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The following is a work of fanfiction: there is no intent of this author to violate, transgress, profit from or infringe upon the Copyright and Intellectual Property (IP) rights of the parent Copyright or IP holders of characters, events or locations belonging to the same which may be contained within this work. To reiterate; this is a Derivative Work meant to be used under Fair Use as described in 17 U.S.C. § 101 and § 107.
All language is either through Google Translate, or the site 'Bits'n'Bob-stones'
The Sons of Efrafa
.
(Five months ago)
Gladys, what have you gotten yourself into now. "Lead paint and asbestos?"
"That's correct ma'am. The entire building needs to be remediated before we can continue."
"Why are we only finding out about this now?"
"Well ma'am, between the buildings status as a Pacifican State Heritage site, plus the contract bid process, we couldn't start work until three months ago. Before now, we were more concerned with ensuring the building's structural stability. We only just started digging into non-load bearing walls in preparation to install modern secure phone, Wi-Fi and electricity, plus getting the place up to modern fire code."
-Snort- I swear to god, if this fat-tailed river rat is trying to price gouge the city… "So, how long is this remediation going to take, and what will it cost?"
"Couldn't say, ma'am. My company's not certified for that kind of work. I could point you at a few mammals I've worked with in the past, if this were a private contract. But this is a government contract, and that means it has to go out for bid again."
"What?!"
"Hey, I'm not happy about this either. My company's on hold waiting for this matter to be cleared up, which means I'm losing out on much more lucrative contract work. If, however, I cancel the contract then I run a serious risk of losing out on future city contracts, plus this job goes back out to bid. My company's reputation is on the line, to say nothing about the livelihood of my workers.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have a whole track field of legal hurdles and circus hoops to jump through to avoid losing work and workers."
God dammit, I should've stayed in the Revenue Cutter Service.
Ch. 11
(now)
Nick walked into the atrium of the First Precinct, tall and proud. While his first day had been, interesting, what with catching Flash at his street racer best, today he felt a different sense: a sense of belonging. He wasn't here on a one-off; he was a brother police officer, he was worthy. Officer McHorn nodded to him in greeting, Wolford and the Fangmeyers offered congratulations for his and Hopps' work yesterday, Jacob was waving frantically at him… Jacob was posted to the Seventh Precinct, so what was he doing standing next to Clawhauser?
As Nick walked towards his classmate, he saw Jacob had on a smile so fake Duke Weaselton wouldn't have tried to sell it. His eyes, though, his eyes were those of a mammal desperate for rescue. He must have been caught in the vortex that is Clawhauser's obsession with Gazelle. Nick decided that he might as well throw Emanuel a bone; he could milk it for a favor or two later.
Nick walked over to the pair with a casual swagger. "Well, brush my tail, if it isn't Precinct Seven's own Jack Savage! How you doing buddy?"
Jacob's face split into a pained grin "Little Red Robin Hood! I'm doing great pal!" he pulled Nick into a masculine paw-shake/hug, complete with precisely two back slaps while whispering in his ear, "Save me!"
Nick whispered back, "You owe me." The two friends took a step back from one another. "So, you need the grand tour?"
Jacob shook his head and held up a small cooler bag. "Nah, just got to get my lunch squared away."
Nick eyed the bag with no small amount of jealousy: the care packages Jacob received at the Academy were the stuff of legends.
"I can take you to the break room, but are you sure that's going to be safe? There's apparently a lunch-box bandit in the building."
Jacob gave a smug grin. "Got it covered, buddy. See for yourself." He handed Nick his lunch bag.
When Nick opened the bag, he was assaulted by the overpowering scent of cinnamon, causing him to drop the bag and begin sneezing violently.
"Ow! What is that?"
Jacob picked up and closed his lunch bag. "Essence of Cinnamon. You know those little Velcrow™ things you can stick on pencils to hang them on the fridge? Well, they also hold scents really well. I just attached one to each of my food containers, then put a drop of Essence of Cinnamon on them and voila! Instant deterrent to opportunistic scavengers, like dorm room-mates and off duty cops."
At that moment, the lobby doors opened to admit a small grey rabbit in a Police-blue Nomex™ bodysuit. Jacob wondered how she could stand wearing that thing.
"Good morning Clawhauser! Hey Nick, are you ready to make…" She rushed over when she noticed her partner, coughing and teary eyed. "Nick! What happened?"
Nick used Judy to help himself stand up straight, and gasped out, "Ab hac te prandium, Carrots!"
Judy's ears flopped in confusion. "What do you mean, 'Save yourself from lunch'?" She turned to the reception desk. "Benji, do you know what heeeEEP!" She jumped slightly when she finally noticed Jacob standing next to her.
Jacob nodded towards his classmate. "He'll be fine; just got a snout full of cinnamon." He shifted his lunch into his off paw and extended his right paw in greeting. "We haven't really met. Jacob Emanuel Raibert, you can call me Emanuel."
Judy visibly relaxed and took his paw. "Judy Hopps. It's nice to meet you. Nick talked a lot about you and Pearl. It was good to see her again."
Both relaxed their arms, and Jacob turned to start towards the break room. "Likewise. Nick thinks very highly of you, and I put great store by his opinions."
Judy turned to her partner with a saccharine grin. "You were dishing about me at the Academy? Aw, that's so sweet!"
Nick stood up straight and noticed the jubilant expression on Clawhauser's muzzle. "Truths! How dare you slander me with these verifiable facts!" There was chuckling all around. "But seriously buddy, what are you doing here? I thought you were assigned to the Seventh?"
"I am, but the new station house has some serious problems, and it's going to take a while before the building's ready for occupancy. All the officers who were going to be stationed there have to stay where they are. Since I don't have a precinct, and the higher ups feel that Precinct One has the most experience with small officers, they sent me here until the Seventh is ready."
"Well then," Judy perked, "… lets get you settled in. Welcome to the First!"
…
Jacob thought the First Precinct's Bullpen had the air of a high school sports locker room. The two dozen or so officers seemed to be revving themselves up; for what, Jacob wasn't certain. He did know that if this was the environment he was going to be working in for the foreseeable future, that he couldn't wait to be working in the Seventh. The raucous din crescendoed to wordless chanting and banging when Chief Bogo entered.
"All right, all right, settle down. SHUT UP! Now, we have two items on the docket: first, with the issues concerning the new station house in Precinct Seven, the transfers there are on temporary hold. That means officers Lupinski and Winters will be with us for a little longer." There was some cheering and back patting for a wolf and a lynx in the back of the pen. "Quiet down. Also, we have a temporary new officer, but who cares."
Jacob remained quiet and unmoving, though he bristled internally at the casual dismissal by his new superior.
The Chief continued. "Second: Hopps and Wilde managed to bring their first case together to a close in record time, and they deserve some recognition," there was a pause, "… by someone who cares. Assignments…" Jacob tuned the laughter out and waited to hear his named called so he could get his assignment and leave. "Raibert: Parking duty, stick around after assignments. Fangmeyers'…" Jacob tuned out again. Once the pen had cleared, Bogo looked pointedly at Jacob.
"I want to make one thing clear; my assigning you to parking duty is not an attack on your capabilities as an officer. I learned that lesson already. I simply have no officers available to serve as your Training Officer at this time. Parking duty keeps you busy and brings revenue into the department coffers. Once I have a Master Patrolmammal (MPM) available to mentor you, I'll put you in the field; so you can stop mean-mugging me."
Jacob took a breath. "Permission to speak candidly, sir?"
The buffalo quirked an eyebrow. "This is new. Alright, let's hear it."
"If I'm mean mugging you, sir, it's not because of my assignment. You're my CO: you say jump, I'm in the air before the echo dies down. You say I'm on parking duty until one of us retires, then so be it."
The Chief leaned back looking pleasantly surprised. "But?"
Jacob scowled slightly. "But, you also set the attitude for this precinct. Your officers don't just follow your orders, they follow your lead, and you just told them that I'm not worth your time or consideration; that you don't care. How am I supposed to trust my CO to have my best interests at heart under those circumstances? How am I supposed to trust my fellow officers to have my back, if their commander just old them that I don't matter, sir?" Jacob sat back and waited.
Bogo drew a breath as if to speak, then seemed to think for a second. After a moment, he took off his glasses and leaned on the podium. "Raibert, this is the First Precinct. We are the best officers, who receive the toughest assignments. We see a lot of officers applying to come here. Most don't make the grade; of those who do, most buckle under the pressure in less than a year. I don't have time to get invested in any officer who won't be here in a year. You, Officer Raibert, didn't even want to come to this precinct, and will be leaving as soon as Gladys' house is in order, so I'm even less inclined than normal.
"That being said, it was not my intention to draw into question your value as a mammal or an officer. For that, I apologize." The Chief gathered his papers and glasses off of the podium. "If you tell anyone I said that, you really will be on parking duty until one of us retires, and I have at least a decade left in me."
Jacob snorted a laugh at that and saluted. Bogo nodded and turned to leave. "A question, sir." Bogo paused for a moment. "Judy can't have enough time to be considered an MPM, so why are Hopps and Wilde partnered together? Is this about size, or public visibility?"
Bogo sorted. "You'll do well with Winterhorn. Not that it matters to you, but it's a PR decision. I want you to put in four hours of parking duty per day, then come in and take care of your administrative in-processing. Dismissed." With that, he left.
As Jacob left to begin his own duties, he thought that Precinct One might not be that bad a place after all.
…
Jacob soon settled into a routine: four hours of parking duty in the morning, during which he would practice what Sgt. Natalia Adame had taught him about learning and knowing his environment, then back to the Precinct house for lunch, and finally four hours of administrative in-processing, including filing his reports from the morning. Initially, Bogo seemed annoyed at the additional report to read, but after seeing that one vehicle Jacob noted as suspicious, which was listed on a BOLO for a hit-and-run, the Chief simply told him to keep a copy of all his reports for future records.
Jacob also began developing a rapport with his fellow officers.
"What are those, they smell wonderful?!" Judy all but bounced next to Jacob as he snacked on a collection of golden puffy objects flecked with spices. Nick was across from them, whimpering and drooling slightly.
Jacob considered her for a moment, then passed the plastic container towards her. "Try one, tell me what you think."
She gingerly picked one up with her claws and was about to pop it in her mouth, when Wolford came in sniffing. He saw the dish and all but lunged at them. "Oh boy! Puffed Grubbs!"
Judy squeaked and almost dropped the morsel at that statement.
Jacob slammed the dish closed. "I will end you and all that you love, Wolford."
The timber wolf joined Nick in whimpering. "But you gave some to Judy?"
Jacob stared the wolf down. "She. Asked." Conversation stopped when there was a crunching sound coming from Judy.
"Hm, tastes a little bit of butter and sweet nuts. Is that saffron?" When everyone gaped at her, she shrugged. "What? Like the song says, 'Try Everything'."
Jacob smiled and thought to himself, 'Well now, I'm impressed.' "Here, have another."
As Judy began her second grub, Nick groused. "I've been trying to get the recipe out of him for months, but…"
"Not even on my deathbed." Jacob picked one of the treats up and took a bite. "I'm not risking Hombo-fa Adame's wrath by giving away her recipe." He grinned mischievously. "She does have a niece, though."
…
Six weeks after starting at Precinct One, as Jacob was making his morning traffic rounds, he came across an oddity. A sedan was in a live parking zone in front of an apartment complex: a sedan which, like clockwork, dropped off a well dressed, if out of shape wolf every Tuesday and Thursday at 10:00, and picked him up again at 11:00. Today, however, was Wednesday at 9:15. Jacob knew that legally, the car could remain there for 10 minutes to load and unload, but he had been there for eight minutes already. Jacob called in suspicious behavior, and moved towards the car, switching on his body cam, and had his ticket writer at the ready.
As Jacob approached, a frantic looking bobcat in a driving cap jumped out of the driver's door. "I know this is a loading area, I'm just waiting for my passenger; he should be out any minute now!"
"Well, if he's not out in the next," Jacob looked at his watch, "…42 seconds, then I'm afraid I'm going to have to ticket this vehicle for blocking a loading zone. 35, 34, 33…"
As Jacob began counting, the flustered cat climbed back into the car and pulled out, likely to go once around the block. A minute later, the wolf passenger came out of the building. He was out of breath, and Jacob could hear his heart racing. When he looked up, he saw Jacob, but no car.
"Where the hell is my car!"
Jacob stepped forward. "Sir, your car was very nearly parked illegally. I simply advised your driver to relocate. Given traffic conditions and construction he should be back in," Jacob glanced at his watch, "…10 minutes?" This was a gross exaggeration, but Jacob wanted to test a theory. He felt he was proven right when the wolf seemed to fly into a rage. As the mammal stormed towards him, Jacob began laying his ears back, and repositioning his pedal paws.
The wolf jabbed a claw at Jacob. "You toady little rodent! Do you know who I am?"
"Not at all sir, though that could be remedied quickly. Could I see your identification?"
As far as Jacob was concerned, the mammal couldn't have telegraphed the blow any more if Western Union had delivered it. Jacob easily turned with the blow, letting it glance off of his jaw with just enough force to bruise lightly. The wolf being taller than Jacob, as well as not a real fighter, greatly overextended. This allowed Jacob to put him in a particularly painful arm-bar and wrestle him muzzle first into the sidewalk.
"Sir, you are under arrest or assaulting a police officer: you have the right to remain silent…"
The sedan pulled around the corner as Jacob was Mirandizing the wolf. Upon seeing his passenger's predicament, the bobcat pulled back into traffic and drove away, all the while the wolf swore any number of curses on Jacob and the driver both.
As Jacob was cuffing his assailant, he noted a few details about the wolf: his suit was slightly torn, his manual paws and sleeves were wet and there were tufts of black, curly fur or wool under his claws. Once secured, Jacob called in the attack.
The responding unit turned out to be Nick and Judy. Nick strolled up while Judy helped wrangle the foul-mouthed mammal. Nick was about to speak when his nose flared, and his easy-going demeanor switched to cool professionalism. "What happened, Officer?"
"Suspicious circumstances, and a car parked in a loading zone. When I asked for ID, the mammal, one," Jacob looked at the driver's license taken from the wolf's wallet, "…Byron Howlton, became violently aggressive, at which time I subdued, restrained and Mirandized him. That's when I called in the arrest."
Nick took another short sniff. "I smell blood. Do you need medical attention?" At that comment, both Jacob and Judy looked at each other as they heard Byron's heart rate spike.
"It's not my blood, he didn't hit me hard enough for that, and it shouldn't be his; I just grappled him to the ground."
"Hold him still." Nick leaned in and closed his eyes as he took a deep sniff. "I smell sheep."
Jacob loaded Mr. Howlton into the back of Nick and Judy's cruiser.
"He had what could be black wool under his claws, and his clothes exhibit signs of a struggle. He was in this apartment building for about 10 minutes. I'll babysit Byron here." By this point, the wolf had become all but catatonic.
Nick and Judy called in their situation and headed into the building. Five minutes later, they called for Child Protective Services, a criminalistics team, and a coroner. Not long after that, the front of the apartment was a riot of official city vehicles, as well as curious onlookers. It turned out that there was a dead ewe, one Candice Scherer in a third-floor apartment: she appeared to have been strangled. A lamb of only a year was found in a crib in the back of the apartment. The neighbors commented that they suspected the ewe was a prostitute, given the pedal traffic and noises coming from her apartment.
Byron had long since been brought in for processing when Jacob, who was acting as crowd control, was ordered to return to the precinct and report directly to Chief Bogo. When he arrived, he was greeted with congratulations by every officer he met. Upon entering the Chief's office, he saw Nick, Judy, and a Clydesdale detective named Oates he had only met in passing. Once he was seated, the massive equid leaned in.
"Officer, could you please explain to me why you decided to harass one of the founders of Knight Howlton Security Services?"
Jacob raised a paw when both Nick and Judy seemed about to leap up to his defense. "Suspicious circumstances, sir." Jacob turned to Bogo. "Chief, could you pull up my daily reports for every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday? I could run back to my desk if you need."
"Not at all, officer." Much to Nick and Judy's surprise, Bogo simply typed for a few seconds, then spun his monitor around for everyone to see. Jacob then took over.
"You'll note, detective, that for at least the last six weeks, Byron visited the complex for one hour, every Tuesday and Thursday, between 10:00 and 11:00 AM, but never on a Wednesday, and never before 10:00 AM. This deviation in behavior, combined with the agitated nature of the driver, led to my decision to intervene. Forensics has my body cam, so the footage should corroborate my testimony on both the driver's and Byron's suspicious behavior."
Oates and Bogo looked at each other, before the detective spoke. "We've already seen it, and we have the responding officers report to confirm your actions." Judy and Nick both looked poleaxed at what Oates said next. He put on his coat and turned to Bogo. "I might want to use him for my investigation, if you can clear it with his Chief."
"I'll see what I can do, Nathan. Officers, excellent work. Dismissed."
When the three junior officers left the office, Judy was all by vibrating in excitement.
"Detective Oates is with the Special Crimes Taskforce; do you know what this means?"
Jacob ran a paw down his ears. "Yeah, it means no gore fests for 'Bad Movie Night' for the next while. I was a military cop, remember? I've done all this before."
"What I don't get," Nick scratched his head, "…is how that guy managed to land a hit on you." When Judy looked strangely at him, Nick continued while pointing to Jacob. "Carrots, this guy missed your Enormous Criminal take down time by like, two seconds, and that because he was using it as a teaching moment. Leona Tomlinson almost refused to spar with him."
They were passing Clawhauser on the stairwell when Judy looked Jacob up and down.
"Maybe you'd like to try me some time?"
Jacob looked at her appraisingly, before grinning. "Sure, could be fun."
Nick piped up. "Just let me know when you guys are gonna go at it: I want to film this."
Judy looked over at him "Okay, but only if you're participating. You keep turning me down when I offer, and I want to see what you've got."
There was a crashing sound behind them. When they turned, Benjamin Clawhauser was lying unconscious under a pile of files.
"Ben!"
"Benji?"
"I'll go get a Medic!"
