pop loose. "Who did you-?"

The voice stopped as a female dingo, sandy in color, appeared at the top of the stairs. Wearing a pair of black knee-length yoga pants and a sleeveless blue shirt, she looked like she might have jogged to practice just because she could. Her ears shot up when she saw Nick.

"Xavier, you didn't tell us Taelia was bringing a guy!"

A male voice laughed from the top of the stairs. "Wanted you to save your voice for rehearsal. Taelia, bring your friend on up. We can socialize a bit before we get rolling."

Taelia had to stretch a little to use the big steps, but she managed. Nick followed, not sure how to feel about it when Ellen leaned over and remarked to Taelia, "Nice catch. He's cute."

The vixen raised an index finger in warning. "Remember, I saw him first."

At the top of the stairs, Nick found himself facing just the assortment of mammals Taelia had described, all seated in an assortment of recliners around a modest living room. Nicole wore white slack shorts and a pink top – and she did bear an uncanny resemblance to some vixens Nick had known. The main differences were that she was about double any vixen's height and had longer legs compared with the rest of her body. She smiled when Nick's eyes passed her way in a quick scan of the crew, and her right paw lifted in a suggestion of a wave.

Vicky was wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans, and the longer fur on top of her head was adorned with sky blue and light green beads. She regarded Nick's presence in a pretty neutral manner, evidently reserving any overtures – positive or negative – until he made an impression. Nick, for his part, did a slight double-take at her. He could swear he didn't know her, but there was something familiar about the hyena. The fact that he couldn't place it made him nervous; loose ends had caused him trouble more times than he cared to remember.

As for Isabelle and Xavier, he could have guessed they were married just picking them out of a crowd; they wore matching blue jeans – not quite distressed, but worn some at the knees – and rather form-fitting red shirts. Isabelle – a light gray she-wolf – considered him with a rather skeptical look. It reminded Nick of the reception he'd gotten from his would-be senior prom date's parents back in high school (would-be because said girlfriend broke up with him two days before the prom over the Booze Breath Incident).

Xavier, on the other hand, rose and greeted Nick with a grin made all the brighter by the contrast of his well-kept teeth against his very dark gray fur. "You must be Nick." In customary big-to-small etiquette, he crouched just a little when he got close. He would have had to sit on the floor to get eye-to-eye, but he generated a slightly less imposing image anyway when he stuck out a paw. "Taelia's told us some interesting things about you."

Nick coughed and shook the offered paw. "Does she tell you about every guy she dates, or am I a special case?"

Xavier shrugged. "Well most guys she's dated haven't been to our band practices – which brings me to something. She says you've got friends in the ZPD, including Judy Hopps."

This was the moment Nick had been bracing for. "A few, I guess. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, that's great!" cheered Ellen before Xavier could explain. "We're getting ready for a-"

"Ellen," Isabelle cut her off, "was he asking you?"

Xavier just laughed. "I'm used to it. Ellen, the floor is yours – calmly, please."

The dingo took a deep breath, then launched into her explanation. "Well, maybe you already know this, but there's a benefit concert in a couple of weeks to help the mammals who were hurt in the Night Howler Incident."

"Helping cover medical costs and such," Xavier interjected.

"Yeah, yeah," Ellen went on eagerly. "Anyway, we're going to be in it, and we want our part to be a special tribute to the city's first responders – including the ZPD!"

Nick was starting to get the picture, and he couldn't have been more relieved. "So you want an insider's opinion on your stuff to see if they'd like it."

"Exactly," Xavier confirmed. "We're also planning a CD specially for the occasion."

"Probably gonna have to stick to pre-orders," Vicky pointed out.

Xavier nodded. "Most likely, but that's all the more reason to make it the best we can."

Nick wasn't sure how – or if – he should tell them that he pretty much never talked music with anyone in the ZPD. The truth was, outside of Judy, Ben, and Bogo, he hadn't talked much with anyone in the precinct. He knew Ben was gaga for Gazelle, but then anyone who had seen his desk could tell you that. Outside of that knowledge and the hunch that Judy was probably also a fan, he couldn't think of much of anything that would be any use to them.

Reminding himself that he was dealing with honest mammals, he shrugged. "Well, I don't know much about anyone's musical tastes at the precinct."

"Anything you've got is more than what we've got," Vicky put in. "None of us know any cops, and you know the one who was in the thick of it – even if she did make a wreck of it at the start."

Nick was about to speak up on his friend's behalf, but Nicole beat him to it. "Come on. For all they knew it could have been biological, and she's apologized for it at least a dozen times now."

Actually, Judy had only made half a dozen public apologies, albeit much-circulated. Never the less, Nick instantly decided he liked Nicole.

"Nicole's right," Xavier agreed. "And so is Vicky – about information, that is." He looked at Nick. "Whatever help you can give us would be greatly appreciated."

Nick only needed a minute to think it over. "Well, what have you got so far?"

Xavier rose to his feet. "How about you come down to the basement and find out?"

Music critic that he wasn't, Nick still recognized that Vixen was an impressive band. Although Nicole was generally the female lead, the other ladies swapped in on some songs depending on who had the best voice for it. Xavier, who as it turned out was effectively the manager, was a true virtuoso in the voice department as well. With him in their roster, the band needed no other male singers, as he could alter his tone clear across a range all the way from baritone to tenor. He even did a decent impression of Elkvis, one of the few musicians of whom Nick could truly claim to be a fan.

While the fox had little input to offer on the music itself, he found the lyrics much easier to assess. So far it sounded like the band had a decent lineup of songs: a very intense number called 'Hero' (which, Xavier explained, was performed with a pyrotechnic display in the background when they could manage it), another less harshly-voiced one called 'Warriors,' some numbers called 'Courage' and 'Ignite' which emphasized lyrics by Ellen, and a range of others. Nick was able to offer some advice here and there; for one thing, he ultimately resolved a split among them over whether to include 'Monster'. As much as he could see the connection with the whole thing about going savage, it struck him that the lyrics might cut a little too close to the bone for some of the darted mammals, should they decide to show up for the event. His biggest impact, though, came when Ellen dropped some notes. In helping to gather them up, he struck gold.

"Hey, what's this one?" he asked, catching a glimpse of something on one of the sheets. His eyes had taken in the phrase, 'Friend or foe? Before you know, let their actions speak.'

Ellen glanced at it. "Oh, that was just something I freelanced for a cartoon show. It's nothing."

"Whoa, whoa, hold on there," he argued, skimming the rest of the sheet. As much as the lyrics did sound like something written for a cartoon rather than the quasi-edgy style the band seemed to favor, the overall point – looking for the truth instead of trusting looks or rumors – fit perfectly with everything that had gone on the past three months and more. In particular, it brought to mind the press conference fiasco with Judy. "Xavier, have you seen this?" he asked, holding it up to the gray wolf. "You need to put this in the program."

"Really?" asked Ellen.

Xavier took the sheet and studied the words. "Yeah. Yeah, I could see this in there."

"But it's signed over to the station," Ellen pointed out. "Besides, I wrote it to be sung by hedgehogs."

"Change it up, then," the wolf answered, handing it back to her, "or write something else with the same message. Nicole, can you help her out with the sheet music?"

"Learn a new song in two weeks?" asked the red wolf. She shrugged. "If you think it's that good, I'm in."

Nick wondered if this was the best time to bring up another idea, but something had been at the back of his mind. "On the subject of changing things," he pointed out, "you might want to change up the lyrics to 'Hero.' I mean I get the whole 'generic masculine pronoun' thing, but the main mover and shaker with that case was a she." He almost added that she was still at the heart of the investigation, but remembered that technically even he wasn't supposed to know that. If word got around that he was running his

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