Small Changes

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

07/25/1999:

    Chapter 1

"How are you feeling, Hon?" Oria asked as she wrapped her
arms around my shoulders, nuzzling the back of my neck.

I smiled. I hadn't even heard her come into my office. She
could be silent when she wanted to be. With one hand I
reached up to grasp her arm as I turned my head to nuzzle
her in return. "I'm feeling fine, love."

"That's good," she said with a purr, continuing to nuzzle.
Her tongue flicked out to lick my skin, bringing up my own
purr to match hers.

She pulled back after a minute, and put a little more weight
on my back, looking past my head to the various items spread
out over my desk. "Anything exciting come out of your
meeting this morning?"

I nodded. "A few things: some news on the construction of
the new Capital, and that the CSC is starting to be formed.
I might end up with the occasional assignment from them when
they get up to speed. I was also, gently, reminded that I
haven't finished gathering all the items on Graison's little
list."

"I see," she said, with a slight pout. "There's only two
items left?"

"Just the two. Some kind of computer, and something called
an 'Impulse Wave Transducer,' whatever that might be." I
answered as I picked up a PADD, which contained the relevant
information, from my desk.

She nodded, reaching down to pluck the PADD from my fingers.
"And which one are we going to go fetch?"

I laughed softly. "Who said we're going anywhere?" I asked.

She pulled back a bit, removing her weight from my
shoulders, taking the PADD with her. She left her other paw
stroking the side of my face, as she said, "I did. Now let's
see here, the first one doesn't have any humans, which might
cause some problems for you. The second one," she paused,
coming up on the same conclusion I had, "would probably kill
me on sight. I think we can skip that one today."

I nodded, then stood from my chair, and turned to face her.
She glanced at me, with a small smile on her muzzle,
dropping her now free paw to stroke down the edge of the
pale blue skirt that was hanging just over her feet. It went
nicely with the white top she had, tucked into its
waistband.

"Now, why are we going to go on this little mission?" I
asked, pushing the chair out of the way, and taking a step
closer to her, placing my hands on her hips.

"Because you need to get it done, Fox," she said, glancing
back down at the PADD. "And I want to get some quiet time,
just you and me, which we really can't get around here."

I let out a short laugh, and kissed the pad of her nose.
"You think going on an adventure is quiet time?"

She smiled and nodded. "For us it is. It will be the first
time for us to be away from home, just you and me. We'll
need to leave the tigers here; it will just be us," she gave
a soft laugh, "Quiet time."

I gave her hips a squeeze, and pulled her close. "You were
my companion, back in the days when I did adventures all the
time. I'm sure you remember all the deadly danger that came
about because of it?"

She nodded, wrapping her arms around my shoulders and
pulling me closer. "I remember, but I think it would be
worth it. I just want to get out of the house, and to talk.
I think this will be the best chance we'll get."

"Alright, I think it would be fun. I'll tell Ravindar in a
few minutes, if he doesn't know already," I said, and then
kissed my wife full on the lips.

She let out a deep purr, dropping her paws around my arms
and down my back, pulling me tight to her. "I like that,"
she whispered when she broke the kiss for a moment, "but I
think telling him can wait till later." She kissed me again,
pulling me tight to her.

I returned the kiss, pulling her back against me, as we
lowered ourselves to the floor.

* * *

"You want to do what?" Ravindar asked, his muzzle in his
paw, and a nasty look on his face. Santhara sat next to him,
a slightly surprised look on her face.

Oria and I sat on the far side of the kitchen table from
them, clothing back in place after our little bit of fun. We
were holding hands under the table, and her tail was
flicking against the back of my bare feet.

"I didn't phrase it as a question," I replied. "I'm telling
you, telling you both, that you are going to be staying here
for this."

"How can we protect you if you leave us here?" Santhara
asked, tapping a finger on the tabletop. "It makes us
useless as bodyguards if you leave us behind."

Oria shook her head. "There is no Cain waiting for us,
nothing big and nasty. The only problem is where the item
we're going for is located. Nothing else."

Ravindar shook his head. "This is an item that Grasion hid,
for his own retrieval. He also doesn't care much about you,
Fox. Have you considered that he might be a threat to you."

I nodded. "Oh yes, I'm acutely aware of that, but this isn't
your business. You were assigned to us to keep us safe
against Cain, who is dead now."

"I'm aware of that," he replied, in a terse voice, "but
there are other threats to your life. The Guild Elders think
so, which is why we haven't been removed from these
positions yet."

I blinked, slightly surprised. "Can you be? Removed, that
is? I know having five Crystal Masters is odd, and a first,
but can you two be re-assigned, and to doing what?"

The two tigers shared a glance between them, that had quite
a bit more conversation in it than I was privy to. Oria
understood some of it, as she shifted uncomfortably in her
chair.

Ravindar gave a short shake of his head, and returned to the
conversation. "We will be going with you. Whether you like
it or not, that is our job."

I sighed, squeezing Oria's paw. "You're staying here, like
it or not. If I want to, I can slip out of a fold fast
enough, and cold enough, that you couldn't follow us even if
you wanted to. It's one of the benefits of being a Natural."

He let out a long growl, tapping his fingertips on the
table. "All right, if you insist on this I want you to
activate your tracker implant before you go, and tell me
exactly where you're going to be. If you don't come back in
two days, we're coming after you."

I shifted a bit in my seat this time. I hated to be reminded
of the damn tracker chip. I guess that now that I know I
really am an animal, it makes sense to keep it. I had hoped
to get it removed, back when I thought I no longer had to be
on all fours. The soul sickness changed that.

"We can agree to that," Oria said, answering for us,
squeezing my hand to offer some comfort.

"When do you plan to leave?" he asked.

"In about an hour," Oria replied, rising from the table.
"I've already made arrangements for the children to be taken
care of, and we'll get you the information before we leave."

He nodded, "Go armed."

I stood up next to my wife, wrapping an arm around her
waist. "Of course," I said, and pulled her away from the
table. "We'll see you in an hour."

The tigers rose as well, and followed a few feet behind us
as we slipped though the hallways, and into our bedroom.
They took up positions just outside the door as we went
inside.

"I hate activating the tracer chip," I said as the door
closed. "It always itches when it's on,"

Oria just smiled, and walked over to her dresser, pulling
open the top drawer. "That's just your imagination, hon."

I sighed, and rubbed forehead. "Probably," I replied as I
walked over to her. I peeked over her shoulder this time, as
she lifted a small lock box out from among her under things.

She set it on the top of the dresser, and typed in the code
to open the lock. It was the same code that was on a larger
version of the same box in the bottom drawer of my dresser.

With a beep, the box unlocked, and she lifted open the lid.
Inside was her Needler, along with the necessary ammunition.

She picked up the weapon, and slid open the base. With
practiced fingers she selected the various canisters she
wanted to use. Each one was no more than an inch long, and
provided the chemicals that made the crystal needles
effective.

Then she retrieved the holster for the device. It looked
more like a cell phone case then any holster I had ever
seen. On the outside of the holster were slots for extra
canisters, which she filled, taking her time in selecting
which ones she wanted.

When that was finished, she slid the Needler into the
holster, and then clipped it onto the band of her skirt,
untucking her blouse a bit to hide it. It looked perfectly
normal, not like the potentially lethal weapon it was.

"So, how are we going to sneak you in?"sShe asked as she
closed the box, and then locked it. "Going to go under cover
as a lioness again?"

I turned her around, and hugged her for a moment, giving her
a short kiss. "I've thought about it, but both Ken and
Milgrove want me to try spending more time in my fox form.
It's the one that's the least used, and still isn't
completely stabilized."

"Is that why your fur patterns are always different?" she
asked.

I nodded.

She smiled and tilted her ears slightly. "Can you control
that form yet?"

I shook my head. "No, I can't directly change my shape at
all yet. It's starting to frustrate Milgrove during our
lessons."

"You're only on the second lesson, Fox; You'll get the hang
of it soon enough," my wife replied with a smile. "But I
wonder how you intend to go vulpine for this? Do you have
some toy I don't know about, or are you going to use the
Matrix chip?"

"I have some toy," I replied, kissing her nose and pulling
back. "Ken gave it to me the other day. He said that now
that he understood what was going on, he could make real
spells to control it." I walked over to my dresser as I
spoke, picking up a small jewelry box. "I haven't even
opened it to be honest, I didn't have the time before."

Oria came up behind me, and touched the box, purring softly.
"Oh, there is magic there, I can feel it. This isn't another
placebo like before."

I nodded, "Which is good, as that trick stopped working on
me," I said, and opened the box.

Inside it lay a small coil of silver chain, flat and about
an eighth of an inch wide. On one end was a simple clasp, on
the other was a stud.

"It's an ear hanging," Oria said, recognizing it as
something like her own world had. I recognized it as well,
and felt something heavy fall into my gut.

"Can I see?" she asked.

I nodded, moving the box closer to her paws. She picked it
up, and fished the hanging out of it, running her fingers
over it. "It's really pretty," she said with a purr, moving
it so the silver chain caught the light. A moment later she
paused, lifting it closer to her muzzle. "There's something
written on the chain."

I nodded again, closing the empty jewelry box, and setting
it back down. I then turned and looked closely at the word
engraved on the piece. "It's in Ken's language," I said.

"Oh," she replied, "can you read it?"

"No, love," I said.

Still, I knew what that word meant, down to the letter. It
was Ken's name for me, from when he and I were lovers. The
whole hanging dated back to then; he had given it to me when
we started to be close, before we got intimate. When I was
still to shy to be physical with anyone, let alone a dragon
I had strong feelings for.

The last time I saw it, was the day Ken left me. Without
understanding why he was doing it, and feeling like my world
had fallen apart, I had taken it off. Taken it off and
shoved it into his paw, telling him to take it with him.

And now it was mine again, another magic item in my growing
collection. I wondered what his motive for giving it back to
me was? Was he trying to get back together? It was something
I knew Oria would allow, but I wasn't ready for that. Maybe
he was trying to remind me of us back then, or maybe he just
found it in his lab, and thought it would be proper to
return it to me.

"You all right love?" Oria asked from behind me. "You look
deep in thought."

I nodded, reaching up to take out the fox-head earring that
was currently through my left ear. I had originally gotten
it pierced just to wear the hanging, even if I had to take
it out when I went back to Earth.

Oria held the hanging out to me, but I shook my head. "You
do it love, I want to feel your touch."

She smiled, and shifted to my left side. With careful
fingers she removed the back from the post, and lifted it to
my ear. As soon as she had put it though the hole, I
suddenly found myself a few inches shorter.

She adjusted, and placed the back on the post, pressing it
against the now thinner ear. When it was firm, she took the
clasp part and put it over the upper edge of my ear,
pressing it firmly closed. Technically it was supposed to go
through a second piercing, but I had decided it would have
been too hard to explain back home.

"It looks nice on you," she said, running her paw over the
fur on my neck.

I nodded, looking at myself in the mirror. The wide chain
hung slightly below my ear and glittered each time I flicked
it. "That it does," I replied.

"You had better change into some smaller clothing, before
those fall off of you. I'll grab some extra rounds for you,
and write up where we are going for Ravindar.

"Right, Love," I said, shrugging off my shirt and throwing
it onto the bed, followed by the rest of my clothing. I took
the opportunity to take a quick look over myself in the
mirror before heading to the closet. The fur coloring hadn't
changed much since the last time. That was a good thing, it
meant the form was growing stable.

It took a minute to regain my balance as I walked, as I was
out of practice walking digitigrade. Mostly I just had to
relax, and stop fighting my tail, which was doing a good job
at keeping me balanced.

The last time I was in this form, Oria and I had taken the
opportunity to go shopping and picked up some clothing that
fit me. Which was what I reached for now.

I pulled them on, adjusting them slightly to get the proper
fit, and rolled up the bottom of the denim shorts to keep
out of the way of my knees. When I was satisfied I had
everything in place, I headed back towards Oria.

She was at my dresser, copying the information from the PADD
into a note for Ravindar. Her tail was flicking slowly
behind her, brushing the floor behind her feet. She was
taller than me now, not that I was complaining much. At
least I was a fox.

I transferred the items from my discarded pants into my new
pair, and changed over the holsters as well. I couldn't wear
the small plasma gun on my leg, as I preferred to do on
these adventures, because it would stand out in my current
form.

"Ready, Fox?" Oria asked, walking towards me. In her paws
was the silver and red box that controlled the tracker
implant. I winced when I saw it, but nodded.

"Do it," I said, closing my eyes.

I felt her paw on my shoulder, as she pressed the box right
next to the base of my tail. There was a slight buzz that I
heard, but mostly felt in my tailbone. Then it was done, as
she pulled away.

I sighed, opening my eyes, as I scratched right where the
chip was. "It itches," I muttered.

Oria laughed and kissed my nose-pad. "It will go away soon,
dear," she said, handing me the small bag I kept my spare
clips in. From the weight I could tell she was good to her
word, and had loaded them for me.

"Thanks," I said, clipping them to my belt. "Do we need
anything else?"

"An auto lock-pick," she replied. "I sent Kalie to get one
for us before we talked to our bodyguards; she should have
it by now."

I chuckled, thinking about something Page had told me,
before she went back to her own time; eventually I was going
to have to learn how to pick locks. It was nice to see that
I would have a reason to do so other than, 'That's what
happened'.

"You going, she's going to be ticked we're not bringing her
along. She wanted to do this herself a few months ago, and I
told her to hold off."

My wife smiled, "She'll understand," she said.

"I hope so."

She nodded, walking over to the closet and pulling out my
jacket, followed by her trench coat.

"I don't think that fits with your outfit," I said as she
came back to me, holding my jacket out. I took it from her
paw, and slid into it, adjusting the cuffs around my smaller
wrists.

She just smiled, and pulled it over her shoulders. "It's
meant for these adventures, love. I would feel naked without
it on."

I smirked. There were so many things I could say in response
to that. From the look on her face, she knew what they were,
and already had the comeback prepared.

The tan of the coat was bland compared to the rest of her
outfit. In fact the only other color on it was the small
golden dagger over a red heart. It was the symbol of her
rank in the Assassin Guild. It was placed over her own
heart, out in the open for anyone to see.

Not that it would be recognized; most of the people who knew
the sign of the guild are either in it, or know enough not
to mess with it. Or dead, but they weren't a problem at the
moment.

"Let's get going," I said, and started for the bedroom door.
I was brought up short by the feeling of a paw on my tail.

I stopped, and glanced back at Oria with a smile. "Did we
forget something, love?"

"Just this," she said as she walked up to me, lowered her
head, and kissed me deeply.

I kissed her back in return, my paws drifting down her back
to stroke her tail before we finally pulled away.

"Now we're ready to go," she purred, heading for the door.

I let out a laugh, and followed her out the door, with a
smile on my muzzle.

* * *

"You have got to be kidding me," Oriana said, as she looked
over the square in front of us.

I nodded, and let out a slow chuckle as I looked over the
large expanse of pavement that extended out around us. At
the center was a clock tower, over a hundred feet tall,
keeping the local time.

The square surrounding it was bustling with activity, the
buildings on all four sides climbed five stories into the
air. Even though we couldn't read the names on them, it was
clear from the people and vehicles around us what they were
used for.

Our little quest item was in the middle of the central
police buildings for a city more than twice the size of New
York. We had to steal it from under the nose of a few
thousand cops.

"This isn't funny," Oria said, smacking my shoulder with her
paw.

I smiled and shook my head. "No, but it fits Grasion's sense
of humor perfectly. No one would look for it here. I
wouldn't have even tried, but it's exactly what he would do.
And he would have no problem at all getting it out. Us on
the other hand..." I smiled and shook my head.

She nodded.

"Come on, let's take a look at the door," I said, and
started across the square. The people around us, a mixture
of five different species, didn't even notice as we moved
past them.

Around us buzzed a language that our translators hadn't
picked up yet, but that was all right. We couldn't do
anything till dark, which was a few hours away, so we had
time to burn.

The door was on the far side of the tower from where we
started. It was simple-- two doors, one behind the other.
The first made from bars, with a heavy lock. The second was
a plain outside door, with a simple lock on the handle.

I turned around, and scanned the buildings behind us, trying
to see where we might be spotted when we snuck inside. On
the building right across from the tower, on the top floor,
was a balcony that ran most of its length.

"I would bet even money that whoever is in that office is
police commissioner, or the local equivalent," I said,
pointing at it.

Oria nodded, scanning the rest of the buildings. "It would
make sense," she said, and turned back to the door. "The
lock won't be too difficult, it should only take a minute."
She sighed, and turned back to look at the buildings. "I
suspect that will be the only part of it that is."

I nodded, running over the location of the item in my mind.
"It will take at least an hour, once we're inside, to get
his little toy. The trick will be in not getting noticed. I
wish we had brought along some sort of night vision gear."

"Why, when we can both see in the dark?" she asked, wrapping
her arm through mine.

I chucked softly, and shook my head, sending my pigtail
swaying over the back of my neck. "I had forgotten about
that."

She smiled. "I guessed as much, Fox," she said, and glanced
around, her ears twitching up slightly. "There's a park over
there, across the road. You can see it between those
buildings. We have time to kill, and we both need to pick up
the local language."

I nodded, and started walking towards the park. "We only
need a couple more hours," I commented, "The park looks busy
enough for that. I just wish we had some money so we could
get a bit to eat from one of the street venders."

"I can't think of any way to do that, other than pick a few
pockets, which isn't something either one of us is very good
at."

I smiled and pulled her close to me. "Maybe we should learn
how to do that?"

She shook her head as we walked out of the square and
stopped at the sidewalk. "Better not. We don't want the kids
picking that up from us. We'd have no end of trouble."

I chuckled, as we waited for the people around us to start
crossing. We garnered a few dirty looks while we were
waiting. Maybe mixed species relationships were frowned upon
in this world, or perhaps they just didn't like our public
show of affection.

We ignored them. It was easy enough. All the training in
high school pays off for that. When the light changed we
crossed with everyone else, and stepped into the park.

A soft purr slipped out as the pads of my feet touched the
grass. All the walking we had done on the sidewalk and
street had given my feet a beating.

Oria was used to it, having gone barefoot her whole life,
and smiled slightly as she saw my reaction. "Feet hurt?" she
asked with a knowing smile.

I didn't say anything, just luxuriated in the feel of the
grass.

She laughed and wrapped her arm around my back. "If you stop
wearing shoes, you'll eventually get used to it. The pads
will toughen up over time."

I nodded, wrapping my arm back around her as we moved
through the park. We followed along in the grass, next to a
paved path until we found an area that had a lot of people
loitering around.

We took a seat on the bench, and I folded my feet up under
me, as we watched this world go by. Oria gently brushed her
fingers over the back of my neck.

I twisted my fingers over the marriage bracelet on my right
wrist, fingering my love's blood stone. "I love you,
Oriana."

She leaned close, and kissed my neck. "I love you too, Fox,"
she whispered into my ear.

Another purr rose from my chest, as I cuddled up to her. She
purred in return, and giggled softly. "It's strange hearing
a fox purr."

"Strange?"

She nodded, "And cute."

I laughed and turned around to give her a kiss, which she
returned happily. We held each other like that for a minute,
before pulling away.

Out of the corner of my eye I caught an elder couple who
were walking past. They were trying not to be obvious as
they looked at us, both of them were smiling widely.

"I did snag a few small pieces of jewelry we can pawn," Oria
said, nuzzling. "A set of five ruby rings. If they are
valuable here, we should get some money."

"That seems kind of a big thing to pawn," I said, trying to
remember if I knew the rings. She had a lot of items with
rubies.

She let out a giggle. "Not really, they didn't cost very
much back on my world." She saw the quizzical look on my
muzzle, and smiled. "Rubies are common on my world, don't
you remember? They're not worth a lot. They seem pretty rare
in the multi-verse, though, so we should be able to get
something for them."

"Oh yes, I remember now," I said, fishing that little piece
of trivia out of the back of my mind. "As long as they
aren't of sentimental value to you."

"Not at all I picked them up while you were exiled. I had a
special client who had a thing for a women dripping in
jewelry. It was fun to dress up for him," she said, licking
my ear.

I tickled her a bit. "You miss the old job?"

She nodded slightly, her face falling just a bit. "Yes, hon,
I do. I still think of myself as a whore, it's hard to step
away from that. It's been a year now, and I'm still not used
to it."

I touched the side of her muzzle with my fingers. "That's my
fault. I know your culture allows people to be with others,
but it's frowned upon in mine." I sighed softly, "Of course,
as I'm taking on your culture as mine, I suppose I should
get over that."

She sighed, "Don't do it for my sake."

"Who's sake should I be doing it for then?" I asked with a
smile.

Oria shook her head, but didn't answer.

"I've thought about this a few times, hon. It's something I
know I should deal with. I want you to be happy, and I don't
want to hold you back."

She nodded, "And you could spend time with Rachel again,"
she pointed out.

I sighed, but with a smile. "It's tempting, very tempting.
It will take some time for me, but when I'm ready, you can
go back to the job you love."

She nodded, with a smile, which turned into a slight frown.
"That's not the only job I'm thinking about going back to."

"Oh, really?" I asked, straining a bit to figure out which
job she was talking about.

Silently, she reached up to touch the Guild badge on her
chest.

I frowned, and touched her arm with my paw. "Back to the
Guild? Why, Oria? After we fought so hard to get you out of
there?"

She sighed, and dropped her head, staring hard at the ground
under the bench. "I don't want to, Fox, but I'm starting to
feel like I have to. If the Hammerheads are still around, I
still owe them their favor. I need to protect myself, and to
protect the children so they can't do anything to them."

I wrapped my arms around her, and pulled her close to me.
"You don't have to do that, you have me. You have Ravindar
and Santhara."

She nodded, "I know love, but I feel so helpless. When I
found out that Golem was made by the Hammerheads, it felt
like my whole world was crashing down. I immediately thought
back to the Guild training; how much I learned, how much I
forced myself to forget. If I'm going to be able to defend
my family, I need to know such things."

"But the Guild, love? You can be trained by others. Terminus
would be more than willing to help. Even Ken could show you
some ways to use your magic to defend yourself."

"I know, I've thought about that a lot over the last few
weeks," she said, shaking her head slowly. "I know the
Guild, I know the teachings, and still remember some of
them."

"But love, if you go back to the Guild, you'll have to kill
again," I protested.

She nodded. "I know, Fox, and my quota would start over.
Five people in two years," she sighed again. "I've taken two
lives with my own paws. If I can decide which contracts to
take..." she trailed off, staring down at her fingers.

I pulled her closer, and nuzzled at her neck, but didn't say
a thing.

Oria changed positions, wrapping an arm around me, and
squeezing gently. "I feel like I have to do this, Fox. I
know what it will cost my soul, and I can deal with it, with
Thryn's help, and yours."

I ran my fingers through her long hair, and shook my head.
"I can't approve of this love, I just can't. If you do this,
I'll help you in any way I can, but I can't approve of it."

She nodded, and held me close. She didn't say anything else
for the next hour, and nor did I. At the time there was
nothing else either one of us could say.

* * *

Under the cover of darkness, Oria and I moved briskly
through the square. It was approaching local midnight, and
no one was about for now.

Some lights burned in the buildings around us, but no one
was at their windows. It was useful for us, being seen was
low on my list of things to do that night.

"You have the lock-pick?" I asked Oria as we moved to the
door of the clock tower. Our past conversation pushed into
the back of my mind for the moment. I planned to bring it up
again when we got back home, but that was for later.

"I've got it," she replied in a half-whisper, fishing the
small black device out of her coat pocket. She held it ready
in her paw as we approached the first door.

I took up a guard position next to Oria, as she bent down
towards the lock. I had time to scan the square only once
before I heard the hinges grind as the gate opened.

"That was too fast. Was it already open?" I asked, turning
back around.

She nodded, reaching for the inside door. Twisting the
handle, it moved easily; she pushed it forward an inch,
sending light falling from the crack.

"Someone's already here," she said in a whisper, flicking
her ears back. "Do you think we should go in?"

I nodded, "Yes, but be careful, we don't know what to
expect," I replied in the same whisper.

She nodded again, and pulled her Needler out. Then she
slowly pushed the door open further, enough that she could
see inside. Moving carefully, she glanced inside quickly
before pushing it open the rest of the way, and stepping
into the tower.

I followed right behind her, closing the door as I entered
the building. We were in a small room, about twenty feet
square. On one side was a set of stairs, leading up to the
clock. The far wall had another door, closed to us.

"Looks clear," I said, glancing up at the tower above us. I
couldn't see anyone moving up near the clock works. The
tower itself was open, and would have made it hard for
anyone to hide.

Oria paused and walked around the small room, glancing under
the stairs, before going to the second door. With a twist of
the handle, she opened it, and frowned. "Fox, you had better
see this," she said.

I walked around to her, looking over her shoulder. Inside
what was barely more then a small closet, was the corpse of
a young wolf. Blood pooled under his body, coming from a
pair of bullet wounds in his chest.

"Well, shit," I said with a slight hiss, placing my paw on
the small of Oria's back. From the look of it, he had been
dead for an hour at least. I was surprised by the lack of
smell. I had come across enough dead bodies in my time to
have become familiar with it, but there was nothing there.

"What do we do about this?" she asked, as she put her weapon
away.

Her response came as the sound of a gun being chambered from
behind us. A gruff voice ordered, "Both of you, put your
hands up, now."

07/26/1999:

    Chapter 2

"Belgium," Fox whispered, mostly to himself, as he slowly
raised his paws into the air, a look of worry, and
disappointment on his face.

I did the same, keeping one eye on him, as I listened to the
footsteps of the person behind us. I had a rough idea of
where he was, but I wasn't sure enough to do anything about
it.

Not that I would with Fox right next to me, but it was what
I had been trained to think about two years ago. That
training was swiftly returning to me, now that I wished to
use it.

"Turn around, slowly," the man behind us ordered.

We both complied, rotating around in place until he came
into view.

To my surprise, he didn't look like a cop. All the cops we
had seen that day had a very fixed and starched uniform. The
bear holding the gun on us was far more casual, dressed in
what passed for business clothing on this world.

"You know, there is a body back there," Fox said, in a
cheery voice, motioning back with his head.

The bear leaned to the side, looking between us and into the
closet. A frown played over his blunt muzzle as he
registered the corpse's existence. He took a step closer,
leaning in, but at the same time staying just out of our
reach. Squinting his eyes, he frowned deeper, before
standing up straight.

Returning his attention to us, his eyes swung from my paws
to Fox's, then to the floor for a moment.

"How long ago did you two find the body?" he asked,
apparently satisfied that we weren't the young man's
murderers.

A wave of relief crashed over Fox, as he stood up a bit
taller. It was a near constant in these little adventures of
his; he would find a body, and get blamed for the murder. To
run into someone smart enough to work out the truth must
have been a change for him.

I suppose the possibility that the bear was the murderer
hadn't crossed his mind yet.

"About a minute before you found us," Fox replied.

The bear snorted softly, and took a step backwards. "And
what are you doing in here? It's off limits."

"Well Detective," Fox said, jumping to a conclusion I hadn't
reached yet. "The door was unlocked, so we just came inside.
I always wondered what was in here, and the opportunity was
right there. So my wife and I decided to sneak in. We were
looking around when we found the body."

The detective frowned again, but this time lowered his gun,
but only by an inch. "And why are you armed sir?" he asked,
casting his eyes down to the pair of pistols on Fox's belt.

"Safety!" he replied with a smile. "We don't know this town,
and wandering around at night could get is hurt. You
wouldn't want that to happen, now would you?"

He shook his head, and removed one paw from his gun, holding
it out to Fox. "I would like both of them, now." he ordered.

Fox sighed, but nodded, removing the two guns, and placing
them on the bear's large paw. I suspected he was now
regretting being unable to bring along his clutch piece the
way he normally did.

The detective put Fox's guns into his jacket, then turned
his eyes to me, and slowly scanned up from my feet to my
ears. Most guys who did that were simply checking me out,
but there was something in his eyes that made it clear this
was far more professional than that.

"Come on you two. We'll need you to give a statement. You'll
both be checked for GSR, just to clear you as suspects." He
glanced to Fox, "And you are under arrest for possession of
illegal firearms."

Fox blanched, shaking his head softly. "They're not illegal
were I come from," he protested.

"They are here, and you should have known it," the bear
replied, fishing a pair of hand-cuffs out of his pocket.
"Give me your paws."

My husband held out his wrists to him, looking annoyed by
all of it.

With the skill brought on by years of practice, the bear
cuffed both of Fox's paws in a few seconds, while still
keeping his own gun trained on him.

I guess I wasn't dangerous enough to merit being covered. If
only he knew I was still armed. Of course if he did, I would
be in the same situation as Fox.

He glanced at me, and shot me a short smile. "If you don't
need my wife," he started to say.

"I still need her statement about the body," the bear
replied. "So you both should come along with me."

Fox slumped his shoulders slightly, and nodded. I guess he
had been hoping to send me up the tower to get the item,
before the police swarmed over it. But it was too late for
that now.

Which was doubly true, as a uniformed officer stepped into
the tower through the still open door.

"Detective Baxter, do you need some aid?" the cop asked.

The bear nodded. "Call in someone to take care of that," he
said, motioning towards the body behind us. "Then take the
lady to interview room C, and have her tested for firing a
weapon."

The cop nodded, and pulled out a radio, speaking into it
with short clipped words. After getting a response, he
walked over to me, placing a paw on my shoulder. "If you
would come with me, ma'am?" he asked. Everything about the
way he said it, from the tone of his voice to the way he
stood, made it sound like a request, but it wasn't.

"Go ahead, Oriana. I'll catch up with you later," Fox told
me, finishing with a small wink.

I sighed, and nodded. "Yes, officer," I said, and motioned
with my paw for him to lead me.

We walked out of the clock tower, passing a few more cops as
they headed for the building. We said nothing as he escorted
me into one of the buildings, and up onto the second floor.

The place was all green and white, and sterile. Like a
hospital, but without all the people getting well. It felt
cold, like a mental weight lived inside the walls, pressing
down on everyone who entered.

I shivered involuntarily as we walked down the hallways.
Every few feet we would pass another office door. Some were
open, revealing cramped little rooms, many of which had
people working in them.

We turned down another hall, and passed through a guarded
door. On the other side the place was even more depressing.
Now instead of office doors, each one was steel, and could
be easily locked from the out side.

Eventually we came to one, which he opened for me, and
motioned that I go on inside. "I'll send someone up to check
you out, ma'am. They will be here in a few minutes."

I nodded and stepped into the cold, gray room. Each of the
four walls were the same uniform pale gray that seemed to
lower the light level in the room by sucking it all in. Even
the ceiling was the same color, but it was hard to tell
through the glare cast by the pair of lights caged above me.

The only break in the grayness was the door out, which had
just closed behind me, and a single barred window high up
the opposite wall. There was a lack of the usual one-way
mirror you always saw on television. I wondered if it was a
cliche here.

In the center of the room was a simple metal table, with
four chairs. All of them had been bolted down to the floor,
preventing them from being used as weapons.

I walked in a slow circle around the perimeter of the room,
taking it all in. After a few seconds, I spotted a pair of
video cameras hiding in the walls, placed to prevent any
blind spots inside the room.

I felt like a prisoner, and for the moment I was.

A few minutes later, the door opened again, outwards I
noted, to keep anyone from hiding behind it. It also
appeared to be speed controlled, so it couldn't be slammed
open.

A pretty female wolf walked in, a smile on her muzzle and a
large case in her paw. She was dressed fairly casually, an
ID card clipped to her lapel that, I assume, said she was
some sort of cop.

She set the case down on the table, and smiled at me.
"Hello, I'm here to check you for gun shot residue."

I sighed and nodded, walking next to her. "All right, but be
quick about it," I said in an annoyed tone of voice.

The look on her face didn't waver as she opened her case.
She must have been used to that attitude, so didn't comment
on it. Quickly she ran some chemicals over my paws, and took
some samples from my blouse and skirt. She did a quick check
on all of them before declaring me clean.

With that out of the way she packed her items up and started
for the door. She got about halfway before glancing back to
look at me. "You're not under arrest," she said.

I nodded, but didn't say anything.

"I can get you something to eat, if you like. It will be
from the cafeteria so it won't qualify as food, but it's
what they keep serving us."

"That would be nice," I said, sitting down on the edge of
the table.

She nodded, and smiled to me again, then slipped out of the
room.

About fifteen minutes later an officer brought in a tray of
something that looked like it might have once been food. I
played with it a bit, happy to have something to eat, even
if it was slightly worse than the food I had the few months
I went to collage. Something I had never thought was
possible.

I sat at the table, waiting for something to happen for
another hour, before Detective Baxter walked into the room.
Fox followed a few steps behind him.

My husband looked rather put out, still handcuffed, and now
dressed in some brown prison clothing. They had taken
everything, even his earring.

They both sat down at the table, Fox sat down on my side,
and the detective was facing us both across the table.

"How you doing, Love?" I asked Fox.

He shrugged, keeping his bound paws resting on the metal
tabletop. "I've been in worse places. All in all, this is
kind of nice. I should be out on bond in a few more hours;
it turns out it's only a minor offence."

"That's good," I told him, placing a paw over his.

The detective watched this in silence, a small something,
maybe a smile, playing over the side of his muzzle. "If you
two are done, we have a lot of things to talk about."

Fox nodded.

"I know that neither of you were directly involved with the
murder in the clock tower, but I do have some questions
about it."

"Do you know who the victim was?" my husband asked. The
whole thing had clearly gotten his curiosity up.

The bear nodded, and started to say something.

"Care to tell me?"

The detective blinked, and placed his paws down on the
table. "Look, I'm running this interview, I prefer to be the
one asking the questions."

"Alright, I was just wondering. It's not every day you run
into a dead body," he said, shooting off his best winning
smile.

The bear shook his head, and sighed. "His name was Spider.
He was a known member of the Fractal Terrorist
Organization."

Fox lifted his ears, leaning forward slightly. "A Terrorist,
here, and dead?" He frowned and shook his head. "That's not
something you usually find in a place like this."

The bear nodded, "That's what I think. We're worried about
it. No one has heard from Fractal for a few years. They were
supposed to be shut down."

"It's possible it's just an accident that he was here." Fox
comment.

"Sure, he just tripped and fell onto some bullets," I
replied.

"After breaking into a locked clock tower," Fox said.

The detective looked between the two of us, with an
exasperated look on his face as he watched his interview
slip out of his control.

"So," Fox said, leaning forward again. "What exactly did
this Fractal group do? What did it stand for, I mean, what
did it want?"

"They blew up three federal buildings in an attempt to gain
freedom for their lands. Killed fifteen hundred people
before they were stopped." The bear paused, narrowing his
eyes. "It was on the news, all over the world. How could you
not know about it?"

Fox smiled, and shrugged. "Long story. It's best that you
don't stress yourself asking about it."

He shook his head in what appeared to be disbelief, and
sighed. "Best not to; the amount of paperwork involved in
dealing with aliens gets out of hand."

I tried not to giggle, and barely succeeded, letting out a
little snort instead. I wasn't sure if he was making a joke,
or being deadly serious, it was still worth a laugh.

"So, why would a member of this group be in your clock
tower?"

The bear frowned again, "I haven't a clue, to be honest. It
was a federal investigation, not local."

Fox smiled, and waved his paws in the air. He was trying to
make some sort of gesture, but the handcuffs apparently got
in his way. "Well, what's the history of the tower, and how
is it related to their cause?"

The detective tilted his head, and blew air through his
cheeks. "I think we're getting off the subject."

"I don't think so," I said, placing a paw on Fox's shoulder.

He smiled at me, and nodded. "My wife is right. I think
everything is related. Something was done to the body so
that it didn't smell, at all. Dead bodies have a smell to
them, even that fresh. It was put there for a reason, and it
was meant to be found. When exactly is the next regular
maintenance visit to the tower?"

Baxter sighed, "I don't know."

"It would be best to find out. I suspect that whoever was
suppose to do that, was meant to find it." He paused,
tapping his claws on the tabletop. "It doesn't explain why
the door was left unlocked, though"

A thought came floating up from my training with the Guild.
"Maybe whoever does the maintenance had some relation to the
wolf killed. He could have been left there as a warning."

Fox gave me a sideways glance, then nodded. "It's possible.
Maybe the maintenance man has ties to the terrorist
organization."

The bear glanced between Fox and me, a look of disbelief on
his muzzle. "Everyone who works in the department has to go
through a background check."

I shrugged. "It's a theory, that might be worth looking
into. You found the body; I'm assuming it's your case."

He nodded, "It is."

"Well then, we can help you with this," Fox said, smiling
again, then offered out his paws. "First, you really should
take these off, they chafe."

He stuttered, trying to say something, before snapping his
mouth closed, and shaking his head. "I'm sorry, no. Now
let's get this back on to subject, and I want you to tell me
exactly what happened tonight."

Fox sighed, and shook his head. I placed my paw on his, and
started weaving a story the detective would believe.

* * *

The first light of dawn was streaming over the distant
mountains when Fox and I finally walked out of the police
buildings. They had let Fox out on his own recognizance,
with a court date, and without his guns.

Fox was rather pissed about that, sulking out the door at my
side with his paws shoved into his pocket, and his tail
brushing along the ground. He hadn't even bothered to put
his earring back on yet.

I don't think he had noticed it was gone, or that he should
be a human again now that it was. I wasn't going to mention
it to him until we were some place private. I didn't want to
break whatever was keeping him vulpine by bringing it to his
attention.

"Some times I forget the way some worlds work," he said as
he walked towards the clock tower. "Not every place allows
civilians to have guns."

I nodded, but didn't say anything. My country was like that
to some extent. Prid wasn't, which had bothered me when I
first found out. I had grown used to it now. Fox was used to
it also; apparently his own country was like that.

We came to a stop a dozen feet away from the tower, where a
police officer was standing in front of a barricade. Keeping
everyone away from it.

Fox turned, and stared out of the square.

"Now we have to figure out how to get past them, so we can
get the item," I said, as we walked past a few early risers
heading to work. "We may just have to come back later."

He let out a soft sigh, and shook his head. "Oriana, I have
a bad feeling that if we leave here, when we come back the
clock tower and the Wave Transducer will both be destroyed."

I flicked my ears to the side was we crossed the street.
"Why do you think that?"

He shrugged. "Call it a hunch. That and a dead terrorist
implies that something is going on. I just wish I knew
what."

"So what do we do?"

"First I want you to go pawn those ruby rings of yours, and
get us something to eat. The food they gave me in holding
wasn't exactly edible. I'm going to hit the local library
and find out more about Fractal. We'll meet there at noon,
local time," he said, and then kissed my nose.

I kissed his in return, and glanced around. "How will you
find the library?"

He smiled and pulled away from me. "I'll ask around. It
shouldn't be too hard," he said, and started to walk through
the park.

"But, how will you read the books?" I called after him.

He turned, and smiled at me, walking backwards. "I'll get
someone to read them to me, don't worry about it. At least
they should have news reports." He turned back around, and
almost skipped off through the park.

I shook my head, watching him vanish around a turn. He was
definitely in his element out on these adventures. His Exile
had mellowed him, keeping him from running around the multi-
verse like he wanted. When he was back at it, he gained a
special type of spring in his step that normally wasn't
there.

It seemed like each time he went on a new one, he promised
that it would be his last. In the end it was never true;
eventually there was another one he found himself having to
go on.

Now that he was an agent for the Consortium Security
Council, he had a convenient excuse to go out anytime he was
asked. I knew that he wouldn't refuse if the request ever
came. It wasn't in his nature.

The man I loved desperately wanted to help everyone around
him in every way that he could. I don't believe that he was
even aware of that part of his personality. The side of him
that liked to play at being "The Doctor" predominated at
times like these. It was a dangerous part of him, and might
just get him killed some day.

But he wouldn't be the same person without it.

* * *

Fox slurped up the noodles in the bowl in front of him,
looking over the notepad under his paw. His tight, scribble
like handwriting covered the pages, as he kept adding notes.

As I watched him, I picked at a chunk of meat smothered in a
white sauce. It wasn't fantastic, but was edible enough for
the moment.

The crowd bustled around us, as we sat at a table in the
park. Most of the other tables scattered around the park
were occupied by various business people and a small group
of cops, all of whom were also taking their lunch.

"I really need to work on my handwriting," Fox half muttered
through a muzzle full of food. "It's getting to the point
that even I can't read it, and that's saying a lot."

I nodded, and smiled at him. Even if I knew his written
language well enough to read it, I doubted that I could read
his writing. I wasn't sure if anyone actually could.

I was also pleased that he had said it not in the local
language, or his, but in Ral'lari, my language. It had
almost become second nature to him to speak it, and to see
he was doing so, even when he wasn't thinking about it, made
me sure I was going to win our bet.

He glanced at me, and chuckled, tilting his ears to the
side. "And what's got you so happy? You look like the cat
who caught the canary," he said, slipping back into the
local language.

I raised a paw. "Honestly, Fox, I haven't been eating any
birds!"

"I don't know, considering the quality of this meat," he
said, reaching over with his fork, and stabbing part of my
meal. Before I could protest, he had it in his mouth.

I shook my head, and smiled. "So, what did you find out
about this group?"

"Fractal?" he said, gulping down the food. "Quite a lot
really, however, not very much of it is, on the whole,
good."

"Oh?"

He nodded, flipping a few pages in his notebook. "They are
something like the IRA, or maybe," he paused and shook his
head. "Never mind that. Still, they are trying to free what
they think of as their homeland, feeling that the local
government stole it from them years ago. This is something
of a war for them, but not for those they are fighting
against."

"Baxter said they were wiped out," I said.

"Right, they pretty much were," he replied, licking some
soup from the pads of his fingers. "If anything is left of
them, it's probably small splinters, minor groups working
independently of each other. They can still pose a major
threat if they really want to kill people."

I nodded, playing with my food. "How does the clock tower
fit into all of this?"

"I'm not sure," he replied with a shrug. "From what I can
tell, this capital city was part of their lands. The clock
tower isn't that old, it just happens to be there."

"So it's all just a coincidence?" I asked.

He laughed and shook his head. "No such thing around us, or
with this kind of people. This Spider fellow was left for
dead, and arranged to be easily found. There has to be
something about it. I'm starting to doubt it's directly
related to the clock tower; it was just convenient for them,
I suspect."

"So the item will be safe?" I asked.

"I doubt it," he replied. "They have a tendency to blow
things up, symbols in some fashion. The history of that
clock tower could make it such a symbol, and the fact they
have already used it makes me worry they will again."

"So we have find it before then," I observed, taking the
last bite of my lunch.

He nodded. "Right, but we do have a problem of not being
able to get inside right now. We need some kind of access,
and I want to do something about Fractal before anyone else
gets killed."

I smiled, "Of course, love. You couldn't do anything less.
But how do you plan to stop them?"

Fox gave me one of those smiles that made me worry about his
sanity. "I think we'll ask Baxter if he would like some
help."

* * *

The look on the large bear's face when he saw Fox and me
waiting for him was close to priceless. Both worry and shock
in the same moment, before a large frown fell over his
muzzle.

"What are you two doing here?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"Detective Baxter," Fox said, quickly walking forward. "I
would like to talk to you about what happened last night."

His eyes narrowed, as a snort passed from his lips. "I took
your statement on the body, and there's nothing I can do
about your charge. Just be glad you're not sitting in jail,
waiting for your trial."

Fox smiled, and shook his head. "Oh, no, no, it's nothing
like that. Yes, I'm here to talk to you about the body, but
not about our statement. I wish to talk to you about the
group that he was working for."

The detective raised his eyebrows, and shook his head. "I
don't think there's a thing you can do about this."

"Oh, come now," Fox replied. "There's something going on
here. You know it and I know it, but we are the only ones
who know it. If you want to keep whatever they are planning
to have happen from happening, it would be best if I helped
you."

He look confused for a moment, and then sighed, shaking his
large head. "If you want to talk to me that badly, then come
with me, and we can share what we know."

Fox smiled, and flicked his tail happily as he followed
Baxter back through the door into the station. "Come on,
Oria," he said, glancing over his shoulder.

I smirked, and followed just behind him. I was tempted to
play with his tail a bit as we walked, but knew it wasn't
the time. He had to focus on the matters at hand, primarily
getting Baxter on our side.

The building was bustling now, nothing at all like it had
been last night. The offices and hallways were full of
people, some in uniform, others not, all mingling and
talking amongst themselves.

Baxter just pushed through them, sometimes making a comment
or two, but mostly just ignoring them. We followed behind
him, moving easily in the large bear's wake.

He pushed his way passed a door into what was apparently his
office, and moved around the small desk and settled down in
the chair. He motioned for us to take our own seats.

I relaxed into one, and Fox just dropped, wincing a bit as
he landed on his tail. As he adjusted himself, he looked
over at the detective. "What do you know about Spider?" he
asked.

The bear pulled out a file, and opened it on his desk. "Not
as much as I would like. He was twenty seven years old when
he died, and a known member of Fractal. He had multiple
charges on his record, from breaking and entering to
conspiracy to commit mass murder. He got out on bail for the
last one, and never came back."

"Why would anyone set bail for something like that?" I asked
them both.

"The Judge was dirty," Baxter replied, with a frown.
"Fractal paid him to look the other way, and killed him when
they were through."

"And now he's sitting in your morgue. A surprising turn of
events, I would say. Do you have a tox report on him? I'm
not sure the bullets we're all that was used on him."

"Why do you say that?" he asked.

Fox smiled, folding his paws into his lap. "The lack of
smell. Something was done to the body to mask the smell."

Baxter nodded. "I think you're correct about that. As for
the tox report, it hasn't been done yet. His autopsy isn't
scheduled for another," he paused, checking his watch.
"twenty minutes."

"Oh, good!" my husband said, clapping his paws together. "We
can go watch it," he declared, rising to his feet.

Baxter looked surprised, and shook his head. "It's not as
simple as that, you know."

Fox laughed, "Everything can be as simple as that. There
will be no harm in our watching. I've witnessed them a few
times before, so I know how to stay out of the Medical
Examiner's way."

The detective continued to shake his head, and sighed. "Why
do you think you'll be allowed in to watch the autopsy?"

I smiled. "Because we're asking nicely."

Fox smiled and nodded to me. "Exactly right, and we are even
saying please."

He sighed, placing his head in his paws. "My commanding
officer is going to kill me for this," he said with a sigh,
and stood up. "Come along then," he grumbled, pushing his
way out of the office.

Fox and I followed him, a smirk on Fox's face.

"You're enjoying this far too much," I whispered to him,
using my language.

He laughed and nodded. "I know, but it is fun. I'll try to
rein it in for now," he replied in kind.

I nodded, and ran my paw over his tail, fluffing the end a
bit. "At least Baxter is helping us. I'm surprised about
that."

Fox shrugged and nodded. "I am too, a little. I don't have
the whole innate goodness that the real Doctor has, but if I
put myself to it, people feel they can trust me."

"I trusted you right away when we first met." I said,
dropping my arm over his shoulder.

He smiled and grabbed me around the waist, pulling me tight
against his side, then kissed me on the neck. "I love you,
Oriana," he whispered.

"I love you, too, Fox," I replied.

We continued walking, following Baxter into a tight
elevator, and heading down. During the short trip Fox pulled
me closer, his body shaking slightly, but he was holding it
in. His fear of elevators had grown over time, and it was
close to becoming a full blown phobia.

We stepped out into a very sterile environment, plain blue
walls, with white tile on the floor. Everything was
spotless, and tidy, but hanging in the air was the faint,
and familiar, smell of death.

"It'll take me a few minutes to talk the ME into letting you
into the room with him." Baxter said, starting down the
hallway. The look on his face made it clear he didn't like
being down here.

We followed him down the hallway, before he shuffled us into
a small waiting room. Along one wall was a large window, on
the other side was an operating theater of sorts, but
lacking in life support equipment.

Fox sighed slightly as Baxter left, running a paw through
the fur on his arm. "I hate dead bodies."

I nodded, placing a paw on the small of his back. "I know,
hon, no one likes them."

He nodded, "I just want to take a close look at Spider's.
Something is starting to bother me about it, something I
have to look closely at to be sure of." He sighed softly.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I'll tell you when I know for sure, Oria," he replied,
straightening up, and taking a deep breath. Then he shrugged
off his jacket, setting it on the chair next to me.

A moment later Baxter came back in with a middle-aged wolf
lurking behind his shoulder. "Fox this is Doctor Banner,
he's going to be doing the autopsy. He's given permission
for you to join him during it."

Fox smiled, and took a few steps forward, and introduced
himself. They exchanged some pleasantries before they
stepped out into the hallway, closing the door behind him.

Baxter sat down in one of the chairs in the room, and
motioned for me to join him. "There's not much we can do
now, but watch."

I nodded, resting my paws on my legs. I watched through the
window as a gurney was wheeled in, the body on it covered in
a red sheet.

"I hate watching these," he said with a frown. "Always blood
and gore. It's never a pleasant thing to witness someone in
death."

"I know, I've seen it in person too often myself," I
replied, not voicing the fact that I was planning to return
to killing people soon.

A few moments later Fox and Doctor Banner entered into the
room. Both were dressed in long brown gowns that could have
doubled as dresses, and had rubber gloves on their paws.

The wolf pulled the sheet off the corpse, which made Fox
blanch. An assistant moved up next to the Wolf, and they
started to work on the body.

Fox stayed out of the way, and just watched as they worked.
The medical people moved quickly, taking blood samples and
running some quick tests.

"Strange," Fox commented as they worked, having taking the
corpse's paw in his. "There's a blue tinge to the skin
around his claws. "

The ME paused, and looked closer at it. "Strange, I wonder
what caused that."

Fox frowned behind the mask that was obscuring his muzzle,
his ears twisting to the side. "There are a few other things
that you've noted already, the blood in the eyes for one.
That makes me think he's been dead longer than a few hours."

"It's possible," Doctor Banner admitted, feeling over the
dead body's belly, before preparing his equipment. "We'll
know for sure once we're done. If you could stand back so I
have room to work."

He nodded and took a step back, looking over the rest of the
body as the ME started to cut.

Through the speaker in the wall, I could hear a soft hissing
sound. Fox heard it, too, his ears perking up as he took a
step closer.

Doctor Banner paused, half way through the cut, and shook
his head. "I'm feeling a little dizzy," he said, his speech
starting to slur.

The assistant nodded, and started to say something, but
suddenly fell. Fox lunged forward, catching him, but was
unstable as he lowered him to the ground.

The ME had his paws on the table, gasping hard as he looked
at us through the glass. "There's some kind of gas coming
from the body," he gasped out. "It's hard to breath."

And with that he fainted as well, falling hard onto the
floor, leaving only Fox in the center of the room, gasping
for breath.

    Chapter 3

It felt like I had been punched in the gut, pain lancing
through my chest as I tried to breath. I felt myself
beginning to stumble as around me both the Doctor and the
nurse fell to the floor.

This was an all too familiar feeling for me, but it was much
worse than it had been the time before. I knew what I needed
to do. Taking what little air was in my lungs, I exhaled
hard, activating the filter implant in my throat.

I could feel the implant buzzing just under my Adam's apple,
making my voice rattle as I coughed, and sucked in more air.
By now I was holding onto the examination table to keep
myself upright, but was starting to lose my grasp.

Then the oxygen rushed into my lungs; bitter and hot, it
filled me. I gasped it back out, along with the last
remnants of the gas, taking in a second long breath right
after it.

The pain in my lungs had faded, but was still there, like
hundreds of tiny cuts that flared in pain each time I took a
breath.

I bent down, checking for the pulse on the other two,
finding them weak, and starting to fade. Around me I could
hear a klaxon begin to wail, echoing through the room and
causing my ears to ring.

It seemed clear that no one was going to be coming to the
rescue, at least not in time to save Doctor Banner and the
nurse. Struggling back to my feet, and finding myself
suddenly lightheaded, I tried to concentrate, looking around
the room.

I could see Oria through the large glass window on the wall,
standing with a look of panic on her face, her paws pressed
against the glass. I didn't have time to try and say
anything to her, I had to try and do something for the men
on the floor first.

Along the back wall I saw a small tank of oxygen, attached
to a pair of masks. It wasn't much, probably no more than a
ten minute supply, but it should do. I rushed over to them
and grabbed them off the wall, the muscles in my legs
protesting the rapid movement. I wondered why they were even
there.

Maybe someone had anticipated something like this happening,
I didn't know, and really didn't have time to think about
it.

Rushing back to the others, I dropped to my knees, coughing
slightly as the filter implant started to itch in the back
of my throat. It was built for only a few minutes of use, of
which maybe thirty seconds had already passed, I just hoped
help would arrive before time ran out.

I hurriedly opened the valve on the tank, and wrapped the
first mask over Banner's face. His pulse was weak, and his
breathing almost none existent.

I couldn't find the nurse's pulse at all, but I put the mask
over his face, in the hopes that he might still be alive. If
he had stopped breathing, there wasn't much I could do to
help him.

Banner started to cough in his mask, working to remove the
gas from his system. I held him steady as his body shook,
before it finally settled down. His pulse was growing
stronger but it was still erratic.

The nurse's pulse was returning, very weak, and fluttering
under my touch. He was going to need some serious treatment
if he survived.

I wasn't escaping unscathed either. The muscles in my legs
were starting to scream in pain, burning and aching as I
rested my weight on them. Blurriness was starting to creep
into the edges of my vision, like when I had a really bad
headache.

I coughed again. The feeling from the filter implant was
getting worse, starting to burn in the back of my throat.
Glancing back at the window, I saw that Oria was gone now.
Probably off with whoever was suppose to respond to this
kind of thing.

There was part of me that was afraid that she was still in
the room, that the gas had seeped out into the building,
leaving me trapped in this room, with no one outside to save
me.

I took some comfort in the fact that at least the room had
been sealed in some fashion. The door had a firm pressure
seal, and there was reverse air pressure, keeping the air
inside the room inside. Probably as a precaution from
whatever airborne bacteria might form on a corpse.

But it was hardly a level five bio-lab, and I doubted that
whatever precautions they had would hold up long against the
gas.

Suddenly there came a popping sound from above me. I snapped
my head up, and instantly regretted it, a wave of nausea
rushing through me as my head starting spinning.

I actually grabbed the side of my head, trying to hold the
world in place, as I got a face full of water. It crashed
down over me, forcing its way down my nose and through my
open muzzle.

Dropping my head back down, I coughed, trying to get the
water out, and still trying to regain my balance. It took me
a few seconds to realize what had happened. Someone had
switched on the water-sprinklers in the room.

Carefully, I tilted my head back, letting the water splash
into my face and fur. It was cold against my skin, and felt
like it was burning, but also brought a sense of relief. It
meant that someone was out there, trying to save us.

I checked back on Banner, his breathing was still weak but
his pulse had settled down to something soft, but regular.
The nurse, on the other hand, was still fighting with the
gas, and was looking worse by the minute.

Then came the sound of a fan starting above me, and I could
feel the air begin to move over my wet fur. It was being
cycled out and replaced by clean air. I was sure of that, as
the burning from the filter implant started to level off,
then slowly grow cooler.

By now my vision was as bad as it was in my human form, sans
glasses. Everything was blurry, and I was starting to see
spots of color. My arms hurt; the effort of just holding
them at my side was causing them to cramp up.

Even with the filter, I didn't think I had more than a
minute before I would finally collapse.

Then, like the cavalry cresting over the horizon, the door
opened, and in walked a large man dressed in a plain grey
chemical suit. A heavy black respirator was wrapped over his
muzzle, and air hose trailed back out of the door.

Three more people dressed like him walked into the room. It
only took me a moment to see that one of them was Oriana.

She rushed over to me as I tried to stand, my legs wobbling
under me as I put my weight on them. I only got halfway up
before they collapsed under me. Luckily she was there to
catch me as I fell, and lower me to the ground.

"Hello Love," I said, or at least tried to; what came out
was a raspy croak that irritated the filter implant.

She pressed a small oxygen mask to my muzzle, holding it
tightly.

The apparent leader of the group came over to me, as the
other two attended to Doctor Banner and his nurse.

"This will counteract the toxin," he said rubbing my arm
with a cotton swab, and pulling the fur away. Without any
additional warning he pulled out a syringe and pressed it
into my arm. He was going slow, but it still hurt like hell.

I knew the instant he pressed the plunger, as whatever was
inside of it rushed into my body. It was like having fire
poured into my upper arm, rushing down the veins and ripping
through me.

Instinctively I let out a whimper, and tried to jerk away,
but he was ready for that, his grasp on my upper arm
suddenly very tight. Beside me Oria pushed some of my wet
hair off of my face, and I could feel her gloved fingers
trace over my ears.

"How are they doing?" I asked, trying to take my attention
off the pain in my arm by motioning towards the two men on
the floor.

No one said a word in response, and I frowned in turn. At
the same time Oria was slowly working our wedding band off
my wrist. She had a serious look on her face, which was
partly obscured by the water running down it from the
sprinklers.

"Hon?" I asked her, coughing slightly from the effort. The
inside of my throat felt hard and raspy. What little talking
I had done so far had been enough to aggravate it.

The man in the suit, who I could now see was a wolf, said,
"Your jewelry needs to be decontaminated," as he pulled the
syringe from my arm. "Your clothing will have to be
destroyed, and you will be put into a decontamination shower
in a few moments."

I nodded, rubbing my throat, and coughed again. My head was
starting to ring as well, and a large headache forming just
over my eyes was starting to grow.

Oria had removed my watch, and was currently slipping off my
engagement ring, which was still waiting for us to get
married on Earth. I noted she was dropping them all into a
small plastic bag.

Glancing over at the others, I noted that both Doctor Banner
and the nurse had been striped. The oxygen masks I put on
them had been removed, and full respirators had been put on.
The two men in the chemical suits were doing treatment on
both of them.

"Will they be OK?" I asked.

The wolf bent down, and shared a few words with his team.
When he seemed satisfied, he turned back to face me. "We
can't say yet. From the looks of them, it could be touch and
go for a while."

I nodded, as Oria slowly helped me to my feet. I was
unsteady, and my legs still screamed in pain, which was now
being accompanied by the pounding of my forehead.

"Let's move out of the way," Oria said, her voice strangely
muffled. "They're bringing in stretchers."

I grunted in agreement, and limped in her arms to the other
side of the room. She helped me sit down on an empty
examination table, as I winced in pain from my legs.

Two stretchers were wheeled into the room towards the medial
team. Outside the door I could see what looked like a heavy
containment tent, and what was clearly a portable airlock of
some kind.

"Fast response," I said, my voice rasping, "it couldn't have
been more than ten minutes."

My wife nodded, motioning for me not to talk. "Eight
minutes, actually," she said, pulling my soaked shirt off
over my head. "The terrorist response team for the city is
located here, so they were suiting up as soon as Baxter hit
the alarm."

I nodded, and coughed again, and with a snap the filter
implant disengaged. It caught me by surprised, causing me to
start coughing harder. Once I got my breath back, I was
somewhat relieved to feel the clean oxygen flowing from the
mask into my lungs.

She helped me take off the rest of my clothing, and someone
provide me with a paper-thin gown that stuck to the wet fur
of my body. Of the three of us who were exposed to the gas,
I was given the lowest priority, having shown the least
reaction to it.

So, I got to sit patiently, next to Oria, as they wheeled
first the nurse, then Doctor Banner out of the room. As it
was nearing my turn, I suddenly felt my stomach twist, and
the remains of lunch forced its way back out.

I vomited two more times before I finally got to the
decontamination showers. The leader of the team told me that
it was one of the side effects of the anti-toxin, along with
the headache, and supposedly a loss of equilibrium, but mine
was holding together.

He also told me that there might be some long term side
effects from my exposure, but there was no way to know for
sure until they surfaced, days, weeks, or even years later.

I made plans to see Doctor Stall as soon as I got back to
Prid.

* * *

Three hours later, and I was once again sitting in Baxter's
small office. Cleaned, dried and pressed, or at least it
felt like it. My fur itched from the decontamination shower,
and felt dry and brittle, with all the oils that keep it
soft striped away. The inside of my mouth and nose felt
rough and stripped, after having some kind of chemical
forced into it to clean out the soft tissue. I had been
given two more shots, which had finally stopped making me
vomit, and my headache was roaring hard, as the local pain
killer didn't seem to have an effect on me.

Every muscle in my body ached, my legs protested when I
tried to move them, and my knee ached from where I had
slipped in the hastily erected shower, and wrenched it.

Oria had at least provided me with some clean clothing, even
if the sizes were a little off. The plain shirt hung a bit
too long, and forced me to roll up the sleeves, and the
shorts felt just a little too tight.

Add to that the pile of items that came from my wallet,
which had to be destroyed along with my clothing. I would
have to sort all of that out later, when I could think
straight.

The only thing I had left that fit me was my jacket, which,
thankfully, I had left in the waiting room with Oriana.

For the moment, I was alone in the office, Baxter having run
out to handle a few things, some of which I suspected was
letting me out early. The doctors wanted to keep an eye on
me for a few days, and wanted to know why I was so resistant
to the gas. We had talked them out of it, but only just.

Resting my head in my paws, I sighed, trying to will the
headache to go away, but with little luck. Thankfully Oria
had some painkillers from home in her purse, and I had taken
them gladly. They seemed to slowly be taking effect.

My fingers brushed against the dangling earring as I pulled
them away. It was once again hanging from my ear, getting
tangled in the damaged fur. I was surprised to find it in
Oria's paw when she brought my things back from being
decontaminated. I didn't know she had removed it. She tried
to keep me from noticing that she was putting it back on,
but failed.

It left me wondering how she could have taken it off in the
first place. I should have reverted back to human the
instant it left my ear. The fact that I didn't meant I
needed to talk to Ken about it. Hopefully, he would also
have an explanation of why he had given it back to me.

I let out a sigh, thinking about the time he and I had spent
together as a couple. Even if it was only a month, it felt
like a lifetime. We had both been young, I younger then Ken,
sixteen at the time, while he was in his twenties.

In retrospect, the age difference was an issue, but neither
of us noticed at the time. We had been together as a team
for nearing a year, and it just seemed natural.

Of course, there were other issues that had driven us
together. Ken was partly there to keep an eye on his spell,
but that seemed like a small part of it from what I
remembered.

I had been willing to become Ken's lover, partly to recover
from what Grasion had done to me. Of course I didn't think
about it like that at the time. I've had five years to work
that out, to think about that relationship.

To be honest, I still missed being with him. It had been a
great time for us when I had been trapped in Oria's body and
we slept together, even if we were both unsure how to use
the female form at the time.

As I stirred the thoughts around in my mind, the office door
opened and my wife stepped inside. She had a plate with a
pair of simple sandwiches on them, and a smile on her face.

"Welcome back, Love," I said sitting up in the chair.

She sat down next to me, and held out the plate. "It was the
only thing I could find that didn't look poisonous," she
said.

I smiled, took one of the sandwiches, looking at it a bit
leerily. I wasn't sure my stomach could handle food at the
moment, but the doctors had told me I had to get some food
in my system, so I bit into it. It had meat and cheese, and
something that tasted like mustard. On the whole it wasn't
that bad ."Seems edible," I said, before swallowing the
bite.

She smiled, and picked up her own sandwich, and started
eating as well.

With my free paw, I reached over and started to pet her
ears, eliciting a deep purr, which was followed a moment
later by an even deeper yawn.

I matched her with one of my own, which didn't help my
headache at all.

"I hope we can get some sleep soon," she said, rubbing her
eyes.

I nodded as I chewed. "I hadn't thought about that. Neither
one of us has had a chance to sleep since we got here," I
said. Even though I didn't feel that tired, I guess I was
running on adrenaline, and the various pains that we're left
over from the gas.

She smiled and took another bite, wrapping an arm around me,
and leaning against my shoulder as she ate.

"I see you found the cafeteria," Baxter said as he walked
into the office.

Oria nodded, straightening up in her seat, and smiling as
she finished the last of her sandwich. "It's better than it
was last night."

Baxter smiled, and took a seat at his desk, a small,
relatively flat package in his paws. "I never eat the food
here at night," he commented, working to open it.

"What's that?" I asked, quickly chewing on the last few
bites of mine and forcing them down. It was staying down,
but I wasn't sure I could eat anything else.

"I'm not sure," he replied, "it was delivered to the front
desk. It was sent to the person investigating Spider's
murder."

I frowned. "That doesn't sounds good. Did you have it
checked over for bombs, or more gas?"

He nodded, "First thing," he replied as he ripped it open.
"It was also checked for fingerprints, but with no luck." As
he spoke he fished around inside, pulling out a plastic
container which held something that looked like a small CD.

"What's that?" Oria asked.

"A tape," he said, giving her a strange look as he opened
the case, removing the disk inside.

I raised an eyebrow, "Really? It must be from whomever put
the gas in the body."

Baxter nodded, sliding the disk into his terminal. "That's
what I was just thinking," he replied, pulling out a second
one from inside his desk, and inserting that into a second
slot.

"Let's see what it says," Oria said, leaning forward.

The bear smiled, and hit a few keys on his computer. "Soon
enough. I want to make a duplicate of it first, just to be
safe."

I nodded as I stood up, wincing as my head started to spin,
and moved over to his side of the desk, squeezing my way
behind his chair. It was a tight fit; my tail was pressed up
against the wall as I looked over his shoulder.

Oria took up a similar position over his other shoulder,
leaning forward, watching as he worked.

Baxter didn't seemed to mind, or if he did he didn't show
it. He just went about his work as the disk was copied to
the second one.

"Now," he said once the copy finished. "Let's see what they
have to say," and with that he started playing the disk. I
noted it was the copy, not the original.

An image appeared up on the screen, of a feline, or at least
someone that used to look like one. It was hard to tell, as
most of the left side of his face was covered in scar
tissue. It ran over his eye, which was milky under the
scarred skin, and down over most of his muzzle. His ear was
gone as well, leaving an exposed batch of twisted skin. The
other side of his face was as normal as one would expect,
his eye was blue, and a smile was on his muzzle.

"By now you have seen what we can do," he said in a raspy
voice, only speaking out of one side of his muzzle. "We have
killed your men, and now you know we can do so at any time.
If you do not meet our demands, more of you will be killed.
You have until midnight to comply."

With that said, the image snapped off, leaving a black
screen behind.

"Who the hell was that?" I asked, trying to blink away the
afterimage of his face.

"Wrede," Baxter answered, "He's the leader of Fractal."

I frowned, remembering the name. Officially he had been
killed in an explosion when Fractal had been shut down.
"Apparently he's not as dead as everyone thought," I
commented.

The detective nodded, his fingers flying over the keyboard
of his computer, searching over the disk, apparently looking
for the demands that had been mentioned.

"Apparently his gas bomb was meant to killed a lot more
people than the ME and his nurse," I commented.

"If you hadn't been there, it would have," he replied as he
worked. "Someone would have found them dead on the floor,
not knowing what had happened. They would have opened the
door, and let the gas out into the building. I don't know
how many people would have died, but it would have been
nasty."

"Which was exactly what Wrede had in mind," Oria commented.

"Right," he replied, and smiled, "I think I found their
demands," he said and opened a file on his computer. It was
about a page of text that looked more like scribbling to me
than words.

"What are they asking for?" I asked, rubbing the edge of my
eyes. There was still a touch of blurring at the periphery
of my vision, but it was nearly gone at that point.

Baxter glanced at me, "Can't you read?" he asked in
disbelief.

I nodded. "Oh, yes, and I do quite a lot of it too; but I
can't read that," I said, pointing at the screen.

He sighed, and shook his head. "You really are aliens,
aren't you?"

"Yes, we are," I replied. "Now, what are they asking for?"

He frowned, and shook his head. "Money, lots of it, and the
release of all Fractal members currently in prison."

"I imagine that's something you wouldn't go about
arranging."

"Right and, I doubt it could be done in time, even if we
were willing to do it," he replied. "I suspect they know
that."

"So, what do we do now?" Oria asked.

"I make another copy of this, and give it to my commander.
I'll send the original down to the evidence lab, maybe they
can pull something out of it."

"And then?"

"Then I keep looking into Spider, to see if there is
anything we can use to track these guys down," he replied.

I nodded, "Alright, you do that. Oria and I will wait here
for you."

He sighed, putting another blank disk inside his machine.
"Out of curiosity, why should I bother with you two? You
are, by your own admission, aliens. Why do you even care?"

I shrugged. "Because it's the right thing to do, really," I
said in reply. "I don't like seeing this kind of thing
happen, anywhere, to anyone. When I run into it, I try to
help out, it's kind of in my nature."

The detective nodded, motioning for us to move out from
behind his chair. "Well, I'm glad you were here; things
would have been a lot worse otherwise. I didn't know you
Zaxie could disguise yourselves to look like us."

I let out a soft laugh as I walked around the desk. "Whoever
the Zaxie are, we're not them. We're a different kind of
travelers. We're actually here to pick up something someone
else hid here a while ago."

"I see," he said, rising to his feet, both the original disk
and the copy in his paw. "You two wait here, I'll be back
soon."

"Right," I replied, settling back down in the chair. Oria
followed suit, sitting next to me. She placed her paw on my
leg as Baxter left the office.

"We may not be able to fix this before we have to go back
home," she said, sounding a bit worried.

I nodded. "I know, but we can help as much as we can. Wrede
is probably close by. If we can deal with him, it should be
a good start for us."

She reached over and hugged me tightly, and nuzzled my
cheek.

I wrapped my arms around her, and held her close to me.

* * *

The clock ticked slowly over two more hours, giving my
headache time to settle down to a dull roar, even if the
rest of my body still hurt every time I tried to move it. At
least it wasn't as bad as before.

I was passing the time, doodling on a notepad. Oria was
still sitting in her chair, her head resting up against my
shoulder, and purring softly as she slept.

She didn't even wake up when Baxter came into the room,
looking haggard and worn. His face was drawn out, and his
eyes sunk in.

"I'm sorry it took so long," the bear said as he took his
seat. "My commander wanted to go over everything on the disk
first."

"Understandable," I replied, closing the notepad. "Have your
forensic people come up with anything from the original
disk?"

He shook his large head. "Nothing yet, but they are rushing
on it. We only have hours left till the deadline."

I nodded, tickling the back of Oria's ear with the tip of a
claw, slowly bringing her around. After a few moments, her
eyes fluttered open, and she suppressed a yawn. "Oh, I'm
sorry about that," she said, forcing herself to sit up.

I chuckled. "It's alright, Love, you needed it."

She smiled, and rubbed her eyes. "So do you, but you don't
seem to be taking any."

I gave her a kiss on the nose, and stood up. "I have other
things to worry about right now," I told her as I walked
around the desk to stand next to Baxter. "So, on to looking
into Spider. What do you have that would be useful?"

"Only his last known place of residence," he replied,
hitting a few keys. "He hasn't officially lived there since
he jumped bail, and neither has anyone else. There have been
a few complaints about criminal activity filed against the
address, but nothing that makes it look interesting."

I nodded, "I assume you checked there first when he went
underground. Maybe he's moved back in since?"

"It's possible, and something that should be checked out.
I'll send a pair of officers out to give it a looking over.
Nothing too involved."

A frown crossed over my face, and I shook my head. "If he's
been living there again, your officers might be expected.
Someone could be waiting there to kill them."

"I thought about that," he replied. "They are not going to
go inside. They are just going to drive by, and see if
anyone is living there. Nothing major, nothing that will put
them at risk."

"Good," I said leaning on the edge of his desk. "No need to
go rushing in headlong; they might even be expecting that.
Remember, they think they've killed a few dozen cops, they
may not be expecting you to act rational."

He nodded, "My commander mentioned as much to me." He
started typing as he spoke, bringing up new information.

"I assume you have already staked out wherever he wants you
to drop off the cash?"

He nodded again. "Of course. We're trying to be subtle about
it, but there's not much there. It's in a trash can in the
park across the street. It's hard to sneak up on, so we
should have a clear view of whoever is going to pick up the
money."

"I wouldn't count on it," I muttered.

"I'm not," he replied, with a toothy smile. Then he picked
up his phone, and had a short conversation with someone on
the other end, giving out what I assumed was Spider's
address.

When the conversation was done, he returned to his computer,
leaning forward as he looked over the data that came up.
"Interesting," he said, half to himself.

I leaned over his shoulder. "What did you find?"

He glanced back at me, "I've been running the various
chemicals that would be used to make that gas. They are all
pretty common, but the amounts needed do stand out."

"And?" I prompted.

He touched the screen. "Well, there are a few places that
ordered most of the items, some of them pretty big orders."
He smiled, "We'll send a few people out to interview at the
various locations. Most are the kind of place you would
expect to order them, so it's not that suspicious."

I nodded, glancing over at Oria, she was starting to drift
back to sleep. "Hey, Hon, if you're up to it, maybe you
should get us some of whatever passes for tea on this world?
Or failing that, coffee?"

She perked up, rubbing her eyes, and nodded. "All right,
Fox, I'll see what I can find," she said as she stood up.

I smiled, and said, "thanks, Love." I hoped she didn't think
I was trying to get rid of her, or to shuffle her off to
keep her out of the way. At the moment, half awake, she
wasn't going to be at her best, and the walk would help her
to clear her head.

"Oh, hell," Baxter said, a few minutes later.

"What is it?" I asked, glancing back at him.

He already had his phone in his paw, and was dialing
quickly. "One of the matches I got is Spider's address; the
last delivery was just a week ago."

I frowned, and watched as he made the call, ordering back
whoever he had send out just a few minutes before.

"Sounds pretty dumb of them," I commented as he put the
phone back in its cradle. "To dumb, if you ask me."

"I agree," he replied. "It's too obvious... it feels like
we're suppose to go there," he commented with a frown.

"A trap?" I asked.

He nodded, "That's what I suspect. Wrede doesn't like cops,
and used to go out of his way to kill them. He's probably
doing the same thing now. We'll hold off until we can get a
good team together before we even try to get inside."

I smiled. He was making the right decision in my opinion.

There was a quick knock at the office door, and a young male
wolf stuck his head inside. "Detective Baxter?" He asked,
stepping in to the room.

"Yes?" The bear said, glancing at him.

The wolf pulled out a disk, and held it out in front of
himself as he stepped over to the desk. "This is the
information we've gotten off the video you sent us. You
wanted it as soon as we had something."

Baxter nodded, leaning forward and taking the disk. "Thanks,
and send me anything else you find."

The wolf nodded, and left the office, humming a tune as he
closed the door. A second later it opened again, and this
time my lovely wife walked in.

She was holding a pair of cups and a smile on her muzzle.
"I'm sorry, Baxter, I didn't know what to get you."

He smiled, "It's OK, Oriana, I don't drink coffee at this
time of night." As he spoke, he put the disk into his
computer.

I walked around the desk towards my wife, wincing slightly
as I strained my hurt knee. I took my drink from her, and
sipped at it, then smiled slightly. "Hey, this is pretty
good," I said.

She smiled, and gave a little purr, "I stepped outside
instead of going to the cafeteria. There was a better chance
of getting something good."

I chucked, and nodded. "A good choice on your part, Love."

"I think I got something," Baxter said.

"Oh?" I asked, brushing my fingers down the side of Oria's
face before turning away, and walking back to his desk.

He nodded, "We have three possible areas for where the video
was filmed. Number one on the list contains Spider's old
home."

I chuckled, "Imagine that. That place is looking worse by
the second." I rubbed my forehead with my free hand;
surprisingly, the coffee was helping with my headache.

"Right," he replied, working at his computer. "The
probability of that location is too high to be an accident.
The second one is interesting, but doesn't add up with
everything else I have. The last area has some potential,
but it covers five miles.

"Lots of doors to knock on," Oria commented, sipping at her
coffee.

"Let's not go pounding the pavement just yet. I'm cross-
checking the area with the companies that ordered the
chemicals and," he taped a few keys and smiled, "we have one
match. They took orders for most of the chemicals, over the
last six months."

"Really?" I asked, leaning closer to his screen. It was out
of habit more then anything. "How strong a lead is this?"

"Pretty low," he said, "but the two data points match, and
if you discount Spider's home, it's all we got."

I smiled, and glanced at Oria. "So, when are we leaving?"

He looked up, I could see him start to say something,
probably to the effect that we weren't going along with him,
but he held it back, and then smiled after a moment. "As
soon as I can get a patrol car for backup. We're not going
out there by ourselves."

I nodded, "Good. Perhaps I could get my weapons back?" I
suggested with my best winning smile.

He shook his head, standing up. "Sorry, Fox, but they are
staying put in evidence until you're tried. Then they will
be destroyed."

I sighed, and shook my head. It wasn't an attitude I could
understand, but I would accept it for the moment. Still, it
cut at me to be unarmed, more so if we were going into
someplace dangerous.

"Come on," he said, walking out of the office.

Oria shrugged, and gently patted the side of her hip. "Don't
worry love, I'm still prepared," she whispered.

"Good," I replied, then took her paw in mine and followed
Baxter out of the small room. "We may need it."

* * *

I was half lying in the back seat of Baxter's car, turned as
far as I could with the seat belt on. Stretching out my legs
helped relieve some of the pain in them. Oria was in the
front seat, looking fully awake now, and also a little bit
worried.

Baxter, of course, was behind the wheel, driving with some
intensity through the evening traffic, heading towards an
industrial area of the town. A patrol car followed behind
us, in a strange blue and yellow color scheme, with two cops
inside of it.

None of us knew what to expect when we got to our
destination, but I think everyone was worried. Baxter has
his fingers tightly clenched around the wheel, muttering to
himself about the traffic.

We were going to a location just shy of twenty miles from
the police plaza, significantly further away from the item
of our quest than I had planned to get.

As a whole, it wasn't a major diversion. We couldn't get
into the clock tower just now, but I suspected I would be
able to talk Baxter into it when things were wrapped up.

"We'll be there in a couple minutes," Baxter said, glancing
at me in his rearview mirror.

"Good," I replied, resting my paw on my hip. Digging the
fingers gently into the fabric of my pants, I wished I had
some kind of weapon.

It was futile at the moment, so I took a deep breath, and
leaned forward against my seat belt. Reaching out, I touched
Oria's shoulder.

She turned back, and gave me a small smile. She probably
could tell how I was feeling, as she reached up and placed
her paw on mine.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Baxter smiling just a
little bit. It only lasted a moment, before it was replaced
with a serious look, his eyes focused on the road.

"Is there some kind of taboo against public displays of
affection?" I asked him.

He blinked, and glanced back at us. "Well, a little, but
it's more the fact you two are different species. That's
generally frowned upon around here."

Oria chuckled softly, and I smiled. We really weren't
different species, not anymore. At least depending on which
way one looked at it. I was just an animal, a very smart
one, that could shape-shift, but still an animal.

Another minute passed, before Baxter pulled the car to a
stop outside of a small glass-fronted building. It looked
very professional, but not very busy. The small parking lot
in front was nearly empty.

He shut off the engine, and slid out of the car. Oria and I
followed just behind him. The pavement was cold on my bare
feet, not freezing cold, but enough to be annoying. I
adjusted my balance a bit, shifting back and forth on my
toes. Oria was perfectly comfortable with it, but it was
normal for her.

The patrol car had pulled into the slot next to ours, and
the two officers had left their car.

Baxter went over to them, and they talked for a few moments.
One leaned against the side of the car, looking both
serious, and slightly bored as the second officer followed
Baxter as he came over to us.

"Shall we go and knock on the door?" Oria asked.

He nodded, and started towards the front door. The officer,
a middle-aged feline, followed at the detective's side. Oria
and I followed up just behind.

We entered into the lobby of the building. It was pretty
plain, two stories tall, with hanging lights, and a few
scattered chairs. On the far side from us, behind a low
desk, was a bored-looking secretary, and a pair of locked
glass doors.

Baxter talked to her for a few moments quickly getting us
buzzed through the door.

A male wolf was waiting for us on the other side. He smiled
pleasantly, and escorted us through the offices, telling us
about the business on our way. It looked like any other
company to me, but the place was pretty empty, lots of desks
sitting around unused.

The desks had clutter on them, and at first glance they
looked perfectly normal, but it was just too neat. Like
someone tried very hard to make it look like a mess. The
whole place looked... artificial, like a set instead of an
office.

My lovely wife seemed to have noticed it herself, her eyes
flicking around the empty rooms as we walked. Her paw held
lightly against her hip, a natural looking position, but
ready to grab her needler at a moment's notice.  A small
frown slowly crept over her muzzle, her tail sweeping behind
her long skirt as we walked, low to the ground, like she was
ready to pounce.

Our guide hustled us into a large, open lab. A few benches
lined the walls, with various bits of equipment resting on
them. A few of them we're on, apparently doing something
very important, that wasn't obvious to the naked eye.

And standing at the end of the room, like a priest at the
alter, a smile pulled over his disfigured face, was Wrede.

I barely had time to register that fact before a shot rang
out. I reflexively jumped to the side, finding that our
escort was holding the offending weapon, which was now
trained on Baxter.

The officer who had come in with us, was slowly crumpling to
the floor, blood blooming out from a wound in his chest.

I ran over to him, catching him as he fell, which sent
streaks of pain up my arms, and gently lowered him to the
ground. I turned my attention to the wound, frowning. It was
in the side of his chest, and was bleeding thick, dark
blood.

"You must be the detective working on my little case," Wrede
said. "I must say I'm surprised to see you here, I fully
expected you to run into my little trap."

"Sorry, but your score for killing cops has been at zero all
day," Baxter replied. From the corner of my eye, I could see
he had his paw on his gun, but hadn't pulled it out of the
holster. Another person had entered the room, also with a
gun, and also pointed at the bear.

I reached over the officer, pulling off his shirt, and
balling it up. I adjusted myself over him pressing it
against the wound. It also blocked Wrede and his men from
seeing me as I slipped the officer's gun into my paw.

"Well, I can fix that now," Wrede snarled. "Kill them all."

    Chapter 4

"Whoa! Now wait just a moment!" Fox said, jumping to his
feet, holding his paws in the air. "Aren't you being just a
little bit hasty?"

Wrede paused, narrowing his eyes to slits as he glared at my
husband. Both of the guards had their weapons trained on
him. The panic he clearly had to feel didn't show on his
face, but I could see it in the way his tail sweep against
the floor behind him.

"Who are you?"tThe disfigured cat asked, "and why should I
wait?"

Fox gulped, but relaxed almost imperceptibly. "I'm just a
visitor here," he said, taking a few steps to the side. "But
I do have some minor interest in what's going on. Personally
I don't care one way or another about your cause, or what
you do to achieve it. But I'm here now, and I would rather
not be killed because of it. As for who I am, my name is Fox
Cutter."

The cat frowned, and sighed. "Should that name mean
something to me? Frankly I don't care a lick about you, and
you are about to die."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Fox asked, glancing back
towards me, and motioning with his head toward one of the
guards. He turned back around to face Wrede, "You have no
idea what kind of tools I have... I'm sure we could come up
with some sort of trade."

Baxter tensed up behind Fox, his jaw clenching tightly as a
look of anger flickered over his face. He glared hard at my
husband's back, hard enough to drill a hole through him.

Fox moved a bit more to the side, and smiled slightly, his
tail flicking behind him, and against the floor. A smile of
my own tried to creep over my muzzle when I realized he had
stepped between me and the first guard, blocking his view of
me. Both of the guards, like everyone in the room, had their
full attention on Fox, ignoring me completely.

Wrede frowned, and shook his head. "What kind of tools?" he
asked, his curiosity piqued.

Slowly, I slid my needler from its holster, and held it
firmly in my paw. Running my finger over the firing stud, I
was glad I had left it on stun; it meant that I wouldn't
need to fiddle with it, and attract attention.

Aiming the needler from my hip, I thought back. It was going
to be a hard shot to make, but one Marn had trained me to
make. Sadly, it was a skill I hadn't kept up on, so I was
unsure of the shot.

With a deep breath, and a short prayer to Thryn, I pressed
the firing stud.

The second guard seemed to deflate, and began to crumple
towards the floor.

Wrede noticed it immediately, twisting around to stare at
the guard as he landed hard on the tile floor. "What is
going on?" he demanded.

Fox twisted to the side, pulling his gun out in a fluid
motion. His move gave me a clear shot at the second guard,
who was starting to react. This time I had an opportunity to
properly aim at him, and I took it. A moment later he joined
his partner on the ground.

"You know," Fox said with a smile, his gun pointed at Wrede.
"Instead of a trade, how about you just go to prison? That
seems pretty fair to me, wouldn't you agree, Detective
Baxter?"

The large bear turned, his own gun free of its holster, and
aimed at the disfigured feline. "I think so," he said with a
grunt.

I walked over to the first guard, kicking his gun away from
his limp paw. He was still breathing, which was good. Even
if I was using a stun needle, I wasn't sure it wouldn't have
killed him. Strictly speaking, he did have a different
biology than they were designed for.

Wrede smiled, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm
impressed," he said with a distorted smile. "That will teach
me to listen to someone like you." He tisked slightly,
walking towards Fox and Baxter.

Baxter walked towards the feline. "You're coming with me,"
he said, and then abruptly came to a stop as he walked into
something. He frowned, reaching out with his free paw, and
pressing it against a transparent wall that seemed to bisect
the room.

"You have got to be kidding me," Fox said as he walked over
to stand by the bear. He reached out to touch the wall with
one paw, pressing on it firmly.

He gave it a couple of quick raps with his fist, sending a
warbling echo through the room. "Probably bullet proof," he
muttered.

The feline laughed, and smiled at us. "What? Didn't you
think I would be prepared for something like this? I knew
you would get here eventually, just not this soon." He
turned on his heel, and limped towards a door at the back of
the room, his tail flicking just over the floor. "How
stupid," he grunted, and slipped out of the room, slamming
the door behind him.

"Grab the cop, Oriana," Fox said, turning to look at me.
"We've got to get out of this room. There's no telling what
other surprises he has in store for us."

I returned the needler to its holster as I dashed towards
the fallen officer. Wrapping my arms under his, I lifted him
up, and started to drag him towards the door we had come in
through.

Baxter got to the door first, his gun still held in his paw
as he pushed it open. He glanced out into the hallway for a
moment before pulling his head back. "It's clear," he said
pushing it all the way open.

Fox followed behind me, limping slightly, as I dragged the
officer through the open door. He was light, so it didn't
take much effort. As we walked past the Detective, he bent
down and removed the officer's radio from his belt.

We rushed back the way we came, heading for the front door.
My husband had taken the officers legs, though I could see
how it hurt his arms, from the look of pain he tried to
hide. At the same time Baxter was on the radio, calling for
backup, and getting the attention of the officer outside.

"Hold up," my husband said, coming to a stop as we passed
through the intersection with another hallway.

"What is it?" Baxter asked, sliding to a deceptively fast
stop for his size.

Fox frowned, setting the officer's legs down and taking a
step down the other hallway. "I think I just saw Wrede," he
said, and nodded down the hall.

The bear frowned, his pistol still in his paw. He glanced
towards the exit and the door to the lobby, only fifty feet
away from us, then back towards Fox.

"Can you get him out on your own?" Fox asked me.

I nodded.

He glanced at Baxter, and took another step towards the
hallway.

The bear nodded in return, and with a sudden burst of speed,
both of them started running down the hallway, Fox's limp
showing more acutely at the faster speed. When they reached
the end of the corridor they turned to the right, and
vanished.

With a grunt, I lifted the officer again, and started
towards the glass security door that stood between me and
the lobby.

The door stopped me, but only for a few moments. Setting the
guard down on the floor, I pulled out my needler, and pushed
the door open. Glancing around the door I could see the
secretary had fled, leaving it empty.

Satisfied that it was all clear, I put the needler away, and
retrieved a heavy book from the desk, using it to prop the
door open. Returning to the officer, I picked him back up,
and dragged him out into the lobby, moving around the desk,
towards the front doors.

The other officer was at my side as soon as I got to the
door. He took his partner's legs, and we hurried over to the
squad car, finally setting him down on the grass.

In the distance I could hear the wail of sirens as more cops
headed in our direction. Hopefully an ambulance was coming
along with them.

I stood up, looking at the office building as it rose into
the night sky. There was no movement in the lobby, but I
worried that it didn't mean anything.

It occurred to me that buildings had more than one exit.
Loading docks, stairs, emergency exits, even a parking
garage. There were dozens of ways that Wrede could slip out
without being noticing.

"How long till the backup gets here?" I asked.

The officer glanced up at me. "About six minutes."

I frowned. I didn't think that was going to be fast enough.
"Does this building have a parking garage?"

"I don't know," he replied, looking worried.

I bit my lip, shifting on my feet in the dew-covered grass.
"Give me the keys to the car, I'm going to block whatever
garage this place has."

He paused, looking a bit concerned. He started to say
something, then glanced down at his partner. With a sigh he
fished his keys from his pocket, and threw them to me.

I caught them in mid-air. There were a dozen keys on the
ring. "Which one?" I asked.

"The red one," he replied.

I fished the key out as I dashed to the driver's side door.
Slipping behind the wheel I glanced over the controls. It
was the basic design, the usual collection of peddles and
wheel. Thankfully it was an automatic, I wasn't in the mood
to struggle with an oddball manual transmission.

It started right away, and I slipped it into what I guessed
was drive. I got lucky, and the car almost jumped forward as
I tapped the gas. Pleased with its responsiveness, I gunned
it forward, and took it around the corner, driving along the
side of the building.

With another turn I was behind the building, passing a small
loading door before I had to turn again. As soon as I
rounded the corner, I spotted the parking garage. A heavy
steel door blocked the entrance. There was no way I was
getting in there.

Now I just had to make sure no one could get out.

I drove the car up to the entrance, stopping a few feet away
from the door. Then with a slam of my bare foot, I hit the
accelerator, the car jumped forward, and crashed into the
door.

It wasn't enough to break through, but it bent the whole
works inwards, and knocked a section off the track. It
effectively prevented anyone from opening it without a lot
of work.

Putting the car in reverse, I backed it out of the steel
door. Further down the side of the building, I could see
what looked like an emergency exit. I pulled the car up
along side it, scraping the side against the building, to
block that exit as well.

I shut down the engine, and slid out of the car, taking the
keys with me. It wouldn't do to leave them in the ignition
so someone could come along and move the car.

With no other potential exits in sight, I started back for
the loading dock, sliding my needler into my paw as I
rounded the corner. Climbing up the short steps, I walked
towards the door. It was still closed, but I could see the
handle start to move as I approached.

Crouching back into a fighting stance, I pointed the needler
at the door, my thumb resting on the firing stud. I could
hear police cars pulling up out front, the sirens snapping
off as they came to a stop.

The handle of the door jiggled a couple more times, before
it finally twisted, and the door began to swing outwards. I
tensed as I watched it, pressing my thumb against the firing
stud, holding back just enough to keep it from firing.

A face looked out from the edge of the door, only glancing
out for a moment, too fast for me to get off a shot.

Still, I recognized Baxter's face.

"He didn't come this way," I shouted, dropping the needler
to my side.

He grunted, and nodded, pushing the door open, and stepping
outside. "Good."

"I also blocked off the parking garage, so he's not going to
be driving out of here," I told the bear as I walked towards
him.

He nodded again, holding the door open for me as I stepped
inside. "Where's Fox?" I asked.

"We split up," he replied, glancing down at the needler as I
walked into the building.

"Do you know which way he went?"

He nodded, letting the door swing shut, then fished out a
pair of handcuffs from his pockets. Using them on the door,
he connected the handle to the railing next to it.

"Let's go, then," I said, starting up the steps towards the
single door that was hanging half open.

The bear rushed past me on the steps, causing me to let out
a soft huff. He was the first through the door, and hand his
gun drawn. "Come on," he said to me. It was a bit late, as I
was already walking through the door after him, and was not
in the mood to allow him to clear the path for me.

He glanced at me, and turned to the left, moving briskly
down the hallway.

"Have you found anyone?" I asked, keeping pace at his side.

"We've seen Wrede a few times, but only glances," he
replied, turning a corner. "From what I can see there isn't
anyone else in the building."

"That's good to know," I said, fingering my weapon. "The
backup arrived just before I came in. They should be coming
in soon."

He smiled and said, "I know, I still have the radio."

"Right," I replied, slightly embarrassed that I had
forgotten something as simple as that.

We turned another corner, moving along a length of office
doors. Most of them were open, showing empty rooms on the
other side.

"This place is a complete front," I commented, glancing at
the empty rooms as we went past.

The detective nodded, as he turned another corner, and
started up a flight of stairs. I could hear movement as we
came out onto the second floor.

We turned as soon as we came out of the stairwell, heading
towards the sounds. We passed another open door. This time
there was some sort of lab on the other side. From the short
glance I got of it, it looked like it actually had been in
use.

Baxter came to an abrupt stop, grabbing my arm and pulled me
back a few steps as we came to the source of the sound.

Through the doorway, standing with his back to us was Wrede.
He had a gun in his paw, pointing it Fox, who was standing
on the other side of the room, behind a desk. From look of
various piles of paper that covered the surface, I would
guess he had gotten busy snooping, and Wrede had surprised
him.

Baxter pulled me back a few feet, out of view of the feline.
I could hear him and my husband talking in hushed tones, but
the words were too muffled to understand.

"We need to take him out," the bear whispered to me. "That
gun of yours, can you use it on him?"

"I can stun him," I replied in kind, deciding not to mention
the more lethal options held in it's chamber.

He nodded, but frowned. "All right, do that before they kill
each other."

I slipped my arm out of his paw, and moved quietly back
towards the door, holding my needler at the ready. It only
took moments before Wrede's back came into my view.

This time Fox saw me, a small smirk playing over his muzzle,
his ears tilting forward slightly. Without saying a word, I
fired a needle into Wrede's back.

The feline stumbled forward for a second, but didn't fall
down. Instead he twisted around and glared at me, rising to
his full height. Anger was etched into his ruined face as he
let out a low growl.

I fired a second but time, with the same result. It wasn't
having an effect on him.

A moment later Fox crashed into his back, sending them both
flying forward, through the door. It happened so fast that I
wasn't able to move out of the way, and I went down as well.

Wrede's gun, and my needler went flying across the floor.

We were all struggling, Fox and I both trying to grab Wrede.
It wasn't working. It seemed like my needles had only made
him angrier, which made him stronger.

He punched Fox in the face, and got me in the kidneys.
Taking the advantage, he pushed Fox off of him, and stood
up, only to finding himself facing the barrel of Baxter's
gun.

I lifted my head, slow to recover, and watched as Wrede
twisted, and lunged forward, moving deceptively fast for
someone in his condition. He smacked Baxter's gun to the
side, and lunged at him, smashing his shoulder into the
bear's side.

The Detective twisted away, trying to bring his weapon up,
but Wrede didn't stop. The feline ran hard down the hallway,
and turned the corner before Baxter could get off a shot.

"Go after him," Fox gasped, the paw he was using to hold his
bloody nose muffling his voice.

The detective didn't need any such prompting. He was already
running hard after Wrede.

I turned my attention to Fox, sitting up, and sliding over
to sit next to him. "You OK, Hon?" I asked, the question
sounding silly as soon as it slipped past my lips.

"I'll live," he said with a smile. "My pride is a little
injured, but I don't think he broke anything."

I nodded. "I wonder why my needles didn't work."

"Maybe he has a different biology?" he suggested with a
shrug.

"Perhaps, but one of the guards at the lab was also a
feline," I commented, but something was stirring in the back
of my mind. "Some pain medications can counter act the stun
effect."

"And with his injuries, he's probably heavily doped up on
them," he replied.

Before I could reply, an officer came around the corner,
lifting her gun as soon as she spotted us.

"It's ok," I said, lifting my paws. "We're here with
Baxter."

She nodded, and lowered her gun. "I was told about you two,
I'm suppose to stay with you, for your safety."

Fox and I glanced at each other, and he just shook his head,
suppressing a smile. "Alright," he said, pulling himself up
to his feet. "There's something in here I wanted to check
anyway."

The officer nodded, walking up to us as she holstered her
gun.

I stood up as well, taking a moment to retrieve my needler
from the floor, and then followed Fox as he limped back into
the office.

He went right to the desk, moving back behind it and
shuffling the papers around, still keeping his fingers
pinched against his nose. "I could use your help, Officer,"
he said, glancing up at her. "I can't read this, but you
should be able to."

She nodded, walking quickly to stand next to him. "If this
is evidence, you shouldn't be riffling through it."

"Still, please tell me what this says?" he asked, almost
pleading as he picked up a sheet of paper and passing it to
her.

The officer took it, holding it closer to her lapine face.
"I can't read this," she said with a frown. "I don't even
recognize the language." She rotated the paper. "It might be
Kalaid, but I'm not sure."

Fox frowned, biting his lip. "That was something I was
hoping not to hear.

"Why?" I asked.

"I need to look into some other things first, but it makes
me worry," he said, letting go of his nose. He snuffled a
bit, and ran the back of his sleeve over the pad of his
nose. It smeared the drying blood, but none of it was fresh.

A squawk came over the officer's radio. She set the paper
down, and gave the voice on the other end her full
attention, passing a few quick comments back over the line.
"We're suppose to go out front," she said. "It's best to
leave these things here for now."

Fox nodded, walking behind her around the desk, casually
picking up the paper on his way past. He angled himself so
the officer couldn't see it as he folded it up, and hid it
in the inside pocket of his jacket.

We followed her out of the office, and back down to the
first floor. Navigating our way through the various
corridors we quickly came out the front door. A dozen police
cars were parked in the grass in front of the building, and
I could see the two guards I had stunned laying on the
ground, their paws cuffed, and still out cold.

Baxter was also there. As he sat on the back bumper of an
ambulance, a medic treated a bullet wound on the edge of his
arm. He had removed his jacket and shirt, leaving them on
his lap as the medic cleaned the blood from his fur.

We hurried over to him as the officer headed to her
commander. "Wrede get away?" I asked as we came up to him. I
noticed out of the corner of my eye that Fox was, casually
checking the bear out.

The detective nodded, wincing slightly as he flexed his arm.
"He jumped me near the exit. Took my gun, and used it to
shoot me." He shook his head. "I feel like an idiot."

Fox nodded, sitting down on the bumper next to him, and
letting out a sigh as his weight left his legs. The medic
glanced at the blood on his nose pad as he bandaged the
bear's arm.

"How far do you think he could get?" Fox asked.

"I'm not sure," Baxter replied as the medic pulled away. "It
depends on if he can get a car. Oriana blocked off the
parking garage, so he would have to get one on the street.
We're already canvassing the area, trying to find him."

"I don't think he's finished," Fox commented, resting his
chin in his paw as the medic took a closer look at his nose.
Fox snuffed at him, but let him look.

"I'm inclined to agree," the bear replied, pulling his shirt
on, and closing the buttons on the front. "Someone like
Wrede doesn't stop at just this, he has more planned, and if
he's free, he's going to try to finish what he started."

Fox nodded, brushing his paw through his hair. "There's not
much we can do tonight," he said with a sigh.

"No, we need to gather evidence about what his plans are
before we can act on them," Baxter shook his head, looking
at the blood on the sleeve of his jacket. "That could take
some time."

Fox nodded again, and sighed. "There's not much else we can
do to help. We're kind of on a deadline, and if we don't get
home by tomorrow afternoon, there's going to be a rescue
coming. It won't be pretty."

Baxter nodded. "I appreciate your help; people would have
died if it wasn't for you two," he glanced at me, and smiled
slightly. "I'm not even going to ask you where you got that
weapon of yours."

I smiled and brushed my skirt. "Weapon? I don't have a
weapon," I replied, feigning insult.

"Good," he said, rising to his feet. "We had better head
back to the station."

* * *

07/27/1999:

"So-- you need to get into the clock tower?" Baxter asked
the next morning, looking a lot better after a short night
of sleep, and in some clean clothing.

"That was the whole point of our trip here," Fox replied. He
looked rested, but a bit rumpled in his clothing. They where
the same ones he had been wearing since yesterday afternoon.
"Someone left an item up there a few years ago, and we're
here to fetch it."

Baxter nodded, flicking through a few papers on his desk. "I
see. Another alien?"

"Yes," I replied, "but he would stand out a bit more than we
would. He doesn't have any fur."

"Oh?" he replied, leaning back in his chair. "I remember
hearing about someone along those lines once. Maybe I can
find the file on him."

Fox smiled, "That would be nice, but not important. It would
be better if we can just get into the tower and get the
item. It should take about half an hour, and we won't have
to be sneaking around if you escort us."

The bear nodded again, shuffling a few files. "I think I can
arrange that," he replied.

Fox smiled. "Thanks. It will go quickly as long as we don't
run into any more dead bodies. Now, on to the topic of my
guns, could I get them back?"

He sighed and shook his head. "Sorry, Fox, there's no way I
can get them out of evidence."

"Even if you dropped the charges?" Fox asked.

The bear shrugged, and stood up. "That's not my decision,
Fox. My arrest was clean, and pretty hard to refute. There's
no way I could talk them out of charging you."

"Even if I won't be in town, or even on planet, for the
trial?" He asked with a sigh.

Baxter nodded.

Fox ran his paw through his hair, brushing his ears back,
and flicking his tail in annoyance. "I guess I can deal with
that. After the trial is over and done with, could I get
them back then?"

"Confiscated weapons are usually destroyed," he said, "but
I'll see what I can do for you. It will be harder to arrange
if you duck out of the trial."

He nodded, "What kind of punishment should I expect?"

Baxter shrugged. "A stiff fine, maybe some community
service. If you tick off the judge, you might get a day or
two in jail."

Fox sighed, "Nothing worse than what's happened before. I'll
make plans to be here."

"Why?" I asked, walking up to my husband, and slowly running
my fingers over his back until they brushed against the base
of his tail.

"Unfinished business Oria," he replied, smiling up at me. "I
don't like leaving with Wrede still on the loose, it offends
my sensibilities as a meddler."

The bear stood up, and walked around his desk towards the
door. He was favoring his good arm, holding his other one
close to his body as he opened the door.

"Come on," he said, stepping over the threshold. "I'll get
you into the clock tower."

"Thanks," Fox said, following him out into the hallway. I
kept on his tail, running my fingers through the long fur as
we walked.

He smiled at me, and slowed down until we were side by side.
Wrapping his arm around my hips, he pulled me close to his
side and nuzzled my neck with his muzzle, his whiskers
tickling my mouth.

I giggled softly and ran my fingers over the base of his
tail as we walked through the hallway. Baxter sent a glance
back at us, and smiled a bit as we continued to walk. We
made a short stop at the front desk to pickup some keys,
before moving on.

He led us out of the building, and into the square. The
paving stones were cool in the mid-morning light, but not
enough to chill me. It was like feeling a fond presence
against the pads of my feet.

Fox winced slightly as he stepped on a small stone,
stumbling as he pulled his foot away. I just shook my head,
and held his arm as he regained his balance. "Hon, you
better start going barefoot at home, so you can get used to
it."

"I'd rather not," he replied; sticking his tongue out a bit.

"If you're going to be spending a lot of time on my world,
you had better," I told him in my native language.

He nodded, his attention turning to the Detective as we
approached the clock tower. The door looked like it should
have originally, locked solidly. The only addition was a
piece of bright blue evidence tape between the steel door
and its frame.

Baxter pulled out a pocketknife, slitting the tape down the
middle. When he pulled away, a whole side of the tape came
with the blade.

"Strange," Fox commented, in a tone of voice that made it
clear he thought it was more than just that.

"I agree. That shouldn't have happened," was the reply, as
he put the knife away, then fished out the keys. In the
process he casually open his holster, letting the top dangle
free.

He undid the first lock, swinging the gate wide, and then
opened the second door. Carefully he stepped inside,
glancing around. There was a second piece of evidence tape
across the closet door where we had found Spider's body.
Nothing else had changed from our last visit.

"You know, we never did ask how come the door was open in
the first place," Fox said, resting his paw against his hip,
reaching for the gun that wasn't there.

I nodded, slipping my Needler into my paw, and dialing it to
the second, unused, stun setting. "Do you still have the
notes about where the Wave Transducer is?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "They took them with my clothing. But I
still remember where it is. It's hidden upstairs," he said,
pointing at the steps.

Baxter nodded, starting up the steps, one hand on the
banister, the other on the butt of his gun.

"I hope we're all just paranoid," my husband said, following
a few feet behind Baxter.

"So do I," I replied, just behind him, watching his vulpine
tail hanging low, the white tip brushing over the top of
each step.

We moved briskly up the stairs, but it wasn't going very
fast. There were nearly two hundred of them, winding their
way around the inside of the tower. There was a landing in
each corner, which gave us a chance to take a short break.

Fox needed it more than the rest of us; he was still
experiencing pain from the gas. It was minor now, but the
climbing was aggravating it.

All three of us were panting by the time we rounded the last
corner, with only a single short flight between us and the
top of the tower. Baxter had a serious look on his face as
he climbed the last steps, glancing around as he set his
foot on the floor.

And in a single moment our paranoia was validated as a heavy
board swung out, crashing into the side of Baxter's face and
sending him stumbling backwards. His foot slipped off the
step he was on, and he went tumbling over.

Fox, being just behind the large detective, and by far the
most tired of the three of us, had the least amount of time
to react, and it wasn't enough.

I jumped forward, trying to grab for him to keep him from
falling, but everything was going too fast. His fur brushed
through my fingers as he and Baxter tumbled down the stairs,
in a tangle of limbs.

For a moment I stood dumbfounded, my paw outstretched as I
watched them hit the first landing, both of them crashing
hard against the stone wall. I could see them both moving,
trying to untangle themselves.

Once I saw they were going to be all right, I returned my
attention to the attacker. Gripping my needler firmly in my
paw, I turned around and rushed up the last few steps.

The attacker was standing just off to the side, taking a
step towards the stairwell, to look down into it. I saw him
moving at the last moment, and lowered my shoulder, crashing
it into his side.

He went sprawling; the board he had used to attack Baxter
was thrown from his paws as he landed. It clattered over the
old wooden floor, and teetered on the edge of the large
opening under the clockworks, then slowly fell over the
edge.

I pulled myself to my full height, planting my paws on the
floor and pointing my needler down at Wrede. He was slowly
pulling himself up to his feet, his paws held up prone, and
a smirk on his muzzle.

"I'm impressed. I didn't think you would find me," he said
as he slowly stood up, a slight frown on his disfigured
face.

"We're full of surprises," I said.

He laughed, shaking his head, taking a step towards me.

I grunted, and held my ground. I doubted that my stun
needles would have any more effect on him today than they
had the night before, which made them useless. If I could
hold him for another minute or two, Baxter and Fox would be
back at my side. They would finish with him, taking him to
prison to stand trial, and to be locked away for his crimes.

This was also the bastard that had tried to kill Fox, even
if unknowingly. He had been more than willing to kill
however many police officers he could with that gas, or
anyone else who might have gotten in the way. He was the
type of person I would be going after, if I returned to the
Guild.

And he wouldn't hesitate to kill me, not unless I killed him
first. Deliberately, I dialed the needler over to the lethal
setting. As part of myself slipped away, my training took
over.

"You've killed a lot of people," I told him, condemning him
with my words. I didn't intend to let him leave the building
alive.

"And you're next," he said, and started to rush me. I lunged
forward, crashing into his chest, and shoving the muzzle of
the needler against his chest.

There was a sudden look of surprise in his cold eyes, as if,
in that instant, he understood what was happening. I glared
back at him, my eyes just as cold as his, and fired two
needles into him.

He let out a surprised gasp as the toxin hit his system. His
eyes were suddenly afire, blazing with hatred and anger as
they started to glaze over.

I pushed him, pushed him hard, sending him stumbling back on
his failing legs, towards the edge of the floor. He rolled
back, spinning his arms, trying to regain his balance, but
that would never happen.

He stepped back over the edge, losing his balance and
tumbling backwards, through the open floor. A few moments
later I heard the wet slap as his body hit the ground, a
hundred or more feet below.

"Oriana?" I heard Fox ask from the back of the room.

Suddenly reality returned, and I was whole again.

Bile started to rise up as I heard Fox rush over towards me.
"Are you alright?"

I shook my head.

"You had no choice," he said, placing his paw on my
shoulder, and squeezing it gently.

No choice? I had a choice, and I had chosen to be a member
of the Guild. I had chosen to follow my training. I had
chosen to take the extreme way out in a situation that
hadn't yet called for it.

I turned around, and wrapped my arms around Fox, pulling him
close to me and burrowing my face against him. The pain I
felt was real; I had taken a life again. This was the second
time I'd done it by choice. It hu