The medical equipment beeped. With the new electricity coursing through the circuits once again, they hummed with fresh energy that was welcomed. The hospital was finally able to work at max efficiency and were turning out patients as quickly as possible. Louis just stood awkwardly in the room, looking at the two bodies. He didn't feel like sitting. Sitting was for family members staying the night. As an emergency contact, he had been called upon the wolf and rabbit being admitted to the hospital. On any other day he might have found it to be a nuisance, but tonight had been long and torturous, almost deadly for them.
Legoshi was the first to wake up, groggily but still enough that the deer noticed.
"Thank god," the deer sighed in relief. "They thought you might never wake up. There was so much blood loss, they thought the damage would have been permanent."
He stood at the foot of the bed, hand gripping the plastic to steady and hold himself upright. The equipment was the only noise in the room's silence.
"How the fuck did I survive?" the wolf asked.
Louis took a beat of hesitation.
"You didn't," Louis said plainly. "You were dead on scene and they had thought you were a lost cause. It cost me a shit-ton of resources, contacts, and favors, but I called in my own doctor. Your body was still warm. An hour in the OR with his own staffing and he had you fixed up enough that your heart started beating again with CPR. He brought you back. I'm sure your grandfather's reptile genes helped out too."
"Haru?" Legoshi called, looking around weakly.
"She's recovering," Louis said, letting go of the bed to lean on the wall behind him. "The bleeding hadn't been as severe. She was able to survive simply due to the fact that she had been passed out for the entire ordeal and her body was already making changes to deal with tremendous blood loss. Herbivores, as it seems, though more sensitive, can withstand a lot more traumatic injury than carnivores."
"Where is she?" Legoshi asked weakly.
"In the next bed over," Louis answered.
The wolf pulled himself up and the deer rushed in front of him, trying to push the larger animal back down.
"You might not feel it," he warned. "But you're about to rip thousands of stitches. Inside and out."
Legoshi pushed an ounce more but Louis hand held firm on the wolf's chest. He gave in.
"You've just come back from the dead," the deer said, unlocking the bed's wheels. "You shouldn't even be talking, let alone moving yourself."
Louis wheeled Legoshi over to the next bed over, careful none of the equipment became dislodged or unplugged. The wolf carefully twisted his head to look at the bed he was now next to. He carefully reached his large hand over to hold his wife's arm as she lay there, blood being transfused back into her system. There were thick bandages wrapped around her neck, no doubt that there were stitching's underneath. And a large, empty gap where her flesh used to be. That would never, fully heal. The wolf's eyes teared up as he drifted back to sleep, still holding tightly to his wife.
The doctor came in and saw the two beds next to each other and looked at Louis. The deer just shrugged. The stork didn't seem to have any qualms. It had been a long, stressful few months. He understood.
"You're the emergency contact?" he asked.
Louis nodded.
The doctor went to talk but Louis put a finger to his lips. The wolf and the rabbit were sleeping peacefully together, and the wolf's injuries weren't in danger of tearing open. Best to leave them to sleep, heal, and recover. The deer motioned out the door, gently moving them out of the room, despite the storks' protest. But Louis just put a tiny bit of pressure and the bird bent, not wanting to get too hurt.
"This information is private," the doctor said in further protest as Louis closed the door behind them.
"In my line of work," Louis said, leading the stork to the nearest location he saw. "A broom closet is fairly sound proof."
The deer had the bird open the door and they went inside.
"Given I'll be paying for their treatment I have the right to know what's going on with them," he said, leaning on the wood.
The stork opened his bill to protest again, but then heard the reasoning and nodded.
"There's no easy way to say this," the stork said.
Louis' face became suddenly serious.
"We tried but there was just too much blood loss and organ damage," the bird said. "The fetus is dead."
The deer became dumbstruck.
"I'm sorry but we need to operate," the stork said. "We have to remove the dead tissue before it causes more severe damage to the mother."
"But she's not a mother, is she?" Louis snapped in Haru's unneeded defense.
Louis didn't even know they were expecting. They hadn't said anything to him about it and yet he just stood there, grieving their loss for them. To have a child torn from them like that...
"How desperate is it?" he asked.
"Well, at the moment-"
"Can it wait until morning?" he asked, interrupting.
"Well, technically speaking, it's still a part of her," the stork tried to explain. "Kind of like an organ. But if we let it sit too long, it will become like cancer. Dead cells continuously growing and being filtered through her body. In her weak state, the liver won't be able to process the dying cells and the immune system could become...compromised."
Louis raised an eyebrow. His question wasn't being answered and he was getting impatient.
"Significant damage only starts to be noticeable within four weeks," he said straight forward.
"In that case, schedule it for tomorrow," Louis said, turning to leave the closet. "Let the three have one night of peace together before you tear their world apart once more."
The deer left the closet and looked towards the hospital room.
"I'm sorry," he muttered before turning sullenly down the hall. He pressed the button and took the elevator to the next floor. He collapsed onto the wall, raising a hand to rub the corners of his eyes. So much was still happening, but he had to fight through it. He was used to that, constantly fighting one battle or another. He felt the elevator lurch to a stop and the ding sounded as the doors opened. It felt good to use one of these again. He stood again, stepping out and turning down the hall towards his other guests. He opened the door and was immediately held by a wolverine.
"You're relieved," Louis said. "The lawyer will have your payment."
"He's fine Fujioka," the lion said. "He's our boss."
The wolverine softened, nodded and left the room, relieved of his guard duties.
"So it's over?" Dolph asked, sitting up in his bed.
"Unless we end up having a zombie apocalypse," he joked. "Yeah."
"We felt it," Agata said. "When the lights turned on we had a feeling something had happened."
Louis looked to Free's bed. The lion was out cold.
"He puts himself out with the sedatives he picks off the nurses," Dolph said, saddened. "He still hasn't gotten over everyone's death and the pain-"
"None of us will," Louis answered, shuffling his feet. "At least you guys survived. That's got to count for something."
The oldest lion smiled a little through the loss.
"So what now?" Agata asked.
"We persevere," Louis said. "The Horns Conglomerate was old. It's methods...out of date. It's time for a new business. And I couldn't think of three individuals I'd like to go into more entrepreneurship with than you three."
"What were you thinking?" Free asked, groggily coming back awake.
"Something bad," Louis smirked. "Something good. But overall something we're good at."
"We quit that life boss," Dolph said. "Left that world for one that wasn't criminal."
Louis and Dolph looked at each other for a split second. The dullness in the lion's eyes was filled with a sparkle before he smiled.
"And there's nothing in this world for us," he said. "I'm in."
"Countmeinaswell," Free slurred, sitting up. "I need to get back out there. This prison body isn't going to go unused."
"Agata?" he asked.
The young lion looked up at the deer and around at the other two. He smirked before nodding.
"It's settled then," the deer said. "When do you get out?"
"As soon as Free stops OD'ing on tranquilizers," Dolph joked.
"Shuddup!" Free exclaimed. "I can quit whenever I want."
"I have to see to a few things," Louis smirked. "I'll have Yuta pick you up tomorrow. There's an apartment that opened up in my building. You can all stay there for a while."
"Boss," Agata called, catching his attention before he opened the door. "What about... him?"
Louis thought for a second.
"I think the return of the Shishigumi might set those more rowdy criminals straight," he smirked. "Adler deserves a rest, don't you think?"
He left with that and made his way to the front desk to sign paperwork to pay for both the lion's and Legoshi and Haru's medical bills. It was going to strain his rather massive bank accounts. Not enough he'd notice that much of a dent, but it would still be hefty. He asked for the forms and started filling them out when he got a call from Juno.
"Hi," he said.
"Hey," she responded. "So how long are you going to be out?"
"Hopefully not too long," he answered. "Just filling out paperwork and then I should be back at the apartment for...say, 2:30am?"
"Ugh," she groaned. "That's so far away."
"Juno it's in an hour," he said, rubbing the grogginess from his eyes. "Then we can sleep all day. Or just, putts about. We all deserve some rest. Is Azuki still there?"
"No," she said. "She and that panther left a few minutes ago. I got bored and decided to call you."
"Feel free to go to bed without me," he said.
"Never again," she giggled.
"I'll be there before you know it," he said. "I love you."
"I love you too," she replied.
He hung up the phone and finished the paperwork. He turned and left the building, walking into the streetlights and to his car up front. Yuta rolled down his window.
"Home sir?" he asked.
"Yes please," the deer answered. "And thank you for the late night call."
"I'm a butler sir," Yuta answered. "I'm just doing my job."
Louis stepped into the car and sat in the back seat. Finally able to relax.
~~~~~
Four armed guards transported this body to the morgue. This one was getting special treatment due to a previous incident. The chief wasn't taking any chances.
"What do you think you all will do after this?" a guard asked.
"Hoping to get stationed somewhere north," they answered. "You?"
"I hoping for-"
The body bag suddenly sat up with a loud, grating intake of breath, followed by a long series of loud, deathly sounding coughs that grated up through his throat. The suddenness sent all the guards into a startled frenzy. The body in the bag flexed against the thick plastic as the inhabitant fought for breath. With one last hellish breath and a last ditch heave, the hybrid ripped from the cocoon, tearing through with tooth and claw. Some scraps were left in the porcupine quills on his head. He sat up on the floor of the armed transport, breathing heavily as he looked around at the wide-eyed troops. After a moment, he snorted to himself with a smirk.
"Shouldn't you train your guns on me?" he asked.
They immediately did.
"Good," the hybrid jeered. "I love a good challenge."
He slowly stood and stretched, the light in the back of the van reflecting off his black leather outfit and the gas mask on his hip.
"Get on the ground," an officer ordered. "On the ground now! You're under arrest!"
The van hit a bump and the creature stumbled, falling to the floor of the van. He rolled over and leaned on the van wall with his back.
"Guess even poison can't keep me down," he said. "I'm cursed with life in eternal shadow."
Facing all the soldiers he smirked.
"Story time," he said, clapping his hands with a sudden bravado. "Who's got one?"
The guards were silent.
"Care to entertain a dead man?" he continued smirking. "A twice dead man that is?"
No one answered. They were still reeling from the fact he was still alive.
"Anyone here religious?" he asked.
No one answered.
"I used to be," he said, smirking slowly fading. "My mother too. Until I died. The first time. She remained faithful but didn't see what I had. Or rather, what I had lacked to see. I ask because I'm reminded of her favorite story. From the 'good' book. This one story. There was a traveler on his way to the holy city, when he was set upon by men of ill intent. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him, and left him in the dirt. Bleeding. A priest happened by, saw the traveler, moved to the other side of the road and carried on."
The soldiers shifted. Was this guy really the insane maniac who had held an entire city hostage through fear? The way he spoke so eloquently was off putting, yet they were drawn in like a vortex of hypnotism. His one red eye seemed to glow.
"And then the levite," the hybrid continued. "The religious functionary, he came across the traveler, saw him dying...but he too moved to the other side of the road and passed him by. But then came a man, a local. He saw the traveler bleeding in the road and stopped to aid him without thinking of the trouble or burden that would be placed on him. Tended to his wounds, applying oil. He took him to an inn, gave him all the money he had for the innkeeper to look after the traveler and the samaritan continued on his journey."
He took a moment and sighed.
"He used to think of ourself as the traveler or the local in that story," he said. "Funny how people can be deceived by their true nature."
"The hell is he on about?" one guard asked.
"It means we're not the local," the animal said, voice getting much, much darker. "Or the priest. Or the levite. He is not even a man with ill intent, no, I AM the Ill-Intent."
The van lights flickered for a moment and he sprung. He slashed with his claws and spat black venom and bit with his fangs. He cut deep with his karambits and twisted any joints he could grab. He moved so fast no one could get a shot off. But when someone did, the hybrid grabbed the barrel and had it aimed at the driver.
"Who set upon the traveler on a road he should not have walked upon."
The van spun wildly out of control and was sent skidding onto its side. It crashed into another car and the fuel started to leak. A soldier had been thrown from the back of the door and he tried to crawl away but a heavy boot lay itself on his broken leg, stopping him in his tracks. He turned to the look up at the towering, imposing, threatening shadow. Suddenly the crash erupted in a ball of flame and he was outlined by the blaze behind him; a demon straight from the deepest fiery pits of Hell. He pulled the mask from his hip and strapped it to his face, cracking his neck afterward. He pulled the gun from the soldier's hand before he could pull off a shot and inspected it.
"Guess that makes you just another traveler," he said, checking the clip.
Razor aimed the gun...
...and fired.