Chapter 38: Haru VS The Shishigumi! Legosi's Heritage Revealed!
Haru sprinted through the black market, remembering the path she and Legosi had taken while escaping from the Shishigumi mansion. It had been only a month and a half since she had been abducted by the lion gang. Never in her wildest dreams had she ever thought she'd go back to that mansion of her own free will, but yet here she was, standing at the entrance to the household where she had nearly been devoured.
Haru reached into her pockets and pulled out the capsules that Judy had given her. These capsules contained highly pressurized gas, and they were to be thrown at predators in order to incapacitate them. Upon hitting something, the capsules would explode into a noxious green gas with the stench of several skunks spraying one target together in unison. When the white dwarf rabbit had asked Judy about how she had gotten these, Judy replied that the ZPD's non lethal weapons department had been given a huge boost with experimentation ever since Alex and his adoptive sister Blossom had joined the squad, with Alex's mother Iris Stenchington providing additional funding for the squad.
Haru jumped up and rang the doorbell. A few seconds later, one of the Shishigumi lions opened the door and Haru took the opportunity to strike. The bunny lunged forward and delivered a powerful punch to the feline's crotch. This sent the lion stumbling backwards, and Haru sprung upwards, leaping into the air and kicking the lion in the chest with both of her legs, forcing this lion to the ground. Haru followed up on her kicks by pouncing on the fallen lion's chest and grabbed his neck with both of her tiny paws, pressing down with all of her strength to keep the lion from breathing. After about a minute of the chokehold the lion fell unconscious.
That was one lion down. Haru then retrieved her whip, which she had discarded to choke the first lion into unconsciousness. The white dwarf rabbit then listened closely, pressing her rabbit ears up to the wall so she could get the maximum use out of them. She heard the sounds of several lions talking throughout the house. She heard one lion with his back to her in the hallway up ahead, three lions in the dining room, two at the top of the staircase, and three lions upstairs on the second floor.
"Perfect!" Haru thought to herself. They were already all split up. The bunny knew that she'd be screwed if she had to fight all of the lions at the same time. With the training she had been going through, though, she knew she had good odds at beating one to three lions in a fight. She crept through the hallways, quickly reaching the lion that she had heard in the hallway. She saw that it was Agata, the black Congo lion who had tried to help her escape from the manor when the other lions had kidnapped her and brought her there.
Haru wished she didn't have to do this to the sweet lion, but she couldn't take any chances of him somehow alerting the other lions of her presence. Haru swung her whip, the long rope flying forward and slamming into the back of Agata's head and upper neck. The poor black lion was helpless, crumpling to the floor under the heavy whip blow.
Haru stealthily snuck forward through the corridors of the mansion. She quickly came up on the dining room and jumped back, hugging the walls before using her hearing to get a read on the situation. There were still three lions in there, and they hadn't noticed her yet. Haru pulled out the gas capsule and flung it into the room. The gas bomb detonated on contact, blinding the felines and filling their nostrils with gas. The three lions stood up and huddled together back to back, their vision still recovering from the gas bomb. Haru jumped onto the table before launching herself at the lions, curling up into a ball in midair and slamming into his chest area. The lion was pushed back, making him stagger and topple over onto the other two lions.
Now that they were in a nice pile, Haru needed to make sure that these lions stayed down for the count. She grabbed a metal cookie sheet from the counter and bonked the head of the lion who was on top of the others. Hopefully that would keep them down long enough for Haru to grab Louis and get out of there.
One of the lions yelled out "INTRUDER!" and Haru's ears drooped. Two lions sprinted down the stairs and started advancing on Haru. The bunny reacted quickly, her whip coiling outwards and wrapping around the lion on the left. With a bit of effort, she was able to toss the lion on the left into the lion on the right, making them fall over like bowling pins. Then a third lion entered the room, and Haru recognized him. It was the lion who had kidnapped her in the first place. She saw him grab his gun from his pocket and pointed at her. While Ibuki was going for his gun, Haru jumped up and punched him in the face with all her might. The sheer force Haru packed into her blow caused Ibuki to drop his gun, and Haru dove for it. She managed to snatch it away from Ibuki and grab it for herself.
Now to do something that Judy probably wouldn't approve of. She jabbed the gun into Ibuki's forehead, the muzzle of the weapon pressing against his skull. The glasses-wearing lion's eyes widened in fear and horror. "Now, where's your boss?" Haru sweetly said.
Ibuki knew that he was at the bunny's complete and utter mercy. "U-upstairs…" Ibuki whimpered.
"Take me to him," Haru then demanded. Ibuki gulped.
"I-I can't…" Ibuki croaked in terror. The bunny slapped Ibuki's face in response.
"Bullshit!" Haru snarled.
"No! I mean I can't! Louis-sama is in the bathtub right now!" Ibuki cried out. Haru listened closer, and she was now able to hear Louis humming to himself. "I-It's true! Boss really is in the bath!" one of the lions that was on the floor quickly agreed. Haru eyed him suspiciously, before standing up off of him and moving the gun to his crotch area. "Nobody make any sudden moves or I blow his balls off!" Haru yelled.
"DOLPH! FREE!" Ibuki screamed. The two lions appeared in an instant and went for their guns, but lowered them when they saw that she had Ibuki at gunpoint. "You two, go into the kitchen and fix her the finest fruits and vegetables we have! Until Boss comes out of the shower she's the new queen!" Ibuki ordered. Haru smiled deviously.
"New queen? I like the sound of that," The white dwarf rabbit darkly chuckled.
Alex was standing at the door to Legosi's grandfather's house, hesitating to knock on it. He had been rehearsing what he would say for the past half hour, and he was still nervous and upset. He hated this sort of situation, where he had to tell someone that their loved ones had gotten severely injured or killed. He had to perform this duty a few times when he was in the Zootopia Police Department. It tore him up inside as the loved ones cried in anguish as they realized the wolf wasn't there for cookies or to ask questions, but to tell a horrible truth.
Alex inhaled and exhaled before knocking on the door. The door opened within a matter of seconds, and Alex came face to face with a Komodo dragon. He had only met one in his life before, and that was when he was a kid. "Ah, an officer! You must be here about the incident at the hybrid orphanage. Come in, I insist! I'll fix you a glass of lemonade," The reptile happily told him. He somewhat dragged Alex in and sat him down in a lovely, comfortable chair. "I'll be right back with the lemonade!" He promised.
Alex sat in the chair, not expecting this. He then saw a framed photograph on the table and picked it up to take a closer look. The contents of the photograph shocked him. In the photograph, the Komodo dragon had his arms wrapped around a female wolf and a young wolf pup. The wolf woman was beautiful, unlike any other creature Alex had seen. One of her most astonishing features was her arms and shoulders- she had patches of green scales on her arms and shoulders. And the wolf pup was obviously Legosi. That meant that this female wolf had to be his mother, and the Komodo dragon was Legosi's grandfather.
Alex was shocked that Legosi was a hybrid. Aside from his scent and unusually large size, there were no indications of Legosi being a hybrid. He started crying, realizing the pain that Legosi must have had to suffer over not being able to tell the world who he truly was. Gosha came back into the room and saw the wolf was crying. "Officer, what's wrong?" Gosha asked worriedly.
"I-I'm not here to ask questions, sir… You are the grandfather of Legosi, correct?" Alex then said, tears in his eyes.
"Why, yes I am. Why do you ask?" Gosha wondered.
"I'm here because your grandson is in the hospital," Alex gravely told him.
"The hospital?!" Gosha gasped, his eyes widening. Alex nodded somberly. "What happened!? Is my grandson all right!?" Gosha panickedly said.
Alex inhaled shakily, his voice trembling. "He's alive… but he's in pretty rough shape. He got viciously attacked by an unknown assailant. I came here to inform you of his condition and bring you to the hospital," Alex answered. Gosha stood up and set his lemonade down, pouring it into a large thermos and grabbing several plastic cups, before heading outside to Alex's car. Alex opened the shotgun seat for the komodo dragon before starting to drive there.
"This is all my fault…!" Alex sobbed. Gosha put a scaly hand on Alex's shoulder to calm the white wolf down.
"Tell me everything," Gosha pleaded. And so Alex began to tell Gosha everything that had happened since he had arrived at Cherryton.
As Alex and Gosha drove to the hospital, Haru played with the cherries in her mouth that the Shishigumi had served her. "You know you could have just asked me for a favor, Haru…" Agata groaned, rubbing the back of his head and neck as they were still sore from Haru's whip strikes.
"I couldn't take any chances," Haru grimly replied. She heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs, and smiled as the deer's antlers came into view. Louis hummed to himself, but quickly stopped when he saw the white dwarf rabbit sitting at the dinner table. "HARU!?" Louis yelped, his jaw dropping in shock.
"There you are, mister! Do you have ANY idea how much trouble you're in!?" Haru greeted the deer. She glared at Louis and crossed her arms menacingly.
"Trouble? What trouble? I decided to live my own life," Louis quickly replied, his mask of composure returning. Haru stood on the table and grabbed him by the shirt, yanking him forward.
"You idiot! Did you not think of what might happen if you stopped showing up to school!?" Haru yelled.
Louis's eyes narrowed, staring at his ex-lover. Haru returned his steely gaze with twice as much force, and yet the red deer still did not falter. "Because you stopped showing up to school, the carnivores and herbivores are falling apart at the seams! There's fights between them on a daily basis now, and they're seriously considering segregating the school since Tem's killer is still on the loose!" Haru started screaming at Louis.
"Bill said the same thing! It's NOT MY PROBLEM!" Louis growled. "LEGOSI'S ALMOST DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU, ASSHOLE!" Haru shrieked at her previous boyfriend, punching him in the chest to drive her point home.
Louis blinked, processing this. Then his expression turned to one of both fury and concern. "Legosi's almost dead?" Louis asked out loud. Then he gazed at Haru and grabbed her by the left paw. "What happened?!" Louis demanded angrily.
Haru tore her arm from his grip and shoved Louis. "You kept the drama club in line and made sure they didn't discuss Tem's murder. Now that you're gone, Legosi started asking questions, and this attracted the attention of the killer. He's a monster, Louis… he put Legosi in a coma, and we don't know if he'll ever wake up again!" Haru cried.
Tears welled up in her eyes and she cried into Louis's chest. After a few minutes of letting the bunny sob, Louis took her paws in his. "Where's Legosi being kept?" Louis asked.
"Cherryton Colorful Futures Hospital," Haru answered.
Louis stood up and carried Haru over his shoulder. "Agata! Ibuki! We're driving there now," Louis commanded. Ibuki and Agata leapt to their feet and gave their leader a salute. "YES SIR!" The two lions yelled.
Everyone converges together at the hospital to see Legosi. Legosi's friends learn that Legosi is a hybrid, and Louis fights Alex! An emotion-packed chapter is coming to this website soon, so stay tuned for the next chapter of BEASTARS: Converging Destinies!
Chapter 39: Reconvening At The Hospital! A Risky Ritual!