Bleeding Eyes Chapter 10, a zootopia fanfic

Announcement!: I apologize in advance to my dear readers who don't know about what I did with the last chapter (chapter 9). I went back after a moment of great inspiration - after hours of deliberating and fleshing things out with my genius-level brother - and did some major editing. The previous chapter has nearly doubled in size, and, after about the halfway mark is completely different from how it was originally.

If you wish not to read the ENTIRE thing again (which is totally fine as I'd hate to ask you to do anything you'd rather not), simply start just after Asha gets chewed out by Mr. White, about half-way through the chapter.

Until then, cheers, sorry for all the faffing about, and thanks for reading and reviewing. :]

Chapter 10: Blunt Edge

Both pairs of ears immediately whipped towards the kitchen. Nick and Judy both stooped low, peering over the back of the couch at the crowbar that was hacking away at stray pieces of glass left in the splintering window frame above the sink, freshly washed dishes clattering and crashing into the basin and onto the floor.

"Get down!" Nick hissed, and Judy dropped to the floor. He followed, then worked his way around the left arm of the couch, bent low, wracking his mind for any kind of weapon that may be nearby. His only other firearm was locked away in a safe upstairs, and he had left his handgun to the forensics team so they could match the bullet casing from the docks earlier that day!

As if from a nightmare, the very same fossa deftly leapt through the destroyed aperture, vaulting over the sink entirely. She wore black combat boots and camouflage pants, her face obscured by a black hood. Nick instantly recognized the handgun she gripped as a .45 caliber. She meant business.

"Foxy foxy!" She said in her strange, maniacal warble. "Come on out, I know you're in here! Don't worry, I'm not here to kill you, just a simple – yes – a simple relocation! Hahaa!"

Nick and Judy traded a glance. What was there to do? The fossa would find them soon enough; she could probably smell them already.

"And what if I don't want to play along?" Nick said, not moving.

"Then Mr. White will be d-displeased. Do you want to make him angry? I know I don't. You shouldn't. It ends very badly."

"Okay listen, we can talk if you put your gun away," Nick tried.

"Heehee! Sly fox – I'm not falling for that! We can negotiate on my terms. I'm not here to kill, only take. Only take. Like Mr. White ordered. Yes." She was moving now, her boots crunching on scattered pieces of glass as she stalked.

"What does Mr. White want with me?" Nick yelled. He eyed Judy, then glanced at the glasses of water on the table, one nearly empty. He pointed to her, then indicated the fossa, making a throwing motion with his arm.

"I-I don't know. I think you two have some – heh – family ties dear foxy-woxy. He's been watching. So has Mr. White."

A confused frown crossed Nick's face at the fossa's words, but he shook his head; she was clearly out of her mind. He met eyes with Judy again and pointed to himself, making a walking motion then putting one fist into his other palm. It was a stupid plan, he knew, but it was all they had.

"Yeah, it's really creepy how he does that," Nick said, grabbing the other water glass, the first already in Judy's paw.

"I won't leave here without you!" The fossa snapped, "Show yourself, or I start shooting! Mr. White never said I couldn't make you hurt!"

Nick took this as his cue. He chucked the glass over Judy's head, towards his staircase. It clattered against the hardwood, making lots of noise but not shattering. In the instant the fossa's attention was momentarily drawn to her left, Judy and Nick moved simultaneously. Judy hurled her glass directly at the invader while Nick skirted around his couch, entering a full sprint in the short distance, eyes locked on the fossa's gun, hands aimed for her wrists.

The fossa swore in a language Nick didn't recognize. The glass had impacted her shoulder, spraying the remaining water into her face. A moment later, Nick collided with the invader, who was nearly as tall as he was. His paws successfully wrapped around the fossa's wrists, and he pushed the gun towards the ceiling while rushing her back against the kitchen sink. There was a deafening pop as the gun went off, the bullet slamming into the ceiling uselessly.

"Drop your weapon!" Nick bellowed as he slammed her paws repeatedly against the counter. Two good impacts and the gun came free. Nick realized the fossa had actually let go on the way to the floor; she had freed up her hands on purpose. The fossa landed on him, driving the air out of his lungs. He felt two thudding hits against his face before he could get a foot under her. He kicked off, but she instantly sprang back onto him. They tumbled over one another, Nick landing a lucky hit here and there with a fist or elbow, but the wild creature was tenacious. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the fossa snatch up a large piece of broken glass.

"Gah!" Nick shouted, managing to block the fossa's wrist. He redirected the downward force past his head, causing the fossa to essentially punch the leg of the table in his kitchen. Hearing the glass drop to the tile gave Nick a small moment of victory, but it was immediately shattered by the fossa's fist's smashing into his mouth and nose repeatedly. He tasted blood as his attacker bounced his head off the floor two, three, four times. Each impact sent stars through Nick's vision, his breath leaving him.

In a flash, the fossa was off of him and collided against the nearby cabinet door to his left. Nick groaned and rolled to see Judy's mechanical leg settle back onto the ground just before she leapt into action. A chorus of shouting and impacts complimented the blizzard of blueish-grey and golden-brown as the two tussled.

In a flurry of blows, the fossa sent Judy skidding across the tile floor and into the fridge. The invader stumbled towards Judy to finish the job, but Nick seized her extremely long tail, using the momentum to help him stand. The fossa whirled around, swinging her paw in a wild haymaker as Nick dodged, driving his shoulder into her lower abdomen before lifting her with his legs and bringing her down as hard as he could onto the tile floor.

The fossa let out a gurgling groan, dazed. Nick turned her over, planting a knee into the middle of her spine and pulling one arm back, his other hand holding the fossa's head against the tile. "Go…get…some zip-ties," he panted, "Upstairs…storage closet…tools…"

"Right, on it!" Judy said, rising unsteadily and disappearing around the corner.

Most of what Nick could hear in the sudden quiet was his own breathing and pounding heart. He also felt sick; he posited that he had a concussion. Judy had better be quick with those zip-ties; he didn't know how long he could last before the fossa was on him again.

The form below him chuckled, spitting blood onto the floor. "Hey foxy, ever tussled with a fossa before?"

"I'm not gonna…answer that," He said, swaying. He was definitely hurt, bad.

The chuckle turned into a giggle. "That's why you don't know about our fucking tails!"

Something seized Nick around the neck and yanked him backwards. "Guh! Shit!" he swore as the fossa slithered out from under him. He tumbled backwards, frantically grasping for a handhold. His paw closed around the handle of his cast-iron skillet, which was protruding from the splintered remnants of the cabinet door. He heard the sound of a blade being drawn.

"You've done it now foxy!" The fossa shouted, lunging for him, knife blade flashing.

Nick desperately swung with the pan, catching the fossa's arm in its arc and knocking her off course. He used her moment of recovery to rise to his own feet.

She swung again, but he dodged back one step. This left him unprepared for her follow-up jab. Searing pain blossomed in his shoulder, and he swung aimlessly with the heavy skillet, too slow to hit anything. Crying out in a fit of fear and agony he lashed out again, catching her in the upper arm with the edge. Something buckled, and the invader screeched in pain while backing away and holding her dangling arm. She hissed at him and transferred the knife into her other paw. She instantly sprang forward, the blade drawing itself diagonally across Nick's chest. He whirled the skillet again in desperation, but it was too heavy to control properly.

By the time he realized his mistake, it was too late. He swung from the tile up towards the fossa, attempting to catch her under the chin or bat the knife away, but he missed, leaving his body exposed. She lunged forward once again, this time plunging the knife into his abdomen. Just as the scream escaped his mouth, Nick saw his chance. She was off balance, body tending too far forward, too focused on the target to pay attention to her surroundings.

He brought the skilled down on her head. She twisted and fell onto her back, hissing and raising her paw, but to no avail. Nick swung again and again, impacting the fossa's face and head, snuffing out the snarls that morphed into screams that transitioned into whimpers.

She had hurt Judy.

She had killed fifteen of his fellow officers.

She had tried to kill him.

Again, and again.

The pan came down.

Again, and again.

The dark puddle grew, the splashes coating the cabinets and himself and the tile and clinging to the pan.

Again and again.

He wailed, sobbing, his own pain driving him on, his need to protect Judy fueling him.

Again.

"Nick!"

Again.

"Nick! Stop it! Please!"

And again.

"NICK!"

Something grey flew out of the left side of his vision, tackling him and causing the pan to drop to the floor, its clattering echoing in his rapidly deafening ears. There she was. Judy. Shaking the sides of his head and staring into his eyes with those great big purple planets. Oh dear.

OOO

Judy heard a stream of curses filter up from downstairs, followed by a chorus of scuffling and metallic banging. She sprinted down the stairs, zip-ties in her paw, heart pounding in her ears. She rounded the corner just as the fossa's knife planted itself into Nick's lower abdomen with a thunk, his cry of pain feral. A gasp escaped the rabbit's mouth.

Then the cast-iron skillet came down. The fossa's skull emitted a sickening crack, echoed by the pan's bell-like resonance after. She swiped at Nick, claws out, fangs bared, eyes wide for the first time with fear.

The pan dropped again. And again. Judy turned away.

The crackling and suction sounds were nauseating.

And they continued.

"Nick!" She shouted. He didn't seem to hear her over his own wailing.

He kept swinging. The fossa's legs twitched in the throes of death, rigor mortis already settling into her paws, the fingers curled in last agony.

"Nick! Stop it!" She felt horror; he was gone. The Nick she knew wasn't guiding his body's hands. "Please!"

The torturous pounding continued. The fox's teeth were stained with blood, revealed by his cut, snarling lips. His eyes were wide and filled with primitive fury. The fur on the back of his neck stood elevated.

"NICK!" she shrieked, a desperate sob wracking her frame. The zip-ties dropped to the floor. In a last ditch effort, she charged towards him, driving her shoulder into his side just as the pan raised into the air. It fell to the floor, tumbling and ringing as she drove him into the cabinet to his right. He let out a chorus of half-formed shrieks and snarls, paws lashing out in every direction, blinded by his current state. She straddled him, taking hold of his face, staring straight into his eyes. "Nick it's me! Everything's alright! You're okay." He eventually stopped thrashing, his green eyes staring back into hers.

"J…Judy?" He whispered, sounding more scared than anything.

"Yes," she said, "I'm here. I'm here." She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulling up into a hug. "Everything's going to be alright," she breathed.

He sobbed into her shoulder, then coughed and spat. He was in a bad way.

"What the fuck was that?!" A deep, gravelly voice said from outside. Judy's ears immediately perked up, and she glanced toward the broken window above them. A polar bear stuck his head through the shattered window pain. "Asha? Ash – holy shit!" His eyes beheld the shattered corpse of the fossa, then flicked to Judy and Nick, who continued to sob and emit guttural whimpers. "Rocky! Get the net! Go in through the front door!" He yelled, heading back outside. Judy heard the signature huff of a rhinoceros.

"Oh shit, Nick!" She swore, shaking him. "Can you walk?"

"Mmmba…back door," he gurgled. Blood streamed out of his nose, and he kept spitting the crimson substance. His shirt was being turned red as well.

"Back door, good idea," Judy said. She started to lift Nick and help him get on his feet, but he gasped and yelped in pain. That's when she noticed the knife handle protruding from him. "Oh god, Nick!"

"Go…just go," he said, his eyes clamped shut against pain. He leaned against the fridge, resting a hand on the hilt of the knife.

"No, Nick, I'm not leaving you here." Judy grabbed his paw and pulled.

Nick's lips drew into a smile, revealing his blood-stained teeth once again. "Te…tenacious as always I see." She felt him pull against her, bracing one hand against the fridge to push himself to his feet. He wobbled, stumbled forward two steps, and fell heavily to one knee.

"That's it!" Judy said, placing herself under one of his arms, "We've got this, we can make it."

A great boom shook the whole house. Judy glanced to her right to see some of the wall around the front entryway cracking, pieces of drywall tumbling to the floor. The rhino.

"Which way to the back?" She shouted, helping Nick move forward.

"That…that way," he breathed, sounding exhausted. They rounded the corner, passing the stairs. Nick's other paw passed between the knife still in him and the walls to keep himself upright.

Another impact rattled the walls, and Judy could hear larger chunks of the structure collapsing.

Finally they reached the back door. Judy unlocked it and tore it open. There was a short flight of stairs. Before she could take a step, Nick tumbled, taking her with him. He landed on his side at the bottom, his eyes wide and unfocused.

"Nick, stay awake!" She said, shaking him.

"Gate." He managed to wheeze. He rose to all fours and stumbled towards a corner along the wooden fence of his small backyard.

Judy spied the piece he was talking about and rushed for it. The lock was almost out of reach, but she tripped it with a small hop, kicking the wood-paneled door open. It revealed an alleyway of sorts made up of wooden fence, the houses on either side divided by the lane of grass in the middle. She turned back just as Nick finished vomiting a mix of blood and bile into the grass.

"Oh no, Nick!" She sprinted back over to him, grasping his shoulder just as a tremendous crashing sound filtered out of the bungalow they just left. "We have to hurry!"

The fox nodded, rising to his feet with great effort and stumbling forward, using the fence as a guide down the alley until they emerged onto the street. Almost all houses were dark at this hour, only two within the immediate vicinity even had lights on. But across the road and down the way to the right, on a crowded lawn festooned with handmade signs for various organizations, was a fraternity party.

"Where the fuck are they?!" came the polar bear's voice from behind them. The sounds of crashing furniture reached their ears as the two tore apart the interior of the house.

"This way!" Judy said, guiding Nick toward the house. They were almost there. Nick would be okay. Everything was going to be okay.

A few younger mammals noticed them before they arrived, pointing and waving other college kids over. A tiger, lion, and a panther, who all looked to be football players, rushed over and caught Nick just before he fell forward. They carried him to the lawn as Judy followed. Most of the young animals gave the small group plenty of space, most clamoring up. Judy surmised they were probably a little freaked out at this beat up pair of mammals that showed up out of nowhere in the middle of the night.

"I need a phone!" She shouted. A female ferret offered hers. "Thank you!" Judy said as she snatched it and immediately dialed the ZPD. "Hello, Clawhauser! It's Judy, we have a 10-24, repeat, 10-24, Officer Wilde is down!"

"Noted, what is your location Officer Hopps?" Clawhauser asked. She could tell by his tone of voice that his training had taken over, emotions pushed to the side in order to do his job smoothly and effectively.

She turned to some of the nearby college kids. "What street are we on?"

"Cyprus Drive," the panther said, jogging back with a handful of towels and two bottles of water gripped in his large paws.

Judy glanced at the number on the house. "67-894 Cyprus Drive."

"Officers and medical aid are on the way," Clawhauser said, "Anything else we should be aware of?"

"Yes, Nick's house was broken into and the suspect attempted to take him. We neutralized the suspect but Nick was wounded in the process. Two more suspects, polar bear and rhino, were with the first. They may still be at Nick's residence. Use caution, they're should be considered armed and dangerous. We are on a lawn in front of a frat party," She relayed in quick succession.

"Acknowledged. Are you hurt Officer Hopps?"

Judy noticed she was breathing way too fast. She glanced down at her left paw and saw that it was shaking. Her whole body was shaking. "Negative, just overwhelmed."

"Alright, try and remain calm, I've scrambled all remaining units, they should be there in less than four minutes."

Now that her adrenaline was wearing off, she felt sick. She plopped down on the grass on her side. Tears manifested and fell without her input.

Nick lay across from her. His head and shoulders were propped up by a small pile of towels. His face had begun to swell, and his shirt was almost completely soaked with blood that seeped from wounds or dropped from his face and scalp. His ears lay back against his head, and he breathed shallowly, one paw wrapped around the hilt of the knife, keeping it steady. He glanced at her with heavy eyelids and gave her a wan smile.

"It's Officers Hopps and Wilde!" One of the college kids said. The music had died down in the house, and more animals had piled onto the lawn, all vying for a view of the scene.

"Holy shit, it is!" Said another.

"What the fuck happened?!"

"I don't know, they just showed up like this!"

"Has someone called an ambulance yet?!"

Judy wanted to shut them up, to wake up from this nightmare. She wanted to have fallen asleep in Nick's arms, and have him comfort her in the dark, even laugh at her emotions. Because then everything would be okay.

But it wasn't. This was confirmed by Nick's bath of crimson, by the blood trail that lead all the way back to the alley, by his increasingly weakening state. She shut her eyes against too much hope.

Then she opened them again. Who had been there for her when she was at the end? Who stayed with her through her recovery, even during her coma? Who changed her dressings and brought her food and changed the bed pans and held her hand and kept her company and –

She crawled to him, sitting and placing his head in her lap, stroking his ears.

"Mmm…hey Carrots," he croaked, smiling up at her, eyes barely open.

"Just hang on Nick, they'll be here soon."

His eyes slid closed and open as slow as a sloth, but he nodded, albeit meekly. "Of all the places to end up, huh?" He said, indicating the crowd.

"Heh, yea," she chuckled sadly, running her hands through the fur on his head and around his ears still.

Sirens brought with them the inward breaths of hope. Only two vehicles showed up: one ambulance, into which Nick was promptly loaded, and one squad car, out of which stepped a distraught Delgado, who offered to take Judy while following the ambulance to the hospital.

"My god, I just saw him a few hours ago," the lion said as they set off. Judy waved out the window at the gathered crowd of college kids. "Dropped him off at home, cruised around some neighborhoods for a few hours, then the call came in. I can't believe it."

"Neither can I," Judy said, bringing her knees to her chest. The seat was plenty large, and Judy remembered that Fangmeyer usually occupied it, him being Delgado's usual partner.

The rest of the car ride was silent, the only sounds being the competing sirens of the two vehicles as the two ran code, screaming through what little traffic remained at this hour towards the hospital.

OOO

Mr. White never seemed to sleep. Daniel Fey stood, stiff and stoic as ever in his employer's presence, hands behind his back, eyes straight ahead. He had relayed the night's tally: forty seven out of fifty targets had successfully been acquired. One hadn't been home, one had been killed in a scuffle, and one, the fox officer, had escaped.

"This fox is a crafty one," Mr. White rumbled, dragging his claws across his desk towards himself, a habit he had developed that was made apparent by the unsightly damage that had built up on the piece of furniture.

"I'm not sure if 'crafty' is the right word, sir," Danny said, still staring straight ahead, "I witnessed the entire ordeal. Asha was killed, and her two associates lost the fox. The rabbit was with him, sir."

"Was she now?" He mused. Danny guessed Mr. White hadn't been paying as much attention to the two mammals as the plans had been underway. That's why he had assigned Danny to keep an eye on them, after all. It was a hefty bonus in his payroll. "No matter, his addition to the list would have just been icing on the cake. It was not imperative."

"So Asha's death was – "

"A necessary sacrifice. She was proving to be too much trouble for her worth." Danny felt Mr. White's horrific eyes come to rest on him. He swallowed. "Pray that you don't fall into the same bad habits."

"I wouldn't dream of it, sir."

Mr. White snorted in acknowledgment. "Did you happen to catch which hospital the fox was sent to?"

"Unfortunately not, sir." Danny's heart sank.

"Hmm. I'll find him. You can rest easy; you have a big day tomorrow after all. And keep an eye on that rabbit; I feel she may be the one to throw a wrench into the proceedings."

"Will do, sir," Fey said before saluting crisply and turning on his heels.

Until then, cheers, sorry for all the faffing about, and thanks for reading and reviewing. :]