Author's Note

Sorry for the long wait, I've been crucially planning these chapters as of recent, and I spend long periods of time just thinking about what should happen. This chapter is pretty brutal, so stay tuned.

Judy's POV

Sitting alone on my couch, I watched the blank television screen. I wished to bury myself in a pillow and scream; but I refused to let myself do so. I grasped the remote in hopes of reviving my spirit. I turned the television on and changed to the news. I used it as background noise as I reached for my phone on the coffee table. Sent Nick a text about what happened earlier, and how much I wanted to make up for it. The text also hinted at going out to eat later. My ears straighted from what they heard, the news was talking about the forest-district's Ivan situation. Nick's picture appeared, receiving a gasp. He was taken into custody for questioning. Flinging off the couch, I ran towards the front door. My car screeched as I backed out of the driveway and into the street.

Nick's POV

"Let go of me! I can walk on my own!" I repelled, yanking my arms away from the two suited mammals on my sides, both being were much larger than myself. The three of us were walking down a long corridor filled with agents, dressed head to claw in black and white suits. "Hey wise guy, mind telling me what the hell is going on?" I asked, pearing up at the agent on my left. He seemed ticked off, but ignored my question. "With the job you have, you'd think intelligence would be something they'd look for." This time, he looked genuinly angry.

"Look, fox, you either keep quiet, or I keep you quiet." He responded with a deep, but clear, voice. I snorted in return; the door in front of us opened suddenly. They urged me to enter by pushing on my back, I obeyed, leaving both agents behind. The doors closed, two agents taking my side once again. To my surprise, a fox wearing a black suit occupied the fancy chair on the other side of the room, a wooden desk in front of it. He placed a clipboard down on the desk, and clicked a pen he retrieved from his shirt pocket.

"Nicholas P. Wilde, please take a seat." He said politely. Doing as asked, I walked across the dark, wooden floor, then slowly lowered myself into the rather confortable seat. "You're probably questioning the reason behind bringing you here, so I will explain. He started, leaning forward from his relaxed pose. "Your presense is due to Dr. Harris's recent adaptations to modern science." He said, seeming to compliment the panda. "Feel free to give me the effects of Dr. Harris's serum. If you refuse, we can not help you." My mind told me to just ask to leave, and go on with my life, but a part of me wanted all the help I could get.

"Okay." My words lifted the fox from his clipboard, now ready to listen. "I can heal from a bullet wound in anytime from a minute to a day; I know it's not engraved it stone, but I'm doing my best here. Pain seems to be reduced, but not much. I sometimes have problems thinking properly, and I eat and sleep a lot more." I explained using my paws for emphasise. The fox across from me put on a pair of glasses and began jotting things down with the clipboard angled so I couldn't see it.

"The news said you were taken into custody, can you beleive it?" He said in a joking manner.

"I was, wasn't I?" I accused. The fox didn't take a defensive glare, but more of a 'are you serious' one.

"You aren't in any trouble, we just told them that's the case." He said, breaking eye contact and returning to his clipboard. "Besides, if we wanted you in prison, you definitely wouldn't be speaking to me." He stood up as he continued our conversation. "We are contacting your friends Judy and Alex, both of which will hopefully meet us here to further discuss the topic." I sighed at that idea due to my latest department with her.

Alex's POV

The wheels spun feriously as the van sped down the street, I held tightly onto the steering wheel. Turning my head to the left, I saw an identical van as my own pulling up. Another one took the right side, tackling my confidence. Both windows slowly decended, the driver on the right revealed an SMG, and the passenger on the left whipped out a glock. Both guns opened fire, the windows took only a few bullets before I slammed on the brakes; luckily these windows seemed somewhat bullet resistant. Both vans slide to a halt a few seconds later, I heard a scolding about shooting at each other, then two mammals climbing out of each. They weren't much bigger than me, one smaller, but they were wearing helmets, visors, vests, and suits, so identifying them from a distance was impossible.

They all stood in front of their vans, guns drawn, awaiting my surrender. I sat in thought for a few moments, before one of them spoke up.

"Get out of the van!" He paused for a response, "Now!" he demanded. I slowly opened the door and slide out of the van, and began walking towards them. One mammal in particular removed his helmet, it was a fox. He lowered hiw AK47 and met me halfway there. Quicker than I could react he swung the gun at me, slamming me across the face. I fell to the floor with a yelp, readying myself for another hit. I waited a few seconds then lowered my paw, his frown turned to a smile.

"Well, best get you back to the warehouse!" He said with an exetremely audable southern accent. He quickly yanked up an AK47 and slammed the stock into my snout; I was out cold.

I slowly awakened from my unwarrented sleep; upon realizing this, I yanked myself upwards as if I just awoke from a nightmare. My immediate surroundings were nothing but a dark concrete room, one lightbulb hung on the concrete ceiling, but it wasn't on. The floor was cold, and felt almost wet. I was stripped of all clothing except for some black athletic shorts. The storming feeling of hunger made me grope my stomach; I must have been out for a while. I heard a faint buzzing noise and looked up to see a security camera awaiting my next move. The desolate prison had a large metal door placed on one of the four dark edges of the room: also a slotted peephole. I heard a irritating screech, then the door creaked open, bright light pooring in.

"Sleep well, did you not?" A newly present fox said with a noticable french accent, whom was dressed in a sleevless brown suit and a white shirt underneath with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He chuckled, his arms behind his back. Was he not fearing that I would attack him? "Let us assume you did, your probably questioning the reason behind your presence." He said with a paw on his chin. "I'm ever so sorry, how rude of me, my name is Elliot." I slowly rised to both paws, carefully analyzing the fox. My breathing shortened, becoming noticably louder with each exhale. "You sound troubled my friend, may I ask of your name?" He patherned. He either was extremely naive, or just acting naive.

"My name is Alex, which I'm sure you are well aware of." I panted, trying to resist attacking him. He smiled, and dug into his suit, he slid one leg forward and held out his paw: a notebook and pen rested on top.

"I'm sorry, but I can not rid you of your current troubles, but I can offer you this." He said, causing me to shed most of my bias about him. "Write, just write. Anything really, it will help the pain." He sighed as I took the notebook and pen. "I may not get to visit ever again, so this is goodbye." The fox turned to the metal door and stepped outside. My legs quivered upon realizing this could be my chance to escape; all I would have to do is run through the door. Before I could finish my thought, the door slammed close, the room thrown into the darkness once again.

I looked closely at the notepad, I flipped through the pages hoping for some secret message, but there was nothing. The metal door creaked once again, drawing my attention. The fur on my back stood up as two armor covered mammals entered, helmets blocking their faces. They both had bats: one alluminum, one wood.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Let's take it easy here fellahs." I backed up with two paws aimed towards them, I quickly jumped forward towards one of the guards, and held onto the other end of his bat. We tugged over the bat for only a moment before I let go, causing him to fall backwards. My legs dropped as the other swung his bat, grazing my ears. I grabbed his bat and we both held it upwards. I jumped up and planted both legs on his knees and sprung backwards, releasing a crackling snap. His bat tore from his paws into mine as I landed on my back.

Jumping to my paws, the other bat weilding maniac charged me from behind. I had the wooden bat, so this shouldn't be difficult. I dove to the left and he missed, running into the concrete wall. I raised the bat and was ready to swing at his back, but he ducked, my bat slamming into the wall, sending a chill through my paws. The batter was now on my left, strucking me right in the stomach. I winced in pain as he pushed me to the ground. I rolled onto my side for protection, the bat struck my shoulder, then my leg, then my ribs. I was yelling with every hit, and trying to protect myself with a single paw, but it was pointless, every swing struck me exactly where he wanted it. After about dozen dreadful slams to my helpless self, I was panting so hard my lungs hurt. Not only was I bleeding from several wounds, but I was coughing it as well.

"Nick Wilde." The mammal breathed, just as exhausted as I was. I opened my eyes from the pain and looked up at him slowly.

"Wha-What does that m-mean?" I stuttered, not even able to sit up. Two more guards entered and took away the mammal with the broken legs, along with my wooden bat. Then they all left except for the batter. He just walked around the room and occassionally talked on the phone. He had some friendly, normal conversations, however, most were about the terrible things he was being paid to do. Every phone call or so he would hit me with the bat out of nowhere, and I would, being as defenseless as I was, plead for him to stop.

"Water!" I croaked as loud as I could. It had been eleven hours since I had awoken, the guard with the bat had been rotated three times now, each one just as cruel as the last.

"Nick Wilde." The guard said while leaning against the wall on his phone. I grappled the wall and pulled myself to a standing position. I staggered towards him with a fist raised, but he was too quick, and kicked me to the ground. I curled into a ball as he kicked me over thirty times, each kick delivering unbearable amounts of pain; I was already covered head to claw in bruises.

"Nick Wilde!" He echoed with a final kick with caused me to yelp like a cub. He chuckled before returning to his phone. I thought about Nick and Judy, who were probably looking for me right now, I missed them so much. I slowly began to cry, letting my usual masculine attitude hide away in my heart. That cry turned into a loud wheep, I could tell the guard was irritated, but he was busy on his phone. My dry throat produced a scratchy moan as I drowned myself in sorrow, it sounded so terrible I wanted to stop myself, but couldn't, so I muffled it with my arm. A chair was brought into the room, a large wooden one with arm rests.

"Sit down." A new guard joined the old one, giving me orders. My shaky breath was a clear sign they had won, so I listened. I sat in the chair, the arm rests had restraints clearly visible on them, but if I refused, I would be brutally beaten once again. They retrained my arms and legs, and knocked the chair onto it's back. One of them revealed a large cloth, a gas can. I hoped it wasn't gas, but rather water, a much more common torture technique.

The cloth slapped onto my snout, I reassured myself that it couldn't be that bad, because my snout gave me room to breath. I felt the liquid splatter onto the thick cloth, and I couldn't breath. It was gasoline. I held my mouth shut as the pouring continued, holding back multiple coughs from the taste I received. I waited for the end after what seemed like an eternity, but was only thirty seconds, they didn't stop. Violently shaking my head, I screamed for them to stop through the cloth, only a muffled, inaudable howl came out.

They eventually stopped, and the both of them threw my seat upright, the cloth falling off on it's own. I exhaled deeply for several moments before a guard smacked me. He then left the room; the other guard remained next to me. He undid the restaints and stood next to my chair once again. The other guard returned, carrying a small cup. He stalked towards me, his boots clanking on the ground. I slowly took the cup: water. I downed it in no more than a few seconds.

"F-food?" I slowly looked up at the two of them. One chuckled and the other shook his head. My head drooped down as the feeling of hunger was stronger than ever. I only looked up enough to see both guards leave the room. I fell from the chair onto the cold, wet, rough floor and closed my eyes. The feeling of waking up at home came to me, and I embraced it.

I felt something wet on my face, slowly reviving me from my slumber. I rubbed the wet spot on my fur, it was dripping from the ceiling. The notepad from earlier was hiding in the corner, untouched. I carefully opened it up and reached for the pen next to it. I wanted to write.

'I will survive, no matter what.' I wrote the same sentence again a couple dozen times before moving on to something else.

'Judy and Nick will see me breathing.' Jotting across the small paper of the notepad felt soothing, but not enough for my condition.

I dropped the pen and felt satifised sitting in the wooden chair which was left behind. The door slot opened up, a pair of ears visible through it. The door swung open quickly, causing my spine to stiffen. The fox who offered me the notebook entered. He closed the door behind him, darkness resuming.

"Let me go..." I croaked, relying on something that was fading by the second, hope. He now stood right in front of me.

"You must understand, wolf, I do not have the capabilities to do so." He said quietly with a stern voice, approaching me. I looked up, my sitting position placing me below him.

"Don't let them kill me, I can't die." I choked on my words. He placed a paw on my shoulder, grasping it firmly.

"They are already dead on the inside. We all will be in good time." He released his grip on my shoulder and just looked down at me. I put my head back down, looking at his fancy boots. "Nick Wilde." He said with a deeper, scratchy voice. Quickly looking up at him, his face was a sly one, his slight smile, his drooped eye lids, and his chin held low. My left eyelid twitched, and I bared my teeth. I sprung forward and took him to the ground with me, the room echoed from the impact.

"WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!" I shook his shoulders, spitting saliva; my teeth only inches away from his face. "TELL ME!" I yelled loud enough that my own ears hurt. This fox was only slightly larger than half my size, so he couldn't break free.

"My apologizes, please refrain from biting me, I mean no physical harm." He said, pulling his head back as far as he could before hitting the floor. Great, now I felt bad. Slowly getting off of him, I brushed off my gym shorts. The fox joined me in standing and dusted off his suit.

"What the hell are you doing?" A very disgruntled voice echoed into the room, the door slot opened, a pair of green eyes staring back at me.

"I was merely speaking with the wolf " The fox was cut off by the door slamming open. My ears drooped from the sight of a jaguar, Ivan. He took one pawstep into the room, the heavy clanking of his boots against the concrete bounced around in my ears. He kept walking until he was close enough that I could feel his breath. I retreated my head and backed up a step. "If you would let me explain myself, I'm sure we " The fox began, Ivan quickly launched a paw to his left and knocked the fox onto his back. I reared an arm back and swung a hook at him. Ivan didn't duck, the strike landing right into his muzzle. He flinched as if someone had thrown a paper ball at him. He grabbed me by the fur on my chest and lifted me into the air. I was floating above the ground by Ivan's single pawed grip, he then flung me backwards, my back slamming against the concrete wall.

"Get out." Ivan growled viciously, turning his head towards the fox. He was quick to flee the room, closing the door behind him. I heard the bolt click; it was locked. Ivan's vision returned to me, and I pressed myself against the wall as hard as I could. The jaguar slowly made his way over to me, his pawsteps were frightening enough. Almost instantly he threw his arm down and grasped my neck, skidding my back up the rigid wall until my paws were off the ground once again. I could feel the scrapes being produced on my back as I used both arms to grapple his own. His grip wouldn't budge, no matter how hard I pulled. Using his other paw, Ivan slammed into my stomach, causing my cough to intensify. He repeated this a couple more times before through me across the room. I hit the floor and slid for a short moment.

Ivan didn't even laugh at how pathetic I was, he just scowled like before. He approached me once again, but this time I had room to retreat. I crawled backwards until my back hit opposite wall as last time.

"Stop!" I screamed in agony as Ivan side kicked my snout. He grabbed one of my legs and held it up slightly. He manuevered one paw to the top, one to the bottom.

"Nick Wilde." He said before tossing me across the room, slamming into the wooden chair sideways. "I'll break your leg another time." He said with pure anger as he left the room. He slammed the door so hard I felt the vibrations. I was lying on my back, sweat and blood drowning in my fur. I held my snout and curled into a ball, his kick hurt like a bitch. I whispered to myself that I would be okay as I silent wheeped.

Third Person POV

"Our time runs low, hurry up." Ivan said as he washed his paws in an old, rusty sink. The notepad gifting fox placed his suit nicely on a rolling hanging rack, and retrieved a black suit and tie. As he dressed, Ivan stretched out his arms and legs, and cracked his neck to the side.

"What a show to put on back there, take it easy on the pushing." The fox said in an english accent. Ivan snorted in response.

"He has to embrace it, or else nothing would proceed as planned." Ivan explained, grabbing a key from a metal folding table. The dim lighting of the bare, basement light room just barely reflected off of the fox's seemingly brand new suit.

"Well, best be going then!" The fox said in an overly sterotypical southern accent. Ivan barely cracked a smile, and the two strolled towards the door.

Author's Note

Let's play a game, leave a review and theorize on what the 'plan' Ivan hints at is. Hopefully you enjoyed Alex getting tortured and pushed to tears, the sad form of enjoyment of course (A+ logic). I'll try to push for another chapter soon, and school is almost out, so that'll offer more free time for myself.

Also, please leave a review on what you think about Alex's situation? Far-fetched, suspensful, too harsh, not harsh enough?