Disclaimer: Zootopia and all related characters are owned by Disney. All other characters, product names, trademarks, and copyrights, belong to their respective owners.

…..

Pawson was driving an older model unmarked car he had checked out of the impound earlier in the morning. Driving through what looked like an old industrial park in a pretty bad part of town just across the tracks from the docks, Pawson was checking addresses looking for their destination.

The ride had been quiet except for the occasional tap, tap, tap of Judy exchanging texts with Nick. Glancing over at Judy, Pawson figured Wilde was giving her a few last-minute tips until he saw the bunny smile and quickly tap back a short message, make a happy humming noise, and then slip her phone into her back pocket.

Pawson cleared his throat to get Judy's attention.

Looking over at Pawson, Judy quickly pasted a neutral look on her face, and innocently asked, "Yes?"

Pawson shook his head, "Anything else from Wilde?"

"Nope."

Pawson nodded and was about to say something about hormonal teenagers when Judy pointed at a large brick building on her side of the street, "Connor, that's the building we want. And there's the gate over there."

Turning into a driveway and pulling the car up to the entrance of a fenced yard, Pawson opened his window and nodded to the mammal standing watch at the gate, "We're here to see Thorn."

The guard mammal opened the gate and waved them in. Pawson found a spot and backed the car in so that, if needed, it was an easy straight shot out of the yard.

Pawson got out of the car and walked around to open Judy's door so she could get out. As his partner jumped down from the seat and started to walk toward the building entrance, Pawson followed a few steps behind Judy. Looking closely at the rabbit, Pawson shook his head, "Hopps, hold up."

Judy turned around, "Yeah?"

Pawson put his paw out, "Come on, you promised."

Judy innocently looked up at Pawson with her eyes wide, "What?"

Pawson made a gimme motion with his paw.

Judy huffed, "Fine," and reached under the back of her purple blouse and pulled out a small set of nunchakus and gave them to Pawson. Turning, she made to quickly get to the building entrance when she was stopped again by Pawson's gruff voice.

"Hopps…"

Judy stood with her back to him for a few seconds and then let out a loud sigh as her shoulders sagged in defeat. Reaching down to her leg, she lifted the cuff of her jeans up and pulled a small knife holder off her leg. Head down, she quickly walked back to Pawson and slapped the knife into his outstretched paw and then went up to the door to wait for him.

Pawson did his best not to smirk as he walked up to where the unhappy bunny was glaring at him while tapping her foot. Pawson looked at Judy as he knocked on the large door and then whispered, "Alright Hopps, put your game face on, it's showtime."

…..

Smiling, Nick read the last text from Judy, slipped his phone into his pocket, and waited for Buckstein to mosey on up to where Nick was waiting for him.

As he waited, Nick stretched a little and wagged his tail. He was still recovering from yesterday but in a good way. He'd stuck around for a little while after the press conference to shake some paws, sign autographs and have his picture taken while holding a few kits. Thankfully, the photographer wrapped the picture taking part up just before Mrs. Davidson tried to get a picture of Nick holding her precious, tree climbing, puke machine.

Once the mayor had released him from his PR duties, Nick had made a beeline back to the Hopps' warren for the most important part of the evening, blueberry cobbler. While eating that wonderful dessert, Nick was sure he'd died and gone to heaven, he swore to all the food gods that life couldn't possibly get any better until that fateful moment when he'd finished his last bite of pie and… Mrs. H. brought him another piece. Janae and Sunni had both laughed at the joyous expression on Nick's face as he looked at the second piece of pie and then jumped up and gave Bonnie the biggest hug, all the while pleading with her to adopt him.

Of course, the biggest surprise was yet to come. After dinner was done, and Nick had finished watching 'Meowana' with all the kits, and a good number of the older Hopps does, Sunni and her littermates made Nick close his eyes as they led him back to his room. As soon as the door was opened, all the kits ran into his bedroom and started jumping up and down on a new bed.

Smiling, Bonnie poked her head in from the doorway to make sure the bed would work for Nick and then shooed all the acrobatic kits out of the room. As the kits left, Nick gave them all a goodnight hug, and it was then that Sunni gave him the best present a fox could get, Sunni promised to let Nick sleep-in for a whole extra half-hour before she and her littermates would be in to wake him up in the morning.

"You young kits, always in a hurry. All that rushing around is a waste of a nice morning if'n you ask me."

Nick was about to roll his eyes when he noticed an old buck, holding the arm of a young ferret kit who looked to be about fourteen years old, waving at him and Buckstein. "Hey, Buckstein, it looks like something is going on over there." Nick nodded toward the hobby store where the buck was waving.

Walking over, Nick put on a friendly smile and greeted the buck, "Good morning, is there a problem?"

The old buck looked past Nick and angrily spoke to Buckstein, "Deputy, I want you to arrest this predator, he's been taking things out of my store for a couple of weeks now."

The young boy looked up at the angry buck, "Sir, I was just looking, I haven't taken anything. I swear." Looking to Nick, he pleaded, "I promise, I would never steal anything."

Nick moved forward and put a paw on the youngster's shoulder and gently pulling the boy away from the old buck he asked, "What's your name?"

"Charlie Duncan, sir."

"Every night, I take inventory, and the days I remember seeing him in the store, things end up missing."

Nick looked at the boy, he was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, but he wasn't carrying anything and didn't have anything in his pockets, "Sir, what's missing from the store, and why do you think it was Charlie that took it?"

"He was walking around the store, and one of the collectible Iron Mammal figurines I just got in is missing, I know I didn't sell one, so it had to have been him."

The boy stood with his head down. "I was just looking at it, I'm trying to save enough money to buy one."

Nick shook his head, "Sir, he obviously doesn't have anything with him, are you sure the figurine wasn't just misplaced?"

"He must have hidden it somewhere because it's missing. Deputy Buckstein, would you please handle this. I'm tired of my merchandise disappearing."

Before Buckstein could respond, Nick put up a paw, "Sir, this doesn't make any sense, how about we go inside and take a look around." Buckstein nodded and motioned for everyone to head into the store.

The store was decent sized and carried everything that a teenage kit might want. Toys, hobby supplies, comic books, small gaming electronics, books, movies, snacks, and the collectibles that the old buck had been talking about. Nick even saw a few boxes full of old vinyl records, maybe later he'd stop back and take a look at what the old bun had in stock, Nick didn't know why, but listening to an analog recording always felt more real to him than something in a digital format.

The boy led the group over to the section where the figurines were on display, and then the old buck pushed his way in front of the ferret and pointed to an empty space on the shelf, "See right there, this morning there were two of those figurines, and now there's only one, and I haven't sold any today."

Nick looked around and up at the ceiling, "Any security cameras that might have picked up who took the toy?"

"Pffft, no, never needed a camera, up until now, that is."

Nick huffed, "Okay, we'll do this the hard way." Leaning down to the boy, he motioned to his paw, "Charlie, let me smell your paw."

The old buck whispered to Buckstein, "What's he doing?"

Buckstein shook his head, "Mr. Fehler, didn't you see the mayor's press conference? This is how Officer Wilde found the Thrasher kits."

After getting the boy's scent, Nick sniffed around the display and the remaining figurine in its box. Picking up the box, Nick noticed one of the top flaps was torn; not being 'Mint in Box' would diminish its value as a collectible.

Before the old buck was able to add damaging merchandise to the list of the boy's crimes, the kit spoke up, "I didn't do that, it was that way when I was looking at them. The other one was fine."

Nick took a sniff of the box and nodded, "There are two fresh scents on the box, Charlie's is one of them, let's see about the other."

Nick sniffed around a little more and started to follow a scent trail. Fortunately, the trail was still fresh, and he didn't need to get down low to follow it. Nick moved to the end of the aisle and stopped in front of a display case full of comic books. He smelled the fresh scent on a couple of the comics and then followed it over to another aisle.

The trail led Nick to the snack section, and after sniffing around, he found the scent he was following on a few potato chip bags, a package of black licorice, and a bag of gummi bears. Following the trail a little further, it stopped again in front of the drink cooler. Nick opened the refrigerator and noticed the diet drinks were completely untouched, whereas the high sugar, caffeinated drinks were well handled.

The trail continued to the back of the store where the restrooms were. Nick paused in front of the male mammals' room, expecting the trail to lead into the bathroom, but instead, it continued on to a door at the end of the hallway.

Looking at Fehler, he asked, "Where does that go?"

"Storeroom, customers aren't allowed back there."

…..

A small sliding aperture door opened, and someone looked out. After a moment, the slider closed, and the large door opened wide.

With a sneer, a twentysomething Hyena looked at the two mammals on the step and turned to another gang member, "Go tell Thorn, the rabbit is here."

Looking back at Judy, the hyena pointed to the room behind him, "Wait over there by the bar."

Pawson grunted at the hyena and then led Judy toward the old-style wooden bar on the far side of the large room. As Pawson entered the space, he was blocked by a brown bear who stood up and planted himself in front of the large wolf. Pawson calmly stared at the bear and then cracked the knuckles of his paws as he stretched out his fingers and balled them back into fists.

The bear sneered at Pawson until Judy stepped between them and calmly looking up at her partner said, "Connor, what did I say about killing mammals today?"

Looking properly chastised, he replied, "Sorry, ma'am, force of habit."

Pawson stepped back, and Judy continued past the two large mammals, without a thought for either one of them, and made her way to the bar. The bear gulped, watching Judy settle herself as if she didn't have a care in the world.

Pawson growled at the bear and was about to step back in to make a point about him being in the way when he heard Judy snap her fingers and point to a spot next to her by the bar. Pawson gave the bear a final glare and then went to where Judy had indicated and waited for Thorn to meet them.

As Judy stood by the bar, she took a look around at the large room. It reminded her of the common room in her freshman dorm. There were a couple of pool tables, a ping pong table, and a few old-style video games, even an old pinball machine. She saw, off to one side of the room, a large screen TV with a few couches spread around filled with young mammals watching some sort of game show.

Judy's ears swiveled as she heard a voice from behind her, "Something to drink, cutie?"

Pawson heard the comment and turned to face the ill-mannered, smirking coyote that had just made a terrible mistake.

"Pup, unless you're a rabbit, you best not be calling the lady that."

The coyote chuckled and nodded for Pawson to look behind him.

Judy was the first to turn and see three mammals arrayed around the wolf, waiting for him to notice them. The biggest was a young lion who smiled as he flicked open a switchblade and started to wave it around.

"Come on, old-timer, let's dance."

Judy casually gestured in the lion's direction and said, "Connor, mind yourself, he has a knife."

Pawson finished turning around and snorted, "Ma'am, that's not a knife…"

Putting his paw under his jacket, Pawson reached around to the sheath strapped to his back and pulled out a Bowie knife that was easily as long as his forearm. Slowly waving the large, razor-sharp blade in front of the lion, Pawson said in a low rumble, "…this is a knife."

The young lion's eyes went wide as the light reflected off the blade's edge floating in front of his muzzle. About to take a step back, he was halted by a voice coming from behind Judy.

"Enough, Billy. You don't know who you're playing with there, and if you want to stay pretty for your date tonight, I suggest you mind your manners and show our guests a little more respect."

Judy turned to face the voice and saw a fox standing in front of her. This had to be Thorn, sandy-colored fur and ears almost as big as Finn's.

Judy put out her paw and said, "Hello, you must be—"

Gently taking Judy's paw and lifting it to his lips, he lightly kissed the back of her paw and said, "Axl Thorn at your service, and you must be the illustrious Judy Hopps. It is truly a pleasure to have a beautiful creature, such as yourself, grace this tired old establishment."

After releasing her paw, Judy smiled, "Thank you, Mr. Thorn. Although it seems as if some of your associates could learn a lesson or two from you on the finer points of hospitality." Judy flicked an ear toward the coyote behind the bar and tilted her head.

Thorn's eyes narrowed as he focused on a suddenly nervous barkeep who was looking back and forth between his angry boss and a smiling wolf who was cleaning a claw with the tip of his large knife.

Coughing, the young mammal quietly said, "Sorry about calling you cu.., um, sorry, ma'am."

Signaling to the coyote that his lesson in proper manners would continue later, Thorn glanced at Pawson, dismissed him as muscle-bound window dressing incapable of intelligent thought, and then focused back on Judy.

"What can I do for you today, Miss Hopps?"

"I was told you may be able to provide me some information on an issue that I am looking into. As a matter of fact, my very good friend, Nick Wilde, advised me to seek your counsel, and he also wanted me to let you know that he respects your knowledge of the docks and the influence of your organization."

As Judy finished, she noticed the room had gone quiet. Judy kept her facial expression neutral and waited for Thorn's response. After a moment, Thorn inclined his head to Judy and held it for a second. Judy carefully returned the motion, making sure her slight nod was no deeper than Thorn's.

"This way, Miss Hopps."

Judy moved toward where Thorn had indicated, and as she did, Pawson straightened up to follow.

Thorn glanced at Pawson and then at the lion with the switchblade, "Billy, why don't you and the rest of the crew keep our friend here entertained while I speak with our guest."

As all the animals in the room stood and grinned, Billy cracked his knuckles and replied, "Our pleasure, sir, take your time."

Not wanting to leave Connor alone with a room full of violent thugs, Judy was about to say something when Connor caught her eye. He gave her a slight nod to let her know that it was more important for her to go and get the information they needed than for her to worry about him. Connor turned to face the group of animals in front of him and flashed all his sharp teeth in a grin designed to send shivers down most mammal's backs. With his paw out, Connor pointed at Billy and then opened and closed his curled fingers motioning for the lion to 'Bring It On.'

Thorn smiled as his guys moved to ready themselves, and then placing his paw on Judy's elbow, he gently guided her away from what was about to happen.

…..

Opening the storeroom door, Nick led the group into a large space filled with boxes, old items, packing material, and some small electronics on a bench waiting to be repaired. The scent trail led to a corner space that had been walled off with old boxes, a couple of wooden pallets, and a few heavy curtains. On one of the temporary walls, there was a covered entryway where Nick pulled back the curtains. Nick took a look inside the space and then, still holding the curtain open, he stepped back and motioned for the old buck to take a look.

Fehler stepped into the makeshift clubhouse and saw his grandson, who was supposed to be working, sitting with headphones on, eating chips, and playing a video game. Looking over at a small table to the side, Fehler saw the missing figurine in its box sitting next to a couple of comics in their protective covers and an unopened video game cartridge.

Walking up to the oblivious buck, Fehler pulled the headphones off the kit's head and dropped them in the buck's lap. The kit jumped up and saw the crowd of mammals in his secret space and quickly realized he was in big trouble.

Nick, Charlie, and Buckstein stood and watched as the buck was grabbed by one of his ears and pulled over to the group. "This is my grandson."

The old buck looked at the group, "I'm sorry I wasted your time, Deputy Buckstein, I'll take care of this from here."

Nick cleared his throat and nudged Charlie forward. Seeing the boy, the old buck looked at him for a moment and then said, "Son, I need to apologize to you. I'm sorry for accusing you of taking things from my store." Fehler leaned over and picked up the figurine and held it out to the young ferret, "Here you go, take this with my apologies."

The boy looked up at the old buck, "Thank you, sir, but I can't accept that. My mom said that I'm not allowed to take handouts, that I have to work hard for what I want because that's the only way other mammals will ever respect me."

Fehler stood for a moment, looked at his grandson, and then back at the ferret. "Your mom sounds like a very smart mammal. So, how about I offer you a job instead. I suddenly have an opening and need someone to help me with the inventory and keeping the store clean."

Nick watched as Charlie thought about Fehler's offer. Nick knew what it was like to be accused of being a criminal by another mammal just because of his species. He could also tell that Mr. Fehler was genuinely sorry for what he'd done and was trying to find a way to make things right.

Putting a paw on Charlie's shoulder, Nick leaned down to speak with him, "Hey, Charlie. Can I tell you a story?"

"Okay."

"A little over a year ago, I had a ZPD Officer accuse me of breaking the law by selling products without the proper paperwork. That officer was wrong. I had all the right permits, and that officer ended up apologizing to me, and later, that same officer asked me to apply for a job so we could work together. Do you want to know what I did?"

Staring wide-eyed at Nick, Charlie shook his head.

"I accepted the apology, and applied for the job, and that officer is now my best friend and my partner. Saying yes to her was the best decision I've ever made in my whole life."

Charlie chewed his lip as he considered Nick's story and then reached his paw out to Mr. Fehler, "Thank you, sir. I accept."

"Holding the box back out, the old buck said, "Good, and please take this as a, um…"

Nick quietly added, "A signing bonus?"

"Yes, please take it as a bonus, and I'll see you tomorrow morning at ten sharp."

The excited boy nearly skipped out of the store to go tell his mom that he'd just gotten a great job and a figurine of his most favorite superhero character.

The old bun sighed and looked at his grandson, "Now what to do with you. Your dad and I both agree you need a summer job, but obviously not here."

Nick cleared his throat, "The 'Hopping Good Eats' diner just reopened, and I'm pretty sure they could use either a busboy or a dishwasher."

Fehler reached out and shook Nick's paw, "Thank you, Officer Wilde, I think that's a great idea."

…..

Still worried about Connor, Judy reluctantly settled herself in a chair as Thorn closed the office door and then went and sat behind his desk.

"So, Officer Hopps, now that we're alone…"

Judy smiled slightly at the change in tone and demeanor, it wasn't just her and Connor that seemed to be playing roles here. "Of course, Mr. Thorn, as you're aware, there seems to be a new drug on the street with a similar effect to the Nighthowler drug that Bellwether was terrorizing the city with last year. I was told you may have some information that could help me track this drug down."

Looking the rabbit over, Thorn maintained a neutral look, "I'm not sure, I find my memory is a fickle thing, and sometimes it needs a little something to shake it loose."

Judy took a breath, she'd figured this was how it was going to go, just not this quickly. "What might help you with your memory?"

"Well, to know that, you'd have to understand something about foxes–"

"A favor."

Smiling, Thorn nodded, "Very good, I see spending time with Wilde has taught you something."

Judy chewed her lip, she could handle this guy herself. "I am willing to give you a favor in return for your help. A small favor and nothing that runs counter to my work at the ZPD."

Thorn shook his head, "No, you don't have anything I want. Wilde, on the other hand, I'll take a favor from him."

Judy sat quietly for a few moments, and then sighed, "Fine, Nick will do it, same conditions."

"He's not here, how do I know he will honor your word?"

Judy pulled out her phone and tapped a picture icon. Once the picture of her and Nick sitting on the Greytail's couch loaded, she slid her phone over to Thorn, "Nick said to show you that picture if you needed proof that I can speak for him."

Thorn looked at the picture of Judy holding Nick's tail in her lap, and his eyes widened. Quickly recovering, he looked up at Judy and then back down at the picture. It had never crossed his mind that Wilde would be interested in taking a mate outside his species, but then again, no one in the community had expected Wilde to go straight and become a cop either.

Reevaluating the rabbit sitting in front of him, Thorn straightened up a bit and slid the phone back over to Judy, "Alright, deal."

Clearing his throat, Thorn began, "I think something is going on in the homeless community. My guys swing by their encampment over on the east side industrial zone near 34th St. and the highway once every few weeks and they've been hearing things over the last nine or ten months.

"I didn't really put two and two together until Finn started asking around about a new drug and savage incidents. What made me think something was wrong were the stories I'd heard about Crazy Ray Simon."

Judy pulled a notebook out of her pocket and showed it to Thorn. He waved his paw in acknowledgment, and Judy started to write.

"What happened to Mr. Simon?"

"Well, about four months ago, he showed up in the camp going on about escaping from a group of monsters that had abducted him and performed all sorts of experiments on him. No one paid much attention to anything he said until he started to froth at the mouth and really went crazy. Crazy Ray is a big maned wolf, and he's always had a bad temper, so it wasn't like people hadn't seen him lose it every now and then, but this was different. He got loud and knocked over some grocery carts and then took off into a wooded area near the encampment.

"My guys told me that some of the mammals in the camp heard him howling and growling for a few hours, and when he came back, his clothes were all torn up. When someone asked him what happened, he said that he couldn't exactly remember and then immediately screamed something about a dragon and took off."

Judy wrote a note and then asked, "Where did he go?"

"Don't know, I think he's still around, but he's not staying in the encampment anymore." Opening a drawer, Thorn pulled out a picture, "Here's a group shot taken at one of the encampment meals that was served about a year ago. Crazy Ray is the big guy in the back."

Judy put the picture in her notebook and asked, "Anything else?"

"Yeah, I've heard about a few of the old-timers, all predators, from the encampment and a few other places going missing, I don't know their names, but there's been talk. I guess I figured they'd left town or maybe headed over to one of the other districts, but after thinking about Crazy Ray, now I'm not so sure."

Judy nodded and folded up her notebook, "Okay, I'll take a look."

"Last thing, Hopps, I don't want a bunch of cops spreading out all over the encampment, that will just scare everyone and make them scatter. I'll pass the word around to a few of the players I know that you'll be poking around and to leave you alone, but try and be as low-key as possible while you're there."

Standing up, Judy nodded, "Thanks, and I'll do my best not to cause any trouble." Judy pulled out a card and handed it to Thorn, "If you hear of anything else or need to get hold of me, here are my office and cell numbers."

As the two of them reached the door to Thorn's office, Judy put up a paw to stop Thorn and asked him, "You seem to be watching the encampment and its residents pretty closely, not exactly what I'd expect from someone in your line of work, why?"

Thorn paused for a second and then answered, "Zootopia is a lot like other places, they don't really know what to do about the homeless. Some of the mammals are addicts, some have mental health problems, and some just don't fit in with the rest of us. For years I've watched the city try different programs, and nothing has really worked, so my guys and I try to help a little when we can and maybe point the support staff at some of the mammals that need their help the most."

Looking Judy in the eyes, Thorn said, "That picture I gave you with Crazy Ray in it, the fox in the front of the group is my older brother Dominic, and he has a lot of problems. For years, our parents kept trying to get him help, but nothing worked, and when he finally left home, it broke my mom's heart. I used to see him on the streets or at the encampment every once in a while, but I think his demons finally won, I haven't seen or heard anything from him in months.

"I keep hoping he'll turn up, I'd like to be able to tell my mom he's still alive."

Thorn shook away the memory and motioned to the door, "That stays between you and me, I don't need anyone else knowing why I have my guys keeping an eye on the homeless."

Judy patted the fox on his arm and smiled, "Don't worry, as far as I'm concerned, you're a heartless, uncaring thug."

"Thank you."

Business concluded, the two mammals pasted stern looks on their muzzles and stepped back into the hallway. Judy suddenly stopped as she heard Pawson's voice coming from the common room.

"…But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful pawgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one thing: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?"

Judy went wide-eyed and gasped, "Oh, no," and then grabbing Thorn by the arm, she pulled him after her as she rushed to the rec room. Dashing into the room full of young mammals, Judy skidded to a stop behind Pawson and… watched as he finished taking a bow to a loud round of applause and a few hoots and hollers.

"I love that movie!"

"Woo-hoo, you'd make a great tough-guy cop!"

"Do the other part where he gets the perp to confess."

"Uh-oh."

The room went quiet except for the tap, tap, tap of a certain rabbit's foot hitting the floor, "Connor Leyland Pawson, what are you doing?"

Pawson froze at hearing Judy's stern voice full name him, and then to a chorus of snickers, he slowly turned around to face his partner.

"Nothing, ma'am."

Thorn quietly whispered to Judy, "You swear you won't tell Wilde about any of this, right? I've got a reputation to uphold."

Judy rolled her eyes, "Come on, Connor, let's go."