When Instinct Falls - Clean Version

by upplet

This is a secondary version of my Rated-M story, When Instinct Falls. This version has many edits and revisions to it throughout the story so as to better suit the wants of those who prefer less explicit content. This story contains many similarities, but is otherwise not a complete clone of the original version.

103. Power-Play

This is the final academy chapter! It's been a fun ride, but I'm quite excited to have Nick and Judy finally conclude their work at the ZPA so they can jump back into the city. In the coming chapters, the true plot of their final adventure in WIF will come to fruition! There's going to be some awesome action sequences, characters new and old being introduced, more character development across the board, more Wildehopps, and an epic finale. You won't want to miss it.

Anyways, this chapter has a lot to it, so let's get started, shall we? Do please enjoy!

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"With great power comes great responsibility." - Stan Lee

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8:20 P.M Seven Hours Earlier ; Zootopia Police Academy

Nick never much liked storms.

Most mammals had highly acute senses, but predator species especially always had been known to have even greater capabilities than their prey counterparts. It simply came with the title, for back in prehistoric times, a successful hunter needed all of its worldly perceptions in working order to be able to accomplish their good work. Nowadays, however, those same traits that helped keep them alive in ancient times were little more than useless in the grand scheme of things. Nick didn't need his inner instincts to buy a coffee at Snarlbucks, or run a good hustle on the streets of Savanna-Central, after all. For that, all he needed was his precious wits, which were always in ample supply.

But still, there were times when he just couldn't shake the feelings that ailed him, for as much as he tried to hide them. Times when he knew, deep down, that something bad was going to happen. Moments like these weren't very common, but he imagined that prey species dealt with them all the time. Contrary to popular belief, all predators had powerful survival-instincts hardwired into their very brains, as well, even if they weren't as overbearing as those of, say, rabbits or sheep. All predators had those occasional, inexplicable, gut-feeling moments that left them on edge, and as Nick stared up at the dark clouds of the thunderstorm through the window in his dorm, he felt wary.

He and Judy, along with Major Friedkin and the rest of the recruits, had just managed to safely return to the academy grounds from their late-evening run in the surrounding countryside before the downpour had arrived. Thick torrents of icy rain pummeled the concrete building and drowned the grass in the interior courtyard. The metallic scent of ozone filled the air, and bright crackles of lightning cleaved the sky, heralded by booming claps of thunder. He was lucky enough to have managed to slip inside alongside Judy before the rain hit, though he couldn't say the same for poor Eugene, who had been so far behind on the run that by the time he had made it back to the complex, he had been completely soaked head-to-toe. The rabbit and fox officers, alongside Major Friedkin, had stayed behind to make sure that the mole arrived. He had, grumbling beneath his breath as he made his way back to the barracks, skipping the showers altogether, which Nick figured excusable, since he hadn't needed one, anyways, thanks to the rain.

While the other recruits cleaned themselves up from their grueling run and prepared themselves for the night, Nick and Judy were excused back to their own private dormitory on the far side of the complex. Nick had taken enough showers with a dozen other sweaty mammals during his own first run through the academy, all those years ago, and was grateful to be able to have his own private quarters with Judy, where they could relax by themselves. Being a teacher, as opposed to a cadet, definitely had its privileges.

The fox took his turn in the shower first, with Judy jokingly claiming that his stench alone was enough for her to turn down first dibs on the hot water. Nick always found it amusing when his wife teased him like that. For a moment, he strongly considered offering up the chance for her to join him, but ultimately decided not to, as he sought some time alone with his thoughts, for the moment - He wanted some time to unwind by himself, and ponder. As the warm water poured down the fur on his head, and the steam curled through his appendages, he tried his best to ignore the feeling of trepidation that had settled within his core by distracting his mind with other thoughts and memories.

Nick thought back to everything that he and Judy had been through, over the past few years - The original Night-Howler case, and all that came with it. His second visit to Bunny-Burrow with Judy. That time when the two of them had ventured to the Nocturnal-District only to get kidnapped by a vampire bat crime-lord. Their undercover work in the city's Downtown area with Jack Savage, and the paid vacation to Outback-Island and Pawaii that followed. Their work unearthing the nefarious political conspiracy of Ratsputin at City-Hall, and their brief adventure to the Deciduous-District, on the outskirts of the city limits, where they learned so many lessons, all the while piecing together the crazy scheme of that tomb-robbing tasmanian-devil, Iluka, and his gang of marsupial thugs. Nick and Judy had been through so much together, all in just a few years time.

The fox could only wonder just what sorts of new and exciting endeavors awaited them in the future, near and far.

But no matter how far back he thought; No matter where his mind wandered, or what sort of memories it pulled from the depths of his conscious, he just couldn't ignore the feeling of unease that had taken hold within him. Eventually, he realized that there was only one other mammal he could take solace in, during moments like these: Judy Hopps.

Once his shower had been concluded, and his russet fur dried, he stepped out of the not-so sizable washroom, one clean white towel wrapped around his waist, and into he and Judy's equally unimpressive bedroom. The thick of the storm darkened the landscape outside their single window to the outside world, and the only light in the room was a soft glow emanating from a tiny lamp that Judy had set up on the night-stand. The room was dark, with the shadows bending around the furniture like twisting claws, save for when the lightning outside briefly expelled the darkness, only to vanish, and let the shadows return. Nick spotted Judy laying on the surface of their bed, dressed in a too-large T-shirt and sweatpants, likely to stave off the cold. In her paws, she clutched a thick blue book, and seemed to be quite invested in it as she lounged quietly on the mattress.

"Whatcha reading?" He asked, nodding in her direction. It was a simple question, but he couldn't hold back his curiosity. Just seeing her was enough to make him feel better.

The rabbit's bright eyes darted up and met with the form of her husband, standing close by. She quickly scanned him up and down, gaze tracing along from the tips of his toes up to his own pair of emerald-colored eyes. Judy allowed herself a delicate smirk across her mouth as she lifted the back of the book up from her lap for Nick to see.

"Basic ZPD Protocol and Guidelines." She stated. "This must be your first time seeing it."

"Ha ha, very funny." Nick muttered flatly, though not without a grin egging at the edge of his muzzle. "Your jokes are as wince-worthy as your pajamas."

Judy smiled slyly as she stretched out one of her long legs, showing off the carrot-shaped patterns printed on her sweatpants.

"Oh, you mean these? The ones you bought me for my birthday last year?"

Nick was about to reply, with one finger already raised pointedly in the air, but he promptly caught his words as the realization sunk in. He cleared his throat quickly.

"That's why I bought them." He jokingly countered, having smoothly recovered from his momentary hesitation. "Dumb bunnies like you deserve equally dumb attire."

Rolling her eyes, Judy placed a book-marker in her manual before setting the item aside on the nearby night-stand. All the while, she went on retorting;

"As opposed to you, the mammal with a collection of eighteen different tacky ties?"

"They're not tacky!" Nick exclaimed, instinctively raising his paw to his neck, only to defensively clutch at nothing but bare red fur. "They're stylish!"

"For clowns, maybe."

There was a moment of silence between the bunny and fox as they stared eachother down, twin gazes focused and stern. Then a pair of smiles grew on both their faces.

"Ya know, you're getting better at this." Nick said teasingly, a half-lidded grin twisting his countenance.

"Better at what?" Judy mused. "Showing you up, you mean?"

"Don't push your luck now, Carrots, we both know you can't hold a candle to me."

"I dunno, I was doing a pretty good job, back there."

The vulpine chuckled beneath his breath. "Yeah, alright, you were." He admitted, approaching the foot of the bed. "Ya had me for a second, there. Just a second!"

Judy just kept on smiling. "Hm. I'll take what I can get."

"When dealing with yours truly, that's a good mentality to have."

Nodding in agreement, Judy crossed her arms across her chest. "So, you manage to wring out that wet-fox smell, I hope?" She inquired, half-teasing half-hopeful.

"Not to worry, Carrots, the stench spawned from Major Friedkin's workout routine is only just barely contained by the complimentary bar of Doeve in the shower."

The bunny snickered. "Well, I hope you saved some for me, at least."

"Oh, there's plenty in there." Nick assured. "Pretty sure the bar is sized for wolves, anyways." He grumbled, tugging on his towel.

Although the thought of there being enough commodities left to clean herself later on was an appealing one, at the notion of the word wolves, Judy found herself frowning, for another less desirable thought had pierced her mind - She immediately reminisced to Harlan O'Conall, the wolf recruit, and his tirade on the run's break a few hours earlier.

Her ears drooped disappointedly. "Say, Nick," She began. "What did you think about what Harlan said? Back when we all were resting on that hill?"

Nick's lackadaisical smile melted away faster than an ice-cream cone at noontime in Sahara-Square. This topic clearly wasn't one that he favored.

The fox sighed through his nostrils as he sat on the edge of the bed, back to Judy. "I'm not so sure... But I don't blame him for how he feels." He softly said.

Judy felt her brow lower in sympathy. She knew firsthand just how sensitive Nick could be when talking about his past, even in an indirect form like this. His upbringing in Happy-Town, similarly to Harlan himself, had been one of limited joys and privileges. Although she could never relate to his plight, Judy still felt a strong sympathy with him.

"I don't either." She stated, pulling in her legs and shifting her weight forward in an effort to close the distance between her and Nick. "But what he said was kind of... Scary."

A slight smile found its way back to Nick's muzzle. "You rabbits'll jump at anything. Don't you worry. He was just angry, I'm sure - Had some steam to let off. It happens."

Judy bit her lower lip with concern. "I'm just worried about him." She professed.

Nick glanced over his shoulder, one emerald eye locking with Judy's own gaze. "He'll be alright. He's a tough cookie."

The rabbit's anxiety faltered. Nick just had that calming sort of effect on her. Yet she still felt compelled to make one last plea.

"Do you think you could talk to him tomorrow?" She requested. "Make sure he's okay? Just to be sure. He seemed to spook some of the other recruits, back there."

"Sure thing. I'll pay him a visit and give him a tap on the wrist." Nick joked, effectively causing his wife to smile with amusement.

"I don't think he's the kind of mammal you'd want to tick off like that."

"Nonsense. I grade his papers, he wouldn't lay a finger on me." The fox quipped.

Judy's smile evolved into a smirk. "Glad to see that your teaching side is competent."

The fox snorted. "You should tell that to Chief Bogo. Might get me a shiny sticker on my next official report."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"Immeasurably." Nick agreed. "Could always use something to show off to the other cops."

Upon concluding that statement, he then lept off of the bedside and to his feet. He stretched himself out a bit before sauntering over to his side of the bed. As he reared around the corner of the mattress, he spared a glance out the nearby window. Thick droplets of rain could be seen pattering against the glass, and for the first time, he realized just how loud and potentially distracting they truly were. He hoped that they'd simmer down some, so that he'd be able to get a good night's sleep. Suddenly, a jagged white line split the darkened sky before fading just as quick as it came, leaving the fox's vision blurred as it tried to compensate from the sudden flash of light. He blinked a few times.

"Is it insensitive of me not to mention something about the weather?" He remarked, gesturing to the window. "Because it feels like it is."

"A smooth-talker like you would surely never devolve to talking about the weather, of all things, would you?" Judy teased.

The fox shrugged, briefly tilting his head to the side. "Depends on just how crazy the weather is."

Another shock of lightning lit up the night-time sky outside, followed shortly by a roaring clap of thunder that practically shook the building.

"I'd say this qualifies." Nick concluded.

After the humor of his punchline wore off, it was then that he noticed that his tail had puffed up a bit; the bushy fur on his skin standing on end with some residual form of fear. He swiftly patted down his tail, hoping that Judy hadn't seen anything. He nearly dropped his towel while doing so. His hasty movements subsequently caught Judy's eye.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, genuine concern lacing her words.

The fox swallowed, glancing off to the ground. "I-I just..." He said quickly before clearing his throat with an audible grunt. "Just have a lot on my mind."

Judy pursed her lips in thought. "And what is on your mind?"

Nick exhaled softly through his nostrils as he sat himself down upon the mattress, the white sheets wrinkling beneath his weight. He slightly chuckled under his breath.

"A bit too much, to be honest. Stuff I haven't thought about in a while... Probably because I try not to think about it."

"Like what?" The bunny questioned curiously, to which her mate shrugged, lolling his head to the side.

"Mammals we've met. Things we've done, and seen. Everything we've been through. We've been stuck here at the academy, teaching all these recruits how to be good cops, when there's still so much back home we have to worry about - Flappy-Bat is still out there, along with that other bat you tangoed with back in Beaverdam, the city-council thinks we're liabilities, that mob in the Rainforest-District is reproducing Night-Howlers, and worst of all, there's a spy running around here that we're still no closer to catching."

Nick's voice faltered upon that last word. There was little that he despised more than admitting his grievances to others. It made him feel weak, anxious, and oh-so responsible. It made him feel like something had effectively gotten to him. Even to Judy herself, he had trouble expressing his worries. He gripped his kneecaps with frustration, but as he felt Judy place a paw of reassurance on his arm, his anxiety simmered. The fox glanced dejectedly over his shoulder, one green eye staring into his wife's own violet ones.

"Nick, I know what you're trying to say. But you don't have to worry so much - There's a lot going on, yeah, but the ZPD has it handled. And you and I have been doing what we can from here at the academy. That counts for something. And don't forget that we've been helping mold the next generation of police officers. Aren't you proud of them?"

The fox allowed himself a smile. "Yeah, I am. They've accomplished a lot. I'm sure the city will chew them up and spit them out only slightly less than it did you."

Judy rolled her eyes, ears flopping to the side as her own grin grew. "See? You're feeling better already." She said, playfully elbowing his shoulder all the while.

"Somewhat." He admitted before glancing off and to the side. "I still can't shake this weird feeling, though... Like something bad is going to happen."

The rabbit hugged him, the warmth from her body driving away the cold clinging to his bare fur. Using one paw, she carefully turned his face toward hers.

"Well, if anything bad ever happens, as it sometimes does," Judy began, leaning in closer. "We'll get through it together, as we always do."

She then captured his lips in a delicate kiss, hoping to reassure him. Nick's eyelids closed slowly and leisurely, sealing off his vision. A sigh of content escaped his maw, the warm air from his lungs brushing past the light-gray fur on his wife's chin. Judy felt his lips to be pleasantly warm, and like two puzzle pieces designed for one another, their mouths delicately meshed together even despite the drastic difference in the shapes of their respective muzzles. Their kiss was slow and passionate, like a steady waltz.

In that moment, Nick realized that Judy was right - That for as much as his concerns were justified, that what most mattered now was the present moment, and what he made of it; what they made of it. And in that present moment, kissing his beloved wife, Nick figured that his worries could wait. Right now, he wanted to remind himself that no matter how hard times could get, or seem, that together, he and Judy would work together to face down their problems, and build a better world for others, and themselves.

Nick raised one of his paws to Judy's face, where he cupped her cheek, caressing the soft fur beneath his thumb. His other paw gently touched her side. He then leaned forward, adding more pressure to the kiss. Judy's eyes widened a bit in surprise, but she quickly went along with the moment, accepting her partner's sudden assertiveness, and relaxing. She figured that he must have been bottling up his feelings again, and now, with the floodgates widening, his desire was beginning to build - Not that Judy was complaining, of course. It never hurt to indulge in a little romance with Nick every now and then, when the time was right. And with the privacy of their dormitory, and the shroud of the storm adding to the mood, Judy felt that now was definitely a right time. One of her paws gingerly reached over and stroked at the yellow-ish red fur on the fox's chest. It felt smooth to the touch, and still had a very slight residual slickness to it leftover from Nick's time in the shower. Judy considered taking one for herself, but was too enraptured to care.

She then felt one of Nick's paws grip a little harder against her side, rubbing at the curve of her body with loving intent. His touch sent ticklish ripples into her ribcage, causing her to smile, and suppress a giggle, which effectively caused their kiss to be severed. The fox simply smiled with hooded eyes, thinking it quite cute to admire her reaction. He breathed in slowly and steadily through his mouth, recuperating the oxygen that he had lost from his kissing-session with Judy. She too took in a few soft pants of air.

"You're still a good kisser." Was all she said, the skin beneath the fur on her cheeks beginning to flush red with warm blood.

Nick snorted. "Right back at ya, Whiskers."

She then nodded her head to the side, eyes glancing off sheepishly. "I suppose we... Have some time to practice a bit more, if you'd like."

The fox gave her a sly grin. "It does make perfect, as they say." He quipped before shifting forward and wrapping the bedsheet around his lower-body.

Smiling, Judy joined him under the covers after promptly shedding her own articles of clothing. Nick then leaned forward and nuzzled his brow into the groove of her neck. The bunny scratched at the fox's ears, causing him to whine with enjoyment. He soon shifted forward once more and planted his lips on the underside of Judy's chin. She suddenly became aware of how close her husband's teeth were to her jugular vein, and sensitive throat, but his actions were nothing but gentle, and considerate. Judy hummed with pleasure at the feeling of Nick's nips against her neck, stimulating her nerves. He positioned his body above hers, and the heat pooled between them in comfortable amounts.

Nick and Judy went on with ease into the stormy night, soon falling asleep in one another's arms, though neither knew just what truly awaited them come morning's light.

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5:00 A.M

A jolt of thunder shook the building, causing Judy's eyes to shoot open.

Blinking hard, with ears perked up straight into the air, the rabbit scanned across the room, searching for any threats. Nothing seemed out of place. She lifted her upper body up off of the mattress to sit up, causing Nick's arm to slip off of her shoulder and onto the bed from its previous resting place. Judy spared a glance at her husband, who was still fast asleep, snoring ever so softly. Just outside the window, the storm was still present, though the heavy rain had diminished into a lighter, but still jarring patter of water. The bunny rubbed her forehead as memories of the previous night filled her head. She remembered her talk with Nick, and everything that came after just as well. Her paws tugged up on the bedsheet, and for a moment, she simply sought to return the sleep, that was, before her sensitive ears detected yet another noise past the drone of the rain.

Judy could have sworn that it sounded like a scream.

She listened closer, leaning her head forward slightly and tuning her sense of sound to the hallways outside the safety of her and Nick's bedroom. Focusing hard, she managed to detect a slew of crashing noises in the distance, as though someone had knocked over a pile of metal pans, followed by yet another shout, though this time, the shout was different - It was less a scream of terror and more a roar of anger. Something about the noise sounded familiar, and caused Judy's gray fur to raise on end in trepidation.

Her gaze immediately shot towards Nick, and she then proceeded to grip his shoulders and lightly shake him around. "Nick!" She whispered swiftly. "Wake up!"

The fox let out a weary groan, eyes still stubbornly closed shut.

"Just five more minutes, mom." He grumbled.

"What?" Judy stifled before shaking him even harder. "No, Nick, it's me. Wake up!"

This time, Nick's eyes slowly opened at the sound of his wife's request. He shifted his weight around, wrinkling the sheets beneath his body before sitting up on the bed.

"Carrots? W-What is it?"

"I think something's wrong." Judy replied without hesitation.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I think something's wrong!" She repeated. "I heard some commotion outside, and someone screaming. I'm gonna go investigate - Make sure no one's hurt."

The fox rubbed at his eyes with one of his wrists. "Are you sure? It could have just been the storm."

"Nick, I know what I heard." Judy stated. Their eyes locked together for a silent moment, and then Nick let out a sigh.

"I suppose I can't doubt rabbit ears, can I?" He mused. "Alright, alright, you can go and look around. Just be careful, and uh, ya might wanna put something on, too."

Judy nodded, her gaze already trained towards the door. "I'll be quick." Was all she said before hurriedly slipping on her ZPD bodysuit and chest plate.

While Nick leaned back in bed, intent on trying to fall asleep again, Judy approached the door to their private-quarters before grabbing the knob and pushing on it. Instead of swinging open in one fluid motion, the door remained firmly in place, and Judy felt a pressure pushing back against it from the other side. She furrowed her brow in confusion and then pressed on it again, this time much harder, even jerking the knob for added effect. The door still didn't budge, but opened ever so slightly, just enough to peek out. Leaning forward and taking a look outside, Judy gasped before backing away from the door. Befuddled, she shook her head from side to side before rushing forward and looking outside once more. Her eyes had not deceived her, after all. Her gaze was met with the sight of a ruined hallway dead ahead - Claw marks were etched into the walls, and farther down the corridor, chairs and tables of varying sizes had been knocked over like building blocks. The fluorescent lighting that always dimly lit the hallways during the academy's night-time hours had been shut off, and instead, a faint red glow was pooling from the ceiling like a hazard light, accentuating the shadows of the halls furnishings.

"Uh, Nick?" She whimpered. "I think you need to see this."

Upon detecting the concern laced behind his partner's words, Nick spared no hesitation in shaking himself awake, this time, despite still being irritated and sleep-deprived.

"This better not be some kind of joke. You always did have poor timing with them." He grumbled.

Judy backed away from the slit in the door and allowed Nick to see for himself. With his towel wrapped around his waist, the fox approached the door before looking outside.

His eyes widened, his jaw dropped, and he swallowed hard. "What's going on?" He asked quickly, now wide awake, before irritably jittering on the doorknob.

"I don't know. But I think something's wrong." The bunny replied.

"Yeah, something definitely is wrong." Nick retorted, releasing his hold on the handle. "Those are claw marks out there!"

"All the more reason to investigate." Judy stated firmly, all the while preparing her utility belt, complete with her carrot-shaped recording pen.

"Right." Nick agreed. "And what's up with the lights? It reminds me of that time we got stuck in Cliffside Asylum and had to flush ourselves down that disgusting toilet."

"You should go and get dressed, and then help me with the door." The bunny requested, to which Nick nodded.

At that, he swiftly dressed himself in his standard ZPD uniform before joining his wife at the door. They both pressed on it hard with their shoulders, grunting in discomfort, and together, they pushed the door back and opened themselves up to the horror-stricken hallway. The sound of furniture clunking to the ground filled their ears, and as they peered around the edge of the door, they both took note of what looked like a pile of wooden chairs and nightstands that had been piled up against their door from the outside.

"W-What is this?" Nick stammered as he picked up a broken table leg and hefted it like a club. "Did someone... Barricade us in?"

Judy swallowed gravely, stealing a glance at the claw marks on the wall beside them, each one easily as large as her forearms. Nick followed her gaze, and in that moment, felt his heart skip a beat. He wasn't entirely sure whether or not someone had barricaded their room to keep them from leaving, or to keep something else from entering.

"I don't know what's going on, but I don't like it." The fox murmured.

Were he to have found such a site during his days on the street, Nick would have called the police to handle things safely. Unfortunately, he and Judy were the police now.

"Let's look around." Judy said, beckoning Nick to attend her.

"I dunno, things were feeling pretty safe and sound back in the bedroom..." He started, but ultimately trailed off as Judy gave him the stink-eye. "Alright, alright."

The two officers then began their journey deeper into the heart of the academy. Their private quarters were located in the officer's wing of the complex, which was a fair distance away from the barracks, armory, and mess-hall, but quite close to the indoor shooting range, and a number of lounges spread throughout the winding hallways. Nick and Judy were normally the only ones residing in that particular section of the academy, and it never bothered them before, but this time, the lack of activity was ominous. The silence was especially unnerving to Judy, who used her sensitive hearing abilities to try to locate the source of the earlier screams, yet still failed to detect anything substantial.

Despite the deserted hallways, it was clear that someone had been here earlier in the night - Some of the furniture from the lounges was missing, likely having been used as part of the barricade against Nick and Judy's room, and more claw marks were present sparingly along the walls. They didn't exactly come off as inviting. The deep-red lightning of the hall failed to help. Judy kept her ears and ears focused ahead while Nick hefted his broken table-leg like a baseball bat, keeping an eye out for threats. There was the occasional sound of creaking foundation, and metal ducts expanding as air flowed through them, but there was still no sign of whoever had been screaming and roaring, from earlier. After about thirty seconds of slowly creeping down the hall, away from their bedroom, Nick and Judy encountered a fire - Several large piles of wooden furniture had been set alight. There was a strong gasoline smell lingering in the air, and the fire seemed to be slowly spreading across the carpet, the orange glow growing by the second. Nick spied the sprinkler heads built into the ceiling, but none of them were doing anything to combat the growing inferno. Judging from the positioning of the piles, the gasoline smell, and the lack of water, the two officers immediately suspected sabotage - Someone was trying to inflict damage on the academy. Scouting quickly through the adjoining rooms and offices, it took the two of them just under a minute to find a fire-extinguisher stashed inside a nearby cubicle, which they used to put out the fires manually.

Nick huffed wearily, wiping at his forehead and leaning on his table-leg. All of the signs added up, and this was definitely an act of arson in the works.

"This is some spooky stuff." He muttered. "I mean, where is everyone? Surely someone would have noticed the commotion it must've taken to set all this up."

Judy just shook her head. "I don't know, Nick. When we find someone, we'll have to-" She cut off her words as one of her ears twitched, detecting a peculiar sound.

"What is it?" The fox asked, gripping his club nervously.

Without answering, Judy shuffled down a nearby hallway, following the source of the noise. It sounded to her as if someone was breathing heavily just a few yards farther down the hall. Curious and considerate to no end, she very cautiously peeked around the edge of the corridor, and caught sight of a female polar-bear sitting on the ground, her back pressed up against a large desk. Her dark-blue Zootopia Police Academy gym shirt and shorts were slightly ratty, and stained with a dew droplets of what looked like blood. A loaded tranquilizer gun rested in her lap. She had a few small cuts on her forearms, and her white fur was messy and disheveled, but otherwise, she looked alright.

A smile found its way to Judy's mouth. "Major Friedkin!" She exclaimed, swiftly approaching her. "You're here!"

The polar bear glanced over wearily at her two subordinates, her own countenance unable to resist a delicate grin.

"It's good to see you two. I just wish it were under better circumstances." Friedkin said.

"That's putting it lightly." The fox scoffed. "What the heck happened?"

"You mean you don't know?"

Nick's arms crossed against his chest. "Well, I wish we did, but someone clearly didn't want us joining in on the fun, considering our room was barricaded shut."

Friedkin's gaze slipped away in thought. "That explains why you weren't there when it happened... You two were locked in your rooms. This is even worse than I thought."

"Slow down, please, and just tell us what happened." Judy asked, shifting closer to her superior, who towered above her even while sitting down on the floor.

For the first time since meeting her all those years ago, back when she had first entered the academy as a recruit in-training, Judy noticed two brand new expressions for Major Friedkin: Fear and confusion, respectively. The polar-bear's facial features were twisted with the symptoms of both traits, and the bunny could tell that she hated each.

"The barracks - Weird blue gas. Came in through the vents about thirty minutes ago... Got them in their sleep." She rambled dejectedly, brow scrunched in confusion.

"Wait, hold on, what gas?" Nick questioned. "And it got who in their sleep?"

Friedkin grit her teeth. "The recruits!" She hissed loudly before biting back her frustration, and swallowing hard. "As far as I know, all of the cadets have turned savage."

Judy stifled a yelp. "All of them?"

"Every last one... As far as I know. It's just you two, me, and a few security guards running around. I'm not sure where they are. I tried radioing in, but... They didn't respond."

They let that statement sink in for a few seconds. The recruits had been purposefully turned savage, and chaos was being sown across the academy. But why? And by who?

"It's the spy." Judy deduced. "They're the ones responsible for this whole mess."

It was almost impressive that they had managed all this by themselves... Unless they hadn't. Someone must have helped them somewhere along the way, Judy figured.

Nick exhaled through his nostrils. "Of course they are." He muttered. "But what do we do to stop them?"

"I've already placed a call to the ZPD, but it'll be at least another twenty minutes before reinforcements arrive." The polar-bear explained.

Judy swallowed hard. Apparently, having the academy positioned halfway between Bunny-Burrow and the city of Zootopia, smack-dab in the middle of nowhere, had its own downfalls. If it took that long for reinforcements from the ZPD to arrive, then the only thing any of them could do now was hunker down, and try to minimize damage.

"Do you two have anything to defend yourselves, while we wait?" Friedkin asked.

Judy's ears twitched in unison with Nick's tail. Both glanced away sheepishly, but neither bothered replying.

"You don't have anything?!" The polar-bear nearly shouted.

Chuckling nervously, Nick pulled out Judy's carrot pen from her utility belt, and held it up for the Major to see. She simply groaned before facepalming.

"Well hey, at least we've got yours, right?" The fox added. "You must have managed to arm yourself before all this chaos broke out."

"I sleep with my dart-gun!" Friedkin growled. "Don't you?"

Nick honestly didn't know how to respond to that. "Uh...?"

The Major just waved off the question with one of her paws before pinching her brow. "Where are your dart guns?" She swiftly questioned. "Your tranquilizers?"

"They're back at the armory, where you told us to store them when we first arrived at the academy three months ago." The fox exclaimed.

Friedkin swallowed hard, and stroked at her chin as she nodded her head up and down in understanding, as if she were trying to reassure herself.

"Okay, okay. If you don't have any weapons to defend yourselves, the first thing you're going to need to do is to find your way to the armory."

"The armory?" Nick stifled. "But that's on the other side of the complex!"

"And it's your only hope of protecting yourselves!" The Major spat back. "I can't afford to lose any more allies in this mess. If you two get yourselves killed-"

"We won't." Judy stated firmly, cutting off her superior. "Nick and I will do what we can."

Friedkin nodded before pulling out two tranquilizer darts from her compartment. Nick noticed that there were only two more darts left for herself in there.

"Take these." She insisted. "You may not have a gun to shoot them with, but if push comes to shove, you can still use them to prick and incapacitate any aggressors."

Judy gripped the dart in her paw like a knife. It wasn't much, but at least they weren't completely defenseless now.

"Why don't you just come with us?" Nick found himself asking as he anxiously fingered his gifted dart.

"I have my own mission: Finding the perps responsible for this." The Major growled. "I have a feelin' they're still here. I'm headed to the security console to check."

"Are you insane? That's in the heart of the academy!"

To Nick's surprise, instead of biting back in response to his last comment, Major Friedkin actually smiled. She went on;

"I'll be fine. But whoever's behind all this is still here - I know it! Their attack has been viciously coordinated: The barracks, the fires, the savage mammals. It's all connected. I have a bad feeling that they plan on sabotaging the security cameras, assuming they haven't already. I need to go and make sure they're safe. They're our best lead in finding out who's responsible - If we lose the security footage, then we lose our last advantage. That's my mission. You two need to get yourselves properly equipped, ASAP!"

The rabbit officer nodded. She always found it helpful to have a clear goal in mind, even if it was under dire circumstances. "Yes sir." She simply said.

"But what do we do after that?" Nick inquired with a nervous undertone to his words.

Friedkin locked eyes with the two smaller officers and then continued her declaration, almost in a trance-like state;

"Find the armory, gear up, and protect the recruits. Subdue all threats, and minimize damage - Secure the academy. Stay alive. Those are my orders."

Without another word, the Major then lifted herself up off of the ground and made off into the darkness, her gun pointed toward everything and nothing.

"Ever the motivational speaker." Nick grumbled, hoping the Major was out of earshot by then.

Judy just shook her head before raising herself to her full height. "Well, we heard her orders. Let's go find the armory and gear up." She said as thunder echoed above.

A sigh escaped from the fox's the maw. He silently followed Judy as they made their way deeper into the academy, soothing red light illuminating every step of the way. The rabbit wondered where all of the savage recruits had wandered off to, and if there were any that had managed to somehow avoid getting infected. Surely Friedkin hadn't been the only one outside the radius of the barracks when it had happened. Sadly, as the two officers continued without so much as encountering a single friendly face, that lone hope began to simmer quickly. While Judy pondered this, Nick himself wondered if he could manage to find some duct-tape to attach his dart to the end of his club, to make a spear.

It wasn't long before they encountered their first savage mammal, however.

Judy reared around a corner before quickly shuffling back behind, pushing Nick back and urging him to be silent with a single finger pressed against her lips. She nodded her head in the direction of the mess-hall's entrance, which was just a few yards around the corner that they were currently hiding behind. Nick could hear an irritable, high-pitched growling sound emanating from somewhere behind the corner. It was close, and getting even closer, judging by the rising volume. He set his club down, and then raised his paws to his chest-level before administering a series of smooth, rapid-fire hand gestures that Judy recognized as Ranger Scout sign language. He had pulled a similar trick back when the two of them were investigating the timber-wolves holed up at Cliffside Asylum, all those years ago. Since then, the bunny had gotten much better at reading her husband's signals, thanks to him taking the time to teach her what many of his gestures roughly translated to. She recognized the words I, go, look, and around.

She then nodded her head and stepped back, allowing Nick to peer around the corner and get a good luck at the threat. His eyes briefly traced over the form of a raccoon just a bit larger than Judy, down on all fours and scampering around on the ground, nose sniffing through an overturned garbage bin. The savage recruits cclothes were still wrapped around its body, but were badly torn around the edges, as if they had been purposefully clawed at by their distressed owner. Its beady eyes were pure black, and it twitched erratically as though it were angry, or conflicted. Definitely savage. Unfortunately, if Nick and Judy were to get through the mess-hall and to the armory just across the hall, then they would have to get past him, one way or another. Nick gripped his dart between clenched fingers, slowly stepping around the corner before approaching the coon.

Even with his night-vision, the peculiar red lighting of the hallways made it nearly impossible for him to notice the peanut shell on the ground until he crunched it underfoot, the ensuing crackling noise filling the ears of every mammal in the vicinity, and causing Nick to wince with distaste. He momentarily locked eyes with Judy and smiled sheepishly.

The coon immediately turned around and hissed, soapy white foam dripping from its mouth in torrents. Nick's eyes widened as the coon rushed forward and pounced.

He tried jabbing his dart into the raccoon's shoulder, but Judy was quicker; ducking around Nick and sticking her own dart directly into its neck. The coon blinked wearily, stumbled, and then fell over, fast asleep in five seconds flat. It was amazing just how quickly those darts could work. The fox locked eyes with his wife and nodded in gratitude, choosing not to speak directly to her in fear of drawing the attention of more savage mammals nearby. Judy returned the gesture before stepping forward once more and beckoning Nick to follow. He picked up his table-leg before following shortly behind. Judy didn't bother retrieving her dart, for it only had enough chemicals in it to be used once. To compensate for her sudden lack of weaponry, Nick decided to give her his own dart, while he stuck with his club, holding it tightly between trembling fingers.

The two of them then entered the mess-hall through the swinging metal doors. The open space was filled with dozens of dining tables and plastic chairs, and at the far end of the room, at least four savage mammals could be seen fighting over an overturned table of food, including a skunk, two minks, and a hare. Upon closer inspection, Nick noticed that the hare was none other than Harold McCoy, the recruit that he had befriended at the shooting range last morning. It made him mad, knowing that someone was responsible for forcing his friend into such an unnatural state. The thought was so piercing that it took him a few extra moments to realize that this was the first sighting of a savage prey mammal in history. Every mammal that had turned savage during the Night-Howler Epidemic had been a predator. This confirmed that Judy's suspicions from way back then were correct, all along - Anyone could turn savage, predator and prey alike. Nick just wished that he hadn't have gotten to see it via the torment of his subordinate.

He watched as Harold, down on all fours, ran in circles around the pile of food while the other three mammals hissed and swiped their paws at eachother while occasionally sneaking bites of the overturned shrimp salad. It would have almost been comical, had it not been so equally terrifying. Nick swallowed hard and forced himself to look away, instead focusing on following Judy as they snuck across the foyer to the other side of the mess-hall, where another pair of doors would at last lead them to the armory. Careful not to make any noise that would attract the attention of the savage pack, Nick and Judy promptly exited the mess hall with twin sighs of relief. They continued down the path before at least reaching the armory. Not surprisingly, the doors were fastened shut, complete with an electronic key-card system to deter mammals from snooping around.

Using a card that Judy had stashed in her utility belt, the locks were effectively released and the door swung open to reveal the interior of the armory. Within, rows of shelves were filled with all sorts of useful tools, from body-armor to tranquilizer guns. There were a few real-ones, too, but Nick and Judy both figured that the dart-guns would be all that they would really need. After all, the last thing that they wanted to do was end up shooting one of their own recruits with a real bullet, even if they were savage. The fox finally discarded his table-leg, instead arming himself with a bright-green tranquilizer and a vial of pepper-spray, just in case. Judy too took her pick of the essentials.

When they were both properly suited up and ready to engage, they made their way back to the mess-hall, intent on putting an end to the fight between the mammals inside.

"Nick, watch my back." Judy requested as she flanked the entrance, to which the fox shrugged.

"Your back shall be had." He replied.

At that, the rabbit kicked open the door before rushing in with her dart-gun raised. One of the two minks raised its head out of the food pile, a banana-peel stuck on its head like a hat. The mink hissed at Judy as she approached, and the other savage mammals promptly halted their scuffle and set their sights on her and Nick, who stood behind, watching their backs. Without hesitation, Judy darted one of the minks before quickly reloading and doing the same for the skunk. Just as she finished darting the second mink, she caught sight of Nick as he landed a dart of his own directly in Harold's shoulder, causing the hare to collapse into a crumpled heap and begin to snore. He sighed bitterly.

"I preferred it when I was shooting darts with him, rather than at him." He grumbled as he slid another dart into his tranquilizer's chamber.

Judy resisted the temptation to droop her ears in sympathy. "Don't worry Nick. He'll be safe here. Let's pull them over to the corner, and then go looking for others."

The fox nodded, and proceeded to help his partner as she dragged the unconscious recruit's bodies over to the corner of the room, where they'd be out of sight from any passing predators. They performed a brief patrol around the vicinity, searching for more savage mammals. They encountered several others, including an irate sand-cat tearing at the motivational posters plastered on the walls, and a beaver trying to shimmy through an air-duct that it had nearly managed to gnaw through. All the while, they both wondered what Major Friedkin was up to now, and when the ZPD reinforcements would be arriving. It had only been about ten minutes since they had last seen her, yet it felt like an eternity - The droning buzz of the red lights was lethargic. After a few trips down the adjoining halls and brief glances inside the connecting rooms, searching for anyone of interest, Nick and Judy made their way back to the armory for a resupply, that was, before they stopped dead in their tracts, and listened intently on the unmistakable sound of fast-paced footsteps echoing through the halls in the distance. One at a time, indicating that this mammal was walking on two legs - A mammal that hadn't turned savage! Perhaps it was one of those security guards that Major Friedkin had mentioned earlier, or a recruit that hadn't gotten infected, or maybe even Major Friedkin herself.

Nick caught himself just as he was about to call out to the mammal. He didn't want to potentially draw the attention of any nearby savage mammals, and alongside that, for all he knew, the mammal up ahead was the spy, going about their dirty work. Judy gestured for Nick to follow her, and the fox nodded his head in understanding. Together, they quickly jogged down the hall, jumping over a few overturned desks as they chased after the source of the footsteps. Once they were about to rear around a corner, Judy called;

"Hey! It's the ZPD! Are you alright?"

No response. Instead, the footsteps picked up the pace, now running away at full speed. Whoever it was, they were trying to get away.

"It's the spy!" Nick hissed quietly before rushing around the corner, dart gun raised horizontal to the floor.

He didn't know for sure, but he wasn't about to take any chances, especially now that their cover had been blown, thanks to Judy's diplomatic outreach. When Nick zipped around the corner, he caught sight of the mystery-mammal's shadow as it disappeared behind another corner some twenty yards down the hall. He cursed before running after them. Judy followed suit, picking up her pace and making use of her superior sprinting skills to try and close the distance between herself and her target, who still had yet to even be seen by either of the two officers. Once they passed the second corner, they saw one of the doors in the office sector slam shut, someone clearly having just entered.

"In there!" Judy shouted out, pointing towards the entrance to the offices. "Don't let them get away!"

As soon as they reached the office, Nick and Judy practically kicked down the door before entering the room, postures on high-alert. The rows of multi-sized cubicles to account for mammals of all species spread down the length of the room until they reached another set of doors, which led to a different office sector. With his night-vision, Nick managed to make out a vague form of someone shutting that door before locking it, their inky shadow momentarily visible through the rectangular window embedded in the door before slinking off and disappearing. The fox pointed towards the door, and Judy understood - That was the way the spy had ran off. She raised her dart-gun before pacing down the hall. Somewhere nearby, a long howl suddenly pierced the silent air, resonating throughout the halls. It was a deep, single note of pure rage condensed into one steady exhale.

The fur on Nick's scruff stood on end. There was only one wolf at the academy that year. "It's Harlan." He muttered in disbelief.

Judy glanced over her shoulder. "He's the spy?" She asked.

Nick swallowed hard. "No, he's-"

His words were cut off as a primal growl filled their ears. Judy immediately shot her gaze forward, keeping her vision firmly locked onto the hulking form of fur and muscle that slowly paced its way out of a cubicle to her right. With all four paws touching the ground, and streams of saliva dripping from between his snarling teeth, Harlan's savagery was on full display. His gym uniform was torn up, nearly leaving his fur bare from the waist-up, and what was left of his shirt hung in drapes across his back. The tatters dangling down his shoulder-blades were spattered with blood, the sight of which caused Judy's spine to tingle. She had a bad feeling that he had been hurting other innocent cadets.

But as she stared down this savage beast, she felt no anger. Only pity. Here was a star athlete and a promising student reduced to a husk of his former self, unable to even think, or properly communicate. Nick could barely meet the wolf's eyes, which were glossy and black, the pupils centered in his yellow irises grossly enlarged and focused on Judy with a hungering rage. It saddened him to see his friend like this, and he made himself a promise that he would do whatever it took to get him fixed, along with all of the other recruits that had been turned savage, and bring whoever was responsible to justice. Nick swallowed down his apprehension, and realized what he had to try to do.

The fox stepped forward. "Harlan, buddy, it's me." He tried speaking to the wolf. "I, uh, can tell you're probably not feeling all yourself right now, so-"

Without warning, Harlan suddenly rushed forward, and was on top of Nick in an instant. Judy tried firing one of her darts, but Harlan had lunged forward so fast that her original trajectory had been unable to keep up. The fox was toppled over as the wolf pushed him down with his paws and snarled over his face. Nick immediately rolled to the side just as Harlan's teeth snapped where his neck had been a moment earlier. If he had been any slower, he would have been wolf-chow. Nick stumbled to his feet, ducking behind Harlan as the wolf turned around and jumped towards him, snapping at his tail and nearly biting its tip, causing the fox to yelp with terror and sprint down the hall. He quickly dashed around one of the corners of a cubicle, causing Harlan, with his larger body and momentum, to sail right past him and crash into a mechanical printer, causing an ink cartridge to shoot out and dump black liquid all across the floor. The wolf shook his head irritably before rushing forward, his paws slipping in the ink, slowing him down, but failing to put a stop to his pursuit. This gave Nick just enough time to turn around and back himself up against a wall before firing a dart directly into Harlan's exposed neck.

The wolf continued to advance before his eyelids began to droop, leaving black paw-prints in the carpet each time he took a step forward. Yet still he continued chasing after Nick, rushing towards him with bared fangs and eyes shining with primal rage. Nick saw Judy as she sidestepped across the hall behind Harlan before shooting a dart into his rump. With two darts wreaking havoc on his energy levels, Harlan finally fell over and landed on the floor with a heavy thud before at last going still. He was just inches away from Nick. The fox let out a pained sigh before tip-toeing around the dozing wolf. Ink had spilled everywhere, and the rags on Harlan's back had slipped off. It was a mess.

Upon reaching Judy's side, Nick threw his arms around her shoulders in a brief hug. "Carrots... You saved my life... Again." He stated. "Thank you."

A smile creased the bunny's lips. "Well, that's what we do here at the ZPD." She said jokingly before turning her attention back to Harlan, watching him snore.

Nick followed her gaze. "I tried to talk to him... And he tried to kill me." Was all he managed to say. Judy's long ears dipped against the back of her head in sympathy.

"Yeah, but he wasn't himself. That wasn't Harlan." She reminded him before sighing. "Let's get out of here before he wakes."

The fox nodded his head in agreement, though otherwise remained silent. Internally, he cursed himself for being so reckless; trying to communicate with Harlan when he was in such a state. He risked their lives just to try and break through to his friend, even though he wasn't even truly there. Nick's eyes flitted to the ground in shame, but a strong sense of determination began to bolster within his chest, causing him to raise his gaze, reload his weapon one final time, and then take off with Judy into the next sector.

They were in the heart of the academy now, where the halls were lined with offices and the walls were adorned with decorative paintings and old pictures of academy classes from the past. Nick resisted the urge to try to spot out his own as he scanned the area for any threats. Halfway down the corridor, the space opened up into a large room filled with shelves, couches, and potted plants. It was the only place in the academy, save the ultra-secure armory, that hadn't gotten subjugated to chaos, save for a single overturned filing cabinet blocked Nick and Judy's path. They walked around it before spying another large metal door on the far side of the room: The primary security console, where all of the camera footage throughout the archive was processed and stored. There was no sign of Major Friedkin. Instead, the only other figure in the room was a single mammal roughly the size of Judy standing before the metal door, back to them. Their stout body was covered in a pure-black sweatshirt and cargo pants with bulging pockets. A beanie of the same color wrapped around the back of the mammal's head, and a rubbery green gas-mask obscured their face. A dart gun was gripped in their right paw, and their other paw gingerly held a small metal device that looked like some sort of remote control, complete with a thin antenna and a multitude of colorful buttons.

Whoever this mammal was, it was clear to both Nick and Judy that they were the ones behind all of this chaos. The spy began to approach the door to the control console.

The two officers locked eyes and nodded, knowing immediately what they had to do. Nick positioned himself in a secure spot a few feet behind Judy while she stepped forward and closed the distance between herself and the mysterious spy. Both of them had their darts raised to the air, trained on their target. The bunny took a breath and called out;

"It's over! This is the ZPD. Drop the weapon, put your paws behind your head, and get on the ground, right now!"

Upon registering Judy's orders, the spy seized up in shock, clearly startled to know that two armed officers were currently standing behind them. The shock vanished as quickly as it came, and to Judy's pleasant surprise, the spy actually dropped their dart-gun before kicking it to the side and falling to their knees. They then slowly raised their paws behind the back of their head. The bunny moistened her lips in nervousness as she approached the spy from behind, the eerie red light of the room guiding her way.

"You really are the head of the class, aren't you?" A nasally, muffled voice spoke out from behind the gas-mask.

Judy ignored the spy as she cautiously approached them, preparing her paw-cuffs for a quick arrest. Meanwhile, Nick watched from a safe distance away, his own tranquilizer still trained on the back of the mystery-mammal. Something caught his eye, glinting in the red light from above: A shiny plastic thing behind the spy's paws, pressed against the back of his head. Nick lowered his gun, eyes narrowing in contemplation as he tried focusing in on the item. His ears perked up with a shock. That strange remote was still in the spy's paws, hidden behind their palms as they pressed them against the back of their head. Judy had been too focused on disarming the gun that she hadn't noticed the device.

"Watch out!" The fox warned, but it was too late.

The spy pressed a single blue button on their remote control, so tiny that Judy hadn't even seen it. Somewhere in the distance, it sounded like a small explosion went off, and within moments, all of the sprinkler-heads in the roof began pouring water. It was a distraction! The spy whirled around and slapped the dart-gun out of Judy's paws as she was distracted by the sudden downpour, causing the weapon to fly off somewhere behind a couch to the left. Judy reacted quickly, sidestepping the spy's next strike before twisting around and slamming the front of her ankle directly into the side of their head - A perfect spin-kick. Her blow sent the spy careening, and their gas-mask flew off to the floor.

Nick shook the sopping wet fur from his eyes before jumping over a chair and approaching his partner. Along the way, he caught sight of the spy as they went down, falling directly on top of the tranquilizer gun that they had discarded moments before, at Judy's orders. Their paws wrapped around the base of the gun, and as they turned around, Nick and Judy both got a good look at their foe's face - Pudgy and coated in golden-brown fur, with a pair of glasses perched atop the brow of their fleshy pink nose.

"Eugene?!" Judy cried out in shock.

Without words, Eugene simply lifted his dart gun and fired at them. Nick and Judy quickly dove in opposite directions to avoid getting tranquilized. The fox ducked behind the overturned filing cabinet while Judy quickly slipped beneath a large wooden desk, now completely weaponless. Nick's breathing steadied, and he suddenly became aware of the fact that he was now the only mammal in the room with a weapon to stand against the spy, and he had seen Eugene's darting skills up close on the range - It wasn't a battle that he was likely to win, even with his own skills in marksmanship. So instead, the fox kept his head down, and waited for an opening, listening in on every sound he could.

"The mole really is the mole!" Nick sputtered in disbelief before a crazy smile grew across his muzzle. "I knew it!"

Judy just shook her head, too overcome with shock to notice the irony. "What are you doing?!" She yelled across the room. Her sensitive ears detected only a single word;

"Resigning."

A mixture of emotions flooded around within Judy, each so strong that she barely even noticed the cold of the sprinkler water soaking through her bodysuit. She felt betrayed, knowing that a recruit really was spying on the academy the whole time, and an almost disbelief that they had managed to pull all of this off by themselves. Worse yet, she felt responsible, thinking that if she had somehow managed to catch them sooner, that none of this chaos would be happening right now. Frustration began to grow within her.

"Wasn't my original plan to activate the sprinklers, but sometimes ya gotta take one step back to take two steps forward." She heard Eugene's voice mumble like a chant.

Her sensitive ears picked up the sound of Eugene hauling himself to his feet. "Sorry for all the trouble, officers, but I have a job to do. It's nothing personal."

"Is that why you turned all of the recruits savage? Your friends?" Judy demanded to know.

She heard Eugene scoff from somewhere a few yards behind her. His nasally voice explained;

"They'll be fine, don't worry. I never came here to hurt anyone. I'm just here to send a message, courtesy of some underworld friends of yours! Once the public finds out about what happened here, they'll finally see that they can't place their trust in the city government - That the ZPD can't even protect itself, far less them. This city will finally start to realize who really holds the power around here, and as soon as they do, they'll respect it. Oh yes, they'll flock to it! Then the stage is set for the uprising, and then-"

Taking advantage of the mole's tirade, Nick suddenly shifted out from his hiding spot to fire a single dart at him. Despite being engrossed in his speech, Eugene was quick to act, and swiftly ducked down, dodging the fox's dart before firing one of his own right back. Thankfully, Nick was fast enough to retreat behind cover once more before it hit him.

Eugene cackled. "You sly fox, you got me monologuing!" He chuckled, shaking his head in amusement and causing droplets of water to be flung from his cranium.

"Hey!" Judy shouted. "Only I get to call him that!"

"Warms my heart." Nick grumbled as he loaded his last tranquilizer dart into his gun's chamber, aiming it down just to prevent water from leaking inside.

"Oh you two, bantering like you have a future." Eugene taunted. "Oh well. I was getting ahead of myself anyways. All you need to know is that big things are in the works!"

"Big things, huh?" The fox repeated as he thought back to what the mole had mentioned. "An uprising sounds pretty big to me. Care to elaborate any further?"

"You can't bait me, Wilde." The mole sneered. "I've been wanting to put a dart in that annoying mouth of yours since we first met."

"Have we met?" Nick mused flatly. "I don't recall. And I dunno, it sounds like Carrots managed to reel you in pretty good, back there."

"Okay, now it's personal." Eugene growled, pointing his tranquilizer in Nick's direction.

The mole stomped through the puddles of water as he repositioned himself closer to where nick was hiding, all the while slowly creeping to the other side of the filing cabinet, ready to jump out and dart him. Judy saw all this through a crack in the frame of the desk she was hiding behind, and knew that it would only be moments before something bad happened. She had to act immediately. While Eugene was distracted, she crawled along the floor towards where she suspected her tranquilizer dart had gotten knocked off to, back when she had first confronted him. She lept forward, breaking her fall with a roll that landed her directly behind a cough. The water pouring from the ceiling made it hard to breath, and see, but her sensitive hearing still managed to pick up on the sound of her husband communicating with the spy as they both snuck around the room.

"This plan of yours seems pretty complicated." The fox berated. "I'm surprised someone like you managed to pull it off as far as you have."

"Don't worry officers, I have everything under control!" Eugene's assured.

"Is that why everything was on fire?" Nick spat back sarcastically.

Eugene laughed darkly.

"Oh, that's just for insurance policy. No need to be concerned! Sure, the water probably put them all out, but like I said - One step back, two steps forward."

At that, the mole jumped out from behind a wooden shelf, his dart gun aimed directly at the spot where Nick had been hiding just moments earlier, only now, it was vacant, for he had managed to slink off behind another couch seconds before Eugene had launched his surprise attack. Now it was time for the fox to launch his. He suddenly lept atop the seating on the couch, tranquilizer trained right at Eugene's body. The mole shrieked before ducking behind his shelf, causing Nick to miss his final shot. Cursing, the fox threw down his empty gun before deciding to go down with a fight rather than let Eugene pick him off from a distance. He ran forward, and as soon as the mole peeked around the corner, he collided into him, both mammals falling over into the growing pool of water on the ground. Fox and mole wrestled on the ground, with the former trying to grab hold of the latter's gun before it could be put to further use. Judy then seized her chance - Rushing out from her hiding spot, she quickly caught sight of her own tranquilizer gun as it lay waiting atop the soil of a nearby potted plant. She grabbed the weapon before running toward where she had last seen her husband amongst the clutter of the room.

Judy vaulted over an overturned filing cabinet and reared around a shelf just in time to see Eugene knock Nick away with the back of his paw before firing a dart into his chest.

"Nick!" The bunny shouted, shifting forward with concern, but ultimately being only able to watch as her husband groaned before falling over to the floor. "You'll pay!"

She grit her teeth together with rage as she fired her dart, but her newfound anger, paired with Eugene's surprisingly quick reflexes, caused her shot to sail over the mole's head. That didn't deter Judy, who rushed forward as the mole was about to scamper away, both mammal's dart guns now empty. She wrapped her arms around his chest, and with all her might, lifted the portly mole off of his feet before throwing him to the ground, his body hitting it with a wet thud. The sprinklers embedded in the ceiling continued to rain down water across the room, ruining the books and computers, and soaking through the fur on all three mammals, but Judy hardly noticed. She quickly looked to Nick, checking his pulse and making sure he was still breathing before turning her attention back to Eugene, who was trying to inchworm his way to safety.

"Oh no you don't!" Judy lunged forward and grabbed the back of his shirt, pulling him away from his dart-gun.

"I'm not failing now!" The mole snarled as he dipped one paw into a pocket on his cargo pants and pulled out a glistening silver blade.

He jabbed it toward Judy, who released her hold on him before backing off. Eugene quickly got to his feet before rushing toward his gun. The bunny did the same, lifting her tranquilizer and reloading it with her last dart before pointing it towards Eugene. She gasped as he reared his arm back and threw his knife at her, forcing her to duck behind a shelf. It may not have been built for throwing, but the last thing Judy needed in this situation was an injury. Hiding behind the shelf, she heard Eugene reload his own dart-gun.

"Ya know, it's nice to have a challenge every once and a while. A good fight!" He stated from somewhere to Judy's right. She focused, trying to pinpoint his location.

"Yeah, must be nice putting your darting skills to use on innocent mammals." The bunny retorted, trying not to spare a glance at her unconscious husband. She had to focus.

Eugene laughed. "Nobody's innocent, sweetheart. Even if they don't realize it, mammals do terrible things all the time. Just ask your precious Major Friedkin."

Judy steeled her resolve as she squatted down and tried peeking out from behind her shelf, lowering her profile. "What are you talking about?" She growled.

"How do you think I found the camera room? I followed her here, darted her, and took her master-key. She's asleep in one of those offices over there, as we speak. Now all I have to do is dart you, destroy all the footage, and then I'm home free. My colleagues will welcome me back as a hero, and I'll walk away with a nice new bank account."

"I wouldn't count on it. The ZPD is on its way here right now, and they'll be here long before you can escape. You can't win!"

"I'm almost tempted to say that I already have." Eugene countered. "Even if I don't make it out, the damage is already done, and I'll have fulfilled my boss's goal."

As the mole spoke, Judy crept forward, scouting out for a better position. That was when she stepped on the metal surface of the overturned filing cabinet. She narrowed her eyes in thought, an idea suddenly coming to her. She quickly jumped down and hid behind it before taking out her prized carrot pen, and thumbing the recording button.

"And who is your boss?" Judy asked, preparing herself for Eugene's answer.

"No one you need to worry about right now." The mole replied.

That was just what Judy needed. However, it wasn't his response that she was looking to record. As soon as the words reached her ears, she feigned anger, as though she were dissatisfied with Eugene's answer and expressing her rage on the cabinet, and slammed the bottom of her fist against it, causing a loud, metallic banging sound to echo throughout the room, and to be picked up on Judy's recording device. She smiled and ended the recording. To add to the effect, she decided to throw out an angry comment.

"Why don't you just tell me?! You're already trying to kill me!" She shouted out.

Her sensitive ears detected the sound of Eugene's heavy breathing closing in a few yards behind her. She had to wait for just the right moment...

"I already told you that I'm not here to hurt anyone." The mole replied. "You've just been being difficult."

Judy figured that he was no more than ten feet behind her, now, just over the edge of the filing cabinet that obscured her body. Smiling, she then pressed the button on her recorder before throwing it as hard and as fast as she could toward another batch of filing cabinets about twenty feet to her left. With the pouring water obscuring the device, it easily sailed across the room before hitting the side of the upright cabinet with a small ping. That alone caught Eugene's attention, causing him to stare off to the left, thinking his target to be hiding behind a different filing cabinet. Then the recording played, and another loud, metallic banging sound filled the room, causing Judy to smile.

With Eugene distracted, she then lept to her feet and pointed her tranquilizer at Eugene.

He only had enough time to shriek, "What?!" Before Judy's dart landed directly in his neck.

The spy stumbled, gripping at his throat. He tried lifting his own gun to shoot the bunny as she stood triumphantly over him, but instead dropped it before falling to his knees.

"It's called a hustle, sweetheart." Judy said, shaking her tranquilizer pointedly as she watched Eugene let out one final groan of defeat before falling to the ground.

As soon as the adrenaline left her, the rabbit officer sighed wearily. For the first time, she became aware of just how cold she was, thanks to the consistent downpour of water. Her bodysuit had been completely soaked through, and she was shivering hard because of it. Yet still, she had managed to beat Eugene, and was all the prouder because of it. She stared down at his unconscious body with disgust, knowing that this whole time, he had been the one plotting against the ZPD. Well, now it was over, and he would be going to jail. But there was still much to worry about - His nefarious employers were still out there, and of course, the academy itself needed to return to working order.

The ZPD, and by extension, her and Nick, had a lot to do if they were going to clean up this mess.

At the thought of Nick, Judy's ears suddenly shot to the roof in realization. She rushed over to his body and pulled him out of the way of a puddle that had nearly reached his nose. The rabbit stroked the fur on his face a single time before wrapping his arm around her shoulder and picking him up. She made her way towards the exit, and caught sight of Eugene's body as he lay sleeping nearby, a puddle growing dangerous close to his own face too, which was planted into the floor. Judy sighed, and then kicked him over on his back, figuring that despite all he had done, he at least didn't deserve to drown. Besides, she had a feeling that there were still plenty of answers that interrogation could pry from him, and for that, he needed to be alive. Supporting Nick's weight with her shoulders, Judy hauled him down the hall and away from the office sector, spotting a snoring Major Friedkin locked up in one of the opposing rooms on her way out. She knew she'd come to soon, and would be safe locked in there, so Judy let her be.

Soon, Judy reached the academy's outer yard, and stumbled outside just as a platoon of squad-cars pulled into the parking lot. She smiled, and then fell to the ground.

---

6:30 A.M ; Present Time...

When the story was retold to Nick, he could barely believe it.

Sitting in the back of an ambulance with Judy, the two of them silently watched the plethora of first-responders as they went about their business - Teams of fire-fighters ran around turning off the sprinklers and making sure all the fires were put it, police officers worked in groups to track down and round up the remaining savage recruits, and a small army of EMT's tended to the wounded, and helped restrain the savage mammals to be taken to the nearest hospital for the Night-Howler vaccine. Nick could barely watch as Harlan was dragged off on a stretcher, his fur still speckled with the blood of whoever he had attacked while in his savage state. He also spotted Mary crying with a blanket around her shoulders in one of the other ambulances. From what she told them, she hadn't gotten infected because she had still been in the showers when the barracks had gotten hit with a dose of Night-Howlers. Apparently, Eugene had pumped some strange blue gas through the air-ducts specifically into the barracks, causing all of the sleeping recruits to turn savage in the middle of the night, and effectively creating himself a small army to cause chaos throughout the academy while he went about starting fires.

For Nick, it really was hard to believe. Judy had told him about her fight with the mole, and how she had managed to beat him with a mixture of strength and trickery. That much he could believe, easy, knowing his wife. She had walked away from the battle with only a slight shiver, thanks to the sprinklers, though the EMT's assured Nick that she'd be alright. But still, a lot of damage had been inflicted on the academy, and there were dozens of injured recruits. Neither of them could call Eugene's defeat a true victory.

They watched from their seat in the ambulance compartment as Eugene was shoved into a squad-car, and hauled off to Precinct One for questioning. Nick could only hope that they'd be able to learn more about what happened from him. From what the first-responding officers had gathered so far from the camera footage, someone had driven a truck filled with drums of gaseous Night-Howlers to the academy under the cover of the night-time storm, and from there, Eugene had taken over; pumping the stuff into the air-ducts before going about on his spree of chaos. He was likely intending on using that same truck to make his getaway. Unfortunately, the cameras failed to pick up the form of whoever had driven the truck, and that was perhaps the most mysterious thing of all - The driver had vanished. It clearly hadn't been Eugene, as he was the one that met the truck in the academy's back parking lot while it drove up, and no one else was seen entering the academy for the rest of the night, so that meant whoever had driven the truck had simply ran away... Or flew away. No one knew for sure, just yet, though Nick had a feeling that they'd be finding out soon enough. For now, though, they recovered.

By now, the environment was brightening up with morning's light, though the sky was still a dreary gray overcast hanging oppressively above the academy, like a blanket trying to suffocate whatever minuscule amount of hope was left. The worst of the storm may have already passed, but what remained was only a slight improvement. Nick sighed.

"You did a good job, Judy." He told her. She noticed that he had used her true name, rather than some teasing title. He must have been really serious.

"I just did what I had to do." The rabbit replied. "I just..." She swallowed. "Hope we can recover from this."

Together, the two of them watched as various news vehicles approached the building - ZNN, Channel 11, the Grand Palm Times, and more. They watched as the reporters heckled the officers for answers, and generally did not improve upon the mood of the atmosphere. Nick exhaled through his nostrils, wondering why that rat, Ratsputin, had wanted to be in news in the first place. As he recalled, Ratsputin owned several of the companies that were currently snooping for answers at the scene of this crime. Perhaps he had simply wanted a gateway to make use of his knowledge, or even a good front to blackmail other mammals through, as Nick recalled that rat's fondness for. The fox narrowed his eyes as he watched a skunk reporter run around trying to glean answers from the police officers, before being stonewalled due to their lack of knowledge, only to scamper off and try again with another group. For as bothersome as the press could be, Nick truly hoped that they'd be able to inform the public about what happened here.

Judy, however, was wary on that subject, thinking back to what Eugene had said about stoking distrust towards the ZPD. Seeing all of this carnage on screen would definitely put a dent in the public's motivation. Judy could only hope that it would pass quickly. Her train of thought was derailed as she watched some new squad-cars enter the lot.

Three large, separate police cars pulled into the parking lot before forming a crooked line. The doors on each car were brandished with the insignia of three different city district precincts: The rhinoceros symbol of Precinct One, in Savanna-Central, the cactus of Precinct Three, in Sahara-Square, and the jungle-leaf of Precinct Four, in the Rainforest-District. Each one opened as a different precinct chief stepped out and began steadily approaching Nick and Judy. Chief Bogo led the pack, his gaze stony and formidable, broad shoulders swinging slowly with each step. He didn't look pleased. Chief Latran, the coyote that had voted against Nick and Judy's careers during the city-council meeting, was pacing to Bogo's left, fists clenched into rigid balls, and teeth bared with frustration. Not a good sign. Lastly, to Bogo's right, the anteater chief of police from the Rainforest, Chief Myreme, closed the distance with his paws resting calmly on his jacket lapels, and a concerned look across his face. He was the only one that seemed remotely at ease.

Judy swallowed hard. None of the chiefs looked to be in a good mood, and all three of them were making their way directly towards her. A chilling nervousness began to creep up the length of her spine, that was, before she felt a reassuring squeeze on her left shoulder. The bunny glanced over at Nick, green eyes soft and sympathetic, whose paw tenderly gripped her collarbone between gentle fingers. She sighed as their gazes met, and for a moment, all the worry for what lay ahead, and all the anxiety born from the pain and chaos of that morning seemed to melt away. The only thing Judy wanted was to rewind the clock back to when the two of them had been together in their room, relaxing, before all of this carnage had taken place. But she knew it was impossible. Now, the only thing left to do was to buck-up, and prepare for what followed.

The rabbit breathed in deep before exhaling with a steady breath, and as her spine straightened with determination, that's when Nick smiled and released his grip, realizing his reassurance was no longer needed. Both of the officers stared down the trio of precinct chiefs as they closed the distance between them, ready for what was to come.

---

Hey everyone!

Thanks for reading the latest chapter of WIF! You can expect the next one to arrive within a week or two, I suspect, as it is very near completion, but I, of course, still want to give you all a brief bit of time to savor what happened in this chapter. Point is, you can expect chapter 107 to arrive very soon! Much sooner than usual, I promise you! It'll start things right off from where we left off here. In it, we'll immediately see what happens next for Nick and Judy, some nostalgic older characters (both from the movie and this story) are going to be reintroduced, plot-points will be resurfaced, and the remaining plot of the story will all-around be kicked-up a notch. I'm very much looking forward to sharing it all with you! Stay tuned for what's to come!

And that is an important thing I'd like to reiterate upon - WIF is now in the endgame of its 7th and final arc, and the remaining chapters will have a lot of fun, plot-driving content to cover, all of which I have been planning for many months now and am beyond excited to reveal, so I do hope that you all will stick with me for what's to come! You can expect Nick and Judy to continue this new adventure of theirs, more development for Al and his plan, and even some new content, development, and closure with Vladzotz and Lucy, Mr. Big, Chief Bogo, and more; all of whom will be appearing again every once and a while throughout the remaining chapters of the story as they play their own part in the plot to come.

In short, I've got a lot in store for the next 6-10 chapters, and I reckon you'll enjoy it! I'm very proud of what I've got planned out, and I certainly hope that you stick with me for what's to come. You won't want to miss it. :)

In the meantime, if you need a refresher on Catpone's villainous plan and the motivations behind it, then go check out chapters 100 and 101!

Anyhow, wow, this was a pretty long chapter, wasn't it? I tried my best to make it tense, and mysterious, which might have come off as a bit drawn-out in some places, so I'm sorry if certain parts of it came off as slow or uneventful, or anything like that. It is cool to finally see the spy revealed, at least, especially after so long, and so many false flags. Truth was, I never intended for the spy (Eugene) themselves to be a major, super-developed villain, though I do hope you enjoyed his fight with Judy. They're just one of the pawns, and you can be sure that you'll glean more into the deeper workings of his boss's plan and motivations very soon.

So yeah, do please tell me your thoughts on this latest chapter! I'd adore knowing what you think of everything that transpired with a review. :)

Last up for announcements, I'd just like to mention that there's some amazing new fan-art on display over on my DeviantArt and tumblr accounts of Lucy Sang, Al Catpone, and more! The one of Lucy in particular is one of my new favorites, and was made by the talented skeletons-and-ragdolls, and captures her very well, so feel free to check it out, if you'd like, and give the original creators some support! They deserve it. Thanks!

Anyhow, that's all I've got to say, for now. Thanks for reading, and do stay tuned for the next chapter, coming your way very soon!

'Till next time...

Peace!