Author's note: Here it is, the last installment of this fic. I'll be happy to write another sometime! This is my first time ever writing a fic EVER for any fan-thing, so I hope you find it well-written. As always, favorites are welcome, reviews very appreciated!

Did the narrator surprise you?

20:45 Hours – Downtown Zootopia; Inside Bared Fang Community Center 22B

Nick screeched and snarled at the enormous predator on top of him. A fox was a fool to fight a wolf. But Nick Wilde? He was no fool.

Nick Wilde had a bunny.

With the mayor gasping in horror behind her, Judy leapt into action. She took aim and fired a shot, a tranquilizer dart, into the wolf's side… and watched in horror as he continued to claw and bite at Nick, unfazed.

"Nick!" She cried helplessly.

As Nick fought the weight of the wolf over him, panting and seeing in shades of red, he felt claws dig deeper, drawing blood from points on his arms. Fangschild's jaws drew wickedly close to Nick's neck, and the chomping teeth snatched at him. Nick was ready to die. Then, he felt the wolf pulling on his neck, ripping it-

Fangschild had gotten hold of Nick's bowtie. Pulling with all his lupine might, the big lug inadvertently jerked himself away Nick when the tie broke.

"Huh, you hate those things too?" Nick observed with a dastardly grin.

The wolf's head whipped back, startled, and Nick took that moment to slide a taser from the holster under his arm, and plug it into the wolf's chest like a bent plug into a faulty socket.

The shock turned the wolf into a bundle of randomly spasming muscles. It was enough to incapacitate him long enough for the tranquilizer to begin taking effect, especially after Judy shot him with another one for good measure. Panting, sweating, with his suit disheveled and his fur tousled, Nick was alive. Judy couldn't help herself, throwing her arms around him for a brief moment of celebration for his safety. Then, the task at hand returned to the forefront of her mind. With the briefest peck on Nick's cheek, she moved away from the kneeling fox and marched dutifully to the mayor, who had watched the entire scene.

Mayor Canidae was aghast, breathing rapidly and holding one paw to her blooded muzzle, the other to her side.

"Mayor Canidae, are you… Nick! Call a bus!" Judy began to speak tenderly, but found herself shouting over her shoulder to Nick. Nick, for the record, was already on it, using his wire to radio in their location. He narrowed his eyes as he watched Judy's interaction with the larger predator, protectively anticipating a backlash. After all, they were spying on her, even if they had helped in the end. His paws fished a pair of handcuffs out from the breast of his suit, and he began to handcuff Fangschild.

Instead, the mayor flinched and withdrew when Judy's paw reached out to her. Realizing her own reaction, the wolf's ears lowered in embarrassment. The adrenaline falling off, Aurelina shut her eyes tightly, lips curling as she fought tears. She clutched her torn dress to her body. Judy remorsefully went to fetch her coat from the corner of the room, bringing it back to her and placing it down beside her. The bunny hadn't had much experience with direct victims of crimes, but helping raise two hundred and seventy-five brothers and sisters gave her some insight into how best to help someone who was afraid of help. Up close, Judy noticed something peculiar about the mayor's features. Her ears were large for a wolf, her muzzle more graceful

Slowly, delicately, Judy began to explain the situation, looking over her shoulder at Nick. Smartly, the fox had decided to keep his distance from the mayor, and keep tabs on the unconscious wolf.

"My partner called in an ambulance, it should be here any minute. We need to ask you some questions about what happened. Mayor Canidae, my partner and I were sent here tonight to keep an eye on you, to keep you safe." Judy said, trying to look the wolf in the eyes.

"…then you failed." Aurelina replied, her voice low and shaking with sobs.

10:00 Hours – Zootopia Precinct 1

"And special congratulations go to Officers Hopps and Wilde for being on the scene last night. According to their deposition, they were able to put a stop to a man assaulting the mayor. She'll probably give you two medals." Bogo's voice was brimming with professional pride. Respect. Not something he often showed, especially not in the briefing room. "You're dismissed. Continue to work on your assignments. Hopps, Wilde, keep me updated on that Bared Fang investigation."

A few pats on the back later, Nick and Judy were at their respective desks, seated across from each other. The bullpen was as busy as usual, the thundering stomps of enormous pachyderms providing a rumbling bass background for unending chatter and phone calls between mammals, most if not all related to ongoing cases.

"Judy, listen…" Nick began, always the one to try and smooth out the bunny's feelings. Judy was despondent. The way her ears hadn't stood up since the previous night made it obvious. In the end she had done some good, but to her it had been too late. Too late to stop the lasting damage. Too late to help the victim. Most often, the crimes she prevented weren't violent. Thefts, speeding… This time? This time she had looked a victim in the eyes and saw the damage done by her ineptitude.

"Don't start, Nick. It happened." Judy cut Nick off, shaking her head and starting at her case files.

"I know. We did what we could. It would have been much worse if we weren't on their tails. Besides. Have you seen her speeches? She was a tough one to get through all that mud raking in the election. I never thought we'd have a predator mayor again. She'll get through this too. Come on, sly bunny, you were putting your all into it. You're still a hero." Nick tried his best to alleviate the guilty feelings he knew were filling Judy's head. In truth, he felt many of them too. How could he not? Had they just followed a little closer, not gotten stuck in that alleyway…

"Nick, we've got to get used to this. This is what's going to happen… If we're going to make the world a better place, we've got to be strong when we miss a step." Judy was speaking more to herself than to Nick, thinking out loud. Still, Nick appreciated the words. A guilty conscience was a guilty conscience, former conman or not.

"Well said, fluff." Nick nodded, keeping an eye on her for an extra moment just to be sure she really believed her own words. "All right, then let's crack this case open. It's going to be awhile before we can question the mayor, if she lets us question her. She wasn't… Well, she wasn't cooperative, but we have to understand why, and respect that. As it is, we have no leads on this Bared Fang organization. And what really has my tail twirling? Do you remember when they mentioned the sheep?"

"I thought that was strange…" Judy replied, secretly distressed that their work unraveling Bellwether's conspiracy was just the beginning.

"Well, it's not clear what sheep they meant," Nick continued, elbow on his desk and paw on his cheek as he turned the pages of the case file over. "But if it's a feud between wolves and sheep, the Brotherhood of Baa are our second best lead."

Judy lifted her head, eyes wide, "The charity organization? They give college kids grants and do relief work, there's no way they're crooked!"

Nick shook his head, twisting the corner of his mouth in chagrin, "Carrots, if there's one thing, one thing you let me teach you about people, about organizations, about everything, let it be this: everyone's a little crooked."

So there you have it. Your first taste of our run in with a few of the power players in the shadows of Zootopia. Sure, we didn't make any progress in the case on the mayor, but after what happened to her, it's doubtful she's this city's biggest problem. Judy and I had a wonderful dinner, connected a little bit, and stumbled upon a whole mess of clandestine activity… but that whole bit about our first kiss? Well, that was all a lie – you're smart enough to realize that, right?

Trust me, when Nick Wilde shares his first kiss with Judy Hopps, it'll be far more spectacular than that.

I'll make sure she never sees it coming. After all, us foxes are supposed to prey on rabbits.

Aren't we?