Okay, small note here. I know most of these animals have pretty decent night vision but I am kind of playing that down a little bit to emphasize how much better Nicks is than normal. According to Google, foxes, rabbits, and goats have pretty decent night vision and otters can see in low light but not quite "night vision"

Judy POV

I wasn't sure how long I had been wandering down this long dark cave. When Clawhauser and I were looking over photos of the old restaurant I figured I could find a decent place to hide and survey the situation from a safe distance. Once I knew William Stone was here and had the evidence I would get out and call for backup.

That was the original plan before I found the restaurant completely abandoned. I was ready to leave when I wandered into the kitchen and found this secret tunnel in the floor.

The smart thing at that point would have been to call for backup but I went down on my own anyway. I knew there wouldn't be much cover down here but I had also hoped I would be able to see them before they saw me.

When the tunnel split, I didn't really have anything to go off of but I had a fifty-fifty shot at picking the right tunnel. At this point, I don't think I did.

I had decided to go a few more minutes before turning around and trying the other one, when I suddenly heard the gravel crunching behind me. Someone was running in my direction. Two someone's? It sounded like one set of feet walking and one running.

I fumbled for the taser on my belt, wishing I had taken it out when I first climbed down here. It was so dark and I wanted one hand holding my phone so I could record evidence and the other hand to catch myself if I fell.

By the time the taser was in my hands and ready I saw the shadowy shape of whoever was running at me. It was too dark to make out features very well, mostly just a shadowy outline, but the shape was definitely not an otter or a goat. It was a fox.

"Nick?" I asked cautiously, relaxing the hand gripping my taser but not dropping it completely. Just in case.

He stopped running right in front of me and I sighed with relief when he was close enough to see. I was surprised when Finnick came walking up behind him. Someone would have had to drive Nick here, I suppose. I knew he didn't have a car. But I didn't expect to see Finick all the way down here.

Nick's expression was not a happy one but I couldn't tell if he was worried or angry. Probably a little of both. "I can explain, see I was looking over the transcript from this morning and I realized that William had said…"

"Save it, I don't care why you came to investigate this old restaurant. What were you thinking coming down here alone? You could have been killed." Nick was frantically looking around us even though it was too dark to see much of anything.

It wasn't until he turned back to glare at me again that I noticed his eyes. His voice had sounded different too, I was just too freaked out to notice at first.

Glancing behind Nick to Fin, the smaller fox looked entirely unfazed. Either he hadn't noticed or he just didn't care. I gently reached out to touch Nicks arm, hoping to help calm him down despite the high stress situation we were in.

"Hey, are you okay? Take a deep breath." He yanked his arm back and turned to look in the direction we had all come from. At first, I thought he was just going to walk away until I noticed the way his ears were twitching. He was listening for something.

I wasn't sure what since all I could hear down here was the crunch of gravel and the occasional drip of water. After a few seconds, Nick turned back to us. "It's clear, let's go. And, Carrots, I'm fine. I've got it under control for now."

Without another word he started walking back down the tunnel. I glanced over at Finnick who shrugged and followed behind Nick. "He's pretty much been like that since I picked him up. All creepy eyed and mysterious."

So Finnick was aware, he was just unbothered. I wasn't there last time he saw Nick like this, but from what Nick described he did seem pretty freaked out.

Running ahead of the smaller fox, I fell into step at Nicks side. "Look, I am sorry that I came down here without telling you or calling for backup. And I am sorry for turning off my phone when you called. I just, I really needed to close this case and when I figured out something was going on here, I didn't want to wait."

I stumbled over a larger rock that I hadn't noticed. "Nick, I really appreciate you showing up here, I do, but I am not leaving until I get the concrete evidence I need to shut this operation down."

Nicks eyes looked like he was still trying to be angry but a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "I know, unfortunately I've grown accustomed to your stubbornness. But you were going the wrong way. Whatever you were looking for is in the other tunnel."

We stepped back out to where the fork was and Nick pointed to the left tunnel. Part of me wanted to ask how he knew that but I was also starting to suspect it had something to do with the lasting effects of the night howler.

Each time he had an episode our primary focus had been keeping him calm and in control but I was starting to notice little things. I would have to ask him about it later, when we were back above ground.

I took a deep breath to steady my nerves and turned my phone back on, making sure it was on silent. I had no reception down here, but I could still record what we found.

Nick had his eyes closed and stood facing the tunnel. "There's a lot of them down there. I'm not sure if the tunnel opens into a cave or another building but I would say we're facing at least ten mammals. Maybe more."

He opened his eyes and turned back to Finnick and myself. "If we're doing this, we're taking precautions and not just running in." He shot a look at me. "Fin, go topside and wait in the van. We might need to get out of here fast."

Finnick shrugged, he obviously didn't care either way. He was probably just here to help Nick. Which I was grateful for. "That's fine, but can I wait for you guys in the police car? It's probably faster than my old ass van anyway."

"No way, that would not be.." Nick started but I cut him off, tossing my keys to Finnick. The smaller fox grinned triumphantly at Nick.

"That's actually a good idea. If they see us and we book it, they could clear out of here completely by the time the police show up. But if Finnick can radio the station from my car, they will already be on their way."

Finnick shoved the keys into his pocket and turned back to the main tunnel, giving a thumbs up as he went. I was a little worried about letting him have access to my car and my radio but if Nick trusted him, that was good enough for me.

Looking at Nick, however, told me that I may have made a mistake. But there was no going back now unless I wanted to compromise our mission.

We waited a few minutes in dark silence before moving on to make sure Finnick had enough time to get back to my car. I wasn't sure how long we should wait. Since I was really nervous wandering through the cave alone I was walking extremely slow. It made it difficult to gauge just how far away the entrance was.

Nick seemed to have a better idea because after a few minutes he stood from the cold ground and offered me a hand up. I felt a shiver go up my spine as I peered into the dark tunnel. We would either find the last piece we needed to close this case or we could die down here. And if we died, it would be my fault for rushing in so carelessly.

Whatever anger Nick had toward me before seemed to have disappeared. He gave me a warm smile and motioned for me to lead the way. I wanted to argue since he could clearly see a lot better down here than me but I thought better of it.

Every few yards Nick would grab my shoulder to stop me from walking. I think he was trying to listen for something without the sound of our feet on the rocks. Eventually, I could hear the voices too.

There likely wouldn't be anywhere for us to hide so our best bet to stay safe would be to inch up close enough that my camera could see what was going on. The main thing I needed was confirmation that William was in fact down here.

Once we were close enough that the voices became clear we both dropped down to crawl the rest of the way. I tried not to notice how naturally Nick seemed to move on all fours or how his movements were suddenly silent.

Myself on the other hand, I had my feet and only one hand on the ground so that I could hold my phone with the other hand. It made my movements awkward and much louder than his. I started to record when I heard a voice I was pretty sure belonged to William.

The tunnel started to light up a bit as the voices grew louder. It was a dim light but it was better than the pure darkness we had been wandering through. I nearly dropped my phone when something that was not stone came into view as we rounded a slight bend.

It was just a large wooden crate. Feeling foolish for getting scared by a large box, I motioned to Nick that we should move up to it. The crate seemed to be falling to pieces but it would give us enough cover to hide behind. We inched our way closer at a painstakingly slow pace.

Once we were right up against the splintering wood, I moved my phone around the edge. I wasn't about to look past the crate myself and risk being spotted but I could see what was going on from the phone screen. It looked like a makeshift lab had been set up.

The walls had clear plastic tarps roughly attached to the stone. A few tables from the restaurant were pressed together in order to create a long flat work surface. Similar lab equipment to what we saw on the subway train sat atop the tables.

And off in the corner watching the whole operation was William himself. I angled my camera so that he filled the frame and let the recording run for a few seconds. Once I was sure I had enough damning evidence I pulled the camera back and gave Nick a thumbs up to let him know we could leave.

I thought we would make it in and out completely undiscovered until a loud voice broke the silence behind us. "Yo, Billy, we got a problem. There's a cop car sitting outside with no cop in it. What should we… hey, what the fuck!"

Nick and I whipped around at the same time to another goat, one I hadn't seen before, standing a few yards behind us. It took him and the others in the tunnel a second to react but once the shock wore off, he lunged at us.

I dove to one side while Nick dove to the other. Sliding across the rocky ground ripped through my pant leg and tore into my skin. I could feel a little bit of blood soaking through the fabric already. The goat slammed into the crate, shattering it into a pile of wood.

The rest of the group was already in action running toward us. William was still in the same spot but he had stood up a little straighter, leaning on his cane. In an instant, Nick grabbed onto my hand and was practically dragging my back through the tunnel.

"Carrots, I think it's time to go. Hopefully Fin was able to call in backup already." I had hoped the small fox was able to hide or sit just out of view. The goat who attacked us said there was no cop in the car but he didn't say anything about a fox. If he saw Finnick, surely he would have said something.

I nearly dropped my phone as I tried to slip it back into my pocket without slowing my pace. After being in the lit part of the tunnel my eyes needed time to adjust to the complete darkness again, I was stumbling a bit with each step. The two goats that were in the group seemed to be able to see as well as I could while the otters were starting to fall behind a little bit.

Luckily for us, Nick was having no issue running through the dark at full speed. He tightened his grip on my hand whenever I stumbled and led us smoothly around each twist and turn.

By the time we made it back to the fork I could see decently well but that also meant the others were catching up. Whenever I was sure the ladder had to be just ahead of us, we were met with more dark cave.

An otter in a dark suit was right at my heels, his hand swiped at me a few times and I just barely managed to duck out of the way. At this rate, we might outrun them to the ladder but there was no way we would be able to climb up.

Unfortunately, that wasn't even a problem we had to face. From out of nowhere a goat appeared out our side. He slammed into us with his entire body. I lost my grip on Nicks hand when he took the majority of the hit.

We were both thrown across the floor. If I hadn't been cut up too badly before, I was now. The sharp rocks dug into my arms and legs. My right hip took a lot of impact as I landed and I could taste blood from a cut across my face.

I glanced up, knowing I would have to grit through the pain and keep running if we had even a glimmer of hope making it out of here when I saw Nick hit the wall hard. He landed in a heap on the ground a couple feet in front of me, the goat who hit us landing partially on top of him.

My heart skipped a beat. I could see Nick's head and right shoulder from behind the goat. He wasn't moving. Shoving my hands underneath me I winced and pushed myself off the ground, forgetting for a second that we were still being pursued.

When I got to Nick's side I noticed the rest of the group had formed two walls at either opening of the tunnel, blocking our way. The goat groaned and shifted as he stood up. Now that I was closer I could see that he wasn't on top of Nick, just right in front of him.

A hand grabbed onto my shoulder and pulled me back but let go immediately as multiple beams of lights filled the tunnel in front of us. A new voice echoed through the cave, "ZPD, put your hands where I can see them."

I ignored the voice and dropped back to Nicks side, hoping the officer who gave the command recognized me. Very gently, I rolled the fox onto his side, careful with his head. He was unconscious but breathing.

After a few shakes to his shoulder his eyes fluttered open. I was relieved to see that they had returned to their normal round appearance. While I was prepared to explain his "unusual" look and actions to the police, I preferred not to.

"Ow, I think I have a bit of a headache." He whispered, reaching up to grip the back of his head.

I didn't have a chance to ask if he was okay before Officer Delgato was at my side. "Officer Hopps, this way. I was instructed to get you both out of here right away," he said, motioning for us to follow him out of the tunnel while the rest of the officers began making their arrests.

I nodded at the lion but didn't look away from Nick. "Do you think you can stand up?" I asked, offering my hand to help him to his feet.

He reached out to accept my help but froze when the beam from Officer Delgatos flashlight reflected off the slick of blood soaked into the fur. I gasped slightly but Nick only laughed.

"Well, that is probably going to leave a mark." The hand I was offering to help him up instead smacked his arm. "What? At least I wasn't shot with anything this time. I call that a win."

He had a point but I didn't like it. I grabbed one of his arms and the officer grabbed the other to help him to his feet. Once standing, Nick seemed to be a little more okay. In fact, I was having more trouble walking the last bit of the cave than he was.

When we climbed the ladder, he stopped halfway up, swaying a little bit. Another officer standing at the top reached down to help him the rest of the way out. The bits of gravel stuck in my wounds stung as I climbed but I still scrambled up the metal bars as fast as I could.

Back inside the restaurant I stood squinting in the bright light. Finnick was waiting for us, leaning against the rusty play equipment and as far away from the action as he could be. He was twirling my car keys around one finger. Instead of going to where he was standing, we were both led straight to a few ambulances parked alongside a row of police cars.

Very quickly the EMTs led us in opposite directions to be looked over by different teams. A coyote cut away large chunks of my pants, leaving them as choppy looking shorts. She worked to remove some of the larger bits of rock and dab at the wounds with an antiseptic.

After a few minutes of insisting none of my wounds hurt too badly, she let me go. I had to promise I would go to the hospital as soon as possible but the EMT was pretty sure nothing needed stitches this time. I was quite grateful for that.

As soon as I was cleared, I rushed over to the ambulance Nick had been led to. He was sitting on the edge of the bumper laughing with the EMT who was examining the cut on the back of his head.

I really admired how he could seem so relaxed and jovial when I was still shaking and holding back tears. He waved me over when he noticed me. "Hey, Carrots, as much as I really want to stick around and watch them drag that goat out in handcuffs, Taylor here thinks I might have a concussion and is insisting I go to the hospital right away."

I looked behind him to the EMT who had stepped back and was now removing her gloves. "I don't think you have a concussion. You absolutely do." Tossing the gloves into a labeled bin, she motioned to the stretcher next to her.

Judging by the look on her face, she had already told Nick to move onto it before I got here. Nick rolled his eyes but complied. I positioned myself so that he could lean on my shoulder. The small wince that he tried to hide told me his head was hurting a lot more than he let on.

"Is it okay if I ride with him?" I asked the EMT. It was probably a bad idea to leave my car here with Finnick still holding the keys but it wasn't like he was going to drive off with it when there were so many officers around.

"Sure, if it's okay with Nick. We need to leave right now though, sit here." Nick nodded and she motioned to a small bench seat at the back of the ambulance. I grabbed onto one of the handles to pull myself up the tall steps when I heard my name from somewhere near the restaurant.

Chief Bogo was waving to get my attention. "Hopps! I need you over here." I looked back at Nick before climbing back to the ground.

"I'll be fine. Text me when you are at the hospital, okay?" He pulled his phone out of his pocket and waved it around. "Since my phone wasn't destroyed this time and you've learned how to turn yours back on." I tried to laugh at his joke but panic still coursing through my body made it sound more like a sob.

Someone slammed the heavy metal doors closed and the large vehicle took off down the road. A few steps behind the chief, William was being escorted from the decaying building toward one of the police cars. I could see that most of the cars were already filled with angry looking mammals.

William looked the most murderous. His eyes remained locked on me as he walked past. I tried to look straight ahead but my eyes kept wandering to the side.

"Hopps." The chief almost looked more angry than the goat did. At first, I couldn't figure out why. We had just closed the Nite Bite case and put an end to a dangerous drug being out on the streets.

Right. I did run off to a dangerous location alone without informing anyone at the ZPD. Clawhauser knew I was wanting to look into it but I didn't tell him any of my plans past that.

And I also let a civilian have access to my car and radio. I made a mental note that I needed to get my keys back from Finnick as soon as I could. It would probably be good to find out exactly what he said over the radio too.

As I approached the chief of police, I decided to play dumb. "Yes Chief? What did you need from me? I was hoping to ride to the hospital with Nick, the EMT I was talking to said that I needed to get some of my cuts checked out anyway."

Chief Bogo grunted and crossed his arms, surveying the scene in front of us. William had been the last mammal led out of the building and a few officers were putting police tape over the door to the building. The rest were standing in small groups, probably waiting for further instruction

I noticed Finnick had moved over next to his van, probably trying to stay out of sight as much as possible. If his van wasn't completely blocked in, he probably would have left already and taken my keys with him.

"Good work, Officer Hopps." I turned back to the chief. He still hadn't looked at me and his expression was unchanged. "You and I need to have a serious talk about procedure and officer safety, however."

When he finally looked my way, I noticed the look in his eyes was soft despite his harsh expression. "Um, thank you sir. Of course, I completely understand."

When the officer with William finished speaking with him and slammed the car door closed, the chief unfolded his arms. "Are you good to drive yourself to the hospital? I can have Officer Delgato take you if you need."

Everything was sore but I could move just fine and hadn't lost too much blood this time. I was fine, and I didn't really feel like chatting with anyone right now. "I'm good to drive. Thank you for the concern though, is there anything else you need from me or am I good to go?"

"Was the younger goat down there? Micheal, I believe? My officers did not see him but the tunnel did seem to go on quite a bit past the lab."

I didn't see WIlliams nephew when I was recording but my camera may not have caught everything. "I don't think so, I didn't see him. As soon as I get to the hospital I can send you what I recorded when we were down there."

He nodded and relayed the information through his radio. "Alright. Did you see anything else down there?

"No, we didn't go any further into the cave than the lab. There is a split in the tunnel, we went down the right side first but it was empty as far as we could tell."

"Thank you for the information. I will see you in my office at eight am sharp tomorrow morning. Until then, get some rest and get those cuts looked at." He turned away from me and spoke to the nearest officer. A second later, that officer was instructing the others to move their vehicles out of the way so that I could leave.

As I passed the beat up old van that was next to my police cruiser Finnick handed my keys off to me and quickly as he could, as if holding onto them was burning his hand or something. "Thanks, Julie, I can cross "driving a police car" off the bucket list."

He was already climbing back into his own vehicle before I could ask if he was joking or not. There was just enough room next to my car with the other officers moving that he could pull out of the parking lot and speed away.

With so many tire tracks filling the muddy parking lot, it was impossible to tell if my car had been moved or not. I climbed into the front seat, not caring that I was getting blood on the dark faux leather. I would have to make sure to clean it tomorrow morning before my meeting with Bogo but that was a problem for later.

I wasn't sure if they would take Nick to the nearest hospital here in Rainforest District or the same one he had been at previously. With so many eyes on my car, I decided to start driving and pull over a few blocks away to text Nick rather than do it here.

He didn't specifically need to see Dr. Clawson this time but I was worried about what might happen if they drew blood for anything. There was a mostly empty parking lot outside of a movie theater that I pulled into.

Nick responded almost immediately after I sent my text. He said that they were pulling into Rainfall Memorial Hospital. Luckily, that was just a few miles away. I responded that I would see him in just a few minutes and tossed my phone onto the passenger seat.

*O*O*O*