Judy Hopps jumped awake and looked out the window of her apartment; sighing when she noticed that the moon had only barely reach the peak of midnight. She swung her legs over the side of her bed and trudged into her kitchen to get herself a glass of water. She walked back into her room with the glass and noticed that the message light flashed every so often, and when she checked it she noticed it was from Nick.
Nick: "I don't if you're awake Carrots, but if you are… could we talk?"
Judy felt her heart skip a beat for an odd reason but she responded quickly.
Judy: "Yeah, I'm up. Is everything alright Nick?"
Nick: "Yeah, I was just wondering if you were alright, the case today was pretty rough and I was just checking on you…. that's all."
Judy: "I'm alright, just a little sore… and Nick…"
Nick: "Yeah?"
Judy: "Thank you, I appreciate you taking the time to make sure I was alright…"
Nick: "I can't have my partner slipping into a coma, now can I?"
Judy felt herself smile at Nick's concern for her, even if it was thinly veiled as sarcasm.
Judy: "Not to mention you would have to be the one to tell my mom and dad….and my 758 siblings."
Nick: "Yeah, I'd rather not have to do that. See you tomorrow Carrots, sweet dreams."
Judy: "Sleep tight Nick."
Judy set her phone back down and plugged it in to charge before curling up in her blanket; falling back to sleep quickly.
The next morning Judy walked in the ZPD and walked up to where Nick Wilde had his head restd on his desk.
"I guess you didn't get much sleep last night." Judy stated.
"Eh, I got distracted with the news." He replied, not lifting his head. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure, what's up?" Judy asked him.
Nick turned his head so that he was looking at her before he spoke. "Has anyone strange approached you recently?"
"No, why?" Judy asked him.
"I saw on that they were talking about a murderer that was targeting small prey, like rabbits and sheep…" Nick replied.
"Oh, thanks for asking but I haven't had anyone approach me that seemed like a threat to my life." Judy as she leaned against Nick's desk.
He smiled and chuckled before speaking again. "Though you'd most likely be able to defend yourself pretty well."
"Yeah, I wonder what the issue will be today?" Judy wondered aloud.
As if waiting for those exact words Chief Bogo walked up to them.
"Hopps, Wilde, there has been a bank robbery at the First Bank of the Rainforest District and I need you to catch them." He told them.
"On it sir." Judy replied before saluting him.
Nick nodded as he got up and got his tranquilizer gun out of his desk. "I'm to go whenever you are Carrot Top."
Judy nodded before getting her dart gun as well and running to the police cruiser with Nick.
"I wonder why Bogo came straight to us?" Nick asked Judy as he started up the car.
She only shrugged as she looked over her tranquilizer gun. "Maybe he wants us to get there to get a look at the situation while he get the rest of the department ready."
Nick nodded as he got onto the main road the Rainforest District and watched Judy out the corner of his eye. He watched as she ejected the tranquilizer cartriage and examined it before replacing it. As they arrived to the scene of the crime Judy gasped and Nick couldn't blame her; up the front steps of the bank blood was everywhere. She gulped as she open her door and hopped out; trying not to land in a puddle of the blood.
"This is horrible." Judy whispered. "We have to get this guy Nick."
He nodded as he readied his gun and took the lead as they walked up to the front doors of the bank. They stop on either side the door and Nick peeked into the darkened building quickly before ducking back to cover. He gestured for Judy to go around to the side of the building and she nodded before turning around and quickly snuck over to her position; ignoring the feeling of not wanting to leave him alone. Nick went around the other side of the building get to Judy's position, but as he went around the corner his vision went dark as pain shot through the side of his jaw.
Judy let out a deep breath as she waited for Nick for a few more minutes before shouldering the door open and sneaking in. She ran along the shadows until she got to the main hallway and ducked behind cover. She could hear several footsteps just beyond where she was hiding and she felt her heart pounding against her chest.
"Oh girlie, we know you're in here." One robber yelled.
"We have your partner, the fox." Another shouted.
Judy's heart almost stopped as she forced her hands to stop shaking as she cursed. She knew she should've stayed, but they would've both been captured and then possibly killed right away. She knew that they were using him as bait, but what if they didn't have him? What if they were bluffing to see if she would fall for it.
"Speak fox, or we'll kill her right in front of you." One of the robbers told Nick.
It wasn't until one robber placed his gun to the back of Nick head that he spoke.
"Judy, don't listen to them." He coughed, pain lingering on each word. "They'll just kill both of us."
Judy felt her face drain of color as the situation set in for her. They had Nick and they had her outnumbered by 10 to 1 easily. She finally noticed how slippery her palms had gotten as Nick had spoken.
"Judy, do not do anything stupid, get out of here and wait for back up." Nick yelled before one the robbers slammed the stock of his rifle into Nick's jaw.
Judy winced as she heard the blow and she let out her breath slowly as her ears picked up the faintest sound of police sirens. She had already pinpointed each of the robbers with there being only seven in total so she just had to figure out how to take them out without getting shot or at least distract them for long enough to get Nick out danger. Judy fished around in her pocket hoping that she had brought her mirror and smiled when her finger brushed against it. She pulled it out and raised and tilted it ever so slightly just as Nick had shown her to see what exactly species the robbers were. To her surprise she saw that they were rhinos and she got a idea that she hoped would work.
"So, if I am to turn myself over, I will only do it to your guy's leader so who is it?" Judy asked them without leaving her cover.
"I'm the leader." One of the rhinos shouted.
Suddenly another rhino shouted out in protest and soon they were shouting and fighting amongst each other to Judy's relief. She peeked over her cover and noticed that they carried on their fight away from Nick, so she leapt over her cover and grabbed Nick under his shoulders. She dragged him down another hallway out the rhino's line of sight. She sat against the wall as the sirens got closer and the rhino's roared when they noticed that Nick was gone.
"I'm sorry Nick, but I have to do something pretty stupid…" Judy told the unconscious fox as she readied her gun and let out her breath.
Judy leapt over her cover again and fired at the rhino, tranquilizing a few before a stray bullet grazed her cheek and she rolled behind a thick mahogany desk for cover. The remaining rhinos advanced to her location and one smashed through the desk she was hiding behind and threw her across the room into the wall. She hit the wall hard enough to where she blacked out for a second and barely got out of the way as another bullet grazed her side. Surprisingly, between, shooting and ducking behind cover-as well as being thrown again a few walls she had gotten all but one rhino knocked out.
"Put down the gun girlie." The last rhino said from behind her.
Judy turned around to find that the rhino had Nick by the throat and had his gun pressed to Nick's head.
"Put the gun down, or there will be one less fox in this world." He growled again.
Judy put her hands up and placed the gun on the ground before kicking it to the rhino.
"Let him go."Judy replied.
"Who?" The rhino asked. "Your partner, the one we caught sneaking around the building to meet you? I don't think so."
Judy saw that just past the rhino the other police from the station had finally arrived. When the rhino noticed Judy took her opportunity and charged at him.
"Chalk this up as the second stupid idea I've had today." Judy whispered to herself as she leapt onto the rhino's face and clawed at his eyes, nose, and ears.
It succeeded in making the rhino drop Nick as the other police officer help him get out of the building but she couldn't stop until she knew everybody was safe.
Nick stumbled along with the other officers not knowing what was going on as he looked around for Judy.
"C-Carrots?" Nick called out questioningly.
"She still in there." Another officer replied.
Nick didn't understand as he watched the other officers helping innocent civilians out of the bank, scanning the crowd for Judy. It wasn't until there were a few loud gun shout that he regained his senses.
"Judy!" Nick hollered as he pulled away from the officers who were holding onto him.
He sprinted back into the bank almost slipping on a few puddles off blood as he searched for Judy. It took him a few minutes but he found her back by the main vault and he felt sick as he saw blood ebbing out slowly from a gunshot wound in her side.
"We have an officer down, someone call an ambulance!" Nick shouted as he fell to his knees beside Judy and pulled her into his arms. "Stay with me Judy, help is on its way…"
She smiled up at Nick. "Did I get him?"
Nick looked over to where the last bank robber lay, dead.
"Yeah, you got him." Nick replied.
"Good." Judy whispered as she passed out.
"Judy, no, please stay with me." Nick told as he felt tears well up in his eyes as paramedics ran in to take Judy from his tight grasp.