CHAPTER 3

As the sun started to near the tops of the mountains on the horizon, Nick and Judy arrived at the border between Downtown and the Rainforest District. So far, it had been a nice day, excluding the horrendous crimes committed that day. It was peaceful and sunny, though as they entered under the canopy of the massive trees, the sunlight faded into darkness, the only light coming from the breaks in the trees or from the dim street lights. Zootopia had been built in a meadow, so many district's climates were artificially controlled. The rainforest was no different. If Nick and Judy didn't hurry, the sprinklers would turn on and it would start to rain, potentially washing away evidence. The officers already at the scene were attempting to construct a makeshift tent, but that would only last so long.

By the time the detectives got there, it had already been raining for a good thirty minutes. It was only sprinkling at the moment, but the drops were getting bigger every minute. Nick and Judy parked, got out of the cruiser, and put on their raincoats. They started the long trek up stairs to the top of a tall kapok tree, around 180 feet up.

"How many steps do you think it is to the top?" Nick asked, looking up at the different platforms on the tree.

"Well, if we were bigger, like an elephant or rhino, maybe only 200 or so. But since we're not, I'm going to guess, maybe, 600, give or take." Nick grunted in annoyance. "Hey, don't be so disappointed. Construction crews were too lazy to build tiny stairs, so they just built a walkway that angles up ever so slightly. It's like walking up a hill for a mile."

"Huh…"

They arrived at the platform second to the top. Luckily, at this elevation, there was only a little rain. Continuing with their luck, there weren't many reporters yet because they were having trouble lugging up the heavy camera equipment. A young officer noticed them approaching and walked to greet them. "Detectives."

"Delgato. What's happening up here?" Nick shook the rain off his coat.

"Well, on the platform, we got two bodies, two wolves. Then if you would direct your attention to the sky tram," he pointed to a station far off in the distance. "There's a really bloody leopard in a tram car. Workers found it and called us about ten minutes ago. Finally," the lion walked over the the edge, searching for a few moments before finding his target. He pointed. "An otter apparently fell. She's dressed like the other three, so I guess they were all together."

"Yeah I noticed that. What's up with the uniforms?" Judy inquired, observing the badge on the wolf's sleeve.

"From what I understand, all four members here work for the ZIA. No one would confirm it for me, but I can guess that they're part of a six animal strike team, or at least they were. Similar to SWAT, only they deal with matters that have to do with terrorism and the like." Delgato listened to a transmission on his radio before continuing. "Just a heads up, Chief Bogo is coming up with the director of the ZIA. And they don't sound happy, though when are they ever?" He chuckled.

"Okay. Let us look around here and then you can tell your guys to clean it up."

"You got it." Delgato walked away.

Judy walked over to where the wolves lay. They were both on their stomachs, shot in the back multiple times. It looked as if they had been running toward the tram car. She put on her gloves and picked up the assault rifles they had dropped. It was no easy task, seeing as how the rifles were just as big as her. Nick ran over to help her. With his help, she popped the magazine out, counting the rounds left. "Only thirteen left out of… thirty in this one and… four in this other one."

"So there was somewhat of a fight." Nick turned around and looking in the direction he thought they must've been firing. It was a complete mess, total disarray. "If I were to guess, I'd say they were firing from the hip, possibly while on the run. Doesn't look like they hit their targets. Not surprising."

Judy looked over in the direction she figured the bullets must've traveled. They mostly seemed to hit the massive trunk of the tree. The high jungle platforms were mostly rented out for parties and gatherings. Once you made the long climb, it was a beautiful view. Atop the right trees, you could see a good part of Zootopia. There was a mural painted on the wall, ruined from all the holes. Still, Detective Hopps imagined it must've been beautiful. She handed the rifle to Nick and walked over to where most of the stray fire had hit, looking up to study the picture. It depicted an ancient garden, colorful and lush. Judy hadn't grown up in a rainforest, but she could still recognize some flowers, like the solandra maxima and the anthurium. Stunning flowers, amazing colors. It really was too bad it had been marred this way.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a car approaching. She turned around and waited, Nick walking over to her side. It was a black SUV, tinted windows, government plates. Chief Bogo stepped out, and following him was a bull the detectives hadn't met yet. They walked over to greet them.

"Detectives Nick and Judy Wilde-Hopps, Director Ischyri Tavros of the ZIA." Bogo introduced them, his voice surprisingly more gruff than usual. "The dead animals here were ZIA agents, specifically all agents of a strike team. They are like a SWAT team, only they deal with higher profile targets."

Nick's ears perked up in interest. This case is getting more interesting every minute. "Then why were they here all by themselves, no back up or anything? Why are you just now getting here?"

"Unfortunately," The bull began. His voice was much higher than his appearance would suggest. "These four animals unfortunately appear to have gone rogue. Over the past few months, many operations have gone wrong, all operations aiming to take down big crime syndicates." He walked over to the railing and looked down where the otter was. "Sometimes there'd be no one there, sometimes they'd have gotten rid of the evidence, and sadly, one time they were ready and waiting for us. Two agents died, one was paralyzed from the waist down." Tavros turned to look at the detectives.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Judy's ears drooped in sadness. "But your problem is solved now, right?"

The bull let out a slow sigh and waited a moment before answering. "It would appear that way. But we still have two animals unaccounted for, both members of the late team. A bear named Daga Baloo and a jackrabbit, Jack Savage. It really is too bad, I liked Jack. Real smart, he was."

Nick still couldn't understand why things went down the way they did. "Why end a good thing?" Everyone looked at him in disgust, so he gestured quotation marks with his fingers. "I'm just saying, they were on the take, clearly your animals had no idea what was happening or who was doing it. They must've been making good money. Why attack your allies and end up dead?"

Judy looked up at him. "Really? You, of all animals, don't know?" The fox glared at her. "Sorry, just saying, it's pretty clear. Money."

Tavros nodded. "Even though they had protection and a nice paycheck, money corrupts. I'm thinking that they stole drugs, money, weapons, and whatever else to sell. They would've gotten much more money that way. Meeting here was a safe," he chuckled. "Well, apparently a safe place to divide everything up. Two of them got greedy and killed the other four. Interesting, though, that one of the pair didn't at least try offing the other."

Judy, always one to see the good in animals, couldn't fully believe what she'd been told. "How do you know that both Jack and, oh, what was his name?"

"Daga."

"Yes, Daga. How do you know both Jack and Daga were in on it?"

"Well, it'd be hard to hide an operation so large from the animals you spend so much time around." Tarvos turned to Bogo, who had been on his phone talking with someone. He hung up and walked over.

"Make your way over to the tram station now." Bogo looked in that direction. "Animals are getting off work, and since they can't move the trams until we clear the scene, there's a crowd starting to build up."

"Alright, we'll get over there now." Nick started walking down the tree.

"It was a pleasure meeting you sir!" Judy said energetically. Tarvos simply nodded in response.

Judy tapped her foot impatiently. She'd already been there for five minutes. Nick, on the other paw, was still making his way up. Lazy fox. The tree they were on now wasn't even that tall. At best, it was half the height of the previous tree. As she waited, she looked out at the intricate design of the sky tram system. Though it was slower, many jungle residents prefered to use it over cars. It was quieter, more relaxing. There was a nice view, not as nice as the previous platform, but nice nonetheless. Plus, most animals lived higher up in the trees didn't want to or couldn't walk up the stairs. Similar to my partner. Her ears perked up when she finally saw him coming up the stairs. "Oh, wow, a new world record!" She exclaimed sarcastically, slowly clapping her paws.

Nick reached the top and crumpled in a pile on the ground. He looked up at her, unimpressed. "Yes, well, I'd take a bow, but that would require standing up." He started dragging himself over to the tram gondola.

"Stand up! Everyone's looking at you." The embarrassed bunny scolded, looking around at all the gawking animals.

Nick stopped and raised a finger. "The eyes of others are our prisons, their thoughts are our cages." He continued crawling.

Judy rolled her eyes. "Virginia Woolf, yes, amazing lady. But that doesn't apply here. You represent the ZPD, so stand up!" She said through clenched teeth.

The fox sighed and stood up, looking around at everyone staring at him. "What?" He said aggressively, causing everyone to look away. He smiled contently and held out his arm. "M'lady." She looked at him in amazement and proceeded to walk away. "Fine, suit yourself." He mumbled, following after her.

Arriving at the gondola, they gawked in shock at how much blood there was. The leopard had a sizeable hole in his chest, blood seeping out. In his paw he had a revolver, and at his side, a couple jambiyas. Nick pointed. "I bet ya those played a role in the murder of our leopard and elk friends."

Judy shrugged. "Probably." She turned to the crowd of workers who were waiting for them to finish. "Hey, which one of you called this in?"

"That would be me." A voice replied meekly. The crowd stirred and looked around, confused as to who said that. Eventually they parted and a tiny mouse who couldn't be more than twenty, walked to the front. She seemed bashful, almost afraid, and rightfully so, considering what she had witnessed.

Judy felt bad for the poor mouse. "Aw, sweetie, why don't you come over here and talk to us, okay?" She motioned for the doe to follow her away from the crime scene.

The trio walked away from the tram and the crowd. Judy tried easing the mouse's nerves. "Ok, so, I'm Judy and this is my partner Nick. As you can see, we're both detectives from the ZPD. And from what I see," She looked at the nametag. "Your name is Anna." Anna smiled meekly and nodded.

Nick smiled. "Alright Anna, we'll try to make this as quick as possible. When did you first notice the, uh, mess?"

"Well, my job is to check each car after animals get out and before any get in, to make sure no items were forgotten and that there's not a mess." She chuckled nervously. "Obviously there was a mess. It was terrifying in itself, but then the poor leopard moved. As you can imagine, me, a tiny mouse, seeing this massive leopard, covered in blood, move toward me, it left me speechless, I couldn't move for a few seconds. But I snapped out of it and pushed the stop button, but by the time I got back he had stopped moving, so I figured he was dead." She took a deep breath, and it seemed like she was finished, but as she looked down the long line of tram cars, her eyes opened wide in horror. "No no no..."

Judy was a little alarmed by Anna's sudden change of mentality. "What's wrong?"

"I forgot to let the passengers in the tram cars know why we stopped. They've been sitting there for-" She looked around for a clock, eventually spotting one, her body slumping with dread. "Almost two hours!"

Nick almost laughed out loud, finding the situation rather amusing, but Judy's death glare stopped him. He shrugged and smiled. "I'm sure the passengers will understand." He tried to reassure her. "Besides, you couldn't have moved the line forward even if you had remembered, so nothing would've changed."

"I hope so." Anna sulked.

"Well, I guess that's all you can do for us right now, but if you leave your number with that officer over there," Nick pointed. "We'll call you if we need anything." The doe thanked the detectives and headed back over to the crowd to give her information to an officer.

Judy rubbed her paws over her ears. She couldn't believe the leopard could've still been alive all the way from one station to the one he was at now. It was a good half mile at least, and at the rate the trams went, it must've taken at least fifteen minutes to get here.

Nick snapped her out of her thoughts. "Okay, we still have one more scene to go, and I'm still hungry, so let's get moving."

By the time they arrived at the third and final scene, CSI was already going through and packing everything up. One of the only things that still remained was the body. Nick took off his sunglasses, partly because it was getting dark, but mostly out of shock. He'd never seen an animal that'd fallen from such a height before. The otter appeared to have belly flopped onto the ground, causing his body to flatten. It was sorta like he made a transition from the three dimensional world to a two dimensional one. Nick looked up, noting how high the tree was and where the first platform they had been on was on said tree. "How far do you think the fall was?"

The fox's question snapped Judy out of her trance of disgust. She looked first to Nick, then up to the platform. "The tree itself is around two hundred feet, so I'm thinking the platform is between… a hundred fifty and a hundred seventy feet. It's a pretty far fall."

The ME scraped up the otter's body and loaded it into a body bag. Workers came and started to spray off the blood, attempting to erase all memory of the incident. "Well," Nick clasped his paws together. "I don't know what else we can do here. I have a feeling the case already half-solved itself, so we can pick up where we left off tomorrow at roll call. For now, I say we go home, eat, and sleep, cause the next few days are gonna be really long and difficult."

Judy simply nodded and started walking back to their cruiser. She wondered how they would fare in their search for Daga and Jack. Both were masters of stealth and deception, they probably knew how to hide in plain sight, and, probably the most worrying thing, they were proficient in their fighting skills. It was gonna be difficult, but Judy knew that together, the fox and bunny could solve this case.

Hey! Another chapter completed. Sorry it's rather short. When I started writing, I didn't plan on having to plan out what I was gonna write. But, as it turns out, it's rather difficult to write about a fictional crime without knowing at least some of the planned out details. So, if anyone would like, leave a suggestion about how the story could go, and maybe I'll consider it. God knows I need suggestions. :) That's all from me for now, real quick before this is over, I'd like to thank Astorathgrim for editing my chapter.

*Side note: When Nick starts crawling on the second platform, he says "The eyes of others are our prisons, their thoughts are our cages." I was looking for a quote about not caring what people think about you, specifically by someone whose name I could possibly pun into an animal's name, and what do ya know, the first result was Virginia Woolf. And just so you know, I added the two 'are's, the actual quote word for word is "The eyes of others our prisons, their thoughts our cages."