The great moment comes closer and closer...

Enjoy!

Walking through the empty corridors was not an easy task, especially if they aren't empty.

Honestly, Nick was still wishing that it was Zachy who came here, after what he did back in the examination room was not very appropriate.

When he entered the main room where all the newcomers went through, he took off his hoodie, revealing that he was not a minor, but when the doctor Pam noticed this, Nick wasted no time in trying to contain her.

It was hand-on-hand combat that did not last pretty long and it wasn't that violent either, Nick just did what Zachy suggested, press on the neck very hard, hard enough to make the deer pass out not kill her. Afterward, he tried to look for a uniform that was his size and he had to do it quickly before anyone could see the mess that was happening, he luckily found one, maybe a bit too small and tight but at least it was useful.

And still, he didn't know what Zachy wanted him to discover and why it needed to be such a secret, he couldn't have discovered everything just based on a conversation he overheard… right?

Also, to build pressure, some soldiers were walking in a nicely-packed order which made the fox anxious every time he walked past them.

"Hey you!" a deep voice called from behind but Nick did not turn around.

"Where's your squad soldier?! Turn around when I speak!" Nick slowly did as he was ordered trying to keep his cool smiling

Zachy, if I survive, I'll kill you.

...

Okay, she wasn't going to Wonderland instantly, the self-caused wound still needed treatment so she still had some valuable minutes that couldn't be wasted.

The doctor that was treating her was a male bunny around her height that introduced himself as Kris.

"Do you know what's going on?" Kris asked Judy while searching for his instruments.

"What do you mean?" Judy replied in confusion.

"The evacuation, you don't know? They're evacuating this base but they somehow want to examine you".

"They're evacuating the base?"

"You are lost aren't you?" he sighed "Apparently I heard something about a breach, an invasion to the base, so they're taking everyone in planes to transport them somewhere else since this place isn't safe anymore".

It never was. Was what she thought not what she said.

"You seem like you know what's going on, why do you ask?"

"I was trying to see if you knew how or who just infiltrated this base… It seemed a truly safe one".

As for all I know it could be me you know.

"If there is a breach," explained Judy "It shows that this base was never safe and the next one probably won't be either".

Kris didn't reply, he just limited to wrap Judy's wound and continue the search for more things he needed.

None of them said anything for a few minutes as Judy was still trying to figure out what her next move was supposed to be… Until she spotted a very familiar and common room.

"Hey um… Kris, I need to use the bathroom" she said doing her best impression of being impatient.

"No you can't, that shot still needs to be checked and you'll probably make it worse if you make more sudden moves".

"C'mon, it's not that far Kris, it's right there!"

"I said no…" he said pulling out a needle.

"Wait you're not going to pinch me with that are you?"

"Are you afraid of needles? Oh, you gotta be kidding me".

"I'm not, isn't there anything else?"

Kris sighed with major frustration but he tried to please Judy as hard as he could.

"Fine! I'll get you something else; just… stay in the bed, I'll look for something to fix your bathroom issues geez".

Of course, Judy was not afraid of needles at all but she thought that it would do something and unexpectedly it worked… She felt bad about lying, especially to Kris because he seemed –like everybody else- naïve and clueless about everything that was truly going on.

And what did she expected to find in the bathroom? Guns? A map? Maybe it was gut instinct telling her to go there.

But Kris was, of course, right, because the moment she tried to move out of the bed the pain in the wound was something you could feel but not something that was going to stop her.

Nevertheless, she could do nothing but to suck up the pain and simply head to the bathroom, lock the door, and examine the surroundings finding the common items you would find in a bathroom.

Definitely helpful. She thought sarcastically.

Out of nowhere, she heard the loud knocking on the door that was obviously coming from Kris.

"What are you doing?!" he shouted a muffled voice coming from the other side.

"I told you I needed to go…" she replied very calmly

"And I told you that I was going to bring you something now open the door!"

"Can't you wait for a few seconds? Privacy?"

"Open the door or I'll call security!"

"Whoa, whoa, fine, I'll… just leave it slightly open it's not life if I'm going anywhere".

Judy was fully clothed the entire moment she spent inside the room but she opened the door in a way that it couldn't be noticed.

"Satisfied?" she sarcastically asked.

"Fine".

"Now, can you leave until I'm done?"

"I'll stay here until you leave".

Judy sighed but accepted the deal trying to come up with the next move, and just realizing that what she needed was on the other side of the door.

"Um… hey Kris?"

"And now what do you want?" he replied clearly annoyed.

"I'm having trouble getting up, I feel like the wound was more severe than what I thought… can you give me a hand?"

Kris opened the door pretty annoyed with an 'I told you so' look but he was still willing to help her.

"Okay, at the count of three," said Kris holding her hands ready to pull her up.

"One… Two…"

"What is your number?!" the soldier shouted back at Nick, it was probably the only question he was going to answer truthfully since

"Um… 5-4-5?"

"What are you doing around here?!" the jackal soldier continued asked questions now getting closer to Nick.

"I was given orders to look for the kids!"

"You- what?"

At that moment a loud 'bang' was heard and the jackal fell into the ground lifeless with a hole on his chest giving out very clearly that someone just shot him. Nick desperately looked around for the response that did this but he didn't found anyone in sight so it could have been a sniper.

But now he was facing an also-big problem, there was a jackal in the ground, dead, and he was the only around there if someone caught him he was going to meet the same fate as the soldier so he needed to think… And fast.

Luckily there was an open door, when he perked through it he saw a place full of empty and un-folded beds, the jackal was slightly bigger than him but if he managed to get him on the bed then it could pass as someone sleeping.

The best plan in the entire existence. He sarcastically thought

Knocking out a bunny and taking his medical clothes was something that Judy never expected to do, not even on this journey but right now it was the only thing she could've made… Including the facemask to prevent anyone from recognizing her.

But she had to admit that leaving Kris unconscious in the bathroom was honestly a hard move to make, if there was a tranquilizer dart gun, it would have been way better but she was forced to use the same method that the doctor Pam suffered a few minutes ago.

The next step was Cotton.

Now her biggest worry was that she was found, possibly interrogated or in the worst-case scenario, already dead, but that was a possibility far from happening since Judy gave her instructions on exactly what to say.

The first step was going back to the room where she left her in: The bedroom they had been using for a week.

Entering the room, done. Putting the jackal in the bed, done.

But just before leaving Nick saw a shape on the bed that seemed to be moving. At first, he didn't pay too much attention and wanted to leave the room immediately but after a few seconds, the "shape" turned around and made accidental eye contact with Nick, revealing a small bunny covered in bedsheets.

Eye contact is always uncomfortable especially when it's a long stare without saying anything.

The bunny seemed confused at Nick's presence so to break the awkwardness it was the fox that went first.

"Hey, buddy… What… are you doing here?"

The bunny did not reply instead he just uncovered but stayed on the bed sitting revealing to be a young female bunny with a uniform attire.

"I… missed the helicopters," she said very slowly trying very hard to keep eye contact.

"The… helicopters?" Nick asked himself processing the question "So are you like, lost?"

The bunny didn't say anything causing Nick to look around, slightly close the door –but not fully- and approach the kid.

"Hey, I'm not gonna hurt you," he said, "What's your name?"

The bunny's ears perked up surprised by this reaction of a "soldier" that had been constantly giving her orders for a week.

"I've been called Fluff but my name is Soldier Hopps," she said pointing at the badge in her shirt that had the last name.

The mere mention of that name made Nick's heart drop and his smile disappears, a female bunny with the surname "Hopps" couldn't be a coincidence, or maybe it could since there could be many Hopps people, just because one person he knew about had it doesn't mean everyone who does is a relative.

"And what are you doing here soldier… fluff?" he asked with a light smile.

"I am… waiting for my au-squad leader to return".

"Your squad leader, I see… Do you think I could help you? Finding your leader?"

Now, 'Fluff' was shocked, the treatment she had received in a full week was nothing compared to this, it was so odd that she questioned if Nick was a true soldier but given the uniform, the fox was wearing, she was sure he was one of them.

"Finding? But she said I should wait here" Fluff replied very uncertainly since, honestly, she had been waiting for a long time now.

"Oh, in that case, you don't mind if I leave?"

"Wait!" she said, "Do you know how to leave?"

"Yeah, um… I think I do".

Fluff stopped a moment to think about it but she ultimately agreed.

"I'll come with you!" she replied very happily.

"My name is Nick" he smiled

And now what? This wasn't part of the plan but Zachy never bothered to explain what the plan was so technically this could be or could not be part of the plan but it was impossible to know for certain, but at the same time, Nick did not know how he was going to leave the place since Zachy never bothered to explain the plan!

But this was a little girl, who seemed pretty scared or confused about what was going on… and had the last name of Nick's best friend.

"Don't be dumb, fox".

"What are you gonna do if she's not there anymore?" asked Thali.

"And how are you even gonna leave?" continued Dante.

"Look, guys," Judy began to explain "If I'm not coming by midday then you can continue your journey without me until then, stay here".

The thought that Cotton was not in the bedroom was very frightening, but she tried not to think on it especially when she knew that taking her to the battlefield was ultimately the best idea, but it was not her fault since it was impossible to know there was a big conspiracy when she left the base.

After a few turns there and then she reached their main room only to find an already opened door, the first thing that worried her since she had left it closed.

But after entering the room she confirmed what everyone had expecting since she announced her plans to the squad.

Cotton was not there anymore.

Now this was a problem, a very big problem, the base was a big one and she honestly didn't have a backup plan in case of this happening since her niece now could be anywhere, especially since Kris told her about the evacuation and-

"The planes!" she said to herself "The evacuation!"

Of course, she did not know where this was happening but her outfit should allow her to ask without getting into trouble. She quickly headed out to search for it but stopped briefly seeing a dead jackal in one of the beds.

Something had definitely happened in that room.

Nick wasn't very sure where to go. During the discussion of the plan Zachy brought up an emergency exit in case of something going wrong, according to him, you could leave the facility from the same path you came in, and then back to one school bus, however, this was just a theory of him and he was never fully certain about it.

And now he was carrying a young kid by the hand in an unknown base that he had no idea if the "plan" was going to work.

"Hey, you!" a voice a shouted from behind… again, it was becoming annoying but not less scary.

The only difference was that this was a female voice.

Fluff was the first one to turn around and gasp in excitement running to her –a thing that Nick did not notice as he was with eyes closed-

"Where are you taking her?" the –very familiar- voice asked in a very passive-aggressive way.

"Well, you'll see…" he began to turn around trying to come up with a corny one-liner only for his heart to sink and his smile disappear.

It was a female bunny in doctor attire that had probably the same reaction as him, eyes as wide as possible; the ears dropped down and without the ability to move a muscle or even blink.

It was the bunny he would recognize anywhere, underwater, in the space, in a post-apocalyptic world, in a crowd during a night concert or in a police vehicle.

The same bunny that had to leave in the train station to look out for her family one month ago who he believed dead several times… It was his special partner.

"Nick?"

"Judy?"

IT'S [CENSORED] DONE! I've been thinking about writing this moment since I began writing the fic and finally it's here! I'm so stupidly excited…

See you next time where they'll bump into someone who neither wants to bump into.