"Bug has been placed." Sly's hushed voice projected from the van's speakers, as it had been every few minutes since the night's mission began. He had been busy, careful not to disturb the peace present in the cool nighttime air. Moving silently yet efficiently, the raccoon had infiltrated the compound undetected, and began to check off items on his long list of objectives to complete. Guard patrol patterns were noted, searchlight positions marked, and the main alarm relay was located. With the audio bug placed in the currently vacant office of Mr. Longfellow, only one task reminded, tracing any signs of their primary goal, Penelope.
Back in the relative comfort of the van, Nick, Judy, and Murray watched and listened while Cooper did his job. Though still slightly apprehensive, Judy found listening to the cool, smooth tone of the raccoon almost relaxing. No doubt this played to his advantage as a thief, the ability to calm someone through conversation alone had to be advantageous. The whole thing reminded her of Nick, and how he used a similar tactic when the two first met. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more she realized how much he and Sly had in common. Everything from sense of humor to their shared laziness, the rabbit started to pick up on it once they spent some time with the quirky band of thieves.
The only thing Sly had that Nick lacked was his athletic ability. Though the fox had done remarkably well during his police academy training, Cooper had years of practice over him. Every time that binocucom video feed came on, he was in a different, often precarious location. Be it perched on top of a pole, balanced on a rope or wire, even hanging from the hook of his cane, they were all impressive, although Judy found herself repeatedly questioning how the laws of physics allowed such feats to be possible. Her partner on the other hand, looked on with a hint of envy buried behind his ever present grin. Nick had been thinking to himself, letting his daydreams get the better of him. When this was all over he planned to ask the raccoon for lessons, or at least some tips. High level heists were way cooler than street hustling after all, not that he would ever pull one off, not now at least.
"Signal received," Bentley's harsh nasally tone clashed against the suaveness that came before it, "great work Sly. Now, head on over to the main building, I may have determined a way to locate Penelope."
"Alright. Please tell me you didn't give her a tracking device disguised as a necklace."
"No… that design wasn't done yet… Just get over there."
Judy felt herself laughing along with Sly as she heard him climb out the window used to access the office and hop back onto the roof, which worried her. Had she spent so much time away from the rigors of the ZPD and the stoicism of Chief Bogo to the point where she found Nick level humor funny? Or worse, was she actually starting to bond with the Cooper gang? No, it couldn't be, she was just tired is all. Yeah, tired, too much stress, obviously she was just slipping into insanity. The rabbit tried to reason with herself, not wanting to admit that she was actually beginning to like the criminals around her. This whole thing was just one big mess.
"Okay, see that guard?" The turtle's voice came through again as the video feed zoomed in on a sleek arctic fox walking towards the main warehouse, "She is the head of security, and as such carries around a comprehensive file of paperwork detailing all of Longfellow's operations. If my hypothesis is correct, somewhere in those documents should be a handy list of everyone he has locked up, among other potentially useful things."
"And you want me to grab it to find out where they are holding Penelope." Sly could see exactly where this was going.
"Precisely, though it won't be easy, that paperwork never leaves her sight, and neither does her high powered shock pistol."
"Is anything we do ever easy?"
"With you around, no."
When the wisecracks subsided and the video feed cut out again, silence took up residency as Sly began to track his target. He waited and watched as the fox entered the warehouse through a doorway on the ground, before stealthily making his own foray into the building via a skylight. Inside, whatever horrors inhabited the space hid in darkness as only a few lights shown onto the many isles of crates and boxes that stretched on seemingly forever. The solid 'clacking' of boots on concrete echoed throughout, the telltale sign of one head of security making her rounds. Sticking to the rafters or the tops of stacked containers, Cooper stalked his prey, patiently waiting for the right moment to strike.
Ever so slowly the minutes ticked on, all the while Sly followed the fox, until she finally came to a stop next to a row of chest-high boxes to grab her radio.
"Tucker to base." Longfellow's head of security spoke in a gracefully soft tone, placing her paperwork on top on the crate next to her at the same time.
"Go ahead Tucker." The radio blurted back at her, acting as the perfect distraction for the raccoon carefully sneaking up behind his mark.
"Everything is set over here, any word from the boss?" She continued, Sly was now in position on the opposite side of the crate, the fox's back to him.
"The usual, 'continue operations as scheduled'." Her radio responded as Cooper made his move. A careful flick of his cane and the documents practically jumped into his waiting paws.
"Copy that. I'm heading ba-" Tucker turned around just in time to be staring directly into the eyes of the thief, mid-steal. Sly, knowing this predicament could only end one way, drooped his ears and put on a 'isn't this a coincidence, please don't kill me grin', watching the confusion build on his target's face. At the same time, he stuffed the list into his thigh pouch and moved his cane into position. Before the fox was able to grasp what was happening, he pounced. In one fluid movement, Cooper bounded over the crate and delivered a solid 'thwack' of the cane to his opponent. She didn't even hit the ground by the time the raccoon was out the door and climbing up a pipe to the roof.
"Looks like we're going to have to cut this one short." He called over the radio, forcing his voice to remain as calm as when he went in.
"Get out of there before they raise the alarm!" Bentley replied frantically. He was very quickly and very stressfully trying to rework their entire plan around this one incident.
"Way ahead of you. Hey Murray, I could use a lift."
"Roger, moving to extraction point A." The hippo called as the van speed back onto the road. The sudden jerk of movement caught Nick and Judy off guard, the two had been so focused on the drama unfolding that they didn't even hear him start the engine.
Within seconds Murray was on a street adjacent to the compound, maintaining a decently high rate of speed. Looking between the seats and out the front windshield, the two tag along cops saw Sly running towards them, on top of the telephone cables over the road. Even with the added stress of the scenario, the raccoon managed to finesse his acrobatic skills, making the tightrope act look easy.
"Uh, aren't we gonna slow down?!" Nick questioned nervously as the van continued to speed ahead, about to pass right by their target.
"Nope." Murray said with a grin, keeping his eyes on the road and flicking an overhead switch before accelerating even more.
Suddenly, a loud 'thud' was heard on the roof as the rear doors swung themselves open. In a stunt that must have been well practiced, Cooper effortlessly swung himself into the back of the van. Hitting the switch again, their driver automatically closed the doors and proceeded to take the crew back to the hideout.
The rumble of the van's engine droned on for a moment as everyone took in what had happened. Sly glanced at the paperwork in his hand, then to Nick and Judy who were sitting before him. The look on his face spoke for him, he understood what this unfortunate occurrence meant, and as his eyes diverted from the two, it showed he knew if there was anyone to blame it was him. The face of the rabbit in front of him had a similar expression, however Judy's was also apologetic. She could see that the mission was compromised, and felt bad for the gang who worked so hard, and had so much at stake, but at the end of the day all this meant to her was the ZPD could take over and finally finish this thing.
While his partner was lost in thought, Nick noticed Sly's eyes widen slightly as he took another look at the paperwork he had stolen. His view quickly darted to Judy and back before the raccoon stuffed the file into his pouch. He didn't know exactly what it meant, but the fox was decent at reading people, and that little move meant something was up. Cooper's body language after that only reinforced his suspicion. He appeared anxious, almost worried, a strange sight to see on the usually calm and confident thief.
"Thanks for picking me up Murray." Sly broke the silence that had gripped the van for too long. He noticed the visibly uncomfortable hippo glancing back every so often and decided to ease his friend's mind.
"The pleasure belongs solely to 'The Murray'," He cheerfully called back, "I'm always up for a good rescue."
"These two give you any trouble while I was out?" The raccoon brought himself back to normal, throwing on a smug grin as he poked fun at Nick and Judy.
"Not at all! It sure was nice having the company, reminds me of last time when we brought in all the help. Those guys were hilarious... weird, but hilarious. Oh hey that reminds me! We should all go out for ice cream sometime."
"That's the best idea I've heard all day." Judy commented lightly, a bit more relaxed now knowing this whole ordeal was about to come to a swift end.
The small talk continued the rest of the way back to the hideout, though the mood was slightly awkward considered what had just occurred. Still, laughs were had and the gang began planning a date to just hang out, no fights, lies or heists, just friends.
"Alright, how bad is it?" Sly asked as everyone entered the hideout a few minutes later. Nick had noticed his expression slowly revert back to one of nervousness as they approached the building, reinforcing his notion that something was off.
"For once I actually don't know." Bentley replied, his nasal voice greeting them with a tone of confusion.
"Did I hear that right?" Cooper strolled over to table, putting on a grin as he leaned against it to get a glimpse of the turtle huddled behind his barricade of monitors.
"Shocking, I know, but allow me explain. I've been monitoring Longfellow's compound since you left, and there are no signs that the alarm was ever raised."
"Are you sure you didn't accidentally hack it in your sleep?"
"Please, if I wanted to shut down their systems I'd have done it already. No, we left them up to avoid any suspicion. However that's not the only thing. I figured she simply hadn't woken up yet, though it was taking an awful long time for someone to realize the head of security was passed out on the floor. But get this, she's up and in the office right now! The same one we have a bug in!" The turtle cranked up a volume knob and the soft voice of an artic fox filled the room.
"No, I told you we can't let him know." Tucker was having a conversion with someone over the phone, using the empty office for privacy, "Yes I understand what it could be, but it's a matter of business. - - - . If he finds out, everything is going to stop, and we are set to take in a priority shipment tomorrow, not to mention sending out that insufferable mouse. - - - . I know he's not selling her, but she has been the single biggest security hazard I've ever seen."
"This has been going on for a while, I'm recording the whole thing." Bentley said as he turned the volume back down. "Basically she doesn't want to tell someone, presumably Longfellow, about the incident, so that's good news for us. However I need to finish up this revised plan fast, our window of opportunity has been drastically shortened."
"Speaking of that…" Sly said uncertainly, hushing his voice before throwing a glance back at Nick and Judy, who had taken a seat on the couch and were busy chatting with Murray. "It might be shorter than we thought."
From the corner of his eye, Nick watched as the two whispered back and forth before Bentley followed the raccoon to the hall and into another room. His suspicions grew with every second that passed, if whatever was going on was worth hiding then it had to be big. The question was how big. He had no intention of waiting to find out though. The moment they reemerged, the fox broke away from his current conversation. As he walked the short distance over to the pair, their expressions brought up concern. Sly had his act going, covering whatever he was thinking with a resting smirk. Bentley on the other hand was far easier to read, his arms trembled slightly as he wheeled himself back to his computers, a dead giveaway he was nervous.
"Okay, what's up?" Nick got straight to the point, directing his seriousness to the turtle as he was bound to break easier than Sly would.
"Not our chances of finding Penelope, that's for sure." Cooper laughed casually, pulling the attention away from Bentley, whose only response was an undecided stare.
"Why's that?"
"Well, there was this whole thing were I screwed up and kind of blew our cover."
"I know that, and might I say it was a spectacular failure, but I'm talking about after that. In the van you saw something in that paperwork, I'm assuming that's what you two just discussed in private. Now, whatever that is seems to have both of you spooked, and if it can do that then it's important, and also something that I would appreciate knowing." Sly's grin disappeared as Nick went on, though he was impressed at the cop's observational abilities.
"Listen, yes it's important, but it's also important that you don't know. As a matter of safety, for everyone."
"Safety?"
"Yes, safety... it also might be a good idea if you and Judy stay with us for the night."
"Ooooooooh no, what's going on? You can't just say something like that without an explanation."
"Everything good over here?" Judy had heard the distress in the conversation, worry spreading through her voice and expression as she joined the group at the table.
"No, it's not carrots. Something's up and we are being kept in the dark, for 'safety'."
"All I'm saying is that you two might want to spend the night here, just to be safe, we'll have everything figured out in the morning." Sly appealed to the growing dismay before him.
"We found something in the paperwork." Bentley sighed, composing himself to deliver the news as calmly as he could, "The file of papers Sly grabbed off the head of security contained a schedule of operations."
Cooper let out a similar sigh before pulling the stack of papers out of his leg pouch, handing them to the turtle next to him as he sat down. He motioned for Nick and Judy to do the same, there was nothing he could do about it now.
"Thank you." Bentley began looking through the paperwork, "This schedule outlines everything Longfellow has planned for the entire week. One item set to take place tomorrow has us extremely concerned. A delivery marked as priority, for a mammal, a rabbit to be exact," He slid the paper in question onto the table, where Nick was the first to see it. The words were there, clear as day, but it wasn't until they were spoken out loud that either him or his partner could process what they truly meant. "by the name of Judith L. Hopps."
I'm back. Sorry this chapter took so long, I hope it was worth the wait. Well, a lot has happened in the past few weeks, I had my birthday, started up school again, and went to a Zootopia meetup. Actually I hosted the meetup, where I got to meet a user by the name of MaveriKat. He has been following this story for a long time and is one of the people who's feedback convinced me to really commit to writing this. Now he is also an author, writer of the incredible 'Fox Point', which is a Sly/Zootopia crossover as well, but on steroids. Seriously, if you haven't already heard of it, go check it out, you'll see what I mean. It's an honor to know that my writing was the inspiration for him to start his own story, considering I was inspired to write by another user to begin with. So a big thank you to MaveriKat for reading (and for the t-shirt, it's awesome) and to all of you as well, I may procrastinate writing... a lot... but I make it a point to keep going because of all of you and the wonderful support you have shown this story. Thank you all, the next chapter will be up much quicker, I promise.