Chapter 1: Unexpected guests
Author's Note: While this is pretty standalone, I recommend reading "My Turn to Drive" to get full continuity with this story.
Everyone gathered in the meeting room. Fangmeyer and Pennington were in the corner gossiping to each other. McHorn and Higgins were in the middle of an arm wrestling match while Delgado was tricking Wolford into howling, while Nick and Judy were sitting together in their large chair. Nick grabbed her paw with his and stared deeply into her eyes.
"Are you ready for this Carrots?" Nick asked.
"Ready as I'll ever be, Red." Judy responded. Eyelashes batting in his direction.
"Well, in that case..." Nick said raising and eyebrow. "One, two, three, four. I declare a thumb war!" and the two got into a heated thumb wrestling match.
Nick tried to psyche out Judy. "You can't win Fluff! My thumb's got way more reach than your little digits."
"I'll have you know officer Wilde, I'm the thumb wrestling champion of my burrow!" With that, Judy managed to snag the tip of Nick's thumb right at the claw.
She started to count. "One...two..."
Nick protested "No fair! You only have my claw!"
"...Three! She yelled. "You lose!"
"If only I had kept my claws trimmed. I was a manicure away from victory."
Just then, Chief Bogo entered then. "ATENN-HUTT!" Yelled Higgins and everyone stood at attention.
"At ease." Bogo spoke. "Thank you Higgins. Things are getting worse and we're no closer to finding this 'Big Cheese' than we were last week when this all started. There have been more cases of rodent criminal activity and what's worse, predator crime is on the rise!"
This bit of news surprised Nick.
Bogo continued. "Whomever this 'Big Cheese' is, he is anti-prey and the criminal underground know this. Now, the rodent underground is trying to force innocent rodents into 'paying tribute' to the Big Cheese and some rodents have gone missing or have been kidnapped!"
Bogo turned his attention to a picture of two mice taped on the wall. "This is Mr. and Ms. Squeakington. Mr. Squeakington is the CEO of Mousey's and has a net worth of 300 million dollars. They have both been kidnapped, but there has been no ransom and no clue where they could have gone. They have two children who have also gone missing and may have been kidnapped themselves. If any of you find any information about these missing mice, please report it to the ZPD immediately! Any questions?"
Nick raised his hand.
"Wilde, I swear if this is a mouse-related pun..."
"No sir." Nick said a serious tone. "Have you questioned any bats as my...contact recommended?"
"Only a few that we apprehended through normal circumstances. We cannot just profile a certain species for arrest just because your anonymous source says some of them are the heads of the rodent underground. It would look bad on our department. As a predator, I'm sure you wouldn't want to be singled out."
"I understand sir." and Nick sat in his chair.
"Maybe we need an anonyMOUSE source!" Judy joked.
The entire room groaned. Bogo rubbed his temples. "Hopps. Seriously?"
"Sorry" she said and slumped into her chair, embarrassed.
"I swear, I can't take her anywhere." Nick added.
"Well, with that awful moment over, let's get to sending you on your way." Bogo said and he started to do roll call. "Delgado and Higgins? Rainforest District. Fangmeyer and Wolford? Savannah Central. McHorn and Pennington? Tundratown."
"It'll give those two an excuse to snuggle for warmth." He thought to himself. McHorn and Pennington tried to keep their romance a secret, but everyone in the department knew.
Bogo continued. "Hopps and Wilde? Parking duty."
Nick and Judy started to protest at the same time. Each talking over each other.
"Again? Sir, it's been a week!"
"If predators are getting out of hand, I need to be on the streets to stop it!"
"We want to be on the Big Cheese case!"
"We CAN'T let the prey/pred tensions become like last year again!"
"I feel so helpless!"
"ENOUGH!" Bogo shouted. "I'm sorry! I didn't know you felt that way! Here, let me pull a squad car out my arse!" and he bent over and pretended to pull something out his butt. "Oh that's right! You two wrecked the last two squad cars! Besides, a few days ago, you two were happy to get parking duty." The only reason the were happy before was due to Nick's poor driving leading to a second crash and his near-death experience.
"Yeah, well it's starting to stink!" Nick added.
"Too bad." Bogo replied. "However..."
Nick and Judy's ears both perked up. "Yes?!" They said simultaneously.
Bogo sighed. "We have a new vehicle being worked on in the garage. It should be ready for testing next week. If you can handle it, you can have it."
"YES!" They both shouted and high-fived each other.
"Wreck this and I'll fire both of you on the spot without hesitation!" Bogo bellowed.
"Y-yes sir!" Judy said nervously.
"Just to be clear, SHE'LL be doing the driving, right?" Nick asked.
"It's built for a small mammal so, yes."
"Thank you!" Nick said with a sigh of relief.
"Dismissed!" The chief shouted and the two of them left.
They did their usual job that day. Nick would crack a joke, Judy would roll her eyes. They did over 200 tickets that day. Nick was getting so bored at the job that he actually started putting effort into it just for a change of pace. Later that day, they hung up their uniforms and started walking home.
"So. Ready for our weekend in Bunny Burrow in a few days?" Judy asked.
"In a word? No. Do I have a choice?"
"No." Judy grinned.
"Well that's that. Wanna get some take out and watch a movie?" Nick asked. "I've got Hitflix since my neighbor didn't bother to use a password on his wi-fi."
"No thanks." Judy replied. "I'm gonna try to get some extra sleep since Bucky and Pronk are gone this weekend."
"I thought their fighting help you get to sleep?"
"To a point. But they tend to yell all night and always get into my personal business. To be honest, I'm starting to get sick of that tiny place. I don't even have a kitchen! Just a tiny microwave."
"Well, you get some rest Fluff. I'm gonna marathon some DareWeevil before my neighbor realizes his mistake." Then they said their goodbyes and headed out for the evening.
Nick went and got himself some Fast food at "Bug Taco" and proceeded to head into his apartment building. He was greeted by Miss Logan, a wolverine with a very nasty disposition and a lack of respect for personal space.
She screamed into Nick's face. He pulled back his ears and closed his eyes as he got a face full of wolverine spit.. "YOU'RE LATE ON YOUR RENT AGAIN WILDE!"
"I'll have your money tomorrow. You know, this wouldn't be a problem if you had an ATM in the lobby."
"THOSE THINGS COST MONEY TO LEASE! AND WHY DON'T YOU CLEAN YOUR APARTMENT?! I CAN'T DO A DELOUSING IF YOU HAVE CRAP EVERYWHERE! IT'LL ATTRACT VERMIN!"
"Then maybe you'll finally land yourself a man."
"THAT'S IT! YOU GOT THREE DAYS TO FIND YOURSELF A NEW PLACE BECAUSE I'M KICKING YOU OUT!"
"Fine! Maybe I can find a landlady whose volume isn't stuck at eleven!" He then left to his room while Miss Logan went to her phone.
"HELLO! LITTLE SNEEZERS PIZZA?! I'D LIKE A MEDIUM STUFFED CRUST WITH EXTRA CRICKETS! YES THIS IS THE NORMAL VOLUME OF MY VOICE! WHY DO YOU ASK?!"
Nick walk into his apartment surprised to find his lights were on. He swore he turned them off earlier. He put his bag off food on the kitchen counter and then noticed that the T.V. Was on with the Pawstation on pause during a game of 'Rabbit and Tank'.
"Someone's been using my T.V.!" He said out loud. "Finnick?" He thought for a second. He got excited and looked outside, but his parking space was empty.
He then went over to the kitchen. A box of cereal was knocked over and some of the cereal bits were chewed on. "Someone's been eating my food!" He then started to sniff around. He caught a scent coming from his bedroom.
He opened the door slowly. "Hello?" No answer. The room was dusty as he never used it. The only company it's had recently was Judy taking a nap on it a few days prior. Thanks to his sensitive nose, he could still smell a faint bit of her perfume lingering in the air. It have him a smile. He took a big whiff only for the dust in the room to enter his nose and caused him to sneeze.
"AAACHOO!"
"Bless you."
"Thank you!...Wait a minute."
Next Chapter: Vermin Infestation