Zootopia belongs to Disney. Spider-Man belongs to Sony.
Some things I wanted to note for the sake of keeping everyone up to date. Up to now, I've had to delete some parts of the story. Gazelle and Weston are no longer main characters and I've changed a few things. One minor change is that the public sees Oid as a superhero (Ch. 1). Aside from that, the best way to stay up to date is to start over. But if you don't want to go back that far, reread chapters 4-10 before reading this one. But whatever you choose to do, I hope you still enjoy the story. Finally, I'm at a place where I can write a much more coherent story without jumping from one subject to another. Sorry for the inconvenience, by the way. I'm kind of a nervous wreck who's still learning so much. Writing can be a bit of a struggle, but that's one of the reasons I love doing it.
One more thing, I forgot to mention (there are a lot of things I forget; it's a bad habit) that I got the name Thelonious from Upplet's story When Instinct Falls. Credit goes where credit is due. Why'd I use that name? Because it's the kind of name you drop the mic for. And it screams British!
This is it, it has to be. After cycling through fourteen synthases, this has to be it, or else he was going to crack.
His eyes were starting to blur from having to stare through this microscope for so long.
"Do it..." he willed the muscle cells to respond. His eyes strained to stay focused to keep alert of any changes. "Do it."
...
Nothing happened. Huffing, the hyena roughly turned off the microscope light and removed the slide from its clamp. This time, he didn't care for protocol much. He simply washed it off in the sink.
"Didn't work?" asked his partner who was busy preparing the next sample.
He huffed a second time and bit his tongue to keep from shouting. His deadline was tomorrow and he was still just one step away from completing the serum. If only he could get past it.
He'd drawn blood from that panther every month, but every synthase he'd tried had failed on every set of muscle cells he'd used, regardless of the species.
"I don't know what I'm missing!" he said in frustration as he sat down and rubbed his forehead.
"Well, science is all about study and observation. You haven't gone through all of your options yet, tried every angle."
"I have a deadline, Yvette," he enunciated to the African wild dog. "The Shark, for some reason, thinks that if you put enough pressure on a scientist, he'll give you perfect results on time, no questions asked!"
"Then all we can do is keep trying. Keep finding a different angle."
"Hmph, yeah," he said glumly while relaxing in his chair. He needed to rest his eyes for a second.
The Shark had promised that whoever got Danny to the lab would be the first to receive the serum. However long that would take, he didn't know, but he didn't feel it would be long. The jaguar may have been strong but aside from that he was just a normal kitten. So he needed to figure this out if he wanted to take part in the action.
"Don't- Hold on-" stammered Ben. Ellie pushed him out of the way.
"Can't believe this..." she muttered angrily as she marched toward the booth. "Already have enough crap to deal with!"
"Ellie!"
"Shut up!"
She grasped the kitten by the underarm. He shouted as he was pulled out of the booth and onto the floor. He curled into a ball under the blanket until it was ripped off of him. He looked around the room with his tired, bloodshot eyes until they landed on the angry bunny.
The paramedics had turned sharply toward him at the startled cry that escaped him. Ellie grabbed him by the cheeks with one hand and leaned down to get in his face.
"Ellie, stop it!" Ben shouted over the EMTs who joined in with him. He hesitated to stop her, partially out of shock.
"You all thought you were pretty funny, didn't you, kid?" she said. Her lips were pressed hard against her teeth in anger.
Danny stared at her in abject confusion. "W-what?" he stammered in a shaky voice.
"ELLIE!" Ben shouted at her again, but she shushed him.
"What were you really trying to pull?!" she continued, holding up the napkin with the blue stuff on it. "You think this is funny? If someone thought you had been hopped up on NH-Plus, you could have been shot dead!"
"...N...NH-what?" he asked, barely above a whisper.
Ben marched toward her. "That's enough!" growled Ben, grabbing her and shoving her several feet away.
"Don't push me!"
"You could get in serious trouble for that! You don't just attack a child-"
"These guys should be arrested for wasting our time! This is just a big prank! They could try to sue the department for assault!"
Ben glared at her. "Well that's a fine assumption," he said sarcastically. "Did you see what was on his neck? That was Nighthowler serum. You saw it on my hand! I know it was NH-Plus because I could smell it! If I wasn't inoculated, I'd be savage right now, too!" Again, he added mentally.
Sarah's voice turned grave. "That was NOT Nighthowlers, Ben. These guys just had me knock them out for no good reason! Trust me, I've seen this kind of scam before; I'm not ending up in court for that!"
"Look, let's just test it to make sure, let one of the EMTs run a test on it. But we're not assaulting a victim, Ellie! You should know that from the academy!"
"Are you serious?! So... so some kid calls the police, the police show up, and he's being massacred by large, savage animals, who, I will remind you, are more than capable of killing this kid without NH-Plus and yet... he's fine..." she shrugged to make her point. "That-that's what we have to work with here. Doesn't that seem just a little odd to you?"
Ben tried to give a rebuttal, but he realized he couldn't formulate one so easily in the face of her logic. There was no way to deny that this was pretty strange. Very strange, actually. How had he survived that in the first place, when plenty of full-grown mammals had been killed ever since NH-Plus was released to the streets? The ZPD had required advanced martial arts lessons ever since Nick and Judy ended the original Nighthowler Crisis, and especially once the serum reappeared prominently in the context of an epidemic drug war. And even then handling one mammal under its influence was very difficult. Except for bunnies, at least, who were a category in themselves. But a child as vulnerable as Danny, who had been in that basement with five mammals tearing at him so brutally...
As he processed this, Ellie looked down at the boy, whose face had fallen. Leaning over, she scoffed when she saw that his eyes were closed and he wore that same drained, blank face. "What's going to happen to me?" he asked quietly.
"Aw, come on!" she said angrily. "It's not like we're not going to arrest you. You're a minor!" She turned and planted her hands on her hips before lifting her hand to smack her palm against her nose in a futile attempt stop its unceasing vertical wiggle.
"Hey, come on, kid. It's all right." Ben laid his hand on his shoulder and patted it tenderly. "I believe you," he whispered, though he did have plenty of questions on account of Ellie's argument. He found himself making rationalizing, and his rationalizations lacked in much credit. But even then, he still couldn't just conclude that he was playing them. Not yet.
Meanwhile, Ellie stood off to the side, tapping her foot rapidly. She briskly walked toward the door, shoved it open, and stomped outside to stand at the side of the building in order to cool down.
Ben watched the door close and, after several seconds, tepidly directed the process of getting the patients onto ambulances.
Ellie stood outside watching the process, the grayish-white wisp of smoke emanating off the end of a cigarette. This whole thing was messed up. They'd come and seen a boy getting torn apart by predators, she'd had to put them down - she'd claim self defense - they had tried to take her down, they'd attacked her with those crazy eyes... she looked up from the ground as her lips let go of the stick. Her arm dropped to her side loosely. Something had just occurred to her that she had only thought of in passing for the briefest moment. Those eyes... feral eyes. Primeval, almost. They couldn't have been faking it. And the way they had attacked him... how... savage it had been... those were not mammals in their right mind. It had to be NH-Plus. But if it was... how would he not be converted? A better question, how in the world was he ok in any way, shape, and form? She sighed at the guilt she suddenly felt. One thing she knew, she'd definitely jumped to conclusions when she'd accused that little boy (key word, "little") of foul play.
Could the reason he wasn't affected be the same reason that he was unharmed by the predators? The question made her brain hurt. She placed her fingers against a temple, trying to get her thoughts straight. "Ugh!" she exclaimed out loud, both in confusion and in regret. But she backpedaled with, "That... Bellwether!" She stepped back inside to see that the floor was clear. The boy was still sitting on the floor, and Ben was facilitating the collection of some of the residue from the back of his neck. If it were Nighthowlers, that would mean this young panther is somehow immune to one of the world's most potent psychotropic neurotoxins. An earth-shattering discovery if it were true. Completely unheard of.
At the same time Ellie was processing this, Ben speed-dialed Judy's phone.
"...Hello?" came the bunny's groggy voice over the speaker.
"Heh-hey, Judy! Sorry to wake you up like this, buuuuut... we may have a lead in our case."
Judy suddenly sounded more lucid. "Hold on, Ben - oh, sorry, Honey," she whispered, presumably to her husband. The cheetah grinned at her pet name for him. About time for her to have her own set of cute names for him. "...Ok, talk to me."
"It's a long story, but there's been an incident at Dean's Southern Brew, you know, that popular coffee shop-slash-hangout?"
"Dean's? I love that place!" she said. Her voice was suddenly brighter, Ben noticed. He remembered that this place was where Nick actually first confessed his feelings for her, and also where he proposed a few months later. But Judy immediately returned to the task at hand. "Anyway. What happened?"
"NH-Plus basically sums it up, but there's been a bit of a new development. Get this, Judy, we think we've found someone who's - you ready for this? - immune to Nighthowlers!" he waved in a jazz hand fashion.
"..."
"Immune to Nighthowlers!" He repeated the wave.
"Yeah, I heard you, Ben. But immune as in..."
"Immune as in he had no reaction to them whatsoever!"
"And who's 'he'?"
"His name's Danny; he's a jaguar."
"How old is he?"
"Oh, about eight, maybe nine."
"I'm eleven," said the boy from across the store blankly.
"Oh, uh, he's eleven," he said, adding in a mutter, "Looks younger than that, though."
"...Are you sure it's Nighthowlers?"
"Is that so hard to believe? There are half a dozen other mammals here who went absolutely berzerk! They all had plugs of serum on their necks. So did he. I know it was Nighthowlers because I got some on my hand by mistake, and it had all the hallmarks - the smell, the numbing effect, the stickiness. In fact, I got some on my hand, and the feeling in it is still dull. Aside from that, well... you know the rest. Savagery and everything... it wasn't pretty." Ben looked at his hand and curled his fingers as he said this. "But he's fine. Totally fine as if nothing happened."
Well not really but still, Ben thought with a cringe when he considered the traumatized look in the boy's eyes before he'd taken him out of the basement.
"Even more interestingly," he said more quietly into the phone (he didn't know why but he felt he should try to keep this quiet even though Ellie was up to speed and everything), "he was attacked by all of the victims at once, but he doesn't have a single scratch."
"Really?" asked Judy with sudden interest. "What color are his eyes?" she asked more slowly.
"Uh, blue. Why?"
"Light blue or dark blue?"
"Just... regular blue, I think. At least I know they weren't light blue. Why do you ask?"
"Oh... nothing. I'll come by and take a look." She whispered the next thing she said: "I'll leave Nick here because I think the big baby wants to stay in bed."
Ben chuckled "Ok. Just come fast because I want to take this kitten to the hospital. He's had a really bad night."
"I'll be fast. See you in a few."
"See ya!"
The rest of the gooey stuff was cleaned from Danny's neck while Ben helped him to stay relaxed. Ellie smirked at that. That cheetah really was a big softie. He may have gotten in great shape and honed great fighting skills, but inside he was still the flabby, donut-loving cop everyone loved. She'd never met that Clawhauser; she'd joined the ZPD at the same time he'd been put back on the beat. They had taken a liking to each other and decided to become detectives at the same time so they could work as partners.
"Hey kid." The boy turned warily toward the older bunny. "Sorry I yelled at you. I shouldn't have done that. It's just..." she sighed "...it's been a really weird and really hard few weeks, you know? It's kinda wearing on us." He nodded, but due to fatigue his expression didn't change.
"Aaaaaand she can be an angry little cutie," Ben added while kneeling down next to her, ruffling her ears.
"Don't push it," she growled quietly.
"Besides," he pressed, "seems like you're always having a fun time regardless."
Ellie conceded with a tilt of her head. "I do enjoy a good fight, but it does get tiring, especially when we don't have any good leads to follow that'll put this whole thing behind us."
"Good point. It does wear on you after a while.
"By the way," said Ellie, "I think Chief should know about what's happened here."
"What for?" he asked as he speed dialed his phone.
Ellie leaned in and spoke under her breath. "Call it a hunch, but this has Bellwether written all over it. These animals didn't drink this stuff, they were darted. And I wanna know what this kid has to do with this case. So we should try to get the Chief to get more eyes on the lookout."
"Couldn't I just send out a 10-38?"
"Probably shouldn't start a fire, if you know what I mean."
"Ah, good call, good call." He hit the call button and put the phone to his ear. It answered on the fourth ring.
"...?" a female voice answered.
"Chief- wait, who is this?"
"..."
"Oh! Mrs. Chief, how are you?! Benjamin Clawhauser. I need to talk to your husband, can you put him on, please?"
"...?"
"I'm sorry, I'm afraid it can't."
... "..."
"...Ok. Sorry." The phone beeped suddenly. She'd hung up with nothing else to say. The chief... unavailable? Wow... that had never happened before. At least Judy was on her way. "Well, it turns out he's asleep," he said to Ellie.
"Hmph," she snorted. "Didn't think he was capable of sleep."
"He's always been like that to one degree or another. He seems to think that if he's not working himself to death, he's slacking off. It got really bad a while back, when I was working in records downstairs. Before he got sent to the hospital."
"That's dumb. If you need to sleep, then sleep."
"Yeah. I guess it's an honor thing or something."
"Or he could fear the loss of control."
"Ah, I don't get all that psychology stuff," he said with a wave of his hand. At that moment, the kitten slumped over onto Ben's thigh, his mouth opening in a wide yawn. "Aw, he's still tired," he cooed while stroking the top of his head, causing the kitten to stretch his arms over his head and purr. He then picked him up carefully and laid him back down on the chair, covering him with the blanket.
About twenty-five minutes passed before the front door opened and the ZPD's first rabbit officer walked through the door. During that time, Ellie did a search of the rooms in the back while Ben helped load all of the NH-Plus victims into the ambulances. They were gone by the time she had arrived. Danny just slept.
"Judy! Glad you could make it."
"Hi, Ben! Thanks for dragging me back into work so early." Ben hesitated at that. "I'm kidding! I'm always ready to serve."
"Morning, Hopps," said Ellie from off to the side, her arms crossed with a slightly apathetic look on her face. Judy nodded at her without much acknowledgment, something that neither Ben nor Ellie missed. The two tended to be visibly standoffish toward each other for unknown reasons that both declined to share. But rather than try to fix what ain't broke, they focused on their jobs.
Ellie gestured toward the small lump under the white blanket on a booth seat. "That cute n'fuzzy kitten puff back there is the kid. Had some NH plastered to the back of his neck. We found him down in the basement. I took care of the other vics while Ben got the kid squared away. A bit ironic, you ask me."
"That is very weird," said Judy before walking to the back where the kitten was. The lump underneath the gray fabric was tiny, appeared to be curled into a ball. She lifted the blanket up to see him. He was fast asleep, with his arm partially covering his eyes. Ben walked over to her while Ellie stood off to the side with her arms crossed. "So he was hit with Nighthowlers and it had no effect on him."
"I wouldn't believe it if I weren't here to see it for myself, so... yeah," he reached in his pocket and took out the handkerchief in the plastic bag, handing it to her. "It's the real thing." Judy peered at the handkerchief and turned back to the boy. She rested her elbow on her other hand and tapped her chin with her index finger.
"And he's the one who made the call?" asked Judy.
"Yep. Gaines said she got a call from a young kid. So she called us and we floored it here. Found him being ripped to shreds by a group of double-dosed savage beasts."
"What?" Judy asked, but she knew immediately what he was thinking.
"It's like I said. No scratches, no bruises, no nothing." He shrugged to emphasize the point. Judy eyed the residue on the small fabric in curious intrigue. Her brain worked to make the connection. Boy hit by blue pellet, boy doesn't go savage, boy displays virtual indestructibility... the video she had seen earlier came back to mind. But her natural drive to find a rational explanation persisted.
"How is that possible?" asked Judy. "I've seen cases just like this, and... this isn't a prank, is it?" she said suddenly.
"Trust me, Hon, we've been wondering that, too," said Ellie from where she was standing. In retrospect, this case was already weird enough. What's a little more weirdness?
"So... what are we missing?" asked Judy, half to herself, half to Ben. They couldn't add up what they didn't have. "Is there a reason he survived a brutal mauling and is essentially immune to Nighthowlers?... Could he have... inoculated himself somehow?"
"It's possible," said Ben. "But that's for forensics to confirm or deny. Plus, inoculation pins are pretty expensive. As for his... uh, good condition, hey, your guess is good as mine." Judy nodded in agreement. Deep inside, she suspected that this was the boy she and Nick had seen in the footage. If he was, then they needed to make sure that he didn't go anywhere.
"Well, this is yet another mystery with too many questions and no answers. I think I would like to know the answers to those questions, would you?"
"I do. Very much," Ben said with a smile.
The three officers waited through a general check of Danny's vital signs by the EMT. Once it was over, Ben patted his shoulder to grab his attention. "Let's get you out of here."
Silently, Danny took a moment to stretch, trying to keep himself from falling back to sleep. He'd felt so relaxed that waking up now was more sour than he'd like. He stood up and drew the blanket up to his chin and tighter around himself as the two of them and Judy exited the coffee shop. Ellie stayed behind to manage the collection of evidence. Yellow tape had been set up outside by the CSI agents. Unfortunately, the popular coffee shop would be closed for a while during the investigation.
"Duck under," said Ben, pulling the tape up and allowing Danny to go under and Ben and the other bunny followed. Ben led them to his cruiser and opened the door to let him in the back seat before getting into the driver's seat. The bunny - what was her name? - hopped in the passenger seat. The car seemed even bigger on the inside. In fact, his feet didn't even reach the end of the chair. He had to jump up to reach the seatbelt, and it covered most of his torso.
Danny was a little curious about the inside of the cruiser. He ran his eyes over the steel mesh that separated the backseat from the front seat. "That's to protect us from criminals when we arrest them." The bunny turned around to look at the kitten with a humorous twinkle in his eye. She said in a Southern drawl, "So yer under array-est, lil' feller. I fergot to put them cuffs on ya, so don't trah anthin' ffffffunneh!" Danny didn't laugh but he did grin and let out the barest hint of a snicker. Ben, however, burst out with a hearty laugh. With that, he turned the cruiser on and took off. "By the way, I don't think I introduced myself. I'm Detective Judy. What's your name?"
He looked away. "Danny."
"You've had quite a night, haven't you, Danny?" He smiled at that, though it couldn't be more artificial. He felt absolutely terrible. "Well, you're safe now."
Little did they know, a mysterious mammal hiding in the shadows watched them as they pulled away.
Ben and the other bunny didn't make much conversation on the way there. Neither did Danny. He just sat there still, thinking about the events that had transpired tonight. From his bad dream to the attack to his rescue. He wondered how a bunny was able to become an officer. That just didn't make sense. Of course, the fact that that one officer, Ellie, managed to single-handedly wiped out all of those animals... He had collapsed at the sight of their eyes alone.
Those monstrous eyes. Eyes that had once been so welcoming.
Sarah had gone from the closest thing he could call a best friend or even something like a mother to a vicious monster. The thought of the word mother made him feel like he was trying to swallow an ice ball. He had trusted her. Now...?
He turned his attention halfway to the stars outside to get that out of his head.
Danny's tired eyes snapped wide open when he saw the block letters on the side of the building, barely visible over the windowsill. Hospital? He's going to the hospital? Ben had told him they were taking him there. How had he forgotten that?!
Every rule John had ever taught him suddenly became absolutely clear in his mind. He was not allowed to call, interact with, or even be seen by the police. Or prey! Not intentionally, at least.
And he had broken that rule in half and stomped on it.
Any rationalization - he had no choice, he was scared, he need help - fell flat under the weight of what he knew would result. He gulped at the thought of what Boss would want to do to him if he found out. And the thought of Sarah not being there with him... the car suddenly felt very large, very empty.
"Hey," said Judy, looking back at him, "you ok?"
He began to hyperventilate. The air was hot. He let the blanket fall off of his shoulders. "Yeah! Just... had a rough night."
"What's wrong, buddy?" asked Ben.
"I think he's having a panic attack," Judy said quickly. "Do you need us to stop?"
"No, no, keep going!"
"Then just take deep breaths, ok? Come on." She took a deep breath and let it out. Danny struggled to follow.
I'm alone, he thought. He fought the tears that threatened to fall. Images of Sarah and all those other predators roaring as they pounced on him flashed in his mind. He fought them, keeping his focus on the bunny's breathing.
"Hoo... hoo..." he vocalized as he breathed uneasily.
"Breathe," she repeated softly. She unlocked the grate and jumped to the back to kneel beside him as Ben parked. She rubbed his back steadfastly as he did his best to calm himself.
After a minute or two, he began to calm down. But still, the only thought passing through was, I need to get away from here...
A massive building came into view. Ben pulled into a large parking garaged connected to it by a bridge that crossed above the street.
So this was a hospital. He'd seen it before in passing, but he never knew what it was. How do I get out of this? he thought. Without anyone noticing.
He was oblivious to everything around him as he got out of the cruiser walked into the hospital with the officers. Had they not kept track of him, he would have gotten lost. He tried to think of a way to escape. But he didn't know anything about this hospital. He had nothing to work with! Except improvisation.
He'd have to just make it up as he went along. Meaning the hospital might have to replace a few doors.
"Hello!" said Ben cheerily to someone over the top of a counter that Danny could barely reach. He looked at Judy, who was about the same height, minus her ears, and she winked.
"Detective Clawhauser, hi! How are you? I haven't seen you in forever! Since, like, yesterday!" she said in a joking tone.
Holding the blanket with one hand, he grasped the edge of the counter with the other and slowly pulled himself up to see over it, his eyes just peeking over the surface.
"Aw!" the zebra noticed Danny. He let himself fall back below the counter. "Is he your gift to us?" she asked.
"Yep. He's been through a lot tonight. I'm pretty sure he's not hurt, but I'd like him to stay here for the night to make sure."
The receptionist leaned over the counter to see him. He looked up at her timidly. "Handsome boy." He looked down. "Oh don't you worry, we're a bunch of big teddies, like Benny here."
Ben put his palms on his face and tilted his head. "I am a teddy, aren't I?"
The receptionist laughed at that. Judy "awe'd". Danny remained silent.
"Well, can you give me your name?" she asked the boy.
"Uhm..." he hesitated "...my what?" This felt familiar. he was back in the ice cream parlor with Finnick trying to pull off a... a heist or something?
"Your name?"
"Um... uhh..."
"All she wants is your name," said Judy, encouraging him.
"Ok... uhm, Danny... Rigel."
"Regal?" she said, writing. "R-E-G-A-L?"
"R-I-G-E-L," he corrected.
"Ok, Danny, do you know the number of your parent or guardian?"
Oh no! No, no no no! Oh, he was trapped! It didn't matter who he called - John... Sarah... he mentally shook his head. He'd given his middle name as a last name, but there was no one he could call to... John. He was a spy. He'd know what to do; he'd catch on. It was his only hope.
He took a breath and smiled slightly. "Yeah," he said, trying to keep his voice even. He gave her the number and she wrote it down.
Picking up a phone with a cord and putting it to her ear, she said, "If you all want to, you can go sit down while I make the call. By the way, what's the name?"
"John."
"John. John Rigel."
The three of them sat down in an empty room filled with chairs. They were the only ones there. Ben and Judy sat on either side of Danny, who was a nervous wreck. He fought to not show it, but it was a fierce mental battle. He didn't know when the right time would be. In fact, he had no idea what to do. All he could come up with was to fight his way out. But that wouldn't help him either. He had to sneak out. If he just knew how.
"Danny?" the receptionist called. He looked up and she was holding the phone up. "He wants to talk to you."
Danny stood up and the other two began to follow. "N-no, stay here, would you? I'll be ok."
Ben nodded and they sat back down. Danny walked up and took the phone from the zebra, who leaned down to hand it to him.
"Dad?" he said somewhat awkwardly.
"What. Happened," he said. John's voice made him flinch. He spoke evenly, calmly. But there was undeniable fury behind it.
He haltingly recalled what had happened that day - leaving with Sarah, going to Hill Plaza, the hustle, going to see her friends, and finally the horrible experience he'd had trying to fight them off when they pounced on him. John remained silent for the whole story. But Danny could hear his breathing. It sounded less and less calm by the second. He stopped talking after a few moments.
"Danny..." he said in that same voice. "Here's what you're going to do."
After giving him detailed instructions and making sure he fully understood, he gave the phone back to the receptionist. And he went back to sit down.
"All good?" asked Ben.
He didn't respond. Time to do what John told him to do. He started breathing more quickly, taking fast, shallow breaths.
"Hey, hey hey, calm down, it's ok," said Judy. Ben grew alarmed but Danny kept it up.
"What's going on?" asked the receptionist.
"Calm down," Judy said again. But he didn't.
Then, Danny stood, swooned, and fell over face flat onto the floor.
"Danny!" cried Judy and Ben simultaneously.
"We got a possible Code Blue, small jaguar, east waiting room," said the receptionist. Danny didn't know to whom she said it to, or what she meant by code blue, but he didn't react. He had to play this out perfectly. He focused on keeping his body relaxed. He felt small fingers press themselves to his neck.
"Pulse is good." It was Judy. Large paws turned him over. Danny focused on staying relaxed. "He's still breathing," she said. "I think he just passed out. Danny? Can you hear me?"
Turned out he was a good actor after all.
"Oh, good," said Ben's voice with a small crack. "I thought we'd lost him."
"Really, Ben? Healthy kid, eight or nine years old? Suddenly dropping dead?"
He fought the urge to say, "I'm eleven!" especially when Judy nudged his eye open to check his vasodilation using her little flashlight. He had to keep his eye completely still, which took tremendous focus. But he did it.
"It's a good possibility, Judy. Not everyone has your bunny genes."
"True. You know, that reminds me, I didn't hear the zebra over there ask for his birthday. That's bad protocol right there." Ben shook his head with a smirk, knowing that if anyone else had been here with her besides him, they would have been absolutely annoyed at the bunny stickler's obsession with protocol.
After a few minutes, Danny felt himself being lifted onto a thin fabric anchored by a rolling cart. He didn't listen to the semi-concerned chatter of the whoever-they-were as he went over the plan again and again.
Pretty soon, he felt his clothes being involuntarily removed until he was completely naked! Danny had to... dig very deep... to keep from... shuddering... And not just because it was cold. Next, he was dressed in some kind of light... shirt? backwards jacket? skirt? DRESS?! But they forgot the underwear, apparently, and even pants! He felt violated. Ugh, what was John thinking! Then he was lifted up again and laid on something soft. Felt like a very thick cot of some kind. A fabric... a blanket was put on top of him. Finally, something was clamped onto his finger, which made him nervous. But when it didn't do anything but beep, he allowed himself to calm down.
"We'll leave him here for tonight, check up on him periodically."
"Ok," said Ben's voice, "thanks. Poor little guy. I hope he'll be all right."
"I'm sure he will. This is pretty common for patients who go through something like what you told me. I couldn't imagine."
"Could have also been the Nighthowlers," said Ben. "I passed out a couple times after I was cured."
"I hope not. There's no telling until we can find out for sure."
Go away, just go away!
Several agonizing minutes passed before the officers said their goodbyes and door closed. Finally there was total silence.
Step one was finished.
The next step was wait. Wait for the police to leave. John didn't exactly specify how long it would probably take. He had to take the risk and open his eyes (they wouldn't have a camera in here, would they?) to scan the room. The lights were off. The room suddenly felt quieter, more spread out. Really, it looked like a... room. Just a room with a few fancy-schmancy gadgets here and there. There was a clock over the door. Ok, so he had something to work with. It'ssssssss... a little after one in the morning... so how long would he have to wait? If a preteen jaguar pretends to fall asleep early in the morning, how long will it take for the cops to exit the building? He could only go on a wild guess. But all John said was wait, so...
...
...
...
Ok, this was hard. Every beep, every smell, every sound from outside... despite his absolute exhaustion, he was aware of everything. Adrenaline was the only thing keeping him going. If he could just get a little nap, then... no, he shouldn't. If he stayed asleep till morning, then the whole escape is a failure. Besides, he couldn't sleep if he tried.
But how long would he have to wait? Why hadn't John told him anything else? How long would he need to just lay there, waiting for things to get worse?
How long had it been anyway?! It felt like hours, but he could remember plenty of times when minutes felt like they took much longer than they should, and he was certain this was one of those times. Especially given the fact that the clock seemed to be ticking more slowly.
He couldn't take it anymore. Five minutes had to do it. He had to get out of this place and get back home. Then, he could sleep.
Danny sat up slowly, cringing at every minute sound he made, from his breathing to the fabric of the oversized cot rustling.
He carefully lowered himself to the floor, letting his foot down, toe first - ooh, cold! - then his foot (Brr!), then the other foot. Yeah, this is ridiculous. That was when he saw what he was wearing. Some kind of... white... dotted backwards shirt? He felt very exposed; his rear end was visible out the back. Seriously, why no underwear? Or anything else? He shook his head. No time for that.
Tiptoeing to the door, he listened for any voices. But there was nothing. Don't rush, he told himself. You don't know what's out there. He felt like he was in a war zone, as if the moment he opened the door, he was going to be shot down. The doorknob sat there, beckoning Danny. But he didn't move.
He stood still. Had he waited long enough? Were they still there? What if he was caught?
"Urgh, Danny stop it!" he said aloud before covering his mouth. "Stop thinking!"
Taking a deep breath, he slowly rotated the handle of the doorknob downward until it didn't turn anymore. Then, he slowly pulled the door open.
There were footsteps coming down the hall.
Panicking, he closed the door more loudly than he'd have liked and scurried back to the bed and jumped into it, pulling the sheets over his body haphazardly.
The footsteps passed and faded into the distance.
Really, Danny? Really?
Apparently it was possible to be too careful. Yeah, Danny, you're just a big scaredy-cat! He mentally laughed at himself as he opened the door and looked both ways. No one was there.
Step two was finished.
The next step was to make it to the top and climb down.
"I swear, I cannot believe you left your phone in there," came a familiar voice around the corner. Danny turned around and froze mid tip-toe.
"Ha ha, well, give me a little credit. I couldn't help it because of dat cute widdle k-..." Ben's eyes met Danny's. Both froze "...c-c-cah-caracal. Oh good, you're ok," he said as he approached him. "Did you need something?"
"...Had to use the bathroom," he said quickly with the same shocked expression while pretending not to pull his backwards shirt down over his fuzzy butt.
Ben laughed while walking toward him. "Well, there's one right here in your room." Danny wanted to kick himself out the window. "Here, let me show you."
Danny thanked him and went in to sit on the toilet seat, resisting the urge to slap himself. Agh! How could escaping a hospital at night be so hard! "Enforcer" his soft, kitty tail! Right back to step two!
After Ben and Judy left, he snuck back outside and started sneaking along. Just look and listen for animals. And if he gets caught, he'll just go back to the room and...
"Hey there, are you lost?" asked a female cougar who was pushing a wide broom thing down the hallway.
Are you kidding me! he thought as he sat on the bed. He had to get out of here somehow. One more try.
So close! One more.
Nope. Just one more.
Nada. Come on!
Uh-uh. Ok, this was ridiculous. "
By this point, he'd had it. Seven tries, and that was it! He had no more brainpower. He couldn't think of any more excuses. Any more excuses? That's my tactic?! I really am tired. Might as well just run for it. His eyes opened wider in realization.
He blew past the rooms at moderate speed. No reason for the pattering of his feet to be any louder than they had to be, even if he was clearly seen. He'd just lose them after he got out!
"Excuse me? Excuse me!" cried a nurse working at a station beside a room as he bolted past her. He turned around to blow her a raspberry with his thumbs in his ears. Ha ha! He should have done this from the get-go! "Where are you going?"
"I'm outta here!" he said without thinking before turning around.
BAM!
He crashed to his rear and grasped his poor nose with both hands. He had run right into a wall, creating a big dent in it with his muzzle. A couple of fragments of the concrete pattered to the floor. "Ow," he mewled while checking his hands. There didn't seem to be any blood, but it did hurt a bit.
"Keep it down out there! I'm trying to sleep!" a muffled voice came from the room next to the dent in the wall.
"I have a patient on the loose," the nurse said behind him.
"What does he look like?"
"Black jaguar, about eight or nine years-"
"I'M ELEVEN!" he turned his face up and shouted angrily.
"SHUT IT!" came the voice again.
"Sorry, eleven years old - looks younger than that, though. Black jaguar. And he might have a broken nose so be careful." Danny got up and turned to see the nurse he'd blown by talking on a radio. He kept running as she gave away his position and current direction. "Don't let him get away. He's involved in an investigation and I don't want to have to deal with a police indictment over a code amber."
"Hey, stop!" cried someone behind him. He looked back to... oh. Another cheetah wearing a nurse's garb. Running on all fours. He was gaining. Danny ran faster through the halls, making sure to lose him.
"Ah!" He felt his foot slip out from under him and he flew forward, about to land on his face and slide down the hall. Reflexively, he shot a web on the ceiling and swung, knocking into a ceiling tile. He swung back and forth a little, until... elevators!
Ha! Half-wearily, he dropped to the floor and pushed the button to the elevator cars. Maybe things were finally looking up, pun intended.
"There he is!" Danny turned toward the voice to see the cheetah he'd outrun as well as a cougar, who seemed to be the cleaner he'd seen before. They were walking toward him but started running when the elevator dinged. "Stop! We're not trying to hurt you! Just come with us." He pushed the button frantically. His tail jiggled stiffly in anticipation.
"Comeoncomeoncomeoncomeon, pleeeeeeeeeeaaaase..."
The doors started to open just as the cats got to him. They tried to grab him but Danny pushed nurse cheetah away onto the floor, and then grabbed the arm of the cougar to launch into the elevator. The elevator door closed on him just as Danny noticed a door leading to stairs on the other side of the hall.
"Of course," he grumbled, blasting through the door and sprinting up the stairs, followed by the nurse.
"Hey! What's wrong? Did something scare you? We're here to help! Just let us!"
Yeah, right. You can't help.
Danny kept going up until he reached the floor with the bridge. He got out onto the floor. The nurse followed. This guy was very fast. He huffed it across the bridge and burst through the door on the other side, coming onto the second to last floor of the parking garage. A breeze blew through the open air. He looked for a way to the top, but he couldn't-
"Gotcha!" He gasped when the nurse grabbed his arm, attempting to restrain him. "Listen! I. Am. Not. Going. To. Hurt you. You're a patient-" Danny wrenched his arm free and shoved him, causing him to stumble slightly. The cheetah growled when he took off running again. "Unbelievable!"
He ran down the ramp of the parking garage, crossing a sparse number of cars. The place was empty. "Uh! Watch where you're going!" cried a female pig who was nearly run over as he blew past. He paid little attention and kept running.
Yes! Stairs! He ran up to the last floor. Coming out of the stairwell, he stepped out onto what was actually the roof. He paused for a moment, trying to remember what the next step was. Honestly, he couldn't remember after that madness. At least he was here.
"Will you stop running!" Not bothering to turn around, he took off running again toward the ledge. Climbing down was the only option he had.
The elevator came to mind, then his web he'd slung to keep from falling to the floor when he tripped. That's it!
He ran to the cement guard platform and climbed on top of it. "Hey, what are you doing!" the cheetah shouted frantically. "Get down from there! Don't-don't jump! Listen, I can get you some help! You don't have to do this!" Danny looked down at the nurse, who was backing away slowly, hunched over, with his arms up in a placating fashion.
He thinks I want to kill myself! The thought made him roll his eyes. He turned and looked at the much taller building not far in front of him. But the moment he looked down, he backed up and almost fell backward onto roof of the building. That was much higher than he thought it was. Come to think of it, he may very well kill himself doing this.
"Come down," pleaded the cheetah. Danny didn't listen. He fought the wave of nausea that rolled over him. This was his only way out of here.
He lifted his arm and slung a web, which made a thwipping sound as it erupted from his wrist. The shiny silk latched onto the building across from him. Somehow, the web made his decision feel irrevocable. He was really doing it. His very first swing ever. It was almost poetic.
No more scaredy-cat! he thought as he stepped off of the ledge.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
The plummet fell into a smooth arc that carried him downward and across the street. Toward a blue van parallel parked in a parking spot on the road.
CRASH! was the sound the cheetah heard, like metal crunching. Horrified, his hands went to his mouth in a severe cringe. A few terrible moments later, the nurse grabbed his radio. "Someone check outside the hospital at the east side! A patient jumped off the roof! I... I think he fell onto a car."
He waited in stunned silence for a few minutes. Thoughts of what the damage would be plagued his mind and drowned out everything else. He'd been a little annoying, but he did not want him to die like that. Soon, a voice came back through the radio. "There's no one here."
"What?! That's impossible, I heard him crash on a car! Or... onto something!"
"There's definitely a car here, and it's been totaled, but no one's here."
The nurse's arm fell in perplexity. What in the world was going on?
"And you said 'on the car?' Like, on top of a car?"
He lifted the radio back to his mouth. "Yeah, why?"
"It doesn't look like he landed on the top, but onto the side door. And it's flipped over."
"What?"
"The driver's door is one big dent, like the whole thing just... caved in."
The adrenaline was officially wearing off. For the second time tonight.
A few mammals passed him by. Most of them gave him some leeway for whatever reason - the dress, probably. They must have mistaken him for a girl. Humiliating.
"Excuse me, are you lost?" a woman asked, leaning toward him with a smile. "Let me help you." She grabbed his arm but he pulled free and walked away, eyeing the woman from over his shoulder. He could feel the distance he was from home. Sarah wasn't here, she wasn't home. Out here, Sarah couldn't protect him, and neither could John. Out here, he was alone. Something in him wondered if he even wanted to go home. Would it even feel like home without her?
Exhaustion was now overwhelming any fear he may have felt at the moment. Finding a bench, he fell down on top of it and fell asleep within seconds.
...
"Hey! Hey wake up!" Danny was jostled awake roughly and a scratchy, hideous voice cut into his brain. The kitten jolted silently from sleep and looked up to see an old cat... at least he thought he was a cat?... scowling down at him with one yellow-stained eye. Danny's eyes locked on where the other eye should have been, but was rather an empty, lidless socket. A faded bandana that once may have been orange or red wrapped around his head and seemed to be an attempt to cover it but was failing to do so miserably. His clothes were worn and filled with rips and holes. And the smell... a horrible odor saturating his nostrils. Danny's eyes widened and his bottom lip quivered in horror at the sight of the walking corpse, reminding him of his nightmare. "What you gawking at, boy?! You ain't ever seen a gunshot wound before today? Now get up off my bench! This is where I sleep! Go on!" He shooed him harshly with his hand.
Whimpering, Danny rolled off of the bench, falling onto the ground, and scampered away from the old mammal.
He couldn't help but look over his shoulder every few seconds as he distanced himself from that guy, whoever he was.
"Sorry about that old man back there, Honey," a woman's voice came off from the side. He whipped his head in the direction of the voice to see three women of various species, all predators. All of them wore indifferent smirks on their faces and skimpy clothing on their frames. Their faces were excessively colored with makeup, and the smallest, an ocelot like Sarah, smoked a cigarette. She opened her mouth to say, "He's always bothering everyone around here, so don't feel too bad." Her voice was low and... he didn't know what. It seemed like they were waiting for something.
As he slowly walked by, another ocelot, a male dressed in a black trench coat and hat, walked up to the group and began talking randomly about... prices. So they were salesmammals? Why would they be selling something at night? They didn't even seem to have anything with them to sell. All three of the women kept glancing at him with different looks - questioning, sympathetic, do you mind. The guy seemed too mesmerized to care. What they were selling must have been really important to him.
He just walked, and was jolted awake enough to want to keep walking.
The road was growing more and more packed with animals in various states of dressing or distress. There were more women similar to the ones he'd seen before, all with the same smirk on their faces. Some of them had a large, burly predator with them. Come to think of it, everyone here... everyone was a predator. Not one prey was to be seen.
"Need help, little cutie?" asked a woman in a sultry voice as he passed timidly. "We can keep you nice and warm tonight."
"N-no thanks," he stammered in a squeaky voice.
A few minutes later, a car pulled up behind him. "Jump in, I'll give you a ride!" asked a mammal in the passenger seat while putting a weird-smelling cigarette to his mouth. His eyes were red and veiny, giving him a crazed look.
He shook his head silently.
"I said, get in here, kid. I got candy." Danny shook his head harder, still silent.
With an angry look on his face, the mammal began to get out of his car, and Danny took off running. Turning the corner, he suddenly had an idea. As he ran, he slung a web onto the building he was just about to pass and lifted his legs to swing. But he had miscalculated and was in the middle of a downward swing, which caused him to scape his knees against the sidewalk. Releasing the web, he tumbled and rolled down the sidewalk, groaning, "Bluh! Bleh! Buh!" Looking back, he saw that animal was still chasing after him, his face twisted in a mad grin.
Standing, and not about to give up, he tried again, this time jumping up high and slinging a web. He smiled as he began to swing, moaning from the acceleration. Then, he found himself flying in a circle as the web wrapped around the fixture of a lamp. "Whooooooaaaaa-oooaaa-ooaa-oa!" He let go and found himself flipping through the air, trying to hold back a scream as he did so. He slung another web that brought him into another swing, and just smacked into another lamppost with a loud DING! leaving behind a bent lamppost.
As he got down off of the post, he heard rapid footsteps approaching him, and he took off running as fast as he could, without looking back.
He didn't slow down for several blocks. But eventually, he reached the end of the road where there was a three-way intersection. Turning the corner, he looked around the street, his night vision giving him plenty of clarity. He really was alone. Where had everyone gone? Maybe they all stayed in that one area-
"Get 'im! Get 'im! Back here!" Hands reached around him and roughly pulled him backward. His tired brain was suddenly sharpened by yet another burst of wakefulness. "Give him the sedative!"
Danny grunted as a hand covered by a pair of cloven digits clamped over his mouth and dragged him back to an alley. He couldn't see them, but he could swear he heard that voice, a choked whisper funneled right into his ear, as clear as day...
"It's time, Danny... your turn..." the blood-spattered baseball bat obscured his vision as it crashed into his skull...
With a muffled shriek, Danny grasped the arm of the one holding him. He squeezed and twisted with all his might. The arm snapped like a toothpick and, groaning loudly, the animal dropped him. Piercing screams followed. The suddenness of his own reaction startled him. The moment he landed on his back, he was on the move. The brief glimpse he got of them told him one thing. They were both prey. He stumbled as he stood up but the moment he did, he was firm on his feet.
BANG! BANG!
There was a loud, disorienting sound accompanied by a pair of bright flashes. Something shoved him forward. And a horrible sting burned just below his left shoulder that made him wince and nearly double over. He didn't dare turn around. He ran as fast as he could away from that alley for who knew how many miles. Eventually fatigue once again slowed him down to a slow walk along the sidewalk, though his terror kept his head on a swivel. The thought of the zombified monster jumping out at him marked every alley he passed, was at the corner of both of his eyes, was right over his shoulder. He did his best to rationalize that it was just his imagination. After all, stuff like that wasn't real. It wasn't... right?
He kept walking along the dark, empty road. If he had pockets to put his hands into like he usually did, then his life would be so much easier at the moment. And he wished even more that he at least had some pants! His tail was exposed for all to see. Good thing it was nighttime or he'd be the talk of the district. An idea oozed into his faded mind. Using his web, he clumsily adhered both sides of the shirt to each other to close it in the back. It made it so he couldn't run very fast lest he tear the fabric, but it at least covered him up.
Over time, his mind calmed enough for his thoughts to flow cohesively. But the image of Sarah's snarling face- No, don't think about that! Danny hummed, eagerly trying to vacate his mind of the ocelot. But how could he when he had unanswered questions, questions that rankled him endlessly? How could he when none of that made any sense? How could he when... when it was his closest friend? Someone he could trust... someone who loved him so much and took care of him... who would do anything for him...
Danny half-staggered to the edge of a building and leaned against it, his palm pressed against his face. His eyes watered and he sniffled. Why had she done that? Why would she spend so much time with him, teaching him, raising him, only to try to kill him? Did it have something to do with those... those Nighthowlers the police were talking about? What were those anyway?
After lots and lots of walking, which turned into careful running to keep from ripping his shirt, he managed to follow the street signs pointing to Sahara Square to the area he was familiar with. From there, he made his way until finally the warehouse came into view. He now knew what it was like to be John after a long run. Absolutely drained. Trudging inside, he felt the feeling of safety wash over him. Though it was a bittersweet feeling. It was like a piece was missing. But the full weight of his fatigue setting in was too much for him to dwell on it for too long. It was well into the early morning; everyone would be asleep at this time so he didn't see anyone else. The moment he found his cot, he collapsed on top of it and fell right to sleep, grateful that he still had a place to stay.
He did not want to spend another night out there. With those mammals.
With that thing.
"...all muscle tissue is ablazed normally, restored to normal living conditions; ready for next trial." The canine turned off her recorder and wrote down some notes.
He'd needed a nap after hours upon hours of fruitless work. He stood up to stretch, causing his back to pop profusely.
"I hope that means you're ready for another round," said Yvette. "If we could just zoom through all the options instead of all of this tedious work... what if the synthases just don't work for this experiment?"
He snorted in unenthusiastic agreement before kneeling and looking through the enzymatic substances that he'd listed in his notebook as possible suitable mechanisms for the muscular substrate. He froze when something occurred to him. He slowly looked up at the lab tech with eyes full of illumination. What if the synthases weren't the issue? What if the muscle fibers were? What if the reason there was no positive reaction was because there was nothing for the synthase to react with?
"What?" she asked.
Eagerly, he opened another drawer and extracted a pair of electrodes and a modified transducer.
"What's going on? You have an idea?" she asked.
"Oh yes. Here, connect these to either end of the fiber. Poles don't matter." As she did this, he connected the transducer to an outlet. "Here..." he grabbed a synthase and wrote down its identity "...don't unstop it until we have a good current." She nodded.
He tried to think of the proper value for the setting of the transducer. "Average... average voltage- what's the voltage of a-" he stammered.
"Negative sixty-five millivolts," she answered him quickly. He turned the knob and set the transducer to the appropriate voltage.
"Ok, go." The canine unstopped the bottle and squeezed two drops onto the muscle fibers. She screwed the cap back on. After gazing at the muscle sample for a few seconds, the doctor looked at his partner. "Now all we have to do is wait. If this works, then... then we can start the experiment."
Neither of them talked for the next half hour. They just sat still on a metal table, staring straight ahead. The experiment was tomorrow. Lukagi did not tolerate delays. If this didn't work... this was their last chance. It had to work.
"Are you ready to take a look?" asked Yvette as the minute hand crossed the mark that indicated it had been half an hour.
"No... but we have to," he said with a sigh. Sliding off of the table, he walked slowly toward the sample and turned off the transducer. He cut a sliver off of the muscle fiber and laid it on a slide, stained it, and slid it under the microscope. Yvette could see how tense he was by how stiff his movements were. Before he looked through the eyepiece, the doctor took a deep breath. Then, he looked through the eyepiece.
"YES! YES!" he shouted suddenly, startling his partner.
"What! Did it work?!"
The hyena smiled widely. "Come see for yourself!"
Yvette rushed to the microscope and looked through them. She gazed in wonder at the muscle fibers - they were not the same fibers she'd prepared. The synthase really wasn't the problem. The serum didn't have any effect on nonliving tissue. How he had not thought of it was beyond him. She looked at the doctor, who sat back on the table with a groan of relief.
"I think you may have just saved me," he said.
She found herself sitting down as well. Wow. Something in her had told her for months that what had just happened was impossible, the stuff of science fiction. But there it was. It had worked. Possibly the greatest adaptive evolutionary development since the Cambrian explosion. "What now?"
"Now... we tell the Boss. Time to get Danny down here and..."
He turned to look toward the contraption at the back of the lab, consisting of a raised platform rising out of the floor, with four hydraulic steel arms projecting out of it. The first pair formed a nearly squared horizontal o-shape, with their respective claws pointed toward one another - designed to restrain the upper extremities. The second pair of arms ended with a long bracelet-like cylinder bent at a ninety-degree angle that had a system that allowed it to adjust its circumference, designed to restrain the lower extremities.
"Do you think it'll hold him?" asked Yvette, following his line of sight.
"If all of that put together doesn't hold him..." he looked at her "...I don't know what will."
