[FUR] AFiW: For All My Sins, I'll Have to Pay - Even
Fox Cutter
in a day or two (I'm nothing if not quick on my turn around). This is
the first part of the middle story of what I generally called the "Die
Another Day" sequence. It worked better then one then one large story.
Like I always say, you can find this story, and all my stories, on my
website.
--Fox Cutter
(Who's a Lion Morph)
Writer of "A Fox in the Works"
http://www.chaos-keep.com/
============
A Fox in the Works
For All My Sins, I'll Have to Pay
By
Fox Cutter
1: Even
5/17/2000:
In all honesty I expected Oria to meet me as soon as I stepped out of
the fold room. It was what normally would have happened, but in this
case it did not. I shouldn't have been to surprised; my wife had a
life outside of myself, and that sometimes took her away from home. I
just shrugged, pulled my duffle bag over my shoulder and started on
down the hallway.
I didn't get more than a few steps when I heard the strains of an
argument. It was Samantha's voice, but I couldn't quite make out the
words just yet. I slowed down my pace just a little bit as I neared
the kitchen, the source of the argument.
"You are not going to go, and that's final," Oriana snapped, followed
by the sound of something hitting the table. I stepped around the
corner, Ravindar in tow, and found that my wife was standing up, her
fist on the table. Samantha was across the table from her, with
Mallory at her side. Santhara was standing at the doorway and gave me
a nod as I came in, but the rest ignored me.
"The hell I'm not! I'm not going to leave this lie. I'm going to find
out what the hell is going on," Samantha replied.
I shook my head and sighed. "What's going on here?" I asked.
Mallory spoke up, rising up to his full height. "You cannot stop us.
We are going to continue to be involved in this no matter what you
wish," he said.
Oriana shook her head, her hair flying as her ears pressed down
against her head. "I'm the one who can get the information, and I'm
not going to give it to you. I'm not going to risk anyone else getting
killed!"
I pulled back at this, gasping softly and looking between my wife and
my friends, "What happened?" I asked. Still I was ignored.
"That could have easily been you and me," Samantha replied.
That was too much for me to just stand around and listen to. "What the
HELL is going on!" I yelled out, throwing my bag to the ground.
The three of them finally noticed that I was there. A look of horror
crossed Oriana's face as she realized I had heard a good part of the
‘conversation'. "Fox--" she started to say but I just waved her off.
"What exactly is going on?" I asked, placing my hands on the table and
glaring at all three of them.
My wife paused a bit, her ears lifting and then falling back into her
hair. "Jadith is dead," she said in a soft voice.
This was not what I had expected to hear, and it hit me like a punch
to the gut. I pulled out a chair and collapsed down into it, my head
dropping slightly as my eyes unfocused. I wasn't sure how to react to
that. My head was spinning and my ears were roaring with the sound of
my own heartbeat. Jadith, of all people, Jadith, who had saved my life
more times than I was comfortable with. How could she have just
died... been killed.
"What happened?" I asked, my head snapping up to look at my friends.
"She found some information about a couple of safe houses where Clark
might have been. The one that Jadith and Sora went to exploded,
killing Jadith and nearly killing Sora," Oria explained in a soft
voice. My friends around us slouched slightly at the words.
I let out a long sigh and placed a head on my face, blocking out my
eyes for a few moments. I closed them and tried to compose myself. My
mind was racing, trying to work out how all this could have happened.
"Why did they go there?" I asked. It was a dumb question, Oriana had
just told me why, but still I had to ask it.
"It was the most likely location, and she had the authority to do
something about it," Samantha said, pressing herself a bit closer to
Mallory's large body.
Licking my lips, I looked up at Samantha and then over to Oriana. "And
what were you doing?"
"We were at the other location," my wife replied.
I looked between Samantha and Oriana, and sighed. "It could have been
you," I said.
She shook her head. "No, it couldn't have been. I never had the
authority that Jadith had. If you were there, then yes, it could have
been, but not just by myself."
Trying to think, I stood back up, shaking my head as I did so. "That
doesn't matter, it could have been you. It could have easily been you.
Both locations could have been bombed, it could have happened no
matter what," I said, partly babbling.
Mallory walked over to me and placed one of his large hands on my
shoulder. "I understand how you feel, the same emotions came to me
when I heard what had happened, but you can not dwell on what could
have been. Our mates are safe for the moment, and now we must avenge
the loss of your friend," he said in a low tone.
I lifted an eyebrow at this. "Avenge? That's an interesting way to put
it. Someone did this and we have to find them and drag them kicking
and screaming to the OZG," I replied.
"That is a start, but it does have to be done," he replied.
Oriana nodded her head, quickly moving over to me. "It does have to be
done."
I nodded my head and looked around at everyone, my mind still jumping
all over, still spinning around. I wanted to find a way to get my feet
back on the ground. I wanted a place to start. "I want to see it, I
want to see where she was killed," I said.
"Okay, but it's not nice to see," Oriana said and turned around,
walking back to the fold room. I followed right behind her with
Samantha and Mallory just behind and the bodyguards brining up the
rear. My wife pulled out her portal controller and opened up the fold.
We crossed over and came out into a nice looking suburban
neighborhood. Down the street I could see police tape and debris in
the street.
We walked at a brisk pace down the street, as we neared the place
Oriana started to fall back. "There's too much splitters and glass, it
would tear up my feet," she said, looking down. Her feet were bare as
usual.
I nodded and gave her a kiss between her eyes. "Okay, hon, you stay
here for now," I said then started back down the street, Samantha and
Mallory at my side.
It didn't take long for me to finally see the house, not that it was
that much of a house to start with. The street in front of it was
marked off with police tape and debris lined the edge of the street
and the grass of the nearby houses. The two houses next to the crater
were seriously damaged. I didn't think either one could be saved. The
crater was just that, a hole in the ground with pieces of wood and
masonry filling it.
The street in front of the house was heavily discolored a dark
blackish brown. Walking towards it I frowned a bit. It was dried
blood, smeared around and pooled a bit as well.
"This must be where Sora landed," Samantha said.
"Landed?"
"She was blown clear by the explosion. The medics said she must have
flown," Samantha explained.
I nodded a bit and looked back down at the stain on the ground. I took
a few steps back and looked back at the remains of the house. I
casually walked along the debris, kicking a few out of the way as I
neared the crater. I glanced back at Samantha and could see Oriana
waiting in the distance. "Where was Jadith's body?"
"I really don't know," she replied.
I nodded again and folded my arms behind my back, clenching my hands
into tight fists. I wanted to do more, but just looking down at the
hole made me mad. I wanted to do something, to do anything, but all I
could do was just stand there.
Samantha walked up to stand beside me, and Ravindar was a few feet
behind. "We have to do something about this," she said.
I nodded my head. "Yes, yes we do. The OZG will still have the
information that Jadith used. I think it's time we took advantage of
that," I said, turning around and stalking back towards where my wife
was waiting for me.
She gave me a knowing look as I walked past. "What are we going to
do?" she asked.
"Take care of this, all of us. We were all involved in this and we're
not going to cut anyone out," I said, and then lapsed into silence as
we walked back to the fold. This time I opened it. and we all went
back into the house.
"I need to make a call," I said as I broke away from the group and
headed to the office, Ravindar at my side.
Once behind my desk, I made a call to Jadith's old number. I was not
surprised when the line was picked up and I saw the somewhat
unfamiliar face of her second in command on the screen. She looked
human, but not quite right as humans went. Her ears were too pointed,
poking out of her black hair. Her skin was almost gray in color and
her eyes were a flat black. She looked at me with a bit of surprise,
then nodded her head.
"Mr. Cutter, I'm glad to see you are back on world," she said.
"That I am, Natasha," I said after a moment of struggling to remember
her name.
"Is this about Bad Wolf?" she asked, her eyes glowing slightly as she
spoke.
I gave her a vicious smile. "Oh yes, it's time to go kill it."
* * *
The six of us filed into a meeting room at the OZG. It wasn't exactly
what I expected. It just had a single table in the center of the room
with twelve chairs. In other situations any meeting would have taken
place in Jadith's office, but Natasha had a different frame of mind
for such things.
Oriana, Samantha and I each took a seat at the table. The two tigers
took up a position at the back of the room, each one flanking the
single door. Mallory stood at the table next to Samantha, the chairs
were the wrong size for the large alien. He simply wouldn't fit.
I folded my hands on top of the table and tried to wait. It was
uncomfortable and we were all fidgeting, even the bodyguards. I think
we all wanted to be doing something, not waiting to find out what
would happen next, or what we could even do. No one really spoke, we
just shared glances and maybe tried to say something, but nothing
really came out.
Finally the silence was broken as Natasha came into the room, her body
almost floating over the ground under her floor length skirt, much
like what Oriana wore. The skirt was a flat gray that matched her
buttoned up shirt and it all seemed to flutter around her figure. She
had a thick folder tucked under her arm and looked us all over as she
walked to the opposite side of the table and sat down.
She set the folder down, flicked it open and looked up at us. Resting
her hands on the table on either side of the folder she finally spoke.
"So, this must be your team?"
"Yes it is," I replied, glancing down at her hands. Her fingernails
were cut to a short point and were black all the way through. They
looked like they could cut my skin without much effort.
"Took you a little bit longer to get in than I had expected," she
said, flipping through the pages in the folder.
I shrugged my shoulders. "There were some issues with getting in the
building. I had to pull a bit of rank."
She looked us over and tilted her head slightly to the side. "Then I
have to assume that you are all armed. That's probably for the best,
considering your file. I suspect that we will be needing that fairly
soon."
"I guess it depends on what other information you have and if there
are other locations to check."
Natasha turned a few more pages and nodded her head. "There are a few
more locations, yes. I only recently gained access to these files so I
am still familiarizing myself with them.
"How many is a few?" Oriana asked.
She looked over the page with narrowed eyes then smiled a bit. "There
are only three," she said, pulling the page free and sliding it across
the table to us. I picked it up and looked over the page. It had five
addresses, two of which had been marked off with notes in Jadith's
handwriting.
My wife took the page from me and looked it over. "This looks simple
enough. Fox and I can take the one that seems the most likely," she
said.
"I don't think that's the best choice, not with the bodyguard. I think
it should be two for each location," Samantha said, reaching past me
to pluck the paper from Oria's fingers.
I nodded as I glanced between the two of them. "That is probably for
the best."
"Perhaps we should not go alone? The threat may be greater than
expected," Mallory said, moving next to Samantha so he could see the
page from over her shoulder. A moment later he gently took it from
her, his segmented jaw flexing.
Natasha shook her head. "That might not be the best choice; if anyone
sees us approaching with an armed platoon they will run. A few normal
looking people will be enough to not cause them undue concern," she
said, glancing at Mallory as she spoke. The tall alien didn't seem to
notice.
"I suppose that's true," I said, debating whether I should disagree
with her. Going in alone might not have been the smartest idea, not
after what had happened to Jadith. Even so, I was leery of doing
anything that would cause our target to flee. I wanted someone from
whom I could get some answers, one way or another.
"I would like some backup at least, one or two people who can come in
quickly," I finally said, compromising my different thoughts.
"Very well, I will call in some of our undercover agents. I will have
them begin monitoring the locations soon. We will move in soon after,"
Natasha said.
I nodded and leaned back slightly in my seat. "That should be fine."
She smiled at me, a slightly disconcerting sight as her teeth were all
sharply pointed fangs that interlocked with each other. I didn't doubt
that they could tear flesh from bone. There wasn't much else they
could do. "Fox, I will be accompanying you to whichever location you
visit."
"Why is that?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I've read your file. You have a history of being the right man in the
right place at the right time. The odds seem good that this will also
be the case."
"Thank you for the vote of confidence," I said, the comment coming out
with more sarcasm than I had intended.
She nodded a bit and then stood up. "I must make a call. I'll be back
in moment," she said. Walking briskly over to Mallory she took the
page of addresses from him and returned it to her file. The file was
tucked under her arm as she stepped out of the room.
Samantha let out a long breath. "She only looks human. What is she
really?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "I have no idea."
"Whatever she is, her species must be nocturnal," Mallory said,
tapping his thick fingers together.
"You have that look you get when you're stuck on something. What is
it?" Samantha asked as she stood up and walked to her boyfriend, her
tail flicking quickly behind her legs.
He tilted his head to the side and lowered his long neck. "I am not
sure. The addresses on that list seem to have a relation to each
other. I wonder if I could find a map of Corbin," he said, his voice
trailing down into partial silence as he spoke.
Oria slipped her hand around mine and pulled me a bit closer to her. I
wrapped an arm around her waist and nuzzled at the soft fur of her
cheek. She started to purr very softly, and it didn't take long before
I was purring as well, the sounds soon slipping into harmony with each
other.
We finally broke it off when the door opened again. I looked up to see
Natasha walk back into the room. The gray woman settled back down and
dropped the folder back onto the table. "Spotters are in location.
They will also make sure that no one leaves before we reach the
various locations."
"We should probably get going then," I said.
"I would like to see a map before we depart," Mallory said.
Natasha looked up at him, her eyes narrowing just a bit. "Why would
you want that?"
"I think there is more to these locations than just their location,"
he said.
She thought about it for a moment then motioned towards the wall.
"There is one on the terminal there."
He nodded his large head and flexed his segmented jaw. "I will also
need the list of locations."
"Very well," she said, almost in a sigh, and handed him the sheet of
paper. The alien took the paper and walked over to the wall, Samantha
joining him as he slid the wall up to uncover a computer terminal.
Natasha pulled out three more papers and set them face down on the
desk in front of her. "Which one would you like?" she asked.
I gave her a sharp look. With all that was going on, I didn't feel
that it was the proper place for such games. Without a word I picked
up the closest page and turned it over. Oriana took the next sheet and
pushed the third near where Samantha had been sitting.
"I have one further concern before we go," she added.
"Which is?"
"You are a bit of a public figure, and these are not the best of
locations. If you approach them and someone recognizes you from the
news they will reach appropriately. I believe a disguise is in order."
I looked at the odd woman for a moment then nodded my head. She had a
good point, and one I wasn't in the mood to argue with. I took my
glasses off and handed them to my wife. As she took them I allowed
myself to slip into my vulpine form. Naturally the change was not very
smooth as my now large and fairly full tail was bunched up in the back
of my pants.
Standing up I took a moment to readjust myself, undoing the button on
the back of my jeans and threading my tail through the now open hole.
Some final adjustments made sure the clothing wasn't too baggy on my
smaller frame and I kicked off my shoes, they wouldn't help my
digitigrade feet. Lastly I took off my wedding ring and placed it in
my pocket so it wouldn't fall off my smaller finger.
"Now we can go," I said.
"I believe you might wish to see this first," Mallory said. A moment
later a light flared from above, and a map of Corbin appeared on the
table. There were five points of light on the map, four in the middle
of town, and the fifth near the edge.
We all leaned in slightly to look at the image on the table. The four
points in the center of the map were placed in an interesting way. You
could easy make a slightly distorted square between them, and in the
middle was the Marble Hall.
"That is very interesting," I said, rubbing the bottom of my muzzle.
Natasha nodded her head. "And very suspicious too. This is not
something we had realized. I shall notify the Hall's security force."
"Why didn't you work this out sooner?" Samantha asked.
"I was only given access to the files this morning. Jadith kept this
information close to herself. No one even knew that she was in the
field until she was killed."
I nodded and took a few steps back. The one outlying dot on the map
was the place where Jadith had been killed. That made me wonder why it
was so special. "Have you run the information on who owns these
places? There might be a connection between them."
"Something else her secrecy and death prevent us from doing," she
said, tapping her fingers against the wood of the desk.
"You should run it as soon as you can, and against the HammerHead
databases," Oriana added.
Natasha nodded with a look of annoyance."I will make the calls, but
then we will be on our way," she said, then once again picked up her
folder and slipped out of the room.
I watched her go and shook my head. "I didn't realize Jadith was
keeping this so close to her chest. You'd think she would at least
have trusted her second in command."
"Apparently not," my wife replied.
"I suppose so," I said, flicking my tail a bit in annoyance. It was
nice to get back into my fox form, it still felt natural on my body
and I never really spent enough time in it. I suspect my wife was
feeling the same way to judge by the look on her face.
"We should try the norm-shift stone when you are like this," she said
with a smile.
I returned her smile. "Only if you give it a try. I would still like
to see you on all fours," I countered.
A blushed crossed over the fur inside her ears and she lifted one paw
and placed it over her face. "I'll think about it," she whispered.
I shook my head and gave her a soft poke in the arm. "Not just think
about it, I would like for you to do it, just one time, before I have
to take off with the Neverending. I think we will all enjoy it. We
could go for a nice run out at the lake, though we would have to bring
them as well," I said, looking back at our bodyguards.
Ravindar balanced slightly. He remembered the last time he had been
non-morphic and his trip into the lake. Santhara just looked a bit
curious about it. There was a small smile crossing her muzzle, but she
said nothing.
My wife blushed a bit more, letting her paw rest over her eyes for a
moment. "Okay hon, I'll do it, but Rhea has to be morphic so someone
can watch over the children."
"Deal," I said, then gave her a quick kiss. It would disappoint Rhea a
little, but I was sure we could all be non-morphic for a little bit
before I left. The idea of being part of a pile of lionesses with my
wives was very appealing to me.
She returned my kiss for a moment, then pulled away just in time it
seemed, as Natasha came back into the room.
"Everything is ready. Shall we begin?" she asked.
I nodded my head and pulled away from my wife. "We should," I said.
She motioned for us to follow her and left the room again. The six of
us walked after her, down the long hallways of the building to where
the single fold was waiting. The room the fold was inside was much
better reinforced than my fold room, and could easily take a heavy
bomb or two if needed. Once we were all inside Natasha handed each
group a radio, preset to an encoded signal.
The paper I had not only had the address, but the nearest fold and
directions to where we were going. I took out my fold controller and
punched in the fold's address, closing my eyes slightly as the feeling
of it washed over me. I stepped over the threshold with Ravindar and
Natasha at my side.
We found ourselves in a fairly busy commercial area of town. Most of
the buildings around us were ten to fifteen floors high, but a few
were at least twice that. I didn't waste any time looking. As soon as
everyone was through I closed the fold and started following the
directions I had been given.
It was a short walk and the three of us kept a brisk pace. We really
didn't need to rush. The address wasn't even half a mile away and on
the same street. As we got closer I was starting to make it out, a
plain looking building of about ten floors. It hardly stood out from
the rest.
My head was beginning to ache, as was the back of my neck. I tried to
fight it off, I didn't need a headache, not just then, but it
persisted in growing stronger with every step we took. Finally I was
so distracted by the pain that I stumbled over a curb and nearly fell,
only regaining my balance with a couple of well timed skips.
"Are you all right?" Ravindar asked.
"Just a headache, I'll be fine," I said, waving him off with my paw.
The tiger nodded and took a step back, familiar with the headaches I
would sometimes get. I had a treatment for it at home, but I could
deal with it for the time being.
Natasha moved up and looked me in the eyes, her own black eyes
slightly narrow. "When did this start?"
"A few minutes ago. They sometimes--" I started to say, but was
interrupted as she grabbed my arm and started pulling me back the way
we came. I tried to protest but she gave me a dire look that caused me
to shut up for the moment.
We went a full block before she let me go and looked me over again.
"How are you feeling now?" she asked.
"A little annoyed. What was all that about?"
"How is your headache?" she asked again.
I paused for a moment, and was surprised to find that the pain had
gone down a couple notches. "Better," I admitted.
Natasha nodded and folded her hands behind her back. "That is what I
thought. Your wife discovered a device that could hold a ripple in
place. It gave your human friend quite the headache as she got near
it."
This was the first I had heard about such a device. I didn't even
believe such a thing would have been possible. Ripples were formed
like folds, but their movement was part of their nature. To hold one
in place was an insane piece of technology. "It gave Samantha a
headache? Does it only affect naturals?"
"It seems like that is the case. It apparently made her quite ill."
I nodded. "Well, she is more powerful than I am. It might have had a
stronger effect on her."
"We should warn the others," Ravindar said.
Removing the radio from my belt I handed it to the white tiger.
"You're right, we should. If two locations have had this device, the
others might as well. Do you have another natural, someone we can send
to meet Oriana?" This last part was directed at Natasha.
"Jadith was the only natural in the OZG," she replied. "Perhaps you
can switch with your wife?"
I shook my head. "No, if there's a device there it would just be extra
time for no gain. Let's just keep going. If I'm lucky, it won't hit me
as badly as it hit Samantha."
"Very well, but if I tell you to sit out, you will do so. Understood?"
"Understood," I said with an annoyed flick of my tail.
She nodded and started back down the street. I followed right after
her, hoping that I was right. I could deal with some level of a
headache. I used to get them all the time before my exile. If it got
too bad I would be worthless for whatever might happen, and I had too
much invested to allow that.
Clenching my fists, I kept walking as the pain grew within my head. I
was just glad that my wife wouldn't be having the same problem.
* * *
Ravindar's voice came over the radio, sounding tinny through the small
speaker. "It seems like there is another device at this location. You
should be careful," he said.
"I'll keep that in mind," Samantha replied, letting the button up a
little early and cutting off the last syllable.
There was a moment of static on the radio as Oriana joined the
conversation. "We heard that as well. We'll keep an eye out here, but
I don't think it will be an issue."
"You should be careful, none the less," the tiger replied before the
radio fell back into silence.
Samantha stuck the radio back into her belt and looked up at Mallory,
giving him a small smile as they continued walking down the street.
They were in a nice section of Corbin, slightly upscale without being
too fancy. The businesses that lined the street were well tended, and
busy with late afternoon crowds.
"Do you feel anything, St. Clair?" the large alien asked, his tail
sweeping behind him with each wide step he took.
She shook her head, her tail flicking out to tease against his.
"Nothing out of the ordinary. I'll tell you if I get a twinge of
anything." As she spoke she allowed a cigarette to roll down her
fingers. She grabbed it between her fingertips then lit it with a
flick of her other hand. She took a long draw and allowed the smoke to
fill her lungs.
Mallory looked at the paper in his hands, then up at the street signs.
"We need to turn left at this intersection," he said.
With a nod she allowed the smoke to trail past her lips as they walked
around the corner. They were getting near the place and she was eager
to find out what would be waiting for them there. It was unlikely to
be another abandoned building. It would stand out to much. Her tail
twitched in anticipation and then started to relax as she began to
pull her powers back into herself.
"It appears to be halfway down this block... there," the alien said,
pointing to a small shop in the middle of the block.
She laughed to herself and took another draw of her cigarette. She was
wrong, the place was abandoned, but in an upscale way. It had been a
dry cleaners at one point in time, but now it was closed and the
windows were covered with a silver film. There was a single light on
above the door, but it was useless in the daylight.
"Think we'll find anything?" she asked, slipping her hand under her
shirt and unhooking the clasp of her holster. It was too nice an area
to pull the gun free, people would notice.
Mallory nodded his head, his jaws flexing slightly. "I believe that we
will do so." He adjusted the rings that were on each finger. They were
part of a complicated mechanism that connected each ring to a device
in the palm of his hand. There was a gem on each ring, each one
glowing slightly in the light of the suns.
She stopped in front of the closed door and dropped her cigarette to
the ground, grinding it out with the tip of her shoe. When she looked
up she found a wolf standing next to them. He was dressed casually,
but still managed to look like a professional. He had a jacket on that
almost managed to hide the bulge of his gun.
"Natasha told me that you would be easy to find," he said, looking up
at Mallory.
The tall alien lowered his head and chuckled. "I do not exactly blend
in on this world. What do you know of this place?" he asked, pointing
to the closed shop front.
"It's been dead. The front door is locked and the back door is blocked
off by a dumpster. There might be some activity inside, but no one has
gone in or out as long as I've been here," he said, relaxing a bit,
succeeding at looking causal.
Samantha reached out to try the front door, finding it as locked as
the wolf said it would be. "We should probably go inside and see what
is going on, if you have a key."
The wolf gave her a smile and then reached into his jacket, pulling
out a set of lock picks. He moved her out of the way and leaned down
towards the lock, starting to work at it with the tools. She watched
him as he worked, surprised when the lock opened in under a minute.
"You're good," she said.
"The lock was more complicated than it had any right to be. This is
was an expensive upgrade," he said, putting the lock picks back and
pulling the door open.
She nodded and stepped through the open door, pulling her gun free as
she crossed the threshold. Her tail swept behind her as she looked
around the shop. There was a dust covered front desk with an open cash
register in the corner. A small divider was located behind the desk,
and a long line of tubing circled around the ceiling, which eventually
lead into the back of the store.
Mallory came up behind her, and the wolf followed after gently close
the door and attaching some sort of device to it. "No one can get out
now," he said in a soft whisper.
"Good," Samantha said and then walked up to the counter. "Anyone
home?" she called out. The only response was the sound of scrapping
metal in the back of the shop.
The wolf frowned at this and pulled out his pistol, holding it firmly
in his paw. "I suppose that is a yes."
She nodded and flicked out her tail as she walked towards the edge of
the divider. Touching the light switch on the wall she peeked around
the thin wood. The backroom of the shop was large but surprisingly
empty. Some large machines lined the room's back wall, and a single
door was sitting between the machines. Another door was on the far
wall, half open and leading into a small office. There was a toolbox
shoved up in one corner, and a large device hidden next to one of the
machines.
Mallory leaned his head around behind her, taking in all the same
things. "I believe that is the same device we found the day before,"
he said, pointing at the half-hidden device.
"It's just not on yet. We need to double check that door," she said,
looking at the wolf.
The wolf smiled a bit and hunched down, rushing across the open floor.
He moved silently, his footfalls not making a sound as he crossed the
floor. As he moved she noticed the lack of dust on the floor while it
covered the machines. He stopped at the door, trying it with a quick
motion, creating the same scrapping metal sound as before.
She looked back at her boyfriend and smiled to the large alien.
"Someone is definitely here," she said.
Mallory nodded and flexed his hands. "We should take care of them," he
said.
With a glance at the wolf she started moving along the dividing wall,
her eyes staying locked on the open office door. The tall alien
followed behind her as the wolf moved around the opposite wall.
She moved closer to the door, than came to a stop as two shots rang
out, bullets pinging into the wall a few feet in front of her. Pulling
to a stop she glared into the open door then fired two of her own
shots into the room.
Silence fell again, the only sound coming from Mallory moving closer
to her.
"Come out; you have no place to go," the wolf called out.
The response was another few shots, still landing wide of Samantha.
Mallory stepped around her and clenched his hand into a fist. The gems
started to glow with a bright purple light that seemed to wrap around
his hand. Thrusting his arm forward there was a flash of light, and a
ball of plasma leapt off his hand and arched through the air. It
crashed into the half open office door. The wood flared with the
super-heated plasma and moments later fell to ash. The last flames in
the air snuffed out on their own, leaving only a momentary green glow
to mark their passing.
She looked up at him, then back at the weapon in his hand. "That is a
nice toy," she said.
"It serves its purpose," he replied.
"Are you sure you don't want to come out? It will probably be safer
than getting a face full of plasma!" Samantha yelled to the occupants
of the office.
Silence returned for a few more moments, and then a gun was thrown out
of the door. One man, an older human, stepped out, followed by a
second human. Both of them had their hands held above their heads.
"Good choice, you're both under arrest," the wolf said and hurried to
the two men, forcing them both to the floor.
Samantha joined the wolf, searching the younger of the two humans as
he checked the older one. Neither one was armed. When that was done
she looked back into the office. There were some scorch marks on the
walls, but no real damage other than the destruction of the door.
She looked up at her boyfriend and smiled sweetly. "I know what I want
for my birthday."
To Be Continued...
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This story (AFiW #511A) is copyright 2007 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.