I wrote and posted a fic titled "Change in Plans" a while ago. After I re read it I absolutely hated it. It felt bland, rushed, and didn't actually tell the story I wanted to tell. I deleted the whole thing and restarted. This is the new version of that story. The first chapter is almost identical to the original but does have a few major changes. Every chapter after the first one is completely different.

Judy POV

"What are you going to do? Kill me?"

"No! Of course not... he is."

I watched the small blue orb fly across the exhibit and burst against Nick's neck, just as we had planned. I frantically dove over the plastic grass and fell at his side, faking panic as I begged him to fight against the serum.

Tears spilled over my eyes and I used one hand to wipe them away, the other hand still gripping his arm. I had gotten pretty good at faking tears as a kid, dealing with bullies, and I used that skill to its fullest now.

We had only personally seen one other predator turn savage so there wasn't much to go off of, but Nick seemed to be an impressive actor. The way he grabbed his head and faked convulsions was on par with what we had seen in Manchas just over a week prior.

Gripping his shoulder tighter, I begged him again to fight and he shook me off causing me to stumble backwards. I angled myself into position and waited for him to whip around and lock eyes with me. That was supposed to be the signal to start running.

We planned it so that he would chase me closer to the wall Mayor Bellwether was standing above. Then, when I was right below her and seemingly cornered, we could get her confession. My fingers brushed against the pen in my pocket feeling for the record button. I was ready, I just needed that signal from him.

I heard a laugh from somewhere along the edge of the pit and spared a quick glance toward the sound before looking back at Nick. He was really playing it up at this point. It hadn't taken Manchas this long before he started to attack us and we were already really short on time.

"Nick?" I asked, trying to keep the worried tone in my voice but also trying to urge him to hurry things up. We really needed to get that confession out of Mayor Bellwether before the ZPD showed up and based on how far the precinct was from the museum, we had just minutes left.

If they got here before she confessed she would deny everything. We would have to rely on the small orb of serum in Nick's pocket to prove our case. It wouldn't be enough. Moving slowly with my injured leg I turned to crawl back to him. Maybe he forgot the details of the plan.

Before I reached his side he finally whipped his head around to look at me. Our eyes locked and I quickly changed the position I was sitting in so I was ready to run. Now it was time to switch from faking worry to panic. Bellwether had to believe I was really fearing for my life.

But something was off with Nick's eyes. The brilliant emerald green color was a shade darker, but most notably his round pupils had changed into narrow slits. Instead of the soft but clever spark I had grown accustomed to seeing, there was a wild look there, this wasn't the fox I knew.

Something must have gone wrong, he wasn't actually faking it. But we switched out the serum with some blueberries, didn't we? I know we did, so what had happened?

"Something the matter, Judy?" Mayor Bellwether called down from her spot on the ledge. She had a joyous sing-song tone to her voice and was practically skipping as she walked along the edge to get a better view of us. The rams next to her chuckled to themselves.

I crept backwards slowly, now with actual fear guiding my movements. Instead of a fake chase I would really be running for my life any second. Nick had gone back to gripping his head and pounding a closed fist into the dirt. He was doubled over with his face nearly touching the ground.

He was still trying to fight the effects of the serum but now I realized, this time he was actually trying to fight it. That's why it was taking him so much longer to chase me. Nick was still in there doing everything he could to not hurt me, even if his efforts would be short lived.

And I could tell they would be. While his voice had started off as a strangled sounding cry of pain, it was changing into a deep throaty growl. I was torn between wanting to go to his side and knowing I should get as far away as I could.

"What did you do?" I finally yelled up to the mayor without taking my eyes off Nick. His ears perked up at my voice but he made no movements in my direction.

Bellwether reached into her pocket and pulled out a couple of berries, tossing them into the pit towards us. She laughed, "you think I wouldn't check the gun? Or that I wouldn't carry extra capsules inside the case. Judy, I have everything riding on this and I won't have it screwed up by some wanna-be-cop and a pathetic con artist."

She motioned to Nick with the gun, a grin creeping across her face. "This does give me an idea, though. Obviously, 'Hero Cop Killed By Savage Fox' will make a beautiful headline but what if this little incident marks the progression of the savage predator panic." She reached her arm back and one of the rams placed something small into the palm of her hoof.

"It's perfect really. There's already so much fear and distrust against foxes." The last word was dripping with disgust and she set the object in her hoof into the back of the gun and clicked the little compartment closed. "I was already considering upping the dosage at some point soon. And you just happened to bring me the perfect subject to test it on. Well, if this doesn't kill him, that is."

She fired a second round at Nick before I could fully process what she was saying. "You might want to start running now, bunny." The second orb splattered against his arm much like the first and knocked him to the ground again.

"Nick!" I screamed, forgetting the danger for a second, and diving at him once more. This time he didn't cry out in pain, only a deep growl escaped his lips. His sharp canines were gleaming in the harsh spotlight above us.

He might actually kill me, I thought as I stood and began to run. The police had to be here soon, I only needed to outrun him for a few more minutes.

I just hoped they wouldn't hurt him when they got here. None of this was his fault. I was the one who dragged him into this case in the first place. I hurt him with my ignorance during the press conference and after he forgave me under that bridge I put his life in danger again with my reckless decision in the subway. Now this.

What if there was no cure and he was like this for the rest of his life? Or what if he ended up killing me, would he blame himself? What if the double dose was too much for him? There was nothing I could do to help him in this moment. I could only keep myself alive and hope for the best afterwards.

All at once the ground rose up to meet my face, I don't even know what I had tripped on. Dust filled my mouth and coated the back of my throat as I cried out in pain. I hardly had time to roll out of the way before Nick's claws dug into the ground where my head had been just moments before.

I frantically waved my arms over my head. My fingers collided with dusty faux fur and I gripped the leg of whatever display item I had found. I said a silent apology in my head before throwing it as hard as I could toward Nick.

It crashed into him and knocked him onto his side. He let out a small whimper and turned his attention to the foam and plastic fawn. A sharp stab tore through my chest seeing him lie on his back ripping the fake animal apart with his teeth and claws. Pieces flew around him and caught in his fur.

As I slowly backed away I remembered what Mrs. Otterton had said upon seeing her husband in the hospital. "That's not my Emmitt." That's not my Nick.

I almost let out a laugh. My Nick? I barely knew the fox, we had only met a few weeks ago and within that time only really interacted for about three days. Still, I cared about him.

But at this moment, he looked nothing like the fox I knew. His clothes were disheveled, dusty, and ripped in a few places where his claws had caught the thin fabric. His sharp teeth were bared. There was a bit of red soaked into the fur around his front paws. It looked like blood but was it mine or his?

I looked down at my previously injured leg while I half-ran half-stumbled away. My jeans now had four new long tears extending past the first cut and blood was soaking into the fabric quickly. That must have been why I fell, I hadn't tripped, Nick's claws got me. Adrenaline was coursing so fast through my body I hadn't even felt the pain. Now that I saw the marks, pain scorched up my leg and made every step agonizing.

Blood was dripping from the bottom of my pant leg leaving a trail behind me. At this rate I would end up passing out before the ZPD even got here. I couldn't keep running but I could try to hide.

The ripping sound behind me had stopped and I scanned the exhibit. The fawn Nick was tearing apart lay abandoned a few yards away, but Nick was nowhere in sight. I dropped to my hands and knees and crouched behind a large log. Surely he would be able to spot me or smell the blood that was quickly turning the dust below my feet to a sticky paste. I could only hope it would keep me concealed long enough for help to arrive.

I squeezed my eyes closed waiting for him to find me but the attack I was expecting never came. Instead, I heard a cry of pain coming from somewhere to my right. It sounded like Nick, with the same unnerving growl behind the voice. I wasn't sure if he had become injured or if perhaps Bellwether had decided he was taking too long to kill me but I braced on the log and pulled myself to my feet. My own cry of pain escaped my lips and I grit my teeth.

Halfway across the exhibit I saw Nick laying on his stomach thrashing around as two officers pinned him to the ground. One more was cuffing his arms behind his back while a fourth crouched in front of him in an attempt to wrestle a muzzle over his mouth. Chief Bogo stood with his back to me.

I wanted to cry out and tell them to stop, that he didn't need a muzzle. But the way he gnashed his teeth at the officer in front of him, I knew they didn't have much of a choice. He would never forgive me for doing this to him, I would never forgive myself for that matter.

"You know what I mean. You're not that kind of predator"

"The kind that needs to be muzzled? The kind that makes you think you need to carry around Fox Repellent?"

My fingers brushed my side where the little pink bottle used to sit as I watched them hook the muzzle into place and pull the straps tight. Nick was fighting less now, just laying on the ground and taking the occasional swipe at anyone who got close. Two officers stayed by his side keeping him from getting up, the other two went to Bogos side and were talking in quiet voices to the police chief.

Above us I could see another group of officers with Mayor Bellwether, also in cuffs. She was yelling and motioning down to us. I hadn't been able to record any sort of confession from her, we hadn't even shown the serum to Chief Bogo so I really wasn't sure what led to her being arrested. I would have to ask later, right now I turned my attention back to the fox lying in the dirt.

"So let me ask you a question. Are you afraid of me? Do you think I might go nuts? Do you think I might go savage? Do you think I might try to eat you?"

I walked toward the group of officers in silence. They didn't notice me as I passed them and continued walking slowly to Nick. He was staring forward, rubbing his face against the dirt in an attempt to remove the muzzle.

"Are you afraid of me?"

The question pounded in my head. I could practically hear his voice in my ear begging for an answer. Not just an answer, a different answer than I gave him the first time. I was so stupid. Nick had hoped that I saw him as someone other than shifty and untrustworthy. And I betrayed him.

"Are you afraid of me?"

No, I'm not. The sudden realization silenced everything else in my mind. I'm not afraid of him, even when he nearly killed me minutes ago. I wasn't afraid of him, I just needed to know that he would be okay. I needed to know that whatever the serum had done to him could be fixed and I would have him back.

My arms wrapped tightly around my middle, digging into the fur. Had they turned the air conditioning on in the museum? It was so cold in here I was beginning to shiver.

"Hopps? Are you alright? What happened?" Chief Bogo finally turned his attention away from Nick and the officers he was talking to and was now watching me with concern. "Oh jeez, your leg. We need medical down here now!" His voice seemed to trail off at the end and turned into a ringing sound.

The room started to swirl around me, spots of white filling my vision. I was about to pass out. The last thing I saw was Nick's face, pressed against the dusty ground, his eyes locked on me.