Chapter 4: Bad News for Bogo

Count and Trigger shuffled into the room, slowly sitting down into the available chairs. Both of them were no longer wearing the flight suits that they were last seen in, having replaced them with spare ZPD gear found in the station.

Count somehow got lucky with his shirt, which fit snugly around his surprisingly muscular frame. But then again, if he was in a fighter squadron, it would only make sense that the deer would be in good shape. His only slightly-too-large pants hid his leg wound from the previous night, with the bottom of the pant legs disappearing inside the dark black boots both the dear and coyote were wearing. Even the angry scowl on the deer's muzzle appeared to be a permanent fixture of Count's.

Trigger didn't get so lucky with his change of clothes. While his lower half fit all right, the shirt he got clearly belonged to the batch given out to the wolf officers, and was several sizes too large for the coyote's smaller frame. The short sleeves almost made their way completely down his arms, for example, and Trigger only managed to keep the whole thing from dropping like a dress by not so much tucking as much as shoving the excess material down his waistline. Though if the coyote found the arrangement uncomfortable, he didn't voice his complaints. A small white bandage was stuck just above one of his eyes, a reminder of his introduction to Officer Wilde.

After giving everyone in the room an opportunity to look over each other, Chief Bogo again cleared his throat loudly to draw everyone's attention. "Now that our two mystery mammals have joined us, I'm just going to very quickly make sure you all know who everyone here is. The four officers you already met last night. If you forgot their names, I don't care." Bogo motioned at himself. "I am Chief of Police Adrian Bogo, and you are currently in my station." He then motioned at Savage. "The new hare's agent Jack Savage of the ZIA. He's the one you two will need to pay attention to the most."

Count scoffed. "Great, an Animalian spook. Anyone else you want to throw at us while you can?"

Bogo glared daggers at the deer. "Quiet!" he ordered, "neither one of you are allowed to speak unless asked a direct question. And no, you are not in a position to negotiate about it. Am I understood?"

Count threw a lazy salute at the buffalo. "Sure thing, boss," he replied, smirking at seeing just how much Bogo had to exercise restraint not to sucker punch the deer into silence. One seat over, Trigger, for his part, didn't say anything, choosing to stare at Count as though he was looking at a live hand grenade ready to blow. Then again, with the way the deer was acting right now, and with Bogo in the same room, the tension in the air could most likely spontaneously produce high explosive and set it off at any moment. Even Wilde looked like he had already reconsidered all of his sassy remarks.

Letting out a breath slowly, Bogo forced himself to calm down. "Don't think that just because I lack jurisdiction over you that you can mouth off, deer," he said coldly, "I can make your life a living hell while you remain in my station, and if you give him a reason to, I am sure Savage will take his sweet time transferring you out to wherever you will be sent to out of here. Am I right, Savage?"

The hare was busy looking at the screen on his phone, but his large ears were swiveled in Bogo's direction. "What, you mean taking my time and not having to rush paperwork? Just give me the word, Chief!"

Nick grinned at this response. Jack was perhaps not completely boring after all!

Bogo snorted as his glare finally won Count over, who shank back in his chair, though still with a defiant glare back at the buffalo. "Since this is going to be mostly your show, Savage, you can might as well start it off if you don't mind."

Agent Savage set his phone down on the pad, letting out a quick sigh to gather his thoughts. "Don't think I'll mind that, Bogo," he said, "very well. Before the two of you entered this office just now, the officers here gave me a run down of the events that happened last night. Of course, there are gaps and missing information in there that I would like to have." Taking a good long look at the two mammals, Savage continued. "I already told the officers when the meeting with them started, but this is an unofficial meeting. While it is being recorded, since the two of you don't identify as civilians, and neither of you are currently on trial, you do not get the benefit of having a lawyer to represent you. And even if there will be a trial, that would be done through a military tribunal, not the civilian courts. Despite that, we all would appreciate your cooperation while being question, as it will allow us to faster determine how to best deal with you. You heard Bogo: be a pain in our behinds, and we can, and will, make sure that your time in Animalia is going to be miserable. Do I make myself clear?" Despite both of them being larger than Savage, Count and Trigger simply nodded in response, but the angry glare from Count was already looking troublesome. Deciding that he wasn't going to wait for a verbal answer, the hare nodded in return. "Good. So to start things off, why not go to the very beginning: the airplane crash. What happened?"

While Trigger opened his mouth to speak, it was Count who beat him to the punch. "Transport blew up while we were inside. What else do you expect an aircraft to do when part of it blows up?" the deer answered with a sneer.

"Silence!" The heavy fists of Bogo's hitting the hard wooden surface of the desk created a loud thud which permeated the room, emphasizing the command from the chief. "If you do not wish to cooperate with us, then very well, we won't either. You are free to get up and walk your ass back to a cell!"

Nick glanced nervously at Judy, who shared the look of concern with him. While it was completely naive to think that chief Bogo didn't know colorful language, it was surprisingly rare to actually hear him curse. It was one sign that the buffalo was genuinely reaching the limits of his patience with Count.

So it was rather surprising to hear Trigger speak, despite not actually being asked to do so. Even more, despite not raising his voice, the coyote managed to silence the entire room. "Count, just this once, can you please not antagonize everyone? We're not dealing with McKinsey here."

Count scoffed at his companion. "And what good will that do, Trigger? Stop being a pushover and think about it: I don't want to spend god knows how many years in a POW camp!" Bogo opened his mouth to end the argument there and now, but the shaking of the head from agent Savage of all mammals stopped the buffalo from following through. Communicating with just a glance, Savage told all he needed to: this was something for Count and Trigger to settle before the meeting can continue.

"But this is a neutral country!" Trigger tried to argue back against Count.

"Exactly my point!" The deer shot back, voice filled with a smug sense of victory. "You think they are going to allow us to just go back? They can't! The best they can do is throw us into some rotting hole somewhere until the war ends. No trial, no hearings, no nothing! And since that's the only thing they are allowed to do to us, I don't see the point of telling them anything. At least if I keep my mouth shut, I won't be court-martialed for spilling some secrets when we do get sent back. Just something you might want to think about, Trigger."

The coyote stared at the floor, eyes narrowed as he say there, deep in thought. For far too many tense moments, the only noise to be generated in the room was the soft tapping as Savage continued to communicate on his phone, almost seemingly in his own second little world while no one else dared to talk in fear of igniting the powder keg that was the pent up emotion in the office. Eventually, Trigger spoke. "Damn it, but I think you're right, Count," he relented quietly, though there was no need to talk loudly: everyone could hear him well enough. Eyes looking up from the floor, he scanned the office, trying to find who best to talk directly too. "Count is right," he repeated, "international law is clear about what happens when war combatants are caught by a neutral power... Even if we were somehow so important that we were sent back to Ocelotia right away, that would violate Animalia's neutrality in the war, angering Urusia in the process. Which could easily lead to an escalation if Urusia decides that such an action would deem Animalia to no longer be a neutral party. No politician would ever dare to allow that, not even if it was to return their own mother, let alone two random pilots from a foreign country." Trigger's now angry eyes locked onto the back of Savage's head, only after which the hare seemed to realize that it might be a good idea to look up away from the phone. "Tell me where I am wrong here, agent. And if I am correct, then again, Count is right: we're going to be better off keeping our mouths shut. Dro- place us where ever you feel like, no matter how terrible it would be for us, but we won't talk. At least when locked in some rotting hellhole, international law also understands that it would be our responsibility to try to escape, so we'll at least have something to do. So I ask again, agent… Savage, was it? Is my reasoning wrong?"

The hare stared between the coyote and the deer. "Well, no," he answered bluntly. Trigger sank back into his chair, defiant spark gone from his gaze, now replaced by a simple blank stare. Count was simply shaking his head slowly back and forth. Savage quickly glanced down at his phone before he spoke again. "And even then, I would still ask that the two of you answer our questions. I understand that you are not allowed to reveal classified information, but you never know what you might tell us and how it might end up helping you. But..." he held up his phone, "if you give me a couple of minutes, the answer about your reasoning might change. Up to you if you want to wait or not."

Trigger gave a small grin, though it came out far more of a pained grimace. "It's not like we have anywhere else to be. Count?" The deer simply shrugged in response. With a sigh, the coyote went back to staring at the ground in front of him, gaze intense in thought.

Jack nodded his head. "Very well, let's wait and see what will happen here. In the meantime, would it be all right if we can get some bottles of water into this room, officers? I fear we might be in here for longer than I originally imagined." He glanced up at Bogo, visually asking with his gaze the same question.

The chief glanced at the officers in the room, now seemingly far more calm with the immediate crisis in the room averted. "All right," he agreed with Savage, "Hopps, Wilde, if you don't mind?"

Quietly, Nick and Judy got up and left the room. Heading down to the precinct's kitchen, it was hard not to notice the occasional stare at them from other officers. As the two of them started grabbing bottles from the refrigerator, one such officer, a lioness dressed in formal casual office wear and grabbing a drink of her own, even felt brave enough to voice her opinion though.

"We heard shouting from Bogo's office. Everything all right up there?" Despite being far enough away from the office, and at least a floor and one thick closed door between them and the occupants still inside, the lioness spoke in barely a whisper, paranoid that Bogo might still hear them.

Nick grinned at the question. "Ah, you mean Benny's heard something from the front desk again?" It's sometimes really amazing just how quickly Clawhauser can spread word around the building. "Well-"

"-We don't know yet," Judy finished for him. "No one's in any trouble yet. Come on Nick, let's bring these back upstairs."

The fox flashed pistol fingers at the lioness as he followed the bunny back to Bogo's office. Though as they came up to the large door, all playfulness vanished from his muzzle. There was no telling what will happen inside in the near future. Slipping inside, the pair handed out the bottles to the other occupants of the room before returning to their seats. Count drank his water eagerly, while Trigger hardly seemed to notice the bottle that was placed on his chair next to him, still staring at the ground like he had when Nick and Judy had left the room. That had been, what, five minutes ago?

Agent Savage was still on his phone, frowning at the screen as he continued to exchange messages with whoever was on the other end. It was a quiet reaction from the hare to a received message that woke the coyote up from his frozen trance.

"Who are you even talking to, agent?" Trigger asked suddenly.

"Huh?" Savage looked up from his phone.

"Who are you communicating with on the other side of the screen?" Trigger elaborated.

Savage frowned again, making sure that Trigger wasn't able to see the screen. Not that it mattered – the text that covered the screen was far too small for the coyote to make out from where he sat. Still, it never hurts to make sure. "I'm not at liberty to say, but let me phrase it this way: someone important enough to make decisions." Savage pointed at Trigger and Count. "Large decisions. That will effect both of yours immediate future. So if you excuse me..." The hare went back to communicating on his phone, leaving the others to ponder in silence once more.

Count casually played with his new bottle, twirling it in the air and catching it on its way down.

Bogo glared at the deer, but didn't actually say anything to make him stop.

Trigger went back to once again glaring at the floor in front of him.

Wilde looked ready to start falling asleep again, clearly fighting the urge to nap right in front of his boss. Hopps was ready to rescue him from slumber at the slightest hint of a snore.

And then, Savage broke the silence once more. "Okay! Now we're getting somewhere!" He sounded rather excited at whatever the phone told him. "This might take a bit more time to finalize, but I think I can see where this is going. Might as well restart the meeting then."

Count grinned. "Great! So you can tell us if we're going to be locked up and starved in some dump in the middle of some desert or not."

Savage didn't return the grin. "Uh, no. That's not how that works," he told the deer.

Count's grin turned into a frown. "So we are being sent to a camp." He said accusingly.

The hare let out an irritated sigh. "No, that's not what I am saying. If you could just… listen for just one second, I can explain!" The deer threw his hoofs up into the air, signaling that he was allowing Savage to continue. "Thank you," Jack muttered, his voice filled with sarcasm. He glanced yet again at his phone, but seemed to change his mind at whatever he wanted to do next. "Tell you guys what, since I still need to wait on a bit more for the information to arrive," he let out a sigh, looking over Count and Trigger. "I feel that perhaps, we might have started off on the wrong foot here. So for the next several minutes, if you don't mind, why don't we start over again? Bogo? Officers?"

Most of the eyes in the room traveled over to the chief, who didn't look very amused at having everyone's attention again. "If you feel it worthwhile, you may proceed," he said eventually, before giving a strong glare at Count and Trigger, especially at Count. "But keep it civil. I won't hesitate to lock you up for as long as I can if you won't behave yourselves." The two mammals didn't say anything, though Count even managed to nod his head slightly. "Good. Savage?"

Jack smiled a little. "Well, if we're going to start again, why not from the very beginning? Now, at the risk of making this sound like the first day of summer camp, if we can go around and introduce ourselves? Some of us here are, naturally, less familiar with each other than others, and I am hoping that this will melt some of the ice, so to speak. I guess then that starting with me... My name is Jack Savage. I am a mountain hare, and I work as an analyst for the ZIA. As this being my first time visiting this building, I am not the only one meeting new faces today." He motioned at the next mammal in line, Officer Wolford. "Oh, and uh, let's save the questions for later, as not to get off tangent again."

The wolf officer spoke up as soon as Jack finished talking. "I'm James Wolford, gray wolf, police officer in the ZPD." He hesitated for a brief second, then added in, "I'm familiar with the officers here and Chief Bogo, but not the rest of you."

Fangmeyer was next. "Dahlia Fangmeyer, a tiger. Also officer in the ZPD." She didn't elaborate any further.

Then it was Trigger's turn, who didn't look happy to be next. It took him several seconds to organize his thoughts. "Pilot in the 444th fighter squadron, Ocelotian Air Defense Force," he said, earning a few curious looks at his answer. "Species, coyote... Rank not important, and name… just call me Trigger."

Bogo looked like he was ready to complain, but Jack cut him off. "We'll take it. Remember, this isn't an interrogation, and I only want everyone here to be comfortable. Trigger answered as he wanted to, and we'll just have to accept it for now, all right? So, next?"

Count's turn. He spoke quickly to get away from being the one talking as quickly as possible. "Name's Count. Other information is the same as Trigger's." He realized an error and hurried in an, "Except that I'm a whitetail deer, that's not the same."

He metaphorically passed the baton to Judy.

"I'm officer Judy Hopps of the ZPD," she replied, tone formal and professional, "common rabbit, and, yes, I think I'll leave it at that for now."

Nick went next. "Nicholas Wilde, though I prefer Nick. The fourth police officer with the ZPD in this room. In case it's not obvious, but I am a red fox."

"Can it, Wilde!" Bogo ordered, before taking his own turn. "Chief of police for ZPD's precinct 1, Adrian Bogo. Cape Buffalo." He gave another quick glance at the room. "That's everyone here, agent, so if you wish to continue?"

Jack nodded in agreement. "Now that we have all introduced ourselves in a far more polite manner than tackling each other," he looked at Nick, "or worse, with firearms," he watched Count, "I want to just give a quick rundown of the situation as it currently stands, and where it is expected to go." Checking the clock on the wall to make sure that he had enough time, he started with his explanation. "Starting with information that I hope is not new to any of us, early into the night two days ago an aircraft went down over this city, narrowly avoiding crashing into the city itself and instead hitting open water only about a mile off shore from our harbors. Up until it went down, the aircraft was in communication with our own air traffic controllers and following standard established international flight protocols. However..." Savage looked down not at his phone, but at his notes. "Animalia allowed the flight to happen under the understanding that it was a civilian flight, not involved with the war between Ocelotia and Urusia. Except that this doesn't look to be the case, does it?" When he glanced at Count and Trigger, the deer grinned back.

"Don't look at us, we didn't fly the plane." Count said smugly. "Whatever politics are involved, they didn't include us."

Jack acted almost like he didn't hear the retort. "Yes, well, I am not even sure if it would have made things easier or harder for us if you had been the ones flying. However, back to the situation: we have two survivors. Not civilian, but military. On a flight that officially wasn't. Which is why I requested this meeting." Looking at the two pilots, then at Bogo, Savage wearily watched the chief. "Bogo, sir, I do with to emphasize that what I am about tell you came from above me, and I am only the messenger because you are not going to like it."

Bogo let out a slight groan of annoyance. "Hopps, you just had to get involved with this, didn't you? I swear, everything you touch gets blown up somehow. Savage, if you want, blame her."

Judy grinned back at her boss, looking quite embarrassed. "Sorry sir, I was only doing my job."

A sigh came from Bogo. "I know, which is the worst thing about it. Agent?"

"How to be explain it?" Jack sounded rather nervous at delivering the news. "Normally, yes, Trigger and Count would be correct in that, were they were part of a military flight and captured by us, international neutrality laws would mean that we would have to keep them for as long as their war continues. But since we initially thought they were part of a civilian flight, some politicians and lawyers upstairs felt that this would provide them with the perfect opportunity to play about with this situation." Savage was already rather formal, but now his tone took on a somewhat threatening and serious one. "This information will most likely need to be issued out to the rest of your precinct, Bogo, which is why I was authorized to repeat this with your officers, and Count and Trigger, present. But be aware that if this leaks out, it will weigh over your head, and no, there's nothing I can do about it. The plan? Keep them here."

"Oh please! Spare me!" While Count was the one to voice his displeasure the most, he wasn't the only one looking angered by the news. Wilde was laughing at the raw audacity of the situation. Wolford and Fangmeyer were also complaining, arguing against the logistics of housing two mammals in the precinct.

Judy also added her own two cents. "Isn't that illegal?"

Bogo had to regain control of his office. "Everyone quiet down! Savage, you have two seconds: Explain what in the world is going on!"

Jack held up his phone for the others to see it, but not necessarily to read. "Let me remind you all that I am only a liaison right now!" he complained, "I wasn't the one who thought this up! But word from up high is that because for now, Count and Trigger are to be treated as civilian survivors. No one confirmed it, but I've worked in the ZIA long enough to smell a plot when I see one. My best guess is that by pretending that we have two civilian survivors rather than prisoners of war, that Ocelotia will be willing to complete some kind of deal that will benefit Animalia. Yes, it will all be done under the table with all of the usual secrecy and deniability nonsense, but again, I stress, it's not going to be up to me." Quickly scrolling through the phone, Jack quickly found what he was looking for. "I'm going to quote exactly what was sent to me. 'Since the two mammals are currently in police custody, make sure that they are to remain there. They will be allowed certain freedoms, to be determined, as long as they sign written oaths to maintain secrecy of their identity, to be punished as unlawful combatants should they break the oath'."

Count wearily watched the agent. "What kind of 'freedoms'?" he asked.

"I don't know," Jack replied swiftly, "I just told you: 'to be determined'. Most likely, you might be allowed to go out into the city. Monitored at all times by the ZPD, I am sure."

Bogo snorted in anger. "And why am I supposed to use my officers' time and energy, which I might add should be used to serve the city, for this Byzantine game some politician decided to start over us? And what if this goes sour? Am I going to have to ask some of my officers to resign, over a task that they are not even supposed to be performing? I will not allow this!"

"I'm truly sorry," Jack, to his credit, sounded like he even meant it. "but it's not up to me." he glanced at his watch. "Oh, it's already past noon. Officers, if you wouldn't mind taking our two… 'guests' for a bite, I want to stay with Chief Bogo hear and make a phone call to my superiors. I want to clear this out before the end of the day. Chief?"

"Only if I am going to be allowed to argue my case," Bogo said cautiously, "I am not going to risk the ZPD over this foolishness, though I fear that it has already been decided for us."

"I will try to argue your point of view and make them understand," Savage answered, "though I'm afraid I can't make any promises."

For the first time since when everyone reintroduced themselves, Trigger spoke up. "This isn't right," he muttered, "we shouldn't be the cause of a stupid political stunt like this. It's not worth the risk."

Bogo watched the pilot for a moment. "I appreciate your concern, but the two of you have the least ability to do anything about it in this case." He motioned at the door. "Officers, take Count and Trigger downstairs. You have permission to call in some food, and bill it to the department. I'll have Clawhauser tell you when it will be time to get back in here. Savage, make that call."

The four police officers stood up, taking the pilots with them. As the door closed behind them, Bogo let out a groan of misery. "And this, Savage, is why I chose to serve the city, and not the fed." He reached out and grabbed the parts of the gun still on his desk, sticking them inside a large drawer. From a different drawer, he took out a large bowl filled with greens. "If I'm going to be miserable for the rest of the day, might as well not be hungry on top of it," he explained, "want some? I usually keep extra for situations such as this one when I need to keep someone in for longer than expected."

Jack eyed the greens with a rather hungry look. "Don't mind if I do, thanks." As he waited for Bogo split a portion off to him onto a paper plate, he sent a message on the phone, then with a quick glance to confirm the action with Bogo, pressed the call button.

One way or the other, he doubted he would be leaving the office before the mess would be sorted.