DISCLAIMER: I had the bid to own Zootopia all written up, and was on my way through the forest to deliver it to the mailbox, when I was attacked by a horrifically large bear. Monstrous. I must have dropped the bid in my haste to get the hell out of there, because it's notin my hand any more. I did see a nice redheaded girl in my terror though. Maybe she has it.

Thanks to GusTheFox and TheoreticallyEva for reviewing this chapter at the last minute! You guys ROCK!


"What do you mean, Hopps and Wilde's cruiser hasn't been repaired yet?" Chief Bogo stared down his nose at his precinct mechanic, who shrugged.

The Precinct One wildebeest mechanic pulled the oil dipstick out of the car he was working on, checked and wiped it, then put it back. "Haven't had time. Got a lot of other cars to take care of. Francine trashed a few, you know."

"That was six weeks ago, the cruisers in question were written off, and you haven't said anything about being overworked. What about the other precincts?"

"I called them. They're all busy, too," The mechanic said as he poured a purple fluid into one of the car's tanks, not making eye contact with his superior.

"And local body shops?"

"All busy. Lockdown and all, they weren't allowed to work on any of their clients' vehicles, didn't have the parts, things like that."

Bogo stared at the mammal in front of him. He could tell that the wildebeest was lying to him but wasn't sure to what extent. "OK, where is the vehicle now? And have you been able to source a new radio for them?"

Again, a shake of the head as the smaller ungulate checked the fluids in the cruiser's other reservoirs. "The cruiser is over there somewhere. I ordered a radio relay for them and a pair of small portables. Haven't installed it yet. It's over there." He gestured to a pile of boxes in the corner as he pulled his head out from under the hood and slammed it shut. "Well, Fangmeyer and her partner will have a cruiser in good working order tomorrow."

"But Hopps and Wilde won't. What can you do for them in the meantime?"

The wildebeest glared at the police chief. "Nothing. Eric Wolford's cruiser was the only other one that was modified to allow small mammals to use it, and we took that out when the car was reassigned. The only other thing we have is the parking enforcement cart, but that's been sitting idle for a year now, since we haven't needed it."

Bogo sighed and rubbed his forehead. "All right. I'll make some calls and see if we can get it into one of the other garages. We need that cruiser repaired."

The wildebeest looked panicked. "I told you they were busy, Chief. No point in wasting your time making those phone calls."

"Until that cruiser is repaired, two of my best officers are stuck behind a desk, so maybe an order from their chief will allow them to find some room in their schedules." The cape buffalo held in the smirk as he watched the smaller mammal almost fall over himself. Something was clearly up here, and it bore further investigation.

The wildebeest made a comment about "looking into it now" and beat a hasty exit from the conversation, conveniently heading in the direction of Hopps and Wilde's shot-up cruiser, parked in a stall on the other side of the garage.

A pile of parts lay next to it, and the chief wasn't sure if those parts had been removed from the vehicle or were waiting to go in… Or were just dumped there from other cars.

The Cape buffalo turned and left the garage, headed up to his office, and called one of the other precincts.

Ten calls later, and he had his answer. None of the other precincts had ever gotten a call from his regarding overflow and a request to get cruiser Zulu 240 in for service in their garages. All of them were only in the middle of a few sporadic "A"-checks, which was apparently mechanic-speak for fluid changes. He suspected the others would all be the same.

Time to have mammal resources dig a little deeper into that mechanic's work. With the comments that wildebeest had made to Charles Bucks regarding Officers Hopps and Wilde, he suspected that the mechanic was just deliberately avoiding the work on the cruiser.

Maybe he should get a third party to look at the garage's time sheets as well.


Since Maddy had started teaching them, Nick and Judy could definitely say they had improved in the kitchen. No longer could they say they were complete failures in home economics.

"How in the world did you burn the carrots?!"

Only partial failures. Maddy couldn't help coughing at the clouds of smoke billowing from the pan.

The smoke detector picked that moment to go off, causing both does to stop everything and cover their ears in pain. Nick had to pull up a chair under it to silence the banshee-like shriek.

"Oh, trust me, Flour, I burn Carrots all the time." Nick winked at Maddy as he climbed back down, while his grey-furred doe's ears turned bright red as she threw the ruined orange vegetables in the trash.

Madison Hopps rolled her eyes at their antics. "You two are ridiculous. It's a good thing I'm leaving today now that the trains are running again, or I'll get diabetes!"

Judy snorted. "You might get diabetes. I might get a migraine!" She looked at the burnt mess. "I guess I can try cooking another batch."

The fox in the room shook his head. "I'll help."

"OK, Mister I-burn-Carrots, let's see how well we can do these this time."

Maddy had spent the last couple weeks staying in what would normally have been Judy's bedroom, helping Nick in caring for the police doe, especially with…doe things. She was also teaching them to cook and generally keeping them company when they weren't at work. While they were gone, Maddy had explored the rest of the city—the parts that were open, anyway—and had taken in some of the tourist attractions, museums, and beaches. For her, it had ended up being a vacation of sorts, but now, it was time to head home. They'd booked her ticket on the Zootopia Express to Bunnyburrow that morning, and she was on the 6:00 p.m. train. Gideon would pick her up at the station back home.

The second batch of roasted carrots went much better, with Nick only making a few "burned/roasted/cooked Carrots" jokes. Of course, each one of them earned him a glare and a punch from the grey doe.

"What part of Zootopia do you like most, Maddy?" Judy was eager to hear what her sister thought about the city she considered home now.

Maddy thought for a long moment. "It's hard to say. I like the idea of the Strip, with all its different architecture. Not so sure I like the idea of it being centered around gambling and the other things Nick described. You know, getting married, having an affair, getting divorced, all in the same weekend…"

Judy laughed at that. "It's not always like that. I've heard that Strip weddings can be so romantic." Both Nick and Maddy snorted long and loud at that, with Maddy covering her muzzle with one paw to try to stifle the laughter. Judy herself looked confused at the other two before it dawned on her what she had said, and her ears exploded in a furious blush as she dropped them down her back. "Oh, sweet cheese and crackers."

"Strip weddings, huh? Does that mean that if either the bride or groom flub their vows, or drop the ring, or throw the bouquet badly, they have to strip off a piece of clothing?" Maddy could barely speak around her laughter.

Nick was no better off. "Or maybe it's some sort of ritual where one or the other has to strip naked in front of the whole congregation. Maybe the innocent bunny doe?" He gave a sly grin at the now thoroughly embarrassed Judy Hopps.

The laughter continued for a moment, all the while with Judy wishing she could dig a hole in the floor and crawl into it. After a while, it died down, and Maddy returned to answering the original question, albeit interspersed with giggles. "Honestly, I like Tundratown the most. Meadowlands feels like any suburb, just with more grass. Savannah Central—there's a few too many big buildings and mammals for my liking. Sahara Square—too much sand. I think I'm still brushing sand out of my fur from a week ago. And the Nocturnal District—it was too dark. I kind of felt like the place was pressing down on me." She shuddered.

Judy couldn't help but agree. The Nocturnal District was built in a huge artificially created cavern in one of the mountains bordering the northern edge of the surface portion of the city, with a winding access road to get to it. There was no light down there except that which came from the very dim streetlamps and buildings. The overall atmosphere seemed oppressive to her, but nocturnal mammals thrived in it. The district was the heart of the city's nighttime industry and commerce but boasted little in the way of entertainment for mammals generally active during daylight hours. "Why Tundratown, though?" she asked.

Maddy shrugged. "I like the snow. It makes everything so pretty, and it looks so pure. All white, you know? And seeing those pictures of it during the holidays—it's utterly gorgeous." She paused. "I can't wait to see it in real life." The tan doe's expression soured. "I would have liked to see the Rainforest District and the Canals."

Judy nodded her understanding of her younger sibling's choice and her statement regarding the two closed districts. "The Canals are a bit like that waterway city in Europe. Lots of boat travel. And our first case together involved a savage predator in the Rainforest District."

Nick grinned. "Yeah, on Tuh-jung-gah avenue," he said, deliberately using Judy's initial mispronunciation of the road, adding air quotes for good measure.

"It's Tujunga!" The doe was quick to fire back her fox's correction from the same night. Nick just grinned wider in return.

"Anyway, it's a pretty cool district. Just make sure you're dressed for rain. We weren't that day and got utterly soaked." Nick shivered at the memory.

Maddy laughed. "I bet!"

The three chatted away for another hour while finishing their meal before heading out the door and to the subway station for the trip to Savannah Central, Maddy's suitcases in tow. From there, Nick and Judy would see the younger doe off and then pick up their schedule for the next week from Precinct One. For her part, Judy was eager to return to the beat.


"Weapons?"

"Check."

"Tranquilizers?"

"Check."

"Bulletproof armor?"

"Double check."

Rivers and Longtooth had received word that morning that the city legal department had finally gotten sick of Furston's heel-dragging. They had convinced the Justice Department to authorize a raid on the company's computer systems and seize any data or information technologies equipment relevant to the case, and Chief Bogo didn't want any time wasted. The longer they waited, the more likely it was that a snitch could alert the company.

The straw that broke the proverbial camel's back was a tip from an employee of Furston that his account may have been used to access the antidote formula data. It was none other than the former team lead of the formula development, Dr. Perry Devorak, whom the detectives recognized from their interviews months prior. He'd been quietly let go from his position following the revelation that he'd talked to police without a company lawyer present and had recently been the target of several attacks for his part in the current crisis, notwithstanding that it was involuntary.

The cybercrime division would be hot on the heels of the invasion team in order to secure the data they needed, using tools that the detectives couldn't begin to understand. Cam had tried to explain how they worked, but Rivers and Longtooth had eventually quieted him down, giving each other equally clueless expressions.

Cybercrime had also managed to gain a contact within the company that would help them navigate the labyrinthine digital pathways of the Furston computer systems.

"OK, the primary IT infrastructure is housed in a buildin' in the northwest corner of the campus. There are secondary sites scattered throughout the city, but this one's the big cheese. The buildin' itself looks like a plain old ordinary warehouse, nothin' distinct about it, other than the large 'Buildin' 7' on the side." Longtooth laid out a satellite image of the site and pointed to the building. "There are no road signs to guide you to it. It's hidden behind a few other buildin's and a railway freight depot, and there's no GPS data for the site, either."

"We have to come in through the south entrance, here, make our way north past the factory buildings, the utilities building, and the rail depot, to the end of the road, here, then take an unmarked access road west to the IT buildin'." She traced a claw over their route, then looked up at all of her colleagues. "Our contact has assured us that the gatekeeper will allow us entry, and that we'll have room to maneuver. The outer door will also be unlocked for us."

Rivers took over the briefing. "This is a non-weapons facility, and there's sensitive electronic equipment. Stick to tranquilizers and paw-to-paw combat unless absolutely necessary. We can't risk damage to the equipment, and Bogo wants zero casualties. Most, if not all, of these mammals are just doing their job, but they will not be allowed to use their devices or leave while we are there. The usual search and seizure." The elk looked around. "Any questions?" There were none. "Then let's roll. Single file. Detective Longtooth and I will take the lead."

The Cybercrime unit, the two detectives, and a contingent of police officers had staged a few blocks southeast of the company's Meadowlands campus, where the pharmaceutical company's IT infrastructure was located. Once all the teams had checked in, the group climbed back into their cars and headed off, full lights and sirens. They met no resistance at the campus gate and proceeded through, heading north after negotiating a traffic circle with a statue of the company founder, and past the aforementioned buildings.

The road came to an end at a fence on the north edge of the property, and Nolwazi pointed out the access road, unpaved but in good condition and wide enough that two large vehicles could pass each other if they got very friendly. Rivers pulled onto it, with the line of four cruisers and the cybercrime van following suit. It seemed like an eternity to the lioness before they bumped over a set of railway tracks and the large but run-down structure came into view, surrounded on three sides by dense trees cut well back from the building itself.

"It doesn't look like much," Longtooth observed as she checked her equipment yet again.

"Makes sense. If you want to hide expensive equipment, you start by putting it in a building that doesn't look like it would hold that expensive equipment, and then arm it to the teeth with security systems, physical deterrents, and probably a group of armed guards as well. Look," Rivers said, pointing at the trees. "The trees are cut way back from the building, and there's a long baren area that a security camera would love to catch you running through. And everything's made of metal and concrete, so burning the place down from the outside won't work."

Nolwazi snorted. "Sounds like Fort Claws in a cinderblock and corrugated steel buildin'."

"Not quite. Fort Claws has military protection. These guys have private security. Speaking of which, I expect they know we're here, so we need to get a move on." Rivers secured the car, and the two climbed out, flanked by their fellow officers. They surrounded the door that their contact had identified as the "front" door.

Once they were all in place, the elk opened the door, and they all spilled into the security hallway. It didn't take long for the officer to wave them through after they identified themselves. The security corridor led to a room full of cubicles.

Rivers raised his voice. "OK, listen up! Everyone drop what you are doing right now, stand up, and move to this side of the room." The other officers fanned out to make sure that his orders were followed. "Do not 'finish what you are doing' or anything of the sort, and leave your computers unlocked."

The techs in the room all hurried to follow his instructions, and they were funnelled into the building's break room, away from their workstations. Cybercrime moved in, quickly secured the PCs, and had security escort them to the server room.

Fortunately for everyone involved, computers are a lot more cooperative than mammals can be. It wasn't long before Cam emerged from the server room, followed by the building's security and their contact, a nervous-looking spotted hyena.

The elk gave the cybercrime cougar a raised eyebrow. "Get anything?"

"Everything we could. All the account data for our friends, all the projects they worked on, everything." Cam looked around to see that their contact and the security guard were out of earshot. "I think the city lawyers will have a field day with this, too."

"What'd you find?"

"Can't discuss it here. But let's just say that Furston's not going to enjoy it."

That piqued the elk's interest. Still, it would be best to discuss the situation back at the police headquarters. After confirming that they had everything they needed, and all the equipment was sealed up and secured, the group moved out, heading back to their respective stations. On the way back, Rivers couldn't help but wonder what Cam had uncovered.

Back in the station, Cam pulled Rivers and Longtooth into one of the conference rooms. "Furston knew Hornby had gained access to the Night Howler antidote formula. They've known for several weeks now. Around the time they announced they fired Hornby, Hogsmeed, Wilde, and McStripeson, they ordered a full audit into their actions and digital history. A few days later, they also ordered one for a Doctor Perry Devorak."

That got Rivers' attention. "The head of the antidote team? Who gave the order?"

The cybercrime cougar shrugged. "Don't know yet, but the audit report for Dr. Devorak was centered around the time you believe Hornby was using the doctor's access to get the antidote formula."

"Well, we knew that Hornby used Devorak to access the antidote formula. This might get us an exact date, and if Furston knew, this might be evidence of conspiracy to cover up," Rivers said thoughtfully.

"Or concealin' or tamperin' with evidence," his partner added with a sigh. "I'm startin' to think that Furston is deliberately sabotagin' itself. Find out who gave the order, Cam. I want to ask them nicely if they had ever planned on givin' that evidence to us."

Rivers raised his eyebrow. "I hope that asking nicely doesn't mean with teeth and claws out."

The lioness gave the elk a sideways grin. "No way. What might have given you that idea?"

Rivers was unconvinced. "You never say you're going to ask nicely, Nolwazi. And lately, when we play good-cop-bad-cop, you've always been the bad cop."

Longtooth's grin widened, showing off her predator's teeth. "I like bein' the bad cop!"

The elk rolled his eyes. "You know, if you aren't careful, some mammal might think you're menacing them. Come on, we have more reports to file."


It took a week for cybercrime to get anywhere useful with the evidence gathered in the IT raid on Furston. The company's lawyers had thrown up their paws in defeat when they had read the warrant from the city courts, only advising the ZPD that they would be reviewing all of the data collected and that if anything was in the data dump that shouldn't have been there, they'd be suing the city.

For the most part, cybercrime simply worked their magic, sending large chunks of organized data to Longtooth, Rivers, and, by extension, Hopps and Wilde. Furston had indeed known about the compromised computer account and antidote data since shortly after Hornby had been arrested, and the order had come from the executive offices to do a full investigation before turning it over to the police department. While it was certainly not with the speed that the ZPD would have liked, they had no evidence that anyone had specifically ordered it to be concealed, so they couldn't charge anyone with a crime.

Judy and Nick hadn't been happy to find out their cruiser still wasn't fixed and that it would be another two weeks at least until it was. However, even the doe took it in stride, especially when Bogo revealed that IA was reviewing Charles Bucks' case against her and had released them to normal duties. The chief had taken the opportunity to assign her and her fox to a few light duty foot patrols in Savannah Central to just keep the peace in a city that was slowly reopening and get back in the swing of being on the beat. Even Judy had to admit that foot patrol was better than the "jokemobile."

While on these patrols, Nick and Judy were approached more and more frequently by citizens of all species who thanked them for showing them the possibility not only of inter-order relations, but romance. That always made their day, and the two would end up chattering about the encounter for some time afterward.

Of course, the opposite was also true. Occasionally, they'd be accosted by mammals who flatly refused to accept such a pairing, or had a problem with foxes or predators. Perhaps out of fear of police reprisal, however, the mammals made a thinly veiled effort to keep their speech civil and non-threatening. It didn't always work, and the encounters were usually broken up by Nick and his sharp silver tongue.

The positive encounters were still relatively new, but sadly, they'd grown accustomed to the negative ones long before the Rainforest attack.

The city had slowly started going back to normal, with some shops and establishments reopening. Many, many others, remained closed, though. A disappointing percentage had announced that the closure was permanent, and the properties were put up for sale.

The two small officers had spent an afternoon talking about that and the death spiral that unemployment could be.

On Saturday, the day before their mandatory day off, the two had finally received the welcome news that Internal Affairs had finally dropped their case, citing discrepancies in Bucks' report and an independent review of Woolson's being consistent with the evidence. The shooting death of Doug Ramses by Officer Judy Hopps was declared clean, and her lethal was returned to her.

It didn't help Judy's mental demons, though—something that she discussed with the department counsellor weekly, and she talked about it even longer with Nick every night. She'd accepted that there wasn't anything she could have done differently, and if she was honest with herself, she probably would rather have taken Doug out of the equation sooner.

That last part disturbed her almost as much as the actual event, but the counsellor said it was a natural part of the coping process. That evening, Marian said the fact that it disturbed her meant she had a good moral compass.

Marian herself had been coping well with the enforced isolation, and the endless stream of officers who visited provided her with plenty of company, not to mention her son and his doe. There had been some complications when her landmammal had tried to put her apartment on the market, claiming she 'wasn't using it anymore', despite the fact that the rent was paid for a full year and had six months left on the contract. A harsh word from her attorney had stopped that dead in its tracks.

Linus Ford had formally filed his lawsuits against Furston on Marian's behalf, citing wrongful termination, long-term discrimination and pay inequality going back fifteen years, and slander. They were seeking settlement of over two million dollars.

They weren't the only ones who were suing the company, either. A class action lawsuit had also been filed on behalf of predators' families whose loved ones were still savage, along with one from the city for holding back the antidote formula in a time of crisis.

Brayer had announced that its initial mammal trials had been a success, and, with further refinement and testing, the antidote would soon be ready for distribution within a few weeks. City officials had further announced that a new law had been passed to forbid a monopoly to be held by any domestic corporation for medical supplies. Furston's legal department had stayed quiet, though rumours abounded that the company was planning to sue the city for breach of contract.

At home, Nick and Judy spent most of their time talking, enjoying TV and cuddle time, experimenting in the kitchen to varying degrees of success, and just generally unwinding from the day. Nick had suggested buying a video game console as well, but they'd found that they couldn't afford one, even with their combined paychecks. Not yet, anyways.

Maddy had settled back into life in Bunnyburrow, commenting that big city life was just too busy for her, and she preferred the more laid-back lifestyle of the small town. A few days after arriving home, she'd called her sister, gushing about the date she'd just been on with Gideon. Apparently, she'd also opened the date with a bouquet of flowers, much like Judy's first date with Nick. Unlike Nick, however, Gideon, immediately knew the meaning of the flowers expressing friendship and romantic interest, having been raised in Bunnyburrow. The two had gone out for a sunset picnic she'd set up, then to a movie. They had finished off their evening with Gideon taking Maddy home to the burrow, kissing her paw as he left.

The two rabbits had spent the next hour comparing first dates, topics discussed, feelings, and their general enjoyment of their individual foxes. Nick had broken in and asked how much of Maddy and Gideon's conversation had been about recipes and new offerings for the bakery, receiving a punch on the shoulder from Judy for his trouble.

Nick had retreated to the bedroom, laughing and rubbing his shoulder when Maddy had admitted that that had been a "part" of their conversation.

Liz Fangmeyer had stopped by the night before and the three had gotten to talking about the takedown of the terrorist operation. The tigress had surprised both of the two smaller mammals when she admitted to the dark thoughts she'd been having concerning the fate of the terrorists, particularly Doug, and of "going savage" on them.

Nick had admitted that he'd been struggling with some similar thoughts and that his were rooted in the tod's traditional instincts to protect his mate. Besides Judy and his mother, Nick was usually pretty quiet with others about his inner thoughts, and it was refreshing to see him open up to the tigress.

One mammal that hadn't taken a break, or at least not much of one, was Bogo. If he was not in his office, he was meeting with the mayor and the city advisors, the fire chief, or the captains of the other precincts, or he was taking a first-paw look at the Rainforest and Canal Districts. Rumour had it that he had taken a few opportunities to visit his wife in the week, but work constantly called him back.

Officer morale had taken a turn for the better when the city had finally announced a reparation plan for emergency workers and staff to pay off the enormous overtime incurred since the Rainforest attack, in the form of twelve monthly checks for accrued overtime beginning on the day of the attack all the way until the lockdowns in the remaining ten districts were lifted.

Hospitals got a break, too. For the first time since the attack, all of them had reported a drop in the number of victims of savage mammal attacks, though the amount of active savage cases wasn't going down due to the lack of an available antidote.

The medical examiner's office had been slowly working through the backlog of bodies of the deceased. While they still had parking lots of bodies to process, they had provided an official number of the casualties from the attack, adjusted daily. The current count was twenty-six thousand four hundred ninety-two, and that included the thirty-six police officers and twelve firefighters killed throughout the ordeal. Most of them had been at the soccer game and the open-air market, and the balance had been mammals who were caught at random by savage predators, killed by the drugs themselves by overdose or cardiovascular failure, or killed in accidents during the evacuation.

It was not a pretty number at all. Its public release on the news had prompted a huge outcry for an official inquiry into the ZPD's investigative practices and overall handling of the situation, something with which the mayor and the ZPD civilian commissioner had been quick to agree. They reassured everyone in a joint statement that every detail would be scrutinized, along with the actions of all the officers and management. Another group called for an inquiry into the city council's handling of the crisis as well, and there were already calls for Mayor Clawheed, Chief Bogo, and Chief Pawrell to all step down or be forcibly ejected.

These were the sorts of things on Nolwazi Longtooth's mind as she stepped into her apartment. Since she'd ejected her now-ex-boyfriend, her place had felt quite lonely at times. She found herself finding more and more excuses to visit one of a few cop bars, stay at work, or even volunteer for a shift keeping an eye on Marian Wilde. The vixen was great company and always seemed to have a story to tell or an ear with which to listen. Knowing her skillset, the idea of suggesting her to the chief for civilian employment, was growing ever more enticing.

With a heavy sigh, the lioness dropped onto her sofa. Maybe a nice comedy would distract her from her thoughts. She turned on the TV and connected to Pawflix.


A/N

Well, we're getting somewhere! What will the IT raid turn up, if anything? That's the big question!

Hope everyone's doing OK, we're still on heavy lockdown here, And may be for a long time yet. It's getting exhausting and depressing, frankly. Waiting for that light at the end of the proverbial tunnel!

A couple people found references in the last chapter! Can you find any in this chapter?

Special thanks to J Shute for the reference to A Ray of Hope in his fanfiction, An Anonymous Vulpine! (Pointed out to me by my Discord server members!)

Coming up on February 19: New Faces, Old Grudges!

Questions? Critiques? Did Merida show you up at an archery contest? Leave a comment!