Hello there, readers! I hope that you are all doing well! I'm so excited to bring to you the newest chapter of Found! Please consider leaving a review or comment afterwards, as that is just a nice little pick-me-up.
Found (Chapter 30)
by
Elite Shade
"Please, Mr. Hunter, take a seat," Kirin said in his Brayjun drawl, motioning to the expensive leather chair sitting before his desk. Vernon was as still as a statue for a few heartbeats before taking a seat.
"So what happens now?" Vernon asked, his own Meadowlands drawl returning his deep rumbling voice.
"I was hoping to have a little chat with your father. I assume he's listening, so this is just as good," Kirin said, his smile making Vernon internally shudder. "So what brings you by today, Mr. Hunter?"
"I-" Vernon was cut off as Kirin continued.
"Perhaps this has something to do with my new little project? The Zoodoo Lounge?" the human asked, raising an eyebrow.
Vernon frowned and instead looked over his shoulder, to find that the lynx was standing in front of the open doorway, his face an expressionless mask.
"I'd be lyin' if I said I wasn't curious..."
"Well, that is to be expected. It's quite the exciting little project for the city. The first legal casino opening within the city itself in almost forty years."
"Yeah, about that," Vernon said, giving Kirin a sidelong glance, "aren't there city ordinances preventin' that from happenin'?"
"Oh absolutely... in almost all of the different districts of this wonderful city. But the rules are a little different in the Nocturnal district," Kirin said with a wink. "As it turns out, in the Nocturnal district, it technically is legal for a member of a native species to own such an establishment."
"But y'all humans ain't native to the Nocturnal district," Vernon chimed in, a small smile on his muzzle. "It was in the papers, the old law that's still on the books. A newly discovered species is declared a native species to the environment they were first discovered in. Which, iffin' I'm not mistaken, makes yer species natives to the Meadowlands district."
"That is so true," Kirin said with a laugh, steepling his gloved fingers. "How is young master Marcus, by the way?"
Vernon growled. "This ain't got nuthin' to do with my nephew," Vernon said.
"True, but us humans tend to be a very curious species," Kirin said, leaning back in his chair and giving it a spin. When the chair came to face Vernon again, the human before him was splayed out in the chair, his legs draped over an arm rest. "Funnily enough, it was my curiosity that led to my banishment from my childhood home."
"Ya don't say," Vernon said, not sure where this was going.
"Oh but I do say. My father, a very rigid and strict mammal, had become quite fed up with the little... games I liked to play with the help... and with family, especially my brothers. He said I and my interests were repugnant and disgusting, and thus I was dismissed."
"The way I heard it, you were literally thrown out the front door."
Kirin paused, his left eye twitching just a little. Vernon saw it and took note of it, but decided against mentioning it.
"Well, yes, my father felt it was necessary to remove me from the home with force. Overall, I find the whole situation to be quite ironic." The painful-looking grin had returned to his face, making Vernon shudder internally yet again.
"Ironic how?"
"Well, my father is the one who gave me my initial investment for my casino," Kirin said casually, looking wistful.
"Oh? So y'all talked to him again then? Patched things up?" Vernon asked, hoping to learn more information about Kirin's father, with the hope that contacting the human's family might be able to give his Pa some leverage, or at least some additional information to work with.
"Hmmm, yes, in a way we did. See, as I'm sure young Timothy informed your father, once I was living out on the streets, I immediately set to work on establishing some... small businesses."
"The card tables, right?" Vernon asked, causing Kirin to let out a bark of a laugh.
"Correct! It was all so simple, really. Just one big game after another, each time with bigger and bigger prizes to be made. Eventually, I established a bit of a name for myself. And that is when I decided to return to visit my father." Kirin snapped his gloved fingers and, seemingly out of nowhere, a zebra butler appeared, carrying two tumblers of an amber liquid. The zebra set one glass down on the small coffee table next to Vernon, before setting one on the desk within easy arm's reach for Kirin. Kirin nodded and the butler disappeared.
Vernon was at first shocked to see what he thought was a mammal walk through a solid wall. But then he realized that the wall to the right actually had an opening, with another wall behind it, just far enough to allow medium-sized mammals to walk through the space. The combination of the seafoam green paint and the lighting and the craftsmammalship caused an optical illusion that made the whole thing look like a single solid wall. Kirin smirked before continuing.
"I returned, surprising my father. We met in his study for a private chat. At first things were a little... tense, and heated. But our tempers both soon quelled, and my father came to see the error of his ways. He forgave me and, in order to make up for his actions, drafted a new will and testament right then and there. In it, I was made the sole beneficiary. He had one of his servants run it over to his attorney's offices. They were quite speedy, in that it took less than an hour for the servant boy to return, with a new copy of the will, stamped and sealed. I thought that that was the end of it... but I was wrong. Father was so wracked with guilt over how he had treated me, he did something drastic."
"More drastic than writing up a new will on the spot?" Vernon asked, feeling a chill slowly start to creep itself up his spine. Kirin nodded, pulling out his red silk pawkerchief, dabbing the corners of his dry eyes with it. The lanky human tried to look somber, but there was still a faint smile playing at the corners of his lips.
"Father then sent away the servants and, doing so apparently when I wasn't looking, he drank something." Vernon felt the chill in his spine deepen. "I found out later that it was a poison. Are you familiar with a substance called stric 9?"
"I think I may have heard of it somewhere," Vernon said, his stomach dropping, unaware that Yuri and Dorian, who were both listening, and both moving closer to the manor while remaining hidden, were also experiencing a similar sensation.
"It's just a terrible concoction. Easily one of the worst ways to die, actually. So painful, so terrifying, and worst of all, so agonizingly slow." Kirin sat up and leaned forward in his seat, looking Vernon right in the eyes. The wolf could see the dark mischievous fire twinkling behind those dark eyes, and it sickened him. "So great was his guilt over casting me out, it seems that he decided to end his life, and make himself suffer as he did it. I could do nothing but helplessly call for a servant, someone, to come so I could send them to go and find a doctor. But alas, I was stuck there, by my father's side, speaking to him as he lay on the floor, his body contorting in just the most horrendous ways. When he finally passed on, I made sure that the last thing he saw in life was my smiling face, to comfort him on his new journey that is." Kirin's face now sported the sickening grin, as Vernon paled beneath his fur.
"You said ya had brothers," Vernon said, actively ignoring the drink by him. Kirin continued to smile as he got up and walked over, silently grabbing the glass, and downing the drink inside.
"Oh yes, six of them," Kirin said as though her were discussing the weather.
"And they just accepted this story of yer Pa... doin' that to himself after rewriting the will, leavin' everything to you?" Vernon said, leaning a bit away from the twisted mammal beside him.
"Oh absolutely not. My brothers, all of whom were older than me and by that time had established their own lives outside of our family home, were shocked by the turn of events. There were vows of investigations and contesting the will. Their anger and suspicion was understandable. We all grieve in our own ways," Kirin said, sauntering over to his chair behind the desk, setting the empty glass down before taking a seat again.
"But, it seems that tragedy was poised to strike again for my bloodline," Kirin said, dabbing again at still dry eyes. "My eldest brother, Andrew, was spearheading not only efforts to contest the will but also an investigation into our father's death. Not too long after he openly threatened me, he suffered a terrible accident. In the apartment complex he owned, he, somehow, accidentally fell down an elevator shaft, onto some bullets that apparently were laying there at the bottom, the force of his impact pushing them into his body."
Vernon felt sick, but Kirin continued all the same. "And then there was my second oldest brother, Wallace. He drowned in the canal. What was most curious is that he seemed to have tripped and, in his spinning and flailing, accidentally gotten a heavy chain wrapped around his legs and two cinder blocks, getting a padlock tangled up in the mess as well, before falling in, being dragged to a watery grave." Kirin pretended to cough, but Vernon definitely heard a chuckle.
"Peter was a victim of bureaucracy making a series of grave errors. Someone within the city planning department stamped some paperwork somewhere incorrectly and his house was scheduled for demolition. No one caught this error until after it had happened. It is a tad odd Peter didn't notice any destruction crews loading the dynamite into the building, as well as electricity and water and gas hadn't been shut off first."
Vernon could hardly believe what he was hearing.
"Then Louis, after getting drunk and passing out one night as he was wont to do from time to time, had gone to the family mausoleum, to presumably pay his respects. Unbeknownst to him was that there was an inexperienced undertaker working at the time. When Louis passed out drunk, bearing a striking resemblance to Andrew, well, the undertaker simply assumed that dear Andrew had fallen out of the nearby empty casket. So he picked Louis up, brushed him off, and more or less interred him alive. This error on the young mammal's part hadn't been discovered until a few days later. So tragic. Especially since Louis woke up at some point, and tried, in vain, to claw his way out."
Vernon was silent, having half a mind to yell into the microphone for his Pa and brother to kick the front door down. "And finally, there were the twins, Michael and Nicholas. They had always been a bit odd by my family's standards. They went into business together, opening their own brewery. It was so unfortunate that said brewery was what led to their simultaneous demise. They had been having some... trouble with the staff, and found themselves shorthanded one night. This was while they were working on a new experimental batch of whisky. The details are sketchy at best, but it seems that they were both working over an open vat when the railing gave way and... as much as it pains me to say, fell in. The worst part is that a large batch of whisky was made and shipped before they were found."
Kirin then picked up his own glass, swirling the amber liquid inside with a smile. "The silver lining, their legacy, is that it truly is one of the finest batches created." Kirin looked Vernon in the eyes as he drank from his glass.
"I'm so sorry, Mr. Hunter," Kirin said, slapping his hand to his forehead in mock shock. "I got so sidetracked there. I guess my family and the tragedies surrounding them has been on my mind lately. Family and tragedy unfortunately seem to go hand in hand sometimes, Mr. Hunter."
"... If ya are threatenin'," Vernon growled, beginning to rise from his seat. A paw settled on his shoulder, squeezing. The force of the grip was enough to make Vernon wince and let out a whine, despite trying to fight it.
"I swear, I would never make any such threats," Kirin said as Bandile pushed Vernon back into his seat. Kirin continued. "Quite the opposite. I've learned of some news that you and your family might be interested in hearing."
"There's nothin' ya have to say that we wanna hear," Vernon said, letting out a growl, before an increase in pressure from the lynx made him yelp.
"Oh I doubt that. Especially since it concerns your nephew. Well, specifically, it's about the mammal who gave him his scars."
That made Vernon freeze, Bandile let go of Vernon's shoulder, and took a step back.
"His name is Silas. Silas Curo. And he is a very dangerous mammal," Kirin said, making Vernon snort.
"That's the pot callin' the kettle black," he said, making Kirin smirk.
"I bring him up because my sources, very reliable sources, have confirmed he did not perish in the political upheaval that betook Kartakka. As unfortunate as it is, he managed to slip away. And now I have reason to believe he's here in Zootopia..." Kirin said, looking up from his glass at Vernon. Vernon stopped dead. He remembered the blonde-haired human he had seen in the video. The mammal who had smiled when holding the whip.
"Why are ya tellin' me?" Vernon asked, confused.
"Well, Mr. Curo's presence here in Zootopia is most... inconvenient for me."
"... How so?"
"That is not important. What is important, Mr. Hunter, is that he will be coming for Marcus. And, I think we can all agree his being apprehended as soon as possible would be a good thing, for everyone."
"Maybe..." Vernon said, letting out a yelp of surprise as Bandile silently approached and grabbed his shoulder, painfully pulling Vernon to his feet.
"Wonderful! Now that we've got that all squared away, I would like to thank you for stopping by, Mr. Hunter. Unfortunately, I must get back to work. I have quite the busy schedule to attend to, after all. I hope that we can chat again soon," he said, effectively dismissing the wolf, who was mammalhanled out of the office and back out into the hall. Vernon was roughly shoved out the front door, where Dorian and Yuri were both there waiting, both with their hackles up. Vernon winced and rubbed his shoulder as he and his father and brother headed back towards Dorian's squad car and the family truck. Dorian got in his car while, with Yuri driving, the brothers got into the rusted truck, firing it up and driving it up. They pulled out and were down the road a ways, Dorian following behind, when Vernon felt a hard punch to his arm.
"AH! Yuri! That arm's already gunna be bruised from how hard that Bandile guy grabbed me," Vernon said, rubbing his arm. Yuri growled and looked away from the road, his yellow eyes boring right into Vernon's green ones.
"That's fer agreein' to do somethin' so damn stupid, Vern!" the black wolf said, turning back to the road. "Yer a Pa now, Vern. Ya can't go and take a dangerous risk like that! What would Dawn and yer pups do if somethin' happened to ya?! What would we do?" Yuri said, making Vernon look over at him, surprised. "I swear, I thought I was gunna have to kick that giant door in when ya were yelping."
Vernon blinked, a small smile appearing on his muzzle. Yuri was always a gruff mammal, but he did care. It was just very, very hard for him to show it most of the time. "I get ya, Yuri," Vernon said, rubbing his sore shoulder, certain that it was going to bruise, and wondering what he was going to tell Dawn about it when she inevitably would notice.
"So... you know what we gotta do now," Vernon said.
"What?" Yuri asked.
"We gotta watch that... video again, so we can know what that Silas guy looks like..."
Yuri let out a growl. "Just lemmie get my paws on that sicko... what he did to Marcus..." Yuri growled again before they turned off onto the road leading back to the ranch.
Meanwhile in the woods...
"Wow, so Kartakka was basically stuck in the turn of the century, at least technologically speaking? That's amazing, and it makes how humans have managed to remain hidden all over the world all the more amazing!" Aiko said as she sat across from Marcus on the red and white checkered cloth they had spread out for their picnic. They were both sitting in the ever familiar clearing, the basket of food between them, with plates of their lunch set out.
"Well, you gotta remember that we were doing it pretty much out of fear," Marcus said, blushing a little. "I doubt that some of my species have gotten over that fear, actually. Certain that the rest of the mammals of the world will try to exterminate or enslave us any time now..."
"I hope that they can overcome it, one day," Aiko said, grabbing one of the fruit sandwiches she'd made and nibbling on it a bit.
"Me too," Marcus said, looking away and blushing a bit. "I was actually living in these woods for a few months after I washed ashore. I was terrified of being discovered."
"I had heard," Aiko said, looking away, awkwardly hugging her red and white ringed tail.
"After I was released from the hospital into Mama and Papa's custody, I wasn't really sure what to expect. I hadn't been eaten already, or killed. So I thought that maybe I was to be a servant of some kind." Marcus' blush deepened. Aiko smiled up at the larger mammal.
"Mama and Papa have both told me that they want me to focus more on learning to have fun rather than try to do chores. But..." Marcus looked off, his eyes wistful.
"But what?" Aiko asked, the red panda girl looking at Marcus with wide eyes, leaning forward a bit. Marcus bit his lip and looked down at his hands.
"I... sometimes... feel as though I haven't done anything to deserve it..." Marcus said quietly, more to himself than to Aiko.
"Deserve it?" Aiko asked, a pang in her heart springing up. Marcus nodded.
"Yes... Mama and Papa both have told me that the... unpleasantness around my escape from Kartakka and arrival in Zootopia wasn't my fault... but many humans ended up hurt and I... I get what I've always wanted. A family. It just... doesn't seem fair... it feels like I don't... deserve it..."
Aiko's paw shot out, reaching over the basket and grabbing Marcus' hand. She wiped away the ghost of some tears, focusing more on the boy there with her.
"You do deserve it, Marcus," Aiko said, standing up and leaning over the basket, now holding Marcus' much larger hand with both of her paws. The two of them sat there, staring into each other's eyes, until they both simultaneously blushed and looked away, Aiko letting go and Marcus pulling back his hand, still feeling the warmth from her delicate yet strong paws. Unbeknownst to the two was that not too far off, just behind the treeline, an irate and pregnant tigress was dragging a wolf wearing a bush disguise, waving listening and filming equipment while slung over one of her shoulders.
"Honestly, Zach," Vanna said with a growl in her voice, "not only did you interrogate that sweet girl and possibly almost run her off, but then you go and spy on her and our son?!"
"It seemed like a good idea at the time!" Zach defended, a sharp growl making his ears splay flat on his head. "I just wanted to make sure that she wasn't leading our pup to some kind o' gang initiation or somethin'!"
Vanna rolled her eyes as she walked out of the woods, carrying her mate and the father to her child and currently unborn child.
"Zach, Marcus has made friends. He hasn't joined a gang," she said, setting down the bushy wolf in front of their house.
"That's how it starts!" Zach said, his tail tucking itself between his legs when Vanna gave him a dose of her own Glare. It was scary to the wolf how well Vanna could do it.
"No more of this nonsense, Goofball," Vanna said, pointing to their house. "Cool-Down Corner, NOW!"
Zach grumbled as he trudged back inside, the recording equipment being dragged along with him.
At that moment...
"Aha! Just as I expected!" Lucero said, his orange and black-striped tail swishing back and forth excitedly behind him. He was standing on a ladder, looking onto the roof of Zach and Vanna's house, looking at five glittering empty pie tins, with a cherry-filing covered Bruno guiltily preening his wings sitting in one of them. "It was Bruno all along!"
"You don't say," said Pasha, who shook her head as her mate descended from the ladder, holding Bruno in one paw. "Luce, did you mean what you said earlier?" she said as Lucero stepped off the ladder.
"Of course, my love!" he said, giddy as a kitten on Yule morning. "Dorian said he'd get us in touch with some local realtors."
"But what of Myra?"
"Myra is grown and can take care of herself. Marcus is in need of as many grandparents as he can get! Not to mention the other kitten our little girl shall soon be giving to us as well! San Furnando is just too far! We need to be closer to properly dote on our grandkittens!"
"Well... the idea of leaving and not seeing Marcus alone is just... heartbreaking... alright, Luce. Let's do it!" Pasha said, being swept off her feet in Lucero's free paw, the older tiger planting a kiss upon her lips.
A short time later...
Lily was smiling wide as she looked up, seeing the canopy of trees give way to the crystal clear blue sky. She looked down, seeing Marcus' chestnut brown headfur, the same as her own, and giggled. She loved having a cousin, and was pleasantly surprised when she had wandered off to explore the woods, and stumbled upon Marcus and Aiko having a picnic. The red panda in question, who found the younger human adorable, was walking alongside them, carrying the picnic basket, happily chatting with Marcus and giggling.
"Marcus," Lily asked, making the human boy turn his eyes up to see Lily leaning forward over his head, smiling brightly at him.
"Yes, Lily?" he asked, smiling back. Marcus, initially wary of his cousins, quickly came to dote on them.
"Are you and Aiko boyfriend and girlfriend?" Lily asked. Marcus and Aiko both froze, just then realizing that they had returned to the ranch and were amongst several family members. The two pre-teens blushed and simultaneously started to splutter.
"N-n-no! We're just friends!" Aiko said, smiling while blushing, waving a dismissive paw.
"Y-yeah! Just friends!" said Marcus, unable to meet anyone's eyes. Dawn had to clamp her hooves onto her muzzle to stifle a coo at the adorable sight, while Audrey giggled to herself, an idea forming in her mind. Lucero smiled, a now clean Bruno perched right on his head, nestled in between his ears. Pasha smiled warmly, as Ada snickered. Vanna smiled while rubbing her baby bump, happy for her son and how far he had come from the scared, injured, and malnourished young mammal they had found living in the woods not too long ago.
Yuri snorted and shook his head, mumbling something about goofy kids, but with a noticeable smile on his muzzle. Dorian, despite the ugliness earlier, was also amused by the young mammals blushing and sputtering. Vernon was rubbing the sore spot on his shoulder, but he let out a deep rumbling chuckle as he watched his nephew pick his little princess off his shoulder and set her down. He couldn't imagine anyone who would ever want to hurt such a pup... but he knew that they'd have to tell the family what they'd learned. But right then and there, he knew that they would keep him safe. They'd keep all the pups safe.
And there you have it, readers! I hope you enjoyed the new chapter!
