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