Chapter 13, Part 2: Doctor Moreaux

        Later that afternoon, showered and groomed, he walked over to the clinic to visit with his father, Doctor Jacques Moreaux, distant heir of the original Doctor Moreau. “I never thought I’d see you again, mon père,” he told the old man. “What are you doing here?”
        ”The General told me you ran away, Jon. He said I hadn’t instilled the right attitude in you during the four years that you were my son and that I was to create another vulpinoid. He said this time they would see to its training from birth. he wanted to make sure that it would do as he said and not get any ideas about freedom.”
        ”Do you know what he wanted me to do?” Tracker asked in a low voice.
        ”Certainment, son. Though I didn’t know the truth when I created you.”
        ”Do you agree with them now?”
        ”Of course not, Jon.”
        ”What about the twins? The General will try to condition them, succeed with them where he failed with me. How will you keep that from happening?”
        ”I don’t know yet. But I won’t let it happen. I won’t make the same mistakes with them that I made with you.” The doctor looked sad for a moment.
        “Are you so sure you failed with me, mon père?”
        “I don’t know, son. I don’t know.” He turned, “Come, Jon. It’s the children’s feeding time. Maybe you’d like to help me with them?”
        ”Sure.” Tracker followed the Doctor into the nursery. Moreaux poured milk from a specially insulated jug into a pair of glass feeding bottles, adding a few drops of liquid from an amber jar in an overhead cabinet.
        ”A special vitamin and mineral mix I had to make for the children’s nutrition,” he told Tracker, “I almost lost you before I discovered that your dam provided some essentials that cow’s milk doesn’t carry. I was lucky to have that vixen able to suckle you for as long as she did.” Moreaux placed the two bottles into a convective heating unit and set it to warm the formula to body temperature. “I also learned that microwaving killed some of the bacteria you needed. Only by heating it on a stove was I able to finally wean you from the vixen.” He gestured at the heating unit. “This heats the bottles more quickly without burning the milk, yet doesn’t kill the bacteria we want to save.”
        Tracker stepped over to the two cribs and gently picked up the little female. Uncertainly, he held the baby against his chest and turned back to the doctor. A sudden sharp pain at his left nipple caused him to yelp and nearly drop the baby as he jerked away from her suckling mouth.
        With a low chuckle the doctor came over. “I told you it was their feeding time. Here,” he said, adjusting her in Tracker’s arms, “hold her like this.”
        She howled in indignation and hunger while Moreaux made sure that she was secure in Tracker’s arms. He withdrew one of the bottles from the heating unit and screwed the nipple onto the bottle. Then he placed it in Tracker’s free hand and showed him how to feed the infant fox. Instantly the tiny jaws clamped down and she began sucking lustfully at the warm, liquid contents, pulling at it just as she had pulled at Tracker’s chest moments before. Simultaneous with the girl’s quieting, the male began howling his hunger.
        ”<Father?>” Tracker said after the doctor had the boy feeding quietly, speaking in French. “<I don’t know how or when, but I intend to escape again.>” He looked at the guards who stood out in the main part of the lab to see if they understood him. “<If I can stay free long enough, I believe I can get help here to break up Castile permanently.>” He hesitated, seeking approval from the old man. “<I want to take you and the babies when I go. I know my friends will accept them and you if I ask them to.>”
        ”<Do you really think you can escape?>”
        ”<I know I can. They won’t always be watching me this closely, and if they intend to use me in their plan as before, they’ll have to take this damned power tap off me. I only need to convince the General that I didn’t defect, but rather got caught and used his training to endear myself to FORCE. Once I get a chance, I can call the Defenders and let them know where I am.>” He watched the doctor while keeping an ear turned towards the outer lab. “<Will you come with me when its time?>”
        ”<Naturally, my son. If your friends will have me.>”
        ”<Merci, mon père. I know you’ll like them.>”
        After a moment, Tracker said, “<I’ve also met a lovely French girl from Provence named Antoinette. She means a lot to me, but as long as there’s any chance of Castile recapturing me, I’ve got to leave her alone.>”
        ”<You have? Congratulations!>” Doctor Moreaux smiled at Tracker. “<But why leave her alone?>”
        “<You are aware of the public attitude towards mutants?>”
        “<Oui.>”
        “<Do you not think people seeing me with a human woman would anger them?>”
        “<I see what you mean,>” the doctor replied. “<But if she means so much to you, why should you care? Enjoy your time together while you can.>”
        “<Mon père! Do you not think they will hate us? Do you not think they will try to kill us? Especially if they learn she is a mutant as well?>”
        “<So what should that matter to you? You can defend her, non?>” Tracker nodded his head. “<She can defend herself?>”
        “<She is able to become a tiger. I’ve seen her kill.>”
        “<Then what should it matter if they attack you? Love her and stay with her if she wants you. Let life take you where it will!>”
        “<Thank you, father.>”
        “<When do I get to meet this girl who has smitten you so?>”
        ”<After we’ve escaped, Father. After Castile is destroyed. It’d be too dangerous to let them gain any kind of handle on me.>”
        ”<I understand, son.>”
        That night, he came up with a plan.