Author's Notes:

Steffi: We're back with a (slightly shorter) but brand new chapter, and we apologize for the delay! Almost all of this was written by me as well. Why? Read the notes at the bottom...

Nyxy: She's right, though a fair amount of the descriptions and details are my work. Thank Steffi if you like the content style of this chapter more, and thank me if you like the next one, as the theme is mostly my own.

Steffi: So anyway, I hope you enjoy this :) Review replies and our actual AN will be at the end as usual.

DISCLAIMER: What do we own? Oh yeah, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! D'oh!

"Looking good, Jane. Remember what I said, though. Light on the hooves, heavy on the hits. You've got an advantage here, so use it."

Lexi Wynter stood beside the makeshift sparring ring with crossed arms, carefully watching as the deer and ocelot battled it out in a staged paw-to-paw fight. After agreeing on a mutual break, Jane leaned against a wall, looking fatigued but altogether pleased with her abilities.

"I know, Lexi. It's just harder for me when I have to fight a friend."

The arctic fox smiled.

"Of course it is, Doe. Hating someone makes punching 'em out a lot more fun, lemme tell you. Still, sparring has its place in combat for a reason. We've gotta keep those skills sharp if we want BlackIce to stay fatality-free this year."

Nodding sadly at the last part of her friend's statement, the deer left to refill her bright pink water bottle. Lexi saw this as the perfect opportunity to continue her lecture with Otto, who despite his best efforts, had never been particularly great with paw-to-paw.

"Sinpurr, you're improving by leaps and bounds. I'm very proud of how far you've come. Mind the tail, though. There's nothing more painful than a tail grab, and you know iSANiTY's never been above using that one. Otherwise, I have no complaints."

The ocelot appeared slightly dazed, but broke his usually emotionless persona and shared an enthusiastic high-five with his trainer.

"Thanks, Wyn. I'm taking the day off now, so see ya 'round." Turning quickly, the slender feline practically leaped away. His efforts, however, were in vain.

"Nice try, but I don't think so. Next up is ranged though, so you shouldn't be too bad off." The vixen flicked her tail, shoving one paw in the pocket of her baggy camouflage pants as she waited for Diesel to return with the weaponry she'd 'borrowed' for a supposedly 'important' test.

"Until then, might as well throw a few punches myself," Wynter mumbled, leaving the ocelot and taking a swing at the beat-up punching bag she'd recently salvaged from a local gym.

As expected, she did fairly well by her own standards. The technique was good, though she currently lacked passion and instead treated her practice session as somewhat of a chore. It's not that the arctic fox didn't enjoy honing her skills, she just wasn't in the mood to clobber random objects. Unbeknownst to her however, that was about to change.

Hearing a knock at the door, Lexi sighed and shook her head.

"And there's Jai," she muttered darkly, "late as usual. Crazy bat probably forgot we existed for the third time this month."

Walking briskly to her desk, she turned on the sleek intercom system with a tap and awaited her customer's most recent excuse.

"Wynter here. You're almost two hours late again, and don't even think of asking for a refund this time."

No answer. For a second, there was only the crackle of static. Glancing over her shoulder as she waited for a reply, Lexi couldn't help but cringe as Diesel took a flying leap at the punching bag and managed to knock it off its stand, creating an incredibly loud thump that resonated throughout the entire building. She was pretty sure she'd heard quieter explosions.

"Um, is everything alright in there?" An unfamiliar female voice asked, causing the vixen's ears to perk up in confusion. New customers? She really hoped Diesel's little accident hadn't scared them off, because BlackIce seriously needed the money.

"Yeah, someone just got a bit too enthusiastic with the equipment. Who is this?" She asked suspiciously, typing in the password to their camera system with one paw as she craned her neck trying to get a glimpse out the window.

The voice that responded was quite different from the one she'd just heard, and strangely familiar.

"ZPD, open up."

Oh no. If this was what she thought it was, then they were screwed. Big time. Bye-bye BlackIce.

Reeling from panic and shock, the wide-eyed vixen couldn't help but stutter a bit as she waved frantically to alert the others. Otto and Jane, to their benefit, were quick to hide the weaponry and dispose of anything suspicious. Diesel, on the other paw, had developed a personal vendetta against the fallen punching bag and was intent on destroying it as slowly and painfully as possible.

"Wait, what?" Wynter managed to gasp, having since abandoned her attempt at accessing the surveillance cameras.

Slowing down his words as though she were a newborn kit unable to comprehend even simple commands, the mammal replied again.

"I said, ZPD, open up."

There was no way around it. She'd definitely heard that obnoxious, mocking voice before. It had usually been paired with a sly smirk and... nah, couldn't be him. Maybe someone she'd met during one of her low-paying cover sessions at a local bar. Yeah, that had to be it.

Still, not cool. If they got arrested, then iSANiTY had already won. iSANiTY achieving victory meant thousands, if not millions of animals were going to suffer needlessly just because they hadn't been turned into unnatural freaks like herself.

Great.

Standing outside the door, Judy glared at her partner. They'd only been talking to Ms. Wynter for a minute, and already he'd started with the snark. This was going to end badly, and it wasn't for her lack of trying.

"Alright, just gimme a second to get the door. Come to the front desk and- Diesel! Don't bite that! You have no idea where it's been!"

After a few seconds the door opened automatically, obviously being controlled by a high-tech system located somewhere within the building. Judy found this surprising, as the property didn't seem to warrant such luxuries.

Shrugging, she stepped inside, unsure of exactly what she was about to encounter.

The entrance revealed a small, white hallway which was mostly empty. A few pictures were displayed haphazardly on the wall, including one of their witness holding up a large silver trophy in what appeared to be a crowded fighting ring. Wynter was grinning proudly, the camera's flash forever reflected in her vibrant yellow eyes as she posed with her prize.

"Looks like she's pretty good at what she does," Judy commented, passing a few similar pictures of different animals before they eventually reached the main area and aforementioned desk.

"Uh-huh," Nick said, seemingly unimpressed by their witness's achievements.

A heavy metal door leading to the workout area had been propped open to reveal an array of activities within, and the bunny could hear quite a few sounds and phrases, some more colorful than others. As promised, their witness was waiting behind the front desk. The vixen looked somewhat impatient, which Judy found understandable considering she'd been in the middle of teaching a class.

Approaching with a smile, Judy was immediately struck by how unnaturally bright the mammal's fur and eyes were. She almost appeared to have a touch of bioluminescence, though logic told her that such a thing was impossible. Foxes did not glow in the dark, plain and simple. It was probably just an illusion, or even costume contacts. The animal's sharp features and slanted eyes would've likely been considered attractive for her species, yet there was something off about her that Judy couldn't quite put a paw on.

Introducing herself cheerfully, she watched as the vixen's seemingly cool demeanour melted into pure enthusiasm upon realizing the officer's identity.

"Oh wow, you're Judy Hopps," she squealed, eyes widening like a kit who'd just met her idol.

"That's me," Judy answered truthfully with a slight giggle, feeling somewhat bad for having judged the fox on her rather odd appearance. Like Mr. X, she seemed harmless and more than willing to help.

Biting her lip nervously, the arctic fox leaned forward and shook paws with Judy, being careful not to accidentally scratch the smaller animal with her notably sharp claws.

"Hah, sorry about that," the vixen apologized, "I tend to overreact sometimes, especially around animals I look up to, and you're like the kithood idol I never had. I mean, you managed to crack the NightHowler case and save Zootopia all on your own. That's pretty amazing," she babbled happily, though Judy couldn't help but notice the subtle barb and icy glance directed towards her partner.

Taking a deep breath, Wynter adjusted her tight-fitting black crop top and sighed loudly. "Alright, now that I've got that out of the way, you can arrest me," she joked, laying her paws on the desk's cool surface.

"I'm not here to arrest you," the bunny reassured, "me and my partner just want to ask you a few questions about an assault you may have witnessed while in Sahara Square this past Monday."

She nodded thoughtfully, but didn't get a chance to reply.

"So tell me, Frostbite, what an arctic fox like you was doing in the middle of Sahara Square during a heat wave," Nick interrupted, gazing at the vixen with half-lidded eyes and a sly, self-assured smirk.

Almost immediately, Wynter's friendly and welcoming attitude vanished. Ears pinned back in a display of obvious distaste, she glared coldly at the fox who was currently leaning on her desk. If a stare could kill, Judy thought, she'd be calling a 10-55 right about now.

"Nice cosplay, Wilde," she snapped, "almost looks like the real thing. Too bad we both know you'll never succeed at anything more difficult than ripping off naïve kits who don't have enough life experience to know better. Now, I'll answer any questions Officer Hopps may ask me because she's a respectable part of Zootopia's law enforcement team" the vixen said, gesturing to Judy, "but I don't take orders from con artists, and especially not from you."

Judy couldn't help tapping her foot in frustration at how the events were unfolding. As expected, the foxes had gone right for the insults. Predictable, if nothing else. Nick appeared to be quite enjoying their little spat, while Ms. Wynter was growing angrier, and yes, colder, by the second.

"That hurts, Special Snowflake," he said sarcastically, once again pressing a paw over his heart, "I thought you loved me."

Wynter laughed bitterly. "The only thing I love about you is when you shut up."

Nick was now practically draped over the desk, and Judy noticed how instead of pulling away, Wynter only inched closer to her supposed enemy. One of the many advantages of being an emotional bunny was picking up cues others might miss, and there was obviously a lot more than simple hatred between the two ex-lovers.

"That's not what you told me, Snowflake. You used to say over and over how beautiful my sparkling emerald eyes were, and how much you loved resting your head on my shoulder whenever we went out for a nighttime stroll. I could go on, but I think you've got the point." He smiled knowingly and raised one eyebrow, watching in pure amusement as the vixen clenched her fists and practically shook with rage.

"You have no idea how much I want to hurt you right now," she sputtered rather pathetically, tail puffed from sheer annoyance.

"Ah-ah-ah Frostbite, assaulting an officer is a major crime," he said in a sing-song voice, and Judy herself felt a growing desire to slap the fox. What had started off as a promising interview was quickly morphing into a complete disaster. If they weren't currently trying to crack a difficult case, she might have let it slide, but the amnesia incidents were no closer to being solved than they had been yesterday, and that was beyond frustrating for the hardworking bunny.

Still, she found their exchange almost fascinating, in the same vein as a roadside accident. It was horrible and messy, yet she couldn't help staring in morbid curiousity.

"Which is the only reason I haven't put a dent in your pretty face," Wynter replied sharply, having regained a bit of her prior composure and honeyed tone.

"Well, at least she admits I've still got my looks," Nick said, tilting his head and glancing at Judy smugly. The bunny cop was ready to scream out of pure annoyance, because much like the time they'd spent stuck at the DMV, her partner was more interested in causing trouble than gathering information and acted oblivious to her concerns.

"Actually Wilde, I don't find you attractive at all," the vixen said, blushing faintly under her plush coat, "and even if I did, it doesn't matter now. We never would've worked out anyway."

Running a paw through his fur slowly, the fox grinned at their frustrated witness. "Keep telling yourself that, sweetheart."

"Don't need to. Besides, I can never be what you want," she whispered sweetly, brushing a paw along the side of Nick's arm and returning his signature condescending gaze with one of her own.

"Now I wouldn't say that, Special Snowflake," he said with a confident swish of his tail, still calmly propped against Wynter's desk.

At that point, Judy had had enough. If the foxes wanted to insult and flirt with each other for hours on end, they could do it after the interview was over and Nick was off work for the day. She could have used logic and authority to break them apart, but that was just too simple. After all, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em...

Clearing her throat to get their attention, the bunny put on her brightest smile and most blindingly innocent tone.

"I'd love to tell you guys to get a room already, but since we've got an interview to do and someone doesn't finish his shift for a few more hours, I unfortunately can't. You'll have to continue this little rendezvous later, alright?"

The pair's venture in supposed indifference was cut short, almost immediately being replaced by a shared expression of dumbfounded horror and embarrassment. Judy thought the scene was quite hilarious, and almost wished she'd had her phone's camera turned on. Foxes were always so ridiculously clueless when dealing with emotions, it was almost painful to watch.

"Since that's settled," Judy continued happily, "we might as well get back to the interview."

Retrieving her pen and discreetly hitting Record, the bunny jotted down a few messy and simplistic notes on her clipboard.

"You still haven't answered my question, Frostbite," Nick cut in, "not that I mind the distraction."

Rolling her eyes, Judy made a point of interrupting his not-so-secret attempt to drag out their conversation further.

"Ms. Wynter, do you recall witnessing anything suspicious or unusual while you were visiting Sahara Square on Monday?"

The arctic fox shook her head, carefully averting Nick's gaze. "No, but I wasn't there for long. One of the local summer camps had a demonstration on wilderness survival and self defense, and they hired me and some others to teach the kids a few basics. It only ran for an hour, and I took a different route home. I'll give you Penny's number if you want proof, though. She runs the camp, and no, I have no idea why she picked the hottest part of the city to hold such a thing."

Judy nodded, scribbling a few short paragraphs at an impressive speed. So far, the vixen was likely to be innocent. She'd follow up with this Penny character later, but it seemed unreasonable to think Wynter was related to the incidents, though she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something distinctly unnatural about her.

The bunny asked a few more questions, their interview going by without further incident. Judy actually found the arctic mammal to be quite entertaining and despite a detached professional setting, the two hit it off, much to her partner's annoyance.

Pausing her pen's recording and collecting the notes, she was about to leave when she remembered Mr. X's claim and decided after a moment to follow up on it.

"Oh, before we go, are you going to be at the Tropicool this Friday?"

Wynter looked somewhat surprised by the question.

"Not sure how you got that info, but yeah. Haven't been there in forever," she said plainly, returning her attention to Nick with narrowed eyes, "and you've been talking to Stripeton again, haven't you?"

Noticing the tension, Judy was quick to prevent another pointless argument. "We did. He seems like a nice guy, but his design skills need some work."

The vixen laughed, clearly finding her statement to be true. Another save by one very clever bunny.

"You're right there. He's not bad really, pretty trustworthy all things considered," Wynter snickered, but her expression quickly turned dark. "He didn't tell you any of his crazy 'true stories' though, did he?"

Judy wasn't sure, but she figured the arctic fox meant stories about herself, which the eccentric badger had been more than happy to share. She knew Wynter wouldn't be thrilled to hear it, but decided on the truth as she hated lying and believed the vixen deserved to know what had been said about her.

Smiling apologetically, the bunny fidgeted a bit.

"Well, he kind of did tell a few about you and-"

"Your wonderful music skills," Nick said in a slightly nervous tone, cutting off Judy before she could finish describing what had actually happened.

The vixen scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Right. I've played exactly two covers there in the last five years, neither of which were anything special. I know what he said, and I hope you're aware it's not true, and that he loves to exaggerate." Her eyes reflected a hint of shame, and Judy wondered how much of the badger's vivid tale had been true.

As if the situation wasn't awkward enough, Nick chose that moment to burst out laughing, earning matching glares from the rabbit and arctic fox. That, unfortunately, only made him laugh harder.

"You promised that no matter how bad things got, you'd never sink to the level of those washed-up wannabes," he choked out, still finding her plight hilarious, "guess you owe me your firstborn kit, but since you don't have one of those, I'll take a fifty."

Judy shook her head, unamused and somewhat embarrassed by her partner's antics. Wynter, however, seemed to have something else in mind.

"Actually, I do have one," she said sweetly, batting her eyelashes, "and I forgot to say it, but I'm married too."

The bunny immediately noticed how she slipped her left paw inside a pocket, obviously trying to conceal the lack of a ring. With her mischievous expression, she could tell the vixen was lying and had made no real effort to disguise this fact.

Judging by Nick's millisecond-long blank stare though, he'd almost bought it.

"Kidding," she practically yelled, placing a paw on her hip, "but honestly Wilde, not everyone has a fairytale ending with a successful career and amazing best friend. Some mammals have real problems," she said sarcastically, flicking her tail in an unspoken challenge.

"Alright, we better leave before Clawhauser starts freaking out and spilling the doughnuts again," Judy stated helpfully, pushing Nick away from his equally cynical ex-love before he got a chance to say anything else.

Wynter nodded, though her attention was now focused on the not-so-organized chaos of her students, one of whom was repeatedly hitting the floor with what appeared to be a fake sword.

"Guess I'll see you at Tropicool this Friday, Judy," she said in a somewhat forced voice, refusing to make eye contact with the red fox currently looking her up and down from the safety of a hallway corner.

"Sure thing," the bunny cop replied cheerfully, leaving with her fluffy-tailed partner in tow.

Once they had exited the building and were safely out of hearing range, Nick stared at her expectantly, his face unreadable. "Well, what'd you think?"

"About what?" Judy asked, shrugging.

Nick sighed, being a bit more cautious about avoiding pools of melting snow the second time around.

"About Special Snowflake back there," he said, sounding almost bored.

Jumping over a puddle of slush, the rabbit playfully pretended not to know what he was asking about.

"You mean if she's responsible for the amnesia cases? It doesn't seem all that probable to me."

The fox shook his head with a hint of frustration, ears tilted back.

"No, not about that. What do you think of her in general?"

Judy giggled, watching their reflections distort as she knocked a chunk of ice into the half-frozen water under the cruiser.

"From what I've seen, she's pretty cool," the bunny stated simply, waiting for a reaction. This entire thing was so... Interesting.

"And?" Nick urged, effortlessly sliding on his aviators before opening the door.

"Not exactly the psycho ex-girlfriend you made her out to be. I'm sure you can win her back, but you'll have to sincerely apologize first. Flowers and a date at one of those expensive restaurants you love to complain about wouldn't hurt, either," the bunny said nonchalantly, pretending she was studying the car's steering wheel to hide her glee. This was just too fun!

Tugging at his collar awkwardly, the usually smooth fox glared from behind his tinted glasses. "That's not what I'm talking about," he said defensively.

Judy could no longer disguise her amusement. "Take it or leave it, then. If you don't want help deciphering, suit yourself."

"Deciphering what?" Nick asked, sounding a bit confused.

"Girl code," the bunny said with a wink, hitting play as the cruiser's radio came alive with her favorite songs once again.

REPLIES:

The Anonymouse: Oh wow, thank you! That's a huge honor, and we hope this chapter doesn't let you down. You're TOTALLY not annoying us, gosh! We LOVE getting such sweet, encouraging reviews :D It's cool you love our writing so much and think the villains are scary. Romance is more Steffi's thing, but there will be more of it as the story progresses. Again, thank you!

Dirtkid123: It's awesome to see such enthusiasm :D You're so totally right there, and the true reason will be revealed eventually. Until then, thanks :)

Fluffykinz: Thank you very much :D

Nyxy: So there you have it, folks. Not quite what I would've done here, but interesting none the less. Wynter's doing a pretty good job feigning innocence (and half of what she said was actually true), but of course it won't last. Despite liking the vixen, Judy can tell there's something strange going on, and you can bet she'll figure it out sooner rather than later. As for what's going on between Wynter and Nick, well, I'm not completely sure. Oh, and I blame you, Steffi, if this sucks and fails epically...

Steffi: Yep, I know. You had your chance there Nyx, and you blew it. You see, I wrote the really rough first draft of this and gave it to her so she could work with it as always. Instead of actually writing though, she copypasted a whole bunch of OVERUSED MEMES everywhere and somehow deleted the file. Therefore, she let me take creative control in this (delayed) rewrite, which is what you just read. Only fair heh :3

Nyxy: NOOT NOOT

Steffi: Go back to the Memecenter abyss from which you came, spammer!

Nyxy: Nah, I like it here way better. Anyway, all memes aside, we hope you enjoyed this and I promise the next chapter will have less fluffy junk and a lot more friendship and sci-fi as well as some history on iSANiTY and the Feralhights Experiments.

We'll return in the next 3-10 days with more, and as always, favs/follows and kind words are hugely appreciated :D Til next time, ZeroFoxGiven is signing off.