Hello, everyone. This is my new Zootopia AU story and my first one crossing it with Marvel. Out of most of the Marvel heroes I know, none of them seem to fit Nick and Judy more than the light and darkness duo of Cloak and Dagger. If you don't know Cloak or Dagger, they originally debut in a classic Spider-Man comic. I first knew them from the Genesis game, Maximum Carnage. Great game, by the way. Cloak and Dagger also had a new live-action show that came out. I like the first season quite a bit. Enough to use bits for this story. Now, this fanfic will be very mixed. Elements from Zootopia, elements from the C&D series, elements from the comics, and elements of my own. Nick will be like Tyrone, AKA Cloak, while Judy will be like Tandy, AKA Dagger. They will also both be around the age of 16. Yes, I'm messing with their canon ages again. So sue me. It's for the way I'm basing them, so the Zootopia canon has nothing to do with this. Also, the story is modernized. So it will be our current period of time. Also, a quick warning. In this first chapter, things get... dark real quick. Anyway, this intro is long enough. Let's start the story. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Cloak and Dagger AU, Darkness and Light.
Also, thanks juantriforce for the epic art for the cover.
We've all got both LIGHT and DARK inside of us. What matters is the part we choose to act on, that's who we really are.
Balance. Without it, the world can lose control of itself. It can also to put into two different powers. Light and Dark. While different as they can be, neither can coexist without the other. With no light, there can be no darkness. With no darkness, there can be no light.
Two young children will gain these powers and together they will forge their destiny. This is how their story began.
In the city of Zootopia, there was a nice little ballet school with young girls of different species in white unitards. This included a young grey bunny at the age of 9. Her name was Judy Hopps. Judy was standing by the balance pole with a few other girls as they lifted their right legs up. The girls then plie and then pirouette. As they did, Judy misstep and almost lost her footing.
"Judith, keep your footing." The female antelope instructor told the little bunny.
"Yes, ma'am." Judy said as she gets back into position with everyone else.
Judy loved doing ballet on account that it takes focus and determination. Judy has always seen herself as a bunny who gets what she wants from hard work. She is actually one of the best students in her class because of it.
An hour or so later, the class was done and all the students headed home. Judy, on the other hand, had to wait for her ride outside. It also didn't help that it was starting to rain.
"Oh... great. He's late again." Judy said to herself looking a little mad.
As she waits, she happens to see a zebra businessman walk by her. She lightly tugs on the zebra's pants.
"Excuse me, sir? Do you have a cell phone I could use for a moment?" Judy politely asked.
"Oh. Sure." The zebra said as he gives his smartphone to the bunny willing to let her use it.
"Thank you." Judy said gratefully.
Judy then typed a number on the phone and waited for a response.
"Hello? Can you direct me to the Roxxon Engineering and to Steward Hopps?" Judy asked. "..." "Yes, I hold." After waiting for a minute, she finally got a response. "Hey, daddy. You're late again. So please hurry." "..." "Okay. See you then, dad."
After hanging up, Judy then gave back the phone to the businessman and thanked him for letting her use it. Now, she just had to wait for her dad to pick her up. As she waited for her right, something else was going on.
Walking down alone in the rain on a street was a young red fox boy around the age of 9. He had on jeans and an oversized black hoodie. He had the hood over his head. This fox was named Nick Wilde.
The street the boy walked down was a bit in the slums of the city. Graffiti on the walls he walked passed and old abandon buildings. As he walks, he goes to a 3 older group of fox boys. All looking like high schools at the age of 15 and 16. The three had their eyes on this blue car.
"Our stereo's in that car." A black furred fox said to the others. "Since those punks stole it from us, let's steal it back."
"Look, I get one you're saying. But we should just go to the police for this." A red fox with a white muzzle said.
"The police won't help a group of foxes like us." A grey fox said. "We're better off handling this ourselves."
"The wrong move and we ALL get in trouble." The red fox said.
"How about I help?" Nick suggested to the older foxes.
The fox boys then looked at Nick. They didn't notice him until he spoke out. The red fox walked closer to Nick. It seems that he knew him.
"Nicky? What are you doing here, little man? And... is that my hoodie?" The red fox asked.
"You left it at my house, David." Nick stated with a smile. "It wasn't like you were wearing it."
"Heh. A smart mouth on you, as always." David said as he patted Nick's head.
David was Nick's friend. In many ways, David was closer to being Nick's big brother. David was known to be a kind and honest fox that always tried to do things the right way. Nick looked up to David a lot and hoped that he could grow up to be someone like him
"Listen Nick, you need to head home. Your ma and pop might worry about you if you are here too late." David stated.
"But I want to help." Nick pleaded.
"Nick, the stereo thing is our problem. But we're not gonna solve it by doing anything rash. Now, head home." David said to Nick.
"Okay..." Nick said looking a bit down.
"You can hold on to my hoodie for now. But I want it back later." David stated.
"Alright." Nick said nodding.
After patting Nick's head, David shooed him away wanting him to head straight home. But Nick didn't head home. Instead, he stayed near the area. Keeping an eye on them. Whether David wanted him to or not, Nick wanted to help them get their stereo back.
Meanwhile, as the rain began to fell more and more, Judy was twirling around as she waited for her dad to pick her up. After what seemed like a half-hour, a white car stopped by Judy. Downing the window was a brown furred bunny on the plump side wearing a white dress shirt, red tie, and grey slacks. This was Judy's dad, Stu Hopps.
"Not the kind of Weather you would want to dance in the rain." Stu said to her daughter. "Hurry and get in, sweetie."
Judy quickly runs to the backseat of the car and gets into the car before getting more soaked.
"You know I wouldn't be so soaked if you came a little sooner, dad." Judy stated sounding firm and a bit mad with her dad.
"Sorry. You know my work." Stu replied.
"I know. I know. But it wouldn't hurt to be on time." Judy stated. "Work shouldn't be more important than your daughter."
"And it isn't." Stu told Judy with a smile. "Now buckle up, kiddo."
Judy put her seatbelt on and Stu began driving off. As they drove down the busy road, the two get to talking.
"Oh boy... if we're late for dinner, your mother's gonna let me have it." Stu said looking worried.
"Is she even okay with you working most of the time?" Judy asked.
"As long as it brings home some money, she's fine with it. I do a lot to be the provider, ya know?" Stu stated.
"I know, dad." Judy said agreeing. "But you can still..."
At that moment, Stu's cellphone went on ringing. Once again, it seemed like Stu's work was calling him.
"Hang on, sweetie. It's work. I got to take this." Stu said before putting on an earpiece.
"Of course..." Judy said not sounding surprised.
"This is Steward Hopps. What do you need?" Stu asked the caller.
As you may have guessed, Stu Hopps was bounded to his work even when he was off. He worked as a developer for Roxxon Corporation. The Roxxon Corporation is known to be one of the world's largest conglomerates. It also provided power and gas to most parts of the city. A job like that had paid the Hopps family handsomely. So the family was very rich. Yet, it didn't help that the father had to work most of the time.
Meanwhile, back with Nick, he still had his eyes on David and his friends. As David was saying goodbye to his boys, Nick made his move. He quietly walked back to the blue car that had the stolen stereo. Nick wanted to help and take matters into his own paws.
First, he picked the lock of the car and got the front door to open up. After that, he spotted the stereo connected to the car's compartment. After removing some wires, the young fox was able to pull the stereo out.
"Yes!" Nick shouted out quietly.
After quickly leaving the car with the stereo, Nick had a few mixed feelings. Part of him felt proud of himself, feeling that David would be proud of him. The part of him didn't feel so good. He felt... scared. Scared that he knew what he did was wrong. But it was too late now. Hiding the stereo in his hoodie, he quickly ran to get some distance from the cars.
After running to a corner, he bumped into David.
"Nick?" David said stunned to see Nick still around. "What are you still doing here?"
"Uhh... well..." Nick said nervously as he tried to come up with an excuse.
David then noticed the unusual box shape under his hoodie.
"What's under there?" David asked Nick. Nick didn't respond. "What's under there?" David asked again sounding more serious.
Not wanting to make David madder than he was getting, Nick removed the car stereo from his hoodie. To David's dismay, he couldn't believe Nick actually took the stereo. He wasn't happy with him. He was very disappointed with him.
"Is that what you're really are now? A thief? Hasn't our reputation as foxes been damaged enough?" David asked Nick very seriously.
The young fox was trying his best to hold back his tears.
"I'm sorry. I just wanted to help." Nick said looking frightened.
David could tell that Nick was scared and regret what he did. After seeing that, he knew he couldn't be mad at him.
"*sigh* Nick..." David said as he placed his paw on his shoulder. "I get it. Your heart was in the right place. But this isn't the right way to go at it. Do you understand?"
Nick slowly nodded. David then took the stereo from Nick's paws.
"Okay, we're taking this back and I'm taking you back home." David said to Nick.
As he says that, both of their ears perked. They were hearing sirens. Police sirens. The police were coming and the foxes weren't what you called in a good position of staying.
"Nick, run! Run!" David told the fox.
The two foxes drop the stereo and focus on getting away from the police before they could be spotted.
Meanwhile, as the rain was pouring more and more, on a busy Bridgeway, traffic wasn't slowing down for Judy and her dad. Also, whoever Stu was talking to on the phone, it was sounding quite serious.
"No. You can't just rush things like that. The machines would overheat and the whole thing could go unstable." Stu said firmly. "Look, let me talk to the head about this."
Judy didn't really understand anything her father was talking her about. She mostly just looked out the window and the rain.
At the time, Nick and David were at the docks with a patrol on their tails. They hid behind some storage crates.
"Nick, stay here and DON'T move for anything." David told Nick telling him to stay hidden. The little fox simply nodded.
As Nick stayed low, David ran in front as a distraction. It didn't take long for him to be caught by a tough looking black wolf with a scar on his face wearing an officer jacket and a cheetah.
"Freeze!" The wolf said holding out his gun.
"Woah! Woah! Easy!" David said with his paws held up not resisting arrested. "Please, don't shoot.
"Keep those paws up." The wolf said pointing the gun at David.
"Look, I'm not causing any trouble. Just let me go quietly." David pleaded.
"Where's the other one?" The wolf asked.
"He's just a little kid. We were gonna take it back." David said.
Nick watched and was still quite scared for him and David's safety.
Meanwhile, two other mammals safety wasn't assured either. Back to Judy and her dad, Judy hears a loud boom from the distance. She looked at an oil rig from the distance on the bridge and saw a... scary site. The oil rig exploding. It was owned by Roxxon. So it not only shocked Judy but Stu as well.
"Oh my god..." Stu uttered in total terror.
As he said that, Stu's eye looked away from the road. The headlights of a big truck showed up in front of them.
"DADDY! LOOK OUT!" Judy shouted out.
Stu focuses back on the wheel and turns away from the truck in time not to get hit by it. But smash through the railing of the bridge and falls right into the water.
Meanwhile back with Nick, a bigger explosion happened at the rig. Once more, Nick, David, and the cops, they were closer to the explosion. The wolf cop with the gun pointed at David, his fingers... they were on the trigger... and he pulled. BANG! BANG! The two shots both hit David's chest. He then fell into the water.
Nick then came out with a horrified look on his face. The wolf looked at Nick and was surprised that he really was just a kid. Nick got a good look at the wolf's face but didn't even bother with him then. He just saw his friend got shot and fall into the river.
"DAVIIIIID!" Nick shouted out. He then ran and jumped into the water after him.
Also in those waters, were Judy and Stu's car, slowly sinking more and filling up with water. Judy was knocked out for a bit, but slowly woke up. Judy was fine, but her father... her father wasn't moving. He just had his head and arms on the steering wheel. Judy unbuckled her seatbelt and nudged at her dad.
"Dad? Dad? Daddy? Daddy, wake up." Judy said as she nudged at Stu's more. But no response. Stu wasn't moving at all. "No... nononononono..."
As Judy panicked and started to cry, the water was filling up the car more.
Elsewhere, underwater was Nick looking for David's body. He spotted it, but... as expected, his body was lifeless. Still, Nick swam to David and tried to move him and hoped that he was still alive. But Nick looked at David's lifeless eyes and where the bullet wounds were... Nick knew the worst has happened.
"No... no... no..." Nick thought as he starting to feel tearful.
If Nick wasn't underwater, tears would be flowing from his eyes. He lost someone really close to him and he felt that it was his fault. He soon realized that he was running out of breath and had to swim back up to the surface.
Things weren't getting better with Judy. The water still filled the car more and more, Judy looked up at the window and noticed the headlights of a large truck heading right for them. Judy let's out a loud scare as the truck hits, putting more pressure into where she was sitting. The little bunny was feeling more and more trapped as she did what she could to stay.
"Daddy!" Shouted out Judy hoping her dad was still alive. But to no avail. He was still lifeless as the water filled up the car more and more pressure pushed the car downer into the water.
Nick was having a similar problem. As he tried going back up to the surface, he could some heavy debris holding him down. It was like he couldn't get back up. He felt that if he didn't go up for air soon, he would be joining David.
Then... it happened.
Some falling debris damaged the oil rig and released a powerful wave of black and white energy. A wave of black energy struck Nick while a wave of white energy struck Judy. After that, both kids passed out.
The same thoughts went into both of their minds. "Is this it?" "Is this how I die?".
As Nick opens his eyes again, he sees something from the distance. A bright and shining light. Even with minimum air, Nick felt lured by this light and swam to it.
As Judy wakes back up, she too sees something from the distance. A black and misty shadow. While it seemed scary at first, it also felt... warm and alluring to Judy.
As both children feel the lure of each other's glow, they reached out with their paws gripped the others and to them, after that night, the memory of what happened that time... went black.
End of Chapter 1.