Eighty Miles Outside of Zootopia

"Jack!" Bellwether called. "There's a knock at the door." Jack was in the study perusing the day's newspaper when, sure enough, a loud knock sounded from the entrance.
"Coming!" he called back, carefully folding the paper and setting it onto the desk. He adjusted several other documents and pencils before hopping out of his chair and proceeding down the stairs. Again, the stranger rapped on the door, louder than before. The sudden urgency of the knock did nothing to hasten Jack; he proceeded at the same pace as before, with an odd carefree feeling. He would have peeked through the spy hole, were it not for the fact that it was positioned a foot above his head. Instead, he turned the lock and cracked the door open. On the other side was an odd figure; almost a wolf, but his proportions seemed incorrect, and his fur was unnaturally black. The stranger's most frightening feature, however, was his glowing, red, cat-like eyes, that almost seemed to peer into the rabbit's soul from beyond the safety of his home.
"Jack," the wolf spoke. "It is time for you to come with me."
"Come where? Why?"
"You have a duty to fulfill."
"That being?"
"You have a species to save."
"Species?" Jack glanced backward at the ewe and the wolf pup. "I'm not leaving them," he finally answered.
"They cannot come along."
"Then I can't, either." Jack tried to close the door, but the wolf stuck his foot in.
"Well then," the wolf spoke, chuckling as he tore the door off its hinges and threw it into the house. "If that's how it has to be."
"What are you doing?! Get out!" Jack shouted, stepping between the wolf and his kith.
"What's he doing!?" the wolf pup cried out, terrified.
"Don't worry little one," the menacing intruder answered. "I'm merely here to grab something that belongs to me."
"You're trespassing! Get out!" Dawn shouted, taking the pup away from the intruder and up the stairs.
The wolf lunged at Jack, but he dodged to the side, also managing to leap up and kick the wolf straight in the snout. Jack didn't know what surprised him more, the fact that his leg passed through the snout yet still connected with something harder than bone, or that he knew how to perform such an acrobatic kick.
The wolf licked his lips and, tasting blood, let out a light chuckle. "I don't know if this is more annoying or entertaining," he spoke, resuming his slow approach. Realizing there was little he could do with his punches and kicks, Jack dashed to the kitchen and did his best to block the relatively small door with a chair. He pulled his folding knife from his pocket and opened it up, brandishing it; although he rarely used it, having a knife on him at all times brought him a strange comfort, nearly indescribable, but a feeling akin to peace. The intruder broke the kitchen door down effortlessly, splintering the chair in the process.
"What do you want from me?!" the rabbit questioned.
"There's no reason to yell. Come with me and no harm will be done to your family."
"Answer my question and perhaps I will."
"As I already stated, you have a species to save."
"Which species?!"
"All will be explained in due time, but you need to come with me," the wolf slowly stalked towards the rabbit, "My patience is wearing quite thin, Jack. Drop the knife."
"Don't move," Jack threatened, raising his knife.
"It's going to be quite difficult for a measly rabbit to injure me, least of all with a three-inch pocket knife."
"Doesn't mean I won't try," Jack growled out.
"I don't doubt you will, but my advice to you is not to." They both glanced upwards towards the sound of a door slamming shut above them; Jack could barely make out faint whimpers. Regardless, the wolf turned his attention back to the rabbit. "I am a very powerful man Jack, one who should not be trifled with, least of all by some dirty animal."
"What did you call yourself?" Jack asked, the rather familiar word catching his ear.
"I almost forgot, you have amnesia."
"Leave, or else!"
"I'm only leaving with you."
"And I shall not leave without them!"
"Jack, don't be a fool, no harm will come to them if you cooperate."
"What good is your word to me?!"
"Jack, stop shouting; it's really not necessary." The wolf took another step, almost reaching him.
"Take one more step and I'll stab you!" Jack warned.
The wolf stopped, crouching down to stare Jack level in the eyes. "If you're going to attack me, why are you hesitating?"
"Please leave," Jack responded in a near whisper, paws now trembling.
The wolf stood tall and took another step. With lightning speed, Jack lunged and embedded his knife halfway through the intruder's leg. The wolf reached out for the rabbit but, once again, Jack proved too fast; the buck now stood on the opposite side of the wolf with a sizable distance between them. The wolf turned to face him and laughed. He reached down and slowly pulled the knife from his thigh, casting the bloody weapon aside. "You know, it's been so long since I've been stabbed that I almost forgot what it felt like."
"What…" Jack gasped in disbelief, unable to understand why his attack did nothing. He didn't have time to process what he just witnessed, as a sharp and heavy paw swept him off of the ground, sending him flying through the doorway and well into the hall. He landed with a heavy thud, hitting his head and spraining his ankle. Jack stood as fast as he could but found it difficult to remain standing.
"Well, Jack, you've officially pissed me off," the wolf spoke, proceeding after him. Jack sprinted up the stairs as fast as he could and barged into the first room he came across. He slammed the door behind himself and locked it. When he glanced back, he saw Dawn and the pup cowering in a corner behind an overturned desk.
They remained absolutely silent. Soon, he heard the wolf approach the door; he stepped away and held his breath, and the wolf seemed to pass. Just before he could let loose a sigh of relief, the door broke inwards, prompting him to scramble to the opposite corner of the room. The wolf merely glanced at him and proceeded to the corner where the ewe and pup.
"What are you doing?!" Jack shouted.
"You need to learn your place in the world, you filthy beast. I promised no harm would come to them if you came peacefully, but apparently, you don't want that."
"No, get away from them!" Jack roared, grabbing a lamp from the nearest table and heaving it with all of his might. Angered, the wolf quickly rushed to him; with his now injured leg, Jack was too slow to avoid him again. The wolf grabbed him by the ears and easily picked him up to his own eye level, snarling at the rabbit. "You never learn, do you?!"
"Fuck you!" Jack cried out, spitting in the wolf's face. He struggled in vain to break free of the grasp around his ears.
With another snarl, the wolf threw Jack at the wall, sending him careening through the drywall and plasterboard and into one of the trees outside. After landing on a low hanging branch, Jack groaned in pain before trying to descend from his precarious position.
"Run, Jack!" Came a screech from inside a few seconds later. He tried once more to jump down but impaled his shin on a branch. He shrieked in agony but managed to break free and continue going down. He fell from the tree to the dirt and lay there for several seconds, unable to move.
"RUN!" Came the last tortured cry from within the house before being silenced mid-yell.
His body went acted on its own; he ran as fast as his three uninjured limbs could take him into the woods.

25 Miles Outside of Zootopia
1 Hour Later

Kai commanded his pilot to land the jet in VTOL on a flat stretch of field just outside of his bunker; as soon as the craft came to rest, he commanded them to travel to the lodge before leaping out and making breakneck pace towards his bunker. The journey was fairly short; his augments, combined with being a cheetah on all fours, seemed to make the scenery fly past. When he arrived at the entrance, he threw the door open and leaped the balustrade down the center shaft. When he landed, the floor seemed to creak far more than usual, and he swore he felt it deform slightly beneath his feet before returning to its original position.
Kai disregarded the oddity and immediately proceeded to the medical facility; he became human just long enough to unlock the supply cabinet and grab the antidote before transitioning back to feline form to race up the steps. In total, he spent eight minutes in the bunker, bolting back to the lodge in another two. When he arrived, flask in his mouth, he inconspicuously transformed to his default form and took the elevator down.
In the basement, Sirius, Grace, and Atria were frantically scrambling to care for the child, running back and forth to obtain the appropriate medical supplies for their given uses. Leora barged in moments later, desperately gasping for air. Kai raced over to the child and hooked the vial of liquid to the IV drip before pulling him out of the ice bath and drying him off. Ichiro was covered in purpura and was miserably cold, but was breathing steadily.
"Keep him warm now," Kai ordered, handing the child off to Grace.
"He'll be alright, right? Tell me he'll be alright!" Sirius inquired nervously.
"He'll be fine," Kai promised. Upon hearing the good news, Sirius collapsed into a nearby chair next to a desk and rested his chin upon it. "How did this happen?" Grace questioned. "Who did this?"
"And where is Rigel?" Atria followed up, furious. "I can't believe I had to do that without any other experienced help!"
"Rigel didn't show up even once?" Leora interjected, still breathless. "Serenity warned us about her."
"There is one immutable fact," Kai concluded. "Regardless of anyone's involvement, the poison was one of human make."
"It what?" Atria murmured, confused.
"I'll need to have a talk with Rigel when I see her."
There was a pause in the conversation; the only noise came from Leora's panting and Sirius' whimpering.
"I don't suppose there's an explanation for why you two look different, is there?" Grace inquired.
"Meaning what?" Kai responded.
"She's pristine, not a scratch on her body. You, on the other hand, dyed your hair."
Leora laughed. "He more than just dyed his hair, he…" She trailed off as Kai glanced over to her and subtly shook his head.
"Gifts from a god," Kai answered.
"Ah yes, this mysterious stripper. Sugar, was it?" Grace retorted sarcastically.
"Serenity."
"I found another red dress in my closet a few hours ago. I think he's just fucking with me."
Kai and Leora laughed before the former glanced to Sirius. "Ian, everything alright?" he called out; the only response was a pathetic sobbing. "Ian." Kai moved closer and crouched down to be level with Sirius. "What's wrong?"
"He almost died," the wolf mumbled, tears streaming down his face, "And it's all my fault. I wasn't careful enough, he got poisoned because I wasn't attentive enough."
"He would have died if you hadn't noticed that something was wrong."
"I'm not fit to be a father. I can't take care of a single infant, how can I be expected to care for a litter of pups? I can't, I won't."
"You know, Ian," Leora interjected. "Usually the newborn imprints on the parent." The wolf didn't respond; Kai lifted him out of the chair and practically dragged him off to the elevator.
"Where are you two going?" Grace shouted.
"I'm going to cheer him up. In the meantime, Grace, Leora, Achernar, I expect the three of you to come up with a plan. Every hour of every day of Ichiro's life needs to be planned out until he is twenty-five. When that's done, come up with alternative plans. What if one of us dies before then, what if he can no longer live here—the works."
"What about me?" Atria inquired.
"You only need to stay for another half-hour, just until he starts to get better. I'm sorry for disturbing you when you were busy."
"It's no problem, I can stay if you want."
"I have no preference either way; you've already done a great deal today."
"Wait, Garrett, why do we need to plan?" Leora asked. "And what do you mean, 'if one of us dies'?"
"Always have a plan if you intend on growing old."
"You don't always have a plan."
"I also won't grow old." Kai winked and carried Sirius onto the elevator. "Only call if it's urgent. Text otherwise." Grace barely managed to acknowledge before the doors closed.
"Why are you doing this?" Sirius muttered, only staying upright because Kai held him so. "Where are we going?"
"Like I said, I'm cheering you up," Kai responded. "It's right about time for senators to get off work."
"Meaning?"
"We're going to that bar you like."
"Please don't," the wolf pleaded.
"If you promise to behave, I'll show you a secret. You also have to promise not to tell anyone."
"What kind of secret?"
"The divine intervention kind." The elevator arrived, but Kai held the door close button. "What do you say?"
Sirius shrugged. "Fine."
"And you'll behave? No whimpering, no whining, and no howling?"
"Yes, yes, just get on with it!"
Kai grinned and transformed into a wolf. Sirius immediately scrambled against the wall of the elevator.
"What do you think?" Kai inquired, giving a twirl.
"What the hell?!" came Sirius' response as he tried desperately to crawl away; alas, there was nowhere for Sirius to go. "What did he do to you?!"
"How about this: you calm down, and I'll answer any question you want."
Sirius took a few deep breaths and eventually settled down. "Alright. What did you just do? What happened to you?"
"I asked for a new disguise since the old one was rather easy to see through, and Serenity did this."
"And what, exactly, is this?"
"I don't know."
"You seem to not know about anything that happens to you! You didn't know how you got here from Honshu in the blink of an eye, and you don't know how you just turned into a wolf!" Sirius squinted slightly. "You did just become a wolf, right? No camera tricks?"
"No camera tricks," Kai promised.
"I don't know what to say." Sirius gently poked Kai's snout several times before looking at his tail, giving it a quick brush of the paw to make sure it was really there. "It's rather impressive."
Kai released the door close button and the doors opened; the duo exited through the lobby to the outside. "Limo or taxi, what do you think?"
"I'll just call my driver." Sirius whipped out his phone and placed a quick call before turning his attention back to Kai. "What does it feel like?"
"What does what feel like?" Kai responded.
"I mean… being a wolf, compared to being human."
"It feels short."
"You still have a good few inches on me. I mean, I'm not exactly tall, but damn."
"Walking is hard, and my face feels long."
Sirius laughed. "I always assumed that walking would be harder without a tail to balance you."
"Not if you're built to walk without one. I'm still not sure I can get used to walking on all fours."
"It's a good thing it isn't a requirement."
"Yeah, sure. How long until your driver comes?"
"Oh, he said he'd be half an hour."
"In that case, I'll race you to the field and back."
"No thanks, I'd rather not get all tired before we go out. It's not like I could win, anyways."
"How do mammals kill time, if not racing?"
"We talk? I dunno, how do humans kill time?"
"The same way we kill each other I guess."
"Speaking of which, I've always meant to ask you about the past."
"What about it?"
"Well… who is this 'Vitya' you've been searching for?"
"That's a long story."
"Trust me, I think we have time."
"Well, where to begin… I suppose I knew about him for at least a couple of years before we actually met. In that time we competed for the top of the class. It wasn't until he forfeited in our battle simulation that he approached me…" Kai trailed off, deep in thought.
"And?" Sirius prompted.
"We talked for several hours. In fact, I skipped a ceremony held in my honor, much to everyone's annoyance."
"What did you two talk about?"
"Life. The weather, plans for what we might do when the wars ended, that sort of thing."
"You didn't talk about war?"
"Why would we? We might have been bred for war but it's still depressing, even for us."
"What then?"
"We were separated for a good couple of years. We were reunited in Yalta by chance, where I was acting as a bodyguard for a European Collective senior officer. Vitya wasn't even supposed to be there; he broke in the night prior, incapacitated one of the majors, and wore his uniform to the conference."
"Why?"
"As a joke. He wanted to see me again."
"Surely nothing good came of this?" Sirius questioned in disbelief.
"They never found out who it was. Again, we held an, unfortunately, brief discussion before we had to part ways again. Before I left, I told him where I would be after my guard duty was concluded. We met up for a drink before the party was crashed by Oz." Kai paused to allow Sirius to speak, but there was no reply. "Either way, I was called to a private meeting when Vitya followed. Oz ordered the guards there to dispose of him, but he disposed of them instead. In an interesting twist of events, I managed to convince Oz to allow Vitya to work with me."
"So…"
"So we went East. Shanghai, Saigon, Tokyo… Wherever they needed assassin work, we went. I'm fairly certain what we did was practically wage theft, but that's not important."
"Watch out, I'll write you up," Sirius joked, prompting them both to laugh.
"Well, we typically killed out mark in the first hour of being in the city, and then we spent the next week drinking, gambling, and the likes."
"Prostitutes?"
"No. No strippers either. You see, Ian, men like us… we weren't supposed to have fun. We were prohibited from going to any classy joints and the likes unless it was on official business. It limited us to speakeasies and underground fighting rings."
"What kind of world did you live in where you're not allowed to go to strip clubs?"
"We were scorned by normal people left and right, not that it bothered us."
"Could they really tell you apart?"
"We were a good deal taller than the average Asian, looked nothing like them, and our eyes basically glowed in the dark. It's fairly obvious."
"Not to me."
"You're a wolf, I can't expect you to recognize other humans at a glance, let alone tell them apart. I know you or Grace couldn't tell that I look easily thirty years younger."
"As opposed to what?"
"I stopped changing much after fifty. My hair got grayer, sure, but I never wrinkled, and I never got decrepit."
"So you look twenty now?"
"I was exaggerating. I probably look closer to thirty."
"Well, as a wolf, you don't look a day over thirty."
"Really? I can look however I want."
"So you can be brown?"
Kai's fur changed from white to brown and held there for a moment before shifting back again. "Hair color, eye color, sure."
"What else can you do?"
"I can become a lot of mammals."
"Show me."
Kai transformed into a cheetah and broke into a full gallop, racing down the hill; in less than thirty seconds, Sirius was nothing more than a speck in the distance. He raced back and brushed himself off, turning back into a wolf. "I'm still not used to the all fours thing, but I probably could have gone faster."
Sirius laughed. "Well, that was quite a display. I knew I couldn't beat you in a race. Anyways, where were we?"
"The East. Vitya and I spent a good few years there doing menial labor before we were called to America."
"I can get that the East is… well, East, but I'm going to need some points of reference for other places."
"America is here. Was, rather."
"Fair enough. Did you keep working here?"
"Well, it was iffy. Some very high bidders liked my services and would pay a premium to have me guard them for an event."
"How much?"
"On average?"
"No, the highest," Sirius elaborated.
"Close to fifty million for a night."
Sirius didn't know how to respond. He shook his head. "Well, what sort of events?"
"Some were military gatherings. Some were conferences. I remember the most demeaning thing I had to do was watch over some girl's birthday party."
"Are you serious?"
"Unfortunately, yes. I got thirty million for that gig. Interestingly enough, there was an attempt on the father's life. I still regret having the girl watch what I did to his assailant."
Sirius made a noise of disgust. "Then what? Skip past your bodyguard work. How did you get into the military?"
"I fulfilled military contracts for a long time. One day, however, Oz approached Vitya and me with an offer. We didn't really have a choice, it was either accept the offer or face the consequences, so we did. Oz needed an army. Most of the nations of the world were tired of playing his games, so he needed his own loyal fighting force."
"You were loyal?"
"As loyal as I could be. I never saw eye to eye with the old man, but the allure of fame and fortune was too much for me to resist."
"It was? I thought you were already famous."
"For the wrong reasons. No one remembers an assassin and least of all a bodyguard. I was afraid of being forgotten; it had happened so many times before. Great soldiers did great things, but in a few generations, they were dust." Kai took a handful of dirt and allowed it to fall between his fingers. "I suppose I don't have to worry much about that anymore. After all, I don't think there's a single human alive that doesn't know me as the destroyer of worlds." He sighed. "So we raised an army. Called a few contacts. The rest was relatively easy: twenty of us held up the entire nation of Vietnam and managed to stage a coup."
"Twenty of you took down a nation?"
"The people were disgruntled with the current government. We restructured and a governor was placed in charge. The army pledged allegiance to us, much to the anger of the world."
"I can't imagine they let you hold a country hostage for too long."
"They declared war. We didn't have anything too fancy, but Oz managed to provide the wherewithal to build railgun batteries and several nuclear missiles. The war died down several weeks later. Peace lasted roughly a decade before the border dispute with China and the Eastern United Republic. They declared war again and invaded; we lost roughly half of Vietnam before Oz came through for us once again: he provided his freshest batch of soldiers to us. We held off their land attack for a week before I was authorized to utilize our nuclear arsenal. Another week later and we controlled half of the EUR. Hostilities ceased shortly after we commandeered one of the EUR's repositories of antimatter weaponry."
"They called a ceasefire?"
"Yes, and we obliged; the peace never lasted long, however. War after war, front after front, Vitya and I traveled together. We always won every conflict, but it wasn't until after he was killed… or at least until I thought he was killed, that I realized what war has no winners."
"We can change the subject if you want," Sirius offered, noticing that Kai looked dejected. "Tell me about Edo. How was your trip?"
"It was… something, for sure. I…" Kai began before pausing mid sentence as Sirius' chauffeur pulled up. "That was fast."
"Yeah, he said he would be thirty minutes, but whatever."
The duo hopped in and drove off; they sat in silence until they reached a small pub on the outskirts of Savannah Central; the inside was very crowded, but Sirius managed to reserve a pool table while Kai went for the drinks.
"So," Sirius spoke, breaking the rack with a well-placed shot. "You were talking about Edo before we were interrupted."
"I was, wasn't I?" Kai knocked one of the striped balls into a pocket before lining up another shot. "Well, the food was phenomenal, the hotel was luxurious and comfortable, and the scenery was beautiful." He shot the next striped ball in. "The tournament could have been… fairer. I regret allowing Leora to get injured, but life's life, I suppose." The third ball was sunk. "We met Serenity in the basement of old Edo Castle, and it was right about then that he sent me here through some sciencey mumbo-jumbo." The next ball went in, much to Sirius' shock and distress. "When I got back, which by the way was as painful as I thought it would be, we did the surgery. Leora's fine now, but it was painful. She bit me rather hard, as it so happens." Kai's next shot sank the remainder of the stripes, and he lined up the eight ball. "I played chess with Serenity to get free equipment, including this new disguise. I think I can become invisible, too, but I'd rather not try here." He sank the eight ball and straightened out, stretching. "Either way, I win. Care to reset?"
Sirius downed his beer and got another, leaving Kai to reset the rack. "I don't know why I bother, to be honest. You break."
Kai reset the board and broke the rack, sinking one of the balls in the process. Much to Sirius' chagrin, the game was a repeat of the last. "What bothers me is how he spoke in riddles," Kai muttered. "He knew that Ichiro was ill, he was the one that sent the milk. He also told me to worry about Rigel's allegiances."
"We can't trust that duplicitous bitch with anything." Sirius sipped from his drink and took a seat at the pool table. "Let me tell you, the second we get back, I'm going to—"
"Senator?" a nearby lynx spoke. "Senator Cynewulf?"
"Yeah?" Sirius responded. "Are we acquainted?"
"No. Listen, I wanted to ask you about one of your bills that passed recently."
"I don't talk about work in my time off, sorry."
"I think you'll find this is important." Several other mammals stood behind the lynx.
"Fine, I suppose it is. To which bill are you referring?"
"The Interspecies Marriage Act."
"Oh good God, more religious nutjobs. Look, I've heard it all. Say whatever insults you want to say and leave me alone."
"That's the thing, someone who defies God needs more than just words."
"Are you threatening me?"
"I'm just recommending you repeal that bill."
"It'll take the whole senate for that, I'm afraid."
"Maybe you can send a message." The lynx extended his claws and began inspecting them. "See if you can't convince them."
"Garrett?" Sirius squeaked out.
"That's enough," Kai commanded. "Back off, all of you."
"You and what army?"
"Agent Sinclaw, ZBI." Kai flashed a badge he pulled from inside of his coat. "Back off."
"A fictional wolf, from a fictional organization." The crowd laughed. "I should have guessed as much."
Kai pulled his gun out and set it on the table; the other patrons backed away slightly. "You know, ZBI isn't held to Zootopian Common Law. My word is tantamount to law, above it even. My word separates you from drinking here in your free time, and being hung on charges of treason."
"This is a total abuse of power!"
"You're threatening a senator who happens to be my close friend. If you think you can beat me to my gun and don't mind getting killed when you don't, feel free to try something. Otherwise, crawl back to whatever hole you came from."
One of them reached for the gun; with lightning speed, Kai threw him across the room; he sailed through the air, eventually colliding with the wall and falling unconscious. All the attention in the room went to him, but his action had the desired effect; the remainder of the crowd dispersed, but not before grumbling excessively. Kai replaced his weapon into his holster and sat back down.
"I see now why you make a good bodyguard," Sirius commented. "Shit like that scares me."
"If you ask me, the downfall of humanity was religion," Kai responded bitterly. "People are content with what they have until they realize someone worships the same nonexistent god in a slightly different way."
"Nonexistent?"
"The only evidence I have of any god is Serenity, and he certainly didn't exist until after we all died out. If there is a god, Sirius, he wouldn't have let any of this happen."
"What about us? Surely we exist for a reason. Maybe God just wanted a second chance."
Kai looked the other wolf up and down, before sighing. "I suppose. Maybe he just got tired of humanity and the fighting, I can't say for certain. The only thing I know for sure is that, if there is a god, he is wrathful and scornful. After all, he allowed Ana to die."
"Ana? I thought you loved Leora."
"I do." He sat down and downed his drink. "Leora already knows. She doesn't mind that I still love Ana, she just wants me to love her, as well."
"Tell me more about this Ana."
"Let's see, I suppose this tale begins in—" Kai's phone rang; he immediately answered it. "Grace? What's up?"
"We found Jack. Rather, where he was for the past month. The bad news is, the three agents I sent were killed. The backup discovered that the home was practically burnt to the ground. The bodies of a ewe and a wolf pup, presumably Bellwether and her ward, were found, but no Jack."
"Damn," Kai muttered. "Sweep the area. Don't stop until you find him."
"Here's the kicker: the agents were all strangled. No garrote wire, just bare paws."
"It couldn't have been Jack; even in his prime he couldn't strangle three of your best; I don't even think his arms can wrap around any neck larger than a wolf's."
"You have no idea," Sirius interjected. "Little bastard can strangle like it's nobody's business."
"Oh, and would you mind coming back, if it's not too much to ask?"
"Is something wrong?" Kai inquired.
"None of us are any good at planning for a human's life."
Kai took a deep breath. "Alright. We'll be there in a few." They finished their drinks, paid the check, and left; Sirius' chauffeur was already waiting for them. The drive back to the lodge was quiet once more, although the duo exchanged a few jokes to lighten the mood. Before long, they stepped back into the elevator. Kai stared intently at Sirius the whole way down, and when they reached the bottom, he again held the door close button.
"You're starting to creep me out," Sirius muttered.
"That's nothing." Kai's features changed to make him a perfect mirror image of the wolf.
"Hey, that almost… You look like me!"
"That's the idea. I wanted to have a little fun before I told everyone else about this newfound power."
"Too bad you don't sound like me."
"Are you too sure about that?" Kai inquired, throwing his voice.
"What the hell?" Even Sirius was taken aback by the impersonation. "That's actually…"
"Let's rock and roll." Kai allowed the doors to open and they both stepped out; he even had Sirius' swagger down to a tee. Leora was the only one looking in their direction, and she giggled immensely; no one else cast a glance at them until they were standing right beside the rest of the company.
"Ian," Grace started, attention turned to the child. It was evident that Atria had since left. "He looks hungry. Could you go fetch one of the sealed bottles? We can't be certain what's good and what isn't." Leora devolved into full-blown guffawing. "What's so funny?" Grace demanded to know, glancing up as well; her jaw hit the floor. "Ian?" she eventually mustered the strength to say.
"Yes?" Kai and Sirius answered in unison.
"Leora, tell me I'm not going crazy."
"Nope," the leopardess answered.
"Achernar!" Grace called; the giraffe craned his neck over the shelves and, too, was thoroughly shocked. Rather than deal with the situation, Achernar returned to his office and closed the door. "I guess I'm alone. Alright, which one of you is the real Ian?"
"I am," they answered in unison. "No, I am," they continued, staring at each other.
"You know what, I don't even want to try right now. I'll just take one of you home tonight, and Leora gets the other."
"Allow me, my stalwart canine companion," Leora interjected, standing and approaching the duo. She looked over every facet of their visage but found no staggering flaw, no difference between the two. She snapped her fingers around them, but neither of their ears seemed to follow the noise.
"Well?" Grace queried.
"There are a couple more tests." Leora attempted to pick one of them up; she had no trouble lifting the complaining Sirius off of the ground, and promptly set him back down. "I think I have an idea, but…" She grabbed at his crotch, and he immediately leaped several feet into the air.
"What the fuck, Leora?!" He shouted at her, causing her to heartily laugh.
"That's the real Ian."
"How can you tell?" Grace asked, crouching down to help Sirius up. "What was this mystical method?"
"He doesn't weigh half a ton."
"Why'd you grab my junk, then?!"
"Just to be sure. Garrett has no sense of decency, he doesn't care if I grope him in public." She demonstrated her point, much to Kai's amusement. "See?"
"Getting a little frisky there, kitten," Kai cooed, shifting back to human form.
"Hold up, what did you just do?" Grace demanded.
"New disguise. I won it from a god in a game of chess."
"So I see. You can now actually look like one of us."
"He doesn't only look like one of us, he actually becomes one of us," Leora supplemented.
"Meaning?"
"Knot and all," Leora whispered, prompting Grace to giggle gleefully.
"What was this you said about no sense of decency?" the she-wolf inquired, intrigued. "I've always wondered what two Ian's would be like…"
"Hey, don't even think you can borrow Garrett without letting me in on the fun."
"Enough with the sexual ramifications of this disguise," Kai interrupted. "We need to plan."
"Right. So, we have everything planned out until he gets to school age. We teach him to talk, pretend this is the whole world… and then what?"
"He needs a tutor."
"Who would be better qualified than you?"
"Very well. What about when I teach him of the world, and he questions why he is locked up here?"
"It's for his own safety."
"He won't see it that way."
"Well," Grace spoke, lifting Ichiro's crib and slowly making her way to Achernar's office. "You have your new disguise. Why not give one to him?"
"This disguise is grafted into every cell of my body. The procedure would kill anyone who isn't superhuman. It's not an option for him."
"What about the last disguise?"
"It doesn't work for anyone shorter than five foot, which is a long time from now," Kai explained.
"Well, we'll just keep him locked up then. He'll hate us, but he'll be safe."
"Alternatively," Leora suggested. "We could take him to your bunker."
Kai pondered the suggestion. "It's a solution for the short term," he eventually spoke, "But it won't work past when he starts to form memories. It'll be too much of a shock for me to teach him about humanity, only for him to go out and realize that we're all but gone."
"What is the alternative?"
"I'm sure it exists, I just don't see it yet."
Grace gently placed the crib inside of the office, closed the door, and returned to the trio. They sat silent for a very long time.
"Well," Sirius finally spoke, "There is another option. We find another human. Someone who can keep him company. Preferably a group, so he can be with his own kind, but he needs a sense of family. We can teach him about the world, and he won't have to be alone when he goes through it."
"A genius revelation, Sirius," Kai responded, "But I have a feeling that your proposal might be slightly more impossible than the alternatives."
"It doesn't have to be," came a voice from the elevator. Everyone snapped to attention.
"Who are you? How did you get in here?!" Kai demanded. "The elevator didn't ring."
"I took the stairs," the stranger responded. He was tall, well built, and hobbled as he walked. "As for who I am, I'm insulted, Garrett. Would you really not recognize your oldest, perhaps only, friend?" The stranger lowered his hood, showing his face. Scars marked his face and he had a wizened expression about him. His hair was the same ashen color that streaked through Kai's, and his eyes were a brilliant amber.
"Vitya," Kai breathed, speechless.

A/N: This chapter took a little longer than anticipated. One more week of classes and then a week of finals, and I'm finally home free. As usual, feel free to leave reviews or PM me if you have questions or want to complain or whatnot. If it's a question, preferably PM since I don't usually reply to reviews. The next chapter is nearly finished, and I should be able to proofread it in a couple of days.

The typos should all be gone, but let me know if they aren't.