-Reservations-

Chapter 1 – Something New

The word "perfection" is often used loosely—thrown around with little regard and used to describe something that may be, to anyone else, far from perfect. This, however…

This.

This was perfection.

The early morning sunlight, almost hesitant in its warmth, crept around the outer edges of the highest peak first. The light wrapped curiously around its uneven shape, tracing each and every nook, cranny, and crag in turn as it found its way ever downwards. A small river, diverging and joining into itself in irregular time, captured the fleeting rays and reflected them in every-which direction as it flowed.

The light, bolstered and spurred on by the river, continued its leap down. It passed hill after glistening hill, whose very forms seemed to change and rush out of the way of the brilliantly radiant, now unstoppable energy of the day. This, truly, was perfection.

It was ethereal in it's beauty.

It was powerful in shape alone.

It…

"It'll be twenty-two dollahs," the portly elephant behind the counter belted out in a thick midtown accent, tucking a spoon into the towering bowl of chocolate-drizzled ice-cream.

Nick was shocked out of his silent appreciation of all things frozen dairy as the bowl was shifted, causing the morning light coming from the window in front of him to hit him full force. Bringing a paw up to shade his eyes, he began to fish around in his neatly-pressed blue uniform pants. Patting around his pockets as if he'd forgotten something, he paused and looked up at the elephant. The beginnings of a smirk playing at the edges of his muzzle. "Oh, no… Are you kidding me…?"

The elephant's face remained completely blank, his eyes staring straight through the sharply-dressed officer, boring holes into the wall behind him. His folded paper soda-jerk hat began to slide lazily off to one side as the smaller mammal cocked his eyebrows quickly upwards, his shoulders hunched forwards in expectation. The corner of Nick's mouth tugged even farther upwards as he quickly dipped a paw into his back pocket and smoothly slipped out his billfold. "Not having any of it today, huh Jerry?"

The pachyderm's only response was to reposition his hat with the tip of his trunk, the same emotionless I'd-kill-you-if-I-wasn't-already-dead-inside stare still present.

With practiced precision, Nick swiped out three crisp bills and spun them up and onto the counter. "It'll be funny some day, I promise!" He laughed, a genuine happiness replacing his usual smirk as he refolded his wallet and pulled down the large plastic bowl of ice-cream. He took a quick moment to settle it comfortably in his arms, filled almost half as tall as he was with a technicolor assortment of frozen goodness, before turning on a heel. He looked over shoulder as he made his way out the enormous door to the shop. "See ya same time next week, J! Keep that chin up!" He made double sure to whip his tail out of the way before the door eased closed behind him, a painful lesson he had learned a few weeks earlier that had cost him a cone and no small amount of personal pride.

It was the only time he had ever seen Jerry smile.

As painful as it was, the memory made him smile as he quickened his pace, not wanting the bowl in front of him to melt before he made it to his destination. Weaving carefully between the few mammals that were out and about this early on the sidewalk, he let the cool morning air wrap comfortably around him as it toyed playfully with the edges of his uniform. Completely on autopilot, his mind wandered.

Zootopia, he thought to himself. He exhaled sharply in a sort of almost laugh, shaking his head. Where anybody can be anything. If you'd asked him two years ago where he thought he'd be today, his answer wouldn't have ranged much farther than 'same old same old', yet against all odds—and maybe his better judgment—here he was, carrying a large bowl of legally acquired ice-cream straight towards the one place in the city that he used to avoid like the plague: the ZPD headquarters. Him! Nick Wilde! Hustler extraordinaire!

Ahem. Retired hustler extraordinaire, he quickly corrected.

Well, semi-retired. He was working on it. Look, he wasn't involved in anything too major. All he took part in now was a few friendly bets between him and his fellow officers, and maybe the occasional bit of quick-thinking, fast-talking wordplay to get out of janitorial duty.

He drew himself out of his thoughts just in time to round the corner of the block, balancing the bowl carefully as he walked onto the patchwork field in front of the ZPD building. It had been close to a year now since he'd graduated from the academy and took on the badge, yet he was still trying to turn off that part of his brain that screamed at him to turn tail and run as far away as possible. The building had always been just a distant reminder that he was never on the right side of the law. He had never been close enough to take in just how impressively beautiful it was.

At the entrance of the building, massive rough-hewn tan stone columns supported a crown of sweeping, monolithic spires that looked like they could reach out and touch every inch of the city. The windows, spaced evenly between the columns and reaching just as high, were polished so perfectly that they may as well have been mirrors. He smiled at his reflection as he walked towards the large revolving doors, giving himself a little wink from behind his mirrored aviator shades. He walked quickly up to the welcome desk in the center of the large foyer and loudly set the bowl on the counter, startling the portly cheetah behind it.

Benjamin Clawhauser's eyes were as big as dinner plates as he looked from Nick, to the massive bowl, and back, his paws balled up on either side of his face as he let out an excited squeal. Speaking of friendly bets…

"When you're right, you're right. A fox knows when to pay up." Nick smiled calmly with that same unchanging 'cool' expression he always wore. He and Clawhauser had a running bet over one of the TV shows that they both watched. It was just some dumb crime-drama in the forgotten late-night block, but the long time between episodes allowed for so much rampant speculation between them that making a few bets here and there about who would turn out to be the killer was just too darn easy. A bet that, in this case at least, Nick had lost.

The cheetah was completely lost for a moment before he shook himself out of it. "Oh, hey!" he began cheerfully, still casting longing glances towards the towering bowl. "Chief was looking for you a bit earlier. Told me to send you his way."

A single eyebrow peeked itself over the top of Nick's sunglasses.

The cheetah raised his hands dismissively. "Oh no no, he didn't seem mad or anything. He just said he had something for you." He leaned over the desk and dropped his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Said it was a secret."

Nick slowly shook his head with a sarcastic smile. A secret meeting, huh? Well, that's a new one. He moved in, darting his eyes exaggeratedly back and forth as he rest an elbow on the counter, careful to avoid the bowl. "So, uh," he began in a loud stage whisper, "He tell you anything about this 'secret'?"

Bogo had not, in fact, told Clawhauser anything about the 'secret'. Probably for the best, Nick thought. A lot of things could be said about the cheetah, but 'tight-lipped' was most definitely not one of them. As Nick made his way along the lazily curving staircase up to the mezzanine above he tried to think of anything that could warrant such a meeting. There was that thing with the pudding cup last week, but he doubted that would need to be so cloak and dagger; Bogo had never been shy about handing out a public reaming to him before, so why would this be any different? He knocked twice on the chief's door with his knuckles before slowly letting himself in.

The large cape buffalo sat silently behind his desk, glasses perched on his nose as he looked over the mountain of paperwork that constituted his day-to-day. "Ah, Officer Wilde," he started gruffly, his deep baritone voice filling the room completely as he looked over the top of his spectacles. "Please, take a seat." He gestured towards the large, singular chair opposite of his desk, to which Nick complied. The chair, much like most things in the ZPD building, simply had not been designed with mammals of his size in mind. Nick put a hand on the edge of the seat and hopped up, making himself as comfortable as he could on the oversized piece of furniture before he began to fidget nervously, his leg kicking up and down rhythmically.

"Calm yourself, Wilde; you're not in trouble. Not this time," Bogo began again, noticing the very obvious unease of the fox across from him. As much as he normally absolutely loved to make the fox sweat under his gaze, now was probably not the best time.

Nick very noticeably relaxed at that, his shoulders dropping down into a more natural position as he let out a breath he didn't even know he'd been holding. "So what's the beef, Chief?"

The buffalo sighed deeply and removed his glasses, placing them gently, too gently, onto his desk as he straightened the mish-mash of papers. Every single time. Every single time. "Let me correct myself, Wilde." Bogo held up a hoof to prevent further interjection. "You are not in trouble for now. Don't push it."

"Wouldn't dream of it. No pudding today?"

The chief snorted loudly, his eyes glinting venomously before he leaned back and adopted a dangerous smile. Deep breath, Bobo, he's one of your best. "Ah, yes, the pudding incident." He made a little poking gesture with his hoof. "Let's put a pin in that one, shall we?"

Nick's calm wavered for a moment, the corners of his muzzle twitching ever so slightly downwards. Right, probably should've just let that dog lie.

"No, that is not why you find yourself here today. Did Officer Clawhauser not tell you?" Bogo asked in mock disbelief.

"No, sir," Nick replied, working the lump out of his throat with a sharp cough. "Just that it was a secret?" His voice cracked.

"That's right. So, let's get this out of the way early..." Bogo said. He leaned forwards, pausing as he made eye-contact, an unreadable expression on his face, before he exploded. "You are to tell NO ONE of your involvement in this, do I make myself clear?"

Nick snapped smartly to attention, his back going ramrod straight. "Yes sir!" he replied sharply. He raised an eyebrow as the tension in the room began to clear after a few beats of silence, his ears cocking themselves forwards. "Erh, involvement in what, exactly?"

"You'll learn of that in just a moment." Bogo leaned back into his chair, which creaked beneath his weight. He let his voice return to a more acceptable volume. "Your partner should be on her way momentari-" He was interrupted by a series of quick staccato knocks on his office door. "Ah, here she is now."

The fox turned to look at the door as he heard the latch open, and in stepped his fellow officer, and good friend, Judy Hopps. A small gray rabbit with black-tipped ears, she was the smallest sworn officer currently serving at the ZPD, and it's only bunny, to boot. She glanced at Nick with a questioning look on her face, which he answered with a shrug of his shoulders as he scooted left to make room on the chair.

"Good morning, Officer Hopps," Bogo said, his tone much friendlier than the one he normally used with Nick.

"You wanted to see me, Chief?" She asked, her voice sounding much more confident than her current expression would lead you to believe. She quickly hopped up onto the chair alongside Nick, the chair easily big enough for the both of them to sit comfortably. Small as she may be, she had wasted no time proving herself to her fellow officers when she had first joined the force. On her very first week as an officer, she solved a landmark case for the ZPD by locating 15 missing mammals and bringing the ones behind it to justice, all while under an impossible time-crunch designed to send her naive tail running for the hills. She had to admit, though, that she wouldn't have been able to do any of it without the help of the fox sitting next to her. Nick had been instrumental in solving the case, no matter how little attention the news had decided to give him. What started out as reluctant help quickly developed into an inseparable friendship that made them an absolute powerhouse of a partnership at the ZPD. Near perfect record or not, though, their antics and banter while together were an almost constant source of headaches for the Chief.

"Yes, I did." Chief Bogo picked up his glasses and resettled them on his nose before shuffling through the files on his desk. He stopped when he got to one particular green folder, placing it in front of him and tapping its cover twice, the noise echoing hollowly off of his desk. "I have something new for both of you today. I was just detailing-in delicate words-the…" He paused, searching for the right word to use. "...sensitive nature of this case to Officer Wilde, and how utmost secrecy is absolutely necessary." He flipped open the cover of the folder and spun it around, pushing it towards the two officers.

In large block letters at the top of the first page, stamped in a heavy ink, the letters 'ZBI' immediately caught Judy's attention.

"ZBI, sir?" Judy looked up at him questioningly, not fully understanding why he'd be showing them a case that fell so far outside their normal duties. The ZBI, or 'Zootopia Bureau of Investigation', handled the less day-to-day cases such as organized crime, anti-terrorism activities, and crimes that extended beyond city limits. The ZPD, on the other hand, normally only handled domestic disputes, traffic violations, and other surface-deep law enforcement that you'd expect in a big city. "Why are you showing us a ZBI file?"

"Because, Hopps, this is your next assignment," Bogo said. "You as well, Wilde."

The two younger officers shared a quick, hesitant look before Nick spoke up. "Ok, just going to roll with this for a minute…" He said, taking a deep breath and holding it. "What's the case?"

Bogo nodded appreciatively, pushing the file closer to the pair so that they could begin to thumb through it.

Each and every page was stamped with 'ZBI', or 'SECRET', or various other interpretations of 'if you're reading this, you're fired' as the pair looked through the contents of the file.

"We have gotten word," the chief said slowly, "that the major crime families that call our fair city of Zootopia home have arranged for a sort of peacetime meeting." He paused, taking a breath. "All of them."

Judy made a reaching motion for the file, which Nick passed to her wordlessly. Her brow scrunched together as her violet eyes quickly skimmed its contents. "So… what does that have to do with the ZPD? Or… Us?" She said, looking up at her superior with a clearly present confusion.

"You two," he said, gesturing back and forth between them, "Will be going undercover."

Nick and judy shared another apprehensive glance.

"Believe me when I say I don't like this any more than either of you do."

"So why us?" Nick asked. "Aren't we a little, y'know, less than qualified for something like this?"

"Normally, Wilde, I would agree," Bogo said, "but we haven't been left with much room to manoeuvre here. All of the big names in organized crime are putting themselves into a neat little box for us, and they know it. They all very clearly understand the danger they are putting themselves in and have taken precautions."

"That… still doesn't really answer the question?" Nick said apprehensively.

The chief took another deep breath. "Ideally, we would have much more time to prepare you two for this. Though, as you can see by you both being here right now, that is not the case. I don't like this any more than you two. The crime bosses have done their homework on this one; The ZBI fears that any agent they send in will be recognized and compromised. That is where you two come in." The chief shifted himself forward in his chair, took the file back from Judy and flipped forward a few pages before sliding it back in front of them. "You two will be taking a week-long 'vacation' at Shambhala, to observe the meeting from a distance to make sure everything goes smoothly."

Judy's eyes went wide. Shambhala was the largest resort in the city, it's exclusive property spanned several acres of land directly in the center of the city, which held an absolutely massive main building that served as a luxury hotel, casino, and convention hall, and was the place to be if you wanted some luxurious time off from the hustle and bustle of the city that surrounded it on all sides. "Wait…" She scrunched up her brow, pausing her internal reverie. Observe and make sure things go smoothly?. She looked up at Bogo. "Are we playing security for the crime bosses?"

Bogo shook his head. "We are not expecting anything out of the ordinary to happen while they are all meeting. You are most certainly not there to protect them. It will be your job to learn what you can about the meeting while not drawing too much attention to yourselves, and to react appropriately if tensions do begin to rise. We are always on the lookout for acts that we can pin on the members of these families, so keep your eyes open. Priority number one is surveillance, but any evidence you can gather on them while you are there is a high second."

"Ok, cool," Nick chimed in, leaning forwards and resting his arms on the chief's desk, "but we aren't exactly the most incognito option either, are we? I mean, if they could recognize some joe-schmoe ZBI agent then they'll definitely know who we are."

Bogo slowly nodded once, expecting this. "You two will not be the only ones there. The ZBI will be sending in a small number of agents knowing full well that they will be identified, while the both of you hide in plain sight. Your fame is your friend in this instance."

Nick narrowed his eyes, trying to understand what the chief was saying, but Judy wasn't sold. She perched herself forwards on the chair and placed her paws on desk. "Our fame is our friend? What do you mean? How does 'going undercover' work if we'll immediately be recognized?" She glanced quickly at Nick, who mirrored her look of concern.

"They'll know who you are, but they won't approach you. You're far too high profile for them to get involved with publicly, and also far too high profile for the ZPD to be sending on an operation like this. If this plan stays watertight, which it will," He shot a pointed look at the fox across from him, who nodded quickly. "They'll just think it was a poorly timed vacation.

The fox took a moment to collect everything he'd just heard, trying to make sure he had a handle on it all. "O...kay… But what if-"

Bogo held up a hoof, silencing him. "I'm sorry, Officer Wilde, but that is all I am allowed to say." He took the file back and put it in a large envelope alongside a number of other documents. "Everything that you need to know is contained in here. Anything else that you need to know after reading through all of this, you don't need to know. Do I make myself clear?".

Both of the officers in front of him nodded their understanding.

"Good." He relaxed the tension he had been holding in his shoulders, passing the now-sealed packet back across to Nick. He reached beneath his desk and pulled a second, identical envelope out, handing that one to Judy. "You've both got the rest of the day off to read up on the assignment. Come see me again first thing tomorrow morning, and I'll let you know what else needs to be done after that. Dismissed."

The door latched closed behind both officers as they stepped onto the mezzanine outside of the chief's office, packets in hand.

Well this is certainly something new, Nick thought to himself. An undercover-but-not-really-undercover-but-really-actually-undercover assignment at the ritziest resort in the city? Well, sure. As much as he loved working his normal beat, this would, if nothing else, be a welcome change of pace. He hiked his chin towards the stairs. "Lunch?"

Judy looked up at him, and then down at the ground floor to try and find a clock. She narrowed her eyes when she found one, reading the numbers it displayed. "It's only 10am."

Nick paused, his eyes focusing into the distance as he fiddled absently with the large envelope in his hands. His empty expression dropped quickly back into a half-lidded smile as he looked back down at his partner. "Brunch?" He asked hopefully, raising his shoulders into a pose that quite clearly asked 'please'.

Judy let out a quick, airy laugh and rolled her eyes. She looked up at him sarcastically before heading towards the stairs, fox following quickly behind her. "Sure, slick. Brunch."