Chapter 2: The Two Arrivals

Nick fled Bogo's office before the chief could think of something else he disproved of, leaving Judy to run down to the dispatch desk for their information. Knowing that with time being against them, and that the bunny could easily be worse than Bogo when it came to urging him on, Nick only pulled on his uniform pants inside the locker rooms, opting to instead grab the rest of his uniform to change in the car as Judy would drive them. His eyes still bulged when he saw that despite his rush, Judy was again waiting for him just out the door, a document in paw. "What did you do? Teleport to Clawhauser's?"

Judy grabbed his tie and began to pull him towards the motorpool for the second time that day. He barely even had any time to toss his uniform inside their interceptor and jump in after it before the bunny had started the motor and was already driving off. Radio in one paw, she alerted Wolford and Fangmeyer that help was on the way. "Unit twelve to unit seven, we are heading in your direction. Keep us updated on your twenty."

"Roger that, unit twelve! Currently on intersection of Tujunga and G avenue."

Ironically though, for all the rush in getting to the car, because they weren't actually responding to an emergency, all Judy was allowed to do was drive with the lights on, but the siren off. Without the verbal cue to alert the traffic in front, driving was only slightly faster than without any lights or sirens at all. It did mean that Nick was able to complete changing into his uniform in relative comfort, however. "So what's the news from Claws, Carrots?" he asked as he pulled his Pawaiian shirt over his head, replacing it with the blues of his patrol suit. "Do we know who we're going after?"

Judy tapped the steering wheel impatiently while traffic in front of them alternated between pulling over to the side of the road and ignoring her completely, either out of ignorance or even purposefully out of malice. "We know that there are two suspects, one appears to be some small wolf. The other might looked like a deer, but not confirmed." She glanced at Nick, who finally finished changing. With the rush job he did while being confined underneath a seat belt, the result was rough, but it wasn't like they were going out on parade or anything. "James and Dahlia were chasing them for most of the day by this point, but only decided recently to ask for our help. Whoever they are, the two suspects know how to hide from cops." She smirked at Nick, "but now that the ZPD has smaller officers like us, they won't be able to use their smaller sizes against us."

Nick returned her smirk, nodding in agreement.

"And like Bogo told us, they haven't actually done anything illegal yet, just act strange. So all going well, we'll find them, talk to them, and be done before it gets dark."

The fox grumbled and stared out the window as the interior went dark as they drove through a tunnel marking the transition form Savanna Central to the Jungle District. "You know what Bogo always says, Fluff. With you, nothing ever goes easy." He frowned as he stared out the window, noting that it was already noticeably darker than even when they had just left on this latest task – the sun was setting, and with Zootopia's tall buildings blocking the horizon, it would soon be dark. While the fox wasn't worried to much – being naturally nocturnal, he wouldn't have to rely so much on coffee to operate at this time. But his partner Judy relied a lot on getting to sleep on time in order to be wide awake and bouncy the next morning. And Nick's gut was telling him that he would need his partner's full abilities for this. After all, it was rather unusual to ask for a pair of officers to work overtime just to investigate some 'suspicious activity' - especially if no actual crime was committed. Why send Nick and Judy in after their shift had already ended? Unless, of course, Bogo knew something that he wasn't telling, an idea that made Nick feel nervous.

With the heavier traffic during rush hour, it was in fact already quite darker when they spotted Wolford's and Fangmeyer's cruiser parked on the side of the street, illuminated in the yellowish sodium lights of street lighting system from above. Wolford himself was standing next to a building, beckoning them over as soon as the wolf spotted their vehicle pulling over. Despite Fangmeyer not being in sight, the wolf didn't look nervous.

Exiting their interceptor, Nick and Judy walked over to Wolford. "Status update?" Judy asked, getting straight to the point. "Where's Dahlia?"

Wolford nodded in greeting, then motioned at a narrow gap between the building they were next to and its neighbor. "Our suspects went in here. Believe it or not, but this gap is an actual street. Guess just not for larger mammals like us." He aligned himself with the gap to show that he could only just barely fit in. "I can go in, but barely. Fangmeyer can't fit in at all. She's using the rooftops to get ahead of our suspects, while I keep the back door guarded. But when we tried that before, the two suspects always managed to somehow slip away, so that's why we asked for you two." Backing out of the alley, he grinned at Nick and Judy. "And now that you're here, we were hoping to send you in to flush them out. Or at least talk to them and get them to stop spooking the locals."

He glanced back down the small alleyway. "I'll keep it short: Earlier today the two suspects bumped into a local, who phoned us to report on their unusual behavior. The suspects? One's a deer, the other a small wolf. Oh, and the deer's hurt somehow. The citizen didn't get a good look, but that deer was definitely limping, and had a bandaged leg. When our local tried to help, the deer threatened him, and the wolf helped the two of them run away. That's when our guy phoned in, and we were able to regain the trail on the two suspects after we lost it. Now we chased them into this here block, and they're somewhere inside."

Wolford then reached into his tool belt and produced a pair of pawheld radios. "Here, use these. Their signal won't be effected by other units reporting in, but it also means that if you need to send a message to everyone else, remember to use the main radios instead." Using his own handheld, he talked into it, updating Fangmeyer on the situation. "Hopps and Wilde are on scene. Do you still have eyes on our suspects?"

"Negative, lost them about a minute ago. Good visuals on all exits, so they're not escaping from me again. They must still be somewhere inside this maze of corridors. Hopps, Wilde, if you'll please, find them. I can guide you from above."

"Copy that," Judy radioed back, motioning for Nick to follow her. She cast Wolford a quick glance over her shoulder. "Keep the back door closed, and the car warm!"

Wolford nodded. "Stay safe," he said back at them, only to motion for them to wait. "The two suspects didn't give us a reason to think that they're dangerous, but with the deer hurt, they might just get desperate if we get too close. Give them credit for being able to avoid us for as long as they did, but it also might mean that they are running scared, and you know how mammals get in these situations." He let out a sigh, glancing at the alley entrance. "If you will need help, Fangmeyer can get in faster than me, but even she will take time. So for when it matters, if things go bad, you're on your own. So ears up, eyes open." He winked at the two officers. "If all of this is just nothing, feel free to call me paranoid later. Good luck!"

With Nick in tow, Judy entered the dark alleyway, leaving the lights of the main street behind them. Finding it difficult to see in the rapidly fading light, Judy reached into her toolbelt to get her phone out, and specifically, the flashlight function on it. But as soon as her paw went down for it, she felt Nick reach out and stop her.

"Don't want the light alerting them that we're coming," the fox whispered to her, "better I go in front of you. I can see relatively well here." Stepping carefully around her, Judy now was able to see even less due to looking at the fox's back.

"One hundred yards in front of you, the lane should open up and give you more breathing space. Also, it's an intersection, but I need to reposition to tell you which direction to follow."

As per Fangmeyer's instructions, the buildings did part ahead of them, and it didn't take too much time to reach the intersection. Peering in either direction didn't reveal anything useful, just more dark buildings and empty spaces between them.

"What if we split up?" Judy suggested. "Cover more ground that way?"

Nick shook his head. "We've watched those movies together, Fluff. Those who split up get taken out apart. Better stay together for now." To his horror, not moments later, Fangmeyer, through the radio, felt like giving a different opinion.

"Just spotted movement… yes, it's the smaller of the two suspects. He's found an exit and might make a break for it. Moving to intercept..." Hardly a second passed before the radio crackled back to life. "Shi- he spotted me! Now he's… Correction, suspect went back into the alleyways. No visual on the second. Wilde, if you take the path on your right, you will be en route to intercept our smaller suspect I just saw. Think you can manage on your own while I guide Hopps towards the last known location of our second suspect?"

Nick let out a long sigh, glancing up where he even thought he saw a fleeting glimpse of Fangmeyer jumping over the gaps of the roofs to get into a better position. "Just keep in contact," he finally radioed back, and ventured into the path away from Judy, red tail disappearing into the darkness.

"Okay, Hopps, head straight for two blocks over, then a block to the left. There is a small clearing, that's the location. I'll keep off the comms so as to not to alert our guests, but feel free to radio in for guidance on your own volition."

Heading slowly with the directions given, Judy relied heavily on her hearing to alert her of any potential danger in front of her. She had to give credit to the suspects if hiding from the police was their goal: the artificial jungle environment, and more relevantly for her, the near constant 'rain' at multiple locations nearby from sprinklers masked quieter noises rather well.

But she wasn't valedictorian of her class for nothing. So when she heard rustling of some loose material on the ground right as she was about to enter the mentioned clearing, Judy paused, listening carefully. Yes, the telltale sound of someone breathing just around the corner. Just in case, she pulled out her dart gun, checking to make sure it was loaded, and waited to listen on any other noises that might betray the identity of the personal nearby.

It wasn't Nick – he would have walked over and turned the corner by now. The suspect perhaps? "Hopps checking in, I might be about to make contact with the suspects," she spoke into the radio. "Standby for update."

"Copy that Hopps! Be careful!"

Taking in a breath to steady herself, reminding herself that they weren't even perusing criminals, just a mere pair of mammals who were acting strangely, Judy decided to be the one to let her presence be known. "Uh, hello?" She started to say before actually walking into the clearing. There was no one there, but she did see a dark corner where someone might try to… yes, there was someone there. "Officer Judy Hopps, ZPD. I would like to-"

"-just talk..." Her words stopped as she turned the corner and found herself staring straight at the business end of a nasty looking gun. The owner behind it lurked inside blackened cover, with only the skinny limb of a deer that was holding the gun being any visible.

"No sudden movements," the gun's owner said. "No surprises, and no one gets hurt. Got it?"

Judy nodded, nose twitching rapidly as her mind raced to think of how she would get herself out of this situation.

"Drop your weapon. Slowly." Judy did as instructed, slowly lowering her tranq gun and kicking it aside, but also making sure to note where it went. The hidden deer wasn't finished, though. "Good, now uh, tell me why you are here. Why are you following me?" He waved the gun a little in a motion to tell her to also move further out of sight of potential onlookers. Still planning on her move to take the deer out, Judy complied for now.

As for the question, Judy felt confused. Was she really asked why she was doing her job? "You mean why I followed you into here? Because we received reports of suspicious activity." She glared at the gun. "And you're not proving them wrong. I really ought to be asking you why you are here, with that gun."

"That's not important." The deer answered, not sounding even convinced himself. Then naturally, as things like these go, Judy's radio chose to betray itself.

"Hopps, come in. Where's that update? Is everything okay down there? Key the mic twice if you can't talk."

Out of instinct, Judy grabbed the radio, but before she could say anything, another flick of the gun reminded her that she shouldn't be making sudden movements. Not until she was ready to take the deer out, that is.

"Don't answer that." Her paw lowered from the radio. "How many of you are out here looking for us?"

"Hopps? Come in Hopps!" Then to make things worse for her, the next announcement came from the main radio rather than the handheld unit. "Dispatch, be advised, Officer Hopps failed a check-in. Standby for an update, she might simply be having equipment issues. We're between buildings of the Amazonian Paradise Complex, Jungle District."

"Copy that, Fangmeyer. All units, please be advised, head over to the in the jungle district area if you are close by."

As the chatter died down, Judy chose to bluff. "Just me and my partner, who you just heard. No one else." Then to add some credence to her bluff, she added, "but if I remain silent for much longer, there will be a lot more cops circling this area. You heard the radio just as well as I have." Her ears picked up the telltale sound of someone walking closer, and her hopes rose – Nick was just down the block and getting closer.

The deer still didn't budge. "Don't answer it," he repeated sternly.

A new unfamiliar voice broke the tense silence in a loud whisper. "Count? I found a way out." No, that wasn't Nick, which means… Oh, right... The second suspect. In only a few seconds, Judy would have to deal with not one, but two hostile mammals. "The cops are closing in on us, so we'll need to - Count, what in the world are you doing!?"

Despite focusing her attention on the deer still holding her at gunpoint, Judy's mind raced even faster as soon as she heard the shocked, and more importantly for her, horrified tone of the newcomer. Must be that wolf suspect Wolford told them about.

As much as the situation she now found herself in got worse with the introduction of a a highly illegal firearm, the fact that shooting her was not sounding like part of the plan was good for her. And, a part of her mind was thinking, better for them once she's through with arresting their tails.

The gun in front of Judy lowered, but only slightly. "What was I supposed to do, Trigger? She was right on top of me! I can't run anymore!"

The newcomer let out a groan of frustration. "And you think I can? You can't pull a gun on a cop! Are you crazy? Lower the gun, Count. Now!" Out of the corner of her eye, Judy saw the second suspect move in front of her.

The barrel lowered slightly, but not enough to put Judy out of danger. "Uh, no."

While the two suspects argued with themselves, Judy started to look around with her eyes for her tranq gun.

"Damn it, Count! Don't be stupid! Drop it! That's an order!"

"Go to hell, Trigger! You can't order me around!"

"Try me!"

From the corner of her vision, just barely making him out through the darkness, Judy saw the wolf walk around her, only to stop next to the deer, placing one of his paws directly over the weapon. For a few tense moments, the two seemed to not quite fight over it in silence, with the deer relenting and allowing the wolf to take the gun away. As soon as the gun was in the wolf's control, he immediately ejected the magazine, cycling the bolt several times to make sure that the chambered round was ejected as well. Holding the now empty gun and the magazine loosely in his paws, the wolf let out a long, tired sigh as he stumbled away from the deer, backing into a concrete ledge and collapsing onto it. He stared at the items in his paws, breathing slowly and deeply.

"Really sorry about this, officer" he suddenly said, sounding genuinely apologetic. "Count is really jumpy at the moment." He snorted in an ironic amusement. "Hell, we both are." Glancing up to the dark corner where the dear was, he said, "Count, might as well come out now. No use hiding there anymore." The deer didn't budge.

Judy's radio crackled to life again before she could respond. "Hopps, I think suspect two is heading in your direction. Give us an update now, Hopps!"

The bunny reached for her radio uncertainly. "I really need to answer this," she told the wolf, who simply waved her off in a 'whatever' motion, gun and magazine still in paw. Grabbing the radio in her paw, she felt relief at being able to communicate with her friends again. "Sorry, was rather busy for a second there." Setting aside the handheld, she needed to clear things up with the main radio as well. "Dispatch, this is officer Hopps. Made contact with both suspects. Everything's fine, sorry that I wasn't able to answer right away."

"Really? Copy that, Hopps! Need me to send in backup?"

"Negative, dispatch. We've got it handled."

The small wolf cleared his throat nervously. "Look, I know we started off on the wrong foot, but it would be really nice of you if we were allowed to just walk away..."

Judy shook her head. "You both know I can't do that." Having spotted her dropped tranquilizer on the ground, she quickly picked it up, turning it to the wolf, whose eyes glanced back and forth between the gun in his paws and her newly reacquired tranq gun. "Do I need to do it?" Judy asked, motioning with her tranquilizer at him, as though daring him to make a move.

The wolf only shook his head, almost as though ashamed, an action that caused the deer, still hidden, to snort in disgust. "You're a real first class idiot, Trigger."

"Count, if you say one more-" began the wolf standing up quickly, only to be interrupted with a surprised yelp as he was tackled from behind.

Officer Wilde just arrived on scene.

Pressing down on the wolf with his knees, Nick forced his target's arms behind his back, slapping on a set of pawcuffs and tightening them in a matter of seconds. "You all right there, Carrots?" he asked, sounding and looking rather pleased with himself despite the struggling suspect beneath him. Pointing his own tranquilizer to where the deer was, his next words were with much more force and hostility. "Don't move, Gimpy!"

Judy stared at the commotion in front of her, mouth open in shock. "Nick? He was helping me!" she protested, but then caught up to the second thing the fox had said. "Wait, what? 'Gimpy'?"

The wolf underneath Nick struggled to free himself from the pin he was locked into, but his attention wasn't directed at escaping. "Count, don't! Stand down!"

Judy quickly turned, preparing for a fight, just in time to see the deer had emerged from his hiding place. A short metal pipe was clenched in one hoof, ready to strike her, but the deer stood in a tense silence apart from furious breathing.

Nick's voice broke the tension, still hostile, but not quite as much as before. "I would listen to your friend. Drop the pipe, gimpy. You don't want to try us. One more step towards my partner and I drop you cold." The last statement was emitted in a lower growl that easily conveyed the idea across that the fox was willing to fight if he needed to.

The deer, Count, continued to glare, but relented and lowered the pipe, letting it drop to the ground in a metallic clank. "You know, giving up sure did you a lot of good, Trigger," he told the struggling wolf as he backed into a pile of boxes and sat down on them, one of his legs held out rather awkwardly. "Never considered you to be one to quit." It was then that Judy noticed the roughly tightened band of cloth, stained dark with what she was guessing to be blood.

Feeling that the immediate danger was over, Nick got off his catch. "Trigger? Nice name!" he praised, "how did you get that, wolfy?" The wolf remained on the ground mumbling something into the pavement. "I didn't catch that. Want to run it by me again?" Nick asked again, "I'm genuinely curious on how you get a name like that."

"I'm not a wolf," 'Trigger' replied lamely, "I'm a coyote."

"Really? I gotta see that!" Securing the dropped gun, he pulled said coyote up to a stand. Nick grinned as he found himself staring at an angry looking canine, only slightly larger than himself, sporting a fresh gash from where his head hit concrete. "Huh," Nick muttered, "thought there was something odd about you. All the info we got told us were were dealing with a small wolf." He patted down the coyote, feeling around for any hidden weapons. He frowned when he felt something else rather unexpected "Why is your clothing all soaking wet?" Not getting an answer, he continued to search for weapons and came up empty. "Okay, buddy, you're clean. Turn around." Trigger did as ordered without saying anything. "So, Judy, did um, 'Trigger' here really help you out?"

"Yes, Nick," Judy replied in an annoyed tone, "that gun came from 'Count'. That deer surprised me when I entered this clearing, but then 'Trigger' found us and convinced him that holding a hostage was a bad idea. So yeah, you can say that he helped me."

Nick shrugged his shoulders. "Well in that case..." he pawed a small key out of his belt and used it to remove the cuffs off the coyote he caught. "Guess I can thank you for making the situation easier for us."

Trigger sighed in relief as his arms were released, rubbing his wrists to help regain some feeling back. "Does this mean you are letting us go?"

Nick put on his hustler smile. "Yeah… No. No we're not."

Count snorted from behind them. "Told you, Trigger. You're a real idiot."

The fox's grin grew even wider. "Want us to tranq him on your behalf?"

Trigger's eyes grew wide. "What? No!"

"Just kidding! Offer still stands if you change your mind though." Nick motioned towards the gap between the buildings that would lead them back to the main street. "But speaking of letting you go, how's this idea: if you two come with us willingly back to the station, we might even not throw you into the slammer right away. Instead, when we get back, we will figure out where to go from there. That sound like a plan?"

The coyote glanced over at his deer companion, who glared back instead. "You're not the cop I saw on the roof," Trigger muttered. "That one looked like a tiger…" Nick simply grinned and shrugged, refusing to either confirm nor deny the coyote's theory.

Letting out a long sigh, Trigger looked up at the sky above them. "You're going to hate me for this, Count, but let's do as they say. It's the best chance we've got."

"Fuck you, Trigger," Count cursed loudly at his companion in reply, causing Nick to chuckle.

"Gee, who paired up you two?" The fox waved off a reply. "Anyways, it's late, and I sense far too much paperwork for this. So how about we follow the two of you and take you down to the station?"

Count apparently had a better idea. "I say we take them on and run."

"No, Count!" Trigger's breathing rapidly increase in pace, and the coyote had to visibly force himself to calm down. "Count, I can't keep going like this!" he complained. "You need to have someone look at your leg before you lose it permanently. I haven't slept in days, and for half that time I had to lug you around! I'm tired, I'm cold." He suddenly growled in frustration. "Damn it Count, just admit it that we're in a fight we can't win!"

"So you just want to give up?"

"Yes, Count!" Trigger hissed. "We lost the moment we got trapped in here. We can't run anymore, and I refuse to start fighting. These cops are not our enemy."

"That's rather ironic coming from you, Trigger." The deer smirked as his retort earned him an angry growl from the coyote.

"Don't you dare, Count!"

Slowly, Count's smirk faded, morphing into an angry glare. "Okay, okay!" he finally concluded. "Have it your way!" Trigger visibly relaxed as soon as Count relented into giving up.

Nick rolled his eyes at the pair's antics. And here he thought that he and Carrots were an unusual combination. He waved the discarded gun and magazine. "That's a real piece of work here. How many local and national regulations does this break, Carrots? Ten? More?" He pointed at Count with the magazine. "You held an officer at gun point. We can easily add resisting arrest on top of that. But if say, you and your pal went with us willingly, we will simply take you down to the station, ask some questions about what you were doing tonight, and then possibly we might or might not let you go." Nick stared down at the deer, using his status as an officer of the law to make up for the full head of height that he lacked on Count. "No promises, but Trigger here is correct: cooperating with us is your best chance. And no," he added while motioning towards Judy, "you can't take us on. Ever seen Carrots here knock out a rhino with one kick? You wouldn't want it to be your head. Trigger? Your two cents?"

At Nick's question, Trigger took the initiative. "Let's just go, Count."

"What about my leg?" Whined Count, holding out the bandaged limb for emphasis. Trigger didn't say anything, simply walking over and pulling Count up by the arm. Ironically enough, when Nick also moved over to help, Count sent the fox away with an angry glare. "I didn't ask you, fox!"

Judy opened her mouth to protest, but Trigger saw her and was able to guess what she was about to say, for he quickly shook his head at her, begging her visually to drop the matter. With the immediate conflict over, the coyote started to walk in the direction leading out the small courtyard, half-dragging his deer companion behind him. Having made the first move and quickly being limited by the narrow gaps of the buildings, he stayed in front of Nick and Judy as the four mammals made their way back to the main streets and the waiting cars. Fangmeyer guided them back through the radio, but Trigger didn't act like he was lost as they headed out.

"Officer Hopps and Wilde moving back to our vehicles, suspects are with us."

From behind Trigger and Count, making sure that they wouldn't attempt to run away, Nick also used the opportunity to whisper to Judy some questions that were bugging him. "So how much can you actually see in this light?" was the first one. He wasn't worried about being overheard – if anything, he would have a hard time hearing over the loud panting coming from Trigger still dragging Count along.

"Not much at all," Judy admitted. "Just general shapes, really. Depends on the immediate lighting around us."

"That explains a lot," Nick whispered back. "I was wondering if you had noticed that they are both wearing the same uniform. Look like some sort of flight suits. Boots, shoulder patch flag, all of that jazz."

At the mentioning of footwear, Judy looked down, squinting through the darkness. Sure enough, Trigger wasn't walking on his paws, and Count wasn't relying on his hoofs. "Yeah, I didn't notice that."

In front of them, Trigger stopped, and by extension, so did Count.

"What's the hold up? Go on," Nick urged, but the two didn't move. Go figure that they were stuck where the buildings were at their most narrowest, with no way around anyone.

"There's a wolf there," Trigger finally wheezed out, "and a tiger. Both armed. Tell them not to shoot us!"

Judy took a step forward, then hopped on top of Trigger, earning a yelp of complaint from the coyote, and a chuckle of glee from Count. "Wolford! Fangmeyer! You can put those away, everything's all clear!" Emerging onto the street, and more importantly, the street lighting, she had to blink at just how bright everything suddenly was. From behind her emerged the other three, Trigger visibly struggling with getting Count out of the narrow gap between the buildings.

Dropping Count onto a rather convenient bench nearby, Trigger had to hop onto the same bench after the deer, legs dangling off the end. "If you still want to run, go ahead, but I'm done carrying you," he muttered while still trying to catch his breath.

Officer Wolford approached the two, giving them a quick glance over. "The two of you gave us quite a chase," he eventually said, leaning close to sniff at Trigger, wrinkling his nose at what he found. Trigger, for his part, gave and annoyed glare at the treatment. "So much for a 'wolf'. Even in a large city like this, not too many coyotes around here," Wolford added, "so… pilots, I'm guessing?" He looked at the shoulder patches. "Ocelotian?" He held out a paw in a 'hand it over' gesture. "IDs, if you please." Neither Trigger nor Count moved.

Judy's voice made them change their minds. "It won't help you if avoid this. We will find out one way or another in the end, so don't try us." Wasn't she busy talking with the fox and tiger?

Trigger was the first to pull out his information out of a chest pocket.

Wolford took it and his eyes widened at what he saw. "Woah, hey, guys, you wanna check this out!" He held out Trigger's ID for the other cops to see. "Look, no name, and even his face's all covered up!"

Nick grabbed the small papers from Wolford's paw and took a look, aware that Fangmeyer was able to see from behind him well enough. His eyes widened when he saw exactly what the wolf was talking about. "Oh, wow, here Carrots, take a look." He lowered the ID to Judy's level, trying not to chuckle when she then proceeded to shine a light to be able see better.

Trigger's picture was there, all right, oddly looking like a mugshot. But what was significantly more noticeable were the three white lines, drawn with a crude marker, blocking out most of his face. Upon closer inspection, it didn't even look like a post-editing job either: the three lines were part of the original photograph, or as original as they can get. Looking lower, Judy was astounded at the lack of information given by the 'identification card'. Was this what passed for an ID in Ocelotia? Instead of his real name, the appropriate field was labeled as "TAC NAME", followed by the simple 'Trigger' that the coyote was already going by. Next to "LOCATION", the information given was '444 Fighter Squadron'. Where the badge of the authorizing organization for the ID would normally go was the colored roundel and name of 'Ocelotian Air Defense Force'. No other information was given, not even in the few patches of fine print that Judy was able to find. The opposite side of the paper was empty.

"Count, let's see your ID as well," Judy commanded, figuring that being able to compare the two IDs would tell her if this was an elaborate joke, or the real deal. Despite complaining, the deer handed his papers over as well. To Judy's annoyance, the information was almost identical. The only difference was that Counts "TAC NAME" was 'Count', which was consistent and at least expected if not what she was hoping to see. Oh, and Count's picture only had a single line across it, rather than three. Knowing that there was zero information that she would be able to use to look up the two mammals inside the database linked to the police vehicles, Judy thought of what to do. "Fangmeyer, come with me," she eventually said, "Nick, Wolford, stay and watcher over these two."

She lead the tiger to the interceptor, climbing inside for a measure of privacy. "What do you think?" she asked when Fangmeyer climbed in after her, "I'm afraid we are dealing with the real deal here. Didn't that airliner crash into the docks? They could be survivors."

Fangmeyer nodded and reached over for the two IDs Judy still had with her for a second look. "Flight crew perhaps? I wouldn't see why someone would fake something like this. Wouldn't be too different than me walking with my Mars residency card. But if they are real, and if they are military as these say, then they just might, they might have different regulations for IDs there would be my guess." The tiger handed the papers back. She huffed a puff of air. "So what do you propose we do? Take them down to the station and put them in a cell?"

Judy shook her head. "Under what charges?"

Fangmeyer grinned. "Didn't Nick just tell James and I that that 'Count' fellow pull a gun on you?" Her grin fell. "I recognize that model Wilde confiscated. Do you have any idea what would have been left of you if that deer freaked out and shot you? For a medium to large mammal, those bullets won't do much. For Francine, I doubt they'll even be able to go through her skin, not unless they are loaded with armor-piercing ammo. But for a bunny like you? At point blank range, and the rate of fire on that thing will mean that we would be scraping you up with tweezers. And I'm sure Nick would love to do just that." She shook her head. "There's a reason why those things are banned on the federal level. And you want to simply ignore the fact that a deer with highly suspect identification pointed that thing at you?"

"Yeah, well, but Trigger stopped him!" Judy protested, "besides, it's not right to lock both of them just because of a deer overreacted upon finding themselves in a strange new environment. Think of it as something we can add on top of other charges."

The tiger let out a chuckle. "Overreacting? Won't be the only prey mammal to do so," she admitted, staring at the bunny in an odd manner.

Judy had to take a few moments before she realized exactly what the other officer was referring to. "Dahlia!" she screeched, horrified, "that's not fair!"

Fangmeyer, in turn, laughed even harder. "Hey, Judy, would you rather be angry at you for that press conference, or laugh about it?"

The bunny groaned as she dropped her head onto the steering wheel, ears flopping over towards the windscreen. "How about neither?" She complained, "I was totally set up on that conference!"

Fangmeyer stopped laughing as the tiger regained control of herself. "You totally were set up on that," she agreed, "there's a reason rookie cops don't do press conferences so early in their careers. And never for cases with that much media attention." She tapped the dash of the car in thought. "So coming back to our suspects..." The tiger looked back behind her in curiosity as the tailgate was opened. "We were still sent in to investigate suspicious activity," the tiger continued explaining, "are you sure there isn't something we can use against them?" She continued to watch the back of the car as Nick began to rummage through the first aid kit stored there.

The fox didn't found what he was looking for and grabbed it. "What about that doozy of a gun we grabbed off them?" he asked as he finished repacking the first aid kit.

"We already mentioned that, Nick." Judy replied with a hint of impatience.

Nick shrugged. "Just a suggestion." He followed Fangmeyer's gaze and noticed that the tiger was looking at what he grabbed from the back. "Oh, this?" It was a folded up thermal blanket, really nothing more than a very thin sheet of reflective plastic. "Trigger started shivering like mad just now. Told us his uniform's been fully soaked for a good two full days or so, and was having issues staying warm since last night. And since we're on the subject," Nick continued, "he also convinced that deer to let Wolford take a look at that leg. Both of them insist on no ambulances and no hospitals, but they might not even need one: whoever did bandaging knew what they were doing and it doesn't look bad at all." With a quick wave of a paw and a wink, the fox closed the liftgate and left the bunny and tiger alone in the vehicle again.

After a brief moment of silence, Judy spoke up. "So here's an idea. What if we don't charge them with anything? Think about it: the airplane you are in blows up on you, but you survive somehow. So you are now lost, almost certainly confused. Who wouldn't run and try to hide? Sure, it's stupid in my opinion, but understandable, and more importantly, not illegal."

"That's your new idea? Let them go? Then what will they do next?" Fangmeyer didn't sound convinced.

"I say we call Bogo," Judy finally sounded certain.

"Just checking, but you remember that it's very late, and that he hates being called during his off-hours? What happened to the supervisor on shift down at the station?"

Judy reached for her phone. "Bogo's more important. And I remember that he hates us calling, but not unless it's for a good reason, which this qualifies as." Quickly scrolling through her contacts list, she reached the number she was looking for. Dialing it, she tapped the speaker icon and set the phone down between her and Fangmeyer.

It didn't take long for Bogo to answer from the other end of the line. "This better be good, Hopps. You are interrupting a family dinner here."

"Sir, it's about the two mammals you asked me and Wilde to help the search for," Judy started to explain, "we found them, a coyote and a deer. We also suspect that they are members of the Ocelotian air force."

"Suspect? Did you make contact with them? Check their identification?"

"Both of those, sir. Their papers, well, we don't even know if the papers are real or not. Nothing any of us have ever seen before. But they say Ocelotian Air Defense Force on them."

"Names?"

"None given. 'TAC' names are shown, but they sound like nicknames more than anything. Address just gives their squadron number."

"TAC names are radio call signs, Hopps. But I agree, hardly anything bearing any relation to an actual name." A short pause. "Is Wilde with you? And what about Wolford and Fangmeyer? Where are the two mammals currently?"

Judy looked out the window to confirm that Count and Trigger were still watched over by Nick and Wolford. They were.

"I'm here with Hopps, sir," Fangmeyer answered instead, "Wolford and Wilde are with the two mammals, within eyesight of us."

From the phone, they could hear Bogo sigh in frustration. "You can never make things easy, can you, Hopps? All right, here's the plan: Take them down to the station and keep them there until tomorrow morning when I will arrive. Patrol officers aren't expected to run into these kinds of situations, so they aren't taught what to do, but there are procedures in place for what to do if something like this does happen. Involves mostly a lot of phone calls to feds on my end. But as far as you are concerned, I need to make sure that tomorrow morning, the two mammals will be in the station. Lock them in a cell for all I care, but they are not to leave. Am I understood?"

"Yes sir," Fangmeyer and Judy both answered.

"Good. Hopps, I will want to see you and Wilde at the station normal time tomorrow, so if you can, leave the mammals to Wolford and Fangmeyer and go home. You can even keep the cruiser overnight so that you won't need to stop by the station again. If there is nothing else, good night to both of you, and please don't call me again."

The call ended, leaving the rabbit and tiger in a sudden silence.

Fangmeyer was the first to break it. "Well, that's as a good of a plan as any. Bogo's right, Hopps: grab Wilde and go home, leave the two mammals to Wolford and me. My shift's almost over, but key word almost, the two of you had a long day, and no late start tomorrow." She opened the door of the vehicle and stepped out, Judy joining her from the other side. Together, they returned to their partners, standing near their two watchees and chatting quietly.

While Fangmeyer filled Nick and Wolford in, Judy grabbed and held out the papers to return them to their owners. "Count, this one's yours," she said as he rather quickly snatched it from right out of her paw with an angry scowl. "And Trigger-" she hesitated when she held out the coyote's papers in front of him.

Trigger, now little more than his head sticking out from a crumpled pyramid of his reflective thermal blanket, had his eyes closed and was breathing slowly in and out, somehow managing to remain upright and sleeping at the same time.

Considering that mammals normally didn't fall asleep while in police custody like this, Judy immediately felt concern rise up in her. "Uh, Nick, you didn't tranquilize back there by accident, did you?" she asked, looking for the telltale dart despite knowing fully well that she won't find one without looking underneath the silver blanket.

"No, I didn't," came the reply from her partner. "Still got all my darts with me." He even held out his dart gun to prove to her. "Look, Carrots, guy had a very rough couple of days. Can you blame him for wanting to nap?"

Judy had to admit that this was most likely a case where the simplest answer was most likely also the correct one. "I just don't like the idea of him sleeping right after complaining about cold. And considering how wet his uniform is? Might be hypothermia," she eventually muttered, starting to feel foolish at voicing her concern.

Her comment earned her a snort of laughter from Count. "If he gets sick because of this, just letting you know that I'm gonna die from laughter," the deer replied, elbowing Trigger and causing the coyote to nearly stumble off the bench as he woke up with a pained grunt.

"Count! What the hell?" Trigger hissed, eyes alert and scanning the environment around him.

Count grinned back. "Bunny cop was starting to worry about you, dumbass."

"Huh?" The coyote's eyes locked onto Judy's, who smiled shyly in response. She held out his papers once more. "Oh, um, thanks," reaching out through his blanket, he grabbed them and retreated his arm back into the warmth of his metallic cover. He stared off towards one of the two police cruisers as it drove up and pulled over next to them. One of the windows lowered revealing the wolf officer behind the wheel.

"Hate to break up the party, but time for the two of you to hop in," Wolford announced, "just gonna drive you down to the station to have you spend the night in. Tomorrow's going to be the big day for when we figure everything out."

Trigger eyed the car warily. "Does it mean we'll be sleeping in a cell?" The coyote asked.

Wolford replied back with a grimace. "Most likely. Nowhere else available, unfortunately for you." As Fangmeyer opened the back door for Trigger and Count to get in through, he then added, "look, you haven't made this night hard on us so far. Please don't start now. It's not going to do you any good. If you don't argue and just get in, we can also promise no cuffs. Besides, someone still needs to take a closer look at that leg-"

"-I told you, no hospitals!" Count interrupted loudly.

"I know," Wolford said over the deer firmly, "we have someone on staff at the station. Will that work for you?"

Count stood up from the bench and hobbled over to the waiting vehicle. Before sliding in, he stopped to glare at his coyote partner. "Trigger, if we get locked up for this… Especially after Zapland… I swear I'm going to harm you so bad-" He didn't get to finish his sentence as Fangmeyer reached out and pushed his head inside the car, leaving Count no choice but to slide the rest of his body in after.

The tiger turned her attention back to the coyote, still sitting on the bench. "Do you also need to be 'persuaded' in?" Fangmeyer asked with a hint of humor in her voice. Trigger shook his head, slowly getting up and following Count inside the car, thermal blanket and all. Slipping inside, the door was closed gently after him.

With the passengers secured, Fangmeyer took her seat in the passenger side. "Hopps, Wilde!" she called out to the two remaining officers, "see you tomorrow morning! Get some sleep!" As they waved back, she raised the window up as Wolford pulled the car out into traffic. In a matter of seconds, the vehicle turned around a corner and disappeared from view.

Nick stared at the spot where the cruiser was last seen just moments ago. "Well, that was something," the fox muttered. "Gee, what a night."

Judy had to agree with him. "Those two certainly are a pair. I hope they won't give Fangmeyer and Wolford any trouble on the ride back."

"They wouldn't dare," Nick replied with a wicked grin. He glanced over to where their own police car was parked. "What do you say, Fluff, I drive you over to your place and drop you off?"

Judy checked her phone, eyes widening at seeing the time. Feeling some warmth creeping up to the tips of her ears, she muttered, "actually, I was hoping on spending the night over at your place. It's closer, and saves a lot of driving time."

"I guess that could work..." The fox hummed as he thought of having Judy spend the night at his place. "If you don't mind it being a bit on the messier side, and the lack of rabbit food in the fridge, I think I have a spare couch for one of us to bunk on."

"That's fine, I'll take it!" Judy replied back, if a little too quickly. Reaching into a pocket, she produced the keys for their interceptor. "So?" She asked her partner, "Jumping in?"

Nick chuckled as he followed the bunny to the vehicle. "I thought I was the nocturnal one here," he commented.

"That's why you don't want to take your time, so that I won't fall asleep behind the wheel," Judy answered with a grin of her own.

As soon as Nick buckled himself into the passenger seat, she started the engine. Right now, she could really use the several hours of sleep she would be allowed to get tonight. For tomorrow, she decided as she pulled the car onto the road, she's willing to wait for once.

What a night indeed.