Chapter Fifty-Four
Impending

A black police cruiser pulled to a stop beneath the overbearing body of the ZPD HQ. The sound of an engine echoed through the cold peace for a few seconds. Then… all fell deathly still. The doors opened an instant later and its occupants disembarked, their bare feet stepping onto the chill tarmac of the car park. The occupants of the car — the rabbit and the fox — caught one another's eye as they got out of the car, with the exchanges of a nod and a tiny smirk. They shut the doors and paced away, making towards the back entrance of the ZPD.

Nick took the lead and went to enter the security code into the keypad by the door. Meanwhile Judy paused for a moment and marveled at the stars. It was going to rain again. There was pressure in the air already. With a sharp buzz from the keypad, the door clicked and the lock slid across to allow the door to be opened. Glancing behind him, the fox gave the rabbit a small smirk of reassurance before pushing the door open and stepping inside.

Inside was dark and uncomfortable — this part of the HQ was not often used and was no longer heated so that money could be saved, while the sensor that usually flicked-on the light was evidently broken. The duo made-on quietly through the darkness, not uttering a word, while the reception area edged ever so close. The lights were on in the ZPD foyer, likewise the heating, so the place felt comfy and friendly, despite the prior endured. The silence was no less unsettling though. Nick paused in the doorway to look about for any signs of life, and Judy paced towards the empty receptionist's desk.

"Where do you think Clawhauser went to?" she asked with quick ganders.

"Don't know," Nick murmured in thought, foxing-in behind her. "But there's a note on the desk. What's it say?"

Judy spotted the slip of paper and picked it up. "It just says, 'Come at once'."

"That all it says?"

"It's in Bogo's hoofwriting. The type he uses when he's in a hurry. I'd guess the note's meant for us, rather than Claw. Otherwise, he would've taken it up with him. Chief must be in his office, waiting for us to come join him."

"Makes sense," Nick accepted, taking the note and reading it himself. "He probably wants everything we have on the case so far."

"Where do you think everyone is? I've never seen this place so quiet."

"Best guess, they're preparing for the raid tonight. It is kind of a big deal, after all. Come on," he added, "we'd better find Bogo."

"I hadn't really thought about it," Hopps said, flatly, as she and Nick made up the corridor. "I read reports back at the academy about raids, which had gone horribly wrong. Examples of what improper planning with unforeseen circumstances can lead to. Sometimes, I wish I just didn't know how badly things could go."

"Yeah, ignorance is bliss. Or so they say, Fluff."

"I mustn't let my worry get the better of me, though. I know it's silly."

"It's not silly. You've been distracting yourself from thinking about tonight by focusing on the here and now. But now 'that time' is becoming the here and now. It's becoming impossible to think of anything else." Judy watched her steps as they closed to the office of power. "You're brave, Carrots. But to make it through tonight, you need your fear. It'll keep you sharp, keep your energy up, keep you by checking the shadows and watching your back. I know. Fear alone kept me alive for many long years."

"You're saying I should embrace my fear?"

"It's an asset, and an ally... if handled correctly. Just remember that you control your fears"

The rabbit chuckled, unhappily. "Remember when I used to say the only thing to fear was—"

"Fear itself? Yeah, I remember." Judy stopped at the door of doors and faced her partner.

Smiling softly, Nick put a paw on the rabbit's shoulder and said, "How you've changed, Judy. How far you've come this past year. How you've matured." She was still so young, after all, and already she'd done so much goodness for her surroundings: for her friends and this city. So much more than he'd ever done in all his long years on this earth. "Come on," he said, nodding his head towards Bogo's office while the rabbit just smiled at him. "The sooner we get in there, the sooner we can get this done. And the sooner we can get safely back home." Raising a paw, Judy tapped sharply upon the wood of Bogo's door, exactly thrice.

"In," a stern voice came from inside. Hopps and Wilde shared a glance, unsure of what to think of the terseness of Bogo's response. Stepping forwards, the rabbit pushed open the large door.

"Sir?"

"Hopps, come in. You too, Wilde." The room inside was dark, illuminated only by what little light filtered into the room from the setting sun outside. In the darkness, the shape of a buffalo could be seen, sat with his head craned over a pile of papers on the desk. Stood just inside the doorframe, Judy reached for the light switch. "Leave it," Bogo declared. "I need to think. The light's distracting." Judy's paw faltered and fell to her thigh, and she and Nick took courage into the room.

Sitting back from his paperwork, Chief Bogo eyed the fox and the rabbit with a cool, level stare. "We've had no word on the location of Victor Nyilas." Judy flinched back at the directness with which Bogo had addressed their prior failure. "Even if tonight is a perfect success, he may still slip by us."

"Sir," Judy tried carefully and kinda meekly, "I—"

"Take a seat, Miss Hopps." Judy did so. Bogo turned to the fox, who figured the implication after a moment, and did as he was silently bid on the chair beside Judy. Taking a breath, the buffalo acknowledged that it was darker than he had first anticipated — his mind having been too preoccupied, with his planning, to notice the descent of the sun through the sky — and flicked on the small lamp on his desk.

The two tiny officers turned innately at the desk as the light flooded through the prior gloom. As the eyes adjusted, the pages and blueprints that Bogo had been working on were now comprehendible. One page, only a little of which could bee seen and just enough to be identified, attracted the rabbit's attention more than the rest. It was the 'Application for Police Learning and Development Program (IPLDP), leading to Level 3 Diploma in Policing (QCF) training for promotion to Detective Inspector' that she had seen earlier. It was the form Bogo had showed them prior, with the suggestion that he'd send one for Nick and herself, if they managed to get enough evidence to support a warrant.

This feat they had achieved, yes... but that was before they had lost their key suspect, and now the rabbit wouldn't be surprised if all hopes, of Bogo actually offering them this promotion, had been dashed.

Bogo's noticed what Judy was peeping at with a look of bereavement, and his face, very subtly softened. "Hopps," he sighed through a rub of his eyes, "even the best of us will lose a suspect occasionally. Don't worry. You and Wilde are still under consideration for this training program." Judy's dejection brightened a little. Then Bogo's exterior returned to its impassive, rock-like appearance, once his scowl had regained the lost grounds. "Provided you make up for your mistakes, of course."

"But, Sir, we—"

"Losing Nyilas was a severe blow in terminating this gang. If we had captured the kingpin, then perhaps we could've shut down this entire operation tonight. As it stands, we must settle with the knowledge we have about Erkin Electrical." Sitting forwards, the buffalo's face became a shadow, as dark as his voice, "I trust you have what we need?"

"We do, Sir," Judy confirmed, not frightened by Bogo's dominating posture as she once might have been, but wise enough to know to just answer him directly and not to argue.

"And what form does that take?"

"The abnormalities in the paperwork we uncovered during our investigation at Registry House, and some photographs of some illegal substances I took from inside Erkin, while Ni— Officer Wilde distracted the workers."

"You mean you directly engaged with the operatives of this gang?"

"Yeah," Nick acknowledged, "under the guise of two… shall we say, 'inspectors', who had a very urgent need to look about the place. We bundled our way in the place, and I kept things busy, while Hopps here did the dirty work."

"And did they suspect?"

"No, Sir."

"Well," Bogo huffed after a pause, "we'll just have to see about that, won't we?"

"Sir, I—"

"Now that's enough. Obviously I would ask a complete run-down of everything you found there, but time is pressing, and I need to take steps towards getting this warrant sanctioned. Miss Hopps, e-mail any pertinent photographs to my work e-mail, and give me a short overview of anything important."

"There were around thirty of them," Judy started, pulling out her phone, "of a variety of species, but all around the middle-size range. The one in charge, who we saw, appeared to be a beaver. Though there was mention of a Mister Bains, who we didn't see. But's he's apparently the one really in charge there."

"Good work," Bogo said, penning down notes. "Did you see any suspicious lingering outside? Any signs of what could be a watch setup?"

"Nobody we saw, Sir."

"Any munitions?"

"Yeah, SMGs. Enough to arm everyone we saw there."

"I see. What kind?"

"Erm—"

"MP5s," Nick filled in. "The standard, nine millimeter submachine gun by Heckler & Koch, with a sliding stock. They all looked pretty new and hey, all looked like they were one standard size. That would explain why all the mammals we saw there were all around medium size."

Bogo took down the notes without comment, yet Hopps turned to Nick with surprise and some little awe. "You got all that from a photograph?"

"Standard specs of that model," Nick said with a shrug.

"Enough idle chat," Bogo grunted, standing slowly, "has the e-mail been sent yet?"

"Oh, erm... yes, Sir."

"Good." Leaning back towards his desk, he pushed a button on his intercom. "Clawhauser?"

"Yes, Chief?

"Hopps is back. She should have just sent a few photographs to my work e-mail. Get those printed off, will you?"

"On it."

Bogo stood upright once again and made to make egress from the room, calling over his shoulder to Nick and Judy, "You two, with me."

Hopps and Wilde shared a glance for a moment, then hurriedly pulled themselves to their feet as the chief of police left the room. Hurrying to catch up behind him, Judy asked, "So where is Claw right now, anyway? We missed him at the reception."

"Clawhauser was stood by in the printing room for your return. Right now, he'll be printing off those photos you took. It just saved a little time having him on standby."

"You had him stood there waiting for us to get back? Why?"

"We had no idea when you'd be getting back. Since we're on such a tight schedule, and since getting this warrant is of such high priority, I thought it best to eliminate all sources of delay."

"If it's such high priority, why not send a more experienced office to—"

"Sir," Nick cut in, "where actually are the rest of the officers?"

"Waiting down in the bullpen, Wilde."

"Waiting for what?" he asked, though Nick felt he knew the answer, and it wasn't an answer he felt like liking; hence, why he had been willing to interrupt Judy to find the answer.

"Hopps and yourself," Bogo answered. "I need the two of you to run through the plans with the memmle. The notes are already on my desk down there. And give them an overview of anything they—"

"Wait! Sir... what!?" Bogo and Wilde both slugged to a stop and a glance at Judy, who had frozen at the start of the Chief's answer, and was now staring between the fox and buffalo with a face of inhospitable worry. "What do you mean 'run through the plans'?"

Nick noticed Judy's panic by the sudden erectness of her ears and the smallness of her pupils. It was clear she was in some way distressed by the idea, and the fox didn't like that the way of Bogo's response to her worry was a small grin. "Those are you orders, Officers," the Chief said, coolly. "I must shortly leave here to make my statement to the magistrate to have them sign and legitimize a warrant to raid the premises of Erkin Electrical. While I'm attending to that matter, it will be your and Wilde's responsibilities to ensure all the relevant facts are distributed to your fellow officers."

"But that's, like... that's more the kind of job the top brass would deal with! Not two officers, who are only just in their second year of service. Why don't you want Higgins or McHorn to take over?"

"Because I am not asking Higgins or McHorn to do this. In fact, I'm not asking anyone. I'm ordering you that this is what is to happen."

"Chief," Nick accused, trying his best to help Judy's argument, "Hopps and I... we haven't been properly trained or informed to handle a situation like this. It's unfair of you to—"

"Life is unfair," Bogo sneered. "Not only is it unfair, but it is unpredictable also. If you truly believe you're ready... If you want me to believe you're ready for advancement to Detective Inspector, you have to prove to me that you can adapt and handle difficult situations quickly, and judiciously. Police work isn't just about looking for clues and chasing bad guys. Your ability, your whole effectiveness as an officer. It is only as good as the officers you have around you, and your relationships with them."

"So you're gonna throw Hopps and me in the deep end—"

"And see if you sink or swim, yes." A thin smile on his lips, Bogo turned away and started back down towards the bullpen.

Nick remained still, while the flustered rabbit caught up to him and whispered, Bogo out of earshot, "What is with him? Did we do something to upset him? Is this his payback?"

"You're feeling the stresses. Is it so hard to believe he is too? Besides, he has a point."

"We can't do this, Nick. I can't do this!"

"Just take it easy, Hopps," Nick soothed, aware Judy was working herself into a state. "Just calm down and—"

"How can I calm down? You know what the other officers think!"

Nick's expression staled. "Hey, they're not all like that. Besides, you can still trust them all, remember? It's just it might take them a little time to accept—"

"To accept instructions from a rabbit, yeah!" Hopps crossed her arms and breathed heavily. They were going to make a mockery out of her; she could already see it. "They're not gonna listen to me, you know? They just won't listen, or they'll complain, or—"

Nick tried to take Judy's paw. "Hopps—"

"Bogo," Judy called up the corridor, the bullpen now visible at the end of the corridor, "you sure you won't reconsider?"

"I have."

"And?" she asked in hopes elevated.

"I came to the same conclusion… You, bullpen, now!"

"But, Sir," Judy complained, almost desperate, "I... I'm not cut out to this!"

"Maybe not... but I'm sure Wilde has more than enough lingual tact to come up with something stirring."

"But, the other officers, they don't… they won't—"

Bogo shifted on his soles. "They won't what?" Bogo held Judy's gaze for a long moment, his face stony and impassive. "Won't accept orders from a rabbit? Is that what you were about to say?" Judy hesitated. She knew better than to try to pull-up one of Bogo's officers in front of him. "Miss Hopps," he continued, coldly, "were you about to imply that the officers, my officers, might succumb to petty speciesm?"

Hopps shifted from foot to foot. "I, erm—"

"Of course they're going to be speciest!" he shot. "Just as I was speciest, and Wilde was speciest. You proved the world's most cynical con-mammal and a moody chief of police wrong. And now, if you want to advance in the ranks, if you want the trust and respect of the other officers. You have to prove them wrong in turn." Judy stared up at Bogo at this almost furious outburst. "I hear the mutterings," he said, "I'm not blind to how some of them ignore you. But this case, in which you have already had more risk and more success than the rest of them combined. It is your chance to grab every one of them by the scruff of the neck and rub their faces in the dirt."

Judy couldn't muster any words for a reaction. "I... urh—"

"Rubbing faces in the dirt isn't your style?" he asked, calming down. "I gathered as much. But it's the only way you'll get them to respect you. Believe me, I know. The fight to be accepted, just because of your species… The fight didn't end just because you made it to being an officer. There are still people working here who believe you're not fit for the job. Prove them wrong. Make me proud."

Bogo zoomed away and stepped-up square, with the door to the bullpen, his hoof reaching out to the door handle. "Sir, wait!" Judy shouted, jogging to catch up with the buffalo with Nick close behind. "Just one more thing: what do I do if they don't listen? If they won't accept instructions from a rabbit?"

"You put them in their place. You've seen how I've handled them this past year. You just do the same."

"B— but I can't do all the shouting and being menacing you can. I just, I don't— I just wish I wasn't feeling so—"

"Nervous? Scared? Don't worry. I've seen you in action. Once you get in there and you sink your teeth in, it'll all come naturally. You won't even know it's happening."

Judy stared down at the floor, her head rushing and her heart beating in her mouth. She could already hear the room full of officers on the other side of the door, waiting. Waiting not for her, but for the instructions of a person they knew and trusted, and whose authority they recognized.

The chief of police studied sternly at the rabbit. "Face it, Hopps," he added, dryly, "you're not in a Disney film anymore."

"What?"

"Now get in there and show them who's boss." Without a word further, the door to the bullpen was pushed open and Bogo stepped inside.

Author's notes:

Hesitance jumps around your mind,

Grooms decision thus chosen blind.

Your thoughts most succulent of snack,

All delivered by luscious feedback.

So don't hide like a tiny shrew,

Thus share that belovable review!

- One of our montly gifts for our supporters! Monthly updates.

Social Links:

* To use a link just replace {dot} with a full stop/peirod.

- Youtube: youtube{dot}com/c/inlet

- Twitter: twitter{dot}com/inletreal