Chapter 33: Dull Day. Or Is It?
The briefing room was uncharacteristically quiet, despite being filled to the brim with officers, both those fro, Precinct 1 as well as those from elsewhere. Even more unusually, Chief Bogo was already behind the podium, boxes elevating ZIA agents Savage and Winters so that they can comfortably stand next to him. A projector screen was already on and showing a map of buildings in the city, arrows pointing towards areas of interest. For the cops, they really didn't need the more zoomed out map at the upper corner of the screen to tell them that they were looking at a large building in the middle of the Zootopia business center within Savanna Central.
"Everyone settle down!" Bogo was instructing the room as officers continued to shuffle in, the available chairs starting to run low. "If you can't find a seat, just stand!"
Nick slid in right next to Judy, again taking advantage of their smaller size to share the same chair even as others around them continued to struggle over who got to sit and who will need to stand.
"We're short on time, so if you're not already sitting, just stay where you are!" Bogo bellowed across the room, grabbing everyone's attention. Even for the cops not part of Precinct 1, you don't cross the chief. It took only a few seconds for the room to fall silent. "Thank you, now that I have everyone's attention, today's going to be a busy day," he started to explain. "Starting off, the good news: Our governor has brought in the national guard to help maintain order within the city. If anyone in Little Ocelotia or Microrusia will try and funny business, they will have the army to answer to. While we didn't have too many problems with rioting yet, for today, they'll be the ones maintaining the peace. From there, all of you will be divided into two groups. The reason for this, and the bad news is, if you haven't caught up on the news this morning, that we're expecting a significant upswing in violent behavior. Savage, you have a minute." While he started to type away at the computer sitting on the podium, Jack Savage took the opportunity to fill in for the officers who might not be aware of what happened.
"Last night, Ocelotia deployed a sleeping gas over Bana City," he explained. "They sent in the military immediately afterwards, armed with tranquilizer rifles, but loaded with the new Nighthowler serum. As we are sitting here, thousands of their citizens are being saved and are recovering from the ordeal. Most of them barely have any memories of what happened…" His face hardened. "The number of dead is also rising, and by a lot. Many were killed while the population ran savage. Others died due to accidents, such as due to driving when the bomb hit… Many others were killed by the sleeping gas. We're expecting the final death toll to reach the tens of thousands. Hundreds, even… Bogo?"
"-I don't think there's a citizen living in Little Ocelotia who won't know someone who was killed there," Bogo concluded for the ZIA agent. Next to him, Jack looked grateful for the assist. "Everyone were relatively peaceful for now, with only the occasional lone wolf rioter and violent actors. We at Precinct One are especially well off, since I'm rather certain that…" He glared down at Nick. "If Wilde is sporting that shit-eating grin right now, then his shoulder was barely given a love tap by that elk, and that was the worst injury we got so far. That… is most likely going to change now. If we're lucky, the fact that they had several days now to work through their emotions might help us. Or it might now. So far, they've been behaving. But as far as we're concerned, for today, that's going to be the national guard's headache, not ours. Ours?"
He pointed at the wall behind him, at the map being projected onto it. "South Belka Biomedical Industries, Animalia division. They've been here for over thirty years now. Kept to themselves, doing their own thing." He then glared across the room, turning much more serious than he already was. "And according to a whistle-blower from last night, at least partially responsible for what went down in Bana City. Might have developed the Nighthowler compound that was used. If worse, they might have even designed the entire bomb, not just the chemicals themselves. What's important for us is that this op will be the ZIA's jurisdiction and responsibility, but we're providing the muscle. Savage? Winters? Your turn."
Jack took over. "Right, so, as Chief Bogo just said, the ZIA was informed of an employee working in the South Belka Biomedical complex. They reached out to us about what is being developed inside of that building. While most of the details are neither verified yet nor authorized for you to hear, what we can allow you to know is that as far as most of the employees were made to understand about their work, is that it was all on the level and entirely ethical and legal. Our leak was certain they were working on new cropdusting compounds, for example."
"Which as we've seen since the last several days," Winters added, "was clearly not true."
"And we just got the warrant to go in and raid their servers for all of the information we can get our paws on," Jack finished. "No warrants on arresting anyone, that will come later. Today is all about getting the data, and you all will be helping us. Secure the border, maintain calm inside the building, the usual. Should be a whole lot of nothing, but with fidgety employees on the inside, and angry citizens on the outside, prepare for the worst." He glared across the room as he said his next phrase in a low voice. "No taking chances. I want everyone armed with both lethal and less-than-lethal munitions. You're police officers, you're supposed to save lives. But if someone is prepared to harm the innocent, you need to be prepared to end theirs if there's no other option."
A paw raised itself up from a curious cop.
"Yes, officer?"
"Are we all really needed?"
Winters nodded that yes, everyone was needed. "Not too long ago, Bogo sent some officers to investigate what was supposed to be a drug den, except that it was and wasn't." She pointed behind her at the map. "It was an entire underground complex, some of you might have already gone down there yourselves. But critically, the first time someone went down there, they even found what we suspect was an employee working down there. That employee fled the moment they spotted our officers, and were able to get away." Where they sat, Nick and James both fidgeted nervously, not that anyone else was paying attention to them.
"And we need to make sure the same running away won't happen today," Skye concluded. "As Chief Bogo said, we don't have any warrants for anyone's arrest yet. But if someone does try to run, take no chances and cuff them. And to further elaborate, the Belka Biomedical building is a large complex, so we'll need a lot of officers to secure it."
Bogo took his time to talk to the officers again. "You'll be split into two teams. One for going into the building, one for maintaining the perimeter. No one goes in or out. Since it will take forever to explain your tasks on a one-to-one basis, you'll have thirty minutes to check your emails where you will have that information. Grab some coffee, deal with anything else you need, we're heading out right after that. Talk to me if you still have questions after that." He glanced around the room to make sure that everyone was at least paying enough attention to know what they were doing. "Dismissed!"
Officers shuffled about in and out of the room, figuring out which role they were to play in the operation. Heeding Bog's advice about getting comfortable before what could easily be a hard day, James and Dahlia flagged Nick and Judy down before heading over to the precinct cafeteria. Filling up large mugs of coffee to be loaded into their cruisers, they did stop bye to catch up with two mammals already there, catching up on a small breakfast.
"Count? Trigger? How's it going?"
Count grunted dismissively while Trigger just twirled a spoon around his bowl absentmindedly.
Always being the first one to try and strike up a conversation, Judy tried again. "Have you… heard the news?"
"Trying not to," Count answered quickly. "Anything important?"
The officers glanced at each other nervously, but it was Nick who pushed Judy as a way of telling her that she brought it up, so therefor she should finish it.
"You remember what Agent Savage was saying about Ocelotia planning for Bana City?"
Count groaned, glancing in Trigger's direction. "They went and did it, didn't they?" he asked, not even bothering to let Judy finish. "So since you brought it up, how much do you know about what's going on there?" He watched Trigger carefully as he asked his question.
"Many people are being saved as we speak," Judy answered, making sure to sound as optimistic as possible. "And not just being recovered safely, but also being treated for the poisoning. They're all being returned to normal. They'll be just like Nick and James here, like nothing had ever even happened!"
"Hey, Hopps, you four still trying to be buddies with these two losers? Drop 'em!"
Her head snapped back with an angry scowl to answer the officer who spoke up, but not only did Nick grab her to prevent her from intervening, she also saw that it was not just one, but a pair of the nighttime shift officers, and they were at least walking past them, waving at her jokingly while making rude gestures at Count and Trigger's direction. "Ugh, forget it," with a frown, she turned back to the pilots. "Does something like that happen often now?" When neither pilot answered her, she dropped this subject. "So as I was saying, Trigger, it's very likely that everything's fine!"
Trigger pushed his bowl away from him roughly, the porcelain emitting a harsh tone as it rubbed against the table. "If you all don't mind, but perhaps pick a different subject?" He sounded tired as he spoke, staring at the table rather than at anyone in particular.
"Trigger, it means you'll soon find out that your family's safe," Judy tried again, wincing at her own words as she immediately recognized the error in her statement, but still saying it before she could stop herself.
"And what if they're not?" Trigger growled, glancing up at her. But despite the question, his ears perked up in excitement as he noticed something else from behind her.
Bogo had arrived, decked out in full gear and ready to head out on the operation as well. "Officers, we're leaving in ten, so finish up what you're doing here and load up," he announced, glancing around to make sure that everyone were listening. His haze settled on the two pilots, hardening in frustration at seeing them. "Can't say I'm surprised to find you two here. Look, I know the rumors swirling around this building over what you're up to, and…" he gave a slight shrug, "and frankly, the officers in here have at least a small reason to dislike you, even if the actual reason still needs to be kept a secret." He glared at Count, but especially Trigger. "Point is, everyone's going to be busy with a significant operation today, so if either of you cause any trouble, that there'll be hell to pay is putting it lightly. So keep your heads down, stay out of everyone's way, and unfortunately, I doubt that anyone will have any work for you, so prepare for a day of being bored."
Count let out a snort. "Yeah? Well, we can do that."
"I sure do hope so," Bogo answered swiftly. "For both of your sake's. And Trigger?"
Despite being silent the entire time, Trigger glanced up excitedly.
Bogo just shook his head at the motion. "Don't think I don't see you looking at me like that whenever I walk past you. No, I don't have anything yet, and I keep telling you: I'll let you know when I'll find out any information."
The pilot nodded feebly. "I know, sir. It's just that I…"
"-I know that you're worried, but you can't go on like this," Bogo said gruffly, not even letting him finish his thought. "I know it's easy for the two of you to forget, but you are functionally prisoners here. And after that… incident a few days back, even more so. You two enjoy enough privileges not normally given to convicts as it is, and- yes, Count?" He noticed that the larger pilot was looking strangely upset at something.
Count crossed his arms, not looking up at Bogo. "Convicts. Wish you won't call us that," he mumbled beneath his breath. "It's what McKinsey always called us."
"And isn't that what you two are?" Bogo asked, a hint of amusement in his voice.
"Was nice pretending that we weren't while it lasted," Count admitted.
"You know, some days ago, I took a look at your files again," Bogo said after a moment's silence. "What you told us doesn't contradict yours. Savage even went ahead and validated your story by contacting the Ocelotians as a side effor, so make of it what you will, but as far as petty crime goes, yours is as tame as it comes. Even Wilde here admitted to doing worse, and he's an officer of the law now." Nick shuffled nervously at being placed suddenly in the spotlight, while Judy let out a quiet giggle at his expense. "So keep it that way, and you might even be able to leave this place eventually. Wish I can say the same about you, Trigger," Bogo continued. "You're like Hopps, aren't you? Can never make things simple. Figures you two get along so well, just like her and Wilde, really. That was actually the first thing I told her when she called me that one night, when she called me to say that she helped apprehend a pair of mammals who appeared to actually be Ocelotian pilots, and lacking any proper identification. Sure, I thought it was just her natural habit of making things complicated, but I hardly suspected that she caught Three Strikes, the boogiemammal Ocelotian pilot of the Lighthouse war. First... that, and now…" He frowned since the smaller pilot was still staring blankly ahead, not appearing to be paying attention. "Three Strikes or not, when I'll have the time for it, I did say that I'll look into if your parents are still alive, didn't I?" Bogo finished. "Until then, stay out of trouble. Both of you. Officers? Time to go. Got a long day today."
Judy gave the pilots a little wave just before she was pulled by Nick. "Bye you two! Hope to see you soon!"
It was a pleasant surprise to hear Count call back. "See you, Hopps!" Even more amusingly, as they started to leave, she was able to just catch him scolding Trigger, albeit playfully and not seriously, for not being more lively.
Loading into a police cruiser, Judy reviewed the email with their assignments as she let Nick drive, filling him in on important information. "-important thing is that Bogo emphasized that as smaller mammals not part of the Little Rodenita department, we will be relied on to catch anyone small trying to make a break for it," she was saying as he drove. "But it doesn't sound like we'll be actually going inside the building. Just helping maintain the outside perimeter."
Nick hummed, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel as he waited at a red light. It must have been quite the sight, no less than five cop cars all waiting to go as soon as the light will turn green. "I do recall it being a tiny mouse as the guy Wolfy and I chased after when we went underground that day," he recalled. "Never did figure out who it was. Think we might bump into him again today?"
"We might." Judy scrolled through the email further, then took a look at the area between their seats. "I hope it won't take all day, but I fear we don't have enough water if this will go long," she admitted. "Says we're relying on several precincts' worth of officers just for this one operation."
Nick let out a chuckle. "Building's got how many employees? Several thousand? And any one of them might have some really important information. Personally, I'm not-" he froze as he stared out the windshield at the traffic rolling along across the street. "Hey, Carrots, take a look at this."
Judy looked up from the screen, eyes widening at the convoy of heavily armored beige military vehicles driving through the intersection. Zootopia already liked to complain about the ZPD having squad cars that were built like tanks, but by comparison to the army vehicles passing by now, their own cruiser might as well been just a toy. "Guess the national guard units arrived," she muttered, watching the heavily built vehicles struggle through the intersection. "Didn't think they'd bring in tanks."
"I don't think those are tanks, Carrots," Nick answered calmly.
"...No?"
"Tanks have tracks," he deadpanned. "These have wheels."
Judy frowned. "Do tanks need to have tracks?"
"Never heard of one without 'em, Fluff."
Judy swiveled to fully face her partner. "And you just happen to have an encyclopedic knowledge of armored vehicles, right?" she retorted. "Useful knowledge for one of your previous hustles, right?"
Nick grinned and shrugged. "Actually, no. Just knowledge I gained from movies." He raised an eyebrow in her direction. "Or are you telling me that farmers use tanks during the harvest season, which is why you know better?"
"No, Nick, we don't use tanks for farming," Judy said with a sigh, mood souring. "It's just that… Even during Bellweather's Nighthowler stint throwing the city into chaos, and with half the ZPD having to be pulled because of species, we still had enough officers to mostly keep the peace. Even as tensions were getting ready to blow through the roof. And now?" she motioned out the window, where a lot of the buildings lining the streets were flying the Ocelotian flag in a sign of solidarity. "Never did think a natural pesticide can lead to so much trouble. And I thought things were bad when Bellweather tried playing God..."
"People have always done crazy, stupid, and bad things, fluff," Nick reminded her. "It's why both of us are employed, remember? And so are all of these guys." He motioned at the last of the army trucks as they finally cleared the intersection, allowing the smaller police convoy through. "Although it is odd that we're the ones securing a building and they're the ones enforcing the peace. Would have thought it would be the other way around…"
"I just thought we moved on from these things as a society," Judy mumbled, crossing her arms in protest.
They continued to banter as they drove on, arriving at their destination about ten minutes later. To call the scene chaotic was an understatement, as the entire building, blocks across on each side and several stories tall, was already surrounded by cop cars and an assortment of other vehicles. Judy spotted no less than three different SWAT vans safely parked on the side of the road. Evidently, both the ZIA and the ZPD were prepared to spare no expense with this operation.
Finding a spare spot, Nick parked their car, allowing the two to grab their gear and move to their designated position. Judy didn't bother to hide her disappointment at their assigned location: they were stuck guarding a bare wall along the building, only broken up by the occasional window.
"This is going to be one of those long boring days, isn't it?" Judy complained, frowning at the wall. "Can't even watch traffic, as the whole road's blocked off by cop cars…"
Next to her, Nick couldn't help but grin. "I thought it was my job to bellyache," he said. "What's up with you? I thought you liked these assignments."
She didn't and he knew it, and so Judy didn't give him the satisfaction of a reply. At least not until the lack of being able to do anything finally got to her. "Why do I feel like I need to be in there helping out with the actual investigation?" she finally blurted out, catching a glimpse of Nick's ears twitching in surprise at her voice.
"...Because you're not a detective?" Nick replied quickly. "It's not your job to go in an investigate. Your job is to help out outside the walls to allow the investigators do their jobs."
Judy frowned, crossing her arms in annoyance. "My first job in the ZPD was to run an investigation," she reminded her partner. "All by my own, may I add. It's how I found you, remember? You tried to hustle me! You did hustle me!"
"Sure you did," Nick said completely calmly, smirking down at her. "But that's not the point, Carrots. You're losing sight of the target here."
"Yeah..?"
"You were running an investigation because you weren't supposed to. Buffalo Butt wanted you to fail so that he can fire your tail back to your carrot farms. A new officer, fresh out of the academy? I wouldn't bet on anything like that happening again. You being out here just means that congratulations, you are very much a police officer who earned her badge and is now doing her duty to the city." He pointed to where Fangmeyer and Wolford can be seen occupying their own city block. "Just like other officers who previously helped out with investigations and have more time on the force than both of us combined." He then pointed at Higgins. "Or those who have decades on us. We're all doing our part."
Judy's ears fell. "I know, Nick," she relented. "Just… I'm really bored, Nick. This isn't what I expect being an officer."
Nick chuckled. "What do you expect, with your years on the force behind you now, Fluff?"
"Helping people," Judy said firmly. "The same thing I wanted to do when I entered the academy. And not 'discover a deep conspiracy' type of help, but the basic one that we do every day. Protecting the vulnerable from drunk idiots. Pulling someone out from a burning car because we're first to arrive to an accident. And yes, even helping stuck kits down from trees. These things change people's lives for the better. Not… staring at an empty wall."
"...I wouldn't worry about that much, Hopps," Jack's voice butted in. The ZIA agent was flanked by Winters and Bogo, but was able to move past the parked ZPD cars with ease even with the two next to him. "Sorry, couldn't help but overhear your griping," he grinned sheepishly and pointed at his ears, "bunnies, right?" He then cleared his throat. "Right, it's just that Bogo, Winters, and I are about to go in there, along with the ZIA techs we have to actually pull data we want out of servers. Just wanted you to know that if for whatever reason we feel like we will need extra muscle, Winters and I have worked with you two and Officers Fangmeyer and Wolford long enough that you'll all be the first ones we'll ask for." He then grimaced slightly. "That is unless we feel it necessary to storm in with the SWAT teams." He then brightened up with a shrug. "But that's the worst case. Realistically? Just help secure the perimeter, keep the press and rubberneckers out, and don't let any employees out without mine or Winter's explicit permission. Someone tries to leave, don't make a fuss about it. Just stop them, grab their name, information, and radio Bogo about it."
Judy nodded, since this part of their procedure was already covered on the briefing doc she read on the ride over. "Seems like a lot of officers for what's supposed to be a simple warrant search. There's more than one precinct's worth of officers here. At least three different SWAT vans that I can see just from here."
"We're not taking chances with this one, Hopps," Bogo grunted. "We only just brought the national guard in to help maintain order in the city. We don't need the public to think we're sleeping on investigating anything related to the bombing. They'll want answers. Especially the citizens of Little Ocelotia and Microrusia. If we have to take those answers by force, we will. Still, this is a office complex, so we don't actually expect armed resistance. Political maneuvering and legal stalling? Sure. But not violence. At least we hope."
Judy couldn't help but narrow her eyes accusingly. "Is this an actual investigation, or a show raid to appease the residents?"
"What we're hoping to find today is very much real," Bogo grunted again. "Or at least a really well plotted red herring. The rest you can decide for yourself. Officers, you have your orders. Savage? Winters? We have ours and we're burning daylight. Let's move."
And so just like that, despite the brief respite from boredom, Nick and Judy were left alone to guard their little corner of the operation. Their radios buzzed with life as various officers checked in with one another and kept everyone updated. Radio updates from the inside were very few and far in between, creating an unsettling feeling as to what was going on.
As the hours rolled by, even the climate controlled air in the area started to feel bad as they continued to stand around in the sun, trying to avoid the sun as best they could.
It would have at least made things more interesting if some of the bystanders would have attempted to cross into the control zone. At least it would give them a reason to do something. But if anyone showed up who shouldn't be there, it was only to take pictures or the quick video of the unusual sight before making a hasty retreat.
Even Nick stopped griping about the boredom, his mouth and mind finally running their course and leaving him a panting, annoyed, and very out-of-place fox stuck watching over a bare wall of a rather unassuming building.
"-Hey, up there! That fire escape just opened up,someone's trying to get down. Correction, several people.Uh, wait again! Mostly a large group of rodents are trying to climb down!"
Several sets of ears swiveled this way and that towards the nearest radios as the call came through.
"Secure the perimeter! Don't let them leave! Floater teams, get to it."
"Copy! Can use some assistance soon! South wall, impossible to miss. Those rodents are coming down right towards us."
Now it was Judy's turn to look extremely disappointed at the turn of events. "Why do we get the boring wall?" she complained to no one in particular, listening to the radio as everyone else got to actually do something for their work.
As radio calls continued to be exchanged at a rapid pace as everyone tried to figure out what was going on, a new issue became apparent rather quickly.
"I might be wrong here, but do we have anyone available that speaks Urusian?"
"...I can! Uh, a little. Chief? Permission to leave post and assist with translating."
At least Chief Bogo was on top of things. "Granted. Find someone to cover your previous post."
Soon, the radio chatter died down as everything settled into into a new normal, Judy pacing their assigned area impatiently while Nick settled to leaning against a wall in a shaded area and hiding away from the hot midday sun, Savannah Central climate control or not.
So it was of great relief for the both of them when Jack Savage returned once more, Chief Bogo and Skye Winters in tow. The hare was on the phone, angrily talking right into its microphone with whoever was on the other end. At least he was able to hang up before he stopped in front of the two officers.
"Bad news?" Nick asked, braver than Judy in breaking the tense silence that followed the end of the call.
"Not exactly," Jack huffed. "Bureaucratic red tape as always. The Urusian consulate is insisting that we only use their own official translators for those rodents. And lawyers. Specifically, their main lawyer. Except that he's away and won't be back for two more days. And we legally can't keep those rodents for that long without charging them with something first. Winters?"
"We can use our own translators in a purely unofficial manner right now," Skye added. "But it will help a lot to compare notes with what we can be told today versus what we will receive in the officially translated interrogations. I suspect Urusia is buying time write up a script, so we need to beat them to it."
Judy found her voice again when he finished the explanation. "So is there a reason why you came here? I mean, we'd love to help, but the fire escape with everyone is on the other side of the building." She gave a feeble shrug. "Plus, I don't speak Urusian, and I'm sure Wilde's is rudimentary at best."
"You'll be surprised at what I can handle," Nick countered, sounding hurt. "but I doubt you'll appreciate the type of Urusian I've picked up during my years as a freelancer… civilian."
"Hmm, I bet," Chief Bogo mumbled with a grunt. "But today, it's not your expertise we want."
Jack stared at her for a few moments before breaking out into a grin. "So yes, to answer your question, there is indeed something you can help us with. Rather of important actually."
For some reason, Judy didn't like the sound of it. "Sure? What can we do?"
"Chief Bogo already made the call to Officer Svenitsovich, so we'll have one native speaker here soon. Got a few more officers we scrounged up who might tackle translation duties. But as for you?" She was off-put by the sly look he gave her. Almost like one Nick loves to give when he's coming up with a scheming idea. "If you were to give a call to a certain father of a shrew you know rather well, I can borrow one or two of his polar bears. The fresher immigrant ones if possible."
Judy's jaw dropped, a tense silence following for a few seconds. "S-Sir, you surely can't be serious? The bears?"
"Yes Hopps, the bears," Jack confirmed with a nod. "That's what I said, isn't it? So if you can initiate the call first, then let me take over? Let them know that for once law enforcement is needing their help rather than targeting them. That, or I can ask Wilde to make the call, but I have a feeling you would be easier to listen to." He flashed a grin to the fox who shot him a glare at the jab.
To say that this felt surreal was an understatement as Judy pulled out her phone, scrolling through her contacts until she reached Fru Fru's. A moment's hesitation later, she tapped the call button.
The shrew picked up on the second ring, leaving the startled rabbit to fumble through an explanation before handing her phone over to Savage.
With a grateful nod, Jack accepted the phone. "Hello? Fru Fru Big? Yeah? Yes, listen… Yes. Look. I'm Jack Savage of the ZIA. -What? No. Yes, he knows me, we spoke before. Listen…" He too had at least some trouble communicating, but was able to get through the call comparatively easier than Judy had. Not that the feeling of surrealness went away even after he hung up, giving Judy back her phone. "Bogo? Winters? We have more work to do." In fact, once Chief Bogo and the ZIA officers left again, Judy's first response was to ask a single bewildered question.
"What just happened?"
Nick just grinned and shrugged in response, leaving her with that strange feeling of being left to wonder what she was getting herself involved in, while everyone around her appear to have at least some sort of idea. Even worse, with Bogo and the agents leaving them alone, it was once again right back to standing around and doing nothing, guarding a barren wall of a plain building while other officers got to at least do some things.
"Officer Hopps? Officer Wilde, please report to Chief Bogo."
Judy snorted as she caught herself starting to doze right where she was standing. Scolding herself for the lack of professionalism, she pawed the radio clipped to her shoulder. "Copy, heading over." Her ears fell as she heard Nick snickering behind her.
"Sleeping on the job, Officer Hopps?" Nick teased, "that's something I expect myself to be doing, but not you."
"I was wide awake and not dozing, Nick, thank you very much!" Judy fumed. "Okay, so I was… daydreaming. But just this once!"
"Tsk tsk," Nick teased again, "sounds like a smudge on that squeaky clean record to me. Better shape up before it actually appears on your file!"
"Shut it, Nick! Bogo's right there!"
And it wasn't just the chief. A large conglomerate of mammals were packed as a group, all of them looking rather important and wanting to make sure to let others know it. Which was a complete opposite of the smaller group of mammals arranged behind a hastily set up foldable table, laptops set up for each and slowly wading through a carefully monitored third group of mammals, most of them rodents of various sizes.
There was no mistaking the two large polar bears huddled over the table, interviewing individuals from the third group as the important looking people eyed them suspiciously. Well, almost suspiciously, as Bogo was busy talking to what could only be politicians, while Jack was again tapping away at his phone while Skye looked oddly pleased with herself standing so close to two known criminals. Even more oddly was that the other end was Officer Svenitsovich as well as another caribou ZPD officer from a different precinct. Finally, between the officers and the polar bears was… Trigger? Judy paused, almost having Nick walk into her at her abrupt halt to look at the group.
"Geez, Carrots, are you an officer or a gawking tourist? Come on, let's see what the chief wants!"
"...Right."
Yes, that was definitely Trigger, with Count standing close behind. The two pilots looked positively small between the polar bears and ZPD officers, but at least they were less of a mismatch in size when compared to the mammals they were questioning. And it took Judy's sensitive hearing to break through the noise of loads of mammals around her all talking and making noise to realize that the questioning was being done not in English. Ah, that explains the bears. While Judy was a little bit more than apprehensive at the sight of Mr. Big's employees working right there alongside a large number of cops, but they didn't seem to mind. Even as one of them was sporting the full gopnik look, track suit and all.
"Is that you, Kevin? Has been a while, it sure has! You too, Raymond! Time in the cold sure is making your fur shine!" Nick didn't seem to care that his excited greeting was drawing unwanted attention from everyone within earshot. But of everyone around, it was Bogo's attention that mattered.
"Can it Wilde, they're busy. But as you and Officer Hopps are here, and we're getting ready to tear down this operation, you'll soon have an important task."
Judy's ears shot up at the prospect of having to do real work again. "What's that, sir?"
"Take them home," Bogo answered, jabbing a thumb in the direction of Count and Trigger. "Then back to the beat for whatever time you have left on your shift." He glanced at his watch. "Which should be an hour or so if my time estimate for how long we'll be here for is correct." He eyed Judy as her ears fell from disappointment. "Question, Hopps?"
Judy shook her head. "No, not really. Well, I guess, since I'm here… Why bring them here? Isn't it rather risky?"
"If you think they'll try and make a break for it, they're surrounded by officers, with national guard units patrolling the city not far from here," Bogo answered calmly, "and one of them is able to wrangle with Urusian well enough to be useful. We have a surprisingly low number of people easily reached on short notice to provide translation service while lawyers aren't around. Just other officers, our… consultants, and…" he glared at the direction of the polar bears.
"-freelancers?" Nick offered helpfully.
"Freelancers." Bogo agreed. "Five minutes," he then added. "Ten tops, and we should be done here with these Urusians. Then take the consultants back." He waved the two officers off, returning to his conversation with Jack and Skye. Oddly enough, his second estimate proved to be oddly prophetic as nearly exactly ten minutes later, the last Urusian, a fidgety looking beaver in unassuming business casual, glasses, pocket protector and the whole lot, was questioned and moved back to the rest of his group.
Svenitsovich took the initiative once the group was through. "That's the last of them, so we can dismantle this little base of operation of ours," she said, "Tri- uh, Greg and Forge?" she offered a had to shake to the pilots. "Thanks for your help." Count stood back while Trigger nervously accepted the gesture. "And I can't believe I'm saying this, but bears? Thank you as well." While she did offer the same gesture to the bears, they instead brushed her off, albeit politely on the basis of their size difference. "I think it's best you go back now," she said, returning her arm to her side. "Not everyone here are as eager to see you two about."
"Feeling's mutual," Kevin answered. Despite his name, the slavic accent was thick. "Mr. Big wishes to repeat his willingness to work with ZPD to protect this city. Have a good day." Easily helping to stack the laptops away and fold the tables up in mere moments, he noticed Nick and Judy. "Nickolai! Judith! It's been too long! Fru Fru will want to see both of you for celebration!"
"Only if our work allows us, Kev!" Nick answered quickly, slickly hiding his nervousness when dealing with the bears. "Not that I need a reason to stop by, Ray!" He clicked his tongue at the other polar bear.
"Sorry? Celebration?" Judy was confused as to what occasion was coming up. With everything that was happening in the city and the wider world, she saw little reason to celebrate.
Kevin shrugged with a sheepish grin, odd for someone his size. "No celebration. Does Fru Fru need to see her favorite rabbit?"
Judy returned the shrug. "No, I guess not." But his next comment actually made her worried.
"She is starting to worry you don't have time to see her anymore."
"No! It's just that… work is keeping me very busy, you know? I'd love to visit!"
A grunt from a certain Chief Bogo reminded them that he was still around. "Bears? I thank you for your work today as officially as I can make it, which being what it is, isn't actually much. Best you return to Tundratown now." He glared down at Judy to let her know that gossip time was over.
Kevin gave the police chief a glare and a nod at the same time. "We go now. Pleasure to work with you, but may we not meet again." Raymond in tow, the two bears easily plowed a way through the large assembly of police and back to wherever their vehicle was parked.
Bogo visibly relaxed once they were gone. "That was quite bold of you, Savage, asking known criminals to help us," he commented. "However, I don't know if it was stupid. How did you know Big would agree to us using his bears?"
"The attack on Bana City has everyone spooked," Jack answered, eyeing Trigger's direction. The pilot must have been listening in on them, and was now busy glaring at the officers and agents, even as he continued to interview the mammal standing in front of him. "And Big is quite correct in fearing that people will suspect black market and organized crime involvement. Nighthowlers were always a Zootopia problem. Everyone even just a five minute's drive out of our city limits was already safe. Bellweather proved that as she was still only gunning for mayor when Hopps and Wilde caught her. No, Big wanted us to know that he is clean in this mess, even if it means working with cops."
"Not that he needed to worry about it from us," Skye mumbled quietly. "Urusia would never accept critical war equipment acquisition from a mobster. Too high of a risk of getting scammed for too little product. No, they needed proper industrial help, and I'm sure that what we got today will show that, not that they won't complain about our not using their official translators. They might try to use legal arguments to hide from us, but among other things, Big will make sure that he won't go down for something he didn't do. He won't ever get involved with whatever bastard of a program and the people running it who thought that making a bomb out of nighthowlers was a good idea." She then seemed to notice the two officers standing nearby, waiting for new orders. "Hopps? Wilde? There's still two mammals who need to be returned to the station. It's not good for them to be here now that the work is done."
Jack glanced over at Trigger's direction again. "For someone who can speak Yaktobanian rather than Urusian, him being here is rather working out at least. Allows us to keep an eye on him, that's for sure." He let out a small frown. "It's a miracle how Ocelotia was able to tolerate him. That guy seems to be really good at making things rather complicated around him. Certainly does for us."
"Are you implying you found something I aught to know?" Bogo asked cautiously. "Let me remind you the nice surprise that was the last time I got news about these two."
Jack shook his head. "Nothing new on that front. There's something hidden deep, I know it. But what? I just…" He hesitated. "Well, Hopps and Wilde? Winters said it: time for them to be out of here."
"Err, right," Judy let out a nervous grin, not actually having wanted to be caught just standing there and listening in. Motioning Nick over, she approached the two pilots. "You two ready to go? We've got a cruiser to take you back to the station." While Count nodded, Trigger just continued to stare in the direction of Bogo and the agents. "Errm," Judy tried again, "Forge? Time to go."
Trigger blinked and finally turned to look at her. "Right, yeah…" As he hesitated in actually going, Count went ahead and pushed the smaller pilot in the direction of the officers. It didn't take too much effort to escort the pilots to the waiting cruiser from there, loading them into the back seats.
Climbing into the front, Judy felt more relaxed as she turned the engine on and allowed herself to enjoy the now functioning air conditioner for a few moments. But before leaving, she turned around to take a good look at their passengers. "Count? Trigger?"
"Don't mind me, I'm doing fine," Count answered smoothly with a smirk. "But thanks for asking. Nice to know that you care." His answer got a thumbs up from approval from Nick, and a roll of the eyes from Judy. "Can't say about Trig though. Think being forced to talk to Urusians wore him out. Can't blame him though, I'd hate it too."
Sure enough, the smaller pilot was leaning heavily back in his seat, head tiled back and eyes closed. His crossed arms rose and fell slowly with his breathing.
"Trigger?" Judy tried again. "I don't think you're actually asleep yet. Can you at least say something? We saw you interviewing those Urusians. You were doing a good job there. Jack certainly thinks so." The pilot mumbled something, so she asked him to repeat himself.
Trigger opened his eyes and leaned over, letting her clearly see his furious glare through the plexiglass barrier between them. "I said that my job isn't to question those… people, but to drop bombs on them." Judy fidgeted nervously as he closed his eyes again. "Interview them? What I should have done is stolen a gun from one of you cops and start shooting at them. Would have been easy enough. Could've gotten a couple before being stopped, too."
"Would like to see you try," Count answered confidently. "Quite a thing to say there, especially to cops. That, and with your record and all."
"Why not?" Trigger snarled, opening his eyes again. "You didn't have any hesitations in killing Urusians when we were flying! Now that we're on the ground, and you hesitate! Why? Started growing fond of them?"
Count locked his own arms across his chest. "I seem to recall that it was you who stopped me from shooting Hopps over here," he pointed out. "I can understand you being even more pissed off than I am at all of this, but you need to keep your cool. At least you managed to do that while actually talking to them, but still. Point stands."
"Count? I really wanted to kill them," Trigger complained, sounding drained as he admitted this.
Nick and Judy exchanged glanced with one another. It was one thing for someone to say something while angry and deliberately confrontational, but it was a whole different matter when someone with a record like Trigger's when they calmed down enough to truly be honest with their feelings.
Even Count looked nervous by the confession. "Hey, easy! Don't talk like that."
"Savage brought me in because I can speak the language!" Trigger continued to complain. "Except that I can't! Not really. I grew up knowing Yaktobanian! They're similar enough, but I haven't spoken it in years. I can understand it well enough, but to speak it? It was hard enough trying to remember how to say something, but to the people who were…" He struggled to find the right words. "… They helped make that attack happen! I don't even know how, but I know they helped!" He took a few moments to calm down, the other occupants in the car not interrupting him. "I tried to talk to Officer… Whatever her name is, but she didn't want to talk. And I don't even know who those bears were…"
"They're mobsters," Nick answered calmly, this time not grinning like he normally would with such a revelation.
"...What?"
"Hired muscle for the Tundra Town mob. Most of them recent Russian immigrants, so you're not the only one with a slight language problem, but they were what was available at a short notice."
"Why would you need to rely on mobsters?" Count looked completely baffled by the question.
"Because Urusian translators weren't available," Nick explained. "Very likely trying to stall us out and hide something nasty. So Savage brought you all in."
"Can we..?" Trigger was tilting his head back again, rubbing the bridge of his nose furiously. "Can we go already? I feel like I'm losing my mind here!"
"You're not the only one, Strikes." This time, Nick did chuckle as Judy pulled the car into reverse. "You're not the only one."
