"We are all ready to become savage in some cause. The difference between a good man and a bad one is the choice of the cause." - William James
Fresh off the scoop of the now officially dubbed Fangpyre-case, and he was already being thrust into a brand new one...
Talk about overworked.
Despite his snide remarks to Judy about how 'dangerous cop work is the best cop work', he truthfully wanted nothing more than to kick back and relax.
He figured they deserved it, at the least.
But after typing and writing nearly 6 pages full of information on flappy-bat for the criminal-database archives, even he started to get a little restless.
Speaking of restless, Judy was practically bouncing off of the walls as they made their way to Bogo's office. She may have earlier joked about wanting a break too, but it was quite evident by her satisfied smile and the spring in her step that she was excited about being given the opportunity for a new mission, one that she probably wouldn't refuse, no matter how dangerous it was.
Momentarily thinking back on their experience from the Fangpyre-case, Nick figured that maybe there were some missions that even the two of them needed assistance with, despite being among the highest-achieving officers in the precinct.
But still... If this supposed 'new case' was anything like the last one, the fox would probably straight up quit... He did not want another experience like that...
Even if him and Judy truly did learn a lot more about each-other...
The fox shook his head, a slight grin pulling at his facial features as he watched his mate skip down the hall-way and turn the corner to his left, vanishing from sight.
Dumb little bunny... Always so cheerful... He thought to himself.
When he reared the corner that Judy had turned around before him, he spotted her at the end of the long hallway, standing right outside the door to Bogo's office, no doubt patiently waiting for Nick to catch up. That idea put a smile on the fox's face, and as he approached her with half-lidded eyes and a smug smirk on his face, he heard Judy call out to him.
"C'mon, slow-poke!" She shouted. "The law never takes a break!"
Teasingly rolling his eyes, his grin grew wider as she held open the door for him, and the two of them entered Bogo's office, hands clasped together and hoping for the best.
Bogo's little bull-pen was still just as messy and disorganized as he'd last seen it, with papers and half-filled documents strewn about messily, and a chaotic sense of anxiety hanging in the room.
The only thing different that Nick had noticed was the smell.
Bogo's office usually had the stench of manufactured lemon wafting through the air, courtesy of the cheap air-freshener that Clawhauser had gotten him for his birthday a few months ago, along with tickets to the latest Gazelle music concert.
Deep down, Nick wondered which one he appreciated more...
That thought put a smug smirk on the fox's face.
It wasn't a bad smell or anything, but it mixed with the scent of Bogo's sweat, ultimately creating a revolting and putrid odor that smelled like rotten lemons more than anything else. Eventually some officers started complaining (including Nick and Judy), and he'd finally switched out the lemon-scented air freshener for Furbreeze's latest one, 'Musk-Mask', which to be fair smelled much better than what had previously been hidden behind the towering stacks of paperwork and documents.
The bunny and fox seated themselves in the single too-large chair that faced the buffalo's desk. On the opposing side, Chief Buffalo-Butt himself reclined in his own chair, scribbling something on a piece of paper. After a few seconds of silence, which was broken by Nick's cough for attention, the chief looked up from his work; his orange-tinted eyes staring accusingly over the top of his glasses, which he then removed from his snout and placed on the top of the desk. He brought his hoofs to his face and rubbed away at his eyes before sighing and slowly standing up from his chair, pushing it back as he rose.
"You two have no idea how much paper-work I've been drowning in since you got back form the Nocturnal-District..." He muttered, taking a sip from a nearby glass of coffee before continuing.
"City-hall has been right up my tail trying to fight back against the idea of pouring more funds into that place... They're already dumping nearly a quarter of the city's taxes into keeping the air-conditioned borders up and running, and now that the Nocturnal-District is making a comeback into the limelight, they're trying to dissuade the idea of putting money into there... They got enough on their hands already..." He said grimly, almost disappointingly.
He scowled and took another sip from his coffee mug, exhaling slowly and breathing in deep before speaking once again.
"And it's certainly not helping that the Nocturnal-District's residence are fighting back."
That statement caught Judy's attention, in particular.
"Fighting back? What do you mean, chief?" She asked innocently.
"Well... word got out somehow that city-hall didn't have any plans for solving the problems and innovating the situation down there. The citizens of the Nocturnal-District must've found out one way or another, and now they've started filing complaints and even waging protests. They were all under the iron-grip of that bat for the longest time, and city-hall didn't do anything about that, either... They didn't know about it because we thought that he was dead!" He yelled, slamming his fist on the desk.
He sighed and took another sip of coffee, draining the remainder of the cup.
"The citizens couldn't even ask for help from the surface, because that bat would've had them killed within the hour: They were afraid. And now that he's gone, the civilians want to undo all the damage that he'd let fester down there, away from the eyes of the city government... Pot-holes, robberies, throw-downs, muggings... all courtesy of Vladzotz's irresponsible rule..."
Bogo placed the mug atop the filing cabinet behind him.
"The workers in the mines have even went as far as to wage a strike in protest of city-hall not wanting to help them. All of this and more has happened within the last 48 hours alone... It's starting to get out of hand..."
"Uh, sir?" Nick stammered, causing Bogo to raise an eyebrow in apprehension.
"Yes Wilde?" The buffalo inquired.
"Where exactly do we feature in this?" The fox asked.
"I was just getting to that Wilde, so if you'll please not interrupt me again, then maybe I'll tell you."
Nick nodded approvingly after shrugging, and leaned back in the seat that he shared with Judy, who was listening intently to chief Bogo as he spoke.
"Because the two of you nearly concluded the entire Fangpyre-case single-handedly, and that the bat's manor is now completely gone, many residents down in the Nocturnal-District have come to realize that you two were the ones who freed them from Vladzotz's grip. They're feeling grateful, least to say: Besides... why wouldn't they, even? You brought down one of the largest and most dangerous criminal organizations not just in the Nocturnal-District, but in the whole of Zootopia!"
The fox coughed audibly.
"That still doesn't exactly answer my question..." He said.
The water-buffalo fixed him with a glare that would make a charging rhino stop in it's tracks and run for mama.
"Okay okay! I'll shut up... sorry..." Nick stammered hastily, causing Judy to let out a slight giggle as she eyed him before turning her attention back to chief Bogo, who had resumed talking after taking in a few deep breaths to calm himself.
"There's more than just one specific reason, Wilde." Bogo began. "Anyways, back on topic here..." He breathed in deeply before continuing.
"The citizens of the Nocturnal-District are appraising you, and glorifying your work in bringing down the Fangpyre family... The ones who are protesting and calling-out the city government are using your actions as justification for theirs. Not only that, but the ZPD and city-hall has gotten hundreds of letters, Z-Mails, and phone-calls from the Nocturnal-District... many of them asking and even demanding for you to side with them in their cause against city-hall. The problem is, doing that might cost you your jobs."
At that statement, fox and bunny both sat up in their chair, looks of concern donning their faces. Nick almost spoke out again, but bit his tongue down at the last second in an effort to avoid the chief's chiding.
"As you know, the new Mayor of the city has just recently been elected..." Bogo started.
They most certainly did: The latest Mayor to take office, a female bob-cat, had been nominated and sworn in just last month. Neither fox nor bunny was exactly sure why, though... She seemed quite stringent, and had allegedly been on probation for drunk driving once, but that scandal had quickly been hushed up.
"As I'm sure you also know... she's a tad bit on the deterrent side, and after the predator-prey protests following the conclusion of the Night-Howler case all those years ago, she promised to maintain a stable society if she was elected into office, which she is now. If she saw you as encouraging the already brewing tensions by supporting the protesters in their efforts, she could have you removed from duty on accounts of sedition."
Bogo's gaze briefly settled behind his two guests, as if he were pondering about the repercussions of having his two best officers removed from duty.
He shook his head before continuing.
"I know you that just got done dealing with the atrocity that was the Fangpyre-case..." He assured the fox and bunny.
"But for the sake of order and stability, I'm assigning you to this new case-" He pointed to a thick file on the right side of his desk. "- Not just because you two are perhaps the best I could think of to handle it, but because it will get you out of the public eye for a while... allow you to lay-low and away from all this political nonsense, at least until it blows over."
At the notion of her new case's purpose, Judy wondered exactly what it might be: If it was something that would 'get them out of the public eye for a while', like Bogo had said, then it must be something different than what they were used to.
Bogo's stern and acquiring voice spoke up again, earning her attention.
"This new case isn't exactly... established, yet. We're not even sure if the suspect in question is even partaking in the presented accusations... That's why we're sending you two in, aside from the bonus of getting out away from the public. You'll have to warm up to the suspect, and gradually sneak information from his belongings and acquiring Intel on his accusations, if any, that is."
The water-buffalo reached over and clasped the case-file on the right side of his desk, sliding it over to and in front of Nick and Judy, who's eyes followed the folder.
"We're calling in the Savage-case," Bogo began, flipping open the cover. "The subject is a rabbit, goes by Jack Savage..."
As soon as the chief mentioned another rabbit, Judy's ears perked up in anticipation.
Another rabbit... Haven't seen very many of them here in the big-city... Hmm... Sounds like a male by the name, too... She thought to herself.
"He's an ex-criminal informant, and has helped the ZIA and ZBI in the past with various things... Now, he runs one of the largest banks in Zootopia, and also leads several charitable organizations that you might have heard of."
As Bogo filled them in on information about the aforementioned Jack Savage, both Nick and Judy took the time to look over the various pictures and other evidence laden throughout the case-file before them. The bunny's eyes were first drawn to a photograph that looked like it was snapped near city-hall. It showed a formally dressed rabbit walking up the concrete stair-case, suit-case in hand. His back was turned to the camera, and he was wearing a pure-black suit.
Chief Bogo caught Judy staring, and decided to shed some light on what in particular she was looking at.
"That one picture that you're seeing was taken by a ZPD investigative-photographer. We had our suspicions, and judging from the story behind this photo, it appears that something might not be like what it seems... The new mayor, being as strict as she is, doesn't hold meetings with anyone except her closest, and after learning from the assistant-mayor that she had no meetings with any guests scheduled that day, it does raise some eyebrows as to the reasons behind Jack's visitation."
Bogo explained, pointing to the rabbit in the photograph. He then flipped the page, presenting another photograph of Jack Savage, this one apparently intentionally and professionally taken, probably for a website or something.
It showed Jack facing the camera, his lips parted in a prideful smile. He was definitely a rabbit; He had the whole package, complete with long ears that sprouted from his head, and large white teeth that adorned his smile. His fur was a very light-grey, and almost looked white. The sides of his face and the top-half of his ears were dabbled with splotches and streaks of dark-black fur, all of which stood in stark contrast to his blue-colored eyes, which bore directly into the lens of the camera.
Judy couldn't help but think that he was kind of handsome...
She stole a glance at Nick, who was still looking intently into the pages of the case-file. She then decided to follow suite, and began flipping through more pages of information. It seemed that Bogo had already explained the majority of what was to be known, but she did pick up a few extra details, like the charity businesses that he ran: One of the most prominent being a non-profit organization that helped displaced/abused children and orphans find new homes.
While looking over all the charities that he worked with, Judy couldn't help but wonder what this guy could be suspicious of: He seemed to be doing some really generous and considerate things, and from the picture that she had seen, she didn't think that he really looked that threatening or shady...
The bunny looked up from the papers. "So what's the deal with this guy, anyways? He seems pretty clean to me, for the most part." She admitted.
Upon hearing her words, Bogo donned a brief look of bewilderment before replacing it with a scowl of disappointment: He hadn't expected Hopps to be so inconsiderate.
"Hopps, do keep in mind that we could potentially be dealing with a rather dangerous suspect... Don't forget that there are reasons behind why we've placed him on our watch-list. We have reason to believe that he's been financially playing all of his business and charity associates... Fraudulence on behalf of taking donator's money and keeping it for himself. Hedge-Funds, and what-not. We think he's been assimilating the financial endowments he's gained from his charities and putting them in his own pocket. But it doesn't stop there: There's also rumors about drug-trafficking and even agreements with the other reigning district crime-lords, like Al Catpone and Shahaz The Stinger... We're taking this with a grain of salt though, because like I said: We're not so sure. That's why you two are going in getting the job done."
The fox raised his hand and simply asked a single question.
"Uh, chief? What's the job, exactly?"
Bogo nodded his head approvingly.
"Glad that you asked, Wilde." He began. "You two are going undercover in Jack's organization, with new names, new identities... A complete makeover."
And with that, the buffalo rose from his chair and plucked the case-file from Nick's paws, placing it atop the cabinet behind him.
"I just hope that you're not allergic to dye... Because then we'd have to find someone else for the job..."
Hey Everyone!
I certainly hope that you all enjoyed the latest update of 'When Instinct Falls!" :D
The next one will come soon, I assure you, and will be finally delving into the likes of the new case: I can't wait to show you guys what I got planned out!
But for now, feel free to tell me what you all think about this chapter, ranging from Nick/Judy's new case, to the word-format and dialogue... whatever floats your boat, as they say.
I can't wait to read your responses and reviews, but for the moment I bid you all farewell!
Peace!