconds ago. They couldn't even grasp how they should've felt in the aftermath of this unfortunate, perhaps even tragic, turn of events.

They couldn't even hear the rapidly approaching sound of multiple footsteps from behind as Chief Bogo and several other ZPD officers had finally caught up, having long since arrived on the scene at the tunnel and had been following the exact same trail and scent of lavender this whole way.

The police chief seemed to instantly realize just what it was he was walking in on, as neither Judy nor Nick seemed to acknowledge his sudden arrival. They both seemed to be in a perpetual state of shock as he brought them back to their feet; not even putting up any resistance. Their gazes still never left that drop, even as the buffalo proceeded to guide them back the way they came. However, when he looked up to see the expectant looks in several of his officers' eyes, he knew what his sworn duty expected of him at this moment. What came out of his mouth next was said with only the heaviest of hearts.

"Judith Hopps and Nicholas Wilde, you are both under arrest for vigilante action, escaping police custody…and involuntary mammalslaughter. You have the right to remain silent…" Even as the chief continued to read them their rights all the way back to the ladder, neither Judy or nick heard a word of it. Their senses were still utterly numb, just the deafening wall of noise of the rushing water ringing in their heads, and the sensation of their hearts plummeting like Pantera to the pits of their stomachs.

After all their struggles, all their hardships, all the scrutiny and loss they'd endured, and all the effort they'd made to try and settle this case lawfully, it was all for nothing in the end. And now they had only the shame of their failure and the weight of the full wrath of the law coming down on their heads to look forward to.

Minutes earlier…

For the stranger, getting his expected target, a full grown lion with his mane completely cut away, all the way down into the waterway tunnels and into the latest temporary lab, had been more physically trying than expected, but what was important was that he was here now, and for all intents and purposes, there was no risk of anyone coming down here to investigate. The stranger couldn't afford to let himself be caught by anyone…at least, not yet. Not until he got what he was ultimately looking for. That's why he'd taken the precaution of coating the walls of this inconspicuous little room with his special accelerant gel. If someone did come snooping, at least he'd be able to burn away what little condemning evidence there was.

Once he'd set the warning tripwire across the one doorway, he turned his attention to the lion he'd carried all the way down here. He'd taken the precaution of gagging their mouth shut so they wouldn't try calling out for help, not that it would do any good competing against the roar of the rushing water outside. He also took the precaution of tying the lion's paws and feet together, much easier to do when a surprise gunshot to the stomach took all the large cat's wind out. The stranger was also fortunate to have gotten them in a non-lethal spot; allowing them to bleed out before getting the answers he needed wouldn't help anyone.

As the unfortunate lion he had the liberty of calling his prisoner began to regain consciousness, the stranger knelt down so the lion would have no choice but to look him in the eye. At first, the bound-up mammal seemed disoriented, but a swift and firm slap to the face was quick to remedy that. The stranger then grabbed his prisoner's face, once again forcing direct eye contact.

"Normally I'd ask that you not try to cry out for help once I remove the gag, but considering just what you were on your way back from doing, I get the feeling you're not exactly the cooperative type. So here's how this is going to work: I'm going to ask you some simple 'yes or no' questions, and if you don't answer, I make you hurt. Answer them all to my satisfaction, and I'll see to it you get let go no worse for wear…more or less. Do you understand?"

Despite his hostage's affirming nod, the look in his eyes said otherwise. His gaze was defiant, if not outright hateful, to say the very least. Not the typical response of an average civilian utilities worker being interrogated by the same mammal who'd just shot him. Regardless, that only helped affirm one of his many suspicions. "I'm pretty sure I know the answer already, but what the heck, I'll ask anyway: you're not a normal plumber, are you?" Luckily, the gagged lion was smart enough to know a losing situation when he saw one, as he didn't bother lying and instead shook his head. At least they were off to a decent start.

"Alright, so then let me ask you this: did someone else hire you to rig those two cops' apartment to explode?" Once again, nothing but honesty as the lion once again gave an anxious nod. "Yeah, I figured as much. A certain friend of mine told me exactly where to get the drop on you and told me what you'd just done. Even went so far as hiding as much of your fur as possible and cutting your mane so nobody could identify you on the traffic cameras. Thorough. Hopefully, my friend will have managed to reach those cops before it's too late. Tell me, were you instructed to rig that explosion to kill them?"

This time, the lion answered by resolutely shaking his head in denial. Now this was getting interesting. "Alright, then clearly you were just supposed to scare them. But scare them away from what, I wonder."

Suddenly, a pronounced buzzing sound momentarily filled the air. Instinctively looking back to the only door, the stranger quickly realized the buzzing was coming from his silent guest. The only resistance being some thankfully muffled shouting, he easily reached into the pocket of his prisoners' uniform and pulled out a small vibrating cellphone. Flipping it open, the caller ID only showed the words 'UNKNOWN CALLER'. But that didn't matter; he had an inkling of an idea just who was on the other end; hence why he bothered hitting the answer button at all.

"Leo, I just saw the news; good work. With this and your taking care of that Ramsbury problem, this should hopefully be enough to scare those two freaks away from pursuing us any further. I only want to know why you haven't come back so we can dispose of the evidence yet." The voice on the other end was deep, carrying an undeniable intensity to it, while sounding notably elegant as well. Whoever the caller was clearly exuded an air of power and confidence.

"I hate to break the bad news to you, but this isn't Leo. He's a little…indisposed at the moment." For several tense moments, there was only silence, but he could tell the caller hadn't hung up yet, so far so good. Then he could practically hear a heavy sigh on the other end before the voice returned. "I guess you must be the troublesome little firebug continuing to make things around this city so hectic for everyone."

"Lucky guess, but it isn't by intention, believe me. I just feel you deserve a fair warning: it's not just the ZPD potentially catching wind of your trail you have to worry about. If you really want to permanently cover all of your tracks, you'd best send an army after me and make sure you kill me. Otherwise, I'm going to see to it you and your lackeys pay for everything you've done to the people of Zootopia…and to me, one way or another."

Once more, he was immediately met with silence, but once the caller returned, the calm and elegance he spoke with seemed to noticeably falter, giving way to an almost natural intensity that could make most other mammals fur stand on end. "Go ahead and keep convincing yourself you'll have the chance. I just had two of Zootopia's most beloved police officers exposed to the citizenry for the deviants they really are, and had their home destroyed, just to scare them off. If that doesn't prove to be enough, I can just have them disposed of for good, and no one will ever even notice or care. If I can do that to two well-known public authority figures without a second thought, what chance do you think a wanted fugitive like you has?"

If anything, the fact he'd already managed to get this much under the caller's skin was a good sign for the stranger. Perhaps that meant the caller and his underlings would start acting recklessly in order to eradicate their little problem. At least, that's what the stranger was hoping for.

"I honestly don't know. But that doesn't mean I'm unwilling to find out. If you think somehow finding a way to blame that apartment explosion on me is going to make me stop, then you're sorely mistaken." This declaration of bravery really seemed to set the caller off, as the stranger could hear an unmistakable growling of frustration on the other end. "Listen, I don't know who you are, but when I get a hold of you, you're going to regret ever taking-"

KRRRK-FWOOOSH!

The air was suddenly pierced by the suddenly screeching of the heavy metal door being forced open, and with the pronounced snapping of the tripwire, the road flare the stranger had rigged ignited, and like the blooming of an all-consuming flower, the flames practically flew all across the room with the aid of his accelerant gel. There was no time to see just what nosey mammals had come to crash this little conversation, as the stranger simply knew he needed to run for it. He couldn't afford to be stopped by anyone now.

Ignoring the muffled cries of the lion stuck in the corner as the flames continued to spread, the stranger practically flew over the prone bodies of his two intruders, running like the devil was on his heels as he sprinted down the hallway and down the walkway along the canal, never once looking back, even as the sound of two sets of footsteps hurriedly chased after him.

One way or another, he was going to see to it he got out of this, and continue carrying out the mission he'd sworn himself to. There were worse mammals in Zootopia than he, and he was going to see to it their wrongdoings were met with the appropriate punishment.