Chapter Six: Tying Up Loose Ends

Most mammals would freak out if they saw another mammal sitting on their windowsill and staring right at them, especially after dark. Nick, however, was not most mammals. Sure, he still felt a bit weirded out that Blue-40 somehow managed to climb four stories of a building from the outside without anyone noticing or caring, but considering Finnick had entered his old apartment through the window more than once (the door was too much trouble, he always said), he had experience with this kind of entry. Thus, instead of shooing Blue-40 away, he merely opened the window enough to let him squeeze through.

"You know, you can just enter the building through the front if you want," Nick said.

"I apologize, Mister Wilde," Blue-40 said. "It's an old habit. We see this as normal back home."

"My bad, then," Nick said. "So, what brings you here? And how did you find me?"

"Well, we figured we needed some kind of liaison to make sure this whole operation went smoothly, without angering those already here," Blue-40 said. "Our first option was Mister Clawhauser, but that no longer appears to be viable. Thus, we resorted to our second option, which was you. We got your addresses from Mister Bogo; he was far more cooperative than we expected."

Nick could put together the pieces from there. "So, you're moving in, is what you're saying?"

"For now," Blue-40 said. "Once Red-160 is free, he'll take my place. Don't worry, I won't be a burden, and neither will he. You'll barely notice we're here."

Nick sure hoped that was the case. Finnick had said that before with his old apartment, and most of the time that meant he could expect the door to be broken down in the middle of the night by someone he'd ticked off. He'd even bought an extra baseball bat specifically for that scenario after the first incident.

Just then, the microwave dinged. Nick opened the microwave and pulled the food out, grabbing a fork and knife from the drawer. He was about to dig in when he noticed Blue-40 staring at him. "Sorry, are you hungry? You want me to make you something?"

"It'd be nice if I could try a little, but we don't need to consume anything substantial. We eat things because they taste good, not because we need to," Blue-40 responded.

Casually as he could, Nick chopped off a tiny piece of the meal and dropped it in front of Blue-40, who appeared to sniff it for a few seconds before chowing down. He appeared to like it, too, based on the expression that came over his face. "Mmm, spicy."

Nick ate the rest of the meal in silence, just wanting to shower and turn in for the night. He would have asked Blue-40 if he wanted somewhere to sleep, but that wasn't necessary: after eating the piece of food, he curled up in the far corner of the room, eyes open but appearing quite out of it. At that point, he just shook his head and headed for the shower, ready to call it a night himself.

The perfect ending to a perfectly weird day.

Unlike Nick, who almost always arrived just shy of on time, Judy was as reliable as they came, and the day following the Incubators' reveal was no exception. Judy raced to her cubicle half an hour before her shift started so she could have some guaranteed privacy. Sure, she lived alone, but the walls were thin enough that she could probably have punched a hole in them if she wanted to, and her neighbors weren't the quietest bunch. Here, she was almost guaranteed to go undisturbed.

With the Incubators revealed to the world, the most pressing issue had been dealt with. Now, she just needed to focus on the smaller problems they faced, like getting a lawyer for Red-160's upcoming trial. From what she'd heard from the officers who questioned them, nothing had been stolen or even misplaced, meaning he'd probably just face a charge of trespassing as opposed to attempted burglary or something similar. It'd be a quick trial if everything went well, she just needed someone to help Red-160 with said trial.

She already knew she'd be a poor fit. Sure, as a police officer she had more knowledge of the law than most, and she'd had some PR training after the disaster that was her first press conference, but her emotional composition was not one a lawyer would value. She let her heart lead her along more so than her head on more occasions than she liked to admit, and a good lawyer could easily use that to bait her into a trap. Thus, even if their opposition wanted to get the case over with quickly as well, she didn't want to take any unneeded risks.

Mumbling words of encouragement to herself, she booted up the computer, but before she could even begin browsing the Web, she saw a distorted reflection of Chief Bogo duck in through the doorway. "Judy? What are you doing here so early?"

"Trying to find a lawyer to help our new arrival," Judy said. "I needed the peace and quiet here."

"Well, there's no need for that," Bogo said. "I secured a public defender yesterday, and the trial is already set for this afternoon. Both parties want this over with as quickly as possible, and I'm pretty sure we do as well."

"I agree there," Judy said. "Did you get them acquainted with how Red-160 communicates?"

"Yes. He came by shortly after you clocked out yesterday," Bogo said. "He already knows. I wouldn't say he's used to it, but he knows it's coming. I'm assuming Officer Wilde told you about that?"

"Of course he did," Judy said, "just like he told me about how you shattered a ceiling light when you heard it the first time. He even did this stupid reenactment of it and nearly fell over in the process because he was working so hard to hold back laughter."

Bogo groaned. "Leave it to him to do something like that. Just make sure you're in the bullpen for the start of your shift." With that, he hustled out of the room, leaving Judy to her own devices.

Nick actually arrived five minutes early this time around. As it turned out, Blue-40 ceaselessly pacing circles around his bedroom (without making much noise, but still) worked better than any alarm clock he'd tried. Clawhauser had nearly dropped his latte and donut, he was so surprised when Nick arrived. Nick didn't make any snarky remarks, he barely even said hello this time around. He just wanted to find Judy before Bogo started assigning jobs for the day.

He found her waiting in the bullpen alongside a handful of other officers, with more trickling in. After waving to her to get her attention, he shuffled over to a corner away from the others, her following with a puzzled look. However, when Nick bent over to get close to her ear, she appeared to understand.

Nick just cut to the chase. "Judy, I just became roommates with an Incubator."

Judy looked like she wanted to shout, "What?" at the top of her lungs, but that would just startle all the other officers and probably get them asking questions Nick wouldn't want to answer, so she just responded, "Well, that's interesting. How are they to live with?"

"Not bad," Nick said. "They require less maintenance than you, and that's saying something."

They continued talking that, along with other matters of less urgency, until Chief Bogo arrived. This time around, he had the same air of command he usually did, a far cry from the mammal he'd seen last time. He gave out a multitude of assignments, most of which he barely remembered, until he turned to him and Judy and said, "Hopps, Wilde, I'll need you to come with me. Everyone else, dismissed."

Before they could go anywhere, Nick was the subject of more whispers courtesy of Judy. "Did you do something?"

Nick simply shrugged, then tailed Bogo as the rest of the officers dispersed. Judy followed. Once the three of them were out of earshot, he gave them what they were looking for. "Standard patrol until your lunch break. After that, I'll need you two to report to the Rainforest District's courthouse. In case you don't know where that is, it's on the corner of Orchid and Magnolia."

Nick spoke up first. "What for, Chief Bogo?"

"Red-160's case. Because you were one of the only mammals to catch him inside that family's house, you might be called as witnesses. I don't doubt they want the trial to be just as badly as we do, but still, it has to be a trial. There have to be some procedures that they're following."

"Understood, sir," Judy said. Nick nodded assent.

"Good. You're dismissed as well," Bogo said, marching off towards his office as Nick and Judy headed for their patrol car, ready to tackle this morning's work with just as much enthusiasm as any other.

The courthouse in question was a monolith of white marble topped with a crown of greenery. Cylindrical pillars held the massive roof upright, large windows revealed a view of the ornate furniture inside, and as if to add to the air of formality, a phrase in a foreign language had been inscribed in the marble above the entryway. Nick didn't bother to try and translate it.

Places like these had never been his favorite. While the numbers of times he'd been in a courthouse had been in the single digits (although it probably should have been a lot more, he'd just been a sneakier scam artist than most). There, the disdain most mammals had for foxes had been on full display, with lawyers, witnesses, and judges alike degrading them at every opportunity. Heck, if he hadn't been in his police uniform, he would have bet money that the receptionist would ask Judy which courtroom his trial was to be in.

They strode down the immaculate corridor, with walls so white they hurt to look at and an emerald-colored carpet under their feet. The receptionist, a young female tiger, happened to be unoccupied, so Judy managed to grab her attention without hesitation. "Excuse me, miss, I heard that an Incubator's trial was being held here this afternoon. Is that true?"

"Why, yes it is," the receptionist responded. "I know you two are officers, but have you been authorized to attend this trial?"

"We should be," Judy said. "I believe Chief Bogo authorized us this morning."

"Hold on, let me check," she said, pulling her laptop close before pressing a few keys, finally turning back to them. "Yep, you're cleared. Courtroom Four, down the hallway to your right."

"Thank you, miss," Judy replied, both her and Nick making a move down that hall. Sure enough, they arrived at Courtroom Four without a problem. The room looked just like your standard courtroom, albeit one larger than Judy was expecting. A few rows of seats, a jury box, a witness stand, and that was about it- the room was almost barren of decoration of any kind. As of now, it was occupied by about three-quarters of the jury, the adults in the family whose home had been broken into, both sides' lawyers, and Red-160, bound in the same contraption as last time while Officer Delgato kept half an eye on him.

The other one and a half eyes noticed that Nick and Judy had entered, so he turned to face them. "Hey, guys! Over here!"

Nick and Judy shuffled over toward where Delgato was standing, Red-160 noticing their presence and fixing his gaze on them in the process. "Hello, Mister Wilde. Are you here to help me?"

"We think so," Judy said, clearly having gotten something similar. Delgato nodded, meaning Red-160 had either spoken with him during their time together or that he at least knew how the Incubators communicated by now.

The rest of the jury trickled in over the next ten minutes or so. As soon as everyone had arrived and the state of the room was in something resembling order, the judge presiding over the case banged his gavel.

"The court is in session," he said. "We may begin."

Just like Chief Bogo had predicted, the trial had gone so quickly Judy felt like it had been conducted with fast-forward. The final verdict was about to be read, and it had barely been an hour.

After each lawyer made their opening statements, a variety of witnesses had been called to the stand. The family members stated that while nothing in the house had been missing or damaged, a window had been opened in their daughter's bedroom and there had been small pawprints on the shelf where Red-160 had posed as a stuffed animal. Judy and Nick confirmed what they had to say. Red-160 had taken the witness stand for a while, relaying statements to his lawyer, who then said them out loud. It had been a bit odd and more than a bit tedious, but before long, even he'd been told to sit back down, and the closing arguments had been read.

Everything went so fast after that. With a unanimous vote from the jury, it had been declared that Red-160 was guilty of trespassing, but not guilty of attempted burglary or breaking and entering. Because it was his first offense (although it was hard for there to be any others when he'd been on the planet for less than forty-eight hours), it didn't carry any risk of jail time, he was free to go while his sentence was deliberated.

Judy and Nick exited the courtroom shortly after the trial had concluded, beaten out only by most of the jury. Judy wanted to get back to work as soon as possible, especially since they still had a couple of hours until they could punch out, but Nick wanted to stay behind for a minute, saying he had a few questions for Red-160. Judy could have gone to their patrol car by herself, but either out of loyalty to Nick or just intrepid curiosity (she couldn't decide what), she stayed with him.

Red-160, now free of whatever the heck that device was, was among the last to come out. Upon seeing the two of them, he stopped and began to speak. "Well, that was easy. Hopefully, everything else goes that smoothly."

"I hope," Judy said.

"I'd say this is goodbye, but considering the circumstances, I don't have doubts that I'll see you again," Red-160 said.

He seemingly paused for a few seconds, but then Nick started talking without context. "I'll see you there, that's for sure."

With that, Red-160 left them alone, and they walked out to the patrol car together, Judy feeling ready for the rest of her shift and Nick looking the same way. The pieces of the Incubator's case had all come together. Normalcy had been restored. For now, at least.

But, as Judy remembered from her time on the force, any case that seemed simple rarely was.