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Judy turned got off the bridge and made a right into the borough. The first thing she noticed was a heavily graffitied sign that read, "Welcome to Happy Town." She had just finished crossing the western inlet.

"Now entering Happy Town," came the voice from her phone. When she stopped at the following red light she took a moment to silence the GPS, deciding to drive around a bit to get a sense of the city.

Happy Town, of course, hadn't existed as far as she knew until a few hours ago and she was curious about it--especially since she learned that basically all the predators in Zootopia lived here. The welcome sign was mounted on a billboard covered with vines and had what appeared to be paint and other things smeared on it. As she looked around she saw that the city was tightly packed. It was similar to the peninsula but differed in that there were no wide open spaces at all. Nature and environment had in no way been integrated into the infrastructure. She had absolutely no idea how the animals who lived here were able to survive. A city built of only concrete and twisted metal lay before her and it was hideous: Everyone here was wearing a collar; many buildings appeared dilapidated or at least uncared for; the sidewalks and gutters were littered with bottles and trash. It was a sad scene.

There was nothing attractive about the area--Nothing to attract tourists, no bright colours. Drab. As she drove about, some animals spied her wearily which made her a tad uneasy. After about twenty minutes getting the feel for the area she came to the conclusion that it was a dump. There was no wealth of any kind in this place. It had tenement buildings lining many of the streets and stacked together as tightly as sardines.

The terrain of Happy Town was variable. As she was crossing the bridge she had seen several abandoned warehouses dotting the coast with green, rolling mountains within a few hundred feet of the shore. Several corniches wound their way up the mountains and hills allowing businesses and residential areas to scale up the one way and then down another. Several of the beaches were private owing to the way the cliffs would jut out onto the sand with the result that many of the factories built in such an area were accessible only through a shaft of some kind; likely an elevator, thought Judy, or a stairwell. The shafts led to buildings on the edge of the corniche roads with what appeared to be an office structure up top which acted as an official-looking front for the business and as housing for the shaft entrance.

It was probable that the majority were abandoned fishing and shipping companies; she noticed, however, smokestacks on some of them which looked odd to her since smoke-producing factories had been banned for ages. Come to think of it, as she looked about she noticed that for as green as the hills and mountains were, there was a fog clouding the air. A sort of smoke-fog.

'Smog? Is that a word?'

She drove on and only got more and more depressed as she went. There were the occasional adults or children whom she saw begging for change and she cringed as the conditions in which these mammals were living got to her.

She reached down to her phone and enabled the voice directions again, deciding that it would be best to simply head straight to the clinic. After a few minutes she got onto a road that wound its way up the side of a slope. The air was clearer, it seemed to her, as she got higher; and the houses and buildings which she saw on either side of the narrow road struck her as quaint. The greenery was beautiful and it seemed to her that some of the affected climates of the rainforest and canal districts must also be influencing the air here. It wasn't too much longer, the clock on the dashboard read seven minutes past eight, before she came upon a modestly-sized red-roofed building.

SPEEDY CARE WALK-IN CLINIC

'That's the place!'

It was on her right, toward the cliff and the waterfront down below. Judy noticed a line of predators that seemed to go around the building as she slowed by. Other animals who weren't in line, she noticed, were standing near their cars--waiting for their turn--so as not to overwhelm the queue and have it run into the street. As she pulled into the parking lot and began to look for a spot, she noticed several animals look at her quizzically; some others, with alarm; and yet still others, with fear--and they ran off to tell others in the line. She went around the bend to the back of the building to see whether there were any spot there that she could take. She found an empty one at the edge of the cliff and took it. There was a sidewalk ahead of her and a railing covered in vines with tall, untended grass growing at the base.

She got out of her car and walked to the edge slowly. She leant on the rusted iron rails and looked out at the beautiful water. Across the inlet she could barely make out a few islands dotting the waters which she knew were part of the canal district in the northeast of Animalia. She sighed sadly and wished she could have been here with Nick. She moved her eyes downward to try to see what was on the shore. Since the shore and the water were so close together along with the edge of the cliff she had some trouble seeing exactly what was there but she could make out a few apparently-empty warehouses down below. It wasn't that the shore was that far below her, it was merely that the angle at which things were situated made it difficult to see what exactly it was. All she could really make out were the roofs of some buildings that formed a line to her right, south of her.

It was still only seven fifty in the morning. Now that she had gotten out of the oppressive though affluent Animalia district and the smog sweltering lower part of Happy Town she could appreciate the way the sunlight danced on the surface of the water; gilding it and making it look fresh and beautiful. She heard, as she looked out, several cars around her quickly packing up and driving away. She sucked in one more breath of fresh air before turning and walking toward the building; watching as several cars drove off as she did so.

She really had no idea what she was going to say or do if she got to see Nick. Would he remember her? Likely not. Neither Clawhauser nor Bogo knew who she really was. It was all but certain that if she met Nick he wouldn't know who she was either. If she had met him in this life she was certain that he would assume that she was still whoever she had been, and that was a problem because she really had no idea who she was supposed to be in this world. If Nick didn't remember her it would be unsurprising, but it still made her heart hurt. She was so fundamentally lonely she didn't know what to do with herself except continue repeating her mantra: Survive!

As she walked around to the front of the clinic she noticed that the line had disappeared. She opened the door and saw a line of animals who apparently hadn't gotten the message. When a few turned to look at her, many immediately flattened their ears and began whispering in quiet tones that eventually became a quiet cacophony of voices. She was unable to discern a single thread of conversation clearly though she was able to make out the phrases, "Sergeant Hopps," and, "Run," and, ". . . think she knows?" Judy had never seen a room clear so quickly: In a matter of seconds, the whole building seemed to be empty leaving only her and a very familiar-looking fox wearing a white lab coat, a stethoscope draped across the back of his neck, standing at what appeared to be a reception counter.

He cocked an eyebrow at her. "Good morning officer. Is there some reason you felt the need to harass my customers? I mean, 'clients'?" he spoke coolly and with a barely-concealed contempt as he leant forward on the counter.

"I don't believe I was actually harassing anyone," she said, somewhat defensively. "I'm here for one reason--maybe a few more but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

"I'm all ears, Officer Wabbit."

The cocky grin he gave her when he smiled nearly choked her with emotion. In spite of the obvious scars on his face he was the same familiar fox she remembered. It felt so intimate and so at homey that she had to pinch herself to remind herself that she had to probe carefully.

"Uh . . . well, Mr. Wilde," she began, slightly disarmed "I was just, uh . . . ."

'Cheese and Crackers, Judy; you better think of something to say, quick!'

"What . . . do you do here?" She was seriously considering slapping herself at this point.

He simply stared at her blankly. "I'm a doctor. I run an establishment where we treat animals with boo-boos."

'Right. Walked into that one, Jude.'

"Do you have a degree?"

"Yup!" he said brightly, pointing at a framed certificate on the wall. "I'm certified and everything."

"Hmm . . . I'm just wondering because if you practice medicine on someone without a license you could really hurt someone. Are you certified to treat all animals?"

"Why yes," he began easily, "I could even treat you. If you wanted." What Judy would normally have taken to be flirting from Nick on any other day held a dark edge to it, now.

She started around the side of the counter to take a closer look at the degree.

"You can't come back here," started Nick as he blocked her path, "confidentiality and all that. I'm sure you understand."

Judy nodded but looked over his shoulder to see the certificate. It had a clear insignia indicating that it was nothing much more than a piece of paper printed off the internet.

"And I suppose," she began as she turned her eyes back to Wilde, "that diplomas come with web addresses printed on them, now?"

Wilde's face darkened for a moment before his easy-going mask came back up. "Did you want something officer?"

"It's sergeant. Apparently. And yes, I did." She backed away as Wilde came forward. She could pick up that he meant to be intimidating but she knew him too well to know that he would ever be violent. Or at least, she hoped she still knew him well enough.

"Well?" he asked.

There was no easy way to ask this question; and, given the reactions of the several animals whom she'd seen, she knew that it was bound to get a response out of him; but she had to ask it. She sucked in breath and bit the bullet. "Is there any reason why Chief Bogo would ask me to bring you in?"

His face fell and the colour drained from his ears as he slowly began to step around her. "You tell me . . ." he trailed off with a menacing bite.

"Might it have anything to do with a false medical licence?"

Wilde merely smirked down at her, a dark glint in his eyes.

"And might that also mean," she continued "that if this is a fake doctor's office, that this is the front for some illegal operation? Why else have a false license? If you're not a doctor, what were those animals lining up for?"

She stopped perusing her thread of questions out loud as she realised that it might get her into trouble; because the more she followed this line of reasoning the more she realised things didn't make sense. Wilde wasn't a doctor. Even if that license passed for legal here, there was no way Wilde was a competent clinician. Now, she reasoned, there had been a long line of animals gathered outside and in the lobby; which meant that if Wilde weren't a real or competent doctor they must have been visiting him for something else--something extraordinarily popular. What could it be? She puzzled for a second before remembering seeing the private beaches that were cut off from the rest of the coast. Businesses and warehouses wanting access to the roads used what appeared to be either a stairwell or an elevator shaft to access the warehouses beneath the corniches. She had noticed when looking out at the water that this was one such beach_ and_ she had seen the warehouses below. She wasn't certain, but she had a hunch that there was a way down to the beach from this building and that somehow Wilde was running his real business from there.

She kept these things absolutely to herself as she started to get a sense that maybe that's where the animals were heading. Many of them had brought their children along so she figured it couldn't be a drug-related business or particularly harmful. Could it?

"That's confidential," he smirked. Wilde had to get rid of her, but how? He had no way of doing that easily. The second he'd seen a cop enter he knew he was as good as dead. 'Maybe not!' Not immediately, anyway. He wondered about maybe killing her. Mr. Big would help him out with that. He just had to keep her talking. He hadn't worked out the details in his mind but he could almost see the wheels turning in this bunny's brain, and he saw the moment realisation dawned in her face.

The instant she looked up at him he knew that she knew. If he let her go back to the ZPD station at all he'd be taken in and put into one of those torture machines and so would every chomper who'd ever walked through his doors. To her credit, he noticed, she was trying very hard not to let on that she had figured out just enough to put him away. _'Sly bunny,' _he thought to himself.

"I understand, and I'm sorry for prying," she replied. She wanted to let her original line of questioning go for the moment as now she wanted to see if she could tease out Wilde's character.

"Is there any reason you can think of why I shouldn't bring you in?" she asked in a lightly quizzical tone.

It was disarming. His face fell and his darker thoughts vanished. In all of his life he had never been asked that by a cop. Never had there ever been any implication, except to mock him, that he might be allowed to go. Her question seemed to be begging him for a reason and he found her sincere. He didn't have the luxury of letting himself buy it, though. She knew he was running an illegal operation; she must have figured out something because he knew that look in someone's eyes when two and two came together. He couldn't let her leave and that was the end of it. He couldn't trust her not to turn him in.

He walked to the front door, pulled out a key, and locked it--putting the closed sign up in the window.

"You mind telling me what you're doing?" she asked.

"Keeping other visitors out. No business is coming in here today with you here," he lied. "Why don't you tell me how much you know?" he asked as he turned to her, pointedly blocking the door.

'Well, Crackers!' This had taken an unfortunate turn, she thought.

With no choice but to lay all her cards out on the table, she started: "Well, I know that you're not a doctor--not a competent one, anyway, since that takes years of training. I also know that you have a series of structures down below on the riverside."

Wilde sucked in breath.

"I think--in fact I know--that there's got to be a way to access it from up here. My guess is that you're probably running something illegal in those warehouses; and whatever it is, it's soundproofed or I would have heard it." She gestured to her ears. "This clinic is a front for something else but I don't know what exactly. The elevator shaft leading there is probably just round the bend of the reception area and down that hallway."

Wilde just started at her blankly. He was fucked. 'Or am I? C'mon, Nick, think!'

"So . . . do I get a prize?" she asked cheerily.

The look she saw in Wilde's face let her know that things were bad. He advanced on her slowly as he tried to think of what he could do. Killing her would be no good after all, he realised, since there were animals at the ZPD who knew this was her last destination.

'Not that I _could kill her with this collar on!'_

He had to leverage her somehow, but he didn't know what to do. Kidnapping wouldn't work either for the same reason--people would know this is where she came last. And he knew with the tensions that had been growing in the city for ages now that either this bunny's death or her kidnapping could be the fuse lighting the powder keg. It would be an all-out war. If prey animals found out about this place--what he was really doing--animals would die here, too. Prey animals couldn't stand for predators being free for even a minute. He was sure that torture would follow. But he had seen sincerity in her eyes. Could he rely on that?

'Don't marry that idea just yet' he told himself, 'probe a little further.'

"What could I tell you about my activities here that would convince you to leave things here alone?" he said at last, not yet daring to hope.

"Tell me that what you're doing here isn't hurting anyone--no drugs; no murder and so on," she said earnestly.

Wilde shook his head no. "Nothing like that."

"Well, could you ela-"

She was cut off when she heard a clanking sound resonate from down the hall. Judy turned to look down the corridor but couldn't see around the bend well enough to discern what had made the noise. She looked back at Wilde as a nervous and somewhat frightened expression covered his face. He looked at her and she could see from the way he regarded her that he was about to reach out and stop her from running down the hall. She turned and with a speed born of her ancestors ran down the hall with Wilde in quick pursuit.

"Oh, no, no, no, no no!" shouted Wilde as he ran after; but in spite of his warnings the laughter of a child was heard echoing down the corridor and a panther cub came running with a balloon in hand. It was too late, Wilde realised. Judy scooped up the child in her arms and brought it close. She looked over the child's shoulder and saw his parents hurrying down the hall after him. The couple seemed to freeze when they saw her holding their cub.

"Is this one yours?" Judy called out playfully. She held the child up to get a look at him. That was when she realised he wasn't wearing a collar. She put the seemingly-frightened kid on the ground and watched him scamper back to his parents as they just stood there. Wilde was at a loss.

'Well, what the hell am I gonna do now?!' he mentally shouted.

He reached for her but she stepped out of arm's length when she recognised the male.

"Mr. Manchas! Is that you?" she asked familiarly.

The family stood petrified. She noticed that neither of the parents had their collars on, either.

She turned to Wilde, "Hey, how come they're not wearing . . . ?" She trailed off as she got a sense of what was going on: preds were somehow removing their collars down in the abandoned factories.

'So they can have a taste of freedom,' she realised sadly.

She didn't understand how they were able to remove their collars without the shock that was supposed to accompany their removal, but that was beside the point--she now totally and completely understood why Bogo wanted Wilde brought in. She doubted Bogo was aware of the full breadth of Wilde's activities but it was clear now that such a thing as being able to harmlessly remove collars would attract big business. Predators would be flocking from all over to come and have their collars removed for a day. The predators outside near their cars and those lined up outside the office would have attracted attention, and given that preds were held in low esteem here, it was likely that someone had taken notice and brought it to the attention of the department at which point Bogo would have wanted someone to investigate. But why? For all Bogo knew, this establishment was just a clinic run by a fox named Nick Wilde. But the email, she remembered, had said that the order hadn't come from him directly but seemed to suggest that someone else was calling the shots, but who?

As Judy's mind worked to process the information; Wilde, on the other paw, was at a total loss as to what he should do. As far as he was concerned there was no way an officer with the ZPD were just going to ignore something like this. He was about to speak when the door to the office banged. The sound of the bolt unlocking was heard and, to his surprise, he saw Clawhauser walk through the door.

'Must be someone that works here,' thought Judy. At least she hopped it was someone who worked here. She couldn't see around the bend in the hall to know who it was, which was why she was surprised to hear the voice that reached her ears.

"Nick, we got a problem," said Clawhauser as he turned and locked back up. He started down the hallway. "We got . . ." He trailed off the instant he saw Wilde, Judy, and the collarless Manchas family standing there.

"Oh shit. Oh, shit! Nick, we can't let her leave!" exclaimed Clawhauser.

"What? Why?" asked Wilde.

"She'll turn us in! Nick, she could have us all tortured!"

"If we kill her it could be the end of Happy Town and every pred in Animalia!" shouted Wilde. "It would mean war; and we're not ready yet."

"I would enjoy not dying, please!" Judy interjected timidly.

Clawhauser scowled at her and continued as though she hadn't spoken. "Nick that war has already started. It started the moment she came in here!"

"She might not tell anyone, though. We have to hope for that! She said she was willing to work with us. Even if she does tell . . . even then, we might be able to get away and warn most of the animals here! We just close this place down and burn everything!" said Wilde. He'd really hate to have to start killing mammals now; especially when he'd managed so well without having to resort to murder before.

"Nick it won't help! We can't let her go!" said Clawhauser desperately.

"The cops in this town find her dead or kidnapped it'll throw everything into chaos! We have to let her go! Don't you get it!"

"No, Nick," began Clawhauser, terrified and sad, "either way the war has just started. There's no way she'll let us go."

Wilde sighed. "We have to ho-"

"Look at her! Fuck, Nick! Look at her! Don't you even recognise her?!" He was shouting at Wilde, now, in disbelief. He grabbed his neck in pain as his tame collar went off again and again in response to his excitement.

Wilde turned to regard Judy questioningly. He'd never seen this rabbit before in his life.

"She's Judy Hopps!" shouted Clawhauser in exasperation and fear as he willed Wilde to understand the severity of the situation.

It were as though all the air had suddenly been sucked out of the room.

'Well, shit,' she thought.

Judy felt an impending sense of doom assault her from every corner of the room; she heard Mr. Manchas begin to advance behind her slowly so as not to ignite the situation. Wilde's face had been a cornucopia of emotion reflecting fear, horror, anger, and rage in quick succession. She was outnumbered by animals who were afraid that letting her go would lead to the deaths of hundreds if not thousands. They'd be desperate to keep her there and any sudden moves on her part could lead to her getting hurt.

Wilde, for his part, had just had his personal mantra reconfirmed: Trust no one. And to think, he'd been considering letting her go! It was all over now either way, he figured; if he let her go, she'd go back to the ZPD and tell them everything she knew. There was no doubt now. And knowing who she was, she would probably bring down the maximum on them all. The war would start on her terms and those who shared her views; and the vastly outnumbered predators in Animalia would be wiped out in short order with Happy Town following quickly. The prejudiced animals in charge of the city had been waging a war of attrition against predators for a while, now. The more he thought about it the more he concluded that if they kidnapped this bunny they could use her as a bargaining chip to slow things down. Or kill her and have the honour of taking down one of the most notorious persecutors of predators in the city and have the distinction of drawing first blood. Either way, they'd have hours to prepare something. They could at least warn all the preds they could of what was coming.

With any luck, they could put off a fight for days. Maybe one. At least one. Hopefully at least one!

Wilde wasn't the only one trying to discern his options, though:

'Survive, Judy!' the rabbit told herself as she played her own game of mental chess--The doors were locked, the three members of the Manchas family were collarless behind her but if anyone of their party were to engage her it would likely be Renato; and since she couldn't see his face to read his intentions she couldn't risk trying to escape past him and down the elevator shaft. Wilde and Clawhauser stood between her and the front exit so that was out, too.

'No chance of escape that way--even _if I had the key.'_

She could see Wilde had fight in his eyes and knew that if she made a move, shock collar or not, he would try to stop her before she got too far and likely would.

'Okay; so basically,' thought Judy quickly, her brain churning a mile a minute, 'you're in a hostage situation. In prison riot situations the best course of action is to lay down arms and not be a hero. Try to diffuse the situation and wait for back up. Animals in desperate situations are bound to act irrationally. I can't afford to do that; I need to survive! So what does that mean? What do I do?' She thought over what Wilde and Clawhauser had said about a war with prey animals in the city and knew that they'd been speaking in earnest. They truly believed that if they let her go they were all as good as dead. Clawhauser's terrified and pleading voice told her that much. As such, she knew she had to play this very carefully.

Judy spoke her next words very cautiously and slowly. "Okay, everybody just calm down," she raised her arms slowly and put her paws in the air. The tension was thick. "You got me."

Some of the stress seemed to immediately dissipate

"Renato," said Wilde a bit more calmly now though slightly shakey, calling Manchas by his first name, "I'm gonna need you to pat her down. Clawhauser, did she come here in a car?"

"Yeah she did," replied the cheetah.

"Were gonna need to move it at some point. That was great timing, by the way. How did you know she was here?"

"She got an email from Chief Bogo saying that she needed to take you in. Said it was coming from up top."

"Who's 'up top'?" asked Wilde, turning to Judy.

She said nothing.

"Let's get to the lower level; we need to get our collars off," said Wilde.

Renato had finished searching through her pockets and had pulled out her keys, her phone, and other effects and placed them on a gurney that was along the side of the hall.

"Wait!" started Clawhauser, "that black magnetic strip on her keychain! That can unlock collars."

Wilde came forward and took the keys from the panther, held the black strip to his collar and heard it unclick, falling from his neck. He caught it with his left paw and then turned back to Judy and growled.

"So," began Wilde, taking on a decidedly more threatening tone, "when Bogo said that his instructions were coming from 'up top' what did he mean by that?"

Judy let out a shaky sigh. "I don't know," she said calmly though internally she was trying to keep herself from flipping out.

"Excuse me!" interrupted Manchas somewhat heatedly, "Do you think you could do this away from my cub?"

Understanding dawned in Wilde's eyes and he nodded. "You and your wife should go. We're closing Wild Times for now. You need to gather the group and meet us all back here at four-ish. Maybe earlier. Around ten or so when we figure out what to do. If this is going to get as bad as I think it is we need as many people to know as soon as possible. We need to alert all the predators in Animalia, too. Start a text chain. Post nothing to social media--no emails, no nothing. Just phone messages and word of mouth. We need to keep this as quiet as we can. When the ZPD realise that she's missing and that this was the last place she was headed things are going to go from bad to worse real quick. We might be able to stave off a full investigation till tomorrow but let's not count on it. We need to get ready tonight. We'll have a meeting here. Get the word to Mr. Big as soon as you can. He might have some better ideas."

"What about her?" asked Manchas as he nodded down at Judy.

"Cuff 'er. Clawhauser and I will worry about the rest for now."

Judy placed her arms behind her back and felt Manchas draw the cuffs off her belt and shackle them. Wilde pocketed her phone and other belongings.

"Bet you wish you'd just stayed home," murmured Manchas as he tightened the cuffs.

"You have no idea. I wasn't even supposed to work today," she said as lightly as she could.

Manchas let her go, took her keys, then went over to Clawhauser and uncollared him.

"Is she telling the truth?" asked Wilde to Clawhauser. "I mean, about not knowing who 'up top' is?"

"I don't know. I read the email over her shoulder. She could know more. I'm sure she does."

Wilde turned to her but was still speaking to Clawhauser. "If we brought Mr. Big in on this, do you think he'd be able to get the truth from her?" The name dropping was clearly meant to frighten her.

"He might be able to," replied Clawhauser somewhat timidly.

Mrs. Manchas and her cub strode past Judy to reach her husband.

"Could you let us out?" asked the panther as his wife reached him.

"Sure; Nick, make sure she doesn't leave?" said Clawhauser.

While Clawhauser disappeared around the bend to let out the couple, Wilde stared down at Judy.

"You know you almost had me going," he started casually as he paced around her. "I was about to let you go. And in return . . . you would've brought the cops and had me killed and tortured and initiated a cull. So, why don't we start over: Why did you really come here? I mean really?"

Judy sighed. "I needed information."

"On?"

"I needed to know why the Chief wanted to bring you in."

"That's a crock. You know why. You knew why the moment you walked in here!" He let out a growl. Judy shuddered but remained as steadfast as she could.

"I didn't, actually. If my only job was to bring you in then why didn't I arrest you the moment I walked in unless I wanted to find out more first?"

"Find out more about what? And how do I know that was your only job?"

"Clawhauser just said that he read the email over my shoulder! He told you exactly that!" she said desperately.

"Are you really trying to convince me that I should let you go?"

Clawhauser returned at this point and snorted when he heard the question. "What's she saying?"

"Ben," began Wilde, "did you by any chance read the whole email?"

"Yeah," he replied.

"Was the only thing it asked her to do was bring me in?"

"Yeah. Just that and that it came from 'up top,'" he said.

Wilde nodded. "Well, at least you know something about honesty," he said to Judy as he snickered to himself. "You know I'm going to enjoy knowing that your worst nightmare is coming true. Just wait till you get down below."

He took her arm forcefully and led her to the elevator.

"You're taking her inside?" asked Clawhauser as he brought up the rear.

"In for a penny, in for a pound," replied Wilde. Clawhauser joined them as Wilde pulled open the large elevator gate. They all stepped in and Judy sucked in a deep breath. "Besides, we need to keep her someplace."

"Where are you taking me?" asked Judy as Wilde closed the gate.

"My office."

He pulled a lever to start the elevator going down.

"Can I just ask you something?" asked Wilde as the elevator started its way down.

Judy gave a slight nod.

"What is it that you have against us in the first place? I can't tell you the number of animals that have been disappeared or declawed at your paws and I just wonder why you chose this life."

Judy thought for a moment. She had no idea what her counterpart in this life had done. She didn't want to give an answer that would be considered a lie or obfuscation on her part, so she instead settled on a trick answer:

"I didn't choose this life; it chose me." She knew it was cliché. It also happened to be true.

Wilde smirked. "Way to double down," he said as he leant in close. "I can double down, too," he finished ominously.

Judy remained silent as Wilde and Clawhauser fell into idle chatter as they continued their descent.

-.-.-.-

Nick drifted in and out of sleep, his mind bobbing like a cork on the surface of the water between consciousness and unconsciousness. His dreams swirled around his brain and refused to settle. He would wake periodically and choke on the disillusionment of his present reality. His mind couldn't believe what he'd experienced and fought vehemently against what he had befallen him in the space of about an hour or so--he was beyond being able to tell the difference between fantasy and reality. He was in a world now whose rules were totally foreign to him. He felt as though he had amnesia and was, to a great or lesser extent, unaware of his surroundings.

The two wolves that had rescued him spoke quietly so as not to disturb their patient.

"So, what did Honey tell you, Fang?" asked the driver.

"Not much. Just the usual. That there was a pred in the alley. Needed immediate pickup."

"Lucky someone saw him."

"Yeah. It seemed like from what she said, though, that this guy was a stranger."

"How'd she figure that?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe it was the fact that he got himself beat up so bad."

"I dunno. That doesn't really say anything anymore. They're picking us up for anything now. Said they're afraid of all of us going feral at any moment."

"You don't believe the rumours then?"

"Not for a second. They're just coming up with some bullshit to lock us up. Already nearly everyone on my block has disappeared."

"So that's why you wanted to stay with me."

"It was only a matter of time before . . . before . . ." he trailed off as sadness and fear began to well up in him, cutting off his speech.

Fangmeyer nodded to himself, watching as his partner gripped the steering wheel, noting with a shudder the clawless fingers that tightened around it.

"Before they came for you, too," Fangmeyer finished for him.

It was an open secret on the peninsula that predators were being picked up for any reason, now; and very few were ever heard from again. There were theories that the animals captured were being tortured or held captive in some secret place that none of them could ever find. This heightened feeling of paranoia was exacerbated by recent news reports concerning an emerging epidemic of feral animals--predators specifically--spreading throughout the city. Though law enforcement was mum--because of course they were--there were some animals interviewed on the evening news, all of them prey, who shakily told stories of being attacked by wild animals.

'More propaganda,' thought Fangmeyer.

As far as he was concerned it was just an excuse to take preds off the street and hold them indefinitely without cause. Lately, tensions in the city had gotten really bad: An increase in violence and police brutality were being seen throughout the city. For a long time now, the prejudice had been getting steadily more open. New laws had been passed forbidding predators from congregating at all.

Long-time singer and glamour star Gazelle had recently come under fire for championing the rights of predators within the city. She was one of the very vocal few who were adamant that things change in the city. She openly performed with predators, too, to demonstrate that she was unafraid of the propagandists' warnings that predators could at any moment go feral.

Fangmeyer sighed as he thought about the hopeless situation facing predators in the city: Any crime in Zootopia that fell under the category of being a federal offense was adjudicated in a court presided over by a judge with a verdict to be rendered by a jury of one's peers. The caveat in that procedure was that it applied only to prey animals while offences committed by predator animals were often adjudicated by a divisional court presided over by a panel of judges who often found the predator guilty--such that the conviction rate for a predator was nearly ninety-seven percent while the far-lower conviction rate for a prey animal was around seventy-seven percent.

Tales of forced confession, torture, threats against a suspect's family and so on were all tactics employed by the ZPD and its affiliates. All of those occuring with greater and greater frequency since the founding of the city to which both Fangmeyer and Wolford could attest.

Fangmeyer had found it increasingly harder to find work in the city as few businesses were willing to hire a predator; meantime, the prices in the city had gone up higher and higher. Eventually it had gotten too difficult to make ends meet and he moved to Happy Town which, although it had been relatively recently amalgamated into the city, remained a slum.

The divisions between prey and preds within the city had been sharpening more and more--and fear mongering by city officials had been increasing and ratcheting up tensions between the two sides so that now it appeared that no less than civil war or revolution would be able to overturn the power dynamics in the city.

It was to the point now where the police had had their authorities expanded to where many such disappearances and sequestrations of "criminal chompers" were done with no official paperwork so that there'd be no legal paper trail that lawyers would be able to follow up on. Prey spies that had been eager to work with predators to help things change had become, themselves, the subject of heavy investigation. Many such spies had recently disappeared, too.

It had become clear to many in Happy Town that pieces were being moved in to place and careful lines of attack were being drawn so that when the last straw fell, the trap would spring like a well-oiled machine. The daring attitude that the police as an arm of the city hall had taken on in recent months with greater ferocity was an indication to many that the powerful élite were preparing for all-out persecution.

'It'd be like going back to our savage hunting days,' thought Fangmeyer, 'but with us being the hunted.'

All these things and more filled his mind as he tended the broken fox at whose side he knelt. He didn't know who this fox was but he was lucky to have been rescued from among the most painful tortures inflicted. The wolf looked down at his own clawless paws sadly before turning his eyes to the fox's right paw: The pinkie finger had a light tinge of blood beneath the claw. He had been about to endure the unthinkable and had fortunately had the process stopped before any lasting damage had been done.

He remember what the fox had implied--that somehow it was Sgt. Hopps who, though having left the fox to suffer in an alley, had been the one to interrupt the procedure. He thought back with revulsion to his own declawing--performed without anaesthesia. The infamous rabbit had been there, too, and had taken no measure at all to stop what was happening. He had screamed for what had seemed an eternity, begging for mercy, all to no avail.

His paw formed a fist as he thought back on the memory, renewing to himself the vow that he'd made then: To avenge himself on the ZPD and the city--The city that had taken his father and mother from him; the city that had mercilessly tortured and killed his friends. The city that had taken his cub from him. He snarled angrily and received an immediate shock from his collar, adding insult to injury.

'Just you wait. You'll have your chance,' he thought to himself.

Wolford looked back at his friend in the rear-view mirror. "Everything alright there?"

"Yeah, I'm good, just . . . just thinking."

"Hey, we're almost to Nick's place. We're taking the ferry this time."

"Good idea. We don't wanna be traced. Who's at the wheel?"

"Delgato."

Fangmeyer nodded. Wild Times would be the best place to hide. Nick had made a fortune off the city by finding every loophole he could and exploiting the hell out of it. Fortunately for them, it meant that they also had a place to help preds recuperate. Nearly all the preds in the city had had cause to be thankful, he thought, that Nick had had the foresight to have his business double as a hideout for preds on the run.

Some minutes later they had parked the van on the ferry and were beginning the crossing. Since there were a few animals with them, Delgato would make their stop the last. They'd managed to get his attention and alert him to the situation and their destination, explaining everything.

"So what do you think his story is?" asked Fangmeyer as he sat next to the fox, monitoring his condition.

"Dunno," replied Wolford. "Some of the guys I was with before Honey called me up were listening to the police scanner to see if there was anybody that might need a pick up. Someone said they heard something about a fox that had tried to assault a beaver."

"Like rape?"

"Something like that."

"That sounds like bullshit right out of the gate. What do you wanna bet it was something as simple as he said, 'Hello,' to her and the girl got a hair up her ass about it?"

"Probably. Was a similar thing for me, too," said Wolford. "Hey, by the way--looks like we're nearly there: did'ja call Nick?"

"No, I didn't. But he's probably busy running things up top. We should probably call Finnick."

"He working today?"

"Probably. Either way I think we should try him first. He usually handles this kind of stuff, anyway."

Wolford nodded, pulled out his cell and made the call. After a brief conversation he hung up and turned back to Fangmeyer.

"He said he's sending someone to set up Nick's side office."

"Where is it again?"

"Behind the roar-a-coaster; so it's going to be in the very back. It's the same one with the little side room in it."

"Yeah, I remember."

"You should: you were there."

"Yeah, but as a patient. Lucky Finnick had some good pain meds. Man, I was out of it, like, the whole week."

Wolford grinned. "Don' I know it."

After a short time, the ferry finally reached its final destination. Before them lay a series of three interconnected warehouses founded securely on the shore close to the edge of the cliff wall behind it. The drab exterior of the structures belied the true freedom felt within their walls. Both Wolford and Fangmeyer smiled broadly as they drove off the ferry toward the edifices before them. They turned briefly and gave Delgato a salute as the skipper turned his ferry around. The boat sped up significantly to make up the time lost taking the detour as it made back for the Canal District.

As they drove up the docks, there was a giddy sense of anticipation. Every predator in Animalia and Happy Town felt the same feeling when approaching Wild Times: Freedom! It was a sense of hope and liberty that permeated the entire atmosphere near the place. After hours, when not functioning as an amusement park, it was a secret meeting ground for the predators of Zootopia where they both commiserated and consoled each other; it also served as a clandestine headquarters for the predator army whose operations had heretofore been secret so as not to tip off the political elite on the peninsula that there really were true cause to worry about an uprising.

Fangmeyer and Wolford went up the driveway and parked at the back of the building.

Fangmeyer did his best to lift the nearly-unconscious fox from his resting place and, with Wolford's help, was able to carry him in through the emergency exit which, as per Finnick's conversation with them, was left unlocked and propped open. The office behind the roar-a-coaster was easy to find. They managed to get through the chain-link gate to the area that was usually accessed only by maintenance personnel. They got into Nick's office where they found stacks of paper everywhere. Closed circuit monitors took up a large part of the wall on the right-hand side and displayed all corners of the park for both security and safety. Along the same wall at the far end of the room there was another door. Fangmeyer went ahead to open it as Wolford awkwardly dragged the fox along with him. Fangmeyer would have laughed if the poor fox hadn't looked so pathetic.

The room was bare except for a desk and a slatted chair seated behind it which faced the entrance. A white curtain on a track could be drawn across the room on the left-hand side to divide it--taking up nearly a third of the space.

Fangmeyer turned and took hold of the fox's legs and helped carry him over to a bed; clean sheets recently pulled over it. As Fangmeyer situated the fox, Wolford drew the curtain across the room for some sense of privacy. They both then took to rebandaging the fox, putting gauze over his face in the areas where he'd been cut and bruised.

"Do you think he'll be alright?" asked Wolford as he bound the fox's right leg carefully.

"I dunno. Probably not," said Fangmeyer. 'Who the hell could be okay in a place like this?' he thought bitterly. "He was muttering about Sgt. Hopps the whole way." He snickered to himself as he continued, "He called her 'Carrots.'"

That earned a bark of laughter from Wolford. "I'll bet she'd love that."

After a few more moments an unsettling thought occurred to Wolford. "Do you notice anything weird about this guy?"

The white wolf thought to himself for a moment. It had occurred to him as well that there was something odd, but he didn't want to prejudice his friend's response so he merely nodded for Wolford to continue.

"Like . . . his fur is super, super soft. Not coarse at all. Mostly long hairs, see?" he drew up a paw full to demonstrate. "Quality," he finished, looking at his friend.

"We're not selling his fur," said Fangmeyer flatly.

Wolford chuckled. "What I mean is . . . he seems like he's never had a hard day in his life."

"Maybe this was the lesson he needed. Yuh can't live in a bubble forever. But yeah," nodded Fangmeyer in confirmation, "I noticed it, too."

"Nobody needs this kind of lesson."

"He did if he thought he was going to be able to get through this life easily. It's not safe out here--and it confuses the fuck out of me because I have no idea how it is that he could not have known what the score was in this city. He can't be from around here or he would have known better."

"Any pred living anywhere knows that Zootopia's not the land of opportunity it was dreamed up to be. Makes me wonder why he would've come here . . . ."

Fangmeyer and Wolford continued working on the fox, both falling into an uncomfortable silence.

-.-.-.-

The elevator finally reached the lower level with a bang. Both Wilde and Clawhauser turned around to face what had been the back of the lift. Wilde reached down and lifted the gates.

Instantly the sounds of laughter and games met Judy's ears and she perked up. The instant the door was lifted and full view of the warehouse floor filled her vision she couldn't help but let out a breath of inspiration:

'It's a theme park!' she exclaimed to herself.

Nick watched curiously as what appeared to be a genuine smile spread across the bunny's face. There were children running, the sounds of carnival music, laughter filtering through the air--and everyone was collarless.

As far as Judy was concerned, this was the most at home she'd felt since arriving in this strange place. The sense of oppression, the hatred, the sense of downtroddenness--all of these feelings evaporated almost instantly. The park itself sat behind a wall of ticketing booths that stretched the width of the warehouse. The blue and green colours were especially well-suited to the mood and helped to brighten the atmosphere, contrasting sharply with the sterile doctor's office that sat up top. Sitting in between the two sides of the ticketing booths was the narrow entrance to the park. At the gate sat a familiar looking fox, about the size of a child with large ears. He was dressed as a nurse and it was his task, Judy saw, to use what looked like a pricing scanner to remove the collars from the necks of predators.

Judy visibly relaxed which left both Wilde and Clawhauser exchanging nervous looks as she began to wander ahead of them.

"We're in deep shit," whispered Clawhauser.

"Why?"

"Haven't you seen the way she's acting? There's gotta be a reason for it."

"What do you think that reason is?" asked Wilde.

"Something big is about to go down and either we're all gonna get captured or she's got an escape route planned."

Nick merely looked at Clawhauser, puzzled.

"Have you ever known anybody who thought they were gonna die be so cool?"

Wilde perked up as the realisation suddenly struck him. Clawhauser was right!

He observed her again and noticed the way she looked around the place seemingly with a sense of wonder.

'This isn't right!' Wilde tried to control the rising tide of panic that rose within him as he watched her look around. He would have been proud of the affect his work had had on her except for the fact that she was who she was. The hardened mask had fallen from her face and she now seemed to be expressing a kind of innocence. She was well and truly charmed by the park and it seemed to him in that moment that she was beautiful. An odd thought for him to have about a sworn enemy, but this meant nothing to him, really, as he'd had experiences dealing with beautiful females--not all of them were what they appeared to be. That she was charming was--therefore--not disarming in the least. Though it had had the effect of shattering an image that he'd had of this creature in his mind. She was not at all what he'd expected.

Moving forward quickly, he reached her and took her roughly by the arm and led her toward the uncollaring booth and Finnick. When Finnick saw the both of them his eyes widened briefly before narrowing first at the rabbit and then at Wilde.

"I was wondering why we weren't having any more customers. Why the fuck you bring her down here an' not get rid o' her?"

"She's Judy Hopps!" Clawhauser chimed in from behind Wilde and Judy.

"Ah, so this is the infamous Judy Hopps. You pretty brave showing yo' face around here. What do you think of our establishment?" he asked as he leant forward over the counter.

Judy looked at him, barely able to contain her delight. "I think it's fantastic!"

She positively beamed, having totally lost control of her emotions. She couldn't help it. She had gone from a situation where she'd had to watch her back over saying the wrong thing to a place where it seemed that many inhibitions had been dropped and left by the wayside. Though she realised that she still had to keep a lid on her feelings, the initial excitement at seeing such freedom had taken her resolve completely by surprise.

Finnick only looked down at her, his eyes slightly widened. He caught Wilde's eye and received a nod in return.

"We know," started Wilde in response to the unasked question, "we're worried, too."

After a moment of contemplation Wilde spoke up again. "We're closing down Wilde times for now. The cops know that she's here and when they find her missing it'll only be a matter of time before they come following up on her and that means we're all getting taken in. Unless we can hold them off."

"Nick, I didn't sign up for this!" lamented Finnick. "Can't you just let her go?"

"So she can fuck us over by telling everyone that we're keeping a secret amusement park in an abandoned warehouse? And while she's at it, what? Tell them that we threatened to kidnap and kill her!" exclaimed Wilde. "Holding on to her's the only way we have a chance at an upper hand. Mancha's just came up and he's gonna talk to Mr. Big. I'm pretty sure either tonight or tomorrow is when the cops are going to come around here looking for her and when that happens we need to be ready to defend ourselves."

Finnick thought for a moment to himself and then gave a nod. "You right, Nick. We gotta get this off the ground quickly."

Judy watched as Finnick turned on the intercom system and called everyone in the park to the front entrance. A brief speech was made and the full breadth of the situation was laid out--with the exception of Judy's presence; she was, for the duration of the announcement, hidden behind the booth so as not to start a riot that would likely end with her killed. Mr. Big would not look kindly on that nor did Wilde feel like having his place of business becoming known as the place where a bunny cop was straight-up murdered.

The patrons were advised to tell everyone; alert everyone they could through text or word of mouth about the situation and inform anyone they could that there was to be a meeting at around three or four in the afternoon. Already a few phones had gone off and received messages--apparently Manchas hadn't wasted any time. Mr. Big would likely be heading the meeting as he was in charge of most of the affairs in the predator subculture.

Four employees went to facilitate the exit elevator and the recollaring of the patrons to prevent there being a panic as much as they could. Once that was done the workers were themselves dismissed. Wilde, Clawhauser, and Finnick, for the most part alone, gave each other worried looks as Judy came out from behind the decollaring counter. Finnick made another call over the intercom system telling the remaining ride workers there to shut down the rides. Judy was led by Nick, Clawhauser, and Finnick through three warehouses connected by long tributes so as to turn what Judy was sure had at one point been three separate structures into one long park.

Many of the workers recognised Judy as she passed them by, and many shouted out insults, others were trying to figure out what was happening and questioned Wilde. It was Finnick who responded to the majority of the questions, however. And it was only after a full explanation was given that many backed off. Knowing that Mr. Big, the boss of Happy Town, was getting involved seemed to placate the majority of those who tried to edge their way in; and the fact that Finnick received a text from Manchas stating that no one was to question her until Mr. Big got there sealed the matter.

Judy was beginning to realise just to what extent her counterpart had persecuted the predators here, and she knew that the chances of her getting out of the situation were slim to none. Still, she had to try, and to that effect she screwed her face up to look as menacing as possible, though inklings of her true nature had already shone through. She had a sense, however, that her captors were little inclined to believe the evidence of their own eyes. She knew that eventually, to save her own life, she would have to come clean about who she really was. Her phone, which rested at this moment in Wilde's pocket as they walked along, would have proof enough of that.

It was upon entering the third warehouse that Finnick suddenly piped up, as though he had suddenly remembered something.

"Nick, I forgot to mention it: We got a visitor in your office."

Wilde cocked an eyebrow. "What kind?"

"The kind Fangmeyer and Wolford bring."

Wilde grunted.

Judy marvelled at the impressive size of the coaster which seemed to criss-cross all around the third warehouse while leaving enough space for other games in the middle.

As they came upon his office which was hidden behind a chain-link gate behind the roar-a-coaster which also seemed to house the control podium for the coaster, Judy saw two wolves--one grey and one white--emerge from the office and head toward them.

Their faces darkened the instant they caught sight of Judy and she fought the urge to shrink back.

The grey one snarled at her once they got in range of her but she forced herself to stand her ground. "You bitch . . ." he ground out.

The white wolf stepped around him and stood in front of her for a moment, saying nothing. Just as the silence started getting uncomfortable he quickly drew back his paw and backhanded her across the face so hard that she was torn from Wilde's grasp as she fell to the floor.

Judy let out a cry of pain that echoed through the park. Wolford and Fangmeyer both began advancing on her but were quickly blocked by Finnick, Wilde, and Clawhauser.

Finnick reached up to Fangmeyer's shirt and pulled him down to his level as he shouted, "What the hell you doin' man? You get that we need her alive to figure out what the fuck the city's planning, don't you?!"

Fangmeyer was taken by surprise but quickly composed himself. "Cut the shit, Finnick. That little cunt deserves to die! She's a cunt! She's had more of us arrested and nearly killed than any other cop out there! And we're pretty sure she was the one behind having that fox in there tortured."

"That can't be right. She got here around eight ten or so," said Nick. It was only eight twenty-three at the moment he found as he checked the time on Judy's phone.

"He's sure he saw her," said Wolford.

"It doesn't matter, dumbass, 'cause it turns out that Mr. Big just called dibs," Finnick explained.

At that both Fangmeyer and Wolford looked stunned. Finnick released Fangmeyer's shirt and let him go. Wilde turned and scooped Judy off the floor. She'd hit her head hard and was unable to walk so he simply carried her the rest of the way to his office while Clawhauser and Finnick stayed behind to get the wolves up to speed.

Once there he decided to place her in the side room where the wounded fox lay. He saw that someone had drawn the curtain across the room to divide it. He took Judy and propped her upright in the chair which he then brought in front of the desk. He undid one cuff around her wrist and drew her paws through the slats in the back before refastening them so she wouldn't be able to escape. He took some rope from his desk and used it to bind her feet and to tie her torso more securely to the chair.

He cocked his head and looked down the bunny who was now becoming more aware of her surroundings.

He arose and strode behind the curtain. Before him lay a beaten fox, about his size. Bandages and gauze were patch-worked across his body. Wilde noticed that the victim's face was swollen and had one particularly thick bandage covering his left eye. He observed the collar the fox was still wearing and withdrew the sergeant's keys from his pocket, held up the magnetic strip, and unfastened it. He looked down at the thing in his paw: it looked different from his own collar--it was somewhat larger. He let out a sigh. There was nothing more for him to do: the wolves had done their job well.

As he strode from behind the curtain he noticed his captive watching him carefully.

"That collar," she started, nodding toward his left paw, "it's got a tracker in it." She recognised it from a picture she'd seen of the new collars when she'd been researching earlier that morning.

Wilde looked down at the thing in his paw sharply as though it were a snake that might bite him.

"Don't destroy it," she slurred, "if you do they'll know something's wrong. They'll come here to track down the pred who took off their collar."

'Does she have Stockholm syndrome already?' he pondered.

"Why are you telling me this?" he asked.

"You need to keep the collar intact and drive it somewhere else to make it look like he's still moving so they don't figure out where he's gone. It wouldn't make sense for someone to travel to a secluded beach whose only attraction is some abandoned property and stay there unmoving for a long time," she pressed. "Someone might assume he's up to no good and come here to investigate."

"Why are you telling me this?" he asked again, completely bemused.

"Maybe I'm not the enemy you thought I was," she replied shakily.

Nick snorted.

"If there's anything else you need just keep it to yourself ," spat Wilde. He turned from her and strode out of the room. Just before closing the door he heard her mumble something. He opened the door wider and, in spite of his hatred for this female, called out, "Yes?"

"I said," she slurred, "'Actually, there is something you could do for me.'"

He had to give it to her: the bunny had chutzpah. "What's that?" he asked, genuinely curious now.

"Could you scratch my nose?"

It took everything he had not to let out a bark of laughter. This was not the personality he'd pictured when he imagined encountering Sgt. Judy Hopps. None of it was. In fact, when her guise had been uncovered he'd been expecting to die in a fire fight rather than be treated to stoicism and an occasional quip.

'Even monsters have a sense of humour,' he concluded.

He turned and closed the door behind him before heading through his office. He paused and emptied his pockets of the phone, keys, and other effects of hers and left them on his desk. He moved to the door but stopped for a moment and went back to her phone, curious to see what she had on it that might be useful. He scowled when just as it was powering up it shut off as the battery had run down. In a huff, he took one of the many chargers he had laying around and tried several before finding one that worked for her phone and began powering it up, making a note in his mind to return and check it out later.

He came out of the room, closed the door behind him, and locked it. He turned and saw Fangmeyer and Wolford talking with each other along with Finnick and Clawhauser; he saw their clawless paws and was once again filled with a sense of rage. He wanted to go back into that room and unleash his fury on the prisoner for no other reason than that she had made him laugh! At least internally. And that was a problem because she had resonated with him. The mask of beauty and virtue she seemed to wear he had to set by the wayside along with the aura of righteousness and peace she seemed to radiate; these were things he had to pointedly ignore.

He had no idea how she had done it, but she had somehow been able to undermine his instincts; currently they were screaming at him that something was wrong--that this was somehow not the bunny of whom everyone was afraid. Again, he forced these thoughts from his head: If there were anything to be learned, if not from what he'd seen in the world than certainly from having observed himself over time, it was that instincts could be fooled.

Growing up nearly parentless and practically on the streets had shown him how to hide his true self. When in survival mode, the body and the brain worked extra hard to keep one alive.

'That's what she's doing now,' Wilde reassured himself. She was surviving.

Wilde growled angrily at the tension this bunny was causing him--the way she'd been able to get under his skin so easily. He'd moved beyond that, he thought: having become a good read of character over time. This bunny was one huge exception to the usual concord between his instincts and his expectations which, across the majority of his adult life, he'd been able to rely on.

'I must be losing my touch,' he thought gloomily.

He let out a sigh and went over to the group: He had a meeting to prepare for.

-.-.-.-

Cevilla walked into the storage closet looking for some paper so she could restock the copy machine. She heard the door open and close behind and was startled when she suddenly felt someone grab her from behind. She let out a small scream and dropped what she had in her paws when she was quickly turned around and assaulted by a hail of kisses landing on her lips, neck, and cheeks.

"Garou!" she exclaimed as she melted into his embrace. The doe let out a moan as she felt his paws wander down her thighs before going up again and under her shirt.

"Not here!" she exclaimed as she felt Garou finish with the buttons on her uniform.

"I've needed this all day . . ." growled Garou. "My shift's almost over and I thought I might catch myself something sweet before heading off."

"Garou . . ." she moaned as she felt him fiddling with her pants. The belt came undone and so did the zipper. She felt them slide down her legs and very quickly she stepped out of both the slacks and underwear that pooled at her feet.

She let out a gasp when she felt the wolf's paw move to her nether region and she melted under his touch.

"Keep going . . . please don't stop," she murmured when he withdrew his paw.

He let out chuckle and growled down at her. "Sorry, babe," he began, his voice strained, "I can't wait . . ." he finished with a groan as he began to fiddle with his own belt buckle.

Cevilla gave a small nod and closed her eyes as she listened while her lover unfastened his belt--heard the swish of his pants as the fabric made its way down his legs. She looked down and saw his proud member already erect. She met his eyes and found him smiling down at her. She ran her fingers through the warm fur on his arms.

"Hang on," she murmured as she backed into a shelf that she felt could bear her weight.

Garou helped her up and spread her legs gently.

"No waiting!" she uttered breathlessly.

Garou nodded briefly before putting himself at her opening and thrust in as hard and as quickly as he could.

The doe wrapped her legs around his back and threw her arms around his neck, letting out a gasp at being so suddenly filled.

"Yes!" she said in a high and quiet voice. "Yes, Garou . . ." she trailed off as the lovers melted into each other. This was a lovemaking session that gradually evolved into an out and out rut. Ages upon ages in which the two of them had had to sneak around and hide, knowing that their relationship would have been looked down upon by society if they were caught, had led only to the occasional night together in which the two would be able to spend some time in bed with each other. Generally they both hated the way they had to sneak around but it also led to explosive sex wherever they could get it.

"Oh God!" the wolf uttered gutturally as he continued his thrusts pushing harder and faster. He was getting very close very quickly. Thankfully his wife wasn't too far behind him.

The shelf beneath her creaked as the pleasure within her mounted more and more. She closed her eyes and tried to muffle her cries of pleasure, pressing her lips together tightly in excited anticipation when she felt his knot begin to form.

He growled, gripping her thighs tightly as he pushed in faster and faster, loving the way her slick walls tightened around his member, feeling her loosen as his hips continued to push.

'No waiting!' he growled to himself.

He was about to come, and as fast as they'd been going he let out a snarl as he gave three slower thrusts, each one pushing in deeper than the last, pushing his knot in harder, he forced it up into his mate with a shout of pleasure as she writhed beneath him. "Oh yeah!" he ground out as he buried his muzzle into her neck.

They both came with a shout of raw pleasure as he began to spill his seed.

Their thrusting, though now limited, continued as deeply and as quickly as they could as they tried to prolong each other's orgasm for as long as they could both manage. They kissed deeply and passionately as they rode the wave of pleasure together

As the last ebbs of passion dissipated leaving only a panting couple, the two of them began to relax as the afterglow settled in on them.

"We shouldn't have tied . . ." said Cevilla breathlessly.

"We'll be fine. Besides, you know I'm good with knots."

Cevilla giggled and gave her husband another peck on his muzzle. "So, how's your day going?" she murmured.

"Bad." She frowned and ran a paw through his fur and scratched behind his ear. "Yeah . . ." he murmured as he leant his head into her ministrations.

"Anything I can do to help?"

"You already have . . ." growled playfully. Something in his voice must've been too intense because he suddenly let out a cry of pain as his collar shocked him.

He slammed his fist down on the shelf hard as anger surged through him.

"Isn't having to live a lie enough?" he began bitterly. "Can't I just make love to my wife in peace?" he finished as he choked on a sob. "I just wanna be with you so bad!" he said quietly though fervently.

Cevilla held her mate protectively "Well be together soon. Someday we'll get away from this place!" He pulled back and looked into her eyes before kissing her passionately.

He finally broke the kiss and looked down at her. "How was I ever so lucky to find you?"

She smiled up at him and caressed his cheek. "That's the kind of wolf you are. Good animals deserve good things."

"Are you a good thing?" he murmured teasingly.

"Not always," she replied quietly, pensively. "Sometimes, working here, I start to feel like I'm too much a part of the way things are. I don't like the way I have to act around these animals."

Garou nodded silently as he continued to think about how his day had gone.

Always attuned to his moods she prodded, "You know how it makes me feel to know my wolf's not feeling well. What happened?"

The wolf didn't answer immediately. He was still a bit breathless from their coupling, but that wasn't why. When she regarded him quizzically, he spilled. "Judy got another one."

Her eyes opened wide before scowling in anger. "Why does she always have to ruin everything?" She looked up at him. "Who was it?"

"I didn't see and they never said his name. It was a fox, though." He could recall having just barely glimpsed the basic size and colour of the creature Rhinowitz had been dragging along. The bushy tail was a dead giveaway.

"Want me to look into it?" she asked.

"No," he said quietly. "I'm pretty sure this one was off the books, too."

Cevilla let out a moan as her mate began twisting in order to free his knot. She shifted, herself, in order to give him a better angle. With a wet sounding pop it finally gave and, in spite of herself, Cevilla turned away in embarrassment before sitting up and gripping her mate's shirt as they both collapsed into laughter. After a moment their laughter died away and they quickly worked to dress themselves and smooth out any wrinkles.

As they straightened up Garou continued speaking. "Anyway, my phone's been blowing up just now. Every pred's been getting message after message. They caught Sarge!"

Cevilla's mouth dropped open before it closed nearly immediately. "That's impossible."

"I know!" he began excitedly, "anyway in just a little bit there's going to be a mee-"

"No, no!" interrupted Cevilla. "I mean impossible as in it's literally not-possible. Sarge is here!"

Grou stopped in the middle of fastening his belt. "You're sure?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yeah. She just came back, like, a short while ago."

He was about to ask another question when she interrupted him again: "But you said something about a meeting?"

"Yeah . . ." he trailed off. "At Wild Times. Can you show me that she's here, because everybody I've been speaking to's been adamant that it's her."

Cevilla nodded and, quickly grabbing the paper she'd come for in the first place, opened the door. She made sure the coast was clear before waving the grey wolf through. They carefully approached the sarge's cubical and found it empty.

"I could have sworn I saw her. In fact I know I did--because she'd changed out of her uniform blues."

"Hmm . . ." pondered Garou. He never doubted his wife's ability to pick up on things and there was no reason for her to imagine that another bunny named Judy Hopps came in earlier. Either way it was suspicious enough to bring up at the meeting.

"It could be she's still here somewhere and just went to go do something . . ." she trailed off.

Garou nodded. "I'll tell them when I get there."

"When's the meeting?"

"At four, but the soldiers are wanted there earlier."

She smiled up at him. "I love you."

"I love you, too," he smiled back. They looked around to make sure no one was watching before giving each other a kiss.

"Where are you going now, though?" she asked. It was only nine in the morning.

"I'm going straight there. I wanna see this with my own eyes." He made to leave. "Oh! I almost forgot: there's an email and phone call ban. Get the word out to as many prey who're with us as you can. Only text."

"What's going on?"

Her husband paused for a moment before regarding his wife. He let out a sombre sigh. "It's war," he grunted.

-.-.-.-

Back at city hall, a pig hummed to herself when she got another phone call.

"Hello?"

"Mayor Pricilla?"

"Speaking," she said smoothly, drawing out the word.

"That fox we were supposed to be tracking, it stopped across the water from the canal district at a private beach that hasn't been part of the service area for ages. Should we follow it now?"

"Hmm . . . track it to see if it goes anywhere else. I want everything to go off at five but if this fox is who I think it is we're going to need him in order to leave him the blame. Send someone to scope out the location, too. If this is the place we've been looking for we need to know soon; otherwise we need to figure out another target and quick."

"Understood." The voice on the other end bade farewell and hung up.

The pig thought for a moment before sitting forward and picking up a file from the pile in front of her. She opened it to reveal a picture of Nicholas Wilde sitting on top of a stack of other papers which had been clipped together. Her eyes roamed over the scars on his face. He'd make the perfect patsy; and whether she found his meeting place for predators or not, which she was certain now more than ever he owned and likely in conjunction with the largest crime boss in Happy Town--Mr. Big, she figured she could take out two birds with one stone.

"Oh, Mr. Wilde," she said to herself, "You picked the wrong day to be you."