Chapter nine: The cat dances and the fox attacks

This was the time when all of those salsa lessons with Carmelita would come in handy. Sly knew enough to best a terrible dancer like Christina at this. He paid respect to Chris by throwing his cane behind him and looked up at the stage. The arena was so well lit; it could have easily been seen from a few miles away.

"Let us begin!" The cat said confidently and prepared to dance to the music.

'I can't believe she actually prepared the arena for this!' Sly thought to himself. He too, prepared to dance.

"Ole!" Christina exclaimed as began to move her feet to the beat. Unnerved by the reference swordplay, Sly waited for her to finish her moves. They seemed sluggish and uncoordinated . This would be easy. Sly took his turn at dancing and matched her moves, but faster, more precise and with more passion to it. Perhaps he was remembering his time with Carmelita a little too well, but this kind of dancing had really grown on him. Something he had never expected. Sly finished his turn with a dramatic pose and relaxed his stance afterwards. He had this in the bag.

"Very good." Christina congratulated him. "I hadn't expected this from you." She smiled and clapped. Perhaps I should not be so easy on you.

"Hmmm? What's that I hear?" Sly gestured to his ear. "Someone a little surprised to be beaten so easily?" Christina kept her smile and felt her passion for dancing and competition finally rising in her breast.

"Where are my manners? It was rude of me not to give my opponent my all!" She swung her arms into position and prepared to dance again. And once she did begin to dance again, it was fast, precise, with unending passion and she flowed like a stream of water. Sly felt a little awestruck by Christina's skill. Now that he sees her putting her true skill to use, everything else seemed to disappear. He became focused on her moves, struggling to keep his eyes focused on a single part of her body as on action flowed into another and another. After a while, she slowed to a finish and gestured for Sly to begin his dancing once more. It took a while for him to register this and a while longer to get out of his trance like state and attempt to move the way she did. All of a sudden, his moves felt sluggish, his actions repetitive and without creativity. His arms and legs felt like they had weights strapped to them and he had no idea why. A cold sweat ran down his neck as he heard (and could almost feel) the crowds laughing at him. Eventually, he came to a wobbly halt and he felt his legs turn to jelly. This whole thing had taken a turn for the worse so suddenly.

'She's actually… amazing' Sly thought as he looked up at Christina's graceful stature. 'Was the info wrong? She was supposed to be bad at dancing.' He felt the pain in his chest rising once more. This time it rose all the way to his throat and he found himself unable to reply when his opponent asked him 'if he was done'.

"Well. I guess you are then. It's a pity. You seemed like you had potential. It was kinda cute watching you try though." She gestured for the guards to close in on him. Sly looked around him and saw the masses getting tighter on his position. His legs were still stiff and heavy though. He felt light headed. Was it the sudden loss that shocked him so? Perhaps his wound was still having an effect on his body. Sly took a step back and struggled to come to his senses. He wasn't adapting to the situation as well as he thought he would. 'I haven't recovered.' Sly grimaced. 'I should have waited before coming here. My body wasn't ready for even the slightest shock.' He backed away slowly (which was as fast as he could). Suddenly, he felt cold and his body tingled a bit. He felt light all of a sudden as he began to collect his senses because a loud crashing sound startled him. He turned to face the source of the noise along with Christina and many of her guards. Cooper's eyes widened in disbelief as he saw what had so abruptly shocked him back into action.

"Hey Neyla. Are you sure you want this?" Julian asked over the comm. "It's not an easy process. There are… complications."

"Yes. I'm sure. You said I could have whatever I wanted and…"

"You know I hate it when you sound like a spoiled brat."

"You should have gotten used to it by now." Neyla snapped back. Julian sighed heavily. Spending two years with her was torture. She seems obsessed with her own concepts of power, which he has tried to sway her from frequently. Yet she has been a useful asset and he has learned to be openly affectionate of her, even if only in a master-student sort of way. However, whilst he enjoyed experimenting with science as much as a child enjoys a new toy, he couldn't help but feel remorse at using Neyla as a subject of his experiments. No, she was more like the product of his experiments. Everything that worked went towards her. It was rather disturbing to see the way her eyes lit up when he had invented a new way of giving her power (if only physical power). However, she had learned not to nag about adjusting certain parts of her body. Julian had made it adamant that he would not go beyond what would be needed to give her power.

"You could try being nice sometimes."

"You hate it when I act nice." Neyla replied.

"When you act nice, yes. I would very much prefer you to…" He paused and halted his walk. He had made his way into an urban area. It looked rough and Julian looked rather out of place in his lab coat. That was not his main concern, however.

"Hellooo?! Julian? You there?" Neyla sounded genuinely worried, though most likely not for Julian's sake.

"I'll call you back." Julian replied as he tapped the button on his earpiece.

"Hey, don't you-" Neyla was cut off by a short burst of static which was quickly replaced by silence. Julian began to walk slowly. His steps were quiet so as not to obscure his hearing. His lab coat flapped gently in the wind. Julian kept himself alert.

"HELP! SOMEONE HELP MEEE!" Somebody cried out. Julian was relieved. He was glad that he wasn't hearing things. It would be terrible if his senses had already begun failing him. However, his relief turned upside down. The fact that he wasn't hearing things was also very bad. The white wolf sped up his pace until he was sprinting in the direction of the cry for help. After a few seconds running, he came to an empty parking lot near a back alley. In plain sight were three men dressed in coats, grinning maliciously. They had surrounded a girl who clearly was not consenting to their actions. Julian scanned the situation before making his move. One of the men was a short pig with an ugly face. He was wearing a beanie hat and a deep green jacket. He was carrying a baton in his hands. It was the same type issued to the police force. This was most likely not a coincidence. The pig looked like he was going to beat the girl for struggling. The second man was a hyena, which explains his uncontrollable laughing. He seemed to be enjoying the girl's distressed state. He eyed the victim up and down, licking his lips and calling her so many curse names that if he had a swear jar, it could have been worth hundreds. The third man was a scruffy looking dog. He was holding an iron bar over the girl's neck so that she couldn't escape. He was currently telling her to shut the fuck up and such things. This coincided with the fact that he was holding the bar tightly around her neck, most likely to stop her from screaming for help again. However, it looked tight enough to suffocate her.

"Digusting." Julian murmured to himself before stepping forward. He got a much better look at the girl this time around. She was wearing casual clothes that looked brand new. A purse was on the floor (probably belonging to her considering the situation) next to her feet, its contents spread out on the floor next to the opening). The girl herself was some type of canine animal. A Jackal perhaps. Julian didn't have time to discern her features any further however. The pig relaxed his stance and lowered his baton. He wasn't going to hit her with it. Instead, he lowered it to the level of the victim's legs and began to lift her skirt with it.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?" Julian shouted at the top of his lungs. The pig stopped what he was doing and retracted his baton in sudden fear. All three of the assailants turned to face Julian. They looked scared at being found out. That is, until the one holding the Jackal's neck shouted back.

"Fuck off!" He shouted plainly.

'What scum!' Julian thought to himself. The Hyena laughed loudly.

"Yeah, go the fuck away, you fucking piece of sh…"

"IF YOU WISH TO LEAVE THIS PLACE UNHARMED, I SUGGEST YOU LET THAT YOUNG LADY GO!" Julian shouted, cutting off the Hyena's rant of curses. Julian was really aggravated now. He could feel rage building up inside him. The three looked at each other and laughed at the strange man in the lab coat. Not because anything was funny, but because that was their usual way of annoying the people they hate and convincing themselves of their superiority.

"Who the fuck is this fucker?!" The dog asked.

"I don't know. Let's teach him a lesson though!" The Hyena laughed. The other two began cheering their friend on as the girl struggled to break free of the dog's hold. She wanted to be saved more than anything, but she didn't want to see the man who tries to do so get killed as well as her. "C'mon you fucker. I'm gonna beat the fucking daylights out of ya!" The Hyena giggled. He walked up to Julian at a fast pace before swinging. He had hoped to scare the strange man off and laugh about it with the other two, but Julian simply stood his ground. A little unnerved, the assailant stepped before the white wolf. Julian was easily a couple of feet taller than him, but he didn't want to look weak in front of the others, so he swung at the tall man in the lab coat. Julian eyed him and brought up his arm, blocking the attack perfectly and without effort. The Hyena panicked and tried to swing his left arm, but the wolf was faster. Julian grabbed the assailant's first arm and twisted it, using his legs to kick him off his feet and proceeded snap said arm out of place. The Hyena cried out in pain as bone came through the flesh on his arm and blood spurted out. Julian let go of the arm and his opponent cradled it, whimpering on the floor, his blood pooling onto himself and the floor.

"Holy fucking shit!" The dog shouted in shock. "Get him Benny. He just broke Jimmy's arm!"

"What?" Said Benny the pig. "I ain't going near…" Suddenly his face was smashed into the concrete. Julian released his grip on the pig's face and looked down at him. It wasn't hard enough to kill him, but Benny was suddenly afraid. He panicked and did his best to back away, his head thumping from the injury. "Hey… h-hey, stay back. I-I I am…" Julian followed him as the pig backed away and stammered. "I'm a-a Police officer!" He pulled out his officer I.D card and showed it to Julian. "Y-yeah. That's right. I'm an officer of the law, so you can't…" Julian stomped the pig's head into the ground, making him drop the I.D card." This time, Benny fell unconscious. Julian was now expressionless. He kneeled down on one knee and took the baton out of the pig's hand. He then stood up and turned to face the last assailant.

"STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME YOU CRAZY MOTHERFUCKER." The dog was overwhelmed with fear and panicked, tightening his grip on the girl unconsciously. He noticed this and decided to capitalise on it. "IF YOU COME ANY THE FUCK CLOSER TO ME, I'll SNAP THIS GIRLIES FUCKING NECK ALL THE WAY FUCKING AROUND HER…" He dropped the bar to the ground, allowing the victim to breath freely as the baton hit him square in the head. The dog keeled over in pain and grasped at his head in an effort to subdue it, rolling around on his back. The Jackal immediately got away from him and towards the safety that was Julian. He drew his arm back from throwing the baton and kneeled down on one knee, catching the girl as she fell into his arms. She began crying uncontrollably as Julian made an effort to comfort her and convince her that she was once again safe. After a while, the girl calmed down.

"Please tell me your name." She asked. Her voice was still frail.

"It's Julian. Yours?"

"Kristy." She replied almost silently.

"A lovely name." He assured her. "It's time I dealt with these three."

"I-I've got a phone in my purse." She pointed to the mess of belonging on the floor. "We can call the police on that and tell them what happened." Remembering what the men were trying to do, she nearly began crying again and felt like throwing up.

"Don't." A voice cried out. Julian stood up and walked over to the source of this voice. It was the dog that had been threatening to snap the girl's neck. "Please. Don't call the police. I-I was… We were just messing around!" He chuckled nervously. "I didn't mean to hurt her or anything. I just said those things 'cus I was scared. I didn't mean nothin'." He looked up at Julian, who was wearing an expressionless face once more.

"Do not worry. I will not call the police to arrest you."

"Really?! Thank you! I knew you were a reasonable guy…" He put on a gleeful expression before grimacing once more as Julian brought his boot down on his neck, crushing it.

Sly couldn't believe it. It had happened occasionally before, yet he never expected such a commotion to happen this time around. It's not as if she had never tracked him down before either, but since she let him go at the vault, he'd ruled her out for finding him. The gates were wide open as Ruppi chased after the intruder. Her name?

Carmelita Fox.

More on Carmelita in the next chapter. I thought doing this little thing with Julian would shed some light on his character. I would like to write more about his endeavors as he is one of my favored OCs, but it'll have to wait until later. I've got a better grip on the ideas I want to funnel into this story now, so I can really start focusing on the details. Sorry for the wait again. R and R. Always good to have feedback.