Hey all, DLW here with a new chapter. A huge thank you to all the readers, follows,fav's and reviews (Honestly, it helps me think)! This arc and the next arc have me incredibly excited to write them (No spoilers though). Disclaimer: Zootopia and its characters are copyright Disney. (I own none of the characters in the story aside from the O/C's.).

The Dystopian Society

Chapter Three: Pitch Black

'Abyssal Expedition'

"As you held out your hand in the dark, I asked. 'Where are you taking me?"

[February 4, 'Outside of Honey's house' 6:58 PM]

Judy stood there frozen in fear from what she had just heard. She couldn't tell if Nick was lying to her or not, but her blood ran cold from the mere mention of a PTSD predator that they would soon face.

She felt her breath become heavy and uneven, rattling at the cuffs around her and making her ear twitch slightly. There had been only a few times that she was without some form of backup during her time, and she felt as though this could potentially be the worst possible scenario.

Her eyes shifted to every feature of the fox, silently judging him and focusing on any slight movement that he may make. From the glowing fauna, she could see the apparent belittling smile that he had to offer her back.

To this end, Judy clutched her paw, trembling as she tried to find the words to say.

"Why didn't you say that earlier?" She seethed, narrowing her eyes in an attempt to intimidate the fox.

Nick only momentarily smiled, but could no longer find the strength to once he saw Judy's expression. Since he had given her warning, he thought things may turn out a little better, but he could easily tell that this wouldn't be the case.

He crossed his arms, gaining a noticeable flinch from Judy. He huffed at the fact that, despite his better effort to help, the rabbit never seemed to want to meet him eye to eye.

He turned to face the yard, not wanting to bother himself with her piercing eyes no matter how fierce her she tried to portray herself as. He had instead found it more calming to bask in the soft glow of the mushrooms as their faceless forms wouldn't accuse him of anything.

Having even a little solace from the heavy stresses he was feeling and the added pressure Judy had constantly given him, he felt some of his tension disappear. Only then did he tilt his head enough to see Judy in the corner of his eye.

"Would you have believed me?" He asked, his voice as calm as he could muster.

He didn't want to argue with the clock ticking, but he would defend his stance against the irritating rabbit nonetheless.

Immediately he noticed a sudden shift in her stance, he could hear her deep breaths die down to a simpler and even rhythm.

Judy, now finding herself gnawing at the statement she made earlier, could only huff in response.

It was true that she had no reason to believe Nick then, but now the situation may have changed against her.

If he was telling the truth, then she could very we'll be in serious peril, and if not, then she would only have gotten worked up for nothing.

Either way she looked at the conundrum, all odds were against her. She couldn't leave Nick to bring the predator out of their house, and she couldn't go back with empty paws on a serious investigation.

While she contemplated the possible events that could unfold, Nick carefully watched her. He could see her nose twitch involuntarily, and her right ear flickered as well.

Her eyes were dead set on him, rarely blinking as if anything would happen to her at any moment. He could tell that she was hesitant to even set foot in the house, but he needed to know where his friends were.

Turning to face the door once more, he let out a heavy sigh. "She's easily triggered by things that can shock her or put her to sleep."

Still thinking of any possible way to make their hopefully brief visit a little safer, the mention of 'Honey's' triggers stood out as a bit odd to her.

She snapped out of her momentary daze and questioningly looked at Nick. His statement was far too out of place to possibly be true.

"But if she has her collar on," She surmised, knowing full well Nick's background in removing tame collars. "How is she not triggered all the time?"

Nick only blinked in response when he heard Judy's question. He thought of it as a reasonable enough concern to be aware of, but still not something he'd want to deal with at a moments notice.

Scratching the nape of his neck, he answered. "She told me that, in the war, learned to control herself under pressure to prevent her from a lot of shocks, but that doesn't mean that she's always able to stop."

He took a momentary pause to let the information hopefully sink in. Watching the rabbit twitch nervously, he believed he was making his point know.

Soon enough, he turned to face the house, placing his paw on the doorknob. "Last time she saw a taser or tranq gun, she went berserk."

As he began to turn the doorknob, he heard Judy's cuffs jingle around her. Though he didn't look over to her this time, he could sense that she was nervous.

"So for the both of our sakes, don't pull that weapon out on her," That being said, he swung the door open and boldly walked inside. "Meet me in the kitchen."

After taking a few steps in, he promptly stopped. He would have left Judy to her thoughts until she decided to follow him, but there was more than her hesitant nature that bothered him now.

"And close the door when you finally decide to come in," He called out to her, pointing towards the fence-line. "That guy standing over there is a bit creepy."

Judy heard Nick walk off into the house. She knew he couldn't be left alone, but she herself didn't really want to go into the den of another fox.

She took her paw and rubbed at her temples as she had long since reduced herself to having to get this part of the job done even with her reservations. She was hesitant to proceed without backup, but couldn't just leave when Jack was counting on her.

Frustrated to no end, she began to walk through the door when she had just remembered what Nick had said. In response to his words, she halted her steps and looked behind her.

When she did so, she felt a shiver run down from her ears to her tail. It wasn't bad enough that Nick had disappeared, but now a lone figure stood under a streetlight just across from her.

Immediately believing it to be the mammal that she had sensed following her, she narrowed her eyes to get a better look at what they were. They stared back at her, unmoving, and watching her as intently as she did them.

Her jaw went slack as she identified the mammal quickly. Its small frame and large ears were easy to help her notice who and what it was.

'A koala?' She whispered.

She remembered seeing a Koala in the park earlier that had given her the same dead stare as this one was now. Only, this time, she felt the urge to run like never before.

While watching the mysterious mammal, she had unknowingly placed held her paw just in front of her taser. Her nose twitched in anxiety as she tried to study them.

It was unusual, to say the least, that she had anyone to follow her for so long without attempting to make a move. What was more odd, however, was the fact that this mammal stood out in the open as if to challenge her perception of avoiding suspicion.

'Why are they following me?' She asked herself.

She couldn't take chances with an ongoing investigation and her parolee now out of sight. She would have to walk over and confront whomever they were, curious or not nobody should be following her around.

Before she took the first step away, the word 'following' repeated in her thoughts over and over again. After a few times of the repetition, a notion occurred to her.

'They're following me!' She said to herself.

Judy stood there in awe that she hadn't realized this before. When Jack said that someone would 'watch' her, she had no idea that they would be simply following her.

Keenly eyeing them a little longer, she felt more at ease than she had in a was still disquieted from the way they looked but knew that if they were with Jack's team, then there was nothing for her to fear.

'That has to be them, right?' She questioned.

After a moment of her thinking things through, she sighed in relief and relaxed her stance. Since they were watching her, they would also act as her backup in case things went horribly wrong.

Quietly, she pivoted herself and faced the open door. It was dark in the house, only the faintest sliver of illumination from the mushrooms had managed to enter past the threshold to let her see.

Though she was still hesitant to proceed, the added assurance behind her helped her push forward. She soon reached for her flashlight, clicking it on as she made her way in.

Still, one thing bothered her about this. Nick had requested that she close the door, but she needed the help that her newfound ally could offer her.

A sly grin crept across her cheeks as she entered and closed the door lightly enough for it to creak, but not shut all the way. Even if Nick and 'Honey' were to hear it and believe it was closed, they would never expect that she would secretly be able to have backup in a matter of seconds.

Now inside the house and feeling better about her safety and the progress of their venture, she hovered her light over the interior to get a good glimpse of her surroundings.

She had entered into what she could assume was the first level of the house. While she had been in a lot of pred houses, this was one she hadn't expected to be so well kept.

The floors were made of hard wood and, though slightly worn, she could tell by the sheen on them and the way her feet slid slightly that they had been polished recently.

The walls had fine coatings of paint and had of flowers painted on them every few feet away.

While bare in most parts of the room aside from a few chairs, she could easily see a mirror set on a shelf with tiny figurines running across its borders.

Though she had hoped to find something of a light fixture, she only saw a few lamps set against the sides of the room. Not that it bothered her much as she had her flashlight, but as she neared one of them, she could see that it was missing a lightbulb.

She shook her head as she walked further into the house,turning left and right to see where she was going.

Her light shone on a wooden table set beside a wall. It was set with several candles and pictures that, from the grainy texture and brownish grey paper, appeared to be from a far forgotten era.

In some of them, it was hard to tell who was in the frame, but others were a massive collection of faces. One of them had what seemed to be a line of mammals lined up, each facing the camera and sporting camouflaged garments.

She could see nearly every kind of mammal in the city in this picture, including several foxes. Believing one of them to be 'Honey' she glanced at yet another picture on the table.

There, just a few frames away in a more recent picture, she could see a far less crowded image bearing fewer faces this time. It had several foxes, any of which could be her, but also noticeably in the picture was what appeared to be a badger standing to one side of them and what appeared to be a rabbit on the other.

Shaking her head as she didn't care to question what fool of a rabbit would be doing around a lot of preds, she continued her search of the room. Glancing around she could see the stairs that lead to the upper part of the house, but promptly remembered that Nick said he would be in the kitchen.

She looked around to see a few entryways that lead to different rooms. Out of one of them, she could hear shuffling and shifting as someone was there.

Judy carefully tiptoed across the floor, only causing the faintest of sounds from both her steps and the cuffs as she neared the room that she had slightly hoped Nick would still be in.

She rounded the corner and flashed her light inside to see the fox with his arms crossed and standing next to a very old and outdated phone. She had hoped to see more than him but was still leery of the mysterious predator at large.

Assuming that this was the kitchen, she looked around. It too was furnished simply and not cluttered like most pred places. The cabinets appeared to be waxed, the tables and counters were spotless, even the sink was completely cleaned and void of dishes.

Pots, pans, and other cooking tools were neatly arranged on shelves and a small furnished dining set was placed in the middle of the room.

The only thing strange in the room aside from the missing pred, was a faint scent of medicine. It smelled of herbal remedies and other with a sweet yet bitter hint to it.

After a moment of not seeing more than one fox, Judy began to question if his story was even real. A small thought caused her to start panicking as this could be an ambush waiting to happen.

"Alright, where is she?" She huffed, shining her light directly at Nick.

He stood there in the spotlight, blinking a few times and holding his paw up to prevent damage to his eyes.

"In her bunker," He admitted, reaching for the phone and spinning its outdated dial. "She lives a very... solitary life."

Judy immediately recognized his actions as a potential threat. Despite the phones age, he could be calling his allies to help any moment. Thankfully she had backup just outside and had a good feel of her surroundings, and a quick way out.

"Honey's never been very trusting of a lot of people." Nick continued, spinning the dial until a clicking sound echoed throughout the room.

The sound startled Judy, causing her to flash her light and ready herself for whomever appeared. Only, what she did shine her light on was a cabinet opening under the sink.

Nick watched the rabbit rattling with a smile. He walked towards the sink and held out his paw.

"Right this way." He chuckled.

Judy, now seeing that the phone was only a way to get this door open, had an immediate sense of déjà vu. It had reminded her a bit too much of how Nick's clinic held a dire secret below it.

"Did you learn to hide your theme park from 'Honey'?" She asked, carefully walking over and inspecting the sink.

Just below it was a hole that lead straight down from what she could tell. Had this not been a pred home, she would have felt it almost reminiscent of the houses back at the Burroughs.

"Partially," Nick responded, crouching and crawling into the space. " The rest I got the rest from a medical book about confidentiality."

He turned himself around to reach a ladder rung and face Judy. "I'll go first."

With that, Judy could see him slowly descend into the darkness below.

This situation bothered her a little more than when they came into the district. Before, she had more space and could easily detain Nick if needed. Now, the space was limited and her ability to detain him was less than effective and becoming smaller by the moment.

Judy had to question why anyone would have a bunker built this way instead of a basement level for their house. War hero or not, it was a bit suspicious the way things were turning about here.

She took a deep breath, took hold of her flashlight with her teeth, and crawled in after him. With her not being as tall as Nick, she found the space to be a little roomier than she had first thought.

Taking hold of the first rung of the ladder, she tilted her head down to see Nick staring up at her, smiling as he climbed down with ease. She didn't like him being below her in this situation but still made sure that he was a few feet away incase he tried to drag her down.

This climb down, like the one she had before, was dark and eerie. Thought the terrain was a little different as it was mostly dirt instead of industrial concrete, it didn't help her feel much at home.

The further down she went, she could smell the medicinal smell get stronger and stronger. She couldn't tell what it was from exactly, but it smelled of fresh sugar and mint.

The constant clack of their paws against the ladder was both rhythmic and unsettling. To Judy, it only threw off her hearing slightly event thought she never took her eyes off of Nick.

Soon enough, she watched as he had reached the bottom of the ladder. He took his paws away and stepped to the side, patiently waiting for Judy to find her way down.

As she neared the ladders landing, she was able to see a small space just a few feet away from Nick that she could easily reach. Again, instead of simply climbing down to the last rung, she hopped off in caution that he would attempt to corner her.

The added weight of the cuffs did make it a little tougher on her, but she managed to land on her feet. With the flashlight still in her jaws, she took hold of it in her paws and spun around to shine it at the grinning and slightly amazed fox.

"Again with the acrobatics." Nick snickered, shielding his eyes with his paw and turning away from the ladder.

Judy watched him with a slight annoyance. Yes, she did jump off the ladder again, but she had every reason not to trust the fox.

He had soon after begun to walk towards the area opposite of them, dragging his tail and guiding his paw along the wall. He had soon reached a wooden set of doors that didn't seem to fit down here at all.

As Judy watched this, she noticed that the wall itself didn't fit down here as well. It looked freshly dug and slightly etched and smoothed over in some areas. It looked to be another small building of sorts just beyond the wall, it must have been where 'Honey' was staying.

She walked a little closer, seeing Nick fidget with the door and begin to push on it. Despite it being wood, it sounded of heavy metal as it screeched open.

Judy's nose twitched when she saw the door swing inward, revealing a darkened space that even she couldn't fathom why anyone would want to venture into.

"Who would build a hiding place like this?" She asked, feeling a cold rush of air blow past her.

She didn't know whether it was from how cool it felt down here, or because her fears of having two foxes in close proximity to her could be soon realized.

"Only our Honey," Nick answered, looking back at the rabbit with a smirk as he walked inside. "She's technically off grid since the zoning code here doesn't cover her."

Once he got inside, he placed his paws to the sides of his muzzle.

"Honey!" He called out, hoping to have her respond.

His statement from before hit Judy as a bit of a surprise, but after looking at the condition of the house and how it was just across the street from everything else, it seemed to be only slightly logical.

Still, there were parts to what Nick said that had bothered her. Namely the presence of light fixtures and a sink but the sheer absence of any light in the house. It made no sense whatsoever.

"Then how does she get water and electricity?" She retorted.

Nick, having just passed the threshold to the dark room, stopped in his tracks. He perked up his ears and darted his head around as the sound of a motor suddenly came on.

"She dug into a water system," He began, searching the dark for any sign of Honey as his night vision allowed him better sight. "And managed to persuade us to get a car down here to power the house."

Judy watched Nick carefully search around. While she didn't want to set foot in the room, the buzzing sound drew ever closer to her. She knew she couldn't delay long so she followed him inside.

As she entered and flashed her light on the interior of the room, she could see a plethora of items. The bunker itself was full of shelves stocked and stocked to the brim from wall to wall with boxes and bags of all kinds.

Though she tried to see more and more from faint glimmers of her light flashing off of strange materials, the absence of a stronger light source really bothered her.

"Does she just live in the dark all the time?" She questioned, failing to see how anyone, even a nocturnal predator could stand to live this way.

The buzzing sound echoed and reverberated all across the room from shelf to shelf. Judy could hear it at a higher pitch than Nick could, but the sound itself was a little eerie.

"No, she usually has some kind of light on by now," Nick answered, frantically searching for the elusive mammal. "Let me get the switch."

With that, Judy watched as Nick made his way towards what she could assume was the back wall of the bunker. As it was a larger structure than what she could have imagined, the space was a lot further than she expected.

While waiting for Nick to reach the switch, a thought occurred to her.

"Is she even here?" She asked, flashing her light on everything that she possibly could without even hair or tail of 'Honey' in sight.

Even as she asked this, she could hear more buzzing. Only this time it sounded closer with heavy footsteps that were neither hers or Nick's to begin with.

"Honey, I can hear you, I know you're there!" Nick called again, ignoring Judy's question and continuing towards the light switch.

He knew full well that, even though Honey was always there, she wasn't ever exactly easy to get to.

With Nick drawing ever closer to the back of the room, Judy had a sudden sense of unease. Despite her being able to have backup which she hoped had at least been in the house by now, the sudden sounds of footsteps seemingly in all directions, as well as the now irritating buzzing caused her to nervously flash her light more frantically.

She had lost all focus on Nick as the sound seemed to draw near to her. In a matter of seconds, she could hear rattling of some kind before the sound idled.

Taking this as a potential attack against her, she readied herself and flashed her light towards where the sound had last stopped. Only, when she looked there, she saw nothing but boxes.

"Here we are." Nick called out from the far side of the room.

He had just reached the light switch which had been almost identical to the power switch at his theme park. Being reminded of this, he smiled to himself and promptly flicked it on.

As the lights came on allowing them to see better, Judy instantly blinked a little. She had grown accustomed to the dark for a little too long and now was trying to readjust.

While she did so and shielded her eyes from the large lights set across the ceiling, a strange blur made its way through her vision.

"BADGERS!" The figure screamed out at the top of their lungs.

Judy, now gasping in horror, saw the image of a large mammal coming straight towards her from mid-air. She could hear the buzzing noise along side of it, and knew it wasn't good.

She instinctively dove forward, feeling a rush of air pass through her ears and graze her hair. Having passed whatever attack may have come her way, she rolled as she hit the ground.

Her every thought told her that she was in danger and she took only a split second to reach for her taser. Whoever this was that attacked her wouldn't ever get a second chance.

Nick, having been satisfied with finding the switch and thinking of the past, perked his ears up when he heard the commotion. His head turned to see both the rabbit and his friend standing opposite one another.

Smiling that he had finally found her, he called to her again. "Honey!"

His smile as bright as ever, quickly replaced itself with a worried scowl as he traced his eyes from one mammal to another. He saw Judy crouching down and aiming towards Honey with her taser.

"Freeze!" Judy shouted.

While she had prepared herself from the beginning to have the fox attack her, what she had seen standing in front of her wasn't what she was prepared for at all.

Just ahead of her stood a mammal slightly taller and much bulkier than the average fox. If she had to compare the size of the two it would be akin to the difference of a wooden picket fence and a solid concrete wall.

Its fur was a mix of deep bluish black with a streak of white running down from its head. She wasn't able to see their face as their back was turned to her, but could tell from the ears that they weren't a fox at all.

From the size and shape, she could identify this mammal as a badger. Even though it didn't completely solve her issue, the fact that it wasn't a fox in front of her eased a thought screaming at her from before.

They wore the same camouflaged clothes that she had seen in the pictures above, mostly green with faux leaf patterns painted across them.

Noticeably also, whoever they were carried a large and menacing metal object that easily looked to be carried by something far greater than their size. She couldn't tell what it was but it made the buzzing sound had irritated her earlier.

"Judy!" Nick shouted.

He felt his heart race and heard his collar beep as he sprinted towards the rabbit and Honey. He couldn't understand why it was so hard for Judy to simply listen as both of their lives could very well be in grave danger.

While he ran, he felt a small shock nip at his neck causing him to lose balance slightly. He shook it off and caught himself before he fell, he couldn't risk having the rabbit die from her mistakes.

As Nick made his way in front of Judy, he watched Honey slowly turn her head towards them. He could hear the beeping of her collar, but he managed to stand in between them just as the badger fully locked eyes with him.

With him now here, he turned to Judy who had her weapon still fixed on Honey despite his warning earlier, but something about her looked different from before. After glancing over her features, he could see that the small tuft of white hair that had set between her ears was now in shreds across the floor.

He shook his head as he didn't have time to mock her about her haircut, he would have to get the situation under control before the inevitable happened.

"Carrots, put away the gun before she sees it!" He whispered, frantically gazing into Judy's eyes.

Judy, however, never flinched. If she heard right, then this was Honey, and that attack of theirs was a serious offense.

"Out of the way." Judy commanded.

Nick, understanding that the rabbit was in danger, carefully turned his head towards Honey. She stood there in front of them both, now staring menacingly towards the two as if ready to attack at any moment.

"H-hey Honey," Nick chattered nervously. "How are ya?"

He had tried to stall for enough time to convince Judy that this was a misunderstanding, that all of this was a mistake. In a matter of seconds, they could both be dead if he didn't do something.

"Put it down, put it down, put it down." He reiterated, his voice becoming a panicked whisper to Judy without ever taking his eyes off the badger.

In the instant he said this, he watched in horror as Honey dropped the large object she was holding and stared directly at them. Nick knew what this meant from her, he had seen it before.

Without a second thought, Nick turned and grabbed hold of Judy's weapon, catching the rabbit off guard. She thankfully never got the chance to fire as Nick pulled it closer to him, dragging her with it and wrestling it out of her paws.

In doing this, he heard not only the jingle of metal and frustrated shriek of the upset rabbit, but also the guttural growl of the one he had managed to take his eyes off of for even a second.

Fearful of what was about to happen, Nick instantly used his hands to shield himself even a little from the damage that would be.

As the growl grew closer and with more volume, Nick could hear the rabbit shuffle across the floor away from him. Judy herself knew better than to stay stationary in the midst of an attack.

Realizing that this could be it, Nick braced himself as he felt the badger make contact with him. He wrenched his eyes shut as felt the much larger predator grip hold of him and hoist him into the air as though he weighed nothing at all.

He cringed when the badger growled louder and louder, hearing the pop and frizz of its collar as it stared him down.

"Honey it's me, Nick," He shouted in terror, pinning his ears to his head. "Little Nick."

He yelped and writhed in Honey's grip, feeling the sting of her shocks reach him. He couldn't tell how long he had stayed in the air or how many times he felt the shock, but soon he heard the growls and zaps cease altogether.

Feeling the pain still and wondering what was happening, Nick slowly opened his eyes to the sight of a rather concerned looking badger just at eye level.

While he blinked slowly, he could swear that he saw small beads of tears taking form in the corner of the badger's eyes.

"Nick?" A voice called out, far sweeter and tranquil than what he had heard moments ago.

He perked his ears up when he heard Honey calling his name. He could tell that, despite her fierce look and panic, that this was the Honey that he knew he would find here.

"Little Nick!" Honey shouted, her muzzle quivering as she brought the fox in closer to her for a breathtaking hug.

Though only Nick was out of breath as Honey gripped him tighter, Judy was taking deep breaths herself from not having her weapon by her side. The added protection and security that came with it helped put her mind at ease for so long.

She had hidden behind a crate as she now had a PTSD badger and an armed felon of a fox just a few feet away. She had silently hoped that her help would soon come bursting through the door, her situation had taken a turn for her worst.

"Gazing out into what had called shadows I whispered. 'To where the last glimmer of hope stands.'"

Hello there, and welcome to the end notes! And so we have Honey.

Sorry it took me longer on this chapter and it's a bit longer than I wanted, but didn't want to skip out on the crazy badger.

I'm still scheduling Nick and Finnick for weekend updates (either every weekend, or every other weekend).

And I hope you get a chance to read this and the other at your leisure. Also, these stories can be found here as well:

fanfiction:
~dancinglunarwolves

deviantart:
dancinglunarwolves

archiveofourown:
users/DancingLunarWolves/works

If you liked this story and have time please post a review, and if you would like to keep up with the story please fav or follow. Questions, comments, concerns, feel free to message me about anything... More to come soon.

If you'd like updates, please check the profile page and or message me.

Also, I'm placing my other stories (non zootopia) on hold (just on hold) until I'm done with a good chunk of these. More info on my profile page.

I hope you all enjoy.

Till Next Time
-DLW