Chapter 8

After asking the police to confirm his suspicions about Kaila’s body Keith left to attend to his other business. He got to palm estate around 6 in the afternoon and was glad he would be able to deliver things before dark. As he walked through the gate he sensed something wrong in the air. He knew the ca-hans were probably here already. They would not recognize him though. He had always been the faceless general very few inside  and out of the cantonole knew his face or what he did. He was about to walk past the entrance to Rintin’s place when he saw Kate and Ben walking towards him. Then he saw it 2 black panthers behind them were approaching them. He knew this meant trouble and that they would need to be warned before the panthers got to them but he could not do it without blowing his cover. As far as they knew he was just their principle. Time was almost up for him he had just passed the gate to Rintin’s house and now Kate and Ben had taken notice of him. He waved to them and motioned them over as the panthers approached them with a much greater speed. They were now only a few feet and were about to make their move but something stopped them it was Nico.
“Freeze make a move and I will not hesitate to kill you” Nico said holding 2 pistols to the back of the panthers’ head. This action by Nico took Kate’s and ben’s attention from Keith and turned it towards the 2 panthers.
“I know you are the thugs who killed that young cheetah girl this afternoon. What are you doing here?”
“Just came to skin  a wolf”
“Well then I guess I have no choice but to stop you”
“Like you can”
“Give me a chance. Do not worry these are not regular guns”
“Like I will believe that”
“want to test it”
“sure” both panthers then leapt forward but Nico did not shoot them because he was afraid he might hit ben and Kate. Keith grabbed the two cubs and shielded them with his body. The 2 panthers made to draw their weapons but as they did a chipmunk appeared between them and punched them both across the jaw at the same time. The panthers were knocked back but recovered and jumped away. When they did They started running away. Nico gave chase while Keith unshielded the cubs. Raja made his way over to Keith and helped up Ben as Keith helped up Kate.
“Thanks”
“thank you principal Keith but what are you doing here?”
“I came to deliver this to ben” Keith gave ben the envelope he kept in his inside coat pocket.
“OH I almost forgot about this! But kevin threatened to have me thrown out”
“Despite what Kevin says I no reason to throw you out but I am curious as to the reason you two had such a huge fight”
“no offence principal but that is between me and him”
“principal Keith don’t worry they haven’t told anyone about what happened. They still haven’t told me”
“okay I will let you boys work it out but if you end on in my office again I will make you explain everything. Kevin too”
“Fine by me”
“well I am going to have a chat with this chipmunk here so I will see you 2 at school”
“bye principal Keith” 
Kate and ben continued their walk to the gate while Keith and Raja started talking.
“you always that caring about your students”
“I have always said I am principle first a General second. “
“I always said you were a Lune guess you just proved me right”
“Can we drop this Raja. “
“sure come on in I am about to get scolded by my son for not contacting him for a few months”
“Being the kind of general you are can have its problems”
“Count yourself lucky your son actually knows what you do. I am very fearful of how to tell Rintin. Even though he is now aware of the Cantonole the squad he is on has very low opinions of us.”
“that is to be expected we did not treat their squad like we did the others”
“well it is better to get it over with”
“don’t worry I am here to bail you out if you need to be”
“That does not make me feel any better”
“It was not intended to”
The 2 older furs entered the house and made their to Sonia’s home office before they could even get there they heard the yelling from inside the room.
“MOM TELL ME THE TRUTH IS DAD ON HIS WAY HERE?”
“DON’T RAISE YOUR VOICE AT ME YOUNG MAN. For the last time I have not heard anything from your father.”
“I still want to know why Ryker’s cousins said my dad was coming here”
“it could be someone else named Raja”
“I have a feeling it is him.”
“Rintin I have told you to stop obsessing over your father. His business sometimes takes priority over everything else in his life this is no different”
“Yours doesn’t”
“how long are you going to hold on to the hope that he would one day come home and be the father you want him to be?”
“Come now Sonia. You hold such low opinions of your own husband it is so surprising we haven’t divorced”
“The only reason I haven’t divorced you is because what it would do to both of our reputations.”
“Dad!”
“How you been Rintin, Sorry I didn’t give you call”
Rintin moved over towards his father who had just entered the office. Dale was over in a corner on a chair playing a video game. Keith let his curiosity out and wandered over to Dale. When Rintin got close to his father he did something no one would have expected. Rintin drew his sword and pointed it at his father’s neck. Surprising everyone in the room except his father.
“Who are you?”
“I am your father dale”
“NO YOUR NOT.”
“Rintin what kind of game are you playing? Did You really get upset over me not being home for 8 months”
“I am upset about that but the real reason is I want to know when the father I knew and trusted became a member of the Cantonole”
“RIntin take that blade out of your fathers face right now”
“Don’t worry Sonia he has every right to be upset I should have told him years ago.”
“tell what? That you work for the people who ruined my best friend’s life. I heard about what the Cantonole is from Silver and what they do. How could I trust a father who works for them. HOW COULD I CALL YOU MY FATHER!” Rintin started shaking a bit and Raja just moved the sword away from his throat and then hugged his son
“I am sorry Rintin I wish I could have told you sooner but I thought it best you not know anything unless you absolutely needed to”
“Then why? Why make your own son some part of an experiment why make mom go through that”
“I asked her to do it and we agreed. It was for your safety I had always known about your family tradition of being the masked munk and when your mom got pregnant I made it so that she was part of project H. We knew you would already be living a dangerous life so we choose to give an advantage.”
“what kind of advantage did you give me”
“access to your powers a lot sooner than you would normally get them. You inherited your sword skills from your mother but that shadow technique you got that from me”
“My technique I thought that was from mom”
“No that was me.”
“But dad what kind of person works such horrible people”
“If I may interrupt?” said Keith from across the room
“who are you?”
“Keith Teal, School principal and a part-time member of the Cantonole”
“a part-time member?”
“yes, I work for the cantonole to help children in need all over the world. I am sure you heard of their horrible reputation but there are many among the top who do good things with the power they have.”
“what good can come from what they do”
“much”
“but your boss is cruel and heartless. He setup dale there to watch his father die right in front of him.”
“there is no doubt our boss is very inhumane but he gives those loyal the ability to whatever they want with the cantonole. I am can speak for your father as I worked for him many times he rarely ever harms anyone who doesn’t wish harm upon him. You should not let this get in the way after all I know he is a very good guy.”
“I guess”
“Thanks for saying that Keith means a lot.”
“no problem but you should still try to be a better father”
“well I have some time, Rintin I am sorry for not being here for so long but the good news is I have been stationed here for a few months to oversee your squad”
“wait what?”
“I am going to make sure you learn to use those powers of yours better.”
“but the real reason you’re here is to make sure we are not killed by that other organization”
“well that is the reason I was able to come back so quickly. Just not quickly enough”
“we are both to blame for that we should have been here sooner”
“what do you mean?”
“They already killed someone. A girl from Grey’s squad”
“they already killed someone and someone from grey’s squad?”
“Yes this afternoon. The same furs were just outside about to attack ben and kate. Luckily nico chased them off with a little help from raja over there”
Raja used his powers to create a whip from out of Keith’s shadow and lashed him across the butt with it causing Keith to yelp a bit
“so childish”
“you brought that on yourself”
“Dad! Grey’s squad are extremely powerful I faced off against this otter and this fox from his squad. How strong were these guys?”
“Strong, and that otter happens to be my son I hope you didn’t rough him up too much”
“uh… no we just knocked him out for a few hours”
“not as bad as what ben did to him”
“ben?”
“Yep your leader and my son go way back but last year at the beginning of the school year something happened and they started fighting with each other over everything and one time they ended up throwing Acid all over each other. Another time they both had to rushed to the hospital because they ended up fighting in the kitchen and getting burned a small fire. I have no idea what happened between those two… Sorry for rambling on I would like you to have this”
Keith handed Rintin and envelop and then handed another one to Dale.
“an invitation to join my school you may find some classes there to your liking. I have to leave now Raja I have my own son to go deal with now”
“Okay Keith let me walk you out. Don’t mind do you”
“not me dad”
“go already  just make sure you return for dinner this time I don’t want a repeat of Thanksgiving”
“Okay honey I get it, I look forward to spend some time with you Rintin” Keith and Raja walked towards the door but Raja stopped and looked back at the raccoon who had not said a word.
“I also look forward to getting to know you Dale”
“likewise”
Raja just smiled and continued walking with his friend
“Keith was your urgent assignment about?”
“Bill and Eve escaped from prison 13”
“what! Why now?”
“he probably heard of the upcoming war and used it to escape. With all our efforts focused on the ventonole he knew it would be some time before anyone strong enough to catch him would get there”
“where were the other 4 generals”
“each had problems dealing with the Ventonole’s attack. Spread thin are we these days”
“what about the king ranked members?”
“none could go after him. Our high ranking members are spread too thin right now with what happened in Asia”
“this could be a problem. Do we have any idea where he where he went?”
“by the time I got there he was long gone. I couldn’t even get a trace of him. He has gotten stronger while being in captivity and that scares me”
“his powers progress and evolve without him having to really hone them. I would say he is the absolute failure of project H”
“Considering that what they wanted was more people like him he could be classified as the only success of the project but he his powers turned out to be too much for him to handle.”
“he is quite the adversary I would say no one below the 6 generals even has a chance at taking him down”
“probably not”
“well right now the Ventonole are our main concern. We already have setup ourselves to defend the areas where they are going to attack we should be fine. Tony’s squad is leading the battle against them on the border as we speak. If they win it would be a huge blow to start the war.”
“tony’s squad is well trained and they all have reached a respectable level for their age”
“I agree but something bothers me.”
“what raja?”
“the ventonole could have only heard about ben’s squad no more than 3 days ago. But Tony has been tracking them for a little bit longer.”
“Seems as if they knew before about what was here and what happened now just made them hurry to get here but real question is if they are after the tree why go after ben and kate?”
“probably because they aren’t after the tree. They are after the squad members but why?”
“I think I have a theory. That body today is a fake one”
“fake? They left a fake corpse to make us think they killed Kaila?”
“yes I think more than likely they are planning on kidnapping the members. Most likely for ransom”
“then what was the point of the corpse”
“to make us think they killed her so when they really do attack if things go wrong they could use her as leverage”
“still makes little sense”
“suspect more to this than meets the eye”
“keep me in loop. I will keep high alerts around here since 6 of the members live here”
“Kate is safe where she is just hope she makes it home safely but I think those 2 that The fox chased off are the only 2 here so far”
“advanced troops?”
“that is a possibility”
“then you should get going”
“that I should”
“victor will be here in time we just have to wait and not act carelessly”
“Try not to draw too much attention to yourself then.”
“goodbye”
“goodbye”
With that Keith left. And Raja returned to his family.
A few hours passed and at 11:30 the 2 panthers had arrived at Hollywood tower and were on the roof. Nico was climbing up the side of the building trying to get to the panthers. He had let them think they ditched him but kept following them and tracked them here to the roof of the building. Inside the boys of squad D were still up playing video games. Grey went to bed already, he did not tell his squad what happened and tony respected that. The boys suspected something was wrong and were planning on leaving when Grey ordered them to stay and that he would tell them everything in the morning. He gave them their sleeping bags and locked himself inside his room. Tony was staying two floors down where he had gotten a room so he could be close by in case anything happened before the boss’s and his dad show up.
The panthers were working with some kind of canister which they had picked up from their hideout unknowingly leading Nico there. They were getting setup to insert the gas that was in the canister through the sky light and would make a move with it when they boys went to bed. As they finished preparations Nico had finally finished scaling the side of the building and reached the roof. He took out his 2 pistols and took aim at the panthers who noticed him.
“He followed us!”
“thought we lost him how in the world did he find us”
“I was trained very well by an old friend”
“But you still are no match for us. If you think a pistol will help then you are mistaken”
The panther with knuckles put his knuckles on and punched at Nico creating a burst of air. The air pocket dissipated when Nico fired his right pistol and it shot not a bullet but a burst of blue energy. It went straight through the air pocket and hit the panther.
“ack! What the fuck was that”
“That gun that is!”
“yes a pair of Rontonole pistols”
“how did you get them”
“keepsake from my wife”
“this guy is no ordinary fox”
“I agree that bullet really hurt and it was not even a lethal bullet”
“good job finding out that the bullet was none lethal but then you know what I did to you right”
“I was careless to let this guy get that shot off on me”
“what did he do”
“knocked out my powers my knuckles cannot be used normally but they can sure as hell do this”
The panther rushed at nico but nico did not shoot his gun instead he put his pistols away and charged at the panther. When the panther swung his fist nico easily moved away and punch the panther. The panther tried again and again to punch nico but nico was so agile not one punch landed and more often than not Nico retaliated with a punch of his own. Nico was getting tired of having such an upper hand over the fox so he pulled out his gun and smacked the panther on the back of the head. The panther fell over and fell down on the sky light. Nico was about to shoot him when the panther threw a grenade at nico. Nico had to jump forward quickly to avoid most of the explosion and in doing so fell on the panther that was lying on the skylight. When the grenade exploded the shock caused the skylight to collapse sending Nico and the panther inside. The other panther used that chance to get off the roof and run away. Nico and The panther had fell a few feet and crashed down into the table between the couch and the tv. The boys on the couch covered their eyes from the falling glass. Nico got up clearly aching and bruised from the fall but as he looked over the room he took notice of the fox whose paw was sparking and had a real angry look on his face
“NICO!” Evan screamed before being stopped by Dexter who made him stop his attack
“evan. It is you?”
“SO you remember my name.”
“how could I forget it I have been searching for you for years”
“and why would you do that when you abandoned me and my mother”
“I never abandoned her. She said that I needed to protect my friend and that she could protect you. By time she contacted me to come she had already fallen ill”
“SHE FELL ILL BECAUSE YOU LEFT US IN THAT VILLAGE TO ROT”
“who told you I left you there”
“the one who saved me. The day after mom died I was left alone in the village. The boss came and saved me something you never did. You abandoned us for your friend and never looked back.” 
“Charles, Dexter, Kevin get in here let these two have some time to talk” Grey said from the entrance to his room.
After the 3 boys left Evan and Nico continued their conversation
“I never left you in that village to rot your mother took you to that village to protect you from the cantonole”
“they have done nothing wrong to me. They have given me everything I have now. A Life, a family a future! Something that you took away from me”
“Have they told you what you are!”
“I am a regular fox with cantonole powers”
“No you are not”
“what do mean by not”
“you are a mutant fur one that your grandfather regretted ever making for the cantonole. You are their experimental super solider and that is why your mother took you to that village and why she forbid me from contacting you until I was able to fight the cantonole”
“I am no mutant. You are just making excuses!”
“I am not. Ever ask yourself why you lived when your entire village died?”
“I got lucky”
“No, you are immune to all diseases. Have you ever gotten sick even a little?”
“no I never gotten sick what does that have to do with anything”
“Evan you are nothing more than a puppet to them. well at least you were”
“I am no puppet. Grey and the others are my best friends and Kevin is now my boyfriend. They are more of a family than you ever were.”
“That is because they took you from me”
“you never even had me in the first place. You never set foot in that village”
“If I never set foot in there why would I have this?” NIco reached under his shirt and took of a locket that he wore at all times and threw it to Evan who recognized it immediately.
“this... is my mom’s”
“I also can tell you where her grave is since I had her body shipped here so she could be buried here.”
“my mom’s grave?”
“it is right here in the outskirts of the city”
“when did you do this? How did you get her locket?”
“I flew in the day after she died when arrived you were gone and she was there”
“if you were there that day we would have met”
“you left with victor right before I came in. you remember that other plane that landed?”
“there was one that flew in when we left”
“that was me victor got to you before I could”
“Victor saved me”
“he did but he also stopped me from getting to you. Evan if you still want to kill then do it but remember all you will be doing is costing you at chance to know your other parent and I would love to get to know you”
“I … i…”
“evan your dad is right killing him because you think he kilt your mother is not right. Only recently have we learned of NIco and who he really is. We never knew who your father really was. Grandpa would have never taken you from nico if he knew. Evan you need him as much as we need you. go”
“grey uh… thanks. Nico can I um stay with you for a while I want to know my dad”
“let us take it slow Evan here is my card” Nico handed Evan a card with his contacts on it. “this has on all my numbers give me call anytime. I should get going now I think you guys will have better use of him than I would” 
“we will. Dexter restrain that panther, Charles treat nico’s wounds and kevin go get Tony”   
 “his partner got away but I know where their hideout is”
“no worries he will talk once we get through with him. Let Charles take care of your wounds before you leave”
“I would appreciate that”
“If I may ask why were you so determined to capture this guy?”
“he tried to kill Ben and his friend earlier this evening. I wanted to make sure no one else gets killed like that cheetah they killed this afternoon” 
Grey’s eyes went wide Nico had just revealed what he was going to tell his squad.
“grey that cheetah it was Kaila wasn’t it”
“yes it was Charles”
“This guy killed Kaila! Why didn’t you tell us”
“I was going to tell you tomorrow”
“oh I am so sorry I thought they would have known”
“not your fault nico I guess I should have told them already anyway”
“tell us what?”
“that the ventonole are preparing for a war against us and they already came and killed Kaila” Tony said entering the door way. He was already on his way up when he heard the crash.
“Grey why did you keep this from us?”
“i…”
“lay off him Charles this must be difficult for him.” Dexter said. One of the rare times he opened his mouth.
“still”
“Guys I am sorry but can I explain everything in the morning tony can give you most of the details anyway I am going to go back to bed” with that grey left and entered his room once more. Charles and the others just held their heads down.
“What … hold on a sec” Tony’s phone had started to ring and he answered it. After a few minutes of talking on the phone he hung and smiled at the boys.
“You guys should stop feeling sad for Kaila. If grey was not so upset he would have realized that the body was fake. I had a medical examiner confirm it but that body was a fake one. Kaila is not dead she is being held hostage.”
“wait really!” Charles sounding relieved 
“Keith noticed something wrong under her clothing a deformity of some sorts we had the police confirm but it seems her organs were re-arranged wrong.”
“eeewww”
“Quite they did not do a proper job makes me think they knew we were coming quickly.”
“could be. Alright nico I patched up all your wounds but you may want to get that shoulder examined”
“never thought the day would come when I would be taking medical advice from a kid but thanks”
“I may be a kid but I am a full edged emergency medic”
“impressive. I will be on my way now”
Nico left the apartment with tony in tow
“So you are the famous Super solider Yata was training. The one member of that experiment that is still alive. Now you are training ben’s squad. Probably won’t make a difference but having them pick up combat tips from you will make them annoying to deal with”
“Don’t take them lightly by time next year comes around they will probably have improved way more than you will expect”
“I don’t doubt that they will improve I doubt that they even stand a chance. And when they lose they will be forced to join Cantonole under the winner’s complete control”
“But if they win they can move on with their lives and free themselves from this all together”
“but first to even have a shot at it they will have to survive what is upcoming”
“as long as I breathe I will protect those kids and their parents will also”
“No doubt that you 3 are strong but are you strong enough to handle the enemies that are coming here?”
“we will soon find out won’t we?”
“yes we will”
NIco left as tony made his way back down to his room. The night ended without further incident and the next day was uneventful except for grey learning that Kaila may still be alive. It was the morning of the day after that grey would meet the one person he wish he never ever met.
It was around 10 in the morning. Grey and his boys were planning a trip to an arcade down the road while or that is what they were going to tell tony. Tony was busy interrogating the panther that Nico caught. He was trying to get more information about their plans but was hitting a dead end because the panther was very stubborn. Grey was enjoying his breakfast that Dexter cooked being the son of a chef had it perk’s for sure. Kevin and Evan were off in another room doing what they never got tired of. Dexter was in the kitchen cleaning and Charles was taking a nap. That is when the door unlocked and someone walked in. a Red wolf dressed the same way tony dressed and had the same hair style grey and tony did. He looked to be in his 40’s and had a grin on his face.
“Been quite some time how you been grey”
“um… fine”
“I guess I should have expected this kind of welcome from you”
“dad please don’t.”
“I was just saying I should have expected you not be very enthusiastic about seeing me again”
“I haven’t seen you since I was 12 dad”
“But that was your choice wasn’t it. I have made plenty of arrangements for you to come and visit me”
“and every time I tried you were gone when I got there. I guess it takes a war for you to actually care enough to even be around”
“I saw an opportunity to try and smooth things over with you. I know you and I have a bad relationship since what happened that night-“
“That night just showed me how much you care”
“I care more than you think I do Grey”
“’he’ would disagree with you”
“Well I know ‘he’ would but that was a hard decision to make and one that had to be made to prevent him from causing so much harm.”
“don’t expect any nominations for father of the year for that one”
“that was decision that was very hard to make. Grey if you don’t learn to let that go you will be isolating your entire family”
“… Dad how could I drop it? It was not easy to watch I still… I still… I still don’t like that I lost him I should have saved him I let him down so badly and I know he has escaped to take revenge on me”
“bill will be dealt with but you need to stop lingering on what happened to him”
“I can’t just let that go”
“seems neither can tony. He still blames himself as well”
“What a touching father son moment but we need to get down to business” Victor said entering the apartment and interrupting the conversation.
“Ok pops.”
“Grey are you managing your squad well from the looks of things most of them are here right now.”
“they are Kev and Ev are up to their usual antics Dexter is cooking and Charles is sleeping. we are still a little upset about Kaila”
“we will get her back Grey count on it” Grey’s father said to him
“Tony is out hunting the panther right now. He finally got the prisoner to crack.”
“he did?”
“yes he told us so just before we arrived. As for our next actions me and your father will go have a talk with Marie. If you or your squad leaves the apartment let us know.  Mark come let us go visit your sister”
“sure pops”
The 2 older wolves left this cub alone with his squad again. Grey just put his paws on his forehead that was the way he handled seeing his father after 2 years that was stupid even if he still upset over what happened to bill. Outside Mark and Victor had the same sentiment. 
“mark you really did not handle that well”
“how could I handle that when everything he said was right. I failed him tony and Bill such a horrible father I am.”
“I am too was not the best of fathers hopefully the time we are about to spend here will give us a chance to mend things”
“marie still hates us”
“and she rightfully should what we did to her was quite… evil”
“I did most of it so I really think she won’t like seeing me again even more so when I am done giving her a piece of my mind.”
“still upset that she left?”
“she knew full well what leaving meant she should have never done it”
“Give her a break Mark you may regret going down this road we lost those 2 already and I think it would be very foolish for us to push her further away than we already have.”
“well if she talks to us that would be a victory in my book but we are going to have to see if she even hears us out. Let’s go pops”

Else at the Palm residence Dale and his soon to be mother and father were having a rather heated debate
“this is a bad idea Dale”
“I have to agree with my wife on this. You going to attend your father’s funeral is a bad idea. There is no way of knowing what the congregation will do to you”
“I still should go I know he was a jerk but he was still my father. I already missed the funeral of someone else important I can’t miss this one”
“but your life will be in danger just by entering that country and you know that.”
“my father is dead I am sure instead of killing they are going to try and get me to replace my father or least say I should”
“risky still I don’t like the idea of you going alone. Raja can you go with him?”
“Can’t dear, the boss just got into town and with the ventonole running around it might just be safer for him to go the funeral”
“Raja!”
“just saying”
“Mom dad what if I go with him?”
“if rintin comes with me we would be able to protect ourselves if anything went wrong”
“well that would make things better but you still need an adult to go with you”
“I think I can get Ben to come and if he comes then I know someone who would gladly let us stay at his place”
“Ralph?”
“yes he would help us and he doesn’t idolize my father like most of them do so he could hide us”
“I will give him call then. But you will only go if you can convince ben”
“sweet thanks a lot”
“run along now you 2 I have some stuff to talk over with your father”
“okay” both rintin and dale replied leaving to head off to their room.
“I don’t like letting him go to this but I guess everyone needs closure”
“I think it is more about the friend he lost than his father”
“may be right raja but I still don’t like this”
“I will arrange to have a few furs in the area if anything goes wrong”
“aren’t they all preparing for war?”
“Not the rookies and I am pretty sure the rookie can handle an angry mob”
“well I guess it is better than letting them go alone.”
“now what is it you really wanted to talk about?”
“about this contest Rintin is training for I am afraid I don’t have all the details yet”
“okay then, let me fill you in”
Raja began to tell Sonia of what the contest entailed. 
Next door at the minefell’s Silver and Ben were playing soccer with each other while Ryker was lounging on beach chair and chondro was building a sand castle. Ryker and chondro were in swim trunks while silver and ben had shirts on and were dressed for playing in the sand. Silver was kicking the ball to ben while doing all kinds of tricks with it compared to ben who could barely do anything with the ball. The pair of wolves then saw rintin and dale come from the beach behind their house.
“Hey ben I need to ask you something”
“What is it dale?” Ben kicked the ball to silver than ran towards Dale. Silver just started doing some more advanced tricks impressing Rintin. Ben and Dale walked back into the backyard and away from the sand of the beach.
“my mom said that I could go my father’s funeral if I could convince you to go with me”
“I have to ask my parents but I would love to go haven’t been back there in a few years would love to see everyone again”
“Of course you can go ben” Marie said startling both ben and dale in the process
“jeez mom I thought you stopped sneaking up on me like that?”
“Sneaking up on people is a family trait” Ben and dale jumped as a red wolf appeared behind marie. Marie drew her dagger and swung it at the wolf who caught her wrist.
“Not a nice way to greet your brother marie”
“Like I can call you a brother mark. What the hell are you doing here”
“just came to say hi to my sister. Is that really a crime”
“it always a crime when you are involved that is for sure.”
“I am not the one who broke the family’s rules about dating other species”
“If that is your reason for coming here to lecture me about falling in love instead making a breeding arrangement like you did”
“I have you know I had a loving wife that mothered my 4 children”
“4? I thought you only had 3?”
“that is… hey don’t change the subject!”
“I am not.”
“yes you are”
“you 2 sound like little kids again.” Victor said appearing behind Dale and Ben starling them again.
“Dad you’re here too?”
“Of course my dear daughter”
“Why are you 2 here?”
“I just came to give something to chondro your brother decided to tag along”
“to chondro?”
“yes. CHONDRO!”
“yes grandpa!”
“come here I have something for you”
Chondro ran over to his grandfather while those who did not notice their presence before took notice of it now. Victor reached into his pocket and handed chondro a bottle with pills.
“I know your supply will run out soon I brought you a refill”
“um… thanks”
“you have been taking the medicine haven’t you?”
“uh…yes?”
“don’t lie to me. I can tell when you are lying”
“I just forgot”
“Chondro. You will hurt someone if you stay off this too long”
“I know I know.”
“well then take your medicine”
“dad what are you giving him?”
“Suppression medicine to suppress his alter ego”
“alter ego?”
“you know what I am talking about marie!” just then Victor’s phone rang.
“yes hello” ”good to know we are on our way.”
Victor nodded to Mark 
“I have some urgent business to tend to marie but have him explain the reason he needs those pills and what happened last time”
Mark and Victor disappeared. Chondro turned to face his mom while Dale and ben got up off the ground. Chondro tried to say something but then walked away leaving his mother speechless. Dale and Ben looked at each other before Rintin called Dale saying they had to get home and pack. Silver went up to his mother.
“mom. Grandpa is right about chondro and that medicine”
“right about what?”
“what happens when Chondro doesn’t take it. It happened just before they brainwashed me. Grandpa was busy with some business in Asia when it happened. Chondro’s 3rd power activated. He turned into this monstrous beast and broke out of his cage and destroy half of the complex. After he calmed down a bit I tried to help him escape and when we got to a forest not too far from the compound we were caught by Someone I still don’t remember who. They knocked me out and decided that it would be better to brainwash me and keep me from seeing Chondro. They just put Chondro back into his cage but this time they put magnets inside the cage so chondro could not escape.”
“Chondro turned into a monster?”
“somewhat. You know of the legend of the one non-wolf to ever be inherit a power that should only be used by wolves right?”
“your grandfather did tell me that story once it was the main reason he got so upset over me dating your father”
“Well of the 5 powers only meant for wovles”
“ Darkness, foreseen, Universal, Spiritual and Beast”
“Chondro got beast. And it spanned a second personality inside him. Grandpa stored him in a cage in his office so he could help Chondro and try to save him. Chondro’s alter ego is very aggressive. If that part of him comes out it won’t stop until it destroys everything in its sight and I mean everything.”
“How did it get stopped last time?”
“chondro re-took control of his body thanks to the suppression medicine. If he can suppress that alter ego the less likely he is go out of control.”
“Silver are sure that medicine is safe?”
“it is. But dad should analyze it. I think he can make it for chondro.”
“I will get Bruce to take a look. But I don’t trust me dad he always has some hidden agenda.”
“that is certain. Grandpa always has something up his sleeve.”
“Oh, before I forget how would you like to go on trip with Ben?”
“huh?”
Victor and Mark had made their way to the panther’s hideout and rendezvoused with tony. Tony had already taken care of the panther and was holding the crystal that contained Kalia.
“Dad, grandpa I found out what their goal is”
“Excellent work my boy” mark said grinning
“tell us then what is their plan”
“they are here to capture members of project H. but what is startling is the reason why”
Both Victor and mark raised an eyebrow and stared at tony
“according to this file here. 8 of the 10 Families have all done a genetic enhancement program in the last 25 years. Most of them are similar to the ones we did.”
“Similar? How similar?” both the adults asked in unison
“they don’t have clear experimental details but it seems as if they all used the same kind process that we used.”
“Impossible. We used a process designed by that Scientist Yata. And we know he died in that fire.”
“grandpa I think there is more to yata than meets the eye. His name is mentioned on every report as person who helped every project.”
“what he helped all the other families?”
“except the Ventonole and the Rontonole that is why they teamed up. They knew if these new super warriors ended up in control they would be defeated and wiped out. “
“Yata was trying to create the perfect fur. Evan was his final result and we know how special he is compared to the others.”
“I just wonder how did he work for 8 families at the same time. We had him under surveillance he rarely ever left his compound and never had any suspicious visitors besides his ‘samples’”
“He died in that fire a few years back when his compound exploded. We found out it was just an accident of some kind but that fox that was seen running away told us something different”
“that fox’s name is Nico and he works for Bruce.”
“wait that Nico! The same one I put a contract out on a while back”
“yes he is also training squad C”
“Sounds like I should retract that contract then”
“might be wise since I owe him one for capturing that panther”
“he beat a members of the ca-hans?”
“yes. Surprising as it sounds he is quite strong probably stronger than marie”
“well he was trained in yata’s super selection program so it is to be expected that he can hold his own so well in battle. How did evan react to finding his father after all these years?”
“from what I heard not well at first but he seems to want a relationship with his father”
“Interesting to see how that will work. But back-“
“Dad I think you should see this” Mark said from across the room. He had been searching through some folders that were lying about on a table and found something that stunned everyone.
“This picture dad”
“this is yata.”
“check the date on the back”
“WHAT… This was taken 3 weeks ago”
“huh?” tony said titling his head
“He is alive? How we had that body verified it matched his DNA perfectly. There was no doubt it was him”
“Not only that check this one out” Mark said holding up another picture
“how is this possible?”
“5 pictures all taken the same day of the same guy in 5 different places around the world.”
“these can’t be real! “
“they are. The Rontonole were verifying them.”
“Mark check that computer over there see if you can find something”
“yes dad”
Mark opened the laptop computer and logged in they had no security so it was a breeze.
“I am in and Wow” Mark had opened a folder that contained 4 months’ worth surveillance photos. It had 5 sub folders Argentina, China, Spain, Russia, New Zealand. Each one contained hundreds of photos. As the 3 wolves examined the dates and time they were taken they became even more confused
“Dad could he be using projection?”
“not likely mark. Most skilled projection users can only create 5 images of themselves and the distant they can create them at is limited especially when dealing with multiple. Even harder to make them solid like he is doing here. See this one is buying a bagel and that one is drinking coffee. No way he is using projection.”
“according to this they lost all trace of him 3 weeks ago”
“what the hell is going on. Something big is happening and we have a lot of things to deal with. The rontonole and ventonole are declaring war on us to try and save their hides, Bill has escaped and no one knows what he is up to and now this.”
“Grandpa we have even more of problem”
“what?”
“this email he got 2 hours ago said that their main force is almost here.”
“guess they aren’t going to waste any more time”
“grandpa it not just the a jueve member anymore. Says here the boss of the Rontonole, his personal guards and the regal fighters are on their way here”
“say what?”
“we are going to have a tough fight on our hands”
“I better alert Keith and raja”
The wolves continued their investigation into the Rontonole but back at their mansion Ben and Silver were packing for their trip tomorrow.
“Can’t wait to see everyone again it has been way too long”
“I can’t believe I agreed to coming on this trip”
“Mom seems to think it wise you come with us I don’t know why though”
“I guess it is safer than staying here with all the crap that is about to go down”
“just relax silver everything is under control I am sure nothing is going to happen while we are gone.”
“But don’t you feel like a coward running away while everyone here is in danger”
“hey mom said not worry about it so I am not going to worry about it. If grandpa and Our uncle are as powerful as grey said they were then we have nothing to worry about”
“I still don’t like this”
“doesn’t matter if you like it are not we are going with dale to attend his father’s funeral”
“whatever I am going to bed night”
“night” 
Silver took his suitcase and left it in the hallway for the butler to take and went off to get some sleep since their flight left at 5 am. Ben just finished packing reminiscing about the time he spent with Dale the other friends he had. Having moved around so much when he was younger he did not remember many places where lived that well but he certainly remembered there and now he was going back for the first time in years. Ben just smiled and put his suitcase next to silver’s  then went to bed.
The morning came faster than expected. Ben and Silver took their suitcases over to Rintin’s house where a car was waiting for them. Dale, Rintin, Ben and Silver were going on this trip alone. Chondro had locked himself away in his room following the confrontation with his grandfather and Ryker said he didn’t want to go for unknown reasons. The others were driven to the airport and made their way to a private plane set to take them to the Caribbean island of St. Hatopon. The flight was about 5 hours. Ben and Dale talked the entire flight about what they were going to do. Silver just slept learning how to get sleep whenever he had a chance. Rintin was annoyed by ben and Dale’s conversation. He had no idea what to expect only going along with this plan to keep watch on his soon to be Brother. Rintin in the past few days had gotten to like Dale so he was happy to help him get to his father’s funeral. Rintin did feel like something fishy was involved in how Dale’s adoption was going. Something did not smell right about it even though his mom explained it. How did the girls trick his father to sign an adoption paper without him knowing. And how was it going through so fast. Rintin came on this trip to get some answers. They arrived at the Airport at midday.
“I can’t believe I am back” both dale and Ben said. They grinned and walked out to meet ralph. It was going to be a very interesting vacation.
