Chapter Fifty-Nine
The Final Breath

~The final moment before a storm, is the hardest to handle of them all~

The cramped confines, of the ZPD armored truck, jostled as it trundled down the streets of Zootopia. The inside was pitch black, but for the dull, yellowish light that strobed along the inside of the main compartment as the vehicle passed under the vigilance of streetlights. Judy Hopps looked about herself, finding the other officers' bodies in the fleeting moments of light that disturbed the darkness. It was stuffy in there, doubly so because of the armor. She could feel the hot stickiness of her body's heat congealing on her back and beneath her arms, and yet there was this coldness that blistered inside of her.

Moving herself a bit to her right, she took as much as possible of the face of her lover, an outline of dull red in the thick curtains-black. She spoke out to him loudly enough for only him of hearing, "Nick...?" He didn't respond. He either didn't catch the notes of speech, or his mind was somewhere else entirely. Both were just as likely. Reaching out delicately, the rabbit slipped her paw into the fox's own. She didn't care who saw. It was too dark for anyone to notice, anyway. Judy held tightly to the paw, as Wilde's fingers closed around hers, and then glanced down as she felt a soft warmth about her feet that was created by the bushy fox tail of his.

The fact that she could see his tail, where before it had been total blackness, astounded the rabbit, and she peeked up towards the windows, which were nothing more than two thin beams of wire-mesh built into the very top parts of the two doors at the back of the large truck. These small apertures let in hardly any light, and were too high for all but the largest of people to see out of, yet they were the most efficient way of protection from outside harm. Gandering around those windows, she noticed beams of pure, white light shining in from outside. Not strobing or yellowed like the streetlights they were passing, these lights were coming from something following them directly behind — the headlights of another vehicle, perhaps?

Worried that they might be criminal pursuers, the rabbit's brow furrowed with tension, and she looked for guidance at the large polar bear, who was stationed close to the doors. "Snarlov," she called out, disturbing the silence of the rumbling engine, which had hung, unbroken, for the entire trip so far, apart from her low initiation with Nick.

The bear turned to her, tersely. "What?"

"What... what's that behind us?"

Snarlov craned her neck to the ceiling strap, straining to look over the thin, wire-mesh windows. "It's a van. EMT, by the looks of it."

"EMT?"

"Emergency Medical Technician. They're with us. They're here in case one of us gets busted up. We avoid it, obviously, but it does happen."

"You should see the scar on my shoulder where a bullet hit," Johnson the lion said, proudly. "And the wound Jackson got later off the same guy. You remember him, Jackson?"

"Course I remember," the other lion cut in distantly. "The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old Zootown. How could I forget?"

"You lions are all the same: wimps," Rhinowitz scoffed. "You call those flesh wounds 'battle scars'? Hopps here should see the slash marks down my back, where that tanked up, Irish Wolfhound went berserk on me."

"We get it, Rhinez," Snarlov said, irritably, "you got cut up by a dog once. But that doesn't trump getting shot at, which is something you've never encountered. So shut it, okay?" Officer Rhinowitz, who was a junior officer to Snarlov, didn't utter another word. "Anyway," Snarlov chuckled after a moment, "taking bullets aside, I think that our fox and our young wolf here are the only ones left to take a real injury, after Hopps sprained her ankle that time, don't you think?"

"Thanks, Snarlov," Wolfard said, flatly, "that makes me feel so much better about going on a raid tonight."

"Don't get too worked up about it," the polar bear assured in jest, the officers about them chuckling warmly, "we all get our battle wounds. It's a mark of what we've done in the line of duty." For a moment, the mood around the back of the van was lifted a little... and then Judy's next question broke it all.

"Anyone working here been KIA?" The good mood ended and the coldness, darkness came flooding back. The conversations between the officers ended, as every single one of them, but for Nick and herself, turned away to look at nothing, avoiding Judy's gaze or that of anyone else. Hopps tried to find what had happened in the split of a second, and realized how quickly an almost bearable atmosphere could be broken to shards by such a simple question.

Snarlov sighed in bitterness, then she said the words none of them wanted to hear, "Don't be stupid, child, of course they have. This isn't some kind of game. There is no second chance. People die on this job. It happens. And it's on raids like this when it happens the most."

"Oh," the rabbit said with newly formed dejection. "I... see."

The bear growled with a hiss, "Just shut up already!" Judy's head lowered, and she shuffled closer to her lover, her arm slipping around his waist, and his own coming around her to keep her steady. A few of the officers glanced down at her. She didn't move away. Instead, she held him tighter, and pushed her helmeted, visored head into his side, trying to block out the light of the world, the noise, the dread hanging over her. If this was the last time she was going to see him, then she as sure was going to make the most of him.

A breath of tremoring air escaped her mouth, as the fox's paw came to rest on her shoulder, his fingers slipping behind the clear visor of her helmet and scratching her, tentatively, just below the ear. The trundling bounces of the van started to decrease. Hopps looked up towards the windows, sensing the vehicle was slowing down. The other officers fidgeting with their armor and stretching themselves around her, the rabbit prized herself from the fox's side, turning to face the large, gray doors as the van reached to a definite stop.

Not a word was spoken. Behind her, Nick squeezed the armor on her shoulder, leaning down close to her ear in worry, "You ready for this?"

"No."

He chuckled. "Me neither." From inside the van, the gathered officers heard the sound of the passenger side door — one of only two seats in the main driver's compartment — being slammed closed. What followed then was the presence of heavy footsteps rounding the side of the van towards the door, and then a reverberating clang with the doors opening at the back.

"Alright," said the shape of Bogo, outlined black against the beaming headlights of the EMT behind him, "Erkin is just one block away from here. We can't get any closer without the risk of them hearing our approach. So," he added, stepping back from the door and allowing the lights of the van behind to shine into the main compartment, "let's get moving, shall we?"

Under the watchful gaze of Bogo, the officers of the ZPD stepped out of the claustrophobic heat of the van — many breathing deeply of the sharp, night air, as though stepping out from a warm bath and into an arctic lake. "Last but not least," Bogo mentioned in quietness to the surroundings, while Hopps and Wilde jumped down from the edge of the van to the asphalt below. "You know your duties?"

"Yes, Sir," Hopps responded swiftly.

"Got your height-safety harnesses on?"

"Double checked, Sir."

"Alright..." the cape buffalo huffed. "Now, let's get on with it." The chief of police turned to the other officers of the ZPD, his voice raising and becoming confident again as he gave his orders. "Okay, you all know the plan. Hopps, Wilde: grab those grappling hook launchers."

"On it!"

"Rhinowitz, Francine: get over to the rear exit to Erkin and lock it down. We don't want anyone slipping by."

"Yes, Chief."

"The four of you, get over to the rear side of Erkin Enterprise. Take the back alleys. Stay out of sight. Everyone else, with me!"

Like a line of soldier ants, the thirty officers of the Zootopia Police Department — armored up, armed with tranquilizers and rubber bullet guns — jogged slowly but efficiently up the pavement, passing through arcs of yellowish light and then patches of darkness, as they marched beneath the exposure of the tall streetlights. Leading the troops from the front, the black figure of Bogo called out, "Splinter party: break off. Call in when you're in position, but make it quick."

Their speed increasing, from a light jog to a run, Officers Hopps, Wilde, Francine and Rhinowitz overtook the other twenty-five Officers, running ahead of the raid and advancing swiftly on a narrow, dark alley between two industrial buildings.

The first to reach the entrance to the alley, Nick Wilde, paused for a moment as the others caught up, taking a glance up the length of the street, from the cover of the wall, and looking upon the mass of Erkin Electrical Enterprise that lurked further up ahead. It looked so normal on the outside — so mundane and non-noteworthy. It seemed strange to the fox that this was the cause of all their troubles in this sector... the source of all the drug deals, all the deaths and robberies, which had been troubling the ZPD for so long now.

A feminine voice called for him. "Nick, come on!" Nick turned swiftly and ran to catch up with Judy and the others, leaving the shelter of the wall and abandoning the light of the street for the gloom of the passageway.

"Francine," Nick called, as she caught up with him, "how far from here?

"You're asking me, Wilde?" the elephant snapped back, "I thought you knew every road and alley in the city off by heart?"

"Yeah," the fox replied through panted breaths, "all the inhabited places, that is. Not all the rows upon rows of identical factory buildings in the industrial area. I doubt anyone could memorize the layout of this place."

"It's just four more buildings from this one. To get to the staircase, you'll have to circle around the side, where all the garbage gets dumped. We'll be cornered up against the next building along. We won't be able to see you."

"Boy," the fox breathed in dryness, "well that just fills me with hope anew."

"You'll be fine," Rhinowitz chimed in, "we're all hooked onto our radios anyway. If anything bad goes up, we'll be ready help you out. I may not personally agree with Bogo's decision to put you in charge," he added as the pace slowed and as the building approached, "but you're still fellow officers of the ZPD. And that's enough for me." Nick and Judy slowed to a stop, the rhino and the elephant turning the corner and quickly vanishing into the darkness and silence, which suddenly seemed to hang so heavily around them.

The fox and rabbit stood there, looking at each other in the tensile deafness. After a moment, Nick opened his mouth. "Carrots," he said, trying to hold out the fear in his strained voice, "whatever happens tonight… whatever becomes of us… I just wanted you to know, I—"

"This is Officers Rhinowitz and Francine reporting, Sir," the radios on Nick and Judy's belts crackled, "we are in position and ready for the raid."

"Received and understood," came Bogo's reply that crackled back a moment later. "Hopps, Wilde," he continued, "we're waiting on you now. Get up the stairs, get those harnesses secure and make it quick."

Judy sighed, forlornly. "What were you saying?" she asked, opening the gray case she had carried from the van and taking out the grappling hook launcher from inside.

Nick shook his head with a thin smile that marked his conceit to his words, as he knew that she already knew. "It doesn't matter," he said, taking and arming his launcher in turn. "You know the rest, anyway." Taking a slow breath, Nick moved towards the building. "Come on, delaying it'll only make it worse." Aiming up at the top of the roof of Erkin Electrics, the fox and rabbit fired off their metal hooks. They flew through the air, landed on the roof and took hold of the sturdy metal which held it up. After tugging on the ropes sharply to check they were secure, they stepped towards the staircase before them, pulling up the slack as they made their way up.

Together, Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps climbed the rusted, iron stairs outside the crumbling frame of the industrial building of Erkin Electrical Enterprise. Judy, climbing in front, spoke to the fox, as they rose towards what felt like their doom, "If..." Judy trailed off as she forced herself not to succumb to emotion, biting down on her lip to keep a hold. "If... if this is the last time we do this… the last chance we have to speak with one another— I... I just want you to know that you were the very, very, best friend I ever had. And— and I want you to know," she added, her voice cracking and her breaths hitching, "that I would've done anything for you. I would've had your children, I would've been your wife, and I would've stayed with you until the end. To whatever end. I would have stayed by you."

Through the sadness of the implications, Nick smiled. "Thank you, Judy Hopps. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you this," he continued, his voice rich with emotion, "but you were the best thing that ever came into my life. I was never deserving of any of it. Not the kindness you showed me, not the trust and the love we have now. But enough with the tears," he required sweetly, even managing a smile as he playfully continued, "and enough with the past tenses already. We're not dead yet, you know."

It was hard, but Judy did manage to send him an approving nod. It was weak and cracked around the edges, yet it was optimism, nonetheless. "That's the one thing I loved— love you for most. You always can make me smile, no matter what's going on around us." The two small officers shared a fond gaze for a long, heartfelt moment... and then the rabbit pulled out her radio.

"Well," Nick sighed. "This is it."

"Yeah," she whispered against the frail wind, "this is it. This is Officer Hopps," she declared weakly into the radio. "We're... we're in…" Raising a paw to wipe her tear-blurred eyes, the rabbit trailed off from her thoughts and couldn't finish her words.

The fox took the radio delicately from her paws, and then pulled it towards his mouth. "We're ready," he finished. "Do it."

Author's notes:

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Grooms decision thus chosen blind.

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