Note: hey everyone! Sorry for the long wait. School started and things have been busy! I hope you like this chapter. It took a long time and it's still not done!

'Sigh'

please review! I want to hear what you guys have to say. Critique, observations, predictions, favorite scene, etc. let me hear your voices! It's always wonderful when I see a new review/ comment.

love, Silver525600 (or Sil)

Chapter 7: The Mission (Part 1)

Staring at himself in the mirror, Nick felt strange to be in his old work clothes. And by work he meant thievery. The years that had gone by. The things that had changed.

How much he had missed this.

Black pants and a black hoodie was all he needed. It was the tool belt that he was really proud of. His original tool belt had been destroyed to prevent him from ever stealing again, but Mr. Big was kind enough to recreate the one he had owned previously. With a few new additions. Inside was an assortment of tools he couldn't wait to use. Examining himself in the mirror one more time he saw Angela standing behind him with her own espionage clothes comprised of black yoga pants and a leather jacket. Her tail flicked from side to side impatiently.

"Alright darlin' I'm ready to go." Nick turned to face her looking her up and down as he admired her athletic frame.

"Don't call me that," she said. There was a slight growl in her voice as she turned to leave the room.

Nick looked to Mr. Big who was standing on the shoulder on one of his polar bears. "Wish us luck." He made a salute motion to the shrew as he went to follow Angela out the door.

"No," Mr. Big said when Nick was out of ear shot. "I wish you success."

...

Judy napped quietly in the most awkward position with her legs curled up against her chest and her ears hitting a metal roof. She was stuffed in a locker in the break room of City Hall.

It had been a long day.

When she wasn't allowed to review any of the staff files she had been ready to come back late at night. It wouldn't have been the first time Judy had needed to break the law. Thankfully doing so would be a lot simpler. As she was leaving she ran into her old friend Mrs. Otterton at the front desk.

A long time ago Mrs. Otterton's husband had gone missing. Turned out he had accidentally sold some potent flower to a chemist trying to create a powerful drug to sell on the market for party animals. When Mr. Otterton had gotten wind of it he had tried to set things right. He wanted to get the flowers back without getting caught or having to go to the police. This plan had clearly failed when Judy found him lying in an alley way with many cuts and bruises and signs of intoxication. Clearly the chemist had decided to test the potency of the drug on him. The dose of course was meant to be fatal. At the hospital Judy told the biggest lie ever in her career. She explained that Mr. Otterton had been robbed at his flower shop. When he had tried to go after his flowers the thief turned on him and injected him with a lethal amount of drugs that the thief was clearly carrying for his own amusement. When Otterton woke up he confirmed all Judy had said. The lie kept him out of jail and suspicion. The parts of the information that were true helped the police catch the chemist. Turned out is was a ram named Doug. Now Mrs. Otterton was returning the favor.

It was extremely late now. Everything was silent. After a little bit of time passed Judy heard the sound of feet moving down the hallway. They were small and moved quickly. When the feet stopped Judy heard the ticking of the lock on the locker she was in. The door was opened and Judy hopped out, glad to be out of the cramped space. Mrs. Otterton stood next to the door in her small pink skirt and sweater with her shiny fur and twitching whiskers.

She smiled up and Judy nervously. "I'm glad I could help you, but you must hurry. You shouldn't stay long. And don't take the elevator it's shut off for maintenance."

Judy hugged the small otter tightly. "Thank you. This means so much." And with that Judy took off.

...

The limo provided by Mr. Big stopped a few blocks away from City Hall. Nick and Angela jumped our and ran to the side of the building to hide in a shadowy alleyway. In the darkness is seemed that all of Zootopia was asleep.

"Alright," Angela looked up and down the building then back at Nick. "Your the master thief. How are we going to steal the document."

Nick smiled. "We're going to do a 'hit and run'."

"Hit and run," Angela started. "We don't want to draw attention to ourselves."

"We're not going to," the cocky fox said. "The point of my 'hit and run' method is to get in and get out as fast as we can without getting caught."

"Isn't that the point of every theft," Angela sat into her right hip with her arms cross making Nick feel a little stupid.

"Yes," Nick crossed his arms and set into his right hip, trying to match Angela's stance. "But the other point is to not bother with whether or not we leave behind traces of a theft."

The leopardess shifted slightly as she listened to this second point.

"Most of the time, when I stole something I would make sure to clean up after myself," Nick continued. "That way the person I stole from wouldn't be able to figure it out so quickly or that it was me. In this instance it's a bit more time sensitive, also as soon as the animals in City Hall figure out that the document is missing they'll know it was us."

Angela nodded. "Ok. So what's the plan?"

"For starters," Nick replied. "Get me to the side of the building where the document is located."

"Got it. We have an informant on the inside who's going to let us in. Follow me." And with that Angela took off with Nick close behind.

...

Judy ran swiftly and quietly up the stairs, her soft feet made no noise of on the concrete steps. She had to run almost all the way to the top. Fortunately she was a fantastic endurance runner as well as fast. Within fifteen minute she was finally at the twelfth floor. Opening up the door of the stairwell she stepped into a large room full of smaller offices. Running to the far end she stepped into the office Mrs. Otterton had instructed her to. The name on he door read Leslie Knope. Who ever that was Judy felt guilty for having to invade her privacy. With a quick pick of the lock the door swung open quietly and easily. She looked around the room for a moment. On the walls we pictures of past female politicians and various awards. Judy went around to the desk and looked at the pictures. One picture was of a perky, slender, blond rabbit shaking the hand of a large grumpy looking water buffalo with an interesting mustache. Judy could only assume the blond rabbit was Leslie. Who ever the other animal was he as clearly unimpressed with Leslie's enthusiasm. The next picture was also of Leslie and a panther in a vest, tie, and fedora. They were holding drinks in what appeared to be a night club with all sorts of lights in the background. They looked like they were having a good time. The last picture on the desk was a one of lioness in a nurse's outfit and a jacket sitting on a couch with her back paws tucked up, clutching a pillow with only her eyes peaking out from behind it playfully. Judy smiled to herself thoughtfully. This rabbit had a variety of friends who weren't just prey animals. It was a nice thought that perhaps she wasn't the only one who felt predators were equals.

Logging onto the computer with the password and username provided by Mrs. Otterton Judy set to work to finding her thug. She pulled up the employee files and searched through every zebra, hippo, and rhino she could find, trying to find a match to the debit card number she had. At last she found the card number matched a rhino named Carl Hornsby. He was a janitor at City Hall and had been working here for about three months. Writing his information down Judy turned off the computer, walked out of the office, and locked the door again.

Suddenly there was the sound of someone letting out a shriek coming from the floor above her. Judy turned and ran up the stairs wondering if it might be Mrs. Otterton.

...

Nick hung from a thin piece of wire attached to his belt. This part or theft he didn't miss. Looking down he realized he was fourteen floor up. Gulping for a moment he turned his head quickly to face the window in front of him. Next to him Angela looked serene and composed. He didn't understand how she could be so calm. A few minutes passed in silence then their was the sound of someone opening a window near by, just of to the left. A small head poked out to smile at Nick and Angela. It was the face of a small, female otter with a pink sweater and bright eyes.

"Ms. Leopold," the otter said with a smirk. "I believe we have an appointment."

"Right you are, Mrs. Otterton." With that Angela pushed off the glass and swung into the open window.

Nick hesitated momentarily. Then with a groan of frustration he pushed off the glass, sailed in a half circle and through the window. Unfortunately Angela was still removing her belt. Nick slammed into her full force causing her to let out a yell.

"Could you be any more clumsy?" Angela hissed.

"Well, you shouldn't have been standing directly in front of the glass." Nick brushed himself off, slipped off his belt and latched it to a chair by the window. "Now, why don't you introduce me to your friend here."

Angela huffed for a moment then composed herself. "Nick Wilde, this is Ann Otterton."

"A pleasure to meet you Mrs. Otterton," Nick took her hand a kissed it lightly. "We are so grateful for your assistance."

Mrs. Otterton laughed. "Well aren't you the charmer. You know if you worked some of that magic on Angela over here you might have a friend as opposed to a reluctant comrade."

"Well, Mrs. Otterton I tried- I really tried. " Nick turned to Angela with a smirk. "Some animals just don't appreciate my wily charms."

"Sure Wilde," Angela began. "Your about as charming and smooth as an elephant on rollerskates."

"That's enough you two," Mrs. Otterton laughed. "Now stop acting like cubs and we can get to work and get out of here."

there was a small sound of pitter- patter coming towards the room and then of the door opening. Standing in the door way was a slender gray rabbit with a dark blue blouse and black jeans. Nick froze thinking they might have been caught.

Mrs. Otterton whipped around and let out a gasp. "Judy, what are you doing here?"

"I heard a yell," The rabbit replied as she eyed Nick and Angela suspiciously. "I was worried you might be in trouble so I ran to find you. Who are these animals?"

"Ann, who is this," Angela asked in shock.

"Detective Judy Hopps," the rabbit replied straitening herself up. "I'm here on a case."

"What," Angela's eyes flashed with impatience at Mrs. Otterton.

"Angela, I let her in here," She confessed. "She's searching for William White."

Angela's face went slack. She turned to Judy and stalked toward her. "Do you know where he is?"

Despite the obvious twitching of Judy's nose she stood her ground. "No, but I believe his disappearance is connected to the riots. One of his kidnappers, or attempted kidnappers, works in this building. I came here to find his files."

Angela's eyes narrowed. "Stay with us until this mission is over. We're going to take you back to headquarters. I think we're going to have to work together to find William White."

The leopardess extended her hand. Judy paused for a moment before shaking it. The who females had reached an understanding.

"Come on," Mrs. Otterton called. "We're losing time."

The animals took one more flight of stairs to the top level. Upon reaching the top floor Mrs. Otterton directed them to the Mayor's office. Opening the door they walked inside to find clean cream walls, a maroon rug and large, brown desk facing away from a large window looking down on all of Zootopia.

"Nick," Angela said. "Get started on the safe. Judy, keep and eye on him. Mrs. Otterton, outside with me."

"Why do I suddenly need babysitting?" Nick scoffed.

"Because I don't trust you," Angela replied.

"Oh, but you trust the rabbit you just met? What was it? Julie?" Nic directed that last remark on Judy in a mocking tone.

"It's Judy," Judy said scrunching her nose.

"Yes Nick," Angela said like she was talking to a child. "As matter of a fact I do trust her, because Ann does." And with that they left the room.

Nick just shook his head and turned to the safe. "Oh this looks way to easy." Nick places his paws around the keypad a ripped it out revealing tons of inter tangled wires. "Maybe not."

Judy leaned back against the wall and sighed. "So, Nick, you're a thief."

"And you're a detective," Nick examined a yellow wire before giving it a snip. "And we're in the same room. These are strange times."

"Yah," Judy let out a laugh. "That's what's strange, not just that we're natural enemies. I suppose that doesn't matter though. There's a bigger picture here. It's nice to see all different kinds of animals working towards the same goal."

Nick almost turned his head to make a sharp retort for being associated with the Freedom Hunters, but when he saw Judy's sweet half smile as she looked out the window over Zootopia he couldn't do it. So he stayed silent and turned his face back to the wires. Instead he asked: "Who's William White?"

Judy's ears dropped at this question as she continued to stare out the window. "He's a kid, and I think he's in some serious trouble. Especially now that Angela wants me to come back with you guys to headquarters."

"What kind of animal is he?" Nick was becoming more and more curious. Talking seemed to her relax him and distract from the pressure.

"He's a ferret," Judy replied turning back to look at Nick.

The fox put paused for a moment surprised by this response, but he kept his eyes of the wires. "You're looking for a predator?" Another thought crossed Nick's mind. "Do you assume he's a criminal?"

A look of frustration flashed across Judy's face then softened. "I know it's customary for predators to think that a prey animal like me would consider all predators to be bad, but I don't think that way. No, I don't think William's a criminal. He's just a kid who's mother wants him home." When Nick remained silent Judy thought to ask another question. She was feeling very curious about this fox herself. "So... How did you end up working with the Freedom Hunters?"

Nick felt his cheeks grow hot. Why did he suddenly feel ashamed? "I don't actually work with them... I got payed to do this job."

"Oh." Judy felt a wave of disappointment come over here. Why did she care?

"Why don't you work with the Freedom Hunters?" Nick asked turning the conversation over.

Judy dropped her head for a moment. "I guess I never really thought about it. Strange, since I'm considered one of the few pray animals that would actually help a predator."

"That's another thing I don't get," Nick pulled away from the wires and pointed at her with his wire cutters. "You don't strike me as a detective."

"Because I'm a bunny?" Judy crossed her arms with a little smirk. "That's about the same as me saying you look perfect to be a thief, you know- since you're a fox."

Nick lowered the arm he was pointing at her with as his ears dropped a little. He hastily turned back to his work and let out a laugh. "I have to say, this has been a very revealing conversation. The times they are a changin'. Animals are becoming exactly what they are and what they are not all at the same time."

Judy laughed a little. "I agree."

With a final snap of a wire the safe make a click noise and opened. "Hey! Results!" Nick shouted triumphantly.

Inside the safe was an old leather binder. Nick grabbed it and examined it momentarily.

"What is that?" Judy asked.

"A game changer," Angela replied as she and Mrs. Otterton came back into he room. "Good work, Wilde."

Before Angela could even finish speaking an alarm went off blaring in their ears.

"I think I spoke to soon," Angela yelled over the noise.

"Didn't I sat this was going to be a hit and run?" Nick shrugged.

To be continued...