A/N: Yay, another story by me. This time it is my life's mission to see this through to the end.
Judy's promotion had barely come as a surprise to Nick. The fact that she was being transferred out of Precinct 1? That bit shocked him. Not that he wasn't happy for her, he just wasn't happy...for them. Sure, they could still hang out on their days off, or after work, but he had grown accustomed to patrols with her.
He cleared his thoughts, sipping from his coffee. He still had this last day with her, why not make it last? Live life in the moment, right?
"And finally, before I begin handing out assignments, I have to acknowledge the newest addition to our little team," Bogo's voice was practically dripping with disdain. Clearly, this was not something he wanted to do. Nick did find it odd that Bogo would even point out more than the fact that more people existed.
Sighing, Bogo stood straighter as a rabbit walked down through the bullpen, "This is 'Commander Savage', he's been assigned here to work on taking down something. Now you all have the same amount of briefing as I do," The buffalo huffed, and Nick understood almost immediately. Bogo was flying blind here, and he did not like that one bit.
Savage took off his sunglasses, "As your Chief said, I am here on official business to take down a certain organization that resides in Zootopia. I can't give you much more information, but not much will change in your day to day. I may call upon any of you at any point if I need assistance and...," Jack trailed off, looking back at the Chief.
"You are to give him anything he needs. If Commander Savage asks you to bend over in the showers for him, you'll do it," Bogo was not happy, even remotely.
Nick couldn't help but let a smirk play across his face. The rabbit was doing everything in his ability to remain professional while screwing with the buffalo. Nick glanced over to Judy, hoping she was getting the same amount of enjoyment out of this as he was.
What he found instead, was what appeared to be stars in her eyes. Nick looked back to Savage, who was still explaining his role at the precinct. Savage was a bit taller than Judy, with prominent blue eyes, a lean body, and quite a few stripes decorating him. He was unique, yes. But good looking enough to fall for at first sight? Eh.
As Commander Savage finished up, Bogo started handing out assignments. As he made it down the list to Nick and Judy, the rabbit interjected, "Ah, Chief, I'm going to take these two for a few minutes. You'll have them back in a bit...maybe."
Bogo huffed and walked away, seemingly fighting the urge to slam the door behind him. Sliding from the chair, the fox chuckled and turned to the rabbit, who was seemingly sizing the two of them up. Without further notice, the commander thrust his paw out towards Nick, "Jack Savage, you're Nick Wilde, no?" The rabbit's voice flowed smoothly, faint traces of an accent lingering.
"I know who you are, Stripes," Nick took the paw, gave it a firm shake, then placed his paws into his pockets. Jack repeated the action with Judy, "The question is, why are you pulling us aside?"
"And more importantly, why are you calling yourself a Commander? You are the Jack Savage, first rabbit agent, right?" Judy questioned, speaking a little too fast. Nick bumped her with his tail, in a vain attempt to tell her, "Also, what Nick said: Why pull us specifically away?"
Jack looked between the two, "First: Yes I am that Jack Savage. I'm going with the title of Commander because it sounds more police-like."
"And also because it plays up the ego a bit," Nick quipped, earning him a look from Judy.
"Aaaand because it plays up my ego," Jack paused, trying to remember his train of thought, "Second: I need some mammals who know this city, and how it works, to help me run this operation. I haven't been back to this city in quite a few years. I hear you two know your way around this city," Jack looked over at Nick, "And not just the places the light touches."
Judy glanced between the two, before realization dawned on her, "Commander Savage, are you assuming just because my partner is a fox-"
"Nothing of the sort, Ms. Hopps. I'm merely aware of some possibly ill made choices that dot Mr. Wilde's past, that lead me to believe he has some connections. You assumed the same thing when you first met him, didn't you?" Nick noted how Jack had immediately entered damage control mode, turning the tables on the smaller bunny.
"Can we get to the point here, Savage?" Nick attempted to draw in the conversation.
Jack looked back to the fox, "Yes, Wilde. As I was saying, I a few mammals from the area. Given your individual records...I assumed you were the best duo for the job."
"You assumed wrong, Stripes," Jack seemed to be expecting a different response, so Nick continued, "This duo is about to become an uno. Judy got promoted, or does your intel need some updating?"
"I guess I can work with only you, Nicholas. This would have worked better if you were together, but...," Jack trailed off again.
Nick raised an eyebrow, "I don't think you understand, Stripes. Me and Carrots, we're a package deal. I don't wanna do something like this unless I've got Judy."
Judy turned to Nick, and Nick looked down. Jack looked between them both. The Judy punched him in the arm, "You're doing it. You don't get a say, dumb fox."
Nick stepped back, rubbing his now sore arm, "Carr-"
"He's doing it, Jack," Nick stuffed his hands into his pockets, a bit unhappy that he was being kept out of the conversation that may or may not change his career. Jack looked to him, and Nick gave a quick nod.
Judy hopped up, back to her cheery self, "Well, now that that's settled, I'll leave you two to it! Maybe I'll go see Clawhauser."
Jack stared after her as she quickly exited the room, and Nick did the same. There went his plans of getting the most out of their last day together, "That bunny'll be the death of me," Nick muttered.
Grabbing Nick by the arm, Jack started dragging him from the room, "Now I see who wears the pants in your relationship."
Nick, attempting to escape the grip of the surprisingly strong bunny, scoffed, "We aren't like that. We're just friends."
"Oh? You could've fooled me, and that's high praise. Anyways, back to the mission at hand," Jack had dragged the fox into a small hallway Nick hadn't even known existed, then into a room that was even smaller of a blip on his radar.
And Nick was surprisingly underwhelmed by what he was seeing. Their base of operations was almost as small as a broom closet, with a table, some pinned up pictures, and a blank projection on the wall. There wasn't even a support staff of any kind.
"We're a little...uh," Nick paused, hunting for the right word,"...understaffed."
Jack looked back, "We don't need pencil pushers. We're agents. We've got practically no limits on resources. We could buy a yacht and no one would care."
Nick liked the sound of that, although Jack quickly corrected himself, "We're not going to do that of course. We're going to bring down the fur trafficking ring located somewhere in the area in, around, or between," Jack grabbed a ruler from the table, and motioned to a map, "Sahara Square, and the Rain Forest District."
Nick watched as the rabbit's face twitched into a bit of a smile, looking hopeful that Nick would be at least somewhat impressed. Of what, Nick had no clue, "That's...not a lot to go on there, Stripes."
Jack deflated a bit, "That's where you come in, Wilde. I need you to use your connections to narrow down the location of the next auction. After we bust that, we can triangulate the location of any living victims connected."
"You're getting a bit worked up over there, Jack. Calm down, it's not a lot of material you don't have to work through it that fast," Before Jack could reply, Nick continued, "Not that it isn't a little cute," Nick winked, "But yes, I can dust off some favors, and get a bit of info regarding this whole thing."
Jack slumped into a nearby chair, "Thank you Nick, you're a lifesaver. The only way I could think of getting anywhere near this amount of help would be to go out into the field and storm a few nip dens. Wasn't looking forward to that."
"You sure do talk a lot, don't you?" Nick smirked when the rabbit stopped his rambling.
"Not usually, but I researched you Wilde. You're being uncharacteristically quiet," Nick again noted the damage control method.
Nick sighed, "If you had done your research properly, you would know why," Again Nick was brought back to the impending problem of not having Judy with him.
"Ms. Hopps' promotion has you down then, Mr. Wilde?" Nick narrowed his eyes a little. This rabbit was a little too good at hearing the unsaid and seeing the unseen. Jack seemed to be observing his reaction intently.
Nick cleared his throat, "Do we have anything else to work with here? Known mammals? Evidence?"
Jack stood up again, grabbed three files, and tossed them to the fox. Nick skimmed through them all. Nothing of importance stuck out to him. Low level criminals who had barely even been mentioned in passing to the fox before, one burned out transport van, and a few unknown substances found in the van.
Nick sighed and took the open seat next to Jack, "Guess you weren't lying, you really do need me here."
"I wouldn't have tracked you down if I didn't," Jack said, the serious yet somehow upbeat tone from earlier had faltered.
"And here I thought you just had me around for my dashing looks," Nick tossed the files on the table.
"It's definitely not a downside, having someone as charming as you as a partner. Hopps doesn't know what she's missing," Jack said, snatching up the loosely discarded files and putting them back into a filing cabinet.
As soon as Nick had gotten the keys from Judy, Nick and Jack hopped into the police cruiser usually reserved for Zootopia's most famous crime fighting duo. Nick barely waited for the suit-clad rabbit to buckle up before quickly exiting the garage.
Nick looked over at Jack as the began cruising at a steady pace, "A few warnings here: No snide comments with this guy. He's a good friend of mine, and he tolerates my comments but from you? He'll bite your face off."
"I can defend myself, Mr. Wilde," Nick chuckled.
"It's not a matter of defending yourself, Stripes. You just have to keep your mouth shut, 'kay?" Nick asked, although it was more of a statement than a question.
Jack sighed, and opened the glovebox, "You wouldn't happen to have any crackers here would you? Eh, probably not."
"Actually...check the center console," Jack nearly pounced on the opportunity, grabbing the crackers, "Skip breakfast, Stripes?"
Nick assumed the response was a yes, but couldn't hear it properly, as the rabbit was ravishing the small box.
Instead of paying attention to his new "partner's" odd eating habits, Nick focused on the road. Driving around the general area Finnick would normally be parked at, Nick couldn't spot the familiar mural anywhere. Deciding that he'd do one more lap before searching somewhere else, Nick quickly spotted a small sedan that had just pulled into an alley.
Parking the cruiser, Nick slipped from the car and moved his arm to rest on his holster. The duo approached, and Nick relaxed as an old partner got out of the car, "Finn, where's the van bud?"
The small fox spun around quickly, "Stolen, and when I find the fucks who did it, I'll take their-"
"Don't continue, I want at least some plausible deniability here," Nick said, paws raised. Jack eyed the fennec warily.
"And who's this? Seems like you've got a type Nick, although at least the last bunny you brought around here was a girl...," Finnick looked Jack over, "Didn't peg you as a fag, Nick."
Jack was about to comment before Nick cut in, "Now now Finnick, we both know you'll bang anything that moves."
"You've got me wrong here, I'll bang any girl that moves. Pretty sure that's," Finnick gestured to Jack, "not a girl."
Nick shoved his paws into his pockets, "Anyways, it's not even like that. We're here because we need some help with a case."
"Oh so this is your partner, but not your partner," Finnick said smugly, "I get it now."
Jack had to practically restrain himself. He didn't like this other fox very much, "This is serious, Finn. We need your help, then we'll get out of your fur."
"Oh so it is a relationship, sorry to burst your bubble but I'm not exactly a marriage counselor," Jack groaned and turned away.
"Finn...," Nick growled out, "I'll owe you if you do this for me. A cop who owes you a favor, you know how useful that'll be? Especially if I decide to impound this car for having no sticker or registration."
"Oh come on, Nick," Finnick snickered, "Although I'm sure you're striped friend is already doing that."
"Okay, Finnick one last chance here. Can we ask you some questions?" Nick was exhausted by this already.
"Fine. But you owe me," Nick nodded, and motioned Jack over.
"Mr. Finnick," Jack began, cutting off another remark, "Can you tell us about any mammals connected to the Zootopia fur trafficking?"
Finnick scoffed and leaned back, "I can tell you something: You shouldn't be the leading cops here. Mr. Tribal Fur over here, and The Carrot. If you're ever caught snooping around that place you'll be skinned and sold to them reptiles from down south."
"We can protect ourselves, thank you very much," Jack said, patience running thin, "Now, can you tell us anything or not?"
The tiny fox glared at Jack, "Talk to Turlington or Weaselton. They'll know more than me."
Nick tapped Jack on the shoulder and motioned him to head back to the car, "You've been a real help here, Finn. Let's do this again sometime."
"And risk being branded a rat? No thanks," Finnick turned around and started rooting around in his car. Nick thought he spotted some paint cans in the backseat.
"Yeah, best get to work on the new mural," Finnick just flipped him off, and Nick took his leave.
Sliding back into the cruiser, Nick noted the stern look on Jack's face. Starting the car, Nick chuckled, "Told ya, he takes some getting used to."
"It's not that. Well, it is that," Jack paused, clearly thinking, "Did you say he owned a van? And this is the first time you've heard of it being stolen?"
"Yeah...," Nick was unsure of where this was going, but didn't like it either way.
Jack pulled out another cracker, and nibbled on it, "Did you notice that stuff coating his paws?"
"No, but he usually has some sort of scam going that requires handwork. Probably something to do with that, right?" Nick had a better idea of what Jack was implying.
"What if Finnick has upgraded from small time scams, Nick? I know that I've never met this fox before but...the small amount of evidence we have is aiming towards him," Nick was about to interject, but again was stopped. No one seemed to enjoy interruptions today, "Nick, he had a van. We just found a burned one. Mysterious substance found in the van, mysterious substance on Finnick."
Nick pulled over, and turned towards his new partner, "That's purely circumstantial evidence. Hell, it's probably just a coincidence. How about we get more evidence before we jump to conclusions?"
"It might be a coincidence, Nick. But I don't want your personal experiences with this fox to affect your judgment later," Jack said, and Nick huffed.
"Apparently your research and sources can only tell you so much, because you'd know that would never happen with something this important," Jack was a bit taken aback by the hostility in Nick's voice.
Jack sighed, "I'm sorry Nick, just don't forget that sometimes an obvious lead is the one we should pursue the hardest. I'm not exactly used to detective work anymore, but I'm trying to let you take the lead here. We need to shut these guys down for as long as possible, and that means gathering all the evidence. Even for minor cogs in the machine."
Nick just sat back in his seat, "I need a drink. Join me?"
A/N: First time writing Jack, so I'm still kinda experimenting here. Especially with the Nick/Jack dynamic. Either way, I'm pretty confident this is at least passable. Until next time. (Sorry for errors, me and my beta had a bit of a comms problem)