I got into the swing of things, so here's another chapter.

Enjoy,

Wing


"Fay was right," Joseph thought to himself as he walked briskly behind Wolf and the Cerinian, Krystal, "These helmets are stuffy as Hell." He still couldn't quite get over the fact that there was a real, live Cerinian in front of him, currently trying to look inconspicuous. She had fluffy blue fur, and had the right markings, and even had that unmistakable accent. Still, Joseph couldn't tell her yet. Once they were off the station, maybe. But not now. His train of thought was quite suddenly interrupted by the cycling of two rifle capacitors. Two Venomian primates in light armour blocked the elevator they were planing to take to the bottom deck. One wore a ballistics helmet, and carried an AR-10 Blaster Rifle. He sighted the two vulpines.

"Lord O'Donnell, sir? Where are you going at this hour?" the other asked, raising an AR-10 Blaster Rifle to Wolf.

"Somewhere Panther and Leon can't buy people out, monkey." he replied, raising a custom R-90 and calmly shooting him in the head. Before either the first guard or Joseph could react, Krystal had extended her staff and smashed the other man in his helmet. She then delivered a punishing blow to his ankle, sweeping him off his feet. He landed with a soft 'thud', incapacitated. Wolf showed a small device on the elevator switch his cybernetic eyepiece.

"ACCESS GRANTED," an artificial feminine voice acknowledged, "WELCOME, LORD O'DONNELL. PLEASE SELECT A DESTINATION."

The three of them stepped into the elevator, Wolf dragging the bodies in behind them. He then pressed a button marked with a 0. The doors closed, and the elevator whirred to life. "OK," Krystal said, "Clearly Powalski and Caruso know what we're up to. So, now what?"

"Simple," Wolf replied casually, "We go ahead with the plan. Leon and Panther will never be able to launch in time. I cut the magnetic clamps on our dock. Currently, the Black Rose , Rainbow Delta and, sadly, my Red Fang, are all floating around in the near vicinity of the station. Ah well, I guess we all have to sacrifice something sometimes. Trust me, though, we'll be long gone."

"Guys," Joseph suddenly altered them, "Here comes Deck 0." He hefted one of the guards AR-10s, turning to face the doors. They opened slowly, revealing the room ahead to be empty. Breathing a sigh of relief, Joseph dropped the rifle. To Krystal's astonishment, he instead raised and extended a staff of his own. She stood, mouth agape, at a Cerinian Enforcer staff.

The exact same model as her own.

Joseph noticed her gaze, and turned to face her, twirling the staff with one hand. "Oh this?" He asked, gesturing to the staff, "I found it on my travels. Taught myself to use it. Know it's not Cornerian tech, though."

"It's not," she told him, "It's Cerinian technology."

"Oh wow, really?" He replied, looking at it as though in a new light. "Well, I'll be. That's certainly interesting."

"Where exactly did you-"

"Hey, you two!" Wolf shouted from further down the corridor, "You coming or what?"

"Yup, wait up Wolfy!" Joseph yelled back. He turned and gestured down the hall. "After you, Krys." The two foxes ran down the hall, catching up to Wolf in no time at all. When they did, they found another door and Wolf opening it with another cybernetics scan. It slid aside to reveal a spacious hangar. Inside was the one thing Krystal thought she would never see again.

Docked to the celling, now painted with black detailing instead of red, was the Great Fox II.