Author's Notes: Some of you may be confused by the… I dunno, abrupt structure of switching back and forth between reality and memory. After this chapter, the other's will mainly be free of such confusions, maybe.

Either way, enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it, OR ELSE!

Goodbye Corneria

"It's no use! Switch to the next one!" Tyler yelled as he narrowly dodged a stray shell which only seconds before would've gone through his head had he been in the same spot. He was out of breath, but that didn't matter; in an apprehensive bout of fear, he sprinted for the other nearby turret. He turned to see the fearful mechanic sprinting behind him become the next victim of the assault as he was immediately riddled with an assortment of enemy weaponry.

There was no time to mourn or ruminate, he had to act. The lupine switched over to the next defensive turret, leaping over the fallen debris obstructing the way. His face became empty when it saw this too had been overcome by a major systems failure, one that would take hours to re-adjust and calibrate; for some reason, Corneria, even though it's military might was enormous, was unprepared to successfully tackle an invasion of this scale. "C'mon! Work Dammit!" He slammed the red flashing panel with his fist full of rage. "F**K!" He kicked the door the aerial cannon open.

"WALTEERRR!" He yelled for his partner to comfort him with his presence. Defense now was seemingly hopeless, the enemy had invaded with such precision and careful timing that the Cornerian Defense Force (CDF) had little time to mobilize. "Walter! Where are you?!" He passed rushing bodies and fleeing citizens, pushing them aside as another explosion landed onto one of the nearby central buildings.

Finally he caught sight of the panther amidst the extreme chaos. They ran towards each other, hoping to gain even a small bit of co-operation.

"Where were you?!" Tyler demanded, shielding himself from the intense blasts screaming into his eyes. His vision was reduced to coarse but soft fuzz, and color itself was unnatural and dull. The blurring and floating of shadows in daylight haunted his mind at every corner.

"The southern government block, CDF's taking casualties at a ratio of seven to one… it's hopeless as long as they keep coming down." No sooner did Walter say this then came a large shake moved the foundation of the ground, collectively stunning the frantic mess of Cornerians. The shock was such that the source was felt by all to be originating from a spot which had just been wreaked havoc upon by a flurry bombardment seconds before. The blurred moments manifested inside of the crowd's helpless gasp followed by a simultaneous collection of screams.

"Sh*t! The Tech Center! It's coming down!"

Tyler's eyes were shadowed by the looming sight of the massive steel building collapsing. Like all structures of its kind, the three-thousand foot tall building fell straight down towards its base, creating a massive cloud of burning ash which began rushing towards both Tyler and the rest of the cloud. He couldn't help it now, it was up to those who had properly armed themselves and had taken the necessary precautions to defend Corneria and protect its citizens; unfortunately, no one had.

The lupine began panting heavily as he and a hundred other Cornerians tried in vain to outrun the oncoming cloud. The mere sight sent a shock through his heart and adrenaline began to kick in at the fear of oncoming storm.

"Tyler!" Turning around he could see Walter yelling for him from behind. His friend had gotten caught up in a number of scrambling bodies; it was obvious that he was unable to escape.

"Walter!" An invisible force held Tyler back, he couldn't help his friend anymore and he was being consumed by the growing onslaught of darkness.

He ran, but he could not escape the nearing cloud. It was not long before it had also consumed him.

Tyler awoke to find that it was still dark, the face on his bedside clock read three-thirty, but outside as always, there was a large number of lights in the city which lit up a returning sense of reality inside of Tyler.

"Another night terror?" The lupine said as he moved slowly but surely to his feet. After a yawn, he went over to a nearby nightstand and opened the drawer. Most of the apartment had been cleared out, but this drawer still kept one of his closest possessions. It was a book, a log containing every instance he had of disturbing nightmares and intrusions. He sat down and began recording to detail the event before it faded from memory.

His writing suddenly ceased when it came time to describe what it was which had been destroying the city in his dream. It had to be something with the power to eradicate on such an immense scale, which narrowed the possibilities down quite a bit; but logic was not the deciding factor when it came to the manifestations of the subconscious.

"No, no it couldn't be…" Tyler said to himself, trying to shake the connection from his mind. "No… they're gone! It's just me! I'm free from them… I'm just worrying too much…"

The detective tried to force the memories out. He realized that such dreams could be a sign of great danger, he'd had them before, but that was years ago, when his every move was monitored and watched. They never did find a way to properly capture that which had once been inside him, instead, they figured in the end that the lupine was simply immune.

All the bad memories came back to him; all those tests, those experiments. Perhaps they were for the better, but in the end, nothing had been truly solved.

Tyler knew he couldn't be under a high amount of psychological stress or Agent Rotte would certainly scrub the mission, leaving him stranded on Corneria with no further ability to fulfill his promise of bringing justice to the murderer of Vixy McCloud. The detective couldn't help but feel deeply scared; past stresses and experiences were coming back to him now, even that event which had almost effectively destroyed his mind years ago.

He couldn't escape the memory which was about to overcome him, it was meaningless to resist. He fell deeper into the pain of worry and fear inside as the recollections opened up to him and demanded his presence. As he faded into the murky holdings of Fichina and beyond, his mind froze when it had reached the last vital connection.

~X~X~X~X~X~

A room, bright and reflective, lay before Tyler. He struggled to move in the restricting chair; and his mind felt as if it was no longer his own, but only slightly. The cascading memory of absolute horror wreaked havoc inside of his own mind.

"Tyler… Tyler."

Tyler slowly turned to see the changing appearance of the faceless doctor before him. He couldn't respond, his entire mind was engulfed in something strange and unknown.

"Tyler… Tyler."

He was slipping, losing ground in a fight against a mysterious enemy. His heart was racing and his muscles were tense, he was gripped with an unforgiving cold yet his head was wrathfully feverish. Every new sight of the strange colors and blinding lights around him brought about confusing details and unsure assertions. His eyes shut tightly to lock out the outside world.

"Tyler… Sergeant."

His eyes, now fully open, fell upon the faceless doctor.

"Everything will be all right." The doctor leaned down to touch Tyler's shoulder. "Tell me Sergeant, are you feeling better? Can you speak to me? Do you know where you are?"

Tyler could not respond, words themselves were no longer part of his threshold.

"I see… " The doctor slowly turned to his associate in an eerie pass. "Keegan, we can continue with the electroshock treatment."

Tyler screamed with his eyes, a strange feeling shot through his body, what was this? All he could do was endure this strange state of suffering. Thoughts raced through his mind; those of death, those of loss, and those of hopelessness. He felt like he was losing consciousness, but he had never been so awake in fear.

"I'm so sorry Sergeant."

~X~X~X~X~X~

"I tell you, this plan is foolproof. This… immense storm is the perfect cover-up for my plan." The proud coyote pointed to the oncoming speck of frost. "Look at that, I'm surprised the whole operation won't be buried by all that snow, I mean look at that! When that storm comes… damn this place will be frozen over. We're lucky that we get to stay inside and work the hell out of the heating system."

"Sure no one's onto us?" Tyler asked with an ironic tinge.

"Yeah, and if someone is, it increases the risk of them having a very misfortunate accident. Now help me with this box."

Sergeant Tyler lifted a crate with black lettering spelling 'B-31 RATIONS' labeled on the side. "How much longer till we go to lockdown?" He asked.

"Two hours, why?"

The Sergeant looked off into the distance. "It's just… I have a friend out there… if he doesn't come back in time, he'll have to hide away in the supplementary camp and wait for us to dig him out."

"You sure he's not lost? Would we need to send a search team to find him?" The coyote asked in a rather rare gesture.

"If he gets caught in the storm, no one's looking for him at least until the winds are long gone." Tyler answered, grunting as he placed another crate down on top of another. "It gets as low as negative fifty during these storms, which is why nobody's allowed outside until the locks are released."

The cunning coyote seemed to acknowledge Tyler's statement, even though the bitter cold nearly froze his twitching ears shut. "Why is it that only a few of you get to walk out to the primary site? We have like fifty of us at the Major's disposal, why does he only use five?"

Tyler scanned his mind for the 'Major approved response' he had been directed to give.

"I guess we just have the thickest fur…" The lupine answered in a monotonous and yet almost benign way.

It probably didn't satisfy the coyote, but judging by the responsive nod he got the hint that it was time to shut up about classified information. "So… why are you here?"

"Why am I here?" Sergeant Tyler repeated. "Because I was assigned here, just like you."

"No, it doesn't seem like that's it… I got a feeling there's a deeper reason why you got stuck here instead of on a weapons base on Zoness where you get army housing and luxury benefits."

"Private, I don't feel comfortable speaking about this."

"Why? Code 7?" The coyote had just uttered the universal term for what they called 'highly unstable information'.

"Not… really. Let's just get back to moving these crates." Tyler and the coyote continued to remove the boxes from the loading compartment amongst the freezing cold weather of Fichina. After what seemed to be at least a hundred more crates, the compartment looked neither mistakably full nor suspiciously empty.

The two finished up after making sure nobody was watching them.

Tyler sat down a while later in the communications room, waiting to see the report of his friend returning to the base so that he could finally rest with a long nap. The lupine had already taken care of the coyote's disciplinary situation as the activity at the back of the base had secretly been recorded. The storm would still cover up the food, but what the coyote presumably did not know was that the rations were designed to survive and be recovered in the case of such an incident. The wolf almost felt thankful that his food was carefully suited for the environment he was in, even if it tasted like nuts on soft dry clay.

"I'm sorry Sergeant, but he's not here yet." Tyler looked up to see an invitingly happy female enter his sight. She was a lovely looking vulpine with bright young features and a warm smile.

"Have you tried reaching him?" Sergeant O'Donnell asked.

"Yes, but every time we attempt to communicate, we seem to be bombarded with interference."

"Interference? Is it because of the storm?"

"No Sergeant, the interference is of a different sort. Our communications are not being blocked; it's as if they're being… attacked." The woman walked over to nearby screen, Tyler followed.

"Attacked… do you mean jammed?"

"It does show similar signs to a jammed signal… but our technology doesn't recognize the source of it. It's not being jammed in the sense that we can recognize it." She showed the lupine a heap of scales and readings which he had no knowledge on how to decipher himself.

"What… who could be doing that?"

"There are only a few ways… one, someone's purposefully jamming the signals outside of the base, or two, we're getting an unnaturally high amount of solar radiation interfering with the systems."

"But if it was due to solar storms then our shielding systems would be going crazy, wouldn't they?"

"I'm afraid so…"

A silence fell in the communication room. Tyler tried as hard as he could, but it was as if the answer was inside of his own mind. Every scout was taught how to diagnose a number of simple communication errors and learn how to fix it, maybe the answer was not hidden in details but instead part of the surface picture.

"You know, at the site, we deal with a lot of strange equipment… do you think it's possible he's inadvertently mucked up his own communications?"

"It's certainly possible…" The female vulpine turned to face the Sergeant. "What kind of equipment do you use over there?"

"For starters, there's a commonplace heat generator, but that doesn't pose any danger. There's also a magnetic repulsion lifter, a Pheonix exploration probe, a Sinnex Scanner, Kitav Industries recovery tools…"

"Hmm, those have been known to cause problems, but only if your friend is still near them."

"That's what I'm worried about; he should be inside or at least close to the base an hour before the storm hits. He was supposed to prep the equipment for stabilization… if anything there shouldn't be any activity."

Unfortunately, the lupine was then hit with a sinking feeling that his comrade was in danger. The thought that Taylor could be stuck out there with nothing or no one to help him gave him chills that not even the weather could produce. It was an infrequent yet strong desire he had when he knew someone was in peril and only he could help. If Taylor were to get caught in the storm, they would be lucky to even recover his body.

The greatest danger on these planets was not being killed by enemy fire or accidental explosions; instead it was most commonly the events associated with being left alone in a hostile environment which led to the most fatalities. One of the reasons that Tyler received a slight boost of hazard pay was the risk which his job brought with him. Journeying such a distance in the snow every day meant he had to be in peak physical condition, and report in at very short intervals.

If they couldn't reach Taylor, then he had to look for him.

"But Sergeant, if you go out there now, we cannot guarantee your safety or return once we enter lockdown."

"Sir, Taylor hasn't returned yet, he could be stuck out there needing help!"

"Sergeant O'Donnell, if you go out there and don't come back, I'll have a ton of paperwork to fill. And trust me; they investigate every damn accident that happens. Too many times soldiers have been eliminated by others due to internal disputes, and I don't want this to look like that. I'm afraid I'll have a heap of writing to do either way."

Tyler lashed out in frustration, slamming his fist onto the Major's desk. "Damnit Major! One of your soldiers is in danger and all you can think about is the red tape you'll have to deal with if it doesn't work out?" He paced around the room, wanting to yell, scream, anything that would let out his frustration, but his self control kept him from going too far.

"You know what Sergeant? If you want to go out there, be my guest. But it will not in any way be under my official authorization, you got that?"

Tyler turned to leave the officer's wing, not saying a word.

~X~X~X~X~X~

"Goodbye apartment…" The detective closed the door to his room for the last time. All that engulfed him as he left was a feeling of closure and relief. He had all but forgotten the inner psychological torment he had endured just this morning. "Goodbye building, goodbye street." He climbed into a vehicle which had been waiting for him outside of his building. "Goodbye discolored sidewalk." The lupine waved one last time to his place of dwelling before it was pulled out of view by the acceleration of the government vehicle.

"You excited?" Agent Rotte asked.

"I'm a lot of things right now." Tyler answered.

"Good, because it's going to a strange day." Agent Rotte smiled before continuing to watch the outside landscape pass by beyond the window. "Saying goodbye can sometimes be the hardest part, you never know if you'll ever see any of these places again."

"Yeah…" Tyler answered, watching as he saw a group of CDF volunteers organizing some large machines in a nearby field.

Agent Rotte moved closer to the lupine, he could see that Tyler was being distressed by something. "Are you ok Agent?"

Tyler felt a strange rush of pride at the first mentioning of him being an agent. He truly hadn't done much other than say yes. "Yeah… just… had some nightmares."

"About what?"

"The city… Corneria… was under attack, and we were all helpless to defend it…"

"Aparoid?"

Tyler's face became flushed, his chest was pounded in surprise. "Yeah… how did you…"

"Don't think I picked you up on the spur of the moment detective, I've been following some of your records for some time now, I know enough about you."

Tyler was frightened at the revelation. How much did Agent Rotte know? Did he know about Fichina? How did he know it was…

"I can see by your face that such information doesn't come easy to you. Don't worry, most of your records contained more blacked out lines than actual words, at least the ones which hadn't been destroyed."

"Alright… just remember that I don't intend to talk too much about personal experiences during this mission." Tyler's demand was somewhat contradictory to the nature of when they first had met.

"Speaking of the mission… I think it's about time to go over the plan for when we board the vessel later today." Agent Rotte laid out a holographic screen before Tyler, and they went over a number of co-ordination signals and plans.

A few minutes later, the vehicle had approached the police complex. It looked no different than it had been in the past, yet it almost gave off an unfortunate scent to the detective, one that he'd been accustomed to when he was in EOD training. He shook of the casual misinterpretation when he noticed the smell was actually coming from his favorite restaurant down the street.

When Tyler walked inside of the police station, he was greeted by a number of people who before had never really noticed him. He walked past the busy desks to where Walter usually was found. He took a deep breath before heading over to him.

"Walter…"

"Oh! It's you…" The panther replied in a suppressed shock. He rolled his chair away from his desk to greet the lupine.

"I just… came here to say goodbye."

"I know… Mr. Rotte's taking you now?"

"Yeah, we need to move fast if we want to get an edge on Warlord Freeman."

Tyler's long time partner looked towards the ground. "Makes sense. This is the weirdest case we've ever had isn't it?"

"No, the weirdest case we've ever had was the one where we had to chase that psychopath who was stuffing dead bodies inside of vending machines."

"Oh yeah… how did we capture him again?"

"Ulrich was able to track him to that abandoned warehouse, don't you remember?"

"No, that wasn't it… I remember it had something to do with toothpaste… lots of toothpaste."

"You're confusing it with shampoo, the shampoo vat murderer."

"No that, was recent… the warehouse incident was our… that was our first case? Wasn't it?"

Tyler scanned his memory for the recollection of his first case with Walter. He remembered when he left the military he no friends in all of Corneria except for Walter. Memories with Walter seemed to be the only good ones he had. "I think so… I can't remember."

"Well I guess it's not the strangest case, might turn out to be the longest though."

"It's the most explosive case…"

"True, and it's also the most lethal case."

"The most invisible case…"

"And the most significant case." Walter returned.

"I guess…" Tyler felt at a loss for words; all he could muster was, "Its… the most intriguing case."

Walter sat deeply into his chair. "Yeah, that sounds right."

The two stared at each other in silence. They knew this could be the last time they ever saw each other. Tears came to both of their eyes, but not overwhelmingly. Walter was one of the only non first-degree relatives whom Tyler connected with emotionally. He had been his friend longer than anyone else, and they helped each other through times of insanity.

"Well… I guess this is it."

Walter moved closer and embraced his friend in a loving hug. Emotional gestures such as these were not strange to most Cornerians, but to Tyler, it was an event he had not experienced in a long time. "I'm gonna miss you buddy." Walter said, shedding a last tear.

"Walter, before I leave, there was something I wanted you to keep." Tyler handed his partner a small book. "It contains a record of some of the strange things I've experienced; I wouldn't want anyone else to have it."

"Thanks," Walter said, setting the book aside. "believe it or not, you're a good friend."

"Well… thanks…" Tyler moved away from his partner before giving him their super secret best friend handshake.

"I'm a bit rusty…" Walter admitted.

"You're supposed to turn after we make the infinity symbol."

"Sorry, I thought that was last."

The two laughed all the way to the police station entrance.

Walter backed away to look at his friend once more. "Don, it's dangerous out there."

"I know, I'll keep Agent Rotte safe, don't you worry."

"You might not be coming back."

"I take that risk every day…"

Tyler was about to turn away before Walter touched his shoulder.

"Don…"

"Yes?"

"Before you go… can you tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

"Tell me what happened… on Fichina…"

Tyler looked away and his head began to fill with fear and worry, projections and possibilities already crept into his unsure suspicions.

"When you were discharged from the army, I came to see you at Kinsey Mental Health and Wellness Center. You were… going on about Fichina and… how you couldn't return there even though you hadn't been there for years. When you were finally released, you still couldn't live on your own, and you had to move in with me for a couple of months. You never would've become a detective if you hadn't had me."

Tyler's mouth began to dry. His friend was trying his best not to stress him out too much, but some things were simply unbearable to Tyler.

"Tyler… will you tell me?"

"No, I can't tell you."

"Why?"

Tyler did not say another word.

"Don, please, as your friend, I want to know."

"I want you to know too!" The former detective yelled.

"Then why won't you tell me?"

Tyler looked away.

"Please… I might never know."

Tyler's blue eyes froze.

"Just tell me in one word."

The lupine looked up to his friend for the very last time.

"Horror… just read that book and you'll understand what did to me, but I won't tell you or anyone what happened."

"Well… ok. Tyler? Please come back… alive…"

After that, Tyler began to walk away, back into the vehicle where Agent Rotte sat. The only words exchanged between the two before they were separated was a solemn 'goodbye'.

~X~X~X~X~X~

Author's Notes: Only after I reread this (yes, I know, shocking) did I notice that much of it is a shameless ripoff of three different movies at the same time, but I'm sure you didn't catch on to that… I know it might seem slow, but the story needs to be developed, so STOP CRYING! It's like reviewers readers are silent, SO SILENT!

I hope you like my story, and I hope you'll be back for more!