Small Changes

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

07/25/1999:

    Chapter 1

"How are you feeling, Hon?" Oria asked as she wrapped her
arms around my shoulders, nuzzling the back of my neck.

I smiled. I hadn't even heard her come into my office. She
could be silent when she wanted to be. With one hand I
reached up to grasp her arm as I turned my head to nuzzle
her in return. "I'm feeling fine, love."

"That's good," she said with a purr, continuing to nuzzle.
Her tongue flicked out to lick my skin, bringing up my own
purr to match hers.

She pulled back after a minute, and put a little more weight
on my back, looking past my head to the various items spread
out over my desk. "Anything exciting come out of your
meeting this morning?"

I nodded. "A few things: some news on the construction of
the new Capital, and that the CSC is starting to be formed.
I might end up with the occasional assignment from them when
they get up to speed. I was also, gently, reminded that I
haven't finished gathering all the items on Graison's little
list."

"I see," she said, with a slight pout. "There's only two
items left?"

"Just the two. Some kind of computer, and something called
an 'Impulse Wave Transducer,' whatever that might be." I
answered as I picked up a PADD, which contained the relevant
information, from my desk.

She nodded, reaching down to pluck the PADD from my fingers.
"And which one are we going to go fetch?"

I laughed softly. "Who said we're going anywhere?" I asked.

She pulled back a bit, removing her weight from my
shoulders, taking the PADD with her. She left her other paw
stroking the side of my face, as she said, "I did. Now let's
see here, the first one doesn't have any humans, which might
cause some problems for you. The second one," she paused,
coming up on the same conclusion I had, "would probably kill
me on sight. I think we can skip that one today."

I nodded, then stood from my chair, and turned to face her.
She glanced at me, with a small smile on her muzzle,
dropping her now free paw to stroke down the edge of the
pale blue skirt that was hanging just over her feet. It went
nicely with the white top she had, tucked into its
waistband.

"Now, why are we going to go on this little mission?" I
asked, pushing the chair out of the way, and taking a step
closer to her, placing my hands on her hips.

"Because you need to get it done, Fox," she said, glancing
back down at the PADD. "And I want to get some quiet time,
just you and me, which we really can't get around here."

I let out a short laugh, and kissed the pad of her nose.
"You think going on an adventure is quiet time?"

She smiled and nodded. "For us it is. It will be the first
time for us to be away from home, just you and me. We'll
need to leave the tigers here; it will just be us," she gave
a soft laugh, "Quiet time."

I gave her hips a squeeze, and pulled her close. "You were
my companion, back in the days when I did adventures all the
time. I'm sure you remember all the deadly danger that came
about because of it?"

She nodded, wrapping her arms around my shoulders and
pulling me closer. "I remember, but I think it would be
worth it. I just want to get out of the house, and to talk.
I think this will be the best chance we'll get."

"Alright, I think it would be fun. I'll tell Ravindar in a
few minutes, if he doesn't know already," I said, and then
kissed my wife full on the lips.

She let out a deep purr, dropping her paws around my arms
and down my back, pulling me tight to her. "I like that,"
she whispered when she broke the kiss for a moment, "but I
think telling him can wait till later." She kissed me again,
pulling me tight to her.

I returned the kiss, pulling her back against me, as we
lowered ourselves to the floor.

* * *

"You want to do what?" Ravindar asked, his muzzle in his
paw, and a nasty look on his face. Santhara sat next to him,
a slightly surprised look on her face.

Oria and I sat on the far side of the kitchen table from
them, clothing back in place after our little bit of fun. We
were holding hands under the table, and her tail was
flicking against the back of my bare feet.

"I didn't phrase it as a question," I replied. "I'm telling
you, telling you both, that you are going to be staying here
for this."

"How can we protect you if you leave us here?" Santhara
asked, tapping a finger on the tabletop. "It makes us
useless as bodyguards if you leave us behind."

Oria shook her head. "There is no Cain waiting for us,
nothing big and nasty. The only problem is where the item
we're going for is located. Nothing else."

Ravindar shook his head. "This is an item that Grasion hid,
for his own retrieval. He also doesn't care much about you,
Fox. Have you considered that he might be a threat to you."

I nodded. "Oh yes, I'm acutely aware of that, but this isn't
your business. You were assigned to us to keep us safe
against Cain, who is dead now."

"I'm aware of that," he replied, in a terse voice, "but
there are other threats to your life. The Guild Elders think
so, which is why we haven't been removed from these
positions yet."

I blinked, slightly surprised. "Can you be? Removed, that
is? I know having five Crystal Masters is odd, and a first,
but can you two be re-assigned, and to doing what?"

The two tigers shared a glance between them, that had quite
a bit more conversation in it than I was privy to. Oria
understood some of it, as she shifted uncomfortably in her
chair.

Ravindar gave a short shake of his head, and returned to the
conversation. "We will be going with you. Whether you like
it or not, that is our job."

I sighed, squeezing Oria's paw. "You're staying here, like
it or not. If I want to, I can slip out of a fold fast
enough, and cold enough, that you couldn't follow us even if
you wanted to. It's one of the benefits of being a Natural."

He let out a long growl, tapping his fingertips on the
table. "All right, if you insist on this I want you to
activate your tracker implant before you go, and tell me
exactly where you're going to be. If you don't come back in
two days, we're coming after you."

I shifted a bit in my seat this time. I hated to be reminded
of the damn tracker chip. I guess that now that I know I
really am an animal, it makes sense to keep it. I had hoped
to get it removed, back when I thought I no longer had to be
on all fours. The soul sickness changed that.

"We can agree to that," Oria said, answering for us,
squeezing my hand to offer some comfort.

"When do you plan to leave?" he asked.

"In about an hour," Oria replied, rising from the table.
"I've already made arrangements for the children to be taken
care of, and we'll get you the information before we leave."

He nodded, "Go armed."

I stood up next to my wife, wrapping an arm around her
waist. "Of course," I said, and pulled her away from the
table. "We'll see you in an hour."

The tigers rose as well, and followed a few feet behind us
as we slipped though the hallways, and into our bedroom.
They took up positions just outside the door as we went
inside.

"I hate activating the tracer chip," I said as the door
closed. "It always itches when it's on,"

Oria just smiled, and walked over to her dresser, pulling
open the top drawer. "That's just your imagination, hon."

I sighed, and rubbed forehead. "Probably," I replied as I
walked over to her. I peeked over her shoulder this time, as
she lifted a small lock box out from among her under things.

She set it on the top of the dresser, and typed in the code
to open the lock. It was the same code that was on a larger
version of the same box in the bottom drawer of my dresser.

With a beep, the box unlocked, and she lifted open the lid.
Inside was her Needler, along with the necessary ammunition.

She picked up the weapon, and slid open the base. With
practiced fingers she selected the various canisters she
wanted to use. Each one was no more than an inch long, and
provided the chemicals that made the crystal needles
effective.

Then she retrieved the holster for the device. It looked
more like a cell phone case then any holster I had ever
seen. On the outside of the holster were slots for extra
canisters, which she filled, taking her time in selecting
which ones she wanted.

When that was finished, she slid the Needler into the
holster, and then clipped it onto the band of her skirt,
untucking her blouse a bit to hide it. It looked perfectly
normal, not like the potentially lethal weapon it was.

"So, how are we going to sneak you in?"sShe asked as she
closed the box, and then locked it. "Going to go under cover
as a lioness again?"

I turned her around, and hugged her for a moment, giving her
a short kiss. "I've thought about it, but both Ken and
Milgrove want me to try spending more time in my fox form.
It's the one that's the least used, and still isn't
completely stabilized."

"Is that why your fur patterns are always different?" she
asked.

I nodded.

She smiled and tilted her ears slightly. "Can you control
that form yet?"

I shook my head. "No, I can't directly change my shape at
all yet. It's starting to frustrate Milgrove during our
lessons."

"You're only on the second lesson, Fox; You'll get the hang
of it soon enough," my wife replied with a smile. "But I
wonder how you intend to go vulpine for this? Do you have
some toy I don't know about, or are you going to use the
Matrix chip?"

"I have some toy," I replied, kissing her nose and pulling
back. "Ken gave it to me the other day. He said that now
that he understood what was going on, he could make real
spells to control it." I walked over to my dresser as I
spoke, picking up a small jewelry box. "I haven't even
opened it to be honest, I didn't have the time before."

Oria came up behind me, and touched the box, purring softly.
"Oh, there is magic there, I can feel it. This isn't another
placebo like before."

I nodded, "Which is good, as that trick stopped working on
me," I said, and opened the box.

Inside it lay a small coil of silver chain, flat and about
an eighth of an inch wide. On one end was a simple clasp, on
the other was a stud.

"It's an ear hanging," Oria said, recognizing it as
something like her own world had. I recognized it as well,
and felt something heavy fall into my gut.

"Can I see?" she asked.

I nodded, moving the box closer to her paws. She picked it
up, and fished the hanging out of it, running her fingers
over it. "It's really pretty," she said with a purr, moving
it so the silver chain caught the light. A moment later she
paused, lifting it closer to her muzzle. "There's something
written on the chain."

I nodded again, closing the empty jewelry box, and setting
it back down. I then turned and looked closely at the word
engraved on the piece. "It's in Ken's language," I said.

"Oh," she replied, "can you read it?"

"No, love," I said.

Still, I knew what that word meant, down to the letter. It
was Ken's name for me, from when he and I were lovers. The
whole hanging dated back to then; he had given it to me when
we started to be close, before we got intimate. When I was
still to shy to be physical with anyone, let alone a dragon
I had strong feelings for.

The last time I saw it, was the day Ken left me. Without
understanding why he was doing it, and feeling like my world
had fallen apart, I had taken it off. Taken it off and
shoved it into his paw, telling him to take it with him.

And now it was mine again, another magic item in my growing
collection. I wondered what his motive for giving it back to
me was? Was he trying to get back together? It was something
I knew Oria would allow, but I wasn't ready for that. Maybe
he was trying to remind me of us back then, or maybe he just
found it in his lab, and thought it would be proper to
return it to me.

"You all right love?" Oria asked from behind me. "You look
deep in thought."

I nodded, reaching up to take out the fox-head earring that
was currently through my left ear. I had originally gotten
it pierced just to wear the hanging, even if I had to take
it out when I went back to Earth.

Oria held the hanging out to me, but I shook my head. "You
do it love, I want to feel your touch."

She smiled, and shifted to my left side. With careful
fingers she removed the back from the post, and lifted it to
my ear. As soon as she had put it though the hole, I
suddenly found myself a few inches shorter.

She adjusted, and placed the back on the post, pressing it
against the now thinner ear. When it was firm, she took the
clasp part and put it over the upper edge of my ear,
pressing it firmly closed. Technically it was supposed to go
through a second piercing, but I had decided it would have
been too hard to explain back home.

"It looks nice on you," she said, running her paw over the
fur on my neck.

I nodded, looking at myself in the mirror. The wide chain
hung slightly below my ear and glittered each time I flicked
it. "That it does," I replied.

"You had better change into some smaller clothing, before
those fall off of you. I'll grab some extra rounds for you,
and write up where we are going for Ravindar.

"Right, Love," I said, shrugging off my shirt and throwing
it onto the bed, followed by the rest of my clothing. I took
the opportunity to take a quick look over myself in the
mirror before heading to the closet. The fur coloring hadn't
changed much since the last time. That was a good thing, it
meant the form was growing stable.

It took a minute to regain my balance as I walked, as I was
out of practice walking digitigrade. Mostly I just had to
relax, and stop fighting my tail, which was doing a good job
at keeping me balanced.

The last time I was in this form, Oria and I had taken the
opportunity to go shopping and picked up some clothing that
fit me. Which was what I reached for now.

I pulled them on, adjusting them slightly to get the proper
fit, and rolled up the bottom of the denim shorts to keep
out of the way of my knees. When I was satisfied I had
everything in place, I headed back towards Oria.

She was at my dresser, copying the information from the PADD
into a note for Ravindar. Her tail was flicking slowly
behind her, brushing the floor behind her feet. She was
taller than me now, not that I was complaining much. At
least I was a fox.

I transferred the items from my discarded pants into my new
pair, and changed over the holsters as well. I couldn't wear
the small plasma gun on my leg, as I preferred to do on
these adventures, because it would stand out in my current
form.

"Ready, Fox?" Oria asked, walking towards me. In her paws
was the silver and red box that controlled the tracker
implant. I winced when I saw it, but nodded.

"Do it," I said, closing my eyes.

I felt her paw on my shoulder, as she pressed the box right
next to the base of my tail. There was a slight buzz that I
heard, but mostly felt in my tailbone. Then it was done, as
she pulled away.

I sighed, opening my eyes, as I scratched right where the
chip was. "It itches," I muttered.

Oria laughed and kissed my nose-pad. "It will go away soon,
dear," she said, handing me the small bag I kept my spare
clips in. From the weight I could tell she was good to her
word, and had loaded them for me.

"Thanks," I said, clipping them to my belt. "Do we need
anything else?"

"An auto lock-pick," she replied. "I sent Kalie to get one
for us before we talked to our bodyguards; she should have
it by now."

I chuckled, thinking about something Page had told me,
before she went back to her own time; eventually I was going
to have to learn how to pick locks. It was nice to see that
I would have a reason to do so other than, 'That's what
happened'.

"You going, she's going to be ticked we're not bringing her
along. She wanted to do this herself a few months ago, and I
told her to hold off."

My wife smiled, "She'll understand," she said.

"I hope so."

She nodded, walking over to the closet and pulling out my
jacket, followed by her trench coat.

"I don't think that fits with your outfit," I said as she
came back to me, holding my jacket out. I took it from her
paw, and slid into it, adjusting the cuffs around my smaller
wrists.

She just smiled, and pulled it over her shoulders. "It's
meant for these adventures, love. I would feel naked without
it on."

I smirked. There were so many things I could say in response
to that. From the look on her face, she knew what they were,
and already had the comeback prepared.

The tan of the coat was bland compared to the rest of her
outfit. In fact the only other color on it was the small
golden dagger over a red heart. It was the symbol of her
rank in the Assassin Guild. It was placed over her own
heart, out in the open for anyone to see.

Not that it would be recognized; most of the people who knew
the sign of the guild are either in it, or know enough not
to mess with it. Or dead, but they weren't a problem at the
moment.

"Let's get going," I said, and started for the bedroom door.
I was brought up short by the feeling of a paw on my tail.

I stopped, and glanced back at Oria with a smile. "Did we
forget something, love?"

"Just this," she said as she walked up to me, lowered her
head, and kissed me deeply.

I kissed her back in return, my paws drifting down her back
to stroke her tail before we finally pulled away.

"Now we're ready to go," she purred, heading for the door.

I let out a laugh, and followed her out the door, with a
smile on my muzzle.

* * *

"You have got to be kidding me," Oriana said, as she looked
over the square in front of us.

I nodded, and let out a slow chuckle as I looked over the
large expanse of pavement that extended out around us. At
the center was a clock tower, over a hundred feet tall,
keeping the local time.

The square surrounding it was bustling with activity, the
buildings on all four sides climbed five stories into the
air. Even though we couldn't read the names on them, it was
clear from the people and vehicles around us what they were
used for.

Our little quest item was in the middle of the central
police buildings for a city more than twice the size of New
York. We had to steal it from under the nose of a few
thousand cops.

"This isn't funny," Oria said, smacking my shoulder with her
paw.

I smiled and shook my head. "No, but it fits Grasion's sense
of humor perfectly. No one would look for it here. I
wouldn't have even tried, but it's exactly what he would do.
And he would have no problem at all getting it out. Us on
the other hand..." I smiled and shook my head.

She nodded.

"Come on, let's take a look at the door," I said, and
started across the square. The people around us, a mixture
of five different species, didn't even notice as we moved
past them.

Around us buzzed a language that our translators hadn't
picked up yet, but that was all right. We couldn't do
anything till dark, which was a few hours away, so we had
time to burn.

The door was on the far side of the tower from where we
started. It was simple-- two doors, one behind the other.
The first made from bars, with a heavy lock. The second was
a plain outside door, with a simple lock on the handle.

I turned around, and scanned the buildings behind us, trying
to see where we might be spotted when we snuck inside. On
the building right across from the tower, on the top floor,
was a balcony that ran most of its length.

"I would bet even money that whoever is in that office is
police commissioner, or the local equivalent," I said,
pointing at it.

Oria nodded, scanning the rest of the buildings. "It would
make sense," she said, and turned back to the door. "The
lock won't be too difficult, it should only take a minute."
She sighed, and turned back to look at the buildings. "I
suspect that will be the only part of it that is."

I nodded, running over the location of the item in my mind.
"It will take at least an hour, once we're inside, to get
his little toy. The trick will be in not getting noticed. I
wish we had brought along some sort of night vision gear."

"Why, when we can both see in the dark?" she asked, wrapping
her arm through mine.

I chucked softly, and shook my head, sending my pigtail
swaying over the back of my neck. "I had forgotten about
that."

She smiled. "I guessed as much, Fox," she said, and glanced
around, her ears twitching up slightly. "There's a park over
there, across the road. You can see it between those
buildings. We have time to kill, and we both need to pick up
the local language."

I nodded, and started walking towards the park. "We only
need a couple more hours," I commented, "The park looks busy
enough for that. I just wish we had some money so we could
get a bit to eat from one of the street venders."

"I can't think of any way to do that, other than pick a few
pockets, which isn't something either one of us is very good
at."

I smiled and pulled her close to me. "Maybe we should learn
how to do that?"

She shook her head as we walked out of the square and
stopped at the sidewalk. "Better not. We don't want the kids
picking that up from us. We'd have no end of trouble."

I chuckled, as we waited for the people around us to start
crossing. We garnered a few dirty looks while we were
waiting. Maybe mixed species relationships were frowned upon
in this world, or perhaps they just didn't like our public
show of affection.

We ignored them. It was easy enough. All the training in
high school pays off for that. When the light changed we
crossed with everyone else, and stepped into the park.

A soft purr slipped out as the pads of my feet touched the
grass. All the walking we had done on the sidewalk and
street had given my feet a beating.

Oria was used to it, having gone barefoot her whole life,
and smiled slightly as she saw my reaction. "Feet hurt?" she
asked with a knowing smile.

I didn't say anything, just luxuriated in the feel of the
grass.

She laughed and wrapped her arm around my back. "If you stop
wearing shoes, you'll eventually get used to it. The pads
will toughen up over time."

I nodded, wrapping my arm back around her as we moved
through the park. We followed along in the grass, next to a
paved path until we found an area that had a lot of people
loitering around.

We took a seat on the bench, and I folded my feet up under
me, as we watched this world go by. Oria gently brushed her
fingers over the back of my neck.

I twisted my fingers over the marriage bracelet on my right
wrist, fingering my love's blood stone. "I love you,
Oriana."

She leaned close, and kissed my neck. "I love you too, Fox,"
she whispered into my ear.

Another purr rose from my chest, as I cuddled up to her. She
purred in return, and giggled softly. "It's strange hearing
a fox purr."

"Strange?"

She nodded, "And cute."

I laughed and turned around to give her a kiss, which she
returned happily. We held each other like that for a minute,
before pulling away.

Out of the corner of my eye I caught an elder couple who
were walking past. They were trying not to be obvious as
they looked at us, both of them were smiling widely.

"I did snag a few small pieces of jewelry we can pawn," Oria
said, nuzzling. "A set of five ruby rings. If they are
valuable here, we should get some money."

"That seems kind of a big thing to pawn," I said, trying to
remember if I knew the rings. She had a lot of items with
rubies.

She let out a giggle. "Not really, they didn't cost very
much back on my world." She saw the quizzical look on my
muzzle, and smiled. "Rubies are common on my world, don't
you remember? They're not worth a lot. They seem pretty rare
in the multi-verse, though, so we should be able to get
something for them."

"Oh yes, I remember now," I said, fishing that little piece
of trivia out of the back of my mind. "As long as they
aren't of sentimental value to you."

"Not at all I picked them up while you were exiled. I had a
special client who had a thing for a women dripping in
jewelry. It was fun to dress up for him," she said, licking
my ear.

I tickled her a bit. "You miss the old job?"

She nodded slightly, her face falling just a bit. "Yes, hon,
I do. I still think of myself as a whore, it's hard to step
away from that. It's been a year now, and I'm still not used
to it."

I touched the side of her muzzle with my fingers. "That's my
fault. I know your culture allows people to be with others,
but it's frowned upon in mine." I sighed softly, "Of course,
as I'm taking on your culture as mine, I suppose I should
get over that."

She sighed, "Don't do it for my sake."

"Who's sake should I be doing it for then?" I asked with a
smile.

Oria shook her head, but didn't answer.

"I've thought about this a few times, hon. It's something I
know I should deal with. I want you to be happy, and I don't
want to hold you back."

She nodded, "And you could spend time with Rachel again,"
she pointed out.

I sighed, but with a smile. "It's tempting, very tempting.
It will take some time for me, but when I'm ready, you can
go back to the job you love."

She nodded, with a smile, which turned into a slight frown.
"That's not the only job I'm thinking about going back to."

"Oh, really?" I asked, straining a bit to figure out which
job she was talking about.

Silently, she reached up to touch the Guild badge on her
chest.

I frowned, and touched her arm with my paw. "Back to the
Guild? Why, Oria? After we fought so hard to get you out of
there?"

She sighed, and dropped her head, staring hard at the ground
under the bench. "I don't want to, Fox, but I'm starting to
feel like I have to. If the Hammerheads are still around, I
still owe them their favor. I need to protect myself, and to
protect the children so they can't do anything to them."

I wrapped my arms around her, and pulled her close to me.
"You don't have to do that, you have me. You have Ravindar
and Santhara."

She nodded, "I know love, but I feel so helpless. When I
found out that Golem was made by the Hammerheads, it felt
like my whole world was crashing down. I immediately thought
back to the Guild training; how much I learned, how much I
forced myself to forget. If I'm going to be able to defend
my family, I need to know such things."

"But the Guild, love? You can be trained by others. Terminus
would be more than willing to help. Even Ken could show you
some ways to use your magic to defend yourself."

"I know, I've thought about that a lot over the last few
weeks," she said, shaking her head slowly. "I know the
Guild, I know the teachings, and still remember some of
them."

"But love, if you go back to the Guild, you'll have to kill
again," I protested.

She nodded. "I know, Fox, and my quota would start over.
Five people in two years," she sighed again. "I've taken two
lives with my own paws. If I can decide which contracts to
take..." she trailed off, staring down at her fingers.

I pulled her closer, and nuzzled at her neck, but didn't say
a thing.

Oria changed positions, wrapping an arm around me, and
squeezing gently. "I feel like I have to do this, Fox. I
know what it will cost my soul, and I can deal with it, with
Thryn's help, and yours."

I ran my fingers through her long hair, and shook my head.
"I can't approve of this love, I just can't. If you do this,
I'll help you in any way I can, but I can't approve of it."

She nodded, and held me close. She didn't say anything else
for the next hour, and nor did I. At the time there was
nothing else either one of us could say.

* * *

Under the cover of darkness, Oria and I moved briskly
through the square. It was approaching local midnight, and
no one was about for now.

Some lights burned in the buildings around us, but no one
was at their windows. It was useful for us, being seen was
low on my list of things to do that night.

"You have the lock-pick?" I asked Oria as we moved to the
door of the clock tower. Our past conversation pushed into
the back of my mind for the moment. I planned to bring it up
again when we got back home, but that was for later.

"I've got it," she replied in a half-whisper, fishing the
small black device out of her coat pocket. She held it ready
in her paw as we approached the first door.

I took up a guard position next to Oria, as she bent down
towards the lock. I had time to scan the square only once
before I heard the hinges grind as the gate opened.

"That was too fast. Was it already open?" I asked, turning
back around.

She nodded, reaching for the inside door. Twisting the
handle, it moved easily; she pushed it forward an inch,
sending light falling from the crack.

"Someone's already here," she said in a whisper, flicking
her ears back. "Do you think we should go in?"

I nodded, "Yes, but be careful, we don't know what to
expect," I replied in the same whisper.

She nodded again, and pulled her Needler out. Then she
slowly pushed the door open further, enough that she could
see inside. Moving carefully, she glanced inside quickly
before pushing it open the rest of the way, and stepping
into the tower.

I followed right behind her, closing the door as I entered
the building. We were in a small room, about twenty feet
square. On one side was a set of stairs, leading up to the
clock. The far wall had another door, closed to us.

"Looks clear," I said, glancing up at the tower above us. I
couldn't see anyone moving up near the clock works. The
tower itself was open, and would have made it hard for
anyone to hide.

Oria paused and walked around the small room, glancing under
the stairs, before going to the second door. With a twist of
the handle, she opened it, and frowned. "Fox, you had better
see this," she said.

I walked around to her, looking over her shoulder. Inside
what was barely more then a small closet, was the corpse of
a young wolf. Blood pooled under his body, coming from a
pair of bullet wounds in his chest.

"Well, shit," I said with a slight hiss, placing my paw on
the small of Oria's back. From the look of it, he had been
dead for an hour at least. I was surprised by the lack of
smell. I had come across enough dead bodies in my time to
have become familiar with it, but there was nothing there.

"What do we do about this?" she asked, as she put her weapon
away.

Her response came as the sound of a gun being chambered from
behind us. A gruff voice ordered, "Both of you, put your
hands up, now."

07/26/1999:

    Chapter 2

"Belgium," Fox whispered, mostly to himself, as he slowly
raised his paws into the air, a look of worry, and
disappointment on his face.

I did the same, keeping one eye on him, as I listened to the
footsteps of the person behind us. I had a rough idea of
where he was, but I wasn't sure enough to do anything about
it.

Not that I would with Fox right next to me, but it was what
I had been trained to think about two years ago. That
training was swiftly returning to me, now that I wished to
use it.

"Turn around, slowly," the man behind us ordered.

We both complied, rotating around in place until he came
into view.

To my surprise, he didn't look like a cop. All the cops we
had seen that day had a very fixed and starched uniform. The
bear holding the gun on us was far more casual, dressed in
what passed for business clothing on this world.

"You know, there is a body back there," Fox said, in a
cheery voice, motioning back with his head.

The bear leaned to the side, looking between us and into the
closet. A frown played over his blunt muzzle as he
registered the corpse's existence. He took a step closer,
leaning in, but at the same time staying just out of our
reach. Squinting his eyes, he frowned deeper, before
standing up straight.

Returning his attention to us, his eyes swung from my paws
to Fox's, then to the floor for a moment.

"How long ago did you two find the body?" he asked,
apparently satisfied that we weren't the young man's
murderers.

A wave of relief crashed over Fox, as he stood up a bit
taller. It was a near constant in these little adventures of
his; he would find a body, and get blamed for the murder. To
run into someone smart enough to work out the truth must
have been a change for him.

I suppose the possibility that the bear was the murderer
hadn't crossed his mind yet.

"About a minute before you found us," Fox replied.

The bear snorted softly, and took a step backwards. "And
what are you doing in here? It's off limits."

"Well Detective," Fox said, jumping to a conclusion I hadn't
reached yet. "The door was unlocked, so we just came inside.
I always wondered what was in here, and the opportunity was
right there. So my wife and I decided to sneak in. We were
looking around when we found the body."

The detective frowned again, but this time lowered his gun,
but only by an inch. "And why are you armed sir?" he asked,
casting his eyes down to the pair of pistols on Fox's belt.

"Safety!" he replied with a smile. "We don't know this town,
and wandering around at night could get is hurt. You
wouldn't want that to happen, now would you?"

He shook his head, and removed one paw from his gun, holding
it out to Fox. "I would like both of them, now." he ordered.

Fox sighed, but nodded, removing the two guns, and placing
them on the bear's large paw. I suspected he was now
regretting being unable to bring along his clutch piece the
way he normally did.

The detective put Fox's guns into his jacket, then turned
his eyes to me, and slowly scanned up from my feet to my
ears. Most guys who did that were simply checking me out,
but there was something in his eyes that made it clear this
was far more professional than that.

"Come on you two. We'll need you to give a statement. You'll
both be checked for GSR, just to clear you as suspects." He
glanced to Fox, "And you are under arrest for possession of
illegal firearms."

Fox blanched, shaking his head softly. "They're not illegal
were I come from," he protested.

"They are here, and you should have known it," the bear
replied, fishing a pair of hand-cuffs out of his pocket.
"Give me your paws."

My husband held out his wrists to him, looking annoyed by
all of it.

With the skill brought on by years of practice, the bear
cuffed both of Fox's paws in a few seconds, while still
keeping his own gun trained on him.

I guess I wasn't dangerous enough to merit being covered. If
only he knew I was still armed. Of course if he did, I would
be in the same situation as Fox.

He glanced at me, and shot me a short smile. "If you don't
need my wife," he started to say.

"I still need her statement about the body," the bear
replied. "So you both should come along with me."

Fox slumped his shoulders slightly, and nodded. I guess he
had been hoping to send me up the tower to get the item,
before the police swarmed over it. But it was too late for
that now.

Which was doubly true, as a uniformed officer stepped into
the tower through the still open door.

"Detective Baxter, do you need some aid?" the cop asked.

The bear nodded. "Call in someone to take care of that," he
said, motioning towards the body behind us. "Then take the
lady to interview room C, and have her tested for firing a
weapon."

The cop nodded, and pulled out a radio, speaking into it
with short clipped words. After getting a response, he
walked over to me, placing a paw on my shoulder. "If you
would come with me, ma'am?" he asked. Everything about the
way he said it, from the tone of his voice to the way he
stood, made it sound like a request, but it wasn't.

"Go ahead, Oriana. I'll catch up with you later," Fox told
me, finishing with a small wink.

I sighed, and nodded. "Yes, officer," I said, and motioned
with my paw for him to lead me.

We walked out of the clock tower, passing a few more cops as
they headed for the building. We said nothing as he escorted
me into one of the buildings, and up onto the second floor.

The place was all green and white, and sterile. Like a
hospital, but without all the people getting well. It felt
cold, like a mental weight lived inside the walls, pressing
down on everyone who entered.

I shivered involuntarily as we walked down the hallways.
Every few feet we would pass another office door. Some were
open, revealing cramped little rooms, many of which had
people working in them.

We turned down another hall, and passed through a guarded
door. On the other side the place was even more depressing.
Now instead of office doors, each one was steel, and could
be easily locked from the out side.

Eventually we came to one, which he opened for me, and
motioned that I go on inside. "I'll send someone up to check
you out, ma'am. They will be here in a few minutes."

I nodded and stepped into the cold, gray room. Each of the
four walls were the same uniform pale gray that seemed to
lower the light level in the room by sucking it all in. Even
the ceiling was the same color, but it was hard to tell
through the glare cast by the pair of lights caged above me.

The only break in the grayness was the door out, which had
just closed behind me, and a single barred window high up
the opposite wall. There was a lack of the usual one-way
mirror you always saw on television. I wondered if it was a
cliche here.

In the center of the room was a simple metal table, with
four chairs. All of them had been bolted down to the floor,
preventing them from being used as weapons.

I walked in a slow circle around the perimeter of the room,
taking it all in. After a few seconds, I spotted a pair of
video cameras hiding in the walls, placed to prevent any
blind spots inside the room.

I felt like a prisoner, and for the moment I was.

A few minutes later, the door opened again, outwards I
noted, to keep anyone from hiding behind it. It also
appeared to be speed controlled, so it couldn't be slammed
open.

A pretty female wolf walked in, a smile on her muzzle and a
large case in her paw. She was dressed fairly casually, an
ID card clipped to her lapel that, I assume, said she was
some sort of cop.

She set the case down on the table, and smiled at me.
"Hello, I'm here to check you for gun shot residue."

I sighed and nodded, walking next to her. "All right, but be
quick about it," I said in an annoyed tone of voice.

The look on her face didn't waver as she opened her case.
She must have been used to that attitude, so didn't comment
on it. Quickly she ran some chemicals over my paws, and took
some samples from my blouse and skirt. She did a quick check
on all of them before declaring me clean.

With that out of the way she packed her items up and started
for the door. She got about halfway before glancing back to
look at me. "You're not under arrest," she said.

I nodded, but didn't say anything.

"I can get you something to eat, if you like. It will be
from the cafeteria so it won't qualify as food, but it's
what they keep serving us."

"That would be nice," I said, sitting down on the edge of
the table.

She nodded, and smiled to me again, then slipped out of the
room.

About fifteen minutes later an officer brought in a tray of
something that looked like it might have once been food. I
played with it a bit, happy to have something to eat, even
if it was slightly worse than the food I had the few months
I went to collage. Something I had never thought was
possible.

I sat at the table, waiting for something to happen for
another hour, before Detective Baxter walked into the room.
Fox followed a few steps behind him.

My husband looked rather put out, still handcuffed, and now
dressed in some brown prison clothing. They had taken
everything, even his earring.

They both sat down at the table, Fox sat down on my side,
and the detective was facing us both across the table.

"How you doing, Love?" I asked Fox.

He shrugged, keeping his bound paws resting on the metal
tabletop. "I've been in worse places. All in all, this is
kind of nice. I should be out on bond in a few more hours;
it turns out it's only a minor offence."

"That's good," I told him, placing a paw over his.

The detective watched this in silence, a small something,
maybe a smile, playing over the side of his muzzle. "If you
two are done, we have a lot of things to talk about."

Fox nodded.

"I know that neither of you were directly involved with the
murder in the clock tower, but I do have some questions
about it."

"Do you know who the victim was?" my husband asked. The
whole thing had clearly gotten his curiosity up.

The bear nodded, and started to say something.

"Care to tell me?"

The detective blinked, and placed his paws down on the
table. "Look, I'm running this interview, I prefer to be the
one asking the questions."

"Alright, I was just wondering. It's not every day you run
into a dead body," he said, shooting off his best winning
smile.

The bear shook his head, and sighed. "His name was Spider.
He was a known member of the Fractal Terrorist
Organization."

Fox lifted his ears, leaning forward slightly. "A Terrorist,
here, and dead?" He frowned and shook his head. "That's not
something you usually find in a place like this."

The bear nodded, "That's what I think. We're worried about
it. No one has heard from Fractal for a few years. They were
supposed to be shut down."

"It's possible it's just an accident that he was here." Fox
comment.

"Sure, he just tripped and fell onto some bullets," I
replied.

"After breaking into a locked clock tower," Fox said.

The detective looked between the two of us, with an
exasperated look on his face as he watched his interview
slip out of his control.

"So," Fox said, leaning forward again. "What exactly did
this Fractal group do? What did it stand for, I mean, what
did it want?"

"They blew up three federal buildings in an attempt to gain
freedom for their lands. Killed fifteen hundred people
before they were stopped." The bear paused, narrowing his
eyes. "It was on the news, all over the world. How could you
not know about it?"

Fox smiled, and shrugged. "Long story. It's best that you
don't stress yourself asking about it."

He shook his head in what appeared to be disbelief, and
sighed. "Best not to; the amount of paperwork involved in
dealing with aliens gets out of hand."

I tried not to giggle, and barely succeeded, letting out a
little snort instead. I wasn't sure if he was making a joke,
or being deadly serious, it was still worth a laugh.

"So, why would a member of this group be in your clock
tower?"

The bear frowned again, "I haven't a clue, to be honest. It
was a federal investigation, not local."

Fox smiled, and waved his paws in the air. He was trying to
make some sort of gesture, but the handcuffs apparently got
in his way. "Well, what's the history of the tower, and how
is it related to their cause?"

The detective tilted his head, and blew air through his
cheeks. "I think we're getting off the subject."

"I don't think so," I said, placing a paw on Fox's shoulder.

He smiled at me, and nodded. "My wife is right. I think
everything is related. Something was done to the body so
that it didn't smell, at all. Dead bodies have a smell to
them, even that fresh. It was put there for a reason, and it
was meant to be found. When exactly is the next regular
maintenance visit to the tower?"

Baxter sighed, "I don't know."

"It would be best to find out. I suspect that whoever was
suppose to do that, was meant to find it." He paused,
tapping his claws on the tabletop. "It doesn't explain why
the door was left unlocked, though"

A thought came floating up from my training with the Guild.
"Maybe whoever does the maintenance had some relation to the
wolf killed. He could have been left there as a warning."

Fox gave me a sideways glance, then nodded. "It's possible.
Maybe the maintenance man has ties to the terrorist
organization."

The bear glanced between Fox and me, a look of disbelief on
his muzzle. "Everyone who works in the department has to go
through a background check."

I shrugged. "It's a theory, that might be worth looking
into. You found the body; I'm assuming it's your case."

He nodded, "It is."

"Well then, we can help you with this," Fox said, smiling
again, then offered out his paws. "First, you really should
take these off, they chafe."

He stuttered, trying to say something, before snapping his
mouth closed, and shaking his head. "I'm sorry, no. Now
let's get this back on to subject, and I want you to tell me
exactly what happened tonight."

Fox sighed, and shook his head. I placed my paw on his, and
started weaving a story the detective would believe.

* * *

The first light of dawn was streaming over the distant
mountains when Fox and I finally walked out of the police
buildings. They had let Fox out on his own recognizance,
with a court date, and without his guns.

Fox was rather pissed about that, sulking out the door at my
side with his paws shoved into his pocket, and his tail
brushing along the ground. He hadn't even bothered to put
his earring back on yet.

I don't think he had noticed it was gone, or that he should
be a human again now that it was. I wasn't going to mention
it to him until we were some place private. I didn't want to
break whatever was keeping him vulpine by bringing it to his
attention.

"Some times I forget the way some worlds work," he said as
he walked towards the clock tower. "Not every place allows
civilians to have guns."

I nodded, but didn't say anything. My country was like that
to some extent. Prid wasn't, which had bothered me when I
first found out. I had grown used to it now. Fox was used to
it also; apparently his own country was like that.

We came to a stop a dozen feet away from the tower, where a
police officer was standing in front of a barricade. Keeping
everyone away from it.

Fox turned, and stared out of the square.

"Now we have to figure out how to get past them, so we can
get the item," I said, as we walked past a few early risers
heading to work. "We may just have to come back later."

He let out a soft sigh, and shook his head. "Oriana, I have
a bad feeling that if we leave here, when we come back the
clock tower and the Wave Transducer will both be destroyed."

I flicked my ears to the side was we crossed the street.
"Why do you think that?"

He shrugged. "Call it a hunch. That and a dead terrorist
implies that something is going on. I just wish I knew
what."

"So what do we do?"

"First I want you to go pawn those ruby rings of yours, and
get us something to eat. The food they gave me in holding
wasn't exactly edible. I'm going to hit the local library
and find out more about Fractal. We'll meet there at noon,
local time," he said, and then kissed my nose.

I kissed his in return, and glanced around. "How will you
find the library?"

He smiled and pulled away from me. "I'll ask around. It
shouldn't be too hard," he said, and started to walk through
the park.

"But, how will you read the books?" I called after him.

He turned, and smiled at me, walking backwards. "I'll get
someone to read them to me, don't worry about it. At least
they should have news reports." He turned back around, and
almost skipped off through the park.

I shook my head, watching him vanish around a turn. He was
definitely in his element out on these adventures. His Exile
had mellowed him, keeping him from running around the multi-
verse like he wanted. When he was back at it, he gained a
special type of spring in his step that normally wasn't
there.

It seemed like each time he went on a new one, he promised
that it would be his last. In the end it was never true;
eventually there was another one he found himself having to
go on.

Now that he was an agent for the Consortium Security
Council, he had a convenient excuse to go out anytime he was
asked. I knew that he wouldn't refuse if the request ever
came. It wasn't in his nature.

The man I loved desperately wanted to help everyone around
him in every way that he could. I don't believe that he was
even aware of that part of his personality. The side of him
that liked to play at being "The Doctor" predominated at
times like these. It was a dangerous part of him, and might
just get him killed some day.

But he wouldn't be the same person without it.

* * *

Fox slurped up the noodles in the bowl in front of him,
looking over the notepad under his paw. His tight, scribble
like handwriting covered the pages, as he kept adding notes.

As I watched him, I picked at a chunk of meat smothered in a
white sauce. It wasn't fantastic, but was edible enough for
the moment.

The crowd bustled around us, as we sat at a table in the
park. Most of the other tables scattered around the park
were occupied by various business people and a small group
of cops, all of whom were also taking their lunch.

"I really need to work on my handwriting," Fox half muttered
through a muzzle full of food. "It's getting to the point
that even I can't read it, and that's saying a lot."

I nodded, and smiled at him. Even if I knew his written
language well enough to read it, I doubted that I could read
his writing. I wasn't sure if anyone actually could.

I was also pleased that he had said it not in the local
language, or his, but in Ral'lari, my language. It had
almost become second nature to him to speak it, and to see
he was doing so, even when he wasn't thinking about it, made
me sure I was going to win our bet.

He glanced at me, and chuckled, tilting his ears to the
side. "And what's got you so happy? You look like the cat
who caught the canary," he said, slipping back into the
local language.

I raised a paw. "Honestly, Fox, I haven't been eating any
birds!"

"I don't know, considering the quality of this meat," he
said, reaching over with his fork, and stabbing part of my
meal. Before I could protest, he had it in his mouth.

I shook my head, and smiled. "So, what did you find out
about this group?"

"Fractal?" he said, gulping down the food. "Quite a lot
really, however, not very much of it is, on the whole,
good."

"Oh?"

He nodded, flipping a few pages in his notebook. "They are
something like the IRA, or maybe," he paused and shook his
head. "Never mind that. Still, they are trying to free what
they think of as their homeland, feeling that the local
government stole it from them years ago. This is something
of a war for them, but not for those they are fighting
against."

"Baxter said they were wiped out," I said.

"Right, they pretty much were," he replied, licking some
soup from the pads of his fingers. "If anything is left of
them, it's probably small splinters, minor groups working
independently of each other. They can still pose a major
threat if they really want to kill people."

I nodded, playing with my food. "How does the clock tower
fit into all of this?"

"I'm not sure," he replied with a shrug. "From what I can
tell, this capital city was part of their lands. The clock
tower isn't that old, it just happens to be there."

"So it's all just a coincidence?" I asked.

He laughed and shook his head. "No such thing around us, or
with this kind of people. This Spider fellow was left for
dead, and arranged to be easily found. There has to be
something about it. I'm starting to doubt it's directly
related to the clock tower; it was just convenient for them,
I suspect."

"So the item will be safe?" I asked.

"I doubt it," he replied. "They have a tendency to blow
things up, symbols in some fashion. The history of that
clock tower could make it such a symbol, and the fact they
have already used it makes me worry they will again."

"So we have find it before then," I observed, taking the
last bite of my lunch.

He nodded. "Right, but we do have a problem of not being
able to get inside right now. We need some kind of access,
and I want to do something about Fractal before anyone else
gets killed."

I smiled, "Of course, love. You couldn't do anything less.
But how do you plan to stop them?"

Fox gave me one of those smiles that made me worry about his
sanity. "I think we'll ask Baxter if he would like some
help."

* * *

The look on the large bear's face when he saw Fox and me
waiting for him was close to priceless. Both worry and shock
in the same moment, before a large frown fell over his
muzzle.

"What are you two doing here?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"Detective Baxter," Fox said, quickly walking forward. "I
would like to talk to you about what happened last night."

His eyes narrowed, as a snort passed from his lips. "I took
your statement on the body, and there's nothing I can do
about your charge. Just be glad you're not sitting in jail,
waiting for your trial."

Fox smiled, and shook his head. "Oh, no, no, it's nothing
like that. Yes, I'm here to talk to you about the body, but
not about our statement. I wish to talk to you about the
group that he was working for."

The detective raised his eyebrows, and shook his head. "I
don't think there's a thing you can do about this."

"Oh, come now," Fox replied. "There's something going on
here. You know it and I know it, but we are the only ones
who know it. If you want to keep whatever they are planning
to have happen from happening, it would be best if I helped
you."

He look confused for a moment, and then sighed, shaking his
large head. "If you want to talk to me that badly, then come
with me, and we can share what we know."

Fox smiled, and flicked his tail happily as he followed
Baxter back through the door into the station. "Come on,
Oria," he said, glancing over his shoulder.

I smirked, and followed just behind him. I was tempted to
play with his tail a bit as we walked, but knew it wasn't
the time. He had to focus on the matters at hand, primarily
getting Baxter on our side.

The building was bustling now, nothing at all like it had
been last night. The offices and hallways were full of
people, some in uniform, others not, all mingling and
talking amongst themselves.

Baxter just pushed through them, sometimes making a comment
or two, but mostly just ignoring them. We followed behind
him, moving easily in the large bear's wake.

He pushed his way passed a door into what was apparently his
office, and moved around the small desk and settled down in
the chair. He motioned for us to take our own seats.

I relaxed into one, and Fox just dropped, wincing a bit as
he landed on his tail. As he adjusted himself, he looked
over at the detective. "What do you know about Spider?" he
asked.

The bear pulled out a file, and opened it on his desk. "Not
as much as I would like. He was twenty seven years old when
he died, and a known member of Fractal. He had multiple
charges on his record, from breaking and entering to
conspiracy to commit mass murder. He got out on bail for the
last one, and never came back."

"Why would anyone set bail for something like that?" I asked
them both.

"The Judge was dirty," Baxter replied, with a frown.
"Fractal paid him to look the other way, and killed him when
they were through."

"And now he's sitting in your morgue. A surprising turn of
events, I would say. Do you have a tox report on him? I'm
not sure the bullets we're all that was used on him."

"Why do you say that?" he asked.

Fox smiled, folding his paws into his lap. "The lack of
smell. Something was done to the body to mask the smell."

Baxter nodded. "I think you're correct about that. As for
the tox report, it hasn't been done yet. His autopsy isn't
scheduled for another," he paused, checking his watch.
"twenty minutes."

"Oh, good!" my husband said, clapping his paws together. "We
can go watch it," he declared, rising to his feet.

Baxter looked surprised, and shook his head. "It's not as
simple as that, you know."

Fox laughed, "Everything can be as simple as that. There
will be no harm in our watching. I've witnessed them a few
times before, so I know how to stay out of the Medical
Examiner's way."

The detective continued to shake his head, and sighed. "Why
do you think you'll be allowed in to watch the autopsy?"

I smiled. "Because we're asking nicely."

Fox smiled and nodded to me. "Exactly right, and we are even
saying please."

He sighed, placing his head in his paws. "My commanding
officer is going to kill me for this," he said with a sigh,
and stood up. "Come along then," he grumbled, pushing his
way out of the office.

Fox and I followed him, a smirk on Fox's face.

"You're enjoying this far too much," I whispered to him,
using my language.

He laughed and nodded. "I know, but it is fun. I'll try to
rein it in for now," he replied in kind.

I nodded, and ran my paw over his tail, fluffing the end a
bit. "At least Baxter is helping us. I'm surprised about
that."

Fox shrugged and nodded. "I am too, a little. I don't have
the whole innate goodness that the real Doctor has, but if I
put myself to it, people feel they can trust me."

"I trusted you right away when we first met." I said,
dropping my arm over his shoulder.

He smiled and grabbed me around the waist, pulling me tight
against his side, then kissed me on the neck. "I love you,
Oriana," he whispered.

"I love you, too, Fox," I replied.

We continued walking, following Baxter into a tight
elevator, and heading down. During the short trip Fox pulled
me closer, his body shaking slightly, but he was holding it
in. His fear of elevators had grown over time, and it was
close to becoming a full blown phobia.

We stepped out into a very sterile environment, plain blue
walls, with white tile on the floor. Everything was
spotless, and tidy, but hanging in the air was the faint,
and familiar, smell of death.

"It'll take me a few minutes to talk the ME into letting you
into the room with him." Baxter said, starting down the
hallway. The look on his face made it clear he didn't like
being down here.

We followed him down the hallway, before he shuffled us into
a small waiting room. Along one wall was a large window, on
the other side was an operating theater of sorts, but
lacking in life support equipment.

Fox sighed slightly as Baxter left, running a paw through
the fur on his arm. "I hate dead bodies."

I nodded, placing a paw on the small of his back. "I know,
hon, no one likes them."

He nodded, "I just want to take a close look at Spider's.
Something is starting to bother me about it, something I
have to look closely at to be sure of." He sighed softly.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I'll tell you when I know for sure, Oria," he replied,
straightening up, and taking a deep breath. Then he shrugged
off his jacket, setting it on the chair next to me.

A moment later Baxter came back in with a middle-aged wolf
lurking behind his shoulder. "Fox this is Doctor Banner,
he's going to be doing the autopsy. He's given permission
for you to join him during it."

Fox smiled, and took a few steps forward, and introduced
himself. They exchanged some pleasantries before they
stepped out into the hallway, closing the door behind him.

Baxter sat down in one of the chairs in the room, and
motioned for me to join him. "There's not much we can do
now, but watch."

I nodded, resting my paws on my legs. I watched through the
window as a gurney was wheeled in, the body on it covered in
a red sheet.

"I hate watching these," he said with a frown. "Always blood
and gore. It's never a pleasant thing to witness someone in
death."

"I know, I've seen it in person too often myself," I
replied, not voicing the fact that I was planning to return
to killing people soon.

A few moments later Fox and Doctor Banner entered into the
room. Both were dressed in long brown gowns that could have
doubled as dresses, and had rubber gloves on their paws.

The wolf pulled the sheet off the corpse, which made Fox
blanch. An assistant moved up next to the Wolf, and they
started to work on the body.

Fox stayed out of the way, and just watched as they worked.
The medical people moved quickly, taking blood samples and
running some quick tests.

"Strange," Fox commented as they worked, having taking the
corpse's paw in his. "There's a blue tinge to the skin
around his claws. "

The ME paused, and looked closer at it. "Strange, I wonder
what caused that."

Fox frowned behind the mask that was obscuring his muzzle,
his ears twisting to the side. "There are a few other things
that you've noted already, the blood in the eyes for one.
That makes me think he's been dead longer than a few hours."

"It's possible," Doctor Banner admitted, feeling over the
dead body's belly, before preparing his equipment. "We'll
know for sure once we're done. If you could stand back so I
have room to work."

He nodded and took a step back, looking over the rest of the
body as the ME started to cut.

Through the speaker in the wall, I could hear a soft hissing
sound. Fox heard it, too, his ears perking up as he took a
step closer.

Doctor Banner paused, half way through the cut, and shook
his head. "I'm feeling a little dizzy," he said, his speech
starting to slur.

The assistant nodded, and started to say something, but
suddenly fell. Fox lunged forward, catching him, but was
unstable as he lowered him to the ground.

The ME had his paws on the table, gasping hard as he looked
at us through the glass. "There's some kind of gas coming
from the body," he gasped out. "It's hard to breath."

And with that he fainted as well, falling hard onto the
floor, leaving only Fox in the center of the room, gasping
for breath.

   To Be Continued...

-----

This story is copyright 2003 by Fox Cutter. Hardcopy
reprints limited to one per 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
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