In spite of Judy's fierce objections, Ms. Hertz brought them back to the dim, dank casino basement for another "lesson".

Now the lioness stood in one corner of the room, arms crossed over her rain jacket. Her paws flexed, causing her new rubber gloves to creak. These were designed with predators in mind, with hard, plastic, cone-shaped caps on the fingertips to prevent claws from tearing through the material while still maintaining a high degree of dexterity. She also wore matching rubber shoes on her feet, ones commonly used by mammals that couldn't spend all day in the wet Rainforest District without getting the dreaded tropical immersion foot, otherwise known as "trench foot" or "paddy foot". She glared contemplatively at Nick, who stood in the opposite corner.

The fox stood, shirtless, arms at his sides, a bandage wrapped around his paw. He seemed strangely lopsided, with long, artificially white fur on one side of his face and the regrowing but still very short natural red fur on the other. The different lengths and colors even affected his gaze, making one eye seem larger than the other, and of a different shade.

He stared hollowly at the lioness across from him. Unlike before, where he showed a respect born out of necessity, now it seemed as though he kept his eyes on her only because it was the least inconvenient thing to do.

Judy, who stood on the table hugging herself with one arm while the other held up a paw so she could anxiously chew on her claws, stared at him with undisguised worry.

Ms. Hertz decided it was past time to get things started. "So, can you use the electricity whenever or only when you're a drooling savage?"

Blue-white sparks burst from Nick's claws. Arcing over his fur, a wave of electric current raced up his arms, over his shoulders and toward the hole in his chest, the visible Origin within growing brighter as it re-absorbed the charge, before dimming back to normal.

Ms. Hertz eyed the minor display of skill with a critical eye. "Well, maybe you're not a complete waste of my time after all. What else did the Origin show you?"

Nick didn't reply, or move.

Frowning, the lioness tried to remind the fox of his station. "Don't think that just because you remember being a king that I'm going to treat you like royalty. Those are memories from a corpse, and they're worth just as much."

Dull green eyes stared sullenly out of dark, sunken, mismatched sockets.

Amber eyes narrowing, Ms. Hertz uncrossed her arms and started forward, threatening. "Maybe I need to remind you-"

"You're a liar."

The fox's words stopped the lioness short. Her head tilted ever so slightly as she tried to figure out what he could possibly mean. While she hadn't shared everything, she certainly hadn't told any lies. "About what, exactly?" she asked coolly, paws on her hips.

"I saw everything," Nick said, voice as dull and tepid as his gaze. "I was made in a lab. They cut me into pieces and made me grow back. They melted me and burned me and shocked me and when they were done, they kept me somewhere dark and quiet."

Off to the side, Judy gasped with horror, paws over her mouth.

Ms. Hertz, on the other paw, looked thoughtful. "So, they experimented on your Origin's previous Eidolon?"

"No. There was no one before me. I..." Nick trailed off, a tinge of confusion on his otherwise blank face. He looked down and brought his arms up and stared at his paws. He traced a clawed finger over his bandaged palm as he spoke. "...I am the first."

"That's impossible-" Ms. Hertz began to say, only to stop. Her eyes widened as she came to an epiphany. "Cut into pieces and grown. They're making new Origins. This means…" she trailed off, covering her mouth with a paw while she glared at the ground in intense contemplation.

Judy hopped off the table and approached Nick. The fox looked up as she placed her small paws over his larger paw, gently gripping either side of his bandaged palm. Concerned violets looked up earnestly into dull greens. "Nick, what do you mean 'I was made'?"

The fox cocked his head at her, confused. "...What? What are you talking about?"

Judy frowned with worry. "You said 'I was made.' 'They cut me to pieces.'"

Nick frowned as his confusion multiplied. "I… that's not right-"

"Goddammit!" Fox and bunny both jumped as the curse suddenly rang out. They turned and watched Ms. Hertz pace to the table and slam her paws down on top. She leaned on her arms as her plastic-tipped fingers tapped a rapid rhythm on the metal.

The duo twitched as her arm suddenly whipped out toward them, one finger extended to point squarely in their direction. Then her head followed, amber eyes glaring them down.

"Alright, turns out we don't have nearly as much time as I thought. You," her finger raised a degree to train directly on Nick, "get over here. Since you can control the Origin at will, it's time for you to learn how to actually fight. You," now the finger dropped a degree, pointing squarely at Judy, "were cop, right? Do you have any combat skills worth mentioning?"

The bunny glared and turned to face the lioness fully. Drawing herself up, she said with pride, "I was valedictorian of my class. I've laid out rhinos and left polar bears gasping on the mats."

Ms. Hertz dropped her arm. "Well, at least you're good for something. I'm no teacher, so you'll watch the fox and tell him how he fucked up and what to do about it."

"Ha-ha-ha! Hnnk!" Kingmaker laughed and snorted once Ruby finished filling him in. "What a terrible job you've do of- of, well, everything!. No wonder Aphos had to call me." The portly pig shook his head before taking another bite from his oversized drumstick, reclining in an oversized fold out lawn chair that one of his cronies had set up for him. Despite the way it creaked under his substantial weight, he seemed very comfortable.

The tall, anonymous creature in the hat and raincoat moved for the first time, turning slightly and dropping monstrous yellow eyes on Kingmaker. The pig shivered as though an icy wind rolled over him. Already knowing the cause, he glanced up before looking back down at his food with a scoff. "Yes, yes, you, too, Hector! You know I'd never say you weren't helpful. I do like living after all," he muttered the last part to himself before taking another bite of his seemingly never-ending meal. Apparently mollified, the unknown slowly turned his gaze back to the wolves.

The greasy swine raised his brilliant red eyes to Ruby and Gmork, who were both still watching the pair warily. Chewing thoughtfully for a moment, he dropped the half eaten morsel to rest on his bulging gut, then pointed at Ruby with a fat, stubby, hoofed finger. "Girl, write this down, I won't say it again! Here's what we're going to do about all this…"

"Oof!" The breath rushed from Nick's lungs as he hit the tiled wall.

Across the room, arms crossed and hip cocked, Ms. Hertz watched with clinical detachment as the fox slumped to the floor.

Hopping down from her place on the table, Judy rushed to Nick's side. "Holy crepes, Nick! Are you okay?!" she asked as she skid to a halt. Kneeling down, she gently began to check him for injuries.

"None of that!" Ms. Hertz called, grabbing the rabbit's attention, who paused what she was doing to stare at lioness. "Just do what I told you. Get him up and tell him what he did wrong. We don't have time to waste on touchy-feely crap."

"It's not touchy-feely crap!" Judy shouted. "How's he supposed to learn anything if you crack his skull open?!" Her gaze snapped down as Nick suddenly stirred beneath her paws.

"No, let me up, I'm fine," he said as he pushed himself up to all fours.

"Nick, please. She'll kill you at this rate," Judy begged him to see reason.

He looked up at her, eyes serious. "She'll kill us both if I don't give this my all." Shoving himself upward, he stood briefly on two legs before stumbling backwards as the room lurched before his eyes. One paw reached back to brace against the wall while the other came down on Judy's shoulder.

The rabbit buckled a bit before straightening and grabbing his arm with both paws, doing her best to support him.

Nick shook his head a bit as his vision cleared. Straightening up, he kept his paw on Judy's shoulder as he tried to reassure her. "I'm fine. Please, just, tell me what I need to know so it won't happen again."

Looking from Nick to Ms. Hertz, Judy was dismayed to see two mammals determined to keep fighting. Frustrated, she dropped her gaze to the floor. It took a second for her to overcome her misgivings, but she did relent. "Don't rush her," she said, eyes still on the floor, "but stay close. Watch her paws, all four of them. When she makes a move, you'll blink to protect your eyes. Don't. Keep your eyes on her, even when she's about to smash your face in."

Nick paused a moment to let her advice sink in. When he thought he had it, he gave her shoulder a grateful squeeze. "Thank you."

Then he drew his paw back, turned and walked towards his opponent, leaving Judy behind to glare at the floor, clenching her paws at the unfairness of it all until they shook with impotent rage.

"You called for me, Director?" Jack asked as he walked into Skye's office.

The arctic vixen motioned to one of the seats before her desk. "Please have a seat, Agent Savage."

Skye would only call him Agent Savage if she were putting on a show for someone and lately that meant the unknown, but very dangerous S.I.L.E.N.C.E.

Oh, shaft me! Not more of this, he thought to himself. His displeasure must have shown on his face, because Skye shot him a warning glance as he approached.

The vixen turned to face the office phone on her desk. "We are ready for you, Mr. Skroop."

"Eeexcelleeent," Mr. Skroop's unmistakable drawl issued forth from the speaker. "Direeectoor Vaaaults. Aaagent Saavaage. I neeed your heeelp ooonce again."

Skye crossed her arms on the desk and leaned forward. "How can the ZBI be of assistance?"

"Due to… unforeseeeen circuuumstaances, myyy depaartmeent haas deeecided to tryyy a… neeew aapproooach."

Skye and Jack exchanged a worried look, sharing wordlessly with one another that both had a bad feeling about this.

Throwing himself down, Nick just managed to miss getting clobbered by one of Ms. Hertz' powerful swipes. Then her leg came up, slamming her shin square in his right side. Thrown clear off his feet, the fox went skidding across the tiled floor to hit the wall with a muffled thump.

While he gasped and wheezed, Judy once again came running to his side. Kneeling down next to him, she felt along his ribs. Only after she confirmed nothing was broken did she slip one paw under his head and help him sit up.

"Are you okay? Can you breathe?" she asked as she grabbed his nose to direct his gaze at her, once again checking his pupils for signs of head trauma.

After two deep breaths and a throat clearing cough, he finally managed to answer, "I can- hah!- keep going."

"Hurry up!" Ms. Hertz called, her arms crossed impatiently.

Judy turned to shoot the lioness a glower, then she turned back Nick. Though her expression relaxed, she continued to frown. Taking a second to review the brief bout she'd just witnessed, the doe tried to put her thoughts into words.

"You keep your eyes on her, which is good," she began slowly, "but you need to realize that she's watching you, too. If your dodges or blocks are too obvious, she'll go around them. Try to be more spontaneous. Attacking might help, too."

"But, she's so fast," Nick pointed out. "How can I hit her?"

"You won't, at first," Judy said frankly. "But if you don't start practicing now, you never will."

As Jack walked through the motel parking lot, he stared in wonder at the four large, white buses, the windows of which were all tinted to obscure what might be inside. Even though his sensitive hearing could not detect anything, he couldn't shake the feeling of many eyes following him.

Shivering, he turned away and quickened his pace. Glancing from door to door, he found the one Mr. Skroop had instructed him to find: 19.

Going right up to the door, the buck found it was slightly ajar. Knocking on the frame as he went, he pushed the door in a few more inches and called into the gap, "Hello? Agent Roughpaw?"

There was no response.

Perking his ears, Jack listened intently.

A flutter and a shuffle. A sound he knew well. Paperwork.

Pushing the door open just a few inches more, the bunny quietly slipped in and closed it behind him. While the room was lit, it wasn't nearly as bright as the sunny exterior of Downtown Zootopia. It took a few rapid blinks before he could make out much more than indistinct colors and shapes.

Finally, the room resolved. It was a simple room with one bed, bland wallpaper, worn carpet and all the basics: table, lamp, dresser and tv. Nothing noteworthy whatsoever.

Ruby stood at the table, using it is as a desk while she organized a small spread of paper sheets and placed them into a binder.

Jack came up on her side, though he stopped at a respectful distance. A quick crane of his neck told him he couldn't look at what she was working on without jumping up on the table.

Settling back on his paws, he said, "I take it that's the new direction Mr. Skroop spoke of."

"That's right," the she-wolf woodenly replied as she carefully arranged a thin stack of pages and tucked them into place.

"Do you mind if I look at it?"

"Since that would mean taking it out of its binding, yes, I mind," she said, irritation coloring her voice.

Jack, sensing that arguing would get him nowhere, decided on a more diplomatic approach. "This is going to be a hard sell. If I knew a little about it, I could be more helpful."

"Doesn't matter," she said flatly.

"Perhaps not," Jack temporized. "But you know how the buyer is. Are you telling me you really don't want my assistance?"

Ruby closed the binder with a small whud. She stayed there, both paws on the cover, as she said, "Mr. Skroop didn't tell you enough?"

Even though she couldn't see, Jack rolled his eyes. "Considering the limited time, I think you understand how difficult it would be for him to go into detail."

"...alright. A quick summary." Flipping open the binder, she began to leaf through the pages, grabbing certain important documents.

Behind her, one of Jack's ears twitched, then the other. Curiosity and confusion stole over his expression as he turned to face the wall. His ears twitched again as he heard something faintly from beyond it.

Is that… chewing?

"Agent Savage!" Ruby called tersely.

Spinning back around, the rabbit buck found Ruby looking impatiently back at him. "Sorry about that."

"Forget it. Let's get this over with."

Now sporting a split lip, Nick hit the floor with an oomph as Ms. Hertz slapped him straight down, rather than knock the fox across the room. The lioness raised her leg to do just that, but Judy's voice stopped her short.

"Match!"

Paused with one foot in the air, the feline turned her head to lift a brow at the bunny as she knelt down by Nick's side. Ms. Hertz opened her mouth to say something disparaging, but changed her mind when she realized how pointless it would be. Rolling her eyes, she dropped her foot back to the ground and crossed her arms. "Whatever. Just get him up."

Not even bothering with a reply or even a glare, Judy instead focused on giving Nick a quick once-over.

The fox tried to push himself back up, but only managed to tilt himself over on his side.

Judy just managed to shove a paw under his head before it could hit the tile. Lowering him the last inch to the floor, she leaned over his shoulder to whisper in his ear. "Don't move. Just pull yourself together while I talk."

Closing his eyes and resisting the urge to cradle his bruised ribs, Nick did as she instructed and focused on gathering the energy and resolve to keep fighting.

"You tried to hit her. Good," Judy continued, keeping her voice as low as possible so the damnable lioness wouldn't hear. "She's taller, faster and stronger. That doesn't mean you can't beat her. Focus on her joints. Bend her fingers sideways, stomp her toes, punch her elbows backwards and kick her knees in. Whenever she reaches out, you touch her first. Make her afraid to hit you. Understand?"

Nick managed a minuscule nod, breathing too heavy to speak.

"Alright. Now, get up before she gets mad."

Bogo's chair creaked as he leaned back, fisted hooves on his desk, to stare at the she-wolf and rabbit buck before him. He glowered at them, an expression half of fury, half disbelief.

"You can't be serious."

With mussed fur and bags under her eyes, Ruby looked entirely too tired to put up a fight against the sheer mountain of muscle and willpower that was the ZPD's Chief of Police, so the burden fell to Jack.

"I know this might seem excessive, but we believe this is the right course of action," he explained diplomatically.

"Excessive?" Bogo scoffed. "This is not excessive. It's not even extreme. It's insanity. An egregious violation of our most sovereign laws, dating back to Zootopia's charter. I won't just not allow the ZPD's participation in this farce, I will do everything in my power to see that it never happens!" He slammed his fist on the desk, a sound with all of the authority of a judge's gavel sealing a death sentence.

Ruby flinched and looked away, but Jack didn't so much as flinch. The buck calmly steepled his paws in his lap, taking a moment to formulate his response. "Chief Bogo, please do not take what I'm about to say as a threat, or an ultimatum. The fact is, this is going to happen. There's nothing you or I or anyone can do to stop it."

Bogo leaned forward, his expression darkening.

Jack continued before he could be interrupted, "That leaves you with two choices: abstain from this operation and allow foreign agents to work unsupervised in your city, or commit the ZPD to this cause and have some say in how it is conducted."

"Why not the third option?" Bogo asked, his voice low and steady, livid but controlled. "I contact Markus Zubron, a close personal friend that happens to be Zootopia's Representative to the National Legislature, and have him start an inquiry that not only stops this…" Tilting so he leaned on his left arm, he raised his right hoof and grasped at the empty space by his horns, as though to pluck the perfect word from the air, "...Crusade, in its tracks, but also gets both of your departments censured for abuse of power and make sure neither of you," he held up two meaty, hoof-tipped fingers and stabbed them in the agents' direction, "do another day's work for the government for the rest of your lives!"

Rant finished, the buffalo dropped his fist back to the desk. He glared at the agents, daring them to test his resolve.

For a moment, tense silence filled the office like smoke. Then, Ruby reached into her jacket. Bogo, then Jack, turned to look as she pulled out a flip phone and flicked it open. The she-wolf pressed one button and held the device to her ear. "Did you get that?"

As she paused to listen to the reply, the males continued to stare, surprised by this sudden interruption.

Nodding decisively, she slipped down from the oversized chair and walked around Bogo's desk. When she stood beside his chair, she waited for him to turn towards her and held the phone out to him. "Chief Bogo, I present Markus Zubron, Representative of Zootopia."

Stunned silence followed her statement. For a second, it was all Bogo could do to stare down at Ruby in bewilderment. Shooting a glance at Jack, he found that the rabbit looked just as surprised as he. Turning back to Ruby, the buffalo stared at the flip phone for another few seconds before reaching down and gingerly taking it between a thumb and finger. Holding it up to his ear, he paused long enough to shoot a suspicious look Ruby's way before finally speaking.

"Markus?"

Jack watched with something like morbid curiosity as the bull seemed to go through the five stages of grief in a single, brief conversation.

First, Denial.

"You can't be serious."

Second, Anger.

"No, I will not go along with this rubbish!"

Third, Bargaining.

"Help me understand. How can you stand for this?"

Fourth, Depression.

"How can this happen?"

Finally, Acceptance.

"...Very well."

Closing the phone with finality, Bogo silently handed the device back to Ruby, who took it and returned to her chair. For several long moments, the office was silent as the Chief stared down at his desk.

Eventually, he spoke. "Fine. You'll have the cooperation of the Zootopia Police Department."

Knowing Ruby wouldn't respond graciously, Jack took it upon himself to do so. "Thank you, Chief Bogo."

Knowing their continued presence would only strain their already tenuous relationship, the rabbit signaled Ruby it was time to go.

As the pair approached the door, Bogo called out, "I'm going to file a grievance with the city, and with the Legislature."

The two agents paused and turned to face the buffalo again. He glared back at them, eyes smouldering.

"I'll submit a detailed report to every office that I can reach," he continued. "I'll use every tool within remit of the Law to fight this!"

Though his face was professionally neutral, Jack's eyes were sympathetic as he said, "If you feel you must, then I implore you to do so."

Blood and spittle spattered the tiles as Nick hit the floor again. Now, his nose was bloodied, a lesson from Ms. Hertz to not focus too much on her feet.

The lioness in question stood over him, arms crossed. Frowning thoughtfully, she watched as Judy came over and rolled Nick on his side.

Letting the two do their thing for a moment, she reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a disposable phone. Checking the time, she was surprised by how late in the day it was getting.

Time to wrap this up. As amusing as it was knocking the fox around, especially now that he seemed to have finally grown a spine, she had other things to do today.

As she put the phone back in its place in her jacket, her palm throbbed sharply, making her brow twitch. Pulling her paw out of the pocket, she held it up and scowled at it. Even though it was covered by her glove, she could easily imagine the mess of burnt fur and scorched skin that the fox had left in the wake of his savage awakening. It had been bothering her all day, and what made it more galling was the fact that she had to take it easy on him while they were sparring. She had enough good sense to know he wouldn't improve if she just knocked him out.

Her ears twitched as an idea struck her. A coy smile slowly stretched across her lips, exposing sharp, feline fangs.

Time for one more lesson...

Judy was just helping Nick to his feet when a big paw wrapped around her throat and lifted her into the air. Suddenly bereft of support, Nick collapsed on his back. A shoed foot came down on his wrist and a knee pinned his chest to the floor.

The fox looked up in shock to find Ms. Hertz crouching over him. When he saw Judy struggling in her grip, his free paw came up automatically, sparks jumping between his claws.

Ms. Hertz easily caught his wrist before he could grab her arm. Her rubber gloves did their job, protecting her from the arcing current racing over his fur. Then, in a deliberate show of strength, she slowly forced his arm back to the floor, all without showing a shred of effort.

Gritting his teeth, Nick glared up at his attacker. When he saw her pleased smile, he knew that what was coming next was going to be extremelyunpleasant and, since the lioness made a habit of getting her way, just as unavoidable.

Glancing over, he saw Judy was still struggling. In a doomed attempt at an armbar, the short rabbit had her legs wrapped around the lioness' forearm and her fingers wrapped around the paw on her throat. Despite straining with all her might to hyperextend Ms. Hertz's wrist, she didn't bend it a single degree.

"Judy, stop," Nick grunted.

"No, Nick!" Judy grunted right back. "We can't let her keep doing this!"

"Yes, we can! All you're doing is pissing her off."

"He's right, you know," Ms. Hertz interjected, smile dimming and eyes landing on the peeved doe whose life she literally held in her paw. "Now, you can be real still and quiet or I can bounce your head off the floor like a grape."

Judy stopped what she was doing long enough to look into the lioness' eyes. What she saw was an animal that didn't care one iota for her fellow mammals' lives. Though her fierce scowl remained, the bunny lowered her eyes, adjusted her grip on the arm holding her captive for ease rather than maximum leverage, and then went very, very still.

Seeing that Judy was no longer endangering herself, Nick looked up at his captor and ground out through clenched teeth, "What do you want?"

Ms. Hertz tilted her head at him. "I have other things to do, so I'm calling a close to today's festivities. You're a good enough fighter. Actually, you're still really pathetic, but you might get your paws on the average combatant, and that's all you really need, isn't it?"

"Is there a point to this?" Nick huffed, the pressure of her knee on his chest, though not her full weight, was still making it difficult to breathe.

Ms. Hertz smile died into an irritated frown. "I was getting to that," she said lowly, leaning more heavily on his chest in warning. She only let up when he let out a breathless gasp of pain. "We're not up against average fighters. Gmork might be one of the better ones, but I haven't met a weak Eidolon hunter. Anyone sent after us will tear you apart. Lucky for you, all Eidolons have a little trick for when things get real bad."

"And what's that?" Nick panted, trying to get his breath back through the overwhelming weight on his lungs.

A cruel grin spread over the lioness's face. "I'm glad you asked."

With a jerk and a twist, she snapped Nick's arm exactly between the elbow and wrist.

"Gah-haaaah!" The fox threw his head back and screamed. Sparks covered his body as he instinctively fought to escape the pain.

But Ms. Hertz' gloves, boots and clothes insulated her well enough. She watched, unharmed, as Nick writhed in her grip, lit up like a Christmas tree.

"What did you do!?" Judy shouted, staring over in horror at the grotesque angle Nick's forearm had taken.

"Oh, nothing mu-uh-ch," she said, voice hitching a step as her paw snapped from Nick's useless arm to his throat just in time to prevent him from biting the knee on his chest. "It's just a learning incentive." Using the new grip, she raised his head and smacked it on the floor. "Hey! Pull yourself together!"

The blow to the back of the head stunned Nick and he went temporarily slack. The light show ended, too.

After only a few seconds, the fox stirred again. Blinking slowly, he tried to move, but one twitch of his newly broken arm brought him screaming back to awareness.

"What the-! Augh! What-?" Turning his head, he saw how his arm now had an unnatural bent. Without meaning to, he tried to move it again, only to freeze up as a shock of pain raced up his arm and radiated across his entire being.

Letting his head roll back until he was facing the ceiling, Nick groaned as he tried to adjust to the now constant, throbbing pain and didn't quite succeed. "You broke my arm. You broke my arm. You. Broke. My. Arm," the fox muttered, breathlessly.

"Yes, I did. Now, what you're-" Ms. Hertz began, only to be interrupted.

"YOU BROKE MY ARM!" Nick shouted over her, raising his head up as far as it would go and staring at her with wild-eyed fury. "WHY DID YOU BREAK MY ARM!?"

"If you would shut up," Ms. Hertz punctuated the statement by knocking his head on the floor again, "I'll tell you."

"Stop doing that!" Judy interjected, voice cracking as she once again strained to escape Ms. Hertz implacable hold.

Ms. Hertz turned her head to tell the rabbit off, but snapped back to the fox when his head rolled back and it looked like he might pass out.

"Hey, no! Look at me or I'll break the other one!"

Groaning, Nick complied. "What do you want?" he complained, voice strained, just able to bring his snout back up so he was looking somewhere in her general direction.

"If you'd quit pissing and moaning, I'd tell you," Ms. Hertz snapped. "Now, focus! Almost every Eidolon can do this. Your Origin is spread throughout your whole body and it's basically all just one big muscle, like a tongue. It can move your body for you, even when you can't. Now, tell it to move your body. Tell it to put your arm back."

"Are you kidding? For- for this? You broke his arm for this?" Judy questioned loudly, once again drawing Ms. Hertz' attention.

"Yes, I did," the lioness nearly growled. Then she brought the rabbit up so their faces were only a few inches apart. "And if you think that's not fair, I'd be glad to make you match."

For a second, Judy's good sense held her tongue, but then anger born of days of abuse boiled over.

"Were you born this hateful or did someone teach you?"

"I taught myself. Here, let me-"

"Hrah!" Ms. Hertz eyes snapped down in time to see Nick throw his broken arm up off the ground, the dangling forearm still trailing behind. Then, with a sick crick, the arm snapped back into place. Sparks exploded from his fingers as he reached for her face.

Suddenly realizing she was out of position, the lioness threw herself backwards rather than risk getting touched. Landing a few yards away, she watched as the fox's arm swung all the way around, nearly rolling him over with the momentum of his missed strike.

Moving faster than he had most of the day, Nick threw himself into a sitting position, leaned forward, put his forepaws on the ground and shoved himself up to a standing position.

It was only once he was standing did he realize his mistake. Eyes widening, he clutched his newly straightened arm to his chest and cursed, "Holy mother of-! Aha-ow, that hurts!"

Before he even finished talking, the fox drunkenly stumbled forward a few steps. Raising his aching arm with his mostly undamaged one, he pointed at Ms. Hertz and gasped out, "Drop the bunny."

Quirking a brow, the lioness dropped her gaze to where she still had Judy in her grip. The rabbit looked back, a scowl on her face. A very slight smirk graced the feline's face before she flicked the lapine away.

Judy hit the ground with a roll and sprung up to her feet. When she did, she found she was only a step away from Nick. It only took two steps to put herself between Nick and Ms. Hertz.

Turning to face the lioness, she graced her with her fiercest scowl. "Are we done?"

Turning to face the door, Ms. Hertz smiled at them from over her shoulder as she left. "For now."

The door closed and the bolt slammed home, once again trapping them in the room.

Hearing a muffled thud behind her, Judy turned to find Nick had dropped to a seated position, legs and tail splayed out in three different directions. Cradling his arm to his chest, he stared glumly at the ground. His voice trembled as he said, "My arm hurts."

Judy quickly stepped up to him. Without hesitation, she popped up on her toes, threw her arms around his neck and squeezed.

Nick, for his part, didn't seem to mind. With a deeply felt sigh, he sank his head onto her shoulder. A little nuzzling around her neck and shoulder and he found the perfect curve to hide his face in.

They stayed that way for a while, giving and receiving comfort. But, eventually, Nick found there was something he just needed to say.

"I'm sorry."

Ears tilting curiously from her place tucked up against his head, Judy asked, "For what?"

"I thought I could do this. I thought m-maybe I could," his voice cracked, and Judy's heart ached as she felt him begin to tremble in her arms, "I don't know, be strong, or something- like you!- but I'm not. I'm not strong. I can't protect you and I d-don't," voice cracking again, Nick was forced to take a breath just to keep his already shaky voice from getting any worse, "I don't know how much longer I can take this."

In the face of this terrible self-doubt, Judy's response was almost automatically optimistic. "Don't worry," she said, running her stubby claws through the fur on the back of his head, "Things are bad right now, but they'll get better."

"How?" Nick asked back, voice touching on incredulous. "How can it, when everything is so messed up?"

Seeing how her quick response had fallen flat, Judy took a moment to craft a more thoughtful one. "We'll find a way. We'll make it better."

"But it keeps getting worse-" Nick's melancholy response was cut off when Judy suddenly grabbed his shoulders and shoved him back to arm's length.

The bunny glared up at him, violet eyes steely with resolve. She raised her voice until she was nearly shouting, "Nick, look at me!"

The fox blinked down at her, completely flabbergasted. "O-okay, I'm looking."

"I told you we would find a way, right?!"

"...right."

"Then, we will!" Judy insisted hotly, before lowering her voice to something more sympathetic. "I know you're hurting right now. From now on, I want you to focus on getting better. Leave everything up to me."

Green eyes glanced to the door where Ms. Hertz had disappeared, betraying Nick's thoughts. "What about-?"

"Forget her!" Reaching up with both paws, Judy cupped Nick's muzzle and directed his face away from the door and back to her. "Nick, look at me."

The fox blinked down at her again, still unsure. "I'm looking."

"I believe in you," she said, eyes shining with such conviction that Nick was nearly dazzled. "Do you believe in me?"

There was only one thing he could say. "Always."

"Then I'll make things better. I promise."

Please read: Before anyone wastes time wondering aloud how Ms. Hertz could imply she killed Nick's Origin's previous Eidolon when the Origin itself doesn't remember having one, that will be explained later. This chapter is big enough.

Author's Note: I would like to thank DrummerMax64 for his always helpful editing.

Many thanks to BCRE8TVE and leroidatboi for previews and suggestions. On that front, a big, big shoutout to Erinnyes for his help. His suggestions are basically going to give the entire next chapter it's shape.

And as always, thank you Starfang's Secrets for your continued encouragement and support.