Hey everyone! From the reviews I guess you liked the cliffhanger huh? Well you don't have to wait any longer!
'BANG!'
An explosion shook the foundation of the warehouse, stunning everyone inside. Nick and Judy looked up to see smoke bellowing out of the corners of the balcony, along the back wall. The police up there were thrown off-balance and stumbled for a second.
"Yo I'd love to stay and chat with y'all but, mah homies and I got some escapin' to do!" Snoop called out, using the split second of complete chaos to his advantage. He and the two grizzly bear bodyguards made a mad dash for the exit as a second blast shook the balcony. The balcony began to slowly creak and groan as the structural support was rapidly disappearing. Bogo heaved himself up and bellowed to everyone:
"Hopps, Wilde! Get after them!" Verbally slapped back into reality, Nick quickly spotted the escaping perps and jolted off, leaving Judy.
"Nick, wait! Oh cheese and crackers!" She reached for her pistol and bolted off after him. Her heart pounding in her furry chest, the damned lion had played them. He knew that the police would surround him on the second floor, so he placed explosives to disrupt the snipers. Judy was almost through the door when he heard the low rumble and chalkboard-like screeching of bending steel. She looked back to watch in horror as the section of the balcony where the Chief was standing collapsed, causing all of the officers on it to plummet to the first floor in a large cloud of smoke and dust.
"CHIEF!" She screamed, looking for any sign of the large water buffalo. She glanced back between the door outside and the wreckage, deciding whether to help her partner or the chief. She couldn't just leave Nick alone, what if something happened to him? They needed to catch the drug lord, they got so close, They couldn't afford to fail now! But she couldn't just leave the chief either, as stubborn as he was big, he genuinely cared for them and was fair in his assignments. It just took some warming up for him to get to like you. She couldn't afford to stall any longer, but she was riveted to the floor in full panic mode. Suddenly an orange paw placed itself on her shoulder and she looked up to a smiling older fox, it was Nick's dad Vinny.
"Hey, go check on the chief, I got Nick, alright? You don't have to worry, I won't let my son down." He pulled out a gun from his belt and rushed out the door, giving her a signal that it was going to be alright. She nodded and rushed toward the settling cloud of dust and pile of rubble. There were bodies everywhere, both from the cops stationed up there, as well as the unlucky mammals who were crushed when it fell.
"Chief?!, Chief?! Bogo?" She called out, hoping for a snarky reply, what she got instead was a low groan to her left. She ran over, spotting him laying down on his back, blood and dust covering his uniform.
"Hopps…my legs…I can't feel my legs Hopps…I can't feel them!" There was a section of steel beam crushing his legs, she gasped. This was the first time she saw him scared, no, terrified. His staunch composure he wore the entirety of his career was nothing but a mask, one he never took off for anything; but here he was, the tough exterior shattered, a crippled and frightened mammal exposed. Finding it damn near impossible to move even a single muscle, Judy slowly put her paw on him and dialed 9-1-1, nearly breaking her phone's mic as she shouted the distress call for the paramedics.
Nick rushed out of the building, ignoring the rumbling of collapsing architecture. He had to focus on catching Snoop Lion, he couldn't let him get away. He spotted said lion running around the corner of the building, heading down an alley. He picked up his feet and skidded around the corner, only to come face to face with the fist of the grizzly bear.
When he came to, he was chained to a lamppost. The two grizzly bears towering over him, Snoop in the middle, looking as smug as ever. Nick tried wiggle his way free, hoping the restraints were hastily put together and flawed…they weren't.
"Uh, uh, uh… you ain't goin nowhere little fox. So you're the one who called the cops on us huh? Well we don't take too kindly to little snitches in my organization. I even trusted you, you were mah fizzle! And this is how you repay my kindness? You call the fuckin cops on my ass? Good thing I wasn't stupid enough to come unprepared for that! All those cops are probably dead, which just leaves you….and me." He let out a hearty chuckle and pulled out Nick's glock from behind his back. "Looking for this? Now I don't stoop low enough to shoot someone with their own gun, I'm a classy motherfucker, but my two associates here aren't as civilized in that manor. Mikey, Trevor, off this piece of shit and let's get the fuck outta here. More cops will probably be on their way." He handed the gun to the larger grizzly, the one with the scar now known to Nick as Trevor. Trevor checked the magazine, and cocked the pistol.
"Last words fox?" the bear grunted, aiming the gun at Nick's head. A thousand things flashed before his eyes, his traumatic childhood, his life as a con man with Finnick, meeting Judy….Judy. He was going to die and leave Judy behind. There was no way he could do that to her, no way she would survive the emotional trauma. She loved him, and he had just begun to accept that. He closed his eyes and prayed for forgiveness…
"I..I'm sorry Judy."
'BANG!'
.
.
.
.
.
Nick opened his eyes, was he dead? He had heard the gun go off, but felt nothing. He saw blood spraying everywhere, and a tall figure collapsing. He blinked, a tall figure? His eyes coming back into focus he saw Trevor on the ground with a large hole in his skull, his brains plastered all over the ground and his clothes.
"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY SON!" Vinny roared as he fired another shot, this time through the heart of Mikey. He was irate, bloodshot teary eyes consumed his face, his fangs in full view for the world to see. His body language screamed 'Don't fuck with me'
"Dad?" Nick gasped, unable to process what just happened, his brain still filling in what was about to happen seconds before. His dad broke the chains binding him and gave him a hug.
"You alright Nicky? I was worried sick, I heard you hit the ground and I feared the worst." He was in tears, barely saving his son from murder. "Yeah dad, I'm…I'm alright. Thanks… I was so scared I was gunna die and leave Judy behind…where is she?" he looked around, expecting the bunny to be right there, but she was nowhere to be found.
"The entire balcony collapsed, Bogo went down with it. She went to go see if he was still alive in the rubble." Nick's muzzle drooped…poor Bogo… he hoped he was alright. "We should head back now, she's probably wondering where I am" He chuckled, thinking of the cute bunny worrying about him all the time. She actually had a good reason to just now, but he wasn't going to tell her that. He didn't want to give her a heart attack or anything.
'BANG!'
"Ugh!" Vinny collapsed, clutching his chest. The blood beginning to seep through the clothing, dying his green shirt a deadly maroon.
"Dad!" Nick caught him, and turned around to see Snoop standing there, smoking gun in hand.
"Well, well, well…what a juicy twist… I had my suspicious but to actually see it right before my eyes is something else entirely. The newbie and the old fool are none other but father and son. It's a shame you have to die, but you did kill my two best men, and ain't no fucker gets away with that!"
He fired another shot, grazing Vinny in the leg as Nick dragged him behind a concrete barrier.
"Face it fox boy, this is over. You've got no gun and deadshot is down for the count. Come out with your hands behind your head and I'll only leave you bloodied and beaten." He let out a sinister chuckle.
Nick turned to his dad, he was bleeding out. From what he could tell, the bullet had ruptured his coronary artery. "N..Nick….here….t..take..this.." Vinny managed to squeak out, offering his gun to him with a shaky paw. Nick had tears pool up in his eyes, they welled up and gravity pulled them down onto his father, mixing with the blood draining out of his wound. He began to sob as he took the gun, stood up and..
'BANG!'
He placed a bullet right between the lion's eyes. The large creature fell heavily to the pavement and hit it with a loud 'thud' Nick's paw lost all control as the gun slipped from his fingers, falling to the ground and shattering into a thousand pieces, like the fox's heart. He knelt back beside his father, unable to control his emotions anymore, he began bawling like a child. Whispering to his father,
"Dad…oh please dad…please don't go….be strong…please…" He felt a weak paw graze his cheek, looking down at his frail father who had the softest smile on his face.
"Nicky….I'm sorry I didn't get to spend more time with you…but I'm so proud at who you've become…" He slowly choked out...his conscious fading, "I get to say sorry to Linda now…I hope she'll forgive me." He let out a quiet chuckle interrupted by him coughing hard, blood beginning to flow from his mouth now. "Dad..." Nick squeaked…
"Nick…." You could tell from his eyes that he was using all the energy he had left to speak, "Nick…I…L…" He was becoming too weak, the blood was filling in his lung cavities and his esophagus, he coughed up more blood. "Dad, come on…you can say it…You're strong.." Nick pleaded between sobs. The soft smile returned,
"Nick…I Love….You….I…" The paw fell from Nick's cheek. The last breath of air escaped his lungs...He was gone.
Nick just lay there holding his father's body in his arms… sobbing uncontrollably. The only family he had left…gone. He was the last of his family now.
Back inside the warehouse
She gave the chief a big hug until the ambulance arrived, the paramedics rushed to his aid and the remaining survivors. They sawed the steel in half and freed his legs, which were bloody and badly damaged. He was lucky just to be alive.
"Th-thank you…Hopps. Go help Nick catch Snoop Lion…I'll be fine." He panted out, but he gave her a re-assuring smile as he was pushed away on a stretcher. She sighed, relieved. She walked towards the door when it slowly creaked open, and in walked Nick, her heart soared, carrying a body, her heart sank, the body was his father's, her heart dropped to the ground. Nick's eyes were bloodshot from all of the crying, there was blood all over his clothes. Her eyes filled with tears instantly…
"Oh…Nick...what happened?"
After the paramedics took care of the scene, Nick and Judy went straight home. She refused to let go of him the whole ride. Neither of them stopped crying all night, Nick could barely sleep so he ended up laying there listening to the TV try to drown out his pounding mind. Judy tried a couple times to start conversation but he didn't want to talk yet… he still needed more time.
When he finally opened up about the ordeal, he was short and spared Judy all of the details, only mentioning how he and Snoop had got in a shootout and his dad got shot. She knew he was hiding something, but now wasn't the time to poke and prod him about it. She stood up and gave him a kiss on his wet nose,
"Let's go visit Bogo in the hospital okay? That should help…" He nodded and she helped get him out of bed. He glanced out the window, they were in his old apartment, and it was morning. The sun shone through the curtains and brushed his fur with warmth, as if to say that things were going to be okay.
I mean, after all, he did have Judy.
Hey so that's a wrap on Arc one! Hope you like it! Arc two begins tomorrow, lemme know in the reviews if you want more cop drama like this chapter or more relationship drama like some other stories. Thanks from the bottom of my heart to everyone who has read, reviewed, follows, or favorited this story! You guys give me so much hope to continue this!
Thanks! ~sidra~
P.S - I'm 3 away from 100 favorites so get on it! :P