It is a year after the Bellwether Incident and Nick Wilde is through the ZPD academy and is now partners with Judy Hopps, you know, basically the end of the Movie. And now the pair can enjoy some routine law enforcement.

Another beautiful morning, well, as good as can be expected. Bucky and Pronks had started up as always, though, like with a well-practiced alarm clock, Judy was awake before their daily performance, and turned off her own alarm clock before it too went off.

She knew that she had a window of opportunity for access to the shared bathroom before the Boys got going. This tiny box of an apartment was getting smaller and smaller as it got more livable, a bookcase and wardrobe had take a substantial bite out of the already limited elbow room. Having the down the hall bathroom only added to the inconvenience. She really needed a bigger place. Collecting her bathroom kit, she opened her door, and there it was.

A big square poster, stark white with a rabbit icon silhouette with the red circle and diagonal bar superimposed. The message as all too obvious.

She staggered back into her room. Was this some horrible variant of the Bellwether Incident? Now a targeted attack on a particular species? Or more direct harassment or threat aimed at her? She called the precinct.
"This is Officer Hopps. I have a poster, intends to be anti-rabbit." She sent an image.

"Yes, we are getting reports across the city. Started about 2 AM. No real trouble yet, but a lot of scared citizens. That there is one right at your door could be considered a direct threat. Watch Commander wants to send a cruiser over for protected transport."

"No, don't. Unless we get something more overt, I want to keep myself public, show everyone that its business as usual."

"Don't disagree, but keep in close touch."

Judy's head reeled, a new threat to Zootopia. The original Night-howler case was done in the flush of the new and novel. Judy had been on a high of adventure and sense of mission. Since then she had gone through the day-to-day grind of routine police work. It had not blunted her zeal, but she now had a more depressingly sanguine expectation of how the investigation would likely go.

And Bucky and Pronks got the bathroom. It was going to be one of those days.

She considered her options. She didn't really need a shower, but in anticipation of the day, she was going to need a good dose of Mask-All. She brushed the scent suppressant though her coat. She didn't want to hint of worry, or Glob forbid, fear, over those posters. And she better call Nick. In part, to make sure the rookie cop was up and ready for the day, but also give him a heads up to how the day was likely going to unfold.

And a knock on her door. It was her landlady, the old Armadillo. "So what are you going to do about That, Miss Bunny Cop?" she demanded, pointing at the poster.

"Did you happen to see anyone suspicious in the building over night?"

"What? Do you think I stay up all night looking into other's business?"

Judy knew that she did exactly that when she could, but wasn't going to say anything.

And there was Nick on the 'phone. "Good morning Mother Dearest. I was actually awake this time."

"I just wanted to make sure." Judy still worried way too much about her partner. Even though he was proving to be an excellent officer, her sometimes over-wrought sense of duty and mission colored her perspective. "I also wanted to give you a warning about some kind of anti-rabbit prank or worse going on around the city."

She showed him the image.

Nick was suddenly very upset. "I'm coming right over!" He actually growled.

"No You Are Not." Judy snapped back. "In the time it will take you to get here from across town then on to the precinct will make us late. I already called in that I'm coming in per routine. This could be just some really bad joke, and until we know otherwise, that's how it is being handled."

Judy was a little put off by Nick's protective impulse. Fortunately, it had not affected their work together on the beat so far. Having a partner who got distracted in over-protection was very bad for business, and doubly grated on Judy's desire to be taken seriously as a fully able officer.

"If you are so worried about my welfare, have a hot tea waiting for me when I get in." She knew he could get in before her and it was kind of nice to see his goofy face as he lounged around the precinct lobby.

Nick made an almost whine, then, "Okay. I don't like it, but you're right."

Judy got herself together and was out the door in perfectly routine fashion, but was dismayed to find a second poster on the front door of the building. She dutifully took a picture of it and resolved to take snaps and note locations for any additional posters.

There were a few more posters, and she did see an immediate reaction when she got on the Metro to Savannah Central. Aside from an old Jack Rabbit, one of the regulars she saw in her daily commute, there were no other rabbits in the car. She looked into the next car, it was just a two-unit trolley, and did not see any rabbits there either. Normally there would be a dozen or more.

If the posters were intended to intimidate, if not terrorize, it was working all too well.

A couple times she caught the eye of other riders, pred and prey, and their looks of concern for her, as a rabbit was heartening. To their questions, she could only shrug and explain that as far as she knew it was nothing beyond a cruel prank.

When she got to the central plaza, she saw a small scrum of media at the front entrance to ZPD headquarters and thought it best to slip around back.
And there was Nick, with her tea, looking Very Disturbed. His ears were down and hackles were anxiously up and his tail was a bottle-brushed poof. He rushed up to her, "Judy, you alright?" He handed her the cup, but wanted so much to do more to reassure her, and himself, that things were all right.

"Its alright, Nick. Probably just some big budget prankster." Judy didn't entirely believe that, as her informal survey of those posters that she saw were fairly systematically targeting locations in which Rabbits co-mingled. It would have taken some real planning to be so thorough. Tagging her personally was also not a likely lucky guess. Her resident address had been redacted from public records to keep the paparazzi away after the Bellwether Incident.

Judy could tell that Nick was still fretful. "I hope you're not going to get all protective on me in the future?"

He made a face. "Carrots, I can't afford to loose you as a partner. Have you seen what my alternatives might be? But, yeah. When I saw the poster, it was Bellwether all over again and I kind of lost it for a second."

At the morning briefing, Bogo discussed what was known, which was not a lot.

"The posters had all been applied between 1 and 2 AM, none in direct observation of the various traffic or city security cameras. However, there was enough video to work up some tentative IDs on a few suspicious actors, but as the only crime so far was misdemeanor defacement. The Nuisance Squad will be dealing with them, as its appears the actual appliers were just street kids."

"For now, until we get more information, we're publicly regarding this as a prank in poor taste. But the investigation would take it much more seriously, as the act was too well planned and too pointedly targeted to be anything but a threat. Detective Post will explain."

The Coyote detective, in the bland black suit of his office, came up to the podium. As he looked out at the assembly, he caught sight of Nick, and gave the Fox a particular stink-eye.

"Our assessment of this so far is that it is one of three things. Some kind of really big-budget prank or 'public art' thing. The posters were very professionally made and the organization and mammal power to pull it off would take some real money to do the deed."

"Or, it is some kind of perverse media thing, an ad or teaser for some up-coming product or show. Any of you remember the old Ghost-Buster posters way back in the day? Again, a big budget effort. But if so, the poster would almost certainly have some little notice, like a copyright or website address. But no such luck."

"Lastly, there is the small but real possibility that it was a deliberate specie-ist attack. That the targeted locations were all in mixed neighborhoods and business that do mixed species trade certainly argue for that. And, unfortunately, regardless of actual motive, it has worked as an attack."

The Detective checked a smart tablet, "School attendance for Rabbits is down to near zero in any of the mixed schools, same with Metro ridership. Several businesses have closed over concerns and others report reduced activity. The one piece of good news with all that, is that calls to complain or in concern have been from citizens of all species, better than two to one from other than Rabbits."

"There is another bit of good news, actually, in that there have been no reports, so far, of any actual anti-rabbit acts. Unfortunately, that might not last, as there is always some idiot or crazy out there." He said that directed at Judy with a look of concern. What she didn't see was his flash of angry distaste when she turned to Nick to whisper something.

"But, whatever is going on, we need to track it as well as possible. So, you'll need to report every poster you see. Report it to the Nuisance Squad, as they have the data infrastructure to work up a thorough analysis, but call them in on encrypted tac three. I brought the new chips for your comms with me so you can do it here." He held out a plastic bag full of little envelopes.

"They are taking the threat option pretty seriously." Nick whispered an aside to Judy.

"That and getting the encryption up-grade early. They do it about every six months just to be sure. With so many cyber crime and cyber-savvy criminals out there, we have to keep one step ahead of them, including communications security." Judy explained back.

Bogo had retaken the podium. "As Detective Post has said, it is important that you report anything you see. If you see any new activity, jump on it immediately. Normally, it would be a matter of misdemeanor defacement, but if the suspect makes a fuss, then it becomes criminal species harassment."

The Chief turned to the detective, "And anyone who gets brought in can be held incommunicado under the terrorism statutes. I got that directly from the Mayor and DA's office. And, obviously, if the issue de-escalates, that won't be necessary."

The assembled officers shared a bit of a shocked realization that this had become Serious.

The Detective came back to the podium for a little addendum, "And you can bet there are going to be copycat posters out in no time. Same rules apply."

Bogo came back to wrap things up with the daily deployments. Mostly routine, with one exception. "Hopps, Wilde. You get to go check on the various locations that have reported private security cam footage. I know it is a kind of menial task, but the main point is to get your happy cheerful faces out into the public."