Because turnaround is fun!

Avenging
Act III, All You Need is Hate
Prologue: Opening Movement

*all the Avengers except Hulk flee the mansion in terror*

[Hawkeye] "That does it...NO MORE BEANS FOR THE HULK!"

That was irrelevant for the moment. She was becoming too concerned about
the forest and losing focus on the tree she desired. It was in this
valley the people of her former life came to when they sought a
life-shifting change. A permanent one. Once a person immersed themselves
in the magical waters, their former life would be forever lost to the
new being that emerged.

[Mino-Tarou] *rises up out of the spring and puts an oversized pair of
sunglasses on* "Moo, bitches."

She had already done that once, in fashion, casting off her old life the
way a snake shed its skin. In a way more painful than any snake had ever
shed a skin. Now it was time to take that path once again. Less painful,
but just as thorough. Perhaps moreso. Sixty-nine people

Giggity!

Course decided, she saw no reason to hesitate. So she leapt from the
pole and dove into the water.

She hit it with a loud splash and disappeared from view.

And kept on going until she came out the other side of the Earth, because
she jumped into Spring of Drowned Shadowcat.

�He will see me now!�

"And SHE will see me later! Giggity!"

The woman was still livid as she glared at his silent, black-suited
bodyguards. �If you think you can intimidate me by having your thugs
pull their guns on me, think again.�

"But the ninja in the corner with the creepy eyes and the tattoo on his
forehead is a bit unnerving. Can you kinda...ask him to go somewhere else
maybe?"

�I didn�t think that at all. They do that to anyone that might be a
threat to me. They have to be on their toes in case someone tries to do
me harm, though I don�t know why anyone would want to hurt a lowly
member of the Ministry of Health and Welfare such as myself.� He put on
an ingratiating smile.

Might it be because you have an alternate name that's prefixed with "Darth"
by any chance?

�I can think of plenty of reasons.� Venom dripped from her voice. �Some
information has come to my attention that implies you and your
department are in the midst of a genocidal campaign against what can
only be described as �cat people�.�

..................................................

....I'm sorry, but in absolutely NO context can I make myself take that
seriously.

�So you claim, but I find it difficult to believe a race of animals
would seek to harm humanity, unless someone was attacking them, prodding
them into defending themselves.� And the way she said it left little
doubt who she felt started things. �Has there been any attempt to open a
dialogue with them?�

"Yes, but we're having a little bit of a language barrier. Apparently, 'mow
mow myow mrowr' means 'I just raped your mother and removed all her nursing
teats' in catese."

�Actually we�re usually too busy trying to keep them from killing too
many of us. You�ll note I say, �too many� since, despite all of our
attempts, they have been very successful. If I was at liberty to say, I
could list the number of deaths and disasters they�ve been responsible
for which have been� recategorized so as to not unduly frighten the
populace�

Needs a period.

It would be best to remind her of her place. �Be that as it may,
executive order 10081 forbids the release of this information.�

�What the hell is executive order 10081?�

"It's the order that lets me execute bitches who get too annoying."

It was an official �national secret� tag that both of the previous Prime
Ministers, as well as the current one, had attached to the matter of the
Phantom Cats

And the phantom periods?

For a second it looked like she would try to strangle him. He hoped she
would --self-defense would be an acceptable reason to remove her from
the playing field-- but instead she turned and headed out the door,
making a production of slamming it behind her.

"Drama queen."

Eight masked figures, six men and two women clothed in tight black
suits, made their way down the metal corridors, moving quickly but as
surreptitiously as they could manage. Each of them had a number of belts
and packs strapped to their bodies, filled with a number of tools,
equipment, and even a weapon or two that they had easy access to.

That entire paragraph could be reduced to one sentence with the word
"ninjas" :P

The second man spoke again, voice seething in anger. �Yes, I too want
the world to know how we rescued all of these poor, helpless animals
from this butcher, this so-called �High Evolutionary�.�

O_o;;

But what was most unsettling was that while the barracks were inhabited
by many, not one of them was human. All of them bore features of
animals, mainly in the face. All were easily recognizable as a menagerie
of mammals and a handful of reptiles.

And one cephalopod.

Yakumo quickly collected himself. �We�re part of the Animal Liberation
Front, and we�re here to free you poor creatures.�

"In other words, we're dead men walking."

Taking on the airs of a man giving a speech, Yakumo said in a voice loud
enough to be heard by all, �Listen to me. The High Evolutionary has
tortured you, taking you from your natural environment and bombarding
you with radiation as part of an experiment. He has used you as guinea
pigs��

�I am a guinea pig,� a voice piped up from the back.

*SNRK*

�My apologies. I meant no offense,� Yakumo said sincerely.

�S�all right,� came the voice from the back.

heheheheheh.

Yakumo thought he would vomit. �Knights? My god, he�s even open about
turning you into soldiers for some insane militaristic conquest. He has
to be stopped now.�

�Oh?� the leopard man asked, putting on a breastplate with a skull on
the chest.

This would be the point at which SANE people would LEAVE.

�Listen to me,� Yakumo said. �You have all been brainwashed by this evil
man into thinking this way. You are not warriors. You are simple
animals, not tools for humanity to exploit.�

Speaking of "simple animals"...

�I object to be called simple,� a fox man snapped.

�Actually I think it suits you,� a rabbit man next to him quipped.

XD

Yakumo shouted, �You see? Already the taint of humanity has made you
turn on one another instead of living in harmony as nature intended for
you.�

The rabbit man and fox man looked at him in slack-jawed wonder.

I agree with this sentiment. What is this idiot, a reject from PETA?

Yakumo continued, �Don�t worry. Come with us and I swear to you not only
will we prevent you from being exploited, but we will endeavor to return
you to your natural forms so that you may live once again in the native
environment that you belong in.�

Even if it's against their wishes?

The leopard man drew nearer to Yakumo, towering over him. �Let me get
this straight, your goal is to get us to leave our home and follow you
so you can revert us to our former lives, taking away our intelligence,
communication abilities, and opposable thumbs?�

DANGER! DANGER, WILL ROBINSON!

Yakumo sighed in relief. �Exactly.�

Oh you are SO dead.

The leopard man grabbed Yakumo by the neck of his uniform and lifted him
off the floor as though he weighed nothing. He brought Yakumo close
enough to feel the hot breath shoot through his bared fangs. �Look, you
little piece of shit! I happen to enjoy having things like
self-awareness and having more to look forward to in life than wondering
where my next meal will come from and when mating season begins.�

"Why, I'm now aware that I can mate ANY DAMN TIME I WANT TO!"

�That�s the brainwashing talking,� Yakumo choked out. �You�ve been
abducted from your normal role in nature and twisted by science into
something you were never meant to be. It�s not normal for you to be
tainted like this. Believe me, the last thing in the world you want is
to become more human.�

Man, he's determined to keep digging, isn't he?

�Of course not! I�m a good human.

A good *stupid* human, yeah.

Yakumo felt the icy grip of failure grip his heart. This was bad. Their
brainwashing was quiet thorough. They weren�t listening to a word he was
saying.

Maybe because you're talking nonsense?

The others began donning their own breastplates as Sir Leopard spoke.
�You know what, boys? I say we give this gentleman a brief taste of what
it�s like to be �one with nature�.�

�Deevolutionizer?� the ocelot man asked.

�Deevolutionizer.�

Oh, SNAP. XD

�Ah, sort of,� Yakumo said, resisting the urge to tremble. Animals
didn�t frighten him. He was their friend. Animals could sense when one
had goodwill toward them. Didn�t dolphins save people from drowning all
the time?

You've swapped names with this guy and Yakumo, incidentally...

�Don�t call me Screech!� the bird man screeched.

�Then stop screeching,� Man Beast countered.

*SNRK*

Rather than getting on, Tabur sniffed the air, then looked curiously at
the silent Overrider. �Why hello there, Babe. I didn�t expect to meet
someone like you here.�

Overrider silently backed away, removing her hand to from the wall.

Man Beast scowled at his feline comrade. �Quit flirting with the human,
you insolent....� He stopped and sniffed the air, then looked at
Overrider, who seemed more apprehensive than ever.

Uh-oh XD

It was ridiculous, of course, Sho thought. This was an animal, and
animals didn�t threaten people the way humans did to one another.

What fantasy world does HE live in?

projecting human motives to animals, which was foolish since animals
were animals, no matter how science might change them. It might sound
and act like a person, but it wasn�t. Thankfully. There were plenty of
people in the world, people that destroyed too many animals. Science
didn�t need to make animals more like people; they needed to make people
more like animals. Then they could live in harmony with their
environment, the way nature intended.

Ah, the same one that breeds people who say crap like "You can't hug your
children with nuclear arms".

================================
Please do not stare at my crotch.
              ~~*~~
The Eternal Lost Lurker
www.lurkerdrome.com



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