Wednesday Morning…Breakfast
Judy was truly disgusted, she was the early Rabbit, and her Grandbuck was already up, dressed and sitting at his reserved table drinking his "Badger coffee."
"Well, at least I beat Nick up" she smirked.
"Nope", said Otto, "your fox 3-S'd and beat you here, he's off getting his bowl of blueberries and coffee."
"Morning Fluff!"…Nick smiled, put his breakfast and coffee on the table, and hugged his bunny, "Nice smirk Otto, pretty good Level II on only one cup of coffee! What'd I miss?"
"Nothing Son, just talking with Trudy." Otto gave Judy a wink and small smirk and laughed," just practicing grandkit."
"I'm dealing with a pair of foxes" as she hit Nick, "Really, don't know who's worse..Pop Pop's had more practice or Nick, who knows where all my buttons are located."
"Fluff, gentlemammals don't talk about their Doe's buttons, it's not polite," giving her his own wink and smirk.
Judy started turning red and blathering, "No, um, wasn't talking about those but…um, NICK!"
"Otto, I can't remember my mate's ears ever being quite that red before…have you?" Nick asked, eyes wide without even a probationary Level smirk.
"Why Son, that is a pretty amazing shade of red, appears to be all over too!" he added, nodding to Judy as she died of embarrassment and putting on a concerned look at her bright red color…"you feeling allright grandkit?"
Tapping her foot and now totally…well, Judy was totally something…"I'm going to town, you have a nice talk today. Nick, you're dead and we'll talk about this Doe's buttons later."
"Well, that was fun, I'm soooooo dead" Nick smirked, "It was worth it."
"Yes, yes you are," Otto laughed, "She loves you, you're bonded, teasing is fun…you use words, Judy boxes, it's a doe thing."
"I'm glad Bailey and Riina could come along" the old Buck said, "I've never really had an opportunity to get to know that pretty little thing. They're a cute couple. That Buck looks like he's become a real warrior, Riina is too. After hearing about how she fought that big Red Fox and how her mate was willing to sacrifice himself to save her, Otto had renewed faith his family still had warriors."
"Yep, but couldn't get Bailey to try the Buffalo Chicken pizza even with the two of you eating it," Nick really smiled at remembering Bailey looking a little green at his Pop Pop and sister happily joining with his Fox brother-in-law and fox mate in the meat pizza.
"We'll get him eating it, he's got to get over his dietary problems" Otto promised "if nothing else, it's worth it for the shock value."
"Nick, you ready to head out, I'd really like to go back to the lake," Otto shifted in his chair, "would you bring along better chairs today, this old Buck is turning delicate. A table too, hate bugs in my coffee."
Hopps Lake, Present Day
"Nick, where were we…you have to listen, I don't have to remember what wisdom and experiences I was talking about" laughed Otto…"your ears tired yet?"
"Otto, you keep talking, I'll keep listening", Nick smiled, "You're talking about your history, but mine too, all foxes. We've always loved hearing about the Reynard family and their lives, they gave hope a long time ago, they're the best of us…and to some mammals, they see Reynard's history as the worst of us."
Otto looked out to the lake, drinking his coffee and closing his eyes…"Nick, they're my family too! For better or worse, I'm a Reynard Hare. Amazing since I'm neither a Fox or a Hare…but I am a Reynard!" 'With all the pain and loss there came with it…and it was all worth it….it's why you're here with me Son, listening to this old Buck talk and explain.'
"OK Nick, where did we leave off? We were on the boat, ship…whatever the Navy squids call it', Otto gave a small laugh,"…the Reynard brothers were off to war."
August 1942
"I got to practice with my bow on the ship, well, Vicki's bow but she's "lending" it to me for the duration, Toddy's pretty impressed with how truly mediocre an archer I am.
"Nick", Toddy laughed, you're an Artillery Archer."
I asked, "And that is...?"
Ahem..."One went high, One went low, Where the hell did the other one go?" and we both broke at laughing.
Both of us being sergeants, neither one of us outranks the other. He's older than I am, but I remind him Otto comes before Toddy alphabetically."
"Wait" the Fox argues, "I'm older than you are…Hah!"
"Well, you certainly weigh more, but my ears are longer and I hear better than a Fox! Ha! Yourself!" I argued.
"Nope, My name has more letters and I'm still taller, even with your ears" Toddy came back, with a smirk.
Our brilliant repartes' continued while we're shooting arrows, eating meals or walking around the ship. The general consensus is, I'm either a really ugly Fox, or Toddy's a truly ugly Hare…but whatever we are, we are brothers whose mother should have drowned us in infancy.
Our fellow troops keep wondering just who we are, and why are such small mammals armed with old weapons like bows and arrows, and just who are we anyway? We don't tell them of course, we just both put on a "Mk I Smirk" (military nomenclature name for a Milspec low-grade Smirk).
"I was becoming a lot Foxier being an official Reynard brother and uncle to a wonderful pair of vixens, I was Vicki's and Molly's champion.' I laughed, "it was wonderful being 'owned" by these two little ones."
"We're the only OSS on the boat", Toddy noted, "Otto, wonder who/what/where we're going to be assigned?"
"Well, they told me, since I'm senior, we'd get a briefing once we arrived, where ever that will be," I said, looking at my Fox partner, "I'm not really happy about that, but, Our is but to do or…"
"Stop right there," Toddy snapped, "I'm going home to my family, you are too! We've got 2 vixens and my mate waiting for her warriors to return" He said seriously, "We are both returning home Otto!"
"I didn't' tell Toddy when Abigail marked me, she softly said, "Please, bring him home…please Otto, just bring him home with you."
"I vowed to her I would die fighting to bring Toddy home."
Hopps Lake, Present Time.
Nick looked over at Otto. The Warrior Buck's eyes were closed, tears running down his short muzzle, his head held in his paws. Nick walked away to give him privacy. 'This isn't mine to share or listen to, this is his.' "Damn I hate this" Nick said softly to himself, "it's not fair, there's just too much suffering, too many innocents hurt." The Fox walked for a bit…."It's why Judy and I fight everything that seems so much larger than ourselves, so we can look in each other's eyes at the end of the day, and know, we tried."
Nick sighed and closed his eyes and leaned his head against a tree. A soft paw touched his back…."Getting kinda' personal there Otto" Nick smirked.
SLAP! "You knew it was me you dumb Fox!" Judy said.
"Yes my doe, Foxy nose, I could smell you there" he smiled at her, "this has been a rough day…but thanks for coming…now give me a hug, I need to get back…I know I don't need to remind you, No Listening!"
"Actually, I brought you both lunch, I found some Army rations in the Bunnyburrow Surplus Store, they're older than I am…also brought some cold beer and hot sauce. Mom said Pop Pop loves his hot sauce." Judy patted Nick's muzzle, "Thanks for this Nick, I know it's hard."
"Actually Fluff, It's like I'm getting to talk to my Dad about things I was never old enough to hear or understand. Otto's giving me a gift no one else could give me. Remember that…you can tell Bonnie, I'm sure she's feels a bit guilty, she'd like to know…you can tell my mom too..she might understand."
Nick wandered back down to Otto, he was asleep and snoring quietly.
'I'm letting him sleep, may be a good idea for this Fox too' and Nick settled in to get comfortable.
Otto looked over and saw a Red Fox with C-Rats on his lap, "Toddy! You get some good ones, not the lima beans I hope!" He grabbed Nick's arm, "Toddy!"
Nick looked into his eyes, surprised. "Otto, you OK?"
Otto, shook his head, "Nick, I saw the C-Rats and a Red Fox sitting there…I thought you were Toddy!" "Oh jeeze Nick, gave me a heart attack, but for a second, my Fox brother was back, he blinked a few times…Phew, so watcha' got to eat?"
"Your grandkit Judy went into town and found a couple boxes of C-Rats older than she is…she also brought cold beer and hot sauce. She giveth with one paw and then taketh with another….yep, and one is Lima Beans with Ham…were these even legal to serve troops? Sounds really bad."
"Absolutely terrible" Otto laughed and gave a shudder, "go ahead and open the can, should be a nice layer of white fat floating on green mush with a single huge lima bean submerged in it…that's good eatin'"
"Nick, I think the main use for these was to get the troops good and mad so when the enemy showed up, they were really pissed and the bad guys were going to lose."
August 1942
"Toddy and I made it and we're off that boat" Phew! I snorted, enjoying the fresh green smell, "Feel sorry for the Navy mammals, what a miserable way to live."
We were sent to see our boss who wanted to meet his smallest and newest OSS recruits. Standing at attention, we faced "Wild" Bull Donovan.
"Sir, sergeants Reynard and Hopps reporting," we both said in unison.
"Wild Bull stared at his new OSS team, his very small troops; bows over our shoulders, a quiver of arrows, long rifle for me, assorted knives and various other "small nasty's" as our SOE Badger instructor called them on both of us….always given with a full-tooth chomper's smile."
"At ease mammals," he'd taken off his glasses, rubbed his eyes and was staring at us, "is this a joke?"
"No Sir!" we both replied.
"You finished training and are a fully functioning team?"
"Yes Sir!" we both replied.
"A Rabbit?"
"Sir, No Sir, a Hare Sir!" I said.
"A Fox?"
"Sir, Yes Sir, a Fox Sir!" Toddy replied
"Uh huh" Wild Bull replied, "I've seen your records, you two did great, made a good team and were tops in infiltration and actually, most everything but water."
"Sir, the Hare does not do well in water" I said.
"Well, I'm going to split you two up, I need to backfill some of my teams" He started to say.
"Sir, we need to stay as a team" we both said…
"We were stared at..a Mk 4 Level V stare, I'd only heard about these in training, hoped never to actually see one in the flesh…especially not located on a scowling senior large bull officer."
"And why is that Private?" Wild Bull inquired quietly, interlacing his hooves and giving a small smile while looking back and forth at his new Fox and Hare. I learned, it's never a good thing when you're facing a quiet senior officer, they are truly scary.
"Sir", I said, "We have been together since Basic Training, we were paired, we suspect, with the intention we would fail. Singly, the two of us, we're not very good soldiers, we each have skills that complement one another. As a team, we are greater than the sum of our parts. Please sir, give us a trial together before you split us up…Sir."
Then Toddy added his logic, "Sir, as you noticed, we're probably your smallest OSS troops. If anything ever happened to a larger member of a team, we couldn't support them. I certainly can't carry a wounded wolf, I could hardly drag one. My weapons are smaller caliber, due to my reduced carrying capacity and recoil tolerance. Think of us more like a motorcycle than a truck, both have functions, but one does not function well when used as another….Sir."
The two of us stood at attention. We couldn't get this far just to be treated as a joke.
"All right mammals, here's what I will do." Wild Bull said, rubbing his eyes looking at the ceiling, "You will get a chance to show me what you can do…you're going off with a team, but they'll send you off on your own small mission to see if YOU CAN succeed. If so, you shall remain a team, If not, latrine duty…is this acceptable?
"Sir, Yes Sir!" We both yelled.
"And may God have mercy on your immortal souls".
Three days later, we met our team, "They're all wolves!" Toddy yipped!
"New meat, you have a problem with wolves?" one asked? "Hey, the Fox brought dinner with him." Pointing to me.
"Yeah, that's what your sister said too!" I smirked, a Level III at the grey wolf, "Or was it your mom…I forget."
'Well, in for penny, in for a pound' I thought…"any other coyote smart ass questions sergeant?"
"You're all right bunny…excuse me, Hare…like there's a difference on the plate."
"No problem", and I howled…"Aroooooo Roooo Roooo!" It was pretty good howl I'd learned to do in Basic…all 4 wolves howled in response. I looked at the team, shook my head, and started opening up a can of lunch. "You mutts don't do that in the field, right? You can control doing a howl? Please say you can….Puleeeze"
Toddy just stared at me, and broke up laughing. "Gentlemammals, we're both glad to meet you, everybody done peeing on the tree to mark it?" he snickered.
"I'm the spotter and support", pointing to me, "He is the shooter and he can hear further than all of us put together. I don't' have your nose power, but as a Fox, I'm still a long-muzzle chomper, so I'm no slouch, but nobody beats a wolf's nose."
One wolf pointed our bows…"Toys?" he asked.
"Nope, psyops warfare" I said, "something about seeing an arrow suddenly appear in a mammal's eye and him on the ground twitching, that you were just talking to…and you only hearing a "thunk" when it hit…pellets are dropping like rain…and yes, we can hit with these. Toddy is scary good with the big bow, I'm just Ok to pretty good with my smaller one…they will kill. With my rifle, I'm good for 800 yards or so, it's a 6x57 Mauser caliber and yes, that's a Maxim suppressor on the front. It's big, but it's quieter and the rifle kicks less, for a Hare my size, that's important."
"So, what's the plan" Toddy asked, as we all sat down with the team to plan our first action.
"It was a classic OSS, assassination action. A wolf in black death's head uniform was tasked with removing unacceptable mammals from the local population…mostly smaller predators and very large prey mammals. There were rumors they were actually using the prey for food. This was, just wasn't believable, but one of our new team had seen it…himself. This small black wolf, Sergeant TheLewit was doing a reconnoiter (recon) of the area, looking for weak areas and he heard howling and a shooting. He got a little closer and saw a pack of these mammals dressed in black uniforms grilling a bull, while his mate and calves were bawling. More shots, and the family was quiet. After posing with the dead family, the feast began.
"This is who your target is, this officer and any of his mammals you can get with him, but we really need him eliminated."
Toddy and I listened to who our target was, Toddy said, "We can do this, do you know or suspect where they bivouac, I'm guessing they like their comfort?"
I had a simpler question, "Do they have support of the locals, the politicians, any mammals who hate small chompers or large cud chewers? They must have support, we need to cut off all the heads involved, it's not just the black wolves in uniform who are doing this, they've got to have support."
Toddy thought for a minute or two, "We need to find out who the civilians are supporting this, the military thugs are the tool, who are the mammals helping them, driving them on. They need to be shaking under their beds, terrified of an arrow in their chest, or a wire noose around their neck and hanging them on a branch like fruit."
The wolves gave a loud, "Gulp!...looked at each other and then at us. Who are you guys?"
"Nobody of consequence, but he is Red because the Devil made him that way, I am grey because ashes will follow the fire of our wrath."
"Hare, forget I said anything, OK…we're good, right? Damn mammals, who are you?"
"We're Wild Bull Donovan's boys" and we both smiled.
"Who's he?" they all asked.
"Nobody of any consequence…but he makes us look gentle, cute and fuzzy", we both had Level IV Smirks, for once, mine worked. Toddy's was better, lots more teeth…I was always risking being labeled 'cute', a Hare's occupational hazard."
"We're going out tonight" Toddy said…do you have a wolf to guide us, you just need to get us close and wait to bring us back, we'll get ourselves closer."
Sergeant TheLewit held out his paw giving us both a welcome and respect, "I'll be proud to help you, it really hurt to watch and not be able to do anything…I never watch again." We'd found another warrior.
An hour later we had our bows in hand, our quivers held the arrows so the shafts wouldn't rattle, all our arrowheads razor sharp and nothing metal to rattle. We also carried a few knives carried all over us, also razor sharp. I was pretty good at knife throwing, too many bored hours in the barn when it rained, I was also deadly throwing an ax. Toddy's weapon of choice was his longbow, a true antique going back over 200 years, new bowstring of course. Sergeant TheLewit led the way, that wolf was ghost quiet…he smelled a sentry, they smoked such horrible cigarettes even I could smell him. We interrupted this black uniformed thug who was attacking a vixen at a small farm holding. I scaled down the "where would you stick a zebbra if he was facing away from you" for the wolf. I had to thank the SOE badger, the wolf was so surprised he never even made a noise when this Hare's knife bisected his black heart. Of course, the vixen, now she made noise."
Toddy got her calmed down and quiet. She looked at me and called me "Lapin?"…Toddy smirked, "Bunny".
"Oh, well, thank you very much…I'll wait the next time I'm rescuing damsels in distress…I'll give her a lapin."
Toddy just laughed, "Ah, my brother, such a delicate flower Hares are," and almost achieved a Level V Smirk, but his laughing stopped it.
Toddy and TheLewit could actually talk to the vixen named Miette, she started shaking badly, worried if the black wolves found her attacker dead they'd kill her.
Hearing, "No, little one, we'll take him with us," Miette stopped shaking.
Toddy asked her, "Who in town were the friends of the black wolves?"
Miette's responses were sad, but told us a lot, "The mayor, banker, school principal (who had several teachers taken away), and even the priest." Miette also showed us where their houses were and we decided to pay them a visit…now.
Miette just sat there staring at a wolf, fox and a bunny ("Hare, I'm a Hare!"), gave us each a kiss on our cheeks and a hug…then promptly fainted.
Sergeant TheLewit had studied the town and knew the best ways to get to the houses of the collaborators Miette named.
The mayor, a goat, was easy to find, and a coward, the wolf ended his miserable life with a wire noose around his neck, we hung him from a tree naked.
The banker, a very large ram, he had a heart attack when we woke him in his bed…he gave a gurgle and turned blue. Toddy actually looked disappointed, "He shouldn't have died in bed!"
So, I hung him upside down, naked from his stairway, more embarrassing that way….well, I tied the knot, Toddy and Sergeant TheLewit held him up, he was FAT.
The school principle, a sow, well, as Sergeant TheLewit said, "That was, um, that was truly…" and then he vomited, "who taught you to do that?" We hung her from a tree in her back yard…yes, also naked…always leave your political victim to be scorned and laughed at!
The priest, a grey fox, we saved for last. If the mammals belonged to a different faith, or didn't attend to his sermons, they disappeared. Villagers attended out of fear. Toddy was embarrassed, a Fox, colluding with black wolves, having mammals tortured and killed. I was even a bit shocked, but the fox deserved "what he sowed so shall he reap". The priest looked very good on the altar…he's lucky we couldn't' find any large nails.
It was a good start, the next morning a jeep was at our tent to "escort" us to see "Wild Bull"…
He sat there looking at us…staring at Toddy and then me. We were at attention looking straight ahead. Soon, a wolf captain entered, and a Leftenant Badger I recognized from Camp X. He was smiling from ear to ear, his eyes watering from holding in a laugh.
Finally, he couldn't hold it any more, "What the effing hell! Who taught you do that?! "That was bloody amazing!"…and was wiping tears out of his eyes.
"Um, you did leftenant…talking about a zebbra remember? I smirked…just a Level I.
"Hmmm. so I did, nice when someone listens,"…he sighed, "how'd you know who to go after?
Toddy rubbed his ears, "We stopped a black wolf from raping a vixen. Sergeant TheLewit found him, Hopps did the knifework and I calmed the vixen down and interrogated her to find out who the village traitors were. Sergeant TheLewit knew the village…so, we improvised and "went to town" as it were. Those 4 were the only ones the vixin knew for sure were helping the black wolves."
"Well Wild Bull" said the wolf Captain with the Badger nodding in the background, "Are they what we said they are?"
"Gentlemammals, I was wrong, I apologize. I let my biases get in my way and almost broke up a team that managed to scare the pellets out of a platoon of combat wolves. I heard Sergeant TheLewit still isn't eating, you really shocked that poor mammal."
I smiled, "Sir, it's what we were taught to do…scare our enemies, in uniform or out."
"I'd love to hear what the town residents think this morning," Toddy smirked, certainly to be some new elections being held.
"Sir, do you still want us to go after the wolf commander of this unit?" I asked.
"Actually not, let's let the psychological effects build up a bit, get the mammals looking at the black wolves as a group they'd really prefer not to be buddies"…Wild Bull was rubbing his eyes, "Let them not sleep well or overreact to noises in the night. If you really want to know, in a week or so, go see the vixen you rescued, she might have news we can use."
Toddy suggested, "Sir, what would you think of me shooting an arrow into the heart of the town? More psych stuff…I could paint the shaft black and the fletching red to look scarier."
The Badger laughed again, "Oh, I think that'd be great fun, as long as you're not too close."
Hopps Lake, Present Day
"Otto, I just don't have anything to say. I know it's a different time and a different place…and these were truly evil mammals. Judy may disagree with me, but I'd like to hope I'd have the courage of You or Toddy if I was in the same situation."
Otto looked at Nick, nodding slowly, and staring at the Fox. "Son, in that war, we did what he had to do to stop evil. An evil not seen for a long time. An evil and political design to crush the world and make slaves of the mammals who weren't just eliminated and turned into soap….I hope you never have to make the choices Toddy and I, and a lot of other mammals made." He laughed to himself, "Nick, this is just the start of it, Toddy and I go on. Let's start up tomorrow morning, maybe go into town for a change, I don't get out enough…maybe some blueberry something at Gideons…say what you will, that todd can bake."
"Let's go get dinner, any chair gets hard after a long time sitting…no pizza tonight, gotta' eat lighter, was burping all night long."