Judy emerged from the recovery room with her uniform on and her badge on her chest. A concerned nurse looked up at her from the help desk as she walked by. Judy waved off her concerns and pretended that the side of her chest did not flare up in pain when she waved. There would probably be a confused doctor wanting to check in on her soon, only to find her room empty. She did not have time to wait to be checked out properly and be discharged. Bombs were in the city, and she had to find them before they went off.

“Hopps!” Clawhauser called out to her from the main entrance. She walked right past him and headed for the nearest police cruiser.

“Let’s go, Benji,” she said and ushered him to follow.

“Are you cleared from the hospital?”

“I’m fine, but we gotta get back to the precinct. Can you drive?”

“Sure,” he said and opened the cruiser door for her. She hopped up into the passenger seat and winced as her ribcage protested at the movement. She was less mobile now, and that was bad if she needed to chase after someone or fight someone off. But Judy was still thankful that, at the very least, she could move. Considering what she’d been through, she would take that as a victory. 

Clawhauser put the cruiser in gear and set off towards the precinct. Zootopia General was settled just east of Downtown, so luckily the drive was not too far. Judy began rolling ideas around in her head as they went along. There were plenty of possible places Pumar and his crew had disappeared to, but Judy still had to get there first. Without the rest of her team, going by traditional means would certainly put them behind Savage and the rest of the ZBI. 

“Are you sure you’re okay, honey bunny?” Clawhauser asked after a brief silence between them. “I mean, it’s not like I don’t think you’re a tough bunny, don’t get me wrong. You’re as tough as they get, but you really took a beating back there. How far did you even fall?”

Judy wanted to shrug off his concerns, but she answered his question all the same. “About ten bounds.”

“Ten what-nows?” Clawhauser asked. 

“Right,” Judy realized and shook her head. “Sorry, Benji. A bound is how bunnies measure height; it’s a little more than 9 feet.”

“Wait, so can bunnies jump that high?!” Clawhauser balked, which made Judy laugh. 

“Maybe we used to, but being homebodies has made us all a little rounder. Even I can only get to around eight and half at my highest bound.”

“I can relate with getting a little rounder,” he jested and placed a paw on his belly. “So that’s, what . . . 90 feet?!”

“About that height, yeah . . . Don’t look at me like that, Benji, I promise I’m okay. I was a little rattled, sure, but I’m still good to go. I can take a break when bombs aren’t about to go off,” Judy said. 

“Okay . . . so what’s the next move?” he asked. 

“We need to think of where Nick would go to next,” Judy began. “If we try the traffic cameras again, even if we find something, we won’t be as fast as the ZBI. Their hideout in the Rainforest District has probably been picked clean by CSI, though I doubt they’ll find anything too helpful. They were ready for us, so we need to rely on intuition.”

“What do you mean by intuition?”

“You know Nick better than anyone else in the precinct, besides myself. Where would he go to hide from the cops if he had to?” she asked, hoping to get some ideas rolling. 

“I, uh . . . I guess with Finnick, maybe?”

“I thought so too, but I doubt it since he wouldn’t want to implicate Finnick in a terrorism plot. Besides, he did ask Finnick to skip town, so I doubt Nick would rely on him being around right now,” Judy said. 

“Okay then, what about out of town?”

“Hmm, I don’t think so. Pumar would want to stay in the city until the job is done. If they’ve left the city, then we’re already too late.”

“Well, Hopps, I guess he’d pick a place you would know about too, if he’s trying to get you to follow but not the ZBI. Are there any that come to mind? Maybe a spot where you two have some history?”

It was a smart idea, she had to admit. But there were no locations that came to mind that made any sense. They spent most of their time together in their apartment, but Nick would not hide Pumar there since the ZBI was likely keeping an eye on the place. There were a few spots around town they liked to visit during their time off, like the park in Savannah Central or the café where they spent their first official date, but those were much too public for him to be hiding anywhere nearby. 

The idea that made the most sense still wasn’t very likely. During their first case, Judy had said some awful things about predators in her press conference, and this tore her and Nick apart for some time. She felt terrible about it, so when she finally apologized and fixed things between them, she found him on a lawn chair by the old warehouses near the docks. She could still remember pouring her heart out to him underneath the road. That bridge became a very important spot for the two of them, though they rarely ventured back to that spot. 

That was definitely a spot only Judy would know about, but the bridge had little in the way of shelter and the nearby warehouses were all owned by businesses now, so they would likely have workers and surveillance up. Perhaps it was a good enough place to start, but Judy doubted that Nick could convince the others to hide out there. 

Just then, the radio in Clawhauser’s dashboard crackled to life. 

“Bogo to Clawhauser, what’s your twenty?” Bogo’s voice came through the static. The cheetah leaned over and scooped the microphone up off the dashboard.

“Clawhauser here. En route to the precinct, ETA about three minutes.”

“Good,” Bogo replied. “I need you to set up the podium and mics when you get back and prep the lobby for a press conference.”

Judy’s eyes widened as she looked up at Clawhauser, whose face also twisted in unpleasant surprise. Her mouth hung open and her lips felt dry.

“Uh . . ten-four, Chief,” Clawhauser said and hooked the microphone back on the dashboard. He looked down at Judy with a nervous frown. “You think he’s taking the investigation public?”

“Of course he is,” Judy said sadly. 

Nick did not turn on Pumar like they expected him to, and now Pumar could be anywhere in the city. Having the public aware of terrorists at large would limit their ability to move out in the open. There would undoubtedly be some fear and media activity, but Pumar’s face would be plastered all over the city so he would be forced into hiding.  

But then there was Nick’s face, too. If the chief told the public about Nick’s involvement, he would not be able to leave her any more clues to follow. Being able to move around the city freely could be the only thing he depended on to get information to her. She also had to admit that despite everything he’d pulled, another part of her feared for Nick’s freedom. If the public saw his face next to Pumar’s, it would be impossible to clear Nick’s name and he would be run out of town, even if the bombs were stopped and Nick cleared of any crimes.. 

Perhaps he deserved that much, for all he had done. He shot an officer, after all. But Judy was certain he was no traitor, and if he was helping bring this plot down from the inside, he did not deserve to rot in prison with a shock collar around his neck for the rest of his life.

“We need to stop him,” Judy decided.

“What? Stop the chief?” Clawhauser balked.

“Nick’s in deep and he needs some more time. If we can hold the chief back for just another day, we should be able to track him down and move in when he gives us the signal,” Judy said.

“Hopps, even if Wilde is still on our side, how are we supposed to get the chief to listen? I’ve never seen him change his mind about anything once it’s made up.”

Clawhauser brought up a good point. She’d be a fool to expect Bogo to fold just because she asked him too. She already asked for much more than she was authorized to, and it was a miracle that Bogo had not put her on the meters for it. Judy needed leverage, and she had nothing on the chief. 

But she did have something on Savage.

Judy took a deep breath through her nose, calming her nerves and trying her best to keep her heart from beating out of her chest. She let her paw rise to her vest and ran a thumb over her badge for a moment, cradling it as if she were protecting a child. 

“I have an idea,” Judy said as they pulled into the precinct parking lot. “Clawhauser, listen to me very carefully. I need you to be everywhere for the next 24 hours. I need your eyes on the cameras, your ears on the radio, and your phone charged and in your pocket at all times.”

“Okay,” Clawhauser said timidly. “But why are you asking me this? It’s not like I’m not always on my phone and listening in on the radio. What’s so different about now than when I was doing this before?”

Judy hopped out of the cruiser and began making her way towards the precinct before shouting back to Clawhauser. “Because in a few minutes, it’ll be illegal for you to tell me!”

She could hear a few of his concerned and confused calls for her as she leapt up the stairs and blew past the lobby. She ran as fast as she could without straining her shoulder or ribs. She went past the bullpen and dashed up the stairs, heading for her desk. When she got there, she quickly pulled out her desk key from her belt and unlocked her file cabinet. She pulled out a beige file and quickly opened it up, removing the small sticky note that was left for her. 

She closed the file with a satisfying slap and made her way back down the hall and onto the third floor. Were she a bit taller, she would have looked over the side of the balcony that loomed over the lobby to take in the sight of the precinct for a brief moment, but she did not have time. She knocked on the door and cleared her throat. 

“Chief?” she called out. 

“Hopps?” his voice responded immediately. His surprise was palpable through his voice. He opened the door and looked her up and down with a furrowed brow.  “What on earth are you doing out of the hospital?” 

“I need to speak with you, urgently,” Judy said, ignoring his question.

“I assume you heard about the press conference. I hope you’re not here to try to convince me otherwise,” he warned her. 

“I’m not,” she said. Bogo raised a skeptical eyebrow, but allowed her in all the same. He found his seat and rolled himself up to his desk. He ran his fingers between his eyes and sighed loudly. Clearly he had not gotten much sleep either. 

“What’s this about, Hopps?” he asked. 

She didn’t bother with the chair. She hopped up all the way to the top of his desk in a large bound, wincing again and rubbing her ribs just under her shoulder tenderly. She held out the beige folder and let it fall onto Bogo’s desk. He donned his reading glasses and reached to one side of his desk, where a large round piece of glass rested. Bogo ran the large glass lense over the contents of the folder, and the images enlarged enough so that a mammal as big as him could read it. His eyes jumped, shooting Judy a quick glance before looking back down and reading the file closer. 

“Skylar Frost,” Bogo said. “A former ZBI field agent. You are sure this is the same vixen currently with Pumar?”

“Positive,” she said with a nod. “I also saw video footage of when she faked her death. There were ZBI agents there.”

“This is highly classified information, Hopps. Where did you get this?” Bogo asked sternly. 

“I’m sorry, sir, but I’m not going to tell you that,” she said. She was watching Bogo closely, keeping herself respectfully at attention with her paws folded behind her back. 

“I need to know, Hopps. How long have you had this?” he asked. Judy steeled herself and held her chin high. 

“Since yesterday morning, sir,” she said calmly. “And that is a class-D violation of the code of conduct in accessing unauthorized documentation. Violators are subject to immediate suspension and a following investigation from internal affairs.”

Bogo took his glasses off of his face and looked at her with wide eyes. His cheeks tensed as he bit down and took uneven breathes through his nose. She saw his fist curl in, squeeze tightly, and then relax, his shoulders slumping downward as he ran a hoof down the side of his face.

“Why are you showing me this now?” he asked. “You know I’ll need to report this along with Pumar, Whiskberg, and Wilde during the press conference.”

“If you’re going to spill it, you deserve to know the whole story,” Judy said bravely. “I’m sorry, Chief.”

“For what?”

“For letting your faith in me go to waste,” she said. Judy reached up to her shoulder and lifted her vest up a bit, reaching underneath and undoing the pin that held her badge to her chest. She pulled it off, and held it out to her superior, who looked back at her with an open mouth and sad eyes. 

“Waste?” he said softly. “Hopps, my faith in you is the reason I let you run your own ops team at Flake’s.”

Judy’s eyes widened. “You knew about that?”

“It’s the reason I let you have your own T.U.S.K force and the reason I let you sidestep the ZBI the way you have. I’ve had every ounce of faith in you, and not a drop of it has gone to waste. You’ve gotten further on this case than the rest of the ZPD and ZBI combined, and you’ve got Pumar running like a scaredy cat. You have done splendid police work, Hopps.”

“And now it’s done. You can’t look the other way on this, Chief.”

Bogo raised his hoof and reached for her badge. He hesitated, taking a moment to gaze back at her. She was just as confident and fiery as she always was. As much as she wanted to bend the rules to suit her, she could not hustle her way out of something like this. She wasn’t Nick. 

Bogo took the badge from her paw and placed it in his pocket on his shirt. He stood from his chair and walked around his desk, facing her directly. 

“Humor me for a moment, Hopps,” he began. He raised his hoof off of her shoulder and held it above her head, letting it hover about ear’s height and keeping it there with his fingers splayed out. 

“Reach up and touch my hoof,” he ordered.

Judy looked up at him, then back at his hoof apprehensively. She took a breath in through her nose and slowly raised her paw up over her shoulder and up towards his paw. Before she could reach it, her chest howled in pain and she recoiled back down, hissing for a moment and biting her lip.

“I thought not. Hopps, go home and get some rest,” Bogo said and dropped his hoof. “I’m placing you on medical leave until I’m convinced you’re recovered from your injuries. I’ll have Delgato come up here and escort you home.”

Judy smiled at the chief, grateful for his gesture. Medical leave was much less restrictive than administrative leave. It wouldn’t stop the impending internal affairs investigation, but it would give her the freedom to move around the city. If she was going to find Nick without her police resources, she would need that much. Judy suspected the chief knew that. 

“Before I go, may I take a minute and collect a few things from my desk?” she asked him politely. He cocked an eyebrow at her, folding his arms across his chest. If he was suspicious, he clearly did not let it stop her. 

“Of course,” he said and stepped out of her way. She thanked him and bounded off of his desk and exited his office in a brisk walk. As soon as she was clear of his sight, she began running again, this time towards the private office on the other side of the third floor where the ZBI held their temporary HQ. She opened the door to their shared office space and searched wildly around the room. The only mammal in the room was a badger she remembered as Agent Brocktree.

“Officer Hopps?” the badger said in surprise.

“Where is Agent Savage?” she asked. 

“I am of no obligation to share that with you,” Agent Brocktree scoffed and returned her attention to the computer at her desk.

“Please, ma’am, I have something urgent to speak with him about,” Judy said firmly.

“He had to take an important phone call, which usually means he’s speaking with the ZBI director. You are just going to have to wait your turn,” Agent Brocktree said, not bothering to look Judy in the eye anymore.

“Agent Brock . . . I’m sorry. It’s Conny, right?” Judy asked, calming her voice down a bit. The badger took the glasses off of her nose and eyed Judy closely. She looked just as tired as Judy was but was not as cold or spiteful as Agents Maple or Juarez. Judy remembered Conny being the only one to show the slightest bit of sympathy after Savage pulled her from the water. If one of his agents would be merciful, it would be her. 

“Please, Conny. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important,” Judy said. 

Agent Brocktree rolled her eyes and pointed towards the ceiling.

“He takes his private calls on the roof,” she said with a sigh.

“Thank you,” Judy said and hopped towards the staircase. The roof exit was past the 5th-floor landing. McHorn and Snarlof would go up there to smoke from time to time, so there was often a piece of wood there meant for propping the door open when someone needed a moment alone. She found the door propped open with a cool breeze blowing in from outside.

She threw the door open and scanned the rooftop for a moment. From the roof of the precinct, one could get a wonderful view of the beautiful skyline of downtown Zootopia. The sun was out, but the air was cooler than usual for Savannah Central. Judy looked around for a moment, finally finding Jack Savage with his back turned towards her and his paw holding his phone up to his ear. 

He was pacing in a short line on the far side of the roof while speaking on the phone. His was not wearing his suit coat, likely because it was still soaked from their dip in the river. He had a disheveled look about him, his fur matted and unbrushed. 

“Agent Savage!” she called out and began lightly jogging towards him. She saw his ear perk up towards her and he turned around quickly, more than a little surprised by her presence. “Savage, I need to talk--”

“I promise you, Mr. Director, that I’ll get it done,” he said, giving her a pointed glare as he emphasized just whom he was speaking with. She decided not to anger the director of the ZBI in that moment, all things considered. She waited patiently as he listened carefully to his phone, keeping his eyes on her for the most part. Once he was satisfied she got the hint to keep quiet, he continued his pacing.

“Yessir,” he said. Another moment went by as he listened to the other side of the conversation. Judy huffed a few heavy breaths as she caught her wind and waited for Savage to finish. “What if it’s the former?” Savage asked. 

There was a slight breeze that blew in Judy’s ears, making her fold them down over her back and cross her arms over her chest to cover her core. She heard the muffled sounds of Savage’s phone as he paced a little bit. 

“And what is that, sir?” he asked flatly. From what she could guess about his expression, the ZBI director was none too happy with his performance over the last few days. He looked frustrated and impatient, yet still calm and collected as he kept his eyes on the ground. 

Then Jack Savage looked at her, his eyes darting around every feature of her face. It was his same usual glare, though a bit more focused. He took several moments in silence observing her. She looked back at him