{"sf1_id":564957,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Skyfall Chapter 6","author":"Abyssa","words":3089,"posted_at":"2013-07-18T22:39:00.000Z","tags":["Alien","Anthro","Canine","Hybrid","Laboratory","Male","Werewolf","Wolf","space"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/564957-skyfall-chapter-6","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/564957","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=564957\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"             6\n  Someone\nslammed a door down the hall, and I woke up as my body crashed down towards the\nground. Dazed, I slowly stood up, realizing I had passed out on the couch. I\nrubbed my sore face, eyes squeezed shut. \n  Upon opening my eyes, I\ncould see that the sun was barely rising in the sky. I sighed. I wouldn't be\nable to fall asleep now, anyway. I hopped into the shower and got ready for my\nday. Same routine as always, same clothes as always, same blank expression as\nalways. \n  I headed down to breakfast\nbut couldn't find Kato or Misha there. There was an entirely different crowd in\nthe dining hall at this hour. I assumed most of them were guards, or\nassassins...I remembered Kato mentioning assassins last night. \n  I grabbed some fruits and\na pastry and headed off to a table at the corner when someone yelled out in my\ndirection, \"Hey! It's you again!\" \n  My ears flattened. Not\nhim. \n  I turned around to see the\nman who had invaded my shower the other day, grinning and gesturing me to join\nhim. I slowly walked towards him, studying the crowd around him. He was sitting\nin the center of three other men, who all looked very similar; short hair,\nlarge muscular builds, and the same black armored outfit. \n  \"I'm Caliber!\" The man\nshoved his hand toward me, and my reflexes made me shake his hand.\n  \"Decipher.\" I nodded,\ntaking a seat at the table. \n  One of the others laughed\nand gave Caliber a punch to the shoulder, \"Hey, he has one of those stupid\n'words that describes you' names, too.\" He said. \n  \"Yeah, well, better than\nmy previous name.\" Caliber mumbled. \"So what's your job, Decipher?\" Caliber\nasked, looking up at me with brown eyes that shimmered with his excitement. \n  \"I don't really have one\nyet.\" I shrugged, picking at my food. \"I've been doing training, but I have no\nidea what I'm training for.\" \n  \"I bet you'll be an\nassassin!\" Caliber said.\n  \"They...haven't really given\nme the job description on that one.\" I said, avoiding eye contact. \"Most other\npositions I see are pretty self-explanatory, but what does an assassin do?\"\n  \"Really? Who's training\nyou? Where did you even come from?\" Caliber raised an eyebrow, studying my\nface. \"I'm surprised they haven't told you anything!\" \n  The man sitting next to\nCaliber nudged him again, \"Cal, they found him about a mile from here passed\nout, he has amnesia...\" his voice went quiet as he mumbled the rest into\nCaliber's ear. I tilted my ears foreword in an attempt to hear what he had\nsaid, but he was too quiet.\n  \"Oh! That's right. Misha's\nworking with you...got it.\" Caliber said, \"To answer your question, think of\nassassins as elite guards. They train in very specific methods in order to take\ndown their targets quickly. Fast and efficient, that's what they do.\" \n  \"Targets? So they kill.\" I\nmumbled, mostly to myself. \n  \"Well sure, but, I\nmean...they all deserve it!\" Caliber said, rubbing his head nervously.\n  \"Don't worry.\" I sighed, \"I\ndidn't say I had a problem with killing.\" \n  That made them all quiet. I\nfinished my food while they slowly began talking amongst themselves again. \n  After a few awkward\nminutes, I saw Kato from across the room. I jumped up and nodded at the group,\n\"Um, see you all later. Maybe.\" \n  Caliber nodded, \"Bye,\nDecipher!\"\n  I ran over to Kato, who was\ndressed in a thick armored suit that covered his entire body. \n   \"Hi, Decipher! Good to see you up and\nsocializing.\" Kato smiled at me, but something about his smile seemed different\ntoday. \"We're going to be training together today, learning the basics of hand\nto hand combat, that sort of thing.\" \n  I tried to study his\nface...was he nervous? I couldn't tell. \"Are you ready to start?\" He asked me.\n  I nodded, and he led me\ninto the gym. We walked in silence; the sound of his boots hitting the floor\nwas becoming unnerving. \n  We entered the main room\nthat I had fought the entities in the day before. The room was completely empty\nthis time and lit with fluorescent, white lights. Kato brought me to the center\nand we began to stretch and warm up. We ran around the room several times to\nwarm up. I kept pace with him, but found that my long legs seemed to change\nslightly as I ran. I thought back to the werewolf's legs...\n  When I looked back down at\nmy own, I noticed that the joints had shifted to match the werewolf's legs, and\nwhen I slowed down they slowly morphed back. I stopped dead, watching the\nprocess. I couldn't believe what was happening. That should not have happened.\n  I panted heavily, running\nthrough all the options in my mind. Shifts like this did not usually happen\nunless it was a deliberate, conscious decision. The fact that it was happening\nwithout me realizing it concerned me. \n  Kato finished his last lap\naround the room and ran up next to me, \"You alright?\" He asked. I nodded,\ndeciding to ignore it for now. \"Great, then let's get started!\" He said.\n  Kato and I stood in the\ncenter of the room and he explained a few things to me. At the time, I understood\nthem, but my mind was distracted. He instructed me to make the first move.\n  I was somewhat afraid I\nwould accidentally harm him, but his armor seemed to cover him well enough. I\nraised my fists and threw a punch towards his ribcage. He swiftly blocked my\nhit and diverted my arm with his, landing his fist on my ribcage. This process\nrepeated several times. I was exhausted and unenthused already.\n  \"Alright, Decipher,\" Kato\nsaid, breathing a bit heavily from blocking all my hits, \"your issue is that\nyou only focus on your own movements. Study mine instead.\" \n  My eyes closed tightly. I\nwas frustrated again. That had been my intent this entire time! I was just\nhaving a hard time thinking about the present situation. I tried to focus\nharder, however, and ended up landing a few blows to his chest, but he quickly\ndirected his fists right back at me. \n  \"DECIPHER!\" Kato shouted,\npausing for a minute, \"You need to wake up.\" \n  I had never heard Kato raise\nhis voice like that before. Perhaps he was feeling frustrated with me, too. He\nWAS in charge of training me, after all. Poor guy... It was true, I hadn't been\nfocusing. I sighed and closed my eyes for a brief moment. \n  When I opened my eyes, Kato's\nfist was headed right for my face. I ducked, snatching his arm and twisting his\nbody to the side. He jumped back and headed right back at me, but this time I was\nable to divert his blows and redirect his energy away from me. As the fight\ncontinued, I slowly began to pick up on more of the movements, and Kato's pace\nquickened. \n  The fight slowly became more\nintense. Within a few minutes, he began to attempt to hit me, slowly at first,\nso that my mind could adapt to the situation. I began to work rhythmically,\ndiverting his blows, blocking them, and then landing a hit of my own.\nThroughout the fight, he would explain certain movements to me as he\ndemonstrated them. Usually, these demonstrations ended with me on the ground.\n  He ended with a move that he\ndid not have time to explain. As I struck at him with my fist, he ran at me,\ngrabbing my outstretched arm and somehow launching my body over his. I landed\non my back with a thud and a whimper, unable to breath. \n  Kato slowly walked over to\nme, looming over my head and panting. He knelt down, trying not to collapse. I\nlooked at his armor, some pieces had been shattered and the hard, black plates\nwere torn open. I couldn't see any skin, though. I was glad I hadn't drawn blood.\nI looked at Kato's face; his golden eyes seemed to be tinted with a fiery\norange. The left side of his head had a large bruise spotted with blood. His\neye was squeezed shut. I slowly sat up. \n  \"Oh...\" I rasped, \"I'm sorry\nabout your face.\" \n  Kato laughed, \"Nah. I'm\nglad you were able to land a hit on me. After all, I'm sure you'll be nicely\nbruised from this.\" He sighed and rubbed his face with the hand that wasn't\nsupporting his body, \"I'm the lucky one wearing body armor. You did well today.\"\nHe said, patting my shoulder and offering me a hand up. \n  We both stood, and he\nhelped support my body, which was racked with pain. That last move he had\nperformed had sent a paralyzing shock through my spine, and it still felt\nawkward to move. \n  \"Are you going to show me\nwhat that last move was sometime?\" I asked.\n  \"Ha! Maybe. It's one of my\npersonal favorites. I'm sure you'll learn and develop your own eventually.\" \n  \"Perhaps.\" I said as we\nlimped foreword. \n  \"You're free to go wash\noff and do whatever else you want until after dinner.\" Kato said as we exited\nthe gym arena. \"You're supposed to go hiking with me after dinner.\" \n  I nodded, sighing heavily.\n\"Do I ever get a break?\" \n  \"Not really until after\nyou are trained, and as you grow stronger, your training days will last\nlonger.\" Kato said. \"Time goes by pretty fast during this time, don't worry.\nSoon you'll be out in the field doing your job. When that happens, you'll work\ncertain shifts throughout the week and have time off all the other times.\" \n  \"Okay.\" I said quietly,\nfeeling worse about this place suddenly. \n  \"It's only been a few\nhours, and we were supposed to start about this time.\" Kato said, watching my\nexpression carefully, \"Why don't you go and visit with Misha? He should be at\nbreakfast around this time.\" \n  My expression must have\nbrightened, because Kato smiled back at me. I nodded and headed towards the\ndining hall. It was late now; many of the employees had already eaten. Only a\nfew people remained in the dining hall, most of them I had seen before. Wes was\nsitting at the table with Misha, but as I approached, he got up and left. I said\na silent thank you to the universe\nand rushed over to Misha's table. \n  \"Misha!\" He jumped at my\nenthusiasm. \n  \"Hey, Decipher.\" He said,\nstaring at me with a somewhat shocked expression. I looked down. I had\nforgotten that I had blood leaking down my neck and through my shirt in a few\nplaces from the fight. \n  \"Training this morning.\" I\nexplained, \"Kato and I started early. I couldn't sleep last night.\" \n  Misha nodded, \"I see. He\ndidn't beat you too badly, did he?\" \n  \"Well, his final move\nlanded me on my back, paralyzed. But aside from that I think I did pretty\nalright.\" I said, smiling. It felt great to speak with Misha again. I took a\nmoment to stare into his eyes from across the table. I missed this personal\nconnection. \n  \"I'm also apparently\nsupposed to go for a hike with him this evening; would you care to join us?\" I\nblurted out, staring at him hopefully. \n   \"Uh.\" Misha looked at his food,\navoiding my eyes. I sighed. I used this technique all the time. But why was he\nusing it? \"I can't. I have some things to do in the lab.\" He said. \n  \"Well, when's the next\ntime we can spend some time together?\" I asked eagerly. \n  \"I...don't know.\"\n  \"What about after my hike?\nWill you be busy all night? Maybe I could see where you live!\" I rambled on.\nMisha's face seemed tense.\n  \"No.\" He said flatly. \n   My ears fell back. I closed my jaw and\nlooked away. \"You seem stressed. Can I help somehow?\" I asked timidly. \n  \"I have to go.\" Misha\nsaid, snatching his food tray and walking away. Confused, I watched him walk\naway with a blank expression on my face. I sat in silence for a few minutes until\nI convinced myself to stand up. I wandered towards the gym showers, figuring\nI'd be able to pick up an early lunch by the time I was done showering and\nwashing all the red and brown dust marks off this damn white fur.\n   I entered the gym shower dressing room and\nslipped off my clothes, grabbing one of the clean towels and wrapping it around\nmy waist. I didn't care who saw me today. I was too exhausted to be worried\nabout the taboo of nudity this time. I sighed, stuffing my clothes inside a\nlocker and preparing to enter the showers.  \n  I overheard Kato's voice\nfrom the showers, \"It was quite incredible, I have to say.\" He said. I heard\nanother muffled voice but could not make out what it said. \n  \"No!\" Kato shouted,\n\"That's a ridiculous idea. I know I've never had someone learn this quickly,\nbut it's a bad idea, Misha. I don't give a damn what his pain tolerance test\nshowed. That thing is probably full of error, you said so yourself!\" \n  The muffled voice began\nagain, this time I was able to hear some of it, \"...my idea, it was Hale's. I'm\njust the doctor's opinion. I don't really know what to say on the matter,\nthough.\" \n  \"Tell him it's a fucking\nbad idea!\" I heard Kato say.\n  \"I don't know, Kato.\"\nMisha's voice called after him, \"I'd like to see what happens.\" \n  \"Don't be a dick, Misha.\nThat guy adores you.\" \n  The water shut off and I\nheard footsteps walking this direction.\n   I\nquickly walked back to my locker, pretending to use it. Kato entered the room,\nwiping the water from his body and wrapping the towel back around his waist.\n\"Hey, Decipher.\" He said, his voice full of innocence.\n  I kept quiet, moving the\ndirty clothes around in my locker and avoiding eye contact. \n   \"Oh, Decipher, if you want to use\nthe lockers frequently, I can tell one of the maids to stock your locker full\nof clean clothing and get you a key.\" Kato said, unlocking his locker.\n  \"Sure. That'd be good.\" I\nsaid, still avoiding eye contact as I walked towards the showers. I caught a\nglimpse of Kato's body as I left the locker room. His chest was spotted with\ndark purple bruises from our fight. I felt a bit proud, and a bit guilty. \n   I walked into the showers. Misha must have\nleft through a different exit. I did not see him anywhere. There were a few\nother people scattered about in different showers, but I did not recognize any\nof them. I sighed, entering the closest shower and turning on the hot water.\n  The steam blurred my\nvision as my thoughts clouded my mind. I had no idea what Misha and Kato had\nbeen talking about, but it did not seem good. I was confused again. I felt like\nI had been lied to once more. \n  I quickly scrubbed the\nblood and dirt out of my fur and shut the water off. Walking absent mindedly\ninto the locker room, I wiped the water off my face. I slung the towel over my\nshoulder and opened my locker. To my surprise, a few sets of clean clothes had\nbeen placed inside, along with a small card key, and my dirty clothes had been\nremoved. I put on a pair of clean clothes and dumped my wet towel in a bin. \n  I decided to skip lunch\nand head to my room and sleep. I was still exhausted from missing sleep the\nprevious night, and I was not hungry.\n \nUpon waking up, I discovered that I had missed dinner. I sighed and\nrolled out of bed, I wasn't hungry anyway. I ran downstairs to meet Kato for\nour evening hike. I shook my head, trying to rid myself of the drowsy feeling\nthat lingered from my nap. I found Kato right outside the dining hall. \n  \"Are you ready to leave?\"\nI asked him, eager to be done with this and back in my room.\n  \"Oh, hey Decipher.\" Kato\nsaid, smiling, \"I was wondering where you were. Yeah, let's get going.\" \n  I nodded, and we left\nthrough the main entrance and walked towards the trail we had walked on before.\n\n  We ran most of the way,\nsaving our breath for the air our lungs craved. We took a few different trails\nthis time, winding up the hillside and around the cliff face. I tried to focus\nonly on the run; I did not want to speak to anyone. We stopped at the same spot\nKato had shown me the night before.\n  After a few moments of\ncatching our breath, Kato turned to me, \"So how have you been?\" He asked,\npanting. \n  \"Fine.\" I said, keeping\nmy eyes fixed on the setting sun. \"Are we done for the night?\" \n  \"Well, sure, but I was\ngoing to sit out here for a while\" Kato said. I could feel his eyes studying\nme. \"Would you care to join me?\"\n  \"I'm exhausted. I am\ngoing back to sleep.\" I said, turning and running down the trail before he\ncould protest. I took the quick route back. I wasn't sure if I would be able to\nfall asleep, but I wanted to be alone. I would've loved to stay at the lookout\npoint, had Kato not been there. \n   I sighed heavily, entering the elevator that\nlead to my room. Someone else was in the elevator with me, and they might have\neven said something, but I was dazed. I did not have enough energy left for\nsocial interaction at this point.\n  I opened the door to my\nroom and fell onto my bed, not bothering to undress. I stared out into the\ndarkening sky as my mind drifted away with the scarce clouds.  ","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/564427-skyfall-chapter-5.json"}