Chapter 18: Shadows in the Dark
We're So Screwed, Part 3
Council Complex…Computer Core Level
The trio stepped off the elevator and moved forward, Judy looked with worry back at the lift and her eyes darted upward, imagining seeing through the walls and ceilings. They had only just left Kit but she felt compelled to turn back. But the trio kept creeping forward, the low pulse of electronic humming filled the air. The hallway they had found themselves in was Spartan, almost resembling the inside of a maintenance tunnel than a hallway. The computer core levels were the area in which the council was to plug into the AI matrix they had built, and from this state gain the seemingly infinite expansive capabilities of being part mammal and part machine. If Clawhauser was simply a prototype, a simpler smaller version of the system, and gauging by his increased abilities from when he was living, It stood to reason the combined intellect of the council on a much more complicated and interconnected system would become, dare it be said, 'godlike'.
This along with the Wolfram had to be stopped, though the Wolfram had the power to kill, the council being either merged with or even at least connected to this "AI matrix", the world would be never rid of them, spreading and expanding in all directions, taking on persistence but no definite volume, like fog or radiation. Always being there, persistent, infectious, present, ever aware, like the all-seeing eye of providence looking down on its countenance of an unsuspecting world. Animals whose lives would be directly affected by the omnipresent mind of an elite collective. In many ways, the council achieving this end would be a worse fate than the death the Wolfram promised.
However, with the trio on this level, perhaps the fates would smile on them and the world, allowing them to save it, if only to live to fight another day.
As they moved through the bare access tunnels, the trio heard the sounds of something, unnatural creeping about; It surprised them, the black form crawling around in the ductwork above, taking residence in the heat dissipation coils. It dropped behind them, the trio spun around to find the unearthly creature that apparently had been tracking them since they landed on this level. It was one of the 'trans-genic' animals from the lab spaces above, though 'creature' 'monster' 'foul demon' would be more apt descriptions. The trio fired into it and its black silhouette dropped to the floor.
Upon examination, the creature seemed to resemble a feline, a panther or cougar, mixed with that of an arachnid, its course fur, mandibles, and 8 appendages confirming that suspicion. The council was certainly playing creator, not god, for this being was no holy creation but the spawn of science, curiosity, and the will to dominate life in all forms. It did not speak but attacked, lashing out in apparent instinct with no regard or attempt at communication.
The trio had moved through the floor encountering more of the creatures, most were black, some brown or red, but all would stare at them with the savage eyes and demonic aura of some unnatural shade or specter clawing out in its new and unsuspecting world. Judy and Nick's previous suspicions of their own monstrous ways were blown clear, like leaves giving way to a gust of wind in autumn. Knowing now their actions and deeds paled in comparison to that of the council and its creations. Thoughts and echoes from the darkest manifestations of the Zootopian mind, like nightmares of nightmares, rendered manifest in all its horrific glory and set to be let loose upon an innocent and naive world.
They continued into this heart of darkness, following the conduits that hopefully would lead to the evil and rotting brain that is the council, to put an end to the madness once and for all.
After searching long enough, drifting through the maze of conduit, piping, and accessways, they managed to reach the central core, the room itself was part of the cylindrical shape of the spire that hung down above the Wolfram core.
They approached hearing the council finishing their preparations.
"I don't want excuses, doctor, I want results." Said Nathanial Logan
"The interface is coming online, the plan will go forward on schedule." Said Dr. Bryce Lucas.
"Where is Hoffman?!" scowled Logan
Just as he screamed his name, here came the black timber wolf.
"We got a problem, Logan."
"What now?"
"Bureau 13 is in the base, they have penetrated down to the lab sub-levels."
"Lucas! Mei Ling!" growled the lion.
"We are almost ready to go online." She replied.
"What about the wolfram?"
"It is ready. It will take a while to charge, but I've managed to rid the errant code in the input polarizers." Replied Lucas.
"I should note, that the manner in which the code was hidden, I believe Mei Ling's pet project might be responsible." He explained.
"Impossible, it was contained; no way could it be responsible." She defended
"Really, so this code here, isn't familiar to you?" Quipped Lucas, showing Mei Ling his screen.
"No. Impossible" she replied with incredulity.
"I believe it may be helping them Logan." Suggested Cooley.
Logan growled at the incompetent mistake.
"So we have even less time. No matter, Lucas, start this machine. Now!" the lion ordered.
Judy and Nick following Kaiden's lead jumped out and faced the council.
"I don't think so," said Kaiden.
The council turned around and faced the trio, Logan laughed, which caused Kaiden to raise an eyebrow.
"So, at long last, Bureau 13….And you brought the interlopers with you. How convenient, now we don't have to look for you." Taunted Logan.
The trio pointed their guns at the council.
"Though, I'm sure it's pointless to ask but, for the sake of fairness, If you come quietly, I will assure you, you will be treated fairly." Kaiden spat at the council.
Judy looked at Kaiden and then back down her rifle.
"Thank you. You didn't have to do that." She replied
Kaiden didn't respond but shot a glance and a small smile back at the bunny then shifted back into a glare at the council.
Logan guffawed out loud.
"Oh my dear Foxes and rabbit, you have no idea how hilarious you are being."
"Really now?! Considering what you've done, I could put a bullet in each of you and no one would care, in fact, I probably would get a parade." Replied Kaiden
"Oh come now Mr. Ellison, I thought your previous encounter with us would have illustrated the breadth of our reach, especially considering you helped establish it." Replied the Lion.
Kaiden winced at the sound of his name, he hadn't heard it in years. Logan turned to Judy and Nick.
"Oh, you two don't know? Your friend used to work for us." The lion admitted.
Judy and Nick looked at Kaiden.
"You What?!" Judy looked at Kaiden incredulously.
Nick grabbed Judy's shoulder ready to pull her back.
"Judy, it was a long time ago," Kaiden explained.
"So he's not lying?!" he hissed back.
Judy pointed her gun at Kaiden, Nick followed suit, Kaiden spun around and pointed it at Judy. This caused Logan to laugh seeing the allies now pointing weapons at one another.
"Judy what are you doing?!" Kaiden asked in shock.
"You used to work for them?!" Judy replied feeling betrayed.
"No…Yes…listen, I was young and stupid, I didn't really consider the implications of what I was doing…." He replied flustered.
"How could you…" her expression turning into sadness and suspicion.
"Ms Hopps, you can't blame Kaiden, He was just doing what was expected of him, being a good field agent, following orders, collecting intelligence, taking out targets. Though I'm sure he eventually suspected something towards the end." The lion admitted with a smile.
"Kaiden…..what about Lily? Did you….Did you?" Judy trying to find her words.
Kaiden mouth dropped and his face in surprise "Judy! How could you think that? Do you think I would kill my own wife?!" he yelled back at her.
"Did you?!" She asked now that the idea was in the open.
"Of course not!" he defended now almost angry at the suggestion.
"They killed her…they killed her because I walked away."
"They wanted me, they had me, and I did some terrible, horrific things and told it was for a good purpose."
"But, I had Lily, and I wanted to be with Lily, So I told them to fuck off and walked out of that life, even going on some insane missions to 'earn it'."
A lynx stepped out of the shadows, heavily augmented; Kaiden recognized the silhouette and turned his weapon to it.
"And you have no idea how badly you cheated yourself." Said the familiar voice from the shadows.
"You evil son of a bitch." Kaiden responded knowing immediately who it was, Jarod Namir
"The council wanted you to stay with us, Kaiden, to further the agenda. You have skills, and raw talent, but an unnatural obsession with prey." He chided.
"That was my wife," replied Kaiden
"She was an obstacle…" said Jarod
"…an obstacle standing in your way, so I removed it." Smiled the Lynx
Nick recognized those words, similar to Sid, and he pointed his gun at Jarod, believing Kaiden.
"Judy, as god as my witness, I didn't kill my wife." Kaiden tried to convince her, while still having his weapon pointed at Jarod.
"Judy, this lynx did it, just like Sid was trying to do to me, I believe Kaiden," Nick responded, flashing back.
Judy was confused but trusted Nick's judgment, and pointed her rifle at Jarod as well. The trio reunited facing their mutual foe.
"I…..believe you," Judy answered to Kaiden.
"And you Judy Hopps, when this is all over, You, your family, everyone you care about will be dead, I will see to it personally. Starting with your fox" threatened Logan.
Judy turned back to the lion and glared at him after the threat. turning her weapon towards Logan.
"What gives you the right to tell anyone what to do? Just because you're what, Predators?" She fired her question like a cannon shot.
"You stupid naïve little bunny, you honestly think this is about Predator and Prey?" he chuckled almost astonished.
"This council, and councils before, built this city, they turned what was a savage open watering hole in the middle of a desert oasis and built the shining civilization you see before you. Like shadows in the dark, watching, waiting, controlling things from behind the façade of what you think is real life."
"Everything that you have, everything that own, everything that you use, built by us."
"We control what you think, say, and hear. Your place exists because we created it."
"You live, because we allow it and you will die because we command it. In short….."
"….WE…OWN…YOU…." Glared the Lion with a deadly authoritative stare.
Judy was being made to feel inches tall, but she stood firm, Nick and Kaiden at her side.
"So you decide to play at being gods." She quipped, with a palpable sense of incredulity.
"What is a god but a being worshipped by those beneath him." He dismissed.
"Nobody worships you" she dismissed
"Oh, yes you do." He corrected. "You may not worship us by name, but you certainly worship what we create. Everything from Entertainment, consumerism, politics, education... heh, religion."
"Nobody worships those things, well other than religion."
"Really? And how long did you stand in line for your Carrot phone from Bryce's company when it first came out? Like so many others? hours, the night before? Days?" The imposing lion almost being humorous but menacingly so.
"That's not the same thing." Judy's eyes rolled, knowing she did in fact stand in line the night before to get her carrot phone.
"Keep telling yourself that." the lion nodded with a dismissive huff.
"You obsess over that which we create, that which you find novel and convenient. Your lives improve because we shine our brilliance, our countenance upon you. We make your world a better place. All we ask is that you accept yours."
"We are gods, essentially," Logan replied gritting his teeth.
Judy's eyes went wide at her realization.
"You're insane. You're all insane!" She exclaimed.
"Says the lowly mortal bunny rabbit, who with a simple slip of her tongue, caused so much upheaval" Logan replied
"I have to ask, even though it was an accident. How did it feel?"
"How did what feel?" Judy inquired back.
"To be able, with a simple utterance, to change the world. Did it feel good? feel right? Did you feel... Powerful?"
Judy remembered back to the press conference, she did remember the adulation of that moment, the celebrity, and she would be lying if she said it didn't feel good. But she also remembers afterward, the betrayal of Nick, the hurt, and the nauseous feeling in her stomach as everything fell apart because of her.
"I hurt people because of that, and I did the wise thing and walked away." The rabbit answered.
"No. You walked away because you're a coward." the lion fired back.
"Fuck you." she responded with audible disgust.
Logan huffed dismissively as if addressing a petulant child.
"Jarod…..Kill them." Ordered the lion
"With pleasure." Replied the lynx with a sinister grin.
Jarod paced in front of Logan and stood between the trio and the council.
"Ya know, I have been spending so much time trying to figure out which one of them to kill first." Talking to Kaiden referring to Nick and Judy with a paw
"You're not hurting my friends," Kaiden stated.
"First I thought, maybe I'll kill the rabbit, and watch the fox destroy himself, just like you did." Jarod continued.
"Then I was thought, maybe I will kill the fox, and watch the rabbit destroy herself, like she has been."
Kaiden gritted his teeth, his rifle pointed at Jarod.
"You see, I killed your wife because I know when foxes choose a mate, especially the male ones, it's for life. Kill that mate, and they spiral down into a self-destructive hole, just like you did. But the bunny, when we had her fox, I noticed through the cameras, she was destroying herself. Just….like….you…." he chuckled with mirth.
"You are not laying a paw on my friends, Jarod." Stated Kaiden more sternly
"Hmmm, didn't you say the same thing about your wife? And look what happened there." Jarod taunted.
A growl came from the fox's throat, his body trembled with anger.
"You're not…hurting…..my…..friends….."
Kaiden charged at Jarod, firing his weapon. The lynx caught Kaiden, trying to stop the angry fox. The two like a blur flew into a nearby room of computers, the containment door sealing behind them.
Nick and Judy tried to shoot the council, but the bullets were stopped cold by some kind of energy field.
"Ready, Doctor?" asked Logan.
"System is online." Replied the Fossa.
Logan smirked at Judy and casually walked to the central plinth leveling a paw at the five chambers set up for them. As each council member stepped into their chamber, the hatch closed and powered to life, their plan of action commencing. Logan was the last one in his chamber, Judy and Nick were confused as to what to do, they looked around the plinth, they didn't even pretend to understand the technology, wondering how to defeat this.
"Clawhauser!" called out Judy over the comm.
"Ben, what can we do?" she asked.
At first, there was nothing, then static, Clawhauser coming back onto the comm channel
"I am online…"
"Clawhauser, we need some way to beat these guys," Judy asked.
"Is the council in or out of the chambers?" he responded
"In….is that a problem?" she replied
"Actually no, I have a technical solution, but you will have to do exactly what I say." He explained.
Judy and Nick looked at each other and back at the plinth.
"This better work." they both replied.
Moments later…
"The entire core is one large computer, I believe we can short it out with an overload. You will need to climb down underneath the plinth. However be careful, additional security may have been added down there." Explained Clawhauser.
Judy and Nick climbed down below the plinth, there were large trunks of cable, and they looked like tree trunks, the reflective silver and mesh shielding glinting in the light. Clawhauser's suspicions were right, there was additional security down here, no less than a second after Judy dropped down into Nick's arms there were several turrets on the adjacent walls that spun up and fired at them. Nick barely managed to pull Judy out of the way and into a bundle of cable.
"Well carrots, what's the plan?" asked Nick
"I'm not sure….Clawhauser, how can we overload the chambers?" she barked into the comms
"You will have to disable each power regulator under each pod. And then the master regulator in the center of the cables." Ben explained.
Nick leaned out and scanned his eyes around, and saw some device with a bright blue light just underneath one of the pods, a nearby turret spun up and shot at him, barely missing him as he quickly pulled his head back in.
"Yeah, are these things blue lights by any chance?" asked Nick
"Correct, those are the regulators." Confirmed Clawhauser
"Yeah, a little problem with that, these turrets are kind of in the way. What's the plan for that?" Nick responded.
"Unfortunately, I cannot interface with the plinth as it is on a protected system. This includes the turrets," replied Clawhauser.
"Great…" replied Nick sarcastically.
"I have an idea," said Judy
Judy knelt down and quickly went through her equipment, looking for something specific, eventually she arrived upon the intended item. Judy pulled out the device she had managed to get off of Nala in their encounter. The invisibility device, she hoped it still worked, Judy fidgeted with it for a second and got the device to turn on, the three rings spun around the black ferrofluid inside the glass sphere. Nick watched as the field effect covered Judy, she didn't completely disappear this time but looked like she was made of glass the light coming through her, slightly distorted.
"Glassy Bunny" Nick quipped.
Judy looked at Nick and then held her paw up, it indeed looked like glass, she could see right through her own paw but still discern a shape of it.
"Nick, cover me, I don't know if this thing is going to hold out."
Nick sat at the corner and covered Judy.
"Just be careful, Carrots."
Nick felt the invisible rabbit's lips give him a peck on the cheek, which makes him jump unexpectedly. Judy waved a paw at the sweeping turret, but it did not react, she stepped out keeping her gaze focused on the turret. It didn't react keeping its normal sweeping search pattern. She climbed up into the fiber trunking and got close to one of the regulators.
"Okay, Clawhauser, I'm here what do I do?"
"Simply sever the wires, repeat this for the remaining four." He responded
"Hmph, seems simple enough," she said with a sigh of relief.
Judy grabbed her combat knife and dug into the regulator, cutting its wiring. The turret sweeping motion stopped and beeped several times and started firing randomly in a direction
"Judy!" Nick called out.
"I'm ok, I don't think it sees me." Judy gripped onto the regulator housing pulling herself closer to it.
"I believe the security system is attempting to search for you, please work quickly. Nick, please attach any explosives you might have to the master regulator at the center of the cable trunking." Ordered Clawhauser.
"Alright…are you good, Carrots!?" called out Nick
"Yeah, just getting it done."
Nick, dug through the dense cables like they were jungle vines, wriggling his way toward the center, his fur caught on a cable a few times and received a static shock every now and then. Finally, he managed to get to its center. The ethereal blue glow of the device illuminated his face. Judy continued to work on the individual regulators, the buzzing of the turret motors and occasional firing of them caused Nick to wince every time. He didn't want to distract her, and tried to take comfort in hearing the grunts and groans as she was hopping around from device to device. Nick reached into his equipment belt and found the small block C4 he was given, attaching a block on one end of the device, and another on the other end.
"Hey here's a stupid question, why don't we just blow the whole thing up at once?" asked Nick.
"The detonation down here must be coordinated with a comparable detonation of a power input regulator on the lab floor, I am coordinating with Kit now." Explained Ben.
"Ah, of course, it's never easy" he replied sarcastically.
"Last one" Judy calls out.
"I'm done here." Replies Nick.
Suddenly there is a turret fire and Judy yelps, Nick panicked, called out for her.
"Carrots? Carrots! Judy!"
The sound of wriggling through the cable trunking and Nick getting pounced to the ground by an invisible rabbit, she turns off the device and reappeared.
"Carrots, you scared me, are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, a little too close for comfort." She replied pointing to a bullet graze across the front of her uniform.
"Let's get out of here." Replies Nick
They climb out from under the plinth and back up to the room.
"Please detonate on my mark." Said Clawhauser.
Nick and Judy hear a distant rumble coming from above them, Nick pulls out the remote waiting for Clawhauser's command.
"Mark."
Nick hits the button and blows up the regulator, the distant sound of electricity starts to build up as an oscillating whine, it builds rising in pitch getting louder and louder, becoming almost defining.
"Carrots, I think this thing is gonna go boom!"
Nick and Judy back up trying to find cover, they manage to hear a loud scream from the next room, it sounded like Kaiden. The bunny quickly ran over to the door to see Kaiden staring at Jarod, the cyber fox's left arm missing, and he pulls something from Jarod's chest. The council's chambers electrify and the support for the plinth explodes sending shrapnel flying in all directions, Nick and Judy crouch down to the ground and try to avoid the debris. the platform the council chamber was on breaks off and fell down the large borehole in which the power conduits from the reactor below were coming from. Several seconds pass and the duo hears the platform hit bottom.
Meanwhile… a few minutes ago
Kaiden and Jarod were sealed in the adjacent chamber, which contained computer banks and protected storage surrounded in blast-resistant casing. Catwalks, cabling, and various pipes, wiring, odds, and ends adorned the room.
"Tell me Kaiden. Tell me, how does it feel to be a monster?" asked Jarod
"How does it feel Kaiden, knowing that everything you love is dead?" Jarod continued to toy.
"How does it feel to have sacrificed everything that makes you an animal, your flesh, your very self?"
"All for a chance for what? Vengeance?"
"Tell me what you feel. TELL ME!"
Kaiden stood for a moment, the pain and anguish filling his mind, the years of everything that motivated him to this moment, all washed over his mind like a tide against a beach. The years of hunting, fighting, pain, loss, and suffering.
"Maybe this is what I deserve," he replied.
"I brought so much pain and suffering into the world, maybe this was my penance, my cross to bear."
"But she, she deserved better than this, to be more than just a memory, she deserved happiness and life."
"But she must have seen something, something that makes me different from him."
"Maybe I have become a monster, in my quest for all of this, I have cut a swath through the world."
Jarod levied a paw at Kaiden as if confirming the judgment the fox had for himself.
"Come back, fellow fiend. Come back and retake your destiny." Jarod offered an open paw.
Kaiden closed his eyes and thought of Lily "Please Lily, tell me, what am I?" "What have I become?" He surrendered himself to the moment, time seemed to almost stop, and the world seemed to become almost dull in its colors as if awaiting the next pulse of breath to bring the moment to life again.
And then it happened, this warm feeling in his heart, a distant and familiar presence. A distant whisper in the back of his mind, a voice not his own, a faint whisper "My love." tears fell from his eyes as he felt her presence.
"Sometimes you have to let go, and embrace what you've become," muttered Kaiden.
Jarod displayed a look of confusion. Kaiden blasted forward, hitting Jarod as hard as he could, the lynx countered with a punch of his own. Blow by blow, punch, counterpunch, kick, counterkick, the two augments battled. When they managed to, they would catch the other; and throw them into a wall, a pillar, or a computer bank. A fire started, and almost immediately a halon system blasted gaseous fire retardant into the room.
Kaiden unsheathed his combat blades, Jarod pulled a sword out of a recess in his back and defended himself. The contact of the metal clanging, the slashing, deflecting sounded out like a blacksmith with his hammer, anvil, and forge. It was a dark mote of truth and the ultimate reason why Kaiden doubted himself. Kaiden could have been Jarod, had he made different choices, committed to different paths, and made the same commitment to and pact with the devil.
But it was the light of Lily that made Kaiden better than what he was, not the crude matter of metal, circuits, and wiring. It was something more intangible, something that burned in Kaiden brighter than a thousand suns, his love for his snow rabbit.
Love shows us the path that we wish to have, to become something nobler, something better than what we are. Lily was Kaiden's center, his whole world, his very light blended with hers, and it was this that showed through the darkness, illuminating a soul lost in the turbulent oceans of a wide and chaotic world.
This was the truth that Kaiden now realized, it was the truth that Jarod knew, as long as Lily was there, Kaiden's light would never be extinguished, And that is what the lynx tried to destroy by destroying her. But now was coming to the harsh truth, that her light even from death gave Kaiden strength, strength to continue, strength to fight, and strength to stand against the darkness.
"Being loved deeply gives you strength, Loving deeply gives you courage." No truer words were spoken and even in death that connection was there, no amount of violence would break it, her light would show through, his love for her would continue, until his dying breath and Jarod knew it.
Kaiden fought like a fox possessed, the lynx and fox would trade blow for blow, slash for slash, and blast for blast. Like two warriors of light and dark battling for mutual annihilation.
Jarod managed to finally capture Kaiden against the wall, grabbing a nearby pole that had fallen from the catwalk above, he drove it through Kaiden's left shoulder, and the pain shot into his brain like fire. Kaiden let out an intense scream, loud enough for Nick and Judy to hear it in the next room.
"Very good, fox, very good, you have the anger, but I want your hate." taunted Jarod.
The lynx picked up another pole, this time destined for Kaiden's chest. Kaiden stared daggers at Jarod, his rage reaching the tipping point.
"Yes…..that's what I was looking for…..Now…now you can be reunited with your wife."
Jarod screamed and reeled back to drive the pole into Kaiden. The fox pulled against his own shoulder and ripped the pinned arm loose from its socket, the housing shredded, and the piping burst, releasing cyber-organic fluid from him. The fox ducked under the lynx's attack, who slammed the pipe into the wall, embedding it by about three feet. Kaiden came back up with his right arm, and fired the combat blade with full force into Jarod's chest, causing him to fly back pinning him to the nearby wall.
Kaiden rushed over to Jarod, and dug into the open wound in his chest.
"Do you want to know how I feel Jarod? How I felt that day? When you destroyed my world!?" screamed Kaiden
"DO YOU?!"
"Wait, I can give you what you want…" Jarod said weakly holding up his paw, the fear displayed in his eyes.
"No more of your lies, Jarod."
"No…..I can…..She's…."
Kaiden ripped the still-beating cyborg heart from Jarod's chest and showed it to him.
"It felt like that…." Kaiden replied coldly, watching the life drain from the lynx's eyes and fade into nothing. Kaiden dropped the heart and stomped on it. Howling into the air, letting out years of frustration, pain, and sadness.
Kaiden took stock in the amount of damage the two had wrought in the room, panels torn out, computer stacks ripped to shreds. The sound of an explosion resonated outside the door. Kaiden turns to see Nick and Judy crouched by the window.
Kaiden shuffles to the door, pulling on the handle, the door won't budge. Kaiden sneered at the door and tried to force it open, the sounds of his servos and mech pumps straining against the damage. The door held tightly to its position, and Kaiden strained to open it, he let out a little grunt and a huff through gritted teeth. He stopped when he saw a lit warning light on the panel next to the door, "Sealed: Fire". He stopped and surveyed the room, broken and sizzling electronics, the occasional popping of electricity, the halon cloud filling the room. Looking back at the door he could see a highly pressurized gasket holding the door shut. He checked the readout on his heads-up display, Oxygen levels: 90%, and watched as it ticked down another percentage point. He suddenly came to a grim realization; he slid down along the window next to the door to check on Nick and Judy.
"Are you two alright?" He asked.
The pair came out from their ducked position and over to the door.
"We're fine, we did the job." Replied Judy
"Good, now all that's left is the wolfram." He stated.
"Alright, well come on out of there, and let's go take care of it." She replied
There was a beat for a second, he wasn't sure how to tell her or Nick for that matter.
"I can't…..the door…..won't open," Kaiden said reluctantly starting to have to breathe deeply.
"What do you mean it won't open." She replied incredulously.
Judy went to tug on the door, but it was firm.
"Nick, help me."
Nick went to help her but even with their combined strength the door still wouldn't budge.
"Well how are we supposed to get you out of there?" she asked.
Another beat of hesitation.
"You don't," he concluded.
"Okay, then I will go get Kit and we will break you out of there." Said Judy.
"Kit, Kit, can you get down here?" Judy calls over the comms
There was static at first and then a reply.
"Yeah, I'm here, Gideon and I are stuck up in the Lab complex, the regulator explosion tore up the access to the elevator, it's going to be a while."
"Get down here, as fast as you can, I need help."
"I'll do what I can." Responded Kit.
Judy turned back to Kaiden.
"See, Kit is coming." She consoled.
"Judy….there's no time…..the oxygen levels in here are dropping."
"So what are you saying?" she replied not liking where the conversation was going.
"It's time for you to go." the fox said resolutely.
"But what about you?"
"I knew what I signed on for, what might be expected of me."
Judy walked back up to the window, tears welling in her eyes.
"You can't expect me to leave you."
Kaiden sat silent a lump in his throat.
"You can't expect me to just…..leave you like this." choking on her words.
Nick put a paw on Judy's shoulder
"Carrots, I…" Nick tried to console.
"No, you can't expect me to watch another friend die!" she said tears starting to run down her face.
"Judy…" Kaiden called out, placing his remaining paw on the ballistic glass.
Judy placed her paw on the glass in front of Kaiden's, wishing she could hold it. Hot tears wetting the fur on her face, a look of sorrow and fault on her. Kaiden stared into her eyes as comforting as he could manage.
"Listen to me, don't blame yourself for this. I made my choices in life, and this is my penance for my sins." He absolved.
"But you're a good fox, you have worked so hard to protect Nick and me and you have always tried to do the right thing. Doesn't that count for something?" she replied, her voice breaking.
"This isn't about what I tried to do, this is about what I did. And I did some really bad things."
"I just don't want you to carry the burden of my sins, this is my cross to bear, not yours."
"I refuse to believe that you're a bad fox. I refuse to believe that Lily would be with a bad mammal. She saw something in you Kaiden, the same thing I see."
The mere mention of her name finally made the old fox's tears run, Judy reminded him of Lily, she was a lot like her, headstrong, idealistic, caring, and always seeing the better natures of people.
"You may have had to do some bad things, and that is, what this…life….does to you, but you are not a bad fox Kaiden, and you don't deserve any of what has happened to you."
"You deserve a happy ending, you deserve…" her voice broke as she cried.
"….to be loved." She finished through her tears, placing her head on the glass.
Kaiden placed his head on the glass to match Judy's.
"I am loved…I know that, and it is the greatest gift that you could have ever given me. And I am eternally grateful."
"So please, please, don't let my death be in vain."
Judy turned her head to look back into Kaiden's eyes.
"You have to save Zootopia, save them, save the countless others who also deserve a good life."
Kaiden turned to Nick, looking at him
"Finish the mission, make this all worth it. This darkness must end."
Nick nodded, and pulled Judy away, knowing she would be content to just sit there.
"Listen to me Nick," Kaiden said looking sternly into Nick's eyes.
"You take care of her. Take care of each other, and never let go. Do you understand me? Fox to Fox."
"I promise," Nick replied, understanding Kaiden perfectly.
"Now go, Clawhauser can help you shut it down."
Nick, grabbed Judy and they began to walk away, she looked back at the fox trapped in the white foggy room, She locked gaze with him, and he locked his gaze right back.
"Goodbye." He whispered.
Judy turned away, the fur around her eyes wet from tears, she wanted the nightmare over, and knew there was one last task, one last goal, and with it, the darkness would finally end.