The wait for Eric's return was excruciating for Judy and Finnick. After hearing just how little time they had left to break Nick out, both of them wanted nothing more than to head over to the prison and do so, but reluctantly they both knew that it would be borderline suicide.

So, the only real thing they could do was wait, the tension in the air so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Luckily, though, the door soon opened a few hours after Eric left, revealing the otter himself as he carried a large roll of paper under his arm.

Finnick acknowledged his return with a small smile, choosing to react as calmly as he possibly could.

Judy, however, was on the complete opposite end compared to the fennec, as once she heard the door shut behind Eric, she immediately hopped out of her seat, heading straight towards him before he could really get too far.

"Did you get it?" she asked, a little more frantically than she really wanted to.

Eric nodded, lifting the roll of paper a bit to show her that it was in fact the plans they needed. However, Eric's mind was on a different track.

After placing the paper on a nearby table, Eric turned to face Judy and Finnick, stopping the two of them before they could reach the table and take a look at the plans.

"Listen, I think you guys need to see this."

Both Judy and Finnick traded worried looks, noticing the stressed expression that was on the otter's muzzle.

The two of them watched as Eric pulled out a phone, unlocking it with a swipe and pressing a few buttons before showing the screen to them, both of their eyes widening when they saw their own photos on the screen under a large set of letters proclaiming them to be WANTED.

Judy's head was sent spinning after seeing what she had seen. She already knew quite well that there would be a good chance that this would happen, but seeing it play out in front of her was something she still couldn't quite register fully, and frankly it terrified her.

"We're fugitives now?" she asked, her voice somewhat timid.

"Looks like it," said Eric. "That's not the only thing I saw about you guys, though."

Before either of them could ask anything pertinent, Eric turned the phone around once more, pressing a few more buttons and turning the phone back around as a ZNN news report began playing in front of them.

"The ZPD tonight are looking for a pair of thieves who attempted to steal valuable documents from City Hall."

As Peter Moosebridge spoke, the same Wanted poster that Judy saw a few moments ago flashed on to the screen, this time including a message on the bottom of the screen that read "By Order of the Mayor".

"Officer Judy Hopps and Finnegan Chamberlain, known by the alias 'Finnick', are wanted for questioning by the ZPD as ordered by Mayor Dawn Bellwether." said Fabienne Growley, her features grave as she spoke. "Any tips as to their current location can be forwarded to Precinct One, and are as always greatly appreciated."

"However, the ZPD would like to remind everyone not to approach the suspects. It is unknown at this time whether they are armed or not, but they highly suggest exercising caution."

The video ended there, and while the prospect of being sought for questioning was a nerve-wracking proposition, the atmosphere was broken a little bit by an unexpected source.

"How in the hell did they find out my real name?" shouted Finnick, catching both of the others off guard.

"So…Finnick's not your real name?" asked Judy, puzzled.

"No, it's not. I'd better not hear either of you call me by that name, though, or I promise I'm gonna bite your face off!"

"Alright, fine…I promise." said Eric, his tone sincere even though his mind was noting that fact to use should the situation present itself to have a little fun.

"I do, too," said Judy quickly, not wanting to look like she was planning something.

"Good. Not even Nicky knows about my real name, and I want it to stay that way. Got it?" he said threateningly.

Both Eric and Judy nodded.

Satisfied, Finnick turned towards the table, hopping up on to a chair and unrolling the paper to reveal the plans for the prison as promised.

"Come on, you two. Let's figure out how we're going to bust Nicky out of the joint."

"That's the problem, though! There's no way to sneak in!" said Eric.

Both Nick and Judy stared at Eric, bewildered as they registered what the otter had just said.

"Are you serious? There's gotta be a way!" said Finnick.

Eric shook his head vigorously, but neither of the others were even looking at him, as they were too busy poring over the plans to find a possible entry point.

Unfortunately, just as Eric said, the prison was pretty much impregnable outside of heading in through the front door, which was obviously not going to happen.

"Honestly, do you really think that a prison would leave that kind of design flaw in there?" said Eric.

"Hey, I'm not disagreeing with you. Still, it sucks. How in the hell are we going to get Nick out now?" asked Finnick, exasperated.

The room fell silent for a few minutes, the options for their rescue running very thin. To both Eric and Finnick's surprise, though, the answer came from a completely unexpected source.

"What if we just go through the front door?"

Finnick's head whipped around so fast he almost got whiplash as he stared incredulously at Judy, who was the one who suggested it.

"The front door?! Are you trying to get yourself arrested, girl?"

"That is kind of my point. We've already established that the only possible point of entry is the front door, right?"

Finnick quickly nodded, clearly remembering what they just spoke about.

"Well, I'm not a big fan of it either, but our only option is to break Nick out from the inside."

Both Finnick and Eric remained silent, still fully registering just what they were about to do. However, while Finnick nodded, agreeing that Judy's idea was the best shot they had, Eric spoke up.

"Listen…I'm not arguing that this is the best plan we have to go with, but I can't really help you with this."

"What? Why not?" asked Finnick, caught off guard by Eric's assertion.

Eric sighed before speaking up once more.

"Look, I can't really tell you why. I'm sorry."

Finnick looked about ready to throttle Eric until the otter spilled why he was ditching them, but Judy thankfully managed to hold him back with an outstretched paw, noticing the distraught look on Eric's muzzle.

"The best I can do is speak with Mr. Big. I can't guarantee anything, but I might be able to have them set up a riot or something to give you two some cover to break Nick out."

Neither of the others in the room were enthused with Eric's plan, but their options were once again limited, so they both simply nodded, signaling to the otter that they were okay with it.

"Good. Now, you guys had better get some sleep. You two have a long day ahead of you."

"What about you?" asked Judy, noticing that Eric was once again heading towards the door. "Can't you just speak with him on the phone like you did the last time?"

"I prefer speaking face-to-face with this kind of thing. I should be back soon, though."

The vague answer didn't exactly satisfy Judy's curiosity, but before she could even say anything more, Eric was already gone, the door shutting behind him.

Judy stared at the door in confusion for a few more moments before Finnick grabbed her paw, leading her towards where the bedroom was.

"Come on. We should listen to what he said and get some shut eye."

Judy felt nowhere near tired, her nerves frayed thanks to Nick's unknown fate, but surprisingly it didn't take long after she hopped into bed to fall asleep, Finnick taking a nearby armchair to avoid having to sleep in the same bed as her.


Surprisingly, their nap turned out to last way longer than they originally thought it would, as when the two of them woke up, it was morning once more.

As they attempted to fully come back into the world after sitting up, the door suddenly burst open, revealing Eric, who looked harried for only a few seconds before noticing what was going on with the scene in front of him.

"Hey, uh…I've got nothing against the whole interspecies thing, but I really didn't expect to see you two in the same bed."

Judy only barely managed to register what Eric had just said. However, as her vision came fully into focus, she soon realized that there was in fact a small ball of fluff next to her in bed, which soon unfolded to reveal Finnick, who looked barely awake.

"It's not what you think," said Judy quickly, blushing as the implications ran through her mind.

"I know. I was just messing with you," said Eric, chuckling.

The nervousness inside Judy's stomach soon gave way to relief knowing that Eric didn't have a problem with what was going on.

Finnick, however, was a different matter, as when he finally managed to wake up, he nearly tumbled out of the bed as he realized where he was and who he was next to.

"What the-? How in the heck did I get over here? I know for sure that I fell asleep in the armchair."

Finnick's voice trailed off, the fox trying to rack his brain to come up with an explanation for his new position in the room.

Judy, however, was more amused than anything, as she made a move to quell his fears.

"Relax, Fin, you must have just moved over here in the middle of the night. I can't imagine that armchair must have been too comfortable."

Finnick opened his mouth to say something more, but he suddenly closed it once more, a blank expression on his muzzle as he apparently must have remembered something.

"Oh yeah, I guess I must have."

He stared wistfully into the distance for a few more moments before shaking his head and returning to the scene in front of him.

"Come on, you guys. I spoke with Mr. Big, and I want to lay down my plan before you guys head over to the ZPD."

Eric's mention of the ZPD brought the good mood crashing down quickly, but neither Finnick nor Judy said anything, the two of them hopping off of the bed and heading into the main room, where to Judy's surprise, Clawhauser was as well.

"Ben? What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I, uh…I wanted to see you guys off. Eric told me about what you guys were planning to do."

Judy stared silently at Clawhauser as the rotund cheetah fretted, puzzled, until he suddenly blurted out something else he was planning to say.

"Look, I just want you to know that I'm rooting for you guys all the way. I know I can't do much from here, but I really wanted to give you guys my full support."

"Wow…thanks, Clawhauser. You're such a sweetheart," said Judy, smiling.

The cheetah couldn't help but giggle at the compliment, giving up his seat so that Judy and Finnick could join Eric at the table.

Once the three of them were all situated, Eric briefly reached towards where he left the plans for the prison, pulling them off of the floor and rolling it out on the table just like he did during the planning for City Hall.

"Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of information to go on, so the most we can do is plan your escape."

Eric glanced up towards Judy and Finnick, the former looking disappointed at the lack of information.

"I spoke with Mr. Big last night like I said I would. Thankfully, he was more than willing to spread the word to his associates inside the prison so that they could plan for the distraction to get you guys out."

Eric fell silent for a moment, sighing before continuing on.

"Unfortunately, considering how difficult it is to get messages in and out of the prison, the plan is for it to start at the next common period after you two are locked up, which doesn't give us much time. Our only hope is that you two get sent to the same block as Nick, if not the same row."

Looking down at the plans in front of him, Eric pointed towards a square in the corner of the building.

"These are where the showers are. The prison's been built to accommodate larger mammals compared to smaller mammals like you guys, so there's a good chance that you guys might be able to slip into one of the drains. I hope you two are up for a swim, because I've heard some of the pipes go into the sewers."

Judy did not look happy at the prospect of wading through other mammals' mess, but she did not want to risk losing any more valuable time before Nick got shipped off, so she decided it was best to grin and bear it.

"Alright, make sure you guys remember the plan. You've only got one shot at this. Find a good hiding spot for the van, too. We're going to try our best to get it to a good spot to use as a getaway."

Both Judy and Finnick nodded gravely before heading towards the door, looking back at Eric for one final time.

"Good luck, you two. You're gonna need it."

Finnick and Judy traded looks before heading out of the door, both of them remaining completely silent as they headed out of the apartment building and into the van, pulling out of the circle as they headed towards the center of the city.


After some more time has passed, Finnick and Judy found themselves parked inside a darkened alleyway as they stared the imposing visage of Precinct One across the square.

Leaving the keys on his seat, Finnick hopped out of the van and made his way to the front, Judy coming up next to him a few moments later.

"You ready to go?" she asked.

Finnick looked over at Judy, noticing the terrified look that she had on her face. He remained silent, however, wanting to try his hardest to exude an air of calmness despite being incredibly nervous himself.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

With a heavy sigh shared between the two of them, Judy and Finnick walked across the square and into the precinct, their paws held up high as the officers currently in the lobby stared bewildered at the scene in front of them.

"We surrender! Please don't shoot!"

Apologies for the incredibly long wait. The Fall video game rush happened, and I've been incredibly distracted playing a bunch of different games. I'm hoping to get back on a decent schedule soon, but obviously, judging from what happened last time I promised that, I can't guarantee anything.

Also, Finnick's "real name" was actually the idea of PresidentStalkeyes on . All credit goes to him, but I did make sure to ask permission just to cover my bases.