The next day, Nick tried to be as patient as possible. First time in the whole month, he didn't have anything planned that night. In his boredom he called Judy, but unfortunately she was too busy for a bigger talk. She still roughed out how she was on a hot lead regarding the Radio stealer. Nick just listened through, and didn't say anything about what he knew. If the police suddenly appeared in front of Wildcard's new home, that would be a little bit suspicious, and all the trust he gained would be thrown in the trash. When she said she had to go, they ended the call.
After a while of switching channels on his tv, he saw the news report, reporting live about the races currently going on, so he decided to take a look at that 'New crew' Jack had talked about, and maybe even challenge them. However, Jack didn't pick the phone up. He thought he might be with Mia, but even that turned out to be false. The curious fox he was, he called the vixen too, but she said Jack left in the morning, saying he had some important things to do.
Again with the stupid excuses. If he had something important to do, why wouldn't he tell them what it was. That rabbit still kept a secret on top of all the things.
So with nothing to do, he just left his house to check out the reported races hoping he would see something interesting to watch. He didn't get disappointed. Within a few minutes he already heard the sound of 4 racing engines. He stopped in front of a display of a 'Pizzeria' arrow that he knew would signal the route of the track.
The sound became louder and louder, and he finally spotted the racer in front. Nezzumi Skyline. A few seconds later 2 others followed and a fourth one took the turn too, in it's sad place.
"Your shifting is all over the place, buddy." Nick chuckled and kept on walking a bit faster, hoping he would see them again somewhere. He got to the road he guessed he would see the racers again, but didn't see any of the arrowy signs.
After a bit of walking however, he saw them again coming towards him, but they turned left about 3 corners ahead of Nick. The position was the same as before, maybe the skyline was leading with another plus 2 seconds. Unfortunately after this they didn't appear again, so Nick gave the hypothetical win to the Skyline owner.
He saw a couple more races in the next hour, and a lot of cop cars too, chasing after them. He could swear a few of his colleagues even waved at him between two chases. He wondered what they thought about him. 'Wow. Wilde has been suspended for 1 month whatever he did, pissed off the chief more than anything! And he is out here now to take a look at the racers!'
When Nick thought it was enough for this night, he finally got a call from Jack.
"Hey! Look that the abyss spat back to us. What is it, Stripes? You annoyed the devil into bringing you back?" Joked, and he received a forced laugh.
"Heh yeah. Sorry, this is what happens when you leave everything to the last weeks. Look, can I ask for a favor?" Jack asked, which made Nick curious.
"Sure, what favor?"
"Can you pick up Wildcard from the Dingo pub?" Jack made the request "The idiot should lay low, but he is going out celebrating and getting drunk. Dammit, sometimes I doubt my decision of inviting him to the crew." He said. "I would pick him up myself but right now I don't have time to play the angry dad."
"Ah. So he is just being an average college student huh?"
"Yeah, it seems like it. So? Are you free to do that?"
"Yeah, yeah, don't worry darling. I will pick up our son from the party." Nick joked. "So dingo pub?"
"Yes. And thank you. I swear to god I will strangle that idiot if the cops find him this way. And thanks again. Oh. You can find a civil car at my garage. 32 Jackalberry road."
"Ahh… that's all good and fine but I don't have a key to your garage." Nick voiced his problem but it got answered immediately.
"Nah don't worry about that. It has a number lock. 82964"
"82964… Got it… Wait, what does he celebrate…?" Nick asked but the call ended before Jack could answer. "Alright… Rude…"
After this, he headed towards the mentioned place. At first he didn't even find the garage, because it was more of a warehouse and the number lock Jack mentioned wasn't the original padlock you would expect. It was a digital one.
"Who the hell uses digital locks on garages?" Nick muttered and typed in the 5 digit code he got from the rabbit. The display turned green, the lock clicked, so he was able to push in the door. The sight he saw inside completely stunned him. There were about 16 supercars parked next to each other, with 3 civil cars at the back.
For a second he just stood there in shock, but after snapping out of it, he quickly closed the door behind himself. He didn't want any curious pedestrians looking inside. He slowly made his way to the back while swapping his look between all the cars Jack had stored there.
He seemed to have a preference for BEW's as various types were stored there, but there were also others like a Merkcedes AMG or even a Rampalli 448 GTB
"There is no way it's all yours, stripes…" Nick muttered and spotted an especially rare car at the back. Kungsee agera RS. Black with tiny orange lines. "Holy…" Nick crouched next to the sports car, afraid to even touch it. He didn't want to initiate any alarm system. He just admired it's beauty for a while, wondering how Jack managed to get one. Then he remembered why he was here in the first place.
He opened a Shiba Corolla, and still dazed he reached for the ignition key. The car started without any problem. He carefully drove out and made sure twice that he locked the garage door properly. He didn't want any unwanted attention in that garage, especially knowing what's there.
He slowly drove to the Dingo Pub, while wondering how on earth Jack gathered up this collection. But thinking about it, it was rather obvious. He was a Big crew leader for a reason, and for a long time. This much money is bound to pile up. Of course that brought up the question how he stays under the radar with this amount of money spending. He might pay the car dealers on top of the car to manage his car a bit more privately, but… Still. How?
He finally stopped in front of the place Jack mentioned, and turning off the car, he walked inside. It wasn't hard to spot the leopard since he was in the middle of attention. Literally. He was buying drinks for everyone, while barely able to stand himself. He also talked to two leopardess, who probably were just as drunk as he was.
"Hello Mr Card, I'm sorry but I need to ruin this party." Nick said, and stopped next to the leopard, who had to gather all his strength to focus on Nick.
At first he didn't seem to recognize him, but then his expression just lit up."Fhoxy! Fxosxy! My man!" He shouted and moved in for a hug, which he failed to do so, as he tripped on something on the floor. The two female leopards just giggled, saying how cute he was, while circling one of their fingers on the wineglass. It took him a few seconds to stand up, but for some miracle he was able to get back onto two legs. "Tshis gentelmanal is anbosute pro!" He wobbled a bit, while pointing at Nick.
"Yeah, can confirm. Sorry ladies, but THIS gentlemammal" Now he pointed at Wildcard with his thumb "Has to go."
Wildcard had some troubles with understanding the previous sentence, but upon finally realizing what Nick wanted, he stubbornly shook his head. "NOH! Iam stayging hir. Comon get chu somethin too. HEY bartendr on fror my frein her."
The stag glanced at the leopard then at Nick, and was about to pour some liquid, but Nick just raised his paw and shook his head. "Come on buddy, show's over."
"Wha… Your no fan. I thot you wer up for somthin. Yor a paryt poopr. A PARITY POOER." With that he turned turned away from Nick with an angry expression, and walked back to the girls with a stupid grin. "As I was sayi befor…" Unfortunately he couldn't finish this sentence, as Nick grabbed him by the collar and dragged him away. Nick still gave a questioning glance to the bartender asking if the bill was paid for, but he received a nod and a paw wave that everything was dealt with.
Most of the mammals didn't really care that their free drink buyer was being dragged away, and the Leopardesses didn't interfere either, only gave a dreaming sigh. After taking outside the feline, he wobbled a bit, and blinked a few times to get used to the new light circumstances. Meanwhile Nick opened the backseat, and gestured inside. "Come on, get in."
Wildcard dumbly stared at Nick, and slowly pointed at him again. "Yo ruind my might. I was abot toget adate."
"Yeah, meeting someone drunk at a bar. When's the wedding?"
"The weddin…" He stared at the distance, and the cogs worked really hard in his brain. That was written on his face. "Oh no… Iam egnaged!" He looked at his finger in horror, revealing an onion ring. "Nonono. Iam not reid for kids! I cant be merid!"
Nick sighed and almost facepalmed, while opening the door more. "Well then. I just saved you from having to pay child support. Get in." To Nick's relief, Wildcard started to slowly lumber into the car. He had some problems ducking his head and even bumped it in, which was followed by a few curse words. However, finally he was inside. Nick closed the door, and sat in the driver seat.
"Your new home is on Vulture Road right?" Nick asked, remembering yesterday's discussion between Jack and Wildcard.
"Yesyes. 67 Vulsr roar."
"Mkay…" Nick growled, and started to drive to the address. It wasn't the first time he had to take someone home from a bar. Finnick was a prime example. But at least he knew his limits… Most of the time. Of course, he didn't have a car back then, let alone a driving license, but the fennec fox was also smaller, so it wasn't too big of a headache to help him home. If he had to walk the Leopard home, that would have been a bit harder task. Fortunately now, he just had to comfortably drive a car. "What were you celebrating anyway?" Nick asked curiously, and glanced at Wildcard in the rearview mirror.
"Hehe. You haev no idea. I ama luck… Lucky…" He suddenly started weirdly coughing, which made Nick a bit concerned.
"Hairball?" the fox hoped, but it was answered right away, as everything the leopard had drunk came up to the surface. "Oh come on! What have you been drinking all night?"
Wildcard gave another dumb smile, and said "Everything."
Nick rolled down the window, so he wouldn't throw up too "Yeah guessed so." He growled "Sorry Jack, but I won't clean this mess up!" After this, he remained silent for the rest of the ride. He just wanted this to be over as soon as possible. When arriving at the address, he helped wildcard out, and it was tempting to let him hit his head again, but he rather warned the leopard. He took Wildcard's keys, and opened the door himself, because he had no will to wait for the feline to find the right key. They stumbled through the doorsill, and laid Wildcard on the bed.
"Sorry bud, but I won't bathe you. Not happening." Nick said, and got some blurred mumble as a response. He was about to leave when something yellow caught his eyes. He suddenly stopped in his tracks to see what that thing was. It seemed to be a yellow paper laid onto the desk, next to an opened envelope. Walking closer, he saw that one part of the letter had Zootopia's map printed on, with squiggly lines drawn over and the other part had some kind of writing.
Nick finally reached it, and saw the letter's subject
Dear contestant.
Your skills have been noticed, and I'm giving you my acknowledgement with this letter. You have been chosen to compete in the next sponsored race, with the grand prize of 1.000.000. ZD. The Big 12. I'm sending you the track's layout on the other page. Study it with the best of your knowledge. I'm curious about your approach to the hardships that might cross your path.
Rules are simple.
1. Respect your opponents.
2. The race doesn't start until I give the signal.
3. Keep racing on the given track. Shortcuts are not tolerated.
4. You have to show this yellow letter in order to finalize your application for the race.
Failure to comply with any of these rules will result in a permanent disqualification to not only this, but all other possible future sponsored races.
The race will start at July 25th 8:30 Pm. Take your starting position 30 seconds before start.
Godspeed, and good luck
The Sponsor
Nick needed a few seconds to realize what was going on. Wildcard got an invitation to the Big 12. Either that or someone was playing a trick on him.
"You have an invitation?!" Nick almost shouted, and since got no answer, he looked at the Leopard, who was already in deep sleep.
He looked back at the letter, and took a better look at the squiggly lines on the map. It included all 12 districts just as the name suggested. Started next to the train station in savanna Central, and ended at the outskirts of canal district. Nick estimated the whole route to be roughly above 50 miles. Of course it wasn't the most efficient way. It traveled From Savanna central's station, to make a little loop de loop around little rodentia (Well, technically it is a district and you can't just drive through it), and then up to visit downtown, connecting to Sahara Square where the route turns into a big S shape, which leads to Thundra town, and Rainforest district. It skips the canal district, since that is the finish line, and goes straight to the meadowlands instead, where it does another little 'Sight tour' around the place before leaving to Nocturnal district.
He glanced at Wildcard, who was still sleeping like a big baby, and pulled up his phone to snap a picture. He was about to send it to Bogo, but his finger stopped halfway through. If he sends it, the Buffalo will 100% call off the mission, saying they have what they need. But wouldn't it be better if someone was in the race? The chief doesn't know what's the best way to approach this… Nick tried to convince himself, while his thumb was still above the 'send' icon. I'm just doing what's best for the mission! If I got an invite, I could help a lot for the police… He was still hesitating. In the end he gulped, and unselected the picture. I can keep the picture and send it if I have no other choice…
However he suddenly remembered the 2 invites per crew rule. Since he is now a part of Quickshifters, the sponsor won't send him anything. Jack probably gets one, Wildcard just got one… You don't need to be a math professor to add this up. He was about to send the picture again, when he also remembered the Blacklisters. His only hope for an invite.
With that, he pocketed his phone, and left the house. Blacklisters… Here I go. I'm sorry Jack, but I gotta take my chances.