All of you guys reading this are amazing, thank you so much, and since you've had to wait a little for this chapter i've mate it slightly longer :)
Judy hadn't been expecting anything out of the norm to happen that evening. She had tried to call Nick numerous times to check up on his findings, which they had organised to do, but to no avail, and a part of her had settled on the fact that Ffion must have found him, and was now gallivanting around with her doing who knew what. Having accepted this fact, she was taking the quiet walk home with her earphones lodged in her ears, running over the paperwork that would soon stack up in relation to this case, and whether it was worth just carrying on alone.
Nick wasn't in the game like he had been previously. She knew he was all over the place, his natural instincts conflicting with his sense of moral. She couldn't attack him for something he would never be able to help. All animals would be lying if they said they had urges, senses and cravings beyond their control, and to deny them was just foolish. Deep down, all prey and all predator alike had at least one instinct, whether it be to fear something with fangs designed for killing or if it was the sudden need to chase something that was built for running away.
She thought back, back to when she was a kitten still hiding behind her mother. She was always seen as the nervous one back then, only four or five in age. Her overly large ears had her on edge all of the time, flicking this way and that to the slightest of sounds. Stu Hopps always praised her for such large ears, promising that they would always keep her out of trouble. Bonnie Hopps, however, found them to be a nuisance when trying to find a hat that would fit her, yet also found them to be a strong indicator to when Judy was happy or sad.
Of course, Judy wasn't the only rabbit out there with large ears, but she was indeed one of the few that still used them to their greatest potential.
She remembered one summer's afternoon, she and her mother picking blueberries together whilst the sun shone pleasantly on their backs. Bonnie always taught her which berries were the juiciest, the better sellers, and the ones that needed to be picked to be thrown away, just to make room for more to grow. Often Judy was scolded fondly for eating them, throwing them high in the air to catch effortlessly in her mouth.
But soon she froze, but Bonnie had only rolled her eyes. "Judy, you must stop taking every sound for a sign of danger, or you will always be afraid."
Judy wasn't listening. Nostrils flaring, one ear forward and the other angled to the side, she listened to the sound of the grass flattening beneath the weight of something, the single vines of green pressing and crunching together. She could sense that whoever was making the sound was trying to be careful, stealthy; all the more reason to be suspicious.
She lowered herself into a hunched position, ignoring the continuous scolding of her mother. She listened and she listened, pinpointing the location of the sound.
One second went by, then two, and then it was five seconds of careful, controlled footsteps condensing the grass into the earth beneath her feet.
And then she grinned.
Bounding out of the way, her three slightly older siblings came shooting from the bushes and ploughing into their mother, knocking her completely off her feet. Her basket of berries went shooting into the air, some of its contents threatening to escape its confinements. In the same moment it took for the cry of surprise from Bonnie, to the uproar of laughter from all around, Judy had leapt and caught the basket safely, not one berry on the ground. She too was laughing, having once again outsmarted her siblings' attempt at frightening her.
"We're no match for her ears!" her brother had yelled in both amusement and annoyance.
"All the more to keep her out of trouble!" her father had called, responding to the commotion and arriving to investigate. Judy had grinning smugly, and then the memory faded.
She had grown out of using the sensitiveness of her hearing to her advantage. It was a not a necessity in this day and age. It was just the perk of being a rabbit, simply there for when natural instinct really did need to kick in. She never thought that, after all this time, she would be using them to guide her into trouble rather than away.
But, not long after the sun had gone down and the shadows engulfed the city, a noise broke through the gentle rhythm flowing from one ear to the other.
A growl to be precise.
It rumbled through the ground, into her feet, within her bones before echoing into her eardrums, momentarily blocking out her music. She pulled an earphone free, stopping dead in her tracks. All rushing, nagging thoughts of the case left her, and instead she felt the tightening of her chest as her heart began to beat at an alarming rate. Her blood ran cold, making her shiver, and suddenly she felt very, awfully alone.
No one was around. Everyone had gone home.
She stopped the music, shoved her phone into her pocket along with the earphones, and put her ears to good use. She stood legs and arms away from her body, listening and feeling for the animal that dared to snarl under their breath. She felt every little vibration beneath her feet, could smell the presence of another, but she heard nothing. Dead silence. That was worse than deafening sound of a crowd in a concert.
She didn't dare to breathe.
Suddenly, so sudden in fact that she leapt out of her stance in a fright, three children came laughing and yelling from the shadows. They ran into the street a block down from her, squabbling over a packet of sweets while laughing about something. They were no older than thirteen. A tiger cub, a moose calf and a young otter were yelling and playing, looking completely at ease, but nothing about this situation was okay. That growl hadn't come from any of the youngsters.
She edged forward, reaching out to them. "Guys? I think maybe you should get home." She called to them. They looked at her with confused expressions, the young tiger holding the packet of sweets high above his head, out of the otter's reach.
"Are we in trouble?" the calf asked shyly, his expression worried. Judy looked around nervously as she walked towards them, shaking her head in doing so.
"Just do as I say." She told them. They did. The moved on, rushing across the road and into the gloom on the opposite side. Judy went to follow them, glancing behind her as she did.
The screaming started not a second later, so loud it almost deafened Judy. But she didn't waste any time. She sprang, dashing in the direction of the youngsters, calling out to them in a panic.
There was the crash of a bin hitting the ground, and an awful roar then swallowed up the screaming. Judy ran as fast as her legs would allow her, desperate to reach the kids. She fought the desperate urge to turn and flee, ignoring the panicked beating of her heart ramming into her chest bone. When one of them began crying for their mother in a desperate plea, Judy ran like she never had done before.
She jumped, effortlessly dodging the fallen bin. She ran down the back streets blindly, bouncing off the walls to leap smoothly around a corner to save a mere few seconds of precious time.
Left, right, left, left, right.
"Help!"
They'd split up; their scent had divided. The otter had diverted right, but his scent was plagued by the smell of wet, black coal. Powerful paws slammed against the ground, claws slashing into the concrete cleanly, whilst the otter made next to no sound at all.
Judy had no choice but to cut him off.
She raced through the darkened streets, rushing ahead of the smells that ferociously attacked her nose. She could smell the fear and the panic, sickeningly thick and suffocating, of course hard to miss. She kept ahead of it as much as she could until she could find a safe place to grab the otter to safety, preferably from above.
A good twenty seconds ahead of the otter and his unknown chaser, Judy scampered onto some scaffolding at the side of a tall, blacked-out building. She hung from a metal ladder, panting and afraid yet all the more determined to seek her chance. She heard the pounding steps come closer, savage and hasty.
Ten, nine, eight…
She reached out an arm, ready to catch the pup who would come flying around the corner any second. She listened as his scurrying got closer, louder, his cries for help ear splitting. Judy tensed her body, awaiting the impact.
The pup slammed into her arm so hard it knocked her breath away, yet she wasted no time in lifting him off the ground before scurrying up the ladder with him over her shoulder. He shrieked for a second longer before he silenced himself forcefully, knowing that he was now in safe hands.
There was a huge crash down below; another bin, probably flipped over in a savage fit of fury. Judy climbed to the roof of the scaffolding, a good five to six stories up, before she set the pup back on his feet. He cried, or even sobbed, as he wrapped his arms around her middle, soaking the bottom of her uniform. She gently soothed him through painful pants, still listening out for danger.
She clung to the pup when there was a final roar of rage, before the unknown perpetrator, with his black scent and angry steps, disappeared into the ever-growing night.
An hour later, several other officers had arrived at the scene. They had found the other two youngsters below the ground in a drain, scared out of their wits and refusing to come out until their parents were called. The otter pup had refused to leave Judy's side until his parents came to collect him, and even then he couldn't stop the many words of thanks leaving his mouth. She had promised him that he was now safe, and that she would capture who ever it was who tried to hurt him. His family were forever grateful for her efforts.
It was as she turned to her chief that Nick came rushing towards the scene. She blatantly ignored him, and because he was in his casual clothes without his badge, he wasn't allowed past the tape that concealed the area that Judy and the children had been in danger. To further fuel her irritation, he had Ffion by his side. What it just her, of was that vixen smirking? She turned away before she could come to a conclusion, to furious to even try and care.
She half expected Chief Bogo to scold her for her selflessness, but in actual fact he applauded her for her bravery. He took her witness statement, writing down every detail, before informing her that he would retrieve the statements from the kids once they were fit to talk.
The best she could offer was the sounds of the perpetrator. She described the roar, a sound that had began deep in the gut before rising and building to the throat, profound and thunderous. To match her earlier identification, claws had indeed damaged the ground, white marks scattered in all sorts of places. She could remember the power behind the claws, feel the aggressiveness, and she couldn't help but shiver.
"Take tomorrow off, Hopps." Chief Bogo ordered after flipping his pad shut. He was both sympathetic and infuriated: the first because one of his officers had been forced into the line of danger, and second because they had no suspects. Judy wanted to feel guilty for having not even tried to see who it was threatening the children, but then again the otter pup had been her main priority.
"Yes, sir." she said without argument, though she failed to say she would continue to research and trace back to what she already knew. There had to be a connection. Perhaps some time alone in her flat would help.
She began to leave the scene, exhaustion hitting her in a wave. She felt dizzy, her head splitting, not even having the energy to keep her ears held high. They flopped, her eyes drooped, and all she wanted was her bed.
"Carrots!"
She couldn't help but respond to her nickname. She watched as Nick came running around the cordon, meeting her on the other side. His ears were pushed back with concern, his green eyes blazing. Ffion lingered in the background, keeping a safe distance. Judy wasn't sure how long she would keep her mouth shut if Ffion began to annoy her.
She looked up at Nick, folding her arms. "Look at your phone."
He frowned. "What? Are you oka-"
"Look at your phone, Nick."
The sudden understanding transformed his expression from worry to dread in a matter of a second. He pulled his phone from his pocket, pressing the button to bring the screen to life. His entire body appeared to deflate before her.
"I rang you. I rang to five times within two hours, and I got nothing. We said we would meet to go over what we'd found, for a case, but you weren't there." She glared at him, unable to keep the anger out of neither her voice nor her body. She'd gone easy on him before, but now that a group of innocent children had been victimised, she was forced to play bad cop. "Animals are getting hurt, Nick: pull yourself together, or don't bother helping at all."
The fox could do nothing but stare at her, the paw holding his phone now slack at his side.
Finally, he said, "I'll do better, Carrots."
"Then stop running off on dates and focus!"
"He can do what he wants." Ffion called, sounding as annoyed as Judy felt.
"Who asked you?" Judy snapped back. "Better yet, why are you even here?"
Ffion snarled at her, ears folded back in a threatening manner. To finally boil Judy's rage to its absolute peak, Nick placed himself in front of her and Ffion, looking at her in disappointment. She couldn't believe it. He had actually put himself between the pair, but not in her own aid. It was to shield her wrath from Ffion. He even looked annoyed with her.
"I brought her with me." He stated.
She let a beat pass. "Did you even find anything earlier? At the library?"
Nick opened his mouth, and then shut it again. Just what she thought.
"You keep telling me to not get into trouble." She told him. "Notice how every time I do at the moment, you're not there, and not answering your phone?" She shook her head and released a long, heavy sigh, finally letting the weight of the night rest heavily on her shoulders. "I'll see you tomorrow."
She left, leaving the police lights, Chief Bogo and her best friend behind.
Nick didn't sleep that night. He simply stared at the five missed calls from his friend, best friend. He'd had his phone switched off at the time. How could he be so stupid? This was the second biggest case of their careers, and he was threatening it with his lack of communication. He agreed to be on this case because he thought that Judy wouldn't be able to handle it on her own. And now that he was in on the case, he was letting her down even more.
For god sake, he'd put himself in front of Ffion, someone he barely knew, to protect her from his own best friend.
What is wrong with me? He thought.
He rang her, but of course she didn't answer. It was long into the night, and she would have been fast asleep. He hadn't gone after her when she left, but he hadn't stuck by Ffion, either. He'd stormed home, furious with the case, himself, Judy… furious with everything and anything. But now, in his apartment hidden below ground with the only sounds being the water flowing through the pipes at an unorganised rhythm, he had never felt more ashamed and alone.
He knew that if he stayed here he would go mad. He needed to prove himself again. He had to do something. He had to get Judy on his side again, because he knew he could do this. They could do it together. They were a team, and unlike everything else, he couldn't screw it up.
He wouldn't screw it up.
Nick Wilde left his apartment when she didn't answer the phone for a third time. He had evidence to find, and an act to pull together.
He refused to be the disloyal fox everyone wanted him to be. And he was going to prove to Judy that he would be the best partner she could ever ask for, just like he'd promised from the get go.
Thanks again for reading you lovely people!