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16 HOURS EARLIER

Nick's alarm clock went off at 5:30 sharp as it did every morning. This did little to limit the fox's annoyance at the device as his paw came down hard on top of the snooze button as he let out a low groan. He was a nocturnal mammal for crying out loud. How had he ever let Carrots talk him into joining the force? And on a first shift position for that matter?!

Time was where Nick would wake up around ten or eleven, or sometimes even later and then go out to find his partner in crime, Finnick. The two would run some hustle or other and then part ways as Nick either hit the town or went home to sit in front of the TV and Finnick went off to do...whatever the hell it was the shrimp did with his free time. Probably try to pick up chicks with his adorable looks, until they heard his voice and were completely turned off that was.

Nick smirked at the thought but this quickly turned into a scowl as his alarm clock started to ring again and once more he slammed the snooze button. His claws digging into the button and leaving three lines in the black plastic as he rolled over and covered his head with his pillow and tensed himself for the next five minutes until his clock started to ring again.

Less than two minutes after hitting his snooze button for the second time there was a knock at his front door and Nick's emerald eyes popped open as he heard a familiar voice coming from the other side of the door.

“Nick? It's Judy. Are you still asleep? It's almost six and if we don't leave in the next couple of minutes we're going to hit heavy traffic. Nick!?”

Nick proceeded to hold the pillow tighter against his ears. Maybe she would figure that he was fast asleep and go and get a donut or something and come back in like half an hour. However, his hopes were dashed as Judy's knocking became more insistent.

“Nick I know you're in there! Get your lazy butt out of bed this instant! NICK!! If you don't come and open this door in the next thirty seconds I'm going to break it down and drag your sorry butt to the station in your pajamsas!

Knowing that there was a slight chance she wasn't bluffing Nick rolled his eyes and subsequently rolled his lanky frame out of bed as he padded over to the door and opened it to find Judy standing there. Her arms were crossed and her right foot thumping rapidly against the carpeted floor of the hallway as he looked down at her through half lidded eyes.

The second the door opened Judy looked up at him with a glare that instantly turned into a look of shock when she realized that all he was wearing were his boxers. She quickly covered her eyes and looked away as her face turned beat red.
“Sweet cheese and crackers Nick! Put some pants on!” Nick just smirked as he looked down at Judy for a few more seconds, enjoying this oppotunity to mess with her “I'd be glad to Carrots. Right after I take a shower and have my normal three to four cups of coffee. You can come in and make yourself comfortable while I take care of that if you want.”
Nick stood to the side of the door as Judy groaned and walked into his apartment, shielding her view of Nick with her paw as she headed for his kitchen. This was not the first time that she had been in Nick's apartment. He had invited her over a couple of times for a movie or on one occasion a card game that had ended with Judy losing almost forty dollars to him.
Despite this she was always taken aback by how clean and tidy everything was. There was not a speck of dust on any surface, including to her utter amazement the top of his TV. Being a bachelor she had originally expected Nick to be a total slob and just leave his dirty clothes and dishes scattered around the apartment. To say that she had been pleasently surprised had been a vast understatement.
Nick followed her into the kitchen as Judy jumped up onto his counter in order to reach the cupboard. She opened it and looked at the nearly empty can of premium roast coffee before picking it up and jumping back down to the coffee maker.
“Seriously Nick? Premium roast and it's almost all gone? Are the six cups you have in the cruiser with me on a daily basis not enough to keep you going?”
She didn't bother turning to look at him as she proceeded to empty the contents of the can into the machine. She knew that he was still standing there half naked just to annoy her. And it was working.
“Come on give me a break carrots. I'm a nocturnal mammal. My body isn't used to this early morning routine and I need the coffee to help my poor body adjust to this new schedule.” He placed an elbow on the counter next to her and gave her his best sly fox grin. Judy glanced over at him and just rolled her eyes as she hit the start button before jumping down from the counter and heading for his refrigerator.
“Does part of that adjustment include answering the door in your boxers or did you do that when you woke up at noon everyday?”
Judy opened the fridge and wasn't the least bit surprised to find that most of the shelf space was given over to blueberries and tuna.
Nick continued to follow her around like a child with it's mother and leaned his head between her ears to look in the fridge.
“No. I used to answer the door completely in the nude. But after my landlady threatened to charge me with sexual harrassment I decided that the boxers were the better way to go.”
He reached between her ears and pulled out a box of blueberries and was about to pop one into his mouth when Judy grabbed the box out of his paws, slammed the fridge shut on his muzzle and turned to face him. Her cheeks and the insides of her ears were flushed red as she faced him, purposefully keeping her eyes on him as he rubbed his muzzle where the door had hit it.
“Okay...I guess I deserved that one.” Judy clenched her paws into fists and was about to yell something at him about acting like an adult for once but one look into his soulful green eyes and her anger seemed to diminish.
She continued to stare into his eyes for almost a straight minute as her anger went from seething to dulled to nonexistant. She didn't know why but there was just something about Nick that she couldn't quite place her paw on that always seemed to get to her. Maybe it was the fact that she knew Nick acted this way not to annoy her but just to have some fun with his best friend. Maybe it was because he had the most beautiful emerald green eyes and adorable fluffy tail. Maybe it was because she had seen him act totally serious on the streets when it came to protecting the lives of the citizens of Zootopia. Or maybe it was because when she had needed it most he had been willing to stand up for her and see her as something more than just a dumb hick bunny. Whatever the reason Judy knew that she couldn't stay mad at him for more than a minute.
With a heavy sigh she took the box of blueberries and headed in the direction of his kitchen table. She jumped up onto one of the chairs and dropped her head onto the table with a loud groan. “Just...go and take a shower already you dumb fox,” she muttered while reaching for the box of blueberries. “We have to get to the Maurice's and get some breakfast before the rush starts.”
Nick looked at her for another second and blinked in surprise before shrugging and heading into the bathroom. There was just something about that bunny that always seemed to get to him. Maybe it was her cute fluffy cheeks and beautiful violet eyes. Maybe it was the way that she always managed to find the positive's in a given situation. Or maybe it was just because she had been willing to see him as more than just another shady fox and instead treat him as a real friend. Whatever the reason Nick knew that he couldn't live without that sly bunny in his life.

15 HOURS EARLIER

Judy sat across from Nick at Maurice's, the local coffee shop across the street from the ZPD headquarters. It had become a daily routine for the two of them to stop there before work to get themselves some breakfast and a little something to put aside for lunch later in the day. It was also the place where their daily conversations started. Over the course of the last year since they had first met Judy had found Nick to be a more and more interesting conversationalist despite his occasional attempts to drive her insane with his antics.
His previous life as a street hustler and con-mammal meant that despite his relatively young age of thirty three he had a wide range of fascinating and at times slightly shocking stories from the less reputable side of Zootopia. And today was no exception.
Judy stared wide eyed as Nick regaled her with his and Finnick's attempt several years back to try and make a buck selling their admittedly less than legal wares in a place that she doubted any straight mammal would be caught dead.
“So Finnick managed to convince me that the reason that my homemade cologne wasn't selling was because we were targeting the wrong groups. Single straight mammals at bars were apparently not interested in buyingcologne from a pair of shady looking male foxes. That and uhh, it may have also caused a rash with a couple of customers.” Nick stopped to take a sip from his coffee and enjoy the embarrassed flush of Judy's cheeks. Despite this she didn't say anything so he continued.
“So he proposed that we change things up a bit and try the gay club scene. He was of the opinion that it would sell better with a different crowd that didn't think he was five years old and would find me to be utterly irresistable. So the first thing we did was hit up a...well let's just call it an exotic clothing establishment, hey don't give me that look, and while I got myself a snazzy white suit Finnick...well...” Nick stopped in the middle if telling his story to take a long sip from the latte he held in his paws.
Judy waited for him to continue but he just sat quietly for several seconds nervously wringing his paws. Despite how incredibly strange, and quite possibly illegal, their escapade was Judy's curiosity was piqued and she was desperate to know how it had turned out for the pair of foxes.
“And...what Nick? What kind of outfit did Finnick get to try and blend in at the club? I mean the idea of you in a white suit I'm sure would attract all sorts but with how cute he is to begin with I can't imagine what Finnick would wear to a place like that.”
Nick continued to wring his paws for a second before leaning across the table. Judy got the hint and leaned in closer to hear what Nick had to say.
“Finnick bought a blue and white sexy nurse outfit. With a matching cap and a purse.” Nick leaned back and let out a deep sigh as he waited for Judy's reaction.
Judy stared wide eyed and silent at Nick for several seconds as her brain tried to picture the cute little Fennec Fox dressed in a sexy nurse uniform. When she finally did she couldn't help herself and suddenly burst out laughing.
“He..hahaha he wore a what!!!?” Judy slapped her paw against the table several times as she broke down into uncontrollable fits of laughter. Nick just watched her with mild amusement as she tried and failed to control the laughter that wracked her body as tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Okay Carrots come on it's not that funny. Besides you're kind of making a bit of a scene.” Judy's laughter quickly subsided into mild giggles as her ears shot up and turned bright pink as she realized that everyone in the shop was giving her some rather strange looks.
She quickly folded her ears against her back as her face turned almost as red as Nick's fur. “Oh sweet cheese and crackers.” She murmured under her breath as she pulled her ears over her eyes.
Nick watched as Judy tried to hide her embarrassment and couldn't help but admit to himself that she looked absolutely adorable like this. Without thinking he took out his phone and took several pictures of her like that. The flash of his phone's camera immediately got Judy's attention and she sat bolt upright.
“Nick!! It's bad enough you made me embarrass myself in public now you have to take photographic evidence of it?!” Judy reached for his camera but Nick used his superior height to pull it out of her reach.
“Ah ah ah Carrots. You want these pictures then you're going to have to promise to buy lunch today.” He said as he held the phone just out of her reach in a playful manner.
Judy just glared at him from behind her ears which she still had folded over her face. “You know it's a major felony to blackmail a law enforcement officer Mr. Wilde. I could place you under arrest right here and now if I wanted.”
Nick couldn't help but laugh at her attempt at seriousness but before he could say anything else she had leapt from her seat, grabbed the phone out of his paw and landed on the floor behind him. Nick blinked in surprise for a second before turning to see Judy standing behind him holding his phone with a rather smug look on her face.
“Oh I'm sorry Slick. Are these the pictures you were talking about?” With a swipe of her finger Judy deleted the images Nick had taken before tossing him his phone. “Now come on Nick. We need to get going before Bogo starts the briefing. Oh and if you ever take a picture of me like that again you're going to be riding in the back of the cruiser for a week.”
Nick didn't say anything as he watched her walk out the front door and start heading across the street. He didn't know why but recently he had been unable to keep his eyes off of her. Was it because of that adorable little tail of her's or those piercing amethyst eyes? Or was it the way that her uniform seemed to grip every curve of her lithe muscular form.
Nick shook his head as he left a generous tip on their table and headed across the street after Judy.
“Stop thinking about her like that Nick.” He muttered to himself. “She's your partner and your friend. Don't do something stupid to ruin that you dumb fox.”
And with that he ran through the front door of the ZPD headquarters after Judy.

14 HOURS EARLIER

The bullpen was already full when Nick and Judy burst through the door. The two of them were usually some of the first officers there but the extra time in getting Nick to wake up and the little incident at the coffee shop had cut more into their time then they had realized. They had barely had time to say hello to Clawhauser, the chubby and ebulant Cheetah who worked as the ZPD's dispatch officer, before he could trap them in some sort of converation before they had run down the hall's at a breakneck pace to beat Chief Bogo to the briefing. The last thing either of them wanted to do was to earn the chief's eire by interrupting his morning briefing.
They had just dropped into their seat's when the door at the far end of the room opened and Bogo stomped in with his usual dour expression already plastered on his face. All the small talk around the room immediately ceased as the massive Cape Buffalo made his way to the podium at the front of the room. While Bogo rarely smiled it didn't mean that he was an unhappy mammal. He just chose not to let his emotions show unless he had been seriously pushed past his breaking point, something that Judy had managed to do to him twice over the course of her first two days on the job. That being said there was something about his expression today that Judy couldn't quite place. He looked tired and stressed, more so than was normal for him. Not that his job was easy but Judy knew that he was pretty good at dealing with it. The last time she had seen him look this stressed had been when the city had been about to implode in a cascade of violence during the Nighthowler incident.
The other officer's in the room also seemed to take notice and while they still performed their normal greeting, a series of loud whoops, they did so somewhat half heartedly, not wanting to do something that would set the chief off.
Without a word Bogo took his spot at the podium in front of the assembled officer's and adjusted his glasses.
“Alright everyone settle down.” Bogo muttered as he looked at the stack of files he held in his hooves. The officer's in the room immediately quieted down as Bogo let out a deep sigh. He didn't say anything for a minute as he looked at the first file on the stack and then at the officer's assembled before him.
He was just opening his mouth to speak when Nick decided to pipe in to try and loosen the tension.
“Hey Chief what's the matter? You look like someone just told you Gazelle is retiring and-”
Nick stopped when Bogo shot him a look that could have melted steel. While Bogo was not a fan of Nick's quips he usually took them in stride. Not today though. Nick hadn't gotten a look like that from Bogo since the time that he had stood up to the larger mammal after he had demanded her badge.
Nick swallowed the lump in his throat and with a small whimper that only Judy managed to hear sunk back into his chair and curled his tail up and around his groin. “Sorry sir.”
Bogo continued to glare at Nick for another second before returning his attention to the rest of the room.
“As I was going to say before Wilde so rudely interrupted me. We have a very serious situation on our paws here.” Bogo held up the file and shook it. “Over the last two weeks five mammals have been murdered in three separate districts. Now at first our CSI teams and detectives thought that this was extremely brutal gang related violence as the murders all happened in significantly poorer sections of those districts known for such things. However, upon closer inspection they have come to a different conclusion. All of the mammal's were murdered in a similar manner and all of them were further butchered in the same manner. Also all of the victims were younger mammals in their late teens or early twenties, none of whom had any connection to any gang we are aware of.”
Bogo handed a stack of files to his subordinate Officer Higgins who started handing them out.
“So unless our gangs have decided to come up with a standardized method of murder and disfigurement and begun targeting random mammals on the street we have a serial killer on our paws here people.”
Judy tentatively took the file in her paws but didn't open it. Since joining the force she and Nick had seen a fair amount of the darker side of Zootopia. They had been involved in drug busts that had ended in their fellow officer's being wounded. Judy had once been forced to bite a nearly savage coyote down to the bone and it had taken her weeks to get the taste of blood out of her mouth. And Nick had been forced to confront his overwhelming fear of muzzles on a regular basis as he was forced to apply them to uncooperative criminal predators on a regular basis.
But a murder case was something that neither of them had been expecting at this early stage of their careers. Zootopia had a fairly low murder rate for a city it's size. Most of them occurring as Bogo had said in the poorer districts by gangs fighting it out. The idea that there was a serial killer in Zootopia was a new and dangerous caveat that no one had been expecting.
Once all the files had been handed out Bogo continued.
“I would like to stress that at this point we have not yet revealed anything to the media. The last thing we need is a full blown panic on our paws. Also I should point out that all five of the victims so far were prey mammals. I don't think I need to remind you all what would happen if it got out that there was a serial killer murdering prey mammals. The last thing we need are more anti predator protests this soon after the Nighthowler Incident. As such I expect all of you to maintain a level of discretion as you conduct your investigations into this matter.” Bogo looked down again at the file he held.
“You may now open the files that you have been provided. But I warn you that the images are rather...graphic.”
Judy looked over at Nick whom she was sharing a file with before tentatively opening it. The first sheet was mostly text but at the very bottom was a photograph that made her stomach turn and the hackles on the back of Nick's neck stand straight up.
The dead mammal in the photo was a female bunny in her late teens. But considering what had been done to her even Judy would have been hard pressed to know that just by looking at the photo. All of the skin on her face, paws, and feet had been expertly removed with a surgeon's practiced skill. Her ears were also missing and there was a large hole in the middle of her chest where her heart had been savagely removed. But the worst part of the whole thing was her eyes. They had been left fully intact. Staring sightlessly with a permanent look of utter horror frozen on them.
Judy shivered a little and looked around her to see what the other officers reactions were. They ranged from horrified to disgusted to enraged. How could someone do this to a poor girl? What drove them to butcher her in such a manner? How could such evil exist in the world in general?
Finally Judy looked over at Nick who stared down at the photo with a thousand meter stare on his face. Judy could tell that he was doing his best to keep his calm and collected mask in place despite what they were looking at but it was already beginning to falter. While Judy knew that he had seen some truly horrific things during his time living on the streets this was apparently completely new to even him.
All of them were broken from their contemplation as Bogo once again continued.
“Considering the extreme brutality of this case as well as the possible panic that it could cause when and if it gets out the mayor has demanded that we make this a priority and frankly I agree with her wholeheartedly. We will not allow this sick bastard to continue butchering innocent mammals on our watch. We will find this killer and we will bring them to justice!!!”
Bogo slammed his fist down onto his podium hard enough to send papers flying and crack the wood slightly.
His fierce determination was infectious and a loud racous roar of approval went throught the room before Bogo quieted them down with another withering glare.
“Right then. Seeing as how time is of the essence in a case like this all of you will be assigned to the effort of finding this murderer before they strike again. As such you will each be sent to one of the crime scenes to assist our detectives in questioning the local population of the crime scenes as well as conducting your own investigations into any possible lead that comes up.” Bogo looked around the room again.
“I know that this is a difficult case and I'm sure that none of you walked in today thinking you would be hunting a serial killer. But at the same time I know that all of you are as disgusted by this as I am and want to see justice for these innocent mammals who were so violently cut down in the prime of their lives.” He stopped for a moment to remove his glasses and look each officer in the eyes.
“But if anyone of you wants to transfer to a different case because they don't think they can deal with this sort of situation then speak up now. Because in five minutes I expect all of you to be out there running this bastard to the ground.”
No one spoke or moved a muscle. Bogo pulled back a little and gave a little smile. “Splendid. Now then assignments.”
As Bogo began deploying officers to the various crime scenes Judy looked over at Nick. He was still staring down at the image of the mutilated bunny in the file. She could see that despite his best efforts his anger over what had happened was beginning to show on his face. His jaw was clenched tightly and she could just make out what she thought was the beginning of a snarl on his features. Judy was about to reach a paw out and place it on top of his to try and calm him when Bogo called their names.
“Wilde, Hopps! You two will be assisting in the investigation into the murder committed in Tundratown. Report to Detective Panthera at the local precinct and he will give you both the rundown on where they are with his side of the investigation.”
Judy quickly pulled her back from Nick's as they both stood and approached Bogo. As they did the larger mammal looked down at the two of them and with uncharaceristic concern he said to both of them. “Be careful you two. Our killer seems to have a preference for smaller mammals.” He turned his attention to Nick. “And wipe that smirk off your face Wilde!”
Nick fored a frown onto his features. “Aww but Chief this is the first time that I've seen your softer side. I thought this was a great time to celebrate.”
Bogo was about to say something when Judy grabbed him by his tie and dragged him out of the bullpen. “Don't worry Chief we'll get right on the case!!” Judy chimed as she rushed out before Bogo could direct his ire back onto Nick and by extension her.
As soon as the two of them were out of the room Bogo let out a deep sigh and relaxed his jaw.
“That damn fox is going to give me a stroke at this rate.” He muttered to no one in particular.