Bogo had a very good deal of experience during his time as chief of police. Many times he had to supervise a busting into a criminal organization. From local drug dealers to one occasion when he helped the FBI with a mammal-trafficking ring. He had some experience with these things, and he knew how to assemble a good team.
Of course, he would love to have more time to plan these kinds of things, but time was a luxury that you can't always have.
These illegal fights were too violent to be ignored, and who knew when they would have another chance to bust these? They needed to act fast.
As soon as the day came, and after the briefing of the assignments for the day, all of the mammals who had been assigned to the job in the previous night had gathered into the bull-pen to discuss the details on the busting that they would make on that same night.
"There will be four teams." Bogo said to the gathered officers. "First team will be formed by Delgato, McHorn, myself and Fangmeyer." He said, looking at the lion, rhino, and tiger who all nodded back at him. "We will cover the front entrance, with the high-caliber tranquilizer rifles and we'll make sure to get the ones who are inside."
His eyes already turned to the other animals in the room. "Second team will be formed by Hopps, Fanghanel, Rhinowitz, and Catano. You will be covering the back exit, and be sure to apprehend anyone who tries to leave by the back, we need to make sure that the ones who are present will not leave, especially the mammals who are organizing these events."
Judy and Elliot both nodded, as well as the female cheetah and the rhino near them. Bogo continued.
"The third team will deal with intelligence and surveillance, and it will be formed by Meerkovitz, Gatz, and Felidin. You will be around the warehouse in strategical points armed with dart rifles, and you will dart those who try to sneak out, and you will also cover the two main teams as we do the busting. Think you can do that?"
"Count on us, Chief." Meerkovitz said, as he stood by the side of the other two officers, a domestic angora cat, and a tall leopard.
Bogo nodded, and he returned to the planning. "Finally, the last team will be on the inside. It will be composed by Wolfard and Wilde." He looked at the two officers, the timber wolf, and the sly fox. "You will be on the inside of the warehouse undercover and you will be monitoring the thing from inside and be reporting back at us so we can coordinate the bust."
"So, I guess we can see our dear Wolfard back into his freakishly realistic sheep costume again, right?" Nick added, and there was a brief chuckling in the room before Bogo continued.
"Attention, attention! All of you!" There was a silence in the room, as everyone looked at the cape buffalo. "This is a high-profile case, and while it might not be the first busting many of you are making, it might be the first you have to make into a very short notice. It might be dangerous, and we are not sure what we are going to be facing. We need to focus and plan this right because I'm not going to lose officers because of a failure in planning!" The buffalo said, and it was enough to stop any future jokes or snide remarks, as they continued to plan.
The briefing went for most of the morning and a part of the afternoon, as the codes to be used on radio, the precise approach to the warehouse, and everything else was planned in advance. All that was left was to prepare the equipment and to get ready for the "main event of the night", as Wilde had put it.
Speaking of Wilde, he was currently in the locker rooms, and he was dressing out of his police uniform. After all, tonight he was going to go into an undercover operation, and he needed to be a common fox, not a cop. Unlike his "dancing partner for the night", Nick would not be needing some fancy and very elaborate costume or disguise, he just needed to be out of his cop clothes.
Nick was somewhat famous as Zootopia's first fox cop, but still, he discovered soon that he didn't need disguises when he was going undercover. Many mammals still don't really believe that a fox can be a cop, and it wasn't a few times in which Nick got his uniform mistaken by a costume The idea of a fox becoming a cop was considered against common sense, and so, most mammals didn't think that the fox before them could be an undercover cop. It just was ludicrous to some.
Nick was quick to learn how to use that in his favor. Of course, this would not be effective against the ones who already knew him and knew that his change of professions was for real. These guys would not be fooled, and Nick hoped he would not see any of them on there tonight.
As the fox changed from clothes, another mammal was next to him, using the lower locker that was right on the side of his own. It was Meerkovitz. The meerkat was 1'8'' foot tall, shorter than Judy, and he was quite slender. The fur on his body was of a sand-like brown coloration, with black stripes on his back and on his arms and legs (Nick could see because he was changing clothes as well), with a black snout and a pair of brown eyes. Nick could see that the meerkat looked somewhat nervous, by the way that he was moving, and the look in his eyes. Nick looked at him for a few moments, before saying:
"Yoh, Watcher."
The meerkat almost jumped into a fighting position, looking surprised at the much bigger fox. Nick looked back at him. "Dude, some hours until the mission actually starts, and you are already all edgy?"
Meerkovitz looked at him for a few moments, before he sighed and relaxed.
"Yeah kind of "
"So... nervous?" Nick asked as he continued to fumble on his own locker, looking for a change of civilian clothes, the meerkat soon was following suit, but looking for something else.
"Yeah kind of actually, more like freaked out." The smaller predator admitted, and Nick looked at him. "I mean, up until now, I have only worked as a traffic guard. I'm good at it, and I was actually satisfied doing that. This is my first time taking part in something that big. I'm really nervous I'll blow it."
"Try not to think about it too much." Nick said.
"I have to think of it!" the meerkat answered. "I'll be on official sentry duty! I'll be covering everyone! What if some guy sneaks out of my sight? What if someone sneaks on another officer and I miss it, and someone ends up in the hospital because I didn't do my job right? Oh, Great Savannahs, what if my finger slips and I end up darting one of the guys by mistake?"
"Hey, hey, hey." Nick said, "Calm down. Deep breaths."
The meerkat did as Nick told him, taking deep breaths, as he tried to calm himself down. Nick helped him a little bit, and after a few moments, the meerkat seemed to have calmed down.
"Just relax, dude." Nick said to him, "Bogo picked you among the officers himself, and he wouldn't have made that if he thought you'd screw this up. You did had good grades in your classes, right?"
"Yeah " The smaller mammal said, "I had very good scores on my classes, especially on the shooting practices."
"And you are worried that you will miss a shot?" Nick asked.
"I never actually used a weapon in service." The meerkat admitted. "And, I kind of hoped I never would have to. I don't really like guns, even the dart ones."
"Yeah, many mammals don't." Nick admitted. Lethal guns had gone through a lot of legislation in the past decades. Nowadays, only the police, the national organizations and the military are allowed to have them, and even the police and national security prefer to use the non-lethal guns in favor of the lethal ones if they can help it (even though some conspiracy-theorists out there seemed to think otherwise). Many mammals out there actually started campaigns to abolish lethal guns completely, while others were protesting for them to come back in circulation for everyone. Nick was among the ones who were fine with things the way they were, he still didn't had to use a lethal gun in his one-and-a-half year time in the force, and he hoped to keep it for a while longer before he had to, even though he knew that, as a cop, sooner or later he would have to use lethal force.
This situation did not involve lethal force, but it still involved dart guns and danger, and that was a responsibility for itself. It was clearly leaving the meerkat nervous.
Nick looked at him for a while, and he said:
"Yeah, maybe you're right." Nick said, and the meerkat continued to look down. "I mean, you will basically have to be a sentry for this, and you surely are not made for that."
"Yeah, I wait, what?" The meerkat said, looking up at the fox, his ears perking.
"Yeah, I mean, this thing of being a sentry is something that some mammals are not made for." Nick continued, and the meerkat now was looking at him.
"Not made I am a meerkat!" Meerkovitz said. Like a meerkat, being a sentry was part of his culture and nature.
"Yeah, you are." Nick said, "But just like some wolves are worse sniffers than others, I guess some meerkats are worse sentries than others."
"Worse " the smaller mammal said, and his eyes were narrowing as he looked at the fox, who continued talking.
"Yeah, I guess you must not be a good sentry. You should go to the Chief and tell him that you're a meerkat who was just not made to be a sentry and that maybe he should put one of the rhinos in your place."
"Wha- You You!" Meerkovitz was almost fuming now, and he looked at the fox who looked down at him with that smug smile. "I am Jeremy Meerkovitz! My father is Julien Meerkovitz! He won the title of Great Sentry in our hometown twelve years in a row! I won it three times after he retired and before I moved to Zootopia!" The small animal's voice was becoming louder. "I am a good sentry!"
"So, you saying you would do a good job as our sentry for tonight's mission?"
"Of course I can be a good sentry for tonight's mission!" The meerkat nearly shouted, and that did attract a few looks from some animals around. Nick only continued to smile at him, a smug, but friendly smile.
"Then you have no reason to be so worried about messing this up, right?"
The meerkat looked at the fox and blinked. He was a bit confused and took a few moments to notice what had happened. What the fox had done.
"Y-you " the meerkat looked at him, and the fox only continued to smile at him as he finished dressing. Nick was wearing a purple t-shirt with brown social pants.
"See ya tonight, Watcher." Nick said as he started to walk away, and Meerkovitz was still a bit dumbfounded at what had just happened. He could only look at the fox as he walked away, and slowly, a smile formed in the smaller animal's muzzle.
He had just seen that some of the rumors he had heard about Wilde were the truth. And they were only good things that he heard about the tod.
*******************
Judy was with Catano in the female locker room. The female cheetah stood on 5'4'' feet tall, easily towering over the much smaller bunny. Her body is slender and graceful as one expects from a cheetah's. The fur on her body was of a light yellow, with a softer shade on her muzzle and down her neck and chest, with black spots all over herself. Her eyes were colored like honey. She currently was wearing only shorts and a ZPD tank top, just like Judy, as they were changing from their regular clothing to something that would be more fitting for the night. They both wore protective vests during the day, however, tonight they were changing to a more heavy vest, which was able to better block bullets. It was a protective measure, in case someone who was in there would be armed. Also, they would be wearing darker clothes, to help them blend better and remain unseen during the mission, in which they would approach subtly.
"I have always wanted to use one of these, you know?" The big cheetah said to the smaller mammal by her side. Judy looked up at her as she held the uniform of a darker, almost black shade of blue. "These dark colors really make my eyes pop. Too bad I'm gonna be pointing my dart gun at others, and they won't have time to actually see me before I dart them unconscious."
"Yeah, I guess so." Judy said. "I bet you look really good in this."
"Just wait until you see me." Catano said. "I'll look like a dashing nightwalker."
Judy chuckled, and someone near said:
"Yeah, I bet you do."
Elise Fangmeyer came to them. The tigress was big and strong, standing on 8'7'' feet tall, with a strong and muscular built. Judy had to admit, with a certain shame, when she first arrived at the ZPD, she thought that Fangmeyer was a male. The tigress was colored like any other tiger, with orange fur and black stripes, and white muzzle and down her neck and chest. Her eyes are on a dark-gold coloration, and they have some eyeshadow, something that accentuated her feminine nature. She was wearing the same as the other two, black sports shorts and ZPD tank top, and they made it clear that she was rather flat on the chest, much like the other girls.
"So, both of you ready to bust some illegal business?" The tigress asked the two girls. "Because I am more than ready."
"I'm ready." Catano said, and they both looked at Judy. The bunny looked to be thinking about something.
"What? Is the great Judy Hopps is nervous?" One of the girls asked, and this caused Judy to look up at them.
"What? No! I mean yes kinda. But, not because of me." Judy admitted. The two felines shared a look, and they seemed to know what this was about.
"You are worried about your partner, right?" Catano asked, and Judy nodded.
"Yeah I mean, I know that Nick can take care of himself. I know that he has been undercover a few times already But, he still is my partner and my friend. I worry that something might happen to him if something goes wrong." The bunny admitted.
"Well, it is perfectly normal." Fangmeyer said, "After all, all missions have a danger element, especially if you are undercover." There was no point in sugar-coating the truth, and she also knew that it would not be nice to do that with her fellow officer. "Still, Wilde has proven many times that he is one hell of a sly fox. I can't count the number of times that I heard that he talked his way out of some situation."
"That tod can sure take care of himself. He is smart. He proved he is good at dealing with others, and he is already considered one of the best officers of First Pricy after he has been here for just one year." Catano said to the smaller animal. "Besides, you must know better than anyone how good he is since he is your partner."
Judy looked up at them, and she had to admit that they both had a point. Ever since he joined the ZPD, Nick proved time and time again how much of a good cop he was. Even before that, he graduated in the academy with top grades of his class, just like she did before him. Nick had street smarts, he had the cunning, he knew how to think outside of the box, he was very good at dealing with others, and he knew very well how to take care of himself.
"Yeah, I guess you two are right." She admitted to them, causing them to smile back at her, and soon, they were back to getting dressed, Judy as well, trying to reassure herself based in all that was just said.
Still, Judy could not help but be worried about the safety of the mammal who was so close to her, and who would be walking inside a place that would be full of potentially dangerous individuals. The very thought of Nick getting seriously injured, or worse, was just something that she didn't like to think about, even though she knew that, in their line of job, it was a very real possibility.
Judy soon was suited up along with the other two females. Dark clothing, including a heavy body-armor that was reserved for elite missions. Complete with the special, high-reach dart guns, with darts filled with a very strong tranquilizer that would probably bring down anyone who was hit, from a mouse to an elephant. The tranquilizer was of a burn rate equivalent to metabolism, as well, so it was safe to use in animals of any size.
Soon, they were ready, and some of the animals were gathered, as the last details of the mission were discussed among them.
"So, you two go ahead and enter the building as if you were just two of these mammals who enjoy seeing this kind of thing." Bogo said to Nick and Wolfard. Nick was wearing the same civilian clothing that he wore in the lockerooms. Wolfard was on his sheep costume, the head pulled out, leaving his real wolf head on the outside. "You both had communicators hidden on your ears and on the lapel of your shirts, keep us in touch of all that happens in there, including the number of mammals inside and if any of them have heavy weapons. The last thing we need is to be surprised when doing this."
"You can count on us, Chief." Nick said to the boss with his usual sly smile, and the buffalo only nodded back at him.
"I really hope so." The buffalo said, "Mayor Amur has tasked me personally into seeing that these illegal fights would end, and she was insistent that should be no casualties. I don't want to let her down." with that said, Bogo was walking away, leaving behind some of his officers. Nick was about to get into the car with Wolfard when something grabbed his wrist.
He looked over to see his bunny partner, looking back at him with her amethyst eyes. "You be careful, okay?"
Nick looked at her for a few moments, and he smiled at her, smug as always, and he said, "Don't worry Carrots. I'm a top officer of the ZPD, former master scammer, and also if you didn't noticed " Nick pulled the sleeve of his shirt and showed some muscle on his arm. "I'm not as pencil-necked as I was one year-and-a-half ago, courtesy of all the exercise."
Judy looked at him, seeing his confident attitude reassured her, and she smiled back at him. Her gaze then turned to Wolfard, who was half-way into closing his costume, and he looked back at the purple eyes of the bunny. "And you, make sure to cover my partner."
The wolf nodded, and Nick, who was seeing that, turned his gaze to the wolf and cheetah that were near. "The same goes for you two. Take good care of my partner."
"Count on us." Officer Catano said.
"Don't worry, Nick, we won't let your missus get hurt." Officer Fanghanel said, winking at Nick in what seemed a conspiratory way when he said "missus". This granted all the mammals in there to look at him.
" okay." Nick said, and he started to climb into the car. "See you later, Carrots. We'll go to our favorite bar to celebrate when this is over."
Judy looked at him, as she was snap out of the strange situation that Fanghanel's words created, and she was able to smile back at him, and she said, "We sure will."
With that, Nick closed the door, and soon they were driving away.
Judy remained in place, seeing as the car drove, wishing that she could follow them to be sure that they would arrive in there okay. She felt a paw landing in her shoulder, and she looked up to see Catano over her, with a reassuring smile.
"We gotta get our weapons ready." She said simply. She didn't say anything else, and actually, there was no need to say anything else in this situation. Judy looked up at her and nodded, and soon, she was moving ahead, with the two bigger mammals following her from behind.
"So did you really needed to say that back then?" Catano whispered to Fanghanel, who was right by her side. The wolf looked at her a bit confused, and she said. "The 'missus' thing?"
"What?" Fanghanel said to her, still not quite getting it. "I was just reassuring Nick that we would take care of his bunny. That is what friends do for another friend, right?" He was speaking as if it was something common and obvious. "Besides, I want to make sure that they will call me to be the best mammal in their wedding." He added the last part with a smile and his tail wagging.
Catano only looked at him, before rolling her eyes and just saying nothing more.
*******************
Making busts was complicated.
Going undercover was complicated.
Nick knew all of that from his experience in the force. From what they taught him in the Academy, from the stories he heard from his fellow officers and from his own personal experiences as a cop. Now, they were going to be undercover cops during a busting operation, so, it was only natural to think that the level of complication would reach another high.
They were to go in there as two mammals who enjoyed seeing two guys killing each other, and to be in the middle of the crowd of many other blood-thirsty mammals while they watched the two crazy dudes kill each other in a ring. That was just dandy.
The goal was to be in there to give important information to the rest of the team when the time came, and for that, they needed to make sure that no one in there would even suspect that they were cops, because otherwise, the whole operation would be at risk. Not to mention that something really bad could happen to them both
So, as part of this, they had to go in without anything that would give away their identity. Not only that, but they could not be seen arriving with anyone who was a cop, or with any police car, hence why they were going ahead of everyone, in an old and run-down car with an awful beige color. So they could arrive in there ahead of the time and to give the tickets so they could get in and blend in the crowd. That was essential to their operation, and both Nick and Wolfard knew that well, and they knew that screwing up was not an option. Nick really wanted to celebrate with his partner in their favorite bar, instead of spending the days in the hospital recovering from being step on by some thug.
It took them some time, but they did arrive at the location. Zootopia was a coastal city, and as so, it was only natural for it to have ports. Sahara Square, in particular, had some of the most famous ports of the city, and others not so famous. Pier Nile Mouth was one of these coastal ports, a pier (as you probably guessed) that used to serve as a place for storing material that came from the nearby port, in one of the many warehouses that were in there. However, the company that used the warehouses went bankrupt, and as a result, the place was abandoned.
However, someone found a way to make it not be so abandoned anymore. Places like that were very attractive to these who wanted them for "less noble activities", as the illegal fighting ring seemed to.
They were already moving close to the pier, and the warehouses were visible. They parked into the street, and as they got out of the car, Nick checked on his watch.
19:23
"We are kinda early, aren't we?" Nick asked the "sheep" as he locked the doors and activated the alarm of the car.
"The fight will only start around 20:00, or at least that is what the ticket said."
"We need to secure the perimeter from the inside." Wolfard said, the freakishly realistic sheep jaw moving per his own jaw in the inside of the costume. "Besides, Slimy Tusks himself told me to be here early, before everyone would come crowding the place. Apparently, there is some kind of 'special theme' for tonight's fight."
Nick stopped and looked at him. That was a piece of information that had not been shared earlier. "What kind of 'theme'?"
The "sheep" shrugged. "Cage fight? Fighting in the mud? I don't know, I didn't ask that."
"Dude, you should have asked!" Nick said to him, "And you should also have told us about this 'special theme' earlier!"
The disguised mammal stopped and thought a little bit. "You think?"
"Yes, I think." Nick said, a little exasperated. He stopped for a moment, and he had a look of horror on his face. "Oh no "
"Huh, what, what was it?" Wolfard said, now getting really worried about that, even more with the look in the fox's face. Nick rose his head, still looking horrified, and he said:
"I just spoke like the Chief "
You could not see through the sheep mask, but Wolfard blinked as he looked at the fox, and he was now fighting the urge to slap his own face.
*******************
"They must be there now, right?" McHorn asked Bogo, and the buffalo just looked at his watch, seeing the time.
"Yeah, most likely." The buffalo said, and he turned to the other animals around him, all gathered, geared and armed. All of them were ready for the action, and all of them were competent, or so Bogo believed them to be.
"Okay, we will be parting in fifteen minutes, if anyone has a question or a commentary to make, now is the time." Bogo looked at each present officer, and he saw looks of determination in each one of them. These were the looks of confident officers, who were ready to uphold their duty and their oath of serve and protect. From the biggest rhino to the small meerkat holding the surprisingly big snipper riffle.
Just by looking at them, Bogo knew:
They were all ready.
*******************
The fox and "sheep" were walking across the Pier Nile Mouth, and they were passing by the warehouses, each one was rather big, once they used to serve to store containers coming from ships.
"When we get there, remember." Wolfard said. "I am Ezekiel Wooliver and you are Jake Russet."
Nick grimaced just a little bit. "A fox named 'Russet', now that is quite cliché."
As they passed by the warehouse that had a big 11 painted on the side, they were not seeing another warehouse that had the number 12 in it. In front of it, leaning against the metal door as he was just minding his own business, smoking a cigarette, was a burly rhino. He stood on nearly nine feet tall, with a body that showed that he went to the gym nearly every day. Hs was wearing a heavy undercoat, but it still didn't hide his muscled frame. The skin on his head was of a dull grey coloration, and his horn was broken. His yellow eyes were focused on the newspaper that he was reading, and he seemed to be just another guy going around and doing nothing. That was how he was supposed to look to anyone who saw him, but those who knew that something was going on that warehouse that night would know better.
As it was the case of the two animals coming.
"Hey, dude." Wolfard said, making the rhino lazily look up from his newspaper to him. He straightened himself just a little bit and looked at him before he realized the fox coming by his side. "We are here for the event." The disguised wolf said, pulling out the tickets and handling them to the rhino. The animal looked at the tickets, them at the rhino. The next moment, the rhino's eyes focused on the fox.
For a moment, both Wolfard and Nick held their breath. "Oh crap, does he knows Nick?"
After a few moments, the rhino started to stretch his neck, as if to see above the sheep's shoulders. Wolfard even looked above his shoulder, as if to look at what the rhino was looking for.
"So, you coming in with the fox?" The rhino finally asked, causing the "sheep" to look back at him.
"What, do you owned him a favor, or something?"
Relief came over the two animals, as it seems that the rhino just had assumed that it was strange for a fox and a sheep to come to a place together.
"Well, I kind of own this fox some favors." The disguised mammal said, and it was not really a lie, "But other than that, Jake here is a good friend of mine. I invited him to come to watch it with me."
The rhino looked at him for a few moments.
"You invited him to come with you? Seriously?" the rhino said.
"Yes, I did. We are good friends. Why?" the wolf disguised as a sheep said, "Do you have a problem with this?"
The rhino shrugged. "Well, I don't have a problem, but the guys who will be inside tonight..."
The two mammals shared a look among themselves, as neither of them quite liked the way that the rhino had said that.
"W-what do you mean by that?" The disguised wolf said, and the rhino looked back at the sheep face that was the mask Wolfard used.
"You know that tonight's fight has a theme, right?"
"What does this have to do with it?" The "sheep" asked. The rhino looked back at him for a few moments, before he reached out and took the two tickets from his "hooves".
"Enjoy the fight, you two." He said, starting to open the door at the gate. "And a word of advice: if you two want to leave this place whole, you better not go saying to the others that you two are friends. They might not like it."
The two mammals once more shared a look, and they walked inside, as the rhino soon was closing the door behind them. The inside of the warehouse was somewhat what you would expect: run down and broken at some points, with rusted walls, and run-down paint on the walls. The place was big: enough for them to put something inside that looked like an actual fighting ring, surrounded by a big metal cage. However, the place was not as bad as one would expect from an abandoned place, as it seemed that the same mammals who put the fighting ring in there decided to clean up the place to make it more presentable. Two stands were put in place to serve food, each one at opposite ends of the warehouse, and both of them with some tables for mammals to stop and eat. However, the two animals noticed, as soon as they come in, that it seemed that the place had been divided in two, for not only the food stands were on opposite sides of the warehouse, but it seemed that someone had put a makeshift barbed-wire fence between the two sides. The fence did not go over the ring, but they divided the place where the audience was supposed to stay.
The two animals looked at this as they walked inside.
"An interesting interior I would like to know their decorator." Nick said, and soon, someone came to see them. It was a big grizzly bear, standing on 8'4'' feet tall, with a stocky body. The fur on his body was of a deep brown coloration. He was wearing some clothing that was nice for a night in town, with a nice black shirt and a pair of long jeans pants. He looked like he was ready for a party in a friend's party, not some illegal fight to the death in an abandoned warehouse. His hazelnut eyes focused on the two animals as they came in.
"Welcome, my friends." He said, "I'm Kyle, and I'm one of the organizers of these events. Good to see the two new faces in here." He said, in a rather bright way, and the two animals shared a look at the sympathetic bear before Wolfard spoke:
"Huhhh, okay? I'm Ezekiel, nice to meet you. I have to say, you do make a good job here."
The bear blinked and looked at him. For a moment, Wolfard thought that he had said something wrong. He had just tried to be as friendly as possible, but it seemed that he had said something that the bear either didn't liked or didn't expected.
"T-this is my friend Jake." The disguised mammal said, gesturing to the fox. "He got really interested when I told him about the fights, so I bought him tickets for us to watch it together."
The bear blinked again, looking between the fox and sheep. "Your friend I see " The bear said slowly, and for a moment the two animals were apprehensive that they had raised suspicion, but they relaxed as soon as the bear opened another friendly smile. "Well, it is always good to see some new faces around here. Well, we have snacks on view, popcorn, and also bathrooms in the back of the warehouse." He said with a smile, and then he gestured. "You can go there. You, my smaller friend, will go on that side." He said, gesturing to the left for Wolfard and right for Nick.
"What, we can't stay on the same side?" Nick asked, and the bear shook his head.
"Unfortunately, no. Not tonight, at least."
The two mammals were not really expecting this. If they got separated, it would become harder to cover each other's backs.
"You sure? I mean, we are great friends and all." Wolfard said, "Maybe we could just be together in a corner "
"It is for both your safeties." The bear cut him, insisting. "Believe me, you don't want to be together on the same side tonight." The way the bear said made the two animals somewhat worried, and they shared a look. Soon, they both were complying with the bear, with the disguised wolf going to one side, while Nick was guided to the other.
Nick was getting increasingly worried about what was happening in there. It was not because now he was actually in the place where the criminal action was going to happen, that was hardly something new to him. It was also not only because he and Wolfard were now being separated, what would make the mission somewhat more difficult, as they would have problems to keep on touch or even to see each other, what could make difficult for them to support each other in the case of something went wrong. The main reason why Nick was getting so worried right now, was because with all that was happening now, the strange looks of the animals that had received them, the wired fence in the middle of the warehouse separating the two sides, and the way that he and the other animal had been separated like that
All of that was giving him a certain clue of what was the "theme" of tonight's fight.
And it made him severely nervous.
*******************
Judy and the rest of the ZPD had split up into three black vans without windows and without anything that would give away that they were from the ZPD. After all, they had to arrive there without raising suspicions.
Judy was on the back of her own van, with both Catano and Fanghanel, as Rhinowitz was driving the van, and the three animals remained mostly in silence during the way. Well, save for Fanghanel.
"Do you guys believe that this is the first time I'm doing a busting?" The wolf said, sounding somewhat excited. "Do you think they will be armed? I mean, I hope they are not armed, but they might be, in this case, we must be really careful. But still, this is so cool! I mean, scary, obviously, but so cool! I can't wait to go back home and tell Pumpkin about this!"
"You have been talking non-stop ever since we left the Precinct." Catano said, looking at the wolf. "First, you need to focus, and second, you cannot tell someone about this because it would compromise the case."
"Oh, I know, Kii." The wolf said, referring to Catano by her first name. "But still, this is my first busting! And I cannot keep secrets from my Pumpkin! I tell her about everything that goes to the police station! It makes her worried when I do dangerous things, but she also gets so happy when I tell her about some perp we caught!"
"Eliot!" Kii said, "You cannot go telling your wife about everything! It compromises investigations!"
"I know, I know!" Eliot Fanghanel said apologetically, "But I cannot help it, she is my Pumpkin, the love of my life, I cannot keep secrets from her!"
Judy looked at the two of them, and she decided to intervene.
"Okay, okay, you two!" She said, calling the attention of the two bigger animals. "We are about to go on a mission, and we need to focus to do our work right." She turned to the cheetah first. "Kii, you are one of the best shooters of the ZPD, and you are specialized in catching someone who is running away, tonight, you need to make sure that we get as much of these dangerous animals as possible." The cheetah looked at her and nodded. Judy turned her head at the wolf. "Eliot, tonight you are to cover both of us, you will give us support and make sure that we are not in danger."
"Got it!" Eliot said, making a salute. "I'm gonna keep the promise I made for Nick! I'll protect the one mammal that he cares about the most in the world!"
Judy looked at him for a few moments, hoping that the blush forming on her ears was not visible. She then said, "Also, I know that you love your wife and that you want to share everything in your life with her, but this is an ongoing investigation, and sharing too much information with her could jeopardize it, so just for now you will have to keep from sharing this with her. Got it?"
Eliot deflated slightly when he heard that. "Oh okay." He seemed down for a few moments, before saying. "But as soon as the investigation is finished I'm going to share everything with her!" He said excitedly once again, "She will be so happy for knowing that I have helped bring down some dangerous guys and make the city safer for her! I bet this will make her smile! Her smile is so pretty! I have a picture of her on my phone where she is smiling, have I showed you?"
"Yes, Eliot, you have." Judy said, "You have shown pretty much everyone in Precinct one a picture of your wife." She said, remembering when, just on his first day in the force, Eliot practically interrupted the Chief's distribution of assignments to show every one of his wife, a female thylacine named Chloe, "Pumpkin", as Eliot called her.
"I really hope that you and Nick come to visit us sometime!" Eliot said, "I just can't wait to introduce you to Chloe, I bet you two would be the best of friends!"
Before Judy or Kii could answer, the radios on their helmets buzzed, and the voice of Chief Bogo came into their ears.
"Attention, all teams, this is Alpha 1, we will be arriving at Pier Nile Mouth shortly. Be ready."
That was all that was said before the radio buzzed out, and that was all that was needed to be said, as Judy started to check her weapon for the last time.
"You heard the Chief, be ready," Judy said, and the two predators also checked on their equipment.
"I don't get why they are Alpha 1." Eliot said, "I mean, their team won't have any wolf "
*******************
Nick found himself sitting in the tables near the food stand. "Tables" was actually a way of speaking, since they varied from plastic chairs and tables to some crates that were organized to work as tables. The food there was cheap, but Nick only ordered a coffee. If you could call that cheap sludge, worse than the one that they served in First Pricy, of coffee. But Nick has already had far worse in his life.
As Nick sat in there, sipping from the plastic cup where they gave him that coffee, as he kept his eyes around.
It had been fifteen minutes since they arrived, and while the first five were very quiet, with only a few mammals here and there, soon that changed as more mammals appeared into the place.
Nick would occasionally look at the "entrance" to see more mammals arriving in intervals, all of them being received by Kyle, and while some were very friendly to him, certain other mammals were quite aggressive. Still, all of them were received with a friendly smile, and they were directed by a specific side of the warehouse.
Nick looked around to see the animals that were on his side. He could see wolves, leopards, some foxes like himself, a few weasels, two hyenas in a corner. Nick's suspicions were getting stronger, and he was not liking it at all. Normally the fox liked the feeling of being right, but this was one of the reasons where he truly hopes he was wrong, because if what he was thinking of the theme of tonight's fright was
Something buzzed.
Nick flinched slightly, but luckily no one noticed, and the ones who did it didn't pay him any attention. Suddenly after the buzzing, he heard a familiar voice.
"Alpha 1 to Orange and Apple. Do you copy?" The familiar voice came through the radio, and Nick smiled to himself.
The fox took the lapel of his shirt, taking it to as close to his muzzle as possible, and he pressed a hidden button that had in it before he whispered. "This is Apple. Apple here. Do you copy, Alpha 1?"
Apple, red just like his fur. It was Nick's idea, and he had thrown it in the reunion as a joke, and he was rather surprised when the Chief accepted it.
"We are doing this all in a hurry, so we will go with this. You are the one who will have this nickname, so I don't care." Was the buffalo's answer.
Soon, the same voice who said that earlier that day, was speaking in Nick's ear: "Alpha 1 here, Apple. Is Orange with you?"
"We got separated as soon as we came in, they divided the warehouse into two sides and they send some mammals to one side and some to another." Nick said as he looked around.
"Orange, here is Alpha 1, do you copy?" Chief Bogo called again, and after two seconds, Wolfard's voice was coming through the radio.
"I get why he is 'Apple', but why on Zootopia am I 'Orange'?"
"Because we need to keep on the fruit theme, to avoid calling attention." Nick said casually, as he took another sip of his coffee, doing his best to see natural in that closed environment. Two nearby weasels were not arguing about one of them trying to steal from the other's pocket.
"Okay, next undercover operation, I choose the codenames." Wolfard said, and Bogo's voice soon cut it.
"Apple, Orange, stop it now! Focus on the mission, and nothing more."
"Yes, Alpha 1, sorry."
"Okie Dokie, turning on the serious station." Nick said, and he knew that others understood that it means that he would be serious from now on. Soon, the Chief's voice came again through the radio.
"So, do you have visual on the place? Can you tell the number of individuals?"
Nick looked around at this, and after a quick mental count, he said to his lapel. "I see around forty animals on my side."
"On this side, there are over sixty." Wolfard said.
"So, it is a party for around a hundred. Not too small." Nick said, trying his best to look natural to anyone who was looking, not wanting to have to explain to anyone why he was talking to his lapel.
"Are they hostile?" The chief asked through the radio.
"Some of them are fighting." Nick said, looking at the two weasels that now were rolling into the ground, trying to claw and bite at each other. "But, not more than the actual crowd that gathers before a sports event. Seriously, I've seen worse in the baseball games."
"Yeah, the guys in this end don't seem particularly aggressive, despite them all being a bunch of speciest pricks." Wolfard said.
Nick tensed just a little bit when he heard that.
"Understood. You two hold tight in there. Keep an eye and inform us of any change on what is going on in there. Alpha 1 out."
Nick heard as the Chief buzzed out of the station, and after a few moments, he picked his radio again, but this time, he talked only with Wolfard.
"Hey, Orange, you there, buddy?"
"Yeah, Apple, I'm here, and just wait until we are together on the next undercover mission to see what codename I'll give you."
"The guys on your end are really speciest?" Nick asked, and he heard the mammal on the other side scoff.
"Apple, you should hear the things they say, especially about wolves. Seriously, there was a guy who came here and said that wolves are dumb mutts who lick themselves and rump their own sisters. I almost ripped out my mask and said a few things to him."
Nick felt the tension on his body growing somewhat.
"Orange, the animals on your side, what species are them?"
"What?"
"What species are them?" Nick insisted, "What animals are they, what mammals?"
"Oh, umm, let me see I see some rhinos, some bulls, there is a lot of sheep some antelopes and other animals with horns I see a few bunnies here and there. Two zebras just passed by my table "
"Any predators?" Nick asked. "Do you see anyone on your side who is not a prey?"
There was a silence on the line as the disguised animal seemed to be evaluated to answer the question. After a few seconds, "No, not really I think they sent only prey to this side."
That was an answer that Nick was dreading to hear, for it only added more and more base to his suspicion. Wolfard was a wolf, but he was disguised in a sheep costume that could easily fool anyone, he was disguised as a prey. On the side he had been sent to, there was only prey.
Nick looked around, looking at the animals on the side to which he had been sent. He saw wolves, weasels, foxes, hyenas, big cats Not a single animal that had horns, hooves, or flat teeth.
On Nick's side, there was not even a single prey. Only predators.
*******************
"Alpha 1 here," Bogo said, as he walked forward, and the rest of the team were following him from close. They were sneaking over the warehouse 11, and they almost had a sight of warehouse 12. Bogo was in the front, so he could see the rhino in the front of the warehouse, still smoking and readying form a newspaper.
"We have visual on the target, there is a rhino on the front, can't tell if he is armed." Bogo said, as the rhino looked on his watch, and continued to read the newspaper.
*******************
On the other side, approaching by the opposite end, the team formed by a bunny, a cheetah, a rhino and a wolf was approaching warehouse 12. Judy was the one who spoke. "This is Alpha 2, we have visual on the warehouse."
As they approached, they kept on the shadows, and they had sight of the back entrance of the warehouse. It pretty much like the front and was guarded by a burly elephant, who was looking around, looking for any signs of trouble, as he was using his trunk to pick fruit from a nearby basket and taking it to his mouth.
"I see an elephant in front of the gate, can't tell if he is armed." Judy said as the team remained on the shadows, and they were ready for action if there was the need.
*******************
Meanwhile, in the roof of the surrounding warehouses and buildings, there were some animals taking position.
Felidin, the leopard, was on the roof of a warehouse. Gatz, the domestic cat, had climbed on the top of a post and was now sitting in it. Meanwhile, Meerkovitz was on the top of an old, abandoned crane. All of these animals had special equipment, including special sniper dart guns.
Meerkovitz looked around, seeing the other two members of his specific team around, and they made silent gestures to him, and he gestured back. Right after, he was seeing on his radio: "This is Alpha 3, we are in position and we have visual."
The animals were not with their eyes into the visors of their sniper weapons, and they were keeping their sights into the warehouse and the surroundings. Meerkovitz, in particular, was able to sight both teams, as he had a very privileged position, being able to see Alpha 1 in the front and Alpha 2 in the back. Both of them approaching the warehouse, and both of them counting on him to keep watch to warm from danger.
"Okay then." Meerkovitz said, as he mentally steeled himself. "Time for sentry duty."
*******************
"Roger that." Bogo said on his radio. "Everyone stay put and stand by. We wait for the right moment to act." The buffalo spoke.
In order to make a successful bust, they need to catch all of them in the act. Bogo lost count of how many times he heard of busts that went down the drain because the lawyers of a perp were able to suggest that the cops had arrived in the place where nothing wrong was supposed to happen.
Whoever was doing that illegal fight, could very well suggest that it was merely a reunion, or maybe some clandestine bar or something of the like. They needed to be able to catch them in the act. Unfortunately, that means only acting after the fight has begun and those perps were screaming at the fighters to rip out each other's guts. It was necessary if they wanted to be sure to get these criminals to be prosecuted and serve as an example to anyone who could even think of something similar.
So, now they stood there. All three teams in position covering the warehouse. Two officers were undercover inside the place. It was now a matter of waiting.
They waited.
Waited.
Waited
Minutes seemed to drag for an eternity, even more when they were so much in the edge.
Five minutes.
Ten minutes.
Fifteen.
Thirty
Some more animals appeared during that period, showing the tickets to the rhino before being allowed entrance. However, what the teams had been waiting, the signal from the inside that would allow them to go into the place and catch the criminals in the act didn't come.
Bogo was so tense that he felt like he had an elephant sitting on each shoulder. He dared to take his eye from the warehouse ns look at his watch. It was a quarter to nine p.m.
Where the hell was the signal?
His radio buzzed, and Bogo could hear a voice on the other end. "Alpha 1, any signal from the inside?" Asked Hopps' voice.
"Negative." Bogo said from his own end, and another voice came, this one was Gatz' "Guess they are taking their time, right?"
"Shouldn't the fight have started forty-five minutes ago?" Fanghanel's voice came, and Bogo was forced to agree with the wolf.
Of course, nothing would always be punctual, but three-quarters of an hour?
Bogo changed the line that he was using, and now used one of the two officers on the inside.
"Apple. Orange. What is going on in there? We haven't received the signal yet. Did something went wrong?"
There was a second or two of silence, and it was Wilde's voice that answered.
"Oh, you know, Alpha 1, you know how these events sometime run late. Once I went to a show, and the singer arrived two hours late." His voice had the same unworried tune of always. But it let out a slight tune of boredom. "I'm in the middle of drinking my third bad coffee, and I have been counting the stains on the groundand trying to figure out what they were to pass my time The other guys in here well, they are also not very happy that the fight is late."
*******************
That much was truth. Nick had been hearing a while of the animals in there that they were all impatient for the fight.
"Why is it late?"
"When it will start?"
"Come on, I came here to see a fight!"
"Think they are gonna cancel it?"
"If they do I want my money back!"
"No fight!? What a bummer!"
"I was so looking forward to someone put those grazers in their place!"
Nick's ears perked.
"Yeah, agreed!"
"They are so arrogant all of the time, saying that they outnumber us!"
"About time someone put these grazers in their place!"
"If the fight doesn't happen, we can do it ourselves!"
Nick felt his stomach tightening, what he just hear among the commentaries of the animals around him seemed to be the last thing that was missing for him to be convinced that what he thought was true.
Reaching out for the hidden radio in his lapel, Nick said: "Guys, we might have serious a problem."
"Hm? What? What happened?" Wolfard's voice came.
"What do you mean? Apple, do you have a situation?" Bogo's voice came, and Nick looked around, being sure that no one would be able to see him talking to the hidden radio. Luckily, all of the animals seemed to be more focused on the fact that the spectacle that they came to see was late.
"I think I just figure out what is the theme of tonight's fight." Nick said, and he quickly added, "Which you should have asked about, you dumb wolf!"
"Hey!"
"Theme? What are you talking about?" The Chief's voice came from the other end, and Wolfard seemed to have become a little awkward.
"Oh, ummm, you see, when I bought the tickets, Slimy Tusks said that tonight's fight had a theme to it."
"You upheld information?" Bogo said, and even though Nick could not see his face, he had the feeling that it had a "not-amused" expression.
"H-hey, it was just some kind of theme that he said the fight would have. I-it was not like it was that important."
"It was." Nick said firmly in his communicator. And I just figured out what it is." He spoke.
"Really? What it is?" Wolfard asked.
"Think about it." Nick said, and he started to remember the things that happened since they came in. "When we appeared in the front, a 'sheep' and a fox, and told people we were friends, they looked strange of us. Then, they sent the 'sheep' to one side, and the fox into another. Little detail: the two sides are separated by a wired fence."
"Wired fence? Are you serious?" The voice of the Chief came across the radio.
"Deadly serious, Chief." Nick said, and he continued: "Not only that, but the side to which the 'sheep' was sent is a side that has only prey, while the side to which the fox was sent now is filled only with predators."
" well, maybe they just are separating them based on their diets?" Wolfard said, and Nick fought the urge to smack his paw on his forehead. Deciding that it was better to ignore it, he continued.
"Also, as you have said it, my dear disguised friend, all the prey on your side, or at least most of them, seen to be speciest."
"Is that correct, Orange?"
"Ummm, yes, sir."
"So are some of the guys from my side, by what I heard then saying." Nick said, looking around. "Actually, not only speciest, I would say that some of them are downright supremacists."
There was a pregnant pause, before Nick heard the Chief's voice:
"Darn it "
"What? What? What happened?" Wolfard said, and Nick sighed, as the wolf seemed to be clueless, even with all that the fox had just spoken to him about the situation.
However, before Nick had time to try to clarify the situation for the dim mammal, a loud and booming voice called his attention.
"Attention, everyone!"
Nick's eyes, along with the eyes of all of the crowd, turned to the ring that was settled in the middle of the warehouse. Standing right in the center, was a swine, and he looked to everyone as he spoke.
"We are terribly sorry for the inconvenience of the delay. We had some unpredicted problems, but it has all been solved now."
"It better be!" Someone from the crowd shouted, and there were many cries of the agreement to this voice, and the pig soon was calling for the crowd to calm down.
"I totally understand your frustration." The porcine said, after the crowd has calmed down enough. "However, I assure you that the problems have all been solved and that the fight will start soon. Meanwhile, I'd like to welcome all of you who have come here to prestige this moment and to watch this special event."
"I just came to see some grazer be gutted!" Someone on Nick's side said, and many predators agreed.
"No way, the lion is the one getting gutted! About time someone stood up and put you chompers on your place!" Someone from the other side said, and many animals seemed to agree with that. In the next moment, it seemed that both sides were shouting profanities at each other, and Nick had the feeling that the barbed-wire fence was the only thing that actually kept them apart.
"Everyone! Everyone!" The porcine said, and it took nearly a minute to calm everyone down enough for his voice to be heard. "We need to be civil in here however, I guess I can understand your attitude To a point."
The porcine said, looking around at the many animals into the place, before he resumed speaking:
"After all, this is not just a mere fight that we are having tonight it is a battle for supremacy."
The crowd now remained in silence as the pig spoke. "It is a battle to determine it predators are truly the ones who remain in the top of the food chain, or if the prey can bring them down from their thrones." The pig spoke, and the crowd seemed to be getting more riled up as he spoke.
"Tonight, we will have two fighters: one representing the prey, and the other representing the predators, and these two will fight among themselves. Each one a champion of their people, and the victory of one, will mean the victory of his whole kind! Tonight, we finally settle the war between predator and prey through a one-on-one fight to the death!"
The crowd cheered at the pig's words, and Nick felt a creeping feeling of getting up from his seat and getting the hell out of that place. All the while, he repeated to himself again a thing that he had been repeating for himself now and then for quite a while since they got into that warehouse:
Wolfard REALLY should have asked what was the theme
