Robin Ch 6
Story by Cadi Carys on SoFurry
Imported from SF2 with no description.
As the years went on after the destruction of Heathridge's criminal career, the community in the outer part of Nottingham flourished. Robin and her core saw to it that money continued to flow from the undeserving into the neighborhood, even if (to a large degree) the free furs of the district simply didn't bother with money among one another. It was all free to be used to get the resources that were needed to provide a good life in their area.
Robin and her band made sure to keep close tabs on how the districts were doing, with director Goddard's assistance. It wasn't that there weren't any problems that came up, it was simply that there weren't any that they couldn't handle with the skills that they had developed over the years. Her core band even grew to become quite the well oiled machine, each one developing and refining their particular skills in order to become the best thieves and spies that they could.
Sofia graduated from secondary school, and was even able to continue into university, which was a huge point of pride for Yakoub and Jinan, while Jenny and Hugo even got married, with much celebration throughout the community. Things were going... very well for the free district.
It helped that Robin hadn't been lax in another area - watching carefully for new furs throughout England. Any even vague reports that someone had become a fur triggered an investigation for Robin, and very frequently, she was able to snatch them away before the authorities got to them. Her efforts made the United Kingdom a bit of an anomaly in the world... the area with the lowest reported incidence of Transhuman changes. Oh, the politicians banged on about this or that about the British character that was to credit for that fact, but they never suspected the interference of a young woman from Nottingham could have had anything to do with it.
One day, though, Robin woke to a cryptic and very brief email from director Goddard. “We're being saved," was all it said. By the time she made it down to the common room turned command center for her team, TVs were turned on all around the room, tuned to news stations from around the world. Among the cacophony from the flatscreens, she saw Jenny working away at the computer, news articles pulled up onto the extra monitors around the main one.
Robin stormed across to Jenny and the others, her heart beating very quickly. “What's going on?" Her tone was calm, though intense as her eyes flitted around the screens, trying to process what she was seeing.
Jenny turned around to look at Robin. “They're gone. All of them. Every district is empty."
Robin stared at the screens dumbfounded, just trying to take it all in as she was fighting off a panic attack. “Goddard... said that they were being saved..." she said, trying to latch onto that. “Emmet, Krystie, Cailyn... go and see if there's any evidence at all of foul play... God help the world if they've all been massacred..." she said, fighting desperately to keep her heart from racing out of her chest.
As the investigations went on, they all came back clean. No signs of any bloodshed, no signs of looting. At most, the strangest thing was that the homes and apartments they checked on... it was like the people had calmly moved out of them, taking their personal effects with them. It legitimately was as though they had all simply... vanished.
Jenny even pulled reports of the imprisonment of Senator Parson, who they had been rather baffled by in recent weeks. He had, in the span of a visit to the Chicago district, gone from one of the most aggressive persecutors of the Transhumans to their most vocal advocate. The reports of his arrest were... chaotic at best. Something about having been taken in on suspicion of smuggling a group of transhumans out of the Chicago district... and there it was again... that Chicago district. Something had to have happened there.
Robin didn't wait for any of the others and teleported to the district, searching every inch of it. The odd thing was that, as she arrived, she felt... it was almost like an electric charge flowing through her. “I was here..." Nothing said to her, sounding very surprised.
“What? The fuck does that mean," Robin asked, not angrily, just very agitated and confused. She hadn't expected Nothing to talk to her.
“Someone else in this world has a bond with me... but how..."
Robin blinked and shook her head, “Wait... so you're telling me... that they were literally magicked out of here?"
“That's my best guess... and whoever did that... did all of the districts in one night..." he said, and she could almost feel his shudder. “They're not just working with a projection of myself through the window into this world... they're working with me."
“How is that not something you knew about before coming here? Besides, I thought I was working directly with you," she said, getting rather agitated.
Nothing materialized in front of her. “I'm not the 'full' Nothing. I'm... a part of Nothing projected through the window into this world... focused by one of the power nodes on the island where the window is. But, that has still meant that I've had enough power to empower you, your crew, and our whole community. I'm not all of me... but I'm still plenty powerful even on my own."
Robin rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Okay... so... you're like a chunk of the full Nothing that got broken off and found me... and now you are saying that the rest of you is here?"
“Yes. Fundamentally. And I'm the one that got the furs the fuck out of the districts. Me and whoever I'm bound to."
Robin took a deep breath, trying to focus. “Okay... so... I'm trying to cope here, okay? Reassure me on one thing... and we can go home and figure things out a lot more calmly. Reassure me that the furs are safe... and haven't secretly been massacred by the governments of the world in order to get rid of a headache."
“Yes," Nothing said confidently, “I can do that. I would never have let anything like that happen."
Robin let out a long breath, her heartrate finally starting to settle for the first time since waking up to that email. “Okay. Let's... go home, then... and we can recall the others."
They returned home and settled into watching the news very intently. Over the coming days, the report about Parson's disappearance along with his co-conspirators out of secure jail cells in maximum security prisons helped to solidify Nothing's claim. It was the kind of thing that Only Robin and her crew could have done, and only with Nothing's help.
What was interesting was that soon after, there was a report of another fur being discovered. She was a rat, and had been taken to a prison as well... only to disappear just as Parson had. The news about the Transhumans descended into babble after that, because no one had any clue whatsoever about what was going on anymore.
So now, it was a waiting game... and Robin settled into continuing to take care of her community... and catching any other furs that popped up within her reach.
On Tropico, the new community was settling in very nicely. Tammy was doing a great job of tracking new furs around the world, but one day, Cadi found herself being called into the lab that was doing the monitoring work.
When she got there, Tammy was looking very confused as she had a map of England pulled up. The next monitor over was zoomed in on a small town in Dorset, where the time-stamped readout had an unambiguous hit of the relevant energy on the tracking system. Tammy turned around, looking at Cadi with a good bit of concern.
“She was right there, I swear... the tracker came up with a hit, and we sent out an agent as quickly as we could... but by the time they got there, she was gone... and now her signature is gone," Tammy said, her mind clearly racing, trying to figure out what had happened.
Cadi blinked, staring at it, trying to process what Tammy was saying. “So... you're saying there was a fur there... and then there wasn't... and now there's no sign of anything..." Cadi closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Yeah. I can see why you called me down. Don't worry, Tammy, I'll take it from here," she said with a sigh before she teleported off to the place where the tracker had flagged.
She took a deep breath, looking around the room, even as she got a strange vibe. She could feel the energy in the room... but it was like there were two energy signatures in the room. She looked closely at the spot where the second energy signature was focused and tried to understand it.
It was like Nothing's energy... but different... she was quite confused, but she pulled out one of Tammy's devices, taking a detailed scan of the signature before she straightened up and went back to Tropico. “There's definitely something strange going on there. There was a second signature," she said, holding the reader out to Tammy.
The rat took it and plugged it in, processing the reading that Cadi had brought back. “That is weird... it's like Nothing, but... different..." she said, setting aside the puzzle of what had caused the signature for the moment. Instead, she entered the new signature into the tracking system, and both Tammy and Cadi jumped back as the entire island lit up with the new signature.
“Fuck me..." Cadi said, looking at the map and the new results, running her fingers over it. “It's all over the place..."
Tammy used her own monitor to scan elsewhere. “That's not the only place... It's also back at the district in France."
“Yeah... but it is also way more intense right here... can we get Goddard in here?"
It took a few minutes before the Siamese cat came in, looking to the other two. “Oui? How can I help?" She was curious about the maps on the screen, but didn't bombard them with questions.
“Goddard... we've found an unusual signature... similar to Nothing, but different, somehow. It also seems to be focused around..." Cadi looked closely at the map, reading the name of the city where the node was, “Nottingham."
The cat laughed at that, “Oh, silly little Robin Hood..." she said with a sigh, the others looking very confused at that statement, but she didn't give them time to ask more before she continued, “I had... a few encounters with a remarkable young woman who called herself Robin Hood... how drole that she would actually be from Nottingham... still... it is fitting... and for years now, so few ever came to my district from England... now I see why..." she said, smiling and shaking her head.
“Cadi, could you take me back to my district? I'm afraid I lost my contact information for her when we came here, and we've been so busy that I haven't been able to reach out to her since we arrived. I do feel a little awful, though... my last message said so little... how she must have worried..."
Cadi would need filling in on the whole Robin Hood thing, but it seemed to make sense to Dorran and Tammy, and Dorran promised that he would tell her about it when she had time to really listen. For the moment, though, Cadi took Goddard back to the abandoned Western European district, where Goddard went into her office and retrieved the card with the contact information from the floor where it had fallen in their escape from the district.
She then went to her computer, where she pulled up her email and sent a message to Robin's dead drop. “Oh, my poor little Robin Hood, I am so sorry for not saying anything after our last message. I lost the card when I was leaving. We have a friend, and we are going to come to you in Nottingham. Do not be afraid, she is a very good person."
She sent the message to Robin and turned to Cadi, smiling warmly, “So, shall we go to England?"
Robin cried out as they were sitting there, trying to just get on with life after the disappearance of the other furs of the world. The others sat up immediately, looking at her. “I just got an email from director Goddard!" She opened the email and looked puzzled as she read it out to the others, looking no less confused by the time she was done.
“We have a friend," Cailyn asked dubiously, “And she's a very good person?"
“I'm more concerned about the 'and we are coming to Nottingham' part," Emmet said, his brow furrowed. “How do they know where to find us?"
Further discussion was cut off, though, as former director Goddard appeared in the basement room with someone that none of them recognized. She was a tigress, yes, but her fur was all different shades of grey. She was wearing a black suit jacket with khakis and a bold, red dress shirt.
The tigress was looking around the room curiously as she took in the room with her piercing, golden eyes while Goddard beamed at Robin and rushed over to give her a big hug. “Dear Robin Hood! How wonderful to see you again! So much has happened! Please," she straightened up, turning to the tigress, “Dear Cadi here has brought us to a new home!"
Cadi turned to look at Robin, smiling wryly as she took the young woman in... and they both felt a strange sensation pass between them. “Well... that explains it... at least somewhat..."
Cadi chuckled softly as Robin felt Nothing force his way out and appeared next to Cadi, staring blankly at her. Before anyone could say anything, though... there was a second Nothing there in the room with them. This... other Nothing looked at Robin's with raised eyebrows. “My word... I hadn't expected that..." he said, looking to the others in the room. “This would be a first... that... a fragment of me had broken off and become... properly independent in a world before I arrived," he said, looking Robin's Nothing up and down. “But, I see that you have done a fine job... and been true to ourselves."
The Nothings exchanged looks while Cadi looked surprised before she looked at Robin, smiling. “I guess we have a bit to talk about," she said with a little laugh."
Robin blushed awfully, smiling sheepishly as she said, “I guess we do."
A short while later, they were in the pub, sitting down together, with everyone in fur form with a drink to enjoy while they talked, Robin filling in Cadi on everything that had happened. “And Nothing told me that I got his attention because of the stunt I pulled, setting that first warehouse on fire in order to save Jenny," she said, which got a nice, big laugh out of Cadi.
“Yeah... that I can believe... still, that is quite remarkable... and everything you've done here... and you're telling me that this whole neighborhood is all furries?" She sat back and sipped on her stout. It wasn't bad, but she was looking forward to introducing Robin to Briar.
“Oh yeah. It's been... almost a big point of liberation for all of us. Just getting to live the fullest lives we can," she said before her face fell and she sighed, “The only trouble is that we have to pretend to be human most of the time, because we can't have anyone knowing that we're able to change back and forth."
“Mmm... that would absolutely terrify the poor humans, wouldn't it. But... at least there's good news now... I know this place is very much your home... but on Tropico, we're all free to be furs all of the time."
The others looked at Cadi with a sense of awe. “Really?" Jenny asked, her breathing quickening a little as she held Hugo's paw tightly.
“Yes. Now, I'm not going to force anyone to move to Tropico. The furs in the districts... well, that was an emergency situation. This isn't an emergency situation. Would it be possible for me to pose the question to the community as a whole?"
Robin blinked and looked around the table. “Jenny... you've got everyone's email addresses, right?"
Jenny nodded, “We've made sure to keep the mailing list updated with the furs here," she said, pulling out her phone and typing away, at which point the others in the pub's phones chimed with various email alerts. They picked them up and looked over at Robin's table curiously. Robin stood up and looked at the others in the pub.
“Yeah. It's real. In about an hour, we need to make sure that everyone is at the theater," she said, her voice projecting very well. Cadi was impressed with the presence as a leader that she had.
An hour later at the theater, Robin and Cadi were waiting to come out onto the stage. Jenny was out front, working with the others to take attendance, checking against the list. She messaged her a quick question, “Do we have everyone?" Jenny replied with a thumbs up. Robin took a deep breath and looked at Cadi, saying “We're on."
Cadi allowed her to lead the way, seeing as she was the core of this community. Robin came out onto the stage and looked out at everyone. Come on, Robin. You know these people. They respect you. It's not like they're going to think your jiu-jitsu trophy is pointless. This is no time for stage fright. She took just a moment longer to calm herself before she spoke in a powerful voice. “Alright, you all know who I am. You also all know the news that happened recently with the disappearances at the Transhuman Districts. Well, we now have clear answers about what happened there. Cadi, would you please?"
She gestured to Cadi, who smiled as she stepped forward. “Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for coming so that I could talk to everyone. Yes, Robin is right that I am able to share the true story of what happened at the districts. The truth is that I found a new home for our kind, and I brought everyone out of the districts to that new home. That was an emergency, though, because we could not be certain what the governments would do when they discovered many furs missing. We feared that they would become harsher with the furs who remained. So, we all made the grand exodus that you've all heard the aftermath of."
“This is your home, and I am not here to steal anyone away from it who would rather stay. But I do want to offer a new home to all of you. A home where none of you will need to spend your days hiding, pretending to be humans. It is a place where you won't have to worry about having enough to go around... though from what I hear, Robin has been doing a very good job of accomplishing that, herself," she said with a warm smile for the nervous fox.
“Everyone here is welcome to come to Tropico or stay, as they wish. What's more, this is not an offer with a time limit. Unlike with the districts, we are not dealing with an emergency situation. So please, do think this through. I just wanted to make sure that I was able to speak to everyone, so that could make it clear what is now possible. Thank you for your time."
There was a real buzz of conversation, though at the moment, it didn't sound like there was a clear consensus right away, even if a significant number of people sounded enthusiastic about the prospect. Robin could feel the energy of the room, and its confusion... she was tied to these furs that closely. She stepped forward, breathing deeply, “I know this is a difficult decision. I also know that many of you must have questions. You are free to ask them, I just ask that you do so calmly and don't try to talk over one another."
That seemed to calm them decently, and the first one to rise was a bull, “What kind of a place is it? Would we all have... one leader to answer to? Would they tell us where we had to live and what jobs we had to do?"
Cadi bowed her head, “Thank you. No, those are very reasonable questions. The island does have a leader, but she is not a..." she thought for a moment, looking as though she was trying to chose the right word. Really, she was checking with Dorran about how to say this, “She is not a dictator, and she is very kind. She is a former director of one of the districts, and she is passionate about the wellbeing of our kind. As for where to live, no, there is no... assigned housing," she said, pausing for a moment longer, “Or assigned jobs. All are free to find the part of the island that speaks to them as a place to live, and all are free to take up the roles within the community that suit their hearts the best."
Cadi paused and held up her hand, palm up, and a pineapple appeared there, “On the island, we do not want for resources. We have abundance there, and as such, money is not something that we worry about. You will not need to work for long hours in the fields, in factories, or in offices just to scrape by. All will be welcome to the plenty that we possess... and no one will be expected to sacrifice in order to partake in it."
That got a powerful murmur of approval to ripple through the room. A moment later, an otter stood, looking at Cadi. “What of our safety? What happens if the humans find out where we are, and come to take revenge for leaving?" That got another round of murmuring, showing that it was also on peoples' minds.
Cadi shook her head. “The island is deeply tied to the magic that I am part of... and that Robin here is part of," she said before sweeping her gaze across the stage, “And that, ultimately, all of you are part of as furs. No humans will be able to find the island to attack us. And even if they do, they will not find us helpless. There are already three guardians of the island, all of them tied to the magic of the place, each bound to a different element. Our leader is bound to water, we have a powerful badger tied to earth, and a quick-witted squirrel tied to air," she said.
That list resonated strangely with Robin. And we have a sly fox with a whole crew tied to fire, she thought to herself, but she didn't want to complicate Cadi's story right now. Especially as this news caused many in the crowd to relax and breathe a sigh of relief.
“If there are no further questions, I will give you all time to think and process what I've said. I will stay in town for a little while before I return to Tropico, in case anyone has questions that they would rather not ask in front of everyone. But, even after I leave, I will be able to return to help in any way that I can." She bowed deeply to the assembly, “Thank you. I won't say that I hope for a specific decision from any of you, so as not to put pressure on one outcome or the other, but I will say that I hope that your conversations go well among yourselves, and I hope that your hearts are at peace with the decisions that you come to," and with that, she left the stage... with Robin standing alone on it.
Robin felt a bit more relaxed, actually, taking a deep breath as she called out, “There is a lot to discuss among all of us. I trust you all to make the right decisions for each and every one of yourselves. I will say that it has been my honor to be your leader here, and that whatever decisions we come to, I swear that I will do everything in my power to make sure that everyone here is provided for. Whether it is on Tropico or here in Nottingham." And, with that, she left the stage as well, nearly collapsing into Jenny's arms as she did.
The next few days were very interesting around the neighborhood, and there was a lot of conversation to be had all around. Robin was far more relaxed when she was well away from the stage, and Cadi spent the time just around the town. What was interesting is that she never changed back to human form. They didn't understand (yet), that her natural form was as a feral tigress, not as a human. Still, when a human saw her, they... just didn't seem to take note of her being a tigress, even the ones who actually held conversations with her.
No, she was just having a nice time around town, and even went into the heart of Nottingham to see all of the Robin Hood stuff there. Jenny and Robin went with her, and she was just thrilled by the little Tales of Robin Hood experience. She had a real blast there, and she even got Robin to get a picture of her standing by the Robin Hood statue, doing the 'bow drawn' pose. And, as embarrassed as it made her (having not done this since she was very young), she got Robin to go pose with the statue herself, and she took a picture of her as well. Still, it was all in good fun.
By the fourth day of Cadi being in town, a group of people from the community came up to her at the pub, the leader, a horse, holding his hat in his hands as he looked solemnly at Cadi. “Cadi. I'm here on the behalf of the community. We would very much like to thank you for your offer of a new home," he said, looking to the others around him, who all nodded their heads. “We have, as a community come to a unanimous decision. We would like to move to the island," he said, nodding his head to Cadi as the tigress beamed at them. “As much as this is our home right now, it is a place where we are not able to truly be ourselves. We are too constrained by... the demands of the humans around us. We are ready to just be... us. In a place that fully accepts us as we are."
That was met with murmuring and nods of approval, showing that he really was speaking for all of them. Cadi smiled and bowed her head to all of them, breathing deeply. “You can let the community know to meet me at the theater tonight. There will be no rush. You can also let everyone know that people from the island will come by ahead of the meeting at the theater to help with packing. Also, for the remainder of the day, you won't have to worry about outsiders coming through the neighborhood. I'll put a veil up around it that will make people... simply not think about this area," she said with a little laugh as the people looked at her in amazement and excitement.
They left quickly to go start getting ready, and it really wasn't long before there was a whole squad of TOA helpers, come to help out with the packing, moving quickly and efficiently, and completely blowing the residents away when they teleported the packed belongings off to the island to be ready for them when they got there. It all just... made the place feel that extra little bit real. Like, this was all really happening, and it was being every bit as orderly as Cadi had said.
When the time came, everyone gathered in the theater, where Cadi stood in front of the drawn curtains. She bowed deeply to the assembled crowd as she called out, “Everyone! I welcome you to Tropico," she said as the curtains opened onto a bright, sunlit beach. This filled the room with gasps of amazement and a rumble of excitement.
They all made their way to the portal, making their way through it in a nice, orderly fashion, just so excited to see everything, especially the new, growing town. Cadi looked at Robin and smiled broadly, “Doesn't look so bad, does it?" She was teasing her a little bit, but honestly, Robin couldn't take her eyes off of the place, and barely heard Cadi ask the question. She walked up to the portal as though in a trance. The others of her crew looked a bit concerned, but Cadi just nodded her head and said, “Ahh, yep. Here we go," before she followed Robin through the portal and gestured for the others to come along with her.
Robin walked through the portal and just... kept walking... almost as though she heard someone calling to her. Cadi was taking this all so calmly and in stride, acting as though she had expected this to happen. Robin walked for a good while, making her way down the beach for... several miles, actually, before making her way inland. She pushed her way through the jungle, still following the call.
After a while, the group found themselves in a clearing at the foot of what looked like a small volcano. In the middle of the clearing was a standing stone, which looked soot darkened, with a ring of ash on the ground around it. She walked right up to it and placed her hand directly on the stone.
To everyone's shock, the stone was suddenly engulfed in fire, Robin along with it. As the others rushed to try to help her, her other hand shot out of the flame, palm up at them, telling them to stop before it moved back into the fire. After a moment, the flame... didn't subside... but was rather... pulled into Robin, who was left standing there at the stone, a smile plastered across her muzzle as she brought her forehead to rest against it.
She seemed to be saying “thank you" to the stone before she lifted her head back up to smile at the others, her heart looking so much lighter than it had in ages.
“I'm home."