Only Once

Season 1

Episode 1: Scene 2: Skin-Walker

There is a certain point in the lower streets of Tundra Town where the air is just right to suck the breath away from any small creature who steps into its embrace. The canyon of buildings outside of Hooves Station was one such place. Wind cut through Judy's jeans, trench coat, and blouse like they were not even there. As she shook herself and started moving again, she briefly glanced back and around. Judy would have sworn, under oath, that there were icicles already forming in the tufted white of her tail. Grimacing, she tucked her ears in, pulled her collar up, and leaned into the wind, squinting to make out where her quarry had gone.

There they were, off to the left. The pig had about forty feet on her, and was trailing the squirrel at a respectable distance. Enough to allay any suspicions, but still close enough to not get lost along the way. Where are we going? Judy puzzled it out, trying to draw up what she knew from long nights of beats along darkened streets. She had been on the night shift for the past two years, one as a patrol officer and the last, the best, as a detective. But all her mind's eye could come up with was the warm glow of the fireplace in Mr. Big's office.

If you don't know the lay of the land, get inside their heads. That was not her own mental voice. It was too deep, too male, and too foxy. But welcome all the same. Okay, Nick. She glanced longingly at a pay phone, just barely visible through the lattice-grating on the window of a closed drug store. If only she could make that call, it would all be over sooner. Okay. She knew the squirrel was a student, was probably headed home. That hopefully meant that she was going to live close to the station. She was tired after a long day at school, on New Year's Day no less. She was dedicated. She was freezing, and just wanted to get in out of the cold into her apartment. Sounds a little like me.

In all likelihood, she would not have noticed the pig yet.

As her thoughts turned to the porcine form in front of her, Judy sped up a little. Cold bit into the tips of her uncovered feet. Ice. Black ice! The warning flashed and she dodged around the gleaming, translucent puddle of slick sidewalk before even registering that it was there. But the guiding-sense that had pushed her to follow the pair out of the station was driving her forward again before she could even consider caution. Since she had turned her thoughts to what the pig was thinking, she knew she needed to catch up to them. After all, he was going to have to make a move before the squirrel got home.

Tundra Town, around the central station and the canal at least, was built up from the influx of coldies. It was supposed to be a winter wonderland, a showcase of the climate zone for tourists to see and the rich to not wander out of. There were shops, coffee houses, restaurants, and a general atmosphere of good cheer that made it a good place to spend an evening. Judy also knew that these activities meant more lights, more moonlighting officers, and more cameras. Maybe I'm becoming cynical. I wonder if I should thank Nick for that or not. This was not that part of town, though. The side street that they were moving along, unplowed and with a good two inches of snow over the most recent clearing of the sidewalk, was unlit. On one side, all of the stores had sliding metal shutters closing them off from the outside world. Overhanging the other was the bullet-train track. Its piers loomed out of the darkness like the tips of icebergs, warning of hazards buried below. Judy tried to look at the street as it would be during the day, as it would be with a little bit of life, as it would be in a few hours when the three of them had concluded their business. She had probably seen this street a hundred times before from the train, without realizing it. So why is it so hard to imagine it as anything else?

Their squirrel leader rounded a corner.

The pig sped up.

Judy followed suit, breaking into a jog to reach the stoop of the bar that occupied the corner. A quick glance up brought her the unlit neon tubing over the bar's entrance, spelling out "Pac's Ice". She skidded to a stop and carefully, carefully poked her head around the side of the building, nose twitching.

Her eyes watered with a fresh blast of cold air. Frustrated, she wiped them clear and looked again.

No one.

Her heart dropped out of her chest.

Where…?

Edging away from the stoop of Pac's Ice, she took one step onto the new street. Two, three more and then she leaned forward, probing the dark with all of her senses. Despite the cold, her ears perked up and out of the neck of her trench coat, rotating, searching for some sound. Identical frosted over houses, run-down offices and shuttered buildings marched off into the gloom.

In the gale, even her sharp-hearing was barely able to catch the sound of a bug zapper.

Zzzoorrchhh

Judy bolted forward. Arrowing in the alley that the sound had come from, she pelted across the snowy concrete. Wind bit into her face. And Judy slid on one foot into the alley.

The pig had the squirrel already. He was leaning over her spasming form, with a knee planted in the small of her back. He was hogtying the squirrel, would have it done in a moment if she did not get a move on. It was time to make her play.

Step one: verbal domination.

"Stop! ZPD, hands in the air. Nonononono, eyes forward. Don't move a muscle. Nick, move. 've got you."

She smirked. He had gone rigid, facing away from the mouth of the alley. The boar had glanced back, sudden uncertainty etching his face, but Judy's voice had whipped his head forward again before he could have gotten a good look at her. At her and her alone. He was still leaning on the squirrel, though.

"Stand up nice and slow. Let's see those hands. Good, you're doing good. Ma'am?"

The squirrel groaned. The pig had not quite gotten the zip-ties on her.

"Ma'am, can you hear me? Hog, move against the wall, spread your legs. Do IT!" She shouted the last bit, having moved to within a few strides of the pair. He was smirking, but he moved to comply.

"Ma'am? Ma'am? My name's Officer Hopps, I need you to stand up. Can you move?"

Twitching, moving her head towards the sound of her voice, the squirrel nodded once, twice, and then slowly, agonizingly so to Judy, got her arms underneath her and levered herself into something roughly akin to a yoga pose. Her eyes, such a bright hazel in the lights of the station, were dazed and unfocused. She nodded again, and started to her feet.

"What's your name? Stay there, pig. I've got you." Stay cold. Keep control, but don't piss him off. Reaching out a hand, she gripped the squirrel's paw and levered her up, easily supporting the smaller mammal. She only came up to Judy's shoulder, and felt like she was a quarter her weight.

"B-barbaraah Ehlm." Her voice was slurred, and slightly hesitant. Not good. For the first time, Judy smelled the air of the alley. It was rank with fear scent. Her heart beat faster, her hand tightened on the squirrel's, and she felt like fleeing back the way that she had come. There was something else in the air though, something metallic and electrical. Ozone. It gave Judy the focus that she needed to press on.

"Alright, Barbara. I like your jacket, by the way. Listen, I need you to head on home and call ZPD. Tell them to come to the corner by Ice Pac's. Can you do that for me?"

"I think I'm going to throw up."

"That's alright, honey. I just need you to make that call."

"O-okay." There were tears in her eyes, but she was already starting to look a bit better. Judy cast her a smile, and gave her a firm but gentle push towards the mouth of the alleyway. The pig had not even bothered to strip her backpack off. Limping out of the alley, Barbara rounded the corner and headed off to the left.

And then there were two.

A beat, a moment of silence. It turned into a second, and then five. Judy's breathe fogged out in front of her eyes. Six.

"Stay right there handsome." Seven. The pig shifted from one foot to the other. Eight. Her hands, not quite having anything to do, worked in the air at her sides. Nine. She wished Nick was actually there with her.

Ten.

"You know, Officer Hopps." The pig's voice was actually a charming tenor, warmth dripping off of it as he slowly enunciated each word. That did not keep an icy drop from sliding down Judy's spine as he continued "I think we are alone, you and I."

"Nick's the strong, silent type."

"But I somewhat doubt that he is that quiet."

"Do you know him? No, no you don't." The gig was up, though. Time for plan B. Judy stripped off her trench as he pushed off from the wall and turned. The apartment key found its way into her hand and she lodged it there between her fingers. An extra inch of claws is another inch of life.

"I do not know him. But I think that you and I are going to get acquainted." He flashed his canines, a snarling mockery of a smile. It came to her then just how wrong the situation felt. This was an omnivore and prey at that. That was what her mind was gibbering, anyways. So the fact that it felt like something else was in the alley with her, something that was predatory, and feral, and alien, and wrong only pushed her away. Judy edged back from him, ears straight up, coat held loosely at her side. She tried for the street.

He smoothly stepped between her and the entrance of the alley in the time it took her to blink. The pig growled, a deep throaty thing that got her hair to stand on end. In that moment, it was emphasized for Judy just how much bigger he was than her. She was tall for a rabbit, or at least she was taller than her parents. But another Judy could have stood on her shoulders and she would have still been looking up to meet the pig's eyes.

Judy took another step back. Judy Hopps had never run from a fight before. But the thought of being forced further into the blind alley was unacceptable. The thought of the predatory thing in the skin of a pig in front of her was worse. She let loose a snarl of her own.

"Who-"

It cut her off, fluidly reaching into its jacket and slashing towards her in the same motion. There was a look of perfect serenity on its face. It was only as the object came towards her that she was able to identify it for what it was. A stun stick, black polymer grips and two prongs on the end. Ozone filled the alley again.

She lashed the jacket forward, catching the tip of the stunner and turning it away from her body. Already moving forward, Judy used her momentum to launch a kick into the thing's gut. He let out a great puff of air, and crumpled onto the ground. Judy only dimly recognized the cloying scent that his breathe carried, but it made her skin crawl. Something deep inside her revolted at it, told her that it was wrong. That smell should not exist in the world. But that was peripheral. She danced lightly to her feet, having landed from the kick. And promptly was bowled back to the ground.

The impact knocked the air out of her chest. Then she was moving back, lashing out a foot to connect with the side of its head. She needed to get some distance. But he took the blow in the meat of a forearm instead and slithered up her body. Too fast, too fast. Judy launched another set of kicks into the potbellied gut before her, but its owner was too close for there to be any real power in them. She needed distance, needed more space. The pig-thing was latching on, had pinned her one arm over her head and was blocking blows from the other, the one with the key. It was not able to slash through his course jacket. And then he smacked her hand down, and the key skittered away. This was going to get very bad.

Then a kick connected a little bit lower, and his eyes went unfocused for a second.

That was all she needed. He could be beaten. She could do it. Arching her back, she slammed a knee up into his groin and bodily shoved him away.

Judy rolled hard to the side. Something lumpy was underneath her, the jacket and, wrapped in its length, the stunner.

There was movement behind her. He was shifting, breathing in short gasps as he clambered to his feet. Inching forward. Charging. Coming for her.

Blue-white light flashed in the dark. Ozone and burned flesh filled her nostrils. And then her head hit the wall. Stars danced in her eyes. I can't lose this fight.

She shook her head, clearing away a bit of the cobwebs. It had bulled through the stun prod, taking the full brunt of the prongs but still plowing into her at full speed. The force of its charge had driven both of them into the wall.

A flicker of movement and Judy's head smacked into the wall again. The stunner dropped from her paw, clattering onto the ground. She could feel blood welling from somewhere. Dazedly she brought up her arms. And then came the storm. Blow after blow landing on her arms, trying to get at her head. It slammed a hoof into her stomach. Trying to get her to lower her guard. More body blows. And more.

Judy disappeared for a while.

Smack

Joke's on him.

Slam

Just have to last until the cavalry gets here.

Pound

Just have to last until the cavalry

Smack-crunch

She roared, and came off the wall, flinging her own flashing series of blows at its head. They were weak, a bit slow, but he was still shaking off the electroshock. They would do. Her size worked for her here, letting her get underneath his guard and slowly wear him down.

Just have to last

She drove the abomination back, deeper into the alley, not letting it get a blow in, keeping his head down and his guard up. Driving him before her. Driving him onto a patch of black ice.

Realizing something was up at the last moment, he balked. And right on cue, Judy gave him the final push. His hooves came out from under him and the pig was on his back, gasping from the impact.

Judy breathed. In and out. Blinking slowly, she wobbled on her feet. In that moment, as he lay there gasping, she could have believed that he was what he appeared. That he was just a pig, just another mammal. And then he was getting up.

"Can we go back to doing this the easy way?" The pig asked, but there was something in his voice that made Judy take a step back towards the stun rod. That was not defeat. That was a second wind, the tide getting ready to slam back onto the beach.

"If you are willing to be arrested and go to prison." Judy warily backed away. It was getting hard to stay standing. The adrenaline that had been keeping her going was starting to wear off, and with that came pain.

Just have to

"Sadly, I cannot accept. I think we have another minute or so. Barbara lives two minutes further along, but in the girl's state…" He trailed off.

"Then there is nothing more to say." Judy was copying his speech without really meaning to, but it was so formal, so peacefully belying the situation it was impossible to resist doing.

He came off the ice. Judy met him with an outstretched fist. Which he caught. And pulled her in closer with.

Purple eyes focused on an overhanging canopy of stars, cut into a river by the two looming black shadows of buildings on either side. Blood streamed down from her nose. And the pig loomed over her. It took her a moment to work out what had happened. Working through it in her own mind felt like choking on smoke. He stared down at her for a moment longer and then spoke. The voice sounded as if it was coming from all around Judy instead of just the animal in front of her.

"I will be leaving now."

"No. You won't."

"No?"

"No. You can't walk away from this. ZPD will find you. I will find you. And bring you to justice." It sounded hammed to her own ears, but she did not really mind. It kept him there.

And she meant each word.

Keep him talking.

He seemed to be thinking it over, though. That was fine. She was okay laying there for a while. After a moment, the pig opened his eyes. "I suppose that is true. Unfortunate."

Judy barely got her arms up.

Teeth flashed and he bit down, HARD.

End of Scene

Current Objective: Um, survive? I don't know, that thing just latched onto my arm, don't bug me for an objective!