"May I just bring up one thing before I go?" Agent Sherman asked.
"What?"
"The accident that left me like this also destroyed my wallet and everything in it. Before your team was dispatched, I put in a request for a replacement I.D. Do you happen to know the progress on that?"
Yereminiva glared. "I believe the general consensus was that there was no point in issuing you a new I.D. while your face fails to match the photo. It is also my understanding that you will not be getting your old face back any time soon, and based on this conversation we just had, you seem to have come around on the whole concept of anthros. So what I would suggest you do today, if you want to properly represent this bureau again, is that you do a little soul searching today. Work out just what you're going to be when you head back to Washington, and march that fluffy little tail of yours over to the nearest chamber for it. And I would further suggest you pick something that is not going to leave you inclined to hop into bed with any of the people we are investigating, if that seems like something you can manage."
"Yes, Special Agent Yereminiva, I'll get right on that."
It had been quite some time since anyone had given Sherman a warning like that, and it sobered him up quick. Hooking up with Steve had been a mistake, and no matter how much he'd been enjoying it, it wasn't worth giving up his career. He'd just change into something else, and make a clean break of it. No more lusting after fit young skunk men, no temptation to continue fraternizing with the enemy. But what? He was drawing a blank. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to stay male or go back to being female. He could cross panther off the list at least, Yereminiva wouldn't likely take it as a compliment, and one way or the other there'd be some uneasy sexual tension there. Johnson's apparent skunk fetish took a simple sex-flip off the table for similar reasons. He'd just have to look at a menu or pick something at random he supposed.
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Terry sat trembling in a corner of the warren. She'd completely put that incident with the wolf out of her mind, but seeing that husky lashing out at Tim just brought it all flooding back. She just felt so powerless and vulnerable, completely unable to cope with being so close to something with all those sharp teeth and claws. When Tim came back looking for her, she leapt into the warmth and safety of his arms, hoping he'd never let go, and that they'd never have to leave here again to face the horrors outside.
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Meanwhile, Agent Johnson was attempting to deal with the other subjects from the offsite facility. Those who were up for talking had little of note to say. Apparently the truly unwilling subjects were a recent trend. The pair of half-snakes claimed they'd been offered hot meals and a place to stay if they agreed to test an experimental procedure, claimed they mostly just saw panthers and a few human scientists. Some of the others were in too bad of a shape mentally to say even that much. After recording their behavior, and thoroughly backing up the results of their regeneration chamber scans, efforts had been made to restore them to properly humanoid forms, without it coming as too much of a shock. Manticore to anthro lion, centaur to anthro horse. While this helped restore a little of the spark of intelligence to their eyes, they all still seemed to be in something of a state of shock. The horses didn't even seem to remember how to stand up properly, continually falling to an awkward crawling posture. Johnson shuddered at the thought of how close he'd come to the same sort of fate. Worst off though were the lizards. He couldn't even be sure they'd ever been human from how unresponsive they were, and that raised serious ethical concerns on what to do with them. The heavily sedated harpy was another problem. Even barely conscious, she seemed extremely agitated, half-coherently begging to be let out. Someone would definitely have to answer for all of this.
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Irene lead Lawrence up into the hills, where the other huskies had confronted Max what felt like a lifetime ago. She still couldn't believe how lucky she was to have him, so graceful and majestic. From here they could see almost the entire park. She wanted to remember it like this when they left, but it wasn't the real reason she brought him here. After a long passionate kiss, they each spread their wings as far as they could, and with a running start leapt into the air. The feeling was wonderful, she thought. Even from the highest point around, it could hardly be called flying. Even with just a hang glider, someone could stay airborne far longer than this. Still, the feeling of rushing wind being caught in her wings as they slowly fell towards the ground below was exhilarating, like nothing she'd ever felt before. The instant they reached the ground, she tackled Lawrence, making love to him in the middle of a clearing, with plenty of onlookers. She felt no shame at all over her wondrous new body, and felt it was the most natural thing in the world for her to ride her powerful stallion any time she felt the desire. This was the sort of true freedom she had to share with the world, after all.
Some of the onlookers however saw things quite differently. Particularly the huskies that were passing through, with very somber thoughts on their minds.