Zootopia: Tragedy and Friendship Part. 1
#1 of Zootopia Series
Nick finds himself deciding to work with agent Jack Savage in a new unit that specializes in undercover infiltration and information gathering. The new unit was brought about due to the night howler staring to take the streets as a drug, but unfortunately for Nick the ending to the case didn't turn out as he had planned.
Re-upload with slight changes! I'm taking the story a bit more seriously and changed a few things here and there and separated it into two parts, this will be the general format and length for future chapters! So hope you enjoy.
The gazelle looked down at her note pad and wrote down a few notes on her mind. Taking a moment to recollect her thoughts she put down the pad and looked over at the somewhat annoyed fox patient across from her, letting out a small sigh. "Okay officer Wilde, I want you to once again describe the events that happened to you that-""Oh come on Doc how many times am I going to have to do this, I thought on my last day here I could just get a few words of warning, a little friendly slap on the wrist, I walk out of here and move on with life."
The female gazelle sighed once again, giving the fox a somewhat impatient gaze. "For the last, and very last time Mr. Wilde it is Mrs. Rosaria to you, I told you my first name to get you to open up so at the very least you can say that, in full." Nick rolled his eyes before sitting forward in his seat towards the Gazelle. "Right.. Jessica, I've told you this story at least six times now. I've been here many many times and I'm really, genuinely over it as much as a fox can be, I got better things in my life now, I've moved on to better pastures." The fox went back to leaning against his chair relaxing himself as he turned his head almost smugly at the gazelle. "You know at this point you've almost made me completely desensitized to telling you this rather personal story of mine, is that part of the plan? Make me perhaps just say it so many times I forget how tragic it is?" Nick said in his somewhat more joking mannerism.
Jessica took off her glasses and looked at him. "Look Nick, I *know * you're sick of talking about it.. and I know you seem almost entirely over what happened, and that's fantastic, I do this specifically to help people do exactly that. But this is required as a last statement for my office, not to mention the multiple times you've tried lying or feigning your way out of leaving early even when you were anything but fine. I know you won't try to hide your emotions now, believe me I was able to tell from the very beginning when you tried putting on that little "mask" of yours, but I need to 100% confirm it again ok? So please, start from the beginning, go through the races, and you'll be out for good.
Nick could appreciate how Jessica always knew when to get to the point and cut past any bullshit, she wasn't quite as good as helping him as his little bunny friend had been but he understood that coming here was required for officers having gone through this type of ordeal. Nick stopped his usual joking around and closed his eyes letting out a small sigh. "Alright fine I'll bite, so long as you keep your word. As you know It started with Jack..."
"Alright officers, He should be coming down any minute now. I want everyone to be at full attention when he arrives, if you think you have been through hell and high water you'd be wrong after meeting this man. Anyone one of you in his position would have pissed their pants on the first two days of the job, and.." The chief put on his reading glasses briefly whilst looking at some papers in his hands, briefly scanning them before putting them away. "For I suppose reasons somewhat unknown he has personally decided to come back to Zootopia and work in a special forces sector of our station... which we haven't had until now. And before any of you ask questions its part of our new mayor's initiative for preventing some of the deeper crime that has taken a hold of our city due to the now infamous night howler case. Jack will tell you more of the details himself."
Nick looked over at his partner to the right of him, noticing that the bunny had an abnormally excited face on, eyes open wide with an almost dumb smile on her face, in fact it almost seemed like she couldn't stand still. Nick cocked a slightly confused eyebrow at her before looking over at the chief to see where he was; he carefully leaned himself in towards her and whispered "If you get any more excited I'm going to start to worry you'll literally hop right out of your spot, what's the deal with this Jack guy anyways." Judy looked over at Nick a bit surprised. "You don't know of Jack? I thought surely at some point I'd have mentioned him to you." Nick pondered for a moment. "Hmmm nope, I don't recall his name being brought up at any point during your drunken escapades at the bar, is he a past lover you're too ashamed to talk about even when you're hammered?" Nick said with a slightly cocky grin while still being somewhat wary of Bogo now standing on the other side of all the ZPD officers in line. Judy rolled her eyes a little with a smile on her face. "Well for your information he actually IS a bunny, and even one from my home town. Buuut we had never met, he's fairly older than me and left at an even younger age then I did; if I'm the first bunny ZPD officer then he's the first bunny M16 agent. Aced his tests in almost every category, and has been known as one of the best agents around, though he isn't too well known to the public eye for... reasons. Really I only know about him due to some of my cousins, He was a huge inspiration to me for becoming a cop and being where I am today!"
"Hmmm is that so.." Nick said somewhat plainly but with just a tinge of jealousy in his voice that Judy picked up on. "Hey easy slick It isn't anything more than admiration, not that you really have anything to be jealous of. Just think of it like this.. if It wasn't for him, I may not be here right now, and so we may have never meet each other or become partners." Nick let out a small chuckle showing off his usual almost bored looking smile. "Well then perhaps I'll have to thank him personally, just so long as you two don't get personal."
And just as Nick finished his sentence to Judy a car drove rather quickly right up in front of all the officers and parked in front of the ZPD building. A large broad Tiger in a very nice suit and sunglasses popped out of the back of the car. He walked up to the front where the passenger seat was and opened up the door, everyone on the force standing still and eagerly waiting for what the bunny would look like. Most were expecting a tall muscular bunny that was 10x the height of a normal rabbit, some rumors even going around that the only way he could have done so many missions successfully in such a short time span was because he was a part of some weird biological experiment. But in the end when he hopped out of the car, literally, and took of his sunglasses to look at the officers he was in every way and shape a bunny. He was only somewhat tall for a bunny, of normal stature, unique black strokes of fur on his cheeks and an always cute but discerningly suave face.
Nick let out a very low whistle as he saw him leave the car that he knew only Judy would hear from him. "Now that's quite a handsome rabbit there, are you sure he didn't seduce his way to the top?" Judy gave Nick a somewhat surprised yet not so serious grin to the fox. "Nicholas Wilde I didn't know you swung that way!" Judy said in a joking manner. "Well excuse me for saying something nice about another male's looks Mrs. Try everything. Besides you don't know that, for all you know I like both genders equally; In fact maybe I just have a thing for bunnies, after all I partnered up with you and listen to your incessant complaining every day." "Ssshh quiet quiet he's coming." Judy said in a slightly hushed yet very excited tone as he walked up to the group now eyeing at each one individually.
He walked down the isle of officers giving them a very discerning look with an equally cool demeanor and smile, almost like he was trying to suck information out of all of them. Hmmm.. Incredibly nervous cheetah that eats too much, probably front desk. A typical proud lion that probably relies a bit too much on instinct. An experienced hardened rhino who's probably seen almost as much action as the chief. Jack then suddenly stopped in the middle of the isle looking over at Nick and Judy. So these are the two officers Bogo has personally recommended to me... A very cocky looking fox with an astonishing amount of confidence considering his position, and a very enthusiastic bunny from my own home town, the oddest pair of the bunch and by fair in large the one that stands out the most. If I had to pick for myself I'd almost be biasedly interested in these two over any of the others, luckily it seems according to the chief that their skills are as outmatched for as much as they stick out.
"Officers!" Jack suddenly shouted making everyone flinch just ever so slightly with maybe the exception Nick. "My name is Jack Savage and from this point on, with the exception of perhaps walking into the building or not directly being on a case, you probably won't be seeing much if any of me. The special unit designed by the mayor was specifically tailored to my own interests, my specialty as an M16 agent and as such is as undercover as possible; almost none of you will see any change in your life from my appearance except for of course the chief himself, and a pair of handpicked officers, Bogo?"
Everyone in line started to murmur slightly to each other in curiosity and slight confusion as Bogo cleared his throat. "Sense there is simply not enough resources or time for Jack to pick out two of the most competent officers here for himself I have already hand selected the two that will be joining, if they so voluntarily wish, Jack's unique special unit. These two picked officers I feel in my opinion have been exceptional in all regards, cracking some of the most dangerous cases our unit has had to deal with to date and an incredible almost spotless track record for the short time they've been here." All the other officers started to groan quietly and put their heads down as it became painfully obvious who he was talking about, with Nick keeping an upright posture and his usual smug grin while Hops had an even more excited smile keeping upright as well.
Chief Bogo ignored everyone's reactions and continued. "I'm talking of course about the pair Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps. If you so choose you will be-" "Ooohh yes yes yesss!!" Judy suddenly shouted while hopping up in the air with her arms out being unable to contain her excitement, only to be given an unenthusiastic stare from chief Bogo as she stopped smiling and went back in posture. "Ah uhm sorry heh... continue" Chief Bogo looked back at the two as a whole. "If you so choose you will be officially part of this special unit and be under direct order of Jack while also working side by side with him, you will answer to him first before me with anything having to do with the specific unit's cases. You're normal ZPD officer activates will be postponed until you are no longer involved with the unit, and due to the sever increase in danger and urgency you will be given a suitable increase in pay a long with a somewhat less consistent scheduling. Do you two accept this position knowing this?"
Judy Hopps with a determined smile saluted and said "Yes sir!" Nick right afterward also saluted somewhat less enthusiastically but still happily and said "Yes sir." Chief Bogo nodded at the two and put his hands behind his back. "Alright then officers, any questions or information needed from the ZPD you can still report to me however you're primary boss, if you wish to call him that, will be Jack. Everyone.. dismissed!" And with that everyone quickly dispersed murmuring and talking with one another, Nick and Judy sticking together doing the same as they entered the building.
"Well that was quite unexpected." Nick said as Judy made an almost sighing laugh as if letting out all the pent up excitement she had "Yeah haha wow.. I can't believe we got picked to be on this super special secret unit, how awesome is that!" Nick pointed a finger casually at Judy as they continued walking. "Well I wasn't quite thinking that, I mean we are already by far much more significantly cooler, cuter, handsomer, smarter, stylish, cunning, self-loathing, fluffier-" Judy pushed his partner roughly interrupting his listing. "Oh just get to the point you dumb fox!" Nick smiled down at his partner rubbing the side of his waist. "Well sense you asked so nicely~ Once you told me about who he was I wasn't really surprised in anything the chief said in his little speech, really what's unexpected is the fact that this all took place outside the ZPD building." Judy looked at him a little confused. "Wada mean?" Nick put a finger lightly on his chin. "Well when I think about it it just.. doesn't really make much sense to me. You'd think Information about an M16 agent slipping in here wouldn't be made so publicly and flashy like that. I mean having all the officers outside for the world to see, letting everyone know there's some kind of secret unit, what's the point in doing all that if it's supposed to be undercover?"
"That's because it's part of the Mayors initiative." Jack suddenly said standing behind the two, who stopped and looked back surprised to see him. "Oh Jack!" Judy called out to him as he smiled rather coolly at the two. "The mayor wants the people of Zootopia to know that he's taking the extra mile to protect them after the incident with the previous two mayors; while having a secret unit nobody knows about is technically more beneficial it won't get that message across to the general public, so it is a little bit of a publicity stunt honestly. That being said, nobody but us will know exactly "what" we are doing other then something secret." Jack put his hand out too the two of them and smiled. "Jack Savage, nice to meet you." Nick was the first to put out his hand to greet him looking somewhat down at him. "Well good to meet another fellow bunny then, you know when I heard you're name I thought perhaps you'd be some overly serious no fun spy but I've gotta hand it to yah, you've made a good first impression, really slick introduction too." And to both Nick's and Judy's surprise his smile widened a bit and he actually laughed a little, the action taking away from his previous cool demeanor somewhat. "Well I just so happened to overhear you two as I was trying to catch up and just said what came to mind, I tend to do things pretty on the fly sometimes so I'm glad it came out well."
After Nick was done Judy immediately went up to shake his hand rather rigorously. "Oh my gosh Jack your like.. I can't believe you're here! You've been suuucchh an inspiration for me ever sense I was a young doe, you are the reason I had the determination to leave my home and train to become a cop and work up the courage to come here and gosh your also so much nicer and friendly then I thought I thought you might be mean like Nick said butyouractuallyseemreally." Judy sank down a little bit still holding Jack's hand taking a sudden really long exasperated breathe of air before talking again. "Cool... heh.."
Jack simply continued to smile cooley at Judy. "Ah well I'm glad to see someone else from Bunny burrow on the force, the first ever bunny officer, alongside no less the first ever fox officer! Oh and the rumors about spy's being super self-absorbed are.. mostly untrue anyways. In reality being an I suppose you could say charming asshole in delicate situations comes off as just being an asshole, it's important to keep emotions in check and all that but a good personality is a huge part of being in my department. Luckily the cases here won't be as extreme so you won't be going through rigorous personality tests.
"Nick your reminiscing a bit too much again." Nick looked over at the gazelle confused at first but then caught himself. "Ah right right..." He scratched the back of his neck a little. "Jeez and I was even the one who said I wanted to hurry up and leave huh." The gazelle shook her head. "It's quiet alright Nick, It's a very healthy sign that your doing so. Tell you what, how about we skim, just a little bit, through the cases itself until we get to near the end of the important one."
Nick nodded and laid back a little in his rather long cozy chair, trying to relax again. "Well as you know after that me and Judy had quiet some.. crazy stuff happen. We had a little extra personal training from Jack himself to make sure we were ready for some more under cover type work instead of parading in our uniforms all the time. And.. the very first case was probably one of the worst ones too.."
"Just so you know, this is NOT what I signed up for when I wanted to be on this case..." Nick said very irritated as the two bunnies helped to put a bit of extra make up on Nick, Jack going behind him to adjust his dress a little bit. "Look there's no helping it. One of the biggest drug dealers in town that is going to start spreading the new drug is absolutely showing up to the gay bar tonight. And not only is he going there to promote his drug in a very show-offy fashion to multiple important business partners, but he also has a very well-known affinity towards effeminate men there, specifically ones in girly clothing." Nick still only looked incredibly irritated as Hopps started putting eyeliner on him. "Yeah and uh what's so bad about this drug that I have to show up seducing some weasel looking like this again? Can't we just find the next big drug dealer that's maybe into cute bunny twins and you two can seduce him?"
Judy went on her tip-toes to apply a bit of powder to Nick's cheeks. "Oh come on Nick this is serious. The drugs are part of the same serum Bellwether and her cronies were making for their insane plan. Of course I'd be pointless just making people go purely feral so I'm sure its much more subdued and not permanent, but it's still a dangerous un-tested drug, who knows what the side effects could be." Jack finished adjusting the dress and looked back at the two. "Not to mention the reports show the drugs themselves are mostly only useful for gaining an edge on fighting or killing, the only other use such a strong drug would have would be maybe for sex or for animals in heat to lose themselves, so to speak. But If it's any constellation, you look very cute in that dress." Jack said cockily and a bit teasingly.
Nick looked back over at Jack with a smug but still somewhat irritated look. "Hmm I don't know slick don't you think this costume would look better on you? I mean you bunnies are already so cute and effeminate maybe you should be the one going in their instead of me, I bet you'd get a lot more heads turning with that cute little bunny tail sticking out of this dress." Jack crossed his arms still sporting a bit of a cocky grin. "Well for your information Nick I actually have had to dress like a woman for a mission before, and it was indeed quiet.. effective. However that being said, the weasel we are after only like's predators, he has very... specific interests."
Nick stared up at the ceiling with a somewhat nervous and irritated look on his face squinting his eyes a bit, almost like he was back at this exact moment having to deal with the situation again. "Uh doc can I.. please just skip ahead of this case a little."
Jessica looked down at her notepad. "I did tell you to skim if you wish, at least talk about the end of it."
The weasel cackled loudly as he held the somewhat nervous nick around his side in a dress. He was in a private room on the second floor of a rather well known gay club, attending the somewhat luxurious VIP area that had some of the less then legal acts take place, and not just sexually. Nick was the closest to him but there were a few other most likely male animals in dresses around some of the other businessmen listening to him.
"I'm telling you men this stuff right here" The weasel bangs the suitcases in front of him with his paw before lying back down in the couch. "Is the next big hit my friends. Once you get this night howler stuff its easy as hell to make, you can produce hundreds of edible pellets to consume and one will be more than enough to get anyone going, not to mention they look like blue berries! Easy to disguise visually, but smell wise we are still working on it, it is new after all. But gentlemen trust me when say this is a good business venture, this is what we call the future of drugs." The men in suits looked at each other with agreeing smiles and even murmured a few positive words to one another, also feeling somewhat inebriated from the strong drinks and dressed up animals hugging next to them.
Nick tried his best to seem somewhat seductive with the rest of them but was a little bit too uneasy to fully play the role; he was recording the whole conversation with the carrot that they actually disguised to look like it may be a vibrator if anyone were to see it. As the weasel looked at the business men rather cockily he started to hug Nick a little closer to himself and put his head up towards him while taking another swig of his cocktail, Nick smiling down at the weasel rather nervously. Come on you dumb drug dealers take the damn offer already, and say it loudly!
The one seemingly in charge of the deal on the other table coughed slightly into his hand to get the weasel's attention and smiled. "Alright then Weezer, I think this drug will have a lot of good use in the future, with some refinement it can be a force to be reckoned with, you have yourself a deal!" The two shook hands as the weasel cackled with excitement. _Got him! _Without hesitation Nick shoved his hand into his pocket, stopped the recording, and clicked another button on the carrot.
Within almost seconds the door to the night club got completely busted open as Mchorn was the first to enter it. "THIS IS THE ZPD, GET DOWN ON THE GROUN!" And quickly following the subsequent screams and people freaking out Delgato and Fangmeyer rushed into the building past the Rhino holding pistols, while all the other ZPD members already starting to surround the building.
The dealers upstairs instantly heard the racket and without even a single word started to scatter and take off almost like it was natural instinct. Weezer himself looked around suspiciously before making an immediate move. "Shit how did they know.." The weasel got up tugging slightly at Nick. "Come on baby, I'll get us out of here, I still have some plans with you~" And just a second afterward Nick instantly smacked him right in the back of the head taking him out instantly. As the weasel fell to the ground Nick put his heel on Weezer looking down at him. "I don't think so... Sweetheart."
"Nick!" he heard the familiar phrase from his partner as he looked over at the window, seeing Judy as well as Jack enter. "Nick.. are you alright?" Judy said somewhat concerned as Nick gave his usual smug grin. "Well you know aside from maybe a few red marks on my ass and a very deep feeling of shame and regret... yah I'm doing fine, how about you?" Jack laughed a bit and gave him a strong pat on the back looking up at him. "I'm glad you're unhurt, you did a convincing act out there! Couldn't have done it better myself." Jack gave him a proud and approving grin as Nick's own grin turned a bit more serious. "Oh stop it, if you continue talking like that you're gonna make this lady blush." Judy went up to Nick and hugged him lightly with a little bit of a laugh. "You know that dress does suit you in an odd way, maybe we should keep it?" Nick chuckled lightly looking down at his partner and putting an arm around her. "Well while getting your affectionate approval about my dress is quiet lovely, I think I'd prefer to throw it away and perhaps forget this enter thing happened."
"But no there was no forgetting that case, because unbeknownst to Judith I would have to go to a psychiatrist and talk about it over.. and over and over, until eventually the shame inside me grew so deep that I wouldn't even be able to look at a dress ever again."
Jessica rolled her eyes a bit. "Well... unlike some of the times in the past you're not just using your humor to hide your emotions so, I'll allow it." The Gazelle jotted down some notes and looked up to surprisingly see the fox looking at her somewhat seriously.
"Do I really gotta say all these cases again? I mean I know it's important to you know the buildup of the story and relationships, friendships, blah blah blah but, even you must be getting a little tired right? Look next case is we bust the second big deal going on in the underground bar but Jack goes undercover by himself for that one and I just show up last minute, then me and Jack go to the third one pretending to be interested business men and once again barley any hicks, a few scratch marks and boom all three are in jail... Then finally the last one with me and Judy and the supplier."
Jessica looked at the fox with a somewhat blank expression as there was silence for a small while between the two. She seemed to think to herself for a brief moment before she looked down at her note pad again while speaking. "Nick.. do me a favor. I know this is the important one but I want you to specifically try to skim through the case itself, not what happens afterward just the case."
Nick looked at her a little confusingly. "Uhm.. I guess I can try but, is there at least a reason? Or are you just finally just sick of me and this story." The gazelle jotted something else down. "Yes there is reasoning for it, please try your best."
Nick looked back up and contemplated for a while. "... Me and Judy prepared an entire week for this one. There was no undercover stuff like last time, Jack said he didn't want to do this but the main and big supplier making all the drugs was now the final threat and his location was fickle, the fact we found him at all was incredibly lucky. Despite the reluctance we basically had no choice, if we didn't id be another year of investigating and taking down popping up drug dealers, versus the chance of making the drug potentially permanently gone and banned as illegal right away. So me and Judy trained our asses off for the next few weeks after this discovery to infiltrate and be practically spies."
"... Tell me, what was the reasoning Jack didn't go with you again?" Nick chuckled as a light smile crept up on his face. "Is this for some kind of psychological information or are you just invested in the story again?" He paused briefly but didn't wait for an answer from the Gazelle. "Well it was as simple as the guy knew Jack's face, apparently back in young Jack's M16 Zootopia days he had fought the guy directly and shut down some other previous operation but failed to jail him, he said he always knew he'd pop up again. But oddly enough that wasn't the reason he came back to Zootopia, it was just a coincidence. But getting back to the main plot at hand, the mission was just me and Hopps going into this place with a very meticulous time efficient plan. We knocked out the front guards just a few moments before their shift switch, got the key cards, infiltrated the ducts, memorized the details of every guard position and location of the enemy so that nobody would even know we were there.. it went smoothly until we got to the office itself."
Nick paused for brief moment as his face and tone turned a bit plainer. "Apparently we got unlucky, a guard was in the wrong spot at the wrong time, free loading and taking a break when he shouldn't and.. saw carrots take out a guy. Despite the fact that he was the one slacking not doing his job he made a smart decision, didn't sound the alarm and went straight to the guy himself saying that we were here. They waited.. we fell into the trap."