Small Changes

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

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.

   To Be Continued...

-----

This story is copyright 2003 by Fox Cutter. Hardcopy
reprints limited to one per person, all other rights
reserved. This story may not be distributed for a fee except
by permission of the author, and this copyright notice may
not be removed.