Mara Wilder... Hog Wild

Naomi Wilder and Jasmine Reis took turns leading the children who'd come in with their parents for Take Your Child to Work Day. They had a schedule to keep; but it was loose because they had to work around customer and employee needs. Also, organizing any group of children was a bit like herding rats... they tended to scurry about.

Naomi might joke that the employees at the bank had given her plenty of experience in dealing with children; but not with any of her employees. As the HR manager for the branch, she had to be a good example to her fellow co-workers. Still, it was true enough that she was willing to share the thought with the Jasmine, the teller manager, if not the exact wording.

"Everyone seems very well behaved," Naomi quiped after Jasmine explained how I Spy worked and got them started with the giant penny in the lobby. "But especially the children."

Jasmine's eyes sparkled, but she refrained from admitting to the gag. "I think Giles' idea of taking the cell phones away from the kids really helped. The older girls aren't distracted and are actually helping."

Naomi shook her head sadly. "Who gives a 12 year old a cell phone? Honestly."

"The world," Jasmine song softly, "...she is a-changing."

Naomi snickered but almost immediately, the two of them had to 'break-up' two of the youngest girls over a guess. Still, nothing compared to the bitch fest she had to deal with over a new temp some of the girls decided didn't belong there. And easier to deal with... they just sent the two young combatants to opposite corners of the bank, to let them whine to their own parents. No paperwork.

She wondered if the employee manual would let her call an employee's elderly mother. Probably not in the spirit of the modern, enlightened work place to squeal. Still, tempting.

Her daughter guessed something, but was wrong, leaving her to laugh at her outrageous guess. Mara stood out among the other children; of course she was the only Porcine in group, so her naked piebald face tended to catch one's eyes. There was a younger canine with similar facial markings, but there was no confusing the classic pig snout with the brown button muzzle of a pup.

Mara was an only child; the first in generations on either side. It was a more modern ideal, really, and going against type. Naomi had loved being part of a huge litter growing up and her husband Robbie had been one of four sets of twins. But they both had bitter memories of tight money, limited resources, and tough decisions. Mara's birth was difficult. There wouldn't be anymore children from Naomi's womb.

And while there were procedures that could have been done... they decided to spoil the one child and fill the house with grandchildren or adopt some later in life.

"Does my Mara seemed spoiled to you, Jasmine?" Naomi asked after the stray thought lingered.

Jasmine didn't bother to search for a diplomatic answer. "Nothing like that Toddson girl, but you can tell Mara's an only child."

Naomi laughed, deep and hearty, and not at all offended. "I will take that as a YES, then?"

Jasmine shrugged. "Just in little ways. She's not a toy-h-hoarder. Or especially used to getting her own way; but she's IS used to getting an adult's attention when she asks for it. Oh, she's polite enough, but you should see her eyes if someone needs to finish a sentence... so, I think that's normal for an only child."

Hog wasn't her favorite word for greedy people; but she wasn't going to make her co-workers walk on eggshells around each other. Naomi was going to tell her it was all right to say Toy-Hog when bullets and screaming interrupted the conversation.

All the children screamed at once. Naomi and Jasmine might have also. Things were instantly chaotic, Naomi told the children to get down and she pushed everyone together. She glanced up and around and saw the guards moving purposely about. It took her a moment to realize that they weren't reacting to a threat so much as being the threat.

Mara followed her mother's lead and kept quiet, after her initial peal of terror. "It's not a game, is it Mama?" she asked under her breath. Naomi shook her head NO.

The Turtle guard stomped towards the girls. "I count twelve kids." It snapped, its beak snapping like a series of broken bones. "Where are the other two?"

Jasmine, not yet realizing the guards were the issue, waved towards the tellers and the office area. Naomi hissed, but Jasmine was oblivious. "The Kit's with her father in the back and the bunny's behind the teller windows..." Then Jasmine seemed to realize the turtle was leveling a gun at her furry midsection. Her pink lips went pale as the turtle gestured to another guard, a crocodile, to get the kids.

Naomi glared at Jasmine; but could say nothing. What could she say when she would have done the same thing herself, probably?

"We're going across the lobby to stand against that big orange wall." The turtle snapped. His speech making a terrible clacking sound at the end of each word. She was almost sure he was making that noise on purpose. "We're going to stay calm and quiet. Listen to what I say. And no one will get hurt." The turtle backed up and reached for a black thing on the customer counter. Naomi had no idea where it had come from, but it looked like a weird type of weapon. A short rifle of some sort with two small disks on the stock with a sliding universal trigger. She had no idea how it had gotten there, but there were others and the tortoise guard grabbed them as he waved the two unlucky customers to join the hostages.

It was the sort of weapon a supervillian would use, Naomi thought.

"Every one do what they say, and stay calm," she repeated aloud, her voice calmer then she expected it to sound. She did not want to find out what that gun did. She prayed to Aesop no one would end up as a living glass statue.

As the hostages gathered against the orange wall near the reception desk, she did her best to talk calmly to the kids and keep them and their parents calm. The fake guards seemed fine with letting her help control the crowd until their boss showed up.

He stood seven foot tall, a Reptilian Sport... or was he a Throwback? Naomi couldn't tell, for he was orange with brown patches, and she had no idea of his exact species. He might well have been a monster from a Dinosaur movie, especially the futuristic rifle in his claws. He wore matte black armor, but enough exposed skin to doubt the armor offered any real protection. Still, he looked bullet proof.

"I am Stegosaurus Rex," the creature growled, as it paced before them. Naomi thought his skin lightened to yellow for a moment as he moved. "My men and I are from the Reptilian Liberation Army and we are NOT here to rob your bank, although we will gladly accept donations." The bug-eyed lizard and Crocodile snickered at this joke, while the two shelled Repts were unmoved. But then, Naomi might not recognize a smile behind those beaks

Naomi hardly noticed the guards. Her attention stayed on the boss. He looked cruel, with his stubby snout and spike crested forehead that met in a broad ridge across his face, darkened brown skin making it look like he was wearing a mask. But this close, Naomi could see it wasn't. Did someone turn him into this? It would explain his anger... and he did seem more angry than cruel.

As he paced, Naomi could see that his whole back was crested with jagged plates that seemed more a part of his body than part of his armor.

"No," Rex continued in his cruelly rasping voice as he paced, "We are here to ask you a very important question... 'Do you love your children?'"

The hostages gasped as a group. They couldn't help it and the large Rept calling himself Rex seemed to have expected it. He paced, eyeing each man, woman, and child before him. Naomi found herself pulling Mara closer to her, crushing her child against her with a force that would have left bruises the ext day, except for what happened. In any case, Mara didn't seem to think she was being held tightly enough.

"Now, please," Stegosaurus Rex said as he marched back and forth, "the Reptilian Liberation Army would like to apologize for this disruption in your everyday lives. I'm sure this isn't how you planned to spend your day, but it is a cruel world out there. It's my appointed task to help you understand just how cruel it is... at least for those of us who aren't as pretty or as graceful as your Furries." He was angry, self-righteous, but Naomi thought that his apology wasn't quite sarcastic.

"Now, in regards to the children..." The big monster stopped in front of Nancy Target and casually pointed his gun at the little female white rabbit with the silly puff of pink head hair. "Her." he said and the gecko guard leapt forward and pulled her from her mother's grasp.

Stegosaurus Rex suddenly jerked to the left and then seemed to smile a bit. His gun seemed to stay magically focused on the everyone else in the crowd. "Don't worry, Dog. I won't harm the children. This is just a thought experiment made real." His eyes were bright, nearly dancing. His gun indicated waived at everyone else who just happened to be there. "We won't hurt them... oh no, but they might. With their hate and prejudice... and their pretty little minds... their petty little minds."

The large villain took two steps to the right and pulled a young pup away from the canine temp the ancient crones in the backroom hated. She'd escaped a strange doomsday commune to keep them from selling her child off, or so Naomi understood from the temp agency that hired her out. So, the howl Morning let loose was especially heartbreaking.

Naomi reached out to her, but for all that they were crowded against the same wall, Morning was a million miles away.

One of the shelled gunman took the pup from Stegosaurus Rex, almost reluctantly, and a male voice growled out, "Leave her alone, you freak!"

Naomi didn't recognize the voice or the shirtless canine the useless bluster came from. She did recognize the feline clutching him, cowering as if afraid, but instead probably shielding him. Naomi hoped Jhu-Jhu could keep her boyfriend from getting them all killed.

"No," Stegosaurus Rex spun towards the Dog at the edge of the hostages, clobbering the hysterical mother with his oversized head and crest. "She should know this."

He did step back, however, and made a casual show of displaying his large weapon to his captives, as if to remind them all who was in charge. Despite his arguing with one of them, he wasn't to do anything but give orders. He was a crazy armed man with a mission, his body language said.

The room listened. What sobbing that was left was instantly subdued.

"There were three qualified USB employees who wanted this job. It's not a very prestigious job, of course, but it pays better than a simple teller post. And they had a nice bit of seniority going for them. But, they were Reptiles. Dirty, stinking Repts and we can't have the rich Furries sending their children to them for free money, oh no. Bad enough the poor Furries have to deal with them, eh? So, this branch... alone in all the USB branches in the state is made up of Temps."

Naomi was floored. None of it was true. Someone was on maternity leave. That's why there was a temp here at all. Three people had inquired about the job from across the state; but USB didn't promote and relocate employees for just six months. She certainly didn't exclude any Reptiles for a posting... no posting existed!

"Funny how the green Temps never last very long." Rex forced himself to laugh. "I can see you're a mixed breed, lady. You know what it's like then to have people turn their muzzles up at you... just for having the wrong colored fur or a tail that's too long... or too short. You like being called a Mutt? You like hearing people discussing Purity in stage whispers?" Naomi flinched in sympathy as the thug asked her these insane questions. The Rept was crazy. They were all going to die.

"Well, that's what it's like when you're a Reptile, only ten times as bad. Separate bathrooms for health reasons. Landlords turning off the heat in the cold winter night leaving whole families in torpor until someone finds them or until they are evicted or wake up in some sweat shop chained to a table. Locked out of sports... clubs... most of us can't even fit comfortably behind the wheel of an automobile."

The crocodile moved forward without the big crazy Rex pointing instruction and grabbed Gile's little kit. Both of their eyes went wide, and Naomi held her breathe waiting for the young fox or her father to misbehave. For a miracle, neither did. Still, the crocodile halted and seemed transfixed by the only young Avi in the group rather than the girl he had just grabbed.

Flight was ten and she was the prettiest Crane that Naomi had ever seen. This was her second year coming to this event, with her stepmother Lucy Savanah. She was mature for her age and had seemed interested in how all the machines and programs worked. Although, it shamed her, Naomi began to pray silently, wishing for the brute to take the Toddson brat rather than the silent and serious avian child.

The Croc slammed his naked tail on the marble floor, making everyone jump a little and growled a question to his boss in Street Click-Clacks, the easy slang for those Repts that never bothered to enunciate properly. Naomi was sure they were meant to find it off-putting and vaguely threatening. If so, it was working.

Rex told him no and Lucy grabbed her overly brave child and pulled Flight behind her, a Lioness protecting her child. Naomi was too frightened to chide herself for the stereo-typing. She didn't feel very professional at the moment.

The Croc dragged the kit away as Rex spoke to Lucy as if he knew her.

Or knew OF HER.

It occurred to Naomi how odd it was that he should seem to know so much about the Lioness. Despite his idiotic claims that every one in the branch was a temp, could he really know a lot about the staff? In fact, of the three children they had taken aside, all three of them were the "only child" of single parents. Was that on purpose?

She hugged her only child tighter.