Chapter 14: Fear of the Dark

Following her fur dying session, Krystal continued to stroke her new red, black, and white pelt and tried to familiarize herself with it. Sadly, no amount of effort could convince her that the colors worked on her. All the way back to the Collective, she stared at Fox, soundlessly begging for him to affirm that she was still beautiful. Alas, he lacked the gift of telepathy. However, he did seem to approve of her new colors even if they seemed out of place on her. The familiarity of having a red vixen around caused him to feel slightly more comfortable with Krystal, as vain as it seemed. The vixen noticed this; and having had her worries temporarily alleviated, she breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed, allowing a smile to cross her lips.

The short trip back to Felix's manor ended the same way that it had before, with the wealthy vulpine parking his luxury sedan in the auxiliary shed behind the mansion and escorting his guests back into the main building. Several hours stood between Fox and Krystal and the time they usually turned in for the night; and having very little to do, they turned to Felix for advice. An uneasy frown broke out on his face, but nevertheless, he said, "I don't think you really want to do this, but I'm going to see Scarlet in the hospital in about an hour. As I said, I don't think you want to go with me."

Fox sighed and shook his head, but Krystal replied, "I'll go with you. I…I need to apologize to her. I lost control of myself and hurt her more than she deserved."

"She deserved every bit of it, Krystal," Fox growled in reply, unaware of how harshly his words came out. "Stop apologizing for protecting yourself."

The painted Cerinian dropped her ears and put her tail between her legs. With great unease, she whimpered, "Fox, she's hurt—not just on the outside, but on the inside, too. Causing her to stop attacking me was one thing, but I went too far and scarred her emotionally. Did you see how much she cried when I humiliated her in front of you? She's sorry for what she did, and I can't just leave her to drown in her own misery. You don't have to visit her, but I need to do this for both her good and my own."

Despite Krystal's explanation, Fox still didn't understand why Krystal felt the need to apologize to the woman who had tried to have her murdered. Visibly disappointed with Krystal's decision, Fox crossed his arms and muttered, "Fine. I'll be here when you get back."

It was an hour later when Felix helped Krystal into the front passenger seat of his car, which had been racking up the miles abnormally quickly as of late. The dull-furred vulpine courteously closed the heavy car door for the dyed vixen and then proceeded to walk around the vehicle's hood, open his door, and drop into the supple leather driver's seat. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked Krystal, he himself puzzled with why the Cerinian would want to offer an apology to her would-be murderess.

"Yes, I'm sure," Krystal replied, almost inaudibly.

"Alright—if you say so," Felix acquiesced, starting the engine and backing out of the garage.

As before, he turned the car onto the boulevard that ran adjacent to the Collective and accelerated to meet the posted speed limit. The hospital where he had taken Scarlet was a privately-owned organization that he had personally funded in lieu of the lack of proper medicine that had occurred shortly after the collapse of the Republic. The destination was ten minutes away, thus saving him the trouble of having to traverse multiple levels of the city in order to reach it.

Realizing that this was the first time that he had ever had Krystal all to himself, he turned to her and warmly asked, "Are you feeling alright?"

"Kind of," Krystal mumbled. "I'm getting the feeling that Fox is harboring some kind of hatred. I don't know if it's toward Scarlet, but it seems that way. Let's just say that something's eating him up inside. I've noticed it in small quantities since I've met him. I gathered that his father was killed when he was younger. Might that be it?"

"You Cerinians—observant as always," Felix grinned. "The death of a parent can be catastrophic to a child. I lost my mother when I was 6. It hurt me more than anything else I've ever been through. I definitely know the feeling that you're describing Fox as having. For years, I wanted to strangle the drugged driver who killed my mom. Those kinds of things are very hard to get over." He paused and then suggested, "If I may, can I make an observation about you?"

"Um, sure," Krystal replied.

"Don't take this too hard," he warned, "But I think you're even more bitter than you're making Fox out to be. Something about the way you act is suggesting to me that you feel unwanted."

The vixen assumed a shocked expression and asked him, "How did you know that? My people on Cerinia hate me all because of my dead father."

Felix calmly answered, "You have a kind of subdued anger about you. You hide it well, but it comes out at times—like when you almost killed Scarlet earlier today. I must warn you: if you do nothing to relieve that anger, you can be blinded to the reality of things and manipulated by people who don't have your good in mind."

Krystal sighed and brought her head to her chest. "I know," she replied, "All my life, the Elders of my Order on Cerinia told me that all offworlders were so evil that they didn't even deserve to exist. And yet, you and Fox are some of the only people who have ever cared about me."

Felix seemed puzzled by Krystal's statement, although it didn't surprise him that the leaders of an 'enlightened' race such as the Cerinians would label anyone else as 'inferior' to themselves.

"I'm bothered that they would feed lies like that to you," he said, "True, there are many very evil people out there—especially on this planet—but they are not all corrupt like your Elders would have you believe."

"But why would they say that if it's not true?"

Felix took several seconds to consider his answer, wisely deciding not to blurt out the first thing that came to his mind for fear of offending Krystal. When he had processed his mental data for long enough, he explained to her, "You Cerinians are special people, Krystal. Your minds are capable of processing things that 'normal' people couldn't even dream of. Because of that, your leaders believe that the Cerinian people are superior to all other races in the known universe. Truth is, they're much more similar than they would care to admit." He paused for a brief moment and sighed. "There's something that I haven't told you yet; and I think you should know about it."

"What is it?" Krystal asked, impatient to know what Felix had in mind to say.

The elder fox took a deep breath and spoke, "The reason why you're being hunted down—and the reason you needed to dye your fur—is because someone on the Cerinian High Council has requested that you be killed."

The Cerinian's spirits sank, as did her ears and her head. Feverishly, she yelped, "No! It can't be true! They never liked me, but they wouldnever do that! It's against the Law that our ancestors set up thousands of years ago. To disregard it means to give up one's right to be a Cerinian."

Felix gave the red-dyed vixen a sad, understanding glace like that of a caring father and replied, "I'm sorry, but sometimes the truth hurts. Times change, and laws that once meant something lose their value in time as the people in power bend them to suit their own designs. It's a recurring cycle that's been in motion since the dawn of time. Your people just took longer than most to get around to it."

Krystal frowned and forced herself to look into Felix's eyes while he took the exit that led to the area surrounding the hospital where Scarlet rested. "What's this cycle you're talking about? And what does it mean for Cerinia?" she asked, her voice full of discomfort.

"You're concerned about them," Felix observed. "I applaud you for that. Very few people around here truly care about their neighbors and associates. As for the cycle, I'll explain it like this: When a government, a kingdom, a council—whatever you want to call it—comes into existence, it usually follows on the heels of some kind of enlightenment or a period of intense unrest. Needing a solution to a common public problem, the people establish a form of leadership for themselves and draw up a set of laws based on commonly-held moral and ethical beliefs."

"For a while, the order flourishes; but over time, the public becomes complacent and allows unscrupulous leaders to infiltrate the inner workings of the order. Only interested in accomplishing their own personal agendas, these leaders start to manipulate the set of rules the founders set up until very little of it actually means anything. Around that time, the public begins to grow restless. Conspiracy theories run wild, fear of the leadership begins to grow; and in time, the people begin to resist their leaders, even going as far as to openly rebel against them. The truth can't be hidden forever; and when the majority of the public is made aware of the true motives of their leadership, they overthrow the order, and the cycle starts again from the beginning."

Krystal attempted to digest all of Felix's information, but it was a bit more than she could stomach at one time. "So, how does this affect my planet?" she asked him.

Felix flicked his right turn signal and turned into the expansive parking area around the hospital that served as their destination. He held off answering Krystal's question until he had parked his large vehicle and turned off the engine. With the cabin completely silent, he replied, "I could be wrong, but I think a revolution could be set to take place on Cerinia. Tell me—why was your father so hated? What did he do?"

"I don't really know much about him," Krystal replied, "He died when I was 11. I never found out how, but my mother took it badly. I don't even think she knew how he died, to be honest. I asked her the same thing you're asking me right now, actually. However, she did tell me that the High Council hated him because of what he believed."

Felix raised his hand and stopped her. "Wait—we might be onto something. Was the hatred limited only to the High Council? What did the 'normal' people think of him?"

Krystal shook her head and replied, "I don't know, Felix. I didn't have many interactions with people outside the High Order. I've only heard bad things about my father from the more 'influential' members of the High Council. The things I've heard them say about him are terrible. What makes it even worse is that some of them motivated the people closest to me to view me as a villain—all because of their views about my father."

Felix scratched his muzzle and let out a low growl born out of intense intellectual activity rather than anger. "Tell me, Krystal—what is your opinion of your Elders? Please be honest. If you hate them, I won't hold it against you. I just need to get an objective answer from you before I tell you why I think they disliked your father so much."

Despite Felix's statement that he wouldn't hold any of her angst or spite against her if she possessed any, she remained uneasy about replying to Felix's probing question. Intriguingly, it was the way her Elders had treated her that caused her to feel uneasy around unfamiliar people. As friendly and open as Felix was, he was still someone she knew very little about, even with her telepathy constantly analyzing him for clues and hints to his inner character.

Reluctantly allowing her true emotions to shine through, she gritted her teeth and replied, "I really do hate them—especially Julius, the Head Elder. He's the one who convinced the others to reject me. I never did anything to question his authority, and I obeyed his leadership unconditionally; but he still treated me like I was part of a curse that needed to be stomped out."

"Tell me more about him," said Felix, imploring her to empty her feelings about the man who presided over all others on Cerinia.

"The others treat him almost like a god sometimes. Nobody questions his word—they think he's so 'enlightened,'" she derisively remarked, making quotation signs with her fingers. "I never took an interest in what you would call politics, but he holds a view that the others call 'Supremacy of the Ancients.' Legend has it that the High Order of Cerinia is the last strain of true Cerinian blood that hasn't been corrupted by offworlders. It's because of this view that I'm not allowed to interact with the lower orders. Some would say that I'm obligated to look down on them and even hurt them to show the supremacy of the High Order. I don't care what the Elders say—it's wrong."

"Absolutely," Felix agreed.

Krystal continued, "Anyone in the High Order who speaks out against Julius's ideas are either silenced through force or exiled to a place where they never come back. That's why I never said anything against him, as much as I hate him for what he's doing to the people on Cerinia. Even though I tried to obey him and accept his views, he still watched me like a hawk—like he knew something about me that I didn't even know."

Felix's eyes seemed to soften as a sad, melancholic expression appeared on his slender muzzle. He patted the red-dyed Cerinian on the shoulder and reassured her, "I promise that you won't get anything like that from me. I know Fox won't treat you that way either."

Krystal whimpered her nonverbal thanks as Felix continued, "I don't want to throw gasoline on the fire, but I think Julius may have had a hand in killing your father. Follow me on this: he and his close associates hate you for no reason and keep a close eye on you for reasons that you don't understand. In addition to that, even your own mother doesn't know how your father died—only when. Add that to the fact that the Council is trying to kill you right now, and you have a very strong case for your father being a revolutionary who dared to stand up to the corruption in your Order."

Krystal's jaw dropped, and she stared at Felix with an expression of disbelief. "You're starting to scare me. How could you possibly get that from what I told you?"

The vulpine smiled and answered, "I explained my process to you already. I've learned to be very perceptive to details that others may have missed. Everything about what you told me pointed to your father being in opposition to what Julius was promoting." Krystal simply sat in her seat, amazed at Felix's deductions.

Shortly thereafter, the dull-furred fox opened his car door and said, "Scarlet's on the 12th floor. To be honest, I don't think she'll be too happy to see you."

"I know," Krystal mumbled in reply. "But I feel like I need to do this."

"Then I'm not going to stop you."

The cold winter night wind howled around the two vulpines as they walked across the vast expanse of tarmac where nearly a hundred different vehicles were parked. The design of the hospital itself was completely foreign to Krystal, who was used to hospitals being small buildings where a moderately-educated doctor would attempt to heal the various aches, pains, and injuries that plagued some of the Cerinian people. Curiously, Krystal never remembered being admitted to one of them. It had been said that Cerinians of the purest blood were more resistant to illness and injury than others, with some being nearly impervious to disease. Krystal had thought that the concept was rubbish at first; but as she grew older, she began to realize that serious injury was never something that she had been forced to deal with.

The front door to the hospital was positioned under an enclosed area attached to the main structure where patients without life-threatening injuries could be effectively dropped off. The blacks and dark grays that dominated the aesthetics of the building gave Krystal a cold, oppressive vibe; although almost every other building on Skallis observed the same unspoken color code with the exception of the Vulpine Collective and the buildings that she had seen from afar, floating high above District 7.

The twin panes of glass slid open for Krystal and Felix as they entered the hospital. The numerous couches and chairs in the waiting room held more than thirty different people, many of whom were there waiting to hear about the condition of their friends and loved ones who had been admitted to the various wards throughout the Gaia Corporation-owned hospital.

Felix confidently strode across the light beige tile floor without paying attention to anyone in the general area. One of the receptionists turned to look his way; but upon recognizing him, she focused her attention back to her work while Felix and Krystal stepped into a nearby hallway where four different elevators awaited them. The small chambers were well-appointed, but nowhere near as lavish as the elevators at the Oasis or the Avalon.

The elder of the two foxes pressed the up arrow on the first elevator to his right, causing the two metal panels to slide open. He motioned for Krystal to step in first, which she did. Felix soon followed and pressed the button marked '12' from the selection of more than 30 floors. While he backed against the elevator's rear wall and sighed, Krystal gazed at her reflection in the mirrored left panel.

She simply didn't look right.

Jewel the fur stylist had dyed her fur to perfection, but she still felt like she was pretending to be someone else by wearing the fur of a red vixen. She rolled up her jacket's sleeves and looked down at the black fur that covered her arms below her elbows. The white fur on her face and upper chest was unchanged from before, but Jewel had taken the liberty of dyeing the area around her eyes black, giving her the illusion of wearing permanent eye shadow.

Felix noticed Krystal's unease while he pondered the events of the day with a tiredness that was more than obvious. Turning to her, he murmured, "Stop stressing yourself out. You look beautiful in any color."

Krystal blushed, albeit mildly. "You're not just saying that, are you?"

"Have I lied to you yet?" Felix answered with a tired smile. "If you were my age and I wasn't jaded, I wouldn't be able to keep away from you."

The dyed vixen turned away from the mirror and smiled back at him. "Thanks," she said, "I needed to hear that."

"Not a problem, Krystal."

The elevator arrived on floor 12, and the doors slid open to reveal another elevator chamber identical to the one they had entered before boarding the elevator. As he had before, Felix stepped out first and walked to his right, into the adjacent hallway which housed a number of rooms where patients with low-risk injuries could recover. Having called the hospital beforehand, he already knew which room Scarlet was being kept in. The room was on the far end of the hall on the left side; and the distance that he and Krystal were forced to walk gave the female of the two more than enough time to think about what she had done to land the bounty huntress in the hospital, regardless of whether she deserved it or not.

The walk seemed to drag on for far too long, but it eventually ended with Felix gripping the metal door handle and prying it open. The lack of lighting in the room was the first thing that grabbed the two vulpines' attention, but the reason for their visit was the next. Scarlet rested on a small hospital bed, dressed in a rudimentary hospital gown with the thin bedsheets covering her body. A white strip of cloth was fastened to the underside of her muzzle, leading Felix to believe that she had needed surgery on her broken jawbone.

At the moment, the red vixen slumbered, oblivious to the arrival of Felix and Krystal. Concerned about the ramifications of waking her and possibly incurring her wrath, Krystal whispered into Felix's ear, "Should we just leave and come back later?"

Felix shook his head. "No, now's fine." He approached the bedside, coming to a stop when he was close enough to hear Scarlet's quiet breathing as she slept. He reached out his hand and feathered her long, black hair, taking in its soft texture before cupping his hand under her chin and stroking it very cautiously as not to disturb her injury.

The vixen groaned in response to Felix's touch and opened her eyes to find her closest friend standing next to her. "Hi, Felix," she murmured, her voice slurred from the effects of her deep, depressant-induced sleep. She didn't seem particularly surprised to find him next to her, but when she saw an almost-familiar female form in standing in front of the entry door, her pulse quickened as her anger began to build.

In the almost-nonexistent light of the room, Scarlet had no way of knowing that Krystal had dyed her fur. However, she recognized her feminine form and her height and immediately made the connection. "What is she doing here?" she demanded.

"Krystal, talk to her," Felix quietly ordered, motioning for the Cerinian to move closer and engage in conversation with her adversary.

The dyed fox stepped across the floor towards Scarlet, every one of her footsteps riddled with fear and apprehension. She stood beside Felix, looked Scarlet in the eye, and weakly explained, "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for hurting you."

Scarlet scowled and spat back, "That's easy for you to say after all you did to me, furball. Is your precious little conscience getting the better of you now? I'll tell you what—if you're really sorry, do me a favor and off yourself."

Krystal shuddered at Scarlet's violent words and resisted the urge to cry. Bravely, she held her ground and said, "You have every right to be mad at me, but I want you to know that I really am sorry. Will you please forgive me?"

"And what if I don't?"

"It'll only hurt you if you won't accept my apology," Krystal replied. "Please, Scars—I'm not doing this just for me."

Scarlet sat bolt upright in her bed and yelled, "Hold on! What did you just call me?"

Krystal's ears dropped as she apologized, "Sorry. I thought you might respond better to that name."

"You really thought giving me a pet name would change everything that you did to me?" Scarlet snapped. "Listen, 'Kristy'—I'm shocked that you would take the time to come out here, but you really did a number on me. There's no way I can forgive you for that."

Feeling a guilty sadness welling up inside her, Krystal whimpered, "Please…it hurts me so much."

The spite and hatred that Scarlet had built up over the years filled her mind, bringing with it a corrupt rush of joy that came from knowing that she had managed to inflict hurt on the Cerinian who had exposed her plot to kill her and had taken away any chance of mating with Fox again. At the same time, she looked into Krystal's eyes and saw the pain and the guilt in them. She was genuinely sorry for what she had done, regardless of whether she understood how she had affected her. Deep inside Scarlet's conscience, the hatred she felt towards Krystal began to be pushed back by a wave of sympathy. She refused to let go of her anger, but she knew that she was in the wrong for holding onto it.

As Krystal began to turn away and shuffle towards the door, Felix gave her a solemn stare that condemned her without a sound. "You tried to kill her, but I still gave you another chance. Accept her apology, Scarlet. Stop hating her. This is a chance you won't get again. You can make things right—now."

Scarlet clenched her teeth. She knew that he was right; and holding onto her anger would only hurt her in the end. The words stuck in her mouth, but she forced herself to mutter, "Krystal, come back."

The Cerinian turned around and looked at Scarlet, hoping that she had reconsidered her decision to reject her apology. "What is it?"

The bounty huntress's angst screamed in protest, doing everything in its power to keep her from attaining some kind of closure with Krystal. With difficulty, she ordered, "Come closer."

Krystal approached the bed, half-expecting Scarlet to leap out of it and strangle her. Her breathing intensified and her heartbeat increased as Scarlet pinned her eyes shut for only a moment and then said, "You're right. It's not going to do me any good to hold onto my anger. I really don't like you… but I accept your apology."

The Cerinian faintly smiled and knelt next to the bed, relieved and satisfied that her trip to the hospital with Felix had not been in vain. "Thanks, Scarlet," she whispered before turning away and walking back towards the door.

Krystal assumed her position in front of the door once again, waiting for Felix to finish speaking with Scarlet. She didn't fully understand how the vulpine could care about Scarlet as much as he did. For all intents and purposes, she thought of Scarlet as being a vulpine dirtbag, and not much more. Nevertheless, it impressed her that Felix would take the time and energy to visit her when she needed it most.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Felix softly asked her, "Could you step outside for a bit? I won't be much longer."

"Sure," Krystal replied without asking her companion why he had asked her to leave. She merely complied, opened the door, and stood out in the hallway while she waited for Felix.

With Krystal out of the room—but not necessarily out of telepathic 'earshot'—Scarlet explained to Felix, "There's been a…um…development."

"What kind of development?" Felix inquired.

The red vixen blushed and replied, "Before my surgery, they ran some tests on me and found…"

"Found what, Scarlet?"

"There's a possibility that I'm pregnant with Fox's child."

Felix's eyes widened with concern and shock. "Are you sure it's his?"

"I'm positive," Scarlet replied, "The only two people I've mated with this year are you and Fox; and you know that you have a medical condition that makes it impossible for you to impregnate anyone."

The red vulpine took a deep breath to calm himself and asked, "Are you going to have this baby...assuming that the tests correctly predicted your pregnancy?"

Scarlet sighed, and her face softened as a deep concern manifested itself. "I think so. Would you be okay with being the father? I doubt Fox will be interested."

Felix raised his hand to his face and stroked his muzzle. "I don't know, Scarlet. If this whole thing with Asgard blows over soon, I suppose so. Thing is, I'm not entirely happy about the idea of raising the result of your mistakes. And if I'm going to be your baby's father, there's something I need from you first."

"Hmm? What's that, Felix?"

"I need you to say 'yes'. I had meant to wait before asking you this, but it looks like there isn't time for waiting anymore." He paused and collected himself before asking her, "Scarlet, would you be willing to marry me?"

Scarlet smiled and sighed, "Wow… I wasn't expecting that at all from you—and you don't even have a ring for me. Are you serious about this?"

"If you want me to help you raise your child, things can't be the same way that they are now. I need a commitment from you too, Scarlet. I hate to say that I'm not really aroused by you anymore; but from now on, I don't want you mating with anyone else. I promise that I'll try to make things enjoyable for you, even if I don't really get anything out of it."

The vixen grinned like a naughty adolescent and commented, "You weren't that bad. A little bit boring—sure—but you had your moments."

"Glad you think so," Felix smirked. "Now, back to the question: are you going to commit to this? I need to know."

Scarlet sighed and reclined on the bed, resting her head on the soft pillows. "Can I have some more time to think it over? I don't think I'm ready to make my decision yet."

Felix looked through the pane of glass belonging to the room's door, where Krystal stood with her back towards him. In reply to Scarlet's question, he soberly said, "Fine. Just don't take too long to decide." With that, he turned towards the door and left the bedside.

"Good night, Scarlet."

After leaving the hospital, Felix and Krystal crossed the large parking lot until they came to the former's car. The dull-furred vulpine unlocked the vehicle, and both he and his vixen friend opened their respective doors and climbed into the cabin. Krystal pulled her door shut, creating an awkward 'clunk' that brought Felix's attention to an implement that she had attached to her belt.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Oh, this? It's my staff," she replied. "I felt like it would be a good idea to take it in case… well…"

"….In case Scarlet attacked you," Felix finished. "I understand. She's an unpredictable one. At least your argument with her is over, at least for now."

Felix backed out of his parking space and slowly drove out of the hospital's parking lot, taking one last look at the building in a vain attempt at catching a glimpse of Scarlet's room before pulling onto the road and heading back towards the Collective.

Softly, Krystal asked him, "You feel for her, don't you?"

Felix's eyes never left the road as he replied, "I do. I feel like it's up to me to be the friend she always wanted but could never have."

"She's had a rough life, hasn't she?"

"You might say that." Felix pointed up to the landmass floating in the sky far above them and said, "Scarlet was born up there, but she was exiled for criminal activities that she was part of as a teenager. The cycle never really broke with her. She's still the same as she was the first time I met her. I've changed immeasurably, but she never did; and I feel like it's my job to help her change herself into the person I think she ought to be."

Krystal shook her head and opined, "It's not right to force your will on people, no matter how noble it is. I do see where you're coming from, though."

Felix saw the next traffic signal ahead of him turn yellow and decided that if he stepped on the throttle, he would be able to make it through before it turned red. Pushing the gas pedal down, he explained, "Scarlet has a lot of anger as a result of being manipulated and rejected in the past. I think that if I love her the way she was meant to be loved, she'll lose some of her aggressive tenden..."

"Felix! Look out!"

The vulpine slammed on the brakes just as his vehicle crossed the intersection—and not a moment too soon. A black, heavily-armored APC raced across the tarmac from the right and barely avoided colliding with Felix's vehicle. While Felix gasped in shock of what might have been, the black military transport skidded to a halt and began to turn around, ramming civilian traffic out of the way without the slightest concern.

Krystal stared wide-eyed at Felix as her breaths came out in short, panicked bursts. "We've got to get out of here! That thing was trying to hit us!"

"No kidding," Felix muttered, pushing the throttle pedal to the floor and turning right onto the street that ran adjacent to the avenue that they had been traveling on. "How did you know that was coming?"

"I just felt it," Krystal replied. "Something in my mind told me that we were in danger."

The vulpine breathed a tense sigh and said, "I'm damn glad that you came with me tonight." Knowing that the APC would be on their trail in a matter of moments, he explained to Krystal, "I think they put a tracker on my car. I don't know for sure when it was, but it must've been either while you were getting your fur dyed or while we were visiting Scarlet."

"Who are they?" Krystal asked, her eyes full of fear.

"I honestly have no clue. I'd guess that it was Asgard, but that APC didn't look like one of theirs. I'm going to contact Hanson right now to see if he can help us out. We're going to have to ditch the car if we want to lose them. Hang on."

Felix weaved through the slow-moving traffic on the narrow city street, all the while looking for a secluded parking area where he could leave his vehicle. On the right side of the road, a four-level parking garage appeared, flanked by several office buildings and facing an old cathedral that stood on the opposite side of the road. Clearing a florist's van, Felix slammed on his brakes and swerved into the entry to the parking deck. He came to an abrupt stop to claim his mandatory parking slip, after which the yellow and black gate blocking his entrance was lifted. He eased the throttle, not wanting to chirp the tires or make any kind of commotion when danger was so close. Looking into his mirror to make sure that he wasn't being followed, he began to ascend the parking deck, passing rows of parked cars until he reached the third level—the one below the open-air level at the top of the parking garage.

Felix turned off his engine and pulled out his rectangular communicator, intending to alert his head of security to their situation. "Come on, Hanson. Pick it up," he muttered under his breath.

No signal.

The skin under the vulpine's fur flashed white. "That's not possible! The parking deck couldn't possibly have interfered with the signal, and there are five cell towers within twenty miles of here!" Shaken with fear, he turned to Krystal and asked her, "Do you know how to use a gun?"

The Cerinian shook her head.

Felix attempted to remain calm, but his panic was beginning to become noticeable, especially to the psychically-attuned Krystal, who crossed her arms out of trepidation while Felix stomped around his parked car until he stood facing the trunk.

"Do you trust me?" the vulpine asked.

Krystal faintly nodded.

"Good. Follow my lead. This could get rough very quickly."

Felix opened the trunklid, revealing a disassembled plasma assault rifle with a foregrip, a distinctive curved magazine, and a wiry, metal stock. In seconds, he slid the barrel into the receiver, clipped on the stock, and loaded the plasma battery into the rifle. The weapon gave off a quick chirp to let Felix know that it was armed and ready for use. He flicked the gun's select fire switch to 'Full Auto' and pressed it into his shoulder. "There should be a passageway from the roof across to the next building. We need to get over there. Don't worry about running into any police—they're almost nonexistent here."

Krystal nodded in assent and followed Felix as he broke into a sprint, heading for the nearest set of service stairs. He threw open the door for Krystal and stormed up the noisy, antiquated steps until he saw the number '4' painted on the wall ahead of him. Knowing that Krystal was close behind him, he flung the top level door open and rushed out into the cold night air. The top level of the parking deck held very few cars, as most of the denizens of the city didn't want to expose their vehicles to the raging winter elements. The snowfall picked up as Krystal stepped onto the parking deck's paved roof and looked to Felix for direction.

The dull-furred vulpine looked different to her in the dim light of the Skallisian winter night. With his assault rifle pressed into his shoulder and his wiry figure covered in his long, black coat, his appearance as a corporate leader seemed to change into that of a vigilante the second that his leadership instincts took over.

For a brief second, Krystal closed her eyes and felt the presence of two hostiles in a large vehicle ascending the parking garage. "Felix—they're tailing us."

"I know," he snapped. Spotting the connecting bridge that linked the top deck of the parking garage to the office building adjacent to it, he tucked his rifle under his arm and ran as quickly as his legs would carry him. Krystal followed as closely as was possible, her slender yet highly trained physique allowing her to keep pace with the vulpine as he sprinted across the bridge.

Krystal briefly looked over the edge of the concrete structure, down at the city streets below. Fifty feet separated her from the ground where she assumed Felix intended to go. At the moment though, her greatest concern was the commotion that Felix would cause by smashing into the closed-down office building with a military weapon on his person.

The vulpine gave her precious little time to think about it. As soon as he crossed the bridge onto the balcony attached to the office building, he ran up to the closest glass-fronted door and kicked it with all the force that he could muster. The glass shattered on impact. The instant the doorfront broke, the building's alarm went off, and Felix felt several shards of broken glass scrape against his leg. The thin dress pants that he wore offered minimal protection from injury, leaving him growling in pain while he observed his surroundings and attempted to create the next step of his escape plan. Over the din of the howling siren, he yelled, "The elevators are going to be too slow! We've got to find the stairs!"

Krystal said nothing in reply, but a telepathically-transmitted message told Felix that she had heard him. The building's alarm howled with such ferocity that Krystal thought that her head would explode. Meanwhile, Felix rushed through the hallway on the empty floor, which acted as a 'common area' for the people working in the building. A good number of red, cloth-backed chairs sat on the floor in the center of the level, but Felix focused his attention on the nearby 'EXIT' sign that flashed its red light onto the reflective tile floor at his feet.

He pushed towards the door with the intent of shoving it open; but to his shock, it swung backwards to reveal a lupine security officer with a magnum in hand. Felix panicked and fired blindly, although with his rifle pointed at the ground, all he managed to do was destroy most of the tile around his feet. He expected to hear the guard's weapon ring out, followed by a searing pain in his body and a trickle of blood; but it never happened. In the blink of an eye, the handgun was smashed out of the guard's hand. It crashed into the doorway, leaving him unarmed and defenseless. Before Felix could process the turn of events, Krystal leapt in front of him and rammed the butt end of her staff into the wolf's stomach before following the attack with a crushing blow to his skull.

The lupine guard fell to the ground and collapsed, although no blood was shed. As Krystal had intended, he had been knocked out, but not killed. That is, until Felix pressed the barrel of his assault rifle up to his temple and fired, sending a cascade of warm blood onto the doorframe and the floor.

"Why did you do that?!" Krystal screamed, covering her mouth and trying not to vomit on the freshly-bloodstained floor.

"He was a liability. I had to get rid of him," Felix shouted over the sound of the alarm. "He's probably got company somewhere else in this building. I couldn't have him telling the others about us when he came to." He pointed past the lupine's corpse to the stairs and yelled, "Come on—let's go!"

Krystal took one last look at the dead guard and sighed before she dashed down the stairs in pursuit of Felix. Every second, it seemed that she would lose her footing and fall on her face. As she ran, she felt the constant mental presence of her two pursuers—yes, two. She was sure of that much. Her sixth sense rarely betrayed her; and with her adrenaline coursing through her body, it was amplified to far greater levels than normal. The stairs raced past in a blur as she fought to keep up with the increasingly desperate Felix, who wanted nothing more than to escape the building before more security guards arrived.

An emergency exit beckoned on the left side of the stairwell that extended to the top of the tall office building. Seizing the opportunity, the vulpine kicked the door open and stormed outside, nearly breaking the door's closing mechanism in the process. Once again, the freezing night air bit at his face that he wished he had chosen to protect with a scarf. Krystal soon came to his side, panting heavily and twitching with anxiety. "What now?" she gasped.

Felix pulled out his communicator and replied, "I'm going to try to call Hanson again." As he had before, he pulled up his head of security's number and pressed the green 'call' button on his communicator's touchscreen interface.

Static.

Suddenly, the reality of his situation hit him. Turning to Krystal but refusing to look her in the eyes due to the fact that he didn't want to broadcast his fears to her, he muttered, "They're tracking me by my phone. Somehow they managed to hack it. Well, not anymore!" He threw the rectangular device to the ground and stomped on it, making sure that it was well and truly destroyed. After the communicator had been reduced to a cluster of shattered metal, plastic, and glass, his eyes darted back and forth across the street, looking for a place that he could use as a safe haven until his pursuers gave up on him. The cathedral directly across the street would be far too obvious—not to mention that old places of worship genuinely terrified him when the lights went down.

On the block to the right of the ancient stone building stood a small restaurant with a sign that said 'Open 24 Hours'. The windows were tinted, and a warm light radiated from the building, giving it an inviting air that beckoned all who were hungry to enter and eat their fill. Large buildings encroached on the eatery from all sides, but the small establishment was the only thing that stood out to Felix in his state of fear.

"Over there," he ordered, keeping his words to a minimum as if he felt the need to reinforce the urgency of the situation. The heavy city traffic prohibited them from jaywalking across the street, which meant that they would have to walk to the nearest traffic light and wait for their turn to cross the asphalt. Felix seemed visibly peeved as he tucked his assault rifle into his coat and began walking towards the light up ahead. It was not far, but with his life and Krystal's in danger, every unnecessary movement had the potential to be fatal.

Several passerby shot the two foxes a series of suspicious glances; and although Felix tried to ignore them, his already tense demeanor was quickly approaching its breaking point. He was no solider; and although he possessed a powerful experimental plasma weapon, it would do him no good if his enemy was more effectively trained than he was. The instant that the 'walk' symbol appeared on the sign across the road, he tore across the avenue with the speed of a track runner. From that point on, Krystal struggled to keep up with him.

To make matters worse, her telepathic mind began to alert her to his growing paranoia about being chased. As she crossed the road—falling more than thirty yards behind her counterpart in the process— she felt his fear in her own mind and nearly tripped over her own feet as she vainly attempted to keep up with him. She started to make up ground on the panicking vulpine just as he reached the restaurant's entry door; but it was not enough to prevent what he did next.

He pulled the door open and uncovered his assault rifle as he stepped into the restaurant. Because peak dinner hours were still active, more than thirty civilians occupied the building. Most of them sat in booths in the red and-black-themed interior, and many were eating with their families when the black-garbed vulpine stormed in, brandished his assault rifle, and yelled, "Nobody move! Listen closely—I need to use the phone in here now!"

A large, black ursine near the back of the restaurant began to creep out of his seat while reaching for his coat pocket. "I said—nobody move!" Felix screamed, pointing his weapon at the bear. "I promise that no one gets hurt if you do what I say!"

The standoff between the two was interrupted when Krystal rushed through the door and yelled, "Felix! What are you doing?"

In an act very out of character for him, he turned to face her and snapped, "Shut up! I'm the one in control here!"

"But you're not! You're paranoid!" Krystal replied, tugging on Felix's arm as if it would make him put his weapon away and start acting like the civilized man that he had been before his life had been threatened.

Felix let out a furious roar and shook Krystal's hand off of his right arm before shouting, "Repeat: I need a phone, and I need it now!"

A short malamute waitress shakily stepped away from the table that she was cleaning and raised her hand. "S…sir—there's one in the kitchen that you can use. Please, don't hurt anyone."

"Thank you," Felix growled. Once again, he noticed the black bear trying to slide out of his seat and pull out what he assumed to be his weapon. For a moment, he ceased following the canine waitress and yelled at the top of his lungs, "SIT DOWN!"

The air in the restaurant became chilled and fearful as Felix stepped into the kitchen, where the trembling waitress showed him to the phone and whimpered, "Please, make it quick and then get out."

"I will," Felix reassured her. An old, fingerprint-covered, chrome-plated, wall-mounted phone had never looked so good to him in his entire life. In mere seconds, he would be on the line with Hanson, who would be able to direct any number of the Gaia Corporation's PMCs to his location for protection and extraction. His breathing began to relax as he reached for the phone and dialed Hanson's extension.

He expected to hear the familiar call connection noises associated with phone usage, but the sound that came through the device's small speakers chilled him to the core and stirred up his fear even more dramatically than before. The sound could have been described as vaguely musical in nature, but garbled and shrouded by electronic elements and deepened by the hollow echo that accompanied it. Through the haunting soundscape, a voice whispered, "There is no escape."

At that second, the sound of breaking glass filled the air, followed by the collective screams of the restaurant's denizens. Felix rushed out of the kitchen with his rifle at the ready in time to see two large, armored vulpines climb through the shattered remains of the large window. Both were male in gender, and both of them wore heavy, black combat armor with white globe emblems stamped onto each of their chestplates. However, the one element that stood out the most to him was their fur color.

Blue.

AUTHOR'S NOTE (12-02-2014)

A slight change has been made in this chapter relating to Scarlet's pregnancy. Some time ago, I was brought to awareness of the fact that I had made a major error in regard to the time it would take for her to be officially confirmed as pregnant. I'm aware that my solution (future tech solves everything!) is more or less a complete cop-out, but apart from doing a significant edit of Arc II as a whole, I saw no other way around it.