FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

I still owe money to the money to the money I owe

The floors are falling out from everybody I know

(The National)

---

Reynard knew how to arrange a romantic evening; that much was certain. He'd managed to get reservations at TanakaSan, which was no small feat. See, in order to get there, you basically either had to be a socialite of some sort or _murder_one and take their reservation. Maybe I ought to check the dumpster behind our apartment for bodies...

"Enjoying your sushi?" he asked.

"Everything is perfect," I enthused in response.

Reynard gave me one of those looks that said he wished he could just throw me across the table and have at it right then and there. I grinned back at him across the table, massaging his hand with my fingertips.

"So, you still up for that hike tomorrow morning?" Reynard asked, fiddling with his chopsticks as he looked around at the spare but elegant restaurant, replete with low tables and flickering votive candles floating in lacquer bowls.

"There isn't enough coffee in the world to get me up and going at the hour you wanted," I groaned.

"Some of us are just more adventurous than others," Reynard raised a brow, a grin on his lips.

"Some of us apparently don't need sleep," I shot back, mirroring his grin.

I glanced up as the sommelier, a handsome red fox dressed in a dark suit, appeared by the table, holding a bottle of white wine.

"A petite arvine, compliments of the house," he murmured, producing a glass and filling it.

"Thank you," I said, accepting the glass.

The sommelier filled Reynard's glass, already sitting on the table, before disappearing back towards the kitchen. I took a sip, relishing the light, fruity flavor of the wine.

"It's good!" I commented, smacking my lips. "Weird aftertaste though. Kinda acid,"

The arctic fox rolled his eyes. "You just have no palate. It's_fine_. Delicious body,"

Reynard fancied himself a sophisticated wine connoisseur. He was constantly dragging home bottles with bizarre, unpronounceable names. They all tasted more or less the same to me, but he was always going on about "hints of tangerine" and "oaky aromas" and other bullshit. Fucking pretentious-ass bastard. Yet somehow I still managed to put up with him.

"What I want to know is how he got that scar. You see that? It was on the side of his face. Badass sommelier there. Wonder if he got into an altercation with a corkscrew or something,"

I nodded numbly, offering up a half-hearted chuckle. Suddenly, I wasn't feeling so good. Reynard seemed a little out of focus and my head was throbbing.

"Hey, you okay?" Reynard frowned.

"I'm fine," I nodded, rubbing my brow.

"You sure? You don't look so good," Reynard's brow furrowed in concern.

"I think I know how I feel," I addressed the vaguely Reynard-shaped blob across the table from me. "Just... just lemme... I'll be right back,"

Pushing back from the table, I made my increasingly unsteady way towards the restroom. I pushed through the door, leaning over the sink and turning on the water.

Dipping my hands in the stream, I bathed my face with cool water, trying to restore some sort of clarity to my senses. It did absolutely nothing for the dull throbbing in my head.

My knees buckled and I toppled forward, gasping for breath as I clung to the porcelain lip of the sink for support. Everything was fading to darkness around me. I had to stay conscious. Had to stay conscious. Had to...

Black.

*****

It was Friday night, which meant I had a hot date with my couch and the next few episodes of Arrested Development on streaming. If anyone says that the bachelor life is sad and pitiful, well, they're just plain wrong.

I mean, I basically had ultimate freedom. Order in and just hang out? Fine by me. Cook for myself? Eh, I guess. Find a girl who wasn't looking for anything long-term and just have fun? Sure thing. My brother thought he was so great because he was dating someone, but last I checked, that obligated him to all sorts of evenings out and all that crap. Lame.

A knock at the door distracted me from my setup. Good. My take-out must have arrived. Grinning broadly, I hurried for the apartment door, cash in hand.

My face fell as I answered the door. "You aren't the delivery guy,"

"Warren, we need to talk,"

It was Reynard. He looked pale (well, more than usual, considering his silver-furred complexion and all), drumming his fingers nervously on the wall by the doorframe. I welcomed him in, opening the door for him to come into my living room.

"Sorry about the state of things," I mumbled half-heartedly, clearing a space for him to sit on the couch. "What's up?"

"Roger. He's...well, he's gone missing," Reynard was busy fidgeting with the tip of his bushy tail.

"Did you check the pantry? He's usually somewhere gorging his face, if things have remained the same as when we were growing up," I shrugged.

"I'm not kidding. We were out for dinner. TanakaSan," Reynard began.

I nodded. It was pretty apparent they'd been somewhere swanky. Reynard was usually well-dressed, but this time he was done up to the nines, wearing an impeccably tailored grey jacket and trousers with a thin ice blue tie that complemented his eyes nicely. Who am I kidding? I had to admit, Roger had a good taste in guys. Even I could see that.

"Go on," I prodded.

"Well, the restaurant's sommelier brought out some wine for us, on the house. Really classy move, I thought. But then Roger started feeling sick. But he never came back from the bathroom. When I went to check on him, nobody was in there," Reynard said. "It's not like Roger to just skip out like that. I'm really scared. He didn't say anything to you, did you? Call you or anything?"

I was frowning by the time Reynard finished his account. He was right. For all his faults, Roger wouldn't ever just bail on something like that.

"This is the first I'm hearing about this," I said. "He just randomly got sick? You don't remember anything odd at all?"

"Well... now that I think about it, we were given some free wine. But I didn't notice anything weird about it. Roger didn't seem to like it, though. He started feeling funny right after drinking it,"

I narrowed my eyes. Something was definitely off. I didn't like it one bit.

"I'm going to figure something out. Talk to that contact of yours," I said.

Maybe Ernest would have a thing or two to tell me. I had a very strong gut feeling about the whole thing. This situation had the grubby fingerprints of the cadre we'd encountered at the Bureau installation all over it, if my senses were correct. And my senses were rarely wrong.

*****

The world swam back into focus as I blinked into a bleary semi-consciousness. Sitting upright, I massaged my throbbing head, looking around and trying to regain my bearings.

The task didn't prove to be all that difficult, as I appeared to be back at home. I was sprawled naked on my unmade bed, surrounded by the familiar sights of my apartment. Reynard, though he couldn't have been bothered to tuck me into bed, had evidently taken the liberty of pulling off my clothes for me. Wow. Pretty apparent where his priorities lay... Heh. I pun.

"Rey?" I called, but there was no response.

He must have left for work already. Shit. What _time_was it? I glanced over at the clock, but the display was blank. Had it run out of batteries again, already? Should have gotten one with a power cord.

Cursing to myself, I swung my legs over the edges of the bed and padded across the room towards the closet. I could worry about the clock later. We probably had batteries somewhere.

I began thinking up tardiness excuses as I pulled open the closet door to pick out an outfit to wear. My jaw dropped.

"This isn't funny at all, hon," I snapped loudly, staring at the back wall of a completely empty closet.

Every other drawer in the room was in exactly the same condition, just as empty as the day we'd moved in and unpacked all the furniture. The arctic fox probably thought the whole thing was terribly hilarious.

I stalked into the living room, fully expecting to see Reynard, wearing nothing but a few strategically=placed somethings and a suggestive grin on his lips, lounging on the couch.

No dice. The living room was just as eerily still and sterile as the bedroom. Everything was there all right, but it was, well, wrong. I couldn't quite put my finger on what the problem was, but it just didn't feel like the same apartment.

Then the room shook, provoking a rather unmanly squeak on my part. Being a Saaduutsite, I was used to the occasional temblor. They _had_been predicting that "the big one" would be on its way soon, after all. And in my job, I was more than accustomed to being knocked off my feet by a gigantic person stomping around like they fucking owned the place. But this was... more.

I was thrown into the armchair as my universe shook once again, this time accompanied by a resounding voice that penetrated my very being.

"Roger Smith. It's a pity we had to meet this way,"

Attempting to swallow my fear and utterly failing, I called out in a wavering tone, "Who the fuck are you?"

The entire roof came off my apartment. It wasn't ripped off in chunks (not that it would have made it any less bizarre and unnerving), but in one clean piece, like the lid of a box.

Staring down at me was a red fox of immense proportions. He must have been hundreds of feet tall, staring down at me through cold amber eyes. I would have said his gaze made me feel naked were it not for the fact that I was already in a state of undress. My tail whipped around my waist in a feeble attempt at protecting my modesty.

My eyes widened as I noticed a thin scar along his jawline. Where had I seen that before? The sommelier from the night before. Oh, shit.

I gaped stupidly up at the grinning fox. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to scream or cry. For once in my life, I was speechless. My apartment, the final bastion of sanity and normalcy in my crazy, crazy life had been violated.

The gigantic fox laughed coldly. "Oh, gods. This is priceless. You think I'm a fucking giant, don't you? Just between you and me, I'm a little bit shorter than your average person. Not that it matters to you, pipsqueak, seeing as you're barely more than an inch tall,"

Oh gods. He was right. When I tore my eyes away from his cruel visage, I saw that over the fox's head was not the open sky but a ceiling. He was in a room. Shit. I must have been minuscule.

"Who are you?" I stammered at length. "How do you know my name?"

"My name is Todd. Frankly, that's more than what matters to you. And you're Roger. How do I know? Any fool can read an ID card," the massive fox (To me, okay? Just bear with it...) snorted derisively. "Besides. We've had an eye on you for a little while now; witness your lovely accommodations.

"You like it? This baby took me a few solid days of hard work to put together. All the product of extensively analyzing your apartment so it could be replicated more or less perfectly. One of the more interesting projects I've undertaken of late. Definitely more fun than filing endless stacks of paperwork, let me tell you,"

"But... why?" I asked stupidly.

That cold laugh again. I sank lower into the armchair. As if that feeble effort brought me any farther from the fox.

"Confession time. We--I--didn't really mean for this to happen to_you_. No, no, no.

"I have some business to... discuss with your brother. But apparently twins are too challenging for some fools in my employ to understand. But don't worry. The imbecile responsible for this unfortunate setback was... dealt with," Todd said, unconsciously licking his lips.

I smiled nervously. "Then I'll just get out of your hair. You can let me go and I can leave and we can just forget about this silly mess,"

Todd didn't even pause for consideration. "No,"

"No? Why not?" I balked.

"Because then all the hard work we did to put this together would go to waste. Besides. I just don't want to," Todd's face was a mask of bored apathy.

"You can't just do whatever you want," I burst out.

In a flurry of motion, the fox knocked me out of the chair and pinned me to the ground, each limb under a different digit. Slowly applying pressure, he leaned down so that his muzzle was inside my ersatz apartment. His breath washed over my body, hot and acrid.

"Oh, it would appear that I can do whatever I want," he whispered menacingly.

His free middle finger traced its way along my torso. I inhaled sharply as the clawtip gashed my stomach.

"You know, working in my field has really led me to realize how fucking fragile people really are," Todd commented idly. "Especially, it would appear, when they're a lot smaller than you are. I wondered how Tabitha felt when she destroyed all my men with such ease and relish. I guess I get to find out now,"

Another gash, deeper this time. Tears sprang into my eyes.

"Please. Just let me go," I begged. "If you can't grow me back, just let me stay here until it happens, then let me go,"

His smile froze my blood. "Where's the fun in that? I went through all that effort to make this dollhouse. I might as well get to play with my doll, even if it's the wrong one,"

A loud sob escaped my throat, prompting Todd to smirk once again and dig his claws further into my limbs. My gashes was bleeding freely by that point.

"Fair warning," Todd hissed gleefully. "When I was young, I always broke my toys,"

*****

Everyone should find some free time to just unwind and play on occasion. It keeps you young. Taps into all those pleasure centers and whatnot. Releases endorphins. Scientific proof everyone is supposed to have fun on occasion.

And let me just say, Roger was certainly helping me in that department. Little fucker could run. It took a little more than a minimal amount of effort for my hand to keep pace with him as he ran laps around his model living room. Maybe I should've snapped one of his little legs like a twig. Nah. That would have made things too boring. Could save that bit of fun for later, perhaps.

"I'm going to start charging you personal trainer fees if you keep up the pace like this," I commented wryly. "Ever thought about running a marathon? You might want to consider it,"

Roger spun around on his heels to shoot me a look of utter contempt, but tripped backwards over the coffee table. I guffawed deeply as he went sprawling on his back, grunting in pain.

"Watch out! You're gonna hurt yourself. I'm the only one who's going to be doing any injuring around here,"

Driving my point home, I slammed my fist into the little living room, reducing half the furniture to matchwood. I felt a pang of regret at smashing something I'd put so much effort into crafting, but seeing Roger's expression of pure, unadulterated fear made it all worthwhile. He was curled into a ball, trembling violently.

Sensing that he was about to begin yet another round of pitiful begging, I leaned into the model apartment again. It was time to ease off a bit, present Roger with the illusion of having a modicum of control over his pitiful life.

"This could all stop, you know," I murmured softly. "All you have to do is tell me where I can find Warren,"

Roger whimpered. "I couldn't do that. I wouldn't,"

My lower lip pouted out. "All I need is an address,"

"Why should I tell you anything, you motherfucking bastard?" Roger retorted, managing to find an ounce of venom in himself. Impressive, given that he only weighed perhaps a few ounces, tops.

"I'm going to let that insubordination slide this once. And it's simple, really," I sighed, starting to count off items on my fingers. "You tell me something, I grant you a merciful end. But if you remain tight-lipped, well, I'll get to do everything to you that I've been itching to do. And I doubt you'll find those things all that comfortable.

"I mean, it's a pity to waste a perfectly good toy, but there you go. I could always pick up where I left off on you with Warren,"

Roger was visibly shaken. After a few moments of silence, he managed to stammer out a barely audible "N-no,"

I massaged my temples dramatically with one hand, shaking my head. "There I go, trying to help you..."

Was I disappointed? Of course not! Then again, maybe I'd keep Roger alive long enough for a little reunion with his brother once I managed to locate him and cut him down to size. Have some fun with the two of them. Good gods, that would be hot. I toyed with the idea of letting Roger in on the idea, but decided against getting too monologue-y.

I leveled another smirk at my toy fox. He had gone full fetal by this point. Gods, fear was such a delicious thing.

"I'm going to give you a two-second head-start before I destroy the entire living room," I leered, raising my hand. "One-one thousand..."

*****

Because I had control over the meeting place, we met in a coffee shop rather than a dank alley in the middle of the Hesquiaht District. Much more civilized. And I could get a nice cappuccino. Bonus.

I nodded as Ernest approached my table in the back of the café, sitting down nervously.

"I really don't like this," the coyote muttered, casting a glance over his shoulder. "Too public,"

"Relax," I replied. "Nobody will expect us to meet here for exactly that reason. It's fucking genius. Besides. Do any of these folks look like MX4? I dunno about you, but that hipster cat over there with the gauge and the stupid-looking tail loop looks pretty fucking shifty to me,"

"This isn't a joke. I'm risking my career--my life--to meet with you," Ernest frowned fiercely.

I nodded, hurriedly shifting into serious mode. "I fully understand. Sorry if I didn't seem sincere. But look. I need your help. But before we go any further, I need you to promise me that you won't hold anything back this time. No more tiptoeing around the truth. Please,"

The coyote shifted nervously, pondering for a few moments before nodding silently.

Taking it as consent, I pressed on. "My brother. I don't know where he is,"

Ernest didn't even blink. "Todd. That vindictive bastard,"

"Todd?" I stared blankly.

"Todd Hawthorne. He's with the Bureau of Defense too. But I've been doing some digging, and he's associated with... some other group on the side. Evil son of a bitch. I've known some bad eggs, in the Bureau and in civvie life. But he's the only one I'd call outright fucking evil. And you can be sure he's pissed as hell that you guys sprang his main subject,"

I nodded slightly. The fox I'd caught a glimpse of in the Bureau facility, the epicenter of Tabitha's fear, finally had a name to go with the face.

"But if that's the case, Todd shouldn't be targeting Roger," I pointed out. "By all rights, it should probably be me bound and gagged in some van or whatever. Unless he found out that Roger's the one who got you in touch with me,"

The coyote shook his head fervently. "No chance. The only way he could have done that is by connecting the dots through me. And, well, I'm still here. So he hasn't done that yet,"

"Good point," I sighed, templing my hands in frustration. "Then why him?"

"Mistake?" Ernest shrugged, throwing up his hands. "As I've said, you and Roger do look disturbingly alike. Like more than is reasonable for even twins,"

"Wow, I've never heard that before," I snapped. "But where is he? Where would Todd be keeping him detained?"

Ernest shifted nervously. "Er, just hear me out. This is going to sound crazy. But if it _is_Todd, then I think he's done something... more. Just hauling someone off and tying them up isn't good enough for that psycho fox.

"Todd's one for a show. Flair for the dramatic. He likes to do things big. Well, maybe 'big' isn't the best term for it. Warren, I think he's been... shrunk," the coyote's voice was barely a whisper as he finished his sentence.

To say I was skeptical put it gently. I stared blankly at Ernest, certain he was insane. A small chuckle escaped my lips.

"So you're saying that this Todd fellow got bad intelligence and somehow magically shrank my brother,"

"Magic isn't real. But yes. He did. It all ties into his project. Todd has possession of a whole arsenal of... well, what he calls toys. I don't think anyone taught him the meaning of that word. They're weapons, really. Chemical compounds. They fuck with your body's chemistry in all sorts of ways.

"If he wanted to, he could grow you so big you could use a skyscraper as a toothpick. Or he could reduce you down so small that Roger right now would seem the size of a skyscraper. The effects could last a few hours or for the entirety of your existence. The Bureau doesn't officially sanction any of this. I'm not certain how or where he gets his mitts on those compounds, but it's a major issue. It's evil. It's terrorism,"

I'd gone into the meeting expecting something of a bombshell, but nothing on the caliber of the 100-megaton nuke Ernest had dropped on me. Ernest waited for me to collect my thoughts with a patient expression on his face.

"That--that's--what?" I babbled incoherently. "Bullshit,"

"I know. It's crazy," Ernest shook his head. Reaching into his breast pocket, the coyote produced a nondescript vial filled with clear fluid. "I knew you'd have a hard time believing it. Who wouldn't? So I managed to procure a sample. Obsessive as Todd may be, he still has his occasional slip-up. Too arrogant to admit it, though,"

Accepting the vial from Ernest, I studied the fluid carefully. Not that I could glean much from it just by staring at it.

"So this could--"

"--Render you big enough to play paddy-cakes with Tabitha if you so chose, for the span of a few hours,"

Wide-eyed, I shook my head numbly. It was all too much. I spent my career investigating shady shit, but this made my toughest case look like child's play. But the pieces were starting to fit together. Todd, his crazy chemicals, the sommelier, the wine...

"What is Todd doing with all of this? What is this other group he's involved with?" I asked, shaking my head.

Ernest shook his head. "I just don't know. He covers his tracks, and he covers them well,"

"But if Roger is small, and that's how he got shrunk... Can we grow him back?" my mind was whirling a million miles a minute as I fiddled with the vial. "Wait. But this is really good. If he has that, we can find stuff to get Rodge back to normal. But we can also cut Tab down to size. Two birds, one stone,"

Ernest shifted nervously, pursing his lips worriedly at my hopeful smile. "Well... it's not that simple,"

"If the issue is getting access to more of Todd's stuff, don't worry! If I can do one thing well, it's breaking into places I shouldn't be," I grinned self-assuredly, brandishing the vial.

"It's not even that," Ernest sighed. "There's a, well, problem with the serums. Once someone's ingested it, there's no going back. You can't just 'cancel out' one with another, as much as that would seem logical.

"See, the serums fundamentally fuck up your system, altering basic processes--hormone release, metabolic pathways, you name it--at the most fundamental level. You're mucking with something that's in a really delicate balance to begin with. If we attempted to treat a person who'd taken one serum with another one, it would produce catastrophic results. Death. Mortal injury. Terrible things.

"The closest I've seen to a reversible serum is one with a very short half-life, sort of like the one you've got there in your hand. It'll last for a few hours in the bloodstream before degrading, allowing normalcy to resume as the body evens itself out again. But again, if you mix one in while another is already in the system, it's incredibly dangerous.

"Besides, with Tabitha, we don't even know how she got so big. Giving her a serum in hopes of reducing her back to normal could put her at serious risk. We just don't know enough about her... condition,"

I blinked. "That... that's unacceptable,"

"I wish I could help more,"

"But there's got to be a way to fix it, right? I mean, if you change something--metabolism, whatever--you can flip it back, right?"

"I'm not saying it's impossible. I'm just saying that Todd's the only one with the serums, and, well, he's not exactly passing out manuals. He isn't even supposed to have the things in the first place, you know,"

I wanted to pound my head on the table until I gave myself a concussion. Every time I took a step in the right direction, I was clusterfucked backwards a dozen paces. I just wanted to help Tab, Ciaran, and Roger.

"You know Todd. You know the Bureau. Where would Todd be... detaining Roger? He's bound to be in Saaduuts somewhere, right?"

"We have a warehouse in the Hesquiaht District. Todd's rather fond of that warehouse, now that I think about it. Always disappearing off there. Seems as good a place to start as any," Ernest scrawled an address on a napkin and passed it to me. "What are you going to do?"

I shook my head, throwing a hand up in defeat. There was so much to deal with. Even after I got Roger out of hot water, there was still the whole situation with Ciaran and Tabitha to work out.

Then an idea hit me. A stupid, stupid idea. But an idea nonetheless. Maybe I _could_do a little something to help the whole situation. A smile flickered at the corners of my mouth as I held up the vial.

"Mind if I hang onto this?" I asked innocently. "No bad intentions. I swear,"

Ernest narrowed his eyes in suspicion, but nodded slowly. "Don't do anything dumb,"

*****

I had to stay silent. I couldn't breathe. Lying flat on my stomach, I tried to catch a glimpse of anything that would help. Hand clapped over my mouth to keep myself quiet, I tried to control my breathing.

The living room wasn't an option. Todd had reduced the entire space to matchwood with zest and glee. Cowering under the bed, I watched and listened. I could hear Todd's slow and steady breathing everywhere around me.

"I know you're in there," Todd boomed. "Don't fuck with me, tiny,"

Maybe he would get bored. Please. Let him get bored. I wouldn't be able to survive much more of his attention. He'd nearly taken off my tail as I'd fled the living room, and I thought my ankle was sprained. Things would be much worse if Todd kept on.

I couldn't hold back a shriek as the entire apartment-box was suddenly lifted up into the air. A jarring shake hurled the bedroom furniture and me bodily into the wall. My world was once again thrown into flux as Todd upended the box, sending the contents, myself included, tumbling towards the ground.

A blinding pain lanced through my side as I slammed into the floor. I cried out, clutching at the jagged shard of bedframe that had gored me.

The massive Todd kneeled over me, arms folded across his chest as he sneered down at me. His knees framed me on either side. There was no escape.

"So there you are," he laughed. "Hiding with the monsters under the bed?"

"The only monster here is you," I grunted in defiance, edging slowly away from him on my back.

The fragment of bedframe that had pierced me sent pain arcing up my side with every movement, but I knew that pulling it out would only make things worse.

I backed further away from my captor, but found myself running into the rigid, furry wall of his extended hand. I went limp as his hand wrapped around me, enclosing me in oppressive darkness. I felt stomach-churning vertigo followed by cold, dull fear as Todd opened his hand again, leering down at me. His enormous face filled my field of view, a mask of unbridled evil glee. I had never felt more insignificant and helpless.

"I really don't appreciate uncooperative people," Todd hissed. "You need to learn how to act around someone who's just, well, better than you,"

He pressed a fingertip into my side, driving the splinter further into me. I cried out, twisting away from Todd's assault.

Withdrawing his finger, Todd reached into the breast pocket of his button-down shirt. He drew out a paperclip that had been partially straightened out, grinning wickedly at me. I made an attempt at scrambling backwards, but my limbs were suddenly made of lead, refusing to move. The fox's thumb came down on my legs, restraining me.

"I wonder if I could disembowel you with this," Todd cooed. The cold, hard metal scraped along my chest. "Probably. Who am I kidding?"

The paperclip came up and I screwed my eyes shut. I wish I'd said something better to Reynard in parting than just whining about feeling nasty.

"I have a boyfriend. He can give you money, anything. Please. I don't know what I've done to piss you off," I exclaimed desperately.

"I can't be bought. You think this is about money? You're even dumber than you look,"

"Please... I just want to see my Reynard again. I love him so much. Do you have someone you love? Please, please,"

"Ex_cept_..."

I unscrewed my eyes enough to see what was going on. The paperclip was still hovering inches overhead, but it wasn't going anywhere. His expression softer, Todd was staring intently at me.

"I'm prepared to do something I don't do very often," Todd said, returning the paperclip to his pocket. "You've touched me. So I'll make a deal with you. I'll let you go. Hell, I'll even keep you safe until the serum I gave you runs its course and you get back to normal,"

I felt a pressure lift off my legs as his thumb moved aside. Relieved, I sat upright. I needed to remember the boyfriend card for future hostage situations. Really brought things around.

"You promise?" I asked cautiously.

Todd smiled benevolently down at me. "Of course. All I want is for you to do one little, simple task,"

"Simple task?"

"Of course. Not difficult at all,"

Todd leaned down, letting me slip through his fingers onto the tiled floor. He got back to his feet, staring down at me from a height.

"Well, what is it?" I called.

"Oh, nothing much. All I want you to do is open the door," Todd pointed out, smiling.

I blinked. "But..." I gaped. "I can't."

"What's so difficult about it? Just open the door. Easy-peasy,"

Todd walked casually across the room, turning the knob and pushing the door open effortlessly in demonstration. Closing it again, he leaned against the wall with arms folded across his chest, smirking.

"But if it's too hard, I suppose I get to play surgeon," Todd sighed dramatically.

I didn't even wait for Todd to reach for his paperclip. I ran.

Zigzagging erratically away from the comparatively gigantic Todd, I made a mad dash for the wall. Where else could I go? My only hope for survival would be some sort of nook or cranny that could accommodate me.

I could feel the thudding rhythm of Todd's lazy footsteps behind me as I ran. He wasn't moving terribly quickly; he didn't have to. No time to look back: I needed to get away.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I spotted a ventilation grate at the base of the wall no more than a half-dozen feet away. Finding it in me to run even faster, I powered forward wildly.

Reaching the wall, I squeezed through the grating, and not a moment too soon. I felt a rush of air accompanying Todd's stomping foot whoosh past my tail as I pulled it through after me in the nick of time.

"You little shit!" Todd bellowed as I sank to the cold metal floor of the ventilation shaft, panting. My side twinged sharply. I put my hand over the wound left by the splinter. I needed to bandage that up, the sooner the better.

Peering through the grating, I watched as the fox stormed off to the other side of the room, out of my field of view. I couldn't stay there for long. It was only a matter of time before he found a screwdriver or something and got the grate off the vent.

But things were looking up. I was safe for the time being. More importantly, if Todd wasn't lying, my predicament wasn't permanent. Hadn't he said whatever had caused me to shrink to minuscule size would wear off? There was still hope.

First off, I would have to get out of this hellhole. Getting slowly back to my feet, I made my way down the ventilation shaft. Darkness swallowed me. At least it wasn't Todd doing the swallowing.

*****

"Fuck," Reynard moaned softly.

I reached out and grabbed his hand reassuringly. It was all I could think to do in the moment. My partner was always so much better at this sort of thing, reassuring folks, when we were on field assignment. We sat in silence together on the couch, Reynard trying to process my bad news and me wishing that I'd found a better way to frame things for him.

"We're going to work through this. This goes down one of three ways. Ideally, none of this came to pass. We just find Roger wherever he's being held and drag him out of there. Or maybe Todd used a temporary serum on him,"

"But what if it's permanent?" Reynard's voice was barely a whisper.

"Then we get an antidote. Ernest said it wasn't impossible. We'll find one. Or we'll make one, if we have to. I promise. We'll get things back to normal,"

Reynard's ears drooped even further, barely making eye contact. "Thank you. But I want to help. I don't want to feel useless,"

I nodded. "Listen. I don't want you to put yourself at risk for something that's my fault and my fault alone,"

Reynard looked as if he wanted to protest, but I held up a hand for silence as I pressed on.

"Hear me out. I think you can help. Tabitha and Ciaran still have a stake in this. And I'm terrified about whatever Todd has planned for them. But right now, we just need to make sure they_don't come to Saaduuts. _ There's nothing good for them here. Not with Todd at large,"

"What do you want me to do?" Reynard asked.

"Go find them. Talk to them. Explain what is going on with them, what they need to do for their own safety. I'll put out some feelers, get an estimate on where they're located as quickly as I can,"

Reynard nodded grimly.

I reached into my pocket. "And when meet with them, I want you do one more thing. Do this for me. Give this to Ciaran,"

The arctic fox accepted the vial and sheet of paper I gave him, brow furrowed in confusion. "Sure, but I don't know why..."

"Trust me. I think he'll find a use for it. Just explain this to him. It's all in the instructions,"

Reynard nodded again, tucking the vial into his pocket. "Just get me an address and I'll be there,"

"Thank you so much," I smiled. "Look, Rey. We're going to work this out. I swear. We'll get Roger back to normal.

"And Todd. Todd, Todd, Todd. He's going to learn it's not okay by any stretch of the imagination to fuck with the ones I love and care about. And I'm going to teach him myself. Holy fuck, I'm going to make sure he never forgets that,"

And I fucking meant it.