Sorry for any inconveniences considering English being not my first language. Grammar and spelling might be difficult for me. I say sorry in advance.

Please review and criticize me, preferably via review button, but keep any insulting for yourself. If you have to be more extensive or want to establish contact with me, PM me and I surely will answer you.

Rated M for foul language and sexual innuendos, Rated HARD M for violence and gore

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Zootopia, they belong to Disney.


Zootopia Bureau of Investigation (ZBI)

Chapter 12: Undercover 2.0

today, Gordon Foreman, ZBI headquarters in the Hood Towers

The drive back to the ZBI headquarters was not very eventful. The whole ride Gordon was able to think silently and deeply about the next steps he wanted to take, concerning his own investigations.

The information and talks he had with the Lord and his friends were running through his mind in repeat the whole way to the headquarter. The realization that a simple new drug was probably used or better to say, utilized as a murder weapon, was very plausible and disturbing to think of.

Gordon did not knew exactly how the sheer speculation, or could he even say knowledge, of the drug FABE would further his investigations at all, but one thing he knew exactly.

As an agent of the Bureau of Investigations and in extension an enforcer of the highest order, your main duty was for the service and good of all animals of Animalia. Having this kind of drug out there, was a risk far to great to ignore. Furthermore the probable connection, although still hypothetically, that it was used in the murders or killings of a big part of the BI agents of Zootopia, the ZBI, was forcing him for the decision to postpone everything else to do his job more thoroughly.

And he was not able to shift the authority or get someone else to investigate in this. The staff of the ZBI were only able to work under the direct authority of an agent, meaning, even with hundreds of possible mammals to do the investigations, only a real agent would be unrestricted and forceful enough to accomplish anything of significance. Only a real agent or probably those two special officers he knew of, were the ones, he would trust with this. There were just not many agent left anymore. The ZBI was having nine confirmed agents dead, while thirteen were still missing, either to be found death as well, or somewhere detained that they could not get to contact the authorities and get help. Probably even tortured. The ZBI was decimated, twenty two animals were away from being used by the Bureau.

Much more disturbing for Gordon was the possibility, that some of those agents were probably eaten fully by a FABE using animal. The reason they weren't found, being that they were devoured by some savage monster. Or another much more anger inducing thought was, that some of those missing agents could actually be involved in this whole fiasco and are in hiding right now. A hint for that was that they never found two agents dead together, which was suspicious for Gordon. Everyone of the agents had partners. They rarely worked alone. Especially in investigative works. They would always be close together and if an agent would find himself in a live threatening situation, their partner would always be the first to know, normally. And here was a lack of said partners. The question was, where were they? ZBI agents involved was plausible. Or the culprits somehow getting rid of all of them was plausible as well.

It was all speculation for the mink, but the turning feeling of his gut with the thought of his comrades and some of them even friends being either eaten, or feral killers themselves, did not sit well with him.

And who was to tell, that this kind of killings was only targeting the ZBI specifically. Yes, the only victims found killed, with at least a little bit of a connection to FABE, mostly because the blue foam saliva, were all agents, as far as Gordon knew. He would have to investigate into other reports concerning this phenomenon of the blue saliva. Maybe he should investigate on even more similar cases, concerning anything feral. He kinda felt, that he had no choice anymore than to personally investigate far further into this.

So, he decided to reorder his own priorities. Yes, the instructions of his superior, director William Stone, were to recruit animals into their ranks for more investigative power. But the simple fact, that William himself was a main suspect to be *S* was reason enough to dismiss this order. So he decided to do just that, giving the recruitment of Officer Hopps and Officer Wilde a spot on the end of his list of what he wanted to do.

Gordon was probably one of the most speculating and concluding mammals regarding the killings of the ZBI agents cases. His own sense of duty was coercing him to do this investigative police work on his own now. Gordon was someone, who actually didn't do things like that for a long time, but he was an ex-officer of the ZPD once. Not only that, but his time as a special agent of the ZBI gave him enough experience to not be questions. He could do this lone wolf style.

While thinking about if he should involve other agents into effectively going against the directors orders and do a private investigation, the car of Gordon was already parking in the subterranean garage of Hood Tower. He reluctantly decided to take the safe road of not involving others into this. He would surely become a prime target and he would not like to endanger anyone else despite himself, especially not his partner Paul.

The office complex known as Hood Tower, the name obviously being chosen not only in honor of a certain lord, but because this Lord was the actual owner of this tower, was one of the biggest and highest buildings in Zootopia. Located in the central part of the city, it was known as a part government and part office building. Many officials of Zootopia had their offices in there, like the public health department, the building inspection office, or the Zootopia Bureau of Investigations. It was one of those buildings, you could distinguish and spot from nearly anywhere in the city. It sheer height and the green glass facade was known, to be the place for many mammals to go, if they needed some of the businesses it provided Zootopia with.

Stepping out of his vehicle, Gordon quickly went to get back to the offices of the ZBI. Even if he would have liked to do his work alone, he needed to confront the director at least with the whole new knowledge about PRISM he obtained. The confrontation being important, to gauge the possibility of director Stone's involvement with the voice *S* properly.

Gordon would need much more reason to suspect his former partner of something like this. He needed to watch for clues and should do some proper police work, but one of the first leads was William Stone. Gordon could not deny that. The tiger deliberately withhold sensitive information and Gordon wanted to know why he did that. He thought William was not only his superior, but his friend. This was extremely suspicious.

Even if the director was not *S* or involved with the voice, he was one of the only ones able to be this ominous animal, after all. Yes, the Lord and his friends were suspicious as well, so was the Lords mentioned kind of daughter and Team Cute. They all had access and knowledge about PRISM, too. But if Gordon was honest to himself, only four would really be a possibility in his mind. Having access to PRISM somehow became the main clue to this cases.

The director was the main suspect, in his eyes. Withholding information. Not concentrating all forces to investigate the murders. And this suspicious fact now, when Gordon thought about it, that his current partner, the vice director of the ZBI, actually was the first victim to be found dead. If you would plan to kill all your colleagues, it would be logical to start with the one, who was closest to you, since this one was always watching your back. This made the tiger the main suspect.

The Lord himself was a possibility, too. He was the one with the longest access to PRISM, being it's inventor, after all. He knew about the sometimes insane antics of the middle aged fox. And not only that, but because of his incredible torturous past and his retainment in his own palace for so long, the possibility that someone like the Lord could brake was there. It could brake any mammals mind in the process. Not to mention the sad truth about the fact that he was a fox, who happened to lose so much, that it would face even any other species, but a fox incredibly so much more. Gordon wanted desperately to dismiss the possibility of Lord Patrick Hood being the ominous *S*.

Than, there was the Lord's kind of adoptive daughter? He did not know the exact extend of how the Lord and this mammal were actually tied together, if it was really adoption, him being her biological father or just some symbolic mutual agreement that the Lord is like a father figure. But since he didn't know anything about her, she became a possibility as well. He would need to find out more about this mysterious mammal.

The last real possibility was, in Gordon's opinion, professor Claus Jaeger. The professor was a genius and very much capable to create this drug, if it really existed. All his good deeds and his reputation as the saint of Zootopia were discouraging any suspicions, though.

Gordon was going with his gut feeling on this. It just seemed that the other three possibilities were innocent in this. He needed more time and more Intel to decide if it would be worth to investigate in their lives as well. But the simple fact that the three were law enforcers and very much invested in doing the right thing, was not enough if the other four choices were so much more plausible. Team Cute were out of the question, though. According to the Lord, they got access much to late to be this ominous voice.

He observed the opening of the elevator door on the fourth floor and looked straight at the wall labeled ZBI with the giant logo of the Bureau that was right at the other side of a big glass front. He took a left to go around it. Greeting the receptionist with a wave of his paw. He walked to the direction of the directors office immediately, having his mind set on asking some questions.

There were many offices, all agents having one of their own for themselves and their respective partners on just this one floor. A giant central staff room you could look into through indoor windows, if you would not have been this little an animal like Gordon was, was in the center of this headquarters, surrounded by all important offices. There was once a time, the staff room was always filled with many agents at this time of the day. But this was history, for now.

Finally reaching his destination, the mink knocked politely and waited for the typical buzz of the lock that would open automatically. All offices had this function to be locked and only able to be opened by the responsible agents, or from the inside, via a button. Or, if you have a master key, of course.

The wait was not very long. Gordon expected the door to open and to let him in, but the silent cough of an agent behind him got his attention instead.

"Director Stone is not in his office, Gordon." the wolf agent told the mink, who punched his own fist in a rather loud display against the door again. Gordon was angry to not speak with his superior directly. The possibility to observe someones twitches and facial expression would have been beneficial in any questioning session. Listening made this much more difficult.

Gordon replied bitterly, "Of course, he isn't. Agent Gray, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Paul?"

The big wolf looked at Gordon, reporting about what happened while the mink was in the palace, "Paul is with both agents Snow on a classified mission, I don't have any information about. The director went with my partner, agent Wolfe for something else. The director didn't want to tell me either. But he gave me some orders. I am to keep an eye on you and support you in any way possible. So, here I am reporting for duty ... or wanting you to report for duty." The wolf winked at the mink while making this remark. Wasn't a special agent technically the superior of all agents, only surpassed by the directors or the high BI commissioner in the capitol himself.

This news were not very comforting for Gordon. The mink looked at Stan skeptically, scratching the one part on his head where his fur curled and he was able to actually get to his own skin. Mink fur was one of the fluffiest you could find, but this place lacked parts of it, mostly because of the constant abuse of Gordon's own fingers. The mink sighed loudly, mostly to show his discomfort with this.

Gordon: "So, we are temporarily partners for now? Or are you ..." he didn't finish the sentence. The wolf understood.

Stan smirked at that, "It seems we are partners", he emphasized it, so Gordon knew that they were supposed to be equal, "Yes, Gordon. But I am very keen to work with a previous special agent himself."

Sighing, the mink gestured to follow him. Besides him being only an agent of the recruitment office, Gordon and Paul had their office right beside the directors. It was the directors own wish. After the tiger became the director, he wanted to have his friends close to him, giving Gordon the office right next to his own.

He opened it with laying his paw on the electric devise right under the look, the door handles were very clearly big predator size. It registered the paw print and opened automatically. Gordon showed Stan to a chair on the other side of his desk. He himself was sitting down in his own chair.

The using of a lever on the side of his own chair, slowly levitated it to the height it needed to be for the mink to sit comfortable on his place and use his desk properly.

He watched the wolf very carefully, observing every little twitch and kink he would make. He knew Stan for quite a while now, Gordon would even consider him a friend, but he needed to be sure about his loyalties.

Gordon, "Stan, I have to ask you something and you will answer me truthfully and to the best of your capabilities, okay?"

This surprised the wolf. Why would Gordon ask him something like that. This felt like some kind of interrogation immediately. He nodded, with a serious face.

It was not, that Gordon did not want a partner. But it was not only dangerous, but actually the suspicion of the director was not only concerned with the tiger. It meant, that every agent was suspicious, in a way. He wanted to have a partner in this, but he needed to know if he could trust the other. Temporarily, but with an open mind and his eyes focused the mink decided to be blunt about everything. He just needed to watch if anything would not be genuine about Stan. All Gordon knew was, that the director could have told Stan some very suspicious things about the mink.

Gordon asked with determination in his voice, "Did director Stone, in any way possible, outright told you or even just hinted to you to spy me out for him?"

Stan was visibly surprised and denied quite fast, "He did not say something like that. Why should he? Gordon ... what is with director Stone."

Gordon, who observed every muscle on the wolf, came to the conclusion that Stan would be an ally, so Gordon explained, "I might have information about certain things, that hinted to our director being involved in some rather fishy activities. And I need your loyalty more than anything else, to get some proper investigative work done."

The wolf raised an eyebrow at that, not knowing what to think about that, "I don't really understand if you don't elaborate further."

The mink responded with taking his phone out and placing it right in front of himself, "I want you to listen and don't talk. I will answer your questions later. Now just observe, please.", Stan nodded.

At that, agent Foreman activated his speakers on the phone, so Stan would be able to listen to any conversation and voice on the other side. Gordon dialed a number on his friends list and waited a moment, while the dial tone was repeatedly coming out of his smart phone.

"Hi Gordon. Sorry, but I can't really talk to you right now.", the voice of none other than William Stone, director of the ZBI, answered the phone call.

Gordon replied fast, not beating around the bush, "Oh, I just wanted to talk about PRISM."

The small silent pause was enough to confirm for Gordon that William knew exactly what the mink meant. Stan listened intensely, not knowing about this PRISM thing at all. But the pause indicated, that the director was caught off guard. That was new. After some seconds, the tiger calmly replied, "So, It was a PRISM user after all? This *S* I mean."

Gordon was a little bit confused by this reaction, "It seems the only way to establish a connection and remote control to a mobile phone like *S* did with mine, was with the help of PRISM."

The tiger on the other end of the call approved that, "I was afraid you would have to say that. So one of the four living mammals with access is our animal, except if there are more user till I last checked. I am a suspect as well, I assume, being one of the four with access. That's not good at all."

There, the mink immediately admired the way the tiger, without even trying to evade this, accused himself as a suspect. It seemed, William already thought about the possibility of it being a PRISM user. Of course, he would. But there was a question in this, Gordon did not understand, "What the? What do you mean four suspects?"

William Stone elaborated, "We have a brilliant insane scientist, a good for nothing sheriff and a mad crazy lord. And me, director of the ZBI. And we all are close friends. I don't like where this is going, Gordon. I would not have suspected anyone of them, to be honest. But it seems impossible now to dismiss this."

Gordon, trying to wrap his head around the fact that his superior seemed to be very rational about this situation, responded, "Sir, you are right, but we are talking about *S* and I am not very sure if *S* is connected to our ZBI killer at all. I mean, he might just be someone who wanted to make fun of some things. We can't be certain. And if this is right, I think all would be possible."

The other side of the connection affirmed this, "You are right Gordon, this might be a lost call. We should not try to create connections where none obvious are. We need to find evidence before deciding to incriminate someone. Do you have any more information, the Lord always was a free thinker, he might have given you some other clues or ideas. Or what you should look into."

And the director was right. Gordon felt like a fool, even thinking his old friend would have been anything else than professional and doing his job properly. It did not destruct any suspicions, not at all, though. Gordon reminded himself that he was dealing with a professional.

Gordon: "I might have some information and clues, but not about *S* entirely. I was talking with the lord and we came to some conclusions regarding the ZBI killings."

The tiger nearly shouted on the other side of the connection, "I don't want to know any details or clues you might gonna have. Protocol and a healthy mind should show you better, agent. I am a main suspect, even if in another case than this one, but it is in your and the public interest to not elaborate this with me."

The mink was stunned. The tiger was kind of his mentor for years. But right there, the tiger made a mistake, in a way. Gordon was a professional himself. He would have never elaborated on too much details, but wanted to try to masterfully evict some information out of the tiger while being vague. With mentioning of protocol, the tiger immediately evaded any conversation concerning the ZBI killings. This was questioning, why the director would do that ... the only explanation was, he had to hide something and was afraid, that Gordon could find it out. This made the mink only more suspicious of the Tiger, "Understood, sir. In this case, I have to ask for the clearance to operate on private investigations regarding the ZBI killings."

At least, Gordon was able to construct this statement of the director for his own good. If the director was a suspect, he would not have authority about an investigation. Giving clearance would provide Gordon with the authority to actually investigate even into the directors belongings. And after this little outburst, William would not have any choice, as to accept. Would he not, Gordon would have to ask the higher authorities and no one would have liked that. This was a tactical talk between the two of them, from the beginning the tiger took the call. While the mink said his line about clearance, the wolf on the other side of his desk suddenly joined into the conversation, "I, agent Stan Gray, ask to support agent Gordon Foreman without constraint." Throwing his name into the occasion. The mink nodded appreciatively towards the wolf. Stan understood fully what was happening.

The tiger didn't even need to think about this long, it seemed, "Granted, agent Gray, agent Foreman, you are released from all prior appointments and reporting till you see yourself fit. But before I let you two go and do whatever you want, I need to tell you both something very important."

The two agents, sudden new partners, listened eagerly to what their superior had to tell them.

William took a deep breath, loudly, so that the two could hear him, before saying, "When you are on your own, you two need to be extremely careful and act with utter reasonable diligence. We lost very good agents out there already. And I will not tolerate if the next time I see one of you, I have to identify you in a body bag. Do I make myself clear?"

Concern was there ... Gordon had to admit this. They understood. Both agents simultaneously answering with, "Roger that"

The director ended the conversation with a, "Dismissed." and hung the phone up immediately after.

Stan was looking expectantly at his new partner. Gordon sighted before stating the obvious, "I think I have some more explaining to do." Agent Gray nodded with a serious look on his face.


one week ago, Team Cute, Central Police department, their cubicle

The two officers were in their respective cubicle. Nick, hunched over a bunny's shoulder to watch the purposeful moving of the cursor and typings, which was controlled by the masterful paws of Officer Judy Hopps.

Team Cute had some time to converse on their way back from the courthouse. Judy told Nick everything that happened in there. Even if Senior Bledzewski and his attorney wanted to keep this meeting a secret, she had no reluctance to tell Nick everything she deemed important for this case.

Nick was visibly relieved to see his partner enthusiastically describing the leads she got from the former syndicate leader, although not really liking the memory of the badger, and what his appearance might have triggered in his bunny friends mind. He was afraid, that Judy was still affected by what she had to do concerning the badger's son.

The recap of leads she gave of the things the old badger told her were not very descriptive, but enough for the two officers to exchange ideas how to handle this problem and new developing case.

There was a drug out there that could not only kill the consumer, but innocent bystanders as well. Troubling was the thought, that out there was someone who was deliberately distributing this killer drug with probable explicit explanations what it will do. And the individuals who took it did it with the wisdom of its harming and dangerous consummation.

Nick told Judy about his own thoughts on this and came to the conclusion that only specific animals were the ones who got it, not explicitly everyone out there. The probable danger being not as big as firstly thought, because of the aspect that, although it seemed very dangerous, the drug was distributed to specific, hopefully advised, individuals in a controlled manner.

The pseudo protest of Judy being, that this seemed right, but this group or individual psychopath who did this, was doing this with precision and deliberation. Meaning, the individuals who got access would have to be monitored or watched for long periods of time before getting the drug in their paws.

The only reference they had was their own case: Junior Bledzewski. The badger somehow got contacted by someone who probably tested him thoroughly before even establishing said contact. And after the testing, he got his paws on the drug. Only to use it when he saw himself in a desperate situation without escape.

There where several questions Nick and Judy needed to answer. Most importantly was the question, if there were others out there who were in possession of this drug. How many possible animals would come into a situation desperate enough to use them? This was a very sinister thought. Judy was loudly exclaiming while she was clutching the steering wheel hard when they were on their way to the police station earlier, that this would make any arrest attempt from any police officer in the whole city into a very dangerous and probably escalating and murderous process.

A thought, Nick didn't like at all. So he suggested to get chief Bogo to at least distribute a message, probably an email, to all officers about the probable danger of arresting high profile criminals who could use something like Junior Bledzewski did.

Other questions were very important as well. The biggest concern about the public safety in their mind, Judy had the idea that something was still very off about this drug. If it was in circulation for some time, than there surely would be information about similar cases like Junior Bledzewski. It would have already happened on multiple occasions.

And this was exactly, what they where doing now. Judy, searching in the depths of the digital processed case files and reports, mostly using a very good search engine to get information as fast as possible.

The two were looking at the monitor. The corners of it being in a bright green color, indicating that they were using a different program than everyone else using the computers of the department.

It was a surprise, when Nick found out some weeks ago, that the possible access to the servers of the Lord of Sherwood Forest, could be established with any device whatsoever. The only thing that was needed was the confirmation that it was Judy or Nick using it.

This confirmation was easy with both their phones near one of their department computers. The microphone recognizing the patterns of their voices and the simple connecting of the camera which was watching them and remembering their facial patterns to give them access.

They were using PRISM for a very logical purpose. With it, they simply needed no confirmation from their superior to get their admission to access the digital archives. Not only that, but the full access, meaning everything was bare in their paws. Even classified cases. Judy was uneasy with this, knowing they kinda did something illegal, but a smug smile of Nick and the confirmation that she would be the one in control, able to filter and probably censor everything they would find, was enough for her to do this.

The searching using a PRISM search engine getting them the information needed far faster than anything else. The probability of finding something important would be beneficial in the process to convince their chief to let Team Cute to be in charge of this sudden, new and dangerous case.

Judy was giddy, wiggling under the weight of a head directly by her side, which frankly, was distracting her a little bit. Nick, smirking while watching intensely what the search engine would give them. They were simply searching through all cases and normal police and detectives reports. Going through all data needed some time, so they waited the three seconds before the results would pop up.

The word, Judy had tipped inside the box of the engine was simple. Every report and every document would be listed in a second, containing the word feral and, or beast. But to their disappointment the sheer amount of this data was simply too much to go through. A grunt from Nick showing his disappointment.

Nick, "Carrots, we can not look through all of these. I mean, think more about that."

Judy was not able to move her head. Nick was so close, she could smell him, and feel his breath near her cheek. She was concentrating on what he said, paralyzed by his closeness, trying to not make a fool of herself.

The fox continued, "Probably every second assault case has a witness say: he went full feral on me," he used a high pitched voice and his left wrist circling in a sassy manner, "or: he was like a beast. I would say the majority of those are those kind. We need something different to search for."

He was thinking intensely on the problem, while Judy was distracted clicking on one or the other report randomly. This was normally Nick's thing, but since he was not the one under control with the computer mouse, he simply let her do the deeds of randomly stimulating Nick's brain cells.

Judy knew her partner. She knew him very well. His ticks, his behavior, his manners. She knew, while doing this she was helping him thinking about many possibilities. She herself simply stayed calm. One ear close to catch any noise. The concentration getting her to catch the noise of Nicks calm and slow breathing.

She did not know how to feel about that. Nick, her partner, closely behind her, nearly hugging her in a very intimate way. His head so close to her side. She could hear him breathing. She could feel him breathing. She did not know where this sudden thought came from, but the sudden urge to just tilt her head a little bit towards him was overwhelmingly the only thought her brain was debating at that moment.

The voice of Nick penetrating her silent thought and pulling her out of the possible daydream. Irritated, she listened to the foxes words.

Nick: "Try to search for blue and saliva. Don't forget to change beast and, or feral in the engine completely. We might find more if we concentrate on this drug symptoms."

After a second, her paws were moving again, slowly writing the words the fox told her.

The result was exactly what they wanted. The first result, being the Night Howler incident, which was one of the biggest cases of the last years, probably decades. Followed by the Bledzewski case and only four other results where there on the monitor.

Why did they do this again? Because any parallels that would suggest the use of this killer drug in any other report were probable leads. They had nothing else than this, and it was the only promising thing they could do, especially since their digital observing capabilities thanks to PRISM.

Four different reports. Two were actual homicide, exactly what team cute wanted to find, but before Judy was able to click on the first, Nick exclaimed, "Look at those two. One is a suicide, the other is a natural death by coronary. Click on that first.", pointing at the natural death report.

She did that. It was a normal police report about the finding of a corpse. About the finding of an police known criminal corpse, who apparently died on a heart attack. The state of his apartment he was in was disturbing, with claw marks and bites all over the place, but nothing extraordinary that the officers thought to investigate further. The only disturbance of a natural death was the blue foam inside various places of the flat. Exactly like it would be, if someone would take the drug, go savage and die because of the repercussions.

Judy said how it was, "It's clear. The victim died by the drug. The date seems to suggest it was two months ago. Unfortunately there is probably nothing worth investigating anymore."

She used her mouse to go a site back, to click on the next report. Opening it with the first site being a disturbing photo of an animal lying on a street. Before Judy was able to see it very well, the paw of Nick was on hers and the fox was stretching around her to scroll down fast.

Being now on her side, not behind her anymore, the fox gave her a forced smile while explaining, "Suicide by jumping out a window. Wouldn't like to see a corpse on a street, you know.", He referred to something, he hoped was not influencing the bunny rabbit anymore. But he knew Judy and was afraid, that she would react negatively.

Judy immediately knew what he meant. She was not dumb. The forced smile of Nick was telling her everything. She had to smile back at him before looking at the monitor again.

Nick was concerned. Concerned that this image would trigger something uncomfortable inside of the rabbit. Judy, on the other paw, was not feeling the guilt that Nick suggested would go through her core. She much more was appreciating the thought of Nick to protect her from something like this. Or so she thought.

She was not disturbed, and needed to express that, "Nick, nothing disturbing there. Just a corpse, on a street. Nothing to be concerned of. I am okay."

Nick was mumbling very quietly, "I hope so, you should never concern yourself with something dumb like that."

She would have hugged him at that moment, but decided against it. Instead, she used her paw, that was on the keyboard, to reach over to his paw on her other own on the computer mouse, to at least squeeze it a little bit. The foxes head turned abruptly away, but he did not recoiled visibly. He simply and slowly took his paw away from her to rest it on the side of hers, after she herself was finished with the little gesture.

A small cough of Nick, and the urge to continue, the fox tried his sly look, while failing miserably at hiding the small blush on his cheeks. Judy was not different, her look fixated on the monitor, cursing inside her head why she just did something so stupid like that.

Nick: "Yeah, so ..." a stutter, not again, get yourself together Nick, "I mean. Suicide! He jumped out the twelfth floor window of his apartment. Blue saliva again, obviously our drug again. He was a known criminal as well. Sadly there is nothing worth to investigate further in this one, too."

Judy replied, while remaining stiffly looking at the monitor, "So, only two others left."

She clicked at the next one, finding a little larger report about something she did not expect.

Nick shared that thought, "Hooligans of the Zootopia Cubs?" It was exactly that. A hooligan fight that went awry. The report was about the victims of a simple arranged fight between baseball fans. Resulting in five dead animals.

Judy tried to summarize it, "We have an organized fight between hooligans. One of the Cubs fans went feral while they fought. The witnesses say that the perpetrator, a bobcat, fought against a group of others. In the middle of the fight, he went nuts and attacked viciously. Resulting in him killing four animals. He died of the adrenaline effects on his heart shortly afterwards. This was recent, only two weeks ago. This could be something, Nick."

The fox nodded, "We can try to contact his friends or the witnesses to get more information about that. Hooligans normally seem to be very organized, so we should be able to at least get some clues about this killer drug from this case. Although, this is depending what the last report is about. But one thing is very clear, in my opinion."

Judy concluded the same and finished the thought of the fox, " ... Only already known criminals or convicts are involved wit the drug. And I don't think it is a coincidence."

The last case file was clicked after Judy said that. Opening a file that contained another incident.

The file was showing the picture of a big lion in a profile shot. Both, Nick and Judy looked wide eyed at the photo. They expected that anyone involved with the drug would surely die. Here was a convicted criminal, meaning, they got him under arrest. Was this a much better lead?

The reading confirmed their suspicions. This Lion had assaulted multiple animals. His connection to those animals seemed to be simply at random. It is stated, that he did not knew them and simply went into a feral state of mind, in the middle of a park, in the middle of the day. Witnesses reporting him using some small pill to become feral.

Aggressively, the animal had attacked an elephant and managed to kill it within seconds. The beast was not finished with that and launched itself afterwards onto a brown bear. Killing it as well with precise bites. At last, he managed to kill another elephant, the husband of the first one. Effectively killing three of the biggest mammals possible.

What was astounding, was the fact that the lion lost consciousness after that incident and found himself in the custody of the police. His trial was fast. Although, getting feral was normally considered an accident and would be handled with much care, the judges decided for a rather hard sentence under the circumstance, that the lion deliberately became feral.

Judy was enthusiastically hopping up and down on her chair, explaining her mirth, "We have someone, Nick. When we get to him, we can ask him and he can tell us anything we need to know. He can be the key to this whole killer drug thing."

Nick agreed to one aspect of that, "That is true, but how should we convince him to be cooperative. He is a psychopath. A mad animal, that took the drug not to defend himself or because he was desperate. He took it probably for nothing else than curiosity. Or worse, just for fun."

Judy did not need to think long about this, her idea forming within seconds in her head, "Than he needs to trust us. You know what I am saying?" She smiled brightly at the fox, now standing on the chair and holding the tie connected to his collar enthusiastically while tapping one of her feet frantically.

Nick would have been recoiling, if he would not have liked this treatment, a lot. She looked so happy to find a possible piece of the great puzzle of this case. He smiled at her while expressing a question, "And how, my sweet cottontail, are we gonna do that?"

Judy used her free paw to gesture towards the computer, "He is in Zootopia State prison right now. We just need to get in there and earn his trust." Nick raised one eyebrow with a questioning look, Judy continued, "I mean, we become prisoners and get to know him. Get information out of him. This will be great, this will be a great new undercover job for us again."

Nick needed to burst the enthusiastic bubble Judy was in, and needed to elaborate on the faults in this plan, "He is in a prison, Judy. And that for a pretty good reason. This is incredibly dangerous to just go in there and pose as another convict. And it would not work, especially with you being a girl!"

She felt offended, getting his face closer to hers by pulling his tie a little bit forcibly closer, "And what has that to do with anything, Mister?"

Nick now really tried to jump back from her grip. The aggressive twinkle in her eyes warning him of anything chauvinistic he could say. He tried very calmly to explain, raising his arms in defense, "This is a prison. Prisons are segregated in genders to prevent extreme sexual violations. So, even if you would be a convict, you would not be able to come close to him, let alone earn his trust."

She contemplated that and got to the same conclusion very quickly. Recoiling herself by finally letting the fox go, she looked down. She did not dare to think about the only conclusion this would let open. But she needed to voice it, "Nick, than you have to be the one going in there … alone."

She did not like that at all. She immediately started to worry and think about possibilities about things going awry. Nick looked at her skeptically, and doubted, "Judy, I am Nick Wilde, you forgot?"

The bunny did not forgot that and simply asked back, "Yeah, and what does that have to do with the prison?"

Nick said what was on his mind, "I was a conman before I became an officer. It is rather likely that someone inside a prison would know who I am and would blow this undercover operation the moment I would walk inside a cell."

Judy was applying the palm of her paw to her face slowly, jokingly, she suggested something ridiculous, "Okay, why don't we just paint you white and call you Snow?"

Nick grinned at that, "That, my dear carrots, is not a bad Idea."

Judy, "What?"

Nick, "You heard me. We could do exactly that. Would not be the first time I would disguise my real identity."

Judy was scratching and pulling her ears down in frustration, "Nick, that is ridiculous."

Nick was still grinning at her, using his sly fox face, giving her his decision on the subject, "I don't think so. We really should do that. I go in there, disguised as a white fox, and you should be out here getting all the information and evidence you can get. I can tell you, it will be cubs play to get this, erm, what was his name again?.

Judy was still not a fan of letting him do this. Not letting him do this in general, because he was he. He was a grown adult fox, but letting him do this without her near him to restrain him from doing something stupid was not sitting well with her. How could she protect him, if he was on his own? It worried her the instant she thought about it. Looking at the monitor to find the Lions name, she answered him reluctantly, "His name is Sándor Leó."

Nick confidently let this name roll out of his tongue, "Sándor Leó. I will get all the information I want from you, my future friend." Judy could not look at him, thoughts rushing inside her head by a sheer glance at him. She did not like this, but she knew, this was necessary.


Today, Edward Snow, isolation cell

It was quite some time, probably just before prison bedtime, the fox assumed, before the husky guard was opening the big steel door to Nick's isolation cell.

The stoic look he was giving the arctic fox was not unseen by Nick, who stood there in the middle of the room, smirking at the prison guard.

Nick, alias Edward Snow, cockily asked the guard, "Hey, shaky dog, you gonna beat the shit out of me now?"

The guard in question looked down, avoiding eye contact with the fox. A little talk with the bunny confirmed his suspicions that the prisoner called Edward Snow enjoyed privileges beyond anything he was ever taught about. He was someone he had not to handle like all the other criminals.

This prisoner was special. The bunny had talked with director Bullock and a special conference was spoken out immediately after that, with all the higher ranked guards involved. The husky being one of them, was able to get the new information as well.

It was a fast gathering to inform all animals that there was intelligence that predicted possible prison break attempts in the close future. Everyone needed to be very alarmed and vigilant for any suspicious behavior concerning prisoners, and most importantly, associate guards, who might plan on helping in a jailbreak.

It would have needed an idiot to not connect the dots between the sudden meeting and the talk officer Hopps had with director Bullock. And in an extent, the one who was in this isolation cell right now. Edward was an insider, and probably a snitch. And as one, he should be handled with care.

That was the reason the husky came back here. Holding a small case in his paw, calmly telling the fox the reason for his visit, "I am here to take you back to your cell, Edward."

Nick was not sure what to think about this. He combined it in his head and came to the conclusion, that this guard probably was ordered to be nice, or actually knew who he was. But Nick could not risk to lose his disguise. So he became Edward, huffed and accused, "Yeah, and I believe you why, exactly?"

The husky slowly opened the case he had with himself, showing the insides of it to the arctic fox. Nick looked at medical equipment with bandages and some sticking plasters.

He smiled for the first time towards Edward, "I wanted to apologize and patch this bump on your head up a little bit."

Nick watched him suspiciously, "Okay, amuse yourself.". Nick sat down on the mattress and waited for the guard to do what he told him he would. The fox did not even wince or moved a muscle showing that he was comfortable with this, when the husky did exactly what he told he would do.

Said guard was slowly using a pain relieving substance in a tube very carefully on the bump that adored the foxes forehead. It was slowly bruising before Judy got into the room Nick was in. He was not really seeing it as big as before, as if it was already healing quite fast. The injury would have been nothing to mention, at all, after the husky saw it closer. But this was a way of the guard to at least establish some kind of trust with this important prisoner.

"My name is Roger, by the way." the husky told Nick, while the fox simply sat there with his eyes closed.

Roger applied a small bandage around Nicks head, when he very simply replied, "Edward."

There surely was some tense atmosphere between them before, but now it seemed quite relaxed.

The guard finished his work and showed the fox out of his isolation cell, guiding him back to the cell towards his cell mate and target Sándor. Nick did not talk with the guard, but appreciated the carefulness he displayed.

With a simple nod, Roger let Nick inside his cell, for the astonishment of the Lion who watched his cell mate coming back to him, although having the impression to not see him for a week.

Sándor was already laying on his bed, when Nick took his time to find his own sleeping arrangements on the other side of the cell. The light was still on, but would be out in sheer moments, giving the fox not much time for hygienic actions.

Brushing his teeth in record time, the lion smiled wickedly at the fox from his position.

Sándor recognized the bandage on his head and needed to comment on it, "Ha, you look like they ruffled yo up a little bit."

The answer to this kind of reaction should always be the same. Every fox would react witty and so Nick told the Lion in a dismissive tone, "You should have seen the guard."

The Lion chuckled at that. Lying on his back, looking up at the ceiling, waiting for the light to go finally out.

Sándor just needed to tell this fox something, though, "You know, you should take care of yourself. You might be much more important than you think you are ... and I kinda think I like ya."

Nick smirked at that and countered with a, "I think I like myself as well."

They both laughed at that, and before Nick was able to snug into the skinny blanket of his bed, the light went out in the prison sector, leaving all one hundred twenty high profiled prisoners only to sleep in the pitch darkness of a prison, only illuminated by the five energy-saving bulbs in the central yard of the sector, they were all in.


Chapter 12 End

Roger, husky, prison-guard


New end info!

Interrogation Time

I know I can be confusing. So this place is reserved for answering questions I think deserved to be answered and contribute to the plot or clarification for explicitly things concerning the plot of the story. I will keep this part very short in my next chapters and only answer very few, if ever I feel like I need to elaborate on something further. I will only consider questions after this chapter was posted. (question = review or pm me, I don't bite^^)