Dr. Killdeer was surprisingly strong for such a long-limbed, lanky elk. It was also surprising just how much thick, black wiring he was in possession of, left over from the renovations. Holding each of the hostages with Clawhauser's gun to their backs to ensure they didn't escape, he tightly tied the wires around their arms and their feet, lining them all up against the wall of cubbyholes like fugitives before a firing squad.

"There," he said, finishing tightening the bonds of Felicity Pryde, "how's that? Tight enough?"

Felicity shrugged. "I actually think it's a little loose—AIGH!"

This last part of Felicity's sentence was because Killdeer suddenly tightened her bonds to the point where her blood flow was quite constricted.

"How's that?" Killdeer asked with an evil grin.

Felicity tried not to think about how numb her paws and feet would get as she nodded.

After re-tying up the other hostages, Nick and Judy were the last ones on his list. Nick bore the process without any sort of protest (knowing that if he defied Killdeer, it would probably cost him his life), but as the mysterious kidnapper was re-bonding, Judy, without turning her head, she asked a question she knew was on everyone's mind.

"Why are you doing this, Dr. Killdeer?" she asked. "Why are you kidnapping animals and throwing them in your basement?"

Dr. Killdeer chuckled.

"You know," he said with a smile, "I envy you, Lieutenant Hopps."

Judy was confused.

"You... you envy me?" she asked, a little alarmed at the prospect.

"Yes," Killdeer answered, "you probably never had to go through the humiliation I went through. You probably grew up the pride of your family. You probably had a loving family that stuck with your choice of career no matter what they may have thought at first."

Judy recalled her family's support of her becoming a cop, moving to Zootopia, training to fight crime and defend justice. Admittedly, it had been less than enthusiastic.

"Actually..." she was about to explain when Killdeer cut her off.

"Well, if you grew up with that life, then that's fine," he said with a despising sneer. "Even though I'm the firstborn in my family, I grew up as the runt of my parents' brood, and I was born with a few... mental impairments. I physically cannot process stress or things related to office work without succumbing to panic attacks. It's a brain dysfunction called..."

He seemed thoughtful for a second as he finished knotting Judy's wrists in the thick black wire.

"Well, I don't remember its name," he admitted, "but the name doesn't matter. I know I was born with it. It was only discovered within the last few years, so my parents had no knowledge anything was wrong with their son other than his legacy. My parents didn't understand, particularly my windbag, alcoholic father who never gave his own son any sort of thought or free will. All he would talk about was the glory I would bring to Killdeer Steel. But when he found out my excellence in college was in mechanical engineering and athletics, not in business or in mathematics, he claimed I was unfit to rule the Killdeer estate. And then, as the ultimate form of humiliation—snap!"

He gestured to his ugly, broken stubs that had once been his fine antlers.

"And," Killdeer went on, "after my career in athletics was brought to nothing by my slip-ups at the Free Lands Olympics a number of years ago, I had nothing left to do. My father had already disowned me and disinherited me from what was rightfully mine! This house belongs to me by birthright, and my father decided to defy me by telling all his buddies at the banks to close his account to me only. As soon as I got the deed once more, I knew I had to put in all the I had just to fix up this rotting old hunk of stone and timber."

Judy interrupted.

"How did you get the deed if the bureaucrats were told not to let you?" she asked, her deep violet eyes wide and confused.

Killdeer's response was somewhat cryptic as he finished making some last checks to his hostages bonds: "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Judy was about to say something else when Killdeer suddenly stepped away from the line of animals, still waving his gun, and produced his phone from his pocket. Judy noticed the red recording light of the video camera was lit as Killdeer held it up.

"Hello, Chief Bogo," he said, talking as though he were recording a vlog, "this is an official video made by yours truly. I have kidnapped, through the aid of my technology, seven hostages from the gala tonight. Since I have effectively made myself bankrupt building all of these additions to Steel Mountain Manor, I am in dire need of cash. These hostages, should you pay me the following sums, will be returned safely. Behind me, I have the following hostages."

He moved past the three of them individually, like antique salesman showcasing his wares, as he recorded. He started with Felicity, who smiled slightly in a 'get-me-the-crud-out-of-here' sort of way.

"Behind me," Dr. Killdeer stated matter-of-factly, "I have Officer Felicity Pryde, for whom I require $500,000 from before I let her go."

"Good heavens!" whispered Cornelius Pantherbilt, although his voice was too quiet to be heard on the recording.

"Ms. Goldie Gnu of the Zootopia Times," Killdeer went on, "requires $300,000 before she is released."

Turning his phone to Gazelle, he smirked viciously.

"Gazelle Angela will require a ransom of $800,000," Killdeer said casually, as though he were just talking about the weather instead of a massive amount of money.

"I know just how valuable Officer Nicholas Wilde and Lieutenant Judy Hopps are to you," the doctor said as he moved over towards them, "so I'm bumping up their ransom to about, say, $600,000 each."

Lastly, he moved over to where the Pantherbilt couple were tied up, and as soon as he saw them, a look of greed flashed across his face. It was obvious that he was contemplating just how much he could auction them off for.

"And, last but not least," he orated into the camera on his phone, "the City Council's Minister of Transportation, and his wife, will cost a far higher sum: $1,000,000 for each of them."

Cornelius Pantherbilt's jaw dropped open several inches. His wife, evidently nervous, leaned into her husband's arm tightly as she winced in the face of Killdeer's weapon.

After this, the good doctor smirked into the camera, his thoughts on the money he would rake in from ransoming these animals.

"I want all the amounts mentioned in this video," he began, "transferred to the following bank account number: 1383817. If I get the money I need within forty-eight hours, I will set the hostages free. If not, then... well, bring the mortician when you come to pick them up."

All the animals flinched and began to get a gnawing sense of fear in their guts. Felicity gasped quietly. Goldie fainted from fright. The Pantherbilts scooched a little closer to each other.

"If I were you, Chief Bogo," Killdeer said as a final remark, "I think I'd get a move on. You only have forty-seven hours, fifty-nine minutes and forty-five seconds left before each of my precious hostages gets put down."

With a leer into the camera, Killdeer stopped recording. He then began to fiddle with the phone, clicking button after button to navigate his way to a Facebeak page.

"Things don't look too good for us," Felicity whispered. Nick swallowed and nodded as he contemplated what heaven would be like if he did end up getting killed.

At last, Killdeer finished working on his phone and turned to face them with a deadly stare towards his captives.

"If the ZPD doesn't get that on their Facebeak page," Killdeer chuckled maliciously, "then they're far dumber than I thought. What kind of clod lets a rabbit be a police lieutenant?"

Judy's eyes widened, and a crushed expression came across her face. Killdeer's words were, indeed quite damaging. However, the sinister elk seemed not to care how vulnerable any of his captives might be.

"You're not going to get away with this!" Nick yelped. "Officer Hopps has her phone with her, and all it'll take is one call to get the ZPD on your case."

Killdeer reached into the folds of his coat and produced a small, silvery object—Judy's phone.

"That's why I took it," the good doctor answered. "Insurance against such a threat."

"Now," he said with an evil grin, "if you'll excuse me, I have to reveal myself publicly."

He reached for something inside an empty cubbyhole, and his smirk died.

"Where is that microphone?" he hissed to himself, feeling around with his hoof inside the cubbyhole like a mammal searching for his missing car keys. When his search proved fruitless, he let out an frustrated groan. With a glare on his face, Dr. Killdeer turned back to the hostages, Clawhauser's gun trained on them if they dared to move.

"No one move," he growled, "I'm going to go look for that microphone and by the time I get back, I better not see that anyone has left. Otherwise..."

He then slid his hoof across his throat with a devious smirk on his face. With that, he headed back through the second door in the alcove, the hinges squeaking once more as it closed. With a final 'thunk,' the door slammed shut, plunging the entire wine cellar into silence.

* * *

The animals all were lined up against the wall, within nudging distance of one another.

Goldie Gnu began to hum a tune to help calm herself down. Felicity's tail twitched. Gazelle joined in Goldie's tune. The Pantherbilts hugged one another to prepare for their inevitable end. If they were going to die, they wanted to see the Creator's face together.

"It's not so bad," Felicity said quickly. "Maybe if I can use my training in martial arts to break loose of these wires..."

She grunted and flexed her muscles. The wires stayed taught, their cold, rubbery surface still sending chills up her spine. It turned out she didn't have very much muscle.

"Everyone, look around for a knife or something," she said, thinking of another possible escape method.

"And then what?" Gazelle asked. "A knife won't cut through wire this thick without a lot of effort. The only thing that can cut these kind of cables is a pair of actual wire cutters."

"Darn it," Felicity muttered, promptly shutting up until she could think of another way out.

Nick sat contemplating his fate. He had joined the ZPD with a mind to serve the city and to help defend its laws. He hadn't expected to join up only to be shot to death in a hostage situation.

He suddenly noticed Judy was leaning over at the waist, her eyes wrenched shut. A tiny glimmer of something wet in her eye began to drip down the side of her rabbity cheek.

"Carrots?" Nick asked quietly, "are you... crying?"

Judy looked towards Nick, and his spirit winced as he saw the infinite pain within her soul. It was like looking into the eyes of a widow who just witnessed the death of her husband. It was a kind of pain that was totally and utterly despairing; hopeless, haunting, and horrific to behold.

"Nick," she whimpered in a voice that sounded too vulnerable even for her usual self, "I'm scared. And I'm scared because... because I feel responsible."

Nick blinked.

"What?"

Judy's tears continued to drip down her face as she looked up at Nick. Some of them left large splotches in the sheetrock and coal dust on the folds of her dress.

"I am the highest-ranking ZPD officer next to Bogo," she managed to get out as her nose twitched like a little metronome. "Not twenty minutes after my promotion, I manage to lose all the evidence for an important case. I miss the most obvious clues as to who the kidnapper was, and now, some of the most famous animals in Zootopia get kidnapped tonight. I get too focused on leading the investigation, and I didn't listen to you when you had a gut feeling. Now we're tied up, trapped in a wine cellar and going to die in less than forty-eight hours. And all because of me."

She then turned her face to look back at the concrete floor, tears spilling out of her eyes.

It was at that moment that Nick felt a nudge in his heart, a nudge so powerful that he knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the time had come to tell Judy everything.

And he would tell her everything.

As Judy continued to mumble about her being responsible for the situation they were now in, Nick shook his head and gave her a loving smile.

"Carrots," he said, "first of all, you didn't lose the evidence; the evidence was stolen."

"By a criminal," Judy sniffled.

"That's what makes them criminals," Nick replied. "All we've got to do is find the evidence again after we get out of here. Second of all, Dr. Killdeer was very good at covering his tracks. You shouldn't have to feel like a fool for missing them. In the same position, any officer could have missed them."

He then gave her a gentle nudge.

"And third of all," he said with a smile, "I'm proud to be with you, even if it's tied up in the basement of a creaky old mansion. And I'm going to be the one who gets you out of here."

Although it appeared Judy heard Nick's words, she didn't seem to comprehend why he was saying them.

"Nick, how can you be so optimistic?" she asked amidst her tears.

Nick smiled.

"Because..." he started, "because... I have a lot to live for."

Judy's large purple eyes looked at him in confusion, although, as they met the adoring look in Nick's eyes, she soon figured it out.

"Carrots," Nick began, "I am so, so sorry. I know this might come as a shock to you, but ever since last Christmas, I've realized... I like you."

Judy's face was beyond stunned.

"You mean... like, like?" she asked, her voice still trembling, but not quite as sad-sounding.

Nick nodded. "And I've been far too scared," he went on, "that I was doing something wrong and that you would say 'no' and that you would spurn me if I ever told you anything. But I can't hide my feelings for you any longer, Carrots. You're my number-one priority. That's why I had those panic episodes upstairs: I want to protect you, provide for you, defend you. And I'm not going to let anything; anything happen to you, as long as I'm your partner—regardless of your rank."

He finished his speech by putting his long, bushy tail around Judy's exposed shoulders. She blinked and looked like she wanted to say something, but she was far too surprised and flattered to say anything.

"I love you, Carrots," Nick said at the end. And, by the look in Judy's eyes, Nick knew that those words had not been said in vain.

"Awww..." Goldie said from across the room. "If only my boyfriend said stuff like that."

Nick smiled. Although the perky reporter had intruded on a seemingly private moment, she helped to alleviate some of the tension in the room.

Suddenly, from somewhere in the stairwell Killdeer had gone up not five minutes ago, a collection of sounds echoed down into the wine cellar. Grunts. Sounds of fighting. Yelling voices. Gunshots! One, two, three shots rang out.

"Well, that didn't sound very good," Nick said flatly. Felicity snickered, Nick's deadpan observation obviously funnier than he intended it to be.

"Has Killdeer made another kidnapping?" Gazelle asked, her voice trembling just a smidge.

"I don't know," Nick said, "but I'd say that whoever that is, it might indicate either a hope of rescue or that Killdeer's going to come and kill us all."

Although Nick couldn't see the Pantherbilts, Amelia's quiet whimpering indicated that they were both afraid.

From in the stairwell, they heard a soft thud-thud-thud.

Footsteps.

Nick's heart began to race, as did Judy's and Gazelle's. Nick's observation just might have been accurate.

"Whatever happens," Nick whispered into Judy's long, fuzzy ear, "I still love you."

He hugged her tight with his tail as the door exploded in a shower of splinters.

* * *

Nick and Judy, along with the rest of the hostages, had expected to meet their end at the hands of Dr. Killdeer, either now or later on if he didn't get his money.

However, a familiar voice called through the archway after the door exploded like a Great War-era pineapple paw grenade.

"Hopps? Wilde?!" the voice called out. "It's all right! We're here!"

It was the voice of Police Sergeant Benjamin Clawhauser. The fear inside the hostages' chests instantly died as the fat cheetah managed to squeeze his way through the massive hole in the door.

"Ow! Eeee! Splinters!" he yelped, his flabby face wincing every time he scraped through the frame.

Once he managed to fit through (which required a lot of effort on his part), he motioned with his paw to someone the hostages could not see.

"Come on in, guys," he said to the mysterious animals outside. "Grizzoli, thanks for the battering ram. I had a hard time lifting it."

He winced and rubbed his side.

"I swear I pulled a muscle," he muttered as six more officers of the ZPD, led by Chief Bogo, entered the wine cellar, opening what was left of the ruined door.

"Good job escaping, Clawhauser," the massive buffalo said ducking down to fit through the door. He then turned to the officers.

"All right," Bogo growled to his officers, "since Fangmeyer and Snarlov have caught our friend upstairs, we've got to free our fellow officers. Grizzoli, you and Delgato get a pair of wire cutters and start untying."