Nick sat at his cubicle, scribbling up a report for a drunk driver incident earlier in the day. Suddenly, his pencil was gone. He blinked and whirled around to find Judy standing there, twirling the pencil expertly.

"Don't you have five years?" He asked unceremoniously.

"Well," she tapped her chin thoughtfully with the pencil, "I decided to break out and seek revenge."

Nick was not amused.

Chief Bogo came strolling down the corridor. Hastily, Nick dropped his arm to his side and did a sharp salute, hitting himself hard in the forehead. Judy smirked.

"Officer Wilde?" He read off his clipboard, not taking his eyes off it. "It appears you have – oh, she's here."

He glanced at Judy. "Pardon me?"

"Your new partner."

Nick's heart flipped, as did his stomach. "I'm sorry?"

Bogo sighed. He looked at Judy. "Do you want to explain this, or do I have to spoon feed it to you too?"

She shrugged. "Well, I wouldn't mind that, but…" She took a badge out of her back pocket and shoved it in Nick's face. It looked identical to his own except for the title. "Criminal Informant," they read at the same time.

Nick sighed. "Am I the only one that doesn't know what that is?"

"Due to me being a great help on the case, as well as 'demonstrating trustworthy behaviour and qualities of bravery,'" she mocked, before she realized the chief was still there. "Ahem. I meant I get to help out on cases now. You know. Get you guys into the criminal mindset. I'd serve my sentence out here, with you as my supervising officer."

Nick looked from her to Chief Bogo. "You're kidding me, right? You'd let her? Roam free?"

"Well, I wouldn't exactly say free…" Judy scoffed, and pulled down her collar. Shiny metal glinted back at him, accompanied with a blinking red light.

"Is that –" He seemed to be saying that a lot with her around.

"Yep. The newest T.A.M.E. collar. Pacified and repurposed for ZPD use."

A smile crept onto Nick's face. "So, you're telling me I get to tell you what to do for the next five years?"

"Sure," She chirped sweetly, voice thick as syrup. "If you dare," she added.

"I'll leave you two alone now. Wilde, get her added into the system and acquaint her with the other officers. Hopps, I'm putting my neck on the line for this arrangement. Don't disappoint me."

Judy cleared her throat and nodded professionally and solemnly.

The chief left, tapping on his phone.

She smirked at Nick. "I'm off. I'll get you guys some donuts, 'kay? All police love donuts, right?"

Nick had to resist the urge to trip her. As she turned away and bounded off in gliding jumps, Nick gazed after her wistfully. It wasn't natural or normal, he knew, but after all, we all have monsters within.

We are all someone's monster.

It's just that every monster is different.

And that marks the end of The Monster Within, the (so far) longest story I've stuck around for.

I'd like to thank all my readers, and in particular TheCatweazle for their wonderful and insightful reviews, and the PM exchange that ended up enriching this story so much. Thank you.

If you're still hungry for more story, check out some of my other (all discontinued or finished) stories, or go to my new webcomic Abnormal Geometry (not as nerdy as it sounds) or my P atreon! If I hit $50 in pledges, I'll start a new long-running story!

Abnormal Geometry: abnormalgeometry dot smackjeeves dot com

mckee11223's p atreon: www dot p atreon dot com slash mckee11223

(Weird format because apparently censors links)

Oh, and also, happy 2017!

And that's about it! Peace out! ~mckee11223