20:00 Hours – Downtown Zootopia
"You think he got her drunk?"
"I think he's drunk."
"Ugh, wish we could drink on the job. What's the use of sending us to a restaurant in formal attire if we can't drink?"
Judy didn't answer. She kept walking, tailing the mayor and this "Fangschild" guy at about a half-block. Nick was just trying to cover up how nervous he was – same as always. They hadn't done anything close to an undercover assignment before, and he couldn't shake the feeling that if this was all for nothing, city hall would demand his and Judy's badges. There wouldn't be anything he could do to protect his partner from that.
"Nick." Judy asked, not taking her eyes off the target. She was fighting to keep her ears from popping up out of habit, but her nose was twitching like mad.
"Judy?" Nick replied, keeping the carrot mic pointed in the direction of the two wolves.
"I've never heard of this 'Order' before. Have you ever heard anything about them?"
Nick's ears fell back. He moved one paw up, pointlessly adjusting his bowtie to buy himself some time to think. "Maybe…" He began. "But secret societies don't play much in the streets. They like to operate behind closed doors. When I said I knew everybody? I sure as sahara don't know him." He gestured at the wolf with the carrot pen.
As they talked, the mayor and her date were talking too:
"Where are you taking me? Don't you have a driver for this? I don't wear heels like this to do a 5K at night." Canidae protested, pulling, but locked in his grip. I wished Nick and Judy had intervened then, but I know for a fact they wouldn't have been able to keep a rich guy like that in jail for more than a few hours.
That, and it would blow their cover.
"Miss Canidae," Fangschild replied, "do you have any idea how many wolves want you? Let me at least show you an evening with the best of them. I guarantee you'll not forget me like other suitors."
Even without the mic, Nick and Judy could hear the mayor scoff from where they were.
"Please! What is it, money? Power? You want to sleep your way into my cabinet? You're barking up a terribly agitated tree, Fangschild." She snapped.
"Oh it's barely about the money, Aurelina. You are your father's daughter, your pedigree is beyond reproach. The wolf who bags the only remaining Canidae – pity about your father, he was a great man – absorbs her household, her fortune, her nobility, her name into his." The wolf sounded serious, sharing this information as if she should have already known it.
"Pack nonsense." Aurelina said curtly before continuing. "My father was a monster and… And… If you knew what he did for the sheep, you'd be cursing his name right now!"
That caused Fangschild to stop in his tracks. "Sheep? Well now, it seems I've got a bargaining chip. What would the Order say if their little princess and her dead king's reputation were dragged through the mud? Why, if they get wind of this, your family name will be struck from the Annals of Alpha. Now be a good girl and come hither fore I scruff you like a pup." He pulled Canidae roughly toward an alley, patience lost.
Judy's eyes widened, her ears popping up as she bolted ahead of Nick, leaving him to blink in reaction before following suit. Ahead of him, Judy rounded the corner into the alley, shouting,
"Stop right there, criminal scum!"
Her jaw dropped.
The alley was empty.
Seconds later, Nick appeared behind her, tail bristled and ears up.
"Nick, where'd they go?" The alley was barren save for a dim light hanging overhead and a dumpster. Nick took a few steps forward, pocketing the carrot mic and trying to keep his mind off the image of Judy running in that slit dress. He leaned up and knocked on the dumpster, rolling his head around in annoyance before continuing further down the alley.
"I… don't think that dumb-dumb was the type of guy to hole up in one of these. Too much pride." Nick muttered dismissively, scoping out the alley with his superb night vision.
"Nick, did you hear what he was saying to her?" Judy asked, tapping her foot anxiously. "Feeding her all that nonsense? I didn't know wolves had such an… elaborate courting procedure."
"Judy, come on, did you hear her? This wasn't courting. This was… this was the lead up to a felony is what this was. And what were they saying about sheep? I- hold it." Nick stopped in his tracks. "Carrots." He delighted in calling Judy that, I think he must have thought it was some kind of in-the-field codename he could get away with. Little did he know Carrots herself had grown to like it just as much. "Door on the left side of the alley."
Judy bounded forward, stopping at Nick and fishing the mic out of his pocket before switching it back on and pointing it at the door.
Sounds of a struggle from within.