Author's Note

Thanks for the support, especially to those in the review section. Also, I wanted to set something straight, I've read other stories ,yes, and I've noticed that while writing these, it can sometimes be difficult to say certain phrases without using the words foot, person, or hand. For example, hand me the paper, or footsteps, because all the damn paw puns aren't very amusing to me, only a few. Because of this, I will use some of these sayings or words, but I will for sure avoid using person and people. Hope you enjoy this chapter, where the progression of the story arc picks up.

Judy's POV

I yelled at Nick as he clung to the street, but it was no use, he just lied there, as if he was barely conscious. Alex, on the other hand, grabbed Nick around the waist, picking him off the floor.

"What is wrong with him?!" I cried as Alex placed him in the backseat, trying to sit him up right.

"According to what I've seen so far, Nick is suffering from a detrimental lack of oxygen in his blood stream, his heart isn't proficient with the newly founded fundamentals of his body. This, including the substantial damage he's taken, bullet wounds, cuts, and major blood lose, is causing him to collapse into a state of both rest and pain. This may not be the same as an average heart attack, however it can be concluded that Nick is probably experiencing similar symptoms, not to mention..." Alex barked quickly as I got into the driver's seat, and he remained in the back with Nick.

"Alex, shut up, we need to get Nick to the hospital." I cut him off, my mind spinning from whatever the hell he was saying. I saw Alex put his arms up through the rear mirror, as if I was accusing him of something.

"Sorry, it's a bad habit. You know, I worked with some big brains, got to sound smart." He apologized, referring to the scientists who did this to Nick in the first place. "Also, no hospital. We not only will be late to our meeting, but we will also be putting Nick and ourselves in danger due to the possibility of someone dangerous still being at the hospital." Alex cautioned, holding Nick in a sitting position, drool coming out of his hanging jaw.

"Is Nick going to be okay?" I asked, trying my best to not sound overly attached. Alex chuckled, putting his paw under Nick's mouth.

"Of course I will Carrots." He said, moving Nick's jaw up and down. I growled, looking back at the road.

"That's not funny Alex, can you take this seriously?" I said, causing Alex to put his ears down.

"I'm sorry, and Nick will be fine, he should wake up here any minute, or at least I think." He explained, making me relax a little.

"Alex..." I heard a whisper, "Alex, come closer." Nick breathed, as if he was dying and or drunk. Alex leaned close to Nick's head, tilting his ear towards him. Nick slowly opened his mouth, instead of speaking, he leaned in and licked Alex's ear. Jumping back, Alex looked shocked. Nick chuckled softly as Alex let go of his opposing shoulder. He fell over sideways still laughing.

"Here I was thinking you had a thing for Judy." Alex teased, causing Nick to stop laughing.

"In your dreams, and Judy's..." Nick slurred. I blushed at that comment, but only a little. Alex tried to hold back his laughter since I got mad at him for turning Nick into a talking puppet a moment ago. "Maybe my dreams too, but in my dreams, Alex is there too, he's the camera man." Nick coughed, snorting afterwards. I slammed my head on the steering wheel, and then tried to snap Nick to reality.

"Nick, I swear, if you do not sit up and stop drooling in ten seconds, you aren't getting anything tonight, from me or Alex." I said sternly. Alex even looked a bit embarrassed at that. I looked in the rear mirror as Nick had trouble sitting up, but managed after a couple attempts. He then wiped the drool off his jaw and tried to look presentable.

"Oh this is disgusting," Nick said, sounding more like himself, except more irritated. "Where are we going where again?" He asked.

"We are going to our meeting at the ZPD to discuss your situation and the people behind it." Alex explained. Nick shook his head, sighing.

"Great, I look like crap." Nick said, looking down at himself. I smiled, he was right about that, but either way, still good looking. I mentally slapped myself for thinking that.

"Don't worry Nick, the ZPD already has the lowest of standards for you." Alex laughed, making Nick roll his eyes with a groan.

"Also, did I just have a heart attack?" Nick investigated, he was very serious compared to just a minute ago.

"Not exactly, but perhaps the experience you had could be comparable." Alex told him. I saw the ZPD in the distance. Here we go Judy, just the second biggest case you've had, which revolves around the attempted murder of your best friend, and them trying to use you as a 'super soldier', no big deal.

Pulling into the familiar parking lot, one I haven't seen in what seems like forever, we all three jumped out of the car. There was almost no cars here, only six including ours, since everyone else was due about an hour from now. We all treaded towards the bright, colorful building, and with the sun on the rise, it appeared even more amazing. Alex took the lead, pushing open the giant front doors.

"Judy?! Nick?! Welcome back!" Ben Clawhauser shouted with glee as we entered. "Didn't expect Nick back so soon!" Ben said, as he ate a doughnut. "Also Nick, remember, shower everyday." He warned. Nick groaned, but then calmed down with a smile.

"I did, but I had a little incident on the way here, we have an important meeting with Chief Bogo, so we can't stay and chat." He finished, before he started walking away.

"Don't mind him, he's hasn't been himself lately." I half lied. He was still the funny, charming fox I remember, but obviously alongside some recently founded problems.

"Yeah, let's just say Nick is quiet the victim." Alex scratched behind his head, looking away. He didn't want to explain it, and the same goes with me.

"Nice seeing you guys, better not be late to your meeting though." Ben said, motioning with his paws for us to get moving. I waved as we walked away, Alex gave a salute with two claws. We jogged to catch up with Nick, who was only moments away from entering the conference room. Nick pushed the doors open with both paws, standing as straight as he could. Alex and I followed shortly behind. A dozen eyes set on us, a pair in particular was Chief Bogo's.

"Good morning. Bogo, at least give me a welcome back smile." Nick charmed, acting like his normal self. Bogo grunted, exhaling through his nose.

"Nick, need I remind you how serious this is?" Bogo shot back, making Nick roll his eyes.

"I don't recall being serious being the same as looking like you're at your grandmother's funeral, besides, I'm the victim here, so lighten up." Bogo shot me an angry glare, but then he half smiled.

"Okay Nick, but the more serious you treat this the more serious I will." He concluded, Nick nodded his head slightly in return.

"Okay, so for starters, where did this all begin?" Asked an officer, a very tired tiger. I'm pretty sure he didn't volunteer to come in early. Alex jumped in with the details.

"It began awhile ago, actually. You see, the plan was to have Nick killed, but he survived the mall incident. The new plan was to give him an extremely modified poison like substance, which would most likely kill him. Judy here, would then be given a powerful alteration to her body, turning her into a super soldier. Since I knew about this, I switched the two poisons, giving Nick the ability to survive any gunshots he would receive on the way out." Alex explained as two officers armed with notepads tried to jot down everything he said. Bogo probably had the most amusing expression.

"Why would they want Judy to be a super soldier? She is on Nick's side! Also, how the hell did you know about this?" Bogo yelled, his officers flinching.

"Well you see, Judy doesn't give up, which is a key aspect in our genetic alterations." Alex began.

"Oh so it's your's now?" Bogo interrupted with a deep, raspy voice. Alex grew nervous, but he continued with my plan.

"Bogo, hear me out on this. I did, yes, play a role in the planning and design of this process, but I used that as an advantage to save Nick's life. Anyways, if Nick were to stop putting the effort and courage into survival, he would have collapsed, dead on the ground, Judy is small, persistent, and intelligent, making her the perfect fit for the role." Alex cleared up, he looked as if he had a gun to his head.

"Why would Nick need to die then in the first place? It makes no sense." Bogo dismissed. Was he accusing Alex of lying? I couldn't be sure.

"The only reason Judy doesn't like really dangerous cases is because she is afraid. Afraid that she will lose Nick, or Nick will lose her. Without Nick, he can't lose her and she can't lose him, because she already has." Alex sighed, "If you think I deserve a punishment, go ahead." He finished, putting his head down.

"Alex has done nothing but help Judy and I for the last week, and I don't plan on letting anyone change that." Nick said, looking Bogo in the eyes. It reminded me of the time when Nick talked down Bogo from forcing me to resign on the bridge.

"I didn't plan on it, Alex, I hope you're right about all of this. If you aren't, things could get ugly." Bogo warned, leaning forward in his chair.

"Alright, to find these bastards, we need to use the traffic cams, just so happens someone involved used a payphone to call me at five in the morning, I'm sure if we look deep enough we can find him." Nick half requested, half demanded.

"I guess that's all for now? Shorter than expected, but you are going to be busy, so go find those 'bastards'." Bogo instructed, standing up from the table. "Evans, Peterson, you two will be joining them, but not until they find what they need." He finished. Evans was the sleep deprived tiger, and Peterson was an elephant, so much for a stealth mission.

"Yes sir." They both said in unison. I took the lead, Nick and Alex following me out of the conference room. Since we had Bogo on our side, we could get direct access to the traffic cams here at the ZPD. We arrived at our desks, Nick's being right next to mine. Alex stood behind us as we sat down, considering his desk wasn't close by.

"You should have access to the cameras now." Said Evans as he passed us, probably heading to a desk of his own. I turned on my computer, Nick did the same.

"How will we know where to look?" Asked Alex as I opened up the video files necessary.

"Well, this jaguar is probably lying low, so we will search the outskirts of the Rain-forest District, and a few other regions just in case. Carrots, I'll start with the Rain-forest district, you start with Tundra Town." Nick directed.

We silently began searching through the traffic cams, Alex waited behind and watched, probably pondering what will happen when we find the mysterious jaguar. I began with Tundra Town, searching around the areas that most would consider 'quiet'. I found a pay phone, and turned back the clock to a quarter until five, the time of the call, to my disappointment, nothing showed up. I continued searching through the whole city, every street, starting at the outside. We would find him, no matter how long it took. I saw little to no one out and about, which sped up the process. A car every now and then, and garbage trucks, but no one at the pay phones. As I investigated further, already twenty minutes passed.

"What if the suspect lied to us?" Alex questioned. Nick looked up in confusion.

"Are you suggesting that he wasn't using a payphone?" He shot back, causing Alex to shrug his shoulders.

"Well, I mean, you used the traffic cams to solve another big case, and to say the least, these mammals aren't new to this kind of thing. They're smarter than you and Judy, no offense." Alex explained, Nick just chuckled, but I ignored it, focusing on our job. I did however, listen in.

"These are the same guys who shot me a dozen times, and still failed their mission of killing me. Not to mention, they failed to stop me from contacting Judy and discussing the whole thing with her." Nick laughed. Alex sighed, but didn't seem to want to back down.

"You survived those shots because of what they created, and they couldn't stop you, since the cops showed up." Alex objected, with a smug grin on his face. Nick held up a claw and opened his mouth to counter, but I jumped in.

"Alex, stop arguing, and Nick, focus on the mission, please." I said impatiently. Nick was quick to continue reviewing, and Alex just stood silent again. Nick let out a quiet and devious chuckle.

"Carrots, might want to take a look at this." Nick said slowly. I scooted my car over to his desk, starring at his screen with anticipation. The time and date listed on the top of the screen matched up as a car parked right next to a pay phone in the Rain-forest District. The door opened slowly, and a spotted mammal climbed out, only wearing jeans and a black tank top. Grabbing the phone, the jaguar put in two coins and starting typing away. The numbers he entered couldn't be made out, since it wasn't the highest of quality.

"That's him, has to be." Alex declared. Nick turned around slowly and gave him a serious look, squinting his eyes.

"Do you think so?" Nick said with a deep, sarcastic voice. Alex laughed, I leaned over Nick, adjusting the time of the surveillance up until the caller hung up and jumped back into the car.

"Can't wait, can you Judy?" Nick teased. I just ignored him, and followed the car across the Rain-forest District. For the next ten minutes, Nick and Alex made stupid jokes and teased me and themselves, and I wrote down the address of his stop in an alley, then his final destination, where he entered a house, presumably his own. I had to squint and bend forward to read the addresses, but I could just barely read them.

"Nick, you could take a bullet to the head, and still have the same amount of brain damage." Alex said, poking Nick in the head. He smacked his paw away, laughing.

"Maybe if some psycho didn't turn me into a freak." Nick countered, both of them hitting each other in the shoulder.

"While you two were busy being morons, I got everything we need." I stop, both of them dropping dead silent. "What are you waiting for? Let's go!" I yelled, and they jumped out of their chairs without hesitation. We marched around the precinct, gathering Peterson and Evans.

"Remember, me and Peterson are mostly just backup, you three, especially you two are smaller than us." Evans said, motioning to me and Nick.

"We don't have to be all professional, come on, first names, give em up." Nick said, snapping lightly. Evans rolled his eyes, but Peterson had no reaction.

"I am Daniel and this is Trace." Evans sighed, pointing to both himself and Peterson. We didn't already know their first names as we never worked with them on something, and I've only seen them a few times.

"Got an address for us?" Trace asked. I wrote down the same two addresses on another ripped piece of paper and handed it to him. He nodded, "Call us if you catch any trouble, we will be waiting nearby..." he trailed off, "Which address exactly?" I put a paw under my chin, wondering which to start with. The first was an alley, where the jaguar entered a awfully suspicious looking building, the second was a rather nice house closer to the center of the district.

"I say we go for the house first, if we can get the jaguar, we can use his help with the other place, which looks far more suspicious and hidden." I said, everyone seeming to be in agreement with me. Alex, Nick and I parted with Daniel and trace. We headed for our squad car, which was brought back by Alex after the mall setup. The three of us drove off, leaving the ZPD behind. We passed through the now awakening city, the density of cars and people had grown since we last saw it only over an hour ago.

Nick's POV

Judy effortlessly drove us through traffic, and we crossed into the Rain-forest District. I readied myself for what awaited, Mr. Jaguar. She held the address in her right paw, steering with her left. Alex, sitting in the back once again, was just on his phone, probably texting. Judy halted the car abruptly, causing Alex and I to fall forward, lucky for me I put on my seat-belt this time, but as for Alex, not so lucky. Judy and I laughed as Alex barely stopped himself from falling between the two front seats.

"Well, this is it, well not it, but close." Carrots said, I looked at the surrounding environment. We were on a more grounded part of the city, where multiple houses were in close proximity, but the quiet, calm feeling of the rain-forest remained. As we exited, Alex sighed heavily.

"Jude, I didn't want to bring this up, but if you, Nick, or I are in danger, we may have to take an unsettling path." He started, easily grabbing both of our attention, "I brought a gun, alongside my tranquilizer, in case we can't handle things." Alex said, pulling back his ears. Judy nodded, and I did too.

"Follow me." Judy directed, and we stalked down the street behind her. Judy put an arm out to block us from moving any further, "There it is, that's the house." She said quietly, motioning to a standing out home, obviously Mr. Jaguar was paid pretty well.

"I say, since Nick is seemingly the luckiest mammal in the world, he takes back door alone, we take front." Alex planned out, Judy furrowed her eyebrows.

"Can't we all just stick together?" She asked. I chuckled, she wanted to stay with me.

"We could, but having Nick on the other side would prevent a cover shootout, or at least help." Alex told her, Judy seemed to understand, but on the inside she didn't want to leave my side. She agreed and we separated. I lurked around the side of the house, and approached the backdoor. All the windows were covered, so I couldn't peer inside. I heard a voice coming from inside, it was Mr. Jaguar.

"How could they have possibly tracked me? I was using a pay phone!" He said. Yeah, smarter than us, sure. "Traffic Cams? You're serious right? There is no way that they went through the entirety of Zootopia to find me." I held back laughter, as he was describing exactly what we did, except a bit exaggerated. I heard a crack, not very loud, but I'm pretty sure Alex and Judy were inside. "Shit, someone is here." He whispered from inside, I was concerned as to how I was able to hear him so clearly. I then heard the click of a gun. He was armed.

I wondered, what could I do? I could try to break the door down, but that would end with me probably getting shot, plus there is no way I could get in with one kick, considering the door was almost twice my height. Couldn't just wait here any longer, I had to get inside somehow. I then reached for the door handle, it was open.

I peeked inside very slowly, and saw the jaguar nowhere present. I crept through the elegant kitchen, marble counter tops, expensive fridge, it was quite the sight, but I had to focus. One thing is particular caught my eye, pictures. There were pictures of kids on the wall, no older than five. I whipped out my phone and texted Alex that this was a terrible idea, my breathing became shaky, I begged for them to not be home. Then a ringing came to my ears, but clearer this time, they were gunshots.

Judy's POV

Alex kicked the front door open with a loud crack, and both of us quickly, but quietly lunged inside. As we moved through the beautiful home. We moved through what seemed like just a room to relax, there was a piano, a leather couch, and paintings distributed across the walls. Something tells me that jaguar doesn't live here, or he is making a fortune. We came across an arch that lead to an enormous living room, Alex took the right side of the arch, pressing his back against the faded green walls, while I took the left. I heard talking, someone on the phone, it was something about being tracked. Did he know we were here?

I heard footsteps approaching the arch. I peeked out so slightly, the majority of my vision was blocked my the arch still. I saw the jaguar, walking into his living room, revolver in hand. He stood in front of a large, dark wood coffee table, right next to a large leather couch. I think we could surprise him, since he didn't seem to know where we were. He definitely was expecting something though, since he looked around the room every couple seconds. Then I heard an obnoxious bing, an unnamed wolf's phone. My eyes widened as I looked at Alex scramble to turn his phone off. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the jaguar raise his gun in a split second and fire three rounds through the wall, right where Alex was.

Alex's body fell forward, landing him partially sticking out from behind the arch, his gun slid right in front of me. I was in this situation before, last time I almost gave up. I quickly swiped the gun from the jaguar's view, he took quick notice, and shot through the arch where I was located, I expected this, so jumped back further, three bullet missing. I heard him walking closer, each footstep sending a shake through my body.

Nick's POV

I stalked around the house, searching for the jaguar who disappeared. I heard gunshots, three to be exact, my ears stung from the noise, even though they weren't nearby. I broke into a sprint look around the house. I eventually came across the living room, quick to stop myself from entering, since my dear friend Mr. Jaguar was holding a gun, and did not look happy. I peeked out again, and noted he wasn't looking in my general direction. I carefully maneuvered until I could see the whole room, I was less than six feet from his back, only angled about forty degrees. I saw a bunny paw grab the gun from the arch in front of him, then I covered my ears as he fired three more bullets. I quickly reached for my tranquilizer, but stopped myself. There was a balcony above the arch. Two little cubs sat quietly, watching from the darkness, their eyes reflecting the little light available. I tried to process my options, then I heard a yell. Judy dove from her position behind the arch, tranquilizer in hand. I could have done it myself, she was going to get herself killed. I realized something important. Judy wasn't holding a tranquilizer, she had a gun, Alex's gun. The jaguar clicked his gun once, twice, but nothing happened.

Time seemed to freeze as I freely thought, why couldn't she just have stuck with the tranquilizer? I saw Alex's body now, just barely sticking out from the arch from my perspective. I knew why she was using a gun. She wanted him dead.

"NOOO!" I screamed, tackling the jaguar as Judy blasted the firearm. The jaguar's face was one of extreme surprise as he looked up at me, knelt above him. That face quickly turned to anger, and he pushed me off. He had dropped his gun on the fall, but it was empty anyways. "JUDY DROP THE GUN!" I yelled as the jaguar stood up, my body still on the floor. He just stared, confused about my words, he raised an eyebrow. I secretly motioned with my paw on my side, making it only visible to the jaguar, to look upwards. He looked up at the ceiling, but quickly noticed the two little cubs on the balcony. Judy fired the gun, the ringing took over my ears once again, as the jaguar fell to the ground. I heard one of the cubs scream, the other started weeping. I let my head fall back to the floor, just staring at the ceiling, all the sounds drained out by my brain. I saw the jaguar standing over me, except he was wearing his combat uniform. He gave a devious smile and said "You know, you aren't invincible my friend."

Author's Note

Once again, longest chapter (Tears of Joy). I kind of want to guide a bit more as to how Judy took ten years to shoot the jaguar. Judy wasn't slow, Nick was processing everything almost instantly. I actually feel bad for the jaguar, who will yes have a name by next chapter. Also, Peterson and Evans weren't in the fight scene because there was a problem (No spoilers). What do you guys think? Leave a review, and of course, wait in anticipation for the next chapter.