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Chapter Twenty Six

"The Brotherhood of The Snake Standing By"

By

Furry Sith Lord

Lou toured the complex where his Brotherhood of The Snake soldiers were busy preparing for the mission ahead. He had old riot gear that police use and repainted it with a logo he created for B.O.T.S. Then the weapons were all rock salt launchers that would hurt like heck but are non lethal.

The team had seen training using the data Sanic brought of the layout of The White Citadel. They had been practising so that they could execute the siege perfectly. He was also training them to anticipate C.I.Z.A. using live ammo to retaliate. It wasn't that Lou didn't trust Merrik but... he didn't trust Merrik.

Each weapon had a secondary setting to switch from the rock salt to tranquilizer darts. The darts were geared to taking out Bear so Lou could enslave him and thereby take control of The White Citadel. The last task would be the destruction of C.I.Z.A's White Fur Division. Thanks to hisd hydra virus he had cut off all funding and the agents on the field that expected to get paid, would find out the hard way that their paychecks would bounce.

Lou would of course compensate the agents if they followed his orders! Unfortunately, he could not reveal this trap until Bear had been subdued. The only rogue element would b e Merrik and he had been devising special plans for him.

"Are you sure none of my slaves will be physically harmed by this little game?" Master Fox asked as he examined the army. Each wore red collars and were property of Master Fox after Lou had sold them to him. This group of soldiers were former C.I.Z.A. agents that had been sent into cubnap Lou and his family but Lou had turned the tables on them and captured then sold them off.

"Trust me and should anything befall them, you will be properly compensated." Lou replied.

"I believe you but I'm more worried about the later part of our deal." Master Fox said calmly as he watched Lou out of the corner of his eye.

"I will make sure every detail is fulfilled, I already promised you that." Lou said, trying to remain calm. "Normally I would forbid this but given the fact that I need to borrow these slaves, that is the only reason I agreed to this."

"All I want is to see the slaves I sold you. When I first took them they were so small and helpless. I never thought they'd survive long or that anyone would ever want them."

"As I keep mentioning, they are not slaves! They are my sons and you will kindly refer to them as that!" Lou argued and he glared at Master Fox.

"Forgive me sir, but I could never have children of my own..." Master Fox explained.

"You liar! You have a son of your own and I even helped get him accepted into Westerfield Academy." Lou replied as he folded his arms across his chest.

"Why... yes I do believe you're right." Lou raised an eyebrow as he looked at him. "It's very fortunate that these slaves hadn't been sold and I am able to lend them to you.... For a modest renter's fee of course." Master Fox said.

"Of course." Lou replied skeptically.

"Should you find them valuable, I might be willing to return them to you at a special price. You being so generous as to let me see how your sons are doing puts me in a generous mood."

"I still can't quite fathom your fascination with seeing them." Lou replied.

"I... like to see how my slaves are doing. To make sure they are cared for. I'm not saying that you would do that, but it would break my heart to sell them and later learn that they were abused. I just find learning that you loved them enough to give them a good home and free then adopt them. It fills my heart with joy!"

"Supppose I was sworking on a way to end cub slavery. What do you honestly think of that?" Lou asked. Master Fox thought to himself and used fis paw to scratch his chin as he thought it over.

"Unless you can end all slavery I don't think the idea will ever take. Not all cubs are suited for homelife and some have trouble adjusting because their parents, if you can call them that, sold them off." Master Fox responded and Lou nodded as he made a mental note of the comment.

One of the slaves that Lou had appointed as a leader over the group approached him and saluted. Lou looked at him and nodded and waited for his report while Master Fox wandered off to see to other matters.

"Sir! The troops are ready and are awaiting your orders." He shouted tio Lou.

"As you were, Sargent. I need to be sure that the troops are ready at a moment's notice. As soon as I get the call we ship out."

"Understood. We are ready and awaiting your orders!" he replied and Lou felt little comfort because he knew how big the task ahead was. Despite all the information Sanic had given him, he still felt underprepared for what was to come. The whole thing had been a part of Tyger's plan but it seemed nothing like what he was used to. There seemed to be too much risk and uncertainty when he was normally used to the opposite.

Tyger had skill with this type of planning and his chess mastery was the only thing that gave his father confidence in his son. He knew his boy wouldn't fail him but the uncertainty was driving him crazy. Almost as much as he hissed his husband and sons.

Even after all this was over there would not be much time to celebrate b ecause his sons had been out of school too long and they would need Jon's tutoring to help them graduate to the next grade. Plus Ben's parents were calling him daily to find out if anything new had been discovered about their missing son.

Ben's family cared little about him but the cost of the tuition was what was annoying them because they couldn't get a refund on it. Lou had offered to reimburse them and so far they had refused but he expected them to ask when he was returned home. Especially when he asked them to allow Ben to spend the summer with them.

He was sure Lyon and Dash would be playing and training to get ready for next year while Tyger and Ben would have to juggle their relationship between the tutoring sessions. He wondered how much their relationship had grown and how he had to fret over that. He remembered reading the letter Tyger sent asking how boys mount each other but he wondered what they had learned in his absence.

He took that nasty old shirt that Leggo loved of the wolf howling the letters OWO and placed it over a pillow. It smelled like Leggo and made sleeping easier. The last time Leggo was missing he was able to distract himself with the boys but with them missing now too, he felt so alone. He wondered if they even thought about him or were they so busy with their own lives that they had forgotten he existed.

Merrik sat at his desk frantically searching his computer as Gele stood next to him posed to respond. He finally was fed up and he slammed his paws on the keyboard.

"We lost all our remaining funds." Merrik gripped.

"Does that go for my paycheck as well?" Gele asked.

"All our paychecks! After this payday there will be nothing until I can get our funds restored."

"So tomorrow is our last payday. Just remember I don't work for free. I won't be back until funds are restored." she replied.

"I guess I have no choice. We go in tonight because it's now or never if we don't then I can't pay our agents." Merrik said.

"This is starting to become 'not my problem' if you know what I mean?" she said.

"Look I get it! If you want to continue getting paid then help me figure out what to do!"

"Talk to that damn deer and beg if you have to for his help." Gele replied.

"NEVER I'd rather die first!"

"Suit yourself," Gele replied and she gave him a side glance. Merrik sighed deeply then turned to face her.

"I appreciate what you're trying to do but as much as I would like Lou's help, I can't be sure that he's not involved in some way. What you're asking is that I give him access to our systems again and since he has a habit of slipping viruses into our server I can't risk it anymore. He would be a great ally if he joined us but his heart seems.... Elsewhere." Merrik explained.

"So what happens now? You just charge in at a moment's notice and hope for the best?" Gele asked.

"The deer is still the only one that knows the location of The White Citadel. He's agreed to tell me as we leave for the invasion. I guess it's his way of being kept in the loop." Merrik replied.

"Imagine," Gele responded and rolled her eyes though Merrik was not paying attention. He had turned back to his computer.

"I have a meeting with the board of directors. Hopefully I can clear up the mess and find out why our funding is gone."

"We'll see." she replied skeptically. Merrik rose and gathered his papers in a briefcase as he prepared to leave. Gele was busy sending a text to Lou letting him know about the latest developments. She also asked if that job offer was still on the table.

"OK, how do I look?" Merrik asked and she gave him the once over.

"Like yourself," she said and he grumbled softly. "Good luck," she said as he walked out of the office.

Merrik sat at a large conference table at the end opposite of where the board members would be seated. He was first to arrive and none of the others had entered yet. He nervously fidgeted as he waited for them to arrive and he rehearsed what he was going to say over and over in his mind.

One by one they arrived and he received a few polite nods but they ignored him and greeted each other until the last member arrived and they called the meeting to order.

"Merrik of our White Fur Division wishes to discuss an increase in funding." An older goat said as he called the meeting to order. The members turned to look at Merrik as he sat there.

"Correction sir, I wish to discuss why our funding has been cut off completely." Merrik replied respectfully and the members looked at him in confusion.

"I'm not aware of all funds being cut off from your department." A brown otter said as he removed his reading glasses and the other members mumbled their agreement with him.

Merrik open his briefcase and removed printouts showing that the funding was cut off from his accounts and he passed them to the members before him. Each took a copy and examined it closely.

"This may be a computer error," a female deer replied as he looked over the documents. Merrik couldn't help but notice a resemblance to Lou except she had no antlers and was a shade lighter in color than he is.

"Thank you for bringing this to our attention." The goat replied.

"We'll get right on this but I wouldn't worry because these kinda things happen all the time. It usually fixes itself in a couple of days so I wouldn't worry about it." The otter said as he put the files Merrik gave in in a briefcase.

"That's the thing sir, it's been several weeks and nothing has cleared up. I tried waiting and I think it's more than a simple technical glitch." Merrik replied.

"Weeks, huh. You should have come to us sooner then. These things take time." The old goat replied. The other board members nodded in agreement even the ones that had been silent the whole time. Merrik had that sinking feeling in his stomach that they weren't interested in the problem and they'd get to it after it was too late.

"Is there anything else?" A lion asked as he looked at the other members. He too was an old Alpha and he had one of his eyes missing and had been sealed shut. A large old battered scar was over it as the only indication of how he had lost it.

Rumor had it he was challenged for his role of Alpha for his pride and hre had killed the challenger but lost his eye in the process. It was an old archaic ritual to try and displace a leader that was too old and refused to retire. The trouble was that the younger generation hadn't been through the struggles the older faced and paid dearly for it when they challenged the wrong Alpha.

"Well thank you for your time gentlemen and lady." The lion said and the other members collected themselves and left. Merrik smiled until only a couple remained and he collected himself getting ready to leave. Merrik turned and saw an old coyote approach him.

"Hey boy, I thought when we appointed you that you could handle things?" He asked.

"Excuse me?! What makes you think I can't handle things?" Merrik asked indignantly.

"You're over here screwing the pooch on this whole matter. You wait until you have zero funding to do anything about it?!"

"Hold on Ol' Bob, I took over this job when that disaster of a leader, The doberman, screwed the pooch then doused her with gasoline and set her on fire. I'm still having trouble with the virus from the cub porn he downloaded into our system. I've had to wipe everything over three times and my IT guys still haven 't fixed the problems 100%." Merrik retorted.

"Well that ain't my problem is it?!" Ol Bob replied.

"Really?! Have you ever heard of The Brotherhood of The Snake?"

"Fairy tales," Ol' Bob remarked.

"I've found evidence that a bunch of yahoos built a website and are pretending to be them. Now I know you high and mighty boys don't give a fuck about that, but even you must realize what that kind of thing will do. Hell you probably have your own secret organization you belong to, so what. No skin off my nose. What I can't accept is that the public are panicky and if they went public you'd have a real shit show on your hands.

I've been handling them but if you know of a better fur to do the job then by all means elect them. See how well that works out for you." Merrik replied and Ol' Bob rubbed his chin.

"I knew I kept you around for a reason. I'll get you your funding by the end of the week or figure out what the hell is going on, but I wanna see results and all the intel on this Brotherhood nonsense." Ol Bob demanded and Merrik flashed him one of his famous smiles.

"As soon as our funding returns you'll get everything I have." Merrik said as politely as he could and the coyote stared at him and squeezed his shoulder then wandered off.

Merrik laughed to himself as he suddenly realized he had the deer in a perfect spot. If Merrik released the intel on Lou to his bosses then Lou's reputation would be ruined. He could easily blackmail Lou into metaphorically sucking his dick to prevent that and his husband Leggo would also be at his mercy. Merrik smiled to himself because today was looking like a great day.

Lou ended the phone call with his son and felt the emptiness as he was again feeling alone. The sadness was also brought on by remembering the last fight he had with his son Tyger.

"I want to go back to school," Tyger demanded as Lou was remembering the fight.

"What?!" Lou asked, confused as he wondered what his son was upset about.

"I'm sick and tired of you old man. When are you gonna die and leave me all your money?" Tyger shouted at him.

"But I love you son," Lou said humbly.

"Well I don't love you!" Tyger replied as he stormed off.

"Of course he hates you, we all do," Leggo said as he leaned against the wall as Tyger exited the office.

"Leggo? I don't remember..." Lou started as he was confused why he was misremembering the encounter.

"You ruin everything! How could anyone love someone like you? You use me as your plaything for your little plans and leave me high and dry as I hover on the brink of death." Leego replied and two teardrops leaked down his face but they were made of blood instead of tears.

Lou jumped with a start as his cell phone rang and he only then realized he had fallen asleep in his chair. He picked up the phone and answered it after he saw it was Merrik calling him.

"What?!" Lou replied angrily.

"Geez someone is grumpy," he replied.

"Merrik, it's been a long day and I don't have time for foolishness."

"Well make time because we're going in tonight and I need you ready to reveal their location or I'm arresting you for being a conspirator." Merrik stated.

"Tonight?!"

"Yup. We're outta time and if we don't move now then we won't be ab;le to. Plus you and I have a few things to discuss about our current situation." Lou detected an unusual level of confidence in his voice and he wondered what he was up to.

"Let me get ready and I'll be there promptly." Lou said as he prepared to put his plans in place.

"Copy." Merrik replied and hung up the call. This further increased his suspicion that he didn't try more of his banter that he usually does. Merrik definitely had something up his sleeve and Lou was getting nervous wondering what it was.

Lou made a quick call to the B.O.T.S. army and sent them out to hide on the outskirts of The White Citadel. He needed them ready and standing by to intercept C.I.Z.A. when the agents rushed in. This was as much of a head start as he could give them and he hoped this would be enough.

He called Sanic next and made ready to warn him so he could evacuate everyone to the shelters.

"Hello?" Came Sanic's reply as he answered the phone call.

"Sanic, it's me. C.I.Z.A. will be attacking tonight. Can you get everyone into the shelters in time?" Lou asked as he felt his heart pounding. He was again feeling fear as he realized it was time to find out if the plans he and Tyger had made would come to fruition or not.

"Really?! No, I have enough time. I believe that gives me enough time but I gotta start now or it'll be too late." Sanic replied.

"Are you gonna be able to get everyone to safety? I can try and still a little more but there's only so a limited amount of time I can stall C.I.Z.A. before putting myself at risk." Lou said.

"Yes, I'm on it. Don't worry everything will... hopefully, go as planned." Sanic replied.

"Good luck my friend," Lou said and Sanic hung up the call on his end. He was slightly slower than normal as he prepared himself as he tried to buy a littl;e extra time for Sanic.

The agents were busy loading vehicles for the mission as Merrik stood by overseeing. Lou approached him wearing his suit and he seemed underdressed as all the agents and even Merrik were in body armor and tactical gear.

"Glad you could join us." Merrik said.

"Here," Lou replied and he removed a piece of paper from the inside pocket of his suit coat. Merrik glanced at the note and saw an address and map listed.

"Is this?"

"The location of The White Citadel." Lou remarked and Merrik motioned to a table that held a suit for him to wear. Lou walked over and began to put it on.

"Since you're planning to come along I suggest you stay back with me at the mobile command center. I would hate to have to tell your husband you were hurt because you rushed out in the middle of the fight." Merrik said.

"You should know how I do things by now Merrik. The king never charges when the pawns can be sent in." Lou responded as he gave Merrik a look. He could tell that Merrik was up to something.

"Hey, I'm in place and ready for your signal." Jon sent a text to Lou letting him know he was ready to fly the drones over head and record the invasion.

"Is there something you're not telling me?" Lou finally asked as he finished dressing.

"There are some big changes coming and don't expect to like them very much." Merrik replied and he smiled evilly.

"Oh," Lou replied as he played coy. Merrik didn't seem to realize how right he was but the changes coming were going to be ones that he and the rest of C.I.Z.A. wouldn't like it very much. Nor would The White Citadel, at least not at first he suspected.

"I had a meeting with my board of directors and our funding has been restored," Merrik smiled and Lou wanted to laugh because he knew Merrik was lying. He had made sure that his hydra would lock out all their accounts. Even if this board of directors intervene, the hydra would spread out into their other accounts. This was what he was hoping for!

"So?" Lou replied as he continued to play with the foolish wolf.

"So... The topic of the Brotherhood came up and they want all my files on them. I already printed out everything so don't even think you can delete it. Anyway, When I turn over the information you might be listed in there because their site claims that you are their technical expert for B.O.T.S. If such a thing were revealed then you... and your company would be ruined.

I might be willing to keep you out of the intel I give them but then we need to discuss 'payment' for helping you out like that because it puts me at great risk, you understand."

"Is... that your lame attempt at blackmail?! Oh my paws, you're so cute when you try to act all big and tough." Lou mocked him and Merrik blushed then anger set in as he realized that Lou wasn't intimidated in the slightest.

"My friends are very powerful but if you really don't care then I'll tell them everything."

"Oh Merrik, you big silly... If I were one of them then don't you think we'd have plans in place to make fools like you look like lunatics for trying to expose us?!" Lou said as he started off being silly then he quickly became serious and narrowed his eyes as he spoke to Merrik. He finished by crossing his arms across his chest. "It seems to be more of a risk for you to reveal such things because how will you look if you pretend to be a whistleblower and it gets revealed that you're spewing nonsense?" Lou raised his eyebrow and watched Merrik carefully.

"We'll discuss this later, LOAD UP!!!!" Merrik said, then shouted at the agents to get them on their way.

To Be Continued...