A/N: This is my first Zootopia Fanfiction. I haven't been on this site since around 2010 writing Kingdom Hearts fanfics, but it feels good to be back and get the creative juices flowing. I really hope you like this story, leave any comments or criticisms and I'll be sure to get to them whenever possible. Most of the weapons and motions that the main character exerts comes from the U.S. Army Infantryman standards. Weapons it talks about are AR-14/M4, M1911, KA-BAR, Tomahawk. Pretty easy to imagine. Wooden armor stand is commonly used on deployments. Google image to get a better representation. Anyways, enough about the specifics, let's get to the story.
Obviously I don't own Zootopia, it's owned by Disney! Duh!
Another day, another hundred mammals of reckoning. That was the only thought that strung through the artic wolf's mind, as he stood motionless by the door.
"Jake, could you come here please?" the innocent female gazelle's voice called.
Swiftly, the wolf opened the door and protruded inside. He quickly snapped to attention and leveled out to parade rest. The gazelle sat in her stool as she applied the final touches of makeup in the mirror.
"Are you ever going to give that a rest, Jake?" asked the gazelle as she brushed back her hair.
"No mam, but I always considered it a reason you keep me around", said Jake.
The wolf was sure to keep his eyes just above her gaze and his hands crossed in the small of his back. It was only a natural reaction for this former soldier.
The gazelle gave a soft giggle, "You know I keep you around for far more than that, Jake. Where would all the excitement be in any of our conversations?"
Jake sharply responded, "Somewhere over the rainbow."
The quick-witted response caused the gazelle to laugh hysterically and was finally able to calm herself after a few minutes. Suddenly there came a knock on the door.
"Ms. Gazelle?", a voice was heard beyond the door, "Five minutes until showtime!"
Gazelle looked at the clock above the mirror and gasped.
In a rush, she informed Jake, "I was going to tell you that my friends, Judy and Nick, are coming by during the show and they'll be relieving you for tonight while I'm onstage. They wanted to come to the afterparty tonight and you're welcome to join us if you decide to stick around this time."
Jake was quiet for a few moments. He was not one for parties, nor most types of social gatherings. It simply wasn't his forte'. With a social anxiety as bad as his, he knew he was better off doing his job and going home.
"No thank you mam, but I appreciate the offer. Thanks for telling me about the relief though, it helps to know these things ahead of time", Jake replied very monotone.
Gazelle rolled her eyes, "I'm sure it does since I still remember the last time I didn't let you know someone was coming by to see me."
Jake stood expressionless, but in his mind, he was giving the worst pouting face ever conceived.
"Time to get the show on! I'll see you tomorrow, Jake", said Gazelle as she casually strode out the door.
The wolf idled his way out the door and resumed his guarding position outside. He knew there wasn't much to guard, aside from Gazelle's personal belongings in her room, so he let his stance ease up just slightly.
"God, I need a cigarette!" he muttered to himself.
Smoking IS a bad habit, but he already knew that. Sometimes he just needed the edge off his mind from time to time. In a way, Jake envied Ms. Gazelle. Aside from her being a huge pop-star icon, she had the looks, the style and even the friends. Most of his friends were either far away or dead. Time in the service would do that to any mammal, make quick friends and lose them just the same. He was then brought back to reality when he heard soft footsteps and another pair of scraping footsteps beside it coming from down the hallway. A quick glace revealed it to be the famous Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde.
"What's up, Nick!" Jake blurted out.
"Hey Snowflake", responded Nick, "we're here to steal your job away from you, per Gazelle's orders."
Jake gave Nick a very menacing glare in response to his nickname given by the slick red fox.
"Oh and perhaps maybe I should inform Chief Bogo about his two best officers stealing", shot Jake.
Nick snarked and continued, "Chief Buffalo Butt wouldn't bother to even answer the phone to save his life while he's here at the Gazelle concert."
Judy decided to butt into the conversation before Jake's mood shifted.
"So are you coming to the afterparty?" Judy asked.
Jake shook his head, "No thanks guys. I really do appreciate it, but it's not really a place where I would want to find myself. I just don't blend in very well."
"Well carrying all that gear around, I'm sure you won't", Nick laughed.
Jake glanced down at his attire. His uniform was simple for most security jobs: black cargo pants, grey t-shirt, black short sleeve button-up over-shirt. However, that wasn't what Nick had pointed out. He had motioned his hands to point the matching black Kevlar plate carrier and his two firearms.
"How does Gazelle even let you do this job with you dressed like you're about to go to war?" asked Judy.
Jake grinned and gave a wink, "She just knows that I'm good at my job and the pleasant conversations we have make sure that she knows I'm not insane in the membrane."
"Well, I suppose that's good and all, but do you really need to carry an assault rifle along with your sidearm?" Judy asked puzzled.
"It's not loaded, it's just for show", he replied.
Nick gave him a pat on the shoulder, "Ah come on Jake, we would love for you to come with us to the party. I'm sure we could even find you some nice young single mammal to talk to."
Jake gave a couple of laughs and stated, "I'll see you later, guys."
The deep clomping of his boots could be heard as far down as the exit to the building before the sudden sound of the metal hatch door opened and slammed shut.
"I wonder what he does when he goes home. I mean, I never see him around during patrols and anytime we do run into him, he just goes home and disappears", said Judy.
"I'm sure it's none of our business, Judy", said Nick, "but I'm sure he doesn't just sit around in the dark back at home in some flimsy chair brooding about the rest of the world."
Judy giggled, "Did you really just read my thoughts, Nick?"
"Only if you let me get to say 'Jinx' for thinking what I was thinking!" Nick blurted.
Judy scoffed, "Hey! No fair, I had to suffer through a whole extra pile of paperwork from the last time we played with the Jinx game!"
Nick smirked and chucked, "Alright then, Carrots. You win, no more of it."
Judy grinned, "What would you have asked me to do anyways?"
Nick placed a paw to his chin in thought. He scratched a bit and finally let loose his idea.
"I would've had you call Jake back and make you wear his boots", Nick chucked.
Judy winced at the idea, "What?! Why?!"
Nick was near the point of laughing uncontrollably as he continued to ponder the idea.
"Because I would make you strut runway style down the hallway and watch you stumble all the way there!" Nick began to laugh.
Judy shook her head, "Ha Ha! You would have felt bad if I stumbled and sprained an ankle."
Nick wiped away a tear and calmed himself, "Well, yes. I didn't think of that part, but at least we don't have to see either of those things happening."
"Still is odd though", Judy swiftly remarked.
Nick gave a confused notion, "Yeah, it is odd about where he disappears."
"No not that", Judy retorted, "The fact he as a wolf wears completely covered boots!"
Nick nodded his head in understanding. Not many ever wore shoes and even if some mammal did, they typically had the toes exposed. However, Jake wore a militarized pair of black steel toed boots.
"I still wonder if he runs as fast in them as I remember", said Nick.
"What do you mean?" asked Judy.
Nick remembered and began to explain, "When I was still a very young hustler all he could think about was joining the military and how fast he could run in those boots. He was able to run amazingly fast from what I remember."
"How long have you two been friends?" she continued to question Nick.
Nick tilted his head and tried to remember, "Hmm…about 7 years now. Since he's out of the military now, we're finally able to see each other more often, but with this job that we've thrown on to him, he's really turned into a loner."
Judy giggled, "You mean the job that YOU threw at him, Slick!"
Nick shrugged with raised paws, "Hey, what can I say? Better than him being unemployed still or him becoming homeless."
"Was he really doing THAT bad before?" she persisted.
Nick grimaced, "Carrots, you don't even know the half of it. After he got out of the service, finding work was hard and decent pay was harder. He was unemployed for two months before he came back my way asking to help with my hustles, but of course YOU fixed that problem."
Judy nodded, "Darned straight I did!"
"Well after he found out I was a cop now, he was so close to hitting the point of no return that I just had to think of anything to try and get him out of his hole. The only thing that hit me was to go see Finnick and surprisingly enough, he had a gig that involved Gazelle", Nick continued.
"Since when was Finnick into Gazelle?" Judy winced.
"I think they used to be drinking buddies or something", said Nick.
She giggled and said, "If I ever heard one of Gazelle's songs blaring out of Finnik's van, I would roll around and die laughing. He just doesn't strike me as a mammal who is into her kind of music."
Nick chuckled along, "Trust me, Carrots, you're not alone with that thought."
Whilst the bunny and fox humored themselves outside of Gazelle's room, Jake finally made his way home. The Grande Pangolin Arms wasn't much, but it was simple and had all the necessities. Best part of all, IT WAS CHEAP! His red eyes fixed on the door to his apartment. After a long day of guarding a VIP and climbing all the stairs to get to the top floor of the building, he could use a rest. He turned the key and made his way inside the very cold room.
Finally feels great to be in this cold room after sweating my tail off with the humidity outside. It just HAD to choose to rain today in Savanna Central!
He reached under his bed and pulled out two gun cases for his rifle and pistol, placed them inside and securely locked them both. After he placed them back under the bed, he removed his plate carrier and boots and sat them on a wooden armor stand. He wouldn't need them anyway with his next soon-to-be task.
"Two hours….and then we hunt!", Jake whispered under his breath.
Briskly, he removed his clothes and sat them on the desk chair, ready to be used again momentarily. As quickly as the arctic wolf had shut his eyes, he awoke to the buzzing alarm that read 01:05.
No dreams, I guess that's some good news about very brief sleep.
Jake stretched and jumped back into his clothes, but reached under the bed again for a knife and tomahawk. He made sure to attach them to his belt before he synched it down tight. After he laced his boots, he opened his window and climbed onto the roof. The top floor had its advantages; easy access to the roof being the first. Once on the roof, he leaped onto the nearby roofs of other buildings until he was near a few back alleys surrounded in darkness. He then gazed at the darkness below him and pulled out his knife and tomahawk.
"Go on ahead, make a stupid move somebody! I dare ya!"
08:47
Z.P.D. Headquarters
All the officers sat around in the bullpen, casually going about their daily routines. Some gossiped over getting lucky the night previous, some about the Gazelle concert, a few about rival football teams and one conversation about something to do with cheese.
"Why did we stay up so late?!" said Nick with his face flat on the table.
Judy, holding her head in pain, replied, "Because the booze was free and Gazelle and Finnick started playing Cards Against Mammality."
"How many other mammals were there at the afterparty again?" a hungover Nick asked for remembrance.
"A few hundred, I think?" Judy guessed.
Nick groaned at the number because it felt as if the noise around him was the same as it was only hours ago at the afterparty. Suddenly the conversations were broken by Higgins' call of "Attention". Every mammal in the room erupted into their usual shouting and howling, which gave the small duo both a quick throbbing jolt to their heads.
"Alright! Everybody sit! SHUT IT!" Bogo shouted.
Everyone in the room sat and silenced themselves like clockwork.
"I've got 3 items on the docket today! First: Wilde! Hopps!", shouted Bogo.
Both mammals immediately recovered from their haze and stood upright at attention.
Chief Bogo took a deep breath and calmly spoke, "Good game of Cards Against Mammality last night! Had me rolling!"
Everyone in the bullpen immediately laughed hysterically at their notion of preparing to get chewed out by the Chief, with Nick and Judy soon following along.
Nick added, "You know I had you, Sir, when I played the card about the Ferris Wheel full of-"
Bogo cut him off, "Not during shift, Wilde! Or EVER for that matter!"
This earned him another slew of chuckles behind Nick.
Chief Bogo continued, "Second: It's still calling for rain over Savanna Central for the next week. Who cares! Third: We have a report of some vigilante killer right here in our own precinct and I want him gone yesterday so that City Hall doesn't come riding up my tail wondering why he's on the loose!"
There was a shift in the air inside the bullpen at the chief's last statement. A murder case or two is usually handled by the regular detectives, but a reported vigilante that is getting called to be investigated by regular cops is something that is nowhere near normal. Some of the bigger mammals shifted in the chairs, some stood up still and stiff as a board.
"Assignments!" Bogo shouted, "Officers Grizzoli, Fangmeyer, Wolford, you patrol Sahara Square."
Nick drowned out the booming noise that was Bogo's voice by rubbing the aching temples on his head. The hangover started to creep its way in and hit him like a freight train. When he put his paws back down, he noticed everyone else had left and received their assignments, aside from his favorite rabbit officer next to him.
"And finally, Officers Hopps, Wilde, your assignment is to bring this mammal above the law back down to my level! Find him, make the arrest, but avoid DIRECT approach", Bogo informed his young officers.
Judy attentively responded, "Yes sir! We'll do our best to bring him into-"
"I'm stopping you right there, Hopps! I appreciate the enthusiasm, but this isn't your typical 'one man thinks he's above the law' cases that the detectives usually get swarmed with! This is worse than either of you are thinking!" Bogo interrupted.
Nick asked, "What exactly is making this so bad that the regular officers need to be called in to do detectives work again?"
Chief Bogo huffed and bluntly continued, "Due to the fact that this single mammal was able to murder six mammals in a timespan of two hours and across twelve city blocks, without even using any guns! We know it's the same mammal as well from the wounds on the victims. And here's the icing on the cake; all of the victims are all small-time gang lieutenants from around Savannah Central!"
Judy sighed, "Oh sweet cheese and crackers…."
"I'll expect more info about this in the next two days, today included!" said Bogo and he stormed out of the room and throwing the case file to the duo.
Judy and Nick looked at each other, then down to the case file, then back to each other and again at the file.
"Looks like we got our work cut our for us, as usual, Fluff", Nick stated with a sigh.
Judy shook her head and nonchalantly added, "Don't we always?"