A/N: Well, this is Chapter 4 now. Vivian and Arthur find themselves in a strange, bizzare and awkward predicament, Omari must inform Maude of a conspiracy against her and try everything he can to protect her, and Alexandra Cabot gets wind of the rumors of the AST drugs stored somewhere in the kitchen and has her boss Capt. Cragen summon detectives Benson, Stabler, Munch and Finn to investigate. Jessica Fletcher, in the meantime, joins forces with the SVU detectives in a investigation that could involve the conspiracy plot to destroy both Harold and Maude and sunder the special bond between them while Kyle and the boys launch a rescue mission with Early and the squids and Ms. Naugatuck and Vivian make some personal discoveries of their own, with Ms. Naugatuck quickly discovering that she must now hold the fort and prove her loyalty to her employer while she is gone. Tutti Bomowski, however, must heal from the blistering and scalding wound she received from Dorothy's unwittingly powerful electrokinesis attack that led to a tree burning to the ground and also confront Sophia on her own. Also there will be a couple of new characters introduced in this story; you'll see who!
The vast, cosmic skies of the prosperous, well-off neighborhood of Tuckahoe, New York was dazzling and shimmering with translucent, brilliant, luminous streaks of dark tawny, amber and saffron rays of sunlight that was intertwined within the light baby blue/azure background of the heavens as dawn makes its regular appearance again by rising up in the horizon from the east. The golden/yellow ways of the sun spills and radiates over through the transparent, clear window of the Harmon household as the room soon lit up with its bright, vivid light and revealed the sleeping couple lying in their humongous bed asleep. Unfortunately, Cartman himself was also sleeping in the bed and was squished in between Vivian and Arthur, having been accidentally taken home by the Harmons the night before. Vivian was so exhausted from her visit to the Findlays' house that she had hardly noticed that she and Arthur were taking the young boy with her and to make matters worse Arthur was slightly inebriated and intoxicated as well, making him completely incapable of operating a vehicle. Somewhere between the shenanigans and tomfoolery in the Findlay house Arthur had sunk into the kitchen to have a drink or two in the living room, but it appears that he made have had too much to drink, and now he was the first to wake up with a throbbing, agonizing headache plaguing his brain. He then staggered and rose upright from the bed while holding his aching head and then Vivian roused from her sleep as well, still overly worn out and fatigued.
"Arthur, did we accidentally pick one of the kids up from Maude's house last night?" she grumbled crankily. "Why?" Arthur groaned in reply as he continued to bemoan about the fierce hangover he was currently suffering from. "I think I have a vague memory of something in particular…" his wife muttered sleepily under her breath; Vivian then slowly swiveled her head around to see who it was that she accidentally abducted from her best friend's house and then a hysterical scream escaped her throat once she saw who that kid was; it was none other than Cartman! "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Arthur howled at the top of his voice and then quickly jumped out of bed in panic, with Vivian slowly slipping out of bed with a bewildered and panicked, consternated expression on her face. "Viv! There's a fat ass sitting on our bed!" Arthur yelped in a terrified and alarmed tone.
"Fat ass?! That's the same little brat that I locked up in Philip's room!" Vivian replied back with a vicious and menacing streak. "MAAM! I want pancakes!" Cartman whimpered in a whiny voice in his sleep, not realizing that he was no longer under the protective custody of the judging panel. It seems like he also doesn't remember that he was no longer in South Park either. The couple then balked as they cast a hard, unmoving, cold, dead stare at the boy and Vivian felt herself in the throes of a terrifying panic. Arthur couldn't think of anything to calm and soothe his flustered and perturbed wife. This was a very awkward situation; if Ms. Cartman were to find out that a couple of complete strangers had mistakenly taken her son from his designated group in the dead of night… they could get sued or worse!
"Look, Vivian. We already have that mangy, crazed lunatic named Chuck to deal with already; we do not need a rottenly spoiled, pampered, indulged young man to put up with! We need to take him back!" Arthur griped and carped to his wife irritably and petulantly. "Arthur I think I know why we took Cartman home last night. I think in my subconscious I wanted to take him home because I'm somehow getting attached to him; there's a part of me that reaches out to this young man and wants me to give my heart to him. I feel as if he were my son. And when Cartman tried to resist me and prevent me from locking him up in Philip's room, I think he somehow felt the connection too, especially when he tried to bite me in the breast."
"Think of it this way, Arthur; it's like how Maude feels about Omari. She feels like Omari's her whole world and that a large part of her life would be empty if anything were to happen to him. Arthur, let's do something for Cartman; let's feed him and take care of him and then we'll return him to Maude and Walter before word of this reaches his mother," Vivian explicated her sentiments about Cartman to her husband in a quiet and soft voice as she cast a downward glance at the floor shyly, not willing to look at him as she spoke and then glanced up at him as she spoke her last sentence. Arthur then pondered his wife's words for a moment before sidling over to the bed and shaking Cartman's shoulder in order to wake him up. "Eric, Eric, listen boy, you're not in South Park anymore; you're in the house of the Harmons," Arthur coaxed the young boy encouragingly as he gave him a little nudge with his elbow and finally Cartman opened his eyes and sat up with a blank stare, not uttering a word.
Vivian fidgeted with her fingers and tapped them against each other in nervous anticipation, waiting for his reaction. Cartman then yawned and then glanced around at his uncouth surroundings and then glimpsed first at Vivian, then Arthur, and finally Chuck, who was now jumping up and down excitedly and exuberantly emitting and yelping maniacal barks with an extra spring in his feet. His eyebrows then furrowed with a contortion of a frown forming in his lips as his visage screwed up to that of suspicion, wariness and mistrust and then he spun his head around to meet Vivian's gaze, who was now flashing a friendly grin at him as she smiled. "Eric, this is my fox terrier, Chuck. He's usually jumpy and edgy in the morning. I'm Vivian, and this is my husband Arthur, right on the other side of the bed," Vivian briefly introduced herself as she directed Cartman to Arthur, who gave him a polite wave of hello. Cartman's body then shook and quivered furiously and right before the two Harmons knew it, he had just unleashed an outright tantrum.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I WANT MY MOMMY! I WANT MY MOMMY! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO HER, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES!!!!" he shrieked and shouted in a shrill, agitated, frustrated voice as he thrashed and flailed his arms around in an infuriated fit like a 5-year-old. He then turned on Vivian angrily and then lunged right at her, prompting her to scream in terror. Cartman then pounced right on her and caused the young woman to topple right on her back and then he started to beat and throttle her with his fists while Vivian tried to push him away with her hands and blocked his hits to defend herself. "I hate you, you fucking bitch! This is payback for locking me up in that asshole's room!" he shouted and screamed in an indignant, incensed voice as he continued to buffet, belabor and bludgeon the young, female New Yorker with his fists. "I will not tolerate utilizing psychical violence on me, young man!" Vivian scolded him reproachfully and then something snapped in her that allowed her to acquire the strength to actually overpower him and soon she shoved him onto the bed and pinned him firmly on his back with her entire body.
Cartman then fought with all his strength to continue to resist and fight back but he soon tired as a result of the heavy weight of Vivian's body being pressed down against him and ceased his struggling altogether. Vivian then breathed a sigh of relief and then picked him up to go downstairs and also to give him some breakfast, but then Cartman suddenly jerked up and then struck her in the face with his bare fist, causing her to stumble backwards in a daze. Cartman then leapt out of her arms and then took a few steps back before dashing right at her with a resounding yell and then assailed and assaulted her by throwing haphazard swings of his fists right at her and proceeded to bash and smash her face with his overwhelming and formidable punches, which were then accompanied by swift, sudden strikes of his feet. After being struck by yet another quick punt in the right side of her face by Cartman, Vivian then doubled over and nearly took a harrowing and deadly plunge through the window and to her death several feet below. Chuck then charged and flew at Cartman in a maniacal, frantic rage with a sharp, snarling growl erupting from his lips and then sunk his pointy fangs into Cartman's buttocks, causing him to scream and cry in pain and then Cartman sprung onto the floor and then started to run around in circles screaming himself into hysterics while Chuck bit harder and harder into his bottom in order to defend his female owner.
"Chuck! Sit!" Arthur ordered a swift and stern command at Chuck, at which Chuck stopped biting and chomping on Cartman's butt and then swerved around to glare at Arthur angrily before rushing and advancing towards him with a gritty, gravelly snarl. Arthur then yowled in a petrified manner and then grabbed a broom which had been leaning against the wall for some time and brandished it against Chuck while cowering in a crouching position to compel him to keep a safe distance from him, while Chuck simply growled at him irascibly. You foolish, pompous ass! You are so ungrateful for a venerable doctor! I saved your wife from that little ass and this is the thanks I get! Damn! His malicious, irritated, irked, glaring eyes silently communicated his unspoken message as he continued to growl and hiss at him in a detesting manner as a small, sparkling flint of red flickered and shined in his eyes. "Good boy, that's a good boy, Chuck. Yeah, you want some dog food for breakfast? How about your favorite treats for saving Vivian? You like that, don't you?" Arthur cajoled and enticed the elderly dog with some favorite treats of his to eat for breakfast.
Chuck then let out another snarling growl and continued to bay and bark at Arthur before he sat down and started to lick himself. Arthur then moved from his defensive position, slowly put down the broom, and then crept over to his shaken and frightened wife who was vibrating and trembling with anger at Cartman's brutal treatment of her. "I swear Arthur I will give that boy hell!" she hissed and snarled viciously and vindictively before she attempted to make a rush at Cartman to give him a taste of his own medicine before Arthur grabbed her by both of her arms and restrained her. "Calm down, Vivian. Beating the crap out of the boy wouldn't do any good; besides it'll give you bad parenting skills," Arthur consoled and comforted her softly and gently and soon Vivian came to her senses and stopped struggling against her husband and stayed put. She then took a deep breath to release the tension and anger from her muscles and body and then strolled to Cartman with a graceful stride and then knelt down in front of him before placing her hands on his shoulders and peering right into his eyes with a stern, hard gaze.
"Listen, Eric, honey. I know you're scared and you want to be with your mom again, but you can't go home now. Not like this. I'll tell you what though: Arthur and I are going to take good care of you. You'll stay with us for a little while and then we'll take you back to Maude's house. I'm a very nice lady; I'm not that mean, believe me. Listen, would you like some pancakes?" Vivian then explained to Cartman what was going to happen to him and now they're going to work everything out. Cartman actually grinned when she said that and then beamed for a moment; then a wicked smirk emerged on his lips and he resorted back to his overbearing, bossy mood. "I want pancakes! Give me pancakes, you fucking bitch!" he exclaimed in a whiny, shrill voice. "First of all, do not refer to me as bitch; just call me Ms. Harmon as a term of respect," Vivian chided and rebuked him disapprovingly. "Just give me the damn pancakes, lady!" was all Cartman was willing to say.
Vivian then raised her right eyebrow in displeasure and then pointed out the door to Cartman without uttering a word. "Fucking dumb broad," Cartman muttered under his breath as he toddled his way out of the Harmons' room and then Chuck followed his footsteps closely while snapping at his heels belligerently; he was not willing to let this stranger attack his owner again, or he'll suffer worse. "Ugh! This boy is completely intolerable! I can't stand his insufferably arrogant and haughty attitude!" Vivian sighed in exasperation as she sat down with her legs crossed and then Arthur approached her to comfort and support her. "This boy should be no different than I; people have proclaimed that I'm a jackass, even Maude," Arthur commented to her crisply and stiffly in an attempt to cheer her up. "Arthur!" Vivian shot back at him, upset. "You know I don't love you less for that! Ooh! It's just that I can't stand Cartman! He is so vulgar, spoiled, childish, incorrigible and stubborn as an ass." "That's true; let's see if I can go downstairs to talk some sense into the boy," Arthur signed lamentably and then he disappeared from the room and spirited away into the kitchen. Vivian followed him while mumbling under her breath in reference to Cartman, "Asshole."
Kyle then started up in bed drenched and soaked in sweat as a dream flashed and dissipated into his mind. His clammy and dank hands trembled and quivered and felt cool to the touch as he felt the surging and pulsing sweat evaporate and dissolve into the air, leaving a very cool vapor circulating in his hands. "What the f…?" he whispered low in his voice, baffled, puzzled and troubled by what he was seeing and then glanced out to the window. The sunlight was pouring into the room with his light yellow rays and the morning was now starting to grow thin. Kyle then vaulted out of bed, careful not to disturb Timmy and Butters, who were sleeping on either side of him, and also Chef, who was also dozing in a sleeping bag alongside Yubaba, who was sprawled on the floor snoozing.
Her twin sister Zeniba was lying on the bare floor curled up into a little ball with a teddy bear clutched to her chest just 5 yards away from the door, near the closet. Kyle then tip-toed away from the room, nervous and on edge about the strange, stifling atmosphere around him as he glanced from Butters to Timmy, then to Chef and Yubaba, and then to Zeniba, who was just a few feet away from him. Something was not right; there's some sort of evil lurking around… he thought to himself. Didn't Cartman come upstairs with us last night? He's supposed to be here! I thought I saw him with that Harmon lady last night too… Wait a minute… I know he's a complete, fucking asshole and I hate him to death, but it still seems odd that Cartman is not with us. Where could that little bastard run off to?
A series of thoughts dashed across his mind as he slowly approached the door. Kyle gulped and then reached his hand for the doorknob, apprehensive of what was to come. He then took a moment to take a glimpse at the witch Yubaba, who was still snoozing soundly with Chef beside her. He did not want to mess with that woman, that's for sure. He heard rumors that she turned a girl's parents into pigs and stole people's names in order to take possession of them. She could even seal up your lips completely and make them disappear! Kyle wasn't too sure of what else she was capable of, but whatever that was, it was NOT good.
Kyle then opened the door slowly but surely and then after poking his head out the door glanced around to see that the hallway was empty. It was too early in the morning for anyone to be up around this time, but he could hear two distinctively different voices ringing in the kitchen. One was a growly, raspy voice type and the other one had a British/Cockney accent. It appeared that the two people were… singing? Kyle then dashed out on the hallway and then thundered down the stairs and raced right into the kitchen to investigate.
When he torpedoed right into the kitchen headfirst, he was astounded to find that Ms. Naugatuck and Dame Marjorie Chardin, aka Maude, dancing and swaying to a song from Flashdance, "What A Feeling". Ms. Naugatuck was a mediocre singer, but Maude surely knew her way through the song and had a very decent voice and the two were shaking their hips and waltzing through the kitchen as if there were no tomorrow. "What are you two doing?!" Kyle exclaimed in a dumbfounded, flabbergasted voice. Ms. Naugatuck then quickly turned off the radio and then grinned at the boy sheepishly and chuckled. "Well, Mr. Broflovski, I didn't expect you to be up so early in the morning. Ms. Chardin and I were just dancing to some songs. We are considering entering the talent show," she beamed affably as she bowed to him politely and then placed her hand on Maude's shoulder as she grinned at Kyle back.
"Entering the talent show?! You can't even sing half your ass off!" Kyle berated and rebuked her angrily and disparaging and then his hand flew to his mouth in surprise as he realized he said the wrong thing. Me and my big mouth… "Now, now, Mr. Broflovski, that is no way to address your elders. Apologize right this instant," Ms. Naugatuck sharply scolded and chastised the young boy and Kyle's face burnt a deep crimson red in shame and embarrassment. "Sorry, Ms. Naugatuck; I just didn't think you were that good," he confessed timidly. "That's all right, dearie. Just be polite around it the next 'round," Ms. Naugatuck beamed at him as a sign of forgiveness and patted his head. Then as she walked away with Maude, she added as if she were speaking to herself, "What a bright lad." Kyle then smiled shyly and then shuffled over to the table to have some pastries left on the kitchen table, which was rather rude but he was hungry and famished.
Suddenly he heard a "Psst!" coming from the window and Kyle jumped at the sound; he then skittered over to the window by clambering on the counter and squishing his face close to the glass. There in front of him were his pals Stan and Kenny. Stan then opened up the window so he and Kenny could let themselves in. "Kyle!" Stan screamed with joy and then threw his arms on his best friend in an embrace as Kenny muffled his exclamation back. "Stan! Kenny! What are you doing here in Tuckahoe?" Kyle cried and gaped in amazement and wonder.
"Dude, we came here to keep you company; we were not about to let our best friend be lonely and afraid in this strange suburb of New York," Stan explained to Kyle informatively, and then Kenny emitted his muffled replies in return. "Thanks guys! You're the best!" Kyle beamed and smiled as he hugged Kenny and Stan. "Hey, where's Cartman?" Stan made an inquisitive query out of Kyle, prompting him to scratch his head. "I don't know; he seemed to have disappeared last night," the young boy answered, confounded and stumped. "Do you have any leads?" Stan interrogated Kyle persistently. "Not really, but the last time I saw Cartman he was in Ms. Harmon's arms," Kyle answered in reply as he shrugged his shoulders. "Who's Ms. Harmon?" Stan enquired Kyle, confused and vexed. "Well, Ms. Harmon is a good friend of Ms. Findlay, the tall, looming lady with a booming, commanding, masculine voice who's letting us stay in the house for a couple of days. You're not supposed to be here, for you're not one of the members of the judging panel for the talent show," Kyle explicated and elucidated his answer calmly and slowly while enunciating his every word.
"Dude, don't worry; my mom allowed me and Kenny to get tickets to Tuckahoe, New York and for us to sign up as alternate members of the 12th annual Broadway Street Theatre Talent Show Judging Panel if anything were to happen to you. I'll be translating for Kenny, since no one really understands him that well," Stan reassured him coolly and confidentially, and Kyle breathed a sigh of relief. Now he wouldn't have to worry about his two best buddies getting into any unwarranted trouble, or does he? "Listen guys, I think I know what happened to Cartman last night. Ms. Harmon and her husband must have taken him with them!" Kyle divulged his suspicions to the two boys, and Stan gasped at this speculative theory. "How could they do that right under Ms. Findlay's nose? Were they drunk or something?" he exclaimed in astonished shock and disbelief. "Actually… Mr. Harmon was drunk; I think he must have gotten a couple of champagne bottles from the kitchen and helped himself to about four to six glasses," Kyle remarked nervously and Kenny screamed in outrage.
"Dude, that's a monster hangover he's going to suffer from, or worse!" Stan cried in a horrified and appalled voice. "We have to get Cartman back!" Kenny shrieked in a muffled voice. "Guys, I think I know who could help us; the squid family that is rooming in Ms. Naugatuck's room!" Kyle informed a potential plan to his friends. "There are squids sleeping in Ms. Naugatuck's room? How in the world are they going to help us? Don't they need water to survive?" Stan gaped in an awestruck tone. "No, no, no! They're land squids actually. They don't really need water to survive; I think we need to talk to the patriarch of the family and see if he'll help us," Kyle explained in a rambling voice and then he ushered Stan and Kenny right into the squids' room.
Kyle then knocked his fist on the door that was formerly Ms. Naugatuck's room until the squids ruthlessly took over without caring if that decision forced the British maid to retreat to her employers' room and then paced around to wait for an answer. Stan then glanced at Kenny with a blank expression, waiting for him to say anything, but Kenny merely shrugged. If this was how they were going to start their very first day in Tuckahoe, then they're in for a wild ride in the Big Apple. Just then, someone tapped on Kyle's shoulder and then he spun around to see who it was; it was none other than Maude Findlay herself, and she didn't look too happy. Stan and Kenny then screamed in unison at the top of their lungs and Kenny launched himself at the middle aged woman in defense in order to attack her but then Maude grabbed his parka and set him down gently. Kenny just blinked wordlessly afterward.
Then she continued to loom over the boys and glare at them with a pretentious and sanctimonious glare and a domineering and majestic stance until Stan's eyes burned so much from looking at her he couldn't even bear to stare at her any further; Kenny then took out a semi-automatic and aimed the weapon right at his temple, prepared to commit suicide in front of her. "God will get you for that, Mr. McCormick!" Maude admonished him grimly. Kenny then gasped in surprise with his muffled voice and dropped the gun before crossing himself three times as a sign of repentance, earning baffled and bemused looks from his friends. "Who the hell are you lady? Some kind of prophetess from God?" Stan challenged her audaciously. "And how did you know my friend's name?" Kyle added angrily. "Were you listening in on our conversation for the entire five minutes we've been standing here?" Stan piped in irritably. "All right, all right! Look, I don't want you boys to do anything stupid under my watch. I'm in charge of this group and since you three are minors, I'm also in charge of you. My name is Ms. Maude Findlay and yes I've been eavesdropping on your conversation. I do not want any clandestine collusion happening under my nose, is that clear?" Maude shouted irascibly before explaining her motives and intentions to the boys and letting them know that she will not tolerate any form of misbehavior that occurs in her house.
"Look, all we want is to rescue our friend, Cartman. I think your friend Ms. Harmon must have taken him last night; her husband seemed very intoxicated," Stan pleaded to Maude in earnest with both Kyle and Kenny nodding in agreement. "You mean Vivian?" Maude gasped as she directly made eye contact with Stan. "Yeah… her," Kyle concurred, not sure what Vivian's actual first name was. "Well, Vivian is a bit of a dimwit, but she is my friend, so I'll take you boys next door and I'll talk with her. I am in charge of Cartman after all," Maude relented in stern agreement after some consideration. At this the boys cheered and then flooded in single file back upstairs and into their respective room to check on how their remaining roommates were doing, with Maude smiling as she watched them disappear into the second floor.
These boys aren't really that bad; they just want their friend back, that's all, even if he is a bit of a spoiled brat. I sure took proper charge of the situation when I did, and I'm glad I did so, but I'm still worried about Omari. I don't know what I'm going to do with him since he's infatuated with me. I don't want Walter to be jealous of him, that's all. Omari means the world to me and I love him just as much as I love Walter; they are my most favorite men in the world. I love him too much to lose him. I will not turn my back on him just like his parents turned their backs on him when he needed them most. She then smiled to herself at these thoughts and then quietly strode her way back upstairs and then ventured into the dark, narrow hallways that were devoid of any sunlight. Soon she went right into the master bedroom and leaned against the doorway to watch the scenery.
Omari was still sleeping in his crib along with the other Maude and her husband was still sleeping in the bed for some unknown reason. Joey was still sleeping in his crib and it was then that Maude's eyes wandered right to that crib and thought briefly about the decision she made years ago with Walter. At the time Maude was perfectly happy with it but as the years went by and the times changed and the country switched presidents and the superhero community gained more and more renown in the world, Maude felt some sort of incomplete void within her heart and began to become increasingly lonely. She wished that she could raise something, a puppy, a kitten, anything to fill the void in her heart. And that void was finally filled when Omari entered their lives one March day, a grandson of the absent King of the Rusty Plains.
King Russell Ronald Remarr was his name, according to his birth mother, and he had fathered two twin cubs, one was Gideon, who was the oldest, and the other one was Earl, the younger of the two. Earl was his biological father, the scrawniest and scruffiest of the two; Gideon was the apparent heir to the throne and had all of the privileges of the firstborn, whereas Earl was a mere spare, saved only just in case anything were to happen to Gideon. If that wasn't to be the case, Earl probably would have been killed, and Omari would have never been born. Maude didn't care if Omari was the offspring of one insignificant spare, on the contrary. She was actually elated that he had some form of royal blood in him from his father's side. His father had some wine-colored, mauve fur in him, and his mother was a royal, dark chocolate brown lioness that became a rogue and wandered the vast kingdom of Amalthea, (The Rusty Plains was one of its numerous provinces), sleeping around and mating with various males and bearing their children as a result.
Omari was one of those children that resulted from a lusty union. A son of a whore will fall in love with a whore, that's what it is one of the councilmen who ran the government of Amalthea told Maude when she and Walter came in to defend Omari's birth mother to defend her of several egregious charges directed against her. The whole kingdom of Amalthea was scandalized by Suzannah's, (the name of Omari's birth mother), wanton and promiscuous behavior due to the fact that she was a princess who singlehandedly built the kingdom of Amalthea on her own with the help of her elderly father, King Adolph Fonso, or just plain King Fonso.
King Fonso was in charge of the entire team that Suzannah was the leader of, and was disheartened by his daughter's raunchy behavior. The princess was thereby banished into exile on a faraway planet in light of these allegations of debauchery, sexual misconduct and more other grievous charges that the Council Of Amalthea forbade the Findlays to discuss with anyone, especially their adopted son, about, at least until Omari was old enough to understand. The Findlays then were left with no choice but to tell Omari that he was just simply abandoned as a young cub and the Findlays were very generous and more than happy to take him in, especially since Maude had become very attached to the young boy. Maude felt sorry for the disgraced princess but was happy that Omari was in good hands with her and Walter. Ms. Naugatuck, Carol, Philip, Archie, Edith… no one in the Bunker/Findlay family knew anything about Omari's mysterious and shadowy past save that Suzannah and Earl had both abandoned their young son and took the rest of his half-brothers and sisters with them and that was the end of that.
Gideon was forced to drive Earl out of the Rusty Plains and using his father's authority also disowned him as his brother as well. Earl and Suzannah, however, eventually split up and Suzannah had fled and taken another identity. Some people say that Suzannah went absolutely insane in her designated exile and brutally murdered all of her offspring, leaving her husband to grieve his losses; that was what supposedly initiated the split in the first place. Others say that the rest of the heirs to the Amalthea throne borne by Suzannah were in turn abandoned by their mother and stepfather. Maude was alarmed and disquieted by these rumors but refused to believe them and therefore inform Omari of these rumors, fearing it would upset the young lion cub.
She had every right to withhold this information from her adoptive son; Omari would have become greatly upset and distraught with grief and sorrow if he were to find out that the same biological family that had deserted him were to have been destroyed from within, with his mother vanishing without a trace, his father left alone in the world, and his 9 half-siblings: Faye, Alexis, Jewel, Noah, Zaskar, Duffy, Travis, Terry, and Patricia, all of them dead and slain by their mother's own hand, never again to enjoy life's pleasures. If these rumors were true, since Jewel was also Gideon's daughter as well, then Omari was the sole remaining descendant of King Remarr still living, a tragic, miserable, lamentable consequence to think about.
Maude had swore to herself that once Omari grew up and if he wanted to reclaim his two birthrights, which were the kingdoms of the Rusty Plains and Amalthea, Maude would yield him all of the information he needs to know about his past and help him in his quest to recover his secret and obscure past as a former royal heir to two of the most prominent and renowned kingdoms in the entire planet/kingdom of Amalthea, (the capital city of the planet Amalthea, of course, was Amalthea City), and regain his legacy. Maude knew that Omari loved her dearly with all his heart and soul and she knew that Omari knew she felt the same way. She acknowledged the fact that he would do anything to make sure she was safe and that no matter what happens, she, Omari, Walter and the gang would go through the journey together.
Maude then gazed at Omari with misty, teary eyes as her vision blurred in front of her. She then dashed to Omari and then threw herself on him, crying and sobbing as she buried her face into his furry chest. "Oh, Omari! I don't want anything bad happen to you! You know I'll be completely distraught if anything were to happen to you! You're the one person I love besides Walter! I love the both of you equally and I don't want either of you to get hurt! I love you my son," she wailed in hysterical tears as one teardrop slipped from her right eye and fell onto Omari's chest and she continued to sob inconsolably. "I love you too, Maude," Omari smiled as he gently kissed her forehead. Maude then ceased her crying and peered at her son with tear-stricken eyes. "I know, Omari. I've known that for a long time," she nodded understanding and then with a mischievous smirk she proceeded to tickle his underarms, making him laugh.
Then she turned around to see that her husband Walter was already up, and he was grinning enthusiastically. "Walter! When did you get up?" Maude asked him quizzically. "So I see that Cartman's on the loose, huh? That was some performance that you put on, Maude," Walter chuckled with a devilish leer. "How did you…" Maude started but then Walter took out his hands out of his back and revealed Omari's steel radio right before their eyes, and even Omari himself could not believe it. "You stole my steel radio, Walter?!" Omari shot back at Walter, mortified. "Guess you're not the only one who knows how to work these things. You've been foolish enough to leave it out on the rooftop where someone could steal it," Walter laughed as he explained carefully to Omari, who then groaned while slapping his hand onto his face in frustration.
"There is no way you could have gotten onto that rooftop without us knowing it, Walter," Omari retorted while shaking his head in skepticism and disbelief, with Maude following his lead. Her husband was completely unbelievable sometimes, even going so far as to come home intoxicated one night when Carol, Maude and Arthur had a disagreement over Carol's son Philip and Arthur's granddaughter Angela "playing doctor" and he actually took nearly all of his clothes off right in front of his stepdaughter and wife. Omari could not get the image out of his head for WEEKS after Maude recounted that story that occurred years earlier.
"I didn't have to; I think it was your eccentric friend that must have gotten onto that rooftop and retrieved it for you," Walter remarked candidly in reply, at which Omari was stumped. That lady knows how to do everything – laugh, sing, talk, steal and retrieve stuff… she could have become a world class thief if she had wanted. But her benevolent and altruistic, affable and amiable, empathetic personality prevents her from doing so, so she only reserves those skills for helping the ones she loves, even Harold. "That Maude is something," Omari mumbled under his breath. "I definitely agree, Omari," Maude nodded her head in agreement and then she beckoned the two boys to follow her to the kitchen, for she suddenly had a plan. Walter gulped; he detected the evil gleam in his wife's eyes and he did not like that look at all.
When Maude, Walter and Omari finally got downstairs, they were stunned to see Butters, Kyle, Kenny, Stan, Timmy and Chef gathering outside the door with Harold, Maude, Yubaba, Zeniba, Early, Liz, Rusty, Granny, and the Sheriff in tow. Maude's lips twisted and contorted into a sneer and she immediately marched right over to the group. "Now wait, wait, wait just a minute! Nobody is going anywhere on some crazy adventure until I get word out of one of you where it is that you're heading off to," Maude yelled in a commanding, demanding voice as everyone turned around to look at her, surprised and startled. "Well, it's just that Kyle, Stan and Kenny went to Timmy and me and told us of some plan he had, and then we went to Chef, and Chef said that was fine as long as he went along. Yubaba and Zeniba wanted to go too, and then word got to the squidbillies in here also and Early wanted to bring his family along for the ride as well. And since Maude was the one who stole the Mercedes Porsche, it's fair of her to drive us to the Harmons' house," Butters rambled and prattled on in a rapid voice and mumbled and babbled on nervously and anxiously as he felt Maude's cold, angry stare peer right into his soul. Finally when he was finished, he breathed in a sigh of relief while wiping his forehead with his right hand relaxingly and smiled shyly.
"TIMMY!" Timmy growled while thrashing and flailing his arms excitedly and obliviously in his wheelchair. "Is that boy retarded or something?" Walter cried while pointing his finger at Timmy in annoyance. "Walter, knock it off!" Maude turned on him furiously with a sneer. "That wasn't nice, Walter," Omari chided Walter mildly. "TIMMY!" Timmy spoke up once again while bobbling his head randomly. "Dipshit," Walter growled under his breath. "WALTER!" "TIMMY!" "WALTER!" "TIMMY!" "WALTER!" "TIMMY!" "WALTER!" "TIMMY!" "WALTER!" "TIM…" "Oh why don't you shut the hell up?" Maude snapped at Timmy bitterly, prompting Timmy to wave and smile at her absentmindedly, not paying any mind to the comment she just said.
"Well, if we're not going to sidetrack each other any further by trading insults, then I guess I must be off," Harold scoffed as he sauntered over to the door to open it, with Maude trailing behind him. He then opened it and then bade Maude exit the door. "Ladies first, Maude," he greeted her by bowing in courtesy and then gesturing her to the door. "Thank you, Harold. You're so sweet," Maude gushed in bashfulness while strolling out of the door. "Anything for you, my lady," Harold hollered out of the door as he heard her snicker in a fit of giggles. Then everyone else just stampeded out of the Findlay house, with Rusty hooting and somersaulting in the air with a "Yeah, Daddy!" and Early blasting his rifle out wildly and shouting at the top of his voice, "Hit the 'tram!". "Oh, praise Jesus!" was Granny's reply while Liz said absolutely nothing and just smoked. Soon Maude, Walter and Omari dispersed with the rest of the group and everyone had left the house, leaving the rest of the panel and remaining members of the household behind.
Then, Ms. Naugatuck waltzed out into the open and then started to sing "Tie In A Yellow Ribbon". Alexandra Cabot then walked out into the living room and said, "Ms. Naugatuck, Special Victims Unit needs to speak to you." "Oh really? Coming, dearie," Ms. Naugatuck quizzed her curiously as she followed the assistant district attorney right into the kitchen, where Detectives Elliot Stabler, Olivia Benson, John Munch and Odafin Fin Tutuola were lounging around in the kitchen table inspecting things and the detectives flashed their badges upon Ms. Naugatuck's arrival. Ms. Naugatuck trembled at the sight of the detectives and then Alexandra Cabot showed her to a chair, at which Ms. Naugatuck obliged.
The British maid then sat down in a vacant chair and bubbled and muttered her way anxiously and agitatedly as she felt flustered, puzzled and consternated. The detectives then returned to their original seats and then Detective Olivia Benson looked at her. "So you must be Ms. Nell Naugatuck," Elliot Stabler pronounced sternly at Ms. Naugatuck, at which the maid gulped fearfully and in dreadful dismay. "So tell me, how long have you been working for the Findlays?" Olivia Benson importuned Ms. Naugatuck inquisitively as she flashed a profile picture of Walter and Maude. "Ah, ah, ah, it twasn't me, ma'am. I, I have been working for the Findlays for more than 20 years now. I started working in um, 1974 I believe," Ms. Naugatuck stammered and stuttered nervously as she stared at the detectives with a bleak expression and sweated nervously.
"Who was the last maid that worked for the Findlays before you came here?" Elliot Stabler interrogated Ms. Naugatuck with a steady gaze as the elderly maid felt Detectives Munch and Finn glare at her warily. "Um… Ms. Findlay told me it was um… Florida Evans. She was a black woman, you see," Ms. Naugatuck blubbered on to the detectives as sweat continued pour down on her profusely. "Hey, relax Ms. Naugatuck; you're not a criminal, you're not being charged with anything, for this is a simple interrogation just so you could provide answers as to your knowledge on the AST drugs that are suspected to be in this house," Elliot Stabler calmed her reassuringly but then Fin stomped over to Ms. Naugatuck and then bent over to her face closely and Ms. Naugatuck shrunk in fear.
"However, you can go to jail for obstruction of justice so you better be up front and honest with us," he warned her admonishingly and then retreated back to his original spot, causing Ms. Naugatuck to shiver in terror. "Think of it this way, Ms. Naugatuck; in the eyes of the police you're a formal witness since Ms. Chardin has revealed this vital information to you," Detective Munch informed the British maid with a somber and grave tone. "We could bring in some protection if you want if we feel that whoever has manufactured those drugs might go after you," Olivia Benson added gently yet earnestly. "All right, I'll reveal everything I can if you must insist. Should I tell you about what happened to Omari?" Ms. Naugatuck sighed and relented yieldingly. "You might as well, because that is strong evidence of the drugs' destructive effects on living organisms, including animals," Elliot Stabler nodded in conferment. Ms. Naugatuck then nodded back understandingly and then took a deep breath before she began her tale.
"I heard Mr. Findlay cry out Omari's name from the kitchen. I saw her bolt right out into the living room to wake up the Bunkers and then I rushed up the stairs to fetch the rest of the members of the household. By the time I led the entire gang into the kitchen, Omari was already lying sprawled on the floor and Ms. Findlay was kneeling right in front of him, shaking and crying herself into tears. And then the next 45 minutes was like a blur; I couldn't believe what I was witnessing. I saw my employer peer up at me and tears were pouring and raining down her face, with her eyes reddening at the sides and with such a dreadful, glazed, obscure, fierce look that I could not bear to look at her."
"It was an emotional, pained, yet distant and aloof glare as if she were trying to hold back all of her emotions as they were spilling out in the forms of expressions she was conveying with her countenance. Rage, desperation, alarm, consternation… it was all mixed up right in her face. I damn well wished I did anything to help the poor woman; she was so distraught and traumatized by the whole ordeal seeing Omari in mortal danger just broke her heart. I remember her whispering to me in a faintly audible voice that was the most huskiest I've ever heard, Ms. Naugatuck, I don't know what I'm going to do now; Omari has never had a history of seizures, ever. I feel so damn guilty for letting him be in harm's way, and I should have been more careful with him. Why do I have to be so foolish? I would trade places with Omari in a heartbeat if I could; I wish I was the one who was dead! And then her eyes narrowed and peered out into little black holes and a flash of red illuminated and flared in her eyes and she curled up her lips with a snide sneer, her face blackened and darkened into a nasty, hideous, nefarious shade of black, just pure evil. My bones were immediately chilled and my heart froze, my muscles tensing to run out of the room in panic. Don't just stand there, you damn fool; help me for the love of God!"
"I remember her screaming at me. I know she said a similar comment like that later on but that's basically what she said to me. Then she turned to Carol and tells her to call 911, and then Carol dashes right to the phone and dials 911. I was astonished and dumbstruck by how quickly Carol got to the phone; she and Omari were never really that close as adopted siblings, mind you, and she was even jealous when he first came to live with us, but when Omari fell sick, I suppose, that Carol figured she had responsibility towards her younger brother at hand and she leapt into action. By then Walter had left the house to go fetch the Harmons, because uh, Arthur was a doctor himself, a professional doctor, and besides Arthur was Walter's best friend, and Vivian was Maude's best friend… You do understand what I'm telling you, right? Are you following what I'm saying?" Ms. Naugatuck recounted the harrowing and devastating events of that dreadful and awful night as best as she could, and the more she talked about, the most hesitant she became to relive the whole thing again, even though she was now comfortable with talking to the detectives about it.
Besides, who else was going to listen to an old woman like her anyway? Strangely enough, Ms. Naugatuck felt like she must be constantly on her guard to make sure that nothing happens to this house while her mistress was gone and had to be the one holding the fort. She felt a certain debt of gratitude towards Maude and believes that she must pay her employers who were so generous and merciful with her over the years by demonstrating her loyalty. She then looked up while momentarily stopping her disturbing and gut-wrenching tale and saw that Elliot Stabler was scribbling some notes on a notepad while Olivia Benson read them over as he wrote; Finn was brandishing a ping pong mallet in the air absentmindedly while John Munch also wrote down some notes of his own.
Unfortunately, however, deep within the shadows that were cast in the house, two different pairs of eyes were gleaming and radiating out into the light with a luminous and brilliantly, glistening sheen; one was a pair of dark red eyes while the other one was a pair of light, azure blue eyes. From the pair of dark red eyes, a dorsal stripe can be seen visibly along with the head, and the scrawny, muscular, slim body of the other intruder was conspicuously transparent in the ominous dark. They were spies dispatched by Ms. Chasens to inspect the house and check on the detectives' snooping and prodding in the Findlay home.
A tail flicked out into the light briefly, a winding, long, extended, light brown tail that is, only to slip back into the shadows. The other creature stuck her yellow paw out into view, and then poked out her muzzle from the darkness as well to sniff around her new surroundings. Her older, stronger, sleeker companion snarled and snapped at her younger, emaciated, thin partner and lunged at her with such brutal force she nearly pushed her back into hiding, which she didn't have to do since the other female lion flinched back with just enough time to avoid being hit by her partner in crime. "Vitani, you fool! You could have given us away! Don't you see those godforsaken detectives just a few feet away from us?" the older lioness snarled and roared with a husky, gravelly, smoky voice, which was the most unusual voice for a lioness to have by the way.
"Mother…" the younger, yellow, scrawny lioness moaned with a crackly, whispery, raspy voice. "Don't you start with me, Vitani! Now, look and watch," her mother snapped huskily and then the two lionesses refocused their attention onto the Special Victims Unit detectives and the older, dark brown lioness with the dorsal stripe eyed Elliot Stabler munching on an apple hungrily. Drool began to water and permeate from her jaws and she slurped her lips greedily. "Detective Elliot Stabler," she growled with an insidious, menacing, malicious hiss, and her pencil-thin, ebony lips bent into a devious, calculating, artful smirk and as Vitani stared at her mother's viciously shining, pointy, deadly carnivore teeth, she shuddered and gawked at her mother in dismay. "What in the world are you thinking this time, Mother?" Vitani questioned her mother quizzically. "He's the alpha of all New York city cops," her mother remarked with an obsessive, compulsive, fanatical streak. "He is mine, Vitani, you hear me?"
"Yes, Mother," Vitani sighed while rolling her eyes in disgust. Her mother was SUCH a psychotic bitch; not even a change of scenery, which incidentally was the grand, affluent, opulent suburb of Tuckahoe, New York, which Vitani couldn't even tell how far it was from that place to Central Park, would even allow her to put aside her possessive, jealous, maniacal rage for even one nanosecond! Besides, Ms. Chasens personally chose THEM, all the way from the goddamn province of Kenya, which the lions couldn't care a damn less about the formal name of the place in which they live anyway to be her special, secret agent spies/minions to masquerade as just simple house cats so Maude and the clan's suspicions would be diverted. Also up for the job were Petrie's Uncle Pterano, his henchmen Rinkus and Sierra, and also Ms. Chasens' most trusted spy, Minnie Castevet. Of course there were some other people recruited under Ms. Chasens' authority, but that was about it. And did I forget to mention that Uncle Victor also has an entourage of mercenaries that are only summoned for search and destroy missions and other torturous deeds?
Vitani knew that her mother was not pleased when Ms. Chasens informed her of that fact; well she could have summoned her whole army of Outlander lionesses with no complications and they would have done the same amount of damage like Uncle Victor's mercenary army if they were ordered to overrun the Findlay house and wipe it out in a matter of minutes. They weren't exactly mosquitoes, but they were pretty strong lionesses that might have the same potential as the U.S. Army, if not more.
A dark, crimson, ruby red tail flickered out of the doorway that was the gateway to the kitchen and then Vitani seized her sights on it, her bright, ocean blue, sapphire eyes glowing and gleaming in the dark. "Mother! I think there's another lion in here!" Vitani hissed to her mother. "Well go get her!" the older lioness retorted impatiently, not wanting her machinations to be further derailed by some runty little lioness especially an orphaned stray that has often frequented the house of the Findlays. Vitani then slinked out of the shadows and then her mother followed quietly, suddenly revealing her presence. It was Zira all right, easily recognizable by her slender, wiry, muscular, thin build and her angular, rounded, oval-shaped head, and also with a distinctive black dorsal stripe implanted on her forehead and her right ear chomped off from the bottom.
She was a strikingly well groomed and sensationally beautiful lioness in comparison to her only daughter Vitani, who was not only bony, emaciated, scrawny and psychically frail, but she also had a scruffy, compact, elongated face with freckles decorated on her muzzle with overgrown, profuse tufts of hair on her head; she also had wide, enlarged ears and looked eerily similar to her mother, who was more well kempt. Vitani looked almost like an anorexic. Unfortunately for the stranger that had just crept into the house, she was in for serious trouble. The young crimson/ruby red lioness cub had broken into the Findlay home without Maude and Walter's prior knowledge, (as she had always done by the way), but now she had the misfortune to run into two of the most notorious Outlander lionesses in the entire country of Africa: the warrior princess herself, and the self-proclaimed Queen of the Outlands.
"Ah, shit!" the lioness cub gasped in horror as Vitani stalked up to her and attempted to seize her in her tracks, but luckily the lithe and nimble cub quickly slipped out of her grasp and took off running into the living room and right out of the house, with Zira and Vitani gaining on their trail. Pterano viewed the entire scene unfold right before his eyes and was hovering over the rooftop to monitor the progress of their current mission, with Rinkus and Sierra to do his bidding. Ms. Chasens then glanced at her watch soundlessly as she leaned over her seat to watch the two lionesses hunt down their prey from her driver's seat as she sat there parked in front of the house once again, with Uncle Victor in the passenger seat next to her. "Damn, damn, damn! Come on, you stinking, smelly, incompetent bitches! Get that little runt and depose of her!" the young woman hissed in a low voice as she continued to look out for Zira and Vitani; Uncle Victor just slipped out a cigar and lit up and Ms. Chasens ignored him as he proceeded to smoke his latest joint.
In the meantime, the young lioness cub galloped behind the garage and tried to bound her way inside by leaping at the window; her feet smacked themselves against the hard surface of the wall and she plummeted into a tumble onto the ground and then landed right onto her back and then sat up weakly before she saw that her pursuers were charging right at her! The lioness cub knew from her experience on the streets that it was futile to spare even a moment when you're being hotly pursued by someone or something; your ability to act quickly can make the difference between life and death. And she knew better than to hesitate when her life was in immediate danger.
She then raced onto her feet again and then took a sharp turn right into the street while Zira and Vitani continued to hound her, with cars darting and flying by past them. The young lioness cub then dashed, ducked under and hurtled over cars and around them as she continued to speed in the streets, the sounds of beeps, screeches, and roars filling her ears simultaneously. Too many times the cars barely avoided running her over, one actually going past by her and narrowly escaped striking her head-on by a mere few inches and the young lioness managed to suppress her imminent fear of being run over by cars and merely concentrated on making her escape and shaking her chasers off. Zira attempted to increase her speed to match those of her prey, but she nearly slipped and lost her balance before nearly slamming right into an incoming car.
"MOTHER, NO!!!!" Vitani shrieked before Zira ducked out of the way and raced away from the car. The young lioness then saw a sudden flash of light flicker right before her eyes and she screamed as she was instantly blinded and stumbled onto her path. Another oncoming car, this time a Mercedes Benz, was about to collide right into her when Zira sprung on the young cub and seized her jaws right onto her neck as she wrapped her arms around her with a "Gotcha!". Vitani then smacked right into her mother headfirst and the three lionesses slid right under the Mercedes Benz and skidded right in the middle of the street, with Vitani lying slumped near her mother on her right side and Zira was curled into a tight ball while cradling the cub in her arms with her tail dangling limp on her slender, long, narrow face. Unbeknownst to them, however, in that Mercedes Benz were Capt. Cragen and Dr. George Huang! They were heading straight to the Findlay house to interrogate and interview the remaining members of the household about the mystery of the AST drugs in the house. Zira and Vitani then got up from the ground and Zira gingerly took the cub by the scruff of the neck and then the two padded over to the black Nissan Armada, with the young lioness cub struggling and writhing in her jaws.
"Let me go, you reprehensible bitch!" she screamed in a light, Scottish/British voice. "Do something, Mother. Make her shut up," Vitani urged, already flooded with impatience and irritation. "You better let me off right now, or my friend Omari is going to kick your ass!" the crimson/ruby red lioness cub continued to wriggle and squirm in Zira's mouth and finally Zira set her down and then smacked her across the face – hard. The young lioness then snarled at her defiantly and spat in her face, the blood gushing and seeping out of her face in the spot where Zira had hit her, which was across her face and started to walk off. She started to taste bitter blood in her mouth and then turned around to flatten her fur and puff it up in a bristled, intimidating stance with her ears folded back and her tail sticking out in the air and letting out a terrifying, screeching yowl as her eyes glistened and burned a brilliant luster. Vitani was just bemused and puzzled, whereas Zira was not amused. She then sauntered up to her and struck her across the face again to make her obey, but the young lioness cub spat in her face again and then kicked a thick cloud of dirt in her face with a brush of her right foot before attempting to walk away again. "I'll give you hell, kid, so you better listen to me damn you!" Zira snarled at her indignantly and infuriatingly, but the cub simply did not listen, deaf to her threats and warnings. Vitani was just stunned and stupefied at the young lioness cub's audacity; no one had stood up to her mother twice and gotten away with it.
She then sidled around the cub surreptitiously and then peered at her closely. The dark crimson/ruby red cub had fluffy, swirly, frizzy, magenta hair tufts with a circular, diminutive, compact, magenta nose and a rounded, compact, angular snout, and there were also thick tufts of magenta fur insulated in the inside of her ears as well, along with tiny tail tufts. Her body was tetragon-shaped and was also slender, curvy, slightly rotund, yet muscular and well developed with powerful, strapping, graceful legs. She also had a pure white, downy, soft underbelly and her toes were also white and rounded. The young cub also had smooth, even, velvety fur as well and her ears were angular, wide and flat, capable of cocking to a certain angle; her narrow, long, curved face had a beauteous, fair complexion with an innocent yet spunky and feisty expression.
Adorned around her neck was a thick, luscious, furry ring of dark mauve/purple ruffles and her dull, soft, shocking pink eyes complimented her unique and unusual features, and her bold, curling, black eyelashes made her even sexier. Incidentally, she was known as the most beautiful and eligible orphaned lioness cub of all of Tuckahoe and she also had a notorious and infamous reputation for being the youngest nonhuman whore in the entire state of New York, having had relations with various males, just as Princess Suzannah had several relationships with rogue lions, including Prince Earl. Tessa, as she was called, had been fending for herself ever since she was practically a newborn and knew all of the tricks of the trade of surviving in the harsh streets of New York.
She never really knew her parents because on the day she was born they had placed her in a vacant box insulated and covered in downy fur from hatchlings and other baby fowls in a narrow alley in the slums and went out to get food for their infant daughter, only to disappear from the face of the earth. Tessa never saw her parents again after that and therefore she was presumed to be an orphan, which remains true. The only vague memories that do remain however, was when her mother nursed her in the corner of the alley in which she was born and taking a brief glimpse of her father, who had a russet coloring. She did also remember her mother having a light, baby pink color as well and also having crimson/garnet hair and tail tufts, ruffles and also the fur in the inside of her ears, in addition to having crimson ruffles wrapped around her neck.
Vitani then snatched Tessa by the nape of her neck and then ambled over to the Nissan Armada and then tossed the cub into the car as the young lioness screamed. Tessa then charged at the window and then fiercely began scratching and clawing at the window while emitting low growls from her throat as the window quickly closed up and then Zira smirked evilly at the young cub. "Well, well, well, little one. You just stay put while Vitani and I do the rounds around the house," she chuckled viciously as she sneered contemptuously at Tessa. Tessa's ears perked up and then she let out another fierce and menacing snarl at Vitani boldly as a way of saying to her that she would not go down quietly. Vitani just rolled her eyes at her and then marched off, with Zira glancing over her shoulder and watching her daughter saunter off into the house again. Then she trailed off after her after sighting her for a few moments and then a dark grey/silver and khaki lioness grabbed Tessa by the head and then Tessa was cuddled to her side as the Outlander lioness nuzzled her face and then licked her to sleep.
This lioness was a slender, scrawny, slim lioness that had an elongated, angular and oval-shaped face like Zira but had a slim, slight and lanky body type similar to Vitani's. She also had a thin, wispy tail that was about 3-4 feet in length and thick, brawny, burly legs that tend to slightly incline upward in an acute angle bent when standing on her back legs, partially as a result of a congenital bone formation disorder and partly because of a double jointed ability; this lioness was able to tuck her feet in normally under her though. Additionally, she also had dark patches around her eyes and she also had khaki/beige underbelly and white tail tufts, and she also had rigid, narrow shoulders and flat, smooth, narrow feet.
The lioness also had white tufts of fur on her chest and also tufts of salt and pepper hair on top of her head; she also had khaki/beige fur on the inside of her ears, and there were also dark rims on the tips of her ears also, in addition to a square jaw and an overbite. Deirdre was her name, and unlike Zira and Vitani lacked any hint of pure evil in her heart and was merely a confused and slightly misguided young lioness although she was a very formidable and mighty huntress. Her legs may seem like an impediment, but they actually help her increase and augment her velocity and acceleration of speed and aid her in hounding and pursuing prey, even though her clumsy and awkward front paws make her look funny whenever she goes on a run occasionally.
However, she could also be tough, callous, stoic, vicious, cunning, and irascible, when she has to be (or when she's pushed hard enough) and when her survival depended on it, especially since she had been recruited into Ms. Chasens' gang. But at the same time, she could also be sympathetic, compassionate, and altruistic, a part of her she must keep hidden from Zira. Deirdre then licked Tessa's face and then nosed her gently and then directed the young orphaned cub under her side in order to nurse. Tessa just turned away in disgust but then Deirdre nuzzled her reassuringly and gently to calm her.
"I suppose you don't have any parents either," she whispered softly to her and Tessa spun around to meet her face to face. "How would you know?" Tessa scoffed disdainfully. "I lost my parents back in Africa too; they were shot by poachers for their fur, especially my father's. I have been wandering in the savannah grounds of Africa ever since and I have to rely on my wits and smarts to survive as well. No pride would accept me because of my disability and I've been rejected by every possible mate I have ever encountered. I am pretty much a loner and I've always dreamed of having a cub of my own. What's your name by the way?" Deirdre confessed to Tessa candidly and then when she turned her head to smile at her, she asked for her name.
"My name is Tessa; my parents have disappeared on the day of my birth. I have been living in half-way houses, alleys, tunnels, under bridges, vacant tenements, apartments, buses, cars, junkyards, just about every place you can think of in the city. I guess you and I share the same thing in common," Tessa replied shyly, which was a side not commonly seen in her. "Tessa… That's a beautiful name. Are you British?" Deirdre gasped in wonder and awe and gushed with joy. "No, I just happen to have a Scottish/British accent. It's a weird affliction. My mother did have a British accent though and was also of British descent; my grandmother was also Scottish. The only information I get about my family now is through public records, however scant," Tessa admitted softly. She was beginning to like this lady; she normally wasn't this trusting towards adults.
"So no one has nursed you since the day you were born?" Deirdre ventured curiously. Tessa nodded with a little audacious smirk. "Why do I need to be nursed like a babe? I'm only 5 months old, a month older than my best friend Omari. He's also my boyfriend too. He is such a noble and brave boy. I have never felt such a deep and passionate love for anyone else other than him; I just don't know why I go from male to male around here. Usually I sleep around with a guy for one night and then the next day, I never see him again. It's been that way all my life. It could be that I'm subconsciously looking for the right guy," she scoffed with a little laugh.
"I'm not all that innocent, Tess. I do have a bad side, but I'm nothing like Zira and Vitani. I have to be tough and vicious in order to survive you see. I have had a hard life; I would go wandering and gallivanting for days without any food or water and as a matter of fact I would often eat cactuses to acquire water in order to survive and prevent myself from dehydrating," Deirdre informed Tessa gravely. "Did that hurt?" Tessa squeaked, wincing with a grimace. "Yeah, but after a while I got used to the pain. It will hurt, I'll warrant you, but if you think you can take the pain, go right ahead," Deirdre affirmed in agreement as she nodded her head as she spoke. But then she heard the sounds of fluttering and whooshing of wings approaching and then she nudged Tessa under her as a gesture of motherly concern and the juvenile lioness rested her head and lay on her left side as she curled into a fetal position.
Deirdre did not trust the pterodactyls at all; Sierra looked menacing and threatening to her and he seemed to be the type prone to violence and the other one, Rinkus, was much more incompetent and obtusely dim-witted than his dark colored fellow henchman. But Pterano was the most dangerous of them all; he had an exceptional quantity of charisma and was a very alluring and captivating leader filled with great ambition. But he is so caught up in his perception of his own self-worth that his arrogance could be potentially deadly, and the only reason why Deirdre was usually gullible is either she was extremely desperate or she really wants so much to believe in something or she lets herself be swayed or distracted by certain people, objects and events. In this case, Pterano was not worth her salt to sacrifice her life for, especially now that the young Tessa's life was in her hands.
Tessa, a thought crossed her mind and then she felt something bite her. Deirdre then bent over herself to see what bit her and she was astonished to see that Tessa was suckling from her breast, something that was completely uncharacteristic of her. Despite of all odds, Tessa seemed to have connected emotionally with her and was now putting all of her trust and life into her own hands. Deirdre couldn't have been happier; this kitten was really special, perhaps they were meant to meet. But the young, scrawny lioness sighed as she laid her head on the car seat and let Tessa feed off her, for she knew that she was so thoroughly confused about herself socially and personally and felt as if she were an intricate paradox. Deirdre sometimes wondered to herself what role she played in this world anyway; this cub has to be ten times more street smart than she was, even though she had managed to survive alone in the African wilderness for many years.
Minnie Castevet then popped out from the car floor and then vaulted onto the car seat, startling Deirdre in the process. "Where did you come from?" she gaped in surprise and shock. "What do you think? I was sleeping on the floor while you guys were sitting here for hours! Speaking of which, you want to see my switchblade?" Minnie Castevet retorted snappishly with a quick, short temper and then she flourished out a handle and then flicked out the blade with her thumb; the blade glistened and shined in the scarce, early, afternoon light that was overshadowed by overcast and gloomy skies, which forecast rain. The low sound of thunder rumbled in the sky and Deirdre shivered. Minnie Castevet just stared out into the sky blankly before switching her focus back to her.
"Look at those clouds; it's going to be raining pretty soon," she murmured as she continued to view and sight up the clouds, with Deirdre's tail flickering to and fro as it curled up into her right leg. Minnie Castevet then cast a suspicious and leery glance at the young, sullen lioness and then raised her right eyebrow questioningly. "Why are you lying like that? Did you give birth to a cub or something?" she asked her inquisitively. "I'm taking care of the Tessa kid. I'm making sure that Sierra and Rinkus don't see her. Apparently they despise children," Deirdre retorted dryly as she averted her gaze at Minnie, and then Minnie sidled up to Deirdre and lay next to her. "Hey, it's okay kiddo. I'm here; at least you and I are not alone in this world. You have nobody and I don't have anybody either," she whispered to her reassuringly as she held her with an open, warm embrace. Despite of her treacherous, sinister, eerie and crass demeanor, she seemed to be really fond of the outsider lioness and secretly thought that she was absolutely nothing like Zira, no matter how many personality flaws she may possess. Zira was just simply a callous, insensitive, conniving bitch. Or was she?
It was raining cats and dogs by the time Zira and Vitani reentered the premises of the Findlay residence. Vitani was splotched and drenched in soppy, wet, slippery, miry mud and Zira was also heavily coated and soaked in the heavy and contaminated muck also, especially on the chin. Drops of mud were dripping from Zira's scruffy face and once they reached the doorway the two adult lionesses shook their furs wildly to clean themselves of the mud but with little success; the mud still clung tightly to their fur in sticky, gooey clumps. "Fuck!" Zira snarled in a frustrated fit and then the door suddenly opened with a creak and then the two villainous lionesses were astonished and mortified to find Elliot Stabler standing right in front of the doorway. "Oh, crap," Vitani commented to herself and then she and her mother were collared by the detective and then yanked right into the house. Detectives Munch and Fin then slapped black electric collars on both of the lionesses and then Captain Cragen came over with a remote controller and then pushed the button; Zira and Vitani were then struck with a series of tremors that rocked and electrified their bodies as they were shocked compulsively in startling tremulousness.
"What the hell are you doing?! Jesus Christ!" Zira shrieked in a hysterical panic as she continued to be electrocuted and tortured tremendously and finally she lunged at Capt. Cragen in a blind rage. "Back off, Zira!" Olivia Benson commanded in a challenging voice as she took out another remote control of her own and transmitted another electric shock to Zira's collar, paralyzing and stunning her in the process. Zira convulsed in a sudden jerk and then crouched down in front of the female detective, ready to attack. Fin then cast a quizzical and skeptical, disbelieving glance at Capt. Cragen before asking him, "What's the purpose of electrocuting those lions? Isn't that like animal cruelty or something?"
"Let me tell you something, Fin. They are two of the most dangerous lions in the world; these two had attempted to murder a royal family and take over their entire kingdom. These are murderers you see before you, and they're also the ones conspiring with Ms. Chasens. Maybe we can get those two to spill the beans and rat out on her before things spiral out of control. I have a feeling that they might be in the process of concocting and formulating a plot to ruin Harold and Maude's friendship and to permanently separate them by having Harold captured and returned to his mother and Maude getting framed for a potential felony and getting transported to Riker's. We just can't afford that to happen," Capt. Cragen explained patiently to his subordinate as he eyed the two lionesses carefully.
"Fortunately, we got a very skilled and intelligent detective on our side; everyone, this is Jessica B. Fletcher. She is also a famous mystery writer," Dr. Warner interrupted the detectives as she barged into the scene with Dr. George Huang, who had been interviewing Ms. Naugatuck, and Jessica. "Is Ms. Naugatuck all right?" Elliot Stabler importuned as he swerved around to meet the medical examiner face to face. "Captain, why the hell did you bring Dr. Warner over here? I mean she is very useful but c'mon! There are hardly any dead bodies in here as we speak!" Fin barked irritably and petulantly at his boss. "Well, you can never tell with this particular entourage, especially now that Jessica is around. (No offense to you, Jessica; I respect you as a fellow detective and as a great writer). They could be planning a murder in advance and we just may never know. It is funny how every time Jessica shows up there is AT LEAST one dead body that materializes, if not more," Dr. Warner replied back in return wryly and caustically while shrugging her shoulder.
Fin then suddenly jerked up in surprise and then glanced around at his detectives with a doubtful and wary glare and then he glimpsed from Olivia, to Elliot, to his partner Munch, to Drs. Warner and George Huang, and then to Jessica Fletcher and then he stared out into space with a befuddled and bewildered, yet blank expression. "I've been wondering for a while; is it me or do I feel we're in some twisted, warped version of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" he finally voiced his opinions out loud and then his fellow detectives exchanged confused and perplexed, vexed and troubled glances and even Dr. Warner was scratching her head. "It appears that Ms. Naugatuck was reluctant to say anymore about the incident in which Omari almost succumbed to the hazardous effects of the AST drugs," Olivia Benson finally spoke up audaciously, breaking the silence after a momentarily pause.
"Yeah; she was really shook up about it and seemed really perturbed and distraught about the whole incident. She was having an extremely hard time going through the part where Maude was first administering CPR and then we just stopped the interrogation temporarily and instead discussed her relationships with various members of the household," Munch concurred with Olivia Benson's statement. "She refers to everybody as a bunch of brainless turkeys, as far as I'M concerned," Fin scoffed impassively and coldly while glaring at Zira, silently admonishing her not to double-cross the detectives lest she and her daughter suffered worse punishment.
Vitani snorted dispassionately and then shook her mangy and shaggy fur to shake off more of the drying, hardened, caked mud off her fur to ease the discomforting weight it bore on her body. Zira was now beginning to scratch herself like a dog; fleas were now beginning to bite and nip at her back and it hurt. Munch and Fin then exchanged questioning looks before Fin added, "Is this how they live in the Outlands, I wonder?" "Well, we do have their profiles on the international database that contains every file on every single cartoon that had ever lived. Somebody should get custody of these two lionesses in the meantime; I suspect and surmise that the mother lioness will be a lot harder to handle due to the fact that she seems to be tougher and more robust and strong-willed than her daughter," Capt. Cragen mused in thought.
"Fuck you!" Zira growled at Capt. Cragen threateningly before Fin slapped her on the head with a newspaper and then held it up in the air as a warning. "Hey!" he rebuked and chastised her severely. "No! No! Bad lioness! Uncle Walt will not be happy that you're using foul language in a T.V. production!" "Who the fuck cares? It's not like Uncle Walt is around to tell me not to!" Zira cackled scornfully and taunted the African-American detective derisively. "Whoa, that is one bawdy and obscene lion," Munch gawked in bafflement and astonishment. "I'll say," Fin remarked while nodding.
"Elliot, Liv, you take these two lionesses straight to one of the bathrooms in one of the upstairs rooms and give them a good scrubbing. After that, they're going straight to Riker's," Capt. Cragen issued his orders to one of his most invaluable duos in the precinct and then Elliot Stabler strolled over to Zira and then chained her collar to a long, leather leash, provoking a fierce growl from the older lioness. Olivia Benson then did the same to Vitani and then soon the two detectives walked the lionesses up the stairs and then they were led through the dark, narrow hallway. Stephanie Forrester then poked her head out of the room where she was staying, along with Aunt Line, Claire Timkin and Tutti Bomowski and then Vitani spun her head around to mouth Go to hell to the three women before she was whisked away into the darkness.
Claire Timkin knew that cops were now swarming in the house and she also knew that Jessica had recently volunteered to assist the detectives in any way she can to their ongoing investigation. She had been pretty observant of the recent events that were transpiring as of late and she had an inkling that somebody had been stalking them in order to find some way to destroy the entire gang, mainly Harold and Maude. Fortunately, the elderly department store manager was not that thick-skulled or dim to realize what was going on. And she was going to get to the bottom of this puzzling and troubling situation once and for all, with Aunt Line, Stephanie Forrester and Tutti Bomowski to aid her. The Golden Girls were also coming too, but Tutti Bomowski was still upset at Sophia for attempting to brutally and viciously assault her the way she did; if it were not for the valiant assistance of Dorothy, she would have been lying in the ICU by now.
Dorothy, Blanche, Rose and Sophia then emerged from the room and peered down at the group of detectives that were busy discussing details of the case they were now currently working on. "What are they doing down there?" Rose made an anxious and uneasy inquiry out of her friends. "How the hell should I know? What every police officer does on the street!" Sophia retorted at Rose with a snappy comeback. "Girls, let's go outside and poke around a little. We should be able to uncover something," Dorothy whispered to the girls with a hushed voice. "Are you nuts? We can't go downstairs without the detectives noticing!" Stephanie shot back at Dorothy in a whisper.
"That is true… but maybe Dorothy could figure a way for all of us to slip out of the house quietly without anyone noticing?" Tutti Bomowski speculated and hypothesized in thought. "Of course! Dorothy's telekinesis! Won't you use your powers to get us out of here, Dorothy?" Rose suddenly exclaimed in realization and then beseeched her statuesque friend pleadingly. "Of course, Rose. I'll be like Nightcrawler and whisk us out of here in a blink of an eye," Dorothy growled at her mordantly and sarcastically. "Please, Dorothy! There must be something you can do!" Rose pleaded desperately and then Dorothy held her hands in her ears to shut out Rose's begging and whimpering. "All right, all right! Blanche, go to the edge of the stairs and use your siren powers. That should distract the detectives long enough for us to get out of here," Dorothy relented as she put her hands down and then ordered Blanche to go to the edge of the stairs and use her powers.
Blanche then timidly sauntered to the edge of the stairs, in full view of the detectives. Her throat tightened and her body trembled and quivered with sheer terror. She did not want to do this, but if it helps any, she must. Blanche then took a deep breath and then began to sing in a high frequency, ultra high pitched, almost operatic voice as the sound of her singing traveled and filled the atmosphere with a rich, clear tone. Dr. George Huang, Fin and Munch froze upon hearing her voice. "Hey, who the hell is that singing?" Fin scoffed indifferently and then suddenly he quickly became transfixed by that voice. "Fin, are you okay, buddy?" Munch quizzed his black partner, confused and perturbed and then the sound of Blanche's soothing, alluring voice reached his ears too. "I – can't – stop – making – myself – hearing – her – sing!" Dr. George Huang grunted as he tried to use all of his will power and inner strength to resist Blanche's overwhelming seductive voice. Rose's and Sophia's jaws dropped upon witnessing the disorder and pandemonium down below. Tutti was just stunned; Aunt Line was greatly impressed.
Tutti then turned on Sophia and sneered at her contemptuously. "Whatever the hell did you do to your friend?" "Me? You're the little upstart that is trying to take my place!" Sophia shot back at her defiantly. "Your place?! That was no fault of mine! I did not ask to be born! Your damn creator got duped by those fucking producers who outright lied to her!" Tutti Bomowski contended and argued with Sophia angrily and indignantly. Sophia then glared at her fiercely and her fists clenched with bitter rage. "Who the hell are you to drag her name through the mud? Don't bring her into this!" she hissed vindictively at her bitter rival.
"I'm bringing her in for a reason. The producers duped her by claiming that no guns were to be used in the movie, when in fact there were. You're just intimidated by me because I'm basically a carbon copy of you!" Tutti Bomowski went on with her explanation calmly, deliberately ignoring her fellow sister character's wrath. "Ma, Ms. Bomowski, enough! You ladies have been at each other's throats ever since we arrived in New York. Now let's just concentrate of sneaking out of here before Blanche tires herself out," Dorothy chided and scolded the two elderly women sternly as she grabbed them both by the back of the collar of their blouses and attempted to pry them apart to further hinder their bickering. "She started it!" Tutti Bomowski appealed to Dorothy with a harsh, incensed tone. "No it was her fault, Pussycat! You gotta believe me!" Sophia pleaded for her daughter's assistance. "Ma, will you quit arguing with Ms. Bomowski! We have no time to waste!" Dorothy fired back at Sophia in an impatient voice.
"But Dorothy…" Sophia started. "NOW, MA!" Dorothy shouted at her mother in a now loud, booming voice and Sophia finally shut up. "Is it me, or is Tutti Bomowski Sophia's long lost Italian sister?" Rose inquired Dorothy curiously. "No Rose, she's my bastardized, illegitimate sister!" Sophia fired a caustic, acerbic, fiery retort at the dim-witted, ditzy St. Olaf woman. "Okay, that's it! I don't want to hear another word out of you or Ms. Bomowski about this! I am sick and tired of hearing you two constantly argue by the hour! Ma, no peep out of you or it's back to Shady Pines!" Dorothy screamed furiously at the top of her voice and then Tutti Bomowski cowered in terror, her eyes wide and looming with fear and alarm and her face pale and livid.
"Joey would never put me in a home," she whispered softly and vulnerably in a trembling voice. Sophia was about to counter that remark with her own mordant comment when Dorothy cast an admonishing glare at her Sicilian mother, and Sophia stifled and balked in response. Then she raised her hands in the air and as Claire Timkins, Stephanie Forrester and Aunt Line looked up in amazement, she then started to stir her hands together and black, thick, dark, magic smog began to permeate and billow out of her own hands and swirling and churning around the ladies. The smoky smog then continued to whirl and spin around the gang at a rapid and quick pace and then it morphed into a thin, spiraling, funneling tornado and thunder clouds began to form in the sky as lightning crashed and flashed in the sky with the deep, rumbling, sonorous roar of the thunder. The house once more descended into darkness as Capt. Cragen and the detectives immediately jumped at the sudden and fickle change in the environment and Philip and Carol raced out of their room and saw the thick cloud of smoke swirling and dancing before them. A flash of light gleamed into Philip's eyes and then he shuddered at the horrific sight, with his mother cradling him protectively. "Mom, what's going on?" he whimpered. "I don't know, Philip. I don't know," was her uncertain, hesitant answer.
"Archie, what in the world is going on here?" Edith squawked in her usual raspy voice as she and Archie raced and tore out of their room in a frenzied panic and then beheld the sight as well. "Archie, Edith, go get Gloria and Michael. They HAVE to see this," Carol instructed the couple as Archie immediately vaulted down the stairs and bolted straight for the kitchen. "Damn it! What is going on here? Kronk, did you fool around with the electricity again?!" Yzma berated and shrieked at Kronk as the two villainous duo stalked out of their garage headquarters in the dark. "That wasn't me, Yzma; I swear! I did not touch anything!" Kronk insisted as a spark of green electricity leapt onto the ceiling in a skip. "Uh, Yzma, did you see that?" he mumbled under his breath.
Then a shock wave ravaged and festered throughout the whole house and everyone in the house got thoroughly electrocuted. Archie then leapt into the air with a painful yell as a shock of electricity proliferated and surged through his veins and then he toppled onto the floor face first as Ms. Naugatuck rushed to his side. "Mr. Bunker, are you all right?" she ventured timidly. "Just get me off the damn floor, Ms. Naugatuck! I'll be fine! It's that damn Sophia Petrillo that's causing all this trouble!" Archie pouted in a muffled voice as Ms. Naugatuck grabbed her employer's cousin-in-law by the shoulders and pulled him up to his feet. Archie then regained his bearings and looked at her for a moment. "You know, I think I know why Maude hired you in the first place. You have to be one of the best damn maids in this country," he offered her an unusually laudable compliment, which was pretty bizarre and off the wall coming from him, especially since he was usually the prejudiced and bigoted blue collar worker in the house.
Just then a shot of hellishly dark crimson red fire erupted out of the ground and then a fault emerged and crawled throughout the floor with a glow of heat permeating through it. Then another blast of red-hot fire discharged from the newly formed fault and then sparks of ember began to explode and fly profusely into the air in numbers as they collectively began to accumulate and augment into a spiraling circle of fire and formed a swirl symbol. The extensive shock wave that was now plaguing the house quickly began to fizzle and allay with decreasingly intensity as it loosened its grip on its victims. By now shots of green electric beams were now bombarding and exploding all over the living room and bursts of green electricity detonated into flashes of light. Sophia was getting tired and if she did not teleport now, her power could slowly shut down and lose its effectiveness until finally it completely drains her of her energy and she won't be able to use any of her various spells of dark and light magic for a while.
"Ma, come on! You can do it! Don't give up! We can't go anywhere without you! Think of Pa!" Dorothy pleaded desperately to her mother as Sophia began to become worn out and exhausted from the complicated spell. The very mention of her husband prompted a series of flashbacks as the elderly woman reviewed the long dormant memories of her beloved, dearly departed husband Sal, who had died in the hospital after complications resulting from an illness. She remembered how much she loved him, even though he could be a huge jerk and they would sometimes fight, but in the end, they loved each other. He may not be the brightest bulb in the village, but Sophia knew there was no one else quite like him, and there would be no one else who would ever take his place. Sophia then felt Sal's presence flowing and pulsing through her soul as his disembodied voice rang in her mind.
You can do it, Sophia his voice said. I have complete faith in you. If you can survive two world wars, go through several major operations, survive countless vendettas, then I don't see why you can't perform this spell. I love you, Sophia, don't you ever forget that! Then Sophia's eyes glowed white and an aura of ghostly, white, spiritual energy washed down and integrated into her soul as she felt her energy perking up and invigorating her and she also perceived herself regaining much needed energy. This is for you, Sal, was Sophia's thought. Then a shrill cry erupted from her voice as the energy in the black cloud of dark smog intensified and the sparks of green electricity began to surge and meander around it rapidly. A light, green energy bubble then emerged from the smog and enveloped around the gang as the light grew brighter and brighter with magnitude.
Finally the green energy bubble combusted and exploded with a sheer, loud roar as smoke proceeded to billow and travel in a constant, airy stream and then electric green waves rippled and conveyed through the whole entire house as it ripped, knifed and lacerated through its interiors by nearly smashing and slashing the walls in two and demolishing and wrecking numerous, countless, valuable, expensive objects, including vases, antiques, figurines, china sets of tea cups, pots and plates, and even a cluster of genuine jewels that Maude and Walter got from a garage sale from a neighbor's house. The house itself was nearly crushed and flattened in two and a strong, quick earthquake ripped and shook the house from its hinges, causing everyone to take cover. By the time the smoke dissipated, Carol, Philip and Edith realized that the ladies were gone! Archie then came back with Gloria and Michael and Gloria gasped in surprise. "Hey, they're all gone!" Gloria cried in a shocked voice. "You tell me," Carol scoffed while waving her hand dismissively. "You dingbat! You have completely wasted my time by busting my ass to fetch Gloria and Meathead!" Archie snarled and snapped at Edith infuriatingly.
"What are you going to do now, Detective Stabler? Run home to your fucking wife?" Zira taunted and mocked the young detective snidely. Elliot Stabler then glanced over his shoulder to glower at the dark brown lioness, whose dark, malevolent, brilliant red eyes were discernable to notice in the opaque, murky, endless darkness as they teased and derided him with its maleficent sheen. Vitani's light, colorful, blue, sapphire eyes were slightly less compellingly threatening and menacing than her mother's but still just as deadly cold and aloof. "You know what – You just shut up, okay? You and your damn cronies have been making enough trouble already as it is," he sneered and snapped at her with a harsh and irritated tone. "Stop making degrading and disparaging comments about his wife, Mother," Vitani sighed in annoyance.
"You just shut the damn up, all right, Vitani?" Zira growled displeasingly at her daughter as she exposed her vicious, lethal, sharp teeth to her, but the young light yellow lioness remained unfazed and coolly collected during the whole confrontation. "What's the matter, Zira?" Elliot Stabler smirked at the middle-aged lioness audaciously and disparagingly as Olivia Benson started to rummage through the cabinet looking for a match or a flashlight to light up the bathroom so they could have a decent look around their surroundings. "Did your husband leave you because you were an intolerable bitch?" "My husband did not leave me, you asshole!" Zira roared at Elliot Stabler as her eyes flared and raged with fury. "Oh really? Then why are you all alone with your daughter? I suppose you have no one else but her!" Elliot Stabler continued to tease and jeer at her derisively.
"Ms. Chasens did not want Nuka and Kovu to come along; Nuka was an imbecile and Kovu was thought to be too treacherous. She was not willing to let her plan fail!" Zira insisted stubbornly. "You do realize that when you get out of here you'll be immediately transported to Riker's Island. Do you want to know what Riker's Island is?" Olivia Benson intervened with an ominous warning. "I'll take my chances, detective. I can handle myself thank you very much," Zira scoffed disdainfully as she glared at her warily and mistrustfully. "Listen, Zira. We're not playing here; you're being extremely arrogant you know that?" Olivia Benson persisted to compel and provoke Zira into spilling the beans as she and Elliot continued to grill and interrogate her in the bathroom. "Arrogant? HA! I can take down both of you and slit your throats! I don't see why Riker's Island is any different!" Zira laughed bitterly and sardonically in the face of the detectives as a smirk spread in her thin, black lips.
"Riker's Island is where the most hardened criminals go. There are RAPISTS, PEDOPHILES, CON ARTISTS, THIEVES, MURDERERS, Zira! You do not want to go there. They are going to gang up on you and maybe even try to rape you! But I think you're too hardheaded and stubborn to even listen to me, right?" Elliot Stabler shouted and yelled right into Zira's face as his fixated, harsh, angry stare peered right into her eyes. "You are so goddamn tenacious on me, aren't you? You just won't give up fighting on me, will you?" Zira snarled as she quickly pulled away from him in disgust.
"The problem with you is that you're confused and lost. You are blind to what you see before you; you won't acknowledge the truth!" Olivia Benson now joined in on the conversation and tried to persuade Zira to abandon Ms. Chasens' potentially lethal and murderous plot. "You really think it is easy being a lion, don't you?" Zira started to chuckle and cackle in a bitter and cynical manner as she sneered at the female middle-aged detective and cast a burning, acidic glare at her. "I've raised three FUCKING kids on my own; the love of my life has been slain by that goddamn Simba when he was unjustly overthrown from the Prideland throne, which was RIGHTFULLY his, I have been banished because I was faithful and loyal to him – God, can life get any more brutal and difficult than that?" Zira shot back with a sneeringly enraged and contemptuous tone that was laced with anger, frustrated rage, sorrow, and overwhelming grief and the way she stressed emphasis on certain words told Elliot and Olivia that the mature lioness was just about fed up with life itself. Olivia then considered Zira's comments for a moment while Elliot just looked away from him. Vitani had been quiet and sulking for some time now; she had been used to her mother's endless raging rants and tirades.
"You know what? I think you'll just love Goren; he will definitely get down to the bottom of your very head," Elliot Stabler then momentarily offered a caustic and scathing comment to Zira, at which she snorted dismissively. "No one will get to my head, you hear me? Ha! I laugh in the face of detectives and cops! You hear me? You hear me laugh in your little sham you call the interrogation?!" she retorted and addressed him with her malicious and spiteful, demeaning tone. Elliot was almost beginning to become horrified and put off by her words; the way this woman-lion talked, or whatever the hell she was her venomous and derisory tongue made her looked like the reincarnation of the Devil himself. And speaking of which, that little smug, demeaning, audacious smirk of hers really turned him off – big time. Not that he really was attracted to her to begin with. Besides, he was currently married to Kathy and their youngest son was born not too long ago.
"You know, Elliot. I really don't think it's a good idea to send Vitani and Zira to Riker's Island in their normal forms. People will think we're absolutely crazy for even thinking of shipping them off to Riker's and that we may be in the middle of some drug conspiracy," Olivia Benson spoke up as she finally found a flashlight from deep within the cabinet since she had been sidetracked with the trading of barbs between her long time partner and the nefarious, deceitful lioness and flicked it on with the switch that was on it, and the bathroom was soon then illuminated and washed over with clear, vivid light, revealing the foursome. Elliot had been squatting near the door in the bottom left hand corner and Zira was sitting next to him to his right, with Vitani just 2 feet away from her almost to the upper right hand corner and situated right behind Olivia, who was very close to the bathroom cabinet and directly facing Elliot. "Okay, so we finally solved the problem with the damn light; now can we please figure out a way on how to get rid of our natural forms?" Vitani rejoined impatiently and sarcastically.
Just then, Kronk came barging right into the door, startling Vitani and provoking her right into her defensive position and irritating and exasperating Zira in the process. Elliot and Olivia were also surprised but unfazed. "Hello, I'm Detective Stabler and this is my partner of 15 years, Detective Benson. How may we help you?" Elliot Stabler introduced himself as he politely shook Kronk's hand. "Hello, I'm Kronk. No last name anyway," Kronk grinned sheepishly as he accepted the gesture. "I wouldn't be surprised; 90% of cartoons don't even have last names. Just look at Pluto!" Zira scoffed disgustedly. "Mother!" Vitani scolded her for being so rude.
Zira then snapped her jaws at her daughter and then Elliot yanked on her leash, restraining the Outlander lioness in the process. "This is absolutely degrading and outright shameful! I am NOT some kind of house pet!" Zira quipped with a witty and sharp retort as her electric collar tightened around her neck and she began to gag and choke. Elliot then let go of Zira's leash but then stamped his right foot on it lest Zira would attempt to flee from him. Vitani then cast a bemused and quizzical glance at Olivia Benson with a frown; Olivia was suddenly curious by Vitani's confounded expression.
"Am I the only one in this room who has a bitch of a mother?" she whispered to her in an appalled and abashed voice. "No, I had an alcoholic mother too; she was an English literature teacher who was prone to drinking. She also got raped too, and I was the result of it. That's why I joined SVU, so others won't have to go through what I went through," Olivia Benson sympathized quietly with Vitani, and Vitani's sapphire blue eyes glowed in comprehension and astonished wonder. She could not fathom how this woman, who barely even knew her anyway, could be so compassionate and understanding. Vitani was not accustomed to people reacting to her in this manner; she was used to living a life filled with hardship and tribulation in a land where food was scarce and pride mates were constantly fighting amongst themselves, particularly herself and Nuka. She shook her head at the memory of her and Kovu play fighting.
Zira did not trust Nuka with her plans – ever, and Kovu did not want anything to do with Ms. Chasens' farfetched and diabolical schemes, even though Zira would have loved for Kovu to come along, for he was so useful and viable. Maybe Kovu had changed his mind? That was what Zira thought when she tried to contact Kovu with a newly acquired cell phone and he could not be contacted. Bah, Kovu probably either did not know how to use the cell phone or he did not want to speak to her – he could actually contact her anytime using the cell phone that Ms. Chasens lent him. Then again, the young lion most likely thought that the cell phone was a stupid human invention and there was absolutely no point in contacting his mother with it, why he could just traverse across the continents to find her.
Then again, things have changed in the last several centuries. Africa was now becoming more modernized, even though the Pridelands and the entire universe in which it was inhabited in remained untouched and untenable, and the digital age was now kicking in. Zira seemed more adapted to the new modernized world than Kovu, that is. Zira knew exactly what Elliot and Olivia were thinking; they want her and Vitani to be changed into humans just so they could be immediately shipped to Riker's. Human… That is the most brilliant idea! Zira's eyes immediately lit up and danced at that thought. Maybe she could finally hit on Elliot without people casting befuddled and weird glances at her. It was no use trying to do so while she was a lioness, and besides, it was illegal. Elliot was a pain in the ass 90 percent of the time, but that doesn't necessarily mean he was not an attractive, gorgeous, hunk. Zira chuckled to herself huskily at the thought. The thought of having an affair with a married man in a HUMAN form – that was the kind of game Zira would LOVE to play. God knows where Kovu's real father was anyway, considering that Scar was definitely no father of his, and Nuka was certainly weak in his eyes. Elliot was probably too good for her, but that would not deter Zira from even trying to romance him.
"Uh, Detective Stabler, do you need help with anything?" Kronk addressed the male detective hesitantly. "Yeah, as a matter of fact, we do," Olivia Benson nodded as she stood up, and Elliot Stabler followed suit. Vitani was still biting and scratching her flanks, and Zira was eyeing Elliot curiously, still toying with the possibility to be pursuing him romantically. "We would like to know if you know anyone who practices witchcraft," Elliot Stabler addressed Kronk with a somber and serious statement. "Witchcraft? Well, there is Yzma… She does fool around with magic potions a lot in her schemes and machinations to destroy the Emperor Kuzco, but other than that she has no other magical powers," Kronk yipped in astonishment at the word before suddenly recalling that Yzma had some hand in magic.
"Okay, so what kind of potions does she usually make?" Elliot Stabler continued to issue questions to Kronk, at which he scratched his head and tried to think, the dim-wit he was. He and Rose Nylund could actually become friends if they want to. "Well, Yzma usually makes any kind of potion that would correspond to the plan she would feverishly be working on. Like this one time she turned Kuzco into a rabbit so he would lose an important race that would enable him to keep his chance of being able to regain his throne. Oh! And he also turned into a frog and thought he was the Tree Frog Man. You get the idea," Kronk stuck out his tongue and rested his chin on his fist as he tried to think of a clear explanation for what exactly Yzma does with her potions.
Elliot Stabler nodded as he listened to Kronk's anecdotes. "So, where can we find Yzma?" he enquired Kronk inquisitively. "Yzma should be in the garage in the middle of one of her grand, evil, diabolical schemes that usually backfires. I'm sorry to say that but yeah… but she may be of some help though she isn't the nicest person in the world," Kronk replied his answer to the detectives hesitantly and tentatively. "Relax, buddy. We've faced a lot more nut jobs than Yzma," Elliot Stabler tried to reassure the young man while giving him a wink, and he and Olivia Benson then finally emerged out of the bathroom with Zira and Vitani in tow and then they crossed the dark hallways once more and then they saw Carol, Philip, Archie and Edith again. "Well, aren't you going to find that bitch that nearly pulverized the entire house?" Archie scoffed insouciantly. "Relax, Mr. Bunker. Everything is going to be taken care of, but right now we need to find Yzma," Elliot Stabler informed the middle aged blue collar worker reassuringly before he marched downstairs with his charges and partner, leaving him and his wife feeling rather baffled and unsettled.
"Archie, do the police know what they're doing?" Edith inquired her husband anxiously while feeling rather fretful and alarmed. "Naah; they're all a bunch of crooks as far as I'm concerned. Always running drug money; I don't think that hotshot of a detective and his female slut of a partner are different either," Archie scowled distrustfully and suspiciously. "Archie! Don't be so judgmental!" Edith reproached him reprovingly. "Yeah, Edith is right, Archie. The police are only trying to do their job to make sure neither Harold nor Maude get hurt," Carol sided with Edith as she tried to defend the police who are working so hard to solve this increasingly baffling and bizarre case. "Well I hope this "Maude" isn't as liberal and hoity-toity as that damn Findlay woman!" Archie growled in an exasperated and irascible temper while emphasizing on the word "Maude". "And don't forget that I saved your life too!" Ms. Naugatuck interjected as she clambered on the stairs breathlessly and then she confronted Archie on the landing. "The hell you did!" Archie snorted priggishly upon seeing Ms. Naugatuck. "Now don't get so high and mighty, Mr. Bunker. I know Ms. Findlay has her faults, but she ain't what you say she is!" Archie's eyes narrowed and then squinted as his face leveled down to meet hers. "You talking to me?" he hissed challengingly. "Yeah I'm talking to you, you, big, fat, uncivilized turkey! I can't understand why Ms. Findlay would rather waste her time with you!" Ms. Naugatuck scowled as she began to waltz and dance away from him with a huff as she sashayed down the stairs.
"Screw the pooch, Ms. Naugatuck!" Archie bellowed down after her in the now lit house. "Why I never!" Ms. Naugatuck scoffed defiantly and snidely as she stalked and stormed off into the kitchen to collect her thoughts, which was now where she mostly spent her time now that Maude and the others were gone and have been so for hours. She then pulled out a chair and then sat down in front of the quaint table she had always been fond of. Ms. Naugatuck then noticed a dingy little notepad sitting front of her with a pencil lying to her right. Curious, she then grabbed the notepad and pencil and started to draw pictures to amuse herself. First she drew a picture of herself, with a dainty, detailed sketch of her dress, and with an exaggerated outline of her facial features, thus making her face more plump and rotund with dimples on them, then she scribbled a portrait of Walter, putting some emphasis on his befuddled and astonished expression and his moustache; then she doodled a drawing of Maude where she also elaborated a detailed sketch of her visage.
The British maid then rubbed the lead of the pencil hard into the surface of the paper to darken some sections of Maude's hair and to also lighten the skin tone on her face. Her chin became more prominent and her nose was enlarged, to make her look more like a caricature. Her eyes were twinkling with a dark shade to them and were the size of beads. Ms. Naugatuck even chuckled to herself as she outlined her sketch. Finally her portrait of her beloved employer was complete and then she held it up in the air to inspect it. But the moment she caught something from the corner of her eye, she immediately put down the notepad and then saw that it was none other than Alexandra Cabot! The British/Cockney maid was stunned; how did Alexandra Cabot manage to find her? "Ms. Naugatuck, I just got a call from your employer. She'll be home pretty soon, so why don't you make dinner for all of us?" the district assistant attorney addressed her while shuffling in some papers on the table and then sat down and peered at her intently. "Okey-dokey, ma'am. I'll be there in a jiffy," was all she could muster to say to the blonde, young woman before she quickly got up from her seat and goes to the kitchen cabinet to prepare supper. Alexandra Cabot looked up from her papers and then watched the maid at work before resuming to her work.
Elliot Stabler, Olivia Benson, Zira and Vitani then flooded downstairs gracefully and slowly in single file to the garage as they strolled through the area and studied the various interesting items that lay before them. Yzma and Kronk had only been in the Findlay house for only one day and already they made themselves at home: although Kronk and Yzma now longer had their so called "Secret Lab" to formulate and generate their villainous and heinous plots in and the roller coaster like entrance that stemmed from the lever that leads them through the trap door, they had managed to make some improvising of their own, and for two evil, diabolical, wickedly sinful villains like them, Elliot thought that was highly impressive. A long range of tubes was connected to the ceiling and emanated from one of the bubbling flasks that sat on a plain light brown counter leaning again the wall that also contained a suspicious liquid that Yzma concocted and also transverses throughout the entire ceiling and reached all of its corners without any ends, all the while churning, teeming and brimming with a purple, bubbly, curious concoction Elliot surmised must be for some spell that Yzma was currently making.
There were different flasks and potions of all shapes, sizes and types; some of them were round, big and blue, others were square, rectangular, oval, triangular, pentagon-shaped, octagon-shaped, and even included colors such as cherry red, scarlet wine, azure, sapphire blue, lavender, mauve, plum purple, which was personally Yzma's favorite color by the way, and even light, jaded green. Some of them were also orange amber colored and others were golden saffron and sandy brown. The potions also had all sorts of designs, all with one purpose: to transform that person who has the misfortune to consume it into any form that the individual potion transforms the person into, i.e. a fly potion would transform somebody into a fly and a basset hound potion would morph the person into a basset hound and etc.
Even though Yzma had in the past devised her potions to transform her victim to a member of one general species, she has now focused her attention to turning the person into an individual member of a subspecies, such as an African elephant and a cockatoo. And now she has managed to concoct and devise a potion that could turn animals into humans; the challenge for Olivia and Elliot now is to convince the wicked mad scientist/ex-advisor of Emperor Kuzco to aid them in transforming Vitani and Zira into humans so the two detectives won't look like fools by having them imprisoned in a cell at Riker's Island in their natural forms.
Even though Yzma did not want anything to do with Ms. Chasens' villainous and scandalous plot, (she saw no point in trying to destroy the sacred bond between Harold and Maude if there is no power gain involved and was not about to drag her loyal henchman Kronk in there since there was no point), she suspected that Yubaba may potentially turn her back on the judging panel and collude with Ms. Chasens to achieve her ultimate goal. Being a fellow villain herself, Yzma knew about Yubaba's unbridled, unadulterated greed and suspected that the potential reward money that Ms. Chasens may hold in her possession may be the ultimate key to lure in the elderly witch to gratifying sin. And as Kronk pointed out, Yzma may not be the nicest person on earth, but certainly the authority of the cops could not persuade her to help otherwise… Zira couldn't keep her eyes off Elliot and wondered to herself if she somehow was falling for the veteran detective. Vitani rolled her eyes in repulsion as she watched her mother closely. If her mother was not careful, she could get herself into a heap of trouble in the big city.
Eventually they came to Yzma bending over her desk, pouring in different flasks of multi-colored liquids together to try to create a new kind of potion. Kronk was sitting in her purple inflatable bed, reading the latest novel. She was donned in a white, flaxen, pallid, leather, buttoned down professor vest and also wearing a white pair of leather/polyester pants along with some opaquely dark goggles fastened over her eyes and also a pair of black, polyester gloves and shoes. Yzma was absorbed in her work and did not notice the detectives stepping into her garage-converted laboratory. "Yzma, Detectives Stabler and Benson have arrived with Zira and Vitani. They've come to you to request a favor," Kronk informed his mistress and then Yzma perked her head up from her potion manufacturing and then spotted the detectives approaching her.
"Oh, detectives! I am quite surprised to see you! Please, have a seat and Kronk will provide for you, for I am quite very busy," she exclaimed in shock and disbelief as she lowered her goggles to take a closer look at the detectives before gesturing an available spot for them to sit on near her bed as Kronk supplied them with chairs to sit on and then Elliot and Olivia promptly sat down on the wooden, pale yellow chairs, which were in tacky taste as Yzma had been very frugal and stingy as of late and was mistrustful of New York's consumer system, and the supply and demand of the North American continent in general, (yes I do mean the U.S.), and had not bothered to buy more appropriate furniture. Zira was on Elliot's right side and Vitani sat on her haunches right next to her mother, to her right and to Olivia's left. Kronk then went back to his reading as Yzma resumed her diligent work.
"Well, you see Yzma, Kronk said that you specialize in the magic arts, and we were wondering if there is any way you can help us transport Zira and Vitani to Riker's Island without… any ramifications," Elliot Stabler began nervously as he rambled on and explained to the gazillion year old skeleton and bones why they had approached her for help. Yzma then stopped where she was and then began to chuckle herself into sniggers and giggles and then howled into outrageous, screeching cackles as she bent over and nearly doubled over in laughter. She could not believe what she was hearing; after so many years of trying to get rid of Kuzco ever since that fateful day when he fired her for once again trying to take over his role as emperor without his permission, she would have thought that by now the cops would have arrested her, charged her with conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, and abduction, (go figure), found her guilty and sentence her to life in prison without possibility of parole, and have her thrown in jail, and now she was astounded and flabbergasted at the thought of the police actually asking her for help for an awkward and unusual, atypical situation. She could have laughed herself to death over this! It was too much! It was just bizarre, abnormal and off the wall! Yzma then chuckled for a few more times before taking a breather to calm herself down and then peered at the detectives questioning while posing an akimbo.
"All right, now what exactly do you want me to do?" she growled at them, demanding. "We just want you to turn these two lionesses into humans just so we'll be able to make the transition from this house to Riker's Island much more easier and much less embarrassing," Olivia Benson confessed candidly to Yzma and the elderly woman nodded as she shuffled over to her potion collection. She then scanned the labels for a few minutes before spotting a black potion with a human imprint on it and then picked it up with a triumphant "AHA!" She then ambled over to the foursome and then handed the potion to Elliot for him to use. "Give Zira half and give Vitani half to drink; once they drink the potion they should be transformed into humans and then you're all set. Unfortunately, there is no natural way to revert back into your lion forms; the only way for this to happen is if they drink a lion potion. It's the one in bluish/purple with a lion imprint. Elliot, you do the honors," Yzma then crisply addressed the detectives as she gave them strict instructions on how to use the potion. Elliot then popped out the lid off the potion with his index finger and thumb as if it were just another bottle of champagne and then held it to Zira's lips, at which she gulped down half of the potion as instructed and then Elliot handed the potion to Olivia, who then fed Vitani the potion. The two detectives then waited for a few moments – then Vitani and Zira's forms began to change shape and alter themselves.
Zira's neck sprouted about 5 inches more and Vitani's neck also grew about an inch less than her mother's. Zira's body fur then receded and vanished and was replaced with slightly dark toned skin that was resembled a typical Frenchwoman before her tail disappeared as well. Zira's entire body then swiftly changed from that of a lion to a human and Vitani's did the same. In a matter of minutes, Zira and Vitani both lost their complete form as they gained two legs, two arms, human, normal ears, a nose, lips, eyebrows, actual hair that does not blend with your fur, and even a body to match. Mother and daughter were now lying on the floor sprawled together and Zira was the first to wake up. She then looked at her slightly dark hands, which no longer had claws to sheath and unsheathe, (damn… Zira thought to herself at that realization), and then quickly snatched a mirror to look at herself. What she discovered was utterly shocking and disturbing.
Zira thought she was the ugliest thing she had ever seen in her human form. She had thick, bold, eyebrows that practically formed a unibrow, her dorsal stripe was gone, her ears were actually normal, and she also had a rounded, angular, oval-shaped face with a fair, light olive complexion. Her nose was slightly enlarged and prominent with a medium size, and she also had a thin pair of cheekbones outlining her face. Her scarlet, wine-colored red eyes were dazzling and sparkling with life, and she also had a slender, tall, statuesque, yet husky, brawny and muscular build, with muscles rippling all over her body. At this Zira smirked, impressed. Her arms were also strong, graceful, and lanky, just about long enough to reach her hips, and she also had a curvy, tiny waist, which she thought odd, but after having three cubs that would not have been surprising. Or was it?
Zira's legs were equally mighty, robust and supple, vigorous and formidable, capable of walking and running long distances. Zira smiled as she remembered how she had been a great huntress in the past. It only seemed just like yesterday that she had been a lioness, now today she was a female human. The only thing was, her feet were petite, and so were her hands, which bothered her. Her body was tetragon-shaped and curved and rounded itself off into a nice figure, at which Zira again was impressed. She was now grinning as her eyes got used to her human form.
The best part of all, she also had circular, angular and wide ears, had some sort of splotched, bluish/black blemish on her forehead which was in place of her dorsal stripe, curved, rounded, angular medium-sized eyes that electrified and glistened with vivacious, animated spark, and she also had wavy, long, luscious, brunette hair that could easily be tied up with a hair pin into a nice, rounded little bun and she also had bangs nearly overshadowing her eyes. Zira could hardly recognize herself in that mirror – that wasn't her, was it? She looked like she was in her late 30's, early 40's that had been born and raised in France and perhaps raised in South Africa. Maybe one of her parents had been African-American. Maybe that's why she had that mixed skin color. Zenova would now be her new American name, if you can even call it American. Vitani would have to change her name as well, into something more appropriate. Speaking of Vitani, Zira spun around and gaped at her daughter in awe and wonder.
Vitani was the lankiest, skinniest, thinnest woman she had ever seen in her life; her blonde, silky, smooth hair was long, wavy and straight, tied in a ponytail. She had a pale-white, flaxen complexion and her face was similar to her mother's, angular, rounded and oval-shaped, but with a little more curve to it. Vitani was at a more petite size due to the fact that the scarce and barren conditions in the Outlands had significantly stunted her growth, so Zira planned to explain away to acquaintances that Vitani was just simply on the short size. She got that from her father, Zira imagined herself saying to people she may encounter on the street. Vitani was so frail and weak in body structure it was almost pathetic; her face was bony, emaciated, and gaunt-faced, with flat, puffy cheeks adding to that weary, starved look.
Vitani also looked very dorky and nerdy as well, but her dazzling, gleaming blue sapphire eyes still lingered with its usual cold, distant, aloof luster. Her arms were elongated, gangly, and lengthy but still stunted in growth. So did her gangling, gawky, long-limbed legs. Vitani also had a thin, tiny nose with angular, cocky, supple ears. She also had bold, dark, furrowed eyebrows, but they were spread far apart as to not make her look hideous. Vitani also had oval-shaped, rounded eyes, very similar to her mother's. As far as Zira was concerned, although Vitani looked very anorexic, she still looked like the typical, all-American teenage girl, about 13, 14, or 15 at most, or even 16, albeit with a slightly British look. Nuka would have been about 18-20 years old had he been turned human. Kovu would probably be in his early teenage years, about 13, and no doubt much darker in color than Zira.
Zira spun around enthusiastically, exhilarated and thrilled with the idea of becoming a human. Vitani just felt awkward and strange; surely she could not learn how to walk literally on her own two feet? Zira then turned to Elliot and smirked at him, a now mischievous glitter flashing in her eyes. Elliot then racked his brains as he stared at Zira uneasily, trying to think up an explanation on how the HELL can a woman with brunette hair have RED eyes?! Vitani would fit in just fine, as blonde people commonly have blue eyes, but Zira would be an oddity among brunettes. And to top it off, she also had a French look about her as well, which would make her look more exotic. "Elliot, this is brilliant! I am so happy to be human! You think I look sexy, don't you?" Zira mused to herself as she posed and teased Elliot playfully, making himself secretly nauseous.
God knows that Olivia could not be possibly jealous, since she was well aware of his marital status, and had respected that thus far. Still, if Olivia did have feelings for him, Zira could possibly be her greatest competition – she was the most intelligent, strongest, sassiest, spirited, confident, and conniving, calculating woman they have ever faced. This was not good, this was not good… Vitani was awfully self-conscious and actually felt quite awkward in comparison to her mother, who must be the most stunning beauty to hit New York so far. It is one thing to be one of the ugliest lionesses in Africa, but to be the ugliest woman on the planet? Forget it! She was so scrawny, so skinny, so lanky, gawky, and gangling… Her narrow and long face made her even more embarrassed and ashamed of herself. Plus she had freckles on her nose and upper face, which made it ten times worse. I'll bet Nuka would look just as worse, Vitani thought to herself bitterly as she cast an angry glare at Yzma, at which she promptly disregarded.
"Thank you so much, Yzma. You won't regret this," Zira expressed her thanks to the old sorceress with a hand shake. "No problem," Yzma dismissed her with a wave of her hand and went back to work. Elliot, Olivia, Zira and Vitani then walked back up the stairs together to go to the living room to regroup with the detectives, although Zira and Vitani occasionally stumbled and wobbled on their new, untried legs clumsily on their shaky ascent. Soon the two detectives and the two women met up with their colleagues and their boss again, and Capt. Cragen nodded hello to Elliot and Olivia in order to acknowledge them, but before glancing at the women, he glimpsed at the sky from a nearby window and knew it was getting late once more. It was soon to be dinner time, and Ms. Naugatuck was cooking something special. But he did set his sight on the newly created women and was rather taken aback. The two women looked very familiar, and the facial features they inherited from their lion forms were still intact.
The veteran police captain could not believe his eyes; were those lionesses the same ones that he was going to send to Riker's? "Oh, I'm sorry, Capt. Uh, this is Zira, the brunette woman, and this is Vitani, the blonde woman," Elliot Stabler reintroduced the women to Capt. Cragen as he absentmindedly shook their hands, still absorbed in his thoughts and riddled with absolute shock. Munch and Fin looked pretty bewildered too, and even Fin cast a questioning and anxious, confused glance at Munch, not sure what to say. But even in his confused state Fin could see something in Zira's eyes, and it sickened him to think about it. He had a very bad feeling that Zira may be having eyes for Elliot, and he was greatly disturbed and troubled just by thinking about it.
Even in her lioness state, where she had initially harbored hate for him, as she had always done with her dark, mistrustful, sinister nature, somehow she had managed to fall for him, and if that were to be confirmed, she would stop at nothing to win his love. Fin already saw that Zira was a very determined woman who was not afraid to get what she wants and who had a very tempestuous, alluring, seductive charm around her, even if she was a psychotic, insane, sociopathic lioness. It may be possible for her to be actually diagnosed with some sort of mental illness that could have been brought on by the trauma of Scar's death, but who knows as of yet?
Zira then batted her eyes at him and grinned, anticipating to have her first conversation with him as a female human. Vitani was just nervous and mainly averted her gaze at everyone. Zira then glanced around at everyone before making her announcement. "Everyone, I'm going to change my name from Zira to Zenova when we get to Riker's. Vitani will change her name too," she declared with a hint of finality in her voice. "So it shall be, Zira, if that is your wish. I do doubt what name your daughter might undertake though," Capt. Cragen respected her request and then eyed Vitani questioning, who was trembling and quivering in fear, a feeling she had never felt this intensely before. Capt. Cragen then thought for a moment before he had an idea. "Hey, Zira; why don't you change your name to Zenova Schultz? That'll be an excellent American name for you," he suggested politely.
"Thank you, Captain. Vitani will also have that last name, won't you Vitani?" Zira smiled softly back in return and then she glanced over to see how Vitani was doing. "Yes, Mother," Vitani grunted as she was trying to stand firmly on her own two feet and resist the urge to sit on her haunches, as she had been doing before. Zira then laughed sardonically before grinning at the Captain smugly. "Well, I guess I'll find her a name that starts with a V," she decided firmly. "Forget about names, Mother. We better go eat," Vitani urged her mother just as Ms. Naugatuck emerged from the kitchen and rang out a silver bell for everyone to eat. "Hey, everyone! Dinner is ready!" she shrieked shrilly and then everyone crowded into the kitchen, all the while Elliot and Olivia realized that their most arduous task was to come. "Ah, shit! Liv, we have to teach them how to eat properly! This is so embarrassing, cops teaching criminals how to eat!" he griped and complained as he tossed his head to look at Olivia. But it seemed Olivia had it all figured out, just by looking at her smiling, beaming face.
"Don't worry, Elliot. I got a plan; you take care of Zira, and I'll take care of Vitani. Since I think I might work better with her, I suppose you might work better with Zira also," Olivia revealed her grand plot to Elliot, at only which he groaned even more. He did not anticipate having to work with Zira in the dining table, and who knows what that devious, spiteful, foul-tempered, obscene Frenchwoman (yes she's now a Frenchwoman), might have in store with him. The only thing he knew about her was that she could possibly be lusting for him and she was probably waiting for the right time to seduce him. Elliot would rather commit suicide than succumbing to Zira's lusty demands. Actually, he would rather commit suicide right about now.
Ironically, Zira had the presence and aura of a majestic queen, even a princess, despite of the fact that just hours earlier she had dropped an f-bomb on Detective Fin when she was first apprehended by Special Victims Unit. But now it might be possible she might be falling for one of those same officers that might probably send her away to Riker's, perhaps for a while. The last thing Zira wanted was to be incarcerated in one of the most notorious prisons in the state, and that was not how she would want to spend her first day as a human. Well, life had never been that easy with her anyhow, and she had been perfectly okay with it until now, but this time was very different. And especially since her lion instincts were still powerful and strongly intact in her first 24 hours as a human being, things were bound to go awry, especially with Elliot, including the part that the humans had termed "sex", compared to the word "mating", that was phrased by most animals and living organisms. Since Zira had gone around with more than one mate before, this time should be no different.
Zira was perfectly confident with herself; she knew exactly what she was doing. In order to stall him as much as possible, Zira needed to charm him, entreat him, and seduce him with all she knew, and maybe in time he'd be so entranced by her she'd be able to beat the rap to Riker's! But first… Oh what the hell… Zira thought to herself the moment she leaned in to Elliot's face and then kissed him on the cheek, not quite ready to make her move on him yet, especially with everyone watching. Elliot was taken aback and shuddered in her presence, intimidated by that move. Zira just blushed bashfully while smiling sweetly, like the devil she was.
"I don't need to tell you any blimey turkeys to go to the dinner table! The food's going to get cold! You'll be sorry!" Ms. Naugatuck shrieked to the detectives and then everyone else raced right into the kitchen, with Zira and Vitani following them. Just before Zira was about to enter, Vitani then grabbed her by the shoulder and slammed her to the wall. "What the hell were you thinking, Mother? That is called sexual harassment! You can get in serious trouble for this!" Vitani screamed at her mother shrilly as Zira forced herself to endure her daughter's biting, critical words. "I'm a grown woman; I know what I'm doing, Vitani," Zira growled at her in a low, husky voice, her patience quickly wearing thin. "You don't know what you're doing at all, Mother! You do not know anything about human laws! They have far different ideas about how to conduct life! For us lions is to throw caution to the wind, but to them lawlessness means death, chaos and disorder!" Vitani shot back angrily as she lectured her mother severely on the lessons of being human.
Zira then struck her daughter across the face in a furious rage, her anger and possessed love for Elliot all intertwined and bubbling and erupting within her soul all at once, creating harrowing tension within her emotional range; her eyes were flickered and shimmering with bitter, cynical, hatred that was reflected in her heart and her deadly wrath still held a compelling grip on her psyche. Zira then snapped out of her rage momentarily and then saw that Vitani's face was only left with a reddish, crimson mark and no scratch mark at all. This baffled Zira; as a lioness she could have severely injured her daughter by now, but has she been weakened as a human now? But then her eyes burned and raged back into its lethal and toxic wrath and her face blistered and heated up with indignation. She was in the process of striking Vitani once more and her hand was already up in the air.
"I've been to the human city, Mother," Vitani spoke up, unafraid and brave in the face of her mother's increasing anger; "I've taken several walks around the neighborhood and I have studied their habits and customs. They have far different ways of life than us; I know because I've seen consequences when laws are broken, I've even seen put their own brethren to death!" Zira then continued to hold her hand up to slap her daughter across the face just in case while listening to her intently and was greatly fascinated. Vitani then continued to voice her opinions to her mother, still unmoved, still unnerved. She had been treated like crap before and she was now even adjusted to the constant abuse her mother subjected her to, dating back to her childhood.
"I know you're not stupid, Mother. I've known you all my life; please don't make a mistake you're going to regret for the rest of your life. Being a lion was hard, but being a human being is even harder. I beg you Mother please don't let your selfish, lustful desires cloud your judgment. You're better than that! If you won't take my advice at least give me the decency to speak!" Vitani went on with her cogent, compelling argument as she informed her mother on what she was bound to face. Zira then heard what her daughter had to say and was shocked by her stunning audacity, but as a duty of being a mother, Vitani still received the devastating, punishing blow of being smacked across the face by her own mother's hand, which hurt a lot, but not like when she had been hit as a lioness. Vitani seethed and fumed with rage as she glared at her mother with blatant hatred. "You're stubborn; you never listen to anyone! You never listen to me either! All you care about is yourself! You let your own emotions take over you and do the thinking for you! When are you ever going to learn that things always don't go your way?" Vitani snarled and roared at Zira crossly and irately before storming off and spitting right in her face, infuriating and irking the older, middle-aged woman.
"Vitani!" Zira shouted after her. "Don't you dare disrespect me like that!" After hearing no reply, Zira then scoffed and stormed away from the kitchen and went straight outside. She then climbed onto the roof and lay stretched out onto her back looking at the stars. Tears immediately began to brim and fill her eyes as her throat tightened and guilt began to consume her. Zira felt like burying her head in her chest and sobbing all of her misery and sorrow out here on the roof. Damn you, damn you, you stupid karma! How could you do this to me, God? Why? Why am I in love with an officer who's about to send me away to prison for life? Why?! I am the most selfish bitch in the entire planet!
Zira then felt a stream of tears cascade down her fair, light olive face and she felt compelled to scream out her agony and rage at having so much confusing emotions building up in her all at once. And so she did; as she screamed in a loud, shrill, high voice at the top of her lungs with her possessive rage consuming her all at once, she hoped God heard her, she hoped Kovu heard her raging cries, she hoped Nuka could hear how angry and frustrated she was, she hoped that Vitani knew how angry and furious she was with her for being so outright disrespectful and slanderous towards her by saying all of those horrible things about being human, she hoped all of the Pridelands and all of Africa heard her pitiful and furious, heartbroken, blood-curling cries but most of all, she hoped that Simba heard it too, because she despised him most of all, and she wanted him to know that she cursed him most of all, of all people.
Finally her sobs slowly but surely began to abate and quiet themselves in intensity and magnitude and after Zira ceased her crying she collapsed and buried her head in her arms and began to wail loudly. She hated herself, oh how she hated herself now! She was such a strapping, powerful, beautiful, sensuous lioness back in Africa, and even Scar loved her dearly, and now here in the state of New York as a woman she was an utter failure. She possibly alienated her daughter and drew the attention of the guests that were currently residing in the Findlay house into her predicament and now she had all but forgotten about the role in Ms. Chasens' master plan that she was to play ever since she had been caught up in the excitement and joy of being a human being.
Right now she wished that Elliot would come up to the roof maybe to even teach her a lesson, perhaps to even rape her. That was the one thing Zira wanted most in the world; she wanted Elliot to love her in the only way he knew how, and if it was going to take her being raped in order to achieve the desired result, then so be it. Zira had been drowning herself in her sorrow and pity that she did not notice Elliot Stabler scaling up to the rooftop and she only managed to stop her crying the moment she felt his arms wrap around her and she sat up and peered up at him with her bloodshot, red, cracked eyes and her tear-stained face. Elliot's face was glistening in the moonlight and he could also see the lunar light vibrating and reflecting in her scarlet, claret eyes. Another tear dropped from her eye as she gazed right into his face and in that moment she knew that he saw her knight in shining armor.
"Elliot," she began, her husky voice cracking and stammering in a vulnerable and shy manner. "I'm sorry…" "I guess I'm not the only one who feels the need to take charge of things," Elliot murmured with a laugh. "You too?" Zira scoffed with a smirk, her mischievous, cynical, demonic self slowly coming back to her visage. "Yeah, most of my children are girls; I have a daughter named Kathleen and she's bipolar; she is also my second oldest. I worry for her sometimes. I have a little boy who was born just a couple of years ago," Elliot smiled as he attempted to make small talk with the lioness. Zira then started to laugh gaily and Elliot also started to laugh with her as well; soon her tears over her anger and frustration over life were gradually forgotten. "My oldest son is named Nuka; he was supposed to be the prince as is customary in our lion laws when Scar ruled the Pridelands but Scar found him too weak."
"Vitani was then born but there was no way in hell she would become leader of our pride, even if she takes after me. She is my second youngest and also my only daughter. Kovu is my youngest child; he was also Scar's stepson AND his chosen heir. Scar appointed him to take over when he died. And so I've been training Kovu toward that goal ever since. I did take Scar's death very hard, I'll admit. He was the one love of my life; I've known him ever since I was young. I'll always miss him, but if I have to move on with my life, I guess I must," Zira admitted frankly to Elliot Stabler as she began to reveal tidbits of her life and some insight as to what her past as a lioness was like.
Being turned into a human by Yzma certainly gave her a new lease on life. After her dramatic outburst on the rooftop she certainly felt better, and her eyes glowed with a brilliant, red hue the moment she glanced at Elliot. A smile spread across her face and her eyes flared up with intense ardor and passion as her face began to light up. Zira had never been one to trust people so readily and she hadn't exactly been the nicest lioness in the world, well, not since Scar died anyway. She was always the outsider, the loner, the survivor, the fighter, and now, this human experience of hers was now having a significant effect on her psychological being – this spell had given her a new start in life. She still had memories of her past life, and she always will, but now she had no more reason to train Kovu to be a murderer, she had no more reason to harm Simba; she had no more reason to do any ill will to anyone. She also had no more reason to avenge Scar, and finally after all of these years she was willing to let him rest in peace, as long as she is in peace with herself. Zira was ready to love again – and she was ready to let Elliot know how she felt about him.
She then leaned towards him after a few minutes and then closed her eyes before she finally gave him a passionate, tender kiss in the lips. Elliot was startled by Zira's move but then kissed her back anyway, surprised by how soft her lips were. Zira then threw Elliot down on the rooftop and continued to kiss him deeply and harder as she lay on top of him and he wrapped his arms tightly around her. Elliot then threw Zira on her back and then continued to kiss deeply into her throat as they pressed hard against each other and their blood pulsed with excitement. Olivia Benson then walked out into the driveway calling out for Elliot Stabler. "Elliot? Elliot? Damn he's gotta be around here somewhere! I know he is!" She then heard the sounds of passion flaring on the rooftop and then the moment she looked up, a wave of shock, horror and disgust struck her as her face blanched and turned livid and she staggered weakly on the ground, about to faint. (I will not tell you what was going on that rooftop or it's going to be rated M). "SHIT!!!!" she hissed as she dashed right into the house and then bumped right into Vitani.
"Olivia! What's wrong?" Vitani made a concerned inquiry when she noted her acquaintance's pale and stricken face. "It's your mother, and Elliot. I-I, I-I, I just… I think you need to sit down for this one…" Olivia stammered tearfully as she tried to tell her new friend what she had seen. Vitani nodded grimly and then the two women walked over to the sofa and then they both sat down. Olivia then placed her hand on her friend's shoulder and then gazed at her with tear-stricken eyes. How could her friend have been so foolish as to succumb to that woman's wanton lust? Vitani understood the silent message her friend was conveying. Lionesses usually don't mate again until either their offspring are grown, moved out of the pride or they wind up dead. And now that she, Kovu and Nuka are all grown up pretty much, Zira was ready to mate again, and since she was now rendered human, she is now receptive to anything that affects humans, especially in sexual reproduction. And if Elliot got her pregnant… "Olivia, I don't know what I would do if my mother were to become pregnant with a child at her age…" Vitani stuttered as she tried to come to grips of her mother's potentially deadly actions, to herself, to her family, and to even the ones she loved. Her mother was now so vulnerable, so open, and so helpless to her own human emotions because of the spell she was currently in thanks to Yzma, and she had let a guy she barely knew take advantage of her!
Vitani and Olivia then came to a decision together. "Olivia, if anything comes out of this, I'll make sure to help the both of them as best as I can," Vitani addressed her decision to Olivia Benson. Olivia then nodded in agreement. "Same here, but what do you suppose we should do?" she replied loyally in return. "We'll help her all right, but in the end, it's up to Mother herself. She's the one making the choice, not me," Vitani decided resolutely. "Same here," Olivia Benson concurred by crossing her arms decidedly. Now Vitani and Olivia were faced with a situation that could change their lives forever – and also could change the course of events that could probably complicate things even further. Zira was about to learn that being human was hell and brutal – and when you're faced with a life-changing decision, it is not all fun and games either. But what would happen when Maude returns home and learns about the dramatic turn of events that had occurred during her absence? Things were about to go from bad to worse before they even get better. And it will be a while before things look up for the better.
YES!!!! I finally finished this chapter! Sorry it was extremely long though; Chapter 5 will be Part 2 and will also be called Life Is A B-word Part 2. Please rate and review!
