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No Chance

Chapter 21

copyright 2017 comidacomida

Courtney was so caught up Rex and Abe that she almost didn't even notice Daryl make his way to the window. Only when she heard the sound of it opening did she jump up, moving after him. "Daryl-- wait!"

The Panther paused, half outside the window as he glanced back to her. "It'll be alright. Fred's coming too."

The woman didn't bother looking to where the large bear was charging out the door; she kept her eyes locked on Daryl's. "David isn't alone... he has at least one of those Thomas Grant clones with him."

Nodding, her fiancé acknowledged her. "I'll be careful. Stay with Abe."

She honestly didn't know if she would see Daryl again; David had a gun. Courtney also knew that she wouldn't convince Daryl to let David get away and, truth be told, she didn't want the Ferret getting away. The entire time it was David; he had been responsible for everything. Chances were that she would have totally been absorbed in her own thoughts if not for Abe's murmuring. She noticed it only once the Fox's voice raised. "He's still bleeding..."

Courtney looked back to Abe, who was still on the floor, holding the unmoving body of Rex in his lap. The Fox's eyes were focused entirely on the bloody hole in the dog's chest; it seemed morbid to her until she realized that the Fox was examining it rather than just staring mindlessly. She took a few steps closer. She truly didn't know how to approach the situation, but tried to delicately. "What? Abe? Abe... he's-- he's gone. You need to--"

The intern looked up at her, his eyes still wet, but holding the clarity of thought usually unseen in the grief-filled haze of someone who had lost a loved one. "He is still bleeding, Courtney! I can save him!"

Although she'd only taken a single class of psychology in college she knew the sign of one of the first stages of grief: disbelief. She knelt down beside the teen and rested a hand on his shoulder. "He's gone, Abraham. He's gone."

The Fox shrugged her hand away, speaking so quickly that it made Courtney's head spin. Words such as penetrating trauma, terminal ballistics, kinematics, cavitation, and hypotension didn't help the situation, and since Abe was murmuring more than talking it didn't help her understand what he was going on about. He didn't relent, however, standing up and running to the single desk in the room. Looking around, Abe's fur puffed out like a dog being threatened, and he grabbed hold of the chair before launching it across the room with a growl. Had he moved on to anger?

No, she realized, as Abe followed up by grabbing hold of the chair and forcing it away from the wall. He mindfully unplugged the power cord from the computer and did the same with the monitor's. Only once he had yanked both free from their respective appliances did he look back to her. "We have two minutes to get Abe's heart started again."

There was a certainty in the Fox's words and eyes; the shared language suggested that he honestly meant what he said. Daryl had mentioned before that Abe was a miracle worker, but she found it hard to believe that Rex was able to be saved-- she really wanted to believe it though. She stepped to the side, giving Abe clear access to the dog. "Okay. How can I help?"

Kneeling down with both power cords in paw, Abe motioned with his muzzle to the hallway. "I need you to go get my lab coat-- fast."

Not asking any questions, Courtney ran down the corridor. Abe hadn't provided her any clear details but she knew she had to get the coat as quickly as she could; fortunately it was within sight. She sprinted down the hall and slid to a halt even as she knelt down, pushing off with her feet as she sprang once again into motion, racing back toward the computer room. By the time she returned, Courtney saw that the Fox's bloody paws were almost wrist-deep in the dog and the separate power cords had been combined into a singular whole with the torn ends combined and twisted together to create two distinct contacts; the similarity to a pair of jumper cables didn't escape her. She shoved the thought aside, stating quickly "I'm back!"

Without looking up the Fox gave her the direct order "Work that under him-- I already got the bullet out but I have to close up an artery."

The whole event made her think back to the ER drama shows she liked to watch on the television; she worked the coat underneath Rex after kneeling next to the unresponsive dog and she had a feeling she wouldn't ever watch another one. She spoke quietly, taking hold of one of Rex's paws. "You really think you can save him?"

The Fox let out a yip and quickly pulled his paws out of Rex's chest cavity. "Got it!"

He didn't bother answering her question until he had some plastic box in his paws and began attaching the sections of electric wire to connectors on one side. "A leading cause of death from penetrating trauma to the torso is blood loss-- that's what killed him."

Courtney still didn't understand what Abe meant; if he'd lost too much blood then-- she paused. "A blood transfusion? Is there more dog blood anywhere in--"

Abe gave a snarl of frustration rather than anger or aggression. "He HAS the blood! Look-- it's still flowing!"

She did a double-take, looking back to the still-seeping wounds. It took a moment before she made the connection. "If he lost too much blood to live then he wouldn't still be bleeding?"

The Fox quickly pulled two wires out of the opposite side of the box from which he had connected the wires. He placed one on either side of the dog's chest. "Matter is neither created nor destroyed. He weighed almost one-seventy when he was a Dogman, but now he's under eighty pounds. He has more than enough blood for a dog. I-- I just have to get his heart started again!"

Everything clicked, and she slowly let go of the dog's paw. "Is that a--?"

Abe looked at her, revealing his teeth as he snarled out the warning "CLEAR!"

* * * * *

Courtney left bloody streaks on the rungs of the ladder as she climbed toward the satellite dish. Had someone told her at the beginning of the year that she would, at some point before the end of the year follow her Panther fiancé up the ladder to chase a psychotic ferret in a secret scientific installation she would have suggested psychiatric care for them, but she was living that insanity. The fact that she was covered in dog blood and had just helped in saving the life of a dog who had become a dogman but was a dog once again after being shot to death-- she almost missed a rung as she considered the insanity of how that sounded in her mind; it would have been even worse if she'd spoken it aloud.

While she hadn't originally planned on joining the pursuit of David that had all changed once Rex had stabilized enough that Abe could provide her any of his attention... or the firearm that he had smuggled in his lab coat. Courtney knew almost nothing about guns but she knew that David had one and, if the worst happened she didn't want her allies to be unarmed. With the weapon tucked into the waistband of her pants, she clung to the ladder, making slow but consistent progress; her slick hands certainly didn't help the climb-- or her mindset.

Rex had been alive once again when she parted ways with him and Abe, and she was thankful that the Fox had the presence of mind and knowledge necessary to save him, but she had to push that thought aside as well; she had to focus on helping Daryl and stopping whatever plan David and Thomas Grant had been cooking up. The Ferret had said that they were going to distribute the mutagenic agent-- the virus; it was going to be sent up into the atmosphere and released on the world. To what end, she didn't know, but she knew Daryl wasn't going to let him succeed and she had no intention of making him do it alone.

The sound of gunfire followed by a bellowing roar from up above made Courtney suddenly remember that Daryl wasn't alone. A second later, she pulled herself tightly to the ladder as a body sailed down past her, landing with a loud thump some thirty or forty feet below. She hadn't had a good glimpse as he fell past her but Courtney didn't have to look down to know that it was Thomas Grant. The sound of gunfire had paused, but her heart began racing when she heard it start up anew. She scrambled faster, working her way up toward the satellite dish as fast as she cared, heart beating rapidly in her chest, all the while she continually chided herself at how stupid she was being. Stupid, yes, but she wasn't about to sit by without trying to do something to help-- not with so much at stake.

A moment of deja vu struck as she was forced to cling to the ladder a second time as Thomas Grant flew over the lip of the roof. He rebounded forcefully against the metal rungs that connected the ladder to the roof, and his bloody body cartwheeled out into the abyss, falling down past Courtney. She heard a definitive roar from Fred, but she was unable to decipher it beyond the challenging tone it took. It was responded to in kind by more gunfire. Only at that point did Courtney realize her mistake; she had assumed that David had a singular Thomas Grant with him, and that was obviously not the case.

She delayed only a moment before continuing her climb, then paused when the ladder shifted slightly from her weight. A second later she was showered by concrete dust and a few flecks of grit that fell down from the damaged roof; the ladder had been knocked loose by the impact! Gritting her teeth to keep them from chattering, she forced herself upward. Courtney wasn't scared of heights beyond any normal sense of self preservation but she didn't much care for the thought of climbing a ladder that was at risk of separating from its firm foundation.

Motivated by a combination of fear, anger, and lots of adrenaline, Courtney increased her speed in the ascent and didn't stop until her fingers gripped the firm concrete of the roof. Only then did she heard Daryl roar a warning. "Fred! Get down!"

Courtney remained on the ladder, gripping onto it with her entire arms, laying flat against the side of the building as automatic gunfire rang out atop the structure. The insanity of the situation had hit an all new high for her as she wondered when her life had turned into an action adventure movie. When the sound of weapon discharge final abated, she gripped the lip of the building and then let out an inadvertent cry of surprise as the ladder shifted beneath her weight and she called to her fiancé. "Daryl!!!"

A furred paw reached over the edge and hoisted her up onto the roof. She was so alarmed by the movement of the ladder that it took her a moment to realize that the paw pulling her to safety was tan and brown. It wasn't until she was looking right at David that she realized she traded one form of trouble for another. The Ferret, however, smiled pleasantly. "Hello, Ms. Porter. So good of you to join us."

Courtney lashed out immediately, kicking at David but the attack failed to connect; the Ferret stepped back, setting her on the ground before he revealed his other paw, which held a pistol. It only took her a moment to realize that it was the one she'd had stuck in her waistband. "Although I am indeed armed, I would honestly prefer that this be settled without violence if you don't mind."

"Tell that to Fred, you asshole!"

Daryl's shout came from the side behind what looked like it could have been an HVAC unit, and Courtney's gaze turned toward the side; she gasped when she saw the result of the gunfight. The entire south side of the building top was riddled with bullet holes and there was a disembodied arm holding a large rifle of some kind. What really caught her attention though was an enormous furry ursine form collapsed on the rooftop leaking blood. She gasped. "FRED!"

David sighed, and Courtney heard the sound of the hammer easing back on the pistol. "I had explained to you that this project is bigger than any of us. My goal is to avoid violence, but if it is required I--"

Daryl issued a roar and charged. Courtney gasped when David grabbed her by the neck and pulled her back against him. She was ready to struggle right up until the moment she felt the cold muzzle of the weapon pressed up against her temple. The Panther's curled lip and expression of rage stalled as quickly as his charge. "Courtney!"

Despite being worried about the gun aimed at her head, the majority of Courtney's focus was on the unmoving mountain of blood and fur collapsed a dozen yards from her. "Fred? Fred!"

The Ferret maintained a strong grip on her and walked her back slowly as he spoke. "He's stunned. Unconscious from pain perhaps, but I have no doubt that a brown bear can successfully survive some small arms fire. Like I said, nobody needed to get hurt, but that isn't my call; it's entirely yours."

Daryl remained where he was, claws still unsheathed, but his expression was one of controlled fury. "Let her go, David... you don't need to involve her in this."

David sighed. "Unfortunately, Daryl, I think I do, as she is one of the few things that will help you see reason and help me to avoid having to hurt you."

Courtney had escaped the Ferret's grasp once and she was almost tempted to try again, but his hold on her had changed and she was off-balance in such a way to make striking at him difficult. Instead, she focused on keeping his attention in the hopes that Daryl could try something if her captor were suitably distracted. "You don't look like you're having trouble hurting anyone right now, David. Why should we even trust you? Why now? After all this? What makes you think we have any reason to listen?"

David's monotone voice made it difficult to tell if he was being humorous. "Other than because I'm armed?"

She assumed he was being serious. "You said you don't want to hurt anyone... so pretend you're not holding me at gunpoint... asshole."

The insult was added as an afterthought and, in retrospect she wondered if it was a good idea to antagonize a Ferret with a gun, but she was frustrated-- and also desperate to keep his attention on her. Daryl, fortunately, had apparently picked up on her plan as he had managed to take a few steps closer without David showing any sign of noticing. The Ferret's next move, however, caught her off guard; he removed the gun from her head and let her go.

The action also seemed to surprise Daryl, who remained confused long enough that David was able to level the gun right at him; only then did Courtney realize that her fiancé's approach meant that the Panther was even further from cover and had nowhere to go. Daryl apparently realized it too, as his paws slowly rose. The Panther's whiskers vibrated in frustration, anger, fear, and a number of other mixed emotions. "What happened to no more violence?"

David stepped back further, stopping once his tail brushed the base of the console next to the enormous satellite dish that cast a wide shadow across the roof. "This is to guarantee that there won't be any problems. To be honest, it does far more good pointing it at you than it does at Courtney-- you, I can shoot if I have to, but we need her alive."

She honestly didn't know if she could believe anything David said despite the universal language's apparent lie-proof communication, but she could tell that at least HE believed it, despite all of the strange, constantly changing proof otherwise. What she DID know however was that David had no intention of shooting her and, despite her reservations, she could believe that. Testing her own bravery, she therefore interposed herself between David and Daryl, somehow managing to not flinch with the weapon leveled right at her. "Why?"

The Ferret turned away from them for just a moment as his eyes sought out the control panel and his fingers danced across the keys. Focused on them again before Daryl could do more than move up behind Courtney, David offered what almost seemed like a genuine smile. "By the time Division Six is done here, we have estimated that almost 35% of the world's human population will be genetically modified on a scale equal to at least Daryl or myself; as many as 20% of those people could receive anatomical changes as extreme as Fred."

Daryl growled from behind Courtney. "That's insane, David. This is ALL insane."

David continued speaking as if the Panther hadn't interjected. "As the majority of the targeted release vectors are over highly populated areas, the variables of wind velocity and atmospheric variance suggest that less than 20% of domestic animal populations will undergo a change equal to or slightly lower than what we saw in the laboratory."

Courtney made certain that Daryl remained behind her despite the Panther's obvious eagerness to engage David in a severe mauling. She hoped to keep him talking, using the opportunity each time the Ferret turned around to punch some keys to move another half-step forward; she knew that Daryl could jump a long distance and their best chance was to get him into position. "But WHY?"

Punching a few more buttons on the keyboard, David finally moved away from the satellite, taking a step to the side; his body language spoke clearly that the Ferret intended to circle around the two of them and make toward the exit. "It is a lesson in the human condition, Ms. Porter-- a development of wisdom and an opening of the mind for humanity."

Daryl's growl was almost feral. "By turning everyone into animals?"

David's laugh seemed almost genuine. "Daryl-- basic math: 35% is just over one third and nowhere near 'everyone'. By targeting major cities, government capitals, and central power bases across the world, we will be not only affecting the top 1%, but the world's political leaders. They will either appeal to humanity's better nature or there will be an enormous shift of power."

Courtney was so stunned at what the Ferret was proposing that she had no response for it, able to do little more than keep herself between the turncoat and her fiancé. Daryl, however, had no trouble challenging that line of thinking. "So you think that the men in power will be interested in working with humans after they change, or will they just try and wipe them out?"

The Ferret, with his tail facing the stairwell, began slowly backpedaling away from them, gun still aimed defensively. "Humanity's movers and shakers have always been focused on their own wellbeing and advancement. With the majority of the armed forces still human they will have an uphill battle-- not just to stay in power, but to gain enough sympathy and understanding from the major population. To force control would suggest that they really ARE animals and it would be more than CAREER suicide to try and promote tyranny; it would quite likely be very real and actual suicide."

Courtney couldn't believe the audacity of the insane plan. Regardless, it almost seemed to make some kind of sense in a fevered-dream sort of sense. "And you think this will work?"

David shrugged. "Oh, I have no doubts that there will be difficulties and complications, but our small scale test shows promise."

The way the Ferret motioned at the entirety of the building with his free arm combined with the empathic understanding provided by the universal language made his meaning almost impossible to misunderstand. Daryl obviously didn't like it. "Dealing with whole communities is completely different-- not to mention entire nations."

Shaking his head, David felt for the door knob on the door with his tail and reached back to open it. "There was some concern among Division Six's decisioning council to begin, but the two of you were pivotal in changing the committee's mind after they read my report."

Despite Courtney and Daryl speaking over one another, Courtney was able to hear Daryl's demand of "Committee?" as surely as she could identify her own question of "Report?"

The Ferret propped open the door with his heel, gun still aimed in their direction. "Yes. You helped us reveal three important aspects of our program. First: unchanged individuals can accept these changes and still see the humanity within, and second: despite changes within the biology of altered individuals we remain human at our core and have the greater will required to overcome our baser instincts."

Courtney kept an arm out to make sure that Daryl didn't try to get in front of her and potentially encourage the Ferret to fire. "What's third?"

David grinned condescendingly, revealing his needly teeth. "It's the same reason why I can't risk shooting you, Ms. Porter."

She was tired of the Ferret's leading statements not telling her any answers. She questioned him further, even going so far as to antagonize him just a little by using his last name the way he used hers. "And what reason is that... Mr. Graham?"

The grin turned into a full on smile. "Because, Courtney: we learned that a shift in chromosomes for an altered subject does not make them infertile with regard to a human partner-- you are pregnant. Congratulations, by the way."

Without even seeing Daryl she could tell that he was just as stunned as her. She recovered enough to speak first, but it was little more than a single syllable. "I--?"

The Ferret lingered in the doorway. "I wasn't certain at first, but after several different encounters with you since the Dr Singh incident I compared my notes until I could be sure I knew the differences in what I was smelling. You are most definitely pregnant... and that is a good thing. A VERY good thing."

Courtney could have said any number of things at that point but, as her hand went to her abdomen, the only thing that could come to mind was the kind of question that was better reserved for a gynecologist instead of a psychopathic, sociopathic Ferret traitor. "Is-- is the... the... baby healthy?"

David spoke candidly. "Healthy? I am fairly confident that it is... but a baby? I cannot say for certain that it is a baby-- you may have a Cub growing inside you, Ms. Porter."

The situation must have finally worked its way through Daryl's mind because the Panther murmured from behind her "Oh god..."

The Ferret slowly lowered his gun. "Perhaps you can appreciate the situation a little more now. Daryl will never be able to move about in public unless there are some very big changes in the world... but this isn't just about your lives... we're discussing the future for our next generation."

Courtney wanted to cry; she wanted to lash out and scream and shout and probably throw something. She honestly didn't know what she wanted as the reality of the situation sunk in. David was right; in his own messed up way he was speaking truth in a way that was far too painful to completely accept, but Courtney could accept it just enough to realize that she couldn't ignore it. What then? Would she just sit by and let the Ferret and his Division Six masters get away with changing the entire world?

Daryl's next words were quiet, and just a little uncertain. "I-- I think... I think he's right, C-ney... there's-- there's something different about how you smell."

David remained in the doorway, nodding. "We all know that lying isn't in our capacity anymore... can't we at least all agree that, if nothing else, keeping our politicians honest is worth going to these extremes?"

As usual, the Ferret's complete lack of tone inflection made it impossible to tell if he was being stoically observant or ironically humorous. Unable to let the conversation sit on that indecipherable comment, Courtney pressed him further. "So you're leaving? You're walking away now?"

The Ferret stepped into the doorway, hiding his body behind it as he stowed the gun. "That would be best for everyone, I would think. I have no guarantee that Daryl wouldn't try to kill me, which means that I have no guarantee that your would be a single mother, which is undesirable on many levels. I have no need to stay, after all; the count down has perhaps five minutes left, and everything else is automated."

Daryl growled. "What's to keep us from canceling the countdown?"

David's final smile was the most genuine Courtney had ever recalled seeing from him. "The same thing that kept me from shooting your fiancé, Daryl; you have a little one on the way and you'll do anything to protect it."

Courtney's second hand joined its first on her abdomen. She honestly didn't know if David was wrong. Daryl stepped around to stand beside her, claws and teeth bared. "I'm going to find you, David... and when I do--"

The Ferret cut him off. "The password is 'F-U-T-U-R-3-4-U-S'. That's 'Future for us' with an '3' instead of an 'E' and the number '4' instead of the word 'for'. I know you won't use it because you know what would happen to your lives, your future together, and the life growing inside of Courtney if you don't let humanity resolve its ignorance and its--"

The conversation was suddenly interrupted as an enormous welded metal pipe collided with the side of the stairwell door, concrete exploding as if struck like a bomb. David disappeared in a hail of debris, blood spraying out in a wide arc as the pipe came to a rest where the Ferret had been standing only two seconds previously. Fred groaned as he returned to a sitting position, blood still oozing from his wounds. He snorted when the two pairs of eyes still left on the roof stared at him. "What? We have the password-- we don't need him anymore."

Courtney couldn't find it within herself to argue the point-- but, upon approaching the command console, an entirely different argument came to mind. One hand reached to the keyboard and the other went to her abdomen. David had been so wrong, but also, in some ways, he was also right. She glanced to Daryl, who looked just as uncertain as she.