"Those guys are lucky to be alive," Judy said as they walked through the corridors of St Matthias hospital where they had interviewed two rhino assault victims. Well, 'victims' was maybe not 100% accurate. The two were known gang members who had served time for assault and mugging before. It just so happened they were in the park minding their own business (yeah, right) and were assaulted by a panda and tigress. Normally, it would've looked like they had gotten what they deserved and would subsequently be arrested due to a few outstanding warrants. However, the brighter of the two thugs had managed to snap a nice clear photo of their attackers.

"Maybe…" Nick trailed off, thinking on the subject.

"What do you mean maybe?" Judy asked. "I hope you're not trying to convince me they were zombies. I'll only fall for that trick once, Nick. And it still wasn't funny."

"One, my Halloween prank was hilarious. Two, no, that's not what I'm getting at," he answered. "I mean, apart from our unfortunate polar bear, these guys haven't killed a single person, if they've even done that."

"Not for lack of trying with Luther," Judy pointed out.

"True, but that was because they thought he had something they wanted. It was business. These two rhinos? They were just in their way. Their deaths would not have benefited them. It reminds me of how Big and his crew operate. They use violence and intimidation, sure, but only if it furthers their enterprise."

"That would suggest not only are these guys part of a gang, but it's a very well organised and disciplined one. So your thinking is they may, in fact, be another criminal syndicate? Because killing those rhinos would not have benefited them?" Judy asked. It had a certain, twisted logic about it.

"Maybe? It's just a theory, but it would make sense. Plus, the fact they haven't come after Luther again, despite him being a witness? It probably means they've weighed the pros and cons."

"So how does this link in with our polar bear?" Judy asked.

"Power move? Showing the Big mob these guys can dish out the punishment? Maybe a deal was attempted, and it went bad?"

"They also said they spoke with an Asian accent," Judy recalled, flipping through her notes. "Might be worth running this picture through the Interpol database, you think? See if anything comes up."

"Might as well," Nick said, shrugging. "Wanna do that after we get a bite to eat? It's time for our lunch break anyway."

"Sounds like a plan," Judy answered.

"I'm up for it too!" a familiar voice piped up, and both mammals turned to see a blue-haired, older vixen exit the hospital, looking tired but perky. Nick smiled wide in recognition at his second favourite female in the world.

"Mom!" he greeted before grabbing Carmelita Wilde in a big hug. "What are you doing here?" he asked after releasing her.

"Oh, I had an appointment with the doctor, Mijo!"

"Why didn't you tell me!?" Nick questioned, grabbing his mother for another hug.

"Because you have enough stress in your life with your new job to take your doddering Madre to an appointment, as well as keeping a certain young bunny in line," she replied, throwing a wink Judy's way. "Good to see you again, Mija," she said as she bent down and picked up Judy in a warm hug.

Judy tried not to sigh, as this always embarrassed her, but she could never find the voice to tell Carmelita to stop. "Good to see you too, Carmelita," Judy said after her feet touched the ground.

"You can call me Mom too ya know," Carmelita responded.

"I know, you keep saying," Judy said, shaking her head in amusement. She loved Carmelita, but she could be a bit much at times. That said, she had been depressed for months due to her cancer scare, so Judy could forgive her larger-than-life attitude.

"I'll get you to do it one day, Mija," Carmelita asserted, brushing some errant bunny fur off her brown leather jacket.

"Wait," Nick cut in as he got a good look at his mother's face. She had slightly darker fur under her eyes, and it glistened. "Mom, have you been crying?" he asked. He sniffed her, detecting the faint trace of tears. "Mom, what was this appointment about?" he asked, panic rising in his voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Nicholas," Carmelita answered, a few new tears joining those that had wet her fur. "The doctor called me because he got my results for the last round of tests I was in. He offered to give them over the phone, but I wanted to see him in person…"

"Mom, why didn't you tell me!?" Nick said, trying hard not to panic for his mother's sake. Judy placed her paw on his arm, letting him know she was there for whatever would happen.

"I'm sorry Mijo, I just couldn't bear to see your face if it was bad news. However…" she said, but stopped herself. She took a deep breath and dried her eyes. "I'm so happy I get to tell you now rather than waiting." She paused again, drawing out the suspense. "Complete remission. I am officially 100% cancer free."

Nick didn't react for a few seconds, his brain apparently wanting to make sure it understood the full meaning of those words. Without warning, he let out a high-pitched howl of excitement, grabbed his mother up in a hug and literally twirled around with her as onlookers stared on, wondering what the commotion was about. Judy began to cry for joy at the good news, but was surprised when Nick, holding his mother in one arm, picked her up on his second twirl in his free hand and spun both females around twice more, laughing all the time.

Eventually, Carmelita got Nick to stop before the two females got queasy from all the spinning. He placed both of them on the ground, hugging them all the while. When the world stopped spinning for Judy, she saw that Nick also had tear streaks under his eyes, matching his mother's almost perfectly.

Nick seemed at a loss for words from the good news, so Judy took it upon herself to break the silence. "That is so wonderful, Carmelita! Please tell me we're going to celebrate!"

"Oh no, I'm saving my celebration for your wedding. I warn you, I'm gonna celebrate so hard at that you may wish I was dead!" Carmelita replied, laughing hysterically at her own joke.

"Jesus Christ, Mom," Nick said, covering his eyes but not hiding his smile.

"OK, maybe not that bad, but it might be worth booking myself a hotel room to sleep it off," Carmelita responded, her laugh subsiding. "Sorry, you two. I guess it's still a bit of a relief."

"We know, Mom," Nick said. He hugged his mother and Judy once again.

"Oh, look at me," Carmelita said as she broke the hug and wiped another tear. "Now someone said something about food? My treat!" she said before grabbing Nick's and Judy's arms. She started walking down the street, trying to pick out a restaurant. She spotted one ahead that caught her eye, an Italian café that seemed perfectly suited for a long, relaxing lunch break. Both younger mammals tried to slow her down.

"Hey Mom, as much as I'd love to, we can't take too long. We're working a case right now. That's why we were at the hospital."

"Oh nonsense, you can't make time for an extended lunch break with your cancer-free mother?"

"Ouch, work the guilt angle why don't you."

"Oh shush Nicholas, you know I didn't mean to."

"It's OK, Nick," Judy said as they were about to enter the restaurant, not wanting her mate to worry. "I'll call and square it with Vines." With that, she detached herself from her foxes and gestured them to go inside so she could make the call in relative peace, and so Nick couldn't object. After they entered and she saw them being greeted by a waitress, Judy got her phone out and dialled the captain's mobile phone.

"Vines," her superior said as he answered. He sounded annoyed and far too busy. Got him in one of his good moods.

"Captain, Hopps here."

"I know, Detective, your name comes up on my phone. You finished interviewing those rhino thugs?" he asked, having been made aware of the lead before they even left the precinct.

"Yes sir, just about to go on our lunch break."

"Hopps, you don't have to tell me every time you take a break, remember?" Vines said. Judy could literally picture him rolling his eyes as he said that. After clocking way too much overtime in their first few weeks as detectives, which exhausted her and Nick, Judy had taken to informing Vines every time they went on and came back from breaks. It had lasted for two weeks before Vines had told her in no uncertain terms that if she continued to do this, he would personally shove her foot into her mouth.

"I know sir, it's not that. I just want to let you know Nick and I will be taking an extended break," she said, fairly certain she knew he'd be fine with it.

"Oh? And what makes you think you can do such a thing, Hopps? I don't pay you to you can eat for however long you feel like it. FRED FOR THE LOVE OF GOD EITHER ASK YOUR QUESTION OR LEAVE MY OFFICE!" the wolf barked, obviously being irritated by another one of the detectives.

"Oh, well it's just that we ran into Nick's mother at the hospital, and she just got some good news from her cancer screening results. Complete remission," Judy said with more uncertainty. Vines's moods were usually predictable, but he sometimes threw a curveball to keep his squad on their toes.

A few seconds of silence followed, and when Vines answered his voice was much less antagonistic. "Ah. Well, I think we can allow for that," he said. Judy guessed he was most likely smiling. Nick had let Captain Vines know about his mother's health, as well as his father's death at the hands of the same disease. Their superior had told Nick about his mother's own battle with the disease, which she had unfortunately lost. "Take the afternoon off," he added.

"Really, sir?" Judy questioned, surprised by the action.

"Don't question it, Hopps. Just do it," he responded tersely, obviously not wanting to take no for an answer.

"That's very kind of you, sir, but we got a picture of the suspects and they seem to match the destination given by Luther Hill, as well as the security camera footage. Now we've got a much better look at their faces. We also got word that they were speaking with Asian accents, though going by our rhino's word, they couldn't tell if they were talking in Japanese, Korean, or China. So, we were gonna try looking up anything matching them in the Interpol database."

"Hmm," Vines said, considering what to do. "Tell you what Hopps, can you email that picture to Sally and Angua? Their RICO case is on pause for a day or two while the forensic accountants are working on some of their suspects, so they've not got much to do right now. They can have a look at that."

"But sir, what about the whole thing of keeping Internal Affairs in the loop…"

"I'll square it with Bagheera, don't you worry. Take the afternoon, Hopps, that's an order." Vine said with finality and immediately began shouting the names of the two detectives who he was assigning the work to, telling them to get into his office. "If there's any developments today we'll let you know. Now go enjoy your afternoon." With that, the wolf ended the call, stunning Judy slightly. It seemed their common tragedy meant Vines was more than prepared to let Nick celebrate his mother's victory over the disease. Perhaps he saw it as a minor victory for himself too? Whatever the case, she shrugged and pocketed her phone, heading into the restaurant to join her fiancé and soon to be mother-in-law.

"So, you have nothing?" Mr Big asked the bears gathered in front of him, his voice calm and collected. If you didn't know the Mafioso, you'd be forgiven for being completely confused by the way several polar bears (the largest predatory species on the planet) shrunk back in fear.

If you did know him, you'd be wondering why they hadn't bolted from the room by now.

Not that it would do them much good. Big had eyes and ears everywhere, which was why he was so vexed by the fact not one of the bears cowering in front of him had any information. Of course, he didn't just have bears on his payroll. He had dozens of mammals of all shapes and genus working in pretty much every part of the city. However, they all reported to the mammals in front of him, and they had nothing.

Vexing, he thought. I have underestimated these mammals if they could kill one of my own and hide from me for this long. He wondered if he had made an error in his dealings with them, they were obviously far more resourceful than their low station made them seem. Of course, it was a tragedy for any business associate/ally to have fallen on hard times, but to have the gall to try and set up a new crime family in HIS city after being chased out of theirs? Insulting. Seeing things as they were now? Perhaps he should have made a counteroffer. But it was too late to dwell on past mistakes now. What's done is done. Now he had to deal with it.

But now... he thought, considering his options. He knew the ZPD was on the case and wondered if he could maybe use some of his contacts in the ZPD. No, that wouldn't be possible. While he did have some members of the ZPD on the payroll, they were, at best, sergeants. He hadn't managed to get his fingers on any of the detectives, and certainly no one at Precinct 1 where the MCU was based. Of course, there was always Nicholas and Judith…

He shook his head at the thought. For one, while he had a lot of dirt on Nicholas, he was 100% certain the fox had made his superiors aware of his past misdeeds. Frankly, none of it added up to much more than petty cons, the biggest amounting to a few thousand dollars from even more crooked individuals, so he couldn't blackmail him with that. In the past, he may have simply been able to buy the fox's loyalty, but after keeping him under observation, he was convinced that would be a waste of time. A certain bunny had seen to that.

As for the aforementioned rabbit, Big didn't even bother to waste time on bribing her. Not only would that be ineffective, he was pretty sure whatever mammal he sent to deliver the offer would see the inside of a holding cell within minutes.

Perhaps I could kidnap one to force the other to help? he considered. But again, no. Seeing them together, it was obvious that if he used one to coerce the other, he was just going to start a revenge-filled rampage reminiscent of a Hollywoof action movie. Plus, he was positive Fru Fru would never forgive him if her child's godmother got hurt in any way.

Well, at least she and her family are on vacation away from this unpleasantness right now, well away from the danger. Thank God for small miracles. At least he didn't have to worry about their safety.

He was starting to consider if he should just let Raymond run around the city on a blood-soaked rampage of his own to draw the Triads out of their hole when a door to his side open. Koslov walked through, leading the aged badger lawyer, Clive Murray.

"Can this not wait, my friend?" Big said to the badger. He didn't want to simply dismiss the badger, but he was dealing with non-legal matters, and part of Clive's usefulness was, while he was aware of what Big was and did, his lack of attendance during certain meetings, so he could completely and truthfully answer that he was not aware of why a mammal had disappeared. Oh, he knew, but if asked he could legitimately say "no, I do not know where Mr Walker" is, despite being in the room with said mammal and leaving said room long before the torture started. Seeing the last place someone was alive and knowing where they had been killed were two entirely distinct things.

"Pardon the intrusion, sir," Murray said as Koslov closed the door, "but I feel you may need to be aware of this." He placed some papers on the large desk Big's chair was sat on. The shrew got up and walked over to them, giving them a cursory scan.

After a few seconds, Big finally said, "I apologise if this sounds like you are trying my patience, old friend, but this just looks like the contract for the deed to an apartment sold via one of our legitimate real estate ventures. Although, with it being a penthouse, the sales price is impressive." Big had many legitimate ventures on the go – some were simply to launder money, others helped sell the lie of where he made his real revenue from, but they were still run to the letter of the law. Hell, at this point, the crime boss wasn't sure exactly how much of his business came from the reputable part of his empire. Most of the employees would have been surprised to learn their pay came from the same corporate accounts that the drug business used to launder its earnings.

"That is indeed what it is. And now I shall take my leave," Clive said and left the room. Big opened his mouth to stop the badger, but a pointed nod from Koslov back to the paperwork gave him pause. Of course, he thought, realising that Murray must have something for him here, but to such a degree that it would interfere with his legal business if he stayed. The shrew turned back to the paperwork and studied it more carefully. After some time, he saw some pertinent information. The whole apartment had been paid for in cash. NOBODY paid in cash anymore, unless they didn't want to leave a paper trail. Of course, with a legitimate property business, that was impossible. He studied the name at the top of the deed, reading it as Po Ping…not a common name even for the mammals in Chinatown, and this was in the southern part of Downtown. Easy access to all parts of the city, and very upmarket. Barely any crime, aside from that which generally occurred in the Docks a few blocks away.

And it was also just directly off a main route of the city roadways. In fact, if you started in Tundratown, one of the most direct routes was to go through Sahara Square.

"Clive, you have earned yourself a bonus," Big said aloud. He brought his head up to the still cowering bears, pointing to Alan, one of the under-bosses in charge of their dealings in Downtown. "Get one of our Downtown boys to stake this address out. Hell, bribe the door-mammal if you must! I need to know if our targets are in fact the ones who bought this penthouse. Once they have some information, you get that information as soon as possible. Understand?" The selected bear nodded and bustled out of the room. The others relaxed, but only for a moment.

"I did NOT tell you to stop looking. We have ONE lead, and until this information is confirmed I want you to keep looking or you'll be talking to Koslov, not me. UNDERSTAND?" At that, the group turned as one to the hulking form of Big's most loyal lieutenant as he was nonchalantly picking his teeth with a claw. They too followed Alan's example and ran out of the room as quickly as they could.

However, it was only a few hours later when Big's desk phone rang. "Speak," Big said as he answered, and smiled as the conversation continued. "Good job, Alan. Get back here as soon as you can with the details." He hung up the phone. "Koslov, get Raymond. We've found his brother's killers."

Notes:

Thanks to DrummerMax64 for the proofing.

Been a while between updates. Life. Starting to get back into writing though.