Black Cell
Chapter 3: Opposition
I sat at the bar and the tigers were on either side of me as Zima smiled at me, she was looking pretty damn fine tonight. She was wearing the red dress that I met her in and she poured me a vodka.
"Well, it looks like business is hopping tonight." I said and Zima nodded.
"Yeah, I don't know why, it's normally like this." She replied and I felt a paw on my shoulder.
"Calyx, I'm going to go out with Amethyst for a while, we might not be back for a couple of days."
"Ok man, stay safe." I gave him my paw and we shook. I noticed that Fox had on a different set of clothes, it was a black form fitting suit and it was pitch black. I watched him go and I turned to Zima. "I wonder where he is going?"
I walked with Amethyst into her craft and she ran to the cockpit, I sat down next to he and she started up the engines. The ship rumbled and I looked over at her.
"So you're taking me back to the Black Cell base?"
"Yes, you need to come back to the life that you left Fox." She said and the craft shot off of Zoness. Amethyst put it on autopilot and she sat back. "Ten hours to the Black Cell base." She said and I rose up, I walked into the small bedroom, I sat on the chair beside the bed and Amethyst sat down on her bed. "So why did you leave Black Cell? I mean, you left before I could ask."
"Well, I just couldn't stay on; the missions were getting really taxing and I had to leave. I'm sorry that I never got into contact with you." She nodded and Amethyst took my paw.
"Well, now that we are back together, it makes up for what you did." She pulled me toward her and I sat next to her as she placed her muzzle next to mine. "I really love you, Fox." I felt her arms loop around me and I fell back as she curled up next to me. I moved my body onto the bed and Amethyst pressed herself to me as I stroked the back of her head.
"You realize that you smell so good." I said and sniffed her neck as she giggled.
"Well, so do you." She let out her purple tongue and it ran over my muzzle as I kissed her.
Awhile later, I woke up and Amethyst was still curled around me, she was still sleeping but I had to check where we were. I detangled myself from her and she stirred but did not wake up as I walked into the cockpit. I looked out and I saw a large space station floating in space, the station was extremely wide and long and my mind went back a few pages in the book of my memory. I remembered this station quite well.
I sat down in the cockpit and the Comm lit up.
"You are entering restricted airspace, turn around within the next five seconds or you will be shot down." A voice said, the video was cut but the audio was there.
"This is Fox McCloud; do I have permission to land?" The voice was silent for a moment and then resumed.
"Fox, welcome back to the Cell."
The crowd was beginning to thin out and Mishkin walked up to me from the dance floor, he sat down next to me and I smiled at him.
"Mishkin how was that?" He looked over his shoulder and a pretty tigress waved at him.
"She is something Calyx." He sighed and rested his head on the bar. A group of furs walked out of the bar and the strippers began leaving also, I turned over my last shot and Zima walked over to me.
"Want another Calyx?"
"No, two is enough." I said and she sighed.
"Well, another successful night at the bar and no one was killed." She said and the tigress walked up to Mishkin.
"Well, Mishkin I had a great night." She put her arms around him and she leaned on him.
"Well, so did I." He said and Janus chuckled beside me. He took a pull on his drink and Mishkin kissed the tigress. "So is this where we part?"
"Yes, here." She handed him a ring off her paw and he took the ring, it was solid gold with an inscription carved in it. "Maybe our paths will cross someday, until then," She kissed him again and then walked out of the bar.
"Wow that was…" Mishkin said breathlessly and I laughed. The bar was no empty except for us and Zima shivered.
"What was that?" I asked.
"I don't know, just cold." She said and I felt my merc instincts kick in.
"Janus and Mishkin get in the basement, Zima get in your room." I walked behind the bar and I grabbed the shotgun. They looked at me and I pumped the barrel. "Do it, something doesn't feel right." The tigers ran downstairs and Janus came back up with an M4 slung on his back. "What are you doing?"
"Helping you." Zima and Mishkin ran to the upstairs and I slid the gun back into the place under the bar, Janus also hid his gun and four figures walked into the bar. They were dressed in black fatigues and I saw their armaments on their backs: Shotguns, M6's, dual pistols and I noticed an old fashioned sword hanging on the side of one.
"Bar's closed." I said and one took a step forward.
"I don't want a drink, where is he?"
"Who?" I asked and the three others stood in a line.
"Fox McCloud, I need to find him."
"And why is that?" Janus asked and the figure, who I could not see the muzzle of but I suspected he was a lynx since I could recognize his walk.
"He was last reported here; do not try to hide him panther."
"Bar's closed; you'll have to leave now." He drew out his M6 but he was stopped since I had my shotgun out first. "Don't try it." Mishkin had his gun out and he pulled the hammer back as the figure replaced his gun.
"Listen, I don't want any bloodshed," He was lying. "Tell us where Fox is."
"If I could, I still wouldn't, now leave." I noticed the one with the sword placing his paw on the hilt and I moved the shotgun over to him. "Hey, paws off." The leader placed his paws by his side and I felt the room tense up.
"I said I don't want any bloodshed but I'm not afraid to let some out…particularly anyone who gets in the way of Crimson Cell." The leader said and they drew their guns.
"Shit…" I heard Janus whisper and the tension was so high, you could cut it with a knife.
"That's enough boys." Zima said and she walked in behind them, Zima was carrying a M4 and Mishkin had a small tube in his left paw. He squeezed it and a three foot, double bladed energy sword curled around his paws before extending. "You'll have to leave now." I saw the leader, well, more like heard him, sigh and they lowered their weapons. Zima and Mishkin moved to the left as the group walked out and the leader turned to me.
"This is not over, I will be looking for your friend, the fox, and I will not forget today." They vanished and I let out a sigh as my weapon was lowered.
"Christ that was close." We grouped back together and Mishkin collected the weapons.
"I'll take these back." He went downstairs and Janus followed him.
"That was close." She walked up to me and before I had a chance to react, she slapped me.
"What was that for?" I asked, quite indignant.
"You almost wrecked my bar! And you could have gotten the tigers killed." She crossed her arms and I sighed.
"We could have died Zima if I hadn't done anything." She looked up at me and I looped my arms around her.
"Well…you're right about that." I kissed her and she melted into my arms.
I felt the ship grind against something as Amethyst shut the craft down. We walked out into the station and four dark figures walked up to us.
"Amethyst, you have brought Fox back." The figure spoke with the same voice that I had heard when he was talking on the Comm. He turned out to be a leopard but his fur was unusually dark. His gold eyes looked at me and I threw out my paw.
"Solomon, I'm glad that I have returned." He shook my paw and Solomon smiled his characteristic grin.
"Black Cell wasn't the same without one of its first operatives." We walked into the base and it was all coming back to me now. I walked into the base and Amethyst walked beside me as we passed through the main gate.
Awhile later, I was escorted into a small room and the door was shut with Amethyst and me in it.
"This is only standard procedure Fox, there is a few hour period where you have to be confined with another Black Cell member."
"I remember the last one," I said and I looked around the room, there was only a cot and a chair. "We almost fit on the cot." Amethyst laughed and she walked up to me. I was sitting on the chair and she sat on my lap, her arms went around me and her tongue pressed against my muzzle as she politely asked for a kiss. I acknowledged her and we locked muzzles passionately for a few moments, but it seemed to last for an eternity.
Finally, she let go and Amethyst rose off me. She stood to the left of me and I lay down on the cot, she turned around and then lay down next to me.
"So are you part vulpine at all?"
"No, I'm fully lupine with a bit of lynx in me." I nodded and she moved over me since the cot wasn't big enough for both of us to fit. Amethyst lay her head on my shoulder and I closed my eyes as I fell asleep listening to her breathing…
I opened my eyes sometime during the night and Zima was not next to me, I moved out of the bed and I slipped on my pants. I also took the sword that I had taken from the tigers before I came upstairs. They were asleep when I had taken it so I figured that they didn't need it. I gripped the weapon tightly and snuck down into the main area, it was dark and as my eyes adjusted to the blackness, I picked out shapes; a table, chairs, etc. Where was Zima? I crept around the club looking in all the rooms but I found not a single soul.
This was starting to get eerie. I must have tripped on something because I fell and slammed my shoulder on something soft and furry. A muffled moan came out of it and I instantly had the saber out.
"Who's there?" The muzzle sound came out again and the sword cast light onto the figure. "Shot Zima, what happened to you?" Her paws were tied and a gag was around her muzzle, I quickly undid the gag and she coughed once.
"It's a trap!" The lights came on and the four members of Crimson Cell dropped from the ceiling. I whipped around and they instantly had their guns out.
"Lower the sword, do it now!" The leader ordered and I did as he asked. He took the weapon away from me and Zima sat up.
"You bastards, why are you doing this?"
"We want Fox McCloud and we want him now."
"I told you already, I have no Goddamn clue where he is." Zima said and the leader held his blaster up to her.
"Do you want to die?" With a surprise move, I yanked his arm and got him in a half nelson, I had the blaster in my paw and I pressed the barrel to his head.
"Do you want to die?" I asked and the others raised their weapons.
"Wait; don't fire unless you have a clear shot." The leader said and I smiled.
"Go to Hell." I said and I fired three shots, the gun was aimed at the others and the three Crimson Cell members fell to the ground. They screamed in pain as red blood exploded onto the floor, I had shot them in the same spot, a small artery in the leg. Unless they had surgery in four minutes, they would die. I smashed the blaster against the leader's head and he crumpled to the ground as his muzzle came into contact with the blood. I quickly walked over to Zima and she was shaking, I noticed that they had stripped her bare and I quickly undid the bonds.
"Oh Calyx…" She shook in my arms and I saw Mishkin walked up the stairs.
"What the…What is going on?"
"Attacked by the Crimson Cell. Get your brother up." I said and he rushed back downstairs.
"Blood…" Zima said and she started to cry so I held her tighter.
"Did they do anything to you?"
"No, you came just in time." She said and I felt wetness on my shoulder as she cried harder. The three on the ground screamed and I put them out of their misery as now I had four dead on my paws, this was only part of countless others I had killed as a serial killer. I thought that part of me had died in prison but guess it had just gone into a dormant state.
I awoke and Amethyst was watching me, her eyes were open and she had her paws on my muzzle.
"Oh hey, what are you doing?"
"Watching you sleep. The time in isolation is almost done, but I figure that we have another half an hour or so." I placed my arms on her back and her tail curled around my left as I stroked the back of her neck.
"Well, I'll miss this time we have together."
"Fox, I always have the ship, no Black Cell member is allowed on unless I give her or him my explicit permission." She said that with a sly smile and I got the message.
"So we would be completely alone?" She nodded. "No one to bother us?" Again, a nod. "Ok, I'll keep that in mind."
"But then again, we are alone now." She said and I dropped my jaw a bit. She startled me when Amethyst licked my neck while she had my lower jaw in her mouth. I felt her purple tongue grace my neck and she closed her eyes as I continued stroking her neck.
There was a knock on the door and Amethyst rose off me as I stood up, the door opened and Solomon walked in.
"Well Fox, you are now reinstated back into the Black Cell. You are free to go anywhere on the station and you can leave to go back to wherever Amethyst brought you from. Keep your Comm on and with you at all times, if you are ever needed, that is way we contact you. But I guess you already knew all this."
"Yes, I did." He nodded and Solomon walked away, the pair walked back to Amethyst's ship but Fox stopped before they boarded it. "Can I use this to contact Calyx?"
"Yes, it's your Comm." Amethyst replied and I dialed him. It took a few moments but his face came on. "Calyx, its Fox." He seemed a bit distraught.
"Hey Fox, listen we have just been attacked by a Cell group by the name of Crimson Cell." Amethyst looked at me and she had a worried look on.
"Crimson Cell?" I asked and Amethyst moved the Comm over to her.
"Calyx, Crimson Cell is our rival Cell group, if they are attacking you, they must think that Fox is still there."
"That's exactly what is happening. The leader that I just killed-"
"You killed him!" Amethyst asked as he was cut off. "Calyx, the bar isn't safe anymore, you need to get your asses on a shuttle and get away from Zoness."
"Where would we go?"
"Well Fox and I are leaving the Black Cell base now so I could maybe have them keep you safe."
"Ok, I need to get Zima and the tigers together. Where can we rendezvous?"
"Well," She popped up a map next to his vid shot and looked at the system. "Titania would be a good meeting point. How fast can you get there?" Amethyst saw Calyx look over and a few moments later, he returned.
"Give us a day; we will meet you at Titania one day from tomorrow."
"Ok." The Comm shut off and Fox looked at her.
"I can't believe that Crimson Cell is still looking for me."
"They won't stop until you are dead."