Dark Fire

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

    Chapter 2

One thing I had excelled at during my training was how to
move with stealth. I was using all of my skill now, moving
quickly and quietly through the halls of the base. The only
noise came from my breathing and the pads of my feet as they
brushed over the cold stone floor.

I was out of the visitors' section of the base now, moving
back into the labs. It wasn't as fancy as the public parts
of the base; the walls still showed the marks from where
they had been carved out of the stone. It was empty of all
but a few people, and cold as well.

My destination was just a bit farther on, a small,
unremarkable lab that no one was supposed to be using for
lack of an experiment small enough. According to the file
the Guild Elders had given me, Dr. Grafrin stored his
sensitive files there, not trusting the computer systems to
keep them intact.

After only two more turns I came to my destination; a small
door in a hallway. Just one of many, the only markings to
differentiate it from the rest were a set of numbers on the
door.

I casually walked towards it, twisting the knob just
slightly. I was in luck; the door had been left unlocked.
Very slowly I opened it, slipping inside as soon as I had it
opened wide enough. I closed the door just as slowly.

Crouching down in front of the door I finally pulled my mask
over my face. The fabric was thick and pressed hard against
my nose, but it served a purpose. From one of my smaller
pockets I removed a small pen light. The light it cast was
extremely weak, but enough for me to see by.

The lab was small, maybe fifteen feet square. The only other
exit was a door on the far wall, and it was closed. I
wouldn't worry about it yet; first there was a set of file
cabinets in one corner that looked promising.

I slowly started going through them, one at time. Most of
the files were pretty much what I would have expected to
find in a lab: records on the testing of different equipment
and notes on other researchers' experiments. Two of the
files caught my attention. One was labeled as a file on
computers built with DNA; but inside it was a set of
documents discussing the makeup of the Plague.

The second file was easy to find after the first, it was
labeled 'Testing of Genetic Computers'. I had overlooked it
before, but when I came back to it I found it was exactly
what I had feared. A detailed report on the infection of the
Third Plague World: from the vectors of the virus to the
progress of the population's death.

It was a record of genocide.

Taking a few deep breaths to calm the sudden rage I was
feeling, I took both files; closing and tying them together,
then hiding them under my shirt.

I was reaching for the door to let myself out when the room
grew suddenly brighter. It was still too dark for the lights
in the lab to be on. A quick glance over my shoulder proved
that it was coming from the crack under the other door in
the room.

My reaction was automatic; I jumped away from the door and
scrambled under the workbench that was on one side of the
lab. The idea was to stay out of sight if anyone came into
the room, then get out before they could notice me.

Holding my breath I starting counting my heartbeat. By the
time I reached two hundred, I was starting to get curious. I
could hear voices from where I was hiding, but couldn't
understand anything.

Showing more daring than judgment, I slipped out of my
hiding place and walked on my toes to the door. Most of the
conversation was one-sided, with whomever it was with making
only a few passing comments.

Bending down, I placed my ear next to the crack under the
door. The conversation was still muffled but I found that I
was starting to recognize one of the voices.

I found it too overwhelming to believe, but it was confirmed
when the person doing the talking yelled the other's name.

Grasion.

Fox's arch-enemy... the one person I think he may really be
scared of on a person-to-person level. Fox never talked
about him, or how they ever got tangled with each other, but
I still remember his smile... his touch... I suddenly found
that I was shaking.

In the other room the conversation seemed to have come to an
end. Then a door slammed, one of the pair of them having
left. I could still hear the other one in the room,
muttering to himself. It was the second person, who had done
most of the talking.

And who had just started to open the door I was behind.

I didn't have time to retreat under the desk again. All I
could do was stand and hide behind the door as he opened it.
I just made it as he opened the door. Turning the lights in
the room on, he went right to the file cabinets I had been
at just minutes before.

His face was one I knew... it had been engraved on my memory
from days of staring at his picture as we came ever closer
to this moment.

Dr. Verden Grafrin, my target; the man I had been asked to
kill. Whose assassination I had accepted when it was
offered. I felt my needler in my paw; I wasn't sure when I
had taken it out, but I had it now. I adjusted the setting
quickly, my eyes never leaving my target. I only glanced
down one time to make sure I was right, then I used my foot
to slam the door between us closed.

He jumped, turning in mid-air, his long ferret body made for
the task. He registered surprise when he saw me, his muzzle
set in a grim line. "Why are you here?" he asked, his eyes
locked on the needler as he held up his paws.

I felt myself smile through my mask, my whole body was
suddenly on autopilot, I was now just an observer through my
own eyes.

"Dr. Grafrin," I said, my voice having become very cold. "I
have been sent to talk to you about the Plague."

He frowned, "I don't know what you mean."

I shook my head, "Yes you do... I already have your files."

He gulped again, his eyes looking back over his shoulder at
the file cabinets.

"What do you want? I can provide money, technology that you
can sell, anything you want."

I shook my head again.

"Who are you?" he asked, now starting to sound frightened.

I reached up and pulled off the mask, smiling at him. He
started to shake.

I stood there, watching him, my thumb barely resting against
the firing stud of the needler, when I remembered something.
It was a passage from the book of Thryn. It was said to have
been spoken by one of the first high priests, just before he
ended the life of one of my history's most evil persons.

"I am the dark angel of Thryn," I whispered, "I have been
sent by my Lord and Master to seek all who take life in
vain. I seek those who have been deemed unworthy to breathe,
to remove their souls from the universe. I am Darkness... I
am Death... I will devour your soul."

And as he stared at me in fear, a tear running down the side
of his face, his mouth moving in a silent prayer. I shot one
needle into his body. It struck in his neck, the poison it
contained spreading into his system. He was dead before he
even fell to the floor.

My training left me there and I was once again in control of
myself. I had to use all of that control not to become ill
right there. I slowly put my needler away and removed one of
the small photo disks that I had brought with me. Turning it
on it took a three-hundred-sixty degree picture of the room,
providing the proof that I had done my job.

It came back to my hand like it was supposed to and I put it
back into my pocket. Then putting my mask back on, I left
the room, leaving by the same door I had entered. Heading
back to Fox to tell him that I had done what I had been
asked to do.

And to warn him about Grasion.

-----

This story is (c) 1997 by Fox Cutter, hardcopy reprints
limited to one a person, all other rights reserved. This
story may not be distributed for a fee except by permission
of the author, and this copyright notice may not be removed.