A/N: Alright, dipping my toes back into the fanfiction world for the first time in a while. Reviews of all kinds are welcome. Thank you to all my editors on reddit. They're my redditors!-wait
If there was one thing that Nick Wilde hated about his new job as a ZPD police officer, it was the mornings. In his old life, he set his own hours. His days rarely started before ten, and if he wasn't feeling like working in the sun, there were plenty of saps to con at night. Now, however, he had to be up at 6:30 A.M. sharp, and at the station by 8. He had heard enough stories about officers showing up late and being saddled with traffic duty for two months to ensure he was at the station at 7:45. His watch told him it was precisely 7:43 as he opened the glass doors leading into the precinct. Clawhauser was reading something on his computer when he saw Nick walk in. The portly cheetah waved excitedly.
"Good morning, Nick!"
Nick smiled. Starting the day with Clawhauser's cheeriness made every morning more bearable.
"Morning, Clawhauser. Anything interesting on ZNN?"
Since he spent a majority of each day surfing the web, Clawhauser was far and away the best source of gossip at the precinct. Regular news, too, but mostly gossip.
"Ooh, yes! You won't believe what happened at Gazelle's concert-"
Nick would never know whether or not he'd believe what happened, because the door opened and Clawhauser trailed off, eyes locked on the door. Nick turned, and instantly understood why. As a hustler, Nick had developed an instinct for animals. He could take one quick look and someone and know if they were a likely mark, how confident they were, even roughly how intelligent. For these two, however, Nick didn't even need a second. From the moment he clapped eyes on the badger and the wolf who just walked in, his instinct started shouting at him to book it. Both wore black suits, and dark sunglasses, and the badger carried a simple tan briefcase. But the way they carried themselves, was unbearably intense. They weren't animals, they were heat seeking missiles in fur. He hoped he wasn't their target. Both he and Clawhauser stared in silence as the pair walked up to the front desk.
"Good morning, officer. I need to meet with Chief Bogo."
The badger's voice was soft, but not quiet, not really. Quiet voices got drowned out, but that voice was the voice everyone else would lower their own voices to hear. It was a dangerous voice, and it had paralyzed Clawhauser.
"Uh….I'm sorry, y-y-you'll need to make an appointment, and-"
The badger cut him off by pulling a badge out from his suit jacket and showing Clawhauser. Annoyingly, Nick couldn't see the badge from his angle. Underneath his fur, the blood drained from the cheetah's face.
"Oh. Okay. You can go right up to his office."
The badger smiled the smile of a predator sitting down to a meal of rare steak.
"Thank you, officer."
The suited pair walked away. The wolf had stayed completely silent, and the badger had remained impeccably polite, yet the poor desk officer looked like he had been shot. As the two passed him, the badger turned and looked at Nick, and nodded slightly. Nick swallowed, and nodded back. His gut had frozen. Nick turned back to Clawhauser, shaken.
"Clawhauser….who the cuss were those two?"
Clawhauser's eyes didn't break off from the two suits when he answered.
"IAB", he whispered. Nick frowned slightly.
"What's the IAB?"
The cheetah turned to Nick.
"The Internal Affairs Bureau. They're like cops for cops. They report directly to the Mayor, and they got all kinds of crazy powers. They investigate police, make sure they're following the rules. One word from them, and your career is over."
Nick blanched.
"Jeez. They sure looked the part."
His joke fell flat as they both look up to where the chief's office was, where unstoppable force was about to meet an immovable object.
Chief Bogo liked simple. Simple meant the city was running smoothly. And, thanks to the efforts of Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde, his job had been comparatively simple for the last 11 months.
There was a soft knock on the door, drawing Bogo away from his computer. Strange, he had no appointments that morning. And he had specifically instructed Clawhuaser to make sure everyone who came to see him got an appointment. The cheetah might be kind to a fault, but he was also incredibly persistent. It wasn't like him to let something like this slide. Still, Bogo wasn't doing anything essential.
"Come in."
The door opened, and two large packages of complicated walk in. Their dress and demeanor screamed bureaucrat at him, and the only thing Bogo hated more than insubordinate officers was bureaucrats. Hated, and maybe, just a little, feared.
"Good morning gentlemen. What can I do for you?" Bogo's normal reaction to an unknown pair coming into his office would be icy disdain, but his instinct told him it would be best not to anger these two.
"Good morning chief," the badger said, smiling slightly. It set Bogo on edge. "I am Officer Murray, and this is my colleague, Officer Pierre." He gestured to his partner, who was sniffing the air intently. "We are from the Internal Affairs Bureau."
On the inside, Chief Bogo felt a rare twinge of panic. What the cuss were the IAB doing here?
"Oh. I see. Well please, have a seat."
"No thank you, we'd prefer to remain standing."
"Very well. What brings you two to the precinct?"
"Our visit here is twofold: firstly, we are to do a general sweep, ensure nothing has grown legs and walked out of the evidence lock up. Second, we have received a few reports about two of your newest officers. The fox, Officer Nick Wilde-"
Not surprising, Bogo thought.
"-and the rabbit, Officer…"
Murray reached into his jacket and pulled out a scrap of paper.
"Ah, yes, Officer Judy…"
"HOPPS!"
Nick practically shouted as he ran into the cubicle he and his partner shared. His tiny partner turned around to stare at him quizzically.
"Nick? What the cuss-"
"Carrots! Quick! I need to know: the IAB are here. How scared should we be?"
Her eyes went from confused to terrified in a second.
"The IAB? Oh cuss…Nick, you cut ties with everyone from your old life when you joined the force, right?"
Nick shuffled a bit.
"I mean, mostly, yeah…"
He yelped in pain as Judy launched herself out of her chair and punched his arm.
"You idiot! The IAB goes through everything with a fine toothed comb! They see you talking to one of your old hustling buddies, you get put under the microscope!"
Nick rubbed his arm, feeling miffed.
"Oh, c'mon, Carrots, I got nothing to fear! I was pardoned for anything I'd done before the Night Howlers incident."
Judy snorted. He found it weirdly adorable.
"You dumb fox, you don't know how these guys work. They get a lead, they clamp on to it, and they don't. Let. Go. They turn over everything. Bank accounts, call records, security footage, if it leaves a record, they're on it."
"They can do that? Even we don't have that much power."
"The mayor gives them that power. The mayor has decided that a crooked cop is so damaging, it's worth entrusting a few select investigators with incredible power."
"Jeez…now I'm actually a little-"
The intercom crackled to life.
"Officers Hopps and Wilde, please report to my office." It was Bogo, and he didn't sound happy. Then again, his default state was unhappy, so that wasn't unusual. But there was an edge to his voice, that made the cops exchange nervous glances. Nick mouthed, "You don't think…" Judy responded simply by shrugging. It could be they were being given a special assignment, it could be the IAB was bringing down the hammer.
There was only one way to find out.
Normally, Nick and Judy in Bogo's office meant one of two things: Nick had crossed a line during the morning briefing, or Judy had been overzealous in the pursuit of a case. Today, however, Bogo seemed to be on their side as he took off his glasses and rubbed his temples.
"I'm going to be blunt with you two," he began.
"What a surprise," Nick muttered under his breath, which earned him an elbow from his partner.
"I'm sure you both know by now that the Internal Affairs Bureau is here. And they're here investigating…you two."
Though it wasn't unexpected, both partners felt their guts turn to ice, and two of brains immediately went into overdrive, trying to figure out what they were being investigated for.
"They're gonna be setting up an interrogation in the usual room. They wanted to talk to you first, Judy."
The rabbit swallowed and nodded. Bogo nodded back.
"Alright. Nick, while Judy's being interrogated, stick around the office. I'm sure you have paperwork you need to do. Dismissed."
And with that, Bogo turned back to his work. Judy and Nick left the office, Nick trembling slightly. Judy noticed and frowned.
"What are you worried about, you sly fox?"
Despite his fear, Nick smiled.
"Clever bunny. I'm just…worried that my first honest job in my life is gonna be taken away from me because of some overzealous bureaucrat. You know that I've gone straight, but they don't. All they see is a sleazy fox who's suddenly become a cop."
"Just tell the truth, Nick." She smiled slyly. "For once in your life."
Nick smirked and gave her a light punch in the shoulder. Judy looked around, checking to make sure they were alone in the hallway. She jumped up and gave him a peck on the cheek.
"Don't worry about it. We're going to be just fine."
Officer Judy Hopps was nervous.
It was understandable, of course. The job she had been working towards all her life was on the line. These two IAB suits would single handedly decide whether or not she could stay a police officer. If they decided she had broken a law or crossed a line, she would be stripped of her badge, and barred from ever re-applying to the force. Beyond that, she'd never be able to get a job in any kind of law enforcement or security ever again. Having the black mark of an IAB investigation was anathema for the ZBI or any private security company. If she was blacklisted, it was back to Bunnyborough for her. Her foot thumped against the chair. She shouldn't be this nervous. She'd trained in interrogation back at the academy. This was practically lesson one: let the perp sit in the room, stewing in their own guilt. Then come in, offer a sympathetic ear, let them pour out all that stress. It was only used on the basic, street level criminals.
So why was it working on her?
A rubber band of tension in her gut snapped when the door swung open, and the two IAB officers entered. Judy's police instincts kicked in, and she took a mental snapshot of the pair, getting as many details as possible: one badger, one wolf, both in black suits, both wearing sunglasses, the badger with a battered tan briefcase. The wolf simply stood in the back of the room, leaning against the wall. The badger placed the briefcase on the table and extended a paw.
"Officer Hopps? I am Officer Murray, of the Internal Affairs Bureau, and that is my colleague, Officer Pierre."
Judy hopped up on the table and shook his paw.
"Pleasure to meet you, Officer Murray, Officer Pierre."
The wolf simply nodded. Both Judy and Murray say down. As he opened the briefcase, Judy decided to speak up and say what had been rattling through her mind all morning.
"If I may ask, what am I being investigated for?"
Murray chuckled slightly as he arranged papers in front of him. Once they were in the right place for him, he pulled a package of Camel cigarettes and lit one with a silver Hippo lighter. In the background, his partner did the same. He took a long drag, and blew a cloud of smoke into the air. Judy's sensitive nose twitched. She was used to the smell of tobacco, living in the city required it, but she'd never been in a room with a smoker before. It was not pleasant.
"You are under investigation for torture, violating police procedure, and possible mob connections."