Woot! This is the first exposition infodump that the Caretaker universe has ever gotten. Hope you all enjoy it as much as I do~

This is Chapter 9 to a commissioned novel. It is set in the Two Weeks universe, and is universe canon. The story follows Talikin, a 29 year old fox who's fed up with nearly everything, and is looking to make a serious change in his life, and his boyfriend, Matt, a German Shepard that never outgrew his selfish, childhood habits. Unexpectedly, that change comes in the form of the pair being targeted by a secret society.

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Story Text: (FA formatting is crap. Download to read it the way it was meant to be read.)
The Vacant Years: Chapter 9

Telia woke with a groan, rolling over in her early-morning half sleep, and blinked the fog from her eyes. She'd never been a morning person, and had been woken up today earlier than most. All her sensitive ears could hear was the intolerably annoying beep-beep-beep of the alarm sensor on the baby monitors, which had been intended to pick up undo movement and warn a sleeping caretaker of a misbehaving cub after they had gone to bed. It was supposed to wake her up, but she had always been a heavy sleeper, and Matt had driven her hard the previous day. With another groan, she looked over at the four small quarters of the LCD screen on her bed stand, which linked directly to the cameras in Matt's bedroom. Every one of them contained nothing but static.
"What the heck have you been up to, Matt?" she asked herself, and quickly threw on a pair of clean track pants and a grey sweater, not worrying about underwear for the time being. After all, time could be of the essence. The tigress neglected a pair of socks, but grabbed up a spray bottle full of rose water which she stuck into her pants pocket, and burst out of her bedroom and down the hall to Matt's nursery. The door was still closed and locked, so there was no way he could have gotten out unless he'd cracked through a wall. She quickly unlocked the door and perked her senses. It wouldn't have been the first time a newly taken cub had tried to ambush their caretaker, and kicked open the door, stepping back to examine the room before she tried to enter, but utter disbelief replaced caution as she examined the previously pristine nursery room, jaw actually hanging open.
"Good morning!" Matt said in a fake, cheery voice, sitting atop Telia's duffle bag with the smuggest grin she had ever seen. All around him, almost in a perfect circle, was the ruin of almost everything that had been left in the room with him that previous night. The crib's side bars were down, Matt clearly having found a way to escape and open it, and the actual structure seemed intact, but the mattress had been torn right off the base, ripped apart, and had the filling emptied out all across the room. The pillows and sheets, likewise, had been torn practically to shreds, and the floor was practically coated with feathers. Two whole cases of diapers from the bag, and the three cases in the closet, had been dumped out and individually destroyed with quite some particular fury. The wall posters had been torn down and shredded, as had much of the wallpaper, revealing the blank drywall beneath. The Shepard's dresser drawers had, likewise been torn out and emptied, and most of the clothing lain waste, piled in a heap at one side. His nursing chair had been clawed open, and all the stuffing torn out, revealing the metal bones of the chair. The wall top windows, while reasonably intact, had been cracked by repeated attempts to break them open. They were wire embedded, so as not to shatter, but they would need to be replaced anyway. One glance told Telia why her monitors had shown up static: Matt had ripped a piece of the armchair's metal frame free, and used it to smash the camera domes and the sensitive equipment behind it. "Puppy's been playing all night!" He said, mockingly, as Telia tried to take it all in, and hefted the piece of metal he'd scavenged from the chair threateningly. "I'll be going, now."
"No," Telia said, taking a deep breath as she fought the urge to lose control, "you won't be. Put the bar down, and your punishment will be comparatively light. Do I make myself clear!?" Despite all the will in the world, the tigress couldn't keep the hiss out of her voice. She'd signed up for a hard assignment, but this Shepard was really pushing her limits...
Matt stood, still holding the metal rod. It had a sharp cross joint at the top where it had been wrested away from the chair frame, bent metal sticking out at odd angles, and it did look very threatening, but Telia wasn't scared, only frustrated. "Shut up, and get out of my way," Matt growled, meeting her hiss, "I'm not going to let you touch me ever again, but I'll only hurt you if you try to stop me."
"You are in very deep trouble, puppy," Telia growled back, her fur flaring out to twice its normal length as her short temper wore thin, "put that down, NOW!"
"Like hell I-" was as far as Matt got before Telia stepped into the room, shutting the door behind her, ready for a scuffle, and took two quick steps towards him, suddenly glad she had neglected socks, which would have seriously undermined her mobility. Matt growled again, and raised the metal bar up behind his head to strike, showing no skill at fighting whatsoever, and felt the tigress's uncannily strong fingers close around his swinging arm and shoulder, then, in a movement that Matt was sure he had seen on Cops once or twice, bent him around backwards so that his arm was up against the smole of his back, and kept pushing upwards. "Y-Yeeooow!" Matt squealed in pain, the bar falling from his paw, and could only writhe as Telia put a paw on the back of his head, kicking out his legs and forcing the still wholly defiant puppy down to his knees and free hand, face in the mulched fabric and other materials that covered the ground.
"Do you see this?!" Telia said in her most dominant tone of voice, rubbing Matt's nose in the rubbish, "Did you do this, huh?! Did you?!" Matt shouted and swore and fought, but Telia had him fully in her clutches, and the puppy wasn't going anywhere. With one arm held behind his back, he was helpless to resist as she berated him, constantly rubbing his face in the mess, then, eventually, after twenty minutes of his humiliation, Telia let go of the exhausted, shamed little puppy, who fell to the ground, whimpering and panting, all the fight having left him by now.
"I hate you," Matt grumbled, crawling away and curling up in a ball next to his crib, "I just want to go home..."
"Well, I couldn't possibly let you go if you aren't even mature enough to respect someone else's home, could I!?" Telia said, but softened her words afterwards. "Matt," the tigress said, walking over and putting a hand on his head, "you knew you would be punished for this beforehand, but you did it anyway. What did you expect?"
"Go away," the Shepard said, picking feathers and fluff out of his fur as he pouted and huffed.
"No, not until we've come to an understanding," Telia pulled up a chair, and sat down in front of the Shepard, who staunchly refused to look her in the eye now that his hopes and plans had been thrown into traffic. "Look at me, Matt. Look me in the eyes," she said, putting a hand under his chin and forcing his muzzle up to face her, "you know I can't let you get away with this, puppy. I have to teach you respect before you can learn responsibility. But you're too proud to respect, I can see it in your eyes, so I have to deal with that, first."
"Fuck y-" Matt started to say, but Telia's paw closed around his muzzle before he could finish his insult, and stood him up, still pouting fiercely.
"You're going to hate every minute of this, Matt. But that's the point. It's harsh medicine, I know, but you don't really have a choice in the matter." Telia switched her grip from his muzzle to the scruff of the Shepard's neck, and pulled him out the door, down the stairs, and into the basement. Instead of making the right turn into the bath complex, she turned left, and opened a door that led into a boiler room stacked high with boxes. At the back was a small, empty room with a chair that had been bolted into the floor and wall, a small, bulletproof window high up across from the entrance, and a reinforced hardwood fire door built to turn aside axe blades. All in all, it might have been the size of a small bathroom.
"N-no. I'm not going in there," the half-naked dog said, having discarded his diaper that previous night and was now dressed only in a pair of green shorts.
"This is your time-out room," Telia said, tightening her grip and pulling harder when Matt tried to get his paws around her wrist, and pushed him through the door, "I'll be back in a while. Think about what you've done." The door shut before even Matt could turn to face her, and he heard a wooden bar fall into place, locking him in until he was released. Telia watched through the peep-hole in the door for a few minutes after locking him in, watching his reaction. First the pup pouted, shouting, and looked for a way to escape. When that proved fruitless, he sat in the chair and growled to himself. Telia sighed, turning to walk back up the stairs, and shook her head, "what am I going to do with you, Matt?" she asked herself, going back up to the trashed nursery to see if anything was still intact. It wasn't, Matt had quite thoroughly destroyed anything he could, even going so far as to tear the wallpaper with his claws and the metal rod. The tigress padded back to her bedroom, slumping in discomfort, and collapsed into her bed, "why do you have to be such a pain in the ass?"
Telia knew she was in nearly as much trouble as Matt was, and that a simple phone call wouldn't suffice. Two weeks ago, in her interview with the senior caretakers, she had been a picture of confidence, promising to crack open the Shepard's shell quickly, efficiently, with minimal resources, and without a hitch. She had convinced herself it would be easy, fun, even, but, worse yet, she had convinced the senior caretakers of that. Now she had to report this incident in person, and, worse yet, request more resources. Telia needed advice, she needed additional equipment, she needed this nursery repaired, she needed special powers, and to get all those things, she needed backup. The tigress sat up, sighing heavily, and took a pad of paper and pen out of the bedside drawer to write on, and made a list of things she needed to acquire. When she finished her list, she pulled out her emergency cellphone and dialed a number. The ringtone buzzed for a few seconds, then Telia heard a cheery, if tired voice, pick up on the other end.
"Good morning, kitty. How's things going with Matt?" The person on the other line said, "Are you really getting him up this early?"
"I'll explain later, Sky. How soon can you be ready for me to pick you up?" Telia replied hurriedly, clutching her phone to her ear with a shoulder as she re-dressed, not forgetting her bland, practical undergarments and socks this time.
"Is this an emergency?" Sky said, sounding much less cheery, "one to ten, how bad?"
Telia hesitated a moment, thinking, "Err, six. I'll explain on the way to New Haven, alright? How soon?"
"I'll hop down to your place in five minutes," Sky said, and hung up. Telia checked the time on the phone: 7:15 AM. With a sigh, Telia used the smartphone's camera to take several pictures of the nursery for reference, wrote a quick, point-form report of what had happened, gathered her official caretaker documentation, and headed downstairs with a backpack slung over her shoulders, all of her important bureaucratic paperwork inside, just as a melodic rapping fist knocked on her door. She knew it was the bunny at once, and smiled, reassured to know she was there. The melody was part of an old short hand that had developed between the two of them over their years of friendship, and Sky came right in after knocking, dressed in the same grey T-shirt and track pants that all on duty caretakers wore, and the two embraced.
"Thanks for coming, I'm going to need backup," Telia said, warmly hugging the rabbit.
"Where's Matt, now?" Sky asked back right away. She was playful and optimistic to a fault, but always straight to the point. It was one of the things Telia admired about her.
"Downstairs, time-out room," Telia said with a sigh, "you know where the nursery is. See what he did for yourself."
Sky didn't ask any more questions, and hopped upstairs right away in that elegant, bouncing walk that she favored. The rabbit was back down a moment later, rubbing her forehead, "wow... you really do need backup. The seniors are not going to like this... but you already know that, right?"
"I know, I know..." Telia said, slumping a bit, "I... underestimated his drive. It won't happen again, I'll make sure of it."
"Okay, let's go," Sky said, making for the door right away, neglecting to mention what was on both of their minds. It was common knowledge that, for every one first-time caretaker that was assigned a cub, there were three who were passed over. Telia and Sky were chosen because, like their respective cubs, they were a matched set. And if one of them had to be replaced, an undesirable outcome on all sides but not one that was shied away from when something especially bad occurred, odds are they both would be.
The two caretakers walked over to Telia's standardized red CRV, the tigress taking the driver's seat and throwing her bag into the back.
"So, hypothetical," Sky said after they had pulled out of the driveway and taken the small, urban road down to the community gate and waited for the gate to be opened, "the senior caretakers let you off with a slap on the wrist, and send a team to fix up that nursery of yours, but tell you to get Matt under control by any means necessary. What would you do?"
"I don't know..." Telia replied, under great mental strain at the moment as she picked the words she would use to talk her way out of this problem, "He's so proud and defiant... I'll need to break that shell before I can even hope to get through to him..."
"And how are you going to do that?" Sky asked, leaning back and putting a foot up on the console as they pulled onto the freeway, "you're supposed to be the strong, confident one, Telia. You were just like him right after you were taken, weren't you? How did your caretaker crack your shell?"
"It wasn't pleasant..." Telia mumbled to herself, pushing a little harder on the gas pedal with the memories of those first few days.
"I know it wasn't, but the end justified the means, didn't it?" Sky replied, her cheerful banter going serious, "look back at how you were before. Do you want to go back to being like that?"
"Never..." Telia said, shaking her head, and remembered the words her caretaker had used, the same ones she had told Matt just that morning, "foul medicine..."
"Off-ramp, kitten," Sky said, pointing at the side of the highway where their designated exit was, Telia having been driving mechanically, and just barely reaching the side in time.
"Gah, I'm distracted," the tigress said, driving through the city's tourist and entertainment district. Being 7:30 on a Tuesday morning, there was very little traffic on the roads, and Telia pulled up to the guard gate of the New Haven Hotel and Resort, a first class tourist destination with branches all over North America and Europe. The gate guard, clearly already suspecting who they were by the red CRV, came over and tapped the window. "Beautiful new day," he said, as the car window rolled down.
"Live like it's your first," Telia and Sky said in unison, and both showed the wolf in uniform their identification cards.
"I take it you know where to go," the guard said, turning around without another word and opening the gate. Telia did know where to go, and aimed for the hotel's VIP parking spots, over by the walled off members only section of the resort. A ten foot hedge with a twenty foot privacy fence secured the members only section from the rest of the resort, and all the gates had round the clock guards.
"I don't know what it is, but I just can't stay in a bad mood here," Telia said, taking Sky's paw and giving her a loving kiss on the cheek as they walked up to the gate to the members only section of the resort, gave the challenge and response to the guard there, and showed their cards again. The guard waved them through with a polite smile, and the two caretakers passed through without another word, and navigated the peripheral gardens that led up to the main VIP resort complex, a mass of flowing, comfortable looking buildings that ranged in design from modern steel and concrete to oriental wood and lacquer. They aimed for one of the more modern looking ones, a glass, office building looking structure that sat at the far back corner of the complex, facing over a lake. To anyone who caught a glance at the members only section, or flew over it from above, it would have just seemed a normal, luxurious place for the disgustingly rich to spend their nearly infinite wealth. Little did they know that no amount of money could buy a person membership here. As the hotel employees had been told to say, 'to become a member, you have to be selected by someone who is already a member,' which wasn't necessarily untrue.
Once past the gate, Sky and Telia weren't challenged again. There were a few other people coming and going from the resort complex, some of whom they knew, and exchanged a nod or wave with, but nothing that slowed their progress. The two walked through the automatic, sliding glass doors of the organization headquarters and up to the greeter, who sat in front of a semi-circular desk with a computer on it. "Names and identifications, please," the greeter said, and, once again, Sky and Telia showed their standard issue ID cards. "Who is your senior, and what is your timeframe?"
"Caretaker Elaina, and I need to be back within two hours," Telia said, keeping her arms behind her back and tryng to mimick the stiff formality that the upper bureaucracy of their organization maintained at all times.
"She just got here, queue is currently empty. Take elevator four to the third floor, then look for office #313, and see me again on your way out." With that said, the lupine greeter went back to whatever she had been doing on the computer before their arrival, and Sky and Telia sighed with relief. It could sometimes take an hour's wait for five minutes of a senior caretaker's time. Just being ushered right in without an emergency was practically unheard of, but neither of them objected.
"Let me handle this," Telia said to Sky in the elevator, "don't intervene unless there's no other choice, okay?"
"Alright..." Sky replied, looking concerned, "best of luck in there, kitty. Old fuddy-duddy up there isn't going to be too happy about your report."
Telia would have replied, but the elevator door opened onto a pristine, modern office block. They knew their way to Elaina's office well enough, and gingerly knocked on the door, Telia doing her best to steady her nerves.
"Come in," came a tart, feminine voice that clearly knew any junior caretaker coming to her on short notice didn't have good news to share. Telia sighed, girded her loins, and opened the door, hands in her sweater's chest pocket as she had been instructed to many years ago while in the presence of a senior caretaker. "Well, well, well," the big she-wolf behind a great, ornate hardwood desk said, "if it isn't Kitten and Bunny. Spare me the pleasantries, and tell me what happened with Matt."
Telia suppressed a look of shock, knowing that it was only to be expected that Elaina could connect the dots at a moment's notice, and bowed her head as the she-wolf stood, "I underestimated him, Ma'am. Left the pup in his crib at bedtime last night, and woke up this morning to find he had escaped his crib, and destroyed most of the nursery."
"How did you handle the situation, once you discovered his misbehavior?" Elaina said, picking up a pen and jotting down notes on a legal pad.
Telia replied calmly and honestly, "I reprimanded him harshly and immediately, then further punished him with a time-out in the confinement room while I came here to give my report."
"And you think that's even remotely sufficient punishment for such a wild pup?" Elaina replied, exasperated, "I'd see the child spanked raw and soaped for a week."
"That's against the rules, Ma'am," Sky interjected, having stayed at the sidelines until now, "Telia has explained her plan of further action to me, and I approve."
"Very well," the wolf, somewhere in her mid-forties, said, sitting back into her chair, "relay your plan to me, and I will judge its plausibility." Telia removed the notepad she had written her point-form plan on, and handed it to her superior, who quickly glanced over the clean, neat hand. "Harsh," was all she had to say, setting the pad down on her desk, "pull down your pants, Telia."
The tigress froze, giving the senior caretaker a look of sudden confusion, "I- err... I'm sorry?"
"Don't be, just do as I ordered," Elaina said, walking over to where the tigress stood. Like Telia, she was in very good shape for her age, and her lupine dominance intimidated even the usually commanding feline. She didn't resist as her superior took her pants by the waistband and pulled them down around her ankles, revealing the standard black underwear that were issued as part of caretaker uniform. "Out of diapers already, Telia?" She said, somewhat accusatory, "it's only been a half year since you left Julia. Most post-release cubs still have accidents for a year or more."
"I'm a quick learner," Telia said back, trying to step out of Elaina's grip, but four years of submission at the hands of her own caretaker had taught the tigress not to try and thwart an authority figure, no matter how degrading their treatment might be.
"So I've heard," Elaina said, nodding, "you're asking for quite a bit of authority over your cub, for someone who refuses to give even the most basic sympathy."
"Is this really relevant, Ma'am?" Telia asked, swallowing hard as Elaine toyed with her.
"Absolutely, it is. It's your job to keep Matt in his place, but it's my job to keep you in your place, understand? This plan of yours is ambitious, and it'll take a serious toll on Matt's psyche, but we both know that none of these techniques were ever used on you, so how do you expect to show him empathy when you've ground him down, Telia?"
The tigress swallowed hard, "A-are you suggesting that I-"
"I'm not suggesting anything, Kitty, I'm ordering. And no, putting you through this isn't an option, that's obvious, but, from this point on, I expect you to take proper measures to show this puppy of yours that you truely do share his pain, even if he doesn't find out about it until later on. That means diapers, twenty-four/seven, used for their intended purpose, and I expect photographic proof sent to logistics daily until I'm confident I can trust you. Have I made myself crystal clear?"
"Yes, Ma'am..." Telia murmured, "may I put my pants back on?"
"No, you'll pick an outfit from C3 of the storehouses while gathering your equipment, and wear that until you get back to your station."
Telia perked up, despite what that news meant for her, "does that mean you're granting my request?" she said, glad that this hadn't been in vain.
"Yes, you have full powers, and I'll have a team come over to repair the nursery tomorrow. You'll have to make your own arrangements," the she-wolf said, walking over to her desk and filling out a form, "but I expect detailed, daily reports from this point on. Give this to the warehouse worker." Elaina stamped the sheet of paper twice with her seal, then folded it and handed it to Telia. The tigress sighed, and both her and Sky turned to leave, but the she-wolf stopped them, "wait, one more thing," she said, and the tigress turned to face her.
"Yes, Ma'am?" Telia asked, feeling a tinge of worry creep up her spine at the canine's tone.
"I'll be blunt with you, Telia. Caretakers have been replaced for less than what you've shown me today. You've got forty-eight hours to convince me that you're capable of keeping this puppy of yours under control. If it turns out that you can't, I'll find someone who can. Dismissed."

This story took me several hours to write. If it entertained you, tell me so by hitting the fave button! If you're feeling generous, drop me a comment down below. I read and appreciate every one