No Matter What Happens
"Just be proud of me."
Nick rushed to Fangmeyer in the main room.
"Jennifer." She tilted her head curiously and whined as she was pulled away from Mchorn and Chief Bogo.
"Nick, sweetie, what is it?" He pulled her close and planted a hard kiss. He made his decision within seconds of reading Finnick's text and he didn't want to risk his life without communicating his affection for Fangmeyer.
"I need Officer Fangmeyer. I need her now," he said. She blinked in surprise,
"We'll need privacy and I don't think–"
"No, not that!" Nick laughed. "Sexy Fangmeyer comes some other time. Right now I need Officer Fangmeyer. The white wolf that saved me during a robbery. Finnick disappeared." She froze for a moment.
"If one of ours is missing, McHorn and Jack should come too." Ours, she said. She Barely knew the loud-mouthed Finnick and already Fangmeyer was willing to treat him like one of her friends. Was this how officers treated their own? Or was it a wolf thing? In any case, Nick's endearment for her grew with every moment.
"No! I don't want to trouble everyone because of him. But I'll feel safer with you by my side. Only you." Fangmeyer gave Nick a soft lick on the top of his muzzle then lowered her gaze. He smiled, warming to the affectionate kiss. "The others have jobs to do. Everybody's got a mission or something. I don't want to be another burden on them. Finnick is my burden to bear. He's my best friend. The closest thing left to family I have."
"We noticed he was gone, but it must have been very recently. He couldn't have gotten far. Even stranger still, the tiger is gone as well. We were about to figure out how to go about hunting them down, but then Big came on the air. Regardless, they both know where we live. And we're concerned for a number of reasons." Nick peeked around her. Jack had retreated to his room, troubled by Judy's silence. Bogo conversed with McHorn on a couch near the reinforced windows. Cunningham listened to the conversation between Bogo and McHorn, occasionally chiming in on the subject of toxic flowers. Nick looked up at the wolf he had fallen in love with through blurred eyes. He couldn't tell her the whole truth. Everyone was already on alert to his disappearance. He couldn't string them along and put them in premature danger. He needed to do something for himself. No more being a victim. No more being saved. Nick was beginning to understand why Finnick had wandered off. It was time for the foxes to defend themselves.
"I honestly don't know where he is going." A lie. But a necessary one. "I can't leave him. I can't." He choked on his voice. Crying hurt. "That pain in the ass is my family. But it doesn't have to take all of us to go after him. Just me and you. Or maybe just me..." Fangmeyer wrapped her arms around him, trying to soothe the rising panic out of Nick.
"I'll get some weapons. Enough for two of us. But I have to explain it to the others. I have my duties as well, Nicholas." Nick bitterly accepted her reasoning and glanced back to everyone else in the room. Bogo looked at him once, but he swiftly turned back to speaking to Mchorn.
"Fine," said Nick. "I'm going on ahead. I know him best anyway. And I'll see about contacting him."
"Nick, you know that I can't just leave without letting them know what is going on." Nick shook his head,
"I know. I'm making a selfish and stupid request. But can you at least give me a chance to have some space and time for myself?" Jennifer stared blankly. "It's a fox thing." Jennifer scoffed,
"I'm going to give you a twenty-minute head start. After that, I'm hauling ass after you." Nick nodded in agreement.
"Fine. Keep contact with your phone." Nick turned away without a word to the others and walked down the entrance hall of Jack's apartment. He listened one last time to the security device humming through the wall and mumbled playfully, "Showoff." Nick turned the handle with a strange reverence as if it might be the last time he did so and began his journey to Tundratown.
Fonnis stumbled forward for the umpteenth time as he entered the tunnel leading to TundraTown. Finnick proudly poked the bound tiger with his bat.
"This is a long walk, but every step brings us closer," he growled.
"I want to kill him too," said Fonnis. His l's rolled in a thick accent.
"Yeah, yeah." Finnick knew he could be incredibly stubborn. But after everything that's happened, he finally had a shift in perspective. It hurt his pride. But to embrace Judy as a real friend was liberating. It was as if he wore new skin and shed the old like a snake. Still, his feelings were raw. The old wounds of his ego throbbed in his chest and mind.
He focused that rage. The self-loathing, the disappointment, personal failures and newfound humility toward someone that deserved to feel real pain. I'll kill you, Big. Most likely I'll die trying. But I'll get my paws on you. Sink my teeth into you. Get your brains on my bat. Cops will do what they gotta. And so will I.
Finnick left several bait messages and a voicemail to Big just before he snuck out of Jack's home. After his voicemail, Big finally responded and agreed to meet at Big's Bar and Limo after his public speech. Big was overjoyed to hear from Finnick and was prepared to talk about punishment for Nick for his abandonment. That was the bait. The trick to lure Big. If there was one thing Finnick learned about the shrew, he always held his grudges and loved to be repaid.
Finnick turned his attention to the shackled tiger he guided in front of him. The chains on his wrists and ankles rattled as he walked. The ankle part was Finnick's idea to the disapproval of half of his group. Judy and Jack, of course, considered it excessive. But to Finnick's surprise, Jack relented after some persuading. McHorn stood firm with Judy. Nick and Fangmeyer broke the tie in a vote and the tiger was bound above and below.
"You're going to enter the bar first." Over the forty minute walk to Tundratown, Fonnis made no attempt to flee or escape. But Finnick meditated on keeping himself detached. He had done Big's dirty work for a long while. There was no trusting a trained killer. Even now. There was no room for error. No more room to trust any stranger. Fonnis was a pawn. Expendable. Attempts to converse were cut short or ignored.
Finnick stopped just a block away from the bar. The early morning night was beginning to give way to dawn. The weak hue of blue was not yet strong enough to illuminate the streets. But in front of Big's Bar and Limo, as if rising with the Dawn stood Big and his bear Kevin. When Big saw them he scowled.
"What is the meaning of this?" With a hard swipe from behind, Finnick smashed the side of the tiger's right knee, sending him down in a cry of pain. He then swung his bat in an overhead arc slamming it on the tiger's skull. Fonnis fell face first to the ground as his body crumpled forward. Finnick hit the tiger three more times, cracking his head open like a jelly-filled coconut. Kevin attempted to lunge forward, but Big held up a paw stilling him.
Hiding his anxiety behind meditated rage, Finnick stood firm, just two inches taller than Big. He stared with blood and mucus dripping from the edge of his bat.
"Hello, Father Big. How about we go inside for a drink and a chat?" A soft but cold artificial breeze flew past. Big looked at the tire and bottle sculpture that made up his logo just above the entrance to his business.
"Yes. Let's..." Kevin barred Finnick from getting close to Big, standing between them as they entered the bar.
"It is funny you wanted to come here, Finnick. I have plans for later. The birth of a new Zootopia! I am going to swear people in." Finnick mocked a chuckle. He looked around the empty bar and noticed the upturned chairs, sleeping lights, and deafening silence thanks to the cushioned walls.
"Father Big, please forgive the display. I have news about Nick's abandonment and other events." Big gave Finnick a scrutinizing scowl. His ponderance filled the silence with a tension that tested Finnick's patience. But he stood firm with his mask.
"Alright. I know you've always been loyal and good. Tell me this news."
"First, the tiger. That tiger was a turncoat. He confided in me and tried to confess to the police. As you saw, he was bound in cuffs. Those are official police cuffs."
"Fonnis was the leader of a very skilled group of gatherers in my Family. I am more than a little upset at this."
"I understand, but please know that he did plan on betraying you." Big walked to the back of the bar counter while he weighed Finnick's words with a bob of his head.
"Kevin. Remain outside. Keep a lookout for us huh?" The bear nodded in silence and with uncertain steps, lumbered to the exit. He paused on the handle as he turned back to Big and Finnick. Finnick averted his gaze. If he pressed eye contact, he worried he would tip the bear off. He needed to look relaxed.
"Don't worry, Kevin. Finnick is one of ours," Big rasped. A breath of relief escaped Finnick as Kevin left the bar. Big placed a bottle of viper on the bar and turned to Finnick with an outstretched arm.
"Finnick, give me your bat." Damn it. He doesn't trust me. There was a moment of hesitation. Not good. He knew that Big saw him hesitate. Finnick focused on concealing his alarm and slowly lowered the bat. "Why are you hesitating?" Big plainly asked. Finnick forced a smile,
"Sorry. I got distracted."
"By what?" Big finally took the bat, deftly pulling it out of Finnick's weak grasp with his skinny pink fingers. He slowly twirled it on its handle in his hand and examined the splintered wood and blood.
"It's been a difficult week since the changes."
"That doesn't answer my question. But it does bring up an important topic. Come!" Finnick cringed as Big draped an arm over him and pulled him to the counter, digging his pink skinny fingers into Finnick's shirt. "Sit and drink with me. I'm having a sheep problem." Big casually flung the bat across his bar. It bounced off of a metal support beam, sending a hollow hum vibrating through the air as it clattered on the ground.
"Sheep?" Finnick took a glass and began pouring for himself.
"Yes. I fear I may have trusted the wrong sheep. And now I have sick family running through the streets. Some of their hearts gave out to the adrenaline from the serum. Others have gone completely mad. The Mayor's assistant lied to me. She poisoned my people. But I see potential in this weapon. I still believe in it. She must have given me too high a dosage." So it was all true, what the officers have said. What Nick has said. This chaos was Big's work. Finnick's face sunk. He wanted to hide his shame behind his ears with the word fool branded on them in big red letters.
A jingle in the silence disrupted the conversation. Finnick's eyes met the suspicious Bigsby's as he waited.
"Go ahead." Finnick lowered his gaze to his phone and opened the text message: "I'm almost there. Don't do anything stupid!" Finnick sighed,
"It's Nick..." A scowl pulled down Big's face.
"I need to have a one-on-one with him. Can you bring him to me?" No. Not my brother. Not my family.
For as long as he could remember, Finnick treated others poorly. And he stood behind the defense of wanting to survive. Or having bad luck. He was impatient, scared, hostile. In the rare instances when he did find himself charitable and decent, the effects of his actions went unnoticed. And when good things did come to him in turn, he felt next to nothing. Because good things were so rare to him, he took it with suspicion. Goodness and kindness slipped through his fingers like sand. And the remaining grains of it only irritated him. He lived for so long thinking the world owed him something. And he almost let it turn him into the beast that stood in front of him. But in this moment he recognized a real threat. Real evil. And he couldn't let it go unchallenged. His unlucky life wasn't enough to twist him into something this sinister. And Nick, who shared most of his bad luck, managed to take the hits far better. He couldn't let that love be corrupted. Not Nick. Never.
Finnick grabbed the half-empty bottle of viper that stood on the bar and lunged at Arthur Bigsby.
Nick hit the call button for the second time on Finnick's name after he left a message. And again it went straight to voicemail. Urged by panic, he sprinted through the tunnel leading to Tundratown.
"I should...exercise more." He began panting fairly quickly, but wouldn't let up. Nothing mattered but Finnick. Desperate, he reached for his phone again and searched for "Wolfy" in his contacts.
"Jennifer! I'm going to Tundratown. Big's Bar and Limo. Bring those guns."
"Alright, wait...Big's?" Nick cut the call and slowed to a speed walk. His chest drummed and stung with the pinch of exhaustion. It was quiet save for a few cars rolling through the tunnel. No matter what, some mammals always tried to reset into a normal routine even with the city under threat. Nick mentally gave an FU to his problems being put in perspective by the logical half of his brain. This was his lifelong friend he was thinking about. And right now, he was on a suicide mission trying to save Zootopia. How was that for perspective? Had Finnick only waited. Had he not snuck out...
"You're always such a troublemaker," Nick whined to nobody.
The wide arch gate that led into Tundratown stood proud and large like a giant's yawning mouth. But there was no awe or marvel in the grand construction. Not tonight. The cold was uninviting. It bit through Nick's fur and made his teeth ache. He pressed on until he approached the front of Big's Bar and Limo.
In front of him, two fading footprints in the snow stopped where a spatter of blood lay. A body, large it seems, had been moved. Nick let go of a held breath when he determined that it wasn't Finnick. He certainly didn't see any giant ear prints in the snow. He faintly smiled, but his compulsion for humor sometimes made him sick. There was no one around.
"No. How late am I?" Terror threatened to paralyze Nick as he took another step closer to the entrance of Big's business. He contemplated waiting for Fangmeyer. But this only lasted a brief moment. Using anger as motivation, he charged forward through the doors.
Chairs were scattered about. There was broken glass on the ground and sunlight began to fill in from the ceiling windows. It was quiet.
"Come on, bro, where–" Nick jumped to the sound of a wet cough. "Finnick!" On the ground with his back to the bar counter, blocked off by two broken stools and other debris sat Finnick. Blood pooled on his torn shirt. His eyes were half open.
"No," mumbled Finnick. Nick didn't feel the sharp ends of broken wood cutting into his paws as he yanked away the debris burying his friend.
"Aww, come on!" He knelt forward, carefully trying to work out how to grab Finnick without hurting him.
"Don't cry..."
"Shut up!" Nick darted his eyes around Finnick's bloodied body. He peeked around Finnick's back and shuddered. A wooden stick pierced through his back. He lifted Finnick's shirt and to his dismay, saw the wood's end protruding out through his abdomen on the left side. Finnick's head slowly slumped forward.
"Please, don't leave...me," cried Nick. He couldn't remove Finnick without him bleeding to death. But if Finnick remained stuck there, there was little doubt that he would meet the same end. Finnick sputtered his breath as he tried to speak.
"S-stop...crying and just be pr-proud of me." Nick closed his tear stricken eyes, pressing his forehead to Finnick's and moved in for an embrace. "I got to...hurt him, I did."
"You did the right thing," said Nick. "I am proud of you!" Nick didn't dare to look at him. He stared at the brown wall of the bar counter inches from his face as he desperately wrapped his arms around Finnick. His body shook with pained breaths in Nick's arms.
"I love you," mumbled a weak Finnick.
"Finnick?" No response but a sigh as he went limp in Nick's arms. "F-Fin?" Dread tore through Nick's chest. His voice lost to sorrow. He remained paralyzed in grief, forced to let his cries be his final farewell to Finnick.