Well, Am I a Cop? No, No I Am Not

( ooc: I'm so sorry to keep you waiting so long for this! I'm, heh, a really slow RPer with more characters than I can rightfully manage: this never got lost, just kinda buried in my list of everything else I owed ^^; )


Day twenty-seven here, and...

Yep, still nothing. Judy couldn't help it; there was a nasty, nagging suspicion in the back of her mind that this place was all a clever ruse, and that she'd been thoroughly tricked by it. It was starting to seem more and more likely, to her, that the pub was simply a diversion; anyone who the Gilded Wings actually wanted in their ranks would be shuttled off to another real headquarters, while those who they didn't trust were told 'yes, this is the place'... and then just left here indefinitely, until they got bored enough to give up.

Judy Hopps was not the kind to give up.

Drastic action was going to be needed soon, Judy was starting to figure. Maybe she could barge out back, demanding answers... if this wasn't a true lead, was there anything to be lost by bringing the old badge out to intimidate someone into sharing information?

Of course there was; it would probably only drive the Gilded Wings further underground.

Not for the first time, Judy wished Nick was here at her back. He was the street-smarts to her eternal optimism; and while she was learning from him, her idea of how criminals like this operated was still... very much based on limited experience. Nick, however, would probably poke through to the heart of the Gilded Wings' operation just like *that*, as casually as popping a soap bubble, and his expertise was sorely missed.

And, you know, she missed him personally, too: her partner, yes, but also honestly her best friend in Zootopia.

But it wasn't like wishing would just produce him out of thin air or anything. She was here on business and, darn it, she was going to see that business through - with the nefarious Gilded Wings in chains and brought to justice. All she had to do was, you know... actually figure out who they were, whether they were actually here or not.

Simple?

...her lack of success so far said otherwise.

It was with something of a frustrated huff that Judy shoved her shoulder against the pub's entrance, pushing the overly-large door open enough for her to slip in. She'd spent much of the morning scouting around outside, violet eyes peeled for suspicious activity; but as the hours had worn on, had once again reached the conclusion that she was either in the wrong place, or at the wrong time. She was dead-ending everywhere she looked, and Judy felt her frustrations mounting.

And that wouldn't do anyone any good. Allowing herself a break for a few moments, at least, Judy had headed in; now, she hopped up to onto the bar stool to place an order for her usual lunch, a carrot sandwich. By now, the bartender was used enough to her request not to even question it.

Though maybe she should question him...

Receiving her meal, Judy turned in search of a place to sit. Her gaze scanned the lunchtime crowd, passing as it did over a very familiar red-furred form, on its way to--

Wait--

Just as Nick had predicted, the bunny's ears shot straight up as her wide-eyed gaze abruptly reversed direction, narrowing suspiciously. It didn't seem possible, and she'd probably just skimmed past Gideon instead and mistaken him, since she'd been thinking about her partner. But still, she wanted to be sure; had she really seen...?

It sure as anything wasn't Gideon.

"...Nick?"

She leapt down from the bar, diving into the crowd as she bore down on the familiar form.

"Nick- shhh- undercover---!"

He wasn't listening to her, Judy was well aware; but for every moment Nick continued, Judy was absolutely certain that someone was going to overhear, and the results of that could only be BAD.

She'd been all ready to practically leap into Nick's arms as she approached, eager as she was to see him; the harsh tone of his voice, however, had stopped the little bunny cold. Her expression started off as a startled grimace, every one of her senses leaping to high alert, Judy could only cast hopelessly around her, certain that at any moment Nick was going to bring every Gilded Wing in the place - assuming there were any at all, but that wasn't a chance she was prepared to take - down on her. Naturally, he ignored all her hissed warnings, and every single sign that he was on the verge of getting them both into very big trouble.

She knew why he was doing it, of course. Ever since their very first day, Nick had been incredibly good at playing her; and here he was, again, trying to get a rise out of her. While Judy cared deeply for him, of course; and she had, admittedly, learned not only to hold her own against him, but also to play him back in kind... but she had forgotten, in his absence, just how good Nick was at this.

The little bunny grit her teeth, fully prepared to give him an earful in return the moment he finished speaking...

Her grimace died, however, as she actually listened to Nick. Judy liked to think she was good at reading her partner; and beneath the antagonistic snark, she was sure she could pick up a genuine tone of concern. Ears drooped, her expression becoming downcast as she realised how long it had been since she'd checked in, and how much she must have worried, well...

Just about everyone.

Granted, she had expected to be deep undercover by now, where a single wrong move could have destroyed all her credibility with the Gilded Wings. But since that had so utterly failed to happen, Judy had simply got so desperate to have something to report that, as days of no success at all had slipped past, she'd allowed her awareness of time to completely slip, too.

How worried had Nick been for her? She could take care of herself, of course, but still... she'd just been so excited to get a new assignment that she'd up and left on him. And her parents... guilt hit Judy like a tidal wave. She'd said something to them before she'd left, of course; but she hadn't gone into much detail, not wanting them to worry too much. Seemed, from what Nick had said, that she'd failed on that count too. Were they really frantic with concern for her?

It dawned on her, slowly, that Nick had finished his tirade and was waiting for her to respond.

"Nick, I... I'm so sorry."

It wasn't intentional, but Judy could pull a very impressive pair of puppy-eyes when she felt guilty.

"I didn't think. I haven't been getting very far, I didn't want to make a report until I actually had something to report. But you're right, I should have told you..."

But he was here now, right? Whatever she'd done or failed to do... though his green eyes were close to unreadable as she looked at them, Judy nonetheless did her best to convince herself that he wasn't mad at her. Ticked off, absolutely. Worried, sure. But outright angry?

No. She'd seen Nick when he was angry before, and this wasn't it.

"I'll tell you everything, of course. But..."

She chanced another glance at the fox, hoping he was feeling more cooperative for at least a moment.

"Maybe somewhere where we're not liable to be overheard by a ton of potential suspects?"

For a moment, she could have punched him. Not maliciously, of course; but in an impatient cut that out way, as she saw Nick slip into an alarmed posture. Had she not known him well enough to recognise when he was playing with her by now, Judy would almost have been convinced by his reaction; as it was, he just got a tired roll of her large eyes.

She hadn't spent a month agonising over how she was going to play this hustle, or whether anyone was onto her yet, for this.

The irritation lasted but a moment, however. While Nick definitely knew how to ruffle her fur, Judy was no stranger to that game herself; and it was a game that two could play.

"Gosh, I dunno. I'd have thought it was the literal swords and axes embedded in the walls that were the cause for concern." The bunny put on a mock thoughtful expression, violet eyes narrowing as she tapped her chin with one paw as if she was serious considering her partner's words. Even if her smirk, a moment later, gave the game away.

"But no, you're absolutely right. That is one sinister ducky mascot."

Without waiting for him to answer - although the moment of playful banter had restored some of her native bounce, and there was a grin on her small face as she did so - Judy grabbed Nick by the paw, tugging him in the direction of a table in one of the darker and quieter corners of the room, where there were less patrons around to overhear. No matter what her partner said, Judy knew she was in the place she was looking for: or at least, if this wasn't an actual headquarters of the Gilded Wings, it was for sure the place from which they picked their recruits. Bonnie - that, um, naked girl with the green fur - had confirmed that much; so Judy could only assume that she'd failed some kind of secret entrance test without realising it.

Or someone had blabbed on who she really was. There were a few other Zootopians around this world, including Gideon Grey and Colleen the teacher, so it wasn't impossible that one of them had dropped a word in the ear of the Wings' leader that she was on the side of the law.

In any case, no way was she going to start shouting out right in the middle of the pub that she was a cop trying to bust the Wings. Even for one as audacious as her, that was just a little too much like painting a massive target between her ears. But at the same time, she was abruptly more optimistic than she had been just a few minutes ago; because if anyone knew how to worm the way into the good graces of a bunch of thieves and cut-throats, it was surely Nicholas Wilde.

Reaching the table, the small animal hopped up onto a chair on the far side, slammed both paws down on the table's surface as she faced Nick; once again all business. Nonetheless, she kept her voice low; a bit more than a whisper, but not a lot more.

"You're right, I'm not worried about them looking; I'm worried about them overhearing. I guarantee, absolutely guarantee you, that someone in this pub is behind recruitment for the Gilded Wings; and if they learn that we're here to bust their boss?"

Well. Nick could probably guess the rest better than she herself could; but she doubted it would be anything very much more pleasant than Mr. Big's favourite means of cleaning up loose ends.

"I--" Her ears perked up a moment as someone else caught her attention. "Wait a second."

She dropped the intensity a moment; seeing one of the serving staff approaching with her sandwich, Judy waved him over to their table. If the man's eyebrows climbed even higher at the sight of her sharing the space with a fox, he nonetheless didn't comment on it. Judy glanced across at her partner while the server lingered.

"Anything you want to order? It's on me this time, I've got a tab here."