POLICEFLUFFS 2: STAKE
by Oculus
“Mummah wuv Buddie! Am bestest babbeh!”
The Yehdoo brought her two front legs around her son and kept him in a tight embrace, and Buddy felt a bit embarrassed. As required for his evaluation, Buddy was brought back to Hasbio every quarter, both for examination, and enrichment through parental contact.
“Fwuffy wuv mummah tu.”
“Buddy am a good fwuff? Be good fwuff for da hummehs?”
“Yus mummah. Buddy am good fwuff. Wowked hawd as a powice fwuff.”
Buddy’s mother, Flavia, smiled. A pedigree Yehdoo, she had nice puffy cheeks and a thick pink coat. Her legs were long, and an emblem of a hare in sprint on her flank indicated a past history as a racing fluffy. That was in her younger days. Now, as a trained Yehdoo, she spends most of her days training younger fluffies of her breed as a coach for races, and for some, as an instructor for guide fluffies for the blind.
As Buddy hugged her in return, he took a good look at his surroundings. A two storied area, complete with a television, areas for exercise, items for enrichment, a staircase to practise climbing, and to reach the beds in the second level. Home, he thinks. Not the same as the harder kennels and barracks he had become accustomed to, but it was welcome comfort.
There was another fluffy here to see Buddy in the abode. Standing at the mid-section of the staircase, was a white fluffy, of the Waggytail breed. However, unlike other Waggytails, or most other fluffies, he carried himself in a dignified manner. He had a black mane and tail, and wore glasses, a result of age dimming his once strong eyesight. His name was Peter, and
Buddy was happy to see him.
“Hey dad.”
Flavia leaves the embrace, and excitedly said “Speshul fwen! Buddie i-i-is here to s-see ‘ou!"
Flavia had spent a lot of time in training as both a “seeing-eye-fluff” and as a racehorse, and thus, had a lot of experience with human speech. However, even at her best attempts to replicate human speech, she was limited by a constant stammer and stutter.
“I know, Flavia. I’d like to talk to him.”
As the paternal figure climbed up the stairs, a slightly curious Buddy turned to his mother.
“Wai daddeh wan tok to fwuffy?”
Flavia gave a reassuring look to her son. “Daddeh miss his babbeh. Daddeh wuv his onwy an’ bestest babbeh.”
~
“So how is everything going for you, bud?”
Peter’s room sits atop a large building exposed to the harsh terrain of the future. Surveying the vast desert landscape, both Buddy and Peter looked through the desolate void. Decades of war, environmental damage and pollution had corrupted a once pristine landscape, and the scraps of forest that bordered it were now gone.
“I’m doing fine dad.”
“Are the people at the station treating you well?”
“They are.”
Buddy always wondered why his father wanted to have talks like this with him. It was like he was trying to get across some message to him, but had difficulty in doing so. This was not to say that Peter had not disciplined his son as a foal, but usually, most punishments or interaction was handled by Hasbio staff, or by Peter with supervision from the staff.
“Has there been any trouble? I remember the time you called me in the middle of the night, when you were being trained by the army, saying how much you missed your mother and I.”
“I’m fine, dad. And that was a long time ago.”
“That was just two years ago.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve been a police fluffy for half a year now. I can manage dogs. I have seen dead bodies. And I can hold my ground in a fight.”
Peter turned to look at his son. Although Buddy was trained to be able to defend himself, fluffy fragility was not unknown to either of them.
“Fights? Buddy-“
“Dad, I’m a policefluff. Its going to happen, sooner or later.”
“You’re supposed to let the dogs or the humans tackle the threat. Remember, you’re only a fluffy. Even if you eat meat, run like a dog and can bite, you’re still a fluffy. A horse. Not a dog.”
“I know dad.”
Peter picked up on Buddy’s annoyance. "Son, when we have these talks, they’re only because we all love you very much, and we’re worried for you.”
“I know dad, but you also know that Hasbio selected me for this.”
Peter sighed.
“I know. I know all too well.”
A slight ding resounded. As the fluffy family had hooves, and thus no opposable thumbs, they could not cook. Food had to be provided to them through an elevator, in bowls that could be grasped by both hooves the way fluffies could grasp their building blocks. Upon receiving the meals through the delivery service, Flavia calls out for her two best boys.
“Speshul fwen! Babbeh! Nummies!”
As the fluffy family sat at the table, Buddy took a good look at his dish. It was specially ordered by his mother for her bestest babbeh.
“Eat up babbeh!
Steak.”
~
“So what is the Chef’s special today?”
“Chateaubriand Steak, sir. Wagyu beef.”
“What kind?
“Australian Flufallo. Free range, well marbled and well-aged.”
“I’ll have a steak then. Medium-rare.”
Officer Jenny was seated at the table, dressed formally in a black blouse and skirt for a civilian setting. Across the table sits a gentleman wearing a business suit. Wearing glasses and sporting a beard, he smiled as he looked at Jenny.
“I kind of miss when they served flufallo veal around here. It was the most delectable meat. And it’s a shame that the Australians never permitted the veal from their grade of cattle.”
“You know why they banned it. The flufalloes in Australia started to riot when they found about the practise.”
“But its not like the flufallo around here are any more intelligent. I seriously don’t get why some Ozziefluff agrarian decision should affe-“
Jenny was getting impatient and interrupted him mid-sentence.
“Look, I know you are my superior, but I would like to know why you called me all the way out here. Princess needs her shots.”
“Ah yes, your wonderful Princess. How is she, ‘mistress’?”
Jenny tried her best to hide resentment to the taunt. “Princess Rainbow Sprinkles is fine. She occasionally starts to develop awareness, but the shots have been enough to make her lose her memory or keep her docile.”
As Jenny said this, the waiter arrived with the executive’s dish.
“Your steak sir. Bon appetit.”
Licking his lips, the executive grabs his knife. He delicately cuts a small portion, while asking about Outback.
Jenny answers, “Outback’s the same. I keep him tanked up on VB as well as his favourite fruits and veggies. He’s cranky and a little bit stand-offish, but for the most part, he gets along with everyone in the station. Especially the SWAT.”
As he consumes the morsel, the executive takes a moment to appreciate the fat content and juice of a steer that had lived a long life, spent enough times with its herd and, with the humane policies of the Australian Beef Industry, underwent a euthanasia process that allowed the steer to reflect and enjoy its last moments in peace. All those memories and happiness, condensed into one juicy morsel.
“I heard Outback took out a few terrorists.”
“Just two cult members. There has been no sightings of the Case Designate J in the past few months.”
The executive continued to cut into his steak. As the juice gushed forth from the cooked meat, Jenny could feel a tinge of hunger.
The executive noticed. “Aren’t you going to order something? I can pay for the meal.”
Jenny shook her head. “I just want to get back to Princess soon.
And I know what you want to ask.”
The juice continued to drip from the meat piece, as some of it fell onto the executive’s bib.
“Buddy has been doing fine. We’ve only been placing him through search- and-rescue missions. We don’t expect him to fight, and he’s been pretty effective so-“
“He’s not developing.”
Jenny raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
“We wanted a hybrid that was not only capable of infiltration and retrieval. You know there is more we expect out of the hybrid.”
“He’s only been with the force for half a year. He may eat meat, he may run fast, but he’s not a dog, he’s a horse. A pony, even.”
“You know that’s not what I’m talking about.”
As he keeps chewing, Jenny had enough. Restraining herself, she got up, and departed.
The executive smirked to himself, as he continued to cut deep into the meat.
~
“This is a priority encoded communication from the Equine Development and Enrichment Subdivision of Hasbio Incorporated. Date June 20 2120. For urgent attention to Commissioner Remy Garry, Captain MacReady of the Central Investigation Department and Officer Clarke of the K-9 unit. Special order for immediate action. Priority. Send MacReady, Subjects 2214425B and 15212021311O to investigate Missing Person case 317. Location is at the ‘De-Urbanized Arcological[4] Construct’ located in Sector 37 of the Mega-City. No other personnel are to be attached.”
~
“So come on now MacReady, who’s this missing person 317?”
“Well, remember when Buddy found that body in level 50 of the arcology?”
“Yeah, I ‘memba.”
“According to the coroner, the guy was not sacrificed as part of the cult. He was murdered.”
The handler Clark blinked his eyes. “Excuse me?”
“According to forensics, the victim was in the middle of sacrificing a fluffy when some unknown individual interrupted him. There were signs of a struggle, but the other party managed to dominate him, and plunge the dagger into his heart. The black eyes were because he was in the middle of the trance and had injected himself with Blood Jelly drug.”
“Ah shit.” Clark had one too many encounters of people smuggling the blood of Jellenheimers across the border.
“So here’s the problem. The new missing person is that teenager’s sister. Apparently, the teenager had not finished some ritual, and now the cult wants his sister. Perhaps as a sacrifice, perhaps to convert her, god knows what else.”
“Fucking hell.”
Clark then raises an eyebrow. “Something like that requires like a team or something. Why are they only sending you and the two policefluffs?”
“I dunno man. I think it’s bullshit too, but it’s orders from the Commish Garry.”
“I don’t like it. I don’t like one bit.”
~
Captain MacReady was decked out in a brown denim coat, with a checkered tie, blue shirt and pants. He lead Outback, Buddy, Huey Dewey and Louie to the back of his personalized hovercar. Though designed as a single seater, the car, based after SUVs of a bygone era, had enough space for an animal as large as Outback, and still had enough space to fit in one tall fluffy and three German Shepherd Good Boys. Upon closing the loading door, MacReady opened the gull-wing door of his vehicle, and entered the cockpit. With MacReady manually switching on the various buttons and equipment, the craft started to hover as it slowly departed, away from the helipad of the Police Outpost 31.
“Fackin’ ‘ell, mate. Its like a cunt can’t even breathe in here.”
“Shaddup, outback. You’re not the only who’s in a tight squeeze.”
It is night. The hovercar speeds through the designated skyline, obeying the lights demarcating the imaginary roads of the airways, as it makes its way through the arcology.
~
Although they appear as huge buildings on the outside, the interior of arcology, especially in its residential areas, were reminiscent of the sidewalks, streets and apartments of a city like Manhattan at the turn of the millennium. As the hovercar landed upon a road within the greater atriums of the arcology, a homeless man with dreadlocks sat beside the sidewalk. A young foal is busy dancing like a robot, while singing an ancient tune.
Bad fwuffs
Whatcha want, watcha want
Whatcha gonna do
When shewiff Jon Bwown come for Fwuff
Teww Fwuff
Whatcha wanna do, whatcha gonna dooo
Yeaheah
Bad fwuffs, bad fwuffs
Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do
When dey come for fwuff
~
The trio had split up. Detective MacReady was busy interviewing locals who lived in the nearby apartments. Two of the dogs remained in the vehicle. Buddy, Outback, and the dog Huey were walking down the alleyway, through the tunnels that connected to the vents and pipes. While the residential area was populated, the alleyway was a gateway to the dilapidated warehouse areas of the arcology, which had been abandoned not too long ago.
As the trio kept walking, and when they were well away from a camera, or human ear, Outback voiced a concern.
“You trust the humans too much, Buddy.”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t get me wrong. Humans can be likeable, and my team are a bunch of adorable cunts, but there’s a lot about humans that’s downright facked in the head.”
“Why are you being such a cynic now, Outback?”
“Think about it, mate. We’re supposed to looking for a room with an altar aroun’ ‘ere. And a girl was missing. Yeah, that bit about them blokes saying this area was clear and no cultists? They’re telling porkies.”
“Well, the cult did clear out, and you took down the remaining two members.”
“My point is, we were assigned to find a missing individual, in a place that was previously considered a ground for their cult.”
“You speak like as if they will come back. Lighting does not strike the same area twice”
“I hate it to break to ya mate, but this ain’t lightning. I’m sure the fuckers are around here. Even with the cameras and the coppers around, they’re bound to be around ‘ere, somewhere.”
Sensing a truth to Outback’s works, Buddy realized that there was a lead they both could follow.
“Well, if the humans are lying, the fluffies don’t. Usually. The last time I was here, the ferals were starting to join the cult. If the humans are hiding something, maybe the ferals would know better.”
“Yeah? And how do ya propose we go ‘bout gettin’ that intel?”
As Outback said this, Buddy noticed the graffiti on the wall. In a style evocative of a child using crayons, Buddy recognized the image of the Jellenheimer that he saw before, and of a man holding a tray.
“I’ve been here before. There should be a friendly contact around here.”
And true enough, the cardboard box was still there. Walking up to it, Buddy switched his mind to the tune of Fluffspeak, and initiated contact.
“Huwwo fwen? Fwen fwuffy here.” Buddy taps the box.
No answer.
“Fwen?”
Buddy decides to peek inside the cardboard box.
The fluffy he met last time, who provided him with the info he needed, was dead. A large slash encircled its neck. The wound was fresh. But its eyes were black, indicating the consumption of Jellenheimer blood. And beside the corpse of the fluffy, Buddy could vaguely make out the letters, written in thick blood, “HEWP”
“Oh fuck.”
Just as Buddy said that, Huey started to bark. Huey’s bark echoed throughout the surroundings, as Buddy saw a young girl. She had black hair, her face dirty with grime, and a little blood. She was wearing a plain white dress, stained with dirt, and she was barefooted. It was the missing person.
As Huey kept barking, Buddy twitched his face. Using his face muscles to activate the non-invasive communication device attached this ear, he made a call to MacReady.
“This is Buddy. Outback and I have found 317. Requesting immediate extraction-“
“She’s gone.”
As Outback said that, Buddy looked again. True enough, the girl was gone. In her place, a herd of feral fluffies could be seen. All of them sporting various colours. All of them consisting of the different types – unicorn, earth and Pegasus. A multitude of breeds, such as the Carpdime, Gowdie, McGonagall, Mutagen and Fwuffee breeds.
And all of them had the black eyes.
“JOIN DA JEWWY HURD
JOIN DA JEWWY HURD”
~
BANG!
As the gunshot reverberated across the empty spaces, the ferals began to disperse. Buddy and Outback spun around to see the figure of MacReady, who fired the shot. Dewey and Louie were tagging along, ready to pounce in case any of the ferals get the wrong idea.
“So where’s the girl?” asked MacReady
“No idea Mac. One minute we saw her, and next, those ferals turned up.”
“She must be nearby.”
“Any leads, mate?”
“I got nothing. All the locals don’t want to talk. And seems the fluffy locals aren’t too friendly.”
“You tell me. The fluffy who gave me the intel last time is dead.”
Outback looks left and right. He is unshaken, but gravely concerned, “Did you see the eyes on those facking things? They took the damn blood.”
“Yeah that’s the least of our problems, Aussie. You said you saw the girl. Where was she?”
Buddy raised his hoof towards the direction of where the feral assembly was. “She was there one moment, and then she was gone. And then the ferals turned up.”
“Yeah, Buddy here ain’t telling porkies. I also saw her.”
MacReady pauses for a moment to assess the situation. Outback and Buddy are a feeling a little tense, as Buddy asks the real question. “So what do we do now?”
“I tried radio-ing for help, but no one’s responding.”
Fack, I knew it, muttered Outback to himself. This whole thing was a setup. But as he thought this, another question darted his mind. Why?
“MacReady, what do we do? Do we just go after the girl, or wait?”
Before MacReady could answer the question, more figures came out of the shadows.
Macready recognized the first man as the first local he interviewed: the kind old man who ran the local shop for ages. The second figure was an old lady, a grandmother and a retired factory worker. The third was a young teenage girl. As the figures appeared, any identity that MacReady had recognized in them, any semblance of humanity, was gone. All of them were wielding a makeshift weapon. The shop owner held a wooden stick, which he had sharpened at an end to create a stake. The grandmother was carrying a golf club. The teenager was carrying a pipe. The others had all sorts of basic weaponry. Kitchen knives. Scissors. One man was even carrying a machete.
And they all had the black eyes.
“Ah shit.”
As MacReady said this, he fired the first warning shot. The horde did not flinch.
The dogs were starting to bark. Buddy was feeling trepidated. He had heard about the effects of Blood Jelly on its addicts, but this is the first time he saw anything like an induced riot. Or were all these people in the residential area of the arcology secret cult members? Too many questions. Too little time.
Outback took one good look at the crowd. He then cracked his neck, as he sighed.
“Eh, fack dis.”
Without any hesitation, Outback charged straight into the crowd. Within a minute, he managed to mow down three of the more able-bodied members of the mob, while avoiding the elderly. Seeing this as opportunity for action, MacReady brought the back of his gun to his mouth.
“Stun Mode.”
“STUN MODE.” As his gun recalibrated itself to become a taser, MacReady started firing his weapon at the elderly and the young. He had gone for the lowest setting, to ensure that the incapacitated individuals suffered no more then a shock. He only had limited rounds, so he had to be careful. He had a baton ready, but, as far as he was concerned, his main focus was to stay alive without killing anyone.
Buddy, too, was prepared for this situation, as he gave the order.
“Sic’ ‘em!”
Huey, Dewey and Louie rushed into the crowd, as Buddy gave the targets.
“Huey, grab that stake! Dewey, bite at her leg! Louie, subdue!”
As the detective, the two fluffies and three dogs did their work, the horde kept going. Outback reckoned that they had woken up the neighbourhood.
As the action was going on, Huey caught a glimpse of the figure of the girl in white that he saw earlier. He started to bark.
“ARF! ARF! ARF!”
He then gave chase, much to the surprise of the other police personnel.
“Huey!” cried Buddy, as he went after his good boy.
“Buddy! Get back here! It’s too dangerous!”
Buddy could not hear them. As Huey chased after the girl, who was now running from him, Buddy was chasing after his good boy. The only thing on his mind was rescuing that missing girl, and getting her away from the madness. As Macready, Outback and the two dogs kept working, Buddy and Huey disappeared into the darkness.
~
Buddy had no idea how long he had been running, but his stamina began to wear thin. Huey dove right into an open grate, and Buddy followed suit. Try as he might, he could not keep up with the canine. However, despite his desire to call it back or slow down, Buddy knew that Huey had the girl’s interest at heart.
Crawling through the vents and tight corners, Buddy finally found that Huey had stopped, and was now barking incessantly.
Buddy took a good look at the surroundings he was now in. It was an enclosed space, a room that may have been a janitor or washroom at some point. Whatever purpose it had in a past life was now forgotten, as its walls were now covered in murals of stained glass. A red light hung over the ceiling, and the light outside illuminated scenes of carnage against fluffykind, ranging from mutilation, to the decimation of ferals, to the stomping of foals. All in tinkling glass fogged with a bloody mist. And at the centre of the room was a make-shift altar, with remnants of blood near it. Atop of the altar was the golden figure of the Jellenheimer.
Figures, muttered Buddy.
Huey kept barking. As Buddy turned his eyes, he saw the missing girl, huddled underneath a table. Her hands were bloody. Her arms were bloody. She was shaking vigorously and uncontrollably, perhaps frightened by Huey’s barks.
“Easy there, we’re here to help you!”
The girl took one good look at Buddy. She used her right hand to cover her eyes, as she tried her very best not to look in that direction. Huey’s barking halted. Huey then started to froth at the mouth, and collapse.
“Huey!!”
As Buddy shook his good boy, he then saw it.
It had the body similar to that of a fluffy. But its eyes were black. A smooth body, like jelly. And a permanent, unfaltering grin.
As Buddy retreated from the Jellenhimer, another popped up from behind the altar. Another from near the girl. Buddy couldn’t count how many there were. All he knew was that they had their eyes trained on him. And one Jellenhimer, the ring leader, went ahead of the others.
As he kept staring at Buddy, Buddy was not sure how to react.
~
Buddy was then overwhelmed by a sea of visions, as the lead Jellenheimer kept staring at him. Images and memories of torture flooded his mind, and he felt every wound and every atrocity committed against the fluffies he saw. Mares amputated and detongued, and forced into pods to birth foals. Foals that were placed haphazardly into cans, to be sold to the public. Foals that got tortured by some, or crushed while still in the can, or left neglected, never knowing a good life. He saw pogroms of fluffies throughout the century, of people wielding bats, clubs, and sharpened sticks, stabbing killing, beheading, mutilating, massacring, defiling.
He brought his hooves to his head, but the images and sensations invaded him. The lead jellenheimer and its pack focused their psychic attack on Buddy.
However, through the encroaching insanity, Buddy saw her.
A tall, cream-colored alicorn. Her wings were fully formed, longer than any Pegasus he had seen. Her horn was sturdy, piercing the through the darkness of the madness he was bearing witness to. The alicorn was standing on a field of green, with the wind blowing through her mane. As Buddy focused on her, the Alicorn turned to glance at Buddy. She then said the line.
“Follow me.”
Her wings flapped, and she took off, and flew into the sky.
“Follow me.”
Buddy was initially reeling on the floor. But he got up on his legs. The Jellenheimers kept up their attack, but Buddy trained on that image he saw, of the alicorn, while repeating the mantra.
“Follow me.”
Opening his mouth and bearing his teeth, he jumped straight for the lead Jellenheimer.
“SCREEEEEEEEEEE!”
As the Jellenheimer made an unearthly scream, a nightmarish form of the Fluffy cry for help, Buddy kept his eyes open. He could feel the crushing of bone as his teeth dug into the soft, jellylike flesh. As he bit down hard, he could feel the visions suddenly changing to a great white flash in his mind.
‘SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”
The Jellenheimers that besieged Buddy reeled from the communal pain from the loss of their leader, and immediately retreated, crawling into the various holes.
~
“One! Two! Three!”
Outback bashed down the door upon Macready’s order. They bore witness to the altar room.
“Welp, guess that solves the mystery of the missing cult room.”
Both Outback and MacReady saw the body of Buddy on the floor. Huey, who had now recovered, was licking his own wounds.
“Buddy! BUDDY!!”
Buddy could not hear them. He kept repeating “Nu huwt good fwuff. My name is Buddy. Buddy am good fwuff. I am a policefluffy”, repeating between the two languages.
~
It was a forever for Buddy as the images were blurry to him. Shifting through the dreamscape, and while battling the pain, he kept seeing glimspes of reality intermingling with the dream he was desperately trying to wake from.
He had seen the alicorn numerous times, but at one point, the alicorn started to sing a song from his memory.
"Mummah wuvs her babbeh,
Babbeh wuv his mummah,
Babbeh dwink miwkies,
Gwow up big an stwong”
The alicorn had morphed into a vision of his Yehdoo mother. Crying over him, kissing him, and giving him huggies. Even though he was hooked up to the medical equipment, Buddy knew she had to be there for him.
But even his mother could only appear so many times in the visions. As the dreams alternated between the comforts of home, and the hell of what the Jellenheimers had put him through, he saw the alicorn again. This time growing younger, and until it had the appearance of an adolescent foal.
This alicorn foal then sang another song.
“Somewhere ower da wainbow
Way up high
And da dweams that fwuffs dweam of
Wunce in a wuwwaby”
Buddy could make out the foal to be Princess, at his side. Her tender hoof touching his head. Princess had always been there for him and guided him through the office as he got to know the people working there.
Over time, the visions simplified, and became definite. Time started to make sense. And, soon, the figure of the fatherly Outback was by his side.
“Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
You’ll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me
He sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled,
you’ll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me”
As Outback hummed the song of his kind, Buddy said the first words he could mutter in over a week.
“You missed some of the notes.”
Outback turned to his partner. He was a little miffed, and then, glad.
“Fackin ‘ell. Ya alright, ya cunt.”
Buddy smiled, then winced. The pain from the encounter still wracked his body.
“Easy there, mate. Jellenheimers are the facken devil"
“Yeah tell me about it. I feel like I spent a few seconds in Hell.
But then I saw that alicorn, and I managed to get out of it.”
“An alicorn, eh?”
“You didn’t see one?”
“Nah mate.”
“Guess its different.
How are the others?”
“Carlos has been too busy with immigration, but he made a gift for you. Princess and I have been by your side everyday, along with your parents.”
“That’s good to hear.”
Outback then got a serious, as he looked at Buddy in the eye.
“I know you meant well, mate, but don’t try to be too much of a hero next time. You should have waited for us.”
“I know Outback, but I wanted to save that girl. And Huey was too far ahead of me.”
“Not really an excuse, ya fuckwit. You coulda been killed. I’m even facking surprised you’re still alive.”
“Yeah. I guess I am fucking lucky.”
For a while, there was an uneasy silence in the room.
“What did Carlos get for me?”
“A bunch of things. You’ll see when you’re out of the hospital.”
“Is one of them spaghetti?”
“Yeah, one of them is spaghetti.”
~
Jenny was angry.
As she stormed into the office at the Hasbio Headquarters, she made her way to the office of the man she met about a month ago. The executive was in the middle of a meeting in his office, when Jenny stormed him.
“Leave us.”
With his command, the other staff cleared until only Jenny and the exec remained in the room.
“You son of a bitch!”
In her police uniform, Jenny maintained a resolute defiance before her superior.
“What’s the matter?”
“You risked the lives of one of my wards, you fuck!”
“But Buddy is not really under you, Princess is.”
“Just because I don’t spend everyday of my life with Buddy doesn’t mean I’m not worried about him! Don’t forget, I was the one who selected him for the programme, and had monitored his process since birth!”
“Ah yes, Buddy.”
While remaining seated at his computer, the executive took a good look at the hybrid fluffy that was Buddy.
“Before that day, in that unit, only Outback survived the encounter with the Jellenheimer, owing to his mental strength. But now Buddy has survived it as well, which must mean the same. It was a difficult process, and the wounds will still be there.
But Buddy is no longer just a product now.
He is an asset.”
