Cops and Robbers

Day One

Tundratown seemed colder than usual, and I certainly didn't enjoy having to wait around on a street corner while I waited for one of my contacts to make their way to where I was from downtown. I had wanted to have the meeting in downtown, but they had stubbornly insisted that we meet in Tundratown, what with the police practically crawling all over downtown at the moment, what with the peace day parade and such coming up. They wanted to make sure downtown looked its best for the visitors that would be flooding into Zootopia soon.

I wasn't exactly the type to be participating in any kind of peace celebration though, not that I wasn't in favor of peace between predator and prey, but I had more important things to be doing.

I'm not exactly a law-abiding citizen, if that wasn't obvious already. I didn't do anything too crazy though, nothing that a predator could do to prey. No, I'm not that kind of guy. I'm the kind of guy who runs hustles, shoplifts, bootlegs, and does some other kinds of thieving. It's not exactly the most luxurious living, nor is it the easiest when you're working against a pretty extensive police force, but, in all honesty, it's fun. It's the kind of thing that I've been doing ever since I was fairly young, not out of necessity, but for fun.

"Sif." I heard someone's voice from behind me and I glanced over my shoulder, stepping back, the coat that I wore blowing slightly as I turned to face the new arrival. A tiny smile split my snout when I saw that it was none other than my friend from downtown. He was a fairly tall tiger, taller than I was, and definitely more muscled.

"Raja." I greeted as I extended a hand to him. The tiger reached forward and shook my hand firmly, before reaching into the pitch black coat he wore and drawing out a small package. He handed it to me wordlessly before walking out of the alley, heading his own way as though he hadn't even spoken to me.

What was that package, you may ask? Well, it wasn't anything too crazy. I happen to have a few associates who enjoy the art of counter fitting. The problem is, the city started running some new bills that required my friends to get new plates for their presses. Being the good friend that I am, I decided that it would be best if I went out and got the plates for them. While it did cost me cashing in a favor from one of my old friend-enemies, I earned a favor from the guys who worked directly with Mr. Big, which gave me a big advantage when it came to anything in Zootopia.

I turned to go my own merry way, but suddenly found myself face to face with an officer of the ZPD coming down the sidewalk, cool intent on his features along with a hint of determination. It was certainly curious that the police chief had assigned a cheetah to Tundratown, but at the moment I was more concerned with the fact that I was up there on the police department's most wanted list. Nick Wilde was up there as well, though we were both below Mr. Big and his cronies. I had to hope that I was low enough on the list that this cop wouldn't recognize me.

Luck would, of course, do anything but swing in my favor. The cop looked up and his eyes locked with mine. His sapphire blue eyes instantly filled with recognition, and he reached for his radio. I took advantage of that split second of hesitation to turn and bolt down the alley that I had just come out of. It would have been useful if I knew a way back to my car that didn't involve the street that the cop had just been on, but when I heard him pelting down the alleyway behind me I realized that there were bigger things to worry about.

I turned the corner of the alley on a dime and streaked down the street before side-stepping into an apartment building. This particular apartment building happened to be notorious for criminal activity, as the floor plans of the five story complex were highly complex, often turning into a maze like situation which led to most cops getting lost if they followed criminals into its insane structure.

Unfortunately, it seemed like this cop was either extremely lucky, or he happened to know more about the building than all of the other cops in Zootopia, because when I turned the final corner of what should've been the perfect evasion route, I smacked perfectly into the cheetah, sending the both of us to the floor in a tangle. Before I could react I felt a single handcuff being smacked into my wrist, and when I looked up I saw that the cheetah had secured the other handcuff around his own wrist.

I groaned at the situation as the cop started talking in his obviously-rehearsed no-nonsense cop voice. Now, I loved his voice. In fact, I liked a lot of things about this guy. For one, his eyes were extremely fetching, and he definitely had a fine bit of definition under his thin fur.

"Do you understand?" His deep, powerful voice asked as though I had been paying attention the entire time.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" I asked genuinely, though this guy didn't seem to catch on to the fact that I had literally been paying zero attention to his whole speech. He pulled me to my feet and uncuffed his one hand, leaving me with a perfect window. I lurched with my shoulder, smacking it into the cheetah's chest before taking off, leaving him stunned and in the middle of the floor.

By the time I got to my car the cheetah had just managed to catch up, barely. I jumped straight through the open window of my black sports car, something that was learned entirely through repeated practice by running from the cops, and turned on the ignition. Just as the Cheetah made it to the door of the car I put it into drive and sped off, tires screeching as I did so