Author's Note at the end.

"You're mad at me, aren't you? I can tell that you're mad. Would it help if you yelled at me some? You seem like you want to yell. Sometimes it can be helpful to yell, you know? Just to let it go and just scream your lungs out. I can just sit here and—"

Bogo slapped his hand over Judy's mouth. Oswalt let out a deep, relieved sigh. "Thank you, Chief," he muttered as he tried to get the hidden microphone in Judy's jacket to sit right. On the other side of him, two mice were sewing in the wiring that would go down to a small battery pack stashed under her collar.

Bogo just massaged his temple with the hand not currently keeping Judy silent. "Hopps, I'm not angry." He was very angry. "I think you've done an admirable job so far." No he didn't.

One of the mice working on Judy's wired jacket slid down her back and she bit down on Bogo's hand in a panic. He pulled away with a hiss.

"Ha…sorry, Chief. Nerves." She pointedly ignored the 'get those things filed down' comment. "It's just starting to hit me that this is a real case."

Judy had gone home from the Oasis as soon as she could get away. Her first call had been to Oswalt and she had told him in exuberant detail how her first outing had gone. He hadn't believed her until she'd sent him a picture of her new ID badge. After that she'd been ordered to get a good night's sleep while they figured out what to do down at the station.

At eight o' clock the next morning Judy got the call to come in. An unmarked car had picked her up a block away from her apartment building and thirty minutes she was sitting down in the Special Branch equipment room with Lieutenant Oswalt and Chief Bogo listening to her full debriefing. Bogo had been slack jawed most of the time and hadn't said much, but his rat companion had made up for it in spades. His entire team had been called in to put names with faces while they jury-rigged something for her first shift as a bouncer.

As it turned out, Judy finally discovered the reason why she had felt more at east in Special Branch – it was ninety percent rodents. Other mammals were undercover officers, but only in certain situations. Most of the ZPD's intelligence came from mice, rats, and other rodents who logged hour after hour on stakeouts and wiretaps. There was no denying that she felt a small bit of kinship with her distant cousins - they were both small animals working in a big animal's job.

That didn't mean she liked them crawling all over her. She glared at one mouse who had decided to take a snack break on her shoulder. "Is all this really necessary?" she asked, trying to subtly shake the little rodent lose. "The wires, microphones, and the camera?"

"Yes," Bogo emphatically replied. "Hopps, you've already put eyes on at least five different suspects in seven open cases, if your descriptions can be trusted, just from the regular bar population. That porcupine alone is an ex-convict who we have been trying to put back behind bars for years." He slapped down a stack of red case files in front of her. "These are all high priority targets. Every mammal in there is likely involved in some kind of criminal enterprise."

Oswalt scrambled up to the top of the files Bogo had plopped down. He looked Judy over from ears to toes and frowned. "It's not the best we've ever done, but it should last you the week. We'll rig up something more permanent in the meantime." He clapped his little hands and a half dozen mice scampered out of her clothes (two more than Judy had thought were working on her). "Now, keep in mind that you're going to have to switch the tapes every two hours and you only have enough film for twenty shots a roll. Try and hide some spares somewhere you can get to them easily. Maybe the toilet tank in the bathroom or something."

Judy pulled her jacket on tighter. It was denim lined with black wool, which was where all the electronics were hidden. She ran a nail over the padding around her neck and only just felt the microphone there. The camera was hidden in her top button. Oswalt might have said it wasn't his best work, but Judy couldn't imagine anything better than what he'd already done.

Bogo fanned out the case files and Oswalt circled around. "I think we should zero in on the fennec," Bogo said. "Peter Finnick, 29 years old. He was in and out of juvenile hall until he was eighteen and then he graduated to the big-boy cages. His first major charge was when he was sixteen and he was picked up after his gang was busted for a turf war. After that, he turned to petty scams and burglary, with some racketeering and extortion on the side. Word from our informants is that he's recently been seen in Tundratown in the company of known associates of the Big crime family, most notably Kozlov Clawitzer."

"Finnick? He's a mobster? He was shaking after I got done with that coyote."

Oswalt walked up and down the fox's biography, head bent and reading line by line. "Not everything is obvious," he said. "Macros Big doesn't just hire the biggest and dumbest. He needs mammals of all sizes and shapes to keep his apparatus running outside of Little Rodentia. His little claws are in half the crime in the city, but he's gotten out of every charge we've hit him with."

"Which is why we need you not to screw this up, Hopps." Bogo drummed his hooves on the table. He looked physically pained that he was in this situation. "ZPD is…counting on you."

"How much did it hurt you to say that?" Oswalt laughed. Cigar smoke snaked out between his teeth like he was a furry tea kettle.

Bogo yanked back the case file quick enough that the little rat toppled over. He handed it over to Judy. "We need you to get as many names and pictures of the animals that come to the bar as you can. If you have a chance, chat up the fox. See who he talks to, get those animal's names and faces especially."

Judy flipped through the file. It had a good history of Finnick's life with photos of him in juvie and some candid shots of him on the street. "That's the best one we have," Bogo said over her shoulder, pointing to a group of foxes lounging around a warm den in Tundratown. There were polar bears everywhere with mix of otters and seals. One bear in particular stood out. He was thick in the waist with giant, oversized glasses hanging off the tip of his nose. Finnick was one of the foxes gathered around, but it was a skinny red one talking to the bear.

Judy frowned. A red fox. That was more her avenue of expertise. "Who's he?" she asked, scuffing at the fox's face when her itchy, uncut claws (Oswalt had told her to stop clipping them).

Bogo fished out his glasses and settled them on his broad snout. He studied the fox for a long moment. A mating between a growl and a groan came from him after recognition hit. "Ignore him." He slammed the photo back down to the table. "Focus on the fennec and the porcupine."

Well, Bogo wasn't the only one who had bad memories of a fox. The bunny resisted the urge to run her claw along the three scratches buried under the fur on her cheek. "He's already forgotten," Judy muttered. Her eyes flicked back to the polar bears. One stood out. He wasn't the biggest or the strongest-looking. What stood out the most were his gigantic glasses and ancient lounge suit.

Oswalt walked into Judy's line of sight and tapped his foot down on the bear's face. "Noticed Kozlov, did you? About time. He's the biggest player in that room. We think he runs Big's extortion rackets. Other than the shrew himself, Kozlov's the most important bear in Tundratown. You can see he keeps shady company."

"Don't worry about Kozlov yet," Bogo said before Oswalt could go further. He gave the little rat a sour look which was returned in spades. "Focus on the Oasis. That's your job. You're doing good work out there, but don't screw it up."

Never had Judy been so conflicted: was that a compliment or an insult? She settled on it being a little bit of both – just a classic Chief Bogo. She popped a salute and he actually returned it with a little bit of seriousness. Maybe more compliment, then.

"I've already said it, but I won't let the ZPD down. We're gonna get them all, sir."

Bogo pushed back from the table. "Amazingly, I'm starting to believe it. Hop to it, Hopps, and there might be a place on the regular force waiting on you."

The massive water buffalo stomped out of the room and Judy was able to relax, once again only being surrounded by a few mice and Oswalt. She wasn't a sizeist or anything, but bigger mammals made her nervous. Bogo had left his case files and Judy scooped up the picture of Kozlov and the foxes.

"Is this fox problem of yours going to get in the way of anything?" Oswalt asked in his usual blunt fashion. Judy was so surprised she dropped the photo.

"Excuse me?"

"The foxes. You don't like them, or you're afraid of them – whatever. Is it going to be a problem?"

Judy gathered her wits by leaning over to get the dropped photograph. A dozen little fox faces stared back at her. Her teeth clenched. "I am not afraid of foxes," she muttered.

"Then you hate them. Understandable for a rabbit and you probably wouldn't be surprised at how many of them are on the looser side of the law, but you could blow this entire thing if you go out of your way to be antagonistic." The rat took a deep drag from his cigar and added to the hazy cloud starting to linger in the small room. "It's a fine line for prey to walk. You can't show predators weakness, but you can't hate them to the point where they think you can't work with them. Doubly so for your personal predator. Is that understood?"

"Sir, I—"

"Is it understood, Hopps?"

"I…yes, sir. Understood."

Oswalt snuffed his cigar and didn't mention Judy's problem with foxes further. His Special Branch team finished up the last of their modifications to her clothes while he and Judy went over other viable targets for surveillance. When she was finally all briefed and outfitted, she dropped back off at Sahara Square by a different unmarked car.

She plodded up the stairs to her apartment. Her sharp eyes caught a flash of sand-colored coyote tail before it disappeared into a distant apartment and she had to smile - Vincent had more than learned his lesson about picking on rabbits.

Judy discovered that her door unlocked easily without any panicked shaking and she stepped inside. Her mighty little air conditioner had kept things nice and cool in her absence. She bent down to unclip the bindings around her feet and let them slough off as she walked into her living room. In the light of day she could properly appreciate the open floorplan she was given by the department. There wasn't much filling it right now, but Judy was sure she could make a nice little home of this place.

She tiptoed over to the window and pulled the blinds. Oswalt hadn't noticed, but Judy had walked out of the station with more than just a spiffy new jacket. The photograph of Finnick and Kozlov had fit nicely into her new piece of clothing and now she dared to pull it out. Having it in her paws was more than a little bit of a thrill. Technically, it was the first thing she'd ever stolen.

That elation was tempered by the reason she'd taken it. "I am not afraid of foxes," she told herself as she stared at their beady little eyes. The big red one could have been a grown-up Gideon Grey. "I'm not scared of you." That type of conviction only lasted a few moments before Judy felt too silly to continue. She didn't know that particular fox from Adam and, honestly, foxes all kind of looked the same to her. They all had that same svelte profile, yellow eyes, claws for grabbing, teeth for snatching up bunnies…

"I am not afraid of foxes," Judy told herself again, but the lie was obvious.

Okay, so maybe she had a small problem with foxes. It wouldn't get in the way of her work. She wouldn't let it. Finnick wouldn't be a problem and he had been the only fox she'd seen last night. If he brought any of his friends from the photograph she would just treat them like everyone else.

And then arrest them with all due dignity when Bogo gave the eventual order.

A solid knock on her door drew Judy's attention. She let the photo fall to her couch and shuffled over to her door. The peephole was too high up for her to get a look, so she called out, "Who's there?" through the door.

There was a tense moment of silence before an animal growled under its breath. "It's Vincent," they eventually got out.

Judy was instantly wary. Had the coyote come for some revenge? "What do you want?"

"Pinyon just called me. He wants us to come in early."

"We? I remember you getting fired last night."

Another aggravated growl. "I got fired from being the bouncer, not from the Oasis. I'm back to being a busboy."

Judy stared at her door long and hard. "One second," she said, ignoring the groan from the coyote, and hopped back to her room. Her taser was retrieved from her nightstand and she tapped the trigger to make sure it had a charge. The blue arc of lightning gave her some electric courage. She put her picture of Finnick and Kozlov in its place.

Back at the door she pressed her ear against the wood. If there were any other animals with Vincent out there they were being quiet. With only a little bit of trepidation, she opened the door. When she saw how the coyote was dressed, she unlocked the door chain and stepped outside.

"Nice getup." She smiled wider when his lip started to curl back. Apparently Pinyon wanted all his busboys to wear pressed two-piece suits. She could only imagine how horrible it would be for Vincent to walk to the bar.

"Come on," he snarled. A few other choice things were said under his breath but Judy let him think she couldn't hear them. Most of them involved her getting squished by a drunk elephant at the bar.

As it turned out, Vincent had a ride to work. Judy was forced to ride in the back of his red pickup truck, but the air felt good on her ears as they zipped through the afternoon traffic in an appallingly lawbreaking way. Judy tallied up at least half a dozen moving violations in the short ride that she added to the coyote's crime tally.

She hopped out of the deathtrap as soon as they were in the Oasis' parking lot. "You have an expired plate," she noticed.

"So go tell a cop," he grumbled as he began tossing garbage back in his cab. Judy had a thought that the reason she hadn't been allowed to sit up front was because of the lack of clean sitting space as much as the coyote's hostility.

Judy found a lot more activity going on inside than she would have thought this early in the day when she got inside. It looked like the entire Oasis crew had been called in. The hyena bartender was going over the sandy main floor with a rake and there were two ferrets behind the bar polishing bottles. Pinyon had all of the hookahs over by the wall and was cleaning out each of old tobacco and water. When he spotted Judy he shuffled over.

"Judy, I'm glad Vincent managed to get in contact with you. I'm lucky that I remembered you said he was your neighbor."

"Sorry. I don't have a home phone set up yet." Judy was suddenly hyper aware of the surveillance equipment wired into her jacket. It had been recording from the moment she'd remembered to switch it on in Vincent's truck. Right now Pinyon's face and voice were being committed to electronic memory.

Judy had an irrational spike of fear that he could somehow know he was being recorded. It was impossible, but irrationality seldom made sense. "I understand," Pinyon said. He put one of his clawed hands on her shoulder and led her over to the bar. "With your warrant situation I doubt you could get any official utilities set up. Don't worry about that, though. I know an aardvark who is a wizard at these sort of things. I could put you in touch."

That's a strong case for felony tampering of official paperwork. "I would appreciate it, Mr. Pinyon."

"It's nothing. I can't have you getting snapped up by the ZPD on my doorstep. I run a respectable business, Judy. It's in everyone's best interest."

Pinyon went behind the bar and motioned for Judy to hop up onto a stool. "What do you care for?" he asked, going for the bottles.

Judy momentarily panicked. She had only ever drank a bit of her family's homemade wine. "I'll just, uh, have a beer. Surprise me."

Something orange and foamy was in front of her. Judy put on a brave face and took a swig, almost recoiling at the strong taste.

"Hopps."

She gagged and started choking. The hyena bartender was walking buy and slapped her hard on the back with a manic little giggle. "Ex-Excuse me?"

"Gods, are you alright, Judy? I said that it must be the hops. Some animals don't like the taste."

Judy pushed the beer far back and away from her. "Right. The hops. They're a bit strong."

"Bit strong for a rabbit, maybe, but I think our special guests tonight will like it just fine."

"Special guests?"

Pinyon held up a claw. "Very special guests. They've rented out the entire bar for tonight. That's why I needed everyone in early."

Very special guests? Judy was almost quivering. Anyone who was special enough to warrant all of this preparation was obviously going to be some kind of super crime lord that would rocket Judy straight to top merits. She could almost imagine it: getting a medal or an accommodation or even being selected for detective! Rookie rabbit officer nabs Savannah Square's most wanted – the headlines wrote themselves!

"Are you even listening to me?"

That detective's badge had to be earned first, though. Judy (reluctantly) pulled herself away from her grandiose daydreams and smiled. "Special guest, very important."

Pinyon rubbed his forehead. "Very important guest. It was a great, great privilege for her to select the Oasis for her business, so everyone has to be on point. You will have an official guest list at the door. No one except our approved guests get in."

Judy nearly saluted the crisp, concise set of orders. Say what you would about the porcupine's morally, he could run a bar. Seeing that he finally had Judy's attention, he fumbled around under the bar for a moment before pulling out a large black case.

"For extra insurance," he said as he slid it over to her.

Inside was a well maintained Z-120 tranquilizer pistol with two extra magazines. It wasn't the industrial-strength Z-250 that the department issued, but it was more than enough for home defense. Even a little one like this, though, could drop a lion in a few hits and was only sold to registered owners.

"First time ever being armed?" Pinyon asked, mistaking Judy's tension for nervousness. "Chances are you won't even have to use it. Our regulars have all been informed of the special client tonight. For the animals that aren't in the know, most will just accept the bar is closed and move on. Others may get an...attitude with the bouncer. You have experience with that, I think."

"So don't let in any bunnies that won't take no for an answer?" She pulled the tranq gun from its case and tested its weight. It was designed for a heavier mammal, but she could make do. "I think I can handle that without the gun."

Pinyon chuckled. "I don't doubt it, but I still want you to wear it. At the very least it helps our image to see an armed bouncer outside the door."

Dutifully, Judy looped the holster around her hips. It felt strange to wear it without her uniform. Not wrong per say – strange. Different. "I don't suppose you have a permit to go along with it? It's a..." Judy caught herself before she quoted the entire tranq gun regulation by memory. "...problem if the police see me with it."

"Don't worry your fluffy little head about the ZPD. After three raids I've learned my lesson." He pointed over his shoulder at the bar's published certificates. Next to his liquor license was a general self-defense warrant for the bar property.

Judy's nose wrinkled. It printed on official City Hall stationary and it had one of the new holographic city seals on the front. It certainly looked official. "Do those things even exist?"

"They do for the amount of money I paid for this one," Pinyon grumbled. "Now, this party is supposed to kick off at seven tonight so the guests should start trickling in any minute now. I don't want any party crashers for this, Judy. I'm trusting you."

That seemed to be the end of Judy's marching orders. Pinyon went back to setting out the hookahs and generally tidying up. No one but Vincent paid Judy any mind as she made for the front door and even he could only spare a sour look before getting back to cleaning off the bar one final time.

Like most of the nights in Sahara Square, it was chilly when Judy stepped outside. The way Zootopia created the miniature climates for the different districts was fairly amazing, but even that technology couldn't completely stave off Mother Nature. Early autumn would be early autumn no matter how much animals designed it otherwise. Judy shoved her paws into her pockets and was thankful that Oswalt had put his recording equipment in a jacket.

The neon palm tree buzzed and flickered overhead. Judy's ears swiveled back and forth. She was still juiced from all the talk about special guests and the real opportunities to do some police good that came with them. When an expensive-looking car pulled into the parking lot, Judy tried to angle her coat collar in the best way so that the camera inside would get a clear picture.

She was not prepared for the entire car to lurch when the giant polar bear driver got out. The abused shocks squeaked so loud that even without her ears she would have heard them. He lumbered to the back door and pulled it open; after reaching inside, he closed it again without anyone else getting out.

What was extra weird is that Judy distinctly heard the different voices of a conversation coming from the bear as he walked toward her.

"Oh my gawd, Karen. You should have seen him!"

That was a female's voice. Judy raised an eyebrow at him but his dower expression hadn't changed one bit. It only broke when Judy stepped right in front of him before he could open the door.

She took a breath and put on her best customer service smile. "Sorry sir, but the Oasis is closed to normal guests tonight. I'm going to need to see some credentials."

With as much incredulity as his face could probably allow, the bear bent down every so slowly until he was eye-level with the bunny bouncer.

Judy just stood there. "Credentials?" she asked.

The bear's lips pulled back. Each of his teeth were as big as Judy's fist and the smell of freshly-eaten cooked fish made the rabbit's skin crawl.

"Just show her your drivers license, Vladimir! We're going to be late for the show!"

Vladimir, the bear, looked absolutely livid. Well, as much as his face could look livid. On any other animal it would just be a scowl, but on this bear Judy felt a jolt of primal fear shoot from the tips of her ears down to the bottom of her feet. He did produce an old Zootopia driver's license, though. His name was on the guest list.

"Silly, she needs to see ours too!"

By now Judy had narrowed down where the other voices were coming from, but it didn't make it any stranger to see the polar bear hold out his massive paw and produce three giggling shrews. One of them gasped when she saw Judy.

"Oh my gawd," she gasped, "it's a bunny rabbit! This bar has a bunny rabbit as a bouncer! That's so cute!"

"Karen! You can't call bunnies cute! My energist is a bunny and she says it's really offensive!" Judy would have felt more appreciative of that defense if the shrew wasn't holding in laughter herself.

Judy leaned in to check both of their identification cards and checked them off the list. The third shrew, quiet and not as giddy, offered hers up as well. Fru Fru Big, it said. Judy crossed that one off her list as well.

The opportunity was too good to resist. "I love your shoes," Judy said. "I don't suppose you're related to Maurice Big?"

The quiet shrew's eyes lit up. "Do you know my dad? He said he had a few friends down at this bar."

Daughter to the biggest crime boss in Zootopia. Take that, Chief Bogo! "I've never met him, but I really admire his work."

Fru Fru smiled even as Vladimir frowned. This time Judy let him past. She felt slightly miffed that her big break was only the daughter of Mr. Big, but surely she would attract some high-profile hangers on?

As the evening wore on, though, it became clear to Judy that this was more of a social gathering for Fru Fru and her friends than any real criminal skullduggery. Shrews and mince and rodents of all shapes and sizes made it past Judy with Vladimir being the only guest that looked like he could be connected to anything shady. Judy couldn't help feeling a little bored at having to stand out in the cold as the party inside really started to take off. Nearly everyone on the guest list was already inside so there wasn't even the prospect of work to look forward to.

Judy glanced over her shoulder. The door was shut tight with only a tiny sliver of light managing to get out from under the door jam. No one was in the parking lot either.

She took a few steps from the door and pulled her tranq pistol. It fit nicely in her paws. "Freeze, criminal," she whispered as she stared down imaginary prey in its sights. In her head they didn't give up without a good chase first.

The little pistol twirled on her finger. She had been on the academy drill team, but they had practiced with the bigger tranquilizer rifles – the pistol tricks she'd taught herself on the weekends. Judy made the heavy black gun dance, spinning forwards and backwards, up and down, faster and faster; she slid it back into her side holster as easily as fitting a glove over her paws.

Judy puffed up her chest. Fru Fru's luxury car was a few parking spaces over and she walked over. Even in the spotty outside lights of the Oasis parking lot it reflected like polished obsidian. Looking at the rabbit staring back at her, Judy had to smile in wonder at the transformation Oswalt had done. Her jean jacket gave her the bulk of the hare she was masquerading as and the dark shirt and pants made her look mysterious. The obvious bulge of a gun at her side made her even more frightening.

She squared up at the reflection. Fast as a whip, she had the tranq pistol out. "You talkin' to me? You must be, because I don't see anyone else." In the low light her tranq gun could easily be mistaken for a much more dangerous gunpowder weapon. She had only shot one once, back at the academy, and the smell of fire and saltpeter had stuck with her. They were banned country-wide, but Judy heard that some of the smaller towns away from Zootopia still had to deal with them. And there was always the Reptile Republic and their warmongering.

Judy imagined it as a real pistol. The little rabbit looking back at her went from seeming vaguely dangerous to being deadly. She wondered if this is what a predator felt like every day when they looked at everyone else.

It was an addictive feeling.

At the edge of her vision, Judy caught an out of place splash of red in the car's reflection. Judy spun, gun out with police precision. An animal had been slinking toward the main door, but it had stopped stock still when Judy had turned.

"Who's there?" she called out, steadily creeping forward the way she'd been taught. "Hands up! I want to see paws!"

"Paws, sure." Two skinny black paws appeared. "There, see? Paws. No need for the gun."

Judy disagreed. Vehemently. The animal, a fox of all things, slowly rose to his full height. He was a good two feet taller than she was and his easy smile was one of white needles. Judy aimed right below his jaw at the point where his white belly fur started to mix with neck. A shot there would put him down in seconds.

She stopped a few strides from him. "Who are you? Why are you sneaking around like a...a..."

"Fox?" His smile became mocking. It quickly evened back out when Judy audibly flipped off the safety of her tranq gun. "Okay, I think we got off on the wrong foot here, Carrots."

Judy jerked her head to the side. "Move," she barked when he didn't get the hint. Grudgingly the fox plodded away from the wall where he'd been skulking out into the parking lot and the light.

The would-be party crasher was a red fox. He wasn't the biggest or tallest Judy had ever seen, but a fox was a fox even if he was in a shaggy button-down shirt and tie.

"Could you take your finger off that trigger?" he asked, hands still in the air. "You're making me nervous."

"Not a chance, Fox. This is a private party."

"Yes, and I'm on the list."

Judy snorted. "Yeah, and I'm a lizard. Guests don't sneak around."

The fox pointed toward Judy's gun with the tip of his claw. "Well, I saw you waving that thing around when I first walked up. I didn't know what to think."

Oh gods, he'd seen her acting like a little kitten! "You didn't see anything," Judy hissed. "Just…just stay there and let me check this stupid list."

"Anything you say, Carrots," the fox called as Judy moved away. He busied himself with adjusting his stupid looking tie in one of the mirrors.

He was far enough away that Judy took her eyes off him to look down at the guest book. Her eyes flicked from the pages to the fox who now seemed to just be ignoring her in favor of fawning over his reflection.

"What's your name?"

The fox looked up and flashed her a winning smile. "Nick." The way he said his name made all his teeth flash.

Unnerved, Judy looked away and started flipping through her guest book. Nica, Nichole, Nina, Nancy – no Nicks. Judy smiled. Now she was sure the fox was a party crasher! No reservations on showing him the bad end of a tranq gun now.

"Oops, looks like they didn't put me on there."

Judy nearly jumped all the way up to the flickering palm tree sign overhead. That fox – Nick – had somehow gotten right up next to her! She went straight for her holster and found it empty.

Nick opened his paws. The pistol was dangling from one of his claws. In his bigger hands it looked like a toy. "Now, I'm sure you're thinking that letting me in there would be the worst thing imaginable. You have a job to do, we got off on the wrong foot, natural enemies – trust me, I know the drill. But! I'm doing you a favor. I happen to be an old friend of the Big family and me showing up would just make little Fru Fru's day."

"You're not going anywhere near this door," Judy growled through teeth clenched in embarrassment. She was a trained police officer and somehow this fox had gotten the drop on her! And taken her weapon! If she had been in uniform Bogo would have melted her badge down for a paperweight.

So, Judy lunged for her tranq pistol. Nick knew it was coming and he danced back with a nimbleness that his tall, slinky form didn't seem naturally capable of. "Quick little bunny, aren't ya?" he taunted. Judy grabbed again and again, each time only swiping at air as Nick passed the gun from paw to paw like he was a performing street magician. Eventually Judy misjudged one of her jumps and found her long feet tangled up by a long fluffy tail. She hit the pavement hard enough to knock the air out of her.

"Whew, that's my exercise for tonight," Nick gibed. He fiddled with the loading mechanism for a few moments before he figured out how to unload all the darts. "There we go." He flicked the little tranquilizers out into the dark parking lot one by one. "Now, while you go and reload your little pop gun, I'm just going to head on inside and see the guest of honor. Have a good night, Carrots."

Judy dug her toes into the cracked pavement. That was not going to be the end of this! Judy Lops didn't back down from anything, not even a fox! Her nails caught on a scuff in the pavement big enough to brace herself and she drew back like a bow.

The fox didn't know what hit him. Judy's jump knocked him forward so that his snout cracked against the front door of the bar. She went for the back of his leg while he was stunned, just like she had with Vincent the coyote, but Nick's body was a good deal more limber than his distant cousin. With one hand wrapped around his snout, Nick used his other and grabbed Judy's ears and yanked her up.

His smirk was gone. Gideon Grey had been all snarls and threats from the start while Nick had been almost affable, but now it was getting hard for Judy's adrenalin-addled brain to tell the two apart. She was almost nose-to-nose with the fox and all she could really see was a hint of his annoyed yellow eyes and flashes of teeth between his fingers.

Nick said something about his nose, but Judy felt like she was two sheets to the wind. She caught the smell of blood -Nick's- and panicked. Her foot came up, no matter how much it hurt to jerk around while Nick still had her by the ears, and cracked into the bottom of his jaw. He tossed her away like he was holding onto a buzz saw.

"You're crazy!" he shouted, pressed back against the wall like a cornered animal. "Completely psycho! Here! Take your little gun!" He tossed it at Judy. It skittered to a halt within an arm's length. Judy snatched it up when she got to her feet and holstered it.

Every step she took toward the twitchy fox filled her with a sense of power. He was running scared. She was better trained than he was and more athletic. They both knew it.

Nick looked between the door and Judy and made a decision: he ran. Judy watched with a sense of wonder as the fox bolted down the sidewalk and off into the Sahara night, clutching his face. Judy stumbled over to the door, more shocked than actually hurt, to lean up against the building. She ended up sliding down to the ground.

The door opened. Music and light spilled out until Pinyon's bulky form plugged the hole. Judy noticed the bottle he'd brought with him and held out her hand. It didn't taste any better than it had before she'd started her shift, but it helped calm her a little.

Pinyon looked her over. Judy was sure her boss thought she'd been through the ringer, what with the bleeding ears from where Nick had snatched her up and all the scuffs from rolling around on asphalt.

She expected Bogo-level yelling. Threats. Questions about her ability to perform. What she got instead, though, was a "Well, keep at it. You still have two hours left on your shift." The porcupine left her another beer and shuffled back inside.

Judy smiled around the lip of her beer. "I'm not afraid of foxes," she whispered, knowing that this time, finally, it was the truth.

For those confused about Kozlov: I'm using the original storyboard for him. The one where he's an older, more independent and gregarious polar bear under boss in Tundra Town. The Kozlov from the movie, Mr. Big's personal bodyguard, will have a new name when he eventually shows up.

A few other characters from the original plot may be making appearances as well, but I won't anyone Badger me into putting someone particular into the story. You catch more flies with Honey than vinegar, after all!

Until next time, thanks for reading.