Nick nibbled on his pawpsicle, waiting patiently for his partner to finish up the paperwork. This was the third ticket they had given out, but this one was especially annoying, as he was starting to eat into their lunch break. Let his emerald green eyes wander behind the large aviators, the fox scanned the surrounding area. The basic traffic violation almost ended with them in what could've been a nasty accident. The construction workers had let a steamroller get loose, and now the massive ticket Judy was writing for their boss had left all the workers a little on edge, making a hilarious sight for the fox as he watched the mammals go about extra carefully with their business.

The thoughts that filled his head came up suddenly, but expectantly. Nick had been working at the ZPD for almost 3 years, and since then he had saved up a fair bit of money, especially after his promotion to Corporal. His financial security (now both solid and future resistant) and his fair bit of free time had lead him to think of the future in ways he never thought he would. Between his lack of any real friends and Judy being promoted to Staff Sergeant, his desire for intimate companionship came to a head, and while he had decided a long time ago to not go looking for such a relationship, that decision had been a long time ago, and he could only solve a rubix cube alone in his apartment so many times before he went insane. It didn't help that it was early spring time now and he could probably smell every vixen in the city. And every time Judy dragged him out to Bunny-burrow he started having thoughts of bright red kits waiting for him to get home…

Right then, a loud slam stirred him from his inner turmoil. His little partner was fuming, supremely pissed. She tossed her ticket machine on the dashboard as she put the car in drive and started ranting.

"Freaking A... ! What a jerk. We almost get steamrolled by his carelessness then he has the audacity to try and pick a fight with me? He could've been nice and I would've let him off with a warning, but no, he had to be a jackass." The rabbit vented, causing Nick to snigger.

"Well, I'm glad you rolled out on him then. He's got you pretty steamed and I wouldn't mind seeing someone flattened for pissing off my CO so." Nick responded, his string of puns getting the ultimate scowl from the bunny as they turned into their favourite lunch place. The chef already had their usual waiting for them as they walked in, their normal fare of burgers and fried carrot sticks already waiting for them on the counter, albeit a little cooler than usually.

"Heya Honey! What's cooking?" The russet fox asked the short badger behind the counter, her 'chef's' hat tilted to the side. As she looked over her shoulder, she sent a scowl his way, obviously not too fond of the sarcastic fox.

"Why are you here? You better not be alo-OH HEY JUDY! I didn't see you! You really need to grow an inch or two, so at least your ears stick up past the counter." Judy grinned at the bi-polar chef. The light chatting that followed gave Nick some time to himself, at least in his head. His thoughts dawdled on the apartment listing he had been going through in his spare time, hoping to find a more suitable place to move to, instead of the dump of the basement he was currently living in. During the few hours he searched, he never once bothered looking at studio suites, or one bedroom places. He knew what his mind was getting at: he was 35 and counting, and it was almost beyond unusual for a fox to go this long without settling down. But just because the back of his head was ready for it, he couldn't exactly tell if he was. Not like there were any viable candidates for him to seduce anyway. Carrots? Mmm… nah, too young, and way too hyperactive. What about… the lingering search for females in his head shocked him. Did he really only know one girl? Wow, that's got to change, purely so I don't feel this inept while in my own head. His introspection was cut short as he realized he had no more fries to munch on, and when he glanced over saw nothing left in Judy's tray too. The active little bunny noticed it as soon as he did, and quickly discarded their trash.

"Hahaha. Well bye Honey, and don't get too angry at Jacob. Mistakes happen." She said to the badger as they walked out the door, heading back on patrol.

"So what did Jacob do to piss her off? Breathe the wrong way?" Nick asked, remembering how he had gotten off on the wrong foot with the short-tempered chef.

"Do you remember the jockstrap incident a couple weeks back? Well it turns out he didn't bury it right so everything is sprouting up again." Judy answered with a giggle, causing Nick to just shake his head in bemused frustration. As they got loaded into the car, their cheery disposition was cut short as Clawhauser came on the radio, an urgency to his voice.

"We have a 211 in progress at a 213 Needle drive. Any and all officers please respond." The cheetah called over the radio, an unusual worry in his voice. Checking the address real quick, Nick immediately found it, allowing Judy to respond.

"Clawhauser, this is Officer Hopps and Wilde. We're heading out." She said, ditching the usual formalities.

"Understood Hopps. Please be advised, classified documents might be compromised, detain or subdue any suspects in the area." The aggressive order and revelation of possible classified files confused Nick and Judy for a second, but it was almost irrelevant as they sped off.

They arrived quickly, their siren making it only a 6 minute drive. When they got there, they realized they were in over their heads. More than half a dozen armed mammals stood in the front courtyard, taking up strategic positions along the cement wall in front of the building, providing them excellent cover as they open fired on the patrol car.

"CRAP!" Judy muttered a series of curses under her breath as she and Nick ducked underneath the dashboard, the shots poking holes in the windshield due to the pure count. Judy pulled her gun from it's holster, watching Nick do the same as he grabbed the radio.

"ALL UNITS. THAT 211 HAS TURNED INTO A VERY LARGE 131! REQUESTING BACKUP IMME-" One lucky shot tore through the transmitter, and caused Nick to yelp in surprise. A second later, the firing stopped, and their ears twitched, hearing the magazines fall to the ground.

"What luck. Go, I'll cover you." Nick told Judy as he spun up and over the dashboard, his excellent aim result in two mammals dropping like flies, and the rest of them slipping behind cover. At that moment the rabbit kicked open the car door and ran across the plaza to the bushes on the side, getting behind a brick column. Just as Nick was out, She turned the corner and open fired, he smaller .380 was nowhere near as powerful or as accurate as Nick's 9mm, but it did a decent job suppressing them. After unloading her entire magazine, she looked back at the car, unable to see her partner.

Then all hell broke loose as an RPG slammed into the vehicle, the explosion practically vaporizing the patrol car, launching nothing but a scorched metal frame a couple meters into the air. Her eyes went wide with fear as the it came crashing down, the russet fox still nowhere to be seen. Nick? Nick no. You better not be in there. Where the hell are you? Nick you dumb fox where the fuck did you go? She screamed in her head as tears started to swell up in her eyes. But she couldn't dwell on it long, and attention turned towards her. The robbers started firing on her position, the ornamental brick column taking a beating from their rounds. Oh sweet cheese and crackers this isn't good. The rabbit curled up behind cover as much as she could, the rounds starting to break the brick apart. Desperation and fear began to swell up, and just as she was about to give up, a life flashed before her eyes. Not her own though, but Nick's, and she couldn't shake his face from her head.

That's when the shots stopped. Flicking her ears up as the tears fell down, she heard a car start up, and then the sounds of sirens roaring down the street. They're making their getaway, and back up isn't coming fast enough! She thought to herself as she ducked out of cover and darted across the shot up courtyard. As she bounded up the stairs, a red panda jumped out from behind a short wall to her left, and raised a sub-machine gun before she could react. Two loud shots were fired, but neither one hit the rabbit, and both came from behind her. Surprised, the red panda fell back, her eyes rolling to the back of her head and her gun clattering on the travertine ground. Turning around to see her saviour, she was met with a very cocky looking fox, his 9 mm raised, a slight wisp of smoke ascending from the muzzle.

"Hey there, Carrots. I don't need you being turned into swiss cheese now." He said with a smirk, and a draining feeling of relief and happiness washed over the rabbit.

"Oh my god Nick, what-" Judy began to exclaim, but was interrupted by the sound of clashing glass and tearing drywall. Taking off, they ran after the sound, through the building, past a bloody murder scene, and to the back garage, where they were just in time to see a white, nondescript van driving off.

"Damnit! They got away!" Judy yelled, holstering her gun and watching the dust cloud dissipate. When she looked around, she noticed Nick wasn't next to her, and retraced her steps, back through the short corridor and into a small reception area. That's when she saw Nick checking the bodies, and realized the full horror of the scene in front of her. 10 mammals, strewn about around the room, each one full of bullet holes. A lioness with a lab coat sat slumped against a wall, a raccoon face down on the other side of the room, a rabbit not far from him. Two deer sat tied up in the middle, along with a goat and a sloth, all doctors it looked like, and all killed unceremoniously by a single execution shot to the head. A cheetah lay behind the counter, her back up against one of the cabinets in her desk. Two guards were laying by the exit door, a blood trail signalling that the shooters dragged them in from the doorway.

"Oh my god… who the hell were these guys? Why did they do this?" The bunny asked out loud, feeling a bit of her innocence dying as she looked over the corpses. As she moved to the door, two sounds were made. One, the sirens from their backup became almost unbearably loud as they turned into the front courtyard, and secondly, a small thump could be heard coming from the desk. The second one caused both of the officers to jump, turning to the desk with their weapons at the ready. The knocking kept on, and Judy realized it was coming from the cupboard blocked by the cheetah.

"Hallo…! Anyone out there…? I appear to be stuck…" the light, high pitched voice of a female cat echoed from the little container. Quickly, Nick and Judy moved to assist, just as Wolford and Fangmeyer opened the front door.

"This is Officer Wilde and Officer Hopps of the ZPD. Give us just one… second…" Nick grunted as they, with Wolford's help, moved the cheetah out of the way. As they did, the cabinet door popped open, and a small ocelot in blue scrubs and a lab coat tumbled out. How a cat that size managed to squeeze herself into the tiny little space was beyond the four officers who stood there watching her.

"Ooh, that was cramped. Thanks for…" she started, before witnessing the scene around her, and immediately broke down crying.

"Goddamnit you two! City hall has been on my tail all day about this! You two charged in and because of your recklessness, caused them to run. Now we have no idea what they took or where they could possibly be. So not only is the entire facility compromised, and we've lost almost all the personnel stationed there, we have practically no leads, and no suspects. What the hell do you have to say for yourself?" Bogo growled, obviously infuriated. He had called them back to the Precinct after Snarlof and Huckabee arrived, and had been berating them for over an hour about it. Given the chance to say something, Judy spoke up, taking the chance to say something sarcastic away from her foxy partner.

"Sir, they started firing the moment we pulled into the lot. We didn't know how many of them there were, nor how armed they were. Seriously, who robs a science facility with an RPG launcher? I don't know what you would expect from that situation, but I doubt anyone could've done any better than we did." She responded, a slight aggressiveness to her tone, getting Nick to inch away from the line of fire between the two of them. Ever since her promotion to staff sergeant, Judy had been less and less willing to deal with being yelled at by the chief, and her backbone was starting to show. Not only that, the massive buffalo was beginning to listen to her more and more often, as was the case in this instance.

"You're telling me that they open fired first? And you didn't even say anything beforehand?" He asked, this time looking at Nick, who had a terrified look on his face.

"Yes sir. They fired without reason or warning." He answered quickly, trying to avoid his partner and his boss getting into a shouting match. The chief's reply was nothing but a say, as he rested his head in his hooves, trying to figure out how to play this.

"Fine. You two are free to go. As you two were the first on the scene, I want you to go back and take point on this case. This is first priority for you two. I don't even want you coming in for roll call unless I say otherwise, got it?" Bogo barked at them. Feeling as if the worst was behind them, Nick spoke up.

"Aww, but aren't you going to miss your morning jokes by yours truly?" He teased, before getting a loud response from his boss.

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH WILDE, BEFORE I REASSIGN YOU AND YOUR PARTNER TO PARKING DUTY FOR A MONTH!" With that Judy grabbed his muzzle shut, her eagerness to be on the case apparent. Bogo continued, regaining his composure.

"After you've detailed the scene, have a tech check what files might've been tampered with, and go over any physical files they had. I want to know what they stole, got it? I'll have the department psychologist keep you up-to-date on Dr. Familia's condition, so when she's ready for questioning, you'll get first dibs. Also, until we get you a new patrol car, you'll be taking one of the unmarked cars in the garage. Now get moving." He ordered, and after a quick thank you, Judy pulled Nick out of the room, scolding him once they were outside. They're gonna be the death of me, aren't they? Bogo thought to himself as he started dialing the Mayor's office.

The white fox sat in her personal train car, searching a massive database for leads and coincidences. Just then, a Skype call came through, the annoying ringtone breaking her concentration. Checking the contact info, she sighed in annoyance, before answering.

"Ah, hallo there, Sif. Whatchya upto?" She said, her cheery facade not convincing or changing his stoic attitude. The grey wolf gave a small huff, before getting to why he called.

"Director Flynn and I have become aware of your move to Zootopia, and he asked me to give you a head's up. Several incidents have lead us to repurpose our liaison for another mission. Whatever you plan on doing in the city, you'll be mostly on your own. If you find anything concrete, the Director and I will back you up if you need support from the ZPD. If you come up short, then neither of us will be pleased. Keep comm. Silent unless you have something to report." The senior agent gave her her orders before hanging up the call, and leaving her with her work again.

"(Sigh), always a cheery one, Sif. Good talk." She said to herself as she went back at it.

Hey guys, another story here. Hmm, seems to be a little short for an intro... Eh, oh well. This story was developed with help from Mr. Dox The Fox, and personally requested by him. It's become something of a side pet-project for me, and I really can't wait to see where it goes from here.

Also, a shout out to Morguerat's story "The Coming Storm", as it is incredibly well done and definitely deserves some more attention. You also might being seeing a familiar face there, so go check it out if you haven't already.