The new tales from Zootopia

by Vindictive456

This story is a well thought out work of fan-fiction that will cover in moderate pace how Judy came back to the force and convinced Nick to be her partner, Nick's training to become an officer and his days at the academy, a weird new case involving corrupt mammals and a new dangerous drug, all of that sprinkled with the growing love between Zootopia's favorite pair of officers.

20. Episode 20: Crimes

Author's note: Salutations and happy haloween, dear readers. It is I, Valiant, and I have returned with a brand new chapter of Zootopia I know it has been a while, but this story is still going and this chapter is a real gem that took me a long while to get down. The time since our last chapter has been crazy, my days have been filled with distractions that really made it hard to get writting but it hasn't been all that bad: I spent some time with my family and even went on a short trip to our vacation home next to the beach, that was really cool and it gave me plenty of time to continue working on plenty of projects that i have been hanging on to. Also, TERROR HAS STRUCK, the hard drive of my computer went on thr fritz and it threatened to erase my videos, my games, my drawings and all of my stories. OH, THE HORROR! But do not be alarmed, a good friend of my father gifted us with a brand new hard drive and we were able to save all of the files that were important to us. Anyway, bck to the story: This chapter is long and it is filled with the happenings from the perspectives from our two main charachters, there is going to be a lot of important moments and, spoiler alert, it ends on a bit of a cliff hanger, I know, this sucks. I'm sorru to report that you won't know what happens next until I return and that will not bee soon but I will return and the following chapter promisses to be even better.

It is hard to believe I have been working for more that two years on this story and it is even crazier to think of all the amazing support you all presented me with, I really must thank you all for making it all possible, this story is a continuous gift not just for myself but to all of you and it can only get better from here on out. In conclusion, I wish you all sweet treats, amazing tricks and a great reading. On with the show!

Episode 20: Crimes.

It was three fifty in the afternoon when Nick and Judy finally returned to the precinct one building. Benjamin cumprimented them but Judy didn't have much time for a conversation with him, she asked to be excused and walked right along towards chief Bogo's office. Nick took half a minute of his time to properly greet Benjamin and tell him with a very abridged explanation that he and Judy had discovered quite a lot of information and that the chief had to be notified on it right away, he also took a few seconds to tell how relieved he was for returning indoors and to having the welcome feeling of the air-conditioner on his fur. Benjamin nodded his head with a smile on his lips and returned his sight to the screen of his computer by the front desk once Nick was done talking and moved away from the front desk, the fox took his cue to leave and calmly get on his way to follow Judy in the direction she had headed.

Judy reached the front door to chief Bogo's office but that was the moment when she looked over her shoulder and realized that Nick was nowhere next to her, she looked to both sides until, after waiting for a little bit, she finally caught a glimpse of the fox in the distance walking in her direction without the same urgency as she demonstrated on her own path. After placing himself right by her side, Nick gestured to the door next to them and asked:

- Do you want to knock or should I?

Judy didn't give Nick's question a verbal answer, she simply turned around and hit the knuckles of her left paw against the door frame three times, there was a short wait until they heard the gruff voice of the chief saying:

- Come on in.

Judy reached for the doorknob and the door slowly swung itself open, Judy entered the office leaving the door open right behind her so Nick could pass through and close the door after coming inside. Nick and Judy found chief Bogo in the same spot they had seen him just earlier that day, seated behind his desk and roaming through papers, although far less than before, the caped buffalo set aside the document he was going over by sliding it to the side over his desk, he placed his paws together and looked over at Nick and Judy with a glaring stare over his eyes, a look he was definitely accustomed at giving to others to transmit a feel of authority and intimidation but everyone else at the precinct already knew that the chief was a great guy so his stare did not convey the same level of intimidation that he intended to. The buffalo released a silent puff of air from his nostrils and asked:

- So… it would appear that your first investigation bared some fruit. What did you find?

Judy was quick to sit herself over on a chair closet to the desk while Nick decided to just stand alongside her with his arms crossed and waiting for his chance to add anything worth noting to the verbal report that Judy was about to convey:

- Sir, we visited the first scene that you told us and found that this is far more than just a common series of breaking and entering scenarios. As seen by the pictures we took from both scenes, the glass of the display windows from both locations was very thick and connected to alarms that would sound out at the mere hint of harsh impact.

Chief Bogo clacked a finger of his right hoof over the desk as he said:

- That was also reported by the other forensics who investigated the scene. The most probable cause was the tempering with the electrical system.

Nick jumped into the conversation as he uncrossed his left arm and spoke up while pointing a claw in the air:

- That doesn't really explain the exact entry method in its entirety though. We found a few other things on both scenes that are worrisome to say the least.

Chief Bogo turned his eyes over to Nick and his interest towards the description of the case was renewed, the fox did not attempt to throw in any jokes that would lighten the mood, his commentary was direct and he proceeded to explain what he meant by that seconds later:

- We entered the restaurant and saw that a safe in the main office was bust open, right after confirming that the culprit or culprits in question picked the lock. The safe was ripped open and there were visible traces of a weird substance that was used to freeze the lock and make it easier to break it open.

Bogo had his eyes wide open but still set to a scowling stare as he heard those words, Judy continued with the report as she spoke up and made the chief turn his sight back at her:

- Nick and I moved through the scene to certify that there was no other method for the robbers to scope out the restaurant, we also made sure to visit the previous scene that had the same method of entry and we had permission from the owner of the bakery to collect samples of the shattered glass so we could compare it with the ones we collected from what remained of the restaurant window. We believe that, whatever the robbers used to crack the glass open reduced its temperature and shattered it without the need of a harsh impact.

Bogo placed the palms of his paws over the desk and straightened his posture a little more after hearing that, such a substance was unheard of by him, specifically as a method of breaking and entering. Judy turned her entire body over her seat a few degrees to the let as she gestured over nick with both of her paws and spoke up:

- Actually, sir, Nick was the one who broke out some insight during this part of the puzzle. He was the one who took the most interest in the shards of glass and made sure we had more than enough to analyze and figure out what was used.

Bogo leaned ahead over his desk, almost taking his behind off of his chair to ask:

- Is that a fact, officer Wilde?

Nick didn't ask Judy to put him on the spot like that, he knew what she was doing, giving him his share of credit and all of that, but Nick had no need for such things. The fox shrugged that off but still accepted his due recognition as he spoke up:

- It was… no big deal. Mere understanding related to physics and a general sense of curiosity.

Bogo raised from his chair and exited the space from behind his desk from the right as he walked to the white board placed by the wall of his office, the buffalo grabbed a dark blue marker placed by the support space beneath the board and said:

- If that is really what this was all about then you are already showing the signs of a sharp investigations officer, Wilde. Is there anything else that either of you could tell me about what occurred during the estimate times of the break-ins?

Nick and Judy looked at one another, both of them directed their eyes back at chief Bogo shortly after and found that he was already scribbling over the white board and waiting for them to disclose anything else that may shed some more light in this case. Judy poked Nick's right shoulder and gestured placing her left paw over her own chest that she would begin by telling what she had learned by questioning the owner of the restaurant, Nick nodded his head affirmatively once and that prompted Judy to reach for her little notepad so that she wouldn't forget to tell on a single detail. Bogo looked over at Judy as she flipped over a few of the pages and, soon, began to speak again:

- The owner of the restaurant, a big headed bull called Carlos, said that his restaurant was very popular but no business rivals who were willing to go to such lengths came to mind, he spent quite a while bolstering about his soon to be chain of restaurants.

Bogo didn't write much on the board as he heard that but he did release a small huff from his mouth as the rough image of the mentioned mammal came to mind, he could not withstand being in a conversation with someone who took every chance to gloss over some big overbearing achievement in their lives like they were trying to compensate for something. The chief kept his own thoughts to himself as Judy continued to speak:

- After breaking in, the culprits proceeded to make a mess of the place, there were tables, chairs and other pieces of furniture tossed around the main eating area of the restaurant.

Nick gestured with his left paw, pointing a claw over at Judy and her notepad as he placed a concern comment:

- Either one of the culprits was just crazy enough to tear the place up or they decided to do that in order to cover up some of their tracks. Maybe take the attention away from the real focus of the crime itself.

Bogo kept on writing on the board with cursive lines that crossed over one another as he connected the main points of the investigation for himself to gloss over later. While keeping his eyes over the white board, the chief spoke up as he put out a quick review of Nick's theory:

- That is very possible, Wilde. However, luckily for us, sometimes covering one trail can create another.

Nick and Judy exchanged looks and the fox's ears twitched after hearing that, he pointed a finger at the chief to call a little more to his attention and asked:

- Is that some kind of lesson that they didn't cover at the academy or... something like that?

Bogo did not unmake the stoic expression he had on his face as he placed a dot on his notations and answered to the fox's question:

- No, officer Wilde, that is just something the chief of this precinct before me used to say a lot during an ongoing investigation.

Bogo turned around and continued with his answer as soon as he reached for another ink marker of a different color to continue his writing:

- I never actually took meaning of what he meant until I saw the meaning of it for myself during one of my own investigations.

Bogo finished writing on the white board and returned to sit on his chair, he assumed a pose over his seat as he placed both of his paws together making him look very much in charge of the moment and proceeded to speak up the list of important details that were brought to his attention by the forensics team. The chief directed his eyes at Judy and said:

- Before you two arrived, I received an update from the forensics team saying that there were subtle claw marks on the wood of the restaurant tables, the conclusion was that they belonged to a large feline, most likely a puma of considerable strength since most of the tables were thrown quite a distance despite being made of quite heavy wood. We are already on the hunt for any mention in our archives that references a large feline with prior history related to angry outbursts caused by establishment dissatisfaction.

That new line of data placed Judy deep in thought as she processed that, Nick and she had pinned down most of the details that they could find but clearly there was far more to see. Bogo continued talking as she looked up to the screen of his computer and said:

- There were only a few traffic cameras located near either of the areas so we didn't catch a good enough glimpse of the culprits during their escape just yet, however, analysis of tire marks left by the asphalt during the mornings right after the break ins show that the exact same vehicle was present and parked right in front of the two scenes. Marks show that the tires are a Marchelo 12 lines, possibly from a pick-up.

Nick raised a brow after hearing that, he placed a thought that popped in his mind during the conversation as he said:

- Marchelo 12? That's an old tire type that is still on the market for big port cars. It's not made for high-performance cars but it can grip to the road like no other, probably because of the thick type of rubber the manufacturer uses on it.

That information was very much correct and Bogo was left speechless after hearing such an on-point analysis coming from Nick, he halted his natural movement for a moment and stared over at Nick, the fox figured that his words came out as a bit of a surprise for the chief and said:

- I like to research cars and auto parts in my spare time. It's one of my hobbies.

Bogo made a mental note on that, he already had it figured that there was much more to the fox than it first met the eye, he turned his head and continued to his previous stance as he continued to speak and delivered the final bits of information that the two officers in the room with him should know about:

- At any case: We will not be able to do much until we have more information on this. What you two brought to my attention was very intriguing and I will be sure to put it on the top of our intel to comb through later. Just the thought of something so dangerous passing through the streets of this city makes me worry. I'll keep eyes and ears out for anything else that comes our way, you two are dismissed for now.

Judy hopped out of her seat and excused herself, she walked off towards the exit but she was halted just before reaching for the door as she heard the chief's voice calling out to her:

- Hopps, hang in there for a second.

Judy turned around and saw that Nick had not left his spot besides the chair she was sitting as he was seconds away from following her when he too heard the voice of the chief and turned to face him and also listen to what he had to say. Chief Bogo reached for a drawer located on the inferior right side of his desk and retrieved a small file holder marked with a blue stamp near its center shaped like a small square, he extended his arm over his desk and gestured with a flick of his wrist in the direction of Nick before asking of him:

- Wilde, if you wouldn't mind, send this over to Clawhauser at the front desk, he will get that this is a file that must be copied and sent over to the next precinct in line for disclosing records. Just a minor formality before we get the investigation in full swing.

Nick reached for the document with his left paw and placed it beneath his left arm before speaking up:

- I don't mind it too much. I'll be on my way.

The fox gave the buffalo a little salute using his right paw before dismissing himself, he walked to the door and gave Judy a little nod of his head before opening the door, walking through the threshold and moving towards the front desk. Judy and chief Bogo were left inside the office and she had the feeling that there was still something that chief Bogo wished to discuss with her specifically and the confirmation to that came when the buffalo gestured to her with his right paw, giving her a chance to speak up, right after he asked:

- So Hopps, how was the performance of your partner during his first investigation?

Judy gave two steps in the direction of the chief, placing herself next to the chair where she was seated mere moments before, she did that just in case the conversation to follow was going to be a long one and Bogo instructed her to take the seat once more. The buffalo returned his attention to the single sheet of paper that he was checking before the two officers entered the room. Judy waited with her ears up and attentive to check if Bogo had something really important that he wanted to discuss with her in private but he just reached for a pen and signed a few words on the paper he had right in front of him, he folded the single paged document in half and stored it inside another drawer by his desk located by the upper right side. Bogo leaned over his desk after making sure that the paper was safely stored and asked of Judy:

- Well Hoops, don't keep me in suspense. How was your first investigation with your partner? Did he perform well in the field?

Judy took in a little bit of air through her mouth as she was actually surprised to hear the interest that the chief had taken on Nick's performance as an officer, it didn't sound like it at first because of the unenthusiastic air to his question but he was actually very interested to hear what happened during Judy and Nick's first investigative outing. Judy let her shoulders relax a bit as she walked one step closer to the main desk in the office before answering:

- Nick did amazing while we were out there. He was exemplary.

Bogo raised a brow before asking, just to make sure of it:

- That good?

Judy had an irrefutable smile on her face as she continued to speak:

- Nick read the file and studied the scenes with great attention to detail, he did his best to look at every angle for where the answers may lie. Curiously, when we were at the second crime scene, at Sahara Square, he offered some helpful insight to the owner of the bakery, the safe had been damaged but not open and Nick told him how he could get it fixed… or at least retrieve his possessions that are still in there.

Bogo didn't know really what to ask of her after hearing that, apparently Judy's partner was much more entuned with the world around him than it was first believed, there was much more to the fox officer than his academy dossier had recorded and that caused Bogo's mind to jolt with surprise, a sensation he hadn't felt for quite a while. Judy remained in wait for a few seconds as she wanted to hear if the chief had some opinion on what to do next concerning the investigation, the buffalo grabbed a hold of his cellphone and fiddled around on the little screen before speaking up:

- With all of the data we have accumulated thus far we should be able to get a much broader search parameter. Hopps, get to Grizzolli and Snarlov, tell them about what was found, hand the evidence you gathered over to them and see if they can get into contact with the owner of the restaurant and get his permission to a more in depth scouting of his restaurant, such a hit took planning and we are going to find out how they did it.

Judy gave a little salute and her body jolted as she quickly got ready to carry out the chief's orders. The bunny prepared to move swiftly to the door before speaking up:

- Right away, sir.

Judy turned around but Bogo was not yet finished as he said:

- I'm gonna get on the phone to place out warnings to all the other precincts, if this situation is a lot bigger than a mere random list of hits to businesses around Zootopia than we might need more assistance. I think I will also call Doctor Pura, she might be interested in this.

Judy showed a thumbs up before opening the door, showing with a simple gesture that she was in agreement with his line of thought. Judy exited the office and closed the door right behind her, she walked through the hallway and began to scope around in search of Nick so that she could tell him about what Bogo spoke of inside the office. Nick had already delivered the blue stamped file to Benjamin and returned to the workspace belonging to Judy and himself, he didn't remain still in there for long as he moved towards the breakroom in order to get something refreshing to drink, he opened the fridge and found a set of bottles filled with mineral water that were free for anyone to open and enjoy. Nick grabbed a single bottle, removed the latch and began taking sip after sip of the water within, he sat himself on the break room couch and relaxed for a little bit as he leaned his head back over the repost behind him and released a long hum with the plastic bottle held by his right paw.

Judy moved around the precinct in search of Grizzolli and Snarlov but also keeping an open eye for any sign of Nick in case he was still roaming around in search of something to do, she found the bear officer walking about with a set of slow and heavy paces and with a face that made it look like he had his mind somewhere far away from the precinct building, it didn't matter where exactly that was at the time. Grizzolli looked around and took some time to notice that the bunny was walking his way with a rushed set of hops, she got close to him and he looked down before calling her name and greeting her:

- Hey, Hopps, you're finally back. Fangmeyer and Francine were saying that they wanted to talk with you later. Something about hanging out after work.

Judy gestured with both her paws before saying:

- I see. I will talk to them later. Right now I have to tell you something that chief Bogo asked about.

The bear leaned his head to the left but he soon leaned himself forward to pay attention to the bunny in front of him. Judy quickly spoke about what happened during the patrol, she pointed out about what Nick had seen and about the condition of the two eateries that they investigated, she then proceeded to tell him about the fresh new batch of evidence that there was to store and catalog and that was when the bear became a little giddy with excitement but he quickly recomposed himself and hoped no one saw it. Judy pointed to the carpool and explained that the bags and notes with the evidence were safely stored inside the cruiser and that she also had the pictures saved in her cellphone memory, Judy made a waving gesture with her left paw asking Grizzolli to follow her and the bear answered to that by simply accompanying her pace in the direction of the carpool to acquire the said evidence. It didn't take too much time.

Judy exited the carpool with Grizzolli who was following right behind with a freshly labeled cardboard box of evidence being held by both of his paws, there wasn't much of it to be transported over to the evidence locker but there was more than enough to get an investigation case opened without any issue. Judy waved her right paw to Grizzolli, telling him that she would be on her way to find Nick so that they could get back to work, the bear nodded his head once and said that he would look for Snarlov so that they could get started with meticulous study and cataloging of the evidence.

Judy moved past the front desk and on her way to the cubicle she and Nick shared, she had half a hope that her partner would be found there just locked in some monotonous work routine but the fox was not in his seat or placed anywhere close to his computer. Judy took one quick breath as she figured that he was somewhere nearby, just taking a quick break before getting right back to work. Judy walked out of the cubicle and retrieved her cellphone from her pocket but she had her eyes focused on the little screen and did not noticed the fox right on her path until she bumped her head right against his torso, Nick was turning a corner looking for her and he tried to get out of her way or call out to her but it was already too late for it:

- Uhnf! Hey there, carrots.

Nick said so as he released a little bit of air from the sudden collision. Judy retreated with a startle and nearly dropped her phone on the floor after feeling that, she raised her eyes and found Nick with a bottle of water held on his right paw and his left arm reaching for her as he made sure that she was alright. Judy raised her left paw and spoke up, apologizing for what had happened:

- Nick! Oh, my gosh! I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention. Are you okay?

Nick dismissed that like it was no big deal, Judy did not bump into him at a high enough speed to cause any pain and he was more worried about her since she didn't seem to be paying much attention to her surroundings. Nick leaned a little closer and said:

- It's alright, carrots. It's no problem at all. I was just looking for you.

Judy adjusted the fur on her head and the wrinkles on her shirt before saying:

- Same here. You know… me looking… for you, I mean.

Nick smiled and gestured slowly by opening his arms:

- Well, here I am. Anything I can help you with?

Judy walked past him by circumventing his body through his right side, Nick followed her with his eyes, slowly turning his body to accompany her walk, until she stopped her walk as soon as she got to a new positioning in the work space, turned around to face him once more and said:

- Yeah, chief Bogo is putting out the call to other precincts, raising alert and awareness to other officers and he asked Grizzolli to store away the evidence we collected before we get into further studies. He was really impressed with everything you did during our patrol. I told him what you did for Mike back at the bakery.

Nick leaned his head to the right for a single second before he spoke with a touch of bragging in his voice:

- I aim to please. So, what's our move?

Judy turned her head to the left as she took a quick look over at the other cubicles, she turned her head over to Nick once more and answered to his question:

- There isn't much we can do for right now. Bogo needs to get a few sheets of documentation signed over and get a full alert out so we can begin tracking the culprits with the few clues that we managed to find. We do know about the cold substance that they used and we know that is definitely something you don't just buy so that is something we can look into, but, for now, we need to be ready in case anything else comes along.

Judy finished with her words but Nick was not really expecting for that answer, to his ears it all just boiled down to waiting for another word of the chief before taking any shred of action. Nick lowered his ears and asked of Judy with a very discernible touch of impatience in his voice:

- So that's it? We just sit around and wait? That's our next move?

Judy could understand why Nick was using that tone of voice, he wanted to do more, just like any other officer would do. Judy gestured by showing the palms of both of her paws for but a second before she lowered her arms and said:

- I know it is a little underwhelming but there are still plenty of other things we can do before we jump out and get to an actual arrest. We get busy as we can so, when the time comes, we will be prepared.

Nick closed his muzzle and pressed his teeth together without using too much strength, he wasn't frustrated, he knew that Judy was right. Standing around and complaining, or worse, taking rash courses of action would do absolutely nothing to improve the progress of the investigation or get them any closer to apprehending the robbers, all they could really do was wait and prepare themselves. Nick lowered his head as he looked at Judy, she still had a little smile on her face and she was rearing to go do something that would make their wait towards any significant developments a little more bearable. Judy pointed a finger of her right paw over her left shoulder and said:

- There is still plenty things to keep us working until then. I'm about to go and test my new sidearm on the gun range. You want to come with?

Nick's ears raised up as he became a little intrigued with that invitation, he had never seen Judy handle a tranquilizer gun and this could be interesting practice for when he had his own sidearm approved for deployment. Nick leaned his head to the right and answered her with a moderate degree of enthusiasm in his voice:

- Lead the way, carrots.

Judy bounced a little in place but she didn't get on her way right after that, she noticed that Nick extended his right arm and showed her a bottle of water being held in his paw, it was still unopened and there were small drops of condensation accumulating on the side of the plastic, some of it was dripping on the floor as the liquid slushed around. Judy wasn't sure if Nick was offering her a drink right after his head gesture but her confirmation to it came as soon as her partner said:

- Today is a real scorcher. It's important to keep yourself hydrated.

- Oh, thank you.

Judy said so as she took the bottle and opened the latch holding to the plastic lid before taking three consecutive gulps of it. Opening the bottle showed itself a little hard for Judy to do right away, the plastic was smooth and wet so there wasn't a lot for her to hold and easily spin the lid, she managed to open it on her own and refresh herself, nonetheless. After Judy finished taking her satisfactory share of the drink, she sealed the water bottle back up and proceeded to walk in the direction of the main precinct lobby, followed by a sharp right turn that took her to a wide set of stairs leading to the underground where the weapons range was located. Nick was following her all the way and he was very much looking forward to seeing a well-placed demonstration of her shooting proficiency.

After entering the gun range, Judy set the bottle of water she still held in her paws aside before she grabbed a pair of protective goggles with adjustable straps that would prove to be very useful to her along with a small translucent plastic container with extra cartridges for her weapon. The entire room where the gun range was located was actually huge, there were four stands where officers would position themselves to assemble their weapons then proceed to test them against a roll of targets of varying sizes located far on the other side of the room, each target was made of a type of foam like material with fairly solid framing and they were suspended by a system of rails that regulated their distance and height in relation to the shooters. Near the entrance there was a booth protected by a glass window that had a little slot by its base where weapons and other equipment could be passed through for repairs and modifications, the room behind the glass called to Nick's attention as he noticed that there was an impressive selection of weapons on display over its walls and that only made him more excited to get one of his own.

Judy hopped around, searching for a stand that she could use to test her skills, she opted to utilize the third one away from the entrance to the gun range, she grabbed a wooden box that was placed on the corner of the room and that she could use as a standing platform to match her height with the shooting stand. After positioning the platform and climbing on it, Judy looked around and found that there was a panel with three circular buttons placed parallel to one another located at the left side of the stand, the buttons were meant to adjust the positioning of the targets but she decided to not fiddle with it since the black and white lined target that she had chosen was already set and in a very preferable position.

Nick positioned himself behind Judy and crossed his arms as he waited for her to finish her preparations, the bunny unholstered her tranquilizer gun and modified her own stance in order to find a comfortable and stable pose to begin shooting. Judy locked her shoulders in, placed both of her paws on the weapon handle, lowered her ears to the back of her head and closed her left eye in order to aim the vertical sight at the intended spot for the dart to fly at, Judy's right paw grasped the ergonomic grip and her pointing finger began to squeeze on the trigger, she let out a dash of breath through her mouth and let the first dart fly off. The pressurized air flooded the chamber and let out a short whistle as the dart flew away and stuck itself at the foamy frame of the target.

Judy looked off and found that the dart had missed its intended mark, the foam of the target was marked with a set of numbers meant to represent points, Delgato's idea of a fun competition between ZPD officers who wanted to test their skills, the target displayed the silhouette of a medium sized bear and the markings presented more points the closer to center mass they were. Judy wanted to hit the marking at the very center displayed at fifty points but she instead saw the glimmer of the dart wedged at the outer most mark with the five points written on it. Judy showed a little frizzle on her brows as she was disappointed to have missed the mark, Nick did not do anything, didn't even let out a sound, he just left her to figure the aiming out on her own for the time being.

With renewed grit and a far more focused look in her eye, Judy let out the remaining two darts in the clip and they hit far from the original mark but neither of them got much closer to the center of the target. Judy let out a frustrated pout as she saw that the two darts had hit the mark of ten points, Nick noticed that his partner did not sound very pleased with herself and he decided to ask:

- Something bothering you, carrots?

Judy turned her head to the left and lowered her ears while still having the tranquilizer gun in her right paw, its clip was empty so she merely pressed a switch on the side to eject the hollow cartridge and replace it with a new one, she held the empty cartridge in her left paw and placed it over the stand before effortlessly sliding in a brand new one into the hilt chamber. Judy looked over at Nick, still standing in wait near the stand, and said to him:

- I was doing my best to hit the center of the target but my darts veered way off the mark. Maybe I shouldn't have asked for such a heavily modified shooter.

Nick extended his right paw and asked of her:

- Can I give it a try?

Judy raised her brows and imagined that it might be interesting to see if Nick would have better luck with the handling of the new gun. She adjusted the pressure chamber on the weapon and gave it over to Nick, she passed the item from one paw to the other and offered it to him from the top of her platform while answering:

- Knock yourself out, slick.

Nick carefully wrapped the fingers of his right paw over the outer barrel of the gun, he held on to it and adjusted in his grip while getting a nice feel for the weapon, the shooter was small but it did carry a very nice weight to it. The fox decided to hop on the crate that Judy was using as a platform since he was somewhat shorter in size than the shooting stands himself, he got both his feet over the crate frame with one hop and gave Judy a little side nudge with his hip so he could get ample room to aim his shots properly:

- Move over a little bit, fluff.

Judy gave Nick more than enough space over the crate to position himself on a wide and solid stance, she watched attentively as he held the tranquilizer grip with both of his paws to line up an excellent shot. Once more, Nick took notice that the weapon was smaller than the model he had to train with back at the academy but it still carried much of the same attributes, including its sights and comfy grip hold, he placed himself with his ears pointing straight up over his head, his shoulders lowered, his wrists locked tight and his left eye closed as he set his sights on the target far off. With a single squeeze of the trigger, Nick let out a dart that whizzed across the room and plunged into the perimeter of the target marked with the number forty, he did not hit the very center but it was still a much better hit than Judy in terms of precision. Judy was surprised to see that and Nick lowered the weapon as he was already satisfied with that single demonstration of his own shooting prowess.

Nick handed the tranquilizer gun back to Judy who took the item back in her two paws just before she heard Nick saying:

- Would you mind if I gave you some quick pointers?

Judy looked up at him and answered:

- Ahm… sure.

Nick did not ask that question in order to belittle Judy or her skills with a weapon, his tone was one of a mammal who legitimately wished to help however he could, Judy decided to give him a chance to speak while she continued to hold on to the shooter and adjusted the goggles on her head with her left paw. Nick pointed at Judy, gesturing in her direction with an ample gesture of his two paws as he said:

- You are way too tense.

Judy's right ear twitched after hearing that, she didn't believe that she was so tense in that moment that would make her incapable of hitting her mark but she decided to continue hearing Nick out. The fox pointed to the target and said:

- I noticed when you fired off the rest of your shots before. You are way too caught up in making a dart hit the center, you still hit a good mark, carrots. That was not an easy shot either way you look at it.

Judy placed the weapon over the stand as she ran her paws over it, making it look like she was making a few useless adjustments while she said:

- That doesn't make me feel better, exactly. If I end up in a serious fight or a pursuit I will have to make every shot count, my aim needs to be better. Besides, it is very unlikely any actual target I pick a fight with will sit still and wait for a dart to hit it.

Nick placed his arms on his sides as he asked of her:

- You *want* to pick fights now, carrots?

Nick's tone wasn't necessarily inquisitive, he wasn't prying for answers or demanding an explanation. The emphasis he put on his words made it sound very much like they came from a place of concern, Nick didn't want to mock Judy or make it seem like she was taking back the words she said to him earlier, he was only trying to help out and she knew that.

- You know what I mean.

Judy said so as she shot a quick side glance at him. Nick approached her, leaning his body to the right as he gestured with a slow wave of his paw aimed at the tranquilizer gun, he placed his right paw on Judy's back and said:

- Try it one more time.

Judy decided to heed Nick's words and try it again, she held on to the shooter in the same manner she did before but Nick was quick to intervene without letting her fire even once before he said:

- There it is. You're still way too tense.

Judy lowered her arms and spoke up, now beginning to get a little annoyed with him:

- Maybe I would be less tense if you'd just let me focus.

Nick pointed a claw at her and said in response to her words:

- That is way more than just 'focus'. That is you thinking too hard about the shot and not enough about what you really want.

Judy lowered the weapon once more and turned her entire body to face Nick. The fox gestured towards her as he asked:

- What is it that you want right now, carrots?

Judy pointed to the target at the far side of the room as she answered what, to her, was a very obvious and unnecessary question but she did not force the answer out of herself, she merely pointed out:

- I want to hit the target.

Nick smiled and said:

- Good, you are already in the right mind set, but you are still letting a lot of tension project itself on your body as you take aim.

Judy leaned her head to the side as she was not really certain about what he meant by that, she asked:

- What do you mean?

Nick made so that his right paw would stick its pointing finger and thumb out so that it would be the close approximation of a gun, he then pointed his imaginary armament at the target while having an exaggerated pose that had a lot of thought put into it as he did so. His shoulders were tucked way up, his arms were stiff, his tail was straightened out behind him, his ears were lowered, his feet were pressed together and he was trapping his breath inside his chest in order to show Judy how she was aiming her shot based on his point of view. Nick undid his pose, becoming far more relaxed as he turned at her and said:

- Did you see that?

Judy shook her head and squinted her eyes, completely confused about what just happened. Nick pointed a finger over his left shoulder and answered to his own question:

- That was you, aiming your shot.

Judy opened her eyes wide as she protested against that:

- That is not how I aim. Is it?

Nick smiled and began to gesture around with subtle movements as he helped Judy position herself a little better, intending to help her relax so that her shooting was a tad more precise on her next attempt. He took in a little bit of air and began instructing her:

- Try it more like this: Keep your ears up, let your shoulders a little lower, lock your wrist up and don't close you left eye right away. Take your time aiming the shot, there is no clock ticking against you so you don't have to let out the darts right away. Most of all, remember that there are still a few points working against you.

Judy followed Nick's instructions up to a certain point but she decided to split her focus as she turned her head to the side and asked:

- Like what?

- Like gravity for example. No shot has infinite momentum, no matter how powerful of a weapon you're using. Soon enough, gravity is going to pull the dart back down to earth and it is going to drop. Air resistance and the kick of the air chamber against the dart are also something to consider but since your target is not that far away I guess you don't need to worry too much about any of that.

Judy nodded once before she returned her sight forward, she placed herself on a much wider stance than before and calmly directed her weapon at the target, she would've taken the shot right away if not for Nick's voice sounding off again as he leaned closer and talked to her with a soft tone of voice:

- Breathe slowly, remember to breathe.

Judy looked over at Nick while still holding her pose, she spoke up feeling irritated but not yelling at him:

- You know, you are distracting me a little bit like that.

Nick leaned closer and said:

- There will always be distractions, it is up to you and you alone to ignore them and focus on your true goals.

Judy lowered her tranquilizer gun and unmade her stance over the platform, she turned her head to the left to completely face Nick as she asked with a side smile on her face:

- That's something silly you heard from some movie, isn't it?

Nick opened his paws and shook his wrists as he admitted to that by saying:

- I might be paraphrasing it a little bit. It's still solid advice.

Judy shook her head and returned her attention ahead. Returning to the aiming stance that she had prior to Nick's interruption, Judy listened to her partner's advice and took controlled breaths as she concentrated on the center mark of the target. Nick leaned a little closer while keeping his eyes moving between Judy, the weapon and the target in the distance, the fox was embracing his role as a distraction and wanted to make sure that Judy would be able to tune his presence there out, much like any other minor thing that may be impeding her focusing process. Judy placed her finger on the trigger and Nick, just to make sure she had it all down to the last detail, added to his advice by saying in a whisper:

- Don't rush it. You have all the time in the world.

Judy pressed her lips together and waited just a few more seconds before squeezing the trigger just enough to fire another dart, the pressurized air in the chamber let out a new projectile that flew off and hit the target just below the fifty mark, very close to the spot where Nick had hit it in his previous attempt. Judy landed her on the glimmer of the recently fired dart and was ecstatic to see that she had hit much closer to the center, she pointed out her far reaching progress with her left paw as she rested her right arm and spoke to Nick:

- Did you see that?! I was so close to hitting the center. What a shot.

Nick smiled and answered to her while taking some credit for his solid advice:

- I told you, breathing helps.

Judy had this sweet, beautiful smile on her face, Nick loved seeing her like that, even if it was for just a short moment, there were no impediments, no worries or work related problems that would stop her from being happy and enjoying having a little time off. Judy bounced up and down over the grate and Nick could feel the vibrations of her excitement right from under his feet, she stopped bouncing for a little while and Nick leaned in close to place his right paw on her back and ask:

- You still have one in the chamber, want to try again?

Judy nodded her head affirmatively and turned around to look back at the target. Nick kept his right paw on her back, near the height of her shoulders, his left paw moved forward as he placed it right under her arms as Judy lined herself up for another shot. Nick gently pushed Judy's arms up to line the shot as he placed his own head alongside hers to get a better look to where the gun was aimed and then quickly placed his left paw over the weapon to ,once more, realign the shot. Judy had her attention divided between the weapon in her paws and the fox placing himself so close to her, Nick had a hard time positioning himself so close to Judy while also keeping his footing over the platform beneath them but he made it work anyway. Judy took a long breath and lowered her ears while still having a great deal of enthusiasm in her, Nick pointed a finger of his left paw forward as he began relaying a few other instructions:

- Now take your shot, only this time…

Just as Nick was about to let out a golden tip of his own making, The door to the gun range swung open revealing the image of a puffy cheetah walking inside with a rush in his step and a few doses of heavy breathing. Benjamin Clawhauser appeared and spoke up to the two mammals in the room, his voice had significant volume to it and it even sounded off a small echo as he said:

- Hopps, Wilde, the chief is asking for you to…

Benjamin halted himself and held his breath for a moment, he believed he had stopped on a significant instance between the two officers as soon as he saw the two of them standing over the crate and so close to one another. The cheetah fiddled his finger of both of his paws together as he watched them turning their eyes at him, waiting for him to say something but no words were sounded off for the longest interval of time, it was a bit awkward. Benjamin pushed the words out of his mouth as he pointed a claw in their direction unimposingly and asked:

- Sorry. Am I… interrupting something?

Nick showed a smile before he answered:

- Only a very well managed lesson about how to shoot straight. What's up, Benjamin?

Clawhauser turned his body around while still doing his best to keep facing both the bunny and the fox as he pointed both of his paws at the door he just came through and answered:

- Chief Bogo is calling the two of you, he said that he already got the main word out to the other precincts, all that's left now is for you two to file a conjoint report with all that you found during your assignment.

Nick looked to the ceiling above him and to one of the fluorescent lamps illuminating the room as he released an annoyed grunt from his mouth and said displeased:

- Great, more paperwork.

Judy turned her head to him and then quickly placed her gun over the shooting stand, she prepared herself to leave as she slid the used cartridge out of the gun and plucked in a brand new one before engaging the safety. She was just about ready to leave the gun range as she said to her partner:

- No need to pout, slick. It may sound boring but report filing is one of the easiest and swiftest parts of the ZPD work day.

Nick turned his eyes at Judy as she holstered her weapon back in the reserved spot of her belt and hopped off the platform, she gestured with her right paw over her shoulders, asking Nick to follow her back to the upper floors without much need for words. Nick saw walking a few steps away from where he was standing until he decided to also get back on ground level as she gave a single step to descend from the platform and tell her:

- I don't know if I put a lot of faith in that. There is so much to say and I don't think I would trust some bureaucratic paper pusher to understand all that we experienced today with the words we can write down on one document. Even if it wasn't that much.

Judy halted her walk and turned around for a moment as she looked at Nick and placed a counter to his comment:

- Then put a little faith on the fact that we will get a whole lot more of work done if we get on it together. Let's go.

Judy resumed her walk towards the exit door and Nick displayed a wide smile before he said:

- You got it, carrots.

And got on to following her out, Benjamin remained behind for a while as he watched the two officers exit the gun range and he decided to keep himself busy for a time as he cleaned up and reorganized the darts and crates that were left around in that room while also letting his imagination run wild in relation to what the two officers he just talked to were getting into as they took on the rest of their work day.

Hours went by and the day of work continued at full steam, Nick and Judy joined forces inside their cubicle as they wrote and reviewed the report of their first day out on an investigation and compiled together the most important notes that they gathered from their analysis, Judy decided to copy the document twice and keep one of the copies close by so that she could add it to her personal archive and show it to Doctor Pura once she had returned to the precinct. Chief Bogo confirmed with the rest of the precinct in one major announcement that the apprehension of the robbers, which apparently was also co-related with the possession of a dangerous substance, had moved up on their list of priorities, all the other officers saved that in their memories before they returned to their regularly scheduled duties for the rest of the day.

Once the work shift at precinct one was finally over, Nick decided to take a quick shower near the locker room before changing clothes and returning to see Judy and check if she was all ready to leave as well, he reappeared from the lockers with a blue shirt with only three buttons by the neck area, a new pair of pants and he was wearing no tie much to Judy's surprise. Judy had some few things to organize before she grabbed all that she needed to take with her and moved off to the exit. The two officers met up by the front lobby and they both gave notice to chief Bogo and Benjamin before heading out for the day, they walked past the front doors, got down the stairs and saw the movement out on the street in front of them, not a great quantity of mammals walking around and that came the end of afternoon a very calm sense n that day.

Judy was just about ready to get back to her apartment while carrying a plastic bag in her right paw containing copies of her notes so that she could archive them back at her place and maybe go through them at a later time. The bunny was standing right next to her partner near the base of the front door steps and the two of them stayed in relative silence until she decided to say:

- Today was a really great day.

Nick leaned ahead as he got a good look at her face and completed that comment with his own words:

- I would say so too. We got around the city, investigated some things, saw some new faces. As far as grueling work days go, this one was quite pleasant.

Judy showed a sweet smile before she adjusted the bag of items in her paws, she could not wait to get home, organize the files she had with her and get out of her uniform, she had made plans to rest and relax before fully stepping into the role of an iron tight investigative officer on the next day of work. Nick was also tired in a way but he didn't want to stop completely and relax just yet, he wished to unwind himself for the night but he still wished to spend some time with Judy, the moments he had with her definitely made the work shift far more enjoyable. The fox stretched his arms as his muscles got a little more comfortable with the smooth moving breeze and the settling temperature outside, he turned over to his partner and asked:

- Hey, I've been meaning to ask if you want to go get some ice-cream with me. Today was such an abnormal heat wave wherever we went and I know there is an ice-cream cart that circles about on the other side of the square.

Judy looked over at him and pressed an expression of unsureness over at his direction, he already had the feeling that she was going to politely refuse his invitation. Judy took a short breath and answered him:

- Nick, I'm going to take a rain check on that one.

Nick understood that Judy's mind was already made but he still wanted to change her mind as he asked:

- Are you sure? I know that they got all sorts of flavors on the menu. Minty chip, Eucaliptus extravaganza, they even have Wild berry storm.

Judy was very tempted at that point but she stuck to her decision as she confirmed:

- I wish I could go but I already have plans. Francine and Fangmeyer invited me to go out with them, it has been a while since we done it and they let me choose the place where we get to hang out this time. We usually went over to a bar by the northern edge but I have a far more relaxing spot in mind.

Nick did not unmade his smile as he listened to Judy, he was a little disappointed for not having her company for what little remained of the afternoon but he was also glad to see that she had fun plans of her own with some of the other officers. Judy thought for a second that Nick may have been sad from hearing that she wouldn't be able to go with him, she apologized almost as if it was in her nature to not leave anyone sad or dissatisfied:

- Nick, I'm sorry. I really do wish we could hang out a little bit more.

Showing that he was not the least bit sad with that, Nick made a waving gesture with both of his paws and said:

- Carrots, don't even worry about it. We are going to have plenty of other chances to hang out. You can go on, have fun, you can tell me all about it when we see each other again for patrol tomorrow.

Judy nodded her head and looked over at Nick once more, her eyes had deviated away from him as she had become rather unsure about how to react towards him at that moment but there was nothing to actually worry about. Judy smiled and waved her goodbye for the day at Nick, he did the same thing before turning around and beginning to walk, each of them walked off on their own path as Judy went on to her home and Nick returned to his own, he tossed his body on the couch and turned the television on to have some meaningless noises of commercials to distract his ears while he pulled his cellphone and checked the local news to see if there was any mention of the strange robberies that took place at Savanna Central and Sahara Square, no word of it took the news pages so far and that left him a bit disconcerted.

Nick decided to spend his night doing far more than slouching in front of the television and opened the messaging app in his phone to shoot a text to Finnick as to invite him to a session of respite, games and drinking:

Nick: Hey, Finn. Are you there?

Finn: Hey there, Wilde. What's up?

Nick: I just got out of work. I was wondering if you would like to come by and throw away some conversation. We can lay some cards while we are at it.

There was a pause that lasted a few seconds before the answer appeared on the screen:

Finn: Sure thing. Mind if I invite Vinnie to come along? I found him shopping at the Savanna bazar this afternoon and he might be interested.

Nick had his brows lifted with surprise and tapped away his reply:

Nick: Sure. You can invite him to come too. Fuller table, better game. I'll be waiting:

Nick raised from the couch and went on to clear the table in his kitchen and prepare everything from when his friends arrived. Meanwhile, many blocks and streets away, Judy and two other off duty officers were having a great time together.

---

Nagmaal Mall was one of the biggest shopping complexes in all of Zootopia, every district had a big shopping center where avid consumers could get a nearly endless variety of products, however, each one of them varied in size. Ger'at Mall at the Tundra was the biggest of them all, followed by Harim at Sahara, Nagmaal and finally Comunhão at the depths of the Rain Forest.

Nagmaal was very busy that day, plenty of mammals coming and going as there were numerous sales at department stores, the movement declined considerably as the afternoon came to an end, many families were already leaving the enormous shopping complex behind in their cars but there were a few that wished to remain to enjoy a few more minutes at the food court or catch a late feature at the indoors cinema. By the second floor of the mall where most of the clothing and electronic stores were located, Judy, Francine and Fangmeyer were hanging out with the bunny leading the way followed by the careful step of the elephant and the tiger close behind.

Judy was in charge of choosing the spot where the trio was supposed to hang out that time, it had been a really long while since they did an after work activity together. When Judy returned to precinct one as a full time officer, they began to talk a lot and share plenty of their notes on past investigations and patrols, Judy enjoyed that very much and was soon invited to Join as they visited a quaint bar together, the bunny had to politely refuse many of the subsequent invites once her schedule became more packed but she didn't have any major re-filing or extra hours planned for that evening, she decided to leave the study of the evidence she had compiled that day to be left aside so she could review it later once she and Nick were to gather more information.

Judy checked her sides and kept her paces spaced out as to keep herself leading the two other mammals right behind her, the bunny was dressed in a clear red shirt with short sleeves while having a clear blue long-sleeved vest on her, she also picked a pair of pants that felt very comfortable for her to move without any constraints, she hopped along the left side trail of the mall second floor while carrying her phone at the front left side pocket and her wallet with a little carrot pin in her back pocket. Francine felt excited and daring that night she didn't get to go on a patrol shift but she felt very glad to hear that the entire precinct would be working together in a new investigation, the elephant was wearing a green top that covered her entire torso but it left her arms free to move around, not that she felt much need to do so, she was also wearing a very nice pair of jeans and holding on to a bedazzled purse under her right arm. Fangmeyer showed the most daring choice in wardrobe, she had on a black shirt with a single vertical red stripe by the left lapel, a pair of thick cloth pants with a dark blue tone, all of that complemented by a beautiful dark jacket with metal adornments hanging from the sides.

The trio of officers was right on their way to a hang-out spot that Judy had picked for that evening, they stopped their walk as soon as they got to a place with a colorful sign labeled as "Matrona Beauty Ways" written in big cursive letters, it was a big, multi-species spa with lots of free seats of varying sizes where mammals could sit back, relax and enjoy plenty of beauty treatments along with relaxing music. Judy signaled with a wave of her left arm for her friends to follow her inside, Francine did not show a single moment of hesitation but Fangmeyer was very unsure about stepping inside that place, her doubts were soon dismissed and she opted to walk inside once she saw the others walking further into the establishment.

As soon as Judy and the others entered, the bunny stepped near the female deer dressed in a uniform bearing the marking of the store and positioned by the front counter to ask for standard reservations for herself, Francine and Fangmeyer, the three mammals walked to a row of three revolving chairs with reclining features that were prepared for them in little to no time. They sat side by side over each separate chair, each seating was manufactured to accommodate mammals of different sizes but even Judy's chair looked bigger than she actually was, it was of little bother to her. Seconds after they were seated, the deer called out to her team of professionals and, in a few seconds, a squad of rodents stepped out from the back of the store accompanied by two antelopes that held in their paws handle-bags containing a slew of tools for fur cleaning and nail painting. The squad of little rodents separated into three teams, each designated for each of the mammals that requested service, they got into position before climbed over a set of miniature scaffolding precisely positioned so that they could reach the mammals seated on the adjustable chairs while the antelopes left the bags with the tools positioned close by and rushed to get bowls of water ready for the beauty treatment.

Francine was absolutely giddy at the moment, she could hardly wait for the treatment that was so well talked by Judy on their way there, Fangmeyer, however, could not hold back a scoff as she thought over and over again how she did not wish to be there. The tigress removed her jacket so that she could sit more comfortably on her own chair but she did not expect to feel a touch of contact over her left paw as soon as it returned to a resting position over the chair. Fangmeyer turned her eyes and saw that some of the rodents suspended by the small sized scaffolding were tampering, prodding around and roaming all over her left paw, she did not appreciate being approached without consent so she quickly made so that her paw coiled away from the small creatures as she frizzled up and asked out loud:

- Hey! What in the heck do you think you're doing?! Nobody touches on my claws without my permission.

The squad of mice retreated and all of them tried to explain their actions, unfortunately, every one of the little mammals tried speaking at once so their justification sounded jumbled and it did not come across all too clear for the angry tigress. Judy leaned her upper body over her chair so that she could get a good look at Fangmeyer and explain that everything was okay:

- Fangmeyer, you don't have to worry. These guys are all professionals and they are very careful while doing their jobs.

Fangmeyer looked over in Judy's direction and soon returned her eyes to the sight of the mice, eagerly awaiting to get on with their individual tasks and complete what Judy had previously requested by the front desk. The tigress pouted and scoffed for a moment but she calmly returned her paw to the spot on the chair rest soon enough, she showed a pointing finger at the little workers before saying explicitly:

- Very well, but be careful. I don't like very much when others touch on my paws, they're sensitive. Don't need to go and do anything too fancy.

All of the mice nodded their heads, understanding and letting it show that they would be very careful on their task. After just a couple of minutes, Francine was absolutely static with that whole experience, it was usually very hard for her to make regular maintenance of her nails since it was rather challenging for her to hold tools even with her flexible trunk. The elephant turned her face over and looked over at Judy, the bunny had her eyes closed, her ears lowered and both of her paws extended ahead and placed over the arm rests of her chair, her left paw was resting over a shallow bowl of water while three little rodents worked in unison by passing a nail file over each of her nails with fair attention and a very methodical back and forth motion. Francine called to her friend's attention and said:

- Judy, I have to say, this place is amazing. It has been ages since I've been pampered like this, I don't know how I didn't hear about this salon any sooner.

Fangmeyer heard that, she didn't say anything but it was clear to see that this was not her kind of place to be. Still, the tigress tried to get the most out of it as the little rodents continued to work their way around and over her paws, she placed her head over the resting spot just behind her and tried her best to relax. Francine took in some air before she asked with a gig smile on her face:

- How did you find this place anyway?

Judy adjusted her paw placed inside the water bowl before she answered that question without leaving he relaxed pose over her seat:

- I have a friend named Fru-fru, she is into beauty and fashion and she knows all about some of the best salons all around Zootopia. She brought me here once when we hung out together a while back, I wasn't sure about it myself but, after experiencing it, I found it very relaxing and the perfect spot for us to go for tonight.

Francine waited for Judy to finish her short story before placing her shoulders back over her own chair repost, the elephant let out a long sigh before saying:

- Oh honey, I'm coming here for the rest of my life. I have never been this relaxed. After the work week I've had, I needed this.

Fangmeyer still had her own reservations about agreeing to enter the salon, she turned her head to the left and said:

- I still think we should've rolled with my idea and visited that nice outdoors shack serving milk-shakes down the lane.

Judy leaned her upper body forward once more to try and get a look over in Fangmeyer's direction, she could see her friend fully in the position she was seated but she still managed to get her voice across as she spoke up:

- If the shack is still open once we finish here, we can go there and keep this hang going for as long as we want.

Francine showed her approval to that idea as she raised her trunk slightly in the air and said:

- You know I'm up for it.

The team of rodents working on the nails of the three mammals continued with their work, they removed the shallow bowl where Judy was keeping her paw out of the way and fried the fur near the tips of her fingers out before continuing the treatment with a small vial of nail polish, the mice handled the brush used over Judy's nails with extreme care and she stayed silent for a while as she watched them tend to her. Fangmeyer raised and lowered her shoulders while reclining over her chair, she still felt a little uneasy on the inside and was having difficulties relaxing completely, she saw another of the rodents bring a tall cart with a large selection of nail polishers and paints of different colors, the mouse showed it to her as he asked if she would like a specific color, the tigress answered to that with a bit of a growl in her voice that scared some of the little rodents:

- Forget it. I like my claws just like they are. You won't see me dolling up my paws with any color, no matter how fancy.

Francine poked her friend's shoulder using her trunk and said:

- C'mon, Fangmeyer, you won't know if you like it or not if you don't try it. It doesn't need to be showy, just nice for you.

Fangmeyer squinted her eyes and surrendered to peer pressure as she scanned the assortment of colors in front of her and pointed to the one that looked like an approximation of a dark brown, seemed like the perfect one to keep it subtle. She pointed her left claw to it and said with a new tone of voice that felt somewhat forced but still made it sound like she was willing to try something new:

- Then… maybe… that one over there. Might be nice.

The team of mice grabbed the vial and got back to work with excited smiles on their faces. Judy had a nice smile on her face as she closed her eyes and her ears found a nice position over her head to listen to the soft music playing inside the shop, the bunny was letting all of her worries melt away into nothing and that was when she heard the voice of Francine calling out to her from the seat to her right:

- You seem to be in a very good mood tonight. Did something happen while you were out on patrol?

Judy opened her eyes and found the elephant looking right at her, she did not do a lot of repositioning before answering:

- I had a great day of patrol. Me and Nick arrived at an honest to goodness crime scene and gathered so much information, this new case is strange but it promises to be incredible. Also, it is Nick and mine's official first case together as ZPD officers, it is all so very exciting.

Fangmeyer directed her eyes to the right and projected her voice so Judy could hear her asking:

- How was Wilde on his first outing? Was he bumbling around all over the place or was he alright? I got a good vibe out of him when I dragged him out to train. He's no slouch, that's for sure.

Francine spoke to that with some concern as she said:

- I really think you need to stop doing that. Not every mammal can get along okay with your personal blend of… training.

Fangmeyer raised her upper body from her seat and clutched her right paw into a fist to make her point well heard, she was careful to not move her left paw since the team of rodents was still working on her left claws. The tigress frizzled her brows and said passionately:

- I do that to keep the officers in precinct one ready. We are the best of the best and we are made of tough stuff. Isn't that right, Hopps?

Judy turned her head and her ears flopped to the side, she showed a smile and spoke up:

- You know it.

Francine shook her head as she thought how she should have expected that type of answer to come from her friend. Francine soon turned to Judy once more and asked of her:

- Anyway, Judy, tell us how your first investigation with Wilde went. Give us some details.

The mice working on Judy's left paw gave her a little signal with a wave of their arms to say that they were already done with the preparations on her nails, the bunny nodded her head and sounded a little thank you through her lips before the little rodents descended the scaffolding in order to get to work on her other paw. Judy waved her left paw gently in the air as she got a subtle feel for the product that was just applied over her nails, she turned her eyes to the side to look at Francine as the elephant was eagerly waiting to hear a good story about what had transpired with Judy and her partner on that afternoon, Judy took some breath and answered:

- I drove the cruiser towards the first scene we went to investigate, I asked Nick to do the regular stuff that rookies get to do, set up the tape and keep civilians far from the scene, he was very well versed in his job, finished it up and came to help me out in no time, it was almost like he had been at the beat for far longer than just a few weeks.

Fangmeyer caught wind of those words, her right ear twitched as she showed interest in the rest of the story. Judy continued after a short pause:

- Nick took notice of the weird way that the front window was smashed open, his interest on the shards of glass didn't click in my mind at first but I could tell he was on to something. Nick directed us to the next scene and we our ideas bounced off on each other splendidly: he helped the owner of the bakery out by identifying the marks on the safe while I kept collecting traces of what exactly happened in the scene, there were so many pieces to the puzzle and neither of us knew how they could connect, that is, until Nick and I went to a new place that he spoke of and that could have some answers.

Fangmeyer leaned forward, and Francine bounced slightly over her seat as the story was reaching a very enthusiastic point. Judy turned her sight away as her memories of that morning replayed clearly in her head and she continued to speak:

- After we had lunch together, Nick directed us to a place where a civilian that makes glass sculptures lived, he asked for help so we could get some intel about what could have shattered the glass on both scenes, Nick's thought line was right on the money. We returned to the precinct with a great deal of data but we still need to wait a little more for the dispatch of a major investigation, he also helped me with my target practice in the gun range, it was great.

Francine almost raised her arms with enthusiasm as she heard that until she just remembered that she had to keep herself still to not accidentally endanger the mice still taking care of her paws, Fangmeyer leaned her head back as she projected her voice and said:

- Sounds like your partner had things well under control.

Judy smiled and answered to that:

- Yes, Nick was amazing. We didn't get too far with the investigation, the forensics team got on that as soon as we left, but we went through quite a lot in just a single afternoon. I can hardly wait for tomorrow.

Fangmeyer was much more interested in contributing to that conversation as she caught a wind of Judy's tone, it was already known that Judy and Nick had a nice dynamic between them but there was definitely something more to it. Fangmeyer noticed that the mice had finished working on her claws, she raised her left paw slowly and performed a gentle motion as she opened and closed her paw to get a few for it, it did not feel bad at all. As soon as she placed her heavy paw back at the chair rest, Fangmeyer asked:

- Was Wilde really that forward during the investigation? From the way I see him lazing about at the precinct I would have never thought him willing to get any work done in the field at all.

Judy sounded off a little giggle as she recalled that Nick was never too fond of paperwork ever since he began his work at the ZPD, the fox would, more often than not, set files and documents aside and worry about them later and that was ultimately not worrisome for her. Judy looked to the ceiling and spoke up:

- It's true that Nick may not have the patience for documentation and filing but he is a smart mammal and his guidance today was very much welcome.

Francine took notice of the word Judy had used and asked with interest:

- "Guidance"?

Judy turned her head to look at the elephant's eyes and answer:

- Of course. Nick pointed out all of the details that lead the two of us into the discovery of the substance that was used on both locations. I was actually not expecting that but Nick really took charge.

Fangmeyer and Francine looked at each other and showed a very similar expression on both of their faces, they shared a sour look as they heard that and Judy noticed that with a quick side glance. The bunny was not sure what that was all about so she asked:

- What's wrong?

Fangmeyer took charge of the conversation by saying:

- I had suspicions that this might happen.

Now Judy was really confused, her left ear lowered to the side as her brows lowered and she asked:

- What do you mean? What happened?

Fangmeyer pointed a finger of her right paw at Judy and said:

- You are the more experienced officer, you should be the one taking the notes and calling the shots, but by the sound of it, Wilde was the one who took the reeds and directed the case ahead. Typical macho nonsense, wanting to take control of everything at every chance they get.

Judy had her eyes wide open in surprise, she leaned ahead and asked with a touch of disbelief in her voice:

- Wait. What?! That is not what…

Francine cut in as she spoke before Judy had a chance to finish her sentence:

- I remember when Wolford was partnered up with me, he wanted to take every chance he saw as an opportunity to show how great and capable he actually was, made for one big headache after the other. Same could be said about that other guy that they got to pair up with me during a stake out. What was his name again?

Fangmeyer noticed that Francine turned her sight to her as she asked that question, Judy was left struggling to call to their attention and let her words out as the tigress spoke up:

- Uhm… Saliona… Something or another. Damian Stlianos.

- That's the one. He couldn't stand still for one second and thought he was the coolest guy in the precinct, the day he got a transfer was such a relief. I could not stand looking at him stumbling around anymore.

Judy did not appreciate the words being thrown around at that moment, she knew that Nick was nothing like that. She tried to raise her voice so that she could get her own words in that conversation but Francine continued to speak as she turned around and said:

- At any case, I never would've guessed that Wilde was the type of officer to push you aside and take the lead, I guess you will need to take your stand with him if you want to…

- IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!

Judy spoke so as she clutched her paws into fists and slammed them against the rests of her chair, the sudden impact scared the two officers sitting next to her not to mention the mice who were still hard at work. Judy's quick outrage shook the small scaffolding on both sides of her chair and gave the mice quite a fright, she took notice that as soon as she heard their little screams. She sounded a fast gasp of air and said with a much lower volume to her voice:

- Oh, my gosh! I'm so sorry. I did not mean to do that. I'm really sorry.

Francine and Fangmeyer were left wordless for a while, they never figured Judy was the kind of mammal to burst out like that. Judy did her best to mend that situation out as she carefully placed her right paw back on the arm rest of the chair and pointed her left paws out before saying:

- Nick did not push me to the side to do his own thing, I asked for his input and his way of thinking lead us both to the thread of information we were looking for. We both built on each other's thoughts. Sure Nick took the lead but I didn't mind it at all because he did an amazing job.

Francine and Fangmeyer watched as Judy closed her eyes and turned her head to the right as to avoid eye contact with them for a short time, the two other officer realized that they had screwed it up as they exchanged worrisome looks to one another. Judy remained with her eyes focused on the front door of the salon, watching all of the other mammals moving by with recently bought products, and did not notice as her friends exchanged some paw signals to one another, their own way to make a silent conversation and to avoid any further messes at the time. Francine decided to be the one to apologize, she called out to Judy's attention and said:

- Sorry about that, Hopps. I feel terrible. I just assumed that Wilde would do things like that because that has been known to happen in the force for a while.

Judy slowly turned her head to face her colleagues again, she still looked a little upset, she leaned her head a few degrees to the left and spoke up:

- Nick is a little annoying, I know I've said that before, he likes to tease me and pretend like he has the most amount of answers in his mind for every situation, but that is just Nick being Nick, I know him and I know he doesn't mean to hurt my feelings by walking ahead or showing off, he just want to show that he is capable and that is alright with me.

Fangmeyer and Francine exchanged another look as they saw Judy lowering her sight towards the ground and soon turn her eyes over to the group of little mice almost done working on her paws. Francine made a throat clearing sound that was not very loud as she leaned herself just a little closer to Judy and asked:

- You really enjoy having him as a partner, don't you?

Judy let out an audible sigh before she turned her head to face the elephant and answer:

- Of course I do. Nick is an amazing mammal and a great friend, there is a reason why I waited so long for him to graduate and to have him assigned to me as a partner.

Francine deviated her eyes away from Judy for a couple of seconds before answering to that:

- If you really think that Wilde is that good of an officer than I believe you. I'm sure you two will be the best duo that the ZPD has ever seen.

Judy released a giggle after hearing that as she was well aware that fame and attention were the last things she wanted as an officer of the ZPD, all that she really wanted was to do her job and do it well. Judy still appreciated the words of her comrade and thanked her for the words of reconciliation. Minutes passed by and the nail treatment was finally done, Judy thanked the talented team of mice and even Fangmeyer seemed pretty happy with the way her claws turned down after all of that. The three mammals walked out of the salon conversing and occasionally laughing together as they recalled particular working bumbles of their week and Judy convinced them to extend their outing by visiting the beverage distributing shack that was mentioned earlier.

After a very enjoyable time with her friends, Judy was very satisfied with the moment of leisure that they all shared, it gave her even more of a motivation to get back to work on the day that would follow. Judy finished her refreshing drink and decided to go back to her apartment, leaving Fangmeyer and Francine to continue at their own pace right after she was done paying off her own drink. Judy called a cab and arrived in no time at all back to her place, she entered the apartment while carrying an air of relief within her, she felt very good at that moment, she gave herself a quick shower and changed into a cozy set of pajamas before tossing her body on her bed and letting out a long sigh of fulfillment and relaxation. Judy could not wait to go to sleep and wake up on the next morning ready and recharged, but before she turned off completely for the night, her mind wandered off to what Nick could be doing to prepare himself for the next day to come.

---

After leaving the precinct behind, Nick returned to his apartment and he felt utterly beat, just climbing the stairs up to his place felt like a strenuous exercise, he was a little short of breath as soon as he opened his front door but that feeling quickly subsided as he recalled that he was going to have company pretty soon. The fox moved to the kitchen and removed the plates that were left over the table since a short while ago, he moved the used dishes to the sink and washed them thoroughly with water and detergent, he stored the wet dishes on a side cupboard and turned his attention back to the living room. Nick had already hosted friends for a simple game of cards for the longest time, everyone that came to visit already knew the rules, no smoking, no talk about old slip ups and absolutely no schemes that involved someone getting the worst end of the deal. It is possible those rules got a few alterations since he became a ZPD officer but it was of little consequence.

After half an hour or so of waiting, Nick heard the knocking on his door and the gruff voice of his old friend calling out to him:

- Wilde. Open up, the beer is getting warm.

Nick walked to the door and opened it to reveal the image of the little fox being followed by the very same honey badger that helped to find Judy's new and improved apartment. Nick gave both of his friends a salute and asked:

- You two got here fast. Did you jog all the way out here?

Finnick had a smile on his face as he showed the pointing finger of his right paw shaking in the air while his left paw was preoccupied with a plastic box that contained six beer cans, each of them slightly wet from condensation. The little fox spoke up with a brag-ish tone to his voice:

- You know I don't give the minimal effort to exercise under any circumstances.

Nick crossed his arms and remember a time not so long ago when Finnick had taken a gym membership to try and impress a girl but it all ended in the worst way possible as the little fox almost got himself hurt in the process. Nick pointed that out as he spoke suggestively:

- Well… there was that one time with the cute wolf girl by the lower savanna…

Finnick immediately showed a face that was a very discernible mixture of anger and regret as he said:

- Hey! We don't talk about Ofeninge Gym, okay?! We both know that was a dark day in my youth.

- It was like eight months ago.

Finnick countered that comment by shouting while he made his way inside the apartment with a heavy set of steps making his little paws bang against the floor:

- Yeah, and I was 'younger' back then. Jerk.

Nick shook his head from side to side while releasing a humorous sigh from his nose as he watched the little fox barging his own way inside the apartment. Nick turned his attention back to the hallway outside his door and saw Vinnie giving a single step in his direction, the honey badger had a big bag of salty chips in his left paw, he extended his right arm ahead to greet Nick properly and the fox answered to that in kind as he shook his friend's paw and said:

- Nice to see you Vin, barely recognized you without your regular business mammal attire.

Vinnie released a guffaw before taking some air to say:

- You're one to talk. Look at you: Blue shirt, no tie, that is not the Wilde I remember seeing on most of my days. You look very relaxed.

Nick placed a paw over his chest and answered:

- That's just how I look on the outside. I'm pumped on the inside.

Nick showed a slow wave of his paw as he pointed inside the apartment and asked for Vinnie to come in, the badger shook the pack of salted chips in the air with a simple move of his wrist and asked Nick to get a bowl so he could put the snacks inside, the fox obliged and grabbed a medium sized ceramic bowl to place the salty snacks so that they could all have something to nibble during the game. After all of the preparations were made, the beer was divided in glasses for each mammal and the deck of cards was properly cut, Nick and his friends began their sociable competition.

Finnick went ahead and placed his first card and the game was in full spin as Nick and Vinnie placed their own counter moves on the table in as little time as Finnick took to make his first move. There was mostly silence at the beginning of the game except for the occasional sound of chewing or sipping, it is a common strategy during a card came to throw a little bit of conversation out in the wind, is a simple but effective way to distract the other players from making the most favorable moves and keep them from thinking too hard about the game on itself. Finnick decided to do just that as he asked:

- So, Wilde, how is the cop business going for you? Has fuzz driven you crazy yet?

Nick smiled and answered as he placed another card down:

- No, not yet. Today was my first actual investigation. I actually marked down and entered a crime scene.

Nick said that with a very noticeable touch of excitement in his voice but with a controlled volume as to not let the conversation mess with his game mindset get. Vinnie was intrigued as soon as he heard that, he decided to ask:

- Nifty. What happened? What was it like?

Nick figured that it would be okay to disclose too much about his investigation but he was sure that he could trust his two friends so he decided to start at the very beginning:

- There was word that a couple of businesses suffered a hit out on the town, carrots and I took off to investigate and the two places we got to investigate were really weird.

Finnick was about to put his next card on the table but he halted his move as he heard Nick's vague description. The little fox had his left ear leaned to the side as he raised his brows and asked further, pressuring Nick to keep the story going:

- 'Weird' how, Wilde? Give me some details.

Nick took a breath as he watched Finnick placing his card down, the fox took little time planning his own counter point as he placed a card from his own paw that trumped Finnick's move but that also could get him an advantage during the long run. After his expertly played move, Nick answered to his friend's question:

- The stores were hit really hard, everything was torn out, the cash register was empty and the door to the safe belonging to the first restaurant was ripped out like it was made of plastic. I kid you not, it all looked like a scene that came right out of the pages from a comic book.

Finnick and Vinnie were both shocked from hearing that description, for Nick to put such a description, such a brief but impactful narrative into that conversation, could only mean that things were very serious. Finnick did not press any harder on hearing more about the subject but he didn't have to, minutes after ending his sentence, Nick placed the deck in his right paw facing down over the table, he freed his right paw so that he could reach forward and take a small sip from his cup of beer, the fox took a single sip before lowering the glass and continuing to speak:

- Carrots and I moved about in search for some answers to what might have happened on both places but it all became a little unsettling. Someone used a weird cold substance to snap both the glass and the safe wide open. We still don't have many clues to go on but we are gonna keep moving forward with the investigation tomorrow.

Nick picked his cards back again and focused his eyes on the options he had, he continued to revolve around the next move he was going to make while imagining the risks that his friends might take on the following rounds but as he put in the effort to think three moves ahead, Finnick and Vinnie were still thinking about what they just heard. Nick saw Vinnie putting another card on the table and that is when it came to mind for the fox to mention out loud:

- Oh, Vin, I met Jeb today. Had to make a quick stop by his store.

Vinnie turned his eyes at Nick and asked:

- Jeb? As in… 'Jebediah'? That old goat?

Nick showed a smile and answered:

- The very same.

Vinnie recoiled from that subject for a split second as he immediately recalled why the mention of that name did not sound very good to him. Vinnie leaned a little closer to Nick as he placed his left paw over the table frame and asked:

- Is he still mad at me? You know, for what happened that one time?

Nick rolled his eyes as he thought of a good answer to that, the fox turned to his friend and answered:

- Hard to tell, you didn't come up during any point of the conversation. Odds are he has already let it pass.

Vinnie released a sigh of relief after hearing that but Nick quickly turned that topic around as he completed his previous thought:

- Then again, he could still be mad at you. If I remember it right, you were the one who bumped onto the shelf and broke his precious tea set. It was imported too, all the way from the other side of the world.

Vinnie made a sour face as he remembered in vivid detail the earful that he got from the old goat when the recalled incident happened. Vinnie turned his head to the ceiling as he said:

- I really didn't mean to do that. That is still one of the few debts I haven't been able to erase from my life.

Finnick spoke up as he tossed another card over the table:

- At least you still kept track of it. I can't recall half of the debts I left behind.

Nick smiled and spoke up:

- Well gents, we have ourselves quite the game tonight, turns have been passing by and neither of us show sign of wavering. Care to take another round?

Finnick was quick to respond:

- I'm just getting warmed up. Put me down for another paw.

Nick nodded his head and placed down another card over the small mound already forming over the table. The conversation continued as he decided to speak up:

- I can hardly believe that I got to cruise around and gather clues for a case. It still feels a little… surreal to me.

Finnick's left ear twitched after catching air of Nick's tone once he said that, the little fox leaned closer to his friend and asked:

- It doesn't feel all that real to me either. Is the fuzz driving you mad yet?

Nick turned his head to face Finnick, he took in some air and answered:

- Who? Judy? No, she has been a great help. With her along, the boring parts of the job go by twice as fast. She still doesn't let me drive the cruiser, and that really bothers me.

Finnick sounded off a little chuckle and spoke up to that:

- Well, I get where she is coming from at least. I wouldn't trust you to drive my sweet ride around town.

Nick shook his head from side to side at a slow rate of movement as he launched a counter argument to that:

- Everyone already knows that you don't give the handle of the wheel to anyone else, Fin, but Judy doesn't have the same passion for cars as you and I, she is more of a procedure mammal than anything else once she gets the police uniform on.

Vinnie asked out of curiosity:

- How does it feel when you put the suit on anyway?

Nick turned to his other friend as he answered:

- It's not a suit, it's a uniform. All and all it fells nice, although the belt chafes a little bit around the back side. Might need to get it redesigned sometime later.

Finnick tapped on the table with his left paw before he reached for a scoop of chips and asked of Nick:

- What? Does the ZPD have its own personal tailor or something like that?

Nick took little time to answer:

- It's more of a workshop for equipment.

The game continued on at a steady pace, neither of the mammals seated near the table showed signs of backing off from the game so the competition became fierce, after a few minutes it began to slow down however as Nick would take the tie between his turns to check on his cellphone for any message from Judy regarding something new that she may had notice about the files she took with her. Nick did not know why the sight of the screen and the indication that there were no new messages made him so anxious all of a sudden, he didn't have any indication if Judy was back at her place and he did not wish to bother her outright if she was still hanging out with Fangmeyer and Francine. Finnick saw him grabbing his cellphone and putting it back down about four times before he got to ask:

- You waiting on something? In a hurry to get somewhere else?

Nick looked over at Finnick's way, he put the phone down again before he answered:

- No. I'm… I'm just waiting on carrots to check if she has anything more about our investigating.

Finnick placed the card to his turn down and said:

- Wow, Wilde, you're really getting into this whole cop thing. Didn't figure it was gonna take this much of your mind.

Nick recoiled from that sentence over his seat as he placed his paw now with far less cards than before closer to his chest, the fox frizzled his brows before he answered to that:

- It's not that my mind is totally focused on this stuff. This situation out on the town is serious, also, carrots and I are relying on each other to see this through.

Vinnie raised his brows as he heard that and said:

- You and officer Hopps must really be on top of the situation.

Nick recalled the day he and Judy had together at work and answered:

- Well… to a certain point. Investigation is really nothing like we see it on television, there is a lot of paperwork and attention to detail involved. Judy was there every step of the way to take a handle on the investigating.

Nick gave a pause to his line of thought before he continued talking with a drastically differing tone from before:

- Although… I can't help but wonder if I might have taken too much of a handle myself during the whole thing.

Finnick leaned his head to the side as he showed a look of confusion after hearing that, he made a gesture with his right paw at Nick's direction and asked:

- What do you mean?

Nick lowered his ears before he answered to that:

- Well… Judy and I learned a lot today about what actually happened in each scene, but, during the investigation, I was all like: 'Check this out.'; Take a look at this.'; Or 'We should go there.' Maybe it made me come out as a bit bossy and she is the one supposed to be the officer in charge.

Finnick and Vinnie exchanged looks before the little fox spoke up:

- You did always have this impulse to prove you know everything about a given fact. You never tried to be the smartest guy in a given room but you did go overboard when it came to a few details on a few subjects. I came dangerously close of calling you a know-it-all on plenty of occasions.

After having that blunt fact about his own personality spelled it out to him in that manner, Nick showed an expression that was very close to sadness, looking almost like he was hit by a fast-flying projectile right over his gut. Nick clenched his right paw into a fist and smacked it over the table which caused all of the objects lying over the wooden frame to shake for a fraction of a second, that sudden action had Finnick surprised as the little fox recoiled his torso away from the table while Vinnie was distracted and unfazed by that as he kept checking the cards he had in his paws. Nick pulled away from his short outburst and said:

- Oh, damn. I feel like such a tool right now.

Finnick leaned a little closer to grab his glass of beer, the little fox took a single swig from his glass and thought about joking around with a line that would build up on the self-derided insult that Nick had said only a few seconds before. Contrary to the demeaning line of thought that he had right from the start, Finnick instead decided to speak a few words of advice to motivate Nick to do something else for the next time he and Judy were out on patrol:

- I can't say if the fuzz was too bothered by what you did, we both know that she is far too nice to speak it up if something comes to bother her. What if you try to pull back on the throttle next time you two are out? Give her more of a chance to take control.

Nick raised his head to look at his friends before wholeheartedly agreeing with him:

- You're right, Fin. Maybe I should back off just a little bit. She is the officer with more time on the force after all.

The round of play was finished and it resulted in a rousing victory for Nick, his mind was still in the game despite taking a few detours to think about his role at the ZPD alongside Judy. The game went on for a full hour but Finnick decided to deviate the rest of the conversation to topics far from work like sports or cars since thinking about the ZPD was, apparently, only making Nick's mind far more active and harder to predict on subsequent rounds, Vinnie didn't really mind any of that at all, winning or losing, the honey badger was having a great time with his friends and it was nice to throw conversation out like that.

By the end of the game, Nick had accumulated another set of victories for himself but he also was surprised to see that Finnick and Vinnie had gotten the better of him on more than a couple of rounds, Nick's two friends said their farewells for the night and went on their ways after wishing their host good luck on his next patrol out on the streets. Nick closed the door, took a short time to gather the thoughts still stumbling around in his head and went on to clean up the kitchen before going to bed, Nick cleaned the table and the dishes before entering his room, turning off the lights and tossing himself over his bed. Nick grabbed his cellphone and opened a streaming app to look for something to watch before going to bed, he saw a big and colorful catalog depicting images related to different shows that he had never seen before until his directionless search was interrupted by the sound of a notification.

Nick looked at the spot up on the screen and saw the symbol of the messaging application, he pressed his right thumb over it and saw that it was Judy trying to talk to him. Nick opened the text page and saw Judy's message:

Judy: Hey, how's it hanging, slick?

Nick looked over at the screen with a blank stare for only a few seconds before he got around to typing a reply:

Nick: Nothing much, carrots. Just chilling. How about you?

Judy: Same. I had a lot of fun with Fangmeyer and Francine, we talked a lot and compared a few mental notes but now I just want to sleep before we get on to proceed with our investigating tomorrow.

Nick: You have a plan for how we should proceed.

Judy: :-/. Not much of a plan at this point. I reviewed what we got and haven't arrived at any conclusions about the motives behind the robberies.

Nick: How so?

Judy: We know about the cold substance and that the robberies were perpetrated by more than one mammal but they don't seem to be coordinating at all. The careful incision into the scenes shows the work of a careful planner but the mess left behind shows the mind of a crazy rebel.

Nick laughed at that and thought how, in retrospect, all of that didn't make a whole lot of sense, but, in a strange sort of way, that might have been just what the perpetrators had in mind for those scenes. Nick reached for the screen once more as his fingers tapped an answer to that:

Nick: This may be a sign that the robbers are not a well oiled machine and are not seeing eye to eye on how to perform the hits. It is more than likely that each of them have their own agenda despise having congruent goals.

There were a few seconds before the reply came to the screen:

Judy: :-o! If that is the case than that will only make them more unpredictable if we manage to catch up with them.

Nick: It's not a matter of 'if', fluff. It's a matter of 'when'. We'll get these robbers sooner rather than later.

Judy: ;-). That's the way to think. We'll definitely do it together.

Nick smiled and typed away a simple farewell saying that he would see Judy at work and that he was looking forward to continue investigating with her. Judy wished him a good night sleep and exited the messaging app, Nick took that as his cue to close the app for himself and return to the activity he was previously engaged with. Nick went on to watch a series with an art cover icon that he thought as eye-catching but he did not pay much attention to the first episode as the lines of lore unraveled in front of him on the screen, the conversation he had with his friends referring to how he interacted with Judy during his afternoon at work still lingered heavy in his mind and, before turning to sleep, Nick thought to himself that it would be for the best if he just let Judy take control during the rest of the investigation. Little did he know that there was still so much more to come on the next day.

---

Come the next morning, Nick and Judy met at the entrance to the precinct one building and started their day with a moderate pace, Judy had arrived only a few seconds before Nick, she was just reaching for the front doors when she took a glimpse behind her and found her partner calmly walking in her direction. Chief Bogo called out for a short assembly at the bull pen where he had instructed the majority of the officers to head out on patrol and keep their ears and eyes alert for any sign of suspicious activity out in the city, any leads or sights that could lead them to a trail that could take them to all the answers they had been asking to themselves, to some connections that might make more sense than the scarce quantity of initial data they were able to collect.

Nick laid back over his seat in the cruiser as he looked towards the windshield as he saw the path Judy was taking as she drove with moderately speed while also talking and was meticulously going through every detail that was gathered up until that point, she figured it was a nice point of order to pass the time and make it so that neither of them would lose their respective trails of thought in relation to the establish case, there were just so many blank spaces left to fill up. Nick and Judy's patrol route took them to a much different route than the day before, they were now crossing the eastern borders of the savanna and over to the rainforest district, there was an increase of traffic on the main roads so the pair decided to continue their patrol by circumventing the conventional routes and taking a more scenic path.

After a whole hour of patrol across the roads of the rainforest, Judy decided to park the cruiser, she wanted to try crossing the rainforest with a more steady and personal pace, maybe spot newer spots that she didn't get to see during her previous visits and get a better feel for the district over all. Nick didn't mind stopping the drive to stretch his legs for a moment, he had already recognized that he was rather fond of the refreshing breeze that circled the lower paths of the rainforest, the first thing that the fox did after opening the passenger door of the cruiser was take a long whiff of the air around him before turning his head to the left and seeing Judy standing on the sidewalk, waiting for him to catch up.

Judy walked ahead a few steps as Nick moved closely with a slower set of steps but spacing his feet a little more with each move, it was no problem for him to keep up with her as she occasionally hopped along on the path but she slowed her stepping as soon as she saw Nick moving slower than her on the way, she waited for Nick to catch up with her until they were positioned side by side before she gently bump his left arm with her right elbow and asked of him:

- So, Nick, how are you adapting to the precinct life? Is the work routine getting to your head already?

Nick looked over to Judy and showed a little smile on his muzzle before answering to her question:

- It's not bad at all. I have done a lot more of paperwork than I am actually comfortable with but it has been very calming at the end of the day. I also have been talking with the others on the force.

Judy raised her brows and her ears positioned parallel to one another as she heard that, she had no idea that Nick was socializing with the other officers. Judy gave one short hop forward and said:

- I didn't know you already began conversing with the other officers. You could have let me introduce you to them a little more, we could have had a whole lot more of conversations together.

Nick pointed to his own chest as he said:

- Well, I'm a sociable mammal. Me and the other haven't had too many conversations, just a few words here and there while we were by the break room or in the lockers.

Judy decided to press on that subject as she asked:

- What are your thoughts on the other officers?

Nick directed his eyes over at Judy again but his sight turned to the path ahead quickly after getting a short glimpse of her smile, he wanted to keep an eye ahead since he already knew that there was plenty of movement at the rainforest at that time of day, lots of mammals moving around both at the high and low commercial avenues. Nick took in some fresh air through his nose before saying:

- They are all really cool actually. On my first day, you made it sound like Grizzolli was an uptight hot-head but he is actually really chill, he sings when he is engaged in some dull task, he's got a really nice voice. Delgato talks a lot in the locker room, mostly about some new fling that he got himself into, also, the deodorant that he uses on himself is really strong, bothers the hell out of me, but that is just between us, alright?

Judy placed the fingers of her left paw over her lips as a sign that she would keep that comment for herself when back at the precinct. Nick continued speaking after catching a glimpse of the path ahead where there was a crossing light that was just changing colors and allowing the mammals grouped up on one side of the street to safely crossed towards the other side. The fox took in a bit of air before saying:

- The other officers are really nice, specially Wolford, he's funny. Maybe I'll invite him to come play cards with me some time in the future.

Judy raised her brows and her ears placed parallel to one another as she heard those words, she slowed her walk a little and reached with her right paw to Nick's left arm as she silently asked for him to slow down a bit as well and pay more attention as she told him:

- I think that is not such a good idea.

Nick turned most of his body around to face Judy as soon as he felt her little paw touching him, barely getting its reach around the base of his right wrist. Judy made sure that Nick was looking over at her before she spoke to him with a low volume to her voice, Nick had to put extra care and attention to hear her since there was a stronger breeze blowing over and a lot of movement still going around but he could still listen to Judy as she spoke with concern in her voice:

- Wolford is a really nice guy but he has a terrible problem with gambling. When he was younger he lost a lot of money in an online gambling thing, it was very bad for him. He turned his life around but he is always willing to make silly bets with the others at the precinct, it's nothing serious just a way for him to have some fun but I think that playing cards with him may not be the best pastime.

Nick raised his head while still keeping his eyes over her, he did not know any of that and he was sincerely surprised to hear it. Judy let go of Nick's wrist and placed her left paw over her chest, her fingers nearly placed over her neck, Judy was holding back her words if there were any more to be spoken. Nick leaned his body a little closer to her once more and Judy spoke once more:

- Maybe I shouldn't have said so much. This is not my story to tell and I'm not into gossip.

Nick showed a smile and spoke with a low volume to his voice as he gently bumped the palm of his right paw to the side of her shoulder:

- You don't have to feel uneasy like that, carrots. Your words came from a place of concern. You like to take care of the ones closest to you and there is nothing bad about that. You don't have to worry like that.

Nick turned his body back to the direction he and Judy were facing before during their walk before he continued to speak:

- When I invite friends to play cards I never use real money. We get around to play, toss some conversation aside and drink a few cold beers. Just regular time fun to pass the time.

Judy felt a tad relieved and she was also grateful that Nick was so relaxed towards that subject. Judy decided to point her body forwards and resume the walk that she and Nick were on during their patrol, she was still a little curious about what Nick and his friends would actually do in their time together but she decided to simply stay quiet for a moment and not pry too much into it. Nick did not stay silent, after a few steps forward, just as he and Judy were reaching the edge of the sidewalk, Nick spoke up as he said to her:

- Hey, maybe you should join us next time, carrots. Come sit at the table and I'll deal you in for a night of cards.

Judy wasn't sure if Nick was joking or not, she did not look at his face so it was a little hard for her to get an actual read on him by tone of voice alone, he sounded serious. Judy opted to play that one off as a joke, she stopped her movement alongside Nick as the two of them waited for the light on the other side to turn green and then she spoke up:

- I don't believe I would fit into your playing circle as well as you think, Nick.

Nick then looked at Judy and asked why she would think that, his tone of voice didn't change as he inquired:

- Why, fluff? Because you're a female? The guys won't mind it. The more at the table, the more exciting the game.

Judy thought that Nick's guess wasn't too far off from the reason why she didn't want to join in on a future card game but it was still not the main motive. Judy took in some air as she turned to face Nick and answered:

- No, it's because I don't know how to play cards all that well. It wouldn't be much of a fair or fun game with you winning all the time.

Nick released a single laugh that he tried to hold back after hearing those words. Nick looked up and saw that the light had turned green, he and Judy started moving to the other side of the street and when they were safely walking over the next sidewalk on their patrol route, the fox spoke up:

- I don't *always* win at cards, carrots, that is statistically impossible. Truth be told, I am quite the remarkable player, but not even I can win all the time.

Judy took one quick step ahead so that she would position herself ahead of Nick's pacing and make sure that her point in the conversation would be made more clear, she pointed out at Nick and spoke up:

- You still know every form and path of the game better than anyone. It is still an unfair advantage.

Nick smiled as he lowered his ears over his head to add a little more to his slick façade, it was actually kind of nice for him to hear that about his gaming expertise. Nick leaned a little closer to Judy with the same smile on his face and asked of her:

- And, if you don't mind me asking, what game would be fair and as such fun to play with you, carrots.

Judy already had a list of reliable old games that she used to enjoy with her family when she still lived back in Bunnyburrow. Judy listed the games by name as she extended each finger of her right and left paw respectively to place emphasis on them:

- Jenga, Battleship, Trapdoor, Uno, Spotter time, Sticks, Crosswords… Any of these games is a nice fun challenge for any number of players. I would even take a nice game of chess.

Nick thought how would it be to actually sit down and get to play one of the listed games, he had been a card player for so long and he might enjoy playing any other type of deck or board game with Judy as his main adversary, even if Finnick or any of his other friends wouldn't have been down with that kind of wholesome fun he believed that it would be quite enjoyable. Nick shook those thoughts of what could be from his mind for a second and returned his attention to the present, he turned to Judy and spoke up:

- Well, whatever we play, fluff, you can be certain that it will be a great time. Not because one of us knows more about the game itself than others, but because it is all in good fun.

With that bit of conversation concluded for the time, Nick and Judy kept on patrolling the rainforest on foot and it was quite the walk that they had to endure. After taking a lift and going up a single level closer to the treetops, the duo passed through a fair market that had various stands selling a wide selection of tropical fruits and paw manufactured wares, as Judy walked slowly through the long hallway of stands positioned from both sides, she could not resist but check out on the products and bargains around her, there were so many things to see and she was nearly overwhelmed by it all. Nick didn't give the stands too much thought, he had already seen the prices and the products many times as he studied the technics of commerce back in his hustler days, he kept his eyes at Judy as she wandered steps away from him and moved her head from side to side to catch a glimpse of every single thing that she could spot on their path.

Past almost a full hour on their patrol, Nick and Judy stopped by the end of the trail near a metal guardrail where they rested while appreciating the far off view and the soft wind passing the trees. Judy took one long breath before letting out an impressed sigh from her lips, however, Nick heard the little sound that she made and asked while keeping his eyes directed forward:

- Some view, uh? There are places like these around Zootopia that just invite you to stay forever.

Judy turned her head to the left to look at Nick and his smile, he had some wonder in his eyes as he kept looking ahead. Judy agreed with Nick's words as she showed him a single nod of her head and returned to look at the beautiful scenery, the tall trees which made for most of the inhabitable structures of the district, the suspended roads at the distance, a few green leaves floating with the breeze and the constant flow of the tram station located by the right side of the view. Judy placed her paws over a thin metal rail in front of her and leaned closer to the gap that was made to facilitate the view and safety of mammals of her size, she took a few breaths before saying:

- I don't think I'll ever get tired of this.

Nick's right ear twitched as he heard that, he turned to look at Judy while keeping a paw over the warm metal surface of the rail in front of him and asked:

- Won't get tired of what, fluff?

Judy took her paws off the rail and made a wide gesture with both of her arms in the air as she pointed to the view ahead of them in its entirety, she waited until her gesture was concluded before saying

- This. Zootopia is only one city, but it's so vast and beautiful. I am aware how things here can be hard but I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing and discovering everything that there is to know about every place we visit.

Judy paused to take a breath and looked over at Nick, he was just standing there in the same pose as before, leaning forward slightly against the rail with the face of a simple spectator directed at her. Judy made a sound like she was clearing her throat, thinking that she might have lost her composure for a moment, she got away from the guardrail with a single step backwards and turned her body in Nick's direction before saying:

- I'm sorry. That probably sounded really dorky.

Nick released a chuckle and stepped away from the rail before saying:

- You don't sound dorky. Zootopia has this effect on everyone. This city is a monument to the whole world, not only every species, but every culture coming to live together.

Nick stopped himself as soon as he realized that his tone of voice was slightly too enthusiastic for the occasion, even if his words came from a place of sincerity. The fox turned to face Judy and found her facing him with a sparkle in her eyes, he closed his left paw into a fist and delivered a soft bump to the guardrail next to him before he spoke up:

- And now I've come to realize how I'm sounding like a cheesy travel pamphlet.

Judy sounded off a little giggle as soon as she heard that, she didn't think Nick sounded silly or cheesy in any way, that was just a nice moment of peace in their routine and she was enjoying it. After taking that nice moment of respite, Nick and Judy moved on their way, going back towards the cruiser that they left parked on a lower level of the forest and planning to head back to the precinct one building, Nick watched Judy walking only a few steps in front of him and his thoughts turned to what he and his friends spoke of during their game of cards on the previous night. Nick approached Judy and asked of her:

- So, carrots, do you have any ideas on what we should do about the investigation? Maybe pursue some leads or research what could have been used for the break-ins?

Judy turned her head to the right so that she could get a glimpse at Nick, she found the fox stepping up to her side and answered to him while continuing to move forward at the same speed:

- The forensics team returned with a few more scraps of information that we can use to trace what was used during the break-ins, but I also think we should wait until Doctor Pura returns from her symposium so we can talk to her about all of this.

Nick kept walking alongside Judy at a steady pacing while hearing her words, he felt like that time would be preferable to get his concerns out in the open. Nick took in a little bit of air and spoke up:

- Judy…

That immediately called to her attention and she turned around, immediately halting her walk to listen to what he had to say. Nick saw as Judy turned around and looked him right in the eyes, he paused for a second before he returned to speak:

- I can't help but wonder if I was a little bit… out of line when we went on to catch our first investigation trail yesterday.

Judy raised a brow as she heard those words, instantly showing that she was confused by that, her eyes squinted slightly and her head leaned to the right while she continued to hear Nick's words in silence for the time being:

- You were supposed to be the officer in charge and I was meant to be the rookie on the case but I just blurted out directions all over the place and…

Judy raised her brows and her ears leaned back over her head without losing all the tension as she continued to listen to him, it slipped into her mind what Nick actually meant to say by all of that: He was feeling awkward and believing to his very core that he was not an asset during the investigation but more of a emotional burden, that did not sit well with her. Nick gestured with both of his paws extending in front of Judy as he finally said:

- Look, what I'm actually trying to say is… I'm sorry if I was too much of an obnoxious know it all yesterday. If you got any ideas on the route we should take for the investigation we will do it as soon as we head back to the precinct. You are the one in charge and I should take a step back to…

- Nick, no. Don't be like that.

Judy gave a single step closer to Nick and waved her paws as she approached him, that sudden action as she interrupted his words caused Nick to retreat for a second as he leaned his body back. Judy gestured back towards Nick with both of her paws before saying:

- You don't have to feel like that for giving your contribution to the investigation. What you did yesterday was in no way obnoxious or inconvenient, you acted like a true police officer. You gathered the data and sought answers that would explain your suspicions, you did an excellent job.

Nick was a little surprised to hear that but he was not overtaken by her words, Judy was very kind and he wanted to make sure that she was not bothered by his course of action. He leaned closer and asked:

- You sure it was no problem?

Judy took a few seconds to think on that question before she answered:

- Well, you did go a little out of protocol…

Judy said that as she made a pinching motion with her thumb and the pointing finger of her right paw and that caused Nick to wince a little from the inside but Judy still did not have anything inherently bad to say to him. Judy unmade her paw gesture and continued by saying:

- But you did an admirable job with the limited information we had and that is something that you can definitely feel proud of. Whenever you believe that you know something or when you feel like there is something worth sharing with me, do not hesitate to let me know. We are partners and I value your input.

Nick felt like a noticeable weight was lifted off of his shoulders, he let out an inaudible sigh from his nostrils and spoke up as soon as he felt his chest getting a little lighter:

- That's great to hear, fluff. I know that we can always count on each other as we are patrolling around, I hope we can keep going strong together.

Judy smiled and wobbled around for a quick second as she walked another step closer to Nick and delivered a soft bump to his left arm, she spoke up as she made sure that the fox still had his eyes on her as she said with a tinge of mockery in her voice:

- You foxes, so emotional.

Nick placed his right paw over the spot on his left arm that received the bump from the bunny, it didn't hurt but he still thought that to be somewhat humorous, he leaned to the side and spoke up as he confined on her:

- Do not push it. You know I can push back.

Judy showed a smile and returned to walk in the direction she was heading off before that conversation, Nick continued to follow her with a face and a renewed breath of relief. After a few more steps on their path, Nick noticed that the movement around them had become less frequent, the wind was slowing down and there were not too many other mammals walking around that route, everything became calmer. Judy broke that silence as she suddenly spoke up:

- You know, Nick? If you keep up with what you did yesterday, your investigative talents may get noticed by others, you might receive a promotion to detective sooner than expected.

Nick thought that sounded very nice for him, he hastened his step as he stepped forward with a faster rhythm to his walk and said:

- Oh, 'Detective Nicholas Wilde'. Tell me that doesn't sound like the title of an awesome franchise.

Judy giggled after hearing that, but her smile was short as her ears twitched when a sudden sound came to her attention. Judy heard a call from not too far away and her sensitive hearing caught wind of it. Judy's shoulders raised and her paws opened as she halted her walk once more, her ears moved frantically as she tried to identify the origin of the sound she just heard or check if there was any chance she would hear it again, she stood straight as she positioned her right foot closer to her left foot and devoted all of her focus on her hearing. Nick saw her stopping and his body halted as soon as she saw her paws positioning themselves side by side on her stance, Nick thought that something was amiss and his assurance came as soon as he heard her:

- Did you hear that?

Judy asked of him and Nick moved his ears around as he tried to identify any sound that could be considered noteworthy. Nick spent a mere five seconds in his own auditory search before he answered:

- Hear what?

Judy did not give up on her search, she continued to listen carefully as her feet stepped slowly and she turned her body on a full circle until she finally figured out the true origin of the sound. There was a voice, a voice belonging to a female and she was in clear distress, it was directed to a side path that lead to a line of buildings set near some of the biggest trees by the general surroundings, Judy did not know her way around the district all that well but her sense of duty spoke far louder than her common sense as she pointed to a path and yelled:

- THAT!

The bunny darted off at max speed and Nick only noticed as soon as a gray blur invaded his line of sight, the fox had a stupefied expression stamped on his face once he realized that his partner had dashed away to investigate on her own, even he still had not figured out what exactly she had just heard. Nick saved the questions he still had for later and moved in pursue of Judy having his legs propelling him on her path by spacing his steps as farther from one another as he could muster without losing footing or balance in order to keep up with Judy's speed as efficiently as possible. Nick followed Judy's path with noticeable strain as he moved his arms in accordance with each step to better adapt his own body to the sudden need for movement, Judy halted her run as she scanned the environment around her until she saw the owner of the distressed voice, a female pig that was left on the ground and looked very startled as she tried to move and stand up.

The mammal was dressed in a nice purple shirt and a humble pair of gray shorts and both of her articles of clothing were now wet and slightly dirty as she got up from the ground, her plight for help called to the attention of a few mammals that were walking around but most of them simply continued on their own paths without paying that too much mind, it was not their problem to be concerned with. Judy rushed to help the individual who was pleading for any assistance, the bunny hopped next to her and asked:

- Ma'am, are you okay? What happened?

Nick arrived as he finally caught up with Judy, just in time to hear as the mammal spoke up:

- My purse. This armadillo bumped against me, pushed me to the floor and stole my purse! My credit card and my cellphone were there!

The female swine spoke up with desperation in her voice but there was enough collectiveness in her speech to understand what had happened to her. Nick noticed that the mammal next to Judy spoke with a foreign accent to her voice, placing emphasis on the 'Rs' as the wind left her throat, she was either a tourist or haven't quite figured out the regular Zootopian accent. Judy placed little significance to the way the lady next to her talked, after hearing what had happened, she wasted no time asking:

- Which way did he go?!

The female pig pointed her left paw at the direction that lead off to the far corner of the sky road as she said:

- That way. It all happened so fast but I'm sure he turned left right there.

Judy promptly took off in pursuit of the unseen robber and Nick was left behind unsure on what the actual plan for that situation was. Nick tried to talk to Judy as he lifted his right arm to reach for her and maybe stopping her from doing something harsh but it was in vain, the bunny was already far off and nearly turning the corner and she didn't even took notice when Nick tried calling for her:

- Carrots! Wait up!

Judy was gone but Nick remained for a little bit longer as he reached for the mammal left shaken on the path and asked of her:

- Are you hurt in any way?

She looked up at him and answered reassuringly:

- I'm not hurt, just startled is all. You should go help her.

Nick showed a look of determination and spoke up:

- I will.

Nick took off after Judy as he rushed to the corner of the path and began looking for Judy as soon as the new route came into clear view:

"Damn it, carrots! Where are you?!"

Nick thought as his eyes rapidly searched for any traces of the bunny, he didn't have to look too long for her. Nick caught sight of Judy at the next corner of the path as she looked from side to side before picking a direction to go to, she decided to go right and that made her leave Nick's sight once more. Nick stepped hard over the path as he did his best to catch up with her, not even bothering to think that he might have been wasting too much energy on that run and making it, may haps, detrimental for him to give pursuit in case they ever found the culprit. There was a small group of pedestrians turning the corner and making it harder for Nick to blaze through but that is when he remembered that he could sternly ask for a way through, he took in some air and spoke up:

- Open way! ZPD, coming through!

The crowd heard Nick's voice and everyone was startled to hear that commanding voice asking for a quick way through, they opened way and Nick dashed by to turn the corner without issue. Nick turned his head to the left and waved his left arm to silently and hurriedly thank the mammals who let him through before he turned his focus back ahead. Up ahead, Judy thought to be hot on the trail of the thief but she hopped on without looking first and she had no idea where the described armadillo had gone, she found herself at the edge of a suspended crossroads with lots of mammals moving about, creatures of all sizes making use of the connecting sky roads but no sign of a suspicious looking armadillo. Judy stood there for a few seconds until her ears caught the sound of a series of rushed steps approaching her, she turned her head to the left and saw Nick stumbling onto a stop right next to her, the fox leaned closer and asked:

- Did we lose him?

Nick figured that there was no point in complaining on how Judy left him behind just earlier, it was more effective that she just went ahead and searched for their target without any delays. Judy continued to look around and she became increasingly concerned for not finding any trace of a simple thief anywhere around, she breathed deeply and swallowed some air before she got round to answering without looking in Nick's direction:

- I don't see anything. There is so much noise and it is very hard to identify anyone from here.

Nick helped her look around but, as he took a deep breath of air through his nose to try and recover some energy of his own, he caught something interesting that alerted his senses in a snap:

- Hang on.

Nick spoke up and walked ahead, Judy watched as her partner took the lead and asked of him:

- What is it?

Nick pointed ahead with his right paw and answered:

- Perfume. That lady we saw was wearing perfume. It was a little hard to distinguish but I can still smell it. My money is on the fact that this is our thief's trail.

Judy had her eyes opened wide with incredulity as she heard that, she stepped closer to Nick and asked:

- Do you think you can find him?

Judy whispered as she asked that, she did not wish to throw Nick off by sounding too intrusive or too overbearing with her question. Nick turned his body slightly to the right while keeping his face directed ahead and signaled to Judy by showing the palm of his left paw opening and closing signifying for her to wait a moment and remain close by simultaneously. Nick walked towards the center of the cross section where there was a small gazebo marking a simplistic cultural monument in the rainforest, Nick continued to sniff the air as he circumvented the gazebo's outer perimeter, he tried his best to recognize a significant trail but there were too many different scents in the air and the one that he was looking for was faint, nevertheless he continued his search. Judy stayed close and kept her attention at Nick but she also did her best to look around for anything out of the ordinary, then again she rarely came by the rainforest so there might be some difficulty in finding anything out of the norm.

Nick took another long whiff of the air until he got a definitive mental lock on what he was looking for, he turned his head a few degrees to the left until it landed on a spot by the northern path where he saw an armadillo, trying to find his way among the crowd and wearing a red hoodie to protect his face from any suspicious looks. Nick's ears darted up as his body was placed in full alert and he spoke up while pointing his right claw forward:

- THERE!

Judy turned her eyes in the direction Nick was pointing and identified the target without a problem, Nick began stepping ahead, gaining speed with each consecutive step, but Judy darted forward with greater speed and surpassed him just in time to yell out:

- ZPD! STOP RIGHT THERE!

The thief was alerted by that, he turned his face around and found the two officers coming right at him. The young armadillo started to move away as fast as his stumpy legs could move him while Nick and Judy began the pursuit. Judy kept her eyes forward as she grabbed the radio from the left side holster of her belt and spoke up:

- Attention ZPD dispatch, this is officer Hopps and we have a 12.8 in progress. I repeat: a 12.8 in progress at the rainforest district.

Nick heard that and he was quick to provide additional data while on the move:

- Mahatandio cross. Halian Avenue.

Judy heard that and spoke again into the radio:

- Pursuing the suspect on foot near Mahatandio cross over at Halian Avenue. Requesting back-up. Over.

The pursuit continued as the armadillo kept weaving around and taking routes that would be favorable for him while holding the recently stolen item under his left arm. The armadillo took a right turn and got a whole lot more speed on an incline road that lead to another big cross walk route except this one had only three paths that converged in a huge opening leading to an elevator, a small crowd of mammals was leaving the gigantic elevating contraption and that was a stroke of luck for the thief as his way became clear to give the two officers pursuing him. The armadillo pushed a few pedestrians off before he entered the elevator and pressed the button that would take him to the ground level of the rainforest where there would be more space to run and places to hide, he had a smile on his face that was a mixture of relief and wickedness.

Judy and Nick reached the bottom of the incline only to see their target entering the elevator and the double doors closing as it prepared to go down while carrying its only passenger. Judy planted her feet to abruptly stop her movement and the palms of her paws slammed against the closed doors as some of her momentum continued to carry her forward, she grunted in frustration and asked:

- *Ugh*. Now what? He's going to get away.

Nick looked around and was quick to answer as he called to Judy's attention and spoke up:

- No, he isn't. There are access stairs to the lower level nearby. C'mon!

Nick waved his paw as he told Judy to follow him ant the two officers ran to the right to find the aforementioned stairs, they had to be quick or they would lose their target for good. Nick pushed open the blue door that had the marking of an emergency entree plastered over its frame and was conveniently located by the left most edge of the structure housing the elevator, the fox began his descend with expediently placing one paw after another over each step in his path. Judy, however, did not prioritized safety as he placed her left foot over the first step in her way, she hopped down skipping three, sometimes four, steps at a time, carefully aiming her angles of launching and landing over three separate flights of stairs and until she had arrived at ground level much faster than Nick.

Judy saw the exit door leading back to the outside right in front of her, she jumped onto the knob, held on to it with both of her paws and pushed it down to swing the door open, she hopped outside, ready to engage in a full on confrontation and that was when she saw the armadillo calmingly making his way off towards another path, he was moving with a rushed step but it was evident that he was getting tired, she was just getting started. Judy darted ahead in pursuit once more and Nick was just getting through the access door to see her moving forward, he followed her as fast as he could but there were unforeseen complications ahead and neither of them was prepared for what they were about to face.

The armadillo ran off into an alley, far off from the sky roads and near a residential area of the lower rainforest, Judy was hot on his trail. The alley that they entered was not a dead-end, there were a few trash cans and a metallic fire escape placed by the wall belonging to the right side building and there was also a grated metal fence placed with barbed wire on the top and it was effectively blocking the path except for a medium sized gate at its very center. The armadillo reached for a latch that was left open and he entered the fence's inner perimeter, making sure to lock the gate with a very sturdy padlock before Judy had the chance to follow him, he proceeded with his escape right after that. Judy saw what he did but she refused to admit defeat or to let the thief escape, she took a quick survey of the alley as she was moving through it with great speed and one instinct took over her: The instinct to get over that fence.

Judy did not let her run slow down, she ran at an angle to the right and hopped over the trash can lids, the metal clanked with the impact of her feet, she hopped over as high as she could and reached for the last step of the fire ladder with both of her paws, there wasn't enough height for her to reach over the barbed wire so she began to climb the ladder, she reached a high enough altitude. Judy reached for the rail over at the first level of the fire escape, stepped over it with both of her feet and prepared to do something that she was definitely not prepared to do, she jumped. Nick entered the alley just in time to witness Judy's crazy stunt, he saw as the bunny launched herself from the fire escape, over the barbed wire fence, landed on an enclosed garbage bin on the other side, rolled over it and landed safely on the ground with a crouched stance to soften her tumble. Nick was astonished and did not even have the sense to yell Judy's name after seeing her performing such an outrageous stunt.

Judy began to run once more and Nick was left behind, he ran to the fence and placed his fingers in the openings that he managed to reach over with his paws, the gate was firmly locked and that was no way he could copy what Judy just did. Nick tried calling out to her:

- Carrots! Don't go in without back-up!

It was useless, she was already gone. Nick Looked around and his mind raced as he thought about what he should do next, he let go of the metal fence and stepped back as he thought:

"C'mon, Wilde, think!"

Nick began to make a mental map of where he was in the rainforest, his eyes moved frantically and he pointed to the air as he imagined a route that could efficiently take him more easily to the area at the other side of the fence. Frustrated with his situation, Nick started to list the name of different streets and avenues adjacent to his position out loud:

- Samora, Cartian, Dominik, Vite…

That is when it hit him, Nick determined for himself that if he took a route to the east and traversed two blocks he could back over and find another way to reach Judy, but he would have to hurry:

- Hang in there, carrots. I'm on my way.

Nick took off in the other direction and exited the alley in order to execute his line of thought. Meanwhile, on the other side of the fence, Judy and the armadillo continued locked in pursuit, the armadillo held off on his running as soon as he got to a more open area, it looked like an intersection of alleyways with backdoors and trash deposits for most of the houses and business places in that location, there were many piles of waste and recyclable material, an old no parking sign that was rusted out of shape and a set of rails most likely used to safely lock bicycles. Once Judy finally caught up with the target of her pursuit she felt like it was time to speak more unsympathetically and make him listen to her.

With a decisive look in her eyes, Judy drew her tranquilizer pistol and aimed it at the thief before saying:

- Hold it right there! This is your last warning.

Fully intending to pull on the trigger and carefully aiming for center mass with both of her paws holding steadily, Judy demanded that the armadillo stopped and did nothing that would worsen his situation. The armadillo turned around and took the hoodie off from his head before he answered to that:

- Damn it, lady! You are persistent.

- It is part of my job.

Judy did not know why she just said that, it just felt like the time to slip in a snappy one liner but her mind returned to the moment once she made a note of something very important:

- I thought you looked a little small for a regular thief. You're just a kid.

The armadillo had a much softer voice than the gruffer tonalities of an adult, he resented to Judy's remark and answered with a touch of hostility in his voice:

- I'm not a kid!

Judy stepped once as she moved a little closer and spoke up in response:

- If that were true than you would definitely be wise enough to weigh down your own decisions. I'm gonna have to ask you to drop the purse and raise your paws, you are under arrest.

As soon as Judy said that, her ears caught the sound of another set of steps nearby, they approached slow and stealthily and they were very close to her. Judy was just about to turn around to see for herself who was slowly advancing at her when something heavy collided against her arm and caused her to drop her tranquilizer gun. Judy's side arm clacked against the ground and she stumble backwards to try and get her bearings, ignoring the sharp pain in her left arm and trying to perceive who just struck her when she was unwary.

Judy stepped back as she regained her balance and looked to the left just in time to see a skinny and tall fox walking with short steps, he had a jean jacket over his shoulders with torn sleeves and a pair of biker pants with thin chins adorning its left side. The vulpine had anger in his eyes, he had some noticeable marks on his arms which showed that he had been on plenty of fights and he was holding firmly to a copper pipe with an 'L' shaped attachment at the tip, the improvised weapon was not too thick or long but it was heavy and resilient enough to be used as a blunt instrument for intimidation. The fox pointed the pipe at Judy, ready to swing it again and spoke up in a raspy voice:

- Check it again cop. Ain't no way you are taking anyone under arrest once you step up to me and my protégé.

Judy placed her right paw over the spot of her left arm that was just hit, sheer adrenaline was keeping her impulses in check as she looked for a chance to turn that situation around while simultaneously holding the pain she was feeling back. The fox turned to the armadillo and said:

- Crap, Jaime! You let a cop follow you here?! I thought you were spryer than that.

The young armadillo, now identified by name, turned to the fox and aired a reasonable excuse:

- Dude, she is crazy fast. I locked the fence behind me as you said and she straight up jumped over it!

The fox lowered his weapon for a moment as she asked with incredulity:

- What the fuck?! The fence had barbed wire on it, how in the hell did she get past it?!

Judy looked around and saw her weapon laying on the ground, it wasn't too far away from her, she thought about taking the chance to retrieve it. The angry fox noticed that and bared his teeth as he pointed his weapon back at her and said:

- Don't even think about it, bunny cop. You make a move and it will be your teeth scattered all over this pavement.

Judy recoiled inside and directed a look at the two mammals in front of her, she lowered her ears as she prepared herself to make a move, just in case the opportunity presented itself unexpectedly. The fox saw that and said with a wicked smile in his face:

- Take it easy little bunny. You don't have to make a big deal about it, you clearly bit off more than you could chew. There is nothing you can do to get out of this unscathed and there is no one that can help you.

- THINK AGAIN, CLOWN!

The hostile fox turned around to check on the origin of the new voice that invaded the alley just in time to receive an unstoppable shoulder charge from the bunny's partner. Nick had arrived just in time, he took a side street and crossed many more alleys that were left with far less protective measures than the one Judy had taken in her pursuit, he had sighted Judy in clear trouble and took swift action to help her. Nick ran as fast as he could and did not slow down as he delivered a massive blow against the two mammals menacing the bunny, his right shoulder struck his adversary's side which caused the skinny fox to lose his balance, drop his weapon and stumble back in the direction of a pile of trash that was left on the opposite side of the alley while shouting out a loud groan of pain and that was not all. As the fox in charge received the hit, the momentum of the unforeseen attack also struck the armadillo who got turned around and promptly felt back first on the floor, he wasn't hurt but he was left in a state of inaction as he found himself unable to get up, he was agile on his feet but he was too out of shape to crawl up into a ball and get off from his own protective carapace.

Nick turned to face Judy and found the bunny with a staggered expression on her face, having her ears up and her mouth hanging half-open. Nick gestured at her and asked:

- Are you alright?

Judy took in some air and answered:

- I'll be fine.

Nick turned his whole body at her and asked with a very noticeable touch of ire in his voice:

- Why didn't you wait for me? You should have waited for me.

Judy did not know how to answer that but she also clearly knew that continuing the pursuit without help was reckless, she was in that situation primarily because of her own rashness. The antagonistic fox began to stir from his spot amongst the trash cans and sacks of garbage, he moved his paws up and began to search for a spot to regain his balance and get up speedily, Nick saw that and raised his fists to get into a fighting position, Judy also responded to that by crouching down and reaching for her weapon, the two officers were now more than ready for a combat scenario. The angry fox raised from the trash and yelled:

- Son of a bitch! Whoever you are, you just stepped into a world of hurt!

Nick cracked his knuckles and answered to that:

- Do yourself a favor and stay down. You two are busted.

The angry fox stepped forward and Judy prepared to fire a tranquilizer against him, Nick squinted his eyes as he thought hard about something that started to bother him, that fox walking towards him looked… very familiar. After a few seconds locked in thought, that is when it hit Nick, he leaned forward and asked:

- Wait a second… Daniel?

The angry fox stopped on his tracks as he was fairly surprised to hear the police officer calling him by name, he squinted his eyes as he looked deep into the fox officer's eyes and asked:

- Wilde?

It didn't take too long to see that the two foxes had a history, the two of them retreated and Judy was inclined to ask of her partner:

- Nick, you know this perp?!

Nick turned his eyes at Judy and found her aiming the tranquilizer gun ahead and having her eyes and ears aimed straight at him. Nick took some air and answered without much enthusiasm in his voice as he recalled the times of an old acquaintance, now an adversary:

- Carrots, this is Daniel. He used to live in my old neighborhood and run around with a very unpleasant crowd. I haven't seen you for years.

Daniel adjusted his vest with both of his paws and stepped ahead as he came closer to converse directly with Nick:

- You're gonna wish you hadn't seen me, Wilde. I heard the word you joined Zootopia's finest. I thought it was just a goof or, most likely, another one of your scams.

Nick stepped closer to Daniel, a risky move but it would keep him distracted long enough so that maybe Judy could slap the cuffs on him, or so Nick thought. The fox officer lowered his ears over his head as he stepped forward once and asked:

- Last time I heard of you, you were running around with the 'Shock Choppers'. Whatever happened to you? I thought you were all out of town.

Daniel gestured with both of his arms making a wide motion with his paws like he was the star of a play, stepping on stage for the first time, he looked at Nick and answered:

- Shows what you know, Wilde. Me and the Choppers are now a multi opportunity business. We're planning on expanding our horizons after an unfortunate meeting with the law. We got busted hard after we took a walk past the state line and we're coming back at full force.

Nick took one look around, Daniel had to be telling a lie amidst his exaggerated speech and Nick knew just how to make the reveal possible, by getting on someone's nerves, preferably the unhinged vulpine standing right in front of him. Nick gestured to the figure of the armadillo still on his back and struggling to get up as he spoke up:

- Some come back. You are hiding away in a grimy alley and your only minion is flat out on his back.

The armadillo took offence to that, he shook his arms and waddled around on the ground while yelling:

- I'm not a minion!

Daniel turned to face Nick with increased fury in his eyes after hearing the fox officer's demeaning tone of voice. Daniel pointed at Nick's face and spoke up:

- Jaime here is no patsy, Wilde, he is a loyal member of my own branch of the Choppers, soon to be initiated as a full on member. Sort of like you *almost* were.

Judy sounded a little gasp after hearing that but any doubts that crossed her mind were dismissed as soon as she heard Nick saying while making a solid dismissive gesture with his right paw:

- I would never be one of you. I stand for the decision I made when I was a kid. I'm not going to steal other mammal's cars and strip them up for parts. That is not just wrong, that is barbaric.

At that moment so many things fell into place for Judy. Nick and Daniel went way back as far as acquaintances go but Nick always had principles that he was not willing to risk by joining up with any common crook, she always knew that Nick's moral compass was prompt to point in the right direction and there should be no doubts about it, she also felt a bit out of sorts by doubting that Nick could ever join up with what could only be described as a gang of violent lawbreakers. Daniel stepped closer to Nick, now the two vulpine were almost at the center of the alley cross, nearly bolstering up to a full showdown, the angry fox showed a toothy smile and said:

- You are at a full loss, Wilde. If you joined with us back then you could've had it all. Your knowledge of cars would've been invaluable to us. You have always been a sucker for *Doing the right thing*. In the end you couldn't even bother yourself to climb up in the world.

Nick released a loud laugh after hearing that, figuring that Daniel was playing his own game and trying to throw Nick off of his own, it did not work. Nick walked a single step closer and spoke up in answer to that:

- That is rich, coming from a guy that stoops up to stealing purses and, to top it all off, sends a kid to do his dirty work. You think of yourself as high and mighty but you are nothing more than a swindling blowhard. You used to be one of the smartest guys I ever met. Whatever happened to you?

Daniel placed the thumb of his left paw over his chest and answered:

- I took a stand against conformism! I didn't pretend to be satisfied with a mundane job and meager company, I made sure to join with the winning team so that I would be set for life when all is said and done. You may think you're clever Wilde, but you are just a goody-goody fox that is afraid to claw and bite his way to the top like anyone else in this city. I was just about to tell your little bunny friend there how it is when you so rudely interrupted us.

Nick's mind clicked in anger as he saw Daniel pointing a claw at Judy. Nick slapped the vulpine's claw out of the air and spoke up with a threatening tone:

- You touch one fur on her head and you're going to be sorry.

Daniel raised his arms with a smile on his face, he asked primarily as a continuous mock of Nick's stand in all of that:

- Wow, Wilde, when did you get a backbone? You never stood up like that to me or to anyone for that matter.

Nick knew that it was time to end that argument for good so he went for the low blow in the conversation and said:

- She doesn't need me or anyone else to stand up for her. If you step up against her you would be sorry for sure… 'Danny'.

Nick's demeanor as he said that silly name with his voice definitely had an impact on Daniel, the fox stepped forward and he was now on Nick's face as he said with a growl between his teeth:

- You do not call me that. EVER!

- Or what?

Nick's simple dare was enough to push Daniel over the edge. The delinquent wound up his right arm and delivered a hard hitting hook of a punch right at Nick's muzzle. Nick was not really expecting that, no one was. Judy planted her feet as soon as she saw her friend being struck, she stepped to the side to get a clear look and a good shot at Daniel and she was prepared to pull the trigger more than once if necessary. Nick had his view and his perception shaken by the hit but he was fine, his head turned to the left as he tried to dismiss the impact and the pain of the punch he just absorbed, he heard Judy's gasp and her paws clasping her weapon but he believed that everything was well under control, he was looking for a reaction out of Daniel and that fit of anger was more than enough to throw the antagonistic vulpine out of his beat.

Nick slowly turned his head back to its original position, he was once again facing Daniel directly and his own stare made it show that he still felt the pain of the hit, Daniel's face had an insufferable smirk stamped over it and that did not sit well with Nick. Nick took in some air through his nose and moved the muscles on his muzzle for a couple of seconds as he made sure that he was not seriously hurt. After getting his bearings once more, Nick acted out on his retort as he bared his teeth, grabbed Daniel's shirt with his left paw and delivered a lightning fast straight punch with his right paw.

Everything happened so fast that not even Judy was on par with what just occurred. Daniel had a devastating hit delivered to his muzzle and he was completely stunned by the force of it, he did not know how strong and capable Nick had become and that was a very costly mistake on his part. Nick let go of Daniel's shirt immediately after making sure that his attack had fully connected and dealt the desired amount of damage, Daniel stumbled back with both of his paws covering the spot on his muzzle that was just struck, he grumbled and growled in pain until he rose up and laid his eyes on Nick one more time, there was so much fury in his stare and he intended to put it all to good use as he advanced with the will to keep that fight going.

Nick saw Daniel advancing and prepared himself for a brawl, he raised his right arm to deliver quick attacks and placed his left paw near his face to effectively protect against incoming damage. Daniel got close enough to deliver some hurt back at Nick only he was prepared for it, Nick raised his left arm and caught another hook half-way to its intended target, Nick responded to that with another straight punch of his own and a victorious smile that only made Daniel angrier. Their fight continued with counter after counter, parry after parry, for as long as it kept going it looked like the two vulpine were equally matched or so it seemed. Nick was getting hit a couple of times and some of the hits really took some wind out of him but he had more than enough determination to hit it back twice as hard, their combat echoed around the walls of the alley and Daniel began to push Nick back away from Judy's line of sight, he figured that it would be favorable to keep Judy from getting a good enough shot at him but he was mostly doing that because he thought about teaching Nick a lesson.

As the two foxes were disappearing into another path, Judy spoke up while holding her pistol and struggling to get a precise shot:

- Nick!

He responded to her call while continuing to fight Daniel off:

- Don't worry about me, carrots, I'll be fine. Arrest the other one!

Judy saw as Nick and Daniel vanished from her line of sight and she tried to walk in their direction to see if she could offer any assistance, she did not have the chance to do so. The armadillo who was still doing his best to get up from the ground at last figured how to shift his weight and get back on his feet:

- Finally!

He said so as he rose from the ground and walked menacingly in Judy's direction. Judy aimed her tranquilizer gun at him but she was not about to pull the trigger on the young mammal, instead, she tried to reason with him by speaking while slowly lowering her weapon to a position of lower risk for him:

- Please, do not try to resist. If you follow in this path, things are only going to get worse for you.

Jaime was not cooperative with what Judy had said, he wanted to take that further, he wished to see if his effort was going to pan out in the end. The armadillo grunted and shook all doubt out of his mind before he answered:

- I have done way too much and stomped out a hell of a lot more paths than I was willing to think about to get here. I need to do this.

Judy felt really bad for having to do what she was about to do but it was still her duty, she had to protect other mammals, especially if their inconsequent thoughts could lead them into ruinous astray in the most ruinous of outcomes. Judy reinforced her stance and answered to him as she placed her finger over the trigger:

- Then I'm sorry, but I must stop you from creating more problems for others, including yourself.

Judy pulled the trigger and let two darts fly off from her weapon believing that it would be more than enough to keep Jaime asleep for more than enough time to cuff him and take him into custody, unfortunately the young armadillo's shell was more than sturdy enough to repel the sting of the darts. Jaime turned around and used his own back as a shield, the two darts that Judy had fired didn't even penetrate his skin and they just fell to the ground. Realizing that her weapon was not going to be much use against a foe that was naturally protected, Judy only had one thing to say:

- Oh, horse radish.

She would have to think of another way to subdue the armadillo and she would need to do it fast because Jaime was already advancing against her. Meanwhile, at the adjacent alley, Nick and Daniel were still locking fists and throwing punches at one another, Nick took one advance jab at Daniel but he was already on to Nick's trick's, the fox officer got himself a low punch in the gut and a second punch to the side of the head, both were answered in kind with a double knuckle to the chest and an uppercut to the jaw. After two minutes or so in that heated debate, both the foxes were starting to few strained and tired, Daniel stepped back to catch his breath but Nick did not unmake his fighting stance as he waited for his adversary to make another move. Nick nodded his head in Daniel's direction and asked:

- Getting tired already?

Daniel looked at Nick with one eye half closed, showing that he was feeling the weight of each hit he had already received up until that point but he did not want his response to show any of that either, he was not going down easily. Daniel took some breath and answered:

- No way, I'm just getting started.

Nick heard that Daniel was in pain but he just refused to surrender, the hostile fox rubbed his left arm against his muzzle and looked on it to check if he was bleeding, he wanted that to be finished, he knew that the longer he stayed there the more likely the chance other officers would show up and arrest him. Nick decided to appeal to Daniel so that he would not need to fight anymore:

- Daniel, you are a smart fox, you've always been a smart fox. If you throw in the towel there is a chance you can get out of this.

- Forget it, Wilde! With my record in mind, your little officer pals won't think twice before throwing me in the slammer and tossing the key out the window. I am not backing down.

Nick saw as Daniel got ready to continue the fight but there was still more to say. Nick took in some air and asked intrusively:

- What the hell happened to you?! Why are you still at it?!

- You wanna know what happened? The Choppers are done, Wilde. I put in blood, sweat and tears into this and one bad call later half of us got thrown in Jail, we need more mammals who are willing to cross the line for us, we need new blood.

- But… why here? Why now?

Daniel laughed at that and answered while pointing a finger over his shoulder:

- You can thank your little bunny friend for that one. The savage outbreak made us common criminal realize that sticking to conventional crimes won't do us any good, we got to be bolder. Big and all of those gangsters under his thumb? Their time is coming and whoever steps up to the plate is going to be making the rules.

- And you think that's gonna be you of all mammals?

Daniel clutched his fists tightly and answered:

- Why not? I always thought I was born to lead, just like you were born to eat dirt.

At the end of that sentence, Daniel hopped and advanced against Nick, thinking that he would catch him off guard, big mistake. Nick was waiting for that and he delivered his retort as he ducked out of the way of a right hook, weaved out of the way of a left jab and began laying down the hurt of his own. Nick started with one straight left that pushed against Daniel's left shoulder, followed by a right blow that struck the side of his head, another left that connected to the chest and took air out of the lungs and, finally, a decisive grapple as Nick placed both of his paws on the sides of Daniel's head and pulled him down to deliver a right knee to the face, Daniel was seeing stars after that attack and he did not like it one bit.

After Daniel got the sense for his surroundings back and after the ring in his ears diminished, he looked at Nick and asked while doing his best to hold his own body straight:

- Fucking hell! They teach this kind of thing at cop school?!

Nick adjusted his fighting stance and answered with a cocky tone in his voice:

- No, that's just something I picked up along the way.

Returning to Judy and Jaime, the armadillo threw swipe after swipe as he tried pinning Judy down but it was obvious to see that he didn't really had the heart to hurt her, his shoulders clicked up and his swipes were thrown around recklessly showing that he was hesitating with each hit. Jud leaned and hopped around in order to dodge every hit but she needed to end that and help Nick as soon as possible. In a desperate move to make an impact, Judy jumped over Jaime, used his head as a foothold to jump a little higher and landed with great precision over the bike rail at the west side of the alley, Jaime was half convinced that the bunny was a ninja at that point but he still wouldn't back down. Jaime advanced against Judy planning to knock her off the rail but she was already anticipating his move.

Judy gave a single step to the right over the rail causing Jaime to miss his punch, his arm passed over the rail and that was the opening Judy was waiting for, she grabbed her paw cuffs and slapped one of its rings over the armadillo's exposed wrist. After seeing that, Jaime panicked and tried reaching for Judy with his other paw, Judy hopped down and took the chance to latch the other cuff around his other wrist, in his haste to reach for the bunny officer and surprise her, Jaime failed to notice that he had placed himself in a way that would trap him without a chance to escape. By the end of that, Jaime had both of his paws cuffed and the chain between his wrists was tugging against the rail, he was trapped and Judy had won without even breaking a sweat.

Judy turned around to check on Nick while ignoring Jaime's struggle to break free from the cuffs, she walked with a rushed step in the direction of the path Nick and his opponent had taken but she didn't have to move too far as she saw Nick coming back with the antagonistic fox not that far behind. Filled with concern for her partner's safety, Judy asked:

- Nick! Are you okay?

Trying to appear courageous and in control, Nick answered while keeping his eyes forward:

- Just peachy, fluff. Except for the fact that my dance partner is kind of rude.

Daniel appeared from the alley, pushing trash cans out of his way and trying to look more menacing, the fox was livid and it showed as he yelled out, being done with Nick and with that fight:

- Stay still so I can FUCKING HIT YOU!

After hearing that, Nick threw in one more joke for good measure as he said:

- See that? Didn't even say 'please'.

Daniel advanced towards Nick and Judy was prepared to draw her tranquilizer gun to put him down for the count at once, which did not happen right away. Nick had a plan and he put it in action as he stepped forward making it look like he was offering himself as an easy target, Daniel stepped forward to deliver a punch at full force but Nick took advantage of his momentum and tripped him up, Nick grabbed Daniel's center of mass and tossed the antagonistic fox against a wall, the impact was enough to make Daniel wince and slide to the ground in pain, he was too tired to keep fighting.

Nick leaned his body ahead and took loud breaths through his mouth, Judy, still concerned with him, came closer and placed her paws over his left shoulder before asking:

- Nick, goodness sake! Are you hurt?

Nick waved his left paw in the air and answered:

- No, I'm just… tired. He did not go down easy.

Nick placed his body in a straight stance and asked of Judy:

-Did you get the other one?

Judy nodded once and answered:

- He is cuffed and ready to go. Are you sure you are not hurt?

- Carrots, I'm fine. Honest. I was far more worried about you.

Judy raised her ears as she looked at Nick and asked:

- Me?

Nick stepped around so that he would be placed right in front of Judy and continued to speak:

- Yes, you. You took off and did not wait for me, you could have been seriously hurt.

Judy pointed to her left and sounded an excuse:

- He was getting away, I couldn't let that happen.

Nick showed the palms of his paws and said:

- I get that, you still should've waited for me.

While Nick and Judy were distracted talking, they failed to notice Daniel getting back up, the fox reached for an empty bottle on the ground and he was getting ready to fling it at Nick's head, he raised the bottle over his head and stepped closer very slowly. Judy noticed that just in time, she pushed Nick aside and grabbed her tranquilizer gun, yelling out as she quickly aimed her shot:

- NICK! WATCH OUT!

Judy used a lot of her own strength to push Nick aside, her left paw was still in pain due to the hit she had taken but there was no time to dwell on that, Judy grabbed her gun from the holster and let the last dart in her clip fly and it hit Daniel right on the chest. The antagonistic fox now had tranquilizer running through his system but Nick felt like that wasn't enough, he stepped in Daniel's direction, hit him with a left hook, a right jab and a full-on Spartan kick to his gut, Daniel collided back first against the wall and collapsed unconscious on the floor, he was thoroughly defeated. Nick pointed at him and shouted:

- And stay down!

Judy came closer to placed her left paw over Nick's right shoulder and make sure he was alright, sure he went a little overboard but it was justified, also, Nick had confronted and defeated his first suspect and that was a momentous occasion. Far off into the distance it was possible to hear the sound of ZPD sirens getting closer, a few minutes went by until the voices of a familiar officer came through one of the alleyways, it was Wolford with Delgato coming right behind him and the wolf officer lead the charge into the alley while speaking:

- Wilde, Hopps, we were patrolling the area when we got wind of your… HOLY SHIT!

Nick was leaning against a wall with his arms crossed and Judy was right next to him taking notes on her note pad when the other two officers arrived on the scene and witnessed what could only be described as the site of an epic battle. Nick saw them and waved with his right paw before saying:

- Hey there guys, you missed one hell of a party.

Nick asked Wolford to take Daniel and Jamie back to the precinct one building so that they could be safeguarded until they could be properly processed and incarcerated, Judy insisted that they went back and looked for the lady that asked for their help and, surprisingly enough, they found her not too far from the spot where she was. Nick and Judy returned the stolen purse and the female pig was very grateful for what they had done, the two officers returned to their cruiser and began the drive out of the rainforest and back to precinct one, although, there was something amiss.

Nick noticed that Judy was moving a little slower than before, that she had placed her right paw over her left arm a few times as they moved out of the alley and back to the cruiser, there was something bothering her, he decided to wait in silence and ask her what was wrong after they arrived back at the ZPD. For now, Nick only wanted to rest and take some time to think about what had just happened and how he was feeling, not just physically.