FSE

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2

It had been a long time since Tech E. Coyote had woken up in someone else's bed, much less with the bed's owner still in it. He yawned, stretched, and froze when his paw brushed feathers.

Rev Runner yawned and rolled over, cracking one eye open and grinning at Tech. "Sorry," Tech said. "Didn't mean to wake you up. I thought you said you were going to sleep on a couch somewhere."

The roadrunner slipped one hand behind his head, propping it up on his elbow. "I was but Slam was practicing his drums in the common room and the only room I knew was empty was yours I didn't want to go there without asking and anyway I promised to be here when you woke up so I didn't think you'd mind too much."

"I don't." Rev's shoulders and neck were bare to his blue feathers, his topknot purple rather than the red it became when he wore his uniform. Tech was completely naked under the sheets, and also good and hard, though whether that was from waking up next to Rev or just waking up, he wasn't sure. He extended his powers very gently, enough to determine that Rev at least wasn't wearing anything metallic under the covers.

"So you got a good night's sleep and part of a good day's sleep too it's 12:48 in the afternoon and we have a meeting with Zodavia at 3 do you have to rush off right away to finish your work or can you take a couple minutes to wake up properly?" Tech felt light avian fingers brush his stomach fur under the covers. Before he could answer, they encountered his shaft, hesitated, and then gripped it warmly. Rev didn't say anything, but his smile broadened.

"You make a persuasive argument for taking the time to wake up properly." Tech grinned, sliding his paw under the covers until it met feathers. His fingers fit around the curve of the roadrunner's narrow stomach, the soft barbs silky under his paw pads as he slid down to the gentle bump of slender hips.

Rev's fingers teased him up and down, tickling around his tip and then slipping down to his sac. "Funny thing nobody ever said I was good at arguing mostly I just talk until people get bored of arguing and go away but I figured that was just outlasting them not being good at it."

"Trust me," Tech said, "you're good at this kind of argument." The warmth of Rev's skin always startled him. He pressed his fingers against it, feeling the rough shafts of the feathers below their softness, and the heat of skin below that. His claws traced their way through the forest of rachides as easily as a xion matrix, along the lines of bone, down to the thighs pulsing with restrained energy and finally, as Rev's fingers tightened in anticipation around him, to the roadrunner's hard, slender shaft.

Rev closed his eyes and inched closer. His hand cupped the coyote's sac and then circled his length again, more firmly. Tech tightened his paw's grip as well and stroked up and down, looking around the small bedroom. It was nice, he thought, to have some privacy, the luxury to take their time and enjoy themselves without having to rush. He grinned. "You mind going slow once in a while?"

One eye opened. "Pretty funny there cutey course I don't mind going slow when we have the time I just don't wanna keep you from your work cause it's pretty important you figure out what's going on before we have to go out and find that guy with the gun again which I'm pretty sure is what Zodavia's gonna send us out to do in a couple hours think you'll be ready by then?" Despite not wanting to keep Tech from his work, Rev's hand remained busy, sliding over each inch of the coyote's length, teasing the tip with a skillful thumb, caressing it as though he were discovering it again for the first time.

Tech shivered all up and down his body, his tail bristling at the waves of pleasure Rev's fingers were giving him. "I will be. I can figure something out. It's just a matter of...of..." He couldn't remember what it was a matter of, the sharp sweet scent of the roadrunner and the heat of his arousal driving other thoughts out of his head. He held onto Rev's length, loving the slick feel as it slid between his pads, and felt the roadrunner's shivers as well, though Rev was always vibrating at least a little bit. The stroking and shivering resonated back and forth between them, building slowly with waves cresting ever higher.

Rev's shivers had become more and more noticeable, and he'd started his low murmuring patter of "Oh Tech you do it just right I love your fingers and you've got a real nice cock too all warm and hard and..." Tech smiled, listening, and it didn't occur to him until Rev's voice had gotten quicker to ask his question.

"Rev, would you want..." Rev looked up at him, beak hanging open. "Would you want to do something sometime with...you know...something besides paws? And beaks?"

The roadrunner's eyes creased with laughter. "You mean like real screwing heck I think I might be up for that but ohhhhh if you stop now," his hand, still stroking, tightened, "I think you'd have one upset roadrunner here cause I'm gonna make a mess of my sheets in a few seconds here ahhh Tech don't stop don't stop!"

Tech recognized, by now, the familiar tightening of Rev's body, the clenching in his arms and the rising scent of arousal. He slid his other arm under the roadrunner and lifted him, rolling onto his back and pulling Rev on top of him so that a few seconds later, he had a nice view of Rev's beak hanging open and his blissful expression as he gasped, "ohTechohTechcomingcomingahhhhhh!"

His shaft convulsed in Tech's paw, shooting hot seed over it and onto the coyote's stomach, where it lay on his fur and slowly cooled. The scent reached Tech's nostrils a moment later, making him inhale to savor it as he kept pumping, looking up at Rev as he did. The roadrunner's beak was closed, his teeth gritted as he moaned in time with his spurts and finally shuddered to a stop.

He weighed so little on Tech's hips that he felt almost like a dream, unreal and hollow, but his hand was solid. He'd kept a grip on Tech's shaft and now moistened his fingers with his seed, stroking slowly as his breathing evened. The coyote lifted his paw from the twitching shaft and set it on his stomach, angling the other behind his head and looking up.

Rev opened his eyes and grinned when he saw Tech looking up. "I like this going slow thing I think it might catch on now let me see how slow I can go with you but I'm not gonna be able to resist giving you a little vibrato here and there cause I know how much you like that and it's fun to watch you just let me catch my breath here for a moment whew you sure know how to use those fingers of yours."

Tech grinned back. "Take your time," he said, already panting now that Rev was stroking again, and unable to keep from squirming when the nimble fingers vibrated up and down his shaft. Rev grinned more widely and settled himself astride the coyote's hips, stroking and sometimes making his fingers vibrate against sensitive areas. The sensations built again, aided by the smell of the roadrunner that hung in the air, and after a little while Tech closed his eyes, and after another little while he arched his back, and then just when he thought he was going over the edge, Rev slowed his strokes.

He cracked one eye open and saw the roadrunner's grin, and gave himself up, helpless under the teasing fingers. Once again Rev played him to the edge and brought him down, and then the third time, just as he was thinking he couldn't take much more of this, the stroking, pumping fingers didn't stop. Tech wondered what musical frequency his body was singing at as his back arched again, his ears standing straight out from his head and his toes curling as Rev guided him upward to his crescendo. He yelped and moaned and squirmed and felt his seed shooting out of him to land on his stomach with Rev's, and the climax went on and on and then was over. His body sank back to the sheets, but Rev was still stroking him, so he grabbed the roadrunner and pulled him down, hugging him tightly and squishing his stomach against Tech's sticky fur.

Rev squawked a protest too late. "Aw jeez Tech look at that I'm all messy now and mmmmmmf."

Tech held the kiss and then sank back again, exhaling, his paws stroking down the thin strong curve of Rev's spine to his tail feathers. Rev snaked his slender arms under Tech's shoulders and hugged back lightly.

"We should do this more often," Tech said.

"I could probably go every day if you've got the stamina for it but I know coyotes get tired out easily and have trouble keeping up with roadrunners if you want to try I'm game though." Rev grinned at him, rubbing his beak against Tech's whiskers.

"No, I mean...this." Tech gestured to the bedroom and returned his paw to Rev's back.

Rev looked around, his topknot bobbing. "Yeah the privacy is nice I admit plus I like getting to look at your sexy coyote body there even with the lycra don't get to see how nice it is all the time just glimpses in the locker room and here I can stare and not worry that Slam or Ace is gonna notice."

"I like it too," Tech said. He dragged his claws down Rev's rear, feeling the taut muscles under the plumage, and ruffled the feathers as he pulled his fingers back up the roadrunner's sides. "And I like...I like sleeping here, too."

"I wouldn't mind stayin' in your room once or twice I guess and you could stay here some of the time if you like no reason not to since you don't snore and I don't either least my last girlfriend didn't complain about it." Rev settled back against Tech.

The mention of his last girlfriend sent a discordant note through Tech's mood. He shifted, his paws stilling. No reason to react that way, he told himself. He's not seeing her any more. But why would he mention her now, just when we've decided to sleep together?

"I guess I should get to work," he said. "I need to come up with some kind of solution before 3, right?"

Rev lifted his head, tilted it, and then nodded. "Sure Tech wanna shower first on second thought let me shower first then I'll get dressed and go get your uniform while you shower here and then you'll be all set wanna listen to some music while I'm in the shower I'll put something on for you." He gave the coyote a quick peck on the nose and flipped himself out of the bed, walking to the audio unit in the wall. Fast dance music filled the room, 32/32 by the sound of it and filled with hagiophone trills.

"Sorry did you want to listen to something else I can key in one of your classical pieces if you want just gimme the number and I'll put it in." Rev had turned, his expression amused and slightly anxious, as if he were waiting to see if Tech had gotten a joke he'd made but it was no big deal if not.

Tech, whose discordance had been smoothed over by watching the roadrunner's elegant, lanky body prance naked around the room, made a show of looking at Rev's dripping shaft and then jerked his gaze up to the roadrunner's eyes. "Oh, huh? No, no, this is fine. You listen to dance music a lot?"

Rev grinned at him, shaking his tail feathers. "What d'ya mean dance music you should hear the stuff I dance to this is slow the kind of stuff I go to sleep to okay I'm gonna hop in the shower be out in a second."

For a moment, Tech wondered if he meant that literally.

He turned his mind to the xion matrix problem for the ten minutes Rev was showering, but was no closer to a solution when the roadrunner got out and said, "Your turn," so he lounged in the bed.

"I'll wait 'til you get dressed," he said, turning his body so his head hung off the edge of the bed and he was looking upside down at Rev's naked body, feathers, glistening with moisture. Rev grinned and walked over to him, his shaft bobbing just above Tech's muzzle. The coyote lifted his head and took a couple licks before Rev moved away and started pulling his uniform on.

"Aww," Tech said, remembering the feel of his claws through the feathers, how they'd moved so easily through them and now would be foiled by the lycra barrier. And then he felt like a world-class idiot.

"The suits!" he said.

"What?" Rev paused in the middle of pulling his shirt on.

"The suits! Our environment suits. They're designed to withstand meteorite impacts in space. I don't think the needle darts are slender enough to pierce them. Can test that pretty easily, but I bet it works."

Rev crossed his arms, a familiar red and black form where the cornflower and lavender had been. "You want me to get your space suit and uniform both?"

"Sure, could you?" Tech rolled out of bed and headed to the shower. He paused with his paw on the doorframe, looking at the motionless roadrunner. "Thanks. What?"

Rev grinned and just made a motion with his hand in a little circle. Tech's smile broadened as he made a slow pirouette, showing off his tail and sheath and shaking his hips. Rev whistled, gave him a thumbs-up and a wink, and was gone.

The space suits resisted the projectile just fine, even when Tech loaded it into a magnetic cannon and fired it. It took him three tries to hit the suit, though, and that sent his mind down another connection.

This guy, whoever he was, had hit Duck with a split-second warning, turning nearly a hundred and eighty degrees around in the two seconds before Duck had quacked out. Tech tried the feat himself, and missed ten times out of ten, even knowing where the space suit was. He enlisted Ace's help, and then Rev's, and even the martial-arts trained rabbit and speedy roadrunner only hit once out of ten times each.

"What's this all about Tech are we gonna have mandatory target practice now cause usually I don't carry a gun not that I mind once in a while." Rev stroked the barrel of the gun when Ace wasn't looking and winked at Tech.

The coyote grinned at him. "No, I was just thinking about how that guy hit Duck. Either he got an incredibly lucky shot off, or he's got some kind of enhanced power like we do."

Ace rubbed his chin. "I was wonderin' about dat."

"And the neural disruptor might not be the only gun he has, in that case." Tech looked up at the wall at his own arsenal. "He could have an energy blast, or a magnetic reversal gun."

Ace followed his gaze. "Or an antimatter gun?"

"Well, no." Tech let his eyes linger on it. "That one's a custom job. I had to make the antimatter for it myself, and it took me three months to do. I don't think there's anyone else in the world who could figure that out. And have the facilities to do it," he added.

"As long as we're safer this time," Ace said. "I don't plan ta get close enough ta let him shoot. Me'n'Lexi'll take him out and Duck or Rev can wrap him up."

"I want to talk to him," Tech said, holding up the neural disruptor needle. "Because I can only think of two places he could have gotten this, and I don't like either of them."

"We're gonna do our best to take him alive," Ace said. "If you're all set, come grab some pizza before Zodavia's call. I got Slam his own pie so we can share the other one."

"Loonatics," Zodavia began, looking down at them, "the mystery gunman has been identified from the footage you took. His name is Zebediah Fudd."

"That's a name that sounds like trouble," Duck said. "What were his parents thinking, naming him 'Fudd'?"

"What's his story?" Ace asked.

"Avid hunter," Zodavia said. "Mostly just at shooting ranges. Army training. Top marksman in his group every time. Won three shooting competitions. Then disappeared for a year and a half until three days ago."

"Any locations he was known to frequent before his disappearance?" Tech asked.

"He grew up in North Haverbrook," Zodavia said. "He is probably still there. The locals mistrust law enforcement and are likely helping to hide him."

"After he shot all those people there?" Lexi said.

"The people he shot were government workers. City hall functionaries, police, and a tax auditor."

"And a superhero," Duck pointed out.

"We'll have to comb the town," Ace said. "I don't like it."

"Are there any indications that he might have been affected by the meteor?" Tech said.

Zodavia turned to face him again. "He disappeared mere months after the meteor's impact. There are army records of him assisting with the cleanup afterwards, and then nothing. That is a highly probable circumstance."

"So what are we gonna do?" Ace said.

"Go to North Haverbrook," Zodavia said. "Comb the town. Zodavia out."

Ace rolled his eyes. "All right," he said as the rainbow sparkles faded. "I guess we oughta split up into teams of two. It's not a big town, so I t'ink we can search it pretty quick in three groups. I'll take Lexi, Duck, you take Slam, and Tech, you can take Rev."

Rev mouthed, "Yeah take me," at Tech, making the coyote grin, until Duck cleared his throat.

"And what am I supposed to do with Slam?" he said.

"Gah roo guh." Slam accompanied his words with a suggestive hand gesture.

"Very funny. I'm taking Tech."

"Hey," Tech said.

"Any objection to splitting up with Rev, Tech?" Duck said, leering at him. "You two don't need to be together all the time, do you?"

"Put a sock in it, Duck," Lexi said. "Leave Tech alone."

Rev and Tech exchanged glances and shrugs. "It's okay I like Slam I'll go with him and I bet we find him first anyway you ready Slam?"

"Ah rah dah!" Slam spun around a couple times. Tech marveled at his ability to shrug off Duck's insult so easily. Rev zipped to his side and together they were first out into the jet. Ace and Lexi followed, Ace not-so-subtly patting her butt to scoot her along.

"Sorry about that, Tech," Duck said, practically preening as they shut off the equipment. "But you know, I was worried you and Rev might get distracted out there and Mister Fudd might catch you in a, shall we say, vulnerable position. So it's really all for your own safety."

"You're a prince," Tech said.

"If we could just get a tracer on him I could track where he is but we gotta find him first," Rev was saying as Tech closed the airlock behind him. It stuck a little where Slam had ripped it open, but the Flightronics guys had done a good job with the replacement parts. The engine and the computer console, both luckily undamaged, were the only things Tech had to fix himself; everything else was part of the standard Flightronics X71 body. They had a standing contract that Flightronics was happy to honor, since the Loonatics went through an average of one jet every two or three months.

"If we find him again," Lexi said, "he's not getting away."

"I second dat," Ace said, powering up.

"You traced those alien ice vikings okay," Duck said, strapping himself into the seat ahead of Tech.

Rev had himself strapped in before he even opened his beak. "That's cause Tech analyzed the signature of their albedo and programmed them into the satellite to record on my system and you remember we didn't get all of 'em just the ones on the boat this guy doesn't have any emissions that I know of at least not any we can track I bet he stinks but the satellite can't pick that up can it Tech?"

Tech grinned, and shook his head. "Not unless we deploy a scent-specific bot to relay radio signals based on the chemical composition of the surrounding air. Actually," he said, half to himself, "that's not a bad idea."

Duck turned around. "Say what?"

"A sniffer," Tech said. "It won't help us find this guy because we don't know what he smells like, but it might be useful in the future."

"Just make sure you keep it away from Slam," Duck said, "or it'd overload the system."

Rev rolled his eyes, but Slam didn't take any notice, or appear to. Tech called up his work journal and scribbled some notes as the jet took off.

"We'll wear our suits like Tech said, and take the bikes," Ace said once they were on their way. "You don't have to bike, Rev, if you don't want to. Go through the town and talk to people, see if anyone knows Zebediah and where he might be hiding. Tech, anything on the 'net about him?"

Tech shook his head. "Nada. I'm running a few infobots out and we'll see if they bring anything back. It's not uncommon for people in these less developed areas of Acmetropolis to take special measures to keep themselves off the 'net."

"Wish I could keep myself off the 'net you see those pictures someone posted the other day I don't know who has the time to do that kind of thing," Rev said.

"There are far more disgusting sites about me up there than about you," Duck said.

"I'd think dat stands ta reason," Ace said, and Tech snickered along with everyone else while surreptitiously sending another infobot to grab some of the sites about Rev for later perusal.

North Haverbrook was, as Rev had observed, kind of a dump. Tech and Duck kept skirting piles of debris in the streets as they rode to their assigned starting point, a rather seedy bar called "The Monorail" that filled the air outside with barks of drunken laughter and the clink of glasses. Even before evening hit. Charming, Tech reflected.

The bikes shimmered and vanished as Tech hit the cloak. He pulled another device from his belt. "Now, I synthesized a simulation in the identity projector and I suggest we take turns..." He looked up to see the doors of the bar swinging closed. A moment later, he heard Duck's voice inside.

"Hey, you swamp rats. Anyone here seen Zebediah Fudd?"

Tech covered his eyes with his paw and sighed. The silence forced him to follow Duck inside.

He activated his suit's visibility adjustment compensator and saw a smoky room full of blank, unshaven faces staring at his partner. Of course, in the environment suits, they looked either silly or frightening. Tech was pretty sure that this crowd wasn't frightened.

Duck turned his head slowly from side to side, hands on his hips, his scornful expression a sure precursor to some kind of remark that was going to get them in trouble. "What my companion here means to say," Tech said quickly, "is that we want to buy everyone here a drink."

The bartender held out his hand. After a dirty look at Tech, Duck walked over and handed him their expense chip. The bartender plugged it into his counter and handed it back. "That's right nice," he said. "Now get the hell out."

"Next time," Duck said, blinking in the sunlight, "let me stick to my plan."

"Your plan wasn't working either," Tech said. "If you'd let me finish..."

"What, were you going to offer them all a blow job, too?"

Tech snapped his muzzle shut and started walking down the street, his footsteps clanking on the concrete. Duck followed him. "Or is it just Rev? Seriously. He's not even the best-looking bird on the team!"

At that, Tech spun around. "What, are you jealous?"

Duck lifted his bill haughtily and put a palm to his chest. "Jealous? Ha! Think I want your stinky coyote slobber all over me? I have dozens, nay, hundreds of eager young ladies happy to attend to my every need."

"Really. Funny how we never see them around the base."

"I don't bring my romantic liasons to work."

"You spend an inordinate amount of time complaining about how bored you are," Tech said. "One would think you could just open up your little black book and go get some entertainment."

"The issue is not me, the issue is you and Rev and those disgusting things you do."

Tech felt a flush at the back of his neck. "What we do is none of your business."

"It is when you do it in the control room. We all walk on that floor!"

"What?" Tech stared at him.

"I mean, I don't want to step in something..." Duck shook his head. "I can't believe I'm even talking about this."

"I can't either," Tech said. "Let's just go to the next bar."

"Walking?"

Tech turned and walked on down the street. "You can quack if you want," he said.

Duck hurried to catch up with him, walking beside him in silence as they rounded a corner. Tech made a mental bet with himself how many steps it would take Duck to open his beak again. He was off by two. "Really, though. Rev?" Tech didn't answer. "He's so annoying. But I guess it would be over in about five seconds, right?"

"That's hysterical," Tech said. "You think that one up all by yourself?"

"I'm really just curious. What could the attraction possibly be?"

"I am not having this conversation with you." Tech pulled out the alternate identity hologenerator and pulled up the Zebediah identity again. "Can't you just go on blackmailing me and shut up about it?"

"Blackmail? I'm not blackmailing you. I'm just making sure you know what I need to remain happy. Because when I'm not happy, I complain about stuff. Like things I saw that I didn't want to see." Duck stuck his tongue partway out of his beak.

"Like every time you look in a mirror?"

"Har har. Did you think that one up yourself?"

"Here." Tech thrust the hologenerator at him. "This will make you look like Zebediah. Unfortunately we have no voiceprint, but the program does an estimation based on his height, weight, throat thickness, and the way he dresses."

"And why am I the one who gets to look like a shaved monkey with a glandular problem?" Duck didn't take the device, just looked from it up to Tech.

"Because you can quack out of trouble. And," Tech said, to get the argument over with, "you're a better actor than I am."

"While that is true, it doesn't mean I have to do all the work."

"Could you maybe at least do some of it?"

Duck put his hands on his hips again. "I did try, back in that other bar."

Tech shook the hologenerator. "You call that trying?"

"No, I call you trying." Duck folded his arms. "You remember what I said about making sure I'm happy?"

"For the love of..." Tech said, and then told himself, just relax, breathe. It's okay, you'll do a better job anyway. "All right, fine."

He ignored Duck's smug look and flicked on the hologenerator. A moment later he got at least some measure of satisfaction from Duck's startled yelp and jump backwards. "Great Goose!"

"I gather it works?" Tech was curious to hear that his voice was higher-pitched than he would have thought.

"Down to the ugly hunting jacket and the sloping forehead," Duck said. "So what now?"

"Now I go to the next bar and see if anyone spills anything."

"And what do I do?"

"You stay out of the way."

The first two places Tech visited as Zebediah, a bar and a library, yielded no information, but at least nobody threatened to throw anything at him. The locals definitely recognized him, though. At both places, he saw someone press an alarm or pick up a phone, and he got out of there soon after. They moved on to the third place, yet another bar, where Tech told Duck to keep an eye out for police and intercept them if they tried to go inside. He looked at the dancing beer holos in the windows and thought he was getting a pretty good, if depressing, picture of Zebediah's habits.

"Evening," he said, casually raising a hand and sitting down at the bar.

The bartender, a sallow woman with greasy black hair, froze in the middle of wiping the bar. She stared so long that Tech thought at first he'd forgotten to turn on the hologenerator again, but then she reached under the bar, pulled out a bottle, and set it in front of him. "Take that and git back to yer in-laws, Zeb."

"What's the matter?" He tried to feign ignorance.

"You know better'n this. Law's all over lookin' for ya. Them super-freaks are nosin' around too. Elm says a couple of 'em came by his shop. Spend yer time how ya want, but don't bring trouble inna my bar."

Tech refrained from saying that Trouble was not only already in the bar, but looked like a regular with a usual drink order and everything. The patrons were seedier, if that was possible, than the clientele of the Monorail. He lifted the bottle, though he didn't dare drink because his muzzle wasn't aligned with the hologram's mouth. "Thanks," he said.

"Stay the hell out," the woman replied.

"Another rousing success?" Duck said as Tech walked out.

"For your information, we have a lead," Tech said, turning off the suit's external speakers and switching to the internal channel. "The bartender said he's staying with his in-laws. Hopefully we can get some records from the 'net that at least show his family."

"I thought Ace and Lexi were supposed to be investigating his family."

"They are. We should see where they are, and--"

Duck was already on the team broadcast channel. "Attention, team. We have new information. Everyone meet us back at the jet."

Tech shook his head and followed Duck back down the street.

They'd gotten halfway back when Tech sensed rather than saw a blur of motion, and Rev appeared beside him, falling quickly into step. The roadrunner wasn't wearing his environment suit.

"Hey I figured if you guys found something it was probably you and not Duck so what is it where's this scumbag hiding out me and Slam were asking around a bunch of shops looking for guns too like you said but nothing really came up haven't heard from Ace and Lexi yet they're probably holed up somewhere going at it so what's the info?"

"He's with family," Tech said. "You should still be wearing your suit. It's dangerous."

"I was but I took it off when I heard your news I can run faster without it and I figured if you knew where he was he probably wasn't anywhere around you so I'd be safe anyway." He winked at Tech, just when Duck turned around.

"Oh, when did you show up? Get tired of Slam? Or just horny?"

Rev stuck his tongue out at Duck and slipped an arm deliberately around Tech's waist as they walked. Even through the rigid suit, the weight of the roadrunner's light embrace made the coyote smile. The warm glow of that touch vanished almost immediately as a voice crackled over the speakers. "Horny? What's dat supposed ta mean, Duck?"

Rev looked from Tech to Duck as they stopped dead and stared at each other. "What what's goin' on what am I missing?"

"Duck left his broadcast channel open when he said that," Tech said. "To the whole team."

Rev's eyes widened for a moment, then he grinned and shrugged. "Ah they won't be able to understand it anyway Slam's already back at the jet with his suit off so just tell Ace you were talking to some street person or teasing Tech about getting laid or something and it'll blow over."

For a moment, Tech thought Duck might just spill their whole secret right then, but Slam and Lexi started talking on the channel at the same time, making him wince and hold his ears. Slam was babbling angrily about something and Lexi was saying, "Duck, leave Slam alone already."

"I was just teasing Tech about something," Duck said. "I forgot I had the channel on, okay? Signing off."

This time Tech heard the click as the channel shut down. They started walking back to the bikes again, and Rev kept his hand on Tech's hip. The roadrunner chattered as they walked. "You know really I don't know why it's such a big deal Duck knows and Lexi probably knows and Slam won't give a damn so there's only Ace and if nobody else cares then why should he?"

"Lexi knows?" Duck said.

Tech shrugged. "She probably hears a lot of stuff that goes on all over the lab. I'm sure she's heard us talking."

"But she wasn't there that day. You mean there's been other times?" He held up a hand. "No. No. I don't want to know."

"She probably hears lots of stuff that we think we do in private like make phone calls or you know other stuff those bathrooms aren't soundproof," Rev said, winking at Tech.

"Ph-phone calls?" Duck looked at both of them. "You think she listens in on phone calls?"

"I don't think she listens deliberately," Tech said, "but I'm sure that if she chances to overhear something, she wouldn't really be able to tune it out."

"You think she tells Zodavia about things she hears?"

"Come on who talks to Zodavia in their spare time?" Rev said.

"Yeah." And then Tech thought of something that made him grin, so he had to say it. "Besides, Zodavia monitors all phone transmissions into and out of the base anyway, so Lexi wouldn't really have to tell her."

Duck's feathers all went limp, leaving him very sleek and wide-eyed. He turned without a word and kept walking. Tech grinned at Rev, who drew a little closer to him.

He stayed close as they rode back to the jet, pacing Duck and Tech on the bikes and darting around and over obstacles, coming up on one side of Tech and then the other. When they came into view of the jet, sitting in the decrepit field, Rev put on a burst of speed. No matter how much Tech gunned the bike, he couldn't catch the speedy bird, who turned around and waited for them in the bike bay, leaning casually against the door.

"Show off," Duck muttered, locking up his bike next to Tech's. He walked back to the bridge.

Tech followed, walking at Rev's side. He grinned down and said, softly, "Show off." He got a wink in return as they entered the bridge and took their seats.

Zodavia had located two possible residences for them to investigate. Duck shifted back and forth in his seat as Ace read off the locations, until the rabbit looked right at him and said, "You need ta use the head, Duck?"

"I just want to know why we're still going after this guy. Can't we just give his location to the police?"

"We're here," Ace said, "and protecting people is what we're about. What's the problem with taking this guy out?"

"Well, I mean, it's just so...boring. What videos can I upload to my fan club from this?"

"Maybe he'll have a rocket launcher," Tech said. "That would make for a pretty dramatic video."

"I'll take him," Lexi said. "With the suit and my enhanced hearing, I can sneak up on him and brain blast him before he knows what's going on. I don't need to take any video."

"See," Duck said, "if he were out on the roof again, I could quack around him and make him waste his ammunition, then take him out." He punched the air.

"Lexi, why don't you just listen ta the talk in the buildings to see where he is, and then we'll send Rev in to get him." Ace was clearly ignoring Duck.

Tech felt the creep of worry. "Why Rev? The guy's sure to be set up where he can see everyone coming in."

"He can't see me Tech you don't need to worry."

"But he's seen you before. He might have set up something to slow you down, or so he can anticipate you."

Rev grinned. "Nothing can slow me down you should know that by now don't worry seriously I'll be fine nothing I'd like better than to go get this guy and I'll even keep my video camera on for my fan club."

"I'm sure they'll both be very impressed," Duck said.

"You're just jealous cause I have twice as many fans as you do but don't worry I'm sure you'll pick up your second one someday there's got to be one other person who likes you besides your mom."

"You know, I could call up a crawler from the base and make a few modifications to it to send it through the building and shoot a tranquilizer dart at him." Tech called up the schematic, and saw the paths immediately. "It'd take like an hour to get it here, with my tools."

Ace shook his head. "Easier just ta put Lexi on the bike with the cloaker and then send Rev in. We don't need yer toys, Tech, but thanks."

"But I'd rather..." He looked at Rev and trailed off. For some reason, the roadrunner looked annoyed. "Uh, the cloaker won't work while the bike is moving."

"I'll just carry Lexi around then," Rev said.

"No, I can't hear when you go that fast, and it musses up my hair. How about if I just ride the bike nearby and then sneak up? I can do that."

"That'll woik. Okay, get to yer bike, and Rev, follow her. Stay on the open channel, botha you."

Before Tech could protest, the two of them were out the door. He turned back and saw Duck smirking at him. "I'm, uh, still going to retrieve the crawler," he said to Ace. "Just as a backup. In case we need it."

"Just keep an eye on the video," Ace said. "Otherwise knock yerself out."

Tech kept Lexi and Rev's monitors up while he sent one of his crawlers instructions to get onto one of the drone flyers back in base. He watched the grimy tenement buildings in Lexi's monitor and listened to her whispered reports as he programmed the drone to join his jet.

"I hear the people in that building," she told them. "They're talking about some food and stuff."

The bridge remained silent. Tech looked up to see Slam fiddling with his console, playing a solitaire game. Ace was resting his chin on one elbow, looking out through the windshield. Duck was either answering e-mail or reading some articles online. He kept his eyes on the monitor as he completed the drone's instructions.

Twenty minutes later, though, even he was bored. All Lexi had managed to listen in on was a protracted conversation about who was going to take the garbage out, and a criticism of a television show. Rev's monitor showed him dashing back and forth. He had the sound off, but Tech could almost hear the roadrunner's impatient chatter in his head.

"They're never going to talk about Fudd on their own," he said.

"We need to startle 'em somehow," Ace said.

"Oh, I know a way you could startle them," Duck said, looking at Tech.

"Dat's okay, Duck," Ace said. "You can leave yer Misty Breeze collection back at the base."

"She is a rare talent," Duck said stiffly. "And she's beautiful. And some of those items have already doubled in value."

"Gah rah two cent," Slam said, looking up from his game.

"Tech, what about that thing yer retrievin' from the base? You flyin' it here on a drone?" Tech nodded. "Can you program it to fly by the buildings? Nice an' close?"

"Sure." He tapped into the drone's programming and re-routed it to fly past the each of the two buildings. "Okay. It should arrive in approximately eighty-three seconds at the first, ninety-one seconds at the other."

"Approximately?" Ace grinned back at him.

"Give or take two seconds," Tech said. "Depending on relative humidity and point turbulence due to structure-induced thermals and downdrafts." To their blank stares, he added, "The air gets funny that close to buildings."

"Can you delay the flight so it doesn't hit the second building 'til a couple minutes later?" When Tech nodded, Ace said into the open channel, "Rev, get ready ta grab Lexi and take her from the first location ta the second if she doesn't hear anything in about a minute. We're gonna try to startle them inta talkin' about Fudd."

"Okay," Lexi's whisper echoed through the bridge.

Rev was more effusive, of course. "Great idea Ace anything's better than standing around here waiting of course I'm not standing but it's still better than running back and forth here waiting I'll be ready Lexi just give the word I'm rarin' to go!"

"Stay on alert, Lexi," Ace said. "In about a minute."

"Sure thing, Ace," she whispered back.

There turned out to be no need for Rev to carry her to the other location. Within a minute of the drone overhead, she was whispering excitedly to them. "Someone just said, 'Hey Zeb, they're after ya,' and someone else said 'I'll get my stuff and get outta here, don't want you in trouble.' They're up on the third floor in one of the rooms at the back."

"That enough for ya, Rev?" Ace said.

"Got it Ace I'm on my way Lexi get ready with that brain blast see ya in approximately eleven seconds it'd be seven if I didn't hafta wear this suit," Rev said.

"Make sure and get him quick, Lexi," Tech said. "He's probably got some kind of guns on his person and if he has time to figure out what's going on..."

"I'm on it, Tech." She sounded annoyed.

Tech bit his tongue, wanting to say, I'm just trying to give everyone on the team the best chance of survival. That was true, but in the next ten seconds, as he watched Rev's monitor intently, all of his thoughts were with the roadrunner, constructing scenario after scenario as everything seemed to move far too slowly.

One: Grimy concrete building. Even the graffiti on the door was faded and unfinished. Cracks in the stone.

The shooter had rigged the entrance to blow. Rev's monitor would flash before filling with rubble.

Two: Filthy hallway, derelict sleeping on a decrepit wooden bench. Beside him, the door further in hung ajar, puce-colored paint peeling in long strips from it.

The shooter had an energy cannon pointed at the door and Rev's monitor would flash bright white and then go black.

Three: Half-broken banister, staircase with one stair missing, stained wallpaper missing in gaping patches.

The shooter had rigged the stairs to fall. Tech would see sudden motion, wood fragments, abrupt slowing as Rev tried to climb out of the debris with a broken leg.

Four: Another derelict sleeping on the landing, a hallway whose torn carpeting exposed the wormy wood beneath. Three doors: two open, one closed, all marked and chipped.

The derelict was a friend of the shooter and had a concealed gun to take out Rev from behind, his monitor pitching forward onto the ratty carpet and remaining fixed there.

Five: A quick glimpse of a room. Two startled human faces looked up from a green-grey couch in front of a hideous black velvet painting. Another face, under a red and tan hunting cap with a wide brim, looked right at Tech, coolly. A gun lay across his lap and, incredibly, got halfway up to his shoulder.

The shooter had a shotgun loaded with incendiary pellets and Rev's monitor would explode in fire.

Six: Blur of motion, shine of gun, clatter of it falling to the floor through Rev's mike. Tan shirt and orange vest obscuring most of the monitor.

The shooter had somehow acquired super-tensile carbon fiber and set up a net trap, and Rev would be caught and quickly dispatched, his monitor coming to rest on a view of the ceiling that would travel slowly to a view of the sky.

Seven: Flickering light and dark. Footsteps on wood.

The shooter had found one of the helmets from the alien ice vikings they had defeated and had set up a sheen of ice in the hall that Rev wouldn't see, his monitor skidding up to show the ceiling as he landed flat on his back, then quickly filming over with ice as the alien technology froze him where he lay.

Eight: More footsteps. Shadows shifting.

The shooter had a small handgun he was drawing even now and would fire.

Nine: Bright light around the fuzzy edges of the shadow.

Any second now, the shooter would fire. Any second now.

Ten: Flash.

Rev's monitor stopped. The shadow fell away from it. It tipped backwards slowly, up to the clouds over the dirt-brown concrete, and remained still.

3

"Rev!" Tech yelled, standing before he knew what he was doing. He stared at the monitor, willing it to move, eyes still seeing the afterimage of the flash as a greenish haze over the blue sky. His paws clenched around the armrests on his chair.

"Sorry guys," Lexi said over the intercom. "I kinda got 'em both."

"No prob, Lexi," Ace said. "You need help or can you get 'em on the bike?"

"I can handle it," she said. "Rev hardly weighs anything."

Tech collapsed in his chair, releasing the armrests. Ace was checking something on the monitor, but both Duck and Slam were staring at him.

Is this how it's going to be every time? he wondered. Every time I'm sitting here while he's out there in danger? Picturing all the things that could happen, agonizing because I can't do anything about them?

"Hey, Tech," Duck said. "Don't worry about Rev. He's pretty good at what he does."

Because of the unfamiliar context, it took Tech a moment to recognize his expression as sympathy.

They strapped Zebediah Fudd in the holding cell back at the base, after Tech had divested him of anything metal and Ace had searched him for anything non-magnetic. Sedated, he looked much less dangerous, his oversized hunter's hat askew on his brow and his orange vest grimy and torn on closer inspection. He had an impressive stock of weapons, though: three small pistols, a slingshot, and a pair of knives strapped to his ankles. In addition, Lexi told them he'd had a handgun out when she'd blasted him.

Rev had woken up halfway back to base, responding to Tech's anxious queries with a quick, "Doing fine just got a bad bad headache." To which Lexi apologized, and Rev told her it was okay. He met Tech's eye a couple times after that but didn't smile, and when they got back to base, he went to his room to lie down. The rest of the Loonatics gathered in the main room.

"Good work, Loonatics," Zodavia said. "Excellent teamwork."

"Thank you," Duck said before anyone else could talk. "Really, it was nothing."

"In your case, I know that," she said. "Tech, Lexi, and Rev, especially, did excellent work."

"Did we uncover anything more on his background?" Tech asked. "There's something about him that doesn't correspond to my expectations of his abilities."

Zodavia, as always, seemed unruffled. "I expect you will uncover that during the interrogation. Ace, I will read your full report."

"I'd really appreciate if you could bring your resources to bear as well," Tech said. "I know you have access to some other areas that we don't."

"If I have time, I will look into it," she said. "Is there anything else?"

"Nah, that's good. Glad to be of soivice," Ace said.

"Again, good work. Zodavia out."

Tech sat back in his chair and folded his arms as everyone else got up. Ace came over to stand by him. "You want to do the interrogation or should I?"

"You go first," Tech said.

"Awright. Let's change into some clean uniforms, eh?"

They changed along with Slam and Duck in the locker room, and while Ace went off to interrogate Zebediah, Tech went to see to Rev. But the roadrunner didn't answer his knock--still sleeping, probably--so Tech sat in his lab reviewing the medical data from the prisoner, trying without much success not to worry about Rev.

The DNA, retinal patterns, fingerprints, blood sample, and dental print wouldn't really tell them what they needed to know. The skin analysis might tell them where he'd been in the last week to month, depending on how frequently he bathed (Tech was betting on the month side of the scale). The real information would come from the interrogation.

The blood sample, though, might still be of interest. What was bothering him about Zebediah Fudd was not so much how a hunter from the backwater of North Haverbrook had obtained a highly classified experimental weapon, but how he had the reflexes and accuracy to fire and hit Duck in a fraction of a second. In the fairly long list of non-natural substances found in the prisoner's bloodstream, he found his answer.

At least, he thought he did. His database contained a catalog of over a hundred thousand known chemical substances and compounds, but there, in between the alcohol, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, caffeine, and various mild hallucinogens, was a big fat UNKNOWN. He asked the medibase to isolate the compound and identify chemically similar substances, and it replied that it would take it about an hour to complete the search it had already initiated. Tech sometimes assigned the medibase the personality of a snobby butler in his thoughts, because its stilted, artificial voice always sounded reluctantly obedient.

He killed time modifying his crawler because he'd already had the idea for it, and then got sidetracked on another idea he'd had. By the time the medibase cleared its throat (with his standard alert sound) to let him know it was done, it took him a moment to recall exactly what it was doing.

A brief scan of the data brought a smile to his muzzle. "Damn," he said, "I'm good." The three known compounds the medibase had returned in its analysis were all from the amphetamine family, drugs designed to sharpen senses and speed up reflexes. That didn't explain the accuracy, but it solved half of the riddle.

Zebediah hadn't had any unidentified pills, patches, or liquids on his person at the time of his capture. Maybe because he was in hiding, he'd set them down, or didn't think he'd need to have quick access to them. Certainly his reflexes had been extra-sharp when Rev had caught him. Three more seconds and he might have succeeded in drawing his gun.

"Tech?"

He turned and waved Duck into the lab. "I haven't finished your fight reel from the battle room yet."

"Oh, that's not what I wanted to talk about." Duck shuffled his webbed feet. Tech raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. "I didn't know the thing with you and Rev was, you know, more than just that one time."

"You didn't?" Tech reviewed the past couple weeks in his head. They hadn't really said anything about it to Duck, nor had he seen them together again after that. He supposed he could see where Duck, self-absorbed as he was, would have missed any other context to what he'd seen.

Duck shook his head. "I thought he just got horny, you know, and talked you into it, or maybe you were swapping, or...anyway, don't know, don't want to know. I thought that was kind of gross. I didn't realize you guys were, like, dating. And stuff."

"Oh." Tech couldn't think of a single thing to say.

"So I just wanted to say, you know, good luck."

"Well, thanks." Tech studied Duck. "Does this mean you're going to do your reel yourself?"

"No," Duck said. "I figure you still don't want Ace to know. You know, good ol' wholesome boy scout Ace, never know how he might react."

"What about Slam?"

"What about him? He can barely dress himself, he should care who's sleeping with who?"

"Whom. And you shouldn't put him down so much. It has an effect on his psyche."

Duck rolled his eyes. "He can take it. He's used to it. If he doesn't want to get picked on, he should shape up. It's not hard."

Tech shook his head. "I can't figure you out," he said. "You come in here and wish us luck, a really nice thing to do, and then you go back to being a gigantic ass."

"That's me," Duck said. "A really nice ass. But don't get any ideas. I like girls."

"Yours isn't half as nice as Rev's," Tech said. "Not that I've made comparisons or anything."

Instead of sputtering, Duck grinned. "Even if you did, the fact that he's letting you bang him renders the comparison pointless."

Tech laughed. "You really are an ass."

"Just finish my reel." Duck paused and turned on his way out. "And see if you can include any footage of that Zeba-whatsit guy on it. Especially if he gets in the news."

"If who gets in da news?" Ace said from behind Duck.

Tech and Duck exchanged quick looks, but Ace didn't appear to have heard any of the other conversation. "That guy who shot at me."

Ace shook his head. "Maybe the local news, but nobody else cares about the story. Lexi was checking the news channels and didn't find anything."

"Why not? He almost killed me!"

"And he did kill eight people," Ace said. "But the authorities want to keep it quiet. These days someone's liable to try a copycat."

"How is anyone going to know how good we are if we keep not telling them?" Duck stomped off without waiting for an answer.

"I wish he'd get over himself," Ace said.

Tech smiled. "He has moments. How did the interrogation go?"

"He wouldn't say nuthin'. I think he needs a dose of yer tell-all."

"Oh. Why don't you let me try talking to him?"

Ace folded his arms. "Why do we have it around at all if you won't use it?"

"I just don't like it," Tech said.

"Like it or not, we finally have a prisoner we really need information from. So go do your half of the interrogation and use it. Consider dat an order."

"What about his drugs?"

"Drugs?"

Tech indicated the medibase. "He was taking some kind of drug to speed up his reflexes. Thing is, it's a drug we've never seen before, which means someone has synthesized it recently. And is distributing it to homicidal backwoods gunmen."

Ace stepped back into the lab. "That sounds...interesting."

"I thought so."

"All the more reason ta use yer tell-all. So do it."

Tech juggled the small aerosol container from one paw to the other, waiting for the secure door behind him to close so the inner door could open. He could smell Fudd from out here, a rancid mix of stale alcohol, sweat, and riceweed. Must be a chewer. He could've told Zodavia plenty just by standing out here and breathing in.

The smell got ten times worse when the door opened. Zebediah Fudd looked up from behind the clear plastic separator, and whatever reaction Tech expected, it was not for the prisoner to stand up so quickly his hat slid off his bald head and point at Tech with a shaking finger. "You...you double-crosser!" he shouted.

Startled, Tech kept his mouth shut. A detached part of him noted that Fudd's harsh, scratchy voice was not too far off from his simulation. Maybe half an octave lower. "I shoulda known you were involved with these other critter freaks. All that crap you tol' me about..." He stopped, narrowed his eyes, and walked right up to the barrier. "Wait. You're not him."

"Are you sure?" Tech folded his arms, playing along. A suspicion had taken root in his mind.

Fudd didn't even stoop to pick up his hat. He just sat back down and glared out through the plastic, playing with something between his fingers.

"All right, then." Tech moved to stand in front of the marble-sized ventilation holes, preparing the aerosol with the tell-all in it. As he primed the can, Fudd's arm moved quickly. Something hit Tech in the ear.

"Hey!" Fudd smirked at him. He rubbed his ear and stepped back, looking at the small rock chip on the floor as he finished prepping the container from a safe angle. The guy had somehow thrown it from ten feet away through a hole barely bigger than the chip itself, and bounced it off the inside of the hole so that it would hit him.

Tech could even see the small mark on the inside of one of the holes as he fitted the aerosol's plastic teeth into them. Even though the canister was metal, Tech held it up and depressed the plunger by hand, not showing off his powers in front of the prisoner. Fudd threw two more rock chips into the ventilation holes with uncanny accuracy, making the aerosol shiver each time, but he couldn't dislodge Tech's grip. Gas hissed into his space.

The canister completely sealed the ventilation, so the fumes wouldn't leak out. After a moment, Fudd started to get a nervous tic, his head jerking spastically to one side. Tech took this as a sign that his drug was working.

"Now," he said, "where did you get those guns?"

His voice echoed behind the glass. The two-way got Fudd's quick response. "The depot on Tamaron." He swung his head violently from side to side.

"When did you last see Ralph?"

Fudd's eyes grew wide as saucers. "Last year, end of summer. Dammit!"

"Where?"

"Nnnnnnh!" The prisoner clutched his head. He shook it faster and faster.

"Where?" Tech leaned forward to repeat the question, but Fudd wasn't listening to him any more. He shuddered, his eyes rolled back in his sockets, and then he slumped back against the wall.

"Crap." Tech ran to the wall and slid open a panel, tapping a green button to activate the docbot. He skated through the menus and chose "seizure" while the bot was on its way. It would test anyway, but he'd give it a headstart. He watched the small flying sphere glide into the room and hover over Fudd, and glanced back and forth from the cell to the menu as the bot lowered needles and injected him with whatever it deemed appropriate. When the bot's readout flashed a yellow, "Vital signs stabilizing," he exhaled.

He threw the aerosol in the trash, then thought better of it and retrieved it for analysis for complications with the drug Fudd was taking. He should have thought of that, shouldn't have let Ace boss him around. Ace was their leader, sure. But Tech was the smart one. Using a largely untested drug, even one as theoretically sound as the tell-all, on someone whose system was showing an unknown synthesized drug was foolish. He should've pressed the point.

Should he? Had he? Maybe he'd wanted to show Ace that the bunny didn't always know best. Or maybe he hadn't cared enough about the fate of a guy who'd killed eight people and almost killed a member of his team. Or maybe he'd just dismissed it in the midst of his annoyance with Ace and Duck and his worry about Rev. It wasn't like him to not think about it, though.

He paced the lab, trying to dissect his subconscious motivations. He would have to see Sal again, and ask him a few more questions that he'd been avoiding last time. Having made that decision, he went downstairs to check on Rev again, not because he was worried about the roadrunner, but because he wanted to see him.

Rev was awake, sitting up in bed and watching some program on the vid that he'd sped up to double or triple speed. He flicked it off as Tech came in and smiled. "Hey Tech how's it going I'm feeling a lot better now still got a bit of a headache but we got the guy didn't we?"

"Yeah." Tech smiled, despite the image of Fudd slumped over and twitching in the cell. His tail even wagged a little bit. "Glad you're doing okay. I was worried."

To his surprise, Rev turned away. "Yeah well I'm fine you didn't need to worry about me so much you know I can take care of myself always have ever since I was seven okay?"

"What?" Rev didn't answer. "Look, all I said was that I was worried."

Rev turned back to him. "Yeah you were worried back on the ship when you were trying to keep me off the mission too you know just because I like to suck you off doesn't mean you gotta start worrying about me or protecting me we all went through the same tests you remember all the guys who didn't make it but the six of us did and you never started doubting me until this started up did you?"

Fudd forgotten, Tech came into the bedroom and closed the door behind him, leaning against it and sorting through the dizzying speech. "I wasn't doubting you. I was..." What was he doing? The uncertainty about his own actions spread now, from the interrogation to his actions on the mission. Rev's eyes fixed him as he struggled to figure out what to say. People, more complicated and unpredictable than machines, didn't trigger the same connections in his head, leaving him flailing to justify a course of action. For a moment he found himself wishing Rev were a robot, so he could see the circuits and know what was wrong. He shook that thought away. "I was just worried. That's all. I worry about the rest of them too."

"You worry about 'em but you don't try to stop 'em from going on missions or doing the jobs we've all been doing for a year why am I suddenly different no don't answer that I think I can figure it out."

Tech took a second to collect his thoughts. "Why shouldn't you be different? I don't get naked with any of the other team members."

Rev laughed, shortly. "Thanks for that mental image even though that's got nothing to do with it what we do in our spare time is our business and nobody else's and it shouldn't affect how we do our jobs that's something else I'm still as good at it as I used to be I don't need you to protect me."

"It's not about protecting you." Tech folded his arms. "And why shouldn't things be different? Things are different."

"Not for how we do our job like Ace and me go to basherball games together but that doesn't make him keep me off missions or worry about me heck he doesn't even do that for Lexi you know so I don't see why it should be any different for us."

"Basherball games? Is that all this is to you?"

Rev met his eyes. "Doesn't matter what it is to me we're talking about what it is to you."

"What it is to me?" Tech spread his paws. "What it is to me? You want to know? I came down here to see how you are. I have to go talk to Sal again. I was going to ask you to come along. He wanted...he wanted to meet this guy I'm seeing. That's what it is to me."

He waited for Rev's reaction. The roadrunner looked back at him silently, so he palmed the door open and walked out.

"So, ah, my research." Sal shrugged. "The community is very inwardly focused, mostly believing that the world government doesn't care about them. The disturbing trend about the militia groups is more and more young people joining them. I actually did a little paper on some of the groups. Don't know if you saw it."

Tech shook his head, taking a drink of his coffee. Flyers swooped lazily past the balcony outside. "I didn't. I'll look for it, though. When I was growing up, there were only a few, organized by species."

"They still are. There are more now, and they're a little bigger. I wish I'd had the time to explore them more."

"I thought you said your research was done."

One corner of his friend's mouth slid up in a humorless smile. "I said it was over. I didn't say it was done."

Tech frowned. "Why?"

"No more funding. It was a struggle to get the first grant, and that ran out almost a year ago. I spent most of my savings staying there an extra six months so I could at least get some significant data."

"That's...disappointing."

"Tell me about it. I wish people would pay attention to them." He toyed with his fork, and then looked up at Tech. "The militias are the kind of thing you get when you have a disadvantaged people marginalized like that. Nothing unusual. But there was one group...you asked about the meteor, right? I can see why you'd be interested in it. This new group believed it was aimed at them, that it was a deliberate attempt to wipe out the critters."

Tech snorted. "If it was, whoever it was had terrible aim."

Sal nodded. "But they believe there'll be another meteor, unless they stop it."

"They're crazy."

"Maybe so. But they are getting a lot of members, and even if there isn't going to be another meteor, all those kids with all that anger are going to need something to do."

"I didn't say there wouldn't be another meteor," Tech said. "I meant, they're crazy if they think they can stop it."

"You don't think..." Sal looked at him, and then laughed. "Ah, you're putting me on."

Tech shook his head. "I can't tell you all the stuff I have access to. But I estimate a 78% chance that it was deliberate, and a 34% chance that there will be another one in the next ten years."

"Deliberate? But who...I mean, we're talking about a meteor. That's like, out of a cartoon or something."

"I know. I don't really have more information than that. And don't worry, we're not in any danger yet. The soonest a new one would show up--I think--is 4.8 years. This is just a side project of mine." He grinned. "A little hobby."

"I like my hobby better," Sal said. "It's cheaper, and if they come back in five years, the most I have to worry about is that they won't be as good-looking."

Tech laughed. "Would you believe me if I told you the meteor was the least of my worries?"

"I don't think I want to hear about any of the other ones," Sal said. "Okay, yes I do. What could be worse than a meteor?"

"The meteor caused a lot of strange phenomena, and several of them can't be explained by the impact or the nature of the meteor." He probably shouldn't be saying this much to Sal, but it was such a relief to talk to another academic, someone who wouldn't tell Tech he was wasting his time with this crackpot theory. The funny thing was that he knew it was crazy, he knew that it didn't make any sense, but he knew it was right.

Of course, that seemed to be describing a lot of things in his life, just at that time.

"So what can explain them?"

"I don't know. Maybe Ralph."

Sal raised an eyebrow. "Oh, come on. He was bad, but not that bad."

"I think he's worse. He's arming lunatics--not Loonatics, the other kind--with some pretty advanced stuff."

"Like what?"

Tech lifted a paw and counted off fingers. "Neural disruptors, xion-matrix-shielded projectiles and reflex enhancement drugs. And those are just the ones I know about for sure."

Sal whistled. "He's come a long way since the fusion-powered slingshot."

Tech nodded. "He's got money and support. And I think he's based down in the Warren. I've been hearing rumors of someone with weapons expertise down there, and it just made sense that it would be him."

"Made sense?"

"I can't really explain it." Tech grinned and tapped his head. "It's just these things seem to connect, you know."

Air rushed by him, a red blur that stopped at their table and started to speak. "Speaking of connections sorry I'm late traffic was a bitch hey you must be Sal I've heard a lot about you I'm Rev mind if I take this seat thanks so what are you guys talking about I miss anything good?" Rev had spun the chair around and sat down before Tech could close his jaw. The roadrunner reached over and lifted it for him, giving him a private wink.

Sal just stared. Tech tore himself away from Rev's smile and grinned at Sal, presenting Rev with one paw. "Sal, Rev Runner."

"I got that," Sal said faintly, extending a hand. Rev pumped it enthusiastically. "Did he want to ask me about my research too?"

"Nah I heard you wanted to meet me and I woulda come with Tech but I had a couple things to sort out so I just came by myself later hope I'm not interrupting anything but it is nice to meet ya so tell me was Tech like this in school too or did he just get this way after the meteor hit?"

"Oh, he's always been like this," Sal said. "I'm sorry, did you say I wanted to meet you? Not that it isn't an honor, you know."

Rev looked at Tech, who cleared his throat. "Well, you did say you wanted to meet the guy..."

Sal lit up, and extended his hand again. "Oh, I see! In that case, let me shake your hand again, congratulations, I was delighted to hear that someone is showing this boy how to have a little fun. He's cute, too, even in that uniform. And the whole washroom thing makes more sense now, of course it would be easy for you to get in and out, and listen to me, you must be contagious or something." He chuckled as Rev shook his hand, matching the roadrunner's enthusiasm now.

"Nobody can keep up with Rev," Tech said, still digesting the roadrunner's appearance. "We've given up trying."

"Ah you do pretty well there cutey not that I don't slow down for ya every now and then and sometimes I even have to catch up with you but that's okay fair's fair after all so why didn't you tell me your friend was this cute maybe you didn't know but he's got the same hair as Snap McCoy who won the championship for the Maulers twice in a row three years ago man he was cute!" Rev waved his hands around and leaned forward. Tech couldn't help but grin.

"Okay," Sal said, "I caught that first part, but I think I missed most of the last half."

"He said you look like Snap McCoy, who was a basherball player, I guess." Tech felt a little swell of happiness at being able to translate the roadrunner's chatter. "But you don't have his poster up anymore."

Rev grinned at him with a sparkle in his green eyes. "Snap retired last year and Trick Daly is the man now he's not as cute but he's way more talented and we didn't come here to talk about basherball cause I know you're not into it Tech but I am gonna try to make you watch some games I think you'd like some of the strategy so what were you talking about before I interrupted?"

"Just Sal's research and some of my theories," Tech said. "I'll fill you in a bit later."

"Yes," Sal said. "Right now I want to hear about you two. How long did you work together before you hooked up?"

They glanced at each other. Rev said, "A year and a month cause that first afternoon was right after the ice vikings and that was three weeks after we had our one year team party where Slam had too much to drink and ripped out the wall and Ace put a lock on the beer cooler which reminds me I gotta get him to take it off because after last night I could really use a drink."

"You and me both," Tech said. Rev shot him a look, but he shook his head minutely.

"So how did it happen? Glances in the locker room, a moment in the middle of a spectacular battle, a touch, a look, what? Who made the first move?" Sal leaned forward and smiled.

Tech chuckled. "You have too much imagination. Rev started it, one afternoon..."

Sal liked to talk as much as Rev, but not quite as quickly, so it was an hour later that they walked back into the control room, together. Lexi swung around on the command chair and twitched her ears. "About time," she said, and winked at them.

"We've just been out at coffee with an old friend of mine," Tech said.

"But if you could stand to stay on duty for another half hour or maybe an hour we'd really appreciate it we got a couple things to discuss we could do it after our shift if you got somewhere else to go and speaking of that where is Ace right now and everybody else?"

"Ace and Duck are down in the danger room," Lexi said. "Slam is out at some wrestling match again. And sure, don't worry, I can handle things here."

"Thanks," Tech said, and waved to her as they walked through the control room. She waved and turned back to her monitor, where he saw about twelve different chat windows up.

Rev was pulling him down the corridor on the lower level when Tech stopped him at the kitchen. "Hang on," Tech said. He ducked into the small room.

Rev followed him in. "What's up looking for a little snack I thought you had something to eat at the coffee shop I could use a little something though any of those sandwiches left from yesterday's delivery?"

The large silver beer cooler still had Ace's lock on it. Tech reached up to it with his powers. "You should've just told me you wanted a beer," he said, as the lock clicked open.

Rev's beak split in a wide grin as Tech floated one of the bottles down to him by the metal cap. "Aw I shoulda known but I didn't even think of it thanks cutey this is better than coffee of course I don't usually drink coffee it makes me sort of jittery this is great even my favorite you gonna have one?"

He'd been debating that. "Yeah, I think I will." He floated himself down a bottle and opened it with his powers as Rev opened his with his hands.

The beer tasted good, cold and refreshing, the smooth taste melting away some of the tension of the day. Rev's appearance had helped a lot, and as he walked down towards the bedrooms with Rev, he smiled. "Why'd you come to the coffee shop?"

Rev paused and looked at him, and inclined his head down the corridor. "Your room or mine yours is closer by about two steps but mine's already got some of your things in it aw heck yours is closer let's just go there if that's okay with you nothing in there I shouldn't see?"

"No," Tech grinned. "It's okay." He swept the door open with a flex of magnetic fields.

His wall was covered with erasable boards on which he'd scrawled formulas, some as long ago as his first months on the team, ideas he'd never finished. Rev examined them all in about a second, took another drink at the closed window, and dashed over to sit on the bed. "Why you keep your window shuttered what kinda music you got in here nice sheets I like the pattern come on sit down." He patted the bed next to him.

Tech grinned, closing the door and activating some soft music with a sweep of his paw. The soft lights over the music remained on as he dimmed the room lights and sat down on the bed next to Rev. He felt no need to repeat the question that still hung there.

Rev finished off his beer and set the bottle on Tech's night table. "I'm not mad at you I just need you to trust me about our work it's not so the others don't know it's just so I feel like you believe I can do whatever needs to be done I gotta say I thought it was really sweet you wanted to introduce me to Sal so I didn't think I should pass that up and he's a nice guy we should have coffee with him more often only no coffee for me of course."

"Of course." Tech laughed. "Well, I do trust you, but I'm not going to stop worrying about you. That's the way I am. And whether you think so or not, I think what we're doing is changing things. I worry about everyone else, and if one of them got hurt I'd worry, like when Duck got shot, or when Ace was almost killed by those vikings, but...you have a nice body there. I'd miss it."

"Nice body ah now you're just playing with me I know I'm too skinny no matter how much I work out I just burn off everything bang bang bang the good thing is I can have two ice cream sundaes without putting on any weight but I'm not gonna be a model anytime soon."

Tech set his own beer down. "Don't sell yourself short." He reached out and brushed Rev's chest through the uniform. "I think you're pretty hot."

"I know you do but that's just cause I like to undress you too or at least that has a lot to do with it but don't worry I don't have any illusions just happy you like me that was something I thought about too hey careful with the paws you're tickling ayayayayay!" Of course the roadrunner could squirm away from Tech's comparatively snail-paced tickles, but he allowed the coyote to get his shirt up and tease claws through the feathers up and down his sides.

The shirt came all the way off soon after that, and sometime after Tech's shirt was off, but before his pants were unfastened, he thought to swipe at the magnetic lock on his door and make sure it was activated. And for extra protection, he flicked on the sound baffles he'd built to stop Lexi from hearing into the room. After that he yelped and fell back on the bed, the half-naked roadrunner atop him teasing his fur with light, nimble fingers.

The fur teasing led to teasing on his nipples, which led to shivers coursing through his body and resting in his sheath. Rev looked down at the hardness pressing into his thigh and grinned a beaky grin. "Ooh someone's getting a little eager already well far be it from me to slow down why don't we let the little guy out for some air what d'you think?" His hands worked at Tech's pants as he talked, so the coyote didn't even bother to answer. He did reach his own paw down to feel the hardness in Rev's pants, but before he could do anything about it, the roadrunner had slid out of his reach, pulled his pants nearly off, and cupped a hand under his sheath. He grinned up at Tech as he stroked, kneeling between the coyote's legs.

Tech panted, watching Rev's feathery blue fingers slide up and down his hard pink length. His tail, trapped below his thigh, quivered frantically against the bed. "All right," he said, beckoning with one paw, "turn that cute skinny butt around."

"Oh sure if you insist I ain't gonna argue." Long purple tail feathers brushed the coyote's muzzle before he'd finished saying the second word. Tech popped the metal fastenings with a thought while his paws slid the pants down the roadrunner's slender hips. Fingerpads caressed feathers as Rev's shaft slid free to hang just over his muzzle. He wasted no time in opening up.

The taste on his tongue was sweet and familiar, the shape warm and hard. His fingers felt the quick tension under the feathers and gripped tighter; a moment later the roadrunner's soft beak slid down over his shaft as well, the warmth and the light, flicking motion of Rev's tongue up and down his length sending shivers through him. He tightened his lips around the hardness in his muzzle and pressed his tongue harder against it with each stroke.

Rev shivered under his paws and Tech held him tighter, enjoying the tremors in the light, supple frame. He himself was getting worked up pretty quickly, partly from the quick, teasing flickers of Rev's tongue, partly from the vibrations that seemed to be the result of Rev being unable to vocalize around the length of coyote in his beak. The roadrunner's quick talk was being diverted into subvocalized vibrations, which led Tech briefly to wonder whether he could reproduce that mechanically.

His next thought was that he should invent something to slow down their systems, as Rev's hips pumped faster against his muzzle and the subvocalizations increased in intensity. A moment later--

--the screen in his bedroom flared to life with Ace's picture on it. "Tech! Tech!"

Rev's head shot up. He squawked a series of incoherent moans, thrusting against Tech's tongue. The coyote felt the warm splash of climax on his tongue and gulped, holding Rev's hips to tell the roadrunner not to pull out.

"Tech! Where are ya?" Ace sounded angry, frantic.

Tech kept his lips sealed around Rev and swallowed, twice. The roadrunner sagged into him and he gave the blue-feathered hips a quick hug before sliding his muzzle free.

"Tech! Answer me--"

He flicked the audio on magnetically, leaving video off. "I'm here, Ace. What's going on?"

Rev crawled around to rest his head on Tech's chest, one hand curled around the coyote's damp shaft. He grinned weakly at Tech and rolled his eyes at the screen. Tech grinned back and nodded, but when he looked at the screen full on for the first time, his grin faded. Ace looked upset, really upset.

"The prisoner's dead."

A cold chill ran through Tech. Even the warmth of Rev's hand couldn't keep his shaft from shrinking inward. "What?"

"Dead," Ace repeated. "Docbot did some stuff and I guess it didn't woik so well. What did you give him?"

What did you give him? "I gave him the tell-all, on your orders," Tech snapped. Rev had gone still on his chest, his hand frozen, topknot flagging.

"I didn't tell ya to give him enough to kill him. You shoulda told me there was danger."

"I told you I don't like using it."

"You didn't say he could die! Zodavia's gonna be furious."

Tech sighed. "I got some information from him. I'll look at the docbot's results. I should've expected something like this."

"Yeah, you should've," Ace said. "I don't give a damn about him--good riddance to bad rubbish--but it don't look good."

"I'll have a report tomorrow," Tech said.

"How about tonight?" Ace said. "I gotta file mine tomorrow. I already put Duck on your shift tonight so you can concentrate on it."

"Tomorrow morning."

"Early."

"Fine."

He shut off the terminal so hard the connections snapped audibly, making Rev jump. The hand that had been curled around Tech's sheath now slid up to his chest and rested there. "Hey I'm sure it wasn't your fault and anyway you told him you didn't wanna use that stuff so he shoulda known right?"

"I guess so." Tech's mind was still spinning. The chances of a reaction like that to the tell-all were very, very slim. He'd developed the tell-all himself, after all, and he wouldn't have made it unsafe even if he did have a little help with it. "Let me look at something real quick here." He replaced Rev's hand when the roadrunner lifted it from his chest. "You don't have to move," he said, and Rev grinned at him.

He called up the notes from his files onto a ceiling screen, using the magnetic interface to navigate his archives, and studied them. There was his handwriting, all over the compound synthesis. But the initial notes, the scrawls specifying which compounds to use, were in a different handwriting, similar to his, but less precise, more scratchy.

Ralph's handwriting.

That connection finally clicked in his head. The tell-all was a leftover from his university days, one of the projects they'd worked on together before their falling out, before the arrest, before the meteor. He'd revisited it after the meteor, but had only changed minor things. Still, his hubris had conveniently let him forget Ralph's involvement. If he'd remembered that, with his current suspicions of Ralph, he might have fought harder against Ace.

Or he might not have.

"You okay cutey you look kinda spacey I guess the mood's kinda broken I can go if you wanna be left alone."

It was telling that Tech had time to curl his arm around Rev. Despite his offer, the roadrunner hadn't moved, and he could've been back in his room by the time the coyote's paw lifted from the bed. "No. I want--I'd like you to stay."

"'Sall you had to say so what's on your mind that's got you all quiet anything you wanna talk about I know it always makes me feel better to talk about what's going on in my mind." Rev snuggled up closer to him, bare feathers to bare fur.

Tech looked down at the roadrunner's green eyes and yellow beak and breathed in his scent, exhaling across the purple topknot and watching the feathers sway back and forth. Did he want to risk telling Rev?

Turn the question around: if he couldn't risk telling Rev, who could he tell?

He pointed up to the ceiling. "Those are the notes on the tell-all from when I worked on it back at University. It didn't quite work then. After the meteor, I figured out how to fix it up, but bio isn't my specialty."

"You're pretty good with roadrunner biology and I should know I am one," Rev murmured.

Tech gave him a squeeze. "Anyway, I forgot that I worked on it with someone else. You ever heard me talk about Ralph?" Rev shook his head. "He was a fellow student of mine. We kinda gravitated together because we were the only critters at the school. We looked enough alike that people mistook us for each other all the time anyway."

"What are the odds that the two students in your class would both be coyotes well I guess when it comes to smarts you guys have a corner on the market but still that's gotta be weird weird weird!"

"He wasn't a coyote," Tech said. "Isn't. He's a wolf. But people couldn't tell us apart anyway, not at first glance. We were in the lab together a lot. Thing with him was, he was really..." He sighed. "Angry. His family'd lost their home and had spent the last of their money to send him to school. His brother was arrested for stealing. His father was arrested for fighting. That sort of thing."

He felt the motion of Rev's beak as he nodded. "Apple doesn't fall far from the tree that's what my mother used to say we were all fast in my family but hey I should shut up and let you talk sorry about that."

Tech's paw smoothed down the feathers on the roadrunner's side. "It's okay. We used to work together all the time. We really connected. Not in that way, but just inventing. The thing was, I was just interested in the science. He kept trying to design weapons. Real nasty ones. We had a big fight about it. I didn't see him after that for a while, until he got arrested. I went to see him in jail. I asked him to stop fighting, and he told me to go to hell." Rev's hand pressed down on his chest, but the roadrunner didn't interrupt.

"I didn't hear anything about him after that. Just recently, though, that genetic scrambler we got from the Ringmaster set me thinking about our powers. And that scrambler was pretty sophisticated, more than I'd expect from a clown like that." Rev giggled, and Tech nuzzled his topknot. "Pun intended. Then this Hunter guy shows up with weapons out of a government arsenal and powers kind of like ours: reflexes, accuracy.

"I think Ralph's behind a lot of this." He was quiet for a moment. "I'd forgotten he designed the tell-all. And one of the things he said--this was right before we had that fight--he said, 'I know how to make them resistant to this.' I said, 'but the whole point is that they can't resist it.' He had this nasty wolfish grin. He didn't say anything to that. And the prisoner definitely knew him. He thought I was Ralph, when he first saw me."

"So you think he gave something to the prisoner that maybe killed him when you gave him the tell-all like a time-release poison or something holy cow that's cold Tech I can't imagine you ever hanging out with a guy like that just doesn't seem like you but anyway even if the tell-all did kill him that was Ralph's doing not yours and this guy was a scumbag anyway killed a bunch of people and almost Duck if you hadn't saved his life--"

"We saved his life." Tech squeezed the roadrunner again.

"Okay we saved his life the point is you can't beat yourself up for that you just gotta do your job and keep going and if Ralph really is out to get us or something then we'll go get him first and I think we really can take him on I mean he's just one guy and he's not even as smart as you and we're a team so what chance does he have?" The roadrunner swung the long feathers of his tail over Tech's hips, letting them come to rest across his sheath. Rather than twitching, they simply lay there, warm and intimate.

"I don't think he's coming after us," Tech said, grinning at Rev's impassioned speech. He held the grin on his muzzle and hesitated. Here was the point where he ventured from history into speculation. The roadrunner's eyes showed nothing but trust. "I think we're an obstacle."

"An obstacle but that would mean he's after something else do you know what or have any idea we're guardians of Acmetropolis so if we're an obstacle then he must be after Acmetropolis itself whoa wow Tech are you sure how come we haven't heard of this guy?"

Something in Tech's chest loosened and relaxed. He nuzzled Rev's topknot again, letting his whiskers slide through the barbs of the feathers. "I'm not sure. I need to check it out."

"You meant to say we need to check it out right I'm sure it was just a slip of the tongue which usually is okay because you sure know how to use that thing but in this case you're not gonna get away with it." Determination met faith in Rev's expression.

"Yeah." Tech's smile blossomed. "That's what I meant."

Rev nodded. "Okay then just so we got that straight or maybe clear is a better word and don't worry about the prisoner I'm sure it'll be okay just get up early and write your report and then we'll deal with this Ralph character."

"You don't think I should write my report now, and get it over with? Now that I don't have to sit control room duty tonight?" He teased Rev's side with a finger.

The roadrunner shook his head, sliding his lanky form onto Tech's to straddle him. "If you think you can write like this then go ahead and try it but right now you need to sleep on it and if I have to stay here all night I'm gonna make sure you do besides you wouldn't kick a naked roadrunner out of your bed would you?"

Tech wrapped his arms around the slender body, pressing Rev's feathers into his fur. "Never," he said, and brought his muzzle up to kiss Rev, marveling at the precious intimacy of that moment, the feeling of finding just the right connection.