Friday - 8:23 PM - Crystal Mansion - Hallway

Gin a Silver Brindle Akita Inu, a well-built medium breed dog in his late 20's, pressed his back against the doorway and briefly poked his head out of the doorway to inspect the front end of the store. He was essentially the head of security for the Crystal Mansion, and by essentially that meant he just stood around, patrolled with his Glock 19, and chatted with the staff when they were slow. He was usually well liked with his sense of humor getting a few laughs here and there. He had been here a while after he had rotated back from a long tour of duty in the expeditionary forces and he was lucky enough to get this job as finding work as a veteran was surprisingly hard. Something that really became an issue once his mother became terminally ill and he needed to ask for more money to support her increasing expenses.

The place was a steady gig, but his boss Mr. Genkou was a bit of a miser and skinflint. He was a rotund elderly bespectacled Sumatran Orangutan in his late 60's who mainly cared more about profit than his employee's satisfaction. Made even worse by the store being slow most of the time, either the ape's prices were too high or the area was too poor, they usually didn't see many customers. Probably why he always seemed to give Gin the rigmarole when the Inu asked for a raise, to the point where the dog could just tell from the inflections in his voice that the ape was just pulling him along.

This was likely the last he'd see of this place however. The situation looked very grim from what he saw in the lobby. It resembled a small pocket warzone that had erupted inside. Holes left in the walls from small arms fire, shattered glass everywhere, perforated wooden finish display stands and cases gutted leaving splinters everywhere, sales signs knocked over, some with bullet holes blown through them. The store windows had their curtains closed to give the illusion that the store was closed for the night. The lobby was actually full, the fullest Gin had seen it in months. However, the occupants looked like bad news.

From what he could tell the hostiles were all giant monitor lizards or more accurately Komodo dragons; they had a rough look about them and looked to be the sort you would run into after taking a turn in a bad alleyway. Only a few of them however seemed to carry firearms, which wasn't uncommon for carnivore gangs who usually had a natural advantage over the herbivores. Then his heart sank as the worst was confirmed, he could see a corpse being dragged away from the entrance. It was David the Elk; he could tell by the antlers. The others didn't fare any better. Maurice the Antelope was slumped over a display table and the Lynx, Alvin, was lying on his back motionless with a bloody shirt shredded around the stomach. He looked to have at least put up a fight trying to defend his co-workers. He must have gotten the shotgun blast they had heard earlier.

Genkou tapped his shoulder and silently nodded towards the room, possibly asking if the staff made it. Gin in somber fashion shook his head. The ape sighed and responded with a frown, but raised his 9mm ready to support him. Gin focused his anger. "There's about seven of em' up there, Komodo dragons." He silently pointed to his Glock to signal they were going to attack and made moves to breach. Then as he was turning the sharp edge of a blade rested against his throat and something pressed his tail closer to his back. Soon he heard a loud purring noise with hot air blowing through the fur on the back of his neck. Gin's eye darted to the right noticing a tan leathery snout in his peripheral protruding over his shoulder.

"Don't move, mutt," Said a raspy voice. He seemed to have been outplayed before he had even started.

"You sure that blade can stop me? My fur is pretty thick," Gin angrily warned. "I could crush your neck in my jaws before that knife breaks my skin."

"Brave, but this blade is coated in my venom, even a slight scratch and you'll suffer exquisitely for hours," the assailant retorted with a hint of glee. "Go ahead, try it Fido," they said pressing the sharp edge closer. Gin was frozen in place as he weighed the possibilities. Death by Komodo venom was not pleasant in the slightest. Definitely outplayed.

"Drop it." The raspy voice ordered. The silver brindle Akita growled in frustration and complied, dropping his firearm into the waiting hand of the voice. "Good Boy." Gin's snout wrinkled in anger at the mention of those words. "Now back up into the lobby slowly." His captor ordered. She was a tan female Komodo dragon of medium height and weight wearing what looked like an old school olive dyed flak jacket as well as a hodgepodge of ratty looking clothing with the burgundy sash that covered her one side of her face.

"You too, you old ape." She said abruptly, jerking Gin in front of her as a shield. She was well aware of Orangutan and his 9mm Hi-Power trained on both of them. Seeing not only did she have Gin secured as a hostage and the other dragons outnumbering him, the simian lowered the weapon and handed it over. As he did so, a masked green scaled dragon with three distinctive battle scars approached them.

He was scarred from brow to snout with three barely healed claw marks that ran down the middle of his face. He was adorned in what had to be thrown together Kanji inscribed plate armor made of scrap metal and whatever sporting equipment one could scrounge up. It screamed of budget, but looked effective enough to survive a battle with small arms and blunt force instruments. His head was adorned with a gas mask that covered his mouth and topped with a faux metal crest of 4 spikes. The other dragons wore similar outfits as well; a mix match of punk-like thuggish attire combined with a sense of frugal protection made up of whatever could be salvaged and repurposed. They weren't professional thieves for sure, likely one of the street toughs from the Back-Alley Market. Infact none of them even seemed interested in stealing any of the merchandise.

It was clear the scarred dragon was the one calling the shots. He had the distinctive look of a leader Gin noticed. Though not the largest reptile in the room, he looked the most experienced from the amount of scarring and just from the way he carried himself. Gin had seen many like him before overseas. The others moved out of his way and constantly kept looking to him as if waiting for the next order.

"Who is in charge?" He asked with a slow and deep filtered voice.

Genkou, not missing a beat, stepped forward before Gin could even say anything. "I am Genkou the Sumatran Orangutan. This is my store," Genkou answered solemnly, "I am in charge."

"Are you? Then we have business to discuss."

Raira, who had been eavesdropping only meters away, slipped away back to the break room where Lùn was waiting for her to explain the situation.

"Bad news...it's the Dokugumi." Raira said. "Sounds like Gar's little posse in fact." That distinction didn't exactly sit too well with her. "Shit-shit-shit!" She began to curse.

"Dokugumi? The poison lizards, right?" Lùn asked with naïve ignorance. She didn't seem phased by the news in the slightest and that bothered Rai'.

"Yeah about eight of em' including the head scaley from the looks of things. Gar's sect has always been pretty rough even for Dokugumi, doesn't sound like they spared any of the stiffs from what Dog Boy was saying. The contact probably bit it too." Raira said, slightly dejected. "Poor bastard."

"Creeps. So, what's our plan to crush them?" The young fox said pounding her fist into her palm.

It almost amused Raira, her pep talk earlier seemed to have worked too well. The fiery hybrid was no longer doubting herself, instead she had slipped back towards the rambunctious scrapper that Raira admired. Still the silver fox knew better about the situation than her protégé. It'd be a gambit taking down Gar's ilk with just her and Lùn. Lùn wasn't a pushover, but she was inexperienced with dealing with Komodo's. They were a lot tougher than most animals, even the kind the arena had to offer. Raira was more worried that she might make the mistake of not using enough force to put these scalies down. They were tanky bastards, able to shrug off small arms fire. Not bulletproof per se, but with a high pain tolerance. Nothing short of a rifle or headshots would drop most in short order. These .22s they were using... it'd probably take the whole magazine unless they popped them in the head. Still the countermeasures plan could work. They'd blind em', smoke the whole area, and pick off individuals. Still she wanted to get the loot and get out.

"Vespa-chan," She said, looking down at Lùn, "What I want you to do? As soon as the mayhem starts, grab as much loot as you can and book. I'll cover you and be right behind you."

"What?! No, I'll help you fight!" The pygmy fired back.

"Not so loud." Raira said slapping the young fox upside her head. "I know you're driven to prove yourself TNT, but I need you to ensure we get away with the goods."

"But.."

"There will be a time for you to fight. This is just not that time." She held out her hand. "Give me your pistol and magazine."

"What do you mean, give you my pistol?" The little fox asked just bewildered.

Raira quickly shushed her. "I'll need it to cover you. I'll need all the firepower I can get. Besides you will still have your blades."

"But I can cover myself. Let me help you fight! Please!" Lùn whined and begged. It was times like this where Rai' almost forgot Lùn was actually older than the pre-teen Red fox she resembled. Not much younger than her. Still, Raira was having none of it though. The facts were the silver fox was the much better shot between them and that was what mattered. She yanked the pistol from the little girl's hand and began unscrewing the silencers on both firearms.

"What about that stuff about Kitsune Spirit earlier?" She said angrily, punching the pearl fox in the thigh. "My spirit is fierce. I can help you!"

"You'll help by running off with this loot and getting our little friends out." Raira placed her hands on Lùn's shoulders and looked down at her. Lùn stared right back at the silver fox, but the blues eyes staring back through the plastic goggles were eyes filled with pride, not pity. "All I need of you, is to be a swift thief. That's the spirit I need from you now, little sister," Raira said. "Besides, there is nothing more fox like that making off with someone else's property." She said with a chuckle.

The laughter soon halted when Rai's sharp ears twitched like radar; someone was coming down the hallway. Lùn heard it too. It was Gar and the orangutan. She didn't even have to tell Lùn to find somewhere to hide. The pygmy fox had clandestinely stuffed herself in the cabinets under sink in seconds while Raira hid on the other side of the vending machines. The pearl fox was as silent and still as a statue as she waited for the two men to pass by.

Gar paused in the doorway and lifted his mask from his mouth momentarily to flick his black forked tongue in the air. He could sense something. Something that smelled like canine or something similar. Raira remained locked in place, not moving a muscle. Luckily the vending machines were a tight enough space for her to remain stationary without straining. Gar soon relented with his search and deemed the room empty. The lizard likely just chalked it up to just being the lingering scent of the canine they had just captured. "Filthy mammals," He uttered in a disgusted tone. "Continue." He said to the orangutan.

As they entered the office. Genkou moved over to his desk and began to retrieve whatever he needed to save before Gar's group enacted the next phase of the plan. "Did you have to... kill those guys?" The ape questioned. "Was that at all necessary?"

The lizard, as if annoyed by the primate's soft disposition, narrowed his eyes with contempt. "It is not your place to question my methods." He hissed.

"I hired you! I should have some say! I knew you were criminals, but you-you killed those people! We had agreed that you were just supposed to at least just rough up a few of them and just ransack the place, make it look like an act of arson, burn it down."

"It will send a more convincing message with bodies."

"Message?" The orange furred simian asked with an arched brow. "What message? I just needed to prove there was a legitimate fire not a massacre!"

Gar didn't really put on any airs that he cared what the orangutan was talking about, instead only stating, "I accepted your proposition for my ends alone, I really care not for your morals."

The dragon's tone was beginning to scare the ape. This was their first face to face meeting and the way the dragon talked of messages and fatalities began to give Genkou bad vibes. His plan was deteriorating fast and the dragon was becoming less like a business partner instead more of a terrorist. The worst part was Gar as a Komodo Dragon was imposing enough to get away anything if he wanted now and if he so chose, he could cut out the middleman and devour him. The only thing that kept this fragile alliance intact was in the office safe.

"Well what are you going to do with Gin-san? You guys aren't going to kill him, too are you?" The Orangutan nervously asked.

"No...a canine breed like that, he will be taken and sold. A kidnapping among the murders, that will strike true fear in the hearts outside of the Back-Alley Market. Then people will have real reason to shudder at our name."

"What?" Genkou asked confused even further, his face becoming grim as it was clear that he was just an accessory for this madman's vile machinations. Now it was too late to turn back now. "I never would have agreed to this if I knew-

The dragon's brow raised. "Does this mean our partnership is at an end? That would be most unfortunate."

"No-no, we still have a deal." He hastily replied while continuing to search his drawers. The ape sniffed the air. That burning smell Gin-san told me about is still here. I definitely would have been better off waiting for an electrical fire with that bungler Maurice. The old ape thought as he scratched under his chin. "Your payment is in the safe over there. There are two safes. First combination is 77-21-87. And the digital is 3-15-20."

The lizard quickly noticed something off about the safe. "Is this how you protect your possessions?" He asked pointing at the warm fresh bumpy haphazard weld marks on the Safe.

"Huh?" Genkou asked cluelessly what he was talking about.

"So, you didn't know someone cut into your safe?" The lizard said looking back at the ape with scowling eyes.

The elderly orangutan leaned over the desk slack jawed and quickly saw the cold blood meant; the safe had been tampered with. "I-I-I what the- I have no idea what is going on here." He stammered.

The Komodo rose and turned to face Genkou, none too pleased. "Incompetent or betrayal. Not good for you." He hissed.

"Gar-san be reasonable. I-I sure we can get to the bottom of this."

"I will." The lizard expressed with cold-blooded temperament and low growl. Genkou froze up with fear as the Komodo advanced towards him. The reptile removed his mask revealing the scaly visage underneath; sharp rows of even dagger like teeth and venom that dripped freely from his jaws.

"Gar-san I swear I had the item I'm not trying to pull one over on you!" Genkou pleaded.

"No more talk. If you do not possess the item, you no longer factor into my plans."

Meanwhile in the main lobby

Gin was on his knees, hands tied on top of his head at the mercy of a pump-action shotgun pressed into his neck. His captor, a large hefty dragon wearing a brown Kanji adorned leather jacket with cargo pants and combat boots, was morbidly snacking on one of his fallen herbivore coworkers. It was the antelope, Maurice's hand ripped completely off at the wrist, being chewed. It pained him to hear crunch the bones made and the sickening sound of the flesh being torn. He had been to the market plenty of times before, eaten meat, but knowing it was someone he knew or had casual conversation with made it unbearable. Right now, he was so helpless to do anything, all he could do was get mad. It was enough to make his blood boil. He was doing everything he could to remain docile, but deep down that canine loyalty was itching away him. Do something... tear their throat... make them pay.

"You really think this mutt's fur will go for anything Deshi?" The lizard asked the female dragon, spitting out small bone Gin could only imagine was a digit.

"I'm not worried. He seems to be of hardy stock." Deshi said as she crouched down and got uncomfortably close to inspect the Akita. She looked vaguely female, as feminine as any of these lizards Gin had ever seen at least. There was also a decaying odor coming off of her, and the pungent smell inflamed Gin's sensitive nostrils. Out of all of the dragons she alone didn't wear a mask, instead only wearing a burgundy head wrap that covered half of her face. Her inspection was brief but invasive. He was already off put by her smell, but he didn't particularly want her touching the inside of his mouth with her probably filthy claws. Then when she tilted his head to the side, Gin could swear he saw the rest of her face under the wrap. She seemed to be missing an eye. Her one remaining beady eye soon focused down onto his, which caused him to look downward, not wanting to give her eye contact. She didn't seem to have cared though not addressing him directly after she let his face go.

"He'll probably go for a lot as a slave. I'm sure there's a place on the market for a breed like him. We could have made a lot more if you hadn't shot the spotted cat as well." She said coldly. "Now we'll just have to make do with his pelt.

"Well he shouldn't have resisted." The thickset lizard mocked.

All Gin could think of to try and keep his mind off of this was the plan. This was not the way this was supposed to go. The plan was for the foxes to stick the place up, Gin would have collaborated keeping everyone calm and under control, got the money he needed for his mother and then he would skip town. No one had to get hurt. He wasn't responsible for this he told himself, but this was not at all how he planned for this to go. Maybe if I had given the heist team the go ahead earlier, the guys might have run off or the robbery would have deterred these monsters. Maybe this was partially his fault? He thought to himself. Lots of good that did him now...this isn't helping.

While Gin continued to beat himself up, something caught his attention. From the corner of his eye he saw for a brief moment, a little rustic orange bushy tail quickly tucked in behind the main counter. Bushy tail...like a fox's tail.

On the side of the counter Raira silently conveyed to Lùn to get ready as she turned on her earpiece.

"Gears. Now," Raira said with a hushed voice into her earpiece.

"-Say again. Sound-like now?-" His signal must have been weak because of the vents.

"Ugh... Now!" She said much louder into her headset.

The lizards became alerted, they all jerked their heads towards the commotion. "What?" Deshi questioned aloud. "We seem to have more hostages, Kainik, bring them." She ordered the bigger dragon that had been holding Gin at bay before placing her blade at the dog's throat. "You said there weren't any more in here." She hissed at him angrily.

"-Hang on to your teeth!-" Gears warned, hightailing it through vents pulling all the pins as he passed them.

Lùn and Raira both huddled together to shelter themselves from the flash grenades going off in a cascade of explosions.

*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*

The room was showered with dust and debris, as the vents all around them exploded leaving behind a deafening ringing noise that followed. The air reeked of smoke and gunpowder; like someone lit a bunch of firecrackers inside the building. The explosives had worked too well. Parts of the ceiling and light fixtures were beginning to collapse and small fires had started.

"I can't see!" The one-eyed dragon cried as she stumbled around disoriented. Gin's own sensitive ears were pounding right now, but he had hit the floor face first to avoid being blinded. It still was very dizzying and it took a few seconds for him to shake off the effects and he began to gnaw at his restraints.

Even Raira was surprised by the damage those things caused. "Damn it Trace! What the hell kind of flash bangs were those?!" She screamed into the headset.

"-You wanted effectiveness!-" Trace screamed back. "-You got effectiveness.-"

"-See -rendezvous - the outside.-" Gear's little voice crackled over the headset. The signal grew weaker as he traveled further away.

The silver fox enacted the next phase of their plan; smoke grenades. The fox hurled the first two from Lùn's belt over the counter allowing the canisters to flood the room in red smoke. Once the room became blanketed in the red mist, Raira opened up with her Beretta and began attempting to thin the herd.

Out of the mist stumbled her first customer, the dragon with the shotgun. He must have still suffered from disorientation, because Raira gave him a liberal number of rounds before he could even aim the scattergun.

"Kainik!" The one-eyed dragon screeched for her fallen comrade. "Bantu, over there by the counter!"

Bantu, a black scale dragon still groggy, began hurling daggers from his bandolier sash.

Raira dropped back down after reacting to a few of the sharp projectiles that whistled overhead. "Fuck!" She cursed while returning blind fire over the counter causing the dragon to hug shelter himself.

"Should we use the explosives?" The black dragon shouted as he grabbed hold of his tail.

"Not with us inside, idiot! You might bury us. Who knows how structurally weak this building is after that blast?" Deshi hissed furiously as she crouched to the floor and pulled out the pistol, the one she had pilfered from the dog began riddling the counter top of bullets.

There was a rapid series of clicks, indicating the fox had emptied her magazine. "She's out." One of the dragons said before signaling he was moving up. However, he had only taken a few steps forward when he was struck with at least six shots before landing onto his back.

They're that fast?! Deshi asked herself in horror as she emptied the dog's stolen Glock into the countertop and switched to Genkou's Hi-Power. This wasn't really the case though; the silver fox had done a gun swap herself to the .22 she had borrowed from Lùn to avoid wasting time.

"Reload this!" Raira ordered as she handed Lùn the empty Beretta while she returned fire with Lùn's pistol. Lùn begrudgingly loaded with haste. "You get to have all the fun, now I'm your glorified re-loader?" The little fox grumbled.

"Do it or I'll throw you at them!" Rai' threatened, not in the mood to take her sass right now.

Gin the Akita once free of his bindings used the mayhem to pounce an unsuspecting dragon not much bigger than him, latching his jaws tightly around the bastard's neck and jerking until his snout became covered in the reptile's blood. Years of combat experience kicked in as he wrestled with the reptile and took out his rage biting down even harder into his foe's throat. Each successive bite was for each one of the people they needlessly slaughtered. The dying dragon attempted to dig his talons and punch him into his side, but it was a fruitless effort as the dog fangs went deeper into his flesh. Eventually the lizard stopped squirming when the dog's muzzle ripped free from the reptile's throat, filled with bloody ragged leathery flesh lodged between his fangs.

The canine then grabbed a blade from the lizard's belt and finished him off driving the blade into his heart. Gin sniffed out another dragon behind him and quickly turned over only to see the dragon get buffeted with a hail of bullets before he could even growl at him. The lizard was wounded, but not dead, ditching the dog and scurrying back behind cover with the other dragons. Gin now had a chance to crawl towards his would-be rescuers. Another projectile flew past the Inu's ear and caused him to hug the floor as more flew overhead.

Shit, she must think I'm hostile as well. He thought. "Hold your fire!" He shouted over the gunfire. "That you Violet?! Violet! I'm 'G'! I'm on your side! Don't shoot! It's me Gee! The contact!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. "Please don't shoot!"

"Gee?!" The gray-black vixen exclaimed as she ducked down by cover. "You're the-You picked a hell of time to reveal yourself!" She furiously mouthed off at the pooch. "Just get over here Gee!" Raira ordered, continuing to lay down cover fire for the Inu, trying to keep the dragons hunkered down.

Great, so much for getting his share, she thought as she slapped a fresh magazine and closed the slide. Just in time as a dragon's scaley hand gripped her collar and began pulling her up over the countertop. Bastard must have snuck over while she was distracted by the contact. The pearl fox desperately fired round after round, right into the bottom of his chin. She got him, his grip loosened and she dropped back down in front of Lùn, adrenaline pumping in her veins. She cursed loudly after she saw a round had jammed in the chamber so switched to Lùn's pistol while she handed off the other pistol for the little fox to unjam. "Hurry up with that." She ordered "We're going to push in a few seconds."

Gin scurried over on all fours and snatched the 12 gauge, Kainik the Dokugumi soldier was wielding. However, the dog didn't stop once he crawled up to the counter, instead he kept going towards the back office.

"Wait? Where the hell are you going?!" The gray fox called out after him "The fight is THAT WAY!"

"I need to get Genkou-sama out of here!" He yelled as he scrambled to his feet and ran into the back. He would protect this one he declared to himself.

"Who the-?" Raira didn't get to finish as shots cracked over her head causing her to drop back down behind cover. "Shit!" She cursed. The tan dragon had started to return fire again. Chunks of dry wall and dust rained down on the fox's head as bullets impacted the wall behind her. Gin was already gone and heading for the office.

"Great, we have a regular boy scout for an accomplice." She yelled towards Lùn who had just finished dislodging the bad round. "Dumb dog loyalty." She complained as she removed another smoke grenade from her belt and tossed it over the counter. The canister clunked on the ground and spun as a torrent of thick red mist ejected, filling the room.

"That's your cue, move up!" Raira said as she slapped Lùn's shoulder. "GET WHAT YOU CAN AND GO! I'll pick up any slack!" She ordered as she fired both guns this time in tandem. The fog of war reset, both girls took advantage and hopped over the counter scrambling for cover.

The pint size fox scrambled towards the nearest display table getting to work. Smashing through the glass displays with her knife, pilfering and stuffing whatever she could into her pack. The mice inside enduring the bumpy ride, quickly got to work. Doing their best stacking any goods they could neatly in effort to conserve space for both more loot and themselves. She didn't have long before a dark shadow loomed over her in the form of a hulking black scale dragon who had become alert to her activity.

She almost panicked as if it were the beast from her dreams, but quickly steeled her nerves. She could take this bastard, she told herself as she retrieved her tethered kukris from her belt. He leaped forward and smashed both fists down causing her to stumble to the ground, but she rolled over to the left and cast out her right blade with a lot of slack swinging wide. This caused him to evasively duck down and gave her time to get back up. As she got up, she twisted her torso, casting the left blade up and spinning around, forcing the thick blade to careen laterally through each of the glass displays on the table, splashing the dragon with a blast of glass shards.

As he raised his arms trying to shield himself, Lùn swung the blade back down in an overhead pattern smashing like a hammer, slashing vertically and cutting into his throwing arm causing him to emit high pitched yelp. Lùn began giggling at the lizard's misfortune, but the lizard ducked down, swept low, knocked her over with his long tail. She landed on her back and immediately tried to scramble away as the dragon encroached on her. Remembering the bull a few months back she kicked him right between the legs. The lizard however was unfazed and only laughed at her. Lùn was the one with the look of genuine shock.

"You'll have to kick a lot harder than that, little one." He said amused.

"-The hell are you doing out there? You almost crushed us in here!-" Trace cursed over the radio.

"I'm trying not to die, you back seat drivers!" She yelled back at them. The dragon looked at her puzzled, allowing Lùn to swing both of her blades out again horizontally, slashing through his bandolier of knives.

"Oh, damn it!" He cursed as he tried to clumsily catch the belt, giving Lùn the opportunity to roll under his legs, hopping over his swaying tail. The black lizard soon gave chase as the little fox scampered off.

"-Damn it! You got precious cargo on board, stop with the acrobatic crap!-" Trace yelled at the little fox as she righted herself.

"Like you're precious. Hang on!" Lùn warned the mice as she hurled one of her blades up and gained purchase in the drywall ceiling. Lùn quickly leaped on top one of the display islands in the middle of the room and swung across to the other display island like a pirate swinging from ship to ship in the swashbuckling tales.

"HYAAAH!" She cried as she collided feet first with the wounded Dokugumi thug Raira had shot earlier. The stocky dragon let out a loud "OOF!" as he staggered back out of the red cloud. Before he knew what hit him, Raira took advantage of the easy target and finished him off, put two rounds in the head and two in the chest. The black dragon began to climb over the display to grab at the small fox, but Lùn yanked her blade down which caused the parts of the ceiling to cave in and break apart. Chunks of drywall rained down and pelted him upside the head. He was dazed even further when one of the fluorescent light panes swung down and smashed into his face, knocking him over on his backside.

With that side of the lobby clear, Lùn got back to work stuffing as much loot as she could carry into her pack before shouting to Raira that she was heading out. "I got as much as I can! How will I find you?!"

"I'll call you, just go. Get away from here!" Raira shouted back, loading her last mags.

Deshi tried to blast her, but had to duck down after some hollow points flew over her head when the other fox gave her little sister some more cover fire. Lùn had made it out and disappeared down the street.

Good girl. Raira thought as she took cover behind a pillar.

"Bantu get up! Get her! Don't let her escape!" The female dragon barked at the black dragon. He nodded with low growl and took after the pygmy chasing her down, just narrowly avoiding getting shot on his way out.

Raira cursed her aim and trained her pistol back to the remaining dragon, only to hear her pistol click repeatedly. She was empty. No sooner had that realization dawned upon her, she heard a loud thump as a medium sized figure had hopped atop the table pointing her own pistol. It was the one-eyed dragon. Her pistol clicked too. They both were out. The female dragon flicked her long black forked tongue at her and tilted her head towards the masked fox with familiarity.

"I know that scent anywhere. That's you under that mask, isn't it? Raira... the Silver Fox." She resonated with a raspy feminine voice. She swished her black tongue out the fox much to the vixen's disgust. "Oh yes." She said tossing her pistol away.

Raira got a good look at the lizard. Indeed, she was familiar with the dragon. Last year she was the one that had gouged out her eye. One of the more violent turf disputes, one that wasn't pleasant for either side.

"Deshi the Cyclops. How's that lack of depth perception working out for ya?" The vixen mocked while trying to ease back to a more comfortable distance. Deshi however just as slowly, inched closer as if in a playful game of cat and mouse.

"How about I show you?" Deshi purred loudly, narrowing the pebbly skin around her eye as she kept Raira in her sight. "I should pay you back for the nice moniker!"

Raira holstered her empty weapons and raised her fists to square up with the scaly wench.

"That's right, let's put those away." The lizard said as she did the same. "Face me again like a real carnivore. Fang and claw."