Change starts with You

by Winerp

Extra credit goes to Euphonemes who is now helping me by Beta Reading these chapters. He's being extremely helpful in this learning experience for me and his own fic Run definitely deserves a careful read.


Chapter 9 - Trips down memory lane

Once Precinct One's smallest officers left the Chief's office, and the buffalo heard the door's lock slide back into place, Bogo once again allowed himself to sink into his heavily cushioned chair, letting his whole body relax and his wired mind wander.

Heads of Precincts had a lot more freedom to fiddle with their offices than other officers, but the tailored chair had been the only change Bogo had sought when he took command. The buffalo didn't like to consider himself superior to any of his officers regardless of their respective ranks; in his mind, he merely had a different job which happened to involve coordinating the officers in his precinct, so he didn't feel the need or the desire to have a special working space compared to everyone else's. He had, however, foreseen several long nights spent in his office, so a chair one could actually sit on for more than thirty minutes without getting cramps was his only indulgence.

At that moment, however, his seating arrangements served more as a gateway into his troubled mind rather than a source of work efficiency, and his relaxed state took him into memories he hadn't visited in a long time. Far too long, given the circumstances….

He was once again a calf in Savannah Central's Public High School. His surroundings indicated he was in the School's front yard, sitting under one of the large cork oaks that dotted the grounds. He also realized he was not alone: there was Gordon sitting to his left, just on the edge of the tree's shade and letting his tail soak up the warm mid-afternoon sun. Quinn was directly in front of him, finishing off a cup of Grass N'Go, and Lionheart was to his right, casually sitting against the tree's soft and spongy trunk, seemingly taking a nap.

He moved to try and get the lion's attention and ask him a question, only to be cut off by Leodore's booming voice. Even at such a relatively young age, Leodore's bass could command a conversation with astounding ease.

"Yes, Samuel, I did deal with Mrs. Isabella. Our prey colleagues shouldn't have any more issues with her from now on." The confirmation was given in a completely relaxed tone, so much so Bogo thought he could even make out the soft rumbling of a purr in the background. The buffalo huffed and raised an eyebrow.

"And how exactly did you deal with her? A speciesist gym teacher is a rigged time bomb." Lionheart had always had a knack for defusing tense situations and confrontations, but sometimes he let too much of his careless nature take hold and ended up generating more problems than he solved.

"Relax, I spoke to the Student Council and they made a formal complaint to the Principal. They might be mostly preds, but most of them are cool." The lion then smirked with aplomb that Bogo would only ever see from one other (tiny and often infuriating) mammal in his life. "Oh what would you three do without me here…"

At that Quinn nearly choked on his snack, though he soon controlled his coughing fit enough to snort at the lion's jab.

"Well, we probably wouldn't be on the blacklist of so many teachers for meddling as they say…"

That actually got Lionheart to open his eyes, setting them on the Zebra. "Yeah, and how many others would be worse off for a little more comfort on our side?"

The group suddenly sobered at that reminder. Lionheart had been the one to suggest that they should start working towards change rather than waiting for their jobs to do so. They had all known each other for a couple years then, but it had been the lion who had truly brought them together.

Quinn closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Don't take this the wrong way Leodore, I'm not upset with what we've got going here, far from it… but it seems most mammals are either waiting for someone to come along and better the world for them or they'd rather milk it for what it's worth and to hell with everyone else."

He huffed and pointed at Gordon. "By now there are very few people who don't recognize you or Bogo, but you, Gordon, keep getting left out or mocked for being – and this isn't me, just what I heard – 'a small and pointless mammal.'"

Gordon simply shrugged and wiggled his tail. "And if I hear them, they get a face-full of beaver tail."

The rodent's jest was enough to lighten the mood, and as Bogo and Lionheart shared a laugh, Quinn managed to crack a genuine smile.

"We all know how easy it is for mammals to cry out for what they think is wrong with our city," Bogo began, "and then how quickly they craft excuses when asked if they're willing to work on those issues themselves. But we can't let that stop us from doing our best, regardless of who or what we are, in order to make this a city we are all proud to call our own."

They all cheered the buffalo's impromptu speech, and when the group calmed again, Lionheart spoke up. "Are you still set on going into the Academy, Samuel? 'Cuz with speeches like that, I'd sure like you with me in City Hall…."

"Um, no, not in your wildest dreams," Bogo replied, snorting. "Me and Gordon want to be out there on the streets helping whoever we can, however we can. What about you, Quinn?"

Shrugging, the Zebra explained: "To be honest, I'm not sure. I respect your desire to be out there, but I also agree with Leodore. While it may be harder to get them through, changes that come from City Hall have the potential to actually fix issues, rather than dealing with their symptoms…so I guess I'm leaning more towards working with our walking dust mop to bring change to our city's leadership."

With impeccable timing, the school bell rang, announcing the end of the afternoon recess and the start of the day's last bout of classes. But, somehow, Bogo found that the bell he was hearing differed from the one he remembered from his old school.

Cracking open one eye, his mind lurched into the real world as he realized it was his landline phone that was ringing with screeching disharmony.

Groaning, the buffalo brought his towering frame back up from the reclined chair and picked up the receiver. "Chief Bogo here."

"Hello, Samuel."

Almost as if he had just gotten up from a rough night's sleep, it took Bogo a couple of seconds to process what the voice had said and who owned the voice. However, when he did….

"Commissioner! What can I help you with?" The buffalo blurted out, only to curse himself at the nervousness his tone carried.

"Come now, Samuel, how many times do I have to tell you not to bother with titles? I still think of you as my old colleague and friend after all."

"Yes, si – Alphonse. Sorry, I've just been a bit… on edge lately."

"Hmm, yes… first your suspicions of moles in your Precinct and now this heist crew tearing through our evidence… I'd be surprised if you weren't worried in some way."

"About that, Alphonse." By now, Bogo had managed to calm himself and focus on his job. "How will the break-in at the locker be handled?"

"Well, it was a direct attack on Tundra Town's Precinct, so they'll take the lead, but I've also been told that this particular crew usually operates in Sahara Square and Savannah Central. That being the case, both of those precincts will provide assistance to Tundra Town's. You'll send all the files you have on the cases and the perps themselves, and the officers who handled them will be temporarily reassigned to Tundra Town."

That would be Delgato and Snarloff. "Understood, I'll see to it immediately."

"Good. Oh, and one last thing."

"Yes, Alphonse?"

"You really should drop your suspicions of turncoats within the force. Not only would it be next to impossible to plant them in the scale you described, but they'd also be damned near invisible. Not only that, things in City Hall tend to move at a pace which makes continental shift look fast, and no one here is eager to start city wide inquiries again any time soon."

Bogo had never been a very good liar or actor: he was too stalwart in his principles, and he was too pragmatic for the required theatrics. However, that he agreed with at least half of what the Commissioner had said – the proceedings in city government were agonizingly slow – made it easier to conceal his true intentions.

"Yes, you've already explained why I should focus on more pressing issues…." The sigh that accompanied Bogo's reminder was ambiguous, as it could refer to both the Commissioner's stance and City Hall's performance, but it did the trick in conveying resignation. "And I have… tried, to forget about that. I can't help keeping closer tabs on what goes on around me, but that's about it."

Quinn actually burst out laughing on the other side of the line. "Ha! Of course, Chief, of course… I know you'll always follow your gut to some extent. It's something that makes you such a good cop."

"Thanks, I guess?"

"You know Bogo, we really should meet up for coffee one of these days. To catch up, you know?"

The thought of getting back in touch with one of his oldest friends actually brought out a genuine smile in spite of the buffalo's glum mood. "I'd like that, Alphonse."

"We'll figure something out then! In the meantime, good luck with that heist crew."

"Thank you, Commissioner, have a nice day."

Click

Having set down the phone's receiver – much more gently than the device was used to – the Chief once again fell back into his chair, picking apart the Commissioner's call. Bogo had expected him to make contact in order to coordinate the investigation into the evidence theft at Tundra Town's precinct, but not in such an informal way.

After all this time and with so little friendly contact…. The Chief was happy, of course; Quinn actually seemed to be interested in rekindling their friendship. But it was still such a leap from the Alphonse of the past decade…

Thinking back on the memory he'd just relived, Bogo recalled just how the four of them had evolved and changed since their idealistic beginnings, and he couldn't suppress the frown that surreptitiously distorted his snout.

They'd all wanted to make the city a better place. They had different ideas on how to do it, but the endgame was the same. And while each of the four mammals succeeded in their own ways, the toppled hurdles and crushed obstacles that littered their paths had taken their toll.

For the last decade, Gordon and Bogo had been permanently exposed to the worst the city had to offer, from murderers and rapists to petty thieves and con artists. They had seen ruined mammals get back on their feet and others descend into despair. They had seen new recruits be inducted into the ZPD family and had bid farewell to brothers in arms, either through the alcoholic haze of a retirement party or the heavy and still air of a police funeral. Both beaver and buffalo had stayed true to their intentions, but their once cheery optimistic natures had retreated back into scarred and battle-hardened shells that exuded indifference to the untrained eye. Those who wore the badge with them, though, saw it as a defense against the hardships of the veritable war Bogo and Gordon waged almost daily to protect their city and its values.

In the end, both Bogo and Gordon had exiled themselves, in a way, avoiding contact with those who could potentially crack their defenses and reveal the tired and hurt mammals inside. Truth be told, Hopps' energy and Wilde's attitude had done wonders for the buffalo's troubled mind, but he strayed far from the spirit of his youth.

On the other hand, Quinn and Lionheart had faced an entirely different set of difficulties. In their rise through the ranks of city government, they'd discovered that inertia wasn't relegated only to physics textbooks: whenever they pushed to change something, the established system pushed back, sometimes without any apparent reason other than it was different. Lionheart's indomitable but easygoing nature fortunately resisted, but he became a lot more self-reliant, which culminated in him taking the Nighthowler crisis into his own paws rather than addressing it appropriately.

But, the effects on Quinn had been much more noticeable: the stubbornness they sometimes were faced with, coupled with the "everyone for themselves" mentality that oftentimes surfaced in the political elite of the city had soured and embittered the zebra. And then there were the inter-precinct relations… Quinn hadn't become Commissioner to be closer to his friends in the force. From the start, he had recognized the importance of people like Bogo and Gordon on the frontlines to bolster the floodgates until City Hall got around to installing more permanent solutions. To that end, Quinn had educated himself as best he could to provide the finest conditions possible for the ZPD. Yet, he (and Bogo and Gordon) hadn't counted on the Deputy Chiefs in charge of each Precinct being almost as territorial as mob bosses. It had been a herculean task for the three of them to bring the ZPD's multiple precincts together into a truly interconnected network. And while they had gotten there – after lobbying, transfers, sackings and promoting Bogo to Police Chief – the underlying pettiness of it all had left a very sour taste in Quinn's mouth.

The distance he'd created between himself and his old friends had been astronomical, so Bogo felt genuinely surprised and happy knowing his old striped friend had apparently crossed that gap – even if only partway.

Of course, that would have to wait. Quinn's invitation was a welcome breath of positivity, but the buffalo pushed it to the back of his mind and refocused on the matter at hand: getting to the bottom of the apparent corruption within his Precinct.

Pulling himself back towards the desk, he triggered the direct intercom to the reception desk and hailed the cheerful cheetah manning it.

"Clawhauser, find Hopps and Wilde and get them back up here."

"Sure thing! Right away, Chief."

Grunting in acknowledgement, Bogo released the intercom's button and got up from his chair. Turning around, he leveled his gaze at the large ZPD crest in his office. Trust, integrity, bravery.

Trust was one of the sentiments the "Helpful Hand of Four" had been founded on. They may have been an odd group made up of very different mammals, but the experiences they'd shared, how they looked up to and out for each other and the their complementary mindsets had instilled them all with a deep unwavering trust. Eventually, however, Lionheart's mistakes, Gordon and Bogo's scars, and Quinn's bitterness had tainted that fundamental sentiment.

Integrity was an underlying value of everything the group had done. They wanted to better the world around them, and were very uncompromising in their efforts, not once opting for the easy or convenient path over the righteous one. Once again though, time had proven that a somewhat frail endeavor: either in the Force or in City Hall, all four mammals had at one point or another found themselves faced with an impossible choice – letting a dangerous convict go in exchange for information on someone else, or passing an unwanted bill to gain support further on – which had forced them to momentarily forego their own respective values to ensure at least a partial victory.

As for bravery… well they'd all been brave in their own ways since they'd started working together. Sometimes a little too brave in Lionheart's case…. But they'd all grown tired by this point, the most obvious case being Quinn's reluctance to investigate the apparent corruption within the ZPD.

The buffalo brought his hoof up the crest, letting it hover mere inches above it. They had truly fallen a long way from their original goals and ideals. Then again… The Chief thought, I guess once you hit bottom, the only place left to go, is up.

He finally allowed his hoof to touch the oversized shield and, while a determined smile managed to crack through his previous frown, he gently trailed the motto's words. Trust, integrity, bravery.

"Time to get them back."


A/N

Well what do you know, I'm not dead (though I might be when my finals end…).

I have, however given up all hope of ever coming up with a regular update schedule… as all of my previous attempts have proven me incapable of it. Sorry about that.

Nevertheless, and as I said earlier, my finals are ending, so there will actually be updates. When? No idea. But I do intend to see this story through. It's been a wonderful experience so far and I have no intention of stopping or throwing in the towel.

As usual, comments, critiques and PMs are greatly appreciated, as they allow me the chance to improve.

See you next time (where we meet Quinn and Nick's mom in person).

Cheers!