Love's Battlefield - Volume 9
Love's Battlefield: Volume Nine - The Complexities Of Hate
By Joseph Raszagal
"After everything that we went through preparing ourselves for today, all of the psychological trauma that Danni and I put ourselves through, he doesn't fucking show up." Growled Forrest quietly as he thumped his head against his desk over and over again.
Several students watched as Forrest continued to smack his forehead into the ceramic of his desk and whispered to each other little comments and questions. More than once, the white wolf considered sitting up and simply telling them that he and his boyfriend had scheduled a coup d'etat against their evil overlord, only to have the cobalt canine unwittingly miss the whole appointment. Deciding against that course of action as it would likely cause more trouble than simply continuing to thump his furry noggin against his seat, he took slight solace in the fact that the day's final bell was only moments away and that he'd soon be reunited with his fox. Upon hearing the school's intercom crackle out the synthesizer-based bell chime, the lycanthrope's eyes shot open and he practically jumped up and out of his desk. Grabbing his books and slipping them under his arm, he sped out of the room and down the hall to his locker as though there would be gold awaiting him inside of it.
"Whoa, someone's in a helluva hurry." Remarked a young snowshoe hare named Jay Larraby as the wintry wolf threw open his locker door and hurled his things inside, barely missing the tall rabbit by a hair's breadth. "You might want to be a bit more careful there, man, I thought the hinges were gonna break apart. And this is just between you and me, but I'm none too fond of the mental image that I'm getting that ends in a steel locker door being embedded in my face."
Flushing bright red, Forrest brushes a paw through his hair and replies embarrassedly, "Oh, Jay, I didn't see you there, I'm sorry. Uh, yeah, I am in a bit of a hurry, but hastiness aside, I suppose that doesn't excuse almost imprinting your face into a sheet of metal. Today's just been a nerve-wracking day and I haven't been able to focus because of it; I really am sorry."
"Nah, no apologies needed, I was just kind of concerned." Said the bunny with an acknowledging nod of his head, his long ears and their onyx tips bouncing behind him. "We've never really talked much, what with all of the classwork we're usually buried under, but if you remember right we've got both Applied Physics and Philosophy together. You looked pretty frazzled today and I was actually hoping I'd get the chance to see if you're alright. We might only be close enough to call each other acquaintances, but I can tell you're a good guy and I'm not a big fan of watching good, decent people suffer. You know what I mean?"
'This is a sudden change of pace', thought the wolf to himself, 'why should he care?'
Calming down a bit, Forrest stepped back a pace and took a good look at the hare before replying. It was true that he'd never really spoken much with Jay before, but from the few times they'd interacted in the past he knew the white rabbit to be an upstanding fur. In fact, to Forrest's knowledge Jay was one of the only members of the academy's elite that didn't have his paws wrapped up in some kind of mischievous or otherwise dubious business. With lawyers for both his mother and father, he had every opportunity to be just as pretentious and self-serving as the rest of the rich, silver spoon-fed snobs that sauntered up and down the building's halls as though they owned them, but he'd never once strayed down that path. It was almost strange how his sharp wit, which had quickly made him the shining star of the debate team, and his spry, muscular build, which had brought him just as much success on the soccer team, hadn't somehow gone straight to his head. Add to that the fact that Jay hadn't ever once judged him in the past for his open homosexuality and Forrest had a hard time believing that the rabbit was even a real person.
How pure and open-minded can one guy be?
"You know, impressive teeth aside, I won't bite or anything." Chuckled Jay with a grin, snapping the silvery lupine back to Earth from his daze. "Despite my social standing, I'm not like most of the wealthy, 'born into riches' daddy's girls and mamma's boys around here; I know what it's like to work hard for something and I'm all too familiar with the pain suffered after losing something that took long hours of labor to achieve~
"No, no, I'm not worried about whether or not I can trust you." Interjected Forrest with a wave of his paw. "I'm just kind of surprised that you went out of your way to meet up with me like this. Not a lot of people would do that."
"I'm not a lot of people, Forrest, I'm me." Retorted Jay sincerely. "Being a breeder myself, we might not identify on certain levels, at least not completely, but prejudice isn't something that I have much sympathy for; I support love in whatever form it comes in, regardless of race or gender, so if there's something going on between you and Danni I'd be happy to lend an ear if you're in need of a good venting."
With wide eyes, the white wolf takes a step back and gawks, "Okay, now this is just getting frightening. Don't tell me you're some kind of mind reading psychic or something because I distinctly remember not blurting out the specifics of what's been on my mind since this morning. How did you hit the nail on the head that quick?"
"Well, you can call me a superhero if you really want, I won't argue with a compliment that nice, but all I really did was catch you and Danni in the middle of a kiss in the hallway." Laughed the bunny. "You seemed so chipper and happy at the time, I just found it odd that your mood had somehow plummeted in the short span of time between then and now."
Blushing again, Forrest replies, "Alright, so let's replace the super powers with simple observation; you caught us. And here I thought we were being at least a little subtle."
"Subtle?" Smirked Jay, rolling his eyes. "No, not so much. But that's alright, few our age are, right? Just make sure to avoid having that kind of fun in plain sight, where jackasses like Principle Halls and Coach McKinley can see you."
"Mr. Thorton gave us the exact same advice."
"Of course he did, he's a good guy."
"After how lenient he was, and by lenient I do mean completely overlooking the whole scene, I can definitely agree with that."
"You wouldn't be the first, I'd wager."
"Haha, yeah, and I'd wager that you placed that bet well." Chuckled Forrest as he leaned back upon his locker and let out a sigh of relief. All things considered, this was the most comfortable conversation he'd had with someone other than Danni or his father in the past few days.
"So, feel like sharing?" Inquired Jay amicably, his smile and attitude still as inviting as they had been from the start of the conversation. "I can't force you to talk, but I can tell you that it'd be better for you to let someone lend you their ears rather than keeping whatever's been bugging you bottled up inside where it can boil over and eventually burst. That's never a pretty sight."
Scratching his neck nervously, the silvery canine looks for the right words for a second or two and then states, "Well, it's kind of complicated and a vast majority of it I've been sworn to secrecy on."
"Danni won't let you tell anyone?" Questioned Jay with a single raised eyebrow.
"No." Answered Forrest, his expression suddenly several shades darker. "Thomas won't."
Almost immediately, Jay's eyes opened wide as a mixed look of curiosity and concern dominated his facial features.
The licentious Lucario's name had that effect on a lot of people.
"To summarize an otherwise overly lengthy story and prevent you from knowing a little too much, Thomas has some dirt on us that could land me in jail, Danni in a detention center, and probably ruin our chances at getting into any reputable colleges." Spoke the wolf in a neutral tone, holding up a paw to hold back the bunny's next comment so that he could finish. "I'm sure you're more than familiar with the rumors involving him; well, most of them are true. He's using this information against us in order to put us under his thumb; he's making us serve him as though we were a couple of vassals or slaves he'd bought. We came into school today with the hopes of meeting up with him and convincing him to call the whole thing off, to just let us go our separate ways and pretend as though none of it had ever happened. But, as fate would have it, he both skipped classes today and couldn't be found through calls to either his home or cell phone. The faculty has no idea where he is; I asked around too many times between bells to count."
Licking his lips, Jay rubs at the fluff of his chin with his thumb and forefinger and stammers, "W-wow."
"Yeah... it's messed up." Sighed Forrest as he closed his eyes and shook his head.
"I'm assuming that you can't tell me what it is he's got you two pinned down with, can you?" Asked the rabbit seriously.
Covering his face with one palm, the ivory lupine retorts, "I don't want to risk it. He threatened to pull the rug out from under us, so to speak, if we let the cat out of the bag and brought in assistance against him."
Nodding silently, Jay opened his mouth, prepared to say something, and then shut it moments later as the proper words escaped him. Pacing back and forth, he folded his arms and shut his eyes, frowning sharply as he drifted off into deep concentration. Forrest, a bit frightened that someone as positive and optimistic as the hare pacing left and right before him could be rattled so easily by the limited information he'd given him, flattened his ears and nervously tucked his tail in between his legs. The frustration showed on the white rabbit's face, crystal clear, and showed no signs of letting up as the seconds ticked by.
"If you won't let me help you in the flesh, in person, then the most I can do is point you in the right direction." Said Jay at last, his hindpaws firmly planted and his fists balled. "The captain of the chess team, Andrew Klein, I'm sure you've heard of him; he's one of the only people I've ever seen associating with Thomas by CHOICE, completely of their own volition. Adam Quinton is another, but he hasn't been in school for the past week and a half; something about his health I think. Regardless, the chess team meets in Room 214, the Advanced Calculus classroom, every other day of the week. If you're lucky, Andrew will be there today, but you'd better hurry; he's the state champion for a reason and outside of lecturing the club's younger members, there's little incentive for him to stay there for very long."
Seeing the bunny's strained expression, Forrest steps forward and asks, "Jay?"
Stalling for a brief moment, the troubled hare clenches his fists harder and quietly inquires, "There really isn't anything more that I can do?"
"Not yet."
"Not yet?"
"Nope, not yet, but there could be in the near future."
"How so?"
"Well, if Danni and I can't reason with him on our own, the preferred method, we've promised each other not to let his threats back us into a corner again." Stated Forrest simply. "If we can't do it alone, we'll call in the cavalry."
"What about the information that you mentioned; your dirty little secret that he's been using against you?" Questioned Jay, tilting his head. "Didn't you just say that the last thing you wanted to do was to provoke him into spilling the beans?"
"If he won't listen to reason, then that's something that Danni and I will just have to steel ourselves for." Replied the canine calmly. "We want to try handing things on our own first, but in the event that we fail, would you still be interested in lending us a paw?"
"Absolutely." Answered Jay instantaneously, his smile strong and bold.
"Heh, alright then." Replied Forrest with a grin, turning around to take off down the hall at presumably his top speed. "A little birdie told me that a certain chess champion might be bidding his fellow intellectuals adieu right about now, so I'm afraid that I must be going. Danni and I need to have a little chat with this young man."
"Just be careful." Warned the bunny with a leveled gaze. "I don't know much about him, but there's a good chance that Andrew's not the most upstanding of citizens either. From the way everyone's painted Thomas's picture, you don't hang out with him by choice unless you're down a few cards from a full poker deck or the two of you share some common interests. Andrew could very well be just as conniving and deceitful."
"Stay on my toes." Stated Forrest firmly. "Duly noted."
Winking, Jay retorts, "God speed to the both of you."
And with those last words echoing in his ears, Forrest took off down the hallway like a lupine lightning bolt, rocketing towards the stairwell leading to the ground floor. Descending the stairs at record breaking speeds, putting any award winning Olympian athletes to shame, the hasty canine shot down the next hall and around the following three corridors with just as much gusto. Smoke practically rose from the carpet beneath his hindpaws as he came to a screeching halt mere inches away from an extremely shocked Danni, the young fox having turned around to see a white blur approaching him at supersonic speed. Without so much as a single word, the ivory wolf grabbed Danni's paw and made haste down the hallway once more, albeit at a slightly reduced speed so as not to harm his newly acquired accomplice.
"Where are we going?!" Exclaimed the petite vulpine as they rounded a corner. "Are we in trouble; did Thomas refuse to let us go?!"
"I never even saw Thomas today; he didn't come to school." Answered Forrest with a huff of exertion. "But a white rabbit told me where to find the entrance to Wonderland and we're headed there now to speak with the Mad Hatter. He's going to tell us where to find our cerulean friend."
"For not even meeting with him or negotiating, you sound pretty confident." Said Danni with a restrained smile, not wanting Forrest to get too far ahead of himself and celebrate their victory too early.
Coming to a sudden stop, the two teenage furs found themselves standing in front of a beige door marked only with a simple sign declaring it: 'Room 214 - Advanced Calculus'.
With a subtle smile, the adolescent lycanthrope retorts, "I don't know, maybe making new friends and knowing that they're willing to fight for you, even if they've only known you for a grand total of 16 minutes just brings out my brash and daring side."
But before the slender, effeminate fox could reply to this, the door before them swung open and out strolled a VERY smug looking hyena. Andrew Klein, the one and the same from The Lion's Den two nights prior, peered at both boys through a small pair of stylish glasses with an expression that could only be described as utmost disinterest. However, as he stepped forward and closed the door behind him, his pointed muzzle betrayed his eyes as it curled into a toothy, arrogant grin.
Raising his eyebrows, Andrew smirks dryly, "Well now, Lionel, this is a pleasant surprise. What brings you to our humble club?"
Hesitating, surprised that the small hyena knew his last name despite having never associated with him, Forrest shakes his head once and then questions, "Are you Andrew Klein?"
"I am." Responded the small fur in an increasingly bored tone. "You're Forrest Regal Lionel and he's Danial Alan Richards. Alright, now that we've all been introduced, please state your business. I'm not particularly busy at the moment, but that in no way states that there isn't something more important that I COULD be doing right about now."
A bit putt off by Andrew's lack of tact and social skills, Forrest scratched his head as he searched for the right words.
"We're looking for Thomas." Stated the wolf finally. "I was told that you might know where he is or at least where he's been."
"Right, right, it would be about him, wouldn't it?" Mumbled the hyena to himself as he opened the door to the classroom and walked back inside. After a few seconds of silence, he clapped his paws twice, successfully gaining the attention of everyone still in the room, and then pointed towards the open doorway. Without missing a single beat, the five furs filling the room briskly set about packing their things, slipping into their jackets and throwing backpacks across their shoulders, and then promptly evacuated. No words were needed in order for the diminutive hyena to assert his dominance over the small group and that alarmed both Forrest and Danni immensely.
Were they dealing with someone just as cunning and manipulative as Thomas? Was that why this comparatively very normal looking young man hung around with their promiscuous foe; because the two of them were on equal footing, because he had nothing to fear from the Lucario?
"Sorry about that." Said Andrew as he nudged both of them inside, closed the door once more, and secured it. "But Tommy and his gallivanting just aren't very safe subjects to discuss out in the hall. It's all about confidentiality, you see, and I gave him my word that his secrets would stay secrets. With teachers, janitors, and a fair amount of students still milling about aimlessly, there's just no telling who might overhear a thing or two that they really shouldn't." Sitting down at a large table situated in the middle of the room, the bespectacled hyena interlaced his fingers and cradled his chin atop them, smiling in an all too familiarly fiendish fashion as he mused, "So, because he never showed up for school, you and your butt-buddy over there came to me in hopes of ascertaining his location?"
Stepping back a pace, Forrest tried not to gape in shock at the black and brown boy, but found it incredibly difficult not to. Danni, not quite as composed as his lupine lover, observed the scene with wide eyes and shaking knees.
"H-how much do you know already?" Questioned the stunned canine nervously.
"Enough." Answered Andrew with the slightest of nods. "There's not much that he doesn't tell me, though I'm sure that does little to comfort you."
Fighting back the quiver in his voice, Forrest asks, "Are the two of you accomplices or something?"
Narrowing his stare into something far more formidable, Andrew responds, "Actually, I'd call us friends, but if you'd like to put an uglier spin on it, then yes, we're partners in crime. Now for my question, Lionel. What business of yours is my relationship with him, be it personal, working, or otherwise?"
Wincing, Forrest replies, "Fair enough."
"If you'd still like my help, I'll warn you not to test my patience or my temper with questions like that." Growled the hyena in an eerily quiet tone. "I'm not a nice person; I'm barely even tolerable. Don't put me in a position to prove this to you, understood?"
Silently, the white wolf nodded.
"Good, then we may proceed." Announced Andrew, throwing his paws up into the air. "For the information that I'm about to give you, I expect compensation. I ALWAYS expect compensation. I'm going to say a number and depending on one of two things, you're either going to hand me an amount of money of similar relation to the number specified or unlock the door and leave without saying a single thing. Are we clear?"
Closing his eyes, wanting to protest but afraid to do so, Forrest obediently answers, "Yes."
"Perfect." Laughed Andrew, wasting no time at all. "50."
Clenching his fists, the silvery lycanthrope winced again, but forced the anger bubbling within him down as a petite paw clasped his shoulder and squeezed gently. Looking to Danni, he saw a crisp, unwrinkled bill clutched tightly between the frightened fox's chocolate fingers. Biting his lip, knowing full and well that this was the ONLY person that they knew who could point them in the right direction, Forrest took the green piece of chemically treated paper and stalked forward, slapping it onto the table with all of the fervent, barely contained hatred in the world.
"Hah, you've made a wise decision, boys, a wise decision indeed." Chuckled Andrew as he snatched up the cash and slipped it into his pocked, the motion so seamless and fluid that it had clearly been done a thousand times before. "Now, are there any other questions, not pertaining to Thomas or your current predicament, that you'd like answered beforehand? I pride myself on building up a good customer base, so if there's anything that I can tell you that might convince you to come back, I'd be more than happy to oblige."
Audibly angry, Forrest sneers, "I don't think we'll be enjoying a very fruitful business relationship together. However, I do have a personal question that needs answering. Would you be so kind as to indulge me?"
"Fire away." Replied the hyena as he waved a single dark paw.
"Do you charge everyone who approaches you for help, or are you just using our situation to your advantage?" Asked Forrest heatedly.
Rolling his eyes, Andrew smirks, "No, I charge a nominal fee regardless of who's seeking my assistance. I'm most certainly taking advantage of your sad state of affairs right now, there's no denying that, but it isn't as though I haven't done it to hundreds of others before you. I don't differentiate; making things personal, regardless of how amusing doing so can be, just isn't worth the effort."
Closing his eyes, the fervent wolf gritted his teeth and calmed himself by force once more.
'Jay', he thought to himself, 'are you absolutely sure that there wasn't ANYBODY else who could have helped besides this guy?'
Feeling a wave of shame wash over him almost immediately, Forrest shook his head and quietly chastised himself with an indignant grunt, likely unintelligible to everyone else. Jay had warned him ahead of time about Andrew and although the warning hadn't been very specific, it was more than enough to expect something of this caliber. Hell, had the rabbit known that Andrew would charge them 50 dollars, he would have probably given Forrest the money himself.
There were more important things to do than play the blame game, especially if said blame were to fall upon a snowshoe hare that didn't deserve it.
"Alright, now will you tell us what we need to know?" Asked the wolf levelly, neutrality returning to his voice. "Where is Thomas?"
"He's attending to his own boyfriend, actually." Said Andrew with a massive grin. "Adam's been rather ill lately and Tommy's been worrying himself sick over it. Somehow a conversation of theirs involving the bat's poor health shifted towards more romantic inclinations and the two of them confessed their sickeningly adorable puppy-love for each other."
After no more than five seconds spent considering this information, Forrest caustically laughs, "You've got to be kidding. Are you asking me to believe that Thomas Alexander Rayne is actually CAPABLE of loving someone? Are you trying to piss me off? Did he see this coming, that we'd seek you out in order to reach him, and put you up to this?"
"You're being awfully harsh, though I suppose your opinion of him is a bit biased; bad in other words. I can't really blame you for that, given that you're one of the ones he's stepped on, but you're just plain wrong in assuming that all he does is dig his heels into other people's backs." Remarked Andrew with a casual shrug of his shoulders, not in the least bit intimidated. "Look, pup, just because the kid sleeps around and has sex more frequently than a Browning Automatic Rifle fires bullets doesn't in any way mean that he isn't capable of having legitimate romantic feelings for someone. Everyone loves, that's the simple truth, the real difference is that not everyone broadcasts that fact. You'd have to be pretty dense to think otherwise."
A deep rumble thrummed from the silvery canine's chest with the strength of a car engine. It was his only reply.
"Hey, don't start on me with that shit; I'm just telling it how it is." Snapped the black spotted fur as he waved a paw in Forrest's general direction, silencing his growling. "Besides, you don't even know the whole story; you're just judging Thomas by your own experiences with him. In all honesty, that's just the tip of the iceberg. His life hasn't always been a bunch of late night romps, group orgies, and blowjobs in the backs of stretch limousines. At one point in time he was just a little kid, much like you and I were way back when, and that time was not a lot fun for him. His father beat his mother, beat him, and beat everything else within a good ten feet of him so long as he was drunk enough. The mother eventually killed herself; jumped off of a bridge if I remember correctly. Regardless, HOW she did it doesn't really matter as much as the simple fact that she DID. Left alone to fend for himself against that crazy bastard, Tommy was pretty much doomed to kill himself too; had he spent a couple more years suffering I really doubt his wrists would've gone unslit. But, as fate would have it, it was around that time that someone VERY important to him came into his life and, well, let's just say that they 'dealt' with his father in the most permanent of ways. Kinda hard to abuse your son when you're sporting a brand new pair of cement shoes, if you know what I mean. Ever since, he's been under the care of an adoptive family with five or six siblings that share absolutely no similarities or interests with him, so he kind of ended up becoming a loner by necessity. As a loner, he went out to follow in the footsteps of his new role model, who didn't take too well to that decision, mind you, and intervened with a proposal to follow in his footsteps but while under his employ. And that, my friend, is when the sex, blackmail, and extortion started." Pulling a stick of gum from his pocket, Andrew unwrapped it and popped it into his mouth, jovially adding, "If you'd like to take a bathroom break now that I'm finished, you're more than welcome; I've got a lot more to say, especially considering I haven't even answered your actual question, but meh, I stand by decision to fill you in on his past."
Cupping his forehead in one palm, Forrest struggles with his words for a moment before questioning confusedly, "How do you know all of this? What the Hell are you, some kind of a spy or something?"
"Such a grandiose term, I should feel flattered." Mock laughed the small hyena. "However, there was a fare amount of sarcasm present in that statement, so if you don't mind, I'll condescend instead."
Snorting his contempt briefly, the young canine turned his head to the side and scowled.
"Well, aside from being his friend for some nine years or more, meaning I knew him while he went through most of that shit, I consider it my job to know everything that's going on around me at all times." Stated Andrew with a fair amount of pride. "In fact, what really worried me was the thought that he might not have been telling me EVERYTHING that his father was doing to him, so I fact checked it all for consistency and continuity anyway."
"Y-you were worried that he was withholding?" Inquired Danni meekly, the first time he'd spoken since setting foot in the room.
"Wouldn't you have been?" Replied Andrew, answering the autumn-colored fox's question with another question. "I must have grilled every man, woman, and child living within a five block radius of him on the subject; I wanted to know if there was something going on behind the curtains, something happening to my friend, that I didn't know about. Hell, I still don't know whether or not the son-of-a-bitch was molesting him and it bothers the shit out of me that he still, to this day, refuses to talk about it."
Clearly impressed by the amount of effort that the shifty hyena's had to have put forth, all for the sake of protecting his friend, Danni questions, "You really asked that many people?"
"I wouldn't sound so awed if I were you." Smirked Andrew with a devilish grin as he chomped on his spearmint gum and sauntered over towards the boys. "I might work hard sometimes, but I'm definitely not someone to be looked up to. My work ethic aside, I'm what you'd call a 'bad guy'; I look out for numero uno and a select few others while stepping on everyone else stupid enough to stand in my way. I suppose most would call me a stalker, or a brown-noser, or an eavesdropper. Or a douchebag; I've gotten that one quite a few times before too. They're all essentially the same thing. What they really mean is that I like to gather information, case in point, and said information likes me in return. In fact, I make quite a bit of money off of all the information I pull together, but you already know that from firsthand experience. Still, you'd be shocked by just how much a teenage girl would be willing to pay just to find out who said what about her hair or why they did whatever. I'm rolling in the green, it's fucking hilarious. The half-Benjamin that I made off of you two pales in comparison to what I make between classes and during lunch."
Shaking his head, Forrest refuses to look at the fiendish fur as he venomously spits, "You know what, I think I can see now why you and Thomas get along so well."
"Honestly, Wolfie, I could care less about what you think of me." Responded Andrew in a genuine and hearty laugh. Had it not carried with it so much spite, it might have been an attractive one. "It isn't as though you're going to 'beat me up' or that your opinion of me will somehow drastically change my outlook on things. Sure, Tommy and I both abuse people in order to entertain ourselves and make a quick buck, and true enough, we do it as often as we can, but there's a BIG difference between the two of us if you're willing to search deep enough to find it."
With just as much poison in his voice as before, the wolf snidely inquires, "And that is?"
"Deep down, Tommy's a good person; a bit rough around the edges, but a good person nonetheless. I, however, am not." Answered the hyena bluntly.
Dumbfounded, both Forrest and Danni felt the need to debate this, having in their arsenal some excellent counter-evidence, but couldn't for the life of them find the proper words to do so.
"In the near future, I'll still be doing what I'm doing now." Explained Andrew as he stepped up to the blackboard and began drawing on it with a gnarled piece of chalk. "It's a lucrative business and I'm VERY good at it. I already have a nice little wealth of data at my disposal that I could easily use to blackmail some very important people in this area. All of the wealthy kiddies that prance around this place like they own the damn place? Well, they might not know it yet, but not only do I own them but I own their parents and their parents' parents too, provided that they're still alive and haven't gone senile yet. After sinking my teeth into the politically powerful uppercrust, I'll be able to use them to gather even more information, which I can in turn use to extend my web beyond the walls of this city and out into the furthest reaches of the state. All I have to do is corner and coerce the right people, put them in a position that they can't maneuver themselves out of, and presto, the game is won. Once I've got them in checkmate, I can use them however I please and, you're just going to have to trust me on this one, I'd be very pleased to have their ears working in place of my own, scanning every nook and cranny of this nation for more tidbits of information that I might manipulate. You see, boys and girls, knowledge is power and I'm a big fan of power. I've never had it and I'd like to see what it's like having way too much of it. Pretty simple, really."
Stepping away from the board, Andrew revealed a tree-like web that started at a single 'stump', the first person captured and coerced by his blackmail apparently, which then spread out into dozens and then hundreds of others, many of which already had names scratched beneath them. Trembling a bit, Forrest licked his lips and closed his muzzle before he could be seen with it hanging open.
However possible this plan of his was, Andrew was not to be trifled with.
"And that's not even touching upon my skills when I've got a mouse, a keyboard, a four pack of Red Bull pumping through me, and a whole day's worth of time to squander." Said the hyena with a gleeful grin. "I don't need a platoon of hapless goons to spread spyware all across the internet for me; that's a task that I can handle all by my lonesome. I've hacked a thousand or more sites already, sometimes just to see if I could. It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it, though actually doing something once you're in someone's system and escaping unnoticed are two totally different stories, especially if you're dealing with anything run and/or monitored by the government. They, in particular, don't take kindly to people like me running around and setting their cyberspace on fire. So far I've been a combination of too skilled and too lucky to get caught, though it's likely more of a 30 to 70 split that's kept me out of harm's way. I can't say that I've actually placed a virus meant to harm or destroy something yet anyway; it's just not really my style. I mean, if that's what I really wanted to do, there are plenty of viruses that I could employ; ones that reroute more power to the hard drive than needed, frying it, and others that overheat the monitor, causing it to explode. And if that doesn't sound like a great way to end your day, I don't know what does; finally getting home after a long day at the office, sitting down in front of your PC, turning it on, and then having it spit glass in your face after blowing up! But meh, I guess I'm more interested in learning about what someone's trying to do rather than smashing their efforts into tiny bits. Heavy-handed, barbaric destruction just never appealed to me for whatever reason."
"What does any of that, however horrible, have to do with Thomas." Questioned Forrest sternly, despite having grown more and more frightened with each passing second.
"Ah, yes, I almost forgot." Chuckled Andrew, slapping himself in the side of the head melodramatically. "The point that I was trying to make is that I'm not going to change; I just don't want to. I have a future in this, in being a sneaky little bastard, but Thomas isn't going to stay a freaking prostitute for the remainder of his life. No, not a chance. Regardless of what others might think of him, he's actually a pretty smart kid; well, that and he has someone that he cares about and who cares about him. What he's going to do, if he hasn't started working on it already, is he's going to take a bunch of the money that he's been making, pool it all up, and buy Adam some of the best medical care that a mountain of hard-earned green like that can buy. After securing his love's health, he'll take the rest and head off to college. What subjects he'll be going for are a mystery, even to me, but he will; of that I am certain." Bowing like an actor or musician waiting for their audience to request an encore, Andrew added with a clap of his paws, "And there you have it. Any question?"
"You can't be serious... can you?" Muttered Forrest, rolling his sapphire eyes.
Stepping forward, Danni twiddles his thumbs nervously and asks, "M-Mr. Klein?"
"If you've got another question, I'll answer it on a single condition." Retorted the young hyena as he gagged forcefully. "Just call me Andrew. I'm 17 years old and I don't plan on being referred to as a 'Mister' in a long, LONG time."
"W-well, you claim to be so bad and... and~
"And loathsome?" Assisted Forrest indignantly.
Smiling as though the spiteful comment had actually been a compliment, Andrew happily exclaims, "Nice synonym! You must be the apple of your English teacher's eye, Wolfie!" Smirking, he drops the overly cheer demeanor and states, "But to answer your question, Danni; yes, yes I do. I'm loathsome, I'm despicable, I'm abhorrent, I'm vile, and I'm none too pleasant to be around. Go on."
"W-well, with all of this information that you've gathered and prepared to use, would you sell Thomas out too if it benefited you?" Asked the vulpine hesitantly.
"In telling the two of you an enormous amount of highly private information, did I not do just that?"
"N-not really. Y-you defended him more than anything else."
"Did I now?"
"Y-yes, you did."
"Ha, I guess you got me there." Laughed Andrew, tapping his closed fist against the side of his head. "No, no I wouldn't. I might be a detestable lout, but Tommy's done too much for me to just stab him in the back like that. He took me in, showed me how great this body of mine could feel once given the chance, taught me how to collect and amass the RIGHT kind of information, and introduced me to Dex, my newest mentor. Heck, I could probably abandon my complicated, convoluted plan and stay on as one of Dex's stage performers. Not only is the job a Hell of a lot more fun than you could ever imagine, it pays in spades and I'd likely be able to retire well before I hit my mid 30's." Scratching his head, the small, spotted fur continued on to say, "Nah, selling him out just isn't in the cards; it never was. We grew up together and watched each other's backs and, well, that's just not something you do to someone who's essentially your brother."
The all-consuming quiet that followed those words was thick enough to cut with a knife and serve as an after-dinner dessert.
"Alright, I believe you." Said Danni after a lapse of several minutes.
"You believe me?" Smirked Andrew, raising both eyebrows. "Pray tell, Cowardly Kit, what is that supposed to mean and why should I care?"
Stepping in, Forrest nods briefly to himself in understanding, glares down upon the diminutive but apparently fearless fur, and answers in Danni's stead, "No, I think I get it. What I think Danni's been trying to say is that if you're really as bad as you say you are, this awful monster trapped in a nerdy teenager's body, then there must really be some good deep down in Thomas's blackened, burned soul; there must be at least a single redeeming quality floating belly-up in the middle of his veritable sea of crimes, waiting to be revived through first aid, to merit your turning a blind eye to all of the things that he's done that you could so easily use against him. Otherwise he'd be too great an opportunity to pass up; a gold mine."
"Yeah, I suppose his list of misdeeds is a bit more incriminating that most, especially when taking into consideration his age." Agreed Andrew. "I could turn a rather sizable profit off of him, that's for sure."
"But you wouldn't?" Questioned the fox once more.
Immediately, the hyena responds, "Not a chance. I owe him too much. I won't lie to you and claim to have a perfect set of morals, because that's too far from the truth for me to say with a straight face, but those that I do have won't allow me to betray a friend as good as him. He might have fucked you over, literally even, but he's been nothing short of a savior to me. It already takes a lot of pills for me to get to sleep at night, I don't think I could live with myself if I made him join all of the others I've blackmailed and walk the plank into shark infested waters."
"Th-then I'd like to try to forgive him." Proclaimed Danni after another awkward silence. "I-It won't be easy, but I want to see if it's at all possible for him to be the same good natured person to us as you say he's been to you."
"Danni!" Shouted Forrest in protest.
"No, wait." Interjected Andrew as he removed his glasses and stared directly into Danni's eyes. Was his expression that of... intrigue? "I can understand your desire to be freed from his control, it just makes sense to want to be free, but can you really claim to want to be his friend? After what he's done to you and a hundred others, you really think that forgiving and forgetting will be that easy? Who's to say that he won't just pretend to be your buddy, your chum, and use you like a tool without your even knowing?"
"I have no way of knowing what will happen." Spoke the fox, for the first time with out a single shake or stammer in his voice; his gaze firm and resolute. "But I think that everyone deserves a second chance and from your description of him, albeit a 'him' that we have yet to meet, he's worth giving that chance."
Drooping his tail and flattening his ears, Forrest whimpers, "This is a mistake, Danni."
"And people sometimes make mistakes." Stated Andrew as he donned his glasses once more and paced away, wiping at his eyes with one sleeve. "But without those mistakes, without those risks taken, we'd have never made it as far as we have now; there'd be no intelligent furs, only ignorant ones too cowardly to take the chance, bite the bullet, and learn through experience. I pegged you as one of those cowards from the very moment I laid eyes upon you, Danni, but apparently I was wrong. And you know what? I think I'd like to see that; I'd like to see someone befriend Tommy after having first been one of his many conquests. I might be as snide and as jaded as they come, but seeing a Christmas miracle like that might just put a genuine smile on my face; the kind of smile that a little cub gets from ear to ear after his parents buy him a balloon hat and an ice cream cone at the city carnival." Turning back around to face the both of them, he added, "Heh, I haven't smiled like that in a long ass time."
"D-do you think I can do it?" Asked Danni with just the most innocent expression ever.
Scratching his chin, the chess master replies, "Frankly, no, no I don't. I think he'll be too ashamed to face either of you if you approach him with promises of forgiveness and friendship. Well, either that or he'll try to maintain his false facade and continue to govern your sexual lives. The chances of both are pretty even."
"Oh, please." Hissed Forrest in the background. "This is ridiculous, we both know that there aren't even any 'chances' at all."
"However, that doesn't make this any less worth a shot." Continued Andrew, as though he hadn't been interrupted. "So, seeing as how we got ourselves offtrack somewhere along the way, I'll wrap things up right now and reveal to you his whereabouts. He and Adam have been, to the best of my knowledge, at Adam's house for the past two days. The bat has a doctor's appointment scheduled for today, but I think it's safe to assume that the man you're after is still holed up in his lover's bedroom, waiting with bated breath for his brown-furred, winged, still-closeted boyfriend to return. The address is 174 Stetson Avenue. It's pretty easy to spot, what with the jacked-up sign hanging from the porch and the sheer size of the building, so finding it shouldn't prove to be much of a problem." Strolling leisurely over to the door and unlocking it, Andrew opened it and bowed courteously like a butler as he drawled, "I'm sure the two of you are in a hurry, so I shan't keep you any longer. Good day and good luck, gentlemen."
"I'll have you know that I don't trust you or anything you've said in the slightest." Growled Forrest lowly as he strode through the open doorway. "This is all just a game to you, isn't it? We're a fucking laugh riot, aren't we?"
"I'll admit, while seeing myself proved wrong and Tommy gain a few new friends would be heartwarming, it's so unlikely that it's just plain laughable." Giggled the hyena giddily, his tone and merry expression bellying the sheer amount of poisonous, rotting sarcasm in his words. "I'd get more than a quick chuckle out of watching the two of you fail miserably. But for the sake of seeing a greater depth in my brother's character than ever before, I suppose that I'll have to begrudgingly settle on rooting for you. You have no idea just how much of a compromise that is for me to say aloud. I have an image to uphold, after all; that of a villain."
"Yeah, I'll bet." Murmured the white wolf as he departed, Danni's arm hooked through his in an effort to get the tiny fox out of the room and away from the wily hyena as fast as possible.
Closing the door, Andrew sauntered back over to the table he'd just done business at and clasped his paws behind his back, pondering something with an unreadable smile. Or was it a frown?
"Thomas." He said quietly to himself. "I can't tell you just how much I love to fuck with people's minds; I'm just too good at it, it'd almost be a crime for me to not to. But, for your sake, give them the chance that I told them they might have. You need more friends that aren't... like me."
A single tear slid down Andrew's cheek, glistening in the classroom's fluorescent light, but was brushed away almost as quickly as it appeared.