Well, seeing as though my first story got such a great reception. :/ Little disappointed about that, but hey; can't help everyone. Hopefully this goes over well with everyone. I'd love some feedback since my first attempt fell flat and kinda killed my confidence, which is why I came here in the first place. I'll leave it at that, and I hope you enjoy.
[Sierra]
[x][x][x][x]—[x][x][x][x]
Chapter One
[x][x][x][x]—[x][x][x][x]
"Atta girl Shira, you're doing great," the female collie-wolf hybrid's coach said with confidence and assurance, dumping a stream of cold water onto her neck. As two other trainers tended to her bruises and other wounds, including a cut just underneath her pale blue eye, her coach continued, "You've got the upper hand on her, but don't let her get away with shit. Stay low, keep her moving, tire her out, and then strike. That's how you won the title, and that's how you're gonna keep it."
The collie-wolf hybrid, Shira, merely nodded in affirmation.
"Now get out there and kick some ass," the trainer said with enthusiasm, squirting an ample amount of iced water into her muzzle. She swallowed half, then spit the rest out onto the sweat-permeated mat as she rose form her stool.
Shira could feel her brown and gray fur cling to her skin and weigh her down. Her soaked black attire sporting her many sponsors added to that unfortunate weight addition, but this was the condition she thrived in. Zara, the female Alsatian across from her, gave off an aura of intimidation, being that she stood at six foot five and had the figure of a natural born fighter, but Shira managed to top that, being as she stood at six foot eight and had a slender, firm physique and stature. She had to hand it to her shepherd opponent; Zara was surviving her onslaught very well, and even managed to get a few good licks on her in the process, evident with the cut under her eye. If anyone had a chance to end Shira's title reign as the female heavyweight champion, it was Zara.
She took the moment of preparation to get her quick moment of Zen and psych herself up for the final round. Bouncing on her feet, she waited for the referee to signal the fight to recommence. As was her usual ritual, Shira took a quick moment to extend her gloved paw, yet keeping her expression blank and focused. Zara returned the gesture, tapping her own paw against the collie's, then wasted no time in continuing the match.
Shira nimbly dodged a left jab aimed at her muzzle, countering it with a low kick that caught the back of Zara's knee. Momentarily caught stumbling, Zara could only raise her arms up to block whatever strike was sure to come from the hybrid while she fought to regain her balance. Shira followed with three quick strikes against the Alsatian's arms just to wear her down.
Both fighters backed away to size each other up once more. Both were exhausted, battered, bruised, abused, and holding back overwhelming pain as they limped around the perimeter of the inner circle. Zara's limp on the leg Shira's savage kick impacted looked absolutely sickening, for it seemed she could only put a minute fraction of her full body weight on it. They both had their tongues limply hanging out of their muzzles, panting, and internally pleading for something to end the match.
Shira stared down Zara with her icy eyes, still as calm and collected as she was when the match first started. Noticing that the shepherd's limp was progressively getting worse the more she moved around, Shira took her opportunity. She inched forward and attempted to strike, but only made feints to get the injured canine moving. The appalling limp, as she anticipated, had become so strong that Zara's movements as a whole were becoming slow and uncoordinated.
This was her time.
With a rush of adrenaline, Shira drove forward, completely catching the Alsatian off-guard as the hybrid landed a heavy hook into her ribcage. She recoiled at the impact, leaning right into another blow that caught the other side of her chest. Zara quickly tried to escape her predicament, only to have her leg buckle as she fell to the ground. As the crowd boisterously screamed at the ensuing exchange, Shira pounced on her incapacitated opponent, straddling her chest as she nailed one strike after another, pummeling the poor shepherd's face. The referee was quick to intervene when he noticed that Zara was not coherently trying to defend herself due to the hybrid's savage assault. As soon as he told Shira to get off, the collie hybrid roared with feral intensity at the recognition of victory, causing the entire arena to erupt into hysterics.
After all of the trainers and reporters flooded the caged octagon, and after the fighters had a moment to regain their breath and let their emotions simmer down (for the most part), the in-ring announcer loudly proclaimed Shira Amorae as the winner and retainer of the women's heavyweight belt via technical knock-out. Objecting from any interviews, Shira surrounded herself with her trainers and had them escort her out of the spotlight, potentially to get her into a quiet room to regain her bearings and to calm the ringing in her ears.
"She's good," Wolf O'Donnell said truthfully, keeping himself and his two teammates, Leon Powalski and Panther Caroso, in the shadows lining the main arena.
"I like her," the chameleon to his right remarked. "Like a thunderstorm, this Shira is. Beautiful… but dangerous. Extremely violent. I bet she enjoys destroying her competition…"
"I personally prefer it when they don't resist," Panther added, smirking at the ring below. "I'm glad I'm not picking a fight with her."
"All right; let's hit it," Wolf abruptly stated, backhanding both of his teammates. All three pulled up black half-masks hanging from their necks, painted with the skeleton of their respective jaw composition in a contrasting white design. They all sported similar attires, mainly comprised of black Kevlar vests and dark cargo pants, completely loaded with tactical gear concealed from prying eyes.
The trio exited the main arena, flowing with the early departing crowd in order to stay obscured and secretive. Leon led the way, with Panther and Wolf closely pursuing while acting as ordinary as possible. None seemed to notice their heavy tactical gear aside from a few, who just looked and made nothing of it. Wolf's identifying mark, his glowing cybernetic eyepiece, was not on his person to potentially blow their cover. Funny enough, Wolf never needed the damn thing. He only wore the patches and eyepieces to add to his already intimidating aura, but in stealth missions such as this, he didn't need silly accessories weighing him down.
While Wolf and Panther watched his back, Leon procured a small, metallic stick from his pocket, then activated a narrow green beam that melted right through the deadbolt lock on a supply room. Both Leon and Panther slipped inside while Wolf stood right outside to keep a watchful eye.
"We're gonna need the tactical set; nothing heavy," Wolf spoke quietly into his microphone hidden away by his mask. "SMGs. Suppressors. We're gonna need to be quick here."
"Target?" Leon's voice crackled through his earpiece.
Wolf outstretched his arm, then swiped at his wrist towards his body, toggling a holographic map display to coat his bare forearm. He zoomed in on the map, a pulsating dot appearing once he zoomed in far enough. Right where he needed it to be.
"Still on-site," Wolf replied, deactivating the display. "The entourage hasn't left yet, so that's a good sign."
"Better not've," Panther broke in. "I'm not letting this bounty go to waste."
"We all aren't," Wolf gruffly responded. "Let's get movin', boys."
Leon and Panther exited the room shortly after, handing off a compact SMG and a few extra tactical objects to the guarding wolf. The trio folded up their respective weapons and strapped them to the backs of their vests, then reassumed their line and advanced. This time, Panther took the lead, slipping forward and through one of the interconnecting tunnels that lead out into the main arena. He raised up his wrist, activating a lens of sorts that he used to scan the interior. After sweeping his arm throughout the sections, he stopped when his scanner picked out something.
"Got eyes on target," Panther said in a low whisper, prompting the two others to form up behind him. The black cat held his arm out, pointing at the outline of a figure outlined orange in the middle of a sea of others tinted blue by the artificial display. Wolf chuckled at what he saw.
"Commander Kusa herself," sneered O'Donnell, forcing his arm into the display to zoom in on the image. The young female arctic fox outlined by the orange indicator laughed along with some of her agents, probably discussing the outcome of the match minutes prior. Silky heather gray hair ran down beyond her shoulders, mirroring the pigment of the fur on her forearms and hands. The rest of her fur that wasn't concealed by tight black leggings and a rosy pink sweater was colored either light gray or white depending on where it was. However, even with the distance Wolf had on the Commander, he could tell that, underneath her sweater, was a thinner, yet more protective vest much like his own. She came prepared.
"Around," Wolf growled through clenched teeth. "Leon, pull a disruptor EMP here. We'll have five minutes to get around, maybe less."
As Wolf and Panther retreated into the perimeter concourse, the chameleon pulled the pin on a cylindrical canister, then tossed it around the corner of the tunnel before backing out as well. As he calculated, the grenade rolled halfway down the seating section before tumbling down a few rows. As soon as it reached the bottom row, it silently detonated in a dense, electrical shockwave that sent electronics into a standstill.
Commander Kusa flinched when her concealed earpiece suddenly erupted into loud static. She cringed at the intense sound, instantly ripping it out of her vulpine ear as the guards surrounding her did the same.
"What was that?" Kusa demanded, her bushy tail beginning to flick around erratically.
"Glitch in the system," a feline officer assured her, attempting to activate a HUD on his visor only to be rewarded with nothing. "Huh… I'm dead."
"I'm out too," another spoke up, launching a frenzy of similar responses from her team of armored officers.
"Okay, time to go then," the vixen concluded, patting the two nearest officers on their shoulders. "I'm not taking any chances. Let the perimeter know we're on our way."
"Comms are out too," the feline officer from before informed her. "We're blind for now."
Commander Kusa huffed in subtle anger. "Just get me out of here then."
"Understood."
Nestled in the protective bubble of armored agents, Kusa found herself enveloped behind much taller soldiers that towered over her by as much as a foot and a half in some instances. Even so, she poked her muzzle out of the gap between two of the front-most guards, watching as they primed their weapons as they escaped through the hallway.
Wolf stopped and signaled for his team to disappear behind the indentation for the now closed concessions as the team of agents popped out into the concourse with their VIP in tow. "Shit, they're on the move," he hissed, poking his eyes out to see the team wind the curving concourse lining the circular arena. "Caroso, stalk the prey. Tell us where they're going, and for God's sake, don't let them see you. Leon, you're with me. We're gonna cut 'em off."
The three broke up, Powalski closely pursuing O'Donnell as they darted across the concourse to the outer rim, stopping at an employee access only stairwell locked by a keypad. Leon touched his wrist, activating a program with a subsequent interface that cycled through all nine digits in the four-digit combination. Within seconds, they were able to slip through the unlocked door, descending into the bowels of the arena.
"Update," Wolf blurted out, reactivating his holographic forearm map of the arena. The blinking red dot from before still sat comfortably on the west side, where Kusa and her team were headed as well.
"Still moving," Panther's quiet voice answered. "Seven guards total. All suited up, most with carbines."
"Do not engage," Wolf demanded. "If you need to, divert them. Push them back to the north end."
Caroso acknowledged his order positively, shutting his microphone off while silently stalking his prey. Darting from cover to cover without drawing attention to himself, the panther always kept Commander Kusa and her entourage of protection within view. He refrained from chuckling as he watched Kusa figuratively drown in her taller and much burlier protection.
He noticed a fuse box nestled behind crates of merchandise and hidden behind the outcropping of the outermost wall. Checking his surroundings for the umpteenth time, Panther rushed over and slid behind the makeshift cover. He cut the lock and examined the contents, searching for something to impede the Commander's advance. After a scan of the systems, he found out that one of the fuses was connected to the west side mechanical gates, so he wasted no time in shortening out that specific line with a program on his wrist.
The entourage stopped in their tracks as they saw the gates descending down on the exit, scattering the steady stream of fans attempting to exit through that same gateway. Confusion quickly settled into fear and worry for Kusa, her tail beginning to spastically flail around.
"Damn," one of her guards cursed, holding up his arm and pointing down the opposite way, where, unbeknownst to him, Caroso sat in the shadows as he stalked his eventual prey. "North side, everyone; north side. Kazer, Taric; see if you can override the gates and let everyone through. If you can, let the convoy know we've changed locations."
"Yes, sir," a golden furred fox and a similarly colored canine both said in unison, prompting the remaining team to turn around and head straight for Panther.
"Package has been intercepted," Caroso boasted quietly. "Comin' back around to you fellas. North end lot. Convoy is staying put."
"Good work," Wolf praised, letting let Leon slip ahead to use his special program to unlock yet another restricted door. Inside sat a small intersecting room littered with extra technological equipment, with a hallway leading down to the locker rooms, an exit to the outside, and a steel staircase leading up to the catwalk for maintenance. Wolf's scanning program he brought up upon entering showed that there was a shortcut through an access gate up on the catwalk that would put them right in front of the north exit. After informing Leon, the two made their way towards the stairs.
Kusa moaned in protest, glancing down at her watch, which too had been affected by the disrupting burst. "I don't like this," she remarked bitterly.
"We're just doing our job, Miss Atkiness," a different agent reminded her. "We'll get you out safe and sound."
Paranoia plagued the poor vixen to the point where her light brown eyes flashed around her vicinity, focused on picking out minor details that may be hazardous. She clung onto the biggest body of her security force, tightly holding his short sleeve that slipped out of his protective vest. "Please hurry," she requested, her voice squeaky and unsettled.
"Easy, Commander," came the chuckle of the rear guard, unclasping a pistol from his belt and gently handing it to the gray arctic fox. "Here, this should ease your worries."
"Thanks, I feel so much better," Kusa said with sarcasm, examining the weapon given to her. After a second, she said, "Thanks, anyway. I do feel a little better now."
The accessible catwalk high above the concourse provided a unique layer of cover for Wolf and Leon as they crept above Kusa and her team of agents like a hawk watching over its eventual dinner. Leon gave the interior of the building one more scan with his wrist-com, revealing that they didn't have much more distance to cover before they were at the foot of the north gate. He informed Wolf this fact, to which he decided to improvise.
Wolf suddenly broke off the trail of the catwalk, heading straight for another access door that Leon had to unlock. As the chameleon worked his magic, O'Donnell pried the cover off of a ventilation duct, the tossed a primed smoke grenade down the tube. Seconds later, after Leon had cut through the secure door, the floor fifty feet in front of the Commander and her crew suddenly became enveloped in a haze of white smoke. Screams were heard as both Star Wolf members reentered the passageway, traversing a long set of steel stairs before linking back up with the backstage area of the building.
"Commander, stay back," her advisor commanded, holding his carbine stock up to his shoulder as he scanned the smoke cloud with his mounted sights. The area around his glowing crosshairs pulsated every other second, illuminating the terrain obscured by the smokescreen. Luckily, all he saw was the outline of the concourse and a few terrified fans scattering from the scene. That still didn't prompt Kusa to release her white-knuckle grip on her handgun.
She prodded the shoulder of another guard with the barrel of the weapon. "Is it safe?"
"For now," he answered confidently.
"I'm not so sure," she argued, narrowing her eyes at the smokescreen. "That's too coincidental that a puff of smoke happens right here, right as we're walking by."
"Just relax, Commander, we can handle this," the first agent said surely.
"They're stopped because of the smoke," Panther informed them over their line. "If you're gonna do it, do it now."
O'Donnell and Powalski came across a room much like the one they were in moments prior; an intersecting room with a hallway leading to the dressing rooms and an exit to the outside, all overlooked by a steel catwalk. The booming sound of heavy boots on steel caught the ears of a resting Shira Amorae, piquing her interest as soon as the muffled sound reached her room. After removing the numerous cold packs and bags of melting ice off of her aching joints, as well as the seat of insulating earphones from her head, the collie hybrid gently rose to her feet and approached the door to her room. Tired from her match and annoyed by the clatter, she angrily jerked her door open and looked outside.
The hall down in the opposite direction looked calm, but when she looked down the other side, she saw the two dark clothed members of Star Wolf just get to the bottom of the stairs; the two that had just caused that clatter. She instantly deduced they weren't supposed to be down here because of their outfits. That was the first strike. The second strike was that they were the ones that caused the ruckus that disturbed her time of rest.
"Hey!" Shira snapped. "The hell are you two?"
Both men turned to face the dressing rooms' hallway, freezing as they saw the mixed martial artist staring back at them; her intimidating icy eyes glaring at them with curiosity, but predominant distaste. Leon merely pulled a smoke detonator from his vest, pulled the pin, then lobbed it into the hall. Unknowing what it was, but having the subliminal notion that it was hazardous in a way, Shira dove and scooped it up before it had the chance to detonate, rolled through her dive, then launched it back towards the duo as they attempted to climb back up the stairs. It had such perfect timing that it detonated in a huge puff of white smoke as soon as it touched the steel stairs, consuming both Wolf and Leon inside.
They had no choice but to retreat back down the staircase, where Shira lunged with newfound adrenaline; landing a devastating hook right into the chameleon's chest that sent him sprawling to the ground. Wolf noticed her rage and attempted to traverse the stairs once more, only to have the collie hybrid yank his ankle and pull him down. His jaw bounced off the stairs, dazing him a bit, but he managed to roll over and kick her away, only furthering the fighter's anger.
Shira barreled after Wolf, climbing up as many as three stairs at a time to chase after him. He stood his ground once he got to the top of the catwalk, using his own training to defend against the hybrid as she continued her assault. Punch after punch was thrown at Wolf, who barely managed to either deflect, dodge, or tank each blow as he was pushed farther back. Growling with impatience, Wolf tried his own attack, only to get it blocked away easily, and receive a kick to the gut for his troubles. She then grabbed his vest and pulled it towards her, stunned him with a violent uppercut with the pit of her elbow, then clotheslined him over the railing of the catwalk where he smashed through a table nearly fifteen feet below. Leon abandoned his attempted counterattack and went straight to check up on his boss, who laid on his back in amongst splintered wedges of wood, coughing and sputtering.
Shira dove over the guardrail, rolling head over heels to tackle Leon, then immediately sprung back to her feet afterward. While Leon flipped over and attempted to stand up, the hybrid scooped up a black steel chair leaning against the wall, and while holding both legs, she savagely cracked it over the chameleon's back over and over again until screws were coming loose and the chair no longer looked like a chair. After examining the mangled steel, she tossed it onto Powalski's writhing body
"Who the hell are you?" Shira snarled, grabbing Wolf by the neck and effortlessly pulling him out of the shrapnel of the table. Gripping the scruff of his neck, Shira forced the wolf against the wall, holding him almost a foot above the ground. "I said, who are you?"
Wolf responded by jerking his knee up into Shira's crotch, getting her to falter only slightly. That allowed him to thrust his wrist into her exposed midriff, consequently causing the fighter to howl in pain before collapsing to the ground with a dangerously high amount of volts coursing through her muscles. Against his body's will, Wolf stood up with great difficulty, before arousing Leon with a few gentle kicks and taps.
"We're… gonna need a moment, Caroso," Wolf wheezed, rubbing some of the pain out of his shoulders. "Stall the convoy. We got ambushed; we need a moment to recover."
"I'll… ask about that later…" Panther said with hesitance at first, before adding, "I've got an idea. You've got about five minutes to get up here, though."
Panther watched Kusa and her team exit when the smoke cleared, reforming on the sidewalk in front of the arena. They scanned the roads down all four directions the intersection before them sported, before one of them left the group, presumably to gain the attention of the vehicular entourage. Caroso then located his own EMP grenade on his vest, rolling it along the sidewalk after pulling the pin. It rolled behind a trash receptacle before detonating, instantly interfering with the electronic signs overhead as well as the stoplight at the intersection.
"Oh great," one of Kusa's men groaned. "Now we've got to deal with idiotic traffic. What the hell is going on tonight?"
"Someone's after me," Kusa abruptly concluded, instantly wedging herself behind an agent and the wall of the arena. She pulled back on his arms, effectively creating a little sanctuary for her to hide in. "EMPs, smoke bombs, closing the gate on us? What's next, an assassin putting a bullet in my head?"
"Miss Atkiness, please calm down," an agent told her calmly. "You'll be fine. Look, I see the convoy right now."
The light gray vixen breathed a huge sigh of relief at the sight of the familiar line of trucks abruptly hopping the curb and parking halfway up the sidewalk. Six more men in armored suits rushed out upon stopping, immediately creating a small perimeter that secured their Commander. She was escorted to the third truck in the line of five, where, upon arriving, the back door to said truck opened with an all too familiar face popping out.
"It's McCloud," Panther growled into his receiver. "McCloud is with Kusa."
"Son of a bitch," Wolf growled back in predominant pain. "Caroso, just bail. Get out of there… We need to leave… now."
"Understood," Panther growled against his will, disappearing into the shadows.
"Do you know what it was?" Fox McCloud asked her.
"Yes," Kusa said, evidently out of breath. "It was some sort of EMP charge, but I don't know where it came from. One second our comms were on, and the next we got static. Then we got trapped by a gate closing on us, and then a smoke bomb went off in front of another gate."
"Well, I'm glad you got out of there when you did," Fox replied with a sure-footed smile. "I'll lag behind and see if anyone tries to follow you."
"Bless you, Fox," Kusa said with gratitude. "I'd really appreciate it."
"It's my pleasure, Commander," Fox smiled even more warmly than before. The vixen extended her hand, to which Fox shook in a firm, yet gentle shake. Before he could react, Kusa had pulled Fox in for a random, playful embrace; evidently relieved with being in the safety of her full protection team.
Upon breaking up the impulsive hug, Kusa smiled warmly at the mercenary. "Meet back up with me in my office at HQ once you're done, Fox," she told him with her natural authoritative tone, adding flirtatious body language as her tail brushed up against Fox's leg. Smirking all the while, she added, "I've wanted to talk to you for some time now, but our schedules keep conflicting. You're not busy tonight, are you?"
"Not that I'm aware of," Fox smirked, fully aware of the young Commander's attempted flirtation. "What's this about?"
"Well, I really appreciate the whole Star Fox team acting as my last line of defense, bit I actually would like to commission you with an assignment," Kusa explained. "I'll fill you in with details later tonight, okay?"
"Sounds good, Commander," Fox nodded.
"Kusa," the vixen corrected with a grin. "Call me Kusa, Fox."
Fox simply smiled and nodded, opening the rear door for the vixen. Slyly, Kusa blew him a kiss before disappearing inside the armored vehicle, Fox blushing a bit as a result. As the line of trucks filed out, Fox turned to the remaining agents and went over a plan, subconsciously watching the truck that held Kusa pull away.
Still in the shadows, Caroso eyed the truck departing as well, only his eyes were focused on the tiny tracker embedded into the rear quarter panel. He glanced to his wrist, smirking as he saw the red indicator dot from before slowly roll away.
"Tagged her," Panther said in quiet triumph. "She can run… but Panther always gets what he wants…"