In a new age, episode 1

The morning went by rather fast, with the sun piercing the clouds and just interring the office of "Shepherd P.I." This 6 foot man pointed canine ears and legs was sitting at his desk, and looking over some papers, once and a while he would eye the person sitting cross from him. Mr. Shepherd moved the dark hair out of his face as he looked to the young man again, "Just had to be sure it was actually you, your driver's ID is far different from how you look right now..." He sets the papers on his desk, "What did you even splice yourself with?"

Mack sheepishly chuckled, twiddling his several sharp digits between each other... "I had a.... NUMBER, of fusions.... 3 of them. A mole for the digging claws." He holds his hands up, all 10 fingers which have skin quickly turning into metal/keratin at the knuckles. "Then an aardvark for sniffing in hard places to reach for that extra bit of stench..." His nose drooped into a lengthy snout, just drooping into a small twin pair of holes. "And my eyes have those colorings and astuteness of a cheetah... purely for finding things farther away." He had yellow eyes with unfocussed slits, so didn't look draconic.

"And you got these to improve your skills and get your degree?" He opens up the file he just set down, the papers inside seems to be pages about Mack. His resume, the places he worked, even information on the college he graduated from. "I considered taking you along because of your degree in journalism. I'm certain that means you know how to do proper research, right? Can you do that and organize notes...? even with those claws?"

Mack actually chuckles, embarrassed. "It's astronomically hard to use a pencil, I will admit... But I AM able to organize notes still to a good degree."

"Well, manual dexterity is important at the job. After all, signing the contract is done with a pen and paper." Mr. Shepherd leans back and thinks on this, "How well can you type with those claws?"

His eyes light up! "Pretty well actually, just the slightest behind the curve cause of the claws, but I'd say 35 words a minute?" Mack says happily and eagerly, hoping this would help out.

Shepherd smiles as he sits back up. "Sounds like you have a place here. Most of the time, the assistant helps around here anyways. No need to go off looking for trouble like I do." Then he moves the file aside and places a new, thin, pile of papers on the desk and slides them over to Mack. "Read through the contract before you decide, but then go ahead and sign on to your new job." Then he offers him a pen.

The contract was only about 5 pages long, mainly explaining what Shepherd will cover as the employer, and what Mack will be responsible for in return. The necessities are basic things like dressing appropriate and not being drunk while in the office.

"No need to... Look for trouble? Oh." Mack looks a bit down, and looks over the paperwork... Nothing out of the ordinary... No hidden clauses... "Alright. This seems good." Mack grabs the pen, dragging and wiggling his fingers gently into the palm of his hand, then slowly, and carefully initialing his name on the line as needed.

After the paper is signed, Mr. Shepherd takes the papers back and stores them. "Alright, I'll see you here tomorrow," Shepherd said, "New Assistant." He then turned away to a filing cabinet, "Be sure you are on time, we have a meeting with a client."

"Tomorrow! Got it! What time exactly?" Mack asks, tapping his claws together, wanting to make a good impression.

"Ten in the morning." He said, plain and simple.

At 10:00am? so generous! "I'll be there sir!" He turns to leave and heads out the door, pausing, he turns his back a bit. "Will there be anything else, sir?"

He nods, "Bring something to take notes on"

The next day, Mack gets up at 8:00am on the DOT. Yawning and then getting up, going calmly about his day for an hour... Doing chores, getting dressed, breakfast, etc.

He after dressing, there is a knock at the door.

"Hmmm...?" Mack went to the door and asks, "Who's there...?"

The landlord, a very normal human named Leonard was sad thing there, looking to him. "Hey Mack, you got what you need? Rent is coming big up again, and you barely scraped enough last time."

sigh Mack opens the door... "Not yet. Almost there, but i'm gonna be working with an investigator today. If this pays well, should have enough for you soon." He explains carefully. Always was honest...

"You should hope so, I'm tired of these late payments." Leonard says, "I'm just about ready to sign the eviction notice." He walks away.

"I'm sorry. Really..." He sighs again, not wanting to hurt Leonard like this, but knows that it can't be helped like this...

After the unpleasant encounter, there's still enough time to eat. He would just have to forgo sweeping the floor.

Mack decided eggs and bacon would be perfect. So getting ready he cracks into a pan and lights his burner on the stove, placing the pan over it.

It all goes rather smooth, the extended handle made it easier for his claws to grab hold of it... but the size of his fork and plate didn't really improve ANYTHING trying to eat what was on his plate.

"C'mon..." He tries to eat his food without panicking, 'cause he just wanted to get some food in his stomach before he goes. "Please...."

Later at the office, Mr. Shepherd was calm as he was writing things out on papers. He didn't even flinch when Mack came bursting through the door.

Mack checks his watch... "YES! 5 minutes early!" He jumps excitedly much like a child!

Mr. Shepherd side-eyed him then gestured to a chair and file cabinet. "Get comfy, she'll be here soon."

"Gotcha." Mack sits down and gets comfy. "So... They call you shepherd cause... Wolf ears?" He jokes.

"Uhuh... though I would live up to the name." Mr. Shepherd said. "You got a nickname by chance?"

"...Chim." Mack said plainly and disparagingly. "Cause I'm a chimera."

Shepherd nods to it, then the door opens with a human lady walking in.

"Take a seat, we can discuss the issue around your missing son..."

The lady takes a seat and looks between him and Chim.

"That's just my assistant. Don't worry."

Mack looks to the lady. "Hello mam. What seems to be the issue today?" Coincidentally sounding like a doctor with that question, rather than a detective, yet remaining professional all the same.

"My son, he's gone missing." The woman looks between them. "It's been days now.."

"Well to figure this out, the devil is in the details." Shepherd says, "How were things between you and your son before?"

"Well... he's a high schooler, poised to graduate this spring..."

"Uhuh..." Shepherd looks Mack, "Make notes on these."

Mack writes down the 'highschooler' bit and 'poised to graduate' bit. "Might I ask how old he is?" Mack interjects. "I would wager that's important."

"Uhuh..." Shepherd nods, "Does he ever talk with anyone...? He have any new friends."

"New friends...?" The woman seems puzzled.

"You just sounds nervous talking about him." Shepherd said, "If it's personal, I get it, but social creatures need to social. Who does he talk with."

"Umm.." the woman looks down and away. "He's not really talked with friends much last i heard. He had an argument with one of them."

Writing down the '18 years old' bit, he pauses. "An argument?" He pauses, not wanting to ask her to delve further, but choosing to hang it in the air.

Shepherd side eyes him, then back to the woman, "who was this friend?..."

"Just another schoolmate."

"Miss, everything could help us find your son." Shepherd said. "Who were your kid's friend?"

The woman sigh, "His name is Jocelyn. She, Blake, and David are his school mates from the glee club..."

snrk Mack cuts himself off. The glee show IMMEDIATELY popped into his head and his memory made it unironically hilarious.

"Any last name? Addresses?" Sheperd asks, and the women gives the information on two of them. "...And what about Jocelyn?"

"My son doesn't talk about her much. I never got to know her... or... meet her..."

Writing all this down, Mack then turns his attention to Jocelyn. "Very pretty name, Jocelyn."

"Uhuh..." Shepherd said again, "Now where are places he usually would go with these friends?"

"The school was the main place they could practice dance. Aside, from... well..." the woman paused for a moment, "this arcade... there's a gaming house a ways away from here that they visited a few times before..."

Mack looks up! He loved video games! "Really? I love video games myself? What is the place called, maybe I have been there?" He asks, half for his own interest, half to probe with directly ASKING.

Shepherd side eyes him for a moment, then looks back to the woman.

The woman sighs, "he never said where they went. He'd actually head off to his room and study before I could ask."

"Uhuh..." Shepherd leaned over the table, "We'll find your son, I promise. We'll discuss the bill at a later date."

"Thank you, Mr. Shepherd." the woman said, "I'm so worried and certain the police wouldn't do as thorough a search as you."

"Yeah, maybe." Shepherd said, "You head about your business, we'll get to looking around, and let you know our results the next day."

"Thank you." The woman gets up, "Thank you both." And she walked out."

Mr. Shepherd looked back to Mack. "So, what did you get down?"

After the woman leaves, Mack replies. "Just about all the important details.

'Kid went missing, 18 year old, high schooler set to graduate in spring, had an argument with a friend, among 3 friends in the glee club, they usually hung at an arcade, but the kid always retreated to his room for studies without talking to mother.'" He rattles off.

"It sounds like the son isn't getting along with... anyone." Shepherd said, "Whatever this subject he was tackling must have been taboo if not even she wanted to talk about it either." Holds out a photograph of a normal human. "Keep this copy on hand, it'll help us make the file."

Mack grabs the photo and looks it over... "Alright... So I'm gonna stay here while you look around?"

"Would you like to come along?" Shepherd asks

"I mean, I'll do what you say I should do. You're my boss. I was just hoping to come out with you as well as do the paperwork. Thought I'd be stuck in here is all." Mack seems to chuckle lightly. "But yeah. I'd like that!"

Mr. Shepherd smirks, "Good, It'll be nice to have hands free of the note pad." And he gets up. "We'll go looking for these friends first. I want to make sure I know what this argument was about."

So they head out into town, looking for the location of the friends of the missing person.

They walked over to the school, and saw that it was closed today.

"Huh, Teacher's meeting." Shepherd said, "Mack, you said you were one for videogames... Do you have any experience with arcades around town?"

"Um..." He thinks for a moment... "Yeah. '"Wayback'". There are some old videogames like Tron, Polybius, Segasonic the hedgehog, even some consoles in the backroom... That have all the OLD GAMES in one memory drive for each console." Mack says through a smile.

"Alright, let's try searching around there first." Mr. Shepherd said, "Lead the way there. Honestly it's been a long time since I've been to an arcade."

Mack smiles and heads to the arcade, but first, has to hop in a car. Not beat up, but HAS seen better days. "Alright. judging from where we are, it's almost ten minutes from here." He says to shepherd. "You ready commander shepherd?" He jokes obviously!

Mr. Shepherd chuckles a bit as he takes passenger seat.

The arcade looks good, at least compared to the buildings around it. It was dirty outside and around the entry, but the colorful lights helped it to stand out and look thrilling for those who enter. Walking in, there were the many games that with ticket dispensers built in, and the games Mack spoke about were in a separate section with additional machinery. The game prizes behind the counter varied from great but unreachable to cheap and worthless. At this arcade though, while there were humans there, the majority of people here had splicing's and were half-animal as well. To a point where seeing a human that wasn't staff was a surprise.

"Kind of an "Old World Blues" Kind of theme, doesn't it?" Mr. Shepherd said as he looked around.

Looking around, Mack smiles, seeing 'Bloody roar' on the arcade. "Huh? Oh yeah! kind of old here." Mack says, agreeing half-heartedly. The rail gun shooters being the most thrilling to him.

"Focus pal, we are business" Mr. Shepherd said as he walked around the place. Looking around though, it took a few minutes, then Mack spotted one of the friends from the photos. Harvey was this short but buff kid who was beating down stuff at a wackomole game.

"Sorry." He looks around for the kid, Harvey, finding him on the whackamole machine. "Hey. There he is...!" He whispers to Mr. Shepherd.

Mr. Shepherd looked that way, and then checked the photo, "Harvey... Okay, keep calm, and keep your distance. One grown man might already feel like an ambush.." He goes to walk up to the kid, "Need another token?" Mr. Shepherd pulled out a quarter.

"Um... Yeah... Sure..." Harvey took it and set it on the counter.

Then Mr. Shepherd pulled one out too and started to play, "You seem like a smart kid, so I'll get to the point. I'm looking for Max, his mother says he went missing."

Harvey chuckles at that and then puts the quarter in with a scoff.

"It's been a few references, and the only leads we have are his friends."

"I haven't seen him." Harvey said, "Not on me to keep track of him anyway."

"Yes, but that's not what I was gonna ask." Mr. Shepherd said, "Word is he and his friends got in a fight on something. Do you remember what it was about?"

Mack follows behind, trying to look small, but not helpless, breaking image to look different.

"Anything you could think of to help... Would be nice." Mack says to Harvey, attempting to talk normally. Noticing that Shepherd was playing 'Mappy.'

Harvey looks between the two and sighs, "It's Jocelyn." He says, "She's the newest member of the group, and we thought it was odd he wanted us to meet with her more. She was outside the group and he just... yeah..."

"Sounds like you aren't fond of Jocelyn." Mr. Shepherd said

"I'm not too fond of you both either." Harvey said.

"That's fine, I'm just doing a job." He looked to some notes, "So, the argument was because of a new friend in the group. What about this stirred up a mess?"

"She's a spliced, a hybrid freak like you all." Harvey said, "Buying into that gene splicing stuff just to work a job."

"People do what they must to make a living," Mr. Shepherd said, "But not all talents come from gene pools." He looks up to the kid, "After all, I'm sure an affluent kid like you wouldn't have come here unless you learned about it... Did Jocelyn show you and the others this place?"

Harvey's eyes went wide at that.

"You... Ok?" Mack asks concerned. "Is something... Off?" Mack starts to twiddle his fingers. Trying to blend in and seem not so much a sore thumb.

Harvey sighed, "They have some good games, here. What's the crime in that, Mutt?"

"Just pointing some things out." Mr. Shepherd said, "So, Jocelyn made a mark of her own on the group and it caused a stir. Do you know how close she was to Max?"

"She was like a wedge between us and him." Harvey said, "Blake was getting pissed about it."

"I see..." Mr. Shepherd said, "Do you have an image of this Jocelyn? or can you describe her to me?"

Mack stays silent... Not putting too much input into this point. But letting Shepherd do his thing.

"She's a hybrid." Harvey sighed, "I think she's a mix of a weasel and... a fox?.."

"Okay... What did these details look like?" Mr. Shepherd said, "Did she have a tail? Maybe her ears changed?"

Harvey thought on it, "Her tail was as big as her... and her ears were on top of her head, and pointy.. Oh, and her claws. The claws were always out. Thought she would rip someone apart with them... that or her teeth.."

"That... Sounds unnerving..." Mack says worriedly, "But I wonder how she might've... Gotten the hybrid stuff?"

Last he recalled, mack knew that hybridization was difficult to get, but not scrutinized...

Mr. Shepherd simply nodded, "Is there anything else you know about her?"

Harvey nodded, "She said she had a job over on Olive drive and 9th."

Mr. Shepherd nodded again, "Thank you." Then he walked away, gesturing for Mack to follow.

Mack nods and follows after shepherd, but not without looking back to Harvey. "Th-thanks. Sir."

Upon being outside, Mack talks. "I'm not the muscle type, I kinda just acted the strange, weird guy that's not of value. Pretty good?"

"It was fine, Chim." Mr. Shepherd said, "Just be sure you get notes straight. Argument was between spliced and humans. That's important as so.e people see spliced people as sub human..."

Mack then smiles, looking around outside as he recalls all the info about the girl at least, marking it down. "Hybrid splicer... Yadayadayada..."

"Hmmhmm, and you also said splicing was an expensive procedure. So how did you afford yours? A company contract at your.. second job?..."

"Ehhh... Had a burger job. Mcslappy's. Said they wanted me to sniff out if they rodents and would offer to pay for half a splicing procedure, so I accepted. Did NOT anticipate any more after the first splicing to be so expensive...! And i'd.... rather not talk about the third one..." Mack says defensively, yet calmly.

"The point remains." Mr. Shepherd says, "What was seen as a luxury and sign of wealth became a mark of servitude. That's why most rich people don't actually get spliced." He goes walking, "Chances we are could find her job based on her animal traits. For example, weaponized claws our outlawed as options for the market.. but they would be allowed for the purpose of climbing. A tail as long as their body probably was a squirrel, their tail is used as a counterweight branches.. and the whiskers... cat, has to be a cat... Now what kind of jobs would require strength and THAT much balance?"

"Weeeell... Either a circus freak-" Obviously, Mack was joking with the first one. "-or maybe a contender on 'wipeout'? Maybe she is stocking stuff at Walmart? Y'know, those giant crates."

"Yea, retail stores are stocking as much as possible, despite limited space." Mr. Shepherd said, "My thought was a construction yard. Let's head for Where she works and maybe figure out the occupation."

Ah. He KNEW he had forgotten something. Alright then..

On their way to the lumberyard. Mack looked around, just taking in the sights...

The ride to the lumber yard took the farther and darker from the city, yet the places linked like shacks and shanties. When they first get to the lumber yard, they saw that many, if not all, the workers were spliced hybrids.