Chapter 12
(July 20th)
(11:09am)
Aryn was forced to wait by until Krystal was done with the tank, as she kept delving into the object's past Aryn moved around the room looking over the tanks one by one, it was funny he hadn't noticed before but, only three of them were listed with code names: Emilia was codenamed Citrinitas, Raven was Albedo, and Aryn's was Rubedo. He kept the names in his mind somewhere but, turned his attention back to the entranced blue vixen who still stood prone with her paw against the glass of the container that once held Emilia...
(Flashback)
As Krystal looked on she took on the scope of someone that had recently touched the container, it was clearly Emilia who she assumed was inside at the point in time that she was watching. As she watched on Krystal noticed a familiar red feathered avian, though he looked much younger and was wearing a white lab coat with a small symbol of star with a B in it's center. The avian took his time as Krystal followed him with her eyes, he moved to one of the containers which held a familiar black fox, though Krystal quickly turned away after realizing that these specimens were nude behind the glass. The room before here appeared as it had years ago, there were working mainframes and computers all about the room, most of the lab equipment was all intact with a verity of different scientists hard at work. The scarlet avian moved from one tank to another jotting down notes as he read a small meter next to each different tank, finally stopping in front of Emilia's tank. He smiled a bit after reading the meter next to the tank, which at a closer veiw Krystal was able to tell was reading the vixen's brain waves. Suddenly another doctor entered the room, this one was a rather tall ape, Krystal's eyes instantly focused on the name tag he wore...it was Prodeus...
"So is everything going well?" The ape asked tapping on the glass before looking to Wilde.
"Yes sir doctor." The avian replied handing his clipboard to the doctor, "This one like Dark has developed abnormally fast."
Prodeus went over the paperwork in front of him, "Hmmm...Very interesting." As he said this Wilde left the area, "I am almost there...once I have the four, immortality will be mine. Still there is much work to be done."
The doctor soon left the room, leaving Krystal to her own thoughts...did the doctor have his own reasons for creating the project? It seemed like it. The days that Krystal seemed to spend took what seemed like an eternity, what she would only say could have been days passed before Wilde returned...it was at this point that Krystal noticed that the tanks were being emptied, Aryn's was already empty. Soon enough Krystal watched as a white vixen staggered out of the tank she still occupied before she was covered with a blanket and led out of the room, being asked a series of questions. Oddly enough the acts that went on in the room did not stop, several more animal went into the glass tubes in a matter of time that Krystal found impossible to keep track of. And after so long she saw a very familiar face enter the room, general Pepper entered the room when Prodeus was going over some of the newer people's tests...
"Prodeus...we're canceling the project."
"What!?" The doctor shouted turning to the General, "You can't do this to me!! Look at the progress we've made!!"
"Progress or no. After trying to introduce your experiments back into society one Drayvn Dark murdered one of your other experiments...these people with their level of power cannot be trusted to function in civilized society without call to abusing the power you've given them. You have 6 months to shut all of this down before our men clear it out.. You are to burn every file and wipe every mainframe of all elements of the project...Nothing that has happened down here ever transpired. Any leak of information will result in military action against the ones who talked and any who were given the information." Pepper said walking out of the room, "You're a brilliant scientist....and I apologize but, the council cannot be allowed to find that this project was under my command. I want all files and samples destroyed. Leave the remaining experiments to me...I have ways of getting rid of them."
After a short time the doctor kicked a table sending glass vials flying through the air shattering against the floor and wall, before he approached the tube supposedly looking Krystal in the face, "Don't worry Eric......nothing will happen to you. My crowning achievement."
(End Flashback)
Aryn quickly made his way to Krystal's side as he realized that she'd finally let go of the tank in front of her before falling to her knees breathing heavily and sweating a bit...
"How......l-long?" She asked attempting to catch her breath.
"About two hours...you find anything good? Any answers?"
"Yeah...some...but more questions too."
"Good then let's get the hell outta here. I don't like the sounds that have been coming from the elevator shaft we came through."
The two waited until Krystal caught her breath before rushing thought the facility's endless halls, unfortunately before they got far Krystal was jarred to one side being yanked into an empty room by Aryn who pinned her to a wall holding her muzzle shut...
"Don't say a word...there are guards around the corner."
Krystal was till winded and Aryn could only tell...
"Just stay put...I'll come back."
Before she could say anything he was gone, Krystal didn't like this place at all, because of the darkness mixed with the color of the fox's fur she couldn't even tell when he was gone. The only clue that something was wrong was when she heard the first scream from down the hall, at first when all of the voices went silent Krystal wasn't sure what had happened before she felt a familiar breath hit the side of her face. It was amazing how quickly and quietly he could move...soon enough Krystal found herself moving at a quick pace down the halls before the floor beneath her lost it's friction with her feet tossing her to her back. She could tell by the smell and feel that she was lying in a large pool of blood as her paw had landed on what felt like a severed torso. Aryn didn't bother with anything else, he quickly helped the blood soaked vixen to her feet and rushed down the halls again. Krystal found it hard to keep up but, didn't bother complaining as judging by the amount of blood on the floor there were quite a number of soldiers now. Soon enough there was a sound of footsteps behind them quite a ways down the hall. Suddenly a blaster shot tore into the wall near Aryn's head sending sparks flying into the air, for a moment giving Krystal a view of the vulpine's blood covered face.
Before too long every other step they took was followed by a blaster bolt either missing them altogether or slamming into the walls near them. Suddenly Aryn ducked into a small room and pulled Krystal close...
"Hold your breath." He whispered.
"What?"
"Just do it!"
Krystal took a deep breath and before she knew what had happened Aryn took her and leaped into what she could only guess was some sort of tunnel as they fell for some ways before hitting a steady stream of water. Krystal instantly rushed to the surface for air only to be met by a foul smell much more horrible than that outside on the city streets...
"My god what the hell is this!?!" She practically screamed as the strong current pulled the two along the tunnel.
"Sewage line! Sorry but it was the only way out!"
"You're gonna pay for this Aryn!" Krystal yelled as the two were swept along the line.
At the entrance of the place the small group of soldiers stopped, none daring enough to jump in after them. One pulled out a small radio...
"Sir we have a problem. The target escaped into the city's sewage system...they could be anywhere."
"Listen to me O'donnell. I gave you the chance at the Cerinian to get Drayvn back here alive and one sample of her blood. I don't want any excuses, I gave you a squad of my best men so get your ass down there and find them!!!"
The lupine sighed as he turned off his radio, "You heard the man men...get your asses in the hole!!! Remember Don't kill the black one or we don't get paid. As for the blue one......she's mine."
Krystal was happy to be out of that stink hole when Aryn finally pulled her out of the water, they were in the catacombs under the city for no more than a minute or so before they found their way to the streets by way of a manhole. They wasted not time rushing thought the streets toward the hanger that housed their fighters. Aryn hesitated as they rushed into the hanger as he noticed four soldiers that were standing by his wolfen, Krystal however had had enough. Before she was able to get a reaction out of Aryn he noticed her charging the animals not with her blaster but, with her spear drawn and fully extended. The first animal to acknowledge her rapidly approaching footsteps was met by the flying point of the spear which lodged itself into his chest, the animal's finger instantly locked around the trigger of the automatic weapon he held causing it to spray out a few rounds before he fell completely to the ground. The others turned and assaulted the blue vixen with a hail of bullets and blaster shots but, they all seemed to bound off of what seemed like an unseen wall before her. Krystal slid out in front of one of the soldiers sweeping his legs out from under him and reaching for her spear tearing it free of the first animal's chest before spinning and bringing it down on the other animal's neck, the bladed tip slicing through completely and burying itself in the stone beneath them. Before the next animal could muster a reaction he found the point of the spear had been plowed into his gut, Krystal now holding the far end of the shaft gave the weapon a light twist causing the impaled wolf to let out a shrill howl before Aryn noticed a small flash of red light scale from Krystal's paw up the shaft of the weapon. The impact of it was more than he'd have ever imagined, the animal at the end of the weapon was blown completely in half showering the nearby wolfen and vixen in a torrent of crimson rain, the bolt of red energy that traveled up the spear escaped through the tip in the form of a small ball of flames that burst against the last creature's face, his head instantly erupted leaving only his fountaining neck at the end of his shoulders...
"Remind me never to piss you off." Aryn said patting Krystal's shoulder as he walked by, "Now lets get the fuck outta here!"
Before long the two were aboard Aryn's ship, as Aryn rushed down the halls he felt the ship shake a bit as it's shields were hit...
"NAV! Get us the fuck outta here now! Take us to Sauria and get ready to land! I know these fucks are gonna follow us!"
Another shot hit the ship nearly throwing the dark fox off his feet, "Warning! Shields at 63 percent and dropping!" NAV's voice sounded.
"Ignore the shields! Just get us into Hyperspace now!!"
"Access denied. Rerouting primary CHSA protocol mainframe...access granted. Warp jump commencing in 5...4...3...2...1."
With the countdown finalized the ship shot forward vanishing into hyperspace, luckily they'd be safe for whatever amount of time they were in hyperspace. It was after they were in the safety of hyperspace that Aryn slouched down into his captain's seat...
"Please tell me they didn't track us." He pleaded with a sigh.
"Our signal was not isolated in proper time...our pursuers will will have hyperspace clearance in four minutes."
"FUCK!!!" Aryn shouted, "Krystal...you alright back there?"
A moment later Krystal's voice sounded back over the PA system, "I'm fine...I'm just taking a shower and getting all of this blood out of my fucking fur."
"Well don't get too comfortable...We're headed for Sauria...best place I know of to hide." Aryn replied, "Looks like those shots we took caused some problems too. I'm gonna need your help with some repairs."
Aryn hated the idea of running...but then again he knew it was only a matter of time before they came looking for him again. As he sat back in his chair he let out a long sigh while shaking his head, he hadn't expected things to get this out of hand...but, at least he knew he wouldn't be another boring mission. He found himself soon in the ship's docking bay where he found himself deep in the process of repairing the ship's engines two of them had been reasonably damaged. Unfortunately the repairs would only go so far at this point, his mind was jumbled and he found little time to concentrate. The two man crew did what they could to repair the ship, managing to fix what was needed to land on Sauria, but that would be a bit more than a day's travel. Luckily soon the two found themselves in the kitchen eating a well deserved supper as well as taking a well earned rest it was then that Krystal decided to tell Aryn what she'd seen and spent some time explaining everything to him...
"I wonder what Prodeus meant by...immortality?" Aryn wondered as Krystal informed him of what she'd heard the doctor say.
"Also...Emilia wasn't the last one to go into that capsule..." Krystal finished, "It was...your brother."
"I figured he'd gone through the same experiment." Aryn replied, "But trying to understand why at the moment is completely useless. Lets just try to get some rest before we arrive at Sauria." he said walking to the door, "Those bastards are gonna be hot on our tails, and they already have a lock on us so at this point runnings a bit of a moot point altogether."
"Then why Sauria?" Krystal asked.
"No civilizations...no back up. Just us and them. So make sure you're ready for a fight tomorrow."
A/N: ^_^ ran out of useless crap to say^_^
Anyhow thanks for the support, R&R and I'll see ya next chapter...
The footsteps in the darkness- SkullFox