Facility 1.X
Countless monitors were lined up along the wall, each one covering different shots of the facility. Several kept an eye out on the elevator, while others displayed images of various rooms. There were several rooms that looked like bedrooms, and many other showed off places of work, like a laboratory or an office. Only one monitor showed signs of activity; five furs split up into three groups, heading through an equal amount of doors.
The one manning the maddening amount of terminals was a red squirrel, wearing an outfit that made him look like a security guard. Other than the blue contrasting with his red fur, it didn't do much to make the rather lean squirrel look official at all. Instead, he was leaning back against the lone chair chair in the room, his big tail limp and laying on the floor with his arms swaying at his sides. He mumbled to himself, making sure he was quiet enough that the fur in the adjacent room couldn't hear him.
"Ugh... Why am I the only one here who's running this place? If it's so damn important, couldn't he have at least hired an extra hand? God, I'm so tired..."
His arms were sore, and he looked at the elevator cam with a bit of contempt. It had only been about half an hour ago he was moving the five around, placing them in their respective rooms. He certainly didn't have much muscle definition to him, so being forced to lug around 5 unconscious furs was far more than he was reasonably able to handle. Still, he managed to do it before any of them woke up.
The squirrel heard the sound of a door sliding open, and promptly sat upright, looking as if he was giving due attention to each of the monitors. He didn't even need to look to know who it was. The fur's footfalls were light, almost non-existent. But the squirrel knew how to listen for them. He needed to.
He could feel the fox's paw rest on his shoulder, its grip light. He could still picture him in his mind: the gray robe he wore, the patches of bare skin from his orange fur falling out, the cold, lifeless gaze behind his gray eyes. Then there was the scar, running down the front of his muzzle. It didn't matter how old he was, as he was terrifying to the squirrel. His raspy voice did little to allay the squirrel's fears.
"How is everything proceeding? I assume you had no issues so far?"
Issues. Those were something that the fox never wanted. At least he was grateful he could tell the truth on that front.
"N-No sir. No issues at all. Everything's going just fine."
He could feel the fox's claws retract, his grip on his shoulder tightening. The squirrel seized up, too scared to move. A single movement, and the fox could just as easily tear into his shoulder as he could his neck. Although bleeding from there would be the least of his concerns if he made his employer angry.
"Perfect, just perfect. Make sure everything else proceeds just as smoothly. I hired you for a reason, Marcus. Don't disappoint me. If you do, I won't hesitate to make sure you don't exist any longer."
It wasn't an empty threat; Marcus knew that for certain. Perhaps that was the reason why he was brought here, alone, where no one would miss him if he were to just vanish. The fox certainly wouldn't miss him, Marcus knew that as well. All he could do was continue to do the best job he could.
"U-Understood, sir. Everything will be fine. Y-You've planned for any emergency, haven't you?"
"I've only planned for any reasonable emergency. Those fools might prove to be a little more than that and get 'creative' with their new powers. It's your job to make sure they don't."
The fox retracted his claws, and pulled his paw away from Marcus' shoulder. At last he could let out a small sigh of relief when he heard the fox beginning to walk away. He was grateful that their meeting was going to be this short; he couldn't bear to be around the fox for too long.
"And... And what of you, sir?"
The fox stopped.
"I'm going to resume my nap. Setting all this up took a bit more out of me than I thought it would. A curse, age is. If I didn't need someone else to assist me, I wouldn't have hired you, or any of my other employees. So be grateful. Being scared of your employer is no way to be a part of a business, Marcus."
And with that, Marcus could hear the door open, and then shut. He was finally alone in the room once again. Only now did he turn, looking at the door the fox left through. If he was going to take a nap, then he wasn't going to have to deal with him for another couple of hours.
"If only this job of his was that short..." Marcus mumbled, keeping his eyes on the monitors once more.
But it would probably be days before this ended. If anything, everything was only beginning.
A short chapter, but with it, the end of chapter 1. I'll probably begin posting chapter 2 next week, or the week after that. Rest assured it won't be quite as repetitive as this chapter is, nor should any future chapter. I hope you enjoyed it!