The next thing Judy knew after being tossed through the air was hitting a cushion of fabric, fur and muscle.

Nick hit the floor, hard, and skidded across it like a hockey puck until a metal crate stopped him dead. Judy tightened her arms around him, frozen stiff with the sudden realization of what her small body would have been reduced to had Nick not gotten between her and the wall.

"Son of a bitch." Gabe breathed once he managed to extricate himself from under the crate that had fallen on him. "No wonder I've never heard him talk. Hopps?" He saw her and Nick on the and raised his eyebrows. "Are you… spooning?"

Nick looked down at the bunny in his arms and let go with an awkward chuckle. "Touchdown!"

Judy lightly smacked his arm, retrospective horror gone. "I'm not a football, Nick!"

"Could have fooled me." Nick said. Judy didn't know what had gone through his head when he'd leapt up to catch her, and where he'd summoned the strength and precision to perform such a feat. Her logical side blamed it on adrenaline.

"And Nick?" Judy paused, then smiled. His obvious attempt to hide his embarrassment was cute, in an endearing sort of way. "Thanks for the save."

A shout from the edge of the platform drew their attention. Higgins, McHorn and Benjamin were on their hands and knees, shouting down into the abyss. "Captain!" Higgins hollered, his panicked voice bouncing all around the tunnel walls. "Are you alright?!"

Judy's jaw dropped. "Oh my gosh, where's the cable car?!"

Sedor must have hit her harder than she thought, for she hadn't noticed right away that the cable car was gone, and so were Bogo and Sedor. Gabe cursed and scrambled to his feet.

Judy beat him and Nick to the platform edge by a wide margin, stopping just short of the precipice. "CAPTAIN!"

She jumped back when her superior suddenly roared back. "FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, I'M NOT DEAF!"

"Bogo!" Benjamin clapped his paws to his mouth, stifling a sob.

Judy looked further over the edge to see the cable car about twenty feet below. It was dent and scarred from rolling down the hill and had shed a ton of scrap metal, but it was in one piece. Bogo was pulling himself through a smashed window when he suddenly dropped unceremoniously to the rocky floor of the tunnel. "Christ, I couldn't make myself heard with all you lot shouting at the same time!"

Standing just behind Judy, Nick put his paws on his hips. "How the hell are you still standing?"

Bogo stood up and rolled one shoulder. "Sedor may be a few bees short of a hive, but he makes a good crash pad."

"Where is Sedor?" Higgins asked. "Did he break his neck or something?"

"I can only wish." McHorn said.

Judy looked at him, spotting at least two stab wounds before the large rhino suddenly keeled over.

"Shit!" Higgins and the others scrambled to the lieutenant's side. Bogo shouted up from the tunnel, demanding to know what was happening. His shouts became more agitated when no-one answered.

Judy's heart sank when she looked over the rhino and saw the extent of the damage. Rhinos were tough, and McHorn was one of the biggest she'd ever met, but there was no doubt that he needed attention.

"What're you doing?" McHorn mumbled, looking at Nick. The fox had crawled onto his chest and was probing each penetrating injury. Judy clambered up beside him.

"Looking for sucking wounds." Nick said. "'Akela wuz here.' Charming. Did any of you cops bring a chest seal? Just in case?"

McHorn pushed himself up slightly, despite Higgins efforts to forcibly keep him down. "Chest seal?"

"So, no. Unless that medical room upstairs has some, we're going to need tape."

Higgins, pressing down on a stab wound to his coworker's arm, stared at the fox. "How the hell do you-"

It was Benjamin who spoke up. "For the last time, he did not fake that license!"

"We didn't say he had." McHorn said. "This time."

Nick looked between the two mammals. "How many times have you people doubted my credentials, exactly?"

McHorn shrugged. "There was reasonable doubt."

Judy scowled. "I know you're badly hurt, but that's crud and you know it!"

"Hey, for one thing he never went to college."

"KNOCK IT OFF!" Bogo's voice echoed as he shouted upward. "MAC, FIND SOME OTHER WAY TO STAY CONSCIOUS OR I'LL GIVE YOU THE BACK OF MY HOOF WHEN I GET UP THERE!"

Sufficiently chastised, McHorn lay back down on the concrete, then looked at Higgins. "Invented any more knock-knock jokes lately?"

Judy's fear for her coworker was almost matched by her curiosity as she watched Nick examine the wounds with the focus and intensity of a Chief Resident at Savanna Central Hospital. She'd questioned predators who had visited the clinic in the weeks before the big raid, and they'd generally displayed satisfaction at the service Nick had provided, but she had almost convinced herself that they'd been fabricated.

She was a stupid girl for even thinking that.

She allowed herself some relief when she saw that none of the injuries showed symptoms of sucking, then looked up to see that Gabe had taken a few steps back and was taking out a radio.

"Savage, it's Mossberg. Where are you?"

Judy heard Jack relatively clearly thanks to her rabbit's sense of hearing, and his response was deadpan. "Having a Mexitapirn Standoff with Zootopia's answer to Billy G. G. Loomis."

Gabe slightly turned his face to the radio. "… What?!"

Judy's ears pricked and she asked, "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, yeah!" Gabe quickly waved her away. Judy tuned out the bickering ensuing between Higgins and McHorn over how best to tend to the rhino so she could listen better; she trusted Jack and Gabe enough to have not arrested them by now, but she didn't like things being kept from her. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Jack answered quickly. "I've cornered Maria Manchas in one of the labs."

"Why do I feel a 'but' coming on?"

"But we're in the middle of a standoff, as you failed to understand just now. If she comes out of hiding, I'll shoot her. When Sedor shows up, she'll use the distraction to kill me. I'm liking the odds here."

"You can end the standoff. Sedor's been taken care of."

"Really?" Jack paused. "Alright, I'll call you back in a few. No distractions, please."

Judy looked at her watch. Roughly sixteen hours remained until Cheryl's deadline.

"So, four crazies down and we're still no closer to unlocking the Vorpal Blade." Nick slid down the side of McHorn's body, wiped the blood off on his pants and held out a paw to help her down.

The typically independent rabbit quietly accepted the gesture, but still let her legs do most of the work. "So, now what do we do?"

Judy thought of that defenseless bear cub who had pleaded for help over the intercom. "We have to get to Slothfeld."

"Yeah, I don't want anything to happen to Morris either, poor kid." Nick said. Judy's eyes widened slightly. Either that fox was psychic or they were more on the same page than she'd thought. "But you've seen that partition, right? Even fifty buffalo-butts won't get through that."

"ARE YOU BEGGING FOR A BODY CAST, FOX?" Bogo growled from down below.

Kneeling over the edge, Benjamin called down. "Don't take it personally, he has nicknames for everyone! Hold on, I'll look for something to get you out!"

He stood up, rubbed his chin for a few seconds and then walked over to the metal crates.

"Captain, we have to get McHorn to the medical room!" Higgins called, in the process of helping McHorn to his feet. "You'll be okay down there for a while, won't you?"

"Do what you need to, just make sure he doesn't die!" Bogo yelled back. "Hopps, you can't help carry a rhino so you stay here and find something to get me out of here!"

Judy gently tugged Nick's arm. "Go with them, Nick. They could use your help."

"Wait, your trusting me with your buddy's life."

"Yes."

Nick looked visibly conflicted. "You sure you'll be okay looking after Captain Buffalo Buttocks?"

"FOX, THIS IS YOUR SECOND WARNING!" Bogo thundered down below, and Judy was half-considering throwing Nick down there so her superior could follow through with his threats.

Nick smirked. "Doing just fine, good. Sorry, I don't have any credentials in cave rescue."

Oh, that dumb fox just doesn't know when to… "Just go with McHorn, you smart alec!" Judy snapped.

Gabe grabbed the fox by his jacket, practically tossing him toward the rhino and hippo. "You heard her. He's bleeding all over the concrete, so get cracking!"

Nick staggered across the floor, propelled by the momentum of Gabe pushed him, until he missed McHorn and instead collided with Benjamin's hip.

Benjamin pulled his arm out the open box he was looking through, straightened himself and looked down, looking a little nervous as he gazed at Nick.

Nick, upon acknowledging Benjamin for the first time since their eventful skirmish with Sedor, looked like he was holding back vomit.

Judy swallowed as she remembered the last time she'd seen them speak to each other. She shouldn't be here for this. She should search elsewhere, anywhere but here.

"Uh, guys?" Benjamin pointed to an open box behind him. "While you were standing around arguing about stuff I found some rippling equipment that Bogo could use. I think it's rippling equipment, but at least it's rope."

Judy relaxed, walked over and looked into the box. "It's rappelling equipment, Clawhauser, and good job."

"You know how to use this stuff?"

"It's kind of mandatory in police training, with all the different terrains in the city." Judy said. "It's too big for me to set up myself, but I can walk you through it. There's got to be a good anchor around here somewhere."

"Me." McHorn said, drawing stunned looks from everyone. Higgins, holding McHorn's arm around him shoulders, froze mid-way to the door.

"You can't be serious." The hippo said.

"Dead serious." McHorn muttered, then snorted blood all over the floor. "Yeah, yeah, bad choice of words. I'm not going to no medical room until Mansa's safe."

"I'm sure we handle it without you, tough guy." Gabe said with a casual wave of his paw.

McHorn narrowed his eyes at the feline. "Unless you can haul a six-hundred-pound beefcake all by yourself, keep your nose out. Higgs, tie that thing 'round me and you do the rest. The cheetah can help if he needs to."

Benjamin carried the rope over and held it out, glancing at Nick every now and then. When Higgins didn't accept it right away, McHorn snatched the rope and started tying it around himself, muttering under his labored breath.

"Resilient son of a bitch." Nick commented.

His ears flattened when Benjamin turned to look at him properly.

"Nick." He said.

"B-Benji." Nick gulped. "Jeez, you've lost weight."

"Being locked up in a safe house for a few weeks will do that to you."

"Yeah… I haven't seen you in… how long was it?"

"Back at the Arctic House." Benjamin said quietly.

Judy put her paws over her mouth as she stared at them, sending a prayer that this wouldn't end badly.

"Ah yeah, the Arctic House." Nick climbed onto another crate so he was almost eye level with the cheetah and wrung his paws. "Hell of a night, huh? I guess I should say it's ice to see you again… yeah, Koslov didn't laugh either."
Judy waited anxiously for Benjamin to respond. Her heart jumped slightly when he got down on both knees. "How long were you in cahoots with him, Nick?"

Nick took a deep breath through his nostrils. "Since I started up my Wild Times plan. I had nothing to do with him before then, I swear to God. I know what you're gonna say. 'I should have quit before I joined up with mobsters.' And you're right, I should have. I was desperate, I guess."

"Desperate?"

"For what you had." Nick looked ashamed of himself for admitting it. "Your life got better. One day we were working in the same crappy fast food joint, together in pain and misery, and then the next day you were gone. You moved on to a better job in a better place, with a bigger paycheck, and I was still stuck in Bug-Burga hating the world for not giving me and my dad a chance."

His dad. John Wilde. The fox who tried to start an honest business, only to die in prison for the sole crime of being a member of Liberum. Judy bit the edge of her lip, disgusted with herself for ever buying Swinton's horsecrap.

"So you decided to become a bigger sellout than me?"

"No." Nick said, his eyes hardening for a moment. "I was a little jealous- okay, a lot jealous, but I never once thought of you as a sellout. You wanted more than the slum, and you got it. But I wanted even more. But the rejections from the banks kept piling up, higher and higher. I could have quit once I ran out of banks. Cut my losses and stayed in Bug Burga, but…"

"You didn't want to fail like your dad did." Benjamin said it for him.

"Yeah. And there was a healthy amount of greed involved. I'm almost glad my dad's dead. That way I can't see the look on his face."

There was a grunt of pain. Benjamin looked over Nick's head at McHorn. The rope was already over the edge of the platform, completely taught as Higgins pulled at it. "Damn it. Must have done something to my shoulder." He muttered and waved the cheetah over.

"Maybe we should save this for later, Nick. They need help." Benjamin stood up.

Nick held a paw out, stopping him. "I know, I know. Look, I know I screwed up. I screwed up, and screwed you over big time. And you could have told the fuzz where to find me, but obviously you didn't. Just, you know… thanks. For not selling me out."

Benjamin gave him a long, silent look. "I almost did this time."

Somewhere in the darkness of the tunnel beside them, made clear by the silence that followed those words, there was the gentle rumbling of a small waterfall. Judy was sure she was the only mammal in the cavern who could hear it.

Nick sighed and looked away. "'Kay."

Benjamin rubbed his arms to warm them up as he looked at the rope. Higgins didn't appear to be making any progress with it. "Jeez, this is gonna be harder than I thought." With that he walked off to join Higgins.

Nick turned away and punched the metal box.

"You stupid dumb fuck." He snarled under his breath. "One of the handful guys in this whole fucking city who doesn't give two shits that you're a fox, and what do you fucking do…"

Judy walked over and put a paw on the arm that pressed its fist into the cold metal. "Talk to him after this is all over, Nick. He's ready to forgive you. I can see it."

Nick screwed his eyes shut and pressed his head against the box. "Carrots, after this is all over I'm going to jail. There may not be a later."

"Then I'll make sure you get a later." Judy smiled. "Trust me."

"Well, you've proven relatively trustworthy so far."

"'Relatively?' Says the guy who had a secret passage in his office!"

"Okay, okay, you have been relatively, absolutely, one-hundred percent trustworthy." To Judy's relief Nick looked 'relatively' cheered up when he took his head off the crate. "If I'm going to finish taking responsibility for my actions later, then let's focus on the now. What do we do about Morris?"

"Save him."

"How?"

"Wish I could plan that far ahead. If only we could make Slothfeld come to us…"

Nick stiffened, then grabbed Judy's head and planted a quick kiss between her ears, which swiftly turned red with heat.

"Nick, are you out of your-"

"Carrots, I'm sorry I ever called you a dumb bunny!" Nick turned on his heel and stepped up to Gabe, who had his back to the fox as he whispered into the radio. Still feeling a little stunned by Nick's sudden act of affection, Judy listened carefully until she identified the mammal on the other end as Miss Skyefall.

"I don't know." Gabe said. "Without a keycard, there's no way to get into XIBALBA."

"We've looked everywhere, right?"

"If there was a keycard still out here, these crazies would have ripped that sloth to pieces by now."

"Don't call them crazies!"

"Okay, sore subject now." Nick said.

Gabe flinched away from him the instant he heard the fox's voice in his ear. "Jesus Christ, Wilde!"

"Pardon my eavesdropping, but I couldn't help but overhear that you're shit out of luck." Nick said.

"Not now, Wilde!" Gabe snapped.

"Yes now, Mossberg. I might have an idea how we can get to Morris and Slothfeld." Nick paused. "And Starlight."

Gabe tensed. "If it's not a good idea, I'm throwing you through that door."

"That partition- is that what you call it- can't be opened without a keycard from the outside, right?"

"Well, we sure can't open it from the inside."

"Maybe not… but she can."

"She?" Gabe asked. Nick nodded. For a second Judy thought they were talking about her, then a lightbulb seemed to pop in Gabe's head and returned to the radio. "Alyssa, who has the disk?"

"Me." Alyssa said.

"Get that disk and meet us outside the partition."

"You found a way into XIBALBA?" Alyssa said with sudden eagerness.

"Not quite. We're going to make XIBALBA open for us."

"Sit tight, I'll be right there."

Gabe looked to the smaller mammals. "Better you stay put. Shit's going to hit the fan when Starlight comes out."
"On a scale on one to ten, how dangerous is she when not on our side?" Nick asked.
"Depends on how badly you piss her off."

"… Okay-dokay."

Gabe looked over Nick's shoulder. "You should stay away too, rookie. She's way above your paygrade."

Judy stood up, scowling. "You can't just assume what I'm capable of! I'm coming with you!"

"You stay where you are!" Gabe snapped.

"But-"

Nick swiftly moved between them. "Ok, ok, claws down, ladies! I think what Mr. Temper-Temper is trying to say is that this is between him and his long-lost wife. Wouldn't want to increase the chances of someone shooting her. Besides, someone needs to stay here and look after Benji and Buffalo-"

"THESE HORNS ARE ITCHING FOR PELTS, WILDE…" Bogo shouted.

Nick stuck his paws in his pockets and shrugged. "Maybe save the threats for when you're back on…" He turned around and froze mid-smirk. "… And you already are."

The smirk evaporated completely when Benjamin released the rope and ran straight into Bogo's arms.

"Guh! Watch it, Ben, I just took a tumble in a giant tin can."

"You're still okay, though, right?" Benjamin asked, his face pressed into Bogo's torso.

Bogo chortled and returned the embrace.

Nick sighed and turned his eyes away from them.

Benjamin released Bogo at his request and the buffalo stalked in Nick's direction with a face like thunder. Judy stepped in front of the fox, ready to talk her captain out of tanning his hide, only for him to pass them by and kneel down beside McHorn.

"Damn it, Mac." He growled as he carefully undid the knot and pulled the rope off the wounded rhino.

"Not as bad as you, believe me." McHorn said with a dry chuckle.

"Right on that one. Get up, we're taking you to the medical room. Wilde, you said you knew the way?"

"Yeeeeaaaah…" Nick said nervously.

"Good. Keep him alive and I'll forget those buffalo-butt cracks."

There was a loud snort of laughter. "Cracks…"

Bogo glowered in Nick's direction, only for Judy to raise her paw. "Sorry, sir. That was me this time."

Bogo shook his head, then with Higgins managed to get McHorn to his feet. "One step at a time, Mac. Come on, everyone, we're leaving. Wilde, get in front."

"'Kay, I guess you're the boss." Nick ran forward to lead the way. Benjamin took the rear.

Judy retrieved the gun she'd lost and went to join the group, but then she noticed that Gabe had yet to move. His hood was up, leaving his eyes in shadow, and he had pulled out both his curved blades. He stepped up to a metal crate and laid his blades down. He then pulled out a shorter straight knife and slipped it under his sleeve. Finally, he laid his firearms on the crate.

Judy holstered her own weapon and walked up to him. "What are you doing?"

"I'm not taking any chances of her getting hurt." Gabe said. Judy saw past the shadow under his hood and saw fear in his blue eyes.

"You sure you don't need any help with… you know?"

"I'm already waiting for backup. Look, I know it's in your nature but don't interfere. She's under Slothfeld's control right now and won't hesitate to kill you and your boyfriend."

"Got it. Anything else?"

"Yeah. My gear had better still be there when I get back."

Judy glanced at the impressive weaponry that lined the metal lid of the crate. Cheese and crackers. When she joined the force, she'd expected to at worst be dealing with Charles Maneson, not Deathstroke.

When she looked back at Gabe, she found herself staring at thin air.

Case. In. Point.

"Is every predator I meet gonna pull a Batmammal?" She grumbled.