14
The Best of You
Chapter 6: Unofficial investigation
Nick takes aim and pulls the trigger, in a fraction of a second the firing pin dimples the primer, igniting the powder within the cartridge and forcing the projectile down the barrel with deadly force. The bullet flies towards the target while some of the excess gas is tapped out of the barrel to cycle the bolt. The bolt flies backwards, ejecting the empty cartridge at the same time. It reaches the end of its rearward travel in a split second before being pushed forward by a spring, loading a new round into the chamber and starting the cycle over again. Nick manages the recoil of the gun well, keeping control over the muzzle and quickly getting back on target. He waits a moment before pulling the trigger again, taking his time to make well placed shots. After three more rounds the bolt locks back, indicating that the magazine is empty. Nick relaxes his posture and points the firearm towards the ground while pulling the stock off his shoulder. He looks over at Wolford, who is standing beside him and watching him practice, providing instructions.
"Good stance, you're leaning just a little into the gun now, and you look a lot more comfortable too. You do feel comfortable like that, right?"
"Yeah, it feels right now." Nick stands with his hind paws roughly shoulder width apart, his left out front and his right a little further back. He wiggles in the stance, double-checking how it feels.
"Ok, good, as far as I can tell that's all good. Although your trigger pull needs a little more work, it needs to be smoother, I think your jerking to much when you pull it. I also think you're anticipating the recoil too, which is a really bad habit, so we're going to break you of that. Go ahead and call in the target and we'll see how you did." With that, Nick inspects the chamber to make sure it's clear before setting the gun down on the bench in front of him. He taps some buttons on a small control panel to his left to activate a target attached to a track. The target begins to travel towards the only two mammals in the range at the moment, Wolford and Nick. The target stops in front of them and Wolford inspects it.
"Damn Nick, not bad, that's what…?" Wolford reaches out past the bench and holds his paw beside the group to better gage its spread. "Eh, about 12-inch group, off handed at 50 yards. Not the worst I've seen for sure, should have gotten all rounds on target if it was a wolf or something. Good job." Wolford gives the Fox a solid slap on the back, jolting him forward.
"Thanks, I'm feeling pretty good about it. The gun seems to be working good too. They said it might have some problems, but I don't see any. The ZPD engineers really take their job seriously." Nick looks down at the firearm. It fires the same ammunition as the model made for wolves in the ZPD, but it is made smaller, so a fox can handle it. The barrel has been shortened and the stock and pistol grip are made smaller as well, so Nick can properly, and easily, manipulate the firearm. The result is simply an all-around smaller looking gun, which is somewhat odd since the magazine is the same size on both models. Nick learned soon, after starting the academy, that a lot of new gear has to be made for him, such as clothes that actually fit, body armor, and weapons, both lethal and non-lethal. Even simpler things were modified as well, such as making showers where he can actually reach the faucets. He counts himself lucky that Judy paved the way for most of these things to be handled. He had heard of the 'Judy fell in the toilet made for polar bears while trying to use it,' story from the academy. Which is somewhat scary because he knows first paw that a mammal can literally be flushed down it. He is thankful that toilets of his size were already installed by the time he was.
"Yeah, it seems to be fine, it's just loud as hell with that short barrel. That and it looks cute more than anything." Wolford reaches down and picks the gun off the bench. He shoulders it to see how it would feel if he were to try and actually shoot it. It's much too small for him.
"Hahaha, I see what you mean now, man that looks like a toy compared to you. Hey, wanna trade?" The wolf laughs while holding the firearm thats about a size too small for him.
"No thank you, I don't want to get laughed at. Man, have you seen Judy's? I don't see how they make those things so small! Its chambered in a weird round too, apparently the blockheads decided that Judy couldn't handle what we're flinging, which I think is odd, but anyways. That thing looks like it'll fit in the palm of my paw. Hey, it probably will fit in the palm of Snarlov's paw, that polar bear is huge. We'll have to get him to try that." The wolf laughs at the thought.
"Really? I haven't seen Judy's rifle at all, just her sidearms."
"Yeah, its small man, weird looking too. But anyways, go ahead and load up another mag, we'll shoot a little more, but then I gotta go here soon and grab some food real fast, I haven't eaten since lunch and it's a little past… what?" Wolford flips his wrist over to look at his watch. "Yeah, 4:53, damn I'm hungry." Wolford takes down the target and starts to pin up a new one while Nick loads a magazine. After a few moments of getting ready, the target is 50 yards away again and Nick is clicking the safety off on his gun. He starts shooting again, taking a few seconds in between each shot to be as accurate as possible. Wolford wants to assess Nicks abilities in the basics before moving onto complex things. The wolf still hasn't figured out why Bogo asked him to do such a thing with him. Giving the fox extra training seems pointless, he thinks, he did great in the academy, top of his class. The only thing Wolford can come up with is Bogo wants him to be more prepared because he is the first Fox and there is so much riding on him in terms of public opinion. Maybe he doesn't want to make the same mistake he made with Hopps? Wolford thinks.
The gray wolf watches the fox shoot. His form is good, and he is surprisingly accurate given his short time with handling firearms. Wolford loads the next magazine while he shoots, keeping an eye on him and checking his form. He slips his paw into his pocket and pulls out a dummy round. He loads It into the magazine and then loads another live round on top of it, hiding the dud within the real ammunition. Nick gets done with his current magazine and pulls it from his gun. Wolford tries to hide his smirk as he hands the magazine to Nick for him to shoot. He loads it unknowingly. He takes his time and fires off the first shot. The second, dummy round, chambers just as planned, unbeknownst to the fox. He aims for the target again and pulls the trigger. The gun makes a 'click' instead of a bang and the fox slightly flinches from the dud round. Wolford is right, Nick is anticipating the recoil, if ever so slightly.
"Well damn Nick, you did good, you passed your first test." Wolford smiles at him.
"What?" Nick looks up and over his shoulder at the smiling wolf.
"Clear that misfire." Nick does as he's told and manually works the bolt, ejecting the dummy round. The round smacks into the wall beside them and then falls onto their shooting bench. Nick looks at the fake orange cartridge laying on the table.
"You hustled me! Ford! Weren't you the one that told me that its forbidden to play practical jokes on the firing range!" Wolford laughs at this while picking up the dummy round.
"Hahaha! No, Nick, this is training, but you passed pretty much, I'm honestly impressed. I did that to see if you were flinching. If you are, it can be hard to see because the recoil of the gun will cover it up. With the dummy round, there's no recoil, so I'd be able to see the flinch. Now, if you knew it was a dummy, you might would have changed the way you shoot because you would have known the gun wasn't actually going to go off."
"Oh… I see, um, thanks?"
"Yeah for sure, you're doing great. Next time we'll just skip the boring stuff and set up some barricades so we can shoot from cover and work on moving and shooting, so get pumped. But I should get going, you clean up this mess and check in your rifle with Brock."
"Aren't you supposed to keep me supervised with the rifles for right now?" Nick asks.
"Ehhh, probably, I think, but what they don't know don't hurt them, right? And come on, you're an adult just like everyone else. I've never seen anyone else have to be supervised while transporting their rifle from range to storage. Just between you and me, I think it's because you're the first fox, but that's a different conversation." Wolford puts his paws on his hips and sighs. Wolford has heard many things said about the new fox officer, both good and bad. He is surprised that so many other officers at the ZPD are skeptical of Nick simply because he is a Fox. Have they not learned their lesson since Judy? He thinks. Nick double-checks that the gun is unloaded and sets it down. The wolf takes his hearing protection off, since only he and the fox are at the range.
"Really? They don't trust me much, do they?" Nick does his best to keep his ears up straight and hide his disappointment.
"I'm not sure. Don't take this the wrong way but I think some higher ups from other districts aren't too fond of you. Don't worry about it too much though, you're already proving yourself, like yesterday with that coyote." Wolford smirks at Nick, getting a smile out of him.
"Yeah, tackling him through that door was pretty nice. Won't lie, it felt kinda good after what he called us." Nick laughs
"I don't blame you; just don't get too rowdy or they'll try and sue you. But I'll see you later sometime, just make sure your gun is clear, Brock will chew your tail off for that one." Wolford says his goodbyes, picks up his range bag, and double checks to make sure he has everything. He heads out of the indoor range while stuffing his ear muffs into his bag. He makes straight for the cafeteria on the other side of the building, moving swiftly, mainly because he is hungry, but secondly because he needs to be on time for this new meeting. Wolford has been selected to be on a new case involving Night Howlers, or at least, that is what the very short meeting he had with Bogo was about. He hopes this doesn't mark the return of the Night Howlers. That would be bad, very, VERY bad, he thinks. This is pretty high profile, guess'n I'll be meeting the others assigned to this. Probably be seeing Higgins… I wonder if Bogo put Hopps on this? Probably, hmm I wonder how that will go? I'm sure they'll split her and Wilde up then. They'll need to keep us consolidated. That's a shame, those two just seem to get along so well. Wolford makes it around the last corner before having to cross the lobby of the ZPD headquarters. He looks across the lobby and spots Judy and Clawhauser at the front desk chatting. He walks up to them.
"Hey guys, how's it going?"
"Hey Ford! It's going good, how was range time with Nick? Can he hit anything?" Judy asks with a half-smile, getting a stab in at her foxy partner. She's sitting on the top of the receptionist desk, making her about eye level with the wolf. The desk is made for much taller mammals and for whatever reason, the ZPD never got around to adding steps for smaller mammals. This is an easy to overcome obstacle, however, by simply putting another chair on the other side of the desk where the receptionist would sit. It's very easy for Judy to jump from the floor, to the chair, and then onto the desk. She does this often since she likes to chat with clawhauser in her free time, and today is no different.
"It was good actually; he's doing a lot better than I thought he would. I'd say he could give you a run for your money, Hopps."
"Oh, come on, there's no way he's that good!"
"OH, so Nick's going to show Judy up, huh?" Clawhauser weighs in on the gossip as well.
"I don't know, but he's got the touch. I'd be careful Judy. We'll be adding in movement next time around and working with cover. I'd actually like you to join us for that if you can, I think it'll be fun. It'd probably help him if he watches someone else, give him more perspective, and you are partners, you should be training together anyways."
"I'll take you up on that offer, just let me know when. I'll be looking forward to showing him up." Judy laughs.
"I'd be careful with that; he might be the one showing you up. But hey, I gotta run and get some food, I'll see you two later, have a good afternoon." With that, the grey wolf says his goodbyes and makes his way towards the cafeteria, hoping he has enough time to get food and get to the meeting without being late. Judy and Clawhauser watch the wolf make off hastily.
"Well, you and Nick seem to be getting along really well now!" Clawhauser says before taking another bite of his donut.
"Yeah, everything is going great! It's good to finally have him here. Gosh, it felt like he was in the academy forever."
"I'm sure it's nice having such a good friend around now, I know bunnies can get a little stir crazy if they don't get one on one time with their bestie! I was worried you weren't gonna make it bunny girl!" Clawhauser takes the last bite of his donut, finishing it off. He makes a content hum while licking his fingers.
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean!" Judy crosses her arms and looks at the cheetah accusingly.
"I've heard bunnies can get weird if they don't get to spend time with their friends, or if they don't get to spend time with a significant other, or family or their brothers and sisters! And it's especially bad if a rabbit feels secluded! I don't see how you made it all this time, you're one tough bunny."
"Nick is not family, Clawhauser! He is not my brother and he definitely isn't my 'significant other'! What is any of that supposed to even mean? I haven't heard of anything like that ever before." Judy shakes her head at the feline.
"Suuuure Judy, deny it all you want, but your waaay happier now then you were before Nick got here!" Clawhauser smiles big at her. He learned in college some time ago that bunnies are one of the most social mammals in the world. He had taken some psychology classes while he was in college and found that he really took a liking to them and that he remembers most things from them. In these classes they studied how mammals behaved and how different species behaved differently between one another. He remembers learning that rabbits are extremely social mammals and could be easily susceptible to solitude and loneliness. This made sense to clawhauser. From what he read in his textbooks it is extremely important for rabbits, in particular, to feel a sense of support or community with family, friends and loved ones. This is one of the reasons rabbits have such massive families, at least the textbooks had told him.
While at home with family, they all support one another and are very tightknit. The brothers and sisters, especially from the same litter, will become very close, and spend a large amount of time with one another. This is their support structure when younger. As rabbits grow older and gradually become independent, strong friendships will usually fill the void if they are away from family. This phase usually lasts until a mate is found, for the most part. Friendship is similar to family in that it fills the need to feel close to another mammal. Rabbits are often physically very close with their good friends, more so then most other species. One book, Clawhauser recalls, claimed that some stereotypes about rabbits are true, such as sleeping with their closest friends or sleeping in piles, basically, with their siblings, especially when younger. The cheetah really doubts this to be true. The book had also gone on to claim that rabbits are more likely to have open relationships, particularly in the early dating phase, when it isn't clear wither the pair will get along or not. It said it is commonplace for rabbits to be promiscuous in terms of their sexual partners. The more clawhauser had got to know rabbits throughout his life showed that that really is just a fake stereotype, as far as he can tell with Judy at least. He honestly didn't know that many rabbits. However, Judy had mentioned that her and her litter siblings did share rooms when they were younger, it is most practical that way, she explained; but she didn't say if they shared beds or not. He is quite curious, there culture and habits seem so different from what cheetahs do, the classes had led him to believe. He has never built up the courage to ask her directly though. He wonders if he can pull any of this information out of Nick, he is Judy's best friend after all.
Unfortunately, the psychology books Clawhauser has read didn't go into why rabbits are that way, as far as he can remember. Considering that they didn't do that for any of the other species they learned about either, it was probably too in-depth for the classes he took. For the most part, what he learned about rabbits in his classes doesn't quite hold true with Judy anyways. She was away from family for her first year at the ZPD and didn't seem to be affected by it, although she was quick to make friends with most officers. The really odd thing is Judy's dating life seems to be nonexistent as far as the cheetah can tell. I wonder if Judy is just good at keeping secrets… I bet I could get that information from Nick! The cheetah internally squeals at the thought of getting gossip from Nick. That is, if Nick and Judy are as good friends as they seem to be. It is a bit odd, them being a Rabbit and Fox after all. He wonders how this will work. In the little they went over foxes in his classes; he remembers them being extremely shut-in compared to other mammals. They make friends and have families, of course, but they are nowhere near as touchy-feely as rabbits. They have a fairly large personal space bubble as well. He desperately hopes this doesn't cause a problem between his favorite Rabbit and Fox pair. That would just be awful.
"Of course I'm happier with Nick being here! He's my friend and it took a lot of work for him to get here, I'm simply happy he made it. Not everything has to do with me being a rabbit!" Judy grumbles, more jokingly then serious. She likes the cheetah, but sometimes he can come up with the most ridiculous things.
"Suuuure Judy. You can deny it all you want, but I know Nick is your bestie and you just can't live without him." The rabbit shakes her head again and turns away to hide her slight blush. He is right about one thing, at least, she does consider Nick to be her 'bestie'. It is hard not to, thinking about everything they have been through. She also finds herself enjoying his company much more than she thought she would. Thinking about Nick reminds her of her original goal in coming to see clawhauser.
"You are so ridiculous sometimes, you know that?"
"Oh, but you love me for it!" Clawhauser gives a little squeal. He then rummages through his snack supplies, looking for something else to eat. There is a long pause while Judy thinks about how best to ask her question.
"Hey Clawhauser, can I ask you for some advice?" Judy nervously swings her legs back and forth off the side of the desk. She doesn't know why she feels so nervous about this particular topic. She hopes she's not making a mistake by asking him for some advice. She trusts him, to a certain extent. He often lets things slip he isn't supposed to, and what she is about to ask she desperately hopes isn't actually as weird as she thinks it is. She looks over at him.
"What is it Jude? Something wrong? Oh wait, I know that face! Is it boy trouble?" Judy winces at his conclusion. It is somehow oddly accurate in the worst way. She's impressed with how well the cheetah can read her despite knowing so little context to the situation. This only makes things worse because the cheetah seems as if he is about to explode.
"WAIT!? I was right? Oooooooh!" Clawhauser's paws come up to cup his cheeks and his tail becomes rigid as it shoots straight out behind him. "So, who's the lucky Buck, mmh? Don't think you've told me about him!"
"What!? NO! listen, it's not a Buck…" there is an awkward pause as Judy searches for the right words.
"…A doe?" Clawhauser quarks up an eyebrow at her dubiously.
"What? Nonononono! its Nick." Clawhauser's face goes from confused to lighting up like a flare in a millisecond. His paws smack down onto the table, bracing himself. His eyes grow as big as she has ever seen them. Judy quickly recovers from her slight blunder, waving her paws in the air as if it would stop his thoughts.
"Clawhauser! No! Nothing like that, that's ridiculous, he's a fox, listen! I wanted to take him out to eat somewhere nice for like a "Hey, you're my friend and thanks for putting yourself through the academy because I wanted you to be my partner" kinda thing. BUT Wolford and some other guys already invited us out tonight to celebrate, which is fine and fun and all, but I wanted to go out with just me and Nick, but I don't want it to seem weird and I don't know where to go either! And this isn't weird, is it? I mean I can go out with my friend, right? It's not weird that it'll just be a fox and a bunny, right? Sometimes when Wolford and I were out I couldn't tell if mammals were looking at us because they recognized me or if it was weird because I'm a rabbit and he's a Wolf and we were at the bar together and I don't wanna do that to Nick I mean he's already got so many things going on and I don't want to inadvertently put more pressure on him just-because-I-wanttoaskhimouttodinne-."
"Judy! Slow down! Where's the fire, gosh are you ok?" Clawhauser holds his paws out in front of him, prompting a stop to the rambling rabbit. She stops and stares at him, her nose twitching and ears laid back behind her head.
"Judy, what is going on? Are you ok?"
"Yeah, sorry. I'm fine, everything is fine, this is fine."
"Are you sure? You seem like you're wound up like a spring! Is something wrong with Nick?" Clawhauser's face takes on a large amount of concern as he studies her.
"No… it's just…" Judy pauses to search her mind for some reasonable explanation to her anxiety. "Bogo's got us doing some extra work for a case, me and Nick and some others, and it just worries me, I guess. I want him to do good and there's a lot of pressure with us being the first of our kind, especially with Nick being a fox and all." That explanation seems to satisfy not only the cheetah but also the rabbit herself. It is a good explanation, one that's rooted in reality; the case certainly does put stress on her, albeit to a small extent, she thinks. She sweeps her other wandering thoughts about her foxy partner under the rug and focuses her attention on getting help with her definitely-not-a-date idea with Nick.
"Oh, Bogo's already got you working extra? But Nick Is so new, I mean, he's still the newest in terms of beat cops."
"Yeah it's pretty stressful, just don't mention the case, we're not supposed to talk about it yet."
"Oh, you can count on me to keep quiet, Judy." She highly doubts this, but lets the cheetah continue. "But are you sure you're ok? you know you can talk to me, right?"
"Yes, I know, thank you. But you don't think it's weird?"
"That what's weird?" Judy sighs at having to ask her possibly embarrassing question again.
"That I want to ask Nick out to a nice dinner to celebrate him passing the academy!" The cheetah pauses for a second. That sounds a lot like a date. He shakes his head of the thought and answers, trying to console his friend.
"Oh, of course not! Why would that be weird?"
"Oh, I don't know, Ford already invited us all out to Tails'n'Drink to celebrate the same thing. And also, if me and Nick went out it would just be a rabbit and a fox, you know?" Judy shrugs her shoulders. Saying it out loud makes all her worrying simply sound ridiculous. She feels silly now and wonders why it was even a problem in the first place. Clawhauser looks knowingly at the rabbit. His psychology classes seemed to be right. Rabbits really are possessive of their best friends.
"It'll be fine. Nick is your best friend, who cares if Ford already asked everyone out? And I think it's really sweet you want to take Nick out to celebrate! I'm sure he'll really enjoy that. Where are you gonna take him?" Clawhauser leans in towards her, fully absorbed into the conversation.
"Well, that's one of the things I wanted to ask you. I don't want it to be a bar and I want it to be somewhere Nick can get whatever he wants, so I guess a mainly predator restaurant? But I don't know of any good predator restaurants. I can look them up, but I won't know any of the differences or, I mean, I don't even know what Foxes like to eat, really. Even if I find a good place, I'm not sure that'll even turn out ok because I don't think I'm going to be able to get anything for me to eat." Judy sighs. She looks at clawhauser to find his face oddly unreadable.
"Oh, I think I know of a great place! I've been there before."
"Wait really? that's great! What's it called? And will I be able to get something to eat there too?"
"It's called the Red Fawn, it's up near the rainforest district. And I think you'll be able to get something you'd like. They have a really wide range of foods. I think they'll be able to fix up a salad for the one and only hero bunny cop!" Clawhauser tries to hold in his excitement. The Red Fawn is renowned for its great predator-oriented food but its also a tremendously wonderful place for couples to go on dates. Not that he thinks Nick and Judy are dating, of course, but Judy could use to go on a 'date.' Even if that isn't what's actually going on… And even if Judy doesn't know what's happening. OOhhh this is going to be so much fun! He thinks.
Judy pauses for a moment, thinking about the Red Fawn. Have I heard of that name somewhere before? She searches her memory for the name. She swears she's heard it somewhere before. Someone I didn't like had gone there? No, that doesn't sound right, I've heard that name from somewhere before though… Right?
"Are you sure that's a good place to go?" She asks.
"Definitely, trust me Judy, I won't steer you wrong here. The food is great, Nick will love it."
"Ok ok, I trust you. I'll try and ask him this afternoon then." Judy smiles and nods her head in agreement with herself, happy that she can finally get this plan into action and put her pointless worrying behind her.
"Oh, I think you'll have to call and get a reservation first. It might be a week before you can go."
"Wait really? it's that fancy? …Are you sure this isn't too much? I don't want to weird him out or something..."
"Of course not, Judy. You are way overthinking this. Look, you want to have a nice friendly dinner with Nick, right? And you haven't been out in forever and you work all the time. The only times I've heard of you going out for fun is with Ford and Fangmeyer, and that's usually just some bar or something that they want to go to. Come on, treat yourself girl! You work so hard; you need a break too. And I'm sure Nick would like to celebrate with you."
"Hmm." Judy sighs. Clawhauser is right, she thinks. I'm worrying for no good reason. She chalks it up to simply being stressed about Nick being new and the high-profile case they just got put on. "You're right. Should I just call in? and I think I'll just surprise him with it, see if he can guess what we're doing."
"There you go! Have some fun with it. And me and Hugo called in, that was easiest. There's not an official dress code but it is nicer, so dress up a little. Ooooh, Hey! What do you think Nick will look like dressed up?"
"Ha! I think the question is 'IF I can get him to dress up.' He wears these awful Hawaiian shirts with a tie!" Judy giggles at the thought of him going to a fancy place like that.
"Wait really? that's awful. You think you'll be able to get him into something better?"
"I think so, we'll have to wait and see. I wonder what he would look like too." She places her paw on her chin in thought, trying to imagine Nick in a nice outfit. She can't.
"I think he would look great in a suit!"
"Oh, I don't think we're going to get him into a suit!" Judy laughs. "I'm not sure I'll even be able to get him int-"
"Well now, are you talking about me behind my tail, Carrots?" Nick's voice startles the rabbit and she quickly turns to look for him. She doesn't see anything and does a double take, looking down off the top of the receptionist desk to the floor to see him standing there. She stares at him a moment, hoping that he hasn't been here long enough to hear her conversation.
"Nick! what are you doing here?" Judy says frantically. The fox smirks at her, swishing his tail. So, she really was talking about me, I wonder what about?
"I just got done at the range with Wolford, so I decided to kill some time here before we gotta go."
"Before we have to go?" Judy asks in confusion.
"Yeah, remember we gotta meet with Buffalo butt!" Her ears shoot straight up to attention. Have I really been talking this long? She was so caught up with Clawhauser talking about Nick she lost track of time. "Don't worry, we got a few minutes still." The fox laughs at the rabbit.
"We need to be a few minutes early! Come on!" Judy swivels around on the desk, turning around. She pushes off with her paws, easily scooting herself off the desk. She gracefully lands on the ground behind the desk and bounds around it, taking a quick second to look behind her. Nick casually walks behind her, his paws in his pockets. She grumbles at him and waves her paw to make him move faster as they travel towards the bullpen.
A few moments later, Nick and Judy walk briskly into the room. They are about 5 minutes early, so Nick is ok with taking his time, but Judy insists on getting there as soon as possible. She does not want to be late under any circumstances, especially for this particular meeting. Opening the door to the bullpen, they are met with an odd silence, which is concerning. Usually the room is full of the excited energy before a shift, but just a few officers are sitting in the room and none of them are making much noise at all. They're all waiting to see who is or isn't picked for the 'non existing case'. Judy looks around the room and sees some faces she expected. Higgins and Fangmeyer are sitting beside each other. She smiles at them as she enters the room. Fangmeyer returns her gesture with a small flip of his paw and Higgins gives a slight smile at her, before skewing his ears and gaining a shocked expression. His eyes lock onto the fox trailing behind her. He was not expecting to see him here. The look goes unnoticed by Judy as she turns her attention to getting herself into hers and Nicks chair. She jumps up into it with ease, followed by Nick. They get situated in their chair, standing on the seat so their heads stick over the table, allowing them to actually see what's going on. An odd silence descends on the room.
Officer should be talking amongst one another about this or that or laughing loudly or even howling. Especially howling; and especially when Bogo enters the room. However, the atmosphere of the room is pensive now. The first time she had entered the bullpen it was so loud it had almost frightened her. Now the opposite seems to be true with the deafening silence, this causes the rabbit to become more nervous than she did on her first day. The case is on everyone's minds, and it isn't happy thoughts the mammals are having. Judy looks over at him and he looks back at her. They exchange glances before looking straight ahead, playing the waiting game like the other officers.
Wolford hurries into the room, just one minute before the scheduled meeting time. He scans the room quickly, first seeing Fangmeyer and Higgins. He smiles and gives a nod to them. He then sees Snarlov in the second row, taking advantage of one of the few seats that can support a polar bear in the room. Lastly his eyes flick over to the two smallest officers on the force, Hopps and Wilde. He stares at them for a second. He lets a fair amount of surprise cover his face before he can get it under control. He definitely did not expect to see Wilde here. After a moment of confusion facts slowly start to fall in to place. This must be the reason Bogo is asking him to give Nick extra training and range time.
Wolford gets to his usual second row seat and sits down, doing his best not to stare at Judy and Nick. He can see Judy being on the case. He almost expected it really, she is a great cop, but Nick on the other paw is a total unknown. He tries not to make a face while thinking why Bogo would put him on such a high-profile case so early in his career. The chief obviously things Nick needs extra training, or he wouldn't have asked him to do it. This situation is oddly perplexing, Wolford thinks. He decides to keep his mouth shut. The decision isn't up to him and Nick is shaping up to be a great officer anyways. A few more moments pass, and just one minute after the scheduled meeting time, the door to the bullpen opens once again.
Chief Bogo enters the room. His massive size easily dwarfs everyone in the bullpen except the polar bear Snarlov. He walks across the room to stand behind his podium while setting a fairly large stack of files on top of it. The usually full bullpen is mostly empty, except for a few mammals, ones that he carefully picked. This is the team that is meant to go about investigating the "case" of the newly discovered drug supposedly out on the streets. However, the low number of accounts are confusing, and the effects of it are still unclear. That is exactly the reason each officer was carefully picked. Bogo looks out over the officers at his disposal. Two wolves, a tiger, a polar bear and… a rabbit and a Fox. He hopes he hasn't made a mistake letting the Fox on this case. Wilde was a difficult choice to pick than the other officers.
Officer Hopps was an easy choice. She graduated top of her class and not only that, has proved herself time and time again. She was crucially involved in solving the biggest cases the ZPD has dealt with. She is smart, quick, levelheaded under extreme stress and can connect the dots when need be. She shows the most determination of any officer he has ever seen. She just will not stop. Even when she said she would, and turned in her badge, she still kept working and came back months later to finish the job, officially or not, it didn't matter. Bogo likes that, unhinged determination to get to the truth. Not stopping until every stone is overturned is a rare trait to have. Her roguish tendencies do pose a problem, but at the same time, sometimes authority needed to be challenged or rules bent in order to accomplish a task. As much as Bogo hates to agree with it, the old saying 'rules are meant to be broken' is true, even for the police. Sometimes, he thinks. He always tacks that condition at the end of that saying whenever it comes to mind. Her prior involvement and experience with night howlers was just the cherry on top.
While Hopps is quick on her paws, she lacks brute strength, but Bogo accounted for this. He made sure to try and cover all his bases. Snarlov, one of the few Polar bears in Precinct 1 was his next pick. Brute strength is simply an understatement. Weighing in at roughly 1,000 pounds and coupled with his experiences at paw to paw combat, as he often covers the rear door on a raid, he is one of the most physically intimidating ZPD members.
Wolford shows great marksmanship skill's, and at his time of graduating the academy was top of his class in terms of rifles. The gray wolf also has a lot of experience working across districts, since he originally came from Precinct 3. Higgins and Fangmeyer have worked with narcotics for almost the start of their careers. Judging what this case is shaping up to be, narcotics is likely going to be the main aspect, they made sense to be part of the unit. Higgins has helped make many drug busts happen, not to mention his work with following drug-running operations.
What concerns Bogo the most is the Fox. Officer Wilde is a complete wild card. Mind the pun, Bogo thinks. He looks great on paper; everything says he will be great. The perfect cop even, barring his not so legal background, but he hasn't had any real time on the clock, as it were. Bogo is unsure of his decision. He worries that Nick isn't ready for this. Hasn't had enough experience. Hasn't had enough field work. He worries that his decision will off put his other officers. He especially worries about that. In terms of seniority, Officer Hopps is low on the totem pole, let alone Officer Wilde. The one thing that Wilde has more than everyone else is first paw experience with Night Howlers. Bogo sighs, hoping he has made the right decision.
"I've gathered you here to be a part of a small… Investigative force, unit, group, team, whatever you want to call it. The purpose of this unit is to be ready to go in the event that Night Howlers become an immediate threat again. While part of this unit, you will be investigating this 'case'. However, this is not an official investigation. What we're dealing with is not currently public, and we will keep it that way. I do not want to start a panic. The media does not need to stir the pot with headlines about Night Howlers. That being so, we will not discuss this unofficial investigation outside of this unit, under any circumstances unless otherwise permitted by me, understood?" Bogo pauses to stare at his Officers. They all nod in agreement. Higgins raises his paw to ask a question.
"Higgins." Bogo looks at the white wolf.
"Everyone in this room is going to be investigating this case? All of our members are currently present?"
"Yes, unless one of you would like to be removed from it, which I believe we covered that when I first met with you individually." Bogo eyes the wolf, figuring his line of questioning has ulterior motives. The Buffalo wonders if his decision to add Nick onto the team is really coming into question this quickly.
"No, I would like to stay." Higgins lowers his paw and keeps his eyes forward.
"Anything else we need to get out of the way?" Bogo eyes the room. The polar bear, tiger, two wolves, fox and rabbit all sit still, awaiting further instruction. A moment passes before Bogo continues.
"About 6 months ago, talk of a new drug surfaced in online forums. From what our cybercrime division saw, it seems at first it was all talk, no real drug existed, but we cannot be certain. Recently, roughly a month ago now, precinct 3 picked up our first documented case of the drug. You all know all of this already. So far, we have no other documented cases of it. That being said, our unit will focus our resources on precinct 1 until otherwise stated. All other precincts have assembled their own units of professionals and are doing the same as we are. Precinct 3 has sent a case file, of sorts, to each unit. I made copies accordingly and would like you to read over them before we meet next time." Bogo picks the stack of files off the top of the podium. He walks past the officer, handing them their respective folder. Snarlov's folder is comically large compared to Nick's and Judy's. The rest are the same size, since Higgins, Wolford and Fangmeyer are all of relative size. Bogo walks back to his podium and continues.
"Currently, we don't know how the drug works and we don't know who's making it. Precinct 3 guess is that it comes from a drug running group based in the rainforest district simply because that is where our first documented encounter with the substance came from. They're currently working a very lose lead on where our patient 0 got the drug from in the first place. Other than that, we have no other information to further the investigation, unless one of you have an idea or another group comes up with something." Bogo places his hoofs on the podium, waiting to see what his team comes up with. Higgins raises his paw and Bogo nods towards him.
"Do we know the side effects or what the drug does to mammals? do we know what kind of symptoms were looking for?"
"Given the mystery surrounding the name of the substance and given it has multiple 'first paw' accounts of different effects, we cannot be certain. Precinct 3 did describe more… Animalistic tendencies of the suspect they apprehended that tested positive for the night howlers. There is more information on that in the case file I have handed out."
"Do we know how the suspect that precinct 3 nabbed took the drug?" Wolford doesn't bother with paw raising and instead simply blurts out his question.
"He claims he ate it, which is… Interesting, to say the least. We're wondering if it wasn't meant to be injected instead." Bogo answers.
"Do we know chemically what the drug is made up of? Or did we run any test of the mammal that tested positive for Night Howlers to try and determine anything?" Bogo gives a small smile at the rabbit. Her ability to suck all relevant information out of a crime scene is uncanny.
"Yes Hopps, we immediately placed him under medical supervision and took him to a hospital. Interestingly enough, his body seemed to rid itself of the drug, similar to marijuana, it seemed. There is a detailed medical report in the packet I gave everyone."
"What species was the suspect?" Higgins asks.
"A gray fox." The room grows quiet at Bogo's answer. Everyone resists the urge to look at the only fox officer. Judy, on the other paw, can't help but turn and look at her partner, her heart dropping at the adverse circumstances. She studies him. It seems to not bother him as he keeps looking forward deep in thought. After a moment, Nick speaks.
"The cybercrime division, were they able to tell what species of mammal the users were on the websites discussing the drug?" Bogo raises an eyebrow at this, wondering where the fox is going with it.
"I'm not sure, we have copies of some of the conversations in the packets. Some users might have mentioned it, others might not have. Either way, we can't be sure if they are even telling the truth on the website or not, let alone what species they are. Why do you ask?"
"I find it interesting that a predator would take the drug at all, given what's in it. I know mammals that take drugs aren't too bright to begin with, of course, but even the stupid should know taking a drug filled with Night howlers should be suicide, especially if you're a predator. I find it interesting that patient zero is a predator and not prey." The room fills with an odd silence as everyone thinks about the line of thinking the Fox came up with.
"That may be so, but obviously that must not be the case, they still took it." Bogo answers off the top of his head, challenging Nick's line of thought.
"That's true, which brings me to my next conclusion. I see this going one of two ways. The fox that took the drug had to have some reason to believe the drug wouldn't make him completely savage. Well at least not permanently. Assuming he wasn't insane to begin with and assuming he knew what the drug was. So, either the Fox that took it didn't know what it was…" Nick pauses, thinking about the situation. "Or, the dealer that sold it to him was a predator."
"How do you figure that? How do those two things correlate at all?" Higgins asks in disbelief, letting air flood out of his nose in an audible huff.
"I'm just putting myself in his perspective. Think about it. If I know what kind of drug I'm buying, I wouldn't dare buy it from prey. Night howlers make predators go crazy, we also know that It can do it to pray as well, but that's beside the point. If I'm a predator buying a drug that could make me go savage, I wouldn't dare buy it from prey. Being specie-ist goes both ways, there are plenty of predators who won't trust a prey mammal for a second, let alone buying a possibly lethal drug for them. So, if I'm going to buy it, I'm going to want to feel safe or at least feel like I'm buying it from someone I can trust, the only thing I can really come up with that would make me trust the dealer is if he was a predator too… It just seems really odd that patient zero is a predator, that's the best explanation I can come up with."
"I think that's pretty smart. While it's not a lead, really, it's the best information we got to go on." Snarlov gives his input from the second row.
"I'll let the other precincts know that. At the very least, I think you're right about it being odd that patient zero is a predator. Will see if the other precincts can come up with anything else." Judy looks over at Nick. She is pretty impressed with Nick's line of thinking. She had never considered questioning the motives of drug dealers or buyers based off of their species.
"Is there anything that we can actually begin working on?" Higgins asks with disdain. Bogo stares at the wolf, trying to decide how best to deal with him.
"Yes actually, the reason for this meeting is to start handing out assignments for this case. Snarlov and Fangmeyer. You two will be meeting with Precinct 3 to discuss a possible raid in the works. Details in your packet. If Precinct 3 is right will be able to get our paws on some of this drug. In the meantime, Higgins and Wolford, you two will be going over all the details in the statement our patient zero gave us. He wouldn't say much, and there was only so much we could charge him for as well, so we couldn't pressure him that way. Higgins, you've done a lot with narcotics in the past, I want you to try and connect some dots or pull from past investigations we've done and see if anything turns up. I expect you two to be using the files we have on paw. Hopps, Wilde, I want you two to go over the copy of the forms and online conversations and see if we can pull anything from that. I know that's very vague, but this is all we have at the moment to go on. I also want you to visit the cybercrime division and see if they have anything new. Ask them about the species of the users, they might have information that they think isn't important but actually is. Any questions?" Bogo looks from officer to officer. Everyone nods in agreement, knowing their given task.
"Ok sense there is no questions, will meet again next week, same time, same place. The other precincts are doing the same as us so hopefully they will dig up something as well and will get a real lead other than just hearsay. Dismissed."
Author Note: Hello again! Last chapter, a guest on FF-net said: "I wonder if we will learn about Judy's past date..." To answer your question, yes! You will learn more, I don't want to give too much away but it is somewhat important to the way Judy will perceive things. Although it will take a bit before this gets brought back up.
Another guest comment left some time ago, said: "…. Will Nick meet LOTSofWOLF in real life too? When he does, will the so called "LOX-Fox" try to ruin it?" This is actually something I hadn't really considered. One of the points of that conversation was to show the reader more of my version of the Zootopia world, but the more I think about it, the more I like this idea. I think I might work this in, to be decided. Sorry it took so long to address this review.
Thank you very much for taking the time to review/ask questions/comment. I will keep addressing guest reviews at the end of the next chapter after the review has been made. I will do my best to address user reviews with a PM (or if I think everyone should know the answer to the user review, I'll post it at the end of the chapter as well.) Thanks to all of my readers! Next chapter should come out the first of Next month, so June 1st. We're also getting close to summer (At least for myself) so an accelerated updated schedule should be in the works, hopefully. I have the loose goal of getting this fic done over the summer. Hope to see you next time!
Also! Very sorry for the late update. I got very busy at the end of the semester and this chapter turned out the be very difficult and I didn't want to do a shitty job just to stay on schedule. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.