The Good Life

In this chapter, I showcase how much of a car nerd I am. My family actually owns an auto repair shop, and we used to have a junkyard, too, so this was pretty fun for me to write.

I am now on Fiverr! If anyone's interested in commissioning me for an original story, check me out there. My username is the same on Fiverr as on here (admiralcole22).

Disclaimer: I do not own Zootopia or the Bad Guys or any canon characters.

Chapter Five:

For a car enthusiast like Wolf, walking through such a massive junkyard was a real treat. Most of the stuff were cars you'd see driving down the road every day, but then there would be that cool classic or rare sports car hidden in the mix. He'd ooh and ahh over seeing those icons of motoring history, checking out their condition and wishing he could have each and every one, before eventually moving on. It was a literal scavenger hunt. Within this yard was 'the one'—the one car that spoke to him more than any other.

He'd passed Mustangs and Camaros and Corvettes and Challengers new and old, but he already had a classic muscle car. And while he utterly loved his car, and he would love to have any one of these fine American muscle cars, he was looking for something a bit more...exotic.

The Toyota Supras and Nissan GTRs and other such Japanese sports cars were all fine and dandy, but...they weren't him. He just couldn't see himself behind the wheel of what, for all intents and purposes, were street scene cars. The neon and turbochargers weren't really his thing.

After nearly an hour of walking around aimlessly, Viktor keeping pace with him despite the heat of the day, Wolf decided on what he wanted: something European. But what? Having a nice Jag would suit someone like him perfectly. Jags were for those roguish people, the ones who bought them specifically so they could say, "I've got a Jaaaaag...", and then proceed to steal all of the hotel room's towels and complementary shampoos.

The one sort of car he hadn't seen even here were the ultra-rare hypercars, Mclarens and Paganis and Bugattis and the like. Then again, they'd probably cost more than twenty grand even wrecked, so...

Most German cars were a bit too tame for Wolf, save for a few notable exceptions like the Audi R8 and the myriad forms of the Porsche 911. And the old Mercedes and BMWs weren't exactly lookers, to be honest.

Then, however, the two turned a corner and Wolf grinned victoriously at the small but beautiful selection of cars he had just stumbled upon. Italian cars. Ferraris and Lamborghinis and Lancias and even a few Maseratis and Alfa Romeos. If there was any kind of car that suited him more than a classic muscle car, it was an Italian supercar. Especially an old one. That's not to say he didn't like the newer Ferraris and Lambos. They were utterly gorgeous. But there was something about the old 80s and 90s Italian supercars that just spoke to him.

There was one particular car that, as a kid, he had a poster of on his bedroom wall. He highly doubted one would be in here. The place wasn't exactly loaded with fancy Italian cars, maybe a hundred in total, and most of them seemed to be Lancias and Alfas. There was one Gallardo he could see further down that was utterly crumpled on its passenger side. Hit by a semi probably. Hopefully the driver was alright.

A bit further down, he spied a Ferrari Dino. Ferrari it may be, but you'd never see him behind the wheel of one of those things. The two best Maseratis he'd found were a newer GranTurismo and a BiTurbo. Then, the Alfa GTv6 was a bit further down from those. Slow it was, but it had one of the best sounding engines out there. Of course, when he stopped to check it out, the engine was gone, so he simply moved on from that one.

Once he made it down to the end of that particular aisle, Wolf stopped and sighed in defeat. He didn't see anything in there that he particularly liked that he could afford to both purchase and fix up. Just when he was thinking about not bothering and just saving the money, the sound of a forklift grew closer. Wolf looked right and spied it traveling down the dirt path and lost his breath when he realized what that car it was carrying happened to be.

"That one," he spoke up. Viktor walked up beside him and nodded. Then, the bear waved for the driver to stop. A familiar dingo hopped out with a grin.

"Heyya! Find somethin' ya like?" Wolf nodded, still too starstruck at seeing his dream car in a place like this. Viktor just motioned to the car on the forklift with his head, making the dingo grin even wider. "Yeah, she's a beaut, ain't she? Here, let me..."

He jumped back into the forklift to let the arms down, and Wolf all but fell on the hood of the car as he reunited with his inner eight-year-old. "I've always wanted one of these! Had a poster of one on my bedroom wall!"

And it was even more beautiful seeing it in person. It was a 1992 Ferrari 512 Testa Rossa. Sure, there were a few dings and scratches here and there, but the bodywork and paint seemed almost flawless other than those small things. "How much?" Viktor asked.

"And what's wrong with her? She seems perfectly fine to me." Instead of answering Wolf's question, Dusty opened the door and popped the hood. Wolf opened it up and frowned. "Blown engine..." It was kind of hard to miss the giant hole in the crank case. And if there was that much damage in the actual engine block, there was probably some substantial damage elsewhere.

"Previous owner took real good care o' her. On the outside, at least. Was more concerned with how she looked more'n anythin' else, I guess." Wolf just shook his head at that. A car like this deserved better. "An' ta answer yer question...well, based on what it is, what condition it's in, an' you bein' a friend an' all...twelve thousand?"

Normally, Wolf would use his silver tongue to negotiate the price down, but he didn't this time for one reason only. If he was going to stay in Zootopia and keep working with Viktor, then he didn't need to alienate himself from any business associates on the day they first met. Once he got to know Dusty a bit more and vice versa, then he might try, but both mammals were waiting for his answer.

"Deal," Wolf nodded, shutting the hood.

"Take it up to my truck. Wolf will pay up front," Viktor told the dingo, who nodded and jumped back into the forklift. Once he drove off, all that was left was the long walk back to the front. On the way, Wolf pulled out his phone and took care of digitally depositing the check into his bank account, grinning at the massive leap in funds.

Suddenly, the heat seemed a trifle when his day just took such a fantastic turn.

After paying for the car—Wolf had learned long ago to keep a blank check in his wallet, just in case—Viktor got it hooked up to the tow truck. And then, they were back on the road. A few minutes later, Wolf's phone rang. He smirked at the caller id and answered with a, "How's it going, Webs?"

Webs, being who she was, kept tabs on each of the crew's bank accounts for any suspicious activity. That being said, Wolf had a pretty good idea why she called. "I'm doing good on my end, Wolfy, but I just noticed some crazy activity from your account. A really large deposit and a pretty big payment to some sort of junkyard. Was that you, or do I need to run a reverse trace?"

"It was me," he assured the spider. "My boss gave me a pretty big bonus, so I decided to buy myself something nice." Viktor snorted, highly amused.

"Something nice?" Her voice was oozing with skepticism. "From a junkyard?"

"Where do you think I got my first car? Trust me when I say the price was well worth it for this particular beauty." He had no intentions of telling her what it was...yet. When he was finished working on it, he would let the whole gang in on it, but for now, it would be his secret project. So it was that when she asked, Wolf's only response was, "You'll see."

"Oh, come on!" Webs wasn't a huge car enthusiast like he was, but she liked to take an interest in her friends' interests. There was nothing she liked more than seeing her friends all passionate about what made them...them. "Give me a hint, at least!"

Wolf smirked mischievously. "It's a car I've always wanted."

Her response was rather predictable. "There's a hundred cars you've always wanted!"

"Mm...probably more than that," he agreed. "I'll show it off when it's done. Bye, Webs."

"Bye, Wolfy. Take care!" She hung up at that, and Wolf put his phone back in his pocket. He couldn't wait to show the gang his new car. And he especially couldn't wait to show Diane.

Viktor had stayed quiet during that whole exchange, but he spoke up once Wolf put away his phone. "You have good friends, Wolf." The canine nodded with a small, wistful smile. "Hold on to them. For even when you have nothing, you will still have them." The bear's voice was quiet, solemn almost. Perhaps Viktor was speaking from personal experience.

When the following silence stretched on, it became clear that the bear wouldn't elaborate. Not that Wolf expected him to. They'd only known each other for two weeks, after all, and Wolf still had secrets he hadn't told his friends that he's known for nigh on ten years. The rest of the ride, then, was spent in silence. For his part, Wolf was excited to start working on his new car.

The first order of business would be to take the engine and all of its connected components out. Then, he'd figure out what needed to be replaced, repaired, or was fine. And rather than turn it into an utter machine like he did his Camaro, he figured he'd keep it mostly factory-spec. Some new tires, breaks, and maybe some sway bars would be enough...probably.

That's if he didn't get absolutely carried away.

But boy was he excited to hear that 12-cylinder engine's soundtrack! There was something about those rampaging Italian horses that just sounded so good!

He was brought out of his musing as the truck came to a stop in front of a familiar garage. It seemed he'd been daydreaming for longer than he thought. "You want to work on it today?" Viktor suddenly asked.

It was only midafternoon. He and Snake had a few plans for today, but they could always do them tomorrow. Right now, he was just too excited and restless to do anything but work on his new car. "Yeah, if that's alright."

"Perfectly fine," the bear responded as he stepped out of the truck, the engine still going. "I had nothing else planned for today, anyway." Well, Wolf didn't really need Viktor to stay, but he supposed it wasn't really his place to ask the bear to leave. It was Viktor's shop, after all.

Speaking of which, he disappeared through the front door for a moment, and then one of the bay doors started opening a minute later. In fact, the rear bay door just across was opening, too. Viktor jumped back into the truck and drove Wolf's new car, so it would be between the posts of his two-post lift. Once freed of the tow hook, Viktor simply drove out of the other open door and parked the truck in its normal spot in the side lot.

What followed was several hours of grueling work with only the odd fan providing much-needed relief against the day's heat. When working on cars, especially one as old as this, there was always the fear of something going wrong. There was an old mechanic's saying—that Viktor had a plaque of on his office wall—that every twenty minute job was one broken bolt away from becoming a three day ordeal.

Well, on a thirty year old car, there was quite a bit of wear and tear on the mechanical bits and no small amount of rust. While there were pieces they knew they couldn't save, so it didn't matter what condition they were in when they came out as long as they eventually came out, other parts they knew they would try to salvage. Once Wolf got some more money, he would replace all of the older parts with brand new ones, but for now, he was repairing or replacing what needed it while leaving the rest alone.

The only exception was the battery. He didn't care if it still worked; he was putting a new one in.

There was something comforting in the click of ratchet wrenches or the sound of air guns. They were normal sounds in any mechanic's shop, and it reminded him of simpler times when he would work on his car by himself without anyone looking over his shoulder and constantly wondering what he was doing (Shark). That was back before he'd met most of the gang, when he and Snake were a dynamic duo.

In between those sounds, however, there was silence, broken only by an occasional request for help or demand for a specific tool. The one exception to that was a short exchange when they were wrapping up for the day. Wolf was lowering his car back down while Viktor was wiping off his paws on a shop rag. They'd drained the oil and taken out the transmission, clutch, and exhaust. On top, they'd taken out the radiator, alternator, and a bunch of other bits. Tomorrow, or whenever he had a chance to work on it again, he'd be taking out the engine block itself.

"Where did you learn to be mechanic?" Viktor asked out of the blue.

Wolf just shrugged. There wasn't any one place where he'd learned. "I just sort of taught myself. It was a necessary skill to know in my previous...career."

"Yes, I imagine it would be. Getaway cars must be in good shape." Wolf just stared at the bear, not knowing what to say to that. "Oh, don't look so surprised. I figured out who you were a few days into our deal."

"And you're fine with that? With me?" Car parts and tools didn't pay nearly as well as jewelry and fine art, but there was still some considerable money in them for a thief.

"You haven't stolen anything yet. I would know." And Wolf didn't doubt that. He also didn't doubt what the big, Russian bear would do if he did catch Wolf trying to steal something. "Speaking of..." He dug around in his pocket for a second before tossing something to Wolf, who caught it easily.

It was a key.

"Is this..." Wolf was just too dumbstruck to really speak when Viktor nodded.

"Come up tomorrow if you wish to keep working." He turned to walk out before pausing, and then glared at Wolf for a moment, making the universal 'I'm watching you' motion. It was a final reminder that Viktor was trusting Wolf enough to use his shop and not steal from him.

Wolf had no intention of betraying that trust. Since this was undoubtedly a test of some sort—for what, he didn't know—he would definitely do his part to make sure Viktor knew he was trustworthy. A criminal he may have been, but that's not what he was anymore.

Before Wolf left, he gazed longingly at the Ferrari, his Ferrari. He still needed to get the tag, insurance, and title situated, but it was his, essentially. So, after shutting the bay doors and locking the front door, Wolf walked out to the parking lot, night having fallen a while ago by the look of it, and got into his car. For some reason, he wanted to watch Miami Vice when he got home.

He used to love that show as a kid.

AN: So I've never actually watched Miami Vice, but I know a lot of people who loved it. In my mind, a Testa Rossa is a car that would definitely suit Wolf. Agree? Disagree? Comments or concerns? I read all reviews and try to respond to all of them.

Until Next Time

AdmiralCole22