Chapter 1: Setting the stage.
Nick groaned heavily, as he heard his phone playing a rather familiar melody. Muttering something under his breath, the fox slowly reached for the phone resting on a nightstand. Staring at the glowing display, his eyes finally managed to recognize the image of the smiling bunny on it. Letting out a frustrated sigh, Nick rolled on his back and stared at the ringing phone in his hand. He could just ignore the call and continue sleeping, but he'd probably get several dozen text messages within the next five minutes, ten minutes later he'll receive messages on his answering machine, fifteen minutes later he'll probably get more calls and twenty minutes later he'll hear banging on his apartment door followed by a familiar voice. So, the fox had to question himself, were those twenty minutes of sleep worth it so he'd just get his partner worried followed by a stern lecture from her on how he should always be in contact. Closing his eyes, he exhaled once more and finally answered the call.
"Nicholas Wilde speaking…." He said, trying to sound like he was half asleep, then again he somewhat was. "State your name, so I can murder you once I'm fully awake…."
"Nick! Are you still in bed? C'mon, time to get up and enjoy the morning" Judy's eager voice replied on the other side. While Nick didn't mind hearing her voice, but when it was this early in the morning, the fox had to fight every urge not to yell at her.
"Ngh….Carrots, for the love off…It's like four AM. Our shift doesn't start until ten, let me sleep…." Nick replied, sounding as whiny as much as he could. Though, in the back of his head he knew it was pointless to argue with her. If there's something he learned from their partnership, is that Judy never knew when to give up, and yet that was something the fox liked about her.
"Nick, I'm going to be at your place in an hour, so you better be dressed before I arrive." The bunny's said sternly on the other end of the line, making Nick roll his eyes.
"Aaaaww…An here I thought you could join me in the shower~" He replied, mentally picturing the bunny now probably going the darkest shade of red from that comment or least tapping her foot from anger.
"Just be ready when I arrive!" The bunny's voice yelled, before the line went dead. Sighing, Nick tossed the phone to the side.
Lying in bed, the fox stared at the ceiling for least two more minutes before finally deciding to get out of bed. Taking his phone, he picked a random song from his collection, after which he made his way towards the shower. Feeling the hot water hit his fur; Nick then closed his eyes and gave a soft sigh. There were times when he would ask himself a simple question, was all this real? Did he really get a new chance in life? Became a cop and wasn't seen as just a thief or a dangerous predator? Sometimes Nick thought this was all just a dream, that in reality he killed Judy back there in the pit or that he never met her and instead is drowning his sorrows in some bar with Finnick. Opening his eyes, the fox took a deep breath and exhaled once again. Shutting off the water, he quickly dried himself and began getting dressed. As he was adjusting his uniform, a set of photos caught his eye. There were roughly four photographs sitting on a small coffee table, approaching them Nick carefully studied each photo. The first was of him when he was young; his mother standing behind him, while the little fox's eyes were filled with hope and dreams a wide smile on his cute little face and even his mother was smiling, despite the situation they both were in. The second thought was of Nick in his teens, wearing a prominent looking suit with a pair of large polar bears at his side, while on his palm stood a pair of shrews, the day when he joined Mr. Big family and felt he was actually going to be part of something big. The third photo showed Nick much older, with several bruises and cuts as Finnick stood beside him also looking quite roughed up, seeing that made a smirk crawl across Nick's muzzle, as he recalled that wasn't just when he made his first bad con, but also when he met Finnick and became friends with the cute fennec, well he considered him a friend. As far as Nick knew, the little guy probably despised his guts. Moving towards the final photo the fox picked it up and slowly moved his finger across the image of him and Judy at Gazelles concert. Seeing him self smiling like that, Nick could have sworn it was a different fox all together, but instead his eyes were aimed at the bunny beside him. His partner and friend, the one who actually saw some good in him, it was kind of weird how much he felt for the cute little bunny. At times, he even wondered if he didn't feel something more than just friendship, but he'd usually brush off those feelings, thinking he was just being stupid. His train of thought was stopped, when he heard several knocks on his door, accompanied by his partner's peppy voice.
"Nick! You better be ready or so help me this door is coming down!" Rolling his eyes again, Nick placed the photo on its spot. Grabbing his phone, earphones, shades and gun, the fox then opened the door and leaned on its side.
"I believe one needs to have a warrant to do that, Carrots~" The fox replied, staring down at the bunny before him.
In his response, Judy crossed her palms under her chest as she tapped her foot impatiently. Whenever, Judy got frustrated with him, her foot would start tapping or she'd twitch her nose and both things would make the bunny look cuter than she already was. Sometimes Nick would just frustrate her on purpose, just to get the same response from her and maybe just to see her blush. Slipping his shades on, the fox closed the door behind him.
"C'mon let's head out, Carrots. Before you tap holes trough the floor" Nick joked, as they headed outside.
The ride towards the station was rather peaceful, with Nick mostly listening to some tunes as Judy was checking her messages. Though on a few occasions the fox would pass a glance or two at his partner, but would quickly look away before their eyes met. Mentally kicking himself, Nick tried to shake off the blush that was starting to heat up on his cheeks.
"So, Carrots you got any plans for today?" He suddenly asked, making Judy break away from her phone as she gave him a puzzled look "I mean…After work and stuff."
"Oh, well maybe hit the gym..mm..I dunno, why?" She asked, staring at the fox with those big adorable eyes, which made his cheeks start to heat up further.
"W-Well..mmm…just thought we could hang out ya know…go out or something like that." Nick stammered, rubbing the back of his neck while a smile crept up on Judy's little face.
"Nick, are you asking me out?" She asked in a playful tone, adding more red to the foxes face.
"W-What? Get real Carrots! I thought..just..ya know…we'd hang out, I mean we've been partners f-for t-three weeks…and well, we kind of barely know each other." Nick quickly replied, trying to sound as cool as possible. Though, while it made Judy giggle she nodded her head.
"Sure, I'd love to grab a drink with you after the work day is done Nick." She replied softly as the two returned to their devices.
The ZPD was busy as always, even before the two officers have arrived. Approaching the desk, Nick watched two tigers dragging away a large gorilla who was screaming something about talking bananas that were made of silk dreams; he also saw two lizards busy arguing with an antelope, something involving drunk driving or the like.
"Heeeeeeeeey! There's the cutest police duo ever~" Clawhausers voice echoed, making Nick snap out of his thoughts again. While Judy rolled her eyes, before tapping her paw against the counter.
"Clawhauser, what did I tell you about the "C" word, hmmm?" She asked with her foot tapping against the marble floor, while the fat cheetah smacked his plump cheeks and gasped.
"Oh! I'm SO sorry Judy! But that's the only word that comes to mind, when I see you both together~" He murmured, trying to sound very sorry for using the "cute" word around Judy. But Nick on the other hand was trying his hardest not to laugh at this
"Anyway, you got anything for us, big buy?" Nick asked, as he saw that Judy was close to turning several different shades of red. That was a sign for a quick topic change before her ears began to emit steam like in those old cartoons.
"Oh? Oh yes, yes! Chief Bogo did have an assignment for you both. Apparently a murder has happened at the Tropical District, he didn't give many details. But said it was very important and you need to get down there ASAP" Clawhauser said, already going for the next donut while both Nick and Judy looked at each other with puzzled expressions. Then, the plump cheetah pushed a small file across the table, with Nick's and Judy's names on it, and the case name itself "Homicide."
Staring at those words, Judy felt a strange chill run down her spine. It wasn't like this was new to her, back in the academy they did go over various stuff that would be involved with homicide from profiling to naming the time of death, infact on a few occasions they even had to study dead bodies up close to understand how the victim perished. But still, this was probably her first case that would involve something like this. Swallowing heavily, her paw slowly reached for the file as she gave a silent nod to Clawhauser and began to leave. Looking at his partner, Nick just nodded to Clawhauser as he followed after the bunny.
"Hey Carrots, you aren't freaked out by this are you?" He asked, his hand gently resting on her shoulder while Judy took a deep breath. Looking back, she flashed a friendly smile.
"No! Ofcourse not, its police work after all, you do end up running into such stuff eventually. So, since this is our first homicide case, I say we better hurry up to the scene!" She declared, flashing a wide smile and then hurried towards the car.
Standing there, Nick tilted his head wondering if this was just an act his friend was pulling to appear brave or was she truly eager about solving her first homicide case. Whatever it was, Nick quickly hurried after the bunny.
As their car finally arrived to the Tropical District, Nick saw several police cars and an ambulance the distance. Looking back at Judy, he was getting more worried about how quite the bunny was during their ride. He understood that this wasn't a case one could joke about, this wasn't busting street racers or even making a raid on a chop shop, but he was still worried about her, to him the bunny what somewhat fragile when it came to spirit and nerve. Then again, he could have been just misjudging her. As they pulled over, Judy got out first with Nick following after her.
"Ya know, it would have been nice if they picked a place somewhere less wet and rainy, eh?" Nick finally spoke out, trying to break the awkward silence, but Judy didn't say anything. But, Nick decided to continue "I mean, I'm all okay with wet and smelly places, but I already had a sho-"
That's when the fox stopped as both he and Judy eyed the crime scene. Above, suspended between two tree's was a female body, several metal hooks were driven into her palms, legs and one in her back with said hooks connected to heavy cables that went down and looked like they were tied to metal spikes that were driven into the ground. Thus, it all resembled as if it was a puppet hung on strings. Swallowing hard, Nick stood still as he eyed the scene for what seemed like ages, until he was broken from his trance by Judy pulling his sleeve. Shaking out of his gaze, the two approached another pair of officers, a grizzly bear and jaguar. It was weird that he was affected by the sight so much, after all he used to be in crime family and he did see on several occasions someone getting "iced" or even worse. So, why was this scene making him feel almost sick.
"Hey Hopps, hey Wilde" The jaguar murmured staring at the two, as his gaze traveled towards the tree, where a pair of baboons were busy trying to remove the body from it.
"Hey guys, what's the story?" Nick asked, his own eyes still glued towards the tree as well.
"Couple of teens found her like that, at first they thought it was some sort of dummy but as they approached closer they saw it wasn't." The grizzly replied, taking sip of some coffee. Judy meanwhile shook her head as she looked around.
"So, do we know who the victim was or the time of death?" She quickly asked, her mind already going all she has learned in the academy, making sure she hasn't missed the slightest detail in such a procedure.
"Not at the moment, we weren't able to find any ID or the victim's purse, so guess that'll be up for the vultures down at the coroner office. Same for the time of death, rain goes trough place several times, so it'll be hard to tell." The grizzly muttered, while Judy rapidly nodded her head as she watched the body being lowered down and placed in a body bag.
"So, did you guys find anything else here?" Nick asked the jaguar, who nodded producing a pair of plastic bags.
Looking at bags contents, both Nick and Judy saw two different objects inside, one held what seemed like a little porcelain figurine of a small fish with it's head looking up and mouth open, while the other bag held a little marionette shaped like a female cat with strings tied around it's legs and arms.
"We found it under the tree, right near the body. Seems like the killers calling card or something." The grizzly commented, while Judy took the bag with the porcelain figurine and studied it carefully.
"Since this is yours and Wilds case, I'd say we're going to be heading off. Have fun, hero cops" The grizzly joked, tossing Nick the other plastic bag as the two began to leave.
Looking back at them, Nick stuck his tongue out at the two with index and middle finger held up in the air.
"Jog on, you twats." He muttered, before looking back at the other bag and then at Judy "So, got any ideas, Carrots?"
"Not the slightest, I'd say until we get a report we won't have much to work with. However…I have this strange feeling this won't be the last figurine." Judy whispered, taking both bags and began to quickly head towards the car.
"If we could know when we're going to die, then our lives probably would have a different meaning. Anyone with the knowledge that they are going to die in the next hour probably won't do anything stupid, pointless or useless."
Those words have never sounded truer than anything else, but what if instead half a century keeps you away from death isn't that the same? I was just ten when my mother died; I remember her body lying right there on the floor in front of me. I didn't do anything, I didn't even approach her. Was I scared? Scared of what, death? Kind of silly to try to understand that death is inevitable, especially when you're just a ten year old. But, in that moment I understood that everyone can choose their time and place of death, after all that's the biggest choice in life, no matter what animal you are. There isn't much beauty in this world; it's all just bland and pointless. If there's beauty in death, than that should have a reason. Maybe it's not beauty or love that saves the world, but death? Maybe it saves everyone from this cruel world and reality.
My first victim wasn't anything special, a poor little snow leopard from the low commune part of the tundra district. Getting her trust wasn't hard, all I had to do was to send a few expensive gifts to her and before I knew it, she was smitten. As she sat in my car, I saw her badly combed frizzled hair done in a ponytail, cheap makeup covering her face, clothes that wouldn't even be worn by hookers or prostitutes while the smell of alcohol seemed like it never left her, poor thing. Almost a candle that never became bright enough and instead was snuffed by the hardships of life, she was busy telling me about how she was once a prominent ballet dancer. But because of some scandal her entire career went down the toilet and instead she ended up as a nightclub dancer. I just nodded my head, pretending that I was listening. It wasn't long before we arrived to our destination, a small clearing in the rainforest district. The night air smelled crisp here, the rain just went trough while the moonlight danced in the headlights of my car. It was simple perfection, a stage set and all prepped up for the actors to take their place.
"Hey, why are we here? You said you'd take me to your mansion." She muttered, her words somewhat slurred. I just gave a soft smile, shaking my head.
"Mansion, my sweet girl. No, this is something much more special, c'mon let's step out for a little. I want to see how well you can dance" I replied taking a sledgehammer and some heavy cables that was in the backseat.
As we stepped out, I watched her prance around; I had to admit that despite what the alcohol did to her mind, her body was still in good shape. But don't worry my sweet, it'll be all over soon and you'll be free from all this pain and misery. Pulling out a metal spike from my coats pocket, I set into the ground and began to drive it in.
"You know my dear, a wise poet once said "If I have nothing to lose, than it cannot be taken away from me." Tell me, do you have anything to lose? Have you even seen life beyond a bottle of poison? Infact, do you think your life even has a meaning now?" I asked, ramming the metal spike deeper into the ground.
"Yes! Ofcourse it does! I'll be a star again! I'll make it out, I know I will! Then, everyone will speak my name and remember me! I know I can do it!" She yelled out, her back turned to me as I slowly approached her.
"Oh, you are right my sweet. Everyone will remember you and your name as well ~" I whispered, raising my sledgehammer above me.