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Two weeks, and Aurelias finally scraped together enough cash to pay the month's rent. Thanks to his failure to obtain Kyota's data for Rygar, Aurelias had to rely on actual proper programming contract work as nobody called him up for even minor thefts. He knew failing the tiger would cause his reputation to take a hit, but he had grossly underestimated just how bad it would be. Possibly worse than starting from scratch. He didn't even find out what was in the data dongle.

Still, he couldn't let his hacking skills get rusty. The bright-furred fox had taken to an abandoned warehouse a few floors down the Undercity to practice his spells in peace. Casey seemed a bit happier Aurelias was working on something rather than always "partying," but the skunk still drove him up the wall and any excuse to get out of the apartment when she was around was a good one.

He snagged his laptop on his way out the door and headed to the Dyson building elevator. Sure, it was a hell of a walk, but it beat potentially getting caught at home using unapproved spells. He couldn't build new invocations without the optical mini-disc burner in his notebook, either. Top of the line runic binary blaster, by HP. Cost him a small fortune, but was totally worth it.

Relying on prefabricated magic always seemed wrong to him. You had to trust the manufacturer had no bugs in the code; when they did, or the disc was bad, you might get seriously hurt. So the government put a moratorium on using hacked or custom spells in spaces with other furs. Folks figured the stringent safety measures of manufacturers would protect them from magic gone awry. As long as he developed the invocations in the empty building, he lived at least within the letter of the law.

The inside of the warehouse was dim, lit only by the ambient light of the Undercity coming through dusty windows high above the short fox. The same grime covered the rest of the walls and the floor. He hated how it caked on his footpads, but he also didn't have a reliable, cheap source of water that could wipe it all away. The facilities in the storehouse had been shut down years back.

The only object in the vacant expanse was a wooden box Aurelias had brought a while ago to place his laptop on. He opened the device and pulled out a stack of blank optical mini-discs, preparing to get some hacking done.

"I should burn a few more copies of Nox Pallium," he mumbled to himself. Speaking out loud helped him think. "I already own another copy of the Adramelech Protocol, the fixed version. Haven't heard from fuzzbrain for a week. I haven't been on the forums recently, though. Iactare Tactis; Lux Splendida; Ignis Fragor! Still not quite sure how big to make the detonation."

Aurelias tweaked the parameters of the algorithm with a couple keystrokes before setting a disc in the tray to burn the spell on. The device grinded and whirred as minute magical runes were inscribed on the plastic. The process would take a little while to complete, so the fox surfed the Internet for recent news. The front page of FNN had a picture of a tiger in cuffs and the headline shouted, "Kyota Arrested for Magic Fraud." What might his former target have done? He clicked the link and began to read.

"Vicios Kyota was arrested and charged for fraud in relation to Kyota Industries. A large portion of the company's primary product -- prefabricated magic discs -- were found to be deliberately defective. In particular, the Easy Clean line of products did not live up to their advertised antibacterial ability, along with a number of Anesthesia programs which put patients to sleep, but had no actual pain-reduction capabilities. Other product lines were also affected.

"An anonymous tip was given to the local police about Kyota suppressing scientific studies showing the spells failing to perform as described. The police declined to comment further on the source of this information, or how they confirmed the accuracy of the data. A warrant was produced, however, so the courts must have verified the integrity of the information.

"Kyota Industries' stock (KYOI) plummeted at the news, closing yesterday at one-fifth of the value it opened at. Bail has been set for Kyota at $100M, but the court date has yet to be scheduled."

Now I know about the data dongle.

A small beep indicated his disc had finished burning, and the fox pulled it out of the tray before placing another blank disc in, keeping his claws from the smooth surface. He began recording a copy of Lux Splendida before walking away from his laptop to a different section of the warehouse. He'd need the extra space to test the spell.

Using his footpads to draw lines in the grime, Aurelias created a small dot inscribed in multiple concentric rings wiped from the dirt, thirty feet in radius. A bullseye of sorts. After walking a few yards from the target, he tossed his newly-burned optical disc in the air. "Activate Ignis Fragor."

The disc shattered into a million points of light streaking towards the center of the circles. A ping echoed through the room followed by a loud explosion which vibrated in his chest. Fire bloomed in the middle of the target, and Aurelias swore as he dove to the ground, realizing he made the detonation too big. The smell of singed fur forced him to cough, but once he had finished evicting his lungs, he stood up.

He experienced no pain, so at least he had been at the very edge of the self-inflicted attack. Just his pride and coat had been injured. He checked the burned-away dirt, guessing the fire had gone as far as forty feet from the point of impact. "Well, I call that a success. Maybe I should tone it down a little, though."

The rest of the afternoon consisted of burning multiple mini-discs -- after tweaking the explosion down a few feet -- and he longed to clean off his footpads by the end. Tossing his laptop in his backpack, and storing the fresh discs in his pockets, he made his way to the exit of the warehouse. He loved his new spell. Beyond Adramelech, he didn't have any other real offensive capabilities, and he knew he'd need to defend himself eventually.

He peeked out of storehouse door to check no one would see him leave. Satisfied, he stepped into the perpetual gloom of the Undercity, shutting the building behind him.

"When you're hacking up new spells, perhaps you should make them a little quieter."

Aurelias stopped. That deep voice. The bright-furred fox whirled around, ears splayed back. "Caleb!"

"I was starting to get bored, foxy. Glad you decided to come out and play." The ebony wolf smirked from his perch above the door. A small overhang had allowed him to sit. "You ought to be more careful. If I found you, there's no telling if Kyota or Rygar's goons can."

"I thought you were their goon," the fox said with a flick of his tail and ears.

"Hacker, not goon. Subtle but important distinction, foxy." The stout wolf dropped to the ground before Aurelias. The couple of inches and many pounds of muscle the lupine had on the vulpine was enough to make Aurelias a little concerned -- and turned on. "I came here to warn you. Kyota has you figured out. He wasn't convinced when I said you hadn't copied the data; there was no way you could've leaked his plans to Rygar. My initial description of you when we first met allowed him to track you down. So he sent me -- and who knows who else -- to hunt you down, and kill you. For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

The fox's jaw hung open. He was going to be killed? Caleb looked genuinely unhappy about the turn of events, with his frown and drooping tail. Nonetheless, something still bugged Aurelias.

"Why help me?"

"Like I said before, I'm a sucker for a pretty face. And you're a good hacker. You'll be awesome in a few years, and, well, I like having you around the forums. They've been dull without you, but it was just as well you were laying low. I made it damn hard to track you."

"Is that why I couldn't get any jobs? You erasing my tracks?" Aurelias wasn't sure what to think. On one paw, Caleb bought him some time; on the other, it was pretty audacious of this wolf to just decide for him.

Caleb wouldn't meet Aurelias' eyes, his gaze planted on his feet. "It was that or let you get killed."

"Why not tell me earlier? Why wait until the last second?"

The wolf whined. "I thought I had you covered. I was wrong."

Where might he hide? How long must he run? Aurelias couldn't answer any of the questions which kept popping up from the recesses of his mind, and seeing the hacker he looked up to so downtrodden in front of him was difficult.

So the fox kissed Caleb. Aurelias leaned forward and angled his mouth up to meet the wolf's lips. The scent of Caleb filled his head, making it swim. The ebony wolf responded by sliding his tongue down the fox's narrow muzzle and pulling Aurelias close. Muscle and fur enveloped Aurelias, and for the first time in a very long time, he felt safe, content.

They were panting when they broke the kiss. "Come with me, Caleb. Help me!"

Caleb took a step away, putting distance between the pair. "I can't. That'll just lead Kyota and his hit squad directly to you. You need to run, foxy. Leave the city and don't turn back." He pulled a small disc from his pocket and handed it to Aurelias. The disc was unlabeled. "If you trust me, use this when you escape."

Aurelias watched as the wolf turned his broad back on the orange fox and walked away. Once Caleb could no longer be seen, he shook his head roughly to break his trance. He needed to collect his things and get out! Maybe he'd go to Vancouver after all. Still, he'd done so much work to build a life here in the Undercity, and he was giving it all up because of a job he never completed. Aurelias was pissed at the injustice.

First he needed to get home and collect some of his stuff. In hindsight, it was a pretty stupid decision, since as he approached the Boardwalk Apartments he saw his skunk roommate Casey struggling in the tight grip of a german shepherd in a grey suit on the doorstep.

"For the last time, no, I don't know where he is. He's almost never here."

Aurelias stood in place, maw agape, trying to figure out what to do next. Casey and the shepherd decided for him.

"Target spotted. All units converge on this location."

"Darryl! Run!"

He turned back towards the Dyson building, the orange fox pumping his legs as hard as he could, running for his relatively short life. Casey shrieked at the top of her lungs, her pitchy voice echoing off the buildings of the Undercity. The shepherd did not give chase, however.

He didn't have to. Another pair of furs in grey suits -- a bobcat and a lion -- ran on a skyway which intersected with Aurelias'. They shouted at the fox to halt, and from the corner of his eye he saw the lion pull out a gun. Touching the braille on his discs, Aurelias found the one he was looking for and threw it at the pair of thugs moving to intercept.

"Activate Lux Splendida."

A bright burst of light blossomed between him and the hitmen. They were blinded by the magical flashbang, and using that to his advantage Aurelias dove off the edge of the skyway. He brought up his translucent keyboard and modified the local gravitational constant to slow his descent. Relishing the slight rush of air as he floated downwards, he congratulated himself on a quick escape. The old distract and throw myself off the skyway trick works every time.

His feet touched ground on a dilapidated bridge he guessed was about ten stories from the bottom of the Undercity. He had no way of knowing how to get to the Dyson building from here, but since he couldn't go home, he supposed it didn't matter. Aurelias began walking towards the nearest skyscraper, thinking about his next steps.

The fox needed water, food, and a ticket for a bus or a train to a nearby city, or as far as Vancouver itself, preferably in that order. He swore quietly when he realized he abandoned his laptop charger at home, too, so he likely only had an hour left on his battery, and no real way to replenish his optical mini-discs. Each pre-compiled spell he owned a precious commodity. His phone had been ditched in his apartment. He'd not have picked it up anyway; it was always left behind because he could be tracked.

He didn't get far, though, until he heard someone screaming from above. The noise rapidly increased in volume. The fox realized the agents had figured out where he had gone and followed him over the edge. Confirming his fears, the lion and bobcat both landed on the skyway nearby, the force making them kneel and causing the structure to shudder and creak. The bobcat's yelling stopped with an, "Oomph!"

Aurelias thought fast. The skyway happened to be old and about to break. As the lion snarled and brought his pistol to bear again, the fox grabbed another disc, threw it at the ground near the pair, and sprinted down the road. "Activate Ignis Fragor."

The sonic boom of the explosion shattered the windows of many of the nearby buildings, causing alarms and sirens to ring, which would summon security drones. The road below him shook, knocking him down, then tilted towards the epicenter of his magic. His paws scrabbled against the asphalt, gaining purchase to lift himself and climb the quickly failing structure in the direction of the nearest skyscraper. A hasty glance behind him showed a gaping hole in the bridge where the thugs used to be, and Aurelias knew not to count them out yet. Perhaps they had thrown themselves off before the explosion, in which case, they were sure to be waiting if he also fell.

The skyway continued to crack, creak, and list, nearly thirty-five degrees when it finally snapped at the edge. Aurelias jumped across the final widening gap to a small piece of the skyway hanging from the scraper, rolling to a stop on the other side. The road crashed to the Undercity below, and the fox hoped the debris didn't injure or kill too many innocent furs.

Hopping through one of the broken windows, he entered the building and searched for the stairs. The elevators would be shut down by the security alert, and he didn't want to escape the thugs only to get gunned down by a stupid drone. He pointed his ears to the sides and behind him as he worked to unlock the stairwell door.

The translucent keyboard floated by his paws and streams of blue runes scrolled past his muzzle as he typed away, searching for the door lock in the universe's code. His fingers flew as he stared at the text streaming by. Hacking the entrance would be easy, if only he could find it. Then again, something as simple as an electronic lock was as uncomplicated as visual pattern matching. He'd bypassed locks of this brand before, so once he noticed what looked like the right set of lines in the code, he modified the parameters of the device inline.

The door swung open with a click. Aurelias stepped through just as the faint sounds of hover engines reached his perked ears: the security drones had arrived almost a moment too soon. He waved away the glowing console following his paws, and started down the stairs. A big, red "11" stenciled on the concrete wall confirmed his guess earlier about his location, vertically. A couple more floors down, he left the stairwell and exited the building to another skyway. This one in far better shape than the last.

To lose his pursuers, he had to get lost. If they couldn't find him now, they'd never find him with a couple hours lead in the winding roads and buildings. He broke into a light jog and continued on. A half-hour later, he slowed to a walk. Another hour after that, and he was at the ground floor of the Undercity, near a bustling market.

Other furs would be getting out of work if they worked in manufacturing, or on their way to a night shift, which made the area quite busy. Aurelias considered for a moment he was pretty distinct looking and someone in the crowd might have ties to Kyota and recognize him, but when he looked at his reflection in a window, he knew that was unlikely.

He remained covered in filth from his afternoon in the warehouse, his coat unkempt and clothes torn and dusty from the exploding skyway and journey down. His orange fur almost looked brown. The normally cleanly fox shuddered, but he was thankful for the impromptu disguise. A few in the throng wrinkled their nosepads and glanced at him askance, although most ignored him. Given the poverty in the area, more disheveled furs than himself were around.

Money was going to be problematic. He couldn't use his card to purchase anything. Kyota's goons would certainly be tracking his identity, and they'd be alerted to his exact location if he did. Thankfully years of petty crime before he got into hacking made him pretty good at palming an apple here, and a bottle of water there. He had to learn minor shoplifting and pickpocketing to survive as a teenager.

The apple tasted crisp and absolutely delicious. After devouring the succulent fruit, core and all, he downed the water almost a single long gulp. No water existed in the warehouse, and the chase left him dehydrated. He needed another bottle, but Aurelias didn't want to press his luck. Well, until he saw the electronics store.

He required a charging cable for his laptop, and as they were behind a locked case, sleight-of-paw wouldn't cut it. He shouldn't just bring up his magical console and hack the lock, either. That'd arouse suspicion immediately since most furs couldn't, and the ones which could would invariably be up to no good if they did. No, he was going to have to barter for the cable.Barter's a type of improvisation, right? Good thing I'm good at improvising.

Aurelias smoothed down his wild fur, and walked into the store. The charger for his HP Starfighter laptop cost about three thousand dollars. He silently wished again that he could access his funds securely; eighty grand sat in his account, set aside for Casey's rent.

"Can I help you, uh, sir?" The sales clerk asked -- another vulpine, desperately trying not to frown at the filthy fox in front of him. Aurelias guessed the employee was about high school aged.

"Actually, you can. I need the Starfighter charger, and I don't have any money on me --"

"I can't sell you anything if can't pay," the salesfox said, teeth bared.

Aurelias pulled out some of his discs. "I didn't say I couldn't pay. Just not money. How about a trade? You pay for the charger, and I'll give you one of my custom spells."

Rubbing the bridge of his muzzle with a paw, the clerk looked around, ears twitching. "Aren't those illegal?" he asked in hushed tones.

"Technically. Just don't use them in a big crowd. I have a couple that'd be pretty good to impress your friends, or play tricks on them." Aurelias knew he had the kid hooked. The clerk nodded slightly. "How about two discs. Your choice of two: ones like fireworks, or another which makes steps totally silent."

"Fireworks?"

"Well, one explodes with fire and the other explodes with white light, but throw them far enough and they could be fireworks."

"How do I know they do what they're supposed to?"

Aurelias sighed inwardly. He hoped the clerk would take him at his word. "Load them up on a runic disc reader, and check the code. I can wait for you, but not for long."

"Sold. Quick, before my boss gets back from break. I'll ring up the charger for you."

Aurelias handed two discs to the other fox as he paid for the cable. "The activation phrases are 'Ignis Fragor' for the first one with the bumps like that, and 'Lux Splendida' for the second one, with the bumps on it like this. Just say 'Activate' and then the phrase, and the spell will go off. Make sure you're a good forty of fifty feet away before you do it."

"Got it. This is going to be awesome for my next camping trip!"

Aurelias felt great regarding his time at the market. He'd managed to get some food and water, and he could use his laptop without worrying about battery power again. Having to give away the last of his explosion discs was unfortunate, and he only had a couple more copies of Lux Splendida. With a few hours and an Internet connection, however, he'd be able to set up another account and funnel his money over before purchasing some new discs. It'd raise alarms with Kyota's entourage, but if sufficiently careful, they'd have a tough time tracing him. At least long enough for him to make his escape.

He sat against a wall near an outlet, plugging in his laptop and turning it on. The Internet was ubiquitous in the Undercity. Decades ago there was a push by the city -- before the Metropolis existed -- to have free Internet available to all. It was an economic victory by everyone's accounts. The city prospered with the unfettered usage, and even now in the slums and abandoned buildings most access nodes were still running.

He logged into his proxies before getting his mail. He wanted to ensure anybody watching for him online would find it difficult to pinpoint his physical location. Once he had completed, his client lit up. A pair of messages sat in his inbox, one from Caleb along with another from an unknown sender which somehow avoided his spam filters.

Caleb. What was up with that wolf, anyway? Aurelias was positive he was like ten years younger than the elder hacker, and yet the wolf had acted like a shy schoolgirl when he apologized to the fox. It was completely at odds with his otherwise confident behavior. Maybe he really was sincere about thinking Aurelias was pretty. He had definitely enjoyed Aurelias' kiss, though.

"Foxy, I fucked up again. They followed me when I came to warn you and didn't notice until they almost nailed me. Kyota's thugs are after me now, too. I'll keep them busy so you can leave. If you get this mail before you're out of the city, don't stop running! And remember, if you trust me..."

"Shit!" A wolf cub nearby began giggling incessantly at the fox's swearing. The mother glared sternly at him, but Aurelias read the second mail rather than flip her off.

"Aurelias,

"We captured Caleb. Turn yourself over in the next 24 hours, or we will kill him. Then we'll be coming for you.

"Kyota"

"Shit, shit, shit!" the fox said, almost yipping the words. Another passerby glared.

Kyota was powerful as hell if he organized all of this from his jail cell. Aurelias didn't owe Caleb anything. He wouldn't be hunted in the first place if the wolf hadn't given his description to the tiger, so they were even when Caleb came to warn him.

But the fox felt like someone squeezed his heart when he thought about leaving the wolf to his fate. They barely knew each other! Why did he want to find him? Aurelias knew he was lying to himself, though. They had interacted on the hacker forums for a few years now, since the fox was seventeen. The two physical meetings had solidified the elder hacker's personality and presence in the fox's mind. Maybe love was too strong a word, but Aurelias wanted -- no -- needed to know.

So he decided he must dismantle Vicios Kyota's organization, completely.