Nicholas Piberius Wilde. That was the name his mother had given him, though most people just called him Mr. Wilde. A few close friends knew him as Nick.

Nick was a professional problem solver. He had no credentials to back up that claim, but that's what he was employed for.

He was on his way home from solving a particularly nasty problem, when…

"Someone, please, help me!"

The scream stopped Nick in his tracks.

He drew his hands out of the pockets of his suit coat. It was 2:00 in the morning, in a decidedly rough neighborhood. It wasn't the most pleasant place during the day, and often became deadly at night.

Were it not for a critical business deal that required his direct involvement, Nick wouldn't even be in this part of the city, much less at 2:00 AM. However, people who refuse to cooperate are a specialty for Nick and his silver tongue.

Normally, Nick would have been satisfied to simply call in an anonymous tip to the ZPD. Let them know he'd heard something suspicious, and not think twice about it. He didn't like to get his hands dirty if he could avoid it, but he wasn't a monster.

But these were streets the ZPD was known to have a weak presence in. In a city as large as Zootopia, resources needed to be allocated according to a priority basis. And the slums were very low on that list.

"P-please, someone…"

Nick had not noticed earlier, but he was closer now. The voice was a little girl's.

Nope. He thought. Can't let that one slide.

Nick reached into his coat, and drew out a small metal rod. Snapping his arm out quickly, the baton extended to nearly the length of his arm.

Nick quickly hopped the fence from behind which he had heard the voice. The scene before him turned his stomach.

Behind an old abandoned warehouse, a ram, bear, and hyena were standing next to a large white van. The kind that always looks creepy and dangerous because it doesn't have any windows. The bear was holding a young elk girl still while the hyena tied her up and duct taped her mouth shut.

"Quit yer bawlin girly!" the hyena cackled. "Ain't no one on these streets this late. 'Sides, we promise, in the mornin', you ain't even gonna remember this place."

The girl was weeping, tears streaming down her face. She had seemed like she was going limp in the bear's grip, but when she saw Nick, her struggling redoubled. Her eyes connected with his, begging him to help her.

"Put her down," the fox said, announcing his presence.

The bear turned to look at him. "Guess you were wrong Dink," he rumbled, "we got us a fox here."

The hyena snapped around to look at Nick. "Oh, oh oh, oh oh oh oh ohohohohohohohohohohoho!" he began his insane cackling again, "This is rich! Just richity rich RICH!" The hyena's head fell back as he let out a wheezing laugh. When his head came back down he turned his head to fix Nick with a single eye. "What you want, foxy boy? You want in on our score? You want her for yourself? Tough! We worked hard pickin these little baubles outta this rat-bag neighborhood, and they're gonna turn us a tidy profit!" The hyena whipped his head around to the ram, who was standing just inside the back doors of the van. "Ain't no fox hornin' in on our business! Not even one with a stick, wearin a suit! Franky! Nail 'im!"

The ram said nothing as he hopped down and levelled his head at Nick, who made no move to evade him. The ram charged straight for him.

Nick did not like getting his hands dirty. He didn't like hurting anyone. That didn't mean he couldn't defend himself.

The hyena and bear returned to their task, assuming the fox would be dealt with. But a few seconds later, as the bear placed the elk in the back of the van, there was a sickening crack, quickly followed by a thud.

As the pair turned, they saw Franky lying unconscious in the dirt, his head bleeding slightly, one horn cracked, and the other broken off.

The hyena gritted his teeth. "Johnny, how about you teach this fox what happens when you rough up one of our boys," he ground out. "Heh, it'd be my pleasure," the bear rumbled back.

As the hyena closed the doors and went to start the car, the bear lumbered over towards Nick.

"You hurt my pal. You should'na did that." The bear grinned.

As the bear walked up, he raised a claw to rip the massively out-muscled fox apart.

Just before the bear swung, he felt something poke him in the gut. He looked down to see the fox's stick pressed against his stomach.

"And you should be more careful about letting your guard down." Nick said, a smile creeping up his muzzle. Nick flicked a small red switch on the side of his baton, and the bear began to spasm as several thousand volts of electricity were sent coursing through his body.

As Nick released the switch, the bear collapsed to the ground with a strangled grunt.

Looking at Nick in that moment, you'd have thought he felt like the king of the world.

You could be forgiven for believing that.

The smug grin Nick was wearing at that moment was doing an excellent job of hiding his staggering fear of the situation he found himself in. A ram had charged him head on, and he had been completely unable to move. He had desperately willed his legs to hurl himself out of the way, to turn and run, to do literally anything. In the end, muscle memory had whipped his arm out at the perfect moment to catch the ram across the face, cracking both his skull and his horns, rendering him unconscious.

When the bear approached, Nick had frozen once again. Despite how fervently he wished to be anywhere other than in this filthy back lot, facing down a bear with a grudge, he hadn't been able to do anything other than stare at what he was sure would be his death. The bear had been so focused on Nick's face that he hadn't noticed the paw bringing the baton up between them. When the bear actually paused to look at the baton, Nick could have fainted with joy. The hidden taser in his baton was quite powerful, but only worked through physical contact, and had an incredibly small battery life. In other words, it was pretty much a one-shot trick.

The fact that it had worked nearly made Nick want to cry with relief.

As the knife caught the nearby light of a street lamp, Nick was reminded suddenly that there was a third member to this group he'd stepped in on. They hyena apparently wasn't of a mind to let this go, and clearly meant to accomplish what his larger partners had intended. The over-zealous swing nearly caught Nick right across his stomach. Nick's surprise had finally allowed him to move from the spot that fear had rooted him to, so the hyena's blade was only able to slice open his shirt.

The hyena began tossing the knife between his paws as he squared off against the fox.

"Whatsa matter foxy? No more fight left in you? Don't you worry now boy, I know plenty of people who'll pay good money for a fox pelt, even a sliced up one. You'll more than cover my boy's med bills!"

The hyena tilted his head back again to let out a maniacal laugh. As he did so, Nick brought his baton down squarely on the hyena's head.

The laughter promptly died in the thug's throat as he crumpled to the ground in a small heap.

Leaving Nick alone in the lot.

Nick dropped his baton and very nearly began to hyperventilate.

What was I thinking!? He asked himself.

That was idiotic! Insane! Suicidal! I could have gotten myself killed! I could-

A muffled cry brought Nick out of his thoughts.

The girl, she was still in the back of the running van.

Right. That's why.

Nick composed himself, not wanting her to see her rescuer for the wreck he currently was. This child had been through enough trauma. Nick could put his own freak-out on hold long enough to see her to safety.

"Now don't you worry sweetheart, your pal Nick isn't going to let anyone hur-" his words trailed off as he rounded the back doors.

Eight pairs of young, tear-filled eyes looked to him, filled with fear and hope. All of them belonging to young girls of varying ages.

Nick swallowed before he spoke again.

"It's okay," he said, much more softly, "I'm going to get you all out of here."

He pulled a small pocket multi-tool from his back pocket, flipped out the saw-toothed blade, and began to cut the girls' bindings one by one, starting with the young elk.

As he started on the next one, a tigress teen, the young elk wrapped herself around Nick's leg and began bawling loudly. She nearly caused Nick to lose his footing, which cause him to pull the young tigress out of the van as he stumbled backwards.

As he regained his balance, the young tigress held under his right arm, his pocket knife's saw-toothed blade upright in his left paw, and a bawling elk child grasping his left leg, he looked up to see the bunny with a taser aim directly at him.

A moment passed, as the two stared at one another. The fox's face still a mask, meant to convey calm to the girls, the bunny's face hardened with anger and disgust.

"Would you believe this isn't what it looks like?" Nick ventured.

Dropping both the knife and the tigress, he convulsed with the pain of electricity setting his veins on fire.

I thought not. He thought to himself as he faded into unconsciousness.