The Human War- Chapter Three
#4 of The Human War
Chapter Three
"The Return of C.I.Z.A."
By
Furry Sith Lord
I set aside some time to talk to my father about letting me visit Benyamin's family. He was overjoyed to hear about their interest in our money. He began tro school me on how to respond to them and he wanted me tro talk with a southern twang to my voice to make myself appear dumber than I actually was. This was to make them lower their guard because they'd think I was easily fooled.
"Leggo! Front and center!!!" Lou shouted and Leggo approached him then having seen the look on his face he straightened and stood at attention saluting Lou. Lou took off his suit coat and handed it to Leggo.
Leggo began to bite into it causing the fine material to rip and shred. After destroying the coat making it look like something a homeless one would wear, he handed it back to Lou.
"Good boy." Lou said as he began to pet Leggo and Leggo panted happily with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. We stared at Lou as he put the ripped garment back on.
"I've got to look my best when I show up to pick you up." Lou said to us. I tried to suppress a smile. Knowing him he was going to put on quite a show for Ben's family.
"Hello?" Leggo said as he answered his cell phone. It took a second for us to realize that his phone rang. We weren't sure who would be calling him because we were all together. Maybe Uncle Mel was feeling lonely?
"Um, Lou. It's C.I.Z.A. and.... They want to talk to you." Leggo said as he held out the phone to Lou. Lou stared at it as if deciding if he was going to answer then he reached and took the phone.
"Hello?" Lou said sternly, not showing any emotion.
"Hello. Am I speaking to Lou Cervus-d?" A female voice asked. Lou did not recognize it and figured it was a stenographer.
"Speaking." Lou replied coldly. He had developed a deep hatred of C.I.Z.A. since they tried to kill my brother and myself. We had hoped we'd seen the last of them after he captured Merrik and his group. My father erased Merrik's memory and gave him, and Bear, new identities. Merrik was now Mel and he had become one of Leggo's best friends.
"My name is Layla Cervus-D. I'm one of the board members of C.I.Z.A." She replied and Lou narrowed his eyes.
"Considering my past with your organization, am I speaking to someone that is the same species as myself in an attempt to curry favor?" Lou asked suspiciously. He heard her 'tsk' him and he thought to himself that at least she has spirit. She paused a moment before responding.
"We thought it better if you engaged in dialect with someone close to your level. 'I' am only slightly higher so we determined that I would only have to lower myself, miniscully, to be on the same level as you are." She replied harshly by her tone though she was trying to remain civil. An Evil smile appeared on Lou's maw.
"I like 'em with spunk. It will give me great pleasure in breaking you. We'll then see what level you actually are." Lou replied, trying to hide the glee in his voice.
"You won't find me to be like your little pet doggie. Now are you gonna be a big boy and put on your big boy antlers or are you gonna keep acting like a fawn?" Layla retorted. Lou's new desire was to crush her as he had The White Citadel.
"What do you want?" He replied coldly. He had some more banter he could have replied with but he wanted her to reveal more giving him more ammunition for later.
"Now that you're finally ready to act seriously and get down to business, we want to meet with you and Agent Leggo to discuss how we can deal with the humans and their... leader." She said and saying the word 'leader' was said with such disdain.
"I'm missing the part where that's my problem. I agreed to listen but never agreed I'd do anything. Maybe you guys should have tried a doggie." Lou said and he hung up the call. I watched my father closely knowing that this was his opening move.
"Queen's Pawn E2 to E3." I said and my father smiled and patted my head.
"What's going on?" Leggo asked.
"C.I.Z.A. wants to meet. They want us to work with them to deal with BH and his humans." Lou answered without any emotion.
"Isn't that what you wanted?" Leggo asked as he scratched his head.
"Yes. This is a problem however because if they are contacting us first then they have some angle involved. I'd hate to walk into a trap. I need time to think and plan things out before we make contact." Lou explained.
"What about Bear? We giving up on him?" Lyon asked and our father rubbed his chin as he thought about it.
"He's still a backup plan in case C.I.Z.A. and Mel...Merrik fail." Lou replied.
"Wait, you just hung up on them. What makes you think they'll call again?" Leggo asked.
"Because they need me to release Merrik. They'll keep coming back until they get what they want. This gives me the opportunity to get what I want from them. It's win; win." Lou said.
"Besides, when father fails," I turned and saw him glare at me. "I'll have the solution to wrap everything up."
"Ben, would you like a nice throw rug that incidentally looks like Tyger?" He said as we both stared at each other. "And just think every time he gets dirty you can take him out and beat him." Lou said and he and I leaned in to glare at each other until we were facing each other very closely.
"Tyger, You're Grounded." Lou said firmly.
"Oh yeah? Then You're not invited to the wedding!" I retorted and my father flinched as if I had just struck him across his face.
"What?!" He asked not sure if he had heard me correctly. It was a low blow on my part but I had to prove to him that I was as ruthless an d as capable as he was. He would twist and use everything to his advantage and I knew I had to show him I was capable of doing the same. Besides, the wedding gave me some much needed leverage.
I would never in a billion years ever prevent my parents from coming to my wedding. I knew how excited my father was even if we still had to wait a few years before we were legal age to marry.
Leggo was about to speak when I moved one of my paws behind my back and wiggled my fingers then crossed them so that only he saw me doing it. That way he knew I was lying but my father was so stunned that he had not noticed anything.
"Are you grounding me? Or are you coming to my wedding?" I asked with a sinister smile. My father looked flabbergasted and he turned to look at the others as they turned to look away from us. It was clear they were staying out of another one of our typical confrontations.
Lou turned to walk away from me muttering about finding Sanic and saying our goodbyes. Dad brought the jeep around and we began to load it up with our luggage.
"I think you went too far." Ben said to me as he helped me pick up a heavy suitcase. I looked at him and waited for him to continue before replying. He briefly paused as we loaded the last suitcase in the jeep.
"You really hurt your father by saying he couldn't come to our wedding."
"Oh, that, I wasn't being serious, it was just another of our games of will. I would never dream in a billion billion years of stopping my father from coming. He just... needs to be put in his place sometimes." I replied.
"Just like you do?.....sometimes." Ben repolied and went to sit in the back. I stood there stunned by his reaction and climbed in. Lyon was already seated and was checking his phone to see the messages Dash sent him. Dad was in the front passenger and we waited silently until father returned and climbed in. We rode the way in silence.
Leyla closed her flip phone with a loud snap as the other board members stared at her. She forced herself to smile ev ily at them as she sat back in her seat.
"Well?" Ol' Ben asked impatiently. His gray fur looked almost white now as he was showing signs of his age. Still for a coyote, he was pretty limber as his recent mountain climbing expedition had shown. He had been on edge since it was canceled by the humans taking over Salam City.
The other members of the board insisted that all members be present because they were dealing with a once thought to be extinct species. The board decided to devote their entire effort on bringing them to justice without making them extinct....again.
"As expected he will be easy to manipulate." Leyla said.
"Others have tried and failed." An otter said. He seemed bored and uninterested in the whole matter but he had been known for his wisdom. That was what elevated him to be one of the board members. Most underestimate his brilliance and that becomes their fatal flaw.
"Jonah is correct. He is not an adversary to be taken lightly. We have underestimated him before and that led to... unfortunate circumstances." Billy said. He was the oldest of the group and his species was a billy goat. He called himself Billy as a pun but his real name was kept secret even from the board members.
"The public has mixed reactions on humans right now. Many accept their species name change to humans because it's more convenient than saying hairless apes. The thought that an extinct species could come back from the dead has amazing applications.
The problem is that they have taken hostages and the humiliation of those hostages has sparked outrage. It's clear that the underdeveloped humans do not hold the sanctity of life as civilized species do.
The divide comes in that some feel making the humans extinct again is a reasonable course of action while others think they need to be captured and... educated if we ever want them to become part of the civilized world." A lion said as he sat leaning back in his chair. The others looked at him as they thought things over.
"This is the reason why we need THAT deer so badly. He is a natural born strategist and since he is already trying to resolve this with a peaceful solution, pooling our resources is the logical course of action." Leyla replied.
"Not to mention he has both former agents Merric and Bear under his hooves. Bear especially since that white wolf leader of the humans desperately wants Bear freed and given back to him." Jonah said.
"Merrik is irrelevant but he would be a n ice bonus thrown in. I feel Bear is a more prized possession if we can get our paws on him." The lion said.
"Making him an agent again would be nice. Even if we have to collar him to do it." Billy said and he unfolded a piece of paper and began to chew on it. He did not actually swallow it but he kept chewing until it was completely turned to pulp and then he spit it out in a trash barrel next to his seat.
"If we can get Bear back under our control as well as make the deer, named Lou, heel... that is a very nice turnout indeed." Ben said.
"I've dealt with such juvenile species before. He'll all but be my personal slave after I'm finished with him." Leyla said and the rest gave her a curious look.
"I admire your confidence but as we have forementioned don't get too confident because he is not the weak target that you assume he is." The lion remarked and she saw the others nodding in agreement.
"Understood. But don't underestimate me either." She replied. The others seemed to dismiss her comment.
"I'm going to do some work in my garden." Lou said as he pulled up and parked in front of our mansion. We had driven the entire way in silence and my conscience was getting the better of him as I began to regret what I had said to my father.
The others began to unload the jeep of our luggage without looking at either of us. I felt I knew what they were saying without using any words to express it. I turned to look at my father as he was walking towards his garden. The coat that he had my dad shred for him was flung over his shoulder and he had unbuttoned and rolled up his shirt sleeves. I reluctantly followed him and he paused as he neared the entrance of his garden then he turned to look at me.
"Thought I might help since you've been planning to teach me how to tend your garden." I said weakly.
"I have things covered, why don't you help the others." He replied. I could smell the hurt on him and decided to stop the niceties.
"You should be more proud than actually hurt, you know." He looked at me stunned. It took him a second to regain his composure. His eyes seemed to pierce into me as he tried to figure me out.
"I am proud, in some ways." He finally replied.
"You taught me that I should use every advantage to get the better of the deal. That was all I was doing when I said you were not invited." I said as I lowered my ears and looked at my feet.
"If you wanted to hurt me you could have just kicked me in the balls." He said as he smirked.
"But I did! I did kick you in the balls." I said weakly. He stepped forward and kissed my head.
"You're still grounded." He said softly.
"And you're still not invited." I replied and we both laughed then he put his arm around me and started telling me about how his garden is set up. He was telling me the stories of how Eastwood gave him the idea of placing certain grasses together and how he needed a patch of clover in the middle.
Ben and Lyon were hiding as the watched the interaction of Tyger and Lou from a distance. They heard annoyance from Leggo but ignored it as they watched Lou and Tyger make up. Ben reached out to hug Lyon and Lyon struggled to get free.
If Lyon really wanted to he could have broken free because the sports he played had toughened him up. He just did not want to hurt Ben and secretly he did not mind the attention. Ben was his brother in law after all. He liked Ben as much as he loved his brother and would never in a million years hurt him.
"Stop, you're messing up my mane." Lyon whined. Ben kissed his head then booped his snoot causing Lyon to blush.
"You don't have a mane.... yet." Ben teased.
"Says you." Lyon whined again then began to pet his mane to fix his hair. They turned as they heard a crash as Leggo dropped the luggage and stormed over and grabbed them by their ears.
"Power Fur Rangers will be on in a couple of minutes. Give me a paw so we can go watch it." Leggo said grumpily. Ben and Lyon ran to help stack the luggage at the front entrance so the servants could carry it in.
"Movin' in like lightning," Lyon and Leggo sang as the theme song of the show started. Ben, Leggo, and Lyon sat watching but Ben was feeling a little agitated while he wondered what was happening with Tyger and Lou.
Everything seemed fine when they left but the two of them could erupt into arguments at a moment's notice over any small thing. Both seemed to suddenly be under a lot of stress. Lou seemed to try to balance getting ready for a wedding that would not take place until a couple of years from now and the humans that were trying to take over the world.
Tyger seemed to be suffering from the same thing but add the fact that he still felt that he needed to prove himself to his father and prove to Ben's family that he was worthy to marry their son.
"Shabot Ve Sum, Baby! Power of The Red Power Fur Ranger!" Lyon shouted.
"Power of the wolf!" Leggo shouted.
"That's not how it goes, dad!" Lyon whined that his dad was saying the transformation saying wrong.
"But I like the wolf better than the dragon!" Leggo whined right back at him.
"But you gotta say it right or it won't work!"
"I guess... you're right." Leggo said but Ben saw a slight smirk on his maw when he said it. Leggo reached out with his large wolf arms and pulled Lyon close and gave him a squeeze. Lyon calmed down and just lay there silently as he clung to his father while they watched the show. Leeggo turned to Ben and gestured and Ben slid over trapped Lyon in the middle of them.
"Be careful where you step, some of the grass here is very delicate. That is why I won't allow species to come trekking through." Lou explained as he was teaching me about the layout of his garden. There were so many varieties that I was having trouble remembering them all. I was going to hav to make a list later to help me.
"I didn't realize you had this many varieties of plants in here. I definitely need to make a list later. I'll never remember it all." I said and he came over and put his hoof on my shoulder.
"I did that to help me organize the place when I was first given it. I think the reason why I love this place so much was that it was the first personal gift my father had given me. Of course I had to beat him in a game of chess in order to get it but luckily I had some help." Lou said.
"Since we're alone, what's the next step? In your grand plan to 'save' the humans?" I asked. My father;'s face became emotionless and he seemed to be thinking carefully about what he was going to say.
"I've been trying to see this from multiple angles and the big problem is that I won't be able to get close to BH and his humans safely. We are going to need either Merrik or Bear... possibly both to work on our behalf.
The trouble is that if I remove their slave collars their memories will return and they will become their old rotten selves. This may work to our disadvantage!" Lou explained.
"Couldn't we keep them collared so that they stay under our control?" I asked. Having been a slave myself I knew what it would mean to have them as our slaves. I knew they would try and double cross us in some way unless the commands were spelled out in such a way that they could not. That means they'd have to find another way if they wanted to double cross us.
"I suppose but slavery is something I wish to abolish. I can't do that if I'm forcing them to be my slaves." Lou replied.
"I know but you have security that are your slaves. If you want to abolish slavery, and I think it's a great idea, what will happen to them?" I asked. He put his hoof on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze.
"In my absence, when I was thought to have died, your dad granted all security their freedom. Everyone decided to stay and they are on our payroll now. They seemed to have liked their lives here and were overjoyed to stay and be granted a little more freedom than I used to grant them."
"Are you mad at dad because he did that?" I asked. I wasn't sure how he would react because all the security slaves we used to own were species that were captured after they tried breaking into our home to cubnap my father for wealth or power. A few had tried to cubnap my brother and myself for C.I.Z.A. but my father had set up a powerful advanced security system.
My family were not so easy to capture unless we had some plan in the works but most species never knew that. That was why it was a way for us to manipulate them to achieve our goals because they would grow careless in thinking they had won.
"I'm impressed actually. He was able to do what I could not and they loved him for it. I think that had I freed them they would have scattered and regrouped to try and plot their revenge. He was always nice to them and treated them like they were friends not slaves.
I never really give him the credit he deserves but you can learn a lot from your dad. I mean sure he acts like a puppy," My father smiled here. "He's a species person. He can relate and act better to others than I ever could. I was amazed that he ever wanted to be with me. I don't deserve him and all he does for me." Father said solemnly. We walked out of the garden and a large black and white Siberian Husky. He was wearing a black suit and black sunglasses making it obvious he was an agent of some sort.
"Lou Cervus-D, You are to accompany us." The Siberian Husky said. Lou used his hoof to move me behind his back as if to protect me despite the fact I was almost as tall as him.
"If I refuse." Lou replied calmly yet his voice carried an edge to it. The agent seemed unphased by the remark. Meanwhile my heart was beating rapidly as I was afraid the agent might pull out a gun.
"If I have to take you in by force I will but we are hoping you will cooperate to make things easier." The agent said. Lou snapped the fingers of his hoof and a couple of unseen security guards appeared and made their presence known by lightly grabbing the arms of the agent.
"I will ask you to kindly remove yourself from my property. If I must use force I will but I am hoping you will cooperate to make things easier." Lou replied, throwing the agent's words back into his face to see his reaction.
"We are prepared to deal with your security. I am merely here to make things easier but this is your last chance to come peacefully or I will return in full force." The agent replied. He made no attempt to free himself from the grip of the security officers. He seemed as if they posed him no threat.
"You can tell C.I.Z.A. I'm not the easy Prey as they think I am, or have they forgotten they last time they attempted to invade my home?" Lou said.
"Sir, I'm not a representative of C.I.Z.A. I am an agent for The F.D.I. I'm here on behalf of the Government." The agent replied.
"A Furry here?!" I let slip and my father shushed me. The agent turned his head and it was tough to tell with the sunglasses but I think he was glaring at me for calling him a Furry rather than a F.D.I. Agent. Calling the F.D.I. a Furry was a slang used to describe them in derogatory connotations.
"Can we count on your cooperation, Sir?" The agent asked. Lou hesitated as if thinking it over.
"I'll cooperate but only under the conditions that my son accompanies me and that I first speak to my husband." Lou said.The agent snapped his fingers and Leggo and Lyon were led over. Both were cuffed and had muzzles fastened on his maws.
"I don't think you fully understand the situation here." The agent said with a slight grin.
"You just lost any chance of me cooperating with you." My father replied and I felt a chill as I smelled the determination coming off my father. Even if they were the F.D.I. they had no idea whom they were dealing with.
To Be Continued...