A Fox in the Works It's Not My Time to Go By Fox Cutter 2: Omega The suns were starting to set by the time we all got out of the hospital. I had insisted on going with Jadith, as had Rhea. Naturally Ravindar had come alone with me as he could do nothing else. Samantha and Mallory had gone back to the OZG offices with Natasha. Jadith was recovering, but had been hurt pretty badly. I guess the two men we had captured were trying to get information out of her the old fashioned way. She had healed a lot of the damage they had done, but that hadn't exactly stopped them. I leaned up against the wall of the hospital and ran my hands over my head. <> Rhea told me, taking a seat at my side. "Physically, yes, but the rest will take time," Ravindar said. "You have no idea what kind of pain that could cause," he added. I snickered softly, looking down at my left hand and flexing the fingers. I hadn't been tortured like Jadith, but I'd had my fair share of persuasion in the past. Once it had resulted in the loss of my left hand. That was also when I had discovered my allergy to the regen drugs. I had a prosthetic hand for a few years. One of such high quality that you couldn't even tell it was fake. My real hand had come back when I had been cursed, a rather nice side effect of what was, on the whole, a bad situation. From the look on Rhea's face, I could tell that she was thinking the exact same thing. I reached down and stroked the course fur between her ears. She leaned up and nuzzled at my fingers and smiled a bit. "We need to get back to the OZG," I said. Ravindar nodded and looked around the street. "We should head for the closest fold," he said. I nodded and felt around for one, finding it about a block away. I started walking down the street towards it, glad that folds were so common on Prid. It made getting around a heck of a lot easier. We hurried along towards it. I opened the fold with a wave of my hand and we walked into the fold room at the OZG. There were a few moments of pause before I was able to close the fold behind us. The fold room was austere, with heavy steel walls and an even heavier door. A small guard enclosure stood next to the door with an armed guard inside. He looked at me for a moment as I pulled out my wallet and flashed him my CSC ID. The guard looked at it for a moment then nodded, keying in something that opened the large door. I had been through the room often enough in the past few days that I thought I wouldn't have to show my ID, but that was never the case. We walked out of the fold room and into the OZG proper, winding our way through the hallways to the meeting room we had been using. Mallory was waiting inside, but there wasn't any sign of anyone else. "Hello Mallory," I said. He looked up at me, his jaw flexing into a smile. "Hello, Fox. How is your friend?" <> Rhea answered. The alien smiled a bit and lifted his head. "I am glad that you discovered her when you did. It is a good thing that she is still alive." "Alive, but still unconscious. It will be days before she can tell us anything that happened to her," I said, sitting down next him. He nodded and tapped his fingers on the table. "Where is Samantha?" I asked. "She is in the restroom," he replied. I snickered softly and leaned back into my chair. He smiled back in his strange way and nodded his long neck. We settled down in silence for a few moments. I wasn't sure exactly what to say. I liked Mallory. He seemed like a nice guy, but he was more Samantha's friend than my own. I guess that was a bit odd, having one of my friends bring along their own friend on an adventure. It seemed a bit out of place in many respects. I guessed I couldn't always be the big hero with everyone taking their cue from my own actions. Sometimes I was just a normal guy in over my head. A short time later Samantha came back into the room, her tail flicking quickly behind her. Natasha was a few steps behind her and carrying yet another file in her hands. She looked at me as she walked up to the table, sitting down with a relaxed smile on her face. "I have good news and bad news." "Oh?" I asked. She flicked the file open and spread out a few pages. "We found a functioning computer in the house and were able to pull information off of it, including the plans for the ripple entrapment devices as well as a more complete list of tests and off world locations." "Fantastic. I have a friend who would love to get his hands on those plans. He has the clearance for it. He serves on an explorer ship," I said, rubbing my hands slightly. "Well that is the good news, but there is bad news as well. We found hair samples on the keyboard that were typed as a female tiger. We suspect it's Ms. Orange," Natasha said, pushing forward another page. I took it from her and looked over the text, not finding anything different from what she had told me. I dropped the page and pushed it back to her. "So, can we find a match with this, maybe find out who she really is?" "We're working on it," she replied. "Did you find anything else?" I asked. "Nothing too interesting-- some addresses but nothing new. There were a few notes in some miscellaneous files, but nothing we could make any sense of," she replied, pushing a couple more pages to me. I picked them up and started riffling through them, trying to see if there was anything interesting. There were some notes about meetings, a few names, and a string of numbers. I flipped back through them and returned back to the numbers. I dropped the rest of the pages, pushing them over to Samantha as I read them over again. They looked familiar, not like I knew the numbers, but there was something about the pattern of them. It finally clicked after a few moments as it came together. "It's a room number in the Marble Hall. One of the residential levels I think," I said. Natasha's head shot up and she looked at me rather intently with her black eyes. "Are you sure?" she asked. "I'm relatively sure. I used to live there, or at least I had a teleport curtain set up there." She stood up and folded her arms behind her back. "If they have a place in the Marble Hall, all of our security could be compromised." Samantha stood up and rolled her shoulders back, her tail flicking in excitement. "We had better get going," she said, pulling out her gun and checking the clip. I nodded and did the same. I had most of a full clip but it was also the only clip I had. I put the gun back into place and stood back up. "I don't know a fold close to the address, but we should be able to find one." Natasha nodded and took the note from me, walking to the terminal and starting to type at the keyboard. While she did that I walked over to stand next to Samantha and Mallory. "Fuck," Natasha said a moment later. I snapped my head around to look at the gray skinned woman. "What is it?" I asked, hurrying to her side. "You're right. It is an apartment in the Marble Hall, one marked as high security," she said. Samantha stood up and walked over it us. "Who's apartment?" I pushed Natasha out of the way and looked down at the display on the terminal. I frowned as I saw the information. "Bastion's," I said Mallory lifted his head slightly and joined up as the terminal, crowding it even more. "Bastion, as in Bastion Harries? Isn't he Prid's representative to the Consortium?" "The one in the same. It seems like our Ms. Orange was interested in him," I said. He clenched his three fingered fist tightly, the gems of his weapon catching the light. "Then we have no time to lose. If he is in danger we must do all that we can to aid him." Natasha shook her head, shooing us all away from the terminal. She was trying to keep her composure, but looked a little bit flustered. "There are jurisdictional issues. The OZG lacks authority in the Marble Hall." I frowned at this then shook my head. "Maybe the OZG does, but not the CSC. My authority should be able to get us in," I said, not leaving the terminal, instead punching the fold address into my portal control. "Let's get going." Trusting that my friends would be following after me I turned and walked out of the meeting room. I passed Natasha, who looked a bit unsure as to what she should do and ended up staying in the room by herself. We hurried through the building and back to the fold, keying it open with a quick touch of my portal controller. We found ourselves in another security room. This one was fully automated, both for accessing the Hall and for the security measures, which looked rather lethal. Cameras were watching us closely as I walked to the access panel on the door. I pulled out my ID and ran it through the system. It took a few moments for the system to process my information before the door buzzed and slid open. The five of us started down the hallway, moving fast but not quite running. As we moved, I debated on how to handle the situation. It wasn't a strong lead, the note could have been weeks old and they had a few hours head start, but we still had to be sure. Bastion was important enough to checkup on. I just had to accept that we might be too late to do any good. I decided that for the moment it would be best to try and act casual about things. I didn't want to just kick the door down if there wasn't anything going on. So, when we finally came to the door, I just knocked on it and took a step back to wait. Ravindar and Rhea flanked my sides while Mallory and Samantha stood behind us. My bodyguard reached out and placed his paw over the peephole on the door. A few moments passed before the door opened and a face looked out. It wasn't Bastion, or any other avian for the matter. In this case it was a tiger, a tigress to be exact. To be even more exact, it was Ms. Orange herself. From the look on her face she recognized me at the same moment. She tried to close the door on us, but I leaned back and kicked it as hard as possible, slamming it into her face. She stumbled back from the door, looking stunned. Blood was running from her nose. There was a gun in her hand, but she was holding it poorly. I hit it with the back of my own hand, knocking it free from her fingers. My other hand came up and hit her square on the chin, making her jaw close with a snap and sending her falling to the floor. Ravindar pushed past me into the room, firing two rounds into the far wall. I glanced over my shoulder and saw another person in the room, this time a human male who was also armed. He looked at us with a frown and dropped his gun onto the carpet. Shaking my head a bit, I fell down onto Ms. Orange, pinning her to the ground before she got her wits about her. I looked around the room, trying to see if there was anyone else waiting for us. The front room was large, larger than my first apartment on Prid. There were doorways in each of the other walls, with a staircase running up the wall opposite the front door. "Search the house, make sure no one else is here, and try to find Bastion," I ordered. "Got it," Samantha said, going towards the doorway on the left. Mallory went in the other direction while Rhea rushed up the stairs, her tail flying behind her. I looked up at Ravindar then back to the one doorway no one had taken. "Give me the ties. I'll get these two tied up. You check that door," I said, pointing at the empty hallway. The white tiger shook his head. "That will not be a good idea. This situation increases the need for me to do my job. We'll get these two tied up and join the rest of search," he told me, pulling the ties out of his pocket and offering them to me. "I guess it can wait a minute," I said, taking the ties and rolling Ms. Orange over onto her back. I pulled her wrists together, wrapping the tie around them. Ravindar was quicker than I was; by the time I had the first tie closed he had the other man trussed up. <> Rhea called, her voice so loud that it echoed through my mind. Without thinking I dropped the second tie and started up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Ravindar followed behind me. I didn't think he heard Rhea's cry, but he wasn't going to leave me alone. There was a long hallway at the top of the stairs. I could see Rhea standing by the last door, her tail flicking in agitation. She was pawing at the carpet, her claws digging into the fabric. I came up behind her, slowing down as I came to the door. It was only partly closed and I could see something moving behind the door. Rhea moved out of my way and I leaned forward, peeking through the gap. I could just make out Bastion's, his colorful feathers making him easy to spot. There was another man sitting a short distance away. He wasn't a human and I couldn't tell what species he was. I moved out of the way and motioned for Ravindar to take a look. He bent down and glanced through the doorway then quickly pulled away. "I'll go first and take out the guard. He is armed with just a pistol so it will be an easy shot. You follow right after me and shoot anyone else in the room. Got it?" he said in a whisper. "Got it," I replied. He nodded and stood up, holding his gun firmly in his paw. I lined up behind him, quickly checking my gun to make sure there was a round in the chamber. I have my bodyguard a short nod, and he nodded in return. Without a word Ravindar shoved the door open with his shoulder. The guard, a raccoon, let out a yelp and lifted his gun. The white tiger was faster, shooting him squarely through the heart. The raccoon fell back to his chair as I came into the room, coming up short when I saw Bastion. He was tied up fairly well, his wrists and legs bound as he sat on the bed, and a gag wrapped around his beak. He looked at me with wide eyes, and I wouldn't blame him for that as there was a gun pointed at his head. Holding the gun, and with a smirk on his face, was Clark himself. The man smiled at me, and clicked his tongue. "Mr. Cutter. Why am I not surprised that you would be here? Now you will do exactly as I tell you, or I will kill him," he paused for a moment, his eyes looking with mine. I held my place, unsure of what I should do. I relaxed my grip slightly but not by much. I wasn't sure how I was going to deal with him. Clark glared at me then shrugged his shoulders. "Fuck it, you won't do what I'll say anyway," he said, and squeezed the trigger. Rhea was the one who saved the day. While Clark was paying attention to me she jumped up and dug her claws into Bastion's pants. She pulled back just before the gun fired, pulling him halfway off the bed and sending his head falling back. The bullet whisked through the feathers on his head and hit the wall. I fired my gun at the same moment. My aim wasn't like Ravindar's and hit Clark in the belly. Ravindar's own shot was much better, hitting him squarely in the chest. The human looked stunned by this and stumbled back, crumpling to the floor. "That wasn't exactly the stare down I had expected. I thought he would at least monologue," I said, putting my gun away. "What the hell?" Samantha asked from behind us. I glanced back at the doorway, finding Samantha taking up most of it with Mallory behind her. "Help me untie Bastion. Mallory, call for help," I ordered. He turned away as Samantha and I bent down, working at the bindings around the bird. The moment I had the gag off he let out a gasp and sputtered out. "Alexandria, where is Alexandria?" "Who is Alexandria?" I asked. "The tigress! She's the one who tied me up!" he snapped at me. I shrugged. "Tied up downstairs," I said, much to Bastion's relief as I worked free the binds around his wrists. "I take it you know her?" "She's a lawyer with the provisional government. She said she had to talk with me about the newest revisions of the new governing documents. It was dumb for me to tell her to come here," he explained as he rubbed his wrists with a look of distaste on his flexible beak. "Um... She's not down there," Samantha said. I looked up at her. "What?" "She's not downstairs. The other guy you tied up is still there, but she's gone." My eyes went wide for a moment before I shook my head. "Go down there; see if you can catch her. Hopefully she hasn't gotten very far." Samantha nodded and rushed back out of the doorways and down the hall. "Are you okay?" I asked Bastion as I pulled off the last of his bindings. "I'm a little sore, and I think I have a few cuts on my legs," he said, bending down to touch the holes that Rhea had left in his pants. The lioness laid her ears back at this, but he just reached up and placed a hand on top of her head. "I think it was worth the cost. Thank you, I do believe you saved my life." <> she told him in a pleased voice. He chuckled a bit and nodded his head. "Yes, I should be just fine." "I didn't find her," Samantha said, panting as she came back through the door. "But we have help," she said, pointing to the police officer right behind her. I pulled out my CSC ID and handed it to the office. He looked at it for a few moments, then down to the two bodies on the floor. From the look on his face it was pretty clear that it was going to be a long night. * * * 5/22/2000: Bastion looked up as I walked into his office, with Rhea following at my side. Ravindar was in his normal position a few feet behind me and as composed as ever. I settled down in a chair across the desk from him and folding my hands in my lap. Rhea sat on her haunches next to me. "Fox, Rhea, I'm glad you could come," the avian said as he set his pen down and pushed away a few files. I smiled slightly. "I think it's more than reasonable. I'm just glad that you are doing well." "There were a few stitches on my legs, but that will heal," the avian replied as a smile ran over his flexible beak. I nodded but said nothing else and we all lapsed into silence for a few moments. Finally Bastion picked up a PADD from his desk and switched it on. "I've read your report on this whole 'Bad Wolf' incident. I'm surprised about the depth that it reached. There have been a dozen more arrests throughout Prid's provisional government. Many of them had some sort of connection to the HammerHeads. We will have to run through all known or suspected members and reevaluate their security risks." "At least Clark is dead. I just expected him to be more trouble than that," I said as I leaned back in my chair. Ravindar spoke up from behind my back. "He was, for you. You need to spend more time training." I gave my bodyguard a sharp look, though tempered with a smile. Bastion chuckled and nodded his head. "Either way he is dead, and that is something we are sure about this time. It's still regrettable that Alexandria managed to escape. From the information Natasha provided me, it seems that she was probably his second-hand man. I do wish you had more information on this Mr. Pink." "So do I. Natasha seems to thinks he doesn't exist, at least not anymore. The only evidence that he ever existed is what Marn gave us, but all the records we recovered showed that Clark was the one in charge. She thinks it might have been Jenner, at least some of his plans. I'm pretty sure that he is dead, you don't survive being dropping down an elevator shaft," I said. He clicked his beak slightly but he nodded his head. "I would like to be sure about this, though. If the leader of this little group got away, it would be bad for everyone," he said. "Natasha is sure. I'm not, but I trust her. She wouldn't have her job if Jadith didn't believe in her." Bastion nodded his head again and made a couple of notes. "Have you seen her? She's recovering well." I nodded. "I stopped by the other day, but she was asleep. She should be out of the hospital in a few more days, then I guess she's going back home for a month," I said in a quiet voice. I had gotten a chance to talk with her a couple of days before. She was doing okay, at least physically, but I didn't think her mind was altogether healed. I guess they had hurt her pretty badly to find out what we knew. "I hope she finds what she needs," he said softly. "Me, too. Is there anything else?" I asked. Bastion set his pen back down and gave me a smile that worried me a little bit. "The scandal that this will cause is going to reach fairly high in the Provisional Government. There are already pending announcements of resignations. There is going to be quite the opportunity in the future and I already have some plans for it." "Plans that don't involve me," I said in a sharp voice. "I've done my part for king and country and I'm already too involved with the Consortium. I am not going to do it again." His smile faltered for a moment but came back right way. "Yes, of course, without you. I wouldn't dream of asking you to get involved again," he said with a wave of his wing- hand. "Of course," I replied in a sarcastic tone. "Now, if there is nothing else, I have things I need to do," I said, starting to rise from my chair. Bastion stood up and shook his head. "Oh, there is one more thing that I need to address, but it doesn't involve you," he said, walking around the desk and bending down in front of Rhea. "It involves you." My sometimes twin sister pulled back a bit, her ears lying down in her fur. <> He nodded his head and reached out to touch the edge of her collar. "If I may?" She nodded, her tail flicking slowly as she lifted her head. She wasn't sure what was going on. "Your aid has put my name on the lips of everyone in the government, and I was able to pull a few strings because of it." As he spoke he reached around and unhooked her collar, pulling it off her neck. Rhea watched him for moment, her head tilted slightly to the side then let out a soft gasp. <> Bastion nodded and stood up, picking up a folder from his desk. Opening the folder he bent back down and showed them to her. "These documents declare you a sentient being, though with special circumstances. Although this isn't everything that needs to be done, it is enough. It also lists Fox and Oriana as your human aids, not keepers, just helpers." The lioness lifted her head and flicked her ears to the side. <> She emphasized the words by softly head butting him on the legs. "We'll get the details worked out, but the basics are in place. It was the least I could do," he said in a way that made me suspect there was much more to it than that, but I wasn't in the mood to try and find out the rest of the story. Rhea leaned in closer trying to read the paperwork. "You will need to sign the document. My guess is that you can't use a pen, but we made sure there is enough room for you to do whatever you can," he said, turning the page around to show the back of it. There were a few lines of text, but the majority of it was blank. I leaned down to look at the paperwork myself, then back down to the lioness. She looked back at me, and then glanced down at her paws. <> "DNA is a valid form of identification," Ravindar said with a small chuckle. Bastion looked up with a bit of surprised. "You mean blood?" There was a touch of horror in his feathered face. Rhea chuffed in amusement. She then leaned forward and licked the page with her large tongue. The avian pulled the page back in surprised and looked down at the wet smear on the paper with wide eyes. "I guess saliva does has DNA in it..." he said, a little bit baffled. Letting out a laugh I plucked the page from him and a pen from his desk. I outline the place where the lioness had licked and made a note about how it was done. I then signed my name on the line provided for the witness. Bastion took the page from me and held it between two fingers. "Well then, I guess that resolves that. I'll file this with the proper authorities. Congratulations." The lioness blushed a bit and flicked her ears back. <> The avian stood up and leaned against his desk. "It was the least I could do. I am sorry, but I think our time is over, I have many more appointments today. I'm a popular man." I stood up, grabbing Rhea's collar and tucked it into my pocket. "Then I guess we won't be bothering you anymore," I said, as together the three of us walked out of his office Rhea was nearly prancing down the hallway, her tail flicking like she was trying to dance. I laughed softly at this and reached down to tease the tip of her tail. It was a nice change from the last few days and visiting both of my friends in the hospital, though Sora wouldn't be out of the regen tank for another three weeks. I decided to put it all out of my mind for the moment, and just share in Rhea's joy. * * * Alexandria relaxed back into the booth, the low light of the bar masked her face and her bruises, but it wouldn't last forever. She took another sip of her drink, setting the glass down as someone slid into the booth. Her paw went to her gun, fumbling for it before she realized that it was Richard Stanz. "Relax," the human said, setting his own glass down on the table. He looked out at the bar then back to her. "Mydisia is not the best place for you to hole up. The Consortium keeps an eye on it after the plague." The tigress nodded and let go of her gun, picking up her drink and hunching slightly over the table. "It's still a low priority, and all the other rendezvous location have been compromised. This was the safest place I could hole up in until someone arrived." He sighed and took a drink of his beer, wincing a bit as he tasted it. "I only came because I saw your face on the news. It's all over the Consortium, even where I was hiding. As soon as I saw that I ran, I knew that the safe house had been compromised. "If you came, you're probably the only one left," she said, finishing the last of her drink. The human licked his lips and nodded his head. "They must be cleaning up Prid. You know, if I saw your face on the news there are going to be others, even here. I grabbed this from the safe house before I ran," he said, taking a small vial from his pocket and slid it over the table to her. "What's this?" she asked, taking the vial and looking closely at it. "A nanite mix. It will recolor your fur, it should make it much harder for you to be identified. I suggest you cut your hair as well," he said, placing a pocket knife on the table. She looked at the vial then back at the pocket knife. With a sigh she snapped the top off and drank it down. It tasted bitter, with a bit of a metallic aftertaste, something like a filling. It was heavy in her belly, mixing with her drink and making her feel warm. Placing the vial back on the table she picked up the pocket knife and pulled it open. With her free paw she gathered up her hair and started cutting through it until the bundle fell away. She looked at it for a few moments, her mind thinking back to when she had decided to grow it out, soon after meeting Jenner for the first time. With a sigh she threw it down onto the dirty floor. Stanz smiled a bit as he took the pocket knife from her and put it away. "When this is done no one will be looking at your face," he said. "That's reassuring," she said, scratching the fur on the back of her neck. The human leaned forward and smiled a bit. "So, what are we going to do next? Go after Cutter and his friends?" She thought about it for a moment, waving over a passing waitress. The young woman took her empty glass and replaced it with a full one. The tigress took a large gulp of her drink and set it back down on the table. "I've been thinking about what we should do," she said. "I knew you would have a plan," he said. "We're not going to do a thing about them, or to them," she said. Stanz pulled back and gave her a look of surprise and horror. "What? If it wasn't for them everything would have worked without a hitch and Prid would have been ours, at least after the election. The tigress sighed and shook her head. "It's not as simple as that. I went to Bastion's home because he had access to the secure data network. I was able to pull up most of the information the OZG had on us. They wouldn't even have found us if it wasn't for Clark wanting revenge on the people who killed Jenner. Revenge was the problem, and more revenge will not help." He sighed and ran a hand over his head. "Then what are we suppose to do? The two of us can't exactly save the world alone." "Twice now the Hammerheads have tried to live up to Jenner's dreams, and twice we've failed. I think perhaps there is a better way, and force of arms might not be up to the task." "So we do nothing then?" he asked with some distaste. Alexandria smiled and shook her head. "Oh no, not nothing. There are many people who can use our skills, we can easily find employment," she said, looking down at her paw, the black parts of her fur were starting to become blue in color, standing out against the orange. The orange itself was changing color as well, starting to become purple. He thought for a moment, playing his glass between his hands. "I suppose so, but I dislike the idea of running away." "We do what we have to do," she replied, then stretched her arms out to look at her fur. "Are you sure about this? I look like a sign." The human chuckled and nodded his head. "Exactly! Normal people will notice your fur before they ever see your face. You stand out too much for you to be hiding. No one will suspect a thing." She gave him a sharp look and watched as the color of her fur finished changing, the light blue standing out on the dark purple background. "So the plan is that I'm so blindingly bright that no one can stand to look at me long enough to see who I am. I can see why that plan would work," she said. "Trust me, it will." The tigress sighed and shook out her hair--even that had changed color. She wondered if her eyes had changed as well. "I still don't think that standing out will keep me hidden, but you are the deep cover agent." Stanz nodded and finished his beer. "So, what sort of work are we looking for? I'm deep cover and you're logistics; we're not exactly a matched set." "True, but we have information that people will pay for. They never found your backdoor in the Defense system. Your gambit worked like a charm." The human shrugged. "I just gave them what they expected to find. They had no reason to look past that," he said with some pride. "There are a lot of people who would pay a lot of money to learn how to get a ship onto Prid undetected," Alexandria said with a smile. "Though we need to make sure it goes to the right people, preferably if they share our agenda." "I'll look around, but it will take time to find such a person. For now I know of a cult that could use some help. They're outside of Consortium space, so we can stay out of view." The tigress nodded and leaned back in her seat. "Give them a call and see what they will pay us," she said. "You're the boss, boss," he said as he slid out of the booth and walked out of the dark bar. Alexandria smirked a bit and crossed her arms. It would take some time to get back on her feet, but with some work she, and Stanz, would be comfortable again. In time what they knew would be very profitable for them both. ----- This story (AFiW #512B) is copyright 2008 by Fox Cutter. Hardcopy reprints limited to one per person, all other rights reserved. This story may not be distributed for a fee except by permission of the author, and this copyright notice may not be removed.