Chapter 5: Nightwork

Zootopia..Nick and Judy's Apartment..Evening.

Nick was changing out of his uniform and changing into some of his old clothes, this particular outfit, still with the Hawaiian shirt motif but was a bit more upper scale, the material was better, higher thread count, almost like something one would wear to a nightclub, the plan was to go to a pred-only bar in a place called Happytown, ironically named it's actually a slum and attracts a more criminal element, perfect for organizing and planning all sorts of crimes. Nick had been to this area on several occasions but even to him, it seemed too dark for his tastes.

This part of town, separate establishments still existed, meaning they had predator only and prey only. Nick's destination was a place called "The Wolf's Den" it was a bar/club where predators could hang out, but had become something more in the years since it started operating, it also became one of the many spots, the criminal element could find work. It was as the name implied a pred-only establishment. Several criminal groups would have contacts here, always on the lookout for new talent, or old talent looking to expand or change pace.

"I don't understand why you have to go by yourself." Chided Judy.

"I told you, this is one of my old haunts, places I would go for jobs." Replied Nick

"So what's the problem?"

"Firstly, your face is well known, if you show up in there, they might recognize you as a cop. Two, this is a pred only kind of place, and I don't want you getting hurt." He replied concerned

"I can take care of myself Nick." She scoffed with almost a chuckle.

Nick spun around and put both paws on her shoulders

"Listen Judy, these are the kinds of preds that don't think like me, they ARE criminals, and they WILL try to hurt you. These are the kind of people who won't think twice, they don't like anyone in their business, and some of them have special hatred towards prey. So they won't hesitate to seriously hurt or kill a bunny rabbit for just being a bunny rabbit, let alone ZPD's first rabbit cop."

Judy all of a sudden took a serious look in Nick's eyes, he was concerned almost afraid for her, and he rarely called her by her name, usually using a nickname "Carrots" "Fluff" or "Whiskers"

"Listen to me, whatever you do, you need to promise me, Do NOT follow me, don't come after me." He asked her.

"You can't honestly expect me to…." She replied before being interrupted.

"Promise me!" he asked again with more force.

"No, I'm not promising that, you can't make me promise such a thing."

"Damn it Judy! Just for once, do as I ask!" he scolded

"Look, I will promise I won't go in there with you, you do 'whatever' it is you need to do, but I am coming in the car at least." She decided to compromise

"You promise to stay in the car?"

"I will promise that, I know how important is to 'keep your image'." She replied using her paws to flash quotation marks.

"This isn't about image, carrots, this is about, you not getting hurt. Please, just do as I ask." He clarified.

"Ok Nick, I will." She agreed.

Judy finished changing into her street clothes, wearing a blue plaid shirt and jeans. Nick finished getting ready. The two went in Nick's car, he had put the roof up, and rolled up the windows, in hindsight he regretted not thinking of asking Kaiden to bulletproof the windows or something. They drove towards Happytown, it was located in the slummy area between Savannah Central and the Rainforest District, just North of the docks. Happytown had a sort of industrial look, run down, rust on pipes. No self-respecting mammal would live here if they could avoid it. Happy town was littered with all sorts of riff raff. East Happytown was a place filled with bars, clubs, each with it's kind of clientele. You could find all manner of criminal element too, Drug dealers, prostitutes, muggers, thieves, hoodlums, hitmammals, whatever you could need you could find it in Happytown, information seldom came cheap, but Nick was hoping that his remaining contacts could get him the information they needed.

They ended up in West Happytown, even farther away from the flashy but seedy clubs to an even seedier part of town; it was quiet, which was even more disconcerting. They eventually pulled up to "The Wolf's Den" Nick parked a small bit away from the club. He turned off the car and took a deep breath.

"Now remember what I said, stay IN the car." He reminded in a soft tone.

"OK." Judy replied frustrated.

Nick looked at her and moved his eyes up and down her form, as if to take a good look.

"Look if everything goes well, I'll be back with a name, and we will be on our way home laughing." He said for levity.

"Just be careful, Nick, ok?" Judy replied looking back at him.

"I will try." He answered.

Nick stepped out of the car, and Judy slid over to the driver's spot, if things went south, she would have to act as getaway driver. He looked back at her with a sly smile, getting into character, and turned to walk into the club.

Zootopia…"The Wolf's Den" club.

As Nick walked into the club, he heard the sound of the lounge music, the dulcet tones and upbeat tempo was hiding the intentions of its patrons. The place was filled with predators from all around Zootopia, each conducting their business or simply relaxing and having a drink. As Nick walked up and passed the bar he heard a voice call out to him

"Hey Nicky, long time no see." Said Winston Wolf, the owner and proprietor.

"Hey Mr. Wolf, how you been, sir." Nick replied respectively.

"Aw Nicky, no need to stand on formality, call me Winston, we've known each other long enough." He replied offering him a seat.

Nick takes a seat at the bar, it's dark oak surface, shiny with the gloss of the clear coat. Winston behind the bar polishing a glass.

"So what can I do ya for?" the wolf asked.

"Well Winston, I heard through the grapevine that there is some new 'opportunities' in town."

"Yeah, is that a fact, like what?"

"Well, I heard that one could make a fair profit in…..distribution." replied Nick raising his eyebrows at the end of the sentence.

"Well, that's always been true, what makes today any different."

"Well because it's something new. And from what I hear, really good."

Winston raised an eyebrow, almost wondering, if Nick knew something he didn't, which would be a rare thing indeed.

"What are you trying to get involved in Nicky?" the wolf asked.

Nick casually pulled something out of his pocket and placed it nonchalant on the bar, moving his paw away far enough to show Winston, it was a blue inhaler with a vial of Rush.

"Oh jeez, Nicky, not you too." The wolf winced at his fox friend.

"What have you heard?" asked Nick, palming the Rush inhaler back into his pocket.

"Look Nicky, please listen to me, don't get hooked on that shit….it….it won't end well."

"Winston, do I look like an addict? No. I'm looking to get into selling it, I heard it's very popular, which means lots of money."

"Not that I took you for the type Nicky, but sell catnip then. It's a heck of a lot less dangerous." The wolf said concerned

"Winston, is that concern I hear?" Nick asked plainly.

"Yeah it is. I know, I'm usually the one who's the hardass, but in this case Nicky, I'm trying to save you a lot of trouble."

"Look, I just want to talk to someone in the know, get an idea, if it's too hot, then I'll back off. I just want a chance though."

Winston, poured Nick a beer and slid it across to him, Nick took a decent gulp of it.

"I know I'm going to regret this, but over in the back, right corner, there is a bear, black bear, big twitchy mammal. Talk to him, name is Ben Thompson."

Nick turned and looked down the length of the bar, then past it to where Winston said, and there he was, a large black bear sitting there seemingly working on his phone. Nick picked up his beer and got up and headed towards the black bear, trying not to make eye contact until he got to him. He casually sat down opposite the bear.

"Do I know you?" he asked.

"No, but I heard you were a bear to ask about certain opportunities." Insinuated Nick.

"I have all sorts of opportunities, you will have to be more specific." The bear replied still not looking up from his phone.

Nick took out the inhaler and placed it on the table in front of him.

"I heard about this opportunity."

The bear still on his phone glanced at the inhaler and then back at his phone and let out a scoff.

"If you're looking for a fix, I'm not the one to talk to."

Nick decided to change strategy.

"Ya know, that is the second time I've been asked that. I'm not looking for a fix, I'm looking for a business arrangement, but if you're not going to take this seriously…."

"I take everything seriously." The bear finally took his attention of his phone.

"What I don't take seriously, is some fox from off the street, coming out of the blue and bothering me."

"Well that's because you haven't heard what I have to say."

The bear crooked an eyebrow slightly curious.

"Look, my name is Nick, and if you ask anyone around here, they can tell you that one thing I KNOW how to do, is sell. That and the fact that I know pretty much everybody, You need an 'in' in Little Rodentia, I'm your fox. Sahara Square and the Mystic Oasis club, I have contacts in every district, heck even out in the burrows. So I figure if you want to expand, and do so without having to build your own network piece by piece, we could do business. Let my people handle it."

The bear thought on this for a minute.

"If you so, widespread, how come I've never heard of you?"

"Because my people and I know how to keep quiet. How to lay low and not make waves for the cops to find."

"Too quiet it seems. I've never heard of some phantom network run by a fox."

"Well you know what they say 'When you've done your job right, no one is sure you've done anything at all.' A bit frustrating sometimes, and very rewarding to those that do sign on to using me." Nick replied, blowing on his nails and lightly rubbing them on his shirt as if polishing them.

"Well, even IF, and that is a BIG IF, I'm not the one you talk to about percentages of anything."

The bear slid something across the table, a business card, it said 'Apex' on it, Sahara Square. Nick took the card and looked at it.

"Apex? As in that really rich looking club uptown?"

"The very one, when you get in, ask for 'The Metronome', and be ready to answer some hard questions. If 'The Metronome' feels that you're wasting his time, he'll 'waste' you."

"I will be careful." Replied Nick as he collected the card and the inhaler.

"Oh and don't pull the 'mysterious stranger' crap, that will just piss him off."

"Duly noted." Nick replied back.

Nick smiled as he started walking towards the door, he had gotten an 'in' with this metronome, even under the guise of someone looking for a job, and he hoped it would be enough. He was feeling confident, and happy, pulling off another con in a way. An old feeling, like a comfortable pair of shoes, Nick hadn't felt this way in a while, wondering if he still had the 'edge' as Finnick would say.

As he walked past the bar, he noticed that Winston wasn't there, he stopped and looked behind bar, thinking maybe he was kneeling down grabbing something, but no, he wasn't there at all. At first he was concerned but then dismissed it as he walked out the door.

As Nick walked out the door he heard a scuffle from a nearby alley, a couple of wolves came running out of the alley, followed by Winston, who threw what looked like a piece of brick, tagging one of them in the back, who yelped.

"Oh you better run you sons of bitches." He yelled out.

The wolf turned towards and spoke towards someone.

"What the hell are you even doing in this neighborhood, grazer?" asked Winston to the unknown person.

"What cat got your tongue? Answer me, what are you doing here?"

Nick shot a glance at the car and then back at Winston, he ran over to the alley, He saw Winston standing over a rabbit, who had looked like she got into a fight.

"So…..Winston what's going on?" Nick asked keeping his cover.

"This rabbit here is lost." The wolf answered.

"Look sir, I'm very sorry to have bothered you." Replied Judy, trying to act innocent.

"How are you even down here? This is Happytown, no grazers comes to happy town, especially at this time of night."

Winston took a moment to consider something, he looked around, noticing almost no cars on the side of the street except Nick's convertible, which he knew well, and he panned to the rabbit, then to Nick.

"Nicky? What the hell is going on here?" the wolf looked at Nick with a piercing stare.

"What do you mean?" Nick replied, acting stupid.

"First, you come back after being gone for like a year or more, you ask about getting in on a dangerous job, AND you bring a rabbit?"

"I don't know her." Nick replied.

"Really now, Hey Nick, I've got the best nose in the business remember." He said, trying to remind Nick

"Yeah."

"So the fact that I can smell you on her, you're still going to go with that lame excuse."

Nick looked as if he had been caught.

"Look, unlike my clientele, I don't care what you do and who you do it with. It isn't my business if you're into pred-prey stuff. Truth is you were always the weird one Nicky." Winston joked.

Nick smiled with a chuckle.

"But what I do mind is being used." Winston changed his demeanor to a more serious tone.

Winston in a flash grabbed Nick by the throat and pinned him against the wall. Judy rushed up to Winston, he grabbed her and pinned her against the wall next to Nick.

"Now what the hell is going on here? And you better tell me the truth or I WILL turn you both into an orange and gray grease spot." Said the wolf.

Nick opened his mouth, trying to think of some kind of plausible excuse, but Judy spoke first.

"We came here just to get some information."

"What kind of information?" asked the wolf.

"We needed to get information about a mammal named 'the metronome'." She replied

"What are you cops?" he asked with almost incredulity.

Winston looked Judy up and down and realized who she was.

"Holy crap, you're that rabbit cop." He concluded.

"So Nick, I guess you're either a cop or a snitch, and I don't know which one is worse." He said levying the statement at Nick

"Look Winston, you said it yourself, that Rush stuff is bad, we got to get it off the streets."

"Yeah, but I don't like being lied to." Winston replied giving Nick's throat a squeeze.

Nick sputtered and gasped.

"I'm sorry." He wheezed.

"What did you say?" Winston pretending not to hear.

"I said, I'm sorry!" Nick replied a little louder.

Winston let out a grunt of frustration and dropped them both.

"Ya know Nicky, I know lying comes as first nature to you, and you lie to a lot of folks, but not to your family, how many times have I bailed you out? Who took you in when you were lost on the damn streets?!"

Nick hung his head, looking down, his ears drooped.

"You should have trusted me Nicky."

The Wolf then turned his attention to the rabbit.

"So….you're the rabbit that took Nicky out of this life?"

"Yes, my name is Judy, Judy Hopps." She offered her paw.

"Winston Wolf, I solve problems, or rather, I used to solve problems." he replied shaking her paw.

"Well, I'm glad you got Nicky onto something better."

Judy smiled.

"I just didn't expect you to steal the boy's heart, but hey, happy is happy right." He concluded

Judy blushed a little bit. Winston thought for a moment seriously, and clicked his tongue a few times, as if trying to come to a decision on something.

"Look, I can't let you roll up my clientele, but I will say this, this 'Rush' stuff I keep hearing about is bad, like really bad. And I wouldn't mind if those folks went away for a while." He said to Judy.

"Nicky did you get in good with the guy?" He asked.

"Yeah. I got his card. Apex club."

"Yeah, sounds about right, alright look, from what I heard, this 'metronome' guy, has a warehouse or storage something, right next to the club, they might actually have it connected by a tunnel or something, whatever. Anyway, what I hear is that this mammal moves the stuff in and out through this place, the club is a front, something glitzy and glamorous for people to focus on while the real business goes on in the back." Explained Wolf.

"So if you want to bust these creeps, you got to get into that warehouse. And don't ask me how, what I just told you is all I heard from just listening."

"Thank you for your help." replied Judy

"Yeah, don't mention it, now get outta here."

Judy turned to Nick "Come on Nick."

"Just a second, carrots. I'll catch up." Nick replied.

Judy left the two alone and started walking back to the car.

"I'm sorry Winston." Said Nick.

"I'm disappointed Nicky. I understand you got your undercover cop thing going on, but damn, you're telling me you can't trust me?"

"I've been through some stuff this last year that really made me question my trust in a lot of people."

"You want to talk about it?"

"Yeah, I would, but not now, no time."

"So let me ask, this 'stuff' you went through, she go through it with you?"

"Yeah, we really bonded because of it."

"Well, she seems nice Nicky, so do yourself a favor, and don't screw it up."

"I'm not, in fact I got the feeling that, well, that I'll be looking into those eyes for the rest of my life." Nick replied with a pleasant smile, thinking of the prospect.

Winston laughed out loud.

"Well my Nicky, finally growing up." Winston smiled.

"Then a bit of advice, stop lying to people close to you."

"Yeah, I'm really sorry about that." Nick said.

"I know you Nicky, it's a self-defense thing, you lie because you don't want to face the truth sometimes, or you think it's easier just to live as the preverbal 'sly fox'."

"I'm telling you that shit is going to come home to roost one day. So why would you do it to people who care about you?" asked Winston

"I know, I was worried that if I came in all police investigator you would have thrown me out, or worse, told me to never come back." Nick admitted.

"Nicky, look, you're right, I deal with some shady ass characters, and while like I said, I can't let you destroy how I do business, I would never just throw you out of my life. I know what heartbreak you've been through, how you been hurt. I would never do that to you, no matter what your occupation is."

"Thanks Winston."

Winston gave Nick a fatherly hug, giving him a few pats on the back.

"Now, get outta here Nicky, you got things to do." The wolf said as he broke the hug.

Nick started to walk back across the street toward his car.

"And Nicky….she's cute, you got good taste young fox." The wolf said with a smile, as he went back into the bar.

Nick jumped in the car as it began to rain, the thumping of the drops, echoing inside the car like soft tapping.

"What happened out there?" Nick asked concerned.

"Look, I'm sorry ok, I didn't mean to blow your cover." Judy apologized.

"Screw my cover Judy, I don't care about that, I care about your safety more than anything. What happened?"

"I….I got jumped. Ok"

"No it's not ok, how did they even get close?"

"I….I…..I got out of the car." Judy admitted

Nick shook his head in disappointment.

"Damn it, carrots. I told you…."

"I know what you told me. Ok, I started to get worried." She interrupted Nick.

Nick sighed. "What happened?"

"I got out of the car and went over to peek in the window, I was watching you talk with the bartender, and those wolves snuck up on me."

"We got into a little scuffle, and your friend came out to see what was the matter, and he chased them off. No big deal." Judy finished.

"It's a big deal to me carrots, I know you can take care of yourself in a fight, but if something was to happen to you…"

"I know. And I appreciate the concern. But there are times when this job is going to get dangerous for the both of us, but if we are so preoccupied with what MIGHT happen then we really WILL get hurt."

Nick sat silently, just looking at her.

"Kind of like what I just did. I got so preoccupied with what might happen to you, I didn't pay attention to where I was, and I got jumped. So I'm guilty of it too. So don't feel bad." She admitted.

"And you're sure you ok?" still concerned.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" she asked.

"Cuz when you say you got jumped, do you mean they were trying to beat you up or….were they trying to…" Nick asked reluctantly, not wanting to ask the question, the mere words acting as ash on his mouth.

Judy could sense what he was trying to ask, as he was looking down, not even able to look at her in the face to ask the question, his ears lowered, and a visibly disturbed expression on his face.

"No they weren't, they just wanted to try and rough me up. Thinking they could rough up a small bunny from out of town. I showed them though."

"Would you tell me if they were?"

"I wouldn't keep that kind of thing from you Nick."

"Ok." He answered almost silently still looking down. Still thinking of what could have happened.

"But you're right….this is a rough part of town."

Judy slid over to Nick and caressed him on the cheek.

"Hey." She said softly and sweetly. "Don't be sad."

She looked into his eyes, smiling sweetly at him, and she rubbed her nose against his trying to cheer him up.

"Hey, your bunny is trying to love on you."

Nick turned eyes to look into hers.

"Oh come on, don't be mopey." She said playfully.

"How can you be so bubbly, after what just happened?" he asked.

"Because Nick, life is just series of moments, some good, some bad, and we've seen some pretty bad ones. And they were worse than three punks in an alley, and I want my life with you to be filled with as many good moments as possible."

"Even though we could die any second."

"Especially because we could die any second. If that happens, I want my last thoughts on this earth to be of you, how you laugh, how you smile, how you love."

"Good moments?" he finished the sentiment.

"Moments, just…like….this." she replied as she sweetly kissed him on the lips, then passionately.

Nick closed his eyes and kissed her back, and just like that it seemed as if what just happened a few minutes ago just disappeared. Judy had that power over him, right as he is focusing and obsessing over the horrible outcomes of what it is they do, she swoops in and just changes it. Create a moment encapsulated and self-contained, and fill it with good feelings of love and joy. He had never met anyone who could do that, ever. It was one of the qualities she had about her, and it was because of those qualities he felt compelled to protect her, not because of bravado or machismo, not because of some assumption of inability, but because he felt her soul was of such purity such rarity, that he would do anything and everything to keep this life from soiling it, and if necessary taking the dirt and grime into his own paws if only to spare it from dirtying hers.

When she broke the kiss, all he could do was smile back at her, looking into those beautiful amethyst eyes.

"See, I got you to smile." She said triumphantly.

"That you did." He whispered.

"We should get going, we still have a bad guy to catch. And I have to change." She said giving him a peck on the nose.

"What do you mean?" asked Nick

"Oh, I'm going with you this time." She replied playfully.