Chapter 38 – The Red:

Author's Note:

Jesus… I should probably just give up on trying to get a chapter out every other week. It's clear this is going to be a monthly thing, so that's what I'm going to shoot for. But hopefully, even with a chapter coming out every month, the story should be done by the end of the year. I'm hoping, at least.

USA Patriot, it's been awhile! Yes, I think you should trust your sneaking suspicions on Judy and Blank. As for your M60 comments, I didn't have the time to research as much as I wanted to (since every time I set out to do research on firearms, I end up watching YouTube for two hours), but I went with LMG because it was classified as that in Ghost Recon Wildlands and that was the most recent shooter I played. So I went with that.

Anyways, we're starting off with Judy this chapter, but don't worry, we're finally reaching the climax of the story. The real climax! I know there's been a few climaxes, but if you split the story into arcs, then the climax that occurs in this chapter could be considered both this arc's climax and the story's climax. Boy, I haven't said 'climax' this many times before. Weird. Before I say the usual thing I say… I'd like to thank All Hail King Scar for helping me write one of the scenes! Without his/her help, I wouldn't have been able to get this chapter out this week! Please, enjoy!

XXX

Nighttime was a strange time in Zootopia. It was easy to say the city never slept, since when the sun went down, the nocturnal mammals came out into the open. Rats, possums, weasels, all sorts of shady mammals that did their work in the dark. Calling them all criminals was definitely unfair… but they weren't all saints, that was for sure.

It happened to be past midnight by the time Judy, Wolfgang, and Kat made it out of the mayor's office. Lionheart was still nowhere to be found, and neither of them were keen on trying to find a lion in the darkness. Kat and Wolfgang stuck together, heading back towards their parents' mansion, leaving Judy alone.

The little rabbit pondered her best course of action. She didn't have any form of transportation or any money, so she couldn't call for a cab. She did have her uniform, her badge, and her gun, at least. Though what use they would do for her, she wasn't sure. It was far too late at night to go back to the precinct.

Precinct One operated almost entirely on daylight hours, especially since most of the mammals that were assigned there weren't nocturnal. Not even Bogo would be at the precinct this late… he was probably back at his home, already fast asleep. Whatever plans Judy had of rallying her comrades in blue and going after Blank and Reaper were pretty much shot.

She could take a chance and try and ask Precinct Two for help. Precinct Two was the nearest precinct to Precinct One and operated on nighttime hours. It was pretty simple to remember, odd number precincts were daylight, even numbers were nocturnal. Judy wasn't sure, however, if she would be able to convince anyone to lend her a paw. As far as she knew, the nocturnal squads weren't informed hardly at all about what had been going on in the city concerning Blank and the mercenary hyenas.

Her best bet was probably just to head back to her apartment and go to bed. She would arrive early the next morning and prepare a squad before Bogo arrived and said no, and then would go and see if Blank had attacked The Pit yet. If she was lucky, she would arrive just as Blank was finishing up. If she was unlucky, then at least Blank would be gone.

She took two steps towards her apartment before pausing. In all this excitement, she had practically forgotten that she had moved into Nick's place. Nick… she muttered internally. He was still in the hospital from the bite he had suffered from Reaper. Deciding that going home to an empty apartment wasn't worth it, she turned on her heel and headed towards the hospital.

It was a short, quiet walk. The hospital wasn't too far away from City Hall, and while she was wearing her uniform, no one would dare mess with her. Not with the firearm by her side. Even if she would never use it… the thugs that no doubt populated the city's streets at night didn't know that.

Judy padded into the hospital, her head held high. The only thing she knew about Nick's condition was that they had administered anti-venom to him. The doctors had assured her that he was fine, but she hadn't had the time to worry about him as of late. But now that she was actually in the hospital, it took all her might not to hang her head, her ears flopping down her back, and let her steps be slow and hesitant, worry consuming her.

She headed straight towards the main desk, where a lioness in a nurse's uniform was busy on a computer. The main floor was fairly empty at this time of night, though there was a small family of oxen sitting on some chairs near the back wall. Judy couldn't tell why they were here, but considering that the oldest female in the group was just a teenager, she assumed that the mother had either been seriously hurt, or was in the middle of giving birth.

Judy came to a stop in front of the front desk and cleared her throat loudly, trying to catch the lioness' attention. The lioness looked away from her computer, before leaning over the desk so she could look down at the rabbit. Judy resisted the urge to tap her foot impatiently as she stared up at the lioness, waiting for her to say something.

"Officer Hopps," the lioness eventually said, recognizing the fairly famous bunny officer. "Visiting hours are over, I'm afraid."

"Visiting hours? Does that mean officer Wilde is in a condition where he can accept visitors?" Judy asked, brightening up a little bit.

"Yes, officer Wilde is in a stable condition," the lioness nodded. "The anti-venom is doing its job, but he hasn't woken up yet."

"So he's in a coma?" Judy asked, her eyes widening slightly.

"A minor one. The doctors think he'll be awake within the next few days," the lioness said.

Judy let out a sigh of relief. At least there was that. "I need to see him," she said. "What room is he in?"

"Visiting hours-"

"Are over, I know. I don't care… let me see him."

"I'm afraid-"

"Let. Me. See. My. Partner," Judy ordered, glaring up at the lioness. After being kidnapped by Blank and forced to watch as she killed dozens of other mammals, rendering the bunny cop completely powerless to stop her, there was no way Judy was going to be stymied by a nurse sitting at a desk.

The lioness flinched slightly. She had to deal with mammals wanting to see patients past visiting hours all the time… but none had such a commanding tone as officer Hopps. It caught the lioness off balance enough that she ended up caving. "Fine… he's in room 406," she sighed as she sat back down.

"Thanks you," Judy replied tartly, before padding down the hall without looking back. She made her way towards an elevator, and leapt into the air, slamming one of her paws onto the up buttons.

The elevator took a few minutes to arrive, and when it did, Judy boarded it. Once again, she had to jump into the air to hit the button labeled four. The elevator ride was thankfully short, a soft ding telling her when she arrived on the proper floor. The doors opened, and she stepped out into the hallway.

Room 406 wasn't too far away from the elevator. Her feet were nearly completely silent against the bright white tiles. Everything in the hospital was white. The floor, the walls, the ceiling. It inspired a sense of sterility and calmness. But Judy was anything but calm as she came to a stop in front of the room Nick was staying in.

She wasn't entirely sure how she was going to react to Nick being in what the nurse at the front desk had called a 'minor coma.' A minor coma was still a coma. I should've been by his side all day, she grumbled internally. The door to Nick's room was cracked open, but she didn't move to open the door.

"Judy!" a voice pierced through the bunny cop's train of thought. Judy blinked a few times, her ears popping back upwards to stand tall on her head. She recognized that voice…

She turned her head to see Charlotte and Wolfard making their way down the hall towards her. Wolfard was looking a bit worse for wear, as he still had a few bandages around his head from where Blank had hit him, but he was up and walking around. Charlotte was looking marginally better, though her arm was still in a cast.

"Hey guys," Judy said, turning around to face them, managing a small smile. She had nearly forgotten that they were still injured… though she wouldn't dare tell them.

"Hey yourself," Charlotte grinned as she came to a stop, Wolfard leaning a bit on her. "What are you doing here? Come to visit us, finally?"

"Wha? I visited you… once," Judy huffed, already feeling a bit better, though she knew once she opened the door and saw Nick's condition, that feeling would vanish.

"Yeah, once," Charlotte rolled her eyes. "But if you're here to see us, you're a bit too late. Gray's just been released."

"Really? Good for him," Judy said, glancing over at the timber wolf who definitely didn't look happy to be released. "I'm guessing neither of you are ready to head back to work, though."

"Oh absolutely not… I'm taking at least another few days, and Gray isn't going anywhere near the station for at least two more weeks," Charlotte shook her head. "And even when we do go back…"

"Desk work?" Judy asked with a smirk.

"Desk work…" Charlotte sighed. "It could be worse, though, I suppose… Bogo could fire us."

"You guys were injured in the line of duty, I'm positive Bogo wouldn't fire you," Judy chuckled. "Anyways… I'm not actually here to see you two. I'm here for Nick."

"Nick?" Wolfard asked, finally speaking up. "Why is Nick here? What happened to him?"

"It's a bit of a long story," Judy sighed, scratching the back of her head. "But he was bitten by a snake."

"A snake?!" Charlotte exclaimed, her eyes widening. "How in the fucking hell did he get bitten by a snake?"

"Remember that Rodentia case Nick and I were working on before Blank showed up?" Judy asked. "Yeah, well… the perp was a snake. A big one too."

"And poisonous, I'm guessing?" Wolfard said.

"Very," Judy nodded solemnly. "I have no idea… how close Nick was to dying. I had to carry him out of the building and to his car… and drive him to the hospital… before carrying him inside."

"You carried him?" Charlotte asked, flicking an ear.

"Adrenaline, I suppose, played a major role," the rabbit replied.

"Damn…" the arctic wolf muttered. "Please tell me that you at least managed to get the snake."

Judy bit her lip and frowned even more. "No… no, I had to rush Nick to the hospital… and when I got back to the precinct, Bogo came back and took back control, disbanding the task force I had established," she said.

"Took back control? Where did Bogo go?" Charlotte asked, shivering slightly at the idea that there was still a snake on the loose.

"Well… Blank sorta… shot Bogo…" Judy explained, her ears flopping down her back. "Blank's gone on a bit of a rampage after you two were hospitalized."

"Oh shit… how much have we missed?" Wolfard asked.

"She was pretty careful when she attacked you guys… she only hospitalized you… but she's been killing officers recently," Judy grumbled. "She's been leaving bodies all over the city… not all of them just cops."

"Fuck," Charlotte hissed. The first thought that flew through her mind was intense rage. How dare that bitch kill her fellow officers! The second thought, however, was a more… reasonable reaction. She was almost happy she had been in the hospital… a broken arm was better than being dead.

"Indeed… that's why Bogo took over my strike team. He wanted everyone to go and get Blank," Judy explained.

"Did you, uh… actually get her?" Charlotte asked, looking a bit hopeful.

"We've tried multiple times to capture her… every time she escaped," Judy shook her head, deciding not to tell the wolves about being captured. "This time was no different."

"So she's still out there?" Wolfard asked.

"… Unfortunately…" Judy admitted. "Look, I really don't want to talk about work anymore. I just want to see Nick…"

"Sorry for upsetting you, Judy," Charlotte muttered. "But we're just worried about what had happened while we were here."

"I'd be more than willing to catch you up on everything that's happened… later. Right now…" Judy trailed off.

"You want to see your boyfriend, I get it," Charlotte nodded. "We'll go now. See you later."

Judy remained silent as the two wolves padded away, heading towards the elevator. The bunny let out a sigh, her good mood already gone. But she turned back towards room 406 and pushed the door open without hesitation.

The door swung open to reveal a small room with just one bed in it. A tangle of cords and IV's hung around the bed, with a wheeled stand off to the side. Nick was laying on the bed, his eyes closed and his head gently resting against a pillow. A heart rate monitor beeped slowly and constantly nearby, its periodic noises settling over the small room.

Judy stepped a little closer towards the bed, a heavy frown on her face. There were bandages wrapped around the fox's neck, covering the spot where the cobra had bitten him. Like the nurse had said, he was currently stable and sleeping soundly. If it wasn't for the IV, the bandages, and the fact he was in the hospital… Judy would say he looked fine.

But she knew he wasn't fine. She had no idea how close he had been to dying. With what little research she had been able to do about King Cobras, she knew their venom was incredibly deadly. Nick was lucky, but Judy still felt awful. Awful… and angry.

She had no idea how Reaper was able to do the things that he did… but she wasn't going to let that snake hurt anyone else. Seeing Nick in his hospital bed made Judy's blood boil. No one deserved to go through this kind of pain. She could only imagine how much Nick was hurting.

"I'm not going to let anyone else get hurt by that… bastard," Judy growled as she padded over to the side of the bed and gently grabbed Nick's arm. "I promise that I'll bring him to justice… just like I would any other criminal."

She didn't want to think about what bringing Reaper to justice meant. For all she knew, the law wasn't going to be able to handle an intelligent serpent. The court may just order Reaper executed. Though it wasn't he didn't deserve it…

The rabbit let out a heavy sigh as she turned around to head out of the room. She made it to the door, before pausing. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to sleep tonight without Nick being by her side. For the past few days they had been sleeping next to each other… and it was surprisingly comfortable.

There was no way she'd be able to go back to their apartment… alone. So she simply shut the door, and padded back over to Nick's bed. She'd stay the night here… and head over to the precinct in the morning. To talk some sense into Bogo.

XXX

Blank slammed on the brakes, causing the car she was driving to screech to a halt, skidding across the blacktop as it did. She had stolen a car that had been parked on the side of the street near City Hall. She hadn't decided yet if she was going to return it or not, but she definitely didn't want to lug the heavy weapons she had gathered all the way to The Pit.

The moon was still high in the sky and the sun was nowhere to be seen. Despite the darkness, Blank's night vision made it so she could see just fine. There were no streetlights near The Pit and the building was dark. Blank doubted it meant everyone inside was asleep, but she approached the building directly.

She didn't feel like wasting time with stealth. She had few opponents left, and she was so heavily armed that she didn't feel the need to be cautious. She just wanted this to be over as quickly as possible, so she could leave the city with Wolfgang and his sister. That was her mission now.

No longer was she motivated by just killing what remained of her clan and protecting the city. Now she was motivated by leaving. And the few hyenas left were just an obstacle in her way to freedom.

She padded closer to the building, but stopped a good few meters away. She pulled a grenade from her belt and armed it, before throwing it through the glass door of the building. The room was dark, she couldn't quite make out any shapes inside, but the grenade would hopefully kill a few of them, and in the panic that ensued, she'd be able to pick them off cleanly.

The grenade smashed through the glass door, and exploded a few moments later. The blast caused the rest of the windows of the place to shatter as a small fire swept through the building. The fire illuminated the room, allowing Blank to see that there was no one there. No one taking cover, no one burnt to a crisp… not even body parts that had been scattered by the explosion.

Blank let out a hiss of frustration as she readied her M60 and charged into the building. The combat boots Lionheart had given her provided adequate protection against the glass that littered the ground. The flames had dimmed just enough to where it was safe for her to enter, but they hadn't extinguished, so she could still see the room. "Fuck," Blank snarled, believing for a moment that she had been duped.

She seriously considered just… giving up. Perhaps this crusade just… wasn't worth it. But she hesitated in walking away. She had always had trouble giving up… she was used to fighting it out until the bitter end. She was just… stubborn.

In her hesitation to turn around and walk away, however, she spotted a door out of the corner of her eye. The door was untainted by the fire, as it had been against the back wall of the building, away from the initial blast of the grenade. A few scratches marred its frame, but it was otherwise intact. Figuring she had nothing to lose, Blank padded towards the door.

It looked pretty sturdy, so she didn't bother trying to kick it down. She tried the handle, and sure enough, it was unlocked. She started to swing the door inwards… but the tiniest of clicks brought her pause. Time seemed to slow down as she flinched backwards, just in time for an ax to come swinging into the spot where she had just been standing.

It swing horizontally, clearly intended to bisect her, but the doorframe brought the ax head to a stop before it ever reached her. A boobytrap, Blank hissed internally as she held up her M60 with one arm and grabbed the ax with the other. She ripped the ax out of the harness that kept it attached to the arm that swung it, before padding down the small set of stairs and into the main room of The Pit.

This must be the place, Blank smirked as she surveyed the area. The lights were all out, but the fire from the front room gave Blank enough light to see. She couldn't find any of her hyena opponents and assumed they must all be hiding from her. She could see, however, a lot of snakes. They were in glass cages raised off the ground on metal legs. The cages were littered all over the room, seemingly at random, but the very largest cage was at the very back. And next to the cage… was what Blank thought could be a mongoose.

"Hey you!" Blank called out as she made it to the bottom of the stairs, pointing the ax at the mongoose. She had no idea who the mongoose was, but judging by the booby trap, she was definitely in the right place. "Where are they?!"

The mongoose didn't respond verbally. Rather, he snapped his fingers as loudly as he could. The lights came on, causing Blank to flinch slightly, narrowing her eyes to prevent them from being damaged by the rapid change of brightness. But she didn't just stand still.

Realizing the danger she was in, Blank ducked and rolled forward. Nearly a dozen clicks of safeties echoed through the room, before the sound of guns firing became deafening. The hyenas Blank had been hunting had been hiding in the darkest corners of the room, waiting for the signal to attack.

Blank had realized that she had walked into a trap long before the lights went on, however. She had plenty of time to roll out of the way. She knocked over one of the glass cages, causing the glass to shatter when it hit the ground. Snakes scattered across the floor, but the bottom of the cage was made of steel, which would provide her with adequate cover.

The snakes that had been freed hissed in displeasure as they began slithering away, more than a few of them dying when they were struck by stray bullets. Blank however, remained almost completely safe. The steel bottom of the cage was stopping the small caliber rounds without any issues. It was only a matter of time until they ran out of bullets.

The moment bullets stopped whizzing through the air, Blank stood up and, with all her might, lobbed the ax she had 'borrowed' straight at the nearest hyena. The ax tumbled end over end, but flew true, the blade lodging itself right between the enemy hyena's eyes. She stumbled backwards, her body hitting a nearby wall as blood and brain matter seeped out of the wound in her head, before she collapsed onto the floor.

Blank didn't let up however, as the hyenas began diving into cover and knocking over more of the glass cages to use the bottoms as shields. She brought her M60 to bear on a few that were just too slow and began opening up on them. The M60's bullets were moving fast enough and were heavy enough that they ripped through the three hyenas' bodies.

Blood and intestines splattered across the walls and floor as three hyenas were caught out in the open and ripped to pieces by the machinegun. Blank quickly turned towards a barricade close to her and began the process of tearing it apart with her M60. The steel bottoms of the cages provided protection against the hyenas' small submachinegun rounds and pistol rounds, but against the ferocity of the M60, it stood no chance.

It only took a few seconds for the machinegun to smash through the bottom of the cage and tear through the hyena cowering behind it. Blank frowned as she didn't recognize the mangled corpse her M60 left behind. It wasn't the Matriarch. None of the hyenas the rogue had killed so far had been the Matriarch. This wouldn't end until she was dead.

Before Blank could turn her attention elsewhere, however, the lights flicked off, and she was plunged back into darkness. Thinking quickly, she dropped back down into cover, expecting the living hyenas to have reloaded by now. The fire in the front room had dimmed so much that it no longer provided her the light she needed to see.

Options ran through her mind. She was still outmanned, but she wasn't outgunned. Her opponents likely reloaded already, and were probably getting ready to flank her. She was probably already surrounded. The only thing that she could be sure of was that they were just as blind as she was.

But that presented a problem in her mind. Even if they were blind, they knew where she was. They could likely creep through the darkness, surround her, and pounce just as the lights went back on. She briefly considered moving, until realizing that she couldn't afford to. She needed to stay by the door, just in case they tried to run away. She couldn't risk losing them again.

Which meant she had to strike first. She reached down and pulled another grenade from her belt. From the way it was shaped, she could tell it was a flashbang. Just what she needed in the dark room. She pulled the pin, before tossing it out from behind her cover.

It only took a few seconds before the flashbang to go off, and sure enough, one of the hyenas let out a scream of pain. The flash of light hurt much more in the pitch black room, and the shrieking sound the grenade let out only compounded that pain.

Blank rose from cover, estimated the position the scream came from, and began firing. Bloody squelches and continued screaming informed her that she had hit her mark. She kept firing until the hyena screamed no more, but by that time, her M60 had run out of ammo. She wasn't sure if she could afford the time it took to reload the machinegun, so she tossed it aside and reached back on her belt.

She still couldn't see, but that didn't mean she didn't have a means of creating light. She still had an incendiary grenade left. She armed the grenade before lobbing it towards one of the walls of the room. She was positive she had seen some of the hyenas hunker down in that direction. Even if she missed, the grenade would provide her with a bit of light.

The grenade hit something and exploded, lighting the area it hit on fire. Blank couldn't help the grin on her face when she saw two of her adversaries let out screams as the flames consumed them. They began rolling across the floor, trying to put out the fire, but they only succeeded in rolling out of cover.

Blank pulled the M16 off her back and fired a few rounds on semi-auto at the burning bodies. The bullets hit their marks, slamming into the backs of their skulls, ending their struggles and allowing the fire to consume them peacefully. There didn't seem to be any type of fire alarm, nor any sprinkler system in place.

The fire consumed not just the hyenas, but had spread across the wall, and even began consuming some of the nearby snakes. A red glow bathed the previously pitch black room, allowing Blank to see that the rest of her opponents were better at hiding than she thought. She couldn't see them… but it wasn't her immediate concern.

A loud hissing and rattling sound drew her attention to her left. A rather large snake coiled in an aggressive position, shaking its tail menacingly. Blank didn't know what kind of snake it was, but she wasn't about to hang around and see if it was venomous or not. She rolled away from the snake, right before it lunged forward.

The snake missed, and Blank hopped up onto her feet, brought her M16 to bear, and pumped a few rounds into the annoyance. The rattling was cut short as the serpent crumpled from the bullets. But that one snake wasn't her only problem.

The fire had startled and scared all the snakes that had been broken out of their cages, and had huddled against the wall Blank had thrown the grenade at. The snakes that hadn't been burned were racing towards safety in a huge wave of slithering and hissing death. All of them heading straight towards Blank herself.

Letting out a curse, Blank pointed her assault rifle at the mass of snakes approaching her, switched the weapon to full auto, and began unloading her magazine at the swarm. The bullets tore through the serpents, but there were so many of them. She emptied her first mag, before quickly reloading and continuing the assault.

In the end, she ran through all three of her backup magazines, but the wall of snakes had been eradicated. Letting out a frustrated growl, she tossed her M16 aside and reached for the shotgun she had strapped to her back. Just as she was reaching for it, however, a scream drew her attention behind her.

One of the Matriarch's personal guard had pulled out a knife and was trying to close the distance. Where the hell is the Matriarch? Blank wondered internally as she pulled the shotgun from her back and put a baseball sized hole through the charging hyena's chest. The hyena let out a gurgled cry, before collapsing onto the floor.

Blank pumped another shot into her head, just to be safe, however. The fire was still burning nicely, the red glow giving the rogue hyena plenty of light to see. She waited a few seconds, before pumping the shotgun with a sigh. She figured she'd have to go hunting for the remaining hyenas herself.

She took a few cautious steps away from her cover, before heading towards the one corner of the room she couldn't see very well, even with the fire. They had to be somewhere over there. She only made it a meter away from her cover, however, before the lights turned back on.

Once again, she couldn't stop herself from flinching. But this time, she wasn't able to dodge quick enough. Instead of a maelstrom of bullets, an enormous hyena appeared at the edge of her vision, and threw a fist at her head. Blank didn't have time to react as the Matriarch struck her in the face, knocking her off her feet, and forcing her to drop her shotgun.

Blank rolled as she hit the ground, before popping back up to her feet in time to block another punch thrown by the larger hyena. The force of the blow pushed her backwards, but she managed to stay on her feet. "There you are, mother," the rogue hyena hissed as she counterattacked.

The Matriarch blocked and backed up a few steps as Blank hit her with ferocious strength. During their previous encounter, Blank had been dealing with the downsides of the Hercules Serum, but now she was at full strength. Although the Matriarch was still quite a bit stronger than the rogue, Blank had pure ferocity on her side.

The two hyenas exchanged blows, shoving each other backwards with each successful strike. The larger of the two hyenas was clearly hitting harder, staggering the smaller with each punch, but the smaller never backed down, blocking and counterattacking when she could. Eventually, the Matriarch overextended herself.

She waived off a right hook from her daughter, before attempting a vicious uppercut. Blank hopped backwards, dodging the attack, before racing forwards with another right hook aimed directly at the larger hyena's face. The Matriarch barely had enough time to block, but was forced to use both her arms to stop the blow. Which meant Blank's left paw had all the time in the world to punch her mother in the gut.

The larger hyena doubled over in pain, but Blank didn't relent. She went to town on the Matriarch's crumpled form. Uppercuts, left hooks, right hooks, punches from every direction rained down on the larger hyena. Blank's punches increased in strength and speed as she realized she finally had the upper paw. This was revenge for their previous bout, where the Matriarch had humiliated her weakened, tired body.

It was all the Matriarch could do to protect her face, giving the smaller hyena free reign on her stomach and chest. The Matriarch hacked and coughed, unable to take the punishment her daughter was dishing out. But, just as Blank pulled back her left fist to gather the necessary momentum to shatter the larger hyena's guard, the Matriarch recovered enough to kick at her daughter.

Blank didn't falter, however, and reacted accordingly. She blocked the kick with her free paw, before pushing the Matriarch's leg upwards, unbalancing her. Then it was as simple as sweeping the larger hyena's legs out from underneath her body, causing the Matriarch to topple to the ground. Blank was fast in pinning her mother, her paws doing their best to restrain the Matriarch's arms.

The larger hyena hissed in frustration as Blank bared her teeth and went for the kill. The Matriarch's life flashed before her eyes, Blank basked in the fear she could smell coming off her mother in waves. But she never got to land the killing blow. The Matriarch freed one of her arms and shielded her neck.

Blank latched onto the Matriarch's arm, however, and with her bone-crushing bite, shattered it. The Matriarch let out a roar of pain and anguish, before managing to get her feet underneath Blank, and kick the smaller hyena away. Blank didn't go without a little souvenir, however, as she tore a chunk of her mother's flesh off when she was kicked away.

Blank stood up and spat out the hunk of skin and muscle she had torn from her mother. It wasn't a crippling blow, but the Matriarch wouldn't be able to use one of her arms for the rest of the fight, giving the advantage to the rogue. The Matriarch stood up, a snarl evident on her muzzle, as she held her bleeding, broken arm.

Blood dribbled from Blank's lips as an enormous grin spread across her face. "I'm tired of just playing around, mother," she hissed as she drew one of the pistols at her side. She had proven she could beat her mother in paw-to-paw combat, and if the fight was to continue, Blank would no doubt win. But the rogue hyena didn't feel like playing her mother's game anymore.

The Matriarch's eyes narrowed, but she remained silent. It wasn't over just yet. Just because she didn't use firearms… didn't mean her guards didn't. And she could see one of her guards sneaking towards Blank's flank, submachinegun in her paw. The guardswoman likely wouldn't be able to kill Blank, but it would give the Matriarch the upper paw once more.

Unfortunately for both the Matriarch and the guardswoman, Blank saw her out of the corner of her eye as well. Just as the guardswoman popped out of cover, Blank had already brought her weapon to bear onto the enemy hyena. The Matriarch didn't even have time to shout out a warning before Blank pulled the trigger four times.

The guardswoman caught two bullets to her chest, one to her neck, and the last one shot out her eye. The force of the impacts caused her to stumble and drop her weapon. She let out a gurgled cry as she began to lose blood at a rapid pace. Somehow, the bullet that went into her eye didn't make it all the way through her skull. She was still alive, but the bleeding would take her soon enough.

The Matriarch let out another roar as she pulled a throwing knife from one of the many hidden sheaths on her body. She tossed the blade at a frightening speed, luckily her throwing arm hadn't been the one injured. The knife flew true and knocked the pistol out of Blank's paw. A second knife came whizzing at Blank only a few seconds later, but those few seconds were all the rogue needed to orient herself and catch the blade.

Blank threw the knife back before her mother could grab another one. With one of her arms broken, the Matriarch had to grab one knife, throw it, and then grab another to throw. It slowed her down enough to the point where Blank was able to catch her blades and throw them back without her being able to do anything.

The blade rammed itself into the Matriarch's chest, causing her to drop the knife she had just managed to grab, and stumble backwards. Blank pulled out her second pistol, Wolfgang's Desert Eagle, but before she could pull the trigger, her ear flicked.

Blank whirled around and fired at the hyena trying to sneak up on her with a knife in her paw. The enormous handcannon kicked hard, nearly flying out of the rogue's paw, but the huge bullet smashed right through the enemy hyena's head. The hyena was knocked off her feet and slammed against the ground, splattering the concrete floor with blood and brain matter.

Blank whirled back around and fired at her mother before she could try and get into cover. The Matriarch dove out of the way, but the huge round collided with her shoulder, practically tearing it to pieces. Luckily it was the shoulder attached to the arm Blank had already broken.

The Matriarch made it into cover, sliding across the floor on her belly, trying to avoid another bullet. Unfortunately, Blank's round made it into the larger hyena's leg, tearing muscles and tendons, making it impossible for the Matriarch to stand. So she was forced to lie there as she struggled to get another knife out of its hidden sheath to try and defend herself. Her only saving grace was that Blank would have to come to her…

"It's over, mother," Blank spat. "Even if I were to just leave you here, you'd bleed out in a matter of hours. Why not accept death with whatever sort of dignity you have left? I beat you, it's over!"

Blank couldn't resist taunting her beaten mother as she slowly approached the fallen hyena, twirling the Desert Eagle around one of her fingers. She stepped around the dead bodies of snakes, but walked right over the broken glass, her combat boots still protecting her paw pads.

Predictably, the moment she rounded the steel bottom of one of the cages the Matriarch was using for cover, she launched a knife at Blank. But from the larger hyena's laying position, she couldn't gather the force necessary for the knife to even make a dent in the smaller hyena's flak jacket. The knife just bounced right off, not even slicing through the outermost layer of the fabric.

The Matriarch's breathing slowed, fear once again rising in her eyes as Blank brought Wolfgang's Desert Eagle to bear on her head. "I love you," the Matriarch all but whispered. Whether it was the truth, or just a last ditch effort to save herself… Blank didn't care.

"And I hate you," Blank hissed right back.

Bang!

The Matriarch shut her eyes, waiting for the deathblow. But it never came. Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked up at her daughter to see the smaller hyena's eyes wide with surprise.

Blank slowly turned her head, already feeling the blood leaking from the wound, dripping over one of her eyes. It was slowly blinding her as static filled her mind. But even through the static and the red liquid, she could see a wolverine standing right beside her, pistol still raised at her head.

…Static…

…Static…

X?

XXX

There we go! Finally, the twist I've been building to for so goddamn long! It feels like it's been ages since I even mentioned X! Probably because it's been at least a full year, I think, since Blank first recruited Judy to decipher the message X had sent her. This opens the door to so many questions! But I'll let you ask them, instead of posing them myself.

Because there's only one important question that I have to ask. What's gonna happen next?! I really hope this chapter was worth the wait, and I'll do my absolute damnest to try and get the next one out at a reasonable time. I just took my final for my first summer session class yesterday, so I'm starting my second summer session class on Monday. Hopefully it won't be too stressful, and hopefully it'll leave plenty of time for me to keep writing! Stay tuned until next time to find out what happens next!