Chapter 15: Midnight Blues
"-Judy?"
The bunny let out an annoyed groan, trying to ignore the voice that so suddenly had interrupted her sleep. Wait… How can someone be trying to wake her up if she was in her dingy little apartment?
"J-Judy, please wake up. I need to talk to you."
Purple eyes shot open, trying to peer through the darkness. It was also then that her mind turned on enough for her to recognize the voice as belonging to a certain familiar coyote. "Trigger? What?" Rubbing her eyes, Judy sat up as she started to remember where she was.
Oh, right, still at the station, not her apartment. Having stayed with Nick and talked with him late into the evening while he was busy receiving his latest round of Nighthowler medication, she vaguely recalled being too tired and lazy to search for her own place to sleep, and simply improvised. She sat up from where she had slept on a large chair, having dragged over one of the large-mammal sized ones over to Nick's bed, and she must have fallen asleep on it some time ago, still in her work clothes. Speaking of the fox: Turning her head, she found Nick next to her, still fast asleep, his open muzzle and tongue faintly illuminated by the machine next to his head, quietly monitoring his vital signs. On the other side from him was a privacy curtain, but she knew that Wolford was to be found on the next bed over, undoubtedly also asleep.
"Judy? Please-"
Groaning again, Judy turned back to the source of the voice. Trigger was standing next to her, shuffling his feet nervously and rubbing his arms. "Okay, okay, what?" She rubbed her eyes again, annoyed how this was reminding her way too much of when she still lived back in Bunnyburrow, with all her siblings, and the inevitable wake-up-from-a-younger-sister-who-had-a-bad-night which that entailed. A feeling that Judy didn't miss at all in her current apartment.
"Can we go somewhere? Alone?"
Judy slid herself back so that she could support herself on the chair's backrest. "Trigger," she mumbled with barely suppressed annoyance, "you wake me up I don't know how early, and you can't even tell me plainly what you want?" His whimper of a reply was ignored by her, but she still raised a paw to stop him from talking further. "Just give me a moment, okay?" She took a few deep breaths, letting the cool room air fill her several times to help her in waking up enough to where she felt confident enough to walk around without bumping into anything. Sliding off the chair, she stood next to Trigger, trying to get a better look at him despite the darkness. "Fine, let's go somewhere private," she grumbled and followed him as he wordlessly turned and walked out of the room and let her into a nearby storage closet.
With a flick of a switch a single light bulb overhead crackled to a dim life. He closed the door and cleared some space at a small table, pulling for her a small chair before sitting down on one himself.
Taking the offered seat, Judy watched Trigger, waiting for him to make the first move. When he didn't, she decided to be the one to start. "So, you brought me here because..?"
Trigger's ears folded back from her sarcastic tone. "I… I just found this room on the way over. It's small, and um, filthy..." he mumbled back nervously. "But yeah… Um, I… I wanted to apologize. For yesterday evening? Just brushing you and Nick off like how I did?.. I know you wanted to help, so I want to say I'm sorry."
Feeling her pockets around, Judy pulled out her phone. "Apologize?" she repeated, turning the screen on and almost blinding herself from looking at the time on the screen. "Trigger, it's two in the morning!" she complained loudly, putting the phone back in her pocket. "Couldn't you have waited until regular morning?"
"-Couldn't sleep," came the ashamed reply.
Despite herself, Judy startle to chuckle quietly. "Sorry," she hurried to explain her behavior. "Just, I'm normally what you would consider a 'morning mammal'. Just ask Nick. But what it also means that when I want to sleep, I'm out. You kinda interrupted that." Calming herself down, she reached out and placed her paw on Trigger's, much like she would with Nick. "There's more to this, isn't there?" she asked gently. "You didn't really wake me up just to apologize? Didn't you?"
Looking ashamed, Trigger shook his head, pulling his paw away from under hers and towards one of his own pockets. Moments later, he pulled out the picture and one of the shoulder patches from before. "Didn't know who else to go to," he admitted, "don't know the other cops around here too well, especially those on night shift. And Count?" his voice hitched, his next words coming out in a dark, bitter tone. "Count wouldn't understand. Not this early in the morning. Nearly murdered me on the spot for waking him."
Judy shuffled closer to him. "No, Trigger, it's all right, I understand," she reassured him. "Here in the ZPD, we're here to help. Even at these odd hours of the night."
Trigger snorted. "Yeah, sure you do," he mumbled sarcastically.
For his comment, Judy punched him gently in the arm. Not playfully, as she would with Nick all the time, but not hard enough to hurt either. "Trigger!" she scolded, "don't be like that! I know some of the officers like to give you and Count the could shoulder, but we still want to help. They just don't know how to express it."
"Or perhaps they know not to get too close to killers," Trigger shot back, his hands forming into fists, dropping the picture in the process. "Can't bee seen fraternizing with someone with a body count, if you want to take a hint."
Judy stood, eyes narrowing, and pointed at herself. "Well even if they don't want to help you, as you insist, I hardly think you know better than me as to what I want to do! I know that I want to help!" Her voice lowered as she remembered that not too far away from two mammals who really needed their sleep. "And Nick? James and Dahlia? They wouldn't keep volunteering to watch out for you and Count if they considered it a waste of time." She reached over to the picture, and when Trigger didn't stop her, took it and brought it closer to her. "I know you're hurting," she said, now her voice barely above a whisper, "and you have every right to be, but please don't project that on others and to what they think." Looking down at the picture, she couldn't help but smile at how much nicer he looked there. "So what was her name then?" Judy asked quietly. "Never got a chance to find out last night."
"K-Kate," Trigger stuttered, choking on his own voice. "B-but in the air, sh-she was c-c-" he let out a growl of frustration at his inability to talk properly. "B-Brownie. Sh-she was c-c-" he cursed beneath his breath, and then gave up trying to complete the sentence.
Judy waited patiently for him as he clenched his fists tighter, taking in deep breaths in a vain attempt to wrestle control over himself. "Easy there, Trigger," she said gently, standing up in her chair so that she can place her pawn on his shoulders. "Long, steady breaths. We don't have to talk about her if you don't want to."
Trigger shook his head, his breathing slowly coming to a more controlled tempo. "N-no, I want to," he said, "just… might take me a c-couple of tries." Reaching over his shoulder, he took the picture back from Judy, but still help it close to her so that she can still see it. Taking a few more deep breaths, he started to tell her the story.
"W-we met at fighter pilot school," Trigger said, pointing at the plane in the background with his free paw. "That's one of the trainers there. At first, we didn't actually get along too well. We… we were always competing with one another. Argued together even more, so we tried to avoid one another. But, being the only coyotes in the entire training group? Smallest mammals there on top of that..." He let out a snort, shaking his head again. "I nearly failed several times just for my size along. I still have no idea how she made it through." Turning his head, Trigger looked at Judy with a small grin. "You with all of your stories of how you had to fight to get into the ZPD? When it comes to flying, it's a lot simpler." he pointed at the plane again. "Because of what they are designed to do and how much they cost, aircraft only come in one size. If you can't fit after adjusting the seat as much as it can, you don't fly. Simple as that."
Trigger then brought the attention back to the picture. By now, his speaking was almost back to normal, and talking came naturally to him again. "So about Brownie and I… Because we were the only two coyotes in the fighter school, and because I am a guy and she's well, a girl, yeah. You can only imagine the teasing we both received from everyone, wondering when we would hook up. At first, it only served to further separate us, just to spite them. But the teasing never stopped, so one day we agreed to pretend to at least hang out just to shut them up once and for all." By this point, Trigger was wearing a blissful smile as he recalled whatever had happened back then. "But then… we just kinda clicked together. One thing let to another… and well, you know how it goes. Guess everyone at fighter school were right all along-"
He then brought the picture back closer to himself, running a finger along its smooth surface, tracing Brownie's outline. "-Then again, we always did think that it was only going to be a temporary fling," he continued with his story, "we both figured that as soon as we got out of fighter school and into a real squadron, that we won't be able to see each other anymore. So I guess… I guess we let ourselves let our guard down in the name of some harmless fun." Trigger paused again, staring at the picture in silence.
Again, Judy waited patiently for him to continue on with his story, not minding the odd moments when neither of them said anything. Instead, she let her mind wander while she waited for him to find his voice again.
"Sure enough, we were assigned different squads," Trigger suddenly said, almost catching Judy off guard. "But we didn't expect for the two squadrons to be housed at the same airbase. So we got to see each other more, and… we got closer. I certainly didn't mind. I'm sure she didn't mind either. In fact, I'm certain that when the squad leaders caught on to the two of us, they made sure to have us fly up at the same time, to encourage a type of competition between us." By now, his smile from before had vanished and was replaced in a cold expression of anger.
Trigger let out another growl, dropping the picture so that he won't damage it as he formed fists again from his anger. "Then the stupid war started," he explained, his voice dropping into a low pitch, seething with venom and disdain. "And we went up together even then. But it wasn't like we had a choice. The whole air force was mobilized. And then… we went on the offensive, paving way for ground forces. Hope was to end the war quickly..." Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at Judy. "Three guesses how that went. First two don't count."
Despite what would normally be considered a joke, he instead let out another growl, his fists tightening even further. "It was an ambush," he muttered simply. "We were lured into a drone kill-zone. Our squadrons were tasked with buying time for the others to try and retreat, but her plane got hit early on. Flight Lead forced her to fly back, citing that her damaged plane was useless at helping anyone else out and she was only hurting us by staying in the AO. So with an escort, she flew out. That was when he showed up."
Trigger's fists relaxed, but only to allow him to raise his paws up to his head and cover his watering eyes. "Sh-she knew she never had a chance," he whimpered, "th-the escort was shot down first. Then he- he just toyed with her! Her, in her damaged plane? All she was able to do was to try and run!.. She was scared out of her mind, an- and we were too far away! And all h-he wanted was his p-perfect shot!" He let out a despaired groan, pushing his paws hard into his skull. "H- her last words to me… She was begging me for help! B-begging m-me-" His words failed him as his breathing verged into hyperventilation.
Judy stood and hugged his head, rubbing her paws over the back of his ears in a faint attempt to help him calm down. As before, she repeatedly talked to him in a gentle voice, trying to ground him into the current moment rather than whatever was tormenting him in the past.
"I- I miss her so much..." Trigger whimpered, causing Judy to increase her hug around his head.
To her relief, he didn't try to fight off her embrace like she feared he might try to do, and instead allowed her to help him as he descended further into his grieving. "It's okay, Trigger," she spoke softly to him, "it's okay to let it out. You don't have to keep hiding it." Sure enough, at her urging, whatever remained of his composure completely broke as Trigger buried his muzzle into her shoulder, the first of his wails escaping him suddenly and violently. Judy had to force herself not to try and escape the noise being emitted so close to her sensitive ears, but she was able to stay put and continue to do everything she can, letting him release all of his pent up emotion into her. "it's okay," she repeated softly, one of her paws stroking him between the ears like she knew Nick really liked. "Don't be afraid to let it out. Just let it go." Whether he heard her or not, but Trigger continued to cry into her shoulder, his own arms wrapping around her in a tight embrace as he tried to lessen his body's shaking from his uneven, ragged breathing in between sobs.
It took some time, but eventually his breathing softened into a more steady and softer pace as Trigger's grief started to wane. As though realizing where he was, he suddenly pulled back away from Judy, shaking his head away from her shoulder and grip. Though slightly hurt at his rather sudden action, she also knew that it was simply Trigger being himself and didn't allow his actions get to her.
"Damn, I'm such a mess," Trigger mumbled as he rubbed his eyes in a desperate attempt to dry them, looking completely ashamed at his behavior.
Judy let out a small if sad smile and placed a paw on his shoulder. "No, Trigger, you are not a mess," she reassured him. "You're just going through a hard time, that's all. It's natural. Nothing to be ashamed of."
"Yeah, sure," he grumbled back. "Can you imagine other's reactions if they find out about this? That Three Strikes himself was crying like a pup in front of a bunny cop?"
Judy let out a long sigh, staring at him directly in the eyes. "Trigger, you said it yourself," she explained gently, "there's a war on. No, I don't know what it's like there. No one in this station know what it's like over there. But don't you mistake our lack of direct experience with an inability to empathize and understand." She gave him a slight smile. "We're cops. Having to deal with mammals who did something stupid in response to their own troubles is a… less than glamorous part of our job. So at the very least, trust me when I say that I know what it can look like when someone holds their feelings inside of them too the point where they snap."
Trigger's gaze wavered, and he looked down at the floor, sniffling quietly. Silently, he reached across the table to where he had dropped the shoulder patch and slid it back over close to them. "They all look up to me," he muttered softly, clawed finger tracing the words running across the patch. "I'm the one who's supposed to be there for them when they had enough. Not the other way around." He reached for Brownie's picture, moving it over alongside the patch so that he can look at both at the same time. "I haven't even flown in a while now. They are still going up there, day after day, and I am down here. They… they would kill to be here." His voice quivered slightly. "So why do I feel like this?"
"Even heroes need their own heroes," Judy answered calmly. "Like I said, there's no shame in letting go at a place like this. Because if not here and now, then when and where? Even Supermammal has his moments."
"Supermammal ain't real," Trigger countered defensively, gaze still wavering between the patch and picture. "Truth be told, this was the first time I really had the time to process all of this," he admitted. This did catch Judy off guard. "Brownie being k-killed. Everything after that..."
"What do you mean this was the first time?" Judy asked.
He sighed sorrowfully. "After she was shot down, I never had the time to really think about it," he explained. "Right after we landed, we were already preparing for the next mission. Only a week later, I flew up against the Urusians again." His gaze hardened into anger. "Which went even worse. That was when I decided to transfer to four-four-four. And especially once there, I never had the time to really think about what happened." His gaze softened again, the anger leaving his muzzle. "I guess I got so used to not thinking about it, that when Savage brought the picture, it caught me off guard."
Finally tearing his eyes away from the picture, he looked over at Judy. "Should you bump into him before I do tomorrow, err, later today, I want you to let him know..." he waved the picture in front of Judy slightly. "I'm really glad he brought it over. Never expected to see this again." As his eyes started to water over again, he glanced away from her, shame in his gaze. "Maybe… maybe you're right about me," he muttered, "about needling to let go and admit that I feel this way. But, I don't know… I still feel like it's not right for me to be like this. The 'Three Strikes' and all that..." He looked at Judy nervously. "You have no idea how much I will appreciate it if you won't mention what happened here."
"Sure, I can do that," Judy offered with a smile, "Not Nick, or James and Dahlia. Not even the chief. What happens in this room stays in this room."
Trigger returned her smile with a genuine one of his own. "Yeah," he said wistfully, "I think I'd like that." Then, to Judy's even greater surprise, he reached his arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug. "Nick's so lucky to have you as his partner," he muttered into her ear. The comment brought joy to Judy as she heard it.
"Don't worry," she replied, "he might never say it, but I know that Nick knows it." She felt Trigger's grip loosen and he separated away from her, looking somewhat embarrassed as he gathered the picture and shoulder patch, placing both back into his pocket. "You sure you'll be all right?" Judy asked, concern again slipping in her tone. "I don't mind staying in here for longer."
He shook his head. "You've got work tomorrow, and I'm sure Count and I'll be made to be useful as well," he explained hurriedly. "Uh, correction, today already. So all the more reason for me to let you go back to sleep."
As he started to stare at the floor again, Judy took a step towards him. "You sure you'll be all right?" she repeated again.
Trigger swallowed as he pulled out the picture again. "No," he answered truthfully, staring at it. "I won't even pretend that I will be able to fake it around you. But you've helped, Judy, really. There rest… I just need time to process it all. Also, I think I'll rather be alone now." He suddenly chuckled as he reached over to the wall, flipping the light switch off and engulfing the two of them in darkness. "If only the Urusians could see me now," he said, explaining his laughing. "How much will they pay to find out-? Three Strikes brought down by a simple picture..." His chuckling faded away as his mood sobered again.
Judy, still blinking in the darkness, felt his paws grab her by her shoulders and gently push her out of the room. Letting Trigger guide her, they left the room and out to the dimly lit corridor where she could at least see well enough again to know where to go.
"Good night, Judy."
Turning around to return the gesture, Judy froze when she found herself watching him slowly walk off in the other direction, tail limp and ears flat over his head. "Good night… Trigger." A large part of her wanted to run over and embrace him again, but Judy wanted to respect his wishes, and let him walk off. With a heavy sigh, she turned and walked back to the chair next to Nick's bed. Her fox was still fast asleep, the machines next to him quietly still beeping away with his vitals. As she watched him, Judy felt her fatigue return to her quickly, hitting her like a brick wall and reminding her that she will only have a couple of precious hours before she would need to wake up again proper.
Deciding that she was too lazy to walk about the station in search of a change of clothes, she grabbed a spare towel from next to Nick's bed, and using it as a blanked, curled up back on the chair just as before. "Good night to you too, Nick," she mumbled sleepily, closing her eyes, "if you can hear me."
Within moments, she was fast asleep.
"-Judy? Judy, time to wake up."
Groaning again, the towel slid off her as Judy slid upwards, blinking at the now much brighter room. "Huh, wha-?" Muffled laughter from close to her and overhead caused Judy to look up at Fangmeyer.
The tiger officer was holding her arm over her mouth, but her shaking shoulders betrayed laughter. "Wake up, sleepy bunny," she managed to say again. "Chief wants to see us in his office before the morning brief at the bullpen." She tilted her head at Judy. "You're really out of it, aren't you?" she asked, "considering how Nick always complains about you being the morning bundle of energy?"
Taking her phone out, Judy glanced at the time. Less than an hour before the morning brief. Which, combined with the now morning meeting with Bogo as well, meant that she didn't have a lot of time at all. "Yeah, can say that I'm out of it," Judy agreed. "Was a… interesting night." She glanced to her side in Nick's direction. The privacy curtain was partially pulled back, allowing her to see her very groggy partner being inspected by Doctor Honey. He noticed Judy watching him.
"Morning, Fluff," Nick greeted, immediately breaking out into a long yawn. "How are you on this absolutely fine morning? I-" he yelped as Honey poked him a bit too hard at a sensitive spot. "Doc! Watch it!" he complained, rubbing his side. "How long is this going to take, anyways?"
"Longer than it's supposed to if you keep this up," Honey replied without stopping her examination. "Now sit still and let me work."
Nick glanced back at Judy, eyes wide and ears folded flat in a 'puppy dog' expression. 'Save me!' he mouthed, causing her to break out into giggles.
Then just as suddenly, Judy's view of Nick was blocked off when she found herself staring at Honey's nurse assistant. Her mind scrambled to remember his name, but came up blank.
"Morning, officer Hopps!" the nurse greeted. "I know your chief wants to have a chat with you really soon, so I'll make my examination quick." Sure enough, he lead Judy through some simple tests and checks, and within a matter of a couple of minutes, was done. "So if you're not feeling anything from last night's medications, there's no reason why you aren't fit for work today," he concluded. "Officer Hopps, you passed with a clean bill of health."
Fangmeyer nodded in satisfaction at Judy. "Good, you're all clean," she confirmed, "now let's get up to Bogo's office before he gets mad at us." She held up a warm paper bowl of hot cereal for Judy. "As an added bonus, I got you some breakfast, courtesy Precinct One's pantry. She waited as Judy got up and out of the chair she was sleeping on, yawning loudly again and using her paws to try and smooth out some of the wrinkles in her clothes. "That's one way to save time on changing," Fangmeyer said with a grin, handing over the bowl.
"I didn't mean to fall asleep in it, it just happened!" Judy protested, but gratefully took the breakfast and started munching it down quickly. Quickly turning around, she waved at Nick. "Fangmeyer and I got to go up to Bogo's. Later, Nick!"
Nick simply waved her off. "Don't leave me for too long, Carrots! Don't want my body to start rotting away." He was about to say something more, only to be interrupted by Doctor Honey fussing at him again to pay attention to her tests.
Together, Judy and Fangmeyer walked down the precinct's corridors. Quickly consuming what was left of her bowl, Judy tossed it into a nearby bin. "So how's James?" she asked. While she got to see Nick both last night and a bit this morning, she only vaguely remembered seeing Wolford asleep on the bed and that was it.
"Doing remarkable well," Fangmeyer answered, relief in her voice. "Didn't take much to wake him up this morning, and he didn't complain of any bad feelings. Did fall asleep all over again the moment Honey let him though." She grinned down at Judy. "I did hear that Nick even managed to walk around lat night. Can't believe I missed it."
Judy shrugged. "There wasn't much to see. He was still clearly under some Nighthowler influence, and otherwise was basically a fox zombie."
The two of them talked a bit more about random things before they arrived at the door to Bogo's office. Fangmeyer knocked politely, and they were called in barely a moment later.
"Officers Fangmeyer, Hopps, good. Have a seat." While Bogo lacked his usual barely-suppressed anger, he still didn't waste any words either. As soon as the two officers sat down in front of his desk, he got right to the point. "Doctor Honey sent me a preliminary report on Wilde and Wolford just now, probably while the two of you were walking over here," he explained. "The good news: they are both doing fine and should largely be back to their own behavior." He snorted. "Though with Wilde, I'm not sure if that's a good thing. I will miss being able to dart him guilt free."
Despite herself, Judy couldn't help but grin at his comment. As much as she enjoyed working with Nick, she also knew very well that the precinct's famous back and forth between Bogo and Nick, while great to watch, did sometimes cross the line when Bogo wouldn't be in the mood for Nick's commentary.
Pretending not to notice her grin, Bogo continued. "And the reports on the two of you also don't have anything to worry about, so, unfortunately, I will expect both of you to be working today."
Judy's ears perked up. It was something that she thought of on the way over to his office, and now was the perfect time to bring it up. "Yes, about that sir," she hurriedly said before he went off on something else, "sir, I want to volunteer."
Bogo stared back at her. "Volunteer for what, officer Hopps?"
"-Uh," Judy was caught off guard by this question. "Why, to help with the investigation. As to why Nick and James both went savage underground yesterday." She smiled hopefully at Bogo. "That's what I want to volunteer for."
Leaning back in his seat, Bogo let out a long sigh, a hint of frustration in it. "That won't be happening Hopps," he informed her simply. Ignoring her open-mouthed look of shock, he continued to explain. "While I am known for encouraging my officers to volunteer for such tasks, provided they are all caught up with their previous work, in this specific case, you won't be able to do that for two simple reasons." He leaned forwards to look at Judy and Fangmeyer better. "The first and main reason is that, despite yesterday's incident involving not one but two of my officers, the ZPD will not be conducting an investigation into the matter. Hopps!" He paused in his explanation to shout Judy's name before she can interrupt him with her own protest, her ears dropping behind her back in reaction. Even Fangmeyer looked shock and ready to argue, but knew better than to open her mouth about it.
"The reason why there won't be an investigation," Bogo continued with a firm tone, informing the two officers that they are not to argue with him until he will be finished, "is because the matter has been kicked out of our jurisdiction. Both the ZIA, and unfortunately, even the Ocelotians want in on it thanks to that drone you found in there. And I'm afraid that in their eyes, having a bunch of gung-ho city cops running around and ruining things for them is out of the question, so as of this morning, we're being forced to keep our distance unless specified otherwise." As he spoke, Bogo glared at Judy and Fangmeyer, though in this case, his anger was clearly also not directed at either of them.
"And the second reason," Bogo said, his tone relaxing into a slightly gentler one, "is that I need the two of you for an unusual but important job today. Maybe even for more than today."
Judy's ears perked up again with interest, though not to their fullest extent as when something really grabs her attention. After all, she was on and off on 'unusual jobs', really, ever since Count and Trigger dropped in on Precinct One. Speaking of the pilots… "It's no about Count or Trigger?" Judy asked, her mind recalling what had happened just a few hours ago with Trigger. Had Bogo found out about it already somehow?
Bogo picked up a paper from his desk that he had lying ready. "No, not this time, Hopps. It's about Wilde and Wolford." Judy's ears perked up the rest of the way, and Fangmeyer leaned closer to Bogo's desk as well. Holding up the paper, not so that they can read it, but just so that the two officers can see what he was talking about, Bogo continued. "This is the medical report given to me by Doctor Honey on their status. Lots of jargon which I can't understand in here, unfortunately, and I doubt either of you can make any heads or tails out of it either. But more importantly, it has recommendations on actions to be done with them." Setting the paper back down on the desk, he glanced between Judy and Fangmeyer. "Long story short, both Wilde and Wolford could really use sunshine, fresh air, and preferably, some sort of gentle exercise. Chasing down preps is out of the question, but it's better for them to not spend their day in here writing reports. Or going home to sleep it off, for that matter. No matter how they might complain. However, since no one really knows yet too well how mammals react to Nighthowler medication yet, they will need someone to look after them, just in case the worst might happen and they will start to regress. Especially with what Doctor Honey theorizes is some sort of aerosolized variant that we have yet to confirm if it really is the case, but we really can't be to careful."
"So you want us to watch over Nick and James," Judy finished for him, earning her a stern glare from the chief for interrupting him. Nevertheless, he then nodded in agreement.
"I've already taken the liberty of filling out the roster for the two of you for the day," he informed. Bogo then slid over a pamphlet on his desk about a city event. Judy and Fangmeyer glanced over it.
17th Annual First Species Pride & Awareness Gathering at Glide Park
"This event, as filed with its paperwork several months back, requests police presence just in case something is to happen. Don't worry, they always asked for it, every year. Which, in its entire sixteen prior years, never did," Bogo explained. "And while this event normally falls under Precinct Three's territory, their chief sent out an email last minute to the rest of us at the ZPD explaining that he could use a favor if another precinct could fill in and spare them the mammal power. When it comes to Wilde and Wolford, their jobs for today will be quite literally to have a walk in the park. The two of you will have the job of making sure that it stays that way."
Waving a hoof over at Judy, Bogo then added, "Hopps, you want to help out with finding out what happened yesterday? You will have an entire shift today to take a laptop with you to the park and write the best report in your career. For that matter, when it comes to your individual reports, which I have yet to receive any from either one of the four of you-" this part he mentioned while staring at Fangmeyer. She shrank back from his gaze. "-Just get the bare minimum in. I know it's not normal procedure, but considering the ZIA and the Ocelotians are involved with this, I want you all to cooperate with each other and write a complete, fully comprehensive report on what happened underground. Fill in where any one of you missed a spot, cover each other's blindspots, but I don't want any details missing." He waited, glancing between Judy and Fangmeyer. "Am I understood?"
They both nodded.
"Good," Bogo concluded. "You have your assignments. Head down for the morning briefing if you want, but you know what you will be doing today." He slid over some papers to Fangmeyer. "The cropped medical report on Wilde and Wolford, so that you will be aware of what they are dealing with. And your assignment in writing, along with details on the event you'll be monitoring. Dismissed."
Leaving the office, Judy and Fangmeyer stared at one another as they pondered what they were just told.
"Well, that was something," Fangmeyer commented, breaking the silence as they began to head down to Clawhauser's desk. Flipping through the papers, she huffed at the assignment detail. "Should be a rather boring day," she commented, "park at a corner of the park, pull out a laptop and get that report done with." She then handed Judy the medical report. "This one's rather more interesting."
Judy scanned through the report. "We're in it," she commented, only to immediately realize that it was a rather silly statement. Of course she and Dahlia would also be in the report: They also had to do some tests as well, both in the evening and now this morning. Judy then took a closer look at exactly what that report was saying about them, and more specifically, several mentioned numbers. "We both had nighthowler in us." She stopped to ponder the implication of this realization. "But I didn't feel anything..."
"And neither did I," Fangmeyer noted as well. "Well, unless you want to spend the next decade rushing through medical school in order to solve this mystery, leave it to the experts. Besides," she motioned at the door in front of them. "We're here."
Judy glanced up, and sure enough, it was the familiar door to the bullpen. Following Dahlia inside, the place was already packed with the usual noise of officers. Though, as she walked over to her usual seat in the front of the room, she did notice that the normal greetings she would receive were now accompanied by a look of concern. Nick and James, for that matter, were not in the room yet. Taking her seat, she felt a large shadow loom over her. Her eyes traveled upward to settle upon McHorn.
"Heard you got into a scuffle with some nighthowlers yesterday. If you need some extra muscle, just let me know," he offered, "wouldn't mind sending someone messing with that stuff off to the hospital with a broken limb or two before a transfer to jail." He then noticed Judy's horrified expression. "Only hypothetically of course," he added, "here in the ZPD, we strive to maintain our utmost professionalism and do not tolerate any abuse of power." He then grinned back at Judy. "But seriously, if you feel like you will need one of us larger officers, no one in here is going to decline the offer."
She smiled back, grateful for the sign of support, especially from someone normally stoic and quiet like McHorn. "Thanks! I'll keep that in mind as soon as I figure out who's behind it all."
"Wouldn't be the first time," McHorn said with a chuckle of his own.
The room around them suddenly turned silent as everyone stopped talking at the same time. Since it wasn't in response to Higgins entering the room, Judy and McHorn glanced back at door they came in from.
Nick and James stood there, blinking at the effect they had just by their mere presence.
Wolford was the one to break the silence. "What are you all looking at?" he playfully growled out at all of the officers in the room, placing his paws on Nick's shoulders and nudging him further into the room. "Get back to work!"
Nick simply grinned and waved half-heatedly. "Yeah, you heard him!"
The room returned to its usual noise level as the officers returned their attention to their previous conversations, leaving Nick and Wolford alone.
Judy waited for her partner to cross the room and sit next to her in his own usual seat. She eyed him with concern. Nick was famously the loud and boisterous joker in the precinct. And while Wolford was known to enjoy the good prank and joke as well, he couldn't compete with Nick's antics. So for their attitudes to be so completely reversed from the usual was a sign enough that something was not right with the him.
"Morning, Nick," she greeted as he sat down next to her with a heavy sigh of relief. "How are you feeling?"
"'Bout the same as last night," he complained, looking at her out of the corner of his eyes. "Which means lousy. Can't believe Buffalo Butt expects me to work today."
Judy scanned over Nick, feeling both relieved at that he was, for the most part, himself. But the other part of her couldn't help but be worried at how worn out and tired he looked, despite the more than usual night's rest he just had. That being said, she did have good news for him. "Don't worry about that Nick," she reassured her partner, "Dahlia and I just spoke to Bogo. You won't have to worry about much." Remembering that she still had the pamphlet for the gathering they weer going to be at, she slid it over in front of Nick. "A day of fresh air and not much else," she reassured him.
Nick simply glanced at the paper before sliding it back to Judy. "Great," he mumbled, "just what I need. The public laughing at the dumb police fox doped up on drugs. I can already imagine the headlines."
Judy's ears fell at his sarcastic remark. "Nick, you'll feel better afterwards. Bogo reassured us this morning from a report Doctor Honey gave him. All you need is to move a bit and you'll feel better!"
Nick groaned, glaring at Judy. "That's what they told me last night night!" he retorted, "Carrots, let me be miserable for now, okay? I feel like crap, so let me at least have the luxury of acting like it." He glared up at McHorn. "You too, big guy. Let me live my stereotype for once."
Another mammal sat down on the empty seat opposite of Nick, causing him to turn and look with an annoyed sigh. "Of all the empty seats, you just had to pick the one-" his eyes met Trigger's own wide, bloodshot ones. Nick's angry face instantly changed to one of confusion. "-The hell is wrong with you? You look like sh-"
"N-nothing, it's nothing." Trigger stammered quickly, interrupting Nick. He quickly looked away, briefly locking gazes with Judy behind Nick's back, but then quickly looked away from her as well.
Still confused, Nick glanced at Trigger, than at Judy. She grinned slightly and shrugged, telling him silently that she 'didn't know' what was up with the pilot this morning and played up on being just as clueless as he was. Another sign pointing towards how off Nick was today, he accepted her answer with a simple grunt before deciding to rest his head on his paws and wait out the rest of the time until Bogo will arrive for the briefing.
Judy reached out and gave his shoulder a slight shake. "Nick, you don't want to be like this when Bogo arrives. Come on now, lift your head up..." Nick instead groaned and actively resisted her efforts to tilt his head back up. So she started to prepare to force him to behave when the side door opened. The cavalry has arrived.
"Atten-hut!"
This time though, Bogo was right behind Higgins and already yelling at everyone to stop pounding on the tables and sit down immediately. "Shut it down, everyone! QUIET NOW!" There was a hint of seriousness in his tone which contrasted to his usual displeasure at everything, so no one dared to defy him and quieted down as told. Even Nick didn't have a snarky response at the ready, though that could be due to him being out of it rather more so than listening to Bogo for once.
Bogo glared across the room. "Last minute changes on top of last minute changes mean that I am already late to my next meeting. Now I have the ZIA and the Ocelotians breathing down my back thanks to yesterday! So if you don't hear your name, it's because your assignment is the same as yesterday's."
He scanned the room, frowning when he found Nick dozing off. "Wilde, now's not the time for this," he said sternly, but lacking the expected anger he normally has when catching an officer sleeping in during the morning brief. However, when Nick didn't react, Bogo's patience ran low. "WILDE!"
Nick snorted and jolted awake, head snapping up from the table. The other officers laughed, though their reaction was rather muted. The humor of the situation dampened by the knowledge that he was recovering from nighthowler poisoning, and that it was mainly down to luck that they themselves weren't in his place instead.
The room quickly returned to silence as Bogo continued to glare at everyone. "Good, now that everyone had their giggles-" he stopped as a sudden snort of laughter interrupted him. Identifying the culprit, Bogo leaned closer over his pedestal. "Wolford! You especially of all mammals! Quiet down!"
Wolford bit his lower lip to stop from laughing again, but the fear of furthering Bogo's wrath was also more than enough to get him to calm down. "Sorry sir," he replied back much more soberly, then sitting up straighter. "Actually sir, about Wilde and I, um, is it even safe for us to be working today? I can catch up on paperwork at home, and Wilde, well," he waved a paw in Nick's direction. "I mean, just look at him."
Judy struggled not to laugh as Nick put on his most helpless, cutest expression he could muster in their boss' direction.
It didn't work. Bogo grumbled and shook his head, completely ignoring Nick's expression. "I've already spoken to Hopps and Fangmeyer this morning about that. Yours and Wilde's orders for today are to get better, and they will make sure you will be doing just that. Understood?"
Nick and James both nodded.
"Good." Returning his attention to his notes, Bogo scanned them briefly then stated to talk again. "Agent Savage is asking for two larger officers to help him out today-" he scanned the room. "Andersen, Snarlov. Congratulations, you get to be underground today." His gaze lingered towards Nick's and Wolford's directions. "And in light of what happened yesterday, you are under no circumstances to go underground without breathing protection. While that shouldn't be an issue, if someone from either the ZIA or, god forbid, some Ocelotian try to order you otherwise, you call me directly so that they will have to deal with me instead. Same goes for the two of you, Count and Trigger. You'll also be working down below today."
From where he sat next to Wolford and Fangmeyer, Count shrugged. "Whatever you say. Makes no difference to me."
Bogo grunted and shifted his attention to the other pilot. "I didn't hear you, Trigger. Are you even paying any attention to-" his suspicions were confirmed when Bogo found himself looking at Trigger, whose attention was once again diverted back to his picture. "Well this should be good..."
Judy leaned around Nick to see, a feeling of dread coming over her when she saw what was going on. Even as Bogo circled around the podium and walked over, she wasn't able to get herself to try and warn him of the looming danger.
Stopping next to their table, Bogo reached over and swiftly snatched the picture from Trigger's paw. His angry expression instantly softened when he glanced at it. "So that's what Savage's message was about," he muttered, returning his gaze back down to Trigger. "Staring at this all day won't make you feel any better," Bogo said as he handed the picture back.
His paw trembling, Trigger took the picture and slid it into the safety of a pocket. "I-I know, sir," he replied back, his voice unsteady.
"Try to concentrate on your work today," Bogo continued, returning back to behind the podium. "Keep your mind from wandering. Now as I told the others, you will be-"
"I know, I heard," Trigger interrupted. "Uh, sorry, sir."
Grunting again, Bogo looked back down at his notes. "Oh, and Trigger, try not to wander around the station all night again," he said, almost as an afterthought. "You were starting to make the night chief nervous."
Trigger shifted nervously in his chair.
"And finally, Delgato," Bogo announced, "you won't have to do parking duty today. Rejoin your partner, and next time, pay attention." The muffled laughter from some of the officers in the room meant that they at least knew what he was talking about.
"Everyone else, same as yesterday," Bogo concluded. "Dismissed!"
