...And Into The Fire

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

    Chapter 16

I slowly walked out of the conference room along with the
others. But instead of following Page back into the control
room, I moved over to the cat walks railing.

Standing there, looking out at the huge computers, I gently
rubbed my shoulder. The pain had finally faded a bit, but
was still forefront in my mind, and I had started to lose
the feeling in my finger tips.

"I need to see a doctor." I mutter to myself.

"With that, yes." Kalie said, as she moved next to me. She
leaned forward, gently resting her paws on the railing.
Unlike how I felt, she looked calm and collected. Though
that mostly was from how the oils in her fur helped keep it
flat.

I glanced over at her. "Think we can do this?"

She paused for a second, then slowly said. "I believe we
can, if nothing major goes wrong."

"Such as?"

She shook her head. Then reaching behind her, pulled out a
small gun. "Here, take this."

Reaching over, I gently took it from her. It felt heavy in
my paw, and awkward, as I was used to using my right.

"That's the only gun I carry that's molded for the left
paw."

I nodded, looking over it, getting a quick idea how it
worked (which was easy, all projectile guns are basically
the same design). Making sure the safety was on, I put it
into my pants pocket.

Kalie then held out two clips. "Each one holds twelve
rounds. And the gun is fully loaded, with one in the
chamber."

I took the clips as well, I put them into my other pocket.

"Use it sparingly, ok? I don't have any more for that size
of gun."

I nodded, going back to rubbing my shoulder. "I don't think
it should be to hard. I can only see one door in or out of
here."

She nodded herself. "Yes, but they could also come in
through the airduct like you did, or through an entrance we
didn't know about. You will have to be ready for that, and
don't be afraid to give the gun to Steven if you need to. He
may not be able to shoot well, but that may just be enough."

I looked back over the railing, and into the room. "When
they told me the new Council Head, I never expect end up
like this."

Kalie looked over at me. "How did you become the Head
anyways. Fox was always a bit vague on that bit of
information."

I laughed, and winched as another flare of pain shot through
my shoulder. "Through a very delicate, and scientific
processes called 'Pot Luck'."

She paused for a second, then grinned slightly. "And exactly
how does this system work?"

"As far as I know, they pick a name out of a list of every
person who has a representative in the Council, directly, or
indirectly. Then there background is looked into
extensively, and if they have any kind of past history of
trying to do anything political at all, the process starts
all over."

Kalie closed her eyes, then chuckled. "So it's based of the
idea that anyone wanting to be Council Head there for was
unqualified."

I grinned. "Yes."

She opened her eyes, and looked at me. "You know, that may
just be the perfect way of getting a political office."

"I have to admit, it's a lot more interesting with Fox
around. Usually he gets into some sort of mishap or another.
Though sense he's come back, he hasn't done much
adventuring."

Kalie nodded. "I had better go get with him actually. We're
going to start as soon as Page has the communications set
up."

I grinned. "Go then, and good luck."

She paused. "To you as well, as I think we will all come
under fire before this is over."

Then with a quick grin, she turned and walked away.

I looked down over the edge of the catwalk, to where the
door into the huge room was. "I'm going to need it."

* * *

I watched as Marn looked down over the gun Kalie had given
him. "Simple thing." He muttered.

I cocked my head a bit, as I adjusted my satchel a bit. It's
something I always where when I do anything, in fact it's
about ALL I where for that matter. It's usual contents where
a few small personal items, a few general purpose spells,
and some small spell components.

"Naturally," I said. "The best designed projectile gun
follows a simple design."

He nodded, attached the gun's holster to his slightly ragged
belt. "It's not my preferred weapon."

"Let me guess, high plasma?"

He shook his head, then with a flick of his paw, unsheathed
his claws. "These dragon, souly these."

"I see, and for your information I'm a half-dragon."

He shrugged, handling the spare clip Kalie had given him.
"Half, full, it doesn't matter. As long as we do what we
need to do."

I crossed my arms. "You don't like me much do you?"

He grinned a bit. "And your as subtle as a twenty ton
boulder. Actually, I don't know yet, and I think this isn't
the time to find out."

I nodded. "Well then, I rather think we should embark then."

He nodded, "Yes." Then grabbing the sides of the ladder,
slide down it to the floor below.

"Show off." I muttered, climbing down the ladder myself.

Marn was already heading for the door as I stepped off the
ladder. I was about to run a bit to catch up with him, when
he stopped next to Oriana, who was waiting by the door.

I didn't here what they said, but I saw him give her
something. I didn't get a chance to see it as I walked
pasted her, as Marn had starting walking again, and was
already into the hallway outside.

As I passed her, I nodded my head. "Good Luck."

She grinned. "You too."

Then with that I was out the door, and following Marn.

"What did you give her?" I asked.

He shrugged. "The extra clip. She'll need it more then I
do."

I paused. When Kalie had been handing out the guns, she only
keep one clip extra for herself, and only gave one to Marn,
as they where the best shots of the grope. To Fox, Oriana,
and Rachel, she gave two. I guess it makes sense in a way
for Marn to have given his extra to the one with the least
ability, especially if he was trained in some form of hand
to hand combat.

"I hope you know what you're doing."

He gave me a very toothy smile. "Me? I know what I'm doing.
I just hope you know what you will be doing."

On that note, we continued on to our goal.

* * *

I slowly handled the extra clip Marn had given me as he
left. He hadn't really given me time to protest him giving
it to me. He just said, "take this," and shoved it into my
paw. Though I think I understand his reasoning actually.

Fox, Kalie, and I had the most to do the any of the others.
where as the other two groups just had to do one thing, then
stay alive, we had to stop Jenner, which meant going into
the heart of the HammerHead base, and also to find Rathal if
we could.

All in all, it was a lot to cover, and with Kalie being the
only one really good with with a gun, it was a lot harder.

I slipped the spare clip into a pocket, as Fox came down the
ladder, followed by Kalie. "Find out what you needed?" I
asked him.

He nodded. "We will still have to go through half of the
base, but it looks to be easy."

"Easy in the way that it's just duck and cover around fifty
bad guys," Kalie said, "as opposed to going in shooting."

I paused, felling the weight of the gun in my pocket. "I do
prefer the easy way."

Fox nodded. Then pulling out the radio he had, he spoke into
it. "Is everyone ready?" He asked.

"Everything is on line here." Page said of the link.

"Already on the way." Came Marn's response.

Fox nodded. "Good, let's get this done." Then he slipped the
radio back into his jacket pocket. Walking over to the door,
he opened it. "Shall we?" He asked.

Kalie shook her head. "Of course." Then walked pasted him,
into the hallway.

I shrugged, and followed.

* * *

Flicking a switch on the control board, let out a slow sigh.
"Now we wait." I muttered to myself, leaning back a bit.

"Everyone is on there way," Steven said as he came into the
control room. "And I locked the door the way told me to do."

I nodded. "Good. I have everything ready here, the tape is
cued up for transmission, and the dish is aligning with the
nearest satellite. All I have to do is press a button, and
the message gets out."

Steven sat down in one of the other chairs. "So now we wait
for Ken and Marn to drop the jamming field, then we send
this out to the multi-verse."

I nodded. "Yes, and I HATE waiting, I never had the patients
for it."

He leaned forward a bit. "Funny, it was one of the things I
was always good at. I've been told I have the patients to
wait for the end of the universe."

"What do you do?"

"How do you mean?"

"Your job, how do you earn a living?"

He shrugged. "This and that, I work odd jobs here and there.
Get's me around, and I have some fun at times to. I also
seem to have the luck to keep winning contests of some sort
or another."

I chuckled. "My grandfather used to know someone like that,
described him as 'Being protected by the patron saint of
fuzzeled souls'."

He snickered. "You don't get more fuzzeled then me."

I smiled. "You haven't seen my grandfather in the mornings,
now THAT is fuzzeled!"

He shook his head. "I take it you grew up with your
grandparents."

"Well, yes and no. You see, they adopted my mother, who had
me. At the same time as my Grandparents had twins. So all
three of us where raised as brother and sisters, when the
other two where actually my Aunt and Uncle. In fact, my
Grandfather was about thirty-six when I left."

"Would it be much of a pain to ask how old you where when
you left?"

I paused. "I was just a week away from my seventeenth
birthday."

"Your family let you come here when you just sixteen!?"

I nodded. "Yes, it was necessary. I was needed here, they
all knew it. My grandfather said it was the hardest thing he
had ever done in his life, even if he knew it was the best.
That was almost two years ago. I'll be nineteen in a month."
I suddenly found myself trying to hold back tears.

"Have you talked to them at all?"

"I can't. Not directly, there are two many things involved
with it." I sighed, lowering my head a bit.

Steven rolled his chair over next to me, and patted me on my
back. "I'm sorry."

I looked up at him, starting to cry. "Don't be please, I'll
be back with them in a few years, when I'm done here."

He reached around and hugged me. "How could anyone let you
do this without any family ties at all?"

I took a breath. "It was what we needed to do. It was that,
or send someone else daughter, and he couldn't live with
himself if he did that. So I volunteered, knowing all that
it entailed."

He gently ran his paws through my hair. "You're very brave
then."

I shook my head. "That wasn't the reason, far from it
actually."

"What is it then?"

My reply was interrupted by Fox's voice echoing over the
radio. "Page, Marn. We're almost to the HammerHead base. Are
you two ready?"

Running my sleeve over my noise, I hit the transmit button.
"Everything is set here, ready at any time."

"We're almost to the control room." Marn said.

There was a pause. "Ok, we're going to go in. Marn, get into
the control room now, and I want you to wait a couple
minutes before opening the doors. I don't want any of the
good guys coming in who think _we're_ the baddies."

"Got it." Marn said over the link. I did the same.

As I closed the link, I turned to Steven.

"And so it begins." He said, "I'll go tell Rachel."

As he left the control room, I nodded. It was beginning, and
ending.

* * *

I creepped down the hallway along side Marn, keeping close
to the wall. "Just around this corner." I said.

He nodded, pulling the gun out, and flicking off the safety.
Holding it gently in his right paw, he moved up to the
corner.

Looking back at me, he said. "I don't suppose you have a
small mirror?"

I reaching into my satchel, and pulled one out. "You
wouldn't believe how much there needed in my magic."

He didn't say anything, just took it from me. Then holding
it in his left paw, he gently slid it around the corner in
such a way, he could see what was down the hallway.

Pulling it back, he slipped it into his pocket. "Two guards,
one on each side, and there not expecting anything."

Then with a grin to himself, he swung around the corner. He
paused for less then a second, then fired off four quick
shots. Dropping the gun a bit, he said. "Come on." Then
started down the hallway.

I followed him into the short hallway to the control room.
At the end, on either side of the doorway, the two guards
laid, dead. I gulped, and diverted my eyes away from the
bodies, and the blood that was rapidly covering the floor.

In front of me Marn slowly moved up to the door. Reaching
down he gripped the handel, and slowly turned it until there
was a soft click.

The in one move he shoved the door open, and dived to the
side. I dived to the floor myself as a plasma bolt barely
missed my head.

I watched as Marn turned, and steeped in front of the door,
firing twice more in quick succession. I saw the guard on
the other side of the door fall to the ground, more blood
pooling under his chest.

Carefully steeping over the body, he went inside the control
room.

Standing, I walked inside was well, gingerly stepping over
the body as well. Marn was holding a young technician (a
tiger that looked about fifteen) against the wall, he had
one arm against the kids neck, and was patting him down with
his free paw.

Glancing back at me, he said. "Close and lock the door."

I paused, looking down at the body of the guard. Then with a
gulp, and put my foot against his head, and shoved him out
into the hallway. As soon as he was out of the way, I
slammed the door shut, and started punching in some numbers
on the keypad next to it. There was a low buzz for a second,
then the door locked.

I let out a breath, glad that the system was designed to
auto-lock if the wrong code was given, though I suspected
this wasn't the way it was intended to be used.

I walked over to Marn, who still had the kid pined against
the wall. "What are you going to do to him?" I asked, a bit
worried.

"Don't worry," he said, "this kid isn't a threat. No need to
kill him." With that he hit the kid the butt of his gun.

Stepping back he let go, and the kid fell to the ground,
though he was still breathing. Bending down, Marn said.
"I'll tie him up, you drop the field."

I nodded, and moved over to the controls. Pushing a chair
out of the way, I found the control I was looking for, right
where I remember it being at before when I was first shown
it.

Glancing at it for a second, I flipped two switched. There
was a beep, and the single light on the control went out.
"That should do it."

Marn nodded, the activated the wrist-com. "The field should
be down Fox."

There was a pause. "Check that, I just got a fold open. Page
start the transmission."

"Right." Page said.

Marn nodded. "Fox, there is something else."

"What?"

"When I came in, I found the technician in here on the
radio, calling for help. They know we're here."

"Damn," Fox muttered over the link. "Just sit tight, we need
you too get the doors open, and to make sure the jamming
field stays down."

Marn nodded. "Got it Fox." he said, the deactivated the
wrist-com.

I looked at him.

"Don't look so worried, everything is still under control."

I hoped he was right.

* * *

Slipping the radio back into my jacket, I looked over at
Kalie and Oria. "You two heard that, are you ready?"

Kalie nodded, her gun at the ready. Oria looked a bit pale,
but nodded to.

Reaching over, I opened the door we where standing next to.
Giving it a genital push, it swung inwards. Giving a glance
inside, I found myself in a disused corner of the
HammerHeads base.

Slipping in, I motioned for the other two to follow. As soon
as they got inside, I closed the door. We where in one of
the many cubicles of the base, though this one was empty.

Glancing around the corner, I nodded, then quickly moved
accost a small hallway into another cubicle, though this one
wasn't in a corner as the other one was and the walls of it
where raised, giving us room to crawl under.

Kalie and Oria did the same thing, getting us into position
with out a hitch.

I nodded to myself, leaning back a bit. "Right," I
whispered, "we have to crawl about fifty feet to get to
Jenner's office. From what Page showed me, it looks to be
mostly empty space, but there are a few that are in use."

"What about finding Rathal?" Oria asked, also in a whisper.

I chewed my lip. "That's not as easy as I would like it. To
do that we would have to split up, and with out Kalie, you
and I are generally defenseless."

Kalie nodded. "I agree. How ever it goes, one of you two
will be in series danger, or both if I go alone. We need to
stay together."

"Ok then, I guess we stop Jenner first."

"Right," Kalie said.

I was about to start under the partition, when I heard
Page's voice call my name over the radio.

Pulling it out, I turned down the volume on it, though
turned up the gain on the microphone. "What is it Page?"

"I've got a transmission coming back to use over the
satellite from the outside. They want to talk to the person
in charge here."

"Fuck," I muttered. "We'll have to make it damn quick. Put
who ever it is through."

There was a pause, then a female voice said. "Who am I
speaking to."

"Fox Cutter," I replied. "Who's this?"

"Jenthra Lee," the voice responded. "I'm head of the police
force for the city outside of the Hall. What the hell is
going on in there?"

"You clearly have seen the transmission, so why do you need
to ask?"

"Listen, I'm not in the mood to take any back-talk. Right
now all hell is breaking lose, and I need some answers."

"Well your first answer is you can open folds out again. The
second is that in about twenty seconds the doors to the Hall
will open. Get you're forces to the HammerHeads base in
here, and down to the communication center, they will
probably be under attack by then."

There was a pause. "Why should I listen to you?"

"Because, you have no choice. Now I'm up to my neck in all
this, so I don't have time to talk. But you have to get a
force IN here, and you also need to get the truth out
there."

"The truth is already out."

Somewhere in the room, I heard someone hell. "Holly shit!
Boss, you have to see this!"

I grinned, apparently the media was already re-broadcasting
are re-broadcast of the Council Session. "So I noticed."

"I just got a report that the doors are open, we're moving
in now." Jenthra said over the radio.

"Good, if you need anything more, talk to Page, I already
have enough to deal with. Fox out." With I stuffed the radio
back into my jacket.

Kalie looked at me. I gave her a nod, then started crawling.

It took about five minutes to go the fifty we needed, much
faster then I had expected, but most everyone was acting
panicked on the other side of the room. I was crouched about
five feet from the door to Jenner's office, ready to make a
quick run to the door, and then inside. I didn't expect to
see the door fly open.

Diving back into the cubicle, I saw Jenner march pasted, not
even noticing me. "What the hell is going on?" He called out
into the room.

There was a pause, as I assumed he was seeing the broadcast
from outside of the Hall. Quickly I motioned to the others,
and ran over to the door, diving into the office.

I pull the door until it was almost closed, though still
watching. I could see Jenner down the room, looking at one
of the screens. "Damn it, where the hell is this coming
from? I though all the communication lines out of the Hall
where cut?"

"They are sir," someone I couldn't see responded. "They must
be using the dish."

He turned and looked at who ever spoke. "How can they do
that unless..." He paused for a second. "Get a battalion of
guards down to the communications center, they have to be
transmitting from there."

As I watched another voice spoke up. "Sir, the guards on the
second level are reporting that a force from the outside has
entered the Hall. And we also got a message from the control
room that someone had forced there way in, we already have a
force of guards sent to take it back."

Jenner slowly turned to the second speaker. "It's to late
for that now, isn't it." He paused. "I want that control
room, now! It may be the only way to salvage this
situation."

He then turned, and stomped off somewhere else in the room.
Slowly I pulled the door closed, and looked at Kalie and
Oria. "Now we wait." I said, leaning back against the wall.

Kalie and Oria did the same, and all in a position so he
wouldn't see as when he came back into the office.

Things where going according to plan.

* * *

I winched as I heard a plasma bolt slam into the door into
the control room.

Marn heard it to, and moved over next to me. "That door
won't last a minute."

I nodded, "So, what do we do?"

He looked at me, then shook his head. "We get out of the
way." He explained. Then grabbing my arm, he pulled me over
to where he had the kid tied up at.

Flipping over one of the few tables in the room, he position
it in front of us. Getting down, he said. "You stay down
here, let me handle this."

Before I could responded, then was a loud exposition as the
door exploded inwards into the room.

Instantly Marn was kneeling, head and shoulders above the
edge of the table, carefully shooting at the guards. He was
making sure to hit his mark, as he only had what was in the
gun, and I doubted that was very much.

As he took another shot, he used his free paw to pull of the
wrist-com. Throwing it down to me, he said. "Get help."

I nodded, activating it. "Page, I don't suppose you could
get some of the force from outside around here." I asked,
knowing about Fox's conversation, as it was transmitted over
the wrist-com as well as to Fox's radio.

"I'll tell them." Page said.

"Thanks." I said, deactivating the wrist-com.

As I did that, Marn dropped down. "Handing me the gun Kalie
gave him, he pulled out a plasma gun from one of his other
pockets.

"Where did you get that?" I asked.

"From the kid." He explained. "Now you sit here while I go
get more." Then with a quick grin, he rolled out from behind
the the table and started shooting again.

I looked around the edge, and watched him as he moved. He
was moving erratically, but gaining on one of the fallen
guards. I was surprised that the the three guards squeezed
into the doorway where all missing him.

Finally one of the guards pushed his way into the room, and
Marn instantly nailed him in the chest with a plasma bolt.
As the guard fell joined the three other bodies on the
floor, I understood why they where all staying in the
doorway.

As Marn got closer to the bodies, he started firing at the
door in rapped succession. The guards that where there dived
out of the way. Before the could recover he was picking up
the guns from the fallen guards.

With a final blast, he fried out the door again. Then turned
and ran to the table, getting behind it just as a blast went
over are heads.

Picking up a new gun, he moved back up over the table and
started shooting again.

"Who exactly are you again?" I asked him.

He grinned. "My name is Marn."

"Yes, but Marn who?"

He chuckled, taking a few more shots. "Wouldn't you just
love to know?"

I growled, getting the feeling that I've meet this guy many
years before, but I couldn't place him at all.

Suddenly there was a series of plasma bolts, they sounded
like they all come from outside of the room. Marn stood and
let out a loud 'woop'. "Nice timing you guys." He said. "You
can stand up Ken."

Slowly I stood, standing just inside the room, over the
bodies of the guards, was five people, covered in what
looked like half a foot of armor plating. One looked at me,
then pulled of his helmet. "I take it you are the two we
where sent to safe?"

I nodded.

The guard looked around. "Three minutes later, and you would
have saved yourselves."

Marn shrugged. "I doubt that, they learned quick enough that
if they come in, they die. They where just going to get me
to waste everything I had, then come in and take us out."

I sat back against the wall, and rolled my eyes. I hopped
the others where having a better time of it then I had just
had.

* * *

I waited, pressed up against the wall of Jenner's office. It
had been ten minutes sense we had come in, and Jenner hadn't
returned. I was hoping I hadn't guess wrong in assume his
planed escape route was through his office.

So far everything had gone according to plan. I had just
finished talking to Page who had told me that Ken and Marn
where safe, and the police force from outside had reached
the communications center already. So now we where the only
ones left with anything more to do.

Personally, I was surprised that it had gone so well. I
expect some injuries though all this, but so far, everyone
of are group had escaped unscathed.

Just as I was thinking this, I heard an explosion though the
wall. "They must be here." I whispered.

Kalie nodded, and Oria looked a bit off color, I wasn't sure
how she was going to hold up in this, I was wondering if
maybe I should have left her in the commutations center.

I was about ready to call it quits, and assume Jenner had
found another way out, when the office door flew open, and
he burst into his office.

The suit he had been wearing was singed in places, and the
skin of his arm looked like it caught the edge of a plasma
bolt, as it was severely burned, and covered with blood.

Shutting the door behind himself, he ran over to his desk,
looking at the floor, not noticing us. "How the hell did
they get in." He asked under his breath.

I took a step forward. "My guess is someone opened the
door."

He slowly looked up from his desk. "Cutter," he spat out.
"How the hell did you get back here?"

I grinned. "Oh, you know, the same way I always do."

He smashes his fist onto the desk. "Yes, the way you always
do! You always find a way out, or get rescued, or something!
How the hell do you do it!"

"Luck is my guess." Kalie said, her gun pointing right at
Jenner. I pulled mine out as well, holding it in his general
direction. Oria was still where she had been standing, the
inside of her ear's pail. I could easily tell she was
scared. Probably as much as I was, if not more.

He stood behind his desk, glaring at us. "Now I wish I had
keep your friend around."

I raised an eyebrow. "Grasion? Let me guess, he didn't like
your style of running this?"

He gave me a half smile. "Of course. Though his style was to
remove me first, so I removed him."

"You killed him?" Oria said, I was surprised she said
anything.

He laughed. "No, I just drugged him and sent him through the
fold to someplace a bit more convenient. He's to useful to
just kill."

"That's how Ken got back here." Kalie said.

"Oh yes, there was always that risk." He grinned. "But I was
willing to take it."

I took another step forward, still holding the gun, but
pushing the safety off with my thumb. "I really think we
should stop the chit-chat. There is a police force outside,
and we're in here. You're not getting away."

He chuckled. "Oh Fox, you know me better then that." Then he
hit something on his desk. There was a soft explosion, and
the room was suddenly filled with a cloud of dark smoke.

Next to me I heard Kalie fire off two shots. The same
instant a muffled scream came from Oriana. I moved over to
where she was, only to find wall. "Damn!" I yelled.

The smoke was starting to clear out of the room, and into
the air vents. As it cleared I could see Kalie a few feet
from me.

"I think I found where he went." She said, pulling down some
kind of tapestry from the wall. Behind it was clearly a
door.

She looked over it, and the control panel next to it.
"Scanner panel, just have to shoot it and the damn thing
will open." With a grin she raised her gun up, there was a
quick flash, and some kind of shutter closed over the panel.

"Shit!" she yelled. Lowering her gun. As she did the cover
opened again.

"What was that?" I asked, moving next to her.

She grumbled. "The damn thing is a smart panel, if it sees
anything that could be destructive aimed it, it closes."

Raising my gun, I watched it close. Then opened again as I
lowered it. Placing my left hand over it, I raised my gun
again. "It's not closed."

"Yes, it can't see the gun, but what are you going to do,
shoot your hand?"

"Yes." I said, then pushing the gun against the back of my
hand, fired it twice. I felt the bullets rip though the
bones of my hand, and into the panel under it. Pulled it
back, I winched.

"Fox!" Kalie said.

"It's a prosthetic." I said, finding that it had shut down
with the palm open, and thankfully had stopped the pain.
"Get the door open."

Kalie grabbed the door, and quickly pulled it open. We where
about a minute behind Jenner and Oriana.

Behind the door was a long hallway, at the end Oria was on
the floor, rubbing her head, behind her a pair of doors
where closing.

Running down the hall, I bent down next to Oriana. "Are you
ok?" I asked her.

She nodded. "I'm fine, he grabbed me, that's all."

I nodded. "Kalie, can you get those doors open?"

She didn't say anything, she just grabbed the doors, and
started pulling apart. They easily slide back into the wall,
reveling an elevator shaft.

"Damn." I said, looking inside. The car was below us, and
slowly descending. The only way I could see it was the
flashing lights. The shaft it's self was made for four cars,
and was large.

I looked at Kalie. "Thirty feet would you say?"

She nodded. "Fox, what are you thinking."

"I'm thinking you should get the guards." Then with a deep
breath, and a pray, I jumped into the shaft.

It was a quicker fall then I expected, I hardly had a chance
to see the roof of the elevator come up to meet my, before I
had smashes into it the trap door on the top of the car,
forcing it open with my weight, and falling into the
elevator car it's self.

As I landed, I felt a sharp crack in my right leg as it
broke from the fall. Above me I watch the lights on top of
the car swing away, and smash into the side.

Jenner started at me, then in one move, lunged hard,
grabbing me around the neck, smashing me against the wall.
"Damn you!" he yelled, slamming my head back against the
second set of doors in the car.

With my good hand, I tried to reach for the gun, which had
been knocked from me when I landed. As I tried for that, he
pulled my head back, and smashed it into the elevators
control panel. Sparks flew around around my head, and I felt
blood start to run down the back of my neck.

He smashed me back again, screaming at me. "I'm sick of you
getting in the way of my plans! It ends now!"

Holding me against the panel with one hand, he reached over,
and slowly pulled open the elevator door. I could feel the
cold air blowing into the car from the shaft.

He pulled me over a foot, and pushed my head out of the car.
"This time you WILL die!"

I was trapped, and I knew it. The chances of me getting out
of this alive where slime, but I had no choice. Grabbing his
burt and bloodied arm with my good hand, I shoved my
destroyed prosthetic into the fallen lights.

It didn't work exactly as I expected, but it still worked. I
felt the power surge through my body, and into Jenner's as
well. He started violently shaking, and his grip on my neck
loosened.

I pulled my left hand out of the lights, and punched him
hard into the gut sending him back a bit. I sent a second
punched into his face, then pushed him off onto the floor.

Rolling over him, I moved into the corner. In the process
finding where the gun had landed. Picking it up, I aimed it
and Jenner. "Are you so sure about that?"

I looked up at me, blood running from his mouth and nose.
"Yes!" he yelled, and lunged at me. Instantly I fired it at
him, missing him competently.

He pulled at the gun, forcing it away from both of us. Then
he brought his fist down onto my leg, right where it had
broken.

I let out a howl of pain, as he pulled me forward, towards
the open door of the car. "This is the end for you!" he
yelled in my face, and stared force me out of the car.

Through the blur of pain in my mind, I did the only thing I
could think of, I brought my left keen up hard into his
crotch.

He let out a howl of pain, and buckled over on top of me. I
felt my self start to slid backwards into the shaft. I
scrambled with my good hand, grabbing onto the lip of the
car door.

It was barely enough to hold me weight as both Jenner and I
fell over the side of the car. I swung around sideways
nearly ripping my arm out of it's socket, but Jenner didn't
have that much luck. He fell pasted me down into the shaft.

I started to swing in the open air, the car had stopped some
time during are fight, and I had no idea how far away help
was.

My grip wasn't that strong either, and was getting weaker by
the second. There was no way that I was going to be able to
get into the car with out any help.

Looking down at the darkness below me, I was kind of glad I
wasn't afraid of heights. I shook my head as I felt my grip
slip even more.

Closing my eyes, my arm felt like it was on fire. I was sure
I was about to die.

Then in true movie style drama, just as my hand was about to
slip off and I was to fall to my death. I felt a strong hand
wrap around my upper arm.

Looking up, I saw someone in police armor holding onto me.
With out saying anything, I raised my left arm

The person grabbed my other arm, and with a massive heave,
pulled my partway into the car. Scrambling a bit, I worked
myself the rest of the way in. "Thanks, but do you think
could have cut it any closer."

The person in the armorer pulled of there helmet, to revile
that she was a rather pretty looking female human. "I could
lower you back down and we could try again."

I shook my head. "I don't think that will be needed. You're
Jenthra Lee I take it."

She nodded. "Come on, lets get you back up there."

"That would be a good idea."

* * *

I stood next to Kalie, watching the police force arrest the
last few remaining HammerHeads. "We did it." I said in
wonder.

Kalie nodded. "We did, didn't we?"

"Excuse me?" One of the police asked, stopping in front of
us.

"Yes." Kalie said.

"We found somebody."

"Rathal." I whispered.

"Where is he?" Kalie asked.

The guard nodded. "Over there," he said, point to an open
door, leading into a dark room.

I started running, moving past a few of the guards, finally
arriving where the guard had pointed.

In the light from the outside room, I could see Rathal. It
wasn't pretty. He had been severely beaten, and tortured,
and was covered in blood. I had to look away, there was a
lot more that I saw, but I never want to remember it.

"Thal?" I said.

I heard him cough. "Oriana?" I heard the elf whisper.

I nodded, moving next to him, but keeping my eyes closed.
"You can call me Oria if you want."

I heard him try and chuckle. "We won I take it."

"Yes, we won."

He coughed again. "Good."

"Oh my." I heard Fox say behind me. Looking back, I saw him
walking with the aid of the of the police officers, he was
batter, and had blood all over his clothing. "Thal?" he
said.

I heard 'Thal try and chuckle again. "Fox, you did it."

"Yes." he said.

"I told you, you where in this up to your neck."

"It's over though. Jenner's dead."

I heard Rathal cough again. "Good." He said, almost a
whisper. "Very good." I heard him take in a ragged breath,
and then nothing.

Kalie walked pasted me, and bent down next to 'Thal. I
assume she was checking his pulse, as I was till looking at
Fox.

Kalie spoke, her voice very somber. "He's dead."

Fox slowly nodded. "It is done." He whispered. Then
collapsed against the police officer that was holding him
up.

Slowly she lowered him to the ground, moving him away from
the. I ran out next to him. "Is he ok?" I asked.

The officer nodded her head. "He's just pasted out from the
pain."

I gently placed my paw on his face. "Good, let him get some
rest, he's earned it."