Steven was climbing around the trees of Central Park, collecting samples from the trees. He had woken up early to gather the materials that he could get for free in the park. It was a rather hazardous task but it had to be done if this heist was to be successful. There was a particular batch of leaves that he needed and it was on a very unsteady and thin branch. The white wolf went and climbed as close to the branch as possible and reached out, only to hear a sickening crack from under him. “Oh Bugger” he thought. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Noah, Scratch, Deon, and Bradley sat down planning for the assault on the Department of Defense. They needed to keep the infiltration under the radar even with members of S/D inside that could assist them. Now that the Department of Defense had been set on high alert it would be difficult to keep their actions unnoticed. Noah also put forth the suggestion that they also assist in the neutralization of the investigation of S/D’s activities. Deon came up with several blueprints of the building and security records and the four tried to decide on a method of gaining access into the DOD buildings. “Well it wouldn’t be a good idea for me to go in.” Bradley said “I’ll be recognized if I set foot inside the building.” After all he was a government employee that should have been in Britain at this particular moment. It didn’t do S/D any good if Bradley’s cover was blown. “Very well, it’ll be much simpler to coordinate if somebody is on the outside.” Deon said making notes. “Now Noah and Scratch you two will be in charge of finding our runaway and extracting him if he is there. I’ll go and help take care of the information the DOD has collected on us.” “I’ve made the necessary preparations for our move to Washington D.C” Scratch said. “We have a safe house prepared for us and we’ve been authorized to requisition as much equipment as we need.” The fox’s stomach was a little unsettled due to the sheer scope of this operation. While the recovery of any evidence that could be used against S/D was the important thing, the possible extraction of the runaway Ben made an already difficult operation extremely complicated. This was not the time to worry about that though. Scratch told himself. We’ll deal with it when the time comes. “If nobody has any questions, then we’ll close this meeting to prepare for transport to D.C” Noah said. No one at the table had any questions so they left to prepare themselves for the coming mission. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josh Ville was walking the paths of Central Park, still in a rather depressive daze. Again, he had lost his brother Ben again. Josh had hoped, even prayed desperately that Ben would be caught and that he would be with his brother again. Now Josh couldn’t even be sure if he would ever see Ben again. The S/D’s Fourth Independence Day celebration was coming up and his boyfriend Henry was hoping that it would put him back in lighter spirits. But right now the wolf could ever think that he could smile right now, Ben’s jump still weighed heavily on him, and he wanted something, just about anything to distract him. He was walking under some particularly tall trees when he smelled the sudden scent of fear coming from above. He looked up and CRASH! Someone landed on Josh and even though it was a light body, it was still a body and it hurt. “What’s the big idea?!” Josh said. “I’m really sorry, you aren’t hurt are you? It’s my fault I know I should have been watching where I was going” An unconfident hesitant voice replied. Josh looked at the one who had just fallen on him and stared. The person in question was a white wolf wearing a black cloak with a hood that had just fallen off. What the hood was concealing was one of the most attractive faces that Josh had ever seen. Now Josh had seen in truth more than seen actually, his fair share of handsome, hot, or sexy faces and bodies, especially bodies. Even undergoing S/D’s programming and using some of the special juices that the group supplied, Josh would be more than eager to sleep with just about any good-looking male. Yet the face that the wolf saw didn’t bring out that sort of reaction from him. In fact for some strange reason Josh had a different sort of desire, he really wanted to snuggle up to that white wolf. The white wolf in question was constantly apologizing for falling on him. He noticed that this wolf didn’t seem to have any identification of being an S/D member. This went to the back of his mind as he said “Who are you? What’s the big idea falling out of the sky like that?” The white wolf seemed to hesitate for a moment and said “I’m Steven and I was just enjoying the view from above” “I don’t know” Josh said though he really was fine “you shouldn’t be dropping out of the sky on people, doing that could get you in trouble...” Steven became a little scared most likely thinking that Josh was going to file a lawsuit. “I’m sorry! I should have been more careful, I don’t have much money. Please don’t alert the authorities… Mr.” Josh interrupted “I’m Josh Ville and I never said that I was going to bring the cops into this, but if you’re that sorry maybe you could a little something for me.” “It depends…” Steven said. “Ah it’s easy; just spend the rest of the day with me.” Josh said. “Alright then” Steven said for it seemed simple enough. “You sure?” Josh said. “I promise, I’ll spend the entire day with you.” Steven said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The four enforcers were on an express train to Washington D.C. Deon and Bradley was taking a quick nap as they traveled towards the nation’s capital. Scratch was looking out of the train window watching the countryside go flashing by. Noah was sitting in his seat deeply in thought. “Sir? Why do you seem so serious? I realize that this mission is more difficult than normal but that won’t stop us.” Scratch said, as he was packing the fox had spoken to Deon and Bradley. The two told him more about the black wolf, and what the fox heard amazed him. Noah was many times the agent of last resort. The black wolf had accomplished many missions for the benefit of the organization, succeeding in nearly impossible objectives. In fact over 40% of the politicians in power that was under S/D’s sway were brought into the fold due to the personal attention brought by Noah Adams. “It’s not that” Noah said resting his head on his knuckles. “This mission is rather typical of what I do. I have something else I have to take care of after this mission, and to tell the truth I’m scared.” Scratch blinked and looked skeptical, Noah always had the appearance of absolute confidence since the fox had been assigned to assist him. “I don’t blame you for not believing me; I’ve seen you talking to Deon and Bradley. But this is also a family matter” Noah winced “and I have a bad feeling about it.” The American landscape continued to pass by as the train continued to take them to their destination. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josh here and today was perhaps one of the strangest days of my life. Just this morning a wolf called Steven fell on me. I got him to follow me around for the entire day for some reason. I wasn’t sure of what I was doing and the next thing I knew I was dragging him to the amusement parks in Coney Island. Now sometime in the 2040’s the neighborhood of Coney Island was in heavy decline until multiple companies, some fronts for S/D began to invest in the real estate of the area and set the island back up as one of the entertainment centers of New York which brought a tidy sum and fun to S/D. Things just went weirder from there, I went on the rides some which I haven’t been on since I was a kid, and played some of the games with me having Steven joining in. He kept trying to keep his hood up, but I wasn’t having that getting him to leave that hood off. Actually it was one of my better ideas; I could see from his expressions that he was enjoying himself. Really, seeing him smile and laugh was a treat, and soon enough I was laughing and smiling along with him. Ferris wheels, roller coasters, tilt-a-whirls, shooting galleries, knocking down the bottles, carousels, and even an embarrassing round with bumper cars, I could forget a bit about my grief until night came and we two were walking on the beach. “That was so fun!” Steven said giggling a bit and smiling, and again I suppressed the weird urge to hug him. “But if you don’t mind me asking, why did you take me here? Not that I’m complaining.” The white wolf held out his hands. I then remembered what I had forgotten in the rush of enjoying myself. “I think this time I should be apologizing for using you.” I said. Steven tilted his head in confusion “I’m not sure that I understand.” “I wanted something anything to distract myself” I sighed “It’s a long story, but it has to do with my brother.” Steven’s face took on a sad look “Oh is he older or younger than you, and what happened? If you don’t mind me asking.” “He’s older than me, and it’s just” I paused and went on. Maybe talking with someone else could help me deal with this. “He abandoned me and I had a promise that he’ll come back, I’ve waited so long for him to come home, and he won’t come home. Not only that but he’s doing things that’s hurting me and dad. I just don’t understand him now. I want my brother back and I don’t know why he won’t come back home.” My voice cracked a bit at the last sentence. Steven looked out to the ocean “Older brothers just do what they want without thinking about us.” He said. I looked at him “You have problems with your older brother too?” “Yes more than just a few problems, we haven’t spoken to each other in a long time.” Steven let out a heavy breath “He just makes me so angry!” “But you still love him right?” I asked, I wanted to know, Ben had hurt me so badly but he was my brother and I do love him but now I wasn’t sure of anything anymore. “Of course I do!” Steven said and looked down onto the sand. “Just because there are some things we don’t like about our brothers doesn’t mean that we don’t love them right?” “Yeah, who will be there from stopping them from being so stupid?” I laughed, so it was alright for me to be angry with Ben. I felt better and maybe just maybe I could hope, just a little that my brother was still alive. “You should realize I should thank you.” Steven told me to my surprise. “I’ve also had some doubts about me and my brother but you gave me just for a little while some time to just forget all that.” “Well then I don’t really have to apologize then for dragging you around all day, so you’ve paid me back for falling on me.” I said “Where do you live? I’ll take you home.” Steven’s face fell “Oh well, I’m a bit of a drifter moving on from place to place most of the time where the money is, I don’t have a home to go to anymore. I’ll be leaving sometime soon anyway.” “I won’t see you again?” I quite liked Steven, and I wanted to introduce him to Henry and my dad, maybe even have some fun. Though when I had that thought for some reason I felt slightly embarrassed. “Why don’t you crash at my place?” At first Steven seemed confused and just said “I have something to do so I have to decline but it was nice meeting you, maybe we’ll see each other again.” “Wait” I gave him one of my father’s business cards “If you can get yourself to a phone call me. Maybe my dad can even get you a job.” Steven’s eyes opened a bit in surprise when he saw the names on the card. Which wasn’t unusual to me, even I would be surprised if I found out I was in the company of an owner’s of several wealthy businesses son. “You don’t have to do this for someone who just fell out of the sky on you.” The wolf said. “I hope you don’t mind me calling you a friend then.” I said and Steven was even more shocked giving him an even cuter expression. “You’re playing a fast one on me right?” he said but I shook my head no because I honestly wanted to have him as a friend. “I liked spending the day with you” I said. “So did I” Steven admitted “I haven’t had friends before… so I’m not sure if I would a good one.” He looked away from me. “Well now would be a good time to start.” I said “Call me as soon as you get the chance.” I started to go home I had to get ready for the party. After a while I could hear shouting behind me Steven saying “I’ll try my best, thank you for being my friend!” I smiled; maybe things were going to get better. ---------------------------------------------------------------- For the first time in many years, Steven looked happier. He had also come to a decision and was going to implement his plan tonight. The white wolf’s resolve had been strengthened. Yet in the back of his mind he kept thinking to himself “Josh Ville, I thought I’ve heard the name Ville before…”