"The entire team?" Pepper was astounded at the news. "No survivors at all?"
"Well… that's just it, General. We weren't able to get too deep into the complex. Someone… or rather, something attacked us, threw us out of the door."
"So… F.E.A.R. is no more. What about the complex? Can it be saved?"
"Well… I would like to assemble a team. Get back in there and see what we can find. There has to be some sort of survivor or something."
"Alright… what do you need?"
"A few of my men are unfit to get in there due to the events that took place inside…" Bryan continued. "If I could borrow a few from M-TAC or maybe a few F.E.A.R. trainees."
"Granted. I will give you sixteen from M-TAC and the only ten F.E.A.R. trainees we have. You can go and hand pick them yourself." Pepper said, signing a few papers handing them over to Bryan. "Bring these to my secretary. She will call them as necessary."
"Thank you."
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"What? Bryan! I am going with you!"
Another world war was about to start. Brea had found out through Dracous that he was going back to the CFFL complex. And worst yet, he was taking Dean, Falco, and Fox with him.
"Absolutely not Brea. I can't risk you freezing up. What if something happens to someone because of it! Or worse - what if something happens to you."
"I have nothing to fear but fear itself. I can face it!"
"Maybe you can." Bryan admitted, shaking his head. "But not today."
"Damn it, Bryan-"
"I said no, Brea! I don't care if I have to pull rank on you! You will not go!"
Brea was taken back. Bryan had never pulled rank on any of them before. Not since as long as she had known him. "Fine!" She huffed, putting her paws on her hips. "But at least give me access to the helmet cams. I want to be able to see what you are seeing."
"No Brea."
"But its not like I could put anyone in danger!"
"Except yourself! You heard what Krystal told us. You will not be going, you will not be monitoring! I don't care if I lock you in your room while we are away! You will have nothing to do with F.E.A.R. or the complex. Am I clear?"
"Yes, sir." Brea sighed. He had never been like this before, but she took it as a glass half-full situation. At least he cared.
"Good. Now I have to go." He sighed again. "Look… take a few days - two weeks max - off. Get yourself back together and then we'll talk… or, better yet - why not go to Military HQ and design us a new unit? I'm going to need mine replaced since we totaled it."
Her eyes brightened up. "Can I dip into the new budget?"
"Fine… but no more than one million. Got it?"
"Yes!"
"And take Krystal with you. I don't want you pulling any tricks."
"But Krystal doesn't know anything about mechanics. Can't I take Mei?"
"No. I know how you two are. Take Krystal, she won't pull what you two would."
"But she doesn't know what I might need help with."
"So then teach her. She's a quick learner."
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Bryan was staring at the door again, the blood that they had seen dripping down it was now dried and cracked. C2 charges were placed around it, knocking it down so they could enter.
"Alright, now keep on your guard guys. They could still be here." Bryan warned, noticing that the lights on the F.E.A.R. units had died out.
They were back at the mirror. The evil image was gone, all that it showed now was reflections. The smell of blood was beyond over powering.
"Anyone feeling faint, report it ASAP. We don't need the surprise." One of the element leaders, Kyle actually, called out. They stopped at a four way intersection. The signs all the ways had long since had a spray of blood over them - no use trying to read them now.
"Alright, you're leading this operation. What do you want to do?" Kyle asked Bryan, readjusting his helmet slightly.
"Well… four ways… six teams…" He looked down each path. One of them split into another intersection of two.
"Alright. Two teams down that way, take separate paths. One team per hall after that. We'll take your team Kyle with us. Intel says there should be another split down that way."
Each nod and radio check was quickly followed by the teams going their separate ways. They must have went through four separate pathways, finding each littered with bodies in various states of disarray. They came to a lobby-like setting, finding more bodies this time. Though a few were dressed differently than just the lab coats.
They stopped at those, each were dressed in black cameo with body armor. Fox caught the glimpse of a white letter poking out, he pulled a piece of cloth off of his own vest, whipping some of the blood away to read the rest of the letters.
"Looks like we found the F.E.A.R. team." He said, looking over his shoulders at the others.
"Any survivors?" Dean asked, standing back up.
"Not a pulse among them." Kyle stated, turning to look around the room entirely.
"Man… this is one hell of a gory mess." It was Falco's turn to comment.
"Oh yah. Come on, lets keep moving. See if we can't clear the rest of the way." Bryan said, jolting his head in the direction he wanted to move.
"This is Delta One. We've reached the end of our area. No survivors or anything creepy. Orders?"
"Yah, track down Delta Two. Meet up with them and help them clear."
"Copy, Delta One to Delta Two - what's your twenty?"
There was a moment of silence.
"Come on guys… answer them back."
"Delta One to Delta Two - what is your twenty?"
"Delta Three to Delta Two - do you copy any message?"
"Lead to Delta One. Follow Delta Two's path. See if you can find them." Bryan called over the radio.
"Copy Lead. Moving to locate."
"Delta Three to Lead. We're clear here. Orders?"
"Move with Delta One. Find Delta Two."
"Copy."
"Come on, lets get moving guys." Bryan said, waiting for them to meet up behind him.
They walked down a few more hallways, stopping every so often when a creepy noise would catch their attention.
Bryan was about to open a double door when a giggle caught his attention. The rest of the team must have heard it because they all stopped and looked around.
"Hello? Police! Come on out!"
Another giggle became the response.
"Stop playing games! Come out now!" Kyle yelled, still searching with his eyes.
The giggling stopped and was replaced by a low growl.
"Way to go Kyle, you pissed it off." Fox grunted on his breath, taking a step back.
Bryan took a step back too, realizing that the growl was coming from behind the doors in front of him, even if the clear glass on them allowed him to see that no one was there.
He took one last step back before the lights in the hallway went out and a bright flash came from behind the doors, illuminating a silhouette before the doors blew open - or more like up - as glass fragments pelted the agents.
Bryan and Fox, being the two closest were blown back and landed on the floor with a hard thud. Both quickly scrambled to their feet, backing away from the door.
"Holy shit… tell me you guys saw that…" It was one of Kyle's men.
"Everyone okay?" Dean asked, watching Bryan brush some glass off of him while Fox picked some from his fur.
"I'm alright." Fox responded, holding his weapon up.
"Just peachy." Bryan huffed, putting his helmet back on. "Think before you piss off any more spirits Kyle."
"Yes, sir."
The doors swung shut when Bryan was about to try again to pass through them, and to add to the already creepy feeling, the giggling started again.
"Don't say a word Kyle." Falco warned.
Either way, the giggling stopped when another voice started to whisper and hiss.
"Kill them all."
"Delta One to Lead. We have located Delta Two… they're all dead, sir."
"What? How?"
"Don't know. But there is a big hole in the wall. Want us to investigate?"
"Negative. Hold and wait for Delta Three."
"Copy."
Bryan was trying to monitor the radio and still keep his eyes peeled for anything willing to carry out the voices' order.
"Flash bang!" Someone yelled from the back of the line, causing everyone to turn around just as the silver canister rolled into the room.
"Take cover!"
"Down!"
Bryan found a table and quickly turned it over as plasma shots nailed the wall right where he would have been standing.
"Open fire!" Kyle yelled out, taking shots where he could before pulling back to cover.
Bryan caught a glance of the attackers. They were wearing silver uniforms covered in armor. You couldn't see their faces because their helmets were polarized. But whoever they were, they were smart. Calling out orders to flank and fire, Bryan moved from his position, nailing two shots to the chest on one of them.
The attacker stumbled back before firing again.
"Headshots only guys! Shoot to kill!" Bryan called.
"No shit?" Dean yelled back, firing four shots from his M4.
Bryan became prone to the floor, crawling to the edge of his cover, firing off six shots before rolling back to it.
The shooting came to a sudden halt. Bryan poked his head out to see that what was left of the attackers was just standing there, weapons at their sides.
"Uh… what the hell?" Falco watched them curiously.
Without so much as a twitch the bodies just dropped to the ground, almost like rag dolls.
"Alright, what the fuck is going on here!"
"Delta Three to Delta One - where are you guys?"
"Delta One? Delta One? Delta Three to Lead - Delta One has fallen off the radar."
Bryan looked around him. No one from his side had suffered losses, but with one team dead and another team missing, this mission wasn't look too hot.
"Lead to Delta One. Do you copy?"
Everyone near him yelped in pain as a signal broke in over their radios. Bryan pulled his from his ear quickly.
"That's it, we're out of here." Bryan said, turning around. All the doors were locked.
"Lead to all Deltas. Retreat to your exits. We're leaving now."
"Copy. Moving to leave. Delta Three, out."
"Delta Four. We're clear. Moving to exit."
"We're with you chief." Kyle reported.
"Call out your exits guys. Go to your units."
"Copy."
"Copy."
Bryan looked around him.
"All the doors are locked, sir. We can't seem to break them down either." One of Kyle's people reported.
"Keep trying." Kyle ordered, moving to help them.
Bryan walked up to Fox who was helping Falco try to break down another door.
"It won't work. Something wants to keep us in here." He said. "Wait… Kyle!"
"Yah?" Kyle hustled his way to Bryan's location.
"Pull up that map of the complex." He said, watching Kyle use his wrist communication device to pull up a map. Pointing at the red flashing dots. "We're here… got something in mind?"
Perfect! They were in a room with an 'out-side' wall.
"Dean! Load out a forty-four." Bryan said, pulling one from his own ammo supply.
"Grenades, Bryan? Honestly."
Bryan pounded the wall with his fist. "This wall leads outside. You wanna be stuck here?"
"Not a chance in all hell." Dean responded, loading up his M4.
"Guys! Down! Get to cover!" Kyle called, pulling a few of his men away from the doors.
Bryan clicked back his trigger, launching the projectile at the wall in time with Dean's launch. Both grenades impacted the wall, blasting a large enough hole in it for them to get through. The cool winter air filtered through the wall.
"Move! Move!"
Bryan was helping agents go through the hole in the wall, being the last one out himself, just before the wall closed back up.
"Man… lets not do that again." He said, sitting up.
"Delta Three, we're clear. At the command post."
"Delta Four. Clear. Sitting with Delta Three."
"Load up. Lets go."
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"What do you mean you couldn't salvage it?"
"General, we made it half way through the complex. We lost two teams and were attacked by something."
"What do you mean?"
"We cleared every room systematically. Something came from behind us! That doesn't happen. Not only that, but they didn't even seem… real! There is something there that does not want us there at all."
"So that's it?"
"That is all we can do for now. The CFF labs are lost."
General Pepper sighed, rubbing his temples.
"Something is really wrong here…"
Bryan was in such a trance with his own thoughts, that the intercom buzzer made him jump slightly. "Sir, the crew is here."
Bryan growled. "Talk about timing."
"Now listen… we can try and push this back. If you and your team want some time to get yourselves together after what just happened, I'm sure they would understand."
Bryan shook his head. "No, no… they wouldn't just lay still at all. Having a camera crew around would make them think twice before taking off on one of our famous stunts."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"Alright… send them in."
The doors swung open as four guys carrying cameras and a women with a note book strode into the room. She bowed down to the General before straightening her suit.
"Melinda Alba, at your service."
"Wow… lost reporter I ever saw was trying to get into our offices." Bryan commented, amused that he had met a reporter that, as of yet, didn't seem all that intrusive.
"I am no reporter. Reporters are slime, bent on nothing but ratings. I, on the other hand, base everything on fact and never twist the story. Ratings or no."
Bryan raised an brow to General Pepper. "Is she for real?"
"Who are you to talk about me like that?" Melinda snapped at him, ears twitching in annoyance.
"Melinda, meet Officer Bryan Daniels. You'll be shadowing his team for the next month."
"Oh… my apologies, sir. I did not know."
"None necessary." He assured her, standing as a sign of respect. "General Pepper told me you would be with us for the next month?"
"Yes. Our goal is to show the public what you deal with on a daily basis. What your home life is like, things like that."
"Anything else?"
"Just the occasional interview, that is all."
"Fair enough." Bryan stated, turning to General Pepper. "I take it they'll be following me home?"
"Yup. Oh! Swing by Brea's desk on the way out. She said she got the new car off the line already."
"That was fast."
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"Let me guess… that you Bryan?" Brea asked, not even turning away from the circuit board in front of her. "You know, Krystal isn't all that bad to deal with when it comes to mechanics. Must of learned a few things from Slippy." She said, turning around.
"Hello… who are you people?" She asked, getting up and stepped in front of one of the camera men who was getting 'too close' to one of her toys. "Can I help you?" She asked, forcing him to take an uneasy step back as she stepped in close.
"Easy Brea. It's the camera crew that Pepper said we had to deal with for a month."
"Oh… well not here! He said nothing about my labs! Out!" She ushered the four camera crew members out of the room, turning to the last remaining women. "You too! Out!"
"Brea, take it easy. Come on, lets go home anyway."
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Bryan sighed, the ride home was long - and that was only because Brea kept looking over her shoulder to see if they were still following them.
"They aren't going away." He was amused that she didn't take kindly to cameras. Then again, it was just one more thing that made her the reincarnated Kasey.
Once they got inside and the crew had set stuff up they sat Bryan down in a corner of the living room, right under the bright light of the camera.
"Alright, since you're the leader, why don't we interview you first?"
"Well… ok."
"So, what sets your team apart from any other military unit?"
"Well for one thing… we don't operate under the same standards that a tactical or even special operations unit would. We run under what we call strict freelance. We train our officers to the breaking point. There is never a doubt in any of their minds about their plan of action. Yet, we still allow them to assess each situation. Maybe something needs a more unconventional approach. After all, every situation is different."
"Ok… what made you want to be a DCTU agent?"
"To be honest, I never applied. Before DCTU I spent my time at the local shooting range. I worked there for some time, took my lunch breaks shooting off rounds at the targets before going back to help out first timers and people like that. I was just approached one day by a military recruiter. He told me he had been watching my shooting and that he was impressed. Few weeks later, there I was, top of the chain and running my own agency."
"What about the others? How did they get into the business?"
Bryan had opened his mouth to answer, though stopped when he heard a shrill, blood curdling scream rip through the house.
He was on his feet in seconds, reaching for his holster while running for where the sound had come from. It had come from one of the bathrooms. He had jiggled the handle to get it open, but no luck. Clearly hearing the shower running he knew someone was in there.
"You okay in there? Hello?"
He heard a whimper just as Bill and Falco came running for the door. "What's going on? We heard that all the way from the armory!"
"I don't know." Bryan admitted, taking a step back, placing the heel of his combat boot squarely to the area just above the knob, knocking the door off its lock. He jumped into the room without a thought looking around he spotted Jackie huddled in a corner of the room, towel drawn close around her.
"You ok?" He asked, holstering his weapon. She just pointed to one of the mirrors.
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"Well what do you think? Think she'll like it?" Krystal had just finished explaining her gift for Lindsay to Brea while they sat at the food court at the mall. "Sounds nice. She should really go for it." Brea grinned. "So, what did you get Fox?"
Krystal adverted her eyes a little, making the cat's grin wider.
"Come off it. Lets see."
"Well, we were out to dinner the other night and we passed this store. He stopped by one of the windows and looked at something before moving along with me. To be honest, I only knew he had stopped because he had grabbed my paw when he met back up with me. Next day while he was out I went down to go see what he was looking at."
"And?"
"It was a newer model super charger for certain class crafts. And as it would so happen, our Arwings fall into that class."
"Boys and toys, eh?"
"Yah, no kidding."
"Brea, you copy?"
Brea looked at her radio, sighing as Bill's voice called out from beyond its speaker.
"Yah Bill, what's up?"
"We're calling everyone back to the house. Something's up."
"What's going on?"
"I'll explain later. Just high-tail your way back here. Grab Krystal too."
"Got it."
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Bryan tossed down the pictures onto the table as the last two missing members shuffled in. The agents as Star Fox crew crowded around the table while the camera crew was trying to stand on various objects to see over them.
"What is it?" Katt asked, turning it around to face her.
"That was taken twenty minutes ago. See if you can't make out the letters in the blood."
There was a pause for a moment before one of them whispered it out loud.
"Death is coming…"
"Exactly. I don't know how this happened, but either someone or something got into the house."
"Did you check the cameras?" Brea asked, looking harder at the picture.
"Our cameras didn't catch anything."
"Melinda!" One of the crew called out. "You should take a look at this." She disappeared for a moment, heading out to their on-scene editing bus. She returned a moment later, looking white as a ghost.
"You guys might want to see this."
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They took up various spots in the giant bus, all staring at the set of monitors lining the wall. "Alright, it's Bryan's face." Mei stated, looking at the paused image.
"Right, but now watch it." One of the crew responded, pushing the play button.
"…after all, every situation is different." Just Bryan had finished his sentence, in the doorway off to his far left you could see a figure covered in blood walk passed the open door and towards the bathroom.
"No one saw that during filming?" Melinda asked. Each of her crew shook their heads.
The film was still running and just before the scream was heard the figure walked into the room they were filming in and walked right to the camera just as the Gate Keeper's face flashed on the screen and it went blank.
"That's all there is. If you continue to watch you see various messages written in blood that seem to just appear on the tape. We're sure this wasn't a joke and no one put anything on or in that camera. I check it myself." The tech advisor said, spinning around in his chair.
"So what ever it is, is in our house?" Dean asked, looking strait at the monitors.
"Yes, sir. Seems that way."
"Just great."
"Alright well… give that camera and that film to Brea." Bryan said, turning to face her. "If you think you can handle it without scaring yourself, go through the footage, look for stuff that can tell as what's going on. Rip that camera apart and see if its been tampered with."
"Got it."
"As for the rest of us? Lets just try and not spook ourselves. In fact… Katt and Fox. Take Krystal through the house. See if maybe she can detect a few wondering spirits or other things amiss."
"On it." Katt said, turning to leave.
"Be careful you guys, we do not know what this thing is capable of."
"I'll be ok and I will find out what's going on."
"And I'll protect Krystal."
"And I'll keep an eye on Fox."
Bryan nodded. "I'm heading off to base. See if I can't get some research done."
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He was staring at the papers he had in front of him. The blood sample that had been collected from the house had been matched to a twenty-six year old murder, unsolved.
What worse, the report continued on to say that the blood cells had been dead for twenty-four years. Suggesting that the blood was from something long since dead.
"Creepy as hell." Bryan whispered, leaning back in the chair at his desk, thinking back to the soldiers they had run into at the CFFL complex. They had all seemed linked, even beyond intelligent. Something somewhere else was controlling them.
And again, what about the questionable deaths of the Delta One team and the disappearance of Delta Two. Nothing seemed to be adding up to any equation he had ever seen.
He sighed, rubbing his already tired eyes.
"I just don't get it. And it isn't even like we can go back there and investigate. It's just too risky, even for us."
His phone rang, stirring him from his thought process. He composed himself, after all, he was supposed to be professional when at the base.
"DCTU, Bryan here."
"Hey it's Dracous. We did from recon from what we could pull off the helmet cams from Kyle's team. We located the patches off the soldiers you guys took out. They're an old team from thirty some-odd years ago. Wiped out when a bomb went off during an Hostage rescue. However, they weren't part of the military - more like a police based version of our M-TAC."
"Alright… so dead soldiers are killing us?" Bryan blinked a few times. Had he really gone off the deep end. He decided he wouldn't put in as many long hours as he normally did after today.
"Well that's just it. We can't tell since the helmets were in the way of the faces… but by the way they were acting, looks that way. I pulled some records and found out that FEAR had been dispatched there when a lab tech reported hearing random moaning noises. It was the climax to what had already been a weird week. Things moving around. Cars starting up and moving out to the main road. Lights going out, even doors licking and unlocking themselves. At first they called the system admin to make sure it wasn't an AI problem, after finding out that it wasn't they waited another day before calling for FEAR."
"Bill told me FEAR was First Encounter Assault Recon - a paramilitary force designed to carry out calls based on paranormal attacks. What else can you tell me?"
"That's all there really is to know. They were lead by Aurora McKenzie. Feisty little vixen too. Or at least she was."
"Before their raid on CFFL, right?"
"Well that's just it. The day of the raid she was never accounted for. M-TAC was called out to her house today to check in on her. Found nothing, not a thing. The place had been wiped down. They put out an APB no more than twenty minutes ago - reporting her as a missing persons."
"Anything else?"
"Not on this end. However, Jillian wanted to have a word with you when I got a hold of you. Hold on, patching you through."
"twenty-seven-thirty-eight. Clear."
"Bryan from DCTU. Heard you wanted to chat."
"Just who I was going to see too. Listen, Dracous pinned your tags on those soldiers in the CFFL complex, right? Well, when we pulled from SATLink stuff for a raid on a suspected terrorist complex, we found some interesting things."
"Like?"
"Something along the lines of any military forces' worst nightmare. We saw, lined up, thousands of soldiers. Judging by their stance and what we could make out from the images, they are either really disciplined or all clones."
"What's your opinion?"
"In all my years I've seen some crazy stuff. For all I know, they're clones."
"Thanks Jill."
"Hey any time. Gotta go, back on duty."
Bryan clicked the phone back into its holder.
Paramilitary? Cloned soldiers? This was too much, he needed the team in now.
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"Krystal found no more spirits in the house, Boss. She put up a barrier as well so they can't come back."
"Good." Bryan said, turning away from the large display screen in order to face the team. He had set it up so that it showed the entire complex zoomed out. He would tap a key and it would highlight an area in zoom into it.
"We have some more information on what we saw at the CFFL complex. M-TAC pulled some SATLink footage for a raid and passed it on to us." He said, tapping the first key. It zoomed to show the rows and rows of lined of soldiers. "What you see here, is thousands of soldiers. Origin is unknown, but they appear to mean business. However, we can't raid the place. Even if we pulled people from every branch of the military we have at our disposal, we would still be out numbered. And, we can't pull a stealth entry as the place is beyond heavily guarded. Only thing we can do is get a recon team put together and spy on the place for a few days. Learn a pattern and use that to attack." He finished, letting it zoom back out to the full view.
"What about the Sierra Missile Complex. Can't they launch against it?" Fox asked, walking up and watching the main screen.
"It is something we will have to look into." Bryan admitted. "We'll also need clearance from General Pepper and General Wayne. I know Pepper would do it, but I've never met with Wayne. Only got his name since he runs that place."
"Right."
"Well that forces a problem on us." Bill began. "It's the day before Christmas eve. The Military Base was closed for the holidays an hour ago and as such, General Wayne is long as his way towards his vacation destination. Only contact we have with him is though General Pepper, but even so, he's going to want a full explanation in person."
"So when do they reopen?" Mei asked.
"Two days after." Fox answered, turning around to look back at the house.
"So we're S.O.L. until after then." Jackie finished, jumping from the first step of the bus. The others followed her after a few moments.
A few hours passed and the group had seemed to calm down, of course, they all slept in the living room that night.
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Fox blinked a few times. He wasn't sure how, but he could see himself. He was facing a broken window. A handgun was still in his paw and he appeared to be breathing heavily. The room was splattered in different colors of blood and bodies dressed in tactical gear were laying about. His body didn't even turn around is the door behind him burst open and the DCTU team rushed in.
Bryan had been the first one in, his concentration was fierce as he looked around, only seeing Fox standing there, he lowered the barrel of the rifle slightly. "Fox?"
It was now that the Star Fox leader noticed that Brea, Falco, and Krystal weren't among those that had entered.
"They all deserved it."
"Fox," Bryan continued. "You aren't stable, I need you to drop that gun."
"They all deserved it."
"Fox, come on pal, just put it down. Then you can tell us all about it."
He turned around, staring back at the team.
"But you don't understand." He pled again. "They all deserved it."
"You did a good job Fox. Just put it down."
He let go of the gun. Fox, the one watching the scene, watched it fall to the ground in slow motion, hearing the clink as it landed on the floor.
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The sun was shining in through one of the windows and directly into Fox's face. He groaned, about to roll over when he felt someone pressed against his side. He opened his eyes finding that he was still in the living room, and not in that torn up place he had seen in his dreams. And what was better? He had woken up with Krystal in his arms - the best way to dispel any remaining horror from his dream.
He wasn't the first one up though, Falco and Katt were gone and Brea was sitting up in her chair with a cup of coffee and a newspaper in her paws. Everyone else was still asleep in their respective spots.
He used his free paw to rub his eyes before softly setting Krystal to the ground and sitting up, stretching his aching muscles. "Hey, you're up." Brea said, looking over the top of her paper.
"Yup. Where's Katt and Falco?"
"Falco is making more coffee and Katt is in the shower."
Fox yawned, rolling onto all fours before getting up. He rubbed his eyes again before stumbling into the kitchen, grabbing the first mug he could find to fill with coffee. He jumped slightly when he heard Brea burst out laughing in the other room. He poked his head out of the door to see Bryan laying face down on the floor, grumbling about something.
"Thought you were in your bed, commander?" Brea teased.
"Keep talking you, just remember who's paying for stuff today."
Brea just kept laughing at him. "Fine, fine." He grumbled.
"Morning." Falco greeted, handing over a mug of coffee to Bryan. "Thanks."
Katt strode in, talking Falco's mug right out of his hands and downing the rest of the his coffee before putting the mug back into his hands. Bryan and Fox chuckled while Falco glared at them. "Looks like she has you trained." Fox commented, turning around to head back into the kitchen.
Bryan looked around to see who was still asleep. Even the camera crew was out.
"What time do you want to take off?" He asked Brea.
"Any time before they," she said, pointing at the TV crew. "wake up. Don't want them following us around all day."
He nodded back at her, turning towards the stairs. "Just let me hit the shower and we'll be on our way."
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"It's beautiful." Krystal cooed. The two foxes had ended up at the park in time for a morning snow fall. The winter storm had let up over the past week so that Christmas eve, and hopefully Christmas too, became beautiful with white snow on the ground, and drifting to the ground from trees and the sky.
They were sitting on a park bench with Fox cradling her against his shoulder. It would have been a completely romantic scene if it wasn't for the holsters still attached to their hip. Hey, terrorists attack on holidays too!
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"It feels weird to actually be able to sit somewhere without dispatch yelling about some emergency." Mei commented, sitting down in the theater seat. Bill shushed her. "Careful, don't want to jinx it." He told her, grinning.
"Dispatch to all units."
"Just great." Mei sighed, holding it up for them to hear.
"Look at what you did." Bill growled slightly, annoyed that they had to leave the theater.
"Have a Merry Christmas. Keep it safe guys."
The two looked at each other before bursting out laughing.
"Almost made me think we had a call out. Same to you." Jackie's voice came back over the radio.
"Nice dispatch. Not fair, but nice." Bryan was calling in now.
Mei turned her radio down as the lights in the room dimmed and the movie began.
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Bryan set the radio back in the cradle.
"Funny." Brea mused, turning to look behind them. "Do you see what I see?"
"Bright red van? Yup. Looks like the crew is tailing us."
Bryan took on a grin while Brea made sure her seatbelt was tight. He sped up slightly at first, before falling back for a stop sign. He waited for the van to catch up with them at the sign before taking off, speeding up greatly he made a large gap between him and the van. He took a sharp corner before quickly turning the wheel the other way, pulling into an alley he shut off his lights and killed the engine.
No more than ten seconds later, the red van went speeding past. Bryan counted a few more seconds before starting the car back up, backing out, and heading in the opposite direction.
"It'll take them a minute before they realize what happened. Lets try and get as far as possible by then." Brea said, looking behind them. Bryan just grinned, pulling into a parking lot a few blocks later, parking behind the building and away from prying crew eyes.
They walked into the restaurant and took a seat, content enjoying the day together.
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"We will attack on Christmas day. No one will expect that. Better yet, we will attack again the very next day at the girl's concert. Another unexpected attack."
"Very good boss, but… what are you planning?"
"It is simple… our first attack will be on DCTU itself. Bring it to its knees. We will attack one of them. And when the public thinks its over? We will attack at the show. Hundreds will be killed in the second attack."
"What now sir?"
"Get the things ready. We'll plant tonight!"