The Fox Cult Pt.8

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#8 of The Fox Cult

A commission piece done for a friend

A combat scene reminiscent of Hotline Miami


Alarms began to blare and the radio mounted to Queenie's armor lit up. The two main words Alex could catch were "Attack" and "Vehicle Bay" Sera hoisted Alex to his feet and turned to her desk and ripped open a drawer. She slapped a revolver into Alex's hand, relatively his size, "You're one of us now, defend your home." Queenie ordered him to follow her as they made their way out of the door of the lab. People rushed past them as gunshots rang out from their left. They fought their way through the tide of fleeing foxes until they were taking fire. They took cover in a doorway as they spotted the two jackals shooting at them. A third one had a fox by the neck and was dragging her into the door leading into the vehicle bay. The Jackals focused their fire to keep them behind cover. Alex uselessly squeezed off a few blind shots around cover as their assailants approached them. A flashbang rolled around the corner and detonated before Alex could react beyond cowering, A moment later as his vision returned one of the jackals rounded the corner. His mostly cybernetic face only held a psychotic looking grin for a moment before detonating into chunks of meat and cyberware. Queenie had recovered quicker and was ready for him. Alex bought his gun up in time for the second to enter the doorframe. One shot removed a mostly metal chunk of his opponent's shoulder, the second shot would have been lethal if it weren't an empty chamber, he was out. The jackal attempted to squeeze the trigger of his rifle, but Alex's first shot had severed the electrical connection to his cybernetic hand. Seeing his hesitation Alex kicked out and struck the jackal's leg, knocking them onto himself. He used his newfound size to wrap his paw around the enemies neck and squeeze until his fur was soaked with a combination of oil and blood.

"Come, we need to push zem back." Alex heard Queenie's as the ringing in his ears stopped. They had people to save. He couldn't fit his fingers into the trigger guard of the jackal's rifle, so he settled for a gnarly looking knife strapped to his armor. They rushed down the hall to the gate of the vehicle bay, just to receive more fire. Two more jackals stood across the bay armed with rifles, a third held a hostage as a shield with a pistol. Alex didn't stop for cover, he whipped the knife in his hand across the room and into the chest of one of the assailants. The two still standing focused on him, driving him to roll behind a motorbike surrounded by tools. He picked a lug wrench from the tools littered around him and popped out from behind his cover. He threw the wrench sideways and it cartwheeled across the room, making a wet crunch as it slammed into the temple of the second jackal. He lifted the bike as a shield and rushed forward at the last jackal. The shots of their pistol pinged off the bike's frame before they readjusted and a few caught him in the legs. Fighting through the pain, he finished the distance to his target before tossing the bike to the ground and lunging over it. He slammed into the jackal, pinning them to the ground with the hostage trapped between them. He grabbed hold of their arms and pinned them further up the stairs, resorting to using his teeth to rip into the throat of his opponent. They thrashed for a moment before finally going limp, Alex's attention quickly turned to the hostage, he stood up and lifted her with him, taking a moment to inspect if she was injured.

It was Anya, she was disheveled and covered in some blood and oil, but it was definitely her. "Anya, are you ok?" Anya looked him up and down and quickly averted her eyes. "Thank you sir, but I'm sorry, I don't know you." Alex was confused by her reaction, "Anya it's me, Alex, y'know?" Here eyes widened and looked at him. "You- you turned out beautifully, I didn't." Queenie rushed up and interrupted. "Reports are zat zey're kidnapping sisters, we need to fight our way up zere, and zey have us outgunned." Alex remembered Anya's affinity for concoctions. "Do you have anything that could help?' Queenie was taken aback. "You nearly died last time, No! You're far too valuable!" She reached for him but was pushed away. "I-I think I do," Anya ran past him and looked around the garage before finding vials scattered over the floor. She searched through them until she found a bright red vial. Queenie's protests were ignored ans Anya explained. "This is RAGE, you will kill anything and everything in front of you, stardew can theoretically steer you in the right direction, but this is several times stronger than what I gave you before. Queenie attempted to snatch it from his hand but Alex tossed it in his mouth before she could. "Au revoir mon amour!" Alex crushed the glass in his mouth and took off running up the stairs to the hangar, hoisting a bandolier of knives from a freshly killed body. He made it up three flights of stairs before his breathing became labored, another before his vision blurred, he collapsed just a few steps below the door to the surface.

He woke up starving and angry, he needed meat. The door in front of him open and he saw a figure looking at him light up red. A moment later he lunged at it and ripped it to pieces. MORE! Glancing around he saw a pair of figures placing something onto a large vehicle in the middle of the room who were turning to face him, almost in slow motion. They lit up red, and the object in their hands turned green. Alex grasped a handful of knives and fanned them at them before charging. The moment they spent shielding themselves gave him enough time to clear the distance to the closest one. He grabbed this one's entire face by the bottom jaw and swung him like a pair of brass knuckles into the other. He slammed him over and over until the jaw popped off of the one he was holding. MORE! He grabbed the green object they were holding and rushed towards the door that lit up red. Slamming through i9t he found himself in a large garage, with the far wall blown open. Three vehicles sat over the rubble and the muzzle flash of rifles bristled from them. The two smaller vehicles were closer, one lit up green and the other red. Alex rushed down the center of the garage, only stopping to whip what he had picked up earlier at the green vehicle , and turned to charge the red vehicle. He lunged at one of the targets hanging on the near side when the shockwave of the explosion behind him sent him pinwheeling over his target. He managed to snag the face of his target and spatter it over the roof. MORE! The engine of the vehicle started and it began to tear away, but not before he managed to grab the corner bumper and hoist himself back on top. Another jackal in front of him on the roof turned in shock and attempted to swipe at him with its claws, he grabbed the swinging arm and twisted it clean off. This one wasn't done yet, he grabbed it by the neck and hip, standing up on the roof, before slamming it back down onto the windshield of the vehicle. MORE! Another red target stuck it's head from the vehicle, and with a swift kick he sent it's head rolling behind them. MORE! The surviving portion of the windshield lit up in his vision and Alex ripped it open to see a target inside. Alex jumped onto the windshield and kicked the steering column, sheering it off and caving in the chest of the last one. MORE!

He turned as the last and largest vehicle lit up. He bound forward just as the vehicle under him veered and rolled. A cargo door the size of a small garage sat open on the back, inside there were eight blue targets and his mind said "off limits" but they were surrounded by more than a dozen red targets. Several turned to face him and shoulder rifles, but Alex set to the slaughter. He grabbed the closest one by the face and collar and separated the two, bringing with it a metal infused spine. MORE! He whipped the spine around the next one's neck and ripped backwards, severing flesh and metal alike. MORE! He took the gun from the still falling corpse in front of him by the barrel and swung downwards, caving the skull of the third Target. MORE! The remaining targets backed away from the carnage as much as they could, many backing towards the rear of the vehicle. More gunfire poured at him as Alex charged at a target with their back against a wall. His hand faced little resistance punching through the Jackal's chest, and he found purchase enough to lift the body over his head and toss it towards a line of enemies, knocking several from the back of the vehicle. More! The pain was coming back, he could feel pinpricks where the gunfire was hitting him. Only a half dozen targets remained, spreading out around the limited space, several had grabbed the friendlies marked in blue as shields. A door leading further into the vehicle swung open, and a large target, several times bigger than the others emerged, bright flashes of light exploded from the barrel of the shotgun it wielded. Each shot sent him stumbling backwards, he was forced to grab the nearest friendlies to protect them from the torrent of lead, turning his back to his opponents. He stumbled back towards the open rear of the vehicle protecting them with his body. As he reached the edge he jumped, planning to roll as he hit the ground, but was caught as he jumped away. He lost his grip on the two he was protecting and was spun around by the massive Jackal, with its dagger arcing towards his chest. Before Alex could recover the enemy had plunged the dagger into his chest several times, and all he could manage was a swipe at their face. But it was enough, it made contact and ripped at the metal and flesh of its face. The enemy lost their grip and Alex fell backwards to the ground, all of the pain returning to him at once. His brain shut itself off to protect him.