Recomonded music of the day
I don't care
By Apocalyptica ft: Three Days Grace
Chapter 9
(July 18th)
(8:23am)
Aryn sat up in an unfamiliar bed, he had no clue where he was, he was dressed in a hospital robe and his head was pounding away as though there was a parade inside his skull. As he rubbed the side of his head his vision cleared...he was in a hospital, a small, simple room with a TV attached to the wall in front of him with what looked like some sort of comedy turned on. He reached to his chest to remove the small nodes that went to the irritating beep of the heart monitor next to his bed but, decided against it as it would most likely cause a hell of a commotion. There was a lunch tray situated on the normal small table that lay across the patient's waist a foot or so off of the bed, the tray that sat on it was picked clean. What remained was a small scrap of white meat hanging from what looked like a chicken bone...
"Food here ain't half bad..." Krystal's voice said from a seat by the window, where he found the blue vixen finishing off a small white bowel of Jello, "Chicken was a little overcooked though." She growled a bit to herself as s small blob of the stuff fell from her spoon onto the red shirt she wore, and wiped it away before sucking it off her finger, "Jello was pretty good though. It's funny no matter how bad the food is they always get the Jello right."
"Where are we?"
Krystal set the empty bowel down on the tray, "Hearter Medical Colony...other side of Nexus."
Nexus is Zarr's second moon it has 3
Aryn turned his gaze to the window only to see a small blue orb of a planet floating in the distance, "What happened?"
"Don't know...I found you at the edge of the desert mumbling something about Fox and then you passed out. You woke up for a few seconds a few hours ago, but, I seriously doubt you were really conscious."
"In any case thanks...I hate hospital food."
Soon a red feathered avian in a long blue coat with a white undershirt and blue pants came into the room, his bright green eyes staring at a clipboard through a small set of squared glasses, "Ah. So you are awake." He said walking to Aryn's side and checking his vitals, "Mr. Stromwell, I am Doctor Wilde. Do you know why you are here?"
"Let me guess. Hypothermia..." The black fox replied.
"Well at least most of your memory is in tact. Can you tell me your friend's name?"
"Fraid my only friend can't be here."
"Well then. The lovely young lady that brought you in..." The doctor said.
Aryn looked to Krystal, "Kursed..." He hesitantly mumbled not knowing which name she'd used.
"Very good. No she tells me that the two of you were after a bounty on Zarr. Care to explain to me how you developed Hypothermia in the middle of a desert?"
Aryn looked a bit irritated, "Magic." He replied, the doctor not realizing how close he was to telling the truth.
"Well...if you choose to keep it to yourself there's nothing I can do about that?" The doctor said standing up, "Well Mr. Stromwell, seems your vitals are checking out...quite a miraculous recovery for someone found in your condition but nonetheless your only problem now is that you seem to be running a slight fever. At least I think it's a fever...your body heat seems to be peaked at 102.5 degrees...average vulpine body heat should only be about 92.5. Not a serious increase but, still...you may want to watch yourself over the next few weeks. After suffering such a shock as hypothermia your immune system could momentarily have trouble fighting off laden diseases."
Fun fact: Your average red fox or Vulpes vulpes has a minimum body heat index of 92.5 degrees Fahrenheit or 32.5 degrees Celsius. Weird what kinda crap you remember form biology huh? ^_^
"Yeah whatever...when can I leave?" Aryn asked in an irritated tone.
The doctor placed a wing on the impatient vulpine's shoulder, "We will process you out shortly. You seem to have more than enough energy to get you back to your ship." The avian said turning off the heart monitor before leaving the room.
There was something in the avian's eyes when he last looked at the fox almost as if, "Yo...Aryn. I feel kinda......funny." The blue vixen said staggering a bit as she stood up.
Aryn quickly picked up the bowel of she'd been eating from and sniffed it, there was a smell of orange as that was the flavor of Jello in the bowel but, there was a slight hint of something else, "Fuck!" He almost shouted, "I thought that bastard looked familiar."
Aryn quickly jumped out of bed and grabbed Krystal before she could fall, "Hey com on stay awake." He demanded shaking her violently.
Krystal seemed to be having a hard time keeping her eyes open, "W-what's......going on?" She asked half out of her wits.
"You've been drugged...probably a sedative. Come on you gotta stay awake. We have to get the fuck out of here before that fucking parrot comes back."
As it was proving hard to get through to her Aryn slapped her across the face hoping the shock would wake her up, unfortunately she just grinned at him stupidly...
"I so didn't...feel that." Krystal giggled idiotically.
"Shit!" Aryn growled as he realized that Krystal had passed out.
Aryn lay her on the bed he was recently in before heading to the door and cracking it open a small bit; there were animals all over the hall, doctors of all kinds walked back and forth on their rounds, while there was a receptionist at a desk several yards down the hall. As a black feline looking over a clipboard passed Aryn let out a short whistle...
"Hey doc you gotta help me my friend past out in here and hit her head pretty hard." He said trying his hardest to sound worried.
"Really?" The cat asked walking quite quickly into the room and rushing to the vixen's side. For a moment he checked her up and down for injuries then pulled her eye lid open flashing a small light into her eye, "Her pupils are responding. I think she's only unconscious, but, I'm not sure..." The doctor cut himself off as he heard the door's lock click to the locked position.
After a moment Aryn stepped out of the room and as soon as he could find one he rushed back to the room with a wheelchair for Krystal. Aryn felt a bit ridiculous in the doctor's get up...he honestly couldn't see how the cat was able to stand it, the thing itched like crazy, but for the most part he was not noticed...being dressed the way he was with the vixen seemingly injured and in a wheelchair they didn't even stop for a moment to check Aryn for a name tag. Luckily at the end of the hall Aryn wheeled his drugged partner into an elevator. Normally the docking bay in places like this are always on the bottom floor, Aryn pressed the required button for the desired floor. Unfortunately, as he got off he found that the docking bay was swarmed with personnel, especially one familiar doctor who was at the moment speaking with a receptionist at the entrance. Animals on gurneys were being carted out of the docking bay, into a large service elevator clearly meant to be a quick transport to the ER Aryn could care less however as he could clearly see his ship stationed at the end of the docking bay. As the red feathered avian seemed to finish talking to the receptionist he turned right into the waiting grasp of Aryn's strong black paw which seemed to constrict his vocal cords...
"Hello Professor Wilde...I remember you now. Too bad for you." He said, the receptionist began to scream but Aryn cut her off, "One peep and he dies....then you."
The white rabbit behind the desk simply swallowed before nodding slowly...
"Give my partner something that'll wake her up. The opposite of whatever you tried to poison me with." Aryn demanded loosening his grip a bit so that Wilde could speak.
"Claire..." He managed to say though in a slightly strained voice, "Get the young lady a shot of Epinephrine 15ccs should wake her right up."
Aryn had gathered some attention being in his present situation with his claws digging into the doctor's neck...
"Listen Drayvn...you're making a big mistake."
"Wrong...you made the mistake as soon as you took the job overlooking the Black Star project."
"Why do you think I'm a doctor working out here in the middle of nowhere...I'm trying to leave that life behind." The avian said clearly trying to bid for his life.
"Really? Then why try to poison me?"
"It wasn't poison...Black Star wants you back alive. For the general's death."
"He got what he deserved...just like everyone else that had something to do with Emm's death...and the others are all in line too."
"So you're going to kill all of them are you?" Wilde asked, "What about Eric?"
"Already dead...he was the second one to pay for what was done. What do you know about McCloud's disappearance?"
The avian smiled, "He's in the company of old friends."
A few moments after the shot was administered to Krystal her light blue eyes fluttered open, "Wha-what happened? Why am I in a wheelchair?"
"The doctor here was going to turn us in." Aryn answered squeezing the avian's neck a bit, "Well me at least...probably would have killed you...or worse. You were going to use her for the project weren't you? Just more of that Cerinian DNA you like to fuck with so much."
Aryn looked to Krystal who was still shaking off the effects of the drugs, "You alright?"
"I'll be fine..."
"Good then go get the ship ready...If I'm not there in 5 take off without me."
Krystal stood up and walked a short ways ahead, "Whatever you say." She said quickly turning around and swinging her foot into the avian's crotch from behind causing him to cry out in pain, "That's for drugging me you son of a bitch!" She growled walking toward the ship with her paw on the side of her head.
"Ouch..." Aryn said still holding the doctor by the neck, "For all of you guards...first one that makes a move toward her or me causes this man to die."
"Everyone..." Wilde said through the throbbing pain in his gut and groin, "Do as he says. Get rid of your weapons."
There weren't many guards but, the ones that were there were well armed, all with a powerful automatic weapon some of which were plasma fed. As soon as Krystal was aboard the ship Aryn turned the avian to face that direction and dug his claws into the back of the doctor's skull. Aryn stopped for a moment after positioning himself behind the terrified doctor...
"You know more about my ability than anyone..." The fox whispered in the avian's ear, "Move one inch that I don't approve of and I'll roast your skull like a fucking pork chop."
"I know how much heat you can produce Aryn you don't need to tell me what you're capable of."
As Aryn finally approached his ship and stood at the entrance to the large ship's bay doors he reached inside still with the avian's head in his grasp, and produced a small cylindrical device. Which he then held up in front of the bird's face...
"You know what this is?" Aryn asked.
"Do I look like a bomb technician?" The bird replied smartly.
"Fine..." Aryn replied, "This is a Vc22 thermal implosion module...fairly easy to disarm." he said pushing the avian away from him, "Have fun." He said twisting the timer on the device to 5 minutes and tossing it into the arms of the red avian before climbing aboard his ship and closing the bay door...the ship making a hasty exit from the space station.
Krystal met Aryn in the docking bay, "You wanna tell me what this was all about? And why you just left a bomb in a hospital?"
Aryn held up a paw, "Okay first off...shut up. And second even I'm not completely heartless...bomb's a fake. I'm not about to kill thousands of innocent animals just to kill one doctor that I can easily come back for." Aryn sighed on his way out the door, "And I'll explain the rest as soon as we're somewhere safe for the night. NAV upload emergency procedure X-4..."
"Running program X-4. Rerouting CHSA mainframe, clearance will be granted in 5.364 minutes."
"Good..." Aryn said looking over his shoulder, "You wanted to know about Black Star? It seems like it's something you have to know now...because I'm sure they have lover boy held hostage. Meet me in the kitchen in about 20 minutes, you may wanna get changed and get some food, some of this you're going to have a hard time with."
Aryn made his way off out of the docking bay and into his room, his first bit of business to take a shower as well as get on something other than the feline doctor's coat and pants. He was unusually calm for someone that had come close to being turned in for something that would have had him shot on sight...he stopped fearing death a long time ago. He was happy to feel a shower after being frozen by that freak that that fox in the desert called Drake. He'd never seen Psychokinesis before but, he now realized that he didn't like it too much. As the hot water rushed through his fur and hair he leaned his head back against the stream of water...
"So...the project is still up and running. I have nothing against this Drake but, apparently he's added himself to the list. Still......" He said to himself thinking back to Fox's eyes, "I think I have bigger problems now."
Krystal followed Aryn's suggestion as her head was still pounding and thanks to the shot she was given her heart rate was quite rapid. A cold shower quickly calmed her rapid heart beat and her breathing to it's normal state. As she let the cool water wash over her, she began to rub her fur down with a fine smelling shampoo to wash away the smell of the sweat and sand from Zarr. She was still beyond angry with Aryn for what he said back on Zarr, but, for the most part she once again owed him her life. When she finally felt clean, Krystal walked out of the shower choosing to blow dry her fur instead of using a towel, something she used to do all the time but recently had found no time for, then again she really had no reason to making her fur extra soft anymore. She slid into a new pair of underwear and jeans before replacing her old shirt with a black tank top and finally headed to the kitchen where she hoped she'd be able to get something to eat that wasn't tainted...
000
Aryn had changed into a pair of black jeans and a light gray muscle shirt before heading toward the kitchen, he really didn't want to give Krystal any of the information that he was about to...but the more he thought about it the less of a real choice he had. He was also thinking a bit about what he'd said to Krystal back on Zarr...she really hadn't done anything to deserve hearing something like that. The look in her eyes at the moment she had heard those words reminded him of the first and only time he'd ever actually managed to hurt Emilia's feelings. Maybe that was why he had such a hard time with Krystal, she reminded him so much of her that most of the time he couldn't stop thinking about Emilia. As he walked into the eerily silent kitchen he found that Krystal had just finished eating, Aryn made sure to make himself something as well before taking a seat across from her. As he sat there chewing his food Krystal began to say something but was cut off as the black vulpine held up a paw...
"First off..."
Krystal sighed, "Shut up right?"
"No..." Aryn replied, "I'm.......I'm sorry. For what I said to you back on Zarr, nobody deserves to hear something like that. I'm just not used to being around people anymore...it unnerves me. I'm not used to having to trust anyone. You'll see why by the time you hear everything."
"Alright..." Krystal said clearly accepting the apology, "But don't you dare EVER say anything like that to me again."
"Agreed..." Aryn said taking a few bites of his food, "Now. Black Star. It was the name of the military unit that Emm and I were members of...it was an underground project, bio-genetics engineering. We were all promised the opportunity to become the greatest soldiers of all time, and being a military man, I was quick to accept. General Pepper was in charge of the whole thing, initially there were five of us; Myself, Emilia, a vixen named Rose, Raven the avian from Zarr, and a wolf named Mashif. The project dealt with something they called the C strand, which they eventually told us was a genetic structure from your people...aka: the Cerinian gene. Apparently there was another Cerinian discovered a while before you were saved by McCloud. After learning about the traits of your people the military got it's paws on a sample of her blood and DNA, they instantly started working on how to administer your people's traits onto others by mapping her DNA onto other people's genes. We were the first successful tests..." As Aryn said this he held up his paw which burst into bright red and orange flames once again making Krystal's mouth hang open in awe, "You can touch it if you want. It's not hot unless I want it to be."
Krystal placed her paw slowly into the flames that jutted out above the vulpine's paw, "I haven't seen a Bright Paw in years. They were all over Cerinia."
The flames withdrew into Aryn's body and he continued eating, "Doctor Wilde was the researcher that was the figurehead of the whole project, he was the one that claimed he could attach the Cerinian gene to other people's DNA. He explained my ability to me as I was the first to develop. Apparently the gene attached itself directly to my Hypothalamus..." He said tapping the side of his head, "Like the body's thermostat. This gave me the ability to alter heat waves around my body to the rate at which I could cause combustion...as well as the ability to make the flames do just about anything I wanted..."
"What about the others?"
"I was getting to that..." Aryn replied, "Mashif was the second to develop. His higher brain waves became so powerful that he could release it as what everyone calls Telekinesis and Telepathy. Then Emilia, her thought process became exponentially more significant than even the most powerful super computer, found herself able to absorb and retain information better than anyone in history, which helped her already significant knack with computers. Rose was after her, she retained a rather odd ability that the doctors called mental seduction...as long as it was whispered into your ear, you have no choice but to do exactly as she says...even if she were to tell you that you can't move, your brain would believe her, and finally Raven developed his power...and that was when the scientists started talking, his power didn't seem to rely on Psychics at all...he was able to animate shadows, give them physical body and shape, the only mental part of the ability was that he controlled them with his mind. The fact that he had developed a power that borderline more on magic than psychics, made the scientists start thinking about applying the gene directly to different parts of the brain and body to see what it's outcome would be...a lot of animals ended up dying from it."
"We were all set to the same team, it's purpose was to do missions that the council had not knowledge of. Missions that required us to do things outside of the law...illegal things. We killed senators and covered it up, we wiped out resistances without batting an eye, and then after endless missions. They disbanded the team, by this time Emm and I had been dating and planning to get married for a few months. After so long, we of course got married and moved to Katina where we decided we wanted nothing more to do with Black Star or the military..." Aryn smiled, "She seemed really dead set on being a mother..."
Aryn seemed to freeze up for a moment before letting out a deep sigh, "Then one day I come home, a few weeks after finding out she was pregnant and found her lying there on our bedroom floor dying. There was so much blood that I really didn't know what to do...she still had enough strength to tell me that it was people from Black Star that did it...and to tell me that she loved me one last time before the blood loss finally killed her. I was so distraught that I didn't even notice the cops that entered the room...at least I thought they were cops. As soon as they had me cuffed and out the door I was unconscious one of 'em hit me with something. When I woke up, I was cold and alone and chained to the wall of a small cell. I lost count of the time that I was in there, for the first year I scratched a notch a day in the stone walls, but after the first year I gave up counting. I'm not sure why they wanted to keep me alive but, they were just trying to sweep me under the rug. Then one day, the Aparoids attacked and thanks to those ugly mother fuckers, I was able to escape. Aryn Stromwell was an old friend of mine that died when he was still pretty young...he had no family or anything like that so I thought nobody would notice if I used his name, Drayvn Dark needed to disappear for a while...so I went to the only person that I could trust......my brother Eric. We floated around for quite a while, and after so long I heard about the General's supposed death at the hands of the Aparoids..."
"What do you mean supposed?" Krystal asked, "General Pepper died four days after the attack."
"Really? Truth is that he pulled through...and the military was in a hurry to get him somewhere where they hoped I'd never find him. Unfortunately they misjudged just how much Emm taught me about gathering information, I found him...got my information on the ones that kill my Emm...and killed him for setting it up..."
Krystal wanted to say something against it but, she could sense that everything he was telling her was the truth, instead she simply sat there and listened...
"After reading the information I found out that the one person that I thought I could trust was in on the whole thing...my brother had taken part in killing her. Apparently he had been a part of another project, he was a mole, what the military referred to as a Ghost Unit. There was no way I could kill him, not in any kind of a fair fight anyway. So I bide my time training still daily, but not matter how many times we sparred he was...just better than me. One day when he went on one of his assignments that turned out to be a hit on some sort of senator or something, I didn't care to gather any info, I followed him, my main training in the military being stealth and espionage, even he couldn't tell that I was there. We were on a water tower when he supposed to take his shot, I stabbed him twice with his own sword before he fell off of the tower, not that he didn't put up a fight. I didn't bother to check the body, I was in a hurry to leave, and I was certain he was dead. Unfortunately after I took his ship, I never managed to find the other members of Black Star...apparently they heard that I had escaped from the general's little prison and was searching for them. And over the years I've been searching for them. This case had their handy work written all over it so, naturally I came to see what I could get from it, and that's where I met you..."
"Wait...you know something about Fox that you aren't telling me..."
"yeah...when they attacked me in the desert on Zarr after you ran off...I got a good look at your ex's eyes...and they weren't McCloud's......they were my brother's..."
A/N:Woot...chapter 9. Srry bout that, too much caffeine today. Anyhow I got most of the plot out of the way and can start with the mass amounts of ass kicking soon...hahaha. I love fight scenes...Anyhow, plenty of fighting for furture chapters as I'm sure any that have read my fics can imagine. Thanks for the support R&R and I'll Cya all next chapter...
The footsteps in the darkness- SkullFox