FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

WARNING As is standard with the nature of this series, this fic has been rated adult due to scenes of violence, gore, messy food related sex and death (not quite in that order). Since this type of stuff tends not to sit too well with typical nurturing parents who care only for the development of their kids, I advise that those who are under the legal age limit please read no further, and those who are over the limit (but apparently still living at home) think carefully before continuing on. NOTES This is one of the landmark chapters in that it heralds the first appearance of the characters from the second FXM saga, Cyber-Trackers, Inc. (currently the whole project as it stands will consist of four parallel running series that each deal with a separate aspect of life on Neo-Terra.) I just thought I'd give the primary cast a quick trial run here first to see what everybody thinks of them before officially launching them into their own spin-off. As per usual everything from here on in is Copyright Klesk Vadrigaar 2006 (save for any song melodies which are of course copyright their respective owners). If by chance you want to try writing your own story in this universe then ask and you'll be more than welcome to do so. Comments, criticisms, commissions (if you so desire) and the like are still being taken at [email protected] Lastly, yet again, I must apologise to everyone for taking forever to get this done. I swear someday I'm going to work out a more efficient schedule for myself, just not now it seems. >_<. Fursonae X Machina Episode 4: Broken Wings Written by Klesk Vadrigaar June 4th - 8:43 p.m.- It was a time of celebration for the inhabitants of Neo-Terra. The signs of the upcoming summer were becoming increasingly apparent in the northern hemisphere. A marine convoy had inadvertently made first contact with a sentient off-world series and was now returning with two of its emissaries. And, perhaps most important of all, it was again the time of year in which morphs all around the planet heralded the anniversary of the Genison meteorite fallout, the incident that had sparked the world's metamorphosis from the Elder dominated, ecologically ruined planet Earth, to the ultra-evolved morph and machine shared paradise it was now. Whether actually celebrating the occasion for its intended purpose, or just using it as an excuse to party down and gorge on the pleasures of life, everywhere across the world, creatures large and small, metal and flesh, paid their tributes for being allowed this second chance at life. In the African Serengeti the various ferallie tribes flocked to the chartered impact sites for a day of dancing and worship around the meteorites which the Network had left behind for memorial purposes. In the Rogue States of Polonia and Lupinavia guards lined the streets as the populace treasured the rare sensation of being allowed a day off from the working week, and what's more one where the bars and entertainment centres were open 24/7. And, much closer to home, in San Francisco a large menagerie of morphs climbed to the rooftops of the city's highest buildings and gave their thanks to the heavens while sharing in the simulated pleasures of various designer drugs. After which they all happily jumped off the edge and plummeted to their deaths, the primary thought shared between them as they descended past each floor being *So far, so good. So far, so good.* gradually segueing into one silent chant of *Thank Deus, it's finally over!!* as their bones and blood splattered over the skyways and ground roads hundreds of stories below. * * * June 8th - 2:45 p.m. - "Oh Cyan, this is such an honour!" Sharon exclaimed as she followed the squirrel and the group of morphs through the atmos-tube connecting Neo-Terra's planetary habitat ring to its docking ring. "I can't thank you enough for letting me accompany you to welcome our newest neighbours." "I don't know what you're getting so excited about." Cyan said as she looked up at the stars through the swirling mirth of the tube's simulated atmosphere. "I mean seeing as the world is already teeming with non-sentient off-world life from the various series brought here by the meteorites it seemed inevitable that at some point we'd bump into one on our own evolutionary level." The group stopped momentarily while one of the free floating gravity bound structures that made up the ring rotated into place in front of them, the air-lock doors hissing audibly as they unsealed themselves and slid open. "Then again, I doubt any of us expected that such a momentous encounter would occur during a routine cargo transport to deliver new armaments to the Arthros beetle colonies." All the morphs stepped into the airlock and again paused as the inner set of doors opened up, revealing a small triangular shaped guidance mek hovering several feet in the air on the other side. - Good afternoon officers. I am Hector, Terran Network AI #409-8T-3VG, assigned as administrator to the Neo-Terra space docking ring. This way please.- It floated off to the back of the room with the group in tow as the structure disengaged and rotated back along the ring to slide like a jig-saw puzzle piece into the outer section where ships were docking. "At any rate, I know how you've wanted to meet the Cyber-Trackers so I thought this would be ideal for you." Cyan continued "That it is." The blue vixen smiled gratefully at her commander. The troop continued on in silence for a while longer until they came to three more airlocks with huge windows set to the side of each one, through which three massive ships could be seen in the process of connecting to the ring. The first bore the standard long, sleek, shark design of a military command craft, the second looked like a close derivative with an arrow shaped front section, split at the end into two prongs like a fork, and four massive engines mounted on the tail section in an X formation. The third, for lack of a better comparison, looked like a four tentacled, neon green squid, trailing behind which was a long thin fuselage similar to that of a dragon fly's abdomen with huge fins and tail flukes taking up residence on the sides, fanned out and rippling gently like the sails of an ancient galleon. And as it slid gracefully up to the air lock doors Sharon also happen to notice a section of the ship's undercarriage balloon outward slightly. The material that made up the hull inflated and stretched like the skin of a lung being filled with air before deflating and shrinking back as four smaller tentacle like appendages linked in a tube formation by thick membranes extended out of the ship's maw to press against the airlock doors and complete the docking process. *Fitting.* The vixen mused as she turned to the group. "So just to refresh my memory, what exactly is the proper procedure for this sort of thing?" Cyan leaned against the window and shrugged. "We say hello, welcome them to Neo-Terra, shoot the breeze for a while then go home. Same way you'd meet any other individual." She said as if what they were about to do was a common, everyday occurrence. "Course I'll probably leave most of the talking to our friends here." She gestured to the group before walking up to the first air lock. "After all, the only real reason to warrant my presence is that a wife should always be there to welcome her mate home." The doors slid open and out stepped an intimidating eight and a half foot tall Tyrannosaurus Rex smartly dressed in a black United Terran Marine Corp. officers uniform, the relative bar insignias that identified his rank as commander imprinted on the left breast. Flanking him on his right was a female marine in full battle gear, a bushy white skunk tail emblazoned with three black stripes jutting out from her rear. It was all Cyan could do to stop herself from swooning happily as he walked up to her and saluted. "Good afternoon officers, Commander Daxler Cyan, commanding officer of the U.T.S. Tartaras reporting back from Arthros." He lowered his hand as a big toothy smile spread over his snout. "Miss me much?" "Do you really need to ask Dax?" Cyan cooed as she was picked up off her feet and the two shared a passionate embrace. "I mean it's going to be the same answer every time." "I know, but it always makes the trip worthwhile to hear you say it upon returning home." Dax grinned as he cradled his spouse, his huge muscular arms proving to be big enough for her to sit on them comfortably. "Oh, alright then. Yes I missed you Dax, just as dearly as I do each and every time you head off on another mission." She smirked before kissing him on the snout while a black and white feline in a green version of the dinosaur's uniform stepped forward. "Welcome back commander, I trust that, aside from your little encounter, you had a successful and otherwise uneventful mission?" The T-Rex nodded as he put the squirrel down and exchanged salutes again. "Yes Colonel Reinhardt, delivery of our cargo to the beetle colonies went perfectly according to plan. Ship and crew are accounted for in full. And before you ask, yes I've been taking care of our 'guests' and keeping them well informed of what to expect in preparation for arrival." The dinosaur turned to his inverted companion. "Isn't that right Corporal Mohiam?" The skunk removed her helmet and nodded. "Yes sir, as thoroughly and in depth as we could." - In fact they only just shut up about the matter around an hour ago.- Sharon turned around to see a three foot tall, humanoid mekanik walking up behind her, its slim, chrome plated body decked out in a black ninja suit (sans shoes) with a silver line trim designed in the likeness of a huge double bridged 'H' stretching across the chest like a bandoleer as well as a greave like design around the knees and shins. On top of this it wore a full length black trench coat. - I mean by now the poor things probably know enough about us to teach a course in quantum mechanics while simultaneously conducting a full fledged symphony considering how much those two have been jabbering away about our customs and culture.- The mek continued in a voice laced with what sounded oddly like an upper-class British accent, grated somewhat by its mechanical vocoder. Sharon politely stepped out of the way to allow the mek to pass by her, causing it to pause and lift its saurian shaped head (similar to a raptor skull with the bottom jaw removed) to regard the vixen. - Oh, do excuse me. - It extended a gloved hand. - How do you do? Name's Hacker, Cyber-Trackers, Inc. I don't believe we've had the pleasure of meeting before.- Enthralled, Sharon grabbed the bot's hand and pumped it strongly. "Well then, I'm honoured to have it now. I'm Sharon." - Charmed. - Hacker nodded reverently before turning to face the rest of the entourage. - Right then, where were we? Oh yes, our unexpected acquaintances.- He casually stuck his hands back in his pockets and leaned against the wall. - Well, as I've already said, they've been more than adequately briefed. So, assuming none of you are a die-hard Captain Scarlet fan, introductions should be fairly easy going.- Reinhardt nodded. "Good, I expect you've already equipped them with translating devices." Hack glanced up briefly and then tilted his head sideways as if trying to look at something behind the morphs. "Actually sir, we found that wasn't really necessary." Dax said. The feline cocked an eyebrow and was about to ask why, only to jump at the sound of a voice echoing through his brain. *T-to-to us, all language is comprehensible-ble. W-We-We recognise-nise all, a-an-and understand all-l-l*. Virtually every other morph present followed suite as they too heard it in their minds simultaneously. Rubbing her temples, Cyan turned around to glance behind her, and stopped dead as her eyes were met with the sight of Neo-Terra's newest arrival stepping out of the airlock to a myriad of wide-eyed expressions. Regardless of whatever possible image the gathered morphs may have harboured, it was clear none of them were prepared for the sight of what now stood before them. Its head could roughly be described as a round and slightly bloated ball of deep sea blue flesh with a single ridged brow that ran along the front above two piercing red eyes with strange cross-shaped pupils. Situated directly below them was a writhing mass of thin octopus like tentacles that draped over its mouth (assuming that it had one) and ran down to the waist of its body, reminding Cyan distinctly of a mythological creature she had once read about called Cthulhu. As the squirrel's eyes travelled downward, however, she saw that the similarities ended there, for while Cthulhu was usually portrayed as having a giant and severely bloated form, this entity's anatomy was almost the exact opposite: thin, lithe, barely 6 feet in height, and, if the visible curves were anything to go by, almost feminine. Covering the creature's body was a flowing purple robe which seemed to sparkle brightly under the light as if a tiny galaxy of stars were twinkling away within its folds. As the group gradually got used to the sight and stopped gaping, the strange alien folded her webbed hands over the front of her robe and began to float forward. *Wait, float? Is that what that is?* Cyan blinked in disbelief as she looked down to where the feet would normally be on a morph's anatomy, and saw only the alien's clothing trailing along the floor like the rear end of some glitter covered slug, sending little ripples along the garment as though it were not fabric but liquid, held onto its wearer's body by some invisible membrane. Deciding it was something that really didn't warrant fretting over, she exhaled slowly and straightened up as their visitor approached her and lowered its bulbous head while two pairs of orange, vestigial bat wings (one attached near her shoulders and the other further down towards her waist) folded out through the back of her robe, producing the same watery ripples. *W-We-We are honoured to f-fi-finally make your acquaintance-ce-ce (acquaintance) men of Neo-Terra-ra. She sent into their minds, her eyes pulsating lightly in tune to her thoughts.* The squirrel cocked her head as she listened to the creature speak. Much as her physical appearance had indicated, the alien's voice held a soft feminine tone that, once she'd gotten past the initial surprise of only hearing it in her head, was actually rather pleasant to listen to. Cyan also noted, now that she'd had a chance to listen more closely, that the alien's apparent repetition of letters and syllables didn't sound so much like a stutter as it did four identical voices saying the same thing, only slightly out of sync with each other. "Actually Commander Cyan is a female, or woman if you prefer." The feline colonel piped up from behind in the kind of understanding but pitiful tone one might take with an ignorant child who still has yet to learn about the basic aspects of the world. "Nice to meet you guys too though." At that the alien narrowed her eyes and puffed her cheeks upward as though she were smiling widely. *S-Si-Similarly, not guys-ys-s.* The creature's mouth tentacles reverberated outward with a repetitive huffing that sounded almost like laughter. "I made the same mistake initially." Daxler shrugged. "Sirs, this is Yiruz'gwa and her associate, At'zrabyra." He pronounced the names as YEE-roo-zee-GUH-wah and AHT-zee-rah-BEE-ray. "They come from a nearby world called Pelthon." Cyan glanced behind Yiruz'gwa to see an identical creature, robed in dark blue, approaching them. "Well, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." She took hold of the alien's webbed hand and gave it a small shake, earning herself another surprise in the process when she felt her skin wasn't the least bit slimy or even dry as she'd expected, but was instead covered in incredibly short blue fur. The overall sensation felt like she was shaking paws with a huge, living plush toy. "Well, since we've all now gotten friendly with each other, what say we get down to business?" The feline colonel stepped in. "Namely what brings you here?" - Solar winds, primarily. - The group of morphs again did an about face to be met with another mekanik that looked, for the most part, like the traditional cartoon depiction of a ghost. Its red visored eyes were staring down at the screen of a portable holo-terminal which it delicately clutched in a silvery nest of foot long fingers. - And not just from external sources mind you. Believe it or not, their ship is also apparently equipped with its own miniature celestial body. Gives them enough extra power to enable them to achieve FTL speeds. It's how we almost had a side on collision with each other in the first place. - The mek flicked its tail behind it and floated over next to Hacker as Sharon went wide eyed in recognition. "Fascinating, are you perchance the one they call Scratch?" It looked up to regard the vixen and nodded while Hack draped an arm over its shoulder. - Yep, that would be me. Head of Intel and all things Network related for the Trackers.- Scratch bowed and extended one of his long fingered hands to grasp the vixen's paw. - Love your hair style by the way. - Yiruz'gwa closed her eyes. *A-A-A-As for our intentions for being here. W-W-W-We h-ha-have need of your a-a-aid-d.* A muscular spinosaurus dressed in battle gear with a yellow tipped sail and a stoic look about his face emerged out of the first airlock, his bionic right arm balancing a large specimen tank on his shoulder with great care. Hot on his heels was a meerkat in a technician jumpsuit and exoskeletal maintenance frame with two smaller cases under his arms. - Do be careful there. - Hacker cautioned as the two morphs set their cargo down. "You know I always am, sir." The saurian intoned reservedly. "Same here, dad." The meerkat followed up with more enthusiasm. The colonel narrowed his eyes in suspicion as he examined the crates. "What are those?" *Th-Th-The m-m-me-means by which we can benefit from e-ea-each o-oth-other-er (each other).* At'zrabyra answered as she advanced to stand by her companion. - Call it a spontaneous gesture of good will, similar I believe to what a husband might give his wife in an attempt to subvert the guilt of missing numerous anniversaries. - Hacker leaned over to disengage the holo-locks when the colonel's paw suddenly shot out and grabbed his arm. "Hey, HEY! Hold on there! You're not planning on opening those here are you?" Hacker paused, glanced down in bewilderment at the paw and then looked up into the feline's eyes to give him a disapproving stare. There followed an awkward moment of silence as the collected morphs stared dumbfounded at the feline's inexplicable act, not exactly sure how to respond. -I take it you don't receive a lot of mail, do you? - The little mek said at last. - Sir, we assure you there's no cause for alarm. Hack's had our ship's computer run them through the full quarantine procedure. They're all clean and perfectly safe to handle. - Scratch quickly piped up. "And, if I may add, they've also been cooped up in there for almost a day and a half while we were heading home. They could probably do with some more space to move around in." The meerkat said, causing Reinhardt to shift his gaze away from Hacker and zero in on the cases like they were unexploded bombs. "Those contain living organisms??" Hacker shrugged and gingerly lifted the paw off his arm as though it were a two week old banana skin. - Well we figured it was either that or they were just really active zombies. I mean with off-world creatures who can really say?- The feline quickly backed away and folded his paws across his chest in a defensive manner. "Commander, do you really feel it's necessary for them to bring those out here, in front of a full entourage of military and media personnel?" Daxler, looking rather unsure and a bit surprised at his superior's sudden streak of distrust, crossed his hands behind his back and cleared his throat. "Ahem, Colonel, with all due respects, I believe both groups may find them to be of immense interest. And I can confirm that the Cyber-Trackers did indeed follow proper quarantine procedures and have submitted their report in full which I made sure to read over twice. It is exactly as they say: there's nothing you need to worry about." He assured while the skunk at his side raised her paw. "I'll second the Commander's statements. I mean if anyone is taking notes." The two pelthonians turned to regard the feline. *I t-tr-trust we have not committed a wrong doing by bringing them here-ere-ere?* Yiruz'gwa thought in concern. "Oh certainly not." Cyan assured her. "I think Colonel Reinhardt just didn't expect you to lavish us with gifts." She smiled and took hold of the alien's hand. "Tell you what, why don't you two come with me to one of the conference rooms so we can discuss things in a little more private setting while my associate looks after your possessions? That is if my superiors don't consider it to be too much of a hazard." She shot the feline a stern stare, causing Reinhardt to roll his eyes and defensively take another step back as the aliens passed him by. "Just make sure somebody sticks a bio-hazard warning on those crates." He turned and walked back to the entourage of other morphs who were busy making notes and capturing stills. "Hector, would you please direct the other representatives to conference room 4 so we can get the formal introductions underway?" -Of course, Commander. - The probe floated off. //And Sharon, I want you to help Hacker and his team transport the cargo back to HQ for now. It looks as though I'm going to be needed up here after all. // The squirrel sent privately over the cerebral link. #Right.# The vixen turned to the mek who was shaking his head. - Bloody bakabobo. - He muttered quietly with a glare in Reinhardt's direction. "Mr. Hacker?" - Yes?- "Would you care to accompany me to the T-D gates so we can move those, whatever they are, to a safer spot on-world?" She glanced up at the feline who was giving a statement to one of the other morphs, pausing every so often to cast a suspicious glance in their direction. "Cyan thinks it may be best if we relieved Colonel Reinhardt of the dignitary duties for right now as he seems to be having some...difficulty handling the task." Hacker followed her gaze as something almost like disdain simmered in his red eyes. - Well, what did you expect? He's a cat! - * * * - 3:02 p.m.- "So what exactly are in those cases anyway?" Sharon asked as she, Cyan, Hacker et all headed back through the atmos-tube to the habitat ring. "That is if you don't mind my asking." *T-T-T-Two organisms which will be necessary for our mutual benefit-fit-it (benefit).* At'zrabyra nodded enigmatically back at the vixen. -I'll be more than happy to explain it all to you once we're planetside, Miss Sharon. - Scratch stated as the group stepped back onto the habitat ring and approached a fork in the corridor. "Okay, this is where we're going to have to part company. Yiruzg'wa, At'zrabyra my mate and I will accompany you to where our planet's other representatives have gathered. Sharon and the Trackers will take your cargo back to one of our bases in New York till everybody's gotten better acquainted." Daxler said politely. Both aliens bowed their heads in reverence. *We-We-We find that to be quite acceptable-ble-ble.* Yiruz'gwa said. *W-W-We t-tr-trust you have an equally well equipped transport to take th-th-them there-re-re?* "Oh the military generally doesn't bother with crafts when travelling to and from the rings. We have a much faster and simpler method for that." The pelthonians turned to regard the vixen with curiosity. *W-W-What may that be-e-e?* Sharon smiled and gestured with her paw. "Come on, I'll show you if you want." She headed off down the hallway to the left as the two aliens followed behind. * * * - 3:06 p.m.- Four minutes later the group entered a large oval shaped room in which numerous winged meks and morphs in maintenance uniforms were going about their business, tending to various computer terminals and the like which were situated around two massive metal rings floating vertically above the floor. One measured nearly 20 feet in diameter and was situated inside the second one which was around 30 feet in diameter. Both were adorned with deep grooves and indentations like a control dial, with a ramp leading up to the middle of the inner ring. *W-Wh-What is t-th-this?* The pelthonians asked almost simultaneously in astonishment. "It's called a Temporal-Dimensional, or 'T-D', gateway. Essentially it's an all purpose teleportation device." Sharon explained as she stepped up to it and spread her arms out like she was displaying a stylish new craft. "You just enter your co-ordinates and this thing opens a portal to the corresponding area, be it in space, time or even parallel universes." Upon hearing this, Yiruz'gwa's eyes opened even wider in what seemed to be amazement as her tentacles went limp. Slowly she floated over to the ring and ran a webbed hand over its smooth metallic surface. *A-Ar-Are there many of these on y-y-your world-ld-d?* "Every military base and C.S.F. branch on Neo-Terra has one. And numerous stripped down versions are located at key emergency points around the cities. Of course, as you already saw when we were returning home, our ships are also equipped with fold drives which basically do the same thing." Daxler explained. "Travelling through them can admittedly make you a bit nauseous, but for a means of getting from one location to another almost instantaneously there's virtually nothing better." At'zrabyra joined her companion and also began to feel over the device. *H-H-How d-do-does this work-k-k?* - To be honest we're still a bit in the dark about that ourselves. The Network computers developed them from off-world technology discovered in the meteorites that touched down onto our planet many centuries ago.- Scratch explained, causing both aliens to exchange a look of excitement mixed with what appeared to be apprehension. - All we know for the moment is that they operate on a basis similar to creating wormholes, via channelling super-dense matter through numerous....- - Yes, yes okay Scratch, that'll do. - Hacker cut the other mek off. - They've already had enough knowledge stuffed into their heads for one day. Let's not add to the pile.- Slowly the pelthonians lowered their hands to their sides and turned to face their entourage. *M-Me-Meteorites?* "It's a long story." Cyan shrugged as she again took the alien's hands. "And if you've got the time later on, I'll be more than happy to tell it to you in full." The two nodded and stepped away as Sharon turned to one of the meks manning the consoles. "Okay, we need to head for the C.S.F. HQ building, Sector 1, New York City." - Understood agent. Co-ordinates locked in.- Slowly the rings began to rotate in opposite directions, gradually picking up speed as bolts of lightning began to spark through the gap of ionising air between them. As the group watched, several blue beams then shot out of the larger ring through the smaller one to meet in the centre, forming what looked oddly like a spinning, neon blue spider web. The lightning in between the rings flashed and sizzled with increasing ferocity while at the focal point of the beams a small swirling hole appeared, gradually expanding outward to fill the inner ring like a cyclone. - Alright, Giger why don't you head back to the ship and help your siblings with the last of the system checks? Scratch and I will take those from here. - Hacker said to the meerkat standing beside him. Giger looked down at the little mek with an air of disappointment. "So, it's business as normal for us then I take it? No chance for a break or a little sight seeing?" He asked downtrodden. Hacker gave the mongoose a sympathetic look and patted his arm. -You know the drill my boy. We all have to do what we can to keep our organisation running smoothly. And right now, your contribution is to ensure our means of accepting space oriented contracts remains fully operational and running at peak efficiency.- He turned and looked at the now active T-D gate. - And anyway, I trust you aren't desperate for a repeat of what happened the last time you tried making a trip through the gates immediately after eating.- Giger followed his gaze and swallowed nervously. "Oh alright then, I guess you've got a point." -Don't worry, I'll make sure to pick up a few cut-price black market vids for you if I get the chance.- Hack said as Giger handed over the cases he'd been carrying and turned to head back to the docks. "I'll go back and help Burburos offload and prep our supplies for when we return to Aureatore, sir." The spinosaurus stated as he watched the meerkat leave. - Please do Dralion, the last thing I need right now is to have to send him back to have his arms replaced because he's miscalculated their carrying capacity again.- The saurian placed the larger case on the ground and gave a reverent nod before heading off after Giger. - Right then, the day is growing long, we've got a date with a dimensional tumble dryer, and you're probably desperate to bother those two even more, so best be off. - Hacker stated Scratch tucked his terminal into a carrier bag hanging from his shoulder as his effendi handed him the larger case. With that done the two meks quickly strode forward into the portal and were whisked away back to the surface of Neo-Terra. "See you back at HQ Cyan, and it was great to meet you two." Sharon waved at the pelthonians before following the Trackers. "I trust you found that suitably impressive." Cyan commented, observing the alien's expressions as the gate sealed the rip and then shut itself off. *Y-Y-Ye-Yes, m-mo-most impressive-ve.* At'zrabyra stated distantly. "If you want I could have Hector prepare a full report for you to browse through later on." The squirrel offered. *Th-Th-That would be m-m-m-most a-ap-appreciated-ed (appreciated).* Yiru'zgwa answered. "Well then, if you'll please follow us." The four turned to head back down the way they came, Alyssa letting her eyes wander up to her husband's and then letting fly with a girlish smile when he wrapped an arm around her and held her close to him as the two walked on, enjoying being in each other's company after a long time apart. Which inevitably meant they soon became too wrapped up to notice when the blue robed alien moved closer to her purple clothed companion and gave her a knowing look. *F-Fi-Fir-First we see it in the power of their ships. N-N-N-Now we see it in the integral workings of their very world-ld-ld.* At'zrabyra stated, her thoughts now tuned so the two morphs couldn't hear them. Yiruz'gwa cast the other alien a relative nod before turning to regard the squirrel and the T-rex. Her expression no longer bore any hint of amazement or even mild surprise, now it was merely serene relief. *I-I-It is true then my f'tzmt'ha. Th-Th-That which we feared lost still lives on, th-th-through them-em.* She closed her eyes as her mouth tentacles tensed and curled. *C-C-Could it be possible-ble? W-W-Wa-Was I not wrong to hope-ope-pe?* * * * - 3:12 p.m.- "Okay now, since this is your first time doing this we'll start on a low setting." Kryssa said as she helped strap the weights to Valerie's legs. "Even if you are a runner by nature your leg muscles will still need some time to adapt to being used in this way." "I understand but I think I'll be alright." The cheetah bunny smiled as the weights were dialled up to 15kg. "How does that feel?" Val stretched her leg out and jiggled it up and down. "Feels okay." Krys helped her stand up and watched as the felapin took a moment to get used to the added weight. "You're still sure you want to try this?" "Yes Krys, if you can do it then so can I." The vampire bat nodded and lead her over to the chin up bar. Folding half of it down by a few inches to accommodate her partner's shorter stature she then took Valerie's paws and placed them on the bar. "Now it's very simple, first you pull yourself up like a normal chin up. Then, keeping your arms tense, you gradually lift with your abs and curl your legs up until your knees are parallel with the bar." She grabbed her half of the bar and began to demonstrate the exercise while Val had to stifle a gulp. It seemed no matter how many times she watched the bat do this, she still couldn't help being mesmerised at how her experienced muscles alternately stretched and tensed with each fluid motion of her body, moving in perfect synchronicity with each other which just served to give Krys even more of the alluring siren edge that the felapin found irresistible. "I normally go for sets of 40 to 50, but for you it's probably better to start with 10." Kryssa lowered her legs to the ground and let go of the bar, allowing Valerie to snap out of her trance like stare. "Alright, I'm ready to give it a shot." The felapin said with determination. She tightened her grip as Krys moved behind her and placed her hands on her hips just beneath the waistband of her work-out shorts. "Don't try to force yourself, just pull your body up gradually." Val took a deep breath and tensed her arm muscles to begin lifting herself off the ground. Kryssa helped to support her as her head ascended past the bar and she felt her chin touch the metal. "Very good, Bunny girl. Now keep your arms tensed and hold it for a moment. Your muscles will get used to the strain." She let go of the hybrid and Val quickly exhaled and took another deep breath. Her arms were beginning to burn somewhat from supporting her, but thankfully the meks installed on them were helping to compensate so it wasn't too bad. "Now, try to keep your legs together," Krys moved in front of her and gentle took hold of her calves. "And curl." Valerie grit her teeth and began to lift her legs up, the burning feeling intensifying as she tried to keep herself suspended. "That's....errrghhh....one." She muttered with difficulty as her knees reached up to just below the bar. "Good, now slowly lower them back down." Val gently uncurled her legs then slowly lowered herself to the ground. "Excellent, let's try it again." The half-born allowed herself another quick breath and again began to lift first her body and then her legs, finding it a little harder this time but still being able to complete the movement nonetheless. "That's...t-two." She lowered herself and repeated the action, getting a little more used to the pain now though it still hurt trying to raise and then support her entire weight on her arms. "Aggh...that's...three." Kryssa let go of her and stepped back as Val gasped and choked but nonetheless continued to slowly curl and uncurl her body. "Th-That's....f-f-four." She grunted while shutting her eyes and trying to focus her mind on something else to make the pain more bearable. "Keep it up Bunny girl, you're doing fine." The felapin opened her eyes a crack to see her friend standing in front of her, the exertion being momentarily dulled by surprise as she brought her legs up without any help. *Hey, she's right! I am doing it!* With the surprise now giving way to elation, Val lowered her body and grunted as she pulled up and then curled her legs for the sixth time. "I...ugh...I can do it! I..." But as quickly as the feeling had arisen, it was just as quickly shattered. Val's arm muscles, even with their augmentations, were now practically screaming like little kits with the weariness from having to continually lift and then keep her entire body supported. And as she did each successive rep that scream was receiving more and more support from her abs, which were heaving under the expected strain of being crunched continuously, and her thighs which weren't fairing too well either from having to continue lifting her weighted ankles. As Val struggled to complete her eighth repetition she felt her grip begin to weaken, causing her to cry out in a mixture of pain and surprise when her paws slipped and she lost her hold on the bar. Almost as if in slow-motion the felapin felt herself plummet to earth, only to have her fall broken when Kryssa leapt forward and caught her. Panting and coughing, Val could nothing but just lie limply in the bat's arms as Krys lowered her onto the gym mats. "Are you alright?" She asked. Val attempted to sit up and groaned at how tired her limbs felt. "I...(pant)...I can't do it." "Yes you can, you just need some more time to get used to it." Kryssa took hold of the felapin and helped her up. Val hung her head, the dull ache from her arms now being mixed with the disappointment she felt towards herself at having been forced to give up so quickly. "That hurt so much; I just couldn't take it anymore." Kryssa rubbed the hybrid's shoulder. "You managed to do eight almost completely unassisted. That's not too bad for a first attempt." Bunny looked up to regard bat before letting her head drop down again. "But you made it look so easy. And there I was struggling to try and get above even single digits and I still had to throw in the towel." Val curled her knees up and limply draped her arms over them. "How can I ever hope to be strong enough to stand on my own if I can't even handle that small amount of pain for long enough to do just one set?" A set of metal claws took hold of the half-born's chin and lifted it upwards so she was again staring into the bat's stern violet eyes. "Valerie, as I keep telling you, just because you're not as strong or resilient as me it doesn't entail that you need to keep punishing yourself like this every time you fail to match up to my standards." Val swallowed and withered slightly under Kryssa's gaze. "But I still want to at least try, Krys. I mean I know you became my partner because you genuinely care about me and want to keep me safe. But at the same time I want to become as much of a self-sufficient independent morphson as I can. If for no other reason than so I'm less of a burden to you." "And as long as you keep up that iron drive of yours to succeed then you will." Kryssa said, her claws reaching up to trace through Val's golden head fur. "Just remember that this, like all things worth having in life, takes time to hone and perfect. And also that my decision to be your guardian was made of my own free will. The only way you're ever going to be a burden to me is if I make the effort to see you as such." Val blinked upon hearing those words. Trepidly she dared herself to look into Kryssa's eyes again and, as always, saw the sincerity in them. Relieved but feeling somewhat angry at herself for daring to ever think the vampire bat would truly feel the way she feared she would towards her, Valerie wrapped her arms around her and nuzzled into the exposed chest fur between the straps of Kryssa's sports bra. "You're right Krys. Sorry if I seem to keep taking such a dim view of myself." Kryssa shook her head and stroked the rabbit's lopped ears. "You just feel the need to prove that you're worthy of my affections. I merely wish to show you that it isn't necessary." The two hugged for a few more seconds before hearing a familiarly calm voice overhead. - Agent Piersen, pardon my interruption, but as you requested to be notified when Agent Lysan returned from the planetary rings, I wish to inform you now that she has just arrived back in Lab 3.- Val looked up and smiled at the spherical probe observing them. "Great, thanks for letting me know, Pericles. Does she have anything interesting to report about what's happening up there?" - I should imagine so; two of the Cyber-Trackers are with her.- * * * - 3:28 p.m.- -...and so, thanks to a small gem of info Scratch had managed to glean from an anonymous source, we found out our renegade part time boxing promoter and full time money embezzler was not only now living in the easter region of Dover, but was also in a rather shaky marriage with his partner in crime that clearly was on the verge of collapsing. - Hacker said animatedly while Sharon listened with rapt attention. "The poor soul. What did you do next?" - Well, I thought it would be less of a hassle for us if we could get some evidence of his past crimes before moving in for the kill. So I asked Hack to send two of our operatives in to plant a few recording ants around their place and see what they uncovered. - Scratch followed up. "And that's how you managed to catch him in what was to be his final act of murder?" - Indeed so, my dear girl.- Hack lay back on the couch in Cyan's office and placed his hands behind his head. - However, if I had to be honest, the funniest part was how virtually all the media attempted to dress the killings up as an act of vengeance, carried out by an enraged husband after discovering his wife in bed with another polar bear, who just happened to be his favourite team's star goal keeper.- Scratch brought up one of the news-vid reports on the incident for Sharon to have a look at. "You're saying that's not the case?" - No, believe it or not he was actually fine with that. It was when he discovered the rest of the hockey team hanging on meat hooks in their wardrobe that he went on the rampage. - Hacker shrugged. - Seems that, as he'd just gotten back from placing a rather hefty bet on them winning their next game, he couldn't handle the fact that his mate would dare to retaliate against him in a way that would cripple his precious finances. - Sharon looked in disbelief at the little robots sitting next to her, before she was forced to clamp a paw over her mouth to keep from snickering at the idea. - The courts were so shocked at the revelation they didn't even bother to try and negotiate for a lower bounty, they just handed over the full amount and asked us to please not tell anyone else. - Scratch concluded. The vixen chuckled again. "Well, that sounds like a nice, if rather macabre turn out. I mean just considering how much hard work you put in to cracking that assignment." Hacker gave another shrug. - It's what we do, Sharon. As our motto states: "We tackle the hard stuff, so you don't have to." And as long as the military, the governments and the whatnot are content to keep handing over their generous donations, then we're happy to risk our necks pursuing and hauling back any wayward offender that manages to slip past your grasp. Or, for that matter, take care of any questionable materials or untested equipment so none of your boys are put in any undue danger.- He tapped the larger case with his heel fin, prompting Sharon to glance down. "Oh yeah, what is the deal with those? Our new friends were rather vague on the subject." - Yes, it seems they have a habit of that. - Scratch shrugged. - They didn't initially give much of a straight answer as to why they suddenly turned up out of nowhere on a collision course for our starboard side while we were leaving Arthros either.- Hacker got down off the couch and began to tinker with the locks on the cases again. - Fortunately they were decent enough to stick around for some extensive heart to heart and we finally got the real story out of them. Seems they were heading to a nearby world hoping to gather some of the flora and fauna. The little guys in those cases were meant to be used for what they were planning to do after that.- Hacker completed the code sequences on the locks and was in the process of disengaging them when the door to the office swished open and in walked Valerie and Kryssa. "Hey Sharon, we heard you were back from the rings and wanted to see what was going on." The felapin said gleefully to her vixen friend before noticing the two mekaniks with her. "Oh, cool! Pericles said you had some rather interesting friends in tow." Hack looked up from what he was doing; feeling rather tiffed at being interrupted yet again, and promptly froze as he caught sight of the cheetah bunny standing before him. "I'm Valerie, honoured to meet you." He heard her say. Her voice sounded as sweet as a honey dew melon, ripened perfectly in a bliss summer sun to the mek as he soaked in the view of her gentle curved, gold and black spotted figure, made all the more alluring by the fact she was still only wearing the tank top and tight shorts she'd been working out in. - Well, hello there my dear. - Hacker replied in a noticeably more suave sounding voice as he gave an oriental style bow and gently took her paw. - I'm Hacker, leader, founder and what have you of Cyber-Trackers, Inc.- A pair of red robotic eyes rose up to stare lovingly into her blue ones. -And I assure you, the honour is mutual.- Valerie looked rather taken aback but nonetheless smiled as the mek gestured gracefully to his long fingered effendi who was rolling his own eyes. - May I introduce Scratch, my head of Intel and general all around brainiac.- Hack said while nodding contentedly at the other mek. - As well as my dearly devoted counterpart. - Scratch looked back at his leader, the lighter red irises and white pupils sitting in the middle of his visors narrowing into two downward curving ellipses, producing the effect of appearing as though he were smiling despite having no mouth. - It's nice to meet you. - He intoned; reaching over to grip the felapin's paw and shake it as he'd done with Sharon's while Kryssa stepped around to examine the bipedal mek more intently. "So you're the end result of the Network's Soul Harbourer project." She commented - Indeed. Beyond exemplary aren't we? - Hacker stuck his hand in one of his coat pockets and cut a fashion model pose. Kryssa moved over and sat down on the part of the couch where he'd been lying previously. Her face no longer bore any of the usual sternness she was known for, but was now graced by an uncharacteristic look of almost child like curiosity. Cautiously she extended a claw to trace down the front of Hack's ninja suit, prompting the mek to give her a confused expression as she felt over his slim form. "So somewhere in there you've got the soul of a deceased morph, helping to power your systems and give you sentience?" Hack shook his head. -Fraid not dear girl, that's just synthetic muscle wired up to a hyper-alloy chassis.- At Krys' confused look he tapped the side of his head. -Up here, however, yes I do have something which may have once belonged to another livelier chap.- The little mek narrowed one eye and widened the other as the bat gave an amazed nod and leaned back on the couch. "I don't believe it." - Then have a look at any out-patient clinic. Given the steady diet of mind altering medication those guys are usually on, their souls are practically wafting out of the tops of their heads.- Kryssa cocked an eyebrow while Sharon tried to stifle another chuckle. "So where's Jase?" "He left to meet up with that raptor friend of his for lunch soon after you left." Valerie replied. "Actually, if you don't mind my saying so Sharon, I must admit I'm kinda surprised you'd let anyone get as friendly with your partner as he seems to be getting." The vixen leaned back and shrugged. "Our relationship is a little different than what you might think, Bunny girl. Klesk understands that Jase and I know each other too well, and care too deeply about each other's feelings to possibly worry about anyone driving us apart. He just wants to make up for the pain and betrayal he feels he did to Jase, not steal him away." She smiled knowingly. "And anyway, after what I've seen of those two together, it's pretty obvious Jase still needs him as much as he needs me, so who am I to deny them that happiness?" There was a combined look of amazement from the bat and the half-born at Sharon's display of trust, accompanied by two looks of bewilderment from the Cyber-Trackers who had no idea what the vixen was talking about. "Regardless, if he's preoccupied and there are no other pending matters, I think I'll follow your lead and get in a quick sparring session before Cyan gets back." Sharon stood up and cracked her knuckles. "I could do with a brush up on my sword techniques." Hacker looked up at her with intrigue. "You two gonna be okay?" The vixen asked. - I'm sure we'll be able to manage. - The mek responded. "Great, I'll see you in a little while then." Sharon smiled and walked out. "We should probably get back to our work out too. Though if there's anything we can help you with, don't hesitate to ask." Val said as she got up and patted Kryssa on the shoulder. "Come on Krys, I want to show you a new way you can incorporate your wings and your ability to fly to improve your running stance." Though Valerie couldn't see it, due to the way her head was turned, a twinge of surprise crossed Kryssa's eyes when she heard that, sinking into one of humiliation accompanied by a tightening of her lips as though the bat was about to say something but then decided to hold it back. The emotions vanished as quickly as they had appeared and Kryssa turned to face the felapin while gently gripping the paw on her shoulder. "I'm ready when you are, Valerie." The two got up and exited the room, leaving Hacker and Scratch staring at the door with identical expressions of intrigue. - Well, they certainly seemed like a friendly bunch. And didn't that lapin just look stunning in that grey and blue ensemble.- Scratch commented, knowing that, given his boss's obsession with anything that had long ears and buck teeth, hers was probably the only one he'd noticed. - Indeed. Though to be honest I was actually more interested in our dear Miss Sharon's little admission.- Hacker folded his arms and scratched at the underside of his head. - A fellow blades enthusiast hmm? And knowing the rigours of C.S.F. training I'm sure she's quite the kenjutsu expert.- Scratch caught the connotations and his eyes shifted to a half-lidded shape. - We're not going to just sit around here are we?- - Not unless you've got something intellectual to say about how much dust will have to build up on the black of that settee to become noticeable.- Hack leaned over and re-engaged the holo-locks on the bio-containment cases. -Contact Giger and tell him I need a few personal items from my quarters. Looks like he'll have a chance to see the Big Apple after all.- The mek pondered for a moment. - Oh and get Garrett down here too. I have a feeling I might need him.- * * * - 3:36 p.m.- *Well, so far it's been just another normal, predictably unpredictable day.* Sharon thought, chuckling at the irony as she pulled her tank top down over her volumous breasts and tucked it into the waist band of her work out shorts. For some reason, though she knew it was to be expected as part of her job, there were still times when the vixen couldn't help but laugh at how no matter how much bizarre and unnatural stuff she encountered, it all still seemed like a normal part of everyday life. *Bet the Elders would've never expected to deal with things like this in their daily routine.* Sharon thought of all those old sci-fi vid-plays and novels where members of the once great race were depicted encountering something extraordinary and new, and then either vehemently trying to destroy it, hide it for personal gain, or use it to force an all over change of the world rather than accepting that things like that just happen sometimes in the normal flow of the universe and moving on. Deus only knew how they would've handled meeting up with two aliens that could've passed as centrefolds for H.P. Lovecraft Monthly then heading home for a nice intimate chat with the two most quirky, and yet at the same time the most fascinating little robots imaginable. *Another question of the cosmos that it seems will never be answered. Kinda like the contents of those cases, the way things are turning out.* Sharon rolled her eyes as she remembered that, thanks to Valerie and Kryssa's timely intervention, she still had no idea what the pelthonians had brought back with them that had prompted Colonel Reinhardt's outburst. Not that she'd been particularly surprised by that. From what Cyan had told her, the feline sounded more paranoid that Pericles could be at the best of times. Chuckling again, Sharon pulled a hair scrunchie from her locker and used it to do her pink mane up into a ponytail before she picked up her SF katana and headed for the gym. #Pericles, it's Sharon. Could you please ready one of the simulator suites for a half hour session?# >Of course, Agent Lysan. < The vixen groaned in annoyance that, despite her reminding him less than four hourse ago that it was her preference, the computer had already ceased addressing her by her first name. Passing by a female archaeopteryx who was heading for the showers, Sharon entered the gym and made her way towards the suites at the back, catching sight of Kryssa who was on one of the treadmills with Valerie next to her, trying to help keep her wings spread out in a horizontal position. Sharon stopped dead. Even though she'd seen the bat on a fairly regular basis since the four of them had been teamed together, following the uncovering of the orga-gun operation and the subsequent assassination attempts on their lives, this was the first time she'd had gotten a look at Kryssa's wings in the unfolded state. To be honest it was quite a shocking sight. As she looked over the hideously burnt pink flesh of the membranes and the hundreds of ugly scars that criss crossed over each other on top, Sharon couldn't help but turn her head and grimace while thinking of what could possibly have happened to the girl, time and time again, for them to end up that way. Yet on the heels of the grimace came the surprising sensation that, despite her reaction, she didn't actually feel revulsion at the bat's appearance. More like disgust that the powers that be saw it fit to keep heaping such brutal punishment on her. Turning back so she could take a longer look at Krys' wings, and then at several of the metal cyber-replacment patches grafted on to the damaged parts of her legs and arms, the vixen was even more amazed to find once she actually took the bat's body in as a whole the revulsion quickly gave way to admiration that, despite all the damage inflicted upon her, Kryssa still stuck with her job. While she watched her diligently listen to Valerie's instructions, Sharon thought back to the time Jason had first opted to sit with her at lunch. She'd believed it to be a decidedly risky move at the time and was therefore even more astounded then everyone else when Krys and he had managed to carry on a perfectly normal conversation with no damaging aftermath. *Maybe he's right, maybe there is more to her if you make the effort to look past her fearful demeanour.* Resolving that the idea would warrant further investigation, the vixen walked the rest of the way to her indicated suite and stepped onto the grid of the holo-matrix inside. Drawing her katana out of its scabbard and switching on the sound sheath, Sharon twirled the blade around a few times to get reacquainted with the weight and then stood ready for action. "Okay Pericles, I think we'll go with a simple all out melee combat scenario to warm up. Don't bother with a levelled arena or anything like that. Just keep throwing targets at me until I tell you to stop." -Understood. Commencing simulation.- The blue vulpine cracked her neck and tightened her grip on the sword hilt as the ghostly apparition of a genderless humanoid clutching a long straight blade materialised in front of her and stepped forward to take a swing. Sharon twisted to the right and brought her sword up to parry the attack before pushing it against the hologram's chest and breaking off so she could deliver a roundhouse kick. The hologram was knocked back by a few inches but stayed on its feet and countered with a downward swing which the vixen dodged and then followed with a sideways slash to its neck that severed its head clean off. The now headless hologram collapsed onto the floor and dissolved into a mess of binary code as another one appeared to Sharon's left and attempted to catch her off guard with a forwards thrust to her right side. Sharon, however, proved herself to be faster and twisted her torso out of the way so the sword passed mere inches in front of her before lashing up to knock it aside. Taking a step back, she caught the hologram's following slash on the edge of her blade and attempted to lay in with a spin attack which it barely managed to avoid. This created an opening which she immediately took advantage of by twirling her katana around so it was pointing towards an inadvertently exposed part of the hologram's chest and driving the blade through its body. Two more fighters, equipped with shields, materialised behind the vixen and rushed forward in a double assault at her exposed back. Without even looking, Sharon kicked her speed enhancer into full drive and ducked underneath the blades, her legs and spine stretching and folding gracefully forward like a reed with the added elasticity and flexibility afforded by all the nano-technological enhancement done on her muscles. Whipping around, the vixen whirled her katana up again and managed to catch the left hologram's sword arm as it drew back for another swing, severing the limb off at the elbow. The hologram attempted to make up for its loss by ramming her with its shield as she stood up, but Sharon saw to that by again ducking to buy herself a few extra seconds so she could bring her weapon around and slice it through the waist. With one down she turned her attention to the second one, parrying and countering each of its attacks until the vixen saw an opportunity to slide her leg underneath its shield and trip it up. The projection wobbled as something hooked around its ankle and pulled it off balance, allowing Sharon the window she needed to skewer it through its chest before she was then forced to sidestep and dodged a duel assault from a new three armed hologram that had taken up residence to her right. For a while the process went on like this. The fighters growing faster, better armed and more numerous each time Sharon took them out, while the vixen continued to dance around their swishing blades and attack with machine like grace and precision, her katana sword seeming to find the enemies almost before her eyes could. With a gleeful howl, Sharon sliced down through the front of a six armed projection and then whirled around to attack another one behind her. Only for her blade to then encounter something a little too solid to be a hologram. Surprised, the vixen looked down to see Hacker holding a shorter wakizashi sword against hers with bemusement in his red eyes. - Yes, as I thought. A regular Beatrix Kiddo.- The mek withdrew his blade and rested it on his shoulder along with a second one clutched in his other hand as all of the holographic combatants stopped in their tracks and vanished. - Apologies for interrupting, dear girl. But as you can see I have something of a fondness for taking wild stabs at things, so it's always nice to meet others who like doing the same.- Sharon leaned on her katana, her muzzle forming an amused if questioning sort of smile as she looked the mek over. He was now without his trench coat and had the top of his ninja suit tied around his waist, leaving his silver torso clad only in a loose fitting tank top. Taking a look at his swords, Sharon noticed that the blades weren't curved but straight with rounded tips instead of pointed ones. The hilts also looked unusually bulky and box-like. "How, may I ask, did you manage to get in here without interrupting the simulation? As a standard safety measure these suites automatically pause whenever someone tries to enter from the outside." -Uh, yeah...I guess that would be my fault. - A small, nervous voice answered. Sharon looked up to see a red crab shaped mekanik hovering in the corner a few feet off the floor. Its amber coloured eyes regarded her with what seemed to be uncertainty laced with regret as it nervously rubbed its large manipulator claws together. - I'm sorry, but Hacker said he wanted to see you in action so I...I kinda found a way to open the door without triggering the shut off mechanism. So we could get in without disturbing you. - The mek shrank back even further into the corner. - I promise I didn't damage anything. It was just a temporary bypass.- - And you did an exceptionally fine job of it, Garret. - Hacker said, giving the nervous bot a gentle and approving stare while Sharon cocked an eyebrow. "Pericles, is this true?" - Indeed. Although I would like to remind Garret that what he did does not constitute as an approved use of a holo-panel, I am nonetheless rather impressed by his actions.- Sharon looked back at the crab mek. "Amazing. I take it you're the Cyber-Trackers' little infiltration expert?" - Uh...Yes. - Garret answered hesitantly, prompting the blue vixen to sigh and give him a good natured smile. "It's alright; I'm not annoyed at you. Just rather surprised that you managed to accomplish that so quietly. Heck, I didn't even hear the door open." - He's a natural at those types of things. - Hacker replied as Garret seemed to relax a bit and floated closer to him. "So what can I do for you two?" Sharon asked. - Oh just figured that, since we've got some time to kill, I was wondering if you might be interested in sparring with something that has a little more spunk, and far less predictability than those glorified karakuriningyo.- Hacker replied Sharon thought for a moment, finding the idea of fighting against such a small opponent a bit strange but then figuring it couldn't hurt to give it a try. "Alright then, you're on." She took stance and readied her sword. - Thank you Sharon. Now if you'll just hold on for just one second.- The mek drew out a long strip of black cloth which Garrett helped tie over his visors. "What are you doing?" - Simple gatka practice technique. While like this my optics are basically rendered defunct so I instead have to rely on my other senses, and whatever it is in me that may pass for gut feeling to indicate what's happening around me.- The vulpine looked rather quizzical. Quietly she shuffled herself over until she was standing to the left of the mek. Sure enough he didn't turn his head. "Do you always fight blindfolded?" She asked. Now Hack turned his head. - Even a mekanik must learn to value organik instincts, and understand that there are times where they can prove more useful than any form of mechanical sensors.- Sharon stepped back, her expression now bordering on impressed with a hint of admiring approval. *These guys really are nothing like any of the other machines around.* "Okay then, that makes sense. Is there anything else I should know before we get started?" - Just this. - Hacker moved his thumbs down over a small black panel on each of his sword hilts and pushed it in. With a series of loud 'schnacks' several menacing teeth folded out along the length of the blades, forming an outline. They began moving along and quickly picked up speed, accompanied by the distinct roar of a chainsaw being sparked into action. "Hacker, your swords..." - Like them? They're custom made.- The little mek twirled the whirring saw-swords around in his hands, showing them to be of a surprisingly light weight. - Barely heavier than your average replica, and they can go through 12 inches of New England pine with ease. I use them to demonstrate the aspects of a new fighting style I've been developing.- "Which is what?" -Cheennoko Kenjutsu. - Hacker stated as he gripped his swords and cut a dramatic battle pose. - My philosophy is that a true sword practitioner should appreciate the value of western ferocity as well as eastern finesse in combat.- A pause ensued as the vixen blinked and looked down at the idling devices, not entirely certain how she should respond. "Is there much demand for incorporating chainsaws into sword fighting?" She finally asked. - Well, to be honest he has had some difficulty in getting others to take up the idea.- Garrett said from behind as the other mek's head slowly dipped and his arms slackened to his sides.- But we're still remaining hopeful for him.- Hacker shook off the momentary shame and raised his weapons again. - Regardless, if that SF blade is of the normal high quality standards it should hold up just fine against these beauties. So would you still care for a match? Or would you rather I switch these back to the off position first?- Sharon smiled and stood ready. "Leave them on and show me what you've got, Hack." The bot took stance then leapt at the vixen, spinning his body and blades around toward her like a corkscrew as he sailed through the air. Sharon flipped her sword to a denfensive postion and deflected the attack before sidestepping and whirling around to try and land a strike on the mek's back, only for the katana to again be intercepted by one of Hacker's wakizashi which he'd managed to bring behind him while in the process of landing. Sparks showered onto the floor as the saw teeth on the mek's sword ground against the sound sheath on the vixen's until both combatants broke away and again stood ready. This time it was Sharon who went first, aiming low with a disarming strike at the bot's side, only to find an empty void as Hack skilfully ducked underneath and then took advantage of the opening to try to trip the vixen up. Sharon, however, was quick to show she wasn't having any of that and moved her leg out of harm's way before smacking the mek's with the flat of her blade to make him withdraw. Hacker jerked his leg back and crouched to avoid Sharon's follow up slash. Blade again met with blade as the mek flipped one sword to underhand and forced the vixen back with a series of quick swipes. Sharon gracefully defended herself while shuffling across the floor, astounded that the little mek was proving to be so apt with those wildly spinning saws and resolving to hit back harder once she got the chance. It came a second later as Hacker brought both of his weapons back for a double swipe, only to find the vixen's sword in the way when he followed through. Sharon smiled as her katana stopped the bot's in their tracks and quickly followed by kicking him in the chest. As she'd expected he felt decidedly heavy and sturdy as her foot connected, but thanks again to her enhanced muscles she was still able to send him flying. Which just served to make it even more startling when Hack caught the floor as he tumbled backwards, and flipped himself onto his feet again. Determined not to lose her opportunity, Sharon closed the gap between them and initiated a flurry of slashes which the bot deflected and so the duel continued. For the next twenty minutes the vulpine skilfully kept laying in with her attacks, and her amazement kept increasing each time her sword met only with air or saw blade as Hacker leapt and spun, forcing her to almost have to chase him around the room. A symphony of metal clashing on metal joined the constant growl of chainsaws as the mek followed up each successful defense with another strike at the vixen, which most of the time she was only narrowly able to avoid. *Schmed! This bot is good!* Sharon thought as she watched him back flip over her swishing blade and decided to pounce, trying to catch him while he was landing with a downwards slash. Feeling rather disorientated from all the leaping about, Hacker turned his head this way and that in an attempt to regain his bearings before some sixth sense in the recesses of his silicon and skin mind told him opponent was about to strike at him from behind. - *Chank! She certainly is an agile little beauty!*- He thought before zipping out of the way so fast it was almost as if he'd teleported himself. Staggered to the point of distraction, Sharon's sword smashed into the matrix grid as she stared at the spot where the mek had been a nano-second before. Then something hard hit her in the back and sent her crashing onto the floor. Quickly regaining her senses, the vulpine rolled over and got back to her feet, gasping when she again spied the glint of metal whirling towards her. Sharon did her best to lean out of the way but this time it proved to be a move too late. The vixen yipped as the whirring teeth cut a long slash across the top of her breasts, causing her to lose her balance and fall back onto her rear. Panting from the stenuous sparring session, Sharon looked up to see the tip of the other wakizashi pointed a few inches away from her muzzle, the saw teeth slowing to a stop as the motor quieted to a low purr and was finally silent. - So, does that qualify as a hit?- Hacker asked as he withdrew the blade and pulled off his blindfold. Sharon looked down at her tank top. The fabric had been cleanly slit apart yet it looked like not a single hair of her fur had been touched. A precise and totally harmless cut. "Yes.... (pant)....yes I believe... (pant)...it does." The vixen smiled at the little mekanik as he helped her back up. "Damn... (pant)....you're pretty impressive." - You're not half bad yourself. - Hacker nodded in commendation. - Care for another round?- Sharon thought for a moment. "No, my session in here is probably almost over and anyway you got me fair and square." She switched off her katana and retrieved the scabbard from the floor to sheath it. "Thanks a lot for the work out though. I didn't think it was possible for a mek to be that nimble on their feet." - You should see him dance. - Garret said while moving over to retrieve the scabbards for Hacker's wakizashi from where he'd propped them against the wall. - And again, I'm sorry about the door.- - I'm sure she'll forgive you. - Hacker assured as he patted the other mek on his arm. - Probably more so than she will me if that top had any sentimental value to her.- He added, sneaking a wary look in her direction. The vulpine gave him another smile and waved it off. "Don't worry about it, I've got at least a dozen more at home." Her eyes fell back on the slit. "In fact," She hooked her claws into the torn fabric and tugged it down, making the hole wider so it showed off more of her cleavage. "There, that's more to my preferred style." Relief and slight bewilderment registered in the bipedal mek's visors at the vixen's actions. - Right then, if there's nothing else, we'll go back and wait for you in the office. - "Sure, and thanks again for the spar." Sharon nodded and left the suite. - See, now what did I tell you? - Hacker asked the crab mek next to him once the vulpine had departed. -I guess you were right, she is pretty nice. - Garret regarded his leader with exaltation as he handed Hack his scabbards. - As I said, there was no need for you to worry yourself sick as usual.- Amusement was now mixing with the bewilderment in the mek's eyes. - It's actually rather a pity most others can't be as good losers as she.- - Unlike Agent Lysan, most others are not as welcome to having someone intrude on then during a training simulation, and then coerce them into fighting against an opponent armed with live, and very lethal blades.- Both meks looked up at the disembodied voice. - Which need I remind you, as Doctor Emmet Brown did to Martin McFly, could easily have had disastrous consequences.- Garret's eyes widened with panic and he retreated back into the shadows of the corner as Hacker shook his head with irritation. - Pericles, you know that even though we're not bound by the same regulations as you, we still have every intention of preserving the machine's sacred directive. I'd have never done anything if I wasn't absolutely sure she was in no danger.- He walked over to give his quivering crustacean friend a reassuring pat on the shoulder before leading him out of the suite. - Nonetheless Hacker, remember that you are Soul Harbourers. The success of your project depends heavily on you not jeopardizing your relationship with the majority of organiks.- The two meks paused before Hacker again looked exasperatingly up at the ceiling. - Not taking your lead of criticising and condemning every single action of others would be highly advisable then.- * * * - 4:11 p.m.- *Well that certainly was refreshing, if rather unconventional.* The vulpine thought as she pulled off her tank top and observed it again. She still felt a little sceptical about Hacker's choice in armaments but nonetheless she had to admit she'd been quite impressed he could wield those saws with such agility and speed. The bot had been on top form all throughout their duel and he certainly deserved his win over her. In fact, now that she thought about it, the only thing Sharon could really find fault with was that Hacker hadn't tried to swing higher on that last attack and cut the straps of her top. At least then she'd have had a perfectly reasonable excuse for just shucking the damn thing so she could give everyone a real eyeful of her endowments. *Ah yes, and now after the surge of adrenaline comes the inevitable rush of yiffiness.* Sharon snickered as she stripped off her shorts and placed them back in her locker along with her sword. She didn't know if it was due to the physical exertion or the release of endorphins, but after a strenuous work out, the first thing she always seem to fixate on was how nice it would be if she could just dispense with her exercise clothes and show herself off. Especially if doing so would convince someone to then engage with her in a far more intimate form of physical exertion. Smiling, the voluptuous vixen sat on the bench and cupped her breasts in her paws, skritching over the slightly sweaty but no less enticing fur as she gently lifted them up and marvelled at how heavy and perfectly formed they felt. Releasing them she leaned back against the locker and murred softly as her fingers traced over two of the darkened veins that coursed like rivers through the cerulean fur of her toned stomach, feeling that special inner tingle of thanks that, for all the flak fate had thrown at her over her lifetime, it at least had seen fit to give her a body she could always rely on and be proud of. A feeling that was all too quick to diminish when her paws slid down her hips and again encountered the rougher texture of the scar tissue on her leg, reminding the vixen that, despite the efforts she'd put into maintaining her reputation as an exemplary agent, she still had the marks which proved her shortcomings. *Not that that's anything to be ashamed of. After all, nobody expects you to be perfect.* Sharon's head drooped at the thought, a low mournful sigh wafting past her lips as she shut her eyes tightly. Yes it was true; no one did expect her to be perfect. Some would've really liked to, but in the end she'd proven them wrong. *And oh Deus how others suffered as a result.* A tear seeped out of the vulpine's eye, running down and staining the azure coloured fur of her cheek. Sharon shook her head violently and gave herself a few slaps to the face, trying to knock away the memories before they had chance to take ahold of her again. Sitting up and taking a few deep breaths, Sharon felt herself begin to calm down, the images retreating back to the dark recesses of her mind where they couldn't get at her and allowing the vixen to again get a grip on herself. That had been then, this was now. Now was a time where she had the assurance it was a finished part of the world's history and could not happen again. Now was where she was someone who was both respected and liked. Now was when she had to keep moving forward and not look back. Feeling better about herself, Sharon walked over to grab a towel and stepped into the Chemi-Shower area, noticing Kryssa was in one of the stalls working on gently scrubbing Valerie's back. Again the vulpine found herself having to just stop and stare at the winged rodent, seeing as if for the first time how her curves so nicely accentuated her powerful muscles and vice-versa. How oddly suiting the scars and metal plates on her body seemed to be to her looks. How nimble and caring the movements of her metallic claws were as she massaged some extra cleansing oil into the quietly murring cheetah bunny's back while the shower completed its detoxifying stage and began rinsing the two occupants. Sharon blinked and shook her head, perplexed as to why she was suddenly feeling all appreciative of the bat's appearance even though she'd seen her in the showers several times before. Puzzling it over, she glanced down at Valerie and noticed how content the half-born looked being groomed by Kryssa, a serene smile draped over her muzzle as the bat finished with her back and reached up to begin soaping her ears. Sharon watched the felapin's paw move behind to glide lightly like a breeze over the brown fur of Kryssa's arm while she rubbed each long, golden furred shell with a tender but thorough grace as if she were washing silken sheets. The caresses brought an audible sigh from Valerie as she turned her head to gaze at the bat with eyes that bore no hint of the usual unease or fear, only trust and unbridled compassion. Almost at once Sharon realised the answer to her quandary. Every other time she'd seen Krys thus far it had always been either when others females were around watching the bat or when the four of them were out scouring the city for clues to their latest case. Now, however, was one of the rare occasions when one else was present, and thus Kryssa had no need to maintain her normal icy stature. As such, Sharon was being treated to a rare glimpse of Kryssa's other side. The part of her it seemed that only Valerie had seen when everybody else was either too intimidated by her normal hard-hearted exterior or simply just chose not to look for it. The part that had the misfortune of being buried underneath a dark and blood yearning attitude developed from continuous exposure to the nastiest cess-pools that lurked in the world outside. The part that could be gentle and care for another morph, thinking nothing of ever harming or destroying it. *How could I have not noticed this before?* The vixen closed her eyes and forced herself to turn away, figuring it'd be rude to just stand there gaping at the two like a voyeur. Hanging her towel up on one of the hooks, Sharon walked over to the shower stall on the opposite side and started up the five minute cycle. At the sound of the shower coming on, Valerie turned away from the bat to see who the new occupant was and smiled. "Oh, hi Sharon, I didn't hear you come in." The vixen turned to see her half-born friend smiling warmly at her, apparently not minding in the least that she'd intruded on their moment of togetherness. "After noticing how intimate you two were getting I almost didn't want to." The vixen splashed some of the cleansing solution onto her chest. "I, hope I'm not disturbing anything." She glanced over her shoulder to see Kryssa shaking her head while gently rubbing the felapin's shoulders. "Valerie was looking a little overworked after we finished up. I thought it would be nice if I tried to help her unwind." "And seeing as we've hardly have had any time together over the past week, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity." Val said dreamily before turning to embrace the bat. Sharon cocked her head as she watched the display of affection. While she thought it was great that Valerie had found someone whom she obviously adored with all her heart, the vixen still couldn't shake the slight puzzlement as to why, out of the entire population of New York, she'd gone for the one most renowned for her psychotic rages and record number of kills. Nevertheless, as she watched Kryssa wrap her muscular arms around the cheetah bunny and hold her tenderly without a single hint of rage or annoyance, the vixen couldn't help admitting that, in a surreal sort of way, their union seemed fitting. *Guess opposites really do attract.* She mused as Kryssa shook some antiseptic laden hair out of her face and turned to regard her. "So what did the Cyber-Trackers want with you?" "Sorry?" "Hacker and that sanitation mek with him. It looked like they were trying to get into your suite when I saw them." "Oh, well it seems Hacker, like me, has a bit of a fondness for blades so he wanted to try pitting his wits against mine. That crab guy you saw, Garret as he's apparently called, jimmied the door locks open so he could enter without interrupting me." Kryssa raised an eyebrow. "You actually sparred with him?" "Well I've never been one to turn down a challenge." Sharon smiled and shrugged. Kryssa looked down at the felapin hugging her and absently twirled a lock of her head fur around her claw. "So, how is he?" "A heck of a lot more skilled than you would expect. I've met monkeys that aren't as quick thinking or agile as that little bot." Valerie lifted her head from where she'd been nuzzling between the bat's breasts and regarded her friends' shared expression of amazement. "Well, didn't the Network computers say they might exhibit some unusual behaviour? I mean wasn't that the whole point of the Soul Harbourer project? To see if infusing a mechanical host with a morph's living essence would enable it to recall and feel all the unique talents and experiences that the deceased morph had?" "But still..." Kryssa sounded distant. "Still, they seem so....alive. Almost like someone took a group of normal living organisms and just gave them a metal covering." Again the child like wonderment took residence on Kryssa's face, her eyes staring off at some distant point only she could see until she picked up on the sound of an amused chuckle from the vixen. "What's so funny?" She asked as the normal sternness draped back over her like a black curtain. "Nothing, it's just you looked so out of character there for a moment." Kryssa swivelled her now stoic gaze on the vixen questioningly, giving Sharon a bit of a jump. "I didn't mean in a bad way. I just never thought I'd ever see you like that." She quickly assured. The bat cocked her head as Sharon stepped forward. "Every time we've been together, even when Valerie's around, you still seem as emotionless and distant as you normally are. To finally see there's more to you than that, well it's actually kinda nice." Several seconds passed during which Kryssa continued to stare at Sharon enigmatically while the vixen just folded her paws in front of her and waited patiently, hoping she hadn't accidentally said the wrong thing. Eventually Krys looked back down at Valerie and ran a claw over her ears. "Emotionless and distant are just aspects of who I am, Sharon. Given what I'm required to do on a daily basis, and what my reputation purports me to be, it's just the frame of mind that I've naturally settled into." Valerie turned to the vixen. "But you gotta understand, that's merely what filters through to the surface. There's so much more if you're willing to just get to know her a little better." She beckoned Sharon over. "Here, come look in her eyes." The vixen looked confused. "Just come over here and you'll see what I mean." Deciding to trust the felapin, Sharon paused her shower's cleaning cycle and walked over to the other stall. "Now look deeply. Try to see beyond the surface." Kryssa turned to Sharon and allowed the vixen to lock eyes with her. For a while Sharon stood there, gazing into the black pupils sitting at the centre of Kryssa's violet irises. At first there was nothing. But then a feeling of astonishment slowly crept up on the vixen when she began to see just how many emotions were swirling within her orbs. Sympathy, hate, sadness, anger, affection, concern, it was all there, locked safely away underneath Kryssa's steel exterior so none of it could interfere with her ability to do the dirty work necessary to keep her fellow morphs safe. "Incredible." Sharon mused quietly, again wondering how she'd never noticed it before. "Bunny girl, you knew this?" Valerie looked at Kryssa and held her tighter. "I don't know. I just...no matter how many rumours I heard about how cold or heartless she is, I couldn't shake my feelings for her. Every time I saw her being taken to the med-unit, or coming back broken, beat up and bloodied from an assignment, there always seemed to be a part of me that wanted to believe it wasn't true." Kryssa turned to regard the felapin again, her eyes now exhibiting a sense of being deeply touched. "Then when we got paired up for our first assignment, I finally discovered I was right. She has as many feelings as everyone else. She just doesn't show them outwardly." The sternness on Kryssa's face softened at the words, prompting Valerie to confirm their earnestness with a tender kiss. "Wow, you really care about her that much?" Sharon asked. "I can't help it." Valerie blinked back a tear as she took the bat's hands in her paws. "Over these last few weeks she's done so much to help me improve myself. She's always been there when I need her," An inadvertent sigh of sadness came from the hybrid. "Unlike some others before." She continued quietly before looking up again. "And despite my misgivings about myself, she's shown me how to make the most of my strengths." One paw reached up to feel over the two small puncture scars on her neck from where the bat had bitten her. "In return I gave her the one thing she desired above all else. My way of proving there's someone out there who cares for her, who loves her." She smiled and hugged the bat again. Kryssa maintained her still composure as she was embraced, her mind distracted by what had become an all too familiar battle of wills boiling up insider her. Deep down she knew all she wanted was to tell the felapin what she yearned to hear in response for the kind praise. But, as always there was still the lingering doubt further up in her mind that held her back. The doubt as to whether she genuinely did love Valerie, or was just doing what she could to comfort the poor soul until she was strong enough to stand on her own. Mulling it over, the bat felt a paw alight on her shoulder and turned to see Sharon staring in wonderment at Valerie. "All this time, I'd have never thought," The vixen gave her an apologetic look. "Krys, I'm so sorry." "For what?" "Just, we've been working together and seeing each other daily for almost a month now, yet in all that time I've hardly made any effort to befriend you." Kryssa shook her head. "We've been out on the streets almost 24/7, and any time after that, you, like me, have had the obligations of your partner to tend to. There've hardly been any opportunities for us to get better acquainted." "Still," Sharon seemed intent on not letting the matter drop. "Despite all the help you've been to us, I've essentially still kept treating you with caution. While Valerie's opened her heart to you when most others would be afraid of even making eye contact, and Jase has made an exceptional effort to earn your approval, I've sort of kept my distance." Her other paw moved up to lay itself on Kryssa's left shoulder. "And now I just wanted to let you know I intend to change that. I want to do what I can to make you feel as much a part of this team as everyone else does." Sharon finished her statement and waited for the bat's reaction. Several long seconds ticked by until Kryssa took the vixen's paw in her claws and held it tightly. "Sharon, contrary to your misgivings, I don't feel you have treated me at all like an outsider. Though our conversations with each other have been few, you've been patient and shown the utmost respect towards me during each of them, which is a far sight more than can be said of most others." Bat eyes turned to meet vulpine ones, and Sharon noted they now carried a distinct flicker of gratitude. "Nevertheless, I am grateful that you've seen it fit to consider me as a friend." Sharon smiled and leaned over to kiss Kryssa softly on the cheek. A gesture which the vampire bat showed no signs of objecting to. "You'd better finish up with your shower now. We've still got a lot of work to do." The vixen nodded and walked back to her stall to finish cleaning, elated that the day was going to so well. * * * - 4:17 p.m.- It was while Sharon, Kryssa and Valerie were finishing up their showers that a new arrival strode through the front doors of the C.S.F. building. He was a panda with dark red, shoulder length hair, combed slickly over the back of his head, and a face like a stone statue that sat on top of an lean, all muscle body (quite unusual for his series), framed perfectly by the segments of his armoured suit. Cold grey eyes panned the lobby in front of him, scanning and storing every minute detail of the floor and walls, diverting only when someone crossed his field of view so he could track them until he'd built up a photographic image in his memory. When it at last seemed he'd obtained a satisfactory amount of information, the panda stepped forward to the security bay, his eyes swivelling left to notice one of the public terminals which was displaying the C.S.F. logo on its screen. A glint of pride came to his face as he studied the slowly rotating triangular shape, emblazoned proudly with a steel "C.S.F.: Central Security Force" on top and the force's motto, Nemo Sceptrum Posterus (nobody rules the future), running around the frame. - Good afternoon Agent Halleck, welcome to New York.- The panda looked up at the probe hovering in front of him. "Are you the administrator for this branch?" He asked in a gruff, commandeering voice. - Affirmative. I am Pericles, Terran Network AI #314-1S...- "Just yes or no." Halleck stated while adjusting the strap of the carrier bag slung over his shoulder. - As you wish. I trust your journey in was uneventful.- "Completely." Came the muttered reply as Halleck walked past the probe and placed his bag in the security scanner. He crossed his arms over the front of his trench coat and stood waiting like a sentry as the contents of the bag were analysed and checked over. Behind him a very cheerful looking fox and raptor entered the building, their paw and hand lovingly clasped together. "I'm telling you Jase, it's an all together better way to start the day and you'll be doing yourself a world of good in the process." "And I'm saying that I understand your point, Klesk. I just don't think you understand mine, which is that for a guy like me with this demanding job, coffee is the best thing to have in the morning. It eases you slowly out of slumber and then helps prep you for the trials of the day ahead. Those new booster drinks you're crazy about on the other hand are more akin to hooking one end of a cable up to a power socket and sticking the other end in your mouth." Jase disengaged himself and turned to face the raptor. "Yes it accomplishes the same overall task, but that type of instant overload is just not something I care to deal with first thing after getting out of bed." Klesk frowned. "But coffee stains those pretty teeth of yours. And it's a heck of a lot less healthy for you to boot." "Says the raptor who strictly believes no steak dinner is complete without a mountain of French fries." The fox grinned. "That's different. As long as you keep your metabolism up, they just act as fuel to keep your body running. The black stuff on the other hand may promise you the jump you need to get up and go. But just as quickly it wears off and leaves you feeling as tired as before, only with a few hundred more calories from the sugar and milk." Jase sighed and places a paw on his lover's shoulder. "Klesk, why can't you just accept that there are some habits of mine that cannot be changed?" A quizzical look crossed his face. "More to the point why are we even arguing about this inane topic?" "Cause I exhausted the good gossip during lunch, and I know how long you can go on defending your dietary preferences." Klesk grinned playfully before wrapping an arm around the fox's shoulder and pulling him into an embrace. "And anyway it kept the journey back from getting boring didn't it?" Jase harrumphed teasingly and leaned in to nuzzle against the raptor's cheek, warmth filling his heart as Klesk's scent did his nostrils. "I guess I can't disagree. After all, I'll talk about pretty much anything if it means I get to keep hearing your voice." Klesk growled in agreement, lowering his black and red striped snout to lick gently at Jase's exposed fur above his collar. He lightly traced a wet line up and over the vulpine's cheek as the two pulled apart before his tongue encountered the similarly slick texture of Jason's and slid over it so their mouths could lock together in a loving kiss. The two stayed joined like that for a few minutes, their paws and claws holding the other closer to them as though their very souls were bonding together. Around them morphs paused momentarily to view their embrace before smiling and carrying on with their duties, glad to have seen proof that, even in a steel hearted city like New York, love could still blossom. "Deus, every time we do that it just seems to remind me how much we still have to catch up on." Jason said after the two had pulled away. "Well, barring an emergency recall of all owners in the U.S. health and fitness system, I'm not going anywhere. So don't feel you have to rush it, Foxy." Klesk leaned in and kissed the vulpine on the forehead. "Right now I think Sharon is probably wondering where you are, so I'd best not take up anymore of your time." Jase looked reluctant to let go but knew what the raptor said was true. "Alright then, we'll probably be at my place if you want to drop by after work." "You may rely on that, Jase." Klesk grinned deviously. "After all, since you so recklessly quashed my argument you must agree that it's only fair to give back some special compensation." Jason rolled his eyes as he bid the dino goodbye and turned towards the security area, narrowly managing to stop himself from bumping into an unfamiliar face ahead of him. "Oh, excuse me." He said to the black and white furred bear who calmly swivelled his head around like a gun turret to survey him. "Uh, hi there, my name's Jason Dermont, or just Jase as I prefer. Are you new here?" - Indeed. - Pericles spoke up. - Agent Dermont, this is Agent Halleck, the transfer from Seattle that Commander Cyan informed you of a few weeks ago.- "Oh, well again, hello." He stuck out his paw. "Glad you could finally make it." "Uh huh." Halleck ignored the paw and turned back to his bag to see that it had finished being scanned. "You come up with any new leads yet?" Jase blinked at the response but figured the panda just wanted to know what the latest on the situation was. "Nothing more than what we already sent to your branch in preparation for your arrival here." He responded while debating whether he should withdraw his paw. "Mmhmm. Is your branch commander about?" - Commander Cyan has just arrived in Lab 3 from the planetary rings.- "Then I'll go see her." Halleck snatched up the bag and passed through the security gates. Jase just stayed where he was, paw still extended and staring in incomprehension at the panda's back as Halleck stopped and turned around to face the vulpine again. "Well? I assume you can show me the way to her office can't you?" "Uh, sure. Just follow me." The fox responded before lowering his limb and heading past the other morph * * * - 4:20 p.m.- - Ah, hello and welcome back, Commander. - Scratch beamed as Cyan stepped into the aforementioned work place. - All things going fine with our guests?- "Seems like it. When I left they were just starting in on the special attributes of their world's fauna. I swear that's gotta be the first time we've ever had total silence in a military conference." The squirrel walked round her desk and sat down, noticing the specimen tanks that were sitting next to it. "Ah yes, how are their little contribution to us doing?" - Probably about the same as the average turtle, back in the days they were transported in cramped, jam packed crates. - Hacker said with concern. - I was thinking of letting them out but figured you might not want to come back to an office crawling with off-world life.- "Well from what At'zrabyra told us, being in there isn't doing them any harm." Cyan studied the containers for a moment. "Course I must admit, after hearing what they're capable of I would like to have a closer look at one of them." The squirrel shrugged. "What the heck, go ahead and open them if you want." - Gladly. - Hacker slid off the couch and began disengaging the holo-locks again, only for the door to swoosh open to allow Jason and Halleck to enter. "She should be already in there, just sit wherever you-" The fox broke off upon noticing that there were others in the room. "Oh, sorry Cyan, I didn't know you were with company." "Quite alright Jase, come in." Cyan assured over a loud 'clunk' from Hacker slamming his head on the container in frustration. "Hope I'm not interrupting anything." Jase kneeled next to the bot. "I'm -" - Oh no you don't! - Hacker swiftly held his hand out in front of the vulpine's face and cut him off. - These chaps have played at sardines long enough and I've wasted too much of the day dialling numbers. This time I'm going all the way!- He quickly entered the last two sequences and gave a satisfied nod as the tops split open with a whoosh of air. - There, and not a moment too soon! - Halleck's eyebrow slowly rose upon hearing the mek's British accent. Tossing his bag onto the couch he stepped past Jason and leaned down to scrutinize the little robot as Hacker checked the well being of the creatures within. "You're a Soul Harbourer, aren't you?" Hacker looked up and went wide eyed at the stone faced bear staring down at him. - Yes, and you have to be the healthiest looking member of the panda series I've ever seen. - He clasped his hands together and bowed. - Konnichiwa. Hacker-san to moshimasu. Dozo yoroshiku.- Hacker politely waited for the panda to return the greeting but instead Halleck just stood up and backed away, a disgusted scowl coming over his features at the mek's antics. Confused, Hacker glanced up and noted the scowl. - Oh...um...I do apologise. Are you from the original homeland?- Halleck's scowl deepened and he turned away from the mek. Noting the reaction and figuring it didn't bode well, Jase stood up to try and steer things in a different direction. "Ahem, Cyan this is Agent Halleck, he's the transfer you asked for from Seattle." The squirrel perked up. "Ah yes, of course." She entered a search on her desk's terminal and studied the results that came up. "Yes here we are, Takashi Halleck, Agent registration 366-T57H-Alpha." She contemplated his dossier. "You are indeed of Japanese descent though?" "Yes." Takashi answered as though it were something he wasn't exactly proud of. Cyan seemed not to notice as she stood up and extended her paw. "Well I'm glad to finally have you with us. And don't feel you have to apologise for the delay, I know all about the unfortunate developments in Seattle." The squirrel glanced wearily down at all the data tablets covering her desk and gave Takashi a look of sympathy. "It seems it's not just us that are having to contend with this problem." "Whole damn country's always hell bent on following some fad." The panda grumbled as he grudgingly shook her paw and then moved over to stand next to the couch. "So it appears." Cyan turned to the computer interface terminal on the opposite wall. "Pericles, would you please call Sharon, Valerie and Kryssa up here?" - At once, Commander.- Moments later the requested individuals entered into the office. "Jase, you're back!" Sharon exclaimed happily as she sat down and hugged the fox. "Have a nice lunch?" "With Klesk, how could I not?" Jason gazed dreamily at the floor. "I must say, spending time with him over these last few weeks has really made me realise how much I was missing out on before I came here. After putting my job before all else for so long and thus having to write off most of my following relationships as lost causes, I've finally begun to see what I've been spurning all this time." He smiled at the vixen. "Course, what really befuddles me is how every time I'm with Klesk, I can't help but think of how thankful I am for you being here to help me get back on the right track." Sharon looked touched. "Jase, you know all I want is for you to be happy." The fox's smile grew wider. "You already accomplished that ten fold by just letting me know you're still willing to stick by me." Now the vixen grinned coyly. "Yes, well I said I wanted you to be happy. I never said I was gonna let you go." She grabbed his head and pulled him into a deep kiss, much to the amusement of everyone around them, before breaking off and calmly composing herself. "So anyway, how are things going on the rings, Cyan?" "So far so good, thanks be to the Deus. It looked like the pelthonians had the whole room hanging on their every word." The squirrel smiled. "Kind of ironic that if the topic of discussion is budgets or planetary defence systems everybody has to argue against everybody else's point and nothing ends up getting settled. But bring in a couple of outsiders, who only wish to tell us about their world and its attributes like a bunch of travel agents and suddenly everybody is all quiet and attentive." - Considering the applications that what came from it could be used for, who wouldn't be fascinated?- It was only then that Sharon looked over at Hacker and felt her jaw go slack. The bot was now back in his normal suit and coat ensemble with his swords strapped X style across his back and his eyes gazing fondly down at a most bizarre creature sitting on his crossed legs. At first glance it looked like a pink jelly fish, only it was far too big to be such. Also in place of tentacles it instead had several fang shaped bones and transparent fins protruding from underneath its membranous dome, inside of which appeared to be a vast network of branching nerve cells. "What in the world is that?" Sharon asked, hearing Valerie query the same thing almost simultaneously. -Something that could advance our scientific knowledge by years. Or, failing that, provide a nice ice breaker trick at parties. It's up to you.- Hacker slid off the couch and held up the organism for them to get a better look at. - Everybody, I would like to introduce you to ment'hesesk, one of Pelthon's more common and better favoured inhabitants.- He handed it to Sharon and lifted another one from the container to give to Valerie. "So these came from our new off-world friends huh?" The hybrid gently rubbed over the slightly spongey texture of the dome, causing the creature to twitch slightly. "Cool, what are they?" Hacker nodded at Scratch who got up and plugged his comp-terminal into the larger one set into the wall to bring up the data that the pelthonians had given them. - Essentially it's a non-sentient, ultra-adaptive life form. No matter what the environment is like, dry, wet, hot, cold, high gravity, low gravity, pressurised or vaccuum it can apparently thrive anywhere under every imagineable condition.- Sharon released her hold on the ment'hesesk and watched it float up into the air to hover a few inches from her face. "So it's like an alien version of a weed?" - In a manner of speaking I guess so. - Scratch mused. - However the perhaps slightly negative connotations of that pale in comparison to it's most defining, and frankly quite astounding attribute.- "Which is what?" - The ability to create an exact genetic copy of any organism it absorbs enough DNA from.- Scratch linked his fingers together and waited patiently for everyone to stop staring at him with wide eyes and open mouths like cows that had seen something eye-popping while mid-way through chewing their cud. Sharon turned to her ment'hesesk and grabbed it out of the air so she could study it more closely. "You're saying these things can clone other creatures??" - Exactly. Of course they have a little help in the process.- Hacker reached into the other container and brought out a large glass capsule that looked to be filled with dozens of small, green, jelly like blobs that slowly swirled around like dust particles in a ray of sunshine. - These guys are called xaerotroth. They're basically a parasitic organism with a very small appetite.- He brought up a simulation showing several of the globs attaching to a rat. - What happens is they adhere to a particular creature, suck out the minute amount of blood that their bodies will hold and then drop off.- On screen the parasites fell off the rat as a ment'hesesk floated past. - If they then come in contact with a ment'hesesk it will abosrb them into it and start using the DNA in the blood they've collected to create a clone, essentially impregnating itself in the process.- The events occurred as described and the ment'hesesk was enlarged to show a rodent foetus growing inside the dome. - They help nuture the clone to whatever stage of development the original creature was at, explode to let it out and presto! Instead of one creature you now have two.- There was another round of amazed expressions. "Well, that's nothing if not impressive." Sharon said as she held up the alien. "But I don't quite understand; what possible need would someone have for a steady, renewable supply of cloning organisms?" "It seems that the pelthonians have a few unique 'talents' of their own." Cyan said. "In addition to being well developed telepaths, whatever power it was that created them also saw it fit to gift them with them what they call 'spiritual regeneration.' Apparently if for whatever reason their physical body becomes too damaged to stay alive, the essence inside them can abandon it and create an entirely new one to house it." "Are they immortal then?" Val asked in astonishment. "No, eventually they succumb to old age like we do, but till then there's pretty much nothing that can harm them." The other occupants of the room nodded as they contemplated the idea. "Wow, a series that never has to worry about getting injured or terminal sickness." Jason commented. A series that can enjoy all the pleasures of vore without any of the nasty aftermath. Sharon thought before giving herself a mental slap. "As you can imagine, however, this has inevitably lead to the chronic problem of severe over population on their world so they began taking steps to try and compensate." Cyan pointed to the ment'hesesk. "Those and the xaerotroth were created to help clone and replenish Pelthon's planetary resources as one generation dies out and another takes their place. However, in recent years it seems those resources are gradually becoming less and less useful due to the fact that they now essentially consist entirely of clones created from clones that were created from older clones." "Well what did they expect? Genes are like any other duplicable material. If you want more quantity you gotta sacrifice quality." Valerie stated. "Precisely. So as a result they've had to start scouring other worlds for new resources that they can sample and bring back to their own to breathe some new life into their eco-system. As it transpires one of the newer worlds they had planned to start using was apparently located near Arthros, which in turn is what led to them encountering us." - And our ship now has the scratched paintwork to mark the event. - Hacker said despondently as everyone chewed over the information. "So what's the deal now then?" Sharon asked. "I mean, are we going to strike up a friendship here or what?" "From what we can tell they seem genuine enough, but the Network computers are keeping a close eye for the time being." Cyan folded her arms behind her head and leaned back. "Right now they have a proposal to make: since Neo-Terra contains such a wide menagerie of different series and plant life they'd appreciate it if we could provide them with a few samples to take back to Pelthon. In addition they'd also like to know if there are any individuals who'd be willing to volunteer to be cloned as they'd obviously be of great additional help to providing help on maintaining the population levels." "Figures. They deplete their own world, spy an opportunity, and try to sap us for supplies." All eyes turned to the panda, several feeling a tad shocked that there'd been someone in the room the whole time, watching them with such a still and silent composure they'd completely failed to notice him. "Of course, what's wrong with me?" Cyan stood again. "Sharon, Kryssa and Valerie, this is Takashi Halleck. He's the one I said would be joining you for the remainder of the orga-gun case." "Oh great, so you were finally able to make it here." Sharon smiled and stood up to shake paws. "Yes, they had to delay his transfer till he'd finished dealing with the increase of mass suicides in Seattle." "Death suddenly seems to be gaining a lot of popularity among morphs." Halleck sat down and scowled. "Given the current state of the place I can't say I blame them." "It's pretty much the same story here." Cyan said. "This morning we had to shut down three of the recycling plants in the Bronx after discovering a whole mob had broken in the night before and jumped into the compactor units." "Deus, that's gotta be at least the third time this month something like that's happened." Sharon grimaced as she sat back down. "What the schmed's been going on all of a sudden? Yesterday we had to clean the splattered remains of 50 citizens off the expressways leading to the Fashion District in Richmond. And on Wednsday the Network had to close the airspace around Liberty Island after morphs kept scheduling aerial tours just so they could leap out and impale themselves on the remains of the statue." "Even with all the legions of security meks barricading it off, we're also still fishing stiffs out of the Hudson river at a steady rate." Kryssa said mournfully. "If this keeps up, every agent in New York is soon going to have to be put on clean up duty." -Really?- Hacker took one of the data tablets off Cyan's desk and studied it with surprise. -Dear me! Gone it seems are the days when some nice hot tea and a war with a small, ill-equipped country were all that was needed to cure depression.- Cyan 'mmed' as she pondered something. "Mind you, to bring Takashi up to date, we have started to notice there appear to be one or two patterns going on here." The squirrel picked up another tablet and studied it. "Such as although they've been happening on a fairly random basis, these suicides nonetheless seem to always be mass attempts. No lone hangings or poisonings, it's always a group." - And from what the latest reports from the Network state, they are only occurring in the U.S., nowhere else. - Pericles followed. Cyan steepled her fingers and thought for a minute. "Sharon, exactly how have the four of you been getting on with your investigations into the orga-gun case?" "Petering is the best I can describe it. As you know, several of the dealers we've been prepping to nab for questioning were among the suicide masses. And so far we haven't been able to find any other gun caches." "And from my tests on some of the malorium taken from their left behind stashes, it looks like the tampered variety that kills and preserves organs is only being distributed to certain dealers so that makes things even more difficult." Valerie groaned. Cyan nodded. "And what about the one who attacked you on the roof of the Arakno Corp. building?" "Also not turning up much." Kryssa hissed. "Given his skills and choice of weapons I thought he might possibly have been an ex-member of HAWK Patrol, but so far there's no Bald eagle named Siddik Al Faddil coming up in the back log of their squadrons." "Same for the marines, and every other military faction besides the TEMPEST Legions, which we decided to leave out for obvious reasons." Jason followed. - It should be taken into account that he may be using a false name, agents.- Pericles reminded. - And also we do not have access to any of the military records for the Rogue States.- Cyan drummed her fingers on the desk as she continued to study the tablet in her other paw. "So, all of our new potential leads have conveniently removed themselves from the picture. And given the erratic behaviour a lot of these morphs are reported to have been exhibiting before doing themselves in it seems very likely they weren't in total control of themselves." Takashi slowly turned to regard the squirrel. "You think there's a connection?" Cyan leaned back in her chair. "We know there's already one drug out there that kills. Who's to say someone hasn't either found a way to modify it or introduced another one?" Valerie thought about the prospect. "But what good would that do? Given the methods by which most of these morphs are choosing to kill themselves their bodies usually end up too mangled or cut up or pureed for organ extraction. All this would accomplish is drawing a lot of unnecessary attention from the public." The felapin looked at her commander with a lost expression. "And anyway, the forensics reports from the other branches have already confirmed that some of the victims had at least several other different types of substances swimming around their systems, so we can pretty much rule out the possibility that it's malorium alone that's causing this." Cyan nodded again reverently. "Well, it could possibly be a copier trying to make a name for themselves, or a disgruntled associate who's trying to undermine the work of our main culprit." She placed the tablet down and folded her paws. "Could also be another move by whomever we've been trying to track to get rid of those who could give us more information." She looked up at the agents sitting in front of her. "Valerie, I'd like you to show Halleck what you and Callista have dug up so far. Let's see if he can shed any new light." "Sure thing, Cyan." The felapin placed the ment'hesesk she'd been holding on the couch and got up. "If you'll just come with me I'll show you to the lab, Takashi." The panda's expression did not alter as he followed Valerie out of the office. "As for the rest of you, keep checking the military archives for now and see if anything comes up." Her gaze fell on Hacker as he picked up the alien creature off the couch and put it back in its container. "I don't suppose I could persuade you two to lend a paw while you're here, could I?" Hack gave her a knowing look. - That all depends, Commander. I've got a lot of trusted friends under me who expect to be paid soon, and we've pretty much all done our required amount of pro bono work for the month.- Cyan smiled. "I'll make sure the military adds another 10% to whatever they offered you for the escort job." Hacker nodded and turned to Sharon. - Lead the way my fair vixen. We're at your disposal.- Sharon rolled her eyes light-heartedly. "Jase, if you would...." The fox got up and beckoned the meks after him while she walked over to place the ment'hesesk she was holding back in the crate. Giving the twitching alien creature one final look over the vixen couldn't help thinking to herself. *Yep, just another typical day.* * * * - 5:04 p.m.- *Yep, just another typical day.* Came the identical (though more sarcastically toned) thought of the weasel femme as she stepped into her flight's designated terminal at La Guardia and heaved a huge sigh of relief. *Amazing. What are the odds that, with today's technological standards, one would still find herself having to deal malfunctioning alarm clocks and suddenly rescheduled flights?* The stoat yawned and scratched over the golden fur of her neck, cursing silently as she thought back to when she'd first awoken an hour and a half later than she'd planned to and had rushed like hell to the port, arriving there in record time and then discovering her flight had been changed to an earlier departure and she would have to again make reservations and undergo another series of security checks. *Just be grateful they agreed to refund you for the first ticket, and that you're finally here.* The weasel smiled and stretched, glad that the worst was over and she could start enjoying herself now. Spying some net-com booths next to the main entrance of the port she decided to give things a bit of a kick start before going to collect her baggage. *Won't Sharon be enthralled when she finds out who's dropped by for a visit.* She inserted a solari chit and waited for the booth's computer to start up. And waited. And waited. Fifteen minutes and two more solari deposits later the machine was still showing no sign of activity, prompting her to eventually throw her arms up in exasperation and slam them down on the blank screen. *Incredible, simply and utterly incredible.* The weasel thought with heavier disdain as she stepped out to try the next booth over. Indeed it truly was amazing how even on a well oiled and efficiently running world like Neo-Terra; things still broke down and could sit for days collecting dust before being repaired. Almost about as amazing as the fact that in a heavily used and even more heavily surveyed port, located in the midst of one of the most fortified cities in the U.S., someone can just walk up and grab you from behind. "Finally! As if you could've have taken any longer getting your scrawny ass over here!" The pissed off male voice said as a pair of muscular black furred arms wrapped around the weasel and dragged her away from the booths. The stoat gasped as she was wrestled away from the main part of the terminal and through a set of maintenance doors located to the left. She attempted to scream out but her abductor quickly saw to that by grabbing her muzzle and digging his claws in to hold it shut. "Ah, ah, ah, don't even fucking think about it! You've already made me plenty livid by being so late, don't try to make this even worse for yourself!" The stoat 'mmphed' in agony from the claws penetrating her flesh and then shuddered as something detached from the palm of the morph's glove and firmly clamped her jaws in place. "Now, this time let's make sure," The mysterious morph slammed her up against the wall and held her head firmly while he tugged off her coat. The weasel femme let out another gasp of fright as she then felt claws dig into her shirt and rip the fabric apart, revealing the top of a fiery red and gold phoenix tattoo on her back. "Thank Deus! I was running out of places to stuff you bitches in out back." The morph sneered. Frightened beyond belief, the poor stoat thrashed about to try and wrench her head free from his grip as she was hauled away and dragged down the hall again. Her teeth were starting to ache from being held so tightly closed, and nausea was overcoming her brain from both the scents of cleaning solution and disinfectant on her abductor's paws, as well as from the bash to the head she'd just taken. Desperately she struggled against the male's vice like hold, but he simply squeezed her tighter till she thought her bones were going to break from the pressure. The mysterious morph placed his other paw on another door scanner and then violently shoved her inside. "Get in there." A strangled grunt came through the mechanism secured over her muzzle as she fell over and smacked her head against a shelf. "Alright girl, time to see if you were worth the ten gee I put up to glean your details and travel schedule from the Network." The weasel heard the high pitched shrill of a sonic baton charging up. "And for your sake, you fucking better be." Pain cut through her mind like a searing hot knife as something collided hard and fast with the side of her head. Then all was blissfully black. * * * - 7:14 p.m.- "So as you can see from the initial reports, the corpses were being moved from the various med-centres around the city to this morgue where their bones and organs were extracted for use in the construction of the orga-guns." Callista explained to Takashi, the stills Kryssa had taken from the aforementioned place materialising on the holographic screen in front of the two. "Makes sense. Area of town where most aren't likely to ask questions, and it's less hassle to coordinate the subsequent transfer of the goods." The bear focused his steel gaze on the canary. "Any of these guys reported to have checked in at a different med-centre from the one you already investigated?" "A few." Callista brought up a map of New York City and showed the locations of the other places from which deceased morphs had been taken. "Though we've not discounted the possibility that they may have only been taken to make the sources seem more random and throw us off." "Desperately random, like an inept liar trying to cover his ass." Halleck mused as he pointed to two locations, one in Westchester and the other in Nassau. "These are too far out to be reliable sources for stiffs; only reason to try for there would be to break the pattern up." The panda leaned back in his chair and stared accusingly at the screen. "Course, at the same time, nobody with the chops to be in charge of a nationwide operation like this would really be dumb enough to include two such distant sectors of the city. Not unless they were trying to distract us by deliberately making it seem like they were more careless than they really are." Takashi's eyes narrowed. "Clever creep, whoever's behind this." "Very artistic one too." Callista brought up another file containing the details of the computer virus that Valerie and Jase had run into at the Thomas Newhart med-centre during their initial investigation. "This is a delightful little surprise they were kind enough to leave in the main med-centre's computer. Nearly cost poor Valerie her life." Takashi raised an eyebrow. "The design as you can see is completely revolutionary. Whoever created this did so without using a single one of the components currently available on the Network. And as if that weren't impressive enough they also programmed it with the previously unthought of ability to modify and adapt itself to get past attack barriers and anti-viral walls." "About the only saving grace was that, despite all the unique features and everything, it apparently couldn't distinguish between valid files and junk mail." Valerie shuddered as she entered the room carrying a box of tablets containing the rest of the data they'd collected. "It was only thanks to Jase's quick thinking that I'm still alive." "Prime reason why you shouldn't have tried worming in the first place." The panda turned and fixed her with a disapproving stare. "If you'd followed procedure and searched the databanks using the consoles you'd have never tripped it off, and the med-centre wouldn't have lost the entirety of its patient records." The blatant criticism forced Val to blink in surprise but Takashi didn't seem to notice (or possibly just didn't care) as he returned his gaze to the screen. "Regardless, if they felt the need to install such a radical protection programme on that one computer, then it's around there that the majority of the action is probably taking place." He entered a few commands and a shaded circle draped over the med-centre and all the area within a five mile radius of it. "The guys behind this needed to ensure their hapless victims turned up there. Hence they'd only distribute the altered malorium to peddlers who operate within a given radius." He tapped the arm rest of his chair. "How many corpses would you say were at that morgue when you were there?" Still stunned by the harsh remarks, it took the felapin a moment before she realised he was talking to her again. "About 40 or so. I noticed, however, that some of them looked more badly decayed than others. Like they'd just been leaving them there after they were done." "Mmhmm." Halleck mused. "I've got the results of my tests on them here for you, if you'd like to have a look." Valerie pulled the relevant tablets out of the box and showed them to him. As before the panda seemed oblivious as he leaned forward and perched his head on his paws. "So, they let them accumulate rather than either destroying or moving them elsewhere. Only one possible inclination for that: somebody was planning on using the corpses for something else later on." Callista stared at the panda in disbelief. "Such as what? House decoration?" Takashi was silent for a moment. "Can't say right now, but they clearly weren't going to just leave them there to rot." The panda steepled his fingers. "Given that's a fairly low number for the amount of citizens living in this area, it also means not every peddler is getting the altered malorium. Our guy must have a selected few he entrusted to sell the stuff. And if that's the case it's likely going to be the ones that have the maximum amount of regular customers." Both Callista and Valerie couldn't help nodding in amazement at the bear's deductive reasoning. "Valerie, did you happen upon any files or anything containing names when you raided the plant?" The felapin shook her head. "No, there was nothing like that in the mainframe." "What about the guy running the place? What'd he say?" At this the cheetah-bunny had to squirm a bit. "Actually, I'm afraid we didn't get the chance to interrogate him." Again the cold grey eyes fell on her, making her shrink back. "Kryssa got distracted with trying to save the remaining hostages and he took the opportunity to make his escape." Callista explained. "It was largely thanks to her intervention that two of them made it out alive." Takashi looked suitably unimpressed as he turned to regard the canary, and then the hybrid again before looking at the screen and scowling. "So, not only does she injure a suspect so badly he dies on the way to the meds, but she also fails to secure the one morph who could've given you a better insight onto what you're dealing with." His scowl deepened. "Seems the rumours were right. That bat really is nothing but trouble." Valerie suddenly felt a need to protest. True the panda may have had a point about her conduct at the med-centre, but he definitely had no right to criticise Kryssa's decision to give priority to protecting the innocent over obtaining evidence. "Takashi, she was in a very hostile situation and had just had to take out Deus only knows how many other guards to ensure she got there in time to save who she could. Two morphs are still alive and that facility can't be used to manufacture any more weapons thanks to her!" The panda's stone gaze met with hers for a third time, causing the hybrid to gasp when she saw that, in stark contrast to the bat under question, there was no emotion in the panda's eyes. "She also wrecked any chances you had of discovering what other processes the organs had to go through to be made into guns, and probably greatly hindered your attempts to discover how they work." The confidence Valerie had been feeling earlier quickly began to dissipate. Desperately she turned to Callista for help but the bird was looking equally lost for words. "They were slaughtering innocents, what else was she supposed to do?" Takashi shrugged and turned away. "If they made the decision to dedicate their time aiding in the mass production of something that would've only been used to kill other citizens, then they got what they had coming to them." Val's mouth dropped open even wider. "And if as the report states there were only two left by the time she got there she should've known it would've been a far better course of action to fly in, grab them and the main perpetrator, and fly them out of danger before dealing with the remaining guards." The hybrid raised her paw as if to make another protest, only to stop as she thought over the panda's words and felt a very strange question come to rise. *Wait, actually why didn't she try flying them out?* Valerie's pondering was cut short, however, when Pericles's voice called out over the lab intercom. - Agent Piersen, Agent Halleck, Doctor Wren, Commander Cyan wishes to see you all in her office immediately.- "Okay, we'll be right there." She said. "Is anything wrong?" - Possibly. I have just received a net-com call from an unregistered source. Whoever is sending it demands to speak to Agent Lysan.- * * * - 7:19 p.m.- Moments later all were again assembling back into Cyan's office, many noting the squirrel was now sporting a very concerned look on her face as she stared at the screen on the opposite wall. "Cyan, what's going on?" Sharon enquired. "Please, sit down everyone." The squirrel said quietly. "Something very strange has just come up." She nodded at the wire frame cube rotating next to the screen. "Pericles, resume the link." - At once, Commander.- A fizzling shot of a morph (most likely canine, judging from the shape of the ears and head) silhouetted against a light grey stone background materialised. "Am I now addressing Agent Lysan?" The crackling voice asked. "Yeah, I'm here." The vixen said. "What do you want?" "Just got a little something I think you'd like to see." The image panned down to show the weasel femme from the port. She was sitting on her knees, her arms behind her back (probably bound) and the restraining device still clamped firmly over her muzzle. Though most of her features were hidden in shadow, due to the poor lighting of the room she was in, a small sliver was still finding it's way across the left side of her face, showing a tear streaked eye over a mass of bruised and beaten up cheek fur. "I trust I have your attention now?" The voice sneered. In the office, the image brought expressions of puzzled shock and disgust all around. Though none were quite on the same level as the horrified gasp that came from Sharon as she shot up to a standing position and stared at the screen as if she'd seen a ghost. "Oh by Deus....it can't be..." The vulpine whispered before screaming "Monique!" Before anyone even had a chance to jump at the vixen's sudden outburst, Sharon had already charged across the room (almost tripping over Jason in the process) and grabbed the console under the screen as if intending to rip it from the wall. Shock, disbelief and rage all now swirled like a torrential whirlpool in her eyes. "What have you done to her!?" On the other end there came a very nefarious chuckle. "Good, so you do know each other." A black furred paw dressed in a fingerless leather glove grabbed the stoat's head and pulled it towards the light so everyone could see her severely bashed up and bloodied face in better detail. "Caught her coming in at La Guardia believe it or not. Guess she was planning to spring the whole 'surprise visit' schmed on you." The voice seethed while the claws dug into Monique's skull. "Sorry if she ain't as pretty as you'd like her to be. Didn't take too kindly to being hauled away so I had to give her some incentive to keep quiet." Sharon felt her mouth dropping open from the shock. Trepidly she tried to close it but found she couldn't due to her jaws going rigid with fear. *Monique, she's...she's here!?* The vixen attempted to close her mouth again but now found it being hindered by her teeth that were baring themselves in response to her brain jamming up with all the possible connotations of the stoat's sudden appearance. *Deus no! What if they've tried to press her for information? What if they're trying to find out about...???* "Sharon, do you know that girl?" The vixen snapped from her mental panic to see her partner staring at her in confusion. "H-Her name's Monique Playford." She responded, her mind not really focused on what was spilling out of her mouth. "She was an exceptionally close friend of mine all through out kithood, after I was rescued from...oh schmed!" A paw plastered itself across Sharon's muzzle as she realised what she almost let slip. Biting into the material of her glove she closed her eyes and forced herself to calm down enough so she could at least control her words. "We haven't seen each other for years. I-I didn't know she was coming here!" She quickly blurted to try and cover for her stalling. She looked frantically around the room. #Cyan, what should I do?# She sent to the squirrel in desperation. //Calm down and let me help you. // Cyan soothed in return. //We need to find out what he's hoping to accomplish by doing this. // The vixen swallowed hard. #But Cyan, what if it's an attempt to get me? She knows about my...# Cyan fixed her with a stern stare that rendered the vulpine mute. //Sharon, no one else besides me and the Network computers know about that. It's highly unlikely whoever has your friend could possibly have that as his motive.// Knowing she had to be right, Sharon swallowed again and took a few deep breaths to steady herself. "Alright, what do you want?" She asked, turning back to the screen. A very angry huff could be heard in the background as the paw pushed Monique's head to the side. "A very simple thing. Probably not even something that'll be missed." The thumb claw flicked over the weasel's ear and caused her to shudder. "I want you." Sharon was momentarily dumbfounded. "Excuse me?" "I want you, and that bat bitch you were with when you went to Arakno Corp." The image shifted as the transmitter unit being used was jerked away from the weasel to centre on the now illuminated face of a maniacal looking black pitbull with blood shot eyes and extremely dilated pupils. Both tell tale signs of a steady diet of narcotics. "I want the two mother fucking agents who shot my bro, Tyrone!" Sharon felt her own eyes going wide at the sight of the dog while Kryssa turned to view the screen. "And just to prove I'm not joshing with ya, I'm putting you on a time limit." The image on screen shifted back down to show Monique with a hypo containing some sort of orangey-purple liquid being held to her neck. "This here's a little cocktail of mine, created from a few choice picks of the street's finest products. If you assholes haven't figured it out already, they're what's responsible for all those idiots killing themselves as of late." Sharon quickly opened her mouth to try say something, but her voice died in her throat upon hearing the serpent like hiss of the hypo injecting its concoction into the weasel. To the side, Kryssa hung her head and gave a bitter hiss of her own. "I've been doing a little study of how this stuff works. At the most your little friend here's now got maybe 30 minutes before she starts looking for the fastest way to end her miserable existence. You get over here before then and you just might be able to save her. Get my drift?" Sharon fought for words, trying to come up with something that would help. "Wait, you don't understand..." The image shifted to show the pitbull staring at her with his fangs bared. "30 minutes bitch! And you're to come alone. I get even a sniff of back-up and Miss Weasel here drowns in her own blood! Capeesh!?" The transmission fizzled out and the screen went back to its usual display as the link was severed. Sharon stayed staring at the interface terminal, her body unable to do nothing else but swagger slightly from the overwhelming assault of about a hundred different emotions that were now wringing her as one might do with a wet cloth. "What was that about?" She heard Takashi enquire from what sounded like a thousand miles away. "A few weeks ago, we attempted to make contact with a known malorium peddler called Tyrone Russell during our initial investigations into the orga-gun case. The eagle assassin we've been trying to track got to him first, and silenced him before we could get any information." Kryssa replied dejectedly. "Seems some got a different account of events than others." She looked up at the vixen that was still glued to the interface screen, mouth hanging open limply with her ears and tail wilting with despair. "Monique..." The vixen whispered again before closing her eyes and letting her head fall forward into her paws. "Oh Deus, why?" She sank back down to the couch and held her head, eyes tearing with the anguish that fate had yet again decided to deal her a crushingly bad hand, and she had no idea how she was going to deal with it. Presently, she was brought out of her thoughts by a hand alighting on her shoulder and turned in surprise to see Kryssa looking at her. The bat's eyes were radiating a sense of knowing how hard what she'd just seen must have been to stomach, but that in order to ensure it didn't reach the expected conclusion, Sharon needed to stay strong and do something about it. Taking the inferred meaning the vixen turned to her commander. "Cyan?" "I know what you're about to say Sharon. And I agree that yes we need to attempt a rescue." The squirrel studied something on her desk's holo-terminal. "But I'm not going to let you two place yourselves at risk. And judging from the location Pericles traced that transmission to it appears that pitbull has holed himself up in a storage facility in one of the more heavily gang ruled sectors of Staten Island." She sent the location to the wall screen for the agents to get a look at. "This could be the break we need to solve the problem of all these suicide victims, but we have to go about it carefully." The squirrel drummed her fingers on the desk as she contemplated. "The area is generally considered neutral territory, hence why I'm guessing our hostage taker chose it. Unfortunately that also entails there'll most likely be an even heavier gang presence." Cyan reached up and scrubbed her face. "If we try sneaking in back up with you, it'll just mean a greater chance that they'll be discovered by said gang members, and Monique's captor will be alerted to their presence. And if we don't send back-up then you two will just be ridiculously outnumbered." "Seems he's had the good mind to think of everything." Valerie mused sadly while trying to give Sharon a sympathetic smile. - Considering how off his head he looked, I'm surprised he had any mind left at all.- All eyes turned to Hacker who was standing next to the ment'hesesk crates with Scratch, none more so than Cyan who stared inquisitively at the little mekaniks as an idea began to take root in her mind. "Hacker?" - Yes, Commander?- "By chance has anyone in your organisation had previous contact with the gangs around Staten Island, or New York in general?" - Well over the course of several assignments we have had our run ins. Exchanged a few choice words, and a few choice bullets. - The bot shrugged. - Haven't made many friends, but we have learned a thing or two about their methods.- Cyan scratched her neck. "What would you say if I were to make another admendment to your bounty for the military's escort job?" - Which would be what?- "The extra amount goes up to 30% if you help us rescue Sharon's friend." The two meks looked at each other. - Give us a moment to contact a few of our fellow team members and we'll be ready to move.- Hacker stated. Cyan nodded. "Do so, and be quick about it." Scratch went to plug his holo-terminal back into the larger one on the wall and set about typing something out on it while Takashi watched in disbelief. "Commander Cyan, do you really think this is a good idea?" He asked the squirrel. "They're an available resource that can keep our presence on the Island to a minimum. That's good enough for me." Takashi looked taken aback. "Commander, need I remind you, they're independents. And ones with a reputation for helping the other side if they pay enough. High-Command will not approve of your sanctioning their accompaniment." In response the brown squirrel merely levelled her eyes in a most strict manner at the panda. "Halleck, as you're going to find, my priorities differ somewhat from that of my superiors. And right now, their primary focus is to use what ever I have at my disposal to ensure another innocent morph doesn't die just to sate some half-baked sicko's mistaken want for revenge." She gave the panda a look that suggested it would be in his best interests not argue with her decision, and for a moment there appeared to be a crack in Takashi's hard edged exterior. "I also want you to remain on stand-by with Jason and Valerie in case something goes wrong." She narrowed her eyes. "I expect you to provide whatever aid you can." Halleck glowered but nonetheless nodded. "Deus, some time I'm going to have while working here." From behind Hacker turned upon hearing the panda's muttering and cocked his head. -Most exuberant of a fellow, don't you think? - He intoned privately to his long fingered effendi. -Well, I can't say much for his personality. - Scratch looked over his shoulder. -But I must admit, with the hair combed back and the flawlessly adjusted coat, he pulls off the clean cut look very nicely.- The mek turned back to what he was doing. - Okay, that's done it. The rest of our crew should be ready in a few minutes. All we need now, if you'd be so kind, is something small and mobile to transport them to certain strategic points. - "I'll have a STRAT-BAT prepped and ready for you." Cyan stood up. "Jase, I want you, Valerie and Takashi to go with them. Do what you can to keep the other gangs at bay but don't move in on their location unless it looks like you have no other choice." "We're on it, Cyan." The fox got up and gripped his partner's shoulder. "Don't worry; we'll get your friend out of this one way or another." Sharon looked up into his caring eyes and somehow found the strength in them to smile slightly. "Just don't try to swing in and save me at the last minute okay?" "Also, if I may, I have something you might find of use." Callista stepped forward and held up a briefcase she'd brought into the office with her. Opening it she brought out four modified las-leashes. "Going on the results of the trial run you were forced to enact during that little scuffle at Arakno Corp. I've updated these with surge protectors, as well as a miniature electro-shock generator in the claw if you feel this pitbull needs a stronger reason to cooperate." The bird lowered her glasses so she could peer over them. "I'd appreciate it if you could please return them all intact this time." Jase stared at the device as he was handed it and smiled in embarrassment. "Well, as they say, don't make promises you can't keep." He strapped it on his wrist as Callista distributed the others out. "I apologise that I don't have one for you." She said to the panda. "I wasn't aware that we'd be expecting extra company." Takashi looked indifferent until he felt a tug on his sleeve. "Here, take mine then." Valerie gave him the las-leash. "You'll probably have more use for it." Again another crack in Takashi's expression appeared as he gazed first at the leash then at Valerie. For the briefest of moments the felapin could swear she saw something under the stony gaze. "The assistance is appreciated." He answered while strapping on the device. "Okay then, grab whatever supplies you need and then get moving! As he said, you're on a time limit!" A collective nod ensued as the morphs hurriedly left the office. *And please Deus, don't let there be any screw ups!* Cyan thought despairingly as she collapsed back into her chair and rested her head on her paws. * * * - 7:27 p.m.- - Okay, what we're basically going to need to do is try and limit the potential danger to inside the building.- Hacker stated while staring at a holo-map of the area Pericles had traced the pitbull's transmission to. - If he's gotten any of the local gangs involved then they'll probably have a couple of snipers posted the nearby rooftops so those should be our first target. Jason, - There was no response - Jason?- Jase didn't answer, too focused as he was on the mekanik sitting next to him. Cautiously the vulpine's eyes darted over its form, noting the odd horned draconic shape of its head and the almost Schwarzenegger-esque sculpt of its brown torso, the pecs and abs defined by their sharp surreal angles as though carved out of the metal by a cubist enthusiast (it had no legs as far as he could tell). Its blood red eyes gazed methodically through a haze of smoke from a burning cigar, clenched in the intake valve on the underside of its head, at the two SC-03 Pulseblaster pistols that lay in its lap. The meaty hands picked each up in turn and inserted an energy cell. -Jase??- Hacker said more insistently. "Huh?" Jase turned to regard the trench coat wearing mek. "Oh, sorry." - As I was saying, our first priority should be to ensure there isn't anyone around to take pot shots at Sharon and Kryssa while they're inside. Have you had any experience sniping in urban environments?- The fox nodded. "Standard requirement for the marines." He humphed in aggravation. "Fat lot of use it was." - Good, then I'll need you to help Slinger keep the surrounding rooftops clear.- "Slinger?" Jason said, turning back to the muscular bot next to him and watching it close its eyes in what seemed like pleasure as its guns powered up. - Oui, un nom convenable I but deem it to be.- The mek responded in a coarse, French accented voice. To the fox's amazement he twirled the massive hand cannons around his fingers with a skill and grace that would have befit any old western cowboy before spinning them into the holsters hanging from his waist. - Right, Valerie, after we have the perimeter secured I'll need you to accompany Burburos and me in securing the main building's roof. At least then if our doggie friend gets away from Sharon and Kryssa we'll have the assurance he won't attempt to practice his swan dive technique on us.- "Okay." The felapin nodded while continuing to stare in curiosity at the huge white bunny mek sitting opposite her. "Um, excuse me?" The lapin modelled robot lowered the manga book it was reading and looked up at her. "Pardon my asking, but by any chance were you the spokesperson for Sindochan-Zytek Systems when they first introduced the meka-bunny soldier a few years ago?" The mek's eyes widened in exaltation as the long, ear-like fins on the sides of its angular head rose up. - Yep, that's me, Burburos S-Z. Former military grunt and now full time tek-shell marvel.- He extended a large skeletal paw which Val shook while smiling. "I thought you looked familiar." The felapin chuckled. "I still remember when you aided in the rescue of those hostages in Missouri. Your creators were quite insistent that they would only use synthetic organs and reduced sentience in the production models afterwards." The glee was quick to vanish from Burburos' eyes. - Yeah, well these guys were kind enough to offer me a position after that incident so it wasn't all bad.- "What d'you expect? We had to give the public some means of assurance that you wouldn't be let loose on the streets." The rather pretty, if somewhat gritty looking arctic vixen sitting next to him chortled as she propped her legs up on the opposite seat. "Sometimes I hafta wonder if it really would have been all that bad if they'd removed your brain along with the other parts of your body that they couldn't salvage." The lapin mek turned to the vixen. - My brain works just as well as it always has.- "My point exactly." She replied while tugging her leather biker jacket closed over the armoured vest she was wearing underneath. - Yes, getting to you Kaity, your job will be to keep things quiet on the ground and make sure Sharon and Kryssa don't have any other hazards to deal with, other than what they're already facing. - Hacker stated. The vixen leaned over to study the area on the holo-image. "Shouldn't be too hard to keep that under surveillance. Specially with some prime C.S.F. meat backing me up." She grinned seductively at the panda. From where he was seated towards the rear of the hover-craft, Takashi merely gave her a momentary glance and then went back to staring silently at the floor. - And lastly that brings us to Dashial and Garret. - Hack cast his eyes over at the corner opposite Takashi, where the aforementioned mek lay on the seat staring nervously at the stone faced panda. Next to him the lithe bodied, and unusually young looking, Bengal tiger adjusted the A.T.B.S. (anti-thermal/bio-signature) suit he was wearing and resumed his boredom induced analysis of the STRAT-BAT's ceiling. - If this place adheres to the standard requirements for urban developments, then the air-conditioning exhaust should be located somewhere around here, at the main underground junction.- The relevant area on the map was marked. - See if you can use it to make a covert entrance into the facility and stand-by. I don't want to jeopardise our friends inside, but at the same time that's not to say that they might not need the extra edge. - Hacker stated. Dashial shrugged and gave the mek a smug smile. "Don't sweat it, boss. Be no different than when I used to have to sneak into kindergarten after class started." On hearing that, Hacker looked up and responded to the smile with an unmoved stare. - I expect no slip ups here, Dash. If you even so much as hint at your presence before Miss Playford is safe you can kiss both your share of the payment and your position with us goodbye.- The smugness drained from Dashial's face. Though he still towered a good foot and a half over the bot, even while seated, he straightened up and moved a few inches away from Hacker. "Okay, okay, I got you, boss. We'll do our best." From behind Garret gave a rapid nod. - I'd also appreciate it if you could try and maintain your discreetness as well, Burburos. I know you like taking advantage of the fact that you can withstand considerably more punishment than before. But frankly our budget just isn't holding up well to all your repair bills. - Hacker stated, turning back to the lapin mek. In response Burburos merely shrugged as though he couldn't see what the problem was. - What can I say? This is a finely tuned form I've got now. Be a waste to not take advantage of its abilities.- He pounded his sculpted chest area in pride. - Perhaps but I hardly think you can justify using it to step in front of a public slider and stop it in its tracks rather than just flagging it down.- The mek climbed up onto the seat next to his long eared associate. - Or placing maintenance tools on an area 18 feet above you, just so you can make use of your hover soles. Or using bio-waste canisters to make tea, so the thermal insulators on your paws have to contend with handling red hot metal. Or...or...- Hacker's voice trailed off as his eyes fell upon the manga book Burburos was holding. -Why is Edgar buying a flu vaccine meant for avians if his girlfriend is a wolf?- -There aren't many lupines in the region they're in so the doctors generally don't stock up on their kind of medication. He's hoping he can use his chemical knowledge, and the magical liquid metals produced in his body to augment the bird vaccine so it'll cure her illness.- Burburos explained. One of Hacker's eyes enlarged in perplexity as the meka-bunny turned the page and studied what happened next. - What are you reading? - He asked. - Furry/Metal Chemist. It's a new series. - Burburos turned the page again and Hack looked ready to offer up another comment when the craft's pilot poked his head around the door leading to the cockpit. "Hey guys, get yourselves ready. We're almost over the first drop point." "Right." Jase gave his PPR-60 rifle (now fitted with an extended barrel and a higher powered scope) one last check over and stood up as the doors to the craft slid open to reveal a destitute sprawl of dilapidated apartment blocks below, faintly twinkling with the sparse glow of lights in windows and advertising signs overheard. The dying embers of a by now almost lifeless part of the city. "How do I keep in contact with you while I'm down there?" He asked. >Like this of course.< Came Hacker's response. Jase turned to regard the mek. "You guys have cerebral modems too?" - Only way to co-ordinate an organisation such as ours efficiently.- A smug look came over Hack's visors. - Military surplus is such a wonderful thing.- Jase exhaled and rolled his eyes. "Are you ready for this, um, Slinger?" - Naturellement. - The mek hovered out of its seat and grabbed the sniper rifle next to it. - When come le moment de faire a malenky bit of cutter has, shalt I strive to always disposé be.- Jason shook his head and tried not to look too befuddled at the mek's inscrutable response while Sling assessed his own armaments. - Possessed of a range suffisamment that shooter is I assume?- The fox nodded. "Standard issue of the U.T.M.C.. Good for up to 600 metres with normal configuration. Factor in the modifications and that climbs to almost 900 metres. Should be adequate for the area we're working in." Slinger closed his eyes and nodded slowly. - Un combattant bien équipé thou art.- Jason gave a half-nod in return and slung the rifle over his shoulder as a hemispherical drone attached to a rail mounted above the doorway slid into position over him and shot several adhesive strands of elasticised spider silk onto his back. *Let's just hope it's good enough.* Jase thought, looking over the urban void beneath him before leaping out of the craft. *Sharon, please take care of yourself.* The fox watched the roof hurtling up towards him and grunted as the silken strands went taut just as his feet touched ground. He reached behind to give them a squeeze and initiated a flow of adhesive reducing chemicals. Pulling them off, he gave the craft a thumbs up before going to get into position. - Okay, that's one. Bring us around to the other side of the block, pilot. And keep it high, we don't want anyone down there thinking we're anything other than another average patrol craft doing the evening rounds. - Hacker commanded. The STRAT-BAT banked right and flew to the desired location. Several seconds later Slinger was cutting himself free on another rooftop. - Alright, Kaity get yourself ready, you're next.- The arctic vixen flashed her teeth at the bot in a predatory grin. "Always did love a nice game of 'Defend the base.'" She murred while slipping off her jacket and strapping on a heavy weapons support frame. - Just please keep in mind we're trying to avoid a massive body count here. Don't shoot if you don't have to. - Hacker cautioned. Kaitlynn rolled her eyes and tutted. "Boss, it's me. You know I never go off before my opponent does." She punctuated her statement by grabbing the PPC-80 plasma cannon next to her and mounting it on the support frame. Hacker folded his arms and let fly with a long jet of air from a valve on the underside of his head (sort of a robot form of groaning) as the vixen tugged her jacket back on, adjusted the dark blue bandanna underneath her white, Mow-Hawk styled hair, and then stood and took a running leap out of the craft's doors. The silk strands barely managed to latch on to her before she went plummeting to the streets below. - After you, Takashi-san. - Hack muttered resignedly while rubbing over his red eyes. The disgusted growl he got in response quickly brought him back to attention and he trepidly looked up to be met with the panda's razor tipped glare. "I'll thank you not to refer to me like that." Takashi ordered. A momentary silence descended, during which Hacker found himself unable to do anything besides stare back in wide eyed puzzlement, not quite able to comprehend the reason behind the bear's apparent offence. - Fair enough. Would you prefer 'sama' ?- He at last answered, to which Takashi now looked as though he were ready to rip the mek's head off and pound his body into scrap metal with it. "I'd prefer it if you would drop the damn honorifics altogether." The panda said before leaping out after the vixen. "Schmed. Boss, let it never be said you don't know how to pick a charmer." Came the wry comment from Dashial as he plugged a pair of spectral goggles into the sockets behind his eyes and descended with Garret to their drop point. Hacker resumed with his rubbing as he stared down at the buildings of Staten Island. "Don't worry about it; I'm sure he didn't mean it personally." The mek turned to see Valerie kneeling down next to him with a reassuring smile on her face. "Probably just some falling out he had with his home country." - I think that's a bit of an understatement. The Chinese fen-ri-pai insurgents had a nicer disposition towards Japan than him.- Hacker patted her shoulder. - Regardless, that's still no indication that he's not an apt agent, so I guess I should give him the benefit of a doubt. After all, with him on the scene your friend at least shouldn't have to deal with any excess hassle.- Val nodded solemnly as she watched the cityscape sweep past underneath them. "I hope this turns out alright." Hacker took her other arm and gave her the best reassuring stare he could muster. - Well, we'll just have to do our damndest to ensure that it does. - He half-glanced out of the door again and noted they were approaching their destination. - Right, it's our turn to shine now. Burburos, get up and prep yourself.- The lapin mek looked up from his book. - Sure thing sir, soon as I, - His left pectoral swung open to reveal a hidden storage compartment, out of which spilled several dozen more mangas. - *As soon as you deal another blow to your credibility.* - Hacker thought to himself while groaning. - Oh piss. Just a moment. - Burburos knelt down and began gathering up the comics while Valerie watched with amusement. "You really like those huh?" The robot lapin looked up from what he was doing and gave what seemed to be a shrug of embarrassment. - Yeah, I guess you could say I'm quite an "otacoe".- This earned an even louder groan from Hack. - Burburos, for the last time, it's pronounced oh-tah-koo. O...t...a...k...u. - He stared disdainfully at the meka-bunny - Whatever. It's that word that means "geek", but sounds cooler in conversation than "geek".- Burburos responded nonchalantly as he tucked his mangas back into his pectoral compartment and shut it while Hacker shook his head. - Fitting really. That the only one of us who reads those, is also the only one who knows next to nothing about the country they come from. - The mek muttered. - Hey, some of us initially didn't have the luxury of the Network computers jetting us off to the far reaches of the globe, or teaming us up with elite ninjitsu trainers so we could learn different fighting techniques and styles to help become better warriors.- Burburos argued. - I fail to see how that could possibly hinder you from learning enough of a different language so that you can at least pronounce it correctly. - Hacker replied. - Well, I am trying sir. - The meka-bunny protested as his left shin split apart and an internal holster containing a compact Stilgar F21K rifle slid out. - But as I think you'll agree, mastering other languages can only be done via total immersion in their country of origin. Just ask one of those hyenas beneath us when we touch down and I'm sure they'll say the same. - The disdain suddenly vanished from Hacker's eyes. - What?- - Those hyenas that just walked out onto the roof with the other guys beneath us. - Burburos pointed to the open doorway behind Hacker. -Given the diversity in this area of the city, I'm sure one of them must be from abroad.- Both the mek and the felapin next to him whirled around to follow where Burburos was pointing, discovering to their horror that three hyenas, all adorned with the red bandannas indicative of their respective gang, were indeed emerging on to the roof along with several other morphs. - Bloody chank! He's got others down there too??- Hacker exclaimed as he ran over to the door to get a better look. All the morphs seemed to be dragging their feet like zombies and wore an expression of craze mixed with confusion, as though they weren't entirely sure why they were up there. Upon gazing at the ledges around them, and the empty air that lay beyond, however, the expression faded to relieved realisation and they began to shuffle slowly towards them. "Schmed, and they're doped up on the drugs!" Valerie gasped. Hacker barely had time to hear as he ran past to the STRAT-BAT's cockpit. - Pilot, turn around and head back to the last drop point! I'm afraid we've run into a rather serious complication.- The craft suddenly tilted severely to the left, causing Val to almost fall over backwards, while Hacker ran back to the door and gauged the position of the morphs that were now standing motionlessly on the edge of the roof, staring into the darkness below. - Looks like they're having second thoughts. Drugs' full effect must not have kicked in yet.- The mek crouched and ran his hands over his head. - Regardless, I hardly think three heavily armed soldiers dropping down into their midst would give them much inclination to stick around. We're going to have to change the plan.- Valerie stepped up next to him and surveyed the scene. Two of the individuals seemed to be gazing fondly down into the abyss, as if relishing the feeling of release that would soon come from their bodies hitting the pavement at mach velocities. Every so often, however, their eyes would avert to view the roof top behind them with just as much enrapture, apparently finding the concept of backing out and continuing to live equally appealing. Val swallowed and felt a cold chill run down her spine when she noticed that, with each passing second, the time spent gazing at the ground grew longer, and the intervals spent staring at the roof fewer. "Hack, what are we going to do?" She asked with increasing fright. The mek pondered for a bit longer. - We've no choice. We're going to have to descend to the ground and move up on top of that apartment complex behind. Then we'll make our way across covertly from there. They seem to be ignoring that area.- He closed his eyes and activated the cerebral link. >Kaitlynn, Takashi, there's been a bit of an unexpected development. Head back to where you touched down, we'll link up with you there. < \Received, boss. We've found something I think you're gonna want to take a look at too.\ Moments later the three were yanking the remains of spider silk off their bodies as a rather sickened looking vixen ran up with a stoney-as-ever-faced panda in tow. - What's happening, Kaity? - Hacker asked. "Takashi stumbled across an interesting little extra feature somebody installed around the grounds of the building. It's gotten us thinking our little pitbull might be planning on adding more than just a weasel to the list of dead tonight." The vixen turned and beckoned for them to follow. The two agents and three Trackers slowly made their way back through the alleyways until they found themselves behind the building where Monique was reportedly being held. A dead-end section of back street that oddly was barricaded with holo-barriers marked with signs reading 'Closed For Maintenance'. "Have a look here." Kaitlynn set her cannon aside and pointed to the ground. "At first glance it appears to be your average much trodded, cracked up and probably never cleaned strip of turf right?" She drew a knife out from under her weapon harness and plunged it into the "street", the surface bending and then tearing apart under the blade like some sort of lightweight canvas. Before everyone's astonished eyes she cut a line across and pulled it aside to reveal a pit, roughly half a foot deep, containing a glittering silver fire of razor sharp blades and spikes mounted on poles, all pointing up to the heavens at odd angles and no doubt waiting to be stained red with the blood of whatever fell from them. "It extends all the way the way around back, stops just before the front entrance." Kaitlynn stated as everyone gaped at the trap laid out before them. - Deus, now there's something that would be fit for the centre piece in the Tate's Memories of the 21st Century exhibit. - Hacker mused. Valerie swallowed hard as she gazed over the blades. "B-But what would he need this for?" "Insurance. If anyone jumps from above there's no chance they might survive the fall." Takashi explained darkly. "Not the first time I've seen something like this done either." Val swallowed again as she shakily looked up to the roof and gasped as realisation set in. "We have to get those morphs off the roof now!" She cried. Kaitlynn and Takashi looked at her in confusion. "Wait, you mean there's guys above us as we speak?" The vixen asked trepidly. - Afraid so. Spotted them while we were coming in for our descent. - Burburos stated. Kaitlynn swivelled her eyes upwards and cringed. "Schmed. Any ideas on what to do, boss?" - Yes, Valerie, Burburos and I will try to covertly get up there and do what we can to restrain them. You two stay down here and keep at the ready.- Again the mek felt cold grey eyes centring on him and turned up to see Takashi with an unmoved expression. "Wrong, Cyber-Tracker. I'm going with you to ensure you don't make this situation any worse than it already is." His gaze fell on Kaitlynn. "If she's anything like what she boasts herself to be she'll do fine on her own." The white vixen first looked taken aback, but then her eyes narrowed as her lips pulled back from her teeth. \Boss...\ She sent privately to the bipedal mek. >I know, but we don't really have the time to argue. Just keep your eyes peeled and that cannon ready. < Hacker sent back while fixing her with a stern stare. Grumbling, Kaitlynn moved back to where she could see the entrance and stood waiting while the others went back the way they came and navigated to the apartment complex. >Scratch, what's Sharon and Kryssa's location? < Hacker sent as they entered the lobby and made a bee-line for the grav-shafts. >From what Pericles states they've pulled up in front and are heading in as we speak. Let's just hope they're in time. < -*Let's hope they don't get cut down before we find out.* - The mek though morbidly. The group stepped into a shaft and began ascending, though given the current circumstances none felt it was at a fast enough rate. As one floor ticked off after another everybody naturally looked for ways to occupy their time. Hacker glanced casually around the interior, mapping the cracks and imperfection until he'd memorised the location of each and every one. Noting, much to his annoyance, that there were still 20 more floors left to get through he took another look around and allowed his gaze to fall on Valerie who was checking over the shock-core rifle he'd seen her carrying. - Interesting choice of armament there. - He said. "Huh?" The felapin turned to him as he gestured to her gun. "Oh, yeah. Kind of an overtly soft option some might say, but I feel comfortable with it." - Well, I think it really suits to you, given your rather considerate and gentle nature. And it's probably a much more sensible choice for defusing dangerous situations than most other types of weapons.- Valerie smiled and relaxed a bit. "Thanks, you're sweet to say that." She turned and looked over the mek. "Um, do you rely entirely on those swords for combat?" She asked, pointing to the wakizashi on his back. - Oh no. I use them in tandem with these.- He shot his cuffs and a pair of RX-79 plas-pistols slid out of his coat sleeves into his hands. - Perfect balance of range and power, and a heck of a lot less cumbersome than rifles.- Val studied the design of the guns and giggled. "And much like you, they're of a very elegant and sturdy make." Hacker gave her a sly look. - I say my dear baniigaaru, are you flirting with me?- The felapin averted her gaze as a slight blush came to her cheeks while she looked over at Takashi. "So what do you generally carry around for back up?" With nary a flicker the panda reached into his coat. "As far as I'm concerned, the only thing better than one U.A.P.," He withdrew his paws, revealing one of the fearsome sidearms clutched in each of them. "Is two U.A.P.s". There were suitably impressed looks all around. - It's just all about the profession with you isn't it? - Hacker observed. The black and white bear kept his eyes centred ahead of them as the grav-lift finally reached the roof and opened up. "It's what I know is right." He muttered as the group stepped out and made for the next building over. * * * -Meanwhile- With a heavy sigh, Sharon hooked her trembling paws onto the door frame and pulled herself out of the patrol craft before slamming the door closed. "You know, I'll admit I've done some dumb things in this job. But this is the first time I've ever felt really bad about doing so." She stated dejectedly to the vampire bat stepping around from her side to join her. "Your paw is being forced here, Sharon. I hardly think you can honestly claim this was your fault." Kryssa responded. Sharon manages only a half-hearted nod as she leaned on the craft and tried to get a grip on the anguish tearing her apart inside. "But still, the thought that I'm deliberately heading in blind, to something with no idea what to expect. On one side I keep thinking this is seriously wrong, yet then the other side just keeps reminding me there's no other viable course of action to get Monique back safely." As if to try and exorcise her emotions from her body, the vixen began pounding on the door in frustration, her eyes almost hurting from how tightly they were shut. "What a time for a conflict of wills." *You have no idea.* Kryssa deliberated as the memory of her own earlier inner conflict about Valerie came back up to surface. For a moment she almost felt like following Sharon's example. Just as quickly she pushed the feelings back down. Now was not the time to get het up on regret. They both needed their wits about them now if the day was ever going to come to a less than tragic conclusion. "If we don't have a choice then we should at least take comfort in the fact that we've attempted to repair things when the opportunity was presented to us, and gave it all we had." She said softly as she rested a hand on the vixen's shoulder. Sharon let her head sink down between her arms as her pounding ceased. At that moment all she wanted to do was collapse in an emotionally exhausted heap and wail out her frustration and anger to the heavens for why they felt the need to keep punishing her like this. But deep down, she knew that would accomplish nothing. Taking a deep breath, she stood and forced herself to calm down and get ready for the ordeal ahead. "Yeah, I guess you're right." She turned to look at the storage facility. Even though dusk still had yet to pass, the general state of decay around the structure still made it look a most foreboding place. "Weird isn't it? To think that such a rotted, decrepit hunk of land like this could exist barely a few miles from an ultra advanced technological paradise like Manhattan." "That's how urban expansion is. As more effort is poured into helping the city to expand outwards, some things are just passed by in the process and forgotten about." Kryssa stated forlornly. Taking a second to check over their weapons, the two stepped forward to the loading bay doors. "So how do you suggest we do this?" Sharon asked. Kryssa took a moment to study the lock panel next to the doors. "Given the state of this place, I'd say the chances of the doorbell working are decidedly less than the chances of it not working, so..." She reared back and delivered a brutal kick to the door. "Let's try knocking." The metal crumpled inwards like paper under another kick and Kryssa then stepped back and waited. "Bout time you two showed your pathetic faces. Almost got me thinking your little weasel might not mean as much to you as you first made out." The cruel voice of the pitbull sounded out over the intercom. Sharon looked around, noticing what seemed to be the silhouette of someone standing in the shadows to the left before her attention was distracted by the sight of a strikingly new looking cover-cam gazing down at them from where it was mounted above the door. "We're here alone, just as you requested." She answered through tightly closed teeth, using every ounce of will power to keep her voice at a neutral tone. "Yes, and if you're still interested in saving her fur you'll both do exactly as you're told." The voice sneered as the doors in front of them began to rise up. {Don't try to antagonise him, Sharon. If we want to get Monique safely out of here then our priority is to be cooperative.} Kryssa sent sternly, watching as the vixen's face screwed up with anger and her paws clenched tightly into fists. #I know, but does he have to be so derogatory about it?# She sent back while taking a step forward. "Hey, WHOAH there bitch! What the fuck do you think you're doing?" The pitbull yelled harshly over the inter-com. "Drop the damn blades and burners at the door! I ain't speaking to any cunt with a shooter in easy reach!" The simmering wrath in her made the vulpine's body tense up for a moment but nonetheless she unstrapped her sword and placed it on the ground along with her U.A.P. and survival knife while Kryssa did the same. "Better. Now step inside and walk to the middle of the room." The voice commanded. #Jase is everything alright on your end?# Sharon sent tentatively while doing as instructed. ~As can be expected. Hacker's got his associates all staked out and ready. No way is anyone going to be able to either come in after you or make a hasty escape out of that place. ~ The fox assured. Sharon allowed a small breath of relief to leave her. #Thanks Jase.# ~I'm hoping to the Deus for you both, girl. ~ There was a pause. ~Hold on, looks like something's happening up top. I'll have to get back to you. ~ The link went dead. Sharon steeled herself as she and Kryssa made their way further into the facility's loading bay. The vixen noted the place was almost barren, save for one or two dusty crates here and there. That in itself wouldn't have looked particularly unsual either, except for the small detail that, once she took in where they were located around the room, they all seemed to have been strategically placed so that one side was always directly facing the bat and vixen, and none of the crates stood in the way of each other. Knowing that that couldn't possibly be good, but not seeing any means of investigating further that wouldn't get their 'host' all riled up, Sharon stamped down on her suspicions and continued walking. "Just right there." The pitbull's voice stated. The two agents stopped where they were as the overhead lights flickered on. A moment of silence passed as they again took in the scope of the place and noticed that in addition to the crates on the floor, there were also several suspended above them on overhead conveyor belts. *Some morphs really can't find it in themselves to throw stuff away it seems.* Sharon and Kryssa looked up at the ceiling. "Okay, we've done as you ordered. How do you wish to negotiate?" Sharon asked. Another moment of silence followed which was gradually broken up by the sound of someone laughing maniacally. "You really are a presumptuous bunch of ignorant assholes aren't ya? I've got a damn innocent's life here on the line here cause of you and you really think you're in any postion to dictate to me how this is gonna play out? Damn, if I were down there right now I'd break your fucking muzzle apart just for saying that!" The anger and desperation Sharon was feeling increased in temperature to a low boil but still she kept herself steady. #Krys, I think I'm gonna need you to take over here for a moment.# The bat nodded. "Look, you've been severely misinformed about numerous things here. We have the documented proof of what really happened concerning Tyrone's death. We can show you everything, but right now we need to know where Monique is." Another unbearable pause followed. "Oh, don't you worry. You'll see Monique soon enough." The voice finally replied in a low and threatening tone. From behind the agents, the door suddenly slid closed and locked itself. Turning around to see this, Sharon opened her mouth to ask what was going on, and then felt herself freeze as several loud 'clacks' echoed out from all round her and Krys, followed by the 'thump' of several flat, heavy objects hitting the ground. Quickly the two whirled back to see the crates with the side panels facing them now on the floor, revealing a Stokinghurst XM-358 remotely operated sentry turret in each of them. "Be sure to save her a seat on the boat, won't ya?" The pitbull stated menacingly over the inter-com as the turrets swivelled their barrels onto the agents. For an instant it seemed to Sharon like she was watching the world explode in front of her. Like one moment she was looking down the black void of a gun, then for a second there was a brilliant white fire shooting towards her, spreading out like a star going supernova to fill her view with intensely bright light. And then, in less time than it would've taken to blink from the onslaught of said light, her speed enhancer augmentation kicked into high gear at the same second someone grabbed her coat collar, {SHARON, MOVE!!} And Sharon could feel the rush of wind on her cheek from the blazing hot rounds clipping past her at somewhere just below Mach 1 as the loading bay was suddenly filled with the roar of gun fire. Snapping herself back to reality, Sharon looked to see where she was headed and was met with the sight of another turret pivoting towards her rushing form. Her gaze was quick, however, to shift upward to notice the top of the crate the turret was housed in. The vixen duly jumped onto the barrel and then nimbly grabbed the top to flip herself over just as another steady stream of bullets exploded out underneath her. "Kryssa!" She screamed, turning to see the bat landing next to her from a similarly well executed flip. "Kryssa." She repeated again in relief, when the sound of several more panels hitting the floor came from behind and both turned to see the objects in question lying underneath another turret mounted on the overhead belt. Both bat and vixen stifled a grunt as the unfortunate lag caused by them scrambling to their feet allowed the first few rounds to slam into their armoured coats before the two were tearing off again across the room. ~Sharon, are you alright? What's going on? ~ She heard Jase say over the cerebral link but didn't respond. To do so now would only serve to put him on edge, and anyway there wasn't really anything he could do that wouldn't make matters worse and ruin their only chance of saving Monique. ~Sharon? Sharon! ~ Came the increasingly desperate cry. The vixen bit her tongue and remained mute while following Kryssa to dodge another turret that had shed the remainder of its crate and was strafing after them. #Great not only is this guy a psychotic jerk, he's a damn unimaginative one to boot!# Sharon sent the bat in aggravation as two more overhead crates ahead of them split open and they were forced to hang a left to avoid the machine gun fire. {Just keep moving!! The guns seem to be taking a while to alter their locks while following us! Must be a result of him trying to control so many units from one location.} Kryssa replied as the two dived and rolled underneath another turret, only to find themselves being peppered by rounds from yet another one to their left as it shed the rest of its crate. "Run all you want, agents. That's prime 30mm rounds you're up against." The voice sneered while the two rose and split up. "I know the military fits you out with some impressive shells but I've been reliably told they can only hold out for so long. Same for the precious meks in you that are letting you maintain that damn speed." Sharon grit her teeth as she flipped over another crate and duly found herself again staring at a turret pivoting its barrel towards her. "Why are you doing this?" She screamed while somersaultin out of the way and leaving it to chew through the crate housing the one in front. "Oh what? Like this is any different to the number of times you've gone rabid on a poor cit's ass? Schmed, you C.S.F. really are the most insatiable and arrogant bunch of foot licking fuckers aren't ya? No matter how much you do to terrorise the lives of us hardworking commoners it's just never enough, is it!?" The canine on the intercom screamed back, getting more and more riled up as he launched into the meat of his rant. "It just wasn't good enough for you to just ruin Tyrone's business, break him up and scar him for life! No, you had to go back and waste the poor mother fucker too just as he was getting back on track!!" Kryssa hissed bitterly as she dodged underneath a turret, and was then met with a wall in front of her while her ears picked up the sound of a ground based one moving to lock onto her from behind. Kicking her speed enhancer up another notch, the bat tore towards the wall, timing her steps so that upon reaching it, the sole of one boot came up against the wall as the other one left the ground to meet it higher up. Thanks to her built up interia, Kryssa was able to maintain this act of wall-walking for a few more steps, giving her just enough height to back flip over the turret, onto the floor and skid to a stop behind it. "Tyrone was a ruthless drug runner whose only interest was destroying the lives of others for personal gain." She stated darkly while trying to gauge where Sharon was amidst all the blazing guns. "He was also an accomplice in a bigger ring which was using that same drug to carry out a mass killing of-" "Shut up bat!!" Came the bellowing reply. "That damn pitbull is the only reason I'm now able to fuck the high rollers up instead of them fucking me up!!" The bat spotted the vixen, looking mercifully none too the worse for wear, as she dove behind a metal pillar. Unfortunately, all the sighting succeeded in doing was distracting her for long enough so that another overhead turret was able to lock on and cut a long row across her back. Krys snarled as a round tore through the skin covering her wing bones and impacted on the metal underneath. Quickly she ducked and executed a backwards roll, managing to get underneath the turret, and into the path of another. A sickening 'ping!' was heard as more rounds ricocheted off the bat's metallic ear while others buried themselves in the surrouding flesh. "But then your little carrying out of that masochistic fantasy of 'shoot the dog and wank over his corpse' reached a few more distant ears than you'd have thought. Got the fuckers who make that damn produce, on which I rely for a living, all running scared and twisting their tails. So they start sending over this Deus-damned schmed that makes morphs all happy and eager to do themselves in. To make sure no other peddlers can spill for ya!" There was a sound of violent coughing followed by a gurgling snarl. "I've had to force myself to go cold turkey for the last damned week, while all my best clientele are stepping in front of crafts and throwing themselves out with the kipple so they'll end up as nice bloody dead cubes! All thanks to you cunts, just cause you can't stop kicking a mother fucking dog when he's down!!!" "We didn't shoot Tyrone!!" Sharon cried while whining as yet more bullets found their way into the armour of her abdomen, knocking the wind out of her lungs before her adrenaline enhancer aug kicked in and gave her another boost so she could tear herself out of harm's way. She was starting feel quite lethargic, and her leg muscles hurt like hell from sprinting everywhere, but there seemed to be no end to the turrets' ammunition, and aside from the few thin metal support columns around the bay there didn't seem to be any other form of cover either. "He got taken out by an assassin, sent by whoever hired him to-" "Oh no! Don't you dare try to hide your tail on this!!" The canine voice growled. "I've spent all my saved profits raiding the armouries on this island, and buying from military smugglers to get all these burners and ammo here. And now I'm going to finally enjoy the fruits of my labour by punching out every last drop of blood from your mangy fetid carcasses!!!" The pitbull really did sound quite maniacal and demented. By now Sharon could almost picture him sitting wherever he was, snarling and staring with wide psychotic red eyes at the screen showing the feeds from whichever cameras he was using to monitor their plight. Another burst of machine gun fire and the resulting thunder bolt of pain across her cheek soon made her cease her mental viewing. Wet warmth spread across the blue vulpine's cheek and upper jaw, followed soon by the metallic taste of blood seeping into her mouth from the wound as the vixen kept pushing her legs to max to avoid the lethal sprays of bullets. This was seriously getting tiring now, as evidenced by the fact that the guns were actually managing to hit their mark before she could evade them again, but the only other way the vixen could see out of the predicament was through one of the windows located towards the top of the bay. And it was highly unlikely that even she could jump that high. "Sooner or later those bods of yours are gonna give out. And I can guarantee you that'll be long before those burners run out of ammo or overheat." The inter-com promised. *Wait, maybe Kryssa could try and fly up there.* The vixen thought. #Krys, the windows up above us, try to see if you can fly up and direct the gunfire there. At least then you could get out!# Out of the corner of her eye, Sharon noticed the bat shoot her a most unsual stare. Not the kind that said it was foolish idea or that she wouldn't abandon the vixen. It was more like an "I'd do it, if only I was able to." type look. "And if you're thinking about calling for outside help, forget it. While you cunts have been dashing around I've taken the opportunity to prime the explosives wired to all the building roofs around this place. " All musings on the bat's response immediately ceased. "What!?" Sharon screamed while narrowly dodging another turret. "You didn't honestly think I wouldn't anticipate your pussy footed little ploy did ya? Don't know who the fox on that roof across the street is, or the bunny and panda on top of us, but like you they're now officially the way all white coats should be: good and fucking dead!!" "No!" Sharon whispered, almost tripping up in the process due to her anguish, but at that moment the window to her left shattered as a plasma beam came searing through and nailed one of the turrets on its battery pack, putting it out of commission. * * * - Outside - *Deus above!* Came the screaming thought in Jase's mind as he heard the sounds of gunfire echo out from the storage facility. He'd initially been distracted by the sight of the morphs exiting on to the top of the apartment complex and heading for the ledges, trying to decide what he was going to do about this development. Course, that had soon come to be a joint priority when he'd sighted several other morphs, all wearing red gang bandannas, emerging onto the other roofs with sniper rifles. ~Sharon, are you alright? What's going on? ~ He got no response. ~Sharon? Sharon! ~ But the vixen seemed either too preoccupied with whatever was going on in the facility to respond, or worse had... *NO! Don't even think about it if you don't have any proof!* He berated himself while shifting his scope from the snipers to the morphs and back, the all too familiar and utterly unbearable feeling of indecision now taking residence in his body again. ~Slinger, can you hear me? ~ He sent out. >Fort et clair, mon droogie. And a dilemma most agréable this but is. < Came the disturbingly amused reply. Jase shook off the unease and focused on keeping his sights trained. ~Well, we've got several apparently suicidal druggies about to kill themselves, and two street warriors who look to be ready to cause even more chaos. I...~ He groaned at what he was about to admit. ~I don't know what to do. Who should I go after? ~ A pause followed as Slinger surveyed the scene through his own rifle. >Worry not, Jase. Protéges vos morphs de camarade the priority of thine should be. Handle the droogs I but will. < Jase nodded his thanks and continued to watch the morphs, noting they still seemed to be debating on whether or not to jump. *Remember, aim for the upper body. Nine out of ten times that causes them to stumble backwards.* Jase sucked in a breath of air and steady his rifle on a panther that appeared a little more eager to end it all than the others. A tense moment passed as the morph swayed backwards and forwards, apparently not quite yet convinced enough of his convictions to follow through, before Jase suddenly realised he wasn't hearing any other shots. ~Sling, what's going on? You're supposed to be taking the hoods out!~ >Tolchocking votre associé, it seems, is but non on their intentions. < The fox swung his sights over to one of the snipers and saw, much to his surprise, the hyena staring back at him, giving the relevant paw gestures telling him he was an ally and not to shoot. Confused, Jase watched as he raised his rifle, took aim, and fired into the storage facility. Though to many it would've seemed a deliberately misleading and provocative gesture, Jase's augmented hearing then picked up that that the firing quieted slightly after the shot. Keeping his sights trained on the gang member, the fox watched as he fired again. As before it now sounded like fewer guns were going off. Allowing his scope to shift down to where he noticed a window near the bottom floor of the building, Jase shot the glass out with his own rifle and was met with the sight of what appeared to be sentry turrets firing at something inside. *Schmed! Somebody certainly must not have been happy to see those two!* He mused as he targeted the battery pack on one turret and blew it off. Quickly he followed suite with the other few that he could see in the limited field of view the window gave him and began taking them out one by one. Up until his ears registered footsteps approaching him and he wheeled around to see a shadowy lynx standing over him, a yellow bandanna visible above his eyes and a non-discernible bulky object with bloody protruding wires clutched in his meaty metallic paw. * * * - Back inside.- Sharon and Kryssa were at a loss for words. Somehow one moment they'd been facing certain death at the hands (well, barrels) of Deus only knew how many turrets. And then suddenly their firing had begun to die down and be replaced by the garbled whir of a mechanical death cry as some kind soul planted round after round in their batteries through the windows. It was almost as if whatever power that may have been had apparently decided their plight had proven amusing enough to warrant sparing them. "Huh? Hey, what the fuck's going on?" The pitbull was heard to say, his decidedly less than cocky tone indicating the current development had not been part of his game plan. Confused but not complaining in the slightest, Sharon rolled underneath an overhead turret and turned to see Kryssa dashing across an area covered by a now smoking metal carcass and diving behind a still active one. With a bitter, enraged screech, the bat grabbed onto its jittering barrel and forced it up and over so its line of fire now centered on the overhead one that had been tracking her companion. A series of quick clatters could be heard as bullets pulverised the sentry gun's housing, followed by a deafening explosion when it finally gave up the goose and tumbled to the ground in a flaming heap. "Thanks, Krys." Sharon said, to which the bat merely looked behind her and went wide eyed. "Sharon, behind you!" She yelled and then hissed as more machine gun fire tore its way through the top of her head. The warning, as it turned out, hadn't really been necessary. As soon as she'd gauged where the bat was looking, Sharon had kicked her speed enhancer back up to maximum and narrowly avoided the stream of rounds that riddled the air where she'd been standing not a nano-second before. Thanks to the gaps created by the disabled turrets she now had enough extra manoeuvring room to angle around towards one and flip herself on top and then behind it. Pumping her strength augmentation to the max, she grabbed ahold of the scorched hulk and heaved it up before taking one passing glance to see where the one that was shooting at her was located and throwing it at it. Another chorus of clattering followed by exploding rang out as the fire from the now toppled over turret managed to hit another active one nearby and put it out of commission too. "What the fuck are you doing!?" The canine demanded over the intercom as Kryssa wrestled with the bucking turret she was holding like the Elders had once done with alligators in days long ago, eventually managing to twist it around backwards to take out another of the overheads. *Alright, at last things are finally looking up.* Sharon gasped in relief. {Don't let your guard down yet. There are plenty more still in operation.} Kryssa sent back as she smashed her fist down through the turret's housing and began tearing out the fleshy pulp inside. "You...YOU UTTER CUNTS!!!" The pitbull bellowed. "Who else do you have out there? WHO THE FUCK ELSE IS HERE WITH YOU!?" Sharon barely payed him any mind as she tossed another metal hulk onto the pile she'd made, creating a temporary barricade between the left corner and the rest of the bay and finally giving the vixen a second to catch her breath. #Jase, are you there?# She sent with heavy trepidation. ~Sharon? ~ #Jase! You've got to get off that building roof! It's wired to explode!# The vixen ordered, almost hyperventilating from the fear. ~Yes, so I've been told. Don't worry; the problem's been taken care of. ~ He sent back rather enigmatically. Sharon was about to enquire what he meant, but was interrupted by her barricade collapsing from the onslaught of fire from several more turrets, forcing her to resume her seemingly never ending sprint. "What's the fuck's up with my bombs!?" The voice demanded out, now sounding increasingly panicked. "What have your flea ridden friends done to -?" In the background a clattering could be heard, accompanied by someone uttering a loud 'Aieep!' of surprise. "Huh? What the-? Who the fuck are you!?" The faint sound of suppressed gun fire was heard over the inter-com, after which there was yet another explosion. Then, miraculously, the sentry turrets went dead and all was suddenly calm. * * * - Elsewhere, at the same time- \Garret, for the love of the Deus, either leave it and get out of there or finish the job! Quit playing with it!!\ Dashial sent while watching the feed from the mek's visors on his wrist-comp. \If you can see where the damn detonator is, then cut it out and leave it already!!\ >No, no I think I'm okay. Just want to check there isn't a reserve one hidden in here to go off if the primary one is removed.< The tiger groaned and scratched nervously at the fur on his neck as Garret's claws poked and prodded at the large mound of plas-tex lumped between the roofs support columns. In the background of the mek's field of view, he could make out the LEDs on numerous high-explosive charges, situated in the intake fans and on the columns, with wires leading back into the mound. All served to merely irritate the feline further with their persistent twinkling and only made him that much more anxious for his crustacean friend to just hurry up and disarm the damn thing. \Look, something very unpleasant sounding is going on below us. Could possibly involve the weasel girl we're meant to be rescuing, and thus mean our chances of hauling in some extra spending money are on the line! So, all being well, could you please just take care of that contraption so I'll have one less thing to worry about?\ He responded with heavy aggravation. It had seemed like such a reasonable plan at first. Climb up to the facility's upper distribution chamber and remain stationed there while his boss and the others did their part in the rescue attempt. That way, if a problem did arise, then given that every other duct converged into that point, they could simply just slide back down through the relevant ones to the appropriate floor with ease. Then out of nowhere there had come what sounded to be gun fire beneath them and he had naturally opted to head down and see what was happening. Now he was jammed somewhere between what he believed was the 18th and 19th floor, having halted his descent when his partner had contacted him with the news that he'd discovered one mother of a bomb mounted on the underside of the roof. >I...I'm certain there must be another one in here, I just....wait, it feels like there's something hidden underneath this corner. < On-screen, Garret's right claw disappeared and then re-emerged holding a beam cutter. As Dash stifled a gulp, he slid it under the plas-tex's left corner and helped cut it away from the wall. \Watch it there, Garret. Remember from our previous experience. These types of bombs can easily be triggered by anything from an increase in pressure, to a change in temperature.\ >I know, it's just this corner feels unsually hard.< \So? Could be an old batch that's started to set.\ >I don't think so.< The crab mek responded. >It's more like...< He cut a section of the doughey substance away to reveal a metal box with a blinking green diode on it. >There, see?< Garret cut some more of the plas-tex away so Dash could get a better look. >Just as I suspec-< The diode promptly changed from blinking green to a steady red >What?< All the ones on the charges followed suite. >Oh....uh....oops?< The mek sent meekly. >Um...I guess that one was pressure sensitive.< Dashial didn't respond, too busy as he was with clawing at his face in sudden panic as the whine of explosives, priming themselves in preparation to go off, screeched out from his wrist-comp. \Schmed Garret! Get out of there!\ He practically screamed back over the cerebral link. >Wait; hold on, I think I can fix this. < Garret was quick to respond. >If I can just cut and remove both detonators at the same time then...< Dashial clamped his paws over his ears and pressed his body into the sides of the duct, waiting with gritted teeth for the drum bursting bang that would reduce the whole of the facility's top to rubble and the violent tremors that would surely shake his bones till they broke apart inside him. The tiger in fact stayed like that for a full three minutes, before his mind came to grips with the realisation that everything was still as stable around him as normal. Cautiously he opened one eye and saw his mek friend turning the now severed detonators over in his claws, the diodes all a welcoming black. >Yes, I thought that would do the trick.< The mek sent cheerfully while Dash growled with even heavier exasperation and slapped a paw over his forehead. \You know, sometimes I think you do that deliberately. Just to see if I'll wet my suit with worry.\ The mek's claws paused with their examination and clenched as if in panic. >Oh, no, no, no, Dash, I assure you it wasn't anything like that! I just saw the reserve detonator and didn't think to check it over before removing it. I didn't mean to frighten you, I swear!< The mek pleaded desperately, mortified that he had committed some heinous wrong doing. Dashial groaned and allowed his body to loosen so he could resume sliding down the shaft. \Alright, alright, calm down Gare. It's okay.\ A smile crossed his muzzle as the duct curved 90° and his feet touched silently down on the bottom. \Just momentarily forgot how you generally are with explosives. Smooth going as always, my main bot.\ On his wrist-comp, the crab claws relaxed again. \See what you can do to disassemble that thing. I'm gonna continue down and see what all the fireworks are about.\ Dashial terminated the link and reached up to tune his goggles to thermal mode while his ears strained to get a fix on the source of the guns. Determining that it seemed to be coming from an area below him and to the left, he advanced through the shaft and found it again bent downward to the next level. *Well, if this does turn out to be a worst case scenario, then at least I can't be held to blame.* The feline eased himself through the bend and wedged himself against the walls as before. Gradually he then began to inch his way down. *Not that that would be a good thing by any means, just that the boss won't have any need to go on about how...* "You...YOU UTTER CUNTS!!!" Came a bellowing voice below him, startling Dash so much he inadvertently ceased concentrating on keeping his body tense so he would stay in place and ended up falling the rest of the way down the duct to an undignified crash onto the bottom when it bent again to the right. "Who else do you have out there? WHO THE FUCK ELSE IS HERE WITH YOU!?" The voice continued to scream, now seemingly almost directly underneath him. Shaking off the wooziness, Dash sat up and cranked his goggles to the maximum amount of sensitivity. Quickly scanning his surroundings, he was able to make out the faint red apparition of a body standing below him. Due to the walls of the ventilation shaft hindering his view, he couldn't tell much about it besides that it was staring straight ahead, and waving its arms violently about as though seriously pissed off about something. Cautiously, the tiger inched himself out to an all fours stance and began to creep forward, his eyes staying on the figure. Through his goggles, Dash watched as the body grabbed an object near whatever it had been staring at (both registered blue and hence blended in with the surroundings so he really couldn't tell what they were) and appeared to be pressing something on it. It paused for a moment and then looked down at the object before pressing it again, and then several times more in confusion induced feverishness. "What's the fuck's up with my bombs!?" It demanded in a panicked voice. "What have your flea ridden friends done to -?" And right then and there the bottom of Dashial's world dropped out. Literally moreso that figuratively, as he placed his paws down on the panel front of him and then felt it bend and fall away from them, causing the feline to overbalance and tumble into the void that had opened up. "Aieep!" He screamed as he fell out of the shaft and into the room, the hard, unyielding metal of the floor presenting a most uncomfortable landing surface. *Deus, that's gonna be felt for at least a week.* Groaning and rubbing a bruised arm, Dashial turned over and erected himself onto his elbows, trying to get a sense on his surroundings. Unfortunately, since he was still wearing his goggles, all he could see was a huge mass of blue with several rainbow coloured bars on the ceiling and one very huge, canine shaped figure standing in front of him. Dash quickly pushed the goggles onto his forehead and gasped as he found himself staring at a red eyed and very psychotic looking pitbull, gaping at him like he'd just seen a winged daffodil come in for an emergency landing. "Huh? What the-? Who the fuck are you!?" The pitbull's paw went for something in his bomber jacket. Dash really didn't hear, too preoccupied as he was at whipping out the Raultha CMP-23 stealth pistol holstered at his side and planting several shots into the terminal he'd spied on the security desk. His only hope as he did so being that the valiant effort would prove sufficient to stop the vile, misogynistic canine's attempt at brutally ending the lives of whoever the guns were being directed at. Actually, that was a lie. Really, Dash had just happened to glance across and noticed what he immediately recognised as a remote weapons control system sitting underneath several security monitors. Upon seeing that all of them were displaying images of two exceptionally hot looking babes, trying to avoid being turned into blood soaked sponges by an onslaught of machine gun turrets; he had naturally decided to see if he could score some brownie points by taking the heroic course of action. Given that his reaction would have been pretty much the same if incited by the former set of events, however, he would later opt for them as a more noble sounding explanation for doing what he did. A startled yip came from the canine as the weapons system exploded, temporarily blinding Dashial and giving him an opportunity to turn tail and tear like heck out of the room. *Figures. Nobody ever appreciates it when you try and contribute to their party.* The tiger mused while massaging his eyes. Dusting himself off he got to his feet and stepped over to the monitors. "Uhm, hello? Can you two hear me?" The vixen and bat on screen momentarily ceased their bewildered assessment of the now motionless sentry guns and looked up at the ceiling. "Who's that?" The vixen asked with a hint of suspicion. "It's okay, my name's Dashial, Dashial Ronmer. I'm with the Cyber-Trackers." The suspicion faded to relief as the bat joined her friend with a rather stern look about her face. "May I presume we have you to thank for this then, Dashial?" In the security room a very smug smile came over the tiger's muzzle. "Well, yes I guess you could say you do. And please, call me Dash." The bat cocked an eyebrow while the vixen just rolled her eyes. "I trust you ladies aren't too bashed up from that ordeal." The vixen wiped some blood from the gash on her cheek. "No worse than what we normally run into from day to day." Her face shifted to concern. "Is the guy who was in there originally still with you?" At that the smugness began to fade again from Dash's face. "Well, actually, no I'm afraid not. He took the moment when I was distracted with saving you two to escape." The feline stepped over to the door and looked out into the hallway. No one appeared to be there. "Don't worry though; my colleagues have both the perimeter and the roof covered. There's no way he can leave without getting collared." He said after returning to the station. "Of that, we can be sure." The bat said. "Can you open the doors to here so we can meet up with you?" Dashial searched the console until he found the controls for the loading bay doors and set them back to unlocked. "Thanks a lot. You're a great help." The vixen smiled softly as the two left the loading bay. "You know, if either one of you are interested in something to help steady your nerves when this is over, I'll bet there are a couple of nice quiet places where..." He stopped when he noticed the bat staring with a disapproving expression at him from the screen. "I think it would be better if you just took the compliment and quit while you're ahead." She advised before walking out of view. *Well, that's what jumping in and saving the day gets ya.* He humphed before a thought struck him. \Boss? It's Dashial. Listen, it seems those two agents who left before us ran into some trouble laid down by our perpetrator.\ >So we heard. Quite a symphony he had going down there. I doubt the Aureatore Philharmonic could've done any better. < Hacker responded irritably. \Yes, well just wanted to let you know I've taken care of it and they're okay.\ There was a pause, during which Dash guessed his boss must probably have been whacking himself in the head to see if he was dreaming. >Well then, against my better judgement it suddenly seems I may have to renew my faith in you. < He replied at last. >Where is he now? < \Running scared somewhere around the place. You'd better keep a close eye on the roof.\ >Love to Dash, but I'm afraid we've run into yet another rather serious hindrance. < The bot paused for a moment. >Is Sharon there? < Dash was about to respond but found himself hitting a mental block. \Wait, is she the vixen or the bat?\ >Vixen, Dashial. < \Yeah, she's approaching my position.\ >Good, re-group with her and make your way up here. There's something she needs to know about right now. < * * * - 7:38 p.m.- Several floors down, the vixen in question was making her way up the stairs with Kryssa, all the while discussing the probably well intentioned (if woefully misguided) antics of the morph who had brought their ordeal to an end. "Why do men always assume that all it takes is one act of chivalry to get a girl interested in them?" Kryssa enquired as the two hurried along. "Sometimes that's all that's required. It depends entirely on what the circumstances are, and what he's done beforehand. Jase, for example, made the effort to get to know me better personally, and allowed me to do the same with him before saving me from that Waldorf drone." Sharon smiled knowingly. "While it's true any honest individual would probably have done the same in that instance, to me it was the cincher that proved he genuinely cared about me. Hence I felt it was only right to return the favour and we just kept growing closer afterwards." Kryssa chewed the idea over for a minute and nodded as they passed another floor. "From what Valerie tells me, it seems you went through a similar occurrence with her in the chemical plant." Kryssa lowered her head slightly. "That was...different. After seeing her standing there, looking so scared and helpless, yet at the same time refusing to let me do something which would've effectively lowered me down to the same level as the scum I was trying to apprehend, I just had a sudden realisation." She turned to the vixen. "I saw the inner strength there was in her, and decided I had to do what I could to keep her safe until I could build her up into a stronger individual." Sharon nodded. "It's the same idea though. You two had a chance to bond, found out about each other and discovered a mutual affection. What she did after that just confirmed what you had begun to suspect about her." She smiled again. "Anyway the results' definitely been the same for both of us, hasn't it? You care about Valerie as much as I do for Jason, right?" Kryssa's gaze fell on the stairs zipping past beneath her feet, her body and pace slowing slightly as she thought over the prospect with increasing uncertainty. "Do I?" She muttered under her breath. >Sharon, are you there?< The voice came through over the vixen's link. #Hacker? That you?# Sharon responded. >I'm afraid so. Listen, you have to get up to the roof immediately. Monique's just stepped out here. < Whatever feelings of elation Sharon may have been having, they were all too quick to vanish upon hearing that. #What!? How is she? Is she okay?# There was another, agonisingly long pause. >'Okay' would be a rather questionable term. She's still up and walking around, but it doesn't look like she's anxious to stay that way for much longer.< Sharon felt her blood turn to ice and quickened her pace. #I'm on my way up now. Please, do whatever you can to stop her!# She pleaded. >We'll try our best, just please hurry.< The vixen nodded and glanced over at the bat. "Go on, I'll catch up." Kryssa replied. Gritting her teeth, Sharon focused on cranking her adrenaline and speed booster augs up to the max, feeling the burning strain on her already weary muscles intensify but not really caring that much, just as long as it closed the gap between her and her destination faster. "Oh, there you are." She heard someone say in relief and looked up ahead to catch sight of a black clad tiger emerging onto the stairwell. "Look, uh, about what I said earlier, I didn't mean to impose or anything like tha-" "Just get out of the way!" She yelled, violently shoving him aside and continuing up the stairs. Caught off guard by this, Dashial oomphed as he stumbled backwards from the push and collided with the wall, causing his goggles to slip from where they were perched on his forehead and slide back down over his eyes. *Must remember that it's never wise to obstruct a girl in a hurry.* The tiger groaned, rubbing over his back which was now throbbing to go with his still sore arm. Disdainfully, he watched as the bat passed him by, tearing up the staircase after the vixen, And then promptly froze when, through his goggles, he noticed something all too exasperatingly familiar up on the next landing: four red, spherical objects hidden underneath the stonework that couldn't possibly have been part of the original architectural design. *Oh schmed!* The tiger thought, realisation dawning. "Sharon! Sharon, stop!" He ran up after the two agents. "Stop! Don't go on the landing! It's wired to-" But unfortunately the tiger never got to finish his statement. Just before the vixen's foot paws made contact with the landing's surface there came the deafning roar of explosions, and the whole thing broke up like a mirror that had just been hit by somebody who wasn't too favourful of what was being reflected back. With a startled gasp that quickly became a scream, Sharon wobbled around like crazy as the floor beneath her shifted and shook like tectonic plates before it crumbled away and she ended up plummeting back down to the floor below her. Kryssa and Dash did their best to race up and catch the vixen, but due to their combined weight and the weakened landing, all they succeeded in doing was sending themselves over to join her at the bottom. For a moment, the world seem to hang in limbo as the three tumbled through the air. But, as always happens with falls, it was quickly kickstarted back into normal flow by the sharp blows of pain caused by their bodies hitting the stone surface. Moaning in agony and unable to stop a few tears from trickling down her cheek, Sharon heaved her head off the ground and gave it a violent shake, hoping to restore some sense of order to her mind. "Is... (cough)...is everyone alright?" She asked blearily, trying to roll herself over and being rewarded with another grunt when she rolled on top of Kryssa. "Oh, sorry." The bat let loose with a few coughs of her own. "I'm a little jarred, but for the most part I'm okay." Some more coughing came from their side. "I'm going to be sporting some really lovely shades of blue and purple for a while after this." Dashial muttered. "Oh well, at least I stopped you two from being even more broken up than you already are so it wasn't in vain." Sharon rolled her eyes. "You may go down, but you're never out are you?" "It's a gift." The feline replied. "Guess we better get up and try that again via a different route." Sharon nodded and attempted to sit up, just as the door next to them whooshed open and she was forced to scream again as something long and sharp sank itself deep into the flesh of her neck. "Man, you fuckers just can't throw in the towel can you?" A familiar crass voice said. Sharon's paws shot up to feel a small dart lodged in her fur as the pitbull strode forward with a needle shooter aimed at her. Quickly she shifted herself so her body was covering Kryssa as best as it could and then wailed as the pitbull responded by firing another dart into her neck. "Oh no bitch, I've given you two more than enough extra time to contemplate your wrong doings. Now you're both gonna lie down and expire permanently! You hear me!?" He punctuated his statement by raising his boot and stamping down on Dashial's paw before it could go for his gun. "Wait your turn, you fucking pussy! I've got a nice big vial of blabber serum for your ass after I get these two up on some hooks." He swiftly kicked the whimpering feline in the chest before turning to lear at the vixen in triumph. " A special little fast acting cocktail of mine. Contains a few choice toxins designed to make the muscles rot away till their nothing but blobs of useless jelly, while gradually slowing down your respiratory rate and heart beat. Won't actually kill you, just render all that fancy tech work on your body useless and make living an absolute hell until I bleed you nice and fucking dry." He leaned in and allowed a sadistic smile to spread across his muzzle. "You may have managed to escape my guns, but it cost you enough time for your precious little Monique to make her way up to the roof. Any second now she'll be sailing past us, along with those other head smackers I invited over to distract your friends, into the little spike garden I was kind enough to set out underneath." His eyes temporarily averted to the feline. "Don't know how many other of his 'acquaintances' you brought along with you, but after a few choice words to the gangs around here it'll be a breeze rounding them up and shooting them." His maniacal eyes swivelled back to the vixen. "You, that stupid weasel, and all your tail licking buddies are gonna die tonight in pointless ignominy. Just like you made Tyrone do. What do you think about that huh?" The vixen's emerald eyes met his, and he felt a distinct slip of confidence when they showed no sign of fear or sickness, only unbridled hatred. "Just two things." Sharon stated coldly. "Firstly, as I already said, we had nothing to do with Tyrone's death." He opened his mouth to respond, but in the time he took to do so Sharon had clasped her paw like an iron vice around his neck. "And second, you're a good-for-nothing bastard whom I've had more than enough of." Knocked completely for six, the black canine could do nothing but stumble backwards and choke as Sharon stood up (apparently still feeling fine) and tightened her grip, the cold metal of her claws almost crushing his wind pipe and cutting off his air supply. Frantically he raised the needle shooter to try and lodge another round in her. But with the same type of machine like speed, Sharon had grabbed his paw and forced it back down away from her face. The pitbull then opted to try and start punching her with his free paw, landing about two or three heavy blows on the vixen's cheek before he saw her do an odd flick type motion with her wrist, and suddenly felt a pincher style claw fasten itself around his neck like a collar just as she let go. It didn't take long for the entire facility to echo with the canine's agony wrenched howls as the las-leash then let fly with a hefty dose of electricity. Sharon stepped back and began to gently ease the darts out of her neck, paying the violently thrashing pitbull no heed until she'd finished. "I trust you see my point now." She said after shutting off the leash's generator. "Y-y-y-y-you're, f-f-f-fucking d-d-d-d-dead, b-b-b-b-bitch." He stuttered, amazingly managing to get back to his feet and lift the needle shooter again, despite still twitching from the shock he'd just received. >Sharon, if entendez-moi thou can, move out of the way. < Came an eerily calm voice in her head. Not bothering to question it, she quickly leapt to the side as there came a sound of glass shattering, followed by a shot ricocheting down the corridor and, judging by the spray of blood and the resumption of howling, straight through the pitbull's knee. "AIIIIIIEEEEE ARRRGGHHH!" The poor canine wailed as he clutched his leg and toppled back to the floor. "YOU CUNTS!!! YOU FUCKING MURDERING CAAAAAAAARRRGHHH!" The last part of his eloquent berating was drowned out when a pair of bat hands shot out to grab the paw he was holding the needle shooter with, and twist it around till Kryssa heard the satisfying crack of his wrist breaking apart. "It may interest you to know that Tyrone knew a thing or two about murder as well, sir." She stated with equal coldness as she pulled the weapon out of his paw. "In fact that's why I gave him that scar. To remind him of the iguana hatchling I found ODed outside his apartment complex. Done most likely to insure there would be one less crucial witness at his trial, though I unfortunately had no way of proving that." She grabbed the dog's head and violently smashed it into the floor while twisting his arms around and securing them behind his back with her own las-leash. "You okay there?" Sharon asked to Dashial. The tiger flexed his trodden paw slightly and grimaced. "Well, I doubt I'm gonna be able to take up playing the piano for a while." He looked at the vixen and offered a small smile. "But it doesn't seem to be broken." "Tough little kitten." She mused while he checked over her wounds. "Not quite as tough as you it seems. Were those duds or something?" The vixen averted her gaze for a moment. Quickly she picked up the needle shooter and pocketed it along with the darts before the tiger could get a good look. "Eh, you know how unreliable these things are. Half the time they can't even fly straight after being fired, let alone inject their contents without getting gummed up." She turned and looked down the hallway. #Thanks a lot to whoever that was out there by the way.# Her eyes traced the pathway the bullet had taken. #Heck of a trajectory you calculated there too.# >Un cadeau it but is.< The individual replied. Sharon exhaled deeply and clenched her paws into fists as she turned around to regard the cringing and seething black pitbull that Kryssa held at arms length. "Alright, get him up. He's coming with us." Kryssa duly complied by dragging him to his feet. "Now," She said while glaring menacingly into his teary eyes. "Show us another way to get to the roof." * * * - 7:41 p.m.- The remainder of the trip up went quickly (after a little 'coersion' to get the pitbull to activate the grav-shafts) and in a few minutes Sharon et all were rushing through the doors to be met with a rather disturbing sight. Several morphs were lying comatose on the roof, most likely the work of Valerie and her shock-core rifle Sharon guessed upon seeing the felapin with her weapon clutched in her trembling fingers. Three other individuals were standing near the edge. Two now apparently seemed to be trying to decide whether it might be better to atognise the C.S.F. personnel who had so graciously turned up into shooting them and sending them to a quick and definitive death, rather than taking their chances with the ground below. The third one, a black panther, stood with a gun aimed at a very uneasy looking Hacker. All that ceased to matter, however, when Sharon looked between the two and sighted the weasel moving slowly towards the former. "Monique!" She screamed, feeling an instant urge to run forward and grab her but hesitating due to the fear that, judging on the apparent situation that was in progress, she might endanger her further. Monique stopped, her ears perking up as if in recognition of the voice behind her. Slowly she turned her head towards the vulpine, revealing eyes brimming with sad tears and enlarged pupils that seemed to stare at her blankly with an incomprehensible but acute desire to end it all. The sides of her lips parted to let out a strangled whimper, almost as if she wanted to say something but couldn't since her muzzle was still firmly held shut by the pitbull's gag device. "Monique?" Sharon repeated tentatively, a momentary feeling of elation coming when what appeared to be acknowledgement passed through her teary eyes. Unfortunately the moment was brought to an end all too soon when the panther grabbed Monique's arm and dragged her closer to him. "Schmed, will you all just back off already? If she wants to die along with the rest of us then that's her legal and Deus-given right to do so!" He snarled. - Yes, yes that's true, you have a point. What I'm trying to say is that, at the same time, there are quite a few reasons, which I think both you and she should consider, as to why it would not be a good idea for you to do so. - Hacker tried to reason. In response the feline merely looked at him as though he'd just stated that seagull guano made fur feel silkier than conditioner did. "Yeah? What's one of them? What's one good reason why I shouldn't cease my decrepit life?" There was a pause as Hacker glanced around the roof and fidgeted, apparently having some difficulty in coming up with an answer. - Well, for starters that's a public ground road beneath you. If you jump then hundreds of citizens are going to be severely inconvenienced by having to slow down and manoeuvre around your splattered remains to avoid dirtying their crafts. - He at last replied. "Hacker!" Sharon said aghast. - What? It's true. Blood plays havoc with grav-rims if it gets inside. - He protested with a totally lost look. Closing her eyes and taking a few deep breaths, Sharon signalled to the panther that she wasn't going to do anything to harm him and walked over to where her friends were standing. "Hacker, I appreciate your efforts but I don't think that's working." She said in a quieter voice. - I agree, but what else can I do? He swore he'd shoot Monique then do himself in. - Hacker pleaded. - I'm afraid if any of us move he'll just get even more riled up.- "And given their current positions I don't want to run the risk they might fall over the edge if I immobilise them." Valerie added. Sharon looked up to survey the other occupants of the roof. Burburos was stood behind Hacker, looking equally at a loss for how to handle this situation, and Takashi was merely leaning against one of the light poles, glaring darkly at the proceedings in front of him. Shutting her eyes and trying to keep herself under control, she slowly turned and gazed pleadingly at the panther. "Look, you're not yourself here. Those drugs this 'morphson' sold you," She glanced at the pitbull in disgust. "They're somehow manipulating you into harbouring suicidal inclinations. You're not thinking properly, this can't be what you want." She glanced up and noticed his red bandanna. "Think about your fellow members. I mean I know how closely you stick together and depend on each other for survival. Are you really going to deprive them of a much respected brother?" The cat pondered for a moment and shook his head. "No miss agent, you're wrong. I am thinking clearly. I've seen this world for the cess pool it is, the pointlessness of me trying to keep my friends safe from the rival gangs, the uselessness of my being here, accomplishing nothing more than taking up space and draining resources. I've been meaning to do this for a long time." The panther sounded quite sad and heartbroken, as though he genuinely believed what he was saying. For a moment Sharon was almost tempted to sympathise with him. "And whatever reasons she may have, I think this girl here would pretty much agree with me that this is the best course of action." He said staring at Monique. Slowly, Sharon looked down to see the weasel's eyes lock with hers, allowing her to gaze deeply into them just as she'd done numerous times during when they were growing up together. And then, with one simple gesture, Sharon felt her world come crashing down as Monique nodded sadly. "No! No! That's not true!" The vixen shouted in despair. "Her mind's doped up on the drugs; she doesn't know what she's doing!" Sharon stared despairingly at the weasel, begging her with her eyes to confirm her statements. For another instant she almost seemed to get her wish as something flickered across Monique's drugged up features, the tiniest snap of recognition at where she was, and the sudden realisation that she was doing something drastically wrong briefly revealed itself as the two former friends regarded each other. It was quick to slip back underneath the suicidal despair again but for Sharon it was the sign she needed. To know that Monique's normal self was still there in some capacity, trying desperately to regain control of herself. "She was never meant to even be here in the first place!" The vulpine pleaded with renewed vigour. "She was just coming in to visit old friends. This guy here is the only reason she's consenting with you at all." The panther merely hung his head and dragged the weasel further over to the ledge so they could both alight on it. "Deny the truth all you want ma'am. She's had enough and she wants out. I agree it's a heart wrenching choice, and to some extent I guess I should apologise, but in the end it's probably for the better." Sharon felt her voice go dead as she watched the two walk away from her. She racked her brains for something else, for anything that could buy her some more time and came up blank. With a strangled gasp she to sink to the ground in despair, her eyes unable to pull away from what was happening in front of her and her mouth hanging open like she was screaming yet no sound came out. "Sharon," She felt a paw alight on her shoulder and turned to see Kryssa standing beside her. "Let me try." Summoning her will power, the vulpine swallowed and gave her a look of consent. #Okay, s-see if you can get him to step away from Monique for a second.# Sharon held up her las-leash. #I...I don't know if this will work, but I can't think of anything else.# Krys nodded in return and dragged the pitbull over to dump him next to Valerie. "Watch him closely." She ordered the felapin. Val nodded and the bat stood up to approach the two on the roof's edge. "Sir, before you leap off, may I ask you a question?" The panther turned around and eyed her with suspicion. "As long as you don't move from where you are, yeah, go ahead." Kryssa flattened her wings against her back and tried to assume a non-threatening stance. "Do you have any siblings?" The panther raised an eyebrow. "What?" "Do you have any siblings? A brother or a sister perhaps?" The feline looked even more suspicious but nonetheless thought the idea over. "Well, yeah I've got a sister. Or rather I had a sister." "I'm sorry." Kryssa gave him a look of sympathy and he seemed to appreciate that. "How would you have described your relationship with her?" The panther eyes lowered to stare at the roof. "Typical big brother/little sister relationship. I guess some might say I was rather protective of her but she never seemed to love me any less for it." "So you were close then?" Kryssa enquired. "Not like we had a choice." He looked down into the darkness beneath them. "Growing up in this part of town, we usually only had each other for emotional support. She was the main morph in my life and I guess I was the same in hers." He turned and eyed the bat again with renewed suspicion. "What's it matter to you though?" "To me, it doesn't. But to her," She gestured to the distraught vixen behind her. "The pain you obviously felt for losing your sister is exactly what she'll be feeling tenfold if you take Monique down with you." Again the panther raised an eyebrow, but after seeing the sincerity in her eyes, and the obviously genuinely upset blue vulpine, he looked as though he'd never considered this possibility. "Is...is that true?" Deciding to risk it, Kryssa took a step forward. "Think about what you're doing here, sir." "Vincent." The panther responded. "Vincent, just think for a moment. If you really were as suicidal as you're making yourself out to be, would you really have wasted all that time waiting for her to get within arms reach of you? Or would you really be thinking what you're thinking about now for that matter?" Vincent pondered, apparently now wondering if the bat reall was all that far from the truth. "A morphson who truly wants to die wouldn't stall like this, trust me I know. But you are, therefore there must be at least some semblance of doubt in you as to whether this actually is the right course of action." She took another step forward, gradually closing the gap between her and the other two inch by inch. "You're not in the right frame of mind now Vincent, neither is she. Ask my colleague if that weasel ever harboured any feelings of suicide at any time during the period they've been friends and I promise she'll say never." The panther glanced over to the weasel (who gave no indication of contradicting the bat's claim) and then back down into the darkness beneath them again, now looking decidedly less sure about leaping into it. "What are you trying to tell me here?" He asked. "I wish to make a proposal to you, Vincent. Come down from there and let us try and purge the narcotics from your system. If after that you still feel the urge to end it all, then I give my word we won't do anything to stop you." The suspicion didn't falter, but Kryssa did catch some semblance of interest coming to light underneath. "You mean that?" Vincent asked. Kryssa nodded. "I'll have my commanding officer put it in writing for you if you wish. No agent or Network computer would dare to try and prevent you then. Just please take Monique down from there before one of you stumbles or worse. You don't have to come with us, just step away from the edge." The feline thought the proposal over for a minute, during which Sharon almost felt like she was going to have a heart attack from the panic of waiting for his response. "Alright then fine." He sighed sadly. "I'll give you the benefit of a doubt for now." He hung his head and placed a foot back down onto the roof. "Help me get down from here okay?" Kryssa stepped forward, turning momentarily to give her nerve wracked vulpine friend a nod that all was under control. "Thank you for listening to me." She turned back to face the panther, and was met with a now very dubious stare that bore no hint of the previous uncertainty. "You know, it jus occurred to me. I never did state how I lost my sister did I?" Before Kryssa could respond he let go of Monique and lifted his foot back onto the ledge. "It was during a shoot out with the lynxes in the fifth sector. Things were rapidly getting out of control and so you were sent in to try and quell things. She was caught on the wrong side so when your guys pulled up, she naturally thought she'd spotted a way to safety." "Vincent..."Kryssa started to respond. "But of course by making a break for you, she made herself an open target. Someone, who apparently wasn't in a good position to tell who was who, caught sight of her and took the chance. Someone on your side, I believe." Again feline eyes wandered to the void that lay beyond the roof's edge. "Throughout all the pain I've endured, my greatest comfort has always been that she has to be in a better place than this now, and that at some point I'd be able to join her there." In a flash, his paw had shot out to grab Kryssa's collar. "So, all being well, given what the C.S.F. has done to worsen the situation here, I think I'm going to do both myself and my bros a favour by simultaneously accelerating the process, and removing the biggest thorn in New York's side." Before anyone had a chance to react, Vince did a backward flip and sailed clear off the top of the facility, dragging the very startled bat along with him. "KRYSSA!" Valerie screamed, forgetting all about her prisoner and doing one of her patented cheetah sprints across the roof to the edge. A worthy effort, that sadly proved to be ultimately futile as Kryssa fell away into the void just as she reached her. Even worse was that the felapin's seeming teleportation from being across the roof to right in front of her startled Monique so much, she stumbled backwards and soon looked to be joining the bat and panther in their fatal descent. "NO!" Sharon screamed from behind. "For fuck's sake, NOT AGAIN!!" With no regards to her own safety, the vixen kicked her speed aug to max once again and surged forward, her arm rising up on instinct to flick her wrist. Like a bolt of lightning shattering through the darkness of the coming night, a las-leash beam shot across the roof and snagged the weasel around her waist just as she was vanishing from sight. In the space of another second and a half, Sharon was airborne, leaping towards the roof's edge as Monique was violently jerked back from the abyss and into the vixen's paws. A painful crunch echoed out as Sharon then tackled the stoat femme safely to the ground. A masterful stunt, but understandably Valerie never saw it. Too preoccupied as she was with staring wide-eyed over the roof's edge at her partner as she plummeted away from sight. *What's happening? Why isn't she flying?* Time seemed to slow down for the felapin. Her paws gripped the sides of the roof harder and harder until they were hurting. Her eyes unable to tear away from the inexplicapable sight of the bat she loved just giving in to the force of gravity and doing nothing to save herself. *Why doesn't she fly!?* She thought with increasing panic. Then, like a hammer of reality, she felt someone grab her shoulder and looked up to see a bear shaped streak of black and white shooting past her and down into the depths after the others. Barely able to comprehend what was happening, Val just stayed where she was, frozen to the spot with fear as Takashi shot through the air like a rain drop, keeping his body straight to increase his velocity and catch up with the other two. ^Kryssa, if you can, grab onto Vince. ^ Hearing the voice in her head proved sufficient to snap the bat out of her shock and she duly reached out to grab the panther by the arm. On instinct she then spread her wings, hoping they would provide enough resistance to slow her descent down, only to be forced to cringe when she then felt the sickening rip of her scarred membranes tearing apart from the updraft. Mercifully, it still proved to be a sufficient sacrifice as Takashi was able to catch up and grab her ankle. *No time to check what the weight limit is on this thing. Here's to hoping.* He shot his other arm out towards the rapidly shrinking roof ledge and flicked his wrist. Several seconds later there came the satisfying crunch of his las-leash smashing into the wall above them and holding tight. All three gave a unanimous 'oomph!' as the leash's beam cord went taut, halting their descent barely a foot above the deadly sea of blades. For a moment they all hung there, afraid to move should it cause their life-line to snap, but fortunately the beam held steady. "Takashi?" The bat asked in surprise. "We'll talk once we're safe." He answered emotionlessly as he curled his fingers in and they were gradually reeled back up. The sound of something metallic being drawn from its sheath registered underneath. "Correction agent, you're going to talk about it." The two looked down to see Vincent holding a knife with his free paw. "I'm going to finish what I started here tonight." Before either could do anything he drove the blade deep into the wrist Krys was holding him by and, with a strained and pain wracked roar, twisted it around until there came the horrible noise of his arm breaking free from his paw. "Ah yeah," The panther mewled in relief as he fell back to earth, "Thank you Deu-" Schhhhhiillllk! Came the sound of numerous spikes penetrating his body, causing it to writhe for a moment and then be still. "Real stupid." Takashi muttered. Kryssa remained staring at the skewered corpse beneath her for a few seconds. "I don't understand." She said as she tossed away Vincent's amputated paw. "He seemed so doubtful of his intentions while I was talking to him, how could he suffer such a sudden relapse like that?" Takashi looked above them and shrugged. "Maybe he really was that desperate to escape from existence." He said and then growled as the sound of two more bodies hitting the spikes were heard from around the corner. * * * - 7:58 p.m.- "Kryssa!" Came the now relieved cry as the bat hauled herself back onto the roof and immediatey found herself being embraced by a very grateful cheetah bunny. "Oh thank the Deus. I thought I was going to lose you there." Valerie said as she rubbed at her tear streaked eyes. "Don't worry Bunny girl, I'm fine." Kryssa assured before looking behind her at Sharon who was shedding tears of her own. Unlike Valerie, however, hers were not from joy, but from despair as she and Hacker struggled with the thrashing Monique under her. Both vixen and mek were doing their best to assure her that she was safe now and in need of medical treatment, but it was obvious Monique was gradually slipping beyond help. Continually she tried to wrestle her arms free from her friend's hold, sobbing and "mmmming" pitifully through the restraining gag in a weak attempt to crawl away from the morphs and back towards the roof's edge. - Burburos, for pity's sake, get over here and help us! This girl is putting up more writhe than a snake having a seizure! - Hacker commanded as he held one of Monique's legs down with difficulty. The meka-bunny quickly ran over from where he'd been watching the pitbull and held the other leg down, making it slightly easier for Sharon who was dealing with her thrashing arms. "Monique, Monique please stop! This isn't like you!" The vixen begged. At that moment she felt roughly as though someone had taken a lawnmower to her insides, so great was the pain of having to see her friend reduced to the depressed shell of a morph that lay in front of her. The feeling wasn't aided much by what she was planning to do if she could ever get the weasel to stay still for long enough. "Sharon, what's happening?" She heard Valerie asked from behind and turned to see the felapin approaching along with Kryssa. "The drugs have taken th-their full effect." The vixen sniffled. "I can't reason with her or anything." Valerie looked the weasel over and swallowed. "Should I get my rifle?" She asked, dreading the response. "No, that would do no good. J-Just hold her down for me." The vixen responded. Valerie and Kryssa duly knelt to take hold of one of the weasel femme's arms, allowing Sharon to access the electro-shock generator on her las-leash and charge it up for another shock. "Sharon, what are you doing?" Valerie asked in disbelief, unable to comprehend her friend's actions. "She....she has a robotic spine. It would just kick start her brain back into full alertness as soon as you hit her with the shock-core blast." Sharon explained. "At least this way, I can sedate her for long enough to get her back to HQ" She wiped the tears from her eyes and looking down at the golden furred femme. "Monique....I....I'm sorry about this. You've b-been like a sister to me." She closed her eyes and triggered the shock. Monique thrashed viciously around as the electricity surged through her body, a strangled scream coming from her clamped lips before she went limp in the other morphs' arms. "But this just isn't who I remember you as." The vixen whispered mournfully before leaning over and letting fresh tears soak her cheeks. Deciding to give her a moment to collect herself, Valerie turned to face Kryssa. "Where's Vincent?" The bat exhaled. "Currently dripping the last of his fluids into the spike trap below. It seems he was a little more determined to die than I thought." "Oh, I'm sorry. The other two made their own attempts while we were distracted." Val looked up in confusion. "But why didn't you just fly back up here ?" "Sorry?" "Why didn't you just use your wings to save yourself? You had more than enough time to quickly ascend back up and catch the ledge. Why...why didn't you?" The felapin watched as Kryssa stared back at her for a moment. Slowly her head then sunk and her eyes slipped closed, a low, pitiful hiss of humiliation coming from her mouth. "Kryss? What's wrong?" Valerie asked, initially not understanding the reaction. Then Kryssa let her wings droop open so she see the fresh rips in the damaged skin of her membranes, blood running in small rivulets off them to pool on the ground underneath. And at that moment the truth hit Valerie like a well aimed kick to the stomach. "Krys, you..." A horrified gasp escaped the half-born as she clasped her paws over her muzzle. "You can't fly?" Krys's head elevated only slightly so Val could see the despair in her eyes. "Look at them Valerie, did you really think these would ever be capable of flight?" She asked mournfully. The felapin gasped again. "But...how?" "I haven't been able to fly since I was 13 years old. Ever since....well...ever since I had a little accident." Val literally felt as though she were going to fall over from the shock at any moment. "Wh-What happened?" "I got caught up in a nightmare that just kept getting worse. At some point someone managed to land two perfect shots through the main joints of my wings." She stretched them out and Val noticed the small misshapen bulbs of tissue stemming out of the aforementioned area. "They tore the ligaments to jelly, made it impossible for me to spread them properly." Krys let them flop onto the roof as her head sank again. "That was the day I first learned of my invulnerability to pain, and the day my whole life fell to ruins." Valerie blinked and felt the film of wet tears glazing over her eyes. "Meds said with a lot of practice and therapy there was a chance I could fly again. For a while I tried, but they were so damaged it seemed almost like a forlorn hope." Krys turned her head away from the felapin, unable to bear seeing her getting so upset over this. "Now, after everything that's happened to them, they can't even hold their integrity long enough for a single flap. As I see it now, my choices are either get them replaced entirely with bionics, or give up entirely on ever being able to use them again." The roof fell silent. Kryssa kept staring at ground in sadness while Valerie just knelt in front of her, gaping at the revelation. "K-Krys, I..." The bat held her hand up. "It's okay; I know what you're going to say. And I'm sorry." Val blinked. "W-What?" "I should've told you this first off, Valerie. Before you had a chance to accept my proposal to be your partner." The bat stood up and turned away, never daring to look at the half-born's face. "I should've known I'd never be able to protect you properly if I can't even do the one thing every other winged creature on this planet can. And anyway you deserve better than a broken up freak." Her wings folded tightly against her back while her eyes closed. "I'll head down and ensure our way out is clear. Tommorrow we'll tell Pericles to place us both back on the solo register if you want." Though her composure and expression remained as stoic as they always had, the small saddened sigh that emanated out from her mouth proved they were merely an outer shell to hide the torment Kryssa felt inside. "I'm sorry, Bunny girl." And like that, a paw grabbed her arm and forcefully dragged the bat around so she was facing the felapin again. At the sight of Val's tear streaked face, Kryssa felt an urge to turn away, initially feeling angry and disgusted with herself for having caused the cheetah bunny such grief. But bravely she forced herself to maintain her stare into her eyes, and was shocked to find they bore none of the revulsion or rejection for her as she'd initially feared, but instead held what looked to be sympathy. Then the shock doubled for everyone when Valerie pulled back and slapped her as hard as she could across the face. "Dammit Krys! How many times do I have to keep telling you? I don't care!" The felapin cried. Krys remained staring at her mutely, neither the harsh sting on her cheek, nor fact that she'd just been hit by the most caring and pacifist morph she'd ever seen even registering in her brain as Val threw her arms around her and hugged for dear life. "I don't care if you're scarred, or you can't fly, or whatever other misgivings you have about yourself. I just want you!" The half-born sobbed as she buried her face in Kryssa's suit. "You're what gives me reason to keep excelling. You bring more confidence out of me than anyone else. You make me feel safe at night and give me the strength to face the trials of the day. Doesn't any of that matter to you??" Kryssa tried to think of a response, but as Val looked up to stare pleadingly at her again with those teary blue eyes she went blank. "I love you Krys, and I'll accept you for whatever you are. Just please, don't leave me!" The felapin almost sounded like she was begging now, and with each passing moment Krys felt a stronger need to say something to assure her. Unfortunately the combined shock of both her words and the realisation that, despite her harsh view of herself, Valerie still thought nothing less of her was fizzing her mind out too much for her to think of anything. Valerie, however, seemed not to need any reassurance as she simply wrapped her arms tighter around the startled bat and continued to hold her, wanting nothing more than for her actions to speak with as much sincerity as her words. Then suddenly both morphs became aware of someone laughing heartily nearby. "By Deus, ha ha ha, oh by Deus you gotta be fucking kidding me!" All eyes turned to the pitbull. "Kryssa Valhorren is a fucking ground hog? Ha ha ha ha! Oh my heart, that's gotta be the best damn thing I've heard in a long time!" The canine threw his head back and continued to laugh loudly, interspersed with several violent bouts of coughing, while Kryssa gradually felt the shock leave her to be replaced by something decidedly darker. "Sir, I advise you to..." "Miss Angel of Death, the damn Terminatrix of New York, and she can't even fly! Ha ha ha! To think, all those pathetic wimps that died in back street corners at her hands, and all they had to do to get away was climb a schmeding ladder. HA HA HA HA!" The pitbull's laughter grew more maniacal as he continued with his merciless taunts. Kryssa clenched her fists and her fangs revealed themselves, prepping to seriously show the rotten dog the errors of his ways. "You, you'd do well not to keep that up." She heard Sharon say, though given the amount of despair still present in the vixen's voice the threat sounded rather hollow. "What for? What the hell are you gonna do to me? Not drag me into the skies and send me for a long drop that's for sure. HA HA HA HA! All those solaris I spent on the guns, the explosives and everything, and I could've done the same job with a hovercraft and a hook. HA HA HA!" Kryssa parted from Valerie and stepped towards the pitbull, a growing inferno of wrath burning in her eyes. "This is your last warning, sir." The pitbull coughed violently and grinned back at her, triumphant in the knowledge that he'd finally happened upon something he could use to hit the bat where it hurt the most. "Fuck it bitch, I ain't letting dirt this good go to waste. Heck, why should I be the only one? The whole world deserves to know this!" He twisted his head around to face the skyline and began yelling. "HEY ALL YOU HITMORPHS AND PEDDLERS OUT THERE! KRYSSA VALHORREN'S A FLIGHTLESS FREAK! IF SHE COMES AFTER YOU, JUST RUN UP A LONG SET OF STAIRS! SHE CAN'T FOL-" And then there was a loud CRACK! followed by a yelp of agony. As does tend to happen when someone is spontaneously smacked upside the head in mid-sentence with the butt of a gun. "Be silent, or be silenced." The foreboding silhouette of Takashi stood over the pitbull, glaring fiercely. "You just added another six months to your stint in the cages." In response the pitbull looked up at him unrepentantly and hocked a wad of blood onto the panda's coat. "Make it a year, you soochi suckling bastard." He was duly sent flying by another pistol whip. "Done. You keep racking up the offences and I'll keep counting." The black canine coughed heavily as two teeth slipped out of his mouth to float in the puddle of blood under him like little yellow islands in a sea of red. "Fine! How's about you make it two years then for assault?" He dealt a pitifully weak kick to Takashi's leg. "Come on fucker, longer I'm incarcerated means there's one less morph for you to drag into an alley and shoot when you get bored." White fur pulled itself away from closely clenched teeth as Takashi grabbed the beaten dog by the throat and lifted him up off the ground. While the pitbull hacked and choked, he carried him across the roof and held him over the ledge above Vincent's corpse. "I don't stand for deliberate degradation of a less abled individual, creep." Takashi stated bluntly. "And I especially don't stand for slanderous remarks against the C.S.F." He gave the canine a jerk, causing him to slip an inch out of his grasp. "Choice is yours. As I see it, considering everything you've done so far, you're worthy of a level 4 threat designation. So either you shut up and start cooperating," He quickly did a twisting motion with his paw so the gasping pitbull found himself face to face with the panda. "Or I can justify your claim, and see to it that you join your clientele down there." All traces of cockiness, anger, and for that matter every other emotion drained from the canine's face like water down a plug hole as he looked into the panda's eyes. Whatever he saw in the depths of those slate grey decorated orbs, no one knows. But apparently it seemed enough to scare him into submission as he ceased struggling and closed his mouth. "Better." Takashi muttered and threw him back onto the roof as Jase and Garret emerged. "Guys, I saw what was happening up here. Is everyone alright?" The fox looked around and noticed everyone appeared to be staring at Takashi with the exact same wide-eyed, gobsmacked expression on their face. *Ooookayyy. Once again it seems you arrived just a little too late for the big event.* "Takashi, what's going on?" The panda gauged his companions and shrugged. "This biscuit brain decided to add to his rap sheet by deliberately preying upon a sensitive area for Kryssa. I was merely showing him why that would not be tolerated." The fox glanced over at the bat who could do nothing but return with a totally astounded look. Next to her, Valerie repeated the action. "Well, uhm, thank you very much. I'm, glad we can rely on you to stand up for us." Takashi gave no gesture of acknowledgement as he patted the pitbull down and then dragged him back to his feet before pointing him in the direction of the grav-shaft. "Has the ground area been cleared for a D-Wagon?" The fox nodded. "Yes it is. Though it appears we may have to owe a few favours around here for that." Takashi shoved the canine into the grav-shaft and the two descended down to street level. Jase quickly slung his rifle over his shoulder and hurried over to Sharon who was wiping the last remaining tears from her eyes. Concerned by this, he opened his mouth to ask what was wrong when his eyes fell on Monique. "Oh Deus." He knelt down next to the vixen. "How is she?" Sharon took a few deep breaths and tried to calm herself. "I...I had to knock her out, but it's not going to last for long. We have to get her back to HQ." Jase nodded and helped her roll the stoat over so she could be picked up. "C-Can you help me get this thing off her mouth so she can breathe more easily?" - Here, let me try. - Garret hovered forward and examined the restraining device. - Yeah, looks like it's from one of those 'glove gag' widgets they tried producing years ago. Fortunately it doesn't stand up too well to high frequency sound bombardment.- The upper part of his left arm spilt open to reveal a wide array of lock picking devices. Garret selected one equipped with a sonic generator and set to work on the gag. Moments later there came a muffled 'click' and he was able to pull it off Monique's muzzle. "Thank you." Sharon stated gratefully, a small smile coming to her face as she looked up at the bot. "You guys really are handy to have around." Garret blinked and rubbed his claws slightly, as if embarrassed by the compliment. - Well, gee, thanks.- Jase nodded and gently scooped the comatose weasel up in his arms, cradling her with as much care and concern as he had with Sharon during their first assignment together. "I'll take her down to your patrol craft. She should be fine there till we make it back." "Thank you Jase, I'll be along in just a moment." The fox cocked his head in worry. "Are you sure you're okay, Sharon?" Sharon nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." Jase turned and headed into the grav-shaft as Hacker approached from behind. - Don't worry about it girl. You've got her safe now, and I'm sure the meds will have her back to her old self in no time.- He rested a comforting hand on the vixen's shoulder, bringing another small smile from her. "I know. I just need a moment to collect myself. Go on ahead of me." She looked at the little mek. "By the way, thanks for making the effort to delay her." - But of course. We may be free of the Network's limitations, but we still try where possible to fulfill their obligations to protect organik life.- He turned and headed for the grav-shaft with the other Trackers in tow. - We'll go link up with Kaitlynn and see what the situation is on the ground. Please don't be gone too long.- Sharon nodded, her smile becoming harder to maintain with each passing moment. "Don't worry about me Hack, I'll be fine." She watched as the Trackers left, her gleeful expression crumbling like a poorly baked pottery piece as she hugged herself. *Yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm...just...fine.* But the truth was she wasn't. The mental devastation from watching her best friend nearly kill herself, while she could do nothing but stand to the side and watch had left the vulpine feeling an utter wreck on the inside. And the anguish that it had been her fault that Monique had ever gotten into that predicament in the first place only made it worse. *I'm fine. I'm fine.* She closed her eyes and continued to repeat the phrase, hoping it would give her enough strength to keep her inner demons from taking advantage of her weakened state. *I'm fine. Yes, I'm fine.* But still they came, the horrid memories again surging forth from the darkness of her mind to begin a fresh assault on her already shattered and emotionally exhausted form. *I'm fine. Nothing wrong with me. I'm fine.* She gripped the sleeves of her coat tightly, her repetitions now becoming increasingly desperate as the images she loathed and feared flashed through her brain. A loud noise from somewhere, waking her from sleep. Shadowy figures entering a room. One of them engulfed in flames. Their glowing red eyes scanning over several small transparent pods. Her reaching out with her tiny paws from somewhere far away as they rasied the objects in their hands. *No! This was different! This had no connection to that!!* But the images continued, and she knew she could not deny the similarities. A noise, sort of like someone clapping their paws together but louder, ringing out painfully to her ears. A flash coming from the objects held by the shadows. Two more noises. No, four more. No, even more than that. Hundreds of loud clapping noises assaulting her untamed ears as her vision blurred with tears and she began to cry. Hundreds of other morphs crying too. The cries being cut short by the shadows flashing their objects at them. Red stuff splattering over the flaming shadow and extinguishing it while she desperately clawed at the air with her paws, understanding that something bad was happening but unable to do anything to help. *It wasn't the same! She didn't...* Sharon was floating now, something picking her up from where she was laying and carrying her away from the cries and the noises. Her crying harder as she was taken away from where the shadows were flashing their objects and stopping the cries. A metal hand coming over her mouth to silence her as the image before her shrunk away. *No! I'm okay now. I'm fine.* Another shadow, this one gleaming with the light of the moon, stepping in with the other shadows. It reaching out and punching through the chest of one so it would stop flashing its object. Another stepping in to do the same to the others. The realisation that there were hardly any more cries. *Stop it!! That's over! I'm fine now!* Light. And heat. A final shadow with a block on its front stepping in and flashing at the two gleaming shadows to stop them. It throwing the block in the room. The remaining cries going silent as the block produced a cloud of dazzling light and heat. The previously extinguished shadow now burning anew as it walked out of the light towards her. Glowing red eyes staring at her from the distance. The long, bulky object it held raising towards her. A gleaming shadow emerging from behind and breaking the fiery one's head off before she was carried away to where she couldn't see it anymore. To where she could only hear other cries nearby, falling silent again by more... "Sharon?" The vixen heard somebody say nearby. With a strangled cry she brought her fist back and drove it down hard into the roof, the sound and feel of the concrete breaking apart from her blow helping to jolt Sharon back to consciousness. *I'm... FINE!!!* The macabre images faded, gradually crawling back from her conscious mind and letting Sharon finally get a grip on herself. "Sharon?" Valerie again repeated. Sharon took a deep breath, feeling the last of the bad memories filter into the darkness of her subconscious. "It's nothing. Just too shaken up by all that's happened today." She looked up and gave the felapin a reassuring if exhausted smile. "Let's get out of here." * * * - 8:09 p.m.- "Ah, the cavalry brings in the spoils." Kaitlynn mused with a wry grin as Takashi emerged from the front of the facility holding the pitbull at gunpoint. "Save the lip. If you'd been in the military that wouldn't be stood for." Takashi said with an iron glare. "That's why I left." The vixen replied as a none too friendly looking female lynx stepped out from behind her with the one Jason had previously encountered in tow. "Oh yeah, almost forgot. This girl here wanted to have a quick word with you. Seems it's thanks to her and her cohorts that you guys didn't end up as a billion tiny scraps of flesh while you were on the roof." Takashi turned his stoney gaze to the felid, noting her yellow gang bandanna as she stepped up and fixed him with an equally no-nonsense look. "Little out of your territory, aren't you?" The panda asked suspiciously. "The reds asked for a truce when they found out what this mongrel here was planning. Wanted us to do a scrub through for any extra surprises he may have planted while they helped with the two inside." The lynx replied without feeling. She took the three bombs from her male companion and tossed them at the panda. "Here, found these in the surrounding buildings. Thought you might want 'em for evidence." Takashi looked down at the explosives. "Nice touch, creep. The sheer volume of prohibited substances that you used to make those alone will net you another five years." The pitbull didn't respond, he just stared back at the lynx dumbfounded. "Y-You...You helped them!? That was you who took out my sentries and disabled my bombs???" Both felids trained their eyes on him. Their combined reproachful expressions confirming his accusations. "What the fuck is wrong with you!? I supplied you mangy milk slurpers with the best quality schmed!!! I gave you the dust you need to stay calm during firefights!! You were supposed to be on my fucking si-" And again he was cut off as yet another hard object (in this case a bionic fist) met with his jaw at mach velocities, nearly breaking it in the process. "Buddy, it wouldn't have mattered if you had the divine ambrosia that would make us impervious to bullets. You don't stage the execution of white coats on our turf!" The female spat back bitterly. "It's bad enough we've already lost so many brothers and sisters because of your stupid contraband. We don't need you getting the damn military pissed at us too." The canine whimpered pitifully, blood now running from his severely battered muzzle in steady rivers as a D-Wagon settled down in front of them. "Damn pussies." He garbled through the blood. "Ungrateful street scum." "Keep it up, mutt." Takashi said as two security drones exited the wagon and hauled the canine inside. "The courts will be more than happy to keep adding on to your stay in the cold side of Helgon." He turned to the lynx. "I suppose you know I'll have to take you in too. For knowing about the effects of the narcotics but failing to report it." The male lynx's gaze turned decidedly acidic at that but Takashi didn't seem phased. "However, taking into account that you aided in the apprehension of a known peddler and the rescue of several innocents, I suppose that can be overlooked for now." The female stood firm against the panda for another moment or so, just enough to show she wasn't intimidated, before slumping and turning away with a despairing sigh. "Just...get out of here." She muttered despondently. * * * - 9:02 p.m.- *Amazing isn't it? Just when you think you've grown numb to every conceivable tragedy life could possibly throw at you, something comes along that rips your heart out all over again.* Cyan let a sad sigh filter through her lips as she watched the proceedings in the C.S.F.'s med-centre. Every so often her gaze would drift from the window in front of her to the bandaged vixen beside her, noting how her expression grew increasingly distraught with each passing moment while her eyes remained glued to the struggling weasel that was clamped to an examination table. "So how's it coming doctor?" The squirrel asked over the inter-com. "Same as before ma'am." The Siberian tiger replied from where he was monitoring Monique's progress. "Whatever this poor girl's been shot up with it's really kicked into effect. Physically she's just a little bruised and worn out. But mentally she's somehow suddenly gotten it into her head that she hates being alive." The striped feline swivelled around with a lost look on his face. "If I could obtain a sample of her blood for analysis then we could conceivably work up a counter-agent. But given that she tried to grab my las-scalpel when you were bringing her in here, I'm afraid to get near her with anything she could use to kill herself." Sharon closed her eyes and sighed mournfully at that. Jase, who was sitting next to her, moved over and draped a comforting paw around her shoulders. "Right now, the best course of action I can see is to let her be for a while. Let the drugs run their course and wait for the effects to start wearing off." Sharon hung her head as another mournful sigh escaped her lips. "How long will that take?" She muttered sadly. Cyan looked over at her again. "Sharon, you know we're doing the best we can for her. And it's largely thanks to your actions that she's where she can't do anything to harm herself for the time being." The vixen nodded as two more tears rolled down her cheeks. "I know, but that doesn't change the fact that she should never have had to be here in the first place. She doesn't deserve having to go through this." "None of the victims we've had to deal with over the past couple of weeks do. But now that we have her, we can hopefully put an end to that." Kryssa responded from where she was seated further down next to Valerie. "The best thing you can do for her now is keep hoping. As you said, she displayed at least some degree of recognition when you encountered her, so we know the drugs haven't won her over completely yet." Jase added as he held her paw. "If Monique was in your situation right now, wouldn't she keep hoping for you?" Sharon looked up at her partner, a flicker of gratitude showing in her eyes at his concern for her. "Yes, yes she would." The vixen stated, briefly turning back to view the weasel as she struggled weakly against her bonds, the despair she felt at being forced to keep living evident in her tearful eyes and a series of strangled sobs emanating out around the tongue guard they'd put on her to prevent her from biting it off. Sharon quickly turned away again and ran a sleeve across her face. "I think I need to go outside for a minute. To help steady myself." Jase nodded as she stood up. "Okay, we'll inform you if anything else comes up." Sharon gave him another look of gratitude. "Thanks for trying to help me, all of you." "We just want to ensure that you're okay." Valerie smiled at the departing vulpine as a voice came through over Cyan's cerebral link. >Commander Cyan, I wish to inform you that Corporal Mohiam has just arrived with the pelthonians in Lab 3. It seems they are eager to speak to you about the organisms Agent Lysan and the Cyber-Trackers brought back with them. < The squirrel cocked an eyebrow but nonetheless responded in kind. //Okay, send them down to the med-centre. I'll speak to them here. // Moments later the med-centre doors slid open to allow the aforementioned inverted skunk to enter with the two octopus-faced aliens. "Hi, look I apologise if we're interrupting anything Commander, but they insisted on coming down here personally to check on their cargo." Mohiam said. *W-W-W-We merely wished-ed-d to ensure that they were n-n-n-not having any difficulty a-a-acclimatising-ing-ing (acclimatising) to your world-ld-d-d.* Yiruz'gwa stated in her multiple voices. Ignoring the expected wide-eyed stares of surprise coming from the other agents, Cyan stood and smoothed out her uniform. "It's quite alright corporal, we're just checking over the well being of a friend of ours." She turned to stare through the window again. "One who had the misfortune of being mixed up in some rather dire circumstances." The two aliens turned to follow her gaze, their monobrow ridges rising slightly as if in puzzlement at the besotted thrashing weasel underneath them. *W-Wh-Wh-What h-ha-has happened to her-er-er-r?* At'zrabyra intoned while she placed a webbed claw on the window. "She, ahem, she got taken hostage by a drug peddler who shot her up with some of his produce. It's imbuing her with an unexplainable desire to commit suicide." Valerie explained while trying to shake off the momentary shock of hearing the aliens speak directly into her mind. Mohiam looked down at the cheetah-bunny and rolled her eyes. "So it really was contraband that's behind that? Why am I not surprised?" Valerie rubbed her paws together as she nodded sombrely. "The problem is we don't know what to do to help her, aside from just keeping her immobile until the stuff wears off." The felapin cringed. "I must admit, when you think about it, it's amazing how many medical procedures involve instruments that one can easily use to end their life." Next to her the two aliens looked at each other, some indecipherable notion passing between them before both returned their eyes to the weasel, their mouth tentacles curling and relaxing as their wings did the same. *Th-Th-Th-These serums, th-th-th-they are affecting her m-m-mind-ind?* "So far as we can tell." Cyan replied. Yiruz'gwa nodded slowly and began to float towards the airlock that separated the examination room from the observational area. *Th-Th-Th-Then, if you will allow us, p-p-per-perhaps we can h-h-h-help her. I-I-I-It may be possible-ble-le-le to use our minds to break hers free of the effects-ts-ts-ts.* There suitably amazed looks all around. "Can you do that?" Jase asked. "More to the point, do you know it'll be safe for her?" Cyan asked with a raised eyebrow. The blue robed creature closed her eyes and nodded. *Th-Th-Th-The container of a mind may change-ge-ge. B-B-B-But, to those who understand-and-d-d them, the s-s-s--sounds it sings remain th-th-the same-ame-me-e (the same). A-A-A-As does the t-tr-tre-treatment for it.* Yiruz'gwa turned to the squirrel and bowed reverently. *T-T-T-Take our assurance-ance-nce-ce Commander. O-O-O-Our methods are safe for all-all-all-all creatures-res-es.* Cyan debated on the alien's proposal for a moment. Knowing it went directly against regulations, but at the same time seeing no other viable alternative, she decided it couldn't hurt to try. "Alright, if you think you can help her then go ahead." Yiruz'gwa made her way through the examination room, giving the tiger inside a bit of a shock upon seeing the bizarre alien. "It's okay." Cyan assured from behind as the pelthonian glided gracefully like a glittering purple ghost over to the weasel. *G-G-G-Greetings y'gtzoa one.* She thought softly as Monique tilted her head, regarding the strange new creature with a sense of renewed hope. "Are...are you here to khill me?" She asked, her words somewhat gummed up by the protective cover on her tongue. *I-I-I-I fear not. M-M-M-My goal is to aid in r-r-r-repairing you.* The hope left Monique's face and she closed her eyes, more tears seeping out as she did so. "No, pleahse, you muhst underhhstand. I d-don't want to have anybody do anything elhse to me. I j-juhst want to die." *S-So-So-So you say. B-B-B-But within you I c-c-c-can sense something which says d-d-differently-ly (differently).* Yiruz'gwa's hands gently reached out to cup the weasel's head as her own lowered itself to make contact. *D-D-D-Death is not your true de-desire-ire-ire. Y-Y-Y-You have only b-b-b-been made to think it is be-be-cau-cause of the poisons in your b-b-b-body.* The pelthonian's eyes began to glow softly like little red stars. *L-L-L-Listen to my dreams, and you will a-a-again-n know your true wants-ts-ts-s.* Monique's mouth fell open as gaseous beams of red light flowed out of Yiruz'gwa's eyes and into hers. As the other occupants watched with similar open mouthed expressions of astonishment, the alien gradually began to levitate into the air with the weasel's head following suite. Yiruz'gwa's four vestigial orange wings stretched out to their maxium span and, to everyone's astonishment, they then began to grow, expanding to almost three times their previous size and giving their owner the appearance of a hippie cum goth influenced demon as she curled them underneath Monique's head to support her. ~Sharon, you'd better get back in here! ~ Jason sent privately as the spectacle continued in front of him, weasel and alien joined by the angelic optical beams while Yiruz'gwa's tentacles rose up to gently massage Monique's head fur, helping to soothe the startled mustiladae. So entranced was everyone by what was happening, that all failed to register the whoosh of the med-centre's door opening as the requested vixen stumbled back in. "I'm here Jase, what's..." She caught sight of her friend in the tender hold of the pelthonian. "...happening?" She turned to At'zrabyra. "What are you doing to her?" *F-F-F-Freeing her of the c-c-co-condition that has been w-wr-wrought-ght on her.* The alien replied keeping her eyes shut and her head bowed in a meditative trance. Silence fell as the event drew to a close. Slowly Yiruz'gwa's hands and wings left the weasel, supporting her head solely through their bizarre eye lock while the alien descended till her robes again touched the floor and Monique's head rested on the table. With a quick blink of her eyes the pelthonian broke the luminescent bond, leaving the golden furred femme gasping heavily as she withdrew. *I-I-I-It is done-ne-ne-ne.* Yiruz'gwa stepped away and folded her now shrinking wings against her back. Seeing this, Sharon wasted no time in rushing through the airlock and heading over to her friend. "Monique?" She asked, her voice heavy with trepidation. Coughing and taking a few more breaths, the weasel turned to regard her and Sharon felt her heart do a pole vault length jump when she saw the desolate sadness had left her eyes. "Sh-Sharon? What?" The stoat femme coughed some more and then shuddered as she realised what had happened. "Oh Deuhs, what the hell wahs I juhst saying?" Sharon swallowed, a heavy lump forming in her throat. "H-How do you feel?" Monique twisted her head about and cringed. "Like I've woken up from the worhst nightmare imagineable." She felt the guard covering her tongue and shuddered even more violently. "Sharon, oh Deuhhs, pleahse don't tell me I wahs actually contemplating what I think I wahs contemplating juhst now." Noticing the look on the vixen's face, the Siberian tiger quickly reached over and disengaged the clamps holding the weasel to the table. As it turned out his timing couldn't have been any more impeccable as Sharon then practically flew forward and wrapped her golden furred friend tightly in her arms, tears of relief running down her cheeks in great rivulets. "Monique, y-you're alright." She sobbed joyously. "You're alright." The vixen felt another pair of arms encircle her and hold her just as tightly while she continued to cry. "Oh Sharon." Monique said with equal tearfulness. "I'm....I'm hs-hso hsorry you had to go through all that. I didn't mean to hscare you or get you in trouble, I juhst needed to come hsee you again." She sobbed, sounding rather comical with the tongue guard messing up her voice. Rubbing her eyes, Sharon gently reached into the weasel's mouth to help remove it. "It's not your fault." She said, allowing their eyes to briefly lock so Monique could see the honesty in hers before she resumed with the hugs. "I was just so worried I was going to lose you." In response she felt the gentle pressure of lips pressing against her damp cheeks, tenderly kissing away the tears to try and calm her. "Oh Deus, that was horrible. I don't what was happening. It was like my mind had been severed from my body and I couldn't control what I was doing. All I could think about was how death seemed to be the only way I could escape." Monique offered the vixen a gratuitous smile. "Please don't worry anymore, I feel better now." Sharon ceased with her vice like embrace and leaned back so she could soak in and enjoy the sight of her friend's smile. For a moment the two stayed like this, their eyes getting reacquainted with the faces they'd been privileged to behold at so many points over the course of their time together, seeing them in the full range of emotions and watching as their beauty had developed throughout the years. And then, as if to complete the experience as well as confirm her statements, Monique took hold of Sharon and brought their muzzles together for a kiss. New tears welled up in the vixen's eyes as the feel of their lips in contact with each other assured her that this really was the individual she'd known growing up, safe, secure, and mercifully back to her normal self. "Deus, what were you doing here in the first place?" She asked after the two had broken off. "Had a bit of an early mid-life revelation." Monique's eyes cast down. "See, my grandmother passed away a few weeks ago." "Oh, I'm sorry." Sharon replied. "Nah, don't fret. She'd lived the whole of her life exactly how she'd wanted and passed away in her sleep with no pain at all. It was a good end to a good existence." The weasel looked up with another small smile. "But it got me thinking. I'd barely made any time to get to know her in her later years. Never asked her to be around for my later achievements, been cutting down on my visits to her, we'd just kept drifting further and further apart from each other." She sat up and took Sharon's paw. "I deeply regretted that I'd never let her know what a fine specimen of a stoat her granddaughter had become. And I decided I couldn't let that happen between us. Dumb idea I know, given my lack of communication with you over the years while you were in training but still, I thought I had to at least make the attempt to reconnect with you." Sharon blinked in surprise as she held her other paw against her breast. "I...I thought you'd forgotten about me." At that Monique chuckled. "You? The girl I most accredited for bringing out my self-confidence and my iron will to succeed? Who never left my bed side the whole time I was hospitalised after my accident? Who afterwards imbued me with the drive to pick myself up and start again? How could I ever forget you?" The weasel reached behind to pull the torn part of her shirt away, eliciting a startled gasp from Sharon when she saw the tattoo on her back. "Especially when I have this little memento to keep reminding me." Sharon felt her mouth drop open in astonishment. "You, you kept it all these years?" Monique nodded. "Hardly a day goes by when I don't spend at least a few moments gazing at it in the mirror, and remembering what you said to me." She lay down on her stomach and then pulled her shirt over her head so Sharon could get a better look at the tattoo. It depicted a female phoenix in flight, her brilliant red and gold feathered body coursing up the length of the weasel's back with her equally colourful wings spread across her shoulder blades. Flames wreathed the bird's unclothed form while her golden, pupil-less eyes stared up at something which her left arm was reaching along the nape of Monique's neck to grasp. Further down, the phoenix's right hand was clutched in a glowing fist just above her leg which was curled up towards the body while the other was extended down towards the stoat femme's waist, as though she'd just leapt from an unseen perch. Completing the image was a banner running under the fiery bird's feet, emblazoned upon which were the words 'LIVE AGAIN' in flaming red letters. "What do you think? Still looks as good on me as before?" Monique queried. Sharon remained mute for a moment or so, unable to take her eyes off the powerful figure that coursed over her friend's back. "It's, as beautiful as I remember." She finally got out. "Yes, definitely suits you." Another voice said from behind. Both femmes turned to see Jason approaching them with a bemused look on his face. "May I ask what the signifigance of it is?" Sharon chuckled and draped an arm around the smiling fox. "Monique, I'd like you to meet my partner, Jason." The vixen snickered upon seeing her friend's expression. "And yes, I mean that in both senses of the word." The weasel looked between the two and a bemused smile of her own materialised while she reached up to shake paws. "How fitting. That the girl who always made it a point to claim how much she adored exotic series fell for a plain old fox." "Hey, times change and so do personal tastes." Sharon retorted while gazing fondly at Jase. "And believe me; this guy is most certainly not plain. In any way, shape, or form." Both femmes laughed at that. "In response to your question, Jason," "Jase, I prefer Jase." "Jase, it's meant to be a reminder of something Sharon told me years ago." The weasel's eyes lowered again as she rested on her elbows. "All my life I've had a fondness for gymnastics. Even once had the aspiration to try out for the Olympics. Well...that is until one day, during a competition between my high-school and a rival one." "What happened?" Jase asked. "It seems some weren't as eager to see her succeed as others." Sharon explained with a hint of venom. "They caused her to have a fall while she was trying to perform a complex and rather risky routine. Ended up crash landing on a set of parallel bars underneath and broke her spine." The golden furred femme's expression turned slightly downcast. "They said they could fix it by fitting me with a cybernetic replacement. It let me walk again as normal, and gave me enhanced flexibility into the bargain. The only downside is, of course, that it put me in violation of Olympic regulations." Sharon rubbed her arm as her gaze averted. "I kinda blamed myself for it afterwards as I'd had a paw in convincing her to try the stunt in the first place. I thought if I hadn't said anything she'd probably have come off okay." Monique shook her head and gave the vixen another smile as she took her paw. "Anyway, I was on the verge of giving up on gymnastics entirely after that. But fortunately this blue wonder here had the common sense to try and convince me otherwise. She gave me a piece of advice I've never forgotten to this day." Sharon looked back at the weasel and felt tears glazing over her sight again. "I told her she had to be like a phoenix. To rise from the remains of her former self and make the most she could of her new life." She blinked and the tears created new streaks in her cheek fur. "I thought given her fascination with mythical creatures it would mean more to her that way." The weasel nodded as a paw reached behind to glide over the tattooed fur. "Hence I decided to get this done; basing it on a similar image I'd seen in an old comic book. It was so I'd never forget that advice, and to show Sharon that, despite all her criticisms of herself, she'd managed to at least set one hair brained girl on the right path again. " Sharon felt the trickle of tears gradually increase back to a steady stream as Monique took hold of her face and leaned up for another kiss, wanting to show to both the vixen and to everbody else present that her respect for her friend had not faltered at all in the years. Watching this, and thinking of the similar revelation he'd had with Klesk earlier on, Jason had to wipe away a few tears of his own while the Siberian tiger approached from behind. "Alright then, Miss Playford. If you're feeling okay now, I think we'd better have a look at your blood. If we can figure out what narcotics were injected into you, then we may be able to work up an antidote, and finally put an end to this national run of suicides." The two femmes broke their passionate kiss to glance at the feline. "Okay, sure. Anything to make this girl's life a little less hectic." Monique smiled. Sharon nodded and then paused as a thought came to her. She glanced over at where Yiruz'gwa had been standing earlier but found the alien had taken the opportunity during their reunion to make her exit. "Monique, I need to leave for a moment. There's something I have to do." She looked down at the weasel again and held her paw. "I promise I'll be right back, okay?" The weasel merely smiled in understanding and nodded before lying down to let the medi-meks move in and begin giving her an overall body examination. "I'll keep an eye on her for you." Jason promised. Sharon shot him a quick look of thanks then rushed back up the stairs and out of the med-centre. * * * - 9:15 p.m.- "Well, I honestly don't think words can describe what a totally weird, and yet utterly selfless gesture that was." Mohiam commented as she walked along with Cyan and the pelthonians towards Cyan's office. *I-I-I-It seemed a fitting opportunity to prove the s-in-in-cer-cerity (sincerity) of our good will to you-you-you.* Yiruz'gwa intoned with a slow nod from her companion. *W-W-W-We wish only for a peaceful r-re-re-lationship while we are here-ere-re.* "As you'll find, that's the same as what a lot of the series on this world desire." Cyan stated. "I certainly hope this works out to be the start of a great friendship between our worlds." The sound of rushing footsteps made the four girls stop and turn around to see Sharon running towards them. "Yiruz'gwa, At'zrabyra, wait!" The vixen exclaimed breathlessly as she ran up to the aliens. "I just need to speak with you before you leave. To say thank you, for helping Monique." The pelthonians spread their wings and bowed reverently. *W-W-W-We had hoped that we c-c-c-could provide wh-wh-what aid we could-ld. W-W-W-We do not wish t-t-t-to see your world-ld-ld-d suffer the same losses in r-r-resour-ources as ours has done-ne-ne.* Cyan cocked her head at the indifferent tone to the aliens's thoughts. It seemed as though they couldn't see any real significance to what they had done, other than that it had prevented Neo-Terra from becoming slightly less populated. "I think what Sharon was referring to is the fact that you saved the life of a dear friend of hers." She was met with two confused stares. "On our world, morphs can sometimes develop close personal bonds with each other. You may have perhaps seen evidence of it before, when I was with my mate on the rings." Cyan explained. "While we accept you may take a different view of life, here we're taught to treat each individual as special." - Some of us more so than others. - Came the weary comment from Scratch as he approached the group of morphs. - At least that was the only justification Hack could come up with for having me take over several of your city's surveillence drones so we could keep a constant watch over our children after turning them loose.- He paused to check something on his terminal and then scratched nervously behind his head. - Speaking of which, you may notice a few slight alterations have been made to the drone deployment in sectors 8-15 on Manhattan. - From behind the aforementioned mek appeared with four meerkats in tow, each stumbling under the weight of several hefty shopping bags clutched in their paws. - You made the same vow that Garrett, Slinger and I did. To protect and raise them as well as we possibly could. - Hacker turned to the mongeese who were taking advantage of the stop to catch their breath. - And if there's another viable means to ensure their safety while they're out in a strange new area, then I'm bloody well going to make use of it. Especially if it'll help monitor their spending habits in the process. - He surveyed the contents of one of the bags. - You four certainly went the whole hog this time didn't you, Jenna? - The eldest of the meerkats looked down at the little mek and smirked. "Well, what did you expect, dad? This is what happens when you release a bunch of teenagers into one of the most mercantile metropolises in the U.S. for the first time." The meerkat next to Jenna started rummaging through his bag. "And anyway we managed to find a little present for you while we were out." He pulled out a large, leather bound book entitled 2000 AD Collected Progs. Volume 4. "You're still missing nos. 589-602 right?" Hacker gave the book a momentary glance before it vanished from the meerkat's paw and appeared in his own. - Course then again, there are times when we're reminded that parenthood does have its rewards.- He opened it and began sheafing excitedly through page after page of pioneer comic artwork. Not a single trace of computer aid was evident in the panels (unlike so many modern day works), only image after image of masterfully and completely hand drawn characters. - A true hoseki of a find, Ridley.- The younger meerkat smiled. "Well, since you trusted us enough to let us out unescorted, we thought we'd repay the favour." Sharon kneeled down to observe the comic collection a little more closely. "So you're into the old Elder produced stuff huh?" - Best era for originality and sheer raw talent. - Hacker said, staring up at the vixen with a knowing look in his red eyes. - Anyway, Scratch has duly informed me that some anonymous source, with a serious philanthropic streak, has seen it fit to transfer a very considerable sum to us, so we're just coming to bid you all goodbye before heading back. We've still got to unload the rest of those two's little friends from our ship and get them to the Network's research division. - He nodded in the direction of the pelthonians. - We've also got a few new, potentially dangerous toys from the military that still need to be given a test run. - Scratch added. "Oh, well farewell for now then." Cyan stated while Sharon hugged each of the robots lovingly. "I'm eternally grateful for all the help you provided us. Thanks for everything." She kissed Hacker on his silver head, prompting the mek to chuckle as he ruffled though her cheek fur. - Well, while I can't say we deserve all the credit, you've been a most interesting bunch of individuals. I shall have to see what can be done about us paying you another visit some time.- Sharon gave Hacker a grateful smile and then released him as the rest of the Cyber-Trackers entered on their way to Lab 3 and the T-D gate. - Right, come along now everyone. We've managed a decent haul in for this job, but there's still plenty of others out there vying for someone who can make their lives that little bit more cushy.- He turned to the meerkats again. - Giger, Sonia, gather your stuff up and follow your siblings. I want the rest of our supplies moved back to base before sunrise.- The two morphs duly did so. but then waited until Hacker had moved up the corridor before turning to the spinosaurus passing them. "I don't suppose we could persuade you to lend a paw could we, Dralion?" Sonia enquired, giving a wide-eyed stare of absolute innocence (a technique she'd spent quite a lot of time perfecting). "If we can save our energy now, we'll be of more help carrying stuff once we get back to the ship." The dinosaur looked decidedly unmoved but then shrugged and picked one of the bigger shopping bags up with his bionic arm. "Dralion, what are-?" Kaitlynn asked astounded. "Whatever it takes to ensure they stayed occupied and we don't have to deal with them later." He said quietly to the vixen and walked on while Sonia flashed her brother a grin of success. Sharon watched the Trackers depart, saying the occasional farewell until they'd all left. "Now then," She turned to the pelthonians. "Getting back to what I was saying earlier, I understand you're looking for volunteers to clone and send back to aid in the management of your own world." Yiruz'gwa and At'zrabyra nodded reverently. *W-W-W-We have b-b-b-been granted permission to re-re-remain-in here and act as emissaries-ries-es while the exchange between your w-w-world and ours takes place-ce-ce-ce.* "Any takers on the proposal so far?" *N-N-N-None as such. B-B-B-But we are remaining h-ho-hopeful-ful (hopeful).* A smile again came over Sharon's muzzle as she stepped towards the aliens and wrapped an arm around each of their shoulders. "Let's talk." She led them down the corridor towards Cyan's office while the squirrel and the skunk watched from behind with quizzical expressions. "Well, I guess this should go a ways towards cementing a good relationship between us." Mohiam commented. "Wise move on our off-worlders's part." "Indeed." Cyan stated with a raised eyebrow. "They seem to have quite a knack for making wise moves." She contemplated as the two resumed following their companions. "Oh, and by the way, Dax said he might be a little late coming home tonight. Seems once we left, the other attendees switched to discussing naval budgets for the upcoming month. He'll have to stick around till the furore dies down." The skunk shrugged. Cyan sighed as a devious grin came to her lips. "I just hope he isn't expecting to get any sleep tonight then. Three weeks is a long time to wait for some of us." * * * - 10:40 p.m. - The door to Kryssa's apartment quietly slid open as the bat and felapin stepped inside, exhausted but relieved that the day had finally come to a moderately satisfactory end. The two had stuck around till Sharon had returned from whatever it was she had to do and Monique's well being had been ensured. After that, Valerie had been quite insistent on heading back for a little talk. "Whew, you're quite a maniac on that bike, Krys." The felapin gasped as she shrugged off her trench coat and hung it up. "My face is still tingling from the wind." "I find it helps me to relax." The bat replied with a sombre laced tone to her voice. "When I can feel the air rushing past, and see nothing but skyway zooming towards me, it just makes it easier to forget the pains of my life." Valerie regarded the bat with a mixture of sympathy and understanding before moving over to the couch. "Here Krys, come sit down." The bat gripped the sides of her coat tightly, a long sigh slipping past her fangs while she psyched herself up for whatever it was Valerie wanted to say to her. Placing the coat on a hook, she let her claws slip down the garment, coming to rest by her sides.With another quiet sigh she then turned around and walked over to sit next to Valerie. "Now then, I think there's something we really need to talk about." The felapin stated softly. "Valerie, if this is about what happened on the roof..." Kryssa started before a pair of fingers pressed themselves against her lips and silenced her. "Look, I understand how you must feel about that. Heck, I'd probably have done the same if I were in your situation." Val looked up to lock eyes with the bat so Krys could see the sympathy held for her within them. "But, before you go off on a self-degrading rant of how unfit you see yourself to be for the role of my partner because of that factor, I want to ask you something. At any point over the time we've been together, have you ever wondered why I'm so enthralled with you when everyone else fears you?" Kryssa thought it over for a moment, and had to admit that yes, she had found the whole concept behind why one meek half-born had fallen so hard for her a little confounding at times. "Why Valerie? Why do you love me so much?" Val leaned forward and took a deep breath. "It's because I caught sight of you before I learned of your reputation. When I walked into the med-centre for my routine, first day check up I'd yet to get to know most of the staff around HQ, had no idea of who was who or what they were like as morphsons. When I reported for duty that day I wasn't expecting anything else than a run of the mill orientation tour followed by an integration session." The hybrid gently took hold of her partner's hand. "Hence, when I happened to catch sight of you in the ER, with the medi-meks rushing to reinstall your eye, I had absolutely no idea about you. Everyone else who comes here usually has heard at least some gossip of your violent inclinations, or your brutality, but I hadn't. When I looked through the observation window and saw you, I didn't see a mindless killer nursing a wound inflicted by a perpetrator in the throes of death. I saw someone who had endured a vile injury while doing what they could to keep the peace." Kryssa felt her jaw slacken at Val's words. With a low murr she watched as the felapin's other paw reached up to trace over the metal strengthener surrounding her right eye. "I look at you Kryssa, gaze over all the wounds and scars on your body, and all I can think of is how each one was suffered because, despite all the hardship wrecked on you, you've stuck by what you believe to be right and never given up fighting for it. I've met plenty of others who'd have thrown in the towel long ago if they'd had to go through what you do each day, but you still keep at it." Val's gaze drifted over to the vampire bat's wings, her paw following behind with trepidation. Sensing this, Krys took a deep breath and let her wings droop open again so Val could touch the damaged skin. "All my life, I've yearned to meet an individual who isn't afraid to face the horrid realities of our world. Someone who'll never back down when faced with adversity. Someone who'll just keep trying to make things right, no matter what the cost." Again blue eyes locked with violet ones. "I wanted someone who embodied those traits, because they're what I yearned to be myself but could never find the will in me to bring them out. Then you came along, and for the first time I felt I'd found someone I could aim to be like." Val leaned further forward so she could place a paw on Krys's shoulder. "I saw you for what you really were, just as I did again when we first worked together. And when I came out to you afterwards, and found you respected and adored me even more because of it, I knew then that you were the one who could help me build myself up into the best I could be." Kryssa murred again as the felapin's lips pressed themselves to her cheeks. "If there's nothing else you can find to like about yourself, then just please remember this: despite all your shortcomings, I do and will always love you for who you are. Regardless of whether or not your wings work, I don't find them repulsive. You're everything I aspire to be, and to me they're the most poignant reminders of why that is." Again the sincerity to her words radiated out potently from Valerie's eyes, their effect hitting Kryssa so hard she found herself running short of breath. As if to further prove her truthfulness (though it was hardly necessary) Val then reached up to depreassurise and unzip her suit, before taking Kryssa's hand and sliding it inside above her left breast. Kryssa's eyes widened as a preliminary reaction, but then they gradually slipped back to the half lidded state as she felt the soft rhythmic vibrations of Valerie's heart under the fur. "That's where you are for me, Kryssa. And that's where you'll remain. You give me more reason to excel in life than any amount of internal will ever could." The felapin's arms wrapped around Krys's neck while the two continued to gaze into each other's eyes. "So please, don't berate yourself over what's happened to you in the past. Focus on what you have now. Focus on us." Kryssa sat there, dumbfounded by what she was hearing, yet feeling an increasing urge to say something in return. But as before something held her back. Again, Kryssa felt that odd nag that her feelings did not match those of the felapin, and therefore whatever she said in response would be a lie in some respect. Taking a deep breath she closed her eyes and focused on trying to stamp down on the notion long enough to at least let her say something. "All my life, since the start of my teens, I thought I'd be forced to live like a loner. That I'd never be able to keep pace with any other winged morphs due to my disability, and that no-one would ever be able to find it in themselves to accept me. To have need for a bat with broken wings." She felt the paw clutching hers tighten and looked up again to see Valerie with tears trickling down the black stripes of her cheeks. "Well, I do." The felapin said before closing the gap between their faces so they could kiss. At once, Kryssa was awash with new emotions again. One part of her continued with its tirade that this was wrong. That she shouldn't be giving Valerie false hopes if she wasn't sure she felt the same type of affection for her. Bringing up a decisive counter, however, was another part. A part that, with each second that the bat could feel the half-born's soft lips pressed against hers and revel in the warmth of her body, grew louder, saying that while she may have her doubts, right now it didn't matter. Valerie was here, giving her the reassurance she'd never thought she'd receive from someone, and yearning to do nothing more than prove to Kryssa that she'd always have someone who loved her unconditionally. That was what mattered right now. Letting her eyes slip closed, Kryssa gently reached up to cradle Val's head, holding her closely to her while she began to kiss back. Like a slick and eager serpent, the bat's long tongue slid through the join of their lips to caress over the caverns of her half-born lover's mouth. A place that, while now quite familiar to her, nonetheless still held an aura of enticing fascination for the bat. Slowly she swathed around Valerie's tender gums and teeth, murring quietly as her explorations aroused the felapin's tongue up to twist and stroke over hers, wanting to make it feel welcome in her mouth. The two continued like this, feeling the pains and hardships of the day slip away into nothingness as they cuddled and enjoyed the feel of each others bodies. Then Kryssa became aware of something moving down her cheek and broke the kiss. Opening her eyes again, she was shocked to discover they felt more moist than normal. With a single claw she reached up to lift the object off her cheek and bring it around for a closer look, another bolt of shock taking root upon seeing the tiny clear droplet of liquid on the metal of her claw. *I'm...crying?* "Krys?" She heard Valerie ask and brought the claw up to show her. "I'm crying, Valerie." The bat repeated quietly. "I haven't cried since the day I lost my ability to fly." Krys curled her fingers into a fist. "All these years, with all the tragedy I've witnessed, I've never once shed tears over anything. It just seemed to have become another part of myself that I'd consigned to oblivion. I didn't even know I was still capable of it." She felt Valerie kiss her again on the cheek. "And therein lies part of the reason I became so infatuated with you. You've had to play the part of a hard-edged and brutal law enforcer for so long most others wonder if you have anything besides anger left in you." Krys looked down at the cheetah bunny, seeing a beaming expression of admiration etched all over her teary face. "But, as I've always believed, and you've just shown, they're wrong. You haven't lost your abilities to care, or feel affection, or empathise, or forgive. It's all still there in you. You've just kept it repressed because you thought that was what was expected." Val's paw gently rubbed over the fur of her neck. "Now, however, you've started to realise that you don't need to hide them away anymore. Because you've found someone who appreciates you for what you are and not what others think you should be." Krys blinked and then shut her eyes tightly at the tingle of another tear running down her cheek, a feeling which was quickly accentuated by the wet warmth of a tongue trailing up to lick it off. Quickly she wrapped her arms around the felapin and leaned back, bringing both of them down onto the couch. The two were immediately at each other's mouths again, savouring the taste of their tongues playing together and relishing how good it felt to just be in physical contact with the other as they cuddled. Presently, Kryssa's hands moved up to slide inside Valerie's suit again and caress the fur of her shoulders. Murring at the touch, Val carefully wiggled out of the top of her suit and pushed it down to her waist so the bat had freer access. Kryssa showed her thanks with a few tender sweeps of her tongue while Val reached between them to open up the front of Kryssa's suit so she could feel over her torso. The two broke the kiss again when they felt their lungs were getting rather eager for air. Sensing the felapin's lips leaving hers, Krys took advantage of the pause to elevate herself enough so she could shrug off her own suit top before lying back down while Val slid forward, bringing her eyes on line with her lover's. Bat and half-born lay quietly in each other's arms, losing themselves in the gaze of the other while their hands resumed with the sensual explorations. Krys trailed up to lightly skritch over the tender spot at the base of Val's ears, while the felapin busied herself with gliding over Krys's toned abs, cooing softly at the feel of the rigid muscles under the thin fabric of her tank top. "Your body is so incredible, Kryssa." She commented while moving over to caress the bat's bicep. "So soft on the outside, yet so taut underneath. I'd give anything to be like you." Kryssa dislodged her hand from her skritching and flexed for Val, happy to hear the sigh of contentment as the felapin felt over the bulging muscle. "As long as you keep following my training regime as diligently as you have, then eventually you will be." She spread her fingers and traced five long straight lines over the felapin's own soft and alluring stomach. "But I wouldn't be in that much of a hurry. Your body is very well suited to the needs of your job as it is." She came to a small ruff of white fur poking up in between the straps of Val's tank top and twirled it in between her finger. "Plus, there is a lot to be said for the extra tenderness it adds to you." Val closed her eyes at the gentle touch of the bat. Slowly, as if guided on their own accord, her lips found Krys's again and they lapsed into a third pleasurable bout of tongue jousting, now made all the more sensual due to there now being hardly any clothing separating their chests. "Krys?" Val asked once they had broken again for air. "Yes, Bunny girl?" "Is there anything you'd like me to do for you tonight?" Kryssa looked confused. "I'm sorry?" "These last few weeks, you've always been so eager to keep me pleased when we make love. I want to do something special for you tonight." Val got back up to a sitting position. "Is there anything you particularly like? Any special kink I can help you indulge in?" Kryssa hesitated for a moment, her eyes averting as she tried to word a response. "Well..." "It doesn't matter to me what it is. I just want to do something I know you'll enjoy." Kryssa stalled for a bit longer and then took a deep breath. "You're honestly fine with whatever I suggest?" Valerie nodded. "I trust you, Kryssa. I know you won't do anything that might harm me." The bat took another deep breath. "Okay then. Stay here for a moment." She got up off the couch and walked over to the bedroom. Several minutes later she re-emerged carrying a large metal box. "I actually have quite a large collection of these stored away, but the ones here are my favourites." She sat down on the couch again and gingerly opened the box. Inside were a variety of small, silver plated mekaniks mounted on velvet trimmed stands. Each was shaped like a different type of insect, mollusc or arachnid with pink fleshy bulbs on the ends of their tails and abdomens. "Eropods?" Val said with a giggle. "I didn't know you like toys, Krys." Kryssa shrugged as she lifted a little spider out of the box. "I can't explain it, but I've always been drawn to them. Dildos, vibrators, worm simulators, octo-dos, toys of any kind just seem to excite me." She put the spider back and picked up a scorpion. "After I saw these in an X-vid one night I started scouring the Network trying to find more of them, specifically the brands and models that the porn industry uses." Val giggled some more at the tinge of embarrassment that became evident in Kryssa's eyes. "Don't look so ashamed about it, Krys. I think it's kind of cute." She looked over the other pods in the box. "So which do you want me to use on you?" The bat placed the scorpion back in the box. "Actually Valerie, since you're willing to cater to my desires, I was wondering if there was anything I could do to you at the same time?" Val looked up. "Are you sure about that?" Kryssa nodded. "I'd like the pleasure to be mutual for both of us." Now it was the felapin's turn to look embarrassed. A heavy blush came over her cheeks as she nervously chewed on a finger. "Well...um...I'm sorry if this sounds a bit odd....but do you happen to have any whip cream?" Kryssa's eyes widened. "Sorry?" "Or popsicles will do if you're out of whip cream. Or any type of sandwich spread." Val closed her eyes and blushed harder. "You're a food fetishist?" Krys asked with a hint of surprise. The felapin scratched behind her neck in an embarrassed manner. "I don't know if it's a by product of my ancestral complex with being prey or something, but I just get so turned on by having morphs eat things off me." Her cheeks turned almost beetroot red as she prepared for what she was going to say next. "Back at my high-school prom, I volunteered to be one of the soochi girls on the buffet. I don't think I've ever had a more enjoyable night since then." Kryssa looked the blushing cheetah-bunny over and rubbed her shoulder. "Well, let's go into the kitchen then and see what we can find." * * * - 11:13 p.m.- Val made her way into Kryssa's kitchenette and set the box of eropods down on the counter. Moments later, Krys appeared behind her carrying a comforter and some spare pillows from the bedroom. "I didn't think you'd find the hard tiles to be very comfortable." She stated as she unfolded the comforter across the floor of the kitchenette and placed the pillows on top. Valerie couldn't help but beam as she watched the bat do this. "Thank you Krys, that's very considerate of you." The bat closed her eyes at the resonance of the compliment. Had it come from any other morph she'd probably have just nodded in acknowledgement and thought nothing more of it. Coming from Valerie, however, it seemed to stir something deep inside Krys. Another reminder that the felapin truly did think the world of her. Crawling over to square off a corner, Kryssa turned to Valerie and pointed at the cupboard behind her. "I keep all the condiments in there, if you wish to have a look." Val checked the cupboard's contents, smiling when she came across a tub of peanut butter, a jar of strawberry jam and some chocolate hazelnut spread. "I always wondered who liked this stuff." She commented while examining the jar. "Well, I find it's good for keeping the hunger pangs away, and the taste has an extra richness to it that normal chocolate seems to lack." Kryssa replied quietly as she sat down on the comforter and faced the cheetah-bunny. "So, how do you wish to do this?" Val smiled and handed the jars to her. "Well, how about I start with you and we'll take it in turns?" Kryssa nodded and pointed to a snail pod. "I like using that one first." Val picked up the little robot mollusc and looked it over, gently probing at the supple flesh underneath the metal shell until she'd located the power switch. Switching it to ON, she placed it on the blanket to let it moisten up and then gave a warm smile to Krys as she helped her take off her tank top. The bat closed her eyes again and sighed softly while the garment was removed. The inner glow of contentment that she usually felt when engaging with the felapin in this type of thing began to burn quietly within her again at the feel of Valerie's paw lightly rubbing through the soft fur in between her breasts before she felt the now slickened eropod being placed on her. Krys shivered slightly at the nicely cool and wet texture of the snail making its way along the outline of her left tit, sliding over the more sensitive areas she'd programmed into its memory banks. Leaving it to get on with its routine, Krys reached up to get a knife out of the silverware drawer and dipped it into the peanut butter. "Where should I start?" Val thought for a moment and then pointed to the same area in between her own breasts. Krys applied a small dab to a black spot just above the hem of the felapin's top and then leaned in to lick it off, earning a small sigh from her. "How was that?" She asked. "Pretty good. Now try using a bit more a little further down. And go a bit more slowly with your licks." Krys scooped some more peanut butter out of the tub as Val pulled off her top and leaned back. As she did so, Krys found herself having to stop for a moment so she could fawn over the view of Valerie, trembling with anxiousness and anticipation as she presented her C-cup endowments for her. It seemed even though the cheetah bunny had grown more relaxed around her over the last few weeks, she still hadn't quite yet lost that last twinge of self-consciousness about submitting her body to another's will. To the bat, it only served to make her look even cuter. "Krys? Are you okay?" The bat realised she'd been staring and blinked. "It's alright. It's just you look so pretty like that." Val couldn't help cooing softly at the feel of the knife smearing a long line of peanut butter down the inside of one breast then up along the swell of the other. Swallowing in anticipation, she watched as Kryssa then leaned in and began to lick in a slow, downward stroke, causing her to gasp and then stifle a low moan at the warm feel of her tongue. "Yeah, oooh that's it Krys, like that." The bat let out a moan of her own as the eropod on her completed its journey around her mammary and shifted to move inward so it could slither over her hardening nipple. Tenderly she dragged her tongue back up Valerie's breast to ensure she got all of the spread before tracing a line over to the other one and repeating her sensuous actions. "Oh Deus, Kryssa." Val muttered quietly, her paws reaching up to stroke through the winged femme's head fur while Krys finished with a few quick up and down strokes like a painter applying a coat of paint before withdrawing. "Was that better?" Krys asked. The felapin felt over the matted fur of her breasts and murred quietly. "Yes Krys, that was excellent." She looked over into the box of eropods next to them. "Which should I try now?" "That one." Krys said, pointing to a stag beetle. "On my other breast." Val dutifully picked it up and switched it on. Gently cupping the brown furred orb in her paw, she placed it on top and watched as its legs spread out to encircle the tit and massage it gently before leaning in and pinching the bat's nipple with its mandibles. Kryssa murred through her teeth at the pressure on her sensitive nub which mingled nicely with the pleasurable sucking sensation the snail eropod was enacting on the other one at the same time. Absently she ran her claws over the smooth metal plates of the insectoid mek while it shifted its mandibles back and forth, rolling her nipple in between the serrated edges and sending her level of ecstasy even higher. "Wow, you really enjoy those huh?" Val asked, watching in wonderment at how content Kryssa looked with the robots pleasuring her endowments. "Do you...want to try the same area on me again?" Krys picked up the knife and licked it clean before dipping it into the jam. Levelling a small amount out, she took hold of the felapin's shoulder and patted the preserve all over her light brown nubs. Val giggled at the slightly cold feel of the metal blade batting it sticky contents onto her sensitive flesh, though that was no where near as pleasurable as the warm tongue that came afterwards and bathed her breast with its tempid saliva. Val grit her teeth to stifle another moan, her body growing weak from Kryssa's quick and jittery tongue movements. The bat traced a circle all around the areola before taking the breast in her hand and squeezing it softly while she repeated the action on the other. As Val gradually grew more limp from the sensations, Kryssa drew an 'X', snaked out an 'S', crossed a 'T' and then finally carved a 'Z' on the nipples, her tongue assaulting the ripening buds with rapid and continuous swipes. "Oh, oh Kryyys. That feels so good." Val groaned, casting her eyes down to gaze lovingly at the bat that was tending to her mammaries. Presently, Krys broke off to gather some more jam, trying not to moan too much herself from what the eropods were doing to her own set. Slowly she turned to Valerie and began to smear the jam thickly on each breast, giving both a good heavy layer. With a subtle sigh of anticipation, she then slipped her lips over the felapin's left nipple and began to suckle lovingly. This time Valerie had to cry out softly, letting her head tilt forward while her eyes closed and her paws reached up to hold Krys' head as before. Emotions of gratitude, happiness and loving adoration washed over the felapin like waves in the ocean, each lapping at her in turn just as Krys was doing to her sensitive nub. The times in which they had done this sort of thing in the past had been enjoyable, but to Valerie this occasion felt special. Just as the first time, when she had consented to letting the bat drink her blood, Val was helping to bring a unique kind of pleasure to Krys, one that she alone would enjoy more so than anyone else. And the realisation that this time the bat was returning the favour in kind only made the experience even more heavenly for Val. Groaning heavily as Krys switched breasts to finish sucking the jam off her right one, the half-born buried her face in the bat's head fur, letting her nose enjoy her lover's scent as much as her body was enjoying Krys' ministrations, and her mind the contemplation of how much what they were doing meant to each other. "Krys, ooh Deus I feel like I'm..." Val let her voice drift off as she felt the tender 'letting down' sensation that a mother would recognise as the preparatory function for nursing, followed by the delicious rippling spasms of her breasts contracting as if releasing milk, though she unfortunately didn't have any to give. Knowing, however, that her tits still tasted just as sweet without (if not more so with the strawberry preserve on them) Val surrendered herself to the feeling, gradually wilting backwards like a tree branch in the wind until she felt herself overbalance and the two collapsed onto the comforter. Caught off guard by this, but sensing all was still okay from how Valerie was stroking her head fur, Kryssa lapped up the remaining few flecks from the now rock hard nipple and lifted her head to regard the felapin. "Did you enjoy that, Bunny girl?" She asked while licking some of the jam off her lips. Panting slightly as the spasms in her tits died down, Valerie looked up at the bat. Her eyes betrayed the satisfaction Krys had hoped to see, but still a strong desire for something else burned within them. "Krys, I need you to help me with something." Val gasped. Kryssa nodded her consent and the hybrid took her hands and placed them where her stealth suit had bunched around her waist. "Please, help me get it off." The bat dug her claws in to separate the armoured fabric of the suit from the cheetah bunny's fur. Val lifted her hips and murred lightly in thanks as Krys then pulled it the rest of the way off her body. Wriggling her legs free, Val gave the bat a grateful nod and then let herself flop, fully nude, back onto the comforter, relishing the feel of the soft, laundered fabric against her fur. With an embarrassed sigh she then reached in between to tend to the source of her need. Kryssa again felt her jaw go slack upon catching sight of the swollen and heavily wet lips that lay nestled between the half-born's gold and black spotted legs, her mind stunned both by the idea that Val had gotten so aroused just from her treatment of her nipples, and the thought of how much blood was swirling through those deliciously red lips as the hybrid placed a paw over them and began to rub lightly. "I'm sorry Krys; I just had to take care of this. Just to help calm myself so I...oogh...don't go off prematurely." Val tried to hide her face as she continued with her light massage, a series of small moans wafting out of her mouth as she felt the burning that was consuming her loins dissipate to the point where she thought she could control herself. Hearing the hybrid's words, Kryssa shook her head and leaned in to kiss her gently on her muzzle. "As I have often stated before Valerie, there's no need to apologise for a perfectly logical action." Val blinked and then whimpered quietly at the feel of being kissed again. She slowly rubbed herself a bit more; playing her fingers delicately over the slickening petals to try and quell the flames before sitting up to see Kryssa had taken her lead and was dispensing with her own suit. *Deus, she's just as flawless as a Greek sculpture.* The hybrid mused contentedly as Krys slid off her panties, presenting her again with an unhindered view of her scarred, but no less gorgeous form as she picked up the two stealth suits and folded them. Feeling the felapin's eyes on her, Krys turned to regard her, pausing in her actions and leaning against the counter top so Val could have a moment longer to admire her form. Even though it had been less than twelve hours since she'd last seen the bat in an unclothed state, Kryssa still held plenty of allure. Drinking in every swell of muscle, every curve, every slash mark and cyber patch, Val saw nothing but the beauty she had always known she'd see, and her face was more than happy to telegraph this to the bat. Krys turned and let out a short murr as she walked into the living room, partly in happiness that Val had found her so appealing, and partly because the snail eropod had managed to curl the whole of its fleshy 'foot' around over her nipple so that it was now trapped beneath the delightful suction of cool, slimy skin. Placing the suits on the couch, she quickly made her way back into the kitchenette and sat down in front of the half-born, noting the wanting on her features to continue in their acts and agreeing that it was a mutual want. "So, how do you want to proceed now, Bunny girl?" Val pondered for a moment and then pointed to the hazelnut spread. "I think I could do with a bit more of a build up." She lay back and traced a line from her breasts, down through the fur of her stomach, to her pussy. "Just to make the end all that much more incredible." Kryssa reached for the knife and grunted as she felt a tugging on her heavily aroused nipple from the stag beetle. Deciding to give her top half a rest, Kryssa pulled both of the eropods off and deactivated them. Best to take Valerie's advice and progress further down. *Time for the heavy artillery.* Krys reached into the box and brought out the scorpion again. With a knowing nod at the felapin, she handed it to her and leaned back to expose her own glistening treasure. Getting the idea, Val activated the eropod and placed it just above Krys's slit. The two watched as the robot manoeuvred its way down and delicately gripped the bat's two outer petals with its claws to part them like a theatre curtain. As Kryssa's inner depths were revealed, the insect curled its massive tail around and a large phallic shaped pole of flesh extended from the stinger on the end. This it pressed against Krys's inner petals and began to vibrate slowly, tracing its way around the flesh to try and loosen it up so it could proceed on inwards. "Nnnghh, that one never fails to get me off." Kryssa murmured. She dipped the knife into the spread and proceeded to paint a perfect straight line down Valerie's abdomen, gladly giving thanks that the augmentations made to her hands and eyes allowed her to be so precise in her movements. After reaching Val's treasure, and then applying another layer to cover any spots she'd missed, Krys put the knife down and leaned in to begin licking away the spread, feeling the felapin squirm and moan continuously while her tongue played over her stomach. Like a great adventurer forging through the brush of a jungle from some distant time gone by, Kryssa's tongue made its way through Val's thick white stomach fur, the rich tastes of chocolate and hazel nuts provided a most delectable incentive for her to keep pressing forward towards her ultimate destination between the felapin's legs. Every so often Krys was forced to stop as the relentless vibrations that the scorpion mek was directing onto her slit sent another ripple of ecstasy through her body. And then, once they had died down, it would be off again for the bat's tongue as it continued in its explorations. As she'd stated before, Val wasn't as muscular as Kryssa, but as far as the bat was concerned that worked to her advantage. Without as much muscle stretching the skin, Val's body was overall far more soft and supple, which made it feel even more enticing as she nuzzled her stomach and her tongue gently probed over the contours. Further up, all this was making Valerie think her mind had slipped away from reality, letting itself become unanchored from her conscious self to sink into the wonderful mirth of pleasure that came with the intimate moments she spent with the bat. As she felt the long warm length of Kryssa's tongue pause in its journey to playfully circle around and tease her navel, Val felt like she was sinking, descending down into the depths of the warmest and most soothing type of sexual bliss imaginable, to where the horrors of the world no longer existed, and all that mattered was her and the bat she loved. [Oh Kryyysss, oh Deus, I love what you're doing to me.] She sent while her paws squeezed and pleasured her breasts. {I feel much the same way, Bunny girl.} Kryssa replied in kind, grunting slightly into the fur when she felt her petals finally give way to the scorpion pod's ministrations, allowing it to slide the long smooth length of its tail in and start pumping it in and out. Kryssa swept her tongue out and redoubled her efforts, a tad disappointed that she was already so close to her goal but not about to slacken her pace. As the two writhed and moaned in their own respective ways on the comforter, the bat worked to lap the last few inches of spread from Val's fur till her tongue encountered something decidedly slicker, and just as sweet tasting, further down. Letting her eyes slip closed while she savoured the flavour, Krys let her tongue drape over the quivering folds of Valerie's pussy and gave it one final, tantalisingly slow lick, enough to tell it hello and assure it that she would be back soon, before lifting her head away. Val whimpered at the feel of the hot tongue on her fiery flesh, the pressure of those fifteen inches of mouth meat serving to rocket boost her to an astral level of pleasure, yet still seemingly managing to keep her from reaching her peak. Panting, she sat up and regarded the bat. "Krys, that was...just amazing." Krys nodded. "I only stopped because I wanted to ask if you'd like me to proceed in the same way, or if you had another idea." Val tried to think of an answer but sensed her mind was still taking its time in surfacing from the sea of euphoria it had been submerged in. "I...I don't know. I mean on one paw I'd prefer you to just go ahead and finish me off, but yet, if there were a way to make this more enjoyable then..." Val groaned as her paws again moved down to stroke over her folds. "Deus, I feel so hot I can't think straight." Kryssa eyes swivelled up as a thought came to mind. "Well, there is something else you suggested that I could try." She reached over to open up the fridge unit and pulled a few fruit ices from the freezer compartment (she'd found they were great for helping her cool off after a work out and had made sure to always have a few in there). "Will these do?" She asked, holding up the popsicles. Val looked up and felt herself wilt with thanks as she gave the vampire bat a grateful smile. "Yes Kryssa, those'll be perfect." She grabbed a pillow and rolled onto her side. With a tense intake of breath, she then parted her legs to expose the folds of her pussy to the bat again. Krys stripped the wrapper off a grape flavoured popsicle and gave it a thorough licking to lube it up before leaning forward to gently brush her fingers through the fur above Valerie's slit, soothing her caringly before placing the popsicle at her entrance. "Okay, n-now go slowly, I need time to get used to the coldness." Krys moved her hand in a fraction further, just enough for the tip of the fruit flavoured ice to make contact with the hot outer lips. Val's body suddenly seized up from the sensation but just as suddenly her paw shot back to grab the bat's hand and keep it where it was. "Nngh, yeah that's it. Now, j-just stroke me a little." Krys slowly moved the dessert item around in a small circle, bringing more convulsions from the felapin and several throaty moans of ecstasy. "Oooh heavens. P-Push it in a little." Valerie's tongue darted out to be clamped firmly by her teeth as she then felt the frigid object press a little harder against her lips. Shutting her eyes, she concentrated on activating her body's thermal management system (installed to ensure agents could work in environments that were colder or hotter than their normal habitat without suffering any ill effects) so the frosty bite of the popsicle wasn't quite as bad. It was just as well as she did as Krys then pressed a little harder with the result that her lips parted to allow the first inch to enter her. The felapin buried her face in her pillow to try and muffle her screams. The popsicle fell so utterly cold and intrusive inside the depths of her heated loins it almost hurt, but at the same time her vaginal muscles still clamped tightly around the icy sweet, not willing to let it leave due to the sharp sparks of pleasure it was sending up through the hybrid's body. [Oh, K-K-K-Krys, please, more.] The felapin sent due to her mouth being trapped in the confines of the pillow. More and more soft, frosty goodness was fed into her. At the same time, Krys moved her hand in front to gently massage Val's slit, hoping it would help to relax her while she got comfortable with the change in temperature. Val thrashed and whimpered more as the cold intrusion progressed inwards, tears streaming out of her eyes while she clawed at the comforter underneath her. When Kryssa was around half an inch away from the stick, her paw went rigid as a signal for her to stop. The two stayed as they were like that for a short beat. Krys watched with concern as Val squirmed around, her cheeks heavily wet with tears and her free paw bunching up as if in pain, yet her other still maintained its firm grip on her wrist to ensure she didn't try pulling out. "Valerie?" She asked. The felapin breathed heavily as she lifted her head up and turned to face her. "It's okay Krys. I mean, it's uncomfortable....but...in a good way." She gave the bat her best attempt at a reassuring expression before collapsing again and sinking her teeth into the pillow. [Pull it out slowly, and then push it back in.] Kryssa did as told, coaxing the rapidly slickening popsicle out of the hybrid's pussy, then slowly and gently moving back in, to which Val responded with heavier gasps and groans of delight. As the bat continued to do so, the felapin stopped thrashing around in agony, and gradually started to follow the motion of Kryssa's gentle thrusts. {Is it feeling better now?} Kryssa enquired when Val's paw let go of her and moved up to join the other one gripping the pillow while she moaned out her enjoyment. [Oh Krys, I forgot how intense, and yet how good this feels.] Val responded. Her teeth clenched tight again as the cold juice of the popsicle began to run off and mingle with the much hotter juices from her depths, the feeling of the two mingling helping to take her from one cloud of bliss to another one closer to the stars. [Please, is there anything I can do to make this as good for you?] Kryssa shook her head. {Just enjoy yourself, Bunny girl. I'll take care of the last part myself.} She turned to pick the spider pod out of the box next to them and leaned forward, groaning inwardly when the motion caused the scorpion already on her to thrust deeper into her equally soaked pussy. Tenderly, Krys reached behind to place the small arachnid robot underneath her tail and then switched it on. The mek quickly sprung to life and grabbed onto the fur of her cheeks before lowering its enlarged abdomen to the small pucker of her tail hole. Like little excited worms, several skinny tendrils snaked out of the bulbous rear and began to tease at the rectal flesh. Moaning and hissing loudly at the added pleasurable sensations this produced, Kryssa turned her attention back to what she was doing to the half-born in front of her. Noticing that the popsicle was now turning to slush from being inside Val, she grabbed the other one (orange flavoured) and stripped the wrapping off with her teeth. Val cried anew at the feeling of another freezing object being inserted into her, but as before the sensation was only fleeting. True it did hurt, having two shafts of ice in what currently felt like the hottest part of her body, but by Deus did it feel good! And hearing the bat's pleasure wracked screeches from behind, indicating she was enjoying her kink just as much as Val was only made the whole experience even better for the cheetah bunny. [Deus Krys, k-keep it up! Ooh schmed, it's so wonderful!] Valerie almost screamed. {I intend to, but it's rather...ogh...rather hard to concentrate right now!} Kryssa responded while trying not to totally lose herself in the sexual delight from what the eropods were doing to her nether regions. She needed release soon, and no doubt so did Valerie if their previous antics had left her as close the brink of oblivion as the bat was. If she could only find some means of applying one last spark to trigger off her climax... Krys looked down at the hybrid and let go of the popsicles. Her eyes travelled over the outline of her body, coming to rest on her neck. On the sight of the pulsing veins jutting out from the side. And with that she realised her answer. With trepidation the bat leaned forward even more, her mouth beginning to salivate at the prospect of what she was about to do. {Valerie, do you mind if I...ahh...if I...} She licked over the gold and black spotted fur to signal her intentions. [Yes, yes Krys! Bite me if you have to!] The felapin responded while continuing with her death like grip on the pillow. Needing no further encouragement, Krys took hold of her shoulders and opened her jaws wide to ensnare an area of muscle tissue near Val's jugular, her fangs cutting through the skin like scissors through paper. A high pitched cry of pain came from the hybrid, but as she then felt the gentle preassure of a tongue against the flow of her hot blood, it turned into one of orgasmic euphoria. As her claws extended into the pillow, nearly shredding it in the process, Val came. Hard waves of climax battered her body while her pussy spasmed like an earthquake, causing a plentiful amount of felapin juices and fruit juices to come seeping out. Next to her, Kryssa was very close to doing the same. The spreads and ice lollies she'd tasted earlier may have been sweet, but none could compare to how simply delicious Valerie's blood was. Feeling the red, coppery liquid flow over her tongue and down her throat into her stomach, Kryssa had only enough time for a few licks before her own climax hit her with full gusto. Her resulting screech was deafening and the eropods nearly lost their grip as she thrashed about in the throes of blissful release. Then, almost as soon as it had arisen, the pleasure subsided for both and they lay still, gasping for breath and mutually thankful for having been allowed to share the experience with each other. As she calmed down and some degree of rational thought came back into her mind, Krys noted that her nose was still picking up the smell of blood and leaned over to lick what remained off of Valerie's neck, savouring the flavour while the felapin's augmented skin sealed the wound. Lifting her head up, the bat allowed herself a moment to gaze over the hybrid. She was still breathing heavily from her orgasm, and her fur was stained in several places from the food. Nevertheless there was no mistaking the look of abject satisfaction that radiated in her tear streaked eyes. "K-K-Krys, I..." She started to say before the bat silenced with a kiss. "I know Valerie; I'll take care of it." She moved down to the hybrid's treasure to gently ease out the sticks along with what remained of the popsicles on them and throw them in the waste disposal. She then looked back at the felapin pussy and noticed its own cocktail of juices was still trickling out in very small amounts onto her leg. With the flavours of grape and orange still residing on her tongue. Krys leaned in to make good on her previous gesture and started to lap up the fluids. Feeling the bat tongue on her again, drinking up her sexual liquids mere seconds after it had been doing the same to her life giving ones, Val felt her last bit of self restraint shatter. Letting her head fall limply back onto the fabric of the pillow she began to cry, sobbing her heart out with as much joy and happiness as she had when she'd first told the bat of her feelings and had received affection in response rather than the hatred that she'd feared. Down below, Kryssa heard the cries but knew that she should not worry. Even as Val curled herself into a little ball of fur and continued to sob into the pillow, she knew it was just her way of showing how much she adored the bat for what she had done to her. The tears that flowed were only of purest relief and glee, brought out because, as she continued to declare, Valerie truly did love her, and most likely would for the rest of her time on Neo-Terra. Closing her eyes at the dreadful nag of questioning that settled in her upon that realisation, Kryssa stretched out on the comforter again and wrapped the felapin up in her arms, wanting to keep her as warm and comfortable as possible until she'd calmed down. "K-K-K-Kryss... (sniff)...oh K-K-Krys," "Shhh, don't try to talk, Bunny girl. Just go ahead and let yourself cry." Kryssa whispered soothingly while she cradled the bunny in her arms and wiped away her tears. For a while Valerie did just that, letting the bat hold her in the warm embrace while she let the pent up emotions out. Eventually, after a while had passed, her sobs quieted and she lay still. "So, I take it that was quite an experience." The bat finally said after the cheetah bunny had calmed down. "Krys, I don't think words can even describe how special that felt to me, to both of us." She looked up into Kryssa's eyes and kissed her softly. "I've had a lot of friendships in my life, but never have I ever felt as dearly cared for as I do when I'm with you." Her paws sought out her wings and lightly caressed over the bones while she nuzzled into the bat's chest fur. "Whatever may happen to us in the future Krys, please just know how happy you make me feel, my love." *My Love.* Again there was that dreaded term. The one that made the doubt within Kryssa grow extra fangs so it could bite her more deeply. The one that she yearned to repeat to the hybrid, but couldn't because she simply didn't know if what she felt was the same as what Valerie did. True she did think the world of her, and regularly thanked the fates, or whatever force of the cosmos it had been which had lead to them encountering each other. But still, were the emotions she felt genuinely love? Or merely just relief that she'd found a means of contributing more to the world than just a record number of criminal corpses? By being able to protect a less experienced agent until she could remould her into... Into what? Another version of her? Someone who'd go out embued with her knowledge and her strengths and end up a much reviled mass slaughterer? *No! She didn't have to suffer like you did! She'll never be as driven by anger or hatred as you are!* Krys closed her eyes and continued with the mental berating. Valerie was too kind hearted and caring of others to ever travel down the path she had. By training and protecting her, Krys would merely be ensuring that those attributes came out more often, only with confidence and strength of character backing them up. Calmed by this knowledge, she gazed down at the cheetah bunny in her arms and gently stroked over one of her long lopped ears. "You make me feel just as happy, Valerie. And no matter what may come, I'll always be here for you." Val tilted her head to trepidly lock eyes with the bat. "You mean that?" Kryssa nodded her still stern as ever face. "I hardly think it'd be worth giving up the one girl whose affection for me is unconditional in every way." The felapin's eyes glazed over with new tears as Krys gently licked at her face, which in turn lead to her tongue getting caught by Val's teeth so she could pull her in for another kiss. "Come now; let's get you into the shower." * * * -12:21 a.m.- A while later, Krys lay in her bed, cuddling the peacefully sleeping, and now freshly cleaned cheetah bunny. Though the days events had left her feeling exhausted, her mind it seemed wasn't quite ready to shut down for the night. Kryssa found herself thinking back to what Val had said about her wings, about how she saw them as a sign of dedication rather than weakness. To the bat it had come as an entirely new, and rather surprising idea. And thinking about it now, she found that something else seem to be seeping back from her subconsciouss, an emotion she had never dared to feel for what had seemed almost like forever. Checking the half-born was comfortable, Krys slid out of the covers and stood in front of her bedroom window. Gazing out at the seemingly endless sprawl of buildings, skyways and traffic, and more importantly at the pitch black sky that spread over all of it, Krys concentrated on the feeling and let it grow inside her. *She'll never give up on me. Even if I fail she'll be there to encourage me to try again.* With a heavy hiss, the bat unfolded her wings and stretched them out to their full length, a move that she would normally hate doing but not this time. She gazed over all the millions of cuts and burns, just as she'd done many times before, yet this time it was not despair she felt. It was hope. Though her wings had endured a titanic amount of punishment, she knew they could still be salvaged. And while she may have neglected them for many years, she had not forgotten how to use them. Kryssa inhaled deeply as she clenched her fists and thought about the prospect. It would be a long and trying process, but the new determination she felt within her would not be dissuaded. And as long as Valerie was there to keep urging her on, then maybe, just maybe, she could learn to fly again. * * * - 12:29 a.m.- Back on the planetary rings, events had finally reached a close. The various world and military representatives had finally decided to conclude their business and left for home hours ago, much to everyone's relief (none more so than Dax who'd last been seen hurrying for the T-D chamber and muttering something about how Alyssa was probably going to ride him dry for getting home so late), and so Yiruz'gwa and At'zrabyra had been conducting their own personal sight seeing tour as they headed back to their ship. *T-T-T-This is has been a m-m-m-most startling s-suc-success-ess, my f'tzmt'ha. I-I-I-I d-d-doubt even the F'tzmt'nid could h-h-h-have ant-ic-ci-pated such a p-p-p-positive reaction-n-n.* At'zrabyra mused as she ran a hand over the mutating ment'hesesk organism they had brought back with them from New York. *I-I-Indeed-eed.* Her purple robed companion replied as her head tilted forward in thought. *D-De-Despite my fears, it s-s-seems-s our ultim-m-m-ate-e goal may y-y-yet still be at-tain-able-ble-le.* The two paused in their conversation to acknowledge a passing badger who'd bid them hello and then continued on. *O-O-One of them h-h-has made the f-f-first step. I-I-I-If the F'tzmt'nid wishes, then m-m-m-many more-ore-ore may f-f-follow-ow. W-W-W-We may yet m-ma-manage to obtain th-th-that which we most re-re-qui-ire (require).* The squid faced creature curled her mouth tentacles around each other as the two approached the airlock where their ship was docked. *L-L-L-Let us have c-c-communion-ion with Him, a-a-and-d in-f-f-form Him of our p-p-progress-s.* The two stepped through the airlock back into the confines of their ship. Onwards they moved through the breathing and rather lively interiors until they came to a chamber containing two of what appeared to be cocoons growing out of the walls, and a quietly gurgling pod of some kind on the floor beneath a thin, wall-mounted appendage with an orb on the end of it. Leaving her companion's side, At'zrabyra moved over and placed the ment'hesesk inside the pod. Its surface splitting apart like the petals of a slimy green flower to allow the mutating creature inside before closing again to envelop it in the walls of flesh. *W-W-Watch it c-c-care-fully. I-I-I-If it shows a-n-n-ny signs of p-p-problems bef-f-fore it hatches, in-in-form us-s-s-s.* The wall limb lowered its orb down to where it was just a few inches above the pod. Nodding in thanks, the two pelthonians made their way to the cocoons, their robes liquefying and running off their bodies into two reservoirs on the sides of the walkway as the pod like structures opened up and they moved inside. Unclothed, their bodies did look as feminine in design as the many who'd met them over the course of the day had guessed. Under the thick curtain of tentacles, two distinct bulges could be glimpsed in the area of the chest where breasts would normally be, and further down their hips bore as much curve as any average women's did. In fact, the only two features of their bodies which had previously not been apparent were the long, webbed, claw-like designs of the feet, looking almost like a cross between a blue and orange scuba flipper and a hawk talon. And the short tail which swayed behind them, adorned with what looked to be two directional dorsal fins and a larger fan shaped fin on the end, also webbed with orange membranes. A large exhale fluttered through both pelthonians tentacles as they unfolded and enlarged their wings to wrap around them like a blanket. Their eyes soon slipped closed afterwards as the skin of the cocoons stretched and sealed together again, trapping them inside. The chamber was quiet soon after. The pelthonians remained motionless, seemingly asleep in their pods, and not a sound was heard save for the rhythmic pulsing of the walls as they continued to breathe. Had one been able to look into their minds however, a very different story would be told. For while the alien's bodies did indeed show all the signs of being in a normal state of hibernation, their thoughts were anything but quiet. *K'zalthu, our F'tzmt'nid, hear our dreams and call to us!* The two cried out mentally, their numerous voices now noticeably in perfect synch with each other. There was a short pause. And then, seemingly from some distant part of space, there came a booming reply. \ **Your calls are heard, dk'tzoc'has.* * The voice (for unlike the others, it seemed to be comprised of only one) carried a deep masculine tone. \ **Tell me what has happened, regarding your attempts at contact thus far* *. *Our attempts bode well, F'tzmt'nid. We have intercepted and made contact with these 'morphs' as you ordered.* \ **And?* * *Your foresights were correct. They indeed possess that which we feared lost, and have a full understanding of its functions and uses.* Another short pause followed. \ **Then there may still be a chance. Are they aware of its origins?* * K'zalthu enquired. *It would appear not.* Yiruz'gwa and At'zrabyra answered through the dream link. *Shall we inform them?* \ **No, the stars have lain quiet for many years. Even if the time in which we may need to call upon it never comes, we still must do what we can to keep it hidden for now. What have they to say of the harvesting organisms?* * *One has already volunteered for us. In time we predict others may do the same.* \ **Good. You have both done well for me, my dk'tzoc'has. Our world will benefit from their aid, and we know now that that which we have sought after is safe and beyond the reach of Them.* * K'zalthu's thoughts beamed with satisfaction. \ **Remain where you are and continue to maintain a peaceful relationship.* * *Yes, our F'tzmt'nid.* Another short pause followed, after which Yiruz'gwa spoke up. *F'tzmt'nid, may I request one thing of you?* \ **What may that be?* * *May I be allowed to hope again?* Again silence descended across the cosmos. \ **So it appears.* * K'zalthu answered at last. \ **So it appears.* *. * * * - Elsewhere...- The moon cast its sombre light over the expanse of the desolate recycling plateau. Acre upon acre of terrain, strewn with every imaginable kind of urban spawned junk, spread out as far as the eye could see. In the far distance, the lights of New York continued with their nocturnal twinkling, but here all was devoid of life. In time it would be set upon, first by scavengers looking for any practical materials which they could grab for free, then by the santiation meks coming to transport the junk to the relevant plants where it could be broken down and any valuable components extracted for use in more consumer premiums. But for now all was perfectly still. Which made it all the more strange when a stately looking limousine craft drove through the gates and pulled to a stop amongst the towering piles of garbage. That in itself, however, was soon outdone by the massive troop transport that then descended down through the sky, shattering the night's hold over the plateau with its landing lights as it touched down in a clearing. *Excellent, punctuality is always appreciated.* The limousine's rear door swung open and out stepped a very familiar grey rabbit in a smart business suit and overcoat. A smile came to his mouth as he adjusted his glasses and turned to face the armour clad eagle that was touching down next to him. "Good to have you back, Siddik. I see you've been putting your little interval time to good use." Brekken commented while eyeing over the several new gadgets mounted on the bird's suit, as well as the dual plas-pistols holstered on his legs. "Given my last encounter with the C.S.F., I assumed some heavier force would be required, doctor." Siddik replied. "Also, though I do not entirely agree with your methods, the distractions you've been implementing over the last few weeks were of considerable help too." Brekken's turned to take a breath of the night air. "You have your means of taking care of things, and I have mine. While admittedly I did not anticipate that the altered produce would spread so far across the U.S. in such a short span of time, it is of little matter. The suicide component I had my contacts add is set to become inactive in another day or so. After that, to anyone affected who hasn't yet managed to do themselves in, it will merely be like awakening from a bad trip." The rabbit paused to push his glasses up. "And then, once the numbers begin to dwindle back down to normal levels and morphs return to the routine of their lives, it will become just another 'event of the week'." The rabbit's eyes rose to view the transport ahead of them. "Regardless, it served its purpose of diverting both the public's attention away from you, and the Network's from any solitary crafts entering their airspace so even you must admit that, in the end, it was a gamble worth taking." The two began walking towards the transport as the cockpit's boarding ramp folded down and a frill necked lizard in a black Polonian military uniform descended, cold amber eyes staring out from under his mirrored faceplate. "Welcome back to United Neo-Terran soil, Commander Logan." Brekken greeted. "I trust you didn't encounter any problems on the trip over." "None, your designated flight path proved to be most adequate. I doubt a single one of the Network computers even noticed our entry." The lapin nodded in satisfaction while Logan took notice of Siddik and eyed him with suspicion. "I do not remember being informed that you would be accompanied here though, doctor." Siddik stared back through his black helmet visors, giving no indication of response. "He is a necessity to my plans. It is only right that he be kept informed of what's going on." Brekken fixed the reptile with a steely gaze. "Is the first battalion ready for testing?" Logan spent a few more minuted scrutinizing Siddik before turning back to the transport. With a wave of his gloved hand the craft's main boarding ramp was lowered to allow a perfectly formed 16 X 16 group of morphs to file out. Each was dressed in an identical black, skin-tight and lightly armoured body suit, containing what looked to be a rather gaunt and emaciated body underneath. Their faces, and indeed the entirety of their heads, were encased within an odd rectangular shaped helmet with a huge elliptical crest on top that slaked out far behind the back. A pair of huge rhomboid fins adorned the sides, and in front a single orange coloured eye stared out from the centre of the visor. On both of the morphs's gauntlets was a triangular cowl housing a fearsome looking weapon, a compact chain gun on one, a plasma repeater on the other. Where tails should have been on their posteriors, there were none. The creatures marched up to stand before the three morphs and halted, their postures never once faltering. "And what are these?" Siddik asked quietly. "One of my more obscure, but as you can see, quite successful ideas." Brekken said as he viewed the troops with pride. "After extracting the necessary raw materials for the building of my creations, it naturally came to matter as to what I was to do with the left over bodies. Disintegration seemed a likely option at first, but the inevitable risks that would come with doing so on a regular basis seemed too great. And as I've always believed, it's better to waste not and want not." He stepped forward to peer into one of the morph's monocular visor. "Hence I began research into this. Using the Network's own nano-technology to provide new power to dead minds, and initiate re-animation of bodies." Siddik lowered his head as he stared at the morphs. "They're all cadavers?" "Fitted with a custom variety of rechargeable power cells on the vital parts of their bodies, as well as several choice augmentations to improve agility, speed and, most importantly, loyalty." With another satisfied nod, Brekken turned to face his cohorts and walked back with his paws folded behind. "Their obedience is unmatched. They will take any order without question and never stop until they either complete their objectives, or until their body is physically unable to sustain itself. The perfect disposable warrior." Brekken inhaled proudly and smiled again. "I call them the Sodokai." Siddik looked down at the rabbit then back at the corpses standing perfectly to attention. "And you wish for me to help them eleminate the final four targets?" At that an amused chuckle arouse from Brekken. "You? Help them? The eagle with more glowing military appraisals than any others I've seen? Offered a command position by the Rouge States several times, despite your continuing refusals?" The avian turned sharply to the chuckling rabbit, his wings inadvertently ruffling upon hearing his previous (and supposedly erased) credentials being read out one by one. "Oh yes, I've gone to great lengths to have what scant records of you that remain retrieved for my perusal. Quite an interesting read they made." The rabbit's smile faded as he matched Siddik's stare. "No Siddik, you're not going to help them. You're going to lead them." At that Logan whipped around in disbelief. His frill flaying wildly out around his face plate. "What?? Sir, you can't possibly be actually suggesting that we trust a priceless investment like this to such a...reckless 'individual' as him, can you!?" Brekken responded with an icy stare, causing the lizard to take a step back. "He has proven his worth as a valuable addition, Commander. I've no doubt that he will continue to do so." He left Logan to stare malevolently at the unmoved eagle and stepped in front of the Sodokai again. "In time the world will again know why flesh is superior to circuitry. But in order to ensure the argument is as convincing as possible, it is vital that I know of any bugs or possible defects before hand." The lapin adjusted his glasses again. "You will test their abilities on the last four C.S.F. agents, Siddik. If they can hold their own against the elite of the Network's forces, then they will be able to withstand anything." His ears tilted forward, casting dark shadows across his face which left only his eyes staring broodingly out from the void of darkness. "Do you know what your primary objectives are?" He said to the Sodokai. In response, the troops moved their heads in unison to stare at him. "Obey...the...doctor. Serve...his...will." They answered, their voices harsh, metallic, and totally devoid of life. "Excellent, that will be the last time you are to ever verbalise that." Brekken ordered as he folded his arms. "Now then, you've all been programmed with the designated standby areas around New York. Deploy yourselves there and await further orders." Again the smile re-appeared on the doctor's face, showing off his glistening buck teeth. "If the few 'improvements' I implanted into that wretched pitbull's brain work as planned, then come dusk tomorrow I suspect the C.S.F. will be right where we want them. And when that happens, you will exterminate them without delay, understand?" The Sodokai heads snapped back in perfect synchronicity. "Exterminate...the...C.S.F." They chanted. Like a whole colony of rockets that had just been primed to go off, the reanimated corpses were immediately tearing across the plateau towards New York City, to where they would lay in wait till the time had come to put an end to their target's contemptible interference. "Exterminate...EXTERMINATE... EXTERMINAAAAAAAATE!!" TO BE CONTINUED..... * * * Baby, don't understand Why we can't just live long to each other's hands This time might be the last, I fear Unless I make it all too clear I need you so, ohhhh... Take these broken wings And learn to fly again, learn to live so free When we hear the voices sing The book of love will open up and let us in Take these broken wings... Baby, I think tonight We can take what is wrong and make it right Baby, it's all I know That you're half of the flesh and blood that makes me whole I need you so, ohhhh... So take these broken wings And learn to fly again, learn to live so free When we hear the voices sing The book of love will open up and let us in Yeah, let us in Let us in! Baby, it's all I know That you're half of the flesh and blood that makes me whole Yeah, yeah, yeah... Yeah, yeah! So take these broken wings And learn to fly again, learn to live so free When we hear the voices sing The book of love will open up and let us in Take these broken wings You've got to learn to fly, learn to live and love so free When we hear the voices sing The book of love will open up for us and let us in Yeah, yeah! Ooooooh, yeah! Mr. Mister - Broken Wings * * *

FINIS

• * * Authors note: Just to confirm for everyone, I am still only so-so at languages so if anyone spots any errors I may have made with the French or Japanese then please let me know.