The room was a mess. The radio was slightly humming out vibrations of music, as a groan shook the silence out of the room entirely as a leopard stirred awake on a sloppy bed of loose paper. Lance pulled himself up, drowned in work he somehow fell into a rabbit hole. He didn't want to call his partner, unsure of Rocket's reaction to it, but somehow he found a connection. Maps, paper, all sorts of connected shit filled the floor to which the leopard slept uncomfortably on. After gaining his head, Lance pulled himself up to a sitting position and pulled his phone out of his wrinkled pants pocket, sliding it open, and typing out a message to his partner, although hesitant, he needed his help. 

"Hey, I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot, but I have something I cannot wait to show you"

Rocket took a few minutes in his own space of residence, then responded, "Fine. Come to my place."

"Mind if I show you? I made a bit of a mess"

"Wtf? Fine. Let me get dressed."

Satisfied, Lance changed out of his clothing to a more comfy set, opting for a black T-Shirt with the words "Zootopian Idiot" on it and a pair of grey sweatpants. 

Rocket's Place:

The raccoon did not want to do this "meet up" at all. But. Even though what may have hinted at real rage, was a moment of weakness for him. As he felt bad for the outburst, seeing how he hurt the little guy. Also the fact that he had a brain the size of midtown. 

"Hey sweetie" Judy greeted him, a warm smile plastered on both of their respected faces, glad of each others presence. She then eyed his backpack and notepad laid out in seemingly ready condition on the counter, her eyebrows raised in mild curiosity, she yawned and then asked, "Got something to do?" to which Rocket nodded.

"Yeah, sorry." 

She waved him off, gave him a hug and peck on the cheek, "Don't die"

The raccoon nodded and chuckled, grabbing the items he needed and his car keys and drove over to Lance's place.

Lance's House:

The brown spotted animal waited, tapping his foot to the song on his playlist, humming to the lyrics he knew all too well. He did admittedly take a platonic liking to the raccoon, he admired his cocky attitude and higher than average intelligence. 

The door boomed twice, knocking that seemed all too loud for someone Rocket's size, Lance noted, and Rocket only notified him 3 minutes ago that he was just on his way. This was not him. So, Lance prepared himself, grasping the 1911 and walked slowly, eyeing the muddy glass image of the outline of the person who was at the door, wanting access to his house. His breath hitched when he made out a medium height, orange fox. Lance's panic subsided for now, and he holstered his sidearm in the back of his sweatpants and strode up to the door, taking the knob in his paw. Hesitating then quickly throwing it open. 

"Hi, are you.. Lance?"

"Yes." He plainly stated, Lance was not one for informal conversation with strangers, he was slightly taken back by the paused when finding his name. "Who are you?"

"My name is Jessie Black. I-I was looking for someone who worked with Mr. Big and.. I heard you have a friend that worked with him" the fox replied, stammering for a reason completely unknown to Lance. 

Before Lance could answer, a rough voice answered for him, "Yep. He's here" and the person revealed to be Rocket, sporting a black jacket, black sunglasses, a shirt that read "El Camino" and some regular jeans. 

The quick unrecognized response spooked the vixen, causing him to jump a little, turning to see the raccoon, and calmed down. "Y-yes.. you."

"What'd ya need?" Rocket asked with some sort of annoyance. 

"I-I need to talk.. to.. you?

Rocket muttered something along the lines of "son of a-" and his ears dipped in yet again distain, "Fine. I have work to do so you have 5 minutes."

"Great!" Jessie enthusiastically exclaimed, this made Lance smile and Rocket groan a little. 

After following the pair inside, Rocket couldn't help but compare the place to Charlie's break room from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia in that one episode he and Judy almost fell off the couch laughing at.  

"What the-" Rocket half questioned, picking up one of the papers littered on the coffee table, scanning it with his soft brown eyes, intrigued and impressed with the notes Lance had taken. 

Meanwhile, Jessie and Lance stood idle, chatting a little small talk to one another, Lance slightly happier when Jessie smiled for a reason Rocket this time didn't understand. The subject now changed to the song playing on the shitty Bluetooth speaker Lance had bought over a year ago that was now playing "Amsterdam" by Guster, to which both seemed a great deal interested in. 

"Hey. Kid. C'mere a second," Rocket called for Lance, to which he did, answering his question of what the hell he needed. 

"So. basically when this truck was hit, it had traces of whatever hit it right? Well the automobile that hit the garbage truck was not a regular one, hell it was a miracle the person that hit it drove away with their life." Lance then paused slightly his eyes shifted to Rocket, his eyes pleading to shut up and get to the damn point, "anyways, the debris left, although it was small, was iron, hard steel, and a bunch of other shit nobody has a notepad big enough to put, basically. It was armored. And.." his eyebrows widened upward as Rocket smirked and caught on, dumbfounded by the skill in the leopards mind. 

"That was.. the same type of car Nick was in!" The raccoon was very impressed, as Lance was just happy he made his new partner happy for once. "Genius" 

The raccoon turned around, now eyeing the young fox in the living room, "Hey, sorry bout the wait. I got more than 5 minutes. Go ahead. What'd ya need?"

Jessie was surprised by Rocket's change is demeanor but started speaking. "My friend was a part of your organization and.. he disappeared. Last month."

The raccoon pulled out the notepad and wrote this down hastily, yet sloppily, while Lance, disgusted with Rocket's spastic handwriting, wrote his own notes, admittedly better than Rocket's. 

"He got a name?" Rocket asked patiently.

"Henry... H-Henry Paw."

Rocket's blood went to ice. He froze, to which Lance noticed. "Rocket?"

"Are you.. alright sir?"

"Huh..?" Rocket shook his head clear of thoughts of Henry's death cry. "Oh. Henry, yeah.. I knew him."

"So. I was wondering if you knew where he might be?"

"Uh.." The raccoon's thoughts shifted elsewhere, 

Rocket's Mind:

How.. who.. what? Henry.. I.. what? What the fuck is goin on?

"chill out"

Don't tell me shit! Stupid echo. So.. I shot Henry... I.. gotta tell this kid.. his friend, is... dead?

"Yes."

Present:

"..ket!" Lance called his name.

Rocket's mind snapped back, "Wha.."

"You are not ok."

"I know." he coldly replied, sorrily looking at the young vixen. "Y-your friend.. was at the very top of his organization.. he went after me. Tried to kill me. They all did. Government covered it up."

Jessie's eyes fell. Putting the pieces together, he realized the worst. Complexion filled his blue eyes. Rocket noticed and placed his paw on Jessie's shoulder. 

"He was a great man. I-I told him to get out before things went to shit but.. I'm sorry."

"No. I-I'm glad," Jessie replied, unusually calm.

Rocket's head cocked to the side, skeptical of his change of tone "What?"

"I just wanted to know if you had actually done the job on them all." Jessie then stepped away from Rocket's paw, kicking him in the groin, causing the raccoon to fall in pain. 

"UG-" Rocket mustered as he regained his breath.

Jessie sprinted to the side, pulling a revolver out of his hidden holster, aiming it for either of the other guys in the room. 

*BANG*

(Ha. Cliffhanger.)