-Interviews?-
Nick chuckled to himself as he scrolled through Muzzlebook.
He would occasionally find a funny meme causing his lips to curl in a smile. The fox would give the small bunny sharing the seat with him a little nudge before showing her his screen.
Judy glanced over and gave Nick what must have been the most pathetic forced laugh he had ever heard.
Nick rolled his eyes and locked the screen of his phone and looked down at Judy who was busy staring straight ahead at a poster on the wall across from them
The two smaller officers were currently waiting, as they had been for the past hour, for their interview with the K-9 operations team for the ZPD.
They had taken a seat outside one of the conference rooms in the ZPD Precinct 2 building in the Savanna district and that is where they had been sitting, for ages…
Nick didn't really mind, especially since this was supposed to be a regular work day for the two of them. The way he saw it they were currently getting paid to sit on their tails and wait.
No waiting for calls, no patrolling, no mammals running up and asking them annoying questions.
Nope, all they had to do was sit in the air-conditioned hallway and wait.
This would have been a far better experience though if Judy would ease up.
"I know that health and safety poster is riveting and all," Nick whispered as he leaned close to the bunny in her dress uniform. "But maybe take a deep breath and relax?"
Judy blinked a few times before glancing back at Nick and letting out a sigh, "Sorry Nick...just...was never good at interviews."
"Oh trust me Carrots," Nick said with a sly raise of the brow, "I am very aware of how you do at interviews."
The doe balled one of her paws into a small fist and slugged the fox on the arm.
"Ack, hey!" Nick let out with a chuckle.
He looked down at the bunny who gave him a mischievous grin, her fist ready for another attack.
The two sat like that for a second or two before they both let out a laugh.
Judy leaned towards Nick and rested her head against the fox's arm, "What is taking them so long?"
Nick moved his arm and looped it around Judy, bringing her close so her head was now resting against his side.
For all of Judy's strengths, she did have one flaw, she was not the most patient of mammal's sometimes and right now it really showed.
In her defense though making them wait for over an hour for an interview that had been scheduled a week in advance was a bit much.
After submitting their applications they were both met by a flurry of emails from the K-9 interview team which was composed of the ZPD's K-9 commanders.
A few of them were concerning.
Especially when it came to Judy's application.
They constantly needed Judy to confirm that she was in fact a prey species and a bunny to boot.
She would answer as professionally as she could before another email would show up from another one of the commanders who asked the same questions.
"You would think they would communicate between each other," Nick chuckled as he saw another email for Judy asking some more questions about her application.
After everything had finally been cleared up they both received an email which was a little concerning.
"Your interview has been scheduled for Wednesday at 1000 hours, please wear your dress uniform but bring your regular uniform so you can return to shift when we are done. This will most likely be a quick interview."
Thank you for applying anyways.
Commander Tak
Operations Leader
Task Force Leader
Master Trainer
Site Leader
K-9 commander
Incident response commander
"That one wears a lot of hats don't they," Nick chuckled at reading the signature that seemed more like bragging about rank than informing them who they were in communication with.
"Thanks for applying anyways?" Judy had asked with hesitation.
All of this had been running through Judy's mind for the rest of the week.
She wasn't so much concerned with not getting the job, she had a great position in the ZPD. Her concern was how they may take Nick and not her.
These thoughts had kept her up at night and it had been showing during the week leading up to the interview.
"How about we give them two more Muzzlebook videos and then we just head out," Nick suggested, snapping Judy back to reality.
The doe looked up at Nick and blinked before raising a brow, "And leave without being interviewed?"
"If they are the types to pull this kind of stuff then maybe they aren't the team I want to be a part of," Nick pointed out as he pulled his phone out again.
"I'm going to start thinking of titles for my email signature to send to Tak, think ZPD's most handsome fox would be a good one?"
"I mean it's a bit of a stretch," Judy chuckled as she sat up in her seat and let out a relieved sigh.
"Hey now," Nick snorted before looking through his phone for a video for them to watch while they kept waiting.
The fox wasn't able to start the video though as the door to the conference room suddenly opened up.
A lovely arctic fox poked her head out and looked down one end of the hall and then the other, her brilliantly blue eyes falling on Nick and Judy.
"Oh there you are," The vixen said with a smile.
The vixen stepped out into the hall and signaled for Nick and Judy to come in.
Judy immediately noticed that something was off. Not that they were in some kind of danger but that something weird was going on.
The vixen was not in a ZPD uniform. She was in a pair of tight dark green BDU pants that hugged her hips nicely. She also wore a blue windbreaker that had several words in bright yellow on the breast.
ZBI
Bomb Technician
"Sorry about the wait," The vixen said as Judy and Nick got up from their seat.
"Hey I am on the clock so rush here," Nick said casually as he scooped up his dress hat.
The fox then looked back at his partner and gave her a wink that filled the bunny with confidence.
"Ready to rock this Carrots?"
The vixen made an odd noise which caught Nick and Judy's attention.
"Sorry but that nickname is so adorable," The vixen said with a giggle.
If this vixen was a prelude to how the others would be during the interview Judy suddenly felt rather confident that things may actually go smoother than they expected.
Nick and Judy were led into the conference room where one large table sat in the center.
Several mammals sat at one end of the table, all of them canines, and all of them with their eyes on Judy and Nick as they entered.
Judy scanned the panel of mammals, all of them seemed to be looking at her with some kind of discontent.
Her ears went up and she tried to keep her expression neutral but the slightest of raised brows gave her away to her partner.
Nick, who was walking next to Judy, placed a paw on the doe's shoulders.
Before she could look back at her vulpine partner though she suddenly noticed there was a different group of mammals at another section of the large savanna wood table.
Two of which were beaming at Nick and Judy.
Delta and Atom both stood up from their chairs and nodded for Nick and Judy to come over.
"Well well well, I thought I smelled trouble," Nick said confidently as he strolled over to the two painted dogs.
"See, told you he would say something," Delta chuckled as he nodded over at a gray jackrabbit in a suit and tie.
Delta extended his paw to Nick who gave it a shake. He then looked down at Judy and offered his paw along with an encouraging smile.
Judy squeezed the larger mammal's paw before she was scooped up from behind by Atom who let out a snort as he buried his nose in between Judy's ears.
"Atom!" Blurted out Delta as Judy laughed.
Someone on the other end of the room cleared their throats causing both Delta and Atom to look over at the other group of canines who were in similar uniforms to the two painted dogs.
"Oh someone is in trouble," Delta chuckled as Atom set Judy down and gave the bunny an apologetic look.
"Handler Delta try and act professional," someone growled from the group of canines.
Delta's eyes went wide as he stared at the other canines
"Excuse me? It's the hug machine over here causing trouble."
He was met with silence that caused his expression to go cold.
Delta strolled past Atom and grabbed the other painted dog by the back of the collar and led him to a set of chairs that sat against the wall between the two groups.
It was at this point the jackrabbit at the table stood up and cleared his throat.
Nick and Judy looked over at the handsome buck in the black suit and tie.
His expression was one of eagerness as he stared at the bunny and fox cop duo.
"I think I owe you two an apology for the delay," the rabbit began. "My name is Agent Jack Savage of the ZBI. I wanted to speak with Delta and Atom about the events of Tundra Town and the Rainforest district climate control facility."
Nick glanced over at Delta and Atom who remained silent.
The arctic vixen who had escorted them in strolled around the conference table and took a seat next to the rabbit from the ZBI.
"This is Skye Winters, our top bomb tech, she is helping me on this investigation."
Judy looked over at the vixen who gave the doe a smile.
"And here I was thinking this was going to be a quick interview," Nick said slyly as he took a seat across from Jack who chuckled.
"Well you know how things can go off the rails, after all, it was you two that cracked the Missing Mammals case," Jack said as he too took a seat.
Judy plopped down in a chair next to Nick and smiled.
"You wanted to speak to Delta and Atom about those events so I am guessing we are next because of the rainforest incident?" Judy asked.
"That is correct officer Hopps," Jack said with a nod.
"It's just Judy."
"Or Carrots," Skye chimed in with a little wiggle in her chair.
"Sorry there Skye but that is reserved for mammals that have had to deal with Judy for at least a week," Nick chimed in.
"Right, I'll put a reminder on my phone," Skye shot back.
Oh, I like her.
Judy began to wonder if all foxes had a sharp wit like Nick and Skye.
Jack cleared his throat which made the two foxes look in his direction.
"As we were saying, we are here to ask you a few questions about what happened at the control facility," Jack continued. "I want to stress you aren't in any trouble, and we understand you two have already filed statements about the event. It would just be helpful for my investigation if we went over it all again and see if anything else can come to light."
With that Nick and Judy recounted the events leading up to Nick discovering the bomb.
When they got to that part though it was Skye who finally chimed in.
"So you have had no formal detection training?" the vixen asked, giving Nick a look of admiration that made Judy's stomach knot in jealously.
"Nope," Nick said casually as he leaned back in his chair.
Much to Judy's surprise, Nick didn't throw in a joke, the fox actually seemed to be taking this part seriously.
"And yet you smelled an explosive odor?" Skye continued.
"I didn't know it was that, I just knew it smelled...wrong, ya know?"
There was a soft chuckle nearby and Judy's ears went up before she glanced over at Delta.
The painted dog had a smug yet proud look on his face before glancing over at the other canines who looked almost annoyed.
"Wrong? Can you explain?" Jack joined in.
Nick suddenly looked a little hesitant.
Judy however turned and gave her fox a smile that seemed to give her partner the courage he needed to continue.
"It was just a smell that my mind told me was wrong ya know? Like I just felt that if we kept going then Judy might get hurt so-"
"Just Judy?" Jack interrupted.
Judy watched as Nick looked at Jack before glancing at Judy for a moment.
"I mean a bomb would kind of hurt don't ya think."
"Yes but it would have also killed you and the mammals still trapped in the area," Jack pointed out.
"Well yes of course, which is why I made the decision to stop," Nick continued, doing something Judy had only seen on rare occasions.
Is he flustered? About what he said? About me?!
Judy tried to hide her glee at this little revelation but the goofiest of grins crossed her lips.
She glanced over and suddenly blushed when she noticed Skye was giving her a smug smile.
The vixen looked at Nick and then back at Judy with a questioning smile. As if to ask "are you two?"
Judy gave the vixen a slight shake of the head which caused the vixen to raise a brow.
Judy's heart skipped a beat when Skye opened her mouth but was relieved when it was not about the fox and bunny as a couple.
"So no formal training just instinct?"
Nick looked over at the vixen and gave a slight shrug, "I guess you can say that."
"You know how rare that is?" Skye asked with a smile.
Jack looked over at Skye with a questioning look.
"No seriously do you know? I mean I have read of a few canines still able to pick up on that stuff."
The vixen then looked over at Delta and Atom.
"If you don't mind me asking-"
Delta cut the vixen off, "unless it involves ice cream Atom has to rely on his snout. But two of the canines on our team have gotten in because they did still have those traits."
Someone at the other end of the table shifted uneasily which made everyone else look over..
"Am I wrong?" Delta asked in a somewhat grating tone.
"We cannot discuss such matters about our operation-"
"That means there are some and-" Delta began before one of the canines at the table put a firm paw on the desk.
"We aren't discussing this!"
"Why? Because you already made up your mind? Because you laughed when I put Judy's name forward?"
Judy's eyes suddenly went wide as Delta confirmed her suspicions.
"Handler Delta if you want to discuss that we can do it out in the hall!" An old wolf growled as he stood up.
"No way am I walking into a hallway alone with you unless I can have my body cam on," Delta spat back.
"Enough!" Jack barked.
For a mammal his size he sure knew how to get control of the situation.
"I am not here to deal with some inner department problems. Right now we have reason to believe that this situation is far more serious than everyone is willing to let on," Jack continued.
Everyone in the room remained quiet and looked at the rabbit with either annoyance or with apologetic eyes.
Well almost everyone.
Nick and Skye both grinned.
Judy didn't know exactly how she should feel.
From the sounds of it though she was facing the same problem she had first faced when she joined the ZPD.
Some of them simply saw her for her species and not for what she actually was.
Sure she was a bunny but she was the bunny who stood up and faced her challenges head-on.
"Skye," Jack said, adjusting his tie and returning o his originally professional demeanor. "In your professional opinion do you recognize Nick's alert on the device?"
"Yes, 100%. Especially since he was right," Skye said smugly as she looked over at the other canines at the table.
Jack however cleared his throat, signaling now wasn't the time.
"Was there anything off at all, anything that you forgot to mention during your reports?"
"You tell us," Judy said which causes all eyes in the room to go to the bunny.
Even Nick looked over at Judy, a look of surprise on his muzzle.
Maybe it was the revelation that Judy wasn't wanted for K-9. Or maybe it was her annoyance at being left out of the loop.
Whatever the reason something sparked in the doe.
It was the Missing Mammals case all over again.
She was being treated like some naive bunny again and it secretly infuriated her.
After all, she has been through and done for the ZPD and the city to be treated like this.
"Officer Hopps?" Jack asked in mild surprise.
"Well obviously this is more than just Nick having an amazing nose," Judy said simply as she looked Jack in the eyes. "You wanted to speak to Delta and Atom as well. You mentioned both the Tundra Town and Rainforest incidents. So you are concerned that these are not just independent. That there is a single mammal or mammals involved in a string of events."
Jack folded his arms and sat back in his seat.
It was Judy's turn to be surprised.
The buck was grinning from ear to ear.
"You are the first one in this room to make that connection," Jack said happily.
There was shuffling nearby and Judy looked over to see Atom making a series of paw gestures at Delta who rolled his eyes.
"Don't you even start, you didn't make that connection," the painted dog grumbled.
Judy looked back at Jack who was now whispering to Skye who nodded.
The agent then leaned forward and let out a sigh.
"This does not leave this room," Jack began. "But yes we believe that these events have been committed by the same individual."
Nick blinked before looking over at Judy.
"Nice catch Carrots."
Judy slowly smiled up at her partner before looking back at Jack.
Nick however spoke before the bunny could.
"If that's the case then the ZPD is going to be very busy, especially their K-9 unit," the fox pointed out.
"Good thing they are expanding the team," Jack said with a sly smile as he turned to look at the canines at the other end of the table.
"Bet a recommendation from a cute bomb tech would help," Skye said as she put her elbow on the table and put her cheek against her paw as she looked at the now uneasy canine interview group.
The interview had definitely not gone the way Judy could have ever imagined.
However, she had a feeling that she and Nick were about to have to clear their schedules to train for a new position.
Hey all!
Alright so threat to the city? Check!
Applied to K-9? Check!
Interview? Check!
Training? Oh...right...that's next ;)
I won't lie, there are three major parts to this story I have been looking forward to writing. The training is one!
This is going to be a blast!
-Blue