Chapter 7: Disturbances
Zootopia…Sahara Square…Beneath the Apex Club
Nick and Judy descended to the bottom of the stairway, finding a tunnel just as Winston suspected. They started moving their way down the tunnel; a small leaky pipe had created a small line of water on the ground, past it the frantic paw prints of a running tiger, meaning he's not as far ahead as they thought.
Making their way to the end of the tunnel they find another set of stairs much like the one they initially descended. They walk softly up to the top landing and slowly open the door, they peer in and see storage racks and boxes, the ware house is dark, the lights of Sahara Square peeking through the windows.
Nick and Judy step into the warehouse, each holding a small flashlight in their paws as they pan around with their guns. Nobody around, the eerie quiet a complete change of pace from the frantic club and gun fight they just left.
Nick and Judy explore, looking for the tiger, as they pass rows and rows of boxes, Nick finds an open one, peering into it.
"Vials, looks like this is the place alright." He whispers.
"Back up should be here soon, we can confiscate this whole warehouse." She replied back
"Still got to catch the feline." He comments back.
As they move to the end of the stack they are in, they hear the sound of footfalls on upper catwalk, Nick and Judy spin to face it, the cones of their lights pointing to the catwalk above.
"What do you think?" asked Nick.
"He's still creeping around, I think I should go up there, you stay down here." Judy suggested.
"Split up?"
"Yeah."
"You sure about that?" Nick replied concerned.
"I can walk up there and not make a sound, it's darker down here and you can see better then I can." She replied.
Nick simply huffed.
"It'll be ok." She reassured
"Ok, but just holler when you need me." He replied.
Judy smiled back at Nick.
"I'm sure you'll get there in the 'Nick' of time." She played giving him a wink.
"Har har." He replied flatly.
The two split up, with Judy ascending the nearby stairway connected to the cat walks above. Nick took to the floor trying to stay near Judy. The catwalks would often run over the stacks causing Nick to have to hurry to the end of one stack just to keep close.
Another sound, like a pipe clattering on the floor, Judy panning around in the direction of the sound, her heart racing, pounding louder than the base beat from the nightclub, she walked to the end of the catwalk, which had ended at a balcony at the far end of the warehouse. She looked left and then right, still not seeing anything. She could have sworn she heard a sound, but nothing around her.
A deep sense of foreboding and a sudden thought, a rush of awareness, but in this situation no amount of worry is too much. Her eyes floated upward and as they hit the top of the sockets, she craned her head up slowly along with her flash light scanning into the piping just above her. She managed to illuminate the oscillating tail before she felt a powerful pair of legs kicking her in the chest.
Judy let out a loud cry of pain as she went sliding along the floor, firing a couple of shots in direction of the pipes, the sounds of a few ricochets on metal pipe.
"Judy!" called out Nick from elsewhere in the warehouse.
Judy regained her footing and raced after the sound of the footsteps, running along the catwalk, she saw the flickering tail of her quarry; he took a left at one of the intersections and raced ahead fading from Judy's flashlight beam. She continued to run, knowing that she would encounter him.
Suddenly it seemed like the floor fell out from under her, Jerome had pulled a pin from the catwalk support and the section came tumbling down into stacks of boxes below, Judy hit with a hard slam, and what sounded like soda cans popping, the metallic taste in her mouth making it feel almost numb.
She pushed herself up, seemingly in a cloud of what seemed like fog and looked up at the tiger, who was pointing his gun at her, she froze.
Jerome took stock is what was happening below him; he simply withdrew his weapon deciding not to shoot her and shook his head, and continued away.
Judy tried to get back to her feet, they felt wobbly, she took a few paces and she fell to her knees. Something was off, she felt anxious, her heart racing.
'God, why do I feel this way, I didn't break anything.' She thought to herself
She wrapped her arms around herself, thinking she broke a rib or something, but it didn't explain the racing heart. Then she felt it, like a point of fire in her brain, a single brilliant point, and it expanded outward, suddenly the colors seemed brighter, she dropped the flashlight, it's beam almost unbearable to look at. It clattered and spun on its axis on the floor coming to rest pointing back at the boxes. She gasped as she felt a sensation, a tinge of pleasure, surprised by it, a feeling that up that point in her life, only Nick made her feel. She gasped almost quietly as she experienced a surge of endorphins so intense it made her head ache. She pressed the palms of her paws against her temples, trying to steel herself against what she felt was a bolt of pain, it hurt intensely, she wasn't sure whether she cried out in pain or if she had only done so in her head, but the pain faded slightly and the rush of pleasure returned.
The tinge of pleasure and pain at the same time, bombarded with an almost electrical feeling, she dropped to the floor, her body twitching involuntarily, muscles spasming, nerves firing, ragged breathing, the occasional soft gasp at the bolts of pain or pleasure.
Judy's eye happened to catch the glint of a broken vial that rested in the flashlight beam, it was the same that was in the inhaler, the same they found elsewhere in the warehouse, her eyes moved past it, to another, and then another, all smashed and ruptured, their contents spilled out into the air. That had seeped into her lungs, her skin, massive amounts of a chemical that she witnessed in minute quantities land a tiger boy in the hospital.
But those thoughts gave way to the feelings of intensity that played out in her head, and for a moment there was only the feeling, the brilliant heat of that feeling and thoughts and memories of Nick, the precise recollections of him, his scent, his paws, his muzzle, his teeth.
Her concern for the outside world seemed to fade away, seeming far and gone, as she sunk deeper and deeper into this abyss of sensation.
Meanwhile….
Nick was running as fast as he could down the length of the warehouse trying to find Judy, he ran past a stack corner, running into Jerome, the two froze and pointed weapons at each other.
"Freeze, Furball, you under arrest!" shouted Nick.
"I don't think so, fleabait." Replied Jerome.
"You're going down." Nick reaffirmed.
"Sorry to tell you this, but you're going to let me go." The tiger admitted
"And why would I do that?" Nick asked incredulously.
"Probably because your partner just sucked down enough Rush to put down several elephants." Jerome answered.
"What!" replied Nick straightening up, wide eyed.
"Poor rabbit fell off the catwalk and into several boxes of the stuff, she's probably well into it by now, assuming she doesn't have a spasm that breaks her own back."
"Oh my god." Nick said through gritted teeth.
"So you have to choose, be a hero and get the bad guy or save your girl." The tiger put plainly, pointing in Judy's direction.
Nick hesitated for a moment, holding his position, but every muscle in his body telling him to let him go.
"You bastard." Replied Nick as he lowered his weapon and ran for Judy.
"The better choice, Wilde, even I can see that!" yelled out Jerome as started to run, making his escape.
Nick ran down the stacks and saw the broken piece of catwalk, the crushed boxes, and ripped and ruptured aluminum vials that littered the floor, scattering at his foot paws hit them, clinking against each other and the ground. Realizing how much Rush had to have been released as vapor into the air. The he saw her. Judy Hopps, the love of his life, in weak spasms on the floor, her purple eyes, almost blank, small grunts of air passing, a white foam had formed on her mouth, and the contents of her stomach in a puddle on the floor, the fur on her head soaked in her own sick.
"Judy!" yelled out Nick as he knelt down and lightly turned her body, allowing her mouth to drain so as not to drown.
"Judy, speak to me, say something, anything." He pleaded.
He received only a gurgling exhale as a response. He looked into her eyes, the light seemingly wasn't there, like she was elsewhere, the blank and distant expression, as her eyes rolled around almost sleep like in her head.
"I got….I got to call somebody, I got to get help." He said to himself trying to keep himself from freaking out completely.
Elsewhere….Apartment in Savannah Central
The loft apartment barely moved into, moving boxes still scattered around, its resident having sought sleep after days of exhaustive work. The smartphone on its charger, on the end table next to the bed rings.
The occupant grunts as he is addled out of his restful sleep, simply grunting dismissively at the phone that dared to interrupt his sleep. After several rings it goes quiet and seemingly whoever was calling went away, then it rang again.
This time with more vibrating intensity or at least it seemed to.
"Uh, what!" muttered the resident as he grasped the phone with outstretched paw.
Instead of a furred paw as one would expect in many of the residents of this fair city, this occupant reached for the phone with metal limb, of hardened alloys and ceramic. After pushing himself up from the bed, he answered the phone.
"This is Agent Kaiden Ellison, this better be good."
"Kaiden, this is Nick, I need help!" yelled out the fox.
"What's going on?" asked Kaiden still wiping the sleep out of his eyes.
"It's Judy….I think she's dying!"
Kaiden felt a bolt of adrenaline surge as the sentence hit his brain, awakening him fully in an instant.
"Where are you!?"
"Sahara Square, in a warehouse, right next to a place called the Apex Club."
"Yeah, I know it, I'll be there with a med team. Nick, calm down, and get her outside."
Kaiden accessed his comm system and paged anyone at Bureau 13, not surprisingly Hamilton came on the line.
"Good Evening….Kaiden….How can…I assist…you?"
"Hamilton, I need a Code Blue evacuation of a Red Level asset, Sahara Square, warehouse near the Apex Club."
"Who…..is it?"
"It's Judy."
Zootopia…..Sahara Square….Warehouse next to Apex Club.
10 minutes later.
Nick had managed to get Judy outside, trying desperately to make sure she kept breathing, the stuttering beat of helicopter blades fades in from the distance and before he can react is above him, the spotlight on the chopper illuminating, the ground, him and the rabbit in his arms. Within seconds they land and the occupants of the chopper come out to gather them.
Several technicians strap the rabbit to a backboard for easier transport and quickly get them both into the chopper.
"Is it only you and her?" asked the otter technician, screaming over the chopper blades.
"Yes, she's dying, please save her! Please!" pleaded Nick.
"We will do the best we can Mr. Wilde." The technician replied.
The techs in the chopper were already starting to work on Judy as they closed the door and pulled up into the air, making emergency speed towards Zootopia General. The technician pointed to a pair of headphones with a mic attached and pointed to Nick, as he put on his own set. Nick put them on listening to the technician speak.
"What happened?" asked the head technician.
"She got exposed to a huge amount of some drug, it was for a case we have been working."
"How long?"
"I don't know ten maybe twenty minutes." Replied Nick.
"Hey Agent, we got to get there pronto" said the technician to the pilot.
"You don't need to remind me how important she is." Said a familiar voice.
Nick turned and looked up front, a familiar blonde colored wolf with glowing blue eyes was at the controls, using his enhanced vision mode to see through the night above Zootopia. He looked back at Nick.
"Don't worry, it will be ok." Kit mustering a small smile trying to comfort Nick.
Kit turned back forward and keyed the comms to external transmission.
"This is bravo echo one three niner to zebra golf dispatch, how copy?" inquired Kit over the radio.
Nick could hear some muffled chatter in the crosstalk on his headset not able to make out the other end of the conversation.
"Casevac coming in hot, patient is one, female rabbit, twenty four years of age." Replied Kit.
"Twenty five! She's twenty….five." corrected Nick at first thinking it was important at first but not pressing the issue.
Nick turned back to Judy and held her paw, they managed to use a small portable vacuum to suck out the regurgitated liquid out of her mouth and throat, clearing her airway and already had an oxygen mask on her. Nick felt horrible seeing her like that, horrible thoughts went through his head, and while he did he best to dismiss them. He kept reminding himself 'Judy is a fighter, she will get through this.' But it still was disturbing to see her like this.
A few minutes later what seemed like an eternity to Nick they touched down on the helipad at Zootopia General, the technicians quickly got Judy and Nick off the helicopter handing her off to the medical team that had come up to meet them. The technicians briefed them on Judy's condition; Nick could only make out a few phrases 'elevated pulse and BP' 'stimulant overdose' 'barely responsive.' That last one felt crushing, like a kick to the chest.
The time getting her downstairs and to the ER went by like a blur, Nick found himself outside the doors to one of the trauma rooms looking in, everything seemed to be moving in slow motion or maybe it was the adrenaline, either way, his thoughts were like clay, unable to articulate words, simply praying to whatever deity above that may exist to grant mercy and spare his beloved rabbit, his eyes welling with tears.
Nick was so preoccupied he didn't even notice someone talking to him; he heard a muffled tone in the pattern of a voice. He felt a paw on his shoulder; he finally looked away from Judy to see who it was, looking into the face of a familiar, older and concerned Fox.
"….me what happened?" the last of the Fox's sentence came through Nick's fog.
"What?" Nick asked.
"Nick, I need you to tell me what happened?" the voice clearer now, the face resolving into Kaiden.
Nick took a deep breath, Kaiden shaking him slightly to snap him out of it.
"I hear you. She got drugged."
"What kind?" Kaiden asked.
"It's an aerosol, a vapor, it's from a case we've been working. Its street name is Rush." Replied Nick.
"Look tell me she's going to be alright?!" Nick asked almost demanding to know as his gripped Kaiden's shirt.
"Hey, hey, these doctors are the best in Zootopia, handpicked by B13, She's in the best paws." Comforted Kaiden.
"I just can't…lose her." Nick whispered choking up on those words.
"Nick! She'll make it." The older fox comforted.
"But you gotta be strong for her." He continued.
"I know….I just can't stop thinking that she….."
"I know kid, but listen, I've seen Judy at her strongest, she's torn the shit out of legions of soldiers to find you, so don't think this is going to get her." Kaiden explained.
"But what I need to know is what the heck is Rush?" he asked.
Nick pulled a vial out of his pocket, the one from the blue inhaler they confiscated.
"It's this." He presented in his paw.
Kaiden took the vial into his paw, looking at it.
"You mind if I…." he asked.
"You do whatever you want, K, right now my mind is on Judy."
"I know kid, I know." Kaiden replied kindly.
Later…
Judy was finally stabilized, the ER workers managed to use a combination of drugs to neutralize the drugs in Judy's system, before they had a chance to do permanent damage. She was still unconscious but she seemed comatose.
She had been moved to a patient room, with Nick sitting by her bed watching her all night, he would see her twitch occasionally wondering what she was dreaming about. Caressing her paw ever so gently, giving it a kiss, he nuzzled her cheek as much as he could because of the oxygen mask.
"Judy." Nick whispered, his voice choking up.
"I know you're in there."
"And I need you to come back to me."
"You're my whole world, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you."
"I would still just be some sly fox working a pawpsicle hustle."
"And then you came into my life, and everything changed. My whole life changed."
Nick teared up, sniffling, his voice cracking.
"You made me better, you showed me that things can get better."
"I can't do that, I don't know how."
"So you have to come back to me. You can't leave…."
Nick sobbed into her shoulder.
"You can't leave me. Please." He whispered his plea.
Nick held her paw, and simply cried, wishing hoping she would awaken with the coming light. This entire evening absolutely exhausting, he felt his wet eyes droop shut, not remembering when exactly he feel asleep.
Nick found himself standing in the hospital, eerily quiet, and no one seemed around. He looked in the room for Judy, the bed was empty, neatly made. He stepped into the hall, not one person was anywhere.
"Hello!" called out Nick but No answer.
Nick walked around looking for someone, anyone, surely the entire building couldn't be empty he pondered. Still searching he walked through the double doors at the end of the hallway, finding himself in a familiar street, the sound of revving engines and screeching tires.
Nick ran, finding that familiar door and running into it full force. It burst open, finding himself in a field of blue flowers. As Nick was about to panic and run up the hill, he heard a voice.
"I wouldn't go that way Nick."
Nick stopped mid pace and turned to see a Fox, looking exactly like him, his coat a darker shade of orange and eyes of deep burgundy, wearing a dark suit of black or navy blue.
"Who….are you?" Nick asked almost hesitantly.
"You don't recognize yourself?" asked the fox.
"I…I don't know." Replied Nick reluctantly, still taken aback by the seemingly mirror image of the himself standing before him.
"You shouldn't go that way." The fox warned.
"Why?" Nick asked.
"Because….you know exactly where it ends." The fox replied.
"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" asked Nick
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to." Said the fox.
"I don't much care where…" answered Nick
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go." Replied the fox
"So long as I get somewhere" added Nick
"Oh, you're sure to do that, if you only walk long enough." Replied the fox pointing into the field of flowers.
Nick turned looking into the field of flowers, and then back up the hill to the tree, he felt an inexplicable pull towards the field, he began to walk, his trepidation of the flowers seemed to fade to a dull concern. He walked for what seemed like forever, until there was no hill, no tree, only endless fields of blue flowers all around him.
He saw a figure in the middle of the field, a familiar grey rabbit, he walked up to the rabbit.
"Hello?" inquired Nick.
"Hello." The rabbit said plainly.
"Judy is that you?" he asked.
"Yes that's me, have we met somewhere?"
"Met somewhere? It's me Nick."
"No, you can't be Nick, you're close though." She answered is disbelief
"I'm looking for him though." She explained.
"But I'm me."
"Of course you're you, but you can't be Nick."
"Why not?"
"Because silly, Nick doesn't look like you."
"What do I look like?"
Judy held up a hand mirror, and Nick was shocked at the image in the mirror, he looked like himself, except his fur was a darker shade, and his eyes, deep burgundy. He stepped back frightened of the image in the mirror, he closed his eyes not wanting to believe it.
Nick stepped back and bumped into a wall, he opened his eyes, he was back in the empty hospital, in the room that Judy was in, that she SHOULD be in, there was a floor length mirror next to the bathroom door, he checked his reflection again, it was still the other fox, the burgundy eyes and darker fur.
"This can't be true, I'm Nick Wilde." He professed.
"But this is who you are, who you've been, this way forever." Said Judy standing next to him.
"How long is forever?" asked Nick
"Sometimes, just one second." She replied.
Nick awoke with a start, not the fear and terror that he was accustomed to but the disoriented and unsure feeling of not knowing for a moment what was real. His breathing was heavy and panting. Judy was still there, her chest rising and falling with each breath, he looked out the window, it was still night. The clock said 5:22 am, the hour of the wolf.
He went to the bathroom, turning on the faucet to splash his face with water. He felt unsure, he reached over and turned on the nearby light switch, and looked into the mirror, his face the familiar bright orange fur and deep green eyes.
"If I am Nicholas Wilde…." He reassured himself.
"Then who…was that?" he asked as if asking the reflection in the mirror.
"The hour between night and dawn. The hour when most people die, when sleep is deepest, when nightmares are most real. It is the hour when the sleepless are haunted by their deepest fears, when ghost and demons are most powerful, the hour of the wolf is also the hour when most children are born."