WT: A lot of good ideas there. Seriously. If I had to take a crack at them I'd think maybe we'd have a bit of a placement reversal. Like, Nick is already working for a corrupt version of the ZPD, although he's on the shallow end of the corruption. He had ideals, dreams, all of which get dashed when he managed to get into the ZPD and see what it was really like. But rather than walk away, he resigns himself to the role for a time, accepting it as the 'way the world is' and trying to do good where he can. It's when Judy joins the force, and he's forced to be her partner that he begins to shift back to his former self. Judy reminds him a lot of himself when he first joined, but unlike him, she refuses to give in to corruption and aims to be the one to clean the organization up.
Nick tries to talk her out of it, telling her it's not worth the trouble and to keep her head down for her own safety. Of course, Judy declines, saying she didn't become a police officer to 'play it safe' and collect a paycheck. Naturally, Judy ends up ruffling feathers in the ZPD, and Nick is warned to keep a leash on his pet or they'll 'deal with her', but those threats still aren't enough to dissuade Judy who continues to press her luck until it finally runs out. It's only thanks to Nick overhearing the plan that was already set in motion to kill Judy, and his split-second moral decision to act, that saves the poor rabbit from a gruesome 'gas leak explosion' death in the locker room. However, both mammals are still left maimed despite Nick's efforts to push her out of the way of the blast. For Judy, the attempt on her life costs her both legs below the knee, and for Nick, the blast costs him his sight.
The two are rushed to the hospital and stabilized, but only have a short time to recover before both have to flee in order to escape the ZPD looking to 'finish the job'. Nick stumbles blindly out of the hospital with only Judy to guide him, the bunny slung over his shoulder, as the pair make their escape. But the duo ends up running from the ZPD's grasp right into the arms of a mysterious mammal who leads them into the sewers. This tall, gruff, and imposing creature reveals himself to be none other than the formerly 'disgraced' Chief of the ZPD, Bogo. Bogo now works for an underground shadow agency seeking to purge the city of its corporate overlords who control the ZPD and government and restore it to its former non-dystopian system.
Judy and Nick agree to join, and are suited up and kitted out with augments to fix Judy's legs and Nick's eyes, and the pair become rogue agents, working to undermine and overthrow Zootopia's overlords at every turn. As for their relationship with Dawn and Vern, I imagine that Nick already knew the detectives while in the ZPD, and went to them for use as informants. Judy's brief interaction with them while on the force always left her wary, as the pair seemed sketchy to her. Well, as luck would have it, the reason they both came off as sketchy is that they too are part of the organization that Nick and Judy would join after their brush with death, acting as one of their sets of eyes and ears on the surface and feeding false leads to the ZPD when it came to cases involving 'terrorists'. Also, while solving smaller, more personal cases to try to involve the ZPD as little as possible, if any case led to the corpos or ZPD directly, Dawn and Vern would pass it to Bogo to be handled by one or more of his agents.
Naturally, Nick and Judy working as basically secret agent rogues means Judy doesn't get the siren hat. Not exactly stealth is it? But that said, I can see Judy having a sort of... espionage deco flare to her outfits. Something form-fitting with a singlet bottom to allow her bionic legs to be fully exposed... With Nick, I see him in sort of the more classic trenchcoat kinda thing over a fine suit, topped off with the traditional detective hat...all black of course to hit that noir aesthetic and make his augmented green eyes and tie really pop. At the time of writing this, I haven't yet drawn them, but I have a mostly clear mental image...so these elements will surely be in the finals.
Hope you guys liked the really rough, off the cuff ideas. Thanks for the ask!
-Wasty
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