Chapter 4 - Rough Mornings

Written by Zanrok

Edited by Cimar

Artwork by Mr. Punctual

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Judy cringed at the ear piercing sound and tried not to groan as she clumsily reached for her alarm clock… and missed…

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Even with her absolutely useless sound canceling headphones on, the noise seemed to drill into her head and she swatted ever more desperately at the alarm clock. She couldn't remember ever waking up feeling this bad before.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Her paw caught the corner of the clock and Judy raised herself up on the corner of the bed to look at the Carrots be darned device before she slipped on the edge of the bed and sent the still blaring alarm clock skittering across the room as she thudded into the floor.

"Oowwwwwww…"

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Defeated Judy gave in to the pain, groaned and curled up in a ball amid a small bunny doll avalanche she caused while falling to the floor.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

She let out a whimper. Just wishing that the noise would stop.

BEEP! BEEP! BE-

The noise shut off and Judy momentarily thought that her wish had been granted, only for the noise of everything around her little apartment to come to her attention as if to fill the blessed silence from the alarm.

There was the traffic outside, cars blaring and honking, some mammal arguing loudly with the baker across the street shouting, 'I ordered Alfalfa not Whole Wheat!', a groaning sound from wherever her alarm clock had skittered off to and just to top it off, someone had turned on the Bucky and Pronk show and retched the volume up.

"-Potato salad?! Potato salad?! Why by all the gods did you make Potato Salad for breakfast?!"

"Hey, I like potato salad! You even like potato salad!"

"For Breakfast!?"

*Huff* "What's wrong with having potato salad for breakfast?"

"What isn't wrong with having potato salad for breakfast?! That's just so wrong Miss Bunny Cop Ninja Metermaid will probably arrest us for it!"

"Would not!"

"Would to!"

"Nah-ahh! I'd even bet her not-my-boyfriend boyfriend would agree with me!"

"Don't you dare ask! He's a cop too! We'd totally get arrested for having potato-"

Judy whimpered again and tucked herself into a tighter ball, desperately wishing for all that noise to disappear too. Wishing had worked for the alarm clock, so maybe she'd get lucky and it would work for everything else as well.

There was another groan from across her room and the sound of muscles creaking in protest before a few light, if staggering, footsteps and she was plucked out of her pile of bunny dolls.

"...thought you might be drowning in those things…" Nick mumbled half asleep, but rather than sounding humorous he sounded just about as bad as she felt.

"That might have been preferable…" Judy muttered unwilling to uncurl from her tight ball as she pulled her ears tighter against the side of her head, with absolutely no success in dampening the noises.

She barely heard Nick grunt in seeming agreement and grumble about having to get up so early. Nor did she really feel it as he slumped against her bed amid her pile of bunny dolls. But what finally made it through to Judy was the vibrating sound of Nick's low pervasive rumbling growl as he muttered about the early hour and the sun and how if they had another day like yesterday his nose was going to fall off.

Judy didn't really pay attention to what he was saying, instead she just leaned into the sound of his mutterings letting his rumbly voice drown out everything else… and slowly… very slowly… the spinning painful feeling in her head from all the noise faded as she concentrated on Nick. The sound of his grumbling. The sound of his breathing. The sound of his steady strong heartbeat.

tha-thump… tha-thump… tha-thump…

All the other sounds faded away and Judy felt herself relax, felt herself start to drift back to sleep, a comfortable quiet sleep like she hadn't had in ages… especially like she hadn't had last night…

She'd pelted Nick with a whole bunny barrage last night but the smug fox had adamantly kept hold of her stuffed fox plushy despite it all and she'd eventually given up, to worn out and exhausted to even participate in that little distraction. She'd sworn she'd get him back for that… just another day when she felt better… once she'd gotten some rest.

Nick, apparently just as exhausted, had barely managed to pull out some blankets before he'd collapsed in his makeshift bed on the floor and passed out. He'd actually looked quite cute snuggled up sleeping with her favorite stuffed doll, but even that hadn't been enough to take her mind off the noise induced pain in her head and let her get to sleep.

She'd spent nearly an hour twisting and turning, trying to block out the stray noises, but nothing had seemed to work. And eventually, reluctantly, in an act of pure desperation Judy had taken the bunny doll she'd been holding with no success at getting to sleep and slipped out of bed. Quietly tip toeing over to Nick, she'd stealthily switched that plushy with her fox doll Nick was snuggling, with his nose buried in it.

She'd been worried he might wake up, but he'd just snuffled a few times shifting until he seemed to reluctantly accept the bunny plushy replacement and settled back into his sleep with a discontented whining sound as his nose once again buried itself in the plushy.

Judy would have felt sorry, probably would feel sorry, later, once she was feeling remotely well again, for taking the fox doll away from him, but she had to get some sleep and her favorite stuffed plushy was the only thing she could think of to help her.

Part of her wondered, as she had slipped back into bed holding the fox doll close, how she was going to explain to Nick in the morning why she was sleeping with it. But it was a testament to just how awful she'd felt that she didn't care about that as with the stuffed fox doll's help, she finally fell into a fitful sleep, still with all the sounds around the inner city apartment battering her abused ears.

Sounds that now seemed to be blissfully distant as she snuggled closer against the warm rumbling oversized plush doll snoring lightly as it held her and nuzzled into her neck. She smiled, listening to the strong steady and comforting thud-thumping heartbeat, glad she'd stolen her favorite plushy back from Nick and slipped into a peaceful slumber.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"Carrot Blasted Alarm Clock!" Judy swore, snapping fully awake as the alarm went off again just as she'd slipped into a luxuriously restful sleep.

Still cursing she started untangling herself from her russet furred sheets… only she didn't have russet furred sheets…

Judy froze, confused for a second as she looked up and realized that she was wrapped up in Nick's arms as he lay slumped against the side of her bed. The fox's ear twitched irritable as his light snore faltered and his nose nuzzled deeper into her neck, ruffling her fur as he breathed in a long breath and settled down again despite the blaring BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Of her alarm clock from across the room.

Judy's breath hitched for a second at the nuzzle and her mind scrambled to try and figure out how exactly she had ended up in this position snuggling against Nick, and why why it felt so carrot be plucked comfortable!

There was a part of her that wanted absolutely nothing more than to shoot her alarm clock and snuggle back against Nick's chest and slip back into that comfortable sleep… but then there was also that other part of her that was screaming, OMG I'M SNUGGLING AGAINST NICK! NICK! WHO IS A FOX! A VERY VERY COMFORTABLE SNUGGLY FOX! WHO I'M CURRENTLY SNUGGLING!

Judy let out a terrified meep.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Nick hated getting up early with a passion, and his conscious mind fought against it doubly hard this morning, sensing that waking up was going to be even more arduous than normal. His stomach gave an unsettling twist and he buried his nose in Judy's stuffed fox plushy that smelled so much like her as he tried to hide away from the the suspected mornings pain in the unconscious depths of his sleep.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! MEEP!

Something seemed to thump him in his chest and Nick was brought abruptly back to wakefulness as he crashed into a pile of bunny dolls.

He shook his head, trying to clear it as he resurfaced above the pile and blinked as he looked around in confusion.

"W-What, what happened?" he slurred then spotted Judy across the room, shutting off her alarm clock with a panicked expression.

"Nick! You hit the snooze button! Were going to be late, come on!" Judy shouted in a panicked voice, even as she winced and grabbed her ear in a motion that clearly showed that they were still hurting her.

Still groggy and with his stomach doing the occasional backflip with full spin and a very shaky landing onto a wobble board supported on a tightrope in a hurricane, Nick was about to protest that they weren't well enough, but the sight of Judy determinedly starting to get ready and the thought of what Bogo might say if he called in sick on his second day as her partner, stopped him. Sighing, Nick got to his own feet right as there was a honk from outside that made Judy flinch and drop her utility belt right before the faint smell of a garbage truck passing through the street below curled his whiskers and made him gag.

"Hey Carrots?" Nick asked a half hour later as they stopped for coffee on the way to the precinct, though he honestly wasn't sure if he could actually drink any and keep it down this morning. He wrinkled his nose at a none to pleasant smell of a passing mammal that had, by what his nose was telling him, drank far too much last night; at least two flasks of whiskey and a bottle of tequila to much, not even considering the cheap beer he must have been guzzling.

Without breaking stride, Nick shifted to Judy's other side as they walked from their parking spot toward the coffee shop, and took in a shallow relieved breath now that he was downwind of his partner. Any other day he might have felt self-conscious about using Judy's soft femininely pleasant scent to mask the stench of the drunk's, but Nick simple felt to awful to care this morning. It had been all he could do to keep up with Judy as she rushed to get ready, and then hustled over to his apartments so he could grab a fresh uniform before they headed into the precinct. They'd barely had enough time to stop for coffee which even Judy desperately needed.

Judy looked over at him tiredly, after his simple question, and responded with a very un-Judy like lackluster, "Ya?" and Nick couldn't help the note of worry that shot through him at how worn out she seemed. His glance traveled up to her ears where he could still see two small tufts of cotton she'd stuffed in them this morning and wondered if he should ask again if she was okay. Then after looking back at her determined, if tired, face and concluding that that would be pointless, made an attempt to cheer her up.

"You know, " Nick started, forcing a grin onto his muzzle, "I never really believed Major Freaky Friedkin when she said that being an officer was actually going to be harder than her training."

The corner of Judy's mouth twitched upwards, and she let out a small snort of laughter before she winced and rubbed at her ear.

Nick's momentarily feeling of pride at her almost smile disappeared just as fast and despite the futility of it, he couldn't help but worriedly ask.

"Carrots, you alright there? If your ears are still hurting that bad after-"

"No," Judy's voice was a little harder than normal but her paw reached out and touched his arm before she continued. "No… I'm- I'm alright, Nick. My ears are just a bit… sore… its really not that bad." She turned her head and gave him a smile that was almost as bright as her usual one. "And anyway, I can't leave my partner hanging on his second day," she said with forced cheerfulness he saw right through.

"Carrots-" Nick said in a low worried murmur, but her paw on his arm stopped him.

"Really, Nick, I'll be fine. If if you want to help… could you just keep… keep talking…" Judy said hesitantly and then gave him an almost shy smile. "Believe it or not, hearing your annoying jokes actually seems to help." Her paw left his arm only to give him a half-hearted punch on that same arm as she grinned a bit, her ears perking up a little too. "Maybe it's just that your jokes are so bad they make getting blasted by elephants seem like the lesser of two evils."

"Bad jokes?!" Nick said indignantly, though Judy's jib had allayed some of his worries. "You think my jokes are bad! Well in that case Fluff, I'll show you some really bad jokes; forget about what you'd call a three humped camel." Nick waved his arm in a grand gesture and unintentionally pointed at a overweight middle aged camel with a large pot belly. The camel gave him a glare and an angry mutter before storming past them. Nick recoiled, nose scrunched again, only to accidently bump into Judy. For a second he' thought he might be sick again as the camel's breath reached him but he was so close to Judy that her scent seemed to beat back the camel's and with only a minor hitch to what he was saying Nick managed to continue, "So if you thought that was bad, what would you say is a bunny's favorite television show…?

"Hoppy Days!"

"Nick!" Judy almost snorted out her coffee as they walked out of the coffee shop, "That was just… just…"

"Brilliant, Amazing, Foxingly Awesome?"

"Foxing awful!" Judy mumbled though she was trying not to smile. But as awful as his jokes were, and he was making an extra effort today, she couldn't deny that she enjoyed listening to them, or maybe just listening to his voice. Not that she would ever tell him that or he would never stop talking; it was possible to have too much of a good thing after all.

Judy smirked to herself, feeling just a bit better as Nick started in on his next joke, something about a bear, a beaver, and a shrew in a bar when a distant whiny voice she recognized irritatingly intruded into her thoughts.

He was just released yesterday on bail...how could he already be getting in trouble again?!

'It's not Weselton! Its Duke Weaselton! Can't you even get -offt!'

"-So the beaver says, well if you think that's impressive, try eating it! And-" Nick cut off as Judy stopped and grabbed his arm. Something about Weaselton's voice had been off, there'd been a frightened note to his usual grandstanding and the way his voice had stopped. Judy's ears swiveled and despite the possibility of reigniting her headache which had finally started to recede, she focused on listening.

Nick looked down at Judy clutching his arm hard and the sudden shift in her posture as well as her scent had him alert and looking around for whatever had alarmed her.

"Judy, what-"

Judy's ears picked up a distinct thud sound and a sudden exhale of breath before she heard the other colder voice.

"I'll call you whatever I want, now you know the rules, if you go doing business in our area you gotta pay your taxes. Now cough up the money before you cough up something else."

Judy was off and running even before she heard the next thud with Nick following close behind her.

"Judy! What's the matter?!" he asked urgently still looking around but seeing nothing even as she cut across the street.

"I heard Weaselton!" she shouted back and Nick let out a confused snort even as he gulped in another breath.

"Could we at least finish our coffee before we stop whatever petty hustle he's-" Nick started only for Judy to cut him off

"It sounded like he's being roughed up Nick!" she said, her ear twitching as she heard a few more thuds and a cough.

"Oh-" Nick said, an odd note of understanding in his voice even as he picked up his pace. "Where'd you hear him?"

Judy's ears swiveled even as she ran and pointed up the street.

"Alley on the next block over!"

"How the hell did you hear-" Nick started, looking at her in surprise before his nose twitched, then twitched again. He grabbed her arm, stopping her. Judy looked back at him in confusion, about to ask why he'd stopped her, then quieted as he closed his eyes and his nose twitched again.

"Badgers, three off them… Armammal cologne." Nick stopped and looked right at Judy talking fast, "Smells like the Howard siblings, Larry, Curly and Moe. Small time muscle that think they're gonna be the next Mr. Big, just too dumb to pull it off but usually with enough dumb luck to escape before getting arrested."

"Well they're not getting lucky today!" Judy said her expression hardening as Nick nodded.

"Right, just don't underestimate them Carrots, it's the ones that are dumber than doorknobs that will surprise you."

"You want to split up so you can block off their escape then?" Judy asked looking down the closest alley and Nick nodded, moving toward it… until the alley's smell of overfilled dumpsters hit him and he scrambled backwards toward Judy holding his nose, and squeaked in a high pitched voice.

"Um… how about I just back you up instead!" As he neared Judy and her scent again, he finally took in a breath, flushing away the smell of rotten garbage.

Judy frowned but before she could ask him why she head another punch land and a cough from Weaselton.

"Right, come on! We got to go save Weaselton." And she took off, beelining for the alley up ahead, Nick right behind her and muttering ironically about what the world had come to.

"Since when have you three started collecting taxes?! None of the families are stupid enough to try that this close to the city center ya dim wits! Why do ya think an entrepreneur like me works here and not in Tundratown!" Duke spat trying to sit up while he coughed.

"Wait…" the largest of the three badges said in a confused voice. "I thought he was a hustler not a entraper… entreprar… entropano... entro-whatever."

There was a slap as the smallest of the three whacked him in the back of the head.

"Entrepreneur dimwit, he's an entrepreneuring hustler, one which isn't under the protection of anyone else which is why he's gonna be under our protection."

"Ohh…" the mid sized one said, picking Weaselton up off the ground and putting him on his feet, even going so far as to brush some dust off his front. "Why didn't you say he's under our protection? I wouldn't have hit him then.

There was an exasperated noise from the first badger. "Not that kind of 'protection' you dunce! Curly would you smack some sense into him?"

The big badger smacked Weaselton, and the small one groaned before hitting him in the back of the head. "Not Him,Dimwit!"

"Oh… right," the big badger said, looking sheepish, before turning and smacking the badger holding Weaselton, who dropped him with a startled "Hey!" and kicked the other badger in the shin.

Weaselton landed with a grunt of pain, but as the three siblings started arguing amongst themselves he decided that it was time for him to get out of there. He reached over grabbing his briefcase of fake Growlexes. Trying not to groan at his bruises, he started scampering away before they badgers stopped bickering and whacking each other and remembered what they were bickering about. He thought he might be home free as he snuck around them toward the alley entrance, only for his least favorite mammals in all of Zootopia to round the corner in front of him.

"Oh come on! Can't an honest weasel get a break around here?!" he groaned just as Hopps shouted "Freeze!" and Wilde shouted, "Paws where I can see them!"

One badger froze, the next threw his paws up and the third stopped and scratched his head asking, "Wait… which do you want me to do?"

"Neither, you dufus!" the first said smacking him. The one who'd thrown his hands up snickered with a annoying nak, nak, nak, until he got smacked too. "Stop nattering and start running you idiots! No! NOT THAT WAY!" The smallest of the badgers screamed as the two others ran past Weaselton only for one to stop and start scrambling in the other direction while the other confusedly asked, "Why? It's just a fox and a cute little-"

"Don't call her that!" Both Weaselton and Wilde shouted at the same time, though Wilde's voice was more of a threatening growl, while Weaselton's was a fearful squeak.

But it was too late…

"-bunny"

The cute little bunny's ears twitched in a pained and irate manner.

Before the badged had quite finished the word, two small cute bunny hindpaws were snapping his muzzle around. His body followed his muzzle spinning like he was a doing a pirouette until he flopped to the ground in front of a wide eyed Weaselton who was clutching his briefcase. Judy efficiently cuffed the badger as he groaned and then looked up at the rest of them.

Weaselton gulped before shouting defiantly. "Hey, you got nothing on me this time Officer Floppsy! I gots me a vendor's permit this time!" he quickly pulled out a rumpled if official looking piece of paper and waved it at the bunny like he was warding off an evil spirit. "And it's a real venders permit this time too! Cost me three times as much as that forgery! Check with city hall if you don't believe me! I tell you, you got nothing-"

"Well then I hope you're not claiming to be selling real Growlex watches" Wilde said from next to him, holding his briefcase open and looking at one of the watches almost admiringly, even going so far as to sniff the watch in question as he pulled it out, "Because these sure aren't Growlexes; That's painted plastic, not even metal, let alone gold."

"Hey! I never said I was selling genuinely 'real' Growlex's!" Weaselton spluttered, glaring at Wilde, "And don't go saying that where anyone can hear! Stupid canines. Most mammals just want something that looks like the real thing, not smells like it too!"

"Hey! Get' her off me, Get' her off me!" Judy's cuffed badger started squealing as he snapped out of his daze and Judy flinched, grabbing her ears at the high pitched noise.

Reversing again, the runaway badger bolted for Judy, now with the last one in tow behind, berating him about ruining their escape.

Paws still on her ears, Judy easily dodged the first badgers punch only to get whacked hard by the other as he tried slapping the first badger, and missed.

"Hey! You don't hit cute bunny's!" Nick shouted angrily running over to Judy and helped her up as the two free badgers picked the cuffed one up over their heads and started running away down the alley.

"Should have muzzled him too…" Judy grumbled as she got back to her feet, and went tearing off after the escapees. "Come on Nick let's get them!"

Nick started following but stopped by Weasleton,

"You gonna be okay there Duke or do we need to call an ambulance?"

Weaselton blinked, stunned for a second before frowning. "Need an ambulance?! What kind of hustle are you trying to pull on me Wilde?! Hell No, I don't! Especially if it's you offering! Is this some sort of Nice cop, bad cop? Because the bunny makes a better nice… no I take it back, she doesn't make a better nice cop- Hey! Are you doing stealing my merchandise Wilde!?"

"Just making sure you really are all alright." Nick said grinning as he stood up with one of the watches from his case on his wrist and then bolted after the bunny.

"Hey, that's police extortion! I'll report you! Have you locked up! Stealing from another crook, What happened to honor amoung thieves!? I thought you were going straight you no good-" Weaselton stopped shouting as he snatched his briefcase off the ground and then noticed the twenty dollar bill stuffed in place of the cheap knock off watch the fox had taken.

"Those cost forty dollars each Wilde, eighty for you!" Weaselton shouted after the retreating forms, even as his paw covered the 'Real Growlexes On Sale! Only 10 Bucks!' poster taped to the case.

Bogo was in a good mood this morning so when he opened the door to the briefing room he, only scowled a little.

All the conversation in the room stopped and there was a pregnant pause, before the usual table beating hoof pounding started up with only half its usual enthusiasm.

Bogo's scowl increased back to its usual amount.

He'd never openly encourage the disorderly rowdiness of his officers but he didn't stop it either. He found it a good way to judge his officers morale... and something was off.

Hey started walking toward the front of the room, his scowl deepening with each step, until he got to the front and slammed his stack of folders down on the podium.

The halfhearted pounding trailed off as Bogo looked around the room and his eyes settled on an empty seat at the front. And not just any seat, but the seat. Her seat… well now it was Their seat he guessed. Whatever… the hooligans seat.

His scowl deepened further.

They were just small mammals though...

Bogo rummaged in his pocket for second and pulled out his reading glasses and set them on his muzzle.

The seat was still empty.

He adjusted his reading glasses…

Still empty.

Bogo leaned forward so he could look down past the table in front of the seat just incase they were slouching or something.

Empty.

Bogo's eyebrows furrowed and his scowl upgraded to a glower.

"Does anyone know were Wilde and Hopps are?" He asked and everyone in the room looked at each other. Some shrugged, some looked toward the door almost hopefully, Francine even picked up their seat with her trunk and checked under it.

Bogo's hoof started tapping on the podium and he looked at the clock in the room double checking that it was time for the briefing.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

"Has anyone heard from Wilde and Hopps this morning?" Bogo asked, his glower increasing and threatening to evolve into something truly unpleasant as everyone looked around at each other again.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap-*Crack*

Bogo looked down at the pen on the podium his tapping finger had just crushed and the spot of blue ink on his blue uniform.

Bogo's glower became a thin pursed line across his muzzle. It didn't matter that it was almost impossible to see. It was a blemish on his uniform. A blemish that shouldn't be there. A small blemish that was there because his smallest officers were not where they were supposed to be.

Bogo let out a long calming breath and daintily picked up the pen - instead of crushing it in his hoof - and calmly… calmly… dropped it in the waste bin.

He looked up hoping that his missing officers would have materialized while he was preoccupied.

They hadn't.

Bogo's ear twitched in irritation and he, calmly… calmly… walked back toward the door and opened it, almost breaking the door as it slammed into the wall.

"Clawhauser!" he bellowed, "Where Are Wilde and Hop-"

Bogo's roar trailed off as the Precinct's front doors opened, revealing a very ruffled looking fox stumbling in, one paw holding his nose before he stumbled and flopped onto the floor, only for a gaggle of badgers to stumble in behind and trip over the downed fox. 'Gaggle' was the only word he could think to describe it. One had his paw cuffed to another's foot who was back to back cuffed with the other and all three were making irritatingly irate noises through the muzzles over their snouts… well only two had muzzles on. The third had a rather nice watch, what looked like an actual Growlex, snapped over his snout keeping it shut.

Wilde gasped as the trio fell on him and then clutched both paws to his nose as they rolled off flailing amongst themselves; one managing to kick the other two in the shins and squeaked irately past the watch keeping his jaws shut, only to get swatted across the face by the short tail of another, while the last one snickered.

"That," Hopps said stumbling in through the door, her usual smile noticeably missing as she rubbed at her ears, "had to be the most ridiculous chase ever. I mean who runs into a mall and tries to hide as clothing mannequins?! And then starts throwing perfume bottles once they're spotted like they're water balloons!? Gah!" Judy wrinkled her nose," I understand now why Nick hates artificial flower scents!" Wilde seemed to curl up a bit more and whimper at that, while Hopps- Judy Hopps- Judy on Duty, the ever cheerful even as she cuffed and booked you- actually frowned and glared at the badgers.

"You all are going to have to pay for all that merchandise you broke, plus the fare you stiffed that cabby after fleeing the mall!"

The badgers stopped fighting amongst themselves and one gave her a unrepentant look, while another gulped and the third pointed his cuffed paws at the first and squeaked, but was cut off by Judy.

"It wasn't all his idea! I even have you on tape saying it was yours!" Hopps replied to the squeak angrily and pulled out her pen clicking it.

The carrot pen let out a babble of noise like that of a large crowd, none of which Bogo could decipher. Hopps on the other hoof sniffed indignantly at the obstinate looking badger.

"Really, why would you brag about how great your escape idea was when you hadn't even escaped yet?"

The badger managed to get his tongue out between the watch holding his jaws shut and blew a raspberry at Hopps, who cringed at the, what was to her, loud noise, and turned to Clawhauser as she rubbed harder at her ear.

"Benji, I'll give you a week's worth of donuts if you book these… these… cabbage brained stooges for us. Nick and I are already late for the briefing." She started helping Wilde to his feet even as Clawhauser nodded. "Come on Nick, we just need to survive until the end of the day…"

Bogo took a closer look at his two small officers, and his scowl became rock hard as he noticed the weary worn and pained looks on their faces.

"Hopps. Wilde," he said and Hopps flinched like he'd bellowed at them. Well, bellowed all out, not his normal speaking bellow.

"Ah… chief!" Judy said looking up and trying to smile… without any success. "Sorry we're late, we just ran into some trouble on our way... here... this... morning…" She trailed off under his look and he extended one hoof down the hallway away from the briefing room.

"Medic's office. Now. Both of you," he said in a voice that brooked no argument even as he tried not to shout. Then satisfied that they his two officers had gotten the point, transferred the full weight of his practiced and award winning glower unto the three badgers, who all gulped and immediately stopped their squeaking, squirming and poking at each other.

"Clawhauser, tell McHorn to take over the briefing for me." Bogo pointed toward the briefing room, glaring at it for a moment. Nearly a dozen officers quickly tried scrambling back inside the room, climbing and falling over each other as they had apparently been watching the ruckus out front. Bogo snorted and offered them a hard glare before turning back to Clawhauser. "Assignments are on the podium, all labeled. I'll take care of booking these three."

All three badgers tried to scramble away from his glower, but all in different directions to predictable results.

"Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way," Bogo said frostily to the badgers as they tried picking themselves up after flopping on the floor, and then smiled broadly before asking, "So, do you stooges want to pull any nonsense on me?"

Two of the badgers started frantically shaking their heads while the third nodded hurriedly. There was yip as one of his compatriots smacked the back of the nodding badger's head while the other kicked his shin and his enthusiastic nodding turned to hurried shaking.

Bogo huffed, and looked back at the bunny and fox limping their way down the hall. He did not take kindly to mammals that harmed his officers and those two had apparently already had a rough day yesterday if Clawhauser's reports and rumors were anything to go by. Well, he would find out exactly what trouble these three had dumped on them and then go to the medics office and see why his shiny, bright, new (if small) stars were looking so run down and ragged, and more importantly what needed to be done to get their shine back.

The department, the city, needed the bright optimistic attitudes and effectiveness that those two young officers brought to their work, and Bogo would make sure it got it.