HELLO EVERYONE I HAVE RETURNED AND AM ALIVE!
But in all seriousness, I know, It's been YEARS since an update. For all of you who waited and those who gave up hope that there'd ever be another update I am so profoundly sorry. Truly, from the bottom of my heart I am so, so sorry.
Truth of the matter is it's been a few different things that prevented me from updating. Which honestly sucks for everyone involved, myself included
the first, some very bad depression. Working too much, struggling with life in general, it's been a rough go. I'm sure many of you can understand. I've been working through it and doing my best to handle it but most days I just want to stay home and not do anything. Lack of motivation, lack of drive, it just sucks. But I've made efforts to handle it and I think I'm doing pretty good now.
Second, Writers block. On top of the depression I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to proceed with the next parts of the story, I know what the ending is going to look like and the end of this arc but it was leading up to all of that is where I got stuck. However I've been making actual attempts and right now things are looking pretty damn good.
Third, and this may come as a shock as it doesn't exactly suck, I've gotten back into drawing. No joke, I started back in summer of 2018 and something clicked. Since then I've been focusing most of my efforts into that and I'm eventually looking to make it a career. I'm even learning to make comics so who knows, you might eventually see some of my works on here turned into actual comics! Although they'd be very short snippets, I'm not ready for such a huge undertaking like making an entire story or the entirety of Monsters as a comic.
Alright enough about me! I know the worlds been a scary fucking place lately, I know we're in horrifying times and things are probably going to get worse before they get better so at the very least I thought I'd offer this to cheer everyone up, even if just a bit. I love you all, please be safe and careful out there.
Now as I've always said, Enjoy, review and all that good stuff.
*Disclaimer: I don not own Zootopia or any of its characters.*
Jack ducked as Steven swiped at him again, barely avoiding the attack as his former friend tore into the wall where his head had been mere moments ago. This fight wasn't going to be easy, for several reasons. For one, Steven, while not a G.E.O. still had enhancements that made him incredibly formidable. He had incredible strength, speed and reflexes as well as a decent enough healing factor that damage only slowed him down temporarily. Another reason was that even though Steven wasn't a G.E.O. that didn't mean he didn't have weapons, in his case however his choice of 'weapons' were his very own claws but unlike regular wolf claws they were much harder, sharper and about an inch longer.
They were claws made to tear flesh and disembowel an opponent with absolute ease.
Jack continued to dodge as Steven swiped at him, at this rate it wouldn't take very long until the bastard actually got a decent hit in. As if trying to prove him right, Steven swiped and nearly tore out Jacks stomach, tearing his shirt and giving him four claw marks in the process which healed within seconds.
Or should have healed anyways.
Jack backed away as he felt his stomach. The claw marks were superficial, barely a scratch but that wasn't the issue. They weren't healing! Little scratches at this level should have healed without a trace instantly. He didn't know how it was possible but they must have made it so that the claws could stunt the healing of someone like Jack.
"Figured it out Jack?" Steven said as he held up his paw and admired the claws. "I must admit, I myself was skeptical about this at first. But apparently Alistair found a world with very special creatures. Supernatural creatures, in fact. I told him I wanted something that could hurt and stop the healing process of people like you and he provided me just that. The creature he brought me… it was a special kind of shape-shifter you know. A human gets bitten and turns into one of them."
"Sounds like a werewolf." Jack said sarcastically as he weighed his options here. Sherry had taken off already, he'd made her run so she could devise a counter plan uninterrupted so he didn't need to worry about that for now. The real problem was the building, there was only so much room where he'd be able to use his armaments effectively and since the armor couldn't be used successively he wanted to save those energy reserves for when he faced Alistair.
Steven chuckled as he walked closer to Jack. "As a matter of fact… it was." He said as he shot Jack a truly sinister grin. "It was actually my very first kill. You see… only specific kinds of werewolves can give 'the bite' that turns humans. An Alpha werewolf, they also happen to be the strongest. Alistair said if I wanted real power, the power necessary to kill someone like you then I'd need to take it for myself." Steven paused as his eyes turned a bright searing red. "And so I did."
Jack readied himself as Steven charged him, before he could react though Steven faked a left and instead circled around Jack with incredible speed. Grabbing him by his neck and slamming him against the wall.
"In this form I can't give the bite, nor do I have the strength of a pack like a real Alpha but I frankly don't give a shit. I still have my strength, my speed, my healing and most importantly these claws which can tear you apart and keep you from healing you slippery little fuck." Steven growled as he tightened his grip on Jacks throat.
This wasn't good, if Steven kept up this kind of pressure Jack would pass out within minutes, and then he could take his sweet time tearing Jack apart before Sherry could make it back. But if Steven stayed distracted long enough or if Jack could find an opening he could quickly use an armament and end the bastards life.
"Oh yeah… there is one other ability I got." Steven said as he flicked out the claws on his other paw. He quickly reached around Jacks head and buried the claws right into the nape of Jacks neck.
Jack choked as he felt the claws dig into his neck and nearly hit his spinal cord. He thrashed as he tried to escape Stevens grip but the wolf held firm. Jack shut his eyes tightly as the most violating and invasive feeling ever dug into his brain.
"I've never asked anyone this, but how does it feel? Having someone dig through your memories like this?" Steven asked as he continued to grin at Jack mockingly. But something odd happened, the grin on Stevens face fell, his expression quickly changed to a mix between shock and possibly even grief.
"Jessica?" Steven choked out. He didn't have time to question it further as something slammed across his face and instantly ignited into a brilliant burst of flames. That momentary distraction was all Jack needed as he brought his arms down on Stevens, breaking the wolfs in the process and stabbing him through his stomach with an armament tail.
As soon as Jack hit the ground someone grabbed him by his shirt and dragged him to his feet in an attempt to lead him down the hallway. He was too disoriented from the literal mind fucking Steven had just delivered to really know what was going on, all he knew was aware of was a primal roar that was so loud it caused whoever was carrying him to stumble briefly before they continued on. The next thing he knew he was being forced into a dark room that smelled heavily of chemicals before being propped against a wall. Someone was shouting at him and hitting him across the face. Eventually he was able to make out the words being shouted at him.
"Come on Jack! Snap out of it!"
Jack instantly recognized the owner of the voice and grabbed her wrist before she could hit him again. He looked up at to see Sherry kneeling in front of him. She looked panicked, her eyes wide with worry and fear. "Jack, baby, are you ok? What happened?" She asked as she stroked his cheek.
"Well…" Jack started as he propped himself into a better sitting position and groaned as he grabbed at his still bleeding stomach. "Steven happened. And he wasn't fun."
Sherry stared at the blood on Jacks paw, her confusion and uncertainty was obvious to see. "You aren't healing."
"Yeah, I noticed." Jack groaned as he took his jacket off. He folded and twisted his jacket then tied the arms together around his body as a make shift bandage. "I've just recently learned that something supernatural can actually hurt a G.E.O. who knew?"
"Supernatural?" Sherry asked with a raised brow, a look that was questioning if her husband was trying to fuck with her or if he was being serious.
"Yeah, supernatural. And apparently were-wolves are a thing so today is just one big fucking learning experience." Jack stated, completely unamused by their current situation. They were cornered, with barely any weapons at their disposal and with a very pissed off wolf on their tails as they spoke.
"Ok what the actual fuck is a were-wolf? Is this some human thing I don't know about?" Sherry demanded with a heavy amount of confusion in her voice.
Jack shrugged. "Kind of. Were-wolves are more legend and myth then actual fact. They're humans who were bitten by another were-wolf and shift into vicious wolf like creatures every full moon. They can be hurt by silver and that's about all I can really go into about them." He explained.
"Riiiiight." Sherry said uneasily as she looked behind her. Now that Jack was able to take a look around he saw that they were in a utility closet, a row of shelves filled with chemical cleaners to his right, a mop bucket and brooms to his left. "Well that just looked like a really pissed off wolf with big claws and from what I just saw it's only afternoon so how the ever loving fuck could the moon make him any more vicious at this point!?" she hissed in annoyance.
"I don't know Sherry, fuck, I don't make the rules on this shit." Jack growled as he forced himself to stand up to get a better look at the chemicals. He saw half a bottle of ammonia and instantly uncapped it. He splashed it against the door before sitting back down. "He won't be able to sniff us out now so it'll buy us enough time to come up with a plan and see how long until I heal."
"And enough time for me to make up another Molotov." Sherry said as she emptied one of the cleaner bottles and started mixing various different chemicals together.
"Ahh, so that's what you hit him with." Jack said with an amused grin "how'd you learn to make that anyways?"
Sherry shrugged as she shot him a playful grin. "Hey, a girls gotta have some hobbies." She said as she set the bottle down and began working on making another. "I looked up some do it yourself stuff on zootube and browsed some forum pages, people on the internet are smart but scary as fuck when you want to learn how to make something dangerous.
"I am very much aware, remember I had to help with the web crime unit for a week because we thought someone was smuggling serums through backdoor shipment orders." Jack said.
"Oh right, you never did tell me what traumatized you so much involving that." Sherry said as she finished Molotov one and started on number two.
"And I never will."
"No fun." Sherry muttered. They both paused as they heard movement and heavy breathing coming from outside the utility closet. It was faint and not at their location yet but it was getting closer.
Jack pulled what looked like a circular fob with two buttons. He pressed the red button and the world became a little more silent. For good listeners like him and Sherry this was the equivalent of a silencer. It released a special frequency within a certain radius that would cancel out most noises, in this case he was trying to cancel out the sound of their heartbeats and breathing.
He didn't know how good a were-wolves hearing was but Jack was willing to bet it was even better as an actual wolf.
They both froze as they saw a shadow eclipsing the crack of light from the door. Jack and Sherry knew it was Steven. They held their breath as they waited, Sherry preparing one of the Molotov's with lighter in paw while Jack got ready to pounce the second the door opened.
Fortunately the shadow eventually retreated and left them be. Neither Jack or Sherry moved for fear that they would be giving away their position. After a few minutes Jack dared to unwrap his makeshift jacket bandage and examined his stomach.
Ten minutes. It had taken four little scratches ten minutes to heal. He decided now was the only chance he was going to get to figure something out. First, Steven was not only strong but he could stop the advanced healing of a G.E.O. even if only temporarily.
Second, from that mind fucking he tried to pull it was safe to assume he probably had more tricks up his sleeve.
Third, they were at a severe disadvantage, they had little to no real information to go on, beyond what Jack experienced during the fight as well as his very limited, very outdated and more than likely useless information on the supernatural. Not only that, he couldn't use any of his Armament abilities without destroying part of the building, that wouldn't be such an issue except for the fact that they were in a high rise and while he could survive the fall if the building caved Sherry, along with the innocent, unaware employees here wouldn't be so fortunate. He had to assume that only Alistair's inner circle and the guards knew what was really going on, for the other employees this was probably an almost disgustingly high paying tech job. Plus if the building did collapse it would destroy the underground center without question. For all the power and abilities he had Jack really felt tied up in this situation, there had to be some kind of alternate solution. But he needed time to think of one.
Time that he really didn't have.
Sherry turned to Jack, her uncertainty was clear 'What do we do now?' she mouthed.
Jack closed his eyes and took a deep calming breath. 'We wait.'
Adrian growled to himself in frustration, it felt like he was running around in circles! Everything looked the same and it didn't feel like he was getting any closer to finding anyone, he'd completely lost all track of Zack. Not only that but tracking had become impossible, maybe it was something in the air or the mingling of different scents but he couldn't pick up anything definitive. It smelled like everyone was far away.
His ear twitched and he came to a halt, he'd definitely heard something, something metallic and wooden being placed down. Like a katana in its sheath being adjusted or placed on a table. He proceeded cautiously towards where he figured the sound had come from. Whatever it was he was definitely hoping it wasn't like the freaky glasses guy they'd run into at the start, or someone on his level. But if the opponent just had a sword that would make things a bit easier, right?
Eventually Adrian found himself entering a large room, almost like an indoor dome. Seriously, how had they been able to fund all of this without being discovered? He looked at the end of the room and saw a figure in a long black coat and something resembling an old western hat, sitting on a chair, leg crossed and paws folded on his lap. And, as he thought, a katana was leaning against the wall beside him. The mammal in question looked up and Adrian was surprised to see it was a Serval. This was odd, despite the diversity of species these kinds of felines were rare in Zootopia, he was pretty sure the total population even existing in the city was something between thirty and forty. He raised a brow at Adrian and shook his head
"Young man, you should not be here." The Serval said with a thick Japanese accent.
That made Adrian suspicious, Servals weren't native to Japan. He'd either been raised there or he was probably from a different world and became like this when he got here. Adrian was willing to bet on the later.
"And why's that?" Adrian said as he walked forward, he needed to be cautious in this situation. No sudden movements, no predictability. Keep him talking and distracted.
"Dangerous. Very dangerous." The Serval said as he grabbed his katana and stood up.
Adrian readied himself in case the feline attacked. "I'm well aware that it's dangerous, but unfortunately I'm stuck, the buildings in lockdown."
The Serval grunted as he stare Adrian down. "I'm aware. Big mess has been made. Otherwise I'd still be asleep."
"Still be asleep, what are you-" the words died in Adrian's throat as the Serval disappeared and a large gash appeared across his body and blood exploded everywhere. Adrian hit the ground and turned his head to see the Serval was behind him, facing away. How the fuck had he moved so fast!?
"My sincerest apologies young man. I'm afraid I cannot hold back even if I wished too." The Serval said as he turned and walked past Adrian, back to where he'd been sitting previously.
The moment just before he sat down the Serval drew his sword again and sliced the Bone shards Adrian had fired at him. He looked surprised to see the fox back on his feet with no injury. More surprising was the young man's right eye which had turned blood red, save for the icy blue iris, a clear contrast to his other eye.
"Oh good, that means I don't have to feel guilty when I kick your ass." Adrian said as he released a bone tail and charged at the Serval.
It took some effort but Zack's group eventually found the office where his daughter was supposedly being kept. This just smelled like one big trap but honestly what choice did he have? They could run around blindly or they could find someone with answers and maybe, just maybe, see his daughter.
The moment they approached the door it unlocked and opened by a crack. Zack proceeded very cautiously, keeping all of his senses on high alert as he very lightly pushed the door open. He didn't feel any shifts in pressure so it probably wasn't wire trapped. When the door was open enough and he could actually see inside he threw all caution to the wind as he charged in.
"Casey!" Zack shouted as he ran up to his daughter and embraced her.
"Dad! Crushing me! Hurts!" Casey tried to protest but that only made Zack hug her harder.
"I almost thought I'd lost you." Zack said as he held her. "I almost thought I lost my baby bunny forever."
Casey stopped struggling as she heard the hurt and pain in her father's voice. Instead she hugged him back. She'd always been angry at him for never being in her life as much as she wanted him to be, even though she knew it was due to his profession and her mother's personal feelings but even still she wanted him to be around more. But having him here, willing to risk his life like he promise he would if it ever happened… it made her a less angry and maybe even forgiving.
"Well isn't this just lovely. A happy family reunion, in the only safe place at the moment with the doors wide open, while there are armed guards patrolling the whole area. I dare say we should invite them all in so they can share in this happy moment." Thomas spat as he glared at them impatiently.
Anastasia smacked her brother's shoulder before Zack could get a word in. "Don't be such a dick! They haven't seen each other in who knows how long, she's had a rough day and she finally gets to see the one available person who makes her feel safe. Seriously, have a heart."
Thomas raised his paws in surrender as he turned to his sister. "I'm just saying we can hold off on the reunion until the doors are closed again and I can secure my office."
Rouge closed the door and spread his arms out dramatically. "See? Closed now! Let the happy times continue!"
Leaf rolled her eyes and shook her head at her mates antics but didn't say anything. Instead she, like the others, started to look around the cats large and spacious office. "So… this is nice. I guess."
Thomas shrugged. "Better than a cubicle"
"Touché"
"Ok, back to our original agreement!" Zack said, bringing them back on track to the second reason why they came here. "You three. State your names, powers and your associate's powers."
"Wow, you must really suck at foreplay. No wonder your wife divorced you." Anastasia deadpanned.
Zack gaped at her while half of the group burst into a fit of giggles like a pack of school children.
"I might have talked about you while waiting for you to get here…" Casey admitted.
"Of course you did." Zack grumbled as he shook his head, pulling out his cigarettes and lighting one. "Regardless, we had a deal. Now, I've seen that my daughter is alive and now I need to know your abilities, lives depend on this."
"Your right, we did agree." Thomas said. "First off is myself, I can control electricity and electromagnetism to an extent. Anastasia has both long and short ranged teleportation but it's out of commission until the lock down is lifted. Shadow is capable of altering his body at will in a wide variety of ways. He can even become an intangible shadow to an extent, which is his favorite ability. Zelda can harden her skin and fur density at will, but the harder it is the more mobility she loses. Feral controls a special liquid that only he has control of, unless you kill him the liquid won't stop."
"Oh lovely, was wondering if I just needed to beat him unconscious or if he needed to actually die but I'm glad it's the later." Zack commented.
This surprised the three former executives. "Hold it, are you saying you actually ran into Feral and are still breathing?" Shadow asked, obviously shocked.
"Yeah, killed some of my best men but me and my daughter's boyfriend managed to get away just fine."
"Wait, Adrian's here!? Why isn't he with you?" Casey demanded.
"We got separated after Feral. He held off some guards so I could make a run for it." Zack explained. "Now who else do we have to worry about?"
"Alucard, and honestly he's the biggest problem next to Alistair himself." Shadow said, clearly disgusted just by saying the former's name.
"Explain."
"Short and simple? He's a psychopath. He makes Zelda look tame in comparison." Thomas explained. "He personally named his ability 'Parade of the Damned'."
A shiver went up Zacks spine just from the name. "Oh that doesn't sound pleasant at all."
"It isn't. He's a sick son of a bitch. He figured out how to reanimate the dead as his mindless puppets. He preserves the bodies until needed and then calls them out. Oh, and it gets better, his 'Parade' is made up of all the people he's tortured raped and or killed." Thomas elaborated further.
That most definitely did not sound pleasant, the poor bastards didn't even have the mercy of escaping their tormentor even in death, their bodies being used as his personal fucking pawns. "How many are we talking here?" Zack asked, almost hesitantly.
"A few hundred, at least."
The cigarette in Zack's mouth hit the floor as the number registered. "I'm sorry, are you telling me he's tortured, raped and killed a few HUNDRED people!?"
"As I said, he's a sick son of a bitch." Thomas repeated as he picked the cigarette off the ground and crushed the cherry. "And it might be late but please don't smoke in my office."
Zack responded by lighting another cigarette and grinning at Thomas. "Sorry, rough day. Make an exception."
Thomas was about to respond until an alarm went off, it wasn't very loud as it was just coming from his computer but it was enough to make the cat run back to his desk to check it out. "We've got some company. It looks like one of your units is heading this way and they're being targeted by another group of guards." He explained.
They all began to crowd around the computer, seeing which group it was. Amanda's jaw dropped as she saw some very familiar faces. "Shit, it's Max and Cory's group! We've gotta let them in!"
"No, wait! We can't risk being compromised. We need to let them pass us by." Thomas said.
Amanda balked at him. "Are you fucking kidding me? My friends and Zack's mercenaries are going to get slaughtered out there! I'll go out and deal with the guards."
Before Thomas could stop her Amanda was already out the door.
"That fucking lynx is going to get us all killed." Thomas growled.
Zack raised a question brow. "How so?"
Thomas growled as he raked the fur on his head. "What I'm saying is that once she takes out that group of guards we're fucked. My office is publicly known to the staff and once they find the dead bodies they'll realize that we're holed up in here. What do you think happens next?"
The realization hit them all in an instant. "We're trapped." Rouge said.
"Exactly and we won't be able to move out in such a large group, there's only so much we'll be able to do together and splitting up without everyone having a perfect layout of the labs will just lead to everyone being slaughtered." Thomas explained.
They all turned as the door opened and Amanda arrived with Max, Cory and the few mercenaries that had accompanied them. The moment they entered Spottigans walked up and back handed Amanda across the face. Max and Cory were on him in an instant, shoving him back and snarling in his face while the mercenaries prepared their weapons.
"ENOUGH!" Thomas roared, gathering everyone's attention. "Really? Hitting a lady? That's fucking deplorable. Although, I'm not opposed to shaking her down a bit."
As Thomas marched towards her Cory and Max stood in front of him, daring him to take another step towards their friend. In response Thomas stuck his paws out and hit them both with an electrical shock that easily brought the two to their knees. Before the Mercenaries could fire he grabbed Amanda by the front of her gear and was almost muzzle to muzzle with her.
"You fucking idiot. Do you not realize what you've just done? They'll know exactly where we are now! There is no back door or place we can escape too. We're trapped!"
Amanda was shocked by his words, almost even guilty but before she could say anything in response Thomas's eyes went wide, his mouth hanging wide open as he hit the ground with his paws between his legs. She saw Cory bringing his foot down and realized he'd just kicked the feline right in the testicles.
"That… was for shocking us AND for being such a dick to my co-worker…Dick." Cory huffed as he shrugged off the last of the electrical shock. Apparently the shock hadn't been meant to hurt them.
"Can we all not start fighting right now!?" Zack shouted. "Seriously, group of fucking children, I swear. Look we're in the shit now, may as well prepare ourselves for it instead of bickering like a bunch of toddlers!"
"Ok, what's your brilliant suggestion then?" Spottigans asked.
Zack thought on that one before taking note of the furniture and lay out of the office. "First things first." He said before pointing to Shadow. "You're going to get the security footage for the hallways leading up to the office door on that computer ASAP. The rest of us will barricade the door with as much furniture as we can. We'll keep a few of the tables and couches spread out as cover in case we get into a fire fight. Best case scenario, the lock down lifts and Miss Teleporting kitty over there gets us the fuck out of here without us getting into a fight. Worst case, we have to fight our way out of here and if shit really hits the fan we run like hell. But before that, we're going to take some extra precautions." Zack said as he pulled two metal casings out of his pocket.
"You got a work bench in here, got any nuts, bolts and screws to go with it? Maybe a couple of glass jars?" Zack asked.
Thomas groaned as he got back on his feet, still hunched over. "Yeah… boxes with the red labels underneath the table."
"And if memory serves… aha!" Anna said as she opened the bottom drawer of Thomas' computer desk and pulled out two very large jars of candy. "Hey, for once your sweet tooth comes in handy!"
"Alright. Dump the candy start filling them with the screws, bolts and nuts." Zack said.
Thomas gave a horrified look of despair as Anna started dumping the candy onto the floor before passing them off to Cory and Leaf so they could start filling them.
"That was premium candy mix from Wunka sweets… they only give out a hundred of those a year." Thomas said as he stared at the candy that had scattered across the floor.
Zack stared at Thomas as if he was talking to a crazy person, given that he was more worried about his candy then the fact that their lives were in danger. "Son… there is definitely something wrong with you upstairs if that's your main concern at this moment."