Chapter 13 I Need A Favor

Zarda woke to delilah softly shaking him awake. He shot up from his sleep, afraid. He realized he was still laying in her soft bed. Zarda turned to find that she was all dressed again. Delilah was holding a stack of clothes for him, in her hands.

"Here, I had soldiers nicholson and kendrick find these for you. They collected you a black v-neck tee shirt, some boxer brief under wears, ankle socks, and a new pair of pants. They zip and button instead of tying. Super easy and comfortable. They are called blue jeans. Put them on. Let me see how you look in them. By the way, we cut a hole in the back of your pants and underwear for your cute tail." Said delilah, smiling.

Zarda didn't know what to place on first, he was like a toddler learning to dress for the first time. Delilah happily helped to show him the order.

He stood to his feet, next to the side of the bed. Delilah's petite body stood in front of him. She slowly helped pull the fitted black shirt over his freshly bandaged wounds. As she pulled it down to his waist, her eyes stared down at his manhood. Delilah smiled a delightful grin. Zarda took notice and flicked at her nose to distract her.

It had worked, Delilah reached around him and grabbed the underwear sitting on the bed. She bent down to his feet, making him step one foot at a time into them. She slid them up to his chiseled waist.

Delilah didn't know what was more sexy, to her, him naked or the way the briefs cupped him just right. Delilah blushed as her thoughts were drawn back to the incredible evening they had experienced. Zarda was an excellent kisser and an even better lover, she thought.

Focusing back on the task at hand, Delilah reached around zarda once more for his bluejeans. She repeated the same process as she did for the underwear. They were up at his hips and ready to be zipped and buttoned.

"When you get to this point, you must be careful. You don't want to zip up your friend and his two buddies. So, you pull the fabric out and away from your groin, then zip slowly. After that, just push the button through this open slit, and you're done. There you have it, a nice ensemble put together. Don't forget to put on your socks." Delilah mentioned.

She stepped back and looked at the more hip and up to date zarda. Delilah thought he looked hot, but there was something missing, she thought.

"Aha, a jacket. You need a Hoodie." She said.

She would have to ask the soldiers for another favor.

Zarda finished placing on his socks and began moving around in his new outfit. It hung and clung to him, much different than his clothes meeku had made. He felt weird wearing anything other than shark leather and thin linen. He assumed he would just adapt to them, as he had done with everything else in his life.

"We need to go back to my cage. I've got to give you soldier erickson's badge. Hopefully, maleena has it." Zarda said, a bit worried.

His energy had shifted and a new mission was at hand. The two left from delilah's place and headed in a new direction towards the cage room in a large cement bunker garage. On the way, they were met by nicholson and kendrick once more. Delilah was happy to spy them.

"Hello, fellas. If I may, ask one more thing of you. We need a zipper hoodie. I would assume a comfortable extra large would work for zarda. Something in gray if you can. I'm taking him back to the bunker garage. You will let us know if anyone makes a surprise visit, won't you? Thanks, gentlemen" delilah said.

The soldiers nodded, and went to search for a hoodie. They were happy to help. Delilah's small missions were time-consuming and far better than the boring old walk around the facility.

Before they were completely out of sight, zarda called to them. They stopped on command and turned to face the lion.

"When you're done. I have a personal favor to ask you." Said zarda.

He turned away from them and moved on towards the bunker. Leaving the soldiers to return to their present task. Walking for a minute or two, they made it back to the caged oasis. Zarda dreaded everything about this room. He hated the cramped cages the most. As zarda walked towards his cage, he opened up the burlap flaps on other cages along the way, to reveal more hybrid beasts, like himself, huddled inside.

All of these creatures he looked upon were very, unfamiliar. Some looked back with squinty eyes, others with sad tear stained faces, and then there were the occasional really pissed off animals, who made it clear to drop the burlap back down.

"Where are all these animals from?" Asked zarda.

Delilah was thrown by his question, she turned around to realize what he was doing and replied.

"They are animals local to Montana, some from other parts of the USA. Not to forget, we had a large group of animals from Africa. Now, it's just you and maleena." Said delilah. As she finished saying the hyena's name, they were standing in front of zarda's cage again.

He had been gone from the bunker and going through rigorous test treatments all morning long. He spent the evening with delilah. It had been over ten hours, that he had been away from his cage. Maleena looked up slowly at them as he pulled back the burlap. She wiped away the sleep from her eyes, since that was all she ever did. Maleena noticed zarda's new clothes and scrunched up her face out of jealousy.

"Nice outfit. I don't recall getting anything new after my test. What did they do to you?" She asked.

Zarda swallowed hard, he didn't answer her back with words. He showed her instead. By now Osborn was awake and moving over to the front of his cage pushing back the burlap covering. He sat listening and watching at the bars.

Zarda released the burlap back down. Maleena pushed it to the side and looked out as Delilah helped zarda slowly pulled off his shirt. Carefully, he pulled back one side of the bandage to reveal the horrific burn underneath. Maleena gasped and began to cry at the sight of zarda's beautiful body mangled. Osborn growled a low rumble and shook his head.

"Oy, brother. I had feared you were in for a bad one. How you take it, mate?" Asked osborn.

Zarda smiled big over to his friend.

"Like a champ. I wore them out, and they all left for the day. Soldier gibbs and anderson, my two human friends, sent two other soldiers over to keep watch over me. It seems we have more help on the inside, than I thought. Not to mention my friend here. Everyone, this is scientist delilah. I'm sure your familiar with her by now. She's here to help us get my staff back, and then us all out of this place. She's been let off and only has so much time left before she's out of here for good. Now, I'm here to find the badge we snagged. Maleena, the soldiers said they searched the cage and they didn't find a badge. What did you do with it?" Questioned zarda.

Maleena shook her head yes.

"Oh yeah. Hopkins, sent two soldiers to come escort that wimpy one out. He went to fighting and saying we had his badge. When they were all distracted among themselves, I grabbed it out of the hay and slid it over to osborn. I didn't want to take a chance." She replied.

"Here it is mate, safe and sound with oh' bear buddy. Here take it." Said osborn, as he stuck out his big hand from his cage. Osborn didn't hesitate to hand it off to the lion. Zarda took a hold of it and handed it directly over to delilah.

"I told you I'd find a way for you into Severance. Now, it's up to you to find my staff and get us out of here." He said.

She placed the badge inside her bra for safety. Right then, soldiers nicholson and kendrick rounded the corner. It gave them a fright. They calmed their startled breathing down when they realized they were safe.

"Here you are, brother. One nice extra large charcoal gray zipper hoodie. We don't have much time. We saw, what we think, is Hopkins vehicle driving up. What was it you wanted to ask of us?" Asked nicholson.

Zarda slipped on his hoodie. Before he replied to the soldiers. It fit loose and comfortable over his shoulders.

"Thanks boys. I must confess, I have the badge. I need you two to help delilah get to Severance. Once she's in, she needs to find the room they are examining my staff in. When she has that, I need her safely returned to me. I figure with you two, gibbs, and anderson in on this in-op mission, it could work. If you do this, my entire kingdom and I would forever be grateful. We will be bonded for life as brothers. Anything you need, I'll do." Stated zarda, humbly.

"Sure, whatever you need. We've got tour back. We better tske delilah now. Hopkins has to be on her way in now," Replied nicholson.

Zarda nodded his head yes and watched the three slowly move away.