Ch. 19: The Fall
Lionheart had been leaving the hospital when Nick and Judy caught up to him. They begged for any information on where Ironclaw may have felt at home.
Lionheart had pondered this for a moment and guessed the last place she was ever truly happy was at her old childhood home, he gave them an address before wishing them good luck.
"Stop her," he said in a tired voice, "Do whatever it takes." He then stepped into his limo and drove away.
But now was not the time to sneak around, this would be the final showdown, they both decided. With the help of the entire precinct they'd capture Ironclaw or die trying. They called Chief Bogo and told him the address and he and the rest of the officers were all too ready to climb into their patrol cars and that's just what they did.
"Wilde," Bogo spoke through the car's radio, "Stay in the car when we get there, you can't do your job in your condition."
Nick cleared his throat, "Well sir, to quote Hamlet act three, scene three; line ninety two: No."
Bogo let out an aggravated sigh, "I didn't expect anything else." He hung up.
"You do need to be careful," Judy told him, her mind racing over all the bad things that could happen.
"The same goes for you," Nick replied, his face serious. "Be smart, okay Carrots?"
Judy nodded, "Okay."
.
The address Lionheart had given them was not a house, at least, not anymore.
A large unfinished construction sight lay before the ZPD, and somewhere among those tarps and beams and metal sat a very dangerous animal.
The construction sight was going to one day be a large hotel complex, Bogo had already called in a warrant for the address and wasted no time walking into the area.
"Alright, we'll split up into pairs and search," Bogo replied, "But if you find her do not approach her, call for backup immediately and wait until the rest of us get to you."
The police broke off and headed into the maze of unfinished building. Naturally Judy and Nick was a pair, each getting their own tranquilizer dart gun for their belts.
"I guess the entire street got destroyed," Judy whispered to him.
Nick nodded his eyes up and scanning the hundreds of ramps and beams above them.
"Nick…" Judy breathed, "Do you hear that?"
Her ears flicked back and forth, she heard something. It was a mixture of snuffling and heavy breathing.
"Hear what," Nick asked.
Judy's eyes went to a pile of tarps that hung from a beam making a sort of tent. She pointed to it, "It's coming from over there."
Nick started to walk toward it but Judy quickly grabbed his arm, stopping him.
"What are you doing," she whispered furiously. "You heard Chief Bogo; we need to call for the others."
"We need to check to make sure it's her," Nick replied, "I won't go after her, I'll just check."
When Judy still didn't let him go he gave her a slightly frustrated look, "Carrots."
"I'm scared," Judy breathed, her ears lowered.
Nick's face softened, and he placed a paw over her own, "Just stay close to me."
He started to walk again and this time Judy forced her legs to move. They edged to the tarps and peaked in, holding their breath to not make any noise.
A crouched figure sat in the dirt; claws that used to flash and shine were now dinged and dirty as they left claw marks in the ground.
"It's gone," Ironclaw murmured, "It's all gone."
Nick and Judy shared a look before trying to step back to call for Bogo. But then Ironclaw turned her head to stare at them. The claw marks Nick had left over her eye looked infected, her expression looked broken and despite everything Judy felt her heart ache at the look even as her muscles went rigid.
"My home is gone," Ironclaw told them, her voice hollow. "Why did they take it from me?"
The two could only stare at her, not wanting to make any sudden movements.
Ironclaw's ear flicked and she turned her head, her eyes going sad, "Please stop talking, Arachnid. My head hurts."
Nick made a move to call for the others but then Ironclaw turned her eyes back on them, staring straight at Nick.
"What made you so special," the lioness growled softly, as she crawled out from under the tarps and standing up. "Why did you turn out so much better than me? We were both predators, we were both treated wrongly. Why didn't the city turn on you?"
"Because I never let it," Nick replied calmly. "I refused to let the bad things in Zootopia win."
"You talk like there are good things," Ironclaw muttered.
"There are," Judy said with as much conviction as possible, even taking a step forward. "There are good things, Lucy! You just have to find them!"
The lioness's eyes narrowed in on Judy and the crazy light returned, she bared her fangs.
Nick pulled his dart gun out but Ironclaw was too quick and jumped away, she landed on all fours with a feral snarl and raced at Nick. Nick tried to reload the dart gun but Ironclaw knocked into him, the dart gun falling from his paw as he slammed into a pile of beams, letting out a painful yelp.
Nick clutched his stomach and Judy knew the wound was opening up again.
"Hey," Judy screamed and Ironclaw turned to glare at her, "I'm right here, Lucy! Come get me!"
The lioness snarled and took a slow step toward her. Nick tried to get back on his feet but fell to his knees with a hiss of pain.
Judy brought her paw to her own dart gun but Ironclaw charged at her with a roar and Judy just managed to jump back and scramble away in time. She ran up a ramp and the lioness gave chase as Judy started to make her way to the top of the unfinished building.
"Judy," Nick cried out from below and her heart clenched but she kept going, she had to get Ironclaw far away from Nick. "JUDY!"
She could feel Ironclaw's hot breath on her heels and Judy's heart pumped harder with fear and adrenaline as they climbed up higher and higher, the ground and Nick below getting smaller and smaller.
"Lucy, please," Judy begged, looking over her shoulder at the lioness that seemed to be frothing. "You don't have to do this!"
"Yes, I do," she screeched and jumped onto the railing in front of Judy, blocking her path. "If I stop now what am I?"
"Exactly what you are right now," Judy said, "You aren't going to gain anything from doing this!"
"I'll have your corpse in my claws," she growled and jumped at Judy who just managed to dodge, claws sliced through her belt and slid through her fur, almost making contact with flesh. Judy jumped away and kept on going, dread clogging her throat when she realized her dart gun had fallen off when the claws had slashed at her.
"If I can't kill my father, I'll have to make due with you," Ironclaw said, loudly catching her breath as she slowly turned around to glare at Judy's retreating back. "And then what will you be," Judy demanded, they were almost as the top, "A crazy criminal with even more blood on her paws!"
"You deserve it," Lucy slowly started to follow her, knowing the rabbit had no where to go. "You made everyone think Zootopia can be fixed when it can't."
"Yes, it can," Judy insisted, reaching the top, the ground was far down below; she was forced to stop to catch her breath, a stitch in her side. "No place is perfect, I don't think any place can ever be perfect, but it can be good. You just have to try; you have to understand that life is not one good thing after another and you have to find the good and cherish it and help it grow!"
"Don't give me any inspirational speech," Ironclaw growled, climbing up onto the ramp with Judy, still on all fours but not making any move at the rabbit yet. "Just scream in fear."
Judy took a deep breath to steady herself and turned to face Ironclaw head on; meeting her eyes with all the courage she could muster: "I'm not afraid of you."
The lioness's eyes widened then narrowed, "You should be, I can kill you right now with one slice to the throat."
"Yes, you can," Judy agreed, "You could kill me right now and that would be it, but I still wouldn't be afraid of you. You know what I feel, Lucy?"
"Indulge me."
"I feel sorry for you," Judy answered. "Terrible things happened to you and you let it get to you so badly that you could never let it go, and you could never let the good things effect you."
"What good things," Ironclaw snapped.
"Your mother may have made some mistakes but she had loved you, didn't she," Judy demanded, "She just didn't know how to show it. And I bet your father would've let you stay with him if you had just asked. And what about Arachnid, he loved you, Lucy! And you killed him!"
Ironclaw had flinched when Judy had brought up Arachnid and Judy could see grief along with the crazy in her eyes. "That wasn't supposed to happen!"
"A lot of things aren't supposed to happen," Judy replied. "When I was little and thought about who'd I fall in love with I never, not once, thought it'd be with a fox. But it was. I love him," Judy's voice cracked with emotion as she continued; "I love him so much, more than anything in the world. And knowing you'll never feel how I feel about Nick, all I can do is pity you."
Ironclaw snarled, "Shut up…"
"I'm sorry, Lucy, I'm so sorry."
"Shut up!" Lucy lunged at Judy and the rabbit ducked the lioness sailing over her. Lucy landed just at the edge of the ramp and struggled to keep her balance, only to fall, her claws digging into the ramp.
Judy stood up and hurried to her, "Lucy, let me help you up."
Ironclaw swiped at her but nearly fell again, hanging by her set of claws that were dug into the very edge of the ramp, her arm shaking as she tried to keep her grip.
"Lucy, come on." She may have been a criminal but she had had a horrible life, and despite herself Nick's words rang in her ears: Carrots, she reminded me of me.
Judy reached her paw out to the lioness and Ironclaw grabbed at her again, this time grabbing Judy by the leg, the rabbit let out a cry as both she and the lioness slid off the ramp and fell.
Judy grabbed at the air and managed to get a grip on the ramp on the second floor. Ironclaw had released Judy when they fell and used her own paw to grab onto the ramp; the lioness lifted her free arm to attack Judy.
"If I'm going down I'm taking you with me!" Judy braced herself for the pain of having claws slice her and then falling to her death and not getting to say goodbye to Nick or her family. But then Ironclaw's eyes went above Judy's head and widened with fear.
She breathed one word to the empty air, "Arachnid."
Whatever was going through her head, whatever she thought Arachnid was doing, no one would ever know.
Ironclaw's grip slid off the ramp and she fell.
Judy turned her head away so she didn't have to see, but the thump she heard seconds later rang in her ears. Judy took a deep breath and tried to move, to climb up onto the ramp but she was shaking with the strain, fire shooting up her arms. She realized she was going to fall.
Judy closed her eyes and promised she wouldn't cry when her paws slipped and she was falling through the air…for about half a second.
She let out a surprised yelp when a vice-like grip grabbed her arm and she jolted to a stop.
Judy opened her eyes, looking up, and let out a joyous cry, "Nick!"
The fox grinned at her, his paw tightening on her arm. "I got ya, Carrots."
"I know you do," she smiled, "Just don't let me go."
"Not even if you tried to run away from me," Nick replied and pulled her up onto the ramp.
Judy wrapped her arms around him as he fell onto his back, both letting out loud breaths of relief.
"Do you think she survived that," Judy asked, burying her face in his chest. She was still shaking slightly from the entire ordeal and didn't want to move an inch. Not that she wanted to look over the edge to see Ironclaw anyway.
Nick shook his head, "It's over, Carrots; it's finally over. You did it."
"I didn't want to," she admitted, taking comfort from the arm he slung over her. "I tried to talk her out of it."
"I know," Nick replied, "I heard. You did your best, that's all you can do. But now Zootopia's safe, Sven, Charlie, Lionheart, Clawhauser, everyone. They're safe."
Judy nodded, and then remembered his stomach, "Your wounds!" She tried to climb off him but Nick kept her pinned against his chest with both arms.
"I'm fine," he replied calmly, "They didn't open up again, besides I really, really wanna hold you right now."
He grinned and started to chuckle, Judy furrowed her brow, giving up trying to get off him with his arms wrapped around her so tightly.
"What's so funny," she demanded.
"Oh, nothing," he grinned at her, "It's just so like you, only when you were facing a dangerous, bloodthirsty criminal did you finally admit you love me."
She blinked, then frowned, "You didn't already know that?"
Nick's grin faltered slightly, "Well I can assume but it's different when you finally admit it. Until then the guy who poured his heart out just kinda stands there, silent, waiting to see if he is something permanent or a passing fling, all the while the bunny of his dreams bats those pretty eyes at everybody and goes off into dangerous situations all on her own and he can only-"
Judy placed her paw over his mouth, silencing him.
"You dumb fox," she grinned, "You know I love you."
"Yeah," Nick grinned and ran his paws over her face, "I really do."
He leaned up and met her lips and Judy's eyes fluttered shut, her chest warmth with relief and happiness and above all, love.
She would always feel sad that Ironclaw would never know this feeling, but Judy did, and she would never let it go.