Hitmammals: Chapter 2: Gathering Intel
Written by eng050599
Jack and Skye sat nervously in the chief's office as the cape buffalo fumed at the television mounted on the wall. As expected, the coverage of the raid earlier in the day had not been kind, and the fallout was already being felt by the ZPD. In the brief time that the officers had been 'debriefing' with Chief Bogo, there had been no fewer than three phone calls from the mayor, the commissioner, and ZNN. The two former calls, Bogo had handled with his usual gruff demeanor, the latter however had been coldly rebuffed, with little more than a "No comment, as this is an ongoing investigation."
The answer had obviously not been enough for the news agency, as the first report was airing while the three mammals watched.
"Our top story today is the questionable actions of the ZPD during a raid on a children's charity in Tundratown." The words of Peter Moosebridge were measured and professional, but everyone could hear the underlying anger. "Our own Fabienne Growley suffered minor injuries during the assault, while she was interviewing the founders of the Wilde-Hopps Children's Benefit Charity, Nicholas Wilde, and Judith Hopps."
The image on screen switched to one that was obviously at the end of the interview. Wilde and Hopps were seated against a backdrop of stuffed animals, with the snow leopard anchor seated across from them.
"…and we just wanted to give something back to the community for all that they've done for us." The rabbit's voice could clearly be heard over the background noise of the warehouse. The doe reached out to grasp the paw of her mate before continuing. "We both try to make the world a better place, and if we can do anything to make things easier for the kits at Zootopia General, we're going to try."
Nick leaned forward, nodding his head in agreement. "We're starting off relatively small, focusing on kits who are undergoing medical treatment, but we hope to build this into something that can support after school clubs, and eventually even scholarship…"
The todd's words were cut off by a series of crashes as the ZPD began their assault. Fabienne's head whipped around towards the closest sound, and a look of shock was plainly evident on her face.
"What the hell?" Was all the snow leopard was able to say before the concussive blasts and blinding light of the flashbangs cut off any further words. The camera jolted sharply and fell to the floor, as static momentarily flickered across the display. When it cleared, Nick, Judy, and Fabienne could be seen staggering about, all three unsteady on their paws, and clasping paws over their ears. One of the film crew had just entered into the frame, the wolf also clutching his ears in pain, before collapsing to his knees.
The ultrasonic shriekers operated at a frequency that was outside the range of normal audio pickups, but the effects were plainly evident to the audience. Ms. Growley collapsed onto her side just as the voices of the ZPD officers could be heard in the background.
"ZPD! EVERYONE ON THE GROUND, NOW!"
The video cut off as a squad of T.U.S.K. officers entered into frame, their rifles trained on the now kneeling forms of Nick and Judy.
The screen changed and once again Peter Moosebridge occupied the screen, his expression still serious. "ZPD officials have declined to comment on the operation, and we now go to our own Fabienne Growley, who has remained at the scene while members of the Wilde-Hopps Children's Benefit assess the damages. Fabienne."
The camera cut to an exterior view of the warehouse. The snow leopard was standing in front of an open loading dock, which was crisscrossed with police tape. Through the opening a large pile of shredded stuffed animals was plainly visible, and Nick and Judy could be seen staring towards the destroyed toys, the fox even going so far as to wipe an apparent tear from his eye, as Judy reached out to touch her mate's arm in support.
"Oh come on!" Jack said angrily, motioning towards the onscreen pair. "What idiot is going to believe this crap?"
"SHUT IT, SAVAGE!" Bogo bellowed before reaching into his desk and retrieving a bottle of aspirin, he quickly tossed back a hoofful of the pills while his attention remained on the news report.
"Thank you, Peter. I'm here with Nicholas Wilde and Judith Hopps, the founders of the Wilde-Hopps Children's Benefit Charity. Earlier today we were subjected to a violent raid at the paws of the ZPD, who severely damaged the toys meant for the pediatrics ward at Zootopia General during the operation. Miss Hopps, how will this affect your charity?" Fabienne turned and pointed her microphone towards the rabbit.
Judy turned, and motioned towards the destroyed toys with her paws. "I don't know, Fabienne. I'm pretty sure that the entire shipment was destroyed by the ZPD. Where they got the idea that this was an arms shipment, I have no idea, but we won't be able to do much until we have a chance to fundraise." The doe looked back into the warehouse, and sighed sadly. "We'll probably replace some of the toys on our own so that we can at least offer them to a few kits at Zootopia General. As for the rest of the kits..." Judy trailed off as her ears fell behind her head.
"And we will be speaking with our attorney, Ms. Growley. Make no mistake about that," Nick chimed in, anger at the forefront of his voice.
Fabienne motioned towards the warehouse. "An arms shipment? The ZPD has refused to comment on the case. Are you sure that was the reason for the raid?"
Nick nodded his head in reply. "Officer Savage mentioned it when he told us we were under arrest." The fox reached out, and wrapped an arm around his mate. "Whatever their reasons, the ZPD made a big mistake today, and it's the kits who are suffering the most as a result. The charity will move on, but our trust in the ZPD will never be the same. They're tasked with protecting the mammals of Zootopia, not terrorizing its citizens."
"Well said, Mr. Wilde," Fabeinne said turning back to face the camera. "This has truly been a disturbing development for the city, and ZNN will be covering the story as it develops. This has been Fabeinne Growley, back to you, Peter."
Bogo gave a snort of anger and turned off the TV before rubbing a hoof over his face. "This is an absolute nightmare." He muttered to himself, before directing his attention at the two other mammals in the room, his tone changing to one of feigned kindness. "Now, I know that neither of you could have predicted this unfortunate event..." The buffalo suddenly slammed his hoof on to his desk, causing the files on its surface to scatter around the room. Jack and Skye jumped in their seats as Bogo's expression twisted into a familiar scowl and he loomed over his desk at them.
"I DON'T CARE HOW YOU TWO DO IT, BUT I WANT THOSE ASSASSINS OFF THE STREETS!" Bogo hollered at the pair before returning to his seat. "Find something, anything so that you can collar them. There is no chance that mammals like them can keep their paws completely clean. Everyone makes mistakes, you two screw-ups just need to follow them until they make one!"
Skye looked at her boss plaintively. "But Sir, we have been following them for six months. They haven't so much as garnered a speeding ticket." She looked over to her partner who had an equally frustrated expression on his face. "We haven't even been able to determine how exactly they even get to their targets."
Jack shook his head. "We know that they generally live in the Royal Casino in Tundratown, in addition to having a home in the Rainforest District, and we've had surveillance on every entrance and exit for weeks. We've spotted them coming and going all the time, but they've always apparently been somewhere else when they're supposed to have been murdering some poor mammal."
Bogo shook his head. "I don't care. Tail them until you find something to nail their pelts to the wall with, and I don't want any excuses about them slipping through your paws. They made fools of us today, and it will not happen again on my watch."
With that pronouncement he pointed towards the door. "You said that the two of them spend most of their time in the casino? Get your tails over there in plain clothes and start digging."
"Yes, Sir!" Both Jack and Skye called out as they jumped from their seats and scurried out of the room.
"Well what do we do now?" Jack asked, once the two had made it to their shared cubicle. "Infiltrating a casino with no plan, no resources, and no idea where our targets are going to be? Do ya think the Chief's trying to make us fail, hon?" the rabbit asked, allowing some of the affection he felt for his mate to filter through his words. The two of them avoided any overt displays of affection while on duty, but they were partners both in and out of uniform, and Jack could tell that the day's events were gnawing away at Skye.
The arctic fox sighed heavily and cradled her head in her paws as she slumped against her desk. Jack hopped up onto a neighboring chair and reached out to rub her back. Sky initially stiffened at his touch, but then relaxed and leaned towards her mate, who quickly wrapped her in a warm embrace.
She sighed contentedly, but quickly motioned for Jack to let her go. "Thanks, Jack, but we need to figure out how to catch those two."
"Catching them isn't the issue; it's keeping them in custody," Jack said with no little resignation. "Unless we can actually pin a crime on them, we're just going to end up letting them walk…again."
"Well then, I guess we better get looking," Skye replied, reaching over to grab her jacket from the wall. "The chief's right that they can't be perfect. We just need to follow them until they finally slip up." The vixen moved to leave the cubicle, but looked back towards her mate. "Go and get changed into civvies, we have a ZPD-sponsored date night at the casino after all."
A grin spread across Jack's muzzle at Skye's words, and the buck gave a short bark of laughter as he made to follow his mate to the locker rooms. "Bogo's going to have our pelts if he gets wind of this."
Skye spoke over her shoulder as she walked. "Well then, we just need to make sure he doesn't find out."
The officers had commandeered an unmarked vehicle from the motor pool, and had quickly made their way over to Tundratown, after first doing what they could to alter their appearance. A quick temporary fur dye had dulled Skye's white coat to a striking silver-grey, while Jack had merely applied enough dye to mask his telltale stripes. Combined with their normal clothes, they were almost new mammals…except for the whole, rabbit-fox-couple thing. They would still stick out, but less so if they just acted as friends out for a night on the town.
The Royal Casino was one of the newest gambling establishments in the city, and the rumors of the mob's involvement in its management was very much an open secret on the streets. Casinos as a whole were an ideal way of laundering illicit funds. No questions were asked when a mammal walked through the gilded doors with a suitcase full of cash, and when those same mammals left with significantly lighter luggage, the mob had merely made a balance transfer of sorts. What was once the illegal gains from any number of criminal activities, was now dutifully reported income for the casino.
…they even paid their taxes on time.
Jack and Skye had only a limited set of intel about Wilde and Hopps on the premises. The pair had a suite on the 21st floor, and could often be found lounging in one of the many bars and restaurants located in the casino proper.
As Skye pulled the sedan into the valet parking, she looked over to Jack. "My money's on them being at the sushi bar," she said confidently. "What sources I've been able to verify seem to indicate that they frequent there quite a bit."
"Hopps eats sushi?" Jack said, the disgust tangible in his tone. He gave a shudder at the thought of consuming the flesh of any other animal, even a fish. "She really is a degenerate."
Sky gave a small chuckle at her mate's distress. "Don't knock it until you've tried it, and they do have vegetarian options. We will need to order something or we'll look out of place. I'll find something safe for you, but you're missing out on something wonderful." The vixen dramatically licked her chops, as she brought the car to a stop. "Fatty tuna is a true delicacy."
"I'll pass, thanks," Jack said as one of the attendants opened his and Skye's door, and both mammals stepped out in the garishly lit entrance way. It was an assault of colors and lights, and Skye needed to shield her sensitive eyes from the glare for a moment before she could fully take in the sight.
The awning leading to the main entrance was a single huge display, showing a chaotic waterfall of chips, money, cards, and dice. Jack took a moment to scan his surroundings. He could see the general design of the entrance was to funnel mammals quickly onto the gaming floor. Everything from the flow of the lights to the pattern of the carpeting was subtly designed to direct the eyes and feet of the casino's patrons. Merging with the steady stream of mammals arriving for the evening, they were quickly surrounded by the bells and digital cacophony of the casino floor.
Sky looked down at her partner, and she motioned towards the bank of elevators. "Come on, the sushi bar's up one level."
The pair entered into an elevator with a Zebra couple. The two equines were practically bubbling as the elevator.
"Can you believe it? We're up five thousand bucks!" the stallion said to his female companion, who was awkwardly trying to maintain a grip on a rather sizable bucket of chips. The container was not a hoof friendly one however, and the mare couldn't help but spill some of the chips in her excitement.
"I know, the counter just went up and up when I hit the jackpot!" The mare replied, not bothering to retrieve the chips.
Skye looked over at the pair, and then to the chips on the ground. Bending down she retrieved them and cleared his throat. "Excuse me, Miss? I think you dropped these." Offering them back to the mare.
Both zebras looked down at the pair with a slightly surprised expression. Apparently they had been so caught up in their celebrations, they hadn't noticed the smaller mammals. The mare gave Skye a suspicious glance, and Skye felt her ears redden. It was an expression she had grown used to over the years. Even with all their progress, foxes were still met with distrust and suspicion, and she could already picture the mare's thoughts in her mind.
"Is she trying to scam me?"
"Did she steal them and will only give back some so she looks innocent."
Fortunately, the mare's motions caused another chip to fall from the bucket, and Jack rolled his eyes as he picked it up and added it to the small pile in Skye's paw.
The stallion cleared his throat and waved a hoof at the pair. "Thank you," he said simply, and his mate lowered the bucket so that Skye could return the chips to the pile.
"I might be able to help you with this," Skye added as she motioned to take the handle of the bucket.
The mare once again eyed her warily, but nodded her head. Skye took the not inconsiderable weight of the jackpot in hand and lowered it to the floor of the elevator which had finally started moving. Retrieving her multi tool from her pocket, she quickly bent the rather flimsy metal handle into a more oblong shape.
Standing back up, the fox lifted the bucket and motioned with her head towards the mare's hoof. "Just stick your hoof through this, and hold it like a purse," she said, smiling.
The zebra did as was instructed, and the reshaped handle fit snugly just behind her hoof. The mare examined the alteration momentarily, and then looked towards the vixen with genuine gratitude on her face.
"Thank you for that," she stated simply. "You didn't need to help out."
"But I did anyways," Sky said with a twinkle in her eyes. As the chime sounded and the elevator door opened, she made to leave with her partner. "Not all foxes are shifty, after all." She added with a knowing wink, and the two zebras shifted uncomfortably as the doors began to close.
"Now that was just cruel, my dear," Jack said as the pair made their way to the bar, the rising sun emblem prominently displayed over the richly lacquered door frames.
"What? I'm always helpful," she said, and then leaned in close to whisper in his ear. "It comes with the badge, you know."
Jack chuckled at the comment. "Now no more of that. We might not be officially undercover, but we don't want to broadcast our professions here."
The restaurant was dimly lit, but Sky's keen eyes were already scanning the interior for the two assassins. It seemed as though both Karma and Serendipity were favoring them tonight, as she caught a glimpse of a pair of black tipped, grey lapine ears protruding from a booth towards the back of the main dining room.
Motioning with her paw, she directed Jack's attention, both to the pair of hitmammals, but also to the empty adjoining booth. Nodding the pair quietly made their way to the empty booth, relying on their small stature to keep them concealed behind the high booth walls.
They were so tall in fact that, as far as Skye could figure, the only way that Ms. Hopps' ears should be would be if she was standing on the booth seat. Knowing the two were mates, she was probably either giving or receiving a morsel of food. The fox shook her head at the thought, it was a common enough behavior for mates to take part of, and even she and Jack had performed the act.
"Seeing two professional killers share such a tender moment just seems so wrong," she thought to herself as she settled into the booth. Jack taking the side closest to the hitmammals, his long ears cocked to hear any conversation between the two.
Skye's own ears were similarly primed, but she was also on the lookout for the waiter, so as to free up Jack to do the real heavy lifting…well, listening, as it were.
Noticing the female red fox waitress heading their way...or rather the Hokkaido fox from her coloration and style of dress, Skye put on her best smile as the other female came a placed menus in front of her and jack.
"Irasshaimase!" she intoned jovially. "Ikaga nasaimashita ka? How may I help you?"
Skye made an effort to pitch her voice slightly higher than she normally did, and also reverted back to her native northern twang of an accent. It wasn't all that much different from the normal inflection used by the mammals of Zootopia, but she hoped that the slight alteration in the emphasis of the vowels would hide her identity from the hitmammals were they to overhear.
"Hi! We'll just start with some Genmai-cha, and we'll need a tad with the menu to decide what to have," she said good naturedly. "It's my friends first time having sushi."
Her eyes shifted to the hitmammals booth, and she had to fight the urge to sigh in relief that the still visible rabbit ears didn't even twitch in her direction. The waitress seemed oblivious to her reaction, and bowed slightly before retreating back towards the main sushi bar.
Skye, kept the smile on her muzzle, but looked back to her mate. They had long ago devised surreptitious hand signals for just such an occasion, and she made to examine her middle claw, while forming it into a circle with her thumb.
To jack the question was clear, "Anything?" She had asked, and Jack replied by first placing the palm of his paw on the table then twisting it ninety degrees to stand straight up before returning it to a more natural position.
"Nothing yet, they're just talking." Skye interpreted from the motion, and this time she did sigh. It had been too much to ask that the assassins would tip their hand right away, but it only made sense that they wouldn't spend all their time working for Mr. Big. They were, at least from the intel that the ZPD had, some of the Big's top enforcers and wouldn't handle the minor issues that crept up in the criminal enterprise.
"Oh no," she thought "they'd only be called in when a mammal needs to be frightened...or removed." The thought was accompanied by a sense of resignation, and so she took the chance to look at the menu, her eyes bulging slightly at the cost printed beside each item. "We might be here for a while, but thank the Celestials that we can expense this."
When the waitress returned with their tea, Sky had picked out a selection of vegetarian options for Jack, but had decided to spoil herself a little. "He's the one missing out, after all," she thought as the other fox poured, first Jack's cup, and then her own.
"Are you ready to order?" The vixen asked once she had placed the pot onto a small stand in the middle of the table.
Skye nodded and began picking out various menu items. "My friend will have the vegetarian miso soup, the edamame, the avocado maki, and the spicy shiitake maki. As for me, I'd like to have the full mid-mammal omakase tonight."
The waitress nodded approvingly, and, after retrieving their menus, once again retreated back to deliver the order to the chefs.
Jack had an incredulous look on his face as he looked towards his mate. In a voice that was barely a whisper he spoke "Did you just order a $300 meal for yourself?"
"Yep, and I'm going to enjoy it," she said, with no hint of remorse in her voice. "Just enjoy what comes. If you ask nicely, I'll even share some with you if you want."
The rabbit squirmed involuntarily at the thought, but quickly brought his focus back to the hitmammals behind him.
"This is going to be a long night," he thought to himself, as the waitress arrived with two steaming bowls of broth for the two of them.
Skye leaned back in the booth and hummed approvingly. "Even if we don't catch those two, I can die happy after that meal," she thought as the tamagomaki melted in her mouth.
The final dish of the eight course meal had been as much of a revelation as the previous plates, and Jack had looked askance at her several times during the meal, as the vixen nearly moaned with delight at the tastes and textures she was experiencing.
For Jack, the food had been very good, but nothing so cathartic. "Well at least one of us needs to keep our focus on the two killers behind us!" He thought somewhat ruefully. Skye was normally the more professional one of the two of them, but tonight, she appeared to be on a slightly different wavelength.
Regardless, the two killers had been talking about everything except their jobs. He had overheard their plans to visit her parents in Bunnyburrow in a few months, their plans for rebuilding the Wilde-Hopps Children's Benefit Charity war coffers, and even their...personal plans for the evening once they retired to their quarters, which had caused him to redden slightly under his fur at the extreme detail Wilde went into describing exactly how he wanted his rabbit served that evening.
He was almost ready to call the whole evening a bust, when he heard the telltale rumble of a phone coming from the assassins booth. Both of his ears were focused on their targets, and he concentrated on every word he could.
"Yes, sir?" Wilde's voice came through clearly, although Jack couldn't hear the voice on the other end of the line. The use of the title 'sir' made it a very small number of mammals who the two assassins would be so differential to, but the tone made it clear that this call was work-related.
There was a pause, as Wilde was probably being conveyed the instructions for him and his partner. "Yes, sir, I understand and will take care of that personally."
There was another pause, and Jack clearly heard the fox sigh in resignation. "Are you sure that's a good idea, sir? The last time she had to go down there, it was a real mess for everyone involved."
Once again there was a pause, after which Wilde replied with a simple. "Yes, sir, I'll send her down right away."
The beep of the call connecting was a clear as day, and Jack strained to hear every last detail. "Could this be it? Is Hopps being sent on a hit?" he thought, his mind racing through the possibilities.
"Well, Carrots, it looks like our plans for the evening have changed,." Nick said, the resignation in his tone abundantly clear to Jack.
"Oh, what does the boss want of us tonight?" Hopps' voice was more jovial, but there was a hint of disappointment in her tone as well.
"I need to oversee something in Operations, and the boss needs you down in, the Dungeon." Wilde said, his tone indicating a strong distaste for the location...whatever it was. "There's a mammal making the boss...uncomfortable, and he'd like you to take care of it personally."
Jack's paws quickly made the motion that they had something, and Skye quickly motioned for the check from the waitress. Quickly paying for the meal...and being sure to collect the receipt, the two made their way out of the restaurant before the two hitmammals.
"So what's happening?" Sky asked when they were safely out of earshot.
"Hopps is being sent down to someplace called 'the Dungeon' to 'take care' of some mammal." Jack said, occasionally looking back to the entrance of the restaurant to see if the pair had left yet.
"Seriously? Somewhere called, the Dungeon?" She paused for a moment, mulling over the information. "It seems too obvious, there's no way that these two would talk about that stuff so openly."
Jack shrugged and looked up at his mate. "It's all we've got, babe. Wilde is going to somewhere called Operations, and Hopps is heading down to The Dungeon."
"Do we split up, or just tail one of them." Skye said, finally seeing the two hitmammals exit the restaurant and split apart, WIlde heading for the elevators, and Hopps towards the stairs leading back to the lobby.
"Let's tail Hopps," Jack said after a moment. "Somewhere called Operations is probably going to be under high security."
"And somewhere called the Dungeon isn't?" Skye asked, already moving to follow the rabbit at a distance."
Jack gave a small chuckle at his mate's observation. "There will probably be cameras outside, but I have a feeling that they don't want to keep too close an eye on what goes on inside, if you get my drift."
Skye nodded in understanding. Although they would want to keep tabs on who went into a presumed torture chamber, the actual goings on inside those rooms would be more or a liability than an boon. They would need to be careful getting inside, but being fairly small themselves, it should be possible, and so the pair set about following Judy...wherever she was heading to.
Notes:
The game's afoot for our favourite duo. I wanted to use this chapter to delve a bit more into Jack and Skye's personalities, as I didn't want them to just end up as simple antagonists for Nick and Judy. Hopefully they've become more than a simple foil as a result.
Now on to a minor scientific musing, specifically regarding mammalian digestion. The general convention in the public is that carnivores eat meat and herbivores eat plants, right? Well reality has a way of blurring the lines, and food selection is no different. In the wild, although their diets do tend to lean towards one end of spectrum or another, most animals will consume a mixture of plant and animal matter if it is available.
Deer have been observed eating scavenging carrion if they can, and nature is full of instances of females consuming their placenta after giving birth. We also see that many herbivores will consume insects when they can. Most animals are opportunistic feeders, and will consume anything that they consider palatable...or even if it isn't, as the consumption of rancid meat does occur.
On the other side of the fence, carnivores have been observed consuming a variety of plants, and this is even more puzzling than the herbivores eating meat. It's easy to get nutrients out of meat, as it's easily broken down, even in the stomach of ruminant animals, it just takes longer than it would in a carnivore's stomach. With plant matter, a lot of the nutrition is tied up in long polymer molecules like cellulose, and these can't be easily broken down without special conditions that aren't present in the carnivore digestive system.
So why do they do it? Well it depends on how they've evolved. Most obligate carnivores don't eat plant material for nutrients, they eat it to help clear out their digestive tract. This is the case for felines who eat grass to help alleviate hairballs and the like. For many other species, they only eat things like fruits or tubers that contain more digestible carbohydrates.
They key thing to remember is that these alternate food sources are not the main part of their diet. A herbivore consuming only meat would fare poorly, as would a carnivore only eating plant material. In the former case, their digestive tract is too long, and large amounts of meat would literally putrefy in their guts, leading to illness and death. In the latter, their inability to digest the plant material would lead to starvation. In the case of groups like felines and foxes, they would also face the hurdle of being unable to obtain all the essential amino acids (such as taurine) from plants.
Anyways, Judy eating sushi isn't as odd as it may seem. She can certainly enjoy it on occasion, just as Nick can have his love of blueberries. According to the director's Nick's actually a vegetarian, and this would mean that he'd need to be eating foods that have been supplemented in some way to avoid malnutrition, but it is possible in an advanced society, such as Zootopia.
Regardless, I'll close things off here, and once again thank Cimar for allowing me to contribute to this Herculean project.
eng050599