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

…..

Connor pushed open the lobby doors and shuffled toward Clawhauser's desk. Taking a sip of his Snarlbucks Grande Brew, with an added double shot of espresso, Connor waved half-heartedly and asked, "Morning Ben, is Hopps in yet?"

"Aaargh!"

Clawhauser nodded toward the sounds of anguish coming from down the hall, "Yeah, about a half an hour ago."

Without warning, a gray blur streaked to a stop in front of Clawhauser's desk, "Ben, I can't get into the JamCam system, what's going on?" Finally noticing her sleep-deprived, temporary partner leaning against Clawhauser's desk, she half-waved, "Hey, Connor, thanks for coming in."

Lifting his cup in a lazy salute, Connor mumbled out, "Yeah, who really wants to sleep-in on their day off, sleep is so totally overrated."

Judy rolled her eyes, wondering if all canids were nocturnal or just the ones she got partnered up with and then turned back to Clawhauser.

"Ben?"

"Sorry, Judy, I don't know. The server's been acting hinky for months now. Every month, almost like clockwork, it won't let mammals in, or it takes forever to return results, and then, just about when the IT mammals are about to reboot every computer in City Central, it starts working again."

Judy groaned, "How long until the system's back up? I think I've finally got a lead, and I need access to the JamCam servers to see if I'm right."

"I'm not sure, but I think they're hoping everything will be back working by late tonight. The city just switched IT support contractors and these guys, well, I was on the phone with their manager for over an hour, and they're kind of hard to talk to. Do you want me to submit a trouble ticket for you?"

"No," Judy groaned, "just tell me when you hear they're done." Looking at Connor, Judy motioned for him to follow her, "Come on, sleepyhead, I'll fill you in on what I've got."

…..

Connor chugged the last of his coffee, tossed the cup in the trash, and then turned to Judy a little more alive than a few minutes ago, "So what happened last night?"

"I think I got a lead. Last night, I talked to Crazy Ray. Here, I recorded it." Judy clicked on her carrot pen and let Connor listen.

"Hopps, you know, your phone–"

"Shush, just listen."

Connor leaned in to listen to the tinny recording, and just as he heard Crazy Ray ask Judy to sit, Judy's phone buzzed.

Judy set her phone for a video call and said, "Good morning Slick, you're up early."

"Couldn't help it, I've got a text here that says 'thanks' and you're sorry for yelling at me last night, so what happened?"

"…my boyfriend is a fo–"

Judy lunged for the carrot pen and fast-forwarded it a few seconds before starting the audio again, "Sorry."

Connor chuckled, "Sure, Hopps."

Blushing, Judy turned back to Nick, "Connor's listening to the recording I made."

As soon as the playback was done, Connor asked, "Okay, the guy sounds like his name, Crazy. What'd you get that was worth an o-dark-thirty call to come in?"

Nick chimed in, "Pawson, Carrots and I talked about this last night, as off as this guy is, it sounded like a couple of mammals disguised themselves and tried to hustle him into going with them, and when that didn't work, they tranqed him and took him anyway."

Taking over, Judy added, "Yeah, the part that was confusing me was the whole dragon thing and then this morning I had the weirdest dream, Nick was in it–"

"Yeah, that is weird," chimed in Connor.

"Hey, I should be in everyone's dreams," crowed Nick.

"Nightmares, you mean."

"Both of you be quiet and let me finish."

"Okay, Carrots, I was in your dreams…"

Huffing, Judy stared at her phone until Nick stopped smiling. "Last night, when I was leaving the encampment, there was a white van that I saw pull away as soon as Penny picked me up. I didn't think much of it until this morning when I remembered there was also a white van that drove past the Oakfield Park camp after I was done talking with Blues on Wednesday."

"And the dragon?" asked Connor.

"That was the key, everything got mixed up in my dream. I think the white dragon Crazy Ray was talking about was really a white van, and Crazy Ray saw it just before he got tranqed."

"And you wanted to hunt for it with the JamCams, that's why you were all over Clawhauser about the server being down," nodded Pawson.

"What's wrong with the JamCams?" asked Nick.

Judy shook her head, "Clawhauser doesn't know, he said the server probably won't be back up until late tonight."

Nick shrugged, "Sounds like we're stuck until tomorrow."

"Hold on," Pawson said, raising a claw, "You said a white van drove by you twice, what do you remember about it?"

Judy thought for a second, "A white panel van, I never saw the driver. Um, both times I saw it mostly from behind, last night it was driving away from me, when I saw it at the Oakfield Park camp, it drove past me and turned down a side street." Judy looked at Connor, "The van's left tail light was out. I couldn't tell on the one last night, but it was definitely out on the van I saw at Oakfield."

Connor nodded, "When you were talking to that coyote girl at the Midford Gardens camp on Monday, a white van drove past where I was waiting by the cruiser, I thought it was weird because they were driving extra careful and then when they slowed to turn,"

Judy leaned in toward Connor, as did Nick's image.

"I noticed their left taillight was out."

Judy fist pumped, "Yes! It has to be the same guys."

Connor huffed, "Except, we're back to no JamCam server."

Judy deflated and then heard Nick ask, "Was the cruiser's dashcam running?"

Spinning around, Judy started typing on her keyboard, logged into the archive server, and brought up the saved video records from the cruiser. Scanning down the list of time-tagged files, Judy said, "Yup, here we go." Judy clicked on the file and turned her phone so Nick could see as a video started playing.

Connor pointed, "There, I think that's the van I saw driving by."

All three officers watched carefully until Nick started chuckling, "Nice tail-fur there, buddy. I bet your mate likes running her claws through it."

"Nick, not now, please," groaned Judy.

"Sorry, guys, I didn't mean to block the camera like that."

Judy leaned back in her chair, "Great, now what?"

"Carrots, you were at Oakfield Park the day your sister Torrie took all those pictures of you, right?"

"Yeah, how did you know she took pictures of me? She didn't send them to you, did she?"

"Yes, yes she did."

"I'm going to twist her ears the next time I see her."

"Be nice, she's not exactly Andy Warthog, but she has some talent."

Judy sighed as she heard Nick humming, "Slick, what are you doing?"

"Patience, oh fluffy one. Nice pictures of you meter maiding, by the way, imagine what the PR mammals could do with these."

"Imagine what the PR mammals could do with pictures of a fox, all his fur shaved off, on parking duty in Tundra Town."

"You wouldn't."

"In a heartbeat."

"Mean bunny, check your email."

Judy spun back around in her chair and opened the file Nick had sent, "Gotcha!" Judy yelled as soon as the picture finished displaying on her screen.

Judy waved Connor over and pointed to the white van in the background of the picture and the clear view of its license plate.

"Carrots, you may want to crop out the hot girl in the uniform before you send that picture to anyone."

Pawson snickered as he watched Judy, a blush rising up her ears, quickly trim the picture down to just the back of the van and save it to a new file.

"Although, isn't Clawhauser collecting pictures for next year's ZPD 'Hunks and Hotties' calendar?"

"Nick…," whispered the now pink-eared rabbit.

"What? It's for charity. Think of the kits."

Pawson looked over at Judy's screen, and then figuring the two partners would be at it for a bit, typed the license plate number in on his terminal.

"I am thinking about the kits, one unruly kit in particular."

Clicking on his screen, Pawson smirked as he watched Judy try her hardest to glare at Nick through the phone, all the while, her blush going from pink to red.

"The plates were stolen, looks like they were lifted off some dead guy's old truck while the family was at his funeral last month. Wasn't reported until a few days ago."

Judy tore herself away from staring at her fox, to look over at Connor's screen, "I guess it was too much to hope that our bad guys would make it easy on us and properly register their vehicle."

"Yeah–," Pawson started, when an out of breath cheetah interrupted him.

"Judy, *puff*, from the lawyers, *puff* *puff*, here," and handed Judy a sealed manilla envelope with her name on it.

"Thanks, Ben"

Gasping for breath, Ben replied, "Sure," and then staggered back down the hall.

"How do you think he passes the annual physical?" chuckled Nick.

Ignoring her fox, again, Judy ran a claw down the envelope and pulled out a stack of paper. Flipping through pages of forms signed by lawyers, judges, clerks, and corporate officials, Judy held the last page up for her partners to see, "We were right, the ZooRyd fee was for a missed ride, I think we can add our raccoon to the list of kitnapped mammals."

"Hey Carrots, I sent you another file."

Judy opened up the new picture. It was taken from behind and to the side, it didn't show enough for an ID, but it did show a mammal sitting in the passenger seat of a white van, a mammal with–

"Horns," said Pawson, "Didn't that aardvark we talked to say that one of the mammals that picked up our missing raccoon had short horns?"

Judy turned to the wolf and nodded, "Yeah, she did."

Judy picked up her phone and smiling big, she said, "Thanks, Nick. I think we've got enough now for Bogo to let us issue an APB on the van."

"Good job, Carrots," and then Nick whispered, "Maybe while you're talking to Bogo, you can ask about some leave."

Judy glanced toward Pawson, who was shutting off his computer, and whispered back, "Call me later, Slick."

…..

White pulled his car into a parking spot outside a nondescript warehouse in one of the more rundown parts of the city. The lab's location was his idea. The building had a defensible main entrance, private docks for deliveries, or, more importantly, pickups, and with all the vacant lots and failed businesses around, enough gang activity to keep the curious away.

Walking up the metal stairs to the top floor, White wondered what Brown wanted. He'd been called by his boss during lunch at a very nice restaurant with a very attractive ewe that probably wasn't ever going to talk to him again after he'd had to throw down extra cash on the table so she could get herself home.

"Damn, she was so hot, too."

Reaching the top floor, White brushed his shirt to make sure there weren't any food crumbs he'd missed, and when he was satisfied, he knocked on his boss' partially open door and poked his head into the office.

"Mr. Brown, you wanted to see me?"

"White, finally. Come in."

Stepping into the nicely furnished office, White made his way to where a heavyset, dark gray, wildebeest was sitting behind a wooden desk staring out of the only window in the building that wasn't blacked-out and covered with bars.

Talking to the back of Brown's head, the ram said, "I came as quickly as– "

A single hoof halted White's prepared excuse.

Waving the same hoof, Brown asked, "Do you know what I see when I look out this window?"

Scanning the view, White replied, "No, sir, all I see are a bunch of old crumbling buildings and a few empty lots."

"Exactly, you're looking at failure, business failure, bank failure, the failure of the hopes and dreams of countless mammals that gave it their best, but weren't good enough." Turning to White, he added, "Animals like you."

"Sir?"

"Why did the ZPD just issue an APB for your van, a van that's parked downstairs in my building, and how is it that same APB includes both the license plate number and," pushing a printout with a picture of the license plate toward White, "the fact that the van has a taillight out?"

"What? How… Who told you there's been an APB issued?"

"I have my sources, what I find most interesting is that you, the mammal in charge of this operation, don't know anything about it."

"Sir, I– "

"Start at the beginning, and pretend your life depends on what you have to say."

White glanced at the still open office door and then back to his boss, "It's Hopps, she figured out that we've been targeting the homeless, and over the last ten days she's identified some of the animals we've grabbed and interfered with our last two attempted pickups." Twisting his hooves together, White added, "And last night, she met with Crazy Ray."

Brown's eyes narrowed as he leaned forward in his chair and said, "Crazy Ray, the maned wolf that you told me died trying to escape?"

"Yes, sir," gulping, White thinking fast, added, "We thought he was dead, my guys assured me that there was no way anyone could survive that fall, but somehow he did."

"Anything else?"

"Uhh… we tried to grab Hopps last night, twice. Once when she was done serving meals at the 34th street encampment, and then again at her apartment. We missed her both times."

"And what did you plan on doing with the rabbit if you'd been successful?"

"Let one of the predators downstairs kill her, and then we'd dump her body in the forest near the encampment. The ZPD would assume it was Crazy Ray and likely kill him in retaliation, two problems taken care of at the same time."

Brown steepled his hooves and glared at White, "You and I will have another conversation about Crazy Ray, but that can keep for now. Our current priority is the rabbit, I want her gone, I don't care what it takes, or how much it costs, she dies."

White relaxed a little, he might actually survive this meeting after all. "Yes, sir, I agree. I'll have my team stake out her apartment and grab her as soon as they see her."

"No. I'm done trusting those idiots of yours, it's time we called in someone else, a professional."

"Sir, my people can do this."

"No. You will do nothing, your goons will do nothing, Pink will do nothing, I'm calling the Mule."

White's eyes bugged out, and his fur stood on end, it was if someone had just opened a window to Tundra Town and an arctic blast had swept into the room. "You can't… sir, no, not the Mule. You can't do that."

"I can, and I will."

Shaking now, White tried to calm himself, over the years he'd killed his fair share of animals, at a distance with a gun, close in with a knife, and even stealthily with poison when there was a message involved, but whatever he'd done, it all paled in comparison to what the most wanted killer in the Commonwealth was capable of.

Trying to steady himself, and then stuttering a little, White pleaded, "He's a psycho, a throwback animal, completely unpredictable, and messier than hell. No one can control him, and no one in their right mind wants him around."

A little more in control of his trembling hooves, the ram took a breath, "Sir, using the Mule will bring down a shit ton of heat on our whole organization, he's on the top of everyone's most-wanted list. The Commonwealth Security Service has a kill on sight order out on him, the ZPD, in particular Bogo, wants him worse than the Commonwealth, even Mr. Big has a bounty on him, five million dollars, dead or alive.

"Sir, we don't need his kind of trouble, Hopps is one pathetic little rabbit from the sticks, I can do this, I just need one more chance at her."

Brown slammed his hoof on the desk, "Enough! That pathetic rabbit has been running circles around you and your people for over a week now. Mistake, after mistake, after mistake, and you have the unmitigated gall to stand there and ask for another chance. "The answer's No. I want the Mule, and I want messy, the messier, the better."

Pausing, Brown combed a hoof through his black throat mane for a few moments and then nodded, "Now that I think about it, part of your plan could work to our benefit, if the Mule can make it look like a predator killed the rabbit, that would be perfect."

Focusing on the ram again, Brown said, "Orange is one test away from being ready with the formula, killing Hopps and having pictures of her torn up body splashed across the news stations is exactly what we need to get the ball rolling. It'll remind the media of the Nighthowler attacks and once the public starts to panic–"

"But, sir, if the Mule finds out we're involved in drugs like Nighthowler, he'll–"

Brown cut the ram off with a sneer, "You're pathetic White, I'd suggest you grow a pair and learn to do your job before I go out and find someone else who can. I'll handle the Mule, he doesn't need to know anything more than what I tell him."

Pointing a hoof at the door, Brown dismissed White, "Now get the hell out of my office, go prep the lab for new test subjects, and White…"

"Yes, sir."

"Tell your idiot flunkies, when they swap out the van's plates, fix the damn taillight!"

…..

Judy bounced down the stairs, waved goodbye to the brown bear that had taken over the reception desk for Clawhauser, and made her way out of the Precinct One building.

Connor had left a few hours ago after they'd talked with Bogo and issued the APB on the van. Judy stuck around to see if anyone called in on the APB, and to catch up on some paperwork before she headed over to Toni's tonight.

Unfortunately, neither goal was achieved, nothing on the van, and halfway through her paperwork to-do list, she caught herself flipping through pictures of her fox on her phone. Having cycled through all her fox pictures, twice, Judy decided to pack it in, especially since she was planning on being back in the morning to go through a week's worth of JamCam videos.

"Hopps."

Judy stopped as Chief Bogo stepped out of the car he'd been sitting in and waved her over.

"Yes, sir?"

"Hopps… good work today, all week, actually."

Raising an eyebrow, Judy slowly replied, "Thank you, sir. I'm sure we'll be able to track the van down tomorrow when Connor and I can get into the JamCam system."

"I'm sure you will." Sitting back down in his car's seat, Bogo bent down so that he was able to move his muzzle closer to his smallest officer, "Look, Hopps, I've made calls to everyone I know in Mammal Resources, and I haven't been able to reinstate your pay. I have a meeting set up with the Mayor to talk about it, but he's on vacation for another week, so, until then," Bogo reached around to his back pocket for an envelope, "I want you to take this and–"

Hopping up onto Bogo's knee, Judy put her small paw on his arm to stop him from getting the envelope. "Sir, I appreciate you wanting to help, but you heard what Woolerby said, if she finds out, she'll go after the ZPD budget," and then glancing around, she whispered, "...and Aidan."

"But, Hopps…"

Judy smiled up at Bogo. She'd always believed that he cared a lot more about his officers than he'd let on, right now, though… "It's okay, sir. You don't have to worry, I've got a friend who's helping me out, I'll be fine."

Bogo turned his head and examined Judy's face trying to making sure she really was going to be alright. He'd heard that Hopps didn't have much in the way of friends outside the force, and according to Clawhauser, she spent almost all her time with Wilde, so he was trying to figure out who in the city she was talking about.

Or who, not in the city.

Grunting, Bogo asked, "I suppose I shouldn't ask who you're talking about."

Blushing a little, Judy shook her head.

Opening his hoof next to her, Judy stepped into his palm and let Bogo set her down on the ground.

"Thank you, sir."

Grunting, Bogo straightened up and was about to swing into his car when he heard Judy clear her throat.

"Sir, there is one thing you could help me with, Connor and I are making good progress on the case, so, maybe if you can spare me for a few days …"

Chuckling now, Bogo nodded, "Of course, Hopps, I need everyone here Monday, but I think we can free you up for a short visit home later in the week."

Bogo blinked and then smiled as he heard a 'thank you' and watched as one very happy mammal made her way home.

…..

White staggered down the hall from Brown's office and stumbled into a dirty bathroom, stuck his muzzle into the toilet, and puked up everything he'd eaten since the night before. Brown was insane to think bringing in the Mule was a good idea, that animal was a born killer, a predator's predator disguised inside a prey's body.

Dragging himself over to the sink, White looked in the mirror as he brushed globs of half-digested clover off his muzzle and raged at the terrified reflection, "Of course he'll kill the rabbit, she's a dead mammal walking. It's all the collateral damage and the blowback that comes with it that Brown has decided to forget about. The last hit the Mule did in Zootopia was a bloodbath, and the trail of bodies he left behind was a clear warning that using the Mule is not only a mistake but likely the last mistake your fool of a boss will ever make."