"Another long night, huh?" Officer Pepper chuckled as he stepped into the office of his recently-promoted boss, one Police Chief Jonathan Prader, currently pouring over a small stack of paperwork. "Jesus, Prader, what is all of that even for?"

Prader didn't even look up from his work, speaking quickly. "Hello, Jaxx. It's all the paperwork from that drug bust last month. I want to have it done before I leave tonight. Is there something I can help you with?"

The rabbit laughed again, putting his hands up in mock defense. "Relax, man! I'm just here to ruffle your feathers!." The bald eagle gave a look that would have killed on sight if it was possible. "Okay, seriously," Officer Pepper walked to Prader's desk, holding his hand out for a handshake. "I wanted to congratulate you. No one else could have been better for this."

Prader finally looked up from his paperwork, pausing for a moment. "...Thanks. That means a lot, coming from you." He shook the rabbit's hand, before thinking of something. "Now what did you really come in here for?"

The smile quickly left Pepper's face. "I...I wanted to know if the former chief had any information on that double homicide and missing persons case from last year-" Prader began to say something, but Pepper cut him off- "-And before you say anything; Yes, I know it's a cold case now. Yes, I know I obsess over it. Yes, I know I should let it go, but I can't, I mean....There's a child out there, somewhere, who could be in God knows how much danger! I know you have a kid at home and I know you'd do anything to keep her safe...so why can't I try to keep this one safe?"

Prader considered Pepper's words. An obvious appeal to his emotion, yes, but surprisingly effective. "Well...but...." He sighed. "Look, I can't promise anything about it, but I promise I'll look. It might take a while though- this paperwork is a month old and I only just found it at the bottom of a pile of crap. If I find anything, I'll let you know. Now please," he pointed to the door of his office. "Go the hell home."

Pepper stared at Prader for a moment before speaking, his tone suddenly cold. "Sir, don't lie to me. Our former chief gave me the exact same crap." He leaned in, close. "There's an unsolved double homicide and a missing kid. I asked around and about half of our force claim to have been on a first name basis with the kid, but no one knows the rest of the family at all. Something's fucked up here, and I. Want. Answers." With this, he silently turned and left the building.

Prader sighed and put his head in his hands. Pepper was right, something was wrong with this case, but this was Prader's first night as chief of police! Besides, he hadn't been kidding about only now finshing old paperwork buried under crap; The previous chief had been slacking on the job. He sighed again. He could already tell he'd need another cup of coffee if he was going to do anything productive tonight. He waited a moment so it wouldn't seem like he was following Pepper out, then wordlessly walked down to the staff room.

Though it certainly felt longer, he couldn't have spent more than ten minutes in the staff room, waiting for a fresh pot of coffee to brew, pouring a cup, and adding cream and sugar to his taste. However, there was an obvious change to his office when he returned; Namely, a German Shepherd that Prader didn't recognize was sitting in his chair, pouring over paperwork as he had been just a few minutes before.

There was a tense moment. The dog said nothing as he continued to read over and fill out the form he had in front of him, and Prader was too stunned to actually react, until the dog glanced up and spoke, his voice almost a mockery of someone with authority. "Ah yes, the new hire, please take a seat!"

Prader blinked, trying to regain his composure. "I....what? Why are you in my office?"

The dog sitting at Prader's desk frowned, his voice taking on a more natural tone. "Oh, damn, didn't anyone forward you a copy of the script? You're supposed to say 'Yes sir, I'm quite excited for my first day!' It's okay though, we can just cut to the chase. Please, sit down."

Again, Prader didn't move any farther into the room. He did however, reach for the gun he kept on hand at all times.

The Dog laughed, and held up Prader's gun in a gloved hand. "Looking for something? You left this bad boy on your belt where anyone could just take it! Oh, and speaking of guns..." He pointed the gun at Prader, and made a motion with his hand. Prader was suddenly very aware there was someone else in the room with them, and whoever they were, they were pressing a gun into the back of Prader's head. The Dog laughed a second time. "...I really think you should take a seat, Prader."

After a moment, Prader slowly took a seat in front of his desk, at which point the Dog began to speak again. "Thank you, Mr. Prader. Now, I'm just gonna cut to the chase, if that's okay with you; I'm with a very....let's say an important group of people in this city. We want to offer you a partnership, of sorts. Are you interested?"

Prader spoke slowly, knowing full well he had to pick his words very carefully. "What do you mean by 'Partnership'?"

The dog quickly became more animate, as if he was excited by his own offer. "Oh it's quite simple! We give you a cut of our profits, and in return, you look the other way when certain people pass through your cells! What do you say?"

Prader looked the Dog straight in the eye as he spoke his next words. "And what happens if I tell you no?"

The dog said nothing, but instead turned a small picture frame that was on the desk so that the photo was facing the Eagle. Inside the frame was a picture of Prader and his family; his wife and their daughter. He smiled, and wordlessly tipped the picture frame over.

There was a tense moment as the Eagle weighed his options; his integrity or his family. The choice was clear, but he didn't want to admit it. The dog in front of him broke the silence. "How about I sweeten the deal for our new Chief of Police? If you say yes, I'll personally guarantee your daughter will want for naught growing up. I'll even make sure she gets into whatever school she wants when she grows up! All you have to do is help us out."

Prader took a deep, slow breath. This was spitting in the face of every one of his morals, every reason he'd enlisted in the first place...but at the same time, he'd give anything for his family. He shook the Dog's hand, and the dog flashed a toothy grin.

"Well Mr. Prader, I'm glad to have you on board! You'll find that your side of the job is pretty easy, just...'misplace' the occasional document, and everything will work out just fine....Oh! and I'll need you to leave a little gift on Mayor Jackson's desk by next week!" Here the dog produced a business card, but instead of a name there was a symbol- an eight pointed star, with a pair of sixteenth notes on top. "Don't worry, he'll know what it means."

The Dog wordlessly waved his hand a second time, and Prader felt the gun come off the back of his head. Before he could react, however, the Dog had crossed the room and was at the door, as Pepper had been earlier- the mysterious gunman was nowhere to be seen. "Don't worry chief! This is the last time you'll see me; I usually prefer to send one of my 'employees', but I thought it'd be a good idea to meet you face to face! Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some paperwork to catch up on, myself!" With that, he quickly left.

About twenty seconds later Prader realized he never got his gun back.

The eagle sighed and put his head in his hands. He'd only been head of the force for a day, and already he was in some gangs pocket. He racked his brain, trying to think of some way, any way to get out of this. If he knew the son of a bitch he'd been talking to, he could have the bastard behind bars by lunch tomorrow!

He paused, considering that....moving quickly, he pulled up the security footage from the last few hours. He saw everyone leaving the station, one by one, a few stopping in to congratulate him...he saw Pepper obsessing over his notes at his desk before coming to talk....and then the footage became corrupted. He cursed, loudly. Somehow that rat bastard had fucked up the security system!

Totally defeated, he slumped back in his chair. He kept telling himself there was something he could do, but he knew damn well there wasn't- not unless he was willing to put his family on the line. Sighing slowly, he went to get another cup of coffee. He didn't want to say it, not even to himself, but he now had a meeting with the mayor to arrange.