"He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life." - Muhammad Ali
10:30 A.M
The fox and bunny entered the lobby-floor of Jack's building, much like they did every day. This day, however, both were intent on overcoming their own obstacles.
Nick was bent on doing more research into his shell-corporation, the Sahara-Square Sundries, but Judy had her own plans in store for that morning shift...
Ever since she discovered Jack the previous night; Cold and hungover in his office, Judy couldn't break the idea of trying to assist him in his problems. In her eyes, Jack needed serious help: His drinking problem, at the ripe age of thirty-five, at that, could very well cut his life short a few decades if he continued it at this rate. She was no doctor, but she would do all she could to lend her assistance to him if it meant helping him to break that terrible habit.
So like every other work day the past month, she ascended the elevator up along with Nick, bidding him farewell until the afternoon, when the two would meet once again and discuss their findings with Chief Bogo. Judy had already told Nick that she also intended to do some extra snooping around later on that evening: This however, was no lie, as she truly did seek to gather more evidence surrounding the case.
Though, perhaps she wasn't doing it to prove Jack guilt of his accusations, but to prove him innocent.
Judy could safely admit that she felt sorry for Jack, one way or another at least. She'd grown to warm up to him beyond the facade smile of her falsetto personality, Alaina Ryder, and begun to accept him as a dependable friend, almost. Now that they had confirmed the fact that Jack's company had been subject to Ponzi-Scheming and other financial ailments, Judy wanted to try and see if there was any way possible to prove that it wasn't Jack who was behind it.
It was a hard thing to believe though, as being the head of the company, Jack would easily be able to accomplish such awful crimes, and get away scot-free.
The bunny shook her head from side to side and breathed in deep, mentally preparing herself for her reunion with Jack that morning. She stepped out of the elevator, and as always, tried to ignore the opposing one, which still stood as dark and vacant as ever before.
She knocked a single time upon the hard-wooden surface of Jack's office doors before letting herself in, carefully shutting the door behind her so as to make as little noise as possible. Judy looked around the room in search of any signs of activity, and was met with the sight of Jack sitting atop the same sofa that he had passed out upon the previous night. He held a book in his paws, and appeared to be quite invested in it. The female bunny cleared her throat audibly. Upon reaching for his attention, Judy saw the male bunny's ears twitch at the sound of her cough, and he turned his head in her direction, his piercing blue eyes locking with her soft purple ones.
"Ah, good to see you this morning, Alaina." He stated with a smile.
The male bunny then shook his head and closed his book, not even bothering to place the bookmark in to mark his spot. He rose from his chair and dusted off the cuffs of his suit before walking over to Judy, and stopping about a foot in front of her.
"Alaina... I-I am so, so sincerely sorry that I couldn't make it to our da-" He stopped himself and swallowed before finishing. "Our dinner."
Judy pursued her lips and eyed him with pity. She felt her ears lower and flatten out against the back of her neck. She was mentally debating whether or not to tell him that she had in fact, seen his drunken-state the previous night.
"Jack," She started with a reassuring smile. "It's okay. I forgive you. I..." She hesitated. "I saw what happened to you last night, and I understand why you couldn't make it."
Jack's face hardened, and his features were emotionless for a few seconds before his eye-lids drooped and his expression slacked. He sighed before responding.
"So... You saw that?" He asked flatly, to which Judy nodded in an affirmative response.
The rabbit trudged back over to his ring of sofas and collapsed into the cushions of the same one where he was sitting earlier. He cupped his paws to his face and planted his elbows against his kneecaps, holding up his head as he wiped away at his eyes. Jack then leaned back against the couch and stared listlessly into the distance in front of him.
"Ugh... You weren't supposed to see that." He stifled a humorless laugh and raised his right paw, swiping it slowly across the space above his head as he looked to the sky.
"Zootopia's greatest businessman..." Jack started before dropping his arm and sinking into the couch. "A hopeless alcoholic. I'm pathetic." He spat.
Judy shook her head slightly and paced over to Jack before sitting down directly beside him. She gripped his paw in a reassuring gesture before she spoke her own mind.
"No, Jack! You are not pathetic! You're a brilliant, intelligent, and caring mammal... Don't let this problem of yours make you forget that, Jack." Judy stated.
Her words were nothing but the truth: This was no laughing matter, and she wanted Jack to know that she would help him overcome this problem of his.
"I also think that you're a great guy, and that you're funny, and smart, and strong-willed." She stuttered. "You are anything but pathetic."
Judy stared deep into Jack's eyes and saw a strange sense of acceptance and longing. His nose twitched a single time as he continued to stare blankly at Judy, mouth agape.
Suddenly and without warning, Jack leaned forward, and captured Judy's lips against his own, his eyes closed and ears lowered back in indulgence. Judy was shocked at his swift and abrupt action, her eye-lids shooting open and her ears sticking up in apprehension. She felt an inviting pleasure course up her spine: One that caused her eyes to close and her ears to lower in acceptance. A peculiar biological ticking in her head was encouraging her to continue with the kiss, but she soon regained her sense of reason, and opened her eyes: Jack must have thought that she was giving in, because Judy saw him move his paws closer forward in an effort to touch her, no doubt.
She wouldn't let him get that far.
Judy pushed Jack away with her arms, severing the kiss and causing the male rabbit to fall onto his back against the soft cushions of the couch. She stood up and backed away from the scene, eyeing him precariously. The female bunny then turned tail and quickly walked away and towards the exit, not bothering to look back.
"Wait! Alaina!" She heard Jack's voice call out from behind. "I-I'm sorry, please! Just hear me out, please!"
But Judy didn't want to hear him out. Jack had used her sympathy as a gateway to express his own desires. She was disgusted at the lack of consideration and empathy.
Her ears detected Jack standing up quickly from the sofa, only to hear a soft thud as he tripped over and fell to the ground, all in an effort to try and apologize.
She didn't say anything on her way out: She didn't know if there was anything to be said, even.
Judy went to the nearest and only place that Jack couldn't try to follow her: The women's washroom.
She slipped into the restroom and quickly closed the door behind her. She would have tried locking it if there was one, but since there wasn't, she settled for the closed door and made her way to the deeper corner, as far away from the door as she could get. After a few minutes of simply breathing and listening closely to the hallway outside, trying to hear if perhaps Jack was trying to follow her, she walked over to the sink and washed her paws before cupping them and bringing the water to her muzzle, which she thoroughly washed.
This whole mission was a horrible idea... I shouldn't have accepted it... What would Nick think if he found out about that?... She thought vividly to herself.
The thought of Nick nearly brought her to tears: Here she was, a married and mated bunny, that had allowed another male to kiss her.
No... It wasn't my fault... She mentally reminded herself.
Judy sniffled and wiped at her eyes, successfully resisting the urge to cry.
Judy had her moment, and after a few minutes of quiet and peaceful thinking, she washed her face one final time, cleaning it of all her tears before she exited the restroom and entered the hall. She didn't see or hear Jack, but didn't stick around to do so either: She immediately made her way to the elevator, where she took it all the way back down to the lobby. Once she set foot out of the elevator cartridge, she left the building and made her way back to the hotel where her and Nick had been assigned to stay.
As she walked back, she took out her phone and texted Nick, telling him that she was going to the ZPD alone so as to inform Chief Bogo of their recent discovery, like the two of them had planned out earlier. Thankfully, Nick didn't press for details, as his responses consisted of situated agreements and a single farewell. Smiling at his texts, the bunny almost passed up a nearby taxi. She raised her left paw and hailed it, stepping in and informing the driver that she needed to head to the ZPD head-quarters.
Soon enough, she was cruising on her way towards her destination, trying not to think about the past half-hour's events the entire way back.
11:45 A.M
The past hour had been one of dutiful research on the behalf of one Nicholas Wilde.
He, along with Dyvim Whitetail and Natalia Blackthorne, had been delving into the science behind the art of shell-corporations and phantom-profits, all three mammals trying to assimilate as much information as they could, and for varying reasons.
The two multi-colored bunnies were under the impression that they were doing this simply for the good of the company, and they had intentions to soon report the situation to the higher-up's, so as to inform Jack of their predicament.
Nick, on the other paw, was doing this for more than just the good of the company: But for the ZPD and the people of Zootopia as well. Whoever was handling these transactions, whether it was Jack Savage, or Shahaz the Stinger, or even both; Needed to be shut down, and their reign of criminal injustice put to a stop.
Alongside this, Nick was trying to keep the information about the phantom-profit and the discovery of the shell-corporation hushed down and quiet, so as to keep Jack from finding out sooner rather than later: The last thing he wanted was for a potential suspect to realize that their work had been unearthed.
So now, the fox was busying himself in Dyvim's cubicle while the titular rabbit faxed out a few sheets of information regarding the shell-corporation, Sahara-Square Sundries.
Nick fiddled with the computer, staring at the screen blankly as he read up some more on the science behind hedge-funds and other financial nuisances. Most of the work behind it was pretty complicated looking stuff, but Nick assumed that once people managed to get over the learning-curve, that it must've been quite easy to manipulate.
Dang... Why didn't I try to get into the fraudulence business? The fox mentally questioned, of which he gave himself a good chuckle soon after.
While he waited for Dyvim to return, he considered writing up a preliminary report for Bogo; A little document with all the evidence that they've gathered so far, but he soon ruled out at idea, as it was too risky to do in public, and they weren't even finished with the mission yet.
Soon enough, Nick heard a knock on the cubicle wall, and turned around to see Dyvim, in his paws a few sheets of paper.
"Hey! You got all the info on this shell-corporation, Divvy?" The fox inquired, rising from his chair and walking over to the rabbit as he did.
"Uh-huh... Not much on the internet surrounding these guys, which isn't surprising, since they only exist as an account and a name... I dunno if they even have a physical location, Felix. Regardless, this is all I could find about the Sahara-Square Sundries, or whatever they are. That might come in handy if you give it to the ZPD, ya know..."
He handed the papers to Nick, whom took them all carefully and examined them, briefly skimming over the lines of information before nodding his head and shaking the rabbit's paw.
"Good work, Div! I'll get this whole thing sorted out, I promise." Nick claimed. "Excuse me, while I take care of this evidence."
After he let go of Dyvim's hand and walked away, Nick mentally chided himself for referring to the papers as evidence, but soon trashed those thoughts, as he figured Dyvim really didn't care what he called them.
The fox then checked the current time: 12:03 P.M
Bummer... Still got another two hours until I'm off for the day. I hope carrots is doing alright... I wonder what edged her to leave so early today... He thought to himself.
Truly, he did ponder the possible reasons for his mate's sudden retreat. It worried him slightly, but he was quite sure that Judy could take care of herself effectively: She was a strong-willed and smart girl, and those were some of the many reasons that Nick loved her for. He did manage to catch her text, though; Saying that she was taking the day off, and was heading back to the ZPD head-quarters to fill in Bogo by herself. Nick appreciated that act, as he was unable to do so himself for the rest of the afternoon.
The fox wasn't watching where he was going, and as he reared a corner around one of the office's many cubicles, he slammed head-first into Natalia Blackthorne, Sector-A's only female bunny. Their heads collided, and Nick instinctively recoiled; accidentally throwing his papers into the air as he did. Meanwhile, Natalia stumble back, clutching her paw to her fore-head as she shut her eyes and groaned in discomfort.
The female bunny soon opened her eyes to the sight of her boss, with all of his papers strewn across the ground, littering the carpet floor of the office.
"Oh my..." She squeaked. "I am so sorry, Mr Leyfur! I-I didn't see you coming, sir!"
Nick fashioned himself his favorite smirk before locking eyes with the flustered bunny.
"Don't worry, Nat. It's my fault - I wasn't looking where I was going. No need to apologize."
The two of them helped the other as they retrieved and reorganized the paper sheets that had fallen across the floor. Once they were all picked up and rearranged into their respective stacks, Nick looked up and thought for a moment as he eyed the black-furred bunny.
Hmm. Maybe I could try and speed things along with Dyvim and her. It's obvious that he really seems to like her, so maybe I could be of assistance! Nick thought to himself.
"Thank you for helping me pick that mess up!" He began with a smile. The fox then cleared his throatbefore continuing.
"And again, so sorry I wasn't looking where I was going: I was just checkin' out these new documents that I had Dyvim print for me. He's a very good worker, wouldn't you agree?"
The female bunny nodded her head in agreement, her green eyes darting back and forth between Nick, the papers, and the direction that Nick had came from.
"Yes, he's a very productive employee, sir... I admire that about him." She claimed.
Ah, so you admire his productivity hmm? That's a start! The fox's mind blurted to himself.
"Indeed he is. Eh, tell me Miss Blackthorne; do you have a significant other, least to say?" He questioned with raised eyebrows.
"Oh, no sir... I've always put work ahead of any form of relationship..."
Reminds me of a very certain dumb bunny that I know...
Nick shook his head and smiled before replying.
"You know, that philosophy reminds me of my own... Girlfriend." He stammered.
Nick had almost said wife, but everyone here thought that his undercover persona wasn't married yet, so he was glad that he'd managed to catch himself before spilling out.
"Yeah, she's a real head-strong kinda gal..." The fox continued non-nonchalantly. "Always striving hard for what she's shootin' for... Reminds me of both you and Dyvim!"
Nick began walking past and headed towards his office, and as he passed by her side, he quickly muttered;
"I think you two would get along great, ya know."
Smiling to himself the whole way back, Nick placed the stack of papers atop the smooth wooden surface of his desk and shut the door behind him, isolating himself in the tiny room of his own office. He let out a groan of relief as he flopped into his chair and kicked his legs up and onto the desk, training his eyes out through the windows and across the Zootopian sky-line.
He gave himself a mental pat on the back from his little run-in with Natalia, and he hoped that he'd subtly managed to get the message across. Or not so subtly.
Whatever worked best.
"Mister Leyfur, you are one smooth fox, aren't you?" He asked himself with a triumphant smirk.
The fox stifled a satisfied chuckle before leaning back in his chair. He still had a few hours before he was let off for the day, and he intended on reading over those documentations involving that shell-corporation soon enough, but that didn't stop him from taking a break and enjoying the moment.
"Life is good... Life is good." Nick mumbled, taking a sip from a nearby glass of water as he watched the clouds soar by from his little spot in this big, huge world.
12:10 P.M
"A shell-what?!" Bogo repeated.
"A shell-corporation, chief..." Judy said as she rested her paws on her hips. "Do I need to explain it again, sir?" She grumbled irritably.
"No no, you've done well enough, officer Hopps... Though I'm very pleased that you and Wilde managed to recover this, I have to wonder why you showed up without him."
The bunny raised her right paw and rubbed at her lips, as though there were some foul residual taste lingering from the previous few hours. The taxi ride had taken long enough, as Jack's building was clear across town in comparison to the ZPD head-quarters (all of the mid-afternoon traffic in the Downtown area certainly didn't help, either), but after a good half-hour of driving, she'd finally made it back to one of her favorite places in the world... Even if it was without one of her favorite mammals in the world.
She'd promptly paid the taxi-driver and entered the building upon arrival, heading straight past Clawhauser and right up to chief Bogo's office, where she knocked before being given permission to enter. From there, she'd spent the past half-hour explaining to chief Bogo about all of her and Nick's findings and discoveries since their last clock-in with the ZPD. And just now, she'd concluded explaining to Bogo exactly what a phantom-profit and a shell-corporation was, if only to get him up to date on the situation.
"Well, to answer your question chief; I got off for the remainder of the day, even though Nick is still working. I decided to come in and file-in with you myself, to save time."
She felt awful lying to the chief, but she would have felt even more awful trying to explain to him that she had, in fact, completely walked out on Jack after he had made that considerably uncalled-for advancement. The water-buffalo stroked his muzzle with one of his hoofs while he looked over the newly developed case-file for the officially dubbed Savage Case. He seemed to buy in to the information that Judy had shared with him, and appeared to be in deep-thought as he stared down at the papers within his hooves.
"Yes. This is good, Hopps. I'll let you know when we manage to figure out what needs to be done with this Sahara-Square Sundries place of yours. Until then, you're dismissed."
Judy gave him the standard salute before excusing herself to the commons area, where she relaxed for some time before she set out for lunch, picking out a small soup-kitchen on Savannah-Central. She'd heard that the place had good reviews and even greater food, and since she didn't plan on returning to Jack's building for a long time, she decided that some lunch wouldn't hurt. Judy wondered what Nick himself was up to at this moment in time: Hopefully not playing cards when he should be out working.
That thought caused the bunny to smile and stifle a slight laugh.
As she ate, she couldn't help but think over her plans involving Jack himself:
Eventually, she had to come to terms with the fact that she would have to see Jack again tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that, all the way until this case of hers was solved. She didn't want to be around that disgraceful businessman any more than she had to: She had originally planned on doing some overtime later on this evening, and hopefully learning a few more things along the way, but now... Now she wanted this case to be over and done with as fast as possible, so her and Nick could go back to chasing bad-guys on the streets instead of doing all of this under-cover white-collar nonsense.
So that evening, instead of going in to work on even more papers for Jack, she'd go in with the intention on trying to find out even more about the meaning behind all of these strange events: Jack's previous mentioning of Shahaz the Stinger, the phantom-profit, the shell-corporation, and even those mysterious scratches by the window: Judy knew that they all had to be connected, somehow. The rabbit officer knew that something strange was afoot in that financial building, and knew that it could spell out trouble.
And she had every intent on finding out just what.
10:45 P.M
It had been many hours since she had left that restaurant and returned to her and Nick's hotel room. Once there, she slept for the next five hours; dutifully catching up on her sleeping, because she wouldn't be doing very much of it tonight: She had every intention of finding out everything that she could while she was snooping around Jack's building that night, and would even pull an 'all-nighter' if she had to.
She had briefly woken up to Nick's entrance at around 4:30, where he had at last returned from a long day of work at Sector-A. He too was tired, but didn't relent from listening to Judy as she quickly explained what had happened with her that day, and what she had planned for the rest of the night. Of course, Judy did leave out one minor part: She figured that Nick didn't need to know about Jack's surprise smooch, at least for now, and that it'd be better if even she tried to forget about it.
After she had finished explaining her plans, Nick immediately demanded that he joined in on her mission to uncover more clues. Judy promptly accepted his offer, and the two then decided that while Judy was exploring Jack's office and the other rooms on his floor, Nick would be doing some snooping of his own around on Sector-A.
Because neither of them really knew how long they would be staying there, they decided to catch up on a few more hours of sleep before their big mission.
Now, the time read as three-quarters past ten, and the two of them had just arrived at the building.
For a more convenient outcome, Judy had taken the time to change out of her silky purple dress and into an identically colored sweat-shirt and bluejeans. She brought her tranquilizer gun with her, along with her police badge and a pair of tweezers and a few zip-lick bags for collecting evidence, assuming she even found any in the first place.
Using their specially-assigned key-cards that they had gotten on their first day working for Jack, they easily managed to enter the higher floors and other more 'off-limits' areas that would otherwise be secluded to the public at this hour of night.
Judy bid farewell to Nick for the second time that day as he was dropped off at his floor. Judy watched him pace quickly down the hall-way and into the depths of Sector-A all the way until the doors closed shut. She felt the familiar pulling sensation in her feet and lower body as the elevator cartridge rose up and dropped her off at Jack's floor.
It was a dark and quiet atmosphere: One that Judy didn't like.
She crept down the hall-way and entered Jack's office, carefully sliding the doors open and closing them behind her as she did. She locked the doors just to be safe, and then proceeded to scan her head around the office. As she did, she tried not to think too much about that blasted elevator: It was driving her crazy enough on its own. It had been exactly one month since she had first seen those mysterious doors slid open, but she still had yet to find out who had been inside in the first place.
The female bunny didn't see any sign of activity whatsoever: There were no lights, and the only amount of illumination came from the dim glow of the moon, which beamed steadily through the shades covering the various windows.
It was obvious that Jack wasn't home, and that he hadn't been for some time. The papers from his failed business deal with Bugga-Burger were still stacked atop the coffee-table in the center of the room, and the book that he had been reading earlier that day when Judy first saw him was still lying on the sofa, in the exact same spot as it had been when she saw him initially place it down, all those hours ago.
She looked around for some time; Sifting through the shelves, flipping through old documentations that he had tucked away in filing cabinets, and even scavenging through his desk in an attempt to find anything of usefulness to her objective.
After exploring all of his desk drawers and not finding anything interesting, Judy straightened herself out and eyed the surface of the desk. She didn't think that there would be anything useful there, but she felt a sensation urging her to do so. Sighing, she began sorting through the various things that were littered across his desk, consistently careful to place them back in the exact same spots that she found them, so as not to arouse suspicion.
Eventually, she moved over to his key-board pad. She honestly thought that it would be the last place where anything suspicious or important would be stored.
Thankfully for her and the entire mission objective, she was wrong.
Judy slid his key-board out of the way and lifted up the pad that it was resting upon. She didn't see anything in particular at first, due to the shadows bending around the raised form of the pad, but upon closer examination, she noticed the strangely shaped outline of something smooth and flat-shaped, placed in the center of the space beneath the pad.
She pulled out her pair of tweezers and retracted the item from beneath the keyboard, which she placed back down and straightened out. Focusing her attention back to the newly discovered object, she noticed that the shape of the thing looked almost like a shield: It was smooth on the surface, but it's pointed tip was surprisingly sharp and acute. The item was roughly the size of a ZPD arm patch, and would have fit in the palm of the rabbit's paw with ease.
With her prey-based eyesight, she couldn't see it very well in the dreary moonlight, so she chose to quickly flick the switch of the nearby lamp; turning it on and illuminating the object that she held between the tongs of her tweezers.
It was a scale: Colored the hue of wet-sand, with tiny, delicate marks and symbols engraved around the sharpened edges.
What in the world? Her mind mused to itself.
Suddenly, her ears shot up in detection: Someone was walking down the hall-way just beyond the door that she had locked. She quickly reached over and turned off the light of the lamp, instantly causing the room to darken. It took her eyes a brief amount of time to readjust to the immediate change in lighting, but her ears still functioned properly and effectively: She heard the mammal outside try their own against the door; fumbling against the handle in an attempt to open it.
"What the heck?" She heard the voice mutter out loud.
It was Jack, unsurprisingly: Judy had half expected him to show up in the middle of the night, whether it was to quickly complete some paperwork or to engage in another alcohol-laced drinking session. She hoped that he would just get what he wanted and leave, so that she could get back to her investigating. But now, she needed to hide.
Knowing that she only had a few seconds until the male rabbit managed to unlock the door himself and enter the office, Judy quickly slipped the scale into a zip-lock bag, which she in turn stuffed into one of her pockets before darting out from behind the desk and hiding behind one of the large, draping curtains that covered the farthest corner of the wall of glass windows at the very back of the office..
She wrapped herself in the thick material and began to breath in steadily in an attempt to calm herself: She had no intention on being discovered.
Realizing that she could very well be missing out on valuable Intel if she didn't see what Jack was doing, she quickly took her pair of tweezers and made a small puncture in the fabric of the curtain: Large enough for her to peep out of with one eye, but small enough so that it wouldn't be noticed by anyone else in the room without inspection.
Judy also realized and took into consideration the significant opportunity that this situation had: Jack had no idea that she was here, and with him thinking that no one else was around to see him, he might act differently or do things that she could use against him as evidence for her under-cover mission. He could finally reveal his true colors.
Also seizing the chance to film him in this current state, Judy took out her phone and selected the film app. So as to get two different perspectives, she made another small hole in the fabric for the phone to look out of from a different angle, while she looked out from her own perspective.
She mentally patted herself on the back: She had an ingenuous strategy! With a little luck, Jack might reveal something useful to her, and she could catch it on camera.
Meanwhile, Jack had just managed to unlock the door and enter the office. He closed the door behind him, but didn't bother locking it: That was a reassuring sign to the female bunny, because she assumed that it meant that Jack planned on leaving soon enough.
The male rabbit immediately trudged over to his private alcohol compartment that he had set up in the corner of the room. Judy wasn't very surprised, and continued to film him as he poured himself a light glass of scotch. He took a small sip before hesitating, seemingly choking on the tough liquid: He let loose a few rigid coughs before growling deeply and hardening his grip on the glass.
Much to Judy's surprise, Jack then angrily threw the scotch glass across the room, where it shattered upon impact with the bookshelves of one of the office's walls. The glass shards pattered to the floor and littered themselves across the shelves and rows of books, and the amber-colored liquid was strewn along the wall. She then heard Jack let out a slew of colorful curses as he paced back and forth across the length of his office. Judy watched in awe and wonder as the male rabbit clutched the entire bottle of scotch that he had stored in his compartment, pulling it out before screaming and throwing it against another wall, causing the bottle to explode in a shower of yellow shards.
Judy wasn't sure what to make of this whole scene. On the bright side, he wasn't drinking, at least.
Jack cursed again and clutched his paws to his head, mumbling softly to himself. Judy, even with her enhanced hearing, could only make out a few choice words from his seemingly incoherent rambling; Tonight, month, cut, burger, crap.
The female bunny's ears twitched in detection as she heard another sound emanate from the depths of the hallway just outside the office;
Ding!
It was then that Judy realized that someone had taken an elevator up to their floor. She had a sinking suspicion that it wasn't the one that she had used to get here.
Apparently, Jack had heard the elevator's sound as well, because he cursed loudly enough for Judy to hear.
"Bugger!" He hissed. "Twat's here already?"
Judy watched as he shuffled over to the door and waited directly in front of it. She couldn't tell whether or not he was waiting for something, or looking out of the peephole: He just stood there in hushed anticipation, waiting anxiously beside the door like some attendant making way for his boss. He checked his watch fitfully every few seconds.
The female bunny sensed an audible thumping sound coming from outside - Footsteps, she concluded - Making their way down the hallway just outside. They sounded light - so light that only rabbit ears could detect them - and gradually grew louder until they stopped directly behind the door that separated Jack from whatever was standing outside.
Three knocks followed, each one louder and harsher than the last.
Jack breathed in deeply and composed himself, closing his eyes as he gathered his bearings for whatever was to come. Then, he opened the door.
Judy couldn't see whoever was outside from her hiding place, but she noticed that Jack was looking a bit downward - Whoever he spoke with was just below his height. Accepting the fact that she couldn't manage to see the other mammal at the moment, she instead focused on watching and listening to Jack as he stood in the door.
"Welcome once again, old friend-" Jack began, but was interrupted when the voice of the other mammal hissed aloud in rebuttal;
"I'm not your friend, vermin."
Judy narrowed her eyes. The voice sounded... Familiar. Deep and velvety. Jack stepped back slightly and wrung his wrists, fiddling with his thumbs as he continued talking. Judy noticed that he still kept his confident tone of voice.
"Well, that's not very nice! I figured we were, since you've been doing good business with me for all this time. You'd think we'd be friends, since you visit every month, yes?"
"Need I remind you that this is not good business," The other voice hissed in a mocking tone. "But repayment?"
"Yes, yes, of course! I understand completely!" The male rabbit claimed almost joyously. "And, ah, as for that repayment of yours, I'm afraid that we have much to discuss."
"Then discuss we will, Savage. Now, if you would, please be a hospitable gentlemammal and let me in? Those cameras can't be blanked out forever, you know."
Judy was excited. Whoever this mammal was, it was apparent that they were the mammal who had somehow tampered with the security cameras! And apparently, they visited Jack every month. She wondered if it had anything to do with this supposed repayment of his. She shook her head and brought her attention briefly to her phone, which she checked to make sure was still recording - She wanted every second of this.
"Yes, of course! Please, come in, come in, my old acquaintance!" Jack stepped out of the door-frame and swept his hand in an arc as he presented his office to his visitor.
The creature stepped out of the shadows, through the doorframe and into the view of Judy, who nearly gasped when she saw him.
His left eye was completely gone, with only a gaping hole of scar tissue in its place, with a single scar stretching across the length of his muzzle, crossing over his obliterated eye-socket and ending atop his forehead. His opposing eye was the color of freshly-spilt blood, and bright with malice. The wiry black fur around his muzzle and face was thin, and his large ears were peppered with holes and minuscule scratches.
Judy forced her eyes to trace the form of the mammal's body. His torso was clad in a fresh, pure-black vest, with a blood-red, bat-shaped bow-tie placed right below his throat. His short legs were coated in midnight-black slacks, identically colored with his shiny vest and clean red undershirt, neither of which had sleeves. Emerging from the holes where they should have been, long, thin arms were crossed behind his back, causing the skin between his digits to be draped behind him like a cape. Unfortunately, she recognized this new mammal.
No... That's... T-That's not possible, Judy's mind told itself. But it was possible: It was happening right in front of her.
Despite her desperate desire to stay hidden, Judy's mouth seemed to open and speak on its own - A single word emitted at an impossibly quiet volume.
"Vladzotz."
It should've been impossible. No one could survive a house-fire like the one that she had witnessed all those months ago. She saw his mansion burn to the ground with her very own eyes, and saw him buried along with it. Yet here he was, smiling as cruelly as ever. Despite his ruined appearance, his massive fangs were still sharp and shining wickedly, and Judy still could see that same psychotic flame burning behind the corneas in his single red eye. He may have been a mess compared to his former self, but it was clear that whatever injuries he had sustained in the fire accident at Castle Fangpyre had healed quite well, over the past few months. He looked almost identical to the very vampire bat that Judy had gotten to know and hate so well down in the Nocturnal-District, save for his missing left eye and slightly patchy wings.
Judy had been expecting Shahaz the Stinger. Just what was Vladzotz doing here, and how? The bunny watched with hushed anticipation as the scene unfolded before her.
Vladzotz spread his arms, stretching the fibrous membrane of flesh spread between his long fingers. Judy noticed that most of the flesh that made up the flap on his left wing had been almost burned away, and what little was left over was riddled with holes. His right wing seemed almost untouched, save for a few more small, painful-looking holes.
Jack's smooth and silver-worded voice broke the ensuing silence. "Do make yourself comfortable, chap. I've got quite a lot of explaining to do, yes sir!" He mumbled in a cheerful manner.
"You have such nice manners," The vampire bat crooned. "For a thief, and a liar."
"Now, now, there's no need to be making rude comments!" The rabbit smiled wide. "And what can I say? I am who I am."
Vladzotz snarled. "Don't tempt me, rabbit. You and your ilk are annoying enough as it is," He trailed off momentarily before resuming. "You know why I've come."
"Yes, I know, Vlad. I haven't forgotten, and I won't. Ever. Don't underestimate me."
The bat growled once more and took a step forward. "You haven't forgotten, have you now?" Vladzotz repeated mockingly. "Then tell me, wretch... Why have you been so careless as to allow your own employees to stumble upon our operations?"
Judy wasn't sure what he was talking about at first, but it soon dawned on her that Vlad was referring of the phantom-profit that Nick had unearthed in the company's system. The female bunny reasoned that Jack must have been careless in his efforts to clean up his tracks when he was transacting money from Bugga-Burger, and placing it into the account of that shell-corporation.
At that thought, she checked her phone once again, so as to make sure that it was continuing to record all of what was unfolding in front of her. Thankfully, it still was.
"Well, I-I... ah," Jack stammered, rubbing the back of his neck. "I wasn't, um," He swallowed. "Wasn't thinking straight?"
Vladzotz took another step closer to Jack, positioning himself directly in front of him, and causing Jack to back up against the back of one of his sofas.
"You were drunk, weren't you?" Vladzotz asked, his lone eye staring down the rabbit intensely.
"Maybe?" Jack squeaked.
"Your knavery has cost us much, Jack. Too much."
"Uh, let's not jump to conclusions here, my old-"
"Our little depot in Sahara-Square has received multiple Zmails from YOUR OWN COMPANY-" Vlad yelled, jabbing a talon into Jack's chest. "-ALL saying that they had detected unregistered transactions deposited into OUR accounts! Are youTRYING to ruin us?!" He wheezed.
Jack swallowed and shrugged nervously, his long ears flopping to the side.
"I wouldn't say so myself. I can assure you that this matter wasn't of my own accord. I'll promptly look into it on the morrow. And uh, also, I'm sure by now you've heard of how I failed my latest deal with Bugga-Burger, so I won't be able to give you your demands this month. Sorry."
Judy saw Vladzotz single red and eye narrow in disgust before the bat leaned forward, positioning his muzzle directly in front of Jack's. "Make no mistake, rabbit... You are still in debt to us. Still in debt to me! I'll give you one more month to collect the remainder of your repayments. But if you don't..."
Vladzotz raised one of his wings, and with a flick of his wrist, swiped his massive talons just inches from Jack's face.
"I will personally punish you again." Vladzotz vowed, his voice dangerously soft.
Jack timidly nodded his head up and down in nervous agreement. Satisfied with his answer, the bat stepped away from Jack and began pacing over towards the window in the far left corner of the room. Stopping right in front of it, Vladzotz slowly craned his head around and stared down Jack with his one good eye.
"Be a dear and open this for me, would you? A true gentleman always bids his guests a proper farewell, wouldn't you agree? I have business to attend to back in the Nocturnal-District, and another pair of wings waiting for my return. I must be off."
The male rabbit nodded his head and hurried over to the window panel, which he unhatched and swung open. The evening gales swirled through the open space and around the room, causing a few papers around the room to fly through the air and haphazardly land in new locations.
Meanwhile, Vladzotz lept up and onto the thick glass window panel, gripping the glass with the claws on his feet. Judy saw a new slew of scratch marks accompany the action as it happened. It was then that she realized what had been missing from before: The security footage never disconnected on the way out because Vlad didn't take the elevator or the stairs back down. He flew out from the window. Judy realized that the claws on Vlad's feet must have been the source of those tiny scratch marks, since he was gripping the panel of glass with his toes.
"I'll be back in thirty days, Jack." He said as he spread his wings. "Until then, I suggest that you acquire what you owe us, because if not, well... You know what will happen."
And at that, he laughed madly and jumped forward, spreading his wings to their full extent and taking to the night sky.
Jack instantly slammed the window shut, but not before another gust of wind blew more sheets of paper across his office. As soon as the window was closed and locked tight once more, he fell to his knees and gasped aloud. He shook his head from side to side before hauling himself to his feet and exiting the office.
For good measure, Judy waited another five minutes in her hiding place just to be sure that he wasn't coming back. When he didn't return, she pushed away the curtains and looked down at her phone - She had recorded the entire conversation between Vladzotz and Jack.
Judy jumped up and pumped her arms into the air in excitement: Not only had she gotten the video recording, but she also had that strange scale that she had found. Tallying that thought off for later consideration, she bolted towards the exit, intent on leaving this place before anything else happened. Her mind was running even faster than she was. Old memories of her brief time in the Nocturnal-District began to return to her. She remembered Vladzotz's criminal organization, the Nocturnal-Mob, and how they had orchestrated the death of an investigative journalist to purposefully gain the attention of the ZPD. She remembered how her and Nick and had been captured, and just barely made it out with their lives. There were unanswered questions, too: How did Vladzotz survive the fire in the first place, and who was Lucy, the name that Vladzotz had mentioned during his dinner with her and Nick at his manor in the Nocturnal-District? Judy wondered if that name had anything to do with what Vladzotz had mentioned tonight, about having "another pair of wings" waiting for him. There was still much to know, but she had a feeling she'd be learning it all very soon.
The rabbit officer had a thousand thoughts racing through her mind in that exact moment, but one stood out above the rest: She had to tell Nick.
Hey everyone!
Nothing really much else for me to say regarding this latest chapter, despite the fact that it's perhaps one of the most pivotal ones yet in the entirety of the fourth arc. Vladzotz is back, and soon, you'll be learning about how he survived the fire at his old home, and also why I brought him back, too. Stay tuned!
Feel free to leave a review, if you'd like, and to Favorite/Follow this story of ours, too, if you haven't already. It means a lot to me! :)
'Till next time...
Peace!