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

…..

"Oh my god, Judy."

Connor rushed over and started pulling apart the pile of debris that was covering Judy. Throwing aside boards and chunks of foam insulation, Connor dug through drywall debris and some sawdust until he reached a nasty, nail-encrusted board lying across his partner's chest.

"Ahhh… Uhh…" *Cough* "Help."

"Hopps! You're alive. Thank god! Hang on. I've almost got you out."

Most of the thick trim board pressing down on Judy was trapped in place by the main part of the debris pile. Afraid of Judy getting slashed by the nails if he tried to pull her out, Connor carefully bent the board out of the way with one paw, while holding back the debris pile with the other.

"Hopps, I need you to move out of the way. This pile's about to go."

Judy groaned and then barely able to crawl, dragged herself toward the dumpster, getting there just as she heard the pile shift and the board slip out of Connor's paw slapping the ground like a guillotine blade landing.

"Ohhhh, slimy carrot slugs, ow."

Coughing from all the dust, Judy sat up, and holding her chest, leaned against the dumpster trying to catch her breath.

Connor jumped back from the shifting pile and then whelped as he checked his paw to make sure he hadn't impaled himself. Not seeing any blood, Connor rushed over to his drywall and sawdust covered partner, "Are you okay? Anything broken? Any bleeding?"

*Cough* "I'm okay, *Cough* except, my chest hurts like I got kicked by a kangaroo."

Connor sat back on his haunches and nodded, "That was too close, Hopps."

Judy tried to smile, but it came out as a grimace as she held her chest. Splattered with dust and debris, Judy coughed again and tried to brush herself off until she realized the top half of her neoprene uniform was gone.

"What happened? Where's the rest of my uniform?"

Connor chuckled, "Hell if I know Hopps, I came running, and all I saw was parts of you all over the place." Grabbing chunks of Judy's Kevlar chest piece, he held them out for Judy to see, "I don't know what you were hit with, but it sliced through your chest protector like a hot knife through butter." Waving a paw around where they were sitting, Connor added, "And the rest of your uniform is over there, and over there, and some of it's over–"

Judy nodded, "Got it, *Cough* I remember now, I was trying to help some girl, and an equid came at me wearing some kind of multi-bladed glove, it was like something you'd see in a bad slasher movie."

"Yeah, I think I must have chased him off. As soon as I ran into the alley, I saw a car burning rubber heading out of sight."

*Cough* "Phone?"

"In my car, with yours. Are you sure you're doing alright?"

"Yeah, just need a minute," and then chuckling a little, Judy added, "might need to borrow a shirt though."

Connor smiled, if she could make a joke, she'd be… Looking again at the Kevlar chunks in his paws, and then at the shredded pieces of blue neoprene on the ground, Connor got a confused look on his muzzle.

"Hopps?"

"Yeah?"

"How are you still alive?"

"What?"

"You should be bloody rabbit chunks. Your Kevlar chest protector and half your uniform were sliced off your body like a carrot being peeled. If the perp's blades were sharp enough to do that kind of damage, how come you're not dead?"

Judy brushed more dust off of herself and replied, "I don't know, the way my chest feels–"

Connor did a double-take as he watched Judy try to clean herself off, "What is that?"

*Cough* "What?" Seeing Connor pointing at her chest, Judy looked down and said, "Oh, this? It's my vest."

Checking her belt, Judy patted her empty holster and went wide-eyed, "Oh, no, where's my gun? I must have dropped it when that guy slashed me."

Spying the small pistol just under the dumpster, Connor stretched out a paw and grabbed it, "Got it."

Sitting back, he was about to hand the gun to Judy when he turned the pistol over in his paw and noticed a small engraving just above the grip.

Connor nearly choked, "No, no way in hell is this what I think it is."

Quickly moving closer to Judy, Connor reached for the hem of her vest and paused, "Can I touch it?"

Confused, Judy nodded and watched as Connor carefully slipped a claw under the form-fitting metal mesh, took a breath, and blew the dust off.

Leaning back, Connor went wide-eyed now that he could clearly see the finely crafted, silver-gray colored chainmail vest that Judy was wearing.

"Holy gods Hopps, you're wearing a Mousermann Brothers vest and," holding her gun out so she could see the engraving, "you're carrying a Mousermann pistol," and then ejecting the half-full magazine, he added, "with Mousermann rounds."

"Yeah," Judy replied, brushing more dust off herself, "the ZPD never issued me any gear beyond a tranq, so Nick picked them out for me after I was shot by that drugged up gang-banger last year. Cost me all my savings, but Nick said it was pretty decent gear for a rabbit on a budget."

Connor did choke this time, "Hopps, check the engraving on your pistol, it's an outline of a Lagomorph with an EC and a number inside it."

"Yeah, an eight, so what? Nick said it didn't mean anything."

"Well, it does mean something. You're carrying a Mousermann Brother's Elite Custom, and the eight means that in the entire history of Mousermannn, they've only ever crafted seven other pistols of this grade and quality for mammals of your species.

"Hopps, I've only ever dreamed of holding one of these in my paws. The difference between this pistol and the second-best in the world is a Grand Canyon sized chasm of a difference, and you have one of only eight that have ever been made."

"Huh?"

"And your vest, the only reason your alive is because it's a Mousermann Brothers too."

Judy brushed her paw along her full-torso vest and asked, "What makes it so different from any other vest?"

Connor looked up as he thought, and after a moment, he replied, "Have you ever seen the 'Lion of the Rings?'"

Judy rolled her eyes, "Yeah, Nick made me binge-watch all of those movies one weekend. Why?"

Reaching out, Connor touched the hem of her vest again, "This is as close to real-life Mythril as it gets. Lightweight, can't be cut or punctured, damn near impenetrable to anything but an acetylene torch, hell it'll even stop some small-caliber rounds."

Coughing again and holding her chest, Judy groaned, "Well, I should probably ask for my money back then. Even with this great vest on, I think I bruised my ribs fighting that perp, and I know I got at least a couple of shots off, but even with the best gun in the world, it looks like I still missed."

Handing Judy back her pistol, Connor replied, "The vest may be near indestructible, but it's still going to hurt like hell if you get kicked by a kangaroo, or," nodding toward the construction debris that had been piled on Judy, "get buried under a pile of scrap lumber and trash.

"And as far as your aim… I promise I won't tell Gunny Hartbull about any of this."

Judy groaned, this time not in pain, "Yeah, so much for my recert."

Standing up, Pawson reached out to Judy, "Come on, my car's parked in front of the market. if you're ready, we need to report in and then get you to a doctor so they can poke your ribs and make sure they really hurt."

Judy laughed, "Ow, no jokes, that hurts," and then motioning Connor's paw away, "No hospital yet, we need to secure the scene, I need to talk to the mini-horse mare that I was helping, she had to have seen the equid that attacked me."

Connor gently put a paw on Judy's shoulder, "Hopps, I need to get you to a doctor, besides there wasn't anyone here when I found you, no mini-horse, no other equids. The only thing I saw was a car that took off like a bat out of hell when I hit the alley looking for you."

Judy shook her head, "There was a girl who was hurt, I heard her yell when I was waiting for you in front of the market. I told some equid guy to call the ZPD for backup, and then I ran over here to see if I could help."

"You said a moment ago it was an equid that tried to slice you into rabbit chunks?"

"Yeah," Judy nodded and then looked at Connor, "I'm pretty sure it was the same guy who I told to call the ZPD."

Huffing, Connor said, "I'm guessing he was too busy attacking you to make the call, otherwise, we'd have heard sirens by now."

"Doesn't make any sense. Why would some guy attack me when all I was doing was helping a girl?"

Connor stood up and looked around, a noisy construction site, all the mammals working were on the other end of the project more than a block away, lots of cover… "Unless it was a setup. What if the girl was bait? This is a perfect spot to mug you or maybe kitnap you, at least it was until they heard me coming and took off in a hurry."

"Maybe, but the equid that slashed me never asked for money or said anything, he just… attacked me. What kind of crazy mammal goes to that kind of effort just to slash me? It doesn't make any sense."

Putting his paws on his hips, Connor looked down the alley toward where the car had turned and sped away, "Yeah…

"…crazy."

Connor spun around and dove back to his knees next to Judy, "What kind of equid was he, the guy that attacked you, what kind?"

Judy jumped a little at the intensity of the question, "I don't know, he was smaller than a normal horse, his mane was shorter, but his ears were longer than any horse's I've ever met, and when he laughed it sort of sounded like a hee-haw, whinny mix."

"Like a donkey?"

"No, the laugh a little, but he had a bigger build than a donkey."

"A mule?"

Judy thought for a moment, and then nodded, "Yeah, I think so, yeah, you're right, he was a mule."

"Shit."

"What?"

"Not a mule, the Mule. Damn it, this was supposed to be a hit. You probably pissed someone off when you figured out what's been happening to the homeless, and instead of being a cop, I've been wasting time bullshitting about your gear. We have to leave. Now!"

Connor picked up Judy and holding her bridal style in his arms, nodded toward the pistol in her paw, "If you see any kind of equid, shoot them."

"Connor, I'm not going to shoot anyone, and put me down, I can walk."

Connor navigated the construction site by dodging around equipment and hugging up against stacks of lumber or pallets of supplies. Before moving between piles, he'd stop and look around, and then leap-frog to the next obstacle.

"Hopps, you have to trust me on this, that guy wants you dead, and he may be back at any moment to finish the job. You see him, you shoot him."

Judy raised her pistol to a ready position and scanned for any equids, "Alright, I'll trust you for now, but I want to hear everything you know about our perp, soon."

"Yeah, as soon as you're safe, sure."

After a couple more minutes of careful maneuvering, Connor made it to the fence by the market, "There's my car. Hopps, this is going to hurt like hell. On the count of three, I'm going to rush the car and basically throw you in the front seat. You need to stay low until the car's moving, okay?"

Judy nodded and Connor took off.

"Aaahhh, Ow, oh, holy mother of frogs, uuuhhhhh."

Speeding away, Connor looked over at Judy lying on the seat, holding her chest, "Sorry, Hopps."

Judy groaned again but held her paw out and gave the wolf a thumbs up.

Chuckling, Connor grabbed his phone out of the cupholder where he'd left it and said, "Hold on, I'm going to call this in and get us an escort back to the precinct."

About to dial the dispatch number, Judy moaned, "Wait, how'd they know?"

His thumb freezing above the call button, Connor replied, "What?"

"You said it was a setup. How'd they know where I'd be? *cough* They must have seen you giving me a ride and followed us from the precinct."

Connor nodded, "Okay, but we worked a special shift today, unless they planned on staking out the precinct all day, which would've been stupid because someone would have spotted them, how did they know when you'd be leaving?"

"I don't know unless they somehow knew what my shift schedule was."

"But it was only yesterday morning that Clawhauser signed us up for the Torch Relay."

"Uh-huh, and the JamCams we need to look at are all mysteriously having problems."

"Shit, someone inside the ZPD must have tipped them off."

"Yeah, and they've probably got access to a lot more than just the JamCams and the ZPD's shift scheduler. I think you'd better call Bogo direct."

…..

Swiping the screen of his phone, Chief Bogo, closet Gazelle fanboy, zoomed in on the picture he was looking at, "Lucky Stagg," was all he mumbled to himself as he cropped away Davis Buckham and focused on the beauty that was Gazelle.

"Sir," came a voice from the speaker on his desk.

"Yes, Clawhauser?"

"Did you see the one of her being lifted up by Buckham so she could autograph that giraffe's jacket? What an angel."

Swiping through the rest of the pictures until he reached the one Clawhauser was talking about, Bogo smiled as he took a good look and then set aside his cell. "Clawhauser, the city doesn't pay us to stare at pictures all day, so how about you tell me if you were able to get hold of Assistant Mayor Furrback."

"Sorry, sir. He won't be able to take your call until Thursday."

"What!" yelled Bogo as he pounded his hoof on his desk. Bogo hadn't given up on getting Hopps' pay reinstated, and with the Mayor on vacation, he'd gone all the way to the top of Mammal Resources, had a long talk with the department legislative advocate, and now he wanted to talk with the Assistant Mayor, who happened to be too busy to take his call.

"Sorry, sir, do you still want me to try and get you a meeting with Chief Justice Malloy? Remember, he's visiting his daughter who just had her first kit."

Bogo thought for a moment. He and Matt had been friends since high school, he hated to involve him, but he had to do something.

"No, I'll call him later myself, Bogo out."

Tapping his hoof on his desk, Bogo tried to think of anyone else he could call, when his phone rang. Reaching over to his desk phone, he was about to lift the handset when his cell phone rang again.

Not recognizing the number, he tapped the phone and said, "Bogo here."

"Sir, this is Pawson. Are you alone? I need to talk to you privately."

Bogo was about to ask why Pawson called him on his cell, but instead, he checked the hallway outside his office and then closed and locked his door.

"I'm alone. What do you need?"

"Sir, it's Hopps. Someone just tried to kill her. Sir, I think it was the Mule."

"The Mule! Dear god, how bad is she hurt? Where are you?"

"Bruised ribs, but that's not the problem. Hopps and I think that the Mule, or whoever hired him, has someone inside the ZPD helping him. I was giving her a ride, and they must have tracked her from the precinct this afternoon. We worked a special shift today, a shift that Clawhauser didn't sign us up for until yesterday. No way could they have known when she'd be leaving when she did unless they had access to the ZPD's shift scheduler.

"Sir, I need a place to take her, and right now I don't trust anyone enough to ask where she'd be safe, except for you."

Bogo clenched his teeth and wanted to crush the phone in his hoof, 'The Mule. And someone inside the ZPD is helping him.'

"Alright," Bogo went over to the city map he had hanging on his wall and ran his hoof across all the districts until it stopped on…

"The safe house you used when you were assigned to that sting operation your rookie year. It hasn't been used in over a year. Tell Hopps not to use her phone, actually, have her pull the battery out just in case. I'll grab everything from her locker and meet you there."

"Hopps needs a doctor."

"I'll take care of it, Bogo out."

Bogo looked at the phone in his hoof, 'Not again, not on my watch.'

The last time the Mule had been in Zootopia, he'd pulled off an impossible task, a hit no one in their right mind would have agreed to take, let alone be able to accomplish. Somehow in the middle of a party, surrounded by the best, most ruthless security in the city, the Mule did it. He iced his target and took out everyone else that was in the dressing room with her that night.

Pulling out his car keys, Bogo thumbed an old ring he'd been carrying around for almost eight years. Along with his two best friends in high school, Matthew Malloy and Chris Barker, he'd wanted to serve the law. While Matt went to law school, he and Chris went to the Academy together and then spent five years as partners. When promotions were had, Chris decided to go for Detective, and then later, it was Chris who was undercover as a waiter when the Mule hit the party.

The funeral was devastating. He'd helped bury what was left of his friend, all the while trying to comfort Chris' widow and their two litters of young pups. No one knew who'd done the job, no one knew who could have possibly pulled off a hit like that, until… A week after the funeral, he received an envelope with Chris' high school class ring in it, and a calling card with a four-letter signature on it.

How the Mule knew they'd gone to school together, he'd never know, but he'd sworn that night that nothing would stop him from killing that sick bastard if he ever got the chance.

Rubbing the jewel of the ring hanging from his keychain, Bogo pulled his badge off, set it on his desk, and then dialed a number he never thought he'd have to call again.

"Antonio, Adrian here. I need a favor."

…..

Connor turned off his phone and set it back in his cup holder and then looking over at Judy, said, "Your bag is on the floor there. Grab your phone and pull the battery."

Feeling a little better from having been chucked into Connor's car earlier, Judy rummaged through her bag and found her phone. Touching the screen, she groaned, "Nick called…"

"You heard the boss, shut it down. You can call your boyfriend back later."

Grumbling, Judy slipped her phone, sans battery, into her bag, and whispered, "He's not exactly my boyfriend…"

"Yet," Connor added, trying not to laugh at the blushing bunny next to him.

Giving the wolf a half-smile, Judy brushed back an ear and said, "How about you fill me in on this mule character and how you know so much about him."

"I first heard about him when I was at the Academy. There was a guest instructor, Professor Hari Elkdon, who taught a class on investigative techniques. He was a mathematician who'd gotten a Ph.D. in psychology and worked for the ZBI as a profiler for their major case squad. His specialty is in serial killers and contract killers who enjoy their work a little too much, like the Mule."

"His real name is actually Mule? I thought that was just his sub-species."

"No, that's what he calls himself, so it's the name everyone uses. I don't think anyone knows his real name, at least not anyone who's still alive."

"Sounds a little crazy. It'd be like me," Judy bared her buck teeth and made claws with her small paws, "calling myself the Bunny and expecting to scare evildoers into turning themselves in."

"Uh, Hopps," replied Pawson, as Judy gnashed her teeth and flexed her fingers, "as terrifying as I'm sure some small kit in Little Rodentia would find," waving his paw over Judy, "that… Please stop, or I will take a picture and send it to Clawhauser."

Pouting now, Judy groused, "I'm scary."

"Right.

"As to why he calls himself the Mule, no one exactly knows, but Professor Elkdon said he has evidence that the Mule was born sterile, a throwback to before his ancient ancestors could breed and became their own sub-species. The Professor also thinks that would explain his supernatural focus and his near deathwish ability to execute his contracts.

"The Mule is a psychopath's psychopath, the harder the kill, the more he likes it. There's no pattern to his kills, different times, different weapons, he's even used his bare hooves… The Mule is as ruthless as they come."

Judy shivered as she asked, "How come I've never heard of him before?"

Pawson shrugged, "I don't know, he hunts in the city. Maybe out in the country, the cops don't worry about creatures like him, you know, city problems aren't our problems, so who cares, attitudes like that.

Judy nodded, "I suppose, but how come we haven't been briefed on him by the ZPD or the ZBI if he's so dangerous?"

"He hasn't done a job in Zootopia since his last kill here seven or eight years ago, I'm guessing he dropped off the ZPD's radar and they stopped briefing the regular beat cops on him. Actually, I'm surprised he'd risk coming back here at all, I heard there's a five-million-dollar bounty out on his head."

Judy studied Connor as she slowly asked, "Who did he kill to deserve that kind of bounty?"

Thinking back to his conversation with Hopps and Wilde a few weeks ago, Connor tensed up, he shouldn't have brought up the bounty.

"You, uh, said you're friends with the Big family, right?"

Judy nodded.

Taking a breath, Connor gripped the steering wheel a little tighter and said, "It's never been made public, so don't tell anyone I told you this, but… the Mule iced Mr. Big's Gram-mama at her own eightieth birthday party."