Arc II: Darker Matters

Part 9: A Black Exit

With "Skidd's" wheelchair in the lead, Fox and Scarlet sprinted through the newly-created hole in the warehouse wall. Throughout Wolf's entire complex, alarm sirens blared, searing their ears. Yet, at the same time, a palpable feeling of complete chaos hung over the base. With their leader out of commission and unable to make executive decisions, the base's personnel felt unsure of what to do next. As Fox and Scarlet re-entered Common Area 2, they noticed the charred, eviscerated remains of the peppershaker assault drones on the floor. Neither of the vulpines had any doubt that "Skidd's" missile launcher had been instrumental in their demise.

The blue frog led his two companions through a short hallway into the common area below the main control center, then looked over his shoulder and shouted, "Hartmann finished putting trackers on all the planes, and Miyu's secured the van, but we've got to hurry!"

Another short hallway appeared up ahead, leading towards the front exit doors. As 'Skidd', Fox, and Scarlet neared it, three soldiers burst through the door at the end of the hallway and blocked it. All three of them took aim at the interlopers, but before they could fire, 'Skidd' pressed a button on his wheelchair's right arm. A single missile erupted from the back of his wheelchair and flashed down the hallway, where it hit one of the three soldiers and detonated with a fiery roar. To his dismay, however, 'D-wheelchair' commented, "Missile Empty. Reload me, punk."

"Shish-kabobs! I'm out of ammo!" 'Skidd' announced, still rolling across the common area floor ahead of Fox and Scarlet. Right on cue, a small side panel above the wheelchair's right wheel opened up, revealing a small mechanical arm holding a machine pistol. While 'Skidd' grabbed the weapon, Fox asked, "What happened to Xavier? Is he okay?"

At that moment, Xavier barreled down the stairs from the control center, nearly slamming into "Skidd's" wheelchair. The feline's fur bore numerous burn marks, and several blood splatter stains covered his white lab coat.

"I guess that answered that question."

Rolling over the dead soliders who had failed to block the exit, Skidd smashed through the twin opaque doors leading outside. The instant his chair left the building, a chilling sound filled the air. Along with him, Fox, Scarlet, and Xavier all recognized the source of the noise – an attack helicopter.

A small, aluminum-roofed awning covered the area immediately outside the base's front doors, preventing the helicopter from spotting them; but 'Skidd' and the others knew that death was a certainty if they took any course of action that did not involve retreating into the building behind them. In the foreground, the large concrete pad that made up most of the base's outdoor area sprawled in front of them. Few soldiers occupied the area, but the attack chopper could have passed as an entire squad due to Fox and company's lack of anti-air weapons.

Adding insult to injury, when Fox looked to his left, he spotted Hartmann's black van, still parked under the balcony along the front side of the base's main building. Miyu fidgeted in the front seat and stared at him with panic in her eyes. At the extreme front end of the outdoor pad, the base's front gate hung open as a result of "Skidd" and Xavier's meddling. Three soldiers stood guard by the opening; and even though Fox figured that they would be easy enough to deal with, he knew that the instant Onyx's van started moving, the attack chopper would reduce it to a smoldering fireball filled with dead furries.

Cursing his fate, Fox locked eyes with his counterparts and barked, "Get back inside. We'll have to find something to take down that chopper. Dammit – I knew I shouldn't have left that RPG in the warehouse!" Fearing that the soldiers guarding the opened gate two hundred feet away would spot him, Fox turned around and reached for the right of the double doors leading back into the main base building. But then, as his hand touched the metal handle, Scarlet punched him in the shoulder and yelled, "Whoa! Look!"

From outside the base's walls, a single missile streaked through the skies. Fox could only guess where it had been launched from, but it looked to be on a collision course with the attack chopper hovering over the base. A single second later, the warhead exploded into the side of the helicopter. The chopper erupted into flames and wobbled in midair, losing altitude at a lethal rate. While Fox and 'Skidd' stared at the crashing helicopter, Scarlet shouted, "Head for the van, now!"

Scarlet's voice snapped Fox out of his momentary lull in concentration. Following the vixen, he sprinted towards the parked van as the helicopter crashed to the ground and rolled onto its side. The spinning top rotor dug into the pavement, slicing through a cache of explosives positioned on the ground nearby. The resulting explosion filled the mid-morning sky and illuminated it even more than the sun did.

Ahead of the others, Scarlet dove for the van's side door and wrenched it open. Xavier darted for the back of the vehicle and pried open the twin rear doors to reveal Hartmann already seated inside. While Xavier leaped into the back, Fox followed him and closed the doors behind him. Only 'Skidd' remained. For a moment, Fox wondered how exactly he planned on entering the van in his wheelchair.

With the van's side door still opened, 'Skidd' leaped out of his chair, shouted, "Glory hallelujah! I've been healed!" then pulled the passenger side front door open and flopped into the shotgun seat next to Miyu. To Scarlet's shock, "Skidd's" wheelchair raced towards the opened side door and bounded into the open space on the cargo floor next to her. Then, using its empty missile arm, it grabbed the door and slid it shut.

While everyone in the van other than 'Skidd' stared at the wheelchair as if it had been an extra-terrestrial life form (or maybe it was), Miyu fired up the van's engine and floored the gas pedal. The tires screeched against the concrete; and the momentum threw Fox and Xavier against the back of the vehicle. From the rear cargo area, Hartmann shouted, "Miyu! Don't leave the base too quickly!"

"What do you mean by that?" the lynx snapped, looking over her head at Hartmann.

The instant she turned her head back to the concrete pad ahead of her, another missile streaked through the opened base gates and slammed into the pavement, detonating in the midst of the numerous soldiers and sending their bodies flying in all directions. Miyu's jaw dropped, but only for a moment. Without the soldiers guarding the gate, a wide opening presented itself. Once again, she pressed the throttle to the floor and raced out of the base, being mindful to avoid driving into the gaping pothole created by the missile. As she passed the two empty guard stations outside the base walls, she laid eyes on another black van turning around on the grass by the side of the road.

She took a quick look behind her and noticed Hartmann speaking into his personal phone. "Great work, Vincent, but stay sharp – we're not out of the woods yet."

Miyu understood the grim tone of his words to mean that Anthracite's base personnel would start giving chase to them at any moment. While beginning the descent down the long private road, she glanced in her mirror and saw three black military SUVs turning out of the base in pursuit of her and Vincent's vans. Instinctively, she ducked her head to the right in time to watch a bullet fired from one of the vehicles blaze a hole through the mirror. Bullets pelted the van as the convoy neared the long bridge that ran over the lake responsible for providing the base's power.

While keeping the gas pedal planted to the floor, Miyu shouted, "Hartmann! This isn't a drawbridge, is it?"

Hartmann froze. "Oh shit."

No sooner had he spoken than the middle of the lengthy bridge began to lift up. The pavement under the van's wheels transitioned from the road's asphalt to the wiry mesh of the bridge, but over five hundred feet separated the van from the center of the structure. The drawbridge continued to rise. By this point, Miyu guessed that its angle could have measured roughly fifteen degrees. All the while, more bullets from behind riddled the van. With fear in her voice, she yelped, "Hold on, everybody!"

A flash of black appeared in her mirror, warning her that Vincent was close behind in his van. She knew that like her, he would not entertain the slightest thought of stopping in front of the ever-increasing gap in the bridge. When she closed to within fifty feet of the rising drawbridge, she clenched her fists and held the steering wheel with an iron grip.

Then, the van's front suspension jolted. The vehicle angled upwards, leaving the surface of the bridge and soaring through the air. Time slowed to a crawl for Miyu. This could either end in triumph or the bitter defeat of the van smashing into the underside of the bridge and falling into the lake. Despite her optimism, she knew that it would be difficult – at best – to survive the second eventuality. So, with her teeth gritted, she held her breath.

A moment later, the van's wheels slammed down on the opposite side of the drawbridge. The entire vehicle threatened to skid out of control and barrel though the bridge's railings, but Miyu masterfully wrenched the wheel into submission and straightened out her course. A collective gasp of relief filled the van, and it turned to jubilation when Vincent's van sped past on the left.

The bullets ceased pelting the van, the pursuing SUVs slowed to a stop on the other side of the bridge, and Anthracite's assault helicopter lay in a pile of smoldering ruins back at the base, leaving nothing in the way of the two vans and their occupants. Pumping her fist, Miyu yelled, "We did it! Yeah! I can't believe that actually worked!"

Near the back of the van, Hartmann shook his head and replied, "Honestly, I didn't think all of us would be getting out of there alive. Call it a miracle if you'd like, or just chalk it up to sheer dumb luck."

"I say luck," Scarlet opined. "I've got a perk for that."

"Well, considering that your tits got us into this whole mess, I think I'd have to agree with you."

A confused expression crossed Xavier's muzzle. "Boss, what's that supposed to mean?"

Hartmann smirked. "It's complicated."

"No, it's not," Scarlet balked. "Miyu's dumb jacket wouldn't zip up, and now it's stuck on me."

From the driver's seat, Miyu offered an apology. "Sorry about that. I should have known better than to give you the jacket with the bad zipper."

Sensing that the conversation was going nowhere important, Fox raised his voice and asked Hartmann, "Did you put all the trackers in place?"

The husky nodded. "Sure did. We'll be able to track each of the planes to within ten feet of their positions at any given time. Hopefully this will allow us to get the info on the chemical weapons into the right hands. And you know what that means."

"Actually, I don't know what that means," Fox replied, scratching the back of his head.

"Why, we get paid, of course!" Hartmann laughed. "No good deed ever goes unpunished."

Fox narrowed his eyes, then leaned against the van's rear door. "I get the feeling you use that phrase a lot."

"You're not kidding," Hartmann sighed. "Freelance intel is one of the worst mercenary fields to work in. I think we're one of three companies in existence right now in that field, just because most of them get ripped apart by government forces or other mercs at some point or another. When it's all said and done though, I think it's worth it. Still, I have a feeling that we're not going to be doing this for much longer. It's starting to get too dangerous – our names are too hot, and once you've got a reputation attached to you, it's only a matter of time before someone comes to knock you off."

"I hear that," said Fox. "I guess we're heading back to the factory now, right?"

"Yep. But after this, we're going to pull out. You're on your own then. I hate to drop extra baggage on you, but I'm going to leave it up to you on what you want to do with Miyu."

Miyu's ears twitched. "Hey Fox – are you taking applications? I want in on whatever you're doing."

Crossing his arms, Fox adopted a sly voice and replied, "That depends… What do your skills look like?"

Abashedly, the lynx explained, "Well, uh…I actually don't have any special skills. I can shoot pretty well and do a bit of mechanical and electrical work, but that's about it. Sorry. Honesty is the best policy, they say."

"Hmm..." Fox mumbled. "I don't do this often, but I think I'd be willing to let you on. I'm working on rebuilding my team, and I can use any help that I can get."

"Great!" Miyu cheered. "What's the next mission?"

Fox's voice suddenly took on a grave, dour tone. "I'm flying to Warton, Corneria to go to my dead wife's funeral."

Crickets.

Visibly uncomfortable, Miyu shifted in the driver's seat and turned off Anthracite's private drive. With the van on public roads, the final threat of Anthracite attacking them disappeared. Trying to lighten up the conversation, she peeked out of her peripheral vision and asked the vixen behind her, "Hey Scarlet – what are you doing next?"

"I'm going to give my parents a surprise visit. They're also in Warton, so it'll work out great. Wanna come with me?"

Miyu's ears shot up in surprise. "Um, I don't even know you. Are you sure about that?"

"Of course! My parents would love you. You kind of look like them."

"Are you telling me that I look like a fox?" Miyu questioned, narrowing her eyes before a realization dawned on her. "Oh…adopted parents. I see. Well, I'll think about it, but I'm sure I want to do that. No offense."

"No offense taken," Scarlet replied.

Rounding a corner on the mountainous road leading back down into Warton, Miyu spotted something on the edge of the pavement. As it came closer, she recognized it as the police officer who had stopped them earlier. Her clothes looked torn and burnt, and her posture hinted at both pain and desperation. Miyu looked over her shoulder and announced, "Hey Xav – it's that cop lady from earlier. She looks hurt. Do you want to stop and help her?"

"What? She survived? Pull over now."

A split second later, Hartmann violently waved his teammate off and snapped, "Are you serious? Keep going!"

"But she's hurt, and we're in the middle of nowhere!" Xavier protested. "Miyu, just listen to me. Pull over and see if she's all right."

The squeaking of brakes filled the air as Miyu slowed the van and pulled off on the side of the road in front of the police vixen. A mere five feet away from her, Miyu recognized the genuine pain in her eyes and could tell that her injuries needed attention. Rolling down her window, Miyu poked her head out and asked the vixen, "Are you okay? Did you get the van driver?"

"No – that turtle flew away in his stupid wheelchair, and my shock pistol fell into the water and shorted out," the officer lamented. "Can you help me? I can't get any reception out here, and my leg is bleeding. I promise that I won't arrest you if you help me."

Miyu took a deep breath, knowing that Hartmann would disapprove of her allowing the police woman to climb into the van. Nevertheless, she felt that it was the right thing to do. With uncertainty, she told the woman, "Come on in. We can drop you off on the way back to where we're going."

"Thank you so much," the woman replied, noticing 'Skidd' sitting in the front next to Miyu. "Is the back okay?"

Miyu looked over her shoulder at Scarlet and "Skidd's" wheelchair. "Um…sure."

Walking with a limp, the vixen gripped the side door behind Miyu and slid it open. Her eyes widened when she noticed Scarlet inside the vehicle. Despite not being able to place her, she felt like she had known her at some point. Without a word, Scarlet slid over, allowing the injured officer to crawl into the back of the van and close the door behind her.

While Miyu pulled back onto the road, the officer looked Scarlet in the eyes and asked her, "Do I know you?"

Scarlet smiled at the vixen and took in her appearance, undeniably similar to her own. Apart from the officer's blue hair in place of her own black locks and her slightly different choice of clothing, precious little separated the two of them in terms of looks. "I think I'm your evil twin," she commented.

The officer narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing that you would understand," Scarlet answered. "Just enjoy the ride while it lasts."

- § -

After dropping the police vixen off in front of a hospital in Golstave, Onyx's two vans made their way back to the abandoned factory and pulled into the front garage area. At long last, both vans rolled to a stop, bringing the madness to a conclusive end. Already exhausted from her work in escaping the base, Miyu exhaled and unbuckled her seatbelt, then pushed her door open and set foot on the concrete floor. Everyone else in the van followed suit, with Fox leaping out of the back of the van in a flurry of panic. He recalled that he had allowed Krystal to wear one of Scarlet's catsuits, and he wanted to make sure that he would be in a position to intercede if Scarlet saw her and flew off the handle.

Which was exactly what happened.

The instant Scarlet exited the van, her eyes zeroed in on the blue-furred fox seated against the back wall, bound with ropes, and wearing her catsuit. For a second, she did a double take, then snarled at Fox. "What is that woman doing here, and more importantly, why is she wearing my catsuit?!"

Fox held out both of his hands and nervously replied, "It's a long story. The short version is that she turned out to be a spy working for Macbeth and we've been keeping her here to prevent her from getting away. She's wearing your catsuit because she got shot and bled out all over her clothes, but also because I can't see why you'd ever wear that one."

"Well, I'll have you know that I custom ordered 'that one' and paid more than C400 for it!" Scarlet huffed.

Fox crossed his arms and gave the vixen a nervous smile. "Well, it was a waste, because blue is a terrible color on you. Admit it – it looks great on her."

Scarlet turned her furious eyes towards Krystal and was forced to admit that Fox had a point. "Fine. You win. I won't force her to take it off – for now. But wait, you said that she was a spy for Macbeth? What are Bruno and his guys going to do with her?"

At that moment, Fox realized that Scarlet would not take well to his plan for Krystal. Well, he never expected her to agree to his plan from the beginning, but with Scarlet in front of him, he understood just how upset she would become. Fearing that the vixen would punch him, he took a step back and explained, "Um…actually, I made a deal with Hartmann earlier this morning. He wanted to kill her now that they've got all of her information, but I offered to…uh…take her with us when we leave."

Scarlet's pupils dilated. "You did what?"

"I felt terrible for her," Fox retorted. "I personally watched her supervisor disavow her and call her his 'worthless associate'. She doesn't have anywhere to go, and I'm confident that she won't run off if we keep a close enough eye on her. Also, I think she likes me."

As Fox feared, Scarlet pulled her arm back and pummeled his shoulder. "Of course she likes you, idiot. What woman wouldn't like a man like you, with your toned muscles, your perfect eyes, and your undeniably awesome job title?"

"Wow, that was unbelievably shallow," Fox quipped.

"Right, but that's all she knows about you right now, so there." She paused for a moment. Then, a ghastly expression appeared on her face. "Oh, please don't tell me you're thinking about recruiting her."

Shaking his head, Fox replied, "Luckily for you, I'm not planning on it. Instead, I was planning to leave her at my family's land in the mountains near Warton while we're in town."

"I think that idea might actually be worse," Scarlet groaned. "I'm going to have to be careful not to get captured again, because whenever I'm away, you turn around and make a crap-ton of stupid decisions."

Fox rolled his eyes and smirked. "What's ironic is that you might as well be the living, breathing definition of a rash decision."

"What do you mean, rash? I don't have any rashes."

Letting out a groan, Fox let his face fall forward into his hands. After wallowing in frustration for a few short moments, he looked back at Scarlet and said, "I'm the leader here, and I get to make the decisions, even if you think they're stupid. In a few hours, we're going to get out of Katina; and when we do, we're taking Miyu and Krystal with us. That is final. Sorry Scarlet, but it can't always be about you."

Scarlet's ears and tail drooped. "Fine."

While the red vixen shuffled off towards the back of Hartmann's van to go through her suitcase, Fox approached Krystal and knelt next to her. As he gazed into her eyes, an unusual feeling of peace trickled through his body. Knowing that the blue vixen could read his surface-level thoughts, he decided to speak his mind. After looking around and making sure that Scarlet would not see it, he placed his hand on Krystal's shoulder and whispered, "Don't run off on me. I promise that you won't regret it if you just follow my lead. I'm going to make sure everything works out for you."

Krystal nodded, then gazed into Fox's eyes with her near-hypnotic vision. "I can tell that something's bothering you, Fox. What is it?"

Fox took a deep breath, then narrowed his eyes. "It's about someone named Rafa. I heard your supervisor talking about him in the warehouse. He said that he would be 'most pleased' with my death. I had a teammate named Rafa bail on me and my team at Northpoint, and I'm starting to think that the Rafa your boss was talking about is him. Please, if there's anything you know about him, tell me."

As he stared into Krystal's eyes, he noticed traces of fear and uncertainty creeping into them. Her voice faltered as she replied, "Rafa…yes, it was the same Rafa who used to work with you. I know that much."

"What could he possibly want? He was my closest friend in my unit until he suddenly snapped at Northpoint! What the hell happened to him?"

"I do not know the answer to that, Fox. You'll have to uncover that for yourself. But what I do know is that he is among the top brass of the East Fortunan Rebel forces. His ultimate goal is reclaim the territory on the eastern continent that belonged to the Empire of Macbeth over a century ago. That territory includes the eastern portion of Fortuna, the frozen island of Fichina, and the countryside surrounding Northpoint – and he will use any means necessary to ensure that he gets it, whether or not he has help from Macbeth or one of the old Imperial states.

"I always knew that he had ties to Fortuna, but nothing like this," Fox muttered. "Thank you for telling me about him. I really needed to know."

A faint smile caressed Krystal's lips. "You're very welcome, Fox."

Smiling back, Fox whispered, "Can you make me a promise?"

"What's that?"

"If I untie you now, will you promise not to try anything?"

Krystal paused for thought, then replied, "Certainly."

He held some doubts that Krystal would hold to her word, but nevertheless, he set to work freeing the blue vixen from her bonds. In seconds, his deft fingers untied the ropes binding her hands and feet together. The action caused Krystal to breathe a sigh of relief and stretch her tired limbs before standing up and thanking him. Tossing the ropes aside, Fox rose to his feet and took one final look into Krystal's placid eyes before he noticed Hartmann walking towards him.

Noticing that Fox had freed Krystal, he motioned for him to move a few feet away from her, close to the lunch table that had functioned as Krystal's operating area less than twenty-four hours ago. Fox found it somewhat amusing that he knew about Krystal's telepathy while Hartmann did not. It would not have mattered if he initiated his conversation halfway across the room, because Krystal would still be able to hear it with her mind. Still, Fox chose not to disclose that information to Onyx's leader.

As Hartmann opened his mouth, Fox noticed a distinct tinge of disappointment on his face – the kind of disappointment that comes from reaching the end of the road and having to move on. "Fox, it's been a real pleasure working with you. You know, when we came to Katina and set up shop here, the last thing we were expecting was to go straight into Anthracite's base. I would…well, if you didn't have your own thing going, I'd ask if you wanted to join my crew. No, really – I mean that."

Fox extended his hand for Hartmann to shake and replied, "Thanks, Hartmann."

The husky returned Fox's gesture of mutual respect, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a thin scrap of paper, which he shoved into Fox's other hand. "My contact information," he explained. "Keep it in physical form only. It's the best way to keep that information secure." A smile appeared on his face. "After all, I am talking to a guy who gave away his exact location to both Macbeth and Anthracite by looking up porn on the web."

As he had with Scarlet, he blurted out, "It wasn't porn – it was artistic."

Hartmann burst out laughing, and when he finished, Fox also heard a quiet giggle from Krystal behind him. Clapping him on the shoulder, Hartmann said, "Relax, Fox – I think most guys have been there before."

"But I'm telling you, it wasn't dirty!"

"Uh huh – just keep telling yourself that. In all seriousness, though, thanks for helping me and my team out. I don't think we could have done it without you. I'll update you on the plane tracking and let you know how it pans out. I think you deserve to know. We're going to be pulling out of here later today, which means that you need to leave, too. Vincent will take you back to the parking lot where you left your rental car. Everything you do after that is up to you."

"Thanks, Hartmann. I get the feeling this isn't the last time we'll see each other," Fox replied.

The husky turned to the side, a faraway look in his eyes. "No, I don't think it is, either."

AUTHOR'S NOTE(S):

Despite the power of electricity conspiring to kill me twice in the past two days, I have survived to bring you the final installment of the Darker Matters arc. Finally, it's over. Look for the first chapter of the next arc in the near future. As far as I have it planned, 2016 will be the year of Sierra Foxtrot. By this time, some might wonder what happened to Parallax. Well...about that: I actually punched in a few words over the holidays, but I just could not build up any desire to write it whatsoever. It's been that way ever since I started writing this story, and it hasn't changed yet. It's unfortunate, but I guess I just love this story so much that it's sucking all the inspiration out of my other projects.

Also, I've got a fun new poll up, and I plan to keep it active for the indefinite future (so if you're reading this in 2018 if/when I finish the story, it'll still be relevant). I think it's something pretty much every person reading this can relate to, so check it out.