AN: With the first review of this story, I would like to say that I am open to any form of review. Whether that be questions, comments, or critiques of this story. Critiques I am open to most of all, they can help me be a better writer as well as improve this story for you readers. I will answer questions to the best of my ability without spoiling any of the future plans that I have for the story. But to answer the question of the guest, Judy is fine. But to note, Jack's Zootopia is not exactly the same as the one we saw in the movie.
Chapter Three
Caída de Agua
Jack spent the rest of his day trying to find any information on an armadillo named Hoover, yet nothing came up. He figured that Hoover was a fake name given to hide whoever the armadillo worked for. Jack didn't care; whoever was blackmailing him had powerful connections. Powerful enough to make Jack currently sit in the back of a Zuber car, with a cheetah driving him through the Rainforest District towards the back end of the Canals. Rain constantly pelted the car as it weaved along the snake like roads through, under, and over the many real and artificial trees of the rainforest.
Night had fallen a while ago. Jack had called the Zuber when he felt that it was time that he do as he was requested. He despised it, but he knew he had to. He didn't care about his life being ruined. It was ruined a long time ago by himself. Killing is a downward spiral to the life that is his. He just never thought those skeletons would come back to haunt them. It is a bit of karma for him, he just figured he made amends for the past by helping the ZPD. But the cosmos seemed to have other plans with him.
What he really cared about was Nick and his fellow officers. There was also someone else that he hurt badly that he made a deal with Vincent about. And if that information got out, then that deal was gone, and she was as good as dead. Vincent would most likely make everyone he knew personally pay if that information was released. The ZPD made a huge gamble by trusting him and allowing him to live his life outside of prison. And right now they were the ones nearly paying for it. Jack knew he had to keep them safe from Hoover and his employers, as well as the panda. Whoever they were, they didn't care whose tail they crushed to get what they desired. Jack was just another pawn in their plans for whatever they wished to achieve. And this Nexus project was the current objective.
Savage was pulled from his thoughts as the car came to a stop. He stood up to look out the window to see The Caída de Agua come into view. It may be dark and misted by the rain, but the lighting of the restaurant made it visible in the bleakness of night. A natural waterfall fell from the mountains looming overhead and was worked into the architecture of the building. It was a four story structure that curved and morphed to allow the water to freely flow over itself. The windows and walls were encased in thin streams of water that all condensed into a moat around the building. This ran off into the waters not that far below in an artificial stream.
The building was made from stone, almost as if it was carved out of the mountain face itself. Orange fogged glass graced the structure; making it look like several packs of lightning bugs had taken residence in the safety from the falling water. A wooden bridge crossed the moat and lead to a grand front door where the name Caída de Agua was glowing in red neon. Jack thanked the driver and removed himself from the car. He shut the door behind and briskly made his way across the wet polished wood of the bridge. The car left him in the inky blackness as Jack escaped the continuous rain that accented the Rainforest District. He made it under cover, shaking as much of the water from his clothes as he possibly could. He went with a black turtle neck sweater and dark brown khakis. He wore a suit jacket that matched the pants. He felt like a college professor ready to do a lecture in front of far from enthusiastic students.
The restaurant was on the higher end of society, the location showed that. So he dressed up a bit than his usual black jacket, pants, and plain white shirt. The place needed a reservation; otherwise you would not get a seat. Unless you were willing to fork over a good sum under the table. Jack was prepared; he always did research on places he would go. Only this time he wouldn't have to kill anyone. He knew exactly what Hoover was making him do, establish an alibi for the night. Records would show him going to the restaurant and paying for dinner.
He would just be adding a trip to Summit on the other side of the mountain he was currently at. The inside of the restaurant was dimly lit, like those chain Cheesecake Works places that dotted Zootopia. The front entrance was filled with red and purple couches with a wood lectern dyed to look like mahogany. The floors were coated in rust colored tiles. The walls were painted peach and themed like a temple. There were engravings like old stone masonry that lined the walls. And pillars accented arched doorways. Standing at attention at the podium was a jet black jaguar. It held an over exaggerated poise stance. He barely gave Jack a glance before asking, "Reservation?"
"Savage, Jack Savage." The rabbit answered back. Again the jaguar maître d' gave a very small glimpse at the book in front of him. Obviously filled with the names of all the current mammals planning on eating here. And as Jack could tell by the clank and clatter of plates and silverware, the place was positively packed. A few seconds passed before the jungle cat found the name, "Here you are, follow me."
He removed himself from the podium with a menu that he pulled out of somewhere, Jack followed suit as the jaguar didn't care if he did or not. They walked along a pathway lined by stone banisters shaped like tear drops. Tables of the same style as the podium filled the sunken floor in a haphazard array. Each surrounded by chairs of the shade with red and purple cushions. The jaguar led Jack away from the first floor and towards a mason staircase. The second floor was just like the first. Only the tables here were far smaller, made for smaller mammals. Whilst the first floor was suited for larger ones. The walls were lined with large cone lights that gave the atmosphere of being lit by torches.
Savage was lead to an empty table for two. The jaguar pulled a red chair out for him, which he hopped in. The cat left a menu on the table in front of Jack, "I waiter will be with you shortly."
He turned and returned to his post, leaving Jack amongst a sparsely populated floor than the one below. A small candle sat in the middle of the table with a small bulb of fire burning away at the white wax. Jack looked to the watch on his wrist, nearly eight. He would have a small dinner before doing his job. He opened the thick menu, he judged ten pages just looking at the thing, and tried to find the salad section.
…
Jack paid after a dinner of a salad made for two, which he didn't finish nor did he want it bagged. He was now in the bathroom on the second floor. The bathroom was the same as the rest of the restaurant, albeit a bit more illuminated. The stalls were made of wood dyed almost black and the tiles were not as dark as the rust ones outside. The theme was still carried over though.
He turned off the tap of water and looked to his surroundings. There was no one with him, perfect to make an exit when he was expected to be gone. He stepped down from the sink and walked to the wall opposite the door to the rectangular room. He hopped up onto the radiator under the window, and quickly jumped up there to not risk burning his feet. The window was small, and faced the back of the restaurant, towards the mountain wall and a small outdoor garden behind the restaurant. That was currently devoid of occupants due to the still present rain.
Jack gave one more check to the room before unlatching the window. It creaked against underused hinges. He pushed it as far as he needed for him to pass through. He crawled under, and set the latch to relock when he closed it. He stepped down onto a slanted roof. He worked to regain his balance on the slick tiles. The window closed and locked itself behind him. Jack smiled and made his way across the roof and towards the edge, where a few short trees lined the edge. He angled correctly before jumping and grabbing onto the leaves of the palm tree. He cautiously maneuvered off the wet trunk and towards the paved path that weaved around the entire garden. He entered the sodden garden. True to Hoover's words, there was a black duffle bag set on one of the black metal tables.
Jack grabbed the bag that was just a bit smaller than him and exited the garden, not wanting to draw attention to himself. He sat behind some bushes, under the cover of the outcropping the restaurant created in the mountain. There he opened the bag to find a good amount of supplies that Hoover promised. The first thing Jack noticed was an Arcus 12T handgun. This one was silver with a black barrel section. A classical civilian issued tranq dart gun. He preferred the use of the 12VM, which is what he always used.
Jack was well versed with all forms of weapons; lethal and none. As a hitmammal he had to be, he mostly went for the non-lethal to make it harder to track. So many civilians in Zootopia had those kinds, but lethals were almost solely used by the ZPD and SWAT. It made it easier for him to slip into the shadows as he always did with non-lethals.
The 12T was a seven dart clip gun that could be fitted with darts of varying sedation levels. To take down an elephant or a rabbit like him and anything in between. The 12VM replaced the magazine with a single shot clip for quick exchange for different tranq doses. There were four magazines for the Arcus in the bag. Jack removed one of the darts; looking it over he saw the dosage was for medium sized animals, majority of Zootopia's populous. He put the dart back in its place and looked back to the bag.
He also found a black latex suit in the bag; it blended with the night and looked almost invisible, except when light was shined on it directly. Jack saw this with the little moonlight that was able the peek through the thick clouds and the holes in the mountain. There was a belt as well with it that had slots for the Arcus, magazines, and some grenades. In the bag he found two of three types flash, concussion, and smoke. Next there were some gloves that matched the suit. They had various straps and wires along them, looking more high tech than simple gloves. The wires covered by carbon colored material. The inside of the gloves had padding along the fingers and palm area. The last thing in the bag was an old flip phone, with a piece of yellow lined paper inside it. Setting the bag down Jack inspected the phone, taking the paper out it had a small message written on it
Press One and Send.
Seeing as this will probably grace him with the voice of Hoover again Jack obliged and followed the short directions. Holding the phone to his ear it rang twice before he heard the other end pick up. There was silence over the line, but was quickly ended by the voice of the armadillo on the other end, "Glad to see you got my care package Savage."
"Hoover." Jack spoke back not wanting to waste time.
Hoover gave a short laughed before speaking, "Now that you have agreed to go through with your job let me give you a bit of direction. But first let me just state that this is a burner phone. It can only call me and me you. After this is all said and done it must be destroyed."
Jack agreed and Hoover continued, "Now I expect you to know what you were supplied with in the bag save for the suit and the gloves. Did I assume right."
"Yes." Jack confirmed for the armadillo.
"Good. The suit is a special stealth tech for night operations. It blends in with dark backgrounds, so use that to your advantage. The gloves are powerfully adhesive. Flexing your hands activates them. They will allow you to stick to almost any surface, but easily move along. When the light is blue the adhesion is successful. Just remove your hand from the surface to disengage the effect. The light turning red will signal this. Do you follow?"
Jack confirmed again.
"Now about the compound." Hoover continued, "I would like to inform you that my and your employers will like to limit the amount of casualties tonight, so try to keep it at a zero. The compound is guarded with heavily equipped guards. Less than a mile down the road will be a back entrance to the compound. It will be guarded, so be careful. Once inside you will need to find the building that houses Nexus. It should be along the side of the mountain, a cylindrical building. Marked with an upside-down encircled triangle. It should be on the second to last floor of the building. Once you retrieve it head to five five two Taiga Drive in Tundratown. There I will be waiting for you to exchange the Nexus for the destruction of my files on you. You got all that Savage."
"Every bit." Jack responded less than joyful.
"Good, then good luck and have fun bunny burglar."
Without any time to spare the line went dead. Jack closed the phone and threw it and the piece of paper in the bag. He sighed and took his jacket off and it too went into the bag. As did his pants and shirt. He stood naked in the cold damp air for a few seconds. He grabbed the latex suit and slowly put the cold material on. The thing covered every inch of his body except his feet, paws, and head. It fit him exactly; obviously whoever Hoover worked for had some very powerful friends in the weapons sector. As obviously as much information on him as they pleased.
He attached the belt and fit everything in its rightful place. The gloves went on next. He flexed his hands once to test them, the blue lights on the back of the hand coming to life; they switched to red and faded quickly. He flexed again to shut them off. He slung the duffle bag onto his back. He felt hardly any weight on him. He needed to move fast, probably why he was supplied with so little. He liked this; he knew he had to get in and get out fast. He wanted this to be over as soon as he could be. He followed Hoover's directions and headed towards where the back entrance road would be.
