Word count: 1882

"Officer Howe, officer Tylers, you are under arrest." Nick said as he and Judy walked into the break room.

The two officers stood up. "What are you talking about?" Howe exclaimed as he glared at Nick.

"You and officer Tylers went paint balling last Friday, am I right?" Nick said, taking a seat by some other officers while Judy nervously stood beside him.

"Yeah, it was Tylers birthday so we decided to go shoot some paintballs, ya know?" Howe said, lighting a cigarette inside.

Judy opened her mouth yo speak before Nick did. "And I'm pretty sure paintball gear looks a lot like military amor, right?"

Howe and Tylers both nodded.

"So, since it was a party package, they gave you a variety of colors, am I right?"

"No." Howe said confidently. "See, we decided to play against another team. We were green, they were red."

Judy glanced up at Nick. He seemed to be very focused. Her eyes caught the flick of his ear.

"Mhm. So ya had green paintballs?"

Howe stood with a tilt on his hips. A grin swiped his muzzle. "Soo..you think asking questions is gonna prove me guilty?"

Nick shook his head. "I'm just curious.."

Judy swallowed hard. She was nervous.

"See...if you had green paintballs, you've already proven yourself guilty.."

The air was thick with tension. Judy clenched her fist as she could feel the heat of Howe's glare. Nick flicked his ear again before standing up and pacing around the room. Howe held his breath before glancing at Tylers.

"What are you talking about?" Tylers finally spoke.

Nick stopped by a vending machine, his back towards everyone. He flicked his ear.

"At the scene of officer Jeremiah's beating, there was a substance. It was ironically green and too smooth to be blood and too thick to be water. The forensic crew estimated that it was paint." He turned towards the officers.

He flicked his ear.

"So what? Paint at the scene doesn't mean anything." Tylers argued.

Nick flicked his ear again.

"See, you ain't let me finish. Jeremiah had told me that two predators in army gear, or rather, paintball gear attacked him."

The fox began to pace around the room again. "Tylers, you don't have a car right? And at the time, Howe, your car was in a body shop, correct?"

Both nodded.

"Riiiight...right, right. So," he flicked his ear. "Since you didn't have cars, you two walked to the paintball arena. It's a block away, right pass the corner store, si?"

"Still doesn't explain how we're guilty." Tylers said, deadpan.

"You admitted that the corner store was next to the arena. The paintball arena opens at eleven am, you two get off your shift at about, four-ish? I know, since I drive past it every day, the arena closes at six pm. It'd take you about ten minutes to get there, right? So you were there by at least four fifteen?"

The two officers said nothing. Howe gave a slight nod. Nick flicked his ear and continued. "Yup. Jeremiah had said he had spilled all the coffee in the break room at around five forty. At five fifty two is when the crime was reported."

The fox's eyes scanned the ceiling. He soon made his way back to his chair but not sitting down. "Since the arena closes at six and Bogo said to be back before then, you two had to leave early."

Howe put out his cigarette. "Where are you going with this?"
He asked warily.

"On your way back, you two had caught up to the flimsy wolf. Howe," Nick faced him.

"You didn't like the automatic attention Judy gave Jeremiah, did you?" Judy held her breath, trying to ignore Howe's glares.

"Before you say anything, let's just say you had a very creepy obsession with officer Hopps." Nick placed a paw on Judy's back, making her walk forward.

She bit her lip and stared at the floor.

Nick flicked his ear.
"See, there's no lie about that. Officer Hopps is fairly attractive, she has a nice sex appeal." He glanced at her before continuing. "But let's Hopp back on track." He mentally laughed at his pun.

"You didn't like Judy's automatic liking to the wolf, and as a canine myself, I know for a fact we are protective about the ones we love. So you started to get upset."

Nick leaned on the breakroom table. "Upon getting upset, you caught Jeremiah outside, attacked him, tied him up, and threw him in an alleyway."

Howe jumped up in anger. "You lying rat! Where's your evidence!"

"My evidence? Officer Jeremiah. Need more evidence? Let's switch down to Phil down at the Dram Cams."

Nick faked being surprised. "Oh wait...there is no Phil, but there is the Dram Cams, aka, Traffic Cameras."

At this moment, Howe knew he messed up.

"See, Traffic Cameras caught two predators in army gear attacking the poor wolf. And if I follow the cameras, it'll show you two leaving the paintball arena." Nick grinned slyly.

"You trashy fox! What does officer Hopps gotta do with this!?" Tylers screamed, baring his teeth.

"Like I said earlier," Nick began. "Howe had an uncontrollable urge to, how can I say this, be intimate with her."

Judy kept her eyes on the floor, nervously shifting from time to time.

He flicked his ear. "See, Judy didn't like him like that. She still respected him though. Much like she does everyone. That's why I love h-I mean, what I love about her."

The fox regained his train of thought. "Anyway, few days after the Jeremiah incident, Howe broke into Judy's house. Didn't he, Judes?"

Judy looked up at Nick with glassy eyes. She nodded, wiping her eyes. One of the female officers in the breakroom attempted to comfort her but Nick waved them off. It would be better to let the emotions our now than never.

"Say it." He said. Judy looked up at him.

"Say it, Judes. Say it so they know it's true."

Judy felt more tears in her eyes. Mostly because she feared Chean and mostly because she wanted Nick to trust her, meaning she'd have to confess to not only him, but to her fellow officers.

"I-it's true.." She muttered.

"What's true?" Nick asked.

Judy's eyes met Chean's and she instantly regretted ever looking at him. She had felt more fear at this moment than she did in her whole life.

"I-It's true th-that...Officer Howe broke into my home...a-and invaded my privacy." She uttered out before quickly looking away.

As much as Nick wanted to comfort her, he had to keep his mind clear.

"You little-!"

"Ah, ah, ah...save it for later." Nick said to shut Chean up.

"You don't have proof." Tylers defended.

"Ha. Try again." Nick stated, flicking his ear.

"See, little did you know that when you thought Judy was intoxicated and home alone, I was actually with her. When I heard something outside, I decided to check it out. I saw there was an open window, and on that window was green paint."

Howe scoffed. "Dude, that was days after we went to the paintball arena."

"True dat, true dat...but here's my theory." Nick clasped his paws together. "Judy had told me that she and her friend had gotten drunk at her house. But when I arrived, Judy was the only person there. So I thought, what if Judy and Howe had some type of..secret relationship."

He glanced at Judy. "Because one, Zoey is too young to drink, two Howe was mysteriously placed right outside of your house, and to the best of my knowledge, I remember Judy wearing nothing but a shirt too big for her. A male's shirt."

Judy played with her thumbs.

"It makes since. Howe must've planned to hold her at gunpoint, but instead of grabbing his real gun, he had accidentally grabbed the paintball pistol." The fox turned to Howe.

"Upon accidentally having the wrong gun, Howe attempted a break in but failed miserably and fired at the windowsill. Firing the green paintball. "

Chean sucked his teeth as if he didn't care.

"Judy must've heard the paintball hit the window due to her really great hearing and walked down stairs. She was immediately held at gunpoint and forced to head back upstairs by Howe. He must've had or did something sexual to her. I don't know, I'm just guessing. But maybe he just drugged her with a Roofie club pill or something."

"Once he did whatever he did, he had probably wanted to use the bathroom or something and walked out, giving Judy time to text me and invite me over, in hopes that I'd save her. Sadly, she was drugged again and stripped down to her underwear so that Howe could dress her in his clothes. In return, he took her clothes and drugged her a third time which made her sleepy and feel drowsy, as if she was drunk."

"Howe attempted an escape once he heard me pulling in on the driveway, forcing him to leave out the window. That is, until he forgot his paintball gun which he knew would make him seem suspect. He waited for me to settle down and snuck back in, but I heard him. He somehow made it upstairs and right as he was leaving Judy's room, I caught him."

Nick looked at the both of them. "My evidence good enough? Or do ya need more?" He flicked his ear. "Because Judy told me Howe had drugged her a few days after that. And I tested her and she was positive for Flunitrazepam. A drug mammals usually use as a date rape drugs, if ya get what I mean."

He glared at Judy. "Now..did this happen, Mrs.Hopps?"

Judy sighed. "It did."

There were sudden murmurs and mutters around the room. Howe and officer Tylers looked upset.

"Congratulations, Wilde. You successfully caught us." He slowly walked up to Nick with his paws behind his back.

"Sadly, you won't be able to live happily with your bunny." He pulled his gun from behind him and aimed it at Nick.

Nick rolled his eyes. "Ha. You really think that scares me?"

Howe growled and pulled the trigger. Everyone gasped in horror except for Nick.

The fox stood deadpan as the little ball of green paint splashed against him. "You really think I'm not smart enough to swap out your fake gun with the real one. Ha, you must have low standards for me." Nick smirked.

Howe angrily rolled his eyes, doing so he saw Judy. That slut..He thought. He chucked the gun directly at the bunny.

Judy yelped as it hit her. It was quite heavy so she fell over, whining in pain. Immediately after that, Nick had football tackled Howe, cuffing him.

Chief Bogo sighed but almost smiled.

It made him think that Nick was a well needed officer in the precinct..Interspecies or not, Nick and Judy were an undeniable team.

And no one was changing that.

Yawn. I'm going to sleep now.

Also, whoever can correctly guess why and how many times Nick flicked his ear gets a shout out in the next chapter.