Chapter 1: No Bill

Believe me, nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won.

-Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington

The clock was ticking.

Literally. And it was driving Nick crazy.

He and Judy sat in the hallway outside one of the courtrooms in downtown Zootopia. The hallway was mostly empty, with only a few attorneys, legal assistants, or members of the public making their way through the building on errands known only to themselves. Their heels clicked on the cheap, hard-wearing tile floor as they rushed past. The clock on the wall continued inexorably marking time, as it had for the past four hours they had been sitting here.

Nick squirmed to try and find a semi-comfortable position on the hard wooden bench. "As much waiting as there is here, you'd think they could get some comfortable seating," he muttered.

"That's the seventh time you said that," said Judy, looking up from her book. "I told you to bring a book."

"I didn't have anything to read."

"There's plenty to read back at the apartment."

He rolled his eyes. "Mostly your books. Police procedurals, criminal justice textbooks, and books with titles like 'Leadership for Leaders in the Lead.'"

"That's not a real book," said Judy. She hesitated. "I think. Besides, I need to study for the promotional exam. I've got enough time now to promote."

Nick sighed. "You're sure about that?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I want to promote?"

"Because you'd be a supervisor."

She frowned. "So?"

"You'd be responsible for cops like me."

"You're not that bad."

"And Hunter."

That gave her pause for thought. Before she could speak, however, the door swung open.

Zacharias Hunter walked through.

He blinked when he saw them. "Hey, guys. You didn't have to stay the whole time. I was in there for- what, three hours?"

"Four," said Nick, standing up. "Which was kind of surprising to me."

"Well, four hours of testimony isn't all that long-"

"I figured you'd annoy the judge and get arrested for contempt of court after no more than two."

"Thanks, Nick. You're a ray of sunshine."

"So how'd it go?" asked Judy, nervously. "I mean, you were there a long time-"

"The grand jury has a lot to think over," said Hunter. "I mean, I killed one innocent mammal- even if it was under duress- several humans, and Lucas."

"You mean several humans including Lucas," corrected Judy.

He gave her a level look. "No."

"Do you think they'll-" Nick hesitated as Hunter turned to look down at him.

"I don't know, Nick." He rubbed his face with both hands. "Frankly, I'd indict me. But this was a real odd situation. Whatever their decision, it's going to take a long time to-"

The door opened again, and a kangaroo who Judy and Nick recognized as Hunter's lawyer poked his head through. "Mr. Hunter."

"Carl," said Hunter warily. "What's up?"

The kangaroo stepped out slowly. He looked up at his client's face. "They made a decision."

"What?" said Hunter, his voice rising an octave or two. "Already?"

The kangaroo held out a document. "No bill."

Judy and Nick sighed in relief, but Hunter just looked puzzled. "No bill? On all counts?"

"All counts," said the lawyer. He shook his head slowly. "I'm not sure what to make of it."

"I don't understand," said Judy, glancing between the kangaroo and human. "Isn't this good news?"

"Yeah," said Hunter, slowly. "Yeah." He forced a smile. "I guess it is. Well, it's time to see Bogo, then. Maybe I can get off suspension a couple of days early."

He started to walk away. Judy followed, but Nick lingered behind. He looked at the attorney. "Okay, Carl, what's going on?"

Carl shook his head. "Never seen anything like it. On a case like this- it should have taken a long time. I mean, sure, Hunter's testimony was the last piece of evidence they heard- but still." He looked at the courtroom. "Something doesn't smell right about this."

"A set-up, maybe?" wondered Nick. "Someone fixed the grand jury?"

"Maybe not," said Carl. He shrugged. "Hunter's a bit of a hero, right now. This may just be simple politics. But-" he turned and pointed to Nick. "He's on thin ice, regardless of the outcome here. You and Ms. Hopps need to keep him out of trouble." With that, he picked up his briefcase and walked away.

Nick and Judy watched him go. Judy looked at Nick. "Keep him out of trouble?"

"Yeah, I know."

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"No bill," said Bogo, looking up from the folder at the mayor.

Mayor Julius Procyon nodded. "That's correct. So you can reinstate Officer Hunter whenever you're ready."

"They no-billed him." Bogo's voice was flat.

"Isn't that a good thing?" asked the mayor. "I know he's caused you a lot of trouble, but surely you didn't want him standing trial."

The water buffalo shook his head. "Want? No. Expect? Yes." He gestured to the paperwork. "The soldiers he shot- that was self-defense. Even Lucas- well, I don't think anyone can say that monster didn't get what he deserved. But it's pretty clear that he shot Cornelius Hart, when he was presenting no threat to Hunter."

"He was under duress," said the mayor. "He had no choice-"

"Maybe not. But that's something for a jury to decide in a trial."

The mayor put down his pen and narrowed his eyes at Bogo. "He's a hero to many Zootopians, Chief. Your dislike of him-"

"I don't dislike him, Mr. Mayor," interrupted Bogo. "Yes, he's arrogant, and impulsive, and views regulations as challenges rather than obstacles, and- hang on, I had a point." He frowned, thinking, then continued. "But the law is the law, and police officers should be more, not less, subject to its strictures. I feel for Hunter. I think that the overwhelming likelihood is that he would be acquitted at trial. But the citizens need to see that justice is done, in an open trial, not in the closed proceedings of a grand jury."

The mayor leaned back, folding his paws across his stomach. "It's ZPD policy to indefinitely suspend anyone under indictment, is it not?"

"Yes," said Bogo. "And?"

"If Hunter was indicted, then he wouldn't be a cop."

"If he was acquitted, he could come back," said Bogo.

"And how long would that take?" asked Procyon, pointing a pen at the chief. "Two years? Three? We don't have that much time, Bogo."

"I don't understand-"

"No, I don't expect you do." Procyon turned his attention to the paperwork on his desk. "What you do understand, I hope, are orders. Reinstate Hunter immediately."

Bogo's expression froze. He stood up. "He violated a number of regulations, regardless of the outcome of the grand jury."

"Then punish him," said Procyon carelessly. "Anything short of suspension is fine. Now, if you'll excuse me, Chief Bogo, I have a lot of work to do."

"Yes, sir." Bogo managed, barely, to avoid slamming the door on his way out.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Tavi stood with her paws on her hips, glaring up at the black, sloped armor of a King Cobra Light Battle Tank. The tank hovered, the anti-grav generators emitting a low, menacing hum. Around her, the civilian maintenance crewmammals in the repair bay watched fearfully, most peeking out from behind various items of cover.

"This is not a standard maintenance operation," rumbled Shepherd, the name Tavi had given the tank.

"It is now," replied Tavi, her voice stern, her tiny figure dwarfed by the massive hunk of steel. Well, mostly steel. The exact components of the human armor was being excitedly studied by a cluster of scientists.

Or had been. Now most of them were hiding behind a stack of crates.

The tank spun slightly, scanning the area, before turning back to Tavi. "Commander, this unit must report a series of failures among maintenance personnel in this area of operations. This unit's ammunition supplies have not been refilled, standard training exercises have been routinely-"

Tavi rolled her eyes. "You're not a military tank anymore, Shepherd. You're a cop."

"It's not a cop!" shouted Scruggs, another ZPD officer in charge of the Bomb Squad. He had been pretty interested in the armor, as well. "How many times- eep!" He ducked again behind a damaged police cruiser as the tank swiveled to face him.

The tank scanned the cruiser. "This unit estimates that it would take thirty-eight milliseconds to eliminate that intruder," it reported.

Tavi sighed as the few maintenance crewmammals that had remained in the open abruptly vanished. "It's not polite to tell everyone how long it would take to kill them," she said scoldingly. "And stop saying 'this unit'. We've talked about this. You say 'I' when referring to yourself."

"I," repeated the tank, thoughtfully. "This is also non-standard procedure."

"Well, get used to it. Now, if it bothers you so much, you can power down for the procedure."

Shepherd spun to scan the room again, which Tavi had gradually learned meant indicated reluctance or nervousness, the equivalent of a mammal fidgeting. "Power down," it repeated. "Is that an order, Commander?"

"Your choice. Either be calm and let these mammals do their job, or power down while they do it."

Several crewmammals standing beside a hose and sud-filled bucket exchanged nervous glances.

"Choice," said the tank. "This is a non-standard-"

"Shepherd!" Tavi stamped a foot. "We're not arguing about this anymore! One way or another, you are getting a bath!"

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Judy sat in the officer's work-room, her nose buried in a book about- well, she wasn't sure what it was about. Primarily it seemed to be a bunch of buzz-words mixed with the occasional anecdote of uncertain origin or purpose. It was, naturally, one of the books recommended for the promotional exam's reading list. With a sigh, she stopped trying to determine just how the term "synergy" was being defined in the current chapter and looked up at Nick, who was tapping away at the one of the computers line up in the room. "How's it going?"

"It's a four vehicle automotive accident, with six witnesses and about eighteen different stories," growled Nick. "It's going to take a while."

"You sure you don't want me to-"

"No," he said, looking up at her. "It's fine. I need to get better at this." He sighed. "Especially since I won't have supercop as my partner anymore."

Judy smiled. "Well, not at work- you still have me as your 'partner'."

He gave her a smile in return. "Right." He glanced at the door. "Didn't Tavi say she'd meet us here?"

"She's on the way. She said she was giving Shepherd a bath."

Nick's eyebrows rose. "Isn't Shepherd the tank? Wouldn't that be more like, I don't know, a car wash ?"

"I'm just repeating what she said," replied Judy, shrugging.

The door flew open. Tavi walked through, her fur soaked through, leaving small puddles as she squished through the room. She looked at Judy and Nick, who were staring at her with wide eyes. "What?"

"Is it raining outside?" asked Judy tentatively.

Tavi shook her head. "No," she said. She wrung out her tail. "I was giving Shepherd a bath."

"By jumping into the bay with him?"

"He doesn't like baths." Tavi jumped onto a seat, scowling at the puddle that immediately started to form. "Apparently."

Nick and Judy exchanged shrugs. "Well, there's good news. Hunter's off the hook. The grand jury no-billed him."

Tavi's ears snapped up and she straightened to look at them. "Already?"

"Yep," said Judy cheerfully. "So maybe things can get back to normal soon."

"Normal?" said Nick thoughtfully. "I wonder what that would be like."

"It's pretty much paperwork," said Hunter's voice. They all turned around to see him in the door way. He walked up behind Nick, squinting at the computer screen. He was dressed- for him- strangely, in a suit and tie. "You know you misspelled 'contradictory' like, seventeen times. All different ways, too."

Nick glared at him. "Okay, well, how's it supposed to be spelled?"

"Well, you know the one way you haven't tried yet? That's it."

"Zach!" shouted Tavi. She ran across the table and jumped up at him, hugging his neck. "You're back!"

"Well, not quite," he said, peeling her off and setting her on the desk as he sat down. "I'm here to meet with Bogo. Gotta make a good impression, which is why I'm dressed- so-" he trailed off, looking down at his suddenly soaked shirt front.

Tavi winced as he looked at her. "Um. Sorry, had to give Shepherd a bath."

Hunter eyed her skeptically. "A bath, huh?" He sighed. "Rookies."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"You can go in," said Clawhauser nervously. He had escorted Hunter- who was still technically suspended and thus needed an officer with him- to Bogo's office. "Good luck, Zach."

"Thanks, Benjamin." Taking a deep breath, Hunter knocked at the door.

"Enter," said Bogo from inside.

Hunter walked in, feeling unsure. He was in civilian clothes, not a uniform- should he stand at attention? He stopped in front of the desk, and decided to settle for a sort of parade rest, hands clasped behind his back.

Bogo ignored him, reading a document.

Hunter cleared his throat.

The chief turned a page, his eyes still on the document. He adjusted his glasses slightly.

Feeling a bit confused, and slightly annoyed, Hunter glanced around the office. He wandered over to the wall and began reading one of the certificates. "Hey, you won the Lifesavings Award? Wow, you must have been a whole lot younger- I mean, wow."

Bogo flicked an ear, but otherwise ignored him.

Hunter was starting to get impatient- and a bit angry. "You know," he said, tapping the award. "I got one of these when I was a brand-new rookie on-"

He must have tapped a bit harder than he had planned. The framed certificate came loose and crashed to the floor. Hunter winced, and winced harder when the rest of the frames fell to the ground as well.

Hunter looked down at the mess, then up at Bogo. Well, he had his full attention now, at least. "I'll clean that up-"

"Just sit, Hunter." Bogo stood up, his eyes locked on Hunter. He pointed at a chair. "Honestly, it's like having a six-year old as a cop."

Hunter hastily sat down. "Hey, those weren't particularly secure, I barely-"

"Forget it, Hunter. It's not the first disaster you caused, and definitely not the worst."

That was not the best way to start the interview. Hunter started to speak but stopped when Bogo held up the document he was reading.

"You were no-billed by a grand jury on all counts," said Bogo quietly. "I've been reviewing the investigation."

"The investigation's over," said Hunter. "It's done."

"First-degree murder of one Brandon Knowles," read Bogo. "No bill. First degree murder of Ivan Santiago- no bill. First-degree murder of two unknown humans- no bill."

Hunter frowned. "Sir, what's the point of this?"

Bogo ignored him. "First-degree murder of Lucas Jaeger, aka Klaus Lucas." He looked Hunter in the eyes. "No bill."

"He was the worst kind of scum, sir. He needed killing."

"That's not your decision to make," said Bogo, his voice calm.

"With respect, sir, you weren't there. You didn't go through what he put me through."

"He wouldn't have been able to get to you so thoroughly, Hunter, if you had just followed procedure. If you had just trusted your fellow officers." Bogo slammed his fist down on his desk, stifling Hunter's protests. "If you had just trusted me."

Hunter leapt to his feet angrily. "You didn't believe me when I told you who he was!"

Bogo rose as well, keeping his eyes level with Hunter. "I told you I needed proof!"

"And I was getting it!" Hunter turned away. "The important part of what you just read, chief," he continued, his voice low and rough with emotion, "are two words. No bill. I'm not-"

The chief held up the document again. "First degree murder of Cornelius Hart."

Hunter froze. He turned to look back at the chief, who held his gaze. The chief looked back down at the document. "No bill." He looked up again at Hunter. "Is that the important part of this document, Hunter?"

Wordlessly, Hunter shook his head. He sat back down heavily, his shoulders slumped and his head down.

For a long moment, Bogo considered him. "You broke a lot of regulations, Hunter. And there are things that could be considered criminal even if they weren't part of the grand jury's deliberations. Obstruction of justice, evading arrest, resisting arrest."

Still not raising his eyes, Hunter nodded. "I screwed up," he said in a low voice.

"There have to be consequences."

"Sir."

Bogo reached into his desk. Hunter looked up as a gleam caught his eye. He blinked at the shiny object Bogo was holding in his paw. "My badge, sir?"

The chief nodded.

Hesitantly, Hunter reached for it.

Bogo pulled it back. "No."

"Sir," said Hunter, his voice a plea. "This is all I've ever done."

"I'm going to hang onto this," said Bogo. He picked up a folder, fat with papers, and handed it to Hunter. "Because first, you have to convince me you deserve it."

Hunter took the folder. He looked down at it, then back at the chief, who cocked an eyebrow at him. Taking a deep breath, he opened it.

He looked up, his face very still. "ZPD Police Academy? You want me to teach at the police academy?"

Bogo snorted. "Hardly. You need to learn a few things about how we do things here, Hunter. And there's a great deal you need to unlearn, as well. I'm not sending you to the academy to teach, Hunter. I'm sending you there to learn." He stood up. "You'll need to re-earn that badge the same way everyone here at the ZPD did. By going through the academy."

Hunter looked back down at the paperwork, noticing now that what he thought was a transfer form was an application. "This is some sort of joke, right?" he asked desperately. "I've got over twenty years of police experience!"

"Then it should be easy for you. You're dismissed." Bogo smiled. "Cadet Hunter."

Author's Notes:

This will be a bit long. The first paragraph is the main one- the next ones are more just me talking about my process, so feel free to skip them if you're not interested.

First and foremost, writing on this is going a bit slowly. Partly it's because work has been insane lately, and partly because I'm still working out exactly where I'm going and what I'm going to be doing in this story. I do promise that it will get completed- I really don't like it when fics die, though I understand how it can happen. That's assuming something doesn't happen to me, of course. As far as more specifics- I know I was hoping to really get going last week or this week, and I am writing, but it may be a bit before I really get a good number of chapters out. Once I hit my stride I expect to do my usual two or three chapters a week, though.

Second, I wanted to say how much I appreciate the reviews, especially the ones that offered criticism. As I may have mentioned before, this was primarily intended as a low-pressure, low-stakes way to practice my writing, and several things I need to work on have been ably pointed out. For example, stylistically, I've been doing a poor job on scene description. Please let me know if I improve or fail to do so- I will never take offense at criticism, though if it's completely non-constructive I'll likely ignore it.

Apropos of that, it has also been pointed out, directly and indirectly, that I've tended to make the humans in this fic seem pretty, well, evil. That's valid. I didn't mean to, specifically- I deliberately designed human society in this universe to be a foil to Zootopian society, and so it tends to be a bit dystopic. That said, I should have- and intend to- show exactly how human society got to where it is. Some of the things they're accused of that seem like pure evil may make a bit more sense. Doesn't mean the humans don't have problems, but their society is a rational response to the issues they're dealing with.

Which brings me to this fic. Part of what's been taking me so long is that I've been doing a lot of research for my world-building. I've been re-reading Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond, Carnage and Culture by Victor Davis Hanson, and a newer book called Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. I highly recommend all three, though I don't necessarily agree with all the conclusions in them- they will make you think, though. I'm also re-visiting Nietzsche to some extent and trying to ensure my science fiction is at least somewhat plausible. Hopefully all this research will stand me in good stead, though you guys will be the judge of that.

For those who want to see the humans really come into their own, however- I plan to do that in this fic. The first fic was something I knocked out over a couple of weeks, and so I used a cookie cutter plot and some questionable plot decisions (I'm really considering re-writing it). I used some humans as the bad guys because it worked well with that plot. The second I wrote to experiment with differing points of view, suspense, and mystery elements. The plot I came up with required someone from Hunter's past, which meant humans had to be the bad guys again. This time, I intend to show exactly what it might mean for the Terrans when they're dealing with a civilization- humanity- that's nearly an order of magnitude older than they are. They're not perfect, but in many ways they are much more mature and realistic than a planetary society would be. That said, there might be a few things the Terrans can teach humanity, as well. I think it will be an interesting story to tell.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy.

PS: I should also note that I struggled for a long time with the grand jury process in this bit. Bogo is right- Hunter should have been indicted, though perhaps not convicted. Political interference seemed to be both a way out- I needed him to still be a cop for the plot, even if only a cadet- and reasonable enough.