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Breaking and Making Soldiers

Part 1

for Justacritic

by Draconicon

Desert heat met oasis wet as Theo Carter stepped off the plane. The hare shaded his eyes against the shimmering heat and light, keeping them glued to the tarmac for the moment until they adjusted from the plane's dark interior. The other soldiers were already piling out of the aircraft, hustling along to their assigned stations, but he took his time. As a corporal, he could linger slightly longer than the privates, and more to the point, this was his first tour out here. He was still waiting for -

"Carter!"

There it was. The hare looked up, one ear cocking to the side to block the worst of the sunlight as he squinted down the airfield. A cougar waved his hand overhead, wearing the captain bars on his collar. Theo saluted, got one back, and proceeded down the gangplank.

"What took so long, Corporal? HQ said that you'd be here last week," the cougar said.

"Sorry, sir. Rainstorms flooded out the airfield at my previous station," Theo said, shaking his head. "Got airborne as fast as I could. Sorry about delaying your men, sir."

"Least you're here now. Come on. I'll show you to your bunk."

Good offer. Theo fell in step just behind the cougar, flicking his eyes back and forth. Unlike his last station, this base was entirely laid out around the airfield. He imagined most of the soldiers slept with earplugs or had already gone half-deaf. He was hoping for the former. Soldiers that couldn't hear the enemy were a hell of a lot harder to keep alive.

"What've you been told about your new assignment?" the captain asked.

"Not much. Just that I'm going to be part of patrol duties."

"That's right. Second in the chain for your squad. Got me?"

"Copy, sir."

"Good." The captain turned, taking them around one large tent and towards another. "There's been some movement in the jungle lately. Some of the brass wants to burn it down."

"Hard to justify that, sir."

"Heh, you're telling me. All kinds of UN red tape and bullshit. But hey, long as it's standing, so's the cover for whatever's living in there."

"We have confirmation of that, sir?"

"That's what the patrols are for. No proof of anything yet, soldier, but most of us know that there's something in there. Or someone. Things are...off."

Theo didn't push further. He'd heard enough from the soldiers on the plane that there was something weird going on out here, and that was as much as he was going to get. There might have been more info for those that were willing to actually make a scene, but that wasn't him. Theo Carter wasn't someone that pushed for explanations for his orders. He just got it done and made sure that it was done well.

As they reached the barracks tent, he glanced through the slit. The men inside were half-dressed, obviously at ease. The captain was standing up straight, clearing his throat, clearly planning a snap inspection.

Theo decided to short-circuit that. The hare stepped through the tent flap and stomped his boots twice.

"Attention!"

The soldiers on the other side jumped to their feet, their hands snapping to a salute before the cougar could step inside. Card games were thrown beneath the bed, army script following, and there wasn't a sign of anything that the captain could ding them on.

The cougar narrowed his eyes, but didn't critique it. Didn't rebuke Theo, either. Probably didn't want to set up anything that the rest of the soldiers would have to think about for later. Instead, the cougar nodded his head in the hare's direction.

"Everyone, this is Corporal Carter. He's joining your squad for patrol duty for the next few weeks. Lieutenant?"

"Yes, sir?" answered a buck.

"He's your second. Get him up to speed."

"Yes, sir."

"Carter?"

"Yes, sir?" the hare asked.

"Don't let us down."

With that, the cougar walked out, and all the shirtless soldiers dropped back to their beds. They chuckled, shaking their heads, and the buck waved him over. Theo moved at a hustle, taking a seat on the floor.

"Thanks for the warning," the buck muttered. "Name's Samson. You?"

"Carter."

"Full name?"

"Theo Carter."

"I'll be calling you CC then."

"As you like," the hare said, shrugging. "So, what's this about the patrols, then?"

"People are disappearing," the lieutenant said. "Nothing that can't be explained by hunters in the jungle, yeah, but it's happening more often...and never to any predator species, either."

"None of 'em?"

"Not even a tabby cat. But if you're a salad-muncher..."

Theo nodded. Definitely something of a coincidence too far, he had to admit. There was a possibility, yes, that there was something that preyed on specific species in the jungle, but the fact that it was always prey species meant that it was just that little stretch too far to believe.

He'd bet that the brass were not entirely convinced that it was a threat, particularly those that would have been safe from it, but if the lower ranks complained enough, eventually something had to happen. Particularly if it was a literal threat like that, and when most of the lower ranks ended up being prey species, more often than not, that was a real danger to morale. No wonder they'd pulled together some teams for this, and no wonder that more reinforcements had been brought in from outside.

"So, CC. What's your story?" Samson asked, pulling the cards out from under the bed again. "What's behind your transfer?"

"Nothing special. Just doing the jobs that need doing."

"Heh, no officers you have to kiss up to around here. What's the real story? Piss someone off enough to get sent to this shithole?"

"Nope. Just doing my job."

"Nobody's just 'doing their job,' kid." Samson shook his head. "They're all either psychos that got into this job to shoot people, or they're desperate enough to think that this'll all be worth it when they get out, or they're here because it was somehow better than whatever they left behind, or...hell, they bought the bullshit and now they've gotta shovel it."

Theo cocked his head to the side.

"What's yours, then?" the hare asked.

"I bought the bullshit. Stopped buying it when I got the pips, and stopped going up, too." Samson shook his head. "Still...might get something when I get out in a couple years. We'll see."

"..."

"So. Before we hit the shit tomorrow. Pull up a chair and play."

A moment later, he was dealt in. It wasn't his game, but he might as well get to know the squad before he had to keep them alive tomorrow.

He also had to make sure that they didn't find out that he was half-lying. He had a reason to be here besides just doing his job. Someone, way up high, had decided that he needed to be here...and rather than fighting that, he wanted to find out why.

#

Three days later, they were on their usual patrol. Samson had point, Carter had the rear. The rest of the squad - three foxes, a wolf, and four rats - were between the pair of them as they quick-marched through the jungle. As ever, the muggy air pressed down on them with all the intensity of an overweight elephant on their faces, making breathing hard and movement harder. Theo pushed forward, nudging Private Weiran - Wire, for the radio on his back - to keep moving.

"Don't fall behind," he muttered.

"Hey, don't push. I'm trying," Wire grunted back.

"Move faster."

"I'm trying!"

"Then give me the radio, if you can't."

"Take it off my cold dead hands, you -"

"Wire!" Samson called back. "Can you keep up or not?"

"...Keeping up, Lieutenant."

Theo shook his head, keeping up with the rat and keeping his ears up. They poked out from either side of his helmet, twitching idly. They were a bit of a risk to keep that exposed, all things considered, but no reports showed that anyone had been shot during patrol. Whatever happened, if anything happened at all, always occurred at close range, well past the point of caring whether your ears gave you away or not.

And they were good at detecting threats. He'd already steered them away from two dens of tigers and one wandering herd of boar. While not the threats that the patrol was meant to root out, they were dangerous enough that it would have caused the squad some problems.

They'd been on patrol for three hours now, and were just as far from the base as they were generally allowed to go for these patrols. Samson would be calling a turn any minute now, and the rest of the group would turn around, face him, and he'd take point instead. He was supposed to be rested for that, and he was. He was supposed to be prepared for it, and he was.

But they didn't turn. They kept going.

Samson led them for another half hour forward, taking them right to the edge of patrolled territory in the jungle where the ground suddenly dropped out, falling over a hundred-foot cliff down to thicker jungle. The squad lined up on the edge of it, looking down at the wash of green and deeper green, only broken up by the occasional rip through the canopy where a river cut out the ground beneath it.

Anything could be out there, hiding beneath the boughs of trees too thick to pierce by satellite, on ground too warm to be seen by infra-red. It was the perfect hiding place for anyone that didn't want to be found.

Shaking his head, Theo flicked his ears again, doing his habitual check for anything sneaking around. Wire had already stepped back from the edge, sitting down by a tree, while Samson was gathering up the rest of the squad, taking inventory of water supplies, making sure that everyone was good for an uninterrupted walk back. The buck never let anyone stop on a walk if he could help it, so these breaks were the only chances anyone had for a piss break.

But this time, just as he was bringing his ears back down, Theo caught something. A low whine, something so close to artillery that he almost shouted for everyone to hit the deck, but it was just slightly different. It wasn't getting louder...it was getting quieter. Winding down.

Like a clock, or a set of gears.

Flick, flick. Theo twitched his ears until he triangulated the source of the sound. It was coming from just behind them, behind a tree -

Behind the tree that Wire was leaning against. He whipped around without even thinking about it, grabbing the rat where he sat. The sound was ticking down, the spaces between the ticks getting longer and longer -

"What the fuck, CC?!" Wire shouted, fighting him, grabbing his wrists. "Corporal's gone crazy!"

The rest of the squad turned, but he didn't even think about it. His job was to keep the others alive, to make sure that they stayed okay. With all his strength, he yanked the rat to his feet and threw him sideways, out of the way, and in the same move, leaned just enough to the side to see the box waiting behind the tree.

It was painted the same green as the foliage around it, just big enough to be too large to pick up and move easily or quickly. It was a trap, something that had been planted here for them. Time seemed to slow as the ticks did the same, and finally, the last one changed tone, going from a simple little 'tick' to more of a 'pock.'

"Oh no..."

The box exploded. The tree saved him from the shards of wood from the box itself, but the shockwave that followed sent him falling backwards, a ringing sound in the air echoing through his ears. He yanked them down flat even as he was sent flying head over heels, back, back, back...

And over the cliff.

"CC!"

Two hands tried to grab him, and one pair of claws almost managed to grab his boot before he went flying out of reach. His vision blurred as he stared up at the receding sky and cliff face, his head spinning from the shockwave and the echoing notes in his ears. He closed his eyes, trying to blink through the discomfort and the fuckery in his head -

THUMP!

Only to slam spine-first into a rock on the way down. His breath left his body, and so did his consciousness.

#

"Never let your squad down, rookie."

That was the first thing that he was told in boot camp. It was the same thing he carried with him for his entire career.

Flash.

Throwing himself over the wire in boot camp, always the one to trust the others to get over quickly and cut the wire so that he could get off it without shredding himself.

Flash.

Seeing the grenade come over the wall and hit the road, running for it before his Louie could be taken out. He barely threw it over in time and barely pulled through in the infirmary later. Arm was a bit fucked for a year.

Flash.

"You'll be discharged for this!" the doctor shouted. "Do you know how many soldiers this'd save?"

Didn't answer. No point. The falcon had been experimenting on his men, giving them drugs to make them stronger, experimental things. One had almost died from an overdose. No oversight, no consent, no deal. He'd been busted down to private again for that.

Flash.

Flash.

Flash.

Memory after memory, all coming down to the same thing. Never let the squad down. Never let them take what you could take instead. Never. Let. Them. Down.

#

"...Amazing he's still alive."

"The fall should have killed him, but if he's still kicking..."

"Heh, prey can live through anything, sometimes. But yeah...he'll do."

"Rest of 'em should think he's dead after this."

"Think anyone's going to come looking for him?"

"Doubt it. They'll think he died in the fall. Pretty sure that the bomb will take care of the rest of 'em."

"Come on. Get him up."

Theo didn't know who the voices belonged to. For that matter, he didn't know where he was, or how he was alive. All he knew was that he was lucky to still be breathing. His back was in agony, and breathing was enough to make him want to cry. Hell, it was almost enough to knock him out again, but he held tight. He knew how to do that.

They gripped him by the wrists and ankles, and he screamed as they lifted him off his back. Darkness claimed him again.

#

Consciousness returned like a needle through his spine. Mostly because there was a needle in his spine.

"AAAAAAAAGH!"

Theo screamed at the top of his lungs, the pain running straight down his back and through both legs, through everything below the middle of his back. The rabbit would have arched his back, screamed, flailed, except that he was as immobilized as immobilized could be. Solid metal clenched tight on every inch of his body, pinning him in place as the needle pushed further through his spinal cord.

Whatever was coming out of his mouth didn't matter to the source of the pain. The needle stopped, only to be replaced with something burning, something cooking his skin so hot that he could smell it. The smell of his own body burning, the searing feeling of burning metal pressing against his spine, was enough to knock him out again.

#

He had a moment of softness, next he woke. His head against a pillow. A blanket on his chest. No clothes. He could feel the lack of weight. Could feel something else, too, something heavy in the middle of his back. Not so heavy that he couldn't get used to it, but something different, something new.

What...

He wanted to reach out, wanted to touch it and examine what had happened to him, but there was no moving. He felt loose, limp, paralyzed. No command from his brain was sufficient to move his arms, or legs, or even his head. Nothing moved.

Was he really paralyzed? He wanted to ask, but his throat was so dry. He groaned, trying to wake up, but whatever was in his system, it dragged him down to darkness once more.

#

A new 'thump' woke him properly. Not just because he was slammed down against a medical table, though that was a big reason for it. No, it was also from the 'thump-click' of where his back hit the metal slab.

Click...why...

Theo groaned, slowly piecing together a few things that must have happened. The fall had shattered something, broken something. Probably damaged his spine badly considering how he had landed and how far he had fallen by the time that it happened. The burning? That had been these people shoving metal around his spine and melding it to it, ensuring that he still had some capability of movement, then drugging him up to the gills to keep him from moving around while it was 'recovering'. No wonder he felt like he had some sort of weight attached to his back.

The table hummed, and the metal chunk clicked tight to the table, pulled against it with magnetic force. What little he had in terms of clothing was ripped away by hands that he could barely see through the bright light that bloomed overhead, sending shivers down his spine as he was exposed bit by bit. He gritted his teeth, turning his head to the side, and was grateful that he at least had that much movement to his credit.

He was able to make out shapes, silhouettes through his blurry vision. Thick ones, which implied ursines, particularly with the stubbier fingers that were grabbing and pulling at his clothes. He grunted as one of them pulled at his boots, dragging them off one by one, his socks following. His pants came off in shreds and ripped chunks, exposing his legs, and then up to his thighs.

It didn't take long for them to have him stripped down to his underwear. He couldn't pull himself from the table to actually try and cover himself, and they didn't give him the option, either. One of the bears chuckled, running those thick fingers over his crotch, fondling him through his underwear.

"Prey's got some meat on him."

"Not for us, though. The docs have plans," another bear said.

"Heh, pity. Could be fun to see him squirm."

"Not now."

"Heh, who's gonna know?"

"Go ahead, do it. The docs'll give me the promotion instead of you."

"...Fuck you."

He wheezed as those hands left his groin, moving up to his neck. The chain that held his dog tags against his chest jingled, only to slide up and around his head. Without thinking, Theo grabbed the bear's wrists.

"Those...aren't...yours," he wheezed.

One of the bears leaned in, and it blocked out the light enough for him to see the room around him.

The bears on either side of him were not the only preds in the room. There were two ferrets at the far end, standing at the foot of the table, with a lion standing at the door with a rifle trained on him. They were taking no chances.

None of them had any sign of training, though. The lion's grip on the weapon was little more than an amateur's way of holding a gun. No secure grip at the shoulder, no sign that he knew how to handle the recoil, and the barrel wandered too far when he aimed it. The rest of the group didn't look much better; the ferrets were fumbling with the restraints that they were fiddling with, and the bears smirked at him like little more than common thugs.

If he wasn't trapped to the goddamn table, he could have done something. As it was, he could barely keep his grip on the bear's wrist as the thief tried to steal his dog tags.

"Those aren't yours," he said with a little more firmness.

"Heh, well, they sure as hell ain't yours anymore, Corporal." The bear turned his head, the brown-furred brute reading the name off the tags. "Theo Carter, huh? Well, all those years in the service ain't done you any favors, have they?"

"Give...them...back."

"Nah. We're putting them in a fire. Make it look like you burned up."

"..."

"Boss doesn't want anyone looking for ya. And these'll make it easier."

The bear grabbed him with his free hand and started to squeeze. Theo bit his lip, fighting against the building pain until it grew to be too much, forcing him to let go or face his wrist getting broken. The bear still grunted as he pulled back, shaking his head.

"Stubborn little bitch."

"Heh, they all are, until they learn their place," the other bear said.

"Hmmph. Shoulda felt what he was doing to my wrist. Little meat-sac was pretty strong."

"Nah, you're just weak."

"Weak? Look at the fucking -"

"Hey, if you're done, we got restraining and measuring to do," the ferrets said.

"...Heh, we'll take this outside," the bear that didn't have the dogtags said. "Come on. Let's get this set up."

"Fucking bunny bitch..."

The bears left, and the ferrets stepped closer. They grabbed him by the legs, one per limb, and they pulled out a pair of metallic shackles that opened on a hinge. They slid one half under his legs, pinned his ankles against them, and slammed the other half over his ankles.

The shackles hummed, and just like with the metal in his spine, he felt the magnetism of the table yank them down, pinning him in place once more. He gritted his teeth in annoyance, feeling just how helpless his legs were. He couldn't shift them side to side, up or down, or anything. So long as the table was powered on, he couldn't move his legs at all.

They did the same to his wrists, and pinned them over his head. It was more effective than shackles would have been, in a way. The metal bands were heavy enough that he wouldn't be able to move quickly or easily, nor with any precision, and he was essentially magnetized so that they could pull him towards anything that could project that force with sufficient strength. They could pose him however they wanted just by turning a shackle off for a moment and adjusting it on the metal slab.

They had clearly planned for this.

"Mmmph...what is this place?" he tried to ask.

They didn't answer. Even when he repeated the question, they paid more attention to his body. One was tapping a screen just out of sight, muttering something about his weight, then his height. There must have been a scale built into the table, he realized, and probably more if they were getting data about him from it.

"What do you want?" he asked.

No answer to that, either. It had to be the source of all the disappearances that had been going on, but so far, there'd be no sign of what the hell the disappearances were for. Theo rolled his head back, trying to tell himself to be patient, but that was not easy when there were wandering hands all over his body, and wandering hands that were most definitely not being clinical about how they touched him.

"Hmm...got some muscle already," the skinnier of the ferrets muttered. "Not that it matters. If the process works -"

"Twice as strong, after."

"Twice as big, too."

"Heh, yes, yes," the taller of the two ferrets said. "He'd need new clothes. Too thick for those old rags."

"Or these little briefs."

"They'll be brief-lived-briefs by the time that the docs are done."

"If it works."

"If it works."

"...Twins?" Theo wagered a guess.

The ferrets finally turned to acknowledge him, almost as if they were surprised that he was actually listening to them. They chuckled, nodding.

"I'm the older," said the skinny one.

"I'm the younger."

"Not that a few minutes matters."

"Anyway, just relax. We'll be done with this soon, and Doctor Vlad can take a look at you."

Vlad. He wondered if that was a last name or a first name. If a first name, then there was little chance of it narrowing down the field of who was involved here, but if it was a last name...

There were a few Doctor Vlads out there, he knew that much. It wasn't an uncommon last name, but there was something tickling at the back of his mind as an idea, something that felt familiar about it. It was hard to pin down, though, like something hiding from him. Doctor Vlad, Doctor Vlad...

The ferrets continued to poke and prod at him, working over his chest and stomach. They pressed down on him, testing the responses that they could get from his muscles, then slowly dragged him down the table. The restraints were easily adjusted, keeping his upper body pinned to the table while slowly pulling his shackled ankles off the far side. They tapped his knees, tested his reflexes, and ensured that everything was working properly.

Giving up on asking questions, Theo studied his body's reactions as they prodded and poked and tested him. For falling off a cliff and getting an operation on his spine, he was doing pretty well. His reflexes felt about as fast as they had always been, though with a bit of a twinge up his spine from the sudden movement, and he could tell that he wasn't as fogged up as he had been. The drugs they'd been using to keep him out cold had worn off completely.

Of course, all of that meant nothing when it came down to it. He was still restrained, and restrained quite well, and the restraints that weren't currently magnetized were heavy enough that any sort of kicking and lashing out wouldn't end well for him. He'd be too slow, tire out too fast.

And there was still the lion in the corner with the gun.

"Well, looks like he's as healthy as he could be for the procedure," Skinny-Younger Ferret said.

"Not a bad weight, either."

"He's got enough body-fat left to handle the upgrades."

"Not one of those health nuts that go too far," Taller-Older Ferret said.

"I think that Doctor Vlad will be happy with this one."

"Want to check under the hood?"

"Mmmm, thought you'd never ask."

Theo gritted his teeth as they fumbled with the edge of his waistband, pressing their fingers together under his briefs. It didn't take them long to find his cock, soft as it was, and they rubbed it from either side. Slender digits, such a departure from how the bears had felt groping him over his underwear, and surprisingly gentle and dexterous. They worked from the base of his shaft to the tip, pulling at the skin as they went, bunching up his foreskin briefly before pulling it back down.

"Hmmm, three inches while soft, do you think?" Skinny-Younger asked.

"Three and a half. Not bad, but not much."

"What do you expect from prey?"

"Not much, heh."

Through clenched teeth, he huffed. He reminded himself not to fight it too hard, not to push back. He was restrained, and he would be watched like a hawk. There would be a moment. There was always a moment to find a chance to break away. It just hadn't arrived yet.

"Alright. Let's get him on the gurney."

Any hope that he would have the chance to roll off it and make his escape was dashed as the gurney proved to be topped with a layer of metal just like the exam table. However, at least he could take comfort in the fact that the ferrets had to suffer dragging him limb by limb to the other table, forcing them to take their time to ensure that he couldn't just break free and jump for the door. The lion gunman seemed to be getting more cocky, too, no longer keeping the weapon pointed at him the whole time.

They wheeled him out of the room, and he had his first glance at the rest of the facility. It was dingy, rather dirtier than he had expected something with the capability of that sort of spinal repair to be, but he might have been overestimating their quality. This was, after all, a very illegal operation...

And one that he still didn't know if he had been set up for.

They wanted prey species, he knew that much. Samson would have been the obvious prey species to be captured, considering that he was an officer and a higher-ranking one than Theo was. That said, he would have gone missing and been missed, and there would have been more of an effort to find him compared to someone on the brass's shit list.

And particularly since he had been sent here. Theo hadn't forgotten that. Someone high up the chain had decided that he needed to be part of this operation, and the ambush had been a deliberate ambush. Someone had known that they would be at the top of the cliff that day, which meant that someone had leaked their route, or had ordered Samson to change it at the last second.

Or, perhaps, Samson was a turncoat. Perhaps his lieutenant had been faking the greeting to make Theo take his guard down, or had offered up another prey species to save his own skin.

There was too little in the way of actual information to make a judgment at this point. He'd have to wait until he had a chance to talk to someone that would actually talk back.

And then...

Theo didn't know what he'd do then, but he would figure something out. All soldiers learned that a plan only went so far once battle was joined, and this was a battle as sure as any firefight that he had ever been in. He just had to be ready when the opportunity to act came around.

The End

Summary: Theo Carter, a corporal in the army, is on a routine patrol when everything goes wrong.

Tags: M/solo, M/M, Underwear, Briefs, Fondling, Military, Prey/Pred Problems, Missing People, Kidnapping, Surgery, Pain, Dark Themes, Series, Bondage, Rabbit, Hare, Ferret, Rat, Buck, Lion, Bear,