Agent Sherman however ended up having to face some hard realities.
The various 'warrens' 'herds' and 'packs' within the park, thanks to off-site lawyers who were completely independent of the park, were legally recognized as communes and half-way houses, and it was unconstitutional to have them thrown off their living space simply because their land lord was under investigation. Also, the 'ferals' in the park were listed as legal residents in the park, and forcing THEM to leave would be equally criminal.
Also, the various 'anthro' communities, that lived around the park, such as New Eden (which included many second generation anthros who had never been human), were beginning to bristle at the horde of Feds swarming down on the company they had a symbiotic relationship with. Also, the investigation only dealt with this particular BRANCH of the TF Parks, TF Park Canada, TF Park China, TF Park Japan, TF Park Europe, TF Park South America, TF Park Africa, and others were completely out of their jurisdiction.
Also, forcing staff and guests and residents to change species against their will was also a gray area that if he crossed he wasn't likely to be able to uncross.
Dunstan for his park was horrified. He knew Harry had been removed by management for 'the good of the park' (that was all he was told), he knew he hadn't yet earned the respect of this pack, but he had hoped that they would give him a chance to EARN their loyalty. Instead the pack had been fixated on what had happened to their old leader, and wouldn't take 'need to know' for an answer, and he couldn't give an answer.
Dunstan couldn't believe that he had been GIVEN leadership of a pack, just in time to be remembered as the one who'd watch it die as paranoid and self-righteous humans bullied the park and the pack into being destroyed. Dunstan loved the parks, he believed in protecting them no matter what. But he loved his fellow huskies. Dammit. All he could do now was hope that the hate didn't spread to the REST of the parks.
And there was no telling what all this insanity would do to all the anthros who had jobs and lives OUTSIDE the park! This maniac seemed to be under the delusion that all the anthros lived inside the park and were all park of the furry community or a bunch of misanthropes.
If all this got out, the back lash not only against the other parks, but the anthros in general would be overwhelming. Dunstan didn't know that was precisely why the crew had hired an outside investigator to begin with!!!!
++++
Harry hoped Kate was all right. That was all he could hope for. He knew she preferred being human, as a rule, and the two of them had spent years trying to convince the other that to stay the other's species. Now? He just hoped she got out of everything okay. Who knew what this entire mess would do to the park and his fellow huskies before it over. This madness. This was all madness. Naomi and Charlotte were supposed to be out there exploring the world again as Harry held down the fort. This was all crazy.
This wasn't how things were supposed to be.
The underground facility was deep underground, had it been hallowed out from an old mine? Or a bomb shelter.
++++
The geneticist who had been in charge of altering Naomi and Charlotte's orientation had done as he was told. And then promptly erased all his research, and smashed the hard drive for good measure, and burned all of his notes.
He had done as he was told, because he didn't believe a loving couple should have their ability to love each other that way to be stolen. But he had no intention of this genetic research to be allowed into the hands of those who wrote his check.
He had been brought on board because his psychological profile listed him as believing in 'traditional marriage.' And he did. But like most people he had tried to discuss things with in his life, his employers had been thinking in black and white.
They thought that because he believed a religious ceremony should stay religious ceremony, that he was therefore against the legal unions of loving couples, or that he believed all homosexuals should be 'cured.'
And he had no delusions about what was going to happen to his research if this was brought out, a 'cure' for attraction to the same gender would be jumped on by any number of hate groups or families wanting to 'fix' their children. This research couldn't be allowed to exist.
If the couple were ever changed back into female wolf and a female huskies, their original orientation should be restored too, he had programmed his sequence that way. In case they didn't they could still love each other.
Adrian knew once he was found out, he was dead, or worse than dead. If he tried to leave to tell the police, he was dead. He hadn't been allowed out of this damn place in months by security. They didn't trust any of scientists here it seem.
He could still perform one act of defiance though. He switched out what template was to be used on Harry (apparently a Husky from the park who had replaced the legendary and hyper effective Naomi, who Adrian in all honesty -except for her rampant misandry- he had admired).
The notes had told Adrian to turn Harry into a mouthless slug creature that needed to survive on external injections for sustenance right out of 'I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream' that was being experimented on for more dangerous inmates in prisons. Then delete his template.
Instead he programmed in a template that would either kill Harry instantly, or make him able to end all this insanity. Either way it would be a kinder fate thank what was planned for the poor husky. If he wasn't killed during all this, Adrian casually wondered how many times he'd be raped in shower room of the prison he'd be sent to before being stabbed in the back by a shiv for his ham-sandwhich. He considered killing himself now, and let his research still in his head die with him, but that felt like the coward's way out.
Meanwhile Harry was shuffled into the transformation chamber. And it activated.
Harry was going to miss his fur, his sense of smell, his sight, and basically, EVERYTHING that came with being a husky, not just legal permission to go around naked. Even the genetic engrained sense of loyalty that came with being a husky was something he was going to miss dearly. He had been a husky for so long that it was a PART OF HIM, he felt like a piece of his soul was being taken away.
The machine started up. His fur didn't vanish but did become a whole lot shorter, and almost gleamed with a mother of pearl like sheen.
++++
As mad scientists panicked to erase evidence, and bullying humans forced their way through everything to find proof everyone here was part of some evil conspiracy, she happened to look at some of the hidden camera feed, (they had found a lot of cameras had been 'turned off' for the sake of the Order of the Stag). And saw what Vinny was doing with Brian.
Goldie made a decision. Time to go to the dark place inside her. And make that bullying thug Vinny KNOW what it meant to be scared! She was still a staff member of the park, and until the fed officially closed it, she still had a legal right to enact what punishment she saw fit on rowdy guests!
Huskies were legendary for one thing since the park had opened, their completely ninja like ability to hide in plain sight, and avoid the sense of hearing and smell of pretty much any park guest alive, to the point where even the cameras didn't spot them if they didn't want them to. And moving completely like lightning through the park.
The large horde of new modified does shivered as Goldie slip past them as invisible as the wind. The 'ninja' the company had originally hired (a member of Naomi's family), would be pleased at how quickly Goldie had picked it up, though she already had plenty of experience with her scared tactics already.
The fight could still go either way, but Brian had held his own against Vinny's genetic cheating, but was being worn down while Vinny didn't look tired at all. And Vinny didn't look like he intended to stop with just a win. It hit Brian Vinny might actually try to kill him he was so deeply lost in his instincts (a side effect of his genetic cheats), the deer were known for falling into a 'herd mentality' that helped congeal the group together, but this wasn't working in harmony with Vinny's intelligence at all.
A golden flying kicked knocked Vinny off his high horse and landed on him on his tail, making him yelp out.
Vinny's cheats had done many things. But they had neglected to bother to remove the instinctual fear that came with being hunted or facing an obviously angry predator.
Goldie growled, lowering into a predatory stance, "Vinny? As the last act of the park staff, we'd like to inform you that we are very disappointed in your behavior. Your guest contract states that you've consented to in-park punishment. Run."
Vinny held his ground and snapped back. "**** you b*tch! You're an idiot! We have a deal!"
"You don't have a deal with me. And if the park is going to die, I'm gonna see you get karma first. Bye." She took a step forward on all fours.
Vinny ran away screaming.
She applied first aid to Brian (who didn't look to have any broken bones or anything life threatening), then said to him, "Be back in three minutes."
She came back three minutes later with Vinny march in front of her, his head down, dragging his hooves. He wasn't a single drop of blood or mark on him, his fur wasn't even roughed up, let alone any bruises (she had even stopped him from running headlong into a tree).
She looked him in the eyes. "Now. Who is the stupid b*tch?"
Vinny shivered, his legs knocking. And said in front of the entire herd. "I am the stupid b*tch."
+++++
Harry's paws became hooves, his fingered paws became three fingers encased in armor. His tail . . . looked like a lion's tail? They were turning him into a freak for a theme park? On the bright side, he seemed to be remaining male, very male. It was a small mercy, but at least he was getting out of this with his Y chromosome intact. He was gaining a mane, like a horse and like all of him, it was mother of pearl color. There was more, he had cloven hooves, horses did NOT have cloven hooves. That was when he felt the spiral horn growing out of him . . . had they mixed him with horse, lion, dear, and narwhal DNA? Oh and he grew a goatee. Blech. He was SO going to shave that off if given the chance.
But he didn't feel like his body parts were out of place, they all FIT together, as his muzzle grew. His ears were now much smaller and thinner.
Then he felt like his entire brain was struck by lightning, but unlike others before him, he wasn't reduced to a drooling catatonic by the mental rush of what he felt and what he saw, and what he suddenly KNEW, it was like he was becoming a vessel for something greater, or (he distantly thought) he was just now delusional and hallucinating all this.
Naomi and Charlotte meanwhile felt what could be described almost as a mild static shock (in water!), like a 'presence' had announced itself somehow somewhere nearby.
The Unicorn blinked at its surrounding. It had nothing against human technology or human civilization, but this place stank of selfishness and cruelty so badly it actually made the unicorn close its nostrils.
It noticed it was going about on two legs, and its body was clearly built for that. Unexpected. But things were what they were.
The unicorn had nothing against humans, they were like any species, they used the traits given to them to best increase their chances for survival, nothing more, nothing less. But the unicorn was also a servant of something greater: it served life, older than any nation, more vast than any country. It sensed none of its own kind (at least none who were not reduced to helpless lunatics from the overwhelming force of being connected to all life). It felt lonely and sad for that.
Yes, the unicorn was but a servant of life, and the collective will of life (and that included humanity), judged this place evil.
Also, it sensed the a new level of diversity of life was threatened, and this place was part of that threat.
Grass began to grow under the unicorn's hooves, while the lights in ceiling of the TF chamber became brighter and self-sustaining.
The walls of the chamber began to dissolve. A pack of two legged jaguars and huskies, all heavily armed and with the full intention of killing him (and dissecting him later), rushed towards him.
The unicorn had no intention of making the world its enemy, but this insanity had gone on long enough.
Guns became woods, which became building blocks. The panthers and huskies became cubs who began playing with their new toys.
Flowers growing now, and the ceiling growing larger (and almost looking blue, though they were still completely underground), and the lights become a floating orb of light and warmth, the unicorn sensed two lives nearby that felt familiar to it. The collective will of every living thing would wish them helped. The unicorn did so. Tree sprout up as it went as more walls dissolved but the underground base didn't collapse from the lost of supports, almost becoming larger on the inside than the outside as the unicorn went.
Trained murderers and apathetic monsters were all given a fresh start as the unicorn went along.