"I'm still not sure WHY we're here," Mercy Elaga grumbled as she looked over to the uniformed Wolf Animalian as they looked over one corner of the Kat's Klub as the various guests went about looking over the various booths that were there, "I mean... between the pandemic having many people staying where they are and the fact that crime in Lyre and Animalia has gotten ridiculously low since the Animalia outbreak... and much of what is there limited to speeding, drunken and disorderly conduct... all things that are relatively minor."
"There have been more serious crimes that have made their way here," the Wolf Animalian answered, "and given that the collectible comics are on display here as part of the convention... they could be a target for thieves."
Mercy nodded at recognizing that sort of thing, partially because of her own past and the attempt to try and steal a jewel that was rumored to be something that belonged to the Romanovs. The jewel, turned out to likely be a replica, even if the gem was real, and Mercy had found herself caught by an Asian man that thought she was going after someone named "Ling." It resulted in Mercy breaking her leg and being given an option of converting to heal the injury and then being put in a program that was intended to help her "make up" for various burgling schemes from her past. She was glad at avoiding jail time, but there were times when the FBI agent that was assigned to monitor could be a bit overbearing and then running into different troubles brought on by her new anatomy as an Animalian. Becoming a Black Mastiff Bat had gained her the ability to fly, and her wings weren't that much of a problem, but she found that her larger bust, wider hips, and bigger butt had gotten her stuck when trying to provide ideas or demonstrations on what a cat burglar could do. That part was something that she found as embarrassing.
And it was the embarrassing things that Mercy didn't like getting reminded of, particularly as she went through some of the same training techniques that Animalia's officers went through when Animalia was first founded. She was making progress and would eventually transfer over to the Rhino Guard and their training. That would likely include more reminders of mishaps that she'd had that were funny. It was like Animalia had the oddest sense of justice imaginable. They didn't lock many up, but they found ingenious ways to get what crooks that did come in to essentially repent of their sins through things that went well outside the proverbial box.
"I would think most burglars would probably be rather shy about trying anything," Mercy said slowly, "particularly after how I was apprehended and then had that capture reported on."
"We'll never know, now can we?" the Wolf Animalian snickered.
Mercy only sighed at that and accepted that some of the teasing was just going to go on and resumed her gaze out over the room that was normally the club's dance floor. There were plenty in costume and some in plain clothes that were moving about between the various booths that were set up. Some even sold some copies of materials that they had brought for the convention and artists or writers that managed to come would sign comics that they'd had a hand in, all of which were things that were part of any sort of comic convention. The costumes seemed a bit silly to Mercy, but that was really a different issue. And since she was there as "security" as part of her training, she wasn't going to make any open comment about costumes, the contest, or the people in them.
"Hello, Mercy," a male voice spoke from a direction to the left of Mercy's gaze making her turn to find a young man there. He was in his teens, and likely late teens, if he wasn't already eighteen.
"Young Mr. Zephyr," Mercy spoke respectfully to the young man, remembering one of the side missions that she'd gotten to crack a safe in southern Nevada in a home that the Zephyr family owned and the son, Zack found. Much of it was essentially open the safe and see what was inside it, but not much more than that. To everyone's surprise the safe had apparently held a lot of valuables that left the Zephyr family a lot better off than they were before they found the safe. Mercy assumed that things like taxes would probably take a good chunk of that away, but it was a find that would likely last them for awhile. She also remembered that the son, Zack had had some interest in her.
"You can call me Zack," Zack Zephyr answered, "what are you here for?"
"Security," Mercy answered, "all part of the training program they have me in, "by the time you start college they should be moving me over into the program for the Rhino Guard's "stealth division" and all the "adventures" they have to go along with it."
"Well... there can't be a better place to get that kind of job," Zack commented, "low crime rate... friendly people... and a whole bunch of comics and things like that. Fun, right?"
Mercy only rolled her eyes at that. While some of the older comics could be financially valuable, she was never really interested in them. Many of the various comic ideas just came off as too weird for her, in that characters with gadgets had things that weren't built or sold anywhere else and from Mercy's experience and knowledge, if one guy creates a flying suit of armor, it wouldn't be hard to create a similar suit of armor with someone else. There was also the penchant for females to be running around in high heals, regardless of where they were. Now, while a few Animalians did well with their heals off the ground, they also had digitigrade legs and they were designed to run on their toes. Human women didn't have that kind of foot structure and thus running at full speed on rooftops in high heels was a good way to break an ankle or have some other fatal accident. Since becoming an Animalian, she also felt some of the comics got a bit too into having people dress like animals and often getting certain features wrong.
"If you're into that sort of thing," Mercy managed.
"Some can be pretty good," Zack commented, "Batman's always been good if you're into detective stories."
Mercy ignored the glance that Zack gave her for the moment. She had some sense that he was interested, and as a legal adult there wouldn't necessarily be anything wrong with it. But there was some unease with the knowledge that there was an age difference between them, not to mention the fact that the present line being used involved "detective stories." Having spent most of her life trying to avoid police attention, serving the Animalia PD was more a community service project that she would have to do if she wanted to stay out of jail. Thus, she really didn't have much interest in "detective stories."
"Go on and take a walk around with him," the Wolf Animalian instructed to Mercy, "we'll need to make sure no one is trying to steal anything... and keep your ears out. Wouldn't want to walk into anyone... though maybe your friend here can guide you."
The "blind as a bat" joke didn't go well with Mercy, either, but she had no real choice. She accepted the criticism and went along with it as Zack began to lead her along to open areas between the booths. He looked at a few of them, but Mercy could see through the corner of her eye that Zack was more often than not looking to her. Thankfully, though, he didn't reach for her hand or anything like that. Even if she were interested in him, Mercy also knew enough that while on duty she couldn't engage in those sorts of things.
"I'm sure he's just teasing you," Zack said to Mercy, "Most bats have relatively good vision. It's just that they're known for being active at night and using echolocation as a means to help them hunt or find food... if they're a bat that eats fruit or is a pollinator of flowers."
"Yes... but that doesn't mean it's a good joke," Mercy nodded as they walked along the path, "so what brings you up to Lyre/Animalia? Surely it wasn't just to see me... was it?"
"Well... I was hoping to see you," Zack answered, "I mean you helped out my family with that old safe and you're very pretty... I..."
"Most Animalians seem to be built to be sexy," Mercy said slowly, "males with their broad shoulders and beefy arms... and likely... being big elsewhere... while females being voluptuously built. In this, a fair number of Humans come in just to watch for a little while... even if they don't plan on converting."
"Well... I do plan on converting," Zack answered, "and I am an adult so I can make that choice... but it isn't so much about how you look... with your body... I mean..."
Mercy gave an amused roll of her eyes as they walked along, seeing nothing out of the ordinary and her ears picking nothing up outside of the background noise and that wasn't indicating anything troublesome. It seemed pretty clear that Zack had an interest in her and was fumbling over himself as he tried to say he was interested without saying he was interested. It made his cheeks flush red for a moment as they walked along. In some ways it was rather cute, but she wasn't going to admit that.
"I would have thought that you would have converted by now... given that you've struck it rich with what was in that safe," Mercy commented, "you have more than enough money to pay the costs of conversion."
"I do," Zack agreed, "but I need something first... and this might be a bit more personal."
"Oh... you want ME to do the converting," Mercy teased at him, mostly to see what the response was. Mostly because she knew on how a lot of things worked. Horizon did allow for people becoming Animalians to be converted by another Animalian, but with the rules and regulations that regarded vaccinations to prevent the Animalia Virus from spreading rampantly, it would be something that would still have to be connected with Horizon to de-vaccinate the Animalian, run the conversion, and then re-vaccinate the original Animalian and then the new Animalian. And given Zack's interest in her, that would mean that she might be the one he was interested in.
"Well... I would wish to match your species," Zack answered with a small blush, "as you look very cute... but I can go to Horizon on my own if you're uneasy with things. All I would ask is what species of bat you became?"
"I became a Black Mastiff Bat," Mercy answered, "and that's all you wanted?"
"Well... I might wish to win you over," Zack said with a bit of a blush, "as you were helpful and... well... I suppose a part of me just likes some of the story that's gone around with you..."
"Getting tripped up by some loose ball and getting attacked by a crazy Asian?" Mercy asked with a icy tone creeping into her voice, "or trying to demonstrate something and getting my breasts or my ass stuck?"
"No..." Zack answered, "the second chance stuff. Showing you're better than your past mistakes. Animalia's had a couple of those sorts of stories. One is Heather Green and she came back from things far worse than anything you did. The other was Mary Piper and the whole "rat queen" story-line from a few years ago. You could do the same... and it's that kind of comeback story I find interest in."
"Oh," was all Mercy managed and was hoped no one would see her blush under her fur. It wasn't quite what she expected and to a certain extent, she wasn't necessarily looking at that. But then, she also knew that Animalia and the FBI had taken steps to make sure she complied and for the moment she let that be. "Well... that's better. I'm sorry... some of the other officers have felt it necessary to tease me a bit over some things."
"Some people never really leave high school, I suppose," Zack commented, "best to put them aside and be the best you can be."