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.

26. Episode 26: Ambushed

Author's note: Salutations dear readers, it is I, Valiant, and I have returned with another chapter of my Zootopia fan-fic. Did you miss me?... I feel like I have to apologize for the delay that each chapter has had so far, I have been distracted with many projects at once being thrown my way and some of them have not been getting the attention and love each of them deserve. I would like to wish you all a happy Halloween month before saying a few words related to my development process for the near future. First of: this next chapter bounces around all over the place and it may not be to the liking of all of you since it ends on a cliffhanger, I know, it kind of sucks, but the wait will be rewarded with dramatic moments that will be incredible to read through in later chapters, this one was a tricky one to put down since it had to be reworked about three different times, I ended up cutting off many moments of interactions between Nick and Judy that would have left the chapter itself too wordy, don't worry though, I might just save the parts that were meticulously cut off for later. Second of: My house has been going through some renovations and that might leave me busy for a few days until I get back to writting, I promise to get back to this story as soon as possible, but first, I will work on my Spyro fan-fic which has been going stale for quite a bit.

At any case, I do hope you will enjoy the reading and keep coming back for more. See you all next time and good luck.

Episode 26: Ambushed.

It was a cold night in the Rainforest district, there was no strong wind and the leaves were still dripping, filling the calm air of the night with a nice rhythm that echoed across the trees making it sound like an approximation of rain. Underneath the solitary light of a lamp post over at the southern edge of the district, a wolf was waiting for the information drop that he was set to get, a file would be delivered to him as well as the face of his newest contact, he did not have to wait too long for that. The wolf's ears twitched as soon as he heard the approaching bristle of an engine, a powerful one, he squinted his eyes as his head turned from left to right and he searched for the vehicle, there was no sign of headlights and the wolf grew concerned with that, his worries were put at ease once he saw a limousine emerging from the dark shrouded streets.

The wolf remained calm and collected with his paws being placed inside the pockets of his coat, even with his long gray natural fur, the temperature in the rainforest seemed to be gradually dropping by the minute and he wasn't much for cold climates having worked in the savanna for most of his life. As the wolf turned his attention to the limo and noticed some details about it, the vehicle was not very large or very long, there was no log placed on the side doors which probably meant that it was a private vehicle and most likely used to either keep up appearances or compensate for something. With a few seconds to look and absorb every major detail about the limo, the wolf heard how the engine was suddenly turned off, he saw as the door to the back on the right side of the vehicle opened up wide and a figure disembarked while having a big envelope in his left paw, although, it was not the individual he was hoping to meet.

From the back of the limo emerged an ocelot with an angry look on his face and a large scar on the right side of his head, Andersen, the feline was dressed in modest clothes that did not match the luxurious vehicle he was riding in the least, the ocelot was also tall and appeared to be fairly strong even if his clothes were unevenly covering most of his muscles, the feline placed the big envelope he was carrying under his right arm before leaning his head and being seen sharing a few words with another passenger in the limo, someone who went unseen. The wolf had his ears raised and his eyes wide open in case he was in for any surprises, Andersen closed the door of the limo behind him, being careful to not use too much of his strength to do so and not accidentally smash his tail against it, and walked slowly in the direction of the wolf while keeping the big envelope safely guarded beneath his left arm.

The feline moved slowly across the street, they were now in an area where the traffic cams would not reach them, they could meet and talk safely, the wolf showed a nod of his head as he gestured in the direction of the feline and said:

- You arrived right on time. I can at least appreciate your commitment to punctuality.

The feline looked over and spoke up as soon as he walked right under the light of the lamppost:

- If there are two things my employer admires and respects, Mr. Darfang, is commitment and efficiency. Two things we expect to see from you and your allies once you come work for us.

The wolf looked around, leaning his body to the left and directing his eyes mostly towards the limo and to its imposing presence, the ocelot looked over and raised a brow over the wolf's apparent lack of interest, he leaned forward while increasing the underarm grip he had over the envelope he was carrying along before asking:

- Something wrong?

The wolf placed his back straight, his ears twitched and his eyes turned to face the intimidating feline right in front of him before he answered:

- No, nothing's wrong. I just figured I would be meeting with the mammal in charge himself. He *was* the one who told me to show up during the phone call.

Andersen showed the palm of his left paw, forcibly asking for patience and cooperation without the need of harsh words before he said:

- Don't worry yourself with any of that. The 'mammal in charge' is right over there keeping an eye on things. I'm just the middle-mammal, out and about to deliver the payment upfront so we could get the deal in order, just like it was discussed.

Seeing no immediate problem with how that was unfolding, the wolf gestured with both of his paws, giving the ocelot some curtesy, and allowing the deal to proceed. Darfang did not care for safety procedures or personal attachments to employees at that time, all he wanted was to receive the payment and get on with his agreed work. Andersen took the envelope out from under his right arm and delivered to the wolf, there was a second of hesitation before the item was accepted, held and then opened by the canine who took a quick look inside the thin paper parcel to confirm that the payment was all contained within. A big bundle of bills was placed inside the envelope, Darfang placed his right paw inside to touch and flip the bills without taking them out and arousing suspicion out of anyone, a quick check revealed that the pay was good and genuine.

The envelope was closed and stored away inside the wolf's coat, he assured that the item was safely stored before he spoke up again:

- Promising. My pack will be very glad to learn that your employer makes good on his word.

The ocelot could not hold back a little laugh as soon as Darfang was done talking, he turned to the wolf and gestured with his left paw pointing in his direction as he asked:

- Your 'pack'? Is that what you call your little crew of outcasts?

Darfang sounded a growl as he countered that question:

- We're not 'outcasts'.

It felt like the wolf had lost his temper, he let the elegant and controlled posture he was planning to show off during that meeting get away from him. Darfang made a clearing throat sound that went unheard and spoke up as Andersen looked over at him one more time.

- The Wasps used to be the best pack of mammals that roamed in order to gather intel across the city. We were on the payroll of some of the greatest mammals around, then that prick Mr. Big catches wind of our services and hires us just to sell us out toss us aside the next day and tell us to not do what we do, the one thing we are good at. That was the end of the story for us.

Andersen raised a brow and got a good sense of why the wolf was trying to get into that line of work even if it would end up ultimately putting his group at dangerous odds with the mob boss known as Mr. Big, that rapidly explained bit of backstory could prove to be a useful vein of information for later use. With a subtle flick of his left wrist directed at the savanna area far off in the distance, the feline looked over at the wolf and said:

- Big's time is coming to an end. Zootopia is evolving far beyond what he and his pathetic enforcers can keep in check. If you and your pack agree to a long term employment contract, there would be more where that came from.

Darfang did not have to think too long for an answer to that, the wolf noticed the ocelot pointing a claw over to the lapel of his coat, the spot where the envelope had been stored away, and nodded his head in accordance with that. With their initial transaction concluded, all that was needed ow were details about the true nature of the job, Andersen was vague about it, making sure that the wolf would not be able to take any tangible shred of information back to his pack of goons that would alert them for the need of a bigger pay cut or give him any ideas about backing down from the accord:

- All you have to know is that we're testing and transporting a heavy piece of equipment, nothing dangerous. This thing will help us get a leg up on the ZPD and their newest radio devices, it's one of a kind, which means being absolutely careful while handling it.

Darfang scratched the fur under his chin as he thought that over, drawing a big blank on his mind as what could possibly be the heavy 'piece of equipment' described by the ocelot. With the needed information exchanged, the schedule for their next meeting set and the transaction completed, the wolf walked off on his way, disappearing into the depths of the rainforest nearby once he moved away from the light of the lamp post. The feline walked off back towards the limousine once the wolf was already gone, he took one quick look around to make sure that there was no one else around before opening the passenger door of the right side of the vehicle and stepping inside.

As Andersen sat himself comfortably inside the limo, his boss was quick to ask right away how his conversation with the wolf went, the intimidating voice came out:

- So… how did it go?

Seated over the seat right across from the feline was a figure that just exuded intimidation, he leaned forward so that he could hear everything that would be said during that conversation clearly and, as he did so, revealed his full form out from the cover of the shadows. The image that appeared was that of a goat, he looked very young, strong and had nicely maintained curved horns over his head as well as a thin coat of bright gray fur, well-trimmed beard. His ears were lowered and his mouth looked to be stuck on a permanent scowl but his eyes showed no sign of tension, merely a soft and patient look that communicated that he was holding his expectations in check for the time being. The goat possessed an aura that put out incredible pressure to those around him, a chilling presence that was only accentuated by his attire, a purely black suit with a white stripped red tie around his neck.

The ocelot seated inside the limo felt very at ease as soon as he saw his employer, the aura of intimidation he felt when he entered the vehicle once more made his heart beat faster, it was an uncomfortable feeling that pressed over him, making him feel small and nearly insignificant next to such a looming presence, and yet, he couldn't get enough of it. With a quick breath and a steady gesture with his right paw, Andersen answered:

- You can rest easy, sir. The leader of these so called 'wasps' took our deal without complaining, I didn't give him any specific detail about the job just as you asked and he is going right now to convince his associates.

The goat gave out a slow nod of his head before he leaned back on the repost of his seat and said:

- Good, that is very good. It does make me somewhat uneasy to perform deals such as this under the cover of darkness. If we're really trying to bring change to Zootopia, the light of day would be a much more welcome companion. Are you certain this net of information you pulled from the streets is reliable?

Andersen made the same gesture as before with his right paw and said:

- As you told me before, sir, I put out some feelers to discreetly seek out information on the street and I was informed about these guys from a very reliable source. Apparently, their leader has quite the axe to grind against Mr. Big.

- Good, we might be able to use that to keep him in line during the foreseeable future, even if only for a moment.

Andersen was satisfied, he showed a little smile as he noticed that his superior arrived to the same conclusion he did before. The goat adjusted the lapels of his suit before he reached for a side pocket to grab a hold of his cellphone, he pressed an elaborate series of numbers to unlock the screen and then made a signal for the driver of the vehicle, signaling him with a simple gesture of his left hoof that he wished to return to his main office in the upper savanna district. After getting the signal from the mammal in charge, the driver turned the engine on, the noise of which was barely perceptible from the confines of the passenger chamber, and began his drive back to the savanna, there were no exchanged words for the longest time during the ride back, Andersen merely sat down with his back against the cozy repost behind him and stared over to the goat seated right across from him, there was no report to be spoken or last minute changes to the schedule to be posted and, over time, that silence grew weary for the goat. Suddenly, the voice of authority, almost seeking to pull off a polite conversation, asked:

- What is the matter Andersen? If you have something on your mind speak up already.

Andersen was taken aback for a second after hearing that, he thought that the goat had his eyes placed over the cellphone screen and could not notice him watching over. The ocelot made a soft dismissive gesture using both of his paws and answered:

- N… nothing is the matter, sir.

There was a pause in his answer as the limousine made a sharp turn to the left before returning to a straight and steady path, the feline continued to speak as soon as the motion of the vehicle became steadier:

- It's just… I rarely get to see you in the flesh. It has been a while since you employed me for this venture and I'm quite glad that we get to talk face to face.

The goat had his ears raised and his thoughts stirred after hearing that. The feline accompanying him was his most trusted accolade and enforcer, it was indeed strange that they would see each other so rarely and the objectives they both were set out to accomplish have been moving steadily for a good long time. Leaning forward to reciprocate the feline's opinion, the goat swallowed some saliva before saying:

- You're quite right indeed, Anders. For about ten months you and many like you who share my ideals have been in my employment, and yet, I rarely seal transactions much like this on my own. I am trying to change the world around me and it feels like I am not lifting one paw of my own to do so.

Andersen directed a quick, surprised look at the mammal seated right across from him and felt a little dread building up inside him, thinking that his superior may have caught the wrong meaning behind the aired opinion. Andersen made a rushed and repetitive dismissive gesture with both of his paws as he said:

- No! No, sir! It's nothing like… that's not what I meant.

The goat showed a dismissive sign of his wrist that shut the feline right up as he moved his paw down, he showed the palm of his cloven hooved paw before lowering it quickly and halting that movement once it was shown in a horizontal positioning. The goat tucked his paw back closely to his body and continued speaking without the worry of being further interrupted:

- There is going to be a small event that I'll have to attend this morning, after a short time of rest I must do to the central Savanna to sign a few documents and it would not be unwelcome to have someone I can trust alongside me.

Andersen felt his tail twitch over his seat as he directed another look at his boss, he raised his right paw slightly in front of him, gently calling attention in his direction before asking:

- You want me to attend a social event with you? I thought I was not meant to be seen.

Andersen was legitimately surprised to hear his boss saying such a thing, asking the feline to go way out of his stablished zone of operations to venture off into the light of day alongside him. Andersen was apprehensive to answer that posted request, he wished to be next to his superior most of all during social moments as such but his outer appearance may offset some mammals if he was not careful, specially the scar plastered across the right side of his face. The goat turned his eyes back to the screen of his phone as he pressed some icons and spoke up without showing any excitement in his facial expression or let any enthusiasm be heard from his words:

- If we're truly setting off to make a change in our favor, we all need to be seen in a way. We'll have you stand by as a 'hired help' for security detail during the event, you'll have to change clothes to something more… professional.

The tone used for the last word of that sentence paired with the way the goat pointed conspicuously in Andersen's direction showed how the employer had noticeable distaste for the feline's choice in clothing which prompt Andersen to take a look at himself and at what his clothes actually looked like. His red hoodie and brand new pair of pants were thought by him as stylish and functional but the feline also knew right away to what the goat was referring to, it was customary for Andersen to see his boss in a fancy business attire and he imagined that the other mammals that he dealt with on a daily basis also used to dress in such a manner, it did not take long for the ocelot to imagine himself dressed as a certified security officer alongside his respect worthy employer. Plunged into silence for almost a full minute, the interior of the limo came back to sound once more as the goat pointed to the ocelot and asked:

- That would not be a problem?

He spoke in such a way that it made sound like it was a fact, almost like a demand, not a question that put out a choice as an answer. Andersen did pick up on the pushy tone that was used at him but he did not mind it anyway, he was really looking for the chance to spent some more time with the mammal that presented him with the chance to be more in life than a common thug out on the streets, the one mammal who saw potential in him and who he held up in the highest regard. Andersen patted his chest before answering out right:

- No problem at all, sir.

- Good.

The goat reached his right cloven paw over his shoulder, he positioned his hooves in a knocking position and tapped the glass behind him in order to have a quick word with his driver, the pig handling the wheel of the vehicle opened the observation window to the back seats with the simple press of a button on the dashboard, he turned his head slightly to the right without taking his eyes away from the road and asked:

- Yes, sir?

The goat swallowed some air before answering:

- Change of plans, Kyle. Take us to my home, I must get a few things and maybe get something to eat before heading to work. This routine gets us all so worked up that I barely have the notion to eat or sleep.

That last sentence was spoken in an effort by the part of the goat to sound more relatable to his subordinate although he had no true intention of doing so. The swine placed on the driver's seat gave a little nod before answering:

- Right away, Mr. Ortega.

Desmond Ortega, the name of the mammal who got wrapped around donating small stashes of his inherited fortune throughout the recent history of Zootopia in order to help others out of the generosity in his heart only to soon after become entangled in bigger games of money and chance across the city and start up a financial storm around multiple sectors of the economy. With the city of Zootopia again on the rise, there was at least one paw of intention belonging to Ortega in every major deal around the city, from the construction investments to the pharmaceutical exchanges. The goat felt the impact of the savage outbreak incident different than most of the city, choosing to not be swept away in the massive paranoia that took a hold of the city to instead focus on expanding his influence and take control of everything, the entire city and its districts had, in time, become a massive gaming board for him to control and play around and his moves were carefully crafted to give him and his subordinates the work around on all the advantages.

The limousine changed course, entering the Savanna Central through another connection of the main road, a tunnel that ended on a track that would put it in closer proximity to more tranquil roads over at the upper savanna. A new phase of a carefully laid out plan was in motion but there was still some leisure time to be had before it was time to act.

---

Three days had gone by. In the savanna, inside his room, enjoying some quiet sleep before he had to go to work, Nick tossed and turned over his bed as his head was beseeched by a most peculiar dream. Nick's dream did not incite fear but it did leave a strange impression in his mind as he saw himself walking through an empty corridor with white paint passed over the walls and ceiling, a narrow passageway leading him to a threshold o few steps ahead. After exiting the corridor, the fox found himself in unfamiliar territory as he found a small room with only a few bare essentials in terms of furniture, there was a chair by the corner, a circular carpet with a concentrical pattern of colors covering the floor and a wooden table that appeared very old and rustic. It was a simple environment but it felt constricted, oppressive for some reason unknown to the fox, he wanted to leave.

Nick turned around to return his attention to the long hallway he had come from previously, to his surprise however, the path he had used to get inside that room was gone, replaced by a solid brick wall. Nick turned around to look for another way out without letting panic settle into his head and, luckily, he managed to find a door that would most likely lead him out of that place. Nick reached for the doorknob but he had a bit of hesitation in him as he was fairly certain that the door he was reaching for was not there only a moment ago, but his sense of preservation spoke louder as he opened the door without much effort and stepped right through in order to witness what was behind it. Another surprise, Nick was lead to his living room only it appeared much bigger than before, there were multiple shelves by the far wall filled with a variety of books, a cozy couch that could offer comfort for a myriad of mammals of various sizes by the left and a long walk leading to the kitchen by the left. Everything around him suddenly felt familiar and yet strange, it was an enticing feeling.

Nick walked into the room, turning his head left and right to try identifying any more familiar sightings, any element that could more accurately guide him to where he was and how could he get out of there. There was a new feeling in his chest, it grew into the desire to escape that environment, even if there were no discernible threats in clear sight. He tried using his nose to guide him, sniff out anything suspicious but it did him close to no good since the only scent he could identify was his own. The growing sense of unfamiliarity grew as Nick figured out that the habitational place he was located bared close similarities to his apartment but it felt vaster, roomier somehow, it felt like a home in a strange way.

Nick gave a few more slow steps into the room and turned slightly to the right figuring that if the layout of that place was similar to his apartment he should be able to find the door out of there by tracking in the same general direction but the differences to the place he was accustomed to were far from being over. In the place of the front door there was another clear threshold that would take him to another corridor, a closer look revealed that the other end of that passageway would only lead him deeper into unknown territory but he did not have many other options at that time. Nick took another survey of the immediate area and his nerves were suddenly put at ease once he saw a familiar figure making her way towards him, Judy was there, in that room, looking right at him with sparkly eyes and a sunny smile, dressed in humble garments as she slowly walked in his direction intending on asking him if everything was alright.

Nick turned his body around completely to walk towards her, he could feel a much welcome sense of relief in knowing that his partner was there with him, the two of them were standing still and facing one another in the middle of that living room, Nick did not know what to do or say next but his confirmation came soon after as he saw the bunny opening her arms and calling out for a simple hug. Nick walked a single step closer, leaned down closer to the ground and delivered the hug that his friend was asking for, Judy wasted no time in tossing herself close to Nick and wrapping her arms around his figure while nestling her head by the right side of his neck. Nick felt the sense of urgency that had a hold of him earlier promptly melting away, but that moment would not last for very long.

Nick's breathing eased up and he did not wish to leave that place anymore, Judy was next to him and she would know what to do, where they were, what they should do, Nick did not know anything on how to proceed at that point and he had a hunch that she would know what to do next, but, as soon as Nick leaned his head back to look at Judy and ask anything at all to her, he noticed that the bunny was gone and he was left holding nothing but air. Nick raised his body straight up and looked around, he was absolutely confused with whatever had happened but he did not have to worry or look very hard as he found Judy seated on the couch staring straight at him with the very same sweet expression on her face and gesturing for Nick to take a seat next to her by tapping the cushion to her immediate left.

"How did she get there so fast?!"

That question passed though Nick's mind and he wasn't sure if he only thought it or spoke it out loud, he did not think on that for very long as his body began to move again and he took his seat next to Judy. As Nick placed his posterior over the couch he turned his head to the right to look at Judy and watched as the bunny slowly leaned her body over him and placed her head over his chest, peacefully resting over a spot that would let her hear the beating of his heart and the slow rhythm of his breath while she let herself go to sleep. Nick was not sure why she was doing that or why that felt so nice to him, he could feel the warmth of Judy's presence as well as a pleasant amount of pressure applied over his body, the fox adjusted his shoulders and felt as his bunny partner reached for him with her right paw before placing its palm gently over his torso, that made his heart jump for an instant.

Judy passed her paw over Nick's chest and he really appreciated that, her gentle gesture made Nick release a long sigh from his mouth before relaxing over his seat completely, the fox was now in no rush to go anywhere. Nick still wanted to ask Judy where they were and how they got there but he pushed those questions to the back of his mind and let himself remain at ease, he closed his eyes and reopened them only to realize that all of the things that had just passed was nothing more than a dream. Nick woke up laid on his bed and hugging a pillow, he blinked fast and his ears moved around for a bit as the remnant feeling of his lucid dream lingered over his skin for a second, he passed the palm of his left paw over his face and pressed his eyes shut for a moment before he reached for his cellphone perched over the nightstand to check on the time.

Nick made a clicking sound of disappointment with his mouth as he confirmed that it was still very early in the morning and the hour to get on to work at the ZPD was still quite a few hours away, he placed his phone back over the nightstand and turned his head over his pillow so that he could at least attempt to go back to sleep, it was ultimately a futile effort, he was far too awake now. With the cricking of his bones and a sway of his tail as his body moved and stretched off the bed, Nick rose up from the mattress and directed his body to the bathroom, he gave one look in the mirror and realized how messy his fur was, one quick hot shower later and the fox was fully awakened and ready to take on the day. Nick walked towards his living room right after getting some fresh new clothes to wear, he needed some time to think about things that were weighing on his mind that morning.

As Nick arrived in the living room, he turned his head to the right and then to the left with the intent of re-familiarizing himself with his surroundings, he took one look at the window to the left and confirmed how early it was, the sun was not even completely showing over the horizon which gave his apartment a certain mood lighting that was definitely welcoming to his eyes. Nick gave a few steps in the direction of the shelves housing his impressive collection of comic books by the far wall and selected a tome at random to open up, entertain himself and wait for the time to go to work.

As Nick sat on the couch and turned the pages of the comic book, his mind immediately became entranced with the sight of brave super powered beings battling it out against evil doers but he was not gripping the story tightly as his mind occasionally wandered off somewhere else. He would close the book without losing track of the page where the story stopped to look off into the void and think about the dream he had which still played out inside his mind, he mostly turned his thoughts to the memory of the dream as he tried to relive some of the feels that he experienced without correlating them to the images he had seen in his dreams. Judy's presence in that particular dream was a calming sight, he recalled only dreaming about Judy and himself specifically during his academy time, he wondered what this one other dream about the bunny could possibly mean.

Nick took his time reading the comic, half an hour had passed and the fox decided to brew up some coffee for himself since he started to feel a little sluggish, he placed the comic book down on a cushion right beside him on the couch and rose up from his seat to head off into the kitchen, he set the coffee maker and set out some water and sugar for the mix, it did not take very long until the hot beverage was ready. With a cup of hot coffee being firmly held by his right paw, Nick set off to the closest window in order to open the blinds and take a look outside, one look at the streets and he could see the growing movement that he was so used to and the light of the sun shining more clearly through the sky.

Nick finished his cup of coffee and began to feel himself a little more energized, he picked up a slice of watermelon from the fridge and prepared some toast to make his breakfast a little more complete, the fox finished eating and, just as soon as the food hit his stomach, he began grappling with a different feeling, he knew just what it was. Nick placed his right paw over his lower torso as he felt a strange amount of pressure coming from within, he had just savored breakfast and he believed to be satisfied with his nutrition but it still seemed like a pit had been suddenly dug inside of him. The fur on the tip of his tail frizzled up and he arrived at one inevitable conclusion that was caused by his apparent sixth sense, a sense that also had flared up during his academy days and shared with his friends:

- Something big is going to happen today. I can feel it.

Nick was still seated by the dinner table in his kitchen as he turned his entire body over his seat to look out the window and continue telling himself:

- If it would either be good or bad… that remains to be seen.

---

The day progressed, Nick and Judy met at the ZPD and were given an easy enough assignment to start out during their morning patrol shift. They were sent off in a hurry to oversee the maintenance of a traffic light that had, apparently, broken down, Higgings was also sent along with them since he was the one officer present during the assembly who had the most experience directing traffic. It wasn't an overly complicated assignment but it was well received as the three officer went on their way. They were all dispatched to the upper savanna and the hippo wasted no time in getting over to the carpool and getting inside his own cruiser so that he could get right to the scene, Nick and Judy had some difficulties getting on their way however.

Judy placed herself over the driver's seat and turned the key to turn the engine on, Nick sat himself on the passenger seat but Judy was encountering unforeseen issues with the engine as a strange gurgling noise came up every time she turned the key, there was something wrong with the engine, the cruiser wouldn't start up no matter how many time she tried. The bunny kept turning the key and the same infuriating noise would pop up, she murmured as she tried keeping the key in the same angle for a while:

- C'mon! Start!

Judy kept on the mentality of those words, repeating them internally with the same tone hoping that it would make a difference, it ended proving fruitless as the engine continued being uncooperative. She turned the key in the opposite direction and tapped her paws over the wheel in frustration, they would be late for deployment and all because of an irritating malfunction. Judy unbuckled her seatbelt and exited the vehicle, she searched around to check if the crew that was I charge of the cruiser maintenance was around to offer some assistance but she found no one, they would have to either wait until some qualified help to arrive or ask one of their comrades on the floor above to give them a lift on a working cruiser. Judy paced her paws over her waist line, pacing around in frustration and in clear view of her partner who merely awaited neatly on his seat with the door opened on his side of the cruiser as she walked nearby speaking to herself:

- I don't understand. All of the vehicles are so nicely maintained for timely deployment, including ours, there is no reason for this. What could be the cause of it?

Judy kept pacing around with concern but Nick did not display any hint of worry in his face, he knew that the problem would be solved as he looked around in search of something that he could use to sort everything out for himself. Nick's eyes landed over the far off office that was used by the mechanics of the ZPD, the door was ajar and it would appear that the pit crew was called away to perform maintenance somewhere else, maybe at another precinct entirely. It would not help at all to merely stay there doing nothing so the fox raised from his seat and disembarked the cruiser, walking past Judy and entering the office located near the far wall so that he could retrieve some tools he could use right away. Judy kept pacing around and she only noticed that Nick had gone somewhere else once she took the time to breathe and remember to not stay trapped in her own head, she searched around for her partner and called out to him:

- Nick? Where did you go?

The fox reappeared five seconds later, emerging from within the office of the pit crew and carrying a red toolbox in the grip of his right paw, the metal container was not too heavy and Nick had already undone the latch to check inside and confirm that he would be fully equipped, he was about to go right to the heart of the problem and Judy already had an uneasy feeling about that. Judy watched as Nick gently set the toolbox down before tucking the sleeves of his uniform and loosening the tie around his neck, for Judy those actions coming from Nick were somewhat foreign and she was now more unsure than before about the fox's intentions, she remained silent as he continued to move along with his plan. Nick partially unmade his stance, communicating to Judy not with words but with actions that he was getting ready to dive in and locate the problem for himself as he continued to move along, by his perspective, he was slowly shedding the covers of an officer and temporarily adopting the role of a mechanic, he was more at ease in that role.

Nick, now prepared and far more relaxed, stepped forward and entered the cruiser, just enough so that he could reach for a hidden lever beneath the wheel panel which would undo the latch keeping the hood locked, with a decisive push and the sound of a loud clunk that signified that the latch was opened, Nick grabbed the toolbox and swung the cruiser's hood open with enough strength so that the engine beneath it would be well enough in view and with enough finesse so that he would place the metallic rod in place that would secure it open long enough for him to study the inner workings of the vehicle.

- Nick, what is this?! What do you think you're doing?

Nick climbed the front bumper like it was a simple set of stairs to use it as a boosting pad, the coils of the cruiser gave off a subtle creaking noise as they detected the pressure of the fox's weight being applied at the very front of the car but they did not deform too much before returning to their previous position since Nick did not weigh too much compared to the rest of the chassis, Judy clutched her paws into fists and put both of them in front of her mouth, that was when Nick finally turned around to speak to her in response:

- I'm getting right into the heart of the problem, carrots. Give me five minutes and I'll have this fixed in two shakes.

Nick grabbed an adjustable wrench from the toolbox next to him and began to tinker over the superficial pieces of the engine, the well-constructed box where the heart of the vehicle was located left Nick stumped at first sight but he was yet to meet an internal combustion cap he could not dismantle and fix, cars were one of his most notable passions after all. With turns and cranks set aside to look for the root of the problem, Nick continued to poke and prod around in order to fix the cruiser, carefully setting aside the bolts he removed one by one to check deeper within the hood, while Judy was next to biting her nails with anxiety, she knew that an officer performing maintenance on a vehicle that was property of the precinct itself without permission was highly irregular, however, she reluctantly decided to give Nick a chance to seek the cause behid the maulfinction on his own.

Nick kept tinkering with the engine in relative silence, sometimes a melodious hum would break out through the sound of him toiling away, he was noticeably content with applying the knowledge he had accumulated about cars along the years on that particular engine. The inner workings of the cruiser fascinated Nick, he had to take small breaks just so that his mind could assimilate all of the new machinery related information in front of him, he leaned closer to the engine so that he could look a little closer and he soon spoke up:

- Wow, this crankshaft is just a remarkable sight and I don't even know what half of the electronic gizmos inside this box do. Good thing I kept the manual.

Judy's ears turned over in the direction of Nick's voice, he spoke in low volume but she could still easily identify the tone of voice he used, full of enthusiasm and joy with all of the new things he was discovering, she took a step in the direction of her fox partner as she thought about his interest in vehicles being put out in the open like that, about all of the amazing ways that the engine was put together, he could see himself taking it apart and rebuilding it just for fun, it nearly overloaded his imagination. Judy waited for a couple of minutes with an apprehensive look on her face, constantly checking around them to make sure that there would be no more complications and guaranteeing that no one would be around to see her partner breaking protocol in such a drastic manner, her mind raced frantically as she turned her eyes back over to Nick as he slowly raised his body from the leaning position he had over the engine, her heart skipped a beat as she saw him like that and the reason for that was obvious to her.

Judy kept the thoughts relating to the episode she experienced during her heat cycle on the back of her mind, doing her absolute best to not think over too much about what she had experienced, about who she thought during that moment of heat and yearning. It had been three whole days since Judy, in a sense, alleviated her urges by bringing Nick's image to the forefront of her imagination, the fox's physical presence made it challenging for her to not think about that time on the days that followed. Judy was used to talking to Nick, even with the exploding sensation she had experienced burning a hole in her thoughts she could still hold a conversation with him but the though was still very much there, taunting her in a way that made constant interactions with him a little difficult.

There was the sudden sound of a clank, interrupting Judy's thought as she heard Nick's voice calling out to her:

- Yo, carrots, I think I just found what the problem was. There is an intake valve in here that is a little dried and clogged up with some gunk, probably from us riding across the strong winds of Sahara Square all afternoon the other day. I'll get it cleaned in a jiffy.

Judy released a sigh, both relieved that Nick was able to point out the problem and that he confirmed how it would be an easy fix. Judy made a signal with her right paw, giving her partner the 'go ahead' to apply his knowledge even further:

- Good job, Nick. Just do your best but hurry it along, we're already really late.

Nick made a signal with his right paw as he turned his head to face the engine once more, he leaned back in to grab another tool and get a more comfortable reach on the spotted issue before saying:

- Judy, you can't just rush this.

The fact that Nick said Judy's actual name was a sign of the serious tone of the conversation that was about to be unfolded, Judy turned her ears and her attention over to Nick as he sounded off a little grunt communicating the minor strain he was exerting while he removed the cap of the valve in order to clean it up. Nick set the cap aside and reached for a different tool that would give him a better reach to clean inside the valve as he continued to speak:

- You may think that 'fixing' this beast is as easy as turning a few notches of bolts or replacing a few parts but it's clearly not like that. This is more than a car, more than a vehicle. What you have here is a perfect mix of axels and gears, assembled into a magnificent work of art.

Judy raised a brow after hearing that, she leaned a little closer to Nick, dividing his concentration between her and the task as she asked:

- 'Art'? You really think that this is… 'art'?

Nick raised the wrench he was holding in his right paw as he spoke up, correcting his words from before and adding up to his previous tone:

- No, this is more than art. This is a creature. A magnificent creature of metal and glass which I'm now helping to heal.

Judy could not hold a little laugh from climbing its way up her throat, she gave a step closer to Nick, placing herself at the tips of her feet as she said:

- Nick, I get that this cruiser is an important part of our jobs as officers but it is only a car. It's not alive.

Nick halted his work, raising himself up once more to look straight at Judy and show the serious look on his face as he said:

- I'm shocked to hear that coming from you, fluff. This is not merely a car, it's an integral part of our lives as police officers. It is an organism.

Judy was not sure if that conversation was going somewhere but she could not resist releasing a little laugh after hearing the dramatic tone and gesture her partner used as he reffered to the car as such. Nick placed a lot of emphasis on his speech as he pointed out to each individual component that formed the vehicle while he continued his explanation:

- I'm serious. The axels and chassis are the skin and muscles, the engine is the heart, the electrical bits are the nervous system, all coming and working together to perform the truest form of motion. Every piece, from the axels to the pistons, has a function to protect and maintain the stablished functions of the vehicle and, when you step into the driver's seat, you become a part of this organism.

Judy crossed her arms, waiting patiently for Nick to finish his thoughts and moderately curious to where he was going with those words, interested in how his fascination with vehicles could have taken root and that she might learn a little more about the cruiser that she drove across the entire city during their patrols. With a claw gesturing to Judy and to the cruiser, he continued to speak, believing that the bunny was not placing a lot of credibility on his words, he continued on his firm mentality by speaking up:

- Once you take your place on the driver's seat you become the brain, the very thing that directs the senses and perceives the feelings of this metal beast. What it needs, you need. What it feels, you feel.

Judy slowly shook her head as she said:

- Nick, I can't feel what it feels because it can't feel anything.

Convinced that Judy would not put any true belief in Nick's words without hard proof, the fox took hard measures as he tightened the grip of his right paw around the handle on the wrench and struck the hard metallic cover of a bolt located on the outer edge of the engine box. The loud clang hinted to the amount of force that Nick applied during that action, it echoed across the precinct garage and caused Judy to gasp, grit her teeth and tuck herself as she nearly panicked over that, concerned that someone might hear them and that Nick had done something wrong to the cruiser's engine. The fox was well aware that doing that would not apply any damage to any vital area of the engine, that was only meant to give the bunny a good scare, he asked of her after seeing the reaction she demonstrated due to that clear provocation:

- Did you feel that?

Judy untucked herself, she relaxed her shoulder and made her ears flop down to the back of her head before admitting:

- Fine, you made your point.

Nick revealed a crafty smile before he returned to his task, Judy had her ears raise again before she crossed her arms to stay in waiting once again, leaving Nick to focus on fixing the engine. Judy tapped her right foot down on the floor, waiting with great expectancy until Nick was done, she decided to give him a little more space so she merely turned around to walk in the opposite direction of the fox, he was now in his own zone and, to her surprise, chief Bogo was right there next to them, standing silent, intimidating and waiting for an explanation. Judy had all of her fur sparking up out of surprise, her heart pumping against her chest and her mind wondering how the big buffalo managed to sneak up on her without any noise whatsoever. Nick spoke up, without realizing that the chief was standing right there keeping an eye on the two of them:

- I almost got it, carrots. Just wait a little more and we'll be out and about in no time.

Judy walked away from the chief, keeping an eye on the stoic buffalo's face while moving closer to Nick, she poked the fox and called out to him:

- Nick…

She tried to alert Nick about the newest presence close to them in the garage but the fox dismissed her by saying:

- Have some patience on me, fluff. You ought to get here and watch me in action, you might learn a thing or two about vehicle maintenance.

Judy called out Nick's name again, increasing the volume of her voice:

- Nick!

The fox raised from his spot over the exposed engine block to check what had Judy sounding so alarmed, he got the gist of it as he turned around while still positioned close to the opened hood of the cruiser and turned his head slightly to the left to find the stoic face of the chief glaring over him. Knowing well that he wasn't exactly doing something wrong and wanting to sound polite and in control, Nick waved his right paw in the air to salute the buffalo before saying:

- Oh, hey there chief. What's up?

That casual greeting did not prompt any outrage out of Bogo as the buffalo shrugged that off and answered with moderate volume to his voice:

- Well, I cannot complain.

Nick nodded his head once before turning his eyes back to the engine and confirming that he heard the chief's answer by saying:

- Cool. Cool.

Nick kept on his task without any worries, Judy placed the palms of her paws over her face, expecting with certainty an earful from the chief, which actually never came. With the same controlled tone and volume to his voice, Bogo directed a question to the fox as he asked:

- Wilde, do you mind telling me why you and Hopps are still here? I thought I sent you along with Higgings to the traffic jam at the upper side.

Nick confirmed what was heard from the chief with the pointing finger of his left paw directed upwards while his attention remained on the engine as he said:

- You did, but the cruiser is being a little uncooperative today. I am just about done here, just have to put it all back together exactly the way it was.

Bogo showed a skeptical look on his face but he left Nick to finish the job, the fox was showed competence and great organization as he picked every single one of the removed bolts he had set aside and placed them back on their original spots to reassembled the small piece of the engine he had removed to recognize and correct the original problem. With the engine fix and confident in his own mechanical abilities, Nick turned to Judy while whipping his paws clean from any grease he may have picked up during the process and said:

- That should do it. Turn the key and let's see how it goes, fluff.

Judy walked past chief Bog, still bracing herself from within just in case he still wanted to reprimand them for what he just saw, she entered the cruiser, sat down on the driver's seat and did not even bothered with tightening her seat belt since she was just going to provide a quick test to check if the engine was finally back to working conditions. With a turn of the key in the ignition, Judy could hear loud and clear as the engine gurgled much like before with the hood still opened and Nick looking attentively over it, she turned the engine off once more thinking that Nick's efforts were in vain but the fox was not simply going to give up. Nick made a pinching signal with his right paw as he called out to Judy and told her:

- Give it a little more gas.

Judy tried turning the key once more while stepping firmly on the accelerator, the result was very different than before. That time, the engine roared to life and the displays inside the cruiser awakened once more. Judy showed an open smile as her left paw tapped over the wheel while Nick raised his arms and yelled triumphantly:

- SHE LIVES!

Nick removed the metallic rod holding the hood up from its perch and closed the hood, leaving the engine to its magnificent sound. Bogo nodded his head and uncrossed his arms, he approached Nick and asked of him, admitting to being a little captivated with the fox's skills:

- Wilde, I'm impressed. You have quite the knowledge of cars.

Nick cleaned his paws by rubbing them together, he set the toolbox he had burrowed aside before saying:

- Well, chief, I said it before: I love cars, so I gather all that I can know about them.

Bogo looked over to the office where the pit crew of the ZPD was usually located, he saw how empty it was, he commented on that as he said:

- The pit crew has been spreading themselves a little thin this month, there has been maintenance check on all the other precincts and ours was, sadly, left for last. I never thought it would be an issue since mechanical problems around here are so few and far between. How would you like to take a temporary position with the mechanic team, Wilde?

Nick shook his head and answered:

- No thanks, chief. I'm happy patrolling around town for now.

Nick went on to store the toolbox back where he originally found it, he returned to near the cruiser as the engine was still going strong just in time to see as chief Bogo dismiss the two officers and wishe them both good luck before telling them to hurry along. Judy called out to Nick as she spoke up:

- Get on, slick. We have to meet up with Higgings and make up for lost time.

Nick walked towards Judy's side of the cruiser, he tapped the fingers of his right paw over the back of his left paw as he gathered some courage to ask:

- Actually, fluff… since I got the engine to roar again, do you think I could… drive this time?

Judy was sitting nicely on the driver's seat with her right paw placed over the wheel and the door by her side opened wide as she heard what Nick asked. It was well stablished that, as the officer with more experience, Judy was the one to drive the cruiser but Nick had already proven himself time and time again, she was just about to answer him when she saw his face, begging silently for her to say 'yes' while displaying big eyes, a pressing smile and having his ears lowered above his head. That was the cutest face Nick had ever done to Judy, at least by her opinion, the fox had wished to drive the cruiser since he was introduced to it when he joined the ZPD. Judy made a clicking noise with her mouth, surrendering to pressure and only wishing to get on their course as she scooched over to the passenger seat and said:

- Fine, just get over here already.

Nick pumped his fist in the air and hopped over in the cruiser, occupying at long last the vague seat Judy left behind. Nick closed the door, buckled the safety belt and slowly placed his paws over the wheel, he was savoring that moment for all that was worth and Judy was glad for him, she began to buckle her belt and she took her time as she had no problem with Nick getting accustomed with being the driver for a day, that is, until he began speaking to the car:

- Hello there, beautiful.

Judy had her ears raise straight up abruptly, she had the feeling that her partner was not exactly talking to her at that moment, she raised her shoulders and turned her head in the direction of Nick's voice as he continued to speak:

- I'm at long last in control. Feels like we already know each other so well at this point. We're gonna go for a little ride right now.

Judy did not know if she should be entertained or disgusted by what she was witnessing. Nick was talking to the car as if it was a living being, almost as if they were in a long lasting relationship, he was using a very suggestive tone of voice while he passed the palms of his paws over the wheel and it did not take long for her to show a clear disproof of that. Judy pointed in his direction with her left paw and said:

- Nick, we have to get going. Stop talking to the car.

Judy almost felt that should have been a little more humorous but she was already rearing to go to their assignment so she conveyed what she meant to Nick with a tone of voice that indicated zero nonsense from her. Nick knew that it was more than about time that they should get going, he apologized to Judy and spoke out with a jesting excuse:

- I'm just trying to get a connection going here, fluff. It is my first time at the wheel after all.

- You don't have to get a 'connection going', this is just a car.

Nick placed his paws over the wheel once more, leaning his upper body slightly forward while turning his head to the right to look straight at his patner and speaking up in response to that:

- Carrots, you're gonna hurt her feelings.

Judy put the palm of her left paw in front of her eyes, she already knew that it was going to be a long ride util their objective. She pointed ahead with her right paw without looking at Nick ad said:

- Just drive already for goodness sake.

Nick tightened his grip on the wheel and said:

- Alright then. Enough messing around.

Nick pulled the stick to change gears and directed the cruiser off to the, the drive was smooth and very relaxing, Nick obeyed every norm of the road and enjoyed his time in the driver's seat until they arrived at the turn signal over at the upper savanna. The situation had become clear in view, the transit of vehicles had become dangerously close to gridlock status and the traffic light would only contribute to the cause of an accident if no one were to fix it, Judy quickly got to work and took charge of the situation, directing herself to the vicinity of the repair mammals and asking Nick to come along.

Higgings was put in his assigned post at the middle of the crossing, signaling with his paws to orient all drivers to come and go safely and he had been there for quite a while in the heat as he waited for Nick and Judy to report in and for the assigned technicians to fix the traffic light. Nick and Judy went in search of the circuit box that housed the electrical systems which regulated the timing for the traffic lights in that block, boxes like that, which controlled local phone lines and street lights, were very common around the city, newer parts of the savanna had evolved to take the electrical distribution to localized servers miles away from the monitored locations but older parts of the city were still reliant on those circuit boxes so they had to still be observed and maintained regularly.

Judy consulted her cellphone and the image of a map that she had downloaded earlier to find the precise location of the circuit box, Nick followed close and it did not take them too long to find what they were looking for, a corner on a nearby alley street where the box was located, however, the vehicle of the electrical company that was called over to fix the box was on standby and there were no tools or mammals inside the cabin or anywhere to be seen for that matter, Judy thought that to be very strange.

The box looked like a simple dark green rectangular metal container firmly bolted to a nearby wall, it was held up over a tall concrete step and had a clear sign on its cold metallic surface alerting those who passed by to not meddle with it if they did not passes clear qualifications to do so. The grated gate leading to the box was open but no repairs were done to the circuitry inside, Nick began to look around and check where could the technicians called to the scene might have gone to while Judy called Benjamin at the precinct so he could check on what might have happened. Turns out that there were strange electrical failures happening across the savanna, phone lines were not working, cellphone and Wi-Fi signals were dropping all across the board and that caused many technicians to move all around in a continuous effort to fix it all at once until the cause was found, Judy figured that if anyone would come by to fix the traffic light it would take far too long into the day, she would have to improvise. Judy turned her cellphone off and turned around to meet with Nick, she called to his attention after finding him still searching and asked of him:

- Anything on your end?

Nick looked over to his partner and answered:

- No sign of any technician. What about on your side?

Judy showed her cellphone to emphasize what she had just discussed with Benjamin and answered to Nick's question after releasing a long sigh:

- I just got off the phone with Benjamin, there is a lot of problems brewing in the electrical front around the savanna. Everyone is in desperate need of tech support and all of the repair mammals, including the ones that were supposed to be here, are stretched kind of thin figuring one problem out at a time. Until the main cause of the problem is isolated and dealt with, we're on our own.

Nick released a clicking sound with his mouth but his minor state of annoyance would not last as Judy thought about something. She looked up at her partner and was inspired by his initiative when he performed minor repair on the cruiser engine by himself, it gave her the trail of thought to step up as well in her own way. Judy spoke up, pointing both of her paw into the air and placing them close to her head as she declared:

- *But* I might have a quick fix for this situation. If you'd be willing to help me.

Nick turned over to face her again, he wasn't sure what she was trying to imply with that tone of voice, especially since Judy was not one to suggest anything close to a 'quick fix', it sounded like a shortcut and she rarely took shortcuts. Nick, nonetheless, clutched his right paw and answered with determination in his voice:

- Tell me what's your plan, fluff. Is there anything I can do to help?

Judy closed her eyes for a couple of seconds, envisioning the plan she had quickly forged in her mind before opening her sight towards Nick and asking:

- Do you, per chance, have that useful tool that you brought along during our stake-out?

Nick was, indeed, carrying inside one of the pouches of his new and improved belt the Swiss army knife that he brought along to perforate the fancy tires of the car belonging to one of the robbers that they apprehended not that long ago. Nick reached for the back pouch of his belt and unveiled the multi-tool before giving it to Judy, he decided to bring it along with him since it had proven so useful that one time and he was glad he did so. Judy reached forward with her right paw to grab the item but Nick showed common sense and felt the need to alert her for the risks of the tool. The fox tucked his right arm and clutched his fingers around the tool before giving Judy a quick tutorial about the safety features of the item:

- Look, if you're gonna use this then just be careful with the blade, it's very sharp. Also, make sure to press this little switch right here after picking the extension you want, it's the safety lock.

With that brief explanation done, Nick gave the tool to Judy who thanked him and assured him that she would be very careful while handling it. Judy grabbed the multi-tool and asked for Nick's assistance to open the circuit box, Nick figured that there would be labels that would clearly tell them what wires they would need to mess with in order to fix the traffic light but, to his surprise, as soon as he helped Judy open the moderately thick metal door, there was a whole small tunnel of wires and terminals that connected in intricate ways carved into the wall, each little port keeping the electrical situation of phones and lights in that entire block and a few others in as much control as possible, he had no idea what he was looking at or even where to begin in order to help Judy out but the bunny was still very much in control and on top of the situation. Judy turned to Nick again and asked:

- Do you also have a flashlight I can borrow?

- Uh… sure.

Nick was still a little stunned form the sight of all the wires inside the circuit box but Judy's voice calling out to his attention quickly made him snap out of it and hand over the little solar powered flashlight that Dr. Pura had gifted him with, he said that it was charged up right before Judy pressed the switch to turn it on and directed the light into the mess of wires inside the tunnel. With a low but audible mumble to herself, Judy said while looking for something specific inside the circuit box:

- Alright… Just got to find the right… one.

Frustrated with the limited reach of her search, Judy deduced that the one connection she was searching for must have been located further in, she turned to Nick and said:

- No good, must be in the back row.

Nick looked at Judy as soon as he heard his voice, he was just standing in wait alongside her, thinking that the bunny only wished to perform a preliminary analysis of the electrical connections. He turned his sight over to the opened box and at Judy and became worried about what she might attempt to do next, he pointed at the dark tunnel ahead of them and said:

- Wait, carrots, you're not thinking about…?

- I'm going in.

Judy interrupted Nick's question and hopped inside the circuit box right after confirming her intentions to him, Nick tried reaching to halt her progress but she was already doing what she did best, jumping ahead with the intent of helping others before thinking of anything else. Nick stepped forth to check on Judy, concerned that she might be over her head but the bunny knew what to do, with the light of the flashlight in one paw and the prepped tool in the other, Judy kept on her search for the right wire that would help her fix it all. Nick spoke out as he asked:

- What the hell, carrots?! What are you trying to do over there?!

Judy kept passing her eyes around every wire in search of a specific one as she answered:

- I'm just looking for a quick fix over here, it will be much faster than just waiting for tech support to arrive later. Don't worry, I got this.

Nick directed his sight to the environment outside of the box before asking:

- You sure?

Judy replied to that snappily while taking another step further inside to check on another section of wires:

- Yes, Nick, I'm sure. Go check on Higgings and keep me posted, turn your radio on so we can stay in touch.

Just as Judy asked, Nick turned on the radio on his belt and left it set to a frequency that would allow for Judy and him to stay in touch, he began walking back the way they came initially to check how officer Higgings was doing. As Nick arrived back at the cross he was relieved to see that the traffic situation had improved, Higgings was successfully guiding the cars, trucks and motorcycles with well-coordinated paw signals but it did not take a long and analytic stare to figure out that the hippo officer was growing rather tired, standing in the middle of the asphalt on a hot day with hardly any humidity in the air since no rain had fallen on the savanna in at least a week. Nick reached for his radio and called out to Judy, pressing the little button on the side and speaking out loud:

- Carrots, come in. Wilde to Hopps are you there?

Nick tried to make the use of his new radio sound professional, Judy's voice came from the other side but there was some slight interference, Nick had to approach the radio to his right ear to make out his partner's voice past the static. Nick squinted his eyes and lowered his right ear over the radio thinking mostly how that little bit of static should not be there, the radio was brand new and he had not walked that far away from Judy's position, but he could still hear her as her voice confirmed audio contact:

- I'm here, slick. What's the situation out there?

Nick directed his eyes at the hippo officer, still doing his best to maintain a cool head and direct traffic, and answered:

- Whatever you're doing over there, I would suggest hurrying it up. Higgings looks really tired and there are way more cars coming to this crossing.

Nick waited for Judy's answer to come on and her side of the call stayed silent for only a few seconds before she answered:

- Just tell him to hold it out for a little while longer, I'm almost done.

Suddenly Judy sounded as if she was experiencing a little bit of distress through her radio:

- Ow! Brussel sprouts!

Nick pressed the button on his radio and asked:

- Judy! Are you alright? What happened?

- Nothing. I just got a little shock on one of the ports. I'm fine.

Nick pressed his teeth together and swallowed some air before asking over the radio:

- Carrots, are you sure you know what you're doing over there?

Once more, Judy assured Nick that things were well on their way to being solved, she only needed a little more time and focus:

- I know what I'm doing Nick. Just keep an eye out and I'll be done in a minute.

Nick was unsure how to feel about that, he trusted Judy, surely, but there was also the possibility that she could end up making things worse if she fiddled with the wrong wire port. Ultimately, it did not take too long at all, the timing on the traffic light was adjusted as the color lights were shown taking at least one minute each to turn from one color to another, giving every oncoming vehicle the chance to move along and prevent movement from downgrading into a standstill, Higgings was glad that it did not take that long for the problem to sort itself out. With the traffic light repaired and adjusted properly, Higgings walked back over to the sidewalk to rest for a second, he decided to return to precinct one on his own after stopping at a nearby convinience store for a quick swig of water, he thanked Judy and Nick for their diligent assistance and went on his way.

Nick walked over to Judy's position, he found her coming out of the circuit box with a triumphant smile on her face, the fox congratulated her for a job well done with a pat on the back and offered her a helping paw so that she would come down from the concrete step that she was now perched on. Judy saw Nick's right paw extended close to her, waiting for her to put her paw over it so that she could come back to ground level with minimal effort and no unforeseen lost in balance, she hesitated for a bit before accepting his help but she ultimately agreed on it. Judy felt the sparking warmth that she usually felt when touching Nick, the coarse touch of his paw felt more intense in a way, she did not need Nick's asistance to descend from the height she found herself before but she still thanked him for the sweet and chivalrous gesture.

Judy walked ahead, Nick followed her closely, telling her on the way to their cruiser that Higgings had already departed ahead of them, the two officers hopped in the vehicle as soon as they arrived and were already planning to stablish a quick patrol route in case any more complications popped up through the city and they had to respond quickly. Judy took some time to rearange herself over the driver's seat once more, she also returned both of the tools she had borrowed from Nick before turning the engine on and driving leisurely through the streets. Nick stored the flashlight and the multi-tool back in their respective spots on his tool belt, he had no problem with Judy returning to the driver's seat on their way out of the scene, he already had quite the rush earlier as he took control of the cruiser for the first time. Nick turned over to Judy as the bunny directed the wheel slowly to the left while keeping her eyes on the road ahead, he spoke out, asking of his partner:

- So… carrots. How long have you been proficient in electrical repairs?

Judy smiled after hearing that question, she turned her eyes to the right to catch a look at Nick's face, leaning himself forward to look at her as well, Judy directed her eyes back to the road ahead before taking a short breath through her nose and answering Nick's question, a touch of reminiscing was noticed in her voice as she said:

- When I was much younger, getting around to practical studies even before heading to the academy, I hung around the marshal of Bunnyburrow, he's an old family friend and a great mentor. He taught me a lot about civil codes and about police rankings, my hometown never had a lot of criminals so his daily duties basically boiled down to patrolling the town in search of hooligans to reprimand and minor things to fix. I also helped my dad and my brothers with fixing stuff around the house, it was certainly a chore.

Judy took a little bit of air through her nose before continuing to speak:

- So, that's what I did with the traffic light wires, I basically turned the current off and on again to reset the traffic settings, like in a computer that froze up.

Nick shook his head slowly as he said with a loud whisper:

- Genius.

Communicating with a mix of gasping and joking tone that he really appreciated Judy's knowledge and efficient thinking in that front, at least in his own way. Judy and Nick didn't have much time to converse after that as they received another assignment soon after letting chief Bogo know that the traffic light problem was resolved. He was glad that everything went so smoothly and believed that the day of patrol they shared had gone perfectly and without a hitch until a small light of alarm blared on the dashboard alerting the two officers that there was something wrong. Judy took her eyes off the road and slowed her drive down before she asked:

- What's that? Is there something else wrong with the engine?

Jud was not certain if she should have just stopped the vehicle completely. Nick stepped in as he looked at the screen and answered:

- No, nothing like that. This is just a quick warning system that alerts us to any calls to the ZPD that are issued to the patrol cars in a general vicinity and redirected to other cruisers, more modern than answering the radio. You keep on driving, I got this.

With his left paw sliding over the screen, doing his best to look at the display while making configurations to his cellphone, Nick pressed icons and searched for the cause of the alert item popping up so suddenly, there was some concern as he looked over the information as he said:

- We might have missed an alert while we were busy with the traffic jam.

Judy tightened her grip over the wheel of the cruiser and feared what could have happened if they had indeed missed an important call to action during that small emergency, her thoughts bounced back as she kept her attention directed forward while her ears kept directed at her partner. Nick managed to calm Judy's nerves down as he confirmed the time when the alert was sent and the emergency relating to it:

- The call was posted only three minutes ago or so. Says here it was a… stolen vehicle reported. A motorcycle stolen somewhere by the incline road in the lower Savanna.

Judy eased her grip on the wheel and calmly released some air through her mouth, she looked ahead and asked of Nick:

- Has anyone answered to that call?

Nick grabbed his phone and scrolled though the settings on his little screen as he sought more information about that, the name of other officers was confirmed as well as the precinct they answered to but there was no clear indication that there were any patrol cruisers in the proximities that were able to answer to that simple call. Nick looked over at Judy and said:

- No indication to any other officers going for it. Do you want to check it out?

Judy felt somewhat torn for a moment, it was time for them to take it easy and find something to eat but, since they were already so close, she decided to place her opinion to give an honest try to answer that call. Turning the wheel of the cruiser firmly to the right, placing their direction on a street that would either lead them back to the precinct or in the vicinity of the lower savanna, Judy turned to Nick and asked of him:

- Shall we go for a quick investigation?

Nick pressed an icon on the dashboard to turn it off and then gestured with his left paw pointing forward, giving Judy his consent to go ahead before saying:

- Let's go.

Judy got Nick's confirmation and directed the cruiser through a street exit that would take them close to where they had just decided to go. The lower part of the savanna was calmer, not too many vehicles moving about like the busy streets they had just come from but it was still rather hard to find a spot to park since most of the cars parked about were stablished by residents of that part of town. Judy knew those streets, the addresses and colorful signs she spotted along the way looked familiar and that is because she had gone in patrols around there with other officers before Nick joined the force but, even though the bunny knew the layout of those streets, the fox knew the stories shared across the concrete miles better than anyone else.

Nick and Judy parked their cruiser next to a narrow alley outside of a residential area, seemed like a great spot to look and ask around in search of any clues that would alert them to what had really happened around there, besides, it would be taxing to drive the cruiser through some of the most narrow streets around there. Outside of the view or interest of the two officers, however, there was a group of mammals working hard on moving some delicate pieces of equipment, hauling ever since last night bits and pieces that would ultimately come together as one fine amalgamation of technology with one demanding ocelot on the lead role.

Andersen had been overseeing the transport of all the items commissioned by his employer since the very start of that day, he was determined to make good time and prove himself competent more than ever before, he had the newly contracted pack of mammals formerly known as 'the wasps' assembled to do the job that they all agreed on doing. It was a group of only seven, each of them hard at work counting with the ocelot calling the shots, two wolves, one of them being the defector leader of the group and the other one his younger brother; one porcupine, two raccoons and a tiger, all of them working together on what should have been an easy job set to be done before the end of the morning:

- Go on you slackers. We have a schedule to keep.

The ocelot said so as he continued to prod and put the pressure on the group to hurry along but to do so while keeping an eye on their designated tasks so that no more accidents were to occur. They were transporting boxes and containers into and out of an old abandoned building, using the back streets in conjunction with inconspicuous vehicles of different sizes and functions to accomplish the safe transport of each component. Some boxes had well labeled stamps and it was easy to guess what was inside thanks to their weight, metal parts in the like, but some of them were fancy compartments, sealed tight with electronic locks that were not to be undone until they arrived at the possession of mammals who would know exactly what to do with them, very suspicious. The team was almost done with transporting everything that was supposed to go somewhere else and the leader of the pack was the one to say it:

- Relax Mr. Andersen. We're almost done with everything around here. Your boss will be satisfied with all of our performances.

Andersen gave one step ahead in the direction of the wolf, the size difference between the two mammals was apparent, the wolf had clear advantage in height and muscle mass but the ocelot positioned right in front of him was far more intense and intimidating with his presence. Andersen wished to do a good job and win the continuous appreciation of his superior, shown when he was entrusted to appear in a more public manner as a chief of security on a past event, the absolute highest point of his employment and he wanted to experience more of that, he wanted what was felt on that single moment of presence to last forever. With a subtle tap of his right paw over the side of his right thigh, Andersen spoke up to the associate closest to him:

- Indeed. The transfer of every piece of the device has been a remarkable success. Not counting when one of your associates dropped the main power source on the ground and turned it on accidentally.

Darfang lowered his ears and shot out an excuse:

- At the very least it did not break.

To which Andersen replied:

-Thanks to you the discharge of the device released a wave that made every device around us go on the fritz. The electrical discharge disrupted communication networks and you could have had us exposed then and there. The city is in an upheaval and we're all gonna take the fall for it if you don't smarten up. You're just lucky that our phones were protected against the discharge wave.

The volume that Andersen used to speak up to the wolf called to the attention of all the other mammals working there, neither one of them appreciated the tone used towards their leader. Andersen turned his attention away from the wasps, letting the group return to work after making sure with a side glance that all of them had heard the stern tone used at their leader and, by proxy, directed at them all. As Darfang turned his back on the ocelot to return to his friends and to the remainder of tasks they still had ahead of them, Andersen turned his cellphone, he pressed an icon on the little screen to check if his phone was still connected and toggled on a quick dial, unexpectedly, a female voice came from the other side of the line:

- Yes?

Andersen recognized that voice instantly, it was the secretary of his treasured employer, Cassandra. The ocelot had a few issues with the female sheep on the other side of the phone line, mostly her condescending voice and how she seemed to undermine and comment negatively on him at anything she could think of during a conversation. Andersen took a quick dash of breath and said:

- Oh, Cassandra. I was trying to contact Mr. Ortega.

The sheep was quick to answer on that, her provocative voice rang true through the phone as she said:

- He is right here, but he asked me to hold his calls for today. He has been under such stress and I convinced him to take a load off and relax. Can I take a message?

The ocelot pressed his teeth and said:

- Yes, actually. I wanted to tell him that the wasps have finished transporting the supplies out of the deposit on sixth and the prototype has been activaded and safeguarded… under my keen supervision.

A giggle came from the other side of the call followed by Cassandra's voice as she said:

- Wow, you took things from one place and put them in another place. That is some top-notch 'supervising' you must be doing over there.

Andersen absolutely did not care for the tone she used, the ocelot clutched the fingers of his left paw into a fist as he gripped the wood of the clipboard and thought to himself:

"God damn it all. I hate her so much."

Andersen thought about tossing his phone down on the hard ground out of sheer frustration but he decided to simply leave the rest of the message so that it could be relayed to his superior:

- Just tell Mr. Ortega that it is all moving smoothly and ahead of schedule.

- You got it. I'll relay the message… when I feel like it, I mean. Bye.

Andersen released a sigh of frustration from his mouth that felt forced, like he was poupusefully empitying all the content of his lungs out of anger towards the secretary on the other side of the line. The ocelot turned the phone off and stored it away in his pocket, turning his attention back to what mattered most at that moment, keeping things under control. Andersen took a glance at the clipboard and figured that there were no more items to be moved, everything that needed to be transported was already placed inside the outgoing vehicles and the aformentioned prototype was secured, that is, until a porcupine came close to him carrying a small case o his arms. The small mammal with well trimmed and sharp quills over most of his body simply stood there, looking up at the feline with the curious looking packing item being held in a presenting manner with both of his arms. Andersen looked at the young mammal and asked of him:

- What is it? Can't you see I'm working here?

The porcupine took a small step back before he said what was on his mind:

- Mr. Andersen… we found this box out in the back of one of the rooms. It is labeled as a transport item but I did not found it any mention of the label number in the manifest that was given to us. I was hoping you could tell me what to do about it.

Andersen had his ears raised, his tail still and his mouth shut as he heard the voice of the porcupine directed at him, the voice of respect of a subordinate. With a slow motion and a far more calm expression on his face than he had only a minute ago, the ocelot picked the box up and carried by the small handle it had near its latching mechanism and said:

- Well, you did very good in bringing it to me then. At the very least one of you pays half a mind to proper procedure. Let me take a look at it.

There was still one big vehicle nearby, a pickup truck with the back panel lowered to await for any more cargo that would make its way out on to the streets and to its next destination, as well as any mammal who might need a lift out of the district. Andersen placed the case over the lowered panel and undid the latch in order to check what was inside, he did not have to open it all the way to recognize the contents right away. The item within was kept remarkably secure except for the lock which was so easily opened, surrounded by a black memory foam that kept everything in its proper place, it was a shooter, mounted and assembled with remarkable efficacy, Andersen had seen it before, long ago when he was first employed by Ortega, the inscribing on the handle of the shooter gave it all away. Andersen closed the case right as he noticed the little mammal right behind him walking closer to sneak a peek, the feline turned his head to the left to shoot a glance at the younger mammal and said:

- You were right in bringing this over to my attention. I'll oversee the transport of this one personally, you head back to the others and tell them to keep an eye out for anything noteworthy, we're done with our work here for now.

The porcupine nodded his head once before turning away and rushing to tell his friends that they could all rest for a while before they were given another assignment. Darfang was cautiously skeptical about the nature of that entire job, he and his allies had dealt with criminal types before like Big himself but never the sort that kept them so much in the dark, nothing was disclosed to him or the others only that what they were doing was important and essential for the realization of their ambitions. Something about all of that did not sit well with the wolf. Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by his brother calling out to him:

- Darius. What's wrong?

The older wolf turned his head to the left to face his young brother, the smaller wolf had his ears lowered over his head, and was looking at his brother with eyes full of anxiety, his clothes were similar to his brother in arrangement, a simple shirt and a nice looking outer wear as well as a long pair of pants that were colored with a slightly darker hue than the older wolf's chosen attire. The young wolf tried calling out to his brother by his actual name, even though they had a long conversation about not doing as such, Darfang took a quick breath and answered to him while pointing the claw of his left paw to his own chest:

- Damian, when we're out on the streets you call me 'Darfang', that's what we agreed on.

To which the tiger, placed only a few strides away from the two canines, spoke out:

- Give it a rest will you? That name is never gonna stick.

Darfang looked at the tiger, Dexter, and his cocky stance as he leaned against a nearby wall but he turned his full attention back to his brother as he explained the reason why he had been keeping an eye out for Andersen and for anything that could hint to the fact that every single one of them may have been set up, he wanted to make sure that nothing would go wrong for them and that their new employer would stick up to his side of the agreement. After making sure that Andersen was far enough away to not hear their conversation, Darfang called his brother and the others members of his crew aside before telling them:

- That troublesome feline has been yelling orders at us all day long, barely lifting a finger to help out at all. We've been kept in the dark for most of this deal and I really don't like it.

The two raccoons, nearly identical to one another except for the differing patterns of coloration on their tails, stepped out of the building, they were also listening to the wolf's words and one of them spoke out in order to contribute to the conversation:

- Didn't you say that the pay was good? That is more than enough for all of us.

Darfang showed a frown before turning to the rodent on the left and speaking up while pointing his left claw at him:

- It's not just about the pay, Mark. I promised that I would not lead us astray when it came to deals like this. Being kept out of the loop may cost us all more than we all bargained for and it falls on me to make it right.

The raccoon understood where his leader was going with that line of thinking, those words were also understood by the rest of the group as they exchanged looks, the looks ended with all eyes pointed at the ocelot in the distance, checking the vehicle and hanging tightly to the case that was just presented to him. Filled with concern but mostly curious about what was given out to the feline, Darfang leaned closer to the porcupine and asked of him:

- Hey, Ash, what was inside that box anyway? It looked way fancier than the stuff we've been hauling around.

The porcupine looked over his left shoulder before asking the canine:

- I don't know, I brought it over to him right after I found it. That thing was well hidden in one of the rooms we had emptied out and he looked real glad to get it, but I couldn't see what it was.

Darfang clutched his right paw and whispered to himself:

- More secrets. Something stinks around here.

One of the raccoons present in that selective meeting heard the last bit of Darfang's whisper and joked on it as he pointed to the mammal immediately to his right and said:

- Blame Mark, his deodorant gave out about an hour ago.

That jest suddenly broke out into a fight between the two rodents as they began to exchange hits at one another and they did that very consistently, it was one of the things Darfang considered most annoying about the pair but they were good gatherers of information so he kept them around for that at the very least. The exchange of hits between the raccoons extended for some time and it would have gone for far too long if they were not separated by the tiger who towered over the two rodents, Darfang called to the attention of everyone once more as he said:

- Look here, you're not getting the bigger picture.

Still holding on to the two raccoons in his paws so that they would not go right back to fighting, Dexter showed a stoic expression on his face before he admitted without any shame:

- We tend to do that most of the time.

Frustrated with how dysfunctional his group was, the wolf simply made an aggressive gesture of dismissal by waving his right paw in the air and ordered:

- Never mind! Just go and keep an eye out for anything else that might mess this up.

The group of mammals entered the building right next to them so that they could all wait for any further orders, from either Darfang or Andersen. As each mammal went their separate ways inside of the building, Andersen entered a room that looked very much like an office, there was even a desk near the far off wall with a chair in waiting for anyone to sit by and assume an managing position. Of course neither the chair or the desk were anything fancy like the stuff Andersen saw at the private officer of his employer which he had only been to a pawful of times, both of the only pieces of furniture in that room which the ocelot had chosen to be his command post in the building were made of plastic, not at all commanding of respect for anyone else.

Andersen entered the room and closed the door behind him, calmly and without making any noise as to not alert any of the mammals who might still be lurking around the proximities, he already noticed how the wasps were talking behind his back, every moment alongside Darfang and his group only made him grow more suspicious about what they were capable of doing to get ahead. Paranoia only grew within him once the gang showed themselves working hard and had done little more than whining during their tasks, he figured on the spot that they were somehow exchanging coded messages to one another during the whole thing. It mattered little at that exact time, he had more important things to worry about and one of those very things was right in his reach.

Andersen stepped closer to the desk and set the case he was holding down gently over the spacious surface of the plastic frame, he undid the latching lock of the case and slowly opened it to take another look and appreciate the item inside. Andersen passed his fingers over the shooter's frame, he knew that daunting over an inanimate artifact like that was inconsequential, possibly even childish, but he could not resist picking it up and pretending as if he was using it for real. There was no ammunition in the chamber so Andersen was free to play around like all of his worries for the day were taken care of.

Meanwhile, Nick and Judy were driving in search of clues that might help them answer to the call that they received, the cruiser passed over a street several blocks away from the building where Andersen and the wasps were located, they parked the cruiser and proceeded ahead on foot so that they could check out the surrounding area and confirm about they call referring to a stolen motorcycle. Nick and Judy did not have to look for too long, a young male skunk who was walking nearby recognized the two officers almost immediately and identified himself as the one who called the ZPD for assistance and informed how he was just making some shopping when his vehicle was whisked away by a male raccoon who rode down at great speed. Judy wrote down in her little notepad all of the details regarding the suspect, where he might have gone and the license plate of the stolen bike, she was ready to pursue the thief.

Nick lead the way through that part of the savanna, the lower south side was not well known for its passive nature, there were many spots that were well known as hide-outs for thieves and hoodlums, though his knowledge on that front might have been a little outdated as he admitted that to himself in silence. Nick kept on leading the way while Judy would periodically review her notes, the two officers kept going on their way but Nick did notice after a few minutes on that task that his partner was lagging behind him a little bit. Nick turned around to face Judy and ask of her with a controlled volume to his voice:

- What's up, carrots?

Judy looked away from her notepad and her ears darted up as she met eyes with Nick, she was resolute in answering Nick's question but she knew deep down that there was no point in delaying their task:

- I… I'm not…

Judy could not for a complete sentence on her own, she decided to merely shrug all of that off by quickly shaking her head and saying:

- It's nothing. Let's just keep moving.

Nick watched standing in place for a couple of seconds as Judy walked ahead of him, tightening her pace and doing her best to properly divide her attention between the few notes she put on her pad and the path in front of her. Judy walked over a sidewalk and nearly collided with a deer that was transporting a crate of fruit through that same route, the collision would have been full force if Nick had not intervened by gently redirecting Judy away from the deer's path. With the box of fruit in his grasp and shielding a good fraction of his field of vision he did not even notice Judy and Nick passing by.

Right after that, Nick inquired once more if Judy had something bothering her, she turned away from that question once more and the fox became suddenly worried that the bunny was trying to ignore him for some reason. Not wanting to believe that Judy was angry with him, Nick simply jutted that up as her being hungry, they had missed the usual appointment of her lunch hour. Nick took the lead of the search once more as he directed Judy to a narrow street that lead off into an incline, they were approaching the lower savanna with each step, keeping on the route that would be most likely for a rider to keep out of the radar of any regular passerby, not knowing that their presence around those parts was being duly noted.

Back at the base building of Andersen and his newly contracted wasps, one of the raccoons rushed over to Darfang to inform him of the presence of a ZPD cruiser in the proximities, the nervous rodent let the news lose over his comrades while Andersen was still busy inside his makeshift office, cut off from all the rest. Darfang let the news of police presence in those streets slide, convinced that there would be no way that any dumb officer would find them out if they just remained hidden but his thoughts drastically changed once the raccoon revealed that it was no other than Judy Hopps herself patrolling about. Every mammal in the group gasped with the mention off the name.

Judy had her name spreading dread on the minds of common crooks around the city like a wild fire and, thanks to the presence of her during tricky investigations and multiple arrests, most thieves, minions and assorted hench-mammals around the city were walking on eggshells. Darfang knew that the presence of the ZPD could lead up to potential complications and with the device they were sent to assemble and guard currently active for prolonged testing could lead the attentive officer of the law right to them. Actions had to be taken and Darfang was faced with a hard choice to make: The wolf would either have to sit still and do nothing, simply wait and see if the bunny officer would leave that part of town on her own; or take a shot in leading her away so that they could resume their well-payed task.

Nick and Judy walked through many alleyways and crossed the paths of many different mammals but nothing helped contribute to their investigation. The bunny grew a little more frustrated as she halted her movements and her partner only found that out a little time later as he turned around and discovered he was no longer being followed. Nick walked back to Judy, leaned down and asked of her:

- C'mon now, carrots, What's wrong?

Judy turned her attention back to Nick, they had been walking for a while and missed their lunch break but she did not wish to complain about any of that. With a slow gesture of her paws as she spoke out, Judy answered to Nick's inquiry with one of her own, a vague reference to the jumbled mess of feelings that she was experiencing for some time now:

- Nick have you ever felt… strange inside?

Nick showed a squinted look of his eyes and a gentle turn of his head at an angle while still looking right at Judy's face before he placed a comment on that:

- You're gonna have to be a little more specific on that front, carrots. 'Strange' how?

Judy looked away into the void before turning her sight back over to Nick and reworking her question as she said:

- Have you ever felt this weird… nothingness inside of you that makes you feel inadequate in a strange way? You don't know where it comes from but it takes a hold of you out of nowhere and makes you feel…

Judy finished her thoughts with a meaningless gesture of her paws, slowly moving around in front of her, she did not know the words to end her sentence so she resorted to merely gesturing in the hopes that Nick would understand her. With her gesturing finished shortly after it began Judy merely said in a way to finish her thoughts and give Nick a turn to speak:

- You know?

Nick did not speak for a little while, he wasn't sure where that line of thinking had come from, he did not expect to hear that from Judy of all mammals but he could understand what she was referring to in a way. Judy's mind was in turmoil and she was disappointed with herself in a way, she should be able to set feelings of uneasiness aside and focus on her job as an officer but it was becoming rather hard all of a sudden and she did not know why. Convinced that it would be for the best to leave that conversation and her feelings to be rehashed at a later time, Judy made a dismissive gesture with her head and paws as she walked past Nick and said:

- No, never mind. Let's just keep going.

Nick watched Judy moving with a rushed pace, trying to leave that subject behind just as suddenly as it was brought up but he decided to give Judy's point of view more time under the spotlight. Nick walked a long stride in Judy's direction and placed his right paw over her left shoulder before she had the time to leave on her way, Judy was a little concern after she felt the warm and soft pressure of the fox's paw over her but she also knew that there was no reason to be apprehensive of him as she heard his voice calling out to her in a calm manner:

- Judy, wait up.

Judy halted her movements and slowly turned around, being guided halfway by Nick's paw which let go of her shoulder by gently sliding down her arm and letting go of her completely once their eyes were locked once more. Nick took a brief time to get air and tell her:

- I get what you mean.

Judy was very surprised at that point. The bunny opened her eyes wide and felt as her breath locked up her throat for a second before she asked of him:

- You… do?

- Sure.

Nick answered to that right away, he called Judy over to his side setting her up to hear a few words of encouragement straight from him, but first, he asked of her:

- Does this have anything to do with you feeling sick a few days back?

Judy lowered her ears slightly and answered to that without any enthusiasm in her voice due mostly to the fact that she was still technically lying to her partner:

- Yeah… maybe.

Nick shrugged that answer off for a second before he continued, convinced that what Judy was experiencing was nothing more than her mind still being a little foggy from before:

- You don't have to feel down or weird because of that. You caught a little bug at work, that stuff can happen to anyone at any time.

Judy leaned her head slightly to the right, her eyes followed the same direction as she thought for a moment that the track that the conversation was following might lead to something significate. Nick kept speaking after taking some air and calling to her attention once more:

- Sometimes, when I get my thoughts mixed up, I feel a little weird, but it never lests because I know it's all in the mind. When your mind feels bad it can cause you to feel bad in general since it is all connected in your body. Feelings and all.

Judy could feel her tension diminishing a little bit thanks to Nick's words, the fox was not sure what his partner was feeling but he still wanted to offer his best words so that she could get on with her work shift. Judy kept on looking at Nick while her ears turned around in every direction to check if they were actually alone, there was some movement but it was very far away, their conversation was in no risk of being interrupted. Nick took another breath of air before saying:

- If there is anything that might be bothering you, anything that you feel might be holding you back, and talking about it might make it better at all, then you can feel free to speak up and I'll listen. You're not just my partner, you're my friend.

Judy showed a sweet smile after hearing those words, she wanted to talk about what was bothering her right then and there with no restrictions and the confirmed open minded reception of the fox staring right at her. Judy opened her mouth and took a quick breath so that she could tell him how much she appreciated him, tell him that she was going to be alright and that they could keep going without having to worry too much about her own personal problems, but she was stopped. As soon as Nick noticed how Judy was going to speak, he was not sure if she was going to apologize without needing to or if she was about to explain herself, the fox showed her the palm of his left paw and said:

- Whatever might be bothering you, we can leave it for later, let's just do our job for now.

Judy closed her mouth and remade her smile, nodding her head once as she gave the fox the confirmation that she was in agreement with him. The duo return to walk on their way, looking around for anything that might lead them to the whereabouts of the thief, moving side to side at a moderate pace until Judy spoke out, directing a compliment at Nick without needing to slow their movements down at all:

- You're the best.

Nick's left ear twitched as he heard Judy's voice saying only that and become silent again. The fox smiled and spoke up without turning his head in her direction:

- So I have been told.

The pair kept on walking but there was a lingering sense that the conversation was not really over. Judy leaned closer to Nick, positioning her upper body just a few degrees to the left, and spoke to him:

- I have to say, it was very impressive how you took the reeds and fixed the cruiser up earlier today.

Nick leaned in Judy's direction and reciprocated her words by saying:

- Not as impressive as you hopping inside a mess of circuits and nodes to fix a traffic light.

Both the officers returned their bodies to a straight position as they kept on the move. Nick had his ears raised as he turned his head to the left and asked of Judy:

- Did you only do that to impress me?

Judy felt a blush building on her face like a flash after hearing Nick say that, the bunny quickly turned her head to the right and looked upwards to speak up:

- No, that wasn't it at all.

Judy's tone and the small shriek she used to convey those words, as her voice cracked a bit in the middle of her sentence, convinced Nick that she was on the right track in relation to her intentions previously. With a sly smile on his lips, Nick pointed a claw of his right paw in Judy's direction and said:

- It was. You were trying to impress me.

Judy turned her head to face the path in front of them once more and reiterated her answer:

- I wasn't trying to impress anyone. I had a plan and I executed it. That's all.

Nick released a single loud laugh and said:

- You didn't have a plan. You had the uncontrolled desire to be a badass. I guess I'm becoming more of an influence on you than I initially thought.

Nick's tone of voice only aggravated Judy more as she puffed her cheeks to show how frustrated she was becoming with him and spoke up while pointing forward:

- Shouldn't we be focusing on our investigation right now?

- Well, maybe we have a few minutes to spare.

- Nick!

Ending their conversation and one city block of walk later, Nick and Judy found themselves next to another alleyway, a garbage truck rolled by filled to the brim with freshly collected trash, the two officers did not appreciate the smell but they learned to tune it out. Judy slowed her walk and searched her belt for the radio, it was about time they reported it over to the precinct, even if there was nothing significant to inform. With a flick of her thumb over some of the buttons on the radio display, Judy waited for a signal so that she could speak to Benjamin on the other side of the line but something was wrong. When Judy placed the radio on the right side of the head, expecting to hear the voice of the friendly cheetah, she heard a loud shred of static that burrowed into her mind for a fraction of a second until she decided to take the radio away from her ears. Also hearing the annoying noise, Nick halted, looked over his left shoulder and asked:

- What's up?

Judy interpreted that vague question as something worth answering, she showed her radio to Nick with a quick turn of her wrist, there was no more sound coming out of the device since Judy had turned it off so she explained to him:

- The radio is on the fritz for some reason. I was trying to talk with precinct one but there is just this horrible sound coming out of it.

Nick found that strange and decided to check something out for himself, he grabbed his cellphone and turned the screen on in order to call the ZPD but there was a small warning at the top left corner of the screen issuing a 'no signal' zone. With a frustrated scowl on his face, Nick tapped around on the screen and said:

- Lousy all coverage plan. Not even the texting is working.

Judy tapped a button on the radio, turning it off for the time being, she approached Nick, and watched as the fox tried to get his cellphone to work again while also growing more frustrated with the fact that he could not get a grasp on whatever was going on. After almost a full minute of trial and error to get a message out, Nick turned over to Judy and showed the screen of his cellphone, hoping that she would be able to read it even through the glare to see that there was no success in his attempt of reaching out to the ZPD. With an soft growl on the back of his throat, Nick spoke out:

- Damn! You weren't kidding when you said that the city is in need of tech support. It's like nothing electronic wants to work.

Judy took another look at the screen and arrived at a new and, may haps, more plausible. She pointed at Nick with her left paw and said as she arrived at her conclusion:

- Not just electronic. Things that rely on radio waves.

Nick put the cellphone away and Judy continued to explain herself:

- Makes a weird sort of sense: Whatever is happening to put electronics on the fritz has something to do with radio waves, which are in the ballpark of electromagnetic waves. The sort of thing that can disrupt not only circuitry but also communications and even internet connections over some wireless sets.

Nick stared over at Judy with a very captivated look in his eyes, not aware that Judy's knowledge about electrical systems extended so far, then again, he also looked happy for knowing that his partner's perceptive nature extended to other subjects such as that. Judy unmade her stance as she retreated half a step back and spoke up once more:

- I… watched the science channel on tv once. Never knew that stuff could apply for real like this.

Nick smiled over to Judy's minor reluctance in sharing that bit of data with him and signaled with his left paw for Judy to follow close, they still had some things to find out. Judy and Nick kept walking, each of them having more and more questions pilling up in their minds, most important of which was about what could have been the cause of the communication drop and if it could spread over to other areas of the city, which was worrisome. Zootopia relied on connectivity through most hours of the day so an incident like that could be more than detrimental to the livelihood of the city in general, they would have to investigate that later.

Nick and Judy entered an alleyway located more to the left, the movement on the streets was greatly reduced by the time they got to the southernmost side of the residential area, opportune place for a thief to lay low. There was a sort of peaceful silence as they entered the alleyway and walked further ahead, Nick could feel a pit forming in his stomach, the feeling he had shortly after waking up that morning was elevated far beyond what he had ever felt before, something was not right.

- Nick, look at this.

Judy walked ahead without Nick even noticing it, her whisper calling out to him alerted the fox that she had found something while also waking him up from a state of deep though. Nick shook the momentary confusion out of his head and followed closer to Judy, she had found something, a motorcycle with a license plate recently removed that matched the description of the one that was stolen and was left leaned on the right side wall of the alley, only this one was in bad condition. Nick leaned down, placing himself on one knee and taking a closer look at the bike, it looked like it was just abandoned there and some of its contents were stripped out including the speedometer, the lights and even the break line, he pressed his teeth together as it definitely pained him on the inside to see such a beautiful piece of machinery like that become scrap. Judy was right next to Nick as she said:

- Looks like our thief had more than a joyride in mind. What do you think?

Nick did not look at Judy as he said:

- I think I'm gonna be sick.

The fox said so and it almost sounded like a joke but he was mostly angry with the fact that they only found one of the objectives of their search in such a sorry state. Judy walked a few steps away from Nick, leaving him to further study the destroyed bike while she thought about what to do next, she could not call the ZPD so their best option would be to return to the cruiser and drive back to precinct one, that would not happen. Judy's ears twitched and moved about, she could hear steps getting closer to their position, she tapped Nick's left shoulder and nodded her head as soon as the fox looked over in her direction signaling him to raise up and be ready.

Nick stood up from the ground and looked around in search of what could have alerted Judy all of a sudden, they did not have to look for too long as they saw a slim wolf dressed in modest attire walking by the back of the alley towards them. The wolf's steps were long and slow, his presence was shrouded until he walked more on to the light and presented himself to the officers:

- Hello there, officers. Can I help you with something?

Judy was suspicious for a second but she decided to take the lead and assume contact with the canine, she waved her left paw in the air to be in clear view of the wolf and spoke up:

- Hello, sir. Would you be willing to ask a few questions?

The wolf approached ever so closer to the pair and his image awakened something in Nick's mind, he felt like he had seen that wolf before, something about the way he dressed or walked alerted the fox's mind. Nick squinted his eyes to get a better handle on the lighting inside the alleyway as he thought hard on that:

"I know this guy. Why do I know this guy?"

Nick remained silent and alone with his thoughts but he still persisted close to his partner as Judy walked a single step to the left and asked to the approaching canine:

- We are tracking a suspect that stole and stripped this motorcycle. Is there any information you can give us about that?

Darfang was relieved for a second, knowing then that the two officers were on the trail of a completely different crime and, apparently, unaware of the dealings happening only blocks away from that spot. The other wasps were well positioned on either side of the alley, just in case there was any trouble, watching for Darfang's signal and hearing the conversation attentively to catch on anything that might compromise them. Ash the porcupine, Damian the wolf and Mark the raccoon were situated on the opposite side of the alley right by where Judy and Nick had just come from while Stan, the other raccoon of the pair, and Dexter the tiger were hidden behind a corner from the side of the alley Darfang had appeared from, the two officers were completely surrounded and they did not even know it.

Darfang made sure to not display any other facial expression that was different from the one he appeared in, keeping himself calm and only showing the least amount of spark in his eyes as he heard Judy's words. With a finger of his right claw pointing over his shoulder, the wolf spoke out in answer to Judy's questioning, keeping a controlled volume to his tone of voice while simultaneously relaying critical points of information to either divisions of his crew:

- Well, I can't say I have spotted anyone suspicious passing through here. I work nearby and have just stepped out of work to grab a bite. If either of you want to investigate any further this way you're welcome to come along.

Nick could already sense that something was very much out of place concerning that guy, he already knew all too well that there was nothing much in the direction he was pointing at, no place of business was left around that area worthy of time, only dilapidated stores and old streets, the wolf was hiding lies amidst some truths in his words. Darfang had his attention focused on Judy, she was the most well-known officer amidst the two and Nick noticed that, he took the chance to sniff out their surroundings while also continue searching his memory for any significant shred of information, nothing came to mind, he would have to quicken his thoughts if any results were to be had.

Nick squinted his eyes and that was when the information he was looking for finally hit him, he knew that wolf and he knew what he used to do for a living, he also remembered that he was dangerous and that, despite poor life choices, he was a competent leader and his gang could not be far behind. The potential of a dangerous situation and a combat scenario where they would be placed in serious disadvantage flared up in Nick's brain, he had to act fast, he knew that Judy was quite a fighter but it was much preferable to face off against foes on more manageable terms. Nick stepped forward, hoping to cut into the conversation and tell Judy that it was crucial to leave at that exact moment, positioning himself right in front of her and pulling out an excuse that was sure to call to Judy's attention:

- Sorry to refuse such a tantalizing offer, but we really should be going back and reporting this to the other officers, our gear has been acting out all day today. Right, Hopps?

That last bit of the sentence immediately alerted Judy that something was amiss, Nick had never called out to her by her last name since they started working at the ZPD, her eyes directed up and landed on Nick's eyes, they moved about and his facial expression accurately displayed a hint of consternation. Nick signaled with his eyes and ears pointing to specific locations, behind and ahead of him, those should be the targets of Judy's attention, there were forces lurking behind the scenes and they had to move along with a degree of consideration if they were to escape that tough spot in one piece. Judy signaled with a nod that she understood, she did not know the reason behind the fox's signaling but she also trusted him without question and knew that she should play it along, she spoke out, leaning to the left and looking at the wolf as she said:

- It's true. Protocol dictates we must get in touch with the nearest precinct in case of critical failures in our gear.

Nick smiled with the undeniable sense that Judy caught on the message pretty fast, he turned around to look at the wolf and tell him:

- Paws are tied, we really should get moving.

Nick and Judy turned over in the direction they had come from, they had to exit the alley before talking openly but their exit was promptly blocked. Nick clutched his teeth together and imagined how he really should have seen something like that coming a mile away, then again he also thought over on how they might have been placed in a sort of 'no win situation' concerning more than just one thug. Judy had her ears standing up straight and her eyes wide open in surprise as he saw a trio of mammals of different sizes blocking their exit as well as hearing a new set of steps revealing themselves from right behind them. They were trapped.

Three thugs on each side of the alley now, blocking Nick and Judy's escape routes. The bunny caught on quickly on the fact that what was going on was no casual or friendly meeting, the thugs approached slowly, keeping their bodies as a wide-stanced as they could as to fully announce their presences as intimidating figures as well as make sure that there would be no openings anywhere that would facilitate the situation of the two officers present there. Nick was already preparing himself for a scuffle as Judy moved her ears and eyes around, trying to figure out if there would be another way to defuse the situation, maybe even intimidate the suspects with hard facts about the law, she had to try something and the time would come sooner than she expected.

Darfang was the first to postulate about the given moment as he stated out loud:

- You two really should not have come around at this time, we were all busy working on transporting some goods and all of this could have been avoided if the two of you would've just scurried on back to your cop car.

Nick smiled shrewdly and answered to that:

- Well, we were heading out to lunch before coming over here, there might still be time for a quick snack later.

Judy directed her eyes at Nick for a short second, not getting how the fox could still keep himself calm and make casual comments in such a moment, she turned her head left and right as she tried to understand with the little time they had before things got truly serious why those thugs wanted to put a stop to their investigation. All of that felt way bigger than a simple robbery but theorizing about that would have to wait. The porcupine coming from the back of the alley was the first of the gang to approach the two officers, Judy took a note of that and quickly prepared herself for confrontation as she took a step around Nick to protect his exposed left side while also giving the fox a cue to safeguard her back.

Darfang gave a signal with his right paw, raising it over his shoulder and making a clutching motion with his fingers twice, signaling for the two behind him to approach expediently. Stan and Dexter walked forth and kept their eyes on Nick, judging him to be the most troublesome target of the two. With his paw clutching and already confident he could win the fight without actually trying, Ash walked two steps ahead with his stubby legs giving him just enough distance from the others so that he could stand his own ground for a fight, keeping an eye on Judy as he did so, the bunny officer took a quick breath and spoke out, she already knew that the mammals ambushing her and her partner might not listen but she still had to try talking things out. With authority blaring in her voice, Judy said:

- I must ask you to let us through. We must get back to precinct one and impeding us will not end well for either of you.

Ash almost laughed out loud after hearing Judy saying those words. Intending on provoking the bunny into making a stupid mistake in picking a fight with all of them at once, the porcupine waved his paws in a provocative manner and said:

- You are surrounded from all sides, bunny cop, and you don't look too tough to me. If you wanna get by why not take your best shot?

Judy squinted her eyes and gave a single step forward while also placing her body into a stance that would be ready for a fight, just waiting in case the porcupine decided to make the first move. Unsurprising, Ash tried to beat Judy up first, the porcupine became impatient after staring at Judy's face of inaction for only eight seconds or so, his mind was set in a countdown to victory as he threw the first punch, a straight left aimed at her nose. Judy dodged the hit straight away and Nick was right there to witness as that fight unfolded, the other members of the gang wanted to see their cohort give his best shot at defeating the famous officer while also getting a peek at what Judy was capable of.

Judy leaned her body to the left to dodge the punch, she stepped forth and prepared a counter attack of her own by clicking her right shoulder back and making a knuckle duster of her own, right as Ash had planned. As soon as the porcupine saw Jud preparing her punch and readying her shoulder in order to acquire some nice momentum for the hit, the porcupine leaned his upper body forward and lowered his head so that the spines that covered most of his body would stand out right in front of him, that was one of his smartest combat plans, he would surely feel the impact of a hit but his opponents would always feel the sting of many spikes penetrating flesh. Judy caught wind of that on the spot, her mind was cool and she did not let the fight become favorable for her opponent.

Just as Judy's fist was about to enter in contact with the quills on the porcupines head, she stopped herself, her punch had such great momentum but she halted it without any problem at all in order to deliver a completely different attack. With the porcupine ow distracted, staring at the ground and confident in his absolute defense, Judy tucked her right arm back and went for a left uppercut that hit Ash at the center of his forehead and left him stunned as his back straightened out and his head raised up due to the unexpected impact. With flawless motion comparable to a machine, Judy sought the endless flow of openings provided by her adversary, she delivered a right jab to his gut, a left hook to the side of his face and a sideways right kick to his chest, none of the other mammals present in the alleyway could believe how fast Judy was at that moment, dispatching the porcupine in only a few seconds not only with strength but with calm mind.

After sustaining three punches and one kick from Judy, Ash felt like he could not even stand straight, the porcupine got tossed backwards and incidentally threatened to fall onto his cohorts on his way down, just as Judy had planned. Damian and Mark stepped aside and left the porcupine with ample room on the ground to fall down, mostly due to the fact that none of them wished to have their skins pierced by his spines on accident. As Ash fell to the ground, Judy returned her body to a more formal standing stance and alerted the other mammals in front of her:

- That was a warning and more will be added to your list of misconducts if you don't let us through.

Nick did not have to say anything to add to that, his chest was always filled with a sense of pride and happiness when he saw Judy working like a true law enforcer, being direct and doing her absolute best as an accomplished member of the ZPD, it made him glad to be by her side. Darfang was having none of that, however, his next order came through as he signaled the rest of his gang to go right for the two officers, starting with Judy, the action was swift and Dexter was the next one to take a chance as he advanced towards the two officers.

Judy heard the heavy steps of the tiger and looked behind her to watch for his approach, the feline was skinny but his muscle mass still weigh considerably when compared to her and Nick combined, taking him down would demand a considerable effort. Nick was watching Judy's back as she turned around to get a quick check on the other opponents they would have to face, the fox was fast to draw his new shooter, aim straight for center mass and pull the trigger, in less than three seconds Dexter was hit square in the chest by the bright bolt of electricity and pushed back before landing tail first on the ground with lungs short on breath and a stupefied look on his face.

All Dexter could feel at that moment was a pulsing impact against his chest and an unnerving feeling of pain coursing through his entire body, the shot from the taser was unlike anything any of those thugs had ever seen and it had just taken out the stronger of them in a single moment. The field test of Nick's new shooter was a remarkable success, everyone was left in awe of the newest piece of ZPD equipment, the fox was standing proudly with both of his paws holding on to the shooter handle while having a stoic look on his face, he was placed in a wide stance with all eyes on him as he spoke out:

- I still got four shots on me. Listen to the lady and stand down or step forth and pay the price.

Nick's tone of voice and decisive pose communicated well that he was not joking around, he was serious in protecting himself and his partner, at least that was what he was trying to make it look like. As Judy silently admired her partner for taking such a stand against their ambushers, inside of Nick's mind the only thing that could be heard was a very loud:

"THAT WAS SO FUCKING COOL!"

Dexter was now immobile on the ground same as Ash, practically out of play so only four assailants remained in the alley, Nick and Judy's chances to win that confrontation had drastically improved but there was still a lot of fighting to get done. Filled with discontent for how that encounter was unfolding, Darfang pointed both of his paws at the officers and yelled out:

- Just take them down, you idiots. It should not be this hard.

To which Judy replied while reaching for her shooter:

- Have any of you ever faced an officer of the ZPD in your lives? We're the best of the best and we do not go down without a fight.

Those words from Judy only prompted the gang of thugs to fight even harder as the two raccoons were now advancing towards the officers simultaneously from two different directions. Stan and Mark employed confusing tactics as they faced Nick and Judy, skittering close to the floor and regularly changing directions so that neither of the officers could pin them down. Judy tried to aim her shooter at Mark, the first of the raccoons to enter he line of sight, but Stan seized that chance to get a quick jab to the left side of her head, the scare and sudden pain caused by the attack caused Judy to clutch her paws, her shooter fired off and she wasted one of the darts, hitting nothing but the wall closest to her. Nick heard Judy shouting in frustration and turned his head to check on her to which Mark responded with a fast kick to Nick's right knee, the fox grunted in pain but he was still standing strong. The two rodents were doing their best to overwhelm the officer duo with as little effort as possible, taking every chance to fight aggressively although it would not last for very long.

Beginning to see a pattern in how the two raccoons moved about, hearing a small clicking noise one of them spouted out before making the switch, she got wiser to their moves. Moving her ears around with a new sound in her mind to pay attention to, Judy waited for the next clicking noise to be thrown about, two more hits came at her as the two raccoons got more jabs at her but, as soon as her ears caught wind of the clicking sound, she sprang into action. Mark could hear the cue to change directions by Stan, he reduced speed so that he could switch his running stance and that gave Judy the split second opening to do her move. Noticing the rodent only inches away from her, located to the right and just in the range of her field of vision, Judy leaned her body to the right and delivered a devastating elbow bump to the side of his head, Stan felt a ringing pain to the side of his skull as he was left utterly disoriented by the bunny's attack, he retreated while stumbling away and placing both of his paws over his head to try amending the painful discomfort taking a hold of his senses.

- Mark!

Stan yelled it out, concerned for the condition of his ally and Nick sought that chance right away. Seeing the rodent duo in disarray thanks to Judy's quick thinking, Nick tossed himself over the other raccoon, delivering a very aggressive grappling move to the only rodent left near them believing that such a gamble would be the only way to immobilize the thug and ensure that he would receive any significant damage. Stan was able to squirm out of Nick's hold, thinking that he would be able to surprise the fox and turn the tables on him, he was mistaken. Nick saw the direction that the raccoon chose to take as he would deliver his next attack and used that as an advantage to dish out a devastating blow, the raccoon swung his right paw like a flail, being helped by the rotation of his whole body but Nick blocked that attack by using his left arm as a clutching shield, he still felt the strength of the hit but his face was protected against what could have been felt as a potentially disorienting strike.

After assuring that he had defended himself against that hit, Nick prepared to dish out his counter with very effective results. With a gnarling sound pouring from his mouth to emphasize the amount of strength he was using in that attack, Nick adjusted the grip of his right paw over the handle of his shooter, clutching the barrel of the weapon instead of its handle, swung his left arm to the side in order to throw his foe off balance for but a moment and delivered a diagonal uppercut to the lower left side of Stan's jaw. With the harsh hit, heavier still thanks to the added weight of the weapon clutched in Nick's fist, Stan did not even know which way was forward as he was thrown off balance and stumbled back before he was caught by Darfang and impeded from hitting the ground, the wolf leader confident that at least one of his comrades would be able to rise up and get back in the fight.

Nick and Jud were prompt to win that fight, they were still in their fighting stances and prepared to face off against the leader of the gang, their minds resonating to the fact that if they were able to take him down, the rest would be fairly ineffective and it would be easier to take all of them into custody. Both Nick and Judy had sustained some damage from their confrontation with the raccoons but they were still able and alert, a trail of thought that came down to a sudden halt once a hidden surprise was unveiled.

Judy turned around, looking behind her as she detected the sound of angry groaning, the tiger who Nick had tagged with his shock shooter was raising from the ground, her immediate attention turned to the large feline and that was the mistake that would cost the two of them everything in that fight. As Judy turned to face the biggest foe of the bunch, she felt a small prick on the back of the knee, her first instinct was to identify that as a sneak attack from the porcupine she had defeated only minutes prior to that but she was mistaken. Judy's right leg had been hit by a tranquilizer dart, smaller than the ones she had inside the magazine of her own shooter but just as effective.

Seconds after seeing the dart sticking out of her leg, Judy could feel a subtle tingle on her right leg climb up through her muscles, it slowly grew into numbness and, even if she tried to fight that off and stay up, she could not hold her own weight with both her legs any longer, the bunny officer fell down on one knee, struggling to maintain any shred of consciousness she still had through sheer will. Nick panicked a bit after seeing his partner go down to the ground like that, he turned around and leaned closer to her to hold her shoulders and check if she would need any assistance, he flipped over the options that he had in his mind, thinking that a quick retreat would be preferable even if difficult to attain.

- Carrots.

Nick muttered it out after getting closer to Judy, he placed his left paw on her back, preventing her from falling completely on to the ground but his moment of support also cost him dearly as he felt a tiny amount of pressure against his right shoulder. Nick had also been hit by a dart but his safety vest, which was well hidden underneath his uniform, had absorbed the impact of the dart and prevented the anesthetic from entering his system, the dart needle did not even touch his skin. Nick knew that a direct confrontation after that point would be beyond risky, he would not be able to take down the thugs while also worrying about Judy's safety, knowledgeable that a sneak attack would be his best option, Nick pretended to have been hit in full by the dart, reaching for it with his left paw to pull it out of his shoulder and pretending to feel wobbly and disoriented afterwards. All an act to survey everything around them and lure the assailants into a false sense of security.

Nick lowered his head, his eyes caught a glint of the weapon that was used on Judy and on himself, a small, concealed shooter brought over by the youngest wolf, the one mammal hesitant to jump in the fight was the only one who actually came fully prepared. Nick groaned and placed his right paw over his chest, still making an effort to support Judy by his side, he was making a very good impression of numbness as he pretended as if his entire torso was starting to go limp, Judy worried, believing on the spot that the fox was hit and tranquilized for real. With her cognitive functions working overtime to stay awake, Judy reached for her partner using her left arm which she could still move fully and called out to him with a worried whisper:

- Nick!

Nick leaned his head closer to Judy after hearing her voice calling out to him, he dared not speak out loud, worrying that the thugs with cleaner hearing would be able to catch up on his scheme, so he simply placed his head a little closer to her, letting show a smile and a wink of his eye. Judy caught up on that immediately, confident that the fox had a plan to stay on top of the situation even if it meant they would end up captured.

Dexter fully raised from the ground, more angry than anything else, he pointed at the young wolf all the way at the other side of the alley with his right paw over his chest which still hurt quite a bit from the shock he had received earlier, and spoke out:

- What the hell?! You had a tranq shooter on you this whole time?!

Damian, a little embarrassed but mostly proud that he thought ahead, showed the shooter in clear view of everyone else and answered:

- Well… yeah. Mr. Andersen gave it to me and told me to use it in case we ran into anyone looking into our transport Job.

Dexter stepped ahead furiously and asked:

- And you could not have used it *before* we got our tails handed to us?!

Damian shrugged that off and answered again to him with a louder volume to his voice this time:

- This thing only has three shots on it, I had to wait for a clean shot.

Nick released a loud groan, convinced that it would better sell his act, the tiger stepped forth and seized that chance to punch the fox's lights out in retribution for the shock he had received. With a clutching motion and a swing of his fist, Dexter hit Nick on the back of the head and, feeling a sharp dose of pain paired with disorientation, the fox had to push through it, pretending to be completely knocked out while still being awake enough to fool the gang of mammals.

Soon, Nick and Judy were being carried out, Darfang and the other agreed to take the two officers with them so that their locations and identities could not be reported to other police officers right away, the risky move seemed to have paid off since the wasps had come out of the confrontation with the most famous officers in Zootopia victorious, not knowing that they had made a fatal mistake which would cripple the operations they were associated with and seal each one of their fates in the long run. Nick and Judy were still together, the fox keeping his elaborate ruse while the bunny was struggling every moment to keep herself awake and resist the effects of the tranquilizer, as they were being dragged away through the back alleys to parts unknown, Judy fell unconscious and would not wake up for quite some time inside the territory of their newest enemies.