Everything was destroyed, all of her possessions, clothes, work, all burnt to ashes. The firefighters allowed them up to the room once the fire was completely out so they were now standing alone in the aftermath of it all, the once tan room was now a dark burnt hull with an entire wall missing. She moved around her room in silence, digging through the rubble to look for anything that might've survived. Nick could sense her sadness but she had yet to let it show yet.
After about thirty minutes of searching more sirens came from the streets below, they both peaked over to see that now the police had shown up. And a few minutes later the sound of heavy footsteps emanated through the hall before stopping at the door. The pair looked to see none other than the chief of police, but unlike their first visit from the buffalo he had a much more sympathetic face on then his stoic leader like face back in the hospital many months ago. The buffalo looked at the two in silence before signaling for them to follow him wordlessly.
"But-" Judy said before being cut off by the chief
"The investigators will bring anything they find to the station and I will have an officer bring it to you" was all he said walking down the hall. They followed him back out to the street as officers filed in past them heading towards the room. There were a lot more mammals outside then when they first arrived at the apartment building, the police had created a perimeter and marked it with tape. Just beyond the tape was mammals lined up to get a view of the destruction, and reporters who wanted information for the story. Bogo created a path through the crowed, the two shorter mammals falling in behind. They did not escape the press though as the camera's flashed and microphones were shoved in their face. Nick instinctively grabbed onto Judy as they walked through the hoard who were yelling questions in their face,
"Are you the mammals that lived in that apartment?"
"Was this the doings of some arsonist?"
"The whole on that building is missing could this have been a direct attack?"
Eventually they made it through the crowd and stepped into the back of a police cruiser, Bogo sitting in the drivers seat. The car came to life and drove off towards city center, Nick held onto Judy as she simply looked into the back of the seat like she was trying to shoot lasers through it. The drive wasn't long, maybe two minutes of turning and they were in the garage of the ZPD.
"You two aren't in trouble unless you have a reason to be, I just want to ask you some questions about what happened" Bogo said looking at them through the rear view mirror, Judy wasn't paying attention so Nick nodded in response. The buffalo led them through the garage and into the main building of the ZPD. Nick had never been in there (or never had a reason to) but the main entrance was a lot nicer than he was expecting, not that he was really expecting anything he had never seen a police station before. The group walked up stairs until they could see the entirety of the police station beneath them. They walked into a room that said Chief of Police on the door, inside the room was a big wooden desk covered in papers and in front of it was a chair. The chief went behind his desk and sat down while Judy and Nick shared the seat in front of him.
"So where should we start?" He asked crossing his arms,
"Where would you like to start sir?" Judy asked after coming to her senses. Bogo seemed to ponder that for a second,
"How about you tell me why you were outside the city?" he asked finally coming to his senses, causing both Nick and Judy to look at him confused, "Oh yes I knew you two were out there all night because I never saw you leave but at two in the morning I was woken up when an alarm in the city's wall was tripped and boy was I surprised to see you two on the camera", Nick looked over at Judy wondering if it was a good idea to tell him the truth. She reached over grabbing his arm and creating another link,
'I think we should tell him' he heard Judy in his head, Nick looked over at her confused,
'Are you sure? Do you remember what he told us when we first met? I don't trust him' he thought. The two continued to talk about it in their heads while Bogo looked on in confusion, they weren't talking but with their facial expressions changing he could tell they were communicating.
'Why did it have to be mammals with powers' he thought to himself rubbing the bridge of his snout.
"Alright chief, I will tell you what happened if you can promise me you won't tell the public, we don't know for sure whats happening or who to trust, deal?" Nick asked breaking the silence. The chief thought again for a moment, he really didn't like bargaining with a teenager but he also understood that they had gone through a lot.
"Fine, deal" he said. The duo went on to describe both of their sides of the story, explaining who Magnus Mortem was and all that they had done like killing that family and torching their house, attacking Nicks house and nearly kidnapping him, blackmailing him and forcing him to do as they said, and of course all of what happened last night.
"And now they are planning on draining the powers of every student in sky high at next weeks dance" Nick finished. The chief sat there in silence for a few minutes taking in the lengthy story he was just told.
"In all my years of being chief of police, I have yet to have a villain that has so thoroughly escaped my knowledge for so long" he said, "thank you two for telling me about this. I promise you I won't tell the public and I won't tell any other officers. I am not going to risk the life of two young mammals such as you two just so the public can be aware", it was then that Bogo's phone began to ring, "excuse me for one moment" he said before picking up the phone.
"ZPD Chief of Police speaking" he said before going quiet and listening to whoever was speaking to him, Nick and Judy sat there in silence while he was on the phone, "Okay thank you for calling me, keep this information confidential between you and me… alright bye" he said hanging up the phone.
"That was the lead investigator in charge of searching whats left of your apartment. He called to tell me that the fire was started by an explosive being put or shot at your specific room. And not only that, they found a symbol under all the ash on your floor, it is two big M's drawn in blood"
Nick looked over at Judy to see her breathing start to become ragged,
"Judy are you okay?" Nick asked putting a paw on her back, when her breathing didn't slow down he turned her just enough so that he could reach around and hug her, whispering in her ear, "Judy its gonna be okay, I promise I won't let anything happen to you", Judy's breathing started to slow and she leaned into him more. The sound of her breathing was then replaced by another sound, it was quick shallow breaths, and the feeling of his shirt getting damp, it didn't take a detective to figure out she was crying. And after holding in her emotions all day, Nick didn't blame her for it. Chief Bogo watched in silence as the two mammals had their moment,
"Hopps listen to me" he said gaining both of their attention, "I promise you that whoever this Magnus Mortem is, I will work so that you don't have to worry about it. Now do you have a place that you can stay for the time being?"
Judy shook her head still slightly sniffling,
"Yes she does" Nick said causing Judy to look up at him with confusion, "we have plenty of room at my freshly rebuilt house for her to stay in" he said looking at Bogo. The buffalo gave out a chuckle,
"You mean the house that got blown up a few months ago that not even your parents could defend" Bogo said leaning over his desk getting into Nick's face,
"Well a few months ago I was unconscious but we still made it out okay" Nick growled back losing control on some of his powers, Bogo noticed the feeling in the room change as the fox got more frustrated.
'Very interesting' he thought, "alright then fox I will trust you and you're family to watch over her, but now I have some questions for you?"
Nick seemed to relax once Bogo leaned back in his chair, "go ahead chief" he said also leaning back in his chair,
"Are you two in a relationship?" The chief asked, Nick tilted his head in confusion,
"Why does that matter?" Nick asked becoming more apprehensive, he knew Bogo didn't really like him (maybe for his species) but if he was against inter-species relationships that would just set Nick off.
"It doesn't, I personally don't care for inter-species relationships, I've sworn to protect any mammal in this city so I have no bias. But as you've noticed today with your brief run in with the media, they will dig up any information they can and twist it to make a better story. And a lot of mammals still don't like inter-species relationships let alone a pred-prey one so when it does get out, and it will, you will get a huge back lash for it especially with your involvement in this whole thing" Bogo said,
"Well in that case we are in a relationship, and we understand all that we are going to face, being hero's won't help that either" Nick said, Bogo seemed happy with that,
"Good, now next, I know that Hopps here has the power to create links with mammals and control them and some other stuff that I don't really comprehend, but what makes you special Wilde?" He asked, Nick smirked,
"Nothing" he said causing Bogo to squint his eyes and huff in frustration, "I'm just some fox with a decent hold on his emotions"
After he said that it looked like the veins in Bogo's neck were about to explode so he quickly called an officer and told them to drive the two home. The pair left the room and were met by a polar bear,
"So I'm really in charge of driving you two home?" The polar bear asked.
"It seems so" Nick said, "Sorry I know you could really be doing better things like drink coffee and eat donuts" He said with sarcasm causing Judy to snicker quietly.
"Alright watch kid" the polar bear said with a smirk on his face as he led them back down to the garage.
The drive was short and quiet as the polar bear simply asked for directions occasionally, but eventually they were outside Nicks house.
"Thanks officer" Nick said as they left the car,
"Take it easy kid" the car drove off heading back towards the precinct. Nick turned to face Judy as they walked towards the front door,
"Okay we need to get our story straight, I was spending the night with a friend and fell asleep before I could tell them, then I met up with you we went out for breakfast and then we came back to see your apartment on fire and now you need a place to stay" Nick said, Judy nodded in response. Opening the door he saw his parents standing there with their arms crossed.
"Uh heh heh" Nick said, his entire start escaping his brain, "Good morning", his mom came storming over grabbing him by the ear and pulling him into the house.
"Nicholas Piberius Wilde you have a lot of explaining to do" she said. The fox then noticed Judy standing behind where Nick was, "Oh hello Judy, I didn't know you were there" she said embarrassed, letting go of Nicks ear.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you where I was, I fell asleep before I could call you. But I was just at a friends house" both his parents raised their eyebrows as they looked between the two, it took a moment but he eventually figured out why they were startled, "oh gosh no! Not with her it was a different friend" Nick said his face heating up from embarrassment.
"Oh, well then why is Judy here? Not that I'm not happy to see you sweetie" she says looking back at the still silent rabbit.
"I went to get breakfast with her" he said trying to calm them down,
"Okay then why is she here now" Edward now asked. Nick paused looking at Judy,
'Do you want me to tell them?' He thought to her, she looked up at him and nodded.
"So that's where our problem begins, while we were out at breakfast we noticed a lot of fire trucks zooming past. And when we got back to her apartment we found out why…" pausing for dramatic effect.
"Oh no…" His mom said covering her mouth with her paw.
"Yeah her room was up in flames, and as of now we don't know if anything survived." Nick said, looking down at the ground,
"Oh my goodness that's terrible, Judy are you okay?" Edward asked,
"Yeah I'm alright, just pretty upset that I lost all my stuff. I don't even know what my parents are gonna say about this." Judy said, her voice was full of sadness.
"So now she needs a place to stay and I was thinking we have so much space that…" Nick said, hoping that his parents would understand what he was insinuating. Understanding dawned on their faces,
"Of course she can stay here, we are still technically in charge of you while you are here so this will make life easier." Edward said,
"Yeah don't worry about it, we will even give you some money to go buy some new clothes. We're still gonna have to bull your parents later but don't you worry about that" Amelia said enthusiastically.
Nicks parents led Judy through they house showing her where everything was, from her room, to the bathroom, to where Nicks room was and everything else in between. Eventually Edward left the group and went to Nick who was sitting in his room,
"Hey Nicky" he said pushing the door open,
"Hey dad, is something wrong?"
"No nothing is wrong but I just want to ask you a serious question, are you and Judy in a relationship?" He asked looking at his son directly in his eyes. Nick paused thinking about all that Judy had told him about wanting to become public, and the words of Bogo rang in his head. 'Screw it' he thought to himself,
"Yeah we are" he said confidently, Edward smiled at that,
"I figured that much, considering how close you two are. Now there are gonna be some ground rules for you two, like no sleeping in each other's rooms and stuff like that, got it?" He asked,
"Yeah that makes sense to me" Nick said. The older fox winded up and gave Nick a punch in the arm, which normally wouldn't have hurt, if it wasn't the arm that got shot. The pain shot through his arm taking his breath away as he let out a whine. His dad looked at him confused and then looked at his paw,
"I didn't hit you that hard did I?" He asked concerned,
"NO! No I just got a bad bruise the other day and you hit it right on the spot" he said through gritted teeth as the pain slowly died down.
"Okay well you and Judy need to go out soon and get her stuff" Edward said leaving the room.
It took Nick about five minutes before he could sit up on his bed, once he was feeling better he left his room to see his mom and Judy sitting on the couch looking at a photo album that he recognized as his baby pictures. Normally he would be upset but seeing her smiling made him feel better so his embarrassment was worth it.
"Alright Carrots, you ready to go?" Nick asked once the two noticed he was there, Judy hopped off the couch and bounded over to him,
"Yep lets go!" She said all joy and happiness back in her step.
The two left the house and started walking to the mall, it wasn't far just out on the other side of Savannah Central. They walked in a peaceful silence, taking advantage of the feeling of the sun on their fur.
"Hey Fluff, remember what Bogo said about us being in the public eye?" Nick asked,
"Yeah"
"Well we definitely don't want to reveal our identity so we should try finding ways to hide it" he said,
"That's a good idea, we're gonna need masks and various clothes to do that" Judy said coming up with different ways she could keep her face and body hidden.
"Actually I know a mammal that can make us custom suits specifically made for hero's like us" Nick said with a smirk on his face, Judy looked at him surprised,
"You do?" She asked,
"Well when you're parents are pretty important hero's you meet a lot of mammals so yes, yes I do. We will need to get some stuff for now because they probably won't be ready for a while but they are quality I promise. But let's go get your stuff first then we will visit them" he said.
They made it to the mall where Judy bought all that she needed as well as buying a temporary uniform to wear in case they had to actually go do super hero things. Nick bought one for himself too but didn't put much effort into it because he didn't think that they were gonna have any need for it. But after a lot of searching and three hours of shopping Judy had enough clothes to wear for just about any need. She also bought herself a new backpack considering her last one went up with her apartment. After the shopping they dropped the bags at home before leaving for Nicks secret mammal, Nick told his parents that they were just going on a walk and would be back for dinner shutting the door before they could respond.
"Okay so how far is this mammal of yours?" Judy asked once they were alone at the front of his house.
"They are actually just down the road" Nick said pointing to the large house near the end of his street, it was a very modern looking house with a front gate and everything. Once they were there Nick buzzed on the console just outside the gate,
"Hello, do you have an appointment?" A fancy looking tiger popped up on the console,
"Uh no just here to see an old friend" Nick said looking at the camera, the tiger searched on his paper before shaking his head,
"I'm sorry sir but I can't let yo-"
"Shut up would you, get out of my way I want to see who it is" came a high pitched voice, suddenly a tiny mole popped up on the screen. She stared at the screen in confusion for a bit before realizing who she was looking at, she let out a gasp as soon as she recognized his face,
"My god you have gotten big, come in come in" the mole said turning away from the screen and waking off. The gate opened soon after and the duo made their way to the front door.
"Uh Nick who exactly are we meeting?" Judy asked curiously still confused at what she just saw.
"She's a family friend, she also used to be my baby sitter when I was younger and my parents would go out and do super hero things, so I know them pretty well" Nick said reaching out to knock on the door, which opened just before he could hit it, revealing the small mole wearing a fancy black suit dress and wearing big circular glasses.
"Nicky Darling!" The mole screamed grabbing ahold of the fox pulling him into a tight hug. After a few moments of struggling Nick finally got enough air to respond.
"It's good to see you too Edna" he wheezed through the hug. The mole soon released Nick, allowing him to catch his breath and stand up.
"Who is this?" The mole asked seeing Judy.
"Edna this is Judy Hopps. Carrots this is Edna Mole," he said. Judy stepped up and waved, Edna looked her over before pulling Nick down again,
"Is she your girlfriend?" Edna whispered into his ear, Nick smirked looking over at his bunny,
"Yes, yes she is" Edna released him and paced around Judy searching every square inch of her as if evaluating her for a military inspection,
"Hm Nicky she is pretty, you made a good choice", she then reached out her paw which Judy gladly took, "It is a pleasure to meet you darling"
"It's nice to meet you too Mrs. Mole," Judy said with a smile on her face,
"Please call me Edna I'm not that old, now come, come we have much to talk about" Edna said turning into the house, the two followed close behind.
On the other side of the door was a long corridor with suits on either side, she didn't recognize most of them but near the end of the hallway a pair of suits caught her eye. One was a form fitting suit made to show off the strength of whoever war it, while the other one was sleek and hugged the model. Both of them had hoods and masks to cover the face of the mammal wearing them, they were both the same color, a dark black accented by streaks of colors, the bigger one being red and the sleek one being blue. Judy stared up at them in wonder not noticing Edna walk up behind her.
"I see you have found the suits of Nicks parents" she said surprising Judy,
"I knew I recognized them somewhere" she said turning back to look at them,
"Yes, they first came to me when I was a simple clothes designer and asked if I could help them in secret. Originally I didn't have the material to make anything other than a disguise but I worked with different things such as Kevlar and other meshes, and now I make suits for hero's from all around the world. And then when they had Nick they were often busy saving the day so I would take him down to the lab and design suits for him, but when he didn't develop powers I scrapped all the ideas." The smile on her face vanished when she thought about how unfortunate Nick was, to have his parents be such icons but he could never live up to them.
"But that all changes now" Nicks voice called from behind both of them, Edna looked at him confused,
"Edna I'm saying my powers are finally coming in" Nick said chuckling at the moles confusion. She let out a huge gasp and ran up to Nick squealing with joy pulling him into yet another tight hug.
"I KNEW IT! I knew they would come in eventually. What powers do you have, I can start making a suit immediately. How long have you had them, and your parents didn't tell me. Oh they are gonna hear from me!" Edna yelled pulling out her phone, Nick was quick to stop her from dialing their number causing Edna to look up at him again with confusion.
"I actually haven't told them yet and I don't think I can, the only mammals who know right now are me, you, and Judy. And with our current situation I can't have anyone else knowing or it could put them at risk" Edna's face became serious at Nicks words.
"Is someone after you Nicky?" Edna asked, her voice laced with venom. Nick knew she cared very much for him and would something boneheaded if he told her who it was.
"Sort of, they really just want my powers. But that's not important, me and Carrots here have it taken care of" Nicks eyes were pleading for her not to be mad or do anything she would regret.
"Alright I trust that you will get it taken care of. Now, you're gonna need a suit to do all of this" she then looked over at Judy who standing to the side quietly, "Do you have powers too?"
"Yeah but the-" Judy started responding,
"You can come too" She waved Judy to follow. The mole led them out of the hallway and into a large open room before heading down stairs and into the basement where the lab was. After scanning her eyes and having a gun nearly shoot Judy to smithereens they walked in into the large room full of gadgets and materials. The lights were dim and it was primarily illuminated by computer screens and other lights glowing on the machines. Edna took a seat at a small table grabbing a clipboard and signaling to Nick and Judy to sit across from her.
"Okay Judy we will start with you, first and most importantly what are your powers?" Edna asked peaking over her glasses, a pencil in her hand ready to write down what she heard.
"Well I have the ability to control other mammals, uhm the ability to create a link between me and another mammal so we can communicate through our minds, and then I can also mess with mammals minds or help them when they are distressed" Judy said, talking about it out loud sounded a lot more silly then she expected. Edna quickly wrote everything down, putting the end of the pencil in her mouth while she thought.
"And you do this primarily with?"
"My hands, I primarily use my hands"
"Got it, I can already see what material we should use as well as the colors. For a bunny you have a rather good shape so I will make you something form fitting to make it easier for you to move" Edna's words caused Judy's ears to heat up, she looked over at Nick to see him smirking, quirking his eyebrows as a joke causing her ears to heat up even more.
"Alright that is all we will need for this moment now it's your turn Nick, what powers do you have?" She asked looking with wonder at Nick.
"I'm not sure how many I have honestly but ever since I first noticed something was different, my senses have been turned up so I notice more than the average fox. When I'm unconscious I have the power to kind of leave my own body and take others out as well, and then I also have enhanced strength. Oh and also this one time I ran pretty quickly but that was when my adrenaline was going and I wasn't really I my own head." Nick said. The surprise one Edna's face worried him for a moment,
"Nicky you have all those powers and you're not done developing, you are going to be-"
"One of the most powerful mammals in the world?" Nick finished her sentence,
"Yes, this is incredible. And that is the reason you are developing so late is because your body needs time to figure out what to do with this much power" Edna said. Nick simply shrugged, he didn't question her logic as it was the only logic he had heard that made even a little bit of sense.
"I have been designing a suit for something like this. I didn't know who it would be but I am glad it is you" Edna said picking up a remote and pressing a button. A door opened from the wall revealing a suit that was like none other that Nick had seen. It was made out of a black material that was darker than night itself, the material itself was made of interlocking hexagons and had grey stripes running along the side, waist, and neck as well as having a grey foot coverings. It was sleek in design but not revealing in anyway. In Nicks eyes it was perfect as he stood up and stepped towards it.
"I have been working on this for years, I struggled to find a mix of materials that could work for someone of extraordinary ability. But just a year ago I figured it out, Kevlar threading allowing a mammal to take hits from just about anything without piercing through, a light poly mesh so that it is form fitting yet breathable and won't burn if exposed to intense friction, and then a copper expanding threading that allows it to stretch and grow with whatever form the mammal requires. It is perfect for you and I used you as a model because I started this back when I was still baby sitting you, it may need a few alterations because you have grown quite a bit since I've last seen you but it is a sign that this one was made for you!" Edna was giddy as she explained her work. The feeling of the suit on Nicks paw was mesmerizing, it felt amazing to touch. It was soft yet rigid, and when he pinched and pulled the material stretched out with ease.
"It is perfect" Nick confirmed, it was everything Nick could have hoped for in a suit.
"Of course it is darling I made it" Edna said walking over to Judy, "Come with me Judy and I will get your measurements, Nicky dear can you try it on so I can see what I need to alter"
The two mammals walked back and out into one of the dressing rooms while Nick unzipped the suit and took it to the other dressing room. He quickly stripped down to his boxers, he knew it was gonna be tight but didn't want to leave his manhood exposed. Slipping his legs into the suit he knew already that it was going to be to small, the material stretched but not enough to make it comfortable. He looked at himself in the mirror and surprised to see that it didn't fit that badly. Then again his boxers could be seen through the material and even with them on he could see the imprint of his manhood. Nick wasn't the most in shape mammal either but this suit really brought out his skinny frame. Once he was done checking himself out he stepped out of the dressing room to see the two other mammals waiting for him.
Nick was quick to bring a paw down to cover it so that they couldn't see how revealing the suit was. Judy had gotten a look at it however before he could cover up and her face and ears quickly heated up.
"That tight hmm?" Edna asked, it was nothing she hadn't seen before considering she used to change his diapers. "Let me go ahead and mark up what needs to be fixed and I will do it as quick as I can"
The mole quickly marked off the areas where it needed more material and had Nick take it off once she was done. Once he was back in his normal clothes they talked to Edna for a few more minutes before Nicks phone rang. It was a call from his parents telling him dinner was ready, so they said their goodbyes and promised to come visit again before heading home. They had spent several hours there and when they left darkness had fallen and there was a chill in the air again.
Nick looked down at his rabbit and smiled thinking of a way to tease her, luckily he had noticed her look down when he was exposed,
"Hey Fluff, I saw you look down there earlier. Did you like what you saw?" His emerald eyes glinted in the moonlight full of mischief. He could see her ears turn red with embarrassment and gave him a solid punch on his arm, and of course it was his bad arm. He was caught between laughing and whimpering in pain as they walked up to the front of the house.
"I'm not sorry about that" she said opening the door but stopped just before walking in, "and to answer your question, yes I did" she said with a smirk before placing a kiss on his nose. She then turned away and walked into the house leaving Nick out front.
'She is gonna be the death of me'
Another chapter another two days. This story just passed 10,000 views, THAT'S INSANE! Thank each and everyone of you for giving this a read it really means a lot to me. This chapter was a little slower yes but we will pick up with action again soon. If you have any ideas or just want to say hello you can PM me, if you liked it please stick around because chapters are coming out very consistently every two days. I already have a majority of the ending planned out and can't wait to show it to all of you. As far as the status of whats all going on, it seems the U.S. is about to hit the worst week for most deaths and new cases but I think as a nation and world we will get through this. If you have lost anyone close to you from this disease then just know that you and your family are in my thoughts. Go wash your hands, wear a face mask, and protect the elderly!
