Chapter 4 – Undercover At Last:

"Officers Hopps and Wilde, you are going to go to Savannah Central with Officers Frost and Jag. That's all. Dismissed," said Chief Bogo during briefing the next morning.

After everyone left, Chief Bogo called Judy and Nick into his office. "You know what to do, just go change to your undercover clothes and get to the meeting place," Chief Bogo told them.

"Yes, Sir!" Nick and Judy said in unison.

"And remember. Never let them suspect you are a cop. If they do get onto you, let us know and we'll get you out of there as fast as possible."

"Understood, Sir," Nick said.

"Dismissed."

Nick and Judy walked to the locker rooms and they each got into a different changing room and changed clothes. Nick got done first and walked to the car they would use. When he saw it, his jaw dropped to the floor. Judy came and saw him staring.

"What is it?" asked Judy.

"That car is a Viper X 012!"

When Judy saw it, she just said, "So?"

"Watch this," Nick said as he lifted the key fob and hit the lock button twice.

When the car flashed its lights and honked, Judy's jaw hit the ground with Nick's "We're getting THAT!?" exclaimed Judy.

"This is so AWESOME!" Nick ran to the driver door and unlocked it and hopped in. Judy hopped in beside him as Nick cranked the large V8 engine to life. "Oh, this is my dream!" Nick said as he revved the engine. He pressed the clutch, put it in first and slowly let go of the clutch.

"Wait! Stop!" came a voice as Nick was slowly moving. Nick slammed on the clutch and brake and looked for the voice. It was Ben, running out of the building to catch them.

"What are you doing, Ben?" Judy asked.

"I just wanted to tell you to be careful. I heard a rumor you guys were going undercover. I know I'm not supposed to know things like that, but I just wanted to have insurance."

"Insurance?" Nick asked.

"I want to be able to say goodbye."

"Ben, we won't die!" Nick said, chuckling.

"I heard from Francine, who heard for Wolfard, who heard from—"

"That we're going to the Savannah Central Pred Gang, right?" Judy said.

"No… I thought you were going to the Devil Dogs."

"Ben, the Devil Dogs are the USMC," Nick said.

"Oh. I thought it was a gang. The SCPG is even worse! Goodbye!" Ben hugged Judy. He walked around the car to hug Nick, but Nick put a paw in his face to make him stop.

"Nope," Nick said.

"Oh, ok. Bye." Ben walked back inside the building, letting the two get back to work.

Nick put the car back into first gear and get the car going. The more speed the car picked up, the higher Nick's excitement rose. Judy could sense that he was excited to be driving his dream car.

Nick tuned the radio to his favorite station and rolled the windows down as he drove down the streets to Savannah Central. The radio was playing the song Dead Man by We As Fox, Nick's second favorite song. When they got to the meeting place, an older parking garage on the third floor, Jag and Frost where standing outside the van they saw on the first day of training. Nick pulled up and parked the car.

"How you been doin' man?" Nick asked Frost as he walked up to the car.

"Not bad. How's the foot?"

"It's great!"

"Ready to go undercover?"

"Not really, but I've got to."

Nick and Judy got out of the car and walked into the van with the two big cats.

"Nick will go down to the hideout alone with the car. He will have trackers all over him and the car. He will go into the warehouse and try to join the gang. Nick, get out immediately if anything goes wrong, ok?" Jag said

"Got it," Nick replied.

Jag continued, "Judy, me, and Frost will stay here and listen to whatever they say and monitor him from here. I forgot to mention that Nick will have a microphone on him as well."

"Alright, when will we start?" asked Judy.

"We've got to implant the trackers underneath his skin, mics in his tail, and a one way radio in his ear."

"This can all come out later, right?" asked Nick, not wanting these things on permanently.

Frost answered, "Oh, yes. They are all removable, but they are practically invisible to anyone."

Nick felt relieved.

Throughout the day, Nick and Judy where given complete instructions on what to do for any situation they may face during the mission.

"Ok, so how do I take them down once I'm inside?" asked Nick.

"We are going to get info on them and what they do through you, then once everything is done, we'll call the Razorbacks to get them down," said Frost.

"Ok. Sounds dangerous. Let's go!" said Nick.

Judy giggled, but when she saw the cats weren't laughing she stopped.

"We need to go to Cliffside," said Jag.

Cliffside.

Last time Nick and Judy heard that place, they were on the Night Howler case. It had recently been completely redone for use as a police hospital and a prison. Very few animals were in there right now.

"What for?" asked Judy.

"To implant the bugs into Wilde."

Nick gulped.

.

Nick was laying down on a bed in Cliffside, the anastasia starting to take effect.

"Nick won't feel anything, will he?" Judy asked the doctor.

"Oh, no. He won't feel a thing," said the doctor.

"Goodnight, Carrots," Nick said as he passed out.

An hour later, Nick opened his eyes and saw the ceiling of the room. He looked around and felt a little sore in several places, and his ears were ringing, and he had a headache.

"Doctor? Nurse? Anybody?" Nick asked.

Just then, the door opened and there came Judy followed by Jag and Frost.

"Alright. Now we need to test the trackers, mic, and radio," Jag said, picking up an iPaw.

"Trackers working," he said after a few minutes. "Mics working. Nick, tell me if you hear anything after we leave."

Jag, Frost, and Judy left and shut the door. After several seconds, Nick heard the faint voice of Judy coming from inside his left ear.

"Testing, testing. 1, 2, 3, test, test," said the little voice of Judy.

Jag opened the door and looked at Nick. Nick nodded and held two thumbs up.

"Time to go then," Jag said.

.

Nick drove the car alone to the warehouse. Flashbacks started to appear in his vision. Nick started panting and sweating. He parked the car in a parking lot a block away from the warehouse. Nick got his gun, taser and a knife from the car. Nick took a deep breath and opened the car door. He got out and started walking to the building. He opened the door and slowly walked in.

Once he was in, he saw a lot of big tough predators walk up to him. They reached out to grab him, but he dodged them and ran a little behind them. They turned around and leapt at him, but Nick jumped out of the way.

"Ha! Did you really think you could catch a fox?" Nick said from on top of one of the old warehouse shelves.

"What do you want, fox?" asked the bear.

"I want to join this little gang," Nick said.

The bear and cheetah looked at each other, then at Nick.

"What's your name?" asked the bear.

"My name is to be classified until I can join," Nick said.

The gangsters looked at each other again and then back at Nick.

"Come on. We'll take you to the boss," said the bear.

Nick followed them down a hallway that was off to the side. At the end of the hallway was a door. When the door was opened, Nick could see that this was the room he was in many years before. Nick started to sweat a little bit. The leader was a lion sitting at a desk. He wasn't the same lion from Nick's first time here, but he was most likely just as sinister.

"Hey boss! This punk wants to join the brotherhood," said the bear.

The lion glared at Nick. "You need to prove yourself, fox. I don't trust foxes very easily," said the boss.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Tell me all about you."

Nick had been given a story to tell if this was asked, and he had rehearsed it since the second day of initial training.

"I was raised in the outskirts of town by my aunt. She never really cared about what I did, so I started being the bully around the block. I got put in jail a few times for robbery and assault. I made a gang myself called, 'Fox Force Five.' It was actually only made of me and a few friends. We just robbed and harassed people. The gang broke up when one of my friends died during a robbery. I figured I should go good, but when I couldn't get hired anywhere because of my record, I went back to crime. Now I'm here, looking to join your gang." Nick told the story like it was true.

Apparently the cheetah and bear believed it. The lion looked a little bit skeptical. He sat thinking for a while. The lion looked at the bear behind Nick and nodded.

Nick felt a huge paw land on his back and push him down. Then a bunch of other animals ran over from all over the warehouse and started kicking and punching Nick. Nick was yelling in pain.

He hoped the implements still worked. They started cutting him in a few spots, but nothing serious or major. Then the lion boss held up his paw and they all stopped. The lion looked at Nick

"Prove yourself worthy to join," The lion said. "You must bring us some…candy tomorrow night. Don't tell anyone."

Nick looked at the lion and nodded.

"Leave," the lion said.

Nick walked to the door. While he was walking, he saw the blood stain of Archie from all those years ago on the floor and started sweating again.

Once he got outside, he walked around the corner so they couldn't see him. When he was out of sight, he bolted for his car as fast as possible.

.

Judy sat looking at the computer screen that was in the back of the van. She saw the little dot of Nick's location move slowly to the warehouse. She was worried about Nick. She looked at Jag, who had the headphones on, listening to what Nick said and was told. Frost was in the front seat with binoculars, scanning the area.

"Could I listen for a while?" asked Judy after several minutes.

"Sure. Here you go," Jag said as he removed the headphones, giving them to Judy.

"Prove yourself worthy to join," the voice she heard said. "You must bring us some candy tomorrow night. Don't tell anyone. Leave." the voice finished.

"Nick's leaving," Judy said.

Jag looked at the tracking beacon. They noticed as soon as he passed a few buildings, his tracker sped up toward the car.

"He must've been wanting out of there as fast as possible," Frost said as he came into the back and saw the beacon.

"Nick got in the car and he's headed this way," said Judy.

The three cops watched the beacon get closer until Judy, with her super hearing, heard Nick driving up into the parking garage. She started to get out of the van, when Jag stopped her.

"Judy, I'm afraid to say this, but you're going to have to go to the gang with Nick tomorrow."

"What! Why?" Judy asked. "It's a predator gang! They won't let a bunny join!"

"I'm afraid they will," Frost said. "Remember a few months ago, that gang attack in the mall?"

Judy nodded.

"One of the suspects is a female bunny. She has golden-colored fur and is about your size. She has been known to associate with the SCPG."

"Ok. I'll go," Judy said dejectedly as she jumped out of the van and stood off to the side.

Nick pulled up a little too fast, but he stopped before he hit the wall. Nick jumped out and ran to Judy. He ran up to her and Judy was expecting him to stop and start to talk to her, but he ran up and gave her a huge hug. Judy was taken aback by Nick's behavior.

"I was so scared, Judy," Nick said while hugging.

Judy could hear the shaking in his voice. He really was scared. Judy started hugging back more like she meant it now.

"It's ok. You're through for tonight," Judy said. She then let go of the hug and stood back. Then she noticed he had bruises and cuts all over him. "What happened?" She asked.

"Let's get inside and then I'll tell you."

Nick walked into the van with Judy behind him. Nick sat down and sighed. Nick put his paw on his side and rubbed one of his ribs.

"Are you ok?" asked Frost.

"Apparently, they either have to beat up new members, or they don't like a fox joining. The boss told them to beat me up."

"What was that about the 'candy' they want?" asked Judy.

"I figured we could get some cocaine from the narcotics lab," Nick said.

"The narcotics guys don't make narcotics, they study them," Frost said.

"Then we could get some from a dealer," Nick said.

"Where? Do you know any dealers?" asked Jag.

"Uh, no. But I know how to contact one."

Author's Note:

As old readers will see, I am adding Judy into the undercover mission. I felt I wasn't making her as strong a character as she really is, so I'm going to add her into the undercover part of the undercover mission.