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The Victoria Chronicles

**Chapter 15

A Ton of Bricks**

Vix groaned, it felt like someone dropped a wall on her.

Oh right, someone had.

She slowly opened her eyes. At first there was nothing to see. But after blinking a few times a dull green glow could be seen. With her alien physiology and genetically altered beyond even the Vivudrosian biology she could see better than most other creatures on this planet.

As she was looking around she noticed a glimmer off to her side as she shifted slightly as the ruble on top of her shifted. Glancing to the side without moving her head for fear of causing the remains of the wall and other debris on her back from falling she noticed a shimmer run across her arm. Her suit had activated on its own and the shimmer lit up the hexagons that made up the suits material before fading again. Vix carefully tensed her muscle and the area of suit covering that part of her arm shimmered again.

"Mistress! Are you ok?" Percii said out loud, forgoing the mental link.

"What have I told you about calling me that?!" Vix growled before sighing and continuing in a calmer voice, "I'm fine. Other than a wall on top of me. Wait! How's the sheriff?!"

Vix looked down underneath her. She was on her paws and knees holding up the wall and the rubble on top of that. Under her in the void she was creating was the sheriff. Looking over her there didn't seem to be any visible damage to her and she was breathing regularly. That made Vix feel slightly better. Now, what to do about the pile of rubble above them.

"Percii? Why am I wearing the suit? I didn't activate it." She said while looking around to see if there was anything here to help her hold up this wall.

"It activated when it sensed you elevated stress levels." Percii said.

"So basically," Vix said thinking this through, "It activates when I felt like was in danger?"

"Essentially." Percii replied, "It's more complicated than that. But that's a simple way to look at it. It's one of its passive characteristics."

"I'm learning more and more everyday about this new life I live." Vix said mostly to herself, then grumbled, "Not sure how I feel about that yet."

Just then Sheila groaned a bit and Vix looked down again. Sheila slowly recovered from her shock. The last thing she remembered she had just turned the latch of a door and was pulling it open when she heard someone yelling and "something" had charged from the darkness running in her direction before the world exploded.

She opened her eyes while mumbling, "What the hell hit me?"

Sheila looked up and only saw a pair of glowing green vulpine eyes staring back at her. Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest from the realization that the creature was hunched over her. Needless to say she was jolted fully awake.

"What, the, hell!!" she said slowly whispered in an almost unheard voice while trying to slowly crawl out from under the creature in a place with no exits.

Crawling backwards on elbows and feet she soon bumped her head against something hard. Slowly reaching a hand up she felt cinder blocks and other shattered material blocking her escape. Feeling around to the sides found the same and nudging her feet discovered blockage there as well.

While she gently probed around her for an exit she heard the creature say calmly, "Please try not to move about too much. This wall is terribly heavy."

Sheila blinked in the darkness and heard a few bricks shift around her. Her mind shifted into overdrive, fueled by adrenalin, before she spoke anything.

"Who are you?" Sheila asked.

The creature responded. "A friendly person in the right place at the wrong time."

"What are you?" Sheila followed up after this.

There was a long pause as the eyes shifted to the side before the creature finally responded. "That's...up for debate."

Sheila didn't feel much better after hearing this. After a pause she asked. "Why are you on top of me?"

"I'm holding up what remains of the wall that fell on us after the explosion. Would you have preferred the explosion killed you and the wall buried you?" The eyes replied.

Sheila tried feeling around for her gun or even her flashlight, but the small void they were in didn't seem to contain either. They were probably buried somewhere under the rubble. But then again so was she with this creature over her. Great.

"What happened?" Sheila asked keeping a close eye on the glowing eyes.

"Someone's been setting explosive booby-traps around this old airfield to keep prying eyes away. Lethal traps." The creature said. "And you unknowingly just set one off."

Sheila swore under her breath before saying angrily, "And someone gave me a tip to check this place out for the missing people. I'll bet it was a setup."

"Who gave you the tip?" the eyes asked with a small grunt as the pile above shifted slightly.

"Anonymous caller." Sheila said.

"Good bet someone thought you were getting a bit too close to something sheriff." The eyes replied.

"I'm beginning to think that too." Sheila replied quietly half to herself, "I wish there was more light here. I can't see anything but your eyes glowing in the darkness. It's a bit disturbing."

Suddenly a light came on and bathed the small area with soft light. After being in the dark the light was almost too bright for Sheila whose eyes had tried to adjust to the darkness. She shielded her eyes with her hand for a bit before slowly lowering them. Now that she could see better she could see the predicament she was in, as well who or what was holding up the roof. Hunched over her was what looked like a huge foxlike creature wearing a strange suit that looked like it was comprised of hundreds of small hexagons. When a brick shifted and the creature adjusted to compensate for the shifting that area of its clothing shimmered outward and faded. The creatures face had a long narrow muzzle with sharp fangs that it showed when it grunted while the wall shifted again. Atop its head were two large triangular ears that shifted at every sound as the rubble settled. And its eyes, its eyes although vulpine in appearance showed intelligence behind their emerald iris's that far exceeded that of a common animal. Where its clothing didn't cover it seems to be covered in orange, brown and black fur, like a fox. It had long red hair atop its head that cascaded down over its shoulders, and the form fitting suit it wore gave no illusion to the fact that it was most defiantly female as the suit accentuated its chest with two respectable breasts.

"Good lord what manner of beast are you?" Sheila said, suddenly concerned all over again noting the sharpness of its teeth.

"..." Vix didn't say anything. She just looked off to the side with a small reproachful huff.

"Sorry," Sheila said, "I've just...I mean...just never seen anything like you before. What are you? Are you some sort of werewolf?" Sheila stammered.

"Why does everyone keep asking me if I'm a werewolf?" Vix said rolling her eyes.

"Are you a though?" Sheila asked.

"No!" Vix said quickly.

"Than what are you?" Sheila asked again.

"I don't know anymore." Vix said in a small almost unheard voice as she tried to rebalance the load so it wouldn't fall on Sheila. Vix would likely be fine if everything fell, but Sheila would be badly hurt. Or worse.

"What does that mean?" Sheila asked incredulously.

"It means I'm complicated." Vix huffed truthfully.

Sheila sat silently in thought for a bit until she heard another voice.

"Mistress, I've scanned the pile we're under, and I do not see any easy exits. If we are to get out from under this you will either have to dig your way out at the risk of the sheriff or we will need help from an outside source."

"Who the hell was that? Is there someone else here with us?" Sheila asked looking around for another person. But she couldn't see anything but the rubble surrounding them.

"Oh, him." Vix said rolling those emerald eyes. "That's Percii. He's just the annoying voice in my head." She said dismissively. "Just ignore him."

Sheila was silent for a second while she absorbed this before saying anything. "If he's in your head, then how did I hear him?"

"See how annoying he is? Even other people hear him." Vix said still slightly annoyed with Percii's continual use of the word 'Mistress' while addressing her.

"Actually," Percii said, "I'm the voice on her wrist. If we are to be literal about this."

Sheila looked down at Vix's wrists and saw some sort of techno-bracer on her right wrist. Inset in it was a glowing crystal. "Did I hit my head when the wall collapsed?"

"Does you head hurt sheriff?" Percii asked.

"No." Sheila replied. "Not really."

"Then you likely didn't hurt your head too seriously." Percii said. "You appear to be speaking normally and seem pretty lucid."

"That doesn't actually make me feel any better really coming from an unseen voice while under a giant talking fox." Sheila said. She looked up at the remnent of wall and slowly put a hand up to it. Carefully she pushed on it. It didn't budge at all. "How are you holding that up?"

"I'm stronger than I look." Vix said.

"You're answers aren't being very helpful you know." Sheila said.

"Sorry. I'm a little distracted holding up this heavy wall that's trying to crush us." Vix huffed. Although this was true she was also getting tired of all the questions. Even though she didn't really blame the sheriff for asking them. Not long ago she'd likely be thinking the same thoughts. Hell, even now she was occasionally asking herself some of those same questions. It didn't make them any easier when others asked her when she herself didn't know the answers.

Everything went quiet again. Sheila looked up and saw the vulpine's glowing green eyes looking back at her. Despite the situation Sheila found herself looking at those eyes. Vulpine, fox-like eyes.

Sheila broke contact with them and looked to away embarrassed. "So now what?" she asked.

"Not sure yet." Vix replied, "I'm trying to think of a solution to this problem while holding up this wall."

"Oh-kay..." Sheila said uncertainly. "If you're strong enough to hold up the wall, couldn't you push it away?"

"Probably." Vix said, "But I'm concerned that it may collapse on you if I try. I'd rather that not happen."

"What about you?" Sheila asked.

"I'd probably survive." Vix said, "Worse things have already happened to me."

"Like what?"

"Have you ever been shot at?" Vix asked.

"Unfortunately yes." Sheila said.

"Ever been hit in a vital spot?"

"No thankfully." Sheila said.

"I don't recommend it. It really hurts." Vix replied. "The waking up after is no picnic either." She said before quickly trying to think of something else. The memories were still fresh and unpleasant.

"I'll take your word for it." Sheila said uneasy.

From beyond the pile of rubble the two heard a voice.

"Anyone still alive in there?"

"Frank?! Is that you?" Sheila yelled. "What are you doing here?!"

"I heard an explosion and saw a wall come down on you. Are you ok?" Frank asked.

"We're fine! But we're trapped under here!" Sheila yelled back.

"Hang tight! Let me see if I can shift some of the rubble! Try not to move too much, some of it looks unstable!" Frank replied.

"I don't think we're going anywhere Frank!" Sheila shouted, but not impolitely.

They heard some rubble being shifted and tossed from the other side of the pile while they waited. After a bit Sheila couldn't stand it anymore and had to ask.

"What were you doing here?" she asked.

"I'm looking for clues as to what happened to my friends." Vix said.

"There are more of you around here?" Sheila asked with some renewed concern.

"No. They're human like you." Vix replied.

"Are there any more like you? If you don't mind me asking?" Sheila asked curiously.

Vix paused as she shifted slightly as some dust drifted down from the block by her shoulder. "Just me. I'm the only one." She said with just a hint of sadness.

"You're all alone then?" Sheila said.

"I'm still here you know." Percii said reproachfully.

"You don't count!" Vix snapped at Percii's comment before taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out as she tried to calm down before looking back at Sheila and continuing. "I've found a few people that are trying to help me." Vix paused for a moment considering something before saying somewhat reluctantly, "And then there's Percii."

"Thank you Mistress." The AI said smugly.

"Who has yet to learn about the proper way to address me!" Vix growled in slight annoyance while flashing her fangs again in annoyance.

"How would you prefer to be address?" Sheila asked.

Vix didn't say anything for a bit as she thought about this. She didn't want to tip her hand too soon. The less people that knew about her that best. Sheila had already seen her in her human disguise on two occasions. She seemed nice enough, but could she be trusted? For now the sensible thing was to keep her two forms separate from her for now till she could be sure. To Sheila she was Victoria. But what to call herself while in her natural form? Mulling this she finally came to a division based on what Kristine's youngest daughter had called her.

"My name is Vix." She finally said.

"Vix who?" Sheila asked. "What's your last name?"

"Just...Vix. She replied.

Sheila looked over the vixen before again asking, "What are you?"

There was a long pause while Vix considered whether to answer this. Eventually she said, "I don't know. I was human before being shot. Then I woke up like this." Yeah, that was close enough. Keep it simple for now.

"What--?" Sheila started before there was a loud shifting of the rubble starting to give way. Before Sheila knew what was happening she was picked up in a bear hug and lifted off the floor as the void they were in collapsed. Held tight by the larger fox the rubble fell away from them as she stood up and broke through to the surface. They were finally out and in daylight again.

"I thought you said pushing it out of the way was a bad idea?" Sheila said between coughing in the dust.

"The wall was disintegrating. I figured it was now or never." Vix said. She turned and scampered up the slope of rubble before holding out her paw. "Give me your hand and I'll pull you up."

"How do I know I can trust you?" Sheila said skeptically.

"I could have just let the wall fall on you, you know." Vix said reproachfully.

Sheila thought for a moment before conceding this. "That's a fair point." She cautiously held her hand up and felt the paw grasp it firmly before pulling her up out of the hole and guiding her down the side of the rubble pile. At the bottom of the rubble pile Sheila turned around to look again at this, fox creature. Vix stood up to her full height of 5' 10". Sheila took a step back slightly, she wasn't short at 5' 6", but a fox that's taller than you is still a bit of a shock. Even though Vix was only 4" taller than her she still manage to somehow loom over her although that wasn't her intent.

"Are you two all right?" Frank asked coming over to them.

"We're fine Frank." Vix said walking past him to the massive hole in the wall. "Excuse me for a moment."

"Wait wait wait. Frank, you know this...I don't know what it is?" Sheila said in disbelief.

"Er, sorta." Frank said scratching the back of his head. "Kinda met this morning and, well...I've been trying to help her find her friends."

"Speaking of--" Vix said as she walked off towards the hole in the wall where the doors formerly were located. Frank and Sheila made to follow when they were brought up short by Vix holding up a paw-like hand. "Wait here." She said pointing down at the ground making it clear that they shouldn't go any further. "Let me make sure that there are no more bloody surprises left behind." She said in an annoyed British voice.

She turned on her heel and with a flash of her tail she disappeared into the hallway beyond. Sheila turned to Frank and said, "Bit of a bitch, isn't she?" she said without any irony.

"Naw," Frank said dismissively, "She's usually in a better mood than this. She's just annoyed that someone tried to kill her again."

"Again?" Sheila asked slightly shocked, "How many times has that happened?"

"Well..." Frank rubbed his chin in thought, "I'm not completely familiar with her history." Frank started, "But just today she's had guns drawn on her numerous times while trying to helping others, shot at a few times, had a knife drawn on her, locked in a cage," Frank was careful not to add that the cage in question was in fact Sheila own jail, "and just recently had a wall dropped on her." Frank counted off on his fingers. "So do excuse her for being a bit snippy. And it's not even lunch yet."

Sheila didn't respond immediately while she took this in. finally she conceded, "Yeah, I guess I would be a bit pissy too."

From deep down the hallway they hear a very angry voice yell out, "All right! Coast is clear!" Frank and Sheila made their way past the rubble and headed on in. On either side of the corridor where several small rooms. They once likely served as office space, but now they were mainly empty. What they hadn't seen yet was any sign of a vixen. Although they did see the remains of the odd trap that had been laid for any unwary snooper. Everyone they found though was missing the explosives. Frank suspected he knew what she had done with them though.

"Where are you?" Frank called out, purposely not using her name in the presence of Sheila. That was for Victoria to decide.

"In here." They heard an annoyed voice call out from a large room at the end of the hall. Clearly she was still upset by something, if her voice was anything to judge by.

Frank and Sheila came into the room cautiously. They found Victoria at the far end of the room waving around a small device that was making small chirps and whistles.

"Find anything interesting?" Frank asked looking at the device in her hand. It looked like the same device she had used to fix the motorcycle earlier this morning. A small metallic rod with what looked like a glowing object at its end.

"They left just a few hours ago." Vix said still moving the rod around the area she was in.

"That little gizmo tells you that?" Frank asked.

"No. My nose did. This just confirms it." Vix said in a slightly calmer and regular voice.

"How--" Sheila began but Frank held up a hand to cut her off. "How long do you figure." Frank asked instead.

"About just over three hours." Vix said after a short paused while she judged the smells. She wasn't sure how she could tell, but she just knew somehow. Something else to consider later. But it made her nervous. She didn't like all these new things she apparently knew and could now do. What else could she do? Did this make her a different person than who she was? Were the changes Percii had made to her genetic code to make her this way and changed her body changing her mind? There were some things she remembered that were not her memories. She could tell these apart from her own but...would this still be the case the longer she inhabited this new body? Vix tried to shove these thoughts down, she needed to find her friends. Her friends were paramount above all else right now. The rest she shoved down deep, she could figure those out later. For now this body was useful in finding her friends. After though maybe...maybe she could go back to normal. Maybe she could go back to being Victor?

"That would be just about the time the man was run off the road." Frank said after a brief mental calculation while Vix continued scanning the room. "Wouldn't you agree Sheila?"

"Yeah, sounds about right." Sheila said. "There was a call in at the station not long after with the tipoff while I was dealing with that. I didn't get it till I returned to town an hour later. Then I came here."

Vix pocketed the device and walked around sniffing the air. She had suddenly picked up something. She moved around the room in an odd pattern as she tried not only to find the source, but also to figure why it reminded her of something.

"What's up?" Frank asked noticing her increasing uneasiness. Vix just waved him off as she entered a section of the room that had been cordoned off with some chain-link fencing. At one time it was probably a tool crib or other sort of parts storage. But it looked like it had recently been repurposed as a holding cell. Old metal military style beds with old cheap mattresses littered the space inside. Vix slowly made her way along the rows sniffing the air around them and bobbing her head about. Her tail was twitching sporadically in agitation and her ears were kept moving around nervously. She was crouched so low eventually she just went down on all fours. Frank and Sheila watched in fascination as her back legs shifted from plantigrade to digigrade, the boots of her strange clothing shifting around her feet and lower legs as she went to standing on her toes. She would occasionally stop and sniffed the air before heading into another direction.

"What is she doing?" Sheila asked Frank as they watched her.

"I have no idea." Frank said rubbing the stubble on his chin, "But something's bothering her more than usual."

Vix finally came to the last set of beds in the far corner. They were more like bunks and were attached to the wall and held up by chains that slung back to the wall forming a triangle at the ends. The smells seemed to be strongest here. Vix stopped and took a long breath from the mattress as her ears twisted one forward and one back in confusion. What was it that she was smelling? It was so close in her mind. She knew these smells from somewhere! She just couldn't pin it down, but it filled her with worry and anxiety.

"She seems confused about something." Sheila said watching her.

What was it? What was it?!

Suddenly she froze in place as realization dawned.

"No!" Vix said quietly in dread. She knew that smell. She had smelled it before. She had actually smelled it many times before but never noticed it with her dull human nose before. But she had smelled those smells more recently. Much more recently.

Vix gripped the bunk with her paws as she slumped to her knees. She knew these smells. Knew them all too well. She had smelled them on the camping supplies after Pops and Frank had brought them back. Her claws started to carve tears in the mattress as her paws gripped the edge of the bed.

Frank and Sheila heard a long drawn out growl emit from Vix. A low guttural growl that grew in intensity and pitch. An angry primordial growl that made them both take a step back reflexively.

"They were here." They heard her say quietly in an angry growl. Her ears laid flat on her head in anger as they heard the sound of creaking metal as her paws gripped the bunks frame and started squeezing tightly, the mattress became further shredded under her claws.

"They! Were! Here!!"

Sounds of tortured metal filled the room as Vix clench the metal tighter. The back of frame where it connected to the wall by heavy bolts began to protest.

"They Were HERE!!!"

Suddenly Vix ripped the bed from the wall and hurled it across the cell with such force that when it hit the opposite wall it hit with a deafening _Wham_and stuck into the wall on its edge.

"They Were Fucking HERE!!" Vix howled as she flung her head back and wailed.

Sheila found herself reaching for her pistol but found the holster empty. It was still buried somewhere in the pile of rubble in the hangar. The howl Vix made even made Frank uneasy. He had heard many horrible sounds in his life and overseas during his military career, but he had never heard anything so mournful, so sad, and most of all angry. Very, very angry!

"They were here and I missed them! They were here and I fucking_missed them! Those fucking bastards had them here! Right _Here! For the past few days they've been Right Here, and now they're Not!!" Vix yelled as she pounded the floor, leaving dents in the concrete as dust and bits came off and littered the floor.

Vix turned around and faced them. She clenched her eyes tightly shut and tears streamed down either side of her muzzle. "They were right here!" she moaned as she cried. Vix wobbled up to her feet and shuffled her way to the door of the cell and past made her way past Frank and Sheila on her way back to the hallway.

Frank reached out to her shoulder as she passed them, "Vix wait--", but she batted his hand away from her.

"Leave me alone!" she whined. "Just...leave me alone..." she whined forlornly.

Frank and Sheila just watched as the vulpine left the room, her ears splayed low and her tail nearly dragging across the floor. They didn't know what to do, and right now Vix didn't want them to even if they did.

As she disappeared they could hear her crying slowly grow quieter as the distance between them grow larger as she walked down the hall and eventually out of the building the way they had come in.

A mixture of heart wrenching wines and whimpers, both animal and human, that neither knew how to console.

After Vix's wails grew quiet Frank and Sheila recovered from the scene they had just bore witness to Sheila turned to him.

"Should we...should we go after her?" Sheila asked slowly.

"No." Frank said grimly and glancing at the door. "I think she needs some time to herself. Let's give that to her."

Frank and Sheila busied themselves by searching the room for anything useful. What they found wasn't much. Just a box of cellphones with their batteries pulled out, they most likely belonged to the missing people. They also found a clipboard behind a desk in one corner of the room. It must have fallen behind the wall at some point and been missed.

On it Sheila found a list of names and dates. All of them were names of missing town's people she recognized and the dates when they were reported missing, more or less. All but three names that is. Near the bottom of the list were two that she didn't know. Sarah Weaver and Benjamin Cooper. The dates by their names suggested that they had been taken within the last couple of days.

There was one more name with their names. It was crossed out several times and it was hard to make out. The name was Victor Reynard.

"Frank, do you recognize these names?" Sheila asked showing Frank the list.

"Yeah, those two are her friends." Frank said pointing at Sarah and Ben's names.

"What about this one?" Sheila asked pointing to the struck out name.

"Huh. Nope, don't know that one." Frank replied, "She didn't mention a Victor."

Not finding anything else of use after a thorough search they then check the other smaller rooms before heading back to the hangar proper. There they searched the rubble pile for Sheila's sidearm. They found it shortly after. It had been thrown clear of the debris and seemed to have suffered no damage other than a few scraps.

"Where do you think she went?" Sheila asked Frank.

Frank didn't talk for a moment. "I don't know." He said starting out at the open hangar doors.

"She seemed pretty shaken up. Do you think it was wise to just let her wonder off by herself?" Sheila said concerned. "She might try to hurt herself or something."

"Let me tell you something about that fox. I haven't known her for very long, but she's tougher than she looks." Frank said turning to face Sheila.

"But she seemed so upset." Sheila said looking him in the face.

"Vix has gone through more than you or I know. Of course she's upset. Wouldn't you be if you'd been that close to finding your friends, just to find out that you just missed them?"

Sheila looked over at Frank and asked, "What else has she been through?"

"You'll have to ask her that yourself." Frank said.

"What are you hiding Frank? You know something!" Sheila said suspiciously.

"I don't know nothing! I've only met her just this morning." Frank.

You're hiding something from me Frank. What is it!" Sheila said as her voice got angrier. "I'm tired of this bullshit cloak and dagger shit you always pull when you're protecting someone!"

"I don't know nothing from then, and I don't know nothing now either." Frank said as her looked Sheila straight in the face. "You want answers? Go fucking ask her yourself! She's a good and caring person, and I'm not going to go gossiping about her when she been kicked down. Now if you will excuse me I'm going to make sure there aren't any more surprises hiding around here to make some poor persons day a whole lot worse!" he said before storming outside.

"Gah! I hate when he does that!" Sheila said in exasperation. She followed him out and then once outside turned and walked in the opposite direction. Looking around for anything that wasn't Frank shaped, she instead looked around for Vix. She didn't appear to be anywhere. Sheila looked around again, "Shit! She could be anywhere!"

Finally she happened to look up at the old control tower, and that's when she saw her. The vixen was sitting on the edge of the outdoor platform that circled the box where the flight operators sat. She was sitting with her legs dangling over the edge with her laying behind her on the decking, her arms resting on the railing while her muzzle rested on her folded arms. She seemed to be looking off into the distance, but not at anything specific. She didn't seem angry anymore, or at least she wasn't yelling, but it was hard to tell from her features. Her ears were drooping down, not quite flat. She looked like a forlorn figure just sitting there staring at nothing.

Sheila started making her way towards the weathered tower. Like everything else around this old airfield it was broken down with bits missing. But the structure was still sound. Only some corrugated metal and the odd pane of glass were missing along with some of the old antenna, some of which may have been taken along with other equipment when this base had been abandoned by the army decades ago. As Sheila walked along the broken sidewalk that lead to the structure she kept an eye on the lonely looking fox. She didn't seem to take notice of her until she was nearly to the tower. The vixen lazily looked down and made eye contact with Sheila but didn't make any motion otherwise before taking back up her observations of the horizon.

Finally reaching the base of the tower Sheila started up the old paint-cracked steps that wound around the tower. The vixen was now no longer in view, but occasionally when Sheila wound back around to that side of the tower she could see Vix's legs dangling over the edge.

Up on top Vix just stared out at nothing, just letting the breeze tousle at her fur. She had for the time being stopped being angry, but it still bubbled away under the surface. She didn't know how to feel anymore. The past few days had been an emotional rollercoaster. Ever since the abduction of her friends and subsequently being shot, and every day had just gotten weirder from there. She didn't look like the person she had been anymore. She was now anthromorphic fox. A vixen no less! She was stronger, faster, and somehow smarter. But despite her new intelligence she couldn't figure out how to find her friends! It was a weird feeling, she understood things far above what the leading scientist understood. She knew how to build a fusion reactor. Not a fission reactor, but a fusion one. And that was just the start of it. But why couldn't she figure out how to find her friends?!

She could see in the dark, she could smell better than any bloodhound, and she could hear better than most animals, let alone humans. She could hear as the sheriff slowly made her way up the stairs, she was trying to be quiet about it but she could hear her still with ease. She could hear Frank poking around somewhere checking for more traps. She knew where he was just from sound! The other new abilities, boosted speed and strength, the whole thing with her feet when she ran on all fours? What the hell was that about?! Why was it so easy for her to do that without thinking about it? These things scared her.

She didn't even want to think about the whole female thing and what that entailed. Those feelings she shoved down deep until she could feel them anymore. But they were still there. Waiting.

All these things scared her. What other things could she do that she didn't know yet? What else had Percii done to her body? What other things had she inherited from her Vivudrosian side? How much had she inherited from her fox genetics? Would she start acting like a wild animal? What was she? What Was SHE??!!

And as bad as all that was it paled to what her friends might be going through. Smith had shot her without any thought or emotion with the intent on killing her. And he had almost succeeded, if not for the intervention of Visalth and Percii. If he could do that to her what might he be doing to her friends and missing townspeople?

She had just missed her friends being here. She had failed to find and rescue them. She had failed them!

Uh, Miss Victoria? Percii said in her mind through the mental link.The sheriff's on her way up. Should we leave?

Vix didn't respond, she just kept her gaze locked on the horizon without movement.

Miss? Percii tried again. Still no response. Percii tried something more drastic to get his mistress' attention. Mistress? Where do you what to do?

Don't care Percii. Leave me alone. Her reply was quiet and without much emotion other than a deep seated sadness to it. She hadn't even yelled at him for calling her Mistress! Percii has getting worried.

But before Percii could think of what to say next Sheila reached the top and slowly crept towards the silent figure. Not to sneak up on her, but so as not to spook her. She wasn't aware that Victoria was quite aware of her presence. She just didn't care. Vix didn't show any indication that she had noticed her with the exception of one ear that turned towards Sheila to track her movements as she approached. Her tail laid flat on the platform, not even twitching, just the fur moved in the breeze up here.

"Hey, uhm, it's me. Sheila." Sheila said in what she was hoping was a somewhat cheerful and friendly tone. "Mind if I sit down?"

Vix just huffed non-committedly.

"So...nice view from up here." Sheila said after sitting down at a respectable distance. Vix was unmoved by the attempt at conversation. "Although, it would probably look better if the place wasn't so overgrown." Still no response from the fox nearby.

Sheila just let time pass a bit before she tried again. She didn't want to push the vixen.

"So, you really have no last name? Just Vix? Sheila asked hesitantly.

"Just Vix." Vix mumbled eventually.

"Oh. Does that stand for anything?" Sheila tried again. At least she got something at last.

"It stands for Vix. A little girl named me that after seeing me." Vix sighed.

"Ok...So what is your real name from before? If I may ask?" Sheila said. She inched just a little closer. She looked over at the vixen, but this time with a different perspective. This wasn't just a mindless animal, that was apparent. It was a living, breathing individual with emotions. And strong ones at that. As hard as it was for Sheila to believe.

Looking at her Sheila noticed that the vixen sitting there had some actual attractive features. Sitting in profile and not hunched over her while they both lay under a pile of debris that once called itself a wall reveled more than what her frantic mind at the time had originally seen.

The fox sitting there had a decent chest on her. Sheila guessed maybe...mid "C"s? Her long and slender body had the right curves that many women would kill for. Even the vulpine's head was pretty when she wasn't in a snarl, with cute triangular ears that currently were drooping due to her mood. Her tail was long and bushy like the vulpine tail it was. Sheila wondered what it felt like she found herself thinking. She remembered as a child her grandparents had a dog with a bushy tail that was so much fun to hold and brush when she was younger.

"It doesn't matter anymore." Vix eventually said. "That part of my life is gone. Taken without asking and giving me this."

"Are you're talking about Sarah and Benjamin? I'm sure they'll be found." Sheila said.

Vix gave her a mild look of surprise, just a small one before looking away. "Did Frank tell you that?"

"No. We found a list of names. Those two were the only ones I didn't recognize. Those are your friends, right?"

"Yes." Vix said quietly. "And 'I' will find them."

"Do you want to tell me what happened to them?" Sheila asked.

Vix was silent for a long while before sighing heavily. "We were camping not far from here. A bunch of men came and took them away. And there was nothing I could do to stop them!" she said squeezing her eyes tight at the thought. "I left to get more firewood, when I came back there was a commotion going on, lots of vehicles and men pointing guns everywhere. At the center of it..." Vix paused for a moment, her muzzle curled into a snarl and she bared her teeth at the memory that came next. "He was standing there, demandingly questioning at my friends."

"Who was?" Sheila asked.

Vix's face contorted into further into a snarl and her ears laid back against her head in anger. "Smith! His name is Smith!" Vix said with a growl. "He was harassing my friends looking for something, and then he took them away! And I couldn't do a thing to stop him!"

Sheila was silent for a few moments before she continued.

"There was a third name on that list." Sheila said hesitantly. She paused, watching the vixen before continuing, "A Victor Reynard. Do you know him?"

At that Vix stood up suddenly and griped the handrail tightly in her paws. The handrail deformed a bit under her grip. "Victor's dead!" she yelled, remembering the memory that night. "Smith shot him when he tried to stop them! He tried and failed! Then he died!" Vix screamed. "I'm going to find my friends. Then I'm going to find Smith and make him pay for what he's done!"

Vix stormed off towards where Frank was just cresting the landing. He quickly sidestepped to let her pass. "Let's go! There's nothing of value left here for me!" she said as she passed him and started down the stairs.

"What happened there?" Frank asked, wondering what set her off.

"I don't know. I asked about her friends." Sheila said confused. "She told me what happened and everything was fine until she mentioned a man named Smith. Then she got mad again. She said that Smith was behind it all. I know he's been snooping around the area and flashing his badge at my deputies, telling them it was government business and to move along."

"Oh yeah. She ain't got no love for that guy." Frank said somberly, "He's caused her a lot of trouble from what she's said."

"It gets worse Frank." Sheila stated as they watched Vix storm away towards the tree line and back to Frank's truck. "I mentioned that name from the list. The one that was struck out? That's when she got really mad. She said Smith shot and killed Victor. Then she stormed off."

"She must have been really attached to the guy if it affected her that much." Frank said. "Boyfriend do you think?"

"Could be." Sheila said uncertainty, "But I think it goes deeper than that for some reason."

Frank was silent in thought for a bit as they watched Vix go. "Hey Sheila, I got something at the shop I want you to take a look at later tonight." He said, "In the meantime I think I should take Vix home. She needs some time to think I suspect."

"I don't think she should be alone Frank. She's not in a good place." Sheila said concerned.

"Don't worry. She's staying with some people I know for now." Frank said without mentioning who. "She'll be well looked after. And I'll check in from time to time."