Hello hello! I have returned with a new chapter for you! I do apologize that its been a little over a month but with my semester nearing the end things are picking up so I am staying busy. Although I freely admit this chapter could have been done and out sooner but during my sprink break I took a break from literally everything and went down to Florida. sorry but I needed it.
Hey look! look! do you see it!? Thats right I have a cover image for the story now! The scene should be familiar to you all I hope! This work was done, and the one for ATB that I neglected to mention, were both done by the very talented WastedTime EE. Who also in case you don't already know has also done the amazing story The Rehabilitation of Dawn Bellwether and its sequel A Lamb Among Wolves. If you have not read them I can wholeheartedly recommend that you do. Also if you like the way the artwork looks and wish to have one of your own go look him up! The work is superb, the prices are great, and he's a great guy in general.
4 new followers, 5 new favorites...and look! REVIEWS! Oh how I have missed them! Please don't hesitate to review even if its a few short words, I love getting feedback!
Draconis2U: well its good to hear you enjoy my story! I originally started this story because I did not want to do a straight wildehopps story out of the gate, because while I enjoy every fluffy moment, that's this fandoms main component and I didn't want my story to get lost in the crowd. I had this concept in my head for awhile and since I had seen none like it I thought it was the perfect launch point to get me off the ground. What I did not expect though was how fast it took off. So its glad to hear my efforts are still going smoothly.
Wildefan23: Unless I die, I won't be stopping this story. And if I do, well it will go into the capable paws of my beta BrutusDeagon. So fear naught!
Alright I think i've jabbered on enough for now, so story time!
Chapter 11.4: V status
Jack and Micheal finally exited the bathroom and started to head back to their seats, several of the other mammals on the plane looked up at them as they passed but otherwise said or did nothing. As they got closer to their sits Jack noticed Evelyn look at them and the second she made eye contact with him she quickly turned away, turning into a embarrassed fireball as she did. Jack started to raise an eyebrow in curiosity when it shot back down and he burst in to a fireball of embarrassment as well. There was only one reason she would have been embarrassed, and that is if she had her ear on the door during…. "Oh shit…well at least she got a good show..why did I just think that? Bad brain."
Micheal noticed Evelyn's actions as well and could even see a blush peaking through Jack's fur, so he brought Jack to a stop a few feet shy of Evelyn. He was about to ask what was going on but Jack beat him to the punch by whispering in his ear, "she had an ear to the door probably the entire time, well up until we started to join the mile high club….I hope.."
Now Micheal's face also turned into a fireball of embarrassment. "Well…ah, um…yeah shit seems like the appropriate word."
Jack nodded twice and murmured "agreed. Well, let's get this over with, I'm already feeling uncomfortable enough as it is."
At that Jack padded past Micheal and took his seat, opening one of his bags and starting to rummage through it. Micheal followed Jack with his gaze, wondering what Jack meant by him being uncomfortable before adding it to the list and retaking his seat next to Evelyn. Evelyn didn't say anything to either of them as they sat back down, her face still tinged red. Evelyn may be impulsive, straightforward, flamboyant, and frisky especially when it comes to all things sexual. But when you're being nosy and happen to hear your best friend in the whole world starting to get…."I don't even wanna finish that thought."
While she was trying to purge the thought and the imagery that came with it from her brain Evelyn heard Jack mutter to himself "where are they? I know I have some."
She took that moment to glance over at Jack who currently had his third bag open on the floor in front of him, he was scratching his head while it had a little tilt. It was so freaking ADORABLE! Which probably was not a word that someone would normally associate with him. The fox in front of her was a hardened mammal, handsome but with an aura of intelligence and danger to him, and and penance to show little to no emotion. She got that based off what she had observed of him since she first saw him walk onto the plane. Of course as she learned who he was and watched him up close she saw the layers lying deep beneath that he did not let show, or at the most only let show a little.
This moment she was seeing now was one where one of those layers was showing through, and he probably didn't even notice. Evelyn took a moment to look at Micheal and saw a soft smile upon his face as he took in Jack's adorable look as well, which caused her to smile as well. The moment was broken though by Jack calling out "ah there it is."
Evelyn turned back to Jack to see him holding a rectangular tin of mints. He jangled them a couple of times and triumphantly said "Ha I told you I had some."
Jack then tossed them over to Micheal who caught them one pawed. Micheal popped the lid open, looked in and said, "ahhh Jack, there's nothing but matches in here."
Jack tilted his head and replied "what do you mean?"
Micheal simply just titled the open tin to show Jack a bunch of matches inside. Jack scrunched up his faced and leaning back letting out an "ah shit."
Jack shook his head once and then said "well damn, I put a bunch of matches in a mint tin a two years, three months, two weeks, and seven days ago, didn't realize that's the tin I grabbed. Sorry."
Evelyn looked back and forth at Jack and Micheal confused about a couple things that she needed elaboration.
"Okay hold on. One, Jack why do you have a mint tin full of matches. Two, how in the world can you remember the exact date on something so little and mundane? Three, Micheal why in the world would you look disappointed about not getting a mint? You don't even like mints."
Jack was quick to answer her first question by simply pulling out his cigarettes and shaking them before replacing them in his pocket.
Micheal chimed in at seeing the pack of cigarettes saying. "Jack you smoke? You know how bad that is for you?"
Jack just shrugged and casually said, "well I can't well and go pour a bourbon now can I? Because drinking ain't allowed and I recently decided I shouldn't drink every night. I can quit these anytime I want with no side effects, I've done it before. But I need something to help take the edge off and for now cigarettes are the best damn thing I got."
Once Jack was finished speaking he crossed his arms and Micheal and Evelyn exchanged glances with each other, and after a moment Evelyn took the reins.
"Jack, are you an alcoholic?"
Jack scoffed a little and replied, "no I've never been an alcoholic, I was more of a..borderline alcoholic if anything. But I've given up hard drinking."
At Jack's reply Evelyn and Micheal glanced at each other again and this time Micheal spoke. "Jack, all alcoholics claim they're 'borderline'."
Jack let out a irritated huff at that and retorted, "fine then I guess I'm a fucking alcoholic. But you would be to if you couldn't forget anything at all."
Jack took in the expressions on their faces and then continued. "Oh yeah, that's the answer to your second question to by the way. I have a condition called hyperthymesia, it's is a condition in which an individual possesses a superior autobiographical memory. Meaning I can recall the vast majority of personal experiences and events in my life with vivid and excruciating detail, I also have a complete photographic memory. Add those two together and I can remember everything, absolutely everything that has occurred in my life. This gift comes with its own curse though, since I remember everything as I side effect I can't forget anything either."
Jack paused to let that sink in for the two before continuing. "Every single bad thing that has happened in my life I remember with one hundred percent complete clarity. Then add the simple fact that I have gone through so much terrible shit adds to the fact that yeah, I drank. I drank a lot because when I was drunk it was the only time those godsdamn memories weren't assaulting my consciousness with their presence. It was the closest I could get to forgetting them, if not just for a few splendid moments."
Jack took in their shocked expressions and figured he might as well drive the point home. "So, with my perfect memory, comes horrendous nightmares. All those dark moments come back when I close my eyes. It was every night, and I've tried everything, so in the end…I haven't slept in 2 years, 11 months, 1 week, and four days. I tried sleeping the day I stopped being a vigilante, it didn't go over well. Before that I hadn't slept in 6 years, I tried sleeping after I got my Justice and Ironsides was behind bars, didn't work out. Before that day I hadn't slept in another 6 years, so in total for 14 out of 19 years of my life I have not slept a damn wink."
Jack took a deep breath and then finished his speech. "Now look, I know there's probably a bunch of things you two wanna say to me about all of this, or arguments to my non sleeping, or emotions you wish to express. But for the love of Karma, don't. It's gonna be nothing I haven't heard before so spare me the pity and the questions. The only things I wish to talk about now is what was set before me and Micheal left the bathroom, which is my vigilantism and his needing a mint, and you owing me an apology. But to start, Micheal was disappointed about me not having mints is because his breath smells like fox cock."
Micheal and Evelyn stared at him, a myriad of emotions locked in on their faces as they sat their frozen from his speech. Their minds racing as they sorted through and tried to comprehend the speech they were just given by Jack. All of these things they just told them…was staggering. At the same time they also both formed blushes, Micheal's being on of embarrassment at what Jack casually finished with. Evelyn's blush because of the imagery she got, which had to admit was kinda hot, and mused on it for a brief moment. That was of course cut off by her inner shrink kicking in with the prevalent thought of "Now I definitely have to help him and become his shrink, he needs serious help, and more help than I originally thought."
Evelyn and Micheal sat there for about another two minutes just staring at Jack, unmoving, and Jack took that time to over some checks with his laser tripwire explosive traps. He paused checking one of the traps when he finally heard some commotion across from him. Evelyn was reaching into her right pocket and starting to rummaged around it a little. After a moment her paw emerged holding a plastic circular box of mints. She then tapped the box of mints on Micheal's arm all the while still looking at Jack.
Micheal feeling the box of mints hitting his arm fumbled for them before finding it and taking out three mints and popping them in his mouth. Then it was his turn to tap the mints on Evelyn's arm and her to fumble for them before replacing them in her pocket. At this point Jack was a little confused that they had yet to snap out of simply staring at him and moving forward with what they needed to discuss, then it clicked. "Oh, it could be because I'm casually handling small blocks of C4 connected to laser tripwire traps. Yeah I should probably put these away."
Jack sheepishly put away the three entry denial devices he had been checking over and clasped his paws together waiting for them to engage. Micheal, still sucking on the mints, pointed to the bag and stated. "Was that C4?"
Jack nodded once and replied "yeah, it was. Those were some of my entry denial devices, it's small blocks of C4 attached to laser tripwires. Basically I drill the traps into windows, doorways, walls, chokepoints, anywhere really that could be considered entryways to my location. Once the trap is drilled in I turn on the laser tripwire, and any enemy that comes through that point triggers the trap and they paint the walls along with anyone behind them up to 15 feet."
Evelyn and Micheal exchanged glances with each other before snapping back onto him and both exclaiming at once, "and you're just fiddling around with them on a plane!?"
Jack recoiled back a bit and then let out a little chuckle before replying "yeaahh, I admit probably not my smartest moment. So much for my 181 IQ am I right?"
Micheal and Evelyn's jaws dropped simultaneously. Evelyn let out a squeak and Micheal spluttered out "wh-wh-what!?"
It took a second for Jack to catch on. "Oh, I did just casually mention I'm smarter than Einstein by IQ standards."
Evelyn pointed a shaky finger at him and squeaked out "181!?"
Jack looked up at the ceiling and let out a sigh before looking back and saying, "yes, my IQ is 181."
Micheal looked to be hyperventilating at the moment so Evelyn continued. "That. that. that.. that makes you smarter than.."
"Einstein yes. By IQ standards I am smarter than Einstein, but only by IQ standards. He was a brilliant mathematician and I can't stand math in the slightest. Now on the other paw I…"
Before he could continue Micheal recovered and cut him off. "No! No! Don't you even finish whatever you were about to say because if you do we'll never get to the topics we were supposed to be getting to! Sweet mother of wolves..if you continued who knows where you were going. So freeze whatever your next words were."
Jack leaned back a little and put his paws up in surrender. "Alright, alright. I concede."
Micheal nodded a few times and replied "good. You can restart wherever you were going AFTER you explain your vigilantism."
Evelyn perked up at that and chimed in "Yes just what is this about?"
Micheal gave her a side glance and gestured to Jack and said, "Jack here after the orphanage became a vigilante at the ripe age of…"
Jack let out a sigh and quickly formulated the lie he had to fold in his head and thought about how much truth he should mix in there. With the lie set in his mind he got to speaking. "Thirteen. I know what your gonna say to that, and I once again say save it. At 13 I was at the developmental stage of a fox in its mid twenties, and the size of one too and then some. I had the added bonus of having the condition I have, the IQ I have, the enhanced agility, senses, and reflexes. Plus a denser muscle structure making me stronger, my increased size, the fact I went through puberty fully at 11. Finally a hardened will and constitution to kill those who cause others harm forged through the transgressions I went through."
Jack decided this one be a one way conversation, he would speak, they would listen, and then they would return to where they originally sat. His walls were still down, and he was tired of them being that way, and while he was enjoying his conversation he was talking to damn much. So he plowed over Micheal's incoming comment and charged through.
"I'm going to cut you off there Micheal, here's what's going to happen. I will speak, tell you the story, and you will listen. No interruptions, no questions, and no questions after. When I'm done, you will both return to where you both originally sat. I'm am in a more vulnerable position than I'd like to be and it's showing in how I act. So once I'm done I need time to reconstitute myself and you two will need to properly digest all of this information. The quid pro quo we had going Micheal can continue if you wish once our feet are in Afuristan. Understood?"
Micheal and Evelyn exchanged glances with each other, confused at Jack's sudden shift. But both quickly concluded that this was a non-negotiable deal and it was something they needed to hear. Not to mention it rang true that they really needed to properly digest everything Jack as told and will tell them. So, everything else could wait for another time.
Minds made up they both nodded and Micheal said "understood."
Jack simply nodded and then dived right in. "So after I escaped the orphanage I spent a significant time training, years. As you know Evelyn a group found me and took me in, a group that was aware of the Prey Supremacy Society. Micheal if you're unsure what I'm talking about Evelyn can fill you in later I'm sure. Anyways it was them that trained me, it took some convincing but in the end it didn't particularly matter, I got my way. Once I felt ready, it was a simple matter to pick a target to get started."
Jack took a moment of pause before continuing. "It took a couple of days but I found my targets in Happytown. It was a group of wolves running a protection and extortion racket on a lot of businesses and mammals. So, targets picked I did what I wanted to do. I killed all eight of them with their own weapons, I had some weapons of my own but I wanted to make a statement. But while I wanted to make that statement I was also incredibly careful so I wouldn't get caught. I did both well, so I kept at it until I was 17. I hung up my vigilantism mostly because I made a habit of watching the news, and I wasn't liking what I was seeing happening in the Middle East, which is why I'm here. Now when I killed those wolves as it turns out I wasn't careful enough, because a certain elk within the ZIA was watching those wolves as they had ties to arms dealers in Serbia selling weapons to terrorists."
Jack shook his head a few times to help sell the lie and then kept going. *sighs "well he knew who I was and he saw that I didn't just stop at those wolves. He had the option to arrest me, but instead he chose a different path because he actually agreed with what I was doing. According to him, and oh Evelyn it is Gregory Elkerton I am speaking of. Anyways, according to him he decided to make me an agent under his command in order to allow me to keep doing what I was doing, and for him to take credit that it was by his order and ride my deeds to help him into the seat he's in now. It was a win win scenario in his eyes, although it's something he neglected to tell me…But now that I know now, honestly…it's to early to truly determine just how I feel besides the base emotion of being pissed off that I wasn't told. So there you have it, the basic breakdown of my vigilantism. I was a quick, methodical and brutal vigilante that killed any criminal I deemed evil enough."
Jack now finished with his speech opened up some of his gear and started pulling weapons out to clean and inspect signaling he was done talking. Evelyn and Micheal looked at each other and back at him before standing and returning to their original seats to go over and digest all they had been told. Meanwhile Jack began to multitask which was physically cleaning and inspecting gear while simultaneously beginning the process of fully reconstituting his walls. Not to mention doing some information digesting and mulling of his own. Jack settled into this state as the flight continued its projected flight towards Afuristan.
Done! This is the last chapter of the plane, from here the story will move forward splendidly.
I'll be honest with you all, when I started this story I did not plan for half of the things in these four chapters. Honestly, the plane was only supposed to be briefly mentioned and Micheal and Evelyn didn't exist. But I let the story take me and here we are, can't say i'm disappointed of the fact though.
One thing, I have decided that I need to shorten the amount of chapters I have, so I will be combining several to lower that number. The reason I am doing this is because several belong together as it is and I don't want to end up with 200 smaller chapters becuase I kept cutting them short. So fair warning when you see updates in the coming week, they are just me reconfiguring things around.
Next time on A Father Figure! Jack goes through his first week in Afuristan and then Vivian and Nick are back!
Until then this is TheConcernedF0X signing off! See you next time!