FSE

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formerly SoFurry search engine

The Victoria Chronicles

**Chapter 08

The Midnight Mechanic**

Vix was having a dream. Or rather, a nightmare, like she had never had before.

It was the most vivid dream she had ever had, and she wished that she wasn't.

People were running around screaming, or at least she assumed them to be people. They were like no others she had ever seen before. They were some sort of humanoids all similar, yet all different. It was a surreal feeling that she didn't like. She was apparently on some alien world, a world in the mist of chaos and evacuation.

Everyone was screaming, yelling and running. Weird looking aircraft zoomed overhead, leaving contrails and shooting weapons she had never seen before at an unseen foe off in the distance while what she assumed to be civilians ran from the explosions towards large landed ships where they quickly boarded up long and wide ramps.

Every so often one of the large crafts would take off. Leaving the ground and hovered a mere 50 or so feet above the surface before a portal or something would open up and they would quickly fly through the aperture, disappearing entirely and the portal would close again.

Vix looked back to where the horrendous noises were coming from. There was weird colored fires burning in the direction from where the sounds of some sort of battle were coming from and the people fled from. No one seemed to notice her as they ran past in their hundreds, clambering to board any of the remaining rescue craft they could. There were far more people than there was space in the remaining refugee ships from what Vix could see. She really hoped that more were coming.

And then an already chaotic situation got worse.

The explosions started drawing closer!

Some of the craft fighting whatever was coming crashed to the nearby hills. Coming down in think trails of billowing smoke. Some of them had strange creatures attached to them. Vix couldn't make them out clearly, they seemed to phase in and out of focus with no defined form, or even fully being in this reality. Whatever reality she was in!

The craft would hit the ground with a bone-rattling boom and explode in a shower of oddly colored smoke and flames. Some would even manage something close to an emergency landing before coming to a jarring halt. But Vix could tell somehow that the occupants inside were no longer inhabiting the world of the living. She never saw one escape the burning crafts anyway.

One of the nearby escape arcs took to the air only to be struck by an unseen force. The craft shuddered violently before exploding into innumerable flaming bits. The screaming of the crowds grew in intensity as more rescue craft followed suit. With nowhere to run to many within the crowds fell to their knees and cried. Others raised angry fists to the sky and yelled. There were too many voices for Vix to understand what anyone was saying.

Just when thing couldn't possibly get any worse Vix turned around at a sound she had never heard before. One that she hoped she would never hear again. If asked to describe it she would never be able to find the words.

Turning around in horror of the dreadful sound Vix caught a very brief glimpse of what had been causing all the mayhem. An anomaly of the universe that she could not imagine! Her own mind shut down in part, a self-defense to prevent her from remembering what she saw!

And then she mercifully woke up.

Vix woke with a start, and a muffled scream.

She was back in her own world, assuming that she had ever left.

The remnants of the dream slowly faded as the real world solidified in her waking mind. Blinking in the gloom Vix calmed down slightly. Eventually her heart rate and her breathing slowed back to normal levels.

Vix took a moment to collect herself before uttering a word.

"Fuck! What the hell was that!?"

She sat there in the dark, her mind racing. The images from the dream were still fresh in her mind. But even though she was awake, and most assuredly on her own world, she couldn't shake the feeling that the dream...was something more.

"Lady Victoria? Are you all right?" Percii asked, his voice uncharacteristically slightly concerned.

Vix breathed in deeply before letting it go in a deep sigh. She really wished the AI would just call her by name and not add honorifics, but being called Lady something was an improvement over being called Mistress something.

"...Yeah. I think so, just a very bad dream." Vix responded as her heart rate came down.

She looked around the room. Although it was still night and all the lights were off, there was a surprising amount of light in the room. A lot more than there had any right to be.

She blinked in the darkness for a bit, her mind still racing before it dawned on her that it wasn't that there was a lot of light from an unseen source. It was just what little light was coming in through the exterior windows of the building was some who magnified in her eyesight.

"Percii? Did you modify my eyes too?" Vix asked into empty air.

"A little." Percii replied almost immediately. "But not as much as you might think. Visalth had remarkable eyesight in the dark compared to humans."

"Ah, yes. I keep forgetting." Vix sighed. Yet another perk of her new body. She would have to make a list soon if she kept finding new changes.

Vix threw off the covers and stood up from the couch before getting dressed.

"What are you doing my Lady?"

"Juggling bears." Vix said putting her top on before pulling on her jeans. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm getting dressed."

"I can see that." Percii said reproachfully, "What I mean is why?"

"So I can go downstairs and get something accomplished. I'm not going to get anymore sleep tonight." Vix said as she donned her flannel. Then a thought struck her. "Wait! You can see?!"

"In a fashion. But not as you perceive the world around you." The little AI said smugly.

Vix thought about this for a brief few seconds before shrugging, "Eh. Fair enough."

She left the upstairs apartment by the mezzanine door and headed down the stair to the shop, hitting the light switch before heading sown. Looking around the shop it didn't look any different than it had before.

Walking up to the tractor she took a good look at the engine and what it was Pops had been trying to do. She could clearly see the scoring in the cylinder walls of the engine block. If those were to be fixed the oil pan was going to have to be dropped. And before that could happen, the front of the tractor would need to be jacked up and supported so that the front axle could be dropped to make room to drop the pan.

At least the tractor didn't need to be split apart, but it was still going to be a process. Vix had helped to do this before, and it had taken an entire weekend to do the job. But that was before when she had been human. She rather expected that with her new abilities the process would take rather less time.

Looking around the shop again it appeared that everything she needed was here. A tractor jack over by that wall right next to the stands that she would need to support the front of the tractor while she did the work. There were plenty of tool chests that app on inspection contained all the tools she needed. There were even some unused head-gaskets that appeared would fit the engine.

With everything she needed to get the job done Vix rolled up her sleeves and got to work.

It was still early morning when Pops pulled into the yard. The sun was still a few minute from cresting the horizon, but he wanted to get an early start if he was going to get any work accomplished on the tractor today.

He figured that he could at least get the project started and maybe even drop the pan before Vix got up and they would need to leave the farm in order to see Frank about her Jeep then meet up with Edna around noon time.

Entering the shop he was surprised not only to see the lights on, but the place had been tidied up quite a bit, and Vix was wiping her paws with a shop-rag as she turned around. She was wearing an old pair of shop coveralls Kristine used to use when she used to help him out in the shop before starting her vet business.

"Ah, Pops. Just in time." Vix said turning around.

"Just in time for what?" He asked a bit confused.

"To start the engine for its break-in runs." Vix said smiling.

"What do you mean? I still have to rebuild the motor." Pops said, "It's going to take me a few days before I Evan have a chance to rebuilt the head after I first rebuild the motor." He said.

Vix just indicated the tractor with a canvas cover over the front of the tractor and pulled the cover off like a magician performing a trick.

"Ta-da!" Vix said with a bit of a showmanship flourish.

Pops starred at the tractor for a few seconds before his brain kicked in and registered what his eyes were telling him.

The tractor had been completely put back together! Not only that, but it had been cleaned and waxed too. It wasn't brand new looking, but it was pretty near to showroom looking. Even some of the dents had been popped back and scratches had been buffed out.

"Wait! You did all this overnight?" Pops asked in disbelief.

"Yep!" Vix chirped.

"You fixed the injector pump?"

"Actually I rebuilt the whole fuel system tank to motor." Vix replied.

"And the cylinder scoring?"

"It wasn't as bad as it looked and I was able to get away with just rejoining the walls." Vix said, I still smiling that wide vulpine grin of hers.

"I had all the parts for all this?" Pops asked.

"Mostly." Vix said scratching the back of her head sheepishly. "I admit I did resort to some techno-mancy with some of the parts I couldn't source from your shops parts shelves. But they are as good as new. Possibly better even."

"And the body work? You fixed a number of dents that have appeared from a rough farm life." Pops observed.

"Ah, well. I had some spare time left over." Vix admitted.

"You did all that in one night?" Pops said in disbelief.

"Couldn't sleep." Vix said plainly.

Pops removed his hat and scratched his head, still marveling at the workmanship that had gone into an otherwise lengthy project. "And it all runs?" He asked.

"Just waiting on you to find out." Vix said smirking.

"You're sure everything is good?" Pops persisted, not quite believing what he was hearing and seeing. But then again, a few days ago he would never have believed in talking half-fox half-human...people, either.

"Hop on up and find out."

"Oh Kay..." Pops responded as he climbed up into the tractor's seat. He scanned over the gauges briefly, noting that the cracked lenses had been either replaced or repaired and the dash had been cleaned of dust and grim. Yet it appeared that Vix had left the patina of age on the old equipment, just fixing things to allow better visibility of the gauges and indicators.

Pops turned the key on the tractor below the dash and the gauges came to life. He then lowered his hand down to the starter then paused, his hand hovering a mere inch above the button. "You're sure you got everything put back, right?"

"You're stalling. Just kick the thing over already." Vix said with a smirk.

Sighing in slight trepidation he pushed the starter down. The engine turned over a few times until he released the button, but didn't start. Pops leaned sideways and give Vix a questioning look.

"Oh, right! I forgot to re-prime the diesel pump. Hang on a sec." Vix said as she walked around the front to the other side of the engine. She reached inside and pushed fiddled about with the fuel-pump for a few seconds before sanding up again. "Ok. Hit it again."

Pops pushed down on the starter again. The engine turned over for a few seconds before finally catching. It coughed and sputtered here and there while Vix adjusted the fuel flow. Tweaking this and adjusting that till finally the engine was idling at a stead rumbling hum.

After the engine came up to temp and ran for a while Vix became satisfied and cut her hand across her throat. Pops pulled the fuel cutoff knob until the engine stopped before turning off the key.

Pops stood silent for a bit before speaking.

"That's...I've never seen someone rebuild an engine in one night." Pops finally said.

"Oh, it's been done before." Vix replied.

"Well, sure. With a crew of people and a parts department." Pops said, "In an engine shop that does nothing else but rebuild engines."

"I admit I have never done so in one night before either. Not before I could do things like this." Vix said as she picked up an old bent screwdriver. Vix held it in one hand by the handle, and with her thumb pressed down on the bent shaft till it was back to mostly straight.

Pops watched the act and shook his head. "I still haven't gotten used to watching you do things like that." He then took a closer look at the screwdriver. "Hang on a moment, let me see that please."

Vix handed over the straightened screwdriver.

Pops looked at it for a moment before saying, "I thought so. This has been missing for months. Earle said it went missing!"

"I found it behind one of the tool chest when I was sweeping up." Vix said, wiping her paws on a shop towel. "With the way it was bent I can't imagine why it might have gone missing.", she smiled suspiciously.

"Still weird watch someone straighten a screwdriver like it was a bent paperclip." Pops remarked again.

"Heh. I still haven't gotten used to being able to do things like that." Vix said with a small laugh.

"Well, you saved me a lot of time and grief fixing that tractor." Pops said as he climbed down from the tractor. "Think you can look human long enough to get some breakfast before we go meet with Frank?"

Instead of saying anything Vix instead just went from her base form to her human disguise before saying plainly, "Let's find out. I think it's time I reintegrated with society."

Later they pulled up to a little diner a short distance outside of town. It was still early in the morning and besides a few truckers and sleepy locales just getting off late shift or going on early shift the place was fairly quiet.

The two got a booth in a quiet corner of the place and Vix sat with her back facing the door so that she could relax with her hoodie pulled loosely over her head to shield her face from prying eyes and only have to shift whenever the waitress came by.

"Morning Pops." Their waitress said pleasantly. "The usual I assume?"

"Yes Maddie, thank you." Pops said as he poured some cream and sugar into his coffee. "Have you made your decision Victoria?"

"Hmm, I'll have the #4 please." Vix replied.

"Sure thing Honey. Toast or hash browns?"

"Toast please."

"How do you want your eggs dear?"

"Scrambled please." Vix replied.

"Scrambled," Maddie mumbled to herself as she wrote down the order, "got it. Anything else?"

"No, thank you." Vix said sipping her coffee.

"Alright. I'll be back soon with your order. Holler if you need anything." Maddie said before bustling off.

Vix waited for the waitress to leave before relaxing her hood on her form and shifting back to her foxy self.

"Still weird to watch you do that." Pops remarked.

"You think it's weird watching it, try doing that yourself and get back to me." Vix said smirking before taking another sip of coffee.

"You seem to be in a better mood. Feeling better?"

"Sorta. It's still a lot to get used to. But I'm adapting." Vix said.

"You're not too warm under all that clothing and fur?" Pops asked.

"It's not that much clothing." Vix replied, "It's just a tank-top, flannel and hoodie. Besides, the hoodie isn't even zipped up." Vix said.

"And the fur?"

"I don't really notice it anymore unless I think about it." Vix replied.

"Really?"

"Do you notice your skin all the time?"

Pops thought about this for a few seconds, actually looking at his arm and consciously thinking about his skin for a moment and how it wrapped around his arm and hand. "Good point." He finally said.

"There is one thing that I haven't gotten used to yet." Vix said after a few minutes of thoughtful silence.

"What's that?" Pops asked intrigued.

"These." Vix replied holding up her hand. As Pops watched Vix held her hand out over the table palm down, showing her fingers prominently.

"Your hands?" Pops asked after a few seconds pondering.

"No." Vix replied, wiggling her fingers over the table. "Look at my fingertips."

Vix wiggled her fingers again as Pops looked at the tips. Finely he figured it out. "Oh, your claws!"

"Yup. It's taking some getting used to having claws instead of nails." She said as she lowered her hand to her coffee and lifted it up to her lips for another sip. "Occasionally I forget about them and they sorta get in the way. Depending on what I'm doing at the time."

"Yeah, I guess I could see that as a bit of a problem. When Kristine was young she used to help me in the shop. Even back then she would try to grow out her nails to be--well, you've seen her hold bedroom." Pops finished with a knowing grin.

"Ah, yes. The pink Palace." Vix replied.

"Ha! Yes." Pops laughed, "She always did try to do hard work and look good at the same time. But she found a way with first the doctor thing and now the vet thing. She seems to be happier doing the vet business. Anyway, you could always trim your nails I suppose."

"No need. Check this out." Vix said as she held her hand up again and showed her claws prominently. "Found out I could also do this last night too." As pops watched Vix's blunt nails receded into her fingers till they resemble human nails, although black and rough still. "And this." Vix said before her nails reverted back. But instead of stopping at the blunt canine claws they continued to lengthen and taper till they resembled long and razor sharp talons. Vix flexed her fingers a few times and turned her hand about a little to show off her built in cutlery before reverting them back to their normal vulpine like appearance.

Pops watched her do this a few times before commenting. "That is both extremely interesting, and mildly disturbing."

"Found that out when I couldn't find a pair of wire snips last night while replacing some burnt out wiring in the tractor." Vix said.

"How do you do that?" Pops asked in mild fascination.

"Not a clue. It's more an instinct I inherited from Visalth I guess." Vix shrugged.

One of Vix's ears twitched towards the kitchen and she shifted to her human form just as Maddie came out holding a tray with their food on it and headed towards their table.

"Here ya go. Pops' usual and a scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon and toast." Maddie said placing each plate in front of them and a bowl of assorted jellies. "Can I refresh your coffees?"

"Yes please." The two replied.

"Where did you learn to rebuild a Diesel engine?" Pops asked after Maddie top off their coffee.

"I've picked up a few things here and there at various jobs over the years." Vix said after finishing her bite of toast. "Worked at a few farms, did a stint in a machine shop, worked way too many retail jobs." The last one she rolled her eyes at.

"You've worked a few farms?" Pops asked. "What else have you done on farms?"

"A little of everything. But running equipment and fixing things was always my strongest." Vix said sipping some coffee. "Always been more mechanical minded. But I've also gotten along well with animals too."

They chatted for a while longer while they ate until they both finished their breakfast and pops went to pay the bill. While pops was at the register Vix went outside to wait near the truck. She looked around the area, noting the small town's layout and watching traffic drive by. The town was starting to wake up now so traffic was increasing. She pulled the hood of her hoodie further down over her face to keep hidden in the shadow it afforded.

Looking around again she noticed an antiquated newspaper machine near the diner. Walking over to investigate she discovered that this town had its own local newspaper that was actually still in circulation.

Looking at the headline she read:

More Residence Reported Missing, Authorities Baffled!

Digging into her pocket for some change she put the money into the machine and pulled open the door, redrawing a copy from the top of the pile. Walking back to the truck she first read the cover page before turning to the continuing page further in.

As she read on about the growing number of missing people in the town Vix had to suppress her growing anger as her claws started to lengthen and slowly tear through the thin newsprint. Pops exited the diner shortly after. He came to a stop when he saw Vix standing by the truck. She was slightly vibrating and her claws were out and firmly hooked into the newspaper.

"Uhm, everything ok there Victoria?" he asked concerned.

"No. but I currently can't do anything about it either!" Vix growled quietly.

Pops could tell that she was trying very hard not to let her anger get the better of her. "Come on, it's still early and Frank will still be tied up with paperwork till later this morning. He always is this time of the week." Pops said placing a calming hand on her shoulder. To his surprise she actually did calm herself slightly. "I have a few things to pick up at the hardware store. They should be opened by the time we get there." He said as he glanced at his watch.

"That sounds like a good idea. I could use some distraction right now." Vix said as she folded up the paper, and climbed into the truck.

Pops drove the three blocks over to the hardware store and put his signal on to turn into the parking lot. Just as he was entering the driveway Vix grabbed his arm and indicated for him to stop.

"Pops, tell me. Does the town's municipality have or use black windowless vans with tinted windows?"

"I don't believe so. Why?" pops asked. Vix pointed to a black van parked near the front doors of the building. "Ok, so what? It's a black van. Why are you all of a sudden on the defensive?"

"Look at the plates." Vix said pointing, "How many vans in town do you know of that have government plates on them?"

Pops looked at the van again and looked at the plates in particular. "You think this has something to do with those disappearances?"

"I don't know. But something seems...off." Vix said slowly. "Pull over to the side out of view of the front. I want to get a closer look."

Pops pulled around to the side and parked the truck. Vix told him to wait in the truck while she scoped out the situation. If everything was ok she would give him the all clear. If not he was to go for help.

Vix crept around the corner of the building and peered through the window. Sure enough there were three men in suits surrounding what Vix assumed was the owner. The older man looked a bit haggard. Vix darted to the doors while no one was looking and slipped in through the front doors. She crept around down a side isle using displays of tools and grills for cover as she worked her way closer. She had reverted to her anthro form and pulled her hood down to allow her ears to zero in on the conversation. The three suits were trying to threaten the owner into coming with them quietly, she recognized their voices from the night her friends were taken and she was shot. And things sounded like they were about to escalate.

She had heard enough.

"Look old man, you had the chance to come the easy way. Now you're going to get it the hard way." The man closest said as he started pulling back to deliver a punch. But the punch never came. He was thrown off balance as just as he started to move forward his momentum was arrested as a hand gripped his wrist and prevented him from getting too far.

"The hell?" he said as he turned to see who it was that had stopped him. What he saw was a large fox wearing cloths and seemed none too happy to see him.

"If you haven't already figured it out yet I don't think the man wants to go with you three." Vix said clearly and firmly. The other two suits turned around just as the man tried throwing a punch in her direction, but this one too failed to hit its mark as Vix simply wasn't where his fist was aimed and swished through empty air.

"This doesn't concern you bitch! Get lost before you get what's coming to the old man!" one of the others said as she dodged another slow punch from the first man.

Vix's mouth formed a straight line before responding, "You've no idea just how much of a bitch I can be." She said as she slowly circled the group till she was between them and the owner. "You! Get out of here! There's a truck parked along the side of the building, go find the driver and get out of here while I keep our friends occupied!" She said quickly to the owner.

"What are you?" The owner asked, not sure what to make of these events.

"I'm a friend." Vix said kindly but firmly, "No git!"

"I can't just leave you here alone with them." The owner said, unsure what to do.

"I can take care of myself, no go find Pops!" Vix said waving him off.

As the owner ran towards the door the three men tried to cut him off but Vix was faster and blocked their path.

"Now you've gone and done it! I'm going to mess you up for interfering in our business." The first man said menacingly.

"No Larry, you're getting a screwdriver to the hand just after shooting Curly in the foot who's going to knock into Moe who's going to get a concussion." Vix said with a confidence that unnerved the three. The way she was smiled and flashed her teeth did little help them feel any better either.

"I don't care!" Larry said, She's talking a lot of shit for a small bitch who's about to get into deeper trouble." The man said as tried to throw a punch as well, but like his associate Vix simply was too fast to hit and all he managed was to throw off his own balance as he had put too much force into his throw and Vix used his momentum to redirect his direction into a nearby display.

As the other two took tried their luck at hitting her Vix moved faster than they could believe a human could and ducked and dodged under each punch taken at her. While each was distracted Vix managed to reach into their jackets and pull something from each of the two men before the first one regained his feet to press the fight.

Finally the first man had enough of this and pulled out his pistol to try and shoot her, but she got in too close too fast and grabbing his wrist pulled it down towards the floor just before he pulled the trigger. Then gun went off and just as she had said the round shot downwards right into his partners foot just as Vix knocked the gun from the first man's hand and impaled it into the checkout counter with a screwdriver seemingly at random and burying it to the handle into the Formica and wood counter.

The second man screamed as he clutched at his holed foot. Hopping wildly in pain he managed to hop backwards into the third man as he was drawing his firearm and knocked him into a display of grill accessories. The jolt of him hitting the shelves knocked an empty propane tank off the top shelf and it fell down and hit the third man squarely on his head, knocking him out and taking him out of the game.

While the two remaining mostly upright men were distracted by their injuries Vix quickly stepped in and picked up the remaining pistol dropped from the first man and shoved into her pocket with the rest she had taken from the other two into her parallel-pocket dimension where the three would never be able to get at them.

Having disposed of their weapons Vix took a step over to a display of sporting equipment and picked up 26" of milled ash more commonly called a baseball bat and swung it casually in one hand while the other pulled her hood back up over her head.

"Now then, now that I have your undivided attention. I have a few questions about some missing campers and their dead friend." Vix said conversationally.

There was a click of a safety coming off and the pressure of a gun barrel pressed against the side of her head. "No. you are coming with me down to the police station and answering my questions after I book you for assault." A voice said off to her left.

Vix carefully put the bat down and put her hands up. She shifted to human before slowly turning around to look down the barrel of a police shotgun and the uniformed officer behind it.

"Oh blast." Vix said to no one in particular.