Roll Call

Officer Judy Hopps bounced into roll call, still on a high from her first couple of patrols with Nick. She glanced around and spotted him, looking at her with an amused expression. So emotional, he mouthed at her. She just grinned at him and went to her seat.

Which was being sat in, by a- a- what kind of mammal was that?

She stood behind the mammal and cleared her throat. He turned.

Hairless. She hadn't realized it before- except for his head, which had a somewhat mussed topping of black hair. Was he sick or something?

The mammal looked around, confused, and Judy sighed inwardly. "Down here," she said, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice.

With a start, the mammal looked down. "You're in my seat," she said.

He muttered something under his breath, something that sounded almost like"Holy talking bunny"- she must have misheard- and then stood up. "Sorry, I guess that's why the books were piled here?" He gestured to the stacks of penal code books that she had used as an ad hoc booster chair.

She started tapping her foot impatiently. "What sort of mammal are you, anyway?"

He rolled his eyes and gestured to a sticker on the front of his uniform. She peered at it, then looked at him. "You're a capybara?"

Surprised, he looked down. "What? Oh, no- the marker smeared-"

Then it clicked. "Wait, you're the human!" She glanced at his name tag- Hunter- and her eyes narrowed, but she shook the thought off. "Officer Hunter! From Alpha Centauri First Landing!"

The human- Hunter- nodded as he replaced the books. "That's me. You are?" He reached down a hand, but she was already in mid-hop to the top of the stacked books.

"Officer Judy Hopps!" she said proudly. "I read the briefing material on you. You really caught a serial killer?"

"Yeah, he was causing me way too much overtime."

She laughed at his joke. "It's an honor to meet you, Officer Hunter. You must be one of the best cops in the FLPD to be sent here."

"Well, the chief said I had certain- qualities-"

Before he could finish, the room went quiet as Chief Bogo walked in. He adjusted his glasses and glanced around the room.

"As you can see, we have a new mammal with us. I expect everyone to show him courtesy and respect. This is Officer Hunter, on secondment from FLPD on the human homeworld of Alpha Centauri."

With a studiously casual air, Hunter stood up. "Howdy."

Everyone waited.

He sat down.

After a moment, someone in the back said, "Hunter?"

"That's not going to work."

"We'll have to rename him," said another voice.

Judy glanced at the human worriedly. He was very still, his face inexpressive.

"How about 'Spot'?" a canine voice put in snidely.

Judy cleared her throat- she was sure this was inappropriate behavior.

Before she could say anything, Hunter twisted around to face the room. "We could use my mother's maiden name."

"Which is?" called a lion.

Hunter smiled at him, showing his teeth. "Skinner."

Even the chief stared at him.

Then, everyone started laughing. "Okay, I guess he'll do for now," said the lion officer smugly.

Judy settled back on her seat, letting out a held breath.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Assignments."

She glanced at Nick, who gave her a quick smile and thumbs-up.

"Wolferd and Delgato, you have Barksdale Park."

The list went on, until she heard- "Hopps and Hunter, you've got parking detail."

"What?" She and the human said simultaneously. They both looked at one another.

"Parking detail?" she demanded.

"Hunter is on a sort of probation right now. Until the city council approves it, he doesn't have any arrest powers, other than writing parking tickets," said the chief stolidly. "So any arrests will be carried out by Officer Hopps, Hunter."

Hunter stared at him. "Surely you must be joking."

Bogo pointed a finger at him. "You didn't think we'd just let you saunter out there and start arresting mammals without some on-the-job training? I know you took some classes on our system but there's no replacement for actual experience. You go out there and observe. Hopps is an-" he paused. "An enthusiastic officer, and she'll explain some things to you."

Hunter eyed the chief, then turned his gaze to Judy. She grinned, nervously.

"Oh, and Hunter?"

"Yes, sir?" he gritted out between clenched teeth.

"It's Chief Bogo, not Shirley."

Hopps had to tug at the human's shirt sleeve repeatedly before he stopped staring suspiciously at the chief and would leave.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Interlude: First Landing, AlphaCen

"So then I thought, but what if it is a burglar? I mean, it's usually just the raccoon in the attic- why did we import those from Terra on the colony ships, anyway? I tell you, officer, if I had been in charge-"

Wu smiled and nodded at the appropriate places, his rhythm only interrupted by the approach of his new partner. Even that wouldn't have stopped him- he had dealt with Mrs. Reynolds many, many times before- except that, in an event he would carefully mark on his calendar and post on the substation's notice board, she was abruptly left speechless.

Barker looked at her quizzically. Mrs. Reynolds stared.

For a long minute, there was silence.

Then:

"What an adorable puppy! How did you teach it to stand on two legs like that? When did you become a K-9, Officer Wu, though you know, I always did tell my oldest that you deserved promotion, you're so kind and thoughtful- oh! Does the puppy want a biscuit?"

Wu was frantically waving his hands. "No, no, Mrs. Reynolds-" he stopped as he became aware of a faint growl from next to him.

Mrs. Reynolds, taking his sudden silence as assent, disappeared into the house.

Wu sheepishly looked at Barker. "Sorry about that, I was about to explain-" he paused as he met his partner's gaze. "Wait, were you growling at her or me?"

Barker looked at him, expressionless. "Don't get between me and a free biscuit."

Wu sighed. He could never tell if she was joking or not.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

From: Officer Z. Hunter

To: Chief of Police, FLPD

Subject: Report 2: The Return

Howdy Chief!

I'm writing this very quickly before I start my first day. My new partner is a talking bunny rabbit. She is adorable. I am not certain this is a particularly useful trait for a police officer to have.

You've been talking to the ZPD chief a lot, haven't you?

Yours truly,

Hunter