The reception area of City Hall was huge. The wall was a brilliant gold-tinted mirror. There were several sections for the various receptionists to sit at while greeting guests, each scaling down in size to accommodate mammals accordingly. All of the receptionists were busy helping out other mammals, so Nick and Judy walked up to the closest one. Lucky for them, as soon as they got in line, the elephant in front of them finished and left.

The first thing Nick noticed when they walked up to the front desk was the receptionist. It was a grizzly bear, and she was wearing a shock collar.

The bear was the only predator working there. She wore a professional-looking suit, complete with bow tie, and sat straight up in her seat, ready to serve them.

And maybe it was just the lighting, but for a split second, Nick thought he saw her collar flicker yellow, before going back to green.

"Hi, how can I help you?"

To any other mammal, the bear's words might have seemed cheery. Her smile might have seemed welcoming. Her readiness to help might have seemed enthusiastic.

But Nick had lived behind a mask for long enough to recognize another one as soon as he saw it. The grizzly bear's voice was bubbly, but not genuine. Her smile was wide, but not real. Her readiness to help was a veiled attempt to distract herself from this collar that she now wore.

"How long have you had that?"

He couldn't help himself. Before he knew it, the words escaped his mouth. He regretted it immediately; obviously, this grizzly bear did not want to discuss it, and it wasn't his business anyway. He could feel Judy shoot a judgmental glance in his direction to the side.

The bear tried to play it off. "Oh, this thing?" Her smile remained, and she scratched her neck underneath the collar. "We were given them just yesterday afternoon. New rule for government employees: All predators must wear shock collars."

If she continued talking, Nick didn't hear it. He lost his focus staring at the shock collar around her neck. It was bigger than the one he wore, definitely designed to fit a mammal of her size. It's already spreading. First officers, and now all government employees. The box that housed the collar's electronics stuck out the side of her neck, just as his own did on his neck this very minute. It was a sign to all other mammals that they—that predators—were inherently dangerous…

That we have to be muzzled, because we can't be trusted.

His attention snapped away from the collar thanks to a sudden elbow in his right ribs. Stunned, he whirled around to see Judy glaring at him. She cleared her throat, which was his cue that he was in for a lecture later, and then turned her attention to the grizzly, eager to change the subject. "We're from the ZPD, here to pick up the records on Timothy Fields."

The bear instantly nodded and stood up. "Yes, officers. They're in the back. I'll grab them right now." She turned around and walked through the employee door, closing it behind her.

As soon as the door closed, Judy turned back to Nick, paws on hips and hind foot patting the ground uncontrollably. "What's gotten into you?" she demanded. "How would you like it if someone just walked right up to you and asked when you got your collar?"

Nick had no response, which was a rarity for him. He knew Judy was right; he had known as soon as the words left his mouth. And he felt bad for it, too—but what could he say now?

The only thing he could come up with was, "I'm sorry, okay?"

Judy sighed. "Don't apologize to me." She motioned to the still-closed door on the other side of the counter. "Apologize to her."

"No, it's more than that." Judy raised an eyebrow. Nick took a deep breath and continued. "I'm sorry for what I said, of course, but I'm also sorry we're in this situation." He pointed to his own collar. "This is something I have to get used to—and it's something I don't want to get used to." He took a second to make sure the door was still closed, then slouched down and began whispering to Judy instead. "First officers, now all other government employees. What's next?"

Judy rolled her eyes. "Stop being so over-dramatic," she replied, though in an equally soft whisper. "This will all blow over soon enough. The collars are just for appearance's sakes. Once we get to the bottom of this case, the predators will—"

Nick cut her off. "Do you really believe that, Carrots?" She didn't immediately answer, so he continued. "Because I don't. It seems to me this is all a little too convenient how fast everything's going. I mean, it's been less than, what, a week? Every predator who gets a paycheck from the taxpayers is wearing one of these, and the mayor is contemplating a bill to require all predators in Zootopia to wear one. That doesn't just happen out of thin air when a few predators go awol."

"A few predators have gone awol, Nick," Judy replied, still whispering. "That's all we know. It's our job to look at the facts, and only the facts. And until we can figure out why it's happening, we'll have to make some compromises."

"Compromi—" Nick blurted in a much louder voice. He caught himself, cleared his throat, and dropped his voice back down to a whisper. "Compromises? Carrots, these collars aren't a compromise. They're not a necessary evil. They're a brand—a brand—on predators everywhere. As long as we're forced to wear them, we are unequal to prey. We are seen as threats—as unsafe creatures who can go savage at any time."

It was obvious to Nick that Judy was struggling to keep her voice calm when she replied. "Then we'll just have to get this case wrapped up quickly, won't we?"

"Well, that's why we're here, isn't it?" Nick retorted.

"Yes, it is," Judy agreed.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, before Nick came to the realization that they were not alone. His eyes slowly turned back to the left, and settled upon the grizzly bear, standing behind the other side of the counter, thick manila folder in paw. She had an uneasy smile on her face, and it was obvious she had heard a lot of their conversation.

However, now that both Judy and Nick saw her, she held the folder up in the air. "Here are the records, officers!" she cheerfully said, trying to ignore the awkwardness in the air around them. "Which one of you is Officer Hopps?"

Even though he was frustrated with Judy at the moment, Nick couldn't help but feel a twinge of an involuntary smile return to his face as the bunny stared at the bear in confusion. "I am," she replied, "but Officer Wilde called for the records, didn't he?"

"Not my business, ma'am," the bear replied, handing Judy the folder. "All I know is it was made very clear that you were the one coming to pick these up."

Judy turned to face Nick, confused. Nick, in return, dropped his aviators back down in front of his eyes and gave her a half-smile. Nick, you're one sly fox, he complimented himself. He turned back to the bear and waved. "Thanks for your help!" he called, before turning on his heel and beginning to walk away, Judy close behind.

She waited until they were all the way out of the building before asking, "Why did you put the records under my name?"

At first, Nick wanted to continue the argument they were having. It was clear to him that Judy didn't fully understand what he and the other predators were going through, and he wanted nothing more at this moment than to get her to understand it—to tell her, in as many words as it took, why the shock collars were a bad thing.

But he decided against it. "Your case, your investigation…" He lowered his sunglasses just a tiny bit, and glanced over them, looking her dead in the eye as he finished. "Your responsibility."

Judy narrowed her eyes. "Wow," she sighed sarcastically, "I'm so glad we're partners in this."

Nick readjusted his glasses and stuck his paws in his pockets. "We may be partners, Carrots, but you're the one in charge. That means the world depends on you. I'm happy taking a back seat and helping out once in a while."

Back seat…

Judy opened the folder and began looking at the contents inside. "If I'm in charge, that means I can order you around, right?"

Back seat… Nick's pace began to slow.

"Don't think I'm above ordering you around, Wilde," Judy continued, trying to sift through the contents in an attempt to find useful information. "I've been on the force longer than you, which could mean I'm your senior officer. And I don't mind saying, I have a few orders I could give you that I have been dying for you to fulfill for quite some time."

Back seat… Nick stopped completely. "Carrots…"

"First of all, I order you to stop calling me Carrots." Judy moved a few pages from the front of the folder to the back. "Second, I order you to never, ever, ever call me 'cute' again. Third…" She finally realized that she was several feet in front of Nick, and she turned around.

Nick stared at her, the wheels in his mind turning. The argument they had just had a few minutes ago completely faded away from his memory, instead replaced by a sense of eureka. "Carrots," he repeated.

Judy studied his face, having instantly forgotten what she was just talking about. "What is it?" she asked.

"The car chase. Where's the lion's car now?"

Judy thought for a minute. "I'd have to ask Bogo to be sure, but I think it's at the junk yard over in the Meadowlands District. Why?"

"Was it combed over for evidence before it was taken there?"

"Of course."

"And who did that?"

Judy thought again, but couldn't remember. "We'll have to look it up—"

"Do you at least know if it was a ZPD detective?"

"No," Judy replied immediately, "I think the lion's lawyer requested an independent study to avoid prejudice."

Nick snapped his fingers. "And the name of that lawyer?" Both mammals slowly turned back to the folder in Judy's paws. "I think we might have just found our first connection."

"Well," Judy hurriedly corrected, "only if Fields is the lion's lawyer."

Nick walked up to the folder, reached in, and pulled out a random paper. Without looking at it, he held it up in front of Judy's face. "And here, Officer Hopps, is your proof!"

Judy read it out loud monotonically. "Giraffic Press Publishing Association?"

Nick flipped the paper around and read it. It was, indeed, some financial records from the publishing house—from about thirteen years ago.

He stuffed the paper back in the folder. "Hey, you've got to admit, that would have been pretty amazing," he mumbled, before taking the folder away from Judy so he could grip it better. He took a second to finger through the pages, then pulled out a different sheet of paper, whiter than the others. This time he took a second to read it before showing it to Judy.

He smiled. "Bingo." He flipped it around. "Our good friend Timothy Fields does, in fact, represent one Pat Roark."

Judy took the page and read it for herself. "Since just a few months ago, from the looks of it," she added. "Okay, this is a start, but what about the study on the car after the crash?"

Nick pawed through the folder again, and eventually emerged with another paper. "Looks like a private individual was tasked with this," he responded. "A hyena named Ed Haas." Judy gave him a look. "Yeah, seriously." He handed her the paper to read over. "This is interesting, isn't it? Usually it's a whole company in charge of this kind of thing."

"Yeah," Judy agreed, skimming over the page. "Very odd." She looked back at Nick. "So, what do we do now? We could go look at the official evidence report on the car, we could go talk with Ed Haas, or we can check out the car ourselves."

Nick raised his glasses again, perching them on his forehead. He knew Judy would see through his mask if he put it on, so he opted not to, instead deciding to be frank with her. "I find it rather suspicious that Fields is representing only predators," he admitted. He angled the folder down so that Judy could look into it, and he slid his finger across the top of all the pages. Most of the photographs that flew by, like Nick said, were of predators that Fields had represented in his years as a lawyer. Not a single prey was listed.

Judy waited for Nick to finish before replying. "So, what does that mean?" she asked.

Nick tucked the folder under his arm. "I'm not sure," he responded, "and I doubt he'd be willing to tell us if we asked." He patted the folder. "Let's drop this off at the ZPD. What we do after that is up to you."

Judy nodded slowly. "Okay…" She turned around and began walking again, Nick following close behind. "Okay, let's grab the investigation report and take it to compare with the car. Then we'll go talk with Mr. Haas when we're done with that."

Nick saluted as well as he could while they ran. "Yes, ma'am." He adjusted his grip on the folder, using both paws to carry it now.

Sounds like we've got a lot to do. And here I was hoping we'd have a slow day. But like Judy said, the sooner we get this case resolved…

His smile disappeared. He groaned softly, apprehensive of the thought that his bunny had, in fact, been right all along.

"You know what, Carrots? You're right. The sooner we get this case revolved, the faster these shock collars will be gone," he repeated out loud.

Judy nodded. "That's what I said," she agreed, without turning around to face him.

"Well, never let it be said I was a fox who couldn't admit defeat," Nick retorted, before quickly adding, "But don't think this means we're done talking about the shock collars. There's still plenty I want—"

"We're not," Judy interjected, much to his surprise. She turned around and faced him, still walking backwards at the same pace. "But it can wait for a while, can't it?" She pointed at the folder. "We have a case to work out first."

Nick couldn't help but smile. His bunny had just made it clear to him that she knew she didn't fully understand his problems with the collars, but that she was willing to talk about it later.

That alone meant so much to him. It wasn't often that mammals even gave him the time of day. He couldn't remember a single individual in his entire adult life who had cared about his opinions, or about his wants or needs. And yet here was this cute little bunny, paws behind her back, amethyst eyes sparkling, face beaming like the sun, willing to be there for him as he went through this rough—

He suddenly felt very silly. Stop it, Wilde. It's not that big of a deal. Carrots has always treated me this way. She's always cared about me, and she always will. It's in her nature to care about others. It's nothing special about me. I'm just her partner, and she's just my bunny.

My bunny…

He quickly lowered his aviators back over his eyes, hoping it would help mask the blush he felt appearing over his face. "You know I love you, right, Carrots?" he asked, as he had asked her dozens of times before.

Judy gave him a small smile and stood her ears up straight. "Do I know that?" Without finishing, she turned back around and kept walking.

This time, though, Nick finished for her, even daring to mouth the words as he thought them. Yes. Yes I do.