Judy slammed a fist into the dashboard.
Words could not express the rush of emotions she was feeling all at once. The young rabbit may have been on the force longer than Nick, but she had never lost someone on a case. Until now. More than anything, Judy felt an overwhelming sense of failure. It was her duty to protect the inhabitants of Zootopia, and she had failed.
"I'll give you the full brief back at the station." Bogo's voice changed pitch ever so slightly in an attempt to comfort Judy. He knew how she felt, but there wasn't much he could do for her right now.
A million thoughts flew through her mind as Judy put the cruiser in drive and headed out towards the station.
'Why didn't I solve the case?'
'What am I missing?'
'Who did it?'
'Why did they do it?'
'How could I have stopped them?'
The questions repeated themselves over and over in her head, no answer to be found.
Judy was so caught up in her own thoughts, she almost didn't hear Nick. He had been silent since Bogo broke the news, something that would normally be cause for concern. While Judy's mind ran crazy with questions, ideas, and every possible emotion, Nick was only thinking about one thing.
"Did he have a family?"
He spoke softly, sincerely, a tone Judy hadn't heard from him in a long time. She looked over at the usually smug fox to see a face bearing no expression whatsoever. This caught her off guard, her train of thought ground to a halt. She knew that look, or lack thereof. Nick was good at hiding his emotions, but Judy could tell something was deeply troubling him. Her look told Nick exactly what she was thinking.
"Was he a dad?"
It took her a minute to process exactly what he was asking, but Judy answered honestly.
"No…No family."
Her response was brief, but more importantly, it was the truth. A hint of relief flashed across Nick's face, before disappearing as he turned away. He had gotten his answer, but whatever was troubling him wasn't going away.
As Judy opened her mouth to ask Nick what was wrong, he spoke again.
"I was only nine when I lost my dad…"
"…I didn't really understand at the time."
Nick had a rough childhood. His family struggled to make ends meet. Back then predators were treated far worse than when Judy first joined the ZPD. No animal would dare trust a 'shifty fox'. Throughout all the hardships Nick's dad remained optimistic, always putting on a smile for his son. He was a good man, and an inspiration to Nick. After he passed away, Nick's mother had to support the two of them, making barely enough to survive. The happy young fox was forced very quickly to accept the reality of life, the reality of being a predator in a world made for prey.
The memories of his past hardships started to show on Nick's face. A shake of the head and he snapped out of it. Nick turned to Judy, looking determined and firm.
"No one should ever have to go through that."
Judy's own problems vanished as she joined Nick is his determination.
"Then let's make sure no one does."
She motioned to the case file sitting in the center console.
"We can start by finding the other four missing mammals."
Nick picked up the file and began looking it over, something he should have done when they first took the case.
"Woah! Hey carrots, look."
"What did you find!?" Judy asked excitedly, hopeful Nick had noticed something she had missed.
Nick turned the file to face Judy and pointed to a picture of an elephant at the top of one of the pages.
"Mr. Winslow has a terrible fashion sense."
Judy rolled her eyes, it sure didn't take long for Nick to get back to normal, or at least as normal as he could get.
As he continued reviewing the file, Nick noticed a strange similarity between the mammals involved.
"Hey carrots, were these guys all lonely or what?"
"What do you mean?"
"None of them have any family at all."
"Just a coincidence?"
"No way, they don't even have any parents listed." Nick pointed out the large, empty box on the file labeled 'Family'.
"Also you are a terrible detective."
Judy really had no clue how she missed that.
Luckily she was saved from further ridicule by the sight of the station up the road.
"We're here!" She exclaimed, completely ignoring Nick's remark.
There were more vehicles than usual surrounding the station, probably as result of the recent developments regarding their case. Still, there was never this many people interested in the other homicides. Judy spotted a few cars between the news crews out front she didn't recognize. They had those single police lights on them, like they might see on the old detective's cars. They pulled into the garage and the two of them headed into the station, ready for anything.
Inside was even worse, there were officers, reporters, and concerned citizens running around everywhere. Several groups of cops neither of them had seen before stood scattered about the main floor, seemingly undaunted by the commotion around them. Clawhauser spotted the duo from across the room.
"Nick! Judy! Wow am I glad to see you two."
"What in the world is going on Ben?" Judy asked as they made their way to the front desk. Nick was busy acting out his 'cool cop' persona for the cameras. He always had to make a scene.
"The past hour has been C-R-A-Z-Y" The cheetah explained in his ever-cheerful voice, "The chief will explain it all to you, he's in his office, I'll let him know you're here."
"Thanks, good luck with all…this" Judy motioned to the whole room, which was a complete mess of activity.
The two of them navigated their way through the crowd towards Bogo's office. He opened the door and greeted them as they approached.
"Hopps, Wilde, there are some people here I would like you to meet."
Bogo's office was a mess of paperwork and equipment. He generally kept it well organized, but considering all the commotion going in it wasn't a big surprise. Inside were two other officers, or at least Judy assumed they were, due to the badges worn around their necks. They were seated around Bogo's desk, which was acting as a makeshift conference table. Both of them stood to greet Nick and Judy as they entered. The one closest to them was a very feisty looking female fox. She had on a light brown leather jacket and dark blue pants, a single earing hung from her left ear, and a rather large red shock pistol sat holstered on her belt. It seemed Nick wasn't the first ever fox cop. Next to her stood a relatively unassuming weasel dressed like a typical office cop. He wore dark brown pants, matching suspenders, white button down shirt, brown tie, the whole nine yards. Bogo proceeded to introduce everyone.
"This is Inspector Carmelita Fox, and her partner, Constable Oliver Winthrop, from Interpol."
Nick and Judy were both taken aback. If Interpol was involved, it meant something serious was going on. Bogo continued, shifting attention to the two Interpol agents
"And these are officers Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde, they were assigned to the case."
"Um chief," Judy began questioningly, "what exactly is going on?"
"Inspector Fox, would you care to explain?" Bogo deferred as he took at seat behind his desk, motioning for everyone else to follow suit.
"Hopps is it?" the inceptor spoke with a light Spanish accent, "You were searching for five missing mammals and we found them, well three of them at least."
"But that still doesn't explain-" Judy's question was answered before she could finish asking it.
"The problem is where we found them. Higgins was discovered in central Mexico. The body of a skunk, believed to be yours, was picked up in western Germany, we are still confirming the identity, that one wasn't pretty. The goat, Collins, was found dead on the east coast of Canada."
Judy and Nick just sat there, trying to process the news, and how calmly the inspector delivered it to them. Her partner continued with the explanation.
"With multiple countries involved, this case now falls under Interpol jurisdiction, so here we are." He explained with a slight smile at the end.
"They already have our case file," The chief addressed Judy and Nick, "but they'll need any additional information you two have on this."
"Are we losing the case?" Judy asked, looking dejected.
"Not exactly, Fox's team will be leading the investigation, but we are giving them our full support. The two of you will be working with her. They might know this case, but you two know this city."
Judy didn't like working under others, she preferred her own methods. But Interpol were professionals, Inspector Fox looked like she had done this a thousand times. Nick on the other hand, was strangely excited. He was the first to discuss the case with the vixen.
"Alright, we tracked down this ram, James Lambert, he was the last guy seen with Higgins before he disappeared. He definitely knows something, but he won't admit it."
"And what makes you so sure?" Carmelita responded.
"Nick is really good at reading people," Judy chimed in, "He used to be a con artist before joining the force, years of experience."
At this Nick leaned back in his chair, classic smug grin on his face. Carmelita scoffed, her demeanor changed instantly.
"I've worked with his type before," The now scowling Inspector said, "No good, two-timing, CRIMINALS!"
Everyone in the room, even Bogo, seemed a little surprised by how quickly the otherwise calm fox went into psycho territory. Well everyone except Winthrop.
"I'm sorry, I just, I have a bad history with backstabbing thieves. Please go on."
Although she appeared to have calmed down, Nick was hesitant to continue. Judy stepped in to let her partner recover for a minute.
"We also noticed that all of the missing mammals have no family at all, or at least none according to our system."
"Interesting, I'll have someone look into that. In the mean time I need the two of you to-"
She was interrupted by a knock at the door. Before anyone could give a response, a rhino opened it and peeked inside.
"Inspector Fox, we have news."
"What is it Sargent?"
"We interrogated the witnesses from Mexico. I think you should see the report."
"Good, I'll be right there."
Carmelita stood up and turned to Chief Bogo.
"Let's go, this concerns you too."
"Right." Bogo got up and rounded his desk, "Hopps, Wilde, we'll continue with this tomorrow. Dismissed."
The two of them exited the room, leaving behind two ZPD officers with a lot of information to sort out, and one Constable who was busy writing something down on his notepad. Nick and Judy turned to each other and shared uneasy looks.
"Well, she is quite something." Judy said to her partner.
"And I thought Finnick had a bad temper."
They chuckled for a moment, breaking the air of apprehension.
"Sorry about Carmelita," The weasel spoke up from where he sat, "She can be tense at times, and she's really black and white with her views on the law, but she is a good cop."
He put his notepad away and scooted his chair closer to Judy and Nick, a bright expression on his face.
"I for one find you two quite inspirational." He extended his paw to them. "I'm Oliver by the way, in case you didn't hear earlier."
They all shook hands, and finally began to relax.
"I don't get to go on too many field assignments." he continued, "But after hearing about Zootopia's first rabbit and fox officers, the higher-ups decided to give me a chance."
"Glad we could help." Judy said with a genuine smile.
"Unfortunately for you Nick, it's going to take a lot of work to get you on Inspector Fox's good side."
"Don't worry," Nick said in that smooth tone of his, "I know just how to deal with someone like her."
"I don't know, Carmelita really does not like criminals, even the well-meaning ones."
"She may not like you," Judy spoke in Nick's defense, "but everyone else here does, hopefully she can respect that."
Constable Winthrop checked his watch and got up hastily, realizing how long he had stayed behind.
"I should be checking on the Inspector. She tends to get a little crazy when left alone. Good meeting you."
"Nice meeting you too." Judy called to him cheerfully as he left the office.
"He seems nice" She said to Nick, who was sitting there, a devious grin on his face.
"No, nononononononono. You are not going to antagonize Carmelita."
"Aw, come on carrots, it'll be so much fun. Just think, so much potential."
Nick stood up and made his way to the door, getting ready to head out and away from the ongoing chaos around them. Judy jumped out of her seat as he passed, she caught up with him and looked sternly at the conniving fox walking next her.
"No. Nicholas Wilde, as your superior officer I cannot allow it."
"Yes sir Officer Toot-toot." Nick gave the worst salute Judy had ever seen.
"I have no idea why she would ever dislike you."
"Sarcasm really isn't your strong suit."
The two of them exited the bustling station, emerging into the calm nighttime air. The area around the building had cleared up since earlier. Only a few cars remained parked along the street, they probably belonged to the many Interpol agents still inside. Other than that, the city itself seemed quieter than normal, it was strange. The night was peaceful, but an uneasy tension loomed in the air. Neither of them could quite shake that feeling.
"Any plans tonight carrots?"
"I plan on going home, before this day gets any crazier."
"What? I thought you were having fun."
Just then, the headlights of a white limousine parked up the road flipped on. It speed down the road and stopped right next to Nick and Judy. Two polar bears emerged from the back and approached the wary officers.
"Mr. Big requests an audience."
"Ah come on!"
There we have it, Chapter 2 done. I know, still no Sly, but hey you got to see Carmelita in this one. 'But when will Nick and Judy meet Sly?' I hear you all ask, wondering when the reason you are reading this crossover is going to show up. To that I say be patient. Sly is a thief, and as such he tends to stay far away from the law. But fear not, he'll be making an appearance soon enough...or maybe he already has ;)