Chapter Seven: Recovery

If people are informed they will do the right thing. It's when they aren't informed that they become hostages to prejudice.


-==Three days later==-

"Uuuhhhh."

"Oh you're awake."

"No, I'm Just making noise in my sleep." I said, looking out the window, noticing it was night.

"Well you've been asleep for three days." Jacqueline was standing in front the counter-top, pulling out various things. She was wearing the same light blue pants and shirt as the first time I saw her.

"What time is it?"

"Umm, 6:30 P.M" She replied.

"Woooo." I said very groggy. "Wait wasn't the bandage change in three days. Please tell me you already changed the bandage."

"Nope, that's why I'm in here." She said, snapping on latex gloves.

"Of course you are. Ya-sure I can't do it, I know how to." I said with little hope.

"No, I have to do it. Hospital policy." She said while smirking.

"Hey I can see you smiling over there, this isn't funny."

"Yeah it is. Now just relax while I disinfect the wound." She said while walking to the right side of the bed.

"But I have fifteen years of medical training." Trying do delay the inevitable.

"Can you prove it. I Didn't think so." She said with a victorious tone. Jacqueline pulled off the thin white blanket on me, Then undid my blue, dotted with white, hospital gown, leaving me ninety five percent naked.

"Just… get it over with." I said in a deadpan tone as she sprayed the disinfectant.

"Sorry, I forgot to mention the disinfectant hurts."

"Ya-don't say." I replied In a high pitch, sarcastic tone while I tilted my head a little to the right.

Then Jacqueline folded the hospital gown down further, to apply the bandage. And as she dressed the wound, she became dangerously close to my parts.

"If I have to be uncomfortable, so does she." I thought. "Listen, while the bandage change is all and good, I don't think you're a urologist. So quit eyeing the goods."

". . .Y-Y-Y-Y." Jacqueline tried to say something, but was unable. And I thought it was mirthful.

I tried to hold back laughter, but eventually chortled a little. " Hehehe. . . Oww." I said, wincing in pain and shortly after wiping a tear from my eye. Jacqueline had stopped her work and was looking at me with a mixture of rage, embarrassment, and something else that I couldn't quite pick up on.

"B-B-But why!?" She almost demanded.

"Because, If I have to be totally embarrassed, so do you." I said, smiling.

"Rrrrrrr, it's not funny." She said, totally flustered.

"And I didn't think it was funny five minutes ago, but someone else did. Now will you please muster up the courage to finish my bandage, because after all, I'm incapable." I said, smirking at Jacqueline because I knew I was victorious in my efforts to embarrass her. The next few minutes were spent in silence while Jacqueline applied the new bandage

"Almost done." She said, while trying to keep her paws as far away from my genitals as possible.

"It wouldn't be the first time this happened."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the other scars down there didn't heal without stitches."

"Oh." Jacqueline said, having finished the bandages and covered me back up.

"Hey, I'm sorry if I took it to far with the joke." I said while slightly frowning.

"I um. . ." Jacqueline stopped mid sentence as she saw my facial expression. "I'm sorry for making It as uncomfortable as I did."

"Sigh, If you like, we could just try to make each other as uncomfortable as possible, Then it wouldn't be bad to make jokes like that." I Asked, thinking it would be fun to be able to freely mess with the nurse.

"Only if it's just us In the room, Or if no one else would get it." Jacqueline replied.

"Deal." I said smiling, and holding out my had to make the deal. As Jacqueline shook my hand with her paw she started rubbing my arm seductively.

"So, what should we do first." Jacqueline said seductively while giving me a smile to go with it.

"What have I gotten myself into?"

"Giggle giggle, More than you can handle." She said, smiling like she was already planning something else. "So,do you want to tell me what happened with the scars."

"Not really, but if you can guess. I'll give you some details." I said, thinking that she would have figured it out already.

"Were you in an accident?"

"Nope."

"Umm, Are they normal skin formations for you're species?" She asked with her head slightly tilted.

"He he heh, defiantly not. You're either really bad at guessing, or you just don't want to admit what you're thinking." I said with my eyes closed.

"W-were you tortured?" She asked at an almost unregistered level.

"Ding ding ding, give the ball of fluff a prize."

"B-b-but there's so many." Jacqueline said in horror.

"Really, I only noticed one or two." I said, half smiling. Jacqueline looked over her shoulder with daggers from the desk across the room. "Sorry, just trying to lighten the mood."

"It didn't work." She replied solemnly. "Who could do that?" Jacqueline had dropped all joking tone as she started taking off her blue rubber gloves.

"An empire desperate for information. You wouldn't believe how creative they got after year three." I said thinking back to all the years of being tortured in every way imaginable.

As Jacqueline took off the rubber gloves and threw them in the trash I could see tears in her eyes.

"Hey, Hey. Don't be sad, It happened years ago. I'm better… mostly." I reassuringly said.

"But there's so many, how could anyone ever survive through it."

"With hope that I would be rescued and returned t-." I choked on my last words.

"You don't need to say." Jacqueline cooed while walking to the bedside. Tears had started flowing from my eyes from remembering my past and Jacqueline had sat down on the bed with me, holding my hand with her smaller paws.

"I'm sorry for bringing it up." She apologetically said while looking at me with what seemed like genuine care.

"Why would you care. I've know you for a few hours."

"What?" She asked, almost sounding irritated.

"People don't just care like that."

"Well I do. So shut up and let me care."

"Sniff, Thanks, I would ask for a hug, but I can't really do that. Sniff."

"Well can do you one better." Jacqueline said while intently looking into my eyes. I almost seemed like she was staring into my soul and I found myself trying to find something else to look at. Although I tried to find something else to look at, Jacqueline's staring took up my full attention and I noticed her ears were turning red.

"Why are your ears turning red?" I asked, trying to relieve the silence.

"Cuz this." She whispered as she kissed my cheek.

"There, all better?"

I didn't say anything for a few seconds while I was processing what happened."I think so." I managed to say.

Jacqueline leaned back in and whispered into my ear. "I'll see you later, Spaceman." before planting another kiss on my cheek. She then stood up and walked out of the room while waving her tail slightly.

"What just happened?" I said while rubbing my cheek slowly. "Did I really just like getting kissed by a snow leopard!?" I continued to think about what happened for several minutes. Once about five minutes passed, someone knocked on the door.

"Come In." I said just before the door opened and a large buffalo wearing a blue uniform walked into the room. I had identified his name pretty easily, since he had a name tag and I had also determined he was a chief from the combination of four stars on each collar, and the police badge on his uniform. "How can I help you, Chief Bogo?"

"How did you know know that?" He asked, slightly surprised. "Never mind. I'm going to ask you some questions, and you are going to answer truthfully, do you understand?"

"Yes sir."

"Calling me sir is for people who are in the police, nothing else." He said, Sitting down in one of the chairs to my left, by the window.

"I'm In the military."

"What's a military?" He questioned.

"You're kidding right." I said in disbelief.

"I never Joke, now what's this military?" He asked in a very serious tone.

"Well do you have swat, and do they carry lead firing weapons?"

"Yes." Was his reply.

"Well imagine that, but with even better weapons, armored vehicles with massive auto cannons on them, supersonic jets with heat seeking missiles, I could go on for hours. This is what I imagined your military would look like, but I guess I'm mistaken. Mine consists of space ships the size of small city's, but moving on.

What's your rank?" He asked, trying to hide the total amazement of what I just described. I imagine no one else would be able to tell he was amazed due to it being hidden well.

"Admiral, I keep forgetting that fact though. Probably from it being a recent promotion and the fact I've been a captain for years."

"Hmm, very well. State your full name."

"Elliot Lee Crawford."

"How old are you?"

"Twenty six, wait maybe twenty seven. What's the date here?"

"It's April twelfth."

"Wooo, I'm twenty seven today. Wait, nope, twenty six. I keep forgetting the year." I replied un-enthusiastically, since Birthdays didn't really mean much to me. I never celebrated one until I was twelve and by that time, my mind was over three hundred years old.

"Weight?"

"One hundred eighty pounds."

"Eye color?"

"Uhhhuuuhhh, There heterochromic."

"That's not a color."

"It means they're more than one color, they also change color. But put down blue."

The buffalo Sighed and rubbed his temple with a hoof "Where is your current place of residence?"

"I don't have one. But you could put down Forest."

"Hmm. . . Where are you from?"

"Not from around here."

"This is no time for games Mister Crawford." He replied in an irritated tone.

"I'm not playing a game. I'm from a planet forty five thousand light years away."

The buffalo looked at me for a moment then continued writing down something on the clipboard he was holding.

"Hey If you're writing down, this guys crazy. I can just make something up." I said, not wanting to be dismissed as a mental patient.

"That won't be necessary." The Buffalo continued to ask me irrelevant questions for the next fifteen minutes. "I think we're done here Mister Crawford, there's someone here to see you." Bogo said as he walked out the door, leaving it open. I then saw Nick and Judy walk in.

"Hey guys, how ya doing?"

"Elliot I'm so Sorry about what my dad did." Judy said, standing on the right side of the bed.

"I'll be fine Judy, it's not the first time I've been shot."

"Hey Elliot, Here's your wingsuit." Nick interupted as he set the suit on the bed.

"Thanks. . . When did you shoot the lasers?"

"How did you know!?" Judy asked with stupefaction.

"I didn't, you just told me." I replied with a large smirk on my face. Judy's face turned to one of embarrassment as nick pitched in his thoughts.

"Real Smooth Carrots." Nick said as he face palmed.

"So why did you shoot it?" I said while I started fidgeting with the pack. This proved difficult due to me being unable to move my back at all.

"So get this, a bear came up to us all mad and stuff, so I-" Nick said.

"Good enough." I said interrupting Nick. I didn't care that he shot the lasers, what I really wanted to know was how they managed to not only get past the biometric lock, but also figure out how to use the control panel.

"Listen, Elliot. I'm really sorry we shot it." Judy said while staring at her feet. She had her ears laid full against her back.

"Judy it's fine, your reason is acceptable."

"Oh, okay." She said while her Ears popped back up. I thought it was almost comical how her ears were a crucial part of her emotion.

"So how ya holding up?" Nick asked.

"Ehh, Fine. Can you hand me the arm display please? Also, how'd you get past the biometric lock on the suit?"

"Huh, there wasn't a lock at all." Nick said as he handed the display over.

I was rather intrigued that Nick said there wasn't a lock. But I shrugged it off, thinking it may have already been unlocked.

"Elliot, are you sure you're okay." Judy said.

"Guy's, I'm fine, I promise." I said as I pulled a syringe out of the pack.

"What's that? And why does it look like a water bottle filled with tar?" Nick asked.

"It's a special concoction that speeds up healing."

"Ahh, so how does it work?" Judy asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine." I said while shrugging my shoulders.

"Do you know how much it speeds it up?" Nick asked.

"Four hundred fifty times, if I'm remembering correctly." I said.

"Wow...So when will you be okay?" Judy asked.

"Oh, depending on how bad it is. Few hours to a day or two." I said starting to move the syringe by my neck to inject it.

"You're joking right?" Nick said in disbelief.

"No. but I'm not going to use it." I said as I put the syringe back in the lower left compartment of the wingsuit.

"What, Why not?" Judy asked with astonishment.

"Because it could save a life and I only have a few." I replied, pushing the wingsuit to my waist level on my left side. "I have a question for both of you, and feel free to say no."

"Shoot." Judy Said.

"I have some questions About your physical makeup and I would like to take a look at you both. This would include some tests."

"Sure." Nick said Without hesitating.

"Good, Gooood…..Muhahaha." I said, holding my hands up by my face with all the fingers spread apart and fingertips touching.

This caused Both Nick and Judy to give me a concerned look.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist. Nick if you would be so kind as to come sit on the bed."

"Why do I need to sit on the bed?"

"I can't even sit up so that means you have to come to me."

"Duh." Nick whispered to himself as he tried to get up on the bed. He had a little bit of difficulty because of his height but eventually made it.

"Have a seat." I said pointing to the space I made on the bed.

"Ok, So what's first?"

"Paw please?" I said pointing to one of his paws.

I examined his paw the same way I did with Jacqueline's and once I was satisfied with my examination, I moved onto Nick's eyes.

"Okay try not to move." I said while turning his head so I could look at his eye. I had pulled Nick's face within inches of mine and If someone had walked in, it would look like Nick was going to kiss me.

"Do I really need to be this close? it's a little bit weird." He asked with uncertainty.

"Yes, I need to see how your eye structure is formed. You see, my version of foxes have slanted eyes, but yours are round like Human eyes, almost too human."

"What do you mean?" Judy asked, her voice full of curiosity.

"All of your species eyes I've encountered are far larger than they need to be. Anyway, Nick close your eyes." Shortly after Nick had done as I asked, I snapped my fingers near his ears to see if they would automatically rotate to the direction of sound, which they did. Next, I wanted to see if Nick would involentarily react to a stimulation that Foxes on earth react to. "Okay Nick, now I need you to stand on all fours for me."

"Uhh, ok." Nick said, moving back a few feet on the bed before lowing himself on all fours. "So why am I doing this?" He asked while standing just like a normal fox.

"Shh, you'll ruin the experiment." I said, just before scratching the bed under the sheet so Nick couldn't see my hand. I noticed his eyes sharpen and a few milliseconds later, he bounced up vertically, landing on the spot where I was scratching. Then he started digging on the sheet for a few seconds, before eventually snapping out of it.

"The hell, How did you make me do that!?" Nick demanded as he sat down with his feet dangling off the side of the bed.

"HaHaHaHaHaHaaaaa. . . It's something foxes do on my planet." I replied.

"Well slick Nick, I now have ammunition for my gun." Judy said with a devious grin plastered across her face.

"Elliot, I want. No, I demand an explanation."

"I was going to tell you anyway, so don't get all fussy. Alright, on my planet foxes still hunt to survive, when they hear a noise just like the one I made, they think there's something below the snow or ground. Once they hear the sound of potential food, the leap in the air, just like you did, and bury their snouts in the snow to possibly grab the prey. If that doesn't work, they start to dig to find the food. So in essence, I just forced your primal side to take over momentarily." The look on Nick and Judy's face told me that they had no idea about what I was saying.

"How do you know all this, I've never ever heard of this before." Nick marveled.

"It's simple animal behavior really. The real question is, how do you not know this?"

"Elliot I don't think you know this yet, but here calling us Animals is quite rude and derogatory. We prefer the term Mammals." Judy said didactically.

"Gotcha, but how is Animals much different than Mammals? Just saying."

"Well, I dunno. But it's just the way things are, Okay?"

"Yep. I bet I could tell you something else that might not be so common knowledge."

"Tell me something about Officer fluff so I have dirt on her too."

After thinking for a minute or two, I had my fact. "Did you know that rabbits can purr by grinding their teeth together. They can't vomit from where I live. And finally, all rabbits are born fur-less. How was that?" I asked, looking directly at Judy, whose mouth was slightly hanging open in awe. Nick looked over to her after she didn't reply.

"Oh man, I have the mother load of information now, don't I?" Nick said with a devious smile. After a few seconds, Judy slowly nodded to Nicks question.

"Now, before we go further down the rabbit hole, Pun intended. Nick, how much do you weigh?"

"Hmm, you say something?" Nick asked, temporarily taking his eyes off Judy.

"Yeah, How much do you weigh?" I said with more emphases than the last time.

"Eighty two pounds last time I checked."

"Uhh, are you sure?"

"Yeah I'm sure."

"Hmm, well there's something different." I said, puzzled with how he weighs that much. "I need to take a tissue sample, if you don't mind."

"Sorry, but that extends past the provided services." Nick replied.

"Ehh, worth a shot. Hey Judy….JUDY!"

"Huh, what?" She replied, snapping out of her stuper.

"Have you decided on weather you would like to be my tent rabbit."

"Um, I'd rather not if it's Ok with you."

"Suit yourself. Well if don't need anything else from me, I shall adjourn to my dreams."

"Yeah, I think we're good. See ya when you wake up." Nick said while padding to one of the guest chairs by the window.

"Are you staying here?"

"Yep." Judy started to say as she hopped up on the foot of the bed and promptly laid on her back. "We were assigned twenty-four hour guard duty on you cuz the angry mob outside."

"Uhh, I can defend myself just fine. You found that out the hard way. Ya-know, when I turned into that guy from the Matrix a few days ago and almost brain washed both of you."

"I still want a rematch for that, I think if you didn't have a gun I would have won." Nick replied while he continued to play on his PDA.

"My Boot in your chest begs to differ. I recall you went flying a few feet, and I had my back turned to you. But don't feel bad, I've never lost a hand to hand combat fight to this day." I said boastfully.

"Yeah, happenstance. Once your better, we are going a round or two in the ring at the ZPD." Nick said.

"Yeah, that's all you would probably last for." I said with a chuckle.

"Oh and what about now sir fights-a-lot."

"I'd just taze you with my arm." I said, discharging some battery power between my fingers, which created large purple lightning bolts to shoot between my fingers. I had forgot about Judy, and once I activated the discharge, she fell off the bed from surprise.

"Elliot, what the hell!" Judy yelled as she hopped back up on the bed and started rapidly tapping her foot.

"What, Nick seems to think he can beat me up. I was showing that he couldn't. See." CRRRAAACKK

"Cut it out man that hurts my ears." Nick interjected.

"Imagine how much it hurts when you touch it. I'm really not suppose to do that though. I could discharge that battery in a matter of seconds."

"Elliot I'm really tired, so could you please shut up." Judy Hissed as she laid back on the foot of the bed.

"Yeah yeah. See ya on the other side." I said as I closed my eyes for much needed sleep.


-==12 hours later==-

"Elliot, ELLIOT wake up!"

"Whhhaaaaatttt. . ." I whined. "If were not getting shot at, your doing push-ups." I said, thinking I was on the F.N.S Damocles.

"Judy, I can't hold the door much longer!" I looked over in the direction of the voice and saw Nick, who was holding the door as something tried to kick it in.

"Angry mob?"

"YEP!" Nick shouted back.

"Wouldn't be the first time." I said while reaching for my Sidearm contained in the wingsuit.

"Elliot, you need to be ready For Angry Mammals to come through the door, we'll protect you so don't worry." Judy said, failing to sound confident.

I had already known that the duo wouldn't be enough to stop anything larger than a squirrel. So I had set the wingsuit on a bedside table that I could easily reach. Shortly after acquiring my pistol, I chambered a round and turned on the red laser that was attached to the rail on the bottom. The pistols MRD (mini Red dot) Was a Fiber optic, so that didn't need any activating.

"Elliot, you're not really going to shoot them are you?" Jacqueline asked from my left side.

"What are you doing in here!?" I asked, worried for Jacqueline.

"I was checking on you. Elliot please tell me you aren't going to shoot them." Jacqueline replied with her ears splayed flat.

"Not unless they break through the door. Put this on." I said, resting my hand on the Wingsuit.

"Why?"

Boom

"It has a shield, and I don't want to risk you getting hurt. So put it on." Shortly after beckoning Jacqueline a second time, she fastened the shoulder and waist straps. I then put the control panel on my left arm and turned it on. I wasn't going to activate the shield until the door was broken down due to the shield only lasting for thirty seconds.

Boom

"Ok, now what? Jacqueline asked in a concerned tone, probably from the door frame cracking.

"Now you stand as far from the door as possible and I'll do the rest."

Boom

"NICK, JUDY!" This earned the Two mammals attentions. "Once the door breaks, get behind Jacqueline. I've-" Boom "I've hooked up the shield to her!" I said in a raised voice.

"We can't do that, we have to protect you!" Judy Yelled.

"I'll be fine, you Both Know that you can't stop them."

The two continued to hold the door closed, but once a hole was punched straight though the solid oak door, the scampered behind Jacqueline, who was also cowering on the left side of my bed. I was holding the pistol with my left hand, aiming the pistol at the door, showing a red dot from the laser. My right hand was hovered over the shield button on my control panel.

CRRAACK

"It's you time to die alien filth..."

Before he could finish his sentence, I pressed the shield button and Jacqueline was enveloped in an almost transparent blue field. Simultaneously, I opened fire on the crowd of Mammals that were trying to flood the door. The first to fall was a polar bear, who I imagine was kicking the door in. I continued to fire into the crowd and I could hear each shell hitting the ground with a tink. I had directed about twelve of the thirty rounds in the magazine into the upper chest of all the mammals. Some taking only one round to drop, while others, like the polar bear, taking three rounds to the chest before I directed my fire to its head, sending brain matter all over the walls and floor. Within a few seconds of opening fire I had wasted each and every animal and after the ringing in my ears subsided, Sizzling could be heard as the incendiary rounds continued to burn in the animals chests.

"Standing!" Just as I said that, a sheep jumped around the corner and opened fire

Bang bang bang. He opened fire with what sounded like an old 9x19 Parabellum. Boom. My pistol's report had dwarfed that of the sheep's weapon, due to the powder charge difference. The single round I had fired at the sheep hit its mark, and lodged into the right side of the sheep's chest. The entire time I was wishing I had attached the dark tan suppressor the went with the gun so the hospital room wouldn't sound like a jet fighter was flying through it. As the ringing subsided, the sizzling continued.

"I looked over to Jacqueline who had shrieked when the sheep fired, and I could see just the last bits of shield ripple where a bullet had impacted the shield. If not for that blue transparent bubble, Jacqueline would have been hit in the face, killing her instantly.

"Jacqueline, are you Okay." I asked, knowing she was physically fine. But I found it helps to be asked if your Ok anyway. Instead of her saying anything, she attempted to hug me. But failed due to the shield stopping her from touching anything. A few seconds of awkward silence went by with her waiting for the shield to shut off, and me still aiming at where the door use to be. Once the shield deactivated, Jacqueline hug my neck tightly.

"You saved my life." She muttered into my ear.

"Yeah, and I also caused all this. If I hadn't come here, you wouldn't have been put in danger anyway." I said, looking at the pile of six of seven bodies toppled onto one another, blood pooling out onto the white linoleum floor.

"Elliot. Did-did you kill them?" Judy asked nervously, already knowing the answer.

"Freeze ZPD!" I heard a loud male voice say.

"Stand down, it's over. By the way, you're late." I said, feeling my prosthetic arm where a bullet hit it, Thankfully the arm was designed to take quite a beating. While I was learning about how it worked, one of the engineers said it could withstand small rifle fire, which at the time I though was pointless, but as the years went by, I had learned how to use it like a small shield by angling my hand so bullets would ricochet away from my body, not that they said it was a good idea .

"Are you guys alright?" The same voice said, who turned out to be a large tiger. A gray wolf also walked in after him, both holding measly tranquilizer pistols. The wolf looked at the pile of dead or dying bodies for a few seconds before holstering his pistol and running out while covering his muzzle from the bloody scene of burnt and mangled flesh.

"We're fine. Right?" I asked, looking to everyone else in the room, who nodded. Jacqueline was still busy hugging my neck and I had my finger just above the trigger guard assembly, just in case.

"Heh, guess Wolford can't handle his lunch." The tiger quipped.

"Fangmayer, Go get a doctor, Let's try to save some of them." Judy said before using the tiger as a vault to hop over the fallen animals and large pool of blood emanating from multiple sources.

Hearing commotion of more police outside, I decided I was fairly safe, so I dropped the magazine and racked the slide while keeping my hand over the ejection port to catch the cartridge. After caching the cartridge, I put the round back into the magazine before reinserting the mag into the gun. I continued to hold onto the pistol for the time being, just in case.


-==15 Minutes later==-

I had been moved to another room a few floors up and oddly, it had the exact same layout except without the ventilator.

"Elliot." Judy said, jumping on the bed next to my left side, seeing the impact of the round on my forearm.

"I'm Fine."

"Jacqueline! Elliot's been shot." She said, trying to get a good grip of my arm so she could see.

"I'm Fine, it's just minor." I said, pulling my arm away. Judy continued to pester me until Jacqueline arrived.

"I need to clean this up. Can you please clear out?" Jacqueline Asked.

"I'm fine!" I said loudly, as everyone left the room.

"No, you could make it worse." Jacqueline said, pulling my hand away from the impact point.

"Listen to her Elliot." Judy said sternly, while walking out the door and avoiding the blood the best she could.

"Well Mister Crawford this is unexpected." I looked up to see Chief Bogo walking in the room.

"What, getting shot, or killing six people." I said in an irritated tone.

"Don't worry, so far only three have died thanks to direct shots to the heart and head." He said, completely un-amused with the situation. Bogo started to say something else but was interrupted by Jacqueline, who told him to leave until she finished with what she was doing. After he left the room, Jacqueline pulled the curtain In front of the closed door.

"I need to take this off." Jacqueline said, pointing to the gown.

"I'm fine."

"You were shot in the arm. You're not fine." Jacqueline was still wearing the EXO-35 and she had started to take it off while we continued our talk.

"It's bullet proof, see." I said at a near whisper, showing the copper colored mark where the bullet ricocheted.

"Ohhh, I forgot that one's fake." She said, rubbing the copper residue off with a finger to reveal not even a scratch.

"SHHH. I don't want anyone to know."

"Sorry, sorry. I still need to check to make sure you're Ok." She replied while setting the wingsuit on the table across the room.

"NO, you don't. I'm fine." I siad withcrossed my arms.

"It's ether me, or someone else. So take your pick." She said crossing her arms to imitate me.

"Sigh. . . Fiiinnnne."

"Gown off."

"You're enjoying embarrassing me, aren't you."

"Why yes, yes I am." Jacqueline said as the gown was undone to look at the wound.

"Wow."

"It's not the first time you've seen it so I don't know why your reacting like that." I said, now laying naked on the bed.

As I finished my sentence Jacqueline's ears turned red. "Tha-tha-that's not what I'm talking about." She stuttered.

"Point for me." I said while Jacqueline felt around on the bandage wrapped around my stomach. Eventually in her groping of my wound, she pressed too hard, earning an audible wince.

"Oh sorry." She said, Reliving the pressure she had on the stapled shut wound. "I never really said thanks for saving my life ya-know."

"As I said before, if I hadn't been here you wouldn't have been in this situation in the first place. Second, you did hug me for like five minutes straight."

"Oh shuh you. Don't be going all cliché on me with the 'it's all my fault' routine. And a hug hardly repays saving my life."

"Okay, I wont be cliché. But what do you propose to pay me back with then, because that hug was enough repayment for me."

"You'll find out the repayment when you get it." She said in a seductive tone.

"Denied point for the feline. Sorry." I replied in a high pitch sarcastic tone.

"Oh I wasn't joking." Jacqueline said with a smirk, to which I dismissed as being a second attempt to embarrass me.

"Yeah, how about you be done now." I said while Jacqueline continued to feel my wound.

"Okay….It's not to bad, it just needs to be disinfected and bandaged, AGAIN." Jacqueline said while she pulled out some bandages and a bottle of liquid before walking back over with gloves on. "This is going to hurt a lot, so try not to move." She said as she put a cotton swab with the disinfectant on my wound.

"It really doesn't hurt all that much."

"Everyone that I've applied this to has yelled in pain."

"Everyone else hasn't been tortured for years."

"You never said that you were tortured for that long." She replied, Stopping The bandage work.

"Uh, yeah I did. I recall saying something like, they got really creative after year three."

"Oh, yeah. I Remember now." She almost whispered in a depressed tone.

"NO moping. New topic, what did you do before being a nurse?"

"I worked at an Ihopp. How about you?" She asked in a slightly more uplifting tone.

"I was a captain of a very large warship, called the FNS Damocles."

"Wait, uhh. what's war?"

"Your joking right." I said in disbelief.

"Nevermind I remember. We just haven't had a war in thousands of years."

"Lucky bastards."

"That's not very nice."

"Sorry, that was suppose to be a thought, guess it just slipped. So back on topic, what were you saying?"

"How big was the ship?"

"Just over a mile long." I said, thinking back to the first time I saw a Farragut Battlecruiser. It was an awe inspiring sight, the ship was in low orbit around the planet and it created a partial solar eclipse, casting a shadow for miles.

"Wow. . . . That's huge."

"Thanks for the compliment, but that's normal for my species." I said, smirking. Shortly after my comment registered, I could see Jacqueline's entire face clearly turn red under her white and black fur.

"Two points for me." I was enjoying making Jacqueline super embarrassed, and for some reason I didn't care that she was seeing me naked. Most likely from the years of community showering while I was in the navy. "Anyway, the ship was a capital class Battlecruiser, so it was one of the biggest in our navy."

"Grrrrr, Did you really have to bring that up." Jacqueline said while looking at me with irritation.

"You agreed to it." I said as I poked her shoulder lightly.

"Fiinnnnnne. . . . But why did you come here?"

"The ship was destroyed. I had pulled the stupidest most cliché thing in the book. 'Oh I'll trade my life for the lives of my crew.' I still can't believe I made that mistake, and because of that decision. I was forced to watch my entire Seven-thousand man a women crew die." I said in anger at my own stupidity.

"We can talk about something else if you want."

". . . Okay, I'll finish what I tried to say earlier." I glumly stated.

Jacqueline had finished my bandage, so she sat on the bed as I re-clothed myself the best I could. "Could you help? I can't get it on all the way." I asked as I struggled to tie the gown back together.

"I didn't know you had trouble getting it on." She said, staring me with a seductive smile plastered on her face, as she rubbed my leg with her tail.

"Damn, I don't know if I can top that one." I said in moderate defeat as my face heated up.

Jacqueline dropped the smile after a few seconds and helped me put the gown back on. "You don't need to tell me, it made you cry." She said, holding my hand delicately.

"I've never told anyone beside the mandatory therapist and it needs to be said."

"...Ok, but if you want to stop at anytime, by all means, stop."

"Listen, Even if I have a hard time getting it on, I don't think I'll need a break. Sigh, that was terrible." I mumbled.

Jacqueline started to giggle a little bit at my comment, which made me less worried about how bad the comeback was. I then returned to all seriousness.

"Ok, shortly after being rescued from my capture I was at a medical station orbiting an allied planet. It had been a few weeks after I arrived. I was almost healed thanks to the Recovery stimulation kit, or R.S.K I was given and my-my wife was headed to the station to see me. But she never ar-arrived."

"You don't need to say any more." Jacqueline said, now holding my hand with both of her paws as she stared at me with her Piercing light blue eyes. I could tell that for some reason She cared deeply about my well being, and I couldn't figure out why.

"Yes...I do. . . I found her ship floating in space a few weeks after I started searching. Sh-she had been t-tor-tortured to death, for my location." I managed to say in-between whimpers.

"Why are you telling me this?" Jacqueline asked in a concerned tone.

"Because you're the only person I've truly felt comfortable around in years, and I. I don't know."

"Well, I'm happy that you're comfortable around me." Jacqueline said as she sat on the left side of the bed.

"I um, I don't suppose I could have a hug, could I?" I asked sheepishly.

"For you, of course." Jacqueline sad as she pulled me into soft embrace. We hugged for almost a whole minute in total silence. I couldn't explain it if I tried but something about that cat had me opening up in hours what took months of time with anyone else, and for some reason, I wanted to tell her everything that hurt me in my past. But I pushed that thought away when our peaceful hug was interrupted

"Are you finished dressing his wound yet?" Chief Bogo asked from behind the curtain.

"Yes." Jacqueline said while quickly standing up and straightening out her clothes. The door opened behind the curtain and the buffalo walked in, pushing the curtain to the side. He then asked Jacqueline to wait outside.

"Hey can you get my other stuff?" I asked.

"Yeah." She replied before closing the door.

"Thanks." I said, as Jacqueline left the room.

"So Elliot here's what's going to happen." He said in a calm tone. "YOU are going to walk out the hospital door and go back to whatever planet you're from." Bogo said in a much less calm tone as he pointed at me and then the door.

"I can't do that. This is a one way trip. Besides, I'm paralyzed." I calmly replied.

"YOU don't have a decision in the matter!"

Bogo outburst had put me over the edge on my opinion of him and I racked the slide to my pistol and flicked the laser on. In about half a second after Bogos' outburst, a small red dot was on his chest where his heart was located. "I'm going to have to ask you to step back a few feet. And don't think your archaic armor plating will stop one of these rounds."

"ARE you, pointing a weapon at me." He indignantly stated.

"No I'm pointing a snow cone at you, what the does it look like. Now You're going to be civilized about this, so take a seat."

Bogo let out an irritated snort before taking a seat in one of the visitor chairs.

"Okay, I will leave town for two weeks to give you time to get this under control. But I can't leave the planet."

"Why not?"

"Because the means of getting here was one way. I used a portal to get here and it doesn't bring itself with me." We continued to talk about the situation, and I eventually lowered my sidearm once I felt Bogo was calmed down. After a fair bit of one sided argument, we decided that I would go to the Medical center in bunny burrow until further notice. Bogo left the room shortly after and I was left alone for a few minutes while I waited for my clothes.

When Jacqueline came in, she was holding my G suit and wearing the helmet, which was an urban Multiacm pattern. This meant I had forgot to turn off the Automatic Camouflage System embedded into the fabric. She also had my normal Navy Bdu, which the Federal navy, for some reason, still employed the Blue quadrilateral camouflage pattern from when there were still multiple governments on earth.

"Do you mind not putting the helmet on." I said, not wanting to have to clean cat fur out of the padding.

"Oh, sorry. It just looked really cool." She said glumly, pulling the helmet off after setting the other clothes on the desk across the room.

"Yeah, it it. Look, I don't mind that you put it on, I just don't want to be cleaning out fur from the padding system." I relied in a friendly tone. "Was it on when you found it?"

"Nooo, I turned it on because I wanted to see what your technology was like." She said in a guilty tone as her ears laid flat. "But I don't shed at this time of year, so you'll be safe." She added, most likely trying to redeem herself.

"Am I allowed to put on normal clothes yet? And if so, can you hand me the blue outfit"

"Yeah, you can't wear normal clothes for at least a few months."

"Ok, let me rephrase. Give me the blue outfit so I can put it on."

"No, I'm serious, You can't wear anything other than that hospital gown."

"Fiiiinnnneee. . . I just realized something. No one told me how bad my injuries are. Would you happen to know?"

"WHAT!? I'm going to kill her." Jacqueline muttered to herself as she grabbed the clipboard at the end of the bed. "This isn't looking to good. You have a ruptured spleen and kidney. Your liver is bruised and most of your intestines were shredded. . ."

"What?"

"Elliot, can you feel your legs?" She asked while looking at me with pity.

"Aww maaaan." I replied, unable to move my feet or legs.

"OH! It says you have a good chance of regaining your leg functions."

"Well that's a plus... Sorry to change topic so suddenly. How many survived?"

"What are you ta-Ohhhh. . . So far, five of the seven are dead." Jacqueline said in a crestfallen tone.

"Sigh. That's really too bad, they probably had a fair amount of life left." I said in a slightly disappointed tone. I was more concerned about the negative backlash I would get from the local news and civilian population, but it was nothing I couldn't smooth over with one of my famed speeches.

"Elliot d-do you feel bad about killing them? It's like you don't have any remorse." Jacqueline asked while she put the clip board back.

"Do you want the truth, or what will make you feel better?"

"You don't mean that you don't care. Do you?"

I let out a slight chuckle. "So I take it you want the truth." I said to which Jacqueline nodded slowly. "Well, I've killed so many, that a few lives are insignificant to me. Well it is unfortunate that those peop-Mammals had to die, I don't show much sympathy to those who intend to harm me or the ones I care for." I said in my normal speaking voice. "On the other hand, if I were to kill innocents… I wi…would never forgive myself." I finished in a low tone.

"But they were innocent." Jacqueline protested in a raised voice.

"Yeah, do you call breaking down a door that the police said not to go into innocent. Or do you call seven grams of lead and copper flying at my arm innocent. How about seven grams of hot lead and copper flying at YOUR FACE, is that innocent? Because where I'm from it's not." I said in a rather frustrated tone. By the end of my reply, Jacqueline had lost her edgy expression.

"I uh, I forgot about that. I think I'll just go now." She said as she pointed her thumb at the door.

"I'm not mad at you, I just… I don't understand why everyone I've encountered has been so hostile." I said in a hurt tone.

"Not everyone's mean to you. Look at me." She said while holding a paw up to her chest.

"Yeah, you and two others who originally I almost killed from a misunderstanding. I do really appreciate the hospitality you've given me. Like, you have no idea how lacking my life is in the friends department."

"… Can I tell you something?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure, it's super secret." Jacqueline asked with animosity.

"I am a literal box of secrets, so I think yours is safe." I replied as Jacqueline sat on the right side of bed at my chest level.

"Your the first anyone I've l-liked in a while."

"I don't understand why that's secret worthy. But I'm glad to be a friend."

"No, I mean Like, Like." She reiterated with a blush present.

"Oh um, I… Thank you, but please don't take this the wrong way." Instantly Her face turned into dread. "I don't think it would be smart for us to ya-know, date."

"Oh, I see. I should have realized that you wouldn't like an Alien."

"NO, it's not that at all. I do like you, but I'm damaged merchandise." I replied, trying to prevent Jacqueline from crying or whatever.

"That doesn't matter to me. Even if you were permanently paralyzed, I wouldn't care."

"I don't mean physically, I can fix that. I mean emotionally." I said while tapping my hear with a finger. "And, how would the public react to you dating the alien that just Murdered seven Mammals in cold blood."

"B-but" She started.

"Jacqueline, you know I'm right. I can see it in your eyes." I said while cupping her left cheek and rubbing it with my thumb. "I have to leave for a while."

"No you can't." Jacqueline said.

"Sigh. I need to get to Bunnyburrow."

"No you could become much worse id you get moved. Besides, why would you need t leave?" She asked.

"It was the compromise I made with the buffalo. Look, I don't have a phone but if you do, I'll try to call if you'd like." I said while trying to get her to lay off the motherly care. It wasn't that it was bad in small doses, but she had done it more times than I'd like.

"Ok, I'd like that. Here's my number." Jacqueline said before getting a piece of paper from across the room and writing down a number

"Can you help me stand?"

"What NO. You can't even sit!"

"Why not?"

"Your spine was shattered."

"Shit, I forgot." I replied. "I need you to do something for me."

"Ok but please don't move." Jacqueline said with concern.

"Roger that ma'am." I said, saluting her. "Can you take this to the roof?" I said while pointing to the Wingsuit.

"Why?"

"Because I need you to."

"Uhh, sure."

"OH, and put these goggles on so I can see what you see."

"You owe me after this." Jacqueline said while putting the pack and goggles on.


-==5 minutes later, Jacqueline Pov==-

"Ok put the pack above the concrete." I said to myself, looking at the stairwell roof. The top of the hospitable was littered with various vents and heating systems along with a raised helipad to the left of the stairwell.

"Yep." Elliot said through the speaker embedded into the goggles.

"AH….. you scared me!"

"Sorry. . . Sooo, can the roof hold about four thousand pounds?" Elliot asked.

"ELLIOT, What are you going to do!?" I demanded while climbing the fifty degree angle concrete wall to put the pack on the roof of the stairwell, which was about fifteen feet high to accommodate Mammals of different sizes.

"Don't worry, nothing bad is going to happen. In a few minutes a large rectangle is going to fly over. So don't be scuurred."

"Wait like a Ufo? And I won't be scuurred." I said while mocking Elliots' tone.

"Not really a UFO. More like a UFSC."

"What?"

"Unidentified flying sea container. I just made it up."

"Oh, ok. So how does it fly?" I said, sitting down on the snow covered concrete roof, leaning up against the wall of the stairwell door.

"Pulse detonation engines."

"WHAT!?"

"I thought you were in advanced technology classes."

"Well yeah, but I've never herd of that." I said as I waved my paws.

"Why do you wave you hands like that?"

"You can see me!" I yelled, frantically looking around me.

"No, the goggles have a camera In them. So stop looking everywhere before you make me nauseous."

"Oh. . . right." I replied, feeling embarrassed.

"The engines are self explanatory really. They produce thrust in a pulse fashion. So instead of a khrrrrrr sound, it's a brrrrnnt sound."

"You're really bad at sound effects."

"Yeah yeah. The pod should be in view now."

"Oh my." I said after standing up and seeing the rectangular prism headed toward me, which was making a very rapid popping sound, almost like if you made a grass whistle. "So that's what you were trying to mimic."

"Listen very carefully. You have to keep looking at it so I can land it."

"You're going to fly that!" I Yelled in disbelief.

"Yep. Just like a video game." Elliot said as the sea container slowly started to move over the building, creating a massive jet wash below it. Once it was over the roof, it started to lower onto the ground and I could barely stay startionary from the massive amounts of hot air being blown on me.

"Wait! What about the helipad!?" I yelled, looking over to it.

"You need to get up there so I can see."

I turned and jogged to the few steps of the helipad and looked at the large circle with an H in the middle. After looking at it for a few seconds, Elliot told me to look at the Security station. The station started to move again and it rotated so one of the long sides was facing the stairs. Once it was correctly lined up, the pod landed with a thud as the large landing gear retracted slightly from the weight on the pistons. A few seconds went by before the engines shut off.

"Are you ok?" Elliot asked through the radio.

"Yeah I'm fine. This is amazing!" I said while Gesturing to the sea container.

"Admire it later. Right now you need to get something out for me. Go over and press the large triangle on the middle of the wall."

I walked up to the container and pressed the large button Elliot described. Upon doing this, the entire wall flipped up to ninety degrees and the inside lit up white. "Now what. . .Elliot?"

"Standby." He replied.


-=Elliot Pov=-

"What the Hell Just landed on the roof!?" Judy yelled.

"A uhh. The security pod from the forest." I said nervously.

"WHAT! How did it get here!?"

"It c-can fly remember?" I said nervously. I didn't know I could ever be scared of a two foot rabbit, but boy was I wrong.

"Unbelievable!"

"Sorry Judy. . . this is the only way to transport me." I said sheepishly.

"Transport you. Transport you where?" She said, no longer very angry.

"Back to the forest."

"What, why do you need to go there." She said, now saddened with her ears behind her back.

"Bogo told me to leave."

"Eliot I can't stand up here for ever." I heard through the radio.

"Just a minute. Ok You're looking in the medical section for a large semi flat rectangle."

"Is this it?" I could see Jacqueline pointing to a small slot in the medical section.

"Yeah. Pull it out and bring it back down here."

"That's it?"

"Yeah. See you when you get here." I said through the microphone of my control panel before turning my attention back to Judy.

"Elliot how are you going to recover?" Judy asked.

"With time."

"You can't just lay out there by yourself." She said, crossing her arms.

"It wouldn't be the first time." I whispered to myself.

"What do you mean. This has happened before?" Judy asked with concern.

"Right. I keep forgetting you have radar dishes for ears. Yes this has happened before. I was, thirteen I think."

"Th-thirteen. What happened?"

"Don't worry about it."

"Elliot why won't you tell me anything!?" Judy said, jumping on the bed and standing really close to my face while poking my chest with a finger.

"Because I don't want you to be sad for me." I replied as I backed my head further into the pillow to create space, which was instantly taken up.

"I won't." She said, moving millimeters away from my face, making me feel slightly warmer than normal.

"You cried when I told you about my ship. So I'm not going to tell you any more." As I finished my sentence Jacqueline walked in.

"Am I interrupting something?" She said smiling.

Judy jumped back instantly, turning red. "N-N-NO!" she stammered.

"Elliot?" She asked.

"Nothing was going on. Just Judy trying to interrogate me." I said, chuckling at how Judy reacted.

"I wasn't interrogating you." Judy said.

"I beg to differ." Crossing my arms.

"HEY. Elliot what am I suppose to do with this." Jacqueline said, holding up the body sized rectangle.

"Look for a green triangle and press it. Then just let it drop with your hands acting like a hinge. Oh and make sure the bed like side faces up."

Jacqueline did as I said. When she pressed the triangular button the charcoal black rectangle started a low pitch hum. When she dropped it like a hinge the table caught it's self and hovered.

"Whoa." Was all Judy said.

"It's a stretcher." Jacqueline said examining the table.

"Correct. . . Can you get some people to move me onto it."

"Yeah just a minute. Jacqueline said exiting the room."

"Elliot you ca..."

"Judy it's for the best. I've gone over this dozens of times in my head and this is the best thing to do."

". . . I'll miss you." Judy said, holding my hand with her ears laid back.

"I'll miss you too" I said, petting her paw with my thumb.


-==10 minuets later==-

We were now on the roof of the hospital and there was what looked like swat surrounding the pod, wearing all black. Jacqueline was pushing the floating stretcher I was laying on and when we came close to the police, they stopped us.

"You need to leave, right now!" One of the swat member said.

"Ya-know, you'd be no match for that thing. Besides I'm leaving anyway, and that's my ride."

"This is yours!?" The wolf from before said.

"Yes it's mine, now please move, Wolford."

"One moment." He said, before pressing a button on his black vest. "Sir I have someone here claiming he owns the object. . . Well he's the creature everyone's been talking about, so I think he's telling the truth. . . Yes sir."

"Well?"

"You're to prove it's yours."

"If you expect me to pull out a registration. Ur out of luck." This made Jacqueline chortle.

"Just prove it somehow." He said, stepping out of the way so I could get closer.

As Jacqueline was pushing the stretcher to the helipad I started talking. "Could you get the flight suit and the rest of my things?"

She nodded and walked off to grab my things, leaving me at the edge of the helipad. Laying there, I thought of how to show them that I owned the pod.

"Got it. Computer, status report."

"Fuel 98% Power 99.6%." In the British female accent.

"Weapons status."

"Weapons, offline. Tracking systems online."

"Wait a minute. SAM!?" I said in disbelief.