The missing mammal case was now solved. Julius was able to triumphantly read Mayor Lionheart his rights as he was hauled to a transport with Nichole smugly looking on, amid a cluster of rather large cops. The on-sight commander to the mass of police on hand waved Julius over, "Chief Bogo needs to talk to you and your friend as soon as you back to HQ."

"I bet he does." On one paw he felt vindicated, but on the other, this episode had not been exactly a team building exercise, and he dreaded to discover how many bridges might have been burned in all this.

The drive back was rather quiet. Though the Rabbit and Fox were still a bit jazzed that they had broken the Big Case, they knew their future was still out of their hands.

Back at precinct one, there were some high-paws and congratulations. The pair made a special point to thank Clauhauser, who, though now off shift, had hung around to see the new hero.

"Clauhauser, you really saved our butts, not to mention brought the case through. I was afraid no one would care."

The big cat looked a bit mixed, "I know about what happened back in the rain forest, and wasn't suppose to respond to any more of your traffic. But I knew it wasn't right. I know a bit about not being taken seriously."

"After dispatching the units, I was on my way to getting suspended when the first confirming calls came in from responding officers." He did not look relieved. "I just hope things will sort out okay for everyone."

"They wouldn't begrudge you your choice, would they? I mean, the case is solved." Julius looked to Nichole, who did not look at all supportive.

"To save face, throwing anyone under the bus would be totally par for them."

Julius looked a bit dismayed, "Well, if we're going to get chopped, let's get it over with."

Chief Bogo did not look happy. But he didn't look directly at the pair of mammals standing before him in his office. Instead he looked at a wall covered in plaques and framed certificates and photos.

"Its not that I don't care, but rather I can't afford to care. To get emotionally invested in a case, or in a fellow officer, when, more often than not, the case ends in tragedy or failure, and I've buried too many - friends. We were working the case, but it was just another in an avalanche of soul-sucking cases that make up our lives every damn day. In retrospect, there were lapses, critical ones. Ones a fresh face was able to catch."

He turned to the pair.

"I owe you a special apology, Hopps. I got stuck with you and was too quick to assume you were 'just a token bunny'. And that first bit of showboating didn't help. You're still awfully green, but you do deserve a better chance."

He then focused on the Fox. "I do remember you - ?" He groped for a name.

"Nichole."

"Nichole. And you were more right than you know. Having to deal with all manner of actors, and all too often it ends up being the same sort, it becomes too easy to simply stereotype. The same grind that numbs us to the grief around us also desensitizes us to those we should be dealing with as individuals."

She could see his face, twisted in self-reproach.

"I have to thank you for reminding me of what I ought to be doing, rather than what I've slid into doing."

The meeting closed with reassurances that Julius' status was now secure, and a reminder that he needed to be on hand for a media event in the morning.

"Well, congratulations, hero of the hour." Nichole quipped.

"Yeah, and all glory is fleeting." Julius reminded. "So, you just helped solve a major case for the ZPD. Now what do you want to do?"

"I don't want to go to Dizzyland." She shot back.

Julius gestured, "I mean, what do you want to do now?"

"Buy me dinner?"

"The least I can do for my partner."

"Partner?" Nichole pulled up short with that.

"Well, yeah, at least for this episode. And tomorrow. You've got to be there. You were right there in it with me on all this. Literally could not have done it without you." Julius said in his best 'isn't it obvious' presentation.

Nichole made a face. "Ah, you blackmailed me into helping you with the initial lead, then I felt sorry for Otterton and stuck around for him. And to see where things were going once I got sucked in." She didn't look at all impressed. Then she cracked a great grin and grabbed his arm. "Okay 'partner', so where are you taking me?"

"There's a Bugaburger across the plaza?" Julius shrugged. "I've been in town for less than a week, so don't know anywhere to eat."

"Oh really?" Nichole made a wicked grin. "I know a place..."

Okay, it looked like something out an Edward Hopper painting, but it was some of the best basic comfort food Julius had ever had outside his home warren. He looked across at his unlikely dinner companion. That she was a fox didn't seem to matter at the moment.

She had proven to be the most refreshingly witty and, dunno, companionable creature. Sure, she still had a bit of a chip on her shoulder; he was the embodiment of her oppression after all. And she would likely be gone after tonight, as he didn't expect her to stick around to make the media thing in the morning.

But he wished she would stay.

"So, what's on your mind, Carrots?"

Julius looked away in small embarrassment, "Was thinking how - interesting it would be if you were my partner."

Nichole was incredulous, "Me? A cop? That's so many levels of not happening. The Buffalo aside, I wouldn't have a chance. They'd never let a fox on the force, especially a vixen like me."

"Umph, a vixen like you is exactly what the force needs. Likely more than this hick bunny."

She gave him a look. The super Ranger Scout had a point, as he had nothing, beyond good intentions, to recommend himself to urban policing.

"Isn't going to happen. One, the institutional bias is too ingrained. Two, a Vixen is simply too small for the job. And three, why would I even be interested?"

"Well, If you do try, and succeed, you can be the kind of subversive element that could transform the ZPD from the inside. I can see you thriving on tweaking the system, both for your own entertainment as much as actually nudging it into something better." Julius smiled at the though of her snark in the morning briefing.

"And you're already bigger than I am. Maybe with a little pumping up, you'd easily be more physical than me." He made a little show of his 'guns', however it was in wiry strength rather than bulk, so was not at all convincing.

Nichole got a little chuckle out of that, recognizing the intended joke. But she had been on the street and largely off the grid for nearly two octades so far, and the notion of a full-time job, even less that of a cop... Sure, she had the freedom of making her own hours, and the financial insecurity of the ebb and flow of the hustles of the day. Pawpsicles were just an occasional seasonal thing. And the ongoing threat of victimhood. No health or retirements plan either.

"If nothing else, make the press conference tomorrow."

She did make the event, and wish she hadn't in the worse way. First, the poor dumb bunny lost control of the narrative, playing into leading questions by those media maggots. But the kicker was, over and above the BS notion that the various preds were reverting somehow to their primitive, savage nature, but that preds were, in general, uncivilized and criminalistic, even without the savage attacks.

Julius stepped down from the podium in shock, this had gone so badly. Despite the encouraging look he got from now acting mayor Bellwether, he knew he had badly misspoke. He had half-believed the notion of preds having some latent savagery in them, but to hear it coming out of his mouth like that. Was he really as biased, specie-ist as he sounded? Then he saw Nichole.

Though her ears were pressed back, hunched and hackles up, and poofed tail lashing in rage, it was seeing the hurt, the sense of betrayal in her tearful eyes that made him pull up short. "Criminalistic nature?" She hissed.

"Nichole, I messed up."

"There," She pointed to the podium, "Or here?" pointing back and forth between them. Not waiting for an answer, she stormed off.

"Nichole, wait!" but she was gone.

Now, months on, those few minutes still were the focus of his thoughts. His body was, for the moment, busy hauling another load of firewood up to the roadside stand the family sold produce out of. With the changing seasons, the harvest stock changed, and in the winter, it was cords of firewood and winter vegetables.

For now, he was stacking up fresh cut wood for drying; the multiple cords already on hand a testament to his efforts. To indulge his sense of self-flagellation, with a barn full of chainsaws and power log splitters, he was doing this all with just an antique bow saw, axe, hammer and wedges. His only accommodation to modernity was the power chipper used to reduce the smaller branches to mulch for various garden uses.

If he had felt isolated amid some hundreds of kin before, in his chronic funk, he was now actively avoided by nearly everyone. On this particular trip up to stack more wood, there was his Mother and Father along with some other folk and family and a delivery truck. He knew they were getting baked goods from someone, based on their produce, so this might be the source.

"Gideon Grey?" That was a surprise. That fox had been his nemesis as a kit. Now the family was doing business with him? That just made his visit complete. He saw his Father gesture to him.

"Hey JP, meet our new source for the baked stuff. Took your example to heart."

"My example? I don't...?"

"Expanding our horizons, going beyond our old habits." The old Buck looked at his Son with concern, "I'm just so heartbroke that your brave effort didn't pan out."

That was a major gear shift, then his meeting with the now humble and contrite Fox was yet another. Then, head still reeling, the final 'night howler' piece fell into place.

Bang Bang Bang

Who ever was disrupting Finn's beauty sleep had a baseball bat for an answer as he opened the back door of the van.

"Whathehey do You want?" He hissed at that damn bunny who wreaked his partner and closest thing to friend he ever had.

"I need to find Nichole, please!"

"Why, so you can bust her too? Not like that would be a bad thing at this point, at least they have a suicide watch." The last was said more to see him twitch. She was too resilient to ever get that bad, at least not in any active way. But he knew how a fox could waste away in despair, and she was not in great shape.

Julius rather satisfactorily flinched at that, then, "No. I figured out the whole case, the real case. Lionheart was just trying to contain the results. All these preds going savage, they were affected by a chemical agent. They were targeted. And I need Nichole to help me pull together some clues so it can all be stopped!"

"Are you shitting me?" The tiny Fox was incredulous. "So why don't you do your cop thing?"

"I quit after I shot my mouth off back at that damn press conference. I've been back in Bunny Burrow where I belong ever since."

Finn gave him a look. That's were he went. Nichole had half-heartedly tried to find out about him for a while, but he had seemed to have dropped off the map. She had taken it as active avoidance.

"So, before I go running back to them, I need some solid evidence to convince them that I'm for real. That's where she comes in."

Finn thought a moment. "Okay." And he gave the damn bunny instructions on where to find her. Once he was away, he got out his 'phone. "Hey, Ruby-Butt, guess who just came by looking for you?"

And there she was. In tank top and shorts, basking in the sun on a beach chair, a drink at her side, stylish over-size sunglasses kept her reaction to him covered.

"Nichole. I failed you. So totally. But I'm here to ask you to help, not me, but the city. And all the preds who have been targeted." He saw her ear flick at that. "Yes, it was a chemical agent, derived from flowers, called 'night howlers'. It wasn't wolves or anything like that. I didn't know the common name, just that formal Latinate and stuff."

He sighed, "You have every right to hate me. And I can never make up for the betrayal of you, and of everyone else. But I do ask that you help me end the situation with the attacks."

He sat down on the bank, his head resting on his crossed arms on his knees. "I've been so sick with regret, seeing you like that. And know there is nothing I can do to undo all the hurt."

"You could offer to buy a girl a drink." Nichole peeked from under her sunglasses. He could see she was looking drawn, her eyes looking not so different than his own in their months of pain.

"So, what's the plan?" She was awfully matter of fact about this whole thing, and Julius was not going to break the odd tableau, merely tuning his head to better look at her.

"Otterton was a florist who had dealt with the type of flower, and he was coming back home after not connecting with a botanist friend when he went savage, or more accurately, attacked. Maybe it was to silence him. We didn't follow up with the botanist with all the 'fun' with Manches."

"But I busted a guy for stealing bulbs before that, and maybe he could lead us to whoever is doing this thing."

"What have you got? I know everyone."

Weasleton was easily found, but not impressed with Julius' plea for civic responsibility, but sung a very different tune when they called the ZPD on a terrorist chemical attack charge. And at that point, Julius was able to tell the investigating officers and Bogo about what he had learned about the 'night howler' as chemical threat.

They were very impressed, and began strategizing as to how to proceed. They were concerned about trying to scout the location. Bogo was loath to commit a sizeable force to an unconfirmed location. If they were not there, the action could warn them that they were being sought. It was Nichole who had a suggestion.

"So, lover, you got a spot in mind?" The slinky vixen purred to her 'date'. They were in the closed metro station for a little privacy.

"Yeah, I was told about an abandoned trolley down in the service siding." The rabbit grinned and wrapped his arm around her just a tad more. "Doin' it in one of the cars would be just like my first time." He leered. "Buddies dared me and my date thought I'd chicken out."

"You're not going to creep out on me?" She seemed just a slight bit uncertain, peering down the dark tunnel.

"Uhmph, you've got the better night vision, sweetie. But since you already have all my cash, its not like you can roll me either."

"Okay. A trolley car isn't the kinkiest place I've done it in."

They cautiously made their way down the tunnel, the rabbit snuggling up to the fox, pawing around her body and tail.

"Hey, careful what you grab, bunny boy. Save some of that for the car."

'Oh poo, you're just the most scrumptious thing. Wonder how'd you'd taste." And the rabbit made little nom noms in her direction.

"If you're any good at that, I'd give it to you for free."

"Oh, yeah? How 'bout a taste of my carrot?"

"As I told you before, that would be extra."

A blinding light and a yelled "Hey! What the hail you doin' down here!"

The Ram looked at the dubious pair, a vixen in a skimpy dress and very obviously nothing more, and a disheveled looking business bunny, stinking of drink. He loomed over the pair, his muzzle twisted in disgust. "Get out of here you degenerates." He added more than a few additional choice words as the pair scuttled back out of the tunnel.

Fifteen minutes later the night howler extraction lab was secured by the heavily armed TUSK strike team.

Nichole was relieved to be out of that awful dress. Even in her worst days, she could never consider that kind of 'work'. She knew of too many girls who ended up in very bad situations, if not killed, in the 'business'. And she had other issues regarding sex in any circumstance.

And there was Julius, back in uniform, and looking like he belonged there. "I just heard from the strike leader that a couple of the rams are looking to roll on their boss in all this."

"Who is?"

"Can't say yet. But I'd like to get your help with that as well." Julius was warily hopeful.

Nichole was also unsure about things. They had gone though the preparation and execution of the scouting as cool professionals and it seemed, in those moments, it was like they had never been apart. That they were busting those who had added an extra level of awful to her existence as a pred in the city was oh so gratifying. And Julius' sincerity in his efforts to do right by her and the city was touching.

"In for a dime, in for a dollar, Carrots." She finally sighed. Then, "Taste your carrot?" and made a face.

"Well, it was the role, and went well with the yummy fox thing." Julius blushed massively at that.

Then, finally, the mayor's office.

"Officer Hopps? You're back with the ZPD? Dawn Bellwether had a couple still-in-the-box computers on her desk and her previous ones disconnected and on the floor.

"Changing out your systems, I see?"

"You know, constantly upgrading."

"Have any plans for the old ones?"

"I was going to send them through normal surplus or E-waste procedures. Why do you ask?"

"These warrants will answer all your questions. I do hope you haven't wiped the memories, though the servers will have the bulk of your activity, and our forensics ought to be able to reconstruct the contents anyway."

"Whatever for?"

"Oh, Criminal conspiracy to commit terrorism, conspiracy to commit multiple acts of potentially lethal assault with chemical weapons. And a few miscellaneous other charges."

"Really, how creative." The sheep looked only slightly annoyed.

"Oh, and I forgot, all your personal computers, tablets, and 'phones. The ZPD is at your home about now to see what they can see as well." Julius did his best to be professionally polite, but a little part of him was enjoying her rising ire.

"How dare you!'

"Temper." Julius warned, "You don't want to say anything more that might be incriminating." He tapped his body cam.

Then Nichole and Chief Bogo entered the room.

"Hey, Julius, guess what? Just like you guessed, the other computer hasn't been touched in months. And everything is intact." Nichole had used the unit before and knew about how it was configured.

"What?" Bellwether finally seemed concerned.

"Well, after you set up Lionheart with the idea of the Cliffside containment then let us bust him as a distraction, you got a bit lazy. Didn't need to monitor the containment crews and all that, so forgot about the computer in the files room. Right where you left it back then. Ought to have a lot of interesting history on it."

Bellwether was visibly stunned.

Julius turned to his Chief, "Sir, why don't you do the honors. I don't want to be the hero two times in a row."

"Are you sure, Hopps?" Bogo gave Hopps a look, then shrugged. "Dawn Bellwether, you are under arrest...."

As the Sheep was led away and the crime scene team began to pick up the pieces, Nichole and Julius looked at each other.

"Sooo, what next?" Julius was entirely prepared for her to drop him for the specie-ist hypocrite he still felt like.

Nichole looked at the poor bunny boy. Did he deserve a second chance? Maybe. "For now, you still owe me a drink."