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Rise of the Rodent

Chapter 3

By Draconicon

Despite the fact that he wasn't due at the Mensur house until near-noon, Salla turned his feet towards the bridge. Crossing the Rumis and making his way to the Councilman's house took some time even late in the day when the streets weren't busy. As crowded as they were with cop patrols at the moment, he could only imagine that it would take longer than usual. It might not even happen, depending on just how bad it was.

And it was bad. As he walked along the docks, making his way to the great bridge, he kept pausing when the siren of approaching cops called him to a halt. It was never for him, but for this rat, for those cats, for this pair of mice that looked just a little bit off. He had never seen so many cops out before, and while they were occasionally let loose, the majority of those questioned were dragged back to a cop car and thrown in the back, cuffed and restrained.

Whatever the Councilman was up to, he was pushing his authority to the limits to make it happen fast.

Salla bit back the complaints and witticisms that came to mind. The first time that he'd spoken up, it had done some small bit of good, but he knew that someone would make a call to the Councilman and see what they could do about that. It would be brought up as soon as he arrived. He needed to keep quiet for now.

But it was hard. Very hard.

He saw people that he'd known for years being dragged out. Some doors along the waterfront had been kicked in, and a few bakeries had been closed down. One family was dragged out, one of the badger officers holding an evidence bag filled with white powder as the rat in question screamed to the heavens.

Salla just watched, as did half a block's worth of other people. West-Side was under attack, and none of them could quite believe what they were seeing.

"Get in there, you little shit, get in there!" the cop grunted, shoving the rat from behind.

"That's not - it's not drugs! It's sugar!"

"Tell it to the judge!"

"It's not drugs! It's not -"

Thunk.

The door slammed shut, and the cops got in. They gave the rest of the crowd a knowing look, and the rats, cats, and mice all spread to create a path for the car as it drove off.

Salla didn't entirely blame them. It was the same look that they knew all too well, growing up on the poor side of the river. If the cops wanted, they could make your life hell. If they wanted to, they could make sure that you went to the bottom of the prison system and got stomped right into one of those 'cracks' where people never returned from. All it took was one person standing up for the others, and the cops would make an example of them to ensure nobody else did the same thing.

The only way to stop that is to have everyone stand up at once...

Or at least, enough people that they couldn't all be rounded up. That, unfortunately, would take a miracle.

Salla kept walking, the white-furred mouse finally reaching the bridge over the wide river. The wealthier east side gleamed in the noon-time light, beckoning everyone as if it were the promised land of wealth and opportunity. What lies, considering that it was only keeping that by shoving everything that it didn't like to the poor side.

He was just starting to lean on the railing to look down at the water and trade ships coming in when another siren cut the air. He stiffened up, his shoulders hunching, but the cop car coming from the east side screamed to a stop just past him. The mouse turned his head slightly -

"Oh, damn..."

Salla bit back a greater curse as the badgers converged on the familiar mouse from yesterday's crossing. He couldn't remember the girly slut's name, but he remembered Mamun being possessive of the crossdressing rodent. The black and white cat had made it very clear that this was his bitch.

They're playing with fire, now...

As the mouse screamed to the heavens for help, none of the passerby on the bridge said anything. They looked up and away. After all, it was just a whore, right? Just another -

Oh, no.

He saw Mamun coming around the corner. The feline's eyes went wide, and he was setting himself to charge for the cop car. The crossdressing mouse was already stuffed in the backseat, the cops were shutting the door -

Salla made a snap decision. He pushed away from the railing and put himself between the cat and the cops, making sure that he'd have to be shoved out of the way for the badgers to be viable targets. The cat paused in his reach for whatever was bulging his pocket today, and that was enough for the cops to get out of there. They peeled out, burning rubber as they went back to the other side of the bridge.

Mamun hissed, raising a fist.

"Salla, I swear, if you don't have a fucking good reason -"

"Do you want to get arrested, too?"

"I could have taken them."

"And two hours from now, your family would have been arrested and thrown in jail to get to you."

"They..."

"They would have, and you know it," Salla muttered, looking at the retreating cop car. He memorized the license plate and the numbers on it. "We can't get them out by fighting. We have to try something else."

"Since when does a Bridger like you care about anyone on West-Side?"

"Since I'm pretty sure that things are going to get worse before they get better. And some of us can't take worse."

"...Hmmph. Fine. Bridger. So what do you suggest? Talking to your boss?"

Despite the disdain in the question, he could hear the slight hope in the cat's voice. There was something there, something that wanted it to be that simple.

Salla shook his head.

"Not a chance. Even if he had the power to directly overrule an arrest, he wouldn't back down from this. Not for something so lowly as a tutor."

"So, what, then?"

"If you can't win a fight, what do you do?"

"I never lose a fight."

"You will lose this one." The white-furred mouse shook his head. "Did you read the plate and car number?"

"What - no."

"I did. Find out who the officers in that car were. And then, we can start working from a different angle."

"Didn't know you were so cutthroat; planning on killing him overnight?"

"Again, that would do nothing to get your friend -"

"Omu's not a friend. Just...very good at what she does."

"Fine. Omu will not be released just because something happens to the one that arrested her. We have to go higher than that. But we need somewhere to start. Get that information, and I can give you a plan."

"...You sure?"

"Mamun. You might want to remember who kept you out of trouble the last time that they did a purge."

"..."

"Give me what I need...and I'll give you what you need."

"Fine. I'll get it...but you better deliver."

The black and white cat stared down the bridge. He looked so lost, but the moment barely lasted for more than a second before he was already moving on. As the cat turned back to West-Side, Salla shook his head and turned the other way.

Amar and Mr. Mensur would be waiting.

#

He'd barely stepped into the rich household when his phone went off. Salla looked down, saw that it was a call from home, and immediately stepped back outside. He covered one ear and held the phone to the other.

"What is it?" he whispered.

"They came here. With money."

"Money - to buy us out?"

"Four times the price of our home."

That was big money, enough money to leave New Adar behind, if they really wanted to. And yet...

"You didn't take it."

"It came from them. Do you think I trust it?"

"No, I - you shouldn't. You didn't."

Salla took a deep breath. His mother had made the right decision, but even knowing that, it still cut hard to know that they were saying no to literal thousands of dollars. Saying no to leaving the city while the getting was good.

It was one thing to be a little selfish and practical about one's own life. It was another thing when he had seen so many people being robbed and arrested unfairly in such a short period of time. This was no longer merely an expression of law and order. This was complete abuse of power.

And it was going to get worse. Much worse.

"You are going to talk to him?" his mother asked.

"...I don't have a choice."

"Good."

"Don't sell."

"You think me stupid? Never gonna sell to these bastards."

"Good...good. I'll see you tonight."

"Be safe."

Click. Salla shook his head and put the phone back in his pocket.

Either that buy-out had been 'mercy' on the part of the Councilman himself, or there had been a brief chat between Amar and his father to try and beg for something on Salla's behalf. Either way, it wasn't good, and he didn't know which of the two was worse. He rubbed his forehead, taking a few deep breaths, focusing himself on the task at hand.

First, Amar. He needed to be filled in before he had to talk to the more intelligent of the two elephants, and he didn't want to go in blind.

Second, hold onto his emotions. Getting angry would be stupid. Getting angry would set this whole thing off. Being angry, that was fine. Showing that anger? Not so much.

Calm.

The fuck.

Down.

Once the boiling indignation and fury and the undercurrent of icy fear had been quelled, Salla stepped back into the house. His legs followed remembered steps to the younger elephant's bedroom, and he was just about to open the door when Amar did it for him. His 'friend,' taller than him and grinning wildly, tossed his head back to the room, almost like a fellow conspirator, and Salla's heart sank at the thought of what might have happened.

He took the invitation anyway, stepping through the doorway. He'd barely made it through before he heard the tell-tale zip of a pair of pants being undone.

"Amar...if I turn around and see your dick out...I swear..."

"But...you said -"

"I said I'd be willing, not that we would. Just...wait."

And he really didn't need to be thinking of the elephant's penis hanging out when they were trying to sort this out. Salla reminded himself that Amar was a more oblivious person than most, that he had his own priorities, that he lived on the east side - the proper side - of New Adar and that this wasn't a lack of compassion, just an abundance of stupidity.

It barely worked. He was still all but seething as he turned around to face the elephant properly. The zipper was up, but the bulge was obvious.

"I thought...well, I thought you'd be happy," Amar said.

"Happy? Happy that the police are arresting half the people in West-Side on non-existent charges?"

"Well, they're not arresting your family, are they?"

"You think that's an improvement?"

"Hey, you're the one that's always talking about money. I thought, hey, if that was all taken care of, maybe you could just..."

"Just what?"

"...Stay. Stop pretending that you gotta teach me all the time. Maybe..."

Salla could see where those thoughts were going, and it took every piece of learned-quiet, studied-guidance, enforced-self-control that he had to not go off on his once-friend. The idea that Amar had, that the two of them could just 'do it,' that they could be fuck-buddies or anything of the sort - or even that Salla would be happy with that - was not only ridiculous, but downright offensive. Not to mention, ludicrous. With the way that the Councilman was viewing the situation, he would never accept his son having a boy-toy on the side like that, not when the public might find out about it.

Not when it might threaten his goal of greater power.

"Amar -"

"I'm just...I'm looking out for you. He was going to have everyone arrested. At least this way -"

"I appreciate that you think that this is helpful."

"What are you talking about?" The elephant shook his head. "It is. Your family's going to be taken care of, nobody's going to be hurt, and -"

"I was going to talk to him. And I'm not the only one out there that's getting screwed over."

"Do the others matter? I don't know them. I know you."

Oh, I wish you hadn't said that...

Not just for how much it hurt to hear it, but also for how much it stung to know how close that was to how he viewed their own situation just the night before. Oh, the things that he could say to the Councilman for others before today, but he'd kept his mouth shut.

"...Thank you. For telling me exactly what I've been missing."

"What are you -"

Thunk.

Thunk.

Salla knew who was knocking without having to open the door, and so did Amar. The latter winced, trunk going up for a moment before coming back down. Elephant and mouse shared one more look before the former reached for the doorknob, pulling it open.

Councilman Samir Mensur looked down at the pair of them, taller than his son by some way and wearing gold rings around his tusks rather than the silver ones that his son wore. He glanced from Amar to Salla, and then back again.

"Am I interrupting a study session?" the older elephant asked.

"Not yet," Amar muttered.

"Good. Then it will be no harm to borrow the mouse for a moment."

He said 'the mouse' in the same way that one might have said 'the pest.' Salla knew, then, that the cops had already called in and informed the Councilman of the incident that morning. There was going to be a discussion, and most likely, a very uncomfortable one, at that.

"Come with me, Salla."

The mouse nodded, walking around his friend. The Councilman didn't take him far, merely down the hall to the office. The soundproofed office.

Salla wasn't offered a chair, and he knew that they wouldn't be there for long. As the Councilman shut the door behind them, he decided not to start asking questions. There would be no feigning innocence here, and he would be better served putting his words towards guiding things in one direction or another.

Guiding things. He's a Councilman. I'm a mouse from West-Side. This is not going to go in my favor.

Nevertheless, he managed to keep his face neutral as the elephant walked to the other side of his desk. Samir did not sit down, but rather leaned, one hand against the desk, the other behind his back.

"I've heard a few things that I would rather not have, Salla."

"I'm sure."

"There was an incident at the port today."

"You'll have to refresh my memory. There were a few hundred incidents up and down all of West-Side this morning, considering the number of cops around."

"Don't play coy with me."

"Then don't play innocent with me," he said.

The Councilman shook his head, but Salla knew that there was no point in holding back. Soundproofed office, lower-class species, the whole problem of being one of those that just would never be believed by anyone that mattered: if he did not speak up now, he'd get nothing. Punishment was coming whether he pushed or held back. Might as well make it worth it when it happened.

"I suppose there's no pushing you for details," the Councilman said, shaking his head. "The point remains. You were there. And you kept one of the arrests from happening."

"That may be the case. But if all it took was a question to get them to stop arresting someone, then that's a flimsy sort of case."

"The cases will hold long enough."

"Hmmph. If you don't want them to be convicted, merely charged, then I suppose that's the case. And it is, isn't it?"

"..." The older elephant slowly walked around the desk, reaching out and grabbing Salla by the shoulder. The same crushing grip that had landed on him the last time that they'd talked hit him again. "Tomorrow, I will give your family the same offer that I did today. It will be the same amount. You will take it. Or you will go back to being treated the same way as any of the other miserable little rodents on the other side of the river."

"If I was interested in money, I would have sold your son what he's really wanted all these years."

The slap was expected. The fact that it nearly knocked him off his feet was not.

Salla stumbled back and around, only for the elephant to grab him by the tail. He gasped at the sudden yank that pulled him back, barely biting off a howl of pain, and was spun around, shoved against the desk.

"You will never...tempt...my son."

"Says the father grinding against me..."

"...My son was meant to be better than me. I am making a place for him. If he must be like that, he can wait until the time is right. But you will not expose him -"

"Heh. Who do you think has been the one keeping it held back? He would have been 'exposed' a hundred times by now, but no. Blame the mouse. Blame the little guy. Blame -"

Salla groaned as the elephant shoved his face against the desk. The pressure on the back of his neck was enough to leave him hissing through his teeth as his back was bent so hard, and the pressure was nearly enough to leave him breathless. He was just barely getting enough to stay conscious.

"If you're going to act like a whore...then you might as well be used like one. My son will hardly want...ruined goods. And if I must sully myself to teach you a lesson in respect, then so be it."

Oh, no...

Salla's eyes went wide as he felt those thick fingers moving from his tail to the back of his trousers, all but ripping them before pulling them down and out of the way. He could feel how exposed he was, but his mind had gone still. Silent. All but one word.

No. No, no, no, no, no.

Except that there was no 'no.' There was only silence, and then the sound of a meaty thwap as something was flopped against his ass cheeks. He could feel the dripping running down his backside, running between the cheeks as the same hot, slippery, wet thing moved to follow it.

If he had been thinking straight, he could have said a hundred different things that would have gotten him into deeper trouble. There were dozens of ways that this could be turned around, to harm him, to make things worse...

And instead, he was silent, unable to entirely believe that this was happening. And somehow, that silence saved him from being raped worse.

"Learning your place already. Good. Show me the respect due to my species, little rodent."

Salla lowered his head ever so slightly, not even thinking about it, but the motion pushed his ass back just a little more than before. The elephant seemed to like that, and he got the 'reward' of a little grind, a little pressure, a little pre-cum against his hole.

That training...it wasn't enough...not nearly enough...

But it would have to be. Even as he felt the thick head pressing between his cheeks, even as the pain of the thick hand on his neck made him feel like he'd be staring sideways for the rest of the day, even as the burning heat of friction against his pucker mounted higher, he knew that he had no choice. If he fought back, this would get worse. If he tried to fight it and make a stand, it would hurt more.

So, he didn't.

He relaxed, or did his best to. He pushed out as he had done for the toy, and felt the head sliding against him a little easier. Not easily, but easier, grinding into him rather than against him. He still wanted to whimper, but that he didn't do. He grunted, he huffed, he shivered, but he did not whimper.

"That's it...you understand. But I'll going to make sure that you take this lesson away with you. I'll make sure that you never forget."

"Ah..."

"Rodents like you...they belong where we allow them. You've been useful little parasites over on the other side of the bridge, but that time is coming to a close. If you want to stay, then you must be useful. Hmmph. Maybe you can attract someone to use you like this...earn your stay as a house-whore...but after I'm done with you...I rather doubt that."

Thrust.

Thrust.

Thrust.

The slow grinds, never pushing more than a bit of the tip into him, never even to the full extent, was gentler than one might have thought of for a rape, but Salla knew what was coming next. He knew the sheer size that was about to pop in and surprise him. It was coming, and if it came full-force, he was going to be injured. Badly.

He swallowed his pride and did what he needed to do. He pushed back, taking it a bit at his pace, inviting it while he still had the strength and the focus to relax.

The Councilman took the invitation.

As the head popped in, Salla's breath jumped from his lungs, leaving him breathless at the insane stretch that followed. It felt like he had just had a fist punched between his legs, his hole burning all the way around. Mice were not meant to take things of this size...and he was going to have to learn.

"When my son tries to touch you again...and from what you say, he will...I want you to show him what I've done to you...show him...what sort of spoiled goods you are..." The Councilman's trunk wrapped around Salla's neck, pulling tight. "And just in case that's not enough...let's see how long it takes for a rodent to satisfy his betters."

The End

Summary: Salla sees a number of bad things, and ends up getting a rude awakening of just how far the elephants will go to see their goals through.

Tags: M/M, M/solo, Rape, Nonconsensual, Salla, Mouse, Elephant, Cat, Police, Arrest, Politics, Size Difference, Misunderstanding, Series, Patreon, Pain, Speciesism,