Part 1: Three's a Crowd
Slumping into the empty locker room, Nick Wilde tossed the plastic bag that held his uniform into the trash. There was no amount of cleaning that would make it suitable to wear ever again. Tossing the spare cloths he was wearing into a heap at his locker, he slowly ambled over to the showers.
As the currently lukewarm water washed over him, he rested his head against the wall and sighed. This was literally his shittiest day on the force.
Walking into the main atrium, Nick was surprised at the absence of an annoyed Judy tapping her foot at mach speeds waiting for him. It was just chatty little Clawhauser there to welcome him.
"Hey Benji, got ya' something." He had three cups in a holder with him and tossed one to the rotund cheetah.
"Thanks, but you know I'm not much of a coffee drinker."
"Even if it's an eclair latte?"
The feline's eyes lit up like search lights, "No. WAY!"
He took a less than tentative sip and busted out in giggles, "This is amazing! Thanks so much, Nick."
"It was on special." He lied; he just thought the cat would enjoy it.
"So where's Judy? She's usually berating me by now."
"Oh! She's up in the Chief's office. He stopped by earlier. Said he wanted to see you both. I guess I should have said something sooner."
Nick waved his fellow officer's worry away. "Not a big deal, I tossed you the coffee first anyway."
Lazily taking the stairs up to the second level balcony, he made his way to the Chief's office thinking about what he was calling them in for before briefing in the bullpen. Last time he did that, he put them on a week long surveillance operation. Boring as all get out, but it had a lot less day to day paperwork. Still, he'd rather have something a little exciting. But in less than twenty-four hours he'd wish Bogo had put them on parking duty.
Pulling the door open, he saw Judy standing in front of the Chief's desk. Her lavender eyes bright and shining, her little cottony tail twitching happily. Nick has caught her looking like that before, usually in some rare moment of daydreaming. What he'd give to have her look at him like that.
As he pulled the door further, his day immediately started to sour. He saw what exactly was causing Judy to look so enthralled. It was another rabbit, a bit taller than her, a shade darker too. His black tipped ears were slimmer, a tad pointier, and didn't fade into the grey but abruptly switched with two slashes of black. Three stripes of black fur, almost like war paint, sat on each cheek. And he was dressed extremely well. To an untrained eye he just looked like he wore a business suit well. But Nick could tell, those were tailored. Tailor fit brands from which a single piece would cost him well more than a week and a half's pay check. If it came from the clearance rack. On sale. With a coupon.
"Oh Nick!" Judy turned to her partner, grabbing her drink out the cup holder in his paw, "Thanks."
The new rabbit looked at Nick with his steely gray-blue eyes, "Nick Wilde, just the fox I was looking for."
He looked at the extended paw in front of him. "Last time a bunny came looking for me, it caused nothing but a heap of trouble. So you'll excuse me if I'm the slightest bit weary." But he took the paw with a smile and gave it a good shake.
"Didn't catch your name."
"The name's Savage. Jack Savage."
That bastard rabbit even had the nerve to steal Nick's drink after that. He didn't even finish it. Complained about it being too sweet, that the mammals on this side of the pond have too big of a sweet tooth for their own good. And that they don't know how to make a proper cup of tea. That seemed ridiculous to Nick. It's just hot water and dried leafs. What's so damn complicated about that? He thought it was just a bunch of Zootropolis snobbery. Sister city across the Antlerific Ocean.
Nick turned the heat up in the shower and took some shampoo from the closest dispenser on the wall. Some of the other officers brought in their own soaps and cleansers, and Nick was among them, but his was all the way back at his locker. So he was thankful that there was a generic dispenser.
He began to scrub the gel into his paws and arms fiercely, knowing full well it'd take more than one shower to do the trick.
This little joint task was very hush-hush. Bogo made it keenly aware to the two of them that there would be all kinds of hell to pay if word got out a Zootropolian secret agent was working in Zootopia, let alone with the help of the police force. Thankfully Judy was the one to ask Bogo why Jack couldn't go through regular Zootopia's agency, Nick being his usual self got enough ire from the buffalo. And it came down to two things: official channels mean red tape and wasted time, and Bogo owed an old favor to someone who now holds a high seat of authority in Zootropolis.
Jack was on the trail of a large diamond smuggling operation. Supposedly the sale of the diamonds was going to fund some shadow organization's plan. Which Jack wasn't too clear on yet.
"Usually it's to threaten the city with destruction or hold it for ransom. Depends on which way the wind is blowing that day."
Judy actually tittered at that joke. Tittered! Like some sappy little high schooler. It wasn't even all that funny of a joke. She never once tittered at any of his. Moan, groan, and maybe chuckle every once in awhile. Lot of eye rolling. Sometimes a punch in the arm. But never tittered.
Jack needed help from both sides of Zootopia. The lawful and the unlawful. With Nick Wilde, he got both in one package.
Nick got in touch with some of his old contacts that were still on speaking terms with him and found out about a deal going down on the northern part of the board between the Meadowlands and Tundra Town.
Which is why they were laying in some shrubbery watching as a Tundra Town septic disposal truck rolled into a small clearing where a few smattering of mammals with another truck waited in the dead of night.
"What's going on?" Judy whispered.
"It's a hand off, Fluff. If either of us strolled up there flashing our badges, they'd have the paperwork and credentials of an official exchange of merchandise."
"Merchandise?"
"You're a farm girl, aren't you? What makes good fertilizer?" Judy nodded. "And it's not like Tundra Town is known for its plant life. So it's useless there. But I bet you, there's some well placed bags inside holding the real merchandise."
Jack smirked. "Very astute, Wilde. That knowledge come from experience?"
"I dealt in cold confections, not warm crap. But I knew a guy who knew a guy."
She turned to Jack. "So what's the plan?"
"Once they make the hand off, track the truck to its destination, and interrogate who ever looks like they know something."
Rolling on to his back, Nick looked back at the way they got here. More than a mile walk through a wooded field with pricker bushes. And Nick was the only one with night vision. Judy was still picking out prickers from her legs as they watched the hand off.
"Thing is, Jackie boy, they'll be motoring off while we still got a nice little hike before we reach that swanky car of yours. So how do you propose that we follow a truck we will lose sight of for about… oh, I'd say a good half hour or more?"
The work between the two trucks got loud as they began to transfer the contents from one tanker to the other, muffling their already quite conversation.
"Simple." He lifted up his arm, and fiddled with his watch. Something shot out of it with a soft click, a moment later the watch beeped.
"We track the truck."
"Oh wow! Where can we get watches like that?" Judy reached towards his wrist.
"Custom made," Jack pulled his wrist away from Judy, "and not to meddled with without proper instruction. There's more in this watch than that, and I'd rather keep my paw on my arm."
"Sorry, Jack." Nick could see the blush on Judy's face even if Jack couldn't. He let out a little huff.
"Should we head out now or wait for everyone else to leave? Not that it isn't fun watching criminal activities, but I have the best sense of smell out of the three of us, and I might start gagging at any moment."
Although it's not the smell that was making him nauseated.
And Jack's plan went swimmingly until the hyena showed up. Jack was doing some rather innovative "aggressive questioning" of the one eyed taiper that drove the truck involving a water trough. Judy was looking in the small barn, more of a garage, the truck was parked next to. Nick had the dubious honor of searching the truck. The glove compartment held nothing but receipts from gas stations and an issue of an adult magazine called "Porkers". Looked like the holiday edition too, with all the candy canes and white brimmed red hats.
Nick heard a dissatisfied grunt and what could only be a rabbit's foot smacking into the side of a skull. Being partnered with Judy he was familiar with that sound. Thankfully he's only gotten enough ire from her to incur a punch to the shoulder at most. Non-law abiding citizens, on the other paw, were a different matter.
"Hopps, you find anything?" Jack called out as a paw roughly grabbed the back of Nick's head, and something smooth and cold suddenly rested on his throat.
"Say anything, and I bleed you here fox." A voice hissed in his ear.
Nick raised his paws in surrender and was dragged out of the truck at knife point. It was a hyena, Nick could smell that much. From his size and what little he heard of his voice, male. The female tend to be a lot bigger. The four of them met at the end of the tanker. Judy gasped and jumped back a bit seeing Nick in peril. She was wound up ready to take action at a moment's notice, but he could see the worry in her eyes. Nick just prayed that wouldn't be the last thing he got to see.
Jack didn't look phased by this turn of events. Having someone hold a partner or colleague hostage seemed just as normal to him as Clawhauser going on way too much about Gazelle to Nick.
"I don't know what you three are playing at, but you made the worst mistake of your soon to be short lives, coming here."
"Are you the one who will be handling the sale of the diamonds?" Jack asked bluntly, his eyes looking colder than before.
"After I slice this fox open, I'm going to enjoy snapping your neck, and gutting your girlfriend."
Nick winced. There were so many things in that sentence he dreaded. The least of which was his own demise.
"Nick old boy, I'm sorry about this."
His eyes shot open in time to see Jack absent mindedly fiddling with his watch. There was a loud bang from behind them, as the tracer on the truck exploded. A hunk of metal from the tanker flew out and smacked the back of the hyena's head. His knife wielding arm drooped as he, and consequently Nick, were thrown to the ground. And with a gaping hole in the tanker, its contents gushed out, covering everything on the ground in a swill of tundra septic waste.
Cold hose water woke Nick up minutes later. Judy was spraying him down while Jack forced information out of the hyena. It was lucky Judy spied some extra cloths in the barn earlier. They were a tad big for Nick but better than going au naturel. When they made it back to the precinct, Nick wasn't sure if it was late or early. But he was glad there was barely anyone there.
Nick just finished washing the suds from his face when he heard the patting of paws on the tile behind him. Turning he saw Jack Savage. Jack Savage au naturel. It was a locker room shower after all. It would be almost stranger for him not to be declothed. But what really kept Nick's attention were the scars. Rough jagged lines of pink flesh distorting the natural growth of fur. He knew gunshot wounds when he saw them. There were a couple of slices and stab wounds. One looked like a nasty bit of unsanctioned surgery. The only other mammal he knew that had as many scars, per square inch of body, was a polar bear enforcer in Mr Big's crew.
And the rabbit was toned and fit as hell. He had abs that could probably actually be used as a washboard. Judy was fit but she didn't pop out of her fur like that. She had tone and muscle, Nick stared enough to know. Admittedly, he only saw what she had over her tight lycra workout clothes she wore when exercising. It's not like Nick stalks her. There's a workout room for all the officers, including a small running track. She loves showing Nick that she's faster than him. Which isn't entirely true. He can go faster than her, and has, but she can run for much longer than he can. Bunnies got endurance in spades. The view running behind her isn't too shabby either. There's a twitchy little cotton tail target to keep his eyes on. Not to mention the way she wiggles her… And Nick suddenly realized he was still staring at Jack while vivid thoughts of Judy ran through his head.
Even with the steam for obscuring him from the waist down, his soggy tail curled around him as a secondary precaution.
The rabbit smirked at him, "Liking what you see old boy?"
"...Scars…" he muttered out as a half truth turning back to the wall and adjusting the temperature, hoping the cold would temporarily wash away the memory of the back of a jogging Judy from his mind.
He cleared his throat, "Kind of shocked a rabbit could have that many."
"In my line of work, scars are plentiful. You just need to make sure you give more than you take."
"I take it you you've given your fair share."
"Considerably."
Nick moved onto his tail as Jack continued.
"We have the diamonds. And the meet for the exchange is in two days at the Golden Sands hotel. During a formal party for a Pawaiian dignitary. You wouldn't happen to have a tux handy?"
Nick mentally went through his wardrobe that didn't have a floral pattern. He realized that the best he has is appropriate for court hearings and funerals. God that's depressing.
"Not really."
"I'll take you to a tailor's tomorrow. Should have enough time to get you one for the party."
He heard Jack shut off his shower, but instead of wet feet walking out, the next thing he heard was the sound of a towel's whip crack and a quick sharp pain just below and to the left of his tail.
"See you at 10."
Jack walked out, towel still wound up, ready for another whip crack.
"I'd prefer afternoon." Nick called out as the rabbit vanished from view.
"Ten o'clock on the dot, Wilde."
Nick growled. He was really starting to hate that rabbit.