Avenging
Act III, The Animal Farm
Prologue: Opening Movement
Any and all C+C appreciated. You can contact me the previous chapters and my other works are stored at:
Larry F's new address at:
newer works at Mediaminer
disclaimer: I don't own any of the Marvel characters or other characters from the numerous animes which are within.
Here's a great reference guide for many character and objects in the Marvel Universe.
geeks like me, including people that have worked for Marvel, have put it together. Heck, they refer to stuff even I didn't know about. (Like how it was Warhawk that had killed Atom Smasher I from the brief Black Goliath run. Hey, it was a fun five issues series.
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She looked down from the tall bamboo pole she stood on, gazing at the teeming pools that dotted the landscape as far as one could see. The valley was ancient, predating the time of the emperors. Predating the foundation of the tribe that once lived nearby: a tribe forever dead at the hands of the communists in Beijing. Perhaps the valley predated man itself. Perhaps it was the primordial soup from which life evolved. Stranger things had happened. She had even witnessed some of them.
The origins of the pools and the valley were irrelevant. All that mattered was that it still existed, having been ignored during the firebombing of the nearby village ten years ago. But what would the communists care about a bunch of springs in the middle of nowhere? To them, Beijing was the 'middle kingdom', the center of the world, even if the rest of the world was too ignorant to realize what it revolved around. But they were confident they could restore that realization. They had tried it once through the Mandarin. They would try it again if an opportunity arose. And if none arose, they would create one. It was their nature. Scorpions couldn't help but sting, after all.
That was irrelevant as well. She was becoming too concerned about the forest and losing focus on the tree she desired. It was this valley the people of her former life came to when seeking a life-shifting change. A permanent one. Once a person immersed themselves in the magical waters, their former life would be forever lost to the new being that emerged.
She had already done that once, in fashion, casting off her old life the way a snake shed its skin, in a way more painful than any snake ever had. Now it was time to take that path once again. Less painful, but just as thorough. Fifty-nine people she had killed in the months since her decision to resign from an organization that didn't acknowledge the concept of resignation: only permanent retirement. Having no desire to spend the rest of her life waiting for a dagger to plunge itself into her back, she had no choice but do that life shifting change, to allow her old life to die so a new could take its place.
Besides, depending on what fate decided her new form should take, there was a chance she could encounter someone she had met in her current life. An interesting man whom she wanted to know in a far more intimate fashion.
Course decided, she saw no reason to hesitate. She leapt from the pole and dove into the water.
She hit it with a loud splash and disappeared from view.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"He will see me now!"
Irie Soyozoh shifted his gaze away from the phone in his hand to the closed door to his office, the one the thunderous roar had emanated from. Before he could say anything the doors to the office burst inward and a woman in her mid-twenties stormed in. Rage was evident on her features, the twisted burning sort that originated the phrase 'if looks could kill'. Irie was used to that look. From phantom cats to his family, he had seen it on faces one and all, with him being the target.
The two bodyguards in the room instantly drew their sidearms. Small red dots fixated on the woman's torso and forehead.
"How dare you draw guns on me!" the woman said, offended rather than afraid. Her look temporarily transferred to the two men.
Irie motioned with his hand. The men holstered their weapons, making them disappea as instantly as they had arrived. Staring the new arrival in the eye, Iria said to the phone, "I'm afraid I have to go now. Political business." He hung up the phone, his implacable smile in place. "Sorry about that, but you didn't have an appointment. Now, what can I do for you, Representative Ariyoshi?"
The woman was still livid as she glared at his silent, black-suited bodyguards. "If you think you can intimidate me by having your thugs pull their guns on me, think again."
"I didn't think that at all. They do that to anyone that might be a threat to me. They have to be on their toes in case someone tries to do me harm, though I don't know why anyone would want to hurt a lowly member of the Ministry of Health and Welfare such as myself." He put on an ingratiating smile.
"I can think of plenty of reasons." Venom dripped from her voice. "Some information has come to my attention that implies you and your department are in the midst of a genocidal campaign against what can only be described as 'cat people'."
Irie didn't even blink. This was annoying, but not truly surprising. House of Representatives member Juna Ariyoshi was the fastest rising star in the Diet. She was immensely popular and cultivating a power base that, if left unchecked, would rival that of the most powerful factions in the government. Despite her gender, it was quite possible she would one day run for Prime Minister. Not a good woman to want you dead.
Actually in his experience it was a bad idea to have anyone want you dead. Assassination attempts were stressful, and stress was bad for you. He had been taking pains to remove the primary source of his stress, but it was a long hard battle. And now a new one was coming into existence, if he was reading the situation right.
Compounding things was Ariyoshi's leanings. She was a hard-line environmentalist, which had endeared her to the sitting president of the United States, who had gone out of his way to laud her accomplishments and cite her as a major reason for improving relations between the two countries. That in turn only improved her popularity among her voters, which were not isolationists to begin with, and with a large segment of the population who had enjoyed the economic prosperity that followed with the improved trade relations. She wasn't the only reason for the improved relations, but she had managed to become the one credited with them.
But as it stood, she was still a junior member of the Diet, and should not have had access to information on the Phantom Cats. He would have to find the leak and plug it. But that was put in the back of his mind. Due to secrecy issues, Irie had two options with the politician: complete denial or vague references. He chose the latter, since the former would probably make her even angrier. She was a firebrand, but not stupid. She would never have stormed in to make the accusation if she didn't have convincing proof.
"What we are doing is combating a terrorist organization bent on destroying Japan. Twice already this organization has tried to smuggle nuclear arms into Japan, and would have set one off had they not stolen a decoy instead of the real thing. I assure you the race of the terrorists is not an issue, other than in how to deal with them."
"So you claim, but I find it difficult to believe a race of animals would seek to harm humanity, unless someone was attacking them, prodding them into defending themselves." And the way she said it left little doubt who she felt started things. "Has there been any attempt to open a dialogue with them?"
"Actually we're usually too busy trying to keep them from killing too many of us. You'll note I say, 'too many' since, despite all of our attempts, they have been very successful. If I was at liberty to say, I could list the number of deaths and disasters they've been responsible for which have been… recategorized so as to not unduly frighten the populace."
"National defense: a common rationalization for people that commit unspeakable acts. That your atrocities are directed against a race not even of human origin makes them even more vile," she spat.
It was then Irie realized there was no chance whatsoever he was going to win her over, or explain things in a way that would convince her of the necessity of his actions. What she would see was a cute and cuddly race of animals, oversized walking and talking house pets, no matter how their actions indicated otherwise. She'd just blame the root cause of their behavior on something a human did to them and claim they were entitled to lash out in anger. And if they ended up killing some people, well, there was probably someone like Irie who was responsible for 'making' them do it, even if the cats had been trying to slaughter the human race since long before Hound had been formed. So you couldn't hold them responsible for their actions. If anything, society was probably to blame, which meant it was time to change society.
This was going to be problematic. Ariyoshi could make life very difficult for him. While she probably wouldn't directly spill her guts to the press (no one liked a snitch, after all), she would probably have the information leaked out to reporters in some way, not to mention that she'd probably do everything she could to shut down Hound through the Diet.
It was times like this Irie was sorry he wasn't as evil as she made him out to be. He could just kill her here and arrange it to look like an accident somewhere else. Now, if she went with him somewhere that the Phantom Cats ended up attacking, he wouldn't cry if she ended up as collateral damage in the clash of arms. No, not at all.
It would be best to remind her of her place. "Be that as it may, executive order 10081 forbids the release of this information."
"What the hell is executive order 10081?"
The woman really could only talk in a snarl. Irie had seen Phantom Cats do it, but never a human. It was most enlightening. He reached into his desk and handed her a copy of the order, which was to be distributed to anyone that stumbled on the secret war that was going on to save Japan. It was an official 'national secret' tag that both of the previous Prime Ministers, as well as the current one, had attached to the matter of the Phantom Cats.
Ariyoshi leafed through it, becoming redder as she did. She had probably come to the part where she'd be imprisoned if a leak in her office ended up going to the press. She threw the papers back at Irie, making his bodyguards start to go for their sidearms again before they relaxed. Or more appropriately, didn't continue to pull their weapons. They were well trained bodyguards. The best. They didn't relax. There was no need. They could relax plenty once they were dead.
The councilwoman leaned forward so she was right in Irie's face, easily violating his personal space. "I'll see to it your operation is shut down and you're held accountable for your actions."
"Accountability is certainly a cornerstone of any civilized society," Irie agreed.
Seeing she wasn't going to get him to agree, or make him defensive, or wipe his perpetual smile from his face, Ariyoshi turned away from him. "Go ahead and make light of the situation, Soyozoh. We'll see if you're still smiling when you're put before a board of inquiry that I'll personally head."
"I'm sure you'll be an impartial judge," he said.
For a second it looked like she would try to strangle him. He hoped she would --self-defense would be an acceptable reason to remove her from the playing field-- but instead she turned and headed out the door, making a production of slamming it behind her.
Irie simply remained smiling at the door. He almost wished one of his bodyguards made the suggestion of silencing her. But they were too well-trained for such an unprofessional behavior. And Irie would still tell him no. He'd fantasize about it, though.
One good thing had come of the matter. The councilwoman's discovery made it necessary to speed his newest plan up. He had been a bit leery of 'Operation Deep Freeze', (which had nothing to do with deep freezing. Irie was of the opinion giving a secret operation a name which indicated its true nature was the height of stupidity.) since it involved contracting outside help, but Ariyoshi had made his decision for him. Time was of the essence, and if the operation was successful, he wouldn't have to worry about Ariyoshi slashing his budget or shutting him down. She'd be an enemy for life perhaps, but the emphasis on that was 'for life', which was not necessarily a long time. Lifespans could be so short, after all. Just look at mayflies. No one worried about earning their lifelong enmity, all one day of it.
Irie went for the secure line. The contractor would have to be contacted if he was to insert her in the role she would need to fill.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Eight masked figures, six men and two women clothed in tight black suits, made their way down the metal corridors, moving quickly but as surreptitiously as they could manage. Each of them had a number of belts and packs strapped to their bodies, filled with tools, equipment, and even a weapon or two that they had easy access to.
As they ran, one of them spoke to the man in the lead. "Are you sure we're going in the right direction, Yakumo?"
Yakumo paused. "Using names defeats the purpose of wearing masks, you know."
The speaker said, "Oh, right. It would be simplicity itself for someone to uncover your identity from your very common first name. Especially here, in Eastern Europe, where everyone knows you so well and it would be easy to figure out who you are."
"And we're inside a largely secret citadel in Wundagore Mountain, which the locals avoid since they think it's cursed," another person pointed out.
"As long as our faces aren't recorded, I don't see a problem, Yakumo," a third person mentioned.
"Honestly, I'd like to be publicly acknowledged for my heroic actions," a fourth added.
The second man spoke again, voice seething in anger. "Yes, I too want the world to know how we rescued all of these poor, helpless animals from this butcher, this so-called 'High Evolutionary'."
Yakumo nodded. "If even one tenth of the things we've heard are true, this madman has to be stopped."
"Maybe we should." The second man fingered the pistol he had brought along.
Yakumo shook his head. "No, this is a rescue mission, not a confrontation. Besides, he's reputed to have super-human abilities, something we can't deal with."
"What about Overrider?" one of the others asked.
"Her abilities are strictly electronic in nature, and though he's said to use a high tech suit, I don't want to take a chance it's a front and his powers are natural. Besides, she's all that's keeping the alarms from being tripped and us being detected. No, we stick to the plan and rescue the animals the sick bastard's experimenting on." It sounded like Yakumo would choke on 'experimenting'. "But if he doesn't learn his lesson from this display, and continues his wholesale slaughter of animals, we will take steps to prevent him from his murderous actions. Now let's get moving before we're discovered."
Yakumo indicated the others should follow him again. They only made it a few dozen meters before they came to a stairwell.
"Just like the schematic said. We split up here. Team 1 takes the upper level; I'll lead Team 2 to the lower one. We can't risk radio contact, so meet up at the rendezvous in half an hour or you'll be left behind."
One of the group said, "What if we can't locate the animals in time? It is a big place."
"That hovercraft leaves in half an hour with or without us. As much as I hate to say it, we might not be able to free all of them. It'll pain me to leave any of them behind, but better we avoid capture so we can continue to free animals from their captivity. Animals understand the need for sacrificing for the good of others, just like a mother elephant will sacrifice its life to protect its young at any cost. So no unnecessary heroics, and don't be late."
Everyone acknowledged the statement, and proceeded to separate into two four person teams and headed to their destinations.
Xxxxxxxxxxxx
Yakumo led his group to what was supposed to be the primary holding area for the animals. At least it was according to the blueprints that had been obtained from one of the High Evolutionary's few subordinates, one that had left his employer's care to strike out on his own. That had been another monster who had engaged in the butchering of animals in the so-called name of science. Raiding his lab had produced the blueprints and notes that had apparently been stolen from the High Evolutionary. The notes contained many references to testing some sort of 'Isotope C' on animals, and their results. If what they suggested was true, the madman had to be stopped before his tampering with Mother Nature destroyed the very basis of the animal kingdom.
Yakumo paused outside a door that had 'Barracks' in English, making his guts tighten. Until this moment he had hoped it was some misprint, some fantasy created in the thieving scientist's mind, but evidently it was all true. Maybe killing the High Evolutionary was a good idea. After all, how much better would the world have been had Pandora been killed before she opened the box?
"This is it," Yakumo told the others, and hit the pad.
It responded to his touch and the door slid open. Inside the truth was revealed, making every one of the rescuers give a sharp intake of breath.
There were dozens of humanoids in the area, which was indeed set up like a military barracks. They were doing a number of activities, from talking to one another to reading to using handheld computers. Some were even sharpening a number of weapons, archaic in design but with added features that said they held surprises no medieval knight had ever used.
But what was most unsettling was that while the barracks were inhabited by many, not one of them was human. All of them bore features of animals, mainly in the face. All were easily recognizable as a menagerie of mammals and a handful of reptiles.
All of them looked up in surprise at the human intruders.
"It's true," Yakumo gasped. So many victims. Too many.
"Who the hell are you?" asked the nearest animal-man, one that looked like a leopard.
Yakumo quickly collected himself. "We're part of the Animal Liberation Front, and we're here to free you poor creatures."
Most of the animal men looked at each other in confusion.
The leopard moved closer. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Yakumo felt sorry for the pitiful creature. While the poor animals had been experimented on to increase their intelligence, the High Evolutionary had clearly kept them ignorant of concepts like 'freedom'. Yes, it was obvious he intended them as nothing more than a slave race to do his bidding.
Taking on the airs of a man giving a speech, Yakumo said in a voice loud enough to be heard by all, "Listen to me. The High Evolutionary has tortured you, taking you from your natural environment and bombarding you with radiation as part of an experiment. He has used you as guinea pigs—"
"I am a guinea pig," a voice piped up from the back.
"My apologies. I meant no offense," Yakumo said sincerely.
"S'all right," came the voice from the back.
He continued. "He has used you, ignoring your rights and desires, violating your bodies and perverting them from what nature intended into something for his own personal use." Looking around, he noticed there were a great number of the high-tech weapons in the shape of archaic arms near each bunk. "I can see his true goal is to use you as slaves to his own desires, canon fodder in the name of some immoral war somewhere. Perhaps even selling you to other countries, like cattle. We are here to put a stop to your exploitation."
A skunk man toward the back said, "Actually our weapon training is to both serve as a way to protect ourselves from those that would do us harm, and a form of martial exercise which goes hand in hand with the Code of the Knights of Wundagore."
"That's the code of ethics and laws we live by," a pig man provided.
Yakumo thought he would vomit. "Knights? My god, he's even open about turning you into soldiers for some insane militaristic conquest. He has to be stopped now."
"Oh?" the leopard man asked, putting on a breastplate with a skull on the chest.
"Listen to me," Yakumo said. "You have all been brainwashed by this evil man into thinking this way. You are not warriors. You are simple animals, not tools for humanity to exploit."
"I object to being called simple," a fox man snapped.
"Actually I think it suits you," a rabbit man next to him quipped.
Yakumo shouted, "You see? Already the taint of humanity has made you turn on one another instead of living in harmony as nature intended for you."
The rabbit man and fox man looked at him in slack-jawed wonder.
Yakumo continued, "Don't worry. Come with us and I swear to you not only will we prevent you from being exploited, but we will endeavor to return you to your natural forms so that you may live once again in the native environment that you belong in."
The leopard man drew nearer to Yakumo, towering over him. "Let me get this straight, your goal is to get us to leave our home and follow you so you can revert us to our former lives, taking away our intelligence, communication abilities, and opposable thumbs?"
Yakumo sighed in relief. "Exactly."
The leopard man grabbed Yakumo by the neck of his uniform and lifted him off the floor as though he weighed nothing. He brought Yakumo close enough to feel the hot breath shoot through his bared fangs. "Look, you little piece of shit! I enjoy having things like self-awareness and having more to look forward to in life than wondering where my next meal will come from and when mating season begins."
An ocelot man toward the back said in soothing tones, "Now, now Sir Leopard, he means well."
"Human history is littered with the victims of those that meant well," Sir Leopard retorted. "I don't need some ignorant shit breaking into my home and telling me what sort of life I need to lead."
"That's the brainwashing talking," Yakumo choked out. "You've been abducted from your normal role in nature and twisted by science into something you were never meant to be. It's not normal for you to be tainted like this. Believe me, the last thing in the world you want is to become more human."
"Like you?" Sir Leopard asked.
"Of course not! I'm a good human. I'm risking my life to rescue you from your captor. I mean you don't want to end up like the people in the world ho do evil things, like torture animals, like the High Evolutionary."
"The one that gave us our intelligence?" the pig man supplied.
"Only for his own twisted ends."
"As opposed to you, who wants to take away our intelligence?" the fox man said.
"Allow you to revert to your true role in nature like the rest of your kind."
"Oh yeah, that was a lot of fun," the rabbit man said, staring at his fellow fox man as he spoke.
Yakumo felt the icy grip of failure grip his heart. This was bad. Their brainwashing was quite thorough. They weren't listening to a word he was saying.
The others began donning their own breastplates as Sir Leopard spoke. "You know what, boys? I say we give this gentleman a brief taste of what it's like to be 'one with nature'."
"Deevolutionizer?" the ocelot man asked.
"Deevolutionizer."
The other ani-men closed in on their 'rescuers,' who began to back away.
Xxxxxxxxxxxx
The number two man in the operation, Shinjiro Hikami, was having a hard time locating anything. Evidently this level of the citadel had been redesigned since the blueprints had been stolen. The animal housing area was now just a place for storing building materials. It didn't even have that lingering scent of too many animals being kept in too small a space. And he hadn't been able to discover where they had been moved to.
Shinjiro was about to give up when he spotted a door with a touchpad. Above it, on an electronic screen, were the words, "Holding Cell".
He tried opening the door, but the touchpad didn't respond like the others did. That meant something important was on the other side. "Can anyone open this?"
One of the women in his group walked forward. "I can. While I don't understand a lot of the electronics here, this is actually a pretty basic touchpad." She pulled out a set of tools, undid the faceplate, and quickly bypassed the basic lock on it, trusting Overrider to shut down any alarm that might have been set off.
The door opened into a dimly lit chamber. Shinjiro and his compatriots entered the room cautiously, noticing a number of large computers and consoles nearby. Then they saw what was in the center of the chamber and drew up short.
It appeared to be a large well-muscled wolf man covered head to toe in brown fur, his only clothing a pair of green trunks. He was confined in a huge chair made of some kind of thick metal. His arms were held out in front of him by oversized restraints composed to the same metal. His feet were in a similar state, and several thick metal bands strapped him to the uncomfortable-looking chair. Several IVs ran into his arms and chest, and there was a gas mask over his face (not snout, his shape was human, if the characteristics weren't), which seemed to have a fine green mist swirling in it. Despite that, his eyes seemed sharp and aware as he watched the quartet of people enter the room.
Shinjiro snapped out of his stupor. "Free him," he told the others.
As a group they approached. While they were able to remove the IVs and gas mask, they couldn't figure out how to undo the oversized shackles.
After a few seconds the wolf man spoke. "Ah, thank you very much. There's an entry code for deactivating the shackles' locks. Be a dear and enter this code in that touchpad to the left." He rattled off a series of letters and numbers.
Shinjiro did it himself. There was a loud click, but nothing else happened.
"They have to be manually removed now," the wolf man explained. "It's a double blind system to prevent someone from simply hacking and deactivating the code from a secure location to free a prisoner."
The sliding bolts, now freed from their locks, were removed from the oversized pieces of metal. The wolf man rose to his feet, stretching out, not the least bit groggy.
"Thank you again for freeing me from my incarceration. I was growing apprehensive at my fate," the wolf man said in a very distinguished manner more fit for high society than that of a typical prisoner.
"What fate was that?" Shinjiro asked.
"Death," the wolf man said. "By the way, I cannot help noticing you aren't members of the Knights, nor do you seem to be allies of the High Evolutionary."
"We're with the Animal Liberation Front and we're here to rescue you and your animal comrades from the High Evolutionary's captivity," Shinjiro informed him.
"Noble cause. Noble cause indeed. I'm the Man Beast, by the way."
The others gasped. "What a terrible name," one of them said.
Man Beast arched in eyebrow at that. "Yes, well, it was the name I was given upon my exposure to Isotope C, and you know how it is with names. Awkward to change them once you get used to them and all that. I suppose you have a means to escape?"
Shinjiro nodded. "We have a hovercraft that's waiting to allow us to escape. A mutant hacker's bypassing the citadel's alarms, but that can't last forever. We have ten minutes to get out of here before the shuttle leaves."
"Attack capabilities?" Man Beast asked.
"Just a few handguns and non-lethal stuff." Shinjiro indicated the handgun in his holster.
"Unfortunate. Ah well, one cannot be handed everything in life, now can one?"
One of the others spoke. "Excuse me. I don't mean to be rude, but why were you being imprisoned?"
"A difference of opinion with my, that is our… enslaver. The High Evolutionary is something of a despot, I'm afraid. Megalomaniacal, god-syndrome type. Very disturbed. I vehemently rejected his insane philosophies, so he regarded my followers and I as unredeemable. He was going to make an example out of me."
"Thank god we got here just in time," Shinjiro said. Another animal rescued. If only he could do it for all of them.
"Yes, I am most grateful. In any case, since you don't have the weaponry necessary to help me take the citadel, we must leave in all due haste. I have a number of followers, well, more like trusted friends that are locked up nearby. We must free them and take our leave."
"Where are the other animals? We'll free them, too," Shinjiro asked.
"Ah, it would be a waste of time," Man Beast said sadly. "I'm afraid the High Evolutionary has hopelessly enslaved them to his cause. I tried to convince them to rise up and throw off our shackles of oppression, but instead they captured me. Only my five friends saw the light. Sadly, they were captured, too. This environment is not conductive to throwing off the yoke of tyranny." Man Beast shrugged helplessly.
"We might be able to talk some sense into them," Shinjiro said.
"No, it would be useless and they'd kill you. They have strict instructions to kill intruders on sight." Man Beast smiled, flashing some very sharp teeth in Shinjiro's face.
Shinjiro rethought the matter. Man Beast was from here, and would have a better grip on the situation. He would hardly abandon his fellow animals if he had no other choice. After all, he was insisting on taking his friends along. "I'll take your word for it since you know them so much better than me. We'll have to rescue our friends, though."
"You friends?"
"They went to rescue the other animals."
"How unfortunate. I'm afraid it's too late for them. They've undoubtedly encountered the savages in the employ of the High Evolutionary and are already dead. No sense in throwing away more lives, my new friend. No, we'll rescue my friends and leave." He started to head toward the exit.
"But we can't abandon them," Shinjiro insisted.
Man Beast moved so quickly he seemed to teleport, moving right in front of Shinjiro. "I'm sure they were prepared to give their lives on this rescue operation, yes?"
"Ah, sort of," Shinjiro said, resisting the urge to tremble. Animals didn't frighten him. He was their friend. Animals could sense when one had goodwill toward them. Didn't dolphins save people from drowning all the time?
"Then I'm sure you are as well, but let's hope it doesn't come to that. We can prevent your death by leaving right now. So I insist you come along, and stay close to my side. It wouldn't do to get separated and have one of those marauders find you. You're just lucky you encountered me first." Man Beast exited the room and headed toward the holding cells, not bothering to turn around.
"Yeah, lucky," Shinjiro said hollowly.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"They're going to be late," Sho Komatsu said. He stood waiting next to the hole they had been created upon infiltrating the citadel, convinced the High Evolutionary would suddenly appear and blast him out of existence. Why oh why couldn't they have just done a normal operation, like breaking out lab rats from a university? They had terrible security, just rent-a-cops working for minimum wage that wouldn't put their lives on the line for anything, most of all a bunch of animals. But no, they had to fly to another country, risking an international incident with an obscenely super-powered being. The higher ups simply had no sense of priority.
Overrider was nearby, using her powers to suppress the security systems, by phasing her hand in the wall and doing whatever it was she did. If it wasn't for her, the operation would never have happened. She was quite the godsend for the ALF, with her mutant abilities. And she was sexy, too. Or at least her voice and figure were sexy. That was all anyone could tell about her since she wore an oversized helmet on her head that hid her entire features. She didn't even have eye slits, but one-way red lenses. And her outfit covered her entire body, loose like a pair of coveralls. But for all its looseness, Sho could tell she had a nice rack and some back to her. Maybe if they survived the operation he'd ask her out on a date.
The half-hour was almost up when a group appeared from the closest t-junction. While four of the figures were dressed in the standard ALF infiltration suits, they had a sextet of newcomers with them, all of them animal men. Well, five men and one woman.
From what Sho could see there were humanoid versions of a wolf, gorilla, cat, frog, some sort of brightly plumed avian (with working wings since he was flying) and a woman with red skin, huge pupiless yellow eyes, insect antenna sticking out of her forehead, and insect wings that allowed her to fly even more efficiently than the bird man.
Curiously, the wolf man seemed to be leading the group. "Greetings," he said to Sho.
"Uh, hi." Having an animal speak to him was a first for Sho. He wasn't sure how to react.
Man Beast turned to his animal compatriots. "Get moving, everyone. Croaker, Tabur with me," he said to the frog and cat men. "Dragonfly, Screech, fly alongside the craft for the first few miles to ensure we aren't being followed by any of the Knights' mounts."
"Don't call me Screech!" the bird man screeched.
"Then stop screeching," Man Beast countered. To the gorilla man he said, "Gort, watch our backs until the ship is ready to leave, which, I trust, should take only a few moments."
"You got it, Boss," the gorilla man rumbled in a deep baritone.
Rather than getting on, Tabur sniffed the air, then looked curiously at the silent Overrider. "Why hello there, Babe. I didn't expect to meet someone like you here."
Overrider silently backed away, removing her hand from the wall.
Man Beast scowled at his feline comrade. "Quit flirting with the human, you insolent..." He stopped and sniffed the air, then looked at Overrider, who seemed more apprehensive than ever.
Man Beast stared at her curiously. "We talk later. Right now its time to escape. We take off now," he informed Sho.
"The others aren't back yet and there's still," Sho looked at his watch, "three minutes."
"I assure you they're not coming back," Man Beast said. It was a claim made with finality. Lots of finality. The sort of finality that could be shared with others who doubted its finality.
It was ridiculous, of course, Sho thought. This was an animal, and animals didn't threaten people the way humans did to one another. He was projecting human motives to animals, which was foolish since animals were animals, no matter how science might change them. It might sound and act like a person, but it wasn't. Thankfully. There were plenty of people in the world, people that destroyed too many animals. Science didn't need to make animals more like people; they needed to make people more like animals. Then they could live in harmony with their environment, the way nature intended.
Yes, that made sense. This wolf man was parroting things, the way parrots did. There was no true meanness in his statement. It was a statement of fact that came out wrong, contaminated by humans.
Relieved at figuring things out on his own, Sho entered the hovercraft, eager to get away with the animals they had freed.
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End Prologue