Author's Note: Thanks to all those who are following this story, I really appreciate it. Hope everyone had a good 4th of July, it was a little hard trying to write in the midst of all the festivities in the states :) Anyways, this chapter is a bit longer than the first, I'm hoping to kept them lengthy but enjoyable for you guys. Hope you enjoy this addition!

Chapter 2

Alex slowly woke up to be met with pain coursing through his entire body. 'Ugh, now I know what it feels like getting run over' the boy thought. His eyes adjusted to his surrounding to see where he was. Alex looked around to see that he was in a dark abandoned warehouse, thanks to his powers he was able to see better than average person. Broken windows, rusted support beams, cracked cement walls with vines spread, and various holes within the ceiling allowing the moonlight in created an eerie sense inside the building.

"That bastard Jones…" Alex muttered

"When I get my hands on him, I'll make sure he pays."

Alex thought about everything that happened prior and began to think of his mother. Rage began to form inside him with nothing but revenge motivating him.

'Ok, now how do I get out of here.' Alex thought

He began to look for a way out, not seeing anything right away he noticed a hole on the floor, he then jumped towards the hole and grabbed onto the edge. Once securing a firm grip he swung himself towards the ceiling and clung to its surface. Alex began crawling along the wall looking for another hole to fall through until he heard a faint sound. 'What the' he thought, he soon began following the sound. After falling through another floor he began to hear crying, 'sounds like a kid' he thought. Alex looked to his right to see a cement wall with an opening at the top that would connect the wall to the ceiling. He jumped and clung onto the wall trying to make as little noise as possible and began crawling up. Once he made it to the top the boy saw something that he thought he would never see,

Animals…

Not the normal on all fours animals but on two legs walking around in clothes and talking to each other! Alex was shocked, no he was more than shocked, it was as if no word could describe what Alex was feeling at the moment.

"No…" Alex muttered to himself

"No, this isn't real. It has to be, how is this even possible?!"

The boy refused to believe what he was seeing was real, after all he had been through this was the thing that sent him over the edge.

"That's it, I've gone insane!" Alex said having a panic attack.

"First my mom dies, now I'm seeing talking animals. What else could go wrong?!"

He was soon brought out of his rant when he heard a commanding voice.

"BRING THE KID IN!" the voice yelled

Alex looked down to see who yelled, it was a wild boar with black matted fur who had a scar that ran across his right eye, the boy looked to his left to see two tough looking pigs drag in what seemed to be a lion cub into the room with a muzzle and blindfold on its face. The two brawny pigs then threw the cub onto a metal chair under the moonlight and tied him up.

The Razorback, as they were called in this animal crime world were a vicious gang full of savage hogs. All former ZPD SWAT soldiers, who had fallen into this harsh lifestyle, they knew how to use the most simple weapons in the deadliest ways, making them a threat to the public. "Take the blindfold off" said Ben, the wild boar their leader who ordered the lion cub in. Obeying their leader, one of the pigs removed the blindfold revealing the cub's eyes. Upon seeing the young mammals eyes Alex thought of the look his mother had before she was brutally murdered. 'It's got those eyes" he thought. Alex also noticed how terrible the young cub looked; fur matted, dirty clothes, fatigue looks, and wild eyes. All these led Alex to believe that the cub was tortured which he quickly pushed out of his mind. "I gotta save this lion…" Alex thought

He then got a crazy idea, one that if it failed would see both him and the cub dead. Seeing no other way out of it he decided to follow through. Alex looked around and saw small piece of loose cement on the floor. He then shot a web at the small piece and pulled it up towards him.

"Hope this works…" Alex muttered

He then threw the piece of cement as far as he could, to his surprise it landed on the other side of the warehouse with a loud bang. Hearing the sudden sound the gang spoke among themselves…

"What the…" one pig said

"Probably the cops…" another wild boar said

Ben, the leader, immediately began giving out orders. "You two, go investigate the sound. I want the rest of you to set up a defense outside the warehouse. I'll stand guard over the kid.". The gang began splitting up into their assigned groups moving all over the warehouse, leaving just the kid and Ben alone. Seeing his opportunity, Alex crawled over the wall and began working his way through the darkness to avoid being seen, trying to get behind the gang's leader. Once he had a good position on the wild boar he pushed hard off the wall headed towards the bear.

"Surprise!" Alex said in mid air

The confused boar turned around quickly upon hearing the voice but was quickly knocked out by Alex's punch to his face. Avoiding the loud thump the boar would have made Alex quickly caught his fall and placed him down gently. The boy then turned his head to see the lion cub cowering in fear and whimpering uncontrollably.

"Hey it's okay kid, I'm not here to hurt you." Alex said reassuringly

"Are you alright, did anyone hurt you?"

The young cub said nothing but shock his head left and right. "Alright then, let's get you out of these bonds." Alex said. Soon after he got the cub free the boy noticed that the young mammal looked extremely weak and tired, he decided that the only way for him to get out of this is for him to fight the rest of the gang so that he could get help. After Alex helped the young lion cub onto back he began climbing up to where he left his backpack and ski mask, hoping that he would be safe higher up. Once the two arrived to the boy's stuff he noticed the cub's eyes growing tired. Seeing this Alex reached into his jacket a wrapped it around the cub as a blanket to give him some kind of comfort. He then reached for his ski mask and put it over his face.

"Stay here, I'll be back soon." Alex said, the cub nodded in return.

The boy then turned and began making his way down to where the animals were guarding outside the warhouse. "If I take them out first then it will be easier to take out the two inside." Alex thought as he was maneuvering through the building. He came to an opening that led to the walls outside and crawled through clinging to the outer wall. He could see an outside deck that stood over the main entrance with one of the razorbacks keeping watch for any of the police. Seeing his chance alex slowly crept down the wall, once on the deck he slowly walked till he shot a web at the hog's head turning him around. Alex then threw a punch directly at the hog's snout sending him over the railing, saving him from death Alex shot a web at the unconscious hog and attached it to the railing, making the mammal hang in mid-air. Unfortunately the quick fight created enough noise to draw in the other guards and they quickly converged to see what happened. Alex hid behind the railing to avoid being seen, he then got an idea of how to take them all the guards down at once. He then closed his eyes and began to concentrate on what he wanted to do.

"Focus Al, you got this." Alex said to himself.

He quickly got up and with both hands shot a thick web engulfing the guards in a thick patch of webbing.

"Good luck getting that off." Alex quipped

"Now to deal with those two pigs."

The two pigs whom Ben had sent off to investigate that strange noise did a sweep of the whole area and found nothing. On their way back they began talking to each other. "Hey Butch, what's so important about this cub that Ben wants so bad." one of the pigs named clarence asked. "It's not the the kid, it's his father. He is the mayor's son, you know that lion that was imprisoned for covering up that night howler scandal. Now that he is the mayor again, and Ben thinks he will pay to not see his son die." Butch said. Just then they began to hear muffled yelling and the shaking what sounded like a chair. The two pigs rushed back to where they had last seen the cub only to see Ben tied up with what appeared to be a white looking substance covering his muzzle and a giant bruise on the left side of his face.

"Boss!" screamed Butch as he ran to get Ben out of the chair

But before he could even touch Ben he was pulled into the air heading into the dark park of the ceiling where Clarence could not see him. "BUTCH!" screamed Clarence, growing fearful while hearing the sounds of Butch screaming. Clarence tried to see into the dark to try and find Butch but could not see anything, nervous for him he took out his flashlight to try and see better. He looked up to see Butch wrapped up tightly in what looked liked a cocoon from the same stuff on Ben's muzzle.

" Oh god…" Clarence muttered

Just then he heard footsteps on his left, without hesitation he took out his gun and began firing in the direction of the sound. "Who are you?! Show yourself!" screamed the pig. He suddenly felt a weird substance on his hoof , he looked down and the said substance pulled the gun out of his hand and into the darkness.

"What are you?!" Clarence said with fear

ALex did not respond, instead he slowly descended from the ceiling above the pig, holding onto his web with two hands and feet upside down. Once he reached the pig's ear he whispered into it.

"Your worst nightmare…" Alex said coldly

Clarence screamed in terror, he quickly pulled his knife out and swung in Alex's direction. Alex quickly let go of his web and rolled onto the ground, he turned to face the pig. Seeing the boy, Clarence was terrified, having never seen something like Alex made him hesitant to strike. Ignoring the thoughts in his head he began attacking the boy with his knife repeatedly, during his strikes Alex kicked the knife out of the pig's hoof, sending it flying across the floor.

"My turn…" Alex quipped

He then shot a web at the pig's head pulling him in, once he was close enough Alex kneed the pig hard in the stomach. He then punched the pig, holding his stomach in pain, knocking him out cold. To prevent him from escaping Alex shot a web covering the pig's body in the sticky substance. Having won, Alex sighed deeply to calm his nerves. 'Now to get the kid to safety' he thought. He unzipped his back pocket and took out his phone and called 911, after finishing the call and putting his phone away the boy then began climbing back up to the top floor. After Alex made it to the lion cub he noticed that it was slowly waking up from his slumber. 'Guess he needed a little nap' Alex chuckled under his ski mask. When the lion cub saw Alex again he grew anxious and back away a little bit, noticing this Alex tried to calm him down.

"Hey kid, I'm not here to hurt you. I just took care of those guys for us. There not gonna get you anymore." Alex said

The anxious look on the cub left after what Alex had said, but was hesitant to fully trust this strange new creature. Alex continued talking

"Good news, I called the cops and their coming. You'll be home soon."

At the mentioning of the word 'home' the young lion cub began to cry, not tears of sadness but of joy. Seeing that the cub needed reassurance Alex took off his ski mask and placed a hand on his shoulder. The cub looked up at the creature with tear filled eyes, Alex could see all the pain the kid had been through.

"My name's Alex…" the boy said

"What's yours?"

"Matthew" the lion cub said through tears

"Well Matthew, I think it's time to get out of here. What do you think?" Alex said with a smile.

"Yeah." Matthew said weakly

Alex then began his descent to the main floor with his backpack on his back and holding Matthew with one hand. Once on the main floor they began hearing police sirens not far off, Alex then opened the huge warehouse doors . Standing at the entrance while holding Matthew's paw they see police cruisers in the distance. "Say hi to your parents for me." Alex said to the cub letting go of his paw and facing him. The boy then jumped high clearing the three story warehouse and grabbed onto the edge of the roof and pulled himself onto the warehouse roof. Looking down he could see Matthew staring at him until the cub noticed the several police cars behind him. Without thinking the cub ran towards the cars for safety, just then an adult Lion dressed in a business suit came rushing out of one of the cruisers and ran to embrace his son. Alex smiled at the touching scene, but was interrupted by the memory of his own father and how he was never there for him or his mom, especially when they needed him the most. The boy quickly pushed those thoughts away and began focusing on what to do next.

'There's gotta be someone that can help me.' Alex thought, he looked ahead and saw what looked like city lights but could not see above the horizon due to nearby trees and building. 'Better get moving…' the boy thought to himself. He then jumped off of the building and landed with ease in a crouched position and headed off towards the city lights.

To avoid any unnecessary attention, Alex used his powers to move around the animals walking nearby,crawling and jumping from building to building and using his webs to swing across when it was safe to do so, 'Haven't done this in a while' the boy said to himself while swinging in the air. After landing on the roof of an apartment building Alex was beginning his jumping motion to the next building until he felt a massive jolt of pain in his head causing him to fall to his knees. He looked around thinking that something dangerous was nearby but he was alone, the throbbing pain in his head cause Alex to scream leaning against the roof's railing to get air. Submitting to the pain, he passed out, falling over the edge.

Oh those cliffhanger's, Hope you enjoyed this update. Please leave a review, follow, and favorite this story, Constructive criticism is appreciated. Find out next time to see what happens to Alex in this strange new world. Until next time, see ya!