They went to Nick's apartment first. Nick led her up the stairs and into his home.
Judy took a moment to reflect on how she had never been to his apartment before just now, and vaguely wished that it wasn't for a case.
"Well, here we are, Carrots. Casa Del Nick," he quipped as he opened the door. Judy looked around, unsure what she had been expecting. Nick's place was rather plain, and while certainly larger than hers still quite small, only having a kitchenette/dining room combo, a bedroom and a single bathroom. But at least he HAD his own bathroom.
"It's… nice," she replied, looking around, "better than my place, that's for sure."
"Carrots, I'm pretty sure a cardboard box under a bridge would be the only thing worse than your place," he responded with a smirk.
"Oh, ha ha," she shot back sarcastically. Then she noticed the scent, this entire place smelled like Nick, not the musk mask she normally associated with him, but his actual, natural scent. She blushed and turned away.
Luckily for her, Nick had already gone into his bedroom to grab an outfit out of his closet. He spent a good few minutes choosing one before getting dressed in it. He selected a baggy pair of black jeans, and a tank-top that matched in color. He took a moment in the mirror and then then grabbed a tube of fur gel ad squeezed a drop into his paw, the mixed it in his paws and then raked them through the fur on the top of his head. The effect achieved gave it a subtly spiked-up look. He grinned at his reflection and gave a couple of fingergun-snaps at himself. "Lookin' good slick…" he mused.
While he was walking past his bed on the way out of his room, he accidentally bumped his foot against the box under his bed that held his bow. He hadn't remembered leaving it sticking out like that, and opened it to make sure nothing was wrong. To his relief, nothing was. He was broken from his musings when Judy asked him what was taking him so long.
"Hold onto your fuzzy little tail! I'm coming!" He shot back, forgetting to close the box as he left.
Judy had taken a seat on a couch as she waited for Nick to come out. She gave him a bit of a hard time as the amount of time he needed went past the five-minute mark. There was no way any mammal needed that much time to change. Then he walked out and she felt her eyes go wide. She was used to seeing Nick in his soft, paw'ian shirts or his uniform This was a new look, and one that gave her a bit of appreciation for how well he had filled out during academy training. While he was still on the skinny side, he had gone from scrawny to lithe, with noticeable muscles beneath his thin, warm-weather fur.
"Well, what do you think?" He asked, enjoying her subtle reaction.
"You look like you're going to a nightclub," she replied.
"Good, because that is exactly where we're going," he told her.
"about that, where exactly are we going again?" She asked. "And why would we want to show up incognito?"
"Predators' Paradise," he repeated. "It's a nightclub in the Nocturnal District Happytown. Extremely popular with the predator population in Zootopia. And the reason we're going there is because the owner is, bar none, the best information broker in the city. He can get you any information you need if you are willing to pay his price, and for what we're going after, I'm more than willing."
"How much money do you think he'll want? I know chief gave us quite a bit of leeway, but I don't think that a few million dollar expense will sit well with him."
"He accepts… alternative forms of payments. Nothing illegal or amoral, but nothing too pleasant either. Just tell the chief that we got the information from Valdimir and he'll understand why I need a day or two off of work."
"Alright…" she hesitated, but decided that she trusted her partner. "And why not show up in uniform?"
"It's just easier, cops will draw a lot less scrutiny than normal-looking clubgoers, although a bunny might look a bit out of place…" Eh shrugged. "They'll just probably think that you're some girl who's looking for a 'Walk on the Wild Side,' as it were, pun not intended."
"Not a lot of prey in the club?"
"Well, there are usually a few prey mammals, but usually because they're hardcore predophiles. All the more reason to not show up as cops, can't have the whole of the city thinking that their precious, morally-upright bunny cop is some kind of knot-chasing wannabite," he scoffed, using two common insults for predophiles.
Judy frowned. "I can be those things and still be a morally upstanding citizen."
"Trust me, I know, but lots of mammals don't see it that way."
Judy thought of pressing the issue, but kept her muzzle shut, figuring that they could talk about it later.
"Anyway, come on, we need to get you changed."
"I… I don't have anything like that at my place," she admitted.
"We'll improvise," he promised. "You're talking to a tailor's son, after all. Making outfits out of nothing runs in the blood," he bragged, folding his arms.
"Alright, alright. Come on then, slick."
"Ladies first, Carrots," he told her.
She opened the door and held it for him, smirking.
"I suppose I walked into that one," he chuckled and walked out the door.
"See, Nick. Nothing," she sighed as she showed him her closet. Except for her uniforms, she had very little in there. Just some workout clothes, a dress for formal occasions, the clothes for her detective work she had gotten recently, and some casual clothes.
Nick put a paw on his chin and carefully considered his options. "So, those undershirts," he said, gesturing to a shelf of plain, white, cotton t-shirts that she wore. "Those weren't expensive, right? Like, you got them in a four-pack from the store or something, right?" He asked.
"Yeah, a six-pack, actually. Why?"
"Put one of them on, please?" He requested.
Judy nodded and began stripping off her shirt.
"Woah!" Nick turned his back. "Being a little forward there?"
"Sorry!" She said, blushing. "Force of habit. Not a lot of boundaries with almost three-hundred siblings." She slipped the shirt on and told him that he could turn around.
He looked over her for a moment and nodded. "I can make this work. Mind if I have one of them?" He asked her.
She shrugged and handed him another one off the shelf. "I mean, I don't know what you're going to do to make it fit the 'seedy nightclub' aesthetic," she said.
"Not on their own… But with some help from some scissors, you're okay with me basically ruining this, right? For the case?"
Judy looked at him incredulously, but nodded. "I guess, but only because I have like, a dozen others."
"Great!" He chirped, grabbing some scissors out of a drawer. "I wish there were fabric shears, but then again, the effect might be nice…" he muttered and set to work. He cut a strip off of the bottom so that the hem would end just above her navel and then sliced the collar and arms off, leaving a white tank top that would expose her collarbone and stomach.
".. You know, if I didn't know you so well, but still knew you were into prey, I would accuse you of being a pervert," she joked, taking the new top with a smirk. "You're lucky I know you're doing this for a case."
"Can't it be both?" He joked. "Pair this with those workout pants and we should be good to go," he suggested, turning his back and letting her slip into the improvised outfit.
Judy followed his suggestion and then admired herself in the mirror. She had to admit, she looked damn good. "Alright, now to the club?" She asked, checking her phone. It was just past midnight.
Nick nodded. "Yep, after you," he told her. He took a look at her as she walked away. He had to keep his constant vigil over her tail, after all.
The limo pulled up to the curb a few blocks away from the club, Nick and Judy not wanting to ostentatiously step out of the luxury vehicle right in front of the club, they were trying to stay low-profile, after all.
"Well, Carrots, welcome to the Nocturnal District Happytown," he told her, gesturing. "The one-stop shop for most of Zootopia's nightlife."
She looked around and had to agree, the entire place was lit up with neon signs advertising bars, nightclubs, strip clubs, casinos, basically every kind of nocturnal activity the young and restless members of the society craved. And the location in a mostly predator-populated area gave it something of a dangerous edge, at least, in the mind of the prey who went here.
"It sure is… something…" she said, somewhat speechless at the sheer neon beauty of the place. It certainly had an aesthetic all its own. "So what makes the place we're going to so special?"
"Well, basically, it was one of the first successful predator-owned businesses before the segregation and collars ended," he told her. "But the real reason is that it's sort of a safe space for Predators to just be, well, predators. Sometimes, wolves need to be in a pack, sometimes we want to hunt, fight, be aggressive. You know, all the things that would normally get us run out of town wherever we stayed?"
Judy gave him a look.
"Like Mr. Big says, deep down we are all still animals. You binky in joy and your nose does that absolutely adorable twitching when you're concentrating, you know what I mean."
"Dangerously close to using the c-word there foxy," she teased.
Nick continued on. "Well, all that is seen as harmless stuff. But predators, we growl, snarl, bare our teeth, and stuff like that. Stuff that sends prey reaching for a stun gun or a can of mace. So we suppress it, and then take it to Predators' Paradise, where we let it out, and have fun doing it," he explained. "SO with that in mind… please don't arrest anyone, okay?"
"What if I see a crime happening?" She asked.
"Ignore it unless someone is literally bleeding out on the floor. We have bigger fish to fry and you will definitely see some drugs in there, and probably some… indecent activity…" he explained delicately. "the inside of that place really is no-holds-barred. You see some nip or some nightshade, ignore it, you see some mammals fighting, ignore it. Understand?"
Judy sighed. "Yeah. I get it."
Soon, they got to the front door, where a lone bouncer was waiting. The muscular tiger eyes both of them. "She with you?" She asked, eyeing the decidedly out-of-place Judy.
"Totally," Nick grinned, wrapping a tail around her and pulling her close. "Gonna have some fun upstairs," he winked.
She laughed. "I see, I see. Have fun you two." She opened the door for them and Judy nearly locked up.
The scent hit her like a brick wall, heavy and musky, unmistakably predator. She followed Nick in as her head swam, as her gut screamed at her that this was a very bad place, while certain… other parts of her anatomy told her that this was a very good place.
"You holding up there, Carrots?!" He asked her over the thumping bass of the music, sensing her adrenaline spike and the strange mixture of fear and something he couldn't quite place flooded the air, barely perceptible over the heady musk.
"Yeah, just a bit, overwhelmed!" she said, pressing her ears against her skull to keep the sound of the heavy EDM out.
"Don't worry! We'll be out of this place soon enough! We're going to the top floor!"
Judy nodded and looked around. Nick wasn't kidding, someone was enjoying some nip right in the corner, and she was pretty sure she saw a male wolf pinning a female against a wall with his hand up her shirt, not that the female seemed to be protesting it.
"See what I mean?! Check your inhibitions at the door!"
"This place is huge!" She observed.
"Yeah! And this is only the first two floors! Third floor basically a set of private rooms, fourth floor is the 'Hunting Grounds' and the top floor is where we're heading!" He walked her over to an elevator, but on the way, a careless weasel grabbed her by her arm.
"Hey there bunny! Wanna ditch the old timer?" He grinned.
Judy was about to protest when she hard an audible growl from behind her. She turned and saw Nick, slitted pupils narrowed to thin black lines despite the low light of the club, and teeth fully bared in a growl at the weasel.
Judy pulled herself away from the intruder and stood close to Nick.
"You got your answer, now scram," he snarled out.
"Okay! Okay! Be cool!" He put his paws up and backed away.
"You okay?" He asked Judy, calming down slightly.
'Sweet cheese and crackers I want to run my tongue along those teeth,' she thought before snapping back to the present. "Oh! Yeah, thanks." If there was any doubt in her mind that she liked predators, it was gone now. 'I am so screwed…'
Nick called for the elevator and then they stepped in. "sO, you mentioned the "hunting grounds' what are those?" She asked, hoping to fill the space with words.
"Ah, well, basically, it's where predators and prey participate in a sort of… hunt…" he explained, a bit awkwardly. "The prey is given a thirty second head start, and then the predator is supposed to chase them. The idea is that the predator is supposed to catch them and then, well… there's a reason they have private rooms so close by…"
Judy's ears shot through with red and she looked away, part of her not wanting to think but it and part of her eager to at least see it. She thought back to the museum, when they had caught Bellwether. Judy remembered the feeling of Nick's fangs closing around her throat, she really wanted to feel that again…
The elevator dinged and soon they were on the fifth floor. It had the same aesthetic as the floor below, but the music was subdued and the chatter was a dull roar at the loudest. Nick walked up the the bar.
"Mark," he greeted the lion behind the bar.
"Mister Wilde, is that you?" he asked, eyebrows raising. "We didn't think you would have ever come around since you joined the blue…" he mused, cleaning out a glass. "I assume you're here to see Master Tepes?" He asked.
"Yes," Nick replied, sighing.
"I see, and what do you need to know about?" Asked the lion. "Master Tepes will need to figure out the appropriate price…"
Nick handed him a folded piece of paper.
The lion didn't even look at it and opened a door behind the bar and handed it off to someone unseen before he stood and waited for a few minutes. A door opened again and he received his instructions.
"My my, you must want quite an expensive piece of information!" he remarked, rarely do we break out this level of expensive booze."
He reached for the top shelf and grabbed a bottle. "Scotch Whiskey, older than both of you combined, about twenty-thousand for this bottle alone." he rattled off. "Mister Wilde is to drink three glasses and then wait twenty minutes for it to enter his bloodstream. After that, mister Tepes will exact his payment."
"Wait, so this guy is making us drink really nice booze as a form of paying him?" Judy asked, confused. "Why?"
Mark looked confused. "You didn't tell her?" He asked Nick.
"She would have tried to stop me," he explained. "She's like that." He poured himself a full glass and began drinking it."
"Didn't tell me what?"
"Tepes is a vampire bat," he explained. "And he likes to take his payment in booze-infused blood. He'll get me drunk and then drain me dry," he explained.
"Not dry," injected Mark into the conversation. "He'll take far less than any about that could be dangerous to Mr. Wilde."
Judy's mouth was hanging open. "Is that even legal?!" She asked, incredulously.
"Actually, yes," replied Nick. "Provided I give my consent, which I have." He poured a second glass. "This is amazing Scotch, too bad it would cost me almost a year's salary to get a bottle of my own…" he lamented.
Judy huffed. "You do realize that literally paying in blood for information is absolutely insane, right?" She asked him.
"And heavily-armed street gangs aren't?" he replied. "Desperate times call for desperate measures. "Too bad about the hangover I'll have tomorrow. Three glasses of scotch followed by a blood transfusion does not a good morning after make…"
"Drink some water, It'll help," suggested Mark.
Nick drank the second glass. "Seriously, I am going to savor this. I will probably never get anything like this ever again."
"Don't take too long, you'll need to have it all ready for Master Tepes."
Nick sighed and slowly drank the third glass. "Alright… Let's get this show on the road," he decided, stumbling a bit as he got up, somewhat tipsy from the drinks.
"You okay?" Asked Judy.
"'Course I am, just, good scotch is all…"
The door from earlier was opened and they both walked through. Soon they came to a room decorated from top to bottom in black marble, and in the center of it, working away on a laptop, was a bat. "Nicholas… Never thought I would see you again. Not since you stopped being a courier for me…"
"Had to go my own way," he explained, sitting down in a plush chair while a wolf came over and hauled him up to a transfusion kit.
"Of course, of course. This is quite the bit of information you're asking me for. You might get in over your head…"
"Better than the alternative…" he sighed as the bag began filling up with blood.
Tepes grinned. "You always did go so well with scotch… thank you for this, Nicholas." He tapped a few buttons on his laptop and pulled out a flash drive. "What you need is on here. Everything I have that relates to your case. It isn't much, but you should have a very strong start with it…"
"What is it?" She asked.
"A phone call that one of my agents recorded regarding that killed prisoner, and yes, he was killed. Might point you in the right direction."
"Fuckin… Sweet…" slurred Nick, clearly feeling the effects of the alcohol and the blood loss.
"Get some water in him and I'm sure he'll be fine in a day or two."
Judy gave him a suspicious look as the wolf unhooked Nick from the IV and handed the bag of blood to the Bat, who took a moment to sample some.
"Mm… Getting in shape the way you have has done wonders for you Nicholas. You taste better than ever," he complimented.
"Thanks man…"
Judy helped him onto his feet and he leaned on her as they exited the room and took the elevator down to the entrance level, Nick gave a wince at the noise once they were back in the main club.
Luckily, they exited and made it back to the limo without incident.
"Did we get it?" Nick slurred, falling over in the seat.
"Yes, Nick, we got something. We'll have to check it out as soon as we can," she reminded him.
"Good…" HE slumped into the limo seat.
Judy took out her phone and gave Bogo a call.
"Hopps?" He asked, clearly exhausted. "You had better have a good reason to call me…" he grumbles.
"You know that matter you asked us to look into," she said, keeping her language vague. "Well, we may have something. A Legitimate Businessman and a Nightclub Owner were very helpful."
"… I see. You'll have to tell me about it when you and Wilde report for duty tomorrow," he told her after a pause.
"About that, Sir, Detective Wilde may need some time off, let's just say that our meeting with the Nightclub Owner was quite… Draining, on him…"
Bogo, although tired was able to put two and two together. "I see… I suppose after making that kind of an effort for the station, Detective Wilde has earned a day or two off. Make sure he gets home safely, Hopps."
"Yes, Sir, Hopps out." She hung up.
"Judy?" Asked Nick, nearly asleep. "Did we get anything?"
She sighed. "Yes, Nick, we got something." She grabbed a bottle of water from the limo. "Now drink this, okay?"
He was somewhat resistant but drank the water anyway.
Judy took him home and began helping him into his apartment. She opened the door after fishing his keys out of his pocket and walked him to his bedroom.
"Hey, I think I already asked this, but did we get anything?" He asked her for the fourth time.
"Yes, Nick, now come on." She helped him plop down into bed.
"Thanks, Judy. I love you," he sighed.
Judy froze at that. Was he… Was he serious? He always said stuff like that, but something about the way he said it made it seem like he meant it in a more-than-platonic way. "Nick, what did you say?" She asked.
She got a snore in response, Nick was already out like a light. She sighed and turned around to leave, but tripped over something. She looked down at it and saw an open box, with a green bow inside of it. She made a mental note to ask about it later, and then left him alone after making sure his phone was plugged in and that he was lying on his side in case he threw up. She left the building and walked to the train station, slightly shivering with the shorts and top she was wearing.
She took a train to her apartment and then undressed and went to bed, cuddling up with her myriad of rabbit plushies and lone fox plushie, pulling that one close to her chest as she nodded off.
Back at the Precinct, Bogo was working another late night when he heard the news. He growled. "TUSK…" he muttered to himself. Swinton had been pushing for something like this for years, a private force of what basically amounted to SWAT officers, but under the direct control of the Mayor. Bogo had been one of its fiercest opponents, seeing it as way to easy to abuse.
"Hopps, Wilde, you had better have something good for me," he sighed as he suddenly felt his age catching up to him. He stood up and went to go lock up his office. He needed to be back at work in seven hours, and he would better serve his officers with a full night's sleep.
So... Remember what I said last chapter about updating around holiday? Guess that didn't happen. Sorry about that. Took a while to get this chapter the way I wanted, and I'm still not totally happy, and I might even go back and redo this fic. Not saying I will, but I might have to do so for the sake of things going forward, I might want to make the writing a bit tighter. Also, for those of you wondering, Tepes and the Vampire Bat Information Broker thing is inspired by (shamelessly ripped off from) "Ars Moriendi" by twocentnuisance.
Anyways, thanks for checking out my Fic, hopefully the next chapter won't take almost five months to get out