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Die Hard

The city was aglow this cold winter night, as snow softly fell from the heavens. City streets were painted white, while the moon laid high in the skies. The wind was slightly stirring, but not enough to be oppressive. It was just enough to toss snow this way and that way, and paint the evening as rather magical.

His boots gently crunched through the snows beneath him, his eyes cutting one way to the other. He was a somewhat young man, a bat with hair a cold silver and eyes an amber gold. He was covered from the neck down in a pitch-black trench coat. Coming to a complete halt in the center of this sidewalk, his eyes cut down the sidewalk he stood on, falling upon a large green tree in the distance. It was adorned with various red and white ribbons, and a glowing star rested at the very top.

Ah... Christmas time, the perfect time for his plans to come to fruition. Everyone was in quite the stir running this way and that way, either to be with family, or get gifts for said family. What day was it specifically? December 20? Ah, yes, December 20; just a few days before Christmas proper.

It was the perfect time.

"Hey, boss, that's the place, right?" asked a man at his side, making the silver-haired bat grin.

"Yes, that's it," he said, his voice sounding vaguely Russian, "Olympia Mall; the heart of Document City," he chuckled, "Let's move men."

...

"Eeaaaaaaaaaagh... nomph... mmph... nomph..."

Bubbles. That's the best way to describe this morning feeling. Bubbles. Her eyes were long, she was slightly drained, and she was ever so exhausted. Her nostrils flared once or twice, her ears twitched this way and that way, her tail began to move, and then she yawned once again to show of her pearly-white teeth.

"Haaaaa... ugh... sniff sniff... hm?" she raised her arm, "Sniff sniff... hm... I smell like shit."

The green eyes of this red-furred wolf cut out towards the window, taking note of the snow that fell upon the window seal outside. Stretching out her arms and yawning again, she stood up and walked over to the window, placing her palm upon it. She could feel the cold, chilly touch of the world outside brush back against her hand, and it made her smile.

"Luca, Sweetie?" a call echoed from outside, "Are you awake? Breakfast is nearly ready!"

"Uh-huh, I'm awake," she replied.

Forming a fist with her hand, the red wolf began to rub her knuckle against her eye to help clear out the morning drowsiness that had stricken her. As she exited the door to her bedroom, her nose was blasted by the intense and lovely aroma of food. Delicious, delicious food. It made her smile from cheek to cheek, and her tongue lulled out from her lips to lick them. Green eyes cutting over towards the kitchen area of this somewhat small apartment, her vision befell the lovely slender backside of a beige hare. One of her ears were standing tall, the other bending over slightly. She was wearing nothing more than the same nightgown she had went to sleep in the previous night, though an apron was tied around her waist and chest.

With an almost lurid grin, the wolf peered down upon the nearly unsuspecting rabbit who was cooking food. She took a few chaste steps towards her, while her pearly-white teeth were shown in full force in a rather hungry grin. The hare was rather ignorant to the hungry and slightly amorous wolf behind her, not until it was too late.

"Ah!? Lucretia!?" she cried as she was easily picked up by the wolf, who lifted her up into the air by her waist.

"Mmmph! Good morning, Veronica," Lucretia replied, as her lips met the hare's cheek.

"Gosh, I'm cooking here," Veronica exclaimed as she was put down, a smile appearing on her lips as she looked over her shoulder to her lover with her brown eyes glowing, "You could have just waited for me to finish salting the eggs, you know."

"I could," said the red wolf as she smiled at her love, her eyes closing, "But you know how attractive you are when you're cooking my food. How could I possibly resist?"

"Heh heh, is that your attempt at flirting?" Veronica asked as she too closed her eyes, her lips pursing, "Because it's working... mmphh..."

their lips met in a rather sordid though sweet kiss, an embrace of the lips they held for several long seconds. When their lips parted, they gazed at one another in a deep and loving moment; green eyes resting on brown. It was soon ruin by a third party.

"Yuck! Isn't it enough that you two share a room with one another?"

The call came from a certain raccoon, one who was looking at them from over the kitchen counter with an expression that could only be described as 'ugh'. She was a young girl, with black hair typical of her species, and hazel eyes hidden beneath a bandit's mask. She was young, over eight years younger than the both of them, actually. A mere teenager, she looked at the two adorned in nothing but a t-shirt and some sweat pants, matching the red wolf's very own muscle shirt and sweat pants.

"Hah... good morning, Samantha," Veronica said as the raccoon crossed her arms, "I apologize if Lucretia and my kissing embarrassed you."

"Oh, there's no need to apologize," Lucretia said as she walked around the kitchen counter to be at the raccoon's side, "Sammy's just jealous because I didn't kiss her too."

"Huh? What? Luca, get away," said the raccoon as she playfully attempted to fight off the wolf who wrapped her arm around her shoulder.

But there was no fending off the wolf, who pulled her close regardless of the raccoon's words. Before long, she pressed her lips to the ringtail's cheek, holding a gentle smooch with her cheek for a few seconds before pulling back. Samantha's face heated up from the kiss, as she blushed from embarrassment and looked away, her arms crossed. The action caused the two women to laugh at the teen's attempts to act coy about the situation.

"Y-you didn't have to kiss me, ya'know," she exclaimed, much to Lucretia's amusement.

"Yeah, I know," the wolfess said as she pulled back, before her nose shook, "Huann... you smell bad. You haven't taken a shower yet, have you?"

"What? No, not yet," Samantha replied, "Not until after breakfast, like usual. Besides, I have to take my shower first, or else I'll be waiting forever while you two spend all year in there."

"Heh heh... well... when you get get a girl like Luca all to yourself, how couldn't you spend an eternity in a shower with her?"

"TMI," Samantha replied which made Veronica giggle, and caused Lucretia to raise a curious eyebrow.

"TMI?" the wolf repeated, confusion in her voice, "What does that mean?"

"Oh, don't worry about it, Sweetie," Veronica said before she turned back around to face their breakfast, "Anyway, I hope you girls are ready for today. We'll probably be spending all day at Olympia Mall. Why, we've gotta buy gifts for each other, buy a gift for Dr. Hold, buy gifts for Aurelia and her family, buy gifts for my family and buy gifts for..." one hand moved down to her flat stomach, rubbing it as a bittersweet smile appeared on her face, "Buy gifts for my nieces and nephews..."

She took in a deep breath, her eyes closing as she thought about the past. It was probably a month or two since she gave birth to her sister's children, and although much time had passed, she still felt a linger movement here or there as if they were still in her belly. Phantom movements, they were called, and boy did they bother her. Made the separation anxiety all the harder.

"Roni," Lucretia called, snapping her from her self-imposed trance.

The hare turned to look over her shoulder, her eyes falling on her love. The wolfess was smiling at her, a smile which was enough to make thoughts about the separation go away. Right, right; there was nothing to be sad about. Sure, the kids she gave birth to weren't here with her, but that was never the point in the first place. They were her sister's eggs and thus her sister's kids; she was just the oven they were cooking in. Besides, they were incredibly healthy and energetic kids, so there was no need to fret now. Especially with how good everything in life was going.

"Anyway, while I don't like saving off for the last moment to Christmas shop, I can't deny how excited I am," she began to hop up and down a bit, her tail shaking violently, "This'll be the first time I get to Christmas shop with my big bad wolf!"

"Ugh... please stop calling each other that in front of me," Samantha remarked as she stuck out her tongue.

"Why? You don't like it when my chocolate bunny gets excited?" Luca asked, much to the raccoon's further chagrin.

"Y-you're making it worse!" she exclaimed.

"Hm... this'll be the first time I've gone Christmas shopping in a long time," Luca herself said as she looked to the ceiling in a musing manner, "Normally, I spend Christmas with Aurelia and Gaius and my nephews, so when I go to buy gifts, Aurelia usually just tells me what it is the boys want," she chuckled, "For me, the best gift is just being with my sister."

"Are... are you and Veronica going to visit her this Christmas?"

"Of course we are," Roni said as she turned around to face them, a smile on her face, "Luca and I are going to spend Christmas here in Document City with my family, then we're going to spend New Years with Aurelia and her family in Oceanside."

"Is... Aurelia still... well... ya'know," Samantha began to make an angry gesture with her hands, "Yeah... you know what I'm trying to say, right?"

"Is Aurelia still bitchy?" Luca asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Y-yeah... well... you said it, not I..."

"No, Aurelia's calmed down a lot," said Lucretia, "She actually said she brought Veronica a gift... I'm both curious and horrified as to what it is, however."

"Oh? Aurelia got me something? I feel so honored!" the rabbit said with a genuine and bright smile on her face, "Golly gosh, now I have to get her something else for Christmas; I was sure she wasn't going to get me anything!"

"Huah... I hope Gaius checks it for any bombs..." Samantha remarked, to which Luca could only nod.

"I've already asked him to do so," she added.

"Oh hush you two; I'm pretty sure Aurelia's gift will be nice," Veronica said, only to stop and think about it, "At least... I hope it is," she then smiled again as her brown eyes shifted towards Samantha, "Speaking of gifts! Samantha, did you get a gift for 'you know who'?"

"You... know who...?" Samantha repeated, utterly confused by what Veronica was talking.

"You know who!" the rabbit said with a playful gaze, "Tall girl? Runs track? Half feline?"

"Half... feline...?" Samantha repeated, before her face turned a hot red, "O-oh, you mean... you mean..." then she got really low as she whispered, "Paris..."

"Paris? Oh, right the hybrid girl," Lucretia said as she too looked at Samantha, "Did you get something for your girlfriend yet?"

"She's not my girlfriend!" Samantha exclaimed.

"Uh-huh, yeah," Luca said in a rather incredulous manner while Veronica gave a giggle, "Okay, fine; she's not your girlfriend, but you're definitely her girlfriend. I'm pretty sure she's going to get you something considering how smitten she is with you; I think it's only right that you get her something back."

"With what money?" Samantha asked, "I think it goes without saying that... well..." she blushed from a strange mixture of embarrassment and anger as she looked away, "I'm not exactly the richest person, ya'know."

She looked rather down as she said so, as if disappointed or angry with herself for not having the money needed to afford any sort of gift. When her hazel eyes looked back up to Lucretia however, she noticed a small smile on the wolf's face. Now she was blushing for a completely different reason, though she tried to hide this by putting on an indignant expression.

"H-hey! What's so funny!" she asked, to which the wolf shook her head and laughed.

"Anyway, let's not worry about that," Luca said as she stretched out and yawned, the strap of her muscle shirt sliding down her shoulder, "We'll just need to focus on getting our gifts today... today... hm... what is today?"

"December 22, Luca," Veronica said.

"Right, right, December 22," the wolf said as she stretched out her limbs to yawn, "Fuuufuuuu... hm... just a few days before Christmas, huh? Olympia Mall is gonna be packed. Heh..." she cracked the bones in her neck, "It's always been the most fun time of year for me as an officer. Theft crimes normally skyrocket at this time of year, so we at the department make a game of it. The person who gets the most arrests wins an all expenses paid trip to the buffet of your their choosing," she grinned, "I won twice. After that, they said I was no longer allowed to play in the game. Not because I won too a lot, but because I nearly bankrupted the department."

"That stomach of yours is a black hole," Samantha remarked, which made Veronica giggle.

"Good thing I'm the only person who can fill it then," the hare remarked as she began placing plates on the table before them, "Now come on; let's all get some good food! Then we shower, get ready for the day, and go shopping!"

"Heh, yeah, shopping, like a good old shopping spree," Samantha said with a chuckle, "When was the last time you went shopping, Luca?"

"Nomph!" the wolf replied as she began shoving food into her mouth, "Hm? Whath whath thath, Thamantha? I thin'th thear thyou!"

"Ugh... never mind..."

Smiling as she shook her head, the raccoon began to enjoy the breakfast meal alongside Lucretia and Veronica. This scene right now had become so normal for the trio, it was practically burned into their skulls. Enjoying a steaming hot meal with the ones they loved, even as snow steadily fell right outside their window seal.

Little did they know of the sinister storm that was beginning to brew.

...

"Hey, hey, hey! Luca! Be careful!"

"What? What's wrong? I'm going the speed limit?"

The family car was a recent addition to their little, well, family. Since Luca couldn't drive around all day in her squad car, and her Pontiac was only a two seater, a new car was almost a no-brainer. And so, not too long ago, Lucretia and Veronica put their money together to buy this. It wasn't a stylish car, instead being a rather chunky yet reliable station wagon, a model that was probably only a year or two old. Was it the sexiest car around? No, but it was spacious, far larger than what was necessary for a wolf, a rabbit, and a raccoon. Veronica claimed it was for the 'little ones which will come in the future', but Samantha figured the extra space was for all the groceries needed to feed the endless appetite a certain lupine had.

"Look, Roni, it's a station wagon with four-wheel drive; we're safe, okay?" Lucretia said with a chuckle as they came to a halt at a red light, "And I'm not driving too crazy."

"I'm not worried about you driving crazy, I'm worried about everyone else," Veronica exclaimed as she rested a hand on her heart, "It's December 22! People are speeding to get to the mall or wherever they need to go to do last minute shopping! That and the snow, and the ice and everything and--"

"And you have a recipe for disaster," Lucretia said with a soft chuckle, "I know, Roni, I'm a cop; I've been through this before. Don't worry, I'll keep you safe," then she looked over her shoulder to Samantha in the backseat, who was gazing rather longingly out the window, "Are you okay back there, Sammy?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," said the raccoon, "It's not like I haven't experienced your crazy driving before..."

"I don't drive crazy," Luca said as she shifted her attentions back to the windshield, "If you wanna experience a crazy driver, then ride in a car with Aurelia."

Soon their destination came into view; the mighty complex that was Olympia Mall. It was a large mall, the largest in this state in fact. With two floors filled to the teeth with stores for all walks of life, if you can't find a gift to buy in Olympia Mall, then it quite simply does not exist. Resting right outside of the mall in its main courtyard was a grandiose Christmas tree, one which made Veronica's eyes glow as she stared upon it.

"Wow..." she said, before suddenly tugging tightly at Lucretia's arm, "Luca, sweetie."

"Yes, Roni?" she asked as she looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

"Can you believe it? This is gonna be our first Christmas together! You, me, Sammy," she smiled in earnest from cheek to puffy cheek, "I... I'm so happy!"

"I'm happy too..."

Despite, well, driving, she had the galls to purse her lips and move in for a kiss with her love, a sight which made Samantha playfully gag. The two lovers held kissed one another about two or three times, with even their tongues extending to give a brief dance. That actually made Samantha truly gag, as while a long held kiss was normal, a full on French kiss was far more rare.

"Please stop," she said as she looked away.

Fortunately, they heeded her demands, and stopped their kiss before it could get any steamier. Veronica couldn't help but to smile however, her buck teeth showing in full as she gently rubbed her flat stomach. This was the life she had often thought about, especially when she was acting as a surrogate to her sister's children. She and the wolf driving around Document City together, going to get gifts for their family and loved ones; oh, it made her heart beat and her foot thump against the floor.

"Someone's happy," Luca said with a playful chuckle as they entered the mall's parking lot.

"Of course, how could I not be happy?" Veronica replied as she looked at her love, "Oh! I-I'm just so excited!'

"Don't get too excited," the wolf said as they parked outside of Olympia Mall, "Hold some of that excitement for Christmas proper. We're just doing last-minute shopping, Roni," she then looked over her shoulder once more to Samantha, "Are you ready, Sammy."

"Yeah, let's go," she said in a rather forlorn manner.

All together they exited the car, the cool air of winter blasting them all at once. Lucretia blew out a puff of white air from her lips, before tugging on the puffy collar of her black classic bomber jacket. Despite it being in the mid to late twenties temperature wise, she felt incredibly warm. Both because of her jacket, but also because of the rabbit who moved so close to her. Holding hands with Veronica, Lucretia's green eyes peered down into her brown ones. She was just about ready to kiss her, with hands fell on both of their shoulders.

"At least wait until I'm gone before you start kissing like horny teens," Samantha said as she stopped them, "I'm getting sick and tired of it. Kissing here, kissing there, ugh!" she stuck out her tongue as her hands shifted into her jacket's pockets, "You're just like-- oops!"

"Just like who, Sammy?" Veronica asked with a wry grin as they began walking for Olympia Mall together, taking note of how the raccoon's eyes bulged as she stopped herself from saying something, "Let me guess; does it start with a 'P'?"

"No, no it doesn't!" Samantha exclaimed.

"You know, we all know you like Paris," Lucretia remarked in a deadpan manner, "You wouldn't have brought her home for dinner if you didn't like her," she shook her head, "Do you two kiss a lot?"

"What? N-no! No we d--"

"Ah! Cutie!"

Suddenly and without warning, Samantha found herself being picked up with relative ease. She wasn't lifted high into the sky like Luca could lift Veronica, but she did hang a few feet in the air. Eyes wide as they darted around, the scrappy ringtail readied her fist to punch whoever it was who had the audacity to lift her. That all stopped when she felt lips press to her cheek.

Looking over, her hazel eyes met the serene blue eyes of a certain human/feline hybrid. One whose ears cutely twitched as she smiled and gave a soft pur.

"Ugh... P-Paris," said Samantha as she looked away, trying to save-face as she blushed so furiously, "Y-you've gotta stop doing that."

"Hm? Why wouldn't I?"

"Because My mums are, like, right there," Samantha said as she pointed forward.

"Your mums... your m- oh."

Releasing her hold on Samantha, the tall hybrid straightened herself up as her blue eyes fell on Veronica and Lucretia who stood only a foot or two away. The hare was rather jovial as she smiled at the two, finding their display rather cute and engaging. That's all well and good; Paris knew Veronica to be the kinder and more, well, free-spirited of the two. But then her blue eyes trailed over to Lucretia, who glared at her with her usual expressionless visage. Like a soldier being grilled by her sergeant, Paris found her back straightening up as she stood with her arms at her side.

"G-good evening Miss North, and Miss Salem," she said, trying not to show any sort of disrespect in their presence.

"Oh, Paris, you don't have to act so rigid around us," said Veronica as she giggled towards her, "Just call me Veronica."

"Uhh, y-yeah," she said as her eyes trailed from the hare and back to the stoic Lucretia, "I... uh... think... um..." she was starting to sweat bullets here, "I think I'll just call you Miss North and Miss Salem."

"That's a good choice," said the wolf, only to feel the hare's hand tap on her chest.

"Please, Luca, don't try and scare the girl away," she said.

"Uh... that's my job," said the wolfess, "That's how my father treated all the boyfriends Aurelia brought home. If he scared them away, then clearly they weren't worth the time," her eyes then shifted back to Paris, "What are you doing at Olympia Mall? Are you getting last minute shopping done too?"

"Yeah," said the hybrid as she nodded, "My father treats me like his worker, so I got my Christmas bonus after work today. I'm going to see if there's anything last-minute I can buy," she then grinned as she turned to face Samantha, "Fuuuu... I don't think I've bought my cutie pie a gift yet."

"H-hey! Don't call me 'cutie pie'!" Samantha exclaimed.

"What? Heh heh, like I said before, I call you cute because you're really, really cute! The only way to stop me from calling you 'cute' is if you stop being cute!"

"Ugh!" the raccoon exclaimed as if she'd die from embarrassment.

Face-palming herself with both hands, Samantha groaned into them while Paris chuckled coyly. Veronica too giggled, though Lucretia could only roll her eyes. Honestly though, Paris came at a good time; Samantha could have someone to journey around the mall with, while she and Veronica spent time together. There was just one thing left that she needed to do.

"Hey, Sammy," she said as she reached her hand into her pocket to pull out her wallet.

"What's wrong, Luca?" the raccoon asked as she watched the wolf pull money from said wallet.

"Here..." she said as she gave the raccoon money, "Buy a good gift, okay?"

Samantha was confused by this statement, before looking down to the money given to her. In her hands sat two one-hundred dollar bills; probably the most money she had ever seen in one sitting. Her hazel eyes glowed from the sight, though she was just s quick to stow away the money. A part of her wanted to say something snarky, but she just couldn't. Instead she smiled in a sheepish manner as she looked away, though her tail did wag a tiny bit.

"Th-thank you..."

"Now don't get into any trouble, you two," Lucretia said as she turned to face the mall, "If you need us, just call..."

"Or just look for us in the food court," Veronica added, "We tend to end up there sooner or later after all!"

She laughed, but quickly stowed away such laughter as she clung to Lucretia's arm. Beaming a most sunny smile even in the cold winter, the rabbit's tail wiggled nonstop as she leaned up against her wolf. Together they walked into Olympia Mall, soon joining in the the frenetic masses that filled every corner of the outlet. It was loud, it was boisterous, and it was densely pact. But for the two lovers, they were in their own little world.

...

A black courier truck came howling into the backlot of the mall, tossing up snow as it came to a screeching halt behind the mall's loading bays. As one would suspect during the Christmas season, the loading bay was filled to the teeth with workers who were carrying crates and boxes one way to another. They were rather ignorant to the black van which drove behind them, even as its back door slid open.

A man hopped out from the back; a silver-haired bat with amber colored eyes who was dressed from the neck down in a pitch-black trench coat. His eyes darted left and right, while the various sounds of Document City echoed out into the distance. Smirking rather devilishly, he gestured towards the loading dock's closed doors. Walking towards it, a group of fellow men leaped out from the back of their van.

Men with guns. Powerful guns. SMGs. Specifically H&K MP5K. They were compact weapons, though powerful. These armed men were of various species, though they were mostly composed of bears. They were also following the bat into the loading bay proper, entering as the pushed open the double-doors.

There were various workers inside, moving boxes and crates, completely ignorant to the militia of armed men entering behind them. That is until one of the armed men pulled out from his coat a disk-shaped object. Tossing it into the air, it detonated to trigger a bright, blinding flash. The workers inside the loading bay were immediately blinded, pulling back in an attempt to cover their eyes.

KAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKA!!!

A vicious spray of bullets howled through the air, as the militia men rained death upon the workers from their violent weapons. Various men and women were stricken down without care or reasoning, painting the ground red with their marred blood. The howling of weaponry continued however, until the bat raised his hand.

"Alright Karl, stop it," he said with a soft chuckle as he looked towards a white-furred Siberian cat at his side, "I think you've had enough of your fun. Besides, we can't risk you hurting any of our comrades," his playful demeanor vanished soon after, as his amber eyes cut ahead, "Alright. You all know your job. Move into position, and keep your radios on you. Stick to our frequency."

His men nodded, before quickly moving past the bat into various parts of not only the loading bay, but the mall itself. The silver-haired bat lingered behind however, reaching into his coat to procure a radio from within. Switching it on, he brought it up to his face and spoke into it.

"Theo... we're here," he said.

"Good on 'em, boss!" said a rather chipper voice back.

"Have the bombs been set?"

"Yeah, boss," replied the man on the other end, "The bombs are set in every exit of the mall, we have our men stationed in every corner, and I'm in the mall's security center right now as we speak. Our jammers also in place, so it'll be really hard for any cellphone calls or texts to get out of here!"

"Good..." the bat replied, before grinning rather maliciously, "My men and I have just arrived. We begin moving on my command."

"Got it!"

Turning off his radio, the bat stuffed it back into his coat and shifted his eyes forward. Still grinning to himself, he even gave a low series of chuckles which threatened to break out into full on laughter. But he kept it in for now.

Everything was going according to plan.

...

Lucretia's thumb slid over the sealed package, her green eyes gazing into its contents. It was a perfectly contained garment, being pitch-black and beautifully carved by meticulous hands. What was it exactly? Why, it was lingerie. A specific kind of lingerie with a garter belt and a silky, frilly hem to it its waist and bust section. Did this lingerie have a specific type of name? The red wolf didn't know.

When was the last time she had worn lingerie? Veronica was the one who wore one most of the time, with the wolf merely enjoying the ride. And, oh, did she enjoy the ride. That being said, the she did have her own lingerie; a purple set which she had worn all but once. Unfortunately, the last time she tried to put it on, a few of its straps snapped off. Apparently, Lucretia had either put on some weight which she thought she had worked off, or she had somehow gotten even taller since she started dating Veronica. Perhaps it was both of these things.

Which is why she was holding this; a specially crafted lingerie for the wolf and the wolf alone. Do you know how awkward it is to go lingerie shopping, only to realize you're far too tall and big for most lingerie to fit you? Yeah, it was incredibly embarrassing. But do you know what's even more embarrassing? Allowing a bunch of seamstresses you don't know to measure and weigh you so they could create lingerie specifically fixed for your assets.

God, the things she does for Veronica sometimes.

But, hey, at least it was here; this pitch-black lingerie fixed specifically for her body and her body alone. It did cost her a hundred or so dollars, but it was well worth it. She could just imagine the hare's face, how she'd probably say something along the lines of 'gosh' or 'golly'. All the while, Luca herself would blush from mild embarrassment. Call her weird, but she preferred it when the sex was wild and primal; it was just her ways. But far be it from her to ignore her lover's more creative ways.

"Oooooh! Look at Luca! All grown up!"

"Wh-what!?" the wolf said as she turned to her right.

The lingerie store was black and red, so this blonde bat stuck out like a sore thumb. She stood right beside her in a rather puffy looking jacket, her eyes holding a certain kind of liner to it, and her lips a cherry red. The vivacious bat's curly blonde hair was bouncing as she was in a giggling fit, surprised to see Luca here of all place. Not only that, but to be standing here whilst holding a very naughty pair of lacy black lingerie.

"Haaa... Dr. Hold," said Lucretia as she blushed and face-palmed herself, "How long have you been standing there?"

"Hmm... only for a few moments," the bat said as she laid a finger on her chin, "What's that you got in your hand, Lucretia?"

"What does it look like," she replied as she looked at the bat, "It's lingerie."

"Wow... you must be internally dying right now just standing in this place, let alone to be holding that thing," Camilla said with a giggle, "Fufufufufu! The world is all upside down!"

"What are you doing here, Dr. Hold?" Lucretia asked as she stowed the garment into an accompanying plastic bag, "Are you buying lingerie too?"

"But of course, Lucretia," she answered, finding no shame in admitting such a thing, "Why, you must be the only female in the entire world who is embarrassed by things such as lingerie. Bras, panties," she giggled, "Let me guess; the kind you buy are from a department store. So long as it fits and it's comfortable, that's all you need."

"Well... yeah," said Luca, "I thought everyone did that."

"Uh-huh, yeah," she giggled, "Sweet, sweet Lucretia..." she then looked at the lingerie she was holding in particular, her head cocking to one side, "Wow... it looks unlike anything else in here, not to mention it's so large. Fufufufu, is it for you?"

"Yeah, it's for me," Lucretia replied, "Roni likes these things..." she blushed, "But... it makes me feel so embarrassed."

"I'm willing to bet you look fetching in that," smiling genuinely at the wolf, she made the lupine let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"Th-thanks..."

"Speaking of which, where is your little bunny?" the bat asked, "I don't see her; are you buying gifts by yourself?"

"No, Veronica and Samantha are with me, we just split up to do a little singular shopping on our own."

"Ah, I see... and then, I suppose, you'll all meet up in the food court?"

"Of course," Lucretia said before grinning, "The Chinese restaurant here is really, really good. I can buy so much food for such a cheep, cheep dollar!"

"Oh, Luca and your food," the bat said whilst giggling, "Don't eat too much; I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want to spoil Veronica's food for you later on," stopping suddenly to pull out her phone, the bat ran her eyes along it, "Hmm... oh well, time for me to go; I've got to go shopping for my daughter. I think she wants a new phone, but isn't that what all teens these days want?"

"I... guess... when I was young, all I wanted was a rifle," Luca answered, to which Camilla merely shook her head.

"But of course," she then waved as she began walking off, "Be safe, Lucretia. Remember, it's cold outside!"

Luca nodded as she watched Dr. Hold leave, before shifting her view down to the lingerie in her hand. Smiling and nodding, the wolf soon after exited the store with her bag in hand. The mall was still in quite the uproar as people moved left and right, but she didn't care. Right now, her attentions were shifted towards finding the kids toy store. Veronica said that's where she'd be, looking for toys for her nieces and nephews. So, that's where Lucretia was going; the kids toy store.

Or, at least, one of them. How many toy stores were here? Oh well, she'd find her chocolate bunny sooner or later.

Starting off, Lucretia began walking down the hall once more in search of the nearest toy store. But as she did so, she brushed alongside someone in the crowded mall. She apologized, but he didn't. He was a man, a tall, muscular Siberian cat, actually. But that's not what had Lucretia so bothered by the encounter, nor was it because of how he ignored her. No, it was what she felt due to the interaction.

It felt like a gun, but, no, no, it couldn't have been. Nevertheless, Luca's eyes locked on this fellow. Hopefully, she was just being a tad bit paranoid.

Yeah, hopefully...

...

The musky scent of death was prevalent in this room. There were about three bodies in the corner of the room, having been discarded as if they were nothing but trash. Despite this, a vicious typing could be heard, as fingers danced along a keypad. A young man was at a computer console, a lizard whose fingers moved with skill and deftness. Before him were multiple TV screens, all of them showing a different place of Olympia Mall. It was the mall's security room.

"Good job Theo," said the silver-haired bat as his wings gave a soft flap, "From here, we can see everything."

"Well, what can I say," the bespectacled reptile said with a grin as he turned to face his leader, "I've been in here for hours now, and that smell," he pointed towards the corpses, "P-U! It's disgusting!"

"No one knows you're here, right?" the bat asked, to which Theo nodded.

"Yup! No one but Moriz there," he said as he pointed towards a burly bear who stood near the door, "The malls under our control, and they don't even know it! If you look at the screen, you can see our men everywhere!"

"Good, then no more messing around," said the bat as he walked towards the command console in this room, "This has all hit a fever pitch; it is time our mission hit its zenith," looking down to the keypad, his amber eyes ran up and down it, "Where's the intercom system? I want them to hear me."

"Just press right here," CLICK! "And talk, boss."

"Good evening Olympia Mall."

...

"I am Simon Ostrovsky," a voice boomed over the Mall's intercom system, causing almost everyone to come to a complete halt, "Due to your country's legacy of greed around the globe, they're about to be taught a lesson in the real use of power... you will be witnesses. My men have already taken a hold of the mall, and all the exits have been set to bombs. If any attempt to escape, they will be killed on impact. You label men like us as terrorists, as monsters, when in reality, it is you all who are the terrorists and the monsters. And tonight, on the advent of Christmas, you shall all be taught this lesson."

Instant pandemonium.

The mall was instantly sent in an uproar of screams and hollers, as fear and terror ran rampant among the civilian populace. People ran this way and that way, many started to hide, some began to huddle together, and soon after, a virtual riot had erupted. People were being knocked over viciously, as these many individuals began running for the nearest exits. Within a matter of seconds, Olympia Mall had descended into a chaos that no one could save it from.

No one saved for the arm men.

All around the mall in designated areas, men of amazing statue withdrew fully automatic MP5Ks from their cloaks. Pointing the weapons towards the skies, they began firing bullets which sent out a monstrous roar. Those screaming grew silent as gunfire roared above all, as these individuals and their mighty guns brought silence. When some modicum of authority was returned to the mall, these men began to usher the civilians towards the mall's main lobby.

All save for_one_.

Lucretia gazed to the ceiling, her green eyes wide from what she just heard. Shock and horror ran through her, while chaos ran all around. A chaos soon quelled by the sound of gunfire, which she did not heed.

Terrorists? Here? Of all places? So close to Christmas as well? Was this some sort of joke? If it was, it sure as hell wasn't funny. And not to mention the fact that Paris, Dr. Hold, Samantha, and of course Veronica were all thrown into the mix as well. All of these things mixed together to make a very, very unhappy wolf.

She zipped down her bomber jacket, her hand sliding inside to a gap between her right arm and body. Resting between the area was her holstered handgun. Silver in color, the stainless steel weapon gleamed as she withdrew it from its strap. A modified M1911, it was Lucretia's service pistol, and almost never left her side.

While the terrorists began to usher their captive prisoners towards the mall's main lobby, Lucretia began to walk towards the nearest clothing store. Slipping inside, her green eyes ran along the many items on on sale at the moment. Soon, her eyes fell on that which she was searching for; a scrunchie.

Grabbing it from its wrack, she began walking out to exit the store, only to briefly stop. Turning, her eyes fell on the store's main counter. The clerk was there, cowering in fear due to everything going on outside. Lucretia was so coy and so composed, not to mention armed, that she they thought she was apart of the terrorist group.

"Can I... have this?" Lucretia asked as she flashed the scrunchie towards the woman.

"Yes! Of course! Just don't hurt me!" she exclaimed as she cowered in fear.

"Thanks..." Luca said as she began walking to leave the store again.

With the use of one of her claws, she tore the scrunchie from its cardboard prison. Gripping the back of her hair, she slipped the scrunchie around it, putting her hairdo in a more combative ponytail. Now, she was ready.

In the air above her, Lucretia could hear the sound of gunfire. From the sound of it, it appeared as if the terrorists were still ushering innocents. Lucretia wasn't about to follow their orders, she still had her mind set on one person, and one person alone; Veronica. Pulling out her phone, Lucretia was about to text her and Samantha, only to realize--

"I have no reception here... shit..." she growled, "Damn it, they planned this..." stowing away her phone, she sighed before muttering to herself, "Don't worry Sammy, Roni. I'm coming for you."

According to a nearby map of the mall, the nearest toy store was know as JD's Toys. It was just around the corner from where she stood. Nodding to herself, Lucretia made a mad dash for the store in question. By now, most of the halls had been cleared of people, with the masses being seen in the distance still being ushered towards the mall's main lobby.

Lucretia turned the corner, quickly slipping around to drop her eyes on JD's Toys. There was no one in the area; not civilian nor terrorist, just Lucretia. Slipping inside with her gun drawn, her green eyes coasted along the many things they had on sell. Due to the season, a majority of them were Christmas-themed. Due to the sudden riot however, many objects were resting on the ground, having been thrown or tossed over in the frenetic frenzy.

"Roni," the wolf called as she stepped over a few toys, "Veronica... Veronica! Are you there?" she was trying to be both quiet and loud, but it wasn't working, "Veronica! Veroni--ACK!?"

An arm wrapped around her neck. A large arm. A furry, large arm. The furry large arm of a feline. Lucretia growled as she was pulled back slightly, but was quick to slam her feet down. Holding her place, the green-eyed wolf looked up to drop her eyes on her assailant. It was a Siberian cat, similar to the one she ran into earlier, but not exactly the same. For one, he wasn't as large or as muscular as the one she bumped into, meaning, he was nowhere near as strong.

Lucretia reached back and grabbed her attacker by the shoulder, her claws digging into his coat and flesh. He grunted as he was stabbed slightly, while Lucretia gave a grunt of her own. Exerting her power, she was capable of picking up this Siberian cat fully over her shoulders, before tossing him into a rack of toys and objects.

Lucretia's pistol leveled down with his body, her green eyes peering down the iron sights of her gun. Having him pinned, she shouted out,

"Who are you!?"

"Trakhni sebya, suka! (Fuck you, bitch!)"

"What? What was that?" Luca replied, confused by his words, "A-are you Russian?"

Before she could get an answer however, this blond cat pointed his weapon towards her. Lucretia leaped back, right as he pulled his trigger.

KAKAKAKAKAKAKAKA!!!

His bullets tore through the air, while Lucretia dashed for cover. Resting behind a wrack full of toys and models, she held her weapon level with her head. By now, the Siberian cat was on his feet, shooting in Lucretia's direction. Sparks flew as his bullets met the metal frame, though it spared her any pain. At the same time, the Siberian cat was giving a savage grin, as he unloaded his bullets on Lucretia's position. The wolf was forced back, moving along the wrack of toys she had for cover until she came to the very end.

"You are dog now! No more table! Where are you going pal!?" he remarked as he began to reload his weapon, "Next time you have a chance to kill someone, don't hesitate!" BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! "Ah!?"

Four shots; twice to the leg, twice to the shoulder. The power in the blasts were enough to strike this man down, knocking him off of his feet as he gave a blood curdling cry of pain. Lucretia rested on one knee from her cover, having shot the man with near deadly precision. As she took in a deep breath, the wolfess stood up straight and erect in the toy store. Her weapon remained locked on the man however, just in case he mounted any counter attack. But as she walked over towards him, she kicked his MP5K away.

"Thanks for the advice, pal," she snarled as she grabbed the blond cat by his collar, forcing him up so that they were face to face, "Now then, clearly know English, so unless you want the full fury of a pissed off fucking wolf on your damn ass, then you will tell me who the hell you are!"

"Vy nichego ne poluchite ot menya, sobaka! (You'll get nothing from me, dog!)"

"Again with the Russian," Lucretia said as she rolled her eyes, "Alright, fine then," she gripped his collar tighter as she began to viciously shake him, "I'll just make the next few minutes of your life very, very miserable!"

And Luca was going to make good on her promise. She shook the Siberian cat until he was nothing more than a dazed mess, but she wasn't finished. Palming his face with her hand, she pulled him back then slammed him violently against the hard panel earth, knocking him unconscious from one slam.

With him a silent mess on the ground, Lucretia straightened herself up and took in a deep breath. Blood was on her hands now, literally; blood from her stabbing him with her claws, and the blood cause by her gunshots. Great; slippery fingers were never good in a moment as tense as this.

"Haaa... Roni..." Lucretia remarked to herself, fearing her lover was not here, only for her words to be answered by a soft,

"Luca...?"

The wolf turned, her eyes falling on a certain hare. The beige-furred rabbit stood behind her in her dark-brown overcoat, her scarf still wrapped around her neck. She looked utterly horrified by what was going on, a sight which made Luca's own heart shake. But those brown eyes of hers, they widened a few centimeters as their gaze's met. Lucretia could see a certain sense of calm flow through her lover, something which made both of their tails shake.

"Veronica..."

"Lucretia..."

They quickly moved into one another, as no more words left them. Moving in, their lips met in a delicious and most needed kiss. Lips fell on top of lips, tongues even briefly danced. They held the liplock for what felt like forever it would seem, only for the wolfess to pull back.

"Mmmmph... Veronica, are you okay?" Lucretia asked, to which the rabbit nodded.

"I'm fine, Luca," she said as she nodded, "B-but what's going on? Simon Ostrovsky? Terrorists? H-here? Of all places?"

"Yeah... that's what it seems like," Lucretia said as she walked back over to the Siberian cat's body.

"Luca... is he... well... y-ya'know... is he--"

"Dead?" Lucretia answered, to which she shook her head, "No, no, he's not dead."

"Oh... okay... hm... wh-what do we do?" Veronica asked next, while the wolf casually took this man's MP5K.

"We get out of here," Lucretia answered, as if it were as simple as that.

"What? We just leave?" Veronica replied, "But they said they had bombs at every exit, and what about Sammy? And everyone else?"

"Yeah... I know..." she shook her head, "It's not really gonna be easy but... I have a plan..." she nodded, "You trust me, right?"

"What? Of course, Luca, why wouldn't I?" Veronica asked, as the wolf smiled at her.

"Then we'll get through this," she replied, "Now let's just focus on the next step; finding a safe way out of the mall. Hm... but wait..." she glared down at the Siberian cat's body, "Veronica, can you help me with something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Get me a marker and some paper..."

...

Wow. Today? Oh boy, was today, well, a day. If such a thing makes any sense. When the raccoon woke up today, the last thing she thought would happen was that she'd be in the center of a terrorist attack. What was at first a rather fun evening with her mums and her somewhat girlfriend, became a lesson in, well, terror.

Samantha held her head low, her hands in her lap as she sat on the cold floor. She looked frustrated and angry, while more and more people joined her on the floor in the mall's lobby. All around them were large men in trench coats, and all were armed with SMGs. They circled about their captive prisoners, keeping so many families, so many mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, and children in their cold, horrible grip. It made the raccoon sick to her stomach. But, hey, it wasn't all bad. At least she was with her.

"Hey, cutie... everything okay?"

Samantha's hazel eyes moved to her left, falling on the blue eyes of the catgirl who sat right next to her. In her eyes, the raccoon could see fear and apprehension. But she had this lovely, rather infectious smile on her lips, one which made Samantha feel better. Even if there wasn't anything to really be smiling about.

"I uh... I guess everything's fine..." Samantha said as she looked away, only to close her eyes and sighs, "Being... in a hostage situation isn't something I'm used to, you know..."

"You're saying that to me," Paris said as she laid a hand on her ample chest, "You're the streetwise girl; I'm just a mechanic..." she shook her head, "Uh... what would Miss Salem say we should do in this situation?"

"Knowing her, she'd probably say something along the lines of listening to our captors..." Samantha remarked, "She's an officer, and she knows the proper procedure in a terrorist attack, I guess..." she then face-palmed herself and groaned, "I... I just... can't believe..."

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Looking up, Samantha's eyes befell the face of a silver-haired bat. He was looking down upon her in a manner she was unfortunately used too. The way his amber eyes glared at her as if sizing her up, how his nose was pointed up in a slightly snotty manner. If they were anywhere else, she would have snarled at him, insulted him, yelled at him. But no, not this time. This man was dangerous, far more dangerous than what she was used too. It made her look away, while Paris hugged up against her. Fortunately, this man said not a word. Instead, he looked down the center of the mall towards a tiny red house which rested behind a white picket fence.

Simon Ostrovsky steadily walked down the lane towards Santa's workshop; a nice little event held in Olympia Mall where families get to talk with Santa. The little ones rest on his lap, look up into his jolly eyes, and unload all the amazing things they want for that Christmas.

Simon pushed open the door to Santa's workshop, his eyes coasting around it. Inside was a grandiose chair for Santa himself; large, red, and oh so soft to the touch. But there were also many, many pictures resting on the walls in the workshop, pictures of families who had visited old Saint Nick.

Resting in the chair, Simon steadily removed the coat from his shoulders to reveal the immaculate business suit and tie he wore beneath. He also pulled his pistol out from his holster, an H&K P7M13. The chrome weapon gleamed as he checked it, his amber eyes running over its every inch. Nodding as he made sure that all was okay, he placed the weapon back into its holster, then pulled his radio from his waist.

"Theo," he said into the device, "How are things?"

"Goin' great, boss!" the lizard's voice answered from through the machine, "The halls are all empty, and our men are patrollin' as they should. Everything's goin' to plan!"

"Hm... good... stay on course," Simon said as he put the radio down.

Closing his eyes, he took in a deep breath as his ears twitched and his wings curled in. Smiling to himself, he gave a soft chuckle. Time was moving, and so far, everything was going great. That is until...

"Simon! Simon! Simon!"

"Karl?" the bat said as he straightened up.

The door to Santa's Workshop were suddenly pushed open, as a burly Siberian cat entered in holding another Siberian cat in his arms. Said Siberian cat was bruised and battered, as he rested in the arms of his elder. Simon's eyes grew wide as he looked down upon the weakened feline, his eyebrow raised.

"Anton..." Simon said, before looking up to the larger, white-furred Siberian cat, "What's going on? Karl, what happened?"

"He's been shot!" shouted the burly feline as he began to growl with seething rage, "Someone shot him!"

"Who...? Who shot him!?" Simon snarled as he looked up to the enraged feline.

"That's not all... our attacker had this..."

Opening his hand, Karl presented to Simon a piece of paper which had been crumbled up. Unfurling the crumbled paper, he read a note which was written out for them.

"Now I have a machine gun... ho-ho-ho..." Simon remarked, before looking up to Karl, "Who did this?"

"I don't know! But I will kill him!" Karl snarled as he flashed his fangs, "AGGHH!!! I want blood!"

Turning for the door, the Siberian cat readied his weapon, a Steyr AUG A1. Gripping the weapon by its foregrip. However, before he could exit Santa's Workshop, Simon's hand fell on his shoulder. He gave it a tight squeeze and shook his head, before saying,

"Calm down, Karl. Anton is still alive; there's no reason to rush out like you are about to do."

"And allow whoever has done this to get away with it!?" the Siberian cat roared.

"Running out there will only ruin our plans, Karl," Simon stated as he glared at him, "We will figure out who's done this in due time..." he then looked down to Anton's body, his amber eyes looking at his waist, "Where's his radio...?"

To that, Karl had no answer. He hadn't even realized Anton's radio was missing, not until Simon pointed it out to him, actually. Giving a glare, the bat lifted the radio up to his ear as he was about to speak into it, but he stopped and shook his head.

"Whoever attacked Anton... they must have taken his radio," Simon said, "If they can hear in on our plans..." he then stopped to think about it, "Hmm... Karl. Take Leonti and Zoran with you to find whoever is attacking. Check where Anton's body was found; he couldn't have gotten far. Keep radio silence until you've found him."

Karl nodded, before giving a savage grin as he exited Santa's Workshop. Walking out from the Christmas-theme home, he called out to his allies to follow him. Soon, he was joined by two bears; Leonti, a brown bear, and Zoran, a black bear. They stomped through their hostages, all while Simon steadily exited Santa's Workshop.

"Boy... they look pissed..." Paris remarked as she watched the three rush to another part of the mall.

"Ohh... it's Lucretia..." Samantha remarked with a loving smile on her face, making the hybrid look over to her.

"What? How do you know?" she asked as she looked at the raccoon.

"Because only a Salem can anger someone like that," she answered as her ears twitched.

"I wanted this to be professional," the booming voice of Simon called, causing all the hostages to look at him, "Efficient... adult... cooperative. Not a lot to ask. Alas, one of you did not see it this way... so he won't be joining us for the rest of his life. We can go any way you want it. You can walk out of here or be carried out. But have no illusions; we are in charge. So, decide now, each of you. And, please, remember: we have left nothing to chance."

...

The hare's nose cutely twitched, as her back pressed to an oversized teddy bear. Closing her eyes, she could still hear the lovely music of Christmas playing over the mall's intercom systems. What was supposed to bring one nothing but holiday cheers brought the normally jovial hare nothing but dread. It was so horrible, so thunderous. The sound of Christmas music playing against the sound of gunfire.

When it all happened, she froze up like a statue. This can't be happening, she thought to herself over and over again. But when she saw that man firing his gun towards the ceiling, and the people cowering in fear, she knew this to be all too real. No, this was no nightmare or horrible dream, this was the real deal. She was in a terrorist attack.

Veronica took in a deep breath as her eyes closed, her hand laying over her chest to feel her heart race. Even though she was relatively safe, she still felt nothing but fear. Fear for herself, but more so, fear for those who ere standing face-to-face with the terrorists themselves. And of course, she felt fear for Samantha.

Standing in a toy store where oversized dolls were put on display, she couldn't help but to look around the immediate area. There were so many cute dolls here; it would bring a smile to any child's face. Oh, those crying children who were being held hostage too; she just wanted to hug them all and make the tears go away. But now wasn't the time to think about such things; now was the time to stay focused on their mission. Whatever that mission was, anyway.

"What? What? Lucretia, you aren't making any sense!"

"Dammit, Felix! I don't know how many times I can say it! Olympia Mall has been taken over by terrorists! They've planted bombs at every exit! They're led by some guy, his name... it's... it's... Simon! Simon Ostrovsky! Do you know anything about him?"

Lucretia took in a deep breath as she held the radio to her face, having switched its frequency to the one used by the police force. Her heart was racing, as in one hand she held the radio while she spoke to a certain otter, while in the other hand she held her newly gained MP5K.

"Lucretia. Is that you?" the booming voice of a tiger came in over the radio, making both Lucretia and Veronica's eyes move to the device. It was Timothy Parker, Lucretia's superior, and the police chief of the Document City Police Department. Rarely did he make way to the dispatch office , but when a terrorist group has allegedly taken over the mall, then he'd make an exception.

"Yeah chief, it's me," said Luca as she looked at the radio, "Olympia Mall has been taken over by a terrorist group led by some guy named Simon Ostrovsky. I'm here with with Veronica, but all the civilians are somewhere else. I assume they're in the main lobby. Do you know anyone named Simon Ostrovsky?"

"Actually, I do," he replied as he moved closer to the microphone, "In our line of work, it pays to be knowledgeable on international affairs, Officer Salem. Simon Ostrovsky is a member of the Russian Leninist movement. A terrorist group."

"Haaa... so he is a terrorist..." Lucretia mumbled to herself in disbelief, "Okay, fine, but why is he here? What do we have to do with his beliefs?"

"He's a loony terrorist," Felix remarked, "None of these things have to make sense."

"We have men moving towards the mall as we speak, Officer Salem," Timothy stated, "SWAT and the bomb squad have been deployed, as well as the FBI. Lucretia... don't do anything stupid."

"Understood," the wolf said as she nodded, "Alright, I'm going dark."

Thumb sliding along the radio's off switch, Lucretia closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. Whereas Veronica's heart was racing a mile a minute, the wolf was more calm and composed. Really, she was more fearful for everyone else's life as oppose to her own. Also, she was curious as to who Simon was, and why he and his gang of terrorists decided to attack Olympia mall of all places.

Checking the radio in hand, she looked it up and down, left and right, then turned it around. On the back was a series of numbers written by white chalk.

141.80.

"Hmm..."

"Luca, what's wrong?" Veronica asked, taking note of her lover's pensive gaze.

"141.80..." Lucretia said as she put the number into her radio before saying next, "Hello?"

"Hello...?" a voice replied. A Russian voice. A familiar Russian voice, "I thought I told you all to keep radio silence until further--"

"Gee, I'm sorry, Simon, nobody gave me the message," Lucretia answered, cutting this man off, "You should've put it on the bulletin board. Anyway, I thought you and your boys might be a little lonely now that I got rid of blondy the cat, so I invited some of my cop friends for a little visit. They so do love parties like this."

"Ah... so... you're the one who dealt with Anton," Simon answered, "A female...? I dare say, you are most interesting as well as troublesome for a... security guard?"

"Oh please, don't insult my intelligence," Lucretia answered with a wry grin, "Aim a little higher."

"FBI?"

"No..."

"CIA?"

"Nope..."

"Ex-military?"

"Try again."

"...Detective?"

"Heh, not yet..."

"Don't tell me you're just a beat cop..."

"Ding! Ding! You deserve a cookie!" Lucretia snarkily remarked, much to Simon's growing anger, "Ya'know, you and your gang ruined what was otherwise going to be a lovely evening for me, and so many others."

There was a brief moment where static played on Lucretia's radio, making her grin. For the next few moments, they merely sat there, with Veronica gazing over her lover. Was it wrong to feel that this was kind of_hot_? Like, her love was acting like a total badass as she casually spoke to a terrorist of all people. If this moment wasn't horrifying, it would be so thrilling.

"Miss Police Officer, are you still there?" Simon asked as his voice returned from over the radio.

"I wouldn't think of leaving, Simon," Lucretia answered, "Unless you want to open the front door?"

"I'm afraid not," he replied, "But you have me at a loss; you know my name, but who are you?" then a slight growl, "Just another American who saw many too many movies as a child? Another orphan of a bankrupt and hypocritical culture who thinks she's some heroine like Valerie Scarlet or Wonder Woman?"

"Actually, I've always been quite the Bruce Willis fan," Luca retorted, "John McClane, David Dunn, Korben Dallas. Those have to be my favorite roles of his."

"Heh heh... do you really think you have a chance against us, Miss Police Officer?"

Lucretia paused briefly as her ears twitched. Both she and Veronica looked to the exit at the back of the toy store they were in, as they could hear footsteps coming. Nodding to herself and smiling, Lucretia stood up with Veronica at her side. Eyes shifting to the entrance of the store, they began moving for it.

"Yipee-ki-ay, motherfucker," she said into the radio, before slipping away alongside Veronica.

At about the same time, Karl and his group entered the toy store from the back entry. The Siberian cat and his two big bears carefully searched the toy store, peering at all the dolls and stuffed animals they had on display. The cat - Karl - had the most intense glare, as his nostrils flared. He could not get a good scent on those who he chased, possibly thanks to the fact that he had never met them before. Everything in this mall was unfamiliar to him, from the many stores, the many halls, and the creepy moving eyes of the Santa Claus dolls on display.

... What?

In the blink of an eye, Lucretia crashed through the oversized Santa Claus picture this store had on display. Her large body slammed into Karl, throwing him to the ground as she pinned him with her elbow to his chest. He scrambled to toss her off, but Lucretia was surprisingly heavier than what he suspected.

But she didn't have time to deal with Karl; she had two large bears coming for her. Whipping out her MP5K, the wolfess began to unload a spread of bullets on her enemies. The hail of gunfire tore through dolls and toys, sending shreds of plastic and cotton into the air. Luca's aim was immaculate, coming close to killing her enemies outright. They were quick to move however, dispersing and finding cover in various other areas of the store.

As her gun clicked, Lucretia suddenly felt a fist slam into her cheek. Knocked off of Karl's body, the Siberian cat had finally gotten the surge of strength he needed to fight back. Lucretia took a step back while Karl pointed his Steyr towards her. Without hesitating, he pulled the trigger of the weapon, firing a spread of bullets towards Lucretia that she barely had enough time to dodge.

Leaping behind a nearby display case, Lucretia was spared any deadly shots, although glass broke out over the immediate area. Popping from her cover, the red-furred wolf was quick to return fire towards her enemies, firing at them with her MP5K. At the same time, Karl had leaped behind a toy rack of his own, sparing him any of Luca's deadly furry.

When her weapon suddenly clicked from an empty cartridge, Lucretia ducked down. Retracting the empty clip from her gun, she quickly reloaded the weapon and grabbed its foregrip. Popping from her cover with a tight grip on her weapon, Lucretia began to fire a wild spray towards her enemies as she steadily walked backwards from her cover.

Then she stopped, seemingly for no reason. Her green eyes darted from one end of the store to the other, waiting for any one of her enemies to take the bait. And one did; a brown bear appeared from his cover. It made Lucretia grin.

KAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKA!!!

She hadn't run out of ammo nor did her gun jam; she merely stopped firing to bait one of her enemies out. And the brown bear - Leonti - fell for it, hook, line, and sinker.

He fell back as the bullets riddled his legs, Lucretia's accurate aim having taken him down. Unfortunately, she had burned through the last of her MP5K ammo, forcing her to pull out her pistol. Without missing a beat, Lucretia fired three times towards Zoran as he moved to check up on Leonti. Her bullets tore through his shoulder and legs, dropping him as well.

Now both bears were writhing in pain on the ground, but neither were dead. It was something Karl took note of as he looked from his corner to his bleeding allies. At the same time, Lucretia was reloading her pistol.

"You are... letting them live?" Karl asked, his Russian accent thick and heavy.

"Unlike you, I'm no killer," Lucretia answered as her M1911 slid back into place, "I'll do what I must, but if I can get out of here today without taking a life, I will!"

To that, Karl had no answer or reply. It was a bit eerie and confusing; what police officer would hesitate to kill their enemies? One would think themselves blessed to face such a - surprisingly - pacifistic foe. But for Karl, it was the exact opposite. Anyone who would purposefully limit themselves was one who had to be taken seriously.

For a few moments, Karl waited for an attack but did not receive one. So he went on the offensive, popping slightly from his corner as he fired towards Lucretia's cover. His mighty Steyr punched massive holes into the wolfess' hiding spot, but she still mounted no counter attack. Moving closer and closer to where Lucretia was, he jumped around the corner to find...

Nothing. Luca was gone. Karl's eyes grew wide as he realized she had given him the slip.

"Dammit. Dammit! DAMMIT!!!"

...

During Christmas, it wasn't uncommon to see the night be aglow with a myriad of lights. Normally, these lights were of a red, white and green color to stick with the festive vibe. But what bout blue and red lights? Was that as common an occurrence? In other cities, some would probably say yes, but that could be further from the truth in Document City of all places.

Outside of Olympia Mall, a virtual army of police vehicles appeared. They were quick to drive into place, surrounding the building on all sides with armored vehicles, and armored men. Search lights were also pulled out and placed on the building, while the loud blaring of sirens and squad cars could be heard in nearly every inch of the city.

Inside the mall proper, Simon's men tensed up as they glared towards the lights which glowed through the mall's main entrance. Their movements grew faster and faster, while their hostages grew more hopeful with the situation. Even a certain raccoon had to smile as her eyes gazed towards the police outside.

"I never thought I'd love to hear that sound," Samantha remarked, right around the same time the door to Santa's Workshop opened up.

"All of you, stay at your posts!" Simon yelled at his men, "We knew that police action was inevitable..." and then, he gave a slight smile, "In fact, it's necessary. So let them start their feeble efforts; until then, stay calm. We have hostages, remember? We are still in charge."

Suddenly, static blared from his position, making him look down to his waist. Glaring at his radio, the bat begrudgingly picked it up and brought it to him. He knew full well who was trying to contact him, which only made his eyes and stance hardened.

"Miss Police Woman," he said into the radio, a sound which did not go unnoticed by Samantha, "Is that you?"

"Depends," Lucretia answered, "Are you going to send more of your bears and cats after me?"

"Leonti and Zoran... is... is that who you're talking about?"

"Leonti, Zoran, Karl," the wolf continued, listing off names which took Simon aback, "But let's not limit ourselves; what about Anton? No, no, I dealt with Anton already. Where's Theo? How about Berdy? Maybe Feofil? Or perhaps Donat?"

"How does she know all of these names?" one of Simon's men asked as he looked at the bat. He, funnily enough, was Feofil, a rather mighty looking snow leopard.

Simon himself did not know, and honestly, it was a bit unsettling. He had know idea who this woman was, but she was listing off the names of his men. Was there an outside force who was helping her out? She was a police woman, after all. Regardless, he could not let this woman get under his skin. He needed to be calm about this.

"I... see," Simon said, "You are quite the woman, Miss Police Officer. Tell me, are you Russian yourself?"

"I'm afraid not, Simon," Luca answered.

"Tak ty ne znayesh', chto ya seychas govoryu?" (So you don't know what I'm saying right now?)

"What?"

Simon's eyes grew wide. Lucretia didn't know Russian, meaning he and his men had free reign to speak to one another, so long as they did it in their natural tongue. It made him smile in a rather devilish manner as his wings gave a might flap. Turning to face the man at his side he said,

"Quick, after her! Coordinate with Karl over the radio. Speak in Russian."

The man at his side nodded, before readying the weapon he was holding. Quickly marching from the area, he called to his side a trio to his aid; a two bears and a fox. Donat, Feliks, and Kliment. Samantha watched as this quartet of men left the area, her heart starting to race. With every man who went after Lucretia, the raccoon could only pray for her continued safety.

Her hazel eyes traveled over to Simon, taking note of how the composed bat appeared particularly disheveled now. It made her smile, knowing that her mum Lucretia was causing this. It was rather inspiring, even in a situation as dire as this. Despite this, Simon himself was grinning like mad. Lucretia and her insubordinate nature would be dealt with in due time.

Yes, that's it; time. It was all just a matter of time.

...

Veronica looked over the man on the ground. This unconscious, bruised, battered man. The bear was leaned up against the wall, his face covered with whelps and injuries. The hare's heart went out to the bear; truly it did. Terrorist or not, no one deserved having an angry red-wolf on their ass. Considering the fact that she had been the object of Aurelia's fury in the past, she knew what she was talking about.

Her love however stood tall just a foot away, holding a fully-loaded SMG in one hand, whilst overlooking a map in the other. Said map detailed every inch of the mall, but with markings on it to detail things such as where the bombs had been placed, who was supposed to be standing where, as well as a full list of names for all the people in Simon's terrorist cell.

Going by this list, the terrorist group was made up of at least 16 people. There was Simon himself, Karl, Anton, Leonti, Zoran, Donat, Feliks, Kliment, Berdy, Feofil, Theo, Lev, Irinei, Makar, Qudiar and Ovdei. If there were more, they weren't listed here, that's for sure. Fortunately, she had already taken out four of them, meaning there were only twelve terrorists left before Olympia Mall was freed.

Lucretia and Veronica were hiding out in the mall's back halls, where they took a guarding man off guard and stole his items. Not only did she get more ammo for her MP5K, but she also got this nifty map and list of everyone's names. Unfortunately, it seemingly proved what Simon said; they had bombs at every entrance and exit of the mall. How long were they planning all of this?

But Lucretia didn't have enough time to think about that; she needed to focus on finding a true exit out of this place. After looking the map over one again, her eyes were drawn to the mall's loading bay. Nodding, she figured this would be the best place to go, considering this map had this area in specific circled for some reason.

"Veronica," she said, making the hare look up to her, "Alright, let's go."

"R-right, sweetie," Roni said as she walked to her lover's side, only to suddenly cling to her arm, "Haaa... sniff sniff... hm... Luca... you smell so sweaty."

"Hm? Well, this isn't my first rodeo... my first one against terrorists maybe, but a criminal is a criminal; no matter what they call themselves."

"Haa,,, Lucretia..." she smiled, "You're so amazing, you know that? A mall get's taken over by a bunch of terrorists, and you fight them off like they're nothing."

"I'm just doing my job," Lucretia said with her usual flatness, not finding anything she was doing as being particularly great, "I don't know many officers who wouldn't do the same."

"You're being far too modest, Luca," Veronica said as she looked up to her, "How many officers would do what you're doing now? Or even close to the same level," she smiled and shook her head, "I... I remember what you said a long time ago. How... if I replaced all my dates or girlfriends with fights, then our college days would be similar. I... didn't understand what that meant at the time, because - ironically enough - I couldn't imagine you being violent. Not you; not my big, bad wolf. But... here... watching you fight..." she took in a deep breath, as her nose and tail both twitched cutely, "I won't lie to you; it's kind of hot."

"Oh really? It is?" Lucretia said, "You never called me hot before while at work. Maybe while I'm in uniform, but never when I'm doing my job," she chuckled, "After all, police work isn't something seen as being all that glamorous. Nngghh..."

Lucretia stopped suddenly, her expression becoming rather tight. Leaning up against the cold concrete wall, her once stoic stance appeared rather shaken, and it worried Veronica. Not for her sake, but for her love's. Walking to Lucretia's side, she had seen this reaction before, and could tell what was the cause of this. Laying a hand on Lucretia's side, she said,

"It's... the gunshot wound... isn't it?"

"Aaahh... just a slight flare," Lucretia said as she pushed back against the wall, "I'm alright, Veronica, promise. Let's focus on getting to where we need to go."

After shrugging off the phantom pain, Lucretia and Veronica continued down their path along the mall's back halls. Eventually, the thick smell of death became heavy in the air, making Veronica gag. Instinctively, she stuck her nose into Lucretia's arm, taking a whiff of the wolf's scent which was prevalent on her bomber jacket. It was enough to drown out the thick and deathly smell, but it made her frown as she knew what was causing this. Lucretia remained strong however; this wasn't the first time she had smelled such a scent, and probably wouldn't be the last.

Coming to the mall's large loading bay, Lucretia leaned up against the wall to hide herself from any wandering eyes. Around the corner were three men; those left from the invading party to protect their escape route. It made Lucretia sigh, as she rolled her eyes and muttered to herself,

"Let's go to the mall! We'll get together, have a few laughs... ugh..." she then looked over to Veronica, "Roni, stay here."

"Uh-huh..."

Readying her MP5K, Lucretia walked out into the loading bay. There were many boxes and crates around, all holding various goods meant for the stores in the mall. The three men guarding the bay were, of course, bears. After all, Russia was composed mostly of bears and Siberian cats, so this wasn't too surprising. No more surprising than the fact that a bunch of Russian terrorists were in Document City itself.

KAKAKAKAKAKAKAKA!!!

The roar of her MP5K cut through the area, bullets slamming into the crates and walls. One of her enemies, a large bear, was stricken along his back and legs by her bullets, felling him without hesitation. His two allies were alerted by their sudden assailant, and were quick to disperse to find hiding spots. Ducking down, Lucretia quickly reloaded her weapon, before gripping the SMG's foregrip tightly.

Suddenly, the howl of gunfire roared in the room, as bullets rained down on Lucretia's position. She remained calm however, as her eyes looked around the room to find some sort of counter attack. Her enemies were speaking in Russian as well, making it hard to figure out what they were planning. Suddenly, one popped from his cover to fire upon Luca, giving his ally enough time to attempt a flanking maneuver. She was forced to hunker down against her cover, her green eyes looking for a way out of this situation.

"Luca! Catch!"

"What!? Veronica!"

Suddenly, the red hide of a fire extinguisher came flying towards Lucretia's head. Eyes wide, she caught it in midair, before tossing it over her cover. As if time were moving in slow motion, Lucretia had enough time to shoot the fire extinguisher, causing it to explode in midair. The immediate area was coated a milky-white due to its contents, which blinded Lucretia's foes. Without hesitation, she stood up from her cover and unloaded upon them.

KAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKA!!!

Lucretia's gun clicked as it ran out of ammo. With that, she had felled two more enemies. While they were not dead, they were writhing on the ground in pained heaps. Walking to these men, Lucretia casually kicked their weapons away, not wanting any surprised attacks from defeated foes. As her breathing relaxed and she reloaded her gun, her green eyes cut over to Veronica. He wanted to yell at her honestly for the brazen action of tossing out the fire extinguisher from out of the blue. But looking at that lovely face of her love, she couldn't help but to give a slight smile.

"Are they... ya'know..." Veronica asked, to which Lucretia nodded.

"Yeah, they're down," the wolfess replied as she walked over to the hare, "You shouldn't have done that, Roni. I had the situation handled."

"I... I was just trying to help," Veronica said as Luca wrapped her arm around her shoulders.

"I know, and I appreciate that," Lucretia answered, "But remember that time I tried to help make dinner? And I nearly set the apartment on fire? Just let me han--"

She suddenly tensed up, much to Veronica's confusion.

"Sweetie? Is everything ok-- WHOAA!?"

Suddenly picked up by her waist, Veronica was lifted into the air and wrested on Lucretia's shoulder. The wolfess, holding her MP5K in one hand, fired towards the halls as a quartet of men were just beginning to enter. Her bullets struck walls and crates, but no flesh. It did however force them to hide against the corner for protection however, all while Lucretia made way for a large stack of crates for protection.

Placing Veronica back down on the ground, Lucretia looked over the corner towards her enemies. There were two bears, a snow leopard, and a fox; all of them speaking Russian, and all of them were moving into different areas as they traded plans among one another. Not know Russian was really detrimental; after this was all said and done, Luca was enrolling into some Russian language classes.

"There's so many men," Veronica remarked, "What are we going to do, Luca?"

But Lucretia was already one step ahead. Suddenly and rather violently, the wolf began to slam her body against the pillar of crates they were hiding behind. Veronica tensed up at this and her eyes grew wide, as Luca caused the crates to steadily tip and fall over. From a slight wobble to a violent shake, the heavy crates fell over and crashed into the room. Slamming into other crates and threatening to fall on her enemies, Lucretia forced some of her foes out into the open. Just as she had planned.

KAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKA!!!

With shots to their arms and legs, one of the bears and the fox were taken down. The other bear grew wide-eyed as his allies were defeated so quickly. When he turned to face Lucretia again, he found her boot slamming against his chest in a leaping kick. The power from the blow threw him back against more crates, which fell over and collapsed atop him, knocking him unconscious.

Looking left and right, Lucretia searched in vein or the leader of the party; the snow leopard. Little did she know that the wily feline was scurrying against the ground, using his speed to his advantage. Suddenly leaping atop a crate in the distance, he aimed his MP5K towards her, and squeezed the trigger with reckless abandon. Lucretia returned fire, before leaping and rolling behind more cover for herself.

Having run out of ammo for her MP5K once again, Lucretia pulled out her pistol once more. Holding her M1911 close to her head, she listened out to the sounds of her enemy's SMG. From where he was however, he had her pinned, and he didn't seem to be the kind of fool who would unload all of his bullets and then reload in the open.

Looking around the area where she sat, Lucretia's eyes fell upon the body of one of her knocked out enemies. Reaching towards him, she reached into his vest and grabbed any item she could find on his person. To her joy, she found a small, black device on him, one that looked like a hockey puck. In reality, it was a flash bang, a type of stun grenade that - when detonated - would produce a blinding light.

"Veronica!" Lucretia shouted, "Close your eyes!"

Without hesitation, she chucked the flash bang towards her enemy, with him growing wide eyed as he realized what it was. In midair the device detonated, producing a blinding flash of light which forced him to close his eyes. Groaning as his eyes burned with pain, he was soon grunting from a different pain, as bullets struck his arm and knees, dropping him from his crate. He fell back on the hard floor soon after, his head meeting the concrete ground and thus knocking him out.

Lucretia took a deep breath as she arose from her crouched position and even took a few deep breaths. Within a few minutes, she had taken down no less than seven men. Add that to the number of men she took down before, that being four, then she had dealt a mighty blow to the terrorists. A group of sixteen had now been reduced to 5. It was enough to make Lucretia smile, but she knew things weren't over, not yet. So long as civilians were still being held at gun point, she couldn't rest.

But first...

"Veronica?"

"Luca!"

Looking over to where the voice came from, Lucretia's eyes befell the beige-furred rabbit, which made her smile. Veronica was safe, and while she was a bit shaken by the most recent fight, she was spared any bodily harm. It brought a smile to Lucretia's face, as her battle ready stance began to weaken. She began to approach Veronica, only to hear her gasp. Luca, alerted by this sound, came to a halt. There was almost no time to react, she just moved to the right.

THUT! THUT!

"Ah!?"

Lucretia's eyes grew wide as a bullet struck her shoulder. The push back of such a blast made her growl, as she was forced to find cover behind a metal crate. Grunting and groaning, her bomber jacket had been torn straight through to reveal a newly gained injury. Flesh blood had finally been spilled on Lucretia, and boy it hurt. Did it hurt as much as the first time she had been shot months ago? No, but damn did it remind her of that night.

"Ahhh! Dammit!" the wolf growled, before looking from her cover to drop her eyes on her enemy.

It was Karl, his green eyes hardened into a savage gaze as his Steyr rested on Lucretia's position. In controlled bursts, he began to unload blast after blast on his enemy's position. His bullets bounced off of her metal crate, but he expected this to happen. He was just trying to bait Lucretia to rise from her space.

She knew this however, and wouldn't fall for it. Besides, the pain in her shoulder was really making her growl and twitch. Rubbing the area where she had been shot, when her hand moved back it was coated in fresh blood. While the blast may have been a mere grazing shot, it was still enough to shake her.

"We're both professionals, but this is personal!" Karl shouted at Lucretia, punctuated by a few blasts of his Steyr, "I want blood for my blood! You... are done!"

When he was just a foot or two away, Lucretia knew it was either now or never. With all of her might, she slammed her shoulder into the crate, sending it careening into Karl and slamming into him. Luca popped up moments later, firing five shots towards the Siberian cat, ones he dodged by leaping for cover.

Unfortunately, that was all Lucretia had in that magazine of ammo, forcing her to reload. As the clip was jettisoned from her pistol, Karl stood up from his cover and fired at Lucretia. She ran from the blasts, and didn't stop running until he ceased firing.

Now they both needed to reload, but Lucretia wasn't poised to continue this deadly dance. Karl was clearly a cut above the rest of these terrorists; perhaps he was Simon's right-hand man. It didn't matter, as Lucretia leaped atop one crate, then leaped into the air for a savage pounce. Her hands slammed into his shoulders, and her body weight caused them both to crash to the ground. But unlike earlier when she pounced him in the toy store, Karl rolled with the tackle. Throwing Lucretia off of him, he recovered to his feet. At the same time, Lucretia did likewise.

The two stood only a few feet away from one another, their green eyes glaring like knives towards their respective foe. With both of their weapons being unloaded, they were forced into this deadly dance of single, hand-to-hand combat. Lucretia was more than ready for this, but was Karl?

She quickly moved in, her arms wrapping around his waist in a sudden tackle. But Karl was a mighty foe, and he slammed his feet down to keep his stance. Raising both hands, he brought them down on Lucretia's back in a powerful attack. She grunted from the blow, and was forced off to reset the space between them. Now it was Karl's turn to throw an attack.

He swiped at Lucretia's head with his claws, having quite a bit of speed on his burly stature. She barely had enough time to dodge each successive swipe, but quickly brought up her arm to block the last of his strikes. Balling her hand into a fist, Lucretia countered with a blow to Karl's side. He grunted, but was otherwise unfazed. Quickly, he countered with a blow of his own to Lucretia's side, striking her old gunshot wounds.

The wolf's eyes bulged, as she felt both tense and weak all at the same time. It was as if she had been stricken by a bolt of lightning, as she felt nothing but incredible pain and fragility. Taking a few steps back, she grunted and groaned and gripped her sides, whilst biting her bottom lip in an attempt to stave off the pain.

Karl stood tall above Lucretia, taking note of how weak she had become from just one blow. But he was not surprised, quite the opposite, in fact.

"You have been shot before, haven't you?" he asked, causing Lucretia to glare at him, "I have seen this before."

Slowly he began to reload his Steyr, alerting Lucretia. She tried to stand up tall in order to stop him, but the pain she was feeling was still rumbling through her person. She couldn't even stand straight, let alone stop Karl from readying his weapon. The white-furred Siberian cat had just slid his next magazine into his rifle, when hands suddenly gripped upon it.

"Stop it!" Veronica shouted as she tugged on his weapon with all of her might, "Leave Lucretia alone! Stop it! Stop it now!" SMACK!"AH!?"

Compared to the burly cat, the beige hare might as well have been nothing but a paper bag. He struck Veronica with such ease, she was forced back as she clutched her cheek. His green eyes glared at her, deeming her insignificant in his crusade against Lucretia. Nevertheless, he wasn't about to let her stand in his way again. With his Steyr reloaded, he took aim not at Lucretia, but at Veronica. And for the first time in her life, she found herself gazing down the barrel of a gun. Naturally, she braced for impact.

"You... son of a bitch!" Lucretia shouted, making Karl look at the wolfess, "GET THE FUCK OFF MY CHOCOLATE BUNNY!!!"

She was like a red blur with how fast she moved, her shoulder slamming into his chest and sending him flying into some crates. Lucretia's second wind has roused from deep within her, or perhaps the sight of Veronica being slapped had activated something in her mind. Regardless, the once stoic police officer spared even her enemies, was now replaced by this monstrous and murderous red wolf. Her green eyes were burning with rage and fury, and her hands opened up to reveal her sharp and savage claws.

There were no punches, no kicks, just savage slashes from a savage wolf. Karl attempted to stay on guard, but Lucretia was fast as well as strong. Her bladed claws tore through the jacket he was wearing, causing cuts and slashes to his flesh beneath. Grunting as he tried to put distance between himself and Lucretia, he found this to be incredibly hard. She was constantly closing the distance between them, and constantly slashing at him as well.

He dodged one slash, and then another, but not another. Lucretia's claws tore through his midsection, slashing clothing and knocking him back. Luca gave a guttural growl as she did so, while deranged drool hung shamelessly from her maw.

"You motherfucker! I'm gonna kill you!" Lucretia shouted as she slashed at Karl along his chest, "Then I'm gonna fuckin' cook ya!" she slashed at him another again, her claws actually impaling in his side, "Then I'm gonna fuckin' eat ya!"

Karl grunted as Lucretia's claws slide into his flesh, making him bend as he looked up into her crazed green eyes. He could not move as he laid trapped in her gasp, only watch, watch as Lucretia continued growling into his ears. Raising his hand in an attempt to counter attack, the wolf suddenly pulled back. Without hesitating, she thrusted her foot forward, slamming it into his chest, and dislodging him from her claws. At the same time, he crashed into a pillar of crates, which began to wobble and shake. The crates were stacked one story high, and due to the impact, they all began to fall.

Right on top of Karl.

There was nothing he could do to save himself, as wooden and metal crates collapsed atop him, burring him beneath heavy box on top of heavy box. There was no movement beneath, and Lucretia made no attempt to save Karl from this demise. She just growled and looked at him, appearing every bit like that big bad wolf many thought her as being.

It took a few minutes for the wolfess to finally take a deep breath. Relaxing herself, Lucretia looked down to her blood-stained hands. She didn't want to, but she had to do it to him. Game over.

Lucretia stood erect as she overlooked the pile of crates, still trying to calm herself and lessen the adrenaline running through her systems. From behind, she heard the petite footsteps of a certain beige-furred rabbit. Veronica was rubbing her cheek where she had been stricken, all while her brown eyes looked down upon the pile of crates where Karl was. Tugging on Lucretia's bomber jacket, she was reminded of something the wolf said a long time ago during Lamaze class.

What am I willing to do? Ya'know... shoot someone...

It was a joke then, a joke delivered with Lucretia's usual deadpan self. But now as they stood before Karl's corpse, the hare realized just how deadly serious she was being at that moment.

"Hnnnghh... are you okay, Roni?" Lucretia asked, sounding like her usual self as she rubbed her injured shoulder.

"I... I'm fine," Veronica said as she tugged at the wolf's body, "Are you alright, Sweetie? You were the one who was shot."

"I've been shot before," Lucretia stated as she shook her head, "Let's... focus on getting out of here."

Veronica nodded, before she and the now tired and drained Lucretia started to make way for the loading bay's exit. Unlike the rest of the mall, this area wasn't armed with explosives, meaning the doors could be freely exited without fear of a most fiery death. Lucretia pushed open the door, and was immediately met by a cold blast of icy_freedom_.

Oooh, it was so nice.

"Alright, Luca, now what?" Veronica asked as she walked outside. SLAM!"Huh? What!?"

Turning around, she met closed doors. Brown eyes growing wide, Veronica pushed and pulled against the door in an attempt to open them, but they would not budge.

"Oh, no, no, no! Lucretia!" Veronica screamed, knowing the wolf could hear her on the other end.

"Go to the police, Roni," Lucretia said back as she leaned slightly against the door, "Get to safety."

"This... this was your plan all along, wasn't it? You just wanted me safe!"

"I can't focus on fighting if I have to focus on protecting you too," Lucretia said as she took in a deep breath, "I've gotta stop Simon, Roni. There's no telling what this crazy loon is gonna do."

"But, Luca..." said Veronica as she clutched at the door, tears threatening to swell in her eyes, "You're hurt as is... you're tired... probably hungry too..." she closed her eyes, "You... you don't have to do this. You can escape too and join up with your fellow officers."

"And leave everyone in the mall, as well as Sammy, Dr. Hold, and Paris?" Luca shook her head, "No... I can't do that. Tell the chief and everyone that the entrances to the malls aren't charged with bombs, the _roof_is. I'm going back to stop Simon. Veronica...?"

"Yes, Luca?"

"I love you."

"I love you too..."

If they could kiss, they would, but merely hugging up against the door would have to do for now. Things were about to get even more dangerous especially once Simon realized that most of his forces had been dealt with. They both knew this; any slip up could result in more lives being lost. Lucretia nor Veronica wanted this, but above else, they couldn't stand the idea of losing each other.

But this moment, like all moments, would have to come to an end. Lucretia took a step away from the door, something Veronica heard. Lingering on the side of freedom, the hare clutched at her chest. Already she felt horrible and alone. While she was free from the mouth of a beast, she'd gladly go back inside if it meant being with her love.

But she was no fool; she knew this separation was only fleeting. Like any morning when they had to go to their respective jobs, they'd soon be returned to one another close to the night. That's all Lucretia was doing anyway; going to work.

And like any day on the force, she was poised to do her damned best.

The exhausted wolf leaned up against a crate, catching her breath as she rubbed her old gunshot wounds. Ya'know, it had been a while since she was forced to fight off ten people single-handedly. That being said, she wasn't out of the jungle yet; she still had a lot hostages to save. She just needed to take a few moments to regain her strength.

Walking over to the crates where Karl's corpse laid beneath, Lucretia found his Steyr Aug resting right outside of the carnage. Picking it up, she checked the weapon to make sure it was fully armed and ready. Nodding, her next quest was not the main lobby of the mall, but instead the First Aid kit which rested on a wall in the loading bay. Popping it open, the wolf began to tend to the wounds she had been given during the fight. The pain of being shot in the shoulder was great, but somehow not as great as the pain of the rubbing alcohol being applied to the wound. It made her grunt and groan, but she stuck to it. As she did so however, she stopped when the sound of static cut through the air.

"Karl! Feofil! Gde ty!? Otvet'te mne! (Karl! Feofil! Where are you!? Answer me!)"

Lucretia looked down to the radio as Russian flowed through it. It was Simon, and he sounded somewhat on edge considering the fact that no one was answering him. Despite being tired and drained, the wolf still had enough energy to smile as she licked her lips.

"Karl? Feofil? Yeah, they're kind of outta commission, Simon," Lucretia answered, "So are the guys you had in the loading bay, and that little group of fools you sent to come and deal with me. How many guys have I taken out now? Ten? No, no... eleven, that sounds about right; yeah, I've dealt with eleven of you by now. How much should be left now? Six? No... five, right?"

Simon's eyes grew wide as he looked down at the radio in his hand, Lucretia's teasing words having shaken his usually stoic visage. No, this was impossible; there was no way one woman had taken down the majority of his forces. This plan which he had spent months, no, _years_perfecting, was falling apart in a matter of seconds! His hold on his radio was increasing with each passing second, threatening to destroy it.

But he stopped, relenting as he turned off his radio for the time being. Sitting in Santa's chair as he grew incredibly pensive, the bat began to think about his mission, and if there was anything he could do to change the course of it. Right outside were the police, flashing their lights into the mall, while they no doubt though up some manner of getting in. Hell, they were probably already privy to their escape route as it were.

"Chert voz'mi... chert voz'mi... Chert voz'mi! (Dammit... Dammit... DAMMIT!!!)" Simon yelled as he arose from Santa's chair, his rage having spiked, "Damn you..." slowly, he brought his radio to his lips, "Theo, Lev, Irinei, Makar, no more games. We're going into the endgame. Begin moving the hostages."

"Understood," they replied from over the radio.

"Hey, boss!" Theo suddenly called, "I don't know if it means anything to you, but over here in the surveillance room, I gotta good look at our Miss Police Woman. She's a tall red wolf. She was also travelin' with a small beige rabbit."

Simon scoffed at such a thing, not caring about what this woman looked like, but more about who she was. Simply knowing what this woman looked like would not sway victory into his hands. That is until he began to look at the many, many pictures which adorned the walls of Santa's Workshop. The smiling faces of so many families; they were supposed to fill one with nothing but Christmas joy. On Simon, it had the opposite reaction.

Soon he had to exit Santa's Workshop to prepare the final leg of their mission. It shouldn't have to happen so soon, but they were unfortunately pressed for time thanks to Lucretia's actions. It made him seethe with rage, as his eyes continued to coast along the photos of the smiling families.

But then he stopped, as his amber eyes met the green eyes of another. Directly before him on the wall was the photo of a red wolf, one who was smiling alongside a beige rabbit, and a hazel-eyed raccoon. Simon's expression turned quizzical, as he began to rub his chin. There was something off about this; why did this picture feel so familiar. The wolf and the rabbit didn't look familiar, but the raccoon did.

Why?

A tall red wolf. A beige-furred hare. A hazel-eyed raccoon.

Was it possible? No. But maybe? Perhaps? This red wolf in the picture was the same red wolf who was destroying his plans. Yes, a red wolf, and a beige rabbit, and a hazel-eyed raccoon. A hazel-eyed raccoon.

A young, hazel-eyed raccoon.

Swiping the picture from off the wall, Simon looked it up and down as he burned the image of this trio into his face. At the bottom of the frame was the name of this trio. Lucretia. Veronica. Samantha.

Simon emerged from Santa's Workshop, his amber eyes looking left and right over the faces of his captive hostages. Reaching into his jacket, he withdrew his P7M13. His amber eyes coasted left and right as he walked down the lane of his hostages, only to stop. Looking down and left, his eyes fell on a raccoon. She sat next to a human-feline hybrid, and had rather pretty hazel eyes.

"Miss Samantha..." said Simon as he pointed his gun down towards the raccoon, a smile appearing on his lips "How nice to make your acquaintance."

Samantha's eyes grew wide as she found herself face-to-face with the leader of the terrorist plot. Why was he here, and how did he know her name? While this may not have been the first time she had a gun pointed at her, it was the first time in a long, long time. She flinched, only to feel Paris' arms hold onto her.

"What... what do you want?" the hybrid asked.

BANG! BANG!

The mall erupted into screams, as Simon fired two shots into the ceiling.

"On your feet, everyone!" Simon barked, his words met by the back-up fire of his allies, "To the front doors, now!"

With his men firing into the ceiling to punctuate his words, the hostages began to arise from their spots. With the terrorists forcing them towards the mall's main entrance, all were moved forward, all save for Paris and Samantha who were held pinned by Simon's pistol.

"Get up!" he shouted, "Get up, the both of you!"

"What do you want?" Paris said as both she and Samantha got up to their feet.

"No... Paris, stop," Samantha said as she looked to the hybrid, "I know... I know..." she then looked back to the bat, a growl escaping her, "You want me, don't you?"

"But of course, Miss Samantha," he said, "That red wolf you know has been quite the pain in my ass. But with you, maybe she'll be a bit more approachable."

"Ah! You dick!" Paris shouted at Simon, making him twitch, "Just leave her alone! She's done nothing to you."

"Stupid girl! Learn your place!" Simon shouted back as he raised his pistol, threatening to strike her with it.

"Stop it! Stop it now!" Samantha shouted, causing the two to indeed stop, "I'll... I'll go with you..."

"What?" Paris said as she looked at her.

"I said I'll go with him," she repeated as she looked at Paris, "Look, there's no point trying to fight him. He's the guy with the gun..." she shook her head, "You'll fight and he'll shoot you, and then he'll take me anyway. I can't risk that..." she sighed before facing Simon again, "Okay... let's go..."

"Smart girl," said Simon as he grabbed Samantha violently by the shoulder, forcing her into his grasp before his gaze shifted to Paris, "You, hybrid girl! Go with the rest of them! Now!"

"Ahh... Samantha..."

BANG! BANG!

"I said go!" Simon shouted.

Paris nodded as she looked at him, realizing it was best not to fight the man who had the gun. Besides, she couldn't risk him getting antsy and hurting Samantha. So, despite her wishing to stay and be held captive along with the raccoon, she turned and began to run for the mall's entrance, following the rest of the hostages. That just left Simon and Samantha, who did not follow the rest of the hostages, but instead began to move towards the back end of the mall. As they did so, the white-furred bat lifted his radio and began to speak to it.

"Theo, how are the charges?" he asked.

"Charges set sir! This place is ready to blow!" the obsidian lizard replied.

"Good, good. And the money?"

"Our men in the loading bay were capable of getting about 60% of the mall's money onboard as far as I can tell," Theo replied.

"How much is that?"

"About... 640 million dollars? It's about 500 million short of how much money we were supposed to get."

"It's Christmas, Theo," Simon remarked, "It's the time of miracles. So be of good cheer... and get your ass back to the van!"

Click!

Stowing his radio away, he continued forcing Samantha back into the more empty parts of the mall. Samantha meanwhile was rather stunned by what she just heard between Simon and Theo. Money? What money? Was this all just some elaborate heist?

She appeared confused, and now, even more frustrated! It was one thing to be held captive by terrorists; they had morals, even though they were warped. But this? If his words were true, then the only moral here was money.

Cold, hard, money.

"So after all of this shit," the raccoon said as she looked up to Simon, "All of your fucking speeches and shit, you're nothing but a common thief?"

Smack!

"I'm an exceptional thief, Samantha!" Simon shouted after striking her, "And now that I'm moving up to kidnapping, you should be more polite!"

Once again grabbing Samantha by the neck, he began forcing her down the halls of the mall. As he did so, kept the muzzle of his gun close to her head. No sudden movements, or else her brain would be everywhere; she knew that. She didn't want to play damsel-in-distress, but what else could she do? Right now, all she could do was pray. Pray to whatever deity would hear her words that she'd find safety.

"Mum..."

...

KAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKA!!!

So many people, all of them were now huddled close to the front doors of the mall. Men, women, children, entire families; it didn't matter to the burly bears who held their weapons. They continued firing towards the ceiling, not stopping until they needed to reload. By now, the hostages were trapped between three men with weapons, and explosive laden doors. Through the glass of the front doors was the entire Document City police force. Freedom was so close. The only thing stopping them was one, big, bang.

The three big bears who held the civilians captive began to step off, though their MP5Ks never left them. Any movement, and they'd be instantly shot; no exceptions. The bears began to trade words among one another, all of it spoke in Russian. Those privy to the language would hear things alongside of 'when do we go?' and 'what do we do now?' and 'just wait until Simon calls us'.

They would never get the chance to learn what should happen next.

THUTTHUTTHUT!!!

Bullets came from seemingly nowhere, striking the three bears in their backs and legs. They were all dropped by the sudden shots, having no idea where the blasts came from. The civilians themselves began to scream as their assailants were dropped, before confusion began to envelop them. The front doors grew silent, as heavy boots could be heard coming down the halls. Step, after step, until their heroine revealed herself.

A battered, tired red wolf, her shoulder covered in white coils, blood lining down her clothing and claws. She was holding a Steyr Aug in her hands, but it was slipping from her bloody and sweaty grip. With how frenzied and disheveled her fur and gaze look, the civilians weren't sure if they should scream or not.

Lucretia gave a slight growl as she readied her Steyr, pointing it towards the ground as she made her way towards the civilians. Gazing at them then gazing pass them towards the police on the other end, she let out a deep breath.

"What are you waiting for?" Luca asked, her tone a strange mixture of stoicism and frustration, "Go..."

"What, are you crazy!?" shouted one of the civilians, "They have bombs at all the exits!"

"No... no..." Luca said as she shook her head, "They were lying. They have the roof charged with explosions however, and once they go off, all of you are going to die unless you get the hell out!" she then raised the Steyr, taking aim at them, "GO! GO NOW!"

Without hesitation, Lucretia began to fire at the ceiling, causing the civilians to panic. None of them knew if Lucretia was being honest with her words, but they didn't have time to actually care. Someone stepped through the front door of the building, pushing open the doors.

Time seemed to stop.

One second...

Two seconds...

Three seconds...

Nothing. No explosions, no blinding, flashing light, no immolation, no nothing. There was no explosion. As the first civilian ran for the police in the distance, more and more of the hostages began to escape, following his path. One by one, they all began to file out of the building, as Lucretia let her Steyr lower down to the ground. A smile steadily crept upon her lips as she watched the pedestrians run for their lives.

They were safe. All of them. But... wait...

"Lucretia?"

"What!?"

She quickly turned, her weapon pointing at the person who called for her. In doing so, she realized that the person who spoke to her was Dr. Hold. The blonde bat tensed up as she found herself gazing down the barrel of Lucretia's rifle. This certainly wasn't what she expected to happen, that's for sure.

"Oh... god..." Lucretia murmured as she looked at the bat, the grip on her rifle dropping, "I'm sorry, Dr. Hold. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Luca," Camilla said with a smirk as she looked at her, her hand resting on the wolf's shoulder, "But you? Heh heh, you look like shit."

"I feel like shit," Lucretia replied, before bringing her eyes around, "Hm? Where's Sammy?"

"That guy has her! Simon or whatever!"

The scream came from Lucretia's other side, making her tense up. To her surprise, she found a wide-eyed Paris look back at her. The hybrid's ears were twitching like mad, and her tail was sprung up too. But where as this could usually be seen as a sign of affection, it was anything but at the current moment.

"Miss Salem, please you have to save Samantha!" Paris remarked.

"Shit! Where did he take her?" the wolf asked as she readied her Steyr.

"I don't know, they just went into the opposite direction of Santa's Workshop!"

"Alright, alright," she nodded, "You two, get out of here! The ceiling's charged with explosions, and I'm afraid they'll blow it soon! If that thing comes down, I'm pretty sure everyone will die!" she shivered slightly, "Now get out of here; I'll go save Sammy."

Both Camilla and Paris nodded, with the teenage girl taking the first steps to leave. Dr. Hold lingered for a few moments however, before moving in to give Lucretia a slight hug. But soon, she too was running out of the front doors alongside the rest of the civilians, with Lucretia turning to face Santa's Workshop.

She knew where they were going, it was just a matter of getting to them before they blew up the place.

...

"Boss, ya made it!"

"Never mind that! Where's the money!"

"Right over here!"

Simon was rather disheveled, to say the least. The once immaculate bat appeared slightly frenzied not to mention frustrated, as his hair was rather undone. Oh yeah, he also had a hostage, as his pistol was only an inch away from Samantha's head. The raccoon grunted from the cold feeling of the barrel at her noggin, but feared more what would happen if he suddenly pulled the trigger.

They had returned to the loading bay, where the bodies of Lucretia's unconscious foes remained. The blood lost probably had something to do with it. While they were still alive, if they didn't get the proper medical treatment they needed, there was a chance they would bleed out on the floor.

Simon gasped as he noticed this. His well-trained men, all felled by a single police officer. These were men who had fought in actual wars, defeated by a mere amazon. He was angry, but he knew he needed to keep a lid on said rage. If he made any more mistakes, then he would be joining them on the floor.

Right now, all that mattered was the money. And oh boy, was there so much money. At least three mail carts filled with cash. According to what was said from over the radio, right before them was 640 million dollars. One could only imagine what they could do with all of that money. Even Samantha grew wide-eyed at all the cash laid out before her, and gave an audible,

"Wow..."

"Keep moving girl!" Simon shouted as he pushed Samantha forward, causing her to crash into one of the money bins, "Alright Theo, where's the detonator."

"Right here boss," the lizard said as he flashed it towards him.

"Good... give it to me," Simon ordered next.

Being given the detonator, the bat looked it up and down thoroughly. Just a press of one button, and the entire building would go up in a blaze of fire and glory. It made Simon smile. While this mission may have failed, it wasn't a complete bust. While 640 million dollars wasn't the same as 1.1 billion dollars, that's still a lot of money, and not the kind you scoff at.

Looking at Theo, he gave the lizard a curt smile before pointing towards the hall.

"Alright, gather your things," he said to him, "And let's get the hell out of here."

Theo nodded and quickly ran for the hall to get his things. But as soon as he turned the corner, he was suddenly stricken in the head by the butt of a rifle. The blow knocked out the skinny lizard with ease, dropping him to the ground and stunning both Simon and Samantha. Without hesitating, the bat grabbed the raccoon by her neck, pulling her before him like a shield. Both of their eyes trained on the hall as they did so, hearing the footsteps of an approaching being.

It was Lucretia. Tired. Drained. Covered in sweat and blood. Her green eyes were glowing with rage, as she held her Steyr level with Simon and Samantha.

"Simon!" she shouted, her voice being answered by Sammy.

"Luca!"

Lucretia didn't say anything in response to the raccoon. Instead, she flashed her a grin, one which calmed the teen down. But just as soon as she smiled she gave a growl, this time focused directly at Simon.

"So that's what it was, huh?" Lucretia said as she glared at Simon, "A fucking robbery? So why nuke the building, Simon!?"

"When you steal six hundred dollars, you can disappear," Simon responded with a wry grin, "But when you steal six hundred million, they will find you unless they think you're already dead. Heh heh..." he pressed his gun more to Samantha's head, making her grunt, "When they enter the mall, we'll blow the roof. They'll spend a month sifting through the rubble, and by the time they figure out what went wrong, we'll be sitting on a beach. Unfortunately..." he glared at Lucretia, "John McClane doesn't get to ride off in the limousine with Holly Gennero at the end of this movie, Miss Lucretia. Drop your gun..."

Lucretia held her eyes on Simon as he pressed its muzzle closer and closer to Samantha's head. It was physically hurting her, something which made Luca look away. She didn't want to see Samantha get hurt anymore than she'd wish to watch Veronica get hurt, or Dr. Hold, and yes, even Paris. She cared deeply for them all.

So her hold on the Steyr grew loose, with Lucretia eventually relinquishing hold of her weapon, much to Samantha's shock.

"No! Luca!" she cried as she shook against Simon's hold, watching as Lucretia placed her hands to the back of her head in a defeated pose.

Simon grinned, and soon after gave a soft, demented chuckle which floated through Samantha's ear. She continued looking at Lucretia as he laughed, confused as to why the wolf would just give up like this. It wasn't in Lucretia's ways!

But she noticed something as Simon laughed; the wolfess was looking at her. And she winked.

"Alright... you win, Simon," Lucretia said, "Let Samantha go."

"Oh, Officer Lucretia," said the bat as he pointed his gun towards the wolf herself, "What was it you said to me before? Oh, right..." his eyes settled into a savage glare, "Yippee-ki-ay... motherfucker."

"SAMMY, NOW!" Lucretia shouted, taking Simon off guard.

Before he could react, the raccoon's elbow slammed right into his nose, dazing him. Quickly leaping to the side, Samantha watched as Lucretia's hand pulled a pistol from seemingly nowhere, for on her back was tap, and attached to the tape was her M1911. With the weapon at the ready, Luca took aim, and...

BLAM! BLAM!

Two shots, each one easily passed right through Simon and his light clothes. The bat's eyes bulged as he felt each bullet pass through his chest and shoulder like a hot knife through butter. Suddenly feeling weak, he fell back an onto the massive collection of ill-gotten money, where he began to bleed out over them. His amber eyes gazed up to the ceiling as he did so, and he gave one last grunt.

Samantha steadily stood up, her hazel eyes overlooking Simon's corpse as he laid in the basket of money. Internally gagging on the sight, she placed her hands on her stomach before looking over to Lucretia. The wolf was so stoic, so calm, even as her green eyes raged with fury. Said fury died quickly when she looked down and over to the raccoon. Replacing it was a loving smile.

"Sammy."

"Mummy!"

The raccoon ran to Lucretia, not even caring that she said something as childish as 'mummy' to the wolf. Right now, all she wanted was a hug. A nice, strong, loving hug. And that's exactly what Samantha got, for as soon as she reached Lucretia, the wolfess wrapped her arms around the ringtail. Holding her close, the wolf did what wolfs do best outside of hunting; she began to preen the raccoon. Her tongue lulled out and she stroked it along Samantha's cheek and face a few times before stopping. Eyes closing shut, she softly chuckled before saying,

"Let's get out of here and back to Veronica. She's probably worried sick for the both of us."

Samantha nodded, before following along with what Lucretia said. Clinging to the red-furred wolf, both of their eyes fell upon Simon's body as he looked endlessly to the ceiling. Lucretia took a step forward, her green eyes peering into the bin proper. In Simon's left hand was the detonator to their bombs; his thumb was just a few inches away from flipping the switch.

"You were right about me, Simon," Lucretia said as she gently took the detonator from Simon, "I do like being a hero."

...

Timothy had been police chief for a long, long time. He had over 30 years of police work under his belt, and he was damn proud of every single moment of. And yet, over those three decades of solid work, he could say this was the first time he had ever come in contact with terrorists. And who said his life had no more surprises left in it?

The police chief and his many subordinates had Olympia Mall surrounded, with SWAT awaiting the command to come in. The last moment which occurred was the freeing of the civilians, all thanks to a certain red wolf. He couldn't help but to chuckle inwardly, as his mind though back to images of a certain male wolf from long, long ago. If that man could see his daughter now...

"Hey chief," said Felix as he pointed forward, "Eyes forward; someone's coming out of the mall!"

The eyes of the tiger moved to the front doors as said by his subordinate, taking note of the two figures who were coming out. Riflemen called in for aid aimed their weapons to the front door, as no one could tell who was there thanks to the distance. But as the doors to the mall were opened, they revealed a tired red-furred wolf walking alongside a black and white-furred raccoon. The police on duty began to relax, as they recognized the wolf as their own. In fact, Felix was just about ready to run out and meet up with her, only to be beaten to the punch by a loud and proud,

"LUUUCREEETIAAAAA!!!"

A beige blur flew right pass the otter then, as a lithe rabbit hopped up to her lover. With a massive spring in her legs - possibly the larges bound in her entire life - the rabbit leaped over a wide distance just to land into the wolf's tired arms. If there was any fear that she may accidentally be dropped, it was forgotten in that moment. Didn't matter anyway, for Lucretia easily lifted her love into the air as green eyes met brown. And then, lips met lips.

It was a deep kiss, one of the deepest kisses they've had in a long, long time. This wasn't a kiss of lust or sexual need; no, it was a kiss of love and attachment. In the cool winter air, Lucretia embraced and kissed her love like it was her last day on Earth. Considering what happened just a few moments ago, it was almost all of their last days on Earth.

But soon, all things had to come to an end, as they needed to breath sooner or later. Green eyes opening up, Lucretia looked down to Veronica as she placed her down on the ground. Smiling at her, she placed a hand on the hare's cheek and gently stroked it.

"Luca..." said Veronica as she clung to her girlfriend, not caring for the fact that eyes and lights were on them, "You... you look hungry."

"Hmph... I am hungry," the wolf replied with a smile, "I think we've all had a rather tiresome evening. Perhaps we should call in some takeout."

"And deny you your hero's feast?" Veronica asked as she tapped her chest, "Tired or not, I'll make my wolf the biggest meal she deserves..." and then her eyes closed as she pursed her lips, "With a helpful serving of 'me' for desert."

"Oh... ugh... can't you save the flirting for your bedroom," Samantha said as she looked away, a blush forming on her lips, "I'm still here, ya'know."

To her surprise, she found herself brought into a combined hug by both of them. Samantha had Lucretia on one side, and Veronica on the other. A part of her wanted to say something snarky, but she just couldn't do it. No, this hug was too warm, too perfect, and far too loving to actually ruin with some dumb joke. So she just closed her eyes and...

"AAAAHHHHHHHH!?"

The scream was blood curdling, and made them all tense up. Without hesitating, Luca pushed both Veronica and Samantha to the ground, while her hand quickly reached to procure her M1911. Turning around, Lucretia's eyes befell - of all people - Karl. The white-furred Siberian cat was somehow still living and still standing after his bout with Lucretia. Having regained his Steyr, he was now wielding it as he slumped from the building like some sort of zombie. With the last of his remaining energy, he pointed the rife towards Lucretia while the wolf struggled to pull out her gun.

Time seemed to move all at an instant, when...

BLAM! BLAM!

"Gah!?"

Karl fell back, his eyes wide as two shots felled him with deathly accuracy. But it wasn't Lucretia who shot him; her gun was still holstered in its strap. No, the person who shot Karl was Felix. The otter's hands were tight on his gun, his eyes a hardened gaze. But when it was clear that Karl was down and that the danger was over, his grip on his gun grew slack, and his usual mischievous demeanor returned full-force.

"Heh heh, you know you couldn't have made it without me, right Lucretia?" he said, much to wolf's chagrin.

"Yeah, Felix, yeah," the wolf said as she smiled, while an ambulance suddenly drove up to her side.

The back door opened up, revealing not only Camilla, but Paris as well. The human-feline hybrid's eyes grew bright as they fell on Samantha, and the raccoon's hazel eyes did likewise. But before anymore people could go jumping at one another, Dr. Hold extended a hand to the ragged wolf.

"Come on, Lucretia," she said, "Let's get you to the hospital and all healed up."

The wolf nodded as she grabbed Camilla's hand, and with her aid, was brought into the ambulance. Joined not soon after by Veronica and Samantha, Lucretia rested on the medical stretcher laid out for her, with Veronica standing at her side. The rabbit's brown eyes never left her lover, nor did the smile which sat on her lips.

And as Dr. Hold closed the back doors of the ambulance, the two lovers could be seen kissing.

...

December 24, 11:58 PM...

The moon was steadily drifting now, as snow continued to build on their window seal. The chaos that occurred a few days ago had largely passed now, although word around the city was that Lucretia was a hero now. Twice now she had been bombarded by curious interviewers and news anchors, only to be denied. Would Lucretia speak with the general public? Probably, but for now, it was Christmas, and she just wanted to spend time with those she loved.

Samantha was resting outside on the couch after a rather rousing night with her mums, and come morning, they would be leaving to visit Veronica's family proper. But tonight, the two lovers were going to enjoy a rather lovely night which had been denied them the past two days.

Veronica sat on the edge of their bed, her body adorned in a rather naughty looking Santa's outfit. From her chest down to her pelvis, she wore a red, sleeveless top that showed off her bosom. From her feet up to her thighs, she wore red socks that looked Christmas stockings, and from her elbows down to her fingers she wore long red gloves that also looked like Christmas stockings. And to tie all of this together, she had Santa's hat on her head.

It was a lewd outfit, one bought from an adult store during their Christmas sell. Sitting on her bed, her tail was cutely twitching, and so too her nose. She couldn't wait for her lover to arise from the bedroom, as she had been awaiting this moment for days now. She could just imagine how her lover's eyes would glow when she got to eat her favorite meal in such a delicious package.

"Luca!" she cried, "What's taking you so long?"

"Guh... what time is it?" the wolf could be heard asking.

"It just turned twelve... why?" Veronica asked, as the door to the bathroom opened up.

Stepping in was Lucretia, her body adorned in something so risque for the wolf. It was lacy black lingerie, one with a frilly him at its waist and bust section, as well as a garter belt which ran from its panties to her stockings. The bra also ran around the back thanks to straps, ones Lucretia was picking at slightly

For Veronica, it made her brown eyes grow wide from amazement. To see Lucretia wearing such naughty clothing, it was so different from the norm. Her blazing red fur was framed in delicate and sexy black lingerie, one that was framed specifically for to her body.

As one would suspect, a noticeable blush was on Lucretia's face as she wore the lingerie, but she was quick to stow it away this time. After all, she had garnered the reaction she expected; the look of absolute amazement ran blatant on Veronica's face.

"Merry Christmas, Roni," Lucretia said as she walked to the bed before sitting on it beside the bunny.

"Luca... what is this?" she asked.

"My gift to you," said the wolf, "It's why I wouldn't come out until twelve... also because I couldn't figure out how to put it on, but oh well," she shrugged her shoulders, "Since I accidentally tore my old set, I ordered a new one."

"But... I don't think they make lingerie for women of your size," Veronica stated, "Not without a special request."

"And I made the special request," Lucretia stated, "It was incredibly awkward standing there and letting them measure me. Not to mention the fact that I had to look through so many lingerie sets to figure out what I wanted for mine, and it cost a bit but..." she smiled, "It was all worth it to see your face. Also, it's made of spandex in certain areas, so hopefully I won't break it this time. Mmmphh!"

The sudden kiss too Lucretia off guard, but she quickly melted into it. Kissing Veronica back, the two found themselves falling over into their bed as their lips pressed to one another and tongues began to dance. It was rather hot and rather lurid, but it was also filled with love. These clothes they wore and their feelings behind them, they were to be shared with one person and one person alone; their significant other.

"Mmm... fuaaa... Luca..."

"Mmm... Roni..."

"Thank you for this, Sweetie," said the rabbit as she gazed down into her love's eyes, "But not only this... thank you for all that you've done for me. I... I think that's the greatest gift of all."

"Likewise..." Lucretia said as they intertwined their fingers with one another, "Thank you for... for everything, Roni. I don't think I could say it enough times but... but you really mean the world to me. I... I uh... I'm at a lost of words..."

Veronica giggled at the statement. It was just like her wolf to be befuddled by words. But that's just the thing; Lucretia didn't need to use words to show her affection for the rabbit. She showed it in everything she did at every moment of their lives.

A long time ago, Lucretia thought that Veronica could do better than her. But in Veronica's eyes, how could someone do better than perfection? Lucretia may not be everyone's perfect girl, but she was perfect for her.

And that's all that mattered.

"I love you, Lucretia Salem."

"I love you too, Veronica North."

And they kissed.

And with that, we fade out.