"This doesn't make any sense." Nick said as the cruiser pulled to the side of the road only a few feet from the alley housing the van. Judy looked over at him, awaiting his elaboration. "Why steal an impounded vehicle just to leave it where it was towed to begin with?"
"No idea," Judy responded, "but here it is, let's not question the weird van's motives."
"Just go get the plate before you try to make another joke."
"If you say so, back in a sec!"
Judy got out of the cruiser and walked over to the van, carrot pen and notepad in hand. While she was getting the plate number, Nick tried to work out exactly what was going on. He had a few pieces of the puzzle, and they all seemed to fit together, but no big picture was formed. Either it was all one crazy coincidence, or someone was doing a very good job of covering their tracks. From the looks of things, they would have to be some very big tracks to cover. Nick was thrown from his thoughts by the sight of Judy returning to the car.
"Alright, you ready?" She said upon reentering.
"Yup, what's the number?" Nick asked, flipping on the computer located in the center console of the ZPD cruiser.
"C-O-O-P-1"
Nick typed as Judy dictated the plate number to him. After a second of processing the system returned the information it contained for that specific vehicle. He wasn't surprised by the two words displayed on the screen.
"This just keeps getting better." Nick commented as he spun the computer in his partner's direction.
"I really should have expected that." She said reading the simple response 'Invalid Number'.
Judy pushed the computer away and opened her door yet again.
"And where do you think you're going?" Nick questioned.
"I'm going to get some answers," She responded in a determined tone, "The van is right here, so we might as well investigate."
"Ugh, am I ever going to get my lunch?" Nick reluctantly got out of the cruiser to join his partner. It was obvious they weren't leaving any time soon so he might as well help.
"Don't blame me, checking on the van was your idea."
The two approached the blue van and began searching its exterior for anything useful. To Nick, it looked exactly the same as when they first encountered the vehicle. After a quick walk around, he stood back and let Judy continue the inspection. He excelled at the job of moral support. Judy went over every detail, from bumper to bumper. She took out the file Mr. Big had given them regarding the investigation and compared the card to the symbol painted on the side of the van. It was a perfect match, as Nick had previously noted.
"Why do you think it's here?" The fox wondered aloud.
Judy looked over at him, putting the card back into the file in the process. She was about to respond with the typical 'I don't know' when a thought occurred to her. Her excitement grew as it manifested itself in words.
"Wait, these are apartment buildings, so maybe whoever owns the van lives here!"
"Okay, which apartment?" Nick humored his partner, even if her theory was slightly flawed.
"Well, it's um…" Judy's excitement quickly faded as she realized they had no way to distinguish amongst the hundreds of rooms each building contained.
"Exactly. It's not a bad idea, I'll give you that, but there is no way to know."
"We could go door to door?" Judy looked around rapidly, calculating the how long it might take to search the closest structures.
"Oh sure. Knock-Knock. Hey, any dangerous criminal gangs living here? No? Sorry to bother you. Great idea there fluff." Nick's smug remark fell on deaf ears, Judy had noticed something on one of the buildings and wasn't paying attention.
"Hey Nick, look at that. Top floor, corner window." She pointed to a window on the sixth floor of the building lining the right side of the alley. Protruding from it was a small satellite dish, just barely visible from their position on the ground.
"Congratulations, you've discovered satellite TV."
Judy ignored her partner's comment, motioning towards the van where a similar dish rested on its roof, pointed in the same direction.
"And satellite radio?! Whatever will they think of next?" Nick disregarded the connection.
"That's the room we want." Judy said confidently.
"I fail to see how you came to such a conclusion."
"Just trust me on this one." She implored him to listen.
"Alright fine," Nick sighed, "let's go bother some old porcupine or something…On second thought, this may be your best idea yet carrots."
Judy rolled her eyes as the pair entered the building. Inside, they were greeted with a bland lobby. The walls were painted some odd shade of brown, the floor was light gray tile, spotted with black. The only thing that came close to a decoration was a presumably fake plant sitting next to the door. Besides that, a series of mailboxes were attached to the wall on the left along with a directory list. Straight ahead was a hallway with more broken lights than working ones, the stairwell, and the elevator. Nick walked over to the occupant list hanging on the wall, searching for who they may encounter upstairs. Most of the sixth floor names were either missing or completely illegible, the only ones he could make out read '607 – Haddock' and '620 – Marian'. While Nick was looking over the names, Judy walked up to the elevator and hit the button. A loud squeaking was heard accompanied by a deep rumble as it descended to the main floor. A feeble 'ding' marked the arrival of the elevator, but by that time the two were already halfway up the stairs. When they finally reached the top floor, Nick was practically out of breath.
"What's wrong?" Judy teased, "A little exercise never hurt anyone."
"That was enough exercise for an entire month." Nick quickly retorted.
"Come on, it should be the door at the end."
Judy and Nick walked down the hall and came to the last door on the right. Everything appeared normal, the door was bland with a simple '622' in gold numbers marked on the front. Judy raised her paw, this was the moment of truth, the two ZPD officers had to be prepared for whatever was behind that unassuming door.
'Knock-Knock-Knock'
No response.
'Knock-Knock-Knock'
"ZPD, open up." Judy called firmly.
At that some shuffling was heard from inside. The distinct sound of a deadbolt unlocking was followed by the turning of the handle. The door flung open to reveal a raccoon smiling back at them.
"You're early," He said in a charismatic tone, "We weren't expecting you for a couple hours."
Nick and Judy just stood there, speechless.
"Don't worry, Bentley will have those files ready in a few minutes, come on in." He continued, stepping sideways out of the doorway, allowing the two surprised officers to enter.
Hesitantly, they each took a step into the room. The apartment looked like a high tech command center. In the middle of the main room was a large table, holding two computers, a projector, and a vast array of devices the two had never seen before. Wires ran out from the computers to the satellite dish set up in the window, and to several points in the ceiling leading to who knows where. A projection screen was set up along one of the side walls near a doorway, the opposite wall had a multitude of maps pinned to it and even more gear and gadgets laying at its base. Through the open doorway next to the screen they could barely make out another table covered in what looked like books illuminated by a dim green glow. A glint of light from the corner nearest to the door caught Nick's eye. He turned to locate the source, finding it to be the golden tip of a strange cane leaning against the wall, with a small brown backpack sitting on the floor next to it.
"You guys aren't my normal runners."
The two partners were snapped out of their confused daze by the sound of the door closing behind them, followed by the raccoon's voice, who had just crossed in front of them. He was about Nick's height, in his late twenties or early thirties, and thin but fit in stature. His gray fur was covered by a long blue shirt with a gold collar. Around his waist rested a brown belt with a golden buckle whose shape was reminiscent of the symbol on the van. Matching blue and gold gloves covered his paws, and a blue peddler's hat completed the ensemble. A sly grin appeared to be permanently affixed to his face, like the characteristic black patch of fur that formed a mask around his brown eyes. The constant, flowing movement of his unusually fluffy gray and black stripped tail added to the raccoon's already mesmerizing demeanor.
"You are here for the files, right?"
After taking a second to process all of the puzzling information presented before her, Judy was finally able to form a somewhat intelligent responds to the question.
"Um, no- we are- I'm sorry, what in the world is going on here." She stuttered until the thought finally escaped her mouth.
"Didn't Carmelita send you?" He responded, slightly confused as well.
"No…" Judy paused, unsure if she should tell the stranger why they were there, "We were investigating that van outside…"
The raccoon's confusion quickly turned to realization as he let out a chuckle.
"You wouldn't happen to be the ones who had our van towed yesterday, were you?"
"Yes…that was us." Judy confirmed tentatively.
"I told Carmelita she should really let you guys know we're here." The raccoon said to himself.
At this, Judy turned to Nick in hopes he had any clue as to what was happening. His expression matched hers, telling the rabbit that he was just as lost.
"Yes, that's our van. No, it didn't magically disappear from the impound last night." Their host appeared to read Judy's mind, answering exactly what she was thinking.
"Allow me to explain." He motioned for them to walk over to the table in the center of the room.
"That's Murray." The raccoon pointed to a large pink hippo laying in the corner, coloring in a children's book. Judy didn't know what was stranger, the grown hippo coloring, or the fact that she hadn't noticed the large creature to begin with.
"Bentley is hiding back there on the computer." A figure was barely distinguishable behind the monitors on the table, but the sounds of keystrokes gave him away.
"And I'm Inspector McSweeney, but you guys can just call me Jim." He finished, maintaining a grin that rivaled even Nick's trademark smirk.
"You're with Interpol?" Judy asked, finding the situation growing continually stranger.
"Yes indeed, welcome to the Interpol Intelligence Division headquarters." Jim stated proudly, "We are the brains of Carmelita's operation here, well Bentley mostly, but still."
This unexpected information raised a multitude of questions in Judy's mind. Before she could pick which one to ask first, McSweeney addressed them again.
"Now, which two fine ZPD officers do I have the pleasure of speaking with today?"
"Oh, right," Judy said quickly, remembering her formalities, "I'm Officer Judy Hopps, and this is my partner, Officer-"
"Wilde," The fox finally spoke up, "Nick Wilde."
"Pleasure to meet you." Jim said, extending a paw to shake their hands. Both Judy and Nick followed suit.
"Why aren't you with everyone else at the station?" Nick asked after the greetings finished, skepticism clearly present in his tone.
"Because, Nick, we are working on the real case." McSweeney's grin grew brighter as he answered the question, knowing how confused the two must have been.
"Wait- What do you- Hold on-" Judy stumbled, unable to fit the pieces together in her head, "Fine, I give up, I officially have no clue what is going on."
"Alright, Carmelita's going to kill me, but you've found our secret hideout so I might as well tell you." Jim chuckled yet again, picking up a folder from the main table behind him.
"I'm assuming you were told Interpol was here to investigate some dead mammals, well that's just a front. The big guys needed a reason for us to be here and that case fit the bill. Carmelita's team is doing their job keeping everyone out of the loop, she is pretty good at dealing with nosy people if you haven't noticed." He opened the folder and pulled out some papers.
"This is our real target, Henry Longfellow," McSweeney showed them a picture of a large spotted giraffe in what looked like Sahara Square, "He has been linked to several past kidnappings all over the world and is suspected of multiple large scale robberies."
Judy and Nick listened intently, attempting to sort out all the new information.
"Interpol has been tracking this guy for years, we know his newest operation is based out of Zootopia so hopefully we can finally bring him down. But we can't afford to let our long necked friend know that we are on to him, hence all the secrecy. Which is also why the van out there 'disappeared' from your lot, seeing as technically my team isn't here, our stuff can never be in your system."
McSweeney began putting all the paperwork back in its case. The talk about the van reminded Judy of the symbol which led them to the encounter to begin with. She pulled the file Mr. Big gave to them out of her pocket and opened it up.
"Listen carrots, something seems off about all this." Nick whispered in his partner's ear while the raccoon was turned away, putting the envelope back on the table. She shrugged off his suspicious as paranoia, or perhaps even jealousy, seeing how McSweeney was beating him in the grin department.
"Hey Mc- sorry, Jim," The Inspector turned back around at Judy's call, "You wouldn't happen to know what this is, would you?"
She removed the card that was left in the shrew's vault from the envelope and showed it to the raccoon. He immediately snatched it from her, eyes wide as he examined the card.
"Where did you get this?" He looked up at Judy, his pleasant tone lessening slightly.
"We found it." Nick replied for his partner, he could tell instantly that the inspector knew what the symbol meant.
"Do you know what this is?" Jim looked concerned, shifting his attention between the two officers standing before him.
"We were hoping you knew, considering it's plastered on the side of your van." Nick said, curious as to why the card caused such a reaction.
"Okay first off putting it on the van wasn't my idea, secondly, this is my card." Jim pointed to a stack of perfect copies of the card sitting on the table before them. "This is the seal for my team, we use it for covert messages between Interpol units. Now I really need to know where you found it."
"At the scene of a robbery." Judy told the Inspector hoping to help him out, seeing as he has been much kinder than Carmelita.
"It's an active investigation so we can't tell you where unfortunately." Nick said, the return of his smugness covering his distrust. "An investigation we should really be getting back to."
"Are you kidding Nick, we just got here, and I think we might be able to help these guys." Judy contested her partner's behavior.
"No, no, I've kept you two long enough already, I wouldn't want to cause any trouble in your investigation." Jim apologized to the officers, "May I ask one favor before you head out though?"
"Sure, what do you need?" Judy cheerily offered her help.
"Can you deliver some files to Carmelita for me?"
"Absolutely."
"Awesome," The raccoon turned to address the figure still hidden behind the computer, "Hey Bentley, you got those files finished yet?"
"Uh, which ones are you talking about?" A nasally voice replied as the constant keystrokes ceased, casting the room into a stillness.
"The ones you were working on in the other room, you know, the ones you were supposed to have ready yesterday." Jim informed Bentley in a teasing tone.
"Ohhhhh those files, I'll get right on that."
The figure rolled out from behind the computer allowing Nick and Judy to finally get a good look at him. In a high tech wheelchair sat a strange green creature wearing a safari hat and glasses which obscured a good portion of his face. A shell rested against the back of the chair, while his short stubby legs danged over the edge.
"What is that?!" Judy instinctively stepped backwards as she attempted to determine exactly what was sitting before her.
"That would be Bentley, the turtle." Jim laughed as he informed the confused rabbit.
"But I thought turtles were- I've never seen- This is weird." Judy was not sure what to make of the turtle rolling by her into the other room.
"Ha, hey Murray," McSweeney called to the hippo who had been happily oblivious the whole time, "Looks like you're buying tonight."
Judy and Nick watched as the turtle disappeared through the doorway into the room adjacent to them, clearly uncomfortable from their staring.
"Oh man, that never gets old." The raccoon turned back to the two ZPD officers. "I'll tell ya, for such an advanced city, Zootopia sure is backwards when it comes to species."
"Oh, that reminds me!" McSweeney smiled and quickly stepped around to the backside of the table, "Can I see that card again?"
"Sure." Judy happily obliged as she removed the card from the envelope and took a step towards the Inspector. A loud thud caught her off guard, causing the rabbit to freeze where she stood. In her peripheral vision Judy could see the distinct red color of Nick's fur lying motionless on the ground next to her. Before she could turn to get a better look at her partner, a sharp pain ignited in the back of her left leg. Immediately she could feel her strength fading as the world began to spin around her. Judy looked down to see a small dart stuck through her fur as she too collapsed to the floor. The last thing she felt was her head making contact with the ground before everything went black.
Only a few days late, not too bad. Now I'm sure some of you know exactly what just happened in this chapter, and I'm hoping you are all quite pleased with it, as for everyone else...buckle up because this story is about to take it up a notch. A quick personal update for you: get ready, I'm finishing up my last finals this week so it is time to shift my writing into maximum overdrive. Before I leave you all again to write chapter 6 I must say as always, thank you. Seriously, so far this story has been one awesome experience, seeing your reviews, favorites, follows, etc, it puts a smile on my face knowing how many people really like what I'm doing. So again I say thanks, see you all next week.