Hi all! This my first time writing fanfiction in three years, so please bear with me! I really appreciate constructive criticism, so if there's anything that needs fixing please let me know. This story is mostly action and crime, but there's also romance in the sense that it is going to ship Nick and Judy a lot. Their relationship will develop as a sub-plot, so hang tight!
Hope you all enjoy :)
3 months after the Night Howler incident
It was 4 AM, and Judy Hopps was not in her best state. Her ears drooped and her walk lacked its usual pep. She had been startled awake less than ten minutes ago when she received a call from Chief Bogo saying that she was needed at the police office immediately - she didn't take that word lightly and had rushed to get ready. The chief's voice had sounded urgent, and somehow angrier than usual. Judy refused to admit that Bogo's tone had frightened her, but her fidgeting paws and twitching nose told a different story. With a vigorous rub of her tired eyes, Judy stepped onto bus 8, which was about to make its last nocturnal trip, and sat down.
The rabbit tapped her foot lightly as she watched passengers board the bus. There weren't very many; a majority of the animals in this part of Zootopia, including Judy, woke up with the sun. Judy slumped in her seat and sighed as the bus began to rumble, signalling its departure. In desperate need of something to do, the bunny pulled her phone out of her uniform pocket and went straight to her messages. She tapped the name at the top: Nick Wilde, her furry partner in justice and arguably her best friend. Awake yet? she sent. On second thought, he definitely had to be up - if Chief Bogo had called her, then he had also called Officer Wilde.
Her phone buzzed, and her eyes snapped down to the screen. The text read: yeah, been up all night. I'm already at the police station waiting for u.
A smile of mischief appeared on Judy's face as she replied: Aw, waiting for me? That's so sweet!
Less than five seconds later came Nick's response. u wish, Carrots. I'm just trying to be polite.
Sure you are, she texted back.
The phone was silent for a solid thirty seconds. Judy mused what kind of reply could be taking so long for Nick to type. When it finally buzzed, all that read on the screen was dumb bunny!
Judy was grinning when the bus jerked to a halt and the doors opened. She hopped out onto the sidewalk and found herself staring up at the looming building that she could very well call her second home: the Zootopia Police Station. A familiar furry figure was leaning against the door frame, sipping on a cup of coffee and resting his eyes on Judy.
"Nick!" she called out happily as she hopped forward to meet him.
"Mornin', Carrots," Nick greeted with a mild smile. He pushed the door open and held it open for his partner to enter.
"Thanks," she said brusquely as she suddenly noticed just how red and bloodshot Nick's eyes were. His uniform was crooked, and his fur was unkempt around his neck and the top of his head. "Nick, you look like a zombie!" she scolded. "Why didn't you sleep last night?" the rabbit demanded when she remembered the text that he had sent her.
Nick shrugged, and he smiled sleepily but content. "We weren't supposed to come in to work till afternoon so I figured I could stay up late," he explained. "That's why I was already awake when Chief called." Judy stared at him with a taut, almost disbelieving look on her face. Nick saw her expression and smiled again. "Speaking of Chief's call, did you get any information on what's going on? Or did he pull you into the station too?" he asked, not expressing a single bit of concern on his face.
Judy nibbled her lip nervously. "He just told me to come straight here. He never said anything other than that. And he sounded pretty angry," she said with her eyebrows knitted together in worriment.
Looking down at his partner, Nick chuckled. "Did he? I didn't notice. Bogo always sounds mad when he's talking to me, anyway," the fox joked. He stole another glance down at Judy, who still looked nervous as she grabbed Nick's paw and began to pull him forward towards the Chief's office. "Hey, Carrots, don't worry. It's not like he's mad at you. He's probably just got something else on his mind," Nick said reassuringly to her with a pat on her shoulder.
Judy let out a deep exhale, as if she had been holding her breath for those exact words. "Thanks...you're right. It's probably just the case that has him worried." She was still holding onto Nick's paw tightly, but she didn't realize it. Judy's pace quickened, but Nick stopped her as he paused in front of the reception desk.
"Clawhauser!" Nick exclaimed with jovial surprise. "What are you doing here so early?" he asked as he saw the cheetah typing away behind his computer. Judy peered up at Clawhauser and gave a small wave, but she kept glancing in the direction of Bogo's office.
Clawhauser looked down at the furry duo. "Hey guys!" he greeted with an exuberant smile. "I, uh... Bogo caught me watching music videos at work so I have to work a double shift to make up for it," he explained bashfully.
Nick laughed, and Judy giggled a little, as well. "That's the Clawhauser we all know and love!" the fox said. He was about to say something else, but he was interrupted by a loud muffled voice.
"WILDE! HOPPS!" came Bogo's thundering voice behind the closed door of his office. Judy's eyes widened. Nick saw, and he ruffled the fur on the top of her head. "Like I said, Judes: don't worry," he said quietly. With a brief glance at Clawhauser, he said, "See ya later, Ben."
Ben waved goodbye and watched Nick and Judy head for Bogo's office. Nick was the one to open the door, but Judy entered first, and her partner followed her inside.
Chief Bogo was at his desk examining a stack of papers. When he heard the sound of his office door creaking open, he looked up. "Good morning, Chief Bogo," Officer Hopps said formally as she and Wilde sat down across from the water buffalo.
"Morning," he grunted briefly. "I appreciate you two getting here so quickly," Bogo commented as he ran his eyes over a file in his hands. Nick glanced over at Judy, and when she caught his gaze, his eyes seemed to calmly say, See? Everything's perfectly fine. There's no need to worry. Judy gave him a small smile and turned her eyes back to Bogo, who was now staring intently at the two officers. "Are either of you two aware of what happened four hours ago in the Rainforest District?"
Nick was the one to respond first. "No, sir." He was perfectly level, but Hopps had grown tense.
Her eyebrows were furrowed, and a quiet tapping came from her foot. Bogo was about to speak, but she suddenly blurted, "What happened? Was it serious? Is anybody hurt?"
Bogo sighed. For a moment, he was silent; then he slid the file in his hands across the table and watched as Officer Wilde caught it and opened it. Hopps stood up in her chair to examine the file alongside Wilde. Inside it were the profile details of a young female jaguar.
"At midnight," the Chief began, "one of the most prominent businessmen in the Rainforest District went missing. Ten minutes after he was reportedly gone, his bungalow was set on fire and almost burned completely. I sent out forensic experts to collect samples around the area where he was last seen, as well as the area surrounding his bungalow. At both scenes, they found mixed DNA samples and could only identify one animal: Adriana Herrera, the female shown in the file I gave you, and-"
He was suddenly cut off by Hopps' exclamation. "So why haven't you arrested her yet?" she demanded.
"I was getting to that," Bogo said sternly. "Essentially, we don't know where Adriana is. We received her identification information less than an hour ago, and right after that, I sent out a couple of other officers to reach her at the address she presumably lives at." Judy and Nick looked down at the file to look down at the details of Adriana's residence. "The only person home was her father, who insisted that she was at a friend's house when we questioned him. But that was all he told us, and he refused to give any more information after that. That's where you two come in: I need you to investigate the whereabouts of Adriana and bring her in for questioning."
"Yes, sir," the two officers replied in unison.
Bogo looked at them and blew air out of his nose in a quiet laugh. Together, the fox and the rabbit made one of the best teams in the entire ZPD. "Anyways," he continued, "we don't have a lot of information on this female, but what you will want to know is that she's a senior at Selva High, and the records say that she was at school yesterday, so we're hoping that somebody knows something about her location - and if you're lucky, you might even catch her at school. You might have to do some deep digging to get details, so don't afraid to use any and all means necessary."
Hopps and Wilde nodded in response.
"Now you might want to be on your way to the school. The day officially begins at eight AM, but you'll want to get there at five AM. That's when a substantial number of students and coaches come in early for pre-school sports practice. Good luck, you two." Bogo gave them a dismissive nod, and with Adriana's file in their hands, they left Bogo's office and set out for Selva High School.
Judy was driving terribly carefully through the smoky morning fog that was characteristic of the Rainforest District. The road was wide and mostly clear, but she felt like she couldn't trust the fog. If she drove too fast, pedestrians had a chance to get hurt, and that was exactly what she wanted to avoid. Her partner, however, wasn't nearly as focused on being cautious. "Carrots, come on!" Nick whined as they drove over a bump in the road and some of his coffee splashed onto his lap. "It won't hurt to drive a little faster!"
"I am so sorry, what was that you said?" Judy said, grinning mischievously at Nick. "Did you say that you want me to drive slower? Well, if you insist..." Judy's foot eased up on the gas pedal, and Nick pulled at his ears as the car began to move at the speed of a sloth.
"Fine," he huffed, "go ahead and drive slower, but don't blame it on me when Adriana Herrera slips right out of our grasp because we couldn't make it to the school in time." Judy frowned at him for a moment, but it was soon replaced by a challenging smirk. Bracing herself, she stomped on the gas pedal. Nick's eyes went wide as he fell backwards in his seat from the force, but when he pushed his police hat back up, there was a sly smile on his face.
They sped through the rest of the route to Selva High. Nick's feet were on the dashboard, and Judy noticed, but she didn't say anything. He turned on the radio and tuned it to a channel playing Gazelle. "So professional," Hopps commented as Nick bobbed his head in time to the music.
Five minutes later, Judy slowed down to pull into the parking lot of Selva High. It was 4:49 AM, and cars in the parking lot were sparse. Hopps and Wilde peered around the lot before parking right outside the school's entrance. Nick pulled the file out from under his seat and opened it. There were plenty of pictures paper-clipped together inside; most of them were selfies of Adriana with her friends. "Looks like she's close with this wolf and this tiger," she said, pointing to the two animals that kept coming up in her photos. "Make note of them," Hopps said to Wilde. The fox pulled out his phone and ran their photos through the facial recognition system installed on all ZPD devices.
"I've got their identities locked down," he replied. Looking back down at the file, he pulled out a picture of Adriana in the middle of a lacrosse match. Her face was narrowed in determination, and her fur was slick with sweat. "And she plays lacrosse. I bet we'll find her here soon for practice."
"What if she's not coming to school today?" Judy asked, her brow furrowed.
"I'm sure she will - after all, what better place to hide than a school?" Nick replied.
"Are you saying that we're not going to find her, even if she is at school?" the rabbit said anxiously.
"I'm saying that most police aren't going to find her, but there's a reason Bogo assigned you and me specifically to this job. Don't you agree, Carrots?" Nick said, flicking at Judy's hat. She flinched and grabbed at her hat, but she also laughed.
"I guess you're right. Do you want to go inside and see if anybody in the front office can help us out?" she asked Wilde.
"Might as well. Let's go!"
Judy yanked the keys out of the ignition and hopped out of the car. Nick made sure the car was locked before stepping out and closing his door. The duo headed for the two front doors, but they heard heavy footsteps behind them and turned around.
A group of four kids was romping through the sidewalk. A tiger, black bear, elephant, and jaguar were all pushing each other in a heavy race to get to the front doors. The jaguar seemed to be leading the race, but then the black bear jumped on her back to pull the hood of her varsity jacket over her head. He pulled the strings of the hood tight so the jaguar's eyes were covered. With a sly grin, the jaguar purposely crashed into the ground with the black bear under her. The tiger and elephant tripped over them, and suddenly they were all in a pile on the ground, laughing breathlessly.
Nick and Judy glanced at each other, partially because these kids were goons, and partially because one of these kids happened to be a jaguar.
The officers watched from around the corner as the teenagers shuffled into standing position. The tiger gave the jaguar his hand so she could pull herself up, and she began to fix her hood. The jaguar hooked her arm around the tiger and turned her head up to whisper something to the tall cat, but she jolted to a stop as soon as she caught sight of bright red fur out of the corner of her eye.
The jaguar peered cautiously down and was stunned to see a fox and rabbit looking straight up at her. It wasn't the type of species that alarmed her; it was their shining badges and dark blue uniforms that made her heart skip a beat.
"Whoa!" The black bear suddenly exclaimed. "You're Officer Hopps and Wilde! You're, like, legends," he whispered with awestruck light in his eyes.
The jaguar rolled her eyes, but she was amused. "Jasper," she began with a heavy Argentinian accent, "give the two some space, will you?"
"Sorry," he whispered as he stepped back. Judy Hopps gave the bear a smile, and he smiled back, revealing his huge, pristine white teeth.
Hopps turned her gaze to the rest of the animals. "Good morning. We're here on the account of investigation of a serious criminal offense committed earlier tonight. The suspect in question is Adriana Herrera; would any of you happen to know where she is, has been, or will be?"
All of their eyes widened in response.
"Adriana?" the jaguar asked. Her voice cracked as she frantically asked, "What did she do? Is she all right?"
"That information is to be withheld," Hopps said firmly. Beside her, Nick's eyebrows furrowed. The fox thought he sensed something suspicious about this female, but he had nothing solid to say about it. "Do you know anything about Adriana Herrera?" the rabbit pressed.
The jaguar's eyes dropped to the ground. "Yeah, she's one of my friends... I - I played lacrosse with her last season, and I know she's still playing it. She's the kind of person that would be on the field already for practice."
Officer Hopps cleared her throat. "Do you think you could let us know where the field is?"
"Yes," she said with pursed lips and a voice heavy with emotion. "Go in through these main doors and once you reach the very end of the main hall, take a right and the doors will take you right to the turf."
"Thank you," the rabbit replied steadily. "Can I get your name in case we should ever meet again?"
With a swallow, the jaguar nodded. "I am Sofia Valencia. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"Likewise," Hopps said cordially, smiling. Wilde narrowed his eyes at Sofia for a brief second, but his partner put her hand on his shoulder and steered him toward the field.
The jaguar paused for a quick moment, then she hesitantly called out, "Wait!" The two officers turned around to stare at her. "Tell me you won't hurt Adriana."
Hopps gave her a gentle smile. "Don't worry, Sofia. Our duty is to protect, not to harm." And with that, she and Wilde went inside the building.
As soon as the doors closed, the three animals surrounding the jaguar inhaled deeply in astonishment.
"Adriana Suarez Herrera," scolded the black bear next to her, "you are such a dumbass!"
"You can't just lie to the police like that," exclaimed the elephant.
"Adriana, whatever the hell that just was, I don't think it was a smart move," said the tiger in a low voice. "You just pretended to be somebody you barely even know. Isn't that identity theft? Why would you do that?"
The jaguar was watching the three animals coyly as she held a cell phone to her ear. "I would like to argue that it was a smart move, because I just bought myself time to call backup."
"Backup?" Snorted the elephant. "Who would that be?"
Adriana grinned. "Big brother."
Thanks for reading. I hope you all enjoyed! Next chapter will probably be as early as tomorrow or Saturday if you guys can convince me that you reeeeally want it ;)