— Chapter 4 —
"Motion Sickness"

[V]

Travelling, swallowing Dramamine, feeling spaced, breathing out Listerine… I'd said what I'd said that I'd tell you that you'd killed the better part of me, if you could just milk it for everything. I've said what I'd said and you know what I mean but I still can't focus on anything. We kiss on the mouth but still cough down our sleeves and I still can't focus on anything.

[V]

Not even a five minute cold shower could wake up his senses. Guess this was gonna be a long work day today…

Nathan pulled into the embassy's parking lot groggy and desperate for a mere hour of sleep. Mind swimming with fifteen different things, he felt like his body was trying to shut down with all the stress and conflict he was dealing with. Nevertheless, he picked himself out of the driver seat, lazily scooped his weapon out of the trunk, then dragged his feet as he followed the two girls towards the entrance, kicking aside light flurries in his wake.

The tall lupine girl looked over her shoulder, then slowed down so Nathan could catch up. When he got alongside her, she slung her arm over his neck and gave him a rough shake as if to try to wake him up.

"Come on, Natey-boy, you're alright," she said with a self-confident smirk, giving him a bump as she pulled her arm back. She failed to realize that she almost knocked Nathan off his feet despite him having almost seventy pounds on her.

"Not now, sis," grumbled Nathan, smearing his paw all over his face.

"Then maybe you shouldn't've stayed up all night, eh?" Nathan's sister Flannery giggled to herself. She always seemed to speak with assurance, her firm but often times hoarse and gravelly voice brimming with confidence. Though she was his junior by three years, she carried herself like a commander and spoke like one too… but her attitude at times would say otherwise.

"I said not now," he repeated, his voice getting stronger, but hoarser in the process. "There's a lot more going on than what you think."

"Well? Then spill it, bud," she said, bobbing her head from side to side as she walked. Flannery did have her mother's thick and voluminous hair, but she insisted at keeping it just below the blades of her shoulders, often braiding it to make it appear even shorter. Her rich brown hair was indeed pulled back into a single neat braid, poking through the hole in her cap and swishing much like her tail. Aside from the hair, Flannery looked very much like her older brother, though the iconic copper tinge was much more defined in her fur than in his.

Nathan sighed. "I don't want to waste your time."

"Ooo, drama," she suddenly became much more interested, her copper ears perking straight up and her deep blue eyes expressing genuine, childish wonder. "C'mon, spill the beans. What happened? Was it someone here?"

"Sis, seriously," Nathan growled. "Not in the mood."

"Fine, Corporal Grumpy," Flannery sneered playfully, folding her arms at her chest. "Did someone wake up as the wrong spoon or something?"

At that comment, she laughed and took a few quick steps to get away from Nathan, who was getting more upset as time went on.

"Flannery, come on; lay off of him," the vixen leading the "line" said, stopping to wait for the other two.

"Hey, I'm just trying to lighten up the mood here," Flannery conceded, her gloved paws open and in front of her. "Not my fault Nate's a Grumpasaurus this morning."

"Yea, well, quit picking on him," she retorted, waiting for Nathan to catch up before she started walking again. From what Nathan could see from outside her uniform, the vixen's entire coat of fur was a sleek pearly white color. Curly, neatly groomed silver locks poked out of her cap and stopped at her shoulders, and two pointy vulpine ears stuck out of the vixen's cap like satellites. Her emerald green eyes had a very calming aura about them, as if anyone could look inside of them and forget their worries as simply as that. That wasn't the case for Nathan though. Not even a gentle hug from the vixen could cheer up his down spirits.

Flannery scoffed under her breath. "Gladly. I'll leave you to deal with him. I—on the other hand—am gonna have breakfast with Briscoe and Jaeger. At least they won't be grumpy when they see me." With the swish of her lupine tail, Flannery swiped her card on the back door and disappeared inside.

The vixen said something under her breath that couldn't have been kind, but Nathan didn't process a single syllable of it, even if it was just one.

"Are you feeling alright, Nate?" the vixen asked, reaching up to press the back of her paw on Nathan's forehead. Being as though the top of her head just barely made it to Nathan's jawline, she did have to reach pretty far. "You don't feel sick, do you?"

"Sick in the head," he commented with a partly humorous and partly truthful inflection. He pulled out his ID and was about to swipe it on the door when the vixen stopped him. "I'll be okay, Vixie, I promise," he said with more sincerity, but he couldn't make eye contact when saying it.

"Seriously, Nathan, you don't look like yourself," Vixie commented. As much as he wanted to argue, he knew it was true. The lupine looked as though he was wearing dark eye shadow with how discolored the skin around his eyes were. His eyes could never sit still, and they looked as though there was a thick glaze overtop them. The tips of his ears involuntarily curled inward, and his tail was unkempt and nearly lifeless. He was far from presentable.

"I'm extremely stressed out, Vix," he sighed with humility. "As if living here wasn't bad enough… Now I gotta watch my back wherever I go. Gotta worry about our future here. That fucking mole is stressing the hell out of me."

"I know, Nate, I know," she said calmly, gently rubbing his paw to try to calm him down.

"Plus everything else that's going on," Nathan continued, gazing up at the overcast sky. "Sami is getting restless too, he was thinking about leaving before I talked him out of it. But he's still—"

"Nate, please, calm down," she interrupted, putting a paw over his heart to feel it practically jumping out of his chest. "I understand, okay? Getting worked up isn't going to help. Just breathe."

"I don't know how I'm gonna deal with it all," he shook his head.

"You've got this," Vixie smiled, patting Nathan's back. "You've gotten through a bunch of tough times in your life. Just take this however you'd take something in the past, and you'll be fine. Trust me, okay?"

Nathan took a few deep breaths to calm his spiking blood pressure. "Okay," he said after a bit of hesitation. "I'll do what I can."

"Just keep thinking positive," Vixie reminded him with a cheerful grin. She managed to steal Nathan's ID out of his paw, then swiped into the back door. She held the door open for him. "And make sure to keep your head on straight."

Nathan couldn't help but chuckle. "I'll try my best."

The two of them entered, abandoning the chilly environment outside in favor of the warm embassy. Upon entering, a large common area greeted them, with multiple benches, tables, couches, and chairs scattered about the worn concrete floors. Nathan immediately picked out Flannery, already holding a tray of breakfast food as she slid her way between two very large and fortified canines, who seemed to welcome her right away. Vixie found her way towards a group of guys standing near the hallway that linked up to the main lobby, so that left Nathan to do what he wanted. He slid into the first hallway on his right, which led to an elongated room that housed the medical facilities. The only people in that room were a handful of doctors and nurses, as well as a familiar blue vulpine sitting on one of the beds.

The doctor tending to Marcus saw Nathan enter and gestured for him to come closer. The heavy-set jackal shook Nathan's hand with a firm shake, then slung his arm over him. "Marcus is gonna be just fine, Nate," he said with a grin. "I gotta extend my thanks to you. Sending him home with me was a good thought, and it definitely worked in his favor. I made sure he ate well and gave him a lot of rest. It was all just panic, I'm sure."

"That's what I thought," Nathan grinned back. He looked to Marcus. "All good, buddy?"

"As good as I'll ever be," he replied with a sigh. Nathan could sense that something was still bothering the kit, which didn't fall unnoticed by Doctor Connolly.

He gave the lupine a nudge. "Marcus, I'll be right back. I just need to speak with Nate for a little."

"Okay," Marcus nodded.

When Connolly and Nathan were outside of the medical room, the jackal snuck a quick peek through the small window in the door before saying, "I'm afraid I've got some news that you might not like hearing."

"What's wrong?" Nathan asked concernedly. "Is there something wrong with him?"

"Well, not exactly," Connolly hesitated. "Physically, Marcus is perfectly fine. Mentally, however…"

"What would you expect?" Nathan scoffed slightly. "I mean, he is still a kid after all, and after yesterday—"

"I know, I know," he interrupted. "What I'm saying is that the anxiety attack he had yesterday wasn't a one-off thing. It could happen again if we're not careful."

"Okay," Nathan nodded. "I'll let Commander Brackis know that we shouldn't—"

"I've already spoken with Karrin," the doctor interrupted again. "We've already discussed what we're going to do."

"What is it?"

The jackal's ears lowered. "We both thought it would be best if Marcus wasn't subjected to such a hostile working environment. We want him to train and develop in the best of conditions while still living the Earthly life. So… We made the decision to transfer him over to our base in D.C."

Nathan's jaw immediately unhinged and slammed onto the floor. "What? You're shipping him off?"

"It's for his own good, Nate," Connolly reaffirmed, being as calm and straightforward as possible. "You saw what happened to him yesterday, and with all this talk of a mole being in our system, it's only going to make it worse for him."

"Doc, please, we can't ship him off," Nathan pleaded. "He won't be the same unless I'm by his side. We're a package deal."

"Yes, Karrin told me this," Connolly said softly. "But we cannot risk his mind being permanently damaged in this work environment, even with you at his side. D.C. is statistically safer than Chicago, and we have some of our best trainers and commanders working at that base that can train and care for Marcus better than we ever could. And that's saying something considering you're here."

Nathan shook his head. "Marcus needs someone by his side that he can trust if he's staying on this planet."

"I understand this," the jackal replied. "But this is our best option, Nate. We want Marcus to grow and develop. He's one of the greatest prospects in the Defense division that I've ever seen, and we can't have his potential squandered by a hostile work environment."

The lupine refused to buy in. "Please, just give Marcus a chance. He's only seventeen, doc; he'll make mistakes but he can learn from them."

"One more incident is all he'll need to develop serious, irreversible issues," Doctor Connolly stated. "Trust me, Nate. I would never do anything to separate you two unless it was crucial that I did so. Please understand that Marcus needs this for his own good."

"I promised his family I would protect him," Nathan commented.

"Don't worry," he said with confidence, trying to lighten the mood. "As I said, some of the best in our division is stationed at that base. He'll be in good care, I promise."

Nathan reluctantly sighed, conceding defeat in his own mind. "Have you told him?"

"That's what I wanted you for," Connolly replied. "He'll take it better if you let him know. Just reassure him. I'm not certain as to how he'll take the news."

Nathan rolled his eyes and reentered the medical room. No sooner did the wolf get to the bed that Marcus was lying on did the vulpine blurt out:

"I know."

"You know?" Nathan echoed skeptically.

Marcus cracked a smirk as he tapped at the side of his head. "Just because you went out in the hall doesn't mean I won't still be listening."

Nathan nodded, mildly impressed with the kit. Nevertheless, he still breathed, "I'm sorry, Marcus. There really isn't anything I can do to stop them."

"If they say I'll be safer there, then I trust them," Marcus replied, though his voice was shaky from nervousness and uncertainty. That shaky voice didn't fall on deaf ears.

"Don't worry, kiddo," Nathan assured with a crooked grin. "I'm sure it will all be fine. If you ever need to talk to me or your sister, you just shoot us a call. Just because I'm not there with you doesn't mean I can't give you help."

Marcus forced a smile.

The lupine held out his arms and nodded. "Come here." The vulpine slid off the bed and instantly returned the embrace offered.

The bond he had with the young telepath was unlike any kind of family bond. While Marcus may not have been part of the O'Donnell blood, and vice-versa in regards to Nathan, there was still an inherent brotherhood that was defined almost purely by trust. With Marcus being as young as he was, he couldn't be charged with remembering every little thing the CDF required, let alone being forced to uphold those values on a planet miles and miles away. With Nathan as his guardian, so to speak, he didn't have to worry about holding his own so soon after enlisting. He could always look back and see Nathan right there with that faint smirk he always seemed to have.

The smirk wore off after a few weeks, as tensions rose and the work load increased substantially. Nathan didn't have that luster that granted him the job all the way out here, nor did he have that drive that rewarded him with high honors while training. A daunting task will take a lot out of you, and in the case of Nathan, there was a lot of daunting tasks before him.

Shoving the emotions aside, Nathan gently peeled the blue vulpine off of him and grinned. While it may have been forced and nearly robotic, it was just as good as anything else. "They said you didn't have to leave until tomorrow, so why don't we have a little fun with this shift?"

Confused at first, Marcus just stared at him and cocked his ears. Though, a quick mind scan later, he grinned right back. "Okay."

[V]

On the sidewalk just in front of the embassy's main doors with his weapon securely strapped to his back, Nathan launched the egg shaped ball over the eight lanes of traffic in front of him. On the other side, Marcus effortlessly caught it. He took a few steps to his right to get around a bus that had stopped at the red light, then threw it right back to Nathan. Having fun like this was such a rarity anymore that the simple joy of tossing a football back and forth felt like they were on a fast, winding rollercoaster. A simple game of catch felt like the final game of a playoff series. Marcus especially looked absolutely delighted, as if he hadn't ever had this much fun in his life.

Their game didn't go unnoticed. Nary a passing civilian intentionally ignored their fun. While some merely took a second look or even watched for a few extra moments during their commute, others felt the need to wave or say hello. Turns out that their simple, fun game lowered their inherent intimidation factor almost completely. They didn't look so out of place from a personality standpoint. Playing around and genuinely having a good time made them seem more… human, as odd as it sounded.

Seeing an average-sized man with a full, short beard watching intently from the wall of the embassy, Nathan turned his attention to him and said, "Want to join?"

The man seemed to be taken aback by the sudden question. "Oh, uh, you— you want me to?"

"You looked like you were interested," Nathan commented, tossing the ball over to Marcus.

"Well, yea, but," he paused for a moment. "I didn't think you liked us all that much, never mind actually… you know… "

"We always think you guys don't like us that much," Nathan stated with a shrug. "But I've been trying to prove everyone wrong since I got here."

The man smirked and gave his own shrug. "Then what the hell; I'll prove them wrong too."

Once Nathan got the ball back from Marcus, he gave it to the human and made sure that Marcus knew he was in the game now. As people started noticing him throwing the ball around with the two Cornerians, they became much more entertained and interested. Shortly thereafter, they recruited a young woman in athletic training attire on the complete opposite side of the four-way intersection, an older gentleman with a surprisingly strong throwing arm on Marcus' end of the sidewalk, and two more people in and around that intersection.

People coming out of the train station at that corner were instantly wowed by the demonstration. A group of local police officers standing at the unoccupied corner watched with interest as the football went soaring over the multiple lanes of traffic. The people that were brave enough to join in were having an absolute blast with the Cornerians, seemingly forgetting any sort of tension their race had brought.

As time went on, Nathan's internal, nagging worry began to dull into a little, weak voice that couldn't be heard over the cheers and applause from the civilians watching. His natural instinct to worry about being around a human didn't seem to bother him now. At this moment, the worry about randomly getting stabbed was nonexistent. He actually felt like he had a place on this planet, even if it was just an insignificant role in his eyes. At least that role finally merited some sort of mental profit.

Hours passed. The rush hour traffic disappeared for a while, but came back shortly thereafter. People came in, joined the fun, and left as they pleased. Nathan had met close to thirty people during his entire shift, all of them friendly and unintimidated by what they saw. After every person he met, his paranoia towards their race slowly melted away. Sure, the more pressing issues still lingered as they should, but as for everyone else, his initial bad perception of the humans were being proven wrong.

Maybe there was more than just being stuck in a forgotten limbo of begrudging acceptance and overall hostility. Maybe being considered an outsider was just because they didn't know much more than the extensive resume of troubled past relations. Maybe… just maybe… there was a sense of coexistence hidden behind a layer of propaganda and prejudice. Maybe they did have a reason to fear… but maybe that could be put in the past with a little maintenance…

With the setting sun marked the end of the work day. Time must fly when you're actually having fun for once. Clocking off one by one, the Cornerian soldiers said their goodbyes to their teammates before setting off towards home. Er, home away from home, rather. The last ones to leave were the McClouds and O'Donnells, who waited for everyone to file out of the parking lot before they set off. Since Nathan had exhausted himself with all of the catch with Marcus, Flannery was charged with driving back up to Evanston. Back up home… away from home.

The highway up north ran along the massive, almost endless lake to their right, where the setting sun let out a barrage of warm, comforting colors that rippled across the unstill water's surface. Though, the sky's colors were mostly masked by the persistent clouds that never seemed to want to leave. While the colors along the water may have been warm and inviting, Mother Nature decided to say otherwise. It wouldn't be long before snow started falling…

Thirty minutes from Chicago to Evanston, and that was without traffic. That's a long drive for someone with nothing to think about. Sitting in the all-too-familiar passenger seat, Nathan's eyes drifted. They located the little layer of fog coating the corners of the windshield and surrounding windows. They followed the trails of cracks snaking on the side of the road they were driving on. They picked out every individual color being plastered upon the lake's rippling surface. Anything and everything that the lupine found mildly interesting or captivating, his eyes were locked onto it. Still, even that didn't pass the time as fast as he thought it would.

He didn't want to think. Thinking about the humans, Marcus, the mole, the weather, Sami, his family, his safety… thinking or talking about any of that just made his depression worse. Nathan was always the quiet one. Never to say much unless it was imperative he said whatever was on his mind. Soaking in knowledge. Talks to him were one-sided, and not in his favor. It's not that he didn't want to talk, he just never found it to be beneficial. He didn't consider himself anti-social, as he did like to talk when he had something interesting to discuss, but those kinds of days were few and far between. In a way, his depression resulted from it. Not having that desire to have a genuine conversation always seemed to loom over his head like the winter storm clouds overhead…

Flannery seemed to have all the charisma. Hell, even sitting there driving she still had her perpetual smirk, even if it was microscopic at this given moment. While you may not have been able get Nathan to talk, conversely, you couldn't ever get Flannery to shut up of she got going. He certainly wasn't jealous of her, but he did wish that a little bit of her natural extroversion would rub off on him. While he and Sami started dating months ago, he lost count of how many people Flannery brought home in that same interval of time. Sure, that was her natural confidence and shamelessness showing, as per usual, but a bit of humility would go a long way for her. It's a shame he couldn't trade off a little bit of his for her charisma. That would've benefitted both parties.

Seeing that the monotonous car ride had lulled Vixie and Marcus to sleep in the back seat, Flannery spoke up in a soft whisper with, "I heard about what happened with Marcus; him being sent off and all."

Nathan sighed. "I really didn't want to talk about that," he admitted.

"I know," she answered. "I'm gonna miss the blue rascal too."

"It sucks," he added.

"You would know about that," Flannery smarmily commented back.

Ignoring her jab, he continued, "I'm just worried about how he's gonna act away from us," he looked up into the rear view mirror to see him resting his head on the window. "I'm afraid that he might snap."

"Listen, Nate," Flannery spoke up. "I know you care about him. I do too. But you gotta understand that Marcus isn't a kid anymore. He can take care of himself, and the reason why he is how he is now is because you've been behind him every step of the way, when you should take a couple steps back, if you know what I mean."

Nathan sighed again. She has a point.

"Give him time," she said. "I'll bet you five credits that he'll be working fine on his own in less than two weeks."

Nathan cracked a smirk. "I really don't want to lose my money."

Flannery giggled. "See? There's nothing to worry about. He'll be fine."

"I just don't want to give you the satisfaction of taking my money," he commented with his smirk widening.

"I wasn't gonna…" she trailed off, a devilish looking gleam in her eye. "Actually, I was gonna put that towards some fun stuff for myself, I'm not gonna lie."

Nathan rolled his eyes and jokingly scoffed. "Never change, sis."

Flannery shrugged. "Well, being the eldest daughter, I should be the one that gets the most love from a big, strong man… I didn't know I had to compete with my brother, though."

"You can't change what you can't change," Nathan remarked.

Looking over her shoulder first, Flannery asked, "Am I, like, the only one that actually knows?"

"Marcus does."

"Marcus knows everything about us, Nate; he doesn't count," the wolfess grunted. "I mean, have you even told mom and dad yet? I mean, you and Sami didn't start dating until… what? Two, three weeks before you guys were slated to get shipped out here? Did… did you ever tell them?"

Nathan didn't want to answer, but he knew that she would heckle him all the way home if he didn't. Begrudgingly, he answered, "No."

"Why?" she asked, acting more mature than her elder counterpart.

"Do you realize how much stress that would have put on me if I told them and then just ran off like this?" Nathan questioned back. Before she could answer, he continued, "For all they know, I could've just signed up for this program just to run off with him and not have to deal with whatever they would say about me."

"Well, it's not like you're the only son," she said with a snicker. "The twins just hit eighteen, so Kurt's only nine years behind you. Adrian is fifteen now. You really don't have anything to worry about."

"It's not that," he shook his head. "Dad put a lot of faith into me, and I can't help but think that he'll lose some respect if I come out to him. Sami's family borderline disowned him after he came out."

Flannery couldn't help but laugh. "Do you really think mom is gonna flip shit if you come out? Nate, when I was sixteen, I was convinced that mom was somehow a lesbian. Don't ask me why, okay? But I just knew, alright? So, even if I'm completely wrong, I know that there's at least two people in the family that support you."

"Two?" he echoed.

"Mom… and me."

Nathan slowly nodded his head. "Thanks sis…" he said with a miniscule grin. "You know, for someone who can't keep their legs closed, you're really good at talking people up."

"Hey, low blow, Nate," she smirked back. "You're just jealous I get more dick than you do."

"Hey, I get plenty of dick, thank you," Nathan smugly shot back.

"Whatever," Flannery shrugged him aside. "And you're welcome, by the way."

"I mean, I…" Nathan trailed off when he noticed the vixen in the back seat start to stir. "I'll talk to them whenever I get a chance."

"Good," Flannery nodded.

The rest of the ride felt like a blur with everything running around in Nathan's head. Just when he thought he'd abandoned the constant worry plaguing his mindset, another wave came to greet him with a less-than-friendly welcome. To ease his headache, he pressed his forehead against his window, letting the cold soothe his pain.

"Hey, look."

Nathan returned to the real world to see Flannery pulling into their apartment's parking lot. The wolfess was pointing to a group of kids and teenagers playing in the parking lot with a familiar tailed friend. Minus Sami, there were six others with hockey sticks shooting at a net set up in an unused portion of the paved lot. Just by first looks, the group seemed to be having a lot of fun.

"Sami stole your idea, Nate," Vixie giggled from the back seat.

Nathan just smiled and watched. Three of those kids looked to be grade-schooler age, while the other three had to have been high-schoolers. It didn't matter, they were having an absolute blast of a time passing their worn tennis ball to each other before someone took the shot on the empty net.

Nathan was the first out of the car once his sister parked it in their usual spot. Sami instantly saw him and motioned him to come closer. The humans all waved as well, getting a smile out of the lupine.

"Having fun?" Nathan asked as Sami pulled him into a hug. Knowing they were being watched, Sami didn't go much further than that.

"A blast," Sami said with excitement. "I saw a couple of these kids playing and thought it would be cool if I joined. They didn't have a problem with it at all."

"Sami's a really good player!" shouted one of the smaller kids in the group.

"He is," Nathan confirmed. "I'll let you guys finish your game, okay?"

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you, Nate," Sami interjected.

"Oh, uh, okay," he replied with minor hesitance. "What about?"

Before he could finish asking, Sami turned around and said, "I'll be back soon, okay?"

"Sami, what about?" Nathan repeated once the canine turned around. Sami didn't answer, opting to grab Nathan's arm and gently pull him along. After asking for a third time, Sami stopped at the stairs leading up to their apartment and let out a sigh before climbing up.

"It's something I think I should tell you. I'll tell you right now: you won't like it."

[VΔV]

"Wow, Vince, I… I don't know what to say. This… this is insane."

A slack-jawed Wolf O'Donnell and his equally shocked wife Sheila stood in awe of the pipebomb Vince just dropped.

General Jaeger, now in his late sixties and showing much, if not all of that age, just shook his head in stunned silence. They hybrid awkwardly cleared his throat and said, "But can you actually confirm this?"

Vince scoffed. "If I actually could, I'd be telling you who actually did it," he said with dripping sarcasm. He looked like he had missed out on a couple days' worth of sleep, so Wes cut him some slack for the blatant hostility. The arctic fox started rummaging through a haphazard stack of folders on his desk, all the while scanning through his transmitter interface to show his documentation.

"What Nathan said does make sense," Sheila spoke up, nervously pawing at her eruption of cinnamon colored locks. "But… why? Why would anyone do this?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, my dear," Wes muttered. "I have to agree, a mole in our system would explain a lot of inconsistencies between our data here and the actions way out there. I wish I could tell you why; I really do…" he shook his head. "But I just can't…"

"You're right, it explains so much," Wolf spoke up. "Nathan only talked about what that speaker said, but explains more. We can probably link that to how Senator Dixie's attackers knew where she was. That meeting wasn't broadcast to the public, so obviously those people knew something they shouldn't."

"I think I'm making ties here," Vince said, shoving paperwork aside to expose the large screen on the table they were surrounding. As Vince continued with his explanations, he began swiping files from his transmitter to the table, displaying them for all to see. "Please don't take all of this as truth right away, but I'd have good reason to believe it without concrete evidence. The connections all make sense, but I can't confirm them."

He swiped two files onto the screen, then pointed at them saying, "Based on what Nathan told me, this speaker, Driscoll, must have access to all of these documents. Being that he has these, it can also be assumed that he has the files that these documents came from, which is almost three quarters of our entire database. But, he may not have everything, so don't think much of this yet. I am just throwing stuff at table."

He threw more documents onto the display. "Unless there are more than one major outlets this mole is feeding information to, let's just assume that Driscoll and the attackers in New York have some sort of correlation, because the latter could not have known Senator Dixie's exact location without help. I did my research and branched out to New York's government, and they provided me with city camera access for the day of the attack on Dixie. They want to get to the bottom of this just as we do."

He tossed a video onto the table, and as it played, he explained, "The men in the vehicles that terrorized this street were wearing very light tactical vests and common, heavily worn clothing—though, they were mostly either very dark or made of denim—and their faces were covered with scarves. As I said, I did some research and found out what group they were affiliated with, because something this deliberate and coordinated could not have been a one-off thing. My research leads me to believe that these men were part of a group called "Sanity", a fairly large anarchist group with a cult-like following. They're very violent and militant-like, which explains why they did more than just attack Senator Dixie."

Vince put four files on top of the video display, showing four individual profiles. "These four are the leaders of Sanity. All four are on the nation's list of most wanted criminals, though I could not locate the reasons for any of them. But I could imagine it's not for robbing a bakery."

The first, labelled "Scott Conners", pictured a man with a thick, discolored beard and a shaved head underneath a dark hood. His dim green eyes were extremely cold, as if they were the eyes of a man possessed, but he bore a chilling smirk that screamed that this man seemed to enjoy pain more than any sane person would. The chipped left canine revealed by his sinister smile made his appearance all the more frightening.

The second in the list was "Riley Barrett", a very large man sporting a wild, unkempt beard and similar style of long hair. He had the look of not only someone who would enjoy hurting people, but a look that showed he wanted to hurt people. A stoic expression left his face seemingly emotionless, sending chills down Sheila's spine when she saw it for the first time.

Next up, a blurry picture of "HC Sterling". He was the only one of the four that wore the usual cloth mask of Sanity members that covered everything below his eyes in this particular photo. Thick rimmed glasses were perched on his crooked nose, giving a weird gleam to the light brown eyes behind them. His eyes matched his short, spiked up hair in an uncanny way, and he looked to be the most shifty and untrustworthy out of all of them.

Lastly, a female named "Nixon Newell". Although her appearance looked convincingly normal for someone of their occupation, Wolf immediately spotted the deceptiveness in her look. He immediately knew that she was a few cards short of a full deck. Ratty, dark hair adorned her head, while icy eyes rounded out her face. Her picture also showed her right hand balled by her neck, brandished with an odd looking tattoo that seemed to snake up her arm.

Overall, this group—ironically—looked to be anything but their namesake.

"Are they extremists?" asked Wes.

"Not much is known about them, other that they're very dangerous and unpredictable," Vince explained. "These four lead the Sanity movement, and there's no telling how many are associated with them. If the actions of the group can be associated with the leaders, then yes, I'd consider them extremists."

Vince tapped on Conners' profile, which displayed a map of the States with occasional red dots littering the screen. There was a very chilling correlation between high concentrations of the red dots and places where Cornerian diplomatic activity took place. "They rarely separate from each other, these four do," Vince said, tapping on the other three to display blue, orange, and purple dots respectively. While some dotted in odd, random places, a lot of them were together in high traffic and high population areas. "The supposed Sanity members aside from these four tend to flock to these areas. Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, D.C… …It's like they know where we are."

"LA was a proposed embassy build location," Wes remarked, stroking his bearded muzzle. "They must know."

"Which leads me to believe that Driscoll, the only known holder of these classified Cornerian documents, has some sort of affiliation with Sanity due to their presence in documented areas of activity," Vince concluded. "This is just a hunch though. After all, I can't fabricate evidence depicting their relationship; Driscoll and Sanity's. But the members of Sanity should not know the things they do, the proposed LA build and Senator Dixie's meeting, namely."

While Sheila stayed quiet and huddled behind her husband, Wolf spoke up, "We need to let the officers of the embassy buildings know."

"No," Vince immediately shot him down. "As soon as we try to give anyone a lead on Earth, Sanity will be right there to shut them down. Our message to them will be archived on the server no matter what, and although we cannot confirm nor deny that they have access to our servers, we cannot take this risk."

"What do you mean?" Wes asked.

"They will hear our message no matter what we do to try to hide it," Vince concluded. "Unless one of us personally goes to Earth and tells our officers that way, Sanity will know we blew their supposed cover, and they are known to act very aggressively. Think of it this way: we send a message to, say, the Chicago station. We tell them that an extremist group called Sanity may or may not be behind the server's hacking, and that they are the ones trying to destabilize our relationship with Earth. They will hear that, then plant a bomb at the embassy and watch it explode."

Sheila whimpered and clutched at Wolf's jacket.

"Okay, what do these people want?" Wes said, apparently annoyed.

"Sanity wants us out," Vince deadpanned. "They argue that their rights as natural citizens are being bent and shaped to accommodate for Cornerian inclusion, that their economy is being thrown out of whack, and that they want to return their nation to order by removing the change. I'm not making a definite conclusion here, but I'm guessing that Driscoll, among many others that adopt his doctrine, is just a mouthpiece for Sanity without explicitly preaching Sanity's lifestyle.

Wes narrowed his eyes. "You seem to be making a lot of educated guesses about something you claim we don't know much about."

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the relations, sir," Vince answered truthfully, his ears ever so slightly folding back. "These guesses are all that we have, and although I'm drawing conclusions from little evidence—which would get me laughed at in academic discourse—I cannot see any other viable alternative unless we get more information."

Vince cupped his head. "But telling our officers in New York or Chicago to investigate is basically sending them on a suicide mission, just because of the uncertain truth that Sanity might know. All of what I'm saying to you right know is being saved on my personal server just because I'm so paranoid that someone from Sanity might find out that we're investigating and retaliate."

"Then what's stopping them from attacking right now?" Wes questioned. "Pardon me for playing devil's advocate here, but what is stopping Sanity from planning another attack like they did in New York?"

Vince shrugged. "If I can make yet another educated guess, I'd say that they're waiting for reason. If they just attacked us for no concrete reason, their following would dissipate. They pride themselves on not being the aggressors of physical conflict despite being confrontational and aggressive in nature. Every documented gathering of Sanity members I've ever found showed them being confrontational to protestors, but they never technically instigated the violence. This is how a lot of their members walk away from conflicts without consequences, because they can accurately say that they did not start the violence and that they were only defending themselves when their words came to blows."

"Then why did they attack Dixie?" Wes shot.

The arctic fox shrugged again. "My guess is that—"

"Vince, stop guessing," Wes interrupted. "We need the truth."

"I'm sorry, sir, but I don't have the information to," Vince whimpered. "For all I know, everything that I'm saying could be a flat out lie. It's… killing me inside knowing that I can't put my full faith into one given answer. This is about as difficult as quantum theory, sir."

Wes sighed. "Continue."

Vince looked at his notes. "I… I think the reason why Sanity attacked that day was because they had an opportunity. Dixie was moving and—honestly—wasn't very well protected. Sanity's political counterparts are considered enemies, and that's where their aggressive mindset comes to the forefront. The biggest mass arrest of Sanity members came shortly after a failed assassination attempt on an important political figure in Chicago, and fifteen members were arrested and prosecuted of conspiracy and terrorism. So, it leads me to believe that their "non-aggressor" nature drops to the background when they have the opportunity to shape the political landscape."

Wolf stroked his face. "So, barring the politicians, they won't fight unless we do… That's easy then, just tell our troops not to retaliate against these people."

Vince again shook his head. "Not that easy. Sanity plays mind games. It's easy to get their games mixed with actual violence. It sounds unbelievable and absurd, but I… I honestly don't know how they do it. I've studied tapes for hours after I connected the dots that led to them, but… I can't figure it out. They're master deceptionsists, all of them are."

"So are you saying we're trapped?" Wes scoffed. "We can't make the first move because they'll take that as a threat."

Vince massaged the side of his head. "I don't know, sir. I actually don't know. If we make a move against them, then they have reason to fight back. If we start moving troops around, they have reason to believe we are plotting something, then they attack. Hell, if we even do nothing at all, we're in danger of being targeted, and chances are they will get away with it."

Wes huffed. "Vince, I cannot fathom how you think this. All of this sounds absolutely crazy. Are you really that paranoid?"

"We can't know anything for sure until we get evidence, but we can't get more until we know more about them, so we're stuck in a paradoxical loop," Vince began to get flustered. "Sitting on our thumbs! We wait until something happens but by then we're already too late. They have us cornered and I can't figure out how to get us out of it!"

As Vince started to hit his head against the table in frustration, Sheila suddenly broke off of Wolf and escaped out of the room. Immediately, Wolf went after her to see what was wrong. As he left the room, Sheila grabbed onto him and embraced him with all of her strength, crying into his shoulder all the while.

"I know, She, I know," Wolf tried to console her. "I'm scared too."

"I want them back," she sobbed, making a mess of her neatly groomed fur. "I want them to come home."

"I do too," Wolf whispered to try to calm her down. While holding the husky's head close to him and scratching at that place that almost always sent her into euphoria, he looked over his shoulder and at Vince and Wes, who were still talking. Wolf gently led Sheila away from the doorway, then lifted her head off his shoulder. Wolf shook his head.

"What?" the husky whimpered.

"I'm not buying it," Wolf nearly growled to himself. "Something is off."

"What do you mean?" Sheila asked, shaking away her emotions. "What's off?"

Wolf shook his head again. "I don't trust him."

"Who, Vince?"

"Shh," Wolf hissed, gingerly clamping her muzzle shut. Again, Wolf took a quick glance over his shoulder and at the open doorway.

Sheila shoved his arm aside. "Oh come on, Wolf! You can't be serious!"

"He's making it out to be a lot worse than it probably is," Wolf said, his voice nearly silent. "There's no way it's that complicated. No way."

"He's the one with the research, Wolf," Sheila argued, lowering her voice as well. "He probably spent all night connecting the dots. He might just not be explaining everything well because he's tired."

Wolf huffed. "Okay, I'll give him that. But not being able to contact them with this kind of info? Is he actually serious?"

"I don't know, okay?" she frowned. "Vince obviously put a lot of time into researching but hasn't had the time to iron out all the details. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, okay? But that's no reason to just turn on him like this."

"I'm not turning on him," argued Wolf. "I'm just saying that he knows something we don't."

"Don't be ridiculous," she hissed. "He told us that everything shouldn't be taken at face value yet."

"But the way he's drawing conclusions has me curious," he added.

"Me too, but that's because we don't know everything yet," she started to rub at his chest, feeling his heavy heartbeat and rising pulse though his jacket. "Like he said, he doesn't know everything. For all we know, everything could change if he finds something new."

Wolf sighed. "You're right. …I'm sorry for acting all weird. I didn't mean to get you worked up."

"It's fine," Sheila replied with a comforting smile, brushing away some stray strands of hair. "I'm just worried sick about Nate and Flannery."

"I am too," he nodded. "I know Vince said not to talk, but I need to let Nathan know. He's the one worried out there, so I think it would be good if I let him know what's happening."

Sheila nervously started playing with her hair again. "I don't know, Wolf…"

"I have to," he repeated. "It's a risk I'm willing to take. Besides, I have trouble believing all this talk about… everything, really."

"Just, be careful of what you say, okay?" the husky stammered. "You know how much this worries me."

"I know, dear, I know," Wolf gave her another gentle hug. "It'll be fine, I promise."

With that, Wolf gave her a quick kiss before leading her away.

[V]

A/N: Sanity makes me lose my own sanity when writing, oi... Please excuse any botches in plot or otherwise; I promise that everything turns out okay in the end. I'd be happy to clarify any questions just so long as it doesn't spoil the upcoming events.

Hoped you guys enjoyed regardless, and again, reviews are greatly appreciated. :)

-Sheppard