...And Into The Fire

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

    Chapter 11

Marn grabbed my wrist, and held it tight. "What the hell are
you doing?" He hissed.

"That was Page," I said in a low voice.

He paused for a second, loosening his grip on my wrist a
bit. "Are you sure?"

I nodded. "She has a very memorable voice."

He slowly let go of my wrist. "Do you think she heard that?"

There came a low pounding against the wall, a response code
that went with the original one I had used. "I say that's a
yes. Now all we have to do is have her find an exit."

I felt Marn rest his paw on my shoulder. "How long do you
think it will take."

I shrugged. "No idea. I'm rather sure the doors have a code.
Knowing Page she already has it, if not she'll get it."

I saw Marn grin in the dim light of the duct, enhanced by my
night vision. "Sounds like my kind of girl."

Patting him on the back, I said. "I don't think your her
type. Come to think of it, I don't even know her type."

He let out a short laugh, then gave me a grin. Seconds
later, there was a low thump, and a small part of the wall
next to us opened inward, letting in a shaft of light so
bright that I had to cover my eyes.

It took a few seconds for the glare to fade from my eyes.
Slowly dropping my paw, I saw a familiar silhouette in the
doorway. "Page?" I asked.

"Rachel, are you all right?" She asked, "And who's that with
you?"

I didn't responded, just slowly walked over to her. Holding
her at arm length, I gave her a slight smile, then hugged
her. "Glad to see you're ok. Jenner said he already had
you."

She broke the hug, and grinned. "Come on, lets get you some
place with light." She glanced over my shoulder. "And your
friend."

I followed her a few steps out the door, and found myself in
a HUGE room. "What is this?" I asked, standing in awe.

"This is the Hall's communication center." A female otter
explained. "I'm Kalie, nice to meet you."

I grinned wide. "Your the infamous Kalie? Fox has told me a
lot about you."

Marn spoke up. "I suppose I should conclude the
introductions. I'm Marn."

I saw Kalie tip her head at this, and a strange looked
passed over Pages muzzle and ears, but it only lasted a
second.

I broke the sudden silence. "Page, do you have any
information about the others?"

She shook her head. "I'll I know is that Fox's Teleport
Curtain is down."

"Last I saw, Rathal and the Ancient where herded out with
the other Council members. Jenner doesn't know about them
yet, or at least isn't sure. I don't know."

Page grinned. "Well, that's why we're here. All the
communications there using are being bounced through here. I
have the start of a tap setup already."

I grinned. "That's great, I hope we can do something with
it. Have you scanned all the internal cameras, to see if you
can find anyone?" As I said it, I noticed that Kalie had
steeped away a bit. She was pressed a paw lightly on her
neck, and whispering to herself.

She snapped her fingers. "No, I didn't think of that, but
it's a good idea. Would be able to confirm if there holding
everyone at the main auditorium."

That caused me to pause. "Everyone?"

She nodded. "It looks like they've rounded everyone up, most
likely to make a bigger impact with what they want everyone
to believe."

I saw about to reply, when I saw something. "Where's Kalie?"
I asked.

Page turned and looked around. "I don't know," she turned to
Marn. "Did you see where she went?"

He shook her head. "No, I was watching you two." He pointed,
"but I think she dropped something."

Page let out a low gasp when she saw what he was pointing
to. Sitting on the floor was a gun, on top of a note. Page
walked over to it, and pulled the paper out from under it.
She lifted it to her face, then paused as, I assume, she
read it.

She lowered the note. "Kalie said she's going to get some
friends, and not to worry, but to keep going with are plans.
For defense she left us one of her guns." She paused. "One?"
she asked to herself.

Marn walked over, and gently picked the gun up, pointing it
at the ground. "So, do we go after her?"

I shook my head, feeling my hair flip around. "No, if Kalie
is half of what Fox told me about her, she'll be ok. Right
now, Page, you have to tell me all you've found out so far."

She nodded. "Come on up to the control room, and I'll fill
you both in." Then she started up a near by ladder.

* * *

I stood behind Fox, as Mike punched a few buttons on a code
pad, that was on his wall. There was a low his, and a large
metal door split down the middle, and spread apart. In the
space behind it was a small 4 by 4 room, with the familiar
glitter of a teleport curtain on the back wall.

Fox looked at Mike. "Slight over kill?" He asked.

Mike shook is head. "With what's going on? No." Then with
that he walked through the curtain, and vanished. Fox
shrugged, and went through himself. I started forward
myself, when Sierra pushed passed my legs, and through the
curtain. "Silly fox." I mutter, as I went through myself.

On the other side, I found myself in a match for the room I
had left. Though in this one the door (a normal one this
time) lead out into a hallway. Mike was already standing in
the hall, and Fox was behind him. Sierra was standing next
to Mike's feet.

Mike nodded to himself, then bent down and petted the fox a
bit. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"He followed you." I explained.

Mike shook his head. "He's never even gone into my house,
let alone through the curtain. I don't think I'm the one he
followed."

As if in reply, Sierra licked Mike's paw, then went over to
fox, nuzzling his legs a bit.

Fox looked down at him, then back at Mike.

Mike grinned. "I think you have a fox, Fox."

"Are you sure you want to give him to me?" He asked.

"He's not mine, he's his own. If he want's to go with you,
well, he will." Mike shrugged. "Trust me on this one. He
some how followed me over two moves around Prid."

Fox nodded slowly. "You sure?"

He nodded, pushing past me into the small room. Bending down
he opened the control box for the teleport curtain. "I'm
sure." Then he ripped out a small piece from the equipment.
There where a few sparks, but it was momentary.

"What are you doing?" Fox asked.

"Shutting down this side of the curtain, though leaving the
communications. My father was a way of bringing family into
his battles, and I want none of it this time. So I'm make
sure the curtain is down as long as the Hall is closed." He
stood back up, closing the panel.

Fox put his hand out to Mike. "Well, thanks for you help,
you saved us a months worth of walking."

Mike shook the offered hand. "Hey, no problem, just promises
to come and visit some time."

"No problem with that." I said, leaning forward a bit.

He grinned. "Well, I hope to see you two later. And take
care of Sierra." Then with that, he turned on his heal, and
when back through the curtain. A few seconds later it
flickered, and faded out of view.

Fox slumped a bit, his grin fading. "Ok, now we have to stop
Jenner."

I put my arm around Fox's shoulders. "We can do it."

He sighed. "I hope so."

"So, what do we need to do first?" I asked.

He paused for a second. "I guess, find where Jenner is, and
see how protected he is. We also need to find his second in
command, this has to much momentum to stop easily."

I patted him on the back. "Where do you think he would be?"

He looked up. "Um..." He pounded his fist lightly on his
thigh. "My first guess would be there normal HQ, but that's
out side of the Hall." He looked at me. "The Council
Chamber. It's would be my first pick."

"So, now that you decided that, we do what?"

He started walking. "We go there, and try and a see if
that's where he is."

I followed him. "And we will know that... how?"

"We just will." He stop walking for a second. Then looked
over his shoulder as Sierra, who was sitting in the hallway.
"Come on, you're the one who decided to come with us."

I could swear that the fox nodded before starting after us.