[Hello again, for those who read the firsts chapter (assuming) here is the second, and Final chapter... What is two not good enought for you!? well FINE i guess i'll do another chapter. (phases through a wall to his room)
Chapter 2
Living with Regrets
Michael had sat down with Isaac for a while; they had sat inside at the dining room table. Isaac revealed very little about himself, Michael had explained that Jessica's mother's death had been the result of a job he had done. "I was assigned as the accuser for the trial; his name was Benet J. Frost a black husky if I remember correctly. He was on trial for arson, rape, and murder in the name of a gang called 'Higher flames'. They were just thugs, but they had a backing. we needed to find out who it was, so being well versed in such cases I was chosen, I tried and convicted him on fifteen accounts of arson, five counts of rape, and three counts of murder, that was supposed to be the end of it."
Isaac had listened to Michael so far but saw the pain in his eyes "but it wasn't, was it."
Michael put his face in his hands "No, it was far from it. Marcy my wife, Jessica's mother, was… home cooking diner when they came, when she opened that door."
Isaac placed a hand on his shoulder "Michael. I can guess what they did, intimidation is supposed to hurt but sometimes I just don't understand it."
"It was just too much!" Michael said "it was the first time in my life I wanted to pick up that gun my father left me and-and…" he didn't finish the sentence but placed his head in the palms of his hands. "Isaac, I don't expect you to understand, but Jessica is all I have left, I can only imagine how much she must have cried, she was sixteen when it happened. I still can't believe it's been eleven years."
Isaac nodded his head and sighed "I understand sir; you just want to keep her safe." Isaac said he pulled out a small card, etched in white was a phone number and nothing else, "if you ever need anything you can call me."
Michael picked it up off the table and looked at the symbol on the back, a glaring white fox's head on a black background. "What's this?" he looked up but Isaac was gone. Michael stood up and walked to the front door. But he wasn't there either, where did he go? Michael looked up at the ceiling; he started up the stairs toward Jessica's bedroom. When he reached the door he gave two sharp wraps "Jessica?"
"Go away!" an angry voice shouted back.
"Jessica please, just open the door." Michael pleaded.
"I can hear you just fine from here." She snapped.
"Jessica, I'm sorry if I insulted your friend, I just don't want you to get hurt, and you know that. I wish you could understand what I'm trying to do, I just want to keep you safe." Michael leaned back against the door.
The lock turned, Michael stood up straight. The door cracked and two beautiful blue eyes peered out at him, she looks so much like her mother, Michael thought. "I know." she said.
Michael opened the door wider "alright, now give dad a hug I have a meeting to go to." Michael embraced her tightly. "Remember to lock the doors and windows, no friends over. And that boy." Jessica shifted her feet knowing he was referring to Isaac "He's… not that bad." Her eyes lit up "but… if there's trouble you tell him to bring you home. Understand?" Jessica nodded to her father and wrapped her arms around his neck. Michael had to lean over.
"Be safe." Jessica said. Michael patted her back and told her he would then left.
X
Isaac was driving back to the apartment when he saw a group of men in an alley. Well now, what have we here? Isaac wondered to himself. He parked the bike but kept the helmet on. Walking over to a nearby building he climbed the fire escape. Once on the roof he took a running leap to the next building by the alley and crouched as he walked to the edge. Looking over the side he saw the group of men. Standing together in a circle he was too far away to hear them. Isaac pulled off his helmet, digging in his pocket he pulled out an ear piece that looked like a Bluetooth device, and put it in his ear turning it on he turned the dial.
"I'm telling you we should do it tonight." One said.
"No we wait for collection day, besides if he does pay that means we have another source of money." Another said.
"I don't know man it seems fishy."
"What do we have to worry about; all the businesses in this district and the next give us their money. If the old man doesn't pay we just burn the bar to the ground. What's old Rex going to do about it anyway?"
Interesting information, Isaac thought as he pulled the earpiece out and pulled on his helmet.
X
The Group mumbled their agreement, a bulldog gave a huff saying "I still don't like it, Rex is… different. He's not like the rest of the sniveling little shits on this planet; he put Eric and Ronny in the hospital."
A Black panther swayed to the center of the group, dancing a little to the music from his MP3, "quit your whining Bear, so he's got some moves" the panther shuffled his feet and stopped "We'll
wait." He said raising a pistol "so who wants to greet our little spy?" A blaster shot hit Isaac right in the head, knocking him back ward.
A lab gave a whistle "Hey not bad, nice shot, Ray."
The panther laughed "thanks, now let's get out of here."
X
Kursed stood on a roof top looking out over the city. "I miss being up there," Kursed said, "oh Fox; I wonder what you're doing now?" Kursed jumped back as a blaster shot rang out across the city. Walking back over to the edge she looked around, where did that come from? Kursed saw a large group scattering from an alley. Reaching into the pouch on her belt she pulled out night vision goggles. Looking down she zoomed in on a small group that had broken off from the main body and was running through the streets. A beeping attracted her attention "a weapon signature, huh." Kursed turned around and walked to the roof access and went back inside.
A while later Kursed was in the alley where the group had come from, nothing out of the ordinary to the naked eye. Kursed pulled the Goggles back over her eyes turning them to thermal imaging. She could see the foot prints from the gathering, odd, what could they have been doing, Kursed went back out into the street. Walking around she noticed a red hoover bike parked on the side of the street. Kursed looked around with the thermal imagine goggles. Foot prints led away from the bike into an alley about a block away from her, she followed the tracks into the alley where suddenly they ended. Kursed looked around; something bumped the back of her head. She twisted around and hit it again. Holding the bump she cursed under her breath. she looked up at the fire escape ladder; through the goggles she could see the residual heat from body contact. It wasn't an easy thing to grab the ladder, her grip kept slipping every time and she landed on her tailbone. This isn't working… there's got to be another way. Kursed thought about it for a while, in the end the other way was for her using steel hand claws to scale the side of the building.
Once she was on top of the building she found the heat signature of a body on the building across from her. After jumping across to the other rooftop she came upon a figure wearing a black leather jacket and a helmet. On the helmet cursed could see a scorch mark from a blaster shoot that had ricocheted off the helmet rendering the wearer unconscious but alive. Still if it was just a bike helmet the blaster should have gone right through it. Kursed kneeled next to the body, placing her ear on the chest she listened. A rhythmic thump thump, thump thump of a heart beat met her ears. Kursed lifted the head on her lap as she undid the buckle of the helmet. It slid off revealing a muzzle of a fox, black as night itself. He looked familiar somehow, she shook herself, looking down at the Black fox lying in front of her, so what's your story? Kursed wondered to herself. Examining the helmet she put it on over her head, it was a little big. Suddenly the visor light up with green screens and letters, Kursed looked around with the helmet on, then back at the Fox who was still unconscious. A green outline appeared over his waist, then a beeping. Kursed bent over the vulpine and unzipped his jacket, looking down at him she could see an irregular bulge at his side, she slipped her hand onto his side and grabbed hold of it, she pulled out a small blaster pistol, it was loaded and ready to be fired, there was still a full charged cell inside. "Searching for answers, all I ever get is more questions?"
Kursed jumped back as the body stirred and shifted, squinting through both eyes the vulpine rolled over on his hands and knees he put a hand on his forhead and rubbed it muttering to himself "that bastard, he tried to kill me, damn him." Kursed walked up behind him. His ears perked up and he twisted around reaching for his side.
Kursed held the pistol out teasingly "looking for this." She pulled it back out of his reach when he made a grab for it.
The vulpine glared at her with angry emerald eyes "give me back my gun, and my helmet to."
"Fine," Kursed said "you can have them back, after you answer my questions." The Black fox continued to glare menacingly at her.
"It doesn't concern you now hand over my shit, I have things to do."
Kursed shook her finger at him. "Sorry, but it doesn't work like that." She said in a mocking tone.
The vulpine let out a growl "fine keep the blaster just give me back my helmet." He said holding out a hand for the helmet that Kursed held in her hand.
"No." Kursed said "answer me and then we'll see." The vulpine looked like he was ready to explode with rage. His ears flattened and he took a step forward. Kursed leveled the blaster with his chest, he halted his advance.
"You really try to make things difficult for people, don't you." He said in a matter of fact tone.
Kursed smiled at him "people are just too stubborn." She said. The vulpine started circling her; he stopped when he reached the edge of the roof and looked over to the street below. "Don't move." Kursed hissed through her teeth.
The Fox held his hands in the air feigning innocence "what can't a guy walk around?"
Kursed started toward him "not likely, since you had this on you." She said referring to the blaster she held. "So I'm curious," kursed began
The vulpine laughed "curiosity can kill more than a cat." He lunged at her, she realized that she had let him get to close; in a second he had a hold on her hand with the blaster and was holding it away from her, Kursed could have beat a lot of people in a fight but in a physical confrontation like this, he over powered her. Hooking one leg behind hers he pulled and set her off balance. Kursed let out a cry as he leaned forward and pushed her to the ground. The vulpine pinned her arms and legs away from her body making sure she couldn't reach any nasty surprises she might have with her. "So you can let go of my helmet and the gun or I can do a lot of unpleasant things in this position." Kursed flexed her arms and legs "well, unpleasant for you anyway."
After getting his helmet back the vulpine had moved to the other side of the building. As Far away from Kursed as was possible. "So…" Kursed said.
"So… what?" the vulpine replied "what do you want?"
Kursed strolled around the roof top before answering "why does a certain Fox have an advanced military grade heads up display helmet and, why is he using it as a biking helmet."
"That's a lot of questions?" the vulpine walked over to the edge "I guess I'd have to say…" the black fox pulled out a small flash bang and tossed it at the blue vixen, and launched himself over the edge and down to the fire escape then the street below "none of your business." He shouted back. Kursed ran to the edge in time to see him jump on the hover bike and blaze a trail through the silent streets.
X
Isaac laughed at the Blue vixen as he drove away, a ring caught his attention. The heads up display read 'incoming call' "accept." Isaac said. A scratchy low voice came over the line.
"Ah, Mr. Fang," the voiced coughed and hacked four times before he began speaking again, "I trust that Anton was you're doing." Isaac gave a grunt of acknowledgement. "Excellent!" the voice rasped and cackled. "The fee has been wired to your account. Now then your next assignment, I seem to be having trouble with a certain detective, I need you to persuade him to let my business alone for the foreseeable future. Do you accept?"
Isaac didn't like the idea but he had plans to return to the Lylat system for a while and see if he couldn't recover some things, and to check on his friends. Isaac had gone over it again and again how he had left, a note with scribbled letters 'goodbye' "I accept, Mr. Clyde." The data was forwarded to him and he hung up.
Not the best way to say farewell to the people who cared about you, but the pain had been too much, when she… when Krystal had told him her plans he had begged her on his knees to forgive him, in front of his most trusted comrades and friends he had groveled to her, but she, she had ignored him like he was a stray begging for attention. Isaac felt wetness in his eyes and quickly shock them away. In the distance he saw the neon sign that read 'Rex's Bar and Grill' Isaac pulled in looking at the other bikes parked there. There were a good number of bikes of all sizes, must be a gang, Isaac thought. He put down the kick stand for the hover bike. Walking inside Isaac placed his hands in his jacket pockets, the bar had a Smokey atmosphere that Isaac didn't remember the last time he was there, everybody looked over to him when he opened the door. He walked over to the bar; the old blood hound Rex was cleaning a glass when Isaac sat down right in front of him. "Hey Rex, the hard stuff please." Rex looked over at the Black vulpine who had just sat down.
"Hey, Isaac, haven't seen you in a while," Rex said cheerfully "what's the occasion?"
Isaac looked up at Rex "trying to drown something that just keeps coming back to the surface." Rex's ears fell a little at that. He grabbed the bottle Isaac had asked for and walked around to the other side of the bar sitting down next to him.
"Oh, sorry, that girl thing really got you down in the dumps huh." Isaac took the bottle and poured two glasses, sliding one over to Rex, who picked it up and held it toward Isaac "to broken hearts my friend." Isaac toasted with him and took a drink, Rex downed it all in one go, he set it down and walked back around the bar. After refilling a couple of glasses Rex returned and stood across from Isaac who was still drinking.
Isaac took another quaff then stared past Rex into nothingness "you know Rex, I thought about ending it a couple times. Just taking that blaster and walking to the sea-side, pulling the trigger, letting the waves wash me away. It would have been easy to."
Rex was looking more troubled than ever at this new confession "for god sake, Isaac. If she meant that much to you then and now, why the hell don't you swallow your pride and ask her to forgive you?" A bark of laughter escaped Isaac's mouth, and then it slowly turned from laughter to crying and tears.
"I did, Rex! I got on knees and begged her to give me another chance." Rex's ears fell. He looked to the bottle, picking it up he shook it a little, it was nearly empty.
"oh I think you're done with that." Rex said taking the glass out of Isaac's hands, he walked to the other side and put an arm around Isaac guiding him to a door at the back of the bar. Rex opened the door to a room filled with about fifteen cots, and walked past a few already passed out boozers. Rex eased Isaac back into a cot. "Sleep it off, Isaac, you'll feel better afterwards." The door closed behind him as he left. Isaac's eyes grew heavy and soon he fell into a deep sleep.
X
Fox found himself aboard the Great Fox. Looking around he saw he was in the bridge, the center chair where he sat, next to it was Falco's chair and Peppy's, Slippy's, and Krystal's. All exactly as he remembered "Fox." A voice called from behind, Fox turned to face Peppy standing behind him.
"Peppy?" Fox asked, walking over to his friend and father figure after his father died.
"Fox when I see you looking at her, I see James looking at Vixie, you both had that same glow in your eyes." Then he vanished as if whisked away by the wind.
"Peppy!" Fox cried reaching out to where he used to be.
Memories flashed in front of his eyes, Krystal and He at the beach holding hands and laughing happily together. That night when they had started drinking in the hotel room, she had cuddle up next to him on the couch and fallen asleep. "I love you, Fox." She whispered to him.
"No!" Fox cried "this isn't real, this isn't real."
X
Kursed bolted up right with a cry, her hand outstretched for someone. She felt an unbearable crushing pain in her heart, she tried to remember her dream, but every time she tried all that entered her mind was a picture of Fox's face and his cocky grin. A knocking pulled her into reality "Krystal, what's happening." The voice came. The door opened and a female lynx came in wearing night black panties and bra.
"Oh, Mia. Sorry did I wake you up?" Kursed asked as if nothing was wrong.
Mia walked over to the bed and sat on the edge "don't give me that, baby what's wrong?" Kursed couldn't find words for an excuse; it just came out in mumbling and gibberish. Mia pulled her close and laid Kursed's head on her shoulder, the tears flowed freely down her face and the Lynx's golden fur. Sobs racked her body as she cried. She cried for a while before she regained control over her shaking limbs. Mia pulled her up and toward the kitchen. "Come on Krys you need to drink something."
A while later Mia set a mug of coffee in front of Kursed and sat down in the chair opposite her with her own mug, she had covered up more and was wearing gym shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt. "Mia," Kursed looked up at her housemate "do you remember when I first came here?"
"Course I do, not every day a blue furred fox girl knocks on your door and tells you 'hi, I'm your new house mate, oh by the way my Names Kursed' I thought it was a load of crap."
"Right, even after two weeks you still insisted that I tell you my real name." Kursed laughed.
Mia smiled at her "I know what heartbreak looks like, and you radiated it like a light tower." Kursed laughed with her.
"I did tell you my name but..." Kursed said.
Mia looked over her mug and set it down "Krys I knew you didn't tell me everything and I respected your right for privacy. Now after waking up to that blood curdling scream of yours, I can imagine it was something awful." She said taking another sip.
Kursed started into the cup in front of her "Mia, before I came here, to Kew I mean. I led a different life, I had so much more than I deserved, from just one man."
"Come on baby," Mia said leaning the chair on its back legs "it's nice to know you trust but honestly I knew you had a dark history. No one, not even the most self-loathing people I've ever known have hated themselves to the extent that they introduce themselves as Kursed."
"Mia you don't know what I did to him, I…"
"I don't see why it matters what you did, what did he do?"
"All he ever did was love me." Kursed said, Mia paused and let the chair settle on all four legs. Getting up she walked to Kursed who had sunk to the floor.
Kursed knelt on the tile floor of the kitchen, letting the tears fall to the floor; Mia knelt beside her and took her hands "why did you leave then?"
Kursed shook her head and leaned against Mia "because I was stupid, so stupid." Kursed whimpered. "I couldn't ask him to forgive me now, or ever, not for what I did." It took some time for Kursed to collect herself, looking at the clock it was 5:30 AM.
Kursed had taken a shower and washed away her fatigue, after getting dressed she got dressed and headed back to the kitchen. "Time for work I guess. I'll be gone for a couple days so I left my share of the rent on the table in the living room." Mia kept sipping her coffee. "Don't you have work to-day?"
Mia looked at Kursed then set the cup down "you do know what day it is, right?" Kursed looked at Mia with a funny expression. "Oh come on girl, it's Saturday."
"So, don't you work Saturday?" Kursed asked. Mia had a sour look. "What?" Kursed asked.
"It's official, you have no social life." Mia said raising her hands to the sky.
"I do, I just don't have much use for it." Kursed said walking out the front door.
She hailed a taxi that was passing by. The driver had pulled over and the door had opened, Kursed hopped inside putting the bags beside her, "where to, young lady?" the driver asked.
"Planetary transit station please." Kursed said. The driver nodded and merged into traffic.
After a while the driver asked "so got business in another city miss?"
Kursed nodded saying "yeah, I'm supposed to meet with one of my clients and work out some problems they were having."
"Oh," the driver said "what kinds of problems?" he asked keeping his eyes forward. Kursed was about to answer when a hoover bike rocketed past them and drove between cars. "Well the nerve of some people!" the driver shouted. There was a ringing in their ears as the Hoover bike past, it looked familiar somehow. Before she could pick out the similarity the driver floored it, once the light turned green.
X
Isaac drove the hover bike as fast as he could; his next job was waiting in a locker number D-423 at the planetary transit station outside the city. The heads up display in his helmet showed updates on traffic lights and the positions of the planetary authorities. It was a race and Isaac was winning by a mile, the light ahead turned red as Isaac rocketed through narrowly missing getting hit by an SUV. Almost there, Isaac drifted into the parking spot coming to a stop. He walked inside toward the locker rows. D-419, D-420, D-421, D-423. Isaac pulled out the key he had received along with instructions. The locker was rigged so that only those with permission could open it. Isaac carefully inserted the key. Turning it 180 degrees to the right, 270 degrees to the left and a quarter turn to the right Isaac heard a click, the locker popped open. Isaac grabbed the package there and closed the locker. He walked back out and secured the package to his bike, and then he sped away leaving a cloud of dust behind him.
X
Two black suited dogs watched as the black vulpine drive away. One looked to the other and said "well that's another hit man confirmed."
The other leaned against a pillar "hmm, he seems young, but he does match descriptions from witnesses, black fur, male, around six feet tall, green eyes, late twenties, early thirties."
The other nodded "it's almost perfect Bill."
X
Kursed looked around before she boarded the shuttle. it would be a five-hour trip to the next city, and nearly a week to complete the mission. She would travel to the city, and find her employer. The captain of the merchant ship, Leona winds. With gangs on the rise, organized raids have been a growing problem for transporting goods and the like. The captain was paying 5,000 credits for the presence of each mercenary and would add payment as was due. Hopefully Kursed would have an easy earned five thousand credits, but with her luck she doubted it would work out as such. As she sat in her seat, her thoughts wandered about the past, memories of the team, of Fox and how he had treated her compared to Panther. Fox had been so much kinder, so much gentler. She loved how he had trouble talking to her when they first met, those first years had been wonderful and as time passed they had only gotten better but…
X
Isaac noticed a certain black car that seemed to be following him through the traffic as he made his way back to the Hotel, can't have that can we Isaac turned down a back ally cluttered with garbage. He looked down, 10:50 military time. He was supposed to meet Jessica at noon, going to meet her father at a diner for lunch. His mind flashed back to Krystal, in a red two piece swim suit, running ahead of him in the summer, back on Corneria. Isaac shook himself as he cruised through the alley to the other side. Isaac checked behind him, no black cars that looked like tails. Isaac gunned it and headed back to the Hotel.
[thats chapter two hope you liked it (if you didn't i don't want to hear it) comentary welcome as well as constructive critisism. thanks for reading Good Night (or day depending on when you read this).
