-Zootopia Police Department Headquarters, 9:20 AM-

Nick and Judy Wilde-Hopps looked at each other on their way to Chief Bogo's office. It always felt to Judy like a trip to the principal's office. Nick often found himself wondering if he was going to be yelled at for something his bunny bride had done. As they entered, Chief Bogo was sitting at his desk, and in front of it was a rather unusual member of the ZPD.

"Here they are, Officer Sonaire," Chief Bogo muttered. "Nicholas and Judy Wilde-Hopps."

She was a fruit bat, about halfway in between Nick and Judy's height. She wore dark sunglasses, and her solid expression on her dark gray muzzle betrayed nothing about her personality. Her ear tips were small, black triangles. The top button of her uniform had to be undone, as she had a large collar of striking copper fur that made her look quite fetching, in a way. But, of course, her most striking features were her wings, leathery brown membranes that traveled all the way from her shoulders, to the tips of the outsides of her hands, then running down from there, past her sides, all the way down to her feet. Judy blinked. She must have a lot of trouble getting into her uniform in the morning, Judy thought.

"Officer Viridia Sonaire," the fruit bat introduced in a firm, even voice, "from the Nocturnal District Police Department."

"The Nocturnal District..." Judy couldn't help repeating.

"What do we owe this visit to?" Nick said in a medium, rather jovial tone.

"I don't think you're going to be so happy when you hear what she's about to say," Chief Bogo grunted.

"Officers Wilde-Hopps," Sonaire regarded at them briefly by peeking down her glasses, revealing green eyes. "I've been assigned by my police Chief Director to recruit your help in looking into a case in the Nocturnal District. It's a case involving midnicampum holicithias."

"Night Howlers!" Nick and Judy blurted in disbelief.

"Indeed," Sonaire said tersely.

"But now Night Howlers are flat-out illegal to sell, ever since Bellwether's attacks!" Judy had her arms open.

"Doesn't stop criminals, Wilde-Hopps," Sonaire frowned. "Somehow they're getting into the Nocturnal District and we need to know how, so we can shut down their operation."

"There's Night Howler antidote available to doctors all across Zootopia," Nick noted, "so there can't really be any real lasting 'outbreaks'."

"True, but they are still being used to carry out crimes," Sonaire turned her head towards Nick. "For your experience with Night Howler symptoms, I've been asked to partner up with you in the Nocturnal District."

"Okay, when do we leave?" Judy nodded seriously.

"Not you, just him," Sonaire was still looking at Nick. Nick flinched, but then he started to consider why she might have said that.

"Excuse me?" Judy seemed instantly offended. "Nick and I are partners! We do everything together!"

"Wilde-Hopps..." Bogo warned.

"Have you ever been to the Nocturnal District, Wilde-Hopps?" Sonaire turned her head to look at Judy.

"N-no, why?" Judy's teeth were grit.

"You'd need a flashlight with you at all times, so that's one arm you wouldn't be able to utilize fully, and it would give away your position constantly," Sonaire shook her head slightly. "It's extremely dark, and you'd be bumping into everything. No offense, but you would just slow me down. As it is, I don't like working with anyone."

"No offense taken...!" Judy lied, her foot tapping rapidly. She threw a displeased look at Nick. He looked pretty grim and unhappy about this as well.

"Listen, Wilde-Hopps," Bogo grumbled, "I don't like this either. Splitting up two of my best people is something I don't take lightly. But this is midnicampum holicithias. We cannot allow it to be weaponized. And like it or not, only Nick Wilde-Hopps has the experience with the plant and the innate abilities necessary to function effectively down there."

"We do need your help as well, Judy Wilde-Hopps," Sonaire took off her glasses, cleaning them. "According to the case file, you came into contact with a distributor of the Night Howlers."

"Weaselton," Judy nodded. "I'll try and see if I can find him and shake him down; see if he knows anything."

"Don't shake too hard," Nick quipped flatly.

"Nicholas Wilde-Hopps," Sonaire addressed him, putting her glasses back on and putting her hands behind her back. "Meet me at the Zootopia Central Train Station at oh-eight hundred hours tomorrow."

"Yes ma'am," Nick managed to say seriously.

"Sonaire will do. I'm not your superior, Wilde-Hopps," Sonaire said, walking by him a with the smallest smirk, nodding her head to Judy. "Is she?"

Nick opened his mouth, about to immediately answer in the affirmative, but figured he'd better not.

-Nick and Judy's Aardvark Rise Apartment 8:30 PM-

"You don't like this," Nick noticed Judy worriedly watching him pack a few things into a suitcase.

"Of course I don't," Judy replied. "You're going off for an undisclosed amount of time to work with strangers against a very dangerous substance wielded by unknown criminals. Gee! What's to be worried about? The love of my life diving off into the unknown without me!"

"I see what's bothering you," Nick teased. "It's that bat, isn't it? Worried I'm working with her?"

"Uh, yeah?" Judy agreed, holding out her hand and placing one of her fingers of the other hand on it. "First of all, she seems really stuck up. Secondly, she admitted she doesn't work well with others, and thirdly-!"

"You worry I think she's pretty?" Nick chuckled.

"What? No!" Judy was baffled. "...Do you?"

"Oh yeah, she's really pretty. That fur collar...!" Nick kept at it, sucking in a faux impressed breath.

"Wow, buster, you're pretty brazen," Judy smirked, folding her arms. "I know you'd never stray from me."

"I'm just trying to calm you down, sweetheart," Nick kissed her forehead. "Everything you said is true. It's going to be dangerous, I'm going to be stuck in a hotel away from you, and working with some stuck-up bat I don't know if I can trust. Am I worried? Yes, yes I am. However, I will MuzzleTime you every night, even with no leads."

"That makes me feel a bit better, I guess," Judy said, and then saw Nick start to disassemble his stun gun. "Oh, Nick, maybe you should take the sonic module on mine, just in case." Judy fled off and got her own customized stun gun, unsnapping one of its pieces.

"Pack me some earplugs too; I can't stand the noise that thing makes," Nick cringed at the very sight of it. "Why do you want me to take it?"

"A lot of the mammals down there barely rely on their sight," Judy said, "so your flash module isn't going to do much but blind you. But their hearing and smell is good. Bats even use that sonar thingy to see in pitch black. I bet this would disrupt them." Nick nodded, packing this into his things.

"Thanks, bunny babe," Nick winked. "Meanwhile, I guess you look for Duke Weaselton? Last I checked he was still operating his bootleg DVD business in downtown Savanna Central's back streets."

"Yep, I'll find him, somehow," Judy said, punching her fist into her hand. "Then, I'll pop him."

"Uh, hopefully that's not fatal?" Nick held up a finger.

"Not unless he's really asking for it," Judy joked. "Oh hey, I think I should give you one last thing before you leave."

"What's that-?" Nick started, then exhaled sharply as he was interrupted by Judy tackling him to the bed and giving him a smile with her eyes half-lid, wiggling her eyebrows. "Oh."

-Zootopia Central Train Station, 8:00 AM-

Standing near the entrance to the train platform, he looked out at the crowd of animals leaving and arriving, looking for the bat officer. Abruptly, he noticed a brown-gray shape in his peripheral vision from slightly above. Gliding down toward the platform was Officer Viridia Sonaire, and with a final leathery flap of her wings she touched down lightly next to Nick.

"Officer Wilde-Hopps," Sonaire acknowledged him.

"Good morning, Officer Sonaire," Nick chuckled. "I'm not going to say I don't envy that you can do that."

"It's still a bit of a thrill, even doing it all your life," Sonaire admitted evenly, walking towards the train with Nick.

"How the air here in Savanna Central?" Nick asked, getting onto the train and holding onto a handrail meant for medium-sized animals.

"Bit sticky and warm," Sonaire said, somewhat reluctantly standing near him at the same handrail as she was also technically medium. "The atmosphere in the Nocturnal District is actually really nice. The inter-connected series of caves, leading up to The Big One, the largest, form a natural air-conditioning, sort of. It's always cool and pleasant."

"Been a long time since I was down there," Nick admitted.

"Hasn't changed much," Sonaire started, then turned to him. "Listen, Wilde-Hopps, I don't want either of us to drag each other down. I'll say it again: I don't make for a very good partner. Don't expect me to have your back."

"Boy, what a positive attitude!" Nick said sarcastically with a chiding smile. "As in, you're positive you can't be a better person!"

"Don't patronize me, Wilde-Hopps," Sonaire glared. "I've been doing this as long as you have. I know my strengths and weaknesses."

"Okay, then let's skip the pleasantries and get right to it," Nick said. "What do you know about whats going on with the-" He looked around at the other passengers. "Uh, the 'flowers'."

"The 'flowers'", Sonaire began. "Are being used as a diversionary tactic, we finally discovered. Someone gets hit, goes uh... 'bonkers', then a couple of criminals come in to rob them during the confusion. We think its a star-nosed mole and a slit-faced bat. Problem is, some copycat criminals are muddying the modus operandi."

"Meaning what?" Nick said as they started to head underground. The lights on the inside of the train turned on, but still very low, given the train's destination.

"Some people are pulling off similar robberies, but without the actual... 'product'," Sonaire went on. "Someone pretends to go 'nuts', and then other people rob the establishment in the chaos. We don't really know which of the attacks are genuine or not. We were hoping you could help. We've been gathering up and compiling footage of the attacks. We hope all the genuine ones are the same criminals, or else we might have quite a problem."

"I might be able to help there," Nick nodded.

Sonaire nodded in return. "After you settle in at your hotel, head down to the station here at the Nocturnal District. It's close by, and you can get a full briefing from Chief Director."

"Chief Director what?" Nick asked further.

"That's her name," Sonaire gave a tiny exhale of slight amusement. "Chief Betty Director. One of the only sand cats down here. Impossible to miss, because she wears an eye patch." Sonaire looked at Nick's hip. "You're open-carrying?"

"In an unfamiliar environment with a threat like this looming? Absolutely."

"Good idea," Sonaire decided.

The train got off at The Big One, slowly coming to a halt. Nick looked around outside of the window to refresh his memory on the city. It wasn't as big as Savanna Central, but still rather intimidating, a sprawling, somewhat uneven cave that lead off to various others in a network. The buildings there were, for the most part, cylindrical or cone shaped and rather tall, painted various pastel colors, giving the impression that the city was made from softly-colored stalagmites. Various neon signs and advertisements were available, but every single light in the city was very soft, so the visual noise from the area still looked like a dim glow. Nick hadn't packed his sunglasses.

"Welp, felt like I just got up and already it's night again!" Nick rubbed his hands together, then he picked up his luggage.

"Mm," Sonaire barely acknowledged, heading off with him onto the platform.

"Awh, my bunny would at least have given me an eye-roll, if not a chuckle," Nick smirked.

"See you soon, Wilde-Hopps," Sonaire remarked plainly, flapping her wings and flying away.

"Not fair at all," Nick smirked, feeling another pang of jealousy.

-Nocturnal District Police Office 2:00 PM-

Nick stepped out of Chief Director's office after receiving his briefing. He had to duck to do so. The cramped, dimly lit police office of the Nocturnal District was a far cry from the one he was used to. The faint, almost yellowed lightning, earthy textures and walls, and small, close-together cubicles made the place seem quite moody. Nick was huge compared to most underground dwellers; even Sonaire was rather big for one of the underground denizens.

"Chief Director," Nick muttered to himself. "That's just needlessly confusing." Nick wandered over to where he had seen Sonaire's cubicle, but slowed his pace when he saw a female, green eyed vole standing on Sonaire's desk, yelling at her.

"So you really think you're gonna crack this case working with someone, huh?" She accused angrily. "Someone from the surface, even? You don't know ANYTHING about working with ANYONE! Nothing! Zilch!"

"Officer Possible," Solaire tried to remain neutral, "did you get that footage I need for the fox to look at from the Technical Officer?"

"Get it yourself!" The vole flared angrily, storming off the desk. She gave an irritated look to the much larger fox as she went by.

"Friendly little vole!" Nick smiled, heading over.

"She's Officer Kimberly Possible, the biggest hotshot on this team," Solaire said. "She has it out for me."

"Well that much was easy to discern," Nick said.

Sonaire looked like she was going to get up, then spun her chair to face Nick. "I don't suppose you would mind getting that footage from the Technical Officer? His name is Rufus Stoppable."

"What's with all of these names?" Nick chuckled to himself. "I feel like someone's pulling a prank on me."

Sonaire rolled her eyes and returned her chair to its original position. Nick headed over and looked for the Technical Officer. He was a grumpy looking mole rat, chattering his big front teeth together occasionally as he worked.

"Hey there, Officer Stoppable," Nick called to him. "I'm Officer Wilde-Hopps."

"Yeah?" Stoppable didn't turn to look. "What do you want?"

"The footage for the Night Howler case?" Nick asked with a forced pleasant tone. Stoppable turned to look at him.

"Jeez, you're huge," the mole rat said. "You're really gonna work this case with that bat?"

"It's not like I have much of a choice," Nick was trying very hard to stay patient.

"Well, hope you don't end up maimed or dead or something," Stoppable said brusquely, pulling a thumb drive out of his computer. "Here."

"Thank you...!" Nick sang dryly, rolling his eyes and waggling the thumb drive as he headed over to Sonaire and gave it to her. "Boy, love the atmosphere in this place. Everyone has such faith in you!"

"Rhh," Sonaire twisted her mouth and scrunched her muzzle a little, then sighed, placing the thumb drive in. "They... have good reason to be upset with me. I don't want to discuss it right now."

"How about later, off the clock maybe?" Nick folded his arms.

"If I told you yes, and you knew it was probably untrue, would you let me be?" Sonaire shot him a barely disguised glance of frustration.

"Let's get to work, then," Nick agreed. Sonaire pulled up the footage. There were several robberies, scenes of security footage captured from many different angles. Nick peered at them all. "Okay, and you want me to tell you which of these are genuine."

"Can you?" Sonaire wondered. "All of this footage is from immediately after they began expressing symptoms."

"Okay," Nick pointed quickly, "that one is fake. He just dropped right to all fours immediately. It takes a little longer than that. Oh, that one is fake too. She's just wandering around with her claws out on two feet. You can't stay on two feet. Ah, that one... hm, he's pretty good, if he's acting. Can you zoom in on his eyes?"

Sonaire nodded, doing so. "That's a mole, their eyes are so beady." Nick leaned in close.

"Nope, fake," Nick nodded. "Victim's eyes glow at certain angles. His head turned, no glow."

"This is very helpful," Sonaire said, removing some of the videos. "How about the rest?"

"All of these look genuine, looks like four so far?" Nick rubbed his chin.

"Okay, great, they're all the ones with the star-nosed mole and the slit-faced bat on the footage. We've been able to identify them as Cosmo Molovich and Brian Batling," Sonaire looked at their records. "Both have been arrested for petty robberies before. Molovich was involved with bigger robberies. Batling had drug possession charges."

"Looks like they've combined their forces and found a new, dangerous toy," Nick grumbled. "But where are they getting it from?"

"I've been trying to find that out myself," Sonaire admitted. "Maybe your bunny can find out."

-Downtown Savanna Central, Backstreets, 3:00 PM-

Said bunny was trying her hardest, looking down the streets up and down for Duke Weaselton. Finally, Judy caught sight of his makeshift bootleg stand. She grinned, staying low in her police cruiser so he wouldn't see her. Duke flinched when the police cruiser drove by, but he passed it off. Judy parked a block away and called Clawhauser to position a car at every possible way out, in case Duke ran.

"Aw, Weaselton, my very first arrest... brings back so many memories..." Judy's eyes narrowed and a very wide grin played out on her face as she rubbed her paws together. "This should be fun!" Once the cars were in position, she leaped out of her cruiser and headed over to Duke, sneaking up on his side.

"Heya, 'Wezzleton'," Judy suddenly greeted when she was close enough.

"GUAH!" Duke flailed for a minute before catching his composure, slinking to his left and seeing Judy. "Oh NO! It's Flopsy the Copsy...!" His whiny voice was full of dread.

"That's right!" Judy grinned devilishly, looking down at his table. "You're into bootleg video games now, Dukey? Super Meowrio Sunshine? Oh, Petris, that's a classic. Paw of Duty... they come out with one of those every year!" She picked one up. "Oh is this the latest installment of Super Bash Bunnies? I used to play the first one all the time with my siblings! How much?"

"Leave me alone, Cottontail!" Duke whined nervously in his slightly high-pitched voice. "Don't you have bigger fish to fry?"

"Not at the moment!" Judy chirped smugly, then her face hardened. "And don't think about running, either. One, you know I can catch you, and two, if you do run, I have a bit of a surprise waiting for you." She tersely chirped into her radio. "Boys...?" One brief bleat of a police siren came from all directions.

"J-jeez, Hopps, you aren't fooling around, are you?" Duke cringed. "What do you want...!? You wanna take me in? I'll go quietly this time, I swear!"

"Nothing has to happen to you if you tell me what I want to know," Judy cooed dangerously. "Also, it's Wilde-Hopps, now." She pointed to her name tag.

"Really?" Duke shook his head at the implications of that, then decided he cared more about being arrested, "I ain't into nothing but bootleg, now, Wilde-Hopps, I swear! C'mon, I got a family to feed, and your rap sheet on me is killing me!"

"So, you don't know anything about the Night Howlers," Judy said lowly, as if daring him to say no.

"The Night Howlers!?" Duke seemed to flinch.

"...I'll take that as a yes," Judy said, her voice quiet. "Talk."

"A-are you really gonna make me do this, Wilde-Hopps?" Duke pleaded. "C'mon, please... don't make me rat."

"Where's your backbone, Weaselton?" Judy grinned. "I'm not even holding your toes to the fire yet. But we could do that, we haven't tried that yet..."

"It's, it's not that," Duke looked down. "I know who's gettin' Night Howlers into here."

"WHO."

"My... sister..."

-Everlong Nights Resort and Spa 8:29 PM-

Nick was watching some TV in his slightly cramped hotel room, wearing a loose t-shirt and cottony shorts. He looked at the time and his eyes opened slightly wider. It was just about time for Judy to Muzzletime him. The instant the display on the clock changed to 8:30, his phone rang.

"Always can count on that bunny," Nick grinned happily. He pressed the button and his eyes nearly bugged. It was Judy, of course, but she was wearing quite a skimpy black night outfit. "Whoa! Judy... uh, what are you wearing...?"

"Oh, this? It's nothing," Judy cooed at him.

"Just about!" Nick gawked. "You are... wow, incredibly attractive."

"Really?" Judy cocked her head, her ears lolling, and put a finger up to her mouth and looked at her fox with a small, coy smile. She had Nick's buttons on speed dial.

"I uh, wow," Nick sputtered. "You must really want me to suffer from being away from my super-hot wife."

"Just showing you what you can look forward to when you get back, handsome," Judy said lowly. "Anyway, there's a reason I went out and spent money on this little number today. I'm in a pretty good mood."

"Oh yeah?" Nick was glad to hear this, at least.

"Got you some juicy details," Judy said brightly.

"Oh, I know, you have plenty of those," Nick smirked.

Judy laughed in delight. "Anyway, I know who is supplying the Night Howlers." Her face finally became serious. "It's Duke Weaselton's sister, Duchess. Seems like she'll still do anything for a quick buck. Including smuggling midnicampum holicithias down to the Nocturnal District."

"So, we're looking for another weasel," Nick nodded. "Do you have any leads on where she might show up?"

"Yes," Judy nodded. "She does her deals at a bar down there called World One-Dash-Two. She's supposed to be doing business tomorrow night at nine."

"AM or PM, honey bunny? It's hard to tell down here," Nick laughed.

"PM," Judy nodded, then her ears started to droop. She ran her hands through her ears, looking a bit pensive. "Nick I... feel kinda bad for squeezing this out of Duke. I made him sell out his own sister."

"He did the right thing, and so did you," Nick said seriously. "People's lives are in danger. No one's gonna get hurt anywhere but their wallet from buying Duke's crud."

"I guess you're right," Judy nodded.

"Now, you stay exactly that amazing, my busy little bunny," Nick grinned.

"G'night, foxy boy," Judy leaned forward to smooch at the screen, and Nick returned the gesture.

-World One-Dash-Two Bar and Lounge 8:30 PM-

The next night, Nick and Sonaire entered the bar, and Nick took in the sights. It was a very dark bar with a dank blue color scheme. Nick was thankful for his night vision. The tables and chairs had somewhat colorful red, green, and yellow mushroom designs, all with white polka-dots. The music was electronic and crude sounding. There were a lot of moles and bats everywhere, enjoying colorful drinks. Nick got himself a blueberry shake, whereas Sonaire just had sparkling water garnished with a bunch of apple slices. They took a seat together near the center of the establishment. Both were in civilian clothes. Nick had a loud shirt and mismatched tie on, of course, where Solaire wore a soft purple shirt that exposed a small bit of her midriff and leather pants. If pressed, Nick wouldn't deny she was a bit attractive.

"Yeah, this way we have a good view of the whole place," Nick said, smirking as he had a sip of his drink. "That's how teamwork works. Speaking of, it's a shame my bunny time had to be cancelled tonight."

Sonaire rolled her eyes. "So how's being married to your partner working out for you?"

"Oh it's like anything, it has its ups and downs," Nick said, "but, with that bunny? Mm-mm." He shook his head, his eyes squinted shut. "Mostly ups."

"Sounds pleasant, I guess," Sonaire shrugged. "I just don't like anyone tying me down."

"Tying me down, huh," Nick mused. "Might have to try that sometime."

"Wow, is that where you went?" Sonaire questioned flatly.

"I am but a simple fox at my heart," Nick explained, letting a thought of Judy from last night linger back in with a hazy smile. "So, we're looking for two moles, right? Well there are a lot of 'two moles' in this place."

"We'll just have to wait till the weasel shows up," Sonaire grumbled, having an apple slice.

"So, until then, let's try to pretend we can stand each other," Nick smiled pleasantly.

"If I must," Sonaire smirked wryly.

"Hey, you ever seen a turtle before?" Nick's mouth opened a bit. "Because there's a couple of them sitting over there." Nick pointed subtly.

"Really?" Sonaire turned to look and saw two small turtles speaking in reptilian in the corner. One of them had his shell painted red. "Huh. Weird."

"Wife and I met a cool turtle in Pawaii on our honeymoon," Nick sipped more of his drink.

"Reptiles, huh?" Sonaire looked only somewhat interested.

Nick noticed this, so decided to throw a harder blow. "So, whatcha want to talk about now? Oh, how about why everyone at the precinct seems to hate you?" Nick sipped his drink again. "If you weren't a good cop I know you wouldn't have been put on such an important assignment."

"Fine, fine," Sonaire relented, rolling her eyes. "I'll talk about my tragic past. It all started when my uncle, Drew Lipsky, became a notorious crime lord. He was actually defeated by a rising star rookie cop. Her name is Kimberly Possible, that vole. She enlisted the help of Rufus Stoppable's older brother, Ronald, who was still a civilian at the time, to take him down. Ron knew a lot of martial arts, very dangerous for a mole rat."

"Oh, I heard a past tense in there," Nick winced.

"Let me finish," Sonaire sighed. "They actually brought in my uncle with no problems. Due to his success and Rufus' encouragement, Ronald joined the police department as well. He figured he would get paired up with Kimberly. But... he got me, instead."

"Why is that?" Nick wondered.

"Well, Kimberly is basically one of the best cops we have," Sonaire admitted, "but she's a bit unhinged, sort of a wild cop, likes to bend the rules. Chief Director thought I was more grounded, stable, dependable. But really, I only depend on myself. On one case, due to a mistake I made, Ronald ended up seriously hurt. The doctors still don't know if he will recover full use of his legs."

"Oh..." Nick was only able to get that out.

"Yup," Sonaire sipped some drink. "So, thanks to me, Ronald lost his dream, Rufus hates me intensely for getting his brother crippled, and Kimberly might even hate me more. I knew she and Ron were 'right' together."

"You don't get to choose who the partners are, though," Nick reminded her.

"Maybe I should have protested," Sonaire shrugged. "Maybe I should have actually been there for Ronald at that crucial moment. Also, I have that whole 'evil uncle' stigma hanging over my head. As it is now all I can do is try to be a good cop and avoid having partners so I won't screw anyone else's life over."

"Well, here's to not screwing my life over," Nick tried to lighten the mood by holding up his glass. Sonaire just scoffed and looked away. "Sorry. I forget how crass my jokes sound sometimes. Judy just lets me bounce them right off of her. I even joked that I'd be gawking at you while I was on assignment."

"Wow that is ridiculous," Sonaire looked impressed, but not in a good way. "Amazing you don't have an imprint in your fur from a bunny's paw."

"She's just that good to me," Nick said, shaking his head.

"Anyway, time is drawing short, let's get to work," Sonaire said, looking at her phone.

Duchess Weaselton finally had entered the establishment. She looked quite similar to her brother, but thankfully for her, a less ragged looking face, somewhat comely even. Sonaire was no longer sitting at the table. Nick noticed Duchess and waited for her to move to a table. Two moles looked expectantly at her, and she produced a purse and opened it briefly. When Nick caught the scent of the flower that he'd not mistake for a million other scents, he leaped at them and drew his stun gun.

"You're gonna want to freeze," Nick smirked. Duchess didn't. She shrieked and ran for the entrance, leaving her purse behind. Nick looked towards the entrance.

FLOOMP!

"Mind if I drop in, sugar?" Sonaire quipped, dropping down from where she was hanging on the ceiling, right in front of the door. Duchess gasped again as Sonaire pounced, cuffing her. "You're under arrest for possession with intent to sell."

Nick grinned at the quip, then turned to the moles. They raised their hands in surrender. "Game over, guys."

-Abandoned Geothermal Plant #9, 2:00 AM-

Duchess was unhelpful, but the two mole toadies told them exactly where to find Cosmo Molovich and Brian Batling, and when they usually made their batches of concentrated Night Howler. Nick and Sonaire were sent on point to investigate the abandoned geothermal plant located on the edge of the cave system, while a backup unit hung back out of line of sight of the plant.

Nick yawned a bit. "I wish criminals would do their crime at a more reasonable time or location."

"I hope you're not going to complain the whole time," Sonaire sighed. Both readied their weapons and entered the inner workings of the plant. There was barely any light. They crept forwards and looked around, and Nick saw a familiar and disconcerting sight; planters with lamps for growing Night Howlers.

"Look's like we're in the right place," Nick whispered.

"Keep your voice down!" Sonaire hissed even more quietly.

"This is about as low as it goes?" Nick was confused.

"Not low enough! Bat's hearing is so good, and slit-face bats ears so large, that if they're nearly anywhere in this establishment they could-"

Sonaire's voice was cut off by all of the dim lights being turned off. They were in pitch black darkness. Sonaire's ears twitched as she heard a high frequency clicking sound briefly.

"Batling heard us, but he's quiet now," Sonaire grit her teeth.

"I... find myself in the unusual situation of not being able to see," Nick noted.

"No one can see in pitch black, idiot, but bats can do something like that," Sonaire sighed.

"Echolocation, right?" Nick nodded, trying to stand still. "Are you doing that right now?"

"Only small bats can use true echolocation," Sonaire grumbled in annoyance. "Don't they teach you anything in school?"

"Well, can you use fake echolocation, then?" Nick was getting a bit desperate, sniffing the air. Inconclusive smells. All he could smell was Sonaire, at the moment, and the smell of the earth.

"I can, only because I've been practicing it all my life," Sonaire snapped. "But it's not going to work if you don't shut your yap." Nick stopped talking.

Tk-tk-tk-tk-tk-tk-tk.

Sonaire clicked her tongue while moving forward and to the side.

Tk-tk-tk-tk-tk-tk-tk.

Nick could smell her getting farther and farther away.

"I can hear you sniffing," Sonaire said. "Smell anything?"

"Only you, so far," Nick said. He didn't want to add that he also knew that she smelled frightened.

Tk-tk-tk-tk-tk-tk-tk.

"Looking for a light switch," Sonaire said. "Think I'm close."

"Are you gonna maybe guide me to that, or..." Nick was waving his arms blindly.

"I'm not going to hold your hand, you baby!" Sonaire snapped.

Tk-tk-tk-tk-tk-tk-tk.

Suddenly, there were sounds of a struggle. Nick gasped and drew his customized stun gun. He tried to head into the direction of the struggle.

CLICK!

The lights turned on. Far, far down the room, Batling was holding Sonaire's arms down from the front. Molovich was on Sonaire's back, holding a mask that was connected to a hose, which was connected to a canister of gas. Nick didn't have to guess what sort of gas was in there.

"Sonaire!" Nick cried out, knowing he was too far to shoot. He rushed forward. "Don't breathe in, if you can!"

"Breathe in deep, little bat!" Molovich cackled in a raspy voice. Sonaire struggled and tried to resist breathing.

"I thought I was the little bat!" Batling laughed, then flapped his own wings to give him an extra push while headbutting Sonaire in the stomach. Sonaire coughed and then drew in a deep breath.

"Oh God, NO!" Nick shouted. "Sonaire, drop your head!"

Coughing, Sonaire was involuntarily doing that anyway. Nick set his gun's intensity dial to "small" and fired the instant he was in range.

CLACK!

Molovich fell off of Sonaire, shocked by the charge which hit him squarely on the chest. Sonaire dropped to her knees, coughing and gasping, but starting to growl and hiss.

"Oh no, no no no..." Nick knew he had only seconds. Sonaire's eyes were already starting to glow. He unclasped a pouch on his belt, where he was keeping two emergency syringes full of Night Howler antidote.

Unleashing an anguished, feral shriek, Sonaire started wildly swiping her claws left and right. She caught Batling with one such swipe and he flew into a vertical steel beam, dazed and bleeding. Snarling and starting to slaver, she headed for Molovich, who was trying to recover from his shock. Nick approached Sonaire with syringe in hand as quickly as he could, but Sonaire was already swiping at him wildly with her claws.

"God, she's going to kill him!" Nick wailed. He shrilly whistled. Sonaire turned and glared briefly at Nick before leaping at him and flapping forwards, screaming through the air at him with a primal wail. "Ah jeez-"

Nick hit the floor hard. He yelled out in pain as he felt her claws slash at his chest and her teeth sink into his shoulder. The shoulder bite made him drop the syringe, it rolling uselessly away from him. Nick rolled back with her still on him and kicked hard with both of his feet, sending her sailing through the air and tumbling backwards. Nick struggled to his feet, knowing he had only moments before Sonaire got back up, only one more shot of antidote, and a desperate need to tip the scales in his advantage.

"Okay, I'm doing this blind!" Nick headed for the light switch and turned it off. He immediately started sniffing, able to keep his nose on the powerful and dangerous smell of Sonaire. Sonaire shrieked and spat sounds that seemed not of the world, but without her higher senses, she was not able to use echolocation to find Nick. Nick also managed to hear a high pitched clicking. Batling had recovered and was trying to escape. Not wanting this, Nick grit his teeth and blindly fumbled for where he kept his earplugs he had packed. He jammed them in his ears.

"And... deaf, apparently!" Nick felt for the sonic function on his gun and set it off, laying it on the ground. All three of the non-fox inhabitants of the plant started screaming in pain as a deafening high-pitched sound burst from the gun. Nick had only thirty seconds before it would wear off. He could smell Sonaire trying to run away from the loud sound. Making a mental map between himself and the gun, he tried running directly from the smell and pouncing.

He felt fur, and heard a shriek he could hear even over the sonic weapon and through his earplugs. His last chance, he shoved the last syringe blindly into her. He was nearly overjoyed as the shriek somehow became even louder. He pushed all of the antidote in and then got up, immediately going for the lights, fumbling blindly for them, but remembering where approximately they were. The lights clicked on.

Nick ran for Batling, who was cowering, and managed to cuff him just before the sonic weapon gave out. Nick turned to look at Molovich, who was bleeding, but breathing, and clearly not going anywhere. Nick ran back over to Sonaire, taking out his earplugs and kneeling beside her.

She was vibrating and shrieking in an alarming fashion. Nick really hoped he hit where it counted. He turned her over, trying to hold her down. Even though Nick was bigger than Sonaire, it was almost the hardest thing he had ever done to prevent her thrashing, but slowly, slowly, the thrashing waned and the eerie glow from her eyes started to diminish. She started babbling in confusion. Nick recalled a method he had heard of to accelerate recovery from frenzied victims.

"Viridia, come on, Viridia, come back to us..." Nick said sternly but kindly. "You are Viridia Sonaire, you are an officer of the ZPD. Nocturnal District." Sonaire's thrashing slowed even more, and she let out a squeak of confusion. "You can do it, Viridia, hang in there. You are Viridia Sonaire. You hate my guts."

Shaking her head, Sonaire drew in a large, hoarse breath. "Hnnh... well, I never exactly said that..."

"Thank GOD," Nick sighed. She tried to struggle up to her feet. "Woah there, don't move yet, it's not safe. Just lay back. You need a few minutes."

"Y-you're the boss when it comes to Night Howler stuff..." Sonaire said weakly. "You're bleeding." She looked over at the criminals. "THEY'RE bleeding. All of you are bleeding!" She began to panic.

"Listen to my annoying fox voice, stay calm. Breathe slowly," Nick admonished. Sonaire nodded, a hoarse chuckle coming out at the humor coming from his serious tone, her hyperventilation starting to lower. Nick quickly grabbed for his radio. "All right team, need a bus. Suspects down, officer injured."

"Yeah, you," Sonaire laughed weakly, "I don't have a scratch on me."

"You need to relax," Nick saw she was gagging a little. "Only sit up if you need to throw up." Sonaire laid back, groaning, trying to relax. The backup and medics began to arrive. "You're okay, Viridia, you're okay." Sonaire managed a sigh of relief. Nick looked over to Molovich, who was whining in pain. "Man, you don't look so good, and I don't mean that freakish fingered nose of yours. Looks like you'll survive though, not that I think you deserve it, you IMBECILE!"

-Nocturnal District Police Office 12:00 PM-

Two days later, the paperwork was done, Nick was bandaged up, and Viridia Sonaire had already made a full recovery and was at work. She, Nick, and even Judy met up at the police office to say their goodbyes. Judy had to hold a small flashlight near the floor to see.

"You know you're going to have to lead her back to the train station like a blind bat, if you'll excuse the expression," Sonaire chuckled. "I know she can barely see me as it is."

"He'll carry me," Judy assured her.

"But his shoulder is-" Sonaire protested.

"He'll carry me," Judy continued assuring her.

"I'll carry her," Nick confirmed, grinning.

"Wow. Wha-kshh," Sonaire muttered, making a whipping sound and motion with her hand. "Anyway, you'll be happy to know, Officer Judy Wilde-Hopps, that I learned absolutely nothing from this experience, apparently. Had I listened to Nick and let him follow me, there's no way those goons could have gotten the drop on both of us, and even if so, Nick had the tools to fix both of us right up."

"No one improves in a day," Judy shook her head. "I sure didn't. Just keep holding your mistakes in your mind, and don't let them hurt you, but let them remind you."

"I guess you married a philosopher?" Sonaire shrugged.

"She is a wise bunny," Nick nodded, his eyes closed.

"I had wondered," Judy said, "you got hit with Night Howler gas... did you... experience any of it?"

"It was just a blur of conflicting information, like a nightmare spiraling out of control," Sonaire recalled. "I think I'll be okay, though, mentally. I realize I wasn't under control and my actions weren't my own."

"I think she might have wanted to do this to me, though," Nick grinned, pointing at his shoulder. "Feisty bat."

"Keep it up and I'll do that to you," Judy smirked.

"Can I have that in writing?" Nick begged playfully.

"Wow, you two," Sonaire remarked in disbelief. "Get a room."

"Soon enough," Judy grinned.

"I hope I didn't do any lasting damage to you, Nick," Sonaire said apologetically.

"Oh no, I'm good," Nick nodded. "So, has your stance on partners changed at all, Viridia?"

"I've got a ways to go, but maybe one day I can be both a good cop AND a good partner," Sonaire folded her arms. "I don't know if I can ask the Possibles or the Stoppables to forgive me, but I'll just keep doing my best and see if they or someone else eventually comes around and deigns to be my partner."

"That's all we can ask of ourselves, is to be our best," Nick nodded. "Hope to see you again, someday, Viridia."

"Likewise, Nick. You too, Judy," Viridia waved.

"Goodbye!" Judy waved pleasantly, and Nick groaned in a bit of pain as he scooped his wife up.

"You can lead me by the hand if it hurts too bad, honey fox," Judy was a bit concerned.

"Nope, I like this better," Nick grinned, having wanted to feel his bunny's fur for some time now.

"So uh... the 'Possibles and the Stoppables'?" Judy seemed baffled.

"Right? Who names these guys?"