Chapter Text
They had drifted into comfortable silence, the pattering of the rain and the low rumble of the cruiser's big V8 engine providing more than enough sound track for the night shift. Five hours into the night's patrol, Judy smoothly rolled the car into one of the many tunnels leading out of the Rainforest district.
It had been ten months since Nick had been sworn in following their success in cracking the Night Howler case. Tensions sparked by the incident lingered even after Nick's graduation, making his first few weeks on the job even more dangerous than the case itself, but they had been the baptism of fire that forged Judy and Nick's partnership into a well oiled crime fighting machine.
The lights of the tunnel whizzing past had a hypnotic effect, apparently, because Nick reached for his empty coffee cup for the second time in the past two hours, and once again curled his lip in annoyance at finding it was still dry.
Judy glanced at him as he did it; she couldn't help it. The slight wrinkle of his muzzle, the flash of his canine, the whole roguish expression sent a thrill through her. She could feel a flush rising in her cheeks. As usual, when she started to get carried away, she started talking to cover it.
"Boy, it's sure been quiet the past couple weeks, huh? Feels like these night shifts are taking forever..." she began, hoping he didn't hear the squeak in her voice.
Nick's eyelids drooped and he slouched in his seat.
"Yeah...I thought I'd have a lot of trouble with graveyards, but you look sleepier than I feel..."
He breathed a deep, soft sigh and his eyelids dropped shut. He tipped over in his seat and his forehead hit the window with a dull thunk. She could tell he startled awake from the ruffle of fur on the back of his neck and the twitch in his shoulders. Why was she paying so much attention to things like that? She kept blabbing just to be safe.
"Yeah, I guess I just get so excited! Thinking about all the crooks we could nab...well, hasn't been so much as a convenience store robbery the past while but you know...it could happen at any moment!"
Just then the car burst out of the tunnel into the brilliance of the shimmering night. The artificial rain of the jungle district was gone and the cloudless night sky blazed with millions of stars. The light of the full moon flooded the road ahead. Out of the corner of her eye, Judy noticed Nick's weight shift and his forehead roll on the window; he was looking up at the sky.
"Hey, Carrots..." he said quietly.
Not hearing him, Judy kept rambling on.
"Carrots!" he said somewhat sharply, turning to face her. She looked at him wide eyed. Instantly his expression softened into a charming smile, "Do me a favour and hit the drive through...I'm dying for a coffee here. There's one up ahead on the right. Oh, and after that, take Ridgeway drive to Fangston Road...it's time we took a break."
Judy nodded, "Sure, Nick."
After the brief trip through the pickup window, they were winding their way up Fangston toward the heights that looked out over the western plains.
"Pull over up here on the left. There's a great viewpoint," Nick said, indicating with his free paw as he raised his cup to his lips.
They rolled up and stopped the cruiser, its low droning cutting out as Judy turned the key. They stepped out and strolled to the railing at the edge of the cliff. Just in front of it was a wide bench, which Nick languidly flopped onto, slinging his elbows over the back and taking a long sip of his coffee.
Judy was a step behind, having slowed her pace as the magnificent moon-bathed vista spread itself out before her. It was as if the world was blanketed in silence and silver glory, the little pools and rivers that dotted the plain shimmering like so many distant diamonds. Her breath caught in her throat and she raised her paw to her mouth.
A few quiet moments passed before she felt Nick stride up beside her, one hand characteristically thrust into his pocket, he other clutching his beloved coffee. "Somethin' else, huh Carrots?" he said, his voice hushed.
She stepped to the railing, jumping up and standing on the second rung, leaning over and gazing out over the shimmering plain, "The valley...I never knew it could be so beautiful..."
"It's not the valley I wanted to show you. There's a Moondog tonight."
She half turned to him and shot him a quizzical look. He answered with a smile and pointed upward before taking another swig of coffee. She followed his gesture and raised her eyes; the moon shone more fervently than she had ever seen, its face streaked with wisps of vapor, and it was surrounded by a huge ring of brilliance such that the moon itself almost seemed to be the glowing pupil of an enormous staring eye.
"Oh...oh wow!" was all she could manage to say.
Nick stared up at it too, "My mom...she...well, foxes can be pretty superstitious, I guess…some of us believe in something my mom called 'The Old Ways'-destiny, signs and omens, that kind of thing. She didn't really know much about it, but her grandmother used to tell her things. She used to say that the Moondog is a serious omen...seeing it means something big is about to happen..."
"Something bad...?" Judy asked, glancing at him with a furrowed brow.
Nick just shrugged, "Not always...maybe something great. Just something...big. Then again, it's just an old superstition..."
A smile crept over Judy's lips as she stared up at the moon and its broad halo glowing above them. She felt a warm breeze waft through her fur and she let her eyes slip closed as it caressed her face. Gripping the railing a bit tighter, she leaned back, letting the night wind roll over her.
Suddenly she felt Nick's paw come to rest beside hers. The faintest touch, his paw just clasping the rail and pressing up against hers; it could have been unintentional, or it could have been something else. She opened her eyes and glanced at him. What was the meaning behind that enigmatic smile? At times he could be startlingly earnest, and other times guarded and impossible to read. She kept watching.
His gaze dropped for a moment, his smile deepening. She saw him taking a deep breath, as if he was preparing to say something; she was starting to think his touch and his smile were 'something else.' She waited breathlessly to hear what he might say.
"You know, Carrots, I've been thinking...it's been tough to make it happen, between the fallout from the Night Howler case, overtime and training and all, but I'd really love to spend some time with you…"
Judy perked a brow and regarded Nick incredulously. "What are you talking about? We hang out all the time," she said, rocking back and forth gently as she stood on the railing, her eyes turning to the moon again, "Plus, you know, I see you all day every day at work."
"Yeah...," Nick said, "We hang out, but that's not what I mean..."
She glanced at him, her eyes widening a little as her ears perked up and turned instinctively toward him.
His paw slipped over hers, giving a gentle squeeze, "I've been thinking for a long time that I'd really like to get closer...so how about you let me wine and dine you tomorrow night, and maybe afterward we dance the night away?"
Judy's brows perked for a second, then a smile crept its way across her muzzle, her nose twitching faintly, "Asking out your field coach, probie? You could get yourself in hot water for that kind of thing..."
"I'm willing to take the risk," he said, flashing his roguish smile, "We can just keep it on the down low at work if you want, at least till I'm done probation in three months."
"I don't want to put your career at risk, Nick...I'd feel awful if you got fired because of me..." she said, looking down at his paw still resting atop hers. She felt like her cheeks and the inside of her ears were burning up; she dropped her ears behind her back in hopes he wouldn't see her blushing.
"You're pretty new to this, huh? Here, let me help you; it goes like this," he said, adopting a demure posture and batting his eyelashes at her. "Oh Nick! I would love to go on a date with a handsome, charming, intelligent, chivalrous fox like you," he said in his best impression of her voice.
Judy chuckled and rolled her eyes at him, "Geeze, you lay it on thick..."
"That's not a refusal," he retorted with a confident smirk.
Bravo six, this is dispatch, do you copy?
The radio crackled to life, shattering their illusion of solitude. Nick looked momentarily crestfallen; Judy felt a pang of affection that made her want to hug him immediately. He recovered almost instantly however.
"Duty calls, eh Carrots? No rest for the wicked..." Nick said with a half-hearted smile before keying his shoulder mic, "Dispatch, this is Wilde, go ahead."
Dispatch; we have a silent alarm at Canopy Way and Jibuti Street, Rainforest district. Property has a history of false alarms, but we need a unit to check it out and everyone else is tied up; you available?"
"No, I'm busy putting the moves on my field coach, your stupid alarm can wait..." Nick grumbled under his breath before pressing the radio switch again, "Ten-four, dispatch, we're five mikes out, rolling code two." Judy chuckled and hopped off the railing, dashing to the car.
They jumped in together and Nick pressed the switch for the lightbar, keeping the siren off. They peeled out and tore back down the road they came from. Bursting from the tunnel into a heavy downpour, Judy barely slowed as she hit the wipers on full and carved her way around a turn. Within less than five minutes they rolled up on the source of the alarm, a large pharmaceutical laboratory near the edge of the district. They killed the lights and rolled slowly into the front parking lot.
The building looked deserted: no vehicles in the lot, no lights in the windows, no obvious signs of forced entry. Nick threw on his patrol jacket and forage cap, stepping out of the vehicle. Judy followed suit, the two of them approaching the front doors cautiously.
"Dispatch, this is Bravo-Six, we're ten-twenty three. No sign of trouble yet," Judy said, tugging the front door and finding it secure, "Checking perimeter, stand by."
Dispatch, ten-four
Nick looked at her and held up his index finger, making a little swirling motion. She nodded and they split up, walking slowly and cautiously around the outside of the building, checking each window and door for any sign of tampering.
Suddenly, Nick's voice over the radio cut through the steady pattering of the rain. "Hopps from Wilde, match my twenty, back door."
Judy dashed around the corner to find Nick standing at the rear service door, flashlight in paw. Their eyes met and he motioned her over. She stopped beside him, seeing nothing amiss. "What?" she asked somewhat peevishly, "I don't see anything wrong."
Nick nodded, "Right. No sign of forced entry, buuut..." He turned the knob and pushed the door. It swung wide open.
Judy's ears perked straight up, her nose twitching pensively as she peered into the darkness. "Good catch, Nick..." she said softly, moving closer to peer inside. "We should call backup, just in case," she added, glancing back at him.
Nick shrugged, "According to dispatch, everyone else is tied up. Plus, they said this place is always getting false alarms. We'll look like a couple of clowns if we call in more units and it's a matter of some science nerd forgetting to lock up...I mean look at this place, Carrots, it's deserted."
Judy frowned, tapping her foot rapidly a few times. "All right," she said at length, "We check it out quietly, and if it turns out to be something bigger, we fall back and call for more units."
"You're the boss!" Nick said with a pleased smile. He stepped forward, drawing his pistol. "I'll take point..." he said, not waiting to hear her protest.
Judy sighed, drawing her pistol and keying her mic with her free paw, "Bravo-Six, we found an insecure door in back, but no signs of forced entry. We're gonna check it out."
Ten four, Bravo-Six, just be careful, no units available to respond if things heat up.
"Bravo-Six, ten four," Judy replied, then slipped into the shadows inside the building.
They found themselves in a back access corridor of the warehouse area of the lab building. The left side of the corridor was lined with wire reinforced industrial glass overlooking the large loading bay, the right had a few nondescript doors, all of which proved to be locked. Creeping along either side of the hall, they slowly moved deeper inside. Before long, the corridor opened into a small office area with various interconnected cubicles; nothing seemed to be disturbed or out of place.
Suddenly, Judy's ears snapped to her right; there was a sound coming from deeper in the building. She motioned to Nick and they silently crept to the far wall, peering through a doorway that opened into the laboratory area itself. It was huge room filled with rows of heavy steel-topped workbenches with built in cabinets, their tops covered with every manner of chemistry equipment: Bunsen burners, flasks, racks of test tubes, petri dishes and so on. Along the left wall there were large steel canisters stacked in racks. Seeing nothing, they crept inside, staying low and concealed behind the benches. They found their way to a pair of solid concrete support columns on opposite sides of the room and took cover.
The door at the far end of the room opened and they could hear a confused jumble of voices coming from the other side. One voice was louder and harsher than the others, but they couldn't quite make out what was being said yet. It was definitely multiple subjects. Nick and Judy glanced at each other across the room and read concern in each other's eyes.
"Get the canisters and load them on the rucks; we're getting the hell out of here, this is taking too long already!" the harsh, guttural voice spoke again.
"Sure thing boss..." another voice said, with some grumbles of agreement from at least one more.
They were dealing with three, maybe four subjects. Too many if they were armed. Nick leaned out very slowly, trying to get a glimpse of them, moving as slowly as he could manage. He didn't see the test tube that had been left lying on the floor. It rattled along the concrete when his foot kicked it. His ears snapped down as his eyes locked with Judy's.
Aw sh- She saw his mouth form the words but the sound was stolen as the world erupted in a cacophony of automatic gunfire, ricochets and shattering glass. Bullets screamed through the air, spattering over the pillars, the tables and the floor in their general direction. Judy sunk low, her back pressed against the pillar as she tried to make herself as small as possible. It looked like they didn't know exactly where she and Nick were yet, but that wouldn't last long if they didn't do something quick. She took a deep breath and screamed to Nick, "OPEN FIRE!"
Simultaneously they leaned out from cover and opened up with rapid fire, hoping to suppress the shooters and buy themselves some time. More shattering glass and ricochets, but unfortunately no hits by the sound of it.
"This is Bravo-Six! Ten-thirty-three! Shots fired, SHOTS FIRED!" Nick roared into his shoulder mic, "Need backup, NOW!"
The crooks ripped up the room with another volley of fire, this time the bullets were concentrated on the pillars; their cover was pretty obvious at this point.
"Nick!" Judy yelled over the gunfire, "Fire extinguishers! On my mark!"
Nick nodded in reply, gritting his teeth; he had seen the large fire extinguishers mounted on the pillars close to the subjects. It was probably their only chance. He gripped his pistol tightly in both hands.
Judy waited for the telltale clicking that meant they were reloading. Nick saw her ear twitch. "NOW!" she yelled, leaning out and opening fire. Nick did the same and both extinguishers exploded, flooding the area with a thick cloud of white fire retardant.
The thugs coughed and sputtered, disoriented by the billowing white mist. Nick and Judy lunged from cover, dashing in wide flanking arcs and plunging into the cloud. Judy found her mark; through the haze, he looked like some kind of medium sized mammal, maybe a raccoon or a weasel. She leaped up, grabbing the muzzle of the submachine gun and yanking down on it while grabbing the butt and pushing up. The stock smashed into the thug's chin with a loud, nasty crack that probably meant a shattered jaw and a few broken teeth. Without missing a beat, she grabbed his ears and threw her weight down, folding him in half so hard his nose almost touched his toes as he slammed into the floor. In an instant she was on top of him, snapping the handcuffs in place behind his back.
Nick trapped his subject's gun arm and wrenched him down over his hip in an armbar takedown. The crook's chest slammed into the floor so hard it knocked the wind out of him, making it a simple matter for Nick to plant his knee on his shoulder and tweak his elbow to force him to drop the gun. He clicked the cuffs into place, whipping his pistol out again and scanning for the third subject as Judy did the same.
Slowly the billowing white mist thinned and parted, revealing a snarling black bear dressed in green fatigues and tactical gear fighting with the charging handle on his weapon – it had become badly jammed and in the confusion and haze he couldn't clear it. His eyes went wide as saucers when he found himself staring down the barrels of Nick and Judy's service pistols and saw his friends, who turned out to be a coyote and a raccoon, prostrate on the floor, disarmed and handcuffed. He stared for a moment before throwing down his gun and spinning on his heel, dashing off at full speed.
"I'm on him!" Judy said, leaping up and dashing off after him.
Nick scrambled to his feet, sprinting to keep up. He noticed a door leading to a side hallway that looked like it paralleled the room the bear had run into; the hall would have less obstructions. He crashed through the door and sprinted even harder. "Dispatch, this is Wilde, two in custody, foot pursuit on the third! Judy, I'm flanking right!"
"Ten-four! I've almost got him!" came Judy's panted reply.
Nick turned the corner and found himself in front of a large double door marked "Lab 5". He slammed through the crash bars and found himself in a darkened laboratory similar to the one they just left. This time the only illumination was from low level safety lighting, casting most of the room in shadows but leaving a reasonably well lit corridor down the middle. Nick slipped in between the workbenches, his pistol raised as he scanned for the subject.
His ear twitched as he detected the sound of running paws approaching rapidly; he was in a perfect position to intercept. He crouched behind a bench and watched the entrance.
The bear burst through, running full tilt; he swiped at a table full of chemistry equipment, scattering shattered glass across the floor in Judy's path. She bounded over it with ease, gaining with every stride.
Suddenly, the bear grabbed a pistol they hadn't noticed from a holster on his chest rig and spun around on his heel, bringing the gun to bear on Judy. Nick raised his gun, his finger poised on the trigger, ready to drill the bear in the side of the head. He steadied the front sight on the target, began the trigger squeeze, but stopped short at what happened next.
Judy lunged into a slide along the smooth concrete floor, then sprang into a brutal double kick that landed square in the bear's groin. The hapless goon seemed to lift off the floor a few inches as Judy sailed between his legs and landed on all fours behind him. There was a frozen moment before a long, low groan of agony escaped his throat, his knees buckled and he crashed onto the floor in a heap of gut wrenching pain.
Nick grinned as he lowered his gun. "Damn, Carrots, you're nasty!" he said to himself, heaving a sigh of relief. He stood up, preparing to step out and congratulate his partner.
Judy was distracted cuffing the suspect, wrestling his muscular arms into position as she fitted the handcuffs. They clicked into place and she hit the double locks, sitting back with a sigh of relief. She didn't hear the other clicking sound – the sound of a gun's hammer being cocked.
"Say goodbye to your partner, Nicky..." an eerily familiar voice wafted from the shadows. Horrified, Nick lunged for Judy.
His shoulder slammed into her and sent her skidding across the floor just as a fireball erupted from the darkened back office of the lab. A thunderous blast echoed off the sterile walls. There was a spark and a sickly thud, accompanied by searing agony in Nick's chest.
Everything seemed to be moving in ultra slow motion as he raised his pistol, fighting to focus on the front sight like the sergeant taught him at the academy. He squeezed off shot after shot, his muzzle blasts blanking out the world with fire, each one stealing a bit more from the edge of his vision.
He could have sworn he heard cruel laughter followed by the crash of a door as his gun slide locked and suddenly became unbearably heavy. He glanced over at Judy, the pain in his chest growing rapidly, a searing, burning pain that refused to abate.
Judy struggled to her feet, scrambling over to him. She was unharmed, thank goodness. Nick smiled broadly, feeling a metallic taste in his mouth and something warm on his lips. The look of horror in Judy's eyes gave him an idea what it was.
"My turn to save you for once, Carrots..." he said, his voice raspy and weak. He reached out and cupped her cheek as much to reassure himself as her, but he found his paw falling limp after a moment. It must be pretty bad...
"Oh..oh no, Nick! You're hit...oh damn it, you're shot!" she said, her eyes widening. "Ten-thirty-three!," she screamed into her mic, "Officer down! I say again, ten-thirty-three, Wilde is shot! Get me ten-fifty-two, NOW!"
"You bunnies..." Nick said weakly, "So emotional..." He slumped over and fell onto his back, coughing violently, blood staining his teeth. He reached up and felt his chest where the pain was coming from. His middle finger found its way into a disturbingly deep hole in his vest. The bullet had punched right through. "Well...shit..." he wheezed, straining for breath.
"Nick!...Nick stay with me, damn it! Don't you dare die, you hear me?!" Judy pleaded, ripping off his vest and shirt. There was a gruesome mess of blood in his fur and a gaping, bubbling hole in his chest. She pressed on it with one paw and grabbed her trauma kit from her belt with the other. "Son of a bitch must have been using armour piercing rounds..." she hissed under her breath, lifting her paw just long enough to press a sterile membrane over it to seal it and keep the lung from collapsing.
"Language, Carrots..." Nick said softly, managing a pained smile. He was drifting, his eyelids slipping closed.
He heard sirens wafting through the haze that was rapidly clouding his senses. He somehow became aware of paramedics surrounding him and lifting him onto a stretcher. He strained for every last ounce of awareness he could manage and reached out a trembling paw in the direction he felt Judy must be.
"Carrots..." he said, his voice a barely audible gurgle. He felt her paw slip into his and he squeezed it as if it was his last lifeline, forcing his eyes to focus on hers, "Don't...leave me...don't...want…...t...die..alone..."
Her voice was the last thing to reach him before he slipped into unconsciousness: "I'm with you, Nick."