[Issue] We Fought A Zoo

[Will Stanton]

Will, however, was expecting that -- and a hole opened up in Will right where the baton was going, making it hit the floor, and not Will. Strategery!

Will countered by shooting an arm up and punching baton guy in the face.

[Ainsley Green]

"Coal, let's go! Find friends, we'll let them out!" Ainsley beckoned, then moved away towards the mental voices he heard, calling out to the Coal Like Beings.

""Cry out, I will assist!"

[Tereza Rozanov]

Now that Will was closer to them, Tereza dropped down and rolled out, flicking ice to try and sow some more chaos as her joints popped and she let the change take her.

[Samantha McManus]

As Sam takes shelter opposite Tereza in the elevator, an overwhelming urge to drop what's in their hands sweeps over the gunmen.

[Narrator]

A chaotic series of events unfolds over the next dozen seconds. First, Will's fist flies through the simian's portal and slams into the creature's chin, breaking his concentration enough to close the portal and cut off the offending arm. Then the guards suddenly drop their guns and instinctively draw back from the transforming werewolf. Coal then takes the opportunity to leap past the guards and race down the hall.

"Wht r you doin... Fight you idits..." the monkey struggles to say while holding his jaw.

[Ainsley Green]

Ainsley slides under the distracted guards legs, tucking into a roll and moving on to let slip the dogs of war.

Or dogs of crows. Whatever.

He suspected it would be quite easy. There's be no need for complex locks due to the caged manner in which the creatures lived and the fact they weren't expecting visitors to just literally come in and let all their captives free.

[Will Stanton]

Will grit his (metaphorical) teeth, as his arm flopped to the ground.

Grunting, he launched himself from the ground to the ceiling, sticking on it and propelling himself forward THAT way.

[Tereza Rozanov]

As Will goes skyward, Tereza charges forward at ground level to take advantage of the additional distraction, trying to bowl as many of the guards over with her bulk with no intent of stopping.

[Samantha McManus]

Sam reaches out for the mind of the monkey-man and tries to alter his perceptions such that he sees Will coming from nearly every angle but the one he's currently approaching from.

[Narrator]

Ainsley slides under the distracted guards legs, tucking into a roll and moving on to let slip the dogs of war.

Or dogs of crows. Whatever.

He suspected it would be quite easy. There's be no need for complex locks due to the caged manner in which the creatures lived and the fact they weren't expecting visitors to just literally come in and let all their captives free.

Ahead and to the right, Ainsley finds a corridor labeled "Animal Research" and, taking it, winds up in a long chamber full of cages of various sizes and reeking with an animal odor. There is a tiger-gorilla, a crocodile licking the air with a tentacular tongue, several rats with piranha teeth, a god-damned spider-tortoise, a large pen for the crow-dogs, and many other varied monstrosities. Most of the overlapping animal voices were confused and sad, with the excited restlessness of the crow-dogs seeming almost contrary. Loudest of all is the furious tigerilla swearing to tear the one who wracked his body with its painful change to pieces.

Will grit his (metaphorical) teeth, as his arm flopped to the ground.

Grunting, he launched himself from the ground to the ceiling, sticking on it and propelling himself forward THAT way.

Sam reaches out for the mind of the monkey-man and tries to alter his perceptions such that he sees Will coming from nearly every angle but the one he's currently approaching from.

The monkey-man panics and opens a portal under his own feet, taking a grazing hit to the head as he falls through. The hole closes so fast that a clump of hair and even a little scalp is left behind, shaved off by the portal. Something tells them that he wasn't coming back to bother them.

As Will goes skyward, Tereza charges forward at ground level to take advantage of the additional distraction, trying to bowl as many of the guards over with her bulk with no intent of stopping.

The welcoming party of humans and lesser beast-men fall and scatter, unprepared to handle the threatening aura of a frikkin' werewolf.


The path ahead is clear. Across from where Ainsley ran off to is the barracks and, past that, a large room with another hall leading onward and doors labeled "Holding," "Training Arena," and "Laboratory A."

[Ainsley Green]

Ainsley let out the crow dogs, but decided to be more selective with his follow up choices.

He went to the pen for the gorilla/tiger, and spoke in cat, hoping his dialect wasn't too off that it could not understand him.

"Will free you, but you can only hurt people who hurt you. Deal?"

[Tereza Rozanov]

Tereza sniffs around the hallway, trying to find Tosh's scent before she grumbles in her growly wolf voice, "Too many animal scents, Morrigan."

[Samantha McManus]

"I'd wager either holding or the laboratory. Who wants to bet Tosh's granddad is sick enough to take him straight to the lab?"

[Will Stanton]

"No bet here. People like that like to play with their new toys," Will said, hurrying down the hallway.

[Narrator]

Ainsley let out the crow dogs, but decided to be more selective with his follow up choices.

He went to the pen for the gorilla/tiger, and spoke in cat, hoping his dialect wasn't too off that it could not understand him.

"Will free you, but you can only hurt people who hurt you. Deal?"

"Yes," the beast growls begrudgingly.

Elsewhere...

As the group enters the lab, Sam begins to detect the faint pulse of Tosh's sleeping mind. It seems to be coming from a door beyond the tables of scientific and medical equipment being used, in largely automated fashion to produce a strangely luminescent golden serum. The main ingredient is clearly blood.

The door is equipped with a biometric scanner of some sort.

[Samantha McManus]

"Right guess. I can sometimes fool those doors, but I'd need to know who it's keyed to."

"Plus I don't know how much bloody snake-centipede venom I've got in me," the giant mongoose says.

[Will Stanton]

"I don't suppose it works on Tosh's look or something? I've never seen Tosh's granddad, nor gotten close and personal enough to mimic him enough to fool a biometric scanner.


Or Tereza could just freeze it and we kick the motherfucker down."

[Tereza Rozanov]

"The time for the clever hunter is over," Tereza agrees... maybe? At any rate, ice crystals begin forming in her fur.

[Ainsley Green]

Ainsley did exactly as he said he would, dodging out of the way of the large creature.

"Remember the deal." He urged, going to take a looked at the other creatures to determine if any of them could be trusted so, or if they needed to stay in.

[Narrator]

Brute force or something else to bypass the lock altogether is definitely an answer. Though is the doctor the only one with access?

Also, now that they have had time to look around, there is a computer terminal along one wall.

Ainsley did exactly as he said he would, dodging out of the way of the large creature.

"Remember the deal." He urged, going to take a looked at the other creatures to determine if any of them could be trusted so, or if they needed to stay in.

Krakedile? Probably not.
Pihratnhas? Not a good idea.
Tortantula? Big fat nope.

However, the rabbits with sharp teeth and little horns might help. And the wolf-deer. And several other eager specimens seem safe or controllable enough.

[Robin Stanton]

"Step aside, old man." Robin grins and puts her palm on and then into the scanner, infusing it and trying to animate it enough to pop open the door.

[Ainsley Green]

"Hello friends." He greets the lagomorph.

"I will let you out to do as you will, but you can't hurt my friends, okay? Only the people with white top coats and their friends."

[Narrator]

"Step aside, old man." Robin grins and puts her palm on and then into the scanner, infusing it and trying to animate it enough to pop open the door.

Success! The device triggers and, after a satisfying thunk, the panel reads "Door Unlocked."

Inside is not unlike a standard hospital room. It's small, white, and reeks of disinfectant. Tosh lays unconscious in a hospital bed with a tube in both arms, one taking out blood, the other putting in IV sustenance. The machines monitoring his vitals and pumping fluids into and out of him fill the room with mechanical chatter. He is also restrained on top of the power suppression collar around his neck. Overkill if they keep him sedated.

"Hello friends." He greets the lagomorph.

"I will let you out to do as you will, but you can't hurt my friends, okay? Only the people with white top coats and their friends."

"Okaaay," the creepy bunnies answer in unison.

[Will Stanton]

"Sam, can you tell if he's still...all there in the head? If he's pumped full of angry drugs, and we unsedate him, I'd rather not have to deal with a rampaging shark-man," Will said, as he hurried over to look at the controls.

[Samantha McManus]

"I can try. He looks weak. Is it Tosh's blood he's using to make that golden stuff?"

She reaches out to Tosh's mind, trying to get a feel for it.

[Narrator]

"Sam, can you tell if he's still...all there in the head? If he's pumped full of angry drugs, and we unsedate him, I'd rather not have to deal with a rampaging shark-man," Will said, as he hurried over to look at the controls.

Tosh's vitals are good, though his blood pressure is a bit low. As for the IV pump, it's impossible to tell from the machine itself what exactly he's being given but the saline bag is a little less than clear.

"I can try. He looks weak. Is it Tosh's blood he's using to make that golden stuff?"

She reaches out to Tosh's mind, trying to get a feel for it.

He isn't dreaming so she can't delve too deeply, but his mind seems perfectly normal... for Tosh anyway. And the blood tube is indeed going into a port in the wall.

[Robin Stanton]

"They're turning his blood into mad science juice... What the fuck?"

[Ainsley Green]

"Okaaay," the creepy bunnies answer in unison.

"....." Ainsley paused, rethinking letting these rabbit creatures loose. He leant over to the other enclosure to stare at the wolf deer.

"What's your opinion of the creatures next to you?" He asks of it in canine.

[Will Stanton]

"What the fuck indeed. Alright, I'm going to see if I can't shut this down gently," Will said, trying to do just that on the consoles.

[Samantha McManus]

"I don't think he's exactly well, but he doesn't seem like he'll be violent."

[Tereza Rozanov]

Tereza moves over closer to Tosh in case he needs some impromptu restraining.

[Narrator]

Will eventually sifts through the menus and arcane medical abbreviations to shut down both the pumps drawing blood and delivering whatever mixture was in the IV drip bag. But waiting for sleeping sharky to wake on his own is a luxury they can't afford.

"....." Ainsley paused, rethinking letting these rabbit creatures loose. He leant over to the other enclosure to stare at the wolf deer.

"What's your opinion of the creatures next to you?" He asks of it in canine.

The confused cervine lupine regards the rabbits and seems to shudder. "No let eat me."

[Ainsley Green]

"That's what I thought..." He stated, looking less than impressed with the hive minded creature he didn't think he could trust. He turned back to the deer-wolf.

"I am making a mess. I will let you help me but you can't harm any of my pack mates.

Is this a deal?"

[Narrator]

The creature gives an affirmative grunt.

Then the crow-dogs start off towards a doorway at the other end, happily yipping "Master!"

"Hey guys! Who let... you," a familiar voice says, shifting from happy to angry.

[Ainsley Green]

Ainsley set his jaw. Knowing that he could hear him through Coal and the other monstrosities like him, Ainsley projects his message through them.

"Take your friends and leave. This doesn't have to concern you if you walk away now."

[Narrator]

"Even if I wanted to betray the doctor and his new world, where would I even go, hmm?" asks the crow--man, "Becoming one of his 'Primals' isn't something I can exactly back out on."


In the lab, the search for a counter agent yields several drugs that none of them can identify. Luckily the computer terminal in the lab proper has its password on a post-it in a desk drawer and Internet access. Tsk, tsk, doctor. But at least the password isn't "password." Quick searching identifies one drug as the sedative and another as the reversal agent.

As the searcher reads, an intercom clicks on. "If you want any chance of leaving here alive, leave the boy and come out," says the threateningly deep voice of the minotaur, AKA David "Taurus" Grant.

[Ainsley Green]

"You can come back with us to the University. X-Corp can find you a new home where your skills will be appreciated, and used for proper good.

What the doctor has you doing here is not only dangerous, it's destructive. You see that, don't you?"

[Narrator]

"You can come back with us to the University. X-Corp can find you a new home where your skills will be appreciated, and used for proper good.

What the doctor has you doing here is not only dangerous, it's destructive. You see that, don't you?"

"Their idea of proper good hasn't done a thing to protect the world from its greatest threat. People. Maybe a violent rebirth is just what humanity needs and deserves. Just imagine a world where man and beast can finally live in harmony... because they are one," the birdman preaches, though not quite with total conviction, "You can speak with the animals. Surely you know how much we hurt them. Just ask Coal there where I found him."

[Robin Stanton]

"Yeah that's a no-go, Mr. Intercom. We won't leave our friend behind." she says and, realizing what she has started goes on singing and aggressively doing the robot at any cameras or speakers she might be able to spot in the room.

"Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance, well they're are no friends of mine!"

[Ainsley Green]

"Their idea of proper good hasn't done a thing to protect the world from its greatest threat. People. Maybe a violent rebirth is just what humanity needs and deserves. Just imagine a world where man and beast can finally live in harmony... because they are one," the birdman preaches, though not quite with total conviction, "You can speak with the animals. Surely you know how much we hurt them. Just ask Coal there where I found him."

"We already are one." Ainsley replied, looking at Coal but refraining from querying the creature. "Being one of the higher beings in the cycle burdens us with responsibility of knowing the cycle, but it does not make us different from other beasts. Fabricating new things will only serve to disrupt the balance further. The world isn't meant for rapid evolution.

Look how long it took to make us." Aisnley paused for a moment to let it sink in.

"Come'on mate, I can tell your heart ain't in this. Bail. I aint gonna say nothing if you do."