Just letting you all know that the full story this series ties into is finally underway! Check out "Once More Unto The Breach" and let me know what you think!

"Where are you?!" Roxy snarled as she stomped through the arcade in search of her prey. Under normal circumstances, she would've taken a more stealthy approach to the hunt, but things were already not going her way.

First of all, there shouldn't have even been a hunt at all. She'd had him, out in the open, nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. She was supposed to run him down and show him why she was the best.

But he was fast. Surprisingly fast. Unreasonably fast. It was all she could do just to stay on his heels. But then one sharp turn that she wasn't at all ready for put him far enough ahead for her to lose sight of him.

Fortunately, in those few seconds there was only one place he could've gone.

Unfortunately, the arcade was huge, with plenty of places to hide and plenty of obstacles that would be more of a problem for her than him.

"I know you're in here," the robotic wolf growled. "Coward!"

When her taunting produced no results, Roxy decided on an entirely different tactic. Directing more power to the proximity sensors all over her body, she expanded the detection field to about three meters out, effectively turning herself into a motion detector. A clever idea, though not ideal since she was surrounded by arcade cabinets, air hockey tables and other things that had proximity warnings flashing before her eyes.

But when one of those warnings came from above her, she couldn't stop the feral grin that spread across her muzzle.

"Gotcha," she said as she looked up to see her quarry, upside-down and clinging to the grille of an amazingly sturdy ventilation duct like a bootleg Spiderman.

"..." Victor didn't reply, simply staring at the animatronic with his entire body tensed, ready to move at any moment.

"..." Roxy narrowed her eyes, silently daring him to try something.

"..."

"..." the robot took advantage of her slightly hunched posture and bent knees to leap straight up without warning, hand outstretched. No wasted motion; it would only take one shot.

Despite only having a fraction of a second to react, Victor did just that and moved, kicking off the vent to launch himself down and to his right, just enough to avoid Roxy's first attempt and the follow-up swipe. He landed hard on his back, but was unaffected as he rolled under a foosball table, shoved himself up to his feet with arm strength alone and bolted for the arcade entrance.

He was already halfway there before Roxy's feet even touched the floor again, and disappeared around the corner before she could leap over the table and follow him.

Once again the chase was on.

And once again Roxy raged.

"Nowhere to run now!" Roxy chuckled menacingly as she stalked towards Victor, whom she now had cornered behind a snack bar. "Just let it happen; it's inevitable!"

"We'll see about that, Thanos," Victor snorted.

Roxy snarled and made her move, doing a mock charge to force a reaction, and rushing to cut him off when he dove to the left. But somehow he managed to stop himself on a dime, causing Roxy to land right in front of him, nearly sailing into the wall behind the bar. However, she was quick to recover, far quicker than he expected, and lunged at him with arms out wide so he couldn't get around her.

But as soon as she brought one of those arms forward to get him, Victor took it and redirected her momentum to slip right by her with practiced ease.

Undeterred, the wolf planted herself and swung around, feeling the tip of her finger just barey catch the sleeve of his shirt. The next thing she knew, there was a bag of chips flying at her face, which she caught without thinking. The briefest glance at the offending object revealed her own image staring back at her, making her pause for just a second.

That was all Victor needed to hop over the counter and haul ass to the nearby railing and, without hesitation, jump over it and down to the first floor.

Roxy wasn't far behind, with the crushed bag of chips still clenched in her hand.

"How does he keep doing it?!" Roxy hissed to herself as she stomped down the hall after having lost Victor for the fifth time, though she refused to keep count after the third.

Sure, he was a former sniper, which meant he probably had experience evading and hiding from entire platoons of people actively trying to kill him.

"But still…" the robot mumbled to herself.

She knew he had come down this way, but was dangerously close to admitting she had no idea where he actually went. However, as she stomped by one of the trash cans in the middle of the hall, she was struck by a thought that nearly made her break stride.

'No…No way in hell…' she slowed her pace and looked at the object with narrowed eyes. 'How could he even fit in there? And even if he could, why there? Would he be that desperate?'

Well of course he would. Who wouldn't be desperate when they had THE Roxanne Wolf after them?

After another couple seconds watching the can, she shook her head and walked off. Only to activate what she liked to call her "Hunter Mode" and silently creep back up to it until she was within range to pounce and bowl the whole thing over. Apparently the S.T.A.F.F. bots hadn't gotten around to that one yet, as it was full of half-eaten food, discarded wrappers and more than a few balled up maps.

But no Victor. Because of course not.

"I'm an idiot," Roxy huffed as she stood up and ran a hand through her hair, only to freeze as she felt something wet and sticky. "Motherfucker…" she growled. She then spotted movement from the corner of her eye and turned just in time to see Victor dash out from behind a fake plant. "MOTHERFU-"

Green eyes darted around as Vanessa shined her light back and forth across the darkened halls of the west wing of the PizzaPlex.

"Come in, Victor. Over," she spoke urgently into her Fazwatch.

"Go for Victor. Over," came the response, though there was something in the background making it harder to make out. Plus, it sounded like the man was panting.

"I heard another scream, and it wasn't R2D2. Over."

"Did it sound like this?" There was a pause and Vanessa could hear the background noise gradually getting louder as Victor raised the mic volume.

"-ONNA MAKE YOU REGRET BEING BORN, ASSHOLE!"

"Over."

"What…What the hell is going on over there?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Victor?"

"You didn't say 'over'. Over."

"...Really?"

"..."

"I hope she catches you. Over."

The blonde woman turned off the radio to the sound of a man laughing and shrieking, feminine roars.

Monty had no idea what to do. Things started off so simple, but quickly devolved into utter chaos that only now, nearly two hours later, seemed to have calmed down.

"Maybe," he scoffed. At least the screaming had stopped.

Then, as if summoned by his thoughts, Roxy appeared from around a corner. Her head held high, she marched towards him with a purpose, seemingly uncaring of the straws, candy and bits of paper stuck to her hair.

"Damn, girl, looks like you got hit by a tornado!" Monty snickered.

"..."

"Well, at least you got him in the end, right?"

"..."

"...Uh, Roxy?"

Finally Roxanne Wolf stopped just in front of him and looked him dead in the eyes as her right hand lashed out and…

Tapped him on the arm.

"Tag, you're it," she deadpanned before walking by him.

"What-"

"No tag-backs."

"But-"

"I'm done."

"I don't-"

"I can't. It's YOUR turn."

"..." Monty could say nothing as he watched the robo-wolf walk back towards their rooms.

"You know you're the one who's gonna be cleaning this shit outta my hair, right?!" she suddenly shouted.

"Worth it," a familiar voice right next to Monty answered just as suddenly, causing the animatronic to jump a little.

"...Hey, Vic."

"Hey, Monty."

"..."

"..."

Monty took his shot, his hand snapping out with such stunning quickness that there was no way the human could avoid-

"Too slow!" Victor taunted as he avoided the hand by twisting out of the way and backing up well out of reach. He then snapped off a mocking salute and ran off.

It took Monty a moment to register what just happened, but when it did, he swore he could feel Roxy's frustration settle over him like a lead blanket.

"Oooooh…Yeah, fuck that. Where's Chica?"