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Judy, Nick, and Luther hustled to the garage that was specified by Samson; despite his warnings that it was a den of low-key crime and vice, it at least of the surface seemed almost harmless, as the business itself was quite brisk with cars filling the building up and several more of the parking lot waiting for repair. "So it looks like we need to approach this on the low-down, at least we came in our street clothes." Nick noted. Judy nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I doubt the owner of this establishment would be willing to show a couple of cops into their little hiding hole." The rabbit turned to the snow leopard who stood there unsure if it was even a good idea to go inside with the duo, "Should I wait outside?" he asked a bit nervously, "Probably a good idea; heavens know what's going on inside." Judy replied, Luther knew that there was a library in the vicinity, "Well, call me when you're done, I'll be somewhere else." Nick was about to ask him a question but quickly disregarded it. "Got it; don't worry, it will be hopefully a painless investigation."
Luther headed towards the Westlake Library, which inside contained his favorite little bakery to purchase pastries that appealed to the snow leopard. He also visited the library to enter an environment of peace and quiet, which in particular for today was the place that he wanted to be. He searched through the aisles for the right book to occupy himself while the two officers pursued the case. "Let's see...ah!" He took out a fairly thin hardcover book, 'Through the Electric Forest', he happened to enjoy sci-fi books, and he began to read this particular entry a week ago, despite being occupied with other things. He sat down at his favorite plush armchair, and began to start off at the chapter that he was on earlier.
The two officers approached the building pondering what their cover story should be, "Okay, how about we are coming to schedule our car in, and look around the building while we wait for the manager to fill us in?" Judy suggested, "Sure. You'll do the talking then, I'll be snooping around for anything suspicious." Inside the building held several mammals sitting around waiting for their vehicles to be fixed, and the cashier who was a ferret himself seemed a little tired. "Excuse me." the rabbit asked politely. "Waiting time's half an hour, please sign in on this book and wait to be called on." Nick scoffed, "Okay, this is going nowhere." He applied his suave expression, "Listen, we're hear to uh...exchange currency." The ferret suddenly switched from looking tired to looking a little nervous, "Oh...um, the manager would be the guy to talk to about that." Nick grinned, "Appreciate it."
The two were told where to go by the ferret, "I'm guessing 'exchange currency' means gambling eh?" Judy asked the fox, which he nodded in response, "Any place that secretly has a gambling ring is going to have a code of sorts, and this one seemed to work." Judy was a little miffed, "Does this mean you had experience with this?" The fox didn't response to that question, "Anyways, let's see who the manager really is."
Opening the door surprised the both of them, "No one's here." Nick said to Judy. "This doesn't feel right..." Judy muttered and suddenly the door slammed shut behind them, "Oh sweet merciful carrot, we've been setup." The both of them didn't bring any weapon as not to arouse suspicion. "Hey there Judith." A voice rang out from the other of the room, "Wait a minute, I know that voice." A relatively young bunny appeared from behind the desk, "Its been a while." Nick leaned towards his partner, "A friend of yours?" Judy shook her head, "He's one of my brothers. He ran away a long time ago, and I never heard from him again." The buck nodded, "Yeah. Its pretty awkward that we met under these circumstances." He looked towards the fox with some surprise on his face, "You're Nick Wilde." The fox remained still and ready for anything to happen, "Yes it is, and you are?" Judy's brother regained some composure, "Scott. Scott Mason Hopps. Call me Scotty." Nick held a chuckle, "Well Scotty, you're the manager here?" The buck sighed, "Well, that's my official title. Since you two are the law, I assume you know what's actually going on here?" Judy wasn't sure what to do now, especially upon learning that the so called 'manager' of the gambling den was her long lost younger brother. "Why haven't you called mom or dad?" she inquired, Scotty's ears fell a little, "You're kidding me right? I dabble in criminal activities for goodness' sake, my own sister is a sort of celebrity cop! I have no interest in reuniting with my family." Nick felt some sympathy but still had to stay true to his job, "I'm sorry about what you ended up in, but you know what has to happen." Scotty nodded, "You're right." He clapped his paws together, and suddenly a panda bear and a bull walked into the room. "You know where to put them."
Nick and Judy found themselves chained by pawcuffs to a pipe, which was located in the basement of the building. "Well...so much for a family reunion." Nick lamented, "Oh hush, how was I suppose to know that my brother; who I haven't seen in years, would be working in a gambling ring?" The red fox rolled his eyes, "Whatever. So buttercup, any ideas on how to get out of this little situation?" The rabbit huffed, "I'm trying to think of one." She looked around, and there wasn't much to see except for the door that led out to the basement, but was on top of a flight of stairs. Then she thought of something, "I think I know what to do. But you're not going to enjoy this." He shrugged, "Can't be any worse than being in a dark, damp basement, Carrots." The doe nervously smiled, "We'll wait for someone to enter the room, and I'll try to persuade them to release us." Nick raised a eyebrow, "Persuade them? This I got to see..."
Scott nervously tapped his foot on the floor while he looked out of a window, "Is she really your sister, boss?" The panda asked, he nodded quickly, "Yep. This is causing more trouble than it should have." He faced a perilous dilemma, either get his goons to 'remove' them from his sights, or release his sister and most definitely get arrested in a sting by the ZPD, potentially sending the buck to jail for a long time. "Terrance, check on them." The panda nodded, "Yes, boss."
The panda opened the door, and saw that the both of them were still sitting there, looking rather tired and depressed looking. He made his way down the steps, "Scotty said to check you guys." Nick scoffed, "How considerate of the little guy." The panda frowned, "Hey! He's actually a pretty cool dude when you get to know him. Its just you two are cops, and we can't risk the whole operation because of you." Judy gave a quick affirmative glance and nod towards the fox, and smirked at the panda, "Well, that's too bad, because...I have a thing for panda bears." Both Nick and Terrance's eyes popped wide open, "What?!" They yelled in unison. Judy chuckled and made fluttery eyes towards Terrance, "Yeah. And well, since I'm stuck here anyways with just him." Nick rolled his eyes, "Yeah. Just a stupid fox." The doe's smirk became more mischievous, "I wouldn't mind having some company from a big, strong bear." Nick could see her tactic but wasn't sure that it going to work. However in a just a few seconds Terrance switched from shock to being flirty, "Oh well, you're in luck, because I don't see anything wrong with being with a rabbit." Nick wanted to laugh seeing how stupid the panda was but held it in and pretended to still be in shock. "Do you know a place that we can be alone?" Judy suggested, "Y-Yeah, there's a storage room." The panda grabbed his keys and unlocked her pawcuff. She continued to smile and grabbed his paw, "Great, now then..." Suddenly she hopped high in the air and delivered a swift kick to the panda's face, instantly knocking him out. "Hmph. Like a rabbit could even be with someone that big." The fox in a mixture of disbelief and relief stared at her, "Wow. Didn't think that would actually work." Judy grabbed the keys and removed the pawcuffs from his wrists, "Well, after dealing with a few bucks that aren't familiar with personal space, I learned its pretty easy to seduce males under the right circumstances." Nick chuckled, "Guess you're right on that."
Scott sat in his chair twiddling his thumbs, "What's taking that dumb panda so long, I said just to check up on them." He heard footsteps approaching and turned around to meet them, "Took you long enough-" He then saw the two officers smiling at him smugly, "Oh cheese and crackers..." He swiftly hopped out from his chair and made a run for it, unfortunately for him his sister was superior to him physically from the arduous training that she received from the academy. The doe jumped on his back and knocked him forcefully to the ground. He desperately squirmed trying to release himself from her grip but to no avail, "See Carrots? You chase after another rabbit and it took you only five seconds." Nick said referencing her chase with Rena. "Oh can it, hot shot. Let's bring him to the station." Scott sighed in defeat, "Well, guess I'm out of the rat race."
:)