{"sf1_id":1450588,"sf2_id":"ynZgzqM1","title":"Acid Rain Vol. II: Purple Rain","author":"STRONG","words":33253,"posted_at":"2019-05-19T19:54:10.000Z","tags":["Anal","Chubby","Cyberpunk","Future","Greentext","Handholding","Human","M/F","Opossum","Sex","Violence"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1450588-acid-rain-vol-ii-purple-rain","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/ynZgzqM1","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/c1/8e/c18e8ccd-4d60-401e-8580-b7235892101e","description":"After the Events Of Acid rain, Null is tasked to find Star's mother while a new crime faction emerges from the cities underground.","content":"Chapter 1: Newborn\n\n\\\u003eLoud dinging from your phone pulls you from your sleep\n\n\\\u003eYou barely register the noise as you blindly reach for it and click it open\n\n\\\u003eThe light from Gabriel's Hologram makes you blink hard\n\n\\\u003e\"Whassa?\" you mumble sleepily\n\n\\\u003e\"Null, its time\"\n\n\\\u003eYou snap awake instantly\n\n\\\u003e\"OK, see you there\"\n\n\\\u003eHis hologram disappears and you stretch calmly\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eTurning to your right, you see Star still sleeping, a small smile across her face\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eShe's cute and you don't want to wake her, but you both had places to be\n\n\\\u003e\"Star, come on babe, wake up\" you say as you gently shake her\n\n\\\u003eShe buries her muzzle in her pillow, pushing your hand away\n\n\\\u003e\"Nuuu five more Minutes Anon\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Come on love, it's time to go to the hospital\"\n\n\\\u003eQuickly she uncovers her face, little exclamation marks in her eyes\n\n\\\u003e\"REALLY!? Let's go then!\"\n\n\\\u003eZero to 100 with her as always\n\n\\\u003eShe's already flung the blanket across the room in her haste to get out of bed\n\n\\\u003eYou get out of bed and stretch before walking out of the bedroom and into your workroom\n\n\\\u003eWhen Gabriel and Fox lived in the bunker, this room was their bedroom\n\n\\\u003eAfter they moved out, Star Kicked all your stuff out of the master bedroom claiming it took up too much space\n\n\\\u003eYou pull on your Standard, Jeans, a Black t-shirt, your leather bomber Jacket and your Gun belt\n\n\\\u003eThe noise of Star digging through her closet makes you laugh to yourself as you put Rose into your belt holster\n\n\\\u003e\"Star, you don't need to dress up! Come on!\"\n\n\\\u003eYou back into the bedroom and find Star half dressed, Stuck in a T-shirt\n\n\\\u003eSomehow she put her head through the sleeve and was struggling to get it off\n\n\\\u003e\"Anonnnnnn! Help me!\" she says pitifully as she frantically tries to pull it off\n\n\\\u003e\"How did you even manage this Star?\" you ask as you pull it off her roughly\n\n\\\u003e\"I'm just so excited Anon!\"\n\n\\\u003eYou hand her the T-shirt and she pulls it on the right way\n\n\\\u003eHer usual type of shirt with a robot on it\n\n\\\u003e\"Grab your Jacket, we're gonna meet them there\"\n\n\\\u003eYou leave the bedroom and walk through the bunker\n\n\\\u003eThis was your home now, you had moved in with Star a little while ago\n\n\\\u003eIt made sense after all, you loved her and wanted to spend time with her\n\n\\\u003eEven if most of the time it was watching her Anime shows\n\n\\\u003eSome of them had grown on you, that one with the giant robot with Pile bunkers for arms was awesome\n\n\\\u003eIn the kitchen you use the food synthesizer to make 2 large sandwiches, which you put into bags and pocket\n\n\\\u003eYou feel like this might take a while\n\n\\\u003e\"Come on Star!\" you call to her\n\n\\\u003e\"Coming!\"\n\n\\\u003eShe rushes out of the bedroom, fully dressed with a big smile on her Muzzle\n\n\\\u003e\"I'm so Excited Anon!\"\n\n\\\u003eYou smile and usher her to your Bike and climb into it\n\n\\\u003eShe scrambles up the side and into your lap with the grace of a deer trying to stand on ice\n\n\\\u003e\"You got the package for Gabriel Anon?\"\n\n\\\u003eYou nod as you start the bike then pull down the Canopy\n\n\\\u003e\"Yea I got it\"\n\n\\\u003eYou drive up the ramp and onto the streets, checking in your mirrors to see the bunker door close behind you\n\n\\\u003e\"Let's go Anon! Punch it!\"\n\n\\\u003eYou smile and follow Star's orders, Speeding down the streets onto the Megaway\n\n\\\u003eStar bounces in your lap happily as she watches Speeder and haulers get passed\n\n\\\u003eNeon lights and city light blur as you Speed through traffic\n\n\\\u003eYou take a glance at the Dashboard clock\n\n\\\u003e3 pm\n\n\\\u003eHow people were awake at this time was beyond you\n\n\\\u003eBut then again you were opposite most people\n\n\\\u003e\"Anon Look at the Sky! It's so Pretty!\" Star says pointing upwards\n\n\\\u003eThe Sky has turned an eerie blue\n\n\\\u003eAn Electromagnetic storm? now? somehow fitting for the occasion\n\n\\\u003eStar's eyes are locked on the sky as you floor it towards the hospital\n\n\\\u003eYou don't want her implants getting fried, so it was best to get there before the storm fully hits\n\n\\\u003ePulling off the Megaway and into the side streets, you make your way to the hospital as thunder crackles ominously\n\n\\\u003e\"Come on come on!\" Star says bouncing in your lap as you park\n\n\\\u003eYou push the canopy up and lift her out of the bike then get out yourself\n\n\\\u003eFrom behind your seat you pull a long package out\n\n\\\u003e\"Ok Star, ready\"\n\n\\\u003eShe walks to the service elevators implant scanner and lets it scan her\n\n\\\u003eIt dings and takes your Bike into the unseen depths below the city street, stashing your bike\n\n\\\u003eEver since you had started getting star out of the bunker more often she used her implants to help you out\n\n\\\u003eElevators, parking, things like that\n\n\\\u003eGranted when you were out by yourself things were more difficult\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eYou extend a hand to Star and heft the long package under your arm\n\n\\\u003eShe smiles as she takes it and you walk hand in paw to the hospital doors, which open automatically\n\n\\\u003eThe help desk is there, an anthro Puma waiting behind it with wires running through her hair and connected into various plugs on her computers\n\n\\\u003e\"Hi, where the Maternity ward? and where is Jaimee Comstock's room?\" you ask calmly\n\n\\\u003eStar bounces excitedly next to you, eager to see Fox\n\n\\\u003eThe Puma points to an elevator, \"56th floor, ward A, room 360\"\n\n\\\u003eYou thank her and are practically pulled by Star to the elevator\n\n\\\u003e\"Hurry hurry! I don't wanna miss it!\" she says as she scans her implant and pressing the 56th floor button\n\n\\\u003e\"Calm down Star, we aren't going to miss anything, if anything we'll be waiting for a bit\" you say to the Hyperactive opossum\n\n\\\u003eShe looks up at you with shooting stars in her eyes\n\n\\\u003e\"I would rather be early than late!\"\n\n\\\u003eWell she had you there\n\n\\\u003eThe elevator dings and opens\n\n\\\u003eStar immediately pulls you out and rushes to a sign on the wall\n\n\\\u003eIt tells you which way to go to reach Fox's room\n\n\\\u003e\"Let's go!\" she says pulling you harder down the hall\n\n\\\u003eAfter a bit of walking you find Fox's room\n\n\\\u003eGabriel is sitting next to a very very pregnant Fox, who gives a smile when you and Star enter\n\n\\\u003e\"Null, Star! You made it!\" she says with some discomfort in her voice\n\n\\\u003eYou walk forward and give her a one armed hug\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"We wouldn't miss it for the world Fox\"\n\n\\\u003eStar shuffles nervously\n\n\\\u003e\"Are you OK Fox? You seem uncomfortable\" She says with a bit of uncertainty\n\n\\\u003eFox smiles\n\n\\\u003e\"I'm ok, not gonna go into details but my cervix isn't Dilating enough\"\n\n\\\u003eYou grimace, Hybrid pregnancies always were complicated\n\n\\\u003e\"How long are they gonna wait?\" you ask setting the package down on a table\n\n\\\u003e\"They're gonna check back in an hour, if it hasn't sped up they're gonna take her into surgery\" Gabriel says stone faced\n\n\\\u003eYour frown deepens\n\n\\\u003e\"Alright, we'll be here\"\n\n\\\u003eGabriel nods towards the box you set down\n\n\\\u003e\"What's in the box Null?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"It's a surprise for later!\" Star says as she walks over to him and gives him a hug\n\n\\\u003eHe smiles at her\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh? a surprise from Ms.Dismond? I can hardly wait\" he says with a smirk\n\n\\\u003e\"NO! Not Ms.Dismond! Just Star! I hate when you call me that!\"\n\n\\\u003eStar begins stomping around angrily as she speaks, causing Fox to laugh\n\n\\\u003e\"He's just teasing you Star\"\n\n\\\u003eYou lean against a wall and watch\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eToday is gonna be a day to remember\n\n2 hours later\n\n\\\u003eYou're sitting in a waiting room with Star in your lap\n\n\\\u003eShes playing some weird game on her phone while you stare out the window\n\n\\\u003eThey were performing a C-section on Fox\n\n\\\u003eAs far as medicine has come along, there is still uncertainty\n\n\\\u003eMothers still die during birth, cubs sometimes don't make it\n\n\\\u003eAll harsh realities you hoped wouldn't rear their heads today\n\n\\\u003eThey wouldn't let you and Star into the room, said it was for family only\n\n\\\u003eYou and Gabriel tried to argue it, but they put their foot down\n\n\\\u003eSo you watched as lightning arced across the sky, striking taller buildings\n\n\\\u003eThe waiting always kills you, but you can't focus on anything right now\n\n\\\u003eToo much worry\n\n\\\u003eOtherwise you would focus on playing a game with Star\n\n\\\u003eYour hand rubs Star's ears\u0026nbsp;gently and her tail is wrapped around your waist\n\n\\\u003eShe hums cheerfully as her game dings and beeps\n\n\\\u003eOh, to be so carefree\n\n\\\u003eYou often envy just how cheerful Star was\n\n\\\u003eShe hadn't seen the darker side of life like you had\n\n\\\u003eSo when things were bad, she either didn't realize it or just had some deep reserve of optimism you either never had or it ran dry a long time ago\n\n\\\u003eThe only time you had ever seen her worry was when Fox was in a coma from being shot\n\n\\\u003eEvery other time she was fine, even when you were in gun fights, she spoke through your helmet like you weren't in a fight for your life\n\n\\\u003eYou suppose you both balanced each other out\n\n\\\u003eA nurse snaps you from your thoughts\n\n\\\u003e\"They're ready for you Mr. Anon! The Surgery was a total success!\"\n\n\\\u003eWaves of relief wash over you as Star slides out of your lap\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eAlmost subconsciously you feel yourself moving with a strange happy numbness\n\n\\\u003eA cub, your best friend's cub\n\n\\\u003eAfter all the pain and heartache, she was here\n\n\\\u003eYou walk in the room to Fox holding a bundle of fur and Gabriel beaming at her\n\n\\\u003eShe looks just like Fox, but with Gabriel's steel grey eyes which look up at you as you approach\n\n\\\u003e\"Look Hope, it's your Uncle\" Fox cooes to her\n\n\\\u003eYou look to Gabriel, and can see a bit of lament on his face\n\n\\\u003eHe couldn't hold her with his big mechanical arm\n\n\\\u003eYou smile at him and grab the box from the table\n\n\\\u003e\"Star, I think it's time for that surprise\"\n\n\\\u003eShe bounces happily and rushes over to Gabriel, then pulls his mechanical arm off\n\n\\\u003e\"Hey Star what the fu-!\"\n\n\\\u003eYou open the box in front of him, cutting his words short\n\n\\\u003eInside is a Sleeker Cybernetic arm, covered in false skin and looking like an exact copy of his real arm\n\n\\\u003e\"Surprise daddy-o!\" says Star, who has a bit of trouble holding up his heavy mechanical arm\n\n\\\u003eYou pick up the new arm and carry it to him and push it into place\n\n\\\u003e\"Star and I figured you might want to hold your daughter\"\n\n\\\u003eHe stares at the arm, wiggling the fingers\n\n\\\u003e\"Null, I don't know wh-\"\n\n\\\u003eYou raise a hand to stop him\n\n\\\u003e\"Hold your daughter\"\n\n\\\u003eYou see the tears in his eyes as Fox carefully passes Hope to him\n\n\\\u003eStar beams at him as you take his weighty arm from her and set it down\n\n\\\u003eYou had only seen Gabriel cry once before, and you preferred this time\n\n\\\u003e\"When does she get to go home with you?\"\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eFox adjusts herself a bit in her bed before she answers\n\n\\\u003e\"The doctors want to keep us both here for a few days for observation, then we can go\"\n\n\\\u003eYou watch Gabriel gently rock hope back and forth, humming softly to her\n\n\\\u003eThe amount of blood spilled to bring her into this world was staggering\n\n\\\u003eBut if anyone wanted to try to take her out of it, there would be so much more\n\n\\\u003eYou place a hand on Gabriel's shoulder and look down at the now sleeping cub\n\n\\\u003eThe world wasn't perfect, but this moment with Star, Gabriel, Fox and Hope\n\n\\\u003eThis moment was\n\nChapter 2: On the Other Side\n\n\\\u003eThe sun is setting as you leave the hospital with Star\n\n\\\u003eAt least you think its setting, its hard to tell through the rain and Fog\n\n\\\u003ePlus you're almost never up at this time\n\n\\\u003eThere was no point to being up at this time\n\n\\\u003eThe people you hunt were in their shitholes\n\n\\\u003eStar waves her arm in front of the Service elevator to bring up your bike\n\n\\\u003eA raindrop must've gone down her back because she jumps slightly and shivers a bit\n\n\\\u003eShe stamps around angrily\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"THIS IS WHY I LIKE MY BUNKER! RAIN SUCKS!\" She Yells at the sky\n\n\\\u003eYou smile at her cute antics\n\n\\\u003eBut you also don't enjoy standing in the Rain\n\n\\\u003eSo as soon as your bike is up you open the canopy and climb in\n\n\\\u003eHer hear Star's paws slipping against the slick metal of the bike as she attempts to get it\n\n\\\u003e\"Anonnnnn! Help me! I'm too short!\"\n\n\\\u003eYou smile as you reach out and help pull her into the bike and onto your lap\n\n\\\u003e\"Thanks Anon, I'm tired; we didn't get much sleep last night\"\n\n\\\u003eShe was right, neither of you got much sleep\n\n\\\u003eYou had gone out earlier for her to get one of her various toys and she stayed up late putting it together\n\n\\\u003eAs well you were tracking several bounties for Lysander after you returned\n\n\\\u003eA corrupt politician who wasn't paying her for support, a child molester and a rogue weapons dealer\n\n\\\u003eNot that you cared who they were\n\n\\\u003eBesides the child molester, you cared about that\n\n\\\u003eFuck pedophiles, you were going to make that one hurt\n\n\\\u003eYou pull the bikes canopy closed and punch the ignition\n\n\\\u003eThe city blurs by as you speed forwards\n\n\\\u003eAs you drive your mind drifts back to Hope, Fox and Gabriel\n\n\\\u003eThey deserved this, all of you did\n\n\\\u003eIn a world that was literally bleak and dreary, there was a beacon\n\n\\\u003eA small light in your world of blood and rain\n\n\\\u003eWell besides the bouncing opossum in your lap\n\n\\\u003eYou rub Star's ears gently with one hand as you drive\n\n\\\u003e\"Mmmmm I LOVE when you rub my ears Anon\" Star says almost in a dream like state\n\n\\\u003eOne of the few things that could stop Star in her tantrums or hyperactive excitement were your \"Magic fingers\"\n\n\\\u003eYou can't help but smile as she leans back against your chest, looking up at you with starry eyes\n\n\\\u003e\"I know you do Star, that's why I do it\" you say as you rub absentmindedly, while weaving through the speeders and haulers\n\n\\\u003eTraffic is always the same in the City\n\n\\\u003eThe city never sleeps, someone always had things to do\n\n\\\u003eYou actually got more sleep in the bunker With Star than you did in your old apartment\n\n\\\u003eYou pull into the ruins where Star's Bunker is located\n\n\\\u003e\"The Rundown\"\n\n\\\u003eThat's what this area was called\n\n\\\u003eThere were more places like this in the city too\n\n\\\u003eBuildings built on buildings built on buildings built on buildings\n\n\\\u003eToo tall to support their weight and collapsing from it\n\n\\\u003eAll waterlogged and crumbling\n\n\\\u003eBut to you it was home\n\n\\\u003eThe hidden bunker door opens and you drive down the ramp leading into the bunker\n\n\\\u003eHome sweet home\n\n\\\u003eYou push open the canopy of your bike and Star scrambles out, slipping from the wetness and falling flat onto the ground\n\n\\\u003eIf it were anyone else you would be concerned, but she's done this enough times for you to know she's fine\n\n\\\u003eIf anything she would be annoyed at your concern, it would slow her down\n\n\\\u003eShe always did operate at 100MPH\n\n\\\u003eAs you climb out of the bike yourself, she's cemented herself to your side\n\n\\\u003eA long time ago you learned she would always latch onto you when you got home\n\n\\\u003eEither from her scavenger hunts for toys, or from your real hunts to make more people dead\n\n\\\u003eSo you learned to know how to keep your Balance when she was holding you\n\n\\\u003eBut you really did love your tiny Opossum\n\n\\\u003eYou walk with her holding your side, her legs wrapped around your left leg and her arms around your waist\n\n\\\u003eAnother trick you learned from time with her\n\n\\\u003e\"Anon! Do you think you're ready for a hunt for another Gunpla? there's a 30th anniversary PG 1/60 MS-06F ZAKU II GUNDAM\"\n\n\\\u003eYou yawn loudly and drag Star to the bedroom\n\n\\\u003e\"I doubt it Star, this isn't when we're usually up and last thing I need is to wreck my bike because I fell asleep behind the wheel\"\n\n\\\u003eThere were some people who had augments that injected caffeine and other stimulants directly into their bloodstream\n\n\\\u003eBut all you had was sheer will and coffee\n\n\\\u003eAnd both were wearing thin\n\n\\\u003eThe waiting room of the hospital and lack of sleep were weighing your eyelids down\n\n\\\u003eStar lets go of you as you begin taking off your jacket and clothes with a loud yawn\n\n\\\u003e\"Sorry Star, maybe after we get some sleep\"\n\n\\\u003eShe's silent for a moment, which is odd for her\n\n\\\u003eYou pull your shirt over your head and see her looking at a hologram of Fox and Hope together\n\n\\\u003e\"Star? You ok?\"\n\n\\\u003eYour voice snaps her back to you\n\n\\\u003eShe quickly closes the hologram and sets it aside and changed into her pajamas\n\n\\\u003eAnd by pajamas you mean Just her panties\n\n\\\u003eYou never did get tired of seeing those grapefruit sized Breasts of hers but right now you're too tired\n\n\\\u003eSo for the time being your content with getting into bed with her, silently savoring the feeling of her fur and those glorious mounds of flesh\n\n\\\u003eHer back to your chest, your arms around her, your chin on the top of her head, a few stray blue hairs tickling your nose\n\n\\\u003e\"Hey Anon, I have a favor to ask you\"\n\n\\\u003eHer words make you jump, you were right about to fall asleep\n\n\\\u003e\"Whassa Star?\" you mumble out\n\n\\\u003e\"Can you...Can you help me find my mom?\"\n\n\\\u003eThose words snap you back awake\n\n\\\u003eStar never spoke about her mom\n\n\\\u003eFor someone who was so open with everything it was odd, but you didn't press the issue\n\n\\\u003eAfter all you knew all about problems with parents\n\n\\\u003eYou chose your words carefully as you respond\n\n\\\u003e\"I can try Star, I can talk to your father about it but I can't guarantee anything\"\n\n\\\u003eShe snuggles further into your chest, pulling your arms around her in a tight hug\n\n\\\u003e\"As long as you try Anon\" She mumbles, half asleep\n\n\\\u003eHer cuteness is adorable\n\n\\\u003eYou nod to yourself about what you had to do\n\n\\\u003eSure it was another person you had to track, but for Star it was worth it\n\n\\\u003eThe world fades to black as you fall asleep with your favorite pint sized opossum in your arms\n\n\\\u003eThe smell of Bacon and coffee wake you gently\n\n\\\u003eSmells like the start to a good morning for sure\n\n\\\u003eYou sit up and stretch slowly, savoring the feeling of actually getting a full night of sleep\n\n\\\u003eIt sounds like Star woke up and has already started watching one of her Anime shows\n\n\\\u003eProbably Gundam wing for the 500th times\n\n\\\u003eYou throw on a shirt and head into the main room\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eStar is happily humming while cooking bacon and watching her show\n\n\\\u003eIt IS gundam wing, how she's able to rewatch it so many times is beyond you\n\n\\\u003e\"Morning Anon! I had the food synth make Bacon!\"\n\n\\\u003eYou pull her into a kiss and pick her up in a hug\n\n\\\u003e\"I can see that Star, thank you\" you say as you break from the kiss\n\n\\\u003eHer eyes turn into little hearts as she looks at you\n\n\\\u003eIt has to be illegal to be that cute\n\n\\\u003eYou smile at her and set her down\n\n\\\u003e\"Were you serious about wanting me to find your Mother Star?\" you ask as you watch her tend to the Bacon\n\n\\\u003e\"Mhm! I never knew her, and Seeing Fox with Hope made me want to find her!\"\n\n\\\u003eGreat, that means you're going to have to talk to her father\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eJon Dismond, Leader of the Dismond Crime Syndicate\n\n\\\u003eHe didn't dislike you per se, more tolerated you because of your involvement with his only child\n\n\\\u003ePlus the fact that you worked for the Concordat, one of his allies\n\n\\\u003eBut still talking to him was something you actively avoided\n\n\\\u003e\"Alright Star, I'll try\"\n\n\\\u003eIn the main room of the bunker was Star's elaborate computer setup\n\n\\\u003eA wall covered in Monitors\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eAnd next to it was your computer\n\n\\\u003eA small beat up machine you used for finding bounties and talking to other hunters\n\n\\\u003eYou sit down at it and click on the program used to calling others\n\n\\\u003eA few clicks and your call to Dismond is ringing\n\n\\\u003eWithin Moments he picks up, his usual neutral face stares at you\n\n\\\u003e\"Anon? What do I owe the pleasure of a call? Need to kill more of my rivals?\"\n\n\\\u003eYou grunt out a laugh\n\n\\\u003e\"Not today, I do need info though\"\n\n\\\u003eHe nods \"Who are you gonna kill today?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"No one actually, Star asked me to find her mother\"\n\n\\\u003eHis face flickers for a moment, from the usual neutral look to a look of surprise then back to neutral in a second\n\n\\\u003e\"Her name is Juno Cassiopeia, you won't find her though, no one has seen her in years\"\n\n\\\u003eYou frown\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"Why is that?\" you ask, almost dreading the answer\n\n\\\u003e\"After Star was born she disappeared Beneath the city, most people are smart enough to not go down there\"\n\n\\\u003eFuck\n\n\\\u003eThe underbelly of the city was dangerous\n\n\\\u003eSpeeders and haulers were stored there, parts and machines always moved, weather control stations constantly fired of arcs of electricity\n\n\\\u003eTo say she was down there is a terrifying prospect\n\n\\\u003eYou rub the bridge of your nose\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"Fuck, that makes things difficult\" you say\n\n\\\u003e\"It does, good luck Anon. I must be going\" he says and closes the call\n\n\\\u003eYou look over and see Star standing with a plate of bacon and Eggs, mouth agape\n\n\\\u003e\"She's beneath the city? How will you find her Anon\" She says meekly\n\n\\\u003eYou had ways\n\n\\\u003eWays you didn't want to talk about with Star\n\n\\\u003eWays that involved you getting bloody for Lysander\n\n\\\u003e\"I'll figure it out Star, but for now let's just watch some of your shows and eat\"\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eShe gives you a doofy Grin\n\n\\\u003e\"OK Anon! Come on!\"\n\n\\\u003eShe grabs your hand in her paw and practically drags you to the chair in front of all her monitors\n\n\\\u003eYou sit down and she scrambles into your lap\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"I Love you Anon\" she says, looking up at you with half a piece of bacon in her mouth\n\n\\\u003eYou smile at her\n\n\\\u003eI love you too Star\"\n\n\\\u003eAs you eat with her you think about the underbelly\n\n\\\u003eThat's where the New crime syndicate \"the Holy emperors\" were pouring out of\n\n\\\u003eThoughts for another time though\n\n\\\u003eYou focus on eating with star and enjoying her company\n\n\\\u003eShe wiggles happily as she watches her show for the hundredth time\n\n\\\u003eLife with her made you happy\n\n\\\u003eYou were going to find her mom for her\n\n\\\u003eJust to make her happy\n\n\\\u003eThat was a promise\n\nChapter 3: Thriller\n\n\\\u003eHow do you track someone who disappeared into the most dangerous place on the planet?\n\n\\\u003eNot even on the planet\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eIN the planet\n\n\\\u003eThe systems that run and power the city run deep, all the way into the core\n\n\\\u003eHow else can a city that covers every mile of the world stay powered?\n\n\\\u003eEverywhere needed something\n\n\\\u003eThe mountains, like Everest, covered top to bottom in houses and businesses\n\n\\\u003eThe higher they were, the more expensive,\n\n\\\u003eThe deserts needed water pumped from the ever shrinking oceans\n\n\\\u003eAnd because of that conduits and subsystems ran throughout\n\n\\\u003eYou were going to have to dive deep into it all\n\n\\\u003eStar's Mother was somewhere down there\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eBut where to start?\n\n\\\u003eDismond had given you only the most basic of facts, her name and where she was last seen\n\n\\\u003eTracking someone on the surface was easy, they would get scanned by something eventually\n\n\\\u003eStar fell asleep a while ago, Her shows playing in the background\n\n\\\u003eYou carried your tiny Opossum and tucked her into bed before going to your bike and getting in\n\n\\\u003eLysander would know what to do\n\n\\\u003eYou hated having to owe her a favor\n\n\\\u003eNo doubt kill someone high up, someone who now was prepared for you\n\n\\\u003eEver since you got Andrew Belacov, things have been different\n\n\\\u003eCrime lords getting people to watch video feeds\n\n\\\u003eYou never thought you would be such a threat, after all, you're just a single man\n\n\\\u003eBut they thought you were\n\n\\\u003eA single man everywhere at once?\n\n\\\u003eHardly\n\n\\\u003eJust a force pointed in a single direction\n\n\\\u003eIn all honesty you didn't care who it was\n\n\\\u003eWhy should you\n\n\\\u003eThe people in the government didn't care about anyone\n\n\\\u003eAnd when Lysander sent you after them they suddenly cared\n\n\\\u003eCared about the sex worker trying to feed her kids, about the bounty hunter ready to give it all for a big score\n\n\\\u003eAs your bike roared through the city you smirked to yourself\n\n\\\u003eNeon light flowed like rain on a windshield\n\n\\\u003eMost of the population of the city hasn't seen the ugly part of life\n\n\\\u003eWhen Gabriel killed Belacov it turned everything upside down\n\n\\\u003eThe Emperor's flowed out\n\n\\\u003eThey were brutal, uncaring and used whatever means possible\n\n\\\u003eThere were reports of them pulling Augments out of their victims\n\n\\\u003eAs such they were often mismatched\n\n\\\u003eArms too long,\u0026nbsp; jury-rigged eyes\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eWhat they lacked in power they made up in sheer number\n\n\\\u003eThousands of runaways, poor people tempted by the promise of a better life\n\n\\\u003eBefore you met Star you had heard of the Emperors, they at one point tried to recruit you telling you that life could be better\n\n\\\u003eBut you had functioned as a killer for so long before because life meant little to you\n\n\\\u003eYou lived; great, you survived another day\n\n\\\u003eYou died, it finally ended; the torment of life in a world that didn't care about a unaugmented person\n\n\\\u003eThe world blurs by as you pull into the concordat headquarters, a mansion on a giant grassy hill\n\n\\\u003eAnother sign on wealth, most plants grew in between cracks in the pavement\n\n\\\u003eThe near constant rain made everything a tangle of vines and shrubs\n\n\\\u003eAt least here in this part of the city it did\n\n\\\u003eHow did other parts of the city survive?\n\n\\\u003eYou were in a moderately temperate part, dealing with no extremes\n\n\\\u003eMaybe later you could travel, convince Star to see different parts of the world with you\n\n\\\u003eCould you convince her to travel to the Ringworld of Alpha Centauri?\n\n\\\u003eProbably not, but it was worth a try\n\n\\\u003eBut those thoughts are for another day\n\n\\\u003eYou smirk as the Mansions staff try to take control of your bike\n\n\\\u003eIt never works, and each time they try something new\n\n\\\u003eAlways focused on a augment, a system in the motor that they can hook their systems into\n\n\\\u003eYou have no doubt that Lysander kept them from knowing how to stop you\n\n\\\u003eA Little Game between her and her staff\n\n\\\u003eAnd each time they failed to figure out how to stop you someone got punished\n\n\\\u003eNot your problem at this point\n\n\\\u003eYou had told them early on they cant control you bike via normal methods\n\n\\\u003eOr at all\n\n\\\u003eThe fact they didn't listen was not your problem\n\n\\\u003eAs you park you smirk to yourself as you climb out of the bike\n\n\\\u003eA new butler, a new assistant bent on trying to prove they could stop you\n\n\\\u003eThe first one you met, a giraffe anthro who knew better; had decided to only serve from inside the mansion\n\n\\\u003eEvery other one that was in charge of tracking you failed\n\n\\\u003eThey never saw what Lysander did to them\n\n\\\u003eAnd you never warned them\n\n\\\u003eNot your problem and not your job\n\n\\\u003eWhy would you try to protect them from a job they signed up for?\n\n\\\u003eYou park your bike and stroll past the most recent attempt to stop you\n\n\\\u003e\"Where is she?\" you as as you walk past the stupefied wolf\n\n\\\u003eHe chokes out something about a music room as you push past him\n\n\\\u003eHe was a dead man walking,\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eBut he didn't know it yet\n\n\\\u003eYou walk through the mansion, past all the delicately carved pillars\n\n\\\u003eThrough the art galleries hanging, to the music room\n\n\\\u003eYou push the door open to a lavish room, full of various instruments\n\n\\\u003eThe walls are all covered in soundproofing materials and there are bookshelves filled with Music sheets\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eIn the center there is Lysander with a viola that would be a cello to a normal sized person\n\n\\\u003eIt always threw you off seeing someone so big move so gracefully\n\n\\\u003eYou stand and watch her play under the guidance of a small wizened mouse anthro\n\n\\\u003eOccasionally She would play a note wrong and the mouse would make a certain motion with his fingers\n\n\\\u003e\"Move your fingers like this\" he says as he shows her\n\n\\\u003eAfter about 10 or some minutes she sets down the Viola\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"Thank you Mr.Castellos, I will see you next\u0026nbsp; week\" She says to the mouse\n\n\\\u003eThe mouse bows deeply\n\n\\\u003e\"Of course Madam, I look forward to it\" he replys before leaving\n\n\\\u003eLysander's eyes fall to you and light up slightly\n\n\\\u003e\"Anon, what a pleasant surprise; to what do I owe this visit?\"\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eShe gracefully strolls over to you\n\n\\\u003e\"I need a safe way to get into the underground, I'm looking for someone there\"\n\n\\\u003eShe puts a paw to her chin and looks at you thoughtfully\n\n\\\u003e\"I see. Come, we will discuss this as we walk\"\n\n\\\u003eShe leads you out of the room\n\n\\\u003e\"Do you know why the underground is so hard to get into for people?\"\u0026nbsp; She says as she strides along\n\n\\\u003eYou frown, you had some ideas but not the full picture\n\n\\\u003e\"It's dangerous, lots of moving things can crush people down there\"\n\n\\\u003eShe shakes her head, causing her Flowing black hair to twirl slightly\n\n\\\u003e\"Only partially right, I see I need to teach you\"\n\n\\\u003e Why does that scare you?\n\n\\\u003eShe leads you into her library, which is huge and has bookshelves full of actual books\n\n\\\u003eThis must all be worth a fortune\n\n\\\u003e\"Sit, I will show you\" she directs you to a large couch with a table in front of it\n\n\\\u003eYou follow her directions and watch as she pulls a large book off a shelf\n\n\\\u003eShe strides over and opens the book, then places it on the table\n\n\\\u003e\"We anthros were created to be servants to humanity, we were stronger, faster, and in some cases smaller\"\n\n\\\u003eShe shows you a page covered in photos of Anthros slaving away underneath a boiling sun\n\n\\\u003e\"The Underground was built almost exclusively by Small Anthros, Mice, shrews, and moles; because of that most tunnels underground are too small for humans and anthros like me\" she says turning a few pages to pictures of Mice anthros working below the ground\n\n\\\u003e\"When humans made robots and gave us our freedom, Small robots took over maintaining the underground, and they are nearly autonomous. Because of that there very few tunnels or safe ways down there\"\n\n\\\u003eYou frown\n\n\\\u003e\"So there is no real way down there for me?\" you ask\n\n\\\u003eShe shakes her head\n\n\\\u003e\"I did not say that dear Anon, there is a way down there but I need something from you first\"\n\n\\\u003eYou saw that coming\n\n\\\u003e\"What do you need?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"There is a politician, Senator Jensen, a pedophile politician who has his fingers in Human and anthro trafficking, you need to kill him and make him suffer\"\n\n\\\u003eAnother pedophile? Great.\n\n\\\u003e\"Why doesn't he get arrested?\"\n\n\\\u003eLysander sighs\n\n\\\u003e\"The usual political wall, they can't get caught if they have enough friends and money\"\n\n\\\u003eYou nod \"where can I find him?\"\n\n\\\u003eShe smiles, showing off her large sabre like teeth\n\n\\\u003e\"He's in the Arcology, where we don't know exactly but we know his Implant ID code for you to track him\"\n\n\\\u003eShe claps and one of her butlers brings her a data chip, which she hands to you\n\n\\\u003e\"You take care of this Anon, and I will help you get into the underground\"\n\n\\\u003eYou nod and stand up\n\n\\\u003e\"Thank you Madam, I'll take care of this for you\"\n\n\\\u003eShe purrs loudly and looks you over\n\n\\\u003e\"I'm sure you will Anon, you have yet to let me down\"\n\n\\\u003eYou turn and leave, heading out to your bike\n\n\\\u003eHe was in the Arcology. Great, that made things more difficult\n\n\\\u003eThe Arcology was one of the government's attempts to make more space for human expansion\n\n\\\u003eIt was essentially a giant floating city in the ocean\n\n\\\u003eIn truth it wasn't floating at all, giant pillars ran from the ocean floor to the big structure\n\n\\\u003eGetting to it was difficult, there was a single lane Megaway tunnel heading in, which was completely underwater\n\n\\\u003eMost of the people who live there were high rollers\n\n\\\u003eLike a corrupt politician\n\n\\\u003eYou knew you could fly below the radar but they might have stepped up their security like many areas had\n\n\\\u003eAs you get into your bike you think about it\n\n\\\u003ePerhaps you could get a False ID beacon for your bike\n\n\\\u003eThere are a few people you could turn to to get one\n\n\\\u003eYou can think of one that owes you a favor anyway\n\n\\\u003eNeon light blurs past as you head to his \"workshop\"\n\n\\\u003eIt's just one of the storage containers onboard one of the cargo tanker cities\n\n\\\u003eYou punch in his number on your phone and wait for him to pick up\n\n\\\u003eAn anthro weasel picks up and smiles nervously, , one of his ears replaced with an odd looking receiver dish\n\n\\\u003e\"Heeeey Null, my favorite human! What do you need?\"\n\n\\\u003eYou frown as you speed past a hauler\n\n\\\u003e\"Marco, I need a transceiver beacon that mimics a transport truck and can cloak a bike\"\n\n\\\u003eHe scratches his chin\n\n\\\u003e\"Ohhh? And what will you give me for it?\"\n\n\\\u003eYour frown deepens\n\n\\\u003e\"Cut the shit Marco, I bailed you out when you had the syndicate after you, you owe me\"\n\n\\\u003eHe frowns \"That isn't enough to cover what you're asking for Null\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Fine, I'll tell Dismond where you are and get someone else to do this for me\"\n\n\\\u003eIf Marco didn't have fur you would have seen the blood drain from his face\n\n\\\u003e\"Y-you wouldn't! Dismond would be after you too\"\n\n\\\u003eNo one knows that you're in a relationship with Dismond's Daughter\n\n\\\u003eHell most people don't even know Star exists\n\n\\\u003e\"They wouldn't kill me though, especially if I turn you into them\"\n\n\\\u003eYou pull up Marco's bounty\n\n\\\u003e1k credits for him captured and Alive\n\n\\\u003e\"I can think of a lot of things I can buy with a thousand credits Marco, Like a beacon\"\n\n\\\u003eHis eyes bulge a bit in fear\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"Uh... Uh , Yeah you're right Null, silly me! I'll get on that for you! it'll be ready in a few days!\"\n\n\\\u003eYou frown at that info and change course yet again\n\n\\\u003eIf he can't have it today might as well go back home to Star\n\n\\\u003e\"Alright, call me when it's ready. Don't think I'll forget either, if I don't hear from you in 3 days I'm coming for you\"\n\n\\\u003eYou tap Rose in her holster as you give your warning\n\n\\\u003eHe isn't your friend so you don't mind turning him in, but he was useful, that's the only reason you left him\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eHe nods frantically\u0026nbsp; \"Yea Null, I'll get right on it, dont worry about it! I'll-\"\n\n\\\u003eYou hang up\n\n\\\u003eNo need to listen to his rambling\n\n\\\u003eYour bike roars through the megaway as you swerve around speeders and haulers\n\n\\\u003eMaybe you should get a bit more intel\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eLysander might have contacts around the underworld but you do too\n\n\\\u003ePlus a few in the overworld\n\n\\\u003eYou dial up a number you rarely use\n\n\\\u003eSergeant Winters\n\n\\\u003eThe Anthro German shepherd called you occasionally for info or for you to deal with certain suspects\n\n\\\u003eThe law can only go so far, sometimes suspects go free because of small technicalities\n\n\\\u003eOr they had the right connections\n\n\\\u003eYou took care of them, which racked up several favors from him\n\n\\\u003eAfter a ring or two he hologram appears\n\n\\\u003e\"This is Sergeant Win- Oh its you, one sec\"\n\n\\\u003eHis hologram disappears and you assume yours does on his end\n\n\\\u003e\"What do you need\" he says in a hushed tone\n\n\\\u003eYou know he can't look up the senator without leaving a trail so you'll have to ask the next best thing\n\n\\\u003e\"I need a list of security measures the Arcology has and a list of residents\" you say calmly\n\n\\\u003e\"By when?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"3 days\"\n\n\\\u003eA speeder honks at you as you cut it off and zip down a Ramp to a side street\n\n\\\u003e\"Got it, I'll send you a dead drop location\"\n\n\\\u003eHe hangs up without another word\n\n\\\u003eWhat he was doing wasn't illegal, however it wasn't legal either\n\n\\\u003eThere is no law against a police officer looking into a certain area about a cold case and possibly losing the paper trail\n\n\\\u003eStill it was better to be discrete and not have to deal with it\n\n\\\u003eWater streaks past on your canopy as you head to the bunker\n\n\\\u003eHopefully Star was still asleep\n\n\\\u003eShe didn't need to see and hear what you do most of the time\n\n\\\u003eWhile she did monitor your feed while you took care of the trash of the city, it was different\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eShe watched violence on TV all the time in her weird anime shows, watching you work was similar\n\n\\\u003eSeeing in on a screen and seeing it in real life was different\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eAs well your methods for information gathering was often brutal and threatening\n\n\\\u003eFavors for favors for bounty hunters are like that.\n\n\\\u003eYou push all that from your mind as you drive through the rundown, crumbling houses to the bunker\n\n\\\u003eThe thought of food digs itself into your mind as you drive down the ramp and get out of your bike\n\n\\\u003eMaybe make some of that Udon with the whole egg and fish cakes?\n\n\\\u003eYea that sounds good\n\n\\\u003eYou head into the kitchen and type away at the food synthesizer and hit the \"GO\" button\n\n\\\u003eThe sound of paws hitting tile behind you makes you turn around\n\n\\\u003eStar is walking towards you sleepily, her eyes with little 'z's scrolling through them; wearing panties and a shirt that was a bit too tight\n\n\\\u003e\"Hey babe, did you have a good nap?\" you ask as she walks forwards sleepily and locks her arms around your waist\n\n\\\u003e\"Mhmm what did you do while I napped?\" she says lazily\n\n\\\u003e\"Work stuff to find your mother\"\n\n\\\u003eShe eyes change into little Exclamation marks\n\n\\\u003e\"REALLY!? What did you find?!\n\n\\\u003e0 to 100 with her always\n\n\\\u003eYou rub her ears gently\n\n\\\u003e\"Nothing so far, I have to wait on a few of my contacts but I'll find her\"\n\n\\\u003eThe Synthesizer dings causing Star to jump into your arms\n\n\\\u003eYou can't help but laugh a bit\n\n\\\u003eShe hits your chest with a tiny fist\n\n\\\u003e\"NOT FUNNY! That scared me!\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Sorry sorry, I made udon Star, you want some?\"\n\n\\\u003eHer eyes switch from little flames of anger to little spinning stars\n\n\\\u003e\"Oooo yes! Gimme gimme!\"\n\n\\\u003eShe squirms out of your arms and dashes to the food synthesizer where she grabs your food\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"Mine now!\"\n\n\\\u003eYou sigh and put in the code to make more\n\n\\\u003eNo way were you going to try to get food from her, especially japanese food\n\n\\\u003eThat's a good way to get bitten\n\n\\\u003eYou hear Star noisily slurping up the noodles by the time your bowl is ready for you\n\n\\\u003e\"Oi get up\" you say as you walk to the chair in front of the monitors\n\n\\\u003eStar is sitting there eating happily but she usually sits in your lap\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eNot like you can sit in hers\n\n\\\u003eShe sets her bowl of noodles down on a table next to the chair then gets up quickly to let you sit and raise your arms so she can scramble into your lap\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"Whatcha wanna watch 'Non?\"\n\n\\\u003eYou weren't about to let her pick, she would inevitably pick one of her gundam shows\n\n\\\u003e\"Uh what's that one with the guy that punches everything?\"\n\n\\\u003eHer eyes morph into little question marks\n\n\\\u003e\"That doesn't narrow Anything down! Describe it more!\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Uh he's bald and wears yellow?\" you say between mouthfuls of noodles\n\n\\\u003e\"You mean One Punch man? Thats a good one!\"\n\n\\\u003eYou guess that's it, not like you could tell until it was on\n\n\\\u003eShe scrolled through various shows until she seems to find the right one\n\n\\\u003eHonestly you were too busy eating to pay attention to whatever she put on\n\n\\\u003eMost of her shows were confusing, but you liked the one about the space bounty hunters\n\n\\\u003eShe always compared you to Spike Spiegel and Gabriel to Jet Black\n\n\\\u003eYou could see the resemblance but Gabriel isn't THAT much older than you\n\n\\\u003eAs the show starts you feel Star's long tail wrap around your waist\n\n\\\u003eYou eat in silence while Star rocks side to side on your lap happily\n\n\\\u003eGod damn she's cute\n\n\\\u003eMaybe you could have a little fun with her?\n\n\\\u003eGently at first you place your hands on her hips and press her down onto you\n\n\\\u003eHer ears perk a bit but she continues rocking side to side, then back and forth\n\n\\\u003eMaybe a bit more\n\n\\\u003eYou push your fingers into her panties waistline and rub while pushing her down onto your every growing erection\n\n\\\u003e\"Mmmmm don't start what you can't finish\" She whispers\n\n\\\u003e\"Ohh I can finish it, can you handle it though?\"\n\n\\\u003eShe grinds a bit on you\n\n\\\u003e\"Betcha you can't\" she says as she gasps slightly\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eYou totally can and will\n\nChapter 4: Heart of Gold\n\n\\\u003eStar's grinding is nothing short of blissful torture as you kiss\u0026nbsp;her neck and hold her paws\n\n\\\u003eYou knew that her pupils would be little beating hearts if you could see them\n\n\\\u003eHer long tail was wrapped around your waist and she gasped as you nuzzle\u0026nbsp;her ears\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"Mmmm Anon don't tease me too much\" she whispers as your hands separate from her paws\n\n\\\u003eThey run down her sides until you're able to grip the hem of her shirt\n\n\\\u003eNow this is just gonna get in the way\n\n\\\u003eYou lift it off her swiftly and toss it aside\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eMuch better\n\n\\\u003eStar's habit of not wearing a bra is certainly helpful when if comes to getting to massage those amazing grapefruit sized orbs that were her breasts\n\n\\\u003eYour fingers run through her smooth fur, savoring the silky smoothness\n\n\\\u003eYou feel her tiny paws gripping at your pants as she try to pull them off you while still sitting in your lap\n\n\\\u003e\"These are in my way\" She coos softly as she grinds on you\n\n\\\u003eHer eyes are little fiery hearts and she has a smile painted across her muzzle\n\n\\\u003eYou gently slide her off you and stand\n\n\\\u003eBelt, gone\n\n\\\u003ePants? Thrown across the room\n\n\\\u003eShirt? Who needs it?\n\n\\\u003eYou keep your eyes locked on hers as you strip, showing off your abs and muscled body\n\n\\\u003eYou might not have augments but you do have a good body\n\n\\\u003e\"Ooo so sexy\" Star moans at you\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"Your turn love\"\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eYou motion to her panties as you speak\n\n\\\u003eWhat Star lacks in grace she makes up for in sheer enthusiasm\n\n\\\u003eShe nearly falls on her face as she slides her panties off\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"Chair! NOW!\"\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eAs you wish\n\n\\\u003eAs you sit back down on the chair, she's immediately pressed her chest against yours as she straddles you\n\n\\\u003eYou wrap your arms around her and pull her into a kiss and feel her tongue fight yours in a sensual dual\n\n\\\u003eHer long tail coils itself around your right leg as she moans into your mouth\n\n\\\u003e\"Annnnonnnnn you're sexxxyyy\" she moans quietly\n\n\\\u003eMight as well prove it.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eYou can feel her wetness pressed against your thigh as your hands fall on her glorious round ass\n\n\\\u003eSqueeze it, spread it gently as you tease her\n\n\\\u003eShe grinds forwards and back against your thigh as she moans\n\n\\\u003e\"Nooo fair I want to tease you too\"\n\n\\\u003eHer tiny paws snake down your chest until the wrap tightly around your stiff member\n\n\\\u003eYou feel her press it against her wet lips and she grinds\n\n\\\u003eShe lifts herself up and slowly lowers down onto you, getting quiet gasping moans\n\n\\\u003eThis isn't want you would call teasing but fuck it\n\n\\\u003eTiny hearts fill her eyes as she rides you, her nipples rubbing against your lower chest\n\n\\\u003eYour hands still squeeze and grip her ass, helping her move up and down your shaft\n\n\\\u003eAs she slowly pumps against you her paws grip your shoulders, claws digging into your skin\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eShe gasps as you grip her hips, helping move her\n\n\\\u003eHer insides, alright tight from her size, clamp down tight as you feel her legs shudder\n\n\\\u003e\"O-o-oh! Anonnnnnn its gooooood\" She moans as she slumps against you\n\n\\\u003eYou continue thrusting into her as she moans and nuzzles into your chest\n\n\\\u003eHer insides stay tight and spasm gently as you thrust like a piston into her\n\n\\\u003e\"S-Star I'm gonn-\"\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eYou're interrupted by a loud explosion from the Show you and star were watching\n\n\\\u003eThe sound is enough to throw off your rhythm and stop you\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eIt also causes Star to jump slightly\n\n\\\u003eFor the first time you see the little flames of angry erupt in Star's eyes regarding one of her shows\n\n\\\u003eShe angrily spins around with you still inside her clenching wetness\n\n\\\u003e\"RUDE! Let put on something More to fit the mood!\"\n\n\\\u003eAs she clicks away at random something you watch her tail wrap itself around your arm\n\n\\\u003eWhat was she up to?\n\n\\\u003eBefore long she has a video of a human and a wolfess pulled up\n\n\\\u003eThe Wolfess has her back to the human, her tail raised and the human fucking her in her ass\n\n\\\u003e\"Ooo Anon. I've watched this video SOOOO much! I want to try it\" Star says and she sits back against you\n\n\\\u003eWhat\n\n\\\u003eWhen was she watching this?\n\n\\\u003eYou look down at her and see her eyes shaped like little hearts focused on you\n\n\\\u003e\"Can we try it at least once Anon?\"\n\n\\\u003eHow do you respond to a pint sized Opossum that wants you to fuck her ass?\n\n\\\u003eWith a whole hearted FUCK YES\n\n\\\u003eWell as long as you don't hurt her\n\n\\\u003e\"Uh Ok Star, as long as I don't hurt you I'm fine with that\"\n\n\\\u003eShe looks up at you with her usual doofy grin\n\n\\\u003e\"OKAY! I GOT STUFF JUST FOR THIS!\"\n\n\\\u003eWhy is she so excited about this?\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eBut then again you would be lying if you said you weren't excited too\n\n\\\u003eShe slides off your lap, slipping you out of her wetness\n\n\\\u003eYou don't even have a moment to think about the missed warmness before she's off to the bedroom\n\n\\\u003eWhat is she even getting?\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eYou're left to sit and ponder while her video plays\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eBefore long you her the skittering of her paws\n\n\\\u003e\"OK! I'M ALL BUTTERED UP AND READY!\"\n\n\\\u003eThe way she said that sounds totally unsexy\n\n\\\u003eStar runs back into the room excitedly, her tail flicking behind her\n\n\\\u003eThankfully she doesn't jump on you this time\n\n\\\u003eInstead she kneels in front of you with a smile\n\n\\\u003e\"I've always wanted to try this with you\" Star murmurs as she uses her paws to rub up and down your member\n\n\\\u003eShe gives you a few long licks up and down the shaft before climbing up into your lap once again\n\n\\\u003e\"Uhmm how should I do this?\" She whispers to herself\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eShe seems torn on whether to face you or face the screen\n\n\\\u003eTime to take charge\n\n\\\u003eYou grip her plump hips, lift her and set her in your lap\n\n\\\u003eHer tail wraps around your waist as you slide your hands up her sides to grip her large breasts\n\n\\\u003e\"Ok ok just gotta go Slowwwwly\"\n\n\\\u003eShe lifts herself gently and reaches down, getting a good grip of your member and positioning the head\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"Sloooowwww\"\n\n\\\u003eWith a surprising amount of care, she slowly lowers herself down\n\n\\\u003eAs you slide deeper into her she gasps\n\n\\\u003eHer ass is tight, tighter than you expected\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eYou don't know what kind of lube she used but it's amazing\n\n\\\u003eAfter a few moments filled with gasps and moans she's lowered herself all the way down onto you\n\n\\\u003eHer tail is wrapped tight around your waist and tightens each time she gasps\n\n\\\u003e\"Oooooh so big Anon, I always forget how big you are\" she moans up at you\n\n\\\u003eHer heart\u0026nbsp;shaped eyes beat quickly\n\n\\\u003e\"Ready to start moving?\" you ask, moving your hands to her supple hips\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eShe nods frantically\n\n\\\u003e\"Mmmm yes Anon!\"\n\n\\\u003eYou help guide her up and down, earning you louder moans\n\n\\\u003eShe leans forwards, putting her paws on your knees and moves faster\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eYou grip her sides as you feel her insides clench and squeeze you\n\n\\\u003eHer wetness drips on your thighs\n\n\\\u003eYou begin thrusting into her harder, using your hand to bring her down hard\n\n\\\u003eShe pumps up and down like a piston on you, moaning loudly\n\n\\\u003eYou groan as you feel yourself reaching your limit\n\n\\\u003e\"S-star I'm gonna-!\"\n\n\\\u003eDO IT FILL ME! FILL ME UP ANON!\"\n\n\\\u003eWith one final thrust, you bring her down on you and explode into her and paint her insides white\n\n\\\u003eYou pant slightly as she sits and grinds on you happily\n\n\\\u003e\"Mmmm that was fun anon, let's do that again sometime\"\n\n\\\u003eYou wrap your arms around her and pulls her back so she's leaning against you\n\n\\\u003e\"Yea, let's do that some more\"\n\n\\\u003eShe looks up at you and smiles, hearts fill her eyes\n\n\\\u003e\"Love you Anon\" she says with a happy smile\n\n\\\u003e\"Love you too Star\"\n\n\\\u003eSuch a great way to kick off an evening\n\nChapter 5: Make Me Fade\n\n\\\u003eThe waiting game was always hard for you\n\n\\\u003eYou wanted to just go and get things done and over\n\n\\\u003eSure you got to relax with Star and Play her video games with her\n\n\\\u003eThere was also a ton of watching her shows with her\n\n\\\u003eYou still had no clue what they were about but at least the action sequences were cool\n\n\\\u003eHow do these robot-things kill other robots by skydiving with a surfboard?\n\n\\\u003eIt makes no sense at all\n\n\\\u003eJust get a gun and shoot the fucking things\n\n\\\u003eBut the Japanese always were a bit weird after the nukes fell 2 millennia ago\n\n\\\u003eOf course they still had really good food too\n\n\\\u003eStar was in the kitchen currently, baking something as a surprise to you\n\n\\\u003eShe said she learned it from Fox, who taught her how to cook while her and Gabriel lived in the bunker with her\n\n\\\u003eYou sat in the chair in front of her computer, reading about the Holy emperors\n\n\\\u003eThey really were just pouring out from the underground\n\n\\\u003eHow did they get in and out of it so easily? No one knew where they came out of since the official maintenance tunnels were still sealed shut\n\n\\\u003eYou had checked every single one.\n\n\\\u003eIt was the third day, so Sgt Winters and Marco should be getting to you\n\n\\\u003eAs you scroll through the record of the old maintenance tunnels you hear Star humming happily\n\n\\\u003eYou recognize the tune from one of her shows but can't pinpoint which\n\n\\\u003eThe smell of cinnamon and vanilla waft through the bunker\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eThe fact she learned how to cook was great and while her cooking wasn't quite on par with Foxes, it was quite good\n\n\\\u003e\"10 more minutes Anon! you're gonna like it!\" you hear Star call happily from the kitchen\n\n\\\u003eAs interested as you were in whatever she was making, you had to make sure you weren't going to die\n\n\\\u003eYou pull up the blueprints for the Arcology\n\n\\\u003eHaving access to this kinda stuff was tough, but Dismond had given you access to their resources\n\n\\\u003eLysander had as well, and having the resources of two of the biggest Crime syndicates was a huge boon\n\n\\\u003eBut even they didn't have access to everything\n\n\\\u003eMilitary schematics, Security details for buildings, and info on high up people\n\n\\\u003eUnfortunately those were the three things you needed\n\n\\\u003eAs you sit and look over the route in and out of the Arcology\n\n\\\u003eUgh one way in and out, makes things much more difficult\n\n\\\u003eBut not impossible\n\n\\\u003eThe sound of your phone going off snaps you out of your thinking\n\n\\\u003eYou answer quickly, right after the first ring\n\n\\\u003eNo hologram to be seen tells you its Winters coming through for you\n\n\\\u003e\"Jobs done, it's in the usual spot\" His voice says quickly before hanging up\n\n\\\u003eAs much as you would like to thank him for the favor, you knew he had a job to do\n\n\\\u003eThe usual spot was near the lucky Cat Brothel in the red light\n\n\\\u003eBehind it actually, The Concordat and Missy would make sure no one else picked it up\n\n\\\u003eYou stand up out and start getting ready\n\n\\\u003eshock knife, gun belt, Bandolier, scanner, Rose and your helmet\n\n\\\u003e\"Wait Anon! I'm almost done!\"\n\n\\\u003eYou feel a furry cannonball hit your side with a force that makes you stumble\n\n\\\u003eStar has latched onto your side with her legs, arms and tail wrapped around you\n\n\\\u003eYou smile and rub her ears gently\n\n\\\u003e\"Of course Star, Lets see what you made for me\"\n\n\\\u003eNot like you were going to just leave without finding out what she made\n\n\\\u003eEspecially when she was so excited to make you something\n\n\\\u003eHer eyes morph into little shooting stars as she tries to climb you like a weird tree\n\n\\\u003eAs cute as it was, her claws could tear your clothes up\n\n\\\u003eSo instead of letting this go on, you pick her up and lift her so she's face to face with you\n\n\\\u003eShe latches onto you again, her long tail wrapped around your arm and her legs locked around your chest\n\n\\\u003e\"I Love you Anon! Can I watch you work?\"\n\n\\\u003eyou smile\n\n\\\u003e\"Of course Star, where would I be without my comms officer\"\n\n\\\u003eHer eyes turn to little beating hearts\n\n\\\u003eShe loves when you call her your comms officer\n\n\\\u003eThere is a ding from the kitchen so you walk over to it, Star still wrapped around you\n\n\\\u003e\"Open the oven! Looky looky looky!\" Star says excitedly bouncing up and down excitedly against you\n\n\\\u003eYou pull the oven open and see a pie of some sort\n\n\\\u003e\"Surprise! It's a cinnamon cheesecake! You like cheesecake right?\"\n\n\\\u003eYou nod as you slip on an oven mitt and pull out the baked treat\n\n\\\u003e\"I do Star, but I can't eat it right now, it still has to cool right?\"\n\n\\\u003eShe nods furiously\n\n\\\u003e\"Yep! It'll be nice and ready when when you get back\"\n\n\\\u003eYou smile and carry star to the chair and set her down in it\n\n\\\u003e\"Love you Star, I'll be back in a bit\"\n\n\\\u003eShe smiles happily and starts tapping away at her computer as you slip on the helmet\n\n\\\u003eThe darkness is only cut through by a loading bar that quickly fills\n\n\\\u003eThe HUD flickers on and you head to your bike\n\n\\\u003e\"Anonnnn! Where are you heading anyway?\" you hears Stars voice through the comms\n\n\\\u003eA small window opens in the top right of the helmet screen with a video feed of Stars face\n\n\\\u003e\"Looky Looky! I got a camera so you can see me!\"\n\n\\\u003eShe waves furiously to the camera\n\n\\\u003e\"I can see that Star, but why did you get a camera?\"\n\n\\\u003eWhile it was nice to see her, it would also be a bit distracting\n\n\\\u003e\"So I can do this!\"\n\n\\\u003eShe lifts her shirt revealing her breasts to you\n\n\\\u003eUpgrade that from a bit distracting to totally distracting\n\n\\\u003eEver since you had sex with her the first time she had become a pervy beyond compare\n\n\\\u003eGuess when a weeby girl who had nothing but battery operated boyfriends finally gets the real thing it opens the floodgates\n\n\\\u003eAs much as you would love to oogle her you had things you need to do\n\n\\\u003eYou get into your bike and punch it up the ramp\n\n\\\u003e\"Oooo Anon, don't you just wanna feel these big boobs around your cock?\"\n\n\\\u003eyou frown as you steer down the side street\n\n\\\u003e\"I do Star but now isn't teasing time, besides if you tease TOO much, I might just have to turn around\"\n\n\\\u003eShe shakes her chest at you before lowering her shirt\n\n\\\u003e\"You assume that isn't my end goal!\" she says with a big toothy smile\n\n\\\u003eShe's a crafty little opossum\n\n\\\u003eNeon lights flow by and rain streaks across your canopy\n\n\\\u003eDense fog looking like cotton fills the street, making it hard to see\n\n\\\u003ePerfect\n\n\\\u003eOnly people with combat eye augments or a helmet like yours could see through this\n\n\\\u003eHeat signatures and UV would be helpful\n\n\\\u003eYou ride silently as Star taps away on her keyboard\n\n\\\u003e\"Hey Anon, you go to the brothels a lot right? Have you ever been with any of the ladies there? I promise I won't be Mad\u0026nbsp;if you did!\"\n\n\\\u003eYou frown as you pull into an alleyway going behind the red light district\n\n\\\u003e\"No, I've never been with any of the girls here, not interested in getting any weird diseases\"\n\n\\\u003eComing to a stop in your bike, you look around, clicking your scanner\n\n\\\u003eYour scanner is connected to your helmet and lets you change what kind of view you have\n\n\\\u003eHeat signatures of anyone nearby would show up, very necessary in this fog\n\n\\\u003eNothing nearby, but you can see the heat signatures of a few people getting it on and you can see Missy in her office\n\n\\\u003eSatisfied that you aren't being watched OR getting ambushed, you switch back to plain view\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eTime to do the worst part of dead drops\n\n\\\u003eSearching for whatever you were looking for\n\n\\\u003eChances are it's just a datachip\n\n\\\u003eAnd also it would probably just be underneath a box because you doubt Winters wanted to get covered in trash\n\n\\\u003eAfter about 15 minutes of searching you find a datachip with the word \"NULL\" written on it\n\n\\\u003eYea this is it\n\n\\\u003e\"Star, info coming to you\"\u0026nbsp; you say as you plug the chip into your scanner\n\n\\\u003eA few taps and the info is transmitting to the bunker\n\n\\\u003eAs it gets transmitted you can see a few of the defensive measures\n\n\\\u003eThe whole place can go into lockdown, even has an ability to flood the tunnel in and out\n\n\\\u003eAs well the whole area has Implant scanners attached to ceiling turrets\n\n\\\u003eLooks like they haven't retrofitted the area like some places around the city\n\n\\\u003eThe various crime syndicates had opted for retrofitted security that can actually detect you\n\n\\\u003eAlthough you were just one person, they thought you were dangerous enough to warrant all that\n\n\\\u003eThese guys in the arcology obviously thought they were untouchable in the floating paradise\n\n\\\u003eYou were going to prove that wrong\n\n\\\u003e\"Got it Anon! There's a lot here! you coming home now?\"\n\n\\\u003eYou can see Star happily beaming in the corner of your screen\n\n\\\u003eWhile you were searching she must've gotten some cheetos or something because around her mouth was coated in orange powder\n\n\\\u003eThat or she found some kind of orange candy to boost her already constant sugar high\n\n\\\u003e\"Not yet, I have someone I have to see for this next job\"\n\n\\\u003eMarco, that weasel, better have that beacon for you\n\n\\\u003eYou dial his number and wait for him to pick up\n\n\\\u003eAfter about 7 rings he picks up\n\n\\\u003eYou could already feel your frustration growing as you get back into your bike\n\n\\\u003e\"That beacon ready Marco?\" you say before he can say anything\n\n\\\u003e\"Ohhh hi Null, I uh... Was just putting the finishing touches on it, you aren't coming over here are you?\"\n\n\\\u003eYou know he can see your helmet and not your face but it doesn't stop you from scowling\n\n\\\u003e\"Yes I am, you said a few days, I gave you a few days, did you really think I would just forget you?\"\n\n\\\u003eYou carry as much malice in your voice as you can\n\n\\\u003eThere is no time for this bullshit and you have to get to studying the info that Winters gave you\n\n\\\u003e\"Uh N-no Null I ju-\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Shut up and get me that beacon or Dismond will be the last thing you worry about\"\n\n\\\u003eYou hang up and floor it\n\n\\\u003eIf he didn't have the beacon, you would give him to Dismond; dead or alive\n\n\\\u003eAs useful as he was, Lysander would have another dozen flunkies that could do the same\n\n\\\u003eYou just don't want to owe her another favor, but you will if you have too\n\n\\\u003eIn this world, the world of the crime syndicates that rule the city; you had no room to show weakness\n\n\\\u003eIf even once, someone heard you let someone get the best of you they would try to walk all over you\n\n\\\u003eIt was a culture of honor like in the wild west\n\n\\\u003eAnd the best way to deal with it was with sheer brutality\n\n\\\u003eWhile usually Gabriel did it, his heavy duty mechanical arm made sheer intimidation\u0026nbsp;a good factor\n\n\\\u003eHe had the reputation for sheer force among those that knew him\n\n\\\u003eYou on the other hand, didn't have strength like him\n\n\\\u003eSo you used everything and anything else\n\n\\\u003eSharp things, electricity, fire and lots of bullets\n\n\\\u003eOnce some human, you never learned his name, thought he could sell you info on a mark, and then sell info to the mark you were coming\n\n\\\u003eYou hooked his augments into his apartments electrical system and overloaded his nervous system\n\n\\\u003eThat was a fun time\n\n\\\u003eYou drive through the fog like a shark though a school of fish to the HMS NorthStar\n\n\\\u003eOnce it was the front of the Sailors, Marco lived there to try to stay hidden from the Dismond syndicate\n\n\\\u003eNow it was ruled by the emperors\n\n\\\u003eYou had no quarrel with them, so they better not give you any problems\n\n\\\u003eWhen you finally arrived, you park your bike and get out\n\n\\\u003eA quick scan of the gangplank and the surrounding area tell you there isn't an ambush set up\n\n\\\u003eNever can be too certain\n\n\\\u003eYou make your way up the gangplank and see tell tale purple of the emperors\n\n\\\u003eNo subtley at all huh? They went all out to make sure people knew it was their turf\n\n\\\u003eThere are a bunch of the goons patrolling the decks too\n\n\\\u003eSome are well armed, some with nothing more than bats\n\n\\\u003eIgnore them for now, no need to deal with them\n\n\\\u003eYou aren't a cop, no need to get into a fight with them\n\n\\\u003eHowever you do catch a few of their gazes as you walk through the rain\n\n\\\u003eHushed whispers of \"Its him, the broken bounty hunter\"\n\n\\\u003eFortunately they don't do anything besides stare\n\n\\\u003e\"Anon, can you hear them? They keep talking about you\"\n\n\\\u003eYou keep walking through as you answer\n\n\\\u003e\"I hear them, no reason to pick a fight with them\"\n\n\\\u003eEven if you wanted to, there were simply too many of them\n\n\\\u003eYou navigate through the ships deck calmly\n\n\\\u003eMarco's container was close by, on the \"top floor\"\n\n\\\u003eSteep metal stairs, hastily made and welded together, climb up the sides of the containers like ivy up the buildings in the rundown\n\n\\\u003eYou climb them quickly, these things always made you uneasy for sure\n\n\\\u003eBut you had places to be and no time to pussyfoot around\n\n\\\u003eYou finally reach the level where Marco's \"workshop\" is\n\n\\\u003eNothing more than a shipping container of top of a bunch of others\n\n\\\u003eBut then again who are you to judge it\n\n\\\u003eYou lived in a single room prior to moving in with Star\n\n\\\u003eAnd prior to that you had lived in the streets\n\n\\\u003eRain poured down like bullets as you knocked on the door to it\n\n\\\u003e\"Marco its Null, Lemme in\"\n\n\\\u003eA simple \"It's open, come in\" sets you on edge\n\n\\\u003eUsually he opens it and lets you in, ushering you through his debris\n\n\\\u003eHe always said something about you might knock over one of his \"precious\" projects\n\n\\\u003eThe change sets off your paranoia\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eIt's not called being paranoid if you survive right?\n\n\\\u003eA quick click and switch of helmet views tells you why\n\n\\\u003eYou can see the thermal outline of Marco, pointed what you can only assume is a pistol at the door\n\n\\\u003eFucking idiot\n\n\\\u003eIf he knew anything about guns, he would know that this door wasn't thick enough to stop a round from such a small caliber gun\n\n\\\u003eBut you're smart enough to know that\n\n\\\u003eYou look around quickly, scanning for nearby peeping Tom's and draw Rose,\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eNo need to start a panic\n\n\\\u003eNot yet anyway\n\n\\\u003eYou aim through the wall and fire once at Marco's leg\n\n\\\u003eScreaming howls tell you that you hit your mark\n\n\\\u003eMusic to your ears as you push through the door and shut it behind you\n\n\\\u003eThere is Marco laying on the ground, grasping his bleeding knee\n\n\\\u003eHis shipping container isn't too wide and he is laying on the floor;\u0026nbsp;work benches surround him and parts line the walls\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eSomewhat annoying that he thought he would shoot you but whatever, it was an issue you could live with and have lived with\n\n\\\u003e\"Marco, Marco, Marco...So ready to try to kill me after I asked for so little?\" you say, calmly leaning against a wall while watching him writhe in pain\n\n\\\u003eHe scowls up at you, grasping at his still bleeding leg\n\n\\\u003e\"Fuck you Null! YOUR bounty is worth more than the parts I used to make that fucking beacon!\"\n\n\\\u003eSo he actually made the beacon? That makes your life easier\n\n\\\u003e\"Where is it Marco?\" you ask coldly as you spin the chambers of Rose, not even looking at him\n\n\\\u003e\"Fuck y-\"\n\n\\\u003eYou pull off your helmet and set it down on his \"workbench\"\n\n\\\u003eIt's literally just a board supported by egg-crates\n\n\\\u003eAs you rotate the chambers of Rose a few more times, letting them click ominously until they fall on lethal then you look down at him\n\n\\\u003e\"Where is the beacon I asked for? Last chance\"\n\n\\\u003eYour scowl paints every picture you wanted it to\n\n\\\u003eA portrait of nonchalant hatred, someone who cared so little for life that a threat would have been useless\n\n\\\u003eThe fear he shows is bliss to you as he attempts to scoot away on one leg\n\n\\\u003e\"It's done! It's done! Over there! Just don't kill me!\" as he pleads he points to a corner behind you\n\n\\\u003eAnother trick? A ploy you get you to turn around and show him your back?\n\n\\\u003eNot gonna work if it is one\n\n\\\u003eYou walk towards him until you're behind him and able to kick his gun away from him\n\n\\\u003eAh, there it is\n\n\\\u003eA shoe box sized box, light strands of thread wrapping around it\n\n\\\u003eSeveral buttons adorn it, each with a hastily made label\n\n\\\u003eYou walk slowly and deliberately, facing marco The whole way until you can grab the box\n\n\\\u003e\"How easy would it have been to just give me this and be done with it?\" you say with a frown as you holster Rose\n\n\\\u003eHe scowls\n\n\\\u003e\"There are still bounties on you Null, you're worth more dead to me than alive\"\n\n\\\u003eYou frown as you grab and pull your helmet on\n\n\\\u003e\"Then you aren't worth anything to me\" you say as you pull out your phone\n\n\\\u003eA quick press of a button and you're ringing Jonathan Dismond himself for a shitty bounty\n\n\\\u003eAs always, he doesn't take long to pick up\n\n\\\u003e\"Anon? What do yo-\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Jonathan, I have a bounty here for you, mark my location and send your guys here\" you say with a calm frown\n\n\\\u003eYou watch as he is taken aback slightly, then you turn the hologram so he can see the splayed out weasel\n\n\\\u003eHe dings something on what you assume is his desk quickly\n\n\\\u003e\"Very well Anon, do keep us informed\"\n\n\\\u003eYou smile as you hang up and the hologram disappears\n\n\\\u003eMarco's dumbfounded face is what you see as it winks out\n\n\\\u003e\"You have a direct line to Dismond?!\" he cries, still grasping his leg\n\n\\\u003eYou give a smug smirk\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"I'm the ghost Marco, I have connections to everyone\"\n\n\\\u003eYou don't but he doesn't know that\n\n\\\u003eOr do you? You have connections to 2 of the biggest crime groups in the city\n\n\\\u003eNot an issue you were going to dwell on anyway\n\n\\\u003e\"You sure pissed on the wrong people Marco, me being one of them\" you say calmly\n\n\\\u003eQuickly tucking the beacon under your arm, you frown from under your helmet\n\n\\\u003eIf you let him go he might escape, if you stayed the syndicate would attract attention you didn't need\n\n\\\u003eEasy solution\n\n\\\u003eYou draw rose once more and aim carefully\n\n\\\u003eOld world police used this tactic before\n\n\\\u003eHit the rotater cuffs and pelvis\n\n\\\u003eStop the arms and legs from moving by breaking the bones connected to them\n\n\\\u003e4 quick shots and Marco is left bloodied and broken on the floor\n\n\\\u003eNot your problem anymore\n\n\\\u003eWithin moments you're out the door and descending to the cargo deck\n\n\\\u003eTrying your hardest to disappear into the crowds of the rising sun, you leave the ship\n\n\\\u003eLuckily you're still smaller than most anthros and their augments\n\n\\\u003eBefore long you're in your bike peeling away from the ship and Marco\n\n\\\u003ePiss of the wrong people and get the worst of life\n\n\\\u003eHe would learn that the hard way, and it would be a very short lesson\n\n\\\u003eMorning traffic is always annoying; people scurrying to jobs that don't care about them in an attempt to make a few extra dollars for a life they got sold by their TV\n\n\\\u003eLiterally people working to try to find a life, only to realize at the end of it all that they wasted it\n\n\\\u003eNot your problem though as you drive down the ramp into your now familiar home of the bunker\n\n\\\u003eYou push up the canopy and step out, only to get greeted by the now more than familiar feeling of Star pouncing onto your side\n\n\\\u003eat this point you cant even be upset as she hugs your side, her long prehensile tail coiling around your leg\n\n\\\u003e\"I MISSED YOU! LET'S WATCH SOME GUNDAM!\" She says happily as you walk awkwardly into the bunker\n\n\\\u003eIt's almost like she didn't just watch you sign the death warrant on someone's life\n\n\\\u003eAs you step awkwardly and sit into the chair, Star scurries into your lap with a smile\n\n\\\u003eHeart filled eyes are all that you focus on and she snuggles into your chest while interlacing her padded fingers with your own\n\n\\\u003e\"Love you Anon\" She cooes softly, all while looking up at you, tiny hearts filling her eyes\n\n\\\u003e\"Love you too Star\" you say with a smile\n\n\\\u003eQuickly looking up at the screens of her computer, you see a quick glimpse of one of her shows\n\n\\\u003e\"Man, I have no idea what's going on in this show\" you think as you watch the all too familiar robots blow each other up\n\n\\\u003eWhatever, at least you understood one thing\n\n\\\u003eYou Love Star, and that's all that mattered\n\nChapter 6: Nightcall\n\n\\\u003eYou sit in your chair with Star in your lap, frowning as you study the archology\n\n\\\u003eThis place was a nightmare for you\n\n\\\u003eOne way in, one way out, like a Venus flytrap\n\n\\\u003eFloodgates for the tunnel that went in and out of it, ready to drown anyone\n\n\\\u003eAnd throughout there were scanners made to scan unauthorized people or vehicles\n\n\\\u003eStill they weren't prepared for you luckily\n\n\\\u003eThe \"peacemaker\" turrets that lined the ceilings locked onto implants\n\n\\\u003eRobotic security locked onto augments and scanned unauthorized people not with optical means but with the usual implant scanners\n\n\\\u003eBut the whole place could go into lockdown with the flick of a button\n\n\\\u003eAnd that...that was controlled by one person,\n\n\\\u003eThe overseer, Josue Alonzo\n\n\\\u003eFrom what you could see he got his job through sheer nepotism\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eHis uncle was a politician in the world government at some point, only to have been \"retired\" due to corruption\n\n\\\u003eOf course you later learned that one of either Lysander's or Dismond's various hitmen had killed him so his corruption was never really brought to life\n\n\\\u003eBecause of that Alonzo's position had stuck, and this was one that stayed for life\n\n\\\u003eBut it looked like he was also inept, given a position of power in a very limited area\n\n\\\u003eMost likely to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't get into trouble\n\n\\\u003eWould he be an issue for you? Doesn't matter really\n\n\\\u003eYou don't mind one more body but it was a better idea not to have to deal with that\n\n\\\u003eStar sat in silence, studying everything with you\n\n\\\u003eEven she understood what this meant or how dangerous it could be\n\n\\\u003eYou knew getting in was the easy part\n\n\\\u003eThe arcology has a bustling shopping district full of high end things and casino, which also meant strippers and whore\n\n\\\u003eYou were able to piece together that was another reason that Lysander wants this guy dead\n\n\\\u003eBesides being a pedophile he also was trying to set up a red light district that wasn't under Lysander's control\n\n\\\u003eOf course the fact he was a pedo was enough for you\n\n\\\u003eAs well you don't quite care about Lysander's business practices either\n\n\\\u003eWith one hand around Star's waist and the other on the mouse, you stare and think out your plan\n\n\\\u003eFrom what you could see he loved near the top of the arcology which was shaped like a sphere\n\n\\\u003eThe walls were thick and housed all the apartments\n\n\\\u003eThe center had several levels\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eOne with the shopping district, several with the casinos and a few as strip clubs\n\n\\\u003eAll in all it was about 80 stories, 20 floors of apartments for each \"center floor\"\n\n\\\u003eThe bottom center floor was for shopping, the middle 2 were casinos, and the top was for everything else\n\n\\\u003eGetting out would be the hard part of this\n\n\\\u003eIF you were found out, if they found out that he was dead or if you had to deal with security\n\n\\\u003eChances are they would put the whole place into lockdown until you were found\n\n\\\u003eYou frown and look over the time\n\n\\\u003eMidnight\n\n\\\u003eTime to get going\n\n\\\u003eThe strippers don't live in the arcology, too expensive so they get brought in at different shifts\n\n\\\u003eAs well the shopping district needed to get restocked\n\n\\\u003e\"Time to go Star\" you saw quietly, putting your arms around her and pulling her close\n\n\\\u003eYou feel her long prehensile tail wrapping around your arm as she smiles up at you\n\n\\\u003e\"Ok Anon, I'll keep a watch out for you and see if my da has any contacts in there!\"\n\n\\\u003eYou give her a quick kiss and head to you workroom and start gearing up\n\n\\\u003eNo need for cuffs this time, just raw killing power\n\n\\\u003eYour rifle was stashed in your bike, your bandolier full of charges ready and waiting\n\n\\\u003eAfter Gabriel had given it to you, you had done some work on it for concealment\n\n\\\u003eNow it was collapsible and easy to hide in your jacket, albeit a bit uncomfortably\n\n\\\u003eBut you would rather carry it for this\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eYou head back to the main room where Star stands, bouncing on her footpaws excitedly\n\n\\\u003e\"Come 'ere Munchkin\" you say with a smile, opening your arms to her\n\n\\\u003eWith a running pounce Star jumps into your arms with a big doofy smile and her eyes shaped like little hearts\n\n\\\u003e\"Ooo My hero!\" she swoons as you hold her close\n\n\\\u003eThe only reason you do this is because you've seen it on one of her various shows\n\n\\\u003eBut she liked it so you don't mind\n\n\\\u003eAlthough you feel her trying to scramble her way up you like you're a tree\n\n\\\u003eHer little footpaws are trying to get a grip into your pants\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eInstead you heft her up a little higher so she's level with you and she puts her arms on your shoulders\n\n\\\u003e\"Stay Safe Anon! I need you here with me!\n\n\\\u003eYou nod at her\n\n\\\u003e\"I'll stay safe Star, can't leave my valentine alone for too long\" you say with a smile\n\n\\\u003eOne of Star's shows (or was it more than one?) had characters with the name valentine\n\n\\\u003eSo you called her it occasionally as a pet name, which she loved\n\n\\\u003e\"When you get back from this mission, you're mine Mister!\"\n\n\\\u003eYou aren't going to complain about that\n\n\\\u003eOne last kiss for the road, sets Star's eyes into little shooting stars, which makes you smile\n\n\\\u003eYou carefully set her down and grab your helmet and slide it on\n\n\\\u003eEverything is black except a small loading bar that quickly fills, then everything flicks to life\n\n\\\u003eSatisfied it's working perfectly, you head to your bike\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eAs you reach it your favorite marsupial appears in the upper corner with a bit smile on her face\n\n\\\u003e\"HIIII ANONNN!\"\n\n\\\u003eYep there's that usual call that you're used to\n\n\\\u003e\"Hi Star, ready for this?\"\n\n\\\u003eShe nods frantically while answering\n\n\\\u003e\"MHM! I've got the layout of the arcology pulled and am ready to go!\"\n\n\\\u003eOf course she isn't literally going but she can feel like she's out here with you\n\n\\\u003eAfter all she is your \"comms Officer\"\n\n\\\u003eBesides using her free time to learn how to gain access to systems in places you went, she also watched you work\n\n\\\u003eIt actually helped when you were looking for things, she might spot something you missed\n\n\\\u003eYou get into your bike, rev it up and close the canopy\n\n\\\u003eThe hidden door to the rundown opens as you punch it up the ramp into the outside world\n\n\\\u003eHeavy rain pushes the fog out of the way, and the plants in the roadway begin to thin as you drive towards the megaway\n\n\\\u003eWalls of neon lights flank the megaway and giant floating billboards advertise shit people don't need\n\n\\\u003eThis consumer culture that the world revolved around was something you never really understood\n\n\\\u003ePeople working hard at a job they hate to buy shit that no one needs\n\n\\\u003eWho cares about designer cups and silverware? Why would anyone need a designer Augment that didn't function any better?\n\n\\\u003eBut at the same time this culture is what kept you employed\n\n\\\u003eIdiots vying for power and money by exploiting the market and killing those that tried to get ahead\n\n\\\u003eEven now as you sped towards the arcology you're reminded that getting into it was thanks to the greed and envy of people\n\n\\\u003eAs you approach the exit to the archology you see the advertisements step up\n\n\\\u003eInstead of billboards its holograms, dancing strippers phase in and out of existence\n\n\\\u003eEach one using sex to sell anything from fancy cleaning products to pills that \"fix\" some made up disease\n\n\\\u003eThe rain obscures them a bit when one of the heavy drops hit the projectors\n\n\\\u003eYou notice even as you drive closer and closer to the arcology, the Speeders around you have a step up in quality\n\n\\\u003eBeat up vehicles are replaced by luxury, well cared for speeders\n\n\\\u003eSome of them remind you of haulers, but they are made so people don't have to drive them and can walk around in the back\n\n\\\u003eGuess rich people can't be bothered to even drive themselves places\n\n\\\u003eThe holograms get more and more frequent as you approach the exit off the megaway\n\n\\\u003eAt long last you see the opening to the tunnel that leads to the arcology\n\n\\\u003eLike giant gaping mouth it yawns wide to swallow you whole\n\n\\\u003eDifferent holograms of \"famous\" strippers and hookers dances around it as you enter into it\n\n\\\u003e\"Wowwwww Anon! Looky looky looky!\"\u0026nbsp; You hear Star proclaim as you click on the beacon you got from Marco\n\n\\\u003eThe tunnels were made of glass or transparent aluminum\n\n\\\u003eLights point outwards into the dark ocean showing off varieties of \"fish\"\n\n\\\u003eMost of the \"fresh\" fish that was used for the sushi you like were farmed\n\n\\\u003eYou recall seeing on one of those shows about how stuff is made, giant buildings miles long and wide that were full of thousands of fish farms\n\n\\\u003eThe fish out here in the water were heavily mutated, too much pollution in the water for hundreds of years\n\n\\\u003eOne somehow is able to keep up with your bike as it swims alongside the tunnel, at least 10 meters long and covered in glowing bits and looking like it has 6 eyes\n\n\\\u003e\"Wow it's so pretty!\" you see star swoon in the corner, bouncing excitedly in her chair causing her large breasts to jiggle\n\n\\\u003ePretty isn't the term you would use\n\n\\\u003eMore like disgusting\n\n\\\u003eThere are still large pieces of trash floating in the water\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eFocus\n\n\\\u003eThis is just a distraction from your work\n\n\\\u003eThe tunnel going on for miles gives you a bit more apprehension\n\n\\\u003eIts one this to see it on a screen and another thing to actually live it\n\n\\\u003eEven as you feel the tunnel slope upwards, your feeling of unease doesn't go away\n\n\\\u003eThe light at the end of the tunnel is in view and as you finally exit, you take a moment to look around\n\n\\\u003eDifferent from the rest of the city, that's for sure\n\n\\\u003eThe whole place is brightly lit, and made to look tropical, at least on this floor it does\n\n\\\u003eBecause the archology is closed off, no rain or fog blocks your view\n\n\\\u003eMaybe you would come back at some point to sightsee, and bring Star along with you\n\n\\\u003eWell actually she probably wouldn't want to because there was nothing that had to do with her animes\n\n\\\u003eAnd you also had no interest in being here\n\n\\\u003eYou steer your bike so you can follow a hauler, taking the hidden routes downwards\n\n\\\u003eHaulers and other delivery trucks aren't really seen here\n\n\\\u003eToo unsightly\n\n\\\u003eSo below the main floors there were places for them to park and drive to deliver their wares\n\n\\\u003eHidden roads snake their way unseen throughout, which gives you an easy way to get around\n\n\\\u003eBut here you might draw attention on your bike\n\n\\\u003eReaching behind you, you flick another switch on the beacon and feel the cloaking field activate\n\n\\\u003eUgh they always made you nauseous\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eSome people had them built into their bodies as an advanced combat augment but it always made them really really slow and heavy\n\n\\\u003eYou remember one bounty hunter that had one and would always say \"I didn't ask for this\"\n\n\\\u003eHeh what a weirdo\n\n\\\u003eYou keep driving upwards, as the haulers around you thin out\n\n\\\u003ePerfect, it's always hard to drive while invisible because other vehicles can't see you\n\n\\\u003eYou reach the top floor of the center areas, the strippers and fledgling red light district\n\n\\\u003eParking your bike in a far off hidden area, you get out with your rifle hidden under your jacket and mark the location on the scanner on your arm\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eYour helmet puts a way point there so you can find it later\n\n\\\u003eThese \"back\" parts of the arcology are totally different than the \"front\"\n\n\\\u003eWhite, and stile, favoring function over form\n\n\\\u003eIt wasn't pretty but it worked\n\n\\\u003e\"Star do we have any ideas where Jensen is?\" you ask as you approach service door to the outside\n\n\\\u003eYou hear Star tapping away at some buttons as you draw your shock knife and jam it into the lock\n\n\\\u003eThe powerful charge short circuits the door lock and allows you to push it open with ease\n\n\\\u003e\"Give me a Sec Anon! I might be able to get into their arcology data recorder network!\"\n\n\\\u003eYou blink hard and think about what she just said as you walk through the crowds\n\n\\\u003eHm this floor still has gambling and casino machines, beeping, dinging and beeping noises fill the air\n\n\\\u003eAs well the tropical theme has continued to this floor\n\n\\\u003e\"How are you able to get that info Star?\"\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eYou stop and focus on her camera feed\n\n\\\u003e\"Da has a contact who works in maintenance there! Apparently he's worked there for years!\"\n\n\\\u003eHm makes sense now that you think about it, Dismond has been trying Control all the Casinos for a long time\n\n\\\u003eAnd just like With Lysander trying to get a foothold here, Dismond would want to as well\n\n\\\u003e\"Star, patch me into your father really quick\"\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eYou skirt around the edge of the crowd, drawing very little attention luckily\n\n\\\u003eThe people here are too distracted to bother with you\n\n\\\u003eThe promise of MAYBE getting a payoff from a lucky draw, the prospect of getting their dicks wet in some whore\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eThey had no reason to bother with a single human wearing a helmet\n\n\\\u003eA new window on the top left of your HUD appears, showing a still image of Dismond\n\n\\\u003e\"Star what do yo-..... Ah Null, I see you're working today, who are you killing today?\"\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eYou keep walking through the crowd as you speak\n\n\\\u003e\"Senator Jenson, Star tells me you have someone in the arcology that can help me out a bit\"\n\n\\\u003eStar smiles and folds her ears down, you assume she's looking at a hologram of her father\n\n\\\u003e\"I do Null, getting rid of Jenson would be beneficial me, I assume you want to get in contact with him?\"\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"Yea! Da! He needs his help to find the bad guy!\" Star interjects, bouncing in her seat\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"Quiet Star! I was speaking to Null!\"\n\n\\\u003eImmediately the bouncing stops and Star shrinks down in her chair with a quiet \"sorry da\"\n\n\\\u003eYou frown, disapproving of the scolding Star just received but keep quiet about it for now\n\n\\\u003e\"Yea I need to talk to him, I'm in the arcology and only have a basic idea where Jensen is\"\n\n\\\u003eA tapping noise is heard and you watch Star perk up a bit\n\n\\\u003e\"I've sent the contact info to star, when you call him tell him that ace of spades needs help\"\n\n\\\u003eHe then promptly hangs up\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"You Ok Star?\"\n\n\\\u003eShe looks a bit downtrodden and her ears are still folded back\n\n\\\u003e\"I...I'm ok... Da doesn't like when I try to do stuff when he has business\"\n\n\\\u003eWas he just brushing her aside or was he trying to make sure she wasn't going into a criminal life\n\n\\\u003eYou think it's the latter\n\n\\\u003e\"Star, don't let him bother you, I've got you\"\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eYou see her ears perk back up and her scooch back forwards in her chair\n\n\\\u003e\"Promise?\"\n\n\\\u003eYou nod calmly as you head into and elevator with lots of people on it\n\n\\\u003eLet one of them get scanned and get you where you need\n\n\\\u003eYou see Star tapping away then another window opens bring up a man with short black hair\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"Whoaaa Sup little lady? Also who's the power ranger?\"\n\n\\\u003ePower ranger?\n\n\\\u003eYou frown and Star giggles\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"HI!!! Uhmm Ace of spades needs helps!\" star recites with a toothy grin\n\n\\\u003eThe man's eyes widen\n\n\\\u003e\"OH you're with the syndicate? Neat. I'm Chase By the way\"\n\n\\\u003eStar waves at the camera wildly, causing her to shake and certain bits to jiggle\n\n\\\u003e\"Hi! I'm Star! The Power Ranger is An- Uhmm Null!\"\n\n\\\u003eThe elevator slowly travels up, floor to floor as they speak\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh, I've heard that name before, the ghost right?\"\n\n\\\u003eYou nod silently\n\n\\\u003eAs awesome as this helmet was it didn't block your talking, so people around you would hear you if you tried to speak\n\n\\\u003e\"He's hunting Senator Jenson and needs your help to find him\" Star chimes in\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"Aight aight cool I can do that\" you watch as Chase types away at a large keyboard\n\n\\\u003eYou wish he would hurry, you're running out of floors as the elevator ascends\n\n\\\u003e\"And here we go! According to the computer system he used his implant to get into Penthouse K on the 79th floor!\"\n\n\\\u003eQuickly, you press the button on the elevator, luckily a few more people are still in the elevator with you\n\n\\\u003e\"If you don't need anything else, I'll be going, see ya power ranger, call if ya need anything\" Chase says before sipping a drink from a can\n\n\\\u003eStar waves again\n\n\\\u003e\"OK! Thank you Chase!\"\n\n\\\u003eA short click and he's gone\n\n\\\u003e\"I like him, He's Fun! And he called you a power ranger!\"\n\n\\\u003eWhat the fuck is a power ranger?\n\n\\\u003ewhatever, moving on\n\n\\\u003eYou keep quiet, standing in one of the corners of the elevator as a wolfess wearing black and a man wearing a red hoodie kiss in the other\n\n\\\u003eHeh someone got lucky\n\n\\\u003eThe elevator dings and opens on the 79th floor letting you out, much to your relief\n\n\\\u003eNot that you care about PDA but you had other things to think about\n\n\\\u003e\"Inputting the penthouse location into your HUD! Go get 'im Anon!\"\n\n\\\u003eLike magic, a route appears to lead you to your target\n\n\\\u003eYou follow the route noting how this floor is different than the others\n\n\\\u003eAlthough still tropical in theme, it was darker, like a deeper recess of the jungle\n\n\\\u003eMore secluded, small artificial hot springs are all around\n\n\\\u003eThere are a few humans and Anthros lazing about in some of them\n\n\\\u003eWhat is this place? The Anthros seem...young\n\n\\\u003eNot like the petite girls you saw at The Lucky Cat, you could tell those ones were older\n\n\\\u003eBut you can't quite tell how old these girls are....\n\n\\\u003e\"Star, get screen shots of all this\" you whisper through your comms\n\n\\\u003eStar looks nearly dumbfounded as you want slowly\n\n\\\u003e\"Star!\" you hiss\n\n\\\u003eShe jumps and pushes a bunch of buttons in a panic\n\n\\\u003e\"Yes! Sorry!\"\n\n\\\u003eThese guys aren't your target and killing someone without a bounty on them might get you in trouble, especially here\n\n\\\u003eBut if they had bounties, you were going to kill them\n\n\\\u003eIf not you could send these photos to Winters\n\n\\\u003eAt least then he might be able to do something\n\n\\\u003eYou press onwards, following the route to your prey\n\n\\\u003eBefore long you're face to face with a door with the words \"penthouse K\" on it\n\n\\\u003eShifting to the thermal imaging mode on your helmet shows you several people in the penthouse\n\n\\\u003eOne is small and appears to be cowering\n\n\\\u003eOne is about 6'0 and human from the looks of it and near the small figure\n\n\\\u003eThe rest are either lazing around a TV hologram or something towards the back of the apartment\n\n\\\u003eHow to do this without drawing a crowd\n\n\\\u003eMaybe just ring the doorbell?\n\n\\\u003eYou press the button next to the door and draw Rose and shift the chamber to stun\n\n\\\u003eAs well you draw your shock knife\n\n\\\u003eOne of the lazing figures gets up and saunters over\n\n\\\u003eA Click back to normal vision on your helmet and you're ready\n\n\\\u003eThe door swing open revealing a jackal with mechanical legs\n\n\\\u003eSpeed is your forte here\n\n\\\u003eYou grab him and pull him forwards sharply, causing him to fall forwards with a sharp yelp\n\n\\\u003eAs he hits the ground you stab the shock knife into his mechanical leg, the overload them with a high voltage charge\n\n\\\u003eThe shock also knocks him out\n\n\\\u003eBut his yelp is a problem\n\n\\\u003eYou drag him into the penthouse quickly and\u0026nbsp; check to see that you weren't heard\n\n\\\u003eCheering is heard from the room the jackal came from\n\n\\\u003eMust be some sports game or something on\n\n\\\u003eLeave the idiot where he fell and deal with these ones before they cause you a problem\n\n\\\u003eQuietly you walk over to the door frame and peek inside\n\n\\\u003e1 human, a wolf and a hyena are cheering walking WWE or whatever that stupid wrestling show is called now\n\n\\\u003eHonestly don't they know that's fake?\n\n\\\u003eFuck it you're inside now, no need for stealth\n\n\\\u003eAs you step out from behind the doorframe you Aim and Fire 3 stun rounds\n\n\\\u003eAll 3 go down like a fat guy going down on a cake\n\n\\\u003eBut it was loud, Rose might be powerful but she isn't quiet\n\n\\\u003eYou can hear shouting from the room where the small figure was\n\n\\\u003eLet him come\n\n\\\u003eQuickly you head into the hallway and wait\n\n\\\u003eOut of the door at the end of the hall burst a man wearing a shirt and no pants, revealing augments to certain places\n\n\\\u003eYou recognize him as your mark\n\n\\\u003e\"What the FUCK is all that rac-\"\n\n\\\u003eHis eyes go wide when he sees you\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh FU-!'\" his words are lost to you because you charge him and bash him in the face with Rose\n\n\\\u003eSurprise motherfucker\n\n\\\u003eHe falls backwards into the room, hitting his head on the tiled floor\n\n\\\u003eYou stand over him with a frown\n\n\\\u003eAs quick scan of the room shows no one around\n\n\\\u003eThat can't be right\n\n\\\u003eYou distinctly remember seeing someone else\n\n\\\u003eNot your problem\n\n\\\u003eYou dial up Lysander on your phone and wait until her hologram appears\n\n\\\u003e\"Ah Anon...Burning the candles at both ends I see\" she growls with a low yawn\n\n\\\u003e\"Sorry if I woke you Madam, but I'm sure you have a request for this\" you say as you remove your helmet, clicking it off\n\n\\\u003eYou rotate the phone so Lysander sees the senator, who lays on the ground grasping his face\n\n\\\u003eWhat a wuss, one pistol whip and he acts like he's dying\n\n\\\u003eSo this is what it's like to be bitch made\n\n\\\u003eBut then again you recall plenty of men who begged to you, like you would spare them\n\n\\\u003eNot that you would\n\n\\\u003e\"Get me his ID implant Anon, make it as painful as possible\"\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eIt's hard to see past Lysander's stoic yet graceful voice\n\n\\\u003eIt's like she could tell you that your family had been killed and you would be ok with it\n\n\\\u003eYou nod silently and double check to make sure your helmet is indeed off\n\n\\\u003eStar doesn't need to see this, she knew you were a killer; but her shows would never prepare her for this\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eAs you go to hang up the phone, Lysander stops you with a simple \"wait\"\n\n\\\u003eYour thumb hovers over the \"call end button\" as you frown at the hologram\n\n\\\u003e\"What?\" you ask, irritation permeating your voice\n\n\\\u003eYou wanted to get this over with and go home\n\n\\\u003eThis earns you a smirk from the large saber-toothed feline\n\n\\\u003e\"I want to watch you do it\"\n\n\\\u003eWould you submit to such an odd and ridiculous request?\n\n\\\u003eShe was literally asking to watch you torture someone\n\n\\\u003eBut as you see a pair of eyes peek out from a closet, you know you don't care\n\n\\\u003e\"Close your eyes and hide\" you say to the feline cub hiding \"don't open them no matter what you hear\"\n\n\\\u003eLysander's terrifying visage stares at you intensely\n\n\\\u003e\"There is one there now?\"\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eA slight break in the calm voice, a chink in her otherwise perfectly calm demeanor\n\n\\\u003eYou turn the phone so she can see the cub, cowering behind a door\n\n\\\u003e\"There is\"\n\n\\\u003eThe face Lysander makes is enough to send shivers up your spine\n\n\\\u003eA mix of cold fury and hatred\n\n\\\u003eA reminder she was not someone you wanted to cross\n\n\\\u003e\"Make. It. Hurt.\" is all she says in response\n\n\\\u003eGet the ID implant huh? Easy\n\n\\\u003eMake it hurt? Also easy\n\n\\\u003eYou calmly set your phone down on a nearby bedside table and draw your fusion sword\n\n\\\u003e\"No.....use that\" Lysander's hologram lazily points to your shock knife\n\n\\\u003eWhatever\n\n\\\u003eYou stash the fusion sword and draw your knife calmly\n\n\\\u003eBest not to piss off a murderous crime lordess\n\n\\\u003eThe disgraced senator tries to retreat from you as you advance towards him, crawling away helplessly\n\n\\\u003e\"Scream for me Jensen, make his job all the sweeter\" you hear Lysander chide from behind you\n\n\\\u003eYou hoped he didn't for the sake of the cub\n\n\\\u003eEven as you catch up to him, he tries to fight\n\n\\\u003eYou catch his right arm and twist it around, locking him into an arm bar\n\n\\\u003eBody mechanics will always work\n\n\\\u003eTwist an arm around enough and it reaches its limit, over extending the nerves\n\n\\\u003eBut you don't care about his comfort\n\n\\\u003eWhy should you?\n\n\\\u003eA swift knee to the back of his elbow snaps his arm, earning you a satisfying scream\n\n\\\u003e\"Shut up\" you say calmly as he begs\n\n\\\u003eHow many times have you heard this?\n\n\\\u003eSpare my life i'll pay you double. Don't kill me I have a family, bla bla bla\n\n\\\u003eFuck that\n\n\\\u003eMaybe you should have thought about that before you were fucking garbage can\n\n\\\u003eBut still his screams are annoying\n\n\\\u003eYou stomp your boot down on his neck and the side of his face to shut him up\n\n\\\u003e\"Shut. UP\"\n\n\\\u003eThe crack of bone from somewhere beneath your foot makes you smile a bit\n\n\\\u003eGrasping your knife firmly you cut away at his flesh until the bone is exposed while ignoring the frantic kicking of his feet\n\n\\\u003eJust like whittling except instead of wood its muscle and sinew\n\n\\\u003eThe only resistance her can offer is pained whimpering\n\n\\\u003e\"I'm using my fusion sword for this part, cutting through bone with a knife is a bitch\" you say to Lysander's attentive hologram\n\n\\\u003e\"Very well get it done and throw him out the window\"\n\n\\\u003eNo second invitation is needed\n\n\\\u003eDrawing the fusion sword with a flourish to not cut yourself you quickly dice apart the bone around the implant, leaving his arm to flop uselessly\n\n\\\u003eHis implant might be useful to you for later, Plus Lysander wanted it\n\n\\\u003eLooking down at the now mutilated senator, you see he passed out from the pain\n\n\\\u003eShock maybe?\n\n\\\u003eNot like you were going to treat it or resuscitate him\n\n\\\u003eA quick look around makes you frown, there is no window\n\n\\\u003eTime to improvise\n\n\\\u003eLeaving his body, you cut a hole through wall to the outside world\n\n\\\u003eThe rain pours through the window you made as you walk over to the senator and heft his body up, careful not to get any blood on you\n\n\\\u003eIf he survived this fall it would be a miracle\n\n\\\u003eIf he survived the things that lived in the waters below... well then you would stop hunting him\n\n\\\u003eHe would have earned life at that point\n\n\\\u003eBut that wasn't going to happen\n\n\\\u003eNo one could survive a nearly 80 story fall\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eEven if it was onto water, surface tension would make that water feel more like stone\n\n\\\u003eYou set him in a seated position at the edge of the hole and wait for the water from the rain to awaken him\n\n\\\u003eIt takes a bit for him to regain consciousness\n\n\\\u003eHe blinks in confusion and attempts to open his mouth but his jaw falls lopsided\n\n\\\u003eHeh guess you broke it with that stomp\n\n\\\u003e\"Wime to die senator\" you say with a smile \"Any last words?\"\n\n\\\u003eBefore he can even answer, you push him out the hole\n\n\\\u003eHe probably couldn't speak anyway, and you didn't care what he had to say\n\n\\\u003e\"Lysander what do you want me to do with this Cub? I can't bring her with me\" you say as you walk over to your helmet and set it on\n\n\\\u003e\"If you would Null, Let me speak to her\" you hear as the helmet boots back up\n\n\\\u003eWalking to the phone and then carrying it to the closet, you set it in front of the cub\n\n\\\u003e\"Open your eyes little one\" Lysander coos to the shaking cub\n\n\\\u003eThe cub opens her eyes and stares at the hologram\n\n\\\u003e\"Little one, a drone will be by to pick you up and take you from there, stay put ok?\"\n\n\\\u003eIts weird hearing Lysander speak like this, as well her voice is soothing even\n\n\\\u003eWeird\n\n\\\u003eThe cub nods once and huddles further into the closet\n\n\\\u003eJob done, time to go\n\n\\\u003eYou pick up your phone and leave the closet as Star returns to your camera feed\n\n\\\u003e\"Anon! Did you have to kill the feed! I was enjoying watching you!\" She pouts, little flames in her eyes\n\n\\\u003eYou look at the bloody spot on the floor and the hole in the wall\n\n\\\u003e\"You didn't need to see that Star, Trust me\"\n\n\\\u003eWalking through the penthouse once more to the exit quietly, you think about how easy this was\n\n\\\u003eBut as you walk by the room with the idiots in it, you see something that catches your eye\n\n\\\u003eWeren't there 3 of them in there?\n\n\\\u003eRight as a red light flares to life and sirens go off\n\n\\\u003e\"You're fucked now boy!\" you hear a growl behind you\n\n\\\u003eYou turn and see the human, his cybernetic arm limp at his side\n\n\\\u003eAnd he's just pressed a panic button...\n\n\\\u003eAnd he's also right\n\n\\\u003eYou. Are. Fucked.\n\nChapter 7: High Hopes\n\n\\\u003eAnger flares to life in you as the sirens and red flashing lights distort your perception\n\n\\\u003eRose's muzzle flashes brightly as you dispatch the man\n\n\\\u003eYou should have just killed him when you had the chance\n\n\\\u003eHow he recovered so quickly from the stun rounds, you'll never know\n\n\\\u003eNot like you can ask him now anyway\n\n\\\u003e\"Anon! Ohh No the Place is going into Lockdown\" Star says as red lights fill her camera feed\n\n\\\u003eHer eyes are bright yellow exclamation marks as they dart around her monitors\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"Thank you, Star I hadn't noticed\" you sigh\n\n\\\u003eFuck this, Rose might be a great gun but you need more\n\n\\\u003eYou grab your Auger rifle off you back and extend the collapsible stock\n\n\\\u003eClean up time, if you were going down, you're taking these pedos with you\n\n\\\u003eRunning quickly to the door, you push it open and look around\n\n\\\u003eDozens of Security drones buzz about, scanning everyone, searching for you\n\n\\\u003eA single red eye sits on a sleek body, flanked by 2 thrusters that rotate freely\n\n\\\u003eHeh\n\n\\\u003eThey wouldn't find you that way\n\n\\\u003eThe men lazing in the pools are still there, unconcerned with the flashing lights and security drones\n\n\\\u003eThey think themselves untouchable, the drones here will protect them they think\n\n\\\u003eAt least that's what you think they think\n\n\\\u003eYou stroll lazily to the edge of one of the pools, the light glinting off the wet rocks\n\n\\\u003eSecurity drones fly around you and past you, searching\n\n\\\u003eYou stand at the edge of the pools, frowning and looking down at a male Anthro hyena, groping what to you looks like a cub\n\n\\\u003eAnger\n\n\\\u003eIt isn't until you literally push a drone away that he notices you\n\n\\\u003eSeeing his ears drop in realization of who you are is some semblance of comfort\n\n\\\u003e\"ITS TH-\" are the only words he can gasp out before you stomp your boot into his face\n\n\\\u003e\"Get them Love! They ALL have bounties!\" you hear Star cheer as she bounces in her chair\n\n\\\u003eThe red lights flash like a rave of old as you get to cleaning up the trash\n\n\\\u003eThe screams are drowned out both by the sirens but also by the water as they sink into it\n\n\\\u003eYou see the bodyguards of whoever these people are begin to mobilize, moving towards you\n\n\\\u003eThey are bigger than you, stronger than you and better armored than you\n\n\\\u003eWhat do you do now?\n\n\\\u003eFix Bayonets!\n\n\\\u003eYou duck behind one of the faux rocks and attach your Fusion sword to the muzzle of your rifle and light it up in a flash\n\n\\\u003eEven with your added weaponry, you don't stand a chance though\n\n\\\u003eYou hear kinetic rounds ricochet around you\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eStay hidden, stay patient\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eThey think because of their augments they can get close\n\n\\\u003eThey think you're nothing\n\n\\\u003eBut as you look at one of the Cubs huddled for cover\n\n\\\u003eYou awaken every monster, every dragon every demon that sleeps inside you\n\n\\\u003eRemind them what hell looks like\n\n\\\u003eYou jump out and fire off a force barrier and smile as the bullets plink against it uselessly\n\n\\\u003eThe plasma rounds from your rifle phase through the barrier and tear through your assailants\n\n\\\u003e\"Behind you!\" you hear a male voice call out\n\n\\\u003eYou don't even question it\n\n\\\u003eWhipping around quickly, you thrust your rifle and fusion sword bayonet into a huge panther Anthros chest\n\n\\\u003e\"How...?\" he manages to choke out before you pull downwards, splitting him\n\n\\\u003eYou run for concealment, avoiding the drones that fly uselessly\n\n\\\u003eThey might not be able to target you but you still don't want to get winded by one by running into it\n\n\\\u003e\"Yo power ranger, stairs are to your right, in that corner behind a wall\" comes the voice again\n\n\\\u003eWait... Power ranger?\n\n\\\u003eAs you dash into the corner and push the wall out of the way, you gasp out a simple name\n\n\\\u003e\"Chase?\"\n\n\\\u003eYou hear a few claps and a laugh\n\n\\\u003e\"The power ranger speaks! I got back into your comms when I heard the alarm go off\" he says with a laugh\n\n\\\u003eIn the corner of your HUD you see Star Scrambling and pushing buttons\n\n\\\u003e\"I? What? HOW?\" she says finally, looking frazzled and staring at her camera\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"The power ranger is in my world now! I have taps on every comm in the arcology\" Chase says finally as you run down the stairs\n\n\\\u003e\"Whatever, how do I get out of here now?\" You grunt\n\n\\\u003eFuck stairs, but you have places to be\n\n\\\u003eAll of them being not here\n\n\\\u003e\"Chill, only a few people know about the stairs, no one can find you there\" Chase says lazily\n\n\\\u003eHe knows where you are... How?\n\n\\\u003eAs you slow down, you look around and scan for cameras but find none\n\n\\\u003e\"Look up power ranger\"\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eYou look up and immediately slash your fusion rifle bayonet at a buzzing security drone\n\n\\\u003eIt flies out of the way with Chase shouting \"HEY HEY STOP IT\"\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eYou keep your rifle trained on at the drone buzzing drone\n\n\\\u003eIt's...painted?\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eWhat is this?\n\n\\\u003e\"Say hi to Obie! It's so I can keep track of this place without leaving my station\"\n\n\\\u003eYou lower your rifle and see a few of the mods made to the drone\n\n\\\u003eSeveral stickers and modifications are on it\n\n\\\u003eIncluding an optical camera\n\n\\\u003eInteresting\n\n\\\u003eYou frown under your helmet and look away from it, continuing your travels down the stairs\n\n\\\u003e\"What can Anon do now?\" Star says, frowning at her camera\n\n\\\u003eLittle question marks fill her eyes as she types away at her computer\n\n\\\u003e\"I don't think He can just leave, I think the security systems are in place\" she says finally, little teardrops filling her eyes\n\n\\\u003e\"He can't, he's trapped\" chase says more cheerfully than you like\n\n\\\u003e\"What do I do then\" you grunt as you continue down the stairs slowly\n\n\\\u003e\"You're gonna have to convince Mr. Alonzo somehow\"\n\n\\\u003eGreat\n\n\\\u003eYou were going to have to deal with the overseer of this whole place\n\n\\\u003eA problem you didn't want to deal with\n\n\\\u003eOverall it was an easy task, find him and \"convince him\" you needed to leave\n\n\\\u003eAll the while avoiding drones that weren't made to get you\n\n\\\u003e\"Where\" is all you say calmly\n\n\\\u003eNo need to get worked up, no need to freak out and stress\n\n\\\u003eJust do what you do best\n\n\\\u003e\"Well actually, it's back up a few floors power ranger, hope you like cardio\"\n\n\\\u003eYou swear to yourself as Star frowns, little fires filling her eyes as she talks\n\n\\\u003e\"You couldn't have said that when he walked past it?!\" she says angrily\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eHonestly her anger to you is adorable, for you it usually resulted in you giving her head scratches or kisses to sooth the fires in her eyes\n\n\\\u003eBut at this point you're annoyed too, plus you can't sooth the little fires in her\n\n\\\u003eYou hear him yawn and type away at his computer\n\n\\\u003e\"Forgot sorry, but ya go up like 3 floors and you'll be on the floor he's on\"\n\n\\\u003eYou frown and head back up the stairs swearing to yourself in mumbles as Obie follows you lazily\n\n\\\u003eThree floors doesn't take the wind out of you, but it's still annoying as you push the door open to the floors\n\n\\\u003eThese access doors were hidden like on the top floor\n\n\\\u003eAs you close it behind you, you note how well it blends into the wall\n\n\\\u003eYou're still near the of the arcology, but this floor seems more like a in-between station\n\n\\\u003eNot covered in the tropical designs and mood lighting, but bare and bland like the hidden background\n\n\\\u003eYou see rows and rows of security drones in their docks, charging and ready to be deployed\n\n\\\u003eHolographic filters block the views into this floor but allow the drones to fly out freely\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"This is where the overseer is, his office is on the other side of the arcology\" you hear Chase say calmly\n\n\\\u003eYou flick off your fusion sword and stow your rifle as you walk between the rows of inert security drones\n\n\\\u003eThis place really does have top notch security... there are hundreds of these drones buzzing around through the various floors of the structure, yet there are still hundreds charging here\n\n\\\u003eWas this why Lysander had sent you to do this? She had hundreds of bounty hunters across the city and therefore across the planet\n\n\\\u003eBut it would take and army to get through these drones\n\n\\\u003eYou walk forwards and inspect one, noting how the lens of the drone reflects your helmet\n\n\\\u003eThese were top of the line and very useful\n\n\\\u003e\"Chase...do these things fly in the tunnel in and out of the arcology?\" you ask calmly, looking over the various pieces and the charging port\n\n\\\u003e\"Huh? Oh uh, yea those things go all over\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Are you able to activate one and have it follow me? I can have it cloak my bike as I leave\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Uh...no but...I can tell you how to hook your scanner into it so the midget there can pilot it or something\"\n\n\\\u003eYou watch Star's eye erupt in little flames\n\n\\\u003e\"I'M NO MIDGET!\" she yells angrily, however any intimidation she would have had is ruined by her voice getting higher as she gets madder\n\n\\\u003eYou didn't want to lose your scanner but this was dire\n\n\\\u003eEven though you had the cloaking beacon on your bike, they might be searching for them and would flood the tunnel\n\n\\\u003eWith a security drone hiding your movements it would give you the chance to slip by\n\n\\\u003eMaybe\n\n\\\u003e\"Fine, tell me how\"\n\n\\\u003eFor the next hour or so, Chase explains to you how to connect your scanner into the Drones systems\n\n\\\u003eHonestly you have no idea what you're doing as you plug various wires in and bits\n\n\\\u003eFinally you click the final part in place\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eThe drone buzzes to life as you watch Star's camera feed\n\n\\\u003eShe has a game controller and has a big smile on her face\n\n\\\u003e\"Ooo Fun! Let me just try this!\" she says as she moves a few joysticks\n\n\\\u003e\"The drone shoots forwards suddenly into your chest, knocking the wind out of you and causing you to fall\n\n\\\u003e\"Ow Star! Be careful!\" you groan as catch your breath again and get to your feet\n\n\\\u003e\"Sorry Anon! That was an accident! Let me get used to this!\" Star chirps happily as the drone slowly buzzes around you\n\n\\\u003eYou watch as she flies at around a bit\n\n\\\u003e\"Ooo it's like I'm there with you now!\" Star says as she bounces happily and kicks her feet in joy\n\n\\\u003eYou sigh, and head back to the stairs\n\n\\\u003eThis way, you don't need to kill anyone else and possibly raise more alarms\n\n\\\u003eAfter all you weren't here for anyone else\n\n\\\u003eStar's drone buzzes awkwardly behinds you, shooting forwards then stopping randomly while hovering\n\n\\\u003eYou sigh as you walk\n\n\\\u003eWas this worth it? All of this, to help star find her mother; a woman who disappeared after leaving Star with her father?\n\n\\\u003eHer father, a Man who pushed her aside for his business and hid her from the world\n\n\\\u003eJust doing this for Star, you had already killed how many?\n\n\\\u003eHow many times have you been shot at to try to find a woman you don't even know is alive\n\n\\\u003eStar seems to forget that, despite your ability to escape death a few times that you are just a human\n\n\\\u003eAnd the most basic human at that\n\n\\\u003eIf any of these drones could spot you, you wouldn't stand even the smallest of chances\n\n\\\u003eThey would turn you into less of a body and more of a pile of mince mean mixed with bullets\n\n\\\u003eAs you walk to the hidden door to the stairs, you look at Star, who happily pilots her drone\n\n\\\u003eWould she think it was worth it if you died doing this for her?\n\n\\\u003eShe always forgets or can't put it together that you're out here killing living people for money\n\n\\\u003eLike when a news reporter forgets they are watching a real tragedy unfold, she forgets you aren't from one of her shows\n\n\\\u003eThe stairs fall away as you walk upwards to your bike\n\n\\\u003eWhat repercussions would you being here have?\n\n\\\u003eYou infiltrated the home of a senator, killed at least half a dozen people and set off an alarm on what was supposedly one of the most secure places on the planet\n\n\\\u003eMore people would hunt you, more people would want to be the one to catch the ghost and raise reputation\n\n\\\u003eBut could they find you? Would they stand a chance? You have the backing from 2 major crime syndicates\n\n\\\u003eAt last, you're back on the floor where you left your bike\n\n\\\u003e\"I'll drive slow Star, can you lock onto my location using the beacon to follow my bike?\" you ask as you finally reach it\n\n\\\u003e\"Uhmm I think so!\" she says nervously, as the drone buzzes overhead\n\n\\\u003eBetter than nothing and this was your best choice\n\n\\\u003eYou get into it and rev it up\n\n\\\u003eSlowly, you drive down the ramps, in-between the Haulers and car's trying to leave the arcology\n\n\\\u003eEveryone is trying to leave, they hear one alarm and flee like rats from a sinking ship\n\n\\\u003eIn-between the lanes of speeders and haulers you go, all while Star pilots the drone, masking you from the other security drones\n\n\\\u003eMaybe you could do this!\n\n\\\u003eThe checkpoint is ahead, scanning speeders and their occupants, reading the chips of the speeders\n\n\\\u003eNo actual people, just a large scanning system\n\n\\\u003eEach time a speeder passes under it, there's green flash; signaling that it's good to go\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eCautiously, you drive under one, still cloaked and with Star's drone above your bike\n\n\\\u003eNo reaction, no flash of green or anything else\n\n\\\u003eIt can't see you!?\n\n\\\u003eGood!\n\n\\\u003eNow you just have to avoid every speeder\n\n\\\u003eYou drive quickly through the tunnels, with the drone following you, luckily Star figured out how to control it in a straight line fast enough\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eGranted you weren't going top speed but still\n\n\\\u003eYou're home free!\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eYou drive quicker, a feeling of hope and the desire to shower intensifying as you near the mouth of the tunnel\n\n\\\u003eBut that feeling is shattered as soon as you pull out of the tunnel\n\n\\\u003eThere is a roadblock, waving cars through\n\n\\\u003eWhat? This wasn't part of the security\n\n\\\u003eYou stop on the shoulder of the bridge and watch for a moment\n\n\\\u003eMen, actual humans and Anthros are scanning each vehicle intently\n\n\\\u003eThat is until one points your way and the men raise their rifles at your Bike\n\n\\\u003eWhat the?\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"Uh Anon I think they know where you are\" you hear Star say in a worried voice\n\n\\\u003eThis isn't right, the beacon should keep you unseen! And you don't have an implant....\n\n\\\u003eWait....\n\n\\\u003eYou rummage in your pocket and pull out the senator's implant\n\n\\\u003eThey tracked you...\n\n\\\u003eYou were so used to not being able to be followed you forgot about it\n\n\\\u003eThe drones on the arcology knew not to attack that implant so they ignored you then\n\n\\\u003eGuess it was too easy after all\n\n\\\u003e\"UNCLOAK AND STEP OUT OF THE VEHICLE OR WE WILL OPEN FIRE\" you hear a megahorn Blaze to life\n\n\\\u003eFUCK\n\n\\\u003e\"A-Anon? What are you gonna do?\" Star whispers, you see her in the corner of you HUD, wide eyed and full of fear\n\n\\\u003e\"You have a plan right?\"\n\n\\\u003eYou sigh and uncloak your bike\n\n\\\u003e\"No, I don't Star\"\n\n\\\u003eYou step out of your bike to the blinding lights\n\n\\\u003e\"Ya caught me\" you say calmly, raising your hands\n\n\\\u003e\"Open fire\"\n\n\\\u003eHuh?\n\n\\\u003eA something hits your bike, causing it to explode and a blast of plasma and shrapnel\n\n\\\u003eYou're floating, flying...\n\n\\\u003eHow odd, why is the sky at your feet? Why is the bridge getting farther away?\n\n\\\u003eFalling?\n\n\\\u003eHow high was the bridge again?\n\n\\\u003eYour back hits the cold seawater, feeling more like cement than water and the world goes black\n\nChapter 8: Into The Light\n\nStar\n\n\\\u003e\"You have a plan right?\" you say, watching As Anon's bike slowly gets surrounded\n\n\\\u003eHe has to have a plan, He always did! Nothing ever stopped him!\n\n\\\u003eEven when Fox was hurt, he never stopped!\n\n\\\u003eJust like the heros from your shows, he never stopped\n\n\\\u003e\"No, I don't Star\"\n\n\\\u003eYour heart stops, frozen; as you watch him slowly get out of his hoverbike\n\n\\\u003eNo No NO! This isn't right! he's the hero! he always has a pl-\n\n\\\u003e\"Ya caught me\" He says with his arms raised above his head, not to you, but to the men surrounding him\n\n\\\u003eHe has to have a plan! He always does!\n\n\\\u003eOh! Maybe he thinks they hacked your comms! yea! He's just playing it cool!\n\n\\\u003eYea! That's your Anon! he always knows what to do\n\n\\\u003e\"Open fire\"\n\n\\\u003eYou watch as Anon drops his arms in confusion\n\n\\\u003eA rocket hits his bike and...He's gone\n\n\\\u003eSent flying over the edge of the bridge as his bike explodes\n\n\\\u003eYou pilot the drone he hacked for you quickly\n\n\\\u003eYou have to catch him! Or Something!\n\n\\\u003eAll you can see in the moments where you're able to fly the drone over the edge of the bridge, is him hit the inky black water and disappear beneath it\n\n\\\u003e\"ANON?!\"\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eStatic\n\n\\\u003e\"ANON PLEASE ANSWER!\"\n\n\\\u003eStill more static\n\n\\\u003eYour drone hovers aimlessly above the water where he disappeared\n\n\\\u003eThis was supposed to be fun and games! He even got you a new toy!\n\n\\\u003eThis drone to follow him around and really see what he was doing, like a video game!\n\n\\\u003eInstead...\n\n\\\u003eInstead he was...\n\n\\\u003eNo! He couldn't be gone!\n\n\\\u003eHe is unstoppable! He is the Broken bounty hunter! He is the ghost\n\n\\\u003eHe is...yours...\n\n\\\u003eHe...was...human\n\n\\\u003eTears fill your eyes as you control your drone, buzzing around frantically, calling to him through your microphone\n\n\\\u003eWhere was he?!\n\n\\\u003eHis helmet wasn't sending a signal!\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eAll you saw was static from his feed\n\n\\\u003eYou are Star Dismond\n\n\\\u003eAnd Anon is gone\n\n\\\u003eYou bring your paws to your face in disbelief\n\n\\\u003eNO! Do something! Anything!\n\n\\\u003eCall uhm...Gabriel! He would know!\n\n\\\u003eFrantically, you punch in the buttons on your computer, Anon's best friend (Besides you) would know!!\n\n\\\u003eIn a sleepy haze he picks up, you see his hologram looking more tired than usual\n\n\\\u003e\"Star? uh, Whats up?\" he says groggily\n\n\\\u003e\"Anon is Gone! I need to find him\"\n\n\\\u003eThis snaps him awake\n\n\\\u003e\"Gone? What do you mean?\" he says sitting up\n\n\\\u003eA slight stirring besides him makes him look away from his phone\n\n\\\u003e\"No its ok Fox, One sec\" he says before sliding out of his bed and getting dressed\n\n\\\u003e\"Tell me everything Star\" he says as he pulls on his jacket\n\n~~~~~\n\n\\\u003eGabriel is here with you in your bunker\n\n\\\u003eHe sits reviewing the footage from your drone, a frown on his face\n\n\\\u003e\"We need to go find him\" he finally says\n\n\\\u003eYou're shocked, find him? Out there? WE?\n\n\\\u003eYou raise your paws and wave them frantically in front of you\n\n\\\u003e\"No no no! I can't leave my bunker without Anon! It isn-\"\n\n\\\u003eGabriel rounds on you, anger covering his face\n\n\\\u003eAn anger you rarely saw\n\n\\\u003eOnce from Anon, when you tried to convince him to not attack the sailors...A few times from your father..\n\n\\\u003e\"Null was out there because of YOU Star! Searching for a woman that you've never even met!\" he roars\n\n\\\u003eYou shrink back into your chair\n\n\\\u003eOut there was bad! Out there was where Anon was hurt!...Out there was...Where he needed you\n\n\\\u003eYou bring your paws to your face and rub it, trying desperately to find another option\n\n\\\u003eWhat would Anon do out in your place?\n\n\\\u003eThe thought of him diving into the water without a second thought hits you instantly\n\n\\\u003eHe would do that...He never had an issue putting himself in danger for others\n\n\\\u003eYou recall watching him fight at the brothel he usually went to for extra cash, killing a few people for some sluts that he didn't know or care about\n\n\\\u003eBut he always came back, bloodied and bruised, but back to you\n\n\\\u003eGabriel stands taller than you, looking down at you with a frown\n\n\\\u003eSlowly, you nod at him\n\n\\\u003e\"O..Ok Gabriel, lets go\"\n\n\\\u003eYou grab your jacket and an arm scanner like Anon always used, however this one could control the drone he acquired for you\n\n\\\u003eHow many times have you been to the surface since Anon took you out for sushi that time? Honestly, you had lost count\n\n\\\u003eBut it was always with him\n\n\\\u003eYou climb into Gabriel's speeder and he starts it up\n\n\\\u003eIn a flash, he's driving towards the bridge Anon disappeared from\n\n\\\u003eNo...Not disappeared\n\n\\\u003eWas blown off of\n\n\\\u003eAs Gabriel drives, you control the drone and keep an eye on the inky waves of the water, hoping he will reappear\n\n\\\u003eContinual scans for the signal his helmet gave out so you could talk to him found nothing\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eThe holograms Anon had seen less than a few hours ago dance as rain falls through them\n\n\\\u003eThe vehicles from whatever force, that had stopped Anon have dispersed, and now a group of flying robots tend to the crater where his bike had been\n\n\\\u003eGabriel pulls to the shoulder of the Megaway bridge and gets out, grabbing a pair of some kind of binoculars out of his bag in the back seat\n\n\\\u003e\"You keep looking with that drone of yours, I got these thermal goggles, if I see something, I'll tell you and you get that drone over there\" he says sternly\n\n\\\u003eyou nod and tend to searching with your drone\n\n\\\u003eHe was out there, You knew it! And you were going to find him\n\nGabriel\n\n\\\u003eYou told Star to sit in the Speeder while you \"searched\" for Null with your \"thermal imaging goggles\"\n\n\\\u003eTruth is, that explosion probably knocked him out and when he hit the water he drowned\n\n\\\u003eAnd if it hadn't, It would have done a lot damage to him, enough to make him bleed badly\n\n\\\u003eWhatever was in the water wouldn't pass up a free meal, that blood would attract them to him\n\n\\\u003eNull was gone, You were only out here to see if you could maybe find his body and give him a proper funeral\n\n\\\u003eBut Star didn't know that, how could you tell her he was probably dead?\n\n\\\u003eYour phone rings and up pops the Hologram of Fox, who has a worried look\n\n\\\u003e\"Any chance?\" she says, a paw to her chin as she looks at you\n\n\\\u003eYou could tell she already knew the answer but was hoping she was wrong\n\n\\\u003e\"I doubt he's alive, I doubt his body is in one piece either\"\n\n\\\u003eShe swears under her breath as tears form in her eyes\n\n\\\u003e\"Find...Something, anything, please Love\" she finally says \"We owe him that much\"\n\n\\\u003eYou nod calmly, \"I'll keep in touch, love you\"\n\n\\\u003eShe gives a sad smile \"Love you too\"\n\n\\\u003eYou look over your shower and see Star, searching intently for Null with her drone\n\n\\\u003eThis poor girl doesn't realize he's probably dead, she's too desensitized by her shows to know that people don't usually walk away from explosions\n\n\\\u003eBut you didn't have the heart to tell her that\n\n\\\u003eInstead, you hoped her seeing the crater in the bridge where is bike had been would tell her he was dead, however it looked like it just encouraged her more\n\n\\\u003eSo you peer into the dark water, trying to distinguish the random chunks of trash from a body, or body part\n\n\\\u003eyou couldn't tell anything apart from anything else\n\n\\\u003eHow long should you keep searching? Would the waves carry his body to the shore? Or would it be sucked underground into the cooling systems of the eternal city?\n\n\\\u003eTurning away from the water, you look to the area where he had been standing and see something; Something that fills you with more sadness than you thought it would\n\n\\\u003eEven as you walk close to it, skirting through traffic to pick it up, you can barely believe it\n\n\\\u003eRose\n\n\\\u003eNull's Handgun, one side of it scorched and blacked by the plasma explosion from his bike coils, the other side clean from where it has been pressed against his body and in his holster\n\n\\\u003e\"Gabe? Do you see anything? Why'd you go over there?\" Star calls out to you from your speeder\n\n\\\u003eShe looks like she wants to run to you, but keeps ducking back inside the speeder when another speeder zooms past\n\n\\\u003eYou frown and quickly make your way back to her, hiding Rose in your Jacket from her view\n\n\\\u003e\"We should go Star\" you say as you get into your speeder, staring straight ahead\n\n\\\u003e\"What? But we just got here?! You said that-\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Null's gone Star\" you say, still staring ahead, avoiding her gaze\n\n\\\u003eYou can almost feel her eyes staring, boring into you\n\n\\\u003e\"How do yo-\" She starts\n\n\\\u003e\"Is...Is that Rose?\" she says after a pause\n\n\\\u003eYou look down and see Rose's grip sticking out of your jacket\n\n\\\u003eFuck\n\n\\\u003eSlowly, you reach down, Unload it, and hand the now blemished handgun to Star\n\n\\\u003eHer tiny paws tremble as you place the it in them\n\n\\\u003eShe's quiet; quieter than you had ever thought she could be, quieter than she had even been\n\n\\\u003eYou stay staring ahead, watching the rain hit your windshield until you hear a small sob\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eLooking over at her, you see something you had never seen before\n\n\\\u003eHer eyes, instead of the usual happy stars or little dancing flames; are small broken hearts as she stares at the firearm\n\n\\\u003etears flow freely as she holds the gun to her, her small paws unable to hold it all\n\n\\\u003e\"He... He must have dropped it, it's ok\"\n\n\\\u003eShe begins wiping the dirty side of the firearm frantically with her shirt\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"We...We have to clean it for him...He hates when his gun is dirty...We'll want it all clean when he gets back...\" she says, finally looking up at you\n\n\\\u003e\"Right?\"\n\n\\\u003eYou can't bring yourself to answer immediately as you rev up your speeder and head to your apartment\n\n\\\u003e\"Right Star, we'll clean it up good for him\" you say with a stone face\n\n\\\u003eStar didn't need to spend the night alone\n\n\\\u003eSure, She might disturb Hope, but that was just a problem you were going to have to deal with later, as you see her frantically trying to use her shirt to clean Rose\n\n\\\u003eThe gun itself was scorched, it would take a lot more than wiping it with a wet t-shirt to clean it\n\n\\\u003eBut you weren't going to stop her from trying\n\n\\\u003eIF she focused on that, she wouldn't really focus on Null\n\n\\\u003eRain smears across your windshield as you drive and Star quietly sobs, trying desperately to clean the firearm\n\n\\\u003eThis isn't how bounties were supposed to end, Null was basically untraceable\n\n\\\u003eYou had watched him literally walk past grounds of security drones, flicking them off as he walked by\n\n\\\u003eSomeone must have been onto his movements, while he couldn't be tracked, he wasn't invisible\n\n\\\u003eAnd he had been snooping in some pretty dangerous places again\n\n\\\u003eHe should have brought you...But you know he didn't because of this very reason\n\n\\\u003eYou had Hope to take care of, and now Star to look after in his place\n\n\\\u003eHe didn't tell you about this because he knew if he could pull it off, only HE could\n\n\\\u003eImplants and societies reliance on them were but Null's biggest weakness and greatest strength\n\n\\\u003eGoing into one of the most protected places in the city was pushing his luck, and that gamble didn't pay out\n\n\\\u003eHolograms turn to Neon signs as you drive away from the arcology and Null's grave\n\n\\\u003eYou grimace as you think about it\n\n\\\u003eHe never had a chance to fight back, he had surrendered\n\n\\\u003eIf it had been local police, he would have gotten arrested\n\n\\\u003eHe would have shown why he was there, along with the bounties he collected\n\n\\\u003eSure the killing of a senator would have landed him in hot water, but as soon as the footage of that senator with a cub popped up...\n\n\\\u003eWell, he would be a free man\n\n\\\u003eNo, someone wanted him dead\n\n\\\u003eWell, lots of people did\n\n\\\u003eBut who could organize something like that?\n\n\\\u003eA sob from Star breaks your thoughts as holes begin forming in her shirt from rubbing it against the charred gun in her paws\n\n\\\u003eRight...handle that stuff tomorrow, You got into bounty hunter mode\n\n\\\u003eRight now, Star needed you and Fox\n\n\\\u003eYou pull into the parking zone for your apartment and get out of your speeder, then walk around and open the passenger door for Star, who was too focused on trying to clean Rose\n\n\\\u003e\"Gotta get it clean for him\" she mumbles as you gently grab her and lead her out of the speeder\n\n\\\u003eNot once does she even bother looking up as you lead the crying opossum to the elevator\n\n\\\u003eAlmost like its instinct, she lets the scanner read her implant\n\n\\\u003eUsed to dealing with Null and his affliction no doubt\n\n\\\u003eYou push the button to your floor and wait as the elevator ascends\n\n\\\u003eWhen the doors open with a small ding, you peer towards an open window as a gust breezes through\n\n\\\u003eNull always got caught up in looking out the windows when he visited you\n\n\\\u003eHe was usually stuck below the clouds, in the gutters filled with rain and blood and choked with plants\n\n\\\u003eBut now he wasn't here to admire the view, and you had a small sobbing girl who hadn't even bothered looking up\n\n\\\u003eYou usher Star into your apartment, where she finally looks up\n\n\\\u003e\"This isn't my bunker\" she says in confusion, looking around\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"No it isn't, you're gonna stay here with us tonight\" you say, disconnecting your mechanical arm and setting it aside\n\n\\\u003eFox emerges from your bedroom with a small yawn, then looks at you\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eYou know from her eyes what she's asking and you shake you head solemnly\n\n\\\u003eShe looks down to Star and her eyes widen at the sight of the pint sized opossum still trying to clean Rose\n\n\\\u003e\"Star...Star! Why don't you put Rose down and let's get you to bed, come on\" she cooes calmly to Star, her best motherly voice brought forth\n\n\\\u003eFox quietly reaches for the handgun, only for Star to pull it away from her\n\n\\\u003eStar looks at her and seems startled, like she just realized Fox was there\n\n\\\u003e\"Hi Fox...No...No I need to clean this for Anon...He likes it clean\" She says before looking back down at the scorched firearm, tears still dripping from her eyes onto it\n\n\\\u003e\"Let's at least sit down on the couch\" you say, leading her to your couch\n\n\\\u003eStar sits down on and you sit on one side of her, while Fox sits on the other side\n\n\\\u003eFox puts one of her arms around Star and pulls her in\n\n\\\u003e\"It's ok Star\" she whispers sadly to the Small marsupial\n\n\\\u003e\"It'll be ok\"\n\n\\\u003eStar simply nods and continues to focus on Rose\n\n\\\u003eTurns out being woken up in the middle of the night to be told your best friend died is pretty tiresome\n\n\\\u003eYou feel sleep coming for you, despite you trying to fight it off\n\n\\\u003ePutting your arm around Star and fox, you pull them close with a yawn\n\n\\\u003eYou fall asleep, listening to Fox gently console Star\n\n\\\u003eFox's word echo as you drift off\n\n\\\u003e\"It'll be ok\"\n\nChapter 9: Never Too Young To Die\n\n\\\u003eIt's been nearly a week since Null got blown off the bridge, and any hope you had of finding his body was gone.\n\n\\\u003eYou had called in favors with the cops, other bounty hunters, and even some gutter runners you knew.\n\n\\\u003eThe chance to find his body was small from the start, but you didn't want to give up so you could give him a proper funeral.\n\n\\\u003eStar spent the nights at your apartment, focused solely on trying to clean Rose.\n\n\\\u003eShe cooked occasionally, trying to perfect Udon for \"when Anon gets back\".\n\n\\\u003eFox helped her and tried to give her an optimistic encouragement.\n\n\\\u003eHow Star felt right now must be indescribable; the first man to wander into her life and make it better was gone.\n\n\\\u003eBut you knew what had to be done, Null given instructions to you in case of his death, just like you had given some to him.\n\n\\\u003eRight now, Star sat on your couch, holding Hope and\u0026nbsp; talking to the small cub.\n\n\\\u003e\"When Anon and I have kids someday, I'm sure our baby will love to play with you! Oh! If we have a boy you could marry him! And then we would all be a family!\" she said to Hope as she gently rocked the sleeping cub.\n\n\\\u003eYou needed to stop this, it hurt to see her like this.\n\n\\\u003e\"Star, we need to go to your bunker, I need to show you something\" you say calmly, looking at Fox for support.\n\n\\\u003eFox nods and sits next to Star.\n\n\\\u003e\"It's important that you go with Gabe. I'll look after Hope\" she says softly, coaxing Hope from the opossum.\n\n\\\u003eStar looks up at you and smiles.\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh...OK, I need to make sure everything is ready for Anon when he gets back, I need to get him a new helmet too\" she says, sliding off the couch .\n\n\\\u003eShe walks to the front door, and opens the coat closet, then grabs her jacket and pulls it on along with her boots.\n\n\\\u003e\"Ready!\" she says with a smile you could see through.\n\n\\\u003eHer eyes gave it away.\n\n\\\u003eSmall teardrops were in them, replacing the usual Star pupils she usually had.\n\n\\\u003eIn fact, you dont think they've changed at all since the incident.\n\n\\\u003eYou nod to her and pull on your own jacket then open the front door.\n\n\\\u003e\"I'll make a copy for you Fox, love you\" you call over your shoulder as you walk out.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eStar follows you aloofly, like a lost puppy following the first person it found.\n\n\\\u003eYou feel bad for her for what you're gonna show her.\n\n\\\u003eBut it needed to be done, it was Null's request.\n\n\\\u003eYou lead her into the elevator, and she almost immediately lets it scan her implant, letting muscle memory guide her.\n\n\\\u003eHow many times has she done this with Null? He couldn't use elevators without her unless he shorted them out.\n\n\\\u003eYou know he took Star out of her bunker, but he never told you the extent of it.\n\n\\\u003eMan, now you wish you could ask him so many things.\n\n\\\u003e\"What are you gonna do if your kid can't have implants?\" and \"Are you ever going to find your parents?\" were among them.\n\n\\\u003eBoth were moot now though.\n\n\\\u003eThe elevator stops and you walk out into the pouring rain, noting its heavier than normal.\n\n\\\u003eHeavy rain for a heavy heart.\n\n\\\u003eYou get into you speeder and hate this feeling you have in your gut.\n\n\\\u003eThis was it. the \"nail in the coffin\" so to speak.\n\n\\\u003eStar gets in the speeder and slicks her blue hair back, flicking water onto the headrest she couldn't even use.\n\n\\\u003eYou start up the vehicle and begin the ride, driving in silence with neon lights and rain flowing by.\n\n\\\u003eThe deafening silence is only interrupted by the sound of Speeders and haulers zooming past in the opposite direction.\n\n\\\u003eWhen at last you pull to the hidden bunker door, Star doesn't even acknowledge it; she just keeps staring out the window.\n\n\\\u003eEven as you park the speeder, she doesn't even seem to notice.\n\n\\\u003e\"We're here Star\" you say as you push the button to open the doors.\n\n\\\u003eThey swing open and Star jumps slightly in surprise.\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh...right ok! I'll get Anon's workshop ready\" she says, before rushing into the bunker.\n\n\\\u003eWell, that gave you time to do what you needed to.\n\n\\\u003eYou walk into the bunker slowly, remembering the time you and Fox spent in here; the time after Fox got shot.\n\n\\\u003eGood memories with Star and Null.\n\n\\\u003eNow it seemed empty, like everything that should be there isn't.\n\n\\\u003eYes, Star was there; but Star wasn't your partner in crime.\n\n\\\u003eYou walk over to Null's computer and begin clicking through the folders for the hidden video.\n\n\\\u003eGod DAMN he kept it hidden, but you can't blame him for hiding it well; Star was in this bunker 24/7 and might snoop.\n\n\\\u003eAt last, you find it.\n\n\\\u003eifIamdead.MP4\n\n\\\u003eReal subtle Null.\n\n\\\u003e\"Star, come here, I have something to show you\" you call out down the hallway.\n\n\\\u003e\"HM? what's up?\" She says as she pokes her head out of Null's ready room, clenching a shoe.\n\n\\\u003e\"There is something you... we... need to see\" you say with a sad smile.\n\n\\\u003eYou know what this is; she doesn't, and that breaks your heart.\n\n\\\u003eStar settles into her chair and looks at you to start the video, which you do with a simple press of the \"play\" button.\n\n\\\u003eAnd then, there he is; Null, sitting in Stars's bedroom, with Star asleep behind him.\n\n\\\u003eA hologram of him with a sad smile.\n\n\\\u003e\"Hey guys\" it starts with a small awkward wave.\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"Gabe what is th-\" Star starts only for the Hologram to cut her off.\n\n\\\u003e\"If you're watching this, I'm dead\" It says, smiling sadly.\n\n\\\u003e\"Of course, I didn't want to die, but I am....was a bounty hunter, it was always part of the risk involved\" It says as it looks at the camera, the same cold, sad smile on his face.\n\n\\\u003e\"Gabe...I'm sorry. You were always telling me not to die. sorry I couldn't follow your advice this time; hopefully, if there is an afterlife, I wont see you for a long while. I'll see you brother, take care of everyone\".\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eThe hologram looks at a piece of paper and then back to the camera.\n\n\\\u003e\"Fox, thank you for always being there for me, Augs or not, you always accepted me for who I was, and that meant the world to me. Gabe is probably saving this to send to you or give to you afterwards, but either way. Thank you, you were one of the best friends I could have asked for, and someone I will always call family\".\n\n\\\u003eHe shifts a bit, and something moves behind him as he looks away from the camera.\n\n\\\u003e\"Sorry, I'm filming this while Star is asleep\" he says calmly.\n\n\\\u003e\"Hope\" he says solemnly, with the first frown he has had during this video.\n\n\\\u003e\"Hopefully you never see this, if not hopefully you're old enough to understand my job, otherwise...I hope you don't remember me at all, and are raised on happy stories of my life and not what it really was like. And if she isn't old enough; Gabe, just tell her I did what's right\" he says looking at the paper, making sure he says everything right.\n\n\\\u003e\"And last but not least\".\n\n\\\u003e\"Star\" the hologram says, folding the paper and then tossing it aside.\n\n\\\u003e\"I'm sorry, but if you're seeing this, I'm not coming back; my work, my job was always one of danger and I'm truly sorry. Chances are I tried, and went out in a blaze of glory for something dumb, but this was the only life I could have. Please.... Don't blame yourself; live on and try to find someone who can have augments, and can be...Better than I am. Know this though....\".\n\n\\\u003eThe hologram looks back at the figure behind him and then places a hand on it before rubbing it softly.\n\n\\\u003e\"I will always love you; and I'm sorry, I should have always been there for you\" it says.\n\n\\\u003eThe hologram looks down then frowns, before reaching forwards and turning itself off.\n\n\\\u003e\"I'm sorry and I love you\" are the last words it says before turning off.\n\n\\\u003eIt shuts down automatically and for the first time, it really hits you.\n\n\\\u003eNull... Anon; is dead, for real this time.\n\n\\\u003eDid he push his luck to far? was some group after him?\n\n\\\u003eAnswers you would would never really get.\n\n\\\u003eBut now wasn't time to focus on you, you knew this might happen, Null gave instructions.\n\n\\\u003eHis money would go to Hope, for her college or augments, whatever she decided on.\n\n\\\u003eYou look at Star and see tears forming in her eyes as she stares ahead blankly, at where the hologram had been.\n\n\\\u003e\"Is....He really gone?\" she whimpers, looking at you with tear drops for pupils and real tears pouring from her eyes.\n\n\\\u003eA weight is on your chest as you answer her.\n\n\\\u003e\"I...I think so Star, I'm sorry\" you choke out, looking at the opossum with a sad frown.\n\n\\\u003eSure, she still had you and Fox, but... This had to be hard on her.\n\n\\\u003eHe was there for her, doing everything for her, even if he said for her not to blame herself, she probably would.\n\n\\\u003ePlus, you doubt that she would ever find anyone else.\n\n\\\u003e\"But I don't want him to be dead Gabe! Is this how adults do things?\" she says sadly, her eyes and nose running, as she looks up at you.\n\n\\\u003e\"I'm sorry Star, but he's dead, and yes, this is how adults do things\" you say putting your flesh and blood arm around her shoulder and leading her back to your speeder.\n\n\\\u003eYou felt bad showing that video to her but she needed to see it, but as you lead the now openly sobbing opossum, you feel like maybe you shouldn't have.\n\n\\\u003eShe had spent her whole life sheltered from any real danger, only really seeing violence from Null when she monitored his hunts\n\n\\\u003eAnd you just sprung that on her the love of her life is really, truly dead..\n\n\\\u003eYou help her into the speeder, then go grab a bag and throw some of her clothes in it.\n\n\\\u003eIt looks like she was going to stay with you for a while.\n\n\\\u003eStar needed that support from you and Fox, and chances are you both needed her support too\n\n\\\u003eWhile Star was romantically involved with Null; He was your best friend, always willing to give anything and everything for you and Fox.\n\n\\\u003eIt was him who came up with the Suicide mission to kill the leaders of the sailors; not for his own gain or benefit, but for Fox\n\n\\\u003eYou always knew if he died, it would be for someone else.\n\n\\\u003eGuess you were right.\n\n\\\u003eHe had saved that cub from the pedophile senator; and she would probably never know his sacrifice.\n\n\\\u003eyou get into your speeder and start it up then jet out of the bunker.\n\n\\\u003e\"Call Lysander\" you say as you start driving.\n\n\\\u003eThe surround sound of your speeder rings a few times before a hologram of the large sabretooth cat appears.\n\n\\\u003e\"Gabriel, calling at such an odd time? Has Anon finally completed my task?\" she asks with a bored look on her face.\n\n\\\u003eDid she not know? How would she not know?\n\n\\\u003e\"Anon is dead\" you say with annoyance poured into your words \"He killed the senator, but someone set him up\".\n\n\\\u003eFor the first time, you see shock on Lysander's face, if only for a moment.\n\n\\\u003e\"Dead? how can thi-\" her voice trails off as she looks up in thought.\n\n\\\u003e\"Come to me. NOW. We have much to discuss\" Her hologram says quickly.\n\n\\\u003eYou look over to Star, who simply nods at you and mouths \"it's ok\".\n\n\\\u003eGuess you were taking a detour.\n\n\\\u003eSteering your speeder onto the Megaway, you can only guess what Lysander had to say.\n\n\\\u003eHow could she be surprised at Null's death?\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eActually that wasn't a surprise really.\n\n\\\u003eHe was untraceable if he wanted to be.\n\n\\\u003eYou recall him saying that if he wanted, he could disappear like the morning fog.\n\n\\\u003eJust be gone with no way to find him, but he also said he had no reason to do that; he finally found happiness and love.\n\n\\\u003eThe love his parents never gave him, the love the world never gave him.\n\n\\\u003eAll in Star.\n\n\\\u003eYou mull it all over as you drive to the Concordat's mansion.\n\n\\\u003eNo way he would disappear on both you AND Star.\n\n\\\u003eAs Lysander's servants take control of your speeder and drive it to the front of the mansion, you know he would never do that.\n\n\\\u003eHe loved Star, and as much as he would never say it, he loved Fox and Hope.\n\n\\\u003eAnd you, in the best brotherly way.\n\n\\\u003eThe speeder comes to a halt and you get out, then motion to Star for her to get out as well.\n\n\\\u003e\"Whatever Lysander has to say, you should hear too\" you say to her as some butler leads you both.\n\n\\\u003eWhere was the usual giraffe?\n\n\\\u003eHe leads you to a Library that you haven't seen before, books and what looks like phonograph records line the walls.\n\n\\\u003eLysander is looking over a sheet of music notes when you walk in.\n\n\\\u003e\"Gabriel, good to see you and your...guest...\" She says looking over the sheets of music at you and Star.\n\n\\\u003eyou nod to her.\n\n\\\u003e\"Hello Lysander, this is Star, Null's girlfriend\" you say motioning to Star with your mechanical arm\n\n\\\u003eLysander studies Star for a moment then focuses on you.\n\n\\\u003e\"You say Anon is dead, but I have not received word of this, what proof do you have? Are you trying to protect him from his failure?\" She says coolly.\n\n\\\u003eYou pull out your phone, where you have his final moments saved and start up the footage of his final moments.\n\n\\\u003eA hologram appears of Null's Point of view; him getting out of his bike, the rocket hitting and him plummeting into the sea\n\n\\\u003e\"I've spent the last week looking for him or his body, but chances are something got him as a snack\" you say, shutting down the hologram with a frown.\n\n\\\u003eLysander stays sitting, looking at you with a perplexed look on her muzzle.\n\n\\\u003e\"Someone has been hiding this from me, I should have known right away\" she says finally, looking at her various servants.\n\n\\\u003eShe beckons you closer with a clawed and padded finger.\n\n\\\u003e\"I will give you the information Anon wanted, someone is trying to keep me in the dark and they're succeeding, trust no one\" She whispers to you as you lean in.\n\n\\\u003eGreat, that's just what you wanted to hear.\n\n\\\u003eShe presses a datastick into your hand and looks to her various servants once more.\n\n\\\u003e\"I may need to check in on my Staff and the company they keep\" She growls as she pulls away.\n\n\\\u003eHer growling was...Terrifying\n\n\\\u003eYou nod at her then take your leave, grabbing Star's paw and leading her out of the mansion.\n\n\\\u003ePeople were hiding Anon's death from Lysander? If people were hiding it from her, then someone was afraid of whatever Null would find underground.\n\n\\\u003eBut all he was doing was looking for Star's Mom.\n\n\\\u003eWhat else was down there?\n\n\\\u003eYou get into your speeder and then plug the Datachip from Lysander into your phone.\n\n\\\u003eA hologram of a Building Information Model is shown glimmering above your phone, as Lysander's people drive your speeder to the mansion gates.\n\n\\\u003eIt looks like it's the 3D model of one of the water intake ports for cooling down the city's internal systems.\n\n\\\u003eA portion is highlighted, showing a hidden door, probably built for the unlikely need for people to go in and perform maintenance.\n\n\\\u003eThe light from the hologram reflects of Star's eyes; her pupils in the shape of little question marks.\n\n\\\u003e\"What's that Gabe?\" she says, looking at it in wonder.\n\n\\\u003e\"They look like the original building plans for the Water Intakes, with a hidden maintenance hatch...these must be centuries old...\" you say looking it over as Star's eyes turned to small spinning stars.\n\n\\\u003e\"We're going under there?\" She says scooching close to the hologram and looking it over.\n\n\\\u003e\"No\" you say firmly \"'WE' are not, I am; This is too dangerous for you\".\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eShe actually slams the phone down with her paw, looking at you firmly; and for the first time ever you've seen Star Furious.\n\n\\\u003eHer eyes both literally and figuratively blazing.\n\n\\\u003e\"I will NOT sit back! Anon DIED for this! I can help! I'm not afraid!\" she yells at you, fury in her voice.\n\n\\\u003eBut as you look at her, you see the truth, or at least the truth Star didn't want to admit.\n\n\\\u003eHer body is shivering in fear, afraid of what's to come...Yet so determined to help.\n\n\\\u003eYour heart sinks looking at her.\n\n\\\u003eNo wonder Null got along with her so well.\n\n\\\u003eYou had seen this exact reaction from him before when he was younger.\n\n\\\u003eJust a kid, unaugmented and constantly at odds with the world, just trying to prove he belonged.\n\n\\\u003eYou could say something cheesy like \"His heart\" convinced you to reach out to him.\n\n\\\u003eBut no, that wasn't it; this isn't one of Star's animes.\n\n\\\u003eIt was his anger that did it; his anger at the world and everyone who slighted him.\n\n\\\u003eHis anger that he had to be anoutcast and not live the quiet happy life you knew he wanted.\n\n\\\u003eThere it was in Star.\n\n\\\u003eAngry that the world took the only person who really understood and loved her.\n\n\\\u003eHer eyes were a clear reminder of Null, and you had to look away from them.\n\n\\\u003eToo many reminders of him, his pain and how he just wanted to live a happy life that was just outside his reach.\n\n\\\u003eGod dammit Null.\n\n\\\u003eWhy did he have to put you into this position?\n\n\\\u003e\"Fine! But you do exactly what I say! NO questions, No poking things you shouldn't\" you say, making the hologram disappear as you take control of your speeder once more.\n\n\\\u003e\"We're going now, before anyone can Figure out we have this information\" you say to start and start flooring it towards the megaway.\n\n\\\u003eStar doesn't answer and instead just stares at the speeder floor, her eyes shifting constantly.\n\n\\\u003eExclamation marks to question marks to little fires, cycling through quickly like a roulette wheel.\n\n\\\u003eThe water intake that was shown in the Building information model was near the arcology, in fact you can see where Null died from where you pull off the megaway.\n\n\\\u003eYou go through the back alley streets to reach an industrial park, but you feel it's more an urban wasteland.\n\n\\\u003eNo one came here; the buildings here were automated factories that constantly built things; or warehouses that had large drones flying around to deliver the goods produced.\n\n\\\u003eThe sound of rushing water and clanging metal fills the air as you park your speeder in a hidden out of the way spot, behind one of the factories.\n\n\\\u003e\"Come on Star, Lets go\" you say, pushing your door open and checking to make sure you have everything.\n\n\\\u003eHandgun, phone, flashlight, etc.\n\n\\\u003eThe basics.\n\n\\\u003e\"Ok Gabe!\" Star chimes, as you begin walking to the intake.\n\n\\\u003eYou hear your speeder door open, what sounds like Star falling out of it then her scurrying to catch up to you.\n\n\\\u003eIgnoring it, you make your way to the water inlet as the rushing water gets louder and louder.\n\n\\\u003eThe inlet itself looks like a sunken box with one side below water level, 200 foot wide and 30 feet down; creating an artificial waterfall.\n\n\\\u003eSomeone has spray painted large teeth and gums onto the concrete walls, making the whole thing look like a giant devouring maw.\n\n\\\u003eA ladder leads down into the sunken intake, to a small 2 foot ledge just in front of the roaring water.\n\n\\\u003eYou open the BIM and scan it as rain falls on you and Star.\n\n\\\u003eIt's down there to be sure.\n\n\\\u003eYou hated heights and ladders, but still begin the descent downwards to the ledge.\n\n\\\u003e\"Be careful Star\" you say as you climb down the ladder.\n\n\\\u003eAs soon as you get out of her way the short opossum begins climbing down more nimbly that you thought she would.\n\n\\\u003eGuess her small size had its advantages.\n\n\\\u003eOnce you reach the bottom of the ladder and stand on the ledge; right next to a roaring waterfall, you pull open the Building Information Model once more.\n\n\\\u003eThe key to getting in is right...There.\n\n\\\u003eYou spot the key to opening it as you dismiss the hologram with a wave of your hand.\n\n\\\u003eA small square stone, set into the otherwise totally solid wall.\n\n\\\u003eIf you didn't know it was there you would have passed right by it, it looks like nothing more than a patch in the otherwise seamless concrete.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"Gabe where is th-'.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eYou ignore Star and punch the square firmly with your mechanical arm, cracking it easily.\n\n\\\u003eStar jumps back in surprise and has to grab the ladder for support as you do so.\n\n\\\u003e\"The way in is right...Here\" you say as you pick the broken pieces of stone aside into the roaring water behind you.\n\n\\\u003eA small hole is revealed, and as you shine the flashlight from your belt into it, there appears to be a handle that someone could grab and twist.\n\n\\\u003eProblem was, that someone wasn't you.\n\n\\\u003eThe opening was too small for your hands, even you flesh and blood hand is too big to get into the hole.\n\n\\\u003eRegardless, you try to shove it into the opening only to have you forearm stop you painfully.\n\n\\\u003eAs much as you try to push it in further, you feel it scraping the skin off your arm.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"Just ....a little bit ...further\" you murmur, trying to push beyond the limits.\n\n\\\u003eEventually the pain and the realization that you wouldn't be able to grab the handle hits you.\n\n\\\u003eTo come all this way... Only to be stopped by a small hole.\n\n\\\u003eYou pull your scraped and bloodied arm out of the hole ,then look to Star in defeat.\n\n\\\u003e\"Star I'm sorry but we can't g-\" you start.\n\n\\\u003eBefore you can even finish your sentence, Star has plunged her arm into the hole.\n\n\\\u003e\"HEY STAR WHAT TH-\" you begin only to hear a rumble and a hidden door lift open.\n\n\\\u003e\"I got it\" She says looking at you defiantly \" I told you I could be useful\".\n\n\\\u003eThe defiance on her muzzle, the anger, the fear.\n\n\\\u003eEverything you had seen in Null.\n\n\\\u003eGuess he rubbed off on her after all this time, regardless of the still present shivering from her.\n\n\\\u003eNext to you the concrete door creakily opens upwards, with dust and debris falling down around it.\n\n\\\u003eIt probably hasn't been opened in decades, if ever.\n\n\\\u003eBut still, there it was, the way into the underground that Null had been searching for, that he has died for.\n\n\\\u003e\"Stay close to me\" you say drawing your gun and walking through the doorway.\n\n\\\u003eIt leads to a walkway made of rusted scaffolding that turns to a staircase, which wraps around itself in a downward spiral next to the roaring waterfall.\n\n\\\u003eAfter 200 feet maybe; the waterfall crashes against whatever metal the bottom was made of, with the scaffolding leading you on a path above it.\n\n\\\u003eLike a river, the water flows beneath you and Star as you lead the way.\n\n\\\u003eThe water and the scaffolding lead into a gradual slope, leading deeper and deeper underground.\n\n\\\u003eHow far does this even go? what were you even searching for?\n\n\\\u003eYea, maybe Star's mom was in the underground, but that underground was the size of the planet.\n\n\\\u003eThis was a wild goose chase if you ever had seen one, yet you still persist downwards, following the rushing water below.\n\n\\\u003eWas it because Null died for this? Was it because Star deserved to know her parents, even if one of them was a douchebag?\n\n\\\u003eDid Null latch on this idea because his own parents had abandoned him?\n\n\\\u003eUgh, the idea of it still haunted you.\n\n\\\u003eHe told you the story few others ever heard; in fact you're sure only you and Star had heard it.\n\n\\\u003eHe was 12 and his parents took him shopping for new clothes.\n\n\\\u003eThey sent him to the checkout, saying they had forgotten something.\n\n\\\u003eHe never saw them again.\n\n\\\u003eThe paranoia never faded; he would follow you to the checkout whenever you treated him to dinner or anything like that.\n\n\\\u003eIt was...Sad to say the least; his fear of being left behind was irrational, after all he could have called a ride.\n\n\\\u003eBut overcoming trauma is a hard road.\n\n\\\u003eStill, you continue downwards, into the dimly lit underbelly of the city.\n\n\\\u003eHow far was it now? 2 miles from the intake? how many meters down?\n\n\\\u003eStar was panting unhappily when you looked back at her each time.\n\n\\\u003eBut there was a change in scenery before you as you urged her onwards.\n\n\\\u003eYou saw it, a doorway into the Real underbelly of the city\n\n\\\u003eThe water dropped off again to hit a turbine, and onto whatever other systems that it cooled.\n\n\\\u003eThere was a control station full of monitors ahead.\n\n\\\u003e\"This....Sucks\" Star pants unhappily as she follows you into the control station\n\n\\\u003e\"Yea it does Star, but you asked to come here; Null wouldn't complain though\" you say looking to the various monitors in the station.\n\n\\\u003eHe never did complain, no matter how bad things got but those words make her stop panting and try to breath normally.\n\n\\\u003e\"I'm not complaining!\" she says with a frown angerly.\n\n\\\u003e\"Yea, sure you weren't\" you mumble, more to yourself than to her.\n\n\\\u003eGroups of the Emperors are on the screens, just kinda walking around.\n\n\\\u003eWhy were they even patrolling an area that no one knew how to get into?\n\n\\\u003eYou keep looking at the feeds, unsure of what was going on.\n\n\\\u003eMaybe you could make contact with one of the groups? you had no quarrel with them after all.\n\n\\\u003e\"Gabe...\" you hear Star call to you as you scan the various feeds.\n\n\\\u003e\"Not now Star\" you hiss, earning a small terrified squeak.\n\n\\\u003eSorry Star, but you were trying to come up with a game plan.\n\n\\\u003eYou feel a sharp tugging on your shirt \"Gabe.... We have company\".\n\n\\\u003e\"What?\".\n\n\\\u003eYou whip around and find the barrel of a rifle in your face.\n\n\\\u003eAt least a dozen of the Emperors stand surrounding you.\n\n\\\u003e\"Star, why didn't yo-\".\n\n\\\u003e\"I Tried!\" she whines, a gun pressed to her muzzle.\n\n\\\u003e\"Well now, finally you show up, I wondered how long you would take\" a suave voice you recognize is heard above the roaring water.\n\n\\\u003eYou recognize the voice? Why?\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003ethe answer is apparent as a tall lanky figure ducks and enters the room you were in.\n\n\\\u003eYou recognize him immediately.\n\n\\\u003eJeffrey the giraffe.\n\n\\\u003eLysander's personal butler.\n\n\\\u003eArmed with several grenades and a heavy rifle.\n\n\\\u003e\"You?\" you ask flabbergasted.\n\n\\\u003eHe smiles a you.\n\n\\\u003e\"Me, holster your gun\" he says with a smug smile.\n\n\\\u003eyou do so, but before you can say anything else, he begins ordering the grunts around.\n\n\\\u003e\"Put them with the other, I knew Lysander would send someone to us\" he says calmly.\n\n\\\u003eThe grunts Shepard you and Star Deeper underground.\n\n\\\u003e\"Keep your hands raised, don't try anything\" you say to star over and over.\n\n\\\u003eYou can see she wanted to act, to fight; all based on the emotions portrayed by her eyes.\n\n\\\u003eBut that would get you both killed.\n\n\\\u003eA gun barrel pressed into your back, you're lead deeper underground for who knows how long.\n\n\\\u003eYou aren't focused on anything else besides not getting shot and telling Star it was ok.\n\n\\\u003eHowever, after what seems like an eternity, you're shoved into a cell with Star; blocked off by laser beams bars to keep you contained.\n\n\\\u003e\"I call the arm of that guy\" one of the anthros who escorted you down says gruffly, taking your handgun from its holster.\n\n\\\u003e\"Naw its junk, too clunky\" says one of the others.\n\n\\\u003ethe first gives a soft grunt and leads the rest of his pack, about 8-10 other antros fitted with mismatched augments.\n\n\\\u003eDamage control.\n\n\\\u003e\"Star, are you oka-\" you turn to her and see her eyes are small skull and crossbones.\n\n\\\u003eHer breathing is hard and ragged as she looks around, hyperventilating at everything going on.\n\n\\\u003eShe locks her eyes on you.\n\n\\\u003e\"Tell me you have a plan... Please I...Please\" she says shakily looking at you, the same symbol in her eyes.\n\n\\\u003e\"I don't Star...\" you say in defeat, looking at her.\n\n\\\u003eFox...Hope...\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eYou knew at this point, you were going to die down here.\n\n\\\u003eAll that mattered now, is how painful or painless it was.\n\n\\\u003eFox and Hope had your savings, enough to live comfortably when coupled with Null's.\n\n\\\u003eAnother one of your plans in case of either; or both of your deaths.\n\n\\\u003eYour thoughts are broken by a steady thumping sound.\n\n\\\u003eThen a voice.\n\n\\\u003e\"Ooooh I'm sorry they tortured you so bad, but it's ok! I healed you up good so you're ok now\".\n\n\\\u003eThump... Pat...Thump.... Alongside the gentle pitter patter of footsteps.\n\n\\\u003eSoft mumbling, and more thumping.\n\n\\\u003e\"I know, but my job is to keep you alive, But I'll go talk to the boss lady just because you're so nice\" a feminine voice says\n\n\\\u003eThe first thing you see is a fox... Maybe.\n\n\\\u003eShe's average height, covered in a myriad of stitching and a syringe in her dark orange hair, keeping her bun in place.\n\n\\\u003ePiercing yellow and red eyes study you as she half leads, half drags her \"patient\"\n\n\\\u003eA tattered nurse uniform covers her body as she carefully helps a person walk to the cell you're in.\n\n\\\u003eConcern paints her face as she helps the person.\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh! Looks like you have friends now! Won't that be fun for you! I'm sure they can keep you company while I talk to the empress\" the Nurse says happily, her yellow eyes glinting in the low light.\n\n\\\u003eShe lowers the laser force field and gently lays the person into the cell, then quickly stands up and raises the shield again.\n\n\\\u003e\"You better not been mean to my patient or else I'm coming for you.\" she growls at you, showing dangerously sharp teeth.\n\n\\\u003eYou quickly nod as she disappears, feeling obligated to answer her.\n\n\\\u003e\"Yes ma'am\" you say almost involuntarily.\n\n\\\u003eStar huddles in one of the corners, shivering in fear as the man is let go.\n\n\\\u003eThe person falls forwards as he tries to walk, catching himself on his hands and knees; breathing heavily.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"Why would you bring HER here\" comes a raspy voice, one strained through hours of screaming but...Familiar.\n\n\\\u003e\"What?\".\n\n\\\u003eThe person attempts to stand and take a swing at you, only to fall over pathetically.\n\n\\\u003eIt's only then you notice why there was a thumping noise.\n\n\\\u003eHis left leg; everything below the knee was replaced with nothing but a simple wooden peg.\n\n\\\u003eAnd you see the fury and pain on his face as he struggles to get upright and hobble towards a corner of the cell.\n\n\\\u003eNo... It can't be.\n\n\\\u003e\"Null?\"\n\n\\\u003eIt takes a moment, but eventually, he turns around\n\n\\\u003eThere he is, half his left leg missing, and from what you can see; his entire left side covered in burns\n\n\\\u003ea few skin grafts cover the flesh on his neck, which disappear under his shirt.\n\n\\\u003eThat is except for his face, which is painted with a sad, pained shaky smile.\n\n\\\u003e\"Hey Gabe, what took you so long?\".\n\nChapter 10: The Underside\n\n\\\u003eRushing frigid water and pain were what you woke to, only the faint memory of what happened on the bridge in the back of your mind.\n\n\\\u003eHow could you focus on anything else besides pain?\n\n\\\u003eThere was so much of it.\n\n\\\u003eYour entire left side seared with the pain of a thousand suns, which is only offset by the bone-chilling water that poured over you as you struggled to keep your face above the surface.\n\n\\\u003eOne side of you was somewhat comforted by the cold water, keeping the burning at bay; the other side was frozen and shivering.\n\n\\\u003eYour left leg was caught in one of the great turbines of the city, stopping the mighty spinning wheel from grinding the rest of your body to dust.\n\n\\\u003eHow many hours had you laid there among the flotsam and jetsam?\n\n\\\u003eNo one would ever know how long you suffered, feeling the burns soothed by the cold water, and shivering hypothermia from the same savior.\n\n\\\u003eYour own tenacity and anger kept you conscious through it all.\n\n\\\u003eYou are the ghost that haunted people, the untraceable monster in the night that anyone who was an enemy of the Concordate or the Dismond syndicate feared.\n\n\\\u003eWater would not be the end for you, nor would burns.\n\n\\\u003eHours passed until you saw them.\n\n\\\u003eFigures clad in deep purple, walking on a gangway over you.\n\n\\\u003eThe weak call out you gave was enough, it attracted their attention and they pulled most of you out of the caught turbine.\n\n\\\u003eYour left leg was gone; well, everything below the knee, shredded to bits by the turbine, but saving the rest of your body.\n\n\\\u003eThe men and anthros that threw a rope to you to pull you out of the turbine were nice, friendly even.\n\n\\\u003eMost recognized you as the ghost, the broken, or just as Null the bounty hunter.\n\n\\\u003eYou had no quarrel with the Emperors, hell you were almost an inspiration to them.\n\n\\\u003eA lone human with no augments, a man with every disadvantage against him; had somehow taken down one of the most deadly crime bosses in a 2 man team.\n\n\\\u003eThe group carried you to their \"nurse\" who set upon you with such enthusiasm, making skin grafts and even going so far as to feeding you when your body failed to respond.\n\n\\\u003eShe was nice; one of the nicest people you had met in your life. Treating you like more than an anomaly in the system.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eBut you were famous -err- infamous for your deeds.\n\n\\\u003eAnd that attracted him.\n\n\\\u003eJeffrey, The giraffe, the wretch, Lysander's head butler and her top trustee, or so you had thought, heard you were being taken care of.\n\n\\\u003eYou're sure the word that the ghost was there spread throughout the ranks of the emperors, after all they had approached you to join them several times in the past.\n\n\\\u003eEach time you politely refused, you were with the Concordate, and you knew better than to cross Lysander.\n\n\\\u003eEach time they bowed slightly, respecting your decision after you promised no ill will towards them, merely self-interest and predisposition to staying alive.\n\n\\\u003eBut... that giraffe, he seemed to not care for the pact and treaty you had with Lysander, nor the one he had undoubtedly gotten into with her.\n\n\\\u003eTo you, it seemed that as soon as he learned you were being held and helped, all of the help and recovery had been peeled away.\n\n\\\u003eHe knew you were seeking a way underground, looking for something, or someone; and so he hated you; no. he hated you regardless.\n\n\\\u003eYou were in high favor with the leader of the Concordate, able to ask things and request favors for favors.\n\n\\\u003eHe would never be anything more than a butler, and he envied you for it.\n\n\\\u003eAnd so he took it upon himself to find out why you were looking into the underground.\n\n\\\u003eThe helpful hands that patched your skin from the burns, they turned to claws tearing at the grafts they had given you.\n\n\\\u003eWell not literally, Carrie was always horrified at what they did.\n\n\\\u003eJeffrey was the foremost of your tormentors; digging his hands into your skin grafts that the nurse had so carefully placed to help you heal.\n\n\\\u003eHe asked who sent you peering into the underside of the city; no, he demanded it of you.\n\n\\\u003eBut you knew the consequences of answering his question.\n\n\\\u003eYou would have to give up Star, tell them of the lost and hidden daughter of the Dismond syndicate.\n\n\\\u003eThere was nothing that would make you betray her trust.\n\n\\\u003eEven as they hurt you so, you couldn't bare the thought of that tiny opossum being captured by these oppressors and tortured for no gain whatsoever.\n\n\\\u003eNo, they would do worse to her.\n\n\\\u003eIf they could do this to you, someone who they had tried to recruit, they would do SO much more to a tiny frail thing like her.\n\n\\\u003eYou knew if you gave her up; Torture, rape and disfigurement would be upon the small toy loving opossum.\n\n\\\u003eSomeone who had never faced real life didn't deserve that.\n\n\\\u003eSo you shouldered the pain, knowing that she would think you died quickly and painlessly in the explosion that destroyed your bike.\n\n\\\u003eBut still the emperor's did their worst to you and you bore it\n\n\\\u003eWho would have thought having someone physically peel away skin grafts would be so painful.\n\n\\\u003eEven as the giraffe peeled your torn skin away, you saw the face of your healer, your nurse, Carrie.\n\n\\\u003eShe looked on in horror as they tortured you, showing that this wasn't normal; her eyes were always wide in horror as you screamed until your voice was hoarse.\n\n\\\u003eNo doctor, or healer or Nurse could see this sight for long.\n\n\\\u003eAnd each time after they got bored of pulling away at your grafts, they bid Carrie to heal you.\n\n\\\u003eShe was nice, helpful and kind to a fault; but she also knew her duty to this group of killers.\n\n\\\u003eEach time, after the painful sessions with Jeffrey, she healed you diligently; and each time you spoke to her in hushed whispers.\n\n\\\u003e\"I didn't do anything to deserve this, tell your leader about this please\" you pleaded in hushed tones as she bodily carried you to your cell.\n\n\\\u003eHonestly, at this point they didn't need to put up the force field to your cell.\n\n\\\u003eYour body was broken and your spirit was in pieces.\n\n\\\u003e\"Ooooh I'm sorry they tortured you so bad, but it's ok! I healed you up good so you're ok now\" She said to you as she practically dragged your body.\n\n\\\u003eWhat did it matter now? What was your life beyond pain and torture?\n\n\\\u003eEventually your heart would give out, or your body would go into shock that Carrie couldn't reverse.\n\n\\\u003e\"They are going to kill me Carrie, please, just tell your leader I am here and seek an audience please...\" you murmured, it was the best you could do, you voice long since shot.\n\n\\\u003e\"I know, but my job is to keep you alive, But I'll go talk to the boss lady just because you're so nice\" your faithful nurse said earnestly\n\n\\\u003eShe dragged you to your new home, your cell in this underground labyrinth\n\n\\\u003eTo your surprise as you look into it, you see 2 extra figures in it, one huddles against a wall, one towering with a scowl.\n\n\\\u003eWhy were they here?\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh! Looks like you have friends now! Won't that be fun for you! I'm sure they can keep you company while I talk to the empress\" the nurse says happily, leaning you against a wall.\n\n\\\u003eNo no NO! They can't be here! This is YOUR tomb... Not theirs.\n\n\\\u003e\"You better not been mean to my patient or else I'm coming for you.\" comes the nurse's voice towards your guests.\n\n\\\u003e\"Yes ma'am\"\n\n\\\u003eThat cements it then.\n\n\\\u003eNurse Carrie leaves and you hear her footpaws pitter patter against the floor.\n\n\\\u003eThat doesn't distract you though.\n\n\\\u003eYou attempt to stand, and with a shaky step, walk towards your new cell mates.\n\n\\\u003eExcept you fall forwards, unused to the new prosthetic of your leg, which is just a table leg.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"Why would you bring HER here\" you gasp out to the human in your cell.\n\n\\\u003e\"What?\"\n\n\\\u003eAnger flows through your body and you try to take a swing at the man, only for him to simply move back out of your way.\n\n\\\u003eYou fall forwards and catch yourself, feeling the searing pain of your skin grafts as you stretched them more than you should have.\n\n\\\u003eNo don't let them see this!\n\n\\\u003eYou shakily stand up and hobble your way to a corner of your cell, keeping your face and shame hidden.\n\n\\\u003e\"Null?\" comes the voice of your best friend in disbelief.\n\n\\\u003eYou turn slowly to face him with a forced smile.\n\n\\\u003e\"Hey Gabe, what took you so long?\" you shake out as nonchalantly as you could.\n\n\\\u003eHe stares at you, dumbfounded.\n\n\\\u003e\"N-nu- Anon? You're ali-\"\n\n\\\u003eHis words are cut off as a fuzzy cannon ball hits your side, your left side, the one covered in scars and false skin\n\n\\\u003e\"ANONIKNEWYOUWEREALI-\" your screams of pain drown out the rest of Star's message to you.\n\n\\\u003eStar, oblivious to your pain, crashed against you, her claws and freakish anthro strength tearing through your clothes and skin grafts.\n\n\\\u003eYour only reprieve from the pain is Gabe grabbing Star bodily and yanking her off you, leaving you a panting, now partially bloody mess.\n\n\\\u003eYou stagger forwards to a corner of your cell, looking at the love of your life sadly.\n\n\\\u003eWhy had he brought her here now?\n\n\\\u003eShe didn't need to see you like this, not the broken human that really couldn't amount to anything.\n\n\\\u003e\"A-anon?\" she finally choked out, seeing the blood splatters on the floor around you from her claws.\n\n\\\u003e\"H-hey Star, I'm not doing too good, so uh try not to pull at my skin please\" you say with remorse.\n\n\\\u003eAfter all the pain you had gone through at the hands...paws? Hooves?... whatever, you just wanted to hold your love.\n\n\\\u003eBut she didn't, no, she couldn't understand.\n\n\\\u003eShe would crush and tear at and wreck your still healing body.\n\n\\\u003e\"The explosion from the bike burn a lot of my skin off\" you explain, lifting your shirt to show burns.\n\n\\\u003eYou brace yourself with your good hand against the nearest wall, and give the more sincere smile you could.\n\n\\\u003eAt this point it probably looks like the smile of a month old jack-o lantern\n\n\\\u003e\"Nu- Anon... It's been almost a week since the e-explosion...\" Gabe says slowly as you try to find your voice and your strength to stand up.\n\n\\\u003eHe called you by your real name, meaning he was serious, and even if he hadn't just hearing his voice waver once was enough to tell you he was glad to see you alive.\n\n\\\u003eAlso he let slip how long it had been since the explosion.\n\n\\\u003eWhat was almost a week? 4 days? 6 days? 9 days? There was no way you would have known, so you just trust his words.\n\n\\\u003eEither way you don't dwell on them, instead focusing the two in front of you.\n\n\\\u003eYour best friend, and the love of your life.\n\n\\\u003eYou never told her she was the only one for you, seemed a bit tacky; but not in this situation it seemed like you should.\n\n\\\u003eBut then again you never pictured her in this situation, you always pictured her in her bunker, happily chattering away as she put together a plastic robot.\n\n\\\u003eAs you pant through the pain, Star, the tiny lonely opossum girl you learned to love approaches you slowly.\n\n\\\u003e\"Anon? it's really you?\" she half whispered, half sobbed, looking at you and your burns, then giving you a gentle hug.\n\n\\\u003e\"It's me Star\" you answer, shifting a bit so her hug wouldn't cause too much pain.\n\n\\\u003eIt still made you feel pain though.\n\n\\\u003eThe feeling tiny arms pressing against skin grafts was immense, and made you gasp out involuntarily.\n\n\\\u003eInstantly she let go and backed off, looking at you in concern.\n\n\\\u003eEven Star would put the pieces together as she looked at you.\n\n\\\u003eYou've been gone...nearly a week; and you weren't healed and ok.\n\n\\\u003e\"They've...they've been hurting you?\" she finally said, her blue eyes in tiny spinning stars focusing on yours and turning into question marks.\n\n\\\u003eWhy lie at this point?\n\n\\\u003e\"Yes Star, they have been adamant at figuring out who hired me to search the underground\" you say with a sunken frown, looking at her and Gabe.\n\n\\\u003eWhy had he brought her?\n\n\\\u003e\"Gabe... Why?\" you start only for him to raise his metal hand at you.\n\n\\\u003e\"She insisted, and I never was one to discourage someone so disadvantaged\" he said, his steel grey eyes locked on yours.\n\n\\\u003eGod dammit.\n\n\\\u003eThe same logic he used defending you as a partner; used against you.\n\n\\\u003eStar was NOT like you though!\n\n\\\u003eShe was tiny and brittle and....\n\n\\\u003eJust like you.....\n\n\\\u003eUnprepared for the world.\n\n\\\u003eYou give an angry sigh and look at him, then sigh, still leaning against the wall of your cell.\n\n\\\u003e\"So...What now?\" you ask pensively, looking between your best friend and your love.\n\n\\\u003e\"Uh let's see what we know about this place\" Gabriel says, looking around the cell.\n\n\\\u003eThat's not gonna be a whole lot.\n\n\\\u003eHow long had you been there? You don't know.\n\n\\\u003eWhat was the Emperor's goal? You don't know.\n\n\\\u003eWho was in charge? You don't know.\n\n\\\u003eHonestly what did they expect for answers?\n\n\\\u003eYou had spent \"nearly a week\" getting your skin grafts torn from your body and then stapled back on.\n\n\\\u003eYour left leg twitched painfully, the wooden replacement clinking against the solid metal floor.\n\n\\\u003eStar looks at the wooden prosthetic than looks at you.\n\n\\\u003e\"Anon...What happened?\" she asked, her brilliant lovely starry blue eyes focused on you.\n\n\\\u003eyou sigh and look to her.\n\n\\\u003e\"Are you sure you want to hear it?\" you ask calmly, not quite looking at her directly.\n\n\\\u003eBut her starry eyes met yours with determination.\n\n\\\u003eYou gained a new level of respect for your love that...Evening? You honestly didn't know what time it is, not that it mattered.\n\n\\\u003e\"Yes\" She said finally, with a look of concern.\n\n\\\u003eYou study her then Gabe for a moment, debating what to do.\n\n\\\u003eShe didn't need the truth of reality. She deserved her anime stories of the main character always coming out on top.\n\n\\\u003eShe needed the stories where a band aid fixed everything.\n\n\\\u003eNot your torture and hours of pained screams.\n\n\\\u003eBut regardless, you recant what happened to you; minus the gruesome details torture, instead just saying they \"hurt you\" to Star.\n\n\\\u003eHer eyes are little teardrops as she listens and Gabriel's face has a dark grimace to it.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"And then you guys show up, leaving us all trapped\" you say coldly as you sit on the hard metal floor.\n\n\\\u003eGabe swears to himself and Star huddles up next to you\n\n\\\u003e\"But at least we are together right?\" She says, her eyes flickering to small hearts as she looks at you.\n\n\\\u003eYou want to be mad at her for saying that, how is being together going to help you now?\n\n\\\u003eYou were going to get tortured more, Gabe might have his augments ripped out and Star would get the VIP treatment when they found out who her father is.\n\n\\\u003eBut...She was here with you, and for all the pain you went through, you were glad to see her again.\n\n\\\u003e\"Yea Star I gue-\"\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eYou halt your words at the feeling of vibrations through the floor.\n\n\\\u003eYou can feel them easier from your seated position and can already tell what they are.\n\n\\\u003eFootsteps.\n\n\\\u003eHeavy rhythmic footsteps.\n\n\\\u003eThere are a few others there though too, lighter more dainty footfalls.\n\n\\\u003eYou hear the thudding sound before you hear the voices.\n\n\\\u003e\" -ear to GOD Carrie, you can't pull me away from my work saying I need to see something without telling me what it is!\" a high pitched female voice cuts through the thuds.\n\n\\\u003eThe voice rings with confidence, like someone in charge and who has always BEEN in charge.\n\n\\\u003e\"It's one of the prisoners Empress...Jeffrey has been torturing him and hadn't told you about him\"\n\n\\\u003eCarrie's voice\n\n\\\u003eUsually it's so bold and flamboyant, even after seeing you ripped to shreds; she was usually just as chipper.\n\n\\\u003eNow though, she sounded worried and reserved, maybe even a little fearful.\n\n\\\u003e\"I don't need to know about every prisoner Carrie\" the other voice.\n\n\\\u003eThe footsteps get louder and louder as they walk closer.\n\n\\\u003eA surge of adrenaline, the desire to protect Star surges though you.\n\n\\\u003eYou stand up casting aside the pain, and pull Star to her feet then push her behind you.\n\n\\\u003eEmpress... The leader? Carrie had actually gotten to the leader like she said?\n\n\\\u003eAs the footsteps get closer, you can now distinguish other besides the heavy thuds; Carries soft footsteps... and one even lighter than that.\n\n\\\u003eBarely even noticeable.\n\n\\\u003eCarrie comes into view first, and gives her usual cheerful smile to you.\n\n\\\u003e\"Here you are Empress, you want to talk to this guy!\" she said with her usual cheer, seemingly forgetting she's talking to the head of a crime group.\n\n\\\u003eThe next thing you see is a giant hulk of a man, probably nearing 8 foot in height; his ragged shirt has the words \"Mad Cunt\" on it and his face...his face is just a metallic skull.\n\n\\\u003eThen from behind the man a small figure darts out and up to the energy barrier that separates you from them\n\n\\\u003e...an Opossum.\n\n\\\u003eYou reach a hand behind you to make sure Star is still there, and sure enough she is.\n\n\\\u003eWhat is going on?\n\n\\\u003eStaring in disbelief at the opossum in front of you, there is no doubt.\n\n\\\u003eShe's 5 foot tops, long purple hair and cybernetic eyes that make her entire eyeball violet, her tail replaced with a long winding metal one, not unlike Fox's but without any cosmetics to cover it.\n\n\\\u003e\"Is this who I think it is Carrie?\" the empress says, looking you up and down.\n\n\\\u003eCarrie nervously flits a bit with the syringe in her hair.\n\n\\\u003e\"Empress, let me introduce Anon, the Ghost\"\n\n\\\u003eThe Empress looks from you to Carrie in disbelief, even the giant man looks surprised, which is impressive considering his lack of a face.\n\n\\\u003eYou watch as the Empress balls up her little fist in anger.\n\n\\\u003e\"They have had the GHOST down here and didn't bother to tell ME?!\" She roars in anger.\n\n\\\u003eShe looks at Gabriel, noting his arm and face.\n\n\\\u003e\"AND THE UNDEAD? Raymond! Get me Jeffery NOW!\" She snarls, looking up at the huge man.\n\n\\\u003e\"Understood\" the man says without opening his mouth before moving out of sight in a long strides.\n\n\\\u003eThe Empress looks back to you, noting the grafts and missing leg.\n\n\\\u003e\"Carrie...Why does he have a wooden leg?\" she says to the nurse, not taking her eyes off the peg leg.\n\n\\\u003eAt least...you think she's looking at it, her eyes don't have any pupils so it's hard to judge where she's looking.\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh Uh! When they brought him he was missing a leg! So I figured, tables have legs too; so I gave him a table leg!\" the fox nurse says with a cheery smile.\n\n\\\u003eThe empress face paws and sighs then looks up at your face.\n\n\\\u003e\"Ah... uh where are my manners, I am the Empress, leader of the holy Emperors\" She says with a short bow at you.\n\n\\\u003eYou reciprocate the bow, painfully.\n\n\\\u003e\"I'm Anon, nice to meet you...Juno\".\n\n\\\u003eThe Empress freezes, then looks at you with surprise and malice.\n\n\\\u003e\"How do you know that name?\" she demands, her voice cold as ice.\n\n\\\u003eYou feel Star shrink back behind you upon hearing it.\n\n\\\u003eYou stay calm though; while she had the voice, she still had nothing on Lysander.\n\n\\\u003e\"Jonathan Dismond\" you say calmly with a smile \"He told me yo-\"\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eThe loud thumping returns as you heard Raymond returning, dragging something - Someone, who weakly protests.\n\n\\\u003e\"-n't do anything wro-\"\n\n\\\u003eThe words at cut short as Jeffery is thrown to the ground next to Juno; who regards him like someone would a piece of meat.\n\n\\\u003eHer eyes go from you to the Giraffe, then back to you.\n\n\\\u003e\"Jeffery, why was I not told that you had the ghost here?\" she says coldly, still looking at you questioningly.\n\n\\\u003eThe giraffe scrambles to get into a low kneeling bow before the empress, yet still being bigger than her because of his size.\n\n\\\u003e\"Madam, I knew he sought ingress to the underground through Lysander and the Concordate! I wanted to find out why before I presented him to you!\" He hastily explains, not looking up at her.\n\n\\\u003eShe regards that information with a swivel of one of her ears, then she frowns.\n\n\\\u003e\"Why were you seeking to come down here Ghost? Did Dismond hire you to kill me?\" she says in a low growl.\n\n\\\u003eYou clear your throat and smile softly.\n\n\\\u003e\"I was hired to find you bu-\"\n\n\\\u003e\"SEE MADAM! I WAS-\" Jeffrey starts, but a hard kick from Raymond shuts him up, you're pretty sure you heard the crack of a rib as well.\n\n\\\u003eJuno nods at Raymond in approval.\n\n\\\u003e\"Please continue\" Juno says to you curtly.\n\n\\\u003e\"As I was saying, I was hired to find you, not kill you; and not by Jonathan Dismond\" you finish with a smile.\n\n\\\u003e\"Then who prey tell, hired you Ghost?\" Juno says, her eye narrowing to slits.\n\n\\\u003eYou step to the side, revealing Star; who had been trying her hardest to hide under your shirt.\n\n\\\u003eJuno's mouth goes slightly agape and her eyes widen at the sight of Star, who is trying to hide behind you again.\n\n\\\u003e\"Is...Is that\" Juno says with a wavering voice \"Is that my daughter?\"\n\n\\\u003eAt those words Star stops trying to get behind you and looks at Juno.\n\n\\\u003eThe two stare at each other for a moment before Star utters a single word.\n\n\\\u003e\"Mom?\"\n\n\\\u003eWordlessly, Juno lowers the force field between them and rushes in, catching Star in a Hug.\n\n\\\u003e\"M-my Daughter! My little Star!\" she sobs, holding Star close.\n\n\\\u003eYou watch with a small smile and Gabriel leans on a wall, observing the scene.\n\n\\\u003e\"So, this is what it's like to do something besides kill people\" he mutters to you softly.\n\n\\\u003e\"I guess\" you answer with a shrug.\n\n\\\u003eJuno pulls away from Star for a moment and looks her up and down.\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh look how big you've gotten! And such pretty eyes\" Juno says, her paws on Star's shoulders.\n\n\\\u003eStar's ears fold a bit in embarrassment as Juno Looks her over.\n\n\\\u003eAll that pain you went through might just be worth it to see this.\n\n\\\u003eActually no it doesn't.\n\n\\\u003eYou fake clear your throat to get Juno's attention.\n\n\\\u003e\"So uh, what about us?\" you say motioning \"I've been down here a week getting tortured all because I was trying to reunite the two of you\"\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eJuno ears flicked as she slowly turn from Star, to the still prostate form of Jeffrey\n\n\\\u003e\"You TORTURED the man trying to get my daughter to me, kept him here without telling me and IMPRISONED. MY. DAUGHTER\" Juno roared at Jeffrey, walking to him with slow purpose.\n\n\\\u003eIf Jeffrey's face could pale, you're sure it would have.\n\n\\\u003e\"I-I-I didn'-\" he stutters, shaking like a leaf\n\n\\\u003eJuno's tail, which you thought a transceiver of sort, whips forward and stabs into the center of the giraffes back.\n\n\\\u003eDon't giraffes have less vertebra than a human? Does that make them more susceptible to spinal injury?\n\n\\\u003eThat was a question you wouldn't know the answer to for now.\n\n\\\u003e\"Shut it! Raymond take care of this trash for me!\" She says, wrenching the tail out and looking up to the giant, who just nods and grabs the giraffe by the back of his long neck.\n\n\\\u003eIn stoic silence, he drags off the protesting anthro.\n\n\\\u003eJuno then turns back to you and Star, then looks at Carrie with kind regards.\n\n\\\u003e\"Carrie, get everyone you know who has any medical training, the Ghost needs medical attention\" she says with angry vigor.\n\n\\\u003eAs she says that you realize how much you're hurting and just how tired you are.\n\n\\\u003eFeeling like Star was in danger gave you extra vitality, the adrenaline that coursed through your veins stopped working as soon as you became conscious of it.\n\n\\\u003eYou cough and slump down once more, only for Gabe to catch you and support you.\n\n\\\u003e\"I got ya buddy\" he whispers as blood trickles down your side from your over exertion.\n\n\\\u003eYou're more than glad you made friends with this man, he's seen your worst, and your crazed looks after Cydonia, and the killing intent you had after.\n\n\\\u003eJuno eyes you with some admiration and some disgust at the sight of your blood.\n\n\\\u003eAfter all the rumors of the Ghost reached far and wide.\n\n\\\u003eSeeing you here, pained and bloody was not a good first impression.\n\n\\\u003eUsually the first people saw of you was a pure white mask, a black tear drop from one of the eyes, staring emotionless at them.\n\n\\\u003eIt was a common scare-tactic used by Lysander.\n\n\\\u003eBut Lysander wasn't here.\n\n\\\u003eInstead you had the mother of your girlfriend staring at you with high expectations.\n\n\\\u003eBetter live up to it then.\n\n\\\u003eStar looks on at you as you use the last bit of strength you have to gather yourself up.\n\n\\\u003eDignity was a hell of a drug.\n\n\\\u003e\"Sorry Juno, I'm a bit out of sorts, lead on\" you say with fake enthusiasm.\n\n\\\u003eJuno regards you calmly, you can tell she knows it's an act, but says nothing about it, instead she smiles.\n\n\\\u003e\"Sorry about that! Now then, let's get out of this prison and catch up a bit shall we?\" she says in a happy cheerful voice, in stark contrast to how she sounded just a moment before.\n\n\\\u003eStar grabs your hand and bounces happily next to you.\n\n\\\u003eYou squeeze her paw softly and smile at her, earning tiny hearts in her eyes.\n\n\\\u003eJuno looks at you and Star with a bit of confusion.\n\n\\\u003e\"Wait...You're...Together?\"\n\n\\\u003eStar bounces happily, next to you, her prehensile tail, wrapping around your waist\n\n\\\u003e\"Mhm! I thought he was dead though! Then we found him and you and I'm so happy!\" she says quickly, making it hard to tell her words apart.\n\n\\\u003eJuno Looks you up and down with a raised eyebrow.\n\n\\\u003e\"I can see why you thought he was dead, he certainly looks the part, but come! Let's catch up in somewhere more luxurious\" she says, turning from you and leading the way.\n\n\\\u003eYou sigh and hold Star's paw, and Gabe gives you a bit of support to walk.\n\n\\\u003eHow many crime syndicates are you friends with now?\n\n\\\u003eAlso you realize they your girlfriend is the daughter of 2 crime syndicate bosses.\n\n\\\u003eWhatever.\n\n\\\u003eYou're alive and you're with Star and Gabriel\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eSo things couldn't be any better.\n\nChapter 11: Face to Face\n\n\\\u003eQuietly, you sit in an overly purple room that is filled with purple tapestries and china ware as Star happily explains to her mother how you met and what you do for her.\n\n\\\u003eYou barely register is all as the IV in your arm pumps you full of whatever painkiller Nurse Carrie has set you up with.\n\n\\\u003eAnd holy shit does she have the good stuff.\n\n\\\u003eYou can barely keep your eyes open as you look around in a daze.\n\n\\\u003eGabe is on his phone, explaining everything to Fox, who is holding Hope.\n\n\\\u003eat one point earlier in their conversation he pointed it at you and you gave a hazy hello.\n\n\\\u003eShe cried when she saw you, then cried more when she saw what happened with the burns and your leg.\n\n\\\u003eYou do your best to reassure her you were ok.\n\n\\\u003eHard to do when fucked up by whatever odd concoction Carrie had mixed up.\n\n\\\u003eBlinking hard, you try to push the visions of \"not reality\" away.\n\n\\\u003eIt's difficult to say the least; the colors and sounds that formed a beautiful screenplay and you had to push them away to let you see reality.\n\n\\\u003eYou suddenly have a profound understanding of the druggies you often hunted.\n\n\\\u003eEverything, every issue and sadness that plagued your life was gone; replaced by a haze of almost realness.\n\n\\\u003eVisions of you with augments fighting side by side with Gabe.\n\n\\\u003eStar with her collection of toys happy as ever.\n\n\\\u003eHope growing up without augments and being accepted by society\n\n\\\u003eFox and Gabe growing old together.\n\n\\\u003eWithout you holding them back.\n\n\\\u003eLysander allowing Gabe to retire and be a full time stay at home dad.\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eAlmost all of your visions focus on everyone else and their happiness.\n\n\\\u003eBut you fight them back to focus on reality; as shitty as it might be.\n\n\\\u003eStar has herself wrapped around your good arm, talking to her mother.\n\n\\\u003e\"He goes out and gets me everything I want! He's the best and never fails!\" She happily proclaims, her tail wrapped around your body like a fleshy bungee cord.\n\n\\\u003eIt would hurt if you didn't have these drugs.\n\n\\\u003eGabe is now talking to Lysander on his phone,her hologram showing a surprised expression as he explains; although you only catch the last bit of the conversation it seems.\n\n\\\u003e\"-effery, your butler; was a double agent trying to stir up trouble to make himself look good, he ordered the attack on Null without the Empress's authorization\"\n\n\\\u003eHe looks to Juno for confirmation, raising an eyebrow.\n\n\\\u003eJuno looks away from Star to face the hologram of Lysander; her pupil-less eyes \"focused\" on the hologram.\n\n\\\u003e\"Your...operative for lack of a better word, wanted to dispose of the ghost...for an unknown reason, I was unaware he worked for you\" she says calmly, holding a paw up to shush Star.\n\n\\\u003eLysander\u0026nbsp; ponders this for a moment, looking at the scene.\n\n\\\u003eYou; half scarred and probably looking more like a zombie or a junkie than anything else.\n\n\\\u003eGabe; looking tired and shabby, in front of a table that looks like it should be from a doll house set.\n\n\\\u003eStar wrapped around you like a vine.\n\n\\\u003eand Juno, a rival crime boss, serving you tea.\n\n\\\u003eLysander's response is calm and very calculated, as always.\n\n\\\u003e\"Anon is...and shall be a useful tool for me and my partners; if you harbor no ill will against him, nor my...interests, then we can co-exists\" the sabre toothed feline states calmly, he eyes focused on you as she speaks.\n\n\\\u003e\"However, should you encroach on my terr-\"\n\n\\\u003eJuno raises a paw and holds it up to shush Lysander in the most respectful and motherly way possible.\n\n\\\u003e\"I understand, however we should talk later to set boundaries.\" she states calmly, while looking at you.\n\n\\\u003eWhy do you feel that was directed at you?\n\n\\\u003e\"We will speak later then\" Lysander says calmly before her hologram focuses on you.\n\n\\\u003e\"Anon, if she tries to double cross us, eliminate her\" the hologram states matter of factly.\n\n\\\u003eOuch.\n\n\\\u003eTalk about conflicted interests.\n\n\\\u003ekill your boss or kill your girlfriends mom.\n\n\\\u003eNOPE.\n\n\\\u003eSidestep that whole thing.\n\n\\\u003e\"Lysander, i respectfully decline; i cannot serve you in that regard due to conflict of interest, however i will still follow your commands\" You say in your brief moment of clarity.\n\n\\\u003eLysander, Juno and Gabe all look a bit shocked at your response, presumably due to your drugged haze.\n\n\\\u003eOnly Star doesn't seem to realize what's going on.\n\n\\\u003eLysanders calm cool eyes wander from you, to Star, then to Juno.\n\n\\\u003eA cold grin that chills you to the bone crosses her muzzle.\n\n\\\u003e\"Ah...I see, i will be in contact with you later Anon\" She says finally before her hologram disappears.\n\n\\\u003eWhy do you have a bad feeling about that.\n\n\\\u003eYou rub your face and feel the haze set back in.\n\n\\\u003eLysander has been a good employer and a good source of income ever since you became one of her lackeys.\n\n\\\u003eIf she wasn't paying you, you would probably be hunting her; and she knows it.\n\n\\\u003eYou've seen the counter measures against you on the concordate's property.\n\n\\\u003eThey think they are safe from you, but they showed you everything.\n\n\\\u003eEvery camera, every ultraviolet camera, and every thermal camera.\n\n\\\u003eYes, you were loyal to Lysander, but only because she paid you.\n\n\\\u003eIf you wanted, or were offered a better deal, you could get in there and take her down.\n\n\\\u003eBut there is no reason to think that way; you were being paid handsomely for your work for her and you know IF someone even tired to hire you against her she could easily pay more.\n\n\\\u003ewere the drugs making you think like this?\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eNurse Carrie frets casually with your bandages, checking them periodically as the IV Drips in your arm.\n\n\\\u003eShe's been such a great nurse to you.\n\n\\\u003e\"Juno\" you say woozily,one of your eyes struggling to stay open.\n\n\\\u003e\"hm?\" The tiny opossum hums questioningly.\n\n\\\u003e\"Despite my... Treatment... Nurse Carrie has been the best caregiver she could be given the circumstances\" you rasp out, feeling tired and wanting nothing more than to sleep.\n\n\\\u003eShe nods at that and reaches past Star to put a paw on your bandaged hand.\n\n\\\u003e\"I am truly sorry for the treatment you received, and I thank you for all you have done for my daughter\" she responds in a caring motherly voice.\n\n\\\u003eYou smile half heartedly and feel the drugs begin to kick in once more.\n\n\\\u003e\"I'll always be there for her\" you say weakly, pulling your arm out of Star's grasp and pulling her gently against your good side.\n\n\\\u003eStar leans against you, her blue eyes forming little glowing hearts as she looks up at you.\n\n\\\u003e\"Love you Anon\" she squees happily, pulling your good arm around her.\n\n\\\u003eYou smile weakly and do your best to pull her closer.\n\n\\\u003e\"Love you too Star\" you respond looking into those beautiful cybernetic eyes.\n\n\\\u003e\"Awwww\"\n\n\\\u003eYou look up to see Juno with her paws on her cheeks, swooning at the sight of you.\n\n\\\u003e\"My baby found such a good man! How lucky for the both of you!\" she says , rocking side to side in happiness.\n\n\\\u003e\"Hey now, Null has a body count that would make most people think twice about calling him a good man\" Gabe interjects, earning him and angry gaze from you.\n\n\\\u003eHe shrugs when he sees your glare.\n\n\\\u003e\"What?\" he asks calmly \"You do\"\n\n\\\u003eMuch to your annoyance, He does have a point.\n\n\\\u003eYou've buried more people than you can even recall.\n\n\\\u003eHonestly, you stopped counting after 40.\n\n\\\u003eBlurrily you look at Juno, preparing to defend yourself; only to see her shrug.\n\n\\\u003e\"A body count does not make someone a bad person\" she states calmly before sipping her tea.\n\n\\\u003eNormal wisdom would say otherwise, but you aren't going to argue it.\n\n\\\u003eGabe seems somewhat shock at her response and looked ready to get a rebuttal, only for you to give a light kick under the table.\n\n\\\u003e\"Shut it\" you silently mouth to him, only for him to shrug and point to Rose.\n\n\\\u003eYour gun lays on the table, half charred and burned, the other half clean and unscathed.\n\n\\\u003eJuno, being the mob boss that she is, simply smiles at your interaction.\n\n\\\u003e\"Someone who does bad things for the right reasons doesn't make them a bad person\" she states calmly, looking between you, Star and Gabe.\n\n\\\u003eStar is the first to pipe up after this statement.\n\n\\\u003e\"Anon just does what he can to help me! Who cares about everyone else?\"\n\n\\\u003eYou frown, but that makes you think about it.\n\n\\\u003eStar has been raised to think everything she wants is a gunshot away, and you only encourage it.\n\n\\\u003eSo sheltered she doesn't even think about other people.\n\n\\\u003eJust you and her toys.\n\n\\\u003eWell and Gabe, Fox And Hope.\n\n\\\u003eJuno simply smiles at Star and you breath in deep.\n\n\\\u003eyou slide down in your seat a bit and let your eyelids fall as Star tell her mom of some of the exploits you and Gabe have pulled of.\n\n\\\u003eGabe at some point must have called Fox again as you can faintly hear her voice.\n\n\\\u003eFamily...\n\n\\\u003eIs this what family is?\n\n\\\u003eIt's nice.\n\n\\\u003eSleep takes you as you hear the voices of everyone you care about and the woman you love against you.\n\n~FIN~","series":{"name":"Acid Rain","previous":"https://sofurry.com/s/1O55QJQm","next":"https://sofurry.com/s/4nAVLpK1"}}