FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The Ringtailed Target By sam-gwosdz, vivavulpes and coyote42 - Uptown Colmaton, 11:05 P. M. August 18 - "Six," War Wolf said, counting the number of luminescent red thermal signatures in the antique store across the street. "She's upping her numbers." Spectra, leaning forward with one foot up on the brick roof edge, scoffed. "Violetta's gonna have to do better than that. Should we teach her another lesson?" The wolfess didn't answer immediately. There was no rush; the thugs were unaware of the silent alarm they'd set off and packed enough hardware to make anyone confident. War Wolf counted three with their hands positioned in such a way that suggested they were holding rifles or shotguns. The other three kept their right arms loose at their sides, no doubt clutching handguns or sawed-offs. She watched their movements, made note of any twitchy tendencies, planned her and Spectra's imminent incursion. They weren't as jumpy as the last band of flunkies Violetta hired to steal a mirror. Apparently, the murderous lynx was shelling out for a higher class of mercenary. 'Good,'War Wolf thought. That meant she was getting desperate for mirrors. Spectra rolled up her glove and checked her watch. "Five minutes 'til average police response time passes." War Wolf nodded, folding up her thermal binoculars and exchanging them for her grapple gun. "We'll zip-line in through the windows. You take left, I'll go right. Work back and pincer the one in the rear of the store. No hostages, so keep focused on takedowns." "Got it, boss." War Wolf took careful aim and fired her grapple across the street, waiting for the solid thunk of a hit. She tugged on the line to ensure it was secure and tied her end around the steel pole of the power box near them. After glancing back to ensure Spectra was ready, War Wolf strode forward and leapt off the roof, crossing her bracers over the grapple line. With the wind billowing her cape and rushing in her ears, she soared across toward the antique store, knowing her partner was riding right behind her. At just the right moment, she sucked in her breath in anticipation and let go, smashing through the large plate glass display window. CRASH! One of the mercs, a burly-looking grizzly bear decked out in night vision goggles and a heavy grey suit laced with ammunition, glanced over and his jaw dropped. "Oh, shit! We got capes!" "Well, shoot them!!" The bullets started to fly from the handgun wielders, but many of them ricocheted against a quickly thrown up steelight shield from Spectra, a grin on the lioness' face as the thugs scattered. "Should work on your aim, boys!" The merc in the back, a wolf, cocked his semi-automatic rifle and readied to try to snipe the lioness with a quick shot. Spectra quickly ducked under the shot with a swift slide and glided towards the wolf on the smooth floor. Instantly generating a steelight staff, she swung upward as she neared him. The merc cried out as he was caught where no male wants to be caught, and Spectra finished the combo with a second swing to his head, splitting the set of night-vision goggles and knocking him out. War Wolf took on the cheetah and elk near her, who bore two handguns each. They made sure not to hit their squad mates as they fired several 9mm rounds at the advancing heroine. The wolfess used a display case for brief cover, then swiftly blocked a couple of shots with her bracers. Her combat roll brought her near the cheetah and she ended it with a sweep kick, sending him off of his feet. With a yelp, the cheetah fell backwards, ramming into his partner and sending them spilling into a pile. The last thing they saw was War Wolf's intense stare as she grabbed their cheek ruffs and knocked their heads together hard. Meanwhile over all this, a dark figure watched, the distraction of the two heroines fighting the thugs allowing her to take her plan into fruition. She was tempted, however, to take a potshot at War Wolf while she was distracted, but the mirror was within her grasp. With a growl she moved towards the tall full-length antique mirror. It was made of mahogany with runes etched into the edges. It glowed as she muttered an incantation under her breath, touching her fingers into the glass to see the surface ripple like a pond. Pulling her hand back, the lynx grinned. With a dark laugh she grabbed up the mirror just as War Wolf and Spectra were in the fray of battle, sneaking through the darker aisles of the antique shop for the back door. "I like five-finger discounts too, but I think you'll have to put that back." Violetta looked up and noticed the source of the voice. A raccoon clad in green. Surely, it was Miracle, one of the newer arrivals in the city. "Oh, I do love Colmaton," Violetta said with a cruel grin, pulling out her revolver and taking a bead on the raccoon. "So many more spandex-clad targets than Grant City. You crashed the wrong party, dead girl." She fired five rounds off towards the raccoon, but even at near point blank range, Miracle dodged each of them swiftly. The lynx suppressed any amount of surprise on her face and fired again, growling out as she wished she'd brought something larger to deal with the quickness of the raccoon, even in the smaller back room. The worst part was that the longer they took, the more that War Wolf and Spectra would notice her. Miracle quickly brandished her staff when she noticed that the lynx was thinking of her course of action. That mirror must have been very important, otherwise she would have kept firing. "How's this for a deal: I'll spare your pointless existence for now if you kindly step out of the way," Violetta said with a sneer, checking her cylinder. "Otherwise I've got more bullets and you'll tire eventually." "Go ahead," Miracle dared. "I could just shatter the mirror and save you the trouble." "You do and you're dead, raccoon," Violetta warned, clicking the hammer of her Colt. Miracle only smiled. "Hey, I hear the police coming. If y'all want to continue this fight, be my guest." The lynx frowned. She heard absolutely nothing, but the tone in Miracle's voice told her she wasn't bluffing. Violetta walked towards the back door, but then she turned to Miracle and pointed the barrel of her pistol at the heroine. Suddenly, a beaten merc flew towards the lynx, nearly bowling over both Miracle and Violetta. "I told you to watch your flank, Spectra!" War Wolf's voice boomed out as their voices came closer. Spectra rolled her eyes. "I knew he was there, boss, don't give me that." "Dammit all to hell," Violetta snarled out as she got to her feet. Between the police and her nemesis, there was no way the mirror was going to be hers at the moment. She calmly looked back and forth between Miracle and the other encroaching heroines before propping the mirror against a nearby shelf and turning her attention fully to the raccoon. "Miracle, is it? Such a lovely name. So warm and fuzzy. Listen to me, Miracle." She narrowed her eyes, her bright purple glare seeming to glow with intense ferocity, and her voice dropped to a guttural growl. "Remember this moment. When all you love is destroyed and everyone you care about lies bleeding and broken at your feet, you'll remember the moment you crossed me. Maybe then, when you beg me to stop, I'll finally put you out of your misery." Her muzzle turned up into a happy grin. "See you around." With that, she stepped backwards into the mirror, enveloped by the malleable reflection. The mirror shimmered and churned and finally hardened again, only for a long, spiderweb of a crack to spread across its surface. Violetta was gone. Miracle tried to comprehend what she just witnessed. She was used to idle threats by now; every two-bit thug with a gun threatened to kill her, some even included her family and friends. But what in the world were those vibrations that the lynx just gave off at the mirror? She disappeared through it! Was that her power? The black-haired raccoon shook her head, but then perked up as she felt the familiar vibration of steelight come closer. The faint smell of a lioness and wolfess entered her nostrils, giving her extra confirmation to their identities. "War Wolf! Spectra! In here!" she called. Spectra seemed to brighten up a little when she heard her new friend's voice. "Well, look who joined the party! When did you get here, Miracle?" MIracle smiled, heartened to hear the lioness's voice for confirmation. "About five minutes ago. I came through the back door, it was unlocked. What have you been up to?" Spectra shrugged. "Oh, you know, we're working on new equipment, new gadgets, blah blah blah. Crimefighting stuff." Miracle laughed a little in return. "I hear y'all there." War Wolf stepped beyond Spectra and breezed right past Miracle, barely seeming to notice she was there. She approached the mirror and looked it over, running her gloved hands over the cracks, feeling it up and down. Her masked eyes bore into the now useless antique, her glare growing harder and her lip twisting in anger. With a harsh growl, she punched the mirror, shattering what was left of it, and leaned against the wall, stewing without a word. Spectra frowned and shook her head at Miracle, signaling for her to leave War Wolf be for the time being. She looked around and whistled, noting the bullet holes in the wall, pieces of some wooden knick-knacks and bric-a-brac strewn across the floor. "Looks like you were busy, too." "Yeah, I was," she said. The heroine pulled a transponder out of her pouch, rubbed her fingers across the bottom of it, and then pressed the button. "There. Desert Dog should be nearby, she'll come help with the cleanup," Miracle said. She was glad to have her friend around; Tamara seemed to be getting noticed as one of the newer heroines around Colmaton. The raccoon then glanced over to the wolfess, whom was still leaning on the wall, deathly silent. "Whomever was back here, she was trying to get this mirror. She ran out of time because I heard the police and said so... then she went right into the mirror. Weird power." The cheetah gunner suddenly collapsed behind them with a loud grunt. There was a large boulder on his back as an energetic yip was heard in the background. "Where do you think you're going, speedy?" a voice called out with a laugh. A form slid into view, a young coyote wearing a tribal-inspired outfit with a green-glowing amulet around her neck and a stone bo-staff in her hands. "Caught him trying to run away... I see I missed the fun again, Miracle." She brushed her hand through her back-length sandy brown hair and smiled. Miracle smiled back. "Well, at least you got here quickly," she said. "Spectra, this is Desert Dog," she said. The lioness nodded at the newcomer and waved a little, a grin forming on her muzzle. "Great to meet you. Any friend of Miracle's is a friend of mine!" "Same here... Pleasure to meet the famous Spectra and War Wolf!" Desert Dog said as she offered her paw for Spectra to shake. The lioness returned the pawshake. She then noticed War Wolf hadn't moved at all. The lupine heroine hadn't said a word in five minutes. Never a good sign. "What is it, War Wolf? Worried about Violetta's seven years of bad luck?" the lioness quipped while Desert Dog looked over at the scowling heroine. "Who's Violetta?" Miracle asked. War Wolf finally turned, her face grim, and spoke with rumbling, subdued anger. "You don't want to know who Violetta is. You don't want to know how many people she's killed, how many lives she's ripped apart, how many..." She hesitated with a harsh swallow. "...how many families she's destroyed. You don't want to know how many years I've been trying to take her down. I thought we had her tonight. But she's gone...again!" Miracle caught War Wolf's heartbeat there, it was certainly due to being upset, the same vein as if her mother got sad or a little angry. She shook her head, a worried look appearing as she instinctively backed up a step. "I... I didn't know... I thought she was only after the mirror..." she stammered, pinning back her ears. She would have said more, but a pang of fear welled up within her. She wondered if War Wolf was angry with her for letting the lynx escape. "Look, War Wolf.... ma'am," Desert Dog said, stepping up with a crinkle in her muzzle as she saw Miracle's face drop. She was still trying to be respectful for the years that the wolfess had put in. "I know I wasn't here, but Miracle does her hardest. She wouldn't just screw around and let a villain get away. I didn't even know you could travel by mirror... There's only a spell or two in the entire world that can pull that sort of thing off." War Wolf remained silent, her anger being slowly overwhelmed by disappointment and ultimately sadness. Catching a glimpse of her husband and son's killer was always a gut- wrenching affair, made all the more so when it was fruitless in the end. She focused on her breathing for a few seconds, her thumb subconsciously rubbing the wedding band beneath her glove for comfort, before asking Miracle, "What did she say to you?" Her own worries subsiding, Miracle folded her arms, thinking back to that moment; the tone of the lynx's voice clear in her mind. "She said... she said that everything I loved would be destroyed... and everyone I cared about would lay 'bleeding and broken' at my feet... and that when I begged her to stop, she'd kill me." DD shivered a bit. It sounded to her almost something that went through her head in some of the nightmares after French Rose took over her mind... "Well.. I've had some villains make that threat a few times before," she thought aloud. "Uh.. you can't let it get to you, she's just pissed off because you foiled her." "This wasn't a threat," War Wolf replied. "It was a promise. You two need to lie low for a bit, at least until Spectra and I pick up Violetta's trail again. You helped me fight her, Miracle...that makes you a target." The news made Miracle cringe visibly. If there was one heroine she trusted the most in Colmaton, it was War Wolf. She knew the wolfess wouldn't mince words and always gave her good advice. Because of that trust, this news was absolutely dire to her. Desert Dog laughed nervously as her ears drooped a bit. "Really? I didn't even see her..." she said clearing her throat. She did clear her head by shaking it. "Maybe.. let's, uh, clear up the thugs here for the cops..." Spectra nodded in reply and pulled out some zip-ties from her pouch. "Let's. At the very least, it'll take our minds off of psycho killers for a few minutes." As the four heroines rounded up the unconscious mercs and bound their paws and feet, Spectra then started to count them once the job was finished. "Yep, they're all here." War Wolf stepped over a prone thug and started for the front door. She knew it would be useless to wait around and interrogate them; Violetta was always too smart to let her pawns in on any details outside of their one job. "Come on, Spectra. We've got work to do." The lioness nodded. "Right, boss." She then turned back to Miracle and Desert Dog and nodded at them. "You guys keep up the good work and stay safe, okay?" The obvious bit of advice was always welcome and both heroines nodded in reply. "We will, Spectra, don't worry," Miracle said with a smile. She knew in her heart though, that this incident was going to gnaw at War Wolf for a while, so she didn't say much more than needed. * * * - Downtown Colmaton, 10:45 P. M. August 21 - Miracle made her way along the tops of the closer buildings. By now, she had gotten the hang of the layout of the city and where it was safe to run among the rooftops. Her leaping timing was perfect and her landings steady as she listened for any problems. So far, she had stopped one purse snatching, but other than that, her action was quiet. At least until she discerned the shatter of glass a couple blocks away. Miracle made her way toward the sound, sticking to the rooftops. She swallowed and quickened her pace when a far more alarming sound echoed through the empty streets, one she didn't need her heightened senses to detect: a gunshot. It was about a block away. She worked towards the sound, finally sliding down the escape ladder of one building and landing on the ground. She remembered the area; some residential stores were here; most of the local shop variety. The raccoon made her way along the sidewalk and stopped. Her "radar sense" was picking up something on the street. Several small shards, like glass. 'This must be where it came from," she thought. But then another thought struck her. Whatever broke the glass, it came from the inside of the store. Was it the gunshot? The raccoon decided she had to tread lightly. She made her way to the door and slowly opened it, trying not to set off the door's bell that usually signaled the entrance of a customer. Though with that, she caught a new scent. Fresh blood. Whipping the door open, Miracle darted inside, feeling the cold tile floor underneath her feet and the loud whirring of the air conditioner. The aroma of the blood got stronger as she walked forward and the faint smell of a rottweiler was also registered. She kneeled down to the form and put her paw on his chest, suddenly feeling a badge. She scraped her paw across the nametag, feeling the edged letters. "R. NELSON" A police officer. Then the horrible truth hit her; she heard no heartbeat. He was dead. Swallowing hard, Miracle stood up gingerly and listened hard, trying to pick up any other sounds. There had to be more furs in here. Where were the owners? Miracle's ears perked as she picked up another sound, faint and muffled: plaintive moans and breathing coming from the back room. She cautiously made her way past the aisles of snacks and boxes waiting to be unpacked, feeling a light breeze of cooler air wafting from the cracked stock room door. "Could it be the guest of honor is finally here?" A chill went up Miracle's spine. That voice... "Don't be shy, come on in. I know it's you. Security cameras and all." Cringing, Miracle took out her staff anyway and carefully opened the door, walking inside. She was almost dreading what she might find. Violetta sat on a beat-up old office chair in the middle of the stock room, her legs crossed, her Colt pistol lazily tapping on her knee. Her violet eyes seemed to light up in anticipation as she grinned at her guest. Before her knelt three people, fear written in their expressions and their pleas muffled behind duct-taped muzzles. Miracle could smell them. Two cougars and a horse. She smelled their sweat, heard their racing heartbeats and their muffled pleas. They were scared out of their minds. Miracle decided not to take any chances here; she pressed a button at the base of her staff and with a click and clatter, the hidden whip inside unfurled. Miracle swallowed again. She had to be strong for them. "Let them go, Violetta. This is between you and me. They didn't do anything to you," she said. She had no idea whom they were, but she had to be their miracle. She just had to. "Well, that's not exactly true," Violetta replied. She took a half-eaten strip of beef jerky from her pocket and gestured at one of the cougars. "This one charged me one-seventy-five for this. Highway robbery!" She threw the remainder of the jerky over her shoulder and shrugged. "But I can look past that for now. This is between you and me...and our common acquaintance. The wolf with the stormy disposition." Miracle wasn't surprised at all to hear the lynx say that, after the discussion that she had with War Wolf in the antique store. "Still, that doesn't mean you should bring them into it! If you want to fight, we can take it outside, just like before," she demanded. The tone in her voice was edgy. She had to get Violetta away from the hostages. She knew she had a gun; she could smell the residue of gunpowder. "But I'm already fighting. Let me give you a little history lesson, kid. Me and Wolfie have been going at it for years, since back when Grant City was a good and proper shithole of a city. You know how she hasn't caught up with me yet? I don't play by her rules. I make her play by mine. I don't fight you heroes by 'taking it outside.' I don't win by killing you. I win by making you fail." She narrowed her eyes, her muzzle twisting into a scowl. "And after what you did the other night...siding with War Wolf...you're about to learn what it's like to fail. Hard." Violetta stood and twirled the pistol by its trigger guard a few times. She clicked the cylinder to ensure it was loaded and glanced back at Miracle. "Make me a deal. Tell me what you'll give me to let these hostages go. Talk me down." The raccoon gritted her teeth briefly. She was rapidly losing whatever control she had of the situation. There was only one option. "I'd... I'd give myself up if you let them go," she said unevenly. The raccoon hated the prospect, but the last thing she wanted to see was any of these hostages hurt. Or worse. Violetta laughed, a light cackle that turned into a grating, high-pitched screech. "I don't want you. Not yet. You've got a long, long way to fall before I kill you. But rest assured...it's coming. But things are going to get a whole lot worse than this before it does." With that, Violetta leveled her pistol and fanned the hammer, firing three rapid shots with such speed it sounded like a machine gun. Each .45 caliber slug burst through a hostage's chest, dropping each of them in near unison. Wasting no time, Violetta spun around, her trench coat swirling around her, and disappeared behind a stack of crates. Miracle heard the three pops and heard distinct splatters around her. She tried striking with her whip, but by the time she got in a shot, Violetta had already left. The raccoon, on pure instinct, ran back towards the pile of crates, looking around. Miracle felt the vibrations from before. Violetta had brought another mirror. She whipped around again, her heart sinking. The three hostages were on the ground. Instinctively, she kneeled down to them. It was almost like an out-of-body experience. "Hey! Are you all right?! Hey!" she shouted. But she knew that their heartbeats had all disappeared the instant the gunshots were fired. There was no use. Numbly, Miracle took a transponder out of her pouch and brushed her fingers across the Braille label. "WW". She pressed the remote's button, then placed it back in her belt. The heroine then slumped down at the storage room door and buried her face in her paws, sobbing bitterly. She didn't know any of them! And they were all dead! Five minutes passed before Miracle heard the crunch of boots on the glass outside. Past the sickening odor of fresh blood, she could make out the familiar scents of a wolfess and a lioness. War Wolf burst into the back room low, shuriken in-hand, while Spectra aimed a steelight bow and arrow over her head. The wolfess grimaced at the scene, Spectra blinking in shock as she let her weapon dissipate. The latter spied Miracle huddled at the wall, still sobbing heavily. Her cheeks were stained with trails of cried tears, and yet still a few more trickled from underneath her visor. "V-V-Violetta..." she choked between sobs. War Wolf looked over the bodies, smelling the lingering cordite in the air. She already knew. She'd seen enough scenes like it before. Carefully stepping over them, she checked behind the crates to find the cracked mirror Violetta had used to escape. "If she used up a mirror for this, it's important to her. Let me guess." She stepped back around the crates so she could see Miracle. "This was about you helping me the other night." Spectra squeezed the raccoon's shoulder to comfort her. "Fucking Violetta..." Miracle felt the paw of her friend on her shoulder and her sobs came at a lesser rate. "Do... do you know who they are?" she asked, trying to choke back a couple more tears. War Wolf looked the victims' faces over and shook her head. "As heroes, we rescue random people. She kills random people. To her, this was just a statement." She added, her voice somewhat more somber. "You never stood a chance of saving them. She was going to kill them no matter what." Miracle dryly choked out more sobs. Violetta's voice was echoing through her mind. "You're about to learn what it's like to fail. Hard..." The raccoon sighed heavily. "I... I... know, but I..." she stammered, letting out a long sigh. She was still trying to cry, but her body was telling her it had run out of sobs and tears. No, she hadn't. This was the first time she had witnessed a murder. Even though she was blind, the event was just as vivid. Just as final. There weren't enough tears for the despair she felt at that moment. Spectra wrapped her arm around Miracle and held her tight, her own eyes beginning to moisten a little. Seeing her friend in such pain wrenched her heart, moreso for the fact that there wasn't much she could say to comfort her. The lioness knew it all too well. Standing at War Wolf's side against Violetta for nearly four years, she'd seen her share of horrors and shed her share of tears. Miracle didn't deserve the pain Violetta had given her. The raccoon coughed a little bit, trying to get some composure. "Th-thank you, Spectra..." "She didn't kill you," War Wolf said. "That means she has more planned. She's going to try to get more personal. You need to warn anyone you've been seen with as Miracle." She nodded, trying to think of that to clear her mind. Whom was she seen with regularly? "Well, there's y'all... Phantom... Laser Vixen... Desert Dog..." War Wolf nodded. "It hasn't been long since the antique store, she'll go with the first acquaintance she can find. If she's been in contact with the goons that got arrested, she'll know Desert Dog was at the antique store after she escaped. Let's start there." Spectra gently lifted Miracle's arm. "We're coming with you." Miracle sniffled as she was helped to her feet. The initial shock seemed to finally be subsiding. "Thanks... y'all are the best..." she said. Spectra lingered back as War Wolf and Miracle headed for the door, the former signaling on her gauntlet PDA for police. She knelt by the murdered store owner and nudged him over slightly to see his nametag. "Stanley." She remembered how important putting a name to the face was for her and suspected Miracle might appreciate knowing later. Anything to help. When the heroines were safely on the rooftops once more, Miracle took out her other transponder while War Wolf seemed to be preoccupied, making sure the Braille inscription said "DD", and pressed the button. She didn't regret leaving Desert Dog out of the affair at that point. But she needed to know now. She needed to be fully warned about Violetta. - West Colmaton, near Union University 11:30 PM - A brown blur was seen between rooftops, the sound of a body landing echoing a little bit to the streets below. Anyone watching in the alleys would see a flash of green and then a coyote leaping from the rooftop to the ground below, the fringes on her shirt flapping in the air with her ornamental loincloth and tail. Desert Dog was on the prowl. She was finally starting to get back to enjoying patrolling again, the feel of the breeze on her fur, glad that she had backup like Miracle in the strange city. It was a rush to meet War Wolf and Spectra; she hoped that she'd be able to meet the two heroines more often... perhaps work on a case together. She stopped near the gates of Union University to catch her breath; the university was her major prowling grounds right now so she could easily sneak back into her dorm, and it seemed that it was the area that most of the major heroes of the city didn't hit yet, allowing her to carve territory on her own without overlapping. She skidded to a halt right at the gates as soon as she felt a buzz and beep at her belt. It was the receiver from Miracle. She grinned and activated the the device up, bringing her cellphone to her ear, tuned into the transceiver's signal. "Hello there Miracle... Desert Dog here," she announced. '"Desert Dog, you need to get uptown. I have to tell you something important about Violetta..." Miracle said over the communicator. "Sure thing Miracle... I'm at my usual haunt right now," she replied, not noticing the sudden gleam of metal on the nearest dorm roof. "Can you tell me right now though? I... ah.. have classes in the morning." "She's going to come after you. You have to watch yourself..." There was a grin on the lynx's face as she spied the coyote through the scope of her sniper rifle. She controlled her breathing just for the right moment... even though the magazine was full of tranquilizer darts, she was getting the same thrill that she got from any other assassination. There was a paff from the suppressor as the dart was fired. "Ok... I don't know why she'd-" Desert Dog's voice said before suddenly cutting off, the metal barb burying into her neck and injecting the fast-acting drug. The transceiver cut off as the coyote's eyes rolled up in her head, collapsing on top of her cell phone, crushing it under her fetal form. Violetta grinned darkly. It would be so easy to finish the little bitch off right now. A few more darts into her system and she'd be in a coma permanently... Or even one bullet from her revolver. But no, she had plans for the coyote. Desert Dog lay there silently as Violetta called her backup on her own communicator. - Miracle held on to War Wolf with her left paw as the two sped through Colmaton on the lupine heroine's motorcycle. The raccoon had ridden one before, as she and Spectra had attempted to make their getaway from the Faraday Biotech offices back in Savannah on the lioness's hog. The experience was always so strange to her. She heard the wind howling in her ears and felt her long hair trail behind her. It was difficult for her to get her bearings; she noted it was hard to use her paws' radar sense at such a high speed. But she tried her best, she would get better with it the more she tried. But Miracle wasn't concerned about bearings or directions at the moment. Her right paw held the transceiver to her ear, but all she picked up was static. "Desert Dog? Desert Dog, answer me!" Miracle said loudly into the transceiver. Nothing, just static. The raccoon sighed and slipped the radio into one of her empty pockets carefully. "She's not answering, War Wolf!" Miracle shouted over the wind. War Wolf grimaced and sped up, Spectra following suit on her own bike behind. The twin bikes arrived to the university on Miracle's memory of Desert Dog's territory, just in time to see the cheetah and elk goons heaving for a nearby van, a bundle in their grasp. The heroines sped towards the van only to see them slam the doors and drive off into the night. "Go! Disable it!" War Wolf shouted before revving up her bike and hurtling after the van. The large black vehicle swayed back and forth, the driver obviously worried more about getting away from the heroines than keeping the van on the road. Her bike's engine growling like a feral lion, she pushed forward, trying to get alongside the driver's side. That plan was dashed when the driver produced a submachine gun and poked it out his window. "Hold on!" the wolfess warned Miracle as she jerked to the side in a squeal of tires. The submachine gun rattled off, peppering the asphalt with 9mm rounds. Not accurate in the least, but volume enough to make up for it. Spectra took the opportunity to shoot ahead on the passenger's side. She couldn't risk taking out the tires and hurting Desert Dog when the van lost control; she had to get inside. Hopping up onto her seat, she leapt at the van and sunk a steelight blade into the roof, catching herself as the bike flipped and crashed end over end. The lioness hauled herself up onto the roof, cape billowing in the wind, and barely took one labored step forward before a shotgun blast blew a hole through the metal. Spectra stumbled back with a yelp and would have been able to regain herself had another shot not come inches from taking her foot off. "Spectra!" War Wolf shouted, her eyes flying wide as her partner teetered on the edge of the van's roof. The lioness wheeled her arms back to try and regain her balance but it was too late. Even a hastily thrown steelight knife to try and catch the roof of the van slid off, causing her to fly into a nearby trash can. She grunted hard, crumpling to the street and moaning. War Wolf grimaced, but they couldn't stop for her yet; they had to keep going. She knew Spectra, and the lioness would have told them to do so anyway. War Wolf accelerated to try to catch up with the van. The doors suddenly flew open, revealing a glimpse inside. Two burly mercenaries knelt carefully at the door, arms with large shotguns. Just feet behind them on the cold metal floor of the van was the unconscious form of Desert Dog. The left mercenary aimed his gun. War Wolf jammed the brakes and twisted the handlebar, skidding the bike into a low sideways slide that put as much of the vehicle as possible between the riders and the maw of the shotgun. The mercenaries opened fire, buckshot pelting the bike and kicking up asphalt around it. When they stopped to reload, War Wolf shifted the bike back up and revved to catch back up. However, with a sputter and burst of oil and smoke, the motorcycle died and drifted to a halt. Miracle reached out to the escaping van, crying out in frustration as she felt her friend's captors getting away. War Wolf looked after the van as the chase came to a frustrating end. Grumbling a curse under her breath, she hopped off the bike and ran back to Spectra, heartened at least that the lioness appeared to be moving. Blood trickled from a cut along her forehead and her leggings had suffered a few tears, but otherwise, no injuries jumped out at War Wolf. Miracle followed quickly behind her. "Are you all right?" Miracle asked, kneeling beside her. "Yeah, I think so," Spectra grunted, pushing herself up. "Come on, they're getting away, we have to - ah, dammit!" She sucked a pained breath through her teeth upon putting weight on her left ankle and sunk back down to the ground. "You're not going anywhere on that ankle," War Wolf said, gently squeezing the injured area to ensure it wasn't broken. Just a sprain, it seemed. "Stay here." When Miracle and War Wolf arrived back at the scene where the van took off, all that was left behind as evidence was a destroyed cell phone and a note. Inside the note was Tamara's belly piercing and the writing: "More blood." Miracle fingered the belly piercing and whimpered. "I can't believe this is happening. This is all my fault... if I hadn't interfered, those people wouldn't be dead and Desert Dog wouldn't be captured," she said quietly, her ears folding back. War Wolf scowled. "You think that train of thought's going to help now?" Miracle looked up worriedly. "Wh-what do you mean?" "Listen to yourself," War Wolf continued, her voice getting louder. "You sound like you're giving up, like you're resigning Desert Dog to that demon! Where's that 'I've got to try' no-fear attitude that I've seen from you since I met you?" Miracle bit down on her lower lip hard and tried not to cry at the army officer tone of War Wolf's voice. The wolfess just folded her arms and stared down at Miracle, her eyes narrowing. She tried to calm down and think. Was War Wolf right? Miracle took on an electric-powered vixen when she first started out and she had no chance of winning that fight. She took on eight of the elites of the Gym Brats gang to defend the 50,000 fans in the Turner Field stands and the players on both baseball teams that were being threatened. Twice she went into unfamiliar areas, the Colmaton Red Triangle District and the Savannah wilderness and faced different degrees of torture, just to rescue two furs she had never known, much less met. Miracle fingered the piercing; it was golden, with a turquoise setting, metal extension and a decorative feather design dangling at the bottom. The part that made her skin crawl was that she could feel a bit of warmth, the tang of blood to her nose. It hadn't been just taken out of her friend's navel but ripped out cruelly in order to leave the taunting note. "Ta- De-Desert Dog," she said quietly, catching herself short from using Tamara's identity out loud out of sheer fear for what was happening as a lump formed in her throat, a couple of fresh tears welling up in her eyes. War Wolf was right... Desert Dog needed her, no matter how scared she was. She did have the courage. Slowly, Miracle rose to her feet, pocketed the piercing and wiped the tears from her eyes. "War Wolf... I'm scared as all get-up, but we need to find Desert Dog as soon as we can," she said. War Wolf nodded briefly. "Then let's get moving." - Unknown Location, August 22 - Tamara groaned. Her head rang and throbbed as she shivered, her body starting to recover from the creeping numbness under her fur at the neck. Her muscles groaned a bit as she felt cramping hard from her arms and legs. As she started to open her eyes she winced and then an icy chill went down her spine. Her arms felt tied behind her, her legs stuck to the legs of a chair. This felt familiar.... deathly familiar. As she tried to open her eyes she saw only the dark backside of a blindfold. "No! Please.. please don't.." she begged. "Please, French Rose, please... not again..." A cruel laugh rang in her ears, circling her along with casual footsteps as her captor walked around her. "French Rose? Please...whatever happened between you and that lovesick freak will seem like a holiday after I'm done with you." The cool metal of a gun barrel caressed the back of Tamara's neck. "You don't know me. But I know you. Or at least, I know your friends, Miracle and War Wolf. You chose the wrong night to play superhero with them." Tamara's mind raced, all at once relieved that French Rose had nothing to do with this yet fear rising at the tone in her captor, a woman she couldn't see thanks to the blindfold. "What are you--" War Wolf? The only time Tamara had ever seen her was at the antique store, and they did little more than exchange curt words. "I have nothing to do with War Wolf! I just saw her the other night!" "Oh, I know. You were late to the party. That's why I'm just going to kill you rather than turn your life into a living hell, like Miracle's will soon be." Desert Dog's eyes narrowed under the blindfold as her blood ran ice cold. "Leave her out of this," she snarled. "Miracle has nothing to do with your vendettas you cold bitch." "She had nothing to do with them. Then she decided to get in my way and help War Wolf. Quick background on me and War Wolf. I hate her and want her dead. Simple. Miracle has to pay for siding with her. And you, kid..." Tamara's captor playfully smacked her on the cheek. "...you're going to help me by sitting there all sad and plaintive while she watches me blow your head into a fine mist." The coyote grunted as she was slapped on the face. "Fuck off. I'm not helping you," she said as her hands wiggled behind her back. She tried to tap into her amulet as it glowed weakly, trying to bring any sort of spells to her, though she was still too untrained to cast more than the weakest control without full range of her hands. Some pebbles rattled in the room. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." The barrel of the gun pressed against Tamara's kneecap. "I need you alive for now, not in one piece. And I don't mind screams of agony. They're like music." "Your taste in music sucks," Tamara snapped back. "And people give me hell for My Chemical Romance..." Violetta chuckled and took the gun away. "I like you. Mouthy and fun, like Spectra. Trying to get a word out of War Wolf is like pulling teeth. Maybe I'll give you a break for being so fun. Not the knee-cap. Hm..." "Maybe you'll let me go and stop being a psychotic fuck?" DD snapped back, "'Cause that would entirely be easy on me." Violetta sighed. "Let's change the channel to something more...musical. Eeny..." She pressed the barrel against Tamara's bicep. "What... what are you..." the coyote stammered. "Meeny..." Her shoulder. Tamara shook her head, the ties of her blindfold flopping around a bit. "Miney..." Her abdomen. "Spirits...please...you don't have to..." "And...moe." A shot rang out, searing pain ripping through Tamara's left thigh. For all her bravado she cried out in pain, her body shaking. It was the first time in her life she'd ever been shot; the burning bullet shredding muscles and blood vessels. She screamed in fear and frustration, shaking as every instinct made her want to try and clamp down on the gushing blood but she couldn't as all her limbs were tied, making the moment extra tortuous. Tears welled up in her eyes, streaking down her face and below her blindfold to where the lynx could see them. "Spirits... why.... why would... " she whimpered out, her ears flat against her head as her tail curled under the chair. Tamara's captor ripped the blindfold off, giving her full view of the woman tormenting her and the fiery, devilish purple eyes boring into her. The lynx grabbed her muzzle, claws digging into the flesh, growling under her breath. When she spoke, her tone had changed to a deep, threatening rumble. "You listen well, you pathetic little shit. This is what's going to happen: you're going to bleed and cry and suffer until I kill you in front of your friend. And no one can help you. This isn't a cartoon. This isn't a comic book. There's no happy ending." Her claws dug in deeper. "So please...if you want to talk back some more, do so. I have lots of bullets and a knife for when you really piss me off. Ever wonder if someone can be totally skinned alive? I sure do." Tamara winced hard, wheezing a bit, as she felt blood welling up in her face. "You're... nnghh... wrong..." she growled out. She was trying her hardest not to break down and sob again. She focused on Miracle and knew she had to be strong. "You're a sick woman that needs.... nnngh... help... And I promise I'll be the one to stick something up your ass... Nnghhs. Miracle's coming to get me..." Violetta slowly released her hold and stepped back, her anger melting once more into amusement. She grinned, cold and humorless. "She'd better. I hate being disappointed."' - Downtown Colmaton, August 24, 10:25 P. M - Miracle felt like she had constant heartburn as she made her way along her usual route, leaping over the small gaps between the buildings. It was understandable that she took it slower; she hadn't gotten much sleep in two days, if any. She was lucky that it didn't affect her job at the library much. But all she could think about was Tamara. Erin nearly broke down when she had to inform Tamara's teachers that she was ill and wouldn't be back to classes for a while. What was Violetta doing to her? Would she even find her alive? War Wolf waited on an intersection rooftop same as the previous night, cloaked in shadow, her cape fluttering in the hot breeze. Last night's fruitless search for Violetta's trail had weighed heavily upon both of them and the prospect of another night that could end similarly was not lost on them. Usually, War Wolf would have gone about it alone, but she recognized Miracle's stake in this and wouldn't deny that to her. Just like she needed to find Violetta to set things right for her own reasons, so too did Miracle need to find her friend. As Miracle approached, War Wolf greeted her with a nod, holding out a small earpiece for her to take. The raccoon fingered the object, figuring that she knew what it was, but she thought she'd confirm. "Communicator?" she said, her tone a little subdued. Clearly it had been a rough couple of days for her. War Wolf nodded. "Spectra's at the Bunker computer again. Figure tonight, I'll have you listen in to make things easier." "Yeah, good idea..." Miracle replied. "How is she holding up?" she asked as she fitted the earpiece into her right ear. "Fine, just keeping off the sprain." War Wolf met the raccoon's eye. "What about you?" Miracle's ears drooped. "Miserable. I feel like I need a new stomach lining... I'm so worried about Desert Dog... have you found anything tonight?" "Not yet. I have Spectra keeping an eye on every police dispatch for anything that sounds like Violetta, as well as alarms at antique stores. The best thing we can do is go on your normal patrol route. Violetta's not done. When she wants you to find her, that's how she'll do it." With a nod of agreement from Miracle, War Wolf let her lead the way on her patrol. They stuck to the rooftops, each of them peering at the city around them with extra wariness to their tired eyes and senses, looking for any sign of Violetta or her gruesome work. But the worst they saw was a blatant jaywalker. Two hours passed, two long hours that made the night weigh heavier the longer it dragged on. Just after night became early morning, Miracle's ears perked forward. "Do you hear that?" "Hear what?" War Wolf asked, perking her ears as well but hearing nothing out of the ordinary. "This way..." Miracle followed the sound, with the older heroine tailing her. She leapt across a couple gaps quickly with a renewed vigor, like she knew she was following something important. The raccoon slid down a fire escape ladder effortlessly and pointed across the street as War Wolf landed from the roof. "There." War Wolf heard it now; a rhythmic beeping. A small device sat on the sidewalk in front of an electronics store, one of the types with several big-screen TVs pointing to the street that were showing parts of the same image. The device had a light winking away and had been beeping at just the right frequency that Miracle's hearing picked it up from a distance, almost as if the piece was wanting to be found. War Wolf knelt by the device and examined it without touching it. A transceiver box duct-taped to a homemade signal producer. Scrappy work. She understood why Miracle heard it first, remembering the raccoon's heightened senses. As soon as the transceiver detected being picked up, the beeping stopped. The heroines braced for some sort of trap, but instead the televisions all blinked out, changing their image to that of horror. Desert Dog had been moved from her original chair, hanging up against a dingy wall by her cuffed hands so she couldn't even wiggle her way into a spell. She hung limply, looking dead at first until she twitched every now and then, groaning. Much of her costume was still intact though Violetta had gone through the process of tearing off her ornamental loincloth, and there were a few tears here and there in her pants and shirt. The worst parts were the injuries. She had an eye swollen closed and black, there was an awful lot of blood at a tear at her thigh; a gunshot wound, War Wolf could see. There were also several heavy bruises so dark at her abdomen that they could be seen through the white fur on her belly. Clearly she had been through hell already. She also had a zip tie cruelly digging into the fur of her bloody muzzle. Miracle mercifully couldn't see her friend so beat up, but she could hear her muffled groaning. "Desert Dog?! What'd she do to her?!" the raccoon cried out. War Wolf grimaced, unsurprised at the state Violetta was keeping her victim in, but angered nonetheless. She opened her mouth to respond, but hesitated. All that mattered was the coyote was still alive. Miracle could only whimper. In her state, she almost wished that she could see so she could see what the villainess had done to her friend. Apparently alerted that the receiver end had been activated, Violetta appeared onscreen, grinning beneath those bright purple eyes. "Hey there, Miracle, I see you found the gift I left on your patrol route," she said, her voice loud enough to be heard beyond the display window. "'Least I hope it's you. If some random guy picked it up, this'll all give him nightmares. Anyway, I've been taking good care of your friend. We're like BFFs now, right?" She roughly slapped Desert Dog across the face to rouse her. The heroine groaned out, coughing around the zip tie and her eyes fluttered open. The pain nearly made her pass out all over again until Violetta brought up a syringe, sticking it into her side and pumping her full of adrenaline. Desert Dog's eyes popped open wide and she let out a muffled scream. "There we go." Violetta tossed the syringe away. "Don't you hate when people fall asleep when you're talking? Anyway, it's after midnight, and I want to wrap this whole thing up soon. Miracle, take a seat and watch, because in exactly one hour, I'm going to end your friend's suffering, permanently. Is one hour enough time for you to reflect on everything you've done to make this happen? I think so. I'll be back. In the meantime, enjoy the show." With that, the lynx stepped offscreen, but left the camera running. Desert Dog shook a bit, tears trickling from her eyes as she tried to scream through her gag, wanting desperately to warn her friends. "NNNNNNNGHHH! PPPLLLSSSSS" She couldn't even make hand-signals in her state, whimpering into the camera. Miracle bit her lower lip, hearing that from the television. She couldn't speak. How in the world were they going to find Desert Dog in time?! War Wolf unsheathed a shuriken and cut the duct tape around the device before placing it down and stomping on it, breaking the transceiver open, making the TV screens blink to static. Brushing away the plastic debris, the wolfess found what she was looking for: the receiver chip. Flipping her gauntlet screen open, she plugged it into the appropriate slot and tapped the comm in her ear. "Spectra, you have incoming. I need a trace on it immediately. Shouldn't be too hard. This is too easy: she wants us to find her." "Aye, boss, I'll have it as soon as I can," Spectra said over the communicator. There were furtive sounds of typing on the keyboard as she worked to trace the signal. "Good God, she's in rare form tonight..." The television signal must have been activated on one of the monitors back in the HQ as part of tracing. Miracle furrowed her brow. "If she wants us to find her... wouldn't we be walking into a trap?" "Our only other option is to sit here and wait to see what she does with Desert Dog when time runs out." "That's... not an option..." War Wolf just nodded knowingly. "You were right," Spectra reported. "Simple encryption, might has well have not even bothered. Looks like the transmission's coming from an abandoned apartment building a mile or so southwest. Sending you GPS info now." War Wolf waited for the information to upload before glancing it over, memorizing the route, and closing the screen. "Let's go. I want to look over the building before we go in and the clock's ticking." Miracle nodded. "Right." The heroines took to the rooftops once again. The raccoon trailed behind War Wolf this time, who leapt with grace and power between the rooftops, tracing the route on her GPS. The younger heroine actually felt good for the first time that evening. She had confidence in War Wolf. Her experience against Violetta would be the way for them to prevail and get Desert Dog out of this situation alive. Desert Dog... Miracle could only imagine what tortures her friend was put through, only hearing her muffled screams and pleas through the television screens at the store. Then she heard Violetta's screeching laughter... saw Desert Dog's lifeless body at her feet. No, no! Miracle forced that thought of out of her mind, leaping a larger gap to the next building effortlessly. That couldn't happen! She couldn't be responsible for more deaths tonight... War Wolf halted her at a low rooftop in a rundown part of town, where traffic was light and each decaying building stood lifeless and foreboding. Their target was across the street: a ten-story apartment building that looked as if it had been unoccupied for years. Few windows retained any of their glass and the name was almost completely faded from the sign above the gaping front doorway. War Wolf knelt at the edge of the roof and brought her binoculars to her masked eyes. She switched to thermal mode and began a slow, thorough scan of the building, from roof to basement. No people inside, but a couple glowing points on the fifth floor caught her eye. She'd done enough surveillance in her time to know what at least one of them was for certain. "No one inside, or at least no one alive," she said. "There's a TV on the fifth floor, and I'm guessing a power supply since this place looks like it's been off the grid for a while. Spectra, anything on the building?" "Just your average semi-urban husk. No traffic cams in the area to check for anyone coming or going. Think it's a bombing waiting to happen?" War Wolf pondered for a moment. "I don't think so. Too impersonal at this point and not high-profile enough for her taste. If she set this up in a place like this, she wants it to be just between us. That's how she thinks." Miracle nodded, heartened a little by the analysis. "Then let's go inside to see what's there... how much time do we have left?" The wolfess shook her head. "You're staying out here. If this is a trap, no reason for both of us to be caught in it. I can handle Violetta." Miracle folded her arms. "War Wolf, my friend is the one in trouble. I'm responsible for this whole mess, so I have to help fix it. Y'all can tell me what to do when we get in there, but I am coming with you," she said firmly. "You don't know what Violetta's capable of." "Really?" Miracle pointed in the direction of the appliance store they'd left behind. "I think I just got a pretty good idea back there, not to mention she murdered three furs right in front of me." War Wolf sighed through her nose. This heroine was reminding her more of Spectra every time they met. "Fine. But stay close and do exactly as I say." "I will," Miracle replied in a serious tone. She was trying to preparing herself for whatever was inside. She had to do it for Desert Dog. Knowing the roof and first floor would be the two most likely places for traps, War Wolf decided to split the difference and go in right on the fifth floor. She fired her grapple gun and hooked into the apartment building's brick roof outcropping. Holding tight, she leapt off and retracted the line halfway into her arc, zipping straight toward the building. She hit the trigger to detach the hook and dove through a fifth floor window, tucking into a roll upon the gritty, warped wood floor. After a quick glance around the dark, musty room, she headed back to the window to see if Miracle needed a hand. The raccoon indeed did; that was one advanced tactic that she wasn't used to yet. She waved her paws above her head, trying to signal that she did needed assistance. War Wolf reset the grappled and fired it back across, the hook latching onto the edge beneath Miracle's feet. She placed the grapple gun on the floor beneath the window sill and braced it with her foot. "Hand over hand. Hurry," she said over the communicator. "Roger..." Miracle replied back, taking her paw off the communicator. She did as instructed, working along the line, moving herself hand-over-hand. The experience was terrifying for her, actually... without any footing under her, her "radar sense" couldn't pick up on anything. Essentially, Miracle really was blind. Still, she braved the feeling, controlled her breathing, and finally reached the other side. War Wolf took Miracle's hand and pulled her into the room before retrieving her grapple and retracting the line. "Spectra, we're in. Proceeding to the TV room." "Gotcha, boss, be careful." Miracle resisted the urge to get to her knees and kiss the ground; she was never happier to have solid ground under her feet again. But Desert Dog's plight once again flared up in her mind and the raccoon followed War Wolf to their destination. Waiting for them was an empty room save for a table, bare except for a 9mm handgun. There was a TV hanging on the wall with a webcam attachment on the bottom. On the television was a picture much like the horror they'd seen at the electronics store; Desert Dog hung by her wrists, whimpering through her gag, her tear-filled eyes wide and furtive, frightened out of her mind. A revolver pressed against her temple, a thumb caressing the hammer. "Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock." Violetta's voice droned evilly over the speaker. "Tick...oh, looks like we have company again." The lynx lowered the pistol and stepped into view. "You're a few minutes off your game, Wolf. What's the matter? Superhero babysitting slowing you down?" Miracle scowled, not caring for that insinuation. "We're here, Violetta. Now what do you want??" War Wolf noticed the wireless camera sitting atop the beat-up TV. Violetta could see and hear them this time. "You really think hurting these two will get you anything? I'm the one you want." Desert Dog's ears perked up and she tried to scream out a warning behind her gag again, wishing for the world she'd paid attention to her grandfather when he tried to teach her Morse code. Violetta quieted her down with a rough slap across the face that could be heard through the speakers, the coyote whimpering in pain again. "Quiet down, bitch," Violetta snarled. "The adults are talking." The raccoon cringed as she heard her friend suffer. But, she bit down on her lip. She had to let War Wolf do the talking here. She couldn't take any chances; not with what happened just hours earlier. "Yes, you're the one I want," Violetta replied at last. "Which is why it got me all sour when little ringtail there got in the way of our eternal dance. Then it occurred to me: I could make her pay for that and get what I ultimately want all in one go." She looked to Miracle and put on a patronizingly sweet face. "Honey, do you want your friend here to live to see another sunrise?" Miracle, a little stunned by the situation, swallowed hard and nodded. "O-of course I do..." "How bad?" "Don't answer," War Wolf snapped, and Miracle immediately followed the order. The wolfess glared daggers at Violetta. "We're not playing your sick games. I know how you end them." The lynx laughed. "Oh...you don't know how this one's gonna end. Miracle, I'm going to do you a favor. See that wolf next to you? All of this, all of the suffering and deaths, it's all her fault. If you never met her, none of this would've happened. So now you get to fix that." She nodded downward. "See that gun on the table? Shoot her. Kill War Wolf and I'll let the coyote and you live happily ever after. Don't worry about her trying to stop you." Violetta grinned. "I know her too well. So much misplaced faith." Desert Dog twitched hard in her bonds, shaking her head. She snapped out of much of her fear to try to convince them not to do it out of pure body language. It was hard but she knew in her heart of hearts she'd never forgive herself if Miracle went through with it. Violetta pistol whipped her again, stunning the coyote as she put the barrel back to DD's temple. "Don't think I forgot about your hour... Time's almost up, ringtail." Miracle shook her head, being barely able to make out the gun on the table. "N-no... I can't do it... I can't kill War Wolf...." she said, a strained quality to her voice, as if she was getting very emotional. "I can't kill anyone.... not even for this!" War Wolf narrowed her eyes, studying Violetta's face as she spoke. "You'd be surprised what you're capable of," the lynx coaxed, "with the right motivation." She clicked the hammer back and pressed the gun once more to Desert Dog's head. "You have five seconds to kill War Wolf before the show ends with one last, bloody bang. I'll even use long, drawn out seconds to let you mull it over. Fiiiive..." A pang of anxiety gnawed in War Wolf's gut. She knew that face. Violetta was going to do it; she was even eager to. "I...I..." Miracle swallowed, panic rising in her chest. She could hear her own heartbeat; she was breaking out in a cold sweat. Desert Dog woke up just in time to let out a yip and look at the pistol in Violetta's hand, but tried to put on a brave face, swallowing. "Foouurrr..." War Wolf swallowed. She knew what had to be done. "Do it." "What?!" Miracle yelped. "War Wolf, I can't... " "Thrreeee..." With a growl, War Wolf picked up the gun and shoved it into Miracle's hands. "You promised you'd follow my orders in here. And I'm ordering you to do it. Now!" Miracle's paw started to shake and the gun nearly fell out of her paws. "But... But..." "Twwwoooo..." War Wolf forced the raccoon's fingers to grip the handgun and yanked it so the barrel was right against her heart. "Pull the trigger, or Desert Dog is dead!" Almost on cue, Tamara's bravado started to shatter and she whimpered hard, sobbing as she didn't want to die. "Oonnnee..." BANG! War Wolf's grip released from Miracle's paw and she fell backwards onto the floor, lying motionless, a smoldering hole in her costume. The smoking pistol clattered to the ground and Miracle dropped to her knees. "No.... no.... no no NO!" she cried, her voice rising. War Wolf had forced her to pull the trigger with her own finger! The heroine then dropped to all fours, loud sobs escaping her throat. Tears trickled out from under her visor. Violetta squealed out a gleeful little laugh. "I didn't think you'd actually do it! You're a stone-cold killer, girl." She sighed. "The end of an era. No more War Wolf following me. Sort of bittersweet, I've gotten so used to hating her. Oh well." She patted Desert Dog's muzzle. "I guess a deal's a deal. Tomorrow night, ten PM, storage room C of the Upper Colmaton DoubleTree. No tricks or traps." She snickered under her breath as she held up two fingers. "Scout's honor." The video feed cut out. Miracle sobbed bitterly, just like she had hours earlier, still on all fours. "WHY?! War Wolf, why did you make me do it?!" she screamed. She continued to sob and cry for two minutes. She'd never see her again... and she was just starting to learn from her. The heroine she most respected in the world, gone! At long last, her sobs finally quieted, but the bitter tears didn't stop. THUMP thump, THUMP thump. The raccoon's ears perked up as she continued to cry and sob quietly. THUMP thump, THUMP thump. It couldn't be... Miracle finally gathered the courage to gaze from the floor. A hacking cough erupted from War Wolf's muzzle, followed by a pained groan through gritting teeth. The wolfess placed her hand over the hole in her costume and croaked, "Shit..." Miracle scrambled over on her hands and knees, adrenaline piloting her. "War Wolf?! Y-y-you're alive?!" Fighting the pain in her chest, War Wolf pushed herself up to a sitting position and dug her finger into the hole. Miracle could sense now that there was a layer of black weaving under the crimson costume that hadn't been penetrated. The warped bullet fell out, thunking onto the ground. The wolfess took a deep breath and winced. "Looks like it. Feels like a cracked rib." Miracle was stunned. She had no idea War Wolf had a bulletproof costume. But... then she remembered... "New equipment, new gadgets, blah blah blah. Crimefighting stuff..." That's what Spectra was talking about! Miracle only could sniffle and rub her paw over her cheeks, trying to clean off her tears. "I... I just... you really think of everything, don't you?" she said, laughing in spite of herself. It was all she could do; she was so relieved. War Wolf climbed to her feet, seeming to notice for the first time how distraught Miracle was at the thought of her being dead. Quickly shifting from the awkward observation to the more pressing matter, she asked, "Did Violetta kill her?", fearing the answer. Miracle shook her head. "No... when she thought you were dead, she told me to go pick her up tomorrow night at ten at the Upper Colmaton DoubleTree." Holding back another grunt of pain as she lifted her arm to her ear, War Wolf touched her earpiece. "Spectra, Violetta still has Desert Dog. But we have one up on her now. She thinks I'm dead." A moment of silence came from the other end. "Um...why does she think that? And why do you sound so weird?" "The new suit went through an unplanned field test. I'm coming in." The wolfess looked to Miracle. "Violetta's going to want to end it. She'll try to kill you and Desert Dog both next time. I promise you, we're not going to let it happen." Finally with some semblance of composure, the raccoon nodded. "I believe you, War Wolf," she said, her voice a little strained from crying. She truly did. - Upper Colmaton, August 25, 9:45 P. M. - It was a sweltering night, and Miracle was thankful that she had on a shorter-sleeved uniform. She used her grapple gun to zip up the side of a small three-story building, the designated checkpoint. She was getting used to the tactics with this method. Miracle tried disengaging the hook and retracting just as she sensed she was at the roof. She did propel forward, but the landing was a little uncertain as she still felt blind coming down; Miracle dropped to one knee and huffed. "Oh... that was close..." she murmured. She made her way to the other side of the roof, sensing the large hotel across the street. The Upper Colmaton DoubleTree Hotel was one of the finest in the city. A perfect place for Violetta to use to commit her big scheme. She was sickly grandiose in that way. War Wolf had instructed her to keep a lookout at that roof. It also served a dual purpose: from that height, the raccoon heroine would not be able to discern the wolfess infiltrating the hotel. War Wolf believed going in as her civilian self, hiding in plain sight, would be the best and most discreet option. Miracle pressed a finger to the Bluetooth earpiece, trying to block out the sounds of the device's inner workings her sensitive hearing registered; it was convenient for War Wolf to use it, however, so she agreed to it for the operation. "War Wolf, I'm across the street from the hotel. Are you in?" - Erica Decker's high heels clicked on the sidewalk outside the hotel. She kept her pace swift but inconspicuous, looking just like any other businesswoman on a tight schedule in her black skirt suit, suitcase in-hand. She brushed a few strands of hair over her ear, tapping her communicator earpiece in the process. "Going in now. Start making your way to the delivery bay door." "Roger." Erica smiled and nodded at the doorman who opened the way inside for her and gave a quick once-over of the lobby. Nothing out of the ordinary, or at least nothing Violetta was making known yet. She made her way toward the restaurant near the elevators, passing dozens of smiling couples and travellers, jazz music from the bar giving a false sense of calm. Down a hallway beside the restaurant was a pair of double doors marked "Employees Only." Checking to make sure no one was looking, she eased the door inward and found it locked. Red flag. Erica slipped a clip from her hair and used it to pick the lock, cracking it within half a minute. Before entering, she slipped off her shoes and nestled them along with the briefcase behind a nearby potted plant. Slowly, her footfalls nearly inaudible, she slipped into the back room, a large receiving bay for food and equipment with two closed semi-truck ports at the far end. She heard voices and crept toward them, using the stock shelves and crates for cover. Three armed men in black fatigues stood chatting it up near the external exit door, two warehouse workers in blue jumpsuits sprawled on the ground beside them. Erica noted with relief that their chests were rising and falling. Only knocked out. Uncharacteristically merciful of Violetta's usual mercenary hires. She decided to return the favor and not hurt them too badly. Breaking cover, Erica sprinted at them, still silent on bare feet. She leapt into a spinning kick and caught the first one in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious before he even hit the ground. The one to her right raised his rifle only to have his arm grabbed and twisted behind him. With his buddy now blocking his shot, the last goon's hesitation sealed his fate. Erica kicked out her hostage's knee and vaulted over him, springing off his back into a downward punch that broke the third thug's nose. A strike to the temple for him and back-kick to put the second gunman down and the room was clear. With how quickly it ended, none would be able to identify her apart from any other female wolf. "Miracle, stand by." Erica said, ignoring the resurgence of throbbing pain from her rib. She slipped a pair of compact wire cutters from her inside pocket and cut the automatic alarm cables near the door hinges before unlocking it and shoving it open. "Door's open. I'm heading upstairs." Her breathing barely heavier than when she left, Erica straightened her hair, slipped her shoes back on, and walked away with her briefcase toward the elevator. - The raccoon heroine had made her way to the back of the hotel, careful to not attract the attention of any patrons or other civilians. One slip-up and this whole operation could have been blown completely. Miracle hugged the wall of the hotel and crept along, her feetpaws' radar sense guiding her. She heard the patrons inside, but no one seemed to be outside as she turned the corner and peeked. She smelled the hotel's several dumpsters, and the fresh exhaust of a shuttle van parked in the back. She was careful not to step in any strewn garbage. However, she didn't hear any heartbeats outside. Good. Miracle kept to the wall and felt the cold metal handle of the door. Gingerly opening it, the raccoon snuck inside and quietly pushed the door shut. She pressed a finger to her ear. "I'm in. No one spotted me." - The elevator chimed and allowed Erica out onto the tenth floor, where she and Spectra had pinpointed the webcam transmission from the derelict apartment building. All she had was a floor number. As to what room Violetta occupied, that was up to some on-site spying. The wolfess strode down the east side of the floor first, ears perked to any odd sounds, eyes alert for any telltale signs. With nothing of note, she passed the elevators and checked the west side. Time was running out. At last, she turned a corner and found a bull leaning against the doorframe of room 1014, wearing a suit as if it made him itch. He seemed annoyed that his boredom was interrupted by the wolfess and gave her a suspicious eye as she passed. For her part, Erica smiled and said, "Good evening," sparing half a second's glance over him. It was enough to see the padding of a ballistics vest under his shirt and the bulge of a holster beneath his jacket. Erica hurried to the vending machine room, locked the door behind her, and opened her suitcase on the ground. The mask of War Wolf stared back at her, resting atop her costume and belt. She unbuttoned her shirt and began to change. "Miracle, I found Violetta's room. What's your situation?" - "I'm in the back hallways from the lobby. Working on finding the basement. That's where Violetta said Desert Dog would be held. It has to be." Miracle made her way through the hallways, keeping out of sight from any patrons. The last thing she needed was attention from them or a mass panic. She worked her way over to the basement-access stairs, brushing her paw over the mandatory Braille label to confirm it as the correct door. Slowly creeping down the stairs, Miracle listened hard for any noises. All she heard was the loud whirring of air conditioner fans. Needing to stick to one wall, she edged along it and made out where doors were located. She felt the labels as quickly as she could. "JANITOR CLOSET" "MAID SUPPLIES" "STORAGE ROOM A" There. She kept to that side and felt the other labels. "STORAGE ROOM B...." The next, of course, was Storage Room C. The raccoon pressed her ear against the door, listening for anything inside. She could hear a whimpering and a groaning, a soft thumping on something big. Throwing open the door, Miracle saw a horrible sight. The beaten and bruised form of Desert Dog was stretched out over a device that was beeping along, clearly waiting for Miracle, ropes roughly around her wrists and ankles keeping her tied on top. She wriggled around, still in her dirty and torn uniform, a little bit of fresh blood weeping from the gunshot wound on her right thigh. She grunted around the old and dirty zip tie gag, finding her situation a complete turnaround from Atlanta. "Desert Dog!" Miracle cried out quietly. She knew it was her friend; she could smell dirty coyote fur mixed with blood and could hear the sound of her rapid heart beat, as she was scared. She recognized that from her emotional time with her in Georgia's capital. The raccoon activated her comlink quickly. "War Wolf, I've found Desert Dog. Violetta's set up a bomb in the basement and tied her to it. I'm going to free her," she said. Tamara weakly looked at the doorway, her eyes opening and widened a bit when she saw Miracle. She shook it weakly, trying to warn her. "Nnnnnn.. plllsszz..." Suddenly a TV attached to the device booted up and the face of Violetta appeared on the screen, her evil face laughing at them both. "Here you go Miracle," she said with a grin. "Your friend as promised. Oh...there's a small catch though. You've got several minutes to say goodbye before the bomb goes off. In the meantime, I've sent you a few playmates to make sure you stick around for it," she said, adding with a mock whisper as if keeping a secret, "But don't tell them that. They think I'm not going to set it off until they're clear." Miracle suddenly heard the onset of several sets of boots and pulled back into the large room. "Hang on Desert Dog, I'm coming..." she said, gingerly walking over to the bomb. The raccoon felt around to the edges of the bomb, untying Desert Dog's wrists and ankles from the cylindrical device. She gently removed the zip tie from her friend's muzzle, cringing at the grooves she felt through her fur all the way into her flesh a bit that the gag had left. "Miracle..." Desert Dog croaked out as the raccoon helped her gingerly to her feet. She winced hard at her right leg as the gunshot wound caused a shock of pain through her body. "You have... you have to go... leave me here... please..." "I'm not leaving without you, Desert Dog." The doors burst open as three tough-looking goons armed with several weapons burst in the room. Miracle cringed at their arrival. Desert Dog weakly chanted out a spell, bringing some of the dust and rocks from the room to act as a brace to bolster her leg up the best she could. "Looks like we have company." - A silver sphere the size of a marble rolled down the hallway and came to rest at the bull guardsman's feet. He gave it a curious look and bent down to study it closer, only to have it explode in his face with a burst of acrid smoke. He doubled over, hacking and coughing, eyes tearing up so badly he never saw the crimson and black-clad heroine coming. A rough hand grabbed one of his horns and slammed his face onto her knee, knocking him cold. War Wolf knelt by the door, breathing comfortably with her rebreather, and took a special piece of equipment from her belt that she'd packed for this night: a snake cam interfaced with a PDA. Creeping the pencil-thin camera underneath the door, she studied the room. Violetta apparently decided to splurge for her supposed victory over the heroines and got herself a penthouse. Five goons mingled around the open living room area, two of them seated and watching a baseball game with their rifles out of arm's reach. A winding staircase ascended off to the left leading to the second floor bedroom. If Violetta was here, she wasn't in view. War Wolf huffed thoughtfully. She hated going in blind like this with enough potential firing points upstairs to turn the living room into a killzone, but time wasn't on her side. With the revelation that Violetta intended to take out Miracle and Desert Dog with a bomb, likely along with plenty of other people in the blast radius, her options were thin. She'd have to go in hard. After taking her rebreather off, War Wolf slipped an explosive disc from her belt and smacked it onto the door, the adhesive holding it in place. She watched the light beneath the doorway and waited for the shadow of someone coming to check on the sound before priming the charge. She covered her ears and looked away. BOOM! The explosion ripped the door from its hinges and blew it inward, the concussive force toppling the unlucky goon unconscious. War Wolf dove into the room, unleashing two shurikens in midair before tucking into a shoulder roll. The razor-sharp weapons found their marks in two of the armed mercs' shoulders, causing one to drop his rifle with a shriek and the other to recoil in pain, firing a burst harmlessly into the ceiling. War Wolf finished them off with a flurry of precision strikes while the two sports lovers fumbled for their weapons in a panic. She leapt at them as they brought their rifles to bear, kicking one gun away just as the goon pulled the trigger, redirecting his shot into his comrade's leg. As he screamed and went down, the wolfess kicked out the merc's leg and drove her elbow into his chest, dropping him for the count. She then mercifully put the gunshot victim to bed with a temple jab. Movement out of the corner of her eye drew her attention to the large window where the dim reflection of a form behind her gave away another gunmen. She hit the deck and tilted the coffee table just as a handgun opened fire from the balcony overlooking the living room, rounds splintering the wood but thankfully not penetrating the makeshift cover. Grabbing another explosive disc, she side- armed it over her cover and heard it stick into place...under the balcony. "Ha!" the gunman taunted as he reloaded. "Missed me, bitch." "Wait for it..." War Wolf uttered under her breath. The explosion blew out the bottom of the balcony, collapsing it in front of the doorway. She peeked over to see the cocky thug groaning, half-buried in the rubble. Another gun opened up from the top of the winding stairs, the large .45 Long Colt bullets tearing through the coffee table like a graham cracker. War Wolf didn't need to look to know who was firing; the distinctive sound had haunted her long enough. Diving from cover, she hurled a shuriken toward the muzzle flash, knocking Violetta's pistol from her grasp. But the lynx barely missed a beat. She leapt from the stairs, combat knife gleaming in the bright light as she unsheathed it, and landed already swinging. War Wolf blocked and parried the incoming swipes with her reinforced gauntlets, but her own instincts did her in. When Violetta spun into a side kick, War Wolf let it hit her, normally able to shrug it off and use the break in lethal attack to press her own advantage. But so focused was she on the fight that her own rib injury slipped her mind. Her chest erupted in blinding pain as Violetta's boot slammed into her cracked rib. The wolfess went down hard, clutching her chest, each breath a pained gasp. "Ha! Look at this!" Violetta laughed wildly. "You know, half of me hoped you somehow survived that shot. Glorious as a War Wolf-free world would be, being cheated out of killing you myself...well, it just made me want to kill Miracle more. Even though I told her to do it. I know, weird, right?" Groaning in pain, War Wolf gritted her teeth and tried to pull another shuriken from her belt, but Violetta was upon her in a flash and stomped on her wrist, pinning it to the ground. She pulled her second revolver from her rear holster, cocked the hammer, and trailed the barrel down from War Wolf's neck between her breasts. "What's your secret?" the lynx near-whispered. "Bulletproof vest under there? Nah, too thin. Some kind of magnetic bullet-bouncing thing? Hm, maybe you really are just the dark avenging angel all those sheep in Grant City think you are." She pressed the barrel against War Wolf's forehead. "I bet this can kill an angel. Shall we find out?" She pulled out a thin device with a button on it, War Wolf recognized it as a remote detonator. "Or should I blow your friends up before finishing you off? What...you think I'd have a timer without a backup?" - Desert Dog looked to Miracle with worry; the coyote seemed weaker than before. She shook her head, looking to the goons that were setting up with dark grins on their faces. "Violetta said that we should, ah, take as long as we liked roughin you up," the head goon, a rat with a lead pipe in his hands said. Miracle looked at the small group: there were six of them. All with blunt objects. Maybe one had a pistol. Miracle only smiled. "We're in a hurry, y'all, so can we make this quick?" she asked. The rat just laughed and waved to the two toughs, a rhino and zebra both with heavy chains to move forward and take down the heroines. Both Miracle and Desert Dog took an offensive stance as they advanced. Both swung their chains in two different directions, hoping to catch the raccoon into dodging into one of the swings. But the chains cut through the air like heavy weights to the raccoon, making it easy for her to dodge to the right. She countered with a hard smack to the zebra's neck, making him stumble and fall onto his teammate. The rat lunged forward with his pipe, just missing Miracle while she was dealing with his buddies. There was a loud clank as it caromed off the bomb. The vibration stunned the rat briefly and Miracle side- kicked him away from the device, sending him crashing into the wall. "Get away from that!" the raccoon snapped. "You want to blow us all to Kingdom Come?!" Desert Dog looked worried as she flashed back to the bomb. Violetta had said a few minutes and clearly the goons were meant to just delay. She tried to motion for Miracle to get clear before the bomb exploded and took them all with her. Her friend didn't listen, instead turning her attention to the rest of the goons. They weren't budging, so she tried to egg them on. DD cracked her fist across the face of a puma that tried to slide next to them to split the heroines up, sliding him across the floor to bowl over the two goons with chains that were just about to get up. "Come on! You guys as fight as bad as you smell?" Miracle taunted. "We're wasting time, Miracle," Desert Dog gruffed. "We've not got long before this place blows. Look, I'm just a liability. I'll slow you down." "Fight as much as you can... I can't do it without you, DD." Desert Dog looked to her friend with ears pinned back to her skull in fear. She felt a pang of guilt mixed with a well of relief. And pride that she was worth coming after by her friend. Again. She laced her hand into Miracle's for a second while the goons lay at their feet. "Then what do you know about stopping a bomb? It's not exactly in an archaeology student's... nngh.. study." "I don't know much either... and you're the one that can see... but there has to be a detonation mechanism around the timer like the last time we dealt with a bomb. Let's look for it." "Last time?" she said, holding her leg. It was bleeding through the makeshift brace. "I sorta... nn.. sorta threw a temper tantrum... didn't know what I was doing." Miracle nodded quickly. "I know, but I need you to be my eyes. Come on..." The raccoon felt along the bomb, listening for the indicative beeps of the timer. She did notice that the area vibrated subtly around the timer. Yes, that area must be it. "Over here, DD, look at this." She looked around, seeing a few wires in on the flashing light and beeper. She nodded. "That looks sorta like the other one. We've got to hurry.... Should we just yank it out?" "How much time do we have left?" "Uh... not longI think," she replied. "There's no clock here..." Miracle closed her eyes under her visor. "We don't have a choice then. Try to rip it out!" Desert Dog swallowed and nodded, grabbing the device and pulling hard. The bomb sparked and she let out a feared yip knowing for sure they were dead before.... it seemed to just stay there. The timer in her paw died, which suggested that it could have worked. Miracle felt the vibrations around the timer stop. Mechanic sounds halted within the bomb. It seemed to die down and stop working. The raccoon breathed a sigh of relief. "I think... I think we did it..." Desert Dog sighed and smiled, nodding as she looked to Miracle. "We... gotta get out of here... Are you here by yourself?" Miracle shook her head quickly. "No. War Wolf's upstairs. She's trying to go after Violetta." Desert Dog's eyes widened underneath her mask. "What the hell are you talking about?! I saw her make you shoot her! She was dead!" Miracle shook her head. "I thought so too, but she had a bulletproof material underneath her costume. She only suffered a cracked rib, she said." Desert Dog whistled low at the thought. "Smart," she replied. "Makes a lot of sense but... what are we gonna do now?" A pang of fear and anxiety welled up in Miracle's heart, but she tried to suppress it. "We're going to go help her take down Violetta," she said. Desert Dog growled as she hobbled to the doorway, though it looked like the adrenaline from fighting was picking her up. "She better save a piece for me... I owe that bitch more than a slapping around. She... shot me just for fun." Miracle gritted her teeth as she watched her friend hobble. She didn't know how much the coyote could help, but she wasn't going to deny her friend the opportunity to help War Wolf if she felt capable. There was a bigger goal at stake here, one that would take a big risk or two. "Right... let's go. And be careful." Desert Dog spied the fire alarm on the wall as they made their way to the service stairway. "I have an idea..." The coyote reached up and pulled the fire alarm. Miracle pressed her ears to her head to attempt to block out the noise, but she nodded in agreement. "Good thinking, DD, that'll save some lives if that bomb decides to go off." They started to work their way upstairs by the service stairway as guest and employees filed out of the hotel. Along the way, Miracle thought why she wanted to help take down Violetta. She knew War Wolf could use all the help she could get. And she had to do it for three murdered in front of her. The two heroines hurried via the back stairs, up to the tenth floor. Desert Dog had to stop every other floor to catch her breath, wheezing a bit with the crash of her adrenaline. But her hatred of the lynx was powering her now, though by the time the two reached the tenth floor, Desert Dog's right leg was bleeding all the way down to her boot and she was leaning on Miracle for support. "Come on, DD, we're almost there..." Miracle almost had to drag Desert Dog into the hallway, but she immediately sensed slumped forms and lessened heartbeats, indicative of unconscious forms. "No one's standing..." Miracle's ears then perked up as she heard a gasp of pain. She quickly removed the comlink from her ear and pocketed it in her belt so she wouldn't be distracted by the subtle whine of the device. Thanks to the quietness of the hallway, it was easy to hear the one-sided conversation Violetta was having. Desert Dog looked to her and whispered, "What's going on?" "Violetta's talking to War Wolf... I can hear War Wolf gasping... she's in pain..." "Then it's our cue!" Desert Dog ran in, chanting under her breath. There wasn't much to work with, but the dirt from the potted plants in the suite as well as loose gravel and stones from decorative fountains mixed with some of the debris of the marble formed into a small staff. She ran in, clutching it as she just hopped over the prone bodies. Miracle followed close behind, taking out her staff and unfurling the hidden whip all in one motion as she leapt over the prone bodies herself. Violetta had the muzzle of her revolver to War Wolf's forehead and a device in her paw. "Hey Violetta!" Desert Dog yelled out, distracting the lynx for just long enough to set up Miracle. "I think you left out something!" The raccoon darted forward and struck quickly with her whip. The end of it struck at Violetta's left paw and she yowled in frustration and pain as the detonator flew out of her paw and skidded across the floor briefly, settling under one of the suite's large beds. "You left out that War Wolf has backup too!" Miracle finished. Desert Dog moved forward and brought her staff down hard on Violetta's shoulder, a loud crack echoing out as the lynx was forced to drop her gun. Miracle finished the volley by swiftly bringing her left leg around, catching Violetta in the chest and knocking her back and off of War Wolf. "That was for my thigh, you freak of nature..." Desert Dog growled out. "And that was for everything you've done to me these past few days," Miracle snarled. Desert Dog had to shift her stance to keep her wounded leg from buckling, but she shifted her legs quick, teeth grit to hide her pain as she loosened her grip on her staff, chanting out as her amulet glowed, the staff breaking up into individual orbs of hard earth and slamming into Violetta, aimed for her abdomen, face, and hands to keep her unbalanced while War Wolf recovered. Miracle complimented the attack by rushing in after the orbs; with Violetta staggering from the impacts of the hard stones, the raccoon retracted her whip and cold-clocked the lynx with a staff strike to the head, sending her flying into a wall. While Miracle let out her whip, Desert Dog looked over War Wolf, favoring her non-wounded leg as she held out her hand for the wolfess to pick herself up. "You all right?" she asked . "You look about as bad as I do." Violetta growled and rose to her feet as her nemesis stood as well. She took with her a handgun dropped by one of the felled goons and pointed it at the trio, licking a trickle of blood from the bottom of her lip. Her muzzle twisted in a sneer. "I'm starting to get sick of you two. Every time you come after me, it just ends in blood and death, but still here you are. If at first you don't succeed, and all that shit." She slowly stepped back toward the staircase, keeping the gun trained on them and the trigger half- pulled. "Too bad for you, I have the same outlook. Wolfie, I see that hand creeping around your belt. You could probably get a shuriken to me before I kill the bunch of you, but do you think I won't get at least one good shot off before it hits?" Desert Dog curled her fingers, wondering if she could get a shield up in time, though most of the earth she had to work with was at Violetta's feet. She knew that it would be just the same as the shuriken at War Wolf's belt... would they have a chance to beat a bullet? Miracle knew she could dodge any bullet that Violetta shot at her, even if it was a series of them. However, the counter was a mystery to her. She had to get close to get in any more hits, and unfurling the whip again would take the precious split second that she didn't have. With War Wolf and Desert Dog to think of, she didn't have many options. Violetta produced a small black device from her pocket with a red trigger. As she neared the top of the stairs, she held it up for them to see. "Drag out the game all you want, it'll always end the same way: how I want it to." "Give it up," War Wolf demanded. "No one's left down there for that bomb to kill." Violetta scoffed and chuckled. "Now why would I want to blow that bomb? Everyone I want to kill is right here with me." She waved and, before disappearing into the bedroom, said, "Gotta run." After only a single step in pursuit of the lynx, a loud beeping from behind War Wolf halted her. Furrowing her brow, she followed the sound back into the middle of the living room and flipped the couch over, grunting in pain from the effort. But her blood ran cold and her pain was forgotten at the sight of three blocks of C4 duct taped to the belly of the couch, each pulsing red. "Miracle...take out your grapple." The raccoon did, hearing the beeping sounds. "What's that??" Without a word, War Wolf sprung into action. She knew the end of one of Violetta's "games" when she saw one. No timer, no video, no taunting, just a big bang. She tackled Desert Dog and crashed through the window, pulling Miracle with her as well. The rush of the cool night air as they plummeted toward the pavement lasted only a moment before heat erupted behind them. KA-THOOOOOOM! The explosion threw fire and glass into the night. Still holding Desert Dog tight, War Wolf fired her grapple at the hotel. Beside the lupine heroine, Miracle fired her grapple gun herself. The hooks flew up to the hotel. War Wolf's caught a hold on a balcony. Miracle's hook caromed off the wall, and she knew instantly she missed. "OH NO!" Desert Dog's eyes widened as she saw Miracle start to split off from them as they arced towards a window. Wriggling out of War Wolf's grasp a little, she made a split second decision, grabbing Miracle by the waist as the three of them arced toward a window. The raccoon yelped and dug her free paw into Desert Dog's shoulder, just making the pain worse for the coyote "This.. nnngh.. is gonna suck!" Desert Dog yelled out as they crashed through the window. She felt her already ragged thigh snap from the bad luck that it was the leg she instinctively threw out to brace. Glass flew around them, shredding their costumes and cutting small patches of fur as the three heroines tumbled into the hotel room. War Wolf lay still, breathing heavily, her eyes clenched shut against the pain of the descent and swing on her rib. She grunted out, "You both okay?" Miracle groaned, holding her shoulder where the broken shards of window had cut her. She was also bleeding from her leg a little bit. The raccoon was bruised from the earlier fights and sore from the general ordeal, but she nodded slowly. "I-I'm alright, War Wolf..." Desert Dog was wheezing, eyes dilating from the sheer pain of her shoulder and broken thigh. She whined softly, trying to pick herself up on her good arm. "I... nngh... hospital..." she wheezed out. The wolfess slowly climbed to one knee and looked at Desert Dog, grimacing at her condition. She touched her ear. "Spectra, notify EMS around the hotel that there are two with emergency needs on the..." She ran the descent through her head, calculating which floor they'd swung into. "...fourth floor." "Are you guys okay? What happened?" "Make the call. I'll explain later." Miracle looked up from lying propped on the floor. "Wait... 'two?' What are y'all gonna do about your rib, War Wolf?" she asked. War Wolf stood up the rest of the way and replied, "Don't worry." She slowly stepped over to the door and opened it. Leaning against the doorframe, she controlled her breathing to reduce the knife-like pain of each breath and kept her ears perked for the EMS crew. After a few minutes, the sound of multiple hurried footsteps echoed through the emergency stairwell by the nearby elevator bank. When they arrived, the crew found the open door and two wounded heroines. Miracle and Desert Dog were given treatment, but they kept their experiences to themselves. There was no need to burden them with Violetta. They had enough of it already. - August 26th - Colmaton Memorial Hospital - One wing of the hospital was a special wing, set up by the Bureau of Superheroes to help injured supers keep their identities secret. Though Desert Dog and Miracle were off the official registration, the connections that Miracle had started to forge had let them in with a few favors. Desert Dog was in her tattered costume, her mask still in place as she had her shoulder and leg in strong casts, her thigh fractured and shoulder dislocated. Mostly everything else was bruising but unlike Miracle that had been able to be patched up and left the same night, Desert Dog was still laid up, spending the whole day in and out on a morphine drip. Miracle sat by her friend's bed on a black leather-cushioned chair. She felt a little responsible to a degree for the state that Desert Dog was in, but she tried to push that out of her head by reminding herself that it was Violetta that did those things to her friend. She did what was right; she had no control over a madwoman. Still, she couldn't help but think: just two short years ago, she was seated in a similar-cushioned chair, watching over her mother laid up in a hospital bed. Desert Dog's eye fluttered open, a groan escaping her throat. Things were feeling a bit better though they'd have to make up a damn good reason for her to miss school. She shifted and looked over to where Miracle was sitting. "Nnngh... What day is it?" she muttered, sitting up. She felt loopy with the morphine in her system. "It's Monday... don't worry, you haven't been here that long." Miracle assured her. "Nnngh... I feel like crap," she groaned. "Is everything ok? The hotel and everyone? I'm.." She coughed a bit. "Sorry I caused you this much trouble." Miracle shook her head. "There's nothing to be sorry about. I thought about the same thing, but this is all Violetta's doing, not ours," she said matter-of-factly, indicating with her tone she had been trying to steel her resolve with that apology. The raccoon then sighed a little bit, the explosion running through her mind. "The police said that the only casualties were Violetta's unconscious goons upstairs. We got everyone else out of the floor in time." It pained the raccoon to admit that others died, but then she had already experienced death first-hand in the past week. Desert Dog nodded, settling back. "It's regrettable but it doesn't surprise me that Violetta is willing to sacrifice her own goons," she said with a grunt as a wave of pain ran through her. "Nnngh.. I think this heroing thing is going to kill me." A voice from the open window startled the heroines. "You at least better get used to hospital food." War Wolf crouched on the sill, her cape fluttering a bit in the breeze. She wore a new costume, one free of the rips and bloodstains suffered in the hotel. Hopping down into the room, she stepped over to the door and gently closed it with barely a sound. With a nod of greeting, she picked up the chart from the foot of Desert Dog's bed and looked it over before replacing it. "Full recovery expected. Good." Miracle nodded, as did Desert Dog. "Yeah, the doctors said DD's recovering well despite all the injuries she had suffered," replied Miracle. "They said the shot she took to the thigh missed her major arteries." War Wolf nodded. "Nothing from Violetta today?" The raccoon shook her head. "Not a thing. She hasn't been reported seen since we fought her last night... I really don't believe that she died in the blast." she said, remembering the strange vibrations from the mirror the first time that she encountered the assassin. There was no question in War Wolf's mind that Violetta was still out there. Desert Dog grit her teeth and sat up. "War Wolf... I want to thank you for coming with Miracle for me. This isn't how I imagined us working together." The wolfess looked Desert Dog over. She'd come to the hospital not only to ensure the other two heroines were alright, but with another goal in mind. One she hadn't been looking forward to, but one she knew had to happen. Seeing the coyote as she was now only strengthened her resolve. They'd all survived a few nights of Violetta's wrath. That wasn't an outcome that was likely to repeat itself should the lynx resurface, and she refused to let the circumstances arise again. "Work together?" War Wolf shook her head. "Violetta captured you without breaking a sweat and I had to hold this one's hand all over Colmaton...after she let Violetta escape at the antique store. That's not working together. That's a burden." Both heroines looked aghast at what War Wolf had said. Desert Dog in particular had her ears pinned back, looking down at her feet. She didn't know what to say to the angry wolfess. Miracle couldn't believe what she was hearing either, the evidence of that noted with her worried look. Was that all she was to War Wolf: a liability? "War Wolf, I know we're not the most experienced, but I..." she said, suddenly trailing off. It was like the words completely vanished from her mouth and she was unable to speak again. "No, you're not," War Wolf snapped. "You should be taking down purse-snatchers and muggers, not stumbling into armed robberies involving hardened killers. You think this is a game? Some kind of hobby?!" "No! I've never thought that!" Miracle said back quickly with a raised voice. "I never would have become a heroine if I thought it was just a game!" Her voice cracked. Desert Dog just took it stoically. "Maybe she's right...," she said softly. "Two of my major operations ended with me captured." Miracle bit her lip herself. She had been captured a handful of times as well. "I have too, but that doesn't mean..." she started, suddenly finding herself at another loss for words with War Wolf's steely gaze. Both she and War Wolf had run-ins with Sandstalker, something Miracle was thankful Desert Dog never had to face. In fact, the raccoon was still dealing with the stress of the experience. It left so many unanswered questions. War Wolf glared at each of them in turn and focused on Miracle. "You may have guts, but until you have the skill to back it up, you're out of your league." She shifted her eyes to Desert Dog. "But at least Miracle has confidence. Being inexperienced is liability enough against villains, but that pathetic lack of confidence is going to get you and others killed." Shaking her head, she turned back toward the window. "I'm fighting a war out there and I don't need greenhorn diapers to change while I'm fighting it. Until you can both last a fight like last night without ending up in traction or crying about it, I don't want either of you around me. Is that clear?" Miracle was now at a loss for words; the heroine she most respected didn't want to see her for the near future. She knew she meant it, and who knows how long it would take for her to be ready for her approval? "Good." With that, War Wolf stepped onto the window sill and leapt out, disappearing from view. A few moments later, the crack of her grapple gun broke the silence. Miracle dropped back into her seat. She didn't know what to do now. Desert Dog just slumped, looking to Miracle with sadness in her eyes. - War Wolf alighted on an apartment rooftop a few blocks from the hospital and sat on an empty overturned barrel of tar, rusted and forgotten. Letting out a long sigh through her nose, she rested her elbow on her knee and covered her eyes with her hand. The swinging and climbing had caused her rib to throb a bit, but that wasn't why she stopped. She felt like the bottom of her boot after a slog through Colmaton's seediest alley and it had nothing to do with her injury. She would've rather taken another kick to the chest than go through what she just did in the hospital. "It's done," she said, tapping her earpiece. "I'm coming back." "How are they?" Spectra asked on the other end. "They'll live." "Did you tell them it would be a good idea if they weren't seen with you for a while," she pursued. The wolfess paused. "In a way." "What's that supposed to mean?" "Spectra, you remember the night you first put on a mask? What did I tell you to do then?" The lioness replied, "To not under any circumstances leave the bunker and help you." "And what did you do?" "Left the bunker and helped you." War Wolf gave an amused grunt at how proud her partner still sounded about it. "Well, Miracle's like that, in her own way. If I told her and Desert Dog to stay away from me for their own safety, because Violetta might go after them again, I know that Miracle at least would hear none of it. So I had to make them want to stay away from me." Spectra gave a heavy sigh, catching on to what her partner had done. "Dammit, Erica..." "I'd rather they hate me than end up dead because of me. You have experience with Violetta and Strikira has the Bureau at her back. But these two...they're just starting. They have real potential and I will not let Violetta cut that short." "You can't--" "I feel shitty enough about it as is," War Wolf growled, cutting her off. "I don't need to hear it. I didn't become a hero to make friends and play around, I did it to protect people. If what I just did accomplishes that, then so be it." She rubbed her face again. True as what she claimed may have been, it didn't make her feel much better. "Can we leave it at that?" Spectra remained silent for a few moments before finally replying, "Okay. I get it. Not what I'd do, but I get it. Come home, you shouldn't be out for long with that rib healing." "I'll be back soon." War Wolf cut the connection. She slipped off her gloves and caressed the gold wedding band on her ring finger, wanting to feel it without the barrier of the gloves. That little circle, forever a part of her, gave her comfort, the way it always had. She didn't know if she did the right thing back at the hospital, but it was the best way that she knew how to protect the two younger heroines from Violetta. After a few more minutes of solitude, she kissed the ring twice, once for her husband and once for her son, and tugged her gloves back on. She began the descent to her motorcycle hidden in the alley, her heart heavy. - Miracle and Desert Dog hadn't said a word since War Wolf had left. They were still trying to comprehend why she said those things. A familiar beeping then rang in the raccoon's right ear and she instinctively pressed it. "Yes? Spectra?" she asked in an uncertain tone, not knowing for certain who was contacting her. "Hey there. Yeah, it's me. How're you two doing? War Wolf filled me in on what happened last night." "Desert Dog is okay, considering everything that happened to her... bruises, cuts, broken thigh, getting shot... the doctors said she'll recover. I'm fine, nothing more serious than bad cuts." Spectra responded in an annoyed tone, "It's killing me that I wasn't there. I would've hobbled there to help if I could, but War Wolf made me stay put." She paused. "Speaking of her...um...she stopped by a bit ago, right?" "She did. We spoke. It... mmh... didn't go well," Miracle started, a bit of a lump catching in her throat. Desert Dog's ear perked up but Miracle waved her off for the moment. "I didn't think so. Listen...War Wolf would kill me if she knew I was telling you this, so don't tell her, but..." She paused, trying to find the right words, the right way to explain. When she collected her thoughts she sighed a little. "Make sure Desert Dog hears this too; I think she needs to know as well." Miracle scooted the chair over closer to her friend's hospital bed. "She needs to say something to both of us," the raccoon explained, taking out the earpiece to hold it in between them. Tamara shifted up and nodded, leaning in the best she could. "Girls... you have no idea how much Violetta has taken from War Wolf. I've been with her for years and even I will probably never be able to understand how she feels. I think the thought of Violetta taking more people she cares about frightens her more than she'd ever admit. The way she was with you just now...she did that to try and keep you away, so Violetta won't come after you again. She thinks she's poison to people she's around." "That explains a lot... it really upset me to hear her say all that. The truth is I respect her so much..." Miracle said quietly. Desert Dog nodded. She didn't know if she'd be heard but she had to say something. "I think I speak for Miracle when I say we want to learn to be better, we're not just resting on what we've got." "I know, and so does she." Spectra gave a soft chuckle. "Remember, I was trained by her. She was hard on me, to put it mildly. Took me a while to realize she's tough on me because she cares and because she believes in me. She wouldn't put so much effort into someone she didn't think had potential. You know, that's what she just said about you guys. Potential. She was really impressed with how you handled yourselves at the hotel. It's just...in Grant City, it was just her in the beginning fighting the good fight, then it was us two. She never had to worry about other heroes suffering because of her." The raccoon nodded a little. "I understand... at least as much as I can." The lioness hesitated on her end. She hoped hearing the truth would help. "Anyway, I just wanted you two to know what she really thinks of you. Miracle, you still have that GPS locator. Don't hesitate to use it if you need us, either of you. We'll be there, I promise." Desert Dog spoke up again. "And tell her that... if either of you need our help..." she replied. "We'll be there in a heartbeat." "We appreciate it. Rest up and get better soon, okay?" "We will. Thanks, Spectra," the coyote replied. "Oh, one more thing. Miracle...I was keeping on eye on the police reports from the past few nights in case something related to Violetta showed up. I found out the names of two of the people Violetta murdered at the convenience store. Stanley and Rachel Perkins. They owned the place together. I, uh...I just thought you might want to know. Sometimes for me, it helps to put a name to the faces." Miracle swallowed hard and bit her lip when she heard the news, trying not to tear up under her mask. Desert Dog brought an arm around the raccoon's shoulder to comfort her friend. "Yes, Spectra. It helps a lot... thank you." - Two Weeks Later, First Memorial Cemetery Miracle walked slowly, trying to show respect for the departed's graves. The directions she was given said that her destination was near. The gravel crunched beneath her paws as she kneeled down and felt the grave marker in front of her. Pure marble, almost ice cold to the touch. She brushed her paw across the names. PERKINS STANLEY / RACHEL DEVOTED HUSBAND AND FATHER LOVING WIFE AND MOTHER DIED AUGUST 24, 2013 The raccoon drew her paw back. "Stanley... Rachel ... it's Miracle. I tried to help you. I really did. I was just a scared girl that you didn't know. I tried to live up to my name, be your miracle... my friend Desert Dog, she was hurt too because of Violetta... she hurt a lot of furs during that time... " Miracle choked back a sob and swallowed. "... I don't want Violetta to be right. I didn't want to fail you. Wherever you are, I hope you believe me..." Her attempt to hold back ended in failure as she started to cry. The light rain soaked her hair and fur and her shoulders heaved. There was another crunch on the gravel, a sliding thump followed by a second step. Desert Dog came into view, her costume accented with a cape and cowl, which shielded her from the rain. The leg brace on her right thigh that made her walk slower. She still had some time to go before heroing again, but she felt that if Miracle was in costume, she should be too. Miracle heard Desert Dog approaching, but she didn't acknowledge her presence as she continued to shed tears for the victims, sobbing softly. The coyote knelt down next to Miracle, slipping a raincoat on her friend, then laying a hand on her shoulder. "It's ok, Erin," she whispered. "You are strong. You're a lot stronger than you know. You kept going even though you were scared for me and still mourning the victims..." Miracle nodded solemnly, sniffling. "Thanks, Tam..." Tam hugged Erin tightly as the raccoon brought out some small yellow flowers from her utility belt and laid them at the grave. Four of them: one for each victim, including the slain police officer and customer. "You remember telling me in Atlanta about the rough stuff we have to go through when we put on the masks?" Desert Dog asked. "We're still learning that lesson every day. And the way that War Wolf and Spectra talked to us there at the end, trying to help us, I... think we'll still be learning it when we're as experienced as they are.." Miracle nodded, some fresh tears trickling down her cheeks. "I know..." The two continued to pay their respects, a gentle drizzle falling on the graveyard. - The End