Chapter Six- Some Old Comrades

Nick's point of view

Two hours later

So we have absolutely nothing? Officer Jamison shook his head "nothing, these guys are good at covering their tracks" the bull said in all honesty "I don't care, run it again" the demanding voice of our new partner sounded as he walked into the room "sir . . ." He gave the bull a stern look "sir we've tried everything, there is no record of the name you're looking for" "what about the bomb residue?" It's still being tested in the lab "so you have nothing?" No, no we don't "Fox your with me, we're going on a little trip to Happytown" for what? I thought your lead was a dead end, he gestured to me to follow him as he walked away.

As we walked out of the station and got into a squad car he looked at me, that place is really bad isn't it? He looked away "sure . . . Why aren't you there if all predators are supposed to be there?" Bogo, he's the only guy who saw potential in me, who's ever saw potential in me actually, I said before I saw him grin in the rear view mirror "oh you've got potential alright, so does that bunny cop" Judy, I corrected sternly.

There was a long silence in the car after I said that and I guess I said what I was thinking out loud, you know I never thought that the ZPD wouldn't think having an old guy as a private wasn't suspicious, I heard a laugh "old?" Huh? "You think I'm old? Fox?" Well I . . . Mean you look old to me . . . Are you? He shrugged "Well I guess 62 is old to some mammals" wait, you're 62 years old and you still look like the protagonist of an action movie? "I'll be 63 in a month, your point fox?" I mean . . . Geez, now I'm really surprised "it never gets old and besides, just because I have gray hair doesn't mean shit" and you chain smoke cigars? "Not chain smoke but I smoke a lot now stop talking unless it's important" so what should I call you then? Boss? "Too formal" old man? "No." he said annoyed, I'll stop talking now.

As we went over the bridge to Happytown I could already see mammals looking at us with the stink eye, that's usually not a good sign. Where are we even going? "A bar, that's where the mammals were meeting are, their a few old friends" bar? That's an odd meeting place "well there aren't many options when you look at it fox" yeah your right, I said as we pulled in front of not only a bar but a casino, your really pushing my professionalism here, as we got out of the car he tilted his head "there's no need to be professional here fox, you'll probably get into trouble if anyone even sees your badge" I took the pin off and put it in my pocket, right.

As we walked in there was a big burly bouncer "can't let you in" he put his badge and his wallet in front of the bear's face "you sure about that pal?" "Especially not cops" "let em in or your fired" one of the other mammals in the bar said walking towards us the bouncer stepped to the side as we walked in. The fellow fox who made the threat dropped his cigarette in what I'd imagine to be surprise and laughed "Frederick, you never cease to surprise me, come, we were wondering if this was all for nothing" he said in a thick Russian accent, we were lead to a table with three other mammals sitting at it who were all apparently surprised to see Manson, he pulled out a chair sitting down across from all of the mammals there "fox, sit with me" he almost commanded before looking at everyone "gentlemen, as you've all probably heard, I've called you all here because there is something that needs to be addressed" "what is this?" A capybara asked before sipping a beer bottle "I'm getting to that. It's an op" op? I asked at the mention of it, the white fox leaned forward and looked at me suspiciously "if you tell me the details, I'm in, who is this?" Everyone looked at me, uh . . . "Nick Wilde, one of the top officers of the ZPD" yeah, I said in confidence even if it was an outright lie.

Second person pov start

"Another fox?" The arctic fox said raising a brow as the cigarette wedged in his muzzle went limp "yeah" Nick was actually happy to see another fox with a somewhat shady look to them.

"So who are these guys . . . Exactly?" The red fox asked, making the bear beside him crush his cigar with his fingers "a few old comrades right?"

The wolf at the end of the table put down his beer "don't make me shoot you so soon Manson" admittedly, Nick was very confused on who these mammals were but given their gritty look and the fact that they've all worked with his new partner, Nick wasn't too keen on asking questions.

Manson turned to the small fox and outstretched his hand, scanning the four mammals who were seated "I'm surprised a guy like you hasn't asked for names yet" at the time Nick was staring at the inhabitants of the table so the old man's sudden words broke his stare.

"Huh?" He sounded, quickly looking up at the questionnaire, who puffed his cigar before speaking again "names, fox" he continued in a hardened voice "oh yeah, who the hell are these guys?" Nick asked, suddenly trying to sound like a tough guy to up his chances of actually getting a response from the shady figures.

Manson only made a toothy grin "Charlie Redbone, sniper and demolition expert, special forces member" the gray wolf simply nodded at the mention of his name, it could be considered as a greeting but Nick doubted it. "Natasha Demitris. Ex KGB and the classic pretty female agent in a Bond movie, call her Natasha" the vixen huffed at Manson's reference as Nick looked at the red headed fox.

Manson continued, pointing at the sheep beside Natasha "Michael Bellic, you might know em as a millionaire but he's Ex CIA and a good undercover agent" Michael tuned in, raising his hoof and interrupting in the process "call me Mike" Manson looked at the sheep and then at Nick "yeah" the white fox stood up as if he was presenting himself.

He did in a very thick Siberian accent "I am Nikolai, it is good to see someone so harsh like Frederick take you under his wing" the fox said offering a drink. "What's in there?" Nick asked with his hand out to grab the bottle, Manson chuckled "guarantee you it's vodka, bad vodka too" Nick looked at the bear quizzically "I'm not much of a vodka guy anyways" Manson cracked his knuckles, getting to the point "listen, the chief of the police almost got killed in a bombing, we don't have much time for chit chatting . . ." He was cut off before he could continue "you mean that bombing?" Mike asked, leaning forward "yeah, we've hit nothing but dead ends" Manson said a bit angrily.

The wolf leaned in too "and what are you expecting us to do? Even the playing field?" "No, we do what we do best and that's find the sorry bastards who did this and end it, that Bellwether sheep said she had someone else doing her dirty work for her, I was thinking you should start there" Manson said, bringing up a lead they could have followed up at the station, Nick questioned it "wait why didn't you . . . ?" "Cause we're the professionals uh . . ." The Arctic fox said leaving the other fox's name out "Nick, but that doesn't explain why you didn't tell everyone that earlier" he argued "fox, if you and your partner are gonna work with us you gotta know that you and the police get what we come back with" the grizzly explained.

First person point of view start

Nick's point of view

So . . . What now? I asked looking at Manson as he got up "get a drink, ya don't look right" hey where are you . . . A hand was put on my shoulder "sit, Nicholas, why er we socialize while you wait Eh?" Nikolai said as I sat back down. The capybara spoke up "besides he's probably just buying more cigars" I nodded, yeah, he smokes those things like he has a nicotine addiction, he laughed "probably does, catch" he said sliding a can to me, I caught it and looked at the label, Juggernog? Haven't seen one of these since like . . . Ever. Nikolai pointed to a red machine next to the bar "da but we have one of the working machines, it tastes good right?" I took a sip of it and it sizzled on my tongue, it had a very very strong cherry flavor to it, it tastes . . . Good but god these are straight out of the 70's! I always wondered why they discontinued these, I said taking another sip.

"So . . . Nick, is it?" Mike started, I nodded, yep "you get used to Manson yet?" I put the can down, not at all "yeah well nobody ever does" hmph, so if he's 62 then you guys are . . . "He's the oldest out of all of us" the gray wolf blurted out, so you're like in your late 50's "yes yes yes, now please let's speak about things relevant" Nikolai said annoyed. Right, I'd imagine you guys are thinking of a plan already, right? "All we have are names, that's it" Mike said as the sheep leaned forward. At least that's something right? "Your Chief was almost assassinated, I think we need more than just names" the wolf said. Well the ZPD has nothing yet, we're still a bit shocked by the explosion, he nodded "any police force would be" yeah, so we're working on it.

A glass was slammed onto the table and then opened "well we aren't getting anywhere if we don't find a way to at least get locations of these bastards" Manson spoke as he sat down with another cigarette in his mouth. How many of those do you have? He looked at me "don't ask if you're not asking for one" no thanks, I said as Manson drank from the glass of what looked like whiskey, "listen we need something to go off before shit hits the fan again" agreed, "but this isn't the Cold War anymore! We can't just go around doing things without catching some attention" the vixen almost shouted as she slammed her fist on the table, if you mean blowing stuff up and shit? Then definitely not, this is a city not a playground, I said in agreement.

Manson took the cigar out of his mouth in response "I didn't even say any of that, we need a plan now or this city is fucked" "agreed, this country is fucked enough as is, we can't let it go off the deep end" Charlie said taking a shot from his glass, that's true too . . . I put my hand on my forehead in frustration and thought, I have to opt with you on this, we need to avoid even more fuck ups in this city or something bad is going to happen "your the officer here, how long do we have?" Mike asked, pressing his hooves together, a few months at the least "I could divert some of my company's earnings to happytown . . . Covertly" that might help on this side but with Bogo presumed dead and no suspects, everyone else is bound to be skeptical. Manson got up "we'll find a way around that, what I wanna know is why would someone try and target the chief?" Well . . . Bogo is a very strong supporter of predator rights, taking him out would be a good idea if someone was planning something big "there aren't any cases that were halted by the explosion? Any important ones?" Well we were getting some leads on a homicide case involving one of our officers but . . . Then someone tried to kill our two suspects and . . . "The point Wilde" Manson interrupted, we didn't get to fit the puzzle pieces together, other than that, no.

"Somethings wrong here and I don't like it" Nikolai said with narrowed eyes "yeah me neither, Wilde you're with me, I'll keep in touch with the rest of you" hey wait a minute! I yelled as he walked towards the door "you should go with him Nicholas, he usually knows what he's doing" Charlie said before taking a drink, you sure? "You coming?" Manson said from the door, uh yeah! I got up and sped over to him just as he was leaving.