The next day, Nick got ready and prepared his marvelous disguise: his beloved sunglasses. He started walking towards the meeting place, where the last winner and the 'Secret agent' will meet during the next hour. In the past 2 days he has already walked more than he did the last month and his legs didn't leave this unnoticed. Both of his legs complained painfully after each step.
I gotta work out more, I'm really out of shape. He noted to himself as he looked inside a pizzeria, near the meeting point. He took his time to read through the menu, then went on with his little trip. He acted like a normal pedestrian who happened to have business on that road. Nothing out of ordinary here. Meanwhile he tried figuring out who the driver of that Rx8 was, but literally anyone could be his suspect. Well not everyone… The car itself was a class 2 type of car.
In zootopia they divided the cars for each mammal into classes. Class 1 types were for rodents and smaller mammals that were mainly allowed within little rodentia, and they needed permission to use it outside. Class 2 was a wider range, from rabbits through foxes, to smaller wolfes, any type of mammal could use it. Class 3 was for rhinos, hippos and horses. Not surprisingly that type of car was the one they used in the ZPD. Judy requested a smaller one a million times but it just seemed like it's cheaper to just install a proper seat. Class 4 was the highest, but most of the times those were made mammal specific. Elephants and Giraffes both drove class 4 type cars but they still couldn't swap easily between each other.
So his guy was in a class 2 car. That can narrow the search for a bit. Zebras and antelopes are out. He wondered as he looked around. He saw a wolf couple happily eating their ice cream, a few sheeps hurrying somewhere… could be a sheep...
Nick glanced at his phone to see the time. 10 minutes until 9:30. His stare wondered a bit more. Horses… out of question… Bear yeah, absolutely not… Sloth… Nick played with the thought that a sloth just beat him in speeding but he just chuckled and shook the thought out of his mind. Flash was intentionally going on wider roads to have space for slower reaction times. There was no way any sloth could drift around like that on tight roads, even while thinking ahead. Maybe a cheetah? Nah they already require class 3 cars too.
As he kept on thinking he finally saw Jack. His way had led straight to an ice cream stand, where a vixen served him. The same vixen he saw yesterday on flock street.
"Wait a minute… there is no way." Nick muttered while he kept on staring at them. Jack pulled up a 5 dollar bill, said something, and gave it to the vixen with a white thing hidden behind it. "The envelope!" Nick realised and hit his forehead. So the 'guy' he was looking for was not a guy at all.
They talked for a bit, and after receiving his change for the 5 dollar bill, Jack finally nodded, and stepped away from the stand.
Nick could swear he saw the hare looking towards him, and stopping for a bit, but right after that, he just kept on going with his day, so he probably didn't recognise him. In case he did, Nick will have a bit of explaining to do.
He looked back at the owner of the stand, smiling at her next customers. When the 4 member family finally left with their cold snack, Nick got moving.
"Good morning. What can I give you?" She asked from Nick with her signature patient smile, while managing the money.
"I… Look I gotta ask… Were you the one in the Rx8?" To this question the vixen just blinked and while still keeping a wide smile she answered.
"I don't know what you talk about sir. So what can I give you? I'm sorry to inform you that the pistachio had unfortunately melted, so we're out of that right now. May I recommend the caramel perhaps?"
"Don't play stupid. I saw that envelope you've got."
The corner of the vixen's mouth started twitching. Her patience was quickly leaving her and the previous natural smile got replaced by an obviously forced one. However she still managed to keep her peace, so Nick kept on pushing.
"Or what was that white thing behind that paper money huh? I doubt it was pocket money"
"Look sir." She started pushing the stand to another spot, hoping she could leave the annoying tod behind "I don't know what you are talking about, so please leave me alone, or I'll call the police."
Giving a knowing look, Nick shook his head "You won't call them."
"Try me." The bitter answer was heard.
"You won't call them because you would need to explain why you keep selling ice cream with an expired license." Nick said and saw as the vixen's smile vanished. She glanced at the paper that was supposed to be her validation, then looked back at Nick, who kept on talking "Rookie mistake. You need to renew it every year, but I suppose they declined your request. You weren't stubborn enough. Oh! And not to mention the 400 dollars you've got there inside the envelope that you can't really me to keep going?"
"Shut up." She gritted her teeth. That smile was nowhere to be seen, it was rather an angry death glare. "You don't have to shout it out to everyone, okay? Yes it was me in the car, so what? I won fair and square. I gave all of you a pretty huge head start. Or just surprised I'm a girl? Having nothing between my legs forbids me to race?"
"Wh- No! Nothing like that! Calm down. I'm more curious why you are stuck on 100 entry fee races. You clearly have the skill to go up on the ranks."
"Yeah sure…" She snorted. "This whole 'building reputation' and 'gaining respect' is just guys measuring their tails together. Look… participating in high stakes races also means more recognition. More recognition means the cops on you and that's not the best thing I guess you can understand. This whole racing fever will end one day. Let's say you got yourself more into this. You are there with thousands of dollars and the whole police force on your tail, searching for you. Was it worth it? Believe it or not, getting in jail isn't my goal and ice cream selling isn't my dream job. It's not the best income source either, but if you add that 300 plus every night, with no cop record… You can get something started after a while." She cleared her throat and picked up her original warm smile "So can I give you something sir? Or in case you are not interested, please leave."
Nick sighed and looked at the selection. "Alright give me a Vanillia-Caramel combo."
"Coming right up." She nodded and picked up the scoop and a cone to fulfill the request
"Can I give you an offer?" Nick asked, while staring at the iron tools, and pretending to be really interested in them
"You can…" She muttered while placing the mentioned flavors into the cone "But my answer will be no."
"You haven't even heard what I wanted."
"I don't have to. Everyone gives the same offer." She gave the cone to Nick. "That will be 1.50."
Fishing out the coins from his wallet Nick asked. "What do they offer?"
"Well you know… 'Join my crew, you are good.' But no… I won't join anyone. I'm a lone wolf. Or fox, for that matter."
"I don't want you to 'join my crew' since I don't have one. I just need a bit of… help."
"Help, you say… What kind of help?" She furrowed her eyebrows curiously
"Well, just show me a few tricks I could use on the track and I would be already happy."
"Now hold up for a second… I remember you… You were the one who was afraid of his car, correct?" She said, crossing her arms. "My answer is still no. You are a lost cause. Not only you are afraid to shift up to sixth gear, but your shift timing is all over the place. My answer is a clear no."
"That's why I need a good teacher! I'm a fast learner. I can remember quite a lot of things, I just need someone to give me advice." It was true. He thought he would have a lot of problems at the police academy, mainly with learning the law parts. However, it went easily. Judy was even a bit jealous because Nick's score was 2 points higher than her's. He didn't miss one chance to bring this up at least once a month. "I'm not expecting your help for free of course, I would give you a fair percentage of my earnings from the races."
"Oh really?" She chuckled, "You can't tell anything I'd accept."
"60%," Nick said, that made the vixen widen her eyes.
"60%!?" She lowered her voice. "Are you serious? No wait, I have a better question. Are you stupid? You give 25% in with the entry fee. You do know that it would leave you with 5% gain after each race, right? AND you HAVE TO win for that."
"Well you are here for the money, I'm here to make a name for myself. Both of us can come out as winners here. Everybody gets what they want, it's a win-win situation."
While the vixen still looked up and down on Nick with suspicion in her eyes, he kept talking.
"Look miss, I don't care about money. As I said I just want to get better and you can help me with that. Let's look at the worst case scenario here. I don't win anything despite your best efforts and I give up on racing. You still lost nothing. You have nothing to lose with this deal. But what is the best case you ask? I win, go up on ranks and you get my 60% without having to interact with the cops, or the racers. You can lay low in the shadows while still getting your daily 300 OR even more. Depends on the race. Sounds great?"
She was hesitating. That's a great sign. Her immediate 'no' turned into a considered 'yes'.
"So all I have to do is show you a few tricks and a few tips? That's all?" She was still probably setting up the pros and cons about this choice in her mind.
"Yep that would be about it. And if you'd like to, our only interaction each day can be me giving your fair share. Well aside from the learning part of course. But after that…"
She was about to say her answer when a goat stepped behind Nick.
"Excuse me young man, are you in line?" The mammal behind asked with her old trembling voice.
"Ah no. I've already got what I wanted." He showed the cone he was grabbing, and stepped out of the way. "Sorry, ma'am."
"What a nice gentlemammal. Good morning sweetheart, I'd like one bitter egg and coffee please."
"Umm yes.. yes. Coming right up." The vixen had to gather her thoughts and immediately grabbed another cone, placing the wanted flavours with record speed. Nick smiled behind his sunglasses while eating his own icecream. He just got himself a chance in competing with the target crews. He still needed a plan to lure them into one place, but one thing after another. For that he will have plenty of time.
After the lady left, the vixen lowered her voice. "Okay I'll give you a chance. But I swear if you trick me… Or just show the intention of crossing me..."
"I have no intention of crossing anyone." Nick said the half truth. He did want to get to the crews, and get them behind bars but not his helper. He couldn't keep the money he would get with winning races anyway. He would need to give it in as evidence as soon as he gets it. So helping out someone to get them going, was a valid option here.
"Okay." She nodded. "But as I said… If you trick me, I'll make you wish you'd never been born, understood?"
"Of course, m'lady."
"And don't call me that." She gave one more, 'you better be serious about this' kind of glare, then pushed her stand away.
Nick gave one more grin, then turned in the other direction, while eating his icecream.