Author's Note
I should probably change the genre of this story, seeing that I have included Friendship, Tragedy, Sci-fi, and will probably have romance. I think the main two however are Sci-fi and Friendship, but that's just me. Anyways, enjoy chapter four, and leave a review with your constructive thoughts and ideas.
Judy's POV
I sat in my bed, back against the wall, just in deep thought. I wanted to visit Nick right now. I was about to call and ask when I could visit again, but then someone knocked on my door. Alex left only an hour ago, so I figured it couldn't be him. I opened the door, and was confused. Chief Bogo actually came to my house.
"Judy Hopps, I believe you had some time to get yourself back on your feet, yes?" He asked. I did, but I still don't know why he would be here.
"Well yes, um, why are you here?" I questioned, before another figure walked towards the front door, Alex.
"I am here first off because I have some details regarding your occupation." He told me, being vague on purpose I bet. Was I in trouble? Was I going to be questioned about the mall? "Let me start by saying you deserve this Hopps. You are getting a promotion, nothing too big, but I'm sure you will like it." He finished with a swing of his arm. It wasn't like him to act all cheery. Alex stood next to him, keeping quiet.
"Why is Alex here then?" I asked Bogo.
"Alex is here because he, and many others, will be joining you on a mission. A very big mission. Now I wanted to ask you, are you prepared for something like this?" He said, sounding genuinely concerned. I actually couldn't tell wether he was acting or not. Part of me wanted to say yes, while the other half wanted to say no.
"What about Nick?" I opposed, wanting to know how Nick would play into said mission.
"Nick will have no role in this mission, just you, Alex, and several others." He said with a smile. That's not what I wanted to hear, but he thought it was. I wanted Nick beside me, just like he was on all our other cases.
"We want Nick to be safe, and in his current condition, it would be best if he wasn't stressed about his job." Alex explained. I was about to ask when Nick would be allowed to work again, but Alex's phone rang. He quickly looked at it, before putting it back in his pocket. Bogo just gave him a short glance.
"Think about it Hopps, we will be in touch." He said before turning around. Alex stayed for a moment longer, just watching me. "Alex, you have a job you know." Bogo seemed to have caught his attention, and he left as well.
"I'll visit you later today." Alex said as he turned the corner to the squad car. I couldn't say yes, what if I got hurt too? Then I would be stuck in the hospital just like Nick, and wouldn't be able to just visit him when ever. I sighed and went back to my bed, this time lying down. Hearing about Nick's 'False Recovery' earlier today wasn't what I needed to get back on the force. It was only three o' clock and I was feeling tired. I felt tired of course, but I couldn't sleep. I rolled over a dozen times in bed, not sure what to say to Alex and Bogo. A heard a pounding from outside my room. The doorbell then flared up, ringing at least five times. I groaned, not wanting to get up from bed again. I lurked towards the door and opened it. "Hey Jude, will you kindly take a drive with me, like right now?" Alex said, shuffling his legs as he talked. I liked that nickname, Jude.
"Alex, I just want to rest right now, we can talk about the mission later." I said, opening the door wider. I turned my back to him and slowly walked back towards the living room. "You can come in if you like, but please close the door." I finished before throwing myself on the couch. Alex came inside the second I said that, and closed the door behind him.
"It's not about the mission, I just need to talk to you about something, like now." He said urgently. I sighed, my as well forget about resting, because he is using not his serious tone, but his super serious tone.
"Let's hear it then, don't want to keep me waiting." I said, looking up at him. He then proceeded to sit next to me on the couch. My phone starting ringing just before he could open his mouth. "Never mind, hold that thought." I said whipping out my phone. "It's Nick." I whispered before standing up and walking into the kitchen.
"Hey Judy, it's me, I can't talk much over the phone, but I will be at your house in a couple minutes." Nick started, out of breath. "Are you alone?" He questioned, pain haunting his voice. I thought for a moment, glancing over at Alex with a worried look, he starred back, confused as to what Nick could be talking about.
"Yes, and Nick you better explain why the hell you are out of breath right now." I asked quietly so Alex couldn't hear me.
"I will explain once I get there, I will be coming through the back, make sure all your windows are closed, and Judy," He paused, "I'm sorry." My heart starting racing, what was he talking about? My breathing thickened, and I'm sure Alex would take quick notice that something was wrong. Why must I be alone? Would he be upset that Alex was here with me? They were friends, of course he wouldn't. Nick then hung up, and I put my phone back in my pocket.
"Judy, what's wrong?" Alex asked, entering the kitchen. I should tell him, he would help me.
"It's Nick." I said, a tear forming in my eye. I starred down at the ground.
"Nick will be fine, in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he recovered in the next week." He assured me.
"Nick said he would, he would," I stuttered, "Be here in a minute." I ended, making Alex let go of my shoulder.
"Excuse me? Here, as in your house?!" He said, raising his voice. He grabbed his head with both paws. He ran to the front window and looked left and right, searching the streets. Alex jumped as he heard a knock. He looked at the front door, only a couple feet from him, but realized that wasn't the source of the sound. I walked over to the backdoor, which was covered by shutters. "Jude, do not open that door." Alex whispered, now right behind me. I jumped a little, thinking he was still at the front of the house. The knocking resumed.
"Judy, please open the door." Nick said. "I know you're in there, I heard you in the kitchen." He claimed. I inched closer to the handle, Alex right behind me, almost cowardly. I quickly swung the door open, placing both paws on my mouth from the sight. I heard Alex back up a couple feet. Nick was wearing his normal brown pants, green shirt and tie, but they were riddled with blood stains and holes. The majority of his fur wasn't groomed, and ruined by sweat and blood. I wanted to just run away, but this was my best friend, I couldn't do that. Nick went from looking tired and scared to looking like he had eaten a Nighthowler. He wasn't looking at me though, he looked above me, at Alex.
"Nick, I'm sure you are angry, but I can explain," Was all Alex could say before Nick lunged at him, I watched as Nick flew over me towards him. Alex was quick to dodge, and then ran into the living room. Nick slammed into the wall, and recovered in a blink of an eye.
"STOP!" I yelled, "Nick, please!" I continued as Nick ran towards the living room. Alex, still in his police uniform, drew his tranquilizer, causing Nick to yield, instead just pacing a couple feet from Alex.
"You going to shoot me? Huh is that how it's going to be?" Nick yelled, causing me to wince at every word. I've never even seen Nick half this angry.
"Nick, you make any sudden movements and I will, I'm trying to help you." Alex shot back, not as loud as Nick, but enough to get through to him. I slowly left the kitchen, making sure to keep a good distance from the both of them.
"Oh yes, help me, I almost died in that hospital. Thanks to you, Dr. Harris, and whoever the hell else was involved!" Nick's words pierced my ears. My mind was trying to process what he said, but I couldn't.
"That 'Medicine' you received, you think that it was SUPPOSED to do what it did? Alex howled, now sounding just as angry as Nick. "I saved your life, I did what I could without getting myself killed." He finished, starting to calm down, but not much. Alex sighed for several seconds. "You were supposed to die, yes, but remember when I took that restroom break? I took that time to ensure the 'Medicine' you received would help you, not kill you." Alex explained. Nick fell to his knees, then slowly landed on both paws.
"I'm not sorry for attacking you. You still have a lot to explain to me." Nick said, before rolling over, panting. Seeing as the violence has died down, I ran over to Nick.
"Nick are you okay?" I said, crying in the process. He turned his head to me, opening his eyes.
"No Carrots, I'm not. My shoulder has a bullet in it, which is surrounded by flesh, and burns like hell, I'm covered in blood, I've been shot several times, and..." He trailed off, taking a breath, "I ruined my favorite shirt." He said with a half smile before dropping his head back to the ground. I was about to smack him for trying to be funny at a time like this, but he was in enough pain. Alex carried Nick to my bed, making sure to cover the surface with towels before placing him there gently. Blood already staining both the towels and Alex's paws and uniform. Alex then sat at the kitchen table with me.
"Nick will survive his injuries." Was all he said, awaiting a response from me. He knew what I was going to ask, but he likes to hear it.
"How can you be sure?" I asked, following with his planned conversation.
"Nick was originally going to be given an alteration to his body, which would in return, halt his recovery from the mall incident, and possible even slowly kill him. However, I switched it out with it's opposite, which was conveniently in the same location." He explained, that hit hard.
"So Nick recovered from his past injuries and present ones?" I asked, still not believing what Alex was telling me.
"According to what I know, Nick should recover from any gunshot wound in a matter of hours, at most a day or two. Not to mention, he shouldn't feel near as much pain when receiving them. With the exception of the bullet stuck in his shoulder." He finished, before sighing. "I did know about the plan to kill him, and before I didn't care, but after meeting you, and visiting him in the hospital, I knew I couldn't let it happen. So I did what I could to stop it." He soothed, making me forgive him slightly more. I still wanted to just knock Alex on the ground and start hitting him relentlessly, but that would do me no good, since he is bigger than me, and also is trying to help. "This powerful injection wasn't meant for Nick, Jude, it was meant for you." Alex declared. "You see, you were going to be the first super soldier. I gave it to Nick instead, saving his life, but at the same time possibly ruining it, you see, this is what I wanted to tell you earlier, but then Nick called." He sighed. I could tell he was truly sorry, and that he did all he could to help.
"Okay. I forgive you." I half lied, still angry at him. Alex looked shocked.
"Just like that? You forgive me?" He pushed. I could tease him a little, just like Nick and I would.
"No, I lied, get the hell out of my house." I shot back, using my most serious voice. Alex dropped his ears, sorrow filling his eyes. "I'm kidding, of course I forgive you. You were only trying to help, right?" I corrected before he actually got up to leave.
"Yeah, right, of course." He stuttered, obviously embarrassed. He chuckled a little. "I thought this was serious time, you scared me." He scratched behind his head. We both started easing up, telling jokes, and teasing each other. Then we started cooking up something to eat, for Nick too, of course.
Nick's POV
I stalked back into the hospital, my wounds all painless, except for my shoulder, I took the elevator to the highest floor. As the door opened, I noticed all the lights in the floor were off. This floor was under construction, and has been for the last month. I've been thinking to myself, where could this operation possibly be located. "Dr. Harris, are you home?" I said, my voice echoing throughout the entire floor of the hospital. The friendly jaguar that gave me my medicine slowly lurked into the hall, carrying quiet the weapon. An assault rifle. However, he was a good twenty feet from me, so I couldn't disarm him.
"You know, you aren't invincible my friend." He calmly said, raising his gun. He shot at least a dozen shots in only a second, half of them hitting me. I stumbled backwards due to the sheer force, but I remained standing.
"More so than you are, my friend." I said, and slowly began laughing. The bullets really did hurt, hurt like a bitch, but I wanted to intimidate him, so I put on a little act. He held the look of surprise. He grabbed his walkie-talkie from his belt.
"Doc, how strong exactly is Judy's 'Medicine'?" He raised an eyebrow, maybe he found out I could be bluffing, in fact, I was starting to feel weak, as if I would just fall back right now. Before he could continue his conversation, I ran towards him full speed. Instead of shooting, he preserved his ammunition, turning into a full sprint. I started falling behind rather quickly. I kept pushing, telling my self that this guy didn't deserve to get away. The hallway turned, and I did too, continuing pursuit. I became noticeably faster, and began gaining on the jaguar. He processed this as well, and tried blind firing down the hall, but that only slowed him down more. As I ran, I forced my claws into a bullet hole in my chest, it hurt terribly, but I had to ensure I wasn't full of metal by the end of this. I removed two bullets by the time I was close enough for a tackle. I lunged at him, grabbing him around the waist. Even though he was bigger than me, we both still fell to the floor. I jumped off him and grabbed his assault rifle from his hands, he wasn't quick enough to strengthen his grip, as he was still recovering from being knocked down. He jumped to his feet, and I back away, ready to fire.
"You won't do it, you're not a killer, besides, Alex is one phone call away from going to Judy's house." He breathed, a smile spreading across his face.
"I wasn't a killer, you made me one." Disregarding the threat, I pulled the trigger, shooting only the ground below him. He jumped, letting out a shriek. I laughed, "Also, I'd love if you gave me my phone back, or else I may just have you lead me to Dr. Harris." Luckily, he actually pulled my phone out and slid it across the floor to me. Didn't think he would have it. "Please, do tell Dr. Harris that he can't have Judy or me." I said, waiting for him to run away. "Go, before I change my mind Mr. Jaguar." I told him, motioning with my paw for him to leave. He ran down the hall, and entered one of the hospital rooms. I didn't want to hurt him, he was probably doing this because he needed money. He probably had kids waiting for him at home. Dr. Harris on the other hand, seemed more like he wanted to do this, so yes I would for sure hurt him, he was probably in one of these rooms, but I was weak, and wanted to find Judy. I returned to the elevator and went back to the first floor. I was quick to stop myself from entering the lobby when I saw multiple ZPD officers searching the the place. I was quick to run to the back entrance of the hospital, grateful that they haven't made their way back here yet. Walking down the street would draw attention, the best I could do was take the side roads, and use alleys whenever possible. I also ensured that the other four bullets had exit wounds, three did, so I tore the last one out. My claws were covered in blood.
"Sweetie, do you need any help?" A goat asked, slowing her car as she passed me.
"No thanks, I'm okay, but thanks for asking." She continued driving, still watching me, her eyes widened when she got a glance at my front, and she sped off. As if the blood covering my back wasn't enough to scare her. I continued walking for another fifteen minutes, getting glares from just about everyone. A few called the cops, and I had to run to avoid getting caught. Eventually I recognized the area, it wasn't far from Judy's house, so I pulled out my phone. I would need to call Judy to give her a heads up.
Judy's POV
Alex, Nick, and I sat at my kitchen table, eating our diner. It was mostly just a snack, mac n' cheese and carrots. Alex actually seemed to like carrots, while Nick just got blueberries from my fridge.
"Wow Nick, didn't know you were that hungry." I said, referring to the fact that Nick ate the entire container of blueberries, and two servings of mac n' cheese.
"Well Carrots, I'll have you know I lost a few pounds earlier today, in blood. Got to make up for it somehow." He exaggerated, he didn't lose that much blood, if he did, he wouldn't be alive right now.
"Actually Nick, it's due to the reserves of your body being abnormal. Your body is using too much energy to keep you healed up, so you are, in return, hungry and or tired pretty much whenever you get injured." Alex explained. He knew quiet a lot about this whole thing.
"That makes more sense." Nick said, looking into the empty blueberry container with one eye.
"Nick, no need to check every ten seconds, no more blueberries, and besides, it's transparent." Alex laughed, I joined along, but Nick stayed serious.
"Sorry, I don't know why I keep looking." He claimed, getting up and throwing the container away.
"Nick, there are side effects of that healing serum." Alex cautioned. "Look, let's just say I was there when the thing was being discussed. Good, now that I got that out of me, some of those side effects include memory problems, health problems, improper sleep patterns, and lack of logic, such as opening a transparent container of blueberries to see that it's empty. The serum wasn't finished, but I'm sure with some help I could fix it somehow." Alex finished. That's a lot to take in.
"So basically I'm mentally ill, at the cost of being a physical power house." Nick summarized. Alex looked up for a moment and then nodded his head.
"Great, hopefully I can still make Judy laugh." Nick said, "It's so weird that of all mammals, you were the one to be involved with this." Nick said to Alex, now smiling. "I'm glad they chose you, otherwise I would be dead right now, and Judy would probably be bragging about her superpowers." Nick said, getting up from his chair. "If you need me, I will be sleeping, I'll move my towels to the couch."
"Hey Nick, before you die on us, what's your address?" Alex asked.
"Why? Leave something from last night?" Nick asked, giving us his sly smile. I laughed and Alex just rolled his eyes.
"No, I was going to pickup some clothes for you, so you don't have to get both dried and fresh blood all over the place, even if it's on towels, which are now ruined." Alex corrected, and took a notepad from his shirt pocket.
"1955 Cypress Grove Lane," Nick offered, "and I don't have my keys, so I hope one of your hidden talents is lock picking, or breaking windows." He concluded.
"Don't worry, I won't break anything." Alex got up and went to the front door. He left quietly, leaving Nick and I alone for the first time in awhile. After sitting quietly for a minute, I grew bored.
"Hey Nick, now that Alex is gone, I feel like I can really talk to you." I said, growing nervous. I wanted to talk to Nick about us. What the future holds. I stood up and walked towards the living room. I sighed, seeing Nick sprawled out on the couch, sleeping. I couldn't wake him, he is going to need a lot of rest. I slowly moved towards him, placing a paw on his forehead. I slowly stroked his fur, rubbing behind his ears. I couldn't help but smile, luckily there wasn't really any blood above his neck. Nick subconsciously enjoyed it, pushing into my paw. "Don't give up on me, Nick." I said before returning to the kitchen.
Author's Note
Yay! Longest chapter yet, only by a bit. I plan on making chapter five longer... Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'm thinking about adding some romance to this story, but I'm not sure, please give me your opinion on that, and what you overall thought of the chapter, it's GREATLY appreciated. I have fun writing these chapters, and I hope you have fun reading them.