The door unlocked and opened without warning and sitting on the edge of the mattress opposite the door was Judy, having to raise her hand to her face to block the sudden rush of light. As her eyes adjusted, a silhouette that stood in the doorway took features and she could see it was one of Laurence's men from their last encounter. He took one step in the room and tossed a uniform that had obviously been fetched from her apartment at her. He then looked down at Judy who was covering her lower waist with the uniform that had just been thrown at her, shifted his gaze to the rag covered Nick then continued to stare at Judy. Her eyes narrowed, nose turned up and her ears bent forward. "Do you mind?" She stated bluntly as he stood there staring awkwardly for a moment before backing up and stating. "Uh, come out when you're done, and close the door behind you." He was left feeling awkward; obviously unsure if his orders were to bring her out or wait for her to get dressed. He soon didn't care as she raised an eyebrow menacingly at him, and remembering what she had done to Laurence, and then he turned and walked away.

Standing with a false sense of pride as she was now in her uniform, Judy folded her previously worn clothes as her mind worked like an overused machine subconsciously and she placed the tattered shirt remains and jeans at the foot of the mattress. Nick was still asleep, she felt his chest now and he was nowhere near as hot as he had been. She smiled to herself and kissed the sleeping fox on the forehead, before standing over him and having one final thought. 'I could carry you… I could pick you up right now and we could make a run for it.' But that was a dream at this point, she knew with these animals that she needn't take three steps outside the small room with Nick and they would both be stopped, and she wouldn't dare even consider putting Nick through another beating. Knowing what Nick wanted her to choose, and not yet what she was going to choose; the troubled bunny walked out of the room and quietly shut the door behind her, so as not to wake the resting fox.

Turning away from the door Judy could see that it was now mid-morning. The warehouse was no longer lit by ceiling lights or spotlights, but rather natural light coming through a series of wide open garage doors. The sound of wind blowing through trees and the distant movement of vehicles a short distance away reminded Judy that life was still moving on in the jungle district, and by a greater extent; the whole of Zootopia. She looked around the warehouse and saw that a lot had gone on while she was locked away with Nick. A variety of leopards, tigers and bears now walked around the warehouse, mostly in pairs or groups of up to six and all were armed. There was also now a range of combat vehicles scattered strategically through the space. From cars to trucks to a helicopter that was being towed in. Between the unmarked vehicles and class of weaponry she had seen, she then realized what was occurring around her. Judy was at the center of a mercenary army. And with this much equipment brought to this location in such a short amount of time. She couldn't help but feel as though she was going to in fact be the 'key' piece in triggering something huge.

Judy heard a loud whistle, and looking to her far right she saw Laurence gesturing for her to come over. As she approached she saw him leaning over a large table, just a touch over her height so she couldn't actually see what was on it. But between the high tech computers and serious faces surrounding the table that now gazed at her, she could guess that this was a planning station. The moment she arrived; Laurence clicked his fingers and pointed at her, within moments a stool was brought to where she stood and without a word she climbed it. The second she was level with the others around the table she regarded the faces she saw. There was Laurence to her far left, and turning her head to the right from there she saw several animals, some regarding her with curiosity, and others with absolute disinterest. There was a tiger; built averagely and from the looks of things also very well pampered. A bear; large and muscular, probably one of the biggest bears she had ever seen. And to her far right she saw… an animal that she couldn't quite say what he was. It was certainly male… But had a mix of fur and the most perplexing shape of face. It had a long mouth, much like a fox, although it was rather round and a little stubbier in shape, not as stubby as her own though. And its fur, from what she could see, was a reddish orange from the top of his head, but it lightened into a yellow around his neck and she could swear she saw some spots peeking around the collar of his shirt. Forcing herself not to stare she looked down at a series of maps and equations scattered over the table before looking up at Laurence and asking, "What do you need me to do?"

Looking at the others surrounding the table, Laurence spoke up. "We need you to steal something from the Zootopia High Bank. And before you ask… No. We aren't sending you in there to collect money, if you haven't noticed money is the last thing we need right now." And Judy couldn't help but glance over at the posh Tiger who let out a healthy chuckle at Laurence's remark. "Go on." She said as her eyes shifted back to the leopard. "The item you are looking for is in vault 14, in there you will see aisles of shelves, and the shelves are filled with small safes. You need to locate safe number 7822 and open it. Your ZPD officer status will give you immediate access to the safe, so place your hand on 7822's hatch placed scanner and after it has scanned you it will open. You will then take the contents and walk out of the bank, climb into your cruiser and receive an escort by our animals back here to this warehouse." She felt her body tense for a moment as she was still not sure whether she could go through with it or not, but gazed up at Laurence and ignored the others whom all had eyes blazing into her; awaiting a response and she asked. "When do we leave?"

"Immediately." Was the response she got as she turned to look at the animal that had spoken and her fur stood on end; the strange creature that she had never seen before had spoken and it sounded almost as though two voices had been merged into one. It had a deep and monotonous growl as well as a sharp and crackly tinge to it. Suddenly she felt uneasy being so close to this creature and deep down she knew that this creature was far from natural in any way, shape or form. Her head snapped back to Laurence as he concluded "There you have it! We will see you when you get back."

Judy gripped the steering wheel of the cruiser as tightly as she could, her head slouched forward and her ears pricked outwards as she was in a serious state. This whole thing had been blown way out of proportion since she had originally anticipated it to be last night. What she originally thought to be a sadistic criminal from Nick's past had now turned out to be the head of a mercenary military force. They were guns for hire. Except they didn't need money and they weren't looking for work. So what does a large force of bad animals with a gross amount of weaponry do when they don't need buyers? Judy shuddered and let that thought go unfinished. Glancing ahead she saw a black vehicle with two tigers sitting smartly dressed inside. And glancing in her rear-view mirror she saw the same, except with bears. 'Once I am outside the bank they will leave me alone.' She reassured herself as she recited her plan. 'Walk in… Get to the vault… Get inside… And set the alarm off on purpose.' And looking forward as she had just driven into the city center, the brightness of the mid-morning sun causing a reflection of herself vaguely in the front window of her cruiser and she stared herself in the eye for only a moment as she spoke out loud to herself with a look of absolute seriousness upon her grey-furred face, "Then you save Nick before it's too late."

Judy walked through the revolving door at the entrance to the bank and the pleasant chill from the air-conditioned climate was a welcome change from both the stuffy room she and Nick had been placed in, as well as her cruiser that just wouldn't keep cool with her stressing out inside the whole way here. There was a quite hum of light conversation scattered about the large front room. The floor of entirely white marble, velvet ropes separating queues and brown; vintage styled benches for sitting had this bank nailed right down to the very stereotype of what a bank should look like. Judy had been here often enough but had never really noticed the calmness and neutral atmosphere as bankers worked while business folk and the working class went about their daily routines, but then again, she had never walked in here with the intent of robbing it either so that was a thought she was dealing with at the moment. While savoring the calmness that surrounded her, Judy's ears and eyes turned to the clicking of hooves on marble and saw an overly friendly, young doe walk up to her with a big smile upon her face. "Good morning Officer Hopps!" The young doe started almost too enthusiastically. Judy gave her a quick up and down glance; noticing the matching navy blue skirt and blazer, and the badge that sat on the blazer stating 'Sandy S. – Floor Manager'. Judy then returned the smile and responded, "Good morning to you too, I was wondering if you could help me?" The young floor manager giggled nervously and Judy felt a little tense at this, as she now realized that everything had better go down as predicted, or innocent lives could be at risk as well, not only Nick's. "Sure, anything for the hero of our city." The doe then answered while gesturing for Judy to follow her.

"Here we are. Vault 14. I'm needed out front but just give me a shout if you need anything." And with that the helpful doe almost skipped away; back down a long hallway of vaults to the front of the bank. Judy took one step inside the now opened vault and was overwhelmed by the rows upon rows of stacked steel safes. She started walking down the aisles, trying to find the very center of the vault where she could find the emergency alarm button. And find it she did. Walking down the middle aisle she approached a single, white marble pillar that rose right from the ground up, and touched the ceiling which appeared to be squares of glass that emitted light, but she knew that beyond the lights was a thick wall of steel, this was a top security vault after all. The button itself was red and pulsating and sat a little over her height on the pillar. Reaching up and out to press it she took a deep breath and said to herself, "It's what Nick wants." And then it caught her eye. To her left, stacked among the thousands of safes; the number 7822 screamed out at her. Her hand literally brushing against the button over her head as she stared blankly at the safe and whispered to herself "Safe 7822…" And in that moment she saw Nick, the first time they met in the ice-cream store, their first shared smile, touch, hug, tears, their first suggestive tease shared in the cruiser and their first and only kiss. The image of a battered and beaten Nick that smiled at her to reassure her that she was doing the right thing stained her mind and eyes. And Judy slowly lowered her hand from the button. She can't push the button that will kill Nick. She could see it in his face when they bonded the previous night that he was ready to die. He had accepted his fate, but she could not. She had tried fooling herself into hoping that he could be saved, but he could not. Deep down she knew that the second an alarm goes off; Laurence and his crew will be notified and Nick will be killed. And after solidifying the way she and Nick felt for each other last night; Judy was going to create a third option in her dilemma. She was going to play them all, she was going to give them what they wanted, save Nick, and put a stop to this madness before anyone got hurt.

Placing her hand against the scanner on the safe, it opened within moments after relaying her name out loud to her in a robotic voice. Reaching in and pulling out the object of all this fuss; which was a completely black box that resembled the shape of an external hard drive, but had no markings, holes or extrusions on it. It was a solid, black piece of metal. Not thinking on it any further, Judy simply shut the safe, placed the item in question into her back pocket and walked out of the vault. She was now forming her own little plan. And it started with a single question that for the first time since last night had put a sly little smirk on her face; 'What would Nick do?'

EASTER EGGS.

(This has no actual correlation to the actual story. It is a little gift from me to you on this wonderful Easter)

"Hey there!" Judy shouted cheerily as she skipped forward. She was carrying a basket full of colorful Easter eggs and was ironically hopping around in a bunny designed onesie. Waving as she continued, "You! Yes you, Reader. Happy Easter. We..." She let herself trail off as she grunted and stomped off to the right, before suddenly pulling Nick into the picture, he was looking less than pleased in his own bunny themed onesie. Happy with Nick where he was she continued, "We hope you all have a wonderful Easter and eat lots of goodies and just have a wonderful time!"

Nick who was sulking with his arms crossed suddenly caught an idea, winked in your direction before creeping a little closer to Judy. "I must thank you for having me put this fantastic outfit on Judy." The word fantastic sounding extremely sarcastic. "It makes me wonder, why a bunny is the one giving out the eggs? I mean, where do the eggs even come from?" And finishing his question he quickly grabbed her tail causing a startled squeak to emit from her now gritted teeth. Her ears standing totally straight and her fur on edge at the sudden invasion caused Nick to laugh and Judy to blush. That is before she smacked him right across the head with the basket. Causing him to fall right down onto his back with a thud.

Regaining her composure Judy walks forward and hands you an egg, before stepping back and grabbing Nick by the foot. "Have a happy Easter!" She states cheerfully with a basket in one arm and Nick's foot in the other as she drags him off. His devilish smirk and a subtle wave in your direction as Judy drags him off is the last thing you see of them.

HAVE A WONDERFUL EASTER AND SEE YOU IN CHAPTER 5!

Un4gottenSOUL