Blake waved goodbye to Stephen as he closed the door. The other group members had taken their leave a few hours prior. Blake stayed because he lived only one floor down, but a part of him stayed because it's been a while since he spent some real quality time with his friend. They spent their one-on-one time talking about current events, Blake obviously omitting the bit of sleuthing he's been doing as of late. The two foxes shared a drink, and when the clock struck ten, Blake left, but not before giving Stephen a hug.

Blake entered his dorm, closing and locking the door behind him. Throughout the day, the subject of the meeting with Boreal Botany remained in his head. He thought of ways to get out of the meeting, but none of them would pass without him sounding suspicious. He eventually gave up and decided to endure it, because there was still the possibility that it could lead to something. Blake shut off all the lights and got into bed. He had a quite the day ahead of him tomorrow.

Despite going to bed earlier than usual, Blake was still tired when he woke up. He groaned as he sat up and climbed out of his bed. After brushing his teeth and taking a shower, Blake took to his dresser to pick out an outfit. Having done the laundry the previous week, his choices were plentiful. He decided on the outfit that Stephen had made for him on the night they went to the party. It looked professional enough, without going too over the top for a lunch meeting. Satisfied, Blake grabbed his phone and his keys, and made his way out the door.

The low overnight temperatures had caused the puddles created the day before to turn into miniature ice rinks. Snowbanks, though considerably smaller, remained parallel to the walkway. The snow was stained a horrible brown colour due to the sand used to prevent slipping, something Blake liked to call 'snirt,' a combination of snow and dirt. Blake carefully navigated the icy parking lot to his car, which he had started using the remote starter. He got in and inserted the key into the ignition. Blake put on his seat belt and shifted the vehicle into reverse. He exited the parking lot and made his way to the freeway.

Traffic was light that morning, allowing Blake to reach the HQ relatively quickly. He parked his a short distance away from the building and began walking. The inside of the building was rather lively for a Saturday morning, with employees walking up and down the halls, talking amongst each other, and officers entering and exiting. Blake turned right down the hall and made his way towards Maxwell's office. On the way there, he narrowly avoided getting hit with one of the research team employee's briefcases. He arrived at Maxwell's door and gave it a light knock. The Chief opened the door, smiling.

"Ah, right on time. Good morning, Blake," the Chief said. Blake entered the office while Maxwell closed the door behind him. His mentors, Nick and Judy, had already arrived and were sitting adjacent to the Chief's desk. Blake took the last empty chair next to Judy. Maxwell returned to his seat behind his desk shortly after.

"Good morning, Chief," Blake finally replied. Maxwell glanced at the three mammals seated in front of him.

"Now that you're all here, we can begin. You three have a lunch meeting with a member of Boreal Botany's records department today," he began. Before Maxwell could start another sentence, he was quickly interrupted by Nick.

"Wait, you're not coming with us? Why not?" Nick asked. Maxwell looked at his computer screen, then back to Nick.

"No, I have much to do today, and I wasn't able to fit a meeting in," Maxwell replied. Nick didn't answer. "Regardless, you are there to retrieve a list of clients who have purchased any strain of Night Howler from them. If successful, we can narrow our search and possibly find something that can lead us to our culprit. It's ten-thirty now, and you will leave at eleven-thirty to be at Boreal Botanical Gardens at noon. Understood?" Maxwell shouted. Nick and Blake nodded.

"Yes, sir!" Judy replied at an equal volume.

"Good. Dismissed!" Maxwell said, turning back to his computer monitor. The three mammals rose from their seats and exited the office in a single-file line. With an hour to kill, they made their way to the break room, which was on the other side of the building.

"What are we gonna do for an hour?" asked Judy, leading the way to the break room.

"Dunno," Blake replied, following close behind.

"How about something to think about. For example, why isn't the Chief joining us for this meeting?" Nick asked from the back of the group. Judy turned her head to look at the fox. She rolled her eyes.

"Nick, Maxwell clearly said he has stuff to do today. Just take a look around," Judy motioned at the unusual business of the HQ. "Does it look like he has time to be away from the building?" Judy asked. Nick raised an eyebrow.

"Well, no, but you think he would make time for something this important," Nick replied.

"If he doesn't have time for this, that must mean he has much more important things to deal with. He is Chief of Police, after all," said Judy.

"If there are more important things than this, then why don't we know about them?" asked Nick in response to Judy. She sighed.

"You don't get to question what information he chooses to withhold or pass on. Remember what Bogo said before we left? We're supposed to treat Maxwell with the same respect we treat Bogo. He may not be our Chief, but we're under his supervision as long as we're here." Judy replied, raising her voice. The trio arrived at the break room door. Judy opened it and disappeared inside. Blake, not wanting to aggravate either Nick or Judy, entered the room right behind the rabbit. Nick followed close behind Blake, closing the door behind him.

"So now I don't have the right to ask questions about authority figures? Strange, considering who's telling me," Nick said, taking a seat across from Judy.

"I never said that, Nicholas. All I said is that he has his reasons to hold information back, and that you respect his decision. Besides, what reason do you have to be skeptical? Judy asked, leaning on the table. Nick furrowed his brows and shook his head.

"I'm always skeptical, I have been for most of my life. I was skeptical of you when I met you, I was skeptical of Blake when I met him, and I'm skeptical about Chief Maxwell. I'm just a skeptical mammal, okay?" Nick returned as he looked out the window. Judy groaned.

"Okay, but-"

"Stop!" yelled Blake. Both mammals turned to stare at Blake, who had a paw held up to his right temple. "Stop. Your yelling is giving me a headache. Plus, I would prefer if your partnership were to remain intact before we arrive at the botanical gardens. While it is odd that Maxwell isn't joining us, what with how crucial this could be, I could not care less what else he's doing today. Let's just get this done as quickly as possible okay?" said Blake bitterly. He had been subject to their bickering for less than ten minutes and he was already sick of it. Nick and Judy exchanged glances, and nodded their heads in unison.

"Right, no more fighting," Nick said.

The hour passed without another word from either of them. Once eleven-thirty rolled around, they got up, remaining silent, and left the building. They entered an available squad car and left the lot. The botanical gardens were a little bit out of town, so they were forced to take the freeway. Blake leaned against the window watching the vehicles in the opposing lanes zip by. Judy stared downward at her cell phone, presumably ridding herself of those annoying notification bubbles. Nick kept his eyes on the road.

"I just thought of something," Blake began, "Why can't we just get the list and then leave?" Nick glanced at Blake in the rear-view mirror.

"Probably because it's polite to actually sit down and chat. It does seem kind of rude to just walk in, demand a paper with sensitive information and then leave, no?" Nick replied. Blake pondered it for a bit, then nodded to himself.

After another gruelling twenty minutes of silence, Nick pulled the squad car off the freeway and onto a poorly maintained country road. Another five minutes later, and a large half brick, half glass building could be seen in the distance. Nick pulled the car into the botanical garden's parking lot and parked in an open space. The three mammals piled out of the vehicle and began walking toward the front door.

"Quite the structure," Nick stated as they entered. The large glass dome that made up the roof reflected sunlight in all directions, causing the foyer to light up just as bright as it was outside. Slowly, they walked deeper into the first room, where they were greeted by a bespectacled black panther. The panther smiled and held out a paw.

"Welcome to the Boreal Botanical Garden. How may I be of assistance?" he asked. His voice was velvety smooth and was easy on the ears. Nick reached out and shook the panther's paw.

"Yeah, hi. We're here about a meeting with an employee of the records department," Nick replied. The panther nodded once and reached into his breast pocket. He pulled out a small notebook and flipped through the pages.

"Excellent. I will have to ask your names, however," said the panther. He gave a quick glance at each of the mammals in front of him.

"Oh, well alright. I'm Nicholas Wilde, the one to my right is Judy Hopps, and to my left, Blake McInnes, all of the Borealis Metropolitan Police," Nick said. Blake's heart jumped when he heard Nick refer to him as a member of the force. The panther smiled and began walking down one of the hallways.

"Follow me please," he said. They obliged. The panther led them down a tall and narrow hallway with large skylights lighting up the space. He stopped in front of one of the dark wooden doors and opened it. He motioned for the three to enter. "Ms. Ransbury is in there waiting for you." he said. The three walked into the room, and sure enough, a large grey wolf was sitting at a large table in the centre of the room.

"Please have a seat," said Ms. Ransbury. The three walked up to the table and sat down in the three chairs placed across from where Ms. Ransbury was sitting. As they sat down, it was then when they realized just how small they were compared to the wolf, Judy especially. Ms. Ransbury glared down at the trio over her glasses. She lazily tapped the table with her claws, staring over Nick's head. Nick, Judy, and Blake all exchanged confused expressions. Nick, growing tired of nothing happening, broke the silence.

"Er, Ms. Ransbury, right? Is everything okay?" Nick asked quietly, wanting to sound concerned. Ms. Ransbury did not respond immediately. Her eyes darted toward the door.

"Could you close the door for us, Toby?" said Ms. Ransbury. Nick, Judy, and Blake all turned around in their seats and glanced at the door. The black panther, now known as Toby, was in the process of closing the door. Once the deed was done, they all turned back to face Ms. Ransbury, whose paws were clasped together on the desk. "Excellent. Now we may discuss our goals freely," Nick turned to Blake.

"Blake? Care to tell the nice wolf why we're here?" Nick asked slyly. Blake's eyes widened. He had not expected to do any of the talking, he was already so used to either Nick or Judy doing it. He thought about things to say to get out of it, but eventually decided to just deal with it, as it would seem rather childish to avoid talking to another adult because of nerves. Blake inhaled slowly. He turned to wolf in front of him and looked her straight in the eyes.

"Okay, so, my colleagues and I are here because we would like to request a list of customers to whom you sell the Night Howler plant," Blake stated. Ms. Ransbury raised an eyebrow as she leaned forward in her seat. As she leaned in, Blake leaned back.

"There is more than one kind of 'Night Howler plant.'" Ms. Ransbury said dryly. Blake cleared his throat.

"The one we're looking for is the strain used for medical research and development. Midnicampum holicithias, if I'm not mistaken," Blake replied. Ms. Ransbury retreated back into her seat, peering at Blake through her thick-rimmed glasses. She began drumming her claws on the table again. Blake glanced over at Nick and Judy with an apologetic look on his face. Nick shrugged his shoulders.

"And what do you plan on accomplishing with this information?" Ms. Ransbury inquired. Blake rolled his eyes.

"We need it so we can narrow down our search area. If we know who you sell to, then we won't have to waste time and resources investigating dead ends. You're aware of the recent attacks, right?" Blake replied irritably. Ms. Ransbury frowned and looked out the window to her right. The window led into one of the three main bio-domes of the botanical garden. The condensation on the window was indicative of the high humidity inside the dome. Ms. Ransbury looked back toward the three officers, expression unchanged.

"Yes I am. Horrible stuff, absolutely horrible" she said solemnly. She stared down at the walnut surface of her desk. "What would happen if I were to refuse to give your our customer records?" She asked. At this point, Blake was growing tired of the impromptu game of twenty questions.

"If you were to refuse, then our investigations would be delayed. Possibly long enough for another large scale attack to take place. If you were to refuse, you would be endangering the lives of the millions of mammals that live in Borealis and surrounding areas," Blake replied bitterly, staring daggers through Ms. Ransbury's glasses. Ms. Ransbury did not answer right away. She leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms. Her lips curled into a small smile before she sat upright again.

"Eloquently put. Well done. May I get your name?" Ms. Ransbury said. She extended her arm toward Blake, offering to shake. Blake stood up and took her paw, shaking firmly.

"Blake McInnes, Miss," Blake stated. Ms. Ransbury reached toward what looked like a corded phone and pressed one of the buttons on the cradle.

"Toby? Please fetch a copy of the sales list for the specimen 'midnicampum holicithias' and bring it to me," she said to no one in particular. A few seconds passed before a reply came from the on-board speaker.

"Right away, Miss," replied Toby. Ms. Ransbury returned to Blake, a smile on her face.

"I will be honest with you, Mr. McInnes, I was skeptical about your visit at first, but you managed to convince me through your speech. To that, I commend you. I'm truly impressed," said the wolf. Blake blushed, scratching his neck.

"Ah, thanks, but you don't have to commend me for anything," Blake replied. Ms. Ransbury giggled.

"Modest too. You've found yourself quite the student, Officer Wilde," Ms. Ransbury mused. Nick chuckled in return.

"Yep. Best part is, this was Blake's idea in the first place. He's been a huge help on this case so far, resourceful fella," Nick returned. Blake sank further into his seat. Nick, Judy, and Ms. Ransbury conversed amongst each other for the next few minutes. The talking ceased when a light knocking came from the door behind them. Ms. Ransbury called for them to come in, and Toby, the panther from earlier, had entered holding a sealed brown envelope. Toby walked up to Ms. Ransbury's desk and slid the envelope in front of her.

"Here you are, Miss," he said. Ms. Ransbury smiled.

"Thank you, Toby. You may leave," replied Ms. Ransbury. Toby nodded and left the room. Ms. Ransbury visually inspected the envelope before handing it to Blake. "Mr. McInnes, please do be wary of the information you possess. It is sensitive, and could be harmful if in wrongful possession,"

"I'll be careful, Miss. You have my word," Blake said, clutching the envelope tightly in his paws. Blake and Ms. Ransbury returned to their seats. Ms. Ransbury glanced at the watch strapped to her wrist. She looked back toward the trio.

"Well, I must be going. I have much else to do today. It was a pleasure meeting with you three. Toby will see you out," she said. With that, she rose from her seat and left the room, leaving Nick, Blake, and Judy alone.

Toby guided them down the hallway and out into the parking lot. They each said goodbye to Toby before entering the squad car. Due to the unseasonably high temperatures, Nick activated the air conditioning as soon as he started the vehicle. The three of them climbed in and strapped themselves in. Nick threw the vehicle into drive and left the parking lot. As they drove, Blake sat staring down at his lap, where he had placed the brown envelope containing the sales records.

"So, what does it say?" Judy asked. Blake snapped out of whatever daze he was in and looked at Judy.

"What does it say?" Blake replied. Judy shifted in her seat.

"Yeah, what does it say? Who have they sold to?"

"I haven't opened the envelope yet,"

"Well, open it then," Nick added. Blake nodded and slowly tore the envelope open. The envelope contained but one paper. Blake read over it quickly before shoving his paw back into the envelope to search for another paper, only to find that there were no more papers.

"This can't be right," Blake said. Nick looked at Blake in the rear-view mirror and raised an eyebrow.

"What can't be right?" Nick asked.

"There's only one paper in here,"

"What does the paper say?"

"It says that they've sold nearly five-thousand dollars worth of high-grade specimen to Fanshawe College in Borealis, Animalia, but that's all it says," Blake stated dejectedly. Nick sighed.

"Maybe they didn't give us all the papers?" Judy asked hopefully. Blake scanned over the paper again. He shook his head.

"There aren't any more papers to give," Blake said. He was alluding to the little number in the top-right corner of the page, '1/1.' The severe lack of buyers had effectively ruined Blake's mood for the rest of the day.

Nick and Judy dropped Blake off back at his dorm at around two o'clock. He trudged across the sweltering parking lot and into his dorm block. He traversed the building until he reached his room. He unlocked the door and disappeared inside. He threw the envelope, as well as the contents of his pockets onto the kitchen table and flopped onto his bed. He rolled over onto his back and fell into a deep thought.

Perhaps the school might be worth checking out. If they're they only seller around for miles, then whomever is creating this serum has to be getting their supply of midnicampum holicithias from the school... That is unless they've been breaking into the botanical garden on a regular basis... No, if they'd been doing that, then it certainly would have been on the news. Now, who here has access to the Night Howlers sold to the school? There's the Professor... Nah, he's too calm a mammal to even have a violent thought, let alone a criminal one. There's Brett, but he's still recovering in hospital, meaning the only other mammal who has access to them is-

"Ryder!" Blake exclaimed.


Oh look, an update. Cool. -Prince