Hello again. So, my plans for just one weekend off kind of went FUBAR when my brother asked me to house sit for three weeks, then I just had no motivation to write for this week afterwards. Also, since my laptop doesn't have M. Word on it, and I hate Word-pad, I had to stop writing the story for this chapter. HOWEVER, I did start chapter six on my galaxy S8+. Once I transfer that to my PC, or just finish it on my phone, it'll be uploaded, maybe, depends on my laziness or motivation.
Anyway, till then.
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Ringing, a thumping on his forehead, blurred vision, and a lot more pain than he would like to be in. This was not the way Ryan wanted to wake up after trying to escape. Like last time, the ringing subsided, vision going back to normal. A steady beep was coming from his left, causing him to turn his head. A heart monitor? He went to move his right arm, but felt a tug with a sting of pain causing him to wince. Raising the offended arm revealed a tube with clear liquid slowly flowing through it. Looking around the room a bit more, it became clear where he was.
"A hospital? Wait, did I…?" Snore. He snapped his head in the other direction, instantly regretting the extreme stinging it caused in his neck. "No, It wasn't a dream" he quietly complained. That same damn female was sleeping on a chair next to his bed, arms crossed and head lazily leaned to one side.
"You'd think they'd keep her as far away from me, all things considered…" Thump, a large pain surged through his forehead again, causing him to breathe in quickly as a reflex. Moving his left paw to start rubbing his head, his vision blurred, and went back to normal. "A concussion, probably…"
"An aspirin would be great right about now…" he groaned as he forced himself to sit up. The bed creaked loudly, causing the female to wake up, much to his dismay. "Go back to sleep, I don't feel like dealing with you" he waved her off without looking, eyes narrowing as he stared down at nothing in particular. He heard her stretch, giving a light yawn.
"…What? And miss the part where you wither in pain as I get to say I told you so? Fat chance…" she sat up from her slumped position, rubbing an eye that had collected some gound. "You're welcome, by the way" this caused Ryan to turn his head towards her.
"For what?" he wasn't going to play any of her games, "cut to the chase, what happened?"
"You acted like an idiot and didn't come with me to the bunker. You ran through the halls like a madman, then fell and hit your head. You're lucky you were in the crossroads to the bunker, otherwise I wouldn't have dragged you in." she paused, "Don't move too much, by the way. Half your ribs are broken, along with your legs, piece of the ceiling fell on you. Honestly, I wasn't even sure if you were alive, being that the thing was as big as your head." She moved her hands, making a rather large circle to emphasize her statement.
"…" he was silent, coming to terms with what he was told. He pulled the sheets off, showing the bandages wrapped around his torso, casts on his legs. Internally cringing at looking like half a mummy, he slouched into the backrest of the bed. He blankly stared at the wall in front of him, before finally breaking down, "Damnit!" Slamming his free paw into the bed, a lone tear falling from an eye. "Damnit, damnit, damnit!" repeatedly slamming the bed with a fury. With his body so damaged like this there was no way he was going back home in the near future, the humans would have to practically carry him to a hospital in one of the cities. After what seemed like hours, he had calmed down. The female just sat there watching him, not berating him for once. The room was completely silent, save for the constant annoying beep from the heart monitor. After a few more minutes Ryan spoke up, "So, how long until I can finally go home. Get out of this… nightmare?"
"That's up for debate right now. When we brought you in, it was a bit difficult to work on you. The doctors aren't… well, familiar with your types, or willing. But bones are bones, so they figure a few months until you can walk normally, if you have the same healing rate as us that is. Don't think to ask them for anything, though. I had to order them directly just to look in your general direction. I'm still waiting for that thank you for saving your life, by the way" pointing at him, but quickly lowering her hand. He didn't respond, resigning himself to contemplating his circumstance. She couldn't help but think back to his two outbursts as she watched him. She leaned back into the small chair she had called a bed for last night, letting it rock on two legs. She couldn't think of what to do, to be honest. Sure, she promised to let him go, but he's still an animal. Like her advisors and parents said, all animals are to be seen as a threat. On the other hand, when he had an opportunity he had to completely screw them over, he chose not to. Given the time she had to think over what happened in the time Ryan was out cold, she still couldn't come to terms of what to do. This conflicted with so many things, causing her to audibly groan. Ryan broke out of his trance, moving his head to look at her.
"It's nothing, go back to sulking." The comment caused Ryan to scoff.
"Sulk? Half my body is a vegetable, I have a right to sulk. I also have a right to blame you for it, too. If It weren't for you, I would be home drinking a nice cup of caramel coffee while binge eating and watching a marathon of some crappy T.V. show. But no, instead of that, I'm stuck as half of a mummy in some underground… hellhole!" he flung his arms up to make a point. "The worst part is, every time I had a chance to escape I hesitated or messed up. If I had ran out that hangar door as soon as it opened, I might have escaped. If I looked around that jet a bit more, there might have been some seat ejection button. If I had ran faster, I could have found some exit door out of here before getting crushed by a piece of concrete!" he yelled. The female stood from her chair, taking a few steps toward him, but stopping just before him.
"Hey, you're really lucky to even be breathing right now! You should be thankful that we didn't have to amputate anything!" She pointed to his legs and arm, "A few more feet this way, a centimeter larger hitting you, you could have died!" She scolded. Noticing Ryan was getting aggravated, she decided she needed to de-escalate the situation, yelling at each other wasn't going to do any good. She sat back down in her chair, scratching the back of her head. She seemed to ease a bit, letting a small breath out. "Look, I'm not trying to make you angry again. I'm just trying to tell you that you were lucky to survive that."
Both stared at one another in silence, seemingly trying to read their minds. Ryan turned his head away from her, which only served to make the female a bit more tense. She was about to speak again, but before she opened her mouth, Ryan let his thoughts pour out first.
"No, I would have been lucky if I never was abducted by you. I didn't even know there was some hidden passageway! I was about to walk up that ladder and call it a day! But no, I get tranquilized and wake up in some interrogation room out of a spy movie!" nearly screaming at this point. Tired of the constant word battles, she decided to change the course of the souring conversation before it was too late again.
"I've thought about what you said for the past week." Causing Ryan to laugh for a few seconds, though it could have been just plain amazed shock that she actually did something other than plan world domination.
"That's a first" he deadpanned. Then his eyes widened a bit, fully realizing what she said.
"Week?! I've been out for a week?!" his voice raised as he started to panic. He tugged at his ears, that long already? He started to mumble to himself, the heart monitor starting to go haywire in the process. Letting him have his episode, she walking over to the machine, turning it off to spare her ears. She walked back over to the side of his bed, leaning again the wall. Once he calmed down enough, she started to talk to him. He had to turn his body to see her in the corner of his eye. Before he could let her have another piece of his mind, she spoke first.
"Just listen, please" she softly spoke. This caught Ryan off guard if nothing else. Never had she spoken to him in a tone like that, let alone say please. His mouth hung agape, trying to process what had just happened. Was this some sort of cruel trick to calm him down? Maybe, but constant fighting wasn't the most fun of things to do. He snapped from his thoughts, taking a deep breath, letting it out just in a loud sigh. "Alright, I'm listening," he finally responded.
"Well, you see…" she grunted, seemingly having lost what she was going to say. She tapped a finger on the corner of the headboard. Apparently hitting a brick wall of thought after not speaking for a good minute. Ryan stopped looking at her, slumping back into his bed, turning away from her again. He heard her move, then felt the bed seem to tilt. Was she seriously sitting next to him? A week ago she was going to shoot him dead, now she's comfortable enough to turn her back toward him while sitting down? Whatever she had been thinking in the past week, must've been some sort of miracle to make her demeanor towards him go from hostile to this. His ears automatically turned towards her as she spoke up again, seemingly finding the words she was looking for,
"I said you didn't understand, but not for the reasons you probably thought" her tone as calm as before.
"What could I have missed? We've been over this too many times to count"
"It's about before… before you were taken here. So no, you don't know" her tone a bit harsh. She softened up a bit, though. She continued, "They call me Madam President, but we're more-so a monarchy, if you know what that is." Ryan nodded his head, "As soon as we're able, we're taught about what you did to us, about why we're living the way we are"
"We've been over that. You had an experiment, it went bad, and then we took over the world. So what am I missing?" he started to get frustrated again. He already knew this, why was she repeating herself again?
"That's what normal people are brought up with. Me, on the other hand… as soon as they could, I was taught how to run this mess"
"An upcoming leader being taught how to lead? Next you'll tell me water is wet" Ryan interjected. She gave him a glare that made him back off a bit.
"Zip it, I'm getting to the point, just trying to explain this to you. So pipe it down or I'll have a gag put on you." Narrowing her eyes at him, but deciding escalation was probably not the best of ideas, especially with how comparatively well things were going. Ryan coughed a bit, clearing his throat before speaking up again.
"Alright, get on with it, then"
"Anyway, I'm not raised by some teacher, or a guide. I just sat in the shadow of my parents, learning from them, sometimes an advisor or two would teach me a few things if my parents were too busy. If you thought that I wanted to kill all of you… you wouldn't want to meet them." She chuckled a bit. "At first, I bought everything they said, like any normal kid would when their parents or elders said something. After they died, I was left to be in charge, as you can see"
"What do you mean at first? It seems like you still do" he said. She stood up from the bed, turning towards him.
"If I still did, then you-" she pointed at him, "-would not be in that bed with an I.V. stuck in your arm." Pointing at the bed. Ryan looked to his right arm, a small clear tube with nearly invisible liquid running to his arm. He relaxed slightly, knowing she didn't have to put him on medication, and with what little they probably even had.
"Fine, what happened?" his tone calming.
"After they died, I was put in charge. At first, most didn't think I could lead, and I couldn't blame them. I barely got into my teenage years when I was thrown into where I am now. It's been about six years since then, so in my spare time, I decided to read the reports from anyone who had gone to the surface. Thousands of years of records, going all the way back to when you barely had learned to how make a house."
"Okay… are you getting anywhere with this?" his response was a finger shushing him, before crossing her arms.
"I was taught you were all savages, peace between even yourselves hanging by a string. That the slightest nudge would collapse your entire world. However…" she paused, almost seeming like she was straining herself saying what she was. Taking a breath, she continued, "The more reports I read, the less that made sense to me. You weren't tearing at each other's throats, you were getting along just fine. That goes against everything that all of us were taught. Yes, you live in cities, like civilized societies tend to do. But it's only supposed to be a sort of… imitation, where you don't really understand what you're doing, you just… do it. You're supposed to go haywire as soon as you see us. You're supposed to just be animals imitating what we are, too dumb to actually think for yourselves, but…" she paused. She bit the bottom of her lip, almost as if what she was saying was actually causing her pain. Ryan cleared his throat, bringing her out of her trance. She gave him a blank look, causing Ryan to raise an eyebrow in confusion.
"But…?" Ryan was incredibly confused at how she was acting. Maybe that rock hit him harder than he thought? She scratched the back of her head again, before making a look that seemed like she decided on what to say. "But?" he repeated again.
"You aren't like that. And it seems like some think the same way as well after seeing you. None would admit it, though." She sighed. From her body language, it also had seemed as if a giant weight had fallen off her shoulders, did she have that mentality buried in her somewhere already? He figured it was possible, now that he thought of it. Recalling when he was still in that chair when he was fake sleeping.
"She's been acting strange…" he remembered one of her subordinates say.
"Hey, uh…" he stopped.
"Hmm?"
"I've just realized this… I was going to ask you something, but… I've never been told your name."
"…Right, must've skipped that part of the introduction while we were busy." They shared a laugh, seemingly finding a middle ground, finally. "Melanie, Melanie Louverne." She said. "Honestly, I don't even like my name, rather something along the lines of… well, it doesn't matter." She waved the thought off. Ryan looked at the clock on the wall, they'd been conversing for a while. Did she really have this much free time? For a leader of sorts, that's kind of odd, best not to question it though. Having a non-hostile relationship has many more benefits than potentially angering her. Best to change the subject, he figured.
"So…what's with the other ones… uh… the Polts, right?" He asked, almost amused by the slight laugh it drew from the female-though it seemed more nervous than would be considered normal. "What's so funny? Sure they tried to kill us, but it doesn't mean they can't be reasoned with. Look at you, seems like I finally got through that brick wall." She scoffed in mock offense at his minor poke at her, but quickly went back to her usual neutral look, though much more serious. He could see that she was trying to explain something that would best be read in a ten thousand page book by how focused she seemed. Coming back from her thoughts, she started to explain just how ludicrous his statement was.
"Think of what I've said about my parents, then multiply it by some arbitrary and insanely high number. They don't even treat their own very well, as I said. If they had our weapons, your entire world would be, ah… nevermind. It wouldn't be good for you or us… or anyone for that matter, let's leave it at that," she started scratching the back of her head again, Ryan figured it to be an involuntary habit, "And to answer your inquiry of peace between us… we tried it multiple times. We've been at odds for a long, long time. A while ago, every so often we would send some poor soul that had hopes of ending it, only for him or her to… not come back. I haven't tried sending anyone, nor did my parents. Come to think of it, we haven't tried in a few hundred years. But given how things have been escalating lately, I highly doubt they would respond with anything but a body bag at our door step." She finished. Ryan had a slight look of shock, how could a conflict like this be so heated after this long? No wonder they didn't have an issue holding a grudge for twenty five millennia. Something nagged the back of his mind, though, what started all of this? He had to know, and seeing how he was finally getting answers, he might as well ask.
"What happened to make you two so hostile? I could understand a lifetime grudge, but this is just insane."
"Well, according to our documents, we used to be one big community around five hundred years ago. But, as usual, some civil discourse broke out. We splintered off from them and took a good portion of their cities. Since most of the cities we managed to take in our coup were military based, we didn't have too much trouble fending them off. To this day they still call us names such as traitors, murderers, and etcetera. But seeing how they treat their own kin, it's no wonder we broke off. A few of them have run from away, coming to us with plenty of horror stories. We don't want to send anyone to validate those claims, so we've just taken their word for it."
"That bad, huh?"
"Yes, that bad." She said. "On that note, it's also bad that I've been here for three hours talking to you. I have things I should get to." She stood up from the bed, stretching to get blood flowing to her ligaments again, letting a grunt out when she finished. "If you need anything, tap the button to your right, giant red one, can't miss it. Make sure it's for something that's actually important, this isn't some vacation away from home, as I'm sure you agree." With that, she left the room, leaving Ryan to process what happened. He slumped from his sitting position, cursing at the pins and needles feeling coming from nearly his entire body. Letting his head gently to the pillow to prevent any more damage that may accrue.
"I should get some rest, not like I can do anything else, anyway." Looking over to the button, he pondered one very important question.
"I wonder if I can emergency call them to turn the lights off?"
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"In further news, former mayor Lionheart has been re-instated as the current elect mayor of Zootopia once again. Many believe his alibi was true, and his methods, though criminal, were at the time necessary. Newer former mayor Dawn Bellweather is awaiting trial, reasons I'm sure you're all aware of.
"Thank you Kathy. Yes, it's taken nearly six months to get the trial set up and I'm sure you're all dying to keep your updates as up to date as possible. We, along with several news stations, have been allowed to film the event. So stay tuned on the trial date to be able to watch history in the making."
"Finally, I'd began to wonder if they'd ever get to her trial." Violet lazily spoke, one arm propping her head up while she lay on the couch. The news had been going crazy all around the country over the announcement of the nick-named "Savage Trials" finally getting underway. Doug and his two associates had pleaded guilty almost immediately, though their trials would probably take years to get to at this rate.
A few minutes of non-important news later, the doorbell rang, snapping her from her trance in front of the television. It was rang again, then again, starting to get of her nerves. Bolting from her couch, she made her way to the door.
"Coming! Don't kill the doorbell, please!" she shouted. Opening the door revealed the mammal she was supposed to remember was coming over. Which then reminded her that she was supposed to also do about twenty other things in preparation, of which a grand total of zero were accomplished.
"I wouldn't have to ring your doorbell if you checked your phone," giving her an amused grin.
"You know I barely check my phone, Romen. Besides, I was… busy, yeah." Crossing her arms, trying not to let him see that she in fact did exactly what he said, which was nothing.
"Hmm, yes. Busy watching T.V.? I'm going to assume you didn't do anything, either. You know, I told you to do them right away, lest you fall into your whole procrastination phase." Sounding like some sort of life coach. Violet rolled her eyes, standing aside to let him in. Making their way to the living room, she began to clear off her coffee table, Romen bringing another chair to the opposite side. Letting himself drop into the chair, he started going over what she had called him over for.
"So, you're absolutely sure he's not dead? I mean, no doubts at all, one hundred perfect sure?" he asked.
"For the last time, yes. I told you already, they only found his bag in that tunnel, after that, it looked like the hallway caved in, but they said there was something strange about it." She added.
"You didn't tell me that last part before, find it out recently?" Leaning back into the cushion as he spoke.
"Ah… no, well, kind of. They called a few days later to tell me what they had found covering his bag and the tunnel rocks. I just… couldn't remember everything from the call." She waved her arms in front of herself, "But that's not the point. They said it didn't look like a normal cave in, whatever a "normal" one looks like. They said it looked, well, controlled. The rock samples they took had various chemicals that weren't natural. As in, they were made by somebody." She leaned forward, looking to the ground. She had been trying to figure out why they were there for the past few days, but to no avail. "I don't remember the all of the chemicals they listed off, and I didn't think to write them down, or call them back come to think of it. But some were cyclonite, pentaerythrite, lithium grease and stearate, and… oh, right, dimethylbutane. There were more, but I don't remember them all." She slammed into the back of the couch, letting out a large breath in frustration.
"Did you search what those are used in? A quick internet search goes a long way, you know." He responded, getting his phone out. "A few taps, aaaand here we go. So, according to the National Chemical Assosiation, those are most commonly used in… hold on a second…" he swiped a few times, garnering a raised eyebrow from Violet. "I think I found out why that hallway was caved in, and those rescuers and whoever else looked into it may know too. Add in a few more things, and when you combine them all and let them sit in a solvent of some sort, you get a nice hunk of PE-4, also known as an explosive used by the military." That last sentence had Violet shoot her head up.
"The military did this?!" she shouted.
"No, I'm saying that it's a military grade explosive. They sell the stuff to normal mammals, you know. Though I doubt Ryan would be dumb enough to be carrying around military explosives with him in a tunnel." He finished. Both were trying to put two and two together, though this seemed more like trying to figure out something impossible.
"None of us would have had a need for that stuff at all. So either someone did it on purpose or… wait a minute. The town collapsed, do you think that the same stuff could've been used to level the town?" she began to think there was a conspiracy of sorts.
"If this stuff was there, probably. Wouldn't take much to bring those buildings down, just bring a single supporting pillar down and there goes the entire thing. Now, there was the earthquake, Violet. That would've brought them down too." He looked at her at his last sentence, seeing if she was even paying attention, or going off into conspiracy land. Surprisingly she was still looking at him, rather than what she'd usually do. Romen stared at her, trying to figure out what was running through her mind, though it was always a fruitless effort trying to read her. She clapped her paws, then started digging her phone out from her pocket.
"Okay, I'm going to call that rescue team's company and some others, and see if they'll send for another team to go and take a closer look. It'll probably end up blowing up in my face, but what else can we do?" she started to look through her phone for that logged call from the rescue company, but Romen talked before she could get to the number.
"Nothing? Violet, that place at best, was one hundred degrees on a cool day. If he's above ground, the heat and humidity would've turned him into a raisin by now. Any of the water there is full of parasites and bacteria that would kill him anyway, if he were desperate enough to drink any, and there's nothing to eat there, anyway." She shot him an angry glare, he knew that look of disapproval. He had to convince her it was a waste of energy, physically and mentally, to think he was alive. But how? He knew explaining wouldn't usually stop her, but he had to try. Sometimes hammering a point would persuade her to at least postpone whatever she was doing, or force her to accept the truth. But this was a different scenario entirely. He wondered if she held Ryan in the same regard as her mother, seeing as she seemed like nothing would derail her from her goal. But his point still stands, hope doesn't keep someone alive- food, water, and shelter do. Ryan would have zero of those, right? Perhaps he went into a part of the tunnel that collapsed behind him, and he's already passed away from fatigue or injuries. He could be jungle food if not that by now, too. It was a mystery how he disappeared, and one that he felt may never be solved. So many possibilities, but all would inevitably end in Ryan's demise, Violet just couldn't accept that. But he knew better than to tell her that, it wouldn't do anything but cause her to work harder, instead of accepting what's probably happened. He went through the best way to convince her, coming to a conclusion a few minutes later.
"Violet, I have to know something. I want the truth, not some dream or hope you have," he spoke up.
"What?" instantly shooting back.
"Do you honestly believe that he has the slightest chance of being alive right now? If yes, what about a week from now? A month? A year? Will you keep thinking that he's alive when you're on your deathbed, just because his body wasn't found?" his voice raising with every sentence. She stared at him, opening her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She looked back down at the ground, giving her answer without even speaking. He knew it, she thought he was dead just as much as he did, she just didn't want to believe or admit it.
Romen's expression softened just a bit. Maybe he had been a bit harsh, but it got the desired results. However, just because he was dead, doesn't mean he should be left to rot in some uninhabited jungle to be eaten by insects and reptiles. He stood from his chair, walking over to the couch, sitting next to her. She must've been contemplating, or ignoring him, given how she didn't flinch when he sat down. Staring at her face for a few seconds, seeing how defeated she looked now that she had to accept he was gone. He leaned back into the couch, letting out a sigh, feeling a bit a stress going with it.
"Look, I'll still help you find him, I just didn't want you to think that he'd be still… well, alive. Our food would spoil within a few weeks, and the water wouldn't last long in that heat, either. Without any gas to run the generator, the purifier wouldn't run either. So maybe he's alive right now if he's in that state. But the rescue team would've found him if he was, so he probably doesn't have access to the site if he's still alive. But like I said, I'll help you find him. I'm sure everyone else will too. Heck, start a funding campaign to help you get another team up to search for him, I'm sure plenty would donate to it," he finished, looking at her for a response. Well, she blinked, that was a good sign-maybe. She brought an arm up, wiping the side of her face he couldn't see, letting her arm rest back on her leg afterwards. She seemed to go back to spacing out for a bit, but came to a while later.
"Yeah… That's…" stopping for a few seconds, "That's probably for the best." She seemed to finish. Romen was about to speak up, but like he said before, nothing would stop her, "BUT, if you think I'm going to give up hope, you're dead wrong, and you know it. Yes, I would wait until I'm on my deathbed to finally say he's gone, and that's that." She stop back up, the look of defeat replaced by her usual determined self as she stared at him. Romen could only give a single chuckle, figuring he should've seen this coming.
"Alright then, miss positive, it's settled. However, it's getting late, and I like sleep as much as the next guy. We'll meet up later to set things up." He stood up, Violet following soon after. After he left the small house, he figured he might as well have a small victory in his argument, however small it might be.
"And remember to actually have the place ready, the tub of ice cream is halfway on the carpet!" he yelled, causing her to look back at the living room. She let out some words he couldn't make out, seeing as she slammed the door as she said them, though he could probably guess.
"Heh, long week indeed."
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Well, have to say, took slightly over a month to update a chapter. 2/3 of it was spending three weeks housesitting. The other two were just procrastination, though I did add a paragraph or two every other day. As of right now, chapter six is... mostly done. So that shouldn't take long, maybe. I say maybe a lot, don't I? Need to work on that habit...