AN: Full one at the end of chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Zootopia or the Fallout series. All characters and intellectual properties belong to their respective owners.

It was an ordinary morning for every mammal in Zootopia. The city had begun to revive itself from the slumber of the previous night, mammals had begun their daily routine, and in greater numbers than from the previous day. Traffic was flowing as usual down the streets in a semi orderly fashion and herds of mammals moved about on their way to work or wherever they needed to be.

Which happened to be annoying for a certain fox and rabbit duo, who were now weaving their way through it all on their way to the station for a morning debrief.

The two had gotten up a bit earlier than the day before, hoping to arrive early so that they could avoid having the irksome gaze of Chief Bogo glaring down upon them once again. They figured that by leaving earlier, they would arrive earlier. Simple and sound logic.

Unfortunately, the two had failed to count on one thing…

"Come on, this light has been red forever!"

"Move your tails! I've got places to be!"

"Get out of the road, Fox!"

"I pay taxes for this?! This is ridiculous!"

Traffic.

Traffic as far as the eye could see.

Turns out, having every mammal and their mother staying home for the day in fear of prior events tends to cut down on the amount of work that is able to get done.

So to make up for that lack of work, every mammal that was able to and had reason to was out on the roads in an attempt to get to their place of employment.

As a result, in order to make up for the almost totally empty streets of yesterday, the city of Zootopia was experiencing truly maddening gridlock.

Which unfortunately meant that Nick and Judy were running behind schedule. A schedule they had hoped to keep.

"Come on Nick! Let's go! Let's not be late again!"

Judy bounded quickly across the street as the light turned green, signaling a safe cross.

Nick jogged behind, panting heavily but still following suit.

"Slow it down, Judy. We'll be fine."

Judy spun around to look at the fox while continuing to walk backwards, "Slow down? Nick, this traffic debacle has slowed us down more than I was hoping. If we don't speed it up now we'll-."

She was cut off as Nick caught up to her, speeding up his own pace a bit, "We'll be fine. We'll speed up our pace a bit and we'll make it on time. This is the reason we left early after all. There is no need to kill your partner just to beat the clock."

Judy looked up at Nick for a moment before taking a deep breath to relax herself. She exhaled and the two kept walking side by side, no longer sprinting at the pace set by the rabbit, "You're right Nick. No need to be hasty in this situation."

Nick smiled, "I know I'm right. I always am."

Judy promptly punched him on the arm, chuckling as she did so. He rubbed at his arm and chuckled alongside her.

The two idly talked with each other as they ever so steadily made their way to the ZPD precinct. They bobbed and weaved through a sea of larger and smaller mammals alike as they continued forward until they finally arrived at their workplace. Brand new glass doors welcomed them as they walked through to the typical busy lobby of the police station.

Mammals in blue and civilians alike discussed their situations in life as they meandered about in the lobby. Criminals were ushered through doors and the occasional investigator could be seen reviewing notes on cases that they were working on.

But the duo did not focus on their surroundings for long, as they briskly made their way to the bullpen for the morning meeting so they could get their tasks for the day.

They opened the door, and promptly made their way to their shared seat, sadly glancing at the still empty seat of their rhino officer who was still laid up in hospital.

A voice suddenly prompted Judy to flick her ear up and turn to the left to face the noise.

"We haven't heard anything new in regards to him if you're wondering."

She looked up at the polar bear who shared the same saddened look on his face as the one she had.

Judy sighed sadly, "I know he knew the risks, we all do. But still…"

Nick finished her thought for her, "Its unnerving having him out of action."

Judy nodded slowly, "But at least he's still alive."

Nick smirked a little, "Small miracles and all that."

Further small talk was halted with the arrival of Chief Bogo, whose arrival directed the attention of the officers to the front of the room.

Bogo stepped behind the podium and put on his reading classes before opening up the file he had had tucked under his arm as he walked into the room.

"All right mammals, cut the chatter and let's get to work."

Bogo looked up from the podium and looked over the gathering of officers waiting for instruction, "As I'm sure many of you have noticed, the city has gone into a kind of 'overdrive' right now. Most of it has to do with the lack of mammals who were actually out and about doing their jobs, as most of them stayed home due to fears that they might somehow magically run into our resident armored individual."

The room silently took in the words that their chief was saying.

"Now that the danger has passed, at least in the eyes of most of the mammals living here, they are all out at once, doing whatever it was they were supposed to be doing yesterday on top of everything to do today. In short, our streets are clogged and congestion is a nightmare, and all of us know what happens when there are more cars on the road."

Nick raised his paw, "Our premiums go up?"

Judy promptly elbowed the fox in the side of the ribcage, making him fall of his chair, much to the amusement of the other officers in the room.

The rabbit looked around at the chuckling officers as they watched the fox climb back onto his seat. She then looked back up to Bogo, an apologetic look on her face, which quickly faltered when she saw a ghost of a grin on Bogo's face as he nodded his head slightly, "Thank you for that Officer Hopps."

He then turned back to the folder, "Back to where we were."

"Due to the excessive amounts of traffic on the road, I want my most veteran drivers in the squad cars today so that we are better able to respond to the accidents when they happen. Wolford, Fangmeyer, Anderson, get your squad cars requisitioned out of the motor pool and get to it."

The aforementioned officers stood and proceeded out of the room.

Bogo turned to the rest of the room, "Next on the list, we had reports come in early in the morning about a mysterious figure skulking around in some of the alleyways in the neighborhoods near the old industrial sector in the south-eastern section of Savannah Central."

He then looked up at Nick and Judy, "Nick, you know these kinds of areas like the back of your paw. Take Judy and see what you can find out about it."

Judy hopped out of her chair and gave a crisp salute while Nick slid out of the chair and gave a two fingered salute and a grin that paired with it.

Judy stopped her salute and turned to leave the room, "Don't worry chief, we'll get to the bottom of it."

Nick began speed walking in an attempt to keep up with the driven bunny, "Wait up Carrots, I can't necessarily lead us through that area if you take off like that."

The two made their way out of the room and into the lobby beyond, "Sorry Nick, I just want to find this mysterious figure so we can get back to our other cases. And who knows, it might even be related to one of them."

Nick chuckled, "I wouldn't get so invested in it this time. It's probably someone who is just scavenging for old scrap metal. If you know what you're looking for, some of that metal can fetch you a pretty penny. So I don't think that-."

Nick was cut off as Judy pointed at the front desk, more specifically, to the white wolf who was busy receiving some papers from Clawhauser. "Hey look, Delgato's back."

Judy bounded over to the wolf and got his attention, "Hey Delgato, good to see you. Is everything okay with Fen?"

Delgato looked down at Judy with a weak smile, "Yeah, everything is fine with him. Sorry I'm late, I just wanted to go over everything that happened with him this morning and make sure he got to school alright. I don't want what happened yesterday to happen again today."

Judy smiled, "Well, I'm glad that everything's fine now."

Nick sauntered over, "Yeah. And by the way, it's not us you have to be sorry to, it's old buffalo breath you have to apologize to."

Delgato's weak grin shattered as he rubbed a paw against the back of his head, "Yeah, I'm not looking forward to that scene."

Judy's face grew slightly more serious, "If you don't mind me asking, what did happen with Fen yesterday anyways."

Delgato picked up the folder of papers that Clawhauser had handed him and waved them a bit, "Yeah, about that."

The wolf took a breath before speaking, "My little brother ran into those old warehouses down by the bay trying to get away from some bullies at school."

He gripped the papers a bit tighter, "And while he was down there, he ran into someone that I want to talk to Bogo about."

Nick and Judy glanced at each other.

That was near the same area they had just been tasked to investigate.

Nick and Judy turned their attention back to Delgato, "What kind of someone?"

Delgato shook his head a bit, "The kind you do not want to run into."

Judy looked up at Delgato, "What makes them seem so bad?"

Delgato let out a weak chuckle that sounded more akin to a weak gasp, "Well, for starters his wardrobe alone is enough to raise suspicion. According to my brother, he wore a black trench coat…"

Nick straightened up a bit, shrugging off his usual smug demeanor, "Well, we're off to a great start."

Delgato looked at the fox, "Yeah, and it only gets better."

The wolf then reached into a breast pocket and pulled out a small notepad with details he had written about his brother's description about their mysterious mammal, "According to Fen, in addition to the trench coat he also wore: a black helmet, a black metal face mask with red eye lenses, thick body armor with writing on it that could mean it belonged to a riot officer of some kind."

Delgato lowered the notepad to look at the duo directly, "And to top it all off, a bandolier with plenty of live ammunition strapped across his chest."

Nick and Judy's eyes widened as they mentally envisioned such a mammal standing before such a young cub as Fen. The thought that such a mammal got close enough to be so vividly remembered by a cub was not a pleasant one to say the least.

Judy looked up with a caring expression on her face, "Delgato, I don't want to ask this but I have to. Did this mammal… did he…"

Nick finished her thought for her, "Did he do anything to Fen?"

Delgato shook his head, "According to my brother, no."

Nick and Judy mentally sighed at the revelation.

"Apparently, all that happened was that the mammal found Fen crying, he comforted him, and then proceeded to escort Fen out of the warehouses and back onto a populated street."

Nick began to rub the underside of his muzzle in thought as Judy stepped forward, "Do you have any idea who this mammal happens to be Delgato?"

Delgato shook his head again, "I don't. But my brother did happen to get a name off of him."

Judy gestured to the wolf, "And what was his name?"

Delgato looked at his notepad before looking back at the duo, "Yeah, Fen said his name was Nate Fox."

Nick and Judy froze in place before slowly looking at one another.

Delgato coughed a little, "Well, I guess I'm going to turn this file into Bogo and hope he doesn't chew me out to harshly for being late today. I guess I'll see you two later."

And with that, the white wolf began walking away, leaving the fox and the rabbit still standing there staring at each other.

Judy's nose twitched and Nick's ears flicked, those being the only motions the two were showing as they stared at each other.

Nick began to speak, "Well, I guess we now have a lead on-."

He was cut off as Judy quickly turned and bolted out through the door, leaving him behind as she went off to solve two mysteries.

Nick grumbled but began running to catch up to her, "Wait up Carrots! I don't want to have to do more running today!"

Meanwhile…

It was a good day for scavenging.

Nate moved slowly down the alleyway he had chosen for looting, slowly swiveling his head to and fro on the lookout for anything that might be of potential value to him. Occasionally, he would stop and pick something off the ground, inspect it for a moment, and materialize it into his inventory should it meet up with his requirements.

He stopped momentarily and twisted his upper back, letting off a few satisfying cracks as his spine relieved itself of tension. Nate sighed before shaking his head a bit.

Waking up long before the sun brought daylight upon the world, Nate had awoken to scavenge for raw materials that he could use to make his current situation a bit more bearable.

And it had been a great call on his part.

For the most part, the streets and alleyways of Zootopia were devoid of those that might bring him more trouble than he was looking for. Refuse laid a plenty along the narrow corridors of the concrete valleys that Nate navigated through, a veritable gold mine for those who knew what to look for.

And Nate was one of those that most certainly knew what to look for.

With nary an animal in sight to spot him prematurely, he was free to peruse through the refuse of the city undisturbed, free to pick out the best pieces of junk to be had.

A long morning of scavenging and scouting had led to a pip-boy filled with valuable junk, ready to be used to enhance his long-term survival opportunities. Already he had enough raw materials to set up a planter for his mutfruit to grow, a pump system to collect and purify water for him to drink, and supplies he would need to set up an ammo press. In addition, he had begun to collect a healthy supply of scrap metal to be used in maintaining his weapons and power armor.

Nate stopped walking as something out of the corner of his vision caught his eye.

A dumpster that seemed to be almost overflowing with electronic equipment, with radios and televisions seen sticking out of the top of the dumpster and some cellphones strewn about underneath.

Jackpot.

There was always more to be found within the alleyways of Zootopia. Even though he had stayed out scavenging longer than he had intended, it had paid off handsomely for him.

Because not only was he getting what he needed to build himself up, but he was also learning the lay of the land, at least in terms of what was directly around him.

The entirety of the warehouse sector covered a fair area, roughly the size of several city blocks. Add on top of that rather large area with numerous run down warehouses and alleyways, and the industrial zone quickly becomes a maze with numerous potential escape routes for him to utilize should things head south. Immediately outside of the warehouse zone to the north laid a run-down neighborhood, more than likely they had once housed those who worked in the warehouses and now belonged to those less fortunate than others in the city proper.

While it was certainly unfortunate for those living in such a low-end neighborhood, for Nate it was a big advantage. Since such a low income area was typically filled with all sorts of shady characters, it would make the most sense that those who did live in such an area would overlook the occasional suspicious character or two wandering around the numerous alleyways behind the houses.

At least, that was what Nate was betting on.

It was a common sight in the wasteland to look the other way whenever something was going on, most people just didn't want to be a part of it and choose to ignore a great many things in favor of living their lives without the threat of being killed for getting involved.

While Nate most certainly wasn't one of them, he could easily understand where they were coming from.

With how hard it is to eke out a living in the Commonwealth, it would come to no surprise that many people would choose to fly under the radar rather than risk ending up in a shallow unmarked grave, and Nate could not fault those people for thinking like that.

So he was banking on the people living here that they followed a similar 'not my business, not my problem' kind of mentality.

But currently, he had had no problems with the locals.

At such an early hour, there were only a handful of animals that he could see up and about, especially in the alleyways he was currently skulking through. And those few that he did see weren't too keen to look down an empty alleyway, and if they did, Nate was quick to dive behind one of the many piles of junk that littered the alleyways.

Diving and scavenging throughout the early moonlit hours of the day quickly gave way to doing the same with the sun well on the rise above the city. No doubt by now the vast majority of the city was now wide awake and gearing up for their respective days ahead.

And Nate was just about to go back to his base to get things done.

This one last dumpster would be a great finishing point.

Leaning over the edge of the dumpster, he began moving scrap around as he looked for anything that could be particularly valuable to him back at base. Numerous radios were to be found, cellphones laid a plenty, and even a few microwaves were available, their motors readily convertible into deadly rad-guns.

Nate smiled as he began to grab anything and everything of value that he could. Most of this 'junk' was still plenty viable, even to those who lacked the skills that Nate had. There was plenty of materials that were in here that were still in near mint condition.

Nate continued to rifle through the contents of the container, grabbing as much as he could.

Before long he had drained the dumpster dry of its valuables. Nate closed the lid as much as it could and patted the metal container on the side.

"Thanks for the good stuff."

And he turned and began to make his way back to base.

He kept his wits about him, not wanting to get spotted now that more animals were out and about, meaning it would be that much easier to be spotted unintentionally and that was something he did not want right now.

But that alone led his mind to a rather interesting question that up until now, he hadn't bothered to think about.

When.

Nate looked around as he kept walking down the alley, making his way back to base.

Was this really the life he wanted to make for himself here? Darting around, collecting trash and building up his base to fend off potential attackers that more than likely would never show up. Always hiding away from prying eyes and trudging his way through the sewers like a rat.

Was that what he really wanted?

No.

It wasn't.

He didn't want any of this. He wanted to fight for what was right, do what must be done to secure a better future for tomorrow for humanity.

But here, where there was no humanity…

That made things a bit more, complicated.

Sure, his run in with Fen yesterday had proven to him just how 'human' these animals really were. They laughed, they cried, and they worried just like any human would. They experienced curiosity, they were intelligent, and talkative.

And that's where the problems began.

Nate knew first-hand about the potential dangers of being overly inquisitive. Asking the wrong questions or sticking your nose in a cave it clearly doesn't belong in could be rather hazardous to one's health. But naturally, everyone feels a bit 'drawn' to the unknown, that unquenchable desire to learn more about what is not known, to discover something truly awe inspiring to put your name down in history. The modern world was built upon the idea of curiosity.

And one look at earth spoke volumes about why getting your questions answered wasn't always a good thing.

A long series of 'what if's' had followed humanity all the way to the point of nuclear warfare, blasting all progress into oblivion within a matter of hours. Humanity's ever growing knowledge led them to wanting to learn more and more about the universe around them at an almost exponential rate, and it had led to them progressing faster than their society could safely accommodate.

And that was with humanity building the tools of their own destruction themselves.

And here Nate was with hyper-advanced technology just sitting in his warehouse and strapped to his wrist.

If he did ever decide to walk around and attempt to communicate with the denizens of Zootopia, they would definitely ask him numerous questions about who he was, what he was, and what kind of equipment he had.

And every single one of those answers could be devastating for their entire civilization, especially that last one.

His power armor alone could jump this civilization forward decades, if not a century or two. While that might not necessarily seem like a bad thing for those learning about such advanced equipment, Nate knew how disastrous it would be to their entire civilization should they be jumped that far ahead. It would be like giving kingdoms of the middle ages machine guns.

There would be no way their society could keep up with that kind of technological step forward, and sooner or later their society could potentially collapse as a result. The effects would not be immediate, but they would happen eventually.

So it would be in everyone's best interest if none of that technology ever surfaced in Zootopia.

If he ever wanted to make contact with these animals, he would have to ensure that his technology NEVER fell into their paws, for their own safety as much as his own.

They would be playing with Greek fire, and never even know it.

Nate shook his head, they were clearly intelligent creatures, it was only a matter of time until they found him living within their own city; one could only remain under the radar before something gives. He could only hope that-.

There was a crash of metal as something akin to a large pile fell onto the ground.

Nate's head snapped to the direction from where the sound came from.

It was another alleyway, one that intersected his own.

Nate instantly pressed himself against the wall and crouched down before slowly making his way towards the corner so he could peek around.

Down the alleyway, he saw two small mammals. One, a rabbit, was standing up and looking down at the second, a fox, who looked like they had accidentally knocked over a pile of junk, one that Nate was at not to long before this.

The fact that they were so close to him was enough to put him on edge, but what they were wearing only furthered that feeling.

The flash of copper, the utility belts, and the stereotypical blue clothing all pointed to one thing.

They were officers of Zootopia.

Nate groaned a little, "Oh boy."

Meanwhile…

Judy continued to pant a little as she looked down at Nick, scowling at him for making such a loud sound while they were supposed to be looking for this 'mysterious figure.'

Sure, she 'may' have bolted out of the station, and 'maybe' she had ran most of the way here with the fox complaining not too far behind her. But still…

"Come on Nick, I thought you foxes were supposed to be good at being sneaky."

Nick gasped before raising a paw and pointed a single finger at her, "First of all, that's a stereotype."

Judy put her paws on her hips in annoyance.

Nick raised as second finger, "And secondly, who thought it was a good idea to run halfway across downtown nonstop?"

Judy froze in place thinking about how that very much was what she could have done, before she chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of her head, "I guess we… could have gone a bit slower."

Nick began to get up, "Yeah, but someone decided that we should both get some exercise, huh?"

Judy looked away and rubbed the back of her head, both of her ears flopped down as she did so.

Nick sighed and rolled his eyes, "Thirdly, you know that I can't stay mad at you when you do that, and you know that it's dirty and underhanded."

Judy chuckled before she turned and began to walk away, "Coming from you? I can't tell whether or not that that's a compliment."

Nick began to follow her, "Honestly, sometimes nether can I."

The duo made their way ahead towards an intersection and silently headed left down a connecting alleyway, walking past piles upon piles of garbage and dumpsters that looked like they hadn't been touched since they first rolled off their production lines. All around them, shadows dominated the environment, the garbage casting strange and unusual shadows along the walls and the floor. The closed in environment prohibited any wind from blowing through, forcing the stench of rotting food to stay and congregate throughout the maze of alleys.

Nick was none too pleased about this.

"Come on Judy. Let's get through this quick, it smells like death here."

Judy glanced at him before turning back to look back at their surroundings, "Yeah, it smells bad to me, I can only imagine how bad it must be for you."

"You have no idea Carrots."

They continued down the alleyway before coming up to another intersection, which they turned right down. They moved down this alleyway before coming to a halt not too far away from the intersection.

Judy raised a paw and turned towards Nick, "Okay, let's just go over everything again, shall we?"

Nick nodded and put his paws behind his head as he relaxed a little, eyes still glancing around his surroundings.

Judy began, "So we know that this guy was seen by Fen in the old warehouse section, and that a few mammals here have reported sightings of a mysterious figure. So for all intents and purposes, we can assume that they are one in the same."

Nick nodded.

"Secondly, given that Clawhauser was only barely able to pick up this guy's radio broadcast, we can also assume that this guy does NOT want to be found by anyone other than this 'Brotherhood' faction."

Nick nodded again, "Makes sense for him to be in a place like this then. Not a whole lot of mammals come through here and there are plenty of ways to get out of here quickly."

Judy sighed, "Which will make it all that much harder to find him when he can just easily slip away from us at the first sign of trouble."

Nick put his paws behind his head, "Well, I'd personally be more worried about finding him in the first place, what with this place being a maze and all." The fox then gestured down the various alleyways that were connected to the one they were currently walking down, "With this many options to go down, we'd be as hard pressed in finding Nate as we would be in chasing him down. He could be ten feet away or he could be five thousand and we'd never know."

Judy pounded on anyways, "That doesn't matter, what does is finding out where he is so we can straighten things out with him."

Nick chuckled dryly and followed after his partner, "Yeah, yeah, I hear ya Carrots."

They turned down another alleyway, one dark enough that Judy had to turn on her flashlight to see as well as her canine partner.

Neither did Nate, who was now tailing them.

Having overheard their discussion about how the police force was now trying to find him, he decided that following the officers to find out as much as he could from this duo as he could would be the best course of action for him. And already within the first minute of following this duo, he had discovered something he could use to his advantage.

Compared to some of the groups he had contended with in the past, these officers weren't that observant. Sure they weren't the battle-hardened Gunners or the secretive Followers of Atom that he was accustomed to dealing with, but he was half expecting them to see him pressed up against the wall hiding in the garbage as they walked past. But the two were so engrossed with each other that they utterly failed to detect the very individual they were looking for not more than ten feet away from them.

With them having so easily missed him by simply walking past, Nate decided to press his luck further by following them to see all they knew about him. A little bit of surveillance never hurt anybody.

He crouched down low and began to silently stalk the duo, the specially made leather boots making nary a sound as he skulked behind the fox and the rabbit. Making sure to stay far enough away to not be noticed and to be able to dive into hiding at a moment's notice yet close enough to hear their conversation, he matched their pace as the two officers continued to look to and fro down the alley.

Nick chuckled, "One would think it would be easy finding an armored up trench coat wearing individual in a place like this. Those kinds of mammals usually stand out."

Judy shook her head, "Yeah, not if they are trying to lay low like Nate clearly is."

The aforementioned individual straightened up slightly at that.

"I mean he only made contact with Fen because Fen wandered into these warehouses. How much of that was because Nate wanted to help the little guy and how much was Nate trying to remain undetected?"

The fox shrugged, "I don't know. Regardless we better find him soon, otherwise my stomach might rebel with my nose and start a coup against me."

Judy rolled her eyes, "Come on slick, stop being so dramatic."

And like that, they both fell silent as they began to comb the alleyway, their heads turning to and fro as they scanned their surroundings. All the while, Nate made sure to stay a dozen or so yards back, so as to avoid being detected by his 'pursuers'.

Quietly, Nate began to study their movements, their patterns, and through it their strategy. Whatever training they had gone though had, barring some glaring flaws, adequately prepared them for this line of work. Their heads were on a constant swivel as they scanned the area, the rabbit using a flashlight for the darker areas while the fox simply looked into them without technological assistance. Though relaxed, they both seemed ready to pounce at the first sign of trouble if their body language was anything to go by. All the while, they were able to exude an air of professionalism that was surprising to Nate coming from such small animals.

But even so, there were those flaws he couldn't help but notice.

One was that while they checked the piles of trash intensely, they only did so by looking at them. Not once had he seen either of them move to investigate any one pile, not even the larger ones.

More glaringly however was that they never once turned around to check the ground that they had already covered.

Perhaps it wasn't as necessary in Zootopia, but in the Commonwealth failing to keep your six clear constantly was and is a sure fire way to get yourself caught in the gunsights of a stealthy and patient adversary. This clearly wasn't a thought to the duo as they still had yet to turn around and check behind themselves, perhaps overconfident that their once over had already secured that front.

This continued on for several minutes with neither party making a sound as they slowly and silently stalked their way through the twists and turns around piles of decaying steel and plastics.

Coming to the conclusion that the two officers were done discussing their findings on himself, Nate silently stopped in his tracks and slowly began to back up, doing his best to make sure that he made no sounds as his boots slowly glided over the concrete ground of the alleyway.

He continued backing away from the duo, who were busy looking ahead of themselves, until he was clear of their potential line of sight. Slowly, Nate eventually made his way around the corner and was fully free of their potential to detect him. Letting out a sigh of relief, he stood up fully and turned to begin walking back to his new home. Though he was disappointed that the law enforcement was onto him, he was just happy that that they hadn't found him yet.

Nate wasn't quite ready for that kind of contact just yet.

He was unaware, however, that a certain bunny cop's ears perked up at the sound of his sigh.

Judy turned around with Nick following suit. Judy's ears twitched as she slowly began to walk back down the alley they had already traversed.

"Did you hear something Judy?"

Judy nodded, her ears remaining upright, "Yeah, it sounded like someone sighed."

Judy slowly walked forward, her paw pads silently scuffling across the concrete floor of the alleyway, Nick trailing along not too far behind. They slowed their approach as they neared the corner. Upon reaching said corner, both rabbit and fox pressed themselves against it and slowly leaned their heads around to look at whatever it had made the sound.

Peeking their heads just far enough to clear the corner the duo were met with the backside of a moderately sized mammal, the species of which was hidden underneath a black trench coat and a similarly colored helmet that was currently moving away from them. Though the individual was of a moderate size, their steps were almost entirely silent, and were it not for the fact that they were actively paying attention to the suspect, they would have never heard their footsteps at all.

More importantly than this individual's near silent movement was the fact that, even from this less than preferable angle, there was no doubt in either of their minds that this was the very same individual that Fen Delgato had encountered the other day.

The strange mammal with armor, bullets, and potentially a firearm.

Nick instinctively lowered both himself and his voice, "Alright, this is definitely our Nate Fox guy. According to what Fen said, this guy has both armor and some firepower with him. Just because he didn't do anything to Fen doesn't mean he can't do something to us. We need to be careful and-."

"STOP RIGHT THERE! ZPD! PAWS UP!"

Nick had to physically shake his head to make sure that he was seeing what he saw correctly. Sure enough, standing dead center of the alleyway was the small firecracker of a rabbit, confidently holding up a tranquilizer pistol aimed directly at center mass of the mammal in front of her by the book. Judy's face was stone cold and her frame didn't waver in the slightest as she stood behind the mysterious figure, who stood but a dozen paces in front of her.

"NO SUDDEN MOVEMENTS! DON'T MOVE NATE!"

The figure straightened up slightly, before Nick heard the voice of this individual.

"…shit."

Nick slapped a paw to the topside of his muzzle before he hurriedly got his own tranq pistol out and joined his partner in aiming their weapons at the suspect. He arrived at the side of his partner before angrily whispering to her, "You've had your fair share of bad ideas Judy, but this is up there…"

Judy didn't budge nor did she look away, "Not now Nick, later. First we have to-."

The grips on both of their weapons instinctively tightened as their suspect slowly began to move.

To their relief, they saw Nate slowly raise both of his hands up above his helmeted head. His right hand held out and empty. His left however seemed to be clenching something, something that was definitely metallic in nature.

Nick spoke up this time, "Drop whatever you are holding and get down on the ground!"

The helmet moved slightly and both Nick and Judy were able to make out the red lenses of Nate's helmet, almost glinting in the morning sun. "You sure about that?"

Nick was immediately put on maximum alert. No one ever said that to cops without a plan in their mind. The fox's finger slipped onto his tranquilizer's trigger, Judy following suit almost at the same time. Judy briefly gestured to Nate's closed hand, "We won't ask again. DROP IT!"

Nate turned back to look ahead. "Your call."

Nate's gloved hand suddenly flew open, a metallic *clink* following the movement before a sharper sound hit the ground, one that Nate promptly kicked back towards the officers.

Judy quickly recognized the cylinder shape that now rolled towards them and immediately covered her eyes.

"FLASHBANG!"

Nate dived forward just as the stun device went off. The alleyway was briefly bathed in light that was brighter than the sun for a few agonizing moments, followed immediately by a terrible booming sound that echoed off of the walls of the surrounding buildings, shattering some of the less stable windows.

Judy was promptly knocked onto her backside from the combination of the blast wave and the sudden loss of balance, the world ringing around her head. Thanks to her quick thinking however, she still retained her eyesight.

A quick glance towards her fox partner revealed that he had not been so lucky.

Muted screams escaped from the muzzle of her friend as he clutched painfully at his eyes, the sudden flash of light being too much for the naturally nocturnal creature to bare all at once. He rolled to and fro on the ground, trying anything and everything to get his mind off the pain that gripped his eyes.

Judy tried to get up to help her partner, only to promptly fall back down as her sense of balance was still not back yet. Her fall forced her to turn to face the mysterious Nate Fox.

Who was currently aiming a revolver right at her.

Though it was clear that he was not as badly affected by the blast as she and Nick were, the fact that he was reduced to lowering his stance by a noticeable amount showed that he was not unscathed by it, though infinitely better off than she was right now.

A million thoughts flew through her head at this moment, as she tried her best to remember her happiest memories, so that one of those might be the last she sees. Her getting accepted into the academy, graduating at the top of the class, getting recognition for finally stopping the nighthowler epidemic…

…getting Nick to enroll and eventually graduate the academy and becoming her partner.

A quick glance showed that he was still fully incapacitated from the flashbang, still writhing in pain on the ground. A situation he didn't need to be in if she could just get a hold of her damnable impatience. A small bit of her hoped that whatever fate awaited her at the hands of this 'Nate', that he might spare Nick.

The fact that she was able to analyze the entire situation so thoroughly brought up one very surprising fact for her.

She wasn't dead.

Sure enough, she turned back to look at Nate, who by now was several paces away from her from when this whole event began, and he ever so slowly and surely kept inching his way away from the duo, his revolver never once leaving its bead on her head.

The bullet never came as he slowly slinked away from them, every calculated footfall bringing him closer and closer to another alleyway, until finally he reached one and immediately took off at a sprint down it as if he was expecting her to give chase.

Judy looked at the fleeting figure for a brief moment.

Even if she was in good enough shape to chase him down, there was no way that she would be able to stop him with the kind of firepower he just displayed, nor would she simply abandon her partner to suffer alone in some dingy alley.

The bunny crawled over to her partner who by now had quieted down, though the occasional whimper still escaped his clenched teeth that she was still unable to hear.

She searched up and down his body, making sure that the only damage done to him was his eyes and ears, and thankfully other than some scuff marks from when he fell to the ground, there was nothing on him.

Judy breathed a small sigh of relief at the small miracle before she slipped back into her professional tone. She grabbed her radio and held down the button.

"This is Officer Judy Hopps. Code 10-32 in the abandoned warehouse district. Officer down repeat officer down. We need backup and medical now!"

She let go of the button and she groaned in defeat as she was unable to make out the words that dispatch was saying to her, still deaf from the flashbang. She waited until dispatch was finished before speaking again, "I am unable to hear you, repeat I can't hear right now, send backup."

Dispatch was silent as she knew that help was on its way to help her and Nick out of this situation. Her gaze drifted towards the flashbang, still smoldering on the ground in front of them. Her eyes then went to the last spot she saw Nate, the corner that led into yet another dark alleyway in this labyrinth of trash. She knew the odds of whoever was coming to help her and Nick also finding Nate were slim to none.

For now, she knew that he got away with doing this to both her and her best friend.

But she would make sure that he would face justice for what he did to them.

Elsewhere…

Nate stumbled into his makeshift base, making sure that several of his new tripwires were ready in the event that someone came after him. They weren't designed to kill or even to alert whoever was around, rather they served only to let him know that others were around.

Even still, he was afraid that they might soon come in handy sooner than he had hoped.

The veteran walked over to his desk and promptly slumped over into his chair, removed his mask, and let loose a groan as he gripped his face at what had happened.

He just had to get greedy. He just had to know what they knew about him right then and there rather than wait for a more opportune time.

His day of scavenging had actually gone well, up until those two cops came up behind him that is. He actually managed to get his hands on enough scrap metal to not only get his power armor back up to top condition, but also enough to get a decent start on his ammo mill.

He reached his pipboy up to his face and began to sort through everything he had acquired, his mind already coming up with plans and ideas on how to use it as effectively and efficiently as possible. Though given recent events, he decided that he would wait for a bit before investing in the harder to move equipment.

For now, repairing his armor and weapons while also getting started on some gardens would be more than enough. He had enough ammo to survive for a while, even if things went as bad as they could get.

Which he hoped they wouldn't come to, now with the ZPD fully aware of his existence and potentially his location.

While throwing a flashbang grenade and then threating an officer with lethal force was not a smart idea, it was the lesser of evils to him at the time. Letting them follow him or taking him down would not be good, especially while he was still establishing himself in his new home.

And letting them get access to advanced weapons and technologies they clearly had no understanding of to freely fiddle around with and hurt themselves or others with was the final nail in the coffin of his decision making.

Brotherhood of Steel standing orders were, and always would be to never surrender one's weapons or armor to anyone not confirmed to be with the Brotherhood as the consequences of giving those unprepared to handle advanced technologies was far worse than any one weapon or soldier could ever hope to be.

Nate sighted as he brought his notebook out and looked at his list once again. Below his still unknown goal, he scribbled in a small remainder for himself, one that he promised to live up to.

'Make it up to ZPD.'

He didn't like what he did, they were just doing their jobs and had no fault on their end for what had happened. Nate was in the wrong here, and he knew it.

But he wasn't about to wrong a police force and then do nothing about it. He knew he had to make it up to them, do something to make things right. Chances were they would always be at odds with one another after an event like this, but he might be able to at least calm the waters between them a bit.

The sound of a helicopter flying overhead made him raise his head as he heard the blades chopping though the air as it made its way more than likely to the scene of his most recent bad decision.

Nate's heartrate slowed as the helicopter left and continued on its away, leaving him in relative silence once again.

…He wouldn't be calming the waters any time soon however. Now was the time to lay low and pray that they didn't find him.

He didn't know what he would do if that happened.

Besides he now had a new pile of shiny refuse to start maintaining and improving his armory here…

Meanwhile…

Judy was sitting in the back of a parked ambulance, the drivers having parked at one of the entrances to the alley maze and having also escorted both her and Nick after ensuring that they were okay to be moved.

While her hearing had improved somewhat since they arrived, it still felt like she was trying to hear through thick cotton swabs, a noticeable muffle applied to every sound that tried to enter her ears.

Nick on the other hand still laid on the gurney, his eyes now bandaged from the damage as well as some bandaging around his ears. Though still it was apparent from his slight movements that he was still very much awake and as alert as he could possibly be at that moment.

The medics said that the damage would largely be gone by tomorrow, but for now he was as helpless as a newborn kit; being unable to see or hear properly. Though he kept that smug grin on his face, making some snide remark about hoping that there were nurses there when he got his vision back, she knew what he was doing.

He wasn't letting anyone in as he always does.

Though he hid it well under that smug grin and laid back attitude, she knew the truth.

He was terrified over how close they came today. The fact that he very nondescretly let his bunny partner and her alone lead him to the ambulance was a small statement to what he needed right now.

A friend.

And a friend is what she was. She smiled, knowing that he couldn't see it but knew well enough that it was there, and gently patted his forearm.

His smug smile briefly turned into a genuine one as he looked in her direction, "Thank you."

Judy nodded her head and patted his arm once again, reassuring him that she was there.

"Judy."

Her ears perked up and she turned to look at who had addressed her.

Standing a few feet away from the ambulance was the hulking form of Officer Anderson. The polar bear took in Judy's form a few minutes, silently checking her for any damage that might have been missed. Finding none he sighed, "We couldn't find Nate's trail, that mammal's a ghost. After we turn that corner, the trail just immediately goes cold and we lose it. I'm sorry."

Judy sighed, "It's okay. I figured as such when I saw him moving around. There's no doubt in my mind that he has some kind of training in him that made him move like that. Even with my hearing he was nearly silent, and that was when I was actually focusing on him."

Anderson merely nodded his head in thought before lifting something up in paw, something that Judy quickly recognized as Nate's flashbang. "That brings us on to this."

The polar bear picked up the spent flashbang before reaching into his utility belt and pulled out his own flashbang. Right away Judy spotted the difference.

"Why is his flashbang bigger than ours?"

Sure enough, the flashbang from their mysterious stranger was nearly a third larger than the one that the ZPD officer had with him.

"That's what we noticed right away as well. From what we can guess, the flashbangs that 'Nate' used are quite a bit more powerful than the ones we use. While we limit the amount of damage that we deal to the different types of mammals living in Zootopia, it is quite clear that Nate does not adhere to the same limitation."

Judy shook her head, "It doesn't make sense though…"

Anderson looked inquisitively at her.

"He had no hesitation to use a dangerously powerful flashbang on us from no more than 20 feet away. Yet the moment we went down he drew his firearm, aimed it right at my head," Judy then threw her paws into the air, "and then he just leaves. Why didn't he kill us right then and there?"

"Because he didn't want to."

Both officers turned to look at the buffalo that had just entered himself into their conversation, moving to stand to the side of Anderson who promptly made room for him.

Anderson looked confused, "What are you doing here sir, didn't you have a conference to attend to."
Bogo turned to look at the polar bear, "When I hear over the radio the words 'officer down' you had better bet your tail that I am going to drop everything I am doing and come running."

Judy felt a small smile dance across her muzzle at the chief's words.

The smile quickly died as Bogo turned towards Judy, "And you, what were you thinking when you charged in there like that? Both of your feet must be lucky because of how many times you have cheated death within recent memory. You can't keep charging into situations like this without thinking Hopps, we're lucky that the only casualties are you and your partner."

Judy fell silent as the guilt seeped into her. She didn't try and argue against Bogo, because he was absolutely right. She glanced back at Nick still laying down on the stretcher, staring blankly into the nothing that covered his eyes. Her gung-ho attitude and that alone is what caused him to be put into this situation. She shook a little as she turned back towards Bogo, "I'm sorry sir, it-."

She was promptly silenced when Bogo raised one of his paws to signal to her to stop, "I don't want an apology Hopps, I want you to not do it again." The buffalo leaned in until they were making eye contact, the chief looming over the lower ranked cop, "Understood?"

Judy nodded and said nothing.

Bogo kept the stare for a few moments before curtly nodding and gesturing towards Nick, "Help him up, I'm taking you two home. You're done for the day."

The bunny nodded silently and went into the ambulance to retrieve Nick. A simple tug on his hand was enough to get him to stand up and follow the firm tugging of his friend leading him to wherever she needed him to go. Nick was silent as he was lead into Bogo's personal car, a large and well used vehicle that seemed much smaller when the large buffalo stepped into it. The size difference was further felt when Judy led Nick into the passenger seat and immediately felt dwarfed in comparison to the size of Bogo.

Silence reigned as Bogo started the car and moved out of the alleyway and began the journey home. Judy remained silent as she contemplated the day's events; or rather the more recent events of said day.

They managed to find their mysterious Nate Fox, and were promptly incapacitated by his equipment which seemed to knock both rabbit and fox flat on their tails before being threatened with lethal force by a mammal who very clearly now was rather well trained; probably better than either of them were. Furthermore Fen's statement to his brother about 'riot gear' rung true as faded lettering on the front of his outfit were the letters LAPD; more than likely indicating that he had some form of police training.

What kind of police department used flashbangs of that size she didn't know, but she knew that whichever one it was, it was probably best that she didn't know. The only cops that used lethal firearms were the ones that were deployed when the situation demanded it and the ZPD is very careful as to what dictates such a situation. The fact that Nate looked quite comfortable holding a revolver of that caliber and was able to more or less shrug off the effect of such an explosion right next to him spoke to his skill and experience.

While she was still determined to stop him and see him in handcuffs for what he had done to her and Nick, she was beginning to have some serious doubts. Their first encounter had Nick screaming on the ground and her looking down the barrel of a revolver; all within a minute of encountering him. She was thankful that he seemed almost hesitant to pull the trigger on her but knew that luck could only get one so far in the criminal justice career.

She and Nick would not get lucky a second time with Nate.

She turned to look at Bogo and though his eyes were firmly planted on the road, occasionally darting from side to side as he scanned his field of vision, and knew he was thinking along the same lines that she was. Who was Nate, who was this Brotherhood of Steel he was aligned with, and more importantly…

What was he doing here.

She slipped her paw into Nick's, feeling some of the tension of the day ease away as she reminded herself that they had made it through it alive and comparatively unharmed. Now they had all the more reason to go after the strange mammal.

The fox's paw tightened around hers as he turned his head towards her as the car continued on through the streets towards their apartment.

"Don't worry Judy… we'll get him…"

AN: Yeah I know… really long time.

The truth as to why it took me so long to get this out is that… I just kind of lost my writing spark. A couple of rough semesters in college and some difficult familial situations made me loose it and I'm only just now finding some small ember of it.

I do sincerely apologize for taking this long.