Chapter 5: What if Bellwether had checked the Night howler gun?

Author's Notes: This was written by FoxyWithTheMoxy, thanks for the great idea!

Nick and Judy were trying to escape the museum when one of the Bellwether employees pushed the two friends into an oval dug into the floor where the historical props were. It took them a few moments to wake up from the shock they had suffered by falling onto the hard ground. When Nick rose from the ground (Judy was sitting on it, her leg still injured and unable to get up), and looked around. They were surrounded on all sides by opponents who were waiting for a command from their boss, who was watching the pair who had landed in the burrow with an ironic and malicious laugh.

"Oh, it was simpler to plant carrots wasn't it ? All in all it's a shame it has to end like this, I even liked you" Bellwether quipped, then showed for her employee to pass the gun case for her. Aries obediently handed over the already loaded weapon, which was ready to fire.

"And what are you going to do now ? Are you going to kill me ?" asked Judy in a breaking voice. Emotions were taking over and she could barely say the words out of stress. Bellwether meanwhile was looking at her reflection on the silver polished barrel that was ready to fire.

"Of course not. Not me," Bellwether replied, then aimed the gun straight at the fox, who reflexively stepped backwards. Bellwether was already about to squeeze the trigger of the gun, but as she looked at Nick and Judy she noticed that they were looking strangely at the gun she had in her hands. Their gaze said as if to shoot, to make Nick go feral. Their gaze was confident for the moment they were currently in.

"'Something is wrong with this gun' thought Bellwether seeing their gaze. She slowly lowered the weapon towards her while looking at them. She noticed that their faces showed surprise.

"Remove the magazine" Bellwether ordered handing the gun to her aides. Judy and Nick gave each other an understanding look that said they were surprised about the Mayor's actions, but that only convinced her more that something must be wrong with the weapons.

"Something you guys aren't afraid of enough with those guns. You didn't change anything there?" asked Bellwether.

"Why would we change anything there? We don't even know how to use it !" replied Judy, but that didn't matter any more when Bellwether saw the contents of the magazine that was shown for her. He laughed mischievously when she noticed that instead of serum, the magazine contained...berries!

"Wow, you seriously put blueberries in a magazine and thought it would work? Well, I really would have fallen for it, but when I saw you looking at those weapons I immediately thought it was some kind of trap. Ah, it was so close! But I'm sorry. We'll have to organise something else," Bellwether communicated.

"Damn, and we might not have looked at that weapon! It was so close!" said Nick to Judy, who felt sadness and anger at the same time. She didn't know what was going to happen now, but she was angry that they had issued that idel cover themselves.

"Well...at least we were close to solving the case..." replied Judy quietly with resignation.

"Hey, relax, we'll figure something out," said Nick trying to comfort Judy, but he didn't really believe it himself. It would take a miracle for them to get out of here in one piece. A moment later Bellwether leaned towards them again, this time wearing a gas mask over her face (as did her companions) and a grenade in her hand.

"Relax, you won't explode after this, you'll just fall asleep" Bellwether communicated.

"I throw!" she let out an exclamation, then grey smoke began to rise from the grenade, which engulfed Judy and Nick. They tried to cover their airways with their clothes, but the grenade was too intense for that to work. A moment later they were both lying on the ground sleeping.

"Ugh...where are we...why can't I..."

"Relax Judy, it's just the ropes, you have nothing to worry about" came Bellwether's voice from afar. Judy quickly became aware of her surroundings as Nick was also slowly recovering. Despite the poor lighting, she could see that she and the fox were tied to the railway tracks that were in use. She tried tugging sideways to get out of the embrace, but the ropes were too tight.

"Ha, you have nothing to try! These ropes are too strong for a weak rabbit" replied Bellwether with an ironic laugh.

"Where are we? Why are we tied up!" asked Nick also trying to get out of the grip of the ropes.

"Ekh, lest you two were up to no good you could have just bitten each other. But well, that's okay. There'll be some railway coming soon and they'll do a job on you. Nice to meet you, we're off to...clean up," Bellwether said goodbye, then she and her friends headed towards the platform, which was not far from where Judy and Nick had been tied up. The two were left with only themselves, they tried to stretch the ropes in various ways, they tried to tear the ropes but they were too thick to be possible. After a few attempts they stopped further, seeing that it was no use at all.

"It's over...actually, I didn't expect to end my life like this," said Nick laughing briefly, then his face grew white again.

"Believe you're not the only one. I'm sorry I dragged you into this" said Judy lying inert on the tracks. She had lost all hope of them escaping the grip of death.

"Nothing happened. In fact, I even had a great time. I didn't know that sometimes playing policeman could end up like this "

"Even at a time like this you don't lose your temper do you?" asked Judy letting out a short laugh.

"Well, it's all I have left. It's a pity we can't cut those ropes with your pen, we could have a longer laugh then "

"Cut...cut...wait..." thought Judy. Although they had little room, they could make gentle movements, sideways and move their arms. Judy reached as far as she could with her right hand to the belt that was around her waist touching the belt as far as she could to see if it had anything on it to use. On the right side of her hip she felt a hard material that was shaped like a rectangle. Moving her hand towards her stomach she felt the soft material, she felt that it was the small bayonet she always kept with her! There was the sound of the railway in the distance, coming inexorably towards them. They had less and less time.

"Nick! Reach for my hips " ordered Judy to which Nick felt surprise.

"Well, I guess this isn't necessarily a good time to..."

"I have a genius bayonet...at my hip, pull it out, quick!" replied Judy with a sigh. Nick nodded, then reached her hand to her hip sliding his warm hand, over her soft hip (to which they both felt a little embarrassed), soon Nick felt the soft material to which Judy nodded with a movement of her head. Soon the sound of carriages began to come. The sound of the railway was getting closer, the sound of metal wheels clattering against the tracks was already audible.

"Now try cutting the ropes, hurry up!" said Judy.

"I'm trying..." sighed Nick. He put the knife to the ropes and tried as hard as he could to cut the ropes, which were slowly giving out. The railway was already around the bend, the lights of the railway illuminating the tunnel that the speeding machine was travelling through.

"Nick, faster! Faster!"

"I'm trying!" replied Nick breathlessly cutting the ropes. Eventually the ropes gave up cutting one by one, causing Nick to have more room and be able to use more of his strength, which was starting to run out. However, he was determined to free them from the trap. The railway had already pulled out of the bend and was heading straight for them.

"Nick!" shouted Judy, then she snuggled into Nick and closed her eyes. He didn't even pay attention to that, he was cutting the ropes to the end.

"We did it!" shouted Nick when he was free. At the last moment he got up from the tracks, took Judy with him and jumped to the side of the tracks. He didn't even have time to realise when the train passed them by. All he noticed was the passing yellow light and the sound of the machine running.

"Phew...we made it! Damn!" Said an excited Nick as he saw the train pulling away. A moment later he realised that Judy was continuing to snuggle into his chest with her eyes closed.

"Carrots, you can let me go now," said Nick after a moment. Judy slowly let go of his body and moved away from him. She opened her eyes slowly, an embarrassed smile appearing on her face.

"Sensitive those rabbits."

"I...well...ugh...do you have my pen?" asked Judy trying to change the subject. Nick laughed but pulled a pen from her pocket with Bellwether's recorded words.

"Great, let's go to the police station," replied Judy

"The pen is definitely working Nick? Without evidence we have no chance of showing it's her," Judy said as she stopped outside the police station once again asking about the pen's working condition.

"Yes Judy, the pen works as it should. How many times are you going to ask?" asked Nick, but received no answer. Rabbit had already opened the door to the police station and she immediately headed towards Glawhauser to ask where the Commander was.

"Hi, where is Commander Bogo?" asked Judy.

"In his office, talking to the mayor "

"What, ok, thanks, come on Nick" replied a surprised Judy. Glawhauser was also surprised by Judy's reaction, but he didn't have time to ask her the reason for her surprise because the rabbit was already far ahead. He and Nick made their way to the first floor, where they stopped at the study door to overhear the conversation.

"Do you hear that? It's her," said Judy. listening to Bellwether's words from behind the door. The room, however, was too well soundproofed to overhear more specific words.

"'Let's finish this,' said Nick, then opened the door, stepping inside. Bellwether stood hunched over in front of the study, looking as if she had been crying. Bogo sat quietly and nodded affirmatively.

"Hello," Nick said, which drew the attention of Bogo and Bellwether, who had a face as if she had seen a ghost.

"Judy? You're alive? Madam Mayor was just talking about how a feral fox killed you...what's this all about?"

"Commander, we already know who and what is causing all the commotion in town" replied Judy picking up her pen from Nick. Bellwether still didn't know what to say in the situation, she tried to pretend to be surprised, but she couldn't play nice for much longer.

"Please tell us," the commander asked.

"The reason for the savagery is the shells made from the sap of what are commonly called skylarks. These are the flowers I showed you a few days ago. It's all under Mrs. Bellwether's orders" replied Judy pointing her finger at the Mayor.

"Judy! These are serious accusations! If you don't have proof, you will go to jail" threatened Bogo rising from his chair.

"Well, then I guess you'll have the commandant escort them out, they have no evidence" replied Bellwether, to which Judy showed her carrot shaped pen.

"Please wait, is that your voice by any chance?" asked Judy, then she let go of the tape. Bellwether's heart stopped at that moment. Those were her words! Everything matched 1:1, the voice even the content of the words. She had nothing to defend herself and she knew it perfectly well. Instinctively she backed up to the desk, but already behind her was the commandant, who was waving his head from side to side.

"Someone needs to be taken into custody here, I think," Bogo said, removing the handcuffs from the drawer.

"Darn...a was so close" sighed Bellwether as she felt the cold solidity of the handcuffs on her hands.