Change starts with You

by Winerp

For Notes regarding this work and myself, refer to the bottom of this Chapter.


Chapter 4 – Game plan

"Officer Hopps, Officer Wilde, I assume you've had a chance to discuss the situation I exposed yesterday?"

After the talk they had had the day before, Nick and Judy had decided it would be best to waste as little time as possible, and, to that end, they had approached Chief Bogo right after the morning briefing. One thing they had noticed however, is that during said briefing they had been given standard patrol. Bogo certainly didn't want anyone else finding out about his suspicions or plans.

They were now in the Chief's office, both sitting in the same oversized chair (and with some room to spare) waiting for the full description of MR's known activities and how they would go about infiltrating and, hopefully, shutting them down.

Judy was the first to talk.

"We have, sir. Though, before we continue, and if I may, what reaction of mine were you concerned with, sir?"

Cocking an eyebrow but otherwise maintaining his stony and apparently uninterested expression, the buffalo explained.

"Hopps, we both know how seriously you take matters of honour and trust." His expression appeared to somewhat soften, a hint of compassion tugging at his features. "Had I been the one to give you the news, I expected two possible outcomes: one, you'd be so enraged and insulted that your berating would be heard by the entire precinct, two, you'd be so appalled that you went blank."

Judy's eyes widened suddenly and she nervously started to fidget with her wrist guards. Bogo was right, and if Nick hadn't also described what his intended involvement would be she would have probably stayed mum and unresponsive for a while…

"Am I wrong Officer?" Bogo asked.

Of course Nick was also here with her to remove her from her self-scolding, except this time he didn't have a worry of his own…

"Not at all Chief, if Officer Hopps' uniform was green I swear I would have mistook her for a vegetable of some kind."

That earned him a sideways glare from her partner and a frustrated huff from his boss, though those did little to swat the grin off his face.

"If you're quite done Wilde, I'd like to continue with this meeting." The Chief's quiet voice could have been mistaken for tolerance, though given the crazy looking eyes and the slight scrunch of the brow he had on, that was definitely not the case…

After the fox retreated back into the chair as far as possible as if to escape the deathly gaze from him, the Chief relaxed, satisfied, and coughed to clear the mood.

Looking at Judy once again, he added a clarification.

"To be completely honest, and Wilde discussed this with you yesterday, I also wanted to personally explain what it would mean for him if you chose to take the case."

The bunny cop nodded solemnly, recognizing the seriousness of what her partner would be required to do.

Now looking at both of the smaller officers that stood before him, Bogo finally asked.

"So what is your decision?"

Pursing her lips and feeling her ears start to droop Judy looked towards Nick. They had already reached a consensus the day before, but given how hard it had been on him just thinking about all the things that might go wrong, she wouldn't be at all surprised if her partner had had second thoughts.

Nick noticed the worried look on the rabbit's face, and realized she was waiting for him to answer. She was willing to drop a case of this magnitude to make sure he didn't get hurt. That thought alone made his heart swell, and certainly helped him straighten up his back and perk his ears as he calmly spoke.

"We will be taking the case, sir. I will try to gain access to MR's ranks and learn what I can, while Officer Hopps investigates however she can on the surface. "

Closing his eyes Bogo nodded and let out a somewhat relieved sigh. He had certainly hoped they were up for it, but he would never push them into it.

Trying to avoid any thoughts of how the investigation could end if they failed, the buffalo focused on the practicalities of the task at hand. Getting up he retrieved a pair of nondescript cardboard folders from a filling cabinet which, unlike the rest of those around the office, did not possess a label. It was also the only one with a padlock and a regular lock.

Handing the folders to both bunny and fox, the Chief began a more detailed exposition.

"In those folders I have personally compiled a list of Officers of the first Precinct I suspect may be on the take. Some might work for MR, others might be going solo, some might even be innocent. Point is, you'll have your work cut out for you."

Nick and Judy simply exchanged worried glances.

"The only one I'm almost sure of is Sargent Higgins, since he was the only one to know about anything MR related (other than Wolford and myself) and he was the one with the dingo before and after the interrogation. That might make him a good place to start."

"As far as I can tell, MR's activities are mostly focused on providing safe passage and protection for any of the Crime Boss' shipments." Gritting his teeth he added. "Though it's worth noting that said protection is both from rival gangs and from us…"

"Since they also have people in City Hall we can expect them to also possess some political or at least legislative weight, though I haven't been able to confirm any of this."

The buffalo then focused his heavy gaze on Nick. "Now, as far as getting into MR, while I may be able to provide some insight, I'm not the right person to be coaching you Wilde. For that you'll be heading to Precinct 12 in the Nocturnal District where you'll both talk to Deputy Chief Castor Gordon. They have long been the undercover experts in the City and his experience and knowledge will be precious."

Raising a hand Judy waited for Bogo to finish before asking. "Sir, won't it be suspicious if we just go there without a clear reason?"

The buffalo eyes seemed to shimmer a bit. He'd definitely given this a lot of thought.

"Not to worry Hopps, you'll be heading there as the officers responsible for the 'Wallet' case. It's also in the folders I gave you, but to sum it up there has been a string of robberies – snatched purses and wallets – for the past month which started in the Nocturnal district."

The bunny's ears perked up as she caught on to her boss' idea. "So we'll just be heading there following up on a regular investigation…" However a sudden pout emerged as she thought of something. "But won't that mean the Wallet case goes uninvestigated?"

At that both fox and buffalo chuckled and exchanged knowing glances.

"Always go above and beyond huh Carrots?" Nick mused.

Followed by Bogo. "Not to worry, Wolford and Fangmeyer had been on the case, but it had turned into a dead end. Should you find anything useful, by all means follow it up, but remember this is not a priority case, MR is."

Judy didn't really feel good about leaving a case no matter how hard or unimportant unsolved, but she decided she should let this one slide in order to focus all her energies on the real threat. Only for once though. Never again. Nope.

"Coughing to regain the attention of his subordinates, Bogo continued. "Your record has been very good Wilde, and while most of it has restricted access, we must expect them to be able to look into your time with the ZPD. This means you'll have to convince them your work up until recently had been just a front. How you go about that is up to you, though Deputy Chief Gordon should be able to help."

He fox simply nodded. He'd been expecting something like this, the need to make all his previous hard work seem like a simple con to gain the ZPD's trust. The thought alone made some of his fur stand on end.

Shaking his head slightly, Nick inquired. "How should we handle reports on our progress sir?"

"Let me worry about that Wilde. I'll find a way to get you in here, together or apart, at least once a week so you can report on how the case is going."

"Now go, Gordon is expecting you. Just have Wolford give you his case file on the Wallet mess and, if he asks, tell him I thought it best to introduce you to the Nocturnal district. Dismissed."

Getting off their shared chair, both smaller officers gave a small salute and turned around, exiting the office.

Instead of heading for the main lobby and the exit however, they instead turned towards the ZPD's vast and varied office spaces.

Even though each City District had its own Precinct which was perfectly adapted to the environment in question in pretty much every way possible, from size and shape to climate control, Savannah Central was still the City's central hub. As such you could find pretty much all types of mammals there, even if they were just passing by. This of course meant that Precinct One had to be much more adaptable than the others, since the situations they could have on their hands were far less limited. The main consequence of this was that the actual Police force itself was rather varied, and this in turn meant that the office spaces of the Precinct had been constructed in order to accommodate literally any mammal.

The result? Two twenty feet tall floors each covering the area equivalent to half a football pitch. These dimensions allowed any animal, no matter how big or bulky, to work there, let's say comfortably.

The cubicles themselves were organized by height, so when one went into the offices, they could see what looked like massive stairs made up of the cubicle walls.

Fortunately, the bunny and fox were looking for two wolves, which, being medium sized mammals, weren't too far towards the back.

Once they found Wolford and Fangmeyer's shared cubicle (partners shared them), Nick brought a finger up to his muzzle, asking the bunny to remain silent. Through a confused and inquisitive look Judy stayed mum, and watched as her partner snuck up to the cubicle's entrance and, grinning mischievously, took a deep breath.

Eyes widening as she realized what Nick wanted to pull off, Judy darted forward catching his muzzle in her paw and pulling him behind the cubicle wall. Bringing her other paw up she started pointing at the fox, all the while staring at him with a Bogo like glare.

Once the surprise of being pulled back by his snout passed, and Nick saw the silent threat the bunny was issuing him, he rolled his eyes and slowly brought his own paws up in surrender.

Once she released her hold on him (though her stare remained), he chuckled and turned back towards the cubicle entrance. "You're no fun Carrots."

Poking his head into the confined space he called out.

"Hey, Wolford, Fangmeyer, got a minute?"

At that the white wolf swivelled his chair around and greeted his colleagues – who had, in the meantime, walked into the cubicle's door frame – with a wide grin.

"Hey Nick, hey Judy. What brings our Precinct's star cops to our humble desk?"

The charcoal furred wolf however stayed focused on his reports, only letting himself scold the fox.

"Unless he's here to apologize for last week, those stars can go shine somewhere else."

As the other two mammals in the small room looked at him with quizzical expressions, Nick's grin grew almost unnoticeably wider, though his eyes remained as half-lidded and lazy as ever.

"What are you talking about Wolford?"

Slowly turning around in his moaning office chair, the wolf in question came eye to eye with the fox.

"I do not like salted coffee, Wilde, and the sugar dispenser reeked of you."

Right… wolf sense of smell… In hindsight, messing with the coffee in a workplace that practically ran on the stuff – most mammals don't start working before seven without some help – wasn't his best idea ever for a prank. Though the results had been worth it…

Closing his eyes and putting his paws up – but retaining his smile – he answered. "Guilty as charged. Though you have to admit, there were a few funny reactions."

Judy and Fangmeyer, who hadn't drank the beverage in question were now looking at each other with wide eyes, though it seemed the wolf was just on the verge of bursting into laughter, with his cheeks puffing every few seconds. Wolford on the other hand, just pouted.

"Come one Wolford, I'll make it up to you! You'll see."

Raising an eyebrow but otherwise softening his expression, the lupine finally conceded. "You better."

"Scout's honour." Said Nick with two fingers raised. "Now we did actually need something from you."

Since Fangmeyer was still apparently fighting back a laughing fit, Wolford was the one to reply once again.

"Right, right… so what was this about?"

"The Chief wants us to take over the Wallet case from you guys, so we were hoping you'd give us the case file." Judy took the chance to jump in and prevent any other Nick related delays.

"That dead end? Why? It hasn't had a break in weeks."

"Ol' Buffalo Butt thought it best to introduce us to the Nocturnal District, and that way we get to actually see how our colleagues down under work." This time it was Nick who answered.

"Huh, fair enough. Though I don't envy you going down there…"

"What do you mean?" Judy asked.

Wolford just shrugged as he turned his chair back towards his desk and started looking through a drawer. "Nocturnal's are a rather peculiar bunch… But what really irks me about the place is how tense it always feels."

Turning back to the smaller duo he presented a folder bristling with pictures.

"Feels like any corner you turn you could see a couple of punks gutting each other."

Judy's gaze turned to Nick, a wordless worry filling her otherwise pristine violet pools.

Taking the folder from the wolf, Nick turned to see his partner rather distraught and decided it would be best to change topics as fast as possible. Not that the Nocturnal district wouldn't be brought up again – they were heading into it after all – but he'd like to prepare her for it on his own terms.

"Thanks Wolf." At the rise of the lupine's eyebrow however, Nick added. "And expect a peace offering soon enough."

With an accepting hum, the grey wolf turned back towards his partner, who was still fighting for control over his laughter.

As bunny and fox thanked their co-workers and left the cubicle, they could still hear the argument breaking out inside.

What have you been giggling about all this time?

So that's why you almost wretched twice last Thursday morning? Oh man that is too much!

Oh it's funny now is it? Well how would you like it if I put salt on your morning coco?

Hey now that's –

"Are you pleased with yourself mister Wilde? It wasn't enough that coffee deal last week now you wanted to get them to howl? You know how much they resent it!"

A toothy grin was all the reply she got from her partner.

Rubbing her temples, the rabbit just sighed and conceded. "Fiiiiiine… Keep playing your little games. Let's just get to the motor pool."

"Right behind ya Carrots."

#

"What do you think you're doing."

The fox stopped, already halfway into their police cruiser's driving seat. "What?"

"Who said you'd be driving?"

Bringing a paw up to his chin Nick hummed to himself for a bit before replying.

"Do rabbits have enhanced night vision? No, no they do not. And where are we going? That's right: the Nocturnal District."

Cocking an eyebrow, Judy slowly turned back and circled the vehicle to get into the passenger seat. She knew Nick was right but there was no way she'd ever admit it just like that, it would only give him even more fuel for jokes and puns.

Peeling off from the station, silence fell over the cruiser's cab. It wasn't an awkward one they were just both busy with their own thoughts. In fact they rarely had any uncomfortable situations around each other anymore. Slowly their lives had started to meld together, through memories they shared with one another, the occasional similar interest and the deep trust that had blossomed in that gondola cart years ago.

Still, there were a few things they wanted to discuss with the other, and it so happens Judy was the one to step up first.

Eying her partner, she noticed how his entire posture just radiated indifference. Anyone who didn't truly know Nicholas Wilde would see his slightly tilting head, his free arm draped over the door's window sill and his expressionless face and would think nothing of it. Judy however new to look elsewhere: it's not often one of those old mushy sayings has some truth to it, but Nick's eyes truly were the windows to his soul. Two usually vibrant green windows which were now dull and glimerless.

"So you seem to be taking things better than yesterday…"

Glancing over to his partner for a moment, Nick couldn't help but smile, though in Judy's eyes he remained rather glum.

"That's the idea Fluff. I'm going to have to be at the top of my game when it comes to hiding my emotions if we're going to pull this off."

Her ears lowering, the rabbit couldn't suppress a question she already knew the answer to.

"So how are you really feeling."

"Worried, for both of us. Though the faster we actually start doing something the better."

Chancing another look at his friend he explained.

"At least I'll manage to focus on the task at hand and not what might lie ahead."

"Speaking of which. You've never been to the Nocturnal District have you Carrots?"

Judy still wanted to address Nick's concerns regarding the case, but she'd soon learned while working with him that when it came to matters of his emotions, pressure was rarely the best course of action. So he followed Nick's conversation dodger.

"No, and I gotta say, that whole talk with Wolford didn't leave me feeling very welcome there…"

"Yeah… He exaggerated a little bit, but it's a whole different world down there."

Judy's ears immediately perked to attention.

"Wait you've already been there?"

Keeping his eyes on the morning rush hour traffic, the fox explained.

"Sure, while I worked with Mr. Big. He's a smuggler, remember? It was only a matter of time before I got to broker a deal for him down there."

"And yeah, the mammals down there, at least the indigenous ones, can be kind of… eehh… " He started tilting his free hand from side to side. "Though the other part about the violence isn't really a problem for the whole district."

Nick continued as he sped past a stopping bus. "There's a lot more gangs there, but they're even more territorial than Mamma and the others up here, so most violence tends to come up in their borders."

The rabbit limited herself to a hum as she turned back towards the road. She was still apprehensive, but if Nick had been to the Nocturnal District multiple times, as a criminal, and survived, then it couldn't be that bad.

A few moments later they arrived at the tunnels leading into their destination. To reduce maintenance costs all forms of transportation and infrastructure that connected the underground District to the surface converged on the same hub: a massive artificial mound that housed much of the machinery needed to maintain climate control over the subsurface while also allowing entrance to it.

Their cruiser was, together with the rest of the traffic, diverted towards the respective tunnel entrance and, before they knew it, the morning sun had been replaced by regularly spaced artificial lights running the length of the tunnel's ceiling. Lights which grew dimer by the meter, preparing the mammals in question for the darkness that lay ahead.


A/N

This chapter was the one that got the biggest rework.

While I didn't change too much of the beginning, I added a whole new second half which was initially a part of chapter 5, but that I found to make more sense here.

I won't go into detail about some things I introduced this chapter as they'll be further developed in the next one.

If all goes according to plan, I should now be able to resume my initial weekly schedule, updating on Saturdays *starts praying quietly*.