Chapter 3

"Hey you!" A threatening voice erupted, "Get out my street and turn those lights off I'm trying to sleep!"

Nick, Judy and the wolves turned their heads to the far left of the street they were on. Where they saw a raccoon and a few small predators that appeared to be homeless judging from the ragged appearance of their clothes. The near empty whiskey bottle the raccoon was holding indicated that he was drunk, along with the slurring of his words when he spoke.

Vincent answered to the racoon's demand sharply. "This doesn't concern you sir. I suggest you walk away."

The racoon's voice suddenly turned spiteful and his grip on bottle tightened. "You think you can come here and tell me what to do!" He started to inch his way towards them "Well I'll give something to complain about!" The raccoon then hurled his whiskey bottle at Vincent. To which it shattered into a million pieces once it made contact with his face. A shard dug deeply under Vincent's eyelid leaving a waterfall of blood to run down his muzzle.

By that point the raccoon's friends who also shared his frustration and joined in by grabbing whatever they found on the street and launching them at the other wolves who were not to long ago about to be ready for the kill.

"Screw it just kill them!" Vincent lashed out at his comrades whilst putting pressure on his wound to halt the river of blood pouring out. Gunshots then darted violently across the street one after the other. Nick and Judy took this opportunity to flee from the area as fast as they could through a nearby alleyway, holding each other's paws. The guilt of them doing nothing(since they were unarmed and outnumbered) to help those mammals whose lives would eventually be taken by Vincent and his colleagues would forever haunt them. To the bodyguards, a pile of nobodies was lined up dead on the street where they once stood.

Vincent noticed the two officers were gone as soon as he turned around to retraced his steps. His anger rose. "Well don't stand there get them!" He roared. His colleagues acknowledged and dashed in the direction Nick and Judy went. Vincent however stayed where he was to tend his eye with a tissue he had on him and a plaster.

Through the dingy streets of the district were our panicked heroes running for their lives as fast as they could. They had no knowledge of where they were going, but what they did know is they had to get as far away as possible. Thanks to Nick's night vision tripping up became less of a possibility for the both of them.

" Nick I can't keep up!" Judy said to Nick who was at this point speeding up.

"You're doing fine carrots just keep going you can do it" He replied. Nick looked behind him to check up on Judy's state where he then gazed at what looked like a stampede of eight wolves charging at them in the distance. Only increasing the fox's fear and forced him to pick up the pace.

After running endlessly through the alleyways and streets of Nocturnal district that seemed like there was no end. The duo was then abruptly stopped by two of the bodyguards that somehow managed to get ahead of them. Ready for an ambush. Almost as if they knew the area like the back of their paws.

Yet again Nick and Judy were faced with the sight of handguns being pointed at them.

"You're not getting away this time!" on of the wolves said with a sharp tone and a wide grin on his face. But there deaths were delayed again with the sound of an oncoming car getting louder on the street to their right. As the headlights grew brighter and everyone's vision was becoming worse. It was revealed the car was heading towards them. Seconds later the car handbrake turned to the right and hit both Nick and Judy. Causing them to be pushed backwards violently into the air straight through a window of an abandoned supermarket that was next to them. A gigantic hole was now seen. Before the impact Nick had wrapped his arms around her and placed himself in front of her so he could take the hit from the impact.

The mammal slowly stepped out the car and adjusted his tie whilst clearing his throat.

"Jesus boss! Don't you think that was a bit too much?" One of them asked

"Well Jules' Vincent replied, "We don't want our incident to happen again and I just wanted to do it quickly."

"Yeah and stupidly" Jules scoffed. A glare was then erupted from Vincent "The thinnest of ice!" Vincent shouted before focusing back on his task.

"Sorry to get on your bad side boss." Jules said trying to learn from his mistakes and avoid his boss's short temper.

"Let's just search the area and check if they're dead." Vincent replied whilst heading towards the supermarket.

Judy slowly raised her head off the ground to find that she wasn't embraced in Nick's arms. When she called out his name a response wasn't heard from him, silence was all that the bunny was replied with. This made her anxiety even worse as many horrible speculations flooded her mind uncontrollably. What if the wolves took him? Or even worse what if he was killed? The determination to find her friend was now the ultimate objective. Fear replaced her other emotions. Her heart rate was quickening by the minute.

She then decided to get on her feet to find Nick. However a sharp pain on her thigh prevented her goal in standing upright. It was worse than the pain she felt at the natural history museum. A sharp object had dug itself deeply in the recesses of her right leg. A moan erupted from her throat when she applied pressure on her leg by placing it on the cold and dirty floors of the store. Judy moved her paw to where she was feeling this red-hot pain. It was then she realised that a shard of glass was lodged into her leg that happened when she landed on the supermarket floor from the window.

As a means to reduce the excruciating leg pain. Judy starting limping with her good leg. However her speed had only increased slightly.

The front doors to the supermarket were kicked open. Leaving the bunny to stop dead in her track just as she was grasping the concept of limping.

"Search the area! If you see them. You know what to do!" Vincent said to his team of 11 when they split up in different directions. By that point Judy had leaped towards a knocked over aisle where she hid behind it.

Even though she couldn't see where she was going. She used her ears as an advantage to avoid the wolves by hearing their footsteps and avoiding the areas where they were heard. In this instance, silence was her ally.

Judy called out for Nick as she crept along the floors whilst using her sense of sound to her full advantage. She made sure she picked up every noise there was to be heard before taking a few steps forward. Even the most miniscule sounds were picked up.

The fear kept increasing as she was tiptoeing around the supermarket, trying to avoid being spotted by her killers. The amalgamation of her fearing for her life while trying to find her friend was too much for her to handle. Adrenaline rushed through her body without hesitation, increasing the pace of her heart by the second as if it was a time bomb ready to explode anytime soon.

Just as she ventured to the other end of the shop and avoiding the wolves with ease, paws that were nearly the size of her head suddenly grasped around her mouth, trapping the air she breathed to escape her lungs. Muffled noises broke free and her arms flailed behind to attack whoever was grasping her. To her surprise a familiar voice whispered in her ear to keep her at bay.

"Shhh. Shh. Carrots, it's Nick. It's ok. It's me". He then placed his paws off her mouth once she stopped trying to attack him.

"Nick!" Judy whispered loudly "Where were you? What happened?"

" I was knocked somewhere towards here and was unconscious. Listen we need to get out of here."

Just as the two took their first steps, Judy moaned in pain as she placed her bad foot on the ground whilst applying pressure on it by accident. Nick gazed upon the shard that was dug into her leg and sighed.

"Looks like that isn't giving you any good luck huh." Nick joked as he tried to brighten the situation slightly.

"Funny." Judy responded sarcastically. The problem that was now in plain sight had made their likelihood of escaping quickly slimmer. Having Judy slow him down was what he was mostly concerned about. Wrapping his left arm around her, Nick encouraged her to keep moving straight and to use him for balance. For Nick, the exit was in sight and in front of them and not far from their current position.

Nick and Judy started moving forward. Being careful where they were treading. Slowly they had nearly made it to the exit, freedom was so close they could almost taste it. However that thought was abruptly halted as Judy accidentally nudged a table, knocking a glass bottle to its side, rolling off the table and smashing on the ground. Shattering to into a million pieces with a piercing sound that echoed in the supermarket.

The wolves quickly turned their heads and dashed towards where the sound was heard.

"Over there!" One of them shouted before he and the others ran off towards Nick and Judy.

The two then tried to pick up the pace and to get out of there in an instant. They had both managed to dodge the oncoming bullets that were fired and ran through the exit of the shop. The chase was on yet again with a disadvantage this time. Only half off their killers chased them. The other half decided to go around them.

As the wolves were gaining on our heroes whilst the chase led through the gritty streets and alleys that gave an ominous vibe, Nick's heart only quickened from every step they took when he looked behind. "I can't believe I'm going to do this!" Nick thought to himself. Without giving Judy a warning, he stopped and picked her up bridal style to stop her from slowing him down.

"Nick what are you-"

"I can't let them get you" Nick interrupted.

Nick ran towards the docks that were towards the East of the district. What he saw in front of him was a small bridge that led to the boats on the other side. Nick and Judy were on the middle of the bridge until they were yet again ambushed on both in front and behind. Looking at them from left to right, then looking behind him towards the bridge rail, Nick had no other choice but to jump over the edge. Startling Judy. Just as he jumped over the rail Vincent who had his eye closed then shot him in the right shoulder. Nick let out a painful groan as soon as the bullet made contact through his fur.

The fall wasn't as deep as Judy thought it would be since there was a small splash to be heard when Nick hit the ground a few seconds after they were in the air.

After seeing a sewage entrance, Nick ran inside without hesitation.

Vincent and his comrades looked over the edge to where Nick and Judy landed.

"Should we go after them?" Jules asked his boss.

"No" He replied, "Leave them. I don't feel like going in that cesspool for a couple of road kill." He said bitterly. And just like that, Vincent and his gang headed back towards their vehicles, which was now halfway across the district.

"Ok I think we've lost them" Nick stated as he peered his head upwards from the entrance.

"You sure?" Judy questioned.

"Positive. Ok let's find a way back to the city. We got to tell Bogo." Nick then tore a small portion of the cotton from his right sleeve and wrapped it around his wound tightly. And once that was taken care of, he then wrapped his left arm around Judy who still didn't have her sight. At this point in time she had still lost her sight. Blackness was the only thing that was visible to her.

The two then ventured steadily through the many tunnels trying to go in the direction that led towards the city. Both of them were in pain and had escaped death at least three times only to have a sewer be their escape route. However the water they trod on was shallow, only going up to their toes, being a huge advantage for them.

"Ok If I'm not mistaken I believe if we keep going forward we should reach the city." Nick said.

"I can't believe we lost him." Judy replied in a disappointed tone with a glimmer of anger in her voice. "That was our only lead and we had him."

" Yeah but Carrots we got the information we needed." Nick retorted.

"But may I remind you that we were supposed to bring him in as well as interrogating him!" Judy answered back sharply. At this point adrenaline started to suddenly rush around her body like a virus getting ready to consume her.

Nick began to adopt the same tone she was speaking in. Being stressed not only due to the fact the two had escaped the clutches of death more than once in a district that in itself was a death trap, but now the inception of hearing his partners attitude was the last thing he wanted to hear from her. "Okay I'm beginning to hate this tone of voice Carrots. Why don't you take a few deep breaths then talk to me!"

And within an instant, Judy shoved Nick away from her and began her rant.

"Do you not understand what just happened!?" Judy shouted "We had something that could have made this case one hundred times easier to crack. But now since he's back in the hands of those guys. It's kind of harder now. I mean the bandicoot could have been lying for all we know!" Nick then shot back to what Judy had said, arguing against her claim.

"Oh I assure you carrots he didn't lie, let's not forgot I've worked with these people longer than you have!"

"Well good to know you know someone knows what they're doing!"

Nick's fur began to bristle and his eyes began to narrow on Judy.

"Do you even want me here? Because I can leave y'know!". Without thinking, Judy uttered a few words she would regret for the rest of her life.

"Well to tell you the truth Nick I don't need you here!"

As soon as Nick heard her say that, his brow lifted and he felt as if his heart had been stabbed over a hundred times. Throughout the time they had been partners for the ZPD Nick had been a loyal friend to Judy, being there to provide comfort for her in any situation. Whether it would be to provide comfort when she was upset or to simply brighten her day by making her laugh. Nick had always been there, even when she didn't ask. However he had now had enough of how her attitude towards him. His expression went back to anger.

"Well if that's how you feel then there's no point in being there for you."

Judy instantly regretted say that to him. Her brows went up and her voice softened. She tried to apologise to him but she was cut off before she could begin her sentence.

"You know what I'm done being there for you! You have done nothing but treat me horribly. You've been treating me like dirt actually. I'm not helping you anymore!" Nick than began to walk in the direction they were going towards. Not looking back. "Have fun getting out of here."

Judy began endless stream of apologies as she heard his footstep become quitter from every step he took. Her mind began to feel hazy as she tried to find the right words to say to him. Until she decided to tell the truth that would be the hardest thing to say.

"I'm scared ok!" Nick stopped dead in his tracks when he heard those words.

"I'm scared of not only what will happen to me but what will happen to this city. I don't want everything to go wrong and every innocent persons lives to be on the line. I don't want the blame to be on me if it does. Protecting people is my job and I can't let everyone suffer. But to do that I can't do that without you." Tears began to form and run down her face "Nick I need you. I've always needed you."

Judy didn't hear anything from Nick. She felt her body tremble and her voice began to break as she broke down "I'm sorry that I've treated you so horribly. And I'm sorry that I hurt you. I guess I really am just a dumb bunny." Judy began to silently weep and began to cover her eyes with her paws. Judy's worries began to break free and as her tears ran more rapid down her face, the more sobs intensified, like how a hurricane forms over time.

After what felt like an eternity of hearing her own voice struggling to inhale the stanched air in the sewer, Judy heard footsteps approach towards her. She had managed to only slightly calm down hearing them.

"Hey Carrots come on now shh. Please stop that." A familiar voice was heard that made her calm down. Paws her then felt as they wiped the tears from her face gently. "Nick?" She questioned.

"That's not going to happen."

"What won't?"

"What you said. We're going get this Dallas guy, and we're going to stop him. I promise you."

A small smile then plastered onto her face. Her crying stopped as she heard her friend speak softly to her words of reassurance, something that she needed to hear.

Judy lifted her right arm and extended it in front of her to know how far away Nick was away from her. She was then greeted to Nick gently gripping her paw and moving it towards his cheek. To which her paw felt the warm fur that covered the right side of his face. Judy's smile erupted and she quickly hugged Nick as tightly as she could, resting her head on his neck.

"I am so sorry Nick. You're the most important thing in my life."

Nick felt his shoulder becoming wet from the tears that were running down Judy's face.

"It's ok. I just hate the way you treat me sometimes." Nick said as he caressed her ears gently and pulling her closer towards him.

"I know. That's going to change. I promise." Judy replied as she began to calm herself down by wiping away the tears running down from her eyes.

After a short while the two proceeded to what they were doing before the event took place.

"Are you ok?" Nick asked her.

"I'm fine." She replied.

Nick and Judy continued to move in the direction they were going, using Nick's eyesight as a method to escaping the endless tunnels.

An hour passed. The two were still in the tunnels underground trying to find a way out.

"Wait do you see that?" Nick asked Judy after walking forwards for god knows how long.

"Yeah" she said after squinting to see what was right in front of her. A beam of light was shining downwards from the top. Meaning only one thing. A way out.

They both head towards where the light was, Judy's vision became more visible with every step they took closer to the light. Looking up towards where the light was coming from, car horns and engines were heard. They had made it to the city.

"Ok I'll go up first." Nick said to Judy as he placed his paw off her and climbed up the ladder to open the cover.

Nick pushed upwards and move the manhole towards the right where he then climbed up and hoisted Judy up who was not far from him.

As the two were now on the surface of the city. Judy began to breath heavily, hating the foul stench of the sewers. She began to blink rapidly, praising her sight was back.

"Nick I can see."

"That's great." He replied as he was at this point sitting down and leaned against a building. When Judy looked at him, her face turned to complete horror.

"Oh my god Nick your head." Judy saw Nick had a massive cut over his right brow, it was covered with dry blood and was in the midst of becoming infected in a few hours.

"Nick where did you get that?" She asked him.

"When he were entered the supermarket."

"That looks bad." Judy than tried to tend his wound but was met with Nick swating her paw from him.

"I'll be fine."

"Right, we have to tell Bogo."

Bashing open the doors of the ZPD, Nick and Judy ran up to Bogos's office who was working late.

"Chief, we need to tell you something!" Judy said to her boss.

After a gaze Bogo had on his fellow officers, he was shocked to see them all battered and bleeding.

"You two look horrible." He stated, "What happened?"

"That's why we're here sir." Nick interrupted.

Bogo sighed and then heard to what they had to say.

Nick and Judy told them everything Charles told them several hours earlier. Everything from the schedule to the appearance of Dallas Wolfeson. Intriguing Bogo.

"So that's all we have." Judy ended with.

"So do you have this Charles guy with you?" Bogo questioned.

The two then looked at each other before responding. "No" they replied in unison.

"He got away with these bodyguards that we had to escape from." Nick told Bogo.

Bogo stood up and told Nick and Judy his verdict "That's excellent work you two. Take a break and get some rest, you've earned it. Oh and get yourself patched up."

"Thank you sir" Judy replied.

"I'll call you if anything happens."

Walking past the receptionists desk Nick and Judy met Clawhauser who was on night shilft.

"Hey guys where did you two go?" Ben asked them.

"We went to Nocturnal district." Judy replied.

"Oh have you heard about the metric system over there-"

"Not interested" Nick and Judy replied in unison.

Nick and Judy then rushed to the hospital where they were seen straight away to be patched up. Nick had a bandage placed over his shoulder where the wound from the gunshot was and had a plaster over the cut he had on his head that had stitches under it. Whereas Judy had a bandage wrapped around her thigh and was told to take a few painkillers to dull the pain that was in her leg.

After their wounds were tended, they then headed to Judy's apartment. They took turns to have a shower to wash the dirt off and to kill the foul stench from their 'pleasant' trip to the dingy sewers that was diseased ridden. Before heading to Judy's apartment he picked up spare clothes for him to wear, feeling embarrassed to even think of wearing clothes that were several sizes too small for him.

Nick was sitting down on Judy's bed. Feeling warm beyond his wildest dreams and enjoying the sound of the radio that coated the room. Judy was at her desk making sure all her essentials such as her phone, notepad and pen were with her. To her disappointment her phone was on low battery during the run ins with death. Diminishing the chance of calling for backup.

"How are you feeling?" Judy asked Nick.

"I'm fine." Nick replied before rubbing his eyes.

Judy then walked over to him to check on the progress of his recovery. Seeing her friend hurt was difficult for her to comprehend and even witness.

"It looks like that your wounds will heal in no time." Nick said to her. Yet again trying to cheer her up so she wouldn't worry about it.

"I think it will" She replied, "I mean the quicker it heals the quicker I can get away from you." She teased at him. Playful banter the ensued from the two of them.

"Oh is that so?" Nick retorted.

"Yep"

There was silence in the room for a while. Nick just gazed at Judy. Making the rabbit beyond confused about what it was he was doing or even planning.

"What?" Judy said to him after just seeing that expression just plastered on his face without an explanting.

Suddenly Nick planted a kiss onto Judy's lip without even thinking of the consequences. The rabbits' eyes widened and a squeak erupted from her. After a few seconds, reality smacked Nick over the back of the head. He opened his eyes and abruptly broke the kiss. A swarm of apologies were then made from Nick has he instantly regretted the actions he had made.

"Oh my god Judy I am so sorry. I didn't mean that. I just- I'm so-"

"Shh." Judy interrupted and placed her finger on his lips. Making the fox almost mimic Judy's expression only seconds ago prior. "Don't be"

Judy slowly planted a kiss onto Nick's lips. The fox was in awe when he felt the wet lips of his partner. However he then seeped into the kiss and the caressed the left side of her face with the arm that wasn't in a cast (that being his left).

Judy placed her paws on Nick's shoulders and then gently rubbed them up and down. The thrill of not only kissing a fox but her partner was truly something she never thought she would do.

A song from the radio came on that conveniently set the mood of the on going event. The song was 'Take me down' by the Smashing Pumpkins. After listening to the opening chords of her favourite song. Judy broke the kiss without warning Nick and turned up the volume on the radio.

"Is this your favourite song?" Nick asked her.

"It's one of my favourites." She replied as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Do you want this to be our song?" Nick asked yet again.

"I can't see why not."

The two went back to passionate kissing. Nick than decided to wrap his left arm around Judy's waist. Which in turn made Judy pull herself closer to him and press her lips harder against Nicks. The two had this moment to enjoy. Where they weren't being chased or having guns being shot at them or even being stressed. Being in each others arms made their worries disappear.

Judy then gently pushed Nick onto a towards the pillowy grave that was her bed where they then continued to embraced in each others arms and to have their lips connect with a passion. It was at that very moment that it was confirmed that they now loved each other.

I hope you liked this chapter. I also hope you have a merry Christmas! Please leave a review about what you think of the story. Listening to feedback makes a better at my hobby.