Arc II: Darker Matters

Part 9: A Black Exit

Chapter 13

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 Katt'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 launched 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 Lucas? Is he okay?"

At that moment, Lucas barreled down the stairs from the control center, nearly slamming into "Skidd's" wheelchair. The jackal's fur bore numerous burn marks, and several blood splatter stains covered his black clothes.

"I guess that answered that question."

Rolling over the dead soldiers 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 Lucas 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 and prevented the helicopter from spotting them. However, Skidd and the others knew that death was all but guaranteed 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. Katt 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 Lucas'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.

Gritting his teeth, Fox locked eyes with his counterparts and barked, "Back up and get ready to run back inside. I'm going to try to shoot that thing down." He reached for the RPG tube slung across his back. The others held their collective breath as he raised it to shoulder level and stepped forwards.

The instant he emerged from under the front door awning, the gunship's pilot spotted him and rotated in his direction. At that moment, he felt his blood turn to ice. With only a rudimentary circular iron sight to help him line up the shot, he pointed the launcher at the gunship and moved his finger to the trigger. Just then, the three soldiers standing guard at the frozen-open gate realized what he was doing and opened fire on him. A swarm of bullets zipped past him, prompting Skidd to blurt out, "Holy guacamole!"

Fox perceived Scarlet readying her pistol and preparing to fire back, but he narrowed his focus on the one task that lay before him. He centered the RPG's tiny orange aiming dot on the hovering chopper's rotor assembly and pulled the trigger. His RPG blasted out of the tube and raced upwards. The warhead started high, but gradually lost altitude, arcing towards the helicopter. As it descended, however, Fox realized something.

"I aimed too low."

Compounding his fear, the chopper wobbled in midair, then angled towards him. The gunship's miniguns spooled up, ready to unleash an unsurvivable torrent of high-caliber shells on him. At the same time, Scarlet traded shots with the guards at the distant gate, hoping to pin them down with suppressive fire even though she stood little chance of hitting them with her pistol.

The RPG continued its rapid arc. As Fox realized, the warhead was all but doomed to miss the gunship and hit the ground outside the base's walls.

Or more specifically, it would have, if the helicopter had not moved a mere second earlier.

The RPG slammed into the small cockpit area, eviscerating the front of the aircraft and killing its occupants instantly. The chopper burst 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. Lucas darted for the back of the vehicle and pried open the twin rear doors to reveal Hartmann already seated inside. While Lucas 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 Katt. 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), Katt fired up the van's engine and floored the gas pedal. The tires screeched against the concrete; and the momentum threw Fox and Lucas against the back of the vehicle. From the rear cargo area, Hartmann shouted, "Katt! Don't stop for anything!"

The feline nodded feverishly.

With the gas pedal plastered against the floor, Katt launched the van out of its parking space. Between them and freedom lay a small group of soldiers, all of whom took aim at the van. Rapid-fire bullets plinked off its black sheet metal and pierced its windshield as it sped towards the exit. To avoid being hit, Katt ducked below the steering wheel, as did Skidd.

Unable to stop the van from leaving, the soldiers by the gate dove out of the way to avoid being run over. Lifting her head above the steering wheel, Katt peered through the bullet-marked windshield and cranked the wheel to the left to make the turn out of the base. All the while, bullets from inside the base riddled the back of the van. Nevertheless, Katt felt that the worst had passed.

Hartmann had a different prognosis. "Don't get too excited. We're not out of the woods yet."

Katt 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 van. 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, Katt shouted, "Hartmann! This is a drawbridge!"¹

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, Katt guessed that its angle could have measured roughly fifteen degrees. All the while, more bullets from behind pockmarked the van. With fear in her voice, she yelped, "Hold on, everybody!"

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 Katt. 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 Katt 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 the bullets ceased pelting the van.

With the pursuing SUVs stuck on the other side of the bridge and Anthracite's assault helicopter in a pile of smoldering ruins back at the base, nothing stood in the way of the team and their escape. Pumping her fist, Katt 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 displeased expression crossed Lucas's muzzle. "Boss, I'm going to need to know what you mean by that."

Hartmann smirked. "It's complicated."

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

From the driver's seat, Katt 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 Katt."

Katt's ears twitched. "Fox—you know what I want. Can you please help me out?"

"Hmm..." Fox mumbled. "I've thought about it a little bit, and I've decided that I'm going to let you sign up. There's just one thing you need to know about."

"What's that?"

"I can't pay you very much at first. For lack of a better term, I'm…um…teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. I hope you understand."

"Oh…" Katt groaned. "That's not good. Do you have any jobs coming up?"

Fox shook his head. "Nope. We'll find out when we get back to Corneria."

Visibly uncomfortable, Katt shifted in the driver's seat and turned off Anthracite's private drive.

"You've gotta be kidding me. I just jumped off a sinking ship onto a boat that's about to hit a freaking iceberg. Dammit! Why does Falco get it so easy while I have to put up with all this garbage?"

Trying to distract herself from her newfound reality, she peeked out of her peripheral vision and asked the vixen behind her, "Hey Scarlet – what are you doing next?"

"Nothing much. I might hang out with Foxie a bit longer, but I think I'm going to take a bit of time off to visit my stepparents. Want to come with me?"

Katt'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—except, a lot more pink."

"Are you telling me that I look like a fox?" Katt questioned, narrowing her eyes before a realization dawned on her. "Oh…stepparents. I see. Well, I'll think about it, but I probably should focus on my new job first."

"Thanks, Katt," Fox replied from the back of the van.

Rounding a corner on the mountainous road leading back down into Golstave, Katt 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. Katt looked over her shoulder and announced, "Hey Lucas – 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," Lucas protested. "Katt, just listen to me. Pull over and see if she's all right."

The squeaking of brakes filled the air as Katt 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, Katt recognized the genuine pain in her eyes and could tell that her injuries needed attention. Rolling down her window, Katt 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,"² 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."

Katt 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 Katt. "Is the back okay?"

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

Walking with a limp, the vixen gripped the side door behind Katt 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 Katt 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,"³ 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, the two teams made their way back to the abandoned factory and pulled into the front garage area. At long last, the van rolled to a stop, bringing the madness to a conclusive end. Already exhausted from her work in escaping the base, Katt 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, she 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 East Fortuna 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 East Fortuna? What are Bruno and his buddy 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 her information, but I offered to…uh…take her with us when we leave."

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

"Look," said Fox, "While you were in Wolf's base, we got attacked by some of his mercenaries, and Katt was one of them. She told me that her unit's order was to kill everyone in the warehouse, including Krystal. I doubt she's interested in getting back in touch with East Fortuna. 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."

A sheepish smile appeared on Fox's lips. "I actually was considering that."

"This has to be some kind of joke," Scarlet groaned. "Maybe it's a good thing that I'm not planning on being around for your next job, so I can be somewhere else when you make your next stupid decision."

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. I don't care if you think they're stupid. In a few hours, we're going to get out of Katina; and when we do, I'm taking Katt and Krystal with me. Sorry, Scarlet."

Scarlet rolled her eyes. "Moron. You're going to regret that."

While the red vixen shook her head and wandered 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 Rafa—your boss. You know he used to be my teammate, right?"

"I did, actually," Krystal replied. "He was quite insistent that you end up dead as soon as possible."

"What could have possibly made him flip like that?" Fox thought, trying to refrain from audibly yelling. "He was one of my closest teammates! This doesn't make any sense!"

"It makes more sense than you think, Fox. If you earn my trust, I'll be willing to explain everything. Don't say this to the husky or the jackal, but I didn't tell them everything I know."

Fox crossed his arms. "What would it take for you to tell me these things?"

Krystal took a deep breath. "At least for now, Rafa thinks I'm dead. But soon, he's going to find out that Anthracite's raid failed. I don't want to frighten you, Fox, but when Rafa realizes that I'm alive and not working with him anymore, he's going to send his hitman after me."

"Krystal, I'm sure you'll be fine. I'm an advanced soldier program graduate."

"So is he—from the first program, not the watered-down one that you completed. This man is all but invincible. But you want me to tell you what I want, so I'll explain. I need to clear out my apartment in Eladard, I need a place to stay, and I need a way to disappear. If you can help me with those things, I'll tell you everything I know about Rafa and his operation."

"Couldn't you just take that information to the Cornerian government? They are fighting a war with East Fortuna, you know."

Metaphorical venom seeped from Krystal's eyes. "I don't like Corneria. They can't be trusted to honor a deal. If I tell you what I know and you report that information to them, I won't complain; but understand that I must remain anonymous."

"I can accept that," said Fox.

"Good. Now you know what to do next."

"Actually, I don't."

Krystal frowned. "I need you to come with me to Eladard. As I just told you, I need to clear out my apartment so Rafa can't take anything from me. I'm short on time. You see, if Rafa thinks that I'm dead, he's going to do everything he can to confiscate my belongings and empty my bank account."

Fox's eyebrows lifted. "Krystal, I'm pretty sure it doesn't work like that. If you died, wouldn't someone from your family get your money? Rafa isn't entitled to that."

A sudden burst of nervousness flashed across Krystal's face, but only for a moment. "I don't have any family outside the island where I was born. I never wrote a will, so I don't know where my money would go. What I do know, however, is that Rafa has a master hacker in his employment who will find his way into my bank account and empty it if I don't get to it first."

"That's…something," Fox muttered. "I have a question, though: what are you willing to pay me if I come with you to Eladard as your bodyguard?"

Krystal's countenance appeared as though it was made of stone. "I'll pay you in information, and you will have my trust. Believe me—that will go a long way."

"And if I say 'no?'"

Krystal's harsh expression turned aggressive. "Then I will find a way to get to Eladard by myself, and I'll take care of my business without your help. Then, I'll go my own way, and you will probably never see me again. And if Rafa's hitman kills me, you will have lost your greatest potential ally, all because the price of a round trip plane ticket was too much for you."

Fox placed his hands on his hips, reflecting a defensive posture. "I'm almost broke, Krystal."

A defiant spark appeared in the vixen's eyes. "If you help me, I don't think you'll have much to worry about."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Come with me to Eladard, and maybe you'll find out," Krystal replied with a faint, sly grin.

Fox returned a stoic smile before he 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. 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 East Fortuna 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. Lucas 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."

- § -

Back in the warehouse deep within Anthracite's base, Wolf lay on the concrete floor, unable to move on account of the excruciating pain in his back. Frustrated grunts escaped his lips, although he felt it improper to yell for help, especially when the rest of the base was on high alert. More than that, however, he loathed the prospect of appearing weak. The PMC's fearless leader, incapacitated and crying out for someone to care for him? Preposterous.

However, as the minutes ticked past and the sounds of gunfire surrounding the base died down, no one came to his aid. Despite the crippling pain in his back, his mind remained clear. He wondered if Fox and his co-conspirators had been eliminated; and with that thought, he felt tinges of regret. After all, without a mortal enemy to grapple with, his PMC had little purpose for him. For all of his vitriol and jealousy towards the vulpine—ironic considering that Anthracite had become far more powerful and successful than Fox's tiny operation had—he held traces of respect for his hated rival.

His thoughts came to a halt as the sound of approaching steps reached his ears. The pair of boots nearing him made almost no sound. Only his razor-sharp lupine hearing enabled him to detect his visitor. A shadow of a smile crossed his lips.

"Leon."

Seconds later, a lanky, green chameleon wearing an overly-tight navy blue bodysuit knelt next to him and stared at him with soulless, glacial eyes that reflected his emotionless, cruel modus operandi.

Unfazed by the lizard's steely gaze, Wolf asked, "What happened?"

Leon turned his head and spat off to the side. Then, he answered with a disturbing, high-pitched, raspy voice. "Fox escaped with Katt and destroyed your prized gunship. Twelve fatalities have been reported."

Wolf closed his eyes, failing to mask the sheer hatred he felt. "Katt? I thought she was killed."

"It would appear not," Leon replied. "Shall I inform the East Fortunan leadership that the warehouse raid was a failure?"

"No. I'm in deep enough shit already. I don't need him screaming at me on top of everything else."

"Roger that."

Wolf shifted on the ground, groaning in pain as he did. Yet, at the same time, another burning question occurred to him. "Leon—where was Panther in all of this? He could have stopped Fox, easily!"

Leon looked away. "I'm afraid that Panther has suffered a ruptured testicle and won't be able to do much of anything for the immediate future."

Wolf stared at the ceiling, struggling to understand what he had just heard. "Excuse me?"

"Indeed," said Leon. "It is most excruciating. Some would say the pain is indescribable."

"We'll see about that," Wolf spat. "Indescribable is the amount of hurt I'm going to put on that runt Fox the next time I see him. Leon, get me to a doctor."

"Your wish is my command."

FOOTNOTES:

1 Originally, Miyu (whom Katt replaced) asked Hartmann if it was a drawbridge. This didn't make a whole lot of sense, since Katt/Miyu worked at the base and would have been privy to that detail.

2 More Sly Cooper references.

3 Scarlet was originally designed as a cross between Carmelita and Catwoman.