A/N: Hello fellow Zootopia fans! I am Eragon05 and I've been working on this story of mine for a while now. I have combined the prologue with the first chapter so DO NOT expect future chapters to be this long. I will also try to keep these author's notes short and sweet from now on. Leave a follow/favorite/review if you enjoy! And without further ado, I give you Fall!

Zootopia is owned by Disney, I only own my OCs.

-Eragon

PROLOGUE

BIG MANORS, TUNTRATOWN; 11:57 PM, THURSDAY, APRIL 17th

"I'm going to ask you one more time", stated the small artic shrew known as Mr. Big from his black leather office chair, "What were you doing in my warehouse?"

He demanded this to a larger wolverine fidgeting in front of his desk. This was no normal wolverine, though. This was Victor Clawson, an albino wolverine standing at about 42 inches tall, which was very tall for his species, and was built like a tank. This unnatural strength and agility he possessed helped make him the best officer in the ZPD's 3rd Precinct based in Tundratown. He did the jobs no one else wanted to do or that no one else COULD do, which meant a lot of undercover work and a lot of dealing with gangs, or both at once. On the outside, Victor seemed extraordinarily nervous and scared for his life, but inside he was completely calm. This wasn't the worst situation he had been in and he was still alive to tell the tale of those. He'd been scouting out a warehouse that was storing illegal drugs and weaponry and decided he should get a closer look. Little had he known the warehouse belonged to Mr. Big and his goons would grab him and bring him here.

"I told you, sir, I was heading home from a job interview near your warehouse and got lost", Victor lied easily, faking some nervousness into his voice, "I had never been to that area of Tuntratown before. Then your men attacked me and brought me here. I didn't mean to cause any trouble. I just want to go home, sir.

Mr. Big didn't look happy with that statement, "Now, that's what you keep telling me, but then how is it that you managed to take down two of my best guards who are three times your size with absolutely no trouble at all. That seems a little impressive of a measly citizen heading home."

Victor was silent at that, still trying to figure out a way to respond. The shrew then smirked; knowing something else was going on with the animal in front of him, "Now, you said your name was Oscar, right?" Victor nodded and the crime lord continued, "Oscar, I'm going to give you a choice here. You can tell me the truth, or you can lie to me again and die. It's up to you."

Victor could only sigh at that choice. If he told the shrew the truth, he would be killed for being a cop, but if he lied again, Big would ice him anyways. This forced him into only one option. One that would protect the ZPD and that he would have to hope would not get him iced. "Sir, I'm not lying to you. I've taken some self-defense classes and-"

"Okay, I've heard enough", Mr. Big interrupted, glowering at the wolverine, "Boys, ice'im!"

The two polar bears next to Victor quickly took action, one grabbing Victor by his rope handcuffs and lifting him up while the other moved away the rug he was standing on and revealed the swirling vortex of ice and arctic water below.

"It's a shame, Oscar, I really do have a soft spot for your types", the shrew said almost sadly, "But, you've made your choice and your time is…"

The main door into the crime lord's office slammed open, another polar bear panting as he rushed into the room. Mr. Big could not have looked more frustrated with his henchmammal, "What is it, Kevin?! Can't you see I'm busy right now?!"

The new polar bear, known as Kevin, barely looked fazed by his employer's anger, "Boss, Raymond and Barry are dead!"

"What?!", the arctic shrew gasped, "How did this happen, Kevin?"

"They had both had a few too many drinks at The Ice Flow and called me to ask if I could pick them up. So I pulled up next to the bar and saw both of them lying in the alley to the side. Thinking they had just passed out, I got out to go get them. That's when I saw the pools of blood around them and multiple bullet holes in each of their chests. After I saw them I called the police and came straight here."

Mr. Big cursed under his breath and spoke to the entire room, "Koslov, you and Kevin stay here to discuss this new problem with me. The rest of you are dismissed. Oscar, I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt here, but if you EVER cross me again, you will wish that you had died now."

Victor gulped to keep up his act before responding, "Understood, sir. You will never have to deal with me again."

"I sure hope not for your sake. Now get this sack of fur out of my sight."

The two bears holding Victor nodded and wordlessly put a sack over his head and dragged him out of the Big residence. They made sure to drive him a good distance away before throwing him out in the snow. Victor picked himself up and took off the blindfold as a limo's tires squealed and drove off into the night. When they were out of eyesight, Victor dusted himself off, a huge grin spreading across his face. They bought his act, he had made it out alive, and now he had a new case to investigate along with some info on Mr. Big and his subordinates. This was a great day in Victor's mind. He composed himself and started walking back to the Precinct Three Headquarters. He had a lot of paperwork to do.

Mr. Big's office had been returned to its comfy and elegant look. Big was still in his chair on his desk while Koslov and Kevin now had black lounge chairs and were seated in front of Mr. Big. But neither was lounging or relaxed; far from it actually. Kevin looked between angry and depressed. Koslov sat hunched over massaging his temples from the stress headache he was getting from the recent events. Kevin had more info to share about Raymond and Barry's deaths that was extremely sensitive, and the crime boss knew this. This was info for Big and Koslov only.

Kevin looked up at his boss and began, "Boss, I found two other pretty major things when I was checking the scene." The shrew leaned forward, urging him to continue. Kevin pulled out a bloody bullet and a tuft of reddish-brown fur from his pants pocket and continued, "The fur noticeably looks and smell of jackal; and the bullet has a poison laced in it. I know this because the bullets alone aren't strong enough to take down polar bears, not even multiple shots. I could also see the traces of the poison under the fur of Raymond's chest. From what I know, it looks like Cobra venom which would be why our friends are now dead. Boss, both these point to a specific assassin out in Sahara Square who works for only Lesley Richards."

Koslov scoffed at what Kevin was implying, "You think the gang out of Sahara did this? They wouldn't dare try to cross us. They don't stand a chance against us financially or physically. Richards would be an idiot to try that.

"This is very strange, indeed. Lesley has been growing more and more ambitious lately, but this would be extremely rash of him. The pieces don't quite fit together.", Mr. Big spoke up suddenly, "Thank you for gathering all of this, Kevin. Now both of you, go home please. I have some work to finish up and some thinking to do."

"Boss, what are we going to do?", Kevin asked as he stood up to leave.

"WE are not going to do anything drastic at this point in time. We will keep our eyes open for anything else suspicious from Lesley and keep him in check if he ever even thinks of harming our people", the shrew replied, then gave a long sigh, "But I do think I can do something. I may know one mammal who can solve this. Tomorrow I have some phone calls to make. One being my goddaughter."

CHAPTER 1: THE TRANSFERS

ROOM 412, LEO'S APARTMENT COMPLEX, SAVANNA CENTRAL; 5:30 AM, FRIDAY, APRIL 18th

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! An orange-furred paw sprung out from underneath a blanket and smacked the top of an old alarm clock, silencing it. Nick Wilde sat up in his bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He then lazily slunk out from under his blanket and made his way over to the bathroom, glancing at his digital alarm clock as he closed the door.

"5:30. This is way too early for anyone to get ready for work… or even be awake for that matter." Nick thought to himself, "Why am I putting myself through this?"

Then an image of Judy popped into his head. He'd do anything for that crazy bunny; even completely destroy his sleep schedule for months on end. The fox sighed. Judy Hopps, the star ZPD officer, was now his best friend. He couldn't believe how much she'd completely turned his world upside down. Hence why he was rushing through his shower and putting on his police uniform, freshly washed and ironed the night before in order to make it look almost new. As Nick straightened his tie and pinned on his badge, shining dimly in the light of his small apartment, he heard a series of knocks coming from his front door.

The fox quickly rushed over and opened the door, greeting the rabbit officer with his signature lazy grin and calm demeanor, "I swear officer, whatever they told you, I didn't do it." Judy smiled and played along with his banter, "Are you sure because I was told there was a shifty, low-life fox breaking into this apartment?"

"Ouch, that truly hurts me, Carrots", Nick replied, putting a hand over his heart and looking away dramatically.

"You'll live. Now are you ready to leave yet? It's already 6:15." Judy Hopps was the epitome of a ZPD officer. Her uniform was stainless and perfectly ironed, making Nick's look like he hadn't even washed it. Every strand of her silver fur was combed down and in place. She had every tool an officer would need strapped to her belt, which was now without her fox repellent. She had thrown it out in order to build trust between herself and Nick and so far it had worked. She was also wide awake compared to her orange-furred friend, having been up since 4:30 to go for a run before getting ready for work.

"And we don't need to be at the bullpen till 7:30."

Judy grinned at this, "Well, if you want breakfast and your morning coffee, we should probably leave soon."

"I do love my coffee", Nick said more to himself than Judy, "Alright, you win, let me just grab my phone and wallet."

Nick hurried back into his apartment, grabbed his things, and locked the door before heading to the elevator of the building with Judy. Nick's apartment was a little smaller than average, but still huge compared to the bunny's one-room home. The fox had a full-sized bedroom, a dining/living room, a small kitchen area just big enough for cooking meals, and most importantly, his own bathroom. His apartment was located on the forth and top floor of a pro-species equality complex owned by a friendly old lion who had known Nick for the past few years. Both said their goodbyes to the lion as they walked out the double doors and into the parking lot.

The duo took the same route every morning. Judy would ride the downtown bus to a stop pretty close to Nick's place. Then, the two would walk the mile and a half to Precinct 1 ZPD Headquarters, stopping at J&J's along the way. This allowed both to get some delicious breakfast and coffee at a reasonable price. The café was owed by Jack and Janet, a giraffe couple, and catered foods and beverages to prey and predators alike, with a slightly smaller selection for the preds. J&J's also had a small town feel to it that all animals loved, especially the two officers entering the building, a bell ringing as they opened the door. Jack beamed the fox and bunny a huge smile as they strolled up to the counter to order, "Well if it ain't my two favorite ZPD officers! What can I get for ya today?"

Nick immediately ordered for the both of them before Judy could even open her mouth, "I'll have a medium white chocolate cappuccino with a blueberry muffin and my partner'll have a small carrot smoothie with a slice of… chocolate chip zucchini bread?" The fox glanced down at Judy for confirmation that he had the order right, to which she rolled her eyes and nodded eagerly. Nick smiled at the fact he had gotten it right and looked back up to Jack, "That'll be all."

"Okay, that's 12 dollars and 84 cents."

The pair each fished out seven dollars and put the money on the counter, both telling Jack to keep the change. They each then chuckled as they remembered the first time they met each other and made their way over to a nearby booth, knowing their orders would be ready relatively quickly since there was only a pawful of other mammals in the café. Both waited in comfortable silence; Nick on his phone checking his Furbook while Judy just looked around at the surrounding buildings. The bunny was admiring, not for the first time, the amazing neighborhood Nick had found a home in.

This area was probably the best in the Downtown District, if not all of Zootopia. There was an apartment complex, that was actually decently nice, which accommodated to preds and prey alike; multiple cafés, restaurants, and markets which had foods and drinks for both; and a non-discriminating school system all in a close 4 city blocks. To top it all off, the entire neighborhood was within two miles of both the very capital of Zootopia and Precinct 1. It was a place Nick had thought only existed in fantasies and Judy thought was what all of Zootopia could and should be like.

Janet interrupted her thoughts as she called both their names and brought both of them out of their own little worlds. Judy and Nick quickly got up and grabbed their orders, perkily thanking both Jack and Janet as they walked out the door and continued on to the precinct. Judy slowly unwrapped and took her first bite of her zucchini bread. She glanced over at Nick to see his muzzle covered in the remnants of blueberries and nothing but crumbs left of the fox's muffin. At that point both broke down laughing hard enough that they had tears in their eyes and their chests hurt; only stopping because they were hunched over out of breath. Still giggling, Judy finally gave Nick a couple napkins to wipe off the berries, which he gladly accepted and began to clean off his face. He had finally gotten the last of the blue out of his orange fur as they pushed through the main doors of the ZPDHQ. Immediately after they had stepped inside they were greeted by the city's friendliest cheetah.

"There's the most adorable team on the force! I thought you were gonna be less than 15 minutes early for once! How are you two on this beautiful morning?" Clawhauser gushed joyfully right before shoving a whole donut into his maw, spreading sprinkles onto his otherwise spotless and orderly desk. Chief Bogo had decided to add in, at Judy and Nick's request, a small stairway leading to the top of the desk so smaller animals could reach the plump feline's eye level. Judy normally ignored these stairs; instead she casually hopped onto the counter and sat with her feet hanging over the edge, while Nick just walked up a couple steps since his head was almost above the counter at his natural height anyways. Both decided to chat with Ben for a little while. They WERE there at 7:13; 17 minutes before briefing. Plus, the cheetah was a close friend to both of them and an easy mammal to talk to about anything. As Judy gossiped with the large cat about Gazelle and other random current events around Zootopia, Nick stayed on his phone, updating each of his social media accounts and giving a few small comments to the conversation once in a while. Then he heard the end of the latest gossip Clawhauser was going on and on about, which was a very interesting topic to him.

"…and so the chief decided to bring in two officers from Precinct 9 out in Happy Town!" Ben finished with his mouth full, reaching for yet another donut; his forth since the duo had arrived. "Wait, what?!" the red fox butted in, "Spots, would you repeat that last bit of news again?"

"Uh, yeah. The chief noticed we've been a little short-handed recently with patrol teams since Higgins and Jefferson retired and Precinct 9 had two veteran officers that they felt deserved a promotion. So Chief Bogo and Chief Collins decided to transfer those two officers here. Today will be their first day here at Precinct 1! Why you wonderin', Nick?"

"Oh, no big reason, just curious about having some new coworkers around." Nick replied quickly, seeming lost in thought. Judy looked at him in concern and curiosity, but before she could ask him anything, Clawhauser glanced at the clock and gasped, "It's 7:28 already! You two gotta get to the bullpen!"

Nick sighed quietly in relief as the bunny officer leaped off the desk, grabbing the fox's tie and dragging him with her as she sprinted for the briefing room. They opened the door to a packed and rowdy room. Delgato and Fangmeyer were paw-wrestling and had most of Precinct 1's officers gathered around cheering for one or the other. As the pair worked their way into the room and towards their seat, which everyone had thankfully left empty for them, Judy noticed Nick take a sip from his half-gone coffee, grimace, and throw it away. Afterwards, Nick saw Judy do the same thing with her mostly gone smoothie. Cold coffees and warm smoothies were pretty disgusting to both of them. They sat next to each other in the laughably large chair and looked back to see Fangmeyer manage to win the paw-wrestle. The tiger and her supporters cheered noisily and pumped their closed paws into the air. At that exact moment, the hippo in the front of the bullpen said a loud 'TEN HUT!' which only a few of the officers actually heard.

When Bogo walked in, he was greeted by a measly six officers saluting and at attention. This consisted of Judy, Nick, McHorn, Wolford, and the two transfers in the back. Bogo tried to calmly quiet everyone down, but since no one heard him over the cheering, he quickly resorted to a screamed 'QUIET DOWN!' that everyone heard. The celebrating officers quickly silenced themselves and rushed to their seats, sloppily standing at attention. Bodo glared around the room as he took a deep breath through his nose, calming himself from boiling rage to normal frustration.

"At ease", the cape buffalo began as everyone sat, excluding the mammals standing in the back and Hopps since she couldn't see if she was sitting, "We have a couple items on the docket today before assignments. First off, we have two new transfers from Precinct 9; meet officers Zander Oak and Caroline Howler, who have been on the force for the last eight years." Bogo motioned to two officers standing by the back wall of the room. Zander was standing stiff as a board on a chair due to his shorter height, being a springhare. Caroline was leaning casually against the wall and raised her paw in greeting. The whole room was surprised by this, as both their species were stereotyped as "not officer material", but they were veterans on the force. Bogo noticed the odd stares and quickly continued on with how the pair was going to help Precinct 1 with the recent short-handedness that was common knowledge for all the officers.

"And now item number two", Bogo began again, "Last night, between 11:30 PM and midnight, there was a double homicide next to the biggest bar in West Tundtratown, The Ice Flow. All we know at this time is that both victims were polar bears killed by multiple bullet wounds and no one saw or heard the perp who committed the crime. Therefore, everyone is to be on high alert while in and in close proximity to Tundratown. Chief Gallant told me he has competent officers and detectives working on the case and that Precinct 3 has everything handled. So we will continue on with our normal assignments. Webb and Durk, patrol in the Canal District. Delgato and Fangmeyer, East Savanna Central. Trunkaby and Pennington, West Savanna Central. Grizzoli and Mack, Meadowlands. McHorn and Yarrow, Sahara Square. Faren and Castel, Rainforest District. Wolford and Snarlof, East Tundratown. Whitefang and Royal, I know you're not normally on patrol duty, but you have some of the best eyes on the force so I want you looking out for anything suspicious in West Tundratown. Hopps and Wilde, my office when we're done here. The-"

"So we get to patrol your office today, Chief! That's exciting isn't it, Judy!", Nick interrupted loudly, nudging Judy with his elbow. Who then punched him in the ribs in response, earning herself a yelp from Nick as the whole room chuckled at both the fox's joke and consequential pain. Bogo slowly fixed Nick with a steely glare even McHorn normally flinched from, "Meet me in my office after this, Wilde. Now shut your trap!"

Nick grinned and put his paws behind his head and leaned back in his chair. After the chief received a 'yes sir' from him, he decided to finish the briefing, "The rest of you are either continuing previous assignments and cases, or you are on paperwork duty and emergency assistance because I'm missing reports from you, which I want by three o'clock this afternoon. Dismissed."

The officers all stood up silently and slowly filtered out of the room and made their way to the garage for patrol cars or their workstations for reports. Except Judy and Nick, who headed up to Bogo's office. Nick couldn't have cared less about what the chief wanted. As far as he was concerned, they'd done nothing even remotely wrong for weeks and were the most successful duo in Precinct 1. If anything, it was probably praise for the jewel thief they had caught a few days earlier. Judy, on the other paw, was extremely nervous, playing back the entire week trying to find anything they had slipped up on. Both fortunately and unfortunately, she found nothing and ended up clueless and going through an endless list of what-ifs. All this went through their heads in less than two minutes as they reached Chief Bogo's office and sat outside in another of the massive chairs to wait for him. After an excruciatingly long five minutes of awkward silence, Bogo gaited up the stairs towards them, with Oak and Howler a little ways behind him. He motioned for them to sit in the chair next to Nick and Judy and then opened his door and waved the bunny and fox in, closing the door behind them.

Bogo started speaking as all three made their ways to their seats, "As I'm sure both of you know, you've both quickly become two of the top officers in the entire ZPD. Only Royal and Whitefang, as well as a few detectives from other precincts, have closed more cases than you during the past six months; and none of them have closed anything as big as The Night Howler Incident." Judy gave off a beaming smile at the very rare praise the chief was giving them. Nick merely smirked, knowing his thoughts on the situation had been right all along.

"City Hall has noticed this as well, which is why you're both here", the cape buffalo continued, pulling out a stapled packet of papers and putting on his reading glasses, "These orders were given to me from them, specifically for the two of you, which I gladly agree with. The first is that you will be split up as partners for the-"

"WHAT?!" the two officers yelled in unison cutting off the chief's sentence. "Chief, why would you split us up?" Nick asked, still in shock at the new.

Judy, however, had gotten over the shock quickly and proceeded to attempt to scold her commanding officer, "Sir, you can't do that! It doesn't make any sense! You just said how well we're doing as a team! How does that conclude in us being split up?" The buffalo stood up and took his glasses off, furious and in utter disbelief of how kittish the officers in front of him were being, especially Hopps. "This is as much City Hall's decision as it is mine, Hopps. Either way, I was thinking of doing this anyways because I'm obliged to partner officers to most benefit the precinct and the city. If you would have let me finish before whining like kits, you'd know the reasoning for this choice! You two are lucky city Hall proposed this plan that I'm about to finish telling you or you'd both be suspended for disrespecting your superior and letting your emotions too strongly influence your decisions as officers. With that said, I will NOT tolerate you demanding things and telling me how to do my job! Clear?!"

Bogo emphasized this by slamming his hooves on his desk three times throughout the rant, each time harder than the last. The final slam earned him a satisfying flinch from the rabbit and the fox, as well as knocking his jar of pencils over and onto the floor. Both officers then nodded and looked down in shame of their actions. Sitting back down, Bogo finished summarizing what was in the packet, "As I was saying, the two of you will be split up as partners for the duration of two weeks. During those two weeks, you'll be reassigned to one of the transfers from Precinct 9 as your stand-in partners. You'll be helping them adjust and get used to how our precinct runs before they're put together as partners and out on their own again. That is your assignment for the next two weeks, can you handle that?"

The pair stood up and saluted in answer to their chief. Bogo gave them an approving nod and called for Oak and Howler to come in to the office. They cautiously filed in next to Judy and Nick, saluting as well. Oak stood only a couple inches taller than Judy, whereas Howler was easily a foot and a half taller than Nick. She was still short compared to the rest of Precinct 1, but she was tall when standing next to the other three officers in the room. Bogo had gathered the four smallest officers out of all the officers in Precincts 1, 2, 3, and 9; and it was, in a word, strange.

Finally, after a few seconds of silence, Bogo gave the four their assignments for the day, "Hopps, you'll be paired with Howler. You will be patrolling the Downtown area and the roads surrounding Little Rodentia. Wilde, you'll be paired with Oak and patrolling Happy Town today. I'm putting you in these areas to keep Howler and Oak in familiar territory. Tomorrow, you'll switch the areas you're patrolling and then we'll start moving you around the city the days after that. I trust that everything will run smoothly and there will be no problems?" Bogo raised an eyebrow at the group as he finished.

"Yes, sir!" all four officers said in unison. Bogo gave them an emotionless look that most officers said was equivalent to him smirking and dismissed them. The two pairs rushed out of the room and towards the garage silently, knowing that normally they'd have been patrolling for the last half an hour already. Judy hopped into the driver's seat of her patrol car and started it up as Howler climbed in the passenger seat. Judy raised her paw for a pawshake and put on her best "I love my job" smile, introducing herself to the coyote. Howler looked warily at the small paw next to her before shaking it and went back to looking out the windshield with a hardened and serious glare that meant business.

"Ok, then", Judy thought as she put the car into gear and drove out of the garage and onto their Downtown patrol route, "Maybe she'll warm up to me as the day goes on. Hopefully Nick is having a better time with Oak."

Judy's hopes couldn't have been more right. As Nick and Zander pulled out of the parking spot and onto the main road towards Happy Town with Nick in the driver's seat, the pair was already laughing hysterically at a joke the fox made about how bad bunnies were at driving, learning this from working with Hopps. As they reached Happy Town, the fox's mood suddenly shifted from his carefree self to a gloomy atmosphere around him. The springhare noticed this and faced the fox with a knowing look, "You've been around this place first hand, huh?"

Nick took a deep breath and ignored his new partner. Oak knew this meant "yes" and carried on, "I've worked in Precinct 9 for eight years, there's nothin' I haven't seen. It's easily the worst place in Zootopia, both looks-wise and crime-wise. Judging by how you're acting, you've lived here for an extended period of time and something pretty bad happened during that time. I know this won't be what you want to hear, but you gotta move past your past and do your job. That way, you can try to prevent whatever happened in your life to happen to someone else. That's our job, Wilde. You gettin' any of this?"

Nick was staring straight ahead at something down the road. Seeing this, Oak got a little more fired up, "Wilde, are you listening?! You just gotta do your job and ignore the past!"

"Oak, be quiet and-"

"I am not gonna be quiet while you are in la-la land thinking about the past that doesn't matter. We have to be on the lookout and you can't let your emotions get the better of you! Do you-"

The fox glanced down at Zander and pointed at something with his paw. Zander turned and saw what Wilde had been staring at. There was a small fistfight breaking out between a pig and a cheetah outside a gas station on their right side a block or so down the street. Nick quickly turned on the car's flashing red and blue lights and sped off, while Zander opened up the huge glove compartment and grabbed out their tranquilizer pistols, both dosed for medium sized animals and custom-sized for each officer. Skidding into the gas station's parking lot, the group that had just started to form around the two fighters scattered. Nick and Zander both jumped out with pistols in paw, Nick yelling to the group as he exited the car, "ZPD, everybody freeze and put your paws, hooves, or whatever else you might have on your heads!"

Obviously, this just made the bystanders run faster and further away, but they weren't who the pair wanted to stop. Both the pig and cheetah actually did freeze; mostly because they were the two that the pistols were pointed towards, but they froze. The pig was a full grown adult that easily stood taller than Nick by at least a foot and was pretty large, even by pig standards, at the belly. The cheetah, on the other paw, looked like he was still a teenager and was only taller than the fox by a few inches. Zander was the first to start asking questions, "Alright, now what's going on here?"

The pig quickly yelled a response while spitting everywhere, "Well, you see officer, I was just trying to put some gas in my truck over there; when this pelt decided he had the right to ask me if he could borrow some money for gas since he had forgotten his wallet. And when I said no because I don't borrow money to mangy preds, he growled at me, officer! I figured I needed to defend myself and make sure that everyone else in the station was safe from him before he went savage."

Nick looked over at the cheetah, noticing him fidgeting and bouncing from hind paw to hind paw while glancing at all of his surroundings, "What's your name, kit?"

"Willy, sir, and I ain't no kit."

"Understood. Is that how everything happened Willy?"

Willy stopped fidgeting and looked Nick dead in the eye, "Close sir, but he's lyin' about why he went after me. He wasn't tryin' to protect no one. He thought me growlin' out my frustration was a challenge an' den he grabbed me by me shirt collar an' threw me on the ground. I was the one protectin' myself."

The pig looked like he was going to explode in anger, "Why you dirty liar! You just tryin' to act like some scared kit who won't do nothin' wrong, but it ain't gonna work! I know what you did and you's gonna get it for doin' it!"

Just then the owner of the gas station, a fox who seemed to share Clawhauser's love for donuts, ran out to the group, breathing heavily, "Sorry officers… I was just about… to call the police… when saw you… yellin' at the group out there… The boy didn't… do nothin' wrong officers. That pig is always causin' trouble here, but today he went too far by attackin' that boy."

Zander slowly walked over to the pig and started to cuff his hooves when Willy spoke up, "I ain't gonna press no charges, officers. It's all settled now and der ain't no use makin' it a bigger deal dan it is. I just wanna get home so I can get some cash and fill up my car. Thanks for da help, officers!"

And just like that the cheetah ran off down the street, ducking into an alleyway when he was just about out of eyesight. Zander gave the pig a thorough warning of not letting anything like this happen again, thanked the fox for his help, and he and Nick jumped back in the patrol car to continue their route.

"Well that was odd", Nick stated as he pulled back onto the road, "No weapons pulled while we're in a bad area, the victim didn't want to charge the pig and just took off, and the pig didn't even protest when the owner started talking. He just kind of accepted the defeat."

"Well it's Happy Town, you never know what's going to happen when it comes to these animals."

"Yeah, I know it, but it still feels off." Nick said as he focused back in on the road. About 30 minutes later, the radio went berserk with Clawhauser's yells, "All Precinct One officers, we have a 10-57F in an alleyway off of Calypso Street in Happy Town! I repeat: we have a 10-57F in an alleyway off of Calypso Street in Happy Town! Callers have stated that it is a 10-32 situation! Nearby officers, please respond!"

Zander grabbed the radio and calmly replied to Clawhauser's yelling as Nick again turned on the lights, sirens, and punched the gas to get to Calypso Street, which was about 6 blocks down, "10-4, dispatch. This is patrol car Alpha-109; we are en route to the place of emergency. Over." He then turned to Nick with a half-smile and simply said, "Just another day in paradise, isn't it?"

Police Codes:

10-57 (F, PI, PD): Hit and Run (Fatal, Personal Injury, Property Damage)

10-32: Man with Gun

10-4: Acknowledged (OK)

ATLANTIS CASINO, CANAL DISTRICT; 2:05 AM, FRIDAY, APRIL 18th

The Atlantis Casino wasn't your everyday, average casino. This was a casino for the worst of the worst; where the most dangerous and evil criminals and scumbags came to hideout and blow off extra cash from their most recent "jobs." Coran Látiz was no exception to this. Coran, a water monitor who stood six and a half feet tall and a metal plate where his right eye should have been, was the only reptile in the casino hosting over a thousand animals. Yet no one messed with Coran, at least not if they wanted to leave the casino conscious, or alive for that matter. He happened to be the most lethal and respected assassin in Zootopia and all the towns and cities surrounding it.

The water monitor was playing a game of poker at one of the few reserved tables when some new thugs got the brilliant idea to show Coran how they felt about reptiles. Coran was on a winning streak, easily doubling his money in the time he had spent at the table, and was about ready to go home a satisfied animal when he abruptly was yanked out of his seat and thrown to the floor. The few mammals who were playing poker with him; two wolves, a fox, and three weasels; moved to help him, but Coran held out his claw to stop them.

Coran looked up at his aggressors; who were all new faces to him; a gray wolf, a water buffalo, a giraffe, a polar bear, and a rhino; who had been the one to throw him to the ground. The big gray brute grinned deviously down at the reptile, "Hey, bootskin, me and my friends are gonna use this table now," He paused for a moment to crack his knuckles, "Unless you got somethin' to say about it."

Coran slowly stood up. He had mostly black scales, but yellow scales were scattered all over his body and white scales all over his underbelly. He was wearing his favorite bright red suit with a white dress shirt underneath along with matching bright red dress pants; the latter of which now had a stain from his drink being knocked out of his hand while being thrown to the ground. He flicked out his forked tongue and analyzed the five mammals in front of them. All of them were clearly drunk and in dire need of being taught who not to mess with in Atlantis. He raised his claws, both clenched into fists.

"No, you aren't", he stated calmly.

The rhino snorted at this and swung at the reptile with a big, arched punch; which Coran easily ducked under and proceeded to step forward and throw an uppercut with his claws extended. The rhino, stunned, staggered back, wiping the blood from his chin. His gang quickly charged, attempting to overwhelm the monitor with brute force. Coran saw this coming, however, and started picking the mammals off one-by-one. The first happened to be the wolf, being the fastest mammal in the group, who was knocked unconscious with a well-timed left hook to the side of his head. The polar bear and buffalo arrived next, the bear swinging wildly at the lizard. Jumping off the bear's arm as he threw a punch and catapulting himself towards the buffalo. The bovid tried to grab the reptilian missile, but Coran twisted in midair; avoiding the larger mammal's hooves and landing a two-footed kick to his nose, putting him out of the brawl as well. Turning back to the bear, Coran grabbed a nearby empty beer bottle and sprinted at his prey; leaping at the pred's head and smashing the makeshift weapon across his muzzle, showering glass all over the bear's muzzle and into his eyes.

Seeing the bear fall, grabbing at his face and screaming in agony, the monitor faced the giraffe, who had rallied with his rhino boss. Everyone in the casino was watching the fight now, most placing bets into the pools that had been hastily put together as the fight began. Coran gave a small, but terrifying, smile to the gray brute as he slowly paced towards them. The giraffe and rhino, still not thinking straight due to anger and far too many drinks, decided to again charge the monitor. Coran broke into a run as he saw this and at the last moment dropped into a slide between the giraffe's legs, biting down hard on the tall mammal's right ankle and tripping him in the process. It was a dirty move, but effective and one of the assassin's favorites. His long neck being his downfall, the giraffe's head slammed into the corner of the poker table as he fell, knocking him out cold.

The rhino, realizing he could not win in a fair fight, drew his pocket knife. Slashing at Coran with the pocket knife, which was the size of a katana to smaller mammals, gradually got more and more panicked as the reptile gracefully dodged each and every swing. Growing bored of the fight, Coran pulled out the ace up his sleeve. Spinning away from the rhino, Coran reached down by his ankle, drew his revolver, and shot the rhino three times; once in each leg and once in the arm holding the blade.

Coran returned the gun back to its ankle holster as the rhino collapsed and grinned, "Guess I get to keep the table", then he turned to the huge crowd, "And for those of you who bet on me in the betting pools, next round of drinks on me!"

A significant number of cheers erupted from the crowd as Coran made his way back to his table and everything went back to normal. This was not an uncommon thing to have happen at the Atlantis Casino, so no one was fazed by the short scuffle. Drinks were just starting to get handed out when Coran's phone started buzzing on the table. Checking the caller I.D.; he scowled, grabbed his earnings for the night, said his farewells to the group, and left. He stormed out of the casino and straight to his car, a bright red Furrari, and answered the call after getting in the vehicle and slamming the door, "What do you need, boss?"

The gruff voice Coran had come to know too well chuckled lightly before answering the assassin, "And who said I need something from you, Speck? Maybe I just called to congratulate you on a job well done with two certain polar bears who happened to die tragically a few hours ago."

Speck, the name Coran gave his clients to avoid accountability and easy tracking were someone to be listening in on the conversation on the other end. The praise did not remove his frown or calm his nerves. This was the one and only animal who Coran feared; and his client-turned-boss absolutely loved it. "We both know that was a simple job and doesn't deserve any big compliments. And you've never been one to call without a serious reason for it."

"You're a smart reptile, Speck." His boss paused dramatically before continuing, "It seems Big was smarter than I thought. He didn't take the bait and seems to be proceeding more cautiously than ever. I believe we need to start with a more…unpredictable individual. There's an antelope named Stinger who works for Gary Tusk in Happy Town. I'm sure you've heard of his boss?"

"Crime lord of Happy Town who has the second most power out of all the crime lords in Zootopia. Also a notorious hothead, drunk, druggee, etcetera. Good target."

"Exactly what I thought", the voice said excitedly, "Which is why I want you to take out the antelope. He's one of Tusk's four main drug dealers and enforcers and he has a meeting with one of their runners concerning a shipment of drugs and weapons coming in later today at noon. I want him dead by 9:30."

"You got it, boss. Anything else to plant or special weapons to use this time?"

"You are receiving the extra intel on your phone now."

Coran glanced at the info and could not help but smirk, "You want me to frame HIM. You are absolutely evil, boss."

The voice smiled on the other side of the line at the fact that Coran was happy with his decision for once, "Oh, believe me, I know that better than anyone. By the way, feel free to use your "symbol" just this time. I think it may help us in the long run. Happy hunting, Speck."