Pawbert vs Nick
"Where is she?!" Nick felt his adrenaline spike despite the freezing cold brushing his fur. The snow leopard stepped towards him so casually with a venom pen in his paws.
Pawbert cringed and looked up while stepping towards the fox. "Ohh she... she didn't make it. But with snake bites you, go fast. You'll see." That's when Pawbert lunged with his heavier frame and venom pen to strike, right as Nick's police training kicked in.
Nick dodged left, the pen whistling past his ear and embedding in the snow with a soft crunch. He countered with a swift paw strike to Pawbert's jaw, feeling bone crack under his knuckles, not knowing if it was his fingers or the leopard's jaw. But the snow leopard was built like a tank, shrugging off the hit and roaring as he swung massive claws in a brutal arc.
“Gah!” The first slash caught Nick's shoulder, ripping through fur, muscle, and tendon in a spray of crimson that steamed in the frigid air. Pain exploded, hot and blinding, but Nick twisted away, blood soaking his orange and white fur and freezing into dark icicles on his pelt and pink shirt. He retaliated with a knee to Pawbert's gut, forcing a wheeze from the beast, then grabbed a fistful of snow and shoved it into the leopard's snarling maw.
Pawbert spat ice and blood, his eyes wild with rage. He charged again, tackling Nick into the thick snow. They rolled, paws flailing in a frenzy of fangs and fury. Nick's teeth sank into Pawbert's forearm, tearing flesh until red flooded his mouth. The leopard bellowed and raked claws down Nick's side, opening four parallel gashes from ribs to hip. Blood poured freely, staining the snow pink, then red, then pooling in thick, clotting waves. Nick gasped, vision blurring from blood loss and cold, but he hooked a leg behind Pawbert's and flipped them over.
Straddling the bigger predator, Nick rained punches, splitting Pawbert's lip and blackening an eye. Blood dripped from the leopard's nostrils, freezing on his whiskers. But Pawbert's raw power surged. He bucked wildly, slamming Nick off and pinning him down in the bloody slush. A heavy paw pressing Nick's windpipe while the other reclaimed the venom pen from the snow, its tip glinting lethally.
“She's gone Nick just… get it over with,” Pawbert growled, raising the pen high for the killing plunge.
Nick's paw shot out in desperation, kicking upward with every ounce of strength left. His boot connected with Pawbert's wrist, sending the venom pen flying into the blizzard. It vanished in a swirl of white. Pawbert laughed, a guttural rumble, and reared back with claws extended for the bloody finale. Jagged tips hovered from Nick's throat, promising a savage disembowelment right as the venom pen dropped beside Nicks head, out of ideas and losing blood… he went for it. “You're done Nick, know when to QUIT!”
In that frozen heartbeat, Nick grabbed for the dropped venom pen in the crimson snow. His claws snatched it up, slick with slush and blood, and he drove it deep into Pawbert's exposed neck, right through the thick fur and into the jugular. The leopard's eyes bulged as venom coursed through his veins. His claws cut the collar of Nick's shirt mid-strike but the strength was gone, watching his body seize in paralytic spasms. Blood bubbled from the puncture, thick and blackening in the cold, mixing with venom that foamed at his muzzle.
Pawbert toppled sideways, limbs twitching uselessly, his massive frame sliding toward the tundra's sheer ledge. Nick staggered up, wounds screaming, every breath a ragged fire in his chest. He knew he had only one antidote left, stashed for Judy. No way he'd waste it on this monster, or let her carry the guilt of a death, knowing she'd blame herself for the leopard's death if Nick didn't make it seem like an accident. He watched Pawbert weakly hold a hand up while laying in the snow bleeding, barely able to move. Looking at Nick with true fear in his eyes for once. “W-wait... T-the anti-pen…” His plea was almost silent.
Nick held back a growl and shook his head. “This antidote is for Judy. But don't worry, you'll die from the fall if the venom doesn't do its job.” With a scoff and a final shove with his footpaw, he pushed Pawbert over the snowy edge. The snow leopard plummeted silently into the abyss, body vanishing in a distant puff of powder. “Good riddance…”
Once the adrenaline wore off the pain hit. Nick clutched his cut sides that dripped red, blood trailing behind as he sprinted through the storm towards the door. "H-hang on, Judy," he muttered, forcing his legs inside the weather wall, bumping into a railing as he fought to stay conscious. The antidote pen burned in his pocket even as his vision blurred, her life his only drive now, even as his own was dripping into the cold metal and snow, she was worth dying for!..
