Wolford rubbed his eyes and yawned as he reinserted his phone into his pocket. He was glad that as a detective, he could wear less flashy clothes, but it did mean he had to remember to keep his badge safe. Very rarely was he required to bring his uniform in. It had the added benefit of Wolford always saying he is on duty, even if he isn't. Now, however, was one of the few times he had to wear his actual uniform. Since he was acting on official police business, where instead of a detective, he is acting on a lead, he had to represent the ZPD. "Ms. Hopps, I need to follow a lead and well, the anonymous individual requested you accompany me." Judy looked at the wolf then started to smile. She was feeling extremely giddy at the chance to act like a proper police officer.

"I will do my best to act within protocol."

"You're not a cop so don't bother, it will all be classed as an assist and or self-defence, in other words, that only applies to me."

"It may apply to me later."

"Right, I forgot about that."

"But it was like-"

"So? I had other shit to deal with." Wolford explained, not caring for the full extent of the conversation he had with her before. "Besides, I'm tired and working overtime currently."

"Ooof, how will this be rectified?"

"I'll get a little extra pay and everyone will be a little safer in the streets."

"Or at work." Judy added while rubbing her neck.

Wolford looked at Judy quickly and noticed that. He wanted to say something but decided against that. To occupy his thoughts, he decided to think what he would say to Spectre as he would meet him for the first time.

"She didn't want to kill me." Judy suddenly stated almost out of nowhere.

"Hmm?" Wolford was completely confused by that statement. He then processed the words he heard. "Wait? How do you know?"

"She's similar to him, you know Spectre, but there was something off about her. She was very emotionally unstable. She very easily just got angry then faded back. I know what it looks like when you want a mammal dead, I assume you do as well since you're a cop, she didn't have that look, that feel." Judy stopped. "I sound so weird, don't I?" She then chuckled under her breath awkwardly, fearing what the cop would think.

"Huh, so it wasn't intended, then what was the intent, the goal?"

"If I had to guess by her lovely conversation skills, Spectre. Wait, we're going to meet up with him, and she wants him dead, or captured or something, hard to tell right now, but worst case scenario lets say, so captured."

"Remind me, why would captured be the worst?"

"They could try convert him and succeed. Would you want to fight him?" Judy asked rhetorically. "Now, are we sure it will be safe?" Just as she asked that question, a bike sped past and perfectly slipped a small paper through the tiny gap in the ajar window. "Woah. That was impressive."

"That was also highly illegal." Wolford took no notice of the paper slip that was given discreetly.

"I was more referring to him giving the note." Wolford held himself back from turning the sirens on and giving chase. "Yeah, I think it was your new found friend." She opened up the note and read it quietly. "10-61 and then 76045." She blinked. Wolford waited for a second expecting something else. "That's it."

"10-61. He used a radio 10 code. Why?"

"So he wants to give a message and didn't give a method of receiving the message."

Wolford thought for a couple seconds. "The 10 code is a clue." He whispered under his breath. "That code is a clue for the other part."

"What are you talking about?" Judy was completely confused but Wolford hurried up to the police station. "Can you tell me?"

"10-61 first."

"I know what 10-61 means, can you explain the second part?!"

"Ms. Hopps, I refuse to believe you know 10 codes and don't obey them when told to."

"Oh, right, I was too preoccupied with solving this." Wolford grabbed something from his glove box and pawed it to Judy. "A lighter? I know your a smoker but it is illegal to smoke in the car."

"No, wow, you thought I was.. never mind that, just burn the note. Then throw it outside or put it in the ash tray, your call but make it quick." Judy set the note ablaze quickly and then placed it on the ash tray. "Don't ask why I have one here, I thought it looked good so I kept it and since I'm in the car for more than in my actual home, there we go." Wolford then pulled into the police station parking lot. "A higher rank has its perks, I'll be honest. But don't be fooled, it does have its issues as well."

"I noticed that part." The two left the car and entered the building. "So what's the plan?"

"I need to get changed and then we need to well 10-61. I'm trusted enough to do this on my own accord. It will still all be as close to protocol as what I'm about to do will be. I'm still not too happy with it." He headed to his office, while Judy followed closely behind. "Hey, with all due respect, I'm a married mammal." Wolford quipped before getting into his office." Judy froze in front of the door and smiled awkwardly as she realised what he meant.

She sat down on a seat not to far away from his office and next to the interrogation rooms. A few minutes later a familiar fox walked up to her. "Hey Judy, surprised to see me here?"

"Well, yeah, I am. What on earth are you doing in a police station?" The fox just smiled as he heard that. "No seriously, Nick, what are you doing here?"

"My day job. Believe it or not, I actually do my job." Nick was about to laugh by how confused Judy was. "What? I'm a lawyer, got an issue with that?"

"No, no, just why did you never tell me?"

"Kinda hard to weave into a conversation, don't you think?" Nick then wiped his nose. "Oh, did you see the news, yeah, that was crazy what happened over there. I know, right? Hopefully it doesn't happen over here. By the way, I'm a lawyer, just thought I'd mention that about now."

Judy chuckled a bit at that. "Okay, I get what you mean, it is difficult to bring up out of nowhere, especially a career path like that." Judy rolled her eyes. "Not exactly the most liked profession in the world."

"As if police have it any better, I could count on one paw how many officers don't take bribes." Nick then shown two fingers. "The chief of this precinct and Wolford. I don't want to tell him that Fangmeyer also takes bribes but he will find out eventually I think, or maybe he already knows and is trying to lie to himself." Nick feigned a smile while Judy looked heavily in thought. "Don't tell him though, it could make his job harder emotionally."

"Huh, that is disappointing." She then froze. "Wait how did you get here before us? You gave us a note and drove the other way, so how?"

"I was on a bike, right? I took a few shortcuts and maybe violated a few traffic laws but, I was careful while doing so." Judy heard a door open and saw Wolford leaving his office in police uniform. The two locked eyes and Wolford approached the rabbit and fox duo. Nick quickly stood up and gave his paw. "Still no animosity between us?"

Wolford smiled and chuckled. "No, Mr. Wilde, there isn't any." Wolford then took the paw. "We need mammals like you who actually keep the innocent out of the place that is meant to punish the guilty. But, I also understand if you protect the actually guilty, you do have a job to do, just avoid another 'Big' situation."

"Right, I needed the money back then, luckily I'm much better off now so, I shouldn't have to do something like that." Nick retorted quickly, understanding what Wolford meant. "By the way, I told you to call me Nick, I'm not a saint or a superior." Wolford chuckled at that and Judy just thought to herself 'You could really say that again'. "But seriously, you're the cop, you risk your life, not me."

"Didn't you say that you carry a sidearm because you sometimes have to deal with more dangerous individuals?" Wolford quickly countered, trying to humble himself and give more praise to the defence attorney before him. "Just because I'm the cop doesn't mean that you have a completely peaceful life, you still have to stick your neck out for some form of gain." Nick rubbed his neck to not look as high and mighty, but honestly he enjoyed the praise. "What I'm saying is, don't discredit yourself because of something I do, you are still very important to the city, remember that."

"I guess I don't have a choice but to hold my head up high." Nick stood up straighter, fixing his posture. He then looked at his watch. "Gotta help my client, see ya Wolfy, good luck and shame to see you on overtime."

"He always knows somehow, I guess after this long of being here, it's no surprise." Michael commented. "Anyways, I did what I had to so, time to bounce." He then looked at the rabbit. "I didn't mean it like that. It was just a terrible coincidence." Judy shook her head in disbelief and chuckled. She stood up and walked back to the parking lot. "Shit, if my wife is any indicator, that's not a good sign." He sighed and prayed that nothing bad was going to happen. Wolford straightened his tie and headed towards his car as well.

Judy was standing next to Wolford's car and waited for a couple minutes. "What took you so long? I don't bite." She then smiled. "Come on, you have a job to do."

"Right." Wolford responded bluntly and curtly. "Speaking of which, how is your job?"

"Good but certain individuals seem to not like me very much as an employee or maybe even a mammal." Judy quipped darkly. She then awkwardly chuckled and discarded the thoughts.

"So, what is it you do?"

"I'm a florist temporarily, I was attacked at work."

Wolford facepawed and then wiped his muzzle with his paw as it slid down. "Shit." He then let out by accident. He then turned to the rabbit. "I-I forgot completely, it's written down just, that's in records not in my mind."

"You give yourself too much flak, officer, it's okay, I don't mind. I've had worse encounters." Wolford raised an eyebrow and in response Judy raised her arm. Wolford nodded once but deeply to show his understanding. He then turned the ignition. "Where to?"

"You'll see." Wolford didn't want to risk be compromised but the uniform probably didn't help at all.

"But I can't tell you right now." Judy nodded and threw her paw forward. Wolford then drove off, making sure he wasn't tailed. "Tell me if we have a tail." He then pointed to his glove box. "There should be a firearm I temporarily confiscated from a rabbit in there. It's a handgun so you should be able to use it as well."

"Is this legal?"

"Under my supervision, yes."

"That's oddly convenient." Judy opened the glove box. "Oooh, a SIG P226. Nice, I guess."

"That's what that is?" Wolford asked genuinely. He wasn't too big on firearms.

Judy pulled out the magazine and checked how many bullets were in it. "16 rounds? Used or the user was poor and couldn't afford a full mag." She then turned to the driver. "Any extra mags?"

"There should be one extra magazine there as well." Judy searched the glove box quickly. After a couple of seconds she found a full magazine. The magazine looked almost identical to the one in the gun.

"Glad to see it was his as well, so he did use it."

"Err, does that mean..."

"I don't think so, most don't kill mammals." Judy reassured; she didn't want to cause the wolf to worry too much. Wolford side-eyed Judy quickly then turned back to the road. Judy then looked up and realised that they were going through small side alleys that was practically invisible to most normal mammals. "You know this place well."

"I had to, when you have a brother like me, you learn quick."

"Brother? Would I know him?"

"If you know Spectre, probably."

"Wait, what do you mean by that?"

"He's not exactly a respectable mammal." Wolford thought back to the bank robbery. "He's nothing like me, he does what he does to survive, I think, I don't know. All I know is he's a criminal and works for the Saharan crime lord."

"Works for Shorty, I mean Finnick?"

"Err, did you call him 'Shorty'? That's a bit disrespectful, I mean he is still a scary threat that exists. But yes, last time I checked, he works for Finnick." Wolford was starting to be really suspicious of the rabbit next to him. He then noticed her checking the barrel."You know how to use that?"

"The how is the easy part, point and click, most mammals understand that, and the gun is cleared before you ask." Judy answered, knowing what it looked like she was doing at that very moment. "Wait, I'm not in trouble right now, am I?"

"Barely, you don't seem to have done anything illegal yet." Judy released a sigh. 'Hopefully, he doesn't change his mind about how legal my actions are.' She then loaded the gun and turned the safety on.

"What will you be using?"

"Standard issue pistol, given to me a couple weeks after graduation. It works perfectly fine so I keep it, but I'm not too big on guns so I don't really try to improve it or my skills with it." Michael admitted. "Don't tell anyone, but I don't keep my gun loaded, sure the magazine is in and safety is off but never loaded." Judy opened her eyes wide open in shock. "Yeah, weird, a cop that doesn't shoot first, ask questions later." The two chuckled at that joke, then Mike started to sigh morosely. "I can't believe that what I said wasn't a joke."

Judy looked at the wolf for a second empathetically, she didn't truly understand how bad it was but, she knew that it couldn't've been nice for him. She didn't know what to say so instead, she just sat back and stared at the road in front of her. There was an awkward silence between the two as they both accidentally touched on topics that they shouldn't have. "I'm sorry for bringing that up." Judy finally said.

"Don't be, it wasn't your fault, you didn't know." Michael pulled up next some sort of abandoned house. "We're here." Both of them left the vehicle and walked inside. "Childhood home, before the whole mess happened." Judy stayed silent, she was pretty sure she knew what happened but wasn't willing to ask. Wolford pulled out a CB radio. "Remember you asked what the numbers meant? It was a radio frequency, it's quite specific so I'll need a minute." He started fiddling with the radio quickly, hoping to get it done quickly. "76045 Hz, that's what I need." He kept twisting the little part until finally he was sure he had it. "So glad I didn't cheap out on it before. It shows the exact frequency on the screen so I know what it is."

"Hello, Spectre, I got the frequency set up."

"Hey Ford, how ya doin'?" Spectre asked through the radio. "Actually, I'll be honest, don't care, you're probably tired and unenthusiastic, maybe even a little upset, quite possibly from untouched memories from the conversation you two had, oh yeah and hey Fluff." Judy rolled her eyes at that comment. "Before we continue, load your gun, and Judy, you might not have one so you would find one under the desk in the living room." Judy went to the living room and searched under the desk. There she saw three duct taped pistols on the underside of the table. "Actually, you should find three. One is actually for Mike here." She taken the tape off and taken the biggest gun first.

"Hmm, a five serpent, interesting." She pawed it over to the police officer. She then looked at the other two. She noticed that they were both Glock 18s with larger magazines locked in. "This could be interesting."

"Wait, you have a broken arm, I completely forgot, uhh, you can err, keep it by your side for now. Merry early Christmas, I guess." Spectre lied, he fully intended on giving two so that she could have more than one gun when she was out with him, if she was out with him. "Now, I knew you would go here for the 10-61. Shame what happened to who you tried to protect." Then there was a little chuckle. "Sometimes being overbearing causes a rift."

"Listen, I wanted my brother to be safe."

"And where did that bring you?" There was a momentary pause from Wolford. Spectre sighed, "Sorry, that was a low blow, even from me. He's safe, don't worry, mostly."

"Hey, if you kill him, I will come for you with every ounce of my strength I can recall, and I will also get every cop in the precinct to go after you."

"If I recall correctly, everyone of them want me dead anyways, so don't bother with that aspect." There was another pause. "Listen buddy, I like you so I'm willing to help you, but you need to set aside your hatred."

"It's not hatred, it's justice." Wolford spat back.

"Listen, I could've had you killed many times, even just today. Even right now. But I don't want to kill you, I told you Wolfy." Judy heard that and mentally facepawed. She feared that saying his name like that would reveal his identity. "Just go to the co-ordinates I'm about to read for you. Actually, no, I'll just read the address, much easier. 14 Den road, Rainforest district."

"I know, where Den road is." Wolford said sort of exasperated and tired. "I'll go there."

"Both of you make sure that the other doesn't die, that would be quite upsetting." Nick then almost broke character. "Okay, since I like you, what if I sweeten the deal for you? You'll get to meet with your dear brother. You good with that? I can't promise it will be soon but I promise I'll make it happen." Then there was a slight sigh from the radio."Do we have a deal?"

Wolford thought about it for a few seconds. "Fine, what do you want me to do?"

"I've gotten reports that there is a group of criminals planning an attack where I told you. I want you to prevent the attack, and arrest a few mammals, but be aware you may need to kill in self-defence, but I trust you to survive." Wolford slammed his fist against the nearest surface his paw found. "Now, you'll probably be angry about that, but I thought you wanted to serve justice lawfully."

"It would take forever to get a warrant though."

"Anonymous tip and suspicious behaviour is enough of an excuse no?"

"Fine, but this doesn't make us friends."

"What a shame, I thought we had a bond forming, anyways, you can't get everything, one step at a time, right? We'll get to know each other well and then maybe."

"Hell will freeze over before I befriend you." Wolford spat back aggressively. "I'll be going now." He tossed the radio upwards and towards Judy.

"Hey Spectre."

"Hey Carrots, how are you holdin' up?" Nick then started to whisper. "By the way, the second one is for when your arm works again. I thought you deserved it." He then spoke normally. "Make sure Wolfy doesn't get himself killed."

"I'll try to." Judy responded hesitantly, "But no promises."

"That's all I could ask for I guess, thanks." There were a few seconds of silence between the two. "Anyways, I gotta go now, you know other shit to do, and have to make sure the other one doesn't get himself killed."

"Yeah, you do that, and I'll see you at home?"

"Yeah, at home. See ya Judes." Nick answered hopefully, he wanted to make sure that she wouldn't get hurt again or die but he couldn't be in two places at once, no matter how good he was at seeming to do exactly that. "Don't die. Scramble the frequency, just in case, I'll do the same." Ended the conversation. Judy ran towards Wolford, who was in the next room.

"This was his room, his bedroom. Yeah, there were only three of us and two bedrooms but I slept on the couch, I let him have what was supposed to be my room, the better room." Wolford sighed. "I loved him and was willing to do anything to let him live easier or at least sleep a little easier at night." He started to reminisce. "We weren't rich, not by a long shot, but we made it through, thick and thin. I joined the police force the second I was of age and kept working the way I wanted to make sure they didn't suffer. Then one day, our father got sick, he struggled with everything for the next few months. Fortunately, because I was an officer for a few months by then, we had free healthcare. Didn't matter, he died in his sleep anyways." He walked over to the gramophone and let the record play. "Was his favourite song in his last few years." Judy recognised the song and started to sing along. It was 'Dream on – Aerosmith'. Wolford saw this and sang along to honour his fathers memory. He started to tear up while singing but sang through the tears and let all his emotions out. After the song ended, "I know you must be wondering, why did I tell you all this, and the answer is simple, I don't believe in keeping secrets, Fangmeyer knows all this as well. Last time I kept a secret, it caused Wallace to leave and never come back." He wiped his eyes and tried to keep it all together. "He's the reason I still work as an officer. I hope to one day help him and let him come back from his criminal path." He turned to Judy. "I only want him to be happy an safe, is that too much?"

Judy then hugged the wolf's legs. "Let the tears out, I won't judge you for it." She then looked up to the wolf. "Also, you could crouch down, that could make this look less awkward." Wolford opened his eyes and looked down, before laughing heartily at the sight before him. Wolford then crouched down. "There there, it's all okay."

"Yeah, I hope it is. It's just always difficult for me to work when I know the next mammal I could face is my brother."

"I understand, I don't know how I would behave if I had my brother be my enemy." Judy reassured. Wolford then stood back up and walked to the door.

"Time to go, we have a city to save." Wolford smiled as he said that. "Now, lets save it." Judy nodded and followed the wolf.

A/N:So, This chapter was interesting, I literally just winged it, I won't lie. Did it come out better than expected, I think so, but that's also a trend for me recently so, maybe I'm just hard on myself?

I think I did a decent job explaining Michael's reasoning for working as a cop tat isn't just I want to make the world a better place. As much as I like that reason, it's a bit generic no? So I made it personal to him.

As much as I'd like to say my life is crazy or whatever, I have literally nothing happening right now so, it's quite boring.

With that being said, I'll see you guys next time and I'll wish you a good one.