Chapter One

Nick looked up at his ceiling in a stuporous state, blinking a few times as he woke. He yawned loudly as he turned in his bed onto his side, pulling the covers into him more. He laid there for a few moments more, unable to move from the serene comfort of his warm bed, before eventually turning his head to his alarm clock. 10:40 AM. He let out another yawn as he threw the covers off himself, knowing it to be the only way he could leave his bed, before sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "Better go get ready," he murmured to himself as he stood and shuffled his way to the kitchen.

He grabbed his kettle and poured out the old water and filled it up again, letting out another yawn as he did. Now that I'm employed, I won't be able to have such late nights anymore, he thought, looking over to his clothes on his desk whilst waiting for the kettle to boil. He walked over to them before holding up the light-green Hawaiian shirt and the red and blue striped necktie, letting out a sigh as he did. "We had a good run," he told them before setting them down. "You shall always remind me of my past mistakes, and the lackadaisical nature that permanently resides within me." A ding from behind him told Nick that the kettle had finished boiling and he put them down as he walked away from the desk, bringing with him his cup of tea that he didn't manage to finish the night before. He tipped it out and put the mug in the sink before he grabbed another from his cupboard, setting it down and beginning to make another cup of tea.

After realising that his attire would need to change once he actually had jobs to work on as a private eye, Nick had picked out some things in advance. He'd picked a tie first, so he needed to pick a shirt that went well with the tie, which happened to be a black slim tie. The shirt he'd picked was a plain white long-sleeved shirt with buttons and to go with that, he'd picked out a thin, tight-fitting black jacket. As for pants, he just grabbed the most comfortable looking pair of black pants. It has cost him a bit, considering it was all made from high-quality material, but he thought it was worth it. Might as well be comfortable and looking snazzy at the same time, he'd reasoned.

As he took a sip from his tea, Nick sat down and opened up his laptop, reaching for a small case that was sitting on his desk. I'll be damned if Judy ever sees me with these on, he thought to himself as he put his glasses on and opened up to the document he had put all of his notes in. As a fox, Nick had incredible eyesight, as well as night vision, but with such acute sight, it could damage his eyes if he looked at a light-producing screen for too long without his glasses. But after a moment of staring blankly at the screen, he muttered aloud, "What the hell am I doing?" He didn't know where to begin. It's too damn early to be figuring out a plan. Promptly shutting his laptop, Nick put his glasses back in their case as he took another sip of his tea, leaving the desk to go get changed. A short while later, he returned in his new attire and downed the rest of his tea quickly before eyeing the box that sat on the floor by his desk.

Should I put it on?

He walked over to the box before picking it up and opening it, revealing a nicely laid out revolver and holster. The holster was the sort that was worn around the chest and drawn from under the shoulder. After taking a moment to decide, Nick slowly took his jacket off and put the holster on. He took a moment to adjust all the straps so that it sat comfortably before he put his jacket back on and picked up the revolver. Nick couldn't help but admire it momentarily before swiftly putting it into his holster, happy that Judy had picked out such a nice revolver for him. He was about to pack the box up before he realised he would need some ammunition in the gun, so he grabbed the box of cartridges before loading six of them into it, swiftly snapping the cylinder back in place and returning the gun to its holster.

After placing the box back on the floor, he stood up and walked over to the door, grabbing his keys, wallet, phone, and a small notepad on the way, before opening the door and walking into the hallway of his apartment building. He shut the door and locked it, continuing on down the hallway until he reached the entrance, stepping out into the cold. Living in the city centre, on the outskirts right where tundratown and the rainforest district were, he ended up getting some pretty cold weather most of the time, which often resulted in the numerous puddles scattered around. As he crossed the street, he looked down into one such puddle, and for a moment he just stood there, frozen, as his eyes widened and his jaw dropped. Holy shit, he thought, his lips curling into a smile. I look badass.

"Is that all for today, Clawhauser?"

The cheetah, with an assortment of donuts and files in front of him on the front desk of the ZPD, shook his head. "Nuh-uh, I think the Chief wanted you to, uh... what was it again?" he asked himself, scratching his head as he loudly took a sip from his bottle of soft drink, which seemed to be a persistent habit of his. "Oh! That's it! He wanted you to look over some cold cases and see if you can make anything of them," he answered after a moment.

"Really?" the rabbit asked with a groan, and he nodded. "I'm not some prodigious detective; I'm not going to be able to discern anything more than what the other officers could," Judy told him, letting out a sigh of exasperation. "Jeez, ever since cracking the Night Howler case two months ago it seems everyone has these ridiculously high expectations of me. And I definitely couldn't have done it alone, so what's even the point?"

"Well, why don't you ask him to give you a hand?" Clawhauser asked, and Judy looked at him in disbelief.

"Nick? Why?" she asked. "He's got better things to worry about than reading through stale, boring case files. I doubt he'd even be awake yet, either."

"You sure? Why don't you just ask him now?" he asked her, gesturing with his eyes to behind her. She turned and followed his gaze to see Nick walking towards them from the entrance. He caught her eye and smiled as she walked over to him.

"Hey Carrots, you busy?" he asked. She was about to respond but found herself lacking the words, blinking profusely in disbelief.

"Why, even, are you dressed like that?" she asked blankly, shaking her head with incredulity.

"I just got my first case," he told her, his usual wide smile plastered on his face with his usual lazily half-shut eyes. "So I thought gee, I better look pretty suave from now on."

"Well, I suppose you are looking rather reputable for once, especially considering your dress sense," she replied. "Rather, complete lack thereof," she added with a jesting smile.

"Excuse me, I'll have you know I only pick the finest of Hawaiian shirts," he responded in defence, only receiving silence in return as she rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, what brings you here? Actually, don't answer that, it's to do with your case, isn't it?" she asked.

"What?" Nick asked. "I need a reason to visit-"

"Don't even," she interrupted. "I have some stuff to do, so unless you have something important to discuss, I'll have to be on my way."

"Gee, that was harsh," he murmured as he let out a sigh, deciding he'd toyed with her enough already. "Alright, I do have something important to discuss regarding my case, and it's something we shouldn't be taking lightly. Yes, I know that may sound a little hypocritical but for now, I need to talk to the Chief."

"The Chief? What for?" she asked.

"I'll need his permission for you to join me, of course," he told her and she let out a sigh.

"Nick, I told you, I'll only be able to work with you if it's deemed a police matter," she said. "Besides, it'd have to be pretty hardcore for Bogo to spare me from any work," she told him.

"Judy," he began, his voice suddenly laced with an uncharacteristic seriousness, causing the rabbit to listen intently – especially at the use of her first name. "This is big. Probably even bigger than the Night Howlers."

"You really think so?" she asked, her voice slightly quieter. He nodded.

"And I can guarantee Bogo will let you on the case with me."

"How?" she asked, still sceptical.

"Because he already knows about it and has no idea how he's going to solve the problem," he told her. "Now, can you fetch him? I'd like to get this done as soon as possible because I have to get back for something tonight."

She scoffed. "Ha, and what exactly is that?"

"I'm going out for dinner," he told her.

"Right. With who, yourself?" she asked with a smirk.

"With you, actually," he announced guilelessly. He saw the confusion on her face after a moment and he decided to digress, swallowing hard before continuing. "You see, it occurred to me that I hadn't yet thanked you for, uh... helping me out... so I thought, well, I need to. So there. Are you free tonight?"

Judy stared blankly for a moment, trying to comprehend what he was doing. "Uh... yeah, I guess, but what exactly did I help you with?" she asked, still slightly confused.

"Well, I'll tell you tonight, then," he replied. "And we can discuss the details later, but for now, can you please get Bogo? Else I'll forget what I've got on my mind."

Judy stared at him for another moment before deciding to just accept it, letting out a sigh. "Alright." She turned around, strolling back towards to the front desk with Nick in tow. "Clawhauser, where's the Chief?" she asked the cheetah as he turned to her in his chair.

"The Chief?" he asked and she nodded. "I think he's reviewing something for the time being, so I don't know if he'll be happy to stop, Hopps."

"That's fine, could you please tell him that it's urgent?" she asked.

"Alright, I'll see what I can do," he replied, moving over to the communicator. Nick turned to Judy with a smile on his face.

"See? That wasn't too hard," he murmured and she rolled her eyes.

"She says it's urgent, and I'm pretty sure she wouldn't say that without a good reason," they heard Clawhauser reply into the communicator, who then continued, "alright, thanks Chief." He turned back to the two of them with a smile. "Head on up."

"Now, what was so important for you to interrupt me while I am working?" Bogo asked the pair that sat in front of his desk.

"Well, sir, Nick has told me he's been hired as a detective for a rather concerning case, and thought it would be a good idea to let you know what is going on, and whether or not I can partner with him on the case," Judy explained as she silently hoped that the Chief wouldn't just blatantly refuse, only to be surprised to find his eyes narrow as he turned to Nick.

"So, what's this case, fox?" Bogo asked him directly and instead of smiling charismatically, Nick returned the Chief's stare as he responded.

"There is a group of animals, made up of many species of predators and prey alike, under the name 'Enigma', who are conspiring to destroy Zootopia and its societal structure," Nick began, causing Judy's eyes to widen. "They have been smuggling drugs and weapons for the last few months, with which they plan to use to incite a civil war of sorts and tear the city apart. When that's done, they're going to use fear and manipulation to drive all predators and prey to return to what they were in the days of old: predator and prey. They don't like the way the world is now; they think it's wrong, and they want to return it to the way it was 'created'." After a moment of silence, he quietly continued, "and the reason you haven't been asking me for evidence or even rejected me already is the simple fact that you've already known about some of these for a while, haven't you, Chief?" he then asked, causing Judy to turn her gaze back to the buffalo, who let out a sigh.

"Yes," Bogo muttered, surprising Judy. "We've had... some evidence stipulating such, and an investigation was made regarding the issue but no leads were found. You think you can find something? Alright." After that, the Chief turned to Judy. "Effective immediately, you are officially part of this investigation," he told her and instantly the rabbit's eyes were wide with enthusiasm.

"Really!?" she exclaimed.

"Really," he responded flatly. "And if you had read through the cold cases like I'd asked you to, you would have noticed that this was one of them. Though, I do suppose I should be grateful for this turn of events. Report back to me if you find anything, but if you don't have any leads in a week, I'll need you to return to work."

"Understood, sir," Judy replied with a smile. "Shall I go and get the case file from Clawhauser?" she asked, but before Bogo could reply Nick cut in.

"Actually, I have everything, sans permission to leave and get on with it," he said, turning to face Bogo.

"Well, get on with it then," Bogo told him as he got up and walked over to the door and deftly opened it. "I have work to do, so how about you leave me alone and make some progress?"

Nick smiled.

"With pleasure."