Author's Notes:

This is a crossover fanfic of the two Watership Down books and the Lethal Weapon films. In this fanfic, a couple Watership Down characters have to team up the way Riggs and Murtaugh had to—even going through some of the same stuff! I will be going out of character with a couple rabbits, but I'll try to keep them as true to their original personalities as possible. I'll also be adding some new characters—more villains, a couple random rabbits, and maybe a few allies—to help with the plot. (Keep in mind: the film adaptation of Watership Down is referenced, but this fanfic is about events based after the books (not the movie or the television series).)

February 2, 2015: This story has been fixed up a bit since the last time it was updated. There will be some fairly new elements to the story from the Lethal Weapon films. I'll still be working on Batgirl of the Future: What Lies Within, but this is partially to give its readers something to read during the wait (if they want, that is). I'll be putting the original version of Lethal Rabbit on deviantART for those who wish to read the original.

Enjoy!

Bigwig stood along the outskirts of his home, Watership Down, as he had every day for the past twenty months. As usual, he had to figure out where the weasel that intruded last week was headed. This was hard to do when he had something on his mind. His chief, Hazel, had just informed him that there was a case about some murdered rabbits between Watership Down and Efrafa, slowly moving from Efrafa to Watership Down. To help solve the issue, Bigwig would have a new partner. Although the Owsla captain insisted that he should know right then who his partner would be, Hazel simply grinned and said: "It'll be more interesting if you're surprised, old friend."

"As long as it's not Fiver, I'll be happy," Bigwig stated flatly. Fiver was Hazel's younger brother and Watership Down's seer. Even though Fiver saved all of their lives on more than one occasion with his visions, he and Bigwig still had a lot of personality clashes.

Hazel grinned even bigger. "You know I wouldn't do that to you, Bigwig," he said slyly.

The Owsla Captain could not help but feel uneasy after seeing Hazel's grin. Something inside of his conscience nagged at him, telling him that Fiver indeed would be paired up with him. Just five months until retirement, he reminded himself. He snarled irritably before suddenly thinking: Oh, for Frith's sake, who am I kidding? That's five months too long!

A young rabbit's voice screamed in terror, disrupting Bigwig's thoughts. "Help! It's the weasel!" the rabbit squealed.

Bigwig dashed in the direction of the young one. He was rather peeved to see the rabbit giggling gleefully. "This is the fifth time that you fell for it!" the rabbit giggled.

The old officer cuffed the rabbit's ears angrily. "What have I told you about crying wolf, Thlayli?" he growled.

Thlayli looked at Bigwig in protest. "But Father, I'm not crying wolf—I'm crying weasel!"

"Then quit crying weasel and anything else elil!" Bigwig snapped.

"What am I supposed to cry, then?" Thlayli asked curiously.

"You're supposed to cry to your mother when I'm done punishing you!"

"What's my punishment now?"

"No flayra for a month," Bigwig replied.

"But Dad—" Thlayli groaned.

"No buts. Get back into the burrow, now!"

Thlayli scurried back into the burrow in which he, Thethuthinnang, Bigwig, and his sisters Juniper and Acorn resided. Bigwig looked up to the sky in despair. "By Frith, what's this world coming to?" he muttered. "We can't seem to find that weasel, I'm being paired with a new partner who's probably Fiver, and to top it all off I named my only kitten after myself and he ends up being a pain in my—"

"Bigwig, prepare yourself!" Captain Holly's voice called. "There's a weasel heading toward your post!"

"Dang, my post!" Bigwig snarled to himself. "So this is what happens when you focus on your lying kitten instead of your job." He shouted to the rabbits outside of the burrows: "Underground, everyone! Now!"

The rabbits looked at Bigwig quizzically before they finally figured out what was going on. They dashed into their burrows as quickly as they could just as the weasel was charging towards them. Bigwig tackled the weasel to the ground in rage. The elil kicked its attacker off of itself. "I'm fighting a long-ear!" he mocked. "This is gonna be just like going on a picnic that's right where you're standing!"

Bigwig glared at his adversary competitively. "Let's just see how it works out for ya!" he challenged.

The weasel lunged at Bigwig with his jaws agape. The old officer dodged to the side before returning the attack. The weasel jumped to the side, grabbed Bigwig by the scruff of his neck, and slammed him to the ground forcefully. It put all of its weight on top of Bigwig, effectively holding him down.

"I told you it would be like a picnic," it snarled. It opened its mouth in preparation for the killing strike. Bigwig stared helplessly up at the weasel, waiting to become weasel food.

A light brown, young-adult rabbit with black ears and forehead, a black and white tail and white paws darted out of the warren and charged at the weasel. "Not if I can help it, you long-bodied, puke-eating, hraka-smelling cat's toy!" he shouted tauntingly.

The predator had no time to react as the new rabbit wrestled it to the ground, causing it to release Bigwig. The two creatures scratched each other cruelly as they rolled around on the hilltop, leaving traces of blood in their wake. The rabbit finally bit down on the weasel's neck and pulled sharply until blood quickly poured out of the wound. Bigwig watched in shock as his rescuer released the dying weasel and limped towards him.

"Are you alright, sir?" he asked Bigwig concernedly.

"Watch your back!" Bigwig yelled urgently as the weasel was creeping up behind the young one.

The rabbit turned around with his right paw raised, swiping it across the weasel's face. The weasel fell to the ground limply, never to rise again.

"Frith of Inlé, Threar!" Bigwig shouted in shock. "Where did you learn to fight like that?"

Threar grinned at the officer. "Catholic school," he replied cheekily. "Where else?"

Bigwig shook his head despairingly. If there was a rabbit he despised more than he did Fiver, it was Fiver's son, Threar: the rabbit with Fiver's visions, Hazel's composure and sense of leadership, Vilthuril's stubbornness that allowed her to survive in Efrafa, and a sense of other-worldly humor none of the three possessed. Bigwig stared harshly into Threar's eyes. "Don't joke around with me," he snapped. "Didn't you hear me order everyone to get underground?"

The younger rabbit's grin turned into a frown. "Yes, I did," he admitted. "I listened at first, but then I saw you go down. I knew you would have died if I didn't do what I did."

"Well, don't expect me to thank you."

"I'm not expecting anything of you right now."

"Good, then get back inside and wash up. I've got your mess to clean up."

Threar stared at Bigwig quizzically. "Hey, I made the mess. You shouldn't have to clean it up. Let me do it, alright?"

The officer looked at Threar seriously. "Are you kidding me right now? For all I know, you'll end up eating it for lunch like how you killed it. How on Earth did you go from a respectful kitten to fierce buck so quickly?"

Bigwig was taken aback by Threar's blueish-gray eyes turning from solemness to anger. There was a tense moment of silence between the two bucks. "A lot has happened since then," Threar finally said in a rough voice. Even though he was built just a little bit bigger than his father, he lifted the weasel's corpse onto his back and walked off like he was carrying nothing more than a feather.

The old buck watched in awe as the odd young rabbit take the weasel to the ditch below and throw it in forcefully. Heaving a long passive sigh, Bigwig went into the burrow. He was greeted by a large crowd of old "friends" and some very young rabbits.

"So Bigwig, how does it feel to be saved by a psychopathic rabbit?" a buck named Bluebell mocked.

"The toughest buck around being saved by the son of a seer, eh?" another buck by the name of Dandelion gloated. "Tell us all about it!"

The young rabbits, still unaware of how the bucks' behaviors were rude, chorused: "Yes, yes! Please tell us, Mister Bigwig!"

Bigwig shook his head in irritation. "Leave me be!" he snarled.

Hawkbit, a slow-witted gray rabbit grinned mockingly. "You can't ignore the pleas of the kittens, Captain!" he taunted.

"Leave him alone!" Threar shouted angrily as he walked in.

To Bigwig's shock and relief, everyone in the Honeycomb—the main gathering burrow of the warren—let him and Threar go by without any further questions or comments. They walked along in silence until Threar approached his own burrow. "See you later, Bigwig," he said respectfully.

"Yeah," Bigwig said curtly in his rough voice as he continued in his own direction, "see you tomorrow."

Threar downheartedly watched the old Captain of Owsla leave him. He sighed sadly before he limped into his burrow and washed himself clean of the weasel's and his own blood. He munched on a pellet for a few minutes before he glimpsed over at a depression in the soft, dry soil that was next to him. The young-adult rabbit shed a few tears of sorrow at the sight of it. I miss you, Violet, he thought.

Violet had been his mate for a few months. The couple were very happy and loved each other, but there came a day one month ago when their happiness came to an end. They had been eating out in the nearest field before a hawk swooped down and grabbed Violet. Threar managed to pounce onto the large bird's back and get it to release his mate, causing her to fall ten feet from the air. The hawk crashed into the ground, Threar having had disrupted its concentration on flying. The young buck ran to where his mate had landed as Violet breathed blood from her nose and mouth. She could not rise, for her legs were broken and she was too weak. Her eyes of soft brown met with his of blueish-gray before she went limp permanently. The only other rabbits to know about Threar's loss were his parents, his aunt Hyzenthlay and his uncle Hazel.

Threar blamed himself for the loss of Violet, for he knew it would happen if he and his mate went to the field that day, had let her talk him into going, and had caused her to fall to her death. Ever since then, he had grown further away from the members of his warren and was known to dive headfirst into danger once it was sighted, not caring whether or not he survived to tell the tale. He was now commonly known as the main psychopath of Watership Down.

~W~

Bigwig had come to a stop just outside of Hazel and Hyzenthlay's burrow. He had wanted to warn Hazel about Threar's actions several minutes ago, but he suddenly hesitated. Would he be helping Threar by telling the chief rabbit, or would Threar continue down his dark path at a faster speed?

Hyzenthlay caught sight of her old friend. "Please come in, Bigwig," she welcomed him.

The Owsla captain respectfully entered the burrow. "Is Hazel around?" he asked.

"I'm right here, Thlayli," Hazel answered. "What brought you here?"

"It's about Threar," Bigwig said dutifully. "He fought and killed a weasel today."

Hazel smiled grimly. "Wasn't the weasel going to kill you right then?"

"No. Well... alright, yes it was."

"Then he saved your life. Nothing wrong with a rabbit saving an Owsla officer, but I can see where else you're concerned: you fear that he is troubled and dangerous. That is what I fear as well, my friend. But I actually know that he is these things and why."

Bigwig looked at his chief curiously. "Then, why is he acting like this?"

"I promised Threar that I wouldn't tell anyone unless I absolutely have to. If Threar feels that he can trust you to know, then he'll explain. If he is driven even closer to the edge without telling you, I'll tell you myself."

The rabbit with the excessive head fur shook his head doubtfully. "I'm sorry Hazel, but I doubt that will ever happen," he said apologetically. "I don't see him enough to be able to earn his trust."

Hazel looked into Bigwig's eyes seriously. "You soon will be, for I've decided to have him be your partner in that investigation I mentioned earlier."

Bigwig was shocked at Hazel's decision, but did not question his reasoning. "Alright, I'll do it. Tomorrow, then?"

"Tomorrow, yes."

"Alright." Bigwig marched out of the burrow, still trying to take in all of the events that occurred in the past hour. First his son Thlayli causing a raucous, then Threar's tussle with the elil, and now Hazel having him team up with the troubled young buck. I'm getting too old for this hraka, he groaned.

That's it for Chapter 1. Please let me know what you think and I will get Chapter 2 up ASAP.

Lapine definitions:

Hraka: droppings (poop!)

Elil: enemies of rabbits

Thlayli: "Fur-head." Bigwig's other name and his son's

Thethuthinnang: "Movement of Leaves" name of Bigwig's mate

Threar: a rowan tree or mountain ash, name of Fiver and Vilthuril's son

Inlé: the moon, moonrise; also carries idea of fear, darkness and death

Hyzenthlay: fur shining like dew

Flayrah: unusual good food to rabbits, like carrots and lettuce

Frith: the sun, which the rabbits personify as a god

Owsla: strongest rabbits of a warren

And yes, Bigwig's daughter Acorn is named after the character Acorn from the book, as he had died in Tales From Watership Down.