AN: Hi I'm Peter, the author of Night Shift. Make sure you do all the races in your mind. On the streets, drive safely and responsibly and wear your seatbelt!
"So what do you think, what new thing is our fault now?" Nick asked in a careless tone to Judy, while sitting in Bogo's office and waiting for the Buffalo to probably shout their head off. The same expression couldn't be seen on the rabbit though. She was sitting there with ducked ears while stomping her leg. Every time she visited his boss's office she felt like a kid, who was sent to the principal.
"Is it even a question?" Judy said, and probably ran through all possible scenarios inside her head to have an answer to all Bogo's questions "It has to be the 'Gond' twins."
"We caught them!" Nick protested. "Besides, let Bogo do the dirty work if he wants no collateral damage. We had a chance, we took it!"
"You call a wounded civilian 'Collateral damage?'" Judy looked at her partner in disbelief. "What if it was you?"
"Well… I'd hate my horrible luck for that, and not the hard-working police officers who risk their lives every day just so the Gond twins would finally get off the streets."
"You know... If I had a time machine, I would use it only to ask the same question from your 20-year-old self. I'm curious, what would he say?"
"First of all, it would be a horrible waste of a time machine. Second… Hmmm, good question. He would probably..." But he couldn't finish his sentence as the door opened behind them and a huge shadow appeared, signaling the Chief's presence. "Hehey!" Nick cheered after turning around. "Go on, boss, tell us what is our fault, so we can finally get back to our thrilling paperwork. You get to say 5 of our negative traits each, AND if you are in a daring mood, you can add a few curse words of your choice! It's a great deal isn't it?"
"Cut it out, Wilde!" Bogo said in a neutral, yet still somehow irritated tone and walked to his desk. Without sitting down he got to the point. "Believe it or not, I didn't ask you to come here for that matter, even though the stunt you've pulled with the Gond twins endangered multiple civilians and one got wounded. But, as I said, it's not why you are here right now."
Now both Judy and Nick became a bit more curious. It was the first time they weren't called in to receive their monthly dose of angry Bogo.
"I think you both know our situation with the street racers that have been going on for a few months now. More and more 'Crews' form and it's getting out of paws. We arrest one hotshot, 3 more takes its place."
They both knew what Bogo was talking about. These adrenalin junkies caused more problems than any of the crime organizations combined. The phone lines were full of reported racers all around Zootopia, and it was nearly impossible to catch them, or in case they did manage to stop a racer, it was some scared newbie, that they had to let go with a warning and a ticket.
"Now… based on my observations." Bogo continued "There are three main crews, running the business on the streets. The Night Dragons, the Quickshifters, and The Blacklisters. If we could somehow manage to catch them all, the whole race fever would finally come to an end, because they are the main reason anyone is interested in this 'hobby'. For that… We need the crews together in one place at one time."
"So, if I get this right, we need someone who could report back to the police station with the exact location of the crews..." Nick said, not knowing where this conversation was going.
"Exactly. So I want one of you… to go undercover. Unfortunately, Miss Hopps is probably more known. During the night howler case, she was in the middle of the spotlight, she was on the television all the time, and I wouldn't like to risk her getting recognized."
"Let me get this straight. You want me to infiltrate with the crews?" Nick made a rather obvious assumption. "How am I supposed to do it without… anything?"
"Well..." Bogo spread his arms. "Try to impress them, gain their trust, or just get them to hate you enough to challenge you to a race. I bet it would be a huge deal if some new mammal from somewhere got challenged by the best crew. You pass the information to us, and we will have one of the problems behind bars."
"So I need to… Race?"
"If that's the way you'd like to do it, go for it. Again, our main goal is to lure the crews into one place. The way you want to do it is entirely up to you."
"Ooookay… I have to tell you though, and it MAY be a bit of a problem but... I don't have a car."
"You do know how to drive, don't you? Don't worry about the car."
"Well yeah, I have a license… but racing? And impress the mammals who literally live above 100 miles per hour? Come on, this plan is doomed to fail. I'm not going to become a speed master within 1 week."
"We have no other choice. We could hunt each racer down one by one, or hope for a lucky phone call, but that's all a small chance. I want to raise that by acting now."
"Well, alright boss," Nick shrugged and laid back in his chair. Even if he will be horrible at racing, it's still a paid day off. "I just hope you won't give me some rusty car that has escaped from the junkyard."
"About that… Follow me." The buffalo gestured with his head and walked towards the door. Looking at his officer's confused reaction, he added hastily "Come on, we don't have all day!"
Both Nick and Judy followed Bogo, down the stairs to the garages, where 5 different cars were parked. The vehicles that have been impounded after catching someone too many times. Their owner was either jailed or warned that if they got caught in another car speeding through the streets, 3+ years of jail time would be waiting for them.
"Pick one you like," Bogo said, stopping in the door. "We will have it resprayed, and the license number changed. They use this technique to get the heat off themselves, so why not use their own technique against them? This way nobody will recognize you, and you will only be a wannabe who wants some trouble. So? Make your pick."
Nick didn't hear any of those words. He was already staring at his choice, which became clear to him as soon as he saw it. A night-black Herd Mustang GT. It didn't have any illegal accessory the racers usually loved to stack on their cars, it was a natural beauty with its original low spoiler and aerodynamic body.
"Love at first sight." He said, looking dazed at the car, ignoring all the other ones he could have picked from. "Can I?"
"If you picked that one, go for it," Bogo said, handing the keys to the fox. Nick, wasting no time, sat inside the car, and started up the engine.
"Ohohooo! Listen to her purr." He said after the iconic low, roaring-like sound hit his ears.
"Her?" Judy chuckled with crossed arms.
"Well, when you roll on the streets with a beauty like this, you can be sure, heads will turn."
"Sure, if you say so."
"This is strictly confidential," Bogo got back to the point. "Only I know about this, Hopps, and you Wilde! Nobody else. You will report back straight to me."
"So what are we going to tell the others?" Nick looked out of the window. "I bet they will eventually start guessing around."
"They will think you two have got suspended because of the maneuver you've pulled with the Twins. Your disobedience turns out to be helpful for once," Bogo answered. Nick opened his mouth to defend himself but looked at Judy, who shook her head. He remained silent. "This whole operation will hopefully last for less than 2-3 weeks. We will know by that time if it was successful or not. You, Hopps, will be off for 2 days, to help Wilde. Most of the races take place at night, so do whatever you like during the day."
Nick finally stopped the engine and stepped out of the car. After giving one more look at the car, he finally turned to his Boss "And what will happen if someone… You know... starts chasing me? It will be a bit awkward to explain things to a colleague.' Oh hey, Wolfard! No, I'm not ditching work just to race around, In fact, Bogo wanted me to do it! You GOTTA believe me.' Even I wouldn't believe myself, and that's a huge thing to say."
"We will cross that bridge when we get to it. Just don't get caught."
"Oh, why of course! Why didn't I think of it first? Silly me!"
"You can leave now, you are off for the day. The others should think you are suspended after all. Tomorrow you can take it for a test drive, on the racecourse nearby. Try to get used to the car, you'll need the practice. I will take care of the respraying, Officer Hopps will drive it to you as soon as it's done. And Wilde! You will need to give it back when the job is over, so try not to wreck it! The original owner will be released in 5 months, and you will have to explain every scratch that wasn't there originally.
"Understood!" Nick made a quick salute and passed the keys back to the Buffalo. He left the garages with a forced frown on his face, as he tried to hide his excitement about his newfound car. It was definitely one of the most interesting cases he had got in the past weeks. He didn't know why Bogo wanted to keep his plan a secret, but he probably had a good reason to do so.
"Will you be alright without me?" Nick asked with a smug smile while walking out of the ZPD with the rabbit by his side. "Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone!"
"I should be the one telling you that," Judy said, frowning a little. "Just because you're temporarily an outlaw street racer, doesn't mean you can go wild with everything."
"What do you mean, 'everything?'"
"What I mean is… stay safe, alright? Don't kill yourself on a corner because you didn't see a car coming."
"Awww, you are worried about me aren't you? That's cu… adorable." Nick corrected himself
Judy sighed. "I've seen car accidents and they are not a pretty sight, even when they happen within the speed limit. Now, we are talking about 3-4 times above the limit, I can only imagine what would happen to someone at that speed."
"Don't worry mom. I'll drive safely and responsibly, and wear my seatbelt!"
"No! Seriously! If you can choose to push the break and save your life or risk it by pushing the gas even more choose the safe way! Promise me!"
Nick stopped and looked into the eyes of the worried rabbit. He raised his left paw and placed the right one on his chest above his hearth "Officer Judy Hopps, I solemnly swear that I will try my best to not kill myself. Good enough?"
"That will have to do, I guess." Judy made a weak smile and opened the door of her apartment while turning back to the fox to say goodbye "See you tomorrow. Remember, you won't have to come to the ZPD, I'll bring the car to you."
"Oh, that reminds me, don't you dare hurt her! She is mine!" Nick pointed at Judy while walking backward
"Don't you worry! You won't see a scratch, however, I might discuss a few things with her. You know, just one girl to another… Set a few rules."
"Alright." Nick chucked and finally turned around, to face in his direction of travel. "Goodnight Carrots!"
AN: Hello there and welcome! As you can probably already feel it, this little story will be full with description of street races. Main idea: Need For Speed games (Obviously). I know I know, it sounds boring. Don't worry I'll try to sneak in some plot too. Do let me know what you think about the concept though, it would mean a lot to me.