Chapter Twelve: Death of a Fox (or Two)

A/N: Bet you guys didn't see that one coming hunh? Ever since readers figured out Lionheart was the Big Cheese, I knew I needed a new big shocker. That's when I came up with "The Adviser" Lionheart's mysterious boss who was really running things. I thought "Who could I get to be a huge shock?" Then I realized, someone who was an important part of Nick's character growth, but was already dead. John Wilde. I came up with the back story about Dapper Dan to explain how John survived despite all evidence to the contrary. Well over a year ago actually. I've had story ideas and scenes that haven't hit the page for all for over 2 years now.

Check the bottom of the page after reading the chapter for part of the story I was struggling with even up to today. Consider it like a DVD extra.

*= Cubes is the equivalent of blocks in terms of distance in Little Rodentia. Little mouse joke.

Late Evening. Brie's apartment at Little Rodentia

Brie knocked on the door of her apartment expecting melody. What she got instead was two rats. The two ones she arrested before. Louie and Bruno. Needless to say, Brie was taken by surprise. "What the hell are you two doin' here?!"

Bruno grabbed Louie and shook him. "DUUUR! Yeah! What 'da hell are we doin' here Louie?!"

Louie shoved Bruno off. "The prison was a madhouse so we escaped and came to visit! Remember?!"

"Uhhh...Oh yeah!"

"Is Melody okay?!" Brie asked with worry.

Melody came up from behind. "I'm right here. I'm fine. I was scared at first, but these two have been perfect gentleman. Stupid, but gentleman."

Bruno talked to Melody. "Hey! Remember 'dat 'ting we wuz gonna ask her?!"

"Oh yeah!" Melody replied.

Brie was suspicious. "Ask me what?!"

"Well, remember when we were talking...about...cah-cah-cah!...COBRAS!"

Melody and the two rats finally noticed the two cobras behind Brie.

Brie tried to calm them down. "Relax guys! Relax! They're with me! Let me introduce them to you. The one with the black scales is Reggie."

Reggie bowed his head. "Reginald Q Slitherton the fourth. At your service."

"And this is his wife, Vicky."

"Victoria H Slitherton. So charming to meet you all."

Melody was still in shock. "You made friends...with cobras?!"

"It's a long story."

"Stop being so cool!"

Louie was nervous. "I-I don't know about 'dese two Bruno...Bruno?"

Bruno was downstairs already and petting the cobras. "Ooooh! 'dere scales are so smooth! C'mon down Louie! 'Dere nice!"

"I-I can see them fine from here Bruno!"

"Ooooh! "dah lady cobra's scales change color dependin' on how 'da light hits her! 'Dats beautiful!"

Victoria loved the compliment. "Well aren't you the gentlemouse! Thank you!"

Meanwhile, Brie was inside and going through her closet. Melody was watching. "So what's up?"

"Well, me and the cobras were patrolling outside for awhile and keeping the predators at bay except the one that got in that Duke took care of. We then overheard that KRDNT got taken over by bats and that the studio kept rolling cameras when two inmates were having very graphic sex on camera."

"Yeah! It was a prey/pred couple. Pretty hot too!"

Brie kept rummaging through the closet. "Spare me the details. Anyway, the TV station is a few cubes* away from here in Little Rodentia, so I'm gonna borrow our cricket Stew Meat and...here they are!"

She pulled out two very tiny machine guns. "They're not standard issue, but they'll do the trick."

"Holy crap! Does the ZPD allow that?!"

"Not really. I pulled them out of the fireworks warehouse after it blew up and they were salvaging stuff. I mean, I'm the only beat cop in Little Rodentia. I gotta make up for it through brute force. I'm sorry honey! I'm doing all the talking, There was something you wanted to tell me earlier?"

"Promise not to get mad?"

"Did you break something?"

"...No. Remember when we talked about having a child and getting a sperm donor?"

"I see were this is going. You want it to be Louie or Bruno?"

"Louie. I want to be able to send my kids to college and Bruno...he's not exactly too bright. But they're both very kind and sweet and they volunteered and I let it be known ahead of time that I have no sexual feelings towards either of them."

"...If he wants to be involved in the children's life in some capacity, like, visit them from time to time, we can't really say no. They may be in prison for some time though."

"That'll give us some time to think it over."

Brie dropped the guns and went over to hug and kiss her wife. "I don't need to think it over. I want you to be happy. So how about this? I take Stew Meat and have him fly me to the top of the KRDNT building, Bruno can stay with the cobras and attack from the bottom and we raid the building and stop the broadcast. You take Louie into the bedroom and see if he can't get you pregnant."

Meldoy clutched onto Brie tightly. "Ooooh! You're the best wife ever!"

"No, YOU'RE the best wife ever! Now if you'll excuse me, I got a broadcast to stop!"

Brie went outside. She bent down to pet her cricket. "C'mon sweetie! Mommy needs you to grab onto her back and fly her to that building over there with the antenna. Can you do that for mommy?!"

The cricket flew around to Brei's back and attached himself like a backpack. Shen then gave the team orders. "Reggie. Vicky. Follow me to that building with the long antenna. Bruno go with them. Ride on their back."

"OH BOY!" said Bruno.

"Louie. Fuck my wife. Get her good and pregnant."

Louie's eyed just about bulged out of his skull. "Ummmm o-okay."

"Time to take down the station! Be back soon honey!" With that, Brie flew off with the cricket on her back and two machine guns in each hand.

Melody watched as her wife flew off into the sky like a superhero. To Melody, Brei was more macho than any man she ever met. "I am so wet right now."

"Do you need a towel?" Louie asked.

"Shut up, let's go to my room and get this done with."

"Okay...What are we doing again?"

"...Maybe I should have went with Bruno."

Moments later, Brei had flown to the top of KRDNT building thanks to Stew Meat. She petted the crickets head. "That's a good boy! Now go back home and mommy will be there soon."

Guns at the ready, Brie was ready to make her move. "Time to rock and roll!"

She kicked open the door, guns drawn...nothing. "Okay, clear! Down to the next one.

Meanwhile, Bruno entered the first floor with Reggie and Vicky. "Daaah! Everybody down! I got some cobras with me and I ain't afraid 'ta use 'dem!"

Nobody was around. "Hunh! By 'da way. Why am I doin' 'dis?"

Reggie explained. "Because according to Brie, you and Louie broke out of prison to visit her and this is your way of compensating for that. If you do good, she'll recommend reducing your sentence."

"Sounds good 'ta me! Let's go upstairs!"

Brie went floor to floor. Each one was empty and abandoned. Finally, she got to the control room where Finnick and Dawn were on TV. The two were warn out from sex and just snuggling together under a blanket.

However, she heard a rattling on the other side. She drew her guns out and Bruno came bursting through the door with the cobras following behind. "Alright bats! Drop your...Brie?"

"Yes Bruno, it's me."

"Oh my gosh...you were 'da one who took over 'da control room 'da whole time!"

"No you idiot! No one's here! The cameras are on because there's no one left to stop broadcasting. Help me turn this stuff off."

"Look! 'Dere's a note!" Bruno looked it over. "Hmmmm...Hmmmmm!...Interesting."

"What does it say?" asked Reggie.

"Heck if I know. I can't read."

Brie swiped the note. "Gimmie that!" she read it out loud.

"Sorry KRDNT, but me, Jacob, Amy and Charlie are leaving the studio and moving to

the Nocturnal district. Thanks to Finnick and Dawn's love making onscreen, we realized

we could not only live with, but love predators and they could love prey. I think the world is

a better place because of this broadcast. That said, I've decided to live with a bat named

Mark. He's very handsome and has a good sense of humor. Also, I really love bat dick.

Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah bat dick.

Bat dick. Bat dick. Bat dick. Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah. Bat Dick!

Sincerely, Janet Swissholes."

Vicky was upset. "Great! Now I can't get that theme out of my head."

Brie looked up at the screen. "What's so great about them?" She turned up the volume.

Dawn and Finnick were under the covers and snuggled together.

"I'm sorry I farted on you during our 69." Dawn said.

Finnick smiled. "That's okay baby, I actually love the smell. I'm canine. We got our noses up each others butts all the time."

Dawn then started to cry and Finnick was concerned. "What's the matter baby?"

"They're going to take you from me! I finally found my soul mate and they're going to pull us away from each otherrrr!"

Finnick petted her head. "Hey! Hey now! We'll never be apart. There's always conjugal visits and between all that, I'll write to you. I'll always be thinking of you. Hold on. I have an idea."

Brie, Bruno, Vicky and Reggie all watched as Finnick sat up on the edge of the bed. He put his fingers in his mouth, then pulled and pulled. "Grrrr!" SNAP! "Ow! There we go."

He turned around and gave Dawn a present. "A fang?!"

"This one was a little loose. Still hurt like hell. You can put that on a necklace. That way, a part of me will always be with you."

Dawn started to cry again. "Oh Finny! That's wonderful! You know what? I'm going to shear all the wool off my body and make you a pillow!"

"That sounds great Belly-Boo! Just don't shower for a week before shearing. I want the pillow to smell like you all the time."

"Do you want to make love again one more time before the police come?"

"No. I just want to look into your big beautiful eyes. Just being with you gives me more intense pleasure than any orgasm could bring."

"AAAWWW!" The four of them in the control room were all tearing up. "Th-That was beautiful!" Brie said.

Bruno couldn't stop sobbing. "I-Is it okay if I gives ya a hug Brie?"

"Permission granted!" They both hugged each other for a moment. "Thanks Bruno. I needed that. Now, let's turn this thing off!"

They swiped at the controls and Bruno screwed up. Brie was getting frustrated. "No! You're rewinding it! Stop it! Stop it!"

Bruno managed to pause it and Brie was embarrassed. "Oh geez! That's right on the money shot! Quick do some-"

Suddenly, everything went off. The monitors and the keyboard were no longer lit up. "What did you do?!"

"I unplugged it!" Bruno remarked.

"A simple solution from a simple man. SIGH! Well this whole thing was anti-climactic!"

"Oh! Speakin' of climax, let's go back and check on Louie and yer wife!" PUNCH! "Ow!"

Meanwhile...

"John Wilde in the fur and back from the dead! Now, join me and we can rule Zootopia as father and son!"

Nick couldn't say anything. He was frozen in absolute shock. Meanwhile, a desperate Judy was tending to her massive leg wound by removing her vest and ripping off her shirt to make a tourniquet and was wrapping it tightly around her leg.

"Why are you even bothering?" John asked. "I'm going to shoot you dead in a moment."

John looking over at Judy gave Nick the chance to pull his gun back up and aim it at his father. "Don't you fucking dare!"

"Oh son, come ON! Prey have never done anything for us!"

"Th-That woman has done more for me than anyone on the face of this planet! She brings out the best in me. That's why I have a statue of me in Little Rodentia. That's why I'm mayor!"

"It's why you're weak. She put all of these thoughts into your head like, 'anyone can be anything'! What a load of crap!"

Nick was still full of shock and rage. His mind was reeling. The only thing he could ask his father was. "How?!"

"How? How did I pull this off? You can thank the street pizza, Rusev for that one. I know you went undercover in the jail cell Friday. I kept my distance as I didn't want you to find out about me yet. You got a lot of things right and one big thing wrong. The fox who was hung. You see...I found out way in advance that I was going to be executed by Rusev and his men. I decided I wasn't going down without a fight."

Nick kept his gun on John and slowly crawled over to Judy. Keeping himself in front of her.

John was upset. "Pay attention son! I'm spouting exposition here! Anyway, one late night, I sneaked up on Rusev from behind with a wire. I was strangling him really good. He begged for mercy. 'I yam not enemy!' he said. 'Bullshit!' I yelled back. 'You're the one who made me drive the getaway truck just the day after I got the loan! You're the reason I'm in prison!' He then told me something that made a a ton of sense."

"Rusev did not put gun on your head and make you work for him. You came to Rusev because society gave you no other choice. Even Rusev may have had better life eef not for stinkink prey! They put you in prison! Not Rusev! We must change system from inside! I know fox with many contacts! More than me. Spare me and we work together to change things weeth beeg plans!"

"And you fell for that?!" Nick said.

"What other choice did I have son. As you could tell with all the dialogue he was spouting, I didn't really have a good enough grip on the wires to choke him out. I agreed. He kept his word not to kill me and we came up with a plan. Dapper Dan was practically the perfect doppleganger for me. Same height and similar fur patterns. The only difference of course, was our smell. Each fox has it's own smell, as unique as a snowflake or a bat's cry. I needed Dan's smell on me and my smell on him. He was gay and a lover of many colognes. This made things easier as I only needed my musk on him and I could use his colognes to hide my own scent. Still, I wanted to leave money behind for your mother AND build up my musk. So I went without showering for a long long time and cut off my pinky. Hiding it in the wall so you could eventually find it. Your mother never did pick up on that from all the hints I left. The idiot! That's why you could still smell traces of me in the prison and believe me, I sprayed the hell out of myself with colognes to keep you away from me then. Fortune came my way as Dapper Dan found my heavy musk a fetish for him. So I became his gay lover."

This took Nick by surprise. "Excuse me?"

"Desperate times call for desperate measures son. Besides, jail has a way of changing you. Dapper Dan had tons of connections outside of prison and had many connections inside for all the...'favors' he did. He was the perfect patsy. So on the night you visited me and Rusev ordered a hit on 'me', I went to Dan's cell, we made love, then I strangled him with the rope meant for me. I used the fur dye he kept by his cologne, changed a few of my patterns to his and vice versa. Now, he was me. I snuck him into my cell while that creepy Eye was asleep and tucked him in. I gave the rope back to Rusev and went back to my cell. Turns out I only knocked him out. He wasn't dead yet. But Eye witnessed the struggle which helped sell that it was me being strangled. The next day, John Wilde was reported hung from his prison cell. Nobody believed Eye and I spent the next 18 years as Dapper Dan."

"18 years sucking dick." Nick replied. "Not that I'm judging. I mean, I have a gay son and I find Gideon a bit..."

"Shut up!" growled John. "I'm not gay! I just did what I had to do! I was using his contacts and resources to build up an empire! A kingdom! I used all those contacts to become the Adviser and built up Lionheart to become king of Zootopia!"

"Yeeah, but you already said how he stayed popular in prison. How many people did you prostitute yourself to?"

"Shut up!"

"Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands?!"

"SHUT UP! I hated that part! I had no choice! It's who he was, so it's who I had to be! Anal you get used to. Even enjoy it after awhile, but I hated oral!"

Nick started to laugh which angered John. "What's so damn funny?!"

"Ha!-Ha! You! You and your dumb-ass plan! Hey. Here's you! 'I hate society! I've got a plan! I'm gonna spend the next 18 years...sucking a bunch of dicks!' "

Even Judy chuckled at that one which enraged John. "That's it!" He aimed his gun and Judy, cocked it, but Nick shot the gun out of his hands. "AAAH MY fingers!"

Nick looked at John's injured hand. "Now you got two more fingers gone to match the one you cut off." The shock had worn off. All that was left in Nick was anger. "18 YEARS! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO US?! TO ME?! TO MOM?!"

"I did it FOR us you idiot! So we could have a better life!"

"By having no contact with your family for 18 years?! By trying to enslave prey and turn them into food?!" What about mom?! She got remarried!"

"To that young cougar I heard about?"

"YES!"

"Well...too bad for him. I'll have to have him killed."

"You're sick."

"I just want my life back! I want equality for all predators! Is that too much to ask?!"

"What you want is to tip the scales so far over that WE become the...the oppressors." Nick didn't admit it, but his vision was starting to blur and he was starting to get dizzy. "Dad. Y-Your stupid plan has been shot to hell. Lionheart's dead, the blimp with your Nighthowler gas blew up and...and it didn't work anyway. Predators that went savage attacked other predators."

They then looked around and saw that the dome was coming down on it's own. "And now...this."

John saw the dome panels going back down. "Awww shit!" He also was noticing that Nick's blood loss was severe and he was in danger of passing out. "Wrap it up boy! You're about to pass out from blood loss and die. Let's work together!"

"I-I'd rather die!"

John spread his arms out. "Then kill me if you have the guts. It's the only way you're going to stop me. But you won't/ You've never had that killer instinct. You'll die of blood loss and I'll just dye my fur patterns like before and take your place as the new mayor."

Nick had tears in his eyes. He knew the father he once had was now long gone and a man of pure evil had taken his place. "For the love of God...stop! I just want my old dad back!"

"The old John Wilde was a gutless wimp just like you! Soft! I say good riddance! Now hand over that gun. If you don't, you'll die of blood loss. Then, I'll take your gun and kill your bunny love, kill off your stupid bunny kids, maybe keep the hyena. She's got spunk. I'll definitely kill that cougar. Then, I'll take my wife back! If she refuses, then I'll just kill her t-"

BLAM! Nick shot at John's leg. He missed.

John just barely dodged Nick's shot. "You...you shot at me! Your own father!"

Nick couldn't stand up any more. He fell over in front of Judy. "My father's been dead for 18 years. You're just a monster disguised in his fur."

John leaped for the gun and yanked it from the weakened Nick. He pointed it at Judy. "Gotta admit son. Didn't think you'd have the guts. Now HER guts are gonna be all over y-"

John wouldn't say another word again. A talon swiped across his throat. Killing him instantly. Zeke the hawk had returned. "Sorry I was so late. I sprained my wing badly."

Nick screamed. "DAD! NOOOOOOO! WHY?!"

Zeke explained. "I heard everything. You were right. You're dad died the moment he took a life to preserve his own. Not that I can talk. I've died inside many times myself. I'm sorry Nick. I had to."

"I know that!...I know. I shot at him too. I shot my own faaww-haaw-haaw! AAAAAHH-HAAAWWW!"

Judy pushed through the pain of her own leg and rubbed her husband's head. "This doesn't leave this rooftop. Dapper Dan died tonight, not John Wilde. Zeke, take his body and dump it in the Tundratown riverbed near the bridge. It's very deep. Mr. Big and Rusev have used it to dump bodies in."

Zeke grabbed the dead fox. "I'll come back and take the wolves to the ZPD."

"They know about you?!"

"Yes. I saved two of their officers so we made a deal."

"WAIT!" Nick yelled. He crawled over to his father and rubbed his cheek. "I didn't get to say goodbye the last time he died." He put his forehead to his father's. Tears ran down his cheeks. "Goodbye dad. I'll always remember you for the father you were to me, rather than the monster you became. Mom will never know about this. I promise. Judy's right. This never happened. Damn. This is going to fuck with my brain for a long, long time."

"I'll be back." Zeke took off with John's corpse.

Judy crawled over to Nick. She pulled out her cell phone. "We have to call an ambulance." She called 9-1-1. "Hello?...Hello!"

"We're sorry. Due to our high volume of calls tonight, we cannot receive your call just yet and all our ambulances are currently busy. Please remain on the line. We'll have someone for you in...thirty...minutes."

"Sweet cheese and...mother fucker!" She threw her phone down in anger.

Judy was resting on Nick's chest as he was lying on the floor. They were both bleeding badly. Nick's stitches were open and bleeding under his vest while Judy's right leg was half gone.

"We...PANT! PANT!...We held out as best we could Carrots." Nick said.

Judy was fighting through the pain. "Don't...UNNNGH!...Don't say that Nick! We'll make it!"

"Heh!...You and that blasted optimism. Look at our situation. Our enemies are either dead or unconscious, the door over there is locked. We tried calling and the ambulances are all busy. They'll never make it to us in time. I'm...I'm bleeding out. It won't be long until I finally meet my grandparents."

It was then that they heard a loud banging on the door. "Hey boss! Are you okay?! What's going on?!"

"Oh great!" Judy said. "It must be more of Rusev's goons." She looked at her dart gun. "Only got one more. I can't fight Nick! I'm sorry!"

"...You still had a dart this whole time?!"

"The gun got knocked off my belt when Rusev shot me. I couldn't reach it with half my leg gone."

Nick put his arm around the bunny he loved. His head was swimming. "I love you Judy...You've been the best thing to happen to...me."

Nick then passed out which panicked Judy. "No Nick! No! Stay with me!"

The door was finally kicked open. Judy aimed her gun and fired.

She shot Miss Stinx in the shoulder. "Hey boss! I...THUNK!....Oooohh." She passed out. The possums came up behind her with torches, a pickax and a shovel.

Judy was shocked. "Miss Stinx! You're alive?!

Jed the possum explained. "A big birdy saved her from th' fall and now we're here ta save yew!...Where'd everybody go?!"

Judy explained. "These wolves are knocked out and the other bad guys are dead. Nick needs help! He's losing a lot of blood and..." She listened closely towards Nick. Oh my God! I don't hear a heartbeat! Nick's dead! SOB! He's dead!"

"We might be able to save him!" said one of the possums. "Let's get down to our place. Mah Uncle's a doctor!"

"He is?!"

"Yup. Don't got a fancy PHD 'er nothin' but he's good at fixin' people up. He's got a ton of equipment..."

"That's great!"

"...That he found in the garbage."

"...Oh dear God...Let's just hurry! Lock the door behind you!"

They all ran back through the exit and shut the door behind them.

Then one of them came back, grabbed Miss Stinx legs and dragged her to the exit. "Sorry Stinx! We plum fergot."

They had no time to spare. Nick's heart was no longer beating and every second that ticked by brought him closer to permanent death.

NEXT CHAPTER

Three Minutes in Heaven (because seven would probably bring on permanent brain damage.)

MORE NOTES: Who gets to kill John? Making Nick not a killer and not soft at the same time.

Who kills John Wilde? Nick or Zeke? This is what I really struggled with in this chapter. For a long time in my stories, while Judy was seen as an action hero who charges into danger. Nick was seen as more soft and merciful. That doesn't mean he was cowardly or couldn't hold his own in a fight, but he showed mercy to Zeke even when he had every right to kill him. He didn't want to kill Rusev despite all he had done. Nick was a fighter, but not a killer and he still wasn't as strong a fighter as Judy, so some saw him as soft. But being merciful isn't soft. Doing the right thing when everything in your body tells you otherwise is quite hard.

But then, we got this situation. There's John Wilde. Nick's father that he hasn't seen in 18 years and was presumed dead. Only he was a changed man. Changed for the far worse. Nick had his gun on him. Nick's father threatened to kill not only Nick, but his wife and family. Even his own mother. What to do?

My original plan was to have Nick never actually shoot, lose the gun and have Zeke be the one that kills John. But if I did that, it really would make Nick look soft and weak. John already took Rusev out before he killed Nick. Having Zeke take out John with out Nick even attempting would make him look pathetic.

However, I couldn't make Nick look like a killer either. Especially against his own father. It was an internal struggle for him. But at the same time, John wasn't the father Nick remembered anymore. He was a monster who was going to kill Nick and everyone he loved. Nick had to do something.

So in the end, I combined the two. Nick not only shot the gun out of John's hand, but shot at him and missed due to his blurred vision. Zeke finished the job. Even though this upset Nick, he didn't stay mad at the hawk because there was no other choice than to kill John. This keeps Nick from being soft AND keeps him from killing his own father.

In my head, this scene has changed multiple times. Sometimes, with John still alive and put back in jail. Forced to be Dapper Dan for the rest of his life because no one believes he's John Wilde. Another had Zeke carry him off alive, only for John to threaten Nick's family which then forced Zeke to slit his throat and dump his body in the river. Often a scene in my head changes many times before it gets typed out.