Nick and Judy arrived at the front of City Hall just as Mayor Lionheart was being escorted out. The lion was flanked on both sides by his personal security detachment: four grizzly bears wearing black suits and dark glasses. Two of them were actually in the middle of struggling with Lionheart, pushing him against his will through the large double doors.

Judy, usually happy to meet the mayor, suddenly found herself hesitating. "Maybe now's not a good time," she whispered.

Nick shot her a sly smile. "Carrots, take it from me: the best time to talk to someone is when they're in the middle of something else."

"He doesn't even know we're coming," Judy insisted, slowing her pace. "We should come back when he's in a better mood."

As if to prove her point, Lionheart wrestled his arms away from his security and growled at them. "I'm done being mammal-handled for one day!" he barked.

Nick's smile only widened. "I'm sure Chief Ox-Breath would be happy to put us back on parking duty for the rest of the day—" he started.

Judy didn't let him finish. She grabbed his tie and dragged him the rest of the way to the steps in front of City Hall.

Mayor Lionheart saw them approach and regained his composure, straightening his stance and adjusting his collar and tie. "Ah, I take it you are the ZPD officers I have to thank for saving the day." Nick and Judy paused at the bottom of the steps and he began descending. "So, what are your names, officers?"

Judy, for one, was almost hurt. "Mayor, it's me. Judy Hopps."

Lionheart paused halfway down the steps. He blinked and stared at her with a blank expression. "Who?"

Judy could barely believe it. Mayor Lionheart had met her on several occasions—in fact, he was the one who had attended her graduation ceremony and personally assigned her to Precinct One. "Surely you remember me, Mayor. I was Zootopia's first bunny cop?"

Lionheart rubbed his chin. "Nope. Doesn't ring a bell."

Judy ignored the amused snicker from Nick and glared at Lionheart in disbelief. "I helped crack the Bellwether case?" No response. "Um…I arrested you that one time—"

Genuine recognition flashed across the mayor's face. "Hopps! Of course! How could I forget?" He quickly ran down the rest of the steps, grabbed her paw, and shook it violently, nearly shaking her entire body in the process. "I owe you such a great deal! You have no idea how grateful I am for your help today!"

Even after her paw was let go, Judy remained dizzy. She half-heartedly mumbled, "Thank you, Mayor," before motioning to Nick. "And this is my partner, Nick—"

"Wilde! Where have you been? I've been craving your pawpsicles for months!"

Judy froze in complete astonishment as Lionheart and Nick engaged in a friendly conversation. The mayor had failed to recognize her, despite the major speech he had given at her graduation, despite her helping take down the sheep who had framed him, and perhaps most amazingly, despite her being the current face of the ZPD. But he had no trouble recognizing the pawpsicle hustler who had…

"Wait a minute." Judy glared at Nick, hands on her hips and foot tapping impatiently. "You sold Mayor Lionheart pawpsicles?"

Nick shrugged, his smile never disappearing. "He liked them." He turned his attention back to the mayor. "But sadly, sir, I have sworn off that life. Instead, nowadays, I am this cute little bunny's partner on the police force."

Judy jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow. Nick leaned forward in pain, paws on his side, and Judy took the opportunity to grab his right ear. "Don't. Call. Me. Cute," she muttered.

Nick gritted his teeth, trying his best to hide his discomfort. He tried standing straight again, but Judy's strong grip on his ear prevented him from doing so. Defeated, he looked at her and forced a smile. "Whatever you say, Carrots." Satisfied, Judy let go, allowing him to recover.

Lionheart, oblivious to the exchange, motioned to his security, still at the top of the stairs. They nodded obediently and reopened the front double doors, giving Nick and Judy their first look at the new assistant mayor.

Fred Rolfe was a timber wolf, so big he stood almost as tall as Mayor Lionheart himself. His gray fur was groomed neatly on his head, with two single specs of white peaking out underneath his ears. He walked down the steps with his head held high, hands behind his back, blue eyes reading the three mammals below him. His tail swept the steps as he walked, erasing any prints his feet might have left on the concrete.

"Allow me to introduce you to my new assistant," Lionheart introduced. "I had just introduced him to everyone else when that tiger attacked." His smile disappeared. "I hope they throw the keys away," he muttered under his breath.

Rolfe's ears twitched. His wolf sense of hearing had allowed him to hear Lionheart's words even from several feet away. "I hope you don't disclose such personal feelings around the media, Mr. Mayor," he called. His voice was slightly raspy, as if it was half-dead from yelling too much. "I'm sure justice will be served fairly, regardless." He approached Lionheart, patted his back, and shot a glance at Judy and Nick. "Isn't that right, officers?'

Judy stood at attention. Nick barely straightened his stance. "We aren't here to serve justice, sir," Judy replied. "The ZPD just keeps the peace and enforces the law. We are not judges."

"Of course." Rolfe patted Lionheart on the back once more. "Well, thanks to the ZPD's quick work, Mayor Lionheart and I got out of that predicament unscathed. And I believe we have you two to thank for apprehending the culprit."

Nick's smile faded, ever so slightly. Nobody else might have noticed it, but Judy did, out of the corner of her eye. When she turned to look at him, though, it was back in full. "It's our pleasure, sir. Just doing our duty. Any other cop would have done the same thing. All in the name of—"

"Are you sucking up to me, Officer?" Rolfe asked.

Nick raised an eyebrow. "Is it working?"

If Judy didn't know any better, she could swear there was some animosity developing between the two. Nick's joking nature made it hard to tell, and she just didn't know the assistant mayor yet. But the uncomfortable pause between them after their exchange told her there was definitely something going on beyond what she could see.

Mayor Lionheart was the one who broke the silence. "Now, isn't that nice?" He slapped Rolfe hard on the back, forcing the wolf to take an uneasy step forward to keep his balance. "Now, Fred, how about you and I take our two heroes upstairs and give them a medal or something?"

Rolfe continued to stare at Nick for another few seconds, his face impossible to read, but finally cracked a smile. "Of course, Mayor." He indicated the double doors at the top of the steps. "Shall we, officers?"

Judy stared at the medal in her hands. It was large—for her, at least—and looked gold-plated, so she should have been excited to receive such a prestigious award.

There was just one problem. The medal, which originally read "1st Place in Football", now had the word "football" crossed out, with the word "Valor" hastily written underneath it.

Mayor Lionheart stood in front of her, smiling with pride, Sharpie still in his right paw. "Officer Judy Hoops," he began.

Judy cleared her throat. "Hopps, sir," she corrected.

"That's what I said. Officer Judy Hopps, for performing above and beyond the call of duty today, I present you with this medal of valor." He adjusted his tie and stretched out his paw. "Congratulations."

Judy shook his paw with the least amount of enthusiasm she could gather, never taking her attention off the medal she held. "Thanks," she murmured. For the second time today, Mayor Lionheart had insulted her.

The mayor chuckled, mistaking her disinterest for humility, and looked to her left. Nick stood there, paws behind his back, fake smile plastered on his face. "And for you, Officer Nicholas Wilde, I present this medal of valor."

It was a cheap plastic thing, small even by her standards, and said prominently on the front "$1 for 1 Cub". It was a charity pin that was given out for awareness of poor cubs in the Nocturnal District—and the word "Valor" was, once again, written in underneath the slogan. This time, nothing was even crossed out.

Judy was so shocked, she couldn't even find the words to stand up for Nick. For the first time, Judy envied Bellwether; at least the words on her mug from Lionheart made sense.

If Nick was disappointed, he hid it well. He accepted the award with one paw and saluted with the other. "Thank you so much, sir. I'll cherish this forever. It sure does mean a lot. I will tell my children and grandchildren—"

"Sucking up again, officer?" Rolfe asked. He was standing behind the mayor, witnessing the ceremony but otherwise seeming uninterested. He patted Lionheart's back once more. "Mr. Mayor, I believe we have things of the utmost importance to discuss now?"

Lionheart waved a paw. "Sure, sure, Fred." He turned on his heel, walked to his desk, and called behind his back, "Mind giving us some space, cops?"

Insulted for the third time in the same day, Judy didn't even give a proper farewell. She just nodded, turned around, and walked away, barely aware of Nick doing the same. They exited the office, closed the door behind them, and walked to the elevator in silence.

They had to wait a minute for the elevator to arrive. During that time, Judy kept glancing over at Nick. His face, up until now with a smile plastered on it, was now furrowed up, as if he was thinking about something intensely.

"What is it?" she asked.

Nick stared at the digital numbers above the elevator, waiting patiently for it to reach their level on Floor 51. Right now, it was at 2. "Rolfe," he replied. "The way he talked. It bothered me."

Judy raised an eyebrow. "How did he talk?" she asked.

Nick shook his head, as if he was struggling to put it into words. The readout now read 10. "Maybe it's nothing," he admitted, "but all those big words he used."

"Don't all politicians use big words?"

"He's not a politician, though. That's why Mayor Lionheart's announcement to make him assistant mayor was such a shock." Nick stopped staring at the numbers, which just hit 28, and looked Judy in the eye. "He's a construction foreman."

Judy stared at him. "You're kidding." Nick's face told her that, for once, he was not. "How do you know this?"

"Chief Cow-Chin told me while you were busy with the tiger." Nick went back to concentrating on the numbers. 33. "Now, why would Mayor Lionheart choose a construction foreman, of all people, to be the new assistant?"

"And why would he pick a predator instead of a prey?" Judy asked. When Nick shot her a curious look, she explained, "I heard it on the news this morning. All the frontrunners were prey. I got the impression the mayor wants prey to help get our support, especially since what happened with predators with Bellwether."

Nick shrugged. "Pred or prey doesn't bother me, Carrots." He hooked a thumb over his shoulder, toward the closed door behind them. "That wolf does, though. Maybe it's the big words. Maybe it's something else."

"Something else like what?"

"I don't know." Nick sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Might just be the hustler side of me showing, trying to analyze someone I see as a threat."

"A threat?" Judy raised an eyebrow. "What kind of a threat is he to you?"

The number reached 51 and the doors opened with a ding. Before they were even fully separated, a blur ran out and collided with Nick, knocking him over.

Judy, being the fast mammal she was, was immediately aware of a cloud of papers that erupted from the mess of orange and brown now sprawled out on the floor. She sprang into action, managing to catch most of the papers in midair, and by the time she had gathered up the rest of them from the ground, she had a good look at what had caused the commotion.

It was a beaver, dressed in a plaid shirt underneath a brown suit. He was rubbing his head, eyes squeezed shut behind large glasses. Beside him, Nick, who had absorbed most of the impact, was helping him to his feet. "Are you all right?" he asked.

The beaver opened his eyes and looked around him in confusion. It took him a few seconds to process what just happened, but when he did, his eyes widened and he quickly grabbed Nick's paw. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" he exclaimed. "I was in such a rush, and I didn't think anyone would be leaving the mayor's office, and I—"

"It's okay," Nick assured him. He smiled and swept his paws over the beaver's shoulders. "Let bygones be bygones, right?"

Judy took a step forward and offered the beaver his papers. "I don't know if they were in a specific order, but here you go."

The beaver accepted them with a smile. "Thank you, ma'am." He balanced his papers on one arm and extended his other paw. "Dr. Chuck Wood."

Judy shook his hand. "Judy Hopps." She indicated Nick. "Nick Wilde, my partner."

Dr. Wood shook his paw afterwards, this time more slowly. "Nick Wilde, huh?" He said the name slowly, as if it reminded him of something. It would be no surprise to Judy, though; after all, Nick took great pride in knowing practically everyone in Zootopia. After a second, though, Dr. Wood seemed to dismiss it. "Well, I'm late for a meeting with Mayor Lionheart, but it seems he's busy with someone else, so I'll just wait for him out here."

Judy was about to tell Dr. Wood that the mayor was only talking with his new assistant, but before she could, she remembered that the elevator was still waiting for her and Nick. She hurriedly threw her arm into the doors as they closed, barely wedging it between them, and forced them back open. "Nick, time to go," she told him.

Nick nodded, walked with her into the elevator, and waved to Dr. Wood. "Hope to see you again, Doctor," he called.

Dr. Wood pushed his glasses up his nose. "Oh, we will, Officer Wilde. In fact, I'm a therapist, and I believe I'm supposed to have a session with you tomorrow afternoon."

The statement came as a shock to Judy. Nick had not told her he was seeing a doctor—and even if he was, she knew it was against the law for Dr. Wood to disclose that information in front of her without Nick's permission. She was fully within her rights right now, as an officer, to step up to him and arrest him right there.

Or she would, if Nick's expression was any less surprised than hers. His smile gone, his jaw dropped, he stared at Dr. Wood in disbelief. "Really? Me? You sure I'm the Nick Wilde you're seeing tomorrow? You're not confusing me with someone else?"

Dr. Wood shook his head. "Oh, no. I'm very sure, it's the fox Nick Wilde from the ZPD. Chief Bogo will give you all the details tomorrow morning."

Judy was so dumbfounded, all she could do was stare at Dr. Wood in disbelief. Nick managed to squeak out, "Why does Chief Bison-Feet want me to see a therapist?"

"You'll have to find out then, I suppose." Before anything else could be said, the doors closed and the elevator began its descent.

Nick and Judy spent the ride down in silence, contemplating all that had happened in just this one day. And if Dr. Wood's words were anything to go by, tomorrow wouldn't be much better, either.