Author's Note
I'm sorry for cowarding out of writing the story, not only did I not have the time to write, but I also didn't have the motivation, but summer has arrived and I was inspired, so here we are! Tenth chapter, hooray!
Alex's POV
I placed my chair in the center of the dark, bare room. As injured as I was, jumping wasn't my strong point right now. I climbed up and grabbed the hanging, powerless, light bulb from the ceiling. A simple yank was all it took, I smashed it on the ground, producing a shank. The chair's arm rests were solid wood, so I snapped one off, test swinging it as a weapon. The broken light bulb was more of a backup, plus it's smaller, so it was placed behind the now correctly positioned chair, right across from the door. I sat quietly and waited, one arm on the broken board, back in it's rightful place. After about ten minutes or so the door slot opened, a glass, tinted visor peering in at me. A guard stepped into the room, just one: perfect. He had no weapons, and left the door just cracked. A terrifying thought entered my mind, there is a security camera in the corner of the room.
"I'm just here to give you this." The guard said, handing me a picture. I flipped it over, it was a picture of Judy. The guard was towering over me, I could tackle him. He slowly backed away, after a few steps he turned around. I quickly used both paws to tear the board back out of the chair and flung forward. The guard was quick to turn around, using his arm to block his face, but the impact sent him to the ground. He kicked me back with both legs and scrambled to get back to his paws. I swung and missed, he took the opportunity to counter with a fist, landing right on my cheek. I stumbled back, and pulled the board back up for another swing. He prepared to rear back as I thrusted the board towards him; I released my grip, the board taking to the air and slamming into his helmet.
He fell to the ground with a thud, and I quickly obtained the light bulb behind me and dove onto his unconscious body. I pulled the broken glass up, but my bared teeth and my furious eyes faded. I wasn't a killer. I dropped the bulb and looked at the door, it was open. The helmet of the guard was easy to take off his head, placing it upon my own, flattening my ears. The dense amount of clothing took a few moments to remove, but would hide me amongst their own. I cracked the door and peeked outside, not a soul. The corridor was moderately lit, but my separation of light for so long made it more like staring at the sun. The hall's rustic state wasn't what I expected, however, a pair of doors ended the hall. I opened them slowly, a much sanitary location was on the other side. Doors were evenly placed along a long, metallic hallway, which was darker, but also much more suitable than before. I saw guards and supposedly doctors roaming further down, which wasn't good for me.
I steadily walked down the hall, conversations of others drowning out my boots clanking on the metals. I forced myself to keep walking as each window I passed was either screaming or people walking around with test tubes, amongst other containers. A guard pushed passed me in a hurry, I stared forward as he slammed into several others littering the halls and ran into a room, identical to the others around it. Everyone resumed normal business after the near silence ended. I carefully approached the room, a view of the room shining through the window.
"Where is he?!" Ivan yelled from inside, my eyes widened from inside my helmet. Ivan wasn't just shirtless, his back was ridden of all fur, replaced by a layers metal plating. As he yelled, the metal took on the role of a spine like structure, bending at will. He gave up and turned away from the guard. My breathing quickened as I saw his front. Shiny metal covered his chest and stomach, stopping at his shoulders. There was a hexagonal hole in the middle, small amounts of blood riddled the outline of the shape, the inside was darkness. My trance was broke when I returned to Ivan as a whole, his head was dipped down, his eyes coming up to meet mine.
"Sir, you need to lay down so I can cover up " The guard was cut off by Ivan diving onto the medical bed and flinging himself towards the window. I was quick to dive away as the glass shattered into oblivion. I broke into a sprint down the hall, slamming into a guard when looking back for the jaguar. A guard swung at me, but I ducked and simply kept running. Ivan wasn't far behind, having no trouble with anyone in his path, striking them to the ground. I leaped over a passing corpse, laid sloppily on a rolling bed. Ivan followed, instead flipping the cart out of his way with a single paw.
The dense amount of guards in the corridor dropped to almost none as we entered what seemed to be a less popular area. The existence of this facility wasn't known to me, I had no idea what any of this was. I began to slow down, my joints becoming tired. A crash came from behind me, metal on metal. I spun around to see Ivan's body on the floor, his metal torso still moving from his pants. He was face down, his head turned to the side. I slowly walked over, bending down slightly, my arms out to do something, anything.
"Nick Wilde." I heard in my head, looking around slightly to see no one but myself and Ivan. A flashback took over my mind as I panted against a wall, three bullets striking my back. Nick saved Ivan. I quickly leaned down and flipped Ivan over onto his back, his original position left a small pool of blood. The hole in his chest made me turn away, the light shined down on him, revealing his insides. His breathing lightened, but only slightly. His gaze locked onto me, his expression remaining that of exhausted.
"Why?" He sputtered, coughing in the process. I took off my helmet slowly, my ears springing back up. I dropped from my knelt position so I was sitting with my legs stretched out. With a deep exhale, I thought about what to say.
"Ivan, when we worked together, you were the closest thing to a friend that I had." I said nervously, "I don't want anyone to die, especially someone who was there for me when I needed them." I placed my paws in my lap, staring down at my reflection in the cold, metal floor.
"You were the one who did this to me." He said, laying a paw on his chest. He was half accusing and half joking. I scratched the back of my head, placing my other paw behind me as I leaned back. Three guards took each side of the hall, all armed with rifles. They swiftly walked towards us, closing the large gap. I jumped to my feet and Ivan stood up with a grunt. He leaned back slightly to minimize the blood from leaving his chest.
"Take him away." Ivan panted, still remaining by my side. The guards moved inwards, and he chuckled to himself.
Judy's POV
"Where is Nick!" I shouted while sprinting into the ZPD, Ben retreated with wide eyes.
"Did you lose him again? He asked, I shook my head in frustration.
"No, he was arrested!" Dragging my paws across my face as I spoke. Ben sighed, looking at his computer, he only looked half as worried as I was.
"There is no records of him being arrested, I'm sorry." He said with sympathy. I slouched over and wiped my forehead.
"Wait!" I jumped up in shock, "The news said he was taken in for questioning!" I said pouncing up to counter. Before Ben could respond, my phone rang, which I pulled out in less than a second. "Hello?" I asked with haste, still recovering from my recent conversation.
"Is this Judy Hopps?" A girl asked on the other end, her voice clearer than any I've ever heard.
"Yes ma'am." I answered, awaiting news about Nick, hopefully.
"I'm pleased to inform you that your friend Nicholas Wilde is not in any trouble, do you wish to speak with him?" She questioned, I couldn't help but smile, he wasn't in trouble at least.
"Of course!" I said a tad bit loud, startling Ben as he tried to listen in. After a brief couple moments, I heard someone fumbling with the phone.
"Judy?" Nick asked from the other side, sounding relieved.
"That's my name." I answered, both of us chuckling. Nick paused with a sigh, I could hear him pulling his tongue away from his teeth, making a soft clicking noise.
"Sorry, just thinking." He interrupted himself, "So yeah, they said you can come and pick me up if you'd like." He knew the obvious answer, of course I'd want to.
"Text me an address and I'll be there." I declared, swinging my paw for no one but myself.
"Yes ma'am." Nick said, moving the phone from his mouth. I heard a few words exchanged, but they were too quiet to decipher. Then the call was ended, I stuff the phone away in my pocket and ran for the door.
"Go get him, Judy!" Ben shouted, I rolled my eyes playfully before dashing out the doors to the parking lot. I hopped into my car and drove off, heading towards the address displayed on my phone. Luckily it was in Central Zootopia, so it shouldn't take too long to arrive there.
Alex's POV
The guards weren't hesitant grapple and restrain my arms, Ivan watching every step of the way. I glared at him as the guards pushed me donw the hall, back towards where my cell would await.
"Wait." Ivan intervened, raising my hopes. All six of the guards turned to face him, and dragged me along. "I don't think his old cell will cut it, take him to stage two." Ivan said, jabbing two fingers to the other side of the hall. I was pushed past Ivan as the guards gossiped about this 'stage two'; it didn't sound good. The corridor ended after a couple turns with two heavy metal doors. My heart sank when they were opened. A chair replicating that of a barber shop's chair was in the middle, except with metal restraints spread across the whole thing. My legs started flaring around, and I tried to pry away from the grip of the guards. A cloth was thrown over my head and pulled back into my mouth, muffling a portion of my scream. It took four of the six guards to drag me over to the chair and toss me into it.
"Don't be idiots! Swing at him!" One said, struggling to stabilize me enough for the restraints. One punch to the jaw stopped my flailing, and I slumped to the side, panting. I could feel the burden of the restrains covering me, elbows, wrists, knees, paws, and neck movements all blocked.
"Make haste and get out." Ivan said sternly, causing all the guards to leave the room in only a few moments.
"Alex," He said with sorrow, leaning in towards me. "No matter how much they hurt you physically, don't let them get to what matters." He whispered, tapping his head with a claw. As he finished, the double doors opened across from us swung open, a fox entered the room, wearing a dark blue boiler suit and a bandanna. "He is all yours, sir." Ivan said, leaving me behind as he left the room.
"Any kids?" The fox asked as he pulled over a rolling table littered with an assortment of tools. He browsed through carefully, slightly turning to me every few seconds.
"Don't do this." I tried wriggling my arms and legs. My chest was tied into knots as he slowly raised a hammer. He circled the chair multiple times, then stopped right in front of me.
(This small scene has some torture violence, for those who dislike it, I put this here.)
"Any preferences for conversation?" He said with a deep, scratchy voice, examining his hammer. I didn't respond, knowing how pointless it was. "Suit yourself." He slammed the hammer down on my knee, a crack echoed as I screamed in agony. The fox didn't hesitate to repeat the act on the other side, getting the same reaction. He dropped the hammer to the floor with a thud and returned to the table. I held my eyes closed tight and tried to focus on my time with Judy. "Oh well, this will have to do." Holding my eyes closed, I had no idea what he meant. A paw grabbed my foot, causing me to open my eyes. He slammed the hammer down on one of my claws, breaking it. The pain was too much to bare, so I retreated to crying. He broke another claw, and I screamed as loud as I could, hoping to drown out the anger.
Blood trickled off my foot, and the fox slammed my snout against the hammer, releasing a crack. I slumped over, wanting nothing but to fall unconscious. The fox went behind the chair, which slowly elevated itself to a lying position, my eyes blinded by the bright light above me.
"A friend of mine did me a favor and collected these, since I was busy." He said, holding up a sealed blue container. He opened it above my stomach, multiple little red bugs pouring into my fur. I instantly felt pain as they stung into my skin. The pain slowly traveled over my body to my arms and legs. "Alright little guys, he's had enough." A bucket splashed over my body, my teeth chattered from how cold it was. The stings stopped coming, which was the best of luck I've felt had all day.
(Another pair of parenthesis.)
"Are you angry?" He asked with sympathy. Once again, I stayed silent. "ANSWER ME!" He exclaimed in rage, my ears hurting from how close he got.
"Yes..." I stuttered, still adjusting to the pain covering my body. The fox seemed satisfied with that, and he walked back over to the table.
"Well I hope you like the summer sun, by the way, you can call me Nick." He said, prying open the metal doors that lead to the hallway. What does that mean? I was laid out flat, restrained, not able to move anything but my mouth and barely my claws. I couldn't keep my heavy breathing down as the room seemed to engulf itself in heat. I knew what that damn fox did, I knew what he was trying to do: get into my head.
Third Person POV
"I think he is ready." Ivan said, sitting up perfectly straight in his chair. Dr. Harris sat across from him at a fancy, dark oak desk. He raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Really? He's only been here two days, surely that isn't long enough for someone like himself." He said, a paw on his chin.
"Felix was attacked by him; because he said the name Nick Wilde." That caught Dr. Harris off guard, as he hadn't heard of this yet.
"Well then I guess we can began the process, but we aren't certain," Dr. Harris began, accepting Ivan's request.
"Let me handle it." The jaguar pressed, cutting Dr. Harris off with pride. The panda thought for a moment, before gently nodding his head.
"Don't disappoint." He said, flicking his paw at Ivan, "Go on, you have work to do." Ivan didn't wait another moment to leave the room, glad that everything had gone like he planned.
Nick's POV
"Well I'm sorry to inform you Nicholas, but I won't be present when Judy arrives." Ryan said as he stood up from his desk, adjusting his tie. Ryan was the fox which sat across from me.
"You sure?" I asked, wanting him to stay. He was a nice guy, and Judy would probably want to meet him.
"I have a," He took a moment of silence, "Doctor's appointment." He finished with a smile. I shook his hand before he took off, leaving me with the guards and the lady who answered the phone from the room next door. Silence dragged on for over an hour, my mind was concerned about Judy's whereabouts, as she should have been here over a half hour ago, then my phone rang.
"Hello?" I asked the unknown number. With everything that's happened recently, I didn't know what to expect.
"Nick, I could use your help," Alex said urgently from the other end, "I'm currently held prisoner by Dr. Harris's soldiers." He whispered.
"What?!" I asked, not understanding fully what he was talking about.
"Ivan is trying to help me escape, I'll text you an address, and no police." He warned, before hanging up. I was dumbfounded by everything he told me.
"Well, Judy is waiting outside for me, best be going." I lied, hoping they'd let me leave. One guard raised an eyebrow, but opened the door for me. Once I exited the room, my pace quickened. I sprinted outside and looked around, seeing the apparent problem, I didn't have a car with me. My phone buzzed, I got the address, but no means of getting there.
Alex's POV
"You couldn't have took your damn time could you." I spat as I gave Ivan his phone back. Ivan growled, both of them hiding behind a labrotory counter.
"Quiet." Ivan breathed, placing a paw over my mouth. I heard the echoing footsteps of guards as they passed the room, continuing down the hall. "We have to get you out of here with haste, they won't stop looking." He cautioned, peeking over the counter. He motioned with a paw to follow him as he lurked over to the doorway, leading to the halls. "Whatever you do, they do not get this syringe." The jaguar proceeded by holding up the item.
We both crept along the walls of the hall, making no noise at all. Luckily no guards were in the area at the time, giving us a free pass. There were surely guards watching the exits to ensure no one like myself could escape, which was a problem. The metalic walls sent shivers up my back as we continued our path towards freedom.
"Is this some sort of mind game?" The words slid through my bared teeth. Ivan raised an eyebrow and turned his head to glance at me.
"Excuse me?" He whispered, still remaining alert of our surroundings.
"Why else would you be helping me of all mammals?" I said, assuming that having an enemy be my friend would be the best way to get to me.
"Judy delivered you to the hospital, leaving me alone with Nick. He was drunk and oblivious; I could have killed him." He said sternly, shoulders held high and fist raised. He then let up: drooping his shoulders, his arm swinging at his side. "It wasn't because my kids were in the house, but rather because he did the right thing." He paused, now facing me completely. "He saved my life so my children didn't have to suffer." Ivan was quick to cut off any further conversation, and began creeping down the hall again.
"That explains Nick, but why me?" I rebooted our chat, I could see him roll his eyes as we turned a corner.
"You and I worked together, we drank together, we laughed together, you saved Nick's life, he saved mine, end of discussion." He said a bit louder than before. Ivan didn't want to show any sign of weakness, I could tell, but it wasn't weakness, it was heart. The jaguar raised a paw, signaling me to stop. He slowly lowered to one knee, using a screwdriver to take apart an air vent.
"I know every corner of these vents, I studied them with crucial percision back in training. One path in particular will land us right outside." He said, finishing the final bolt before carefully laying the vent on the shiny floor.
"You sure the vent is big enough?" I asked, already feeling nervous, I never liked small spaces. Ivan sighed and began crawling into the duct.
"Would you rather try the main entrance?" He asked sarcastically, knowing I'd say no anyways. I let out a fake chuckle and got down on my knees. It doesn't look too bad, no big deal. At most my arms and legs would be constrained to a few inches of breathing room. As I forced myself to enter the vent for the sake of time, I felt my breathing become unsteady. "Don't fall too far behind." Ivan warned. Yeah, easy for the jaguar to say. I pushed myself with my legs behind me, my arms stuck in front of me, not able to move to my sides. The vents were luckily cold, making the experience less stressful.
"They're in the vents!" I heard the words echo around the enclosed metal enterior. Shit.
"Just keep moving, they won't be able to catch us." Ivan reassured me, ignoring the fact that our lives were in danger.
"Looks likes we're having wolf meat on the barbecue!" I heard the voice shout from through the wall.
"Frank, don't even joke about that!" Another scolded, making me want to smile. A gust of wind pushed past me, making me instantly realize what he meant by barbecue. The vents overflowed with intense heat, making my heart start pounding. My mouth opened on instinct, unsteady pants being released. I tried to push my knees under me, but my back hit the top of the vents, causing me to slide back down. I started groaning while trying to squirm in the vents. My groan turned in a yell, screeching across the seemingly closing in walls. I felt light headed, looking down at the floor.
"Alex!" Ivan yelled, having barely enough room to half face me. "Alex!" He said again, barely catching my attention. A forced slammed into my face, causing me to jump; Ivan just kicked me in the face. "It'd be best for you to start moving." He yelled. The heat only intensed as I regained my senses and began following Ivan once again. "So you like Judy huh?" That widened my eyes a bit.
"What?!" I asked almost angry, but continued our escape, even though it was slow enough.
"Oh come on, it's obvious, you even offered to help her after Nick's little incident." He laughed, I could tell he was poking fun at this point.
"No, we're just friends." I shot back, feeling embarrased. Ivan just continued a small snicker, it wasn't like him to act childish.
"I just said like, nothing more, you dug your own grave." He sighed. Damn he is good at making me talk. Ivan came to a sudden halt, surprising me. We reached another vent, instead of trying to unscrew it, he punched it open. Almost forgot about his "situation". We both climbed out of the vent and out into the fields of nowhere.
"Yeah the vent should lead right back here." We heard coming around the warehouse. Ivan was quick to take the corner, awaiting anyone's arrival.
"Hey I heard that your father was in some deep shit recently." A low, rough voice spoke. It was Kevin.
"Why you got to bring that shit up! Especially at work." The other mammal accused just as they both turned the corner. Ivan was quick to swipe the pistol Kevin wielded, and slammed it into his stomach, knocking the breath out of him before dropping the gun. The second guard, a panther, was quick to swing a punch at Ivan. His fist landed straight into Ivan's open paw. The panther was shocked, but used his other paw to punch Ivan right in the snout, not once, not twice, but three times. His reaction was pricely, Ivan didn't flinch, actually smiling a bit, before crunching the panther's knuckles, still enclosed in his paw.
"Traitor!" Kevin yelled as he scooped up Ivan from behind, holding him in a bear hug, focus Alex. Ivan squirmed, even with his current strength, he couldn't break free. The panther swiped the pistol Ivan dropped a moment ago and aimed it at me.
"Alex! Catch!" Ivan yelled as he managed to get a paw free, he tossed the syringe, landing right in my paws. The panther's expression quickly changed, he also seems to know it's important, unlike me, he might actually know what it is.
"Shoot him!" Kevin demanded, the panther, raised his gun to me once again. "Not him you moron! The jaguar!" So that's how it was going to be.
"You shoot him I'll break the syringe!" I said, holding it up as a warning. Kevin tossed Ivan aside, spinning around. The panther shot at Ivan while Kevin quickly approached me.
"Don't break it!" Ivan screeched as bullets fired off. I had to think, I can't out power Kevin, but I can out run him. As I felt confident with my solution, however, the bulb was bursted. Kevin revealed another pistol from his belt. I had nothing to lose, nothing but Judy and Nick. I stabbed the syringe into my arm and injected it. Kevin raised the gun in an instant as I fell to my knees. Ivan came up behind him and flipped him over his back, landing Kevin on his neck. He sprung into the air, doing a back flip before landing a fist square against Kevin's snout. "I didn't say to inject the damn thing!" He spat in anger as he knelt down to support me. I felt as if I was drunk.
"Is it poison?" I slurred, blinking constantly to try to restore my blurry vision.
"To your sanity, maybe." He coughed. He placed my arm over his shoulder and lifted me into the air. I felt my vision fade away as he slumped towards the grassy plains, his metallic chest seemed to have taken the bullets rather well.
Author's Note
Once again, sorry for the obvious lack of updating the story. Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter, along with Ivan's decision to help Alex! I'll try to pump out another chapter soon!