[AN

Hello dear readers! Thanks for sticking with me on this story, short as it is for the moment. A few more favs, nearly 500 views, and a new smile on my face :)

Now that I have set up the background (and the mood if I believe your reviews :) ), it is time for the story to develop and bloom, so here it comes!

Enjoy!

AN]

The second part of his night was dreamless, and Nick awoke quite well rested, considering the nightmare. Once again, he had gotten used to it, and its toll on the todd's health was smaller every time. He finished his morning routine thirty minutes later, and headed to the precinct. His apartment was located two tram stations away, so the trip was over soon. Entering the precinct main building, he waved to the cheetah behind the reception desk and brought on his most trained fake smile.

"Hey Ben! Heard the new Gazelle single released yesterday?" A loud and high-pitched squeak, much too high-pitched for all the mammals present in the main hall, was all he got in return for the next three seconds, before an overly joyous voice answered.

"O. M. Goodness! This one is sooooooo good! I listened to it at least fifty times in a row! Couldn't get enough of it!"

And Ben went on for the next ten minutes, analyzing the lyrics of the song word by word and the way the music highlighted them. The single was only one day old, and he already knew it all by heart. Leaning casually on the desk, paws in his pockets, the todd was simply smiling, nodding from times to times or barking in laughter as if he was really interested by the topic. Once Clawhauser finally came out of words, Nick looked at the clock at the end of the hall and feigned a sigh.

"Sorry Ben, though you know I love hearing you so enthusiastic in the morning, I have to go."

"Oh right, sorry. Guess I got carried away once again, huh."

The cheetah was still smiling from one ear to the other, glad that the todd would always find the time to speak with him like this.

"Good luck in there."

Nick frowned a bit at that last sentence, but his mask fell in place so rapidly he doubted Ben would have noticed anything. Offering his famous two-fingers salute, he made his way to the bullpen.

.

Like always, a bunch of officers were already there, joking, betting and arm-wrestling like they would always do. Forcing another smile and a few salutes, he moved to the large chair on the front row, as he had done for the past three years. Minutes later, the door to the bullpen opened and revealed an enormous water buffalo, nearly three times the fox's size.

Chaos erupted as officers began shouting and bumping their paws and hooves on their desk. The chief of police walked to the podium like nothing was happening, secretly amused by that display, before frowning and slamming his hoof on the wooden pedestal. Silence immediately followed and the morning meeting began.

"All right. Now that I have everyone's attention, let's begin." His voice was neutral, his recent demonstration of strength and anger a simple display they all got used to and were waiting for every day. This was how they greeted each other, and they would not miss it, no matter what. Staring at the fox, he shook slowly his head, Nick answering with a simple and understanding nod.

Some officers had caught on this simple gesture, having seen it repeated at the beginning of all meeting recently. Maybe three or four months ago, they didn't know for sure as they didn't really focus on that at first, but now it had become the number one gossip in the entire precinct. Nick was the only officer that got that little bit of additional attention from the chief, and nobody understood why, so rumors had been flowing abundantly for the past weeks. Once their little ritual finished, Bogo spoke again.

"I've got one item on the docket today, and this is a full scale investigation." Curious and uneasy murmurs filled the room on those words. The last time an investigation like this happened, it was to catch a serial arsonist that was wreaking havoc in the city for the sole purpose of taking what he believed were the best pictures he could ever take.

"An old case, seemingly cracked, is about to be reopened." The buffalo paused, seeing the shock in his officers' eyes quickly replaced by fierce determination, making him proud of his team. "Who in this room doesn't know who Irina was?" The gasps of horror and colorful words that followed was all he needed to have his answer. Only three mammals seemed unmoved by the question: a strongly built lion who joined the precinct only months ago, a black panther who transferred from precinct seven less than a year before, and the first fox cop. Bogo looked at them for a few seconds before sighing.

"All right, silence!" His words were obeyed quickly, tension hanging in the air now that the news had been processed by most, the remaining three clearly uneasy with their coworkers' reaction. The chief then followed on.

"For those who don't know, Irina was an extremely deadly assassin and hitmammal. Her kills were always, if I can say it like that, clean. All victims were killed in the most efficient way, a bullet or a knife to the heart. No unnecessary torture has ever been noticed by the forensic teams. No signs of struggle or defensive bruises were found on the bodies. No collateral kills were ever met on the crime scenes. We knew it was her only because of her signature."

Higgins, the hippo and chief's assistant, opened a file and lifted a photo in the air so that everybody could see it. Two dark red lines were visible, shaped as lips.

"She always kissed her victim's cheek, leaving behind this mark." Nick was speechless, and so were his colleagues. "Of course", Bogo pressed on, "we never found any DNA in these signatures, which made us believe she actually didn't kiss them but used a tool of some kind to fake it. We still don't know how she did it." Another pause, and he spoke again.

"We have twenty-seven confirmed kills inside the city, over a six-month time period. Twenty-three were criminals, so we suspect she was hired by rivals. The four remaining victims didn't show up on our archives nor in the ZBI's, so we never knew why they were killed."

"How did you stop her?" The question was coming from the black panther. His name was Rory Spadring, Nick remembered.

"Irina made her only known mistake, and we used it wisely." Rory was leaning forward, impatient to hear how his coworkers had managed to catch such a dangerous mammal. "She killed what we still believe is an innocent citizen, one of the few we never understood why they were victims. We will never know how or why it happened, but the guy wasn't alone at home that night. A young boy was with him, and saw everything. Irina saw him, but according to the boy's testimony, she didn't hurt him nor tried to scare him. She smiled poorly before leaving the crime scene."

All officers in the room were hanging at Bogo's words, those who knew the story still impressed by their chief's presence.

"Little did she know that the boy's parents were cops. The boy was young, only seven at that time, but his parents had started training him a bit, making sure he could protect himself at school or wherever they might go. He had understood what had happened in front of him, and managed to snap a photo of Irina." Nick gulped. A seven-year old boy managed to take a photo of a professional killer and she let him go? His thoughts were interrupted by the chief's deep voice.

"Why she let him live, and if she knew he had her photo, once again we don't and never will know, but her kind gesture was her downfall. Now we knew who she was, what she looked like, and after a two months chase finally cornered her on a bridge near the harbor. Wolfard was the one to get to her first." The grey wolf nodded silently, recalling the scene with precision. Bogo waved to him to come to the stage to finish the story, so the wolf stood up and obeyed.

When he was facing his coworkers, he began, no hesitation or tension in his voice.

"Thank you chief. We had received a call from one of our anonymous informant, saying he was adamant it was her, having a walk like any other mammal would. We arrived from both sides of the bridge to make sure she wouldn't escape. While my partner was coordinating with other officers via radio, I started walking towards her and stopped a few feet away from her. I told her to surrender, following the protocol. She smiled at me, a genuine smile, before shaking her head. I remember the few words we exchanged."

.

"Looks like good times have come to an end." Her voice was sweet, playful even, completely out of phase with a deadly assassin getting caught. She then turned her eyes to the side of the bridge and the water underneath.

"STOP! Paws in the air, now!" Wolfard was calm, his experience keeping his emotions in check, dart gun firmly hold in his paws.

"Sorry, but bars are out of the question for me." Another smile, and a teasing wink accompanying it.

"Why? Why did you kill them?" Wolfard's question might be opened, but Irina understood immediately he was referring to the four non-criminal victims.

"Because I was tasked to, like all the others." The cop's mind was racing trying to find a way to make her talk, giving a chance for another cop to get behind her and dart her.

"That doesn't answer my question. You knew they were innocent, why do it anyway?" Her last words printed themselves in his brain, and he would never forget them.

"In Zootopia, anyone can be anything. I just wanted to see if it was true. My way." With a last teasing smile, she jumped.

.

"We never found the body, but there was no way she might have survived. The water level wasn't high enough for such a high fall, and we were close to the sea. We all believed her body had been rejected by the stream in the higher seas, and there never were any other victim with her signature afterwards." Wolfard had lowered his head, eyes closed as the last words escaped his muzzle, the memory all too clear behind his eyelids, and guilt starting to make its way within its chest.

If she indeed survived the fall, then he had failed. Feeling a hoof on his shoulder, he raised his head to see Bogo nodding at him. The buffalo's face was void of all emotions, but behind his eyes the wolf could see pain and pride for his officer. Nodding politely, Wolfard went to his chair and sat in silence.

Nick's respect for the wolf increased substantially on that day, as guilt flooded him too, for a completely different reason. All attention focused on Bogo again when Higgins gave him two more photos. The first one showed a large polar bear laying on his back, arms crossed on his chest. If it weren't for the fact that they were cops in their morning meeting, they could have thought their chief had taken one of their own sleeping and was playing a prank on them. The second photo however left no place to doubt. Two dark red lines shaped lips on white fur.

"These photos were taken by the forensics this night, around 1AM. The victim is Raymond Frostshard." Nick's jaw fell open, before he composed himself once again, mask in place. Raymond was one of mister Big's enforcers, one of the two bears that caught Judy and him in the limo during the Nighthowler case, and nearly iced them.

"It is too early to know why or who did it, but our first lead is that of a copycat." His last words were followed by a glance at Wolfard, who hadn't raised his head yet. "We have more at stake now than ever before. Whoever did this is about to start a gang war, as Big will not take this insult lightly. And we all know what could happen when he retaliates." All officers hold their breath, the threat of collateral damage looming over their head on that very moment. "Assignments."

Except for two pairs of officers who had to keep on patrolling the city, making sure the populace never forgot they were protected, every cop in the room was assigned to the case. The chief promised the teams would take turns on patrol duty, so that every one of them could work the case and benefit from it. The last assignment was for Wolfard.

"Wolfard, you will lead the case." Bogo's voice was firm and severe, showing how important his decision was. "You have all my support to do as you see fit. Your orders are now my orders and any refusal to obey your commands will be considered direct insubordination towards myself, with all the consequences. I will make sure all resources available are at your disposal, and that all fellow services, such as forensics, report to you directly."

Bogo's words hung in the air, all officers taken aback by the sudden decision. The chief met all their gazes, eyes burning with fury, making sure he had been clear. He trusted his officer, even if there was a slight chance he had made a mistake all those years ago. When he spoke again, determination filled his voice.

"If you need someone to help you carry this burden and assist you, just tell me." The grey wolf took several seconds to think about it, his eyes fixing the buffalo to find any hidden anger or deception in his eyes or attitude, but he found none. The chief was offering him a chance to make things right, if he even needed to, and a renewed sense of pride swelled inside. He would not miss on that opportunity. Scanning the room and every mammal present inside, he focused for longer on the back of the red fox in the first row, before making his decision.

"Sir, I want Wilde as my right paw".