Chapter 15: Three Thirty-Three
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Wolf looked up at the ceiling in the dark room, lying in bed, trying to dream...it was futile.
The comforting emptiness of sleep would not come for the mind was polluted with too
many thoughts, thoughts of the future...past...and present. Without much deliberation he
slid his legs off the bed, pressing his leathery padded feet against the floor. His bare paws
didn't provide much comfort from the hard carpet as he walked over to the window slowly.
Glancing outward, his eyes rested upon the clusters of apartment buildings that dotted the
distance away from the landing platform the Great Fox rested on. Lighted rooms
illuminated specks of the facades in each concrete tower as they relaxed silently on the hilly
terrain of Macbeth. As he watched, Wolf could hear noise coming from one room over, the
clanging of metal, the soft humming of a power drill...
Stepping into the hallway, he pulled a blanket around his bare shoulders, the air
circulation on the Great Fox often kept the hallway cold. He wished that he had put on a
shirt before stepping out, but since he was already halfway to the next room over, it made
sense to just continue. Approaching the door, he saw that it was already partially open,
with curiosity he pressed his hand against the door, nudging it further ajar.
"Oh hey Wolf," came a voice from the floor. It was Slippy, he had Rob laid out on his
back with wires protruding from his chest. With ease and care Slippy clamped together
another pair of wires which resulted in a soft hum to come from Rob. His visor began to
glow softly, was he...awake?
"Hey Slippy...couldn't sleep either?...How is...he?"
"Rob? Well, he's alright I suppose, I work on him late at night when I can't sleep, he
should be fixed soon, I'm just about done with putting his fiber optic matrix back
together."
"Hopefully this time he won't be prone to possession?"
Slippy chuckled for a moment before taking his small drill to a few bolts on Rob's side.
The robot turned his head slowly towards Wolf, looking up at him, "Possession...the act
of taking control without regard to ownership or property," he spoke flatly.
"He's a little quirky, just ignore him for now," muttered Slippy as he drilled another bolt
into one of Rob's hatches closing up a compartment of wires.
Wolf smirked for a second before looking around the rest of Slippy's room. There were
assorted pieces of metal and other items draped over the furniture. Most of it appeared to
be junk, halfway completed devices, failed inventions. However one thing caught his eye,
a small black disk resting on the floor.
"What's this?" he asked pointing to it.
"That? Here I'll show you."
Slippy put down his drill and leaned over, grabbing the disk while still in a sitting
position. After getting up he walked over to Wolf, pulling the small black object apart. It
appeared to continuously unfold until it was the size of a small vest. He held it up with a
smile showing off both sides of the piece of bulky black fabric.
"Impressive, but I still don't know what it is," said Wolf as he crossed his arms.
"Laser proof vest, just a prototype for now, but designed to fit almost anyone and
anywhere, making it perfectly transportable while remaining discreet of course."
Wolf cocked an eyebrow at the vest while Slippy folded it up until it was the size of a
small disk again.
"Here, why don't you take it, you never know, maybe you'll need it in the future," he
beamed as he handed him the folded fabric.
"Thanks."
"Besides, I need to focus on other projects without getting distracted," grumbled Slippy
while pointing to a binder on the floor with the words "Corodus Drill Project" printed on
its cover.
Wolf smiled absently, pulling the blanket around him tighter, "I'll be in the rec room, I
don't think I'm going to be able to sleep tonight."
After shutting the door to Slippy's room, he drifted down the hallway drowsily until he
came to his destination. Opening it, he was surprised to see everyone bunched up inside.
Katt, Falco, F...
"Hey look who it is," greeted Fox, pointing his pool stick towards Wolf, "What's the
matter, couldn't sleep either?"
He shook his head in response, glancing around the dimly lit room. Katt was lying lazily
in Falco's lap on the couch. They were both dozing off in front of a wall display which
was playing a movie at a low volume, almost muted. Meanwhile, Fox was lining up
another shot on the pool table, straining his eyes as he aimed the long stick at the
porcelain white cue ball.
"You play pool?" questioned Wolf with a curious tone.
"Yea, wanna play?"
Wolf gave a salacious smirk shaking his head, "No that's quite alright."
Fox shrugged as he poked his pool stick into the cue ball, rocketing it across the table
with a loud clang.
The sudden noise jerked Katt awake as she twitched and yawned in Falco's lap, "God
damn you Fox do you have to do that now?"
"Hey, I'm going to keep doing this until I can beat Falco alright?"
He smiled smugly at Fox before turning his attention to the wall display "What are we
watching?!" grunted Falco in disgust.
"The Apes of Wrath."
"Ew, who's idea was it to watch this garbage?!"
"Yours."
Katt smiled with an equal smugness that Falco usually had in a mocking manner.
Wolf smirked at the bickering two before turning around, the door peeked open as a
green hand grasped the edge. It was Slippy who poked his head into the room with a
warm smile.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Avians and felines, vulpines and lupines...I give you!...Rob!"
The bulky robot peeked around from behind the half open door towering over Slippy,
"Hello everyone."
Fox dropped his pool stick to the floor with widened eyes, "Rob you're back!"
"Who the hell is Rob?!" belted Katt as she jerked her head around, "Oh him...the robot,"
she added flatly after seeing his figure step through the doorway.
Holding his blanket over his shoulders with one hand, Wolf extended his paw in a
friendly gesture, "Well Rob, it's nice to see you back. I'm sure everyone is happy to
see...AAUGH!"
He immediately grabbed Wolf lifting him up off the floor by the shoulders with a firm
grasp.
"Detaining enemy in close proximity, O'Donnell, Wolf."
He yelped in pain as Rob flipped him over and held him in a tight grip, cradling him like
a baby, "Slippy do something!" he urged.
Katt put a paw over her mouth trying fruitlessly to hold back her amusement while Slippy
fiddled with the controls on his digital tablet.
"I'm trying!...Oh here's the problem, he's missing a memory block that covers the past 6
weeks."
"Well, can you restore it and remind him that I'm on your side?!" cried Wolf.
Slippy poked through commands and controls hastily on the tablet as he angled it towards
Rob. The remote access protocol allowing him to scan through Rob's internal programs
and memory blocks from a distance.
"Ah hah I found it, I'm reinstating it!" he exclaimed as he poked another command into
the tablet.
Rob's visor drifted down towards the shirtless gray wolf he was cradling, "Wolf?" he
questioned curiously, "What are you doing in my arms?"
"That is exactly what I'd like to know!" he growled in response.
By now Katt and Falco were reeling on the couch together no longer discretely holding
back their mirth as they gasped for air between belting laughs.
"Put him down Rob," chuckled Fox as he grabbed the blanket off the floor.
After being lowered down slowly, Wolf clamored out of Rob's reach and snapped his
blanket away from Fox. "I'll take that if you don't mind!" he said as he pulled the blue
fabric over his bare shoulders.
He turned towards Falco and Katt who were still laughing up a storm on the couch, and
with a modest smile, he took a bow.
"I hope you two enjoyed the show, I'm going to sleep!"
"Aw come on, stay stay!" cried Falco who was wiping a tear from his eye with Katt's tail.
But Wolf had already started towards the door with Fox following close behind,
"I'm going too, it's late guys. We probably have a busy day tomorrow anyway."
Falco grumbled as he pushed Katt off his lap and slid off the couch, "What time is it
anyway?"
"3:33a.m. local time" chimed Rob as he brushed a few blue feathers from Katt's hair.
"You guys might be nocturnal, but that's late enough for me," grumbled Slippy as he
followed the two out the door. "Come on Rob, I need to recharge your proton packs."
Katt grinned lasciviously as she slowly followed Slippy and Rob out the door leaving
Falco all to himself in the rec room. As he stood perplexed she flashed one more beaming
smile before shutting the door.
"Hey Katt wait!"
***************************************************************
Wolf looked around Fox's room as he usually did in silence. He didn't know why he
followed him here. He just didn't feel comfortable being alone in his room with just his
thoughts. He needed someone else's company, somewhat of a security blanket. He pulled
the raggedy blue fabric around himself tighter which he held like a cape.
"Hey I thought you were going to go to sleep?" questioned Fox absently as he punched
his pillow and pulled back the sheets on his bed.
"I guess I am, I just didn't feel comfortable alone, I'm sorry I'll go," spoke Wolf as he
paced towards the door.
"No wait, stay."
He turned around slowly glancing at Fox who was sitting up in his bed, his legs under the
sheets.
"You can spend the night in here, if you're uncomfortable in your quarters."
Wolf glanced around in silence for a moment, at a loss for words on how to respond.
What an odd gesture, but somehow comforting at the same time.
"Here, you take the bed, I'll sleep on my chair. I seem to get better rest when I doze off
in that thing than on my own bed."
"Are you sure?" questioned Wolf meekly.
"Absolutely."
Wolf drowsily slid over to the bed and melted into the sheets as Fox turned out the lights.
He burried the side of his face into the soft downy pillow with a relaxed sigh. Looking up
at the ceiling he felt his eyelids grow heavy as though they were being pulled by heavy
stone weights, downward with the force of gravity, lower and lower.
"Goodnight Wolf," mumbled Fox as he adjusted himself in the reclined chair across from the bed.
Wolf mumbled softly in response as he pulled the sheets around him tightly. And finally for
once, he was able to let his eyes close and doze off into the comforting darkness of sleep.
***************************************************************
The first light of dawn pierced an arrow of sunlight through the gaping window of
Prole's office as thoughts drifted through his mind. He flipped through information
reports and data sheets, detailing him of the progress they were all making in readying
Macbeth for armed conflict. They had hundreds of refitted cargo ships, hundreds of pilots
to fly them...but was it enough? Did they have the higher card? Or did Pepper have an ace
up his sleeve. There was no time to have second thoughts on the matter, he thought as he
flipped through Slippy's schematic sheet of the anti-orbital beam weapon which was
previously a mining drill. We lived in a mirror universe now, and everything seemed to
remind him of that. A tool for peace had become a weapon so quickly, an old friend, a
business ally, Pepper, had become a feared enemy without warning.
Did we have a chance?, he continued in his thoughts rhetorically. Yes. This time we will
win. Eight years ago when Andross took over, he was able to do just that because we
were weak. Companies, CEOs, all of them, tried to betray our consortium of talented
engineers and scientists with buyouts and greed induced takeovers. The confusion and
corruption made us crumble, and Andross saw his chance to slip in...he succeeded, but
we came out of the conflict with renewed strength and that is why we will succeed. We
are strong now Pepper...
"Viceroy Prole?" came a voice from the console.
Dordon blinked from a few times, disturbed from his levy of deep thoughts,
"Yes Prole here."
"Viceroy, we're detecting movement on our long range scanners...from Corneria."
Prole's heart shot into his throat, with each beat he could feel it increase its pace. An
advance so soon? He was moving quickly to silence their freedom thought Prole as
Pepper's brooding face flashed through his mind. He felt his mouth crack dry as sweat
formed at the corners of his forehead. The words uttered from the comm speaker,
serpents, lashing at his complacency, the name, Corneria, a venomous cobra hissing at
him in his thoughts. He pressed his eyes shut softly, the gesture turning into a cringe
within seconds.
"Viceroy, shall I alert the others?"
Focus now Dordon, the guns are loaded, the trigger warm with anticipation, with each
hesitation he inches closer. Troikas died as a failed leader in the serpent's lair, his sub-
chancellor's ashes are smeared across Zoness. They all hesitated...
"Y...yes..."
"Sir?"
"I said yes, full planetary alert, condition red."
And so it begins Pepper...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That was a fun one, Prole's got confidence, do you? Look forward to an action packed Chapter 16!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wolf looked up at the ceiling in the dark room, lying in bed, trying to dream...it was futile.
The comforting emptiness of sleep would not come for the mind was polluted with too
many thoughts, thoughts of the future...past...and present. Without much deliberation he
slid his legs off the bed, pressing his leathery padded feet against the floor. His bare paws
didn't provide much comfort from the hard carpet as he walked over to the window slowly.
Glancing outward, his eyes rested upon the clusters of apartment buildings that dotted the
distance away from the landing platform the Great Fox rested on. Lighted rooms
illuminated specks of the facades in each concrete tower as they relaxed silently on the hilly
terrain of Macbeth. As he watched, Wolf could hear noise coming from one room over, the
clanging of metal, the soft humming of a power drill...
Stepping into the hallway, he pulled a blanket around his bare shoulders, the air
circulation on the Great Fox often kept the hallway cold. He wished that he had put on a
shirt before stepping out, but since he was already halfway to the next room over, it made
sense to just continue. Approaching the door, he saw that it was already partially open,
with curiosity he pressed his hand against the door, nudging it further ajar.
"Oh hey Wolf," came a voice from the floor. It was Slippy, he had Rob laid out on his
back with wires protruding from his chest. With ease and care Slippy clamped together
another pair of wires which resulted in a soft hum to come from Rob. His visor began to
glow softly, was he...awake?
"Hey Slippy...couldn't sleep either?...How is...he?"
"Rob? Well, he's alright I suppose, I work on him late at night when I can't sleep, he
should be fixed soon, I'm just about done with putting his fiber optic matrix back
together."
"Hopefully this time he won't be prone to possession?"
Slippy chuckled for a moment before taking his small drill to a few bolts on Rob's side.
The robot turned his head slowly towards Wolf, looking up at him, "Possession...the act
of taking control without regard to ownership or property," he spoke flatly.
"He's a little quirky, just ignore him for now," muttered Slippy as he drilled another bolt
into one of Rob's hatches closing up a compartment of wires.
Wolf smirked for a second before looking around the rest of Slippy's room. There were
assorted pieces of metal and other items draped over the furniture. Most of it appeared to
be junk, halfway completed devices, failed inventions. However one thing caught his eye,
a small black disk resting on the floor.
"What's this?" he asked pointing to it.
"That? Here I'll show you."
Slippy put down his drill and leaned over, grabbing the disk while still in a sitting
position. After getting up he walked over to Wolf, pulling the small black object apart. It
appeared to continuously unfold until it was the size of a small vest. He held it up with a
smile showing off both sides of the piece of bulky black fabric.
"Impressive, but I still don't know what it is," said Wolf as he crossed his arms.
"Laser proof vest, just a prototype for now, but designed to fit almost anyone and
anywhere, making it perfectly transportable while remaining discreet of course."
Wolf cocked an eyebrow at the vest while Slippy folded it up until it was the size of a
small disk again.
"Here, why don't you take it, you never know, maybe you'll need it in the future," he
beamed as he handed him the folded fabric.
"Thanks."
"Besides, I need to focus on other projects without getting distracted," grumbled Slippy
while pointing to a binder on the floor with the words "Corodus Drill Project" printed on
its cover.
Wolf smiled absently, pulling the blanket around him tighter, "I'll be in the rec room, I
don't think I'm going to be able to sleep tonight."
After shutting the door to Slippy's room, he drifted down the hallway drowsily until he
came to his destination. Opening it, he was surprised to see everyone bunched up inside.
Katt, Falco, F...
"Hey look who it is," greeted Fox, pointing his pool stick towards Wolf, "What's the
matter, couldn't sleep either?"
He shook his head in response, glancing around the dimly lit room. Katt was lying lazily
in Falco's lap on the couch. They were both dozing off in front of a wall display which
was playing a movie at a low volume, almost muted. Meanwhile, Fox was lining up
another shot on the pool table, straining his eyes as he aimed the long stick at the
porcelain white cue ball.
"You play pool?" questioned Wolf with a curious tone.
"Yea, wanna play?"
Wolf gave a salacious smirk shaking his head, "No that's quite alright."
Fox shrugged as he poked his pool stick into the cue ball, rocketing it across the table
with a loud clang.
The sudden noise jerked Katt awake as she twitched and yawned in Falco's lap, "God
damn you Fox do you have to do that now?"
"Hey, I'm going to keep doing this until I can beat Falco alright?"
He smiled smugly at Fox before turning his attention to the wall display "What are we
watching?!" grunted Falco in disgust.
"The Apes of Wrath."
"Ew, who's idea was it to watch this garbage?!"
"Yours."
Katt smiled with an equal smugness that Falco usually had in a mocking manner.
Wolf smirked at the bickering two before turning around, the door peeked open as a
green hand grasped the edge. It was Slippy who poked his head into the room with a
warm smile.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Avians and felines, vulpines and lupines...I give you!...Rob!"
The bulky robot peeked around from behind the half open door towering over Slippy,
"Hello everyone."
Fox dropped his pool stick to the floor with widened eyes, "Rob you're back!"
"Who the hell is Rob?!" belted Katt as she jerked her head around, "Oh him...the robot,"
she added flatly after seeing his figure step through the doorway.
Holding his blanket over his shoulders with one hand, Wolf extended his paw in a
friendly gesture, "Well Rob, it's nice to see you back. I'm sure everyone is happy to
see...AAUGH!"
He immediately grabbed Wolf lifting him up off the floor by the shoulders with a firm
grasp.
"Detaining enemy in close proximity, O'Donnell, Wolf."
He yelped in pain as Rob flipped him over and held him in a tight grip, cradling him like
a baby, "Slippy do something!" he urged.
Katt put a paw over her mouth trying fruitlessly to hold back her amusement while Slippy
fiddled with the controls on his digital tablet.
"I'm trying!...Oh here's the problem, he's missing a memory block that covers the past 6
weeks."
"Well, can you restore it and remind him that I'm on your side?!" cried Wolf.
Slippy poked through commands and controls hastily on the tablet as he angled it towards
Rob. The remote access protocol allowing him to scan through Rob's internal programs
and memory blocks from a distance.
"Ah hah I found it, I'm reinstating it!" he exclaimed as he poked another command into
the tablet.
Rob's visor drifted down towards the shirtless gray wolf he was cradling, "Wolf?" he
questioned curiously, "What are you doing in my arms?"
"That is exactly what I'd like to know!" he growled in response.
By now Katt and Falco were reeling on the couch together no longer discretely holding
back their mirth as they gasped for air between belting laughs.
"Put him down Rob," chuckled Fox as he grabbed the blanket off the floor.
After being lowered down slowly, Wolf clamored out of Rob's reach and snapped his
blanket away from Fox. "I'll take that if you don't mind!" he said as he pulled the blue
fabric over his bare shoulders.
He turned towards Falco and Katt who were still laughing up a storm on the couch, and
with a modest smile, he took a bow.
"I hope you two enjoyed the show, I'm going to sleep!"
"Aw come on, stay stay!" cried Falco who was wiping a tear from his eye with Katt's tail.
But Wolf had already started towards the door with Fox following close behind,
"I'm going too, it's late guys. We probably have a busy day tomorrow anyway."
Falco grumbled as he pushed Katt off his lap and slid off the couch, "What time is it
anyway?"
"3:33a.m. local time" chimed Rob as he brushed a few blue feathers from Katt's hair.
"You guys might be nocturnal, but that's late enough for me," grumbled Slippy as he
followed the two out the door. "Come on Rob, I need to recharge your proton packs."
Katt grinned lasciviously as she slowly followed Slippy and Rob out the door leaving
Falco all to himself in the rec room. As he stood perplexed she flashed one more beaming
smile before shutting the door.
"Hey Katt wait!"
***************************************************************
Wolf looked around Fox's room as he usually did in silence. He didn't know why he
followed him here. He just didn't feel comfortable being alone in his room with just his
thoughts. He needed someone else's company, somewhat of a security blanket. He pulled
the raggedy blue fabric around himself tighter which he held like a cape.
"Hey I thought you were going to go to sleep?" questioned Fox absently as he punched
his pillow and pulled back the sheets on his bed.
"I guess I am, I just didn't feel comfortable alone, I'm sorry I'll go," spoke Wolf as he
paced towards the door.
"No wait, stay."
He turned around slowly glancing at Fox who was sitting up in his bed, his legs under the
sheets.
"You can spend the night in here, if you're uncomfortable in your quarters."
Wolf glanced around in silence for a moment, at a loss for words on how to respond.
What an odd gesture, but somehow comforting at the same time.
"Here, you take the bed, I'll sleep on my chair. I seem to get better rest when I doze off
in that thing than on my own bed."
"Are you sure?" questioned Wolf meekly.
"Absolutely."
Wolf drowsily slid over to the bed and melted into the sheets as Fox turned out the lights.
He burried the side of his face into the soft downy pillow with a relaxed sigh. Looking up
at the ceiling he felt his eyelids grow heavy as though they were being pulled by heavy
stone weights, downward with the force of gravity, lower and lower.
"Goodnight Wolf," mumbled Fox as he adjusted himself in the reclined chair across from the bed.
Wolf mumbled softly in response as he pulled the sheets around him tightly. And finally for
once, he was able to let his eyes close and doze off into the comforting darkness of sleep.
***************************************************************
The first light of dawn pierced an arrow of sunlight through the gaping window of
Prole's office as thoughts drifted through his mind. He flipped through information
reports and data sheets, detailing him of the progress they were all making in readying
Macbeth for armed conflict. They had hundreds of refitted cargo ships, hundreds of pilots
to fly them...but was it enough? Did they have the higher card? Or did Pepper have an ace
up his sleeve. There was no time to have second thoughts on the matter, he thought as he
flipped through Slippy's schematic sheet of the anti-orbital beam weapon which was
previously a mining drill. We lived in a mirror universe now, and everything seemed to
remind him of that. A tool for peace had become a weapon so quickly, an old friend, a
business ally, Pepper, had become a feared enemy without warning.
Did we have a chance?, he continued in his thoughts rhetorically. Yes. This time we will
win. Eight years ago when Andross took over, he was able to do just that because we
were weak. Companies, CEOs, all of them, tried to betray our consortium of talented
engineers and scientists with buyouts and greed induced takeovers. The confusion and
corruption made us crumble, and Andross saw his chance to slip in...he succeeded, but
we came out of the conflict with renewed strength and that is why we will succeed. We
are strong now Pepper...
"Viceroy Prole?" came a voice from the console.
Dordon blinked from a few times, disturbed from his levy of deep thoughts,
"Yes Prole here."
"Viceroy, we're detecting movement on our long range scanners...from Corneria."
Prole's heart shot into his throat, with each beat he could feel it increase its pace. An
advance so soon? He was moving quickly to silence their freedom thought Prole as
Pepper's brooding face flashed through his mind. He felt his mouth crack dry as sweat
formed at the corners of his forehead. The words uttered from the comm speaker,
serpents, lashing at his complacency, the name, Corneria, a venomous cobra hissing at
him in his thoughts. He pressed his eyes shut softly, the gesture turning into a cringe
within seconds.
"Viceroy, shall I alert the others?"
Focus now Dordon, the guns are loaded, the trigger warm with anticipation, with each
hesitation he inches closer. Troikas died as a failed leader in the serpent's lair, his sub-
chancellor's ashes are smeared across Zoness. They all hesitated...
"Y...yes..."
"Sir?"
"I said yes, full planetary alert, condition red."
And so it begins Pepper...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That was a fun one, Prole's got confidence, do you? Look forward to an action packed Chapter 16!