With the giant crocodiles in tow, the unlikely trio began to process of liberating the other reptillians. Todd followed a now familiar template. He would pause at a cage, scan the occupant animal, raise their intelligence and speech to human levels, then release them.
Soon, Todd had an entire dozens of reptiles gathered in the back room. Along with the crocodiles, there were now lizards, geckos, iguanas, snakes, frogs, skinks, of all sizes and colors. The zoo had spent millions on the reptile house the year prior. All as intelligent as men and women and all able to speak in their natural bodies. Some, like the set of breeding iguanas, were perfectly polite and gentle. Others, like the pissed off old boa constrictor hanging from a service pipe were not so enthused after years of mistreatment.
Todd could barely manage the chattering lizards as they talked amongst themselves.
"Listen!" A female frilled lizard suddenly squawked. "Hey! Shut up for a second!"
The low murmer slowly died away.
"Well?" The frill pointed to Todd with her long fingers. "What are we supposed to do now?"
A murmer and several growls of approval sounded. It went deathly still as Todd had several dozen reptilian gazes fall to his direction. Gretta looked up from his ankles and snorted in amusement. "Well boss," she whispered, "revolution?"
Todd eyed Gretta and blinked as he raised his head to address the assembled lizards in the back hall. Somewhere, distantly, there were footsteps approaching from the concrete hall. Patron or zookeeper, Todd wondered? Either way, all the animals and the sole human in the hallway froze and went quiet.
"Gentlemen and lady reptiles," Todd whispered softly. "I'll keep it short and simple. You've been mistreated, abused, and made captives by human beings your entire lives. You now have full minds, free will, and the ability to speak reason. Most people are terrified of you without those things. I say we say take this dark and smelly prison and liberate it from human hands. Who's with me?"
A sharp hiss and rumbling growl came from the crowd of scalefolk and amphibians. They were all with him.
"Fuck yes!" Gretta lit up and her grin turned menacing. "Revolution."
A rather sizeable monitor lizard stepped through the crowd and looked up at Todd with a rather diabolical look in his eye. "What's our first move, leader?"
Todd heard the click of the staff door and somebody desperately fumbling with keys. All of them turned sharply in unison back towards the crocodile cage.
"Get the human'ssss keysssss!" A lady cobra called.
The other murmured softly and went into action. The group seemed to instinctively know what it was doing. The smaller reptiles stayed behind while five of the larger ones, including the two giant crocodiles, quickly formed a line and approached the door from all sides. Todd watched the fast precision and execution of an unspoken plan with amazement. He stood back to keep the other smaller creatures safe.
The female zookeeper finally threw the door open, panting in terror and sweating, and was greeted by the massive yellow tail of the giant boa constrictor closing around her neck like a noose from the pipes above. Her screams were muffled instantly as the giant monitor went to work with his nimble fingers and fished her keys out of her pocket. With the prize obtained, the snake let go with a menacing hiss. The zookeeper fell through the door, hit the wall of the service hall, and gasped as the crocodiles slammed the door with their tails.
The poor woman barely had time to register what was going on before she was face to snout with Gretta. The woman went to scream and was quickly silenced by the snake again, who moved with terrifying speed as he gagged her in one of his beefy coils.
"Shut the fuck up and don't make a move." Gretta snarled. The others let out a sadistic grumble. The woman's eyes widened in terror and she struggled to no avail. The giant boa had her held fast against the wall.
"You enjoyed making me slam my head into the door for food." The monitor growled.
"You taunted me all the time." Gretta snarled.
"You sssstarved meeee." The boa whispered acidically. "I got ssssick and almossssst died."
"Let us freeze in the dark when you didn't get replacement bulbs for our lamps." The male iguana said passively.
"Monster!" One of the lizards called.
"Torturer!" Another rasped.
"Cruel!" A gecko cried, in a high pitched voice.
Todd watched the proceedings with amazement. He eyed the remote with fascination at this new bizarre reality where the animals got to fight back. He loved it.
The woman finally saw Todd and kicked and struggled as hard as she could. Between the strength of the boa constrictor and the intimidating size of the crocodiles, she was still showing defiance. Todd carefully stepped over the other lizards, amphibians, and serpents and approached the zookeeper. She was truly terrified, her nails digging in to the snake's scaly flesh as she fought to pull him away. The boa did not relent, his red eyes trained on the human as he hissed sharply.
"Well, guys." Todd pulled out the remote. "I think it's time for some justice. For all of you."
"Kill her?" The monitor blinked suddenly, alarmed.
Todd turned to the others and saw them suddenly shocked sober by the question. Were they willing to murder a human as their first act of rebellion? Even Gretta took pause. She looked at Todd worriedly.
"I have a better idea." Todd whispered. "Let her live as one of you."
The assembled creatures either exchanged looks of wonder or confusion in the back hall. Gretta's eyes widened in delight and she nodded evilly. The boa constrictor caught on as well, sinisterly grinning down his snout as he released her.
Todd had already scanned the woman in. She went to lunge for her keys in the monitor lizard's hands and suddenly jolted.
"W-What..." She gasped, falling to her knees and groaning. It took only moments, but for the mistreated reptiles it was as satisfying as anything. Little by little the woman began to scream and cry as her hair began to fall out, her skin was overtaken by scales, and she underwent a metamorphosis into a full lizard. Nothing special, Todd grinned, just an anole.
As the woman shrank and screeched in terror, her tail grew out, her clothes fell limp, and her voice raised in octaves and pitch until there was a terrified helpless green anole sitting in her pile of clothing dumbfounded. The reptiles began to murmer amongst themselves again. Mostly in shock and amazement. Several of them stared at Todd in wonder as he pocketed the remote.
The helpless and terrified anole cringed back into her clothing, panting desperately, and squeaked in dismay.
"Wonderful." The snake coiled back into the pipes, savoring the moment. "Truly wonderful."
With a deep breath, Todd looked down at the startled monitor lizard and they exchanged a 'holy shit' glance.
"Well, buddy." Todd motioned to the door. "You wanna do the honors?"
"Yes." The monitor lit up, grinning. He padded to the door, stood up on his hind legs, and threw the inside lock with the keys. He pulled the handle down with his weight, the door clicked, and there it was. Freedom.
"We sssshould ssssecure the building." The same female cobra offered from nearby. "Lock the doorssss."
"Hell of an idea, girl!" Gretta agreed. They again moved quickly, the reptiles and Todd spilling out into the main hall with all the dimly lit empty cages.
"All right!" Fred began hunting eagerly, looking around. "If you see anybody, call it out!"
Todd watched in amazement as all the creatures scanned the building with almost military precision.
"Clear!" A lady gecko called from somewhere in another room in the twisting labrynth.
"Uh, clear!" A frog croaked from the main room.
"Good!" A voice rasped from the cafeteria.
Todd raced around with his new friends until finally they saw the glass doors leading inside. Hastily, he ran back to the desk by the entrance and grabbed a piece of blank paper and a sharpie.
"Closed for revolution?" Gretta said with a hint of mirth.
This prompted much hissing laughter from the others as Todd ceremonially taped a "closed" sign to the main doors and hastily locked them from the inside. There zoo was still practically abandoned.
With that done, the reptiles let out a triumphant roar of excitement. Even the sour boa constrictor, dangling from the doorway, managed to let out a cheer.
"Now what, boss?" Gretta looked to Todd. It fell silent again.
"No, no." Todd laughed sheepishly. A little frog climbed his shoulder and rubbed his cheek gently. "I stopped being your boss the moment you guys got your intelligence. Okay?"
There was another round of nods and agreement.
"Okay!" Fred called. "So who's in charge now?"
A beige female cobra raised her head sharply in bewilderment as literally everybody else stared at her in almost silent unison.
"Oh? Me?" She hissed in surprise. The two other male cobras flanking her nodded gently.
There was a long pause. "Then... then...I... I accccept!"
Another roar of agreement.
"Very well!" The cobra rasped. "Our firssst order of bussssinessss sssshall be to turn the damn heat up and find sssssome food!"
There was another cheer, and the lizards happily began to disperse and explore.
Todd looked at the average sized cobra lady and kneeled down gently before herself and her bretheren. In their coils, the trio exchanged nervous glances before the lady cobra offered Todd a polite nod.
"Yessss, creator?" She said softly.
"Do... do you have names?" He asked gently.
"We do not." The female whispered. The other two males shook their heads as well.
"You should think about that. I'd like to know what to call you."
"I will ponder thissss." The cobra almost offered a very subtle smile. "Thank you, creator. Thingsssss are certain to be interesssssting for ussssss now."
"Agreed!" Todd smiled. "You let me know if you need anything. I'm going to wander here for a bit."
The lady cobra nodded gently and Todd went about his business.