"I know indeed what evil I intend to do, but stronger than all my afterthoughts is my fury, fury that brings upon mortals the greatest evils." Euripides.

Chapter 4, Picking Up A Trade.

Gaze looked over and put his hands up, "Just take it easy and let the kid go..."

"Hand over the goods brat, then you'll get the little fuzzball here." The lombax thug pressed the barrel of his combuster harder into Garth's temple, making the kit yelp and whimper.

The older lombax kid quickly judged his situation; there were three thugs in the office and two more outside it. One held Garth with his combuster and the other two each held combusters as well. One stood behind the main counter of the shop/office and the other stood off to the side. He only had his little plasma pistol tucked in his pants. The thought of using it only briefly ran through his head, but was quickly snuffed, wasn't worth it. He did have one possible, non-confrontational thing he could try however.

"Fine, I'm taking off the pack okay?" He slowly lowered his hands and took it off. In doing so, he twice pushed a hidden button on his belt buckle in a rapid manner. The pack covered the action as he set it down in front of him. "There, now let him go."

The thug standing off to the side grabbed him and he, along with Garth's captor, shoved them outside roughly.

Scrapper's ears perked upon hearing a beeping noise coming from a handheld device. He quickly picked it up and looked at the screen, "Gaze is in trouble, he used the distress signal."

"Garth is with him ain't he?" The look on Clint's face dropped to a coldly focused expression. "Can ya see where?"

The other lombax shook his head, "Outta range, only the distress signal is strong enough to reach. We gotta be within a mile of the beacon ta trace it."

Clint hurriedly threw on his vest and picked up a plasma pistol similar to the one Gaze carried. Though he only wore said vest and a pair of beat-up pants, he deemed himself fit to move. "Kipper will know where they are, we gotta hurry."

At that, both of the older teens ran to meet their gang liaison. They were both quite fit and fast, and quickly reached the club regularly attended. Not wasting time, they approached his table, the looks on their faces made it quite evident they weren't messing around as Kipper looked up at them.

"What's wrong?" He asked as he dismissed the girls around him.

"Where's the meet takin' place Kipper?" Clint's voice was sharp and determined.

"Slow down, something happen? Haven't heard anything."

"Gaze's distress signal rang," Scrapper said and held up the device. "An' he ain't one ta trigger it by accident."

Kipper's expression dropped, "I'll call my boss to see if something happened..."

"We ain't got time fer channels Kipper, where is the meet? I know ya either know it or ya can find out."

"Look, I appreciate your work for us Clint, you and your band are quite good at making deliveries for us. But we have to handle this, this is our business and we have the baxes for this."

It was rather clear that Kipper's response wasn't what Clint wanted as his expression hardened and he leaned in. His voice got surprisingly deep, almost a growl, "Now you either tell me where they are, or you find out Kipper. I ain't gonna let my pals down, an' don't get in my way."

His eyes beheld a fire and intensity seldom seen in adults, Kipper knew how close he was to his group. He also saw the pistol holstered in Clint's pants and sighed. He took a napkin and wrote out the address. "Yer only gonna have a short time before my guys get there. I'll give ya a few minutes head start okay?"

Clint swiped the napkin, "Thank ya kindly." He and Scrapper ran out of the club and Kipper sipped his drink before shaking his head.

"Let's go! Get up!" Garth groaned as he had eaten sand and Gaze hurried him to get to his feet. He yelped lightly as Gaze yanked him up and the two of them ran.

"You ever have that happen before?!" Garth yelled as they turned down a street.

"Once, before we met Kipper," He responded and slowed down once they were a about a half-mile away and they stopped. Garth leaned on his knees and Gaze leaned a wall. "I got this," the older lombax motioned towards his belt buckle. "Tap it twice an' it send out a distress signal. Clint an' Scrapper should..."

"Heya guys! Ya alright?"

"An' is on cue..." Gaze chuckled lightly. "Yeah, ya furball, the kid an' I are fine."

Garth looked at the ground, "Will Kipper be mad?" It was obvious he was blaming himself and felt ashamed.

"Naw kid," Clint lifted his chin up, "This ain't yer fault. This was the work of some brainless pelt, an' I'll take care of this okay?"

The younger lombax sniffled lightly and nodded.

The head of the little gang gave the new guy a light smile and a pat on the shoulder. "You an' Gaze have had a long day, head home an' I'll see ya in a bit." He looked up at Gaze and gave a slight nod. "Get em some food an' forget about all of this. Scrapper an' I will take care a' things. Who are they?"

"Didn't know two of them, the third one is Perry Arc."

"Perry eh? maybe this ain't as dumb as I thought." Clint remarked.

The younger lombax spoke up, "Shouldn't Kipper's gang take care of things?"

Clint smirked a bit, "He probably is, but I gotta look out fer my own. I'll see ya in a bit guys."

The young lombax felt Gaze put his arm around his shoulders and started walking back to their pad. He looked back over his other shoulder at Clint out of curiosity before going with Gaze. "What is he gonna do?"

"Wouldn't be too concerned about that if I were ya kid. He's just makin' sure this kinda thing don't happen again."

The older lombax took a deep, anger-filled breath as he walked away with Scrapper by his side. "Kipper's gonna be a step ahead of us. The Cevian Cartel ain't gonna let some low-lifes swipe their product. Those boys are gonna be long gone, at least if they're smart."

"They gotta know who they're swindlin' though, that ain't too smart." Scrapper retorted, "An' I doubt Kipper's gonna be much help."

"I know, Kipper ain't gonna tell us about em, we gotta find em first before the Cartel."

"How? It's the Cevians... outside of the Guard, they run this town."

"Ahh, see that is mostly true," Clint grinned, and it was rather intimidating as it displayed his anger and yearning for revenge. "The Cevians don't got Clarence."

"Clarence?"

"A buddy of mine from a few years ago. His pop owns a safehouse; fer the right price, he'll keep ya hidden. If they ain't there, he'll know where the rats are."

Scrapper nodded, "What are we gonna do once we find em?" He waited as his angry friend and boss took a deep, rage-filled breath and thought about it.

"Kaden huh?" the young, lombax girl smiled, "That's a neat name. Whatcha working on?"

"It's a puzzle my dad gave me," Kaden's tongue hung out as he tried to solve it. It looked something akin to a Rubix cube, only it had some pieces and pegs in it. It was also in the shape of an octagon, and each side wasn't just a different color, but they each had a different number on them. "Been working on it for three days, but I can't get more than six sides solved." He grunted lightly in frustration.

"Can I try?"

He chuckled lightly and handed it over to her.

Weiss was only slightly more successful. She couldn't solve more than six sides like Kaden, however, she did manage to match up more panels, pegs, and pieces than he did. "Shoot... thought I could solve it." She handed it back. "That's a good puzzle."

"Everybody ready?!" The tour guide asked, and the kits all jumped up and exclaimed happily that they were.

"Weiss! We're gonna be moving," Mark said as he approached them. "Hello," he said to Kaden, "I'm Weiss' father, who are you?"

Kaden stood up as his dad approached them as well, "I'm Kaden Ellipse."

"And I'm Luke Ellipse," Kaden's dad said and extended his hand to Mark. "Nice to meet you."

Weiss' father shook his hand and introduced himself as well. "What department do you work in?"

"Tech Development and Research, you?"

"Biological R&D, how long ya been here?"

"Five years, started in manufacturing."

Mark chuckled, "So did I, in the Acid Bathhouse."

"Robotic Assembly was mine heh," both men continued talking as the tour began and moved out.

Weiss and Kaden both giggled a bit as their fathers became good friends. They, and the rest of the kids, ascended up the main staircase and the tour-guide began talking about the history of the facility.

Clarence was a lombax in his mid-twenties who was working as a bartender in his father's Bar & Grill. He looked up as the bell on the front door ringed, "Heyo, what can I do fer... Clint? Whatcha doin' here fuzzball?" He smirked a bit.

"Whatcha up to Clare?" he looked around, noticing the place had some patrons but wasn't bustling. "Looks like the business is booming eh?" He and Scrapper both sat at the bar.

"Yeah, business as usual, you gonna come again some night?"

"Maybe, this place is a riot at night though. Maybe after I finish some business."

Clarence's expression dropped just slightly, "Business eh? Is that why yer here."

"Unfortunately, yer old man here?"

The bartender nodded towards the back of the place. "He's in the office."

Clint nodded, "Thanks Clare, an' I should be free either tonight or tomorrow. I can probably bring the boys by."

"That would be great," Clare chuckled, "So hurry up, an' get this business of yers done."

Clint shook his hand before heading towards the back and Scrapper hung back at the bar. The teen lombax walked down a wood-paneled hallway, the wood was an indication of status on Fastoon. Trees were rather rare in the bigger cities, especially the capital and he admired it as he walked towards the office. The wood-panel and yellow-lighting gave a warm, cozy feeling that he wasn't familiar with. Clint's white fur basically turned yellow from the lights and he chuckled lightly as he knocked on the door of the office.

"Come in,"

The doorknob clicked as Clint turned it and stepped into the office.

A middle-aged lombax with lightly-graying, black fur and brown stripes sat behind a desk. He was of average height, had light blue-grey eyes, and bit of a belly on him. He was dressed well and his glasses shimmered slightly as he looked up. He gave a light chuckle and a sideways grin. "Well look what the Ameboid dragged in, how ya doing boy?"

Clint shook his hand before sitting down in a chair, "Livin' fine, ya old fur rug," he said with a joking tone. " It's good ta see ya Aaron. We're doin' fine fer the most part. My buds are still kickin' and that's why I'm hear."

"Oh?"

The teen lombax sighed, "Two of my friends were doing a drug run and deal for the Cevians. The buyers stuck them up and robbed them. One of the two is a kid about fourteen and was his first job."

"An' yer wonderin' if I'm holdin' them up eh?"

"Exactly, there were three of em, one was Perry Arc."

"Perry? Ain't he a good kid?"

"Never seen him do somethin' like this before, but he was involved in scarin' my buds."

"Whatcha gonna do?"

Clint shrugged, "Not sure yet, may spare Perry, haven't decided. Ya know where they are?"

"They crossed the Cevians huh?"

Clint nodded slowly.

The older lombax took a heavy sigh, "I know ya been doin' runs fer Kipper so I know you ain't lyin'... but crossin' the Cevians? Wonder what drove em ta do somethin' like that?"

"I dunno, the main question is who you'd rather deal with, me or the Cevians? Ya know they'll be looking at all the hideaways, the good news; is that they don't know about ya yet. This little debacle though, they will soon."

Aaron rubbed his face once, "Let Perry live, rough em up if ya must, you promise me that kid, an' I'll tell ya. Oh, and don't make a huge mess in my room an' tell nobody. Only reason I'm tellin' ya any of this, is cause I can't afford to have the Cartel knocking on my door and I like Perry. Get them outta here an' don't tell em I ratted ya."

"Deal, I won't make a mess an' I won't kill, nor rat to Perry." Clint made a light saluting gesture to show he swore to Aaron.

The lombax mobster wrote on a piece of paper and handed it to Clint, "Go."

Scrapper looked up at Clint came out of the back and he said goodbye to Clarence before following his friend. "Aaron talk?"

The older lombax simply held up the one note he was given, 408.

Within ten minutes, the two street-gangster teens were knocking on room 408's door. Clint held his pistol behind his back and Scrapper had put on the stun-glove he spoke of earlier.

"Who is it?"

Clint lightly cleared his throat, "Room service." His voice was nearly a full octave higher than normal, making his voice nearly unrecognizable.

The lock on the door clicked and Clint and Scrapper wasted no time in rushing it. The older lombax raised his pistol as Scrapper opened the door and kicked it in at the same time. His larger frame made it easy for him to get in and he shocked the closest lombax near the door. The light-blue arc of energy leapt from his glove and made the lombax thug yelp as he fell to the ground.

Clint rushed in and held up his pistol, the two others had their combusters out, but Clint had his gun aimed at them. Scrapper quickly backed him up and held up his glove.

Perry was one of the two Clint was holding up. He was rather on the scrawny side, not a stick, but not all that imposing, save for his weapon. "What are you doing here Clint?!"

"Ya know why, ya robbed my boys and humiliated em. Now where's the money?"

A flash of movement and Perry's accomplice screamed as a bolt of energy struck his lower leg. "Can't believe ya did that!"

"You shut up, or the next round is in your head, got it rat?" Clint snarled as Scrapper took their combusters. "You thinkin' you can just take this money an' make my boys look bad to my boss?"

"Take the money then and go!" Perry yelled and glared at them.

"Why did ya try such a thing Perry? I know ya, this makes no sense."

"I got in deep with Lend alright! I had no choice..."

"Lend huh? Yeah, that guy is really bad news... tell ya what..." He nodded towards Perry's accomplice and Scrapper hit him with a stun charge, knocking him to the ground. "Take their money an' go, where's the loot ya stole?"

"I-It's over there," Perry pointed to a vent in the wall as he rummaged through the two, unconscious thugs and took their money. "Well... this might be able to buy me some time to earn enough so that Lend doesn't skin me..."

"Good, now go before the Cevians come lookin', I'll put in a good word fer ya though."

"Thank you kindly..." The nervous lombax said as he ran out of the room.

"What are we gonna do with these two goons boss?" The bigger lombax asked as he lightly kicked the foot of the KO'd one in front of him.

"We'll move em, would like an idea of who they are though." He stated as he began to search both of them, working to ID them. "Perry ain't the brains behind this move, neither are these two pelts... as scary as Lend is, the Cevians have more reach. That an' I never seen these two with Perry before."

"A new gang eh?"

"Few gangs have lasted against the Cartel... an' ta make such a move against them would mean certain death."

"So if this is a gang, either they're very stupid, or even more dangerous than the Cevians."

Clint rested in a kneeling position and sighed, "Yes..." He thought for a moment before standing. "Let's see if they're chatty." He bent over and hoisted the smaller thug over his shoulder, and Scrapper took the second.

"You considerin' what the Cevians will do when we don't turn em in?"

"Then we can't kill em, though I don't think they'll care if they're a bit roughed up eh?"

"Clint... what are you plannin' on doing ta em? I mean, sure they deserve a beatin' but..."

"What? We gotta find out who they're workin' for, if anyone. Then, we just turn em over to the Cevians. We gotta go before they get up."

Clint's friend looked uneasy but nodded slowly as they began to walk out.

The two kits looked around in wonder as the tour continued. The hallways were big to them, one side was a big window that overlooked the edge of a tall plateau and a vast, desert plain with some buildings dotting it. Ships flew to and fro from the buildings below, while the rising sun shone all around, yet it wasn't blazing through the window. On the other side of the hall was the main lab, development facility, and manufacturing section.

Most of that side was a blank wall, with every dozen feet or so, a door lay. Each door had a small window on them that gave a small glance into the inner workings of the department.

The lack of a good view into the facility, at first began to disappoint Weiss, and most of the other kits.

Their disappointment was quickly replaced with excitement as they saw a big window into the facility. They all ran up to it, giggling excitedly and peered into the unknown world.

Scientists in cleanroom suits, with masks on, walked around and performed various tasks. Some sat at tables filling out papers or working some projects. Others looked to be operating machinery and robots in sealed containers that held toxic or corrosive chemicals.

It was quite evident to be some kind of technological development or manufacturing center.

"And here is where many of our control and circuity boards are tested and adjusted." The tour guide said as the entire group gathered around the glass. "The technology that passes through this area goes into all sorts of things, from weapons, to computers, to ships, and basically anything that uses a circuit board."

Weiss' eyes were drawn to a small chamber that had a bright-glowing, white-yellow light emitted from it. Spinning parts could be seen moving parts around and some kind of metal looked to be applied to the parts. After a few seconds, the light faded and the part glowed bright red, it also stopped spinning and moving. Some clear liquid poured in thin streams onto the part and the streams began to dance around the part, covering it in the liquid. At first glance, Weiss thought it to be water, however, it seemed more like liquid nitrogen as it looked to instantly freeze the component.

"What's that?" She asked, pointing at the machine and the tour guide looked at where she motioned.

"Oh they're applying metal to a part, the process requires the metal be molten so it can be put on and then flash-frozen to avoid it dripping."

"Cool!"

The tour guide chuckled lightly and let the kids have a few minutes to watch the processes.

Scrapper grunted as he set his captive down. Clint had let them to an abandoned storehouse near the fringe of the capital city of Fastoon.

"What now?" The bigger lombax was breathing a bit deeper due to the exertion.

"You go keep watch, I'll handle these two."

Scrapper raised a brow, "Ya sure Clint? These boys don't look like average street rats like us."

"I know, an' I need ya to keep watch, ya hear or see anythin' come in okay?"

It was evident that Scrapper's confidence in what was going on wasn't all that steady. However, Clint had never misled him before so he nodded slowly and headed over to the main door of the building and looked out.

Clint then turned his attention to the two prisoners he had. He quickly searched them, disarming them of any weapons and pocketing their money. He stripped them down to their underwear and tying them both up. He looked around to see if there was anything useful around.

The place was mainly empty, save for some rope and the typical, metal framing used to give support to the building. There was some dust-covered furniture, a table and some chairs were the only furnishings.

An idea popped into his head as he pulled a chair over and tied one of the two captives down onto it. For the other, he pulled him over to a low-hanging, horizontal bar. He tied a rope around the bindings on the guy (his arms were behind his back) and tossed the rest of the rope over the bar above them. He pulled the slack until it was tight but didn't lift him up yet.

The angry lombax teen lightly slapped both captives until they came to. The both of them growled and struggled hard, cussing him up and down. He simply knelt down next to the one on the ground. "You two approached Perry didn't ya? Talked em into helpin' ya swindle the Cevians eh?"

"Why do you care?!" the one on the ground spat, "Yer just a streetrat!"

"You better untie us kid, or you an' yer friends are in a world of hurt!"

Clint smirked lightly, "Why is that? who ya workin' fer?"

The two of them just growled in response.

"You two suddenly went quiet..." He looked at the one next to him, on the ground. "You got one more chance ta tell me who yer boss is before this starts to hurt."

The captured thug chuckled lightly, "Whatcha gonna do kid? I ain't just some street punk like you!"

"Street punk huh?" At that he yanked on the rope and began to pull him up. A loud cracking sound rang out as the thug's arms were pulled up and behind him. He yelled as his arms were pulled into the extremely uncomfortable position, tearing some ligaments as he was pulled up.

Clint grunted as he pulled on the rope, he pulled until the captor was upright but his weight was still on his feet. He then tied the rope off on another pole before stepping back over to his captives. "Now, I know this hurts," Clint threw a hard punch to the sitting captor's chin, not wanting to exclude him. The sitting thug yelped and groan as his chine was cut a bit. "But this yer very last chance before things REALLY hurt..." Clint spun around and hit the hanging thug in the gut, making him cough and gag a bit. "Who are you workin' fer?" His voice was eerily calm, yet still had a very present, threatening tone that was mixed with anger. It looked as though he was just as eager for them to not answer.

The captive that was hung up, grunted and whimpered lightly. "S-screw you!"

Clint looked back at the other captive who was tied to the chair and kept struggling, yelling, and cursing him out. "You got anythin' ya need ta say?"

He growled and struggled a bit, "Cut us free you sick brat!"

"Fine," Clint grunted and pulled on the rope hard and fast.

The hung-up captive thug screamed as a loud popping sound rang out from his shoulders being dislocated.

Garth and Gaze both returned to their pad and Garth sat down on the sofa. While Clint's words helped him quite a bit, it was obvious he was still quite shaken up. "Y-you e-ever have that happen before?"

Gaze had taken off his vest, tossed it to the side, grabbed a drink, and sat down next to him. He chuckled a bit, "I told ya, once, before we met Kipper."

"Oh, who were you working for?"

"Some private distributor... he wasn't all that nice, so needless ta say, we were rather happy that Kipper took over his business."

"You think Clint will find those guys?"

The older lombax shrugged, "Not quite sure, he does know quite a few pelts around here. Lord help them if he does..."

Gaze's response gave a slight feeling of unease to settle in his stomach and he looked at the ground. It was then he wondered what exactly he had gotten involved in.

Looks like Garth is starting to have some seeds of doubt.

What do you all think? Let me know!

Stay tuned for more!