Judy knocked on Mr. Manchas's door. She remembered their first encounter with him. How could she forget the animal that tried to kill Nick, the one she had cuffed to a streetlamp? She looked over at Nick, whose normally cocky personality had suddenly become much more timid.

"You okay, Nick?" she asked him.

He gulped and looked at the door in apprehension, even leaving his precious bag open to thievery. "Mhmm," he whined. "I just...don't really like talking to animals that have almost turned me into a corpse."

"Look, Manchas is a good guy," Judy reassured him. "Need I remind you that he was willing to cooperate with us before Doug shot him in the back of the head with a round of night howler?"

The door opened a crack, and Manchas's good eye peered out at them. "What do you want?" his voice asked. Then he realized it who it was. "Oh. You two." The door closed, the sound of a chain lock rattling ensued, and the door was opened. Manchas stood in a white tank top and military cargo shorts.

"Come in, Officers," his hushed voice invited them in.

"Thank you, Mr. Manchas," Judy said. She started for the building and, upon entering the room, turned around to talk to Manchas; Manchas, however, was staring at Nick oddly, looking at the petrified fox in curiosity.

"Que tiene, Officer?" he asked the fox. Judy wasn't quite sure what had him by the tail. "Nick, what's going on?" she reinforced Manchas's question.

Nick whimpered weakly in response.

Judy sighed and turned to Manchas. "I apologize for my partner's...inconsiderate behavior," she said, giving Nick a look of irritation. "He's a bit apprehensive because of what happened the last time we were here."

Manchas's face showed that he clearly understood. "Believe me, if I were in your position, Officer, I'd feel the same way." He ushered Nick through the door; Judy saw the latter put up a bit of resistance by pushing against the panther's paw, which had been placed on his back. When he actually made it inside Manchas's home, he seemed to relax.

"So, Mr. Manchas," he started a bit awkwardly. "Here we are again."

The panther chuckled appreciatively. "And this time, I promise to keep myself from attacking you como un monstruo savaje."

Nick was confused. "From attacking me...what?"

"'Like a savage monster,' he said," Judy translated; she had taken Spanish in high school, and while she was a bit rusty around the edges, she could still understand most of what came up in normal dialogue. "He's talking about the night howler, obviously."

"Well, hopefully we'll be out of your fur soon, Mr. Manchas," Nick said with an "in-any-case" attitude. "We just have a few questions for you regarding Mr. Big's operations."

The panther's face fell. "Well, I haven't any new information. There was an attack on the compound. Big is nowhere to be found; he's been missing for a few days. And on top of that…" He shuddered. "I've turned my back on crime."

"Well, that's great news, Mr. Manchas," Judy congratulated him. She didn't want to be insensitive and tell him that chauffeuring a crime boss wasn't a crime in and of itself, so she kept her mouth shut.

He cracked a small smile, but it faded away quickly. "Yes, it is, isn't it? But…" He sighed and pointed to his face. "This whole...one-eyed predator thing has made multiple employers turn me away."

Judy cast a nervous glance at Nick, who now seemed indignant. "Typical," he spat, his claws digging into the strap on his bag. "Just typical." Nick looked at Manchas. "Join the force. Show the world that predators can be trusted."

Manchas held up a yellow piece of paper; Judy recognized it; it was an application for employment at the ZPD. "I just grabbed this application paper a couple of hours ago," he explained. "I'm submitting it first thing tomorrow morning, but I'm afraid they'll reject me due to the lack of vision I have in this eye." He pointed to the mangled organ.

Judy said, "I'll put in a good word for you," involuntarily synchronizing her words with Nick's. She traded a look of amazement with him. Did they just say the same thing at the same time? Wow. Coincidence.

"Thanks, Officers," Manchas said, still seeming a bit sad. "It's nice to know that the police are on my side now."

"Absolutely, Mr. Manchas," Judy replied. Now to get him back on topic. "So you say Mr. Big's been missing since the attack on his home?"

"Yes, that is correct," said Manchas. "Escuchen, would you like something to drink?"

"Oh, no thank you, sir," Judy said; she wasn't particularly thirsty. Nick, however, said, "I'll have a glass of water, if you'd be so kind."

"Absolutely, zorro de azul." Manchas opened a cabinet, took a glass down from its shelf, and grabbed a pitcher of water, pouring Nick his refreshment. Nick accepted the beverage with a courteous "Thank you very much."

"De nada, Officer."

Manchas sat down on his couch. "The attack on Big's home took place three days ago. The attackers, probably un par de rival gang members, infiltrated the residence disguised as polar bears, knocked most of the guards unconscious, and blew up Big's entire fleet of vehicles...which is another reason why I'm looking for other employment. Mira, all I know is that since Big's disappearance, his empire has fallen into disarray. There are a few who keep trying to claim leadership, but they usually start trying to kill each other before they can reach an agreement. There does seem to be a bit of support for one of them." His features darkened even more, an impressive feat for a panther with black fur in a dimly lit room.

Judy was afraid to ask, but she asked anyway. "Who is it?"

Manchas gave her the same intense stare that he had given her when he had first showed her the scar Mr. Otterton had given him. "That puta who was behind the night howler conspiracy, Dawn Bellwether?"

Judy gasped. "No, not her. Please say it's not her."

Manchas chuckled bitterly. "I only wish she was at the front of the pack. No, the emerging leader is much worse." He lowered his voice. "This psycho poses as one of the good guys, but in reality he's pure evil. And he's muy bueno at faking things."

Faking things. Without even knowing what she was doing, Judy snapped her gaze to Nick. He saw her and gave her a look of disappointment.

"Really?" he asked her angrily. "I fit one parameter of this guy and you start looking at me?"

"I'm sorry, Nick," she said, realizing her mistake. "I didn't mean it that way."

"Of course you didn't," he sipped his water, justified in being pissed off. Judy knew she had been wrong in suspecting him. He was turning his life around! Why would he suddenly want to start controlling the criminal underworld? But then something he had said began to chew at her.

"You're slipping back into hustles?"

"Oh, no, nothing like that. I just…"

Oh, the conflicting emotions, and the hesitancy and the uncertainty and the doubtfulness! What was real and what was not? Couldn't Nick just tell her the truth? Why did she have to think so hard about everything? Wasn't it just better to be ignorant, to assume that Nick had turned his back on the lies and the crime for good? Yes. Yes, that was what she would do. For a fox, he was one of the most trustworthy creatures on the planet, and if she didn't feel like she could have faith in him, then her feelings for him were deceiving her. And if she knew one thing for sure, it was that whenever she felt for an animal, they were one hundred percent deserving of it.

"What questions did you have to ask me, Officers?" Manchas derailed her train of thought.

"Well, there is one little thing," she said. "We have reason to believe that either Mr. Big or Ms. Bellwether have been taking animals hostage and subjecting them to an advanced form of the night howler serum. Would you happen to have any idea where that might be?"

Manchas scrunched his eyebrows together, thinking. "No, no, I don't think I do," he said finally, nodding his head and looking her in the eyes as he did so. "I mean, I was just a driver." He laughed. "

"Mr. Manchas," Nick burst out suddenly, "I would advise you to tell the truth. Otherwise, Officer Hopps and I are required to arrest you for obstruction of justice, and that really wouldn't do you much good, now, would it?"

Manchas scoffed, but Judy detected traces of uncertainty in his voice. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Nick gave a chuckle. "You've just exhibited two telltale signs of lying, Mr. Manchas: Verbal-nonverbal disconnect and behavioral pause. Now, I might just be hyper observant, but -" He pointed a finger at Manchas loosely, as if he was indicating that Manchas had answered a trivia question correctly. "- that whole 'I don't know' deal won't fly."

As Judy thought about it, she realized that Nick had a point. And Manchas looked much more uncomfortable now. "Mr. Manchas…" she said hesitantly. "If you're clean, then we don't have a problem. If not, Nick's right, we will have to arrest you for not truthfully answering the question."

Manchas gave a gesture of surrender. "Okay, okay! It's that puta, Bellwether! Big had nothing to do with it!"

Now that was exactly what Judy didn't want to hear. It sounded like Manchas knew more than the mere "Bellwether did it" line he had just delivered. "Can you tell us anything else, other than that Bellwether is the sole culprit?" she asked him, trying to keep a calm, cool appearance.

Manchas cradled his head in his hands and rocked back and forth in his seat. "Ay, no, no, por favor…" He started wailing. ¡No me hagas recordar!"

"What did he say?" Nick asked over Manchas's commotion.

"He doesn't want us to make him remember!" Judy called out before focusing on Manchas, who was breathing rather shakily. "Mr. Manchas, this can stop if you just tell us what you don't want to remember. And then it's all over. You can forget it as soon as you let us know what it is!"

"Fine! Fine! ¡Carajo!" Manchas seemed to grab a hold of himself. "It's me! They used my home for the entrance to that infierno!"

Judy stopped everything: her thoughts, her predictions, her emotions. All was replaced by the disbelief that she heard the panther correctly.

"I'm sorry," she said. "Did you just say-?"

"Agh!" Manchas threw his paws up. "¡Si, fuera yo! Bellwether assumed that no one would think to check the chauffeur's home for any suspicious things! That's why she built a passageway to her laboratory underneath my house. When you two first came to me and asked about that otter, someone was using the tunnel, that was why I only partially opened my door."

"Where's the secret passageway?" Nick asked, a bit forcefully.

Manchas nodded to a rug. "Alla. That's the entrance. But I strongly advise que tengas mucho cuidado. I've been down there dos tiempos, and I've already started to lose my mind."

Nick got down on all fours and threw the rug to the side, revealing a door. But for some reason, he launched himself into the air with a force rivaling that of a pogo stick as he did so and yelled, "Yaaaah!" He landed in a defensive position, ears back, teeth bared, and eyes narrowed. This state of being lasted only a second, however; he quickly corrected himself and seemed to calm down.

"You mind telling us what that was about?" Judy asked him.

He looked at her as if she was insane. "Have you already forgotten what happened the last time someone revealed a hidden entrance under a rug with us in the room?"

Judy understood. "Yes. Yes, I do."

"So you can understand why I'm a bit jumpy when I have a flashback to that little incident." Nick shook himself, presumably steeling his nerves for whatever lay beneath their feet, and opened the trapdoor. His eyes widened. "Wow," he said. "That's actually pretty impressive."

Judy had to know. "What is it, Nick?" she asked him.

"It looks like a medieval dungeon down here," he replied. He had piqued Judy's curiosity; she looked down into whatever was in store for her. Nick was right. It did look like a dungeon. Torches lined walls made of gigantic stones that had been covered in moss and vines. The ground was coated with dust and showed signs of perilous footing, looking in some spots as if it would cave in under even the lightest footstep. Multitudinous engravings were carved into the stones, each one depicting something different: a gruesome death, a bloody war, a mortal animal receiving a blessing from the gods. It was like an adventure film had made its way to Manchas's sub-basement.

"Wow," she said breathlessly. She was awed by the craftsmanship. How such an ancient-seeming construct could have survived this long was beyond her comprehension. And then the reality settled in. This wasn't some tourist trap to be preserved. This was a torture chamber. Innocent civilians were slowly, painfully being killed and driven insane by Bellwether and her cruel regime. The wonder of such an architectural achievement was now, in her eyes, stained with the blood of so many who had been subjected to excruciating pain for nothing but revenge. Judy was determined, determined to make Bellwether pay. She gave Nick and intense stare.

"Come on, Nick," she ordered. "We're going down there."

Nick seemed a bit cautious. "I don't think this is a good idea, Carrots. I mean, if she gets the drop on us again, I can't do anything to stop it. You heard the doctor."

Judy didn't care; if she died, she was only trying to save Wolford and McHorn, and that was an honorable end. "I outrank you, Sergeant," she said authoritatively. "We're going down there."

"But, Carrots-"

"That's an order, Sergeant. Now, cover my six." She focused her attention on Manchas. "Mr. Manchas, we need you to go to the ZPD and tell them everything you told us. And I mean everything. Including your connections with Big and Bellwether."

Manchas also looked hesitant. "But, Senorita Hopps, they'll arrest-" He stopped himself, and Judy thought she saw him realizing the bigger predicament.

"Officer Wilde and I will personally vouch for you, sir, but you have to go to the ZPD right now. Tell them we need backup right now."

Manchus whipped out his smartphone. "Can't I just call them on the telephone?"

"They won't believe you if you don't-"

"Mr. Manchas," Nick interrupted her, "call them, tell the officer that Nick and Judy found the lab, and give them your address. And don't let him hang up until he says reinforcements are on the way."

Judy was indignant; who was Nick to question her authority, to cut her off in the middle of a sentence?

"Si, senor," said Manchas, dialing the ZPD's number.

"Now that we've gotten that squared away -" Judy gave Nick a dirty look. "Let's go help some animals." She threw her legs over the edge of the entrance and began to lower herself into the catacomb. Her paw slipped. She felt that falling sensation she had experienced so many other times. She hit the ground. Wham! Pain pierced her elbow. Tingling flowed through it like water. She winced, sucking in air through her teeth as she cradled her right arm. She looked up and saw Nick looking at her down his muzzle.

"You okay, Carrots?"

She tried moving her arm in multiple directions. Everything seemed responsive. "Yeah," she said. "I think I just hit my funny bone."

Nick gave a sympathy grunt. "Ouch," he concurred. "Let me help." With a small leap, Nick grabbed some of the vegetation on the far wall, stuck for only a moment, then jumped to the other wall, yet again securing his landing with the green tangle of vines. He let go and dropped all of three feet, landing on both feet and a paw placed dramatically on the ground before standing erect and dusting his paw pads off. Once he finished, he extended his right paw to Judy. Then he switched paws abruptly.

Judy took his left paw with her own and straightened her legs, pushing against the ground as Nick pulled her from it.

"Thank you, Sergeant," she said.

He cocked his head in a way that asked "Really?" "Do we have to use ranks, Carrots?"

Judy sighed. "Look, Nick, I'm either calling you 'Officer' or 'Sergeant.' If they hear me talking, at least they won't know your identity."

Nick shrugged. "Whatever, Lieutenant."

Judy looked down the long, dimly-lit passage in front of them. They had quite a while until they would encounter the animals. She could hear Manchas talking to Clawhauser. Time to save some lives, she thought.

She led Nick, taking the first step towards the mass dungeons that lay ahead of her. She tread carefully, making sure that not even the smallest of noises could be heard as she advanced.

"Hey, Carrots," Nick whispered.

Judy looked back at him, using her facial expressions in an attempt to tell him to stop talking. "What?" she asked.

He understood. "Nothing. Just...nothing!" he whispered back hastily.

Judy refocused on the path ahead of her. There, up ahead! There was a face carved into the wall! But what did it mean? Judy sped up slightly, anticipating what it could possibly mean. Closer and closer it came, growing from the size of a toaster to the size of a desk, and still getting large and larger until finally, she was right in front of it. She checked her environment for anything resembling a path. Nothing but the walls were visible. A dead end. Well, perhaps an entrance, but nevertheless, Judy somehow got the feeling that they would not gain passage to whatever lay behind it. But then she heard Nick's sniffer going crazy, and she looked back at him.

Nick's tail fur was on end, and his eyes were full of fear. The frown of terror had plastered itself on his muzzle once again, and he gave Judy a look of intense foreboding.

"C-Carrots," he spoke in a deathly-quiet hush, shaking. "I smell animals. And blood. Lots of blood."

Judy pointed to the face on the wall. "Behind that?" she asked him.

"No," he replied. His finger pointed to the ground. And Judy understood. Fear now pulsed through her own veins. They were right on top of the lab; hundreds of suffering beings were under her feet. She met Nick's eyes. "How do we get down there?"

Nick pointed to the stone wall in front of them. "I think that's the way to the main…" He looked like he was fumbling for the words. "Room...structure...thingy," he finally whispered.

Judy rolled her eyes in disbelief. "Room structure thingy? Really?"

He shrugged. "I don't know!" he hissed. "It's kind of hard to think when you realize that you're standing right above a bunch of dying animals!"

"That doesn't matter, Nick," Judy said, pointing her finger at the face in the wall. "How do we get past that thing?"

He studied it for a few seconds, sniffing it and looking around it, before he finally stopped and said, "I have no idea."

Judy groaned in exasperation. "How hard can it be?!" She looked to the torch to the wall's immediate left. Suddenly an idea popped into her head. Of course! How obvious!

"You figure it out, Carrots?" Nick asked her; she must have been wearing her self-admiration on her face. She looked at him smugly.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she asked him maddeningly.

He gave her a no-nonsense look. "Carrots, just tell me."

She gestured to the torch with her paw. "Come on, Nick. It's too obvious to not be the solution." WIth that, she used her remarkably springy legs to leap up and grab at the torch. But she missed. Now she was falling back down in an arc on a crash course with the wall, and there was no stopping herself. She threw her elbows in front of her face, grabbing the back of her head with her paws to shield her head from impact. But to her surprise, as she hit the wall, it shimmered and jerked and shuddered. She landed in the middle of what should have been a pile of bricks, but instead, it was merely the same floor she had just jumped from. She felt embarrassed; not only had she been wrong about how to get past the door, but she had taken a huge pratfall right in front of her boyfriend. She got up, brushed herself off, and turned to look at Nick through the veil of a holographic projection.

"So, did it work?" she asked him.

The fox seemed mesmerized.

"Well…" he said, letting the sentence trail off. "Yeah, I guess it did."

"Good. Now get over here."

Nick took a few cautious steps through the fake wall, and, when he found that it wasn't as bad as Judy thought it would be, relaxed and began to walk normally again. "Huh. That wasn't so bad, was it? So...what's on the other side of this thing, exactly?" he asked, passing through the other side of the faux wall.

"Wait," Judy started, but it was too late. She gave a sigh. "Hold on, Nick!" She jogged past the other end of the projection to find…

"Holding cells," Nick said grimly, looking at the long line of prison rooms nervously. "Like the ones at the Cliffside Asylum, only...more ancient and creepy-looking."

Judy shuddered; the stones, vines and rusted gates made her uneasy. How had none of the subject broken free? "No kidding," she agreed. "Wait…Didn't you say they were beneath us?"

Nick gave her a stare of fear. "Yeah...I did." He cast his glance of fear and anticipation about the room once more. "God, what's happening?"

As Judy progressed through the chamber, she discovered that her original theory of animals being able to break free easily was quickly proven wrong; while the cells themselves were weak, the animals within were even weaker. Judy gasped, audibly, as the horrors hidden within this underground hell met her eyes. Whatever happened down here was the work of the devil.

Blood was abundant in every cell; some even contained the bones and skeletons of deceased organisms. Each cell held some type of animal, each stripped down to nudity. Neither predator nor prey had been safe from the clutches of this dungeon. Every species, every subspecies that could fit in a cell had been thrown in with no mercy. Chains bound each limb to the walls, trapping any victims. The victims themselves were no less than pitiful. Their faces were gaunt and pale, and those who were conscious had bloodshot, tear-filled eyes. Each mouth was a frown, a wince, a cry of agony frozen upon the owner's face. Each test subject had been deprived of enough food to lose most of their muscle mass; rib cages were visible underneath the paper-thin layers of flesh. Fur was matted, unkempt, dirty with soot and blood, falling off on its own. Predators had muzzles on, and the prey had had their mouths covered by duct tape. As Judy met the eyes of the captives who were awake, they locked on to her. Every pair of tortured eyes begged her, pleaded with her. Help me, they whispered. Please. Help me.

Judy turned to her right, addressing Nick. "Hey, Nick," she whispered. "We should start freeing -"

But Nick wasn't paying attention. He had gotten unusually close to one of the cells on the right side of the hall. He moved his mouth, but no noise came from his throat. He looked like he was on the verge of crying.

"Nick, what is it?" Judy asked him softly.

Nick put his snout in his forearm and sniffed; a tear dropped from his wide, scared eyes and rolled off his cheek. Finally, he spoke, his voice broken and watery.

"D...D-Dad?"

It was barely a whisper; but Judy heard it. She jogged over to him with purpose. "What is it, Nick?" She looked at the captive, and covered her mouth with her paw.

He was a fox; an older-looking fox, but a fox nonetheless. And he bore a strong resemblance to Nick. The same complexion, the same narrow snout. There was no doubt in Judy's mind that this was her lover's father. Judy glanced at Nick, who was now fully crying. "Dad?" he asked again.

The fox's ears perked up, and his eyes slowly fluttered open. He even had Nick's eyes. Judy heard Nick cease his attempts at holding his tears back; he sobbed quietly. She stared into the fox's eyes, which were filled with defeat and hopelessness. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Nick grab the bars with both paws.

"Dad," he sobbed. "I'm going to get you out of here. You and everyone else."

A muffled Hmmph! came from somewhere further down the line of cells; clearly an inmate was trying to get their attention. Judy put her hand on Nick's shoulder.

"I'm going to check that out," she said.

Nick nodded silently, still sobbing and staring at his father. Judy patted him a couple of times before speed-walking along the unexplored cells, looking for who might have called her there.

Hmmph!

There it was again! Two cells to the left! Judy leaped to the cell in a single, effortless bound. It was Wolford! He looked worse off than the others; he had been chained to the wall not only by his arms and legs, but by his throat as well. His muzzle was broken in several places, but it still held his mouth shut. His eyes opened wide when he saw Judy.

Hmmph! he exclaimed again.

"Yeah, it's me, Wolford!" Judy said, identifying herself. "We're here to get you out. Do you know where I can do that?"

Wolford shrugged his shoulders. But then his eyebrows furrowed. He hesitantly pointed a finger to his right.

"What, is there a button over there that could help us out?"

Another shrug.

Judy sighed. "Fine. Well, at least it's worth a try." She looked down at the end of the room. A lonely, hollowed-out dirt wall lowered the overall ambience. But what was that on the side of it? Whatever it was, it must be important. Judy hurried to it. As she got closer, she saw that it was not one mere button, but dozens of buttons. So...what did they do, exactly? Judy bit her thumbnail. That one. She pushed one of the buttons on a whim. For a minute, nothing happened. Then...

CLANK!

Judy jumped at the sound of metal moving behind her. She spun around and was met with the sight of a cell opening, an animal being set free. She dashed to the opening gate and found a lion still in chains. Without hesitation, she knelt down and began to help him escape his bonds. But for every cuff, there was a keyhole. Judy could do nothing to save him without a key. She called to Nick. "Hey!" she hissed.

He looked at her with tears still in his eyes. "What?" he whispered back.

"They can't go free unless we find the keys that unlock the cuffs," she said. "Help me find them."

Nick gave a few mournful glances around the room before walking, slowly but surely, over to the button center she had just come from...and Judy couldn't help but feel annoyed. Hadn't they just figured out what those buttons did?

"Nick!" she said, not bothering to keep her voice quiet. "What are you doing?"

Nick stood there, his back turned to her. For the longest of times, it looked as if he had suddenly frozen. Then, in a flurry of pointed index fingers, he started pushing each and every button he could see. The steel bars lifted from the cells at random intervals, causing a very large ruckus. Judy was now considerably afraid; wouldn't someone hear the thunderous noise of metal scraping against stone?

"Nick!" she yelled over the tempest of screeching. "What are you doing?"

He met her eyes, but he was no longer feeling sorrowful. A different kind of fire burned in him, one of rage and vengeance. His pain looked as if it been replaced with fury, and his body language was more than hostile; it was loathing, seething at Bellwether and whoever else was behind this appalling operation.

"If we want the keys, we have to subdue the guard. And if we can't find the guard, then we just have to make the guard find us."

No sooner had he said it than the wall behind him began to rumble. Judy's instincts took over; she drew her pistol from her utility belt, took cover, and shouted, "Nick, get back!"

But Nick did nothing of the sort. He stood defiantly in front of the moving wall, clearly steeling his nerves for whatever lay behind the stone structure.

"Come on!" he yelled. "Fight me, you bastards!"

And as the chamber slid wide open, Judy was surprised to see three rams...the same ones they had encountered at the first night howler lab. But something was clearly wrong with them. They looked much more agitated and evil; their smiles were more than mischievous.

"Hey, it's the fox!" one of them said. "And he's got a purse! Did you miss us, huh?"

Judy heard Nick growling; his ears were laid back, and his claws were bared. He tossed the bag aside. "You three better get ready for a lot more than a close shave," he threatened.

Another ram laughed. "You wish, fox," he said. His hoof rummaged around in his pocket, but only for a second. As it emerged from his pants, Judy saw a glint of blue. Night howler. SHe had seen enough. Stepping out into the open, she pointed her gun at the four animals.

"I've heard enough, you three," she said to the rams. "You're under arrest."

"Ah, you see," said the night-howler ram, "I don't think so." He waggled a vial of the liquid at her. Nick hissed, laying his ears even flatter.

"You see this, baby bunny? This is an ingestible version of the night howler serum," he explained. "But this…" He gave a cruel chuckle. "This is version two-point-oh." With one swig, he swallowed the entire vial in one gulp. Almost immediately, he began to transform. His muscles began to swell to twice their normal size. His eyes got progressively redder and redder, and as he bleated in pain, his voice got deeper and deeper until it finally stopped, sounding as if the devil himself had taken an earthly form.

Judy gave no hesitation; she emptied her magazine into his flesh. He staggered as they hit him, sending blood flying everywhere. As the last lethal metal bullet pierced his skin, he fell over. Judy reloaded and pointed it at him; she would take no chances if he could spring back up at any moment. But that, oddly enough, wasn't the case. He lay there, unmoving, most likely dead. His two accomplices looked at her angrily.

"Oh, you've got it coming now, rabbit," the first ram said. He looked at his buddy and motioned to Nick. "Give him a little surprise."

The other one nodded, and he too reached for something in his pocket. But this wasn't night howler serum. This was a light red fox taser, just like the one Judy's father had tried to give her the first time she left for Zootopia. For the slightest of moments, Nick actually looked intimidated from behind, but soon it went away as he apparently began carrying out his own mantra.

"Let's have at it, then," he said. In a flurry of movement that Judy could barely make out, Nick dodged to the right, spun in a tight circle to avoid the ram's first attempt to incapacitate him, and brought his elbow down on his opponent's spine. The ram barely had time to cry out in pain, though, because Nick followed up his first blow with a roundhouse kick to the exact same spot he had slammed with his elbow. His opponent fell to the ground, losing his grip on the fox taser and causing it to fly out of his hands and slide a few feet from his body. As he groaned in pain, Judy took the opportunity to help Nick; she dove for the weapon, grabbed it, and started it again. This time, however, she pointed it at the last ram standing.

"Which one of them has the key?"

He spat at her feet. "Like I'd willingly help the pigs!"

Judy felt Nick's hand removing her pistol from the holster on her hip.

"The key," he said. "Where is it?"

"I'd sooner die than tell you two!"

Judy shoved the taser at him threateningly, but Nick, much to her surprise, merely chuckled. "Well, that's rather dramatic, don't you think? See, I don't think you fully understand the situation here. All you have to do is tell us which one of you three has the key. We walk away, you walk away...maybe. Depends on if you're honest the first time."

"What if I refuse?" the ram sneered.

Judy glanced at Nick, who nodded his head contemplatively and warped his mouth into a pondering frown. "You could do that. You'd end up with a pair of broken legs, alone in a room with a bunch of animals you've been torturing, or -"

"Where would you get the key if I didn't tell you?" he laughed. "Idiot fox."

"See," Nick explained, "by that point we'll have given up on getting a straight answer out of you and we'll just search you and your friends' bodies until we find the key." He stepped to Judy side and brought his claws up to eye level in an attempt to intimidate his foe.

The ram looked afraid, but in spite of the two animals promising him pain, he kept playing the tough-guy card. "Try it. I'm not scared of you."

"Well, now," Nick said, moving his claws ever closer to the ram's face. "That's unfortunate."

He had done it; his opponent whimpered, and almost immediately after, yelled out, "Okay! Okay! It's in his pocket!" His hoof indicated the body of the ram who ingested the serum, who, just so coincidentally, had a large number of pockets included in his clothing.

"Carrots, could you search him?" he asked Judy, his claws still dangerously close to his enemy.

Judy nodded. Truth be told, she really didn't want to touch a bloody corpse, but her desire to save Wolford took precedence. With a light amount of resentment, She rolled the body over and began to dig around in the numerous pockets of the dead ram. She felt a pack of gum, some night howler capsules...Wait! She grabbed what seemed to be a large metal circle. As she brought it out, jingling followed. Yes! The key! She whipped the circle out and found, among other things, a key that looked like it opened the prison chains. "I've got it, Nick!" she said ecstatically.

"Great," came his reply. "Start freeing these test subjects."

Judy didn't need to be told twice; her hope restored, she ran to the first cell she saw. The animal inside, a polar bear, looked at her hopefully, and as she began to undo his bonds, she saw his eyes well up in tears of gratitude. Once his muzzle was removed, he began trying to speak.

"Th...th…" He coughed.

"Ssh," Judy reassured him, putting a hand on his shoulder in a successful attempt at calming him. "It's all right now. You'll be fine."

"Carrots," Nick said, trying to catch her attention.

"Yeah?" she said, still comforting the bear.

"Cuffs, please," he said. "I'm taking this guy into custody for animal cruelty."

Judy took her cuffs from her belt and tossed them to Nick, who was holding one paw open to catch them and holding his other paw threateningly at the ram. As he caught the device, he said, "Hoofs behind your back" authoritatively, and the perpetrator did so.

Judy turned back to helping the rest of the animals: an otter, a hippopotamus, a gazelle, a hyena. What had they been doing that required such a vast diversity of animal species?

A thud. A groan of pain. Judy turned around to see Nick leaping out of the way of the ram's hoof; the latter had clearly gotten the drop on him. With his other hoof, Nick's opponent grabbed something from his own pocket. It was a remote with two small red buttons on it; nothing more could be found. He brandished it with a swagger of conceit about him.

"You're both dead now, coppers!" he laughed. "It's feeding time!"

He slammed his hoof down on one of the buttons; immediately, each and every prisoner was stabbed in the shoulder by a needle with blue liquid in it. Judy could hardly stomach this mass psychosis. Every single civilian here was going to turn into a bloodthirsty monster, and how was she going to look in the mirror if she killed these innocent animals? She whipped around to see the ram push the second button. The prisoners' muzzles popped open with a collective hiss of de-pressurized air and fell to the floor. They all began to groan and mumble, wincing and clearly in pain. But it didn't sound like they were being affected at all by the evil serum. Instead, they were trying to stand up on their own two paws, albeit with little success. Judy couldn't help but let loose a short laugh of relief; no one was going to die here!

"What?!" the ram bleated in disbelief. "This can't be happening!"

"All right, Ramsey," Nick said, cracking a joke, "We can do this the easy way or the hard way."

The ram caved. "Okay, fine! Fine! I'll come quietly!" He put his hooves behind his back, and, much to Judy surprise, allowed Nick to arrest him this time.

"You have the right to remain silent," Nick started. "Anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney…"

Judy began to check on the inmates. She helped each animal to their feet, saying "Are you okay?" and "Are you all right?" over and over, and not leaving until she got a response. She asked them for their names, then told them to sit tight and wait for backup to be dispatched. She could only hope they actually believed Manchas…

Finally, Judy had made her way to Mr. Wilde. He had gotten to his feet, but was leaning against the wall to keep from falling over. She approached him a little apprehensively; she didn't want the first thing he heard to be that his son was in love with the natural enemy of his species.

"Sir?" she asked him.

He groaned. "Yeah," he said with effort.

"I'm Officer Hopps," Judy introduced herself. "Are you all right?"

Mr. Wilde's breathing became much more labored. "I've...been in here...God knows...how long," he said. "Do...you think...I'm okay?"

"Sorry, sir," Judy apologized hastily; now that she had said it, it sounded highly insensitive. "I didn't mean to -"

Mr. Wilde waved her off with his free paw. "Nah...that's fine," he groaned. "Don't go so...hard on...yourself."

Judy glanced at Nick, catching him in the act of looking at their conversation. She gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile. Nick returned the favor with a smile of gratitude, and she felt some kind of happiness spread throughout her body. She directed her attention to his father once again.

"Sir, do you mind telling me your name?" she asked him, hoping it didn't sound too hostile.

"Yeah, it's...Oscar...Wilde," Mr. Wilde replied.

Oscar. So that was his name. "Okay, Mr. Wilde," she instructed, "if you feel like you need to sit down, please do. We have backup on the way, but it'll take some time for them to get here."

"Well...I'm not…" Mr Wilde coughed. "I'm not going anywhere."

Judy nodded; what was she supposed to say? She pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed Clawhauser's number. The ringing ensued, but only for a few seconds.

"Judy?" came Ben's voice.

"Yeah, Clawhauser," Judy replied. "Did you get a phone call from Renato Manchas?"

"Yeah! Yeah, I did!" His voice was almost as excited as a child's on Christmas morning. "I told the chief, and he has reinforcements on the way!"

Judy breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God," she muttered. "How close are they?"

Rustling came from the other end of the line, followed by the cheetah's jaw crunching on potato chips...or so Judy guessed. "I don't know, but they left about eight or nine minutes ago. They should be there soon."

And sure enough, as if on cue, an animal fell through the fake wall, a snowy tiger in a uniform. He looked around in surprise and apprehensiveness.

"What the -?" he asked.

"It's a fake wall," Judy explained. "You're fine."

He scrambled to his feet and turned back, calling into the wall.

"I'm okay!" he said. "Walk through the wall!"

Judy watched it, waiting for another soul to work up the courage and pass through the seemingly impenetrable gate. After all, who in their right mind would willingly walk right into a wall? But then, to Judy's surprise, Manchas entered the room.

"Mr. Manchas?" she heard Nick ask. "What are you doing here?"

Manchas shrugged. "Well, I wanted to know that everyone here estaba haciendo bien."

"Everyone's fine, Mr. Manchas," Judy assured him. "We only need EMTs and then we'll be able to get this whole thing wrapped up."

The black panther shook his head. "I just wish all of this would go away como eso." He snapped his fingers for emphasis.

"It'll all be over soon," Judy repeated herself, trying to get him to relax. She turned to the tiger. "Where are the rest?"

But her question was soon answered; the ZPD officers practically swarmed into the room, pistols raised to combat any threat. One shouted "Clear!", signaling the others that there were no threats, and, almost as if they had rehearsed this entire event, simultaneously holstered their weapons, each immediately making their way to whoever was closest and in need of medical assistance. The conversations became multitudinous, and Judy couldn't possibly be bothered trying to keep track of even one of them. Instead, she made her own; Nick was just standing out of the way, keeping his suspect from running.

"Are we ready for the next step in the journey?" she asked. "Speaking of, what is the next step in the journey?"

"You give him a tug, that's the next step in the journey," the ram said, clearly trying to get on her nerves.

She opened her mouth to say "Watch it, buster!", but before she could, Nick smacked him on the back of the head.

"Ow!" the criminal cried out. "Police brutality!"

"Far from it," Nick corrected him. "It's completely legal under Section I, Paragraph D, Sentence 10, Footnote T in the Police Handbook.."

Judy was confused. She had never heard of Section I...Oh. Now she understood. "Clever fox," she said aloud.

Nick gave her a confident, mock-seductive stare. "Lovely bunny," he responded. "Now, as far as the next step goes, getting his sorry tail -" He nodded to the ram "-down to the ZPD sounds just dandy."

Judy gave him a look. "Dandy? Really?"

Nick shrugged. "What? I didn't want to just say, 'sounds good.' That's too overused."

Judy put her hands on her hips and scoffed, smiling. "Sometimes I can't believe you."

'Yeah, well…" Nick let his sentence trail off. Then he plunged his hand into his bag without warning and pulled out a small ball-shaped container that was filled with a carbonated liquid, semi-gold in color. "You know, it's kind of sad. I was hoping to use one of these things."

"I don't follow," said Judy, wondering what the liquid could be.

With no warning, Nick threw the sphere at the wall, making Judy jump. It burst into a vibrant gold shower, raining down onto the ground. Judy turned back to Nick only to find another capsule in his paw.

"Meet the anti-night howler, Carrots," he said. "Isn't this awesome? The doctor said that even if the Animal had no more than touched my skin, it would work. Turns out that the taurine concentration is so high that unless you ate three blueberry pies in a row, like Gideon Grey said, the effects of night howler would recede almost immediately. So all we need to do is start mass producing a specialized gun like Bellwether's, and boom - no more problem. Of course, that's only a temporary solution," he added, putting the unbroken canister of Animal back in his bag. "Eventually, we'll need to immunize everyone...or somehow shut down all production of night howler."

Judy breathed. For the longest time, she had thought there was no way to save everyone in Zootopia from the night howler. But now, after Nick's lucky break, there was hope that maybe, just maybe, the city might survive. And as she watched the police help the ex-test subjects out of their purgatory, her spirits soared. It finally looked like the good guys were going to win...