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24 year old vixen Mary Todd was in labor, and as she was rushed to the delivery room she reflected on how she got here. It was nine months ago, making the month December and the start of mating season for foxes. While at a party being thrown by a 20 year old little fennec fox with a voice way to deep for his little body, she ended up meeting this stunningly handsome 18 year old fox tod with the most amazing emerald colored eyes. For as long as she would live she would never forget him, he was snarky and sarcastic at times, but he was mostly charming and funny, and oh so handsome. She would never forget his name either, Nick Wilde.
She hung around him for most of the party, trying to cajole him into one of the bedrooms. It was mostly her heat plus alcohol talking, but she agreed to the sentiment. He each time turned her down nicely, a few times stating he came from a more traditional fox family and that his mom had raised a gentlemammal. But as the night wore on and she got drunker it became "look you're very gorgeous and most tods would jump at the chance you're offering, but you are in heat and drunk and I don't want to take advantage of your state."
As the night dwindled into the early morning hours, around 1, and the party winded down she watched as he retired to a bedroom alone, quite drunk himself but not to the degree she was. She had pouted a bit in her inebriated state because nearly every other mammal, including the fennec host, had gone either into bedrooms or the nearest hotel with another mammal in tow. Leaving just her, him, and a few others not getting lucky. It bothered her immensely, so much so that after an hour she decided to go into the room he had disappeared into.
When she entered she quickly saw a few things that caused her to lock the door behind her. First thing was that Nick was sprawled out on the bed passed out. The second was he was completely naked. The third, the third was that he must have been having a very good dream because he was completely aroused. In the state she was in, drunk and in heat, she was very quick to take advantage of those three things. She used Nick's passed out and aroused state to sate her own desires, and 45 minutes later when she was uncoupled and satisfied she simply left the home entirely without leaving a note or anything.
When she awoke in the afternoon, she was hungover and couldn't remember much. But she could tell she had gotten lucky by the mess in her underwear and the fact that she wasn't feeling the effects of her heat as much. She had simply shrugged on the matter and cleaned up and then took a nice warm shower. Once done she got to finishing packing, this was her last day in Zootopia. She was moving to Ibexas having finally secured a position in the Todd family business, Todd Industries. Her father currently was the CEO of the company and it was her hopes that she could take the mantle one day.
Once her things were packed and on the moving truck she took a taxi to the airport and boarded the Todd private jet for the flight to Ibexas. It was halfway through said flight that the memories of just how she got lucky came back to her, and she felt nothing but shame. When she landed she tried to forget that she had done what she had to the fox named Nick Wilde. She threw herself into her work to help, well for a time, it quickly became apparent that her inaction on the matter of using Nick Wilde led to her getting pregnant with his kit.
An abortion was out of the question, she could never find it within herself to do it despite the circumstances of how she got pregnant. Not to mention she always wanted to be a mother, sure she wanted to have a husband before the kit but life never really goes according to plan. There was no way though she would find and reach out to Nick Wilde and tell him what she did, and that he was going to be a father.
She was quick to face the music though with her family. They were extremely disappointed that she had gotten pregnant before marriage and was that irresponsible, her father stating that there was now no way she would take over the company, and in the end she was fine with that. Of course she simply told them she had sex with a random fox tod at a party and couldn't tell them who it was, that was much better than the truth. For foxes pregnancy outside of marriage was rare enough, pregnancy outside of relationships even more so, but even that didn't bother her.
So here she was now, being wheeled into the delivery room.
(8 hours of agonizing labor later)

Finally after eight hours of hard labor Mary Todd gave the final push and her kit was born with a single cry. The doctor held up her baby and exclaimed "It's a boy! What do you want to name him?"
Mary sank into the hospital bed with a little laugh of joy and breathily said "A boy? Jason, Jason Wilde, thats with an e at the end, Todd. Jason Wilde Todd."
The doctor smirked at her and began to reply "Jason, that's a real strong name. A real strong name for a real strong kit.”Mary let out a beaming smile as the doctor and nurses were looking her kit over, cleaning him up and swaddling him in a blue blanket. But as they worked on her son there was one thing that concerning her. “Doctor Monroe, why isn’t he crying? He’s awfully quiet.”Doctor Monroe stepped away from her kit letting the nurses take over, being finished with his checks. The kits quietness was one thing that concerned him as well, but he saw nothing to be worried about for now.“Well Ms. Todd I’m not entirely sure, some kits after birth just don’t cry. I looked him over and saw nothing, I may run a test or two but as I said I saw nothing concerning.”Mary let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good then, so nothing to worry about.”
“Well, I wouldn’t exactly say that Ms. Todd. Now one thing is a kit that at birth doesn’t cry could be a early sign of autism. It’s about a fifty fifty chance. We won’t know until he turns four.”“Oh..well you know what, that’s fine. If he does have autism I will love him the same and he can still lead a pretty normal life, maybe get some special gift from it. I’d rather my kit have autism then get some other disease.”At her remark the doctor gave her an approving look. “If only more parents thought like you Ms. Todd. Now would you like to hold your son?”Mary shot her arms out as a nurse turned towards her and stood next to her doctor, her kit cradled in their arms. “Yes please.”The nurse smiled at Mary and pawed her son over to her. She took him into her arms and looked upon her son for the first time, he had two shining emerald orbs same as his father. Her kit smiled at her with a tiny little grin that made her coo and him giggle at the coo. His tiny tail swayed back and forth, a little black tip on it, also the same as his father…in fact, all of his colorization was like Nick, he did not have a single resemblance to her.That fact didn’t bother her one bit, because it meant her son would grow into a smart, charming, and handsome tod. She couldn’t help herself looking at his adorable face and hugged him close to her chest. After a few moments though Jason started to wriggle uncomfortably, she let out a tired laugh at that and eased her grip. Looking at her son again he had a annoyed look on his tiny face that she couldn’t help laughing at, “oh I’m sorry but you’re to adorable.”After that she put a parental mark on the top of his head and everything in that moment was right with the world.(Four years later)That fifty percent chance happened. As Jason got closer and closer to the age of four Mary started to notice things that tended to happen more often. He was always a quiet kit and very inquisitive, he always squirmed when she would show him affection but also laugh. But, as he got older he became quieter and quieter, and he stopped laughing with shows of affection and instead simply squirmed away from her with a little smile.Then, when he was three, he also stopped making eye contact. She’d look at him and he would avert his gaze and look somewhere other than her eyes. He’d move further away if she sat down on the couch and left room enough to where she would have to reach to touch him, he would move out of her reach. He also began to have trouble with emotions, more specifically showing them…it was like they became foreign concepts to him.Anger was one he kept though. He developed a sort of anger issue, he would get frustrated or overwhelmed and then burst, growling, yelling, throwing things, things of that sort. He would calm quickly, state the reason he had that outburst, apologize, clean up if he threw stuff, and then let out a sigh, not understanding why he was having these issues.There was other things to. Loud noises bothered him a bit, especially high pitched noises like screams. He would plaster his ears to his head and give a irritated look towards whatever was causing the noise. He wasn’t very found of bright lights either, especially of the lights flashed. He would flinch away from flashing lights, and because of his dislike of bright lights he wore specialty sunglasses quite often. He had a hard time socializing too, and went out of his way to avoid it more than any normal kit would. Then there was this tick he developed, he’d rhythmically tap his toes on his right foot on the ground in a set of three, little toe to big toe. That or he’d twitch his little and ring finger three or four times, sometimes he’d do both. The last thing was he seemed to have problems abandoning even the simplest of tasks once he had taken them up, and would throw a small fit if he wasn’t able to complete it.The most remarkable thing though, was his intelligence. For a four year old he operated on the brain level of a ten year old. He was inquisitive, quick minded, had the ability to recognize complex patterns for his age, could solve advanced problems for his age, and appeared to have the beginnings of a photographic memory.While it was difficult see her son become like this, she still loved him the same, and she knew he loved her. He said it a lot, would go out and pick her flowers, beautiful flowers at that, even gave her half hugs every now and then. He genuinely tried to show he cared and not come off as cold, and she could tell it bothered him that he didn’t know why he was like this.Sadly, she was the only mammal in his life. Her parents disowned her after he was born, they had come to meet him and when her father saw that he bore no resemblance to her he had yelled at her.“I will not have the Todd name sullied by a bastard child! I thought that if the kit at least looked like you it would be fine! But no he doesn’t look even a bit like you! So he is not my grandson! I do not recognize him as a member of the Todd family! He may have the last name but that means nothing! And you Mary are disowned! You are out of the will, you will never take over my company, you are no longer a daughter of mine! I raised you better than this! You can stay at the office in Ibexas simply because I know you earned it because I didn’t hand it to you! Diane we are leaving, let’s go!”

After that her father had stormed out and her mom followed behind him, pausing at the door and turned saying, “I’m sorry sweetie…but he is beautiful.” After that her mom walked out, and she never saw or heard from either again.There was no other family members within the Todd family that she was close enough to, to be able to introduce her son to them. Her father was an only child and his parents were just like him if not worse. His father never liked her simply because she was a vixen and not a tod, he didn’t even want her to be a member of the family business. There was no family on her moms side, both parents were gone and she to was an only child.He did not have any friends either. In school he was a outcast because he was a fox, and a strange one at that. According to teachers though he made no attempts to make friends at all, and went out of his way to stay away from other kits more than they stayed away from him. Outside of school was more of the same, her kit just did not want to be bothered with other kits. Fine with entertaining himself, which usually consisted of him studying the mammals around him and exploring the area, studying things and asking about things he did not know about. He was genuinely interested in gaining new knowledge about everything, and he appeared to retain it all.So with all of these things it came as no shock being in doctor Monroe’s office being told the news. “Well Ms. Todd, observing your son and running some simple tests I can confirm that he has some form of autism. But I know this information doesn’t come as a surprise to you, he’s been showing signs of it since he was two.”Mary, sitting opposite to Dr. Monroe, nodded and replied, “yes, I’ve known this for awhile. Quiet, antisocial, not a fan of being touched, problems expressing emotion, dislike of bright lights and loud noises. All the common signs of it.”Dr. Monroe nodded a couple of times. “Yes, those are the signs. But the question now is what type does he have.”Mary gave him a quizzicality look “how do you find that out?”“A series of tests should narrow it down, but my best guess would be he has a form of high functioning autism. Just based off of what I’ve seen and what you’ve told me. It’ll take a day to run all of the tests, and I will forewarn you that it will require taking him well out of his comfort zone and pushing buttons he’s not gonna want pressed. But that’s what it will take to get the full picture.”Mary grimaced. “While I might be fine with that I doubt my little Jason will be fond of the idea.”Dr. Monroe let out a small chuckle. “No I doubt he will. But it’s something that needs to be done. Bring him in tomorrow and we’ll get it done.”(The next day, Jason)It was about midday and all of the tests were finished. Jason was in the office with his mom and Dr. Monroe, dressed in a red shirt, cargo pants, and a black faux leather jacket. He was sitting in the right corner of the room with his arms crossed, ears plastered to his head, head turned, and eyes averted looking at the ground… and he was NOT happy.To start, his mom had gotten him up at 8am on a Saturday, two hours earlier than normal, so he was already in a bad mood. She helped cheer him up with some fast food breakfast, but then next thing he knew he was back at the hospital. Then to top it all off, they started to do tests, and he was NOT a fan of most of them. They tested and pushed his limits and a couple of times he was really tempted to bite a finger or two. It was especially frustrating because they hadn’t explained to him why they were doing all of these tests, what the purpose was for them.But now for him luckily the test were done. But he was still ticked off, his mom had tried to cheer him up and used her baby voice, his reply was to give her a cold look and a huff. She gave him a pout in return but he wasn’t gonna fall for the guilt trip. His mom had let out a sigh and then stood from her crouch and went to sit at Dr. Monroe’s desk. The only bright side to all of this was he’d finally get to learn about what all of these tests were about, so as his mom sat down he perked his ears and tuned into the conversation.“So Dr. Monroe, what are the results?”“Well Ms. Todd, it’s what we expected…sort of. He has a form of high functioning autism, but it’s like nothing any of the specialists here have seen before.”“Autism? I remember reading about it when mommy left the laptop open…that’s what’s wrong with me?”“How can that be Dr. Monroe? How is that possible?”
“Well Ms. Todd, specific forms of autism are hard to peg in general, but your son is so unique in his. So much so, that it’s getting its own name, Wilde’s Autism. His is a extremely high function form of autism, we tested his cognitive abilities thoroughly and, it’s just remarkable. Advanced to semi-complex problem solving, recognition of advanced and complex patterns for his age, which seems to be his special skill, and this was with both patterns on paper and he picked up on patterns of the mammals testing him too.”“He solves problems presented to him very quickly, longest it took him at most was a minute for a couple. He definitely has a photographic memory and amazing memory retention, we showed him and asked him several things at the beginning of the testing and he remembered it all when we asked at the very end. His intelligence is just remarkable, at the end we gave him an IQ test, an adult level IQ test, and he got an 108. A. One hundred. Eight. On a adult level IQ test. That’s just remarkable! Unprecedented for a four year old kit with autism! He definitely operates on a brain level not for his age!”“So it’s not like this for other kits? Am I some sort of freak?”“….Doctor, I don’t know what to say to that. I mean….I knew he was intelligent, but…I mean…wow.”*chuckles “I think that’s appropriate reaction to news like this. But there is more of course, as it comes with autism there is side effects.”“This should be interesting, if I know what this autism is doing to me I can fight it.”“Yes, I think I’ve noticed most of them already, and I’ve told you about them and you’ve seen some of them for yourself Doctor Monroe.”“Yes, yes Ms. Todd, we already know about a few that he developed beforepaw, but on the basic levels. So I’d like to go through it all in depth, because there are some I doubt you’ve noticed.”“Hm, very well then doc. Let’s here them, it would be nice to know the full extent of his limits.”
“I agree mommy, I agree.”
“Okay, so I will just go down the list in the order he was tested and observed. First, he has a sensitivity to light, which is one we already knew of, dislike of sunlight both indoors and out, LED bulbs brightness levels and above cause discomfort and for him to look and flinch away from the source. Flashing lights at any brightness at all cause serious discomfort to him. Jason where’s speciality sunglasses that we gave him to help him stand the brightness.“So this autism is why I can’t stand the sun, bright lights, or flashing lights? And that’s why I have to wear these sunglasses?”“Next is his discomfort with loud noises. Decibel levels 70 and above cause Jason severe discomfort, he will plaster his ears to his head and flinch away. Long exposure to the sound will cause an outburst, growling, yelling, snarling, throwing things, and in the case of the sounds, attacking the source.”“Autism is why I can’t stand loud noises too!? Urghh.”“Now comes his outbursts. They are actually the most minor outbursts the specialists have ever seen, he’s not as loud or as aggressive as others, also his outbursts don’t last very long. He calms quickly and not only that, he calms himself, which is something that very rarely happens. As a matter of fact, me and the specialists can’t really attribute his outbursts to the autism, because it’s not like the typical outbursts we see. It’s more like…a actual temper tantrum than anything else really. More through tests would have to be done on the subject to get a firmer grasp on it.”“It’s the reason I have these stupid outbursts!? What’s those words I heard on TV?...ah that’s right, SON OF A BITCH!”“Well that’s..something I wasn’t expecting to hear, I’ll have to think on having him tested more to find out, not sure that’s a strain I want to put him through.”“Of course of course. It’s not something that is totally needed, most times for forms of high functioning autism as the kit gets older the outbursts go away or at the least lessen. But since he self calms, it will more than likely be something that goes away with time. Moving on, lack of eye contact, lack of speech, and dislike of being touched are three very common symptoms in all forms of autism. For lack of eye contact, I’m sorry to say that that’ll never go away, it will lessen with time, especially with you, but he will have it for life.”“This just can’t get much worse! This is why I can’t look my mom in the eyes! No! I will fight this so help me gods! I will look my mother in the eyes!”“Next, lack of speech. With constant work he should be able to converse semi-normally, he will be short, blunt, straight to the point, and lackluster in it if you will. But, he will speak. Then there’s the dislike of being touched, that to with work and time should lessen to a simple discomfort. With you, it will eventually not be a problem at all by my guess.”“Well, that’s some good news at least. I don’t care about speaking to other mammals, but I want to talk to my mommy without it being difficult.”“Well that’s some good news Doctor Monroe. I doubt my little Jason will care much about how he converses with other mammals, but I can tell that it bothers him that he has trouble talking to me and doesn’t understand why. As to the touch that’s fantastic news! To hold my kit again…it’s amazing news.”“Yes I figured you would enjoy that bit of news. Now moving forward again, his antisocial behavior, I’m not entirely sure it’s solely attributed to his autism. We put him with a group of children here for various reasons, a few of them foxes, and he stayed away from everyone in a rear corner of the room. The other foxes on the other hand, went over to him and sat down in a little semi-circle in front of him. He actually chatted with them, at one point the other kits scooted back a bit, probably because Jason didn’t like them being so close. He kept partial eye contact and his responses short, but he chatted with them the whole time. So it seems as long as they kept a respectful distance he was fine with them being there and talking with him.”“Yeah I remember them, Seth, Cody, Chris, and Stephen, they were nice. And it was real nice when they scooted back when I asked. I wonder if I could hang with them again, I don’t really have friends. No kits in school or around the park are worth getting to know or hang around.”“Well that’s great news! I wonder if I could meet their parents, it’s important for Jason to have some friends and these are the only kits he’s given a time of day to. Maybe because they were foxes?”“No, I’m not sure that’s it. I think it was because they were a few years older than him as well as respecting his space and genuinely being nice to him. I think their age was an important factor because they are closer to the cognitive level Jason is at, Jason has the mind of a ten year old at the cognitive level and the kits were 8 instead of 4. So with them being eight which is only a two year difference, he could converse with them more freely and have more in common. Them being foxes probably helped to simply for the fact foxes tend to stick with other foxes.”“Huh, I didn’t think of that. But, he’s right, the only reason I kept talking to them is because we had more in common…so if I want to make friends it’s just gotta be older kits…maybe? I don’t know.”“Well that’s something to think on. But it sounds like more speculation.”“Well Ms. Todd, that’s because it is. But I would suggest trying to have him interact with older kits and see how he does in time. For now though, I think seeing if those kits could become friends with your son is a very very good idea, having friends could help him immensely. But let’s move on, there was a few more things we noticed, one is his ticks. You’ve pointed them out to me before, and ticks are extremely common with kits with autism, but what’s important is what we didn’t see. Along with ticks, kits with autism usually sway back and forth, and chant things like nursery rhymes. But he does neither, which is incredibly odd, literally every form of autism has these two things. This to me is the main indicator of his conditions uniqueness and mystery.”“Huh, that’s interesting. But that’s about it, I like my ticks.”“Well that’s interesting, I remember reading about swaying and chanting, and he’s never done it at home either.”“Well there’s a small chance they might show up later, but a small one. Now there is one last thing, his problems with expressing emotions. That, I am afraid, is something he will have for life. Emotions are and will continue to be foreign concepts to him. He may know what the emotion means, what it looks like, what it’s supposed to feel like. But, when it comes to actually feeling it, he won’t….now before you get disheartened, this is only speculation based on what was observed, and what we know.. his form of Autism is unknown, so there is a chance emotion is something he might get back, if only a little. Also I will tell you this, love is one thing he will never lose, he might not know how to properly express it, but he has it and will continue to have it.”“…I don’t know what I’m supposed to think about that…don’t know how I’m supposed to feel about it either, but I guess I know why…I’m going to prove him wrong though, him and those….what was that other world?...ah, and those bastards, yeah that’s the word, those bastards who did all those stupid tests to me.”“I. I…that’s disheartening news Dr. Monroe.”“I know, and I’m sorry. But that’s what it looks like it’s gonna be. But remember, we could be wrong, Jason is a special and strong kit, and I got the feeling he’s going to prove a lot of mammals wrong about a lot of things”“You’re godsdamn right I will.”“Wait a moment Dr. Monroe, what about Jason’s focus?”“Oh yes of course! Sorry, sorry I don’t know how I forgot about that bit. Well as you’ve mentioned to me before it seemed to you that Jason had a very narrow focus, and you are completely right. Jason has an incredibly narrow focus, and a extremely hard time abandoning tasks once he’s undertaken them. We had him start several tasks and then stopped him to start on others, he wasn’t a fan. This is what caused him to have the most outbursts as well. Though if we presented him with multiple tasks he would juggle them well and complete them, it seemed his main issue was not being able to complete them.”
“I hated that part! Here do this, wait never mind leave it be and come do this! AHHHHHH! Just let me finish!”
“Speaking of strength, and things related to it…” since Jason was keeping his eyes averted still, he didn’t know what was happening, he was counting on them speaking to get information, heck they were probably speaking this freely because they didn’t think he could hear them. So he continued to listen, curious to why he had stopped talking. Next thing he new he heard what sounded like a jar opening. “What the hell?”Next thing he knew he heard the doctor call out his name. “Jason!”He snapped his head up just in time to see a lollipop flying towards him and in a split second snatched it out of the air. Looking at the lollipop in his paw he saw that it was a raspberry tootsie pop, his favorite. Looking back up towards the doc and him mom he saw the look of satisfaction on the doc’s face and a look of shock on his mom’s. He shrugged, opened the lollipop, said “thank you.”, stuck or in his mouth, and then averted his gaze again.”“What was that Doctor! Why did you throw that at him!?”“To show a point Ms. Todd, I knew he would catch it. While we were testing him we noticed his reflexes and paw eye coordination were superb! One of the specialists knocked her coffee cup of the desk and Jason shot his paw out and caught it, not a drop hit the floor. After that happened we tested him some more and the results were the same. Best guess is his brain substituted for his mental condition by boosting his physical attributes. Again this is speculation without further testing, and I have no idea how far it goes. Honestly I could just be talking out of my ass for this particular, regardless though, it is pretty superb.”“Talking out of his ass? why is it he’s either right, or farting? Why is he even…adults are weird.”“That’s…remarkable. I really don’t know what to say to that either. Anything else you observed or think?“Yes, we observed one other thing that I’ve had my suspicions of for some time. All of the pain receptors in Jason’s body are fried, completely. Jason feels no physical pain.”“Wait, seriously? That’s cool. That really doesn’t sound like a bad thing.”“Dr. Monroe how could that have happened?”“It’s a birth defect, a fairly minor one thankfully. It’s something that can’t be fixed and it does have the potential to be dangerous. If Jason say breaks a bone, or gets a serious injury, he won’t be able to feel the injury and that has the potential to cause more damage to himself. Best counter for this is for Jason to learn about his anatomy so he will understand, oh this is a bad injury, don’t move.”“Well then I will learn my.. anta anata ….whatever that word is.”“Okay that’s something that can be done, I think four is a little early for it so I’ll wait till he’s six. Is there anything else?”“That’s completely fine, I think Jason has enough on his plate for now. And yes there is one final thing, I’m not entirely sure because we didn’t test it, and it’s hard to test it because of his condition. But, I think his senses might be enhanced, at the very least enhanced for a mammal with autism. In fact, I think he’s been listening in the entire time.”“Uh oh, the jigs up.”“Jason, is that true?”Jason looked towards his mother and forced himself to lock eyes with her and hold it, then simply nodded.Mary put her paws over her muzzle in shock, this was something that was supposed to broken to him slowly, and who knew what was circulating in his head. Before she could say anything Dr. Monroe stood and said, “why don’t you come over here and take a seat.”Jason shrugged and crunched the lollipop in his mouth, savoring the raspberry taste before standing, tossing the stick into a near by bin as he did. He then padded over to his mom and the doctor, internally uncomfortable at the chairs closeness to the two. Dr. Monroe must have noticed his discomfort because he walked around his desk and scooted the chair further to the left before re-taking his seat, and Jason was grateful he would no longer be sitting so close to them.Jason reached the desk and hopped onto his chair before sitting down, glancing at Dr. Monroe noticing that Dr. Monroe jotted something down as he sat. He sat legs crossed as he didn’t like his legs dangling, it made him feel ridiculous. He glanced back and forth from his mom and Dr. Monroe, waiting for one of them to speak to him. “Come on you know I’m not gonna start the conversation.”After a few moments his mom spoke, causing him to look at her and forcing himself to make eye contact. “Jason, sweetie. Just what did you hear?”He kept his answer simple. “Everything.”“Oh sweetie.” His mother leaned in to touch him before stopping herself as reflexively he averted his gaze to the floor. She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them and saying. “I’m so sorry sweetie, this was something that was supposed to be revealed to you slowly.”Jason kept his gaze averted this time when he spoke. “I know….does this make me some sort of freak?”His mom let out a gasp of horror at hearing him say that but Dr. Monroe immediately spoke.“No Jason, it doesn’t. It makes you unique, special, it makes you different. Other mammals might think you are a freak, but it’s because they won’t understand who you are. And if we can put aside what all the other pediatricians, doctors, and normal mammals will say about you, and make them think for a moment that what if they are wrong. What if they are using the wrong tests so to speak to quantify your intelligence and the intelligence of kits with autism. If we can get them to question their expectations, and that might include that you will get married, have kits, be self-sufficient, or not. But, if we let the world set the expectations for you and other kits like you, they will start low, and they will stay there. Because you are capable of much more than you know, more capable than your mom knows, or I know, or anybody else knows. Maybe you do know and just don’t know how to tell us that, maybe you can’t. Or maybe, just maybe it’s because everyone else doesn’t know how to listen. You are not a freak or anything similar to the word, you are an amazing kit, simply different than the rest. Jason, YOU need to be the one set your own expectations on how you will live your life, and you will have your mother and I, and a whole lot of other mammals at your disposal to help you reach those expectations that you set, how simple or grand they may be.”(Two years later)Mary noticed a change in her son, and it didn’t look like it was a good one. The first year after he diagnosed had been a overall nice one. The four fox kits that Jason had interacted with him at the hospital became fast friends with him, the four were already friends with each other and integrated Jason into their little group easily. Seth’s parents were doctors at the hospital, his mother being one of the specialists that tested Jason. Cody was there because he had broken his left arm and Chris was there for physical therapy after a right shoulder surgery. Stephen had been there for a broken left foot.Seth was the leader of the little group and had been the one that initiated with Jason, the other kits following along and all getting along with him smoothly. Since Seth’s mom was a Autism Specialist all of the kits had a understanding of the condition and as a result knew how to interact around Jason. They four kits were around quite a lot and had helped Jason immensely. They knew when Jason speaks he would speak in a neutral and level tone with no emotion or passion in it, and be blunt with no filter or empathy. But, the kits did not mind it, they knew it wasn’t something Jason could really help, but as a result of their friendship he was speaking in more than single simple sentences. It was also a benefit for her because the mansion felt less empty with a group of five kits hanging around as well as the four’s parents were over quite often. She had hit it off with all of them quickly after she met them, and it was nice to have some friends of her own.She pulled Jason from school after his official diagnosis and instead had him homeschooled, it was easier for him. She was tempted to send him to a school for kits with autism but he had told her no saying, “those schools are mostly run by the people Dr. Monroe warned me about.” So instead on Tuesdays and Thursday’s he went to a private institution he had selected. It was something he did a lot, making his own decisions on things that could impact his condition, stating “I’m setting my own expectations like I was told.”The change in her son came after his sixth birthday, they had gone into town to celebrate with his friends and everything seemed fine at the time. She had taken them to a place called Buster and Dave’s a large sort of arcade, she normally wouldn’t have taken Jason to a place like it. They place was loud, crowded, with lots of bright and flashing lights, all places her kit preferred to avoid. But he had recently been given special contacts that worked a lot like his specialty sunglasses, and they were especially made so he could tolerate the bright and flashing lights better. Jason solved the noise problem with speciality ear plugs and had told her he would grin and bear the crowds.While they were there he kept with his group of friends or in the party room she had rented out with her. He was always with at least one of the mammals he came there with, until he had to use the bathroom. He had gone by himself as none of his friends had to go and had claimed to only be gone for a minute…when it hit ten minutes everyone started to wonder and Seth went to go check on Jason, he quickly came back yelling for help. He found Jason unconscious and bloody in a stall, he had been jumped. She and the rest of his friends ran into the bathroom, Seth had called out to someone who worked there after he discovered Jason and the wolf was in there tending to Jason while on the phone with 911.By the time they had entered the wolf was telling Jason to stay down as he had regained consciousness. She had maintained her composure just barely and Seth, the trooper he was took to questioning Jason on what happened. Jason had claimed it had been three mammals, male teens in their 20s, a zebra, wolf, and cougar. Jason hadn’t heard them sneaking up on him because of the ear plugs, but once they jumped him he got the reasoning of why they were attacking him, he was a fox and a weird one at that. He also said he recognized the three, he had noticed them before watching him and his friends and then figured they must have been following them and when he split off and went to the bathroom they took the opportunity.It was hard for her and the employee to fathom that the mammals committed a brazen attack in such a public place, Jason had mentioned though that the three reeked of alcohol.. Luckily for her, public meant cameras and the three were identified and caught, they had fled the place after jumping Jason but it didn’t keep them from Justice for long. Jason had been taken to the hospital and sustained a broken nose, a left orbital fracture, moderate concussion, and some serious bruising all over his body.After that day, her son was never the same. It’s seemed the accident set him back on his progress, he was quieter and more antisocial, preferring to stay in and not go out. He drew into himself more than ever before, his sentences went back to simple and short, everything he had made progress in seemed to have been reset. The only things that he seemed to have kept was his eye contact and being touched.When there was no choice in the matter of going out he would be extremely paranoid and cautious. As if he assumed every mammal around him was just waiting to jump him. He was acting so differently she hired a mammal to watch over him when she wasn’t there, a sort of personal butler for him, a kind otter named Alfred. He would take all of Jason’s orders and report to her. Jason got along well with Alfred, and spoke to him more than he spoke to her. Then again he spent more time with Jason than she could, running the Ibex branch of Todd Industries was time consuming work, and she hated being away from Jason so much.Jason also decided he wanted to learn how to fight and defend himself. She found him in the den one night on her laptop, flipping through page after page, link after link. She had asked him what he was doing and he had stated “Learning to fight, styles and teachers.” Which translated to “I want to learn to fight, I’m looking for fighting styles and teachers.” She didn’t object to it, it would be good for him she thought. He also had money to buy anything he wanted, she was rich and she spoiled him. He didn’t buy many things for himself, mostly small things and this would be his first large purchase. He ended up settling on two fighting styles, Hapkido and Taekwondo, two very common fighting styles in MMA. Then he found two esteemed masters to come and teach him, he learned quickly. Within a year in a half he earned official brown belts in both.For him to do that, he had to power through his condition, and it’s something he also did very well. One day, a month or so after he was jumped she came home on a Thursday to find him at home shirtless and punching a punching bag while wearing red MMA gloves. Thursday’s he was supposed to be at the institution, as she was walking over to question him on it Alfred intercepted her and said, “Madam Todd, I would practice caution, he’s in a mood.”
“Why is he here? He should be at the institution Alfred!”“He dropped out of the institution, the only thing he said to me when I asked was ‘I’m setting new expectations.’”After that she had stormed over to her six year old kit and said in a raised tone, “Jason Wilde Todd! Why is Alfred telling me you dropped out of the institution!?”Jason hadn’t even stopped what he was doing and just glanced her in her direction and spoke the longest he ever had to her. “They taught me all they could, now it’s time I taught myself. They kept me in a sensory-friendly environment, no bright lights, no loud noises, etcetera. Well if bright lights and loud noises bother me I need more of them not less. The world isn’t a sensory friendly place, not a very nice place in general either, and that’s where I need to live, not trapped in some bubble of safety because of some stupid condition. The world isn’t going to conform to me, so I have to conform to it and to do that I need two things. I need to show some sense of normalcy, because mammals don’t like or dislike me, those mammals didn’t attack me just because I was a fox, they attacked me because I’m different, and sooner or later different scares mammals. That means to show that sense of normalcy I have to learn to tolerate the bright lights and the loud noises, the crowds, all of it, and for emotions I’ll fake it till I make it.“Secondly, I need to know how to defend myself. The world has already proven it’s not a fan of me, I’m both a fox and I’m not normal, that’s a double whammy. So I need to be able to fight back, efficiently. I need to be able to take down a rhino by myself because there may come a day I will have to. I have already picked out two more fighting styles to further master grappling, takedowns, CQB, and things of the like. Judo and Jiu Jitsu. I also plan on learning knife and gun play, sometimes a fist isn’t gonna solve the problem. These are the new expectations I am setting for myself, and I will also be advancing my education. Engineering, mathematics, chemistry, biology, anatomy, computer science, and business management.Mary had been speechless, flabbergasted. It took her a minute of opening and closing her mouth before she finally formulated enough of a coherent thought for her to speak. “Jason, what gave you this sort of view?”Jason gave her a side glance again and without missing a beat said, “you leave the news on to much.” After that he punched the bag once more and then walked off without another word, Alfred following quickly behind him.

(Another two years later)
Jason kept true to his word. In another year and a half he earned official brown belts in Judo and Jiu Jitsu, and once they were in hand he immediately started two more fighting styles. They were exotic and rare forms, styles that very rarely left the areas from which they originated from. The first was Krav Maga, it was a self defense fighting method created for the Israel Defense Forces and very rarely left Israel, well on the whole level, the basic level of Krav Maga had made it around the world including The Mammilian States. Jason found a retired IDF combat instructor who was a master of Krav Maga living in the states, a honey badger by the name of David. Jason paid him a nice sum to come and train him, and he lived in a guest room in the mansion.The second was a even more exotic fighting style called Pencak Silat. It was a fighting style out of Indonesia, it had spread throughout Asia but had not spread past that point. Well, until Jason payed a handsome some for a master to come from Indonesia and teach him. The master was a Sumatran Tiger named Khan and was also set up in a guest room. This fighting style was particularly difficult for him, and he was constantly thrashed in spars. Normally after six months he could hold his own, he wouldn’t win of course, but he wouldn’t get his ass handed to him either. But six months in he was still getting his ass handed to him on a silver platter.Jason alternated the two styles through six days of the week, each day training for six hours. Tuesday’s, Thursday’s, and Sunday’s were the days for Pencak Silat. Monday’s, Wednesday’s, and Friday’s were the days for Krav Maga. Saturday’s was the only day he took off from training, Saturday’s was the days he hung out with Seth, Cody, Chris, and Stephen. It was a Sunday and once again Jason was getting his ass handed to him, he was only five hours in and he had just been taken down for about the tenth time in a spar and Khan was calling for a stop.“Enough, we are finished for today.”Jason started to force himself to rise after being slammed to the ground, blood coming out of several cuts he’d collected during today’s sparring. “No, I’m not finished.”Khan crossed his arms and replied, “tomorrow’s another day. You have done your best.”Jason rose to one knee and looked up at Khan and retorted back. “If that was true you would be sporting cuts and I would be sporting less. So let’s keep going.”Khan did not budge in his stance even a little, non verbally saying that it wasn’t going to happen.
Jason gave him a hard look and said, “aggression correctly channeled overcomes a lot of flaws. Tapping into that aggression requires me to pull back several layers of myself. It is my job to know my own limitations, and it’s your job to peel. I have another hour so do your job.” After he was finished speaking Khan finally relented and the sparring continued.Jason also kept true to his word about his education. He would alternate the subjects he had picked throughout the entire week, eight hours of the day, everyday, with breaks of course. Monday’s he learned about engineering, both mechanical and technical, four hours for both. Tuesday’s were for mathematics, but only the types that he would actually need. Wednesday’s were for computer science, Thursday’s were for biology, Friday’s for anatomy, Saturday’s for chemistry, and Sunday’s were for business management. Jason did not believe in common core or standardized testing, saying it was like asking a fish, elephant, monkey, and a jaguar to climb a tree and their ability to do so would define their intelligence. Not to mention 98% of it was things he would never actually need in life. Jason had this schedule, and it was something he would keep to for quite a time.

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The memoirs of Jason Wilde Todd: Volume OneJason went into his room after another long day of training. He was very much looking forward to tomorrow when his friends would be here. It was the only time of the week he allowed himself to unwind and relax. But for now Jason went over to his desk, and sat down. Reaching into the inside left pocket of his dark tan cargo jacket he pulled his journal out.This journal was were he recorded all of his thoughts and such, scribbles, anything really that came to mind when he opened it and picked up his ballpoint pen. The journal was an idea that the institution for kits with autism that he attended for a small time recommended. They had made some speech about how the journal was supposed to help them come out of their shells or some shit. Well….he supposed he was true in some degree, it did help him express things he never could in his head or in his speaking. But still, he found it ridiculous…..but also couldn't and won't stop writing in them.This was his second journal, the first had been some simple small one that the institution had given him. Since he had been younger at the time his first journal was filled with mostly gibberish and scribbles, his simple basic thoughts of that particular day and such. His handwriting and drawings were also just terrible as it was before he learned calligraphy.That first journal was nothing more than a fond memory collecting dust on a shelf now. It wasn't worth adding to his memoirs. That's what he decided these journals would be, The Memoirs of Jason Wilde Todd, he figured that with a story as unique as his would make a good read. So, he decided that after his death these journals would be sent to someone close to him for them to be published. Jason had a feeling after all his life was going to be an interesting one.The journal was a decent size with three hundred pages and bond in dark brown cork leather to protect it from the elements, and it looked cool as an added bonus. Undoing the latch of the journal Jason opened it and began to flip through the pages. Because he learned calligraphy his handwriting was super neat and the use of a ballpoint pen made the writing look rich and clean. He made sure to date every entry he made, some entries taking up only a few lines while some could take up a few pages. He also sometimes drew pictures, illustrations really. He was no artist by any means, but you could still clearly tell what the image was.Jason took this journal with him wherever he went, if a particular moment was vibrant enough or there was something he wanted to draw. It was rare that he would pull he journal put in public, but whenever he did it was almost always to draw something. He stopped flicking through the pages though when he came across his favorite illustration, his mother in a botanical garden bending down to sniff some violets.Jason gave a soft smile to the image before flipping to a new page, the prior one having been filled. Picking up his pen he leaned down and began to write.
April 15th 2008

"Often times I find myself reminiscing on just how important this journal has become in my life, even now as I sit down to make another entry. My thoughts here are so much more…clearer when I decide to write in it. My thoughts and speech are so…basic. But in here, it's like everything I should think and want to say comes pouring out. I think that's why I rely on this thing so much.

Yet, heh at the same time I despise this cursed thing BECAUSE I need it to properly express myself. Which is made worse by the fact that I won't show this to anyone, so no one else sees truly what goes on in my mind…My face is blank… my eyes, so everyone says, lifeless..though I am beginning to see what they see as well as the years pass by. My body, including my tail, doesn't react either. Not a twitch of the ear or a wag of the tail.

I don't properly feel emotions, even still. I act like I do, because if I don't it worries my mother and makes her sad…and she has enough on her plate right now. It also makes my friends happy, and that's something I love to see. So I pretend I know what happy is, and that I'm it….it's not that I'm depressed or anything, or maybe I am…I WOULDN'T KNOW.

All I know how to do is act like I'm normal. Act like I know emotions. I know the concept of emotions! Yes that I know. I know I'm supposed to feel them and which ones go with which situation…but I still don't feel them. I act like I do to please those around me, and then pretend that pleases myself…and I think it does…if only a little bit.

I am starting to not feel anything properly either, because why the hell would I? I still feel no pain, which is one I can't complain about. But the rest…I can barely feel a brush on my arm from a friend getting my attention…. I can barely feel an embrace from my mother…. I can barely feel a breeze as it trickles through my fur…. I can barely feel the rain as it falls on my face when I look to the sky wondering if god or the gods will strike me down with a bolt of lightning…because with the way they or he made me….they or he don't like me very much.

I often question his or their existence, as seen in previous pages of this journal. Because if I am made by them…why make me like this? Why make me a freak? For their own enjoyment? Because that's the only reason I can think of…and if that's the case, I hope you're having fun you sadistic fuck or fucks."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

RHO 2(Ten years later)Jason Wilde Todd kept true to his word, when he set that schedule for him self he adhered to it without fail up until he considered he had it mastered. Then of course he went along from there. Jason was sixteen now, and a lot of things had changed, he matured naturally being now almost fully grown, currently standing at four feet four inches. His weight was one hundred and twenty pounds, his physique was lean but with lots of visible muscle due to non-stop work outs everyday for ten years. His mental capacity had changed as well, IQ was now a 177 and he had certified bachelors degrees in Engineering, mathematics, chemistry, biology, anatomy, computer science, and business management.Jason also in his opinion achieved mastery of hisself. He had worked extra hard to make sure his autism was not gonna control him or have a large defining character on him. He worked every night to get it to where it is now and continues to work to make sure it stays that way. To do that Jason developed an effective routine to achieve and keep the goal he set. When the sun would go down Jason would retire to his room 10pm on the dot, he would turn of the main lights and then sit on the foot of his bed. Next he would pick a little remote he kept at the foot of his bed and flick on a device that sat on his dresser. The device would come on and immediately begin blaring death metal music, high pitched noises, gunshots, and other various noises at over 240 decibels, well and plenty over the limit of sound that causes him severe discomfort. At the same time the noises played LED lights built in would strobe and flash at high intensities that even regular foxes would flinch away from. Jason would stare right at the device for exactly one hour, then a timer would go off and he would flick off the device.At the age of sixteen if he had a clear head going in he could get through it with no problem, if not….he was liable to have a outburst. As the years went by he added a third element trying to stimulate his nerves, because as he got older that nerve damage that burned his pain receptors started to spread. The doctors were able to stop it of course, but his ability to physically feel was dampened, stimulating his nerves every night helped gain back moderate feeling. Basically now he couldn't feel tiny things like say a spider crawling up his leg, which had happened a couple of times, didn't even feel the little bastard until they were sitting on his snout. For those couple of times Jason was no longer a fan of spiders.Of course it wasn't always easy, when he had started this exercise he couldn't get to ten minutes without caving. It took almost all of the ten years to get it to where it was now. As far as speaking went he was still blunt, short, and to the point with no emotion put into it for the most part, he could of course fake it but as it was now he rarely chose to. He could now hold a extended conversation as well, so far 45 minutes was his record. As far as emotions went, he could feel them much more than before and grasped their general concept. But, as far expressing emotions went that was still something he really didn't have, it was still a foreign concept to him. He knows how he feels, but as far as expressing it goes, he just didn't know how. Not that it mattered much to him anyway.His social and family life definitely changed over the past ten years. Alfred was gone, he had fired him three years ago when he discovered Alfred was really just spying on him for his mom, giving her daily progress reports on him. He was infuriated when he discovered Alfred giving one such report, he felt betrayed among other things. So he lashed out in anger and cast Alfred from he mansion and then his mother had gotten an ear full when she had returned. Her mother tried to discipline him but it was never her strong suit and she caved on it after fifteen minutes. She tried her best to convince him to let Alfred back into the fold but Jason was as firm on it then as he was now. Alfred had betrayed his trust and lied to him, so that ended that.His group of friends were gone to. Not by anything they did, or him for that matter. No them leaving was a good thing and he was damn proud of that thing. They had started a Metalcore band called Waging War and it had taken off, they even got signed to a record label. So they had left Ibexas to go on tours and set up shop in Zootopia. Of course if they rolled through Ibexas they always made sure to stop by. Them leaving had been about six years ago. They stayed in touch of course, and Jason got VIP access to merchandise, tickets, anything really. So yeah, he didn't mind them being gone, they were pursuing their dreams.As far as family life went, well….his grandmother had payed a visit a year ago and it was….an interesting visit.(One year ago)Jason had just finished another set in his daily workout routine when he heard the doorbell ring. Jason looked in the general direction of the front door in with a head tilted in confusion. He hadn't ordered any food, there was no packages scheduled to be delivered today, and it definitely wasn't his mother because she was at work and even if she wasn't she never forgot her keys. It also couldn't be any solicitors because the neighborhood they lived in didn't allow them to enter. So the question remained who was at the door.Jason stood and padded over over to the chair he had tossed his shirt on and threw it back on, pausing to take a swig from a water bottle that was on the patio table. Once he was done he put the bottle back down on the table and padded inside. Once he was back inside he walked over to the security office and walked in, going over to the monitor displaying all of the security camera feeds. A couple of clicks is all it took to pull up the front door camera to full screen to get a better look at the mammal at the front door.What he saw surprised him greatly, though the only way he could show it was by raising his eyebrows. At the door looking sheepish and prehensive was a older red vixen, and this particular older vixen looked just like a older version of his mother. It didn't take a rocket scientist to deduce that this vixen at the door was his grandmother. At this development Jason narrowed his eyebrows, his mother had told him the story of why they weren't in his or his mothers lives…so his opinion of them weren't to fond.Jason exited the security office and made his way to the front door. Once he was there he paused for a moment to take a deep breath, he didn't want to come out of the gate harsh, he would at least see what she had to say. Jason opened the front door exposing himself to the grandmother he never met. When he opened the door he saw his grandmother jump back in surprise at his sudden appearance and clutching her red purse tighter. He just stood there as she took him in, looking at him from head to toe. He just stood there and allowed her to do it and after a minute he saw her swallow hard and with a little of nervousness in her tone spoke to him."We..well…look at you. You're all grown up. You look so strong."Jason simply raised an eyebrow and in his signature neutral tone bluntly said, "Of course I'm grown up, that tends to happen when you haven't seen someone since the day they were born. And yes I am strong, I've worked out every day, eight hours a day, since I was six. You can come inside, my mother, your daughter, will be home in a few hours." After that he simply turned and padded towards the kitchen, intent to get himself a glass of juice.He couldn't see his grandmothers reaction. She took a step back shocked and aghast at his bluntness and cold, neutral demeanor. But then again she felt it was deserved, he was right after all, she hadn't seen him since birth. So she put on a brave face and walked inside.She quickened her step to catch up to Jason, who she watched twitch his left ear back towards her, but otherwise didn't acknowledge her following him.Once they were in the kitchen she watched as Jason grabbed two glasses from a cupboard and then went over to the fridge and opened it. As he was rummaging through it for the juice he casually said "My names Jason by the way. In case you never got it before you and my grandfather charged out of the hospital room and out of my mother and I's lives."Jason's grandmother recoiled in shock at her grandsons cold statement. She with a little of hurt in her voice replied. "I knew that Jason. I knew that."Jason finally found the juice, strawberry orange banana juice, and pulled it out. Turning and saying with a blank face "Oh good you at least learned that." Jason took in the look of shock on his grandmothers face as he lured the juice into both glasses halfway before returning it to the fridge. As he turned back he saw the look of shock change to a look of hurt and sadness and he let out a internal sigh before saying "look I apologize for my coldness but I can't help it. I have a high functioning form of autism. Lack of showing emotion, especially in speech is a side effect. Of course you would have known that had you been in my life. But you know, even if I didn't have autism I still think I would be acting cold and you know damn well why. But here's a moment of honestly, I could care less that you weren't in my life, I had my mom and that's all I needed. I'm pissed because you cut your own daughter out of your life, threw her out like a piece of trash. You know she still cries sometimes because of you and her dad?...so there's that….(he holds out the glass), Juice?"Jason's grandmother just sat there, looking at him and utter shock at his blunt delivery of his opinion of her. Then it quickly changed to one of sadness, her grandsons hatred of her was more than justified. But yet, he only knew one side of the story. Maybe if he heard why she stayed away his tune would change a little. But if not, her grandson was secondary, she was here for her daughter….she had read the letter Mary had sent her, she hadn't even shown her husband it. He probably would have just torn it up and said good riddance. So no she kept it to herself, lied and told him she was going on a trip for a week, and then gotten in her car and driven straight here. Because she was determined to see her daughter while her daughter still had time left. So she needed to push through her hurt because she deserved it, so she put on a brave face and set to try and connect with her grandson.First she reached out a paw to take the glass of juice, as she did she muttered a "thank you." Jason simply nodded and took a sip from his glass. She put the glass up to her nose to sniff and Jason said, "its strawberry orange banana."At that she nodded and took a sip, it was good so she took another and set the glass down and saying "what you said is fair, I was a fool to think I would receive a warm welcome from you. And I'm sorry about your diagnosis, it must be hard."Jason nodded and replied, "it was in the beginning, very hard. Couldn't stand loud noises, bright lights, couldn't make eye contact with anyone, no physical contact either. It took a long time but all of that is now under control, and I achieved that through hard work and determination."Jason's grandmother nodded a few times and said "that's…quite impressive." To which Jason simply relied with A "mhmm" and another sip of his drink.After a few moments of awkward silence, well at least for her, Jason's grandmother chimed in and said "my name is Diane by the way."Jason nodded and said, "I knew that grandmother, and your husband's name is Desmond, my grandfather. Is he coming by chance? I wanna knock him out for the way he's talked to my mother, his daughter."Diane gave him a look of frozen shock and a couple of blinks. It took a minute but once the shock subsided she slowly replied "no…he's not coming…he doesn't even know I'm here…"Jason gave her a level look and said "that's a shame then, pray tell why doesn't he know you're here?"Diane let out a sigh and replied "because he wouldn't have let me come here if I told him my intentions….look Jason I didn't want to abandon you and I sure as HELL did not want to abandon my daughter. But Desmond said she was disowned and I was not to contact either of you, I couldn't dare defy him. Your mother may have told you stories about him but at best they're probably watered down, he's not one you want to make angry…." She was going to continue telling him her side of the story but his movements stopped her.Jason walked around the island and sat next to his grandmother. He reluctantly took one of her paws in his own and said "look grandmother. If he really is how you say, and by the stories I've heard Controlling, abusive, narcissistic, misogynistic, and among other things..why don't you leave him? If he really controls every aspect of your life and doesn't let you have a say and hits you if you don't follow it, disobey him, or displease him…why stay? And he's keeping you away from your only child and grandkit, won't let you see them or contact them, won't even recognize them as family….seriously why stay? Divorces may be super rare for foxes but that doesn't mean they don't happen, and all of these things I've listed sounds like the right reasons to divorce him. Is it because your afraid of him? If it is don't be, you could easily live here after you make amends with my mother, and he couldn't do a damn thing about it, and if he tried anything I'd crush him into the ground. I have brown belts in four different styles of martial arts, I also do MMA and Kickboxing. He wouldn't be able to touch you without that part coming back to him broken. So why stay?"Diane looked at her grandson with shock for what felt like of hundredth time in the minutes she'd known him, it even almost sounded like there was some compassion in his voice. Diane also couldn't help thinking. "No wonder he looks so strong." Diane then sighed and looked to the floor and replied "because despite all of it. I still really love him."At that reply Jason released his grandmothers paw and stood, his coldness returning as he retorted with, "then you're a damn fool." After that he turned and walked away, leaving his grandmother sitting there reeling.Jason kept to himself for next two and a half hours, he knew his grandmother was still there by scent. He knew she was here to see her daughter, he knew why too, so he knew his grandmother wasn't going anywhere. After the two and half hours his mother was home and he gave them a few hours alone to talk, after all they had a lot to talk about. After about four hours he heard two sets of footsteps approaching. Before his mom could even ask anything knock Jason called out "you both can come in." He let out an amused huff when he heard his grandmother whisper "how did he know we were here? The floors carpet." He let out another when his mom said out loud "Jason's senses are above average." Followed by her opening the door and walking in. Diane stood in the doorway a extra few seconds before letting out a "huh" and then walking in.Jason was sitting on the foot on his bed and he simply gestured to the two chairs he set in in front of him, he had felt this was coming today. Jason's mom and grandmother took their seats and for a minute there was silence. He could see his mothers reluctance and trepidation, he was going to try and nudge things along and break the ice but his grandmother beat him to it by starting it off on a different topic. She gestured to his at the time associates degrees hanging on the wall and asked "are those what I think they are?"Jason simply nodded a few times and said "yeah those are my associates degrees. Just got em last week. They are for Engineering, mathematics, chemistry, biology, anatomy, computer science, and business management."His grandmother just blinked twice and said "you have six associates degrees….at 14? How?"Jason shrugged and casually replied "I have an IQ of 177 and never went through the stupid common core. Since I was six I've studied these subjects, each subject got a day and eight hours of that day up to now, and it will go past that. I want them to be bachelors before moving on to something else."Diane just leaned back a little and murmured "you really are something."Jason just shrugged and replied "if I wasn't something I'd be nothing."Diane kept chatting with him for about fifteen minutes, just trying to learn about her grandson. The Whole time this was happening Jason answered her questions, but he kept an eye on his mom, watching and waiting for her to feel comfortable enough to tell him what she had to. Eventually after the fifteen minutes he could tell his mom had pumped herself up enough to get her news across to him. Jason's grandmother seemed to have noticed it to and she brought the current topic to a close and took her daughters paw in hers. When that happened Jason sensed the sudden shift in demeanor, and in that moment Jason had to decide how he would react the news. In his mind he had to options, act shocked and devastated….or bluntly tell them he's known for years…and after thinking on it for a moment he made his decision…bluntness was his speciality after all.Jason watched as his mother took a deep breath and looked at him, and after a moment of pause said "Jason, there's something I need to tell you…something that I've been keeping a secret for awhile now."Jason just nodded twice and said with his signature bluntness "you have cancer. You were diagnosed three years ago and have been fighting ever since in secret, not wanting to worry me. It started in your pancreas and has since spread to your liver, lungs, kidneys, and lastly your brain in this past year. Doctors told you that it's now untreatable, and ultimately fatal. They say best guess is you'll last another year, and I've already come to terms with that as best I can. I've been preparing for this possibility that past three years after all."He could tell he had blown both there minds, his moms of course more so. The best way he could describe what he was seeing was a fish out of water. His mom was rapidly opening and closing her mouth, trying to formulate a single thought since he had just absolutely blown it out. It took several minutes for his moms brain to reboot and even then she barely got out a "h. h .h .ho..how?"At that Jason couldn't help but let out a short little chuckle and then he replied "You've always been bad at keeping secrets, I got suspicious in the first month of your diagnosis. You were gone a lot longer, you were coming home way more tired, then I started seeing hospital bills in the mail regularly. After that I all I had to do was tune in on a call with your doctor to know. I never told you that I knew because I knew you wanted to tell me on your own time, and you didn't want to worry me with the news in the beginning especially if you could beat it. Honestly it allowed me to process the information on my own time, and prepare myself for the possibility of you passing from the cancer."After his explanation the conversation continued for several hours before coming to a close. This memory of course led him to the most important change in his life, his mom was gone. She succumbed to her cancer two weeks ago, luckily she passed peacefully in her sleep. Since her passing he had stopped speaking, he found no real reason to have to as there was no one worth speaking to. Her passing is why right now he was busy unpacking his bags at the local orphanage where he would remain until his eighteenth birthday. But, unbeknownst to him, a blacked out SUV was in route to collect him…and it wasn't for a good reason.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Jason bag now fully unpacked took a seat on the small bed in the small room that was to be his at the orphanage until they kicked him out at 18. Letting out a deep sigh Jason reached into his jacket and pulled out his journal. Undoing the latch Jason opened it up and flipped to his new favorite image, it was the last time he, his mom, and his friends were together. It was a big dinner party in celebration of their band getting signed, just a day before they left with their parents bound for Zootopia. He smiled at it fondly for a minute before flicking through and reading some entries over the past few years.
February 14th 2012

Well my friends are gone, today was the day they finished packing and headed off to the great city of Zootopia. Seth. Cody, Chris, and Steve bid me farewell as they hopped on their brand new tour bus for their band.

Am I sad to see them go? Of course I am. But I am more proud than anything, I'm damn proud. They are following their dreams. They promised to stay in contact and show up whenever they are in town, so that's good enough to me…also they promised free tickets and merchandise, so bonus.

January 27th 2013

Autism, my autism…it's such a burden, and it makes my life a burden…it makes it a burden for others as well. I often wonder if my friends are friends with me because they know no one else would be, so they take pity on me…and I sometimes wonder if my mother loves me only because I am her son and she's supposed to.

Luckily my training regiment is helping with the fun aspects of my condition, my dislike pf physical contact, my inability to make eye contact, hatred of loud noises and bright lights. All of it. I've been doing this regiment since 08 and I'm making good progress but at the same time, really slow progress. Still the process is helping, I can stand nosies up to 180 decibels and I can stand LED lights as long as they are blinking….I still hate the fucking sun though.

October 18th 2014

My mom has cancer. I've suspected something was wrong for the past few months, she was coming home later than usual and looking ragged and tired. That was my first indication something was wrong. I'd ask her what's wrong and she'd brush it off and make some poor excuse. Then medical bills started showing up in the mail, I never opened them though. No she would have been hurt that I was snooping, that she couldn't tell me on her own time when she was ready.

Well today she got a phone call from the doctor, so I listened in and it confirmed my suspicions…except it's so much worse than I thought. She has Pancreatic cancer…and it has a 95% fatality rate…my mom only has a five percent chance of surviving.
It's something I'm struggling with so much…I'm genuinely sad. (Tear drops stain the page in spots) I'm actually crying! I haven't cried in years! I'm going to lose my mom! I want to run to her and embrace her, hold her, so many things! So many things I haven't really fully felt before! HOW COME IT TAKES THE REALITY THAT I AM GOING TO LOSE MY MOM TO FINALLY FEEL SOMETHING!?
…..There's nothing I can really do but support her the best I can. I won't let her know that I know, I'll let her tell me when she's ready too…. I'll also do my best to prepare myself for the eventuality of losing her.

September 30th 2015

ALFRED YOU TRAITOROUS SON OF BITCH! Gods I am so furious right now! It turns out Alfred was spying on me for my mother! I trusted him! I was told that he was to be my confidant, someone I could talk to and rely on! Someone who wouldn't go behind my back! I told him so much in confidence! I spoke to him more than anyone else on this earth! I thought he was my friend!

He promised me everything I told him would stay with him and I find out he's been giving progress reports on me! Everything I've told him he's told my mother! And there is so much I never wanted my mother to know or hear me say! Thank whatever I didn't tell him I knew my mom had cancer! But still there is so much, so much stuff I had confided in him! HE BETRAYED ME!

I cast him out of the house without a second thought the moment I discovered it! He had left his phone open on a conversation with my mother when leaving to use the restroom. My curious nature got a hold on me and it looked, and immediately became horrified when he was relaying a conversation me and him had just had! I scrolled up and up and up and up just to discover this has been going on for YEARS! Since the very first day he and I met!

I refused to listen to any explanation he had to say nor will I! Whenever my mother gets home she will be getting an earful as well!...and just when I was beginning to think I might be able to trust other mammals.

March 30th 2017

…An interesting development occurred today….I got to meet my grandmother. Oh the scenarios I had imagined in my head of the things I would say and do if I ever got the chance. But when it was presented to me…a lot of that melted away…my disdain and hatred ended up as cold and neutral.

When I saw here in the security camera feed I saw how nervous she was. She not only looked nervous for what would await her when she answered that door, but I noticed her looking behind her like at any moment someone was going to show up and snatch her up…well I know from stories who that could be.

But when she looked at the door I could see how hopeful she was that her daughter wouldn't just shut the door when she saw who it was and how fearful she was that her daughter would. Seeing my grandmother like that cooled me down a bit, made me decide I would at least here her out. But if I didn't like what she had to say, well I wouldn't allow her to see her daughter.

When I was the one that answered the door I gave her a small fright as if she had forgotten I existed..I wasn't to hurt by that, after all she was forced to pretend I didn't exist by a certain piece of walking shit since the day of my birth. It didn't take her very long to recover though and she looked upon her grandson with a look even I could decipher, regret. She missed seeing me grow up, not being a part of my life, and she truly regretted that.

She said one of the typical you look so grown up lines and I answered in my signature bluntness. I immediately turned to go get myself some juice while telling her to come in. I may have had my back to her, but I could tell I shocked her with what I said and how I said it. It wasn't a surprising reaction by any means. I know I'm a lot to take in.

I offered her some of my juice and explained my condition, as well as giving her a speech about how I felt about her. How I was fine she hadn't been in my life…if I'm being honest that was a white lie…but still. I told her that I was mostly mad because of what she did to my mother, abandoning her which was true I was more mad for that reason.

…you know I don't blame her for not being in my life, not really. I wholly blame my grandfather for that. I heard the horror stories about him from my mother, how he's controlling, abusive, narcissistic, and does not treat females as equals…among other things.

My grandmother confirmed he was the reason she wasn't in my life, and when she described how he was she sounded genuinely scared….damn it I tried. I really did. When she basically said she was afraid of him I tried to breakthrough to her, to her to leave him. That she would be protected. That she could stay here….what a damn fool she is. She said she still loved the bastard.

July 12th 2018
(Tears stain this entry all over.)
Just buried my mother today. It…it was something I saw coming for a long time. She fought hard, she really did, but pancreatic cancer is practically impossible to walk away from. When it spread to her brain that's all it took, the fight was over. She lasted one more year, preparing herself and everything else. Then once it was done, she passed quietly in the night.

I was there when it happened, she was in her bed the doctors had provided, she wanting to die at home rather in some hospital. I was next to her in a chair, holding her paw as she slept. I stayed awake staring at her for hours, hours….but the second I closed my eyes…she flatlined then and there.

Doctors of course didn't try and revive her, there was no point. So they turned of the machines, unhooked all of the crap from her, recorded the time of death, and then left to let me say my goodbyes…of course it was only after she was gone that I fully cried, bawling for the first time as I hugged her form one last time…I'm even doing it now, bawling like a newborn kit.
Jason, now finished reading flicked to a new page, which just happened to be the last in this journal. Pulling out his pen he made the last entry.
July 24th 2018

…I can feel myself withdrawing into myself. I have stopped talking since my mom died….I just feel if it isn't her I'm talking to it's words wasted…so I don't speak. All of my training to act normal has gone away, and I've reverted back to my simplistic ways. Because she's gone I don't have anyone to have to act for…I find it to be much easier this way. I find it easier to be this way period.

I don't care if I am antisocial, or that I'll be alienated again. Because there's really no point at all. I've arrived at this orphanage and I'm content to stay here until they kick me out at 18. I'm going to be 17 this year so a two year wait will be nothing to me. Once I'm out and 18 I'll be able to access that trust fund my mom put up for me. Should be a few million in there. Once I have it…I think I'll go to Zootopia.

I'm not going to call my friends and tell them what's happened, they don't know. Neither do their parents. My mother wished to keep her condition and such quiet, so that's what I shall do…also, I don't want to burden them…I definitely won't be telling that traitorous snake Alfred either, I wouldn't trust him with my care if he was the last mammal on earth…So here at the orphanage I will stay, at the very least…it appears I'll have ample opportunities to blow of some steam…heh just ask the deer and wolf I met earlier.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Major General David Daggermane was a 47 year old aged lion and a lifetime soldier. He had fought many battles and won them all, and was well rewarded and decorated because of it. Right now, he was in the back of a blacked out SUV, a lit cigar in his mouth, and on his way to collect a mammal. One of his assistants, a female deer psychologist named Adrianna Telvanni , was sitting across from him looking a photo of the mammal they were collecting. She had a few questions she just had to ask."Sir, why in the world are we on the way to collect a fox? And why does this fox require us to actually collect him in person? Why not collect him the same way we've collected all the others?"Daggermane chuckled at his assistants stream of questions about going to collect this fox. Mostly because of her blatant distaste simply at saying the word fox, he didn't hold the same sentiment about it as her. Taking a long drag from his cigar he leaned forward and took the photo back from her and turned it to look upon the mammal they were going to collect and said. "I'll answer in the order you asked. We are collecting a fox, and this fox in particular because he is incredibly unique, and the hyena will want to use him for his particular experiments I'm sure. He will also be well suited for our experiments, trials and such. I actually think he'll be out top contender for the solo position."Adrianna scoffed and replied "what makes this fox so unique, and what makes this fox so well suited that you think he'll be a 'top contender'?"Daggermane chuckled again before saying, "this fox is so unique because he has an incredibly rare form of high functioning autism. It's made him incredibly intelligent and adaptive. Advanced problem solving, photographic memory, superb memory retention, and the ability to recognize, decipher, and solve incredibly advanced and complex patterns. That INCLUDES the patterns of mammals. This alone will peak the mad doctors interest. He also can't feel physical pain, his pain receptors are fried. This fox will be his favorite toy to run all of his tests and experiments I'm sure. What makes him so well suited is that at 16 he has seven bachelors degrees and official brown belts in seven different martial arts. Hapkido, taekwondo, Judo, Jiu jitsu, Krav Maga, Pencak Silat, and Kali."Adrianna gave him a look of utter shock as he broke down this fox's abilities she could only let out a surprised. "Oh."Daggermane took another drag from his cigar and leaned back into his seat. "Yeah, oh indeed. He's gonna be hard to dethrone from the top of our board. Now as to why we are collecting him personally…his full name is Jason Wilde Todd."Adrianna recovered from her shock and replied. "Well that explains it, he's the son of that Todd that just died and is in an orphanage. You wanna assure you can take him in a way it's not suspicious and such."Daggermane snuffed out his cigar as he simply said "correct."The third occupant in the back of the SUV, sitting next to the doctor had kept quiet during the entire trip so far. He was the head of security at the facility, and thus was asked to come with the general to collect this fox. As the General had stated he would more than likely be a security issue and cause a lot of problems because of the fox'sskill set. The General also believed this fox would be the one to be the first to try and escape the facility. He looked forward to the fox trying, or any of the mammals they had gathered for that matter. He looked forward to a lot of things, like watching the mad hyena doctor do his experiments and tests on the fox. The hyena hated foxes even more than he and the doctor did.Thinking about not mad Doctor he looked over at her, they had a…..interesting relationship. And by relationship he meant they spent copious amounts of time aggressively fucking. Not that he didn't mind, he licked his lips just thinking about what he was going to do to her later and have her a predatory smile when she glanced at him. But cut it short when the General looked back their way so me mused on her role in this. Her role as the phycologist was to observe all of the subjects through this giant experiment and all other trails and experiments in between, excluded the mad doctors of course. She would observe and evaluate all of the subjects and advise how they were reacting and coping mentally. She also would advise on how best to manipulate the subjects. Finally she had some extra duties regarding this fox now, and he could tell she wasn't excited about it and nor was he.But, at the same time he had to admit this fox's skill set was indeed impressive. He also and to admit the extra steps the General was taking for this fox in the end made sense. If everything about this fox was indeed true he could end up being a prime candidate for everything they had planned and a royal pain in the ass at the same time. Also it meant when the fox became a pain in the ass he would get to punish the fox, and oh he would very much enjoy that. But as much as he will enjoy that and watching the mad hyena run his experiments and tests on the fox. There was one thing he had to bring up, so the grey wolf spoke."General, how we can be sure the mad scientist isn't going to end up killing this fox? You know he HATES foxes, hell he got fired from the government in the first place for running all those nasty experiments on foxes that ultimately killed them in the first place."General Daggermane nodded and replied "I had the same concerns which I brought to that mad hyena along with the foxes profile. He looked it over and giddily said in his German accent 'zis fox is too tantalizing to kill! No! ze experiments I can run on him! So many! So much data! So many options! Killing him would be counterproductive zes! Ze fun I will have with ze fox!' I made sure to warn him he wasn't to break or cripple the fox either. He simply hugged the file and said 'of course! Of course! No breaking ze fox!'"Doctor Telvanni raised an eyebrow at that. "Do you honestly believe that mad hyena?"The grey wolf chuckled and said, "I know I wouldn't."General Daggermane gave both mammals a blank look and replied, "Of course I don't trust him you two. We call him the mad doctor for a reason, but he's too useful to not keep. Which is why you Derek Southhowl will have two guards watching the mad doctor whenever the fox is being ...examined."The grey wolf, now identified Derek Southhowl nodded and said "I'll see to it. Just for the fox?"General Daggermane thought on it for a moment and said, "on second thought, better do it for them all."Doctor Telvanni added her two cents in saying "good, that hyenas is as unpredictable as he is a genius. I can't evaluate the psychological aspects of the subjects after a session with the mad doctor if he kills them."Security Chief Southpaw nodded and said, "quite right Adrianna."General Daggermane rolled his eyes at the two. He knew they were fucking despite their attempts at hiding it. But they must often forget that there are cameras literally all over the facility, not just where the subjects would be held. Regardless, he didn't care as long as it didn't affect their respective works and they kept it professional. "Yes yes I know you two. We've taken all the proper precautions for the mad hyena. I even instructed some of your mammals to install cameras in his lab. He will be monitored closely. Now that that's settled, can we get back to the topic at hand?"Adrianna and Derek both nodded, Derek saying "yes, so what's the plan to get this fox to come with us?"Daggermane nodded a few times. "Well for starters, we will lay out his predicament for him. Then I will tell him of a 'military project' we are working on and think he would make a perfect candidate for. I'll tell him this project will train him to be an advanced military specialist. We'll tell him that when he turns 18 he can leave the project or stay and join the military. Of course that part will be extra bullshit. But, we will have to be very careful. This particular fox may not pick up on social queues very well.. But he is a smart fox, if he picks up something is off we're screwed. That means he'll decline the offer and then that means we'll have to take him by force which will complicate a lot of things and honestly unless you pull a team Southhowl I actually doubt we would be able to acquire him. So you two better be careful with what you say. Although, we might be in some luck. The mammal in charge told me when I called apparently after his mother's funeral Jason stopped talking, so if it's true he shouldn't ask any questions. Now settle in, we should be there soon."20 minutes laterThey finally arrived at the orphanage, a quaint two story brick building. They didn't bother looking at the name, they didn't plan to be here long enough to care. Walking in they were immediately greeted by the headmistress of the orphanage a female badger. They were also greeted by the sight of a male wolf and deer, both of them sporting fresh injuries. The deer was holding a paper towel to his very clearly broken nose and the wolf was lying on its stomach a rhino sized ice pack on his back and the left side of his face swollen up.The badger greeted them. "Hello you definitely must be Major General Daggermane, and colleges. I'm so glad you've arrived here. Jason needs to go, or he's going to be arrested and a problem."The group gave each other collective looks before Derek eyed the two mammals again. Pointing at them he said "I take it Jason did this?""Yes very perceptive of you. He wasn't even here an hour. Chad here definitely has at least one cracked vertebrae and you can clearly see Daniel's nose is broken badly. I don't know exactly what happened. Jason of course isn't saying anything and these two are in too much pain to give me a straight answer. I was actually just about to look at the security footage to try and make heads or tails of this. Care to join me?"Once again they collectively looked at each other before nodding. Daggermane took the lead saying, "lead the way."The badger led them into a small room with a desk, computer, and a chair which she sat in. As she typed away to pull up the security footage Doctor Telvanni had a question of her own. "You said you questioned Jason on what happened?"The badger glanced at her and said "correct."Adrianna pulled out a pen and a pad of paper. "Could you explain to me exactly how he reacted when you questioned him?"The badger gave her a quizzical look regarding the pen and pad of paper as a response. "Oh, I'm a resident psychologist, considering Jason's condition and the fact he just lost his mother the general thought I could be of some help."Satisfied with the explanation the badger answered her question. "Best way I could describe it is he was impassive honestly. When I started to question him he turned to me halfway and when I got to the subject of just what happened he let out a snort and that's about it. So I focused on his eyes, they were completely neutral same as his expression. When I explained just what injuries they had I could swear though for the briefest of moments I saw a glint of amusement in his eyes. But he stayed blank and expressionless the entire time."Doctor Telvanni jotted down her notes, making sure to underline the part about his potential look of amusement at hearing about the two mammals injuries. "Interesting."Finally the badger pulled up the correct camera and time. "Ah here we are."All of the mammals present leaned forward to watch the screen as the badger hit the play button. It started with Jason entering the commons room, a black duffel bag in his left paw. The noted his attire, a red shirt, a brownish tan faux leather jacket, and tan cargo shorts. As he entered the wolf and deer almost immediately got up and approached him, Adrianna could tell immediately just off body language and such that the two did not have good intentions. She also could tell Jason was very aware of the fact and less than pleased.They watched as the two began speaking to Jason, them occasionally pausing to laugh at the joke they made about him. It continued like this for about two minutes before there was a sudden shift in Jason's behavior he slowly put down his duffel bag and put his sunglasses that were on his head on top of it. They watched as the wolf and deer laughed at his actions…it was short lived. Jason shot out a savage right jab right into the deer's nose shattering it in one punch. He then instantly put a right hook into the left side of the wolf's face, grabbed the wolf's shoulders and pulled him close and kneed him hard in the ribs. To finish the wolf off Jason grabbed his shoulders and picked the wolf up off the ground slightly and then spun him, letting him go after a half rotation. The wolf slammed into a wooden beam hard, part of its spine catching the edge badly.Derek Southhowl was impressed. The fox took the deer down and shattered its nose with a single punch, and then took out the wolf with minimal effort. Even if the two had fought the fox Southhowl wagered it would have been the same result, just with extra steps. "This fox has strength, one punch and he shatters a deer's nose and unless that wolf has weak skin swelled its face real good. The throw was simple yet effective. Not to mention the little effort it took to throw the wolf."General Daggermane was just as impressed. "I knew this fox was going to be something special."The video ends with Jason calmly putting his sunglasses back on his head and picking his bag back up before stepping over the two mammals. The badger headmistress leaned back in the chair and gestured to the screen. "So that's what happened. Chad and Daniel instigated the fight. I wonder what they said that made Jason snap, he seemed to not care up until that point."Doctor Telvanni chimed in at that. "I do. I can read lips quite well, they were speaking ill of Jason's recently deceased mother."The headmistress made a face and said, "sheesh, yeah that would do it I wager. Well, even so that he didn't start it, he still needs to go. I feel like a lot of trouble will come of him being here, a lot of mammals heckling him and provoking him into attacking them."The General nodded at that and replied, "well we'll take him off your paws, if he will allow us too. But I wager he will. So, can we go see him?"The Badger headmistress stood and said. "Sure, follow me."*Jason at the same time*Jason was currently busying himself with repacking his duffel bag, making sure to take care of and refold each and every piece of clothing. After he had put that deer and wolf in their places with his fist he had gone to the little room he would be staying in until they kicked him out at 18. He casually unpacked his bag, a small smile on his face as he did so. It had felt so good to hurt those two assholes, when they first came up and began insulting him he had been content to wait them out. Banking on his casual non reactions to cause them to get bored. But, when they brought his mom into the equation…it was time to put them in their place, and he did so casually.Jason wasn't concerned with getting in trouble for it either. He wasn't answering the headmistresses questions on what had happened, and he knew the other two were to ashamed of getting their asses so casually handed to them by a fox that they weren't answering them either. So she would have to look at the security footage and there was no way to refute what would be shown.Nevertheless, after Jason unpacked his bag he went out and kept out of the headmistresses line of sight while keeping his ears tuned into to her doings. Then when the lion General walked in with his two associates his curiosity was peaked immediately. Though it would never show, partly because he didn't really know how to.When he quickly became the topic of discussion and the General coming to collect him curiosity became interest. Once they went to go look at the footage Jason turned and went to repack his bag. He didn't even know what exactly the General's collecting of him would entail but he knew it would be much better than staying in this place. At the very least it would be much more interesting.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The headmistress led General Daggermane and his cohorts to the small room Jason was occupying. Pausing just outside the open door she poked her head in and said "Jason, there are some mammals here that want to meet you. Is that okay?"Jason turned from his now fully packed bag to face her, crossing his arms and nodding once that it was fine. The headmistress when Jason made eye contact with her she couldn't help but internally shudder. Even before he had beat the snot out of those two mammals Jason had frightened her. It wasn't the fact he was a fox though, it was the way he carried himself...and how there was no life in those emerald eyes of his.Nodding once in acknowledgement the headmistress poked her head back out and turned to the mammals. "You can go in. I need to go and wait for the ambulance to show up."General Daggermane inclined his head a little and replied "thank you very much."Daggermane waited until the badger headmistress was out of sight before making his entrance. When he entered the room he came face to face with Jason Wilde Todd for the very first time. Jason looked incredibly fit and wickedly intelligent, and the way those brilliant lifeless looking eyes bored into him his spine couldn't help but crawl. "Hello Jason Todd."Major General Daggermane was going to do the introductions but Jason held up a paw and shook his head. Then he held up three fingers confusing Daggermane greatly, luckily Doctor Telvanni solved the equation for him. "You want to be called by your full name, Jason Wilde Todd."Jason nodded once before taking a seat on his bed and gesturing for Daggermane to start over with the introduction "So he really doesn't speak."Clearing his throat Daggermane started over. "Hello Jason Wilde Todd. I am Major General Daggermane, Army. The deer that figured out what you wanted is a revered psychologist, Adrianna Telvanni, and the wolf is a security and combat expert named Derek Southhowl. Now before I go any further my condolences for the loss of your mother."Jason only inclined his head in thanks so Daggermane continued. " I am aware that you don't know who your father is, your mother neglecting to tell you who he was before her death. I am also aware that your grandparents have refused to claim you, specifically your grandfather. Your former butler Alfred is unaware of your mother's death not being family, and likely won't be informed until he reads it somewhere. The same goes to your friends and their parents, mostly since you have cut off contact from them, why I don't know. That and your mother did not inform her friends of her impending death, why I also don't know. The masters and you've had all returned home long ago, and you were never close to any of them. If you were to inform one of your friends or Alfred I am sure they would come and claim you in a heartbeat. I keep asking myself why, Doctor Telvanni?"The female deer psychologist stepped forward and Jason shifted his gaze to her. She barely, just barely managed to keep herself from taking a step back. "This fox's gaze is so unnerving, not an inch of his body is moving or betraying anything. And those damn eyes."Doctor Telvanni steeled her resolve and began to speak. "It's quite simple, you don't want them to know. You're content to sit here in this orphanage until they kick you out at 18. Then you'll be able to access the trust fund that your mother set aside and all of your inheritance left in the will. The reasonings though is a little tricky but at the end of the day it comes down to your condition and your independence. Your unique case of autism makes you antisocial, and while you may have gained friends being on your own again appeals to you, you've already gotten used to it. You even if only subconsciously crave it. Your fine on your own and you know it, and you don't want to have to be forced into social settings if you can just wait a few years. You'd prefer just to wait it out here where it's quiet."Jason gave no reaction to what the doctor said, even though she was quite right. Major General Daggermane took over again with their saies pitch saying, "we'd like to offer you an alternative. We.."Jason raised a paw again, stopping him. Then Jason shifted his gaze to the grey wolf, he was suspicious of him. The wolf hadn't spoken yet and was staring at him pretty intently, and not in a particularly good way. He wanted to hear the wolf sell their pitch. So he pointed to him.For Derek Southhowl when Jason turned his gaze to him he couldn't help but thinking "never thought I'd be slightly intimidated by a teenager, let alone a fox."When Jason pointed at him Derek got what he was saying and said. "As Major General Daggermane said, we'd like to offer you an alternative to staying in this place. We are working on a special military project to train teenagers 12-17 in hyper advanced military tactics and such, as well as giving advanced education skills and technologies. When you hit 18 you can leave the program and return to normal life or go straight into the military as a Specialist. The facility this project is at is top of the line, and since the project is classified it needs security, I am the security chief there. I should note that if you decide to join the project, you can't back out until it's over."Jason internally tilted his head ever so slightly. The way this Southhowl said that last sentence….it felt off. Then again, everything about the wolf felt off to him. It could be because Jason never trusted wolves, or liked them very much. Every wolf he had ever met had been well, a dick to him. Anyways looking down on him with disgust and hate while believing they are superior, not to mention the ones around his age always wanted to beat him up. They never could and rarely tried of course but that's besides the point.Doctor Telvanni sensed Jason's suspicion of Derek, and also could tell that Derek's insistent staring wasn't helping the situation. If Jason kept analyzing Derek she had no doubt he wouldn't trust him and in turn them resulting in Jason rejecting their offer. Which in turn would make things much more complicated, and messy. Jason Wilde Todd was imperative to this project and its many experiments, he had to come with them, she understood that now.There was one sure fire way she knew how to get Derek to stop staring at the fox and calm down. Walking over to Derek she brushed up against him and touched his right arm. This caused Derek to immediately look away from Jason and instead turn his gaze to her. The gesture she made was a silent code for 'please fuck me' Derek looked down at her quizzically before giving her a small smile that said 'later'.Adrianna only offered a soft nod in response before looking forward again satisfied. She had done what she had intended and calmed Derek down and as an added bonus put him in a good mood and got him excited for later.Major General Daggermane wanted to roll his eyes at the pair, how they thought that their little relationship was discreet was beyond him. Even Jason who had just met them saw exactly what was going on. But what he didn't understand is why Doctor Telvanni made those gestures here and now. But he just shrugged it off, there was more important things to think about. Especially when Doctor Telvanni apparently had more to say."Oh and before I forget. Your non speaking Jason, that is something I can help with. You have withdrawn into yourself since your mothers death and your friends leaving, believing that there is no longer nothing worth saying. Work with me and you will begin taking again, and I can help you deal with your condition overall. My role is to look after the mental well being of all members and personnel after all."Jason simply inclined his head at that. He didn't know what the heck she was talking about but it seems she did, so he'd take her word for it. At the very least her help could prove to be a minor waste of time as best.Daggermane now satisfied that what ever just happened was over wrapped up their little pitch. "Ahem, now Jason you may be wondering why we would approach you for this. Well part of this project is to monitor and find candidates and you ended up in our radar. You are 16 and have 7 bachelors degrees and you have brown belts in 7 different martial arts, you have an incredibly high IQ, and most incredibly of it all you have conditioned yourself to best your autism. You also have the added bonus of not feeling any pain. You optimize what we were looking for, incredibly talented teenagers with incredible potential that we could forge. So if you decide to come with us and join the project, we can take everything you've done yourself and enhance on it tenfold and set you up for complete success…..So, what say you? Do you want to join the project?"Jason sat there for a few moments, looking and forth between the three mammals in front of him, analyzing them. He felt he could trust the General, he was intrigued by the doctor, but he still couldn't shake the feeling about the wolf. So he decided to play the odds, because at the least it should prove more interesting. So Jason answered by standing, putting his sunglasses on his head, and grabbing his packed bag.Doctor Telvanni saw the actions and said, "That means yes."*three and a half hours later*Jason was growing more suspicious by the minute. Once they had exited the orphanage there had been two wolves waiting outside the back SUV they were to take to this facility. That had been Jason's first red flag. The second was when one went to take his bag it was unceremoniously thrown into the back, and the General did not correct the behavior. The third red flag was when instead of getting in the front passenger seat one of the wolves sat on his left, leaving the front passenger seat empty. It also meant he was sat in the middle in between that wolf and Southhowl.Then as the drive continued he noticed the three wolves constantly stealing glances at him, and the driver would tap a claw on the steering wheel whenever he did. Then there was the psychologist Dr. Telvanni, she was watching him constantly writing notes, every glance and twitch he would make she would record in her notes. Last but not least was the General. Major General Daggermane had this constant self satisfied smirk on his face as if he was ecstatic that he got him to come with. Here was also the matter of the giant file that he had been looking through since after the first hour of this trip.The more time passed, the more Jason got suspicious. As the SUV got of the interstate and took a bunch of roads leading further into the middle of nowhere Jason grew more on edge. It had been about two dozen miles since he had last seen any type of building, and the glances from the wolves were getting more frequent.Finally, they reached the facility. There was a set of heavily armed gate guards wearing black tactical gear, not military garb. The fence was very high, electrified, and the top was coated in several layers of barbed wire, the fence of a prison. The gates automatically opened allowing the SUV through, and the gate shut quickly, so quickly a cheetah couldn't have even darted through. As they drove down the road towards the facility, there were guards roaming about all heavily armed and dressed in black tactical gear.Then, Jason saw the facility, it looked like a simple two story white farmhouse. But then they made a slight turn left, heading towards a ginormous red barn. There was no way the facility was in the barn itself, it had to be underground. Why would a military facility such as what they say it is be underground? The final nails in the coffin for Jason was the fact that no mammal present was speaking, and when the driver glanced at Jason using the mirror….he smiled at him, and it was an evil smile.As Jason realized that this was a trap and he had been lied to, Doctor Telvanni closed her notepad and with a concerned tone said, "General...he knows."As Major General Daggermane looked up from his file in surprise Jason reacted. He punched the wolf on his left in the face while using the close quarters of the back of the SUV to kick Daggermane directly in the face. Then he slammed his elbow into Southhowl's jaw before grabbing the paw that was pulling out Southhowl's tranquilizer gun.Jason elbowed him again hard in the jaw while kicking Doctor Telvanni in the chest knocking the air out her lungs. He then chopped the left wolves throat with his paw as the wolf was recovering. Jason then slammed his body into Southhowl's causing Southhowl's head to slam into the window hard enough it cracked. Jason took this opportunity to take control of Southhowl's tranq gun disarming him. Jason then head butted Southhowl and pulled his lethal handgun out.Gun now in paw Jason pointed it at Daggermane who at the last second ducked as Jason pulled the trigger. The gun went off and the bullet went through the front seat and the drivers throat. The driver immediately shot a paw to their throat as they spit out blood. the driver also slammed on the accelerator the SUV speeding up rapidly and veered off the road.The SUV within a few seconds got up to 60mph and heading straight for a tree. The driver panicking and in shock yanked the wheel hard to the left narrowly avoiding the tree, but the maneuver caused the SUV to lose control and the vehicle rolled three times thrashing all the mammals in the back about. Jason took advantage of all the mammals in this tight space being bigger than him and grabbed onto Southhowl letting him act like a buffer for the impacts.The SUV after rolling three times finally came to rest, landing on its wheels. Jason was slightly dazed and had a small gash on the top of his head from the crash but he wasn't going to let that stop him. The driver was dead, Southhowl was knocked out, and the rest of the mammals were trying to recover. The wolf on his left had almost recovered and Jason quickly looked around the outside of the SUV and saw there were at least a dozen guards coming towards the crash.Jason unbuckled the left wolf's seatbelt and then shot the wolf twice in the head while simultaneously opening the door and pushing the now body and himself out. Jason landed on top of the corpse and immediately took aim at the approaching guards taking out three with headshots before the guards could even register what was happening. Jason then stood up and fired three more shots missing all three in his dazed state. Jason moved the gun about trying to decide which target to shoot when the massive fist of Major General Daggermane connected with his face full force, knocking him out cold.*two hours later* Jason awoke suddenly trying to move and sit up, quickly realizing not only was he in an upright position, but he was also restrained. Recalling his memories he realized that he had been knocked out, and whoever these mammals were had him. Looking at his restraints he saw he was on a metal table his arms and leg spread out, even his tail was restrained. He also noticed he was only in his boxers, which was kinda annoying…and demeaning. There was also a muzzle on his face which he really wasn't a fan of either. Then again he wasn't a fan of any of this.
"I think I may have made a mistake."
Jason next took stock of his surroundings. He was in a lab of some sort that quickly became obvious, there was equipment everywhere. But also more disconcertingly there was surgical equipment as well, making this the lab of a mad scientist…and here he was strapped to a upright metal table in metal restraints in the mad scientists lab.Looking around some more he saw all of the walls were white with small slits on each side. There was all no door anywhere unless it was behind him, which was a possibility. There was also cameras everywhere watching every angle of the room, some even swiveling back and forth. The most standout feature of the room though was the two way observation window set around a second story level. It was long and trapezoid shaped, and he could only guess at who could be behind it watching him, or how many there were.Deciding to test his restraints Jason began trying to pull and tug, seeing if he could break them. The were sturdy and not going to budge even with his full strength. But, the restraint on his left for was loose, loose enough to where with a pull he could yank it out. Jason failed to see how it could be of much help for him escaping, but he figured he could at least kill or knock out any mammal that got close enough.*In the observation room 20 minutes before Jason wakes up*Doctor Telvanni, Major General Daggermane, and Derek Southhowl were all in the observation room to the mad hyena's lab and Southhowl was NOT happy."Why are we even discussing this he killed five of my men! He almost killed you Daggermane if you hadn't ducked! Adrianna if you hadn't been strapped in you're neck would have snapped during the crash! He clearly knows how to use guns and he's to fucking dangerous to keep! He wasn't even at the facility for two minutes and he figured out it wasn't what we said it was! I am telling you keeping him here will cause nothing but trouble!"Adrianna Telvanni couldn't help but smile, she could here Derek's tone elevate when it came to her almost dying. Currently she was behind him finally stitching up a gash on his head but he kept moving about. Flicking one of his ears she was the first to respond. "First of all Derek hold still! I am trying to close this wound! Secondly we took a calculated risk allowing him to stay awake, a risk you two took against my advice! Thirdly if you hadn't been giving him the stink eye the entire damn time he might have never gotten suspicious!"Derek looked up at her and with an accusatory tone said, "Me!? You're putting this on me!?""Well you certainly didn't help the situation I had to calm you down at the orphanage!"General Daggermane decided to interject at this point before the situation turned into a lovers quarrel. "Adrianna is right you did not help the situation, she kept her hatred for foxes under wraps while you were hanging yours out in the open for all to see! But I fully blame your men if anything! They acted with zero tact, said nothing, and constantly were glancing down and at Jason like he was a threat or a target! Jason was looking at the rear view mirror before Adrianna said he knew!"Derek pointed at Daggermane and yelled "I'm not the one in charge here! You are! If they were being issues you as the leader should have reprimanded them instead of keeping your snout buried in that file of yours with that damn triumphant smirk on your face! I'm sure you're inaction made him suspicious too!"Adrianna doubled back to one of her points from earlier. "Still! If you two had just taken my advice and tranqed him when he was in the SUV none of this would have happened!"Daggermane rebutdtaled with "oh and what do you imagine would have happened when he woke up!? He would have known immediately!""But he would have been in here already and secured!"The three mammals argued for a few more minutes before Doctor Telvanni broke off and then got the two males attention. "Hey. Hey. Hey!" And when they stopped and looked at her she pointed out the window and said "Jason is awake."All three mammals turned to watch as Jason surveyed his surroundings. General Daggermane walked over to the window and asked "Doctor?"Doctor Telvanni walked over to stand beside him and answered, breaking down how Jason was feeling. "He's definitely not thrilled, he's realizing he's made a big mistake, really doesn't like he's in just his boxers, testing his restraints, and oh he's staring at us now."It was true Jason was staring at the window looking pretty much directly at the pair. Southhowl walked up behind them and said, "he can't see us right?"It was Daggermane who answered. "No this is a one way window and the rooms heavily insulated and soundproofed. There's no way he can see or hear us, he just probably assumes we or someone else is up here watching him. Either way, he's up so it's time to prepare. Southhowl get two COMPETENT guards in there to supervise and the go fetch the mad hyena. After that come join me Doctor you will stay here and monitor the first session, once it's over join me. I need to gather all of our subjects and begin my speech, I won't reveal our true purpose here until Jason joins us so make sure the hyena stays on time, he'll listen to you. Dismissed."Daggermane walked to the door set in the wall and it rose up for him to exit, Southhowl following behind him. Once the door slid shut with a hiss Doctor Telvanni pulled up a chair and took a seat, crossed her legs, and pulled up a pad of paper and a pen to take notes. Now ready all that was left was to wait for the mad hyena himself to make his entrance.
*Back to Jason*
Jason kept his eye on the observation window hoping he was staring intently at someone on the other side. He suspected Major General Daggermane, Doctor Telvanni, and Derek Southhowl were all on the other side waiting to watch him get dissected or whatever the hell was planned for him. All he could do is brace himself and wait.Luckily he didn't have to wait long at all as soon a panel on the back left wall rose up going into the ceiling and disappearing. "So that's the door, hmm I don't see a pad or anything on this side to open it. Must be something on mammals, a key card or something. I'll need to snag one." Jason watched as two wolf guards entered first. They were wearing black tactical gear looking like security guards, they were also wearing ball caps with no markings just like the rest of the uniform. They carried radios and had earpieces and both were wearing what looked like smart watches. "That might be how they get the door to open. But damn it the only way to confirm it is to see what happens when they leave. But if I wait that long I'll probably be dead. Guess I'll wing it." The two wolves for weapons carried pistols in holsters on their right thighs and on their left ones were shock batons. "If I can get a paw on one of those it might be able to short circuit these restraints. I'll just have to lure them over here, get one of the batons only using just my left foot…and well I can move my head about so my head. But get the baton in my left foot, short circuit one of my arm restraints, free the rest of my limbs, finish off the other guard, get the door open, and try and make my way out….I can do this, or at the very least die my own way." Jason left his thoughts and focused back in just as a male spotted hyena entered the lab and the second he did the door shut. The hyena was tall for his species with yellow eyes and he was wearing typical doctor garbs. So while he looked kind of like a regular doctor, Jason could see the sinister look in the hyena's eyes. "….fuck."The doctor hyena walked in casually paws in his pockets and walked to some tables and such like he hadn't noticed Jason was awake and staring at him, which he could tell was a sham. Finally the doctor pretended to notice him finally and did a fake double take. The hyena smiled sickly sweetly at him and exclaimed in a surprisingly heavy German accent. "Oh hello there!? You are finally awake zes? Good! Good! Then we can get started then!"The hyena then walked towards him and grabbed a surgical tray on his left and wheeled it over bringing it to a stop right in front of him. The hyena then turned around and clapped his paws together exclaiming "now that ze tools are ready I believe introductions are in order! I am Dr. Anrim Zola, and you are?...no? Zat is okay I know who you are Jason Wilde Todd, so how are you feeling? Comfortable? Good! Now let's look on that gash on your head zes?"Jason had almost forgot about the gash, it being out of site and not being able to feel pain, so he allowed it when this Dr. Zola grabbed his head roughly and pulled it down. "Zes zes dis will definitely need stitches, at least four. Hold still."Dr. Zola proceeded to roughly stitch Jason's gash up and once he was done he pushed Jason's head back against the table. "So! You are probably wondering what gives with being restrained like zis, and where are your clothes, and what I am going to do to you. Well I shall tell you! You are restrained because you decided to go on a little rampage didn't you? I also don't like my test subjects being able to escape my experiments! You are almost naked because I need to perform a physical on you, make sure you are healthy and strong! Now for the final part of your mental questions! What am I going to do to you!? I am going to have fun is what! I am going to run so so many tests and experiments on you! Ohhhh I get all giddy just thinking about all of the ones I can do! I can't decide which ones I shall do first! But for now…"Jason watched as Dr. Zola pulled out a recorder, hit the button, and grabbed a pen and clipboard. "Dr. Anrim Zola, day one. Date, July 24 2018. Subject, ze fox. Test, physical. Subject height, four feet four inches, above average. Weight, 125 pounds, average. Eye color, emerald green. Subjects muscle structure above average, muscles show through fur in biceps, legs, and abdomen. Fur, healthy shine no sickly appearance. No apparent deformities. Blood work shows no issues, blood type A Positive. Now let's check downstairs, well now! Healthy, functional sheathe, no deformities, size above average for foxes, lucky dog!"That's when Jason decided to make his move. A mad hyena inspecting and touching his private parts was an absolute no go and the doctor was in the perfect position to meet Jason's foot, so bonus. Jason yanked his left foot out of its restraint and immediately kicked Dr. Zola in the face. Zola stumbled back from the kick but Jason wasn't going to let him get out of range.Jason shot his foot out again and dug his claws into Zola's chest and dragged him close and head butted him using the muzzle for extra damage. Then he kicked him away and dragged him back several times before kicking out Zola's left knee bringing him down onto one knee. Jason wanted to use the claws on his feet to slit Zola's throat but Zola was guarding his neck so Jason settled with a hard kick to the face.This took about ten seconds and Jason looked over at the two guards expecting them to be rushing over shock batons in paw….but instead, they hadn't even moved and inch. They looked concerned, but they did not move. Suddenly, Zola shut up and grabbed his left leg shoving it back into the restraint. The restraint automatically closed and then tightened making it so Jason couldn't yank it out again.Zola bursted out in the typical hyena laugh and exclaimed "very good zes very good Jason! You did exactly what I predicted you would do! I left the strap loose on one leg on purpose! Zen I instructed dez wolves not to move if you attacked me!"Dr. Zola rose to his feet and licked the blood that was leaking from his lip and put a paw over the punctures in his chest. Looking at his bloody paw he said,"I'll admit fox you hit harder than I would have expected you to. Heh, I am going to have a lot more fun than I thought. You know fox, I feel like I already know you a lot, which is why I was able to predict exactly what you were going to do!...of course this helped."Out of his lab coat Dr. Zola pulled out Jason's journal. The second Jason saw it and the mad hyena's paw it was as if something in him snapped. Jason never in his entire life had used any vocal cues at all but he did now. First he let out a warning yip followed immediately by an aggressive snarl and constant growling.These actions briefly surprised Zola, then he started to laugh again his hyena barks irritating Jason. "Oh now the fox shows his fangs! Showing the true wild beast within! You really are more animalistic and feral! Fun! Oh and thanks for telling I can tighten that muzzle some more!"Zola then walked over and slammed Jason's head onto the table and grabbed the tightening straps of the muzzle yanking them as hard as he could. The muzzle tightened hard making it so Jason could only keep a aggressive rumble going at best. Zola stepped back satisfied and clapped his paws together, "there we go much better! No more nasty noises! Well, I officially give you a clean bill of health! Good thing too, otherwise we would have had to put you down! In case you're wondering, that wasn't a joke! Now there's just one more thing I wanted to test before I send you on your way…your file says you can't feel pain, I want to see that for myself."Jason got an increasingly bad feeling as Dr. Zola reached into his lab coat pocket smiling the whole while. Zola produced a pair of brass knuckles and slid them on slowly his sickening smile doubling in intensity. Zola rolled his shoulders in anticipation for what would be his favorite part of the day when one of the guards called out. "Dr. Zola! No hits to the face or visible areas. No critical areas. He needs to be presentable and functional. But just for today."Dr. Zola huffed and gave a small pouty face before calling out in response "fine! There's always tomorrow."With that Zola shut out a right jab directly into Jason's abdomen. Jason felt the impact connect solidly, but otherwise felt no pain whatsoever. Zola made eye contact to discern if Jason was masking or anything and Jason raised his eyebrows as if to say "is that all you got?" Zola let out a snort and began systematically raining blows in different spots, making sure to follow the rules. After half a dozen hits Zola stopped when a tap on the observation window was heard.Zola harrumphed and stepped back, taking off and pocketing his brass knuckles. "Hmm it would appear the reports are true, not a flinch, no tears, no hollering. I wonder if you even feel the impact…and would you feel pain if applied directly to your internals….hmmm this will require many test and experiments….I can't wait. Zis is my goal now, to make you feel pain, to hear you cry out….I look forward to playing with you more immensely."Jason in response narrowed his eyes and thought "you're gonna be damn disappointed when you lose this game." Zola chuckled unimpressed with Jason's display and said, "but for now, it would appear you are needed elsewhere. Boys come over here and shackle him! Then take him to join the others!... His hell is only beginning."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Jason was NOT happy. He had fallen into this trap he was in too easily and now he was up shit creek, and he didn't even have a boat. He also had no way out of this river as far as he could tell, at least right now. He got duped good, the promise of a military environment well suited to him had sounded too appealing, and he accepted their offer. Even given his suspicions and bad vibes he got from Derek Southhowl, the head of security at this facility. He thought maybe, just maybe his bad vibes came from his general dislike of wolves, but he should have gone with his gut instinct. Wolves always had it out for him, and their intentions were never pure.  As Jason was led through the stark white hallway, shackled and muzzled escorted by two wolf guards he surveyed his surroundings and mused on his predicament. Similar to the Lab it was all white with high ceilings, not a door in sight. He figured every “door” in this facility must be like the Lab’s door, which meant figuring out the layout and escaping would be a hassle. It would be even more so if certain areas required security clearances. He still wasn't sure what exactly opened the doors, he hoped it was the devices he saw on every mammal's wrists, but he'd have to confirm it. If it turned out it wasn't, and say doors had to be called to open, escape would be basically impossible.  It was certainly possible, there were cameras everywhere watching every angle. There weren't any blind spots for the cameras either. “Nowhere run, nowhere to hide….fuck. There's no way I can sneak out of this place, every moment is tracked in this facility. Speaking of…there's no way this is a military project. Too secretive, and it's obvious none of these guards are actual military, maybe ex-military. Probably a private security firm run by Daggermane or Southhowl himself. If it's Southhowl I bet Daggermane used to be his superior officer… either way I bet that's the case. This is no doubt Daggermane’s brainchild, privately funded by himself and donors. But no way it has official government backing, not with that mad hyena here. Dr. Anrim Zola, something tells me he and I aren't going to get along very well. He can try and make me feel pain, but he's going to fail miserably, and if I get the chance I'm going to rip his throat out, literally. So is whatever plan Daggermane has in store for me, I'm not going to be playing ball.”  Jason left his thoughts as they came to an apparent dead end, but he knew it wasn't. He watched intently as the guard on his right moved his device towards the wall. The “smartwatch” briefly flashed green and soon the door was rising. “Ah so it is their smartwatch that opens the doors, at least now I know I'll need to snag one of those to start my escape.”  It was then the door rose fully and Jason took in the sight before him, 199 pairs of questioning eyes. The booming voice of Daggermane amplified by a microphone then drew his attention “Ah finally! The last of you have arrived! Now I can finally start!” ***Chad Howler was a 17-year-old white wolf with ice blue eyes, he was very muscular enjoying bodybuilding and working out in general…and if you asked anyone but him, a grade-A alpha male prick. He thought he was the top dog and very simply the best, he hated most prey, and he hated most predator species that didn't have packs. All in all, he was just what everyone thought of him, a prick. Chad thought most species of mammals were below wolves, and he hated small mammals most of all. But above everything else…he HATED foxes. Filthy grimy pelts that were walking wastes of oxygen, two-bit hustlers, and criminals that stank to the high heavens. There was already one here, a red vixen. Safe to say she wasn't having a fun experience.  Chad had been one of the first arrivals here and watched as mammal after mammal filtered into this place along these past two weeks. And personally, he was getting tired of waiting to hear why they were all here, why he was surrounded by so many inferior species. The only thing he could gather was they were waiting for all two hundred candidates to start, so far there were 199. That meant only one more mammal needed to show up before he figured out why he was here.  Chad was one of the few volunteers for this program. His family life wasn't the best, abusive father, useless mother, and pack. The only mammal in his pack he was close to was a distant uncle, and he happened to be the security chief at this facility. Derek Southhowl had asked him if he wanted to join this program and he happily agreed, anything to get away from home. Of course, Derek hadn't told him he'd be surrounded by inferior mammals or he might have reconsidered.  Being here these two weeks he made a few friends and formed a group that he stuck with. It consisted of a male lion, male cheetah, male polar bear, female and male tiger, and a female wolf. Currently, they were huddled together waiting with the rest of the 199 to be addressed. Apparently, today was the day the 200th mammal was due to arrive, finally. But for some reason whoever this mammal was had the facility abuzz. He couldn't fathom why though, no mammal was that special. Especially since they would be a teenager just like the rest of them. The female tiger in his entourage, Sadia looked at the guards in the room and said “look at them, they've been tense all day.”  Ada, the female wolf said “I overheard some of the guards talking, there was a situation topside. This 200th mammal apparently decided to cause trouble. I think some guards may have been killed.”

Brad, the cheetah scoffed. “Please. Whoever they were probably started crying like a baby saying they changed their mind and they had to get dragged in here. As far as the guards being tense, today starts the program, that means they got more responsibilities.”  The polar bear, Sergei folded his arms and said “yes, no way a kid has their nerves up.”  Chad was going to agree with the big bear when suddenly the door opened behind them, and their eyes and the rest pivoted to see the 200th mammal. What they saw shocked them. A red fox tod, shackled at the hands and feet, muzzled being escorted in by two guards. It was then that their host addressed them “Ah finally! The last of you have arrived! Now we can finally start!”  Chad couldn't believe his eyes. “All of this buzz….over a filthy pelt?...and why is the pelt in chains?...never mind that's how pelts should be treated.”  The pelt was pushed into the room and two more guards that had lined the perimeter came over to the trio. It appeared they were unsure what to do regarding the pelt and General Daggermane said “unshackle him.”  One of the guards that escorted the fox in looked up sharply in shock and let out a questioning “sir!?”  Daggermane gave the wolf a hard look. “You heard me.”  The four wolves shared looks before one of the escorts began to unshackle the feet while the other unshackled his paws. Once the restraints were off they went to step away but Daggermane firmly said “the muzzle too. I highly doubt he’ll try and kill any more of you just yet.”  Chad tilted his head at that. “Kill anymore? These guards must be pathetic to be killed by a pelt. A teenage pelt at that.”  Carefully one of the guards removed the muzzle and back away quickly, the two escorts moving back towards the door. The pelt when to go forward but stopped when one of the guards pointed their M16 in his face. The fox looked up with an unreadable expression and the door shut, Chad saw more than heard the fox huff before he turned and faced the group again, crossing his arms.  *Jason*As Jason was led through the door he took in his surroundings. It was an expansive large white room, the ceiling massive, Jason wasn't sure how far they went underground but if they went too deep his only escape could be an elevator. Judging by the ceiling they were deep. Walkways were lining the perimeter of the room a good way up, to a height where even the tallest of mammals couldn't reach it. Directly ahead of them jutting out of the wall the same height as the walkways were what Jason could assume was a control room, probably not the control room though. Lining the perimeter on the ground was wolf guards, all armed with either MP5s or M16s. Guards lined the walkways too, these armed with M14s, and again, all of them were wolves. Just to the right of the control room was none other than General Daggermane, still giving that stupid self-satisfied smirk that Jason wanted to rip off of his face.  He then ran his eyes over the 199 mammals looking at him briefly. “199 mammals, all teens, 100 different species, male and female pairs.”  Jason would observe them more closely later, right now he had bigger fish to fry. The guards were ordered to relieve him of these shackles he was wearing and he tensed himself to fight if he could just get on the other side of the door with the two guards. Unfortunately once the muzzle was off one of the guards that came to stand next to him shoved their M16 in his face daring him to try it. At that point, Jason thought realistically, “I'm literally surrounded by armed mammals, the second I start fighting one I'll be dead. I have to bide my time.” With that, the door shut and Jason let out a huff before turning to face the group and crossing his arms. “Ugh, too many mammals.” Now that he was free of his chains he roamed his eyes over the 199 mammals before him, and almost all of them felt an unnerving chill run down their spines at seeing those lifeless emerald eyes analyze them all. “Good split, 25% small mammals, 25% medium mammals, 25% large mammals, and 25% extra large mammals. The small mammals seem to stick together but divide between predator and prey, typical. Same for medium mammals. The only groups that seem to not be segregating are large and extra-large. Meanwhile, the small and medium mammals are terrified of everyone. Whatever Daggermane has planned these mammals are going to get crushed. What a shame.”  As Jason ran his eyes over the group his eyes logged that most mammals already didn't like him. Most mammals hated foxes after all. His eyes lingered on one particular mammal though for just a little longer than the rest, she was a pretty snow leopard, just a little taller than him with brilliant purple eyes. As everyone else's eyes held hate or indifference he saw that hers held…curiosity. That in itself was…curious. When their eyes met she actually averted her gaze unlike most, but Jason mentally shrugged it off, she probably found his eyes unnerving. Finishing his sweeping gaze he was surprised to see another fox, a red vixen. She looked more scared than anyone staying in the back in a small-knit group of small and medium predators, only five. A male raccoon, a male otter, a female coyote, a male coyote, and a female raccoon. He could tell the vixen felt unnerved by him but also relieved to see another fox, foxes stuck together after all.  The group of six the vixen was in decided to make their way toward him for whatever reason, and she scurried to follow them. Jason wanted to roll his eyes at the display, they were trying to be nice in an environment not well suited for it. They were probably going to be the first to die. Once they got within five feet of him Jason made it very clear that approaching him was not a smart idea. Baring his fangs he let out a snarl as he unsheathed his claws and flexed his paws. He wasn't in the mood to make friends. Seeing this primal display coming from him the group scurried back to where they once were, all except the vixen. She froze in fear seeing Jason act so feral but she wasn't going to be deterred, he was the only mammal she was going to feel safe around.  The vixen hesitantly moved to stand beside him but made sure to keep her distance, and Jason made sure to let her know what that was. Once she got to two feet away his lip curled upward in warning establishing the boundary. So she froze in place and turned back to face the rest, regardless of this tod’s feral behavior and lifeless green eyes she felt safe around him simply because he was a fellow fox. She'd introduce herself later and see if he'd at least speak to her. Either way, she planned to stick as close as she could, hopefully, he could keep her safe, a lot of the mammals here wanted to hurt her for being a fox. Besides two sets of eyes were better than one. Jason as much as he didn't like this vixen being close wasn't going to deny her sticking by him, to a degree. Foxes only trusted other foxes and for good reason, so he would tolerate her presence simply because she was the least liable to stab him in the back. That still didn't mean he'd be a good conversationalist or friend, it also didn't mean he'd let her break the two-foot bubble. Two feet was a stretch as it was. He'd much rather her be 30 feet away like the rest of them, who were all having hushed conversations about him. But it bothered him none, instead, he lifted his gaze and fixed his stare onto Daggermane, waiting to hear what all of this was truly about.  General Daggermane watched this entire interaction with rapt interest. “He acts like a wild animal. Dr. Telvanni might need to work on his social skills, he needs to be able to function in a real setting. Interesting, he let the vixen keep close. Is that fox companionship or is Jason a ladies mammal? Let's be real here, it's probably the first one. But….if it's the second…oh how the doctor will play.”  Taking his eyes off his top contender he put on a big grin and addressed the 200. It was time they learned why they were really here. “Good day ladies and gentle mammals, as you know my name is General Daggermane! Welcome to The Facility! Yes, it's called The Facility, we have no real name for this place. Some of you have been here for two weeks, some of you have been here for two days, some of you have been here for two hours, and some of you have been here for two minutes. For this reason, none have you have seen the entire facility. Simply being limited to here the common area, the mess, and the dorms. So allow me to give you the rundown, this facility is quite expansive and state of the art. We have a large lab where you can learn everything from brain surgery to advanced chemistry and everything in between. We have incredibly advanced simulators for anything you could think of including flight, as well as these simulators for real-world scenarios. It will look like and feel like you are in the real world. We have a large armory full of every weapon imaginable and a shooting range to match it, you want to learn how to effectively use a rocket launcher? You can do it there!”  General Daggermane enjoyed seeing his “recruits” excitedly chattering amongst themselves as he listed off what the Facility had to offer, the opportunities it provided. “I'm glad to see you excited! Now I could drone on and on about what the Facility has to offer but instead, I offer these! General Daggermane held up a smartwatch identical to the ones the guards were wearing. “This is the most crucial thing we will give you at the Facility. This “smartwatch” as we call it is how you will get around the areas of the Facility you are allowed to access! It contains codes for each door and will open them automatically as you approach. It will also log your entry as it contains your credentials, who you are, your code name, age, weight, height, etc, etc. This device also has a tracker so we can track your location, NEVER take it off! It's waterproof so you can even shower with it. This device has a map with a blip that shows your location, so you can't use getting lost as an excuse! It also shows your ranking on the board! Now I know what you're thinking, what's the board?”  Daggermane’s smile was getting wider, just building to the bombshell. “The board is our leaderboard! We track and score everything here! Every class you take, every certificate you earn, every time you increase the amount of weight you lift, everything! This leaderboard is meant to spark your competitive side because those in the top 10 receive enrichment bonuses. Top five even more so! Now we tracked everything you did up to being recruited, everything pertaining to use in the program of course! This granted you points on the board and your ranking, now it will be up to you to climb it and in the case of those already in the top ten, to maintain it!” At that, a digital projector turned on displaying an empty leaderboard for all to see. “Now I will display 200 to 11! If you're on the bottom I’d work my ass off to change it!”  With a press of a bottom 11 to 200 was displayed, a picture with a mammal's full name beside the number. Jason scanned it halfheartedly, just enough to log that he was in the top 10. The vixen beside us he now knew was named Katie Redtail was dead last at 200, and he watched as she folded in on herself in embarrassment as several mammals pointed and laughed. To which Jason huffed in response, his ears registering speciesist remarks like “that's where foxes belong” and “serves her right, that fucking pelt.”  That last one came from a group of a few mammals, specifically from a muscular white wolf. Looking at him and how he was looking at them Jason could tell he would be a problem. “Not one I can't handle though. Come and get me wolfie, I'll snap you in two.”  Chad for his part got immense pleasure at seeing one of the pelts in last place where they belonged, along with most of the smaller mammals. Only a scare few were in the middle of the pack, but most surprisingly the male pelt wasn't on the list. “How is a fox in the top 10? This must be a mistake, but regardless there's no way he's better than me.”  General Daggermane then pressed the button again saying “here's the 10 through 6 rankings!”  The rankings popped up and Jason internally raised an eyebrow. “Guess I'm in the top five.”  In the bottom five was the female snow leopard that caught his eye at number 10, her name turning out to be Hanna Snowpaw. 9 was the female tiger, 8 the female wolf, 7 the male tiger, and 6 was the male lion. There were a lot of congrats and pats on the back for the bottom five, but Chad ignored that, he instead kept his attention on the leaderboard. “The pelt is in the top five!?”  Daggermane paused to let the subjects congratulate each other and such. Once he felt it had been long enough he put on his fake smile again and said “now for the top five! In fifth place will 750 points is the male polar bear Sergei Krinksimov!” Sergei let out a bellow of triumph at being in the top five and there was a round of applause. Jason of course did not partake. “In fourth place with 875 points is the male grizzly bear Adam Smasher!” The grizzly at seeing he was above Sergei promptly turned towards him and flipped him off. Sergei naturally wasn't a fan of that, this was a challenge after all. Daggermane saw all of this but ignored it, seeing what these teens would do was part of the experiment after all. So instead he said, “number three with 980 points is the male cheetah Brad Nimble!”  Brad pumped his fist in celebration and the little group he was a part of all congratulated him Chad included. He liked Brad the best, after all, Chad respected power, and cheetahs had it, also Brad had the same thinking he did, so they got along naturally. Besides, he knew he was going to be number one, how could he not? Daggermane then put a big old wrench in his thinking. “And in second place with 1000 points is the male wolf Chad Howler!”  Chad couldn't believe it..someone was better than him? On top of that…there was only one mammal left that hadn’t been placed on the board. “There is no fucking way a filthy little..”  General Daggermane cut off his thoughts by saying “and in first place on our leaderboard with a huge 12000 points is the male fox tod, Jason Wilde Todd!”  The entire room went silent. Not only was a fox in first place, but he was also in first place with a deficit of 11000 points. This fox was well above and beyond everyone else, and it stunned the room, it also pissed a good majority off. Jason for his part was almost surprised, almost. But not really, he knew he was the smartest mammal in the room by a mile, and probably the most deadly. He'd show anyone that tested him just that.   Daggermane observed the scene before him and had to keep himself from laughing, all the faces of shock and anger due to the fact that Jason was better than them. “So most of you are probably wondering how we scored things, and why Jason here is so high above the rest of you. Well, Jason has six certified bachelor's degrees and six certified brown belts in varying martial arts. Each bachelor's degree he earned got him 1,000 points and the same for each brown belt. If he upgrades them to masters he will be rewarded 5,000 points and the same too if he gets black belts. Now I won't go too deep into the math, our method of scoring is on your smartwatches. But I gave you an idea of some goals to shoot for. It is safe to say Jason has set the bar incredibly high, and it will be really hard to knock him off that top spot.”  There was a lot of murmuring as the subjects whispered among themselves, and meanwhile, Jason’s expression hadn't shifted an inch. Katie for her part felt a million times safer with Jason now, he was an expert martial artist, he could definitely protect her. She was tempted to inch even closer to him but even if her tail breached the two-foot bubble his lip would curl upward in warning. So she had to keep her distance, she didn't want to piss him off especially now knowing what he was capable of.  Daggermane wanted to pat himself on the back. “All right settle down settle down! Now let's talk about what we’re doing here, the rules and expectations. They are laxer than you would think. There are no required classes, no required drills, no formations, none of that. This isn't boot camp, this is something else entirely. Wake-up time is at 0800 Monday through Friday to start your day, the only penalty, if you aren't out of the dorms by 0900, is 10 points off your score. You decide what you want to learn, you go at your own pace. You are encouraged to make friends, have relationships, form groups and teams, but make sure to watch the leaderboard. There will be times when you are specifically called for special assignments and those are required to do. You ARE required to be active Monday through Friday working, whether it be working towards a degree or combat tactics. Saturday and Sunday you are allowed to take off, but if you aren't in the top 50, I wouldn't recommend that you do. You are allowed to be active 24/7, there are no hours. Meals are three times a day but the mess remains open for snacks. IF you are injured while participating in this program I highly suggest you do as much classwork as you can to keep earning points.”  The subjects seemed to like the expectations so far. But he wasn't done yet. “You may have noticed earlier I mentioned codenames, by Monday I expect you all to pick out your own codenames. It's a first come first serve for submissions so if there's a duplicate whoever submitted it first gets it. Your codename is how you will be referred to from that day on, meaning you will not address each other by name nor will we. There are no calls or messages aloud to be sent outside of The Facility, no contact with the outside world and all attempts to try will be severely punished. There is a reason I stress the leaderboard so much ladies and gentlemamals, at the end of every six months the bottom ten mammals will be cut from the program. This is meant to be a little bit of a competition and we only want the best, so you have to work your asses off to stay here.”   That last part caused nervous murmurs to ripple through the subjects, but Daggermane hadn't even dropped the bombshell yet. But it was high past time he did so. “Now let's talk about our mission here…our goal….what we told you when we recruited you was a lie. This is not a government-funded special military project, we will not release you when you're 18, you will not get to go home or join the military, no one knows you're here. What this is a privately funded special multi-phase experiment meant to test you to your limits. But what those are will only be known to us. When I said you will be cut from the program you will be allocated to an area that we believe you will have some use to us and you will stay there until your dying day. The top ten left will be made into a hit squad to be commanded by me killing enemies both foreign and domestic, and you will only be known by your codename. You will not be allowed to leave and have a normal life, ever. When you reach the age of uselessness only then will we allow you to “retire” meaning you will be taken to a safe house to live out the rest of your days constantly under watch and guard.” It was so pleasurable to watch the utter panic ripple through the subjects as they realized their circumstances. Some of them were already frantically looking for an escape, to which he had to tamper down a laugh. “Escape from the Facility is impossible, as none of you have access to the doors. These guards here around you are here to make sure you never leave, escort you, and discipline you when necessary. You fail to comply with their orders and you will regret it!”  At that every guard on the floor with them stepped forward and pulled out their shock batons, arcing them in warning before stepping back. Everyone was panicking at this stage, some mammals even crying in fear of becoming slaves. The top ten mammals though were confident they could handle things, and Jason simply didn't care. General Daggermane looked across the panicked faces and said “now now it's not all bad! As long as you get to the top ten and stay there you will be fine and have the best life possible! The top ten will be given anything they want to live comfortably when not on mission and stay in exotic houses in exotic locations, yes under constant watch and guard. But every want will be attended to within reason! All in all, it is not a bad deal! For those of you who fail do not worry too much, you will not be a true slave! And you will be serving your country! Fret not!” General Daggermane's pep talk did nothing to reassure the subjects much. But quite a few solemnly thought that it was better than dying…if only they knew. “All right! My pitch is over! Guards escort them to the dorms, officially assign them their bunks, and then leave them to their devices! Dismissed!”  *later that day, a large group of teens.*  A group of about two dozen teens gathered in the common area to discuss what they had gotten themselves into and what they were going to do about it. There were talks of attempting escape, causing a riot, refusing to participate, and many other ideas. But they were all shot down one by one, none of them would work in the long run. So they all concluded that they were stuck here, but what to do about that. The group consisted of all mammals in the middle of the pack on the board so they weren't too scared about being enslaved, immediately at least. But none of them wanted to end up that way regardless, sure there weren't enough spaces in the top ten for all of them but that was a bridge to cross later.  After a lull of any real ideas being shot out the male gazelle subject spoke up. “Look! There is one thing I know for sure right now! That fucking fox in the number one slot has to go!”  The male Kudu subject was quick to agree. “He's right! There's no way any of us are going to be able to get past that score! He's just constantly going to be earning more and more points and increase that lead!”  The female elephant joined in. “They're right! You heard the General! He’ll get 5,000 points for every master's degree and black belt he gets! He's already 90% there basically!”  The male lynx spoke. “Okay yeah sure, but what the heck can we do about it?”  The male gazelle who was taking lead of the discussion at this point replied “easy. We kill him.”  Over half the group began laughing at the male gazelle’s ridiculous idea the female giraffe firmly saying “what are you? Stupid? You heard what they said! He has six brown belts in different martial arts! How the hell could you or any of us possibly kill him!?”  The female panther interjected. “Not to mention even if we DID, we'd surely get offed by the guards for murdering a fellow subject!”  The male gazelle shook his head. “Look at the rules on your watches! Nowhere does it say we aren't allowed to kill or sabotage our way up to the top anywhere! I've looked over it five times! Think about it, what they want us to do! I bet this is what they want!”  This caused an argument among the group that lasted for about half an hour before the male gazelle got fed up. “ALRIGHT! If you cowards don't want to do it that's fine! You'll just all be enslaved while I ride to the top and live a life of comfort! And for your information on how I'm going to kill him, my left horn is a fake, it unscrews because the real one broke off when I was younger and never grew back. So while he sleeps I'm going to unscrew it and plunge it into his filthy chest! I'll accept any repercussions I get but I'll probably get pats on the back for killing a filthy fox!”  The group quieted at that before the male hyena said “you know what? I'm in. That fox has to go, fuck everything else.”  The male rhino snorted and said, “I ain't letting a fox drive me to slavery, he's an issue that needs to go away.”  The male kudu nodded his head. “That pelt needs to die.”  The male lynx let out an idea of his own. “Fine. But why stop there? We should just wipe the entire top ten off the board. It'll give us the best chance to even it out. I mean all of us are only a couple of points off of each other but those in the top ten currently are well above us. Once things get started they could quickly get out of our reach.”  The female polar bear nodded, “why not. Kill the top contenders, even out the board.”  Pretty soon the entire group was in agreement, all except for one. The female cheetah subject had been listening in the entire time, pretending to be on board. But, in truth she was being a double agent for the top ten, sort of. She just wanted to impress the males in that group, minus the fox, she figured if she proved herself useful that would keep her around. So while the group was finalizing their plan to start with the fox tonight and attack the rest she slinked away intent on finding the group the male cheetah was in.  It took around 15 minutes but she found them. Chad, Brad, Sergei, Ada, the two tigers Khan and Kuna, and the lion Scar. She approached them confidently and stopped just shy and said “I need to speak to you all, urgently.”  Chad, the leader of the little group looked her up and down and with his cocky tone said “what about?”  “There's a group of about two dozen of us planning to kill you all and the rest of the top ten. Tonight once we are all in our beds. Midnight to be exact. They feel threatened by you all so they think killing you will make the top ten a fair fight. They plan to start with the pelt and then come after y'all at once. Figured you would want to know.”  Chad was impressed and nodded his head. “Well, apparently some mammals here have a spine. Which once's exactly?”  “Let's see. The male rhino, male lynx, male gazelle, male kudu, female and male giraffe, male and female elephant, male and female hyena, female panther, male snow leopard, female polar bear, male caracal, male Buffalo, male and female reindeer, male and female gemsbok, female camel, male deer, and the male puma." Chad nodded. “Well now we know who to watch out for, I sat we form a little counter plan of our own. But something tells me their little plan is going to go off the rails.”  Chad then let out a little grin as he said the next part. “Thank you for telling us, and hey, don't tell the others the plan on killing. They'd get suspicious otherwise.”   The female cheetah smiled back a toothy grin. “I wasn't planning on it. Especially not the fox.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

*Daggermane, Southhowl, Telvanni, and Zola 11:50 pm* Daggermane and the group were gathered in the main control room watching the cameras. Zola and Telvanni had notepads out ready to take notes and Southhowl had his arms crossed super tense. Southhowl was not comfortable at all with this little plan, letting out a growl of frustration he said “are you all sure about this?” Zola huffed and replied “zes zes we are sure for the third time Southhowl! We planned for zis! This was always supposed to be ze first experiment! We have taken every precaution!”  Telvanni could understand while the wolf was tense but she built off what Zola said. “Exactly, the subjects behaved exactly how I predicted and they continue to do so. It will go just how I predict from now on, or do you not trust my math?”  General Daggermane interjected before Southhowl and Telvanni could get all mushy mushy. “Your mammals are in place are they not Southhowl?”  Southhowl nodded. “Yes and in their riot gear as instructed.”  Daggermane lit up a cigar. “Then we are fine. The fight will happen, and we will stop it once it gets out of paw and too many die. We have subjects in the pocket to replace the ones we lose.”  Southhowl nodded. “I know sure it's just…”  Zola could see where this was going. “Ze fox.”  Southhowl sighed. “Yes, the fox. We all know he's not gonna die, and he's going to tear through anyone that tries him. On top of that…”  Telvanni finished the sentence this time. “He's going to try and escape. We know.”  Southhowl gave her a look. “Which means he's going to probably kill quite a few of my mammals, and you're okay with that?”  Daggermane took a drag and said “Southhowl you and your mammals knew what you were signing up for, and I have full confidence in their capabilities to handle and contain Jason. If any die they can be replaced easily enough.”  Southhowl huffed. “I just hope you aren't underestimating his capabilities. I did so once and five of my men died, I don't want to do it again.”  Zola shook his head, this was going to go in circles. Then he spotted something. “Silence! It's starting!”   *the gazelle*   It was time. It was time to kill the fox and the rest of the top ten to make sure the rest of them had a fair fight. Getting out from the covers of his bunk he stood, the male kudu, a male and female hyena, and male lynx standing with him. He then as silently as he could he unscrewed his left horn and took it into his hooves, his eyes locking onto the sleeping fox across the room.  He began to as silently as he could creep towards the sleeping fox, the rest of the group standing as he passed and falling in behind him. As they passed one of the top ten a few would break off and place themselves in front of their cot, ready to jump them once gazelle plunged his horn into the fox’s chest. Unfortunately for them, they didn't know that the entire top ten weren't really sleeping.  As he got closer the male kudu and hyena passed him to take positions on the left and right of the fox’s cot. If the fox woke up they would hold him down until the gazelle could kill him, they figured no way the fox could shake them off. The gazelle actually couldn't believe the plan was working, all of the top ten were still asleep, and any mammal awake was keeping their mouths shut wondering what was going on. It didn't take a genius to figure out what him approaching the fox with a sharp object would mean, so it appeared no one liked a fox. It worked for him.  Finally, he reached him and stood poised to strike, taking his horn he raised it high above his head ready to plunge it into the fox’s heart. Unable to resist giving a grin he began to bring it down….then he saw the fox open his eyes.  *Jason* They were damn fools. What? Did they think he was stupid? Jason knew it was only a matter of time before someone tried to come at him, or multiple someone's. It was pretty easy to figure out that matter of time was today, when you make a plan…make sure the mammal the plan is about isn't listening. He wanted to laugh, he really did as he laid in his cot pretending to be asleep. The damn fools had been so busy trying to plan how to kill him they hadn't even noticed he walked into the room.  Sure he stood all the way across the room well out of normal earshot. But then again he wasn't normal, so he heard the plan and walked away. Now he was just waiting for them to execute their plan, and he had one of his own. It was pretty simple really, kill everyone that approached him, specifically target the 24 that planned this attack and save Hanna. He didn't know why he wanted to save the female snow leopard, but for some reason, something didn't sit right with just letting her die.  He figured she could hold her own for a minute but he would try and work his way to her as fast he could to assist her as needed before going back to killing.  It tickled him in a way, how easy he contemplated, planned, and was ready to kill these mammals. How…indifferent he felt about it, how little he cared and found no problem in it. In a normal mammal, this thought process would scare the ever-living daylights out of them, but to him, it was kinda normal. So here he was, patiently waiting for these idiots to hurry up and try to kill him, he was getting bored.  It took a minute, but finally, the group mobilized and the gazelle posed to strike. “Finally” Jason waited until the weapon was on its way to his heart to snap open his eyes and go on the offensive. Seeing the weapon arcing down towards him he quickly deflected it to his left causing it to embed in his cot and then twisting his body up and to the left, he shot out a kick into the hyena's face causing them to yelp in pain before launching his body upwards still twirling until his front paws hit the mattress. He then in on fluid movement shot himself into the air briefly, just enough to land on the metal rail that was his cot’s headboard. This all happened in a matter of seconds.  Taking a split second to look around him he locked in his targets and mobilized.  *chad*Chad had been waiting patiently with the rest of his group, he knew once things started things would escalate quickly and he needed to be prepared. In the split second it took for a yelp of pain to be heard Chad was out of bed and behind the male gemsbok who had turned away to see about the yell. Chad quickly wrapped his right arm around its throat and yelled “Now!” Before snapping its neck and going for the next mammal.  The rest of his group jumped from their beds next and joined in attacking those who had planned to kill them. It's amazing how quickly it spiraled after that. Mammals jumped out of their beds and quickly formed into 4 groups, help the top ten, kill the top ten, fight everyone, or hide. The whole room descended into chaos as a full-blown brawl broke out. Mammals that didn't want to fit crawled under their cots and hid while the rest went to town on one another. Just like Chad had figured it would. *Jason* Jason heard the yell of now but paid it no mind as he rushed forward. He ducked under a punch from the Kudu and deflected one for the gazelle as he reached the prosthetic and yanked it out of his cot. Next, he returned it to its owner by stabbing it into their chest as they came to try and grab him. The gazelle let out a gasp of surprise that quickly turned into a death scream as Jason grabbed their shoulders and kneed the horn the rest of the way through their chest, the tip exploding out their back.  Hopping on the dead gazelle's head he then launched himself into the air twirling as he did to avoid a swipe by the hyenas and recovered. What he landed on hadn't expected him to because the kudu immediately began jerking their head as Jason landed on top of it. But this was a temporary position, Jason just needed to borrow something. Using the leverage of his weight Jason broke off a section of the Kudu’s left horn causing them to bellow out in pain as Jason dropped to the ground. Jason then stabbed the horn into the Kudu’s left knee causing them to drop to it in agony. He then in the next split second pulled the horn out and stabbed it into the Kudu’s throat, their yell being drowned out by blood.  At this point the room had already descended into chaos which made his job so much easier, the hyena already occupied trying to shake off the male deer that grabbed him from behind. Jason used the Kudu’s rapidly dying body as a launching board sending him airborne and landed on the hyena’s left shoulder. He scampered up their head, jumped onto the deer's arm, ran up it, unsheathed his claws, and in four rapid swipes gouged the deer’s eyes out cussing them to release the hyena to clutch their eyes screaming in agony. Jason leaped off the deer's arm as it moved and landed on the hyena’s left shoulder. Jason then bit down on the hyena’s throat and jumped off their shoulder his teeth still dug in effectively ripping out their throat.  Landing on the ground he spit the bits of hyena out of his mouth before roiling out of the way of their descending body. Taking off in a run he slid under his cot and then launched back onto his feet yanking out the gazelle’s fake horn from their corpse as he passed. Ducking between several fighting mammals' legs he jumped up onto one medium-sized mammal's cot, launched into the air, landed on a large mammals cot, and launched himself right at his next target.  The male elephant was right in the middle of a group of brawling mammals fighting off the female rhino. Safe to say he wasn't expecting to see the fox suddenly hurtling towards him, he really wasn't expecting the fake horn getting buried into his left eye either. This caused a chain reaction as the bull elephant began jerking his head violently with the new addition to his face his trunk swinging wildly. His trunk first struck the male coyote, breaking bones and sending them flying into a wall, the wall crushing the rest and killing them. He then stepped on the female panther killing her and his trunk swing caught the male giraffe snapping their spine. On his blind charge, his tusks impaled the male puma and he trampled the female hyena before his head made impact with the wall. The wall driving the horn the little distance it had left into his brain killing him.  Jason after he had embedded the horn in the bull elephant’s eyes had quickly climbed up their face and jumped onto the female rhino's head. He then jumped off it just as she slammed her fist down on her own head, since he was gone the only thing she achieved was knocking herself out cold. Jason landed on the female giraffe’s long neck and dug his claws in slitting her throat ear to ear as the saying goes before dropping off of her and onto a cot. He used that cot to go airborne again and landed right in the middle of a group of mammals. None of them had outright planned to kill him but none of them liked him either so he wouldn't TRY to kill them, but if they died they died. Jason began effectively dismantling them mixing his martial arts prowess with his teeth and claws. He gouged eyes, took flesh from ankles, broke bones, and dished out concussions as he carved a path through. He was untouchable, he blocked, dodged, and deflected blows with ease as he moved forward looking like a blur than a fox. He bobbed, dodged, ducked, twirled, and weaved his way through the brawl, if a mammal engaged him they were dispatched in the quickest way possible. Nothing was stopping him from reaching his goal.  *Hanna* Hanna was sure this is how she would die. She had been awoken to the sounds of screaming and jerked awake looking across the room to see the fox Jason being attacked. The next thing she knew she saw the wolf Chad kill a mammal and yell “now” and things suddenly descended into chaos. Next thing she knew she was getting dragged out of bed and attacked by the male snow leopard and caracal, getting punched and kicked. She managed to throw off the fellow snow leopard and stun them and focused on defending against the caracal, in the end, she was forced to unsheathe her claws and she raked them across their face blinding them, or at least she thinks so.  She looked around frantically for a place she could go and hide and took in the sights around her. The whole room had erupted into a massive brawl, she saw the male grizzly and polar bear in a heated brawl, she saw Cad the wolf fighting off three mammals, she saw where Jason once was surrounded by corpses. Then she was grabbed from behind and dragged to the ground. The fellow snow leopard recovered from being stunned and took her to the ground pinning her to the ground. The male lynx then came from out of nowhere and pinned her arms so she couldn't strike at them.  The leopard gave her a self-satisfied smirk as he wrapped his paws around her throat, but then she saw an idea light up in his eyes. His disgusting smirk curled into a smile and he said “there's no reason we can't have a little fun first.”  He then took a paw off her throat and start to try and rip off her sleeping shorts and underwear, and the male lynx began fumbling with his shorts. This was how she was going to die, being raped and then strangled. She was already crying but was about to start sobbing and screaming for help when suddenly she saw the fox Jason come flying from out of nowhere and land on the fellow snow leopard’s back.  Jason looked like a feral animal, blood covered his maw and dripped off his claws while those lifeless eyes looked right at her. His hackles were raised and all of his fur was poofed up in agitation and anger. The snow leopard had no time to react as Jason wrapped his right arm around their throat and snapped their neck savagely their body flopping onto her. She could still see Jason though as he stayed on the back of the now lifeless corpse and gave a feral snarl to the lynx pinning her arms.  Jason then launched themselves at the lynx his jaws latching onto their throat and dragging them off of her arms and onto the ground. She watched as Jason shook his head violently ripping out the lynx’s throat before hearing the crunch of their neck. Jason let the corpse drop from his maw before he gave her a look from the side and launched himself into the fray again. She didn't bother moving the corpse off of her and instead began sobbing with relief. Jason had no reason to save her but he did without hesitation, he had come halfway across the room straight to her.  *General Daggermane and group, during the brawl*  General Daggermane tilted his head as he watched the camera feed. “Did we know about the gazelle’s fake horn?”  Zola paused his note-taking to say “zes it was in his medical file, I sent you a memo.”  Daggermane let out an “oh”  They then saw Jason spring up. Southhowl saying “I don't know how they thought that would work.” They witnessed Chad snap the neck of one of his attackers. Southhowl smirked and said “that's my nephew”  They watched things descend into a massive brawl. Doctor Telvanni saying, “just as I predicted it would, they're turning on each other.”  Zola hummed in response. “It seems zer is three factions. Help the top ten, fight the top ten, fight everyone.”  They watched how Jason fought. Daggermane commenting “my gods he fights like a wild animal.”  Southhowl nodded, “savagery mixed with his martial arts. It's brutal and effective. We really should stop this sir, 8 are dead and lots more injured.”  Telvanni raised a paw. “No, not yet. Where is he going?”  Daggermane shut off the feed. Zola gave a growl of frustration and said “what are you doing!? I have not finished gathering all ze data about ze fox!”  Telvanni looked like she was about to blow a gasket as well “sir what are you thinking! The experiment isn't over yet!”  Daggermane turned to look at them. “Yes, it is. Southhowl is right too many are dead and injured. This little side experiment can't get in the way of our main goal. Southhowl mobilize your mammals, break this up.” *Jason* Jason was back in the fray working his way towards a small group of the mammals that had planned to kill him when suddenly the walls of the room opened up in several places and wolves in riot gear piled out screaming out commands off “break it up move move!”  They then started firing rubber bullets and taser rounds striking those still fighting and hitting those near them with their shock batons. The brawl quickly ended with their arrival, the last blow being thrown by the male polar bear crushing the male grizzly bear’s skull. Jason saw an opportunity here, it was now or never. Taking off in a sprint he headed straight for the nearest line of wolves and dropped to all fours about halfway there.  The guards quickly noticed his approach and began firing at him but he dodged out of the way with ease moving much too fast. Once he got close enough he leaped into the air targeting the weakest lion in the chain. The wolf guard he launched toward saw him coming and backed up a little breaking the line. His backing up didn't save him though as Jason’s teeth went around his throat and took it out of his body. The force of his impact into the guard sent him to the ground and the second it did Jason did two things, he cut off and took the guard's watch, and he took the guard’s sidearm.  Bringing it up he dropped the three closest guards to him and then rolled backwards through the door shutting it with the watch as he did. He noticed as it shut a little green light flash on the right side so he took an educated guess and shot it hoping it would fry the door. Turning and rising from his crouch came face to face with a guard coming out a door just in front of him to the right wielding an mp5. The guard looked at him in shock and Jason responded by shooting him between the eyes.  The body dropped and Jason ran over quickly, an alarm beginning to sound throughout the facility. Putting the sidearm he had in his front waistband. Next, he grabbed the dead guard's sidearm and but in his back waistband, then he grabbed the guard's pistol magazines and put them in his pockets. Once that was done he took the MP5 off of the wolf and set it to the side and took off their tactical belt. He quickly put it on, adjusted it, put the MP5 mags in it, and then slung the MP5 and took off in a sprint. This took all of 30 seconds. As he ran he tried to see if there was a map on the watch but there wasn't, that or it got taken off. He didn't care to waste more time with it and kept running forward until he hit a dead end. bringing up the watch he checked to see if there was a door, it didn't appear to be so he turned back and took a left, then quickly ducked back as bullets went whizzing by him. There were several guards at the end of the hallway with sidearms, unslinging the MP5 he peaked the corner and with a quick spray took out all three. He then decided he needed to go just a tad slower and kept the gun up as he jogged down the hallway sweeping as he went.  Just as he got to the three corpses he heard a door opened behind him. Turning he saw a large group of guards coming from the supposed dead end he was just at dressed in heavy gear. Letting out a growl he fired one-handed from the hip as he dipped down and ripped off one of the deceased watches. His hip-fire spray dropped a few of the guards with lucky hits and he rose and turned taking a few hits with rubber bullets as he did. Unfortunately for them, they must have forgotten he couldn't feel pain as it didn't even affect him. As he ran he blindly fired behind him dumping the rest of the mag down the hallway, he heard a few cries of pain so he must have injured a few.  Turing the corner he quickly reloaded and kept running take a few blind turns. As he ran the second watch he had snagged lit up to open a door so he hit it and ran through. It quickly turned out to be a mistake as the room turned out to be a barrack filled with guards, some in towels, some partially dressed, some fully dressed, and some fully dressed and geared. The entire room froze to look at him and some slowly were reaching for their weapons. Jason slowly started backing out towards the door and when he saw the first wolf draw he brought the MP5 up and started firing.  By the time it was over Jason was leaving the room in a sprint a bullet in his left shoulder and the MP5 empty. The room inside was littered with wounded, dead, and dying guards Tossing the weapon away he took a right and ran right into three guards in heavy gear wielding shock batons. Jason quickly did a sweeping takedown on the one closest and found a convenient item as the other two tried to shock him. The shocks did not affect so Jason pulled out the guard’s boot knife and turned to his left, grabbing the baton he gave it a yank pulling the guard off balance. Moving in he sliced the inside of the guard's knees bringing them down and then jabbed the knife into their jugular.  Turning to face the guard scrambling to get back up he slid under them gutting them before hopping back onto his feet. Changing his grip of the knife to reverse he ducked under the baton blow from the last remaining guard and moved into their space. He quickly made rapid precise stabs in the guard's legs and abdomen bringing them down, then he went behind the guard and stabbed them in the back and ribs several times. During this time that group of guards from earlier came around the corner and Jason slit the guard's throat before pulling their sidearm and opening fire on the group.  The group was better prepared this time as they had riot shields in the front protecting them from the gunfire. Seeing this Jason wasted no time and retrieved the knife then turned and ran. Taking a couple of turns he came across a couple of guards and brought the gun up and fired one round before it jammed. The one round dropped the first guard and when the gun jammed Jason chucked it at the others face. The wolf guard blocked the throw but it obscured his vision enough for Jason to be on them. Jason stabbed the blade into their right knee and took them down to the ground with a trip simultaneously. Pulling out the knife he began rapidly stabbing them as he moved up their body his last stab being fatal as he drove it into their heart and twisted, the wolf coughing up a stream of blood as they let out a gurgling final breath.  Another guard came around a corner in front of them already shooting at him with rubber bullets but Jason felt nothing as he pulled out the knife and threw it striking the guard right in the throat. By the time he stood he felt the impact of a few taser rounds and tuned to see the same large group again working their way towards him. They were starting to get on his nerves. Doing some quick math in his head he decided they needed to go, he wasn't gonna get anywhere with them chasing him. Pulling the sidearm in his front waistband he fired a bullet into the right wall at an odd angle causing it to ricochet and strike one of the guards in the front of the line in the back of the head killing them.  Jason rushed forward and slammed his body into the dead guard's shields causing them to fall backward instead of forward, causing the guards behind him to stumble. Jason now behind the front line began firing at all limbs in sight knowing they were too geared to die otherwise. As he fired he dodged grabs, punches, kicks, and baton strikes as he fluidly moved through the group taking out kneecaps. Once he got to the back he began backtracking the way he came snagging another watch as he did.  As he ran he checked to see how much ammo he had left and realized he was down to one magazine. Letting out a huff of annoyance he kept going until he saw the watch light up. Hitting the button a door opened leading to another hallway and he ran down it, once he reached the end he ended up in a dead-end. The room was a decent-sized square and looking around Jason got a very bad feeling when the watch didn't light up. “Oh-oh.”

Then simultaneously doors on his left, right, rear, and front opened revealing lines of wolf guards with shields. “Ah fuck.” The lines quickly began closing in on him and he knew the jig was up. There was no way out, he was surrounded, the watches he was snagging were clearly losing access, and it was obvious he was baited into this room. But just because the jig was up doesn't mean the game was over, none of these guards had tranqs, he had a magazine left, and he couldn't feel pain. So if he was going down he was going down swinging. Raising his sidearm he began shooting at odd angels causing rounds to ricochet and strike random guards throughout.  Once the gun was empty he dropped it and went down on all fours and leaped towards a line. Landing towards the top of one of the guard's shields he scrambled over it ignoring hits from several shock batons. Landing on the guard's face he gouged their eyes out before dropping down and punching the nearest wolf guard right in the balls. He then grabbed two knives and began stabbing and slashing in every which direction. He was hit with so many shock batons but he kept going until he was tackled to the ground by a desperate guard. Still struggling he turned and kept stabbing but the wolf held on.  He only stopped when he was hit with five taser rounds, five shock batons, and a double deployment from a taser. His body finally shutting down and convulsing. The wolf that tackled him was pulled off and Jason was flipped onto his stomach and cuffed. Jason was actually starting to blackout because he was still being shocked and before he passed out the last thing he heard was Daggermane roaring “Stop shocking him and get him to the med bay!” Followed by two gunshots.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

*Daggermane and group in the aftermath*

Southhowl was absolutely furious. “Why is that fucking fox still alive!?” He gestured a paw to the fox in a hospital bed currently being tending to by Zola, who was currently removing the bullet from Jason’s shoulder. Zola shushed his outburst and said “silence! Or at least be quieter! I do not wish to nick the artery!” 
 
Southhowl promptly flipped him the bird and said “I hope you fucking nick it! That fox killed so many of my mammals and injured tons more! I told you before he's too dangerous!” 
 
Dr. Telvanni knew there was no calming him down right now, more than anything Southhowl cared about his mammals, and a lot were indeed dead. He'd surely blame her just as much as he blamed Daggermane, and he'd be sure to take it out on her later. Unfortunately for him she very much looked forward to it, so she didn't hold back. “Derek quit being a child. We told you well in advance this was going to happen and some of your mammals would die.” 
 
Southhowl rounded on her. “Yeah, some! Not 20 plus! Not to mention the double amount injured, many seriously! We can't control that fucking fox! Did you see what it took to take him down finally!? He can't feel pain he won't stop!” 
 
Daggermane rolled his eyes. “Southhowl control yourself. This was a calculated risk, and measures will be made to control Jason. Zola will handle that part personally so you know it will be done effectively. As far as your mammals you know they will be taken care of, they will be buried as hero's all and their families well-compensated and taken care of. Any unable to return to duty will be compensated and taken care of as well, and all medical expenses are covered.” 
 
Southhowl pivoted to face Daggermane and growled out “oh don't let me forget about you! You shot and killed two of my mammals you son of a bitch! Not to mention you made them hold back! They could have easily dealt with him but you ordered them to restrain themselves! To keep shooting him with rubber bullets at him even though it was PAINFULLY clear he could have given less of a shit! You told them to take it slow, don't take him to the ground, purposely miss any real shots they took! You basically ordered them to die!” 
 
Zola at this point slammed his tools down and stood. “Southhowl control yourself or your mammals will escort you out on my command! Daggermane was forced to shoot two of your mammals because they wouldn't stop shocking ze fox! Even after he was secured and ze General ordered zem to stop! I'm not even sure of the damage they could have done to ze brain! They are the reason ze fox passed out! He might not even wake up and then you get your wish! Zis fox is imperative to not only my experiments but Dr. Telvanni’s and The Facility’s! You know this! If we were only to take one mammal you know it would be him! We told you that zis was the plan, to let any that attempted to escape think they could make it! To lull them in and then break them!”
 
Southhowl let out a growl of frustration. “But you left out quite a few details regarding that plan! But fine! Fucking fine! I'll let that go! But mark this I will be setting some security conditions you will approve regarding him specifically or me and my mammals are out! Period!” 
 
Daggermane wanted to throttle Southhowl but he had some valid points. He had underestimated Jason and paid for it, and a lot of mammals died as a result. Letting out a sigh Daggermane folded his arms and said “Alright, and they are?” 
 
“One, we are to be issued tranquilizers! To hell with your whole, it's not a pain compliance device! Tasers are not effective against every mammal, clearly! Two the fox is to be escorted everywhere by armed guards fully restrained, cuffs, leg irons, muzzle, everything! I am not risking him jumping any subjects or guards! Three, he can't stay in the dorms with the rest! The other subjects are going to keep coming at him or he's going to go at them! We can't keep constantly bringing in new subjects because he mauls one for looking at him funny! Four he needs to have minimal exposure to the other subjects, limit times he can come out to times when there a the fewest subjects working! I don't know we can make fucking schedule or something! 5 my mammals are to never hold back again! If they had gone full bore this fox wouldn't have made it a fucking quarter of the distance he did!” Southhowl was just shy at foaming at the mouth as he looked at the group furious, breathing heavily. 
 
Daggermane raised his eyebrows. “Anything else?” 
 
Southhowl crossed his arms and growled out. “Probably! I'll send you a fucking list.” 
 
Daggermane let out a a sigh. “Telvanni? Zola?” 
 
Telvanni shrugged. “What he's asking isn't too unreasonable. I was actually going to suggest he be separated as well for a lot of the same reasons, just said a lot more scientifically. As far as where I hate to say it but a barrack did just get freed up not too far from the Commons. It could be repurposed to be his holding cell. Also with the whole minimal subject contact, I'm in agreement as well, the less contact he has with the other subjects the better. A schedule wouldn't be a bad idea overall, In fact, I can't believe I hadn't thought of it.” 
 
Daggermane nodded. “Zola?”
 
Zola went back to working on Jason as he talked, “zes…the room could be rigged with experiments to test him, good data. I have some ideas for ze restraints, advanced shock cuffs, and leg cuffs. Zis is of course if ze fox wakes up at all. Shock eventually took him down, if I figure the exact amount needed I can fashion a device to make him comply. He might not feel ze pain it causes but his body will shut down, he’ll learn quickly.” 
 
Daggermane huffed. “Fine, we’ll begin the arrangements. Make the door an actual cell door so he can be restrained, add audio devices, make the bathroom smaller, give him a cot, add your tests Zola, give him a desk, some tech that will allow him to do some work in his cell, maybe exercise equipment. Those last two things should help limit his exposure to other subjects. That should be efficient enough. Zola work on your ideas, when Jason recovers test the amount of shock it takes to drop him but make sure it's not going to stop his heart or knock him out. Telvanni work on the schedule, make your reports, amend the rules as we discussed. Southhowl I accept the rest of your terms and look forward to reading the rest. Zola keep working on Jason, when he wakes up Telvanni pause what you're doing and see if you can get something out of him. I need him to be less wild animal and more…sociable.” 
 
Southhowl shook his head as he turned to look at the unconscious fox. “Fuck me. Why does it sound like he's being rewarded? Hey, you killed a bunch of guards, here's your own private room with all the fixings!” 
 
Zola began to chuckle at that, and it soon turned into a mad hyena laugh. “Oh ho ho you silly silly wolf! When I'm done with that room he's going to be miserable!”
 
*two weeks later*
 
It took two weeks for Jason to finally wake up, and he wasn't happy when he did. He was back in Zola’s lab on the same table he was on before. It was annoyingly bright and his thinking was very muddied, but he remembered the events of the last time he was conscious. He had fought, he had run, and he had lost. His escape attempt now that he thought back on it did seem too easy, and he was so easily prompted into that area where he made his final stand. It was like they were taking it easy on him, lulling him into….

” son of a bitch.”

Once again he has strolled right into a trap. “

It was a test. It was a fucking test! They wanted to see what I would do! Study me! Gather data! And I basically handed it over on a silver fucking platter! Now they know how I act, how I fight, how I move, everything they could need to put measures in place to control me! I'm so fucked! I just blew any chance I had of ever escaping this place. I should have taken it slow, methodical, precise, instead of just rushing in head first! I did the exact thing I said I wouldn't do!”

Jason wanted to shake his head and smack himself. But there were cameras watching him and he couldn't move an inch even if he wanted to. So instead he bit his lip until it started to bleed, he couldn't feel the pain but knowing he was punishing himself was good enough. The next thing he thought of is his actions before his escape attempt…and he was actually surprised with himself, and a little scared. Was he really a feral mammal? A monster like he once asked if he was when he was just a kit. He sure fought like a monster, he used more claw and fang than fist and his maw had been caked in so much blood…in fact, it still was, it was dry and crusty blood but still blood…and he REALLY needed to brush his teeth.

“Why did I fight like that? I've never once fought like that. Never in my training did I ever even unsheathe my claws, yet here I didn't even hesitate. I gouged out eyes and slit throats like it was nothing…not to mention using my fangs, I tore our throats and took chunks out of mammals like it was nobody's business, why? Was that even necessary?...not to mention some of the mammals I hurt didn't even really deserve it, they were just fighting for survival based on their base instincts. I could have easily just used my martial arts to take care of pretty much everyone outside of the group trying to kill me…yet when it came down to it I resorted to fang and claw…. I really am a monster…a wild animal.”

There was really only one thing he felt good about, saving the female snow leopard Hanna. He had been more than infuriated when he saw those to felines getting ready to rape her, he saw red. He would have taken his time with those two if time had permitted, killed them slowly, brutally. If there was one good thing he could do why he was here, saving her would be it. Something told him there'd be a lot more bad things he would do, but if he could hold onto that one good thing, maybe he'd be okay. But he knew that was a long shot, a very long shot. He was seeing himself as a monster after all. 
 
It was then he was reminded what a true monster looked like as Dr. Anrim Zola walked into the room. “Ah, you're finally awake! Good! You had us worried there for a second! So much electricity coursing through your veins for much too long! I would apologize…but young mammal you can't just go stabbing mammals all Willy nilly! But then again at least you didn't bite them, you went quite savage on your fellow-subjects! A chomp here and a claw rake there, you really are a wild fox! A few of your fellow-subjects are crippled because of you, a few are blinded, ha I even had to do some amputations!” 
 
Jason internally cringed at that. “

Monster.”

Zola chuckled and then continued. “I mean you should see yourself in a mirror! Even now you look like a savage! There's even still flesh in your teeth! Your paws caked in dry blood!...but I digress, I need to check your brain function for any damage, exposed to that much shock for such a long period of time could have damaged it. Any longer exposure your heart might have even cut out! So here's what we are going to do, I'm going to put this device on your head (he picks it up) and it will monitor and measure your brain activity while we watch a little ‘movie’.” 
 
Jason didn't really like the way Zola said movie. “

Just what movie is he going to show me? Probably some of his other experiments, maybe him torturing mammals…this won't be pleasant.”

As it turns out he was right, it wasn't pleasant. But, it wasn't the “movie” Jason thought it was. What the “movie” really was, was footage of the brawl and it specifically focused on his actions within. Slow-motion captures of him tearing out flesh with his fangs, close-ups of him gouging out eyes, Zola even gave a play-by-play of every move he made. But that wasn't even the worse part, the worst part was when the film went to the aftermath, what he didn't see as he kept moving. Their cries of pain, their fear, and panic, their agony. The film even included once the fight was over and they needed to be tended to, both by the guards, and worse…Zola. The film showed him amputating a few mammals feet that couldn't be saved because of the damage Jason caused, and worse still Zola didn't sedate them, Jason wasn't even sure he gave them anything for the pain either. 
 
Jason may be able to keep his face and body like stone, show nothing, and hide everything. But you can't hide brain waves and they were very telling. Zola was practically giddy as he was taking his notes, a big triumphant grin on his face. It was true, Jason was very uncomfortable, horrified really. Seeing what he did and in effect caused was terrifying to him, and he desperately wanted to look away, but he wouldn't give Zola any more satisfaction than he already had. So he wasn't going to look away now and deal with the nightmares later. 
 
The “movie” lasted for another five minutes before it ended and Jason felt mentally drained and Zola knew it. “Well I hope you enjoyed ze film! I can confirm that your brain function is normal! So that's good! Now for the next part of our day, you sir are a naughty fox, and naughty foxes need to be controlled! Especially naughty foxes that don't feel pain! So here's what I'm going to do, I'm going to calculate how much shock it takes for your body to shut down like it did before. I'll do this by shocking you and each time increasing the amount until your body folds, once I learn the amount I'll program it into a shock collar that you will wear. You step out of line and zap! You will be shocked back into line.”

“Ahhh fuck me.”

Zola proceeded to do exactly what he promised. He shocked Jason over and over and over again increasing the voltage each time. It wasn't painful, at least physically…but when Jason thought about what he was actually experiencing, what it should be doing to him, what it would be doing to another mammal….that hurt. The “movie” had already left him mentally drained, but being able to comprehend just what was happening to him was pushing him over the edge. 
 
But he wasn't going to show Zola that. It took about 20 shocks, but Zola finally found the right voltage that made Jason’s body seize up fully and spasm. It may not be painful, but it was incredibly uncomfortable and a feeling Jason was NOT a fan of AT ALL. Zola on the other paw was ecstatic, “Zes! That's exactly what I was looking for! Perfect! I now know the exact voltage to program into the collar, it will take just one moment!” 
 
Zola then scurried over to one of his work stations humming a tune as he began programming the collar. Jason really wished he could break out of these restraints, the idea of a shock collar around his neck was nowhere near appealing. But he wasn't going to get a say in the matter as Zola stood yelling “done! Now to test it!” 
 
Jason didn't want to test it. But his vote really didn't matter as Zola strolled over to him, roughly pulled his head forward, put the collar on him, locked the collar, and then slammed his head back roughly. The collar was very simple in design, it was made of steel encased in polymer so he couldn't break it off. Set in the back of his neck was an electronic lock meaning he wouldn't be able to pick it open, maybe he could hack it open…but then again he had no clue how to hack something. Maybe he could learn? Set on the right side of his neck was the shocking device set in a box, and there was a set of prongs protruding from it poking him in the neck. He could feel them and he was already annoyed by them, and he had a feeling he was going to quickly grow to hate them. 
 
Jason was unsure if he'd be able to tamper with the shock mechanism, but he'd have to wait to get a closer look. Zola gave Jason a wicked grin and said “okay your collar is now on, it is waterproof so you'll be able to shower with it on without fear of being electrocuted to death! Its shock is controlled and sent through our watches, and every guard in this place will be allowed to access it and shock you! Don't worry though, we added guidelines so you're not just randomly shocked for no reason. I am serious about this, really! This device will only be used to get your compliance to our commands, or if you attack anyone, that's it. No one will shock you simply because they want to. Now to test the collar to see if it works properly.” 
 
Zola then promptly hit the button on his watch shocking Jason. It wasn't a pleasant sensation. Again Jason didn't feel the pain but his whole body tensed up and convulsed. He also wanted to jerk his head away from the collar as he could actually feel the electrical arcs hitting his neck and it was a feeling he already HATED. The shock only lasted for five seconds but in Jason’s honest opinion it was five seconds way too long. Once the shock was over Jason’s body sagged and he was breathing slightly harder than normal. That pleased Zola. 
 
“Good! It seems the collar works quite effectively! But just to make sure….” 
 
Zola proceeded to shock Jason a dozen more times before he was finally satisfied. Jason was mentally and physically drained as a result, actually panting a bit as he failed to keep his body rigid against the table. Getting shocked this many times exhausted his body, and he felt like he just wanted to curl into a ball and sleep. Zola was more than pleased at seeing Jason exhausted by the shocks but disappointed that it was the only reaction Jason had. But it would have to do….for now. Zola gave a sinister grin as he said “okay, we are done for today! Guard’s you can secure him and take him to his cell!” 
 
Jason was partially confused when Zola said cell but brushed it off as he focused back on Zola. “

Something tells me there's one more thing.”

Zola turned away, put a paw in his lab coat pocket, and took a half step before freezing. He then turned back towards Jason with a sinister smirk, took out his paw from the coat showing the brass knuckle affixed to his paw, and said “actually, there is ONE more thing.” 
 
Jason internally sighed. “

There it is.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The CellAfter Zola did his ritual beating of Jason with his brass knuckles Jason was promptly muzzled, cuffed, and dragged to his new cell. He was actually dragged because when Jason was released from the table he found he couldn't stand, his body weak and damaged from the shock collar tests and the knuckles. Zola really hadn't held back this time, he rained blows down on Jason’s abdomen and face his face needing to be stitched in a couple of places because Zola got overzealous.  Jason couldn't feel pain but he knew when not to push his body, he hadn't even recovered from the bullet to his left shoulder. Jason didn't even bother trying to memorize the route he was being taken as he was dragged, escape was impossible at this point and this place was like a maze. Besides, Jason just wanted to sleep more than anything, actually, he wanted a shower more than anything, then sleep. In fact, he dozed off a couple of times, but the guards shook him awake, much to his chagrin,  After about five minutes of navigating since they had to drag a semi-conscious fox, they reached Jason's cell. The door was a reinforced steel cell door with slots at the bottom and middle, probably so they could restrain him. The guards went ahead and unshackled his legs, one guard saying as they did “you should recognize this place pelt. This used to be the barrack where you killed a few of my friends, we repurposed it to be your new cell. Since you're too much a wild fucking savage to be with the other subjects, hope you have fun pelt.”  Jason rolled his eyes. “I'd say my condolences but I don't give a flying fuck.”  Unfortunately, the other guard saw his eye roll and promptly hit the shock collar sending Jason to the floor. The two guards had a laugh at Jason’s expense before deciding to just fully un-restrain him, open the cell door, pick him up, and unceremoniously toss him inside before slamming the door shut. Jason's body hit the floor and rolled having him end up on his stomach. Jason let out a groan and decided he'd just stay where he was for a bit….then promptly passed out.  *A few hours later*  Jason came back to the realm of conscience with a groan. His head was ringing, or was that his ears? His vision was blurry, and he knew he'd have to take his movements very very slowly. It took him a good minute just to get his brain booted back up enough to decide he should try and at least sit up. That was a process that took another minute, Jason was starting to think Zola may have given him a concussion.  Once he was finally sitting up he rubbed his eyes halfheartedly before looking around. His vision was still a little blurry but he could make out his surroundings finally. His “cell” was very spacious, the walls were padded, he could easily do some laps if he wanted to, and the ceilings weren't very high. Running along the ceiling were some large and small pipes, Jason had no idea what was inside them but the bigger ones he could use to do some pull-ups, so bonus. Set against the center of the right wall was a simple desk and chair with a large computer on it, which was curious, but he'd investigate it later. On the left side of the room was his own personal gym, nothing fancy, but enough to keep him in shape.  Set against the back left wall was a single fox-sized cot, one blanket, one pillow, and that was it. On the back right side was a door Jason assumed led to the bathroom, he'd probably confirm it later when he felt like moving again. Looking up towards the ceiling he noted there were cameras covering every angle of the room. “Constant monitoring, hooray.”  There was one thing he was noticing about this room though, it was annoyingly bright. Very annoyingly so. There were lights running the entire length of his cell, and not just any lights, LED lights, his arch-nemesis. Jason hated LED lights more than he hated the sun, and he HATED the sun, there was a reason he wore specialized sunglasses after all. Worse still he didn't see any light switches anywhere, which meant his captors probably controlled them, which meant they were probably never going to be turned off. “Fuck I think I'd rather be shocked.”  If Jason was a betting mammal he'd bet that this wasn't even the brightest these lights could go, they probably flashed to. He was out cold for two weeks after all, who knew what experiments they cooked up while they set up his cell. Either way, it was a guessing game until they sprung it, for now, he decided to try standing. He took his time, his body was stiff, weak, and he knew it was pretty banged up. It was very slow with him being so cautious, but after a minute he was up on his feet. Odds are he was being too cautious, but with the inability to feel pain it could be hard to gauge how slow to take it with the damage sustained. Adding the fact that he hadn't truly eaten or drank anything since the night of his escape attempt.  Now on his feet, he took a few cautious steps, wary of his legs giving out. Once he was sure he wouldn't just collapse he began to walk normally and headed to what he hoped was a bathroom. As it turned out, it was, and it wasn't half bad. Toilet and sink was his size, a mirror (he checked to see if it was double-sided, it wasn't), a fur dryer, and the shower was spacious. Laid out on the counter was a basic toiletries kit including the most amazing thing, a toothbrush. Walking up to the mirror he decided to see how he was looking, and he instantly regretted it. He looked like a wild, feral, monster. The dried blood on his maw and paws, the flesh in his teeth the dried blood on his clothes, the fresh blood on his face, his lifeless eyes. It all compounded to a fresh reminder of how he saw himself, “monster.”  He wanted to punch the mirror, he wanted to look away, but instead, he fixed his eyes on his worst fear and stared in the vain attempt that he'd accept what he saw. It didn't work, all he saw was a monster. So he turned the faucet on, turned the shower on, and began to work fervently to wash the monster away.  *Daggermane and group observing Jason in his cell*  Daggermane watched as Jason was unceremoniously tossed in his cell. Tilting his head he looked to Southhowl and said “what was that about?”  Southhowl shrugged as he folded his arms. “Not sure. I'll ask em when I see em…uh he's still not moving.”  Daggermane focused back in on the screen and sure enough, Jason hadn't moved from the spot he landed at. “Southhowl, go question your mammals. Now. Better yet bring them here. Telvanni, what are his readings? Is he faking?”  Southhowl let out a huff and then left the room as Telvanni pulled out a tablet. With just a couple taps she said, “No he's not faking, readings say he's unconscious. Prior readings show he was just shocked before being tossed in, it appears your collar works Zola.”  Zola scratched an ear as he said “zes zes of course it does, I tested it on him thoroughly before seeing him on his way. He probably passed out because of how much he's been shocked. But readings show no damage, so it is fine.”  Daggermane let out a sigh and said “Zola, Jason hasn't even fully recovered from being shot and shocked before! He literally just woke up from a two-week coma! You couldn't have waited to do this!?”  Zola gave him a look, “what? You told me to implement measures to control him, I did.”  Daggermane pinched his nose. “Yes, but I didn't tell you to shock him back into a possible coma either!”  Zola scoffed. “Please General! My experiment was controlled as always, I shocked him to the measure his body could handle. The moment I saw he couldn't take another shock I stopped, I pushed him to his edge, not over it. It was Southhowl’s mammals that did that.”  Daggermane had to take a deep breath to avoid throttling the mad hyena. “Dr. Zola, don't break my star subject.”  Zola snorted. “I won't. Well, not physically at least.”  Telvanni shook her head at the pair. “Boys, you're starting to give me a headache. Zola you know what the General means and General you know what Zola means. Now please, go somewhere. I'll keep monitoring Jason and let you know when he wakes up.”  Both mammals gave her looks but knew better than to argue. So they promptly left the room and roughly five minutes later Southhowl re-entered. “Adrianna, where are the others?” “I sent them away, they were annoying me. What did you learn?”  Southhowl chuckled. “Well, they shocked him because he rolled his eyes when one of them was talking about friends Jason killed in the former barrack. They then unrestrained him outside because he was incapacitated and tossed him in. They're on janitor duty for a week for the back half, simply because the old lion wouldn't care to hear what they did and it technically violated the rules we set in place. Personally, I told them good job.”  Telvanni giggled at that and said “of course you did. Well, I'm simply sitting here waiting for Jason to wake up, so you can go do something else, find Daggermane, or something. This could be a few hours Derek.”  Southhowl responded by roughly wrapping a paw around her throat squeezing. Giving her a hungry grin he said “I can think of a better way to pass the time.”  *two hours later*  Telvanni was in the midst of putting her shirt on wincing a little as she did. She had some new bruises all over her rib cage from Southhowl’s blows, and she absolutely loved it. The rougher it was, the more she enjoyed it, and in turn, the more he did. She wanted him to hurt her more and take his time, but they were on a time crunch, so she had to settle. Besides he was fully satisfied so that was good enough, for now.  As she finished putting on her shirt and Southhowl finished dumping a can of musk mask into the air she noticed Jason finally stirring. She quickly smoothed down her fur and grabbed her notepad as she gestured to Southhowl. “Derek he's waking up go get the others.”  Southhowl came back five minutes later with Daggermane and Zola and they quickly began to stare at the screen. Southhowl commenting “wow he's barely moved.” Daggermane lit up a cigar as he said “why is that? He hasn't even gotten up off the ground yet.”  Telvanni shrugged. “I have a theory, but I need more data.”  Zola hummed, “as do I, I wager it's the same as yours.”  They then saw Jason finally sit up and they got a good look at his face, his beaten, bloody, stitched-up face. Daggermane rounded on Zola and said “what in the high hell did you do to him!? I swear if you're using those brass knuckles again!”  Zola gave him a look that said he didn't care as he answered, “zes, I may have gotten a tad overzealous.”  Telvanni was rare to scold the mad hyena, but in this instance, her tempered tone would get the point across. “Zola, you may well have given him a concussion. You are pushing things too far. You said you wouldn't break the fox, but here you are, breaking him. He needs to be able to function for our experiments and yours, and right now, he can't. He is recovering from a gunshot and excessive shock, now he needs to recover from a concussion as well. It is much too early to be putting him out of commission like this, we told you things that would put subjects out of commission had to wait. We have things that we have to get out of the way first, and any experiment that does that needs express permission. We told you this. Your prejudice for foxes needs to stay in check or you're going to go too far and kill him. As far as your tendency to use your brass knuckles at the end of experiments, you can't do it so badly that subjects need stitches or break bones. Besides you have plenty of toys to play with right now as it is. Do you understand Zola?”  Zola hated to admit she was right, Jason was getting under his skin by being a fox that doesn't cry out. He needed to be better than that if he truly wanted to break the fox and heard him cry out. “Zes, I understand. I will control myself better.”  Telvanni nodded, “good. Because he has a concussion and that can alter his mental responses the cell experiments will have to wait a few days. Lull him into a false sense of confidence and cut the lights off at lights out time. Once the concussion is gone we can start. Is everything agreed and settled?”  Zola and Daggermane looked at each other and nodded, the matter being put to rest for now. They focused back on the screen just in time to see Jason very cautiously stand and began walking. Daggermane took a drag from his cigar then stated “he's moving so cautiously.”  Telvanni was busy scribbling notes so it was Zola that stated his theory. “I do believe it's because he can't accurately gauge how slow he should be taking it. Since he can't feel pain and he's experiencing a new type of damage to his body he doesn't know how he should be feeling. Hence he's being so cautious. Is that your theory as well Doctor?” Telvanni just hummed in response and kept taking her notes.  *Jason, several days later*  Jason was getting very very suspicious. He'd been in his cell for three days and nothing had happened yet, well besides being told the computer had access to the “class” portion of this “program.” That meant he could work on upgrading his degrees and getting new ones, so he'd been doing so over the few days. Meals were delivered to him through the restraint slot, which he was fine with since he didn't have to deal with the other teens here. He was dealing with the bright lights, and surprisingly enough they went out at 10 PM.  Of course, he didn't think that'd last much longer. He was lulled before, he wasn't going to be again. Jason guessed that once he recovered from the concussion the plans they had for him would come to light. Unfortunately, he was fully recovered as of today, so the clock was ticking. Wait…something was ticking. *tick tick tick tick* like an old school clock, but louder, and much more annoyingly. Jason looked up from his work and looked around in confusion, trying to pinpoint where it was coming from. Unfortunately, it sounded like it was coming from everywhere, which meant they planted speakers throughout the cell. “Greatttt.”  Luckily the noise while annoying was one he could mostly ignore, so he turned back to his work. “It's going to take more than that to rattle me.” Over the next hour, that ticking got progressively louder. With every tick, his ears would twitch and it was messing with his ability to focus on his work. The only saving grace was that it wasn't a high-pitched noise, the ticking while at the edge of his comfort level decibel-wise was manageable simply because of that. Unfortunately for him, that ticking suddenly turned into beeping, *beep beep beep* like a timer was going off. It still wasn't a high-pitched noise, but it was much worse than the ticking. There was absolutely no way he could continue working with this noise going.  Standing Jason decided to see if working out would take his focus off the beeping. He'd start with some laps, then move to abs, he'd lay off the arms for now since he was still recovering from being shot. He figured that as he worked out the beeping would increase in volume, but figured he could manage it if he just focused on his exercise. He also had a plan, as he did laps he'd try and figure out where the speakers were. For..you know, reasons. Once again, the noise lasted for an hour gradually increasing in volume. As the volume increased so did the intensity of Jason's workout, and in the end, it actually worked out for him. He was feeling pretty good, his ears while lowered in discomfort weren't plastered to his head and he could keep, working out if he wanted to. Which he planned to, he decided he could at least work on his right arm. Personally, he was proud of himself, his regiment to control his autism really was working.  That pride then promptly went away in the span of five seconds when the beeping turned to a high-pitched siren. Jason's ears immediately plastered to his head in the only manner he could assume was pain to him. This was only at the first level of loudness and Jason was immediately ready to crack. Standing he took the weight he had in his right paw and chucked it into an area where he figured out one of the speakers was. He didn't care if he was shocked, he had to stop the noise at any cost. Even at low decibels high pitched noises hurt him, causing severe discomfort so he avoided them like the plague.  The weight he threw nailed the section of the wall that hid the speaker damaging it, the second weight he threw right after finished it off. He expected to be shocked for that but instead, the volume simply increased drastically sending Jason to his knees as he desperately tried to cover his ears. Of course, that didn't work so he began to crawl for another weight, he was in too much pain to stand. once he got to one he picked it up and once again began to crawl, he couldn't throw the weight at this distance. He stumbled forward trying his hardest not to cave into the sound, he knew if he didn't destroy the speakers the sound wasn't going to stop anytime soon.  As soon as he was in range he chucked the weight at the area hiding the speaker striking it, and same as the last only damaged it. Letting out a growl of frustration Jason forced himself to his feet and stumbled forward and began to violently claw at the wall until he reached the speaker. Once he uncovered it he punched into the speaker and yanked out the wires making the offending device work. That only left 8 speakers, and all ten speakers changed from high pitched siren to a higher-pitched ringing, and at a higher volume, higher than all the other sounds before.  It sent Jason straight down to the ground writhing in pain. It was the purest of agony, it was true pain, and Jason wanted it to stop. He began whimpering as he writhed in pain and tried to cover his ears in an even more vain attempt than before. He wanted to scream, he wanted to cry, but he wouldn't give them that satisfaction. Jason would rather claw his ears out than deal with this noise a second longer, and it'd only been a minute. So that's what Jason started to do, he began to desperately claw at his ears cutting them, blood starting to run down onto his shoulders.  Suddenly, the sound stopped, and Jason stopped clawing at his ears and shakily sat up. Looking at each remaining speaker terrified the sound would return. What he didn't know was that Daggermane was the only reason the noise had stopped. The experiment had been being monitored by the group and the second Jason started harming himself Daggermane pulled the plug. He wasn't going to risk his star candidate clawing their ears off for a little more data for the mad hyena. Zola had been irritated but stated he had enough data, he would have been more upset, but he was in a mild state of euphoria at seeing the fox writhe in pain. Telvanni was the reason Jason hadn't been shocked yet. Southhowl had been about to when Jason threw the first weight, but Telvanni stopped him. “Derek he's been shocked too much already. He's passed already passed out once. His body is too weak right now. You're just gonna have to let him destroy them, and besides the speakers didn't need to remain after we were finished. Also, who cares what he does to his cell? He's the one that has to live in it.”  Daggermane had been in agreement. “If Jason destroys the speakers so be it, we already have a compliance device on him. So there's no need to keep them running, Zola wants to discover Jason’s audio threshold and nothing more. The speakers have no use after that.”  If Jason ever knew, he'd actually thank them before ripping their spines out and beating their corpses with them. But Jason didn't know, all he knew was the noise stopped. His breathing was heavy and ragged, his ears were ringing badly, his body was shaking. As Jason sat there his, fear turned to anger, and his anger turned to rage. It had been 8 years since he has last lost control and had an autistic breakdown, but he had one now. He lost his control and his autism won, weights were thrown, pillows and sheets ripped, his bed was flipped, and the speakers were attacked until they were in pieces.  It took about fifteen minutes for his “tantrum” to subside and in the end, he was on his hands and knees sucking air with ragged breaths panting heavily. I've stayed in that position for a few minutes before he finally went to his knees and looked at the damage, it didn't look too good. There was speaker debris everywhere, weights and equipment strewn about the place, most of the padded walls had claw marks in them, he was now going to be sleeping without a pillow, and his mattress was going to need to be flipped. Overall, the place was a mess so Jason let out a disappointed and annoyed huff over himself and stood to clean the mess.  It took an hour and a half to clean up everything, he had no cleaning equipment and he had done a number on the speakers. He picked up every single piece of the speakers and deposited them by the door, as well as anything else he broke or ripped up. He fixed all of the workout equipment and weights, resituated his cot, flipped the mattress since he put claw marks on one side, and used a ripped sheet to wipe up the blood he'd left everywhere from his ears.  Once he was satisfied he decided to go wash up and look at how bad his ears were. He'd shower than bandage them with pieces of ripped sheets, he assumed they'd be properly bandaged later. Heading into the bathroom he quickly went to the mirror and turned around so he could see his ears. Looking he saw there were three clean claw marks on the back of each ear, they didn't go all the way through and wouldn't need stitches. But, one thing for sure is that when they healed they would scar, and he'd probably have them for the rest of his life. Turning back around he let out a sigh as he grasped the edges of the sink and shook his head in shame. He stayed staring at his reflection for a few minutes before releasing the sink and heading to the shower. It was the next day that the “light show” started in Jason’s cell. It started with the lights staying on the night before and every day for three additional days. It affected Jason’s sleep making him quite irritable, but he didn't have an episode. Then the lights increased in brightness, then they started blinking, then they started strobing, then they started flashing, then they started doing all three. It was then that Jason lost control again. He had put up a good fight this time, but the alternating patterns are what broke him finally.  In the end just over half his cell was caked in darkness as he broke the lights by throwing weights at them. Glass rained down to the floor and his feet were cut up pretty well, but he didn't care, the lights had to go out. The guards came to the door and restrained him at that point taking him to Zola to get bandaged up. Zola looked so happy and actually didn't experiment on him, didn't even speak, he just hummed a tune, bandaged him up, and sent him on his way.  He was returned to his cell he looked around, and he could think only one thing. “Now it's my cell. The cell of a monster.” Half the cell was darkened, and one light around the middle of the room flickered mildly. Claw marks ran all up, down, and across every padded wall. There were bloody paw prints across the floor and some steaks were on the wall as well.  Jason tried to sleep that night, but the light right above his cot was still intact. Turning to the side didn't help either, and his cot had been bolted to the floor when his feet got patched up. So he was limited on options, not to mention he didn't like being watched while he slept. But then he had an idea, grabbing the bed cover he stood and went over to the pipes. He could jump up there and make a hammock of sorts, it would be dark, they wouldn't be able to see him sleep, and he wouldn't have to see the state of his cell. So that's what he did, he jumped up, fastened the hammock making sure it wouldn't come undone, crawled in, and found it super comfortable. He was soon fast asleep in the cell of a monster.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Jason was allowed to begin coming out of his cell two weeks later. His shoulder was fully healed up and his feet are well on the mend so he was informed he could begin scheduling things to do. Of course, on the stipulation that he'd only be allowed to schedule those areas of only a maximum of three subjects were around at the same time. Speaking of the subjects, as he had been cooped up in his cell they had been operating normally as intended. Jason also noted when he looked at the rankings the mammals that had died or been unable to continue because of the brawl had been replaced. 
 
Jason hadn't been too surprised to see that after all their captors had wanted the brawl. They wanted to see how they would react to the circumstances, how quickly they'd resort to their base instinct for survival, and what lengths they would go to survive. Jason bet they reacted just how they expected, why else would they have had more subjects in the back pocket?
 
Jason hadn't met any of the new subjects naturally, having been cooped up in his cell. He hoped it stayed that way, the subjects he had already met were more than enough. You know, since they tried to kill him and all. He highly doubted the new subjects would feel any differently about him at all, so with this new schedule, he made sure to avoid them. Since he was only allowed to be near three mammals he made sure if he was going to be put with others, it wasn't any of the new ones. 
 
 Of course, they could still potentially come out of the dorms or be handing in the commons as Jason was escorted to his chosen location in full restraints. But, he wasn't too worried about that since they wouldn't be able to interact with him at all. He was sure they knew of him, he was on the board, and on top of that, he killed a bunch of subjects and guards, on top of making an escape attempt. So as teenagers do he was probably a large source of gossip within the Facility. 
 
Jason and been very meticulous with the times he picked to come out. If he came out during the day it was at mealtimes so no one would be around but a sparse few. For those mealtimes, he chose to do it an hour or two after general meal time so he'd eat by himself. He'd pick the farthest and darkest corner of the room and take a seat facing the entrances, on the rare occasion a mammal did come in they rarely noticed him. But normally Jason picked to come out at night, just a few hours before lights out. 
 
So far Jason had decided to look at these simulators they had, and they were sure something else. It was like a simulator, meet virtual reality, and then it smoked crack. They were very reminiscent of something in a video game he once played involving assassins, and it worked very very similar. The simulator fully immersed you inside and everything that happened to you in the simulator you felt. Time also worked differently inside, you could be in there for three weeks but in reality, three hours passed. It was the perfect training tool, and when their “caretakers” said the simulators had everything, they weren't kidding. 
 
Currently, Jason was working on getting certified black belts in his seven martial arts. Jason wanted to make sure the other subjects here would NEVER be able to surpass him no matter how hard they tried. If he could make it to the end of the program and head back into the real world that was the best chance he had at making an escape. Another thing he was learning was fighting with Japanese weaponry like the katana. 
 
Whenever he entered the simulator and chose his perspective martial art it would transport him to the country it originated from and give him a traditional master of the art to teach him. He would be there in place of one of their actual students like he was almost living their life. Jason was in a way exploring the world through the simulator, whenever that “day” lessons were over he could opt to skip to the next day or remain. If he remained he could explore the area he was in, meaning he could explore Israel, the Philippines, Brazil, etc. It gave him a sense of freedom. 
 
Whenever he wasn't out of his cell he was at the desk in his cell working on his degrees or working out. All the while he tried to ignore the area around him, the cell of a monster. Then every day, and at random times, Jason would be pulled from his cell and taken to Zola. Zola would then perform experiments, sometimes they were simple like testing his reflexes. Or Zola would do some more, complex experiments, like seeing if his internals felt pain. Either way at the end of each experiment Zola would turn around, put on his brass knuckles, and then turn back around and rain blows down upon him.
 
This had been his schedule for the last two weeks. It was a simple one, and one fit for a wild animal. That was his code name, Wild. Everyone had picked out their own codenames just as the General asked them to…except him. Since he had no care to speak or come up with one himself The Facility gave him one, and when Jason had noticed it one of the guards had told him “you act like a Wild animal so we call you a Wild animal.” 
 
“

At least they didn't name me monster.”

Currently, Jason was in his cell working on his degrees, he had yet to come out of his cell today and it wasn't looking like he was. He hadn't scheduled anything for today the simulators being fully booked and he didn't want to explore the other areas yet. He picked what he wanted to do and he was not stopping until it was completed. The only way he was coming out was when Zola wanted him, and he had never come to get him this late. But, naturally, the universe threw a wrench in that thought process. 
*

bang bang bang bang*

“Wild! It's time to come out! You're needed in the Commons!”  
Jason looked to his cell door and tilted his head, “

needed in the commons? Why?”

Knowing the drill Jason begrudgingly paused what he was doing and stood heading to the door. He stuck his paws through the slot so they could be cuffed, once they were he turned around and took a knee so they could muzzle him. Once the muzzle was on he stood and took three steps forward so they could open the door and enter. Next, they entered the cell and put a waist chain on him before putting on leg restraints. Now fully restrained he turned around with a huff and shuffled out of his cell heading for the Commons. 
 
Once he reached the door leading to The Commons he was surprised when it didn't open. Instead, the guards came up beside him and undid the leg restraints, one of them saying “you better be on your best behavior you Wild creature or I will shock you until you're brain dead.” 
 
Jason would have growled in response but he knew growling and snarling wasn't allowed. If he did he'd be shocked, and it took him a week to learn that lesson fully. Once the leg restraints were off the door opened and he was promptly and roughly shoved through it before it slammed shut again. Catching himself before he landed on his face Jason straightened up and looked around, he didn't like what he saw. 199 pairs of eyeballs on him, everyone had been gathered in The Commons and the whispers quickly started regarding him. 
 
Jason quickly dismissed them and fixed his eyes on the control tower, waiting for his captor to show his annoying smirk. Sure enough there he was exiting the tower and smoking a cigar, the same self-satisfied smirk on his face as always. Daggermane leaned on the railing and addressed the group, “Ah, now all of you are here! I am sorry Wild, but I won't be taking your restraints off past your leg chains. It's for the safety of your fellow-subjects. I'm sure you understand. I am sorry for pulling all of you together here, I know most of you were busy! But, now that Wild has fully recovered from his failed escape attempt and that brawl he was at the epicenter of, we can reward the top ten as I promised we would! If you direct your attention to the front of you you’ll see tables littered with prizes! Music instruments, electronics, books, sex items for those so inclined, and more! Those in the top ten will be allowed to pick items as rewards! Those in the top five will be allowed to pick four items, and the others will only get to pick two! Wild, you're in first place so you get to pick your first prize! Come forward and make your selection.” 
 
Jason let out a huff at hearing all of this. “

This is ridiculous.”

But he knew he had to pick, so he began walking forward and everyone split down the middle like the Red Sea. Everyone quickly got out of his way and backed up so they were at least six feet away the whispers picking back up as he passed. Jason kept his gaze forward as he passed everyone until suddenly he felt someone grab his right arm. Jason let out a snarl of surprise as he turned his head to look at the mammal in his personal space and show them how it was a mistake. The whole room collectively holding their breath….until he saw who it was, and his snarl turned into a growl that slowly died down into a rumble, his hackles lowering. 
 
The mammal who had grabbed his arm and stopped him was Hanna Snowpaw. Hanna had wanted to thank Jason since the night he saved her, but she never got the chance, until now. Hanna knew she was taking a big risk by grabbing him and stopping him, and she was surprised when he after his initial surprise went away he calmed down. He didn't even attack her or make her let him go, he just….looked at her, only a small rumble leaving his mouth, but even that died down. He just looked into her eyes, his head unconsciously tilting ever so slightly. 
 
Hanna swallowed once and then said, “thank you. For what you did that night. Saving me. You didn't have to, but you did it anyway. I will always remember that. Always.”
 
Jason, for probably the first time in his entire life, was actually feeling bashful. He found he couldn't look into her beautiful eyes anymore and averted his gaze. He gave her a small nod of recognition and sidestepped to the left causing her paw to fall off his arm. He then began walking forward again with a mirage of thoughts swimming in his head. Thoughts he didn't know how to properly process or express. 
 
Once he finally reached the tables Jason looked up and down them, only one thing caught his eye. It was a set of five journals wrapped in cork leather, just like the ones he used to write in. The temptation of them was just too great, so he pointed to them since he wouldn't be able to pick them up while shackled. He knew it was a risk picking the journals, to start writing in them even while he here, but it was a risk he was willing to take. The guards noted his selection and grabbed them and he turned and walked to the side the others carving out a bubble for him to stand in. 
 
Daggermane was very intrigued by the interaction between Jason and Hanna, that was the first time he had let someone break his two-foot bubble he formed. He would have to consult Telvanni about what he witnessed, there could be opportunities there. What Daggermane wasn't surprised about was when Jason picked the journals, Telvanni had predicted that perfectly. “Alright, the first selection has been made, next up is Alpha! Make your pick!”
 
Alpha was none other than Chad Howler, and Chad and his group had made a decision. They wanted to make Jason’s little journal useless. So he picked the pens, Brad picked the pencils, Sergei picked the inkpot, and so forth. Once all of the writing utensils were off the table the rest picked items they wanted. Then it landed back on Jason again, and he wouldn't lie, he was a little annoyed. But, he was also very smart. So his next pick was a ridiculous hat with a turkey feather on it, he wasn't going to keep the hat, but he was going to keep the feather, there was his quill. Then his next pick was a cup, there was his inkpot. His last pick was something the rest had missed, a pot of red ink. Now he could write in the journals. “

Fools.”

With everyone having picked their rewards Jason was taken back to his cell, his items being set at the door. He was unshackled and left to his own devices, so he retrieved his items and set them up. Once that was done he took a seat and opened up the first journal and wrote in it well into the morning summarizing everything he'd experienced so far. 
 
Jason was woken up the following morning by the guards. “Get up you and leave your nest you Wild Savage! You're needed!” 
 
Jason stirred from his makeshift hammock and let out a huff of annoyance. He rolled out landing on his fore and hind paws and chose to stay that way as he trotted to the bathroom. A guard calling out “you got ten minutes to get ready!” 
 
Jason was ready in five and exited the bathroom. He followed the normal procedure to be restrained and was escorted out of his cell. But instead of being taken the direction of Zola’s lab or The Commons, he was taken a new one. Jason was intrigued, and intrigue turned to dread when he finally reached their destination. He was unshackled and pushed through a door, and on the other side were the subjects from the brawl that was too injured to continue, all of them. They were all restrained and it looked like Zola had been playing with them ever since that night, them being in various stages of signs of experimentations.
 
Those that could still see saw him and immediately panicked. “No! No! Not you!”
 
“Why!? Why did they bring the monster here!?” 
 
“We’re dead! This how we die!” 
 
This in turn caused the ones that couldn't see to panic as well. “Where is he!? Where is he!?”
 
“Stay away you fucking savage!” 
 
Jason didn't know what was going on, but it wasn't good. Then a fellow monster let their voice be heard over a speaker, Zola. “Oh good! You are here! You see, I enjoyed playing with these new toys you so graciously gave me….but now they're old! They've outlived their usefulness, so they need to go! Go to greener pastures and all that! So….kill them. I provided a katana on your right to assist you in dispatching them! Or you could just your teeth and claws since you seem to enjoy using them! Your choice!” 
 
Jason was horrified, and looking to his right he did indeed see a katana. These mammals were innocent and defenseless, they couldn't even defend themselves if they wanted to….and he was supposed to kill them. That didn't sit right with him at all, the innocent and defenseless were supposed to be protected, and the guilty slain. He couldn't do it, he wouldn't, what did they deserve to be slain? 
 
Most of the subjects were crying, begging, and pleading for Jason not to do it, and Jason crossed arms and looked at the cameras, and shook his head. He wasn't going to do it, so he leaned against the nearest wall. One of the subjects saw this and yelled out “oh my gods! He's not going to do it!” That statement resulted in a collective sigh of relief from the rest. But, their joy was short-lived as Zola’s response to Jason's no was to shock him sending him to the floor. 
 
Jason once the shock was over stood up and resumed his previous position, and he was shocked right back down. But once again he stood back up and leaned back against the wall. He was shocked eight more times before he realized he had no choice in the matter. They were controlling him, they had him in the palm of their paw, and there was nothing he could do to change that. As long as they had this collar on him they had a leash on his neck with a very short chain. They controlled the strings. Besides, they wanted these fellow-subjects dead, so they were dead either way. 
 
So Jason slowly got up from the most recent shock and reached for the katana. The hope that had built in the subjects dissipated in an instant as Jason took a hold of the katana and began walking towards them. “No! no! Noooo!” 
 
Jason wished he knew how to show them he was sorry. But he didn't know how, the best he could do is make their deaths quick and painless. So that's what he did, with quick and precise stabs and cuts he killed them all. Even when he was done he could still hear their screams, their begging, their pleading. Once he was done Jason dropped the blood-soaked katana in the center of a room full of corpses and headed for the door, trying his hardest to maintain his composure and ignore the cackling of a mad hyena. But….at least the cackling dulled down the screams.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Jason was pretty sure he was going insane….That is if he wasn't already. He was seeing things, hearing things, he barely slept because of nightmares, his cell was now in worse shape than before due to mental breakdowns. Not to mention the constant experiments by Zola, The only thing that was keeping his sanity intact was his journal, where he could clear his head and write down his thoughts and make sense of things.  
Three months had passed since Zola had him slay the leftovers from the brawl and since then he'd been spiraling. He adhered to his schedule still, and avoided everyone but the vixen who wouldn't leave him alone and Hanna whose presence he actually seemed to tolerate….but he was slowly losing it, days were blurring together, the breakdowns getting more frequent, and he was hardly eating anymore. Suffice to say he was on the fast track to full-fledged insanity. 
 
His caretakers of course took notice, and they wanted it fixed before he cracked. “Look something needs to be done! I will not lose my best candidate!” Roared Daggermane. 
 
Zola shook his head. “You said you wanted to break them and reshape them to your wants. This is breaking him. You're getting what you want General.” 
 
Daggermane slammed a fist on his desk. “There's a difference between breaking a mammal and driving them completely insane!” 
 
Southhowl let out a snort. “I told you months ago he was unstable! Hell, I told you he was unstable the first day he came here! Now you're caring? It's probably too late for the pelt!” 
 
Dr. Telvanni of course had to be the voice of reason. “Boys, please. Could you ever stop bickering!? We’re here because of MY assessments on Wild’s mental state and I'm the brain expert remember!? That means we’ll go off my recommendations and you three can fuck off about it! He's close to the edge but I can bring him back, and manipulate him to our wants. Therapists' bread and butter is made by being the sympathetic shoulder after all. So starting today I want him brought to my office for therapy sessions, you've held them back long enough. I need to work with him to mold him to our desires and needs while salvaging his mental state. He's a husk right now ripe for shaping, but he's also on the verge of insanity. My provisions on the matter of my sessions will still stand as well.”
 
Daggermane lit a cigar. “Telvanni are you sure you want those provisions to remain in place for him? No guards, no cameras, no listening devices? I'm less concerned about what we could learn as you'll tell us the important things, and more concerned about your safety.” 
 
Zola had to agree. “I'm inclined to side with ze general. Wild is unpredictable, and now he is unstable. Plus you were there when we acquired him, I doubt he's forgotten that.” 
 
Southhowl was with the others. “Adrianna they're right, It's unsafe to have him unrestrained and in an enclosed space with you, unguarded. He'll definitely kill you.” 
 
Telvanni huffed. “Looks like you three are finally in agreement for at least one thing. Look if it makes you happy put a retractable divider in my office that way he can't get to me. But he will be unrestrained, his collar will come off, and I will have no guards or surveillance items in my office. He needs to trust me and he'll never do that if he's got any of that on him.” 
 
Daggermane had to concede, she was the psych expert. “Fine. But how will you get him to put the collar back on?” 
 
She smiled at that question. “Trust me, I know enough to manipulate him into putting the collar back on himself.” 
 
*Session one* 
 
Jason was snatched from his cell unexpectedly in the middle of the day. They'd just barged in and restrained him, he had no will to resist, the collar took all of that out of him. Once he was restrained they dragged him to another new section of the Facility and as they reached the door the more Jason started to tug back and resist. The last time he had been taken to a new area he was forced to kill innocent and defenseless mammals. The idea of having to do it again didn't appeal to him. 
 
After a few moments of struggle, one of the guards growled out “for Luna’s sake! This is Dr. Telvanni’s office, not some torture chamber! Now stop fuckin squirming and get in there or I'll shock ya and toss you in!” 
 
Hearing that this was the therapist's office Jason quit resisting, curious as to why he was being brought here. Once they were inside he looked around, the room was split in half by a glass divider but otherwise looked like a typical therapist's office. He was too busy taking in the sights he failed to realize he was being unrestrained, he took notice once he felt a firm paw on his collar. Once his attention was gained at this new development the guard that spoke before spoke again. “Let me be very clear here Wild. I'm taking this off on the doctor's orders, and only because of her orders. She's the only one that can help you here, and she ain't gonna if the second this comes off you try and escape. So when it clicks off, you take it off and put it on the table there, and then you sit your ass on that couch and wait for her to arrive. Clear?” 
 
A blank stare was all he received in response. “Good enough.”
 
The two guards left the room and the second the door closed there was a pop and a hiss as he felt the collar loosen. This was the first time it had come off since he'd awoken with it all those months ago. Taking it off he did exactly what he was told and took it off, placing it on the table next to the couch before taking a seat. He had no will to try and escape, he knew it would be a futile and wasted effort. The fight in him was utterly gone. 
 
It took a few minutes, but Dr. Telvanni made her entrance. Seeing her made his eyes narrow and a growl enter his throat, he still remembered the part she played in his capture. Telvanni for her part looked him up and down before taking a seat in her chair, crossing her legs, and pulling out a notebook and pen. She wrote down a few notes before saying, “I see you remember me Jason. I am sorry for my involvement, but I assure you I wouldn't have unless I thought it…this absolutely necessary. The things this program will accomplish will revolutionize and make this country great once more. The method to achieve that is a small price to pay. Though…I don't agree with what we allow Zola to do…the things he gets away with…he's unstable…and I know he targets you the most. I also know his experiments are affecting you negatively, especially the one he did three months ago. Throughout this program I am tasked with watching all of the subject's mental health, making sure you all stay stable. They prevented me from having sessions with you until now, besides my protests. Because of that, I know you're…unstable. So I'll be having weekly sessions with you to help you work through this, and despite what you think I actually want to help you.”
 
She could tell Jason was intrigued, as the growl died and he gave her a measured look. So she continued to help gain his trust if only a little. “I know you doubt me, but look around. There are no listening devices, no cameras, no guards. I'm recording nothing, and most of what we speak on won't leave this room. I'll only be giving basic reports to the General like your mood and how your mental health is and I won't tell Zola ANYTHING. If the general wishes to tell Zola something that is up to him, but I won't. I know you probably don't believe me, and that's fine, but trust me when I say I can make your stay here easier. In fact, I already have. I ordered Zola to decrease the number of experiments he does to you, there are plenty of others he can use and the constant experiments are being mentally taxing on you. I can't order him to stop outright and I can't order him to change his sick behavior, but he’ll be pulling you a lot less than before.”
 
Even after hearing that Jason was still entirely unreadable to her, and those lifeless eyes were just as unnerving as the first time she'd looked into them. She decided to distract herself by smoking a cigarette, and as she lit one she noticed Jason’s curiosity after she let out a sigh of relief after her first drag. It was subtle, just the most minuscule tilt of the head but she saw it, and that was an opportunity. “Do you want one? They're great stress relievers for me, help me unwind. All you got to do to earn one, is speak. Say anything at all to me and I'll give you one. One big thing I need to help you with is to get you speaking again…come on I know you're not mute.” 
 
Jason contemplated the situation he was in. “

Here in front of me is a therapist, but one working with my ‘caretakers’. I shouldn't trust a word she's saying but yet… there are no guards, no cameras, and I can assume no audio devices. She ordered me to be unrestrained…including that collar, and the only thing protecting her is this glass divider. I know I shouldn't trust her…but I don't think I have a choice. I'm going utterly insane, and she's the ONLY mammal that can help me not lose my mind. I just need to play it safe, get her to help me specifically with the problems I need help with. The voices, the hallucinations, the breakdowns…that's it….and on a side note, she seems to really be enjoying that cigarette…and if that can help me relax….”

For the first time since his mom died, Jason spoke. “Fuck you.” 
 
His voice sounded like pure gravel being ground and he went straight into a coughing fit afterward, his vocal cords protesting their sudden use. Telvanni for her part chuckled, of course, the first thing he'd say was an obscene remark. “Well I say you've earned your prize, but first there's some water behind you.”
 
When Jason turned to grab the bottle of water Telvanni hit a switch and the glass divider lifted just a little. Pulling out a cigarette she grabbed a match and slid both under to Jason’s side before lowering the divider again. She wasn't going to be taking any chances with him at all. 
  
*session three*
 
“Okay now say Sally sells seashells by the seashore.” 
 
It was now the third therapy session and Telvanni was working on Jason's speech, she had been ever since the first session. Jason who had a cigarette in paw, took a drag of it and responded “seriously? It's not like I don't know how to fuckin talk. I just choose not to. I ain't saying the damn rhyme and you can kiss my ass if you don't like it doctor. I speak fine.” 
 
Dr. Telvanni had to resist shaking her head at Jason. He still spoke in his neutral and blunt tone and he cursed way too much, but he was speaking. “Fine, then don't say it. Instead tell me why you choose not to speak outside of this room, to anyone.” 
 
Jason gave her a look and replied, “why? Because in here is the only place not bugged. Because I have nothing to say to any of the mammals outside that door. Because I am fuckin REQUIRED to speak in this room because you’re the only one who can actually fuckin help me. Speaking isn't something that is worth my time. I find it ridiculous and tedious, to be honest with no real value. Maybe if I was in the real world I'd bother talking but in this place? Fuck that and fuck you. I'm done for today.” Jason then stood flicking the half-smoked cigarette in his paw onto the floor before putting his collar back on and banging on the door twice.
 
They had yet to have a full session, the longest they've gone being halfway through. Jason’s patience would seemingly run out and he'd say he was done and exit. The most surprising thing about these sessions was that Telvanni hadn't even had to convince Jason to put the collar back on. After he ended the first session he had stood up and put the collar back on himself with no prompt, he'd caught her surprised look and said “this…thing isn't worth the hassle. It'd be a waste of energy to refuse to put it back on.” 
  
*session eight*
 
Jason was once again smoking a cigarette given by Dr. Telvanni. It had quickly become a sort of reward system for Jason and Dr. Telvanni could tell he was getting addicted to the temporary relief they offered. It was a point Telvanni would have brought up had she not been content with him building a dependence on them so he could be better manipulated, for now. They had still yet to have a full session, Jason was a very testy and short-tempered animal, but that wasn't surprising given the circumstances. 
 
“So, Jason. We've been working on your conversation skills the last 7 sessions, and I can say you're getting more used to talking normally. So I think it's time now to get to the bread and butter of things so to speak. Your mental health, so tell me, what are you experiencing?” 
 
“Nightmares and hallucinations both visual and auditory. The trifecta of a fuckin crazy mammal.” 
 
Telvanni scribbled some notes, “so..have you ever had any of these before?” 
 
Jason took a long drag all the way to the butt before flicking it at the glass divider. “No, and you fuckin know that I had to have a good mental bill to be selected. Please, don't be a dumbass and ask me dumbass questions. Nightmares revolve around that fuckin psycho hyena’s experiments on me, seeing myself in the mirror after the brawl and killing the innocents, and that night he made me….slaughter all those innocent mammals. Auditory and visual hallucinations all revolve around killing them, and seeing the aftermath of the brawl.” 
 
Talking and expressing his thoughts awarded him a cigarette, and he smoked it fully before he signaled for her to continue.
 
“Okay, so what’s the most recurring nightmare regarding Dr. Zola?” 
 
Jason let out a sigh. “The day he dissected me…while I was still fuckin awake. Everything else is a cakewalk to that.” 
 
Another cigarette, another wait. A wave to continue.
 
“Okay, now what do you mean by what you saw in the mirror? Elaborate.” 
 
Jason let out a sigh as he leaned forward. “I mean what I looked like after the brawl, maw, and paws coated in blood, flesh still in my teeth, my lifeless and remorseless eyes boring into my very soul. I saw what I really am, a monster. Now if I had been cleaned while I was in that coma it might have saved some of my sanity, but noo y'all just made sure I was still breathing. I'm surprised I didn't get fuckin sick from contamination.”
 
She was going to need more cigarettes. She was expecting him to shut down at any point but so far he was sharing a lot. As he smoked she wrote her notes and asked her next question once he was ready.
 
“So we’ll come back to you seeing yourself as a monster. But first, what do you see and hear when you have these hallucinations.” 
 
“What I hear, screaming, voices calling me a monster, a demon, a savage, a wild animal, I hear begging and pleading for me to stop and to show mercy….so much screaming, of agony, of fear. Visually I see myself as the monster I am, coated in blood with savage eyes and smiling. I also see the innocents I killed, just watching me, judging me, blaming me, pitying me…I don't know which ones worse.”
 
Dr. Telvanni nodded once as she jotted down her notes. “Well, unfortunately, that will be something for our next session, as we for the first time have hit the hour mark. I can safely say given everything you've told me, say that you have P.T.S.D. for sure. I can also say you've developed a minor degree of psychosis. With that in mind, I want to prescribe two different medications. Seroquel, which is an antidepressant that will combat your hallucinations and should overall help. The second is Lithium, this is a mood stabilizer, you have been having more and more mental breakdowns and your mood seems to flip. It should help. So please, take them.” 
 
With that Telvanni stood and retrieved the medications, then lifted the divider slightly to give it to him. Jason took the medication, shoved it in his pockets, put on his collar, and then left.
 
*session nine*

“So I think it's time we broach this, you say you see yourself as a monster. Why?”
 
Jason leaned forward in his chair and said, “because I am. Look at me, how could I not be? I am cold, I am antisocial, I am violent, I can't express emotions, I can't feel pain, I do not hesitate to kill and I kill brutally even when I don't have to. I use tooth and claw to maul, render, and tear flesh when I don't have to. I even liked it at the moment, feeling primal, feeling powerful. I also didn't hesitate to maim mammals that were not openly trying to kill me when I could have just as easily knocked them out or even broken a bone. I went in that moment, and every moment before killing I went in there with a clear thought process. Before I kill I feel indifferent, I don't care, and I don't see a problem. What else could I be other than a monster?” 
 
Dr. Telvanni shook her head. “The fact that you recognize how wrong your thought process is, show remorse for your actions, and are disgusted with yourself after the fact tells me you're not a monster. If you didn't feel this regret and disgust you would be a monster. There's a part of your mind that is simply broken, but every break can be repaired. That's why I am here, I am here to help you work through this so you don't feel like a monster anymore.” 
  
*session twelve* 
 
“So Jason, you've been taking your medication. How's it been working?” 
 
Jason shrugged. “Fewer hallucinations, fewer outbursts, better sleep. But I don't want to take these meds. I want these problems to go away naturally.” 
 
“Well, the only way that's going to happen is by talking to me. So let's talk. First I want to talk about Zola's experiments. You think he does them simply to torture you for his own pleasure.”
 
Jason’s eyebrows raised just slightly and replied, “fuckin duh. You know for a renowned therapist, you say some pretty stupid shit.” 
 
Telvanni chuckled at that. “Okay, perhaps I deserved that one. Anyways you think it is simply torture, I'm near to tell you it's not.”
 
Jason scoffed at that. “I refer to my last statement.” 
 
Telvanni shook her head at that. “

This is going to take a while.”

*session twenty-two*
 
It had been ten full-hour sessions of Dr. Telvanni trying to convince Jason that the experiments Dr. Zola was conducting on him were not simply for the torture aspect. She'd already admitted that most of what Zola did, especially to Jason was for Zola’s enjoyment due to his absolute hatred of foxes. But she had been having to break down every single experiment Zola had conducted so far and what he was testing. She felt like she was just finally making ground on the issue. 
 
Jason let out a curling plume of smoke from his nose as he said. “So you're telling me that him DISSECTING me was a benefit to medical research? Specifically for foxes and improving our immune systems?” 
 
Telvanni nodded. “Yes, while he was dissecting you he ran a multitude of tests on introducing cultures directly to your body, and specific organs. In doing so he discovered that one of the cultures had a positive reaction to your body. Running further tests on that culture proved beneficial to your immune system. You know how that watch on your wrist tracks everything right, well shortly after your dissection we noticed your body take on a cold. That cold was due to the temperature experiment that we ran on you in your room. Normally colds for foxes are worst than colds for a lot of other species, they last longer, symptoms are more severe, and have a higher chance to develop into something much worse. However, after being exposed to that culture your cold lasted only three days with minor symptoms. That culture has since been sent to Todd Industries for further medical research.” 
 
She noted Jason’s sneer at the mention of Todd Industries and commented. “Oh, touchy I see. Family drama?” 
 
Jason finished off the cigarette he had and stood. “A story for another time. Times up.” 
 
*session 38*
 
It had taken two more sessions for Jason to begin to think there was some benefit to Zola’s experiments. Now she had to tackle the main thing that was causing Jason the most problems, killing all of those innocent mammals. “Okay Jason, I think it's time we address that night Zola made you kill all those innocent mammals.”
 
Jason immediately smoked the entire cigarette he had just lit and stamped out the ashes before speaking. “Fucking fantastic, can't wait to see how you spin this one.”
 
Dr. Telvanni shook her head as she shifted in her chair. “There's no spin, I'm just going to state a simple fact you don't seem to realize.” 
 
Jason scoffed at that as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “Oh and just what fact is that?” 
 
“You killing all those mammals in the manner you did, was a mercy.” 
 
Jason stood at that and walked forward until his snout was almost touching the glass. “MERCY!? Having me kill them was mercy!? They didn't deserve to die! They didn't need to!” 
 
Dr. Telvanni was not fazed by Jason’s aggressive demeanor and simply crossed her legs as she replied, “yes, it was a mercy. If you hadn't killed them they wouldn't have continued living. Instead, Zola would have kept experimenting on them until they died. It would have been almost nonstop torture until their bodies finally just gave up. Instead, you killed them quickly and basically painlessly. Yes, they experienced fear, but again only a fraction of what it could be. At that point, you were the best thing that could have happened to them. There was no scenario in which they would have remained alive, none. All they got handed to them is how they died, quickly or slowly.” 
 
Jason threw up his paws and exclaimed, “fine, then why did I have to be the one to do it!? Why me!? I already caused them to be in that situation! That was already fucking with my head! Why make me do it!?”
 
Dr. Telvanni shook her head. “Because like all things it was an experiment. Several actually. The main one however was to see how you would handle killing innocents to see if you would be alright with it when this program is over. Since you're sitting here in front of me, the answer is obviously no.” 
 
Jason crossed his arms. “Yeah, it's a pretty big fucking no.” 
 
*session 138*
 
It took a hundred more sessions, but Jason was starting to feel more himself. He had stopped taking his meds about 15 sessions ago and so far he'd suffered no more hallucinations. He still had nightmares regularly, that is until Telvanni gave him sleeping meds which helped. It'd also been about eight months since his last tantrum, a mixture of therapy, meds, and creating a new ritual similar to the one he had back when his mother was alive regarding his condition. He still saw himself as a monster of course, that hadn't gone away in the slightest. 
 
Sure he'd come to grips with the fact that killing those innocents was mercy. But he still couldn't come to grips that they were put in that situation because of him. He still of course couldn't come to grips with his actions during the brawl either with his use of teeth and claws unnecessarily, nor could he contemplate the ease in which he planned and was okay with murdering mammals. He was beginning to suspect perhaps he was a sociopath, but Telvanni said he didn't line up with the symptoms. 
 
Either way, Jason had a clearer mind again. Days no longer blurred together, he had a sound thought process, he was no longer going off of base instincts, and he felt more like himself again. He was also starting to go numb to the things that initially bothered him, Zola’s experiments, even his psychological ones, no longer fazed him nearly as much as he'd grown used to them. It'd been two years since he was brought to the facility, roughly. So baring having to watch others get tortured and experimented on he wasn't being affected much. As such Zola now pulled him once a week for experimentation, a combination of doctor's orders and his frustrations of not breaking Jason. Zola’s sole focus in recent tests had been trying to reverse Jason's inability to feel pain, which Jason found utterly hilarious. Zola might just crack before he did….well Jason was already cracked, he was just learning to be okay with it.
 
With this clearer mind, Jason was now aware of three things. One, he was severely depressed in combination with his condition and situation. Two, he was very addicted to cigarettes and was completely fine with it, suicide the slow route he joked to himself. Three, he hated himself. Jason “Wild” Wilde Todd utterly and completely hated himself right down to his very core, how he acts, talks, his mental state, his thought process, his mannerisms, everything. He even hated how he looked in the mirror, lifeless and that of a stranger as he looked exactly like the father he never knew. So that's why he was once again in Dr. Telvanni’s office, smoking a cigarette. After making several smoke rings of various sizes he gestured to the doc. “So, what's the topic for today. More pointless nonsense about my mental health?” 
 
Ever since the fog had been lifted from Jason's mind he'd lost interest in these therapy sessions. He wanted the hallucinations gone, and now they were. His mental health wasn't going to change anytime soon, and straight-up suicide was not something he'd even consider doing, so why was still being brought here? He was content to shove the bullshit in a box and try and ignore it, for now, no need to keep stoking the fire. Now was the time to meticulously plan his next moves, the program only had a year or two left and then he'd be out in the real world with more ability to tear this whole place down.
 
Dr. Telvanni simply shook her head. “No, not today. Today I'm going to try and convince you of our mission.” 
 
Jason's eyebrows rose at that as he sat back in his chair. “Oh, this should be good.” 
 
*session 153*
 
15 sessions, 15 attempts to convince Jason that the mission they were going to be doing was important. Jason let out a dragon’s curl of smoke as he leaned forward, “so let me get this straight. In the scope of killing enemies domestic, it won't be done for political gain?” 
 
Dr. Telvanni had to suppress rolling her eyes. He asked the same questions over and over again and it was getting on her nerves. “No, General Daggermane has no political ties, nor interests. He actually despises, like actually despises politicians. His only focus is making this country great by eliminating the enemies from within, dangerous gangs, organizations that the government refuses to label as domestic terrorist organizations, radical splinter cells on both sides. Some politicians even again on both sides with views that will harm the country.” 
 
Jason grinned at that part. “And just what political views does he consider to be harmful to this country?” 
 
“Socialists and communists on one side, nature's way and the prey supremacy party on the other side. Both sides present real problems to our country if they were ever to gain solid footing.” 
 
Jason leaned back in his seat as he gestured with a paw. “Convince me why these views are harmful.” 
 
Dr. Telvanni sighed and lit a cigarette of her own.
 
*session 162* 
 
Dr. Telvanni just finished a long spiel trying to convince Jason that Daggermane's views were the right ones. In truth Jason was only half-listening, he could honestly care less about what she was talking about. He had to admit, the political parties were bad, but targeted assassinations by a hit squad wouldn't solve the problem but rather radicalize them. He disagreed with pretty much everything this mission was looking to achieve, the only thing he agreed on was the killing of gangs, criminals in general. They were the ones who deserved to die, the harmers of the innocent, the cruel, the remorseless, the mammals like Zola, like Telvanni, like Southhowl, like Daggermane, like Chad and his whole gang, the mammals like him. They deserved to die, all of them. 
 
So that's what he was going to do. He didn't know how yet, but he longer planned to escape, instead he was going to burn this whole place down with him inside it. He was insane, depressed, hated himself, and was a monster but he had a clear head now. Here sitting in front of him was a monster just like him. She acted as she cared, but the hate she had for him was showing through more and more each day now. Ever since therapy went out the window and she was trying to manipulate him to do what they wanted he could see the mask slipping from her face. 
 
It was fine though, really. It helped him see the monster more clearly, and this monster was a crafty one. She was intelligent and manipulative with an almost admirable degree of cunning and guile. She'd been manipulating him from the start, and he only just recently figured it out. He had a slow start sure, but he caught up, and now it was time to turn the tides. “

I can play the game too doctor. Manipulation works both ways.”

*Sessions 173*

Ever since Jason decided he was going burn it all down he was observing Dr. Telvanni and he finally felt he had something. He knew she and Southhowl were an item, she smelled like him a lot, and their interactions when they first acquired him told him they were. Whether it was an actual relationship or they were just fuck buddies he didn't know or care. He didn't care because it was a side detail to the more important one, Dr. Telvanni had a pain fetish. He deduced this by the fact that often whenever Telvanni shifted she winced and she'd get this light in her eyes and a small smile would cross her face. She enjoyed the pain, all he had to do was confirm it. “Hey, doc. We talk about me all the time, how bout we talk about you today? We've been talking for a few years now and I hardly know you. So how bout the next few sessions you tell me something and I'll tell you something.”
 
Dr. Telvanni crossed her legs and tilted her head. “I don't see why not.” 
 
Jason wanted to smile, “okay then let's start off small.”
 
*session 183*
 
Ten weeks, ten sessions, lots of “bonding” time. Time to broach the subject. “So how long have you had a pain fetish? 
 
Safe to say he caught Dr. Telvanni off guard. “Excuse me?” 
 
Jason lit a cigarette and replied, “how long have you had a pain fetish? Come on you asked about my sex life, only fair we chat about yours. I know you have one, your eyes light up every time you wince in pain. I also know it's Southhowl that inflicts the pain.” 
 
Dr. Telvanni let out a long sigh as she lit a cigarette of her own. “I can't believe I agreed to this whole sharing thing with you of all mammals. Of course, it's you that sees my pleasure and exposes it. Definitely won't be telling Daggermane about this conversation…it's been ever since I was 12, I was raped and beaten by a wolf and instead of feeling disgusted….it turned me on. I guess my brain tried to cope with the circumstances and instead of traumatizing me it awoke something entirely different. Ever since then I've been chasing that feeling.” 
 
Jason honestly didn't think she'd share this time, he thought he would have to work on it more before she opened up. But this did save some time. “Which is why you're with Southhowl.” 
 
Dr. Telvanni shook her head. “I'm not with him, I use him and he uses me. He doesn't love me, I certainly don't love him. I just love what he does to me, I just wish he'd go farther but he restrains himself too much.”
 
Jason tilted his head. “So you want him to be rougher, hurt you more and more?”
 
Dr. Telvanni couldn't believe this conversation was happening, but she wanted it to be over. “We're done for today.” 
 
*session 185* 
 
Jason's plan was working out. He was in Telvanni’s head, exploiting her weakness which was her pain fetish. “So doc, you're supposed to be smart. So why can't you convince or influence him to be rougher? What works?” 
 
Telvanni really shouldn't be talking to Jason about this, it wasn't smart. It was stupid really, Jason was her patient and dangerous. But, at the same time, he was the only mammal that seemed like he cared, and was like the only mammal she felt she could talk to. She had no contact with the outside world and no friends in here because she was an inter, and this was something she wanted to talk about. So against her much better judgment she was here venting to a mammal she hated.
 
“What works is making him mad, doing things he hates so he has to punish me.” 
 
It was like a lightbulb went off her head, a sick and twisted thought that manifested in the back of her mind and quickly grew. It was a thought she definitely shouldn't have and DEFINITELY shouldn't chase. But for most of her adult life she'd been chasing the sexual high she got when she was twelve and sitting in front of her was the potential solution for that high. So that dark sick addict took the reins. “Doing….he would HATE it if I did another mammal…and he hates foxes….and most of all he hates you…if you and I had sex he would lose his shit and have to punish me and exert his dominance! And you, you would piss him off something fierce and he wouldn't be able to do anything about it! You could lord it over him and he wouldn't be able to touch him! It's a win-win! What do you say!?” 
 
Telvanni as she had been speaking got progressively more and more worked up and Jason was trying not to grin. All he had to do is say yes and he would have the ability to kill one of the monsters, and there was nothing the rest could do about it. Honestly, all they could do is ramp up the experiments and strip him of his incentives so nothing real left to lose. He'd already lost everything anyway. So he didn't bother answering and instead took off his shirt, signaling his agreement to her, but to him, he just didn't want to get blood on his shirt. 
 
Telvanni in a great sense of irony had utterly lost her mind. All sense of rationality was out the window for her as her greatest weakness took over. She giddily got up and hit the switch on the divider raising it completely and Jason stepped over and kicked her in the stomach. The air was driven from her lungs as she doubled over and Jason grabbed the back of her neck and dragged her to the ground. Telvanni rolled to her back with a gasp of pain and pleasure and it made Jason sick. 
 
Jason loomed over her as his neck involuntarily twitched. It was a side effect of what Telvanni did to him and he hated it, he hated her. Jason wrapped his hands around Telvanni’s throat like he was going to choke her but it was a ruse. The second he felt her relax Jason's paws shot up to her mouth and he quickly pried it open, and then he snapped her lower jaw. “Speak no evil, for it's all that spews from your mouth.” 
 
Telvanni screamed out in pain but due to the broken jaw, it was not nearly loud enough for anyone outside to hear. Jason then moved his fingers up to her eyes as she frantically tried to push him off, but she was panicking and he wouldn't budge. Since he wouldn't budge, he pushed his thumbs into her eyes and gouged them. “All you see is ways to manipulate, so now you will see no more.” 
 
Telvanni once again screamed out and began writhing around and striking him. Unfortunately for her all striking him did was annoy him, so he caught her right arm and snapped it. Then he caught her left arm and snapped it also. She was nonstop screaming now as she writhed around violently as Jason stood and took a seat in her chair. “Now that you can't see or speak, all you can do now is listen. I have not forgotten about your role in getting me here, nor have I forgiven. You are evil, a monster just like me. Your clever yes, and I'll admit you manipulated me well for quite some time but you know where you messed up? When you tried to convince me about the mission, you played your hand and your hate started to shine through again. You helped me, I'll admit that my hallucinations are gone…but that's it. The nightmares are still there, I still see myself as a monster, I'm still insane, and on top of all that I'm depressed and addicted to cigarettes. You're a good manipulator but a shit therapist, no wonder you worked here. So as you lie there a failure I will tell you this, I plan to burn this place to the ground with me inside it. You failed to turn me, you failed to fix me, and when I succeed….it will be because of your failure.” 
 
With that Jason stood and walked over to Telvanni, crouched down, and snapped her neck. “

One monster down, a whole lot to go.”

With the deed done Jason walked over to his side, put his shirt and collar back on, lit a cigarette, and exited her office. He began the trek back to his cell unrestrained, something Telvanni did for him in the long attempt to win him over. As he walked back to his cell he saw Southhowl walking towards him and Jason did something incredibly unsettling for Southhowl, Jason smiled. This spurred Southhowl to take on a look of concern as he looked past Jason in the direction of Telvanni’s office and then took off in a sprint. A few moments later Jason heard Southhowl’s cries of anguish at his dead love and his smile grew even wider.

“Don't worry, if I have my way you'll join her in hell soon.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Katie Redtail had been barely scraping by since day one. Every six months the bottom ten were eliminated from the program to become slaves and every sixth months she's been bottom 11. She's been working non stop since the first day and it still wasn't enough to pass up the ranks to not have to worry for at least one period. No matter how hard she worked it just wasn't enough. Of course it didn't help that she was always watching her back just waiting for someone to pounce on her. 
 
When the brawl occurred she had scrambled under her bed and cowered as the fighting raged around her. The only thing that had kept her alive was the fact that everyone was more focused on killing the other fox in the building. Said fox Jason, she was utterly terrified of but also knew he was the ONLY mammal in the building who didn't want to kill her. 
 
For that reason Katie made sure to stick with Jason, taking the time slots he took because no one besides Hanna went near him. Since she took the same slots as him she also did her best to do what he was doing and learn what he was. But he was a damn genius and she was the village idiot, visual learning had never been her strong suit. So without direction from Jason she could only poorly imitate his work. 
 
She would ask for help from Jason but he wouldn't let her penetrate that three foot bubble, or speak to her. Even after a year and a half of being around him, but then again, he didn't speak to anyone. So all she could do was try and keep her “freedom” for a couple cycles longer…
 
*The Caretakers* 
 
“Tell me about our vixen Dr.” 
 
“Well General she's hanging in there, barely. She suffers from severe paranoia and anxiety which has been affecting her potential. She lacks any ability for paw to paw combat no matter how hard she works at it, potentially due to her lack of physical exercise. Her only real talents revolve around her skills as a pickpocket, stealth, sleight of hand, things of that matter. She'd be a good infiltrator but no potential as an operative.”  Was Dr. Telvanni’s reply. 
 
Dr. Zola hummed and chimed in. “I haven't been able to properly test her. She's such a nervous wreck, it's a miracle she manages to scrape by.” 
 
“She sticks to Wild like glue, well as close as he’ll let her. She relies on being near him to keep her safe. She pointedly avoids most other subjects and does her best to look small. If she wasn't on the way out I would recommend separating her.” Was Southhowl’s take. 
 
“How about the relationship between the two? What's the assessment of them Dr. Telvanni?” Daggermane said after a drag from his cigar. 
 
“Well in talking to Jason he…tolerates her and feels pity for her because he knows she's on the way out. He also says she'd do better if she didn't use him as a crutch and bucked up. I countered with you could help her and he scoffed, but in the end agreed. Katie respects Jason's mind and strength but in the end is scared of him, but not as much as she's scared of everyone else. Particularly your nephew and his group Derek. For the two I don't detect and sexual attraction, it's more a companionship of foxes. I have asked Jason that if Katie was attacked in front of him what would he do. He did reply, ‘out of anyone here, she's probably the most innocent…so I'd break their necks.’ My recommendation is put the two together as it'd help her gain confidence and him continue to not be a savage animal. It will also be interesting to see how their dynamic evolves, stress tests and data points would be intriguing.” 
 
Zola hummed and said, “zes I concur. I could get good data. Many experiments….” 
 
Southhowl shrugged, “I mean it couldn't hurt. My guards wouldn't have to peel her off the floor as much just because another subject walked into the room.” 
 
Daggermane took a long drag. “Then make it happen.” 
 
*Moving in*
 
Katie Redtail, or Vixen to everyone else, was terrified. Out of the blue the guards had woken her up and told her to grab her stuff and come with them. Her repeated questions of where they were going was ignored, they just pushed her along. Eventually they came to an area of the facility that she was entirely unfamiliar with ending up in front of a solid steel cell door. That steel door had a name tag right above the tray slot that chilled her blood as much as it relieved her “Wild”.
 
One of the guards took a step forward and opened the look slot and yelled “Wild, get your ass out of your perch, you got yourself a girlfriend now!” 
 
Jason had been writing in his journal when he heard the yell. He closed and stowed it before hanging by his feet to see the door. The guard spotted him and said, “you know the drill! Stay away from the door! What you do with what we are about to give you is up to you!” 
 
The guard then addressed Katie. “Knowing him he's probably gonna either maul you or fuckin ignore you. My advice, don't piss him off. He's not wearing his collar in there, doctors orders. So, if he attacks you, we can't help ya for five minutes. Have fun.” 
 
With that the guards unlocked the door, grabbed her, and tossed her in before slamming it shut. Katie jumped up and began banging on the door yelling “let me out!” Among other things. It lasted for a whole thirty seconds before she heard a low, neutral, bone chilling voice say. “If you could stop ear fucking me, that'd be really nice.” 
 
Katie froze, paw mid way to bang on the door, and slowly turned her head to look behind her. There, three feet away from her with arms crossed and an angry look on his face was Jason Wilde Todd, aka Wild. Katie slowly turned around pressing her back against the cell door and meekly with a shocked tone asked, “did you just talk?”
 
Jason rolled his eyes in response and said, “I'm not a mute idiot. I just don't speak. Cots free behind me, get settled. You're here to stay I'd guess.” 
 
Then without waiting for a response Jason walked back under the pipes in his room, leapt up, and settled back into his hammock.

*three hours in* 
 
Katie had been huddled up in the cot in the back left of the room hugging her knees to her chest praying this was some cruel joke. She was too terrified to do little else but look around the room, which she did again. The room was spacious but dimly it due to most of the lights being very broken, including the one above her head. There was a gym set up similar to the one in the common area in the front left of the room, and a workstation of sorts taking up the back right of the room. In the front right was all of his reward items, including a drum set and a guitar. Almost all of the walls had obvious signs of repair from being torn to shreds, and in the middle of the ceiling ran a myriad of pipes. There was a gap in the center of the pipes and that's where Wild had his hammock set up. 
 
That hammock is where Wild currently was and had been since he leapt up there three hours ago. “I can feel your eyes. It's bothering, and I'm trying to sleep. Three questions, and then you quit staring at me.” 
 
“Why don't you talk?” Was Katie’s meek first question. 
 
There was a huff from Jason. “Main reason, surveillance. Secondary, why the fuck would I bother? Every subject here is either scared of me, hates me, or both. No one talks to me so why bother starting a conversation, and why the fuck would I talk to anyone else?” 
 
“Why are speaking now?”
 
“Because for my mental sake per Dr. Telvanni all surveillance devices are turned off in my room when I am here and trust me I know when they are off and on. Only come on for experiments. So when they said they'd know if you were in trouble if I attacked you..they lied. They wouldn't know you were dead until they came to let me out, grab me, or feed me. But quit your shaking, I'm not going to touch you, ever.” 
 
The last sentence spoken by Wild helped calm Katie’s nerves a little bit so with a little more confidence she asked, “so why are you speaking to me?” 
 
“So you'll stop staring. There three questions. Now go the fuck to sleep or at least close your eyes and pretend too.”

*day three*
 
Jason was irritated. All of his alone time was gone thanks to the Vixen behind watching him work and poorly trying to imitate it. His den was no longer his den, when he was out of his room he couldn't shake her and now she was his roommate! Wherever he went now she was right there three feet behind her! He's at his workstation working on a new poison, she's behind him attempting to take notes. He's working out, she's trying to mimic what he's doing on a smaller scale. He's studying, she's trying to study the same subject. He's playing one of his instruments, she's watching him.
 
It was just so..”fucking infuriating!” 
 
Katie recoiled away as Jason reeled to face her with a snarl and he shouted again, “you're fucking infuriating!”
 
Katie began shaking in fear and she meekly shouted out “im sorry!” with tears pricking out of her eyes. 
 
Jason shook his head. “Why!? Why do you have to watch and attempt to mimic my every fucking move!? You're your own fucking mammal, so why!?” 
 
“Be.be.because you're the best one here an.an.and I'm just trying to survive!” Was Katie’s blubbering reply.
 
Jason let out a sigh and said in a calmer tone. “Katie here's the thing…you're fucking terrible at everything I do! You have no talent in the areas I work! This is why every cycle you just barely scrape by!”
 
Katie collapsed into herself at that sobbing. “I.I.I.I know! I'm t.t.terr..terrible at everything!” 
 
Jason’s ears pinned to his skull and he pinched his nose in frustration. “

I'm going to get a migraine at this rate with her wailing. But it doesn't help that I'm being an abrasive abusive ass. *sigh* Mother is rolling in her grave…fuckkk I'm going to have to touch her aren't I? *heavy sigh* anything to get her to stop crying.”

Jason let out an audible sigh and walked over to Katie and picked her up bridal style causing her to gasp in shock. He then pivoted and placed her in the chair he was just sitting before handing her a mostly clean rag for her to blow her nose with. He then looked in her tear filled sky blue eyes looking at him with confusion and wiped her tears away with a brush of his thumbs. Once that was done he finished up with a few pats on her head and an awkward “there there…” 
 
Katie just looked at Jason with an absolutely dumbfounded look on her face as she processed what just happened. “

Jason…who won't let anyone come within three feet of him….well except that female snow leopard…Amethyst…just picked me up, wiped my tears, and is currently awkwardly patting my head…did I pass out?”

The head patting stopped, “no, no you did not pass out Katie. Yes you said it out loud. Look I'm sorry for snapping at you, but you were really getting on my nerves, I know unintentionally. But, it's not something I can really help on my end in regards to my mental stuff, like emotions. It also doesn't help that this is my den and you technically are an intruder since I did not invite you in. I've come to find out recently that instincts for me are just as foreign as emotions. I got em, but…well you get the point.”

*day six* 
 
The last few days had been awkward between the two foxes. After Jason snapped at her and then apologized they both kinda froze on what to say next so they just separated. The following two days were filled with activity so the two just focused on work. Today however was a lighter day since both had been in VR. So now they were back in their shared room and the awkward silence was actually bothering Jason.
 
“So what did you do to survive before being snagged for this?” Was Jason’s inquisitive question.
 
Katie stopped reading the book she had and said. “What do you mean survive?” 
 
Jason scoffed. “Oh please. Based on scars below fur and on paw pads, paranoia and anxiety, and the ducking and hiding shows a life on the streets scrounging to survive. Do I need to delve deeper than that because I can.” 
 
Katie sighed. “I pickpocketed.” 
 
“Were you any good?” 
 
Katie scoffed at that and said with a confidence that surprised Jason. “Was I any good? Yeah I was pretty good.” 
 
Katie then promptly proved it by pickpocketing him three separate times while he was watching for it, and pickpocketed two separate guards in a public space. She then went a step further, this time against Jason's wishes by pickpocketing Alpha, aka Brad. 
 
“See? I told you I was good.” Katie said coyly. 
 
Jason snorted in response. “Finally some fuckking confidence. I think I see a backbone for the first time.”
 
Katie’s shyness then returned as she shrugged in response, her ears pinning back as she gave him a side glance. Jason sighed in response and said, “and there it goes. Look, you're a fucking stellar pickpocket so build on that, make yourself an assassin. You can earn points in stealth, infiltration, forgery, espionage, pickpocketing, assassination, evidence planting. Every single one of those skills revolves around the things you are good at already. On top of that, study basic shit, not the advanced fuckery I do. Build a damn baseline and then branch. It'll make you last a fuck lot longer.”

*day 12* 
 
“Hey Jason?” 
 
“What?” Was Jason’s reply. 
 
“Why do you curse so much?” Was Katie's of the blue question. 
 
Jason paused the work he was doing, pivoted to face her, and his only reply was a very even,  “go fuck yourself.” Before he pivoted back to his work.
 
*day 27*
 
Katie had just come back from a lengthy 8 hour VR session that netted her six months worth of training. Entering Wild’s Den she found Jason working out shirtless doing vertical push ups. Katie looked Jason up and down as she strolled over and took a seat on a nearby workout bench. 
 
“I'd say take a fucking picture but I know you don't have a camera.” Was Jason’s opening statement. 
 
Katie just shook her head and quipped, albeit in her same meek tone, “oh it's just I expected with all your working out you'd have a better physique.” 
 
Jason grunted at that. “At least you can't play my ribs like a xylophone. Now what's on your damn mind, I know something is.” 
 
Katie let out a long suffering sigh before timidly asking, “do you think I'm going to make it Jason?” 
 
Jason paused mid push-up and asked, “you want me to be honest and blunt or do you want me to fake shit and lie?”
 
A single tear rolled down Katie’s cheek. “So no then, you don't. Then what's the point of me trying!?” 
 
Jason let out a sigh and jumped up onto his feet. “Katie the point is so when they ‘allocate’ you to an area they feel you'll be useful and it will be a place better than what it would be if you didn't try. If you make yourself a valuable spy and assassin they'd be fuckin fools not to make you one. It'd give you more freedom, and more chances to escape. Maybe a chance you slip your capture and help free me from mine. That's the faith I'm putting in you, the hope. Remember that the next time you feel like crying.”

*day 62* 
 
It was another day of long work for the duo. Jason had been in the science lab all day working on some new poison and Katie had been in VR simulators working on escaping capture in the available scenarios. Katie had just exited the bathroom fresh from a shower and Jason could already tell something was on her mind. 
 
So rather than let her dance around it and work up the confidence to speak to him he let out a weary sigh and asked, “what is it?”
 
Katie jumped a little and took on a submissive and shy stance as she asked, “what do you mean?” 
 
Jason shook his head and replied, “first, why do you gotta act submissive and shy around me? We're not fuckin wolves and im not a scolding father. Second, don't bullshit me.” 
 
Jason missed the blush from Katie as she relented and asked “what do you think of me?” 
 
Jason raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?” 
 
“I think you know what I mean.” Was Katie's slightly more confident reply. 
 
Jason crossed his arms as he leaned against his workbench. “So you want a character assessment? Fine. You could stand to gain about 20 pounds, you're too skinny. You still lack a good physical exercise regimen, if someone attacks you that knows what they're doing you'll be in trouble. You got a good personality behind all that anxiety and shyness you have. You tell terrible jokes, but your comebacks are solid. You're a great pickpocket….and you got a real good heart. You're…innocent. Probably the most innocent one here…and for that, you will always have my protection.”
 
*day 184* 
 
Katie was working on lockpicking with some practice locks when she asked “Jason seriously, why do you curse so much?” After he cussed out the error message on the poison test trial he just initiated. 
 
“I defer to my answer the last time you asked. Go fuck yourself.” Was his annoyed reply. 
 
“It's not like you'll do it.” Katie muttered. 
 
Jason pivoted to face her “Ex-fucking-cuse me?” 
 
“Uh…nothing!” 
 
*day 220* 
 
Jason was writing in his journal while Katie did her interpretation of working out, yoga. In the middle of her downward dog pose, a pose she was using trying to get a rise out of Jason, she asked. “You know I see you write in that journal an awful lot. So what's in it?” 
 
Jason glanced up at her and annoyedly replied, “my thoughts and feelings I don't know how to express. Also some sketches, and no you cannot read my journal. It's private and if I catch you trying I WILL break your arm.”
 
Katie rolled her eyes at the threat before a coy smile went across her face. “Sooo, it's your diary?” 
 
Jason grunted at that. “Technically yes. But when it's a male’s it's their private journal.” 
 
“Whatever you say diary boy.” 
 
Jason simply sighed. 
 
*Day 327* 
 
Katie had just arrived back at Wild’s Den and found Wild at his workstation still working on the same poison he'd been working on when she left. “That one giving you trouble huh? Normally you'd be on to the next one.” 
 
Jason stood from his workstation and gestured to the screen exclaiming, “this little fucker here doesn't want to properly synthesize with the rest of the components.” 
 
“Well take a break from it so I don't have to hear you throw a bitch fit.” Katie replied. 
 
Jason snorted at that. “Well well I think I see a spine showing again.” 
 
Katie shook her head and said, “I just don't care to hear you say 37 curse words in the span of 6 seconds. Especially…” 
 
“When you don't get why I curse so much.” Jason finished for her. “You know what it's been a hundred plus days since you last asked so fuck it. I'll tell you why I curse so much…after you take a shower because I can smell you from here.” 
 
Katie promptly flipped him the bird before heading to the bathroom. Once her shower was done she took a seat next to Jason and said, “well?” 
 
“Cursing is a universal language and they can be every type of word all in one. I can go to any country and say fuck and everyone will know what it is and what I'm feeling based on how I say fuck. Cursing is an expression everybody gets, and when your a mammal with autism being understood can be difficult fuck becomes a very useful word. Also I'm a red bundle of just pure anger all the damn time and cursing kinda helps me feel just a tiny bit better. It's a temporary relief so I increase the amount. It's also a good alternative to getting physical and punching and throwing things. So rather than do that I curse.” Was Jason’s explanation. 
 
Katie nodded and said, “So you curse so much because you're angry all the time?” 
 
“Yeah, and it's cathartic. It's kinda like a cigarette, temporary relief of the blood boiling anger that calls for me to burn this entire place down with me inside of it. So trust me Katie, it's a good thing I curse so much. It may just be the reason I'm not the raving ravenous monster everyone assumes me to be.” 
 
*Day 365, Katie* 
 
Katie was walking back to Wild’s Den from the VR simulators when suddenly she was grabbed from her right and dragged into the males restroom and roughly tossed to the floor and pinned. Looking around she quickly saw who her attackers were as she tried to struggle free, it was Brad and his male compatriots. As she looked she could tell, this was the end of her. They all had a evil, sick, and twisted look in their eyes with twisted smiles. 
 
Brad with his twisted smile spoke as he wrapped a paw roughly around her throat and unbuttoned his pants. “Alright you filthy fucking

fox

! You have survived in this game for far to long so it's time I took matter into my own paws. So I'm going to tell you

exactly

what me and my friends are going to do about it. We are going to take turns raping you like the filthy pelt you are and when we're all satisfied I'm going to

slowly

strangle the life out of you and I'm going to enjoy

every. Single. Second

of it.” 
 
At this point tears of fear and sorrow were streaking down Katie's face as Brad leaned in and whispered in her ear, “and you wanna know the best part? No one's going to save you. No guards, and your pelt boyfriend is busy with being experimented on. The head guard is my uncle, and he's allowing this to happen, because he hates filthy fucking foxes just as much as I do.”

*Day 365, Jason*
 
Jason had just left a confusing experiment from Dr. Zola and was heading back to his den when he suddenly smelled death along with a familiar scent mixed with a few others that caused him to freeze. He then took a moment to compose himself before walking around the corner, and immediately had to back step as Katie's corpse was thrown at him. 
 
He let her body fall to the ground and he looked to see who just signed their death warrants in all caps, and sure enough it was Brad and his cohorts. He then quickly looked Katie over. It was painfully obvious she was raped by all of them, evidence being all over her and her clothes being ripped in places. Based on the ligatures on her neck and the bloodshot dead blue eyes staring at him she was strangled to death after they all were finished. Also based on the sick self satisfied smirk on Brad’s face he was the one that finished her off. He'd be the last to die. 
 
“You like what we did to your girlfriend you fucking pelt? I'm pretty sure she enjoyed all the fucking we gave her before I ever so slowly choked the life out of her.” Was Brad’s sickening statement to Jason, his cohorts chuckling at it.

“On second thought, he dies first.”

Jason tensed up his muscles ready to charge forward, calmly moving around Katie’s body, but unfortunately it was then the guards finally showed up to do their job. Brad in his cohorts were essentially jumped by guards who came through a hidden pathway on their left. They were tackled to the ground, shocked, kicked, punched, cuffed and dragged off. Guards carrying shields blocked Jason from moving forward and one of the regular guards that escorted him stepped forward and said, “it's not worth it Wild. I will shock you. Return to your cell immediately.” 
 
Jason let out a huff and a growl before turning and kneeling in front of Katie's lifeless body. He shook his head as he gazed at her tear soaked face and bloodshot eyes before gently reaching out and closing her eyes. He then stood, moved around her corpse, and was escorted back to his Den. Once the door was shut and the collar latches disengaged he took it off, gently set it on his workstation, let out a roar of fury and anguish and proceeded to demolish his entire workstation. 
 
Once the damage was done and his paws where coated in blood from various cuts did he finally sink to the ground, the image of Katie's lifeless eyes bored into his mind.