FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

So, here it is. The ending for Foxes and Plots. It's changed so much from my original plan. I made this series as a bridge between this one and the next, Wolves and Woes. I didn't think I had enough characters with just Garrison and Drew as backups, so with the help of a friend and permission I was able to fill out the ranks.

The people who really enjoy my writing for all its errors and flaws, I thank you. Comments and questions are always welcome as it helps me grow as a writer. Once more I thank Clipfox for helping me edit and borrowing his characters, Clip/Mark and Addison. Jeffkun for letting me borrow Jeff and some of his ideas. Friends like that don't come around often and I'm very blessed to have them in my life. All their characters are copyright to them, the remainder are mine.

Anyway, enjoy Foxes and Plots 7: Finale.

The night was abnormally cold for San Diego in the middle of spring. A light rain pattered down around them, but Rei had more important issues to deal with at the moment than his physical comfort. He and Addison were standing on top of a very tall building and waiting for the signal to move out. They had been checking his gear and Addison's for the last hour, listening to Mark and Drew issue commands as they coordinated plans over the ear piece lodged deep inside his ear canal. The raccoon had also fitted Addison with one and showed the dog how to use the controls. By flexing the jaw in a certain way he could switch on the microphone. He also demonstrated to the big dog how to turn it off in case they needed to enter radio silence.

Rei stood there looking across the large expanse of air toward the tall and ominous black building. There were no lights beyond the lobby at the base of the structure and from what the thief could tell there wasn't any movement inside. No body heat was being detected, so either the building was completely abandoned or it was built with some kind of shielding.

In either case, it made Rei nervous. They were going into something half blind and the last time he'd cut corners it had nearly cost him his life; he felt a sense of dread at the possibility of history repeating itself. When he had messed up almost two years ago Drew had paid the price, but the fox had emerged alive from the experience. This time he and Addison might not be so lucky. He hoped there would be no hang-ups.

Rei was dressed to fight; his black bodysuit was on, customary for all his infiltration tactics. The black utility belt was strapped around his waist, lined with his various knives and tools he might need at a moment's notice. On his back was his nylon backpack full of the more bulky materials that they would be using if push came to shove. His mark, the head wrap he usually wore to keep his fur from falling off when he moved, was down around his neck and flapping loosely in the breeze. The form fitting sock that fit over his tail was nice and snug, making his tail look two sizes smaller than it would have had it been naked. To cap off the outfit, his black combat boots were tied securely around his ankles giving him extra leverage and another method to hide various gadgets.

Addison was dressed mostly the same from head to toe; the black bodysuit and boots, a much larger but equally form fitting backpack looped securely on his back by the belt and shoulder straps. His belt held some knives much like Rei's did, but Addison was packing some decent firepower. Rei had not missed the twin Desert Eagles on his belt accompanied by a number of loaded clips. There was also a shotgun slung over his shoulder, sawed off and very, very deadly.

The dog's backpack held the bulkier equipment, including a disassembled automatic rifle. Rei had watched the dog practice assembling it and had timed him at less than 10 seconds to complete it, load it, and shoot. Addison was as trained a killer as a Marine like Garrison and Harding, but Addison hailed his allegiance toward Mark and Mark alone.

There were a few wolves on the building with them, talking and listening to their more traditional ear pieces with microphones wrapping around their muzzles and toward their lips. They were the extraction team should something go wrong. There was a black helicopter idling on the helipad of the building they were standing on, the pilot looking a little bored at the moment as he surveyed the team outside.

The chopper was how they had managed to get to the roof and how they were going to leave. If things fell apart, there were two other teams stationed nearby to assist in their retrieval. Rei did not want to get stuck again with only one way out. He could have easily snuck out on his own and taken risks, but with Addison here as his back up he had to factor in the hulking strength and the lesser agility the man possessed.

Rei walked over to Addison. The dog was busy going over the blueprints on a laptop and tapping through the images. They had mapped the route out and the big male was committing them to memory. Mark had said if Rei went down Addison was to continue on if he could manage. Addison was preparing for the worse case scenario. Rei shook his head a bit, his tail flicking again in the wind as he touched the dog's shoulder.

Addison, whom Rei expected to jump from surprise, merely looked up to the 'coon and smiled. He wagged his tail, the fur flinging off the moisture that had gathered on it by being exposed to the weather. Instead of wearing a tail sheath like Rei, the dog had refused to wear his, saying that it felt too distracting. Addy motioned to the screen. "Just memorizing..."

"Are you nervous?" Rei asked, crouching down to look at the screen too. He had already committed the entry route to memory and where he assumed the cube could be. He was surprised Addison was studying this intensely before the big event, but then he probably didn't do things like this quite so often.

"A little," Addison admitted. He grinned then and just leaned back. He rubbed his long muzzle with his gloved hand and just licked his lips, wetting them with his saliva. "But I'll be okay. I won't let you down Mr. Con--I mean, Slave."

That made Rei's eyes widen. His hands curled at his sides then and shook his head. "I don't suppose I could get you to not obey that little order, hm?"

"No, sorry. He told me to call you that before the mission. In it I'm supposed to call you Tiberius." Addison said with a smile.

Rei sighed and shook his head. "Your master loves messing with my head." He stood up to his full height and flexed his jaw, the communicator buried in his ear canal came online with a whine.

"Clip!" Rei began, huffing with his arms crossed across his chest. "We need to have a little talk..."

"Yes Rei? How can I help you?" The sound of a rather amused fox came over the sound piece within the raccoon's ear. Mark was grinning as he paced along the computers in the control center room. Unlike when Rei and his friends had briefed him, there were far more people in the room now, most of them computer operators. Jeff had called in some of the scientists from below with extensive knowledge in computer science to help assist Drew. There were people in white lab coats walking around everywhere, carrying clipboards and scribbling data, running back and forth between terminals as necessary. They were exchanging codes and hacks, by Drew's commands and Jeff's instructions.

The remaining computers not occupied by people in those handsome white coats were manned by wolves who were experts in project coordination and team leaders that were employed within the fox's compound. While Rei was in command of the operation there were aspects of it not in his control, namely the extraction teams as well as getting all the different teams to work smoothly together. There were things that had to get done in the background that were to be transparent to Rei. The 'coon may have thought he could do this on his own or with his few friends, but with Addison on the line Mark deployed a generous amount of resources to minimize the chances that something went wrong.

"I hear Addison calling me by a nickname I don't like." Rei's voice echoed out in the room, most people ignored it but a few grinned.

"So?" Mark said, looking at a computer and hitting a few keys, playing busy even though he wasn't entirely needed for this. Jeff and Drew were keeping the timing down, he was here to lend a hand and potentially call shots outside of their control.

"So? I don't like it! Tell him to not call me that!"

"I'm sorry Rei-Rei, but I can't do that. Besides, I like him calling you a slave. It's cute." Again, the fox spoke with a feigned half interest. He looked to the clock above the monitor. "Are you two ready?"

"Why...Grr..." Rei huffed loudly and just shook his head, gritting his teeth at the situation. He was not a happy camper.

"We're ready to go father!" This time Addison's gentle voice echoed over the speakers throughout the room. Hearing Addison made Mark smile briefly.

"Good. Standby."

"Hold o--..." The line to the two of them on the roof went dead. Mark walked down the path toward the front row of computers where Drew and Jeff were seated, furiously going over maps and various other graphs. The main screen that had once displayed the physical aspect of the net was replaced with a 3D line image of the building they were about to infiltrate. The camera was rotating around the building, mostly focusing on the entry point which would be the roof.

To the side of the main monitor was actually a live image of the building itself. Mark had used one of the various satellites in orbit to display the building; since it had a powerful telescopic lens they were able to see the men standing on the roof top, and even made out Addison's wagging tail as he hefted a backpack onto his back, talking to Rei. That made Mark grin. For the moment he could still see his puppy and make sure he was going to be okay.

"Connect to team two, status report."

Across town, Ite and Garrison were wrapping up their first phase. They had broken into a power plant easily enough. Mark had been kind enough to have some of his wolves hack their database and get their ID's added into the security mainframe. They had managed to get a few uniforms and were able to stroll in with ease; Ite carrying several cases of items and Garrison with nothing. How the husky had managed to get the fox to carry all the stuff was beyond the two flanking wolves who just shook their heads.

When they neared the control room, Garrison kicked the door open, surprising the techs. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a rather mean looking Glock, aiming right at the guard. He fired. The bullet shot through the guard's shoulder. He squeezed the trigger again, sending the hammer back and firing another round at the guard. The bullet ripped right through his chest, sending him sprawling out. Ite slipped around and instead of shooting the final guard, he slammed his fist right into the base of the skull of the running tech, whirling on Garrison as the tech collapsed in a heap on the floor, "What the fuck are you shooting people for?! You could probably hear that outside the building."

"Fuck it." Garrison said as he put his gun away in his coat. "I didn't hit anything vital. 'Sides, your cousin's wolves here can get him patched up enough to live." He motioned to the two wolves who were standing behind him. The two, one female, the other male nodded rapidly and moved over to the bleeding guard. They began to work on him. Garrison had been right, the wounds didn't do much damage but the technician needed treatment or the man would bleed to death.

It made sense to Ite why Garrison had asked for a medic. The husky didn't seem to know non-lethal combat, or didn't like it. He was messy and understood why Rei didn't often bring Garrison along. The 'coon did not like death and murder and avoided it at all costs; Garrison seemed to push that line between being proper and civil and being bloody and barbaric. Ite sighed and began to take off the suit he had slipped into the power plant with, removing the layers and standing there now in his traditional Japanese black body armor.

He had worn this when they brought Harding in, and now he was wearing it again. The fox unclipped the case in his hands, removing from it his bow and quiver, slipping the compound bow over his shoulder with the quiver attached to his back. He buckled the katana onto his waist. Now, with shots fired, the stakes had been raised and he was not going to get caught in this mess without a way to defend himself. Ite was reminded why he hated guns.

Garrison had grabbed one of the cases and put it down on one of the banks of computers. He opened it up to reveal a laptop. It was then that he looked around the control room of the power plant. The walls were white all around with no windows. The only way out of here was the way they had come in. There were large monitors along the far wall with grid maps of the local area of the city. Green bars and cross hatches of light seemed to denote the area this power plant was servicing, and red seemed to be another plant farther away.

There were rows of computers and monitors lining the wall as well, displaying various graphs and data that weren't moving, showing that the plant was working at top efficiency. There were also panels of push button controls some of which were lit, various blinking lights and even a few levers. There were more buttons here than most people thought a plant would have. Still, there was hardly any need to turn a crank or push up a valve, everything was computerized. The system was not as complex as some of the nuclear plants, but still, if he messed up there would be a lot of problems.

The husky pulled out a cable and slipped it into a USB port on the front of one system display right as the laptop booted up. He grinned and cracked his knuckles. "All-fuckin' right, lets do this shit." And with that, his fingers flew over the keyboard, bringing up a command prompt and typing away. Ite had moved to stand behind the husky, idly massaging Garrison's tense muscular neck; the dog was so distracted by his work that he made an uncharacteristic murring sound. Ite grinned briefly and then looked down and watched the dog's fingers fly over the keys, typing away as lines of code were sent into the system.

From what Ite was told, Garrison was uploading up a time delayed virus into the power plant's mainframe. It would shut down and restart power to various grids while always keep the primary target building's power switched off. This would send the local authorities into a dizzying spin as no one police station would remain active for the entire duration of the system malfunction. Coordination would eventually happen through various means but not for a while. It would give Rei and Addison plenty of time.

It was about when Garrison was busy furiously typing something onto his keyboard when they got the call from Mark. Ite brought his hand to his ear and turned the receiver on. "Ite here."

"Status?" It was his cousin's voice on the other side.

"Garr? How we doing?" Ite asked as he leaned over the screen to look at the code being input.

"On fuckin' time, Clippo. System virus will begin operation at exactfuckingly 2230.45. The system will be goin' bonkers for about 43.54 minutes and then the restore program I loaded up will activate. More than enough time for my 'coony to get in, grab the goods, and get out. We're ready here."

"Good," Mark said into both their ears. "Maintain position and wait for command to vacate. Operation is about to begin."

Back across town, Rei's ear went live with a communication from Mark. "Rei-chan, your lover boy just reported in; we're good to go at exactly the mission start time. You ready over there?"

Rei stood up from his spot on the bench, pulling the rest of his black mask over his head, slipping the goggle visor over his eyes and the mouth piece over his muzzle, hiding his face entirely. He pulled the goggles that had been resting around his neck on, and clipped them into the battery pack slipped into the neck line of his bodysuit.

The goggles clicked home and a whirring sound as the power began to flow. The HUD illuminated, casting the world for a moment in various colors as the systems booted up; the computer was downloading information from Mark's satellite and beaming them right into his goggles and mobile computer. In a moment the grid display of the building blinked on, and his position, including Addison's, was two small blue blips hovering in mid air. The system wasn't animating the other building oddly.

The HUD display in his visor gave him a GPS display and a map layout of the building. Garr and Drew had managed to pin point the cube's location to within three floors. They knew where to go, sorta.

"Good," The raccoon said as he walked over to the edge of the building, flicking his tail as the wind whipped over his body. He didn't look down; he knew if he did he would end up with a bit of vertigo. He knew that as long as he did not look down he would be okay. He hoped Addison would be too.

Addison had seen the 'coon stand up and get ready so he did the same, pulling on his goggles and clicking them into the power supply. He also fitted over his muzzle the mask that would muffle all sound and still allow enough jaw movement to speak to Rei and anyone else talking to him. He noticed Rei putting on his own, clipping them to the brace he wore at the base of his neck. The clicks were sound and deep, showing that the connectors were all in place and everything would flow normally. He approached Rei from behind, pulling out the motorized grappler from his back pack and approached the launcher.

Rei had nodded to the wolves who pushed buttons, making the grappler launcher rise up on hydraulics, the head of the launcher glinting in the moonlight as it winked against the brushed steel. The wolves were busy checking the system as their own countdown meters neared zero. Finally, Rei put on his mask and turned on his microphone "Begin!"

At that very moment, downtown San Diego was plunged into darkness.

At that very moment someone stirred inside the building.

At that very moment a wolf hit a button on the control panel, firing the warhead. The missile shot across the gulf between the two buildings, soaring through the sky like a silver bullet. The metallic end smashed against the glassy wall of the target tower, pushing the glass in and shattering it, firing more until the warhead hit concrete. The hidden clamps along it's side shot forward and burrowed into the concrete and steel. It locked and began to reel back the steel cable protruding from its back, making it taut. There was a green light blinking in front of the panel the wolf who had hit the launcher control. The wolf gave a thumbs up to Rei, who quickly nodded.

The raccoon had a motorized grappler like Addison, who quickly locked the four wheels over the wire, squeezing the end closed so all four wheels hugged the wire tightly and then locked it in. This would be where Addison would shine or die. They were going across this wire without any harness and if Addison's grip wasn't strong, he would fall to his death. He hoped the dog knew what he was doing. Rei lept forward with the device in his hand, giving it a hard squeeze on the motor; the wheels roaring and pulling him along rapidly.

His eyes couldn't help but look down; seeing the blinking lights of cars below them plunged into the inky blackness. He felt his arm strain against the weight of his hanging body as he was picking up speed more and more speed, feeling his bicep and chest flex up more as he soared, having nothing keeping him from falling to his doom and surviving other than the grip he had on the grappler, which was making more noise than he wanted.

As he neared the building his fingers began to relax on the grip and the motor began to relax, the wheels spinning slower as he neared the lip of the broken window. Rei drew his knees closer to his body as he finally passed the threshold, and was inside the building.

He let go, rolling to the side quickly and letting the relaxing momentum of the wheeling grip just make him roll against the wall, his body stopping and laying there for a moment. Rei's eyes blinked behind his goggles as he realized he was quite alive and nothing wrong other than the pounding heart inside his chest. He licked his lips inside his mask as he quickly stood up then and turned, just in time to see Addison.

He saw Mark's favorite man sliding in just like he had done; his knees up against his chest and his strong hand gripping the grappler. When his body finally cleared the lip of the broken window he too let go. He hit the ground rolling, though instead of stopping against the wall like Rei had, Addison was letting his body roll more and more until he managed to flip right onto his feet. Rei caught the glinting of metal in his palm; somehow Addison had managed to draw his gun after such a feat. The dog was far better than he had given him credit for. Finally, they were both inside the huge building. One of Rei's hands went to his ear and then spoke up. "Mission control, we're inside."

"Stage Two: Clear," one of the wolves said in the control room. There was more commotion as the computers began to load new data and systems that had been idle had come to life after having been set to stage three. Stage one had been Garrison and Ite's job, and two had been incursion into the building. They were half done, and so far everything was in the clear.

The monitors began to blink and display new maps, schematics and grids that had been in the background or unused. The primary screen displayed the building in in a three dimensional representation small markers showing Rei and Addison now inside one of the top floors. There was an arrow superimposed on the map showing the best route to where they believed the cube was; a floor about five stories below them. They hadn't entered on that floor since whomever had stolen it were probably expecting someone to come in from the direct floor or below. If they entered from a higher level they stood a better chance of getting what they needed via the roof or a floor below.

Mark exhaled. He had worried about his pup sliding down that death wire. They still had to leave the building and the most direct method would be to rev those grappler things that silly coon had built and ride them across the nearly perfect line back to their landing point. They had two other methods of getting Rei and Addison out of there but they were backup contingencies.

Mark wished now, above all else, he was with Addison. He had never once sent his boy out into a mission like this and regretted giving in to Rei's demands. He just grunted a bit and swallowed hard as he just prayed that Addison came out all right. If he got his Addy back in one piece he would make the dog's life the best in the world, if he was just okay.

"Rei, be careful now."

Rei allowed a few moments to calm down before continuing, checking with Addison. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Addison said, holding up a finger with his thumb up in the air, a smile on his face as he flicked his tail with excitement. Of course no one else saw the smile but he seemed to be enjoying himself. The dog was fine, even if his arm was a little sore from hanging like that. He thought the raccoon could think of some other way to slide across buildings and across the air like that. But he was not going to quibble over little issues. "You?"

"I'll be fine. Just don't get hurt so Clip won't hurt me when we get this done."

"Roger that."

The interior of the room they were in was quite large to say the least. They must've swung right into the maintenance level of the building, nothing was used in the second to most top floor. Rei looked around the darkened rooms and saw stacks of tables, chairs, various pieces of office equipment and that were obviously disused for some time.

He looked to his left and saw boxes of computer monitors and boxes of ink and toner. Yes, this floor was used by the whole building to store their equipment. Wonderful, no one would come around and bother them on this floor; he figured it was like other office buildings which rose this high into the sky; they were just entered rarely and mostly by maintenance personnel, most of which were probably gone for the night.

"Turn on your video feed, Addy." It was Jeff then, his soft voice dancing down the ear canals of everyone listening in. Rei did not miss the immediate calming sensation of the otter's voice. For some reason when Jeff spoke, the raccoon became very relaxed. Both males smiled, but it was Addison who reached up and touched the side of his goggles, pushing a button hidden on the side. With a small whine a lens opened up. There was a green indicator blinking inside the goggles, revealing to the wearer that he was transmitting to someone.

Somewhere in Washington State, a third large monitor winked to life. The screen was displaying exactly what Addison was seeing in various light spectrums. There were small visuals of the main image displaying what Addison was seeing in normal, night, infrared vision. The small screens were not much to go on from the large main displays so three wolves sitting behind Jeff and Drew were on duty to watch the different viewing material for newer insights, incase the two interlopers missed something themselves.

Rei moved along the corridor, noticing there was hardly any activity on it. He had checked for signs of people but found that this floor had probably not been accessed for a very long time. There was dust clinging to the floor, along the walls, and the shelves of various items and equipment that seemed nearly decades old. Whatever this floor was it was hardly a place of storage, it was a crypt where unwanted items were buried and forgotten. To the raccoon it struck him as something of a time capsule, and figured he and Addison were the first living things to enter it in quite a long time.

Rei moved to the stairs and pushed two fingers against the doorframe. That changed a lot of electronics within the raccoon's suit. One, it killed all communication within his ears. Second it changed the HUD display to a audio analyzing pattern, displaying the various wave lengths of information that rolled down and across the screen, listening to every vibration. The technology was absurdly sensitive and Rei had needed to fine tune it several times before he felt safe using it.

He was listening to the amplified sounds of the metallic hallway, listening for not only steps moving up and down but hands holding onto the steel bar that functioned as the hand rail, the shallow breathing of a person and the subtle heart beat. The system was that sensitive, but thankfully the computers would only process noise against a metallic object. If Addison yelled right now Rei would only hear a muffled cry. Rei did not want to spend his life deaf.

The screen in front of his emerald eyes displayed no vibrations whatsoever. This made the raccoon cautious. Usually there were at least some people in an office building no matter what the hour was. Also, the power was out. With the power out the stairs were the only way down but even Rei's sensitive equipment was not picking up on any kind of vibration from the metallic elements on the other side of the door. And patrolling security should be using the staircase occasionally to check the various floors. Something or someone was making this too easy, and Rei did not like that.

The moment he pulled his fingers back all the regular systems clicked back on. Rei moved a hand to his ear and spoke into the microphone in his mouth piece. "Home base, come in."

"We read you," came a voice over the comm line. It was one of the wolves Mark was using to work mission control, monitoring everything. Mark must've been doing something or the fox would have probably picked up on his own.

"Put Clip on." There was silence for the longest moment, and a few clicks.

"What's up, Rei?" Mark said, not sure why Rei was contacting their base during this time. There wasn't a planned check in and they could see out of Addison's vid cam quite easily.

"There's something wrong." Rei left the words hang for a moment and then moved one of his fingers to a hidden switch along his goggles. Giving the button a gentle squeeze it activated the upload link in his own goggles. Instead of feeding base the video of his own vision, he was uploading his sensor data.

Back in Washington, the fox would see the screen display Rei's audio scanners, diagnostics, etc. He watched the time index play out and watch as the line oscillated infrequently. This got Drew and Jeff to look up from their computers. As the time index ran its course and the screen blinked black, Rei spot up. "Did you see what?"

"Am I missing something?" Mark asked.

"There's no one in the fire escape stair well," Jeff said as he began to type something into the computer. "When the power dies some people will leave the building, at least initially. There's no one using the fire escape to get free of a potential risk. There's always someone who wants out. And security will usually go check the different floors to make sure everyone who is there isn't hurt. Not to mention maintenance crews going below to make sure the outage isn't a set of tripped breakers."

"Drew, access one of the imaging satellites. Aim it to the surface at the ground level of the building, enhance with night vision scope and enlarge to maximum magnification. Jeff, use what you can and access the police files of the traffic cams along those streets surrounding the building; they run on an independent power source and will hopefully display something relevant. Use a secondary network access line if you can to get to it and we'll see what we can get." Mark barked out commands like a pro, and of course the people who had been issued the commands responded in stride.

The fox huffed then and moved his hand up to rub his temple. "Rei-chan," The fox began and looked up to the large displays in front of him. "Proceed with caution. We're going over information and digital scans to see if anyone has left the building since the power was cut. Proceed on the assumption that this is a trap."

"Roger," Rei said and stood up, opening the door with the twist of the handle. "Door isn't locked."

"Fuck," Mark said, crossing his arms now across his chest. He growled in annoyance and worry. Things were turning sour by the moment and he wasn't sure how he was going handle it if shit hit the fan too quickly. "Addison, be on guard. No slip ups, pup."

"Yes Sir, dad!" Addison's voice echoed through everyone's headset.

Rei and Addison moved down into the stairwell of the building, plunged into an almost complete dark pit. Garrison had killed the emergency generators in the area so not even the backup systems were operational. The only light came from failing battery powered emergency lights mounted on the walls here and there, leaving two males, even with night vision eye sight and goggles, groping for the walls in places. Rei was now going to rely solely on Mark and the others back in Washington for assistance, who were monitoring them via satellite and Addison's scope.

While the command center back at home couldn't really see anything either, they did have access to more maps and information, along with a GPS display system that would link them to position within a foot of where they were actually standing. The problem was that as they climbed lower on the stairs the less comfortable both of them would become. It was natural instinct to fear the darkness, being cut off from ones primary sense of direction and stability was nerve racking to say the very least.

By the time the commands came into Rei's ear to grope for the door and slip in, he sighed. He was sure something stupid was going to happen when they opened that door, but being in the darkness too long could be equally as dangerous. With zero lighting night vision and scopes wouldn't be of any asset, so they would have to go in. Rei looked to the area where he was sure the big dog was, and spoke into his comm. "Going in."

Rei listened and heard the distinct sound of Addison sliding a gun out of his belt holster and clicking off the safety switch that protected the both of them from a misfire. The two males were potentially in a lot of mess now; especially if they had to shoot. Rei knew Addison was a quick draw and had one hell of an accurate shot. They had agreed before even beginning the mission that one would go in low, and the other high. Addison, the kind hearted man that he was, had decided to go in high and spare Rei the potential bullet to the chest or head. Rei had to remember to buy Addison a present when this was all over.

When Rei tried the door he found it unlocked. The raccoon was not a happy camper; the fact that two doors now were unlocked said to him they were being expected. He could have just stumbled into the easiest heist of his career but he didn't want to think that the people who had managed to infiltrate an organization like Mark's were stupid enough to leave doors unlocked. The raccoon sighed and reached down to his belt, drawing three knives from it, one of them containing the chemical filled hilt.

He took a deep breath and pushed the door open quickly, dropping to one knee as he brought the hand with the knives at the ready, ready to throw. When he crouched down he had light coming from windows along a corridor, but also saw something hanging from the ceiling. A red dot of laser light quickly trailed across the wall towards them.

"FUCK!"

Addison seemed to know exactly what to do, bringing his gun up and squeezing at the right moment. They had both been aware of what was hanging from the ceiling was not just a camera, but a machine gun attached to an optical sensor. The moment the door had swung open it had moved, the chamber clicking open and fired. Addison's gun had gone off a split second sooner than the device had reacted and thankfully caused it only to get off a shot from the machine, the bullet shooting down and hitting the metallic hinge the door was on.

Addison's shot was far more accurate; the bullet was loud and powerful as it cut through the air, making even Rei's muffled ears ring with pain as the bullet left the chamber, soaring to the device. The heavy round exploded right into the machine gun, sending it flying off its hinges, finally crashing down to the lightly carpeted floor with a clink and a clank.

"Rei! Addison!" The voices in their ears were screaming, talking. Mark was the loudest of all. "Report!"

"We're fine, Master." Addison said, turning his helmet so he could show the group of people the damage done to the hinge of the door, his hand moving to touch it. "The machine wasn't done attenuating."

"Ugh... Addy, you shouldn't be in there."

"But..." Addison began.

"Clip," Rei said with a growl as he stood up and flicked his tail harshly, sending a growl over the microphone. "I'm still risking my life and my friends are, too! You pull Addison out now then I'm out, too!" Rei was not going to let Mark baby his dog because he was squeamish.

"Fuck you, Rei." Mark growled. There was a long stretch of silence, the only sound was that of the fox's breathing. He finally spoke, "Proceed."

The two men nodded, Addison quickly slipping another bullet he had pulled from a pouch attached to his belt into the clip. He wanted to have a full clip in all his guns. When the bullet was put into place he slapped in the clip and then pulled the hammer back, capping off the chamber. He had pulled out his other gun at that moment, now holding the twin Desert Eagles in his hands.

Rei had put back onto his belt the exploding knife and merely held one now. He did not want to throw one of the exploding knives by mistake, so he continued holding only the non explosive blades.

The corridor ahead was bare, save for the long hallway and the debris on the floor. There were windows along the wall that displayed the San Diego skyline, revealing a set of buildings topped with what looked like green neon "lily pads" nearby giving the view a reflecting pool effect on the water behind the building. Rei paused briefly to admire it but shook his head and decided to continue on, his tail flicking about behind him as he moved, trying not to stare at the amazing neon show.

Rei was a sucker for city skylines, growing up in New York did that to you; you either ended up loving the glowing lights blazing around you or you ended up hating them to the point where you would flee and hide in some cottage like home deep into the country where the air was clearer, the grass was plentiful and there was only one taxi.

At the far end of the hallway was an open door, revealing nothing the eye could see. Rei crouched down, holding his right hand to the side to stop Addison from advancing as his other hand quickly moved up to the controls on the side of his goggles, pushing a trigger to activate the zoom lens controls, moving the display forward until the visual was there; he could see into the room as best he could, but he didn't really see anything of consequence.

The zoom display could only look beyond the doorway and nothing to the left or right could be seen, hidden behind the walls. Rei reached into his pack then and pulled out a small ball about an inch across. He squeezed it then and felt it vibrate in his hand, grinning.

"Base control, be ready to recieve 'coon signal 2-6. Engaging." Rei said into the comm as he threw the ball forward hard. The ball was too small to see from very far away, but Rei knew it was on course. It landed in the far room and bounced, the metallic ball instantly breaking into four pieces, its micro-hydraulics shooting to four corners of the room. It wasn't perfectly in each corner of the room but enough that it would provide enough visual records of the rooms interior that Rei could advance without risking another bullet wound.

There were no bullets fired, making Rei relax. The HUD display in his goggles blinked and pulled up small screens of the room ahead from the four different angles the ball had bounced and exploded into, displaying images of the interior that Rei could see with his zoom lenses. The room was bare inside, save for a desk. The desk was long and thick, with two computers on it; various data running across their screens.

On the middle of the desk was a Plexiglas box, approximately a foot high and wide, and very transparent. There were gasps over the comm line when they saw their target. Their prize. Their cube. It was sitting right inside the Plexiglas box, attached to a metallic control unit at the base of the cube which was linked to the two computers. Rei did not gasp, though Addison was grinning ear to ear, at least he thought he was.

"DAD!" Addison shouted, making Rei's ears wince a bit. "We found it, we found it!"

"This is too easy," Rei said into his mouth piece. There it was, the visual confirmation of their target and not a single guard, not a single technician. Hell, the only problem they had been faced with was a machine gun that had been taken out by a single round. Something was not adding up here.

"Proceed with caution," Mark said.

Back in Washington, Mark motioned his hand to silence the lines to Addison and Rei then, moving to the computers Drew and Jeff were seated in front of, moving to hit a few keys, opening up the comm line himself. "Attention all personnel, target has been confirmed, move to phase three. Extraction teams on full alert. Team two, status."

Over the intricate sound system of the long room, a voice came on. It was Ite. "No problems so far, cousin. There's been some security rounds but we've managed to convince them we're still the main operators by submitting the fake codes Drew managed to get."

"Wonderful. Garrison?"

"Shouldn't you be watching my fuckin' boyfriend? I'm fine here, man. Just gotta stay one step ahead of their failsafes and emergency backups. Jus' get Rei out alive if he needs it."

Mark had an epiphany at that moment. He realized if he made left Rei out to dry to save Addison, he'd be losing people he came to care for. Good friends were hard to come by and suddenly Rei's wellbeing took on a new light for the fox.

"Fuck," Mark said, moving away from the computers.

"What's wrong?" Jeff asked, turning in his seat to smile to the perplexed looking vulpine.

"I just thought about Garrison is all. And Rei. If Rei gets hurt on this, I'll be beating myself up for it for the rest of my life. Losing Addy would be devastating. Losing them both, I'm not sure what I'd do. And I'm not sure what Garrison would do, either."

Jeff quirked a brow and smiled, shaking his head a bit. "Love, if you try your best and don't favor one over the other, no one will blame you. If you don't leave an asset out to save another you'll be fine."

The suddenly emotional vulpine nodded a bit as he stared down to the carpet, his hands gripping the banister behind him, thinking more intently about the situation in front of him. What would he do if he had to choose between a friend and someone he considered his son? After a moment of just staring down at his feet he smiled, lifting his head up a bit and smiling to Jeff, his demeanor calm once again. "All right. Lets do this."

"With pleasure," Jeff said and turned back to his computer.

Rei was not ready for this. He was sure this was a trap. He looked around the room the moment he had cleared the door frame and saw nothing. The room was expansive; obviously designed to have cubicles inside, to host a maze of paper pushers. The carpet was a short Berber, the kind that barely lined the floor and speckled with various colors to give the occupants some visual interest and the office space a less sterile feel.

The far back wall was lined with windows, displaying the skyscape and the water behind the buildings. The room was devoid of anything save for the two doors on both ends of the large room and the desk in the very middle. The computers were making a slight humming sound as the machines processed data.

Addison was more than eager to move forward, grab the cube and be gone. This was one of the reasons he wished Addison were more cautious and less prone to boyish excitement. The signs were there, there was a big risk in just smashing open the box, grabbing the cube and running out of there like some idiot. Thankfully, Addison was not jumping the gun and was waiting for instructions. Rei also noticed that the big dog was also carrying his guns in his hands, held secure and ready. Maybe he had misjudged the dog a bit.

Rei began to move forward, looking every which way and having his goggles send the live feed back to their HQ. He wasn't going to make a mistake this close, but every instinct in him told him not to even come near the desk. He took a deep breath by the time he was standing in front of it, looking down at the object that had brought him into the Mark's employment, the gleaming metallic cube lodged into the reader. The displays blinking as they worked to crack the encryption sequence. Rei sighed as he reached into his pack, pulling out a small palm device he would use. That was, until the lights turned on.

"I wouldn't touch that, mon ami," a voice said from the left.

Addison turned quickly, his guns aimed at the doorway. Rei had dropped the scanning device and drew three blades without even thinking, holding them at the ready. Rei's body had shifted so he could throw the knives with more force, extending the arm and even dropping to a knee for a lower angle. Addison loved taking the high points, but if his bullet missed a knife to a knee cap usually stopped someone from running.

Standing there in the left doorway was someone Rei hadn't seen in a long time. The man was a lupine, standing short for a wolf, nearly 5'8" and very slender. The wolf's body was a mix of dark silvers, metallic blues and white splashed across his face, trailing down along his neck. The only blemish on his face was an image over his left eye, a black symbol, which resembled the Clubs suit from a deck of cards.

The wolf was dressed in boots, black khakis, as well as a tight fitting white shirt against his torso. His body was covered in an elaborate trench coat around his shoulders and arms, black mostly with a yellowish seal running down along the back, crossing near where it would cover the tail by another yellow mark. It almost seemed to be an upside down cross, but not quite; the image was far more intricate and detailed. When Rei gasped, all hell broke loose.

"Who the fuck is that?!" Someone said in Washington. Mark's computers had already taken a zoomed in snap shot of the lupine's face and imposed it into another computer. They were running it through various databases, trying to match a name to the face. Nothing had returned, yet.

"Any idea who that is, Drew?" Mark asked, moving quickly up behind the otter and fennec, gripping the backs of their chairs firmly in his hands.

"No one I've seen before." Drew said, now worried more than ever. If they had been expecting Rei there, had they been expected Ite and Garrison back in the power plant? He prayed not.

"Send this image to Garrison right away. See if he can identify!" Mark shouted into the comm.

Garrison was bored. So ungodly bored. When his cell phone began to vibrate and someone started shouting in his ear piece, he was no longer bored. He pulled the phone out and hit the OK button, watching as an image was being downloaded to it's flash drive. He pushed against his ear piece and spoke into the mouth piece. "What the hell is going on?!"

Ite, curious to why Garrison had his phone out had moved behind the husky to look down at the image being sent to it. They could both hear the fox now over their comm lines. "We have a problem, someone else is in the building and Rei isn't responding to questions. Do you know this man, Garrison?"

Garrison hit the button again to look at his text messages. He clicked on the newest one and brought up the image to full screen. When he saw who it was he quickly stood up, dumping the various computer components out of his lap onto the floor loudly. "GET THEM OUT OF THERE NOW!"

"It's been awhile, Rei." The wolf said, smiling as he played with something in his hands. Upon further inspection it was revealed that the wolf was playing with a deck of cards. Shuffling them, cutting them, and reshuffling them with a twist of his wrist and a flick of his hand... The way he moved the cards was mesmerizing as they became more randomized than ever. The wolf stopped his shuffling and stepped further inside the room, his billowing coat behind him fluttering as he walked, looking to the raccoon with the knives and the dog with the guns.

"Ah, Ah, Ah." he said, as he waggled a finger at the dog. He pulled the top card from the deck. It was the Ace of Clubs. He looked to Addison then and smiled gently. "Your guns are more dangerous to you than they are to me." I would put them up so you don't cause damage to us and our mutual friend here."

"What do you mean?" Addison asked, his guns still aimed at the wolf who was shuffling cards now, sans the Ace of Clubs. He had slipped that card into a pocket on his coat, and now just watched as the cards continued to be randomized.

"I mean," The wolf began with a laugh, stopping his shuffling. "That I have rigged this room with sensors designed to trigger wired explosives on every floor to detonate if a gun shot is fired from a high caliber weapon. That means if you should shoot me, you have about 2 seconds to clear the building before you go up in flames and rubble."

"You're lying," Rei said, growling deeply as his tail flicked in agitation.

"Oh Rei, you know I don't lie. No Knight lies. Your exploding weapons and blades are equally as risky, too. I suggest you holster your weapons and we talk about this like men, not barbarians." The wolf said with a coy tone in his voice, and a grin on his face much like that of a teenager who had managed to get one up on his parent.

"Garrison, who the fuck is he?" Mark asked, the database ended up coming up blank with information. Whoever this wolf was, he was not in their records.

The husky was closing up shop, closing the laptops and cases, shoving them quickly into the bags they had brought and then zipped up the backpack, slipping it onto his shoulders as he went to the rest of the equipment and began to do the same. He seemed to be moving hurriedly, as if he was sure someone would shoot him in the back of his head if he did not manage to pull this off in time. "His name is Jack."

There was silence, and then with a mild tone of annoyance in his voice, Mark spoke up again. "Who is Jack?" Garrison could hear the fox's muffled voice tell someone to have that information added to their database.

Garrison tossed one of the bags to the red fox standing near him, noticing Ite was just being quiet and complacent. That was good, if Ite fucked around Garrison would just leave him in the dust for the rest of the trip back. He didn't need some whiner who didn't know what the hell he was doing. "He's an Order Knight. One of only 9, now 8 people."

"Order Knight...?" Jeff asked.

"Remember Duncan? The prime assassin Rei killed?" said through rushed breath. The husky sounded like he was running. Jeff typed in a few commands into the computer to pull up the GPS display locked on Ite and Garrison and indeed it showed that the two were hurriedly moving through the power plant toward the exit.

"Yeah," Mark added, still sounding annoyed. While Garrison beat around the bush Addison was an inch closer to death.

"This is another pro-assassin. This fucker is almost as good as Duncan. They each use a different method and theatrics to do their thing. Rei said Duncan was their top Knight, and if he ever saw a Knight to run like a bat outta hell. They're scary, good at killing and Rei showed me a few of their pictures. That's Jack. Jack loves games, but he's a long distance fighter. He's very dangerous. We need Rei and Addison outta there, now!"

Rei was worried. He had heard of the Knights directly from Duncan. They were stationed in Europe, mostly in England. They had been a group since before the black plague, used to wipe out corrupt officials and evil people. Of course over the time and ages it had changed to become more of a private squad of men and women who would kill under contract, but they rarely functioned for their own purposes and tried to see the big picture.

When Duncan left and began to train him, that had been odd for a Knight. They didn't let themselves be known easily and the fact that Rei had been trained personally by one without direct permission from the other members had landed Duncan in more hot water than he had ever truly let on.

He had seen Jack twice, once on a visit to the apartment where they talked as old friends. The other, not long before Duncan vanished, Jack had come with a threat. Stop what he was doing or die for the order. With Duncan dead, why was Jack here?

"What's going on, Jack?"

"Don't you know?" The wolf posed, strolling in front of the raccoon then. He smiled and flicked his tail a bit, putting a hand behind his head. "The rules are simple; the man or woman to kill an old member of the Knights is given a position within the Knighthood. You killed Duncan Dashford; and now you are the new Knight."

"But I don't want to--"

"SILENCE!" Jack shouted, his growl echoing in the long room. "No one turns down an offer to join the Order. You are very much one of us, Rei. You will come with me." Jack said, and put the cards he had been shuffling back in his pocket.

"Addison," Mark said, using only Addison's transmitter frequency. "Stop this idiot."

The dog did not give his usual agreements and watched, waited. He put his guns back onto his belt and just crossed his arms, observing his mannerisms and actions. When he was sure Jack was too engrossed in what was happened with Rei, he launched forward. The dog brought a swift, hard kick to the wolf's torso, sending Jack flying back six feet, knocking the wind from the wolf. Rei gasped.

"Addison, no!" Rei said, trying to move between them.

"Orders are Orders, Tiberius." Addison merely stated the obvious as he moved toward the wolf.

Jack was on his feet but holding his chest. He rubbed the sore spot and huffed as he tried to catch his breath. "I thought the stupid mutt was too slow to be of any consequence. I guess I was wrong," Jack reached into his pocket and drew out four cards, which did not resemble any other kind of playing card he'd been using. But, before he could even do anything, Addison was on him.

Addison delivered a powerful punch to the wolf's face, sending the wolf reeling to the side. Before Jack could even recover, Addison had advanced quickly, bringing his other fist around for a devastating left hook, plowing into his cheek as hard as he could, sending Jack jarring to the side. Addison landed a series of blows on the dazed wolf, and as Addison was preparing to deliver a another sickening hit, Jack snapped out of it. The wolf dropped the playing cards and reached into his pockets, drawing out two knives. They were like Rei's, thin and made for throwing, but they would work well enough.

"He has potential, but alas... My turn..." Jack said to Addison as he spit out a loose tooth and wiped a small trickle of blood from his muzzle with the back of a hand.

He swung his arms towards the dog, who managed to dodge. A slice along the torso and Addison adjusted himself at the last moment, feeling the blade pass along his belly just barely missing his skin. When Addison punched at the wolf again, Jack leaned to the side at the last moment. Finally, Jack was picking up speed. As Addison jabbed, Jack dodged. Left, right, left, right, Jack weaved to the side. Addison's attempt to sweep the wolf's legs was leapt over, and when Addison tried to knee him in the groin as a last ditch effort, Jack's hands were there on his knee, pushing upwards with the momentum and flipping backwards.

His foot launched out and slammed right into Addison's chin as Jack was still airborne. As Addison flew backwards Jack flicked his wrist, sending not knives but cards at Addison. They were not made of paper but hardened metal with sharpened sides. Rei had seen them before. Addison took one in the arm, the metal slicing along his left bicep; a painful scream issuing from the dog.

The other card cut right through Addison's side like a hot knife through butter, the left side the dog's torso providing little resistance to the thrown projectile. It shot out through the back of the dog's trunk, sending a splatter of blood flying behind the throwing card which stuck into the floor.

Rei saw the blood and twisted, throwing two knives without hesitation. The blades flew through the air towards the wolf, but were instantly intercepted by two more throwing cards. The sound of metal clinking together was heard as the four pieces of metal fell to the ground with a clatter. Rei growled, Jack smirked.

"That was interesting. I don't usually let people get that close. The knives provided enough distraction for him to try and keep his distance from me." Jack said with a coy grin, stepping forward.

Addison was on his side, holding the wound there, gripping it tightly as blood trickled down past his fingers. He was in a lot of pain. Rei crouched down near Addison and whispered, "Hang in there, big guy..." as he unslung his pack and pulled out a first aid kit. He passed it to Addison in time to stand up the moment he saw Jack approach him.

"You didn't need to throw your knives!" Rei said, growling loudly as he reached for two more. Before he could even get them off his belt Jack held another of his throwing cards against Rei's throat, the blade pressing harshly against his fur. Rei froze.

"Oh, but he's expendable, Rei. They all are." Jack said as he moved behind him, whispering into the 'coons rounded ear. "No one will save you. Clip, Jeff, Garrison... the others; they will stand before the Knights and fall, until you are once again alone."

A momentary expression of shock crossed the raccoon's face as he heard the names of his loved ones mentioned. "How do you know about them...?" the raccoon trailed off before recovering his senses.

The wolf noticed the brief flash of emotion and smirked, ignoring the thief's question, "You belong with us, Rei."

"Like hell I do!" Rei shook his head growled, standing perfectly still. "I don't want to kill for some fucked up code of honor. I just want me and mine to be left alone, in peace!"

"Peace is maintained by the Order, Rei." Jack said. "But, if you insist on not joining us..."

So this was it. This was how he was going to die. By some young pup who just got lucky. What the hell.

Suffering would end for him...

He could rest...

What the fuck...?

Snap out of it Rei!

I don't want to...

You have to!

Why?

People will miss you.

People...?

People like me. People like Garrison and the others.

Who are you...?

You know who I am.

Do I?

Fight on!

Don't let them fuckin' get ya, Rei!

Don't give up!

We believe in you!

Don't let me die, Rei!

Rei's eyes opened. He grinned. He could still feel the metal against his throat, the heat of Jack's breath against the back of his neck. He laughed softly.

"What's so funny?" Jack asked into Rei's ear.

"You forgot one thing, Jack." The raccoon relaxed, closing his eyes as he just let his hands rest as his sides. His breathing relaxed as he knew it was going to work out. Things were going to be okay.

"Oh? What did I forget?" Jack asked, flicking his card even more firmly against Rei's throat, holding the metal securely between his fingers as he readied himself to cut the throat easily. He was ready to spill the raccoon's blood and send it spraying everywhere.

"You forgot I am not a Knight. You forgot I don't follow your mandate, your so called 'code of honor'. I do not fight alone."

"What...?" Jack's eyes flicked up and then looked to the glass in front of them. At that moment the glass fractured, a web of cracks spreading across its surface. Another impact splintered the window further, the surface coating sagging a bit under it's own weight. A third impact and the glass shattered, sending the small bits of the ruined substance showering in on the occupants as the room was now plunged into the cold night air. Rei smiled as Jack was then clipped with a bullet aimed at him from afar, knocking him off his balance.

Rei whipped around and then pulled out one of his knives, twirling it about in his hand as he slammed it down hard into Jack's hand, pinning it and the knife to the floor. He put his foot on the wolf's forearm as he growled, glaring down at him. His tail flicked about rapidly as the wind rippled around him.

There was the sound of a helicopter floating around them. The second chopper was hovering a good distance away from the side of the building. Rei saw another wolf leap off the chopper and kneel on the floor, a gun drawn. He turned his head. "Don't fire!"

The wolf nodded, but kept his gun out. He moved over to the bleeding Addison, who was curled up on his side, holding the wound that continued to bleed profusely. Rei saw another wolf try to touch the box, and he shook his head. He looked down to Jack then and growled. "What's the combination?"

"I don't know..." Jack said, looking away as he tried to squirm.

Rei moved his other foot to rest against the top of the blade that had pinned the assassin's hand to the floor. He pushed down on it, twisting his foot to the left and right, making the blade grind down into the flesh. Rei heard bones snap. He also heard a wolf howl in pain.

"The code!" Rei growled, continuing to twist his foot left and right, making the blade crunch against the bones and sinew inside that delicate hand. If Jack was lucky he would get mobility black. If not...

"7882!" Jack yowled.

One of the wolves punched in the combination. The Plexiglas lid slid upwards, revealing the data cube. The man who had opened the box reached in and pulled out the cube, lifting it into his hand. Rei looked over to see them loading Addison into the chopper. He turned to look at Jack and picked up Addison's dropped gun. He clicked the hammer back. Rei moved to the edge of the buildings lip, and leapt. He landed in a crouch on the chopper. He turned to Jack, who had sat up and pulled the blade out of his damaged hand, the glowing eyes of an angry wolf locked onto the raccoon.

Rei shouted out, "If you make it out in one piece, tell them to never come near me or my friends again, or I really will show you how I killed Duncan!" He fired the gun then. It was close enough that the shot would set off the sensors. Rei shoved his foot to the side, making the pilot push up against the throttle and send the helicopter soaring away from the side of the building just in time. An orange explosion of fire and glass burst outward from the floor that they had been on, explosions following suit as floor after floor erupted into a shower of glass and sparkles, shrapnel and bits of office showered the street below as the building exploded, fire shooting high into the night sky, smoke billowing upwards and being illuminated by the burning fire within.

Rei stood at the window, looking out as the building continued to burn and erupt, and he sighed. Was Jack dead? Was it over? What was going to happen now?

Two weeks later and Mark was finally speaking to Rei again. The fox had been very upset that Addison had been wounded in action, but Rei had kept his word; Addison got out alive and with no permanent injuries. Modern medicine with a twist of Mark's experimental technology would insure Addison wouldn't have a scar. He would be fine in no time. Addison was a little disappointed that he wouldn't have any "cool battle scars" to show off, but the fox had appeased his pup by having some photos taken of his wounds for posterity's sake.

They were all seated around Mark's pool, enjoying one of the last days of summer. Mark and Jeff were sitting next to each other, the fox in a pair of green trunks with a drink in his hand. Jeff was dressed rather cutely, at least in his mate's eyes.

The otter had decided to wear his blue speedo, but for some reason he kept his white lab coat over his shoulders, hiding his slender body as he worked on some blueprints in his hands on a note pad. The otter had designed a new failsafe for the data storage devices they had and was testing it out on paper before he pushed it into development.

Addison was even there, the first day out of the medical bay deep under ground. He wasn't allowed to swim, much to his disappointment, but he was allowed to sit at the edge of the pool in a pair of trunks and let his feet get wet. He was eagerly watching the game of water volley ball between Rei, Garrison, Ite and Drew. They had made Addison their official score keeper and right now the 'Coons were beating the 'Foxes by two points.

Rei leapt up and spiked the ball, sending the white volley ball splashing into the water right in front of Ite, making them all laugh when the red fox got a face full of water. Addison clapped and cheered. He seemed to be rooting for Rei. Ever since the mission the two of them had become pretty good friends and Rei was planning to teach him a thing or two about stealth and hand to hand fighting skills. Something he couldn't learn anywhere else.

Jeff looked up and smiled at the group of people in their pool enjoying themselves, seeing Addison so worked up over the game. With everyone thoroughly enjoying themselves, it was easy to forget for the time being, the events of a few weeks past. He sighed and put his pen down, looking to his mate. He pondered a moment and put his hand forward to rest on Mark's knee. "So, what do you think about all this Knight business?"

"I think," the vulpine began, sipping his drink and flicking his tail, "that Rei is going to need our help a lot more than we needed his. When we examined the cube we found the data hadn't even been tampered with, they did it to lure Rei there. It was smart. I didn't think anyone would know enough about us to include us in such a plot."

"It's scary. But Rei has come through for you again. It's nice that you offered to let them stay with us until this settles down." Jeff said with a warm smile. His thick rudder like tail swishing a bit behind him as he leaned back and slid his arms out of the coat, stretching his arms into the air and sighing quietly. He was relaxed, and handsome. Mark did not hide his gaze as it wandered over the otter.

"MARK! JEFF!" Ite shouted, waving his hands in the air. "Come join us!"

Jeff smiled, standing up and putting a hand on his hip as he watched his fox stand up. "Let's go play with your assets."

"No, not my assets. My friends."

The end...of Foxes and Plots!

Stay tuned for Wolves and Woes, coming soon!