Chapter Six: Judy and Goliath
{Case 2: The City that Never Stops Partying}

Zoodystopia

{~}

Barnes stood up reluctantly and flexed his sore muscles, falling from such a high altitude wasn't the best choice in taking care of his body. The snow falls off his snout, burning his nostrils as the soot and polluted dust expelled from his nose with a big sneeze.

Snow Steel is beautiful this time of year.

The snowy blizzard of dirty snow was lit ablaze by the orange glow of a factory burning to a cinder.

Barnes reached into the pockets of his yoga pants and pulled out a cigar from his left pocket and a zippo lighter from his right pocket. After lighting the cigar, taking a puff from the cigar, he quickly used it to burn shut the bullet hole in his shoulder. Barnes grunted in from the sharp pain and sighed in relief.

His revenge against Mr. Big was done, a major factory producing weapons for the crime boss's syndicate is now a bonfire for the snowflakes. A dead polar bear, one of the two brothers that had betrayed him and left him in police custody, is wearing a bloodstained and ripped suit laid dead a few meters away from him,

The fall from the top of the towering factory didn't kill him.

A knife in the jugular did.

{~}

0900

{~}

It's been a whole season since Duster's death but the memory is as fresh as a carrot plucked right out of the ground, he just won't leave my head no matter what I try to preoccupy my mind with. Chief Bogo has not been in his office since Duster's death, but he was somewhere in the vicinity. I'm surprised he didn't fire me, but there's been a lot of missing officers from the Department lately.

I should be resting at home, curled up in the hard mattress I call my bed. I should be listening to the radio about how the high speed chase that was conducted the other day had led to catastrophe and subsequently my badge being ripped from my chest.

I wasn't and my badge stayed on my uniform.

I was digging through my Crate of Crime, hopelessly digging through petty crime that wouldn't make up for last week's disaster for a file that would fit my fancy. The files were all buttoned shut so there was no chance of me losing documents.

Here's an interesting one, it's a multi-murder case tied to drug trafficking in Party City. I opened up the case file and thumbed through the information. It was a drive-by shooting, the victims were felines. They were husband and wife, thankfully the kits weren't there when it had happened. There are no witnesses who came forth but the kits are in protective custody with NOOSE.

Tommy and Martha Schneider, gunned down in the middle of Party City streets in broad daylight, using an automatic sub-machine gun, and there's no witnesses? This case reeks of Fat Cat's Syndicate, I've heard about him from Duster but the majority of his drug empire from the NOOSE DEA Agents who peek around the Department looking for information about him.

Wilde had connections, maybe I can get confirmation that it was indeed a member of Fat Cat's Syndicate who perpetrated the murders and if all else fails – I'm gonna have to beg the NOOSE Agents for a meeting the the kits.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone, I punched in the number to Wilde's number and waited for him to pick up. I need to get to Party City and Wilde is the most logical option because of his criminal career. I closed the file and begun to walk out of Bogo's office, and soon outside of the Department.

"I was just thinking about you," Wilde condescendingly joked in the phone. I scoffed at him and climbed down the stairs of the Department towards the bus stop. "So, what are you wearing?"

"The gear to slit your throat if you don't stop it," I threatened, causing me to get the attention of a few passerby school children. I glared daggers at them and they promptly ran off like little rascals are supposed to. "We got a case and a good one at that, get your ass to Patton's Bar, dressed, in an hour and I'll fill you in."

"Fine, let me get dressed," I heard females on the other end of the phone call. "Okay ladies, fun's over—Officer No-Fun decided to crash it."

I don't know if I should feel disgusted or amused at this, I apparently was interrupting something for the fox.

{~}

"Well played," Duster still had his magnum in his hand, he pulled he hammer back and lifted his arm. "I can already see where this is going, so I'll spare you both the pleasure."

"No no no—wait!" I reached for Duster.

Bang.

I snapped myself out of my trance, as soon as I heard the glass break in my hand and water spilled all over the bar counter. I shook myself from the shock and looked at the mess I made.

"Bloody hell, I'm sorry Pat', let me get some paper towels," Patton, the naked bob-cat, was quick to clean up my mess instead. "I—thanks Pat."

Patton nodded and went back to serving the other nude guests of Liberty Springs, apparently Yak modeled the place after the country with the same name. I just hope they aren't nudists who walk around the street naked—or even worse—do crime naked and make naked policemen tackle naked suspects.

I was not naked, I wore my formal attire that consists of a peacoat, slacks, a white dress shirt, a dark magenta tie. I hoped that Wilde was coming to the place dressed as I told him to. I peered at my paw, searching for any signs of damage but thankfully there was none. I wiped my paw clean of my milkshake on a napkin.

This guilt is killing me.

The familiar scent of wet dog and freshly printed paper wafted over me. Wilde sat next to me, wearing an unbuttoned tropical shirt that exposed his bare chest but not his abdomen which was covered with gauze and jeans with a belt. His collar beeped a casual safe green, I still haven't asked him the purpose of the device in fear of insensitivity.

"I take it one of those girls didn't appreciate how low you were paying them," I remarked, turning my attention and body towards Wilde. "I mean it was enough to wrap up your stomach again?"

"Ha ha, fuck you," Wilde tapped his knuckles on the bar, "Hey Patty, a scotch on the rocks?"

"It's ten o-clock and you're drinking?" I inquired, raising an eyebrow but then dismissed it, "Never mind, okay, what do you know about Party City?"

"It's a city that the 1980s thought we would be like today," Wilde begun, "And now we think of it what 1980s today, there's not much to it."

"No no," I shook my head, "I need more than that."

"Have you never picked up a flippin' book?" Wilde retorted as he rolled his eyes, "It used to be known as Rodentia until the Cold War went hot and it got nuked."

"Cold War?" I asked, Patton came back with "With who?"

"The Apex Federation," Wilde suddenly looked very uncomfortable, his TAME collar beeped dangerously orange for a moment before going back to a warning orange. "They refused to demilitarize itself and Zootopia declared war on them."

"You okay?" I inquired, "Your collar almost went off!"

"I'd rather not talk about it," Wilde shook his head, his eyes looked glazed over for a moment before refocusing back on his drink. He drank the entire shot in one gulp. "All in All, Rodentia got hit with a nuke and Party City was born because the people who survived the nuclear explosion were so traumatized, they refuse to acknowledge the existence of anything bad by partying."

"Holy shit, a nuke?" I gasped, "Is that why Snow Steel is so polluted?"

"Yep, that's radiation fallout mixed with the snowflakes," Wilde nodded, "The fallout blocked out the sun there, and it got so cold that it was uninhabitable by even the Artics."

"Watch the slur, Wilde!" I snapped, and he smirked at me. "I'm serious, you never know who you can offend!"

"Ha ha," Wilde leaned on the bar and raised an eyebrow at me, "So does Party City have anything to do with this 'case'?"

"Double murder, evidence linked to drugs," I slid the file to Wilde, who promptly opened it and skimmed through it. "It was done midday, on the sidewalk, and there were no witnesses."

"Aw fuck, is that Tommy and his old lady?" Wilde commented, looking up from the file to me. "This sounds like it was committed by a mobster, but which one?"

"Exactly, Fa—wait what do you mean 'which one'?" I pushed, scowling at him. "You heard Duster, there's only one kingpin in each region!"

"You actually believed the slick fuck?" Wilde snorted at me, I crossed my arms and waited for what he had to say. "Okay, he's right but there's been conflict between The Porky Pussy's Syndicate and The Neighborhood Watch."

"War?" I asked and Wilde shrugged.

"Porky and The Watch has been at odds forever, but since Falcon took control of The 'Hood Watch there's been a lot of Gang Brawls going on," Wilde stroked his chin, thinking I'm assuming. "That, and there's rumors that Porky's lieutenants are planning to murder the fat fuck and replace him with Doc."

"Would you stop calling him 'Porky'?" I asked, aggravated.

"Fatso has always been paws-off when it comes to orchestrating murdering of his rivals ad those he considered threats; Tommy has recently been thinking of getting out of the game and moving to The Acropolis with his family," Wilde's TAME collar beeped a dangerous orange color. "God dammit Tommy, I told you not to fuck with the fat schmuck."

"You know Tommy?" I asked softly, leaning forward to Wilde. Patton refilled his drink. "A friend?"

"Yeah, I knew him," Wilde closed the file and slid it back to me, taking another gulp of his alcoholic drink. "He was the neighborhood bully while I was growing up, I was part of his gang when I was in my teens – he helped me become a scam artist when I couldn't feed my daughter when no one would hire me."

"Wow—I had no idea..." I spoke softly, barely above a breath. "I'm sorry, Wilde... if you want to, I can go find another case—"

"No," Wilde's face was stone cold, I know he was trying to push down the feeling of anger and risk being shocked. "I want to see Fat Cat's face when we tear him off of his throne and throw cuffs on his sausage wrists."

"Well, I know where to start," I stood up from my seat, walking towards the door. Wilde followed suit, holding the case in his hands. "NOOSE Agents have them in protective custody."

"NOOSE HQ?" Wilde repeated, "That's in Zoocropolis, I'm not allowed there."

"What do you mean?" I questioned, turning my head to Wilde to avoid accidentally looking at the nude animals here. "Why wouldn't they let you in? NOOSE has Predators among their ranks, remember?"

"Judy," Wilde firmly stated, I stopped and turned completely to Wilde's very serious eyes. "Jesus Christ you need to open your eyes, the prey in Zoocropolis are violently anti-predator. The second they even suspect I'm in their precious rich neighborhood, I'll going to be lynched."

"What about the police?" I asked, hoping for some comfort in this information.

"What about the police?" Wilde rolled his eyes, crossing his arms as he puffs out his chest in a mockingly way. "Oh, these people are killing this person by hanging him! I better go assist them in tying the noose!"

"Wilde, there's no other alternatives! We talk to the kids, then we can find

"The Diamond Sons are the most notorious racist group this planet has ever had the displeasure of giving birth to," Wilde deadpanned, "Yeah, I'm not risking my life for some little tykes."

'So what do I do now?" I rubbed my forehead,

"Go there yourself?" Wilde retorted that as if he was stating the obvious.

"I can't, I'm not a detective and even if I was then; Chief Bogo has to approve it—and that big bastard is nowhere to be found,"

"And what the hell do you think going along with me would make your chances any better?" Wilde asked condescendingly.

"Because if I had a CI, protocol calls for the Police Officer to be treated as a Detective and the presence of a CI requires a meeting with anything NOOSE holds if said police officer thinks the CI can draw some conclusion to a case," I explained. "I wouldn't need Chief Bogo's approval if you were there."

"Come on, fluff-ball, use that beautiful brain of yours," Wilde urged, "What are we doing?"

"I can't think in here," I groaned and made my way to the door and exited Liberty Springs, Wilde followed me until he was stopped by Yak.

"Hey—Nicky!" Yak snapped out of his meditation to grab Wilde's attention. Wilde walked back to the front desk and waited. "Your package came in today, man, the freshest batch of E-Cigarettes for my brodizzle."

"Fo' shizzle," Wilde dug into his pockets and pulled out a wad of dollars in a clip. Yak took it and reached under the desk to pull out a big blue carton of what seemed to be enough cigarettes to last a chain smoker a while. "Thanks Yak, you up for Ryan Goosling's Drove tonight?"

Again, another movie I don't want to nor ever will watch.

"Hell to the yeah, man!" Yak sneezed himself into the wall and the paintings and other things hung up on the wall crashed into him.

{~}

1200

{~}

The Urban Jungle is cold in the fall, rodents and those who hibernate frantically ran around shops and consuming tons of food—so much food that some stores refused to serve hibernator animals. Those who couldn't afford food this fall will starve this winter, I don't need to live in the city to know that grim fact.

I'm part Arctic Hare: so I can survive in cold climates without hibernation—I don't know about Wilde on the other paw.

Wilde went to go coffee while I brainstorm how to deal with the case, I don't want to enter Party City blind because that's a rookie mistake 101.

I sat on a bench close to the beach and train station—

"Okay that's it, Savage!" The security guard shouted, I wasn't sure of the local slang around here but I took it as a insult to the canine. "I'll make you a bloody mess!"

The canine seemed to seize when the large rectangle on his collar beeped a crimson red, the security guard took his baton and forcibly pulled the canine onto the platform—

"Out of my way, bloody Savage!" An Ox pushed past Wilde, knocking the coffee out of his paws and onto the ground. I think I had about enough of the racism for today, I stood up and stomped after that weasel of a Ox.

"My favorite coffee ground, medium roast racism," I heard Wilde remark as he stared at the puddle of coffee.

"Oi, you fluff-ball bastard!" I called him out, approaching him with a very peeved scowl. The sheep had a polo shirt on with khaki pants, he was also wearing socks with sandals. The fashion-blind idiot! "I think you said something unkind to my friend and I would appreciate it if you apologized."

"The Savage? Your friend?" The Ox sorted, but then started a hysterical laugh. "That's cute, you're standing up to someone twice your size."

I looked on the ground and found a decent sized rock on the side of the road, and chucked it at the Ox's head as hard as I can. The rock flew in the air fast before it struck the Ox in the forehead, right between the eyes. Wilde looked absolutely shocked while the rest of the people around me looked absolutely horrified.

I looked back to the Ox—

The canine's blood pool around his head.

The Ox was out cold, a broken nose and a few knocked out teeth.

I looked above me to see a sign that read "Herbivores Only".