[AN

Hey guys! Already 100+ views and a few favorites and follows, I must say I didn't think my short intro would work :) Thanks to all of you for this, especially to those who took the time to write a review, it feels... great I think? Still getting used to it to be honest :)

So this is chapter 1, the real story begins. Next chapter is already written, and the following is started. The final three chapters of the story are also finished. I'll see how long it takes me to fill the gaps, but I'll try to keep a chapter ready every time I publish one, just to be sure. For the moment, I think I will manage a weekly update, but once again this is new to me so time will tell.

Enjoy!

AN]

Tension filled the air. Nick was checking his tranq gun for the twelfth time, as he found it was the only way to keep his focus on the task at hand. Around him, twenty-one mammals from precinct one, five and seven were gathered, and more were scattered all around the perimeter to provide support. Twenty-one cops, from polar bears to one tiny bunny, all of them fully equipped in military grade gear. That was a sight few had ever seen. It showed how important the raid to come was. It had been decided two days ago, leaving one whole day to choose who would be in, what the teams would be, and then to equip them all with proper gear.

Chief Bogo knew his officers were more than capable, but he felt he needed help anyway, hence the presence of nine officers from other districts. The night meeting went without any interruption, much to his surprise as he expected the red fox to let out a few smug comments, but Wilde had proven more professional than ever, completely focused and silent. On seeing so many good cops in front of him, the chief had felt a wave of pride swell within, pride obviously shared with the commanding officers of districts five and seven at the look on their faces.

When all details had been reviewed one last time, three armored vans left town towards the Docks, the clock ticking slowly towards 3AM. Their objectives were two abandoned warehouses on the Docks. Five years ago, they belonged to one of the most important fishing company to provide for the city. After a massive and unexpected storm, they lost nearly all their fleet, as well as more than four hundreds sailors. The company went bankrupt shortly after, and the owner ended in the psychiatric ward of Zootopia Central Hospital, the shock of losing so many mammals, coworkers, friends and even family, too big for his mind to accept.

The warehouses had been left unused, at least for legal business. They had been raided several times, but to no avail. Once they found a few homeless mammals trying to hide from the cold, other times they discovered kits trying to prove brave as they ventured in the tall buildings without their parents' approval. This time though, they had trusted intel, and it was time to put an end to the gang they were facing.

Back to the present, the buffalo nodded to his team, before bringing his walkie to his snout. "Wolfard, status."

"All ready, chief. Waiting for your command." Wolfard had been in the precinct for twelve years, making him Bogo's right hand every time the buffalo couldn't handle everything all by himself. Two buildings meant two teams, and Bogo needed someone to lead the second. Switching his radio to the general frequency, he gave the order.

"All units, you know what awaits you. Take them all down, we'll ask questions later. Watch your surroundings and your backs, we know they carry lethals. And I don't want anybody to play hero." He paused for a second, letting all the officers strengthen their resolve. "NOW!"

.

On that final command, two rhinos, one in each team and both carrying a heavy and large defensive shield, violently slammed the main doors open. The few guards patrolling the perimeter had been silently and efficiently immobilized, leaving the gang members inside the buildings completely blind to what was happening.

Their surprise cost them greatly. Like a perfectly engineered clockwork, the cops fell on them hard.

Snipers took shots almost simultaneously and seven guards on the upper stories were put to sleep. Using the shields to stabilize their aims, Wolfard and Hopps, the best shooter of each team, quickly swiped their weapon from left to right, darting as many gangsters as possible, needing less than a second to understand which were the most dangerous, before crouching when they ran out of ammo.

The rest of the officers then stormed inside, their gun hold firmly and their aim true, knocking off several more in the first seconds. No less than twenty-five criminals were put to sleep in less than half that number of seconds. The ZPD was not a special agency, with top-of-the-art equipment and rigorous special training. Still, all officers were regularly put to the test in training field, and once they were all gathered with the same goal in mind, they could prove to be an unstoppable force. This was happening right now, as they advanced inside the buildings with perfect synchronization, pairs forming naturally and moving back to back to cover each other.

Five minutes later, the second and smaller warehouse was cleared, with no wounded on the right side of the law. Several cruisers were soon parked to the side of the building, and the suspects were taken into custody. Leaving the task to the newly arrived officers, Wolfard gathered his team and ran to the main warehouse to give a paw to his colleagues.

In the main hall of said warehouse, chaos had erupted. Once the surprise had passed, the criminals had jumped on their guns and began shooting, trying to pin the cops under their fire. All that stood on the lower floor were sleeping, so the shots were raining on them from the catwalk circling the second floor.

Most of the shots were lost in the walls and ground as they didn't have time to aim, and more ended in the crates the officers were using as covers. One lucky shot tore through a black panther's shoulders, projecting him backwards as a howl of pain echoed in the hall. Two officers, one tiger and one lion, immediately dragged him outside the building to safety.

Judy Hopps was kneeled behind a wooden box, full of fishing equipment if the drawings on it were true, as hell surrounded her. She could hear orders being shout from both sides, grunts and snarls as the most ferocious of her coworkers were trying to get the upper hand, and of course the loud bangs of the guns of her enemies. Her ears were burning, her natural superior hearing turning to a real drawback in this situation, but she steeled her resolved and dared take a glance outside her cover. Two bobcats were using a rusty metal desk to hide themselves, their machine guns a deadly threat to them all. She had to take them down, fast. Bringing her walkie to her mouth, she shouted.

"Rhinowitz, I need a diversion. Can you use your shield and someone's help to draw theses bobcats' fire?" The answer came as a loud growl, the rhino clearly busy surviving and not happy with the idea of drawing more fire.

"I can try, but I won't last long." The shield had taken a severe punishment, and though it had been designed for this, it was not indestructible. "How long do you need?"

"Three seconds top." Taking another glance outside the crate, she nodded to herself. Her line of sight was clear, and Rhinowitz was on the other side of the building. They would need to rise to aim that far, and she could use that to dart them.

"All right", the rhino answered. "Get ready, Fang and I will bounce in five".

Exactly five seconds later, Judy could hear a loud roar as Fangmeyer furiously came out of her cover, hiding behind her colleague's shield, and emptied her dart gun in direction of the bobcats, colorful words escaping her lips. The shots were completely out, but it did the job. Seeing the opportunity to get one of those annoying cops, the two bobcats smiled to each other before rising and pressing their trigger, completely oblivious of the grey ball of fur waiting for this exact reaction.

In the blink of an eye, Judy had jumped out of her hide, kneeling to steady her aim. Her first shot led the dart in the bobcat's neck, the effect of the serum inside taking effect nearly instantly. The other predator turned his head in disbelief before another dart stung him in the shoulder. With loud noises, the two gangsters fell to the ground, snoring. Taking advantage of the now relatively clear path in front of her, Judy sprinted towards the stairs. If she could reach the metal desk where the bobcats were hiding, she would have a perfect line of sight on the rest of the criminals, and would force them to divide their attention.

.

Throughout the chaos, a red fox was standing, the gun in his paws feeling strangely light. The metal under his digits was not as cold as it should have been. Rising his head, he witnessed the fight with curious detachment, like he wasn't really a part of it. He felt like he was floating around. When this thought crossed his mind, he realized how muffled the sounds were, and the slight fog lazily covering the whole scene. His colleagues were risking their lives in that very moment, but still he was calm, relaxed even, like a father would be when watching his kits play cops and thieves. The scene in front of his eyes seemed rather innocent, no immediate threat calling at his instincts.

Things changed suddenly when he saw her. The small bunny was running towards the stairs, her dart gun firmly held in her paw, trying to use her small stature and speed to avoid the bullets. In vain. He froze. What was that thought? Holding his breath, he watched his partner as time began to slow to a stop. She was airborne, her hind paws not touching the ground as she had propelled her body forward in a sprint.

The rest of the world disappeared from his sight, her grey fur and blue uniform occupying his entire field of vision. Dread spread through his chest, as realization dawned on him. No, no, no, no, no, no, NO! His mind was racing, something was wrong, he knew it! She had to stop, to come back. He began running towards her, her name escaping his lips and echoing in the air.

Nick was running as fast as he could, sweat damping the fur on his back and arms, his heart slamming hard against his ribcage. Still, the doe remained out of his reach, the distance between the two partners not changing a bit. He tried to lean forward, his paw reaching to her, when he heard the loud bang coming from above.

The sound hit him hard, harder than normal, and he had to duck and protect his ears with his paws. He closed his eyes, pain flaring in his brain. Silence fell so suddenly he needed a few seconds to process it, before opening his eyes and raising his head.

The world was almost entirely white, like a giant whiteboard waiting to be filled by a kit's felt pen. Tears formed in the tod's eyes as the bright light was too much for a nocturnal mammal. Wiping his eyes to get rid of the water, he focused on the only things filling the space in front of him. Two colors was all he could recognize at first, so he narrowed his eyes, trying to make something of the black spot first.

A small but athletic silhouette formed slowly. Pointy ears rose high above the head of the mammal, a fluffy tail quickly appearing on her rump. The bunny was frozen, turning her back to Nick. Her arms were reaching forward as if she was falling and trying to protect herself from the fall. A gun had escaped her right paw, floating just out of her reach. Nick didn't know why or how, but he felt tears running down her cheek.

He tried to move, the sudden pain in his chest on knowing she was crying too hard to handle, but he couldn't. He couldn't feel his legs anymore, nor could he feel anything in his body except the pain. He tried to focus on her again, and that's when he noticed the other spot of color. Or, to be more accurate, the other spots.

Flashy crimson droplets were hanging above her back, as immobile as she was. He counted nearly twenty, the bright blood drops perfectly matching the shape of her tears, and now his own. He called, but no voice escaped his throat. His head started spinning, the world beginning to tremble on his peripheral vision. Narrowing his eyes to focus and keep his balance, he let out a gasp when he saw that she had turned. Beautiful amethyst eyes locked their gaze on him, a shy smile on her lips, and a single word resonated in the air before the scene shattered in pieces.

"Sorry…"

.

Nick opened his eyes and stood straight in his bed as a growl escaped his muzzle. His sheets and pillow were damp with cold sweat. Breathing heavily, the todd shook his head, hiding his eyes behind his paws as he tried to calm himself. It only took him a couple minutes to steady his heartbeat. He didn't need to take a look around him to understand where he was, nor at the alarm clock on his desk to know night was far from over. Letting a long and pained sigh, he stretched his aching limbs.

He knew this nightmare.

It had followed him every week since his partner's burial all those months ago. Every Thursday he had visited her, and every Thursday the nightmare woke him breathless and damp from head to toe. The first one was so vivid, so intense, that he had thrown up before even feeling his stomach clamp. Now, his conscious mind took control and he could compose himself quickly. Still, the image of the red droplets floating above the black silhouette sent a shiver down his spine. Laying back, the fox took a deep breath, trying to clear his mind from the sad memories, but to no avail. Closing his eyes, he simply waited for sleep to take him again.