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Chapter Twenty Eight

"The End of Merrik"

By

Furry Sith Lord

Sanic watched as Ben and Tyger were spooning as they slept together. Leggo had given up his blanket so that his was laid as a base on the floor then Ben's was rolled up and used acs a pillow then lastly Tyger's was covering the two of them as they slept.

Leggo held Lyon like a baby, even though he was too big and too old to be treated like one, and he made soft murmuring sounds to help the lad sleep. He wasn't sure why he was doing it but it just felt right like it was something he should be doing.

He kept having thoughts of holding a faceless white cub but everytime he tried to recognize the cub they would vanish from his mind.

"Sanic? Was I a father?" he asked, finally working up the courage.

"Yes, you were and you were a great father." Sanic replied softly.

"Why can't I remember them?"

Something happened and you lost your children. When you came to us you chose to leave your old life behind. I think that's why you blocked out their memory. To keep you from causing yourself anymore pain. Then you had your accident and you lost all your memories, even me. It may take time but you may never recover them all." Sanic lied and in his mind he was begging for Leggo to forgive him. Only Bear could remove the collar and only then would his memories return. If Sanic didn't lie then he was afraid of what the color would do to him in order to keep him from remembering everything.

Only a couple of species were still awake and both Leggo and Sanic looked up as the lights flickered and then immediately went out. There were hushed moans as they sat there now in complete darkness.

"The backup hasn't kicked in?" Sanic said as he was trying to keep panic out of his voice. He was thinking this was not a simple power outage. A couple of the enforcers turned on flashlights and Sanic went over to give them directions. The shelter had some candles stored with the emergency food and items. Since most of the room was now sleeping only a few candles would be needed in case someone needed to use the bathroom.

Leggo watched the cubs sleeping and he felt a fatherly instinct in him that until now he had no idea he had. Even the oversized cub sleeping on his lap made him want to protect them even though they were not his. He knew he was going to burst into the Bear's office and demand he be given custarty of the cubs to protect them from whatever the white wolf had been doing.

"Do we have any weapons down here?" Bruno the white rhino asked Sanic.

"I'm afraid not because Papa Bear was afraid that the civilians here might harm each other if they panicked. The best we can do is try to barricade the door and wait for Papa Bear's signal." Sanic instructed.

"What should we use?" Moris asked. Sanic was dazzled by his white stripes as they seemed to shimmer in the candlelight.

"I believe we have some support beams to use just in case we have to do something like this. Papa Bear tested it and even he couldn't break through it." Sanic said.

"But can it withstand an army?" Bruno asked skeptically.

"Probably not but since Papa Bear is the only one that knows we're here I doubt they'll find us easily. " Sanic countered.

"That leaves us pretty helpless because if Bear is killed," Sanic gave him a hard stare. "Sorry, Papa Bear, then how will we know when to come out or what we will be coming out to?" Morris asked.

"Just have patience and wait for Papa Bear to signal us. We have enough food and equipment to last a month here if need be. I doubt we'll have to stay that long but there is nothing to worry about." Sanic said reassuringly.

"Hope you're right," Morris said as he and Bruno went to find the support beams.

"OK we're going dark, team leaders follow our current objectives. Over." Merrik said into the radio and he nodded to Lou, who flipped the switch and an electromagnetic pulse was released and within a few seconds the entirety of the city and a little past the surrounding area was without power. The street lights took a second and they immediately went dark and all Bear watched in horror as his computer monitors went black as well as the rest of his office.

"Fuck me raw," one of the agents said as they witnessed everything go dark.

"Strike up the lanterns," Lou ordered and a pile of oil lanterns were lit. Pass those around to our guys so they are not blind down there. The remaining agents and guards looked at Merrik and he nodded.

"So that should cripple Bear's entire defensive systems. All that remains is our agents to round them all up and it's case closed." Merrik gloated.

"As long as his only defense is electronics then yes, you are correct, however guns still work as well as vehicles as long as they are not fully electronic or are electric cars. I only hope that there were no patients on life support." Lou said cryptically.

"Shame we can't collar Bear now," Merrik remarked.

"Why's that?" Lou asked.

"Because they are electronic. They should all be disabled." Merrik said. An unseen figure approached him from behind and stood there. He was robbed in black to hide his identity even though Lou knew exactly who it was.

Lou removed a small backpack from the van and took out a white collar from it.

"My company makes these things," Lou's face twisted and he looked as if he was holding a snake. "When my father was in charge he anticipated EMP's being used more commonly because of the push to have everything go electronically. Because of that these were outfitted with RF shielding which can block EMPs from affecting them." Lou said and then he nodded to the figure. He immediately grabbed and held Merrik and no matter how much he struggled he couldn't get free. Lou approached and placed the collar on Merrik's neck.

"You will obey me." Lou said as the collar's effect.

"What the... I will obey you, master." Merrik said and the figure removed the hood revealing that it was Will. Will released Merrik as he stood there dumbfounded and he looked at the both of them.

"Let me explain, I released Will and smuggled him with us so that when we both had the opportune moment he'd grab you and I would collar you. This collar is actually a red collar but I intentionally changed the color so that no one would know." Lou explained.

"After everything we've been through you betray me like this?!" Merrik screamed at him.

"After what? You will lose all your memories. Your name is now Melvin but you like to be called Mel for short. You were a school friend of mine and my husband Leggo's and you hope to work with him doing security. You have no memory that I am your master but you will still obey my orders." Lou commanded as he pressed his thumb to the clasp. Merrik shook and fell to the ground for a moment then turned and looked at Lou.

"What happened?"

"Mel? Are you alright? Something flew and hit you on your head!" Lou said as he helped the former leader of C.,I.Z.A. to stand.

"My head hurts... I can't remember... Why am I here? What's going on buddy?" Mel asked as he rubbed his head.

"Will get him outta here. I'll take care of the rest." Lou said and Will nodded as he led Mel away. The wolf tried making small talk to Will asking about what was going on. Will followed the script Lolu had given him and told him stories about when they used to go to school together.

"So I'm an uncle?" Mel asked after Will explained that he was an acting uncle of Tyger and Lyon. Lou had decided to give him the one thing he had always wanted even though he could no longer remember wanting it. Lou was going to have a bigger challenge explaining the whole story to his kids.

"FUCK!!!!" Bear screamed as he punched one of the monitors and broke it as his fist went through the screen. BH backed up and raised his paws to defend himself fearing Bear's wrath. "We're completely cut off." Bear said as BH felt his heart being rapidly due to Bear's anger instead of the situation.

"What should we do, Papa Bear?" BH asked. Bear opened a draw and removed two similar handguns. They were 1911 .45 caliber handguns with a chrome finish to them.

"These are all I have! Take out any of them and steal their weapons to use against them." Bear ordered.

"Are you mad?! This ain't a video game where we can do that kinda thing. You saw what they're wearing, they'll block the bullet and take us out before we can even fire a shot!" BH cried as fear took over.

"Sneak in close and take the shot, then hide as fast as you can. The only other thing I can recommend is using those other boys to draw their fire. Don't let them find the shelter under any circumstances." Bear instructed and BH nodded as Bear forced open the hatch to his office.

The air was still chilly from the ACs and it felt great against his skin but he could feel the temperature raising.

"What will you be doing?"

"I'm going for the IronClad! When I pass by, jump on and join me. Use the special knock so I know it's you and I'll open the hatch to let you inside to help me operate it."

"Copy," BH replied but his fear was growing because he knew of the destructive power of the IronClad. The IronClad was a tank that Bear had liberated from a military base before he quit C.I.Z.A. He had used his standing to gain entrance then systematically killed everyone on the base.

The IronClad was not a small tank either but was heavily armored and to run it in the streets would destroy most of the buildings of the WC!. Bear seemed to have decided to destroy the WC in order to save it...

BH watched Bear as he lumbered off towards the secret garage that held the tank. He held the handgun upright with his finger on the trigger and took a deep breath to steady himself. He saw a group of C.I.Z.A. agents fighting the other team but he dared not get close when he saw the other guys throw smoke grenades at C.I.Z.A. While they were coughing and choking on the smoke the other guys charged in and subdued them.

BH saw a couple of teams that had gas masks and were easily able to capture the other guys. Both sides were still seemed evenly matched and somehow the other guys had gotten hold of rifles instead of the rock salt weapons they originally had. The tide of battle changed as the IronClad rolled in with it's large cannon turning and pointing the barrel at the armies.

The team instantly threw down their weapons and knelt as they surrendered rather than trying to fight the tank. BH had grabbed a bunch of zip ties and used them to secure the prisoners as the tank continued it's conquest.

Several agents ran up to Lou as he watched the battlefield with a pair of binoculars. He couldn't believe that Bear had a tank ready for them. It was just old enough that the EMP had no effect on it. It was now dominating the battle because no one was trained to deal with it. It was one surprise that no one had counted on.

"What do we do sir?" Several agents asked Lou aas they came up looking for Merrik. With him missing they were expecting orders from Lou. Unfortunately Lou had no idea what to do and he tried to reason things out.

"Do we have any more smoke grenades?" Lou asked.

"Just what we took from the opposition." One of the team leaders said.

"If it works out we might be able to disable it with two smoke grenades. Use one to blind them as they move forward and the second toss in the barrel of the cannon to send the smoke inside. There is a white colored wolf that is tying our guys up so make sure you send in some troops to capture him." Lou ordered. The remaining agents ran to carry out his plan.

"Will that work?" one of the agents asked him.

"As long as he doesn't have a gas mask in there it should... or at least help slow him down." Lou replied.

"Anyone seen the boss?" Someone asked as they continued their search for Merrik.

"He ran into battle saying he wasn't gonna leave you all alone and helpless." Lou lied and the agent looked at him skeptically.

"That doesn't sound like the boss. He's more of the stand around, behind, everyone and watch them closely type. He must have been hiding since he saw the tank." the agent replied and Lou narrowed his eyes as he looked at the agent then shrugged.

"Sir! There is movement down there on the battlefield." another agent said and Lou turned his binoculars to see the activity. The white wolf was gathering the captured prisoners and leading them together to the center of The White Citadel.

"What are they up to?" Lou remarked. The hatch on the tank opened and Bear stuck his head out holding a megaphone and he pulled off his gas mask. Lou wanted to grind his teeth in frustration because it seems Bear would be impervious to his smoke grenade plan.

"Do we have any regular grenades?" Lou asked and they shook their heads back at him.

"Is this thing on?" Bear asked himself. Lou watched him carefully and was wondering why his fur was missing. He looked like a giant naked mole rat holding a megaphone.

"Attention, attention please! In the gesture of compassion and decency I will allow the remaining members of C.I.Z.A. and B.O.T.S. to surrender now or face the consequences. If you refuse then I will use this tank to blast the prisoners we have collected in the center of the WC. If you surrender, then you will all be treated fairly for trying to invade our community. No harm will come to your companions and you will even be allowed to join us after your indoctrination." You have 30 minutes to decide and in case you're thinking about a rescue," The cannon of the tank turned in the direction of the center pointing at the captured species.

"Any signs or attempts at a rescue and I'll blow them to pieces. I have my team monitoring them and watching very closely." Bear concluded.

"Fuck," Lou said as he continued wtching with the binoculars.

"What do we do sir?" An agent asked.

"We have less than 30 mins to figure out a way to disable that tank. I... unfortunately have no idea how to do it." Lou replied as he continued watching. "We need a way to sneak up and block the nozzle so he can't shoot from it.

"Smoke bombs?"

"No, that may cause him to fire prematurely. He said no rescue attempts but we're not surrendering unless it's a last resort. Gotta think of something... wish my son was here, he's good at this stuff." Lou said.

"Sir?"

"Wait a minute! My son... Can you get a team to extract a certain fur from an underground bunker in time?" Lou asked the agent as he remembered Sanic telling him where the shelter was located.

"Depends on how far away it is." the agent replied and Lou drew a quick map of The White Citadel and showed where it was located.

"You're looking for a white tiger cub and a white hedgehog. Tell them that his father needs him desperately and hurry because we're running out of time." Lou looked around and found another agent nearby and he drew him close.

"I need you to run down to that tank and yell at the occupant. Tell him that we're gonna surrender but it'll take more than 30 minutes to gather our remaining troops. Tell him if he wants I'll join him as his prisoner so that he can secure we're not going to try anything." Lou instructed him.

"Sir, I cannot allow you to surrender yourself to the enemy." the agent replied.

"It's just a bluff to buy us some time as we mount the counter attack. Now GO!!! We're running short on time." Lou yelled and the agent went running towards the tank. Lou gathered the remaining troops to give them instructions.

"How are you doing?" Sanic asked Leggo as he rejoined him. The cubs were still fast asleep.

"Fine, the little guy here," Leggo started and Sanic gave a suspicious look at his friend for calling Lyon little because he wasn't as small as was indicated. Sanic glanced at the paw size of the cub and realized he was going to be a giant hulk of a monster when he grows up. Although he was the youngest he was probably going to tower over his older brother.

"He keeps mumbling and calling me 'daddy' for some reason. I just don't have the heart to tell him I'm not because it might wake him."

"It's fine... it won't hurt nothing to have him call you that and besides, you sure seem like a dad to him... at least to me anyways." Sanic reassured him.

"Thanks," Leggo replied softly.

"Hey, when this is all over, let's go out for a Tail Waggin' Meal, my treat!" Sanic said and he smiled at Leggo waiting to see his response.

"What's a Tail Waggin' Meal?" Leggo asked and Sanic looked at him incredulously.

"Only your favorite thing to eat in the world! Even I could go for a chicken nugget or two."

"Alright, you're on." Leggo replied and he smiled as the little guy seemed overjoyed with his agreement. He couldn't help but to smile back although he had no idea what he just agreed to and what he was in for.

There was a sudden pounding at the entrance that startled the peaceful interior and Sanic ran towards the door. A couple of the sleeping species were started and woke slowly from the banging. Sanic dodged as they sat up rubbing their eyes to find out what was disturbing their sleep.

"Who's there?" Morris asked.

"We're looking for Sanic and Tyger." Came the unfamiliar voice replying.

"Why do you want them?" Sanic asked as he pressed his ear next to the door.

"A deer named Lou said he's their father and he needs there help immediately."

"Father?!" Sanic asked skeptically because Lou wasn't his father. "Hold on." he replied and ran over to wake Tyger from his sleep.

"Tyger, Tyger, wake up!" he said as he tried pushing the white tiger to get him to wake.

"Huh?" Tyger said as he let out a huge yawn and rubbed his eyes.

"Your father said he needs to see the both of us." Sanic explained.

"Do you know why?" he asked as he shook off the last of the sleep he was feeling.

"I have no idea, could this be a trap?" Sanic asked.

"I'm not fully sure but I doubt that my father broadcasts to everyone that he is my father. I doubt anyone from C.I.Z.A. or his team would even know about my relationship unless my father was authentically involved. I think we should go but we need to b e cautious." Tyger replied. They quickly made their way to the entrance as Tyger carried Sanic in his arms and held him like he was a teddy bear just to keep him safe. Luckily Sanic didn't mind.

"Alright open the doors a little but be ready in case they try to charge in." Sanic instructed Morris and Bruno. They both nodded and removed the support beams from one of the door and opened it barely enough for Tyger to slip by as he carried Sanic.

"Who are you guys?" Tyger asked as he exited the shelter and a team of agents waited patiently though several had looks of pan ic on their faces.

"No time we have less than 10 minutes to get you to your father!" the agent informed.

"Why?" Tyger asked as the agent gripped his arm and pulled him swiftly along.

"Bear is sitting in a tank with the gun barrel pointed at over a dozen hostages. Your father thinks you can help him figure out what to do before the time limit." The agent explained and Tyger shrugged off the agent as he started to run following them.

"Bear is in the IronClad?" Sanic asked.

"Yes and he gave us 30 minutes before he kills the hostages. Normally it wouldn't matter much as it does now but those hostages are our men." They ran back to the mobile command center where Lou was waiting impatiently for their arrival.

"I'm...here" Tyger replied as he took deep breaths from all the running as he carried the hedgehog so he wouldn't slow them down.

"Father," Tyger replied as he grabbed and hugged his father while Sanic was caught in between then and got slightly squished.

"Easy guys, I can't breathe here." Sanic complained and they quickly separated and Sanic was placed carefully on the ground.

"Have you been advised what's going on?" Lou asked.

"Kinda, Bear has hostages that he plans to kill any minute now." Tyger summarized.

"Yes... I was able to convince him that we are surrendering so he's giving us a brief extension as I gather our forces.

"What do you need me for?" Tyger asked and Lou led him to a stop and used the binoculars to show him where the tank was and where the hostages were.

"I need you to help me figure out a way to disable that tank and save everyone. You're better at this last minute planning so that's why I had you brought here. I'm sorry we don't have time to catch up but time is running out."

"How much time do we have?" Tyger asked as Sanic jumped up into his arms again and Lou gave the hedgehog the binoculars. Sanic groaned as the fear of what Bear was about to do filled his mind. He never would have believed he would do something like this but it was now absolutely true that Lou was right about how dangerous their leader was.

To Be Continued...