The old warehouse was, simply, just that: an old warehouse; rusted on every corner and every surface, a few lights that seemingly fell down from the ceiling, and the foreseeable reclamation by nature; case in point, multiple vines had crawled among the walls and stuck like leeches, there was even a window or two that had a tree trunk burst through it in the past.
However, despite all of this, everything seemed normal. Sure, it was the ruins of a building, used for who knows what purposes, that would inevitably cease entirely, but there was nothing uncanny. The uncanny part was a large square-shaped hole in the ground. A large square-shaped hole that had steps that led down to a door. Steps and a door that were metal. Metal that wasn't rusted and brittle, but shiny, new, and strong.
That was the uncanny part of the hole; the door and steps that resided in it were a juxtaposition to the decaying warehouse the surrounded them.
Judy and Nick stared at the hole, an unnerving feeling dwelled in them both. Neither knew why, but a feeling of something- just something- that could go bad was there. Judy didn't let her fear stop her, it was her job to make the world a better place and she kept by that philosophy. She walked towards the hole, ignoring any and all feelings of fear that coursed through her being.
The rabbit officer continued her movement until she was just a (rabbit) foot away from her desired destination, something was off. She only needed just one second to notice that Nick wasn't beside her like he usually was, he was unmoved from the entrance; his eyes lingered like a frozen manikin of a fox.
"Nick?" Judy asked, worried about her friend's daze. And, like he was awoken from a dream, Nick blinked suddenly before starring at Judy with confusion. The bunny sighed and walked up to the fox until they were face-to-face. "Is something bothering you?".
"Whaaat? Naw, everything's okay Carrots." Nick lied, trying to hide how he really felt. "I'm just admiring the view and..." the unamused look on Judy's face was more than enough proof to Nick that she wasn't believing it, that she saw right through him. She always managed to get to him. "Ok, here's the truth Carrots: I'm scared."
The statement shocked Judy; while Nick wasn't the bravest officer on the force, he was no coward. She was about to open her mouth to ask why he felt that way, but he already answered it. "Just look at it Carrots." he said, pointing to the hole "There's this big hole in the centre of an old abandoned warehouse, and guess what: the hole looks pretty freakin' brand new. And that's not all; there's been suspicious activity spotted at the warehouse, this warehouse. Doesn't that feel, oh I don't know, unsettling to you?!"
Nick's pronunciation of those last words were a little... harsh. He let his anger slip, and it got directed towards Judy, even though she didn't deserve it. Judy was completely silent, her eyes falling to the ground that she and Nick stood on. As the bunny- the bunny that he wished to call his- stared at the ground in utter silence, Nick began to realize his actions. What has he done? "L-listen, Judy, I'm so-"
Nick stopped his sentence when Judy grabbed his paws with her much smaller ones, her gaze stayed towards the ground. "Does this feel unsettling? Yes, yes it does. Should I be scared? Yes, yes I should. But do I feel scared? No, no I don't." She then turned her face up to Nick, her eyes were amethyst diamonds that showed only warm-heartedness and friendship. "Because I know that as long as you're by my side, I have nothing to fear."
A warmth from Nick's chest spread around his entire being, she trusted him with her life, she believed that he could protect her. The fox no longer felt any of those troublesome emotions from earlier, only ecstasy towards the one who saved him from his personal hell. And desire; desire to kiss her, touch her, mark her as his, and his alone. "Carrots..." he said, his voice was as warm as the feeling in his chest.
And that made Judy smile even more.
"And I know you that you feel the same way, that as long as I'm by your side, you have nothing to fear." Judy continued, comforting her friend even more. Subconsciously, she closed the distance between them and rested her head on his chest. And subconsciously, Nick wrapped his tail around her small body and rested his head on hers. Neither realised that they wrapped their arms around each other in a hugging embrace. "You do feel the same, right?" Judy asked, there was a hint of worry in her voice, and her grip on Nick tightened.
"Of course I do, Carrots." Nick replied, his voice was soft and his eyes were half-lidded; not in their usual smug snark, but in deep admiration towards the bunny. "You put me in a state of serenity.
Judy's grip began to loosen, but her embrace still stood. For a few seconds, the doe herself was in serenity. The hug, a soft moment of contact where warmth was shared, was almost exhilarating.
"I love you Judy, you mean far more to me than anything else in the world. You're my everything and more. You've given meaning to my life." Nick thought, his hold on Judy became slightly stronger "Please, don't leave me. I don't want to loose you again."
They both, reluctantly, stopped their embrace. Still, they starred at each other in the eyes with friendship (or is it passion?), never wanting to break contact. However, Nick's eyes began to direct towards Judy's left cheek, where he could faintly see a line or three hidden underneath her grey fur. And the lines didn't look like they were drawn onto her cheek, but more like they were cut into-
Judy then pulled Nick towards the hole, her face was no longer in view. "C'mon, Slick, there's a world for us to make a better place." she said happily, still not facing Nick.
Nick decided to ignore what he saw, whenever it was real or not; it was best to focus on the case before he asked Judy anything that was personally related to her. "But still..." That was a thought that wouldn't leave his head. He walked in-front of Judy, going down the hole and opening the door, unbeknownst to the fact that Judy was standing at the top of the steps. Her fingers her tracing over her left cheek, tracing over her scars.
"I'm sorry, Nick." she thought, her eyes looking at the ground (and the first and second steps in the hole) in guilt. "I know that I hurt you, I know that I never should've taken that fox repellent. And all because of these; a sign that I will never truly be brave; that I will never truly be strong."
Judy got back to her senses and joined Nick before he noticed her absence. Behind the metal door was a lit hallway, a lit hallway of twisting paths that is. Both officers looked at the hallway in a mixture of surprise and incredulousness; whoever made this hallway was an architect that wanted to make a maze.
Nick was silent, hoping that Judy could find the solution. Nick wasn't as optimistic as Judy, in fact he was a bit of the opposite. While not one completely, the fox tended to be pessimistic at times. He can thank society's view on his species for that. So whenever there was situation that felt hopeless, at least to Nick, he would always look towards Judy for hope.
Her optimism was almost unreal, and it was, indeed, one Nick's favourite aspects about her (which is saying a lot). Oh how it made him smile whenever she found a solution to a problem, completely turning something fruitless into a fool-proof plan. His bunny was definitely a phenomenon.
His bunny...
Laughable, he hasn't even told her his true feelings and, as far as he could be sure, she might just want to remain as friends. Yet still, for a long time he considered her as his. Well, she was, in Nick's eyes, perfect, after all. Oh how she permeates him with euphoria with her courage, her determination, her optimism, her friendliness, her-
Nick shook his head from side to side, taking him out of his Judy-based reverie. If you were to ask Nick what the closest thing there was to being an annoyance about being in love with Judy, it was that he'd constantly be distracted by daydreams about the little bunny.
"Hmm" Judy hummed next to Nick, her finger tapping on her lips as she though carefully. "Maybe if there was a sound source, I could-" Judy was cut off as a loud noise echoed through the hallway. The fox and bunny instantly went onto the same thought: follow that noise. The duo ran to the origin, ignoring their feelings of uncertainty.
As they got closer to the sound's source, Nick and Judy began to make out what the voices were saying.
"...could leave our operation jeopardised!" an annoyed voice yelled.
"Oh calm down, Clause." another voice said, it also sounded annoyed, but less so "Barely anyone seems to notice me."
An annoyed grunt was heard. "You may be right about that, Derik," the other voice, presumably called Clause, spoke "but I have been waiting my entire life to start our liberation! So, you waltzing around and taking others in broad daylight could raise suspicion. And do you know what suspicion causes? We'll get arrested, which will stop us from beginning our liberation. So if you think I'm angry for no reason than guess what: I damn well do have a reason!"
The path that the fox and bunny went through had a corner that went left. The voices were coming from the other end of the corner. Judy was about to turn that corner, but stopped when Nick put a paw on her shoulder. Judy turned her head to face Nick, his other paw was on his lips in a way that said 'be quiet'. Judy kept her mouth shut; the look on Nick's face showed a sort of worry. It's never a good sign when Nick looks worried.
Nick poked his head around the corner. He saw two different mammals, defiantly predator, facing towards a table. The table was in the middle of the wall at the end of the room. It looked like the table contained a bunch of papers. By peering around the medium to large room, Nick was able to faintly see a wall of cardboard boxes that were behind and to the right of the two preds.
"If I'm quick enough, I can get both myself and Carrots behind the boxes so we can record any evidence."
He wasn't completely wrong; if Nick and Judy crouched, they could stay unnoticed behind the cardboard boxes.
"It won't work." the voice of the woodchuck said in Nick's head, almost sounding like he was mocking Nick "Doing so will get you and 'Carrots' killed."
Nick ignored the voice in his head and did his plan of action anyways. He put a paw over Judy's mouth, and another on her belly- causing both of their hearts to beat rapidly- and quickly rushed behind the boxes.
"Hmm?" one of the voices hummed as soon as Nick got both himself and Judy behind the wall of cardboard boxes.
"What is it, Derik?"
"Thought I heard something"
"It's just probably your imagination."
"I doubt it Clause."
A scoff was heard "Whatever."
Judy noticed that there were spaces between the boxes; they were big enough for Judy to look through, but small enough for her to remain unseen. Looking through the spaces, Judy got a view of the two suspects. The first was a snow leopard, about somewhere between his late twenties and early thirties, wearing a white shirt and some brown slacks. He looked normal, with the exception of one disturbing and, somewhat, peculiar feature: there was dried blood around his muzzle. And it didn't look like it was his own blood.
Judy looked down to her left side; her left arm and paw was slowly and shakily reaching for her cheek, for her scars. She stopped her left arm. This was her secret guilt; ever since Gideon clawed her, scarred her, those many years ago, whenever a predator would flash its teeth or claws in anger, not matter the context, a impulse to reach those old, but always permanent, scars would come over Judy. The memory would always resurface. The impulse was always there. Even today, after befriending and helping many predators, after Gideon apologised wholeheartedly, they still happened. What's worse is that she would sometimes even get night terrors of that very moment. It made her feel horrible. She was a hypocrite. She was ashamed that even a part of her was this; a despicable scumbag. It didn't matter if you agreed or not, a part of her viewed herself as that.
"Your not like that Judy." she tried to assure herself that it's ok "You don't hate predators, you don't fear predators. Predators are your friends."
The snow leopard, Derik, opened his mouth, revealing sharp, blood-covered, teeth. "So how is the preaching going?."
Judy had to carefully move to get a view of Clause.
She wished she never did.
Clause was a wolf, approximately two years older than Judy. His fur was black, and his eyes were blue. He wore distressed dark blue jeans and a dark, long-sleeved, black shirt. His jeans and shirt were covered in splotches of blood; their sizes varied from small droplets to the size of a small new-born. The age of the splotches also varied; some looked they were weeks old, maybe even months, while others looked... fresh; they were recent. But, what was most terrifying of all was that just by looking at his eyes and smile, Judy knew that this wolf was a sadist.
Judy's body became rigid; she was paralysed by fear. A paw was put on Judy's left shoulder, she looked to see that it was Nick; he looked at her with eyes that shown an understanding of her fear. To an extent, of course. Much like how Judy wasn't muzzled at the age nine, Nick wasn't given three eternal scars at the age of nine.
However, it didn't matter, she still felt comfort from him. Her best friend; but she wishes they were more.
"Well..." she heard the voice of Clause say, making her bring her carrot pen out and hitting the 'record' button "It hasn't been the best: sure the grizzly bear is starting to think about the undeniable pecking order that we predators have over prey. But on the other paw, the hyena and the raccoon are still denying the truth. They still believe that 'prey and predator can live in harmony' bullshit." Clause then scoffed "Meek prey, believing that they can live on the same hierarchy as us: predators: their natural superiors. But it has always been a prime principle that the lives and deaths of prey are at the mercy of predators, and the mercy of predators alone."
Judy felt fear flow in her bloodstream. It was more than likely that those blood splotches belonged to prey mammals. Not to mention that, from what she heard, he apparently believes that predators are above prey. Judy and Nick's eyes contacted and, like they were both mind readers, they knew what the other was thinking: they need to get the evidence to Bogo as quickly and quietly as possible.
Nick couldn't believe what that wolf had just said. "'The lives and deaths of prey are at the mercy of predators, and the mercy of predators alone.'? Really?!" he thought "What kind of messed up philosophy is that?!". Nick could practically feel a growl grow in his throat. Sure, for more than half of his life he lived with a view that you could only be what you are born as, so he thought that there were some mammals that would always be superior to others. But that was only bigger mammals over smaller mammals, not predator over prey.
Either way, his view was changed by Judy, his beloved Carrots. She would teach him a thing or two about his philosophy. After all, she is an anomaly; she did get Nick to fall in love with her, even though he's a predator and she's a...
Nick's eyes widened. Judy's a bunny: a prey. This Clause guy is a wolf: a predator. Everything about that black wolf, from his expression to his blood splotches to his view on prey, showed that he wouldn't give any prey, including Judy, mercy; only malevolence.
But, what confirmed his suspicion was the smell. Nick could smell prey mammals. From inside their throats. Nick could smell multiple prey mammals, including bunnies, from the insides of Derik's and Clause's throats; they have eaten prey mammals.
If he saw Judy he will kill her! The thought filled Nick with fear. He doesn't want to lose Judy, not now or ever. But fear wasn't the only emotion that overwhelmed Nick. He also felt rage. If this Clause person kills Judy, Nick will tear him limb from limb. He needed to get Judy away from Clause as quickly and quietly as possible, before Clause even has the chance to act out such a horrible thought.
He and Judy looked at each other in the eyes, and knew that they shared the same thought: give the evidence to Bogo as quickly and quietly as possible. Neither of the two predators were looking at the duo's current area of destination (not that they were aware of the two cops anyways); getting away should be- anticlimactically- easy.
But Fate's evil, so too bad.
Nick felt an itch in his nose. He's gonna sneeze. Nick's wide eyes and twitching nose were more than enough evidence to Judy that he's gonna-
Achoo!
Nick turned his head to the side to not sneeze on Judy. Sadly though, that side was the same side that the boxes were on. And, of course, Nick's sneeze caused both Derik and Clause to look at the source of the noise to find a bunny cop and a fox cop.
"Hmm..." Clause hummed as he observed the sight before him, his eyes zoomed in on Nick first "It appears that a predator, one of our kind, is has came to join us.". His gaze then transferred to Judy. His eyes turned into vertical slits, with the frown on his muzzle becoming a huge, disturbing, wide grin that showed very, very sharp teeth "And he brought lunch~"
"Don't you dare try to eat her!" Nick growled at the wolf in front of him, his teeth was bared, and his eyes had became vertical slits. However, unlike Clause's slits, which were filled with a macabre-related desire, Nick's slits showed protectiveness.
"Oh... I see..." Clause said, looking rather disappointed "Your another predator who's been lied to..."
Lied to? What does he mean by lied to?!
"But that doesn't matter," Clause said, having an innocent-looking smile "you'll learn about the truth of prey and predator soon enough.". From the corners of their eyes, Nick and Judy noticed that Derik had moved near to the only escape entrance, hindering their escape chances. Clause's expression turned from innocent to sadistic "And you'll understand why it is perfectly in your right, as a predator, to step over all prey mammals."
"Excuse me, what?!" Nick said, practically spitting out venom when he said 'what?!'.
Clause's expression turned blank for a few seconds "What I mean is-"
"I know what you mean." Nick interrupted "And honestly, I think it's despicable that you think that way; believing that you're superior to prey because your a predator. Oh, and one last thing: I can smell them, I can smell that neither of you two are even trying to hide the fact that you have been eating- honest to god, eating- prey mammals!"
Judy's eyes went wide. She had a suspicion, but tried to push it down. But now it was undeniable: those two were murderers.
"Yeah, we have killed and eaten prey mammals." Derik said, looking completely unaffected by Nick's words "So?"
He didn't care. Neither the wolf or snow leopard cared that they were eating other members of society. They had no care what-so-ever about the lives of prey mammals.
"You monsters!" Judy yelled, tears of anger escaped from her eyes "You're under arrest!"
Clause and Derik looked at each other, unamused. "I'll knock out the fox, you can eat the bunny." Derik said to Clause.
Clause went back to his insane grin, licking his lips at the thought "Certainly~!"
Judy had enough of that wolf. And, like a blur, had kicked him in the face. Her kick had sent both Clause and herself flying across the room, with Judy landing on her feet while Clause landed on his face.
Seeing how Derik was flabbergasted by Judy's action, Nick tackled the snow leopard by the stomach. While the tackle was a little difficult, thanks to Derik's six-pack of abs, it was still successful, nevertheless. Derik fell to his backside, but sat up almost instantly. However, as soon as the snow leopard sat up, he was tackled by Nick once again, the force aiming for his head completely.
"Oh, shi-" was all Derik could say before Nick tackled him by the head, being seemingly knocked unconscious by the attack. Nick then moved himself to the side of the supposedly unconscious snow leopard, a feeling of pride from his 'victory'. It was easy... too easy.
"Well, I think we won." Judy said, a beaming smile on her face has her hands were placed on her hips. But her face then turned terrified; eyes wide, nose twitching, mouth open in a gap. Her arm then slowly went up and pointed at Nick, shaking. "N-N-Nick..."
Before Nick could even question Judy's change in behaviour, he felt a presence looming over him with a growl. He looked back to see Derik on his feet, like nothing happened to him at all. Derik then tried to pounce on Nick. Fortunately, Nick's reflexes and reaction speed were fast enough for him to dodge. Nick jumped a few feet away before Derik could do any other attacks.
Judy was shocked at what she had seen. The snow leopard basically brushed off Nick's attack with ease. She then felt terror as a paw grabbed her by the leg. She looked down to see Clause holding her leg, predatory eye slits and a wicked grin on his face.
"Nice try, Little Rabbit~!" Clause said, his tone was creepily playful. The next thing that Judy knew was that Clause quickly got back onto his feet (with Judy's leg still in his paw) and threw Judy across the room, her back hit the wall- hard. "But wolves are stronger than bunnies." he said, his voice sounding a little mocking.
"JUDY!" Nick screamed as he rushed over to Judy.
"I-I'm fine." Judy lied as she got back onto her feet. She started to rub her upper-back area, a throbbing pain was lingering there. That was always a problem for her, even though she was one of its best officers, Judy had the lowest defence out of everyone in the ZPD.
She was one of the best officers because her quick brain was useful in horrible situations, her small size and speed made her hard to hit, and her feet were effective at taking down criminals (though the opposite could be said about her paws). But, her durability was a weakness. If you could land a hit on her, you'll find that Judy is less durable than her co-workers.
And there was only one thing that she could blame: physiology. I.e a bunny's bones have extremely thin cortices, so they are easily shattered. Because of this, Judy relied on her speed and reflexes to help herself while on duty. Sure, she can take down enormous criminals, but everyone in the ZPD has done that at least once.
"Those brittle bones of hers will break in three hits." Clause thought to himself, a wide smile of malice made its way on his face "But I want to have some fun with my food before I eat it. I always play with my food."
Clause and Derik looked at each other, their eyes shifting like they were communicating via their aforementioned eyes.
Suddenly, Derik lunged at the fox and bunny. Nick didn't think, only act. He pushed Judy out of the way, hoping to save her from the impact. Derik's fist made strong contact with Nick's face, the force was so great that it even sent Nick a few feet backwards. Clause then came running to Judy, claws unsheathed, hoping to cut through some of her skin and flesh.
However, Judy dodged and kicked Clause in the stomach. Clause only groaned slightly before acting like nothing happened.
"Idiot bunny." Derik thought as he watched "Meek prey are powerless against their predator superiors."
"Hey!" Nick yelled from behind the snow leopard, his baton in paw. "If you think that's enough to knock me unconscious, you clearly underestimate me." Derik just rolled his eyes and aimed a punch at Nick. Nick dodged and hit him in the head with his baton. "Nice try," Nick said, giving Derik the 'No No' finger "but I'm too slick for you."
Derik just growled before trying to pounce Nick like a primal predator.
"Whoa!" Nick said as he dodged the attack, albeit just barely "That's unexpected."
Derik smiled in response to the fox's statement; his mouth was wide open, showing off his teeth covered in dried blood. "It's how I was made. I just merely do what I was created for." Derik said, his savage-like smile became slightly prideful. "Although..." his smile turned into a frown, and he looked... disappointed? "it is forgotten and prohibited, much like our purpose for existing." He stood up on his two feet, he... actually looked rather sad in his eyes, sad and misunderstood "You have been told lies since you were a kit, lies created by prey. That is the job that I, Clause, and many other predators are set out to do: liberation. We seek to find a way to put the world back into it's primary way; predators rule over prey, prey lives to be nothing more than our meals."
Nick looked at the snow leopard in a combination of horror and disgust. Those words were unbelievable; they saw not only themselves, but all predators, as tyrants who should rule over all prey mammals like their lives don't matter. What kind of world- or, in Nick's mind, hell- did this... thing come from?
Derik then extended his paw towards Nick. Not in a way to attack Nick, but like he was asking Nick to take his hand. "Take my paw, Nick, and I, Clause, and many other predators will show you how the world is meant to be, how you were meant to be."
Derik kept his paw out, expecting Nick to accept and embrace the 'truth' about the world, the 'truth' that is his belief. But, to Derik's surprise, Nick hitted Derik on the head with his baton.
"No." Nick growled "I will never accept your philosophy, you and Clause can rot in prison if you believe that the meaning of others is to be your meal!"
Nick's ears became erect when he heard a whimper from his side, a whimper from a bunny that he cares about deeply. He looked to the source of the noise to see a sight that filled his blood with fear and anger. Clause had Judy pinned down, his paws over her own and his knees over her feet. And his sharp, dagger-like teeth was only inches away from her neck.
"Judy!" he yelled, his paw reaching out to her, and his voice filled with the same fear and anger. This caused both Judy and Clause to look at the fox, Clause's grip on Judy loosened as he turned his attention onto Nick.
Derik took the opportunity to take Nick's baton from his paw and hit him on the head. Hard. The world became a little dizzy for the fox, but he could still remain conscious. Then Derik slammed his fists on Nick's head, knocking him into the dark unconsciousness. He at least saw Judy escape Clause's grip and run to him.
"Hah! Weak fox." he heard Derik say.
Judy had a brief moment of victory after hitting that wolf in the stomach. But, shortly after being hit in the stomach, Clause pinned her down. He did this by holding her paws down with his own, and using his knees to hold down Judy's feet. His snout came close to Judy's face. Really close.
"You really think you can be a match for me, Little Rabbit?" Clause said mockingly, feeling like the superior being that he believes himself to be "You bunnies are nothing more than weak carrot farmers, prey mammals who live at the expense of predators." His eyes turned into slits, and his grin turned sadistic once again. That grin had secretly induced fear into Judy "All prey mammals, no matter how big and strong they are, live at the mercy of predators: the natural overlords of prey."
Judy felt more angry than scared at the black wolf. For now. "I am not a carrot farmer, I'm a cop. Also, I can take down rhinos, I am not weak."
Clause just scoffed, unaffected by Judy's struggling against him. "Yeah, you can take down other prey mammals, with their own fists. You are never truly a strong mammal unless you have sharp teeth and claws to kill your prey."
Clause then put his snout even closer to Judy, just about grazing her nose, her twitching nose. Judy could faintly smell the blood of prey mammals in Clause's throat; from mice to elephants.
Clause's snout began to move to Judy's neck. He opened his mouth, revealing sharp, dagger-like teeth, and began to place it around the bunny's neck. Judy could no longer hide her fear, her nose twitched without control and she even whimpered.
Despite his mercilessness towards prey, Clause's teeth didn't sink into Judy's neck. The look in his eyes explained why: he was aware of her fear, and he wanted more. He could see her fear, smell it, taste it. She really was at his mercy; the only reason why he didn't kill her was because he liked seeing her being so scared of him.
"Judy!" yelled a voice full of fear and anger, a voice that was Nick's. This caused both Judy and Clause to look towards Nick, and, in the moment of surprise and redirected attention, Clause's grip on Judy had loosened, making it possible for the bunny to escape.
Derik took his opportunity to attack. He yanked Nick's baton out of his paw and hit the fox on the head with great force. Nick wobbled as he held his head with his paw, no doubt that he was nearly knocked unconscious by the attack. But, whenever Nick would stay conscious or not didn't matter; Derik slammed his fists on Nick's head, making him go unconscious.
Judy's eyes widened, he was knocked unconscious. She then noticed that Clause was no longer pressing his paws on her own, nor was he pressing his knees onto her feet. Judy moved her feet out from under Clause's knees and kicked the wolf in the stomach, pushing him back. Judy then ran as fast as she could to Nick.
"Hah! Weak fox." Derik said triumphantly.
Luckily, Derik didn't even try to stop Judy. In fact, he actually walked out of the way, like he was letting Judy get to Nick.
"Nick?" Judy asked, trying to see if he was ok. He was breathing, so he was alive, but he was unconscious. "Nick?!" Judy repeated. This time she was shaking her fox friend to get him to wake up, but the effort was fruitless; he was, and will be, unconscious for who knows how long.
She looked back at the two predators- no, monsters- who were the cause of this; Clause was getting back onto his feet, sinister smile and eyes were still worn on him, while Derik stood next to the wolf, arms folded with a look of personal victory on him as he looked at the bunny and her unconscious bunny.
"Do not worry about your friend, Little Rabbit," Clause said as he got back on both feet "we won't kill him, we'll just take him away so we can preach and liberate him about how predators like him should be ruling over and eating prey like you." His grin grew wider "Understood, Little Rabbit~?"
Judy growled angrily. "First of all, my name is Judy Hopps, not 'Little Rabbit', which is a rather derogatory nickname." Clause just rolled his eyes, unamused. Clearly Judy wasn't the first bunny to tell him stuff like that. "And second of all, if you think that I'm going to desert my partner, you thought wrong!"
Judy stood sturdily as she could. She wasn't going to abandon him; not now, not ever. She already lost him once at that first press conference about the night howlers, and she damn well wasn't going to let it happen again.
Clause scoffed "Your really dumb, Little Rabbit. You see us, right? Two predators that are far above you in the food chain, do you really think that you stand a chance against us?" Clause closed his eyes, still smiling, and shook his head from side to side; he saw this as some sort of bad joke. "Not that we'll let you live anyways, so I'll tell you this:" Clause put on an innocent-looking face "give up now, and I'll let your death be quick and painless."
"What?!" Judy yelled in a mixture fear and confusion at Clause's absurd statement.
Clause gave a light chuckle, his expression of obviously fake innocence was still apparent "Give up now, and I'll give you a quick, painless death before I eat you." Clause's face then became evil once again "Or try to put up a meaningless resistance that will end with you having a slow, painful death before being devoured by your truly." he pointed to himself when he said those last two words.
Judy felt cornered, she knew she couldn't beat these two on her own, but she couldn't abandon Nick either. She had only one option.
Judy pulled out her radio from her belt "This is officer Hopps requesting backup. Officer Wilde is down!"
Judy shrieked as she saw Derik rush towards her, a fist in the air; ready to slam her into the ground. Judy jumped back, avoiding the attack. But, she dropped her radio when she jump backwards, leaving it where she was. Derik's fist slammed onto the ground. The ground where Judy's radio was. Correction: where Judy's broken radio was.
Of course it would break, seeing how it was made to both fit in Judy's paw and function properly, it wasn't completely surprising that it would break after being slammed on by a snow leopard's paws against a metal floor.
"Unsurprising..." Derik said, his voice monotone, as he looked at his paw, and then at the remains of Judy's radio "All things prey are weak and pathetic. Prey mammals in general are weak and pathetic, that's why they all are food and nothing more."
Derik then walked to the only doorway that the room offered. He then leaned on it, an obvious attempt at hindering any chance of escape for Judy. Not that the bunny would even think of trying anyways, she would never leave Nick, not like this, even if her life was at risk.
Clause was barely even attempting to control or hide his laughter, he didn't take the officer seriously in even the slightest sense. "Seriously, Little Rabbit, you think that you can hold off either me or Derik, nevertheless both of us?". He began to laugh more like a hyena than a wolf, but honestly at this point Judy was starting to believe that he was neither; he was, give or take, a demon. "How foolhardy~!" the wolf said with a wide smile of sharp teeth.
This wolf. He was an epitome of Judy's fear. Judy's fear that made her absolutely unforgivable to anyone and everyone, even to the most tender of hearts. Or, at least, that was her perspective.
And then there's the fact that he was sending her impulse levels to absolutely insane. Normally the impulse to reach for those scars was in a regular volume; not quite loud, not quite quiet. This time it was screaming in a loudness that would make Bucky and Pronk's arguments sound like silent whispers.
A growl snapped Judy out her mini personal war. It was then that Judy noticed Clause was in front of her, his right paw was aiming to strike her left leg. Judy attempted to dodge, but the distance between paw and leg was too small. Even if she could reduce the damage, it would still inflict her anyways.
Sharp claws slashed through skin and mild flesh like scissors through paper.
However, even in the moment of pain, Judy took the opportunity to kick Clause in the stomach with her right leg, her good leg. Clause actually clutched his stomach while groaning in pain. Seeing how another opportunity was open, Judy gave him an uppercut under the jaw with one of her paws. Sure, it wasn't much, but at least it was something.
Judy then increased the distance between herself and Clause, but still tried to keep close towards Nick. She hissed in pain while holding her leg. Warm blood flowed between her fingers, escaping from her leg via the three claw marks along her leg.
"Damn it." Judy mentally cursed. The cuts were deep, so they would need stitches, and they would leave scars.
"Do you give up now, Little Rabbit?" Clause questioned, his face was so smug that it could match Nick's.
Nick!
Judy rushed to the unconscious fox, ignoring the stinging sensation that coursed though her leg. She stood in front of her friend, her friend that she secretly loved, her arms were open and outstretched protectively. If they dared to take her fox to god knows where, they'll have to kill her first (though, judging by their characteristics, they'd do it regardless of the circumstances).
"Wow, Little Rabbit, you're very brave and very stupid." Clause said before releasing a dark chuckle, resting head on paw. His eyes were trying to pierce into Judy's soul. Or, at least, that's what Judy presumed he was doing. "Especially with those little scars on your check."
"We saw them the second we saw you." Derik said, almost nonchalant. "And we know, by their appearance, that you've had them for a long time." The snow leopard appeared to take some pride in how quickly he and his compadre noticed her secret.
Judy's heart stopped beating, or at least that's what it felt like. For a second or two, Judy was no longer in the underground room beneath a relic of a factory. She was no longer protecting a fox who had, through unforeseen events, became her best friend. She was no longer in front of two predators who had disturbing, and possibly derogatory, view on prey.
No, she was in her nine year old body again. She was in Bunnyburrow, her face being pushed into the dirt by Gideon as her friends watched helplessly. The scariest moment of her life replayed flawlessly; a pristine replay.
Even though it was years ago, even though it all happened in only one second (probably even less than that), she could never forget the moment those claws cut through her cheek; the birth of her scars.
'I want you to remember this moment the next time you think you will ever be anything more than just a stupid, carrot-farming, dumb bunny!'
And remember it, she did. Because even the most heartfelt of apologies, even the passing of time, cannot change what is immutable; that is by definition. The past can decide the outcomes of the present and the future, but what has happened is permanent. Consequence is a devil.
Those scars were eternal. You can repress them, weaken them, conceal them, but erasing them is an impossibility.
"Aww, is the wittle bwunny afwaid of the big bwad wolf with the weally big pwaws and cwaws that can shwed her to pwieces" Clause baby-talked, his smile widening as fear became more evident on Judy's face, even if the fear was because of something else. "I can tell that you've had those scars for a long time, probably since you were a kit. I will admit again: you're pretty damn valiant."
Admittedly, Judy didn't care if Clause was honest or not, his capricious words created a moment of solace. However, it was only instantaneous.
"But you're also really fucking dumb." Clause said, looking a little angry at how Judy refused to give up. "I mean look at your leg! Even if you manage to take down one of us, nevertheless both of us, the chances of you bleeding to your demise becomes more and more inevitable."
Judy still stood strong, pretending that she didn't feel a stinging pain in her leg. She didn't need to take them down, she just needed to occupy them until backup arrives. Either way it didn't matter how this assignment concluded, the chances of Judy forgetting it was highly unlikely. Her new scars on her leg permitted it.
"It's gonna take more than that to defeat me." Judy said, standing her ground.
"Oh really~?" Clause said before making a dark chuckle. "'Cause, ya know, the last time I checked, you were unable to fight the last time something tore into the flesh and muscles of your leg." The wolf then closed his eyes and began sniffing, and whatever it was that he could smell had made his grin turn wider. "Your blood." he said to Judy "It smells... delicious~!"
Eyes widening, Judy looked down to see her feet were in a small puddle of her own blood. That's when the symptoms arrived. Judy's balance was becoming uneven, like the plant was having trouble with staying on it's axis. Her vision was becoming unfocused, and sounds were distorting. Before Judy knew it, Clause was in-front of her and pushed her onto her back, holding her down with a large paw on her stomach.
"If you smell this tasty, then I wonder how good you actually taste." Clause said, the black wolf held hungry slits on Judy. "Although, I should give you taste test first. It's always a displeasure when your food turns out to be revolting in flavour." Slit eyes moved upwards to Judy's big bunny ears. "I'll start with an ear for an appetizer~!"
And with that said, Clause bit down onto the right side of Judy's right ear at the middle section with his front teeth. They cut through the flesh with ease. Pain seared from Judy's ear, almost feeling like it was spreading around body. Something welled up from inside Judy and escaped from her mouth.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" The scream was bloodcurdling. Clause and Derik held onto their ears as Judy's scream hurt their ears. Tears escaped Judy's eyes, and crimson escaped her ears. She felt hopeless, even more than after that damn press conference, she was pinned down by someone who was bigger and heavier than her, not to mention that her blood loss was making her strength and consciousness seep away. She was at his mercy; that of which he possessed none of.
"That hurt my ears!" Clause growled angrily at Judy. "Looks like I'll need to punish you~" he said as his frown turned into a wide grin, revealing that his front teeth are now tinged with Judy's blood. "And frankly, I'm never gentle when it comes to punishing others, especially delicious prey."
The malicious wolf then went for Judy's right shoulder, his teeth had quickly and easily pierced past the skin and flesh, before crunching into the bone.
Judy didn't scream this time, she didn't energy for it. And even if she did have the energy, she was starting to doubt that her body would hear her commands. She wanted to fight against Clause, to stop both him and Derik, to save her friend. She wanted to try. But her body wanted to lay down, to rest, to sleep for a few minutes. Or maybe a few hours. Or an eternity, that doesn't really sound back either.
She was putting a big fight against her body, but she couldn't win; she already lost.
"What? Done already?" Clause asked with a cocked eyebrow, but Judy could barely see or understand him as her consciousness was almost naught. "Well then, if you're gonna stop being fun then I guess it's time I ate you~" Clause plunged one of his claws into Judy's stomach, not deep enough to cause any permanent damage (at least to the organs), but deep enough for the doe to loose what blood she had left.
Everything became blurry and dizzy to Judy. A darkness grew from the borders of Judy's eyes, its growth was slow, but still existent. A black, wolf-shaped blur that stood in-front of her drew near. There was a faint, inaudible noise that came from Judy's right side. The black blur looked towards the source of the noise, only to seemingly be attacked by an orange blur.
The black blur ran away in pain, subsequently, the orange blur came close to her, revealing it to be shaped like a fox. The fox that she wished to call her fox. He was speaking to her, and while she couldn't understand a single word as anything more than a incomprehensible mumble, she could still understand that they were frantic and worried.
Judy gathered everything from the shattered remains of her energy. "Nick..." her whisper was so unbelievably quiet that only she could understand it, albeit barely, but it was the best she could do at this state. "I'm sorry..."
And with that, she closed her eyes. A new sensation of floating overcame Judy. She opened her eyes to find herself in a vast, infinite void of nothingness. It had no edge, no boundaries, absolutely empty. All that there was in this unreal, eternal location was Judy, and Judy alone. It felt... peaceful. The emptiness of the void was terrifying, yet relaxing. She let the void drift her away; the void of unconscious tranquillity; the void between life and death.
The last thing that Nick could remember was being hit on the head, hard. He couldn't remember what exactly it was that hit him on the head, just that it made his brain feel like it was turned into a smoothie. He didn't know where he was. Or who he was, for that matter.
All that he really could remember was that there was something that was important to him, or rather that there was someone who was important to him. He thinks that he remembers it as a she, a she that has a name.
But what was it?
Suddenly, a loud scream was heard. Nick covered his ears, but to no avail; the scream didn't mute at all. Although there was something familiar about the scream, more so, there was something familiar about the voice. It sounded like Judy...
Judy!
The memories came back, the memories of that malevolent wolf and his accomplice. Judy's in danger! He... he has to save her!
The fox's eyelids attracted together like magnets, the feeling of the cold metal returned to Nick's senses. He opened his eyes, and what he saw made both his blood boil and his heart stop. In-front of him was a sight of Clause with one claw plunged into Judy's stomach, blood escaped through the doe's mouth and the newly-made hole in her belly.
Through instinct, impulse, or both, Nick's body ran to the scene before him, moving at its own accord. "No!" Nick screamed, his voice was an amalgam of his sadness, his fear, and his overflowing rage. Clause looked towards him, surprise formatted on his face at the tod's sudden recovery. Driven by his, partially protective, rage, Nick swung a claw at the black wolf, his claws ripping through the skin of the aforementioned wolf's muzzle.
Clause ran away, holding onto the bleeding claw marks on his muzzle, screaming pain. Nick faced back to Judy, and his emotions intensified. Her left leg, her right shoulder, and her ear were, like her belly, cut and bleeding. A 'No' escaped Nick's mouth, followed very shortly by a 'Nononononononononono'.
Nick repositioned himself to make it that he was facing Clause and Derik, there was no way in hell that he would let them sneak on him and Judy.
Nick placed a paw on her stomach in an attempt to stop the bleeding, while the other wounds and her mouth were also bleeding, they were bleeding rather slowly and in small litres; her stomach, on the other paw, was the opposite.
Her skin was cold and clammy, but Nick kept his paw on her wound nevertheless, hoping to make even an iota of a difference. "Stay with me, Carrots." he said, his voice sounded broken and frantic. "I-I need you in my life. Please, I can't live without you Judy."
Judy looked as though she was in a daze, or as though she couldn't hear or understand a single word of his. Her mouth moved, making an unbelievably quiet and somewhat raspy noise that was almost inaudible. And then, her eyes closed and she became unresponsive. Nick felt his darkness, the very same one that accompanied for over a decade, return.
"You..." Nick growled darkly, turning his head up from Judy to Clause and his compadre, anger-filled slits and bared teeth faced towards the two, sending a small, yet existent, wave of fear through them. "You bastards!" a growl of a blinding, overflowing rage coursed through and out of his throat. "I'll never forgive you. I'LL END YOU!"
Even with fear mildly flowing through him, Clause still stood tall and growled back.
And then two paws from behind the wolf pushed him face-first onto the metal floor, followed by a newfound weight pushing down on his back. Before he could even comprehend what happened, Clause's arms were pulled behind his back and cuffed.
Officer Wolford pulled Clause to his feet, his grip on the other wolf's cuffed paws was unbreakable. Nevertheless, Clause struggled against the officer, but to no avail. "You're under arrest." Wolford said, sounding happy about his successful arrest. "Don't worry, officer Wilde and officer Hopps, everything will alri..." Wolford stopped when he turned his head towards Nick and Judy.
Wolford's blood boiled, he saw Judy, one of his closest friends, unconscious and injured in the arms of her partner. Wolford remembered when he entered the warehouse and heard Judy's scream erupt from the door. He ran like hell into and through the hallway, hoping that it wasn't too late; that his friends weren't hurt.
"You did this!" Wolford growled at Clause as he turned the wolf to face him, his anger raised even higher as he recognised and realised that some of the blood on the criminal was Judy's.
"Yes, I did." Clause replied, sounding rather joyous and gleeful about what he did to the bunny. Clause noticed that behind the wolf officer in-front of him, Derik had his arms in the air as a rhino officer and hippo officer had their tranquilizers facing towards him. And, in a fit of rage, the wolf officer punched him in the face, hard. The force and strength of the impact made Clause's body spin around, facing Nick and the unconscious Judy as his face (once again) met with the metal floor. The constant barrage to Clause's head made him pass out into unconsciousness.
Nick growled at the unconscious Clause; every fibre of his being wanted to rip the wolf into confetti. His claws unsheathed, he didn't care if the fellow officers that he also considered as his friends were there, that bastard must pay!
But before Nick could act, he heard a sound come from Judy, a sound like breathing. He moved his ear to her mouth and heard it: breathing. She was still alive, there was a chance for her to survive!
The fox held the bunny close to him, almost rocking her. "It's okay Carrots, I got you. Everything's gonna be alright."
A gazelle paramedic approached the two, instantly causing Nick to bare his teeth towards him in a protective rage. "N-Nick," Wolford said as he came close to his two friends, a paw reaching out carefully towards them. "You need to give Judy to the gazelle so he-"
Wolford was cut off as Nick lashed his claws to the wolf's paw. Wolford was able to retract his paw, but only just in time.
"Don't you dare try to take her away from me!" Nick practically roared, a surprising feat for someone of his species. The look in his tear ridden eye looked... savage.
"Officer Wilde!" Bogo yelled, gaining all of Nick's attention. The cape buffalo came to the fox before clearing his throat, his tone becoming calm, even a little sympathetic. "You need to give officer Hopps to the paramedics, they are trying to help her." Coming to his senses, Nick (reluctantly) gave Judy to the male gazelle paramedic and a female bear paramedic who was with him.
Nick followed the paramedics as they left the warehouse. He watched as the paramedics placed Judy into the ambulance with carefulness that was near to uttermost, paying no attention as all other officers, with the exception of Wolford, began to leave.
As the ambulance drove off, Nick ran after it on impulse, stopping only as he realised that it would be impossible for him to catch it on foot. Even as the sun shone on a cloudless day, even as the rest of the world around him seemed to be at peace, all that Nick felt was his melancholy darkness.
Author's note: GAH! Sorry that It took me nearly three months to upload this chapter (X_X;). There's just been... a lot of things happening.
Anyways, here's the second chapter. What do you think? Too dark? Not dark enough? Too short? Could've been better? Oh well, I hope that it was at least enjoyable. But I must admit that I'm a tiny bit iffy about this chapter.
Either ways, the next chapter will be less dark and more character based... kinda (lol).
Once again, I'm sorry that this chapter took too long to finish, I can sometimes be a total ⑨