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She didn't have the patience right now, not after hearing what happened last night. The private investigator knocked on the bear's door several times, huffing as she straightened up her short hair and rubbed her nose.

"Dammit, Welton, wake up," Cindy grumbled.

Cindy stood in front of the door, listening to someone shouting on the lower level. The woman looked around the corridor she was standing in and sighed. The apartment complex Welton resided in wasn't the best of places, as the floors were dirty and there were odd stains on the tan wallpaper. Cindy could've sworn she even saw someone nonchalantly smoking crack on the stairwell. But the woman ignored it all; she didn't judge the bear's state of living. She just didn't want someone to sneak behind her one day and plant a shiv into her neck. Frustrated, Cindy knocked on the door again, and was pleased when she finally heard someone inside snarl and walk towards the door. Shortly after she finished knocking, the door opened up, revealing a plump, brown grizzly bear with bedraggled fur. Cindy would've thought nothing of it except the bear in question was only wearing stained white boxers with red stripes on them. Welton looked down at Cindy with irritated, red eyes and blinked.

"What? D'you get your cherry popped last night?"

Cindy folded her arms. "I'm not in the fuckin' mood today. Can you let me in?"

"Yes."

Cindy stood in the doorway, watching as Welton didn't budge. He blinked a few times and blocked Cindy's path, only moving his right paw so he could scratch the fluffy pudge bulging against the waistband of his boxers. Cindy cleared her throat.

"So..."

"So what?"

"You gonna let me in or not?"

Welton scratched his head. "Oh! Heh, you mean right now!"

Cindy huffed. "No, Welton, I meant when pigs fly out of my ass. Just move out the way and let me in your apartment."

"You're the boss."

Welton stepped aside, and the agitated Cindy Wellers stepped into Welton's apartment. She closed the door afterwards and made sure she watched where she stepped as the bear started to walk towards his bedroom. Cindy could tell by the state of the bear's apartment that he wasn't too keen on cleaning up after himself, judging by all the stains and crumbs of food on the carpet. The bear's musk was all over the apartment and slowly becoming overwhelming, but Cindy forced herself to tolerate it. Welton grumbled as he scratched his left buttock and walked into his bedroom almost lazily, obviously still tired.

"You know the drill. Make yourself at home," the bear said.

When Cindy walked into the bedroom, she grimaced upon finding a chair with what looked like semen stains on it. More crumbs were on the bear's floor, and his bed was a mess; he must've been sleeping only minutes ago. Cindy decided to stand.

"I'm fine. Besides we won't be here for long."

Welton sighed as he walked over into his bathroom and turned the light on. "And why not?"

"Didn't you see the news this morning? Someone broke into Krazzer Labs and killed four of their employees."

"Four? Didn't the serial killer just get through mauling one of those women to death?"

Cindy glanced into the bathroom and watched as Welton pulled down his boxers slightly so he could take out his penis. He aimed for the toilet bowl and started urinating, sighing again as Cindy talked louder over the bear's urination.

"This is something else entirely. All the employees were shot or stabbed to death. And on top of that, someone stole several canisters of this chemical the scientists have been working on."

"So?"

"What do you mean, 'so'? Don't you think this is connected to the murders we're looking into?"

Welton finished pissing and shook off the last few yellow drops of urine before he stepped out the bathroom. "Not our problem. We're trying to figure out who's mauling these employees, not stealing their shipment."

The grizzly bear sat down on his bed with a loud huff and looked over at Cindy. She was leaning against the wall with her arms folded and looking at Welton sternly. The bear scoffed.

"Don't give me that look. You know they won't let us investigate these murders anyway. All I'm--"

"When'd you start drinking again?"

Welton blinked. "How'd you know?"

Cindy gestured towards the nightstand. "Kind of hard to keep it secret when you leave a bottle right over there in plain sight."

Welton grinned and chuckled. He scooted over on his mattress and reached over to grab the bottle, unscrewing the cap with a paw so he could take a long swig. The human being watched with disgust as the bear put the bottle to his mouth and tilted his head backwards, gulping several times as the pungent fiery fluids went down his throat. He stopped drinking for a moment and exhaled, licking his lips. The bear held the bottle over towards Cindy and grinned.

"You want some?"

Cindy looked at the bottle and lowered her arms, shrugging. "Sure, why not?"

Cindy walked over and grabbed the bottle. And then she immediately tossed it at the wall, watching as it shattered loudly and spread glass fragments all over the floor. Welton blinked and frowned.

"You're cleaning that up."

"Shut the fuck up, Welton! This is serious!"

The bear nodded. "Yeah. There's glass on the carpet and I don't wear shoes. You want me to cut my footpaws wide open?"

Cindy swore again and grabbed her head, shutting her eyes as she tried to force herself not to pull her hair out. "I...you told me you quit. Goddammit, I take you to meetings. I let you speak to anthros and humans who have been through the things you've been through. I tried to put you in rehab--"

"I'm fine," Welton blurted out.

"You're not fine! You haven't been for the past four years! Everytime I just look away or tell myself, 'oh, he'll get better eventually; I just need to give him time.' I keep doing this over and over again, and what happens? You keep going back to the fuckin' bottle!"

Welton shrugged. "Yep. That sounds about right."

Cindy suddenly went quiet. She stared into the burly bear's brown bloodshot eyes and only saw a bored expression. She kept trying to figure the bear out, but whenever this happened, she'd only see an anthro who needed to get in rehab before he drank himself to death. Sometimes Cindy wondered why she even bothered trying to change Welton. All she'd end up doing was stressing herself out and exerting all her time and energy for no reason. The woman slowly shook her head.

"Do you even care?"

Welton scoffed and looked away. "Tch! Don't get so--"

"I'm dead serious right now. Do you even care about yourself? About the people who died? About the state this city's in? We're on the verge of a full-scale riot. Don't...does none of this matter to you?"

Welton looked back at Cindy and paused. He could tell by her gaze that she was being serious, and she looked like she had no problem leaving him to rot if he didn't phrase what he needed to say correctly. But Welton, being the drunken, hard-headed bear he was, exhaled and didn't bother giving Cindy a straight answer. He rubbed his forehead and sighed.

"Society enjoys being negative. I thought you knew that."

"You're not answering--"

"Let me finish," Welton snarled. "You haven't figured it out yet...it doesn't matter what I do anymore. I-I could've gotten straight A's in school. I could've graduated college. I could've become the world's most well-known war hero. For fuck's sake, Cindy, I could bring peace onto this whole goddamn planet!"

Welton paused, and then he held up one finger. "But then, all I gotta do is fuck up once. Just oooooone time, Cindy. One time. Maybe I run over a small child playing ball in the street. Maybe I go to a party, have too much fun and OD on cocaine. Maybe...maybe I get drunk and start a fight. Or...or maybe..."

Welton closed his eyes and sighed. "Once you fuck up, it doesn't matter how little or how big of a fuck-up it is. In the end, all those good deeds you performed?"

Welton created a faint "POOF!" sound with his mouth and spread his paws apart before wiggling his fingers, imitating an explosion followed by the debris falling down onto the ground.

"It's all gone. Nobody cares anymore. 'Hey, look at that guy! He's that washed-up drunk of a cop who accidentally shot his partner! Ooh, that's the asshole who saved those children from that burning bus, but then got caught shoplifting! Oh wow, I can't believe the man who took a bullet for the president just cheated on his wife!' ...That's how our world works now. Everyone knows what I did, Cindy. Everyone sees me as nothing more than a monster; they don't care about all the good shit I did all those years ago. It's the same thing with you...you're just like me. 'Holy shit! It's that one bitch who let that little boy get sodomized and killed by that sick bastard because she was too much of an idiot to save him!'"

Welton's face suddenly throbbed with pain once Cindy slapped him against his cheek. The young woman shuddered and whimpered as she pointed a finger at Welton.

"That...don't you dare talk to me like that about what happened! You don't think I tried?! I..."

Welton smirked. "See? Don't matter if you tried. Don't matter that you killed the serial killer afterwards. You didn't save that kid. You were the lead detective. But you fucked up just once, and now here you are, a private investigator whose partner is a slobby, drunken bear."

Cindy didn't say anything, only because part of what he said was true. The only reason why she still wasn't a detective was because she failed that case and it scarred her career. The woman lowered her finger and stared at the grizzly bear as he reached over and pulled open his nightstand drawer. He pulled out a spare bottle of scotch and started to twist off the cap.

"No matter how hard I try, everyone's still gonna remember what I did and hate me for it. No matter how hard you try, everyone's still gonna remember that you didn't save that kid. So I said, hey...fuck it. No amount of good deeds I do will ever change anyone's minds. If everyone sees me as a monster, then I may as well stop trying and act the way everyone expects me to act."

Cindy watched as Welton took off the bottle cap and took a huge swig from the bottle. She didn't bother trying anymore. There was no point in arguing with the bear. She huffed and scratched her head.

"You wanna know the problem with your logic? If you pretend that you're a monster long enough, eventually you'll turn into a real one."

Welton stopped drinking his scotch and stared at Cindy as she slowly began to turn away.

"You wanna stay here feeling sorry for yourself and drinking yourself to death, you do that. But if you actually wanna get to the bottom of this case, then get your shit together and put some clothes on. I'm heading down to Krazzer Labs to try and get to the bottom of this--with or without you. ...But I'd prefer if you came with me, preferably clothed."

Cindy walked out of the bear's bedroom before shouting, "you got ten minutes" back at him. As Welton heard the door slam, he blinked and looked down at the bottle of scotch in his paw. The ursine really was tempted to stay home today and sleep in, drinking until he puked so he could drink again. The grizzly bear rubbed his forehead and sighed heavily as he put the bottle down on his nightstand.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Neither of them said anything during the whole car ride. Cindy glanced over at Welton a few times, hoping he'd open up or say something about his emotional and mental issues, but he'd only grunt or sneeze. Every now and then Welton would flick his eyes over at Cindy too, but she wouldn't say anything either. So the partners just sat in silence, waiting until they reached the scientific building. Once the private investigators drove into the building's parking lot, they could already see that a few police officers were there taking statements from a few employees, but the building itself wasn't closed down. Cindy parked in the guests' parking lot and the two creatures got out of the car. Cindy looked at Welton's attire and frowned. Welton was wearing a dark gray jersey that was black along the collar and sleeves and jeans that looked like they were ready to be thrown out. Cindy on the other hand was wearing a buttoned apricot blouse, beige pants and comfortable gray and white sneakers.

"You couldn't find anything a bit more formal?"

Welton snorted. "You only gave me ten minutes. 'Sides, I figured you would've wanted me to wear something clean."

Cindy huffed. The human being and bear walked into the building and were thrust into a very noisy environment. The bottom floor was a massive atrium consisting of many pillars and different rooms leading to laboratories, testing facilities, closets and bathrooms. The floor was sleek and light blue, all the walls were made from smooth mortar and marble that radiated the entire building. Exotic plants were growing in a small section of the floor that Cindy assumed was used for experimenting on the genes in plants and rare wildlife. All the security guards were squeezed into blue and gray uniforms, and they all wore blue caps, body armor, and had their handguns and batons in full view to the public. The employees were either scientists in their trademark white lab coats, new interns clad in casual wear, or professional, high-ranking employees who managed a section of the building and wore dress clothes and even a tie. Cindy and Welton looked at all the employees rushing around the floor and suddenly became confused.

"So where do we go from here?" asked Welton.

"A security guard's our best lead, I guess. Maybe one of 'em will slip up and say something we shouldn't know about."

Cindy and Welton walked over to the main desk where the aging security guard was busy checking a few files and examining some data on his computer monitor. The duo stood in front of the desk and waited until the guard recognized them, blinking and looking up at the two.

"May I help you with something?" he asked.

"Yes, we're here to investigate those murders that took place last night," said Cindy.

The guard blinked. "They sent more detectives already?"

Cindy stammered. "Well, we're not exactly detectives, but our office has been looking into Krazzer Labs for the past few weeks."

The guard started to become apprehensive, especially when he noticed Welton's pissed-off glare as he had his arms folded. He paused for a moment before realizing that it was better to follow protocol as opposed to revealing more information.

"Show me your badges."

"Certainly."

Cindy took her silver star-shaped badge out of her pocket and placed it on the desk, while Welton grumbled and fished it out of his pocket before slamming it down beside Cindy's badge. The guard took both of them and looked at the names and numbers before he started to frown.

"It says here you're private investigators."

Cindy nodded. "That's right."

The security guard awkwardly scratched his head. "Err, I'm sorry, but you two can't head upstairs. I thought you were detectives."

"But this is related to our case," Cindy pleaded.

"Even so, legally you can't even enter this building without the CEO's consent, and I'd have to call your boss just to confirm that he or she allowed you two to be here."

Cindy swore inwardly and tried not to make a face. She felt like a child who didn't get the amazing birthday present she had always been pestering everyone to get her. But the woman remained level-headed and nodded as she took her badge as well as Welton's.

"Very well then. Sorry to have wasted your time."

"It's no trouble."

Cindy handed Welton's badge to the bear and the duo turned around and walked away from the desk. When she was far enough, Cindy muttered "fuck" to herself and sighed harshly. The grizzly bear looked down at the woman and sniffed.

"Now what?"

Cindy huffed and leaned against the wall. She looked at some of the automatic security doors and spotted a scientist raise a security keycard in front of a keypad. The keypad scanned the card and opened the door in mere seconds, letting the scientist inside.

"That guard has a security keycard on his uniform."

Welton shrugged. "And?"

"They're not gonna let us search the building--not legally anyway. Um...dammit; I'm gonna have to break in, sneak around the place."

Welton snorted. "You haven't planned any of this out, have you?"

Cindy sheepishly shook her head. "All I need is that card, Welton. After that, we should be fine."

"So how are you gonna get the security card that's stuck on a security guard's body, Cindy?"

Cindy looked up at Welton and paused. "You're gonna get the card. Just...make a distraction or something. Get the card to me somehow; I'll handle the rest."

Welton growled gutturally as he stared at Cindy. "Oh, so _that's_how it is. When I'm drinking and being irrational or abrasive, you think I'm an asshole who's feeling sorry for himself. But you're perfectly fine with me being an asshole so long as I'm helping you with your career."

"Can we please not do this now?"

"Fuckin' hypocrite," the bear snarled.

"I--" Cindy stopped and huffed, making sure she didn't raise her voice. "I know what I'm asking you to do now contradicts what I said to you earlier. And I'm sorry. But this isn't the time for that; we can talk about it later. Right now I don't feel like popping my blouse open just to make the guard feel swooned into giving me his keycard. So just...get his keycard and give it to me. I'll handle the rest."

Welton didn't bother arguing. He almost wanted to spit at Cindy's feet, but he respected her too much to do so. The bear wasn't afraid to mutter "bitch" loud enough for Cindy to hear once he began to walk away though. So the ursine approached the security guard's desk and walked behind it so he was standing behind the guard's chair.

"Sir, what are you doing? You can't be back here."

The guard wasn't taking any chances with the bear. He rose from his seat and stood in front of Welton, looking up at the burly beast. He knew Welton could rip him to shreds, but the guard figured he'd leave so long as he stood his ground. Welton snorted as he got in the guard's face.

"I don't see a sign saying I can't stand here."

The guard scowled as he turned his head away. "Um...sir, what have you been drinking?"

"Raw effluent. What have you been drinking, your daddy's jizz?"

The guard looked back up at the ursine and frowned. "Sir, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave."

"Okay."

Welton didn't move, He stood still for another ten seconds before the guard blinked and slowly moved his right hand down his pants so he could grope his baton.

"Sir?"

"What? You asked me to leave. I never said I was going to."

"Then let me make this more perspicuous for you: if you don't leave this building right now, I'll have security 'escort' you out."

"But then I wouldn't have time to admire the huge bruise on your face!"

"What br--"

The security guard shouted when Welton punched him so hard he broke his nose. His body bounced off the chair and landed on the floor with a noisy thud. The guard groaned and slowly began to get up, only for Welton to kick him in the face to ensure that he'd stay down. While the guard was on the floor holding his nose, Welton bent over and snatched the keycard right off his clothing. The bear started to run away from the desk when he noticed that the other security guards in the atrium were sprinting towards him. Welton sprinted right for Cindy, slamming her into the wall and snarling as he got in her face. He roughly shoved his right paw against her chest; Cindy quickly reached down and grabbed the keycard Welton concealed with his paw and immediately slid it into her pocket.

"You're welcome," he snarled.

Welton shouted when one of the guards smashed his baton against his head, knocking him down. As the bear hit the floor, Cindy backed away, watching as the bear grunted and swore multiple times as four guards crowded around him and beat him senselessly with their batons.

"Okay, OKAY--FUCK!! I'M LEAVING!"

The guards didn't care. One of them--a muscular kangaroo--bashed his baton against the bear's head a few more times. Welton was already getting bruised and felt blood forming within his mouth and nose. When Welton groaned and stopped moving so much, the kangaroo picked Welton off the floor and growled as he dragged him towards the building's entrance. The kangaroo kicked open the door with one of his large footpaws before he hurled the bear's massive body outside, where he landed face down on the ground. The kangaroo panted and slammed the front door while the rest of the guards returned to their business, hoping that everyone would forget the commotion.

"It's all right everyone," shouted the kangaroo. "You can go back to work now; it was nothing."

Some of the coworkers resumed their duties, while a few others began to gossip about the crazed bear and why he started to attack the security guard. In all the chaos and confusion, no one spotted Cindy as she used the guard's keycard to open up one of the locked automatic doors. The moment Cindy stepped inside, she started to pant and sweat, her back hurting slightly after Welton practically body-slammed her. The woman looked around the corridor and headed through the doorway with a sign beside it reading "Locker Room." Inside the locker room she found a few white lab coats still hung up on a few metal wall hooks. Cindy grabbed one of the coats and put it on. As she started to put the coat on, she slowed down and suddenly stopped. Cindy blinked and leaned against some of the lockers, breathing heavily as she pondered what just happened. Whatever Welton was going through, she clearly didn't make his situation any better by cajoling him to do what he just did. If anything, that just made him worse. The young woman closed her eyes and let out a shaky breath, hoping the outburst didn't damage Welton's mentality too much.

Cindy wasn't even sure if what she was attempting to do would work. The private investigator swore and banged her fist against the locker, realizing the stupidity of her plan. And yet, part of her brain told her to keep pushing forward, to ensure that what Welton did wasn't all in vain. The woman turned around and walked out of the locker room, making sure she still had her card on her in case she needed it again. She headed back into the corridor and turned to the left, walking along the clean carpet and moving past a scientist who was twirling a pen around in his fingers. Cindy reached the end of the corridor and found that it led to another series of hallways and doors. Choosing randomly, Cindy started to look through them all hoping to find something that would bear fruit. But all she found were closets, bathrooms, laboratories, or empty computer labs with the lights turned off. It wasn't until she snuck into the building's main server room that she finally found something of use. Cindy looked at all the mainframes and servers around her that were humming or beeping, transferring terabytes worth of information throughout the company and anyone trying to do business with Krazzer Labs. She walked along the tiled floor and started to feel clammy from all the heat, despite the air conditioning going on full blast. A few desks and regular monitors were in the room, but for the most part, all she saw were servers.

Cindy headed over to a server with an open nineteen-inch-rack and pulled out the desk, exposing the keyboard. The private investigator booted the computer and waited for the monitor to light up. Shortly after it did and the logo showed up, she clicked on the screen, hoping to be taken to the company's main desktop. Instead, a pop-up box appeared asking her for her username and password. Cindy stopped touching the keyboard.

"Shit," Cindy said grimly.

So much for accessing the system's mainframe, she thought to herself. The private investigator left the computer alone and continued walking around the server room, knowing there had to be something on hand in case there was a power outage or the servers went down. Eventually Cindy found a few binders with the appropriate labels on them; she grabbed the black one with a tag reading "Security" on it and started to skim through the records. There was nothing vital inside, short of the employees' schedules for next week and the logs for all the security cameras. Cindy skimmed through all the pages for a moment before huffing and tossing the binder on a desk. There was nothing of value in the logs; she'd have to look somewhere else. Cindy leaned against the black metal desk and looked around the server room. There had to be something she could find--anything would be of help to her at this point. But all the woman saw were dozens of grayish-black servers and mainframes, all of which could only be accessed with a proper username and password--neither of which Cindy had. None of the files she spotted in the binders proved to be useful; they only stored records, times and dates of important events.

Cindy's eyes grew wide. She quickly reopened the binder filled with security logs and flipped to yesterday's date. Muttering to herself, she ran a finger down all of the security camera reports, what floors they were positioned in, and what rooms they were guarding. When she got down to the time slots for the evening and night, she noticed that they skipped past six p.m. and jumped all the way to one a.m. for the next day.

"There we go."

"Hello there."

Cindy screamed and dropped the binder, turning around to see a bulky bull shark wearing what looked like military attire. He looked down at Cindy with icy blue eyes and a disturbing smirk on his muzzle. The gills on his neck moved slowly as the beast took a huge breath. Cindy's heart raced as she looked up at the anthro; she struggled to remain calm.

"Sorry. Did I scare you?"

Cindy answered like a regular employee would. "I'm fine. Just-just a little jumpy, that's all. You know four people got murdered here yesterday, right?"

The shark nodded. "Yes. I'm sure you don't want to be the fifth."

Cindy didn't respond. The shark's gills moved again shortly before he spoke. "So what are you doing here? I thought scientists weren't allowed in the server room."

"Oh. Well, I-I was just looking through the records, trying to figure out what happened to a shipment of, uh...hydrofluoric acid. I got the logs mixed up, but I found something that might interest you."

"What's that?"

"The security cameras for the floor where the murders took place last night? There's no record for them being on. Either someone shut them off or the cameras were disabled somehow. Do you know who was monitoring the cameras at the time?"

"No."

"Oh. Well, can you tell me--"

"I know you don't work here."

Cindy scoffed and smiled coyly. "I-I'm not--"

The shark slowly grinned widely. "I know you snuck back here. I know you headed into the locker room and came out wearing a lab coat. And I know you tried to access a server a few minutes ago."

Cindy stared at the shark for a moment before blinking. "Um, even if that were true--"

"You ever heard of this invention called a security camera? You do realize that they're on, right? You do realize that we have several of them on this floor, right? What, did you think you'd sneak in here and somehow, no one would catch you?"

Cindy looked away. She couldn't bluff her way out of this now. The shark chuckled evilly.

"This is a government building, y'know. You could be thrown in jail for breaking into classified areas that only employees should have access to. And you can't get in here unless you stole a keycard, so I can throw theft onto your sentencing too."

"I'm a cop--"

"No, you're not. And if you were, doing what you just did would get you fired."

The shark lowered his head and rubbed his chin. "You look familiar...have I seen you on TV somewhere? The news maybe?"

"What does that matter?"

The giant fish grumbled. "I know I've seen your face somewhere...that's right! You used to be a detective! Yes, weren't you that detective who got transferred after that little mishap involving that missing kid?"

Cindy didn't answer. She simply glanced down at the shark's shorts and noticed he had a handgun resting in its holster.

"I just can't figure out your name. Ah well. I'm sure your employers will be thrilled to find out you broke into Krazzer Labs."

Cindy looked up at the shark's smug grin and blinked. "You got a license for that?"

"For what?"

"That military-issued gun in your pocket, that Beretta M9. As far as I can tell, the guards here carry P228s. Did the chief security officer here say you could carry that type of gun?"

"Yes, he did," the shark lied.

Cindy looked up and down at the shark. "Where's your uniform? You look like a mercenary, or even a bounty hunter. Aren't you a security guard too?"

Cindy leaned against the wall and smirked. "You don't work here either, do you?"

"This isn't about me."

"Do you have a license for that gun or not?"

"Yes."

Cindy nodded. "Then you don't mind if I walk outside and tell the guards that there's a shark back here out of uniform and carrying a lethal military handgun."

The shark's left eye twitched. He thought about saying something, but all he could do was stammer and breathe heavily. He backed away from Cindy and resumed grinning cheekily at her.

"If you do that, then the guards will know you snuck back here without permission, and I'll make sure you go to prison."

Cindy shrugged. "I used to be a detective. I'm a private investigator in fact; they'll cut me some slack. And all I did was sneak into a building and peek through some records. So what? I'll go to holding and have my partner bail me out. But you? Hehe, that's a military firearm you're carrying--one you probably have no license for. Now what's it gonna look like if I tell the guards that there's a mean-looking creature who not only doesn't have permission to be here, but is also in possession of a lethal weapon he isn't supposed to be carrying?"

Now Cindy was grinning. She stepped towards the shark, no longer afraid of him.

"The cops won't give two shits about me. You're gonna be the one who ends up in jail for at least a year, maybe more."

Cindy found herself gagging and whimpering when the shark suddenly grabbed her throat and shoved her against the wall. He snarled viciously, the gills on his neck flexing whenever he took a deep breath. Cindy grabbed the shark's wrist and tried to pry the beast off, but to no avail.

"How 'bout I fuckin' rape you, huh? How 'bout I pin you down, right here and now, and thrust into you until my dick is sore? How's about I kill you, dump your body where no one will ever find it?"

Cindy squealed when the shark used his other hand to grope her in-between the legs, fondling with her groin and messing with her zipper and button. All Cindy could see was the shark's devious grin as he growled in her face.

"Been a while since I've had one of you humans..."

Cindy knew she needed something to fight off the anthro. She reached over onto the desk, gasping and gagging as the shark tightened his grip. All Cindy could pick up were two pencils, both of which were recently sharpened. Having no other option, Cindy inhaled sharply and stabbed the shark in his right hand with one of the writing instruments. The shark shouted and let go of Cindy; the pencil didn't go deep, but it broke the scales and drew blood. Cindy quickly backed away, panting as she held up both pencils and got in a defensive stance. The shark swore as his hand continued to bleed, but then chuckled when he saw Cindy.

"Really? You're gonna fight me off with pencils?"

The shark shouted again when Cindy threw one of the pencils at his face, scraping at his right cheek. He grabbed his face and felt more blood getting onto his hand.

"Next one's going in your eye!"

The burly fish stared at Cindy and snorted. Even after what he just did to her, she seemed calm and wasn't shaking or backing away.

"Don't try it. This is no different from playing darts. And trust me when I tell you that I can hit your eyeball from this distance."

The shark kept staring at Cindy before he suddenly broke out into a fit of deep chuckling. He shook his head, unable to believe the circumstances the woman was placing him in.

"Now this is a first for me, being threatened by a human with a sharpened pencil. ...Fine then. Feel free to leave. Feel free to tell those guards about me. But if I was you, and you have a fraction of what you think I am, I'd probably keep quiet."

Cindy didn't feel like spending another moment stuck alone with the bloodthirsty shark. She quickly sidled around the creature, still clutching the pencil tightly, before she unlocked a door with the keycard and began to step outside.

"Don't worry my dear! We'll see each other again very soon," said the shark grimly.

Cindy didn't take the shark's bait. She shut the door and started to hyperventilate, the realization of what almost happened to her suddenly coming into full effect. She got rid of the lab coat she stole and hurried back out into the atrium. Cindy didn't care about the keycard or pencil anymore; she tossed them on the floor beside a bench and walked out of the building, the door flying open as she shoved it forward as hard as she could. Cindy stood beside a pillar outside and started to take deep breaths, inhaling the fresh air as she told herself to stop shaking. She let out a shuddering breath and blinked away any tears that were starting to form in her eyes.

"You're okay...you're okay, Cindy," she said quietly.

The private investigator sniffled as she exhaled and held back all her frustration, anger and fear inside. She told herself that now wasn't the time to have an emotional breakdown. After Cindy started to calm down, she slowly walked away from Krazzer Labs and found Welton sitting by himself on the stairs leading up to the building. The bear spat blood on the ground as Cindy slowly approached him.

"Welton?" she asked softly.

The grizzly bear turned and faced Cindy, his face slightly bruised and bloody from all the times he was struck with a baton. Welton snorted and turned back around.

"Oh, it's you."

"...You all right?"

"Fine. What'd you find out?"

Cindy sighed. "Welton--"

"I said what did you find out?"

Cindy paused. "Whoever killed the scientists sabotaged the cameras to conceal their identities. I'm pretty sure there's this...shark involved with it. He looked like a mercenary or ex-military. I don't know."

"Do you know who stole the chemicals?"

"No."

"Do you know why the chemicals were stolen? Or what they were?"

Cindy sighed. "No."

"Do you know who killed the scientists?"

"No."

"Do you even know where to go from here?"

"...No."

Welton stood up quickly and turned around, growling as he looked down at Cindy. "In other words, I just got my ass kicked for no fuckin' reason."

And a shark molested and tried to rape me, said Cindy inwardly. "Not entirely. Now we know that the military's involved somehow--"

"How? How do you know that, Cindy? Can you confirm that or is it just a guess?!"

"I saw that shark's weapon, his clothing, the way he acted! Maybe they want to sell this chemical, hand it off to terrorists--I don't know. ...So yes, it's just a guess."

Welton scoffed and shook his head. "Perfect."

Cindy reached forward to grab the bear's left arm. "At least let me take you to the hospital."

Welton snarled and jerked his arm away. "I'm fine. And I'll walk. Frankly I don't feel like being around you right now."

"...Don't you dare pin this all on me. I didn't tell you to punch that guard in the face. I didn't tell you to make such a violent commotion. There were plenty of other things you could've done other than hurting someone else!"

"You said to create a distraction. You said to get the keycard. And you knew when you walked into my apartment earlier that, surprise! I'm kind of drunk right now! What the fuck did you think I was gonna do: piss on the wall?"

"Honestly, Welton, part of me did think you would do that."

Welton snorted. "Don't fuckin' matter now, does it? We got little information and nothing to go on. We wasted our time."

Cindy huffed. "Okay, fine. It's all my fault. I fucked up. We wasted our time. You happy now?"

"Yeah."

The private investigators stared at each other for a while, ignoring the various humans and anthros walking past them. As the seconds passed by, their frustration over each other began to subside and turned into apathy. Cindy was tired of arguing with Welton, and the bear just wanted to go home and lie down. Welton glanced away from Cindy and sighed.

"I'm goin' home."

"I'll drive you," Cindy sternly offered.

"I'll take the train. Like I said, don't feel like being around you right now."

"...I guess I'll see you later then."

"Guess so. See ya."

Cindy watched as the grizzly bear turned and began to walk down the sidewalk nonchalantly, as if he was just talking to some random stranger he met on the street. Cindy sluggishly walked over to her car and got inside, shutting the door and sealing herself away from the public. She could've turned on the ignition and drove away. She could've turned on the radio and calmed herself down with music. But after sitting alone and taking the time to think about herself and her partner and what just happened in the server room, Cindy lowered her head against the steering wheel and started to sob.