Author's Notes: I know I'm releasing this one a bit late… in the day I mean. Although I'm sure you don't care, you're to busy writing long, detailed reviews! So all you weirdos out there who like to do everything in the middle of the night, well… Forget I ever said anything, BLUE LAMP!

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A Glimmer of Hope

The dark lupine detective scanned the upper hood of the car once more, covering every bit of its charred windshield in full view. The air around him was thick and moist, which meant the smell was one of the first noticeable aspects of the damaged vehicle. "You know, I'm starting to see a pattern here…" He said when he noticed his partner approaching from the walkway to the rail station lot.

"What's that?" Walter asked.

"Explosions and cars… damn it, now I'm gonna be paranoid if I think too much about it." Detective Tyler said before a brief sigh as he turned from the car. "The only difference is that this explosion failed to do much damage, and that it came from the outside and not inside. This wasn't a car bomb; it's more like an anti-personnel grenade if anything…" He said, collaborating his own observations with his former EOD training.

The panther neared closer to the vehicle to get a better look. "Yeah, I was kind of thinking that too… whoever tried to attack this poor woman really doesn't know how to make a car go boom." Walter noted, peering back at the disgruntled and somewhat shocked owner of the car looking worried as she kept her three little kits near her.

"You know what Don?"

"What?"

"There's another thing I noticed about the similarities between the two bombings."

Detective Tyler rolled his eyes. "I already told you, they're not connected. This could've been committed by a bunch of teenage delinquents, the other one was definitely done by someone who'd gone through extensive training."

"No, I don't mean like that, I mean look at who they're done towards. I mean the first one… Vixy… she had a kid, right?"

"Yeah," Tyler acknowledged. "I think so…"

"Well this target does too, three in fact."

Even with all the hunches and foreshadowing, Tyler didn't see where his partner was leading to. "And...?"

"And? Don't you see that children are involved in this? Can you imagine what they're thinking, what they're feeling? These kids will no doubt be scared to even touch a car for months, and the one with Mrs. McCloud will no doubt be scarred for life! Can you imagine how miserable it must be for that kid to grow up without his mother? What he'll miss?"

"I know… it doesn't sound good, but you can't help it. These things happen all the time, yet the only way we can react is by bringing the assailants to justice."

Walter was not pleased with the response, but it was most likely the only true one he would get. "Yeah, I know, but… why them? Why couldn't it be someone who no one else depends on? I've realized that many of these homicides are done to people with families, and the simple act of killing one person affects so many in often traumatic ways…" The panther leaned down, beginning to look depressed and deflated. "I can't help but feel responsible for them in a way, why did it have to be them instead of someone else?"

The observant lupine almost took such a concept in a personal manner. It was true he never desired to have close relationships and he couldn't help placing himself in Walter's theoretical position.

"You know Walter; I've killed many people in my life… And I know for certain that I'm responsible for damaging the lives of a few of their relatives through that. I know this for certain because when I was in the army, they specifically searched for people who could be gone the next day and few would care about their disappearance. There weren't too many of us who… did what I had to do, but we got the job done…"

Walter noticed the uncovered flaw in the detective's connection. Why did he mention the army? What did that have to do with the people he'd seen him kill before? "The army? What does that have to do with army? I thought you gunned down armed criminals, not armed soldiers."

Detective Tyler returned with a blank stare. The information past this point was what he would never be allowed to disclose. "It's… well…" he couldn't continue, there was nothing for him to say. His memory thought back to the blurred sight of a dead body, slain by Tyler's own doing. He was thrown down to his knees, wishing the day had never come as he wallowed in a shallow pool of red blood. "We're closing in to Fichina territory; I don't want to go back there…" His mind tried to push back a remission of another horrible and intrusive thought. "I can't go back there…"

Walter nodded before heading off in the direction of the chief who was at the moment talking to some emergency personnel. He knew that whenever his friend mentioned that frozen planet, that he was forbidden to speak any further. "Alright… let me know if you see anything else strange… I'll be… over here pretending to be busy." He said as he walked onto the ramp leading to the train terminal above them.

~X~X~X~X~X~

'Hug the corner, hug the corner… don't be seen, don't make eye contact, be invisible… don't be seen, NO NO DON't look over NOOO!…' The lupine thought as he moved further in to the Fichina based outpost.

"Sergeant? Hey Don! Come here and have a seat!" Someone said as they waved for the lupine to join him at the empty table in the mess hall. There were no real set times for everyone to eat, they pretty much came and went whenever they felt like it, meaning that the large arrangement of six, eight chair tables was never quite reached in a facility so small.

Tyler approached the waving Cornerian, who was the only one the entire room except for another creep who was hanging out alone in the corner.

"How cold is it out there?" The cheery corporal inquired.

"Is that the only question I ever get asked? Why can't I ever get asked, 'did you find what we we're looking for out there?', or 'are you the one who ordered meat lovers pizza?'" Tyler said, taking a seat and bracing for the inevitable unveiling of something called dinner. "Speaking of food…" He stuck his tongue out at the nearby sight of a box full of the dreaded ration blocks. "Not again… I'm tired of Fichina Casserole, when do we get the good stuff back?"

"Two weeks, I should know since I manage the outpost's supplies. Every month or so, they send the food down from space via artificial meteorite, how cool is that?"

Tyler bit down into molded block of pure nutrition. The only though which kept his gag reaction at bay was the knowledge that the first bite was always the worst. "Couldn't they just fly it down? I'm sure that way they could give us… you know, real food. And why couldn't they give these things taste? We have the technology to conquer planets, so why do these still taste like petrified clay molds?"

"Beats me… actually I think they do it because it's cheap. If they served us five-star meals every day, they wouldn't be able run those cool parades. Believe it or not, the stuff we use is crazy expensive, I mean can you imagine how much a three ton laser drill costs to operate daily?"

"Yeah, I guess your right…" the Sergeant admitted, regretfully continuing the slow process of devouring the bland mold. "But they get to eat good food on other planets; I thought this stuff was for soldiers on the field to eat without having to prepare a fire or anything." The mere thought of tasty food made Tyler's tongue watered as if Pavlov had just rung his bell. "At least they could give us actual meat, or perhaps cook something for once."

Tyler's taste buds had become accustomed to 'Fichina Casserole' as it was so vehemently called by those who were forced to eat it. It was a gray block, very much like a protein bar, but looking more reminiscent of edible marble. Such ready to eat meals could easily be stored in cold environments because it didn't matter if it was crushed, frozen, or even old; it still served its basic purpose in the same way.

"You know, I feel sorry for you. When the shipments come, the good stuff's the first to go, that means when you're outside freezing your tail off, we at the base are already finding hiding places to store our goodies to save for lockdown."

And then, while in the midst of thinking about food, Tyler got an idea. He was going to get some real food, complaining was of course the first option, but he didn't want to stoop that low. No he had to have a plan, some method that would benefit him without having to pay."By the way, when's lockdown happening? I heard something about another storm coming in."

The sound of a feminine voice echoed through the mess hall. "Attention all base personnel, lockdown will commence in four hours. Please have everyone inside one hour prior to lockdown, thank you."

Tyler sighed.

"Does that answer your question?"

"It does, although I don't know why it came from the only female on this entire outpost."

"Silly, she's the one who always communicates the orders by loudspeaker." The corporal rested his chin on his open palm. "You know, every time I go to the communications room, I… get a glance of her… try to ask her questions that I already know, stay around for as long as I can, pretend to be busy but still act laid-back, you know what I mean Don?"

"You're… obsessed with her?"

The now nervous corporal shook his head. "well… no, not really, I mean kind of… sometimes when you see someone… like that… you just know, you know?"

"No…"

"No?"

"No."

"Hmmm…"

In the heat of the awkwardness, Sergeant Tyler stood up, clearing the miniscule mess he'd made with diligence. He didn't care for romantic relationships in the slightest, it wasn't that he was afraid or appalled, he simply acted indifferent towards it.

"Really? You've never met anyone?"

"I didn't say that… I've met many people before… just not anyone whom I've had strong feelings for."

"Well that's strange… I'm sorry…" the dumbfounded corporal couldn't find words appropriate for continuing.

The moments after that were somewhat faded, but Tyler remembered him leaving the mess hall, but being interrupted at the last second. He was passing through to the exit when the lone coyote at the table called for him in a raspy whisper.

"Hey… hey." He caught Tyler's attention. "I heard you were talking about food over there."

Tyler looked back at the corporal who was just now standing. It seemed the sole purpose he was here was to wait for him.

"I'm sorry, am I not allowed to talk? I'm not on duty right now."

"No, I'm talking about getting the good stuff."

Tyler put his outstretched arm towards the coyote. "Listen private, I don't want any part in whatever strange, exotic drug you managed to smuggle onto here."

"I don't mean that good stuff, I mean the good stuff. You know, what everyone fights each other to have whenever they send some down; the food they get to eat on other planets, the food they get to eat on Corneria, the food officers get to eat."

Tyler looked away with disgust. "Yeah… officers…" He secretly believed that every night the four officers of the outpost would gather themselves and hide away in the bunker, playing party games such as 'watch the incompetent engineer try to fix the heating system for the billionth time' on the security camera. "Alright, what's your plan, let's get to the point."

"My plan is to fake a shortage, if we can convince the Major that we're running out of food, he'll order for our boys in space to launch a supply drop down here."

"How are we going to take away two weeks' worth of food without anyone noticing? Everyone here keeps a close eye on logistics."

"Don't worry about the details, I got that all planned out. We're not going to hide the food, the storm is. Before lockdown, we hide all the food outside; then when they discover something's wrong with the number of supplies, they'll have no choice but to call for another drop."

Sergeant Tyler viewed the plan with the possibility that it was a trick. He'd heard of soldiers being lured into schemes by others so that a superior officer could inflict his brand of discipline when he got bored. But this was more on the spur of the moment; the coyote may have been a shady character, but Tyler wanted real food, and he wanted it badly.

"I don't know, it sounds like that could go horribly wrong. I've heard stories of soldiers switching weapons out which have ended in horror; these plans usually have some dangerous flaw in them."

"Hey, your job's simple. All you have to do is ask the Major if he'll call for better food, and if that doesn't work, we'll go with my plan to fake the shortage, how does that sound?"

The offer was mighty tempting to the lupine; even with the meager military pay he earned plus his hazard bonus, they still fed him and the rest of the soldiers at the base food that was probably as old as they were. He sometimes wondered if this was their way of testing experimental torture devices.

Tyler shook his head. "I don't know, I don't really like the idea, but if improves the quality of the food…" At that moment, Tyler gave in. "Alright, I'll ask the Major… I was thinking about taking a quick nap, but I still got time to waste."

"Good…" The coyote said as he waved Tyler off. "We're gonna need some spare time."

Before Tyler left, he turned to ask another question. "By the way, why me? Why not someone else?"

"As a Sergeant, your voice carries more weight. Besides, you're one of the few here who actually has to go outside and the cold and sacrifice your own comfort. I'm sure the Major will have more sympathy towards you."

"I'm not doing this because of a higher grade of sympathy than others; I'm doing it because I'm damn tired of Fichina Casserole."

"Whatever you say Sergeant…" The coyote said as Tyler's memory faded in a similar way to the distance between the two soldiers. "Just get that food…"

Sergeant Tyler walked away, his mind remembering his mother's words about how his once picky eating will one day get the best of him.

~X~X~X~X~X~

Detective Tyler O'Donnell gathered his notes as he stepped away from the slightly charred vehicle. "Alright Mrs.… Steinbeck." He said, approaching the worried mother and her kits. "Your car will need to be fixed a little, nothing too expensive. The explosive which detonated last night was what we like to call a precision directional focused device."

The spotted ocelot looked back in confusion. "Wh- what does that mean?"

The detective handed the woman his written report about the incident. "It means that if someone really wanted to damage your car, they would've used something with a little more firepower; therefore, whoever did it had either done it unintentionally, or they were truly stupid."

"It doesn't matter why they did it, someone tried to destroy my car!"

"Now now, calm down ma'am…" Tyler said with his paw outstretched to the disgruntled ocelot. "Your car's in no further danger." He leaned closer to the worried mother, whispering in her ear. "But unfortunately, your wallet might as well be held hostage with that car damage." As he backed away, he could see her begin to cry.

The lupine couldn't help but feel instant sympathy for the high strung feline. He walked back over to her and handed the Cornerian equivalent of a hundred dollars to the sobbing woman. "Don't worry, we'll find who did this." He said, without truly knowing whether or not they would find the culprit.

The female ocelot looked up from her tear ridden muzzle to accept the money. "Thank you."

"The city has many good places for repairs. We've gathered all the evidence we need so you can have it back. I'd recommend going over to Anura Mechanics, they have the best service this side of the planet."

"Thanks again." The woman nodded before turning away to receive a call.

As the detective looked back at the charred hood of the car, it was such a curious sight. Not only did that catch his eye, but so did the glimmering shine which came from the corner of a nearby roof. It was almost calling to him, not just because it looked shiny but also because it seemed to be in the perfect place, for what he did not know.

"Are you a policeman?"

Tyler looked around to see where the squeaky voice was coming from. It was not until he looked down did he see where the source of the sound was.

"Are you a policeman?" The small kitten asked.

"Uh… yeah, I'm a policeman." The detective answered.

"Do you kill people?" The little ocelot became mesmerized at the sight of Tyler's holstered gun. "Can I see the gun?"

"Slow down kid… one question at a time…" Tyler said, leaning down to reach the child's level of height.

"Ok… do you kill bad guys?"

Tyler shook his head, although the strict verbal answer would've been contradictory to such a gesture. "Well, we don't always know who the bad guy is… It could be anyone."

"Even me?" The kit was stricken with a scared look in his eyes.

"If you've… done something wrong… but you're not a bad guy, are you?"

The spotted youngster failed to give an answer.

Tyler felt the small kit was keeping something from him; nothing too serious but on a more immature level. After all, the worst a seven year old could do was walk around the neighborhood toppling trash cans. The detective recalled his nephew having been much trouble before, but his doings were so organized that the lupine couldn't help but comparing Wolf to himself.

"You know, part of my job is to tell when someone is keeping information from me."

The young ocelot looked up at Tyler once more. "Well… I did do something once, it was yesterday actually." He again looked at the detective with a now more worried gaze. "You're not going to arrest me, are you?"

Tyler laughed. He then replied in a slow and calm manner. "Don't be silly… what did you do?"

The ocelot looked down at the pavement. "I… sort of took a candy bar from the store when nobody was looking."

The detective slowly nodded. "I see…" He took his notebook out and pretended to write in it.

"But… um sir?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever killed someone?"

Tyler looked away. He didn't want to answer that question, the kit wouldn't understand; few would, which was one of the reasons he usually kept quiet about his work past and present. He decided it would be best not to tell him. "I've shot people before, but that was because they endangered my own life." The answer seemed to satisfy the child.

"Cool…" The kit said as he began to walk off. Nothing else was spoken between him and the detective, nothing else was needed.

Tyler turned his attention back to the source of the glinting light. The sky was about to be overtaken by a cloudy rain coming from coast; it was the same weather which had clouded their day the morning Vixy McCloud was murdered. The similarities were striking, except this time it wasn't so lethal.

Tyler needed to see what was up on the roof near the station parking lot. He called for Ulrich, the forensics examiner to help him.

"You want to what?"

"Get onto that building, I think I saw something up there."

"Saw what?" The lizard tried to get a glimpse of what Tyler was pointing at; however, the newly drawn out absence of light shaded by the sky's cover hindered the glare.

Tyler saw a long metal pipe hanging down from the metal building. He leaped onto the pipe, holding onto it with knees as he shimmied up to reach the thin ledge jutting out on the next level. It was tiring, but it was also the only apparent way to reach the top.

"Hey Don,"

"I'm fine Ulrich…"

"I think it would be better if…"

"I can do it… don't worry."

The detective reached the ledge about five meters high, almost halfway. He hugged the wall and walked across the side before climbing up another set of gutters. For every meter higher, an intense amount of energy was expelled, but he kept pressing on. He took a deep breath as he approached a set of giant letters protruding from the side of the building. He held on to a 'D' after walking over the other set of letters and pulled himself up, grunting as he reached the top. He breathed heavily when he stood up high above the lower lot. He could see the taller towers of the city arranged in a certain hexagonal shape from this height.

'Now to find the source of that shine' he thought.

He went over to the corner of his building, a long smile finding a home on his muzzle. He picked up a large piece of metal shrapnel with a number conspicuously printed on it. It's trajectory from the top of the nearby car was absolutely perfect, he'd found a part of the bomb.

In the other bombing, the explosion produced no inherent shrapnel, as it was designed to do such. This however, was not meant to eliminate a vehicle, but instead a person. The next important piece of a puzzle had been found, though the detective knew not if it were to ever be completed.

"Hey Tyler!"

"What is it Ulrich?"

"I was trying to tell you something!"

"What?"

"There's a ladder on the other side of the building… I tried to tell you!"

The detective looked behind him.

"Huh… figures…" The detective then headed towards the nearby ladder, evidence in hand.

~X~X~X~X~X~