Chapter 3
The room was dark and the damp air was so thick that it was difficult to breathe. Shophan blinked in an attempt to adjust to the lack of light but even the small strip of light under what could be assumed was a door wasn't enough to be able to make out anything. She let out a groan and rubbed at her temples as she tried to remember how she got here.
She had just gotten off work when a black van screeched to a halt in front of her, she tried to head around the blasted thing, annoyed with the driver's incompetence, but before she could even react the back of the black van opened up and she found herself in a quick scuffle! Before she could really get a good grasp on the situation, a rag had been stuffed in her face, and no matter how long she held her breath she eventually did have to breathe in the sweet smelling solute. With a small struggle, the rabbit's body slowly went limp as she lost consciousness.
The Bunny groggily groans and coughs up some spittle, standing up to her two feet and moving forward, a bit dazed in her movements, desperately trying to make her way to the door. "Hello? Is anyone there?" She called with a dry throat, still in shock at how quick the situation happened and the severity of it.
She groaned out as she managed to lock a firm grasp on the doorknob, turning her head once she heard a voice from the other side of the room. The rabbit took a defensive stance, whimpering slightly as she called out. "Who's there!?" She wasn't willing to die, not today.
"Is somebody there?" The strange voice asked the bunny was still unable to make out certain syllables and pronunciation; she shook her head in irritation. She swear she heard an accent, but she could not make out what it was now, her brain was almost completely fried. Whatever the psycho that kidnapped them wanted, they certainly made sure to prepare the strong stuff for such a small rabbit.
"Who are you?" Shophan whimpered.
"My name is Sarina; I was taken just like you." The feminine voice spoke out with a slight tinge of a Spanish accent.
"Taken?" She whimpered. "Why?"
"I don't know. He seems to need us for something. There used to be two others, but I haven't seen them in a while."
Before Shophan could respond, the lights snapped on which effectively blinded the both of them. Shophan shielded her eyes and heard the loud metallic click of the locks being undone on the door and the squeak that was the protest of the hinges, they sounded horrific, straight out of a horror movie come to life.
She managed to see the blurry outline of a mammal that wore a black body suit, it hid what species whatever the psycho was well, and a black expressionless mask made sure that whoever it was, their identity was safe with them and them alone.
"Good evening ladies." It said in a very metallic voice that made it impossible to even tell what gender it was. "Welcome to paradise." He finished with a laugh that made Shophan's blood run cold and a frightened sob escape from Sarina's lips.
Their captor regarded them a moment before he grabbed Shophan's arm and used a needle to draw a vial of blood. Once he had his sample, he shoved her against the wall roughly and stormed out but thankfully left the light on.
Shophan turned to Sarina finally and regarded her. She was surprised to see that it was a gazelle that shared the cell with her which frankly was smaller than she thought, being only ten-foot square by her best guess. Sarina looked worse for wear, her face bore several bruises and one of her eyes was swollen shut. One of her antlers had been snapped halfway down and a nasty looking gash had crusted shut on her forehead. Looking down, one of the gazelle's ankles were twisted and had a purplish tint to it. Despite all this, the gazelle gave Shophan a caring smile.
"Did he hurt you?" she asked softly.
"N-no, I'll be okay. Do you know what he wants with us?"
Sarina shook her head. "All he said is that he's using us to perfect his craft. We don't know what he means."
"We?" the bunny tilted her head.
"There were originally three of us to my knowledge, a weasel named Jeffrey was locked in here with me and another predator named Tiber, he was an Ocelot from what I can remember." Sarina stuttered a bit as she remembered the next tidbit of information, her eyes closing shut for a moment. "He took Jeffrey first, we heard him scream and soon afterwards, we heard silence, dead silence." She states with a bite of her lip, looking at the door longingly. "Tiber was taken a bit earlier, though I don't know if he's alive or not, I haven't heard any screaming. I don't even remember how long I've been in here, it feels like it's already been a lifetime in here, he said that you were special to him; he needed a bunny to complete his next project."
Shophan shuddered at those words and couldn't even imagine what they meant for her. She wasn't sure what she was dealing with, but something told her that she needed to figure it out soon if she was going to survive this.
Wait a second; I thought the Hoppi Tribe stayed away from modern technologies and conveniences, why would Shophan be working in Savannah Central?" Nick asked as he scratched his chin idly.
Lulu smiled, "We're a spiritual tribe with deep rooted beliefs, but we aren't exactly lost to society!" She says with a slight chuckle, shaking her head. "Our children aren't forced to follow our beliefs, we've adapted to change and welcome whatever path they deem is correct for them. We encourage them to spend time working and living in the city before they make their choice, it's better that way." She says with a small smile, shrugging her shoulders. "Personally, I myself went to college and got a proper education before rejoining the tribe and becoming what I am today."
Nick nodded and Judy chimed in. "How did you find out about her disappearance?"
"Shophan's friend that was sharing a room with her, she saw it on the news and drove out to tell me." Lulu said softly, "I don't have much information regarding her disappearance, but I brought a few photographs from her home to hopefully help in finding her." She finished and slid a photograph across the desk to the two detectives.
They leaned forwards and looked at the photo and Nick's ears folded back. Shophan was a grey bunny with shining green eyes and a cutesy smile. In the photo, she was sitting on a wolf's shoulders and was hugging around his head.
"Who's the wolf in the picture?" Judy asked.
"Oh, that's Kurt Nashoba; he's from the tribal police! There's a couple of wolf tribes out there in the meadow-lands that operate under the authority of the police out there and our tribe is under their jurisdiction, Kurt has always been a friend to us, he's very sweet once he warms up to you."
"Does he know she's missing?" Nick asked now.
"Yes, he's the fellow that drove me out here, he asked me to leave his card here with you two detectives so he can be informed of any case developments. If you'll excuse me I have to return to my tribe, they will need much spiritual guidance when they find out about Shophan's disappearance, thank you so much for your time detectives, please bring her home safe!" The little bunny says, grabbing Judy's hands and grasping them in her own, holding them tight for support before nodding to the pair and leaving the scene.
"We'll do our very best Miss Sikya'tavo!" Judy replied, waving her hand as the rabbit hopped out of their office accordingly.
Lulu gives them a kind smile then left the offices. Nick regarded the picture and looked back to Judy. "She looks a lot like you Carrots." He said softly.
"Oh har har, because all bunnies look alike?" Judy said wryly.
"No I mean it. Her fur is only a shade darker than yours and her face is very similar. If she had the same lavender to her eyes, you'd be twins." He replied and put his paws up defensively.
Judy shrugged and looked at the picture again, taking it in her paws before putting it back down with a sigh. "You're right, there's no way this freak would've done something this coincidental, you have any idea on what this means Nick?"
"I don't know, but it can't be good." He shrugged.
Before she could say anything, they heard the lieutenant's voice call out to them. "Hopps, Wilde, My office. NOW."
"Well, she sounds ecstatic today Carrots." He says, his snide remark quickly met with a swift jab to the side of his arms from his partner. "Ouch, c'mon Carrots I'm only joking." He says as he waited for his partner to take the lead so he could follow behind her.
"Come on, better not keep her waiting." Judy said and walked towards the office.
"Hopps, I know that you were rather shaken by the killer's notes, are you holding up well?" Lieutenant Catano asked gently, though her expression betrayed her mind, something much larger was weighing on her conscious.
"Yes ma'am, it was mostly a shock but I will be fine." Judy replied.
"Good, I hope you understand that I will have to keep closer tabs on you so that I can intervene if you get emotionally compromised by the case."
"Yes ma'am." Judy said as her ears fell back.
"Now, the main reason I called you here is that this case has took a new twist thanks to the latest victim being a tribal." Catano sighed.
"What does that mean Ma'am?" Nick asked.
"It means that the ZBI has now taken a larger scale interest in our progress and will be watching our every move, two of their top agents are said to be dispatched out to the heart of the city to oversee the circumstances, I've gotten enough clearance to not have them interfere with the case, but we have to understand that from now on we can have absolutely no fuck-ups, we will get this case taken away from us faster than donuts on Clawhauser's desk."
"Yes Ma'am!" they replied in unison.
"Excellent. Now, what do we have?"
"While we found no prints or fur at the crime scene, we did get our first solid lead. The killer left a Midnicampum Holicithias flower at the scene with the stamen pulled out." Judy replied as she had immediately pulled out her notebook, "According to one of Nick's informants, there's a new drug ring that uses the pollen of the flower to obtain a psychotropic high, I'd like to go undercover and see what we can find out." She says running her eyes over the notes to make sure that they were accurate to her speech.
"Absolutely not Hopps. In case you hadn't noticed, there's not that many bunnies running around that are missing their legs. On top of that, bunnies are rarely if at all found at drug dens doing nip and wool. You'd be pegged for a snitch the minute you walk in the door." Catano replied and glared at Judy.
"But-" Judy attempted to interject.
"No 'buts' Hopps. You are not going in there."
"What about me?" Nick asked which made both the Sergeant and Judy snap their gazes to him. "I mean, us foxes aren't exactly held in high regard and nobody would bat an eye at seeing one in a drug den."
"Are you actually aware of what you're signing up for Wilde? Undercover narcotics isn't exactly as simple as putting on a disguise and giving yourself a new name, you're expected to prove that you're not a cop. You may have to dip into the drugs themselves or much, much worse. There's a pretty obvious reason why the narcotics division has such a high transfer rate." Catano says, raising her brow with a wiggle.
"I'm pretty aware of the situation boss, we're already looking at one dead body and we've got three missing mammals, the faster we can catch this bastard the better." He says with a stubborn smirk on his face, a chuckle escaping his lips. "I'm not too sure whether you've been informed about my past, I'm pretty street smart if I do say so myself." He says crossing his arms, annoyed that his request is being dragged on like this.
The Sergeant raised her paw. "I don't need to hear specifics. Fine, you have my approval and Hopps will run surveillance here." She finished as she rubbed her eyes with her paw. "Wilde, this is a dangerous game that you are playing, no unnecessary risks, understand? Report to Grizolli in Narcotics and he'll get you outfitted for undercover."
"Yes Ma'am." He replied and slid off the chair he and Judy shared. He ignored the worried expression on Judy's face and walked out of the office with her in tow.
At the very least, Judy had the tact to wait until they got back to their desks to start talking to Nick about his choice to go undercover. She wore a worried expression and the way he seemed to be easy going about it nearly drove her to the point of tears.
"Nick, I don't like this. Can't we have one of the officers trained in undercover do this?" she begged.
"Carrots, I'll be fine. I promise." He said with the self-confident smirk that he always wore.
It didn't seem to do much to assuage Judy's fears, however, and she grabbed his arm. "Nick. What the Sergeant said…I'm worried."
He sighed and embraced her. "Judy, I promise you, I haven't made this decision lightly. This is the only way we can find out what is going on. If we go in there with guns blazing and making arrests, our killer will disappear we will be back at square one."
She opened her mouth to say something but the words wouldn't come. She knew he was right even if she didn't like it. "Do you at least have a plan?" she asked after a moment.
"As a matter of fact I do Carrots!" He says with a sly smile, patting his little bun on the head. "While we were chatting it up with the Sergeant in there, I got a pretty informative text from Finnick. He says he knows where the drug den is. I'm gonna head in and pose as a small time nip dealer that wants to try selling some of the harder stuff, that might make it possible for me to get away with this without taking any of the drugs myself."
She frowned but seemed to accept this. "O-okay."
He hugged her tighter to his chest, his scent calming her down some. "Don't worry, I know you'll have my back and you won't let anything bad happen." He smiled as he kissed the top of her head and inhaled softly through his nose. Her natural scent was reminiscent to the earthy smell of a grassy field after a rainy day but with a subtle hint of cedar and juniper that wafted over like subtle accent notes to a symphony.
She nodded to him and pecked him with a kiss on his chin, "Alright, well let's get you all dressed up and ready Nick, I'm sure the Sergeant has talked to Grizolli by now."
To the makeup team's credit, by the time they were done with Nick, even Judy had a hard time recognizing him underneath all the makeup. The team held no bars back as they made edits to his facial features, making realistic looking scars that adorned his muzzle, one particular gash across his left eye making him look more menacing. His eye under the scar was completely grayed out, they attached silver caps to his upper canines and a fake set of earrings to his left ear. His outfit was pretty casual for your local druggy, bagged out jeans, an over-sized T-shirt, and a set of rings for each of his fingers. They set him up with some cash so he could actually get around and purchase some of the drugs to get a hold of for examination.
Once he was ready and had a wire hidden inside of his belt buckle, he tried to lift Judy's mood with a prank which involved him being cuffed and led out by Wolford who gave a cheesy: "You're under arrest for having the cutest damn girlfriend ever." While it did result in a small smile from her, she still had a worried expression.
"Hey, come here." He said and placed a kiss on her nose. "Don't worry, I have a camera and a recorder right here." He said and gestured to his belt. "You can watch my every move and send in back up if anything happens, okay?"
She nodded and took his paw in hers so that she could kiss his palm. "Please be careful."
"Always am carrots, I'll see you soon." He says with his cocky smirk and gave her one last kiss before he turned for the stairs.
Finnick's van backfired loudly as it chugged its way into Happytown, even though his French rap music was blaring from the speakers, the engine's lack of maintenance could be heard slightly sputtering through the jarring beats of the foreign tunes.
"Ya know Fin, you ought to consider retiring Ol' Bess. She doesn't sound like she's doing too good." Nick said with a chuckle.
"You fuckin' kidding me? She's never been better!" the diminutive fox in the driver's seat said in that disproportionately bass filled voice of his.
Nick chuckled and looked over the rim of his sunglasses at the fennec. "So, what exactly is this new drug?"
"Well, word on the street is that they're calling it Blue Mist. You can snort it or smoke it to get the high and it's supposed to be this whole psychedelic experience." Finnick said with a shrug. "I've never touched the stuff myself but I've seen mammals that have, that shit fries your brain man. You ain't even lucid for hours on end after taking a hit."
Nick nodded solemnly in response. "So it's like the Big Bite scare from the 70's?"
"Yeah, but it isn't really that bad yet, the stuff hasn't exactly been on the streets that long y'know." The little fennec licking his dry lips as he turns to his former partner in crime. "You got any actual plans for going in there, or are you still as blind luck reliant as ever?" He says with a deep scoff.
"Yeah yeah, I'm going in to pose as a dealer who wants to get on the gravy train early on, the main goal is to see if anyone is sneaking off with the remains of the flower as that may be our killer. Narcotics wants me to wear a wire and a camera to help collect evidence so that they can shut down the ring." He says with a shrug, as ready as he'll ever be.
Fin nodded and turned down towards the warehouses that were nestled in the back corner of Happytown.
The warehouse area of Happytown was once a major shipping and distribution network for Zootopia until the companies that used them relocated to Tundra Town in favor of the river system that led out to the canal district. Nowadays, they are popular with vagrants and gangs and aren't really patrolled by the ZPD thanks to Happytown's reputation which makes the entire area a haven for crime.
Finnick parked the van in front of the warehouse on the farthest end of the row and hopped out with Nick in tow. They were regarded suspiciously by a wolf and a weasel as they approached and Nick made a note that they were rather openly packing heat. They encountered no resistance from the guards and were pointed towards the office that was attached to the side of the warehouse.
Once inside, they were greeted with several mammals ranging in size from ferrets to tigers laying out on the ground and across the sparse pieces of furniture that occupied the corners of the room. Each mammal looked higher than clouds, the expressions on their faces almost comedic if it wasn't so sad to see so many drugged out bastards in one place. They moved through the doorway lead by a gruff looking leopard, he stopped them at the entrance, though it was obvious that somebody was scurrying around behind him.
"What's your fix ese? I got everything you need, I even got the new shit." The leopard said with a heavy accent.
"Nah bro, we don't fuck around with this shit, we're here because we want in this joint right now." Nick said, waving his hand in front of him as if the Leopard was disrespecting him.
"Whatcha mean by that, you want in?" He says leaning over the fox with crossed arms.
"We're Nip dealers in central, heart of the city boy; we want some of that good shit we've been looking for out here." Nick was decent at keeping his intentions known and keeping his street self out, the cursing was certainly much more prevalent!
The leopard stared them down for what felt like an eternity Nick had to force himself to keep that smirk on his face. Finnick seemed to stay calm enough despite the angry scowl on his face.
Before Nick's fight or flight instinct kicked in, the Leopard finally spoke. "What makes you think I want anyone in?"
"Word on the street is that you can't get this shit outside of Happytown and the only street dealer was picked up by the fuzz." Finnick said. "You want to expand and we want to make money. We both win, plain and simple."
The Leopard smirked and waved them through the door. "You're smarter than the average nip dealers. Fine, come with me." He said and walked into the warehouse.
Inside was well established, that was for sure. "You gotta be fuckin' with me." He said in disbelief as he took his glasses off, staring at the whole operation, the almost flawless system of drug smuggling was impressive, y'know, for a bunch of druggies. It then hit Nick that everybody in the damn room was naked, not that it really mattered to him, he used to be a regular at that one nudist joint where he took Judy all those years ago, probably naked so they couldn't smuggle any of the new shit out with em'.
"As you can probably see here, we have a nice set up going for us y'know?" He says with a raise of his brows, raising a paw to scope out the whole room. "Not exactly the cheapest shit to produce, so you got the clientele to make this proposal of yours happen kid?" He says going back to crossing his arms after he finished explaining the situation.
"We deal to the businessmammals in central that wanna get high but don't wanna touch shit like wool and bite, trust me when I say we'll be able to move it for you." Nick relied.
"Here's the deal here ese, this shit is five grand a BRICK, that shit is a kilo a brick, you pay up front and whatever you sell it for is your business, don't associate with us." He says crossing his arms in an X. "If you can move this shit as fast as you say you can, we'll discuss these terms on better grounds later."
"Done. I'll take a brick." Nick said as he reached into his pocket to pull out a roll of cash to drop it into the leopard's waiting paws.
Several minutes dazed by while the boss of the operation counted out the cash, whistling softly as he finally picked up a brick of the stuff and set it down in Nick's paws. "I like you both; I look forward to our next business transaction." He says with a wink. "Remember though, you kids snitch on us, you die hung up in the streets as examples." He says breaking out his claws and dragging it over his neck as a threat.
Nick turned to walk out and bumped into a meek looking serval that was clutching a bundle of Nighthowlers. Nick didn't really pay much mind to him as he ran by, pushing the serval out of his way as he shook his fist. "The fuck you doing kid, watch where you're going." He snarled and stormed off with Finnick following close behind while he ignored the profuse apology from the serval.
Once back in the van and well away from the warehouse, Finnick spoke up. "That cat, you looked really pissed when you bumped into him, like actually pissed." Nick replied with a shrug, "I'm a great actor."
"That was Les Catsidy. He can probably lead us to the murderer, he's a suspect now." He says crossing his arms, glad he could drop the gangster facade; he always hated how they talked.
"Why's that?"
"Our perp left a Nighthowler at the scene of the last kitnapping and Les was walking out with a pawful, little shit's probably dealing it out like candy."