"Judy!" Murray exclaimed upon his entrance to the hideout. "How's it going?! Are you feeling better? Sly didn't hurt you too bad did he?"
The hippo had been out shopping for the gang when the pair of cops arrived. He dropped the bags of supplies he was carrying on the floor and ran over to the rabbit, who resided on the couch next to Nick. Sly had since gone off to take a nap, trying to get some more rest before he went out that night. Bentley was over at the main table, getting his slide projector hooked up in order to bring their guests up to speed on the situation.
"Nothing too bad, I'll live, thanks." Judy replied with a smile, there was something about the overly affectionate ball of pink joy that seemed to brighten the mood. He reminded her of Clawhauser a little.
"Ohhh, I'm sorry about all that."
"It's okay, besides, it looks like we are going to be working together for a bit."
"Awesome! The Murray is pleased."
"Alright Murray," Bentley called from behind his computer, "if you can finish getting those supplies put away, I've got to explain everything to these two."
"Sure thing Bentley buddy." He replied before heading back outside to grab some more bags.
"Can you see that okay?" The turtle asked as he flipped on the projector, throwing a bright white light through the aging machine.
"Yeah, that's good." Judy replied.
"Alright, as you know, we are here for a kidnapper. Our target is one Henry Longfellow." A click of the projector displayed a familiar picture of a giraffe in Sahara Square. "Yes, the same one Sly told you about when we first met. He had to think quickly and decided to use legitimate information, which I was not pleased with." Another click pulled up the same giraffe, this time standing next to an unmarked truck. "Now we don't know much about him other than his role as head of a restaurant supply company. My guess is that it's a front for whatever he is actually planning." Moving to the next slide simply zoomed in on the truck's license plate. "We linked him to the kidnappings through this truck, registered to his company, it's one of a few that have been seen transporting the missing mammals." Clicking again brought up a satellite image of a large warehouse facility. "This is one of a few different locations his company operates. We've singled this one out because not only is it the largest, but the trucks involved frequent this one the most. Sly is going to recon it out tonight, hopefully we will know what exactly it is he's up to in there."
"That's all you have?" The rabbit asked as the screen went blank. She was appreciative of the additional info, but found it lacking at the same time.
"For now," Bentley replied, "I've got a few theories on how the Interpol case connects with this one, but no evidence to back them up at the moment."
"Oh! We still have to take care of that report."
"Don't worry, I've got it right here."
"Great, let's get to work."
Bentley picked out a folder from a stack next to his computer and rolled his way around the table, turning off the projector as he did. For the next hour or so the three rigged the police report. Well Bentley and Judy mostly, Nick sat back and watched most of the time, only adding a sarcastic comment when the timing was right. They replaced all mention of Sly and the gang with the likeness of Adam 'The Buster' an old gangster buffalo who was known for stirring up trouble around the city docks. According to Bentley he had been killed a little while back, but the ZPD would never know that, Mr. Big had called for the hit, and covered his tracks well. Mr. Big. Judy had almost forgotten about the shrew, she made a mental note to talk with him later on and explain the whole… interesting situation.
Murray finished up unloading all of the supplies he bought that day as Judy rewrote her report. As much of a pain as it was, it did have to be in her handwriting after all. Nick being Nick, had gotten bored and began snooping around, touching just about everything he probably shouldn't have. Truthfully, the fox was simply curious. While he may have run simple cons to make a quick buck, he always wondered about the professional criminals, and from the looks of it, the Cooper gang were professionals. It didn't take long for him to start chatting it up with Bentley and Murray. They were both surprisingly eager to share stories with him, some of the tech they used, how they planned put certain tasks, various aspects of how they functioned, Nick took it all in like a sponge. The only thing the two didn't talk much on was the actual execution of the plans.
"And what about this stuff?" Nick asked picking up a surprisingly heavy brown backpack sitting on a small side table in the corner of the room, surrounded by a few other pieces.
"Oh that's all Sly's field gear." Bentley informed him, "I'd leave it alone if I were you. He doesn't really like strangers touching his stuff."
"What is in this thing?" The fox ignored his host's words of caution, instead focusing more of his attention on the pack, moving one paw to open the flap at the top.
"Please don't open that!" The sharp warning caused Nick to cease his movement. "It's a paraglider, packed with extreme care so that it fits and deploys properly. If you open it someone is going to have to repack the whole thing."
"This is a parachute?"
"Paragl- same thing."
"Cool. But why does Sly need a parachute?" Much to the turtle's relief, the pack was placed back on the table.
"He uses the paraglider in special situations, mostly covering long distances of obstacles or ground he couldn't traverse on foot. Also so he doesn't fall off a building and die. There's actually a funny story about that, you see one of the first tests…" Bentley's story telling droned off as Nick noticed something even more interesting resting against the table. The mesmerizing golden sheen of the raccoon's cane glinted against the fox's eyes. He looked longingly at the piece before taking a deep breath and dropping the idea. Not because it was a priceless family heirloom that Sly had gone on about earlier, but simply due to the fact that he could see a blotch of gray fur reflected in the hook.
"Nice stuff you got here." Nick commented with a grin as he turned to face the raccoon who had entered the main room unnoticed.
"Glad to see you are all getting along." Sly responded in a similar manner, causing Bentley and Murray turned to see him as well.
"Wow, I guess I lost track of time," The turtle said as he checked his clock, "I'll start getting things ready, how's the van?"
"Ready whenever you are." Murray replied confidently.
The three all began to move without a word, each working on various pieces of equipment, obviously preparing for something. Judy, who had been watching Nick ever since she finished her report a few minutes back, checked her phone, it was 11:43 pm. Time really got away from both of them, and it was easy to tell why. Her partner was displaying a different kind of spark in him as he interacted with their hosts, the same energy Judy was starting to see in herself as well. It had to be something to do with solving this case. Working their daily beat was fun, and keeping Zootopia safe always made the rabbit smile, but cracking a big case was what the pair strived for, and this one was turning out to be another adventure in the making.
"What's going on?" Judy thought aloud as Nick stumbled towards her, clearing the way for Sly to get to the corner table.
"It's time for you to leave, that's what's going on." Bentley commented from behind his computer monitor on the central table.
"Now now," Sly's voice shoot from the opposite side of the room, where the raccoon stood dawning the pack and other gear, "why don't we let our new partners take a peek into what we're doing?"
"Another in a long line of terrible ideas."
"Come on, they can't all be that bad."
"I've been keeping a notebook of every one you come up with, sometimes I read them for a good laugh."
"See, they're useful for something."
Nick and Judy watched as Sly and Bentley went back and forth. The clearly annoyed turtle rolled his eyes while hiding a grin as he attempted to ignore the comments. Sly looked over towards the two cops after tightening down his leg pack, laughing quietly as he did.
"C'mon, these two could learn something, plus it'll give you someone else to talk to. Not that I don't enjoy hearing your nagging every five seconds."
"Fine. But only because we're late as is, and I don't want to waste any more time arguing."
With that, the raccoon winked before throwing on his mask and placing a tiny device in his ear.
"Alright, wanna give me a radio check?"
"Hang on," Bentley said, quickly focusing his attention on a stack of radios placed next to his computer, all wired to a bundle running out the closest window. The turtle flipped a few switches before picking up a headset and putting it on. "Check-one-two."
"Gotcha, I'm heading out, give me a recap en route." Sly took a breath and grabbed his cane, giving it a quick twirl and stepping to the door. The raccoon gave the room one last look and with a subtle nod he exited, jumping into the back of the van Murray had pulled around front.
"Well, come on over here if you want to see." Bentley huffed reluctantly, addressing the only two left in the room as the van was heard driving off into the night. Judy and Nick quietly rounded the table to see the intricate display set up on the other side. One monitor displayed a gps view of the city, with points plotted on the map and one dot visibly moving across it. Another had notes and pictures open in multiple tabs, obviously the data center to back up Sly's field work. Finally, right next to the stack of radios was a smaller screen, showing nothing but black. Bentley had explained to Nick earlier that the blank screen belonged to the binocucom station, a communication system of his own design.
"Nest to Papa Bird."
Nick struggled to hold back laughter at the seriousness of Bentley's tone as he spoke.
"Nick!" Judy promptly scolded her partner.
"Sorry, no offence, call signs are silly in general, but that one takes it."
"No they can't….Fine." The turtle continued talking into his mic, reaching over and flipping a switch on the top radio afterwards.
"Can they hear me now?" Sly's voice crackled through a set of speakers on the table in front of them.
"Yes."
"Great! As I was saying, I have to agree with you Nick."
"Now hold on, I find the codenames to be quite useful." Bentley raised his voice slightly, hoping to better convey his point over the radio.
"I know that, considering you're the one who comes up with them."
"That's because they conceal our identities in the unlikely case of someone cracking our communications network, not to mention the cool dramatic effect… I've pinged the drop site for you Murray."
"Thanks Bentley." The hippo's voice chimed back after a few clicks on the gps computer. Even though the three thieves bickered almost constantly, their workflow was never interrupted, they had it down to a science.
"Hey," Sly spoke up again, "if we have code names, what are Nick and Judy's?"
"Liability and Irresponsible." The turtle mumbled under his breath.
"Ooh, I got this!" Nick jumped in, "You're carrots, obviously, and I can be…"
"Dumb fox?" His partner suggested teasingly.
"What have I done to deserve this?" Bentley leaned back, placing a hand to his head as the banter continued flowing both around him and through the radio. A few minutes later he could see that Murray was approaching his target, not only by the gps display in front of him, but because the conversation began slowing.
Nick and Judy watched as the dot representing the van turned onto a dead end dirt road, parking right next to a marker point on the map. Immediately, a smaller dot began moving from the van towards one of the surrounding buildings.
"Okay, the antenna is up." Murray crackled through the radio.
"We have a repeater station on the van to boost the binocucom signal when working at longer ranges." Bentley explained to the two onlookers. Sly's dot on the map came to rest inside the building. A moment later the small screen on the binocucom station came to life.
"You reading me Bentley?" The raccoon was heard as the view of a large, well lit warehouse could be seen on the display.
"Wow." A few clicks and keystrokes brought the binocucom view onto one of the larger monitors so everyone could have a better view. "That is one busy supply company. Be careful Sly, see if you can get a view of what's going on inside that main building."
With the picture now much larger, Nick and Judy could see the warehouse, which was more like a heavily secured compound. A barbed wire toped fence circled the whole property, large spotlights adorned the exterior of the main building, illuminating way more of the parking area and loading bays than necessary, and workers walked in pairs from the main warehouse to a series of smaller offices at the front. Either this was the busiest restaurant supply company ever, or there was something else going on. The view of the location quickly zoomed out, revealing that Sly was perched on a nearby rooftop.
"Alright, I'm going to find a way in." Sly said quietly as the display cut out.
"Okay, that is pretty cool." Judy commented.
"What is?" Both Nick and Bentley asked at the same time.
"That video binocu-thingy."
"The binocucom?"
"Yeah, that. The ZPD could really use one of those, all we have are normal radios, giving dispatch or other officers a visual feed of any situation would be incredibly helpful."
"Just ask Bentley," Sly commented over the radio, his tone lowered to a whisper, "He designed it after all."
"That's right, you said you built it to make field work easier," Nick said, recalling their conversation from earlier, "and the ZPD does a lot of field work, so why not."
"Sorry," The turtle replied, "but this is a proprietary system."
"I remember when we used to work without these." Sly came through again. "Remember those days Bentley?"
"How could I forget them, trying to coordinate everything was a nightmare, the levels of stress I experienced were well above daily recommended levels."
"Hey, it wasn't any better out in the field. Before we had the map built in, Bentley had to call out directions to me." The raccoon let out a soft laugh while directing his story to Nick and Judy. "Whenever I started heading the wrong way he would freak out and all I'd hear is him yelling 'recalculating!' in my ear."
"Ooh, ooh, what about when Sly broke your first prototype?" Murray joined in over the radio as well.
"Hey, I told you that one wasn't my fault." Bentley hid a smirk with a subtle shake of the head as Sly tried to argue the point.
"Okay, let's try to keep radio chatter to a minimum."
"Aw, don't worry Bentley," The screen came to life again, this time the view was of a new rooftop, "besides, I made it."
The view shifted as Sly showed he was now on top of the main warehouse.
"How did you…" Judy wondered out loud, unsure as to how the raccoon managed to get up there at all, let alone so quickly and unseen.
"I just ran across these." Having heard her through the radio, Sly pointed his binocucom camera at a set of telephone cables that ran off the side of the large building. This simply raised more questions in the rabbit's mind.
"Right," Bentley interrupted, glancing at his other monitor for notes, referencing a schematic of the building, "you're going to want to look for a large exhaust duct for the ventilation system. It should be near a set of skylights."
"There it is." The camera searched for a moment before landing on the duct described and then going black as it was put back away. "Wait…"
"What is it?" Judy and Nick watched as the turtle in front of them responded anxiously.
"I… don't know, I'm going to get a better look." Sly said in an uneasy tone as he carefully removed a skylight panel. All three back at the hideout waited, only hearing whooshes and muffled clanging while the raccoon climbed through the opening and made his way onto a cross beam overlooking the open warehouse space. After a much longer pause than they liked, the binocucom screen lit up again.
"Uh Bentley, you might want to take a look at this…"
Hopefully this chapter was worth the wait. With the Cooper gang taking up more of the focus this time I had to really try hard to make sure I captured the energy and feel the games portrayed them with. It took me a while before I was comfortable with what I had written, and my main goal right now is not to rush, only upload chapters I feel are complete...that and I've been busy playing Pokemon Go (#TeamMystic). Anyway, uploads are still aimed towards once a week, and we're really getting into the fun parts of the story now. Writing Sly especially has become one of my favorite things so I can't wait to keep going. Please let me know what you thought of the interactions not only within the gang, but between them and Judy/Nick as well. As always, thanks so much for reading, I'll see you in the next chapter.