Chapter 34: Terrible news from home

"Is that a tank, Nick?" Judy asked, tapping the steering wheel as she once again waited in traffic. As irony would have it, she and Nick were at the end of their shift, quite literally stuck at the last intersection before the driveway to the precinct lot. And to think that they had barely had time to answer a call for a minor fender-bender after dropping the pilots off before their shift ended and it was time for them to get back.

Nick's head slowly turned as he followed the large vehicle crossing their path. Much like before, this one was one in a convoy of several. "No, Carrots," he replied. "See? Wheels. Not a tank."

"I don't think wheels or tracks are what make up a tank," Judy muttered, eyebrows narrowing in thought. "That gun looks rather large. And it's on a turret."

With a shrug, Nick tried a different approach. "That's a tank." He showed her his phone, where he had a quick image search pulled up to show her what they looked like. "See? Completely different."

"They don't look all that different to me," Judy countered. "What about that one right there? Looks almost identical!"

Caught off guard, Nick had to take a look at the screen. "Erm…" As much as he hated to admit it, she rather had a point. Maybe the image was wrong? As the car lurched into moving again, he looked up to look out the windshield, and to try and get a better look at the back end of the convoy. "Still don't think those are tanks," he said finally. Turning his attention to the precinct entrance, what he saw gave him another idea. "But how about you park us right here so that we can ask County over there? I think you'll agree that this inquiry is more up his alley of expertise."

"Right." Not necessarily agreeing with her partner, but also not seeing a reason as to why he was wrong about this, Judy parked at the closest available spot and followed Nick out of the car and to the front entrance of the precinct. Apart from the usual number of mammals coming in and out of the building, as Nick had spotted, Count was sitting on a concrete ledge lining the stairs up to the main doors. Skye Winters sat on the opposing nearby ledge, a way's away and allowing her to work on her phone, but where she was able to keep an eye out on him at the same time. Nick hurried over to chat with Skye while leaving Judy to talk to the pilot.

"It's been a long time, Count!" she greeted. "Sure has been a long ten minutes…" Her voice tapered off as she eyed the rather large pile of ash next to the pilot, discarded box of cigarettes precariously located on the edge and ready to fall off with the slightest gust of wind. "Uh, is everything all right? Didn't know you smoked."

"Normally I don't. It's a bad habit," Count agreed, only to immediately contradict himself by taking in a long draft and blowing it right into Judy's face. "But it helps when I'm really pissed off. Other ways to calm down can be quite hard to come by in an isolated penal airbase. Can only get so much piss moonshine over there." He blew a bit more smoke in her face just for good measure. "What you want, Hopps?"

"You smoke when you're stressed?" Judy repeated him carefully, ignoring her watering eyes as the harsh smoke stung her face. "We find out about the unit you come from, I didn't see you light up back then."

"Wasn't that bad for me though," Count answered in a bored tone. "Can't say the same for Trigger, but he doesn't smoke. Too much of a straight edge guy for that. Barely saw him drink."

Judy huffed in annoyance. "That doesn't answer my question. What is going on right now that got you on such an edge? And speaking of Trigger, shouldn't he be with you? Or at least close by?"

Count took his time taking in another long drag, tapping the end off his cigarette into the ash pile next to him. "He's inside. With Savage." he answered cryptically. "I'm here with Winters, so both us convicts are being escorted. Thank you for your concern." Before she can start to complain about his passive aggressiveness, he then added, "As for this? While I'm ahead of you on the rumor mill, I want to keep it that way."

Judy placed her paws on her hips. His last comment was hardly an improvement over not saying anything. "Count? If something happened and we need to know about it-" As much as she hated to admit it, it still rather stung to think about how long the pilots had hid their conviction history. She really wasn't ready for another nasty surprise from either one of them.

"Nothing happened, Hopps," Count cut her off. "Not this time. Not from me, nor Trigger for that matter. As far as your jurisdiction's concerned, officer, nothing's wrong."

Judy's jaw dropped a little. "Nothing's wrong?" She motioned at the pile of ash next to him. "Count, you've gone though a full pack in… in less than half an hour! And you've never smoked before! Well, never while you've been with us, but that only proves my point! Th- There's tanks driving on our streets and you want to say that nothing's wrong?"

"Not tanks, Hopps." Count gave her a wink out of the corner of his gaze.

"W-what?"

Count eyed her wearily. "Those aren't tanks driving about. Just infantry fighting vehicles. There's a difference." He shrugged and even dared to giver her a pat on the shoulder. "Tanks are made for delivering heavy and direct firepower. Those things driving around here are made for bringing in troops to the field. Helps to know the difference."

"Still look like tanks to me," she mumbled halfheartedly. While this wasn't the way Judy wanted her earlier question answered, by this point, it was the last thing on her mind. She pointed at the ash pile next to Count. "But that's not the point. What about that? Why?"

"I warned you about how you won't like it when our war will finally reach you," he said finally. "Well, it's here, as you cops were finding out the past few nights." He jerked his head in the direction of the street where another armored vehicle rolled by. "Looking more and more like being back at war by the day."

"You didn't start smoking when the riots and protests started," Judy pointed out. "And those are finally starting to wind down. So why start now?"

Count jabbed his cigarette angrily against the concrete he was sitting on. "I told you, I'm staying ahead of you in the gossip circle while I can." Tossing the remains in a nearby trashcan, he hopped off the ledge. "But don't go worrying your little bunny tail off. You'll find out soon enough."

"How soon?"

"As soon as the two of you head up to the Chief's office," he answered.

Judy hesitated, even as she clearly wanted to go and do exactly as he was saying. "Wait… The two of you didn't get reactivated, did you? Finally going back?" Despite their records, it didn't strike her as odd that Ocelotia would be desperate enough to get two of its more qualified and experienced pilots back into the fight.

Busy sweeping the ash pile into the empty box, Count stopped and straightened up, turning towards Judy with his jaw slightly open in shock. "No..." he admitted. "If that were the case… That would be good news." He turned away, sweeping the remaining ashes into the box and scattering whatever was left onto the ground below. "Tell you what? Grab Wilde and I'll take you both up. Chief wanted me up in his office as well."

That did not sound good at all. While Count didn't sound nervous or scared, the fact that he was still choosing not to say what was going on was an issue just in itself. Letting out a frustrated sigh, Judy could already start to notice that terrible feeling growing, one where she just knew that something really bad was about to happen. Quickly glancing at her watch, she was saddened to see that hers and Nick's shifts were quite literally minutes away from ending. "Fine, let's do that," she finally relented, making sure that he at least cleaned up his mess completely first. "But Count, I swear, if you're hiding something important… There'll be hell to pay."

Surprisingly, Count let out a chuckle. "I thought you were too pure to swear like that, Hopps," he commented. "A word like that means nothing for me, but coming from you? Thing's got serious."

"I am being serious," Judy said sternly.

Count simply gave her a nod. "Yeah, well, better not wait up then." He tossed the empty cardboard box into a nearby trashcan. "Wilde! Winters! Quit flirting and let's head up to whatever Bogo wants!"

Judy's jaw dropped when she turned to look and see at what Count was commenting on. "Nick! Put that away!" Her partner had somehow decided that it was a good idea to pull his dart gun out, showing it off to Skye as he adjusted its settings. "We're right outside the front door, and you don't have a reason to be pulling weapons out! Put it away!" With a apologetic shrug to Skye, Nick did as told and re-holstered the dart gun where it belonged.

"Officers?" Count sounded rather annoyed and ticked off. "The Chief is waiting." He used his taller stature to herd the other three up the stairs, despite all three of them technically being in charge of him.

Well, Judy was still busy glaring at her partner, even as he did start looking apologetic. "We'll talk about this later," she scolded him coldly, ignoring the confused look she got from Clawhauser as they walked past Ben's desk.

"Carrots, I was just-" Nick started to explain.

"Not now, Nick!"

"Officers!" Count growled, "Enough."

Judy clamped her mouth shut. Between the two pilots, Count was always the one who made sure to let everyone know that he never cared about anyone or anything. If anything, after his stint with the penal unit was revealed, he went out of his way to show off even more how he was carefree and without responsibility. So for him to be so serious and actually taking charge for a change was rather off-putting, to say the least. Usually it at least took Trigger to get him to do anything.

Having to remind herself that she was the officer in charge, Judy took the initiative to knock on the door when they arrived at Bogo's office. The answer was swift.

"Enter!"

Unintentionally holding her breath at finding out what lay waiting inside, Judy opened the door.

At first, nothing seemed to be too far off. Jack was already inside, sitting on a tall stool positioned close to one of the walls off to the side of the room. Trigger was there as well, occupying one of the two chairs arranged to face Bogo's desk directly. However, what was conflicting in reading the temperature of the room was that while the pilot looked somewhat bewildered, Bogo and Savage both looked completely normal.

"Count, take a seat if you want," Bogo motioned at the remaining chair next to Trigger. "Officers, Agent Winters, find a seat if you can. Feel free to stand if you can't."

"I think I'll stand too then," Count said gruffly, taking a spot close to Trigger's chair. The smaller pilot wrinkled his nose at the smell coming from the new arrival.

This did throw a few alarm bells in Judy's head, so she opted for a combination of the two, hopping on what was supposed to be Count's chair and standing on it so that she can look at Bogo on the level. Nick took a spot on the other side of the chair, and Skye took a moment to drag another stool over to Jack.

Bogo glared silently at everyone as they settled into their places, clearing his throat to let everyone know that he was ready to start talking. "You came at a good time. We were just finishing up with Trigger here about today's work." He noticed Trigger open his mouth to talk, but raised an arm to cut him off. "With his displeasure at the nature of the work we asked him to do being duly noted." He gave the pilot a hard glare to give him a clear message that talking was not allowed. "That being said, for what it's worth, we are grateful for the assistance. Urusia was making it complicated for us to stay ahead of the investigation, which is why we had to resort to… less than ethical ways of getting those people we caught interviewed. Between you and those polar bear mobsters Savage called up, it's a big enough headache as is. Let that remain in this room, by the way."

Judy raised a paw slowly. When she didn't get the impression that she couldn't talk, she tried asking her question. "Sir… What were Trigger's objections?"

"I told you in the car!" Trigger whispered urgently next to her. "I didn't want to talk to… them!"

Bogo gave the pilot another glare, albeit a weak one this time. "Out of all of us, Trigger does have the most reason to hold a grudge against the Urusians, considering… recent events." This statement was directed at the room, but especially to Jack and Skye. Then his gaze shifted slowly back to the pilot. "So while we can thank you for what you have allowed us to get today, what we really should be thanking you is for not acting out on your feelings towards the Urusians." While such phrasing would normally be considered condescending, Bogo's tone was genuine and anything but. "Unfortunately, that is more than we were able to ask of from some other of our citizens, if the presence of our National Guard is to go by. That, and I was informed by the chief at Precinct Six that their holding cells are completely full, with Precincts four and five already at near complete capacity. So we can expect to start filling up soon as well with the rate things are going right now. But that is not the issue here right now-" He was interrupted by another set of knocking from the door. "Perfect timing, if I might add," Bogo commented. "Enter!"

The door opened, revealing a nervous James and Dahlia. "You wanted us, sir?" Dahlia asked.

Bogo gave a quick nod. "Take a seat, or stand somewhere if you want, I don't care. This should be quick."

Glancing at the others already in the room, James and Dahlia took up the flanks around Nick and Judy. With Dahlia standing so close to Count, the pilot shuffled a little away from her, moving closer to Trigger and Judy instead.

Bogo watched them with an unamused expression. "You all done?" he asked gruffly. "Now that we're settled, Wolford, this you might be aware of, but as we were just on the subject of what happened in Ocelotia… Count and Trigger, as this applies to you if only that I would rather be the one braking the news to you, but…" He took a moment to catch his breath. "Animalia's going to war. We'll be providing military intervention and assistance on behalf of Ocelotia. In the next few days, the president will make the official announcement, but the country effectively already knows."

"My cousin just got his orders this morning," James mumbled miserably. "He's being deployed out in a week. Didn't say for how long, but it's out of country."

"Well hallelujah, 'bout damned time," Count scoffed. "Only took a massacre of our city, didn't it?" He stared down at Trigger's direction as he spoke.

Bogo let out a hard sigh. "I would normally find a way to make you regret that comment, but I'm afraid you're right in this one, Count," he said simply. "But, as always, it's more complicated. Savage?"

"I still don't know how help we're going to provide, but far more than we used to," Jack explained, jumping in smoothly after Bogo. "As for you two pilots, I don't know what will happen. In theory? Should be easier to send you back to your old unit. However, in light of it being a penal unit…" He shot a glare at Count and Trigger, especially lingering on the smaller pilot. "I won't start getting my hopes up just yet. However, we do have news from Urusia. Uh, Winters, you were more involved with that one."

Skye took her turn to speak. "Reports of what's going on are sketchy and intermittent at best, but the picture we're getting is that the attack split Urusia in two. Much like with the protesting here, a lot of people are feeling that it was justified, and a lot don't. I would say that Urusia collapsed into civil war, but their military anticipated it. The entire civilian population is under marital law, and last anyone's heard, they stormed the Urusian Royal Palace. So if this was news that the fight was going to be easy… it's not."

"And you know all of this how exactly?" Count asked disbelievingly.

Skye shrugged. "The news, mostly. At this moment, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but the ZIA knows about what's going on over there more or less as well as ZNN. Nothing you just heard is classified information. It's all news reports and rumors. Only thing ZIA has going for it is knowing where ZNN is correct, and where they really are just guessing."

"Okay… So since we're in this office, does this mean we're finally being sent back?"

"No. You're not." Bogo answered swiftly, ignoring Count's shocked and pissed off expression. "Call wasn't mind to make. If it was, you two would have been out of here long ago. But especially considering your two's… records…" He again glared at the pilots, and especially at Trigger. "...I for one would have loved nothing more than to have you two out of my sight months ago. But as things stand now, what is going to happen to the two of you, I don't know yet."

"So why even bring this up then?" Count complained. "Don't you think Bana City being gassed to death would be enough to overlook a few things and send us back to, I don't know, do our actual jobs? Haven't you heard? Preventing something like that from happening is what Trigger and I are supposed to do. Not frolic about in a foreign city playing cops." With his back to most of the officers, he didn't see the nasty looks his jab earned him.

Bogo waited patiently for Count to finish, even as his displeasure at the pilot was evident on his expression. "Are you done?"

Count nodded feebly, for some reason oddly tamed by the lack of emotion coming from the chief.

"Count, Trigger, I agree with you. Even considering your history, if your country thinks it safe to place you in charge of armed fighters, I am not going to reconsider that. While I doubt you being back in the front lines would have prevented what happened, as a police officer, I know the feeling of being forced to stand back and sit on your ass when all you want to do is to go out and help. But ever since you landed here, you are Animalia's problem, not Ocelotia's. As until we're told otherwise, Animalia says you two stay here."

"So let me get this straight," Count said slowly, "our city is gassed like its the first world war all over again, this county finally decides to join the war like in both world wars, and despite all that, you're telling me I need to continue to 'sit on my ass'?"

Bogo gave him a slight nod. "I'm afraid so. Needed you and the officers here to know where things stand."

Count crossed his arms in annoyance. "This means we're done here?"

Another nod. "That is so. Unless you want to pass along a complaint, but Savage and Winters will be the better contact points for this one. Speaking of the ZIA, you two can also expect to continue working with them. I can't risk you two twiddling your thumbs bored while all this is going on. Bored mammals have a habit of making things worse. Any questions?" Count stared back silently, so Bogo looked over at the second pilot, who had sat in his seat silently all this time. "Trigger?"

He shook his head.

"Yeah, I have one," Count spoke up suddenly. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

"Not that I'm aware of," Bogo replied smoothly, not caring at being second-guessed. "You have an idea of something I might be forgetting?"

"I have ears," Count said. "And I don't speak Urusian, so I was rather bored. Overheard a few things while we were out there."

Bogo raised an eyebrow. "...About?"

Count jerked his head in Trigger's direction. "About him."

Trigger looked up in surprise at being mentioned.

"We didn't discover any new information on Trigger's guilt, Count," Bogo spoke slowly and carefully. "We know you're guilty. But as far as we can tell, so is he."

Count snorted. "That's great and all, but that wasn't what I overheard. It's not even the same subject of what you and the ZIA spooks were talking about." He tapped the tips of his ears. "As I said, I have ears. Perhaps not as good as Hopps here, but they're good." He gave a slight smirk. "Real good."

Bogo let out a long sigh. "You're treading on thin ice, Count," he warned.

"He needs to know." Count insisted. "No- he deserves to know. It doesn't matter what he did or didn't do. This is beyond that."

Trigger looked between Count and Bogo. "Know what?"

"Trigger-"

"Admit it," Count continued, staring directly at Bogo and completely ignoring his fellow pilot. "It's why you brought the officers here. Hopps and Wilde? Sure, they drove us back. But Wolford and Fangmeyer? No, you wanted them in here as extra muscle. Just in case, right? Fine, be that way. He still needs to know. If you don't tell him, I will." He gave out another snort. "Or are you going to leave it to one of these fine officers here like the chain of command always does?"

Trigger's muzzle crumpled in confusion. "What do I need to know that is so dangerous? I'm not… I don't think I'll do anything…" His voice fell as he watched Bogo start to flip through some papers on his desk. "Judy, did you overhear anything?" Next to him, she shook her head to let him know that no, she didn't. Nervously, he returned his attention to Bogo.

The chief pulled out several papers stapled together. "We wanted to confirm the information through multiple sources before we let you know. As fate would have it, we got two other sources through while we were out dealing with today. Savage got the update while you were interrogating the Urusians."

The pilot stared silently back. "Is… this about my parents?" he finally dared to ask. "And… if it was fine, you would have already let me know, so it… it's not good, is it?" Taking in a breath, he reached out for the papers. "Can I see it?"

"I'm sorry, Trigger," Bogo said solemnly as he handed the papers over. "If it will help, as far as we know, they didn't suffer."

Ignoring the chief, Trigger snatched the papers out quickly, eyes narrowing as he scanned through the text quickly. His eyes darted about the lines of text rapidly, flipping through the papers multiple times. He finally settled on something in the middle of the second page. "Check it again," he said quietly but firmly, handing the papers back to Bogo. "This is wrong."

"….Trigger, we did." It was clear that this wasn't a conversation Bogo wanted to have.

"I said check it again!" Trigger ordered again, voice quivering. "Damn it! Just do it!" He stood up suddenly on his chair, shaking the papers at Bogo's direction. "Is it that hard?"

Bogo also stood up, walking around the desk and kneeling down right in front of the pilot, placing his arms on his shoulders. "We checked several times," he repeated. "I'm sorry, Trigger. I really am. But they're gone."

"But they can't be dead!" Trigger whimpered, composure rapidly failing. "Not them too!" He slammed the papers into Bogo's chest roughly. "This has to be wrong! It has to-" His cries were muffled as the chief quickly brought him into a tight embrace, using the his larger frame to completely lock the distraught pilot in place.

Standing right next to them and feeling completely helpless, Judy wanted to desperately act, to do something. Because as bad as the situation was, there was something about his words that really went straight to her. Not them too. This wasn't just another knock on the door to let someone know that their significant other was killed in a tragic but random car accident. This was telling someone who already knows loss first hand that they have to go through it all over again. And this understanding rooted Judy right in her spot, unable to even start to come up with a way to try and help the situation.

But Bogo was already in the way, and even worse, as she started to move to at even see if there was a better angle to get to Trigger, she was roughly pulled back by none other than Count. She turned roughly to him, ready to let him know exactly what she was thinking of his interference. But her words didn't even leave her mouth when she looked up at him, ready to be completely furious, only to halt due to him patiently offering her… a spare cigarette? He himself was busy chewing on one himself, at least smart enough not to light it inside of Bogo's office. But what stopped her from reading the riot act to him was the sight of his own anguished expression.

As she brushed his arm away angrily, he kneeled down to her level. "Judy," he whispered, "grab Nick and the others, and leave us. Don't make this even worse than it needs to be."

"-But-!" She tried to argue with him, a sudden commotion immediately behind her interrupting her protests. She turned back just in time to see Trigger start to pound his fists against whatever part of Bogo he can reach, whatever he was trying to yell muffled from his muzzle pressed hard against the chief. Bogo, for his part, despite normally not tolerating any violence at all from his officers, simply stayed put and absorbed the attacks best he could, only putting faint effort into trying to lock Trigger's arms in place to stop him.

But as the pilot only started to struggle even more violently, Bogo decided to put a stop to it. "Trigger, enough!" He squeezed hard, breaking the pilot's protests into a choked sob as breathing became difficult. Only a few moments later, Bogo eased off the pressure and leaned back to look at the pilot directly in the eyes. "I wish I had something better I can tell you… I didn't want to tell you yet precisely because I didn't know how to tell you," Bogo gave Trigger another reassuring squeeze on the arms. "They're gone. I wish it wasn't the case, believe me that I do, but… they're gone."

The pilot was only able to whimper out a single word. "...Why?"

Bogo shook his head slowly. "Because… Because there are some really bad people out there," he answered gently. "People want to do evil things. Your war is proof of that plenty. And this time, those people? They succeeded. With many innocents paying the ultimate price for it, and I… I really am sorry." He pulled Trigger into another embrace.

Feeling completely useless, Judy went over and stood close to Nick, grabbing his paw for support, and trying very hard to ignore that she saw him holster his tranquilizer gun hastily as she did so. James and Dahlia were also standing there awkwardly, both looking gloomy. The four of them didn't need to exchange words to know what they were all either thinking about, or at least feeling deep down: one of the worst parts of being a police officer was having to tell people that their loved one or more were gone. With the most common cause being random traffic accidents, it happened more often than they cared to admit. However, with strangers, it was far easier to maintain a caring but distant, professional demeanor as required by the job.

And it was always much, much harder to do the same with someone you know.

A muffled question came from the pilot, causing Bogo to separate from him.

"...Can I call them? Trigger asked again quietly, eyeing the phone sitting on Bogo's desk.

If it were possible, Bogo's face fell even more with sadness. "It's not going to help," he answered carefully. "Your parents are not going to answer."

Trigger let out a sudden growl of anger. "So I can't call them?" he snarled. In alarm from behind him, both James and Dahlia moved around Nick and Judy, ready to interfere if needed. "I- I've been here for how long and I never asked to use the phone a single time! I've done everything I was told to do and for what? Let me break the rules for once!"

"It's not about the rules," Bogo said. "It's about you. Trigger? What do you think you'll do when you pick up that phone, call them, and they don't answer?"

"I- I don't…" He looked really troubled as he struggled to answer the question.

Bogo nodded sadly. "You don't think they're really gone," he finished answering for the pilot. But despite his statement, his tone conveyed no sense of judging. "A natural desire to have, I understand. We all do." He grabbed Trigger's shoulder again. "You don't have to be ashamed to grieve. But the sooner you'll accept that they're gone, the sooner you yourself can start healing. We can help… We want to help you. But the hard work will still need to be done by you."

The pilot stared back at the chief. "Can I call them?" He repeated again.

This time, it was impossible to hide the disappointment in Bogo's gaze.

However, it was Skye who came to the rescue for the pilot. "Bogo? Let him call. Jack and I will handle any legal heat it might cause. But let him call home. After everything that happened, he deserves at least that."

Bogo closed his eyes, deep in thought. "All right," he relented, ignoring the grateful look he got from Trigger. "Officers? I hate to do this, but I need you to wait outside for this. Count? You too."

Without a word of argument, they left the pilot behind with Bogo and the agents.

As soon as the door to Bogo's office clicked shut, Count broke the silence. "This sucks!" Despite being indoors, he spat at the ground, chewed up cigarette and all.

Judy glanced up at him, noticing that he looked really off too, unusual previous behavior not withstanding. "Are you okay?"

"What do you think?" he snapped back at her, hastily rubbing at his eyes. "Feeling like the world's biggest fuckup, but thanks for asking."

"Non of this is your fault," Judy reminded him.

"I know that!" Count hissed back at her. "But it doesn't mean that I don't feel that way! You think Trigger's the only one who got a nasty wake up call to the fact that that we've been sitting on our tails all this time while the war was still going on? Look at him now! Don't you think that everything all over the news for the past week isn't a big fat reminder to both of us that we've been sleeping on our jobs?" He shook his head after finishing his little rant, rubbing his eyes furiously again. "It's only down to luck that he's the one in that office right now instead of me. Well, luck? Maybe for me. Definitely not for him. And how am I supposed to help him now, huh? Until now we've both been fighting in the same war for the same amount of time. Now it's no longer the same."

"And what would you like us to do?" Dahlia asked. "Count, we'd love to help, but in this case, you know far more what to do than us."

Count turned to her. "Let us get back to the fight!" he hissed quietly. "I'm done sitting on my ass while others are dying over there! Let me hit Urusia back for what they did! The rate we were advancing when we were still in the fight, we would have been in Furbanti by now! Non of this would have happened!"

Her ears fell. "That would be something you need to talk to Bogo about," she admitted. "Probably Savage and Winters even more."

"Yeah? And what are they going to do?" Count scoffed. "Only a moron would let Trigger back anywhere near a fighter jet in the state he's in." When Dahlia opened her mouth to argue, he cut her off. "You really think he's going to bounce back from this? You've seen him all this time…" He pointed at Nick and James. "You two. You've seen him after that sim flight! That was months ago and he still nearly blanked out being reminded of that mission. Over someone he probably didn't even know about for all that long." His arms fell in defeat. "Whether they know it or not, but I think Urusia finally got what they wanted and shot Three Strikes down."

"And then what?" Dahlia continued. "You want to leave him here while you go and fly off back to the fight?" While she didn't mean any harm, she immediately regretted the phrasing of her words, especially as he shot her a very nasty look that let her know that she stepped too far.

"Don't make it seem like I'm going to just dump him and flee," he snarled.

Dahlia opened her mouth to apologize, but he raised an arm to stop her.

Count's expression softened rather quickly as he lowered his arm slowly. "I mean, sure, when I started out at our unit, I would do that. Back then everyone were just out looking for their own hides. Then Trigger came along, and just by… doing his job, he slowly got us to start working together. The number of us dying each mission slowed down…" He glanced around the group quickly and nervously. "We were told right away that he was Hareling's murderer. I suspect someone wanted one of us to snuff him in his sleep or something so that he won't be a problem anymore. Half the unit probably would have done it too, if they didn't all owe their lives to him by that point. But as it were, thanks to him, our unit started out as Ocelotia's laughingstock, and became Urusia's most feared opponent." Count slowly shook his head. "No, I can't leave him behind. Where he goes, I go. If that means staying here, then so be it, but I'll be damned if-" he stopped suddenly, noticing how the officers were looking at him. "...What?"

Judy spoke for the group. "We always had our suspicions that you only pretended to act like an obnoxious prick. Think we just got our confirmation that you were faking it."

Despite himself, Count couldn't help but grin back at her. "Yeah, well screw you too! What can I say? Had a few months of soul searching to do. That attack only solidified that I really needed to clean up my act and fast. Whatever dirt lies between me and Ocelotia is nothing compared to-" He stopped again as Bogo's office door behind them opened up without warning.

A dazed and bloodshot eyed Trigger stumbled out slowly, the door closing behind him. He didn't even react as it nearly clamped shut right on his tail.

"Did they-" James wasn't sure if he was actually brave enough to ask the question, but he did stupidly start asking it. "Did they answer the call?"

His voice startled the pilot, who's head snapped up in the direction of the voice. "N-no…"

Count reached out with an open arm. "Trig? Come here. Let's get you back to, uh, our new room."

"I want to go home," Trigger whimpered, but at least allowed himself to be guided over to Count's grip.

"You and me both, Trigger," Count said softly. "You and me both." He looked down from the railing at the main hall of the precinct below. "There's gotta be some sort of back alley we can take and avoid the front desk," he complained. "Too many people down there. It'll cause a scene."

Judy looked down at her feet, feeling helpless in this case. However, it didn't stop Nick next to her from snapping his fingers. "Service elevator 4C," he said proudly.

Dahlia gave him a funny look. "That elevator's normally locked. Do you have a way to operate it?"

"Is my fur the best color there is?" Nick asked as he started to lead the group away. "It's called a hustle!"

Judy was just about ready to punch her partner in the arm for being so cheerful. How can he be so calm and upbeat at a time like this? Normally she was the one who was upbeat and cheerful, and even she was able to recognize that now wasn't the time! But two thoughts stopped her. The first, was that neither Count not Trigger seemed to be paying attention much to how Nick was talking. But more importunately…

How much was Nick's cheer merely a cover for his own family issues? Despite knowing that there were chores to be done back at her place, Judy decided right then and there that she was going back to his place and they were going to have a talk.

Luckily, the rest of the walk back to the spare room that was turned into Count and Trigger's new quarters was spent in silence. Count guided Trigger in, asking for privacy from the officers as a way of letting them know that they were free to leave at this point.

After an awkward glance at the door to their room, Dahlia was the first to leave, citing a need to get back to paperwork. James followed after a hesitant glance at Trigger's direction.

It just left Nick and Judy.

She knew that they needed to go, but Judy wasn't ready to leave yet. "...Nick?"

He gave her a shrug. "I don't know what to do here, Carrots," he admitted, revealing to her that at least some of her suspicions towards him were correct. "After I left her… I don't see her nearly as much as I should." He rubbed his arm nervously. "I mean, I saw her on my graduation, thanks to you. And a couple of other times since then. But… I ran out on her when I was twelve! And didn't talk to her for twenty years after that! It… always gets awkward, you know?"

Judy's jaw dropped. "Nick? It's been years! You've been an officer for close to three years now!"

Nick winced. "Can you not start now?"

She pointed an angry finger at him. "We. Need. To. Talk." When he sheepishly nodded, while also looking at the floor away from her, she turned with a huff and walked into the room after the pilots.

"I thought we asked you to leave," Count complained, sitting on his bed. A book was held in front of him, but he looked hardly interested in it.

Judy glanced around the room. "Where's Trigger?"

"Here," Count said annoyed, pointing down.

Judy looked around again, and finally saw him. Not on his bed, but underneath it. Curled up into a tight ball and motionless, facing the dark wall opposite the door.

"Leave him alone, Hopps."

She was about to crawl in after him, for once using her smaller stature to her advantage. "But-?"

With a heavy sigh, Count slid off his bed and crouched down to her level. "Judy? What he needs right now is time to be alone. When he will decide to talk to one of you, I'm sure he will. If you won't be around, I'm sure Bogo will let him call you." He motioned at the tight ball of fur that was his partner. "But right now? Let him be. Go home, Hopps. Take Wilde with you, talk over whatever you need to talk about- I have ears Hopps. And I know how to use them, so don't look at me like that. So go home, okay? And we'll both see you tomorrow. All right?"

When Judy couldn't help but look over at Trigger's direction again, she felt Count nudge her roughly.

"Judy? I'm serious. All you'll do right now is more harm than good. Go home. If nothing else, you can actually do that."

While not willing to just go off and do as he told her, Judy quickly figured out a compromise that she could settle for. "You watch over him," she told Count sternly. "If he even so much as shows signs of… that something's not right, you let one of us know. Right away, Count." Even with Trigger right there, she doubted that he was listening in on them.

Count nodded in agreement. "Nothing less, Hopps. I'll keep both eyes and ears open all the time."

"Good. You better."