Author's note:This is, of course, a work of fiction. Most the characters are copyrighted to me as they were names of  pets I've had. Some of the names are names of my friend's pets, but they gave me permission. Please e-mail suggestions and comments to 'strabo@sb.net'. I'll try to answer everyone. Enjoy.


Missy and Belle by Kenth
Part 1:Truth and Lies

Chapter 1
	An alarm was not the way Missy had wanted to wake up, but the noise invaded her sleep. Though her eyes were open half-open, her ears were at attention and were now bringing in a voice along with the alaram.
"...to the Briefing Room. This is not a drill. All pilots report to the Briefting Room. This..."
That was all Missy needed to hear. Leaping from her bed and dressing in the flight suit they gave her took less the a minute; sparing a few seconds to stop by a mirror, she examined the reflection. About 5 and a half feet tall by her 20th year, Missy looked like an ordinary feline, desended from a line of domesticated cats. Her fur was a combination of black with white. The black dominated her back and tail, up over her head to just below her eyes on both sides of her jaw, giving her somewhat of a masked looked. The white fur covered most of her front, save for the length of black on the back of her right arm and a connecting circle at he knees when her legs are together, leaving her with white 'gloves' and 'socks'.
	
	Her light green eyes finished scanning over the mirror and she smiled, just before the thumping of others running past reminded her to hurry. Missy hurried to the door of the small room, throwing it open and charging out...right into the chest of someone. Missy's eyes were level to the black furred pectorals she bumped into; as they moved up and recgonized the face, she gave an inward sigh. 
"Well now, fancy running into you." The dobermin had a deep voice which fitted with his tall stature.
"Mi-Al," Missy greeted coldly. Mi-Al stood blocking the door, wide shoulders almost touching the sides. He stood well over 6 feet, was built soild enough to withstand a brick to the stomach, and had an ego the size of the Grand Canyon. He was wearing the same kind of flight suit as Missy, though his was zipped down to just above his waist, showing off the short black fur covering the chest she ran into.

	Missy feinted to the left to get around the canine, then scowled as he shifted a couple of inches just in time to block her.
"What the hell are you doing? There's an alert on..."
Mi-Al just smiled. "Oh, that. I'm sure it's just the old guy making sure we can get ready quickly for tonight."
"Look, Mi-Al; Max may be old to you, but he is very serious about the mission. He wouldn't call everyone together now when we're supposed to meet in 10 hours for the briefing."

	Before he could reply, a fox in a tech coat came up, tapping rapidly on Mi-Al's shoulder. Distracted, the dobermin turned, giving Missy her chance to squeeze by. She was out and down the hall, closing the door almost on a paw of Mi-Al's as he tried to stop her. She took off after the last of the other pilots, coming to a bank of elevators after they started up. Missy pushed the button to go up, waiting for one of the doors to open. Her ears twitched to the sounds of boots behind her; she knew it would be that damn dog again. She tensed, waiting for him to come up and start talking. But the elevator got there first; she all but bolted to the opening door, slipping in and pressing a level button near the top. As she stood, panting a little, around the corner Mi-Al appeared. His eyes lightened and he headed stright towards Missy. She reached for the 'close door' button, shutting it right when the dog was still a few feet away.

	Missy heaved a sigh of relief. She hated being rude to anyone, particuarly someone with flying skill like Mi-Al; but his easy and overconfident-in-himself attitude just made her mad. Sure he was the best pilot the rebellion had, and yes, at times he seemed charming; everyone admired him. Everyone but Missy. She had arrived at the secret mountain base when the city rebels found out her skill with electronics and computers. In the mountain was the air base the Furred Rebellion and they needed Missy to come up with a form of shield to protect the planes in flight. Withen a few months she had it perfected and installed on each of the planes, each one also hooked up to her main computer where she could activate them if something failed on board. About that time orders came for them to train all they could in air combat within the next 2 weeks; for this the city rebel sent up their best figheter and his plane:Mi-Al. His ship, the 'Violator', was sleek and fast, putting most of the other's ships to shame. Since Missy had no prior training in flight, the base commander assigned Mi-Al to give her something of a crash course. As soon as they were up and alone, he tried making passes at her. At first she just politely fended him off, but after hours of him going on, she told him off. Now she wished she had kept her temper; everyday during her training, Mi-Al's advances became bolder and a lot less subtle.

	She shivered at the thought of how he was right outside her door this morning, almost seeming to wait for a chance to slip in. The elevator pinged, signaling her floor and snapping her attention back to the present. She was out and running down the hall as soon as the door opened; traveling down until she reached the door of the briefing room. Hoping she hadn't missed anything, she slipped in quietly, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw they hadn't started yet. She took a seat at the back of the room, which was filled with the other 48 pilots. 48? There was supposed to be 50 counting herself...she then noticed Mi-Al hadn't shown up yet. Before she had a chance to wonder where the dobermin had gone off to, Max strode in from one of the side doors. The old bulldog was dressed in a flight suit similar to what the other pilots had on. He crossed to right in front of everybody, any noise quickly dying out. Though old and a little chubby, Max had the kind of presense that made anyone stop still and listen; that and his leadership experience made him the best to head up the mission Missy and the others had been training for.

	"Listen up," he more or less barked. "As of 2200 yesterday, we heard from the forces in the city that information had been leaked to the enemy about our upcoming raid." This caused a stir among pilots, some looking at their neighbors. Max waited a couple of seconds before continuing. 
"I'm not saying who it is, or who we think it is, but this does not change the mission profile...all we can do is bump the time it takes place forward." He paused and looked at his watch. "It is now 0115. We take off at 0230. Everyone will be ready and lifted off at that time, including me. That's it. Dismissed....excpet for Private Missy."

	All the others filed out, more then one throwing a glance the young feline's way. She sat silently, not noticing the others, her attention on Max. He had been the first to call her to the mountain base and had been there for her since. Missy thought of him almost as a father, someone she could feel safe with.
"Too bad he wasn't several years younger," she had thought more then once alone in her room. As soon as the last person was out the door, she came down to where Max sat in a chair.
"Looks like he's asleep," she thought. "Not surprising since none of us got more then 5 hours of sleep." As Missy approached and wondered how best to wake him, Max's head snapped up, grey eyes awake and alert. He stared at Missy for a moment, then smiled a little.

	"I know you have your ship to check out, but I felt I should tell you about this mission." He gestured her to a chair.
"Oh, I already know all about it, sir," Missy replied as she sat. "We're to strike at the city's center, breaking off so each ship covers a 10 mile area..." She stopped as Max put up a paw.
"It's good to see you memorized the files, but I'm not talking about what you were told; I ment about the real mission that will take place." He sighed and looked older then he already did. 
"The real command is for us to act as a....distraction, while the city rebels go in and steal whatever data they can from the enemy's files."
Missy stared in disbelif at the old dog. "This wasn't a mission," she thought. "It'll be a suicide run..." She opened her mouth to protest, but Max stopped her short again.

	"I know it sounds stupid and dangerous, but none of my concerns about the pilots ever got heard," Max said, then shook his head.
"I know it's unusal to suggest this to a fighter, but I'd like you to consider staying back in case the mission is a disaster." His eyes met her own for a moment, and in them she saw genuine concern. She could stay behind, her computer could activate the shields from far away. But it's not what her sister Belle would've wanted, and ever since she disappeared during that last mission, Missy was looking for some pay back.
"Sorry, sir," Missy said as she stood, "but you didn't have me trained for nothing." She looked directly at the old bulldog, who was smiling and she smiled back.
"Good; I knew you would choose to fight. Your sister would've done the same." As soon as Max said that, he caught Missy looking a little sad. He stood up, went over next to the young feline and gripped her shoulder.

	"I'm sure if everything goes well, they might even get some information of Belle's whereabouts." He waited while this sunk in and saw Missy's eyes brighten. "Now get going to get your ship ready, soldier."
Missy saluted and headed for the back door. She paused as if to say something more; instead she just continued out. Max watched her go, then shook his head as he moved to one of the side doors. If  only he could've told her that the rest of the plan was that none of the fighters were to return alive....

Chapter 2
	Missy stepped off the elevator and into the very crowded hanger. Here all the planes were being prepared and armed for the upcoming flight. Missy weaved her way past a variety of planes, each modified from old pictures taken from books acquired in raids against the Enemy. The rebels learned the old ones ran on a certain kind of fuel and required a long, flat surface for take-off; they decided to go with a different type of motor that allowed the planes to take off stright up. That ment changing the shape of the planes, which they did several times to get it right, so in the end the planes no longer had their original shpaes, though most kept the same names like 'Tomcat' and 'Fighting Falcon.'

	One thing about the new motors was they were quiet. "Good thing," Missy thought as she ducked under a housing. "Last thing we need is to be noticed too soon." She moved around a few of the other ships before her own came into view. It was small and squat, barely half the length of the others. The 'StarBurst', as she called it, was what the rebels had found her and Belle in a little over 15 years earlier. It was appently an escape ship, part of a larger one that might've blew up; but no one could identify which ship it came from, so Missy and Belle were considered orphans at age 5. When she was told about this mission, Missy insisted to Max that the old ship be refitted and was surprised when they told her they had done it already, for other reasons, and it wouldn't require much modifacation. To fix it up, the best mechanic was assigned to the job; Missy was nervous when she found it was a canine, but they became fast friends. In fact....

	"MISSY!" someone yelled from the side; she looked over just in time to become engulfed in a hug that consisted mostly of fur.
"Hi, Keesha," Missy's reply and purr were muffled. Keesha the ace mechanic was a cross of a smaoyed and golden retriver, her gold-colored fur fluffed out, giving her a bottle brush look. Yet her fingers were nimble, and despite the fur filling out the worker's jumpsuit, the dog moved with ease. Keesha let up on the hug, placing Missy on back on the floor; looking down from her 6 foot height, she seemed massive, but Missy knew she was trim under all that fur.
"You're just in time, girl," the fluffy mechanic hauled Missy over to her ship. "We finished all the modifications, so the old bird can now hover. We also finished the changes to the shield system, so you...." Keesha stopped as Missy jumped to cover her muzzle, shaking her head in response to the dog's look of surprise.
"Max said there was a spy among us, that's why we're getting ready now." She dropped her paws. "I don't want it to get out about the change you made."

	Keesha nodded. "Ah, ok....maybe you should check them over in that case." Missy nodded in return, both heading for the short ladder to the cockpit, only to stop short. Leaning against the ladder was Mi-Al.. He turned to face the two women, a smile that was mostly a half snarl on his face.
"Ah, there she is now. And the walking cotton ball you call a friend." Keesha made a move to jump the dobermin, but felt Missy tug her back.
"No, Keesha; he's just toying with you. Give me a couple of minutes." She walked over to the other canine, staring hard at him. "That was rude, Mi-Al, even for you."
Mi-Al chuckled. "Ah, sweet Missy. To you, she is a friend....and more. To me, she is just a mixed breed, whose only place is the end of any joke."
Missy closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Where do you get off saying such things about members of your own species?" Mi-Al smirked at the feline.
"I say such things because my pure blood puts me over them; your species I know doesn't believe in such things....strange that it is. As to where I get off...." Here the smirk widened. "I'll tell you, if you promise to come watch me at it sometime." Missy blinked as she thought that through, then shuddered.
"Never mind....what is it you want?" She decided to finish this quickly.
"Oh, I just wanted to be sure you got to your little plane all right, and to offer you a seat in mine if that tumbleweed of a mechanic fouled up somehow...." Mi-Al stood and stretched.
"But your's is just a one-seater."

	I know, but you could sit on my lap." The dobermin grinned and walked off over to the 'Violator' right nearby, but not beforemaking a small swat at Missy's rear, which she easily avoided. Keesha came over and watched him move away.
"Why do  you put up with that, Missy? You should've let me at him."
Missy shook her head. "No, I'd rather handle this myself."
Keesha nodded. "If you want....but just say so and I can get some of my helpers to hold him down while I run a rusty circular saw over his groin." She smiled down at the feline, who was giggling. "Now, come and check out the shields." Missy nodded and opened the cockpit, which Mi-Al didn't seem to get into. She slid into the seat, her feet coming to rest on the extra pedals she had Keesha install. She ran a paw over the controls, glancing at certain readings.
"Looks great, Kee. You always do a great job."
Keesha smiled, reaching in to give Missy a one-armed hug. "Thanks, girl. Now look those files over; I gotta check out the rest of the ship and then you'll be up and away." She hopped the short distance to the ground, moving away and issueing orders, as well as checking parts. Missy smiled to herself, then punched up the file changes on her onboard computer. She worked there for the next hour before Max showed up, helmet under one arm. All last minute preparations were made as the pilots ran their final tests.

	Missy breezed over her controls, making small adjustments as she waited for the control room to tell her to take off. She glanced out the side of the window, hoping to see Keesha; instead her eyes fell to Mi-Al, climbing aboard his own ship. He looked up and noticed her, giving a thumbs-up and a leacherous smile. Missy just stared back, lowering her helmet's eye shield, then turned back to her controls.
"Max may not who the spy is...." Missy thought. "But I have my own ideas...."
Before she sat back to wait more, she zipped open her flight suit and pulled from an inside pocket a small photograph. She gave a soft smile as she looked it over. In it on one side was Missy, smiling as she hugged the other feline in the picture, Belle.

	They were the same age, just past 19 and having a great time, taking a break from the battles. Belle had a lways been a little shorter then Missy, barely clearing 5 feet in height. Her fur was almost oppisite Missy's, being mostly white, save for a circle of black on her back and the tip of her tail. She did have have the same green eyes as Missy, all four in the picture looking like emeralds. The two were raised like sisters, since they were found together. As they grew up, mostly being passed from place to place as they did, Missy and Belle discovered what talents they had; while Missy's was for computer and mechanics, Belle turned out to have a passion for weapons. She quickly earned the nickname "Hellcat" for her speed to anger and the ferocity of her fighting. The two had been on few raids together, as the rebels needed Missy's skills, but Belle took every mission she could get, and came back everytime; until the last mission...
It was a month before Missy was to be called to the mouantain base, and they had just gotten back from their time off. As always Belle was excited to get going, but this time Missy seemed to have bad feelings about it.
"Look, Belle," she began the night before. The two were in their room and Belle had just finished putting a picture of the two of them in a locket she always wore. "I know you live for this sort of thing, but maybe you should back out of this one."
Belle smiled as she starting cleaning her gun. "I would, sis, but there is nothing to this one; it's just a little recon mission. I've done more enough to know." She looked up at Missy, and saw a look of concern. "But I can promise I'll be careful; no side trips this time. Deal?"
Missy smiled and hugged the smaller feline close, purring. "Deal."

	The next day came and Missy got swamped in her work, so it wasn't until well after midnight before she got back to the room they shared. Flicking on the lights showed the room was empty; Missy's fear came back, but she made herself believe the mission ran long and Belle never did say how long it would take. Missy slept in late and as she hurried down the halls to her work station in the morning, a sudden noise brought her down a side hall to the Command Room. Inside was a cluster of other rebels, seeming to look at something. She tapped a young skunk in front of her on the shoulder.
"What is it?" she asked him.
"A posting of those missing from the last recon mission."
"Oh...." Missy turned to leave when her ears perked up. "Recon?" she repeated. Belle. Forcing her way past the others, she got hold of the list, scanning it quickly. She recgonized a couple of names, but none she really knew. She finished the first, then turned to the second page. There it was: Belle's name typed out in the same font as the others, but to Missy it seemed to take up the whole page. She gripped the paper, staggering back into a few others, who realized something was wrong.

	The rest of the month was a blur to her. There was nothing the could do, she was told over and over. "We were lucky even one survied; he gave us a full report." Missy suddenly realized she saw the survior's name, but it was pushed out by the tragady of losing Belle. The name was in her memory; she just had to remember.
"Come on, you silly kitty," she scolded herself. "Think...." The name was....was.... Missy looked up into the space of her cockpit suddenly. Mi-Al. Mi-Al was the name of the survior. What fate allowed a bastard like that to come back while Belle was....what had happened to her? The dobermin killed her and the others? Betrayed them? She promised herself to check any records she could find when she got back....and if need be, confront Mi-Al himself. In the meantime, the control room was waiting for her 'all clear'. She gave it and was up through the hanger doors with everyone else.

	From below, Keesha watched as the planes streaked away. She silently wished Missy luck, not realizing she would need some of her own soon....

Chaper 3
	The city was some 45 minutes away by air, giving everyone enough time to relax, but no one took advantage of it. There were too many chances of things going wrong and being spotted, even in the night of the early morning. Each plane was equipped with every kind of neytralizing electronics, the only possible way to be detected by sight; but with the thick fog coming in off the ocean, even that risk was slight. Missy wasn't concerned about any of that, though. Her thoughts  kept going back to Mi-Al and the mission Belle had dissappered on. Why had he never said anything about it to her? Everyone in the rebellion seemed to know about her and Belle....was he saving it to try and get Missy alone with him? There was something going on here that Missy didn't like.

	Max's voice suddenly comes through everyone's radio.
"I'm getting some blips from up ahead. We have to be sure we're not tracked....Lucky."
Another voice came on over the line, thick as though he was chewing on something, not surprising since the overweight tabby always was. He had earned the nickname 'Lucky' after his plane crashed into a fuel tanker and walked away without so much as a scorch mark.
"Yes, sir."
"Get down and ahead of us to check it out. Fly only as low as you need to detect, then report back."
"Right, chief." Missy looked out her window to watch Lucky's ship roll off the formation and dissappear into the fog. Everyone waited quietly for the reply. After 10 minutes, his voice came in, a little crackled.
"Sir, visiual on 5 ground-bots. They seem to be just workers and I get no weapon readings." The sound of him chewing followed after.
"Ok, get back up here; we move on....and quit eating those chip!" was Max's reply. Mi-Al's voice came over before Lucky could confirm.
"Sir, we should go down and flatten them. I'm sure that feline was careless enough to let them spot him."

	"No." Max's voice was firm and loud. "We are not to attack anything until we get to the city. Besides we can't risk them getting a message out and tipping the enemy off ."
Missy shook her head as the argument continued, tuning most of it out as she looked again out the window to where the ground-bots Lucky saw passed under the fog. Ground-bots were tools used by the enemy, metal shells that they sat in and controlled. The 'bots were usually between 20 and 60 feet tall, each designed for speific tasks; some were used to farm and build, but the majority were for military use. The pilots were expecting to meet some during the raid, but they had no weapons that could penetrate the thick metal on one shot. The best time for taking even a 20 footer down with missiles was 30 minutes, but since it was Mi-Al who made the claim, Missy didn't quite believe it. She had heard some bizarre stories about the ground-bots; such as they made some to ressemble males and females. And that some of the drivers brought them together to....but no....no species could be that twisted, not even the enemy one.

	The rest of the flight was uneventful. Missy, along with the everyone else, was feeling quite confident. When Max was certain they were over the city, using intruments since the fog was still thick, he brought them to a hover-stop.
"Ok, below is one of the enemy's largest cities. If we can take it out or at least control part of it, our mission will be successful. You all have your assigned areas; you are to stay in those areas until relieved by our ground forces." Max's tone sounded a little off to Missy, but she put it down as him being tired. "I'll take on the government area myself....I've never been over it, but the large castle and hills should make it easy to see. Good luck to you all." The radio clicked off. Missy watched for Max's plane to go, the signal for everyone to follow. A few minutes later, he dived down into the fog. Missy and the others followed, quickly swallowed by the grey. Her eyes scanned ahead, looking for the lightening that signaled the bottom of the fog. But being still night, she plunged through without realizing. Her breath caught as below her, lights of the city sparkled almost prettily. Her attention was brought back to what danger she was in when the ship beside her suddenly exploded in a ball of flame.

	"The shields!" Missy yelled to herself. All that thinking about finding Belle pushed aside some stuff and cost a pilot their life. Her fingers flew over the keyboard, giving the other plane's the commands to activate and bring their shields on-line; just in time as streaks of lights, signaling tracer bullets, raced towards her. The first one available to be shoot at, she took the brunt of the metal hail; her little ship rocking back and forth. She took the flight stick, pushing it forwad so the nose dipped below the line of bullets. The far away gunner followed her down, joined by a second gun and creating a cross in front of her. She pushed hard to the right, still going down. Her speed brought her just to the side of the crossfire, going over the stream of bullets from the left.  She dived her plane down to go under the stream from the right, pulling the stick to the left and back so she was back to her original height. Missy zipped past the buildings the two guns were on, pulling the stick back and left again into a loop that brought her up behind the first gun. She turned her nose cannon on it in return, hitting the fuel system. Half the roof went up in flame, sparked off when the gun blew. She turned to finish off to the other building gun, turning away in time to avoid the explosion that took off the top five stories of that building.

	Missy figured someone else got that one for her as she sped along to her target area. She was almost right. Lucky, the chubby tabby, had a Twinkie in one paw, his other on the firing button. The second gun that had fired at Missy turned to fire back at him. One good shot shook his plane so much the drink Lucky kept between his legs spilled, drenching the instrument panel. As warning lights flashed around him, Lucky tried to get his plane back under control. Failing that, he took what he knew was his last look out his cockpit, just in time to see Missy go into her loop. He figured her plan, and when he saw her next target would be the gun in front of him, Lucky went full throttle, hoping he got to the gun before Missy was too close. A few feet from death, he looked over to see her take out the other gun, and with a smile, Lucky smashed directly into the other at full speed, not knowing, and at that point not caring, if he did save her.

	Missy flew down to just above above the ground down the lighted street, her little plane easily clearing both sides. She swung back and forth, riddling the enemy's ground vehicles with shots, a few even exploding. Half of her was enjoying this, the fire in her heart burning as she lashed out her anger. But her other half was feeling something was very wrong with all this; she had learned to trust this other half after Belle vanished. She pulled to the left down a side street, clearing the corner of a building, but shattering the windows of the one oppisite. A quick check showed no damge because of the shield, which was good because about a mile ahead of her, a ground-bot appeared and open fired. It stood about 20 feet tall, and 10 wide. It's two arms were permently pointing stright out, bullet cannons on the end of each. On either side of the head were missle launchers; missles were stored in the back vertically and fired off like a hand gun, the next one moving up after the first one has been fired. Missy wasn't prepared for it, so she thought to pull up over the buildings and come at it another way. But as she pulled the flight stick back, an alert sounded that another plane was above her. She looked up quickly, throwing her plane into hover. It was the 'Violator'; Damn Mi-Al, she thought. The whole time the ground-bot was peppering her shield with bullets and she wanted out of the way. She turned her radio to the dobermin's frequency.
"Damn it, Mi-Al. You're supposed to stay in your own area...."
The canine's smirk could almost be heard over the radio. "Do tell. It happens I already cleared out my area and came to check on my 'student'. Oh, you might went to try firing back soon."

	Missy scowled, her fingers working the nose cannons. But her bullets did nothing but scratch the 'bot's armor; it did stop it's advance, though it continued firing it's own guns.
"Mi-Al, clear my ceiling. I need to get up." Missy called to the dobermin.
"Aww, but it seems so natural to have you under me...."
Missy slammed her radio off; she didn't have time to listen to him. As she glanced over her controls for something to do, a larger jolt made her look up....right into the nose of a missile. She hauled the flight stick to the right while in hover, so the missile passed just under her shield. She pulled back the other way, sending bullets back towards the machine. Her own ship didn't have missiles. All she had to do was time her bullets to reach the launchers when they were open and not hit the outcoming missile before the launcher sealed again. Right....

	Missy sighed. She had no choice but to try; with Mi-Al blocking her only safe way out, what else could she do. The 'bot had just been sitting there, seeming to wait for her move. Missy swung her plane to forward, lining her gus to the launchers as she moved. The enemy opened up with it's guns, bullets turned away by the shield.
"Come on, you bastard." Missy cursed. "Fire a missile...." A quick glance up showed Mi-Al's ship pacing her's from just above the rooftops. Missy picked up speed, hoping to scare the enemy into firing a missile and it worked. As soon as she saw both launchers open, her guns fired; she knew that once the sequence began, it couldn't be stopped. Time seemed to slow as in the 5 seconds it took to launch the missiles, her bullets flew in, hitting everything inside. Missy was still flying directing at the 'bot's chest when it exploded. She winced on instinct as shards of metal and fire engulfed her ship a few seconds later.

	Her shields held though, leaving her plane unscratched once more. Missy smiled as she craned around to see the wreakage of the ground-bot littering the street. She glanced up, tempted to rub it in to Mi-Al, but his ship was gone. No other blips showed on her radar.
"Hmmm, guess he doesn't like being showed up." Missy continued on, shooting most everything in her area well after the sun appeared. She did find it surprising that no enemy planes appeared now and the whole area seemd pretty empty for being such a large city. She did catch a glimpse of one of  the other planes now and then when high enough, but saw nothing too unusal. That's when she got the bad feeling again. She suddenly had the urge to disobey her orders and go find Max.
"Your sister would've done the same," Max had told her earlier. Missy nodded to herself and took off in the direction she had seen him go earlier. In her hurry, she didn't check her screens; if she had, she would've noticed a plane hanging high above....the 'Violator'.

Chaper 4

	Missy saw nobody else as she flew on her way to Max. There was to be no radio contact, save from plane to plane.  So she had no way of getting hold of him; all she had to go on was what Max had said before about a castle. A castle in the middle of a modern city? Not unheard of, but it should stand out. She did a quick check of the shields for everyone, using the pedals at her feet to keep flying stright. Missy called up the program giving a listing of all the planes still protected and was saddened to see out of the 50, only 22 remained active. She looked over the list and saw that Max's plane was one of  the ones still going, but she had no idea where. Well, maybe she could see the castle from higher up. Missy pulled back on the flight stick, taking her plane up at an angle. Almost right away she saw something that didn't fit with a city scheme.

	A small mountain seemd to have grown out of an open area surrounded by buildings. What was ever stranger was the top of the mountain was covered with what looked like snow. Snow? Missy checked the outside temperture, getting a reading in the 90's. And since it wasn't melting she guessed it was painted on. Curious, she headed towards the mountain, and from her height  soon saw the area around it was even stranger. Strangly shaped and colored buildings were fitted in with ones that looked more like what would be found in a city, though older then modern ones. The whole area was huge, with what looked like a monrail around the perimiter. A few fair-sized lakes finished off the perticular scene, giving it a look more of a park then a government center. And in the middle of it all, was a castle.

	Missy smiled to herself. This must've been what Max was talking about. She dived her plane in, looking at her radar for a sign of Max's ship. To help she set her helmet visior to magnify and blinked. She looked again at the 'snow'-covered mountain she had first seen. Along the sides were holes and tracks connecting them. The enemy was mining an artifical mountain? Missy just shook her head, looking back at her screens whe a sound confirmed another plane had been located. She looked up, puttng her visior back to normal, and headed towards the blip. As she closed in, Missy found Max behind the castle, shooting at three different sized ground-bots. He seemed to be having trouble with a 30-foot one; his shots fell all around it, but very few actually hit. Even more odd was none of the 'bots were firing back.
"Must be they're waiting for him to make a mistake or something...." Missy thought. She zipped her plane up to behind Max's from a distance and opened  the radio to his. 
"Max. I found a way to take them out....watch." Before waiting for a reply, she dived her plane past his, heading right to the ground-bot. This one had been configured for six missile launchers to fire at once, so Missy was already taking aim.

	"Missy!?" Max came in over the radio. "For the Gods sake, get out of here! You don't know...." The rest was lost to Missy as during his talk, the 'bot driver had panicked and fired it's missiles. Missy wasted no time in putting several shot of her own into two of the launchers, one in the chest area and another along one of the legs. The explosion rocked her plane, but the shields held, though by now they were starting to weaken. Missy pulled her plane up to Max's, who had moved to a safe height from the 'bots, and hovered next to him. She was about to call over, when Max's voice came over, very quiet.
"Why didn't you stay away? Why?"
Missy blinked to herself before answering. "Max, I came because I felt you needed help....and that something didn't seem right about all this...."
	
	Max's voice was sterner this time. "It was all a set-up. The mission, the information about a spy....it was part of a plan...."
"Max....I-I don't understand....you were involved with all of this? You knew that this was a set-up?"
Max didn't get a chance to answear. Mi-Al hovered up in front of them both and broke in on the radio. "Of course he knew....all of this was his idea, once the orders came in from the PureBloods. He was to see to the death or capture of the pilots, making sure they were feline or crossbreeds just for this raid."
Missy swallowed. "But why? Why just those kind?"
Mi-Al's laugh was like a knife, cold and sharp. "Because the only place for such is serving the PureBloods....and their Human allies."

	Missy could feel her anger raising. "You are allied with the Humans? Our enemy? How could you betray all those pilots who admired you, Mi-Al?"
"Ah," Mi-Al started smoothly. "I didn't betray them. It was Max who lead you all to this empty city, knowing it was a trap." The dobermin started to laugh. "And all because for a woman, who he thinks loves him. Care to deny it, Max?"
Max's end stayed quiet.
"Max?" Missy questioned softly. "Tell me it's not the truth....Max?" Mi-Al's laughter started up again, flooding Missy's ears. Max's voice fell to a whisper and through the speakers was full of saddness.
"I'm sorry, Missy...." This was followed by the click of weapons being readied.
"Even if he does lie to you, girl, and say it's not true, he still has his orders." Mi-Al put in. "Take her down, Max. She knows too much."
"Max!? No, please...." Missy's voice had a tinge of panic to it. "Please....you can get away from those PureBloods....no one will hold it..." She was cut off by Mi-Al's stonger voice.
"Do it, old man! Shoot her down; kill those that were born to be beneath us."

	All was silent for a minute, then Max spoke again, softly. "No. I...."
"Very well, Max." Mi-Al cut him off. "You made your decision to go against your orders and now I must carry out mine. Give my regards to those you let get killed today." A click was heard from the dobermin's end. Missy looked out to see Max's plane explode in a ball of flame, it's shaped held for a second by the shield before that gave way. She watched the pieces rain to the ground.
"NO! MAAAAXXXXX!" Missy screamed. Her eyes came up to look at the 'Violator', tring to look at it's pilot across the distance. "You killed him...." She knew Mi-Al was still listening. "Why?"
"Because he was willing to betray the PureBloods for your life," was the other's reply.
"But that doesn't give you the right...."
"It does! By my blood, I had every right to kill one who would put aside his lineage for the sake of a low-born. That's the first thing you are taught as a PureBlood:Any other species or crossbreeds are only useful for slavery or death. And those of PureBlood who defend the lower ones are subject to the same fate."

	Missy shook her head, not believing any of this; her gaze suddnly came to the picture of her and Belle she kept. A thought came to her.
"That mission you, Belle, and the other went on; the one where she dissappeared....you....you betrayed them to the enemy then...."
"Belle? Hmmm , now where have I...." Mi-Al was teasing her, the sound of his voice gave it away. "Oh, yes;that little bitch....all I can say it was a pleasure to watch her go down under a stun grenade." Missy's heart lightened a little. 
"Then she is still alive?"
Mi-Al barked a laugh. "Last I saw she was. Though with her attitude, whoever ended up owning her no doubt blew her little head off long ago." That set Missy off, as Mi-Al had intended it to. She let out a scream, shifting her guns to the dog's ship. It was after a minute of firing before she realized nothing was getting through. With her gun off now, she could hear Mi-Al's laughter filling the cockpit.
"How ironic. You wish me dead, but the shield you invented saves me...." His laughter continued a little longer. "Now, land your plane and let's end this."

	Missy hesitated. "Why not bring me back to the base with the force of humans here?" Again the laugh.
"Oh, by now forces of humans and PureBloods have over ran that installation. Everyone is to be killed, even your friend Keesha. Now, land!"
Missy was thinking fast, but not doing what Mi-Al said, causing him to break in again.
"Don't even think of running or that you can fight. I have you outgunned with the two ground-bots below; and you are definatly outclassed by me when it comes to flying."
"Those may be true," Missy thought as an idea came to her. "But I won't be outsmarted." She knew the plan was dangerous and might not even work; but she refused to be sublect to Mi-Al anymore.
"You want me," she called over the radio, "come shoot me down." Missy dove her ship down, counting on it's small size to help delay Mi-Al from doing just that.

	"Fine, you silly kitten." Mi-Al's voice came in. "If you want to waste you few minutes left playing a game....you'll understand that I will call in the humans and their 'bots after you, too."
"It's what I'm hoping you do," Missy thought. She darted around buildings and trees, tring to make a random pattern. In the cockpit, she was doing two things: one was searching for one of the other 'bots she had seen earlier and the other was bringing up a program for the shields, one only she knew how to work. Mi-Al took the occasional shot at her plane, not really to do damage, but more to force her to land. Missy was starting to get worried that Mi-Al was bluffing about the 'bots and none were around. Well, she was worried until she flew past an old Victorian-style mansion and from behind another fake mountain, one of the largest ground-bots Missy had ever seen stepped out and began firing. The things was well over 60 feet tall and loaded down with weapons. Missy jerked the flight stick back hard , sending her plane shooting stright up. The g-forces almost caused her to black out, but she managed to right the plane and slip into hover for the moment. She looked around and saw the 'Violatar' slip in behind her.

	"That was a fun little chase," Mi-Al began over the radio. "But now it is time to end this." A sharp jolt shook Missy's plane as a missile exploded against the back part of her shield. "I know your shields can not take many more shots....surrender now, and I promise to make your life as my personal slave tolerable."
"I'd rather die first," Missy countered.
"Very well," Mi-Al sighed. "Have it your way." He opened fire with his nose gun, only to stop short as Missy had already dove out of the way, heading right to the ground-bot. Mi-Al followed quickly, sending bursts of bullets after the feline. From below, the 'bot was firing as well, the 'StarBurst' caught inbetween. Missy checked the shield's strength, which was going down quickly. What she needed was for the 'bot to launch a missile at her. Luck seemed to be with her today; the ground-bot sent 12 missiles at her, each of different size and power. At the same time, Mi-Al firied his final two missiles at Missy from behind. Just what she needed....

	She hit the enter key to the shield computer, running the program she had kept quiet about. It caused every shield linked to her computer to go down and would only reactivate at her command. Mi-Al knew nothing of this, nor seemed to notice the 'shield on' light blink off. All he saw were the two sets of missiles continuing past the two foot clearance of where the shield was supposed to be. His jaw dropped then as he saw Missy at the last instant pull into a barrel roll that put her below the paths of the missiles, and flying upside down, headed right for inbetween the 'bot's legs. Eyes flicking up, Mi-Al just caught the missiles going past each other, his own two headed right for ground-bot and the other's 12 heading right for him.
"Nice try, Missy." Mi-Al taunted. "But you forgot that my shield is still at full...." A pause as he checked the readout and noticed the light was out. "You clever little bitch...." He started to laugh, this time a laugh of one insane. "You think you've beaten me? That you won and will never see me again? HA! This is far from ov...."

	Mi-Al's transmission was cut off as the first of the missiles took out one of the wings of his plane. From her upside down position, Missy watched the 'Violator' start to spin on it's nose-tail axis. Her attention shifted back to the bot's legs she was heading for, realizing too late the width between them was going to be about two feet too narrow for her wings; but it was too late to pull away. She winced at the sound of metal scraping off metal, feeling the drag as the wings were cut a foot on each side. As soon as the plane was clear , she flipped the plane over, putting it in hover and heading up to a safe height. Missy just hadn't been quick enough; she had barely cleared the head of the ground-bot when Mi-Al's plane corkscrewed into it. Missy braced herself, and made it a little higher before the 'bot exploded. She just had time to put her shield up when the column of fire pushed her plane up higher. The shield, being weak to start with, buckled under, but manged to hold out most of  the explosion with no damge, save for a very burned exterior. Missy fought to keep the plane at least upright, only concerned right now to getting up higher. Finally the jostling stopped, giving her a chance to look down.

	The area below her was littered with twisted metal and burning fires.
"How's that for a 'low-born', you son of a bitch!?" Missy yelled gleefully to the burning fluffs of fur which had been Mi-Al. She had good reason to be happy now; the bastard that been responsible for so much misery, particuarly this day, was dead. Missy had her revenage.... her private vistory didn't last too long; from behind the castle appeared the third ground-bot.

Chapter 5 

	The 'StarBurst' shook like a kite in high winds as Missy fought to get higher up from the 'bot's shots. She first tried to turn the shields back on for herself and the other pilots, then watched helplessly as the computer sparked and started burning. The air in the cockpit was still heavy and chocking from the smoke. She finally managed to get high enough. Her cockpit window was pockmarked, but she could still see below. The ground-bot had come down from the castle area, along what had to be the main street. The 'bot itself was just a little shorter then the 2-4 story buildings surrounding it.

	Missy looked around the cockpit and it's controls....not good. Her shield was gone, the fuel supply was running low, parts of the plane's wings were missing and her ammo was gone. She knew even if she managed to get the plane back, it would be declared a write-off. Yet, she didn't want to give up; not after losing so much today. There was one more plan of action; again it was dangerous, but right now she didn't care. Missy made some quick mental calculations, bringing her plane up higher for it to work. Taking a last good look around, she flipped open the self-destruct casing. Setting the timer to countdown from 20 seconds at a pre-set height and programming in a flight course, she took a deep breath, aimed her plane directly at the ground-bot and fired up her engines, gaining speed as the plane went down.

	Just before she got to the height when the timer would start, Missy pulled the ejection switch. In  the few seconds between the cockpit cover falling off and her seat launching into the sky, Missy remembered to grab the picture of her and Belle she kept out, sticking it inside her flight suit. As she was zipping back up, the seat lifted out and Missy found herself in mid-air with her plane going on beneath her. From her height, she noticed how late in the day it was; the sun was just starting to set. A sudden jerk told her the parachute had opened, letting her slowly to the ground. Looking down on the street, she saw the ground-bot start firing at the abandaned plane. 
"Maybe they're thinking it'll fall apart before it hits," Missy thought. She glanced at her watch, noting the time to destruct was 15 seconds away, time seeming to slow down.

	15....14....
Missy was within a dozen feet of the ground when a strong wind came howling towards her, trapped between the buildings and pushing her back skywards. The 'bot was still firing at the plane.
13....12....
Flames could be seen coming out of the cockpit. Missy struggled to undo the parachute, notcing she was still too close to the plane's path.
11....10....
The plane, with it's auto progarm still working, leveled out below the rooftops to just a few feet above the ground, rocketing towards the ground-bot. Missy finally resorted to using her claws to slip free, dropping 20 feet to the ground.
9....8....
The 'bots began firing everything it had, most of it missing as the driver paniced, the darking street lit up by trails of light. Missy hit the ground, rolling once and wincing as her left ankle fired up in pain.
7....6....
The ground-bot stopped firing, either out of ammo or the driver knew it was pointless.
5....
Missy made herself run despite the ankle to take cover behind a building.
4....
She risked a peek around in time to see what looked like someone dropping out of the 'bot and running.
3....
Whoever she saw running tripped and fell flat, proably because of one of the rails she hadn't noticed before in the street. Her plane continued on it's deadly way.
2....
Missy got back behind the building, last seeing the other figure scrambling to get up.
1....
Missy closed her eyes tight and covered her ears. She wished the day would just end....

	Her thoughts were shattered when the explosion happened. The noise and wave of heat made her curl up and whimper softly as windows shattered nearby. What she didn't see was her plane's front buring itself in the small-sized 'bot, causing it to fall backwards. Just before the 'bot hit, the self-destruct activated, igniting the leftover fuel in the little plane. The 'StarBurst' lit up like it's namesake, sending out flames hot enough to melt it and the machine it was stuck in. The force of the explosion was powerful enough to take out buildings on either side of the street, some crumbling down to the foundation. A second explosion rocked the ground, sending chunks of melted metal flying into more buildings and the debris of others.
	
	For 5 minutes, Missy's whole world was the green-black of her tightly shut eyes. When she finally did open them, everything blurred out of focus, then came in clear. She stayed on the ground, hardly daring to move; her breathing was ragged, making her pant slightly. Realizing she was indeed alive, Missy slowly stood up, touching herself in various places to be sure she was fine; aside from her ankle and a few small cuts, she had survied. Bending over, she touched her left ankle, feeling for blood or a protusion of bone. But there was nothing; she had just twisted it very badly. She began to limp towards the front side of the building, to her the ground still shaking.

	Missy gasped loud at the destruction when she came out. A few small fires were burning in front of buildings and a large section of the street was either missing or covered in now cooling metal. She stopped near where both machines had become one and were piled on the ground. She had lost another part of her life with the 'StarBurst' destroyed. Her face it only by the fires on the dark street, she yelled out to some gods she didn't even believe in.
"Why are you doing this to me!? What more are you planning to take before I get something back?" She dropped her head, weeping into her paws, her only company the moaning wind. But when the wind stopped, the moaning remained. Missy's ears swiveled around pinpointing the noise. It was coming from a pile of rubble that had once been a building; it was so demolished, it couldn't be from creaking timbers.

	Missy got up and limped over to the rubble, stepping carefully. She didn't have to go far to identify the source of the moan. Half buried under a wooden beam was the figure she vaguly remembered running before the explosion. It was a human, all right; no fur on the arms and face, excpet for the top. This one was still wearing a helmet, so she thought it had hair, and  a jumpsuit. Missy leaned over, curious of his name when she noticed the beam had been split, the sharp part plunged into the chest. Missy was no expert on biology, but from the human's labored breathing and the growing red patch on his chest, she guessed the missed anything vital, but he was slowly bleeding to death. Her rage long since spent, Missy started to feel pity for him. He started moaning again and she reached up to gently pull the helmet off, red hair showing underneath. She ripped off part of a sleeve from her flight suit, tying it off around a gash in his forehead; then took the time to get a better look in the low light. By his face, he couldn't have been more a couple of years older then her, still a youth really. She used the back of her other sleeve to wipe away a band of sweat that formed.

	The youth's eyes rolled open, causing Missy to sit back suddenly. She watched as the glazed green eyes slowly moved around, finally focusing on her; they slowly took on the look of recgonition. 
"M....M....Missy...." his lips moved and the name came out as a whisper. Missy sat still and blinked. He knew her name? How? She never had contact with any human before. She almost missed his hand moving inside of his jumpsuit. When Missy did notice it, she tried to pull back, thinking the human had a gun; but his other hand found one of Missy's paws and gripped it hard.

	"Noooo....." he moaned again, taking some effort to shake his head. "F-find....Belle...." The rest was lost in a gurgle of blood and all Missy could pick our was "....ation...."
Missy was about to ask him where, when the human gripped her paw again; she put her other paw on the back of the hand and squeezed back, tring to offer what comfort she could.
"T-tell....her...." he continued, then was quiet for a minute. Missy thought he was gone when his lips moved again. "T-tell....Belle...I-I'm....sssss....." This time the youth did slip away, his last word hanging. The eyes sank shut and his hand loosened it's grip on her paw. Missy sat there, cring softly. This was an enemy and yet already she felt a loss with him gone. More then that, he had mentioned Belle. Had Mi-Al lied to her about her sister? Had he been lying about everything else that day? Missy's gaze wandered over to the now still form of the human. Had he been lying about Belle too? She noticed that one hand was still inside his jumpsuit, a lump where it was like he was gripping  something.
"If it is a gun," Missy thought to herself, "I might as well take and make use of it." She knelt down slowly, and building her nerve, started to move the slightly cold arm out.

	"No gun in it," as Missy took the hand out she thought; she did almost miss the thin gold chain sticking out between two fingers. Taking a deep breath, she opened the hand, revealing the treasure it clutched. Missy couldn't believe it; it was the locket she had last seen around Belle's neck the night she dissappeared. Missy gently took the locket into her paws, gazing at it. No....it wasn't the same. Belle's had chips out of it as she had always worn it on missions; this one was too smooth, so it must've just been a popular design. She was debating to herself to open it or not when her fingers noticed the backside wasn't smooth. Walking to a still burning fire nearby, she turned it over and in the low light saw it was inscribed. Missy turned the locket  a little to catch the light and read:
	To Tom-
	May you always
	Come back to me
	                -Belle
There was  a date at the end that was only 3 months olds. Hardly daring to hope, Missy fumbled with the catch to open the locket. She looked  inside for a minute, then removed the picture she saved from her ruined ship and compared. They were the same. The one in the locket was a little smaller, and half of Missy was missing from it, but they were the same. Missy sank to her knees, hugging herself as she cried. Belle had survied Mi-Al's betrayal; she had survied being put up as a slave. And as of at least 3 months ago, had lived with this human and cared for him, by the meaning of the inscription. She got up, slipping the locket over her head, and went back to the human's body. Again she nerved herself to search him over, hoping to and finding his I.D. tag. She went back over to the fire to read it. 

	She learned his name had been Tom Swanson, a 22 year old private serving his term with the 'demolition city corps'; not what she needed but nice to know. Ah, here's what Missy wanted: his address. She studied it for a moment, then shook her head. She had hope she would never see that Vegas place ever again....Missy turned to leave, then stopped. She went back to the body, removing the locket, placing it back in his hand. She curled the fingers up over it, squeezing the hand and feeling close to this person she would never know.
"You keep it, Tom." Missy whispered. "Belle would want you to have it." She stood slowly and began limping away. "Don't worry; I'll find her....for both of us...." She continued on into the night, passing a large sign on her wat back to the regular city. 
	
	Even plastered with "Condemed" and "Stay out" stickers, she could make out an outline of the castle. There was soemthing written on it, but with all the things covering it all she could make out was "est Place on Earth." Some of the other stickers showed the name of the demolition company. The 'bots she had fought  had just been a wreaking crew. She shook her head and continued on, the start above visible with no lights around.
"I'll find you, Belle." Missy swore as she looked up at a particuarly bright star. Getting no direct answer, she continued  on....missing the bright star she had addressed suddenly blinking out, then reappearing behind her as a long streak of light.

				End Part 1

Interlude 1

From: C.C.
To: Project PureBlood
	This is in confirmation to your report on the inactivity/death of subject #019070-1, designation: Mi-Al.
Earlier observation reports rebel female feline, known as Missy, leaving the area where the last transmission from #019070-1 was picked up.
Advise you began training and debriefing of -2 and send report to those concerned, including subjects of brood DT-574.
End Trans.....


Missy and Belle by Kenth
Part 2:Escape

Chapter 1
	Green eyes of the window's half reflection stared back at Belle as she watched the other side of the space station. The 5 mile wide, doughnut-shaped object floated high above the blue-green planet; right now they were over the area that had been known as Los Angeles. Now it was being torn down to clear a way for the replanting of trees. "Why had the rebellion decided to raid an empty city?" Belle kept asking herself. "Maybe there was an underground facility..." was usually the answer she came up with. But that wasn't her concern. She was watching for her cue to go with the other rebels who had been taken on as 'pets' and head for the cargo area. From there they would make their demands to the humans in charge. They needed that allience between the humans and PureBloods broken off; the fight was between the furred and those humans were gettting in the way. The rebels were prepared too if the humans refused; around the spacestation, they had planted explosives powerful enough to shatter the whole place. The rebels would be safe, having bailed out in a cargo ship; all other ships would be locked down by a computer code. Everything had been thought of and prepared for. It was all set to go when the air raid, lead by Max, was on it's way; if the rebels here had to escape, they would reach the mountain base when the pilots returned.
	
	Belle sighed. The signal was two hours late now. She had to know what was wrong. She head for the door out, glancing at herself in the full length mirror she passed. Standing just over 5 feet tall, Belle had short fur, though it was a little longer now for warmth since she hadn't worn clothes in the past 3 months. The fur was mostly white, except for a large blotch of black on her back and the tip of her tail. The only decoration she wore was a small gold locket haning from a gold chain. The front was battered and chipped, but on the back inscription: 
	To Belle-
	May you always
	come back to me
		-Tom
could still be read; she had the same message put on the back of the one he got. Inside Belle kept a picture of Tom, who, while she wasn't quite in love with, she was quite fond of and the other was of Missy. Thinking of her sister always calmed Belle down, just as anyone bad-mouthing her, set the smaller feline off; she just wish she could let Missy know she was all right. But rebel command kept saying 'No. Too much of a security risk...' she had been keeping track of Missy, though, learning from others how she got the shield project to work and now how she was flying along side Max in the raid; wouldn't Missy be surprised  when she got back to find Belle waiting....

	She came up to the automatic door of the quarters, stopping when they didn't open. "Come on, you hunk of metal," she yelled at the it, not for the first time that day. "Open and let me out."
A calm, mechanical voice answered back. "Only those authorized are allowed access." Belle scowled and moved to the curcuit panel next to the door.
"I'll give you authorization...." she mumbled as she opened up the panel and began poking around at the wires.
"Warning," the voice came back. "Any attempt to force this door open will result in the owner and security being notified." Belle paused. Last thing she need was that damn dog coming back too soon and giving her another 'traning session'; the bruises from the last one a few weeks ago could still be felt. Frustrated, she slammed the panel close, turning back to the window, never noticing the panel banging back open a couple of inches. She could always use the vent again to get out, but she had to be sure it was time since the dog was getting suspcious. She shuddered, remembering how he had her kidnapped the same day Tom left for his 6 month tours wrecking Las Angeles. The two humans had barged into the room, insisting that no pets were to be left unattended on the station and the canine commander that had noticed her owner leaving had volunteered to watch over her.

	Belle hated being considered a pet by others, but she kept up the act, at least in public. She resisted, of course, so the humans were forced to knock her out with a well placed blow to the head. She woke to find herself lying on the floor of a stranger's bedroom. Right away, she tried to leap up and make a dash to the door, but never made it all the way up as the collar and chain snapped her back down. As Belle caught her breath and began looking for another way out, the door slid open and the owner walked in. Belle stared hard, then tried to leap up to claw the dobermin standing there. He stood around 6'5", short, black fur covering his body (or so it looked like since he was wearing a uniform). Belle regonized him right away, growling at him from a kneeling position since that was as far as she could move before the collar chocked her.
"You son of a bitch, Mi-Al. Do you know what I went through because of you?" The dobermin laughed, walking on by her to sit in a chair.
"How cute," he growled, "that after all these months, you still remember what my brother looks like." He saw Belle blink and smiled.

	"Actually, we came from the same brood, so we do look alike. My name is Ja-Garr." He did a little sitting bow. "I had you brought here when I saw your human 'owner' leaving for down below." He stood and walked over to the window. "I also know about the arrangement between the two of you. And don't think I was fooled; I know you got information about our movements from him and relayed them to your rebels." Belle wasn't sure how to react. This dog had her nailed exactly; she had to think fast.
"What do you want from me?"
Ja-Garr turned around. "You? You will learn to be a proper pet, and basically I'll treat you well, giving you full run of the room...provided you do as I say and stay out of my way."
Belle didn't like this at all, but to stay alive and keep helping the rebels, she had to do it....at least until she had a chance to kill him. The dobermin, looked at her hard for a moment, then proceeded into the bedroom area.
"Oh, and if you're thinking of a way to kill me, just remember Mi-Al is around your sister. If he doesn't hear from me, Missy will be no more." He was chuckling as the bedroom door slid shut. Damn. That was her one weak spot: her love for Missy and tring to keep her safe.

	So, for the past three months Belle had to serve Ja-Garr, almost acting like a slave most of the time. He insisted she wear no clothes, not for his own needs, but to humiliate her. But when Ja-Garr tried to make her take the pendent off, she almost broke his arm. He called for security, the retriver and human bringing in sedative guns. One or both used too much so Belle had spent the following couple of days in the medical ward. Now she was fine again and knew she had to get away. Something inside was telling her not only herself, but Missy was in big trouble.

	A sudden jolt under her feet brought her to look out to where her signal was to come from. Instead, all she did see was a section of the space station missing. Belle could just make out the emergency doors closing slowly, a stream of objects and people being sucked out. What happened? The bombs weren't supposed to go off, at least not yet. Her survial instincts took over and she knew there little time. She was about to get up for the vent when the door opened and Ja-Garr quickly stepped through.
"Ha. I see you noticed my little counter to your plan." The door closed as  he moved away and into the bedroom. Belle could hear him talking as he rummaged around.
"Oh, yes. We knew of your plans long ago. We had just been waiting for the right time." Belle had moved to the doorway fo find the dog packing a large duffel bag. "The plan, of course, is to waste this station and it's low-born inhabitent, the explosives you planted going off every 10 minutes. We then blame it on the rebels." Ja-Garr zipped up the bag and came out, roughly pushing Belle aside. He gathered up a few more items, then turned to her.

	"I'd take you with me, but you served your purpose." He reached down, and before she could protest, snapped the chain of Belle's locket. He looked at it for a moment, then shrugged. "Might be worth a few bucks." He bowed with an evil smile and head for the door. This  was when Belle noticed the door's curcuit panel still opened a little and plan flashed into her head. She caught up to Ja-Garr just as the door opened, pulling on his right side, where the panel was and where the door slid into the wall. Ja-Garr stopped to stare down at the much smaller feline. 
"What?" He growled. "I have very little time."
"What about the other PureBloods on here?" Belle was tring to stall him while her tail slowly worked inside the open panel. The dobermin laughed.
"Stupid feline. If you had noticed on the times you got out," he rambled on, never noticing her tail. "I am the only PureBlood on the station left. Everyone else is expandable." He turned to go again.

	Belle's tail made contact with some wires and she wrapped it around them. Missy had told her once "You want to close a door quickly? Reach into the panel and pull a bunch of wires; sure, you'll get the hell shocked out of you, but at least it'll close faster then normal."
"I thought PureBloods and humans were allies...." She was stalling until she was sure. Ja-Garr half turned.
"Ha. That's what we wanted them to think. Now, if you'll excuse...." That was all he got out before the 500 pound door slammed into his front. As he howled in pain, Belle could hear the cracking of his ribs as the door continued to try and shut against the obstacle. Belle couldn't move herself  as the electricity flowed through her tail into the rest of her. But she was saved when Ja-Garr, pinned between the door and side, reached out to grab her neck; all he succeded in doing though was to knock her clear of the panel.
	
	Still shaky, Belle rolled to her feet. The door finally noticed the object wasn't moving out of it way, so it started to automatically back up in to the wall. As it did, Ja-Garr started to slip out to the floor, blood coming from his chest. She had to act quickly to live. Belle dashed forward delivering a swift knee to the dog's groin, He bent over with the added pain. Belle quickly scrambled over Ja-Garr to the outside. As the dog finally slumped to his side on the floor, Belle reached for the pocket he had put her locket in, then picked up the oversized-to-her duffel bag, ready to take off. She then paused, turned back to bend and snapped Ja-Garr's dog tags off his neck. He wasn't quite dead yet; Belle saw one paw slowly reaching for her leg. Very calmy she drew the foot away, then with blinding speed sent it full force into his face. She could feel the top part of his muzzle break as blood squirted out. Disgusted, Belle wiped her foot off on the floor, then sprinted away....

Chapter 2

	Breathing hard from the fast run, Belle came to the nearest hanger area. The place was in chaos as another explosion went off, shaking everyone around. Still reeling, she collided with a security officer. The human gripped her shoulder hard, staring at her; Belle realized she was still naked. She hadn't even thought of putting something on before she ran. Belle knew she had to think fast; any delay and the next explosion might be the last for for her. She looked up when she realized the human was talking to her.
"Again, what are you doing out here alone?" he asked.
"I-I...." Belle stalled. "I....came here because my owner sent me to put his stuff in his escape pod." She motioned to the duffel bag as proof. "Please, human sir, where is it?" God, she hated playing the stupid pet role, but anything to get out of here. The officer just stood there.
"Who is your owner?" Belle tried to think fast about some lie, once more resorting to the lowly pet mode when she realized she was still holding the dog tags. She held them out.
"I know not his name, but he gave me these to show to on in charge." The human took the tags, glancing down at Belle.
"This is never going to work," she thought. "He couldn't believe...." Her thoughts stopped there when the human pushed the tags back to her.
"Third tunnel on the right, all the way to the end." He pointed to be sure she understood. Belle gave a wide, cute grin, thinking she must look as stupid as she felt doing it.

	Belle turned and took off at a brisk walk, scowling at herself for doing something like that. Ja-Garr had never fallen for that same act; she would have to move quickly in case that human did become suspious. She dodged in and around the ships and people filling the area, working her way to the tunnel. She got to the entrance, glancing around to be sure no one was giving chase, then sprinted again down the passage. She was tring to figure out how long until the next explosion, knowing her good luck wouldn't hold out and the next one could be in her area. There was nothing down this tunnel, Belle noticed. Had she been tricked? No, wait. There was a door ahead. She picked up the pace, going through and closing the door behind her. She looked through the glass of the door to see the outer one close automatically. Belle hoped the rest of the pod was on auto since she wasn't a pilot.

	The pod was a sphere, large enough to hold one person and some supplies. The chair in the middle could swivel around, allowing the flyer to get at every control without having to get up. Belle jumped into the chair, fastening the lap and shoulder belts on. She scanned the controls, looking for any sign of a start button, but all she saw were buttons with no words. Belle kicked a side panel in frustration, knocking it open. Inside she noticed was a flight helmet  with a black visor. She picked it up and looked it over; nothing strange about it, so Belle tossed it aside onto the controls. Just then another explosion shook the space station. It took a few seconds after it passed for Belle to notice she felt a little lighter. She spun the chair around to see if that last explosion had shaken her loose. But the corrider was still there. She swung back around, ready to push random buttons when she saw the helmet was gone. Belle looked around quickly, finally finding it floating almost to the roof.

	The last explosion must've been the one in the anit-gravity unit Belle herself  put there. The humans had developed an anti-gravity machine and used it in most of their planes. They also used it in the space station to keep a low orbit. But with the unit destroyed, the station wouldn't stay up and the whole thing was falling to Earth. Belle swiped at a cable that connected to the helmet in get the controls working. No lights came on no matter what she hit. The helmet kept moving down when she had moved the cable, and as Belle caught sight of it out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed while the visor part was black on the outside, through it everything looked red. Even strnager, she thought, was how it looked like there were words seen throught it. She grabbed the helme and put it on. It wasn't quite a perfect fit a little too big. But then it was designed for Ja-Garr, she thought. But no words could be seen through it now. She was about to remove it when the words appeared again. They were a darker red then what the visor made everything else look like and read:
	    			Start Launch Program? 

				YES                          NO
The 'yes' and 'no' just hung there, the whole sentence appearing to float in front of her.

	Belle removed the helmet, everything reverting to it's normal color and the words dissappearing. She put the helmet back on and the words returned. It looked almost like she could reach out and touch them, so she tried it. Her fingers went through the question with no resistence. But when she moved them over the 'yes', a box lit up around it, followed by all the words being replaced by a picture of the control panel, with all the lights and buttons, this time with words indicating which did which. Belle quickly removed the helmet and gazed at the controls; nothing was lit up. She replaced the helmet again and everything was on again. She wanted to experiment some more, but another explosion went off, this time too close for her. She looked over the controls again with the helmet on, located the take-off button and slapped it.

	The little escape pod popped out, sending Belle intot he middle of the ring of the space station, but sinking below the other side quickly. She had made it. She was finally free of the space station and that dog. Belle leaned forward to look out the front window, watching the station fall slowly in the other direction. She was still nead enough to see where Ja-Garr's room was. She blinked. A huge chunk of metal had smashed into it, creating a hole in the side. That ment the door had to be closed since they were all programmed to do so if there was breach in the wall on either side. That also ment Ja-Garr's body had proably been sliced in half. Belle knew it was disgusting, but she could help but smile. She was feeling good for a change and very relaxed; that's why she screamed when Ja-Garr's bloody face smacked into the window of the escape pod.

	Belle was tring to calm herself down, still panting a little hard.
"Ok," she told herself. "Nothing to worry about. He died on the station and if not, when the room lost it's atmosphere he surely died then." She closed her eyes, repeating that to herself. When her eyes opened, Ja-Garr was staring right at her. Belle froze in the chair, unsure how to get rid of him. She looked out again, her fur standing on end as she watched the dobermins's lips curl into an evil smile. His mouth was moving, but she couldn't make out what he was saying. Hoping it was just a trick of the helmet, Belle pulled it off. Not only did Ja-Garr not dissapear, he started to slowly move across the window pulling his way along. She realized he was tring to get to the door. She to calm down again; this wasn't possible. She thought maybe the pod had just ran into him out of coinsidense and the foward movement of the pod was just making the dead body slide along.

	Belle looked out again; Ja-Garr was gone. She need to be sure, though. She slipped the helmet on again, going right to a button marked 'exterior camera'. Belle pushed it and instead of a moniter turning on, a seperate scene started in her field of view. She found she could move the camera by moving just her eyes.
"Missy could do so much with this stuff," she thought, then turned to the matter of finding Ja-Garr, to be sure he slid free. She was about to pan the area behind her when a movement on the side brought her attention and the camera to there. It was Ja-Gar, for sure. She just sat and watched as he slowly moved one paw from a hold to the next, his fingers curling to grip. He was definatly alive and heading for the door. As this was his pod, he proably knew a way to get in when the door was shut.

	Belle's eyes swept over the panels, looking for anything that might stop him. As her eyes moved, so did the camera and the effect made her a little dizzy. She was about to remove the helmet when a box just above the door outside caught her attention. She made the camera go in close, Ja-Garr forgotten for the moment. The view slowly went around the object, and if it was what she thought, then the dog was the least of her conserns. Even before the camera showed the digital readout, Belle knew it was one of the explosives the rebels had set. The timer was already past the 5 minute mark, so she had little time to fool around. Tring to figure out how to dislodge the explosive before it went off, Belle almost missed Ja-Gar going past a side window. Maybe she could get him to take it off for her....yeah, right. If he knew it was there, she was sure he would just push off and let the bomb do the job. She turned off the camera, looking again for something, anything, that might get her out of this.

	A loud screeching noise got her to turn the outside camera back on. Ja-Garr had found the explosive and had ripped it off the hull, tossing it out behind him. He looked into the camera, and mouthed something that looked like "You are mine." That's why he ripped it off, she thought. He wants to kill me himself. What neither of them had noticed right then was that several of the cables to the explosives had gotten tangeled around Ja-Garr's arm. When he sought to bring his arm back and felt a drag on it, he turned to see the explosives still floating about two feet away, the time at less then two minutes before it went off. He began to panic, letting go with his other paw to try and get it off, leaving him perched in front of the door by just his toes. Belle dived for the controls, seeing an opening. There was no flight stick to move the pod around, just a cirlce cut into sections where the stick would be. She hoped it was what steered and pushed a block between down and left. The escape pod jolted so quickly in that direction, Belle felt like her stomach got left above. She turned around to see if Ja-Garr was still there and saw nothing....until the explosion.

	The outside turned a blinding white for a few moments, the slowly retreated away. Belle hadn't quite diverted her eyes in time, so was still partically blind. The only thing she could do was keep her finger on the button she pressed, still going down and to the left. The escape pod suddenly started to shake from the shockwave like a giant wave had washed over it. A few electical panels sparked, causing her to flinch away until it past. Belle sat and listened to the silence, her finger off the steering control so the pod was slowly descending to the Earth. Ja-Garr was gone for good this time. She leaned forward to look out the main window for a better look around. Far below she could see the outline of the space station against the background of the planet. With no lights or power, it was very dark looking, except for the part that was starting to turn a bright red where it was going through the atmosphere. Belle watched the rest of the mile long chunk start to  burn and shine more brightly. She thought anyone looking up at the night sky right then would be seeing the streak of light, thinking it was a shooting star....

Chapter 3

	Belle watched the last of the station fall away under her. Finally able to relax, she leaned back in the chair, letting the weightlessness lull her into sleep as the escape pod continued on down. That lasted for a few seconds. The panel to the right of her suddenly sparked again, spooking her so much the seat restraints almost didn't hold. The panel had fallen open, showing a now well-blackened interior. She checked inside carefully, making sure no other fires would start, then put the helmet on again. All around lights were blinking warning, words flowing past her eyes in mid-air.
"Damage to navigation system," she read out loud. "Can not land at pre-programmed coordinates." Belle wasn't sure she wanted to land where Ja-Garr was heading anyway. She looked out the window, seeing the Earth grow larger faster. A beeping in her ear brought her attention to some new words floating across her view.
"One minute to atmosphere contact. Engaging heat shields." Belle watched as a large piece of metal slid down the outside of the window. Sitting back, she swiveled the chiar around to see the side windows and the one in the door were also covered. There was nothing she could do now but hold on and wait. A minute or two later, the pod started shaking again and the inside also began to warm up. A small map popped up in the helmet display, showing a solid line where the pod, she guessed, was supposed to land and a dotted line showing her more stright down descent.

	Finally the shaking and heat eased away, and with a loud *pop* sound, the heat shield fell away, giving Belle a great view of the night sky. The view of the ground below would've been great too, if she wasn't rapidly falling towards it. Belle tried to look out to see where she was since the pod's controls were just about out. All she should could make out in the almost-full moon's light was the outline of some mountains, a beach a bit to the west, and a thick forest between the two.. The humans had finally decided to clear out the coastal areas of what they called California, in case a large earthquake struck. They had figured to clear out the cities, demolish them, and reforest the areas would prevent any deaths and be cheaper then rebuilding afterwards. The project started 50 years ago and were getting close to done; in fact, Tom was working now at taking out Los Angeles. Of course most of the people living in the cities didn't want to be moved. The company hired to work on the project had little trouble, though. They just sent in several ground-bots with canine drivers, under orders to bring down the buildings even if they weren't empty. Hundreads died before the president of the company called a temporary halt after making a deal with the military to evacuate the remaining humans by force.

	Belle was now heading for the empty beach. She tried whatever buttons she could to slow the fall; her paw landed on the button for the emergency landing thrusters, but since she was still several thousand feet in the air, they would de her little good....unless they lasted the whole way down. She couldn't even control where she landing; the open area of the beach was not her first choice. Belle was sure any human planes that came over head would spot the escape pod, which ment she would have to move quickly once it landed. Or crashed, actually. That was the most likely case as at 100 feet above the sand, the thrusters ran out of fuel. Belle grabbed up the duffel bag, and in the few seconds before impact, held it tight.

	The pod hit the sand hard, the whole thing shaking under the impact. Belle was almost thrown out of her seat, but the restraints caught, pulling her back hard against the chair. But the ride wasn't over; the pod landed with such force, that it bounced back up from the sand. It didn't go more then a few feet and when it landed again, it rolled onto it's right side. Belle sat still for a moment, then dropped the duffel bag to undo the chair belts. She wobbled a little as she stepped onto the wall-turned-floor, feeling herself to be sure nothing was broken. Seeing she was fine, Belle next turned to look over the controls as best she could. She didn't need the helmet to notice the lights were starting to dim; the explosion or the landing, or both, must've damaged the power supply. Without power, she wouldn't be able to get out or breath since both the door and life support needed the power. She thought about breaking a window, but if none hadn't broken during the crash, Belle knew she had no chance at it. It only took her a few seconds to lunge for the door and press the open button, but it wasn't enough. The door got no more the half open before it stopped. When the door stopped, all the other systems shut down too, as well as the lights going out.

	Belle found that she could get out easily enough, but it would limit how much stuff  she could move quickly. First thing she tossed out was the duffel, straining a little to move it. Next she took the helmet and as much of the connecting cable that she could, thinking Missy would be interested in seeing it. Belle rummaged around another few minutes, but only came up with some emergency rations, and no water. She just hoped there some that was drinkable nearby. Her last search had uncoverd a cooler, which she hoped contained something to drink. Instead the inside was filled with small glass vials. Belle picked one up, trying to see what was in it with the dim moonlight. Whatever was inside was too thick to see through; Belle shrugged. It didn't look drinkable, so she replaced it carefully among the other vials, closed the lid, and casually tossed it to the side. The sound of some of the bottles shattering made her smile as she slipped out the half-opened door.

	She paused for a few seconds beside the door, shivering as a cold wind came in off the ocean. She knew the mountains to the east was where the rebel base Missy had been assigned to was hidden. She could just make the outline of them out against the night sky. Another cold blast of wind came up, chilling Belle more. She zipped open the duffel bag, pawing through it. The only thing in it she could use to keep warm was a flight suit that Ja-Garr had packed. Well, if she didn't want to freeze that night, it would have to do, even though it was way too big for her ; but this also wasn't the time for tailoring. She shoved the suit back in and the helmet, then zipped it bag up. Belle had to find an out of the way place to hide, covering her tracks along the way. Inside the pod, she had unknowingly  left behind the one thing that would soon come back and change her life forever.

Chapter 4

	Belle stepped carefully over the rocks, trying to see her way in the moonlight. She was sure one of the entrances to the base was nearby; she just hadn't used it for a long while. She scrambled up a small slope, leaping a couple of crevices before reaching the top. A strong breeze came, cold  because of her altitude, but this time she was wearing the flight suit. The night before, after she get away from the beach, she had slept in it, using it to cover her completely. In the morning, she used her claws to cut off the excess material form the sleeves and legs, then using them as belts and straps to make the suit fit better. She then set off for the mountains, which turned out ro be quite a hike since she wasn't using any of the main paths.

	The whole time she was walking, Belle kept trying to think how Ja-Garr could've survived, not only from having the door slam into him, but moving like he did in the vacum of space without a suit.
"It just wasn't possible," she kept thinking. Her mind went back to how Mi-Al and him were identical looking. They may have been born in the same brood, but there should've been some difference. Unless....but no, not even the humans could do something like that.

	Belle sighed. She must've missed the entrance somewhere; but there should've been a guard along the way. She paused, sampling the air. For the past few minutes, she had been smelling smoke, though it was quite faint. She followed the smell as best she could, walking into the wind to find the source. She would have to be careful , in case it was a campfire of the enemy.

	A half hour search brought Belle to a huge rock wall, towering hundreads of feet upwards. The smoke smell was stronger here, and she could just make out why: the small grove of trees might've once provided good shade, but now they were just black husks, some having had fallen over. The surrounding area was now flat and open, save for some boulders piled at the base of the wall. It was then Belle recgonized where she was. She ran over to the boulders because hidden behind in a small space behind should be....yes, it was still there. One of the side doors into the base was flush into the rock, and to Belle's dismay it was also sealed tight. She buzzed the intercom to the guard and waited. No answer. She let it buzz longer this time and waited a few minutes. Still nothing. Even if they were all celebrating with those from the air raid, somebody had to be on guard. Well, she just had to let herself in then.  Belle dropped the duffel bag to think and remember if there was an outside panel. Her eyes looked around for anything that looked even a little different, but in the low light all she could see was a vent opening above the door.

	She climbed the rocks for a closer look. The vent inside looked to be just big enough for her to squeeze through. She just hoped there was a way down before it got too narrow. Belle jumped back down, and hid Ja-Garr's bag where she was sure it was safe. She climbed back up to the vent covering and quickly undid the screws with her claw tips. It didn't do her much good as she soon found out the covering was also welded into place. Belle cursed loudly and kicked at the metal; when that failed to break open she sat down annd sighed sadly. What the hell was going on here?

	Her sigh lasted longer then she thought. No, wait....that was the door below opening. Belle ducked down and crawled to the edge, peering over. It was too dark below to see much and the smell of burnt trees was still in the air, making it impossible to tell who it was; all Belle could make out was a bulky shadow. Whoever it was kept quiet the whole time before turning back to go inside. This was Belle's chance. As soon as the figure was gone, she leaped down, landing quietly next to the door. She paused to make sure no one came back out, then dashed through the door before it closed. She stopped again, her eyes trying to adjust to the blackness of the passageway. There should've been some kind of lighting; after a few minutes all she could make out, though, was a faint blue glow ahead of her. And now that she was inside, the scent of whoever came out before could be noticed. Right away Belle knew it was canine, but no species she had met before. She would have to go very carefully now.

	As Belle moved slowly down the passage, stopping still at every sound, the light ahead hardly got any brighter. She was almost to the end before it became light enough for her to see the outline of an archway. She slowly peeked around the corner; it was the hanger area, and the light she had been following was from the full moon shining through the opened doors. The smell of smoke returned here, as well as a smell of burnt fur or hair. Now Belle was worried. Did the base suffer an internal explosion? An enemy raid? She moved more quietly now; the figure she saw before could've been a PureBlood....It was almost too dark for even her, thats why she yelped in surprise when she tripped over the skull, despite her efforts to keep quiet. Belle carefully picked up the skull, noting how black with soot it was. Turning it slowly in the dim light, she almost dropped it in shock as she recgonized it as a feline's.
"Missy?" she whipered, hoping to the gods it wasn't.
"No, that isn't her." A new voice replied right behind Belle, who dropped and shattered the skull as she rolled forward and came up in a combat crouch. The voice continued. "That is....sorry, was Private Jacobs; poor bastard...."
Belle stared hard into the gloom, tyring to make out the speaker. "Who are you?"
"Oh, didn't mean to scare you like that." Into the light stepped the fluffiest dog Belle had ever seen. She smiled down at the little feline. "I'm called Keesha. And you would be Missy's little friend, Belle...."

				End Part 2

Interlude 2

From:Project PureBlood
To: C.C.

	The past couple of days there have been both profit and loss to our cause. Here is the rundown:
1) As reported earlier, the loss of subject #019070-1 from brood DT-574
2)The destruction of the human space station 'Titanic'gained us more support when we pointed blame to the rebels.
3)However, we have also lost contact with subject #019195-1, designation 'Ja-Garr'. We know he was on the station when the explosions started and reports of his escape pod launching were confirmed.
4) We found subject #109195's escape pod on an abondened beach. There were no traces of him, but there were faint tracks of another leading away.
5)The blood samples were found on the pod, though most were lost. The one perfect sample was from the feline Ja-Garr was watching over. We now have it at the lab and have added it to the 511 experiment. The results look enourageing....

End trans.....

From:Project PureBlood
To:C.C.

	Due to a slight oversight in design, the 511 experiment has escaped the lab and is now free on the surface. We are looking into the details of what happened....meanwhile, we have succesfully finished the cloning of the feline blood samples....



Missy and Belle by Kenth
Part 3:Together again

Chapter 1

	The fire sparked and lit up more of the old quarters as Keesha tossed on another copy of  'Safty Regulations' from a large stack of papers into the barrel drum. Belle sat on the bed, watching the canine. She was suspious of all from that species, but this one seemed friendly enough; but then so did Mi-Al up until he turned out to be a traitor. Belle decided she would have to watch her step from here on. Keesha had placed a grill over the drum fire, setting a pot of some kind of stew on top of that. Belle wrinkled her nose as a foul odor started to waft out of the pot. Keesha chuckled softly at the other's reaction.
"Don't worry; it'll smell a lot better by the time it's ready to eat." Belle stared hard at Keesha for a moment, then shrugged.
"I guess if you were going to posion me, you would've covered up that scent a little better."
Keesah laughed. "Posion you? Hon, I could've taken you out back there in the hanger had I been the enemy." She looked over at the feline, seeing something other then the reflection of the fire in her green eyes. "You don't think much of dogs, do you?" The look in Belle's eyes made Keesha suddenly decided the stew was more interesting, though she kept her ears perked forward to listen.

	Belle sighed. "Don't get me wrong. I appreciate what the canines, the non PureBloods, have dont for the Rebels. But the last two I came to depend on, somewhat, turned out to be less then I expected." She looked over at the retriver/smoyed by the fire. "And I have nothing against you. You're a friend of Missy's which counts for a lot; though, I'm sure she doesn't remember how our parents were killed by a group of dogs...."
Keesha looked up, almost saying "You're kidding?", then realized that might sound too accusing. So he changed it to: "You know, I wanted ask what your parents were like; you and Missy are almost nothing alike."
Belle smiled in the dark. "Actually, we're sisters in name only. We had different parents, but they were such close friends, that the two of us were raised like sisters. Our families did everything together; they all worked at the same computer company, so were able to take vactions at the same time so they could spend time at beaches, mountian climbing. Hell, for all I know they could've slept together too...which would explain a lot...."

	Keesha just silently watched and listened. She was watching Belle's 'Give 'em Hell' attitude slowly sink down, revealing the persona of a scared little girl, scared by the memory of her parent's death.
Belle continued. "Then came the vacation that would be our last. Me and Missy about six years at the time when our fathers announced the we would spend the next two weeks in space. They had saved up enough to rent the low orbit vehicle; they even had enough to pay for automatic re-entry and landing so our families could just be by themselves."
"When you were six?" Keesha broke in. "That would've been....14 years ago. Just before the war started?"
Belle nodded. "Years later I looked it up, finding the PureBloods had declared war on the other furred species on the same day. Our parents were the first to die in this war...." The small feline closed her eyes and was quiet for a couple of minutes before continuing. "Missy and I had slept in late, having stayed up late in the weightless room. It was our fourth day out and I woke up to loud shouts. I hopped off the top bunk, startling the still sleepy Missy. She just started to climb out of bed when both our mothers came in. There were saying something, which I can't remember, in calm voices; but both had a look of panic in their eyes. Our mothers picked each of us up and quickly ran out the door. We headed right towards the escape ship, stopping once when we came  to our fathers guarding the door, tails bristled. They wavd us by, the guns they had never leaving the strangly glowing door. As we were carried past a large window on the side, I noticed another ship was right up against ours. Being young, and not knowing any better, I was about to give a friendly wave, but my mother gave me a look that threatened a spanking."

	Belle sighed before going on. "We almost made it to the escape ship when an explosion behind shook the whole ship. I could hear some loud words before a couple of shots were fired, followed by screams of pain. I buried my face in my mother's shoulder, knowing neither mine or Missy's father was alive. When we stopped outside of the escape ship, Missy's mother put her down, saying something quickly to mine. My mother shook her head, then set me down. Missy's mother gave mine a tight hug, then knelt to kiss Missy's cheek and hug her too. I looked up at my mom crying, saying something I couldn't make out. Missy's mom opened the ship, removed a large gun, then just about shoved  the three of us in. Missy went right to a seat, buckling in quietly. My mother was trying to get me in when loud noises and shouts came from outside. Leaving me half in, my mom went out to help Missy's. I heard some mumbled voices, then two thumps. A second afterwards I heard Missy's mother scream "John!" and could just see her pounce forward, claws extended.  Almost right away, there was a loud noise and a bright flash, as well as my mother screaming. Less then a second later the now headless body of Missy's mom slammed into the wall, hitting the panel and making the door close. I struggled in my seat, yelling for my mother. She started to turn her head to look back at me when a series of loud popping noises started. My mother's body shook and spasmed as the bulltes ripped into her front and side, until she fell onto her back, blood pooling underneath her. I was crying too loud to hear her words, but I could read her lips as she gazed at me upside down. She just kept repeating "I love you, Belle. I love you...." up until someone shoved a gun under her chin and fired, right before the door closed and the escape ship launched; so it was then I got a good look at the bastards who done this...."

	Keesha spooned some of stew she had been cooking into a mug, then handed it to Belle. "And they were canines?" Belle took the mug, sniffing at the contents and nodded. "Yeah, they were. I saw five, though there might've been more." She took a sip of the stew. "Mmmm, you're right. This is good....funny thing about them was they all looked the same. Same height, build, markings....like stamped from a cookie cutter. Another thing was they were all dobermins; everynight when I relive that whole scene, I swear I know the faces, but I just can't place from where...."Belle went quiet again, sipping the stew.
Keesha shook her head. "Geez, no wonder you have something against canines." She spooned stome stew for herself, the room growing too quiet for either of them. Keesha shifted a little. "So, what do you plan to do now?"

	Belle looked up slowly. "I need to find Missy. To see for myself that she is all right."
Keesha nodded. "But, you know, since she didn't return, either in her plane or on foot, there is a chance she...."
"I know she could be dead, " Belle cut in. "But I have to know for sure what happened.." She sighed. "Let's start off that she might live: where would she be brought once the humans find out she's a stray?"
Keesha shrugged. "Vegas, of course.  Only place to pick up a pet like that."
"Exactly." Belle stood up. "Fortunetly, I was....invovled with a human who has an apartment there. We can hide out there until some sign of Missy's whereabouts comes up."
Keesha grinned. "Sounds like you planned this all out. Question is what then after you two are back together?"
Belle blinked. "Hadn't thought that far ahead....I guess we'll go north, get away from the war." Keesha stood now.
"I'm sure WE will get there." She smiled at the feline. Belle glanced at the other.
"You saying you want to come with us, even if it means the rebels won't take you back?"
Keesha just smiled wider. "I know how hard you two are on machines; I figure you could use a good mechanic on hand." She stuck out a paw to Belle to shake. Belle just looked at the paw for a moment, then smiled shook it warmly. Of course neither of them would've been happy had they known someone was overhearing them....

Chapter 2

	It had been a rough couple of days for Belle and Keesha as they made their way to the town simply called 'Vegas'. A couple of years after the war started, the PureBloods and human armies had huge number of furry prisoners. Neither wanted to look like bad by killings, so the next choice was to make the prisoners available to all as pets; more exactly, as pets for adult uses. The only problem was where to set up such a place. Right at that time, the owner of the company that was redoing the west coast had done the unexpected move of buying out every hotel, casino, and store, including the land in the cit of Las Vegas. In a few short days, every human not working for the company or in the military, was kicked out, all non-PureBlood furries being put under arrest. In a week's time, the city known for it's glitz and theme hotels became the world's largest slave market and whorehouse; the president of the company got a majority of the payments and profits. Almost every slot machine was replaced by small stages of humans hawking the sell of a furry, both males and females stripped so to be examined by anyone. Not sure you want to buy? Ask the seller to have the one or ones you want brought to your hotel-room converted apartment for a trial....for a price, of course. Where once hired help would hand you advertisments for strip clubs, now stood the same people handing you pamphlets of furries for sell.

	Belle had pulled the jeep over about a mile from the main entrance. A glass dome covered the 20-mile area, all roads converging at the front so the guards could scan vehicles. Keesha was looking around from her seat, though not towards the entrance. Belle shut off the motor.
"Ok, we're where you wanted me to stop. Now what?"
Keesha was already out, putting a backpack on. "First, we ditch the jeep here and put some distance between it and us." Belle hopped out, grabbing her pack and trailing behind. After a half mile, Keesha came to a sudden stop behind a sand dune. Still without explaining her actions, the canine started pawing at the loose sand; Belle just watched with an annoyed expression, wondering if she was trying to dig up an old bone or something. The sound of paws hitting metal stopped that line of thinking. She watched Keesha expose what looked like a door with a number pad in the middle of the sand. Keesha smiled as she keyed in something on the pad, jerking her paw back right after pressing the last number. A couple of seconds later the metal fell inward, hinged at the bottom, showing darkness below.
"Good thing I remembered to pull back...almost forgot the shock trap I installed." Keesha smiled over her shoulder at Belle. Seeing a blank look, she went on. "I built this tunnel about five years ago when the rebels hired me on. " Keesha slid down into the darkness as Belle waited above. She could hear the flick of a switch, then a pause, followed by the switch being flicked rapidly.

	"Hmmm, must be a blown fuse," Keesha's voice came out of the black. "Oh, well. It's just a stright shot the whole way..." There was the sound of a few footsteps, then quiet. "Hey! You coming or what?" Belle just stared into the hole for a moment, then shrugged, dropping first her pack in, and following close behind. It was a small drop between the opening and the floor, but Belle still stumbled a little when she landed. In the faint light, she could just make the outline of Keesha out in the roomy tunnel.
"Oops," Keesha turned and started up again. "Got to close that door...." Belle looked up as the light dimmed slightly and Keesha's bristled outline could be seen. That lasted a few seconds before the door closed and everything became black, so that even Belle's eyes could not see. There was a thump just to her right, followed by a gust of air.
"Whoa, Belle, sorry." Keesha said right next to her. "Almost got your tail that time."
"Wait a minute." Belle reached over to put a paw on waht she hoped was Keesha's arm. "You expect us to go down this tunnel with no lights?"

	"We don't have much of a choice. Can't let the guards find us. Now, could you take your paw off my chest; unless you had something in mind...." Keesha chuckled softly as she felt the paw fly off. She started on down the tunnel, feeling Belle close behind. After several minutes of nothing to look at and only the noise of their steps, Belle felt the urge to talk.
"I take it this isn't your first time here...."
Keesha smiled in the dark. "You're right. Actually I was born and raised in Vegas; this was before the war started, of course. That started when I was 14. It wasn't until I started my first job as a cocktil waitress at 18 did the PureBloods and humans come in and take over the city; talk about a bad first day at work." Keesha gave a small chuckle, then continued. "I never saw my parents after that, though I'm sure they ended up getting sold like I did." Belle tried to read the expression on the other's face, but gave it up as the darkness pushed in around them.
"How many times were you sold?"
"Just the one time," Keesha answered. "To some human named....ah, hell. I don't remember....all I remember he liked to do roleplaying; his favortie was bringing me to his work and telling everyone I was an intern. Then he would call me in and...."
Belle cut in there. "Yeah, I know. I've heard stories about those kind of owners." 

	"Yeah, you mentioned a humans you were with....how...." Keesha cut off as she suddenly stopped. "We're here." 
Belle stopped as well. "You sure? This looks like the rest of the tunnel."
"Of course I'm sure." A few seconds of silence. "Ah, here we go. Better close or cover your eyes."
"Cover my eyahhh?!" Belle cried as everything went from black to blinding yellow. Belle kept her eyes shut tight, seeing dots exploding on the inside of her eyelids. "Geez, give me a little more warning."
Keesha's voice seemed to come from above this time. "Sorry. I had thought cats were fast at such things. But now I know it's just a fuse at the other end."
Belle slowly opened her eyes to look around the earthen tunnel they were in. Miner's lamps glowed yellow up and down both sides of the walls. Keesha was a couple of feet above pushing in buttons on another keypad.
"Where are we?" Belle asked as she watched the canine.
Keesha finished keying in the numbers. "About a half mile inside the dome, deep in the middle of an abandened residential area." There was the sounds of the second metal door opening and natural light coming down. Keesha peeked her head out, looking around for several minutes, then finally called down.
"It's all clear. Everything is just how it how it was five years ago." She climbed the rest of the way out, paused to take a final look around, then reached down to help Belle out. They now both stood in what looked like it had at one time been a backyard, the fences around them falling down with neglect and the house boarded up. Belle was turning to get a better idea of where they were. Over the top of some of the other homes, she could make out the familiar sight of a black pyramid, a castle, and a variety of tall buildings.

	Belle sighed. "We're going to have a tough time sneaking in, but I remember...." She stopped short when Keesha pushed a length of rope into her paw. Belle turned to see the other end of the rope loosely attached  around the canine's neck and she had stripped out of her clothes, putting them into her backpack, and dropping that back into the tunnel. "We wont' have to sneak in; we can get by right under their noses." She turned to Belle who just stood there. "Come on, you have to strip too or it won't work."
Belle just looked at Keesha. "If you have a plan, I'd like to hear it too."
"Ah, I couldn't remember if I had told you about it earlier or not. I figured since both of us know how to at least act like pets, you could lead me in on the rope leash to the human's apartment you were talking about. If anyone asks, you could tell them your owner just bought me and sent you to pick me up from one of the other buildings."
Belle shook her head. "What makes you think something like that will work? Too much can go wrong."
"It's better then your plan to just sneak in," Keesha growled. "I'm sure we'll have a much better view of finding Missy just as we get sold at pets."
They both stood there looking like they would just wanted to tear into each other. Then to Keesha's surprise, Belle relented and stripped, save for her locket.
"Ok. We'll go with your plan. I just want to be sure Missy is safe."
Keesha picked up Belle's clothes and pack, putting them into the tunnel with her own. "I want to know that too, Belle." She closed up the door, covering it with some dirt. Belle was looking towards the buildings.
"Since we don't know where she is, or even if she is here, I guess we'll have to go to Tom's place first."
"Good idea. I could do with a shower anyway." Keesha grinned. "Lead on, fellow "pet".
Belle gave a small smile. "I think you're enjoying this just a little too much."

	It didn't take them long to reach the back of the nearest seller's building. But there was more foot traffic around, mostly humans and their pets, with some PureBloods with theirs mixed in. The climate controlled dome kept most of the mid-day heat out, but the sun was bright enough for one to still feel the desert heat. Belle lead Keesha around a couple of the smaller buildings to a less used exit in what had once been a castle-themed hotel. Stepping through the lobby where others were being sold brought back memories to both of them. Belle hesiated, wanting to search for Missy right away, but Keesha gave her a gentle bump when they stopped to remind the feline to keep going. It must've been a common sight of pet leading another as no one stopped the pair. The apartment Belle was heading for was somewhere on the 12th floor, and rather then risk questions on the elevator, they took the stairs up the whole way. Peeking out the door to make sure no one was around onthe floor, they moved quickly through the carpeted halls. When all the hotels had been bought out, the rooms had to be converted to living quarters for the humans and PureBloods. So the adjoining walls between each pair of room were taken out, leaving the rest to the owner to fix it up however they wanted to.

	Belle stopped in front of a pair of doors, whatever numders they had been there in the past were gone and between the doors a small plaque read "Swanson". Belle rapidly pressed in a series of numbers on a nearby keypad, Keesha's large form covering her actions. Finally one of the doors clicked open a couple of inches. Belle pushed her way through, Keesha close behind. It wasn't until the door was firmly closed and locked did they both relaxed. The place was just as Belle remembered it. A large, comfortable couch took up most of one wall, the oppisite one covered by an elaborate entertainment center. Across from the door was a large window with a sliding door, offering a view of the busy street below. The rest of the first room contained a table large enough to eat at, several chairs, and a couple of desks. The second part of the apartment was left as a bedroom. Dominated by a king sized bed, there was still enough room for a hand-built closet and a couple of dressers. The walls were done in white and most of the orignal lamps were still there. As with the other room a large glass window and sliding door took up one wall to the street below.

	Keesha was already making herself comfortable on the bed. "That human has some taste. How could he afford this stuff?"
Belle shrugged. "Don't know. He was always able to afford a lot of stuff. At least he paid to have the room cleaned while we were gone."
Keesha nodded, sitting up on the edge of the bed. "I'd hate to think how musty it would've been." She got up to look around some more, stopping in front of a dresser. "Hey, who's binoculars are these?"
Belle was heading into the other room. "They're Tom's, though I used them a lot. Mostly to check the streets for other rebels. Go ahead and use them if you want."
"One step ahead there...."Belle heard the sliding door open, the noise of the street coming in along with a gust of air. Keesha stood out on the balcony, just causally scanning what she could. The binoculars weren't exactly powerful, but enough to see some of other buildings up close. Her attention eventually turned to across the street. The once-hotel had some plants set up in the front, giving it a sort of tropical look. Keesha just moved past that part, catching a glimpse of several humans using a female rabbit in the manner of all pets here. As she moved on, her gaze came to an alley just to the side of all the plants. The black van in there could've easily been overlooked had the back not opened right then. Keesha watched as a human stepped  out holding a chain in his hand. Following behind him was an unhappy looking canine, a half breed by the look of him. As with the suddenly long line of others, he had been stripped of clothing, cuffs holding his wrists and a chain connecting to the one behind. Keesha swished her tail.
"Latest load of pets...." she thought. "Good thing Belle...." Her tail suddenly stopped still, her fingers working the focus  at the last one coming out of the van.
"Belle?" She called without moving the binoculars.

	Belle had just closed her eyes, thinking of taking a short nap when Keesha called out. She got up and sighed, heading to the bedroom balcony.
"What is it? We're both tired and I...." Belle stopped there when Keesha pushed the binoculars in to her paws. Belle blinked up at the canine who was now just staring across the street. Belle shrugged and looked too. She went still for a moment, then bolted for the door. It took all of Keesha's strength to hold the feline back.
"There's nothing we can do right not. It'll be another day before the ones they brought in are ready to be sold." Belle just nodded and sighed.
"You're right. Still...." She went back out to the balcony, looking through the binoculars just in time to see Missy being lead into the building....

Chapter 3

	The desert sun shined brightly through the dome, making Missy squint as she stepped out of the van. She looked around and outside the alley; most of the buildings were still the same, but then only a year had past since she was here last. She was suddenly jerked forward as the line of other, mostly half-breed canines and felines, moved forward. She had been through something like this before, only that was while on a mission for the rebels; this time there would be no undercover agent to 'buy' her. Missy looked out a final time, this time across the street.  There was that castle building; if the information on the humans Swanson's card was correct, then his apartment should be in there. She could just make out the glint of glass from one of the higher rooms. Someone checking out new pets with binoculars?

	The line was lead inside, using back doors and private hallways; some buyers had been known to be a little over anxious and get to the new arrivals before they were ready to be sold. Finally the humans brought them to a large conference-type room; there were at least 10 doors inside, noises coming from behind some. They were all instructed to sit, and those that refused learned the hard way that the humans were in command, usually by the business end of a whip or long switch. Missy knew she just had to bide her time. Of course if she didn't get away soon, she would end up on the selling floor and that would  make it harder to flee. She had tried to mention before that she was owned by Tom Swanson. But that didn't get her too far. Missy rubbed the back of her head, feeling for the bumb she got a couple of days ago.

	It was after she had cleared the area where Max, Mi-Al, and the human had died. Missy found herself wandering the dark streets; she still couldn't believe the whole raid had been a set-up. Why would Max do such a thing? For love, Mi-Al had said. But who? Max wasn't one to open up about his past, but Missy was very curious now. True, Max was by all rights a PureBlood, but many of those didn't want to fight; in fact it was rumored the rebellion was started by a group of PureBloods who thought the fighting was pointless. Missy was so lost in thought about that day, that she failed to see the two humans that jumped from the shadows. She put up a good fight for a couple of seconds until one of the attackers clubed her across the back of the head. When Missy woke, she found herself in the back of a van surrounded by other felines and canines, most of whom were part of the rebellion she learned through whispered conversations. The back doors were guarded by a human and a mean looking wolf, both holding automatic weapons so no one was about ready to jump them.
	
	Missy knew they were slavers, and the eventual stop would be Vegas; it wasn't the best way to get there, but that didn't matter right then. She had tried to show them the I.D. taken from Tom, but they refused to believe. Most of the ride was spent in silence. The van stopped every few hours, usually to pick up more to be sold. It was slow going, so it took a few days to arrive. The guards gave them just enough food and water to stay alive, knowing they would be treated better once bought. Missy wasn't looking forwad to being bought; she had heard some strange stories from those that escaped. But she was stuck with it and with any luck the one that does buy her will let her check out the room that Belle had stayed in.

	The far door of the conference room opened, admitting a very rotund human male He carried a clipboard and was checking it before saying a number for each captive he stood in front of. Then a nearby guard would unfasten the fur and lead, usually dragging him or her to a seperate room. As the human got closer, Missy was getting nervous. Would she be assigned to a room with only males in it? Or one which speacialized in sadistic pleasures? Missy gave a small shudder, then looked up to see the human in charge standing over her. She tried to look as submissive as possible; this just made the human laugh.
"Look like we got us one that's been here before and knows how to act." He drawled. "Put 'er in Section 7; Miss D will make sure the one gets a proper home this time." The guard nodded, grabbed the chain between Missy's pawcuffs and hauled her off to the designated room. Inside were five males, including a feline she had met in the van; Walker was older, his fur a combination of grey and white as if he was coated in pepper. The room was somewhat small; large enough for them to move, but still small that anyone else coming would make it too crowded. Across from the door they were lead through stood another door, this one made of metal, like those used on elevators.

	"What happens now?" Someone whispered to Missy's left. Just then the light went out. After a few seconds of blackened confusion, the other door opened, the bright light flooding into half the room. Missy's eyes adjusted almost right away, focusing to the elevators interior. A woman's voice emerged from the inside.
"What happens now," the voice had a sultry voice to it, "is you will all enter the elevator; everything you need to know will be explained later."
"And what if we don't want to enter?" Walker asked the faceless voice
The voice replied almost right away. "Anyone left in here will be taken by the ones that brought you in for a slow torture. They start by plucking all you fur off, then cut off extremites until you somewhat resemable a human....care to hear what happens after that?" Walker kept quiet. "Good. Now enter." One by one Missy and the other entered the elevator, the door almost closing on the last one's tail. The whole car started shaking as it started downwards. Everyone shifted nervously as a quiet settled in, only to be broken in as the voice started up again.
"In case you weren't told, my seller's name is Miss D. I sell your types in Section 7, the ones that are open to anything...." A short pause. "A female among you? Damn, those slavers never get anything right."

	Missy was under the impression of someone looking right at her, other then the males in the elevator. For the first time Missy noticed a small camera up in one of the corners, it's glass lens reflecting a small amount of light. She took a step to the side, and watched as the camera tracked her. She took a step back to her first spot, only to get her tail shocked from a bolt of energy from another corner.
"Hold still, you little bitch," the voice came on angerly, "while I read your bio...." This was followed by a minute of silence as Missy checked her tail for damage.
"Hmmm, a member of the rebels, huh? Normally that would mean extra training, but as mine are geared mostly to males, I'll have to take my chances of putting  you out on the floor right away." The elevator stopped with a sudden jerk, the door opening. In marched four armed humans, three holding their automatic rifles at the ready. The other one had his swung over his shoulder; in his hands was a length of chain. Under the cover of the others, he attached the chain to Walker's pawcuffs, the procedded to connect the other males to one another, leaving Missy untouched.

	Before they were lead out, Miss D's voice came back on.
"Units 1 and 3, take the female to my selling stage. Tie her up and keep an eye on anyone interested in buying her." Two of the armed guards nodded, one shouldering his gun as he slowly reached for Missy's pawcuffs. Missy knew it was pointless to resist, so let the human lead her out without trouble. The whole group walked together for a few minutes before they came to an intersection of hallways. Missy was lead on down, while the group of males were taken to the right. Just before they were out of sight, Missy looked back, catching a glimpise of Walker; he looked back up in time for their eyes to meet. This lasted for a few seconds before each were lead away. Missy turned back to look along the hallway and sighed. Would she ever see Walker again? Not likely, she thought, as everyone else she had known was gone. All this and she still didn't know if Belle was alive or not. The human continued to lead her down the hallway, soon coming to a set of metal doors. As she waited for one of the guards to unlock it, her ears picked up loud noises on the other side; most likely from the selling floor. This was it, Missy thought. Soon she would be sold and become a pet; soon she wish she had stayed a pet as she had very time leftt....

Chapter 4
	
	The next few hours found Missy sitting at the far edge of a selling stage, recalling the first time she was in such a situation. She and Belle had been assigned to go under cover, to be put up for sale so they could relay information to other rebels who were there to really be sold. They both went through a training session on how they were to act before being sold; neither knew how soon they would need to use that information. The leader of the Vegas rebels had assured the two girls that the only ones who would buy actually buy them were PureBloods who were part of the rebellion; sounded good in theory. Just no one was prepared when Belle was bought by a human not in on their plan. He apprently had enough money to outbid the rebel plants, who had a limited amount in case they had to buy Missy and/or Belle before someone else did. The rebels had to bid all the money, just to try and save Belle, but the human still had more then enough to buy her away.

	Missy shuddered, remembering being told her sister had just been bought. The rebel PureBloods right away bought Missy and took her to the room where they were staying. There they made plans to free the other feline that night. They would use Missy's skills and talents to turn off the power to just the one room at a certain time, even the back up to the auto door. Then while the two canines played being on  the repair staff, Missy would work her way through the air ducts, being small enough to fit, and get Belle out the same way. Missy and the two others and planned for every event, except one....the whole first part of their plan went smoothly; no one stopped them and Missy got to the darkened apartment, just in time to hear the echo of scream. Missy kicked the grate of the air vent open, dropping to the floor without a sound. She went still, trying to listen for another scream, but there wasn't any. Missy looked to the outside balcony and Belle standing outside on it. Missy came up to her sister, looking down at a crowd of people that were gathering around a broken body.
"You threw him off?" Missy asked.
Belle shook her head. "Nope. When the lights and power went out, which I assume was your plan, he panicked, babbling about how they were coming to take him away. Then before I could stop him, he did a swan dive off the railing."
Missy was still looking over the railing, trying not to send her dinner after the human. "Anyway, I'm here to get you out."
Belle was already inside and climbing into the vent. "I figured that part out already, silly. Come on." Missy rushed to join Belle, crawling in and closing the grate back up. 

	Missy sighed and shifted to sit on the edge of the stage. That was the last job they had together; a few days later Belle vanished on that mission with Mi-Al. She snarled quietly at the thought of Mi-Al; not for the first time in the past few days she was glad that bastard was dead. She was so lost in thought, the yank on her tail scared Missy right back on to the stage. Curious, she lied flat, scooted to the edge and looked under it upside down. Right away she saw a pair of green eyes looking back, a glint of a gold locket just a bit below them.
"Belle?" Missy whispered.
Belle crawled out from under the stage. She now had on an old bikini outfit Tom had bought her and a pink collar. She smiled at Missy. "Miss me, silly?"
Missy moved to hug Belle, but was stopped short by her chain. "Of course I did. Where have you been? What are you doing here?"
Belle made motions for her to be quiet. "Shhh! I'll explain later. Right now we need to get you out of here." As Belle reached for the chain, a human appeared behind Missy.

	"Hey! Get away from here."
Belle looked up at the human with round eyes, trying to look cute. "B-but Master said to bring this one home...." Missy shot Belle a curious look.
"Well, tell your master "tough luck." The human unclipped Missy. "This one was just by a Mr. Tom Swanson."
Both girls ears perked up at this. Belle moved quickly forward, showing the human a tag on her collar.
"He my master," Belle insisted, trying to sound cute and submissive. Told me to come get this one."
The human paused, seeming to consider. "Wait here," he instructed, fastening Missy's chain to a post and walked over to a phone. Missy took this time to lean forward. 
"Where did you learn to act like that? I'm surprised he bought it at all..." She smiled at Belle, who mock-growled at her.
"Shut up. It worked, didn't it? Keesha must've posed as Tom...." Belle stopped as Missy looked a little confused and sad.
"Belle, I got to tell you....I...." but she had to stop when the human came back over.
"All right. He said for you to take this one." He undid the chain and tossed it to Belle; he then turned and walked off, muttering something about others getting all the luck.

	Missy and Belle had to force themselves not to run, keeping an air of two pets, one delivering the other to the castle across the way, if anyone asked. It was only once they were alone in a stairwell of the castle building did they pause to give each other a tight hug. Missy was about to barrage Belle with questions, when Belle started up the stairs.
"Look, I know we both have a lot of questions for each other, but we have to wait until we get back to the room and meet up with Keesha."
Missy gave a playful swipe at Belle's tail as the two bounded up the stairs. "Fine." She mock-pouted. "Wait. Keesha? Why did you drag her out this way?"
Belle giggled. "It was the other way around, sis." Belle was taking the stairs two at a time, Missy starting to struggle slightly to keep up.
"And wh-what are you...two doing here...anyway?" Missy panted as they hurried past the 10th floor. By the time Belle answered they were at the 12th floor door.
"Said I'll explain later and I will. Now, look downtrodden until we can get to Tom's room." Belle lead Missy out by the chain to keep up the apperance.
"Um," Missy started. "About Tom...." She stopped short when Belle did in front of a pair of doors. Missy noticed a small sign with the human's name on it and she felt even worse; but Belle was looking at one of the doors.

	"I didn't leave it open like this...."Belle gestured to the slightly opened door, her fur slightly bristled.
"Maybe Keesha left it open for you." Missy guessed, reaching out to try and smooth her sister's fur down. Belle gave a soft purr, but remained at attention.
"No, she doesn't know the passcode and we decided to split up to find you. I was assuming she was a step ahead of me when that human said Tom bought you."
A new voice emerged from within the room, deep and masculine. "Come on in. If I wanted to harm either of you, it would've been days ago."
The sisters looked at each other, Belle shrugged, and pushed open the door into the living room part and entered, Missy right behind her. The two saw the stranger right away, relaxing in one of the chairs; he rose slowly, not making any sudden movments to scare the two felines. He stood no taller then Missy or Belle, 5'7" tops. His fur was a short, orange color with dark bands covering his arms. He wore a simple leather vest, opened a few inches down the chest and a pair of non-descript, black shorts. He looked no older then the others were, perhaps a few years youngers; hard to judge given his odd facial features. The stranger looked directly at the sisters, a sense of familiarity passing between them, then quickly leaving. He gave a relaxed, toothy smile.
"Hello, Mothers...."


				End Part 3

Interlude 3

To: C.C.
From: Project PureBlood
	All of us would first like to send our condolences on the loss of your son Tom. As a bit of payback, we are arragening to kill off the one that did this.
On to other bussness:Our efforts to locate the missing 511 unit have proven unsuccesful; however we have been working quickly on getting #019000-X to take care of matters.

End Trans....

To:Project PureBlood
From: C.C.
	Your concern for my loss is unnessacary; it has nothing to do with the current situation. This letter is to inform you that I will be visiting in the next day or so, and no harm is to come to our 'guest', despite what happened; I have my own plans. If any of your team interferes, the consuquences will be severe.

End Trans....



Missy and Belle by Kenth
Part 4:Moments of Truth

Chapter 1

	A long silence passed as Missy and Belle just stared at the stranger. He was around 5' 7" and covered in short orange fur. But what was strange was how his face didn't quite seem right. His muzzle was long and narrow like a wolf's, but had the almond-shaped eyes of a feline. His ears also didn't seem right, being small and triangular on a large skull that more fitted a canine. His long, bushy tail twitched back and forth as he looked between the two girls, then turned and sat in a chair. He gestured to the couch across from him.
"Please, sit." His voice was deep with a slight growl to it. "We have some time before your friend Keesha comes back."

	Belle tugged Missy in close, not moving from her spot, and whispered in the other's ear. "I don't trust this. I say we make a run for it."
Missy looked back at her recently found sister. "I know it seems odd...but he did go through all the trouble of finding us and bringing us together." Then before Belle could stop her, Missy went over and sat on the couch, unconcerned she was still naked from being put up for sale. Belle sighed to herself and moved closer, but remained standing, still suspious. She glared at the stranger.
"Okay, whoever you are, since we're waiting I've got some questions for you."
The strange creature smiled. "Of course. Let me first give you some background on myself." He reached to the side for a glass of something he had helped himself to while waiting. The two felines shifted and waited as he took a small sip.

	"First off, I'm called Dodger, an acronym for 'Dangerous Organism Designed to Gather and Eradicate Rebels.' I admit it's not really creative, but one of the doctors thought it was clever." Seeing the blank look on the other's faces, Dodger continued on. "As you proably noticed I am not exactly one that can blend into a crowd; this is a result of an experiment. I got my features when human doctors merged dog and cat blood, taking out the best traits from each and combining them into a species which they dubbed 'Fenine.' It took the doctors several tries to get it right; the previous results were not too promising." He paused here to take another sip, this gave time for Missy to cut in.
"Then why did you call us 'mothers'? How long ago were you born? Um, made...."
Dodger grinned. "Made would be the correct term. It was about five years ago; they accelerated my growth to one year every three months. They had to teach me around the clock to keep up. Direct teaching, usually technical skills and physical combat, during the day, and subliminal teaching of math, language, and such while I was asleep. They were attempting to make the ultimate example of furred species."  

	He paused for a moment. "As to calling you two mothers, that came a few months ago when I was made part of another experiment. This  time the humans wanted to copy certain memories from another creatures's brain on to a computer, then give them to me. In effect it was a quicker way to learn new skills, but the slipped up and put in more then they intended." The girls blinked, Belle cutting in.
"Wait a minute. When did they go and...." She seemed unable to finish the thought.
"When did they the humans get the stuff out your head?" Dodger offered and Belle nodded. "I believe it was about the same time for each of you. When the guards knocked you out, Belle, while under Ja-Garr's 'care'; you were out for a few days and the human doctors did it then." The fenine turned to Missy. "Your's came from the day you collaspsed just after finishing the work on the shields; good thinking on making that option to turn off all shields from your computer only, by the way." Now the sisters were worried. If the humans could go in and take whatever they needed, how much more did this stranger know?

	Dodger saw the felines getting nervous and hurried to continue. "No need to worry; I may know where all the rebel hideouts are, or how to counter any of Belle's attacks, or the affair between Missy and Keesha, but I also said the humans gave me more then they intended. I ended up with the emotions you two feel for each other; the love that drives you each to risk yourself to protect the other. That's why I escaped from 'Project PureBlood'; to find you two and get you both out of the war." Dodger stopped to look at both girls in return. Neither said anything, tring to sort out their thoughts. It was Missy who voiced her's first.
"Project PureBlood....does that have anything to do with the canines that call themselves PureBloods?"
Dodger nodded. "The facility where I was created and trained is part of the Project; the whole thing was built and designed by the same company that redid Vegas and currently the West coast. The Project itself? It's about cloning. What better way to be sure a line remains pure, then to clone the same one over and over? Belle, I belive you met both Mi-Al and Ja-Garr." Belle nodded slowly. "They came from the same batch of clones; identical in most every way. The whole DT-574 group was designed to be perfect soldiers: obediant, plotting machines used to bring all the other furred one under the control of the company that made them. They were also made to be near invinsible; able to withstand most explosions, burns, even the vacum of space...."

	Missy and Belle were aghast. Here the humans just weren't helping the PureBloods, they were making more. Belle motioned Missy over to whisper, away from Dodger.
"What do you think?" Belle whispered.
Missy was quiet for a moment. "I think he's telling the truth." She whispered back and Belle nodded.
"If he is, this war will never end and all those rebels would've died for nothing...." Missy looked closely at her sister. "You're planning on finding where this building is and taking it out, aren't you?" Belle blinked, then nodded.
"I was....but only if you came along. I lost you once and I'm not doing it again."
Missy smiled. "We might as well do it....even if we die together."
"I'll be coming along too, of course," Dodger said from across the room; her turned to hace the two felines. "I know where it is and how to get in." Missy and Belle just stared at him for a moment, until Dodger wiggled his ears. "You don't miss much when trained to be a hunter."

	Dodger went over to one of the desks in the room and started drawing on a pad of paper. "If we're going to raid the facility, you'll need to know the general layout of the complex." The girls looked over Dodger's shoulder as he drew something that resembled a block letter L. The fenine drew in stuff as he went, starting at the bottom part. "Ok, this first part is an airstrip; 10 miles long and five wide; the company has enough planes to make any country's air force to look like a mere hobby." He put in what could be runways, just to farther illustrates, then pointed to the bend of the L. "If we can land around here, particuarly in the vehicle I'm thinking of, we'll be able to get into rest of the compund no problem. It's getting to the main building that'll be a problem." On the longer part of the L, Dodger did some quick drawing. "The rest of the area is covered in a thick and humid jungle, which is odd as the whole compound is in the middle of the desert." Missy and Belle paid close attention, watching Dodger fill in where the jungle was, leaving a circular area near the top.

	"This," he said, pointing to the circle, " is the main building where the company does it's cloning experiments, houses it's employees, and hold business meetings." He paused. "It's about three miles around at the base and raises 60 stories in an inverted cone." Dodger took another piece of paper and drew a cone with a wide base and a line near the bottom to show the ground; then near the top he put in a small circle connected to the cone by a line. He continued," The only chief oddity is a sphere that comes off the side and is attactched by a strong bridge. I've never been inside it, so I have no idea of it's purpose." He let the two girls look at it over. "Still up to taking it out?"

	Belle glanced over at Missy who was studying the building drawing. "What kind of power source do they use?" She asked, not looking up. "Nuclear?"
Dodger shrugged. "Possibly. I was never allowed down there. But I did hear some of the workers refer to it as 'the furnece." Missy just nodded, mumbling to herslef.
"Could blow it up....no, that would be very bad....turn it off?...no, just slow, not stop them...." Missy looked up to see Belle and Dodger watching her. "Sorry. I was thinking of how we could end this whole mess."
Dodger nodded. "But it's still unlikely we'll survive....provided we live long enough to make to the building."
Belle stared hard at the cat-dog. "And how do we know that you're not leading us into a trap? You could've been 'made' just to serve this purpose."
"You'll just have to trust me." Dodger didn't even flinch under Belle's stare. "Just know if this was a trap, I could've gotten you and Keesha the night you two spent in the mountain." Belle blinked, then turned to stalk into the bedroom.

	"What about you, Missy?" Dodger asked. "Do you have the same reservations about me?"
Missy looked where Belle went, then to Dodger, then to gaze out the window. "No," she answered softly. "Belle may not like most canines because of what happened in the past, and neither should I, thanks to recent events, but to survive this we're going to have to trust you." Missy stood and started heading to the bedroom. She paused at the door. "But if it is a trap and Belle is harmed in anyway," she almost whispered. "Then I'll make sure you pay in return." Dodger said nothing as the feline went through the door. He stood and returned to the chair he was in when Missy and Belle first entered, leaned back and took up the last of his drink. He didn't mean to eavedrop on the girl's conversation in the next room; he just wanted to be sure he could relay on them....

Chapter 2

	The escape pod shuddered and shook Belle just after the bomb exploded. She had done it; Ja-Garr was gone and she was free. She was just about to relax when the pod started to shake again, more violently this time. Belle took a hurried glance out one of the side windows; it was Ja-Garr! Somehow he lived through the bomb going off and now was shaking the pod around. Belle turned back to look out the main window, and there he was again. No....there were two in front now, both working at shaking the pod. She undid the seat's blet, floating to the door's window. She pressed her face against it to look in either dicrection. The whole pod was surrounded by Ja-Garrs, all shaking the escape pod hard. Belle was starting to panic when a bloodied face popped up in front of her. She screamed, doing a floating stumble back. The face of was of Tom; but it couldn't be....Missy had told her how she was there when Tom died, how Missy blamed herself for killing him. The human was saying something, but all Belle could hear was the pounding of blood in her ears from fear. She backed quickly up against the chair; only now it wasn't a chair. A heavy paw landed on her shoulder, shaking her. Belle spun to look and gasped. Another Ja-Garr had gotten in somehow. He was shaking her both paws now and saying somethng. The voice was definately not Ja-Garr's, but seemed familar anyway.
"Wake....wake up...elle..." Belle had to concentrate on the words being said, to calm her fear.

	Dodger stood up from shaking the sleeping Belle for the past five minutes. He turned to Missy who was rummaging around for something to wear.
"How the hell did you ever get her to wake up before?" He asked. Missy turned, holding a shirt.
"Take it easy on her; she's been through a lot the past couple of days."
Dodget nodded. "I know that. I've been following her ever since she landed on that beach." He turned back to the sleeping fline, deciding he could yank on her tali; that would wake her, though he might get scratched in the process. But it wasn't nessecary as Belle slowly opened her eyes. Dodger leaned over so he was the first thing Belle saw. "Good, you're awake. Something came up and we have to leave....now."
Belle sat up and looked to the window. "But it's still the middle of the night."
Dodger walked towards the other room. "Actually it's 5:30 a.m., hardly the the middle of the night. Better get dressed; I figure we have 10 minutes tops to get out of here."

	Belle looked over to Missy, who just shrugged.
"He told me the same thing." Missy reached over to on of her sister's paws. "You ok?" Belle gave a small purr, then nodded sternly. 
"Yeah." She stood, heading to the cloest. "We better do what he wants; if he seems this upset, something must be wrong." Missy nodded and the two finished dressing. The only clothes that fit either of were the ones bought for Belle when she was a pet. Since they were a little too skimpy to be effective in a fight, they were forced to improvise with some of Tom's clothes. Missy came out wearing a pair of shorts  the fell to her knees and tied around her narrow waist with a belt. She als had on a plain dark green shirt, but since that was too big as well, she had looped the bottom through the neck hole in front to take up some of the slack. Belle was dressed in the same fashion, though she wore a brown vest rather then a shirt and her locket, as usual. Dodger turned as they entered from the bedroom, tossed them each a heavy backpack and shouldered a third.

	"Ok. You're finally ready." He started going around the room, turning off light and unplugging stuff like he owned the place. "I got hold of Keesha and told her to meet us in the parking garage. I assumed she would like to come along too." He came to stand in front of the two felines, Belle barring the door.
"Hold on. Where is Keesha? I know she didn't come in last night...."
Dodger almost replied, looking up suddenly. "Later," was all he said. "If we don't get out now, we never will safely." He pushed past Belle and opened the door, checking the hallway. When the fenine was sure it was safe, he motioned Missy and Belle out. The two girls slipped into the hallway as Dodger closed the door; at the last second, he tossed something back inside. He quietly lead them to the stairwell. He held the door open long enough for Missy and Belle to get through, pausing to spray something from a can on the floor and around the door. Belle was already starting down the stairs while Missy waited for Dodger to finish. He saw the question on her face and answered quickly. "Just covering our tracks. Now, come on." The fenine started down the stairs two at a time, Missy following as fast as she could.

	The trio reached the ground floor a few minutes later and waited while Dodger opened the security door leading to the underground car lot. Dodger lead them down past two more doors before stopping at one labeled 'U3'; by this time both girls were panting heavily, while Dodger seemed quite fine. He motioned them to stay quiet as possible as he eased the metal door open, poking his head to look around. Dodger took his time, thinking they were safe for a bit. Finally he lead Missy and Belle out into the garage area. The part they came out in was surrounded by cars lined side by side in a single row. Measuring 30 feet wide and only seven tall, the whole area had a cold feeling to it, the bleak concrete walls and floors hardly reflecting what little light there was. Dodger lead the way to the right, staying low between the cars and the wall. Missy and Belle followed his example, all three moving along quietly, stopping still for every car and human that went past.

	It took about ten minutes of this sneaking before Dodger held up a paw, signaling a stop. Missy's heart was pounding rapidly, and it was another minute before she could hear what the others already did. There were two of them, arguing it sounded like. And one of the voices Missy definatly recgonized. She looked up to see Dodger looking back and he nodded, silently confirming what she thought. Belle was shifting from foot to foot as she waited, looking like she wanted to move quickly. Dodger put a paw on the smaller feline's shoulder, then lead them a little closer. Now the two speakers could be heard more clearly; and one of them was definatly Keesha.

	Belle looked up over the hood of a car, Dodger and Missy on either side. From their spot in the dark of the garage, they could easily see the fluffy retriver/smoyed arguing with a human. They were standing in front of a small guard shack across the way, a simple barrier blocking a ramp up. Belle almost jumped out right there, but Dodger held her back, pointing quietly to the shack. Through the windows could be seen movement, meaning more humans could be inside. It looked like Keesha was starting to lose the argument, so they need to act fast. Dodger slid his backpack off, rummaging through it as the girls watched. The fenine finally withdrew three knives, two had a foot long blade and the other a few inches shorter. He pointed to Belle and himself, then upwards, across the roof, and down to the shack, pantamiming his intended plan. Belle nodded and took one of the larger knives and handed the other large one to Missy, who looked blank for a second unil Belle pointed to the human with Keesha and drew a line across her throat with a finger. Missy blinked and was about to protest when without warning Dodger grabbed her sister and leaped to the ceiling, landing on the pipes above. He looked down at Missy and flashed four fingers; he wanted her to wait four minutes before she killed the guard.

	Missy shivered as she watched the two vanish into the dark of the roof. They wanted her to kill the human? She knew she couldn't do it. It was different then in the plane; here she would look face to face at the one she killed. But Dodger had a plan and needed her to do her part. Missy crept along behind and then along the side of a car until she could see Keesha and the human better. They were still arguing, something about Keesha not being allowed down here against how she was summoned by the head of the guards. The human's back was to Missy, Keesha hidden by him. Missy closed her eyes, getting herself ready, when she head the sound of the human's rifle hitting Keesha just before the canine landed on the garage floor. Missy watched in horror as a stream of blood started to flow from Keesha's muzzle. The human heard the shriek of what he thought was a  wild cat like he heard in ancient news tapes. He was close, but by the time he thought to bring his gun around, he was dead. Missy seemed to have been launched forward, quickly covering the the distance in a few seconds. She had the knife drawn while running and with the force of her momentum, drove the blade up to the hilt in the hollow of the human's throat, the sharp edge coming out the other side.

	The guard went down in his knees in a gurgle of blood, but Missy wasn't done. She lept on to his chest, pushing the human back on his calves as she started to slap him across the face, claws extended.
"How this, you bastard? Can't you fight something that will actually stand up to you.?" The human might've answered, but Missy had already torn most of his lips off, along with his nose and an ear. Something in the back of her mind was telling her to stop, but the rest of her wanted revenge, for what she didn't know. It was the shaking on her shoulder that brought Missy to look around. There was Dodger, standing behind ger and beyond she could Belle helping Keesha stand. Missy blinked to clear her head, looking down at the bloody mess of the once human face. She stumbled backwards, almost gagging as the thought of what she just did hit her. She turned, finding herself in an embrace from Keesha. The tall canine looked over Missy and at the human.
"Damn, girl....you don't mess around, do you?" Keesha teased, then saw Missy was looking quite upset.

	Dodger was coming out of the guard shack again, carring tow automatic rifles. "Yeah, great....she's a real wildcat. But we don't have time for a reunion or sympathy." He tossed one of the rilfes to Belle, who caught it in one paw. "We only have a few minutes headstart. Belle, you got rear guard. I'll take point since I know where we're headed." Dodger took off at a fast jog, Missy, Keesha and Belle following behind. They were just out of hearing range when the elevator next to the guard shack dinged, the doors opening to let a dorbermin and two humans out. The dobermin looked at the mangled, barely breathing human on the ground, then down the way the four had taken just a few minutes before. The dog gave a silent signal for the two humans to follow and procecded after his prey....


Chapter 3

	The desk clerk wasn't quite sure what to make of the dobermin in front of him. The dog was easily over seven feet tall and looked soild enough to withstand a thrown brick. He wore an all black riot outfit and it was impossible to tell where the gear stopped and it's black fur started. Out of the black and brown fur, a huge white scar could be seen running from just below his right ear down to the hollow of his thoart. His eyes and ears moved almost constantly, not out of fear but more like a hunter. Right now though they were turned directly at the clerk and the human couldn't help but feel a little nervous. The dobermin leaned heavily on the counter, looking directly at the clerk.
"I'm looking for a 'Tom Swanson'; I understand he has a room here." he growled. The desk clerk gave a quick nod, looking the name up on a nearby computer screen. After a few moments, the clerk finally replied.
"His room is on the 12th floor. Shall I phone on ahead?" He reached for a phone behind the counter, only to have it pinned under a huge paw.

	"No," the dog replied with a smile that made him look even more dangerous. "I want it to be surprise." He released the human's hand, gave a polite nod, then marched to the nearest elevator. Meeting him there were six heavily armed humans, clad in the same outfit as the dobermin. They had confiscated two elevators, holding them open. The dobermins simply stated "12" and the group split into two groups, four humans in one elevator, the other two joining the large canine in the second one. As soon as the metal doors closed, the dobermin closed his eyes, opening them after a few seconds. Superimposed over his view was a red-lined cutaway shot of the hotel, showing the elevator he was in and a stationary blinking dot that was his prey, namely that traitor Dodger. The dog absently touched the scar on on his neck; a 'present' from when that filthy crossbreed escaped. Sure, the doctors had offered to repair it, but he wanted it as a reminder and a motivator for this job. The dobermin was about to shut his eyes to turn off the retina screen when a thought struck him. That Dodger wasn't stupid and proably knew by now he was being chased. Instantly the dog had the scene of the hotel pull back until he could see a cutaway of the whole place, including the underground parking areas.

	Ah-ha. There was the second homing dot, blinking and moving down a stairwell to the third level of parking; at least the second one was still a secret from the fenine. So, unless the unlikely happened and they split up, the dot he and the humans were heading up to was a decoy and possibly a trap.
"Stop the elevator," he growled to either of the humans; the two in turn gave a blank look . They hesitated too long for the dobermin's taste. He reached to slam the emergency stop button, the elevator jerking to a halt, then quickly pressed for the underground parking. One of the humans finally got the nerve to ask "But...but why, sir? What about the other group?" The canine hmmphed at how slow the elevator was going.
"Radio and tell them we're following another lead. Also tell them to watch themselves." The human who had questioned him nodded and began tring to raise the other group over the 2-way radio. The dobermin tuned out the conversation, litarally, by lowering the sound enchaners in his ears.

	 Like all of those from the DT-574 project, the dobermin had been cloned and enhanced to become a soldier. But a special destiny had appeared when he was selected for a new project; the same memory implant experiment Dodger had been given. But while the fenine was given memories from both cats and dogs, this canine had recived the information from all the other dobermins that had been cloned since the start of  'Project PureBlood'. Inside him were experiences others had gone through years before he was created, right up to the recent deaths of Mi-Al and Ja-Gar. The others had learned quickly, watching their oppenets and allies alike, taking in all the information they could and processing so they knew right away the same techniques and information; all of this was stored on computers back at the compound, waiting for a use. The owner, after learning of the two test subjects, had insisted that the DT-574 brood's memories all be transferred into this new canine; the result was encouarging. He had come out of the tank with full knowledge of  hand-to-hand fighting, as well as being familiar with all kinds of weapons. In effect, this put him above all the other canines created for the project, and when told he was to be given a name, he had told he beat the humans to it and was from then on to be called Canis.

	Canis looked up to see the human putting his radio back and turned his hearing up again.
"Ok, they said they had just reached the floor and were lining up outside." The dobermin just nodded, looking up at see what floor they were on; just nowgoing past the lobby and heading down.
"Good, though if I know our target, I wouldn't expect to see them again." The humans stared wide eyed, wondering if it was too late to get reassigned. They rode the rest of the way in silence, listening to the gears grinding as they were lowered down. Finally the door pinged open, letting the trio out into the garage. Smells from cars and pipes almost overloaded Canis sensative nose; he quickly adjusted to the smells, picking out the stink of Dodger and the perfume worn by the two felines with him. He was also able to pick out the smell of a strange female canine crossbreed, who he right away dismissed from his mind and....the smell of blood? He followed the last scent to the human guard right away, just looking down at the face. The other two humans came up behind, one almost gagging at the sight of the clotted blood covering the one on the floor. Canis looked up, listening for any sounds that might give away where his prey went, then signaled the two to follow as he started off they way Dodger had lead the other group earlier.

	The two humans had a hard time keeping pace with the more trained canine, so when he signaled them to halt, they were all too happy to stop. Canis looked over his shoulder as he started moving again.
"Stay back a little....I don't want them to know how many are here until too late." With that he took off down the corridor, rounding a nearby corner. The humans were grateful for the break and leaned again a car to rest. Too bad for them it was more then they're legs that got a break when Keesha  and Belle popped up from behind, strangling one each until the neck broke....
Canis slowed his approached to the blank wall; it was empty of cars, but it was arranged to be that way. He had turned back on the retina screen, the blinking dot that had lead him here very close. He let his hunter instincts take over, turning in a slow circle as his eyes, ears and nose took in everything that might give away the hiding place. It was oppisite the blank wall that something red flashed acrossed his eyes. He paused, scanning directly in front, knowing he could handle whoever was there, but that was his mistake. Just like Dodger, Canis got more then memories, he also got the feeling and attitudes of the ones that came before him, making him overly confident in himself; the result was Missy able to take a shot at him from the where she hid in the pipes near the roof. Canis barely had enough time to realize the snipe was above and not level to him and tried to dodge; but Missy had somehow predicted this and fired where she figured he would duck rather then right between the eyes.

	The result was the bullet tearing through the canine's' left eye, causing him to howl and fall, landing on his side. Missy wasted no time after shot, jumping to the floor and running to the canine. She blinked as she recgonized the face of Mi-Al, but understood that this was another clone. This one was still alive, tring to grab for her ankle; Missy skipped back, aimed the rifle and fired another shot right into the temple of the dobermin. The clone went still now, blood flowing from the holes through it's head. By this time, Keesha and Belle rounded the corner, coming over to side around the body as well.
"It sure looks like Mi-Al." Keesha commented.
Missy shrugged. "Either way, it's dead." Belle looked over at her sister, slightly taken back at the how calm Missy was now about killing someone and seeming to take a kind of pleasure from it; it frightened Belle seeing her in this light and made her wonder what had happened to the passive little girl she grew up with. Missy had moved away, looking around, so Belle just let the thought slip away, putting it under them growing up and apart. She suddenly noticed what Missy was looking for.
"Hey, where that Dodger go?"
"That's what I'm tring to figure out." Missy said from near a blank wall. There were lines for cars, but none parked in front of it. "I last saw him over here...." She was right next to the wall and was waving her paw around; the paw would've hit the wall in it's movements, but instead went into it, her paw dissappearing.

	The girls gasped at this, Missy quickly pulling her paw back, then putting it through again.
"What the....?" That was all she got out before the rest of her body was pulled through the wall, her tail flicking just before it was swallowed. Belle and Keesha wasted no time and followed right after, both half-expecting to find the wall was solid after all. But to their surprise it was just like air as they passed through from the dark garage into a brightly lit hallway. Missy was getting up from a kneeling position, Dodger holding her paw to help her stand.
"Sorry, I didn't mind to tug that hard," he said, letting go of the paw. Belle moved over to Missy, touching her shoulder, prompting a smile from the other feline. Dodger was moving down the hallway, touching a small box that looked like an old time film projecter to the others. "Holographic technology....humans devolped it for entertainment purposes, but good 'ol C.C. likes to use it to hide secerts."
The three girls followed the fenine down the hallway, Missy pausing to look more closely at the machine, then looking up. "Who's C.C?"
Dodger stopped at a turn in the hallway, waving Belle and Keesha on by. "Don't know what the name stands for, but he is the owner of the company that created me and the others....now, come on. You're going want to see what they're hiding here." He gestured for Missy to follow, then walked on. Missy stood and quickly moved where the others had gone, stopping short at what the chamber beyond held.

	The circular room was easily 50 feet across at it's widest point, vaulting upwards to unseen height, the ceiling lost in blackness. At intervals around the room were entrances to tunnels like the one the group just came out of, each lit with electric lamps. Taking up space along the wall were piles of boxes and barrels, securely stacked and tied with ropes or wires. The cantainers ranged in sizes from shoe box to full keg size for the barrels. Closer to the middle were various computer consules, parts of them lit up as automatic programs were running, sending commands to different electric arms and hooks. These arms and hooks were working constantly, moving in and out of tunnels and around a the center of the room, mostly loading barrels into the large metal machine that took up the center of the room. Whatever the machine was, it measured about 20 feet long and 10 wide; it was hard to tell how tall it might be as it was currently floating 15 feet off the ground with no means of support. All around the sides had been angeled to close to 45 degrees, with a door on either side, one open right now and the other closed, as well as view ports in the very front and the side to the left and right. The roof was flat most of the way, but towards the back there was a large square that poked through, a very large cannon mounted to the front of it; there were no signs of more armement, but with the  30mm cannon, it proably didn't need any. The machine shined in the lighted area, it's all metal surface smooth and almost mirror like.


	Dodger was already making his way to the center and to the machine, bounding up the small staircase beside the open door. Missy, Belle and Keesha followed, watchful for signs of a trap. They approached the machine as it hung in mid-air, the thin cables attached to it not likely the source of it staying up; their sensitive ears did pick up a humming noise, seeming to come from inside. Dodger was at the entrance, smiling wide. He looked down over the side at the three girls, and waved them to come up as well. As one at a time they walked up, Dodger poked his head, then turned around.
"Well, this is  it; our ride out of here...." 
Missy stared at Dodger. "You're kidding....this hunk of metal actually moves?" She pushed him aside, stepping inside. Dodger furrowed his brow, looking quietly at Belle as she passed by; the small feline just shrugged and followed her sister, at a loss as to why the other has starting acting more tough then anyone was used  to. Keesha passed and Dodger came in last; Missy was over at a large chair positioned under where turrent on top was located, examing the controls. Along the walls were computer consoles and seats, another open door inside leading to the driver's area. 
"It's called the 'Titan'. The frame is made of a strong metal the company developed; it's 3  inches thick and can withstand a blast at almost point blank range. Any fired from a greater distance is deflected away by the angled sides. It's main and only weapon is the cannon on top; with  the help of advanced radar and 'smart' technology, it's capable of hitting a target several miles away." The others just nodded, looking at the various instruments, Missy seemingly transfixed by the turrent and seat set-up. Dodger continued, "And if you havn't guessed already, 'Titan' runs on a anti-gravity set-up." He pointed towards the back. "It's powered by a prototype minitured nuclear power plant; all the energy and almost none of the side effects. With it, we can run this thing anywhere, even up; one of the tests was to bring it up as high as possible without leaving the atmosphere."

	Missy's voice came from below the firing console. "And this cannon? Looks like it's more of a rail gun set-up...."
Dodger nodded and walked over to the seat. "Correct. The whole thing lined with a series of magnatic coils that produce a positive charge, as well as the shells. I'm guessing you can guess the rest?"
Keesha was poking around some boxes, speaking up at this point. "Yeah. The same charges repel one another so the shell is more or less floating in the cannon. To lauch I'm guessing there is a large positive build up at the back that then pushes the shell forward at high speeds and distance."
Dodger nodded again. "Exactly. Anything over a mile away requires a different kind that ignites after a pre-set distance." He tapped Missy on the shoulder and was taken slightly back at how fast she turned and the small glow of hatred he saw for a second; but Missy's green eyes soon returned to their normal innocent look.
"You know how to drive this thing, Dodger?", she asked. He shook his head and started for the cockpit.
"No, but I was hoping you could figure it....and quickly." He lead the three other into the driving area, a horse-shoed shaped room with three panels. The largest one dominated the area under the front viewports with a pair of seat in front of standard airplane flight sticks. The other two panels were positioned diaginal to the main with a single seat in front of each and under viewports as well.

	Missy was already looking over the controls, blinking as she noticed none of the buttons weren't labled. "What the hell? How could anyone fly this without some kind of labels for the buttons?"
Belle smiled as she looked over her sister's shoulder. "Hey, I saw this in that pod I told you about....wish I had remembered to bring that helemet, but we had to leave it before our trip out here." Missy was still looking at the controls, paws running over them.
"I remember you mentioned that....so, what are we missing?"
Dodger sat in the one of the chairs at the side panels, putting his feet on it. "Well, you'd have to look for the helmets that show you the VR buttons and controls." He pointed to a cabinet on the back wall. "Proably there." Keesha nodded and pulled out four helemets like Belle had used not so long ago; but Dodger, when offered one, just shook his head. He blinked his eyes, the irises turning red. "One of the enhancements I was given were contact lenses that can see this type of thing." Keesha shrugged and set the  helemt back into the wall, then turned to the others.
"So, I take we're ready to go then?" She smiled, taking the seat at the other side panel; that left Missy and Belle to take the two main ones. Missy already had the helmet on, her paws moving in the air above the panel as machine around started to come to life. The felines voice was slightly muffled by the helemet.
"Yep....just as soon as....there we go!" The 'Titan' gave a sudden lurch forward, the snapping cables clanging against it's sides as Missy found a way to move the machine forward. Belle, Keesha and Dodger gave a cheer as they moved, which was suddenly overtaken by a scream from Belle as the one Dodger called Canis suddenly jumped onto the front and was peering through the viewports.

	Missy stabbed at the air and 'Titan' stopped short as she hit the brake button. Canis went flying back off the front, hitting the ground and skidding backwards while standing; the canine wasted no time and launched himself at the viewports again. However, Missy surprised everyone else as she seemed to anticipate this move, raising the nose up a little and putting the machine at full forward. The four inside didn't even feel the impact, but they did see Canis going flying back down the tunnel they had entered from. Missy lifted the helmet back and smiled.
"Not bad for a first drive....now, how do we get out since this thing is too big for the garage?" Dodger pointed upwards.
"There's a tunnel leading to a circular door overhead; it opens to one of the deserted housing sections of the city. From there it's a couple of miles to the edge of the dome and out into  the desert....provided we make it through the checkpoint alive."

Chapter 4
	
	The sun beat down through the clear dome over Vegas, though inside the climate controls kept it comfortable for those venturing between buildigs with very little wind. But out in the abandonded suburbs, in the backyard of once comfortable house, ancient leaves started to vibrate and move; a few seconds later the ground cracked open like a giant camera iris, letting the 'Titan' emerge from the underground tunnel. Belle helped Missy turn the machine around from the twin seats as Keesha scanned her set of screens.
"Okay....I've got nothing on radar." 
Belle nodded and leaned over to Dodger. "Which way?"
Dodger's fingers machine-gunned over the keyboard in front of him. "Two miles west, then 3 and a half northwest. That'll put us right in front of the gate out; hopefully when we come out of the buidlings we can catch them by surprise and get out." Missy and Belle nodded as they turned to the control sticks, taking off at a fast pace, but tring to keep low. The 'Titan' took off down past the houses, leaving little dust devils chasing it for a bit. After the dust settled, the door in the ground began to close again, the soil covering it seeming to meld back together. A few seconds of quiet once more took over the old backyard before a metallic echoing started. A small bulge formed in the ground, then a larger one caused as part of the metal door started to rip out of the ground. With a squealing sound, Canis forced a section of metal back, giving him a way out. He moved quickly to the old street and was just in time to catch a glimpse of the 'Titan' fading a couple miles away. It was that 30-story climb that had slowed him down enough they were able to get away, but Canis had a good idea where they were headed. He turned back towards the main area of Vegas, where his transport was  still located and headed off at a running pace a high-performence car would be hard pressed to match. He would be able to reach the compound before Dodger could show them the way he was sure; and this time he would follow his own plan rather then his 'master's'.
		*********************************************
	Missy had the camera magnify the scene ahead, bringing into focus the lone guard shack blocking their exit to the desert beyond the dome; she swiveled her chair towards Keesha.
"You're sure there isn't anyone over there? It looks empty, but they could be hiding or down out of sight."
Keesah looked up briefly from  the screens along her side panel, brushing back some of her long fur from her eyes. "Yes, I'm sure....I've ran radar, thermal, everything that could detect motion; there is no one there." 
Dodger spoke up, having remained quiet since giving directions to the gate. "Look, Missy. I'm with you in suspecting how easy this seems, but now is our only chance to get out of here. Just head for the gate and we'll worry about any traps when we come across them."
Missy's eyes narrowed and she stared hard at the fenine for a moment, then shrugged. Turning back to the controls, she slammed 'Titan' forward so quickly the others were jolted back hard in their seats; she headed for the shack at full speed, hitting 100 miles pet hour in a matter of seconds. As the ground rushed by, Belle reached to try and stop or at least slow them down; before she had a chance, the machine smashed through the concerte and wood shack, the debris raining down behind as Missy sped them out into the desert without even slowing.

	Fortunatly for the human guards that had once been in the shack, Canis had gotten on the radio, and after a quick explanation of who he was and what Canis would do to them if they didn't leave now, the occupants left. By the time 'Titan' and it's passengers were smashing through the barrier, Canis was watching from a high dune outside the dome; enginered to be a great soldier, the 10 mile run to his transport and high-speed race to get outside from one of the nearest gates was all routine for the canine. Canis smiled to himself as the feline Missy drove recklessly through the cleared gate, spun the 'Titan' on a dime and shot off into the desert, a plume of sand flyig behind. He watched until the dust settled again, then slipped a small, black control box into his outfit and set off after them a slightly slower pace; he was sure the would reach the facility before him, but he would waiting for them in the main building by the time they made it past the airfield....if they did.

	Belle was finally able to wrest control from Missy, swinging the massive machine around before it came to a stop. She turned to her sister, clutching her shoulders and shaking Missy hard.
"What the hell was that?! You could've gotten killed! There could've been mine, hidden cannons....didn't you stop to think?!!" Belle was panting slightly as she watched Missy's reaction; her eyes still held the same narrowed look of hatred she had given Dodger. Suddenly Missy blinked and her eyes widen and relaxed.
"I, uh, was....planning on catching anyone there off guard is all...." Her voice sounded small and a little unsure, but she seemed more like her old self now. Belle looked over over to Dodger, who just shrugged.
"It was a good plan, though we could've used a little more warning." He turned back to the consoles in front of him. "Anyway, we are going the right direction. We should approach a little slower in case we still have the element of surprise; that dust cloud can be seen a long ways off."
Belle just nodded and turned back towards Missy. "Well, let's try that a...hey, what's wrong?" Missy was suddenly lowering her head, holding it in her paws.
"Ugh, some kind....of headache or something...." Missy tried to stand and wobbled; Keesha and Belle rushed to help steady her, but the feline waved them back, turned to her controls and sighed.
"I can do this myself...." She tettered a little to each side, until Dodger came to stand behind her. He placed a gentle paw on her shoulder and when she didn't try to rip it off, he turned her towards the door out.

	"Forget it, Missy. Everyone needs to be ready for the plan to work....and you look far from that. Go and get some sleep in the back; we'll wake you when it's time." Missy tried to protest, but Dodger's insisting paw kept her moving to the door. She opened the door and passing through, turning to look back at her friends.
"I'm sorry." She said quietly, then closed the cockpit door. Belle watched the door for a few seconds, then sat down in her sear with a sigh. Keesha just watched the feline quietly, unsure of anything comforting to sat as Belle started to push unlit buttons needlessly.
"Dodger? Is there something wrong with her?" Belle finally asked, not looking up. Dodger came up behind Belle's chair, eyes seeming to just look at the viewports.
"I wish I knew. I'm guessing she hasn't always had such mood swings?"
Keesha shook her head and spoke up. "Not since I've known her. It's like she's two different people..."
"Exactly," Belle put in. "Maybe it's  just truma  from everything that has happened...."
Dodger went back over to his seat, turning to face the screens. "That would be the most likely situation...."
"You don't sound too convinced," Keesha said.
Dodget just nodded. "The only other possibility would be one of the experiments they were tring at the company I where was made. But they never got it perfected...." His ears twitched at the quiet that followed, seeming to predict the question they both wanted to ask.

	"It was a form of mind control," he continued. "The basic idea would be to try and  manipulate the emotions of the subjects. In theory, it would make even the most violent individual completely passive; the company wanted to use it on armies so there would be no resistence when their own army came through."
Belle shook her head. "What does that have to do with Missy acting like she was?"
"There was also a setting to reverse the emotions, making any peaceful soul turn into a berserker. The inventors had planned on a control to regulate the change of attitude, making them almost fall asleep on the passive setting. If they hadn't scrapped the project, I'd say that is what is affecting Missy's behavior."
"Why was it scrapped?" Keesha put in.
"Too many problems, glitches, bugs.....their main problem was range. It's different for each person, from a few feet to a little more then a mile away. Any farther away and there was no change; too close and the change was too great no matter the setting. They had the violent ones dropping into death comas and some priests they tried it out on went on a killing spree, finally killing themselves."
Belle shuddered slightly. "If they had succeded in doing that to any of us....but you really think Missy is under their control?"
Dodger turned in his chair. "I can't say for sure, but we should watch her carefully....and try to keep it quiet from her." Belle and Keesha nodded in agreement. "Good. Now, let's see if we can get this tug moving again." They all turned back to their seperate controls, the noise of the 'Titan' starting to come to life again filling the room; the noise also served to cover Missy's footsteps as she backed away from the door.....

Chapter 5

	The large black wall in the distance could've been a mirage, but as the 'Titan' moved closer, the wall became larger and longer, rather then dissappearing. Missy halted the machine about a mile away as Dodger directed them to stop.
"From here on, our chances of survival drops. I'll understand if any of you want to turn back; it'll limit our chances even more....but it is your decision to leave." The fenine turned his chair to look at the others. Belle was shaking her head.
"Hey, you're not going to get rid of at least me that easily, pal. You came into our lives, and asked us before for help. No sense in turning back now...." She offered Dodger a smile that would belong more on a predator then an innocent looking feline. Keesha turned her chair to face the group.
"I'm with Belle on that....you got us all worked up and ready to fight; now it's time to finish this job." The cabin fell quiet after Keesha casted in her vote to go and all ears swivled over in Missy's direction. The young feline had rejoined them after a few hours, never mentioning how she overheard them talking earlier. Right now she was tring to sort out her mind; part of it wanted her to demand Dodger tell more about the mind control, while the rest thought it was best to stay quiet and not give the others, particuarly Belle not to trust her.
"I'm ready." she whispered.
 Belle nodded and switched 'Titan' back on. "Where to, Dodger? You know this place...."
Dodger sat for a brief second, looking at Missy before turning back to his controls. "Stright ahead, fast as you can go. Missy, take us up 50 feet before we reach the wall and drop us when we get over. Keesha, watch your screens for targets....we may or may not have been found out already." The cockpit was soon filled with the noise of buttons being pressed and the engine growing in volume as they picked up speed.

	The ground outside started to fall away as Missy brought the machine into the air and the wall of the compound  grew closer quickly. A relaxed state filled the area as the group thought they could get in without trouble; that lasted until Keesha suddenly called out.
"We got three blips coming from ahead....too small to be planes; helicopters maybe....?"
Dodger shook his head. "Not likly; too expensive to waste those for small raids. Proably personal jetpacks loaded with weapons."
The answer proved right as the 'Titan' got closer to the wall. Three bursts of lights shook the machine slightly as missiles were launched and hit without damage. Belle picked up the speed, as Missy drove right for the center of the three shapes. Just before being hit, the three humans spilt up, smoke trails going to the left, right and stright up. A second small explosion shook the machine again as Missy brought them over the tall wall, skimming the top by a few feet. Once over she brought it down at a steep angle, plunging towards the ground and leveling out before hitting; she went too fast for Belle to correct the speed and by the time she could manage to, they didn't need to slow down.
"Belle," Missy called over the dinge of the machine. "Get that cannon working...."
Belle just nodded and in seeming one movement, undid her safty belt, swung out of the chair and was out the door to the back. Now that they were in the main compound area, humans swarmed everywhere. Most had gotten wind of what was happening and had started peppering 'Titan's side with small arms. Dodger had brought them near the end of the L shaped he drawn back in the room; this was the airfield for the company and several attack planes were ready to take off.

	Missy swerved hard to the left, taking them near the control tower for the airfield, tring to avoid the shot from a rocket launcher several humans had brought out. She was about to turn back to the original path, when Dodger leaped into Belle's seat.
"Head for the tower; I've got an idea." He directed as he flipped on the intercom. "Belle. You there?"
Belle's voice was a little lost in static and explosions outside. "....re. What's up?"
"Aim the cannon for the bottom of the control tower when Missy passes to it's right; that should block off at least part of the runway."
"Got it!" Belle's voice came through and the intercom shut off. Missy was already angeling to pass to the right of the tower, glancing over at Dodger.
"You better be right about this...."
Dodger just shrugged. "I don't see you coming up with any other ideas. Now move this thing."
Missy got them going faster, passing wide of the base of tower. When they were level, something forced 'Titan' sidways; first thought as an explosion, it turned out it was Belle's shot. The shell's kickback had pushed them,  which turned out to be for the better as the explosion still managed to rock the machine. Missy struggled to keep them under control, fishtailing though smoke and debris. Rear moniters showed the control tower tilting over the space they had just passed, then the picture was lost in dark smoke. Belle's cheer could be heard through the cockpit door and Missy smiled; same old Belle.

	They didn't have time to celebrate as the tower didn't block off the whole end of the runway; humans could be seen scrambling over the rubble, flashes of lights showing where some had stopped to try and shoot again. Ahead was more trouble; tanks had been called out and were tearing across the tarmat towards the 'Titan'. The tank shells could do a lot a more damage then what they had gone through previously, so Missy starting zigzagging around between buildings, tring to move towards the northern section as Dodger directed her. Belle would occasionally fire, sending chunks of concerte, metal and flesh flying, but that didn't delay the pursuit enough. Missy whipped them between two low buildings, almost throwing Dodger and Keesha out of their chairs; a red light for the intercom suddenly turned on. Dodger opened the line to the back and Belle's voice on.
"Go back! I saw something that might help."
Missy swerved the machine around in a wide U turn, heading stright towards a group of three tanks. 'Titan' rocked side to side as shells exploded around them, leaving the three in front if Belle knew what was going on. There was the feeling of drag as  the machine lurched back and a large shell flew towards the tanks. Missy kept heading in that direction, counting on Belle's knowledge of weapons to keep them safe. The shell hit the middle tank's left tread, causing it to pull to the right; the tank on that side swerved too as the middle one kept pulling that way, creating a hole between for the 'Titan' to go through. The left tank tried to move in the vacated spot, but Missy had them going faster then the humans; the whole cabin was filled with the sound of metal tearing against metal, causing the three inside to fold their ears into themselves for a bit. A new light came on in front of Keesha, who took a moment before she recgonized it.
"We're hit! We got a hole in the side!"Dodger made to move over there,  but Belle's voice came on again.
"No, I just opened the door....Missy, hang a right and brake to a stop."
Dodger changed his course from Keesha to going through the door into the back. Belle had opened one of the side doors, a safty harness keeping her from flying out in the wind tunnel created. The white and black feline was holding a rocket launcher she had found somewhere inside. Dodger was tring to get her attention when Missy did swing around and came to a halt so fast that Belle almost fell out and Dodger would've tumbled forward had his claws not sunk into the metal.

	"What are you doing?!" Dodger yelled to Belle above the din of chaos outside. Belle didn't seem to hear; she was lining the launcher up with something just out of his sight. Missy's voice came on over the intercom.
"Whatever you're doing, sis, do it fast. Keesha has more tanks coming right at us and we need to get up to speed again."
Again Belle didn't seem to notice. Dodger was about to get her attention when the launcher fired, smoke filling the back section. It was only then Belle spoke.
"Missy! Get us the hell out of here! Head towards what's left of the tower!" She chucked the launcher outside just as a huge explosion went off. The noise and heat hit the 'Titan' as Missy got them from a dead stop to near a hundred in a matter of seconds. The sudden speed took Dodger by surprise and he rolled towards the open door. If Belle hadn't grabbed one of his flailing paws or had the safety harness, both would've flown out the door. Once they were back inside and speeding away, Dodger looked back at what Belle had hit, but all he could see was a wall of flame, taller then the buildings around it. Belle seemed to know what he was going to ask.
"Fuel supply, probably for the jets. Now if humans are as dull as we were taught...." The rest was cut off as the 'Titan' made a sudden turn to the left and in time with a loud curse from Missy up front. Belle unstrapped herself and ran to the cockpit as Dodger closed the door and followed.

	On the right through the viewports could be seen a large wall of flame coming up from the ground. An explosion came from the left and another flame wall burst through the ground, givng Missy little room to manuver.
Belle smiled. "Great, it worked. I was hoping they were lazy and had laid underground fuel lines to where the planes were stored...."
Dodger shook his head with a smile. "Remind me not let you run a bar-b-que....Missy, head for the north now. I think Belle gave us something to distract the humans." Missy nodded and the 'Titan' jolted a little as she picked up more speed.
"Right. Everyone buckle in and hold tight; any bump we go over from now on will be a slow human."
No one got in their way as the group headed where Dodger directed, though there was a close call with a plane. In an attempt to save at least part of them, several piolts were starting to taxi on to the runway; but so many fire had broken out and covered the area, there was almost no room. A few out of the way ones did manage to escape the flame walls, but were connected to the fuel lines at the time. None but one made it into the sky, however that one was leaking fuel and when it passed over the flames, it ignited and turned it into ball of blue flame. The melted mass landed right in the way, too close to swerve. Everyone braced as Missy drove into the twisted wreckage, the heat effecting the air of the cockpit slightly and slowing the whole machine down a bit. But with no obvious damage, they fled on, leaving the burning airfield behind.

Chapter 6

	The metal linked fence was hardly a problem for the 'Titan' as it plowed through, but the high voltage probably wouldn't have been to healthy had it's occupants been outside. It was one thing to see such a dense jungle, with it's thick tree and foilage, limiting one's view to about 10 feet on either side; it was another to remember they were in the middle of a desert. As Dodger had Missy slow and stop them just before the first turn, it was easy to imagine they were indeed in a country where such rainforests thrived. With the 'Titan' just idling for now, the songs of jungle birds and cries of various creatures could just be heard. The girls were too busy tring to see anything other then dirt road they were on to notice Dodger getting up and heading towards the back. It was Keesha who first noticed the fenine's absent and roused Missy and Belle to follow her into the back as well. Dodger was there, checking out various knives and blades, slipping them into sheaths, then on a bandolier. He had several lined up and started putting them on when he noticed the three watching.
"We're going to split up here; don't argue." He put in as Belle opened her mouth. "Even with this machine, we would never make it through the 'reject's territory without a decoy."
"Rejects?" Missy asked.
Dodger nodded. "Before they perfected the way to make creatures like me and Canis, there were a series of failures. Most turned out to be nothing more then a pile of blood and fur, but some managed to form some sort of intelligence, but were always missing a critical piece....that varied from each one. Some got an extra head, maybe two tails; the more dangerous ones got extra functional arms, complete with claws. And some of those are infused with metal, capable of ripping this thing open. Now there is a band of maybe 20 roaming this jungle, hungry for blood; that fence wasn't to keep others out, it was to keep the 'rejects' from running loose."

	Dodger slipped the last bandolier across his chest, checking over the rest, then moving to the door. Belle grabbed his arm.
"Wait! You're going to take them all on and then what?"
Dodger shrugged Belle off. "Meet up with you later. These things aren't invincible....just really hard to kill." He pulled open the door, tensed for a moment to be sure it safe and hopped to the ground.
Missy leaned out the door a little. "You don't have to do this. We can fly up high enough over the forest to avoid...." She trailed off as Dodger shook his head.
"No, we still have a bit of an advnatage and could ruin that if those at the compound spotted us flying that high towards them. You're best route is to head along the ground towards the main building; take the first right branch and it circles around behind the building. There should be a door you can slip inside through." He looked up at Missy, Belle and Keesha, all now standing by there door. "I admit it sounds unlikly, but we will meet up again. Just keep your wits about you and try to stay out of trouble....however hard that is for you three." He smiled, tring to cheer them up; it didn't go over well, but Missy smiled and leaned out to hug Dodger.
"Come back to us....you're one of the team now." Belle and Keesha smiled and nodde their agreement. Dodger smiled back, then turned and started off into the forest. The three girls watched him soon vanish into the greenery, then closed the door. With heavy hearts, they turned back to the cockpit area and got 'Titan' moving again. Just before they passed the first bend, Missy looked at the moniter for the rear camera, hoping to see Dodger had changed his mind. The view soon moved on, showing no signs of the fenine, just trees and the road. Missy sighed. She had a bad feeling that things were going to get worse from here on....

	Dodger stood in the underbrush and watched the 'Titan' pull away down the road, turning from view at the bend. He shook his head, hoping that the girls would make it through; they all knew the plan if he didn't come back and would carry it out. A snap of a branch brought Dodger to look around; no time to worry about others now. He had to prepare to fight the 'rejects'; he had downplayed the creatures so as not to worry the others. What he hadn't mentioned was how smart and fast these creatures were and the just general furious way they hunted. Dodger knew he was the prime target now, since vehicles moved along the road now and then, but those were equipped to stop them from clawing their way through the metal. Dodger stepped back onto the road, purposely making noise to attract attention to himself. He drew out two foot long blades from side holsters; these were the best choice of weapons against creatures designed to withstand a shotgun blast to the gut. He just had to hit the right spot as every thing made here had a weak spot, put in in case the subject got out of hand or was undesireable. A flash of brown brought Dodger's head to the right, a soft growl building up inside him. The growl was suddenly echoed from all sides; well, he had their attention now.....

	Missy's eyes were a little blurry as she drove on; she had to blink a couple of time and almost drover them off the road in doing so. Belle glanced over at her, then put a paw on her sister's shoulder.
"He'll be okay....hell, he's part of both of us; if that won't help, nothing will." She tried to smile at the other feline, but the look was avoided.
"We should've tried to help....given him better weapons."
Belle shook her head. "If he wanted something better, he would've taken it. He does know these things better then us...." Missy just gave a nod and drove on. Belle sighed, watching her for a moment, then got up to talk to Keesha.
"How's it looking?"
The fluffy canine leaned back in her seat. "Everything's clear....no blips mean nothing is out there." She punched a few buttons and a sattalite map of the jungle appeared. "The fork we're supposed to take is up about a mile...." She turned to look at Missy, who just nodded. Keesha turned back towards Belle and shrugged; it looked like Missy was going to be hard to handle until they were sure of the fate of Dodger. Belle returned to her seat as Missy eased them to the right as the branch came up. Keesha reported the building was still another 10 miles away, so Missy pushed them a little faster along, ignoring all attempts of conversasion. It kept that way until the jungle came to an aburt stop, the leaves parting the way to reveal the cone shaped building Dodger had described to them back in Vegas.

	The whole thing was a cold grey color, taking up most of the view with it's wide base. The tip was just barly visible 600 feet in the air, flashing lights on top presumably to warn aircraft. From this angle they couldn't see the bridge Dodger had mentioned, but just this part of the whole was impressive enough. Missy stopped the 'Titan' right at the edge of the jungle, keeping them from being spotted. As they climbed out, one of the most noticable things was how hot it was, but they agreed it was just the desert heat. Creeping across the 100-yard open space between jungle and building was a bit daring, but they got to the side without trouble. It was at this time none of them knew what they were supposed to do: wait for Dodger or carry out the plan? A small discussion among the girls and they came to the conclusion to go ahead and start, hoping that Dodger would still join them later. Their first problem was a way in, which Keesha solved once she found a door. There was no handle, but had a card swipe box next to it; within a few minutes, the canine had hotwired the door open. They slipped inside, Missy absently noting no change in the hot temperature. The door led to a small room only, it's walls made of carved stone. As Keesha closed the door behind them, the room grew dark with no lights being over head; they just left the door propped open slightly so there was at least some light. Belle was running her paws over the wall, checking for a hidden door or another swipe box.
"Come on...." she muttered to herself, her locket gleaming in the dim light. "There has to beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee........!"

	Belle's voice dropped away as the floor gave out from under her; Missy was in the same spot in time to feel the floor finish moving back into place. Missy got on her paws and knees, fingers desperatly tring to find purchase on the now sealed door. Keesha swung the door all the way open to flood the room with light, but it was no use. Belle had vanished in less then five seconds, swallowed by the building. Missy looked up at Keesha, tears soaking the fur on her muzzle.
"I lost her again...." she whispered softly. Keesha sighed, glancing out the door, then coming over to give Missy a comforting hug.
"Hey, we don't know if she's gone for good....she fell downwards, so all we have to do is find a way down too." She smiled down at the feline, who gave an attempt to smile back, but it didn't last long.
"But how? This is a dead-end room...."
Keesha was looking over the wall Belle had been at, able to see the designs in the stone better with light.
"Looks like there are symbols here....one is a slanted line going down, which might be the one Belle touched. There's another here that is a rectangle, like a door...." As she spoke, she touched the last symbol and the rock wall pushed back, showing a hallway beyond. Missy blinked and pushed past Keesha to peer down the semi-lit passage.
"Good guess...." Missy started down the hallway, Keesha a step behind. Both of their ears and noses were working overtime, tring to figure out what was around them and any sign of Belle. Time didn't seem to pass as the two explored, heading downwards whenever there was a chance.

	Missy was concentrating too hard on scent to notice Keesha had stopped at a sealed door; something inside her had made her stop. As the feline continued on away, rounding a corner, Keesha was attempting to break the door's swipe box open. A few minutes and she had access inside, the door hissing open quietly. Keesha stuck her head in, looking around; her stomachs was flipflopping  in excitement. What was in here? Without waiting to see where Missy went, Keesha passed through the door and into a room stright out of an old 'B'-movie; there were glass testtubes lining tables, liquids in a varity of colors pouring either in or out of them. Stepping quietly along towards the back, she heard more modern-sounding machinery. Peeking around an open door, Keesha inhaled sharply; this was not what she had hoped to see. Poor Belle....

	Missy continued along the hallway, only now noticing how it was just her footsteps echoing. She turned to look behind her, blinking for a moment when she realized Keesha wasn't there.
"Keesha?" Missy whisper-called; no answer. Missy crept to the last bend in the corrider they were supposed to be following together. She peeked around and saw nothing but the half-lit steel walls. It was then Missy started to panic slightly. How could she lose a large, fluffy person like Keesha?It just wasn't possibly unless someone grabbed her before the canine had a chance to call out. Missy's view started to get blurry; she realized her eyes were tearing up. Once more she was left alone, all her friends gone and maybe dead. She gave a sob and sank against the nearest wall, not caring who found her at this point.

	Several minutes passed before Missy's ears picked up the sound of someone coming down the corrider from up ahead. She sat very still as she tried to identify the footfalls; not heavy like boots, so it couldn't be a guard. No, this was more of a muffled step, as if the person's foot was covered in fur....
Missy stood quietly, going into what she hoped looked like one of the fighting crouches Belle had taught her. The sound was growing close and more distinct, the dim passage still not revealing who it was. Missy crouched down a little lower just as a pair of green eyes seem to float out of the dark.
"Missy." A voice came from the shadows and Missy instantly relaxed and ran forward.
"Belle!" Sure enough it was her sister. Missy hugged her tight, purring. "You're alive."
Belle gave a small hug back before stepping back. "Barely....but I think I did find what we're looking for."
Missy blinked. "You found the main power source." Belle nodded. "Great. Let's find Keesha and get there."
"Keesha's gone, Missy." Belle said as she turned back down the tunnel and started off. "I was working my way up when I found her body on a staircase; shot through the head."
Missy gasped. "Y-you're sure...it was her?"
Belle nodded as she continued down the corrider, her small body getting swallowed by shadows. "Yeah, I'm sure....it's hard to mistake someone else for her." She stopped and half turned to look back at Missy. "Come on....the power source is this way." As Belle turned and started walking, Missy finally noticed something different about her sister; but what? Of course. Her locket....

	"Hey, Belle. What happened to your locket?" Missy asked as she jogged to catch up to her sister. Belle paused for a moment, not looking back.
"Oh. I guess it fell off somewhere....I hit the bottom of that slide pretty hard." The smaller feline took off at a brisk walk again. Missy made a quiet 'oh' and hurried to catch up again.
"So what is this power source anyway?" Missy asked as they walked down the corrider.
"Those crafty humans....they built this building over a volcano or something." was all Belle ventured as an answer. Missy thought this over. There couldn't be any active volcanos in the desert.....there were no nearby mountains. But if there was, they could've proably set up modified steam turbines and just cool some of the magma off; that could produce an almost unlimited supply. But the problem was is there a lave chamber under the building? Missy turned her head to look at her sister for a moment, wondering what she had seen.
"Um, look, Belle. I'm not doubting you, but how did you find out it was a....volcano?"
Belle just kept on walking for another minute before answering. "That chute I 'found' almost dropped me into a lake of the stuff, all right? It's kinda hard miss something like that...."
Missy nodded. "Did you see any big wheels or water tanks nearby?" Belle raised a paw.
"Shhhh, we're coming up to an elevator." She crept up to a corner and peered around it quickly. "And no, I didn't see anything like that." Belle gave a wave of the paw and dashed around the corner. Missy scrambled to keep up, sprinting the short distance to the elevator. She barely managed to get her tail through the closing door; Belle had already selected a floor and they started to descend slowly.

	Missy figured five minutes had passed since they started down, Belle looking at the doors the whole time. Finally Missy couldn't stand the silence anymore.
"Where are going?" Belle looked at her sister out of the corner of her eyes for a moment, then turned them back to the doors.
"Almost to the bottom.....where I came out of when I got off the slide." Missy just nodded, surpressing the feeling of disbelief that was raising inside her. Belle seemed so different to Missy, almost cold. But then she had never seen her sister on a mission and figured this was the way she always became in the heat of action. Missy batted the idea of this like a ball of string for the rest of the ride, getting jolted back to reality as the elevator stopped short. The doors slowly opened and Missy would've went through if Belle hadn't blocked the way with an arm. She poked her head out, looking around for guards Missy assumed, before dropping the arm. Missy stepped by Belle and onto a kind of bridge, about 10 feet wide and heading off into the distance. The heat was felt right away and seemed to come from everywhere. Missy walked to the railing, leaning over slightly to look down. It was hard to judged the distance, but a but a half-mile below she could see the lave lake Belle had mentioned; there really was a volcano here....

	Belle was heading off down the bridge, making Missy hurry to catch up again. It was hard to talk in a normal voice as all around machine churrred loudly, followed by the occasional bang. Matching her sister's pace, Missy glanced over the railing again.
"What is this place?"
Belle was looking stright ahead as she answered. "The source of the building's power, of course. I know you can figure out how to shut it down...." She stopped as they came upon a metal tower. About 20 feet round and extending up and down seemingly forever, it neatly severed the bridge. Missy walked up to it as Belle stayed a short distance away.
"I don't think I can figure out without a schematic or something....this is too complex." Missy laid a paw on the smooth metal, feeling a gentle rumbling on the other side. "Besides, there is nothing to open here....." Her words dropped as her ears picked up the sound of footsteps, belonging to neither her or Belle. Missy whirled around in time to see that dobermin from Vegas coming up behind her sister. 
"Belle! Behind you!" Missy cried, but it was too late; Canis laid a heavy paw on Belle's shoulder, laughing out loud.
"Foolish kitten." Belle wasn't attempting to stuggle against the canine, Missy noticed. "You were lead into my trap way to easily."
Missy swallowed a little. "T-trap?" She took  a step forward. "Belle, what's going on?" Belle just looked into Missy's eyes.
"I'm sorry," was all she said, apprently to Canis' amusment.The large dobermin laughed again.
"Oh, how cute. The traitor tries too late to apologize...." Canis saw the look of shock on Missy's face and grinned wide. "Oh, yes. Belle has been working for us for quite awhile now. Havn't you, kitten?" His fingers scritched between her ears for a moment, producing a purr from the small feline.
"Yes, sir. From before I vanished from the rebels."

	Missy was shaking her head. "How could you? How could you betray all our friends like this?"
"Quiet!" Canis barked, almost literally. He pulled a small handgun out of one hoslter and handed it to Belle. "Finish your mission." Belle tooked the gun and aimed it at Missy.
"Yes, sir." Belle looked across to her sister, lining up for a shot between the eyes; the same eyes she remembered growing up with. She and Missy had shared a lot, true, but that had all changed. Belle watched as Missy stood in silent shock, not even tring to move out of the way. Those eyes just kept looking back at her, tring to penatrate her soul, it seemed. Belle closed her eyes for a moment; she opened them to find tears had started to form. This all seemed wrong to Belle; something was not right.
"Do it!" Canis yelled from behind her. "Kill her and prove your allience!" Canis wactch the two for a bit, then turned and stalked away. "I'll let you do it in private..." Belle took another grip and aim as Missy closed her eyes, seeming to accpect this fate. Belle's paws trembled. No, she couldn't kill her sister....but she had to; why she didn't know, but she had to. A thought flashed through her mind, of someone once remarking how they would never harm the other and would do anything to protect the other from harm. Who had said that? Belle's mind started to fog as she was torn between a promise and an order. Belle blinked, her mind suddenly quite clear of what she must do.
"I'm sorry, Missy." 
Missy nevered opened her eyes. "I forgive you, Belle. You must do what you have to." Belle took a deep breath, pulled back on the trigger.....

	Missy jumped slightly at the loud bang, the sound seeming to echo off the blackness of her eyelids. She was expecting to feel a lot of pain, but was quite surprise instead to hear Canis curse loudly. Missy opened an eye, the second opening quickly at the sight before her. Belle laid crumbled in the middle of the bridge, blood gushing from twin holes in her head. Missy just stood there, looking over the slain body of her sister. Belle had chosen to kill herself to protect Missy. It was too much for Missy to bear. She ran over to the body, cradling the upper half against her body and staining her clothes with blood. Missy starting cring, tears making rivlets on her cheeks. She stayed that way until she was aware of Canis slowly approaching. Her head jerked around, staring hard at the dobermin. Canis stopped a few feet away, a look of disguest on his face. 
"Damn feline. They're never good for anything." 
Missy slowly slid Belle's body back onto the bridge and stood. "You did this, you bastard!" Missy screamed. "You're the one who killed her....my sister." Missy started forward, Canis backing up for a moment at the look of pure hatered he saw in her eyes. He caught himself and snarled.
"I could care less about your little family....my job was to see you killed and that's just one less for me to take care of." Canis almost regretted saying anything; before he could react, Missy had lept forward, using her claws to slice his muzzle. She landed neatly behind him, showing fighter's skills he thought she didn't have. He twirled around, in time for her pounce him again. He side-stepped neatly, grabbing one of Missy's outstretched arms and using her momentum to throw her up against the metal tower. Missy hit head first and fell to the floor. Canis wasted no time and jumped over to her, covering the 15 foot distance in a single leap, intending to finish her off.

	But to his surprise, Missy  was already up and on her feet. As he sailed toward her, Missy spun around on her right foot, strightening her left leg out, landing a firm kick to Canis' gut. The canine landed and staggered back a few feet, more surprised then hurt. He raised his head quickly to growl at Missy, but she was already following up to her kick. She got Canis under the chin with an uppercut, the canine's head snapping upwards. This was followed by side kick to his groin, causing him to double over. As his head dropped towards the floor, Missy took a step back, raising her right leg and bringing the heel down right between his eyes. Canis howled and as he hit the floor, rolled to his right, stopped by the railing. He was panting slightly, his nose bleeding as he stared hard at Missy. The feline kept up her attack, rushing up for a jumpkick to Canis' chin. The dobermin was pushed up against the railing, leaning backwards over it for seconed before he got his balance again. Before Missy could get in another hit, he hopped backwards, landing with a heavy thud on the bridge. This was impossible; all the files they had on Missy never mentioned her having such fighting skill. Then he remembered something. Her mother had won several martial contests before getting married....but such skills aren't passed to offspirng. Canis didn't have much time to think this over as Missy came after him again, delivering a series of punches and kicks that sent him staggering back more. One of those kicks must've jogged his memory, because he suddenly knew of a way to stop this.

	Missy charged Canis again, her rage still building inside over the death of Belle; but she didn't know that blind anger wasn't the best way to fight. She was about to find out you make mistakes that way. Missy tried for another jump kick, tring to crush the dobermin's nose, but missed as he dodged to the left to the other side of the bridge. Missy never even stopped to catch her breath. She landed neatly on her two feet, twisted and charged again. This time Canis was ready; she Missy ran at him, he wrapped his paws around a section of railing to his left and ripped it free, giving a five foot club. He swung it hard, catching Missy on the arm and sending her sideways back towards the metal tower. She landed on the bridge, hitting her head and going still, but still breathing. This gave Canis the time he need to remove the control box he had stashed away. He walked over to Missy, who was still attempting to get up. Canis slammed the railing against Missy's side, causing her to cry out in pain and smiled.
"Nice try, bitch. But like the rest of your family, you never stood a chance against me....though your mother put up a good fight; up until I blew her head off." He laughed loud. Missy twisted her head up to look up at him; he was the one that killed her mother. The one she had sworn to kill....
While Canis' laugh died, Missy rolled onto her back, brought her knees to her chest and kicked hard at the railing piece. Canis was caught off guard, thinking she was still out and the club landed and rolled off the bridge. The dobermin glanced quickly down at the feline as she struggled to stand and kicked her in the stomach, sending her back to the bridge.
"Stupid kitten. You went after the wrong thing...." He held up the control box for her to see. It was a foot long and six inches wide and looked like a remote control. Canis pressed a large button at the top and a red light blinked on.
"Quite a clever little thing....I'm sure Dodger mentioned to you about our mind control experiments." He looked into her eyes, seeing by her look that she knew. "Well, this is the result....and it's designed just for you." He pressed another button. Missy grabbed her head, as if it was going to explode; she slowly raised her head to look at the canine, the look of hatred slowly vanishing.
"See? Even when your anger is at it's peak, just a simple button press and you turn back to your weak self...."  Canis walked over to Belle's body, and crushing her paw with his foot, retrived the gun. He walked calmly back over to Missy and aimed.
"Now we finish this once and for all, Missy....it's been a fun hunt, but as always," he grinned wide,"I win...."

	Before Canis had a chance to pull the trigger, a voice cut in from somewhere above.
"Hey, Canis. Catch!" The dobermin looked up, watching a small, metal globe descend from the pipes. On instinct, Canis holstered the gun and caught the sphere, closing his fingers around it tightly, intending to throw it over the edge. He thought it was odd it wasn't shaped like a grenade, so paused his action. He opened his paw, then right away wished he had kept on throwing it. He was holding a pressure grenade and had just activated it. These were designed by the company to do what had just happen to him: to  confuse the person who caught it into opening their hand for a look. Once pressure is applied to the outside, a fuse is broken and when the pressure lessens starts the five second fuse that make it explode. Canis now had about three second before it went off, so started to pitch it over at Missy and run for his life down the bridge, but was stopped short when what he needed the first part, Missy, was no longer on the floor. There was no way she could've moved away that fast with her injuries. But now he had delayed too long and had just enough time to drop the grenade and try to run. The grenade exploded before it hit, the sound ringing through the area, the force sending Canis forward with his back on fire. He ran to outdistance the explosion, but the blast had weakened the brige and his next step went through the air, sending Canis tumbling down the shaft towards the lave below. It was then he realized the only one who knew about the pressure grenades and was fast enough to save Missy was.
"DODGER!!!!!.........."

Chapter 6

	Dodger heard the gunshot from three floors above Missy, Belle, and Canis. He quickly hopped over the safty rail, aiming to land on the pipes that filled the free spaces between each. He winced as he landed on a pipe, his injured calf still sore from where that 'reject' had bit him. Other then a few other cuts, he was still in good shape, though he had lost part of his tail in the fight. He remembered the 'rejects' charging out of the forest after the chrous of growls; the battle had been brief, but very intense. He knew about each of them from before he escaped and when he recgonized one, he went stright for it's weak point. The only major problem he had was the hunched back canine that must've been added after he escaped. He seemed to be the leader as he had stood to the side and directed most of the fight from his side. When Dodger went to attack the hump, the knife slicing through the fur and skin, he knew he was in trouble. The canine never made a noise of pain and didn't seem to notice the blood pouring out of the wound; in fact, he was smiling, showing all of six teeth. Dodger brought his knife up, but all he was holding was the handle; the blade seemed to have melted off, a small grey pool at his feet. The mutated canine flung himself at Dodger, who tossed aside the useless handle and prepared to fight paw to paw. There was little skill to the other's attack; it consisted mostly of tring to spill the acid his hump produced on Dodger. The fenine's tail got caught in a small spray of the stuff, melting the tip off. While Dodger wasn't particuarly vain, he was quite attached to the tail and seeing part of it hit the ground got him mad. As the 'reject' made a mad rush towards him, Dodger side-stepped, put out a foot and tripped the other. While the canine was down, Dodger gave him a quick kick to the groin, then watched quite pleased as he seemed to hit the weak spot. The 'reject' curled up in a ball, whining softly as the kick had ruptured something inside his body so the canine was melting from the inside out. Dodger took this chance to move as fast as he could towards the compound he had of home most of his life.

	It hadn't taken long to track down the girl's scents, but he was puzzled as they all eventually went seperate ways. It was Missy's and Belle's he followed to the elevator, but since he didn't which floor they were on, he decided to try them one at a time. As he went down, he noticed for the first time something odd about the scents left behind....one of them was slightly off then he remembered. For the next couple of hours he had hurried from floor to floor until the gun shot got his attention. Finally finding the sisters, he watched in horror as Belle's body fell to the bridge. Dodger was about to work his way down to confront Canis when, just like the dobermin, Missy surprised him by taking the offensive and delivering blows; he didn't think she had such a fighter's spirit. Sadly, though, he watched as Canis gained his advantage and recgonized the control box the canine pulled out; that unfortunatly confirmed the rest of Dodger's suspions.....
When he saw Missy down once more and the gun being aimed, Dodger knew he had to act. He took out the pressure grenade he snagged from the 'Titan's armory from before and tossed it down. When Canis' attention was diverted, Dodger dropped to the bridge quietly, picked Missy up and over his shoulder and climbed out of the explosion radius, using his sharp claws to punture the tower and create handholds. The barely made it to the bridge over head when the grenade went off. He set Missy on the bridge and leaned over the railing in time to hear Canis cry out his name; Dodger had to grin. They always had a grudge match going and it looked like Dodger just won. Missy' s moans brought Dodger to her side as she woke and looked around. She blinked for a moment, then hugged Dodger tight.
"You're alive!? Bu-but how...?"
Dodger smiled, returned the hug briefly, then disenaged himself from the feline. "That's a long story....and we don't have time." Missy suddenly jumped up and over to the railing, looking over the edge. Dodger stood more slowly and sighed, knowing who she was looking for.
"I'm sorry, Missy....her body is almost next to the explosion...." Missy's head dropped and little sobs could be heard. Dodger came over and put a paw on her shoulder. "This may not be the time to say, but....that wasn't Belle." Missy looked up at Dodger, sniffling a little.
"What?"
"I'm saying that was clone....she wasn't the real Belle." Dodger leaned against the rail as Missy kept looking up at him.
"How do you know this?"
Dodger sighed. "Her scent was off....it was too mixed up with Canis'. Also from where I was watching I noticed her locket was missing."
Missy shook her head. "She said she dropped it after falling down the chute...."
"You sure? Remember, I have of the same emotions and memories both of you do, and I know Belle would never leave that locket behind."
Missy sighed. "I guess you're right....but when?"
"The switch?" Dodger shrugged. "Proably when she got seperated from you and Keesha, then they sent the clone in to lead you here." The fenine looked down at Missy, eyes a little sad. "But from past experience, I know they kill the one the cloned, either right after or if a plan fails." Missy was crestfallen and confused. Maybe Dodger was right....but Belle had returned to her many times before when Missy thought she was dead. She knew though that such luck could never hold up and maybe it was time....

	Dodger watched Missy, knowing she was tring to sort out her mind and feelings. He gave her shoulder a soft squeeze and turned to walk down the bridge.
"When you're ready, I'll be at the elevator." He turned to look over his shoulder. "We still have a job to do."
Missy was already following along behind. "I know....and now I have even more reason to finish it." Dodger nodded as they walked towards the elevator in silence. The doors opened at the push of button and the two walked in; Dodger went over and pushed for a floor near the top.
"I figured something was wrong when I tracked you down to the lower levels. I knew the power source is more near the top and I think we will find it and answers in that sphere on the outside." 
Missy nodded and watched as the long row of lights slowly blinked from one to next as they rode upwards. The elevator never stopped along the way, but it was still a long ride. Halfway up, Missy reached over and removed one of the remaining knives Dodger carried; she smiled softly at his puzzled look.
"Just getting ready...." Dodger had to give a small smile back; after watching Missy earlier, he was sure she could handle anyone that got in her way.

	The elevator pinged about 20 minutes later, the doors opening to a carpeted and brightly lit hallway. Dodger led Missy out quietly, both of them creeping along past closed doors. Their ears twitched for any sounds, but the lack of such made Dodger nervous. Halfway around the circle, the hallway took on a different look. Large bay windows took over the outer wall, giving Dodger and Missy a view over part of the jungle below and the desert farther out. But taking up most of the view was the sphere that made the building unique. It looked perfectly round and painted white with almost no windows; the only place there was a window was the side away from the building and wrapped  about halfway around the sphere. Coming out of the back was what looked like a glass tube; the bridge stretched over a hundread feet out from the cone with no visible signs of support. As they approached the glass doors leading into the tube, Missy paused, very unsure that it would hold. Dodger saw her hesitate and gestured her forward, knowing that the bridge was strong dispite it's fragile apprence. Missy cautiously followed behind as Dodger walked down towards the other door. The door here was electronically locked and there was no sign of a swipe box for security cards. He searched over the door and side panels, checking for anything that might help as he waited for Missy to finally get over. She did make it, though more slowly then Dodger wanted and looked over the door as well.
"There isn't any way in?" She looked over at Dodger, who had resorted to tring to force the door open.
"Apprently...ugh...not...." He stepped back from the door, panting slightly. Missy stepped up, taking the knife she had taken and tried to wedge it in, then almost dropped it as the door 'shh'ed open, revealing a narrow hallway beyond. Dodger stepped ahead and looked in.
"I don't like this...." was all he said before stepping through. Missy nodded and followed behind; the doors closed almost right away, shutting away any chance of escape....


	Missy stepped quietly along behind Dodger, stopping when they reached the only door along the hallway. Missy  reached out and tried the handle, surprised to find it opening at almost the touch. Dodger gestured her back, standing in front. He kicked it open, charging through right after and stopped short. Missy ran behind, almost bumping into the fenine. She looked around slowly, suddenly realizing they were in way over their heads. The window they had seen from the tower's hallway only showed part of the 5 story tall glass. The room was mostly a semi-circle with a spiral stair case in the middle. Against one wall stood a large bank of computers, with rows of video screens across it. Most were out, but a few were showing the now ruined airfield, the elevator Dodger and Missy had taken up and the bridge far below where Canis had fallen, the hole in it still smoking; whoever was here had been watching them the whole time. The rest of the room was curtained off, the bottom just above the floor and effectively hiding whatever was behind it. Missy went over the computers, quickly typing across one of the keyboards.
"I found it, Dodger. The power source is in this room....I think I can shut it down from here."
Dodger nodded as he came to look over Missy's shoulder. "Good. Do it and let's get out of here...."
A new voice cut in, one thick with age but with a certain power. "Oh, must you leave so soon?"
Missy and Dodger turned as one as part of the curtain in the room parted and a human somewhere around middle age stepped through. He rested his 6 foot frame lightly on a cane, his right foot dragging slightly. His hair was long and grey, but his blue eyes still had a look of power and strength. He came to stop a dozen feet feet from the pair, smiling. He wear a black business suit, looking like he had just stepped out of a meeting.


	"Well, if it isn't our wayward experiment," he smiled over to Dodger. "Come to reminence about old times?" He  chuckled softly, then turned his attention to Missy. "And you brought one of the felines with you....wonderful." The human moved over to one of chairs in front of the computers and sat down very casually. Missy was edging for the door when it opened  and in stumbled Keesha. The bushy feline as helping to support a much smaller form, one with mostly white fur. The old human looked up and grinned.
"Ah, and here is the other feline. I believe you all know Belle well."
Belle looked around the room as she heard her name mentioned, eyes falling on Missy and Dodger beyond here. Her green eyes seemed a little far away, but she managed to push ahead of Keesha  and meet the running Missy part of the way. The two hugged each other tight, Dodger slowly walking over to join the group; the human just sat and watched with something of an amused expression on his face. Missy was holding Belle tight, not aware of the others around.
"I thought you dead...." the taller feline kept saying. Belle returned the hug until she starting squirming a little, still sore from the operation table Keesha rescued her from.
"Yeah, yeah....I'm fine." Belle looked over Missy's shoulder to the human who was slowly starting to stand. "But who is that?"

	The old human came to stand near the group, still smiling. "Dodger never mentioned me?" He grinned at the fenine. "There is hope for you yet, Number 511." Dodger could feel the gaze of Missy, Belle and Keesha on him as he sighed and turned towards them.
"That is the owner of the company.  I have met him a couple of times during my training....but I'll I recall is his name being C.C." Belle shrugged, turning back towards the door.
"I don't care who he is; he won't be able to stop us from leaving...."
The human laughed out loud. "No, I don't think you'll be leaving, at least not alive....particuarly since I have something of interest to you all." C.C. turned towards the curtain, pulling out a small box and pressing a button. The curtains parted wide, displaying a large glass cylinder on a pedestal. The base of the pedestal was surrounded by machinery, lights blinking in rythym; but it was what was in the cylinder that made the four furries stop and stare. Floating in a kind of gel liquid was a small feline form, stripped and fur sticking out as she floated in place. Belle stared hard for a moment, then glanced at Missy beside her, then back at the figure in the cylinder. She starting to advance on the old human.
"What kind of sick game is this, human? How is that in there?" Belle's small body was almost shaking with rage that this could be true.
C.C. just stood there, watching Belle's and the other's reaction, then nodded to Dodger. "Why don't you tell her? You've proably susupected for awhile now....." Dodger was looking at Missy, then back to the identical Missy floating in the cylinder.
"It's true; I have susupected what you did...." He turned slowly to Belle and Missy, the former watching the fenine with hateful eyes. Dodger gestured to the Missy among them. "This is a clone of Missy; given her memories and proably replaced the other one awhile ago."

	The human leaned on his cane. "Actually it was after her plane blew up and she was jumped by my slavers. I saw a chance to put this new one in and have a little experimental fun." He shuffled over to the floating Missy. "I must say I am impressed that I fooled you all for so long...." He turned around slowly, Belle starting to advance on him again.
"Why? Why did you have to play with us like that, you son of a bitch?"
C.C. smiled and calmly pulled out a hand gun from inside his suit, stopping Belle's advance on him. 
"Because you were part of this cloning experiment from the beginning. I'm sure you noticed the mood swings this Missy went through in the past few days; that is the final result of our mind control experiment."
Keesha stepped up to Dodger, tugging his arm. "You said they couldn't get it to work....to many things went wrong." C.C. answered before Dodger got a chance to.
"That's because, my little mixed-breed, we were using it on people whose brains were already developed. We used the Missys here to try a new theory: what if we could control the brain's development and could tune the brain itself the frequency of our device? And it works, thanks to the demo model." He gestured to the Missy clone with his gun, taking his eyes off of Belle; that turned into a mistake. Belle was close enough and had just enough strength to rush the human, who turned his gun to the feline, but wasn't quite fast enough for his age. Belle's paw swiped the gun from his hand, sending it spinning over the floor towards Missy, who picked it up. The human quickly adjusted to Belle's attack, swinging his cane and catching her under the arm with the stright part. He used this leverage to fling her off; Belle twisted before she feet, landing on her four paw a little wobbly.

	Missy walked over to C.C., who was attempting to slowly stand, pointing the gun at him.
"Get her out of that glass," she referred to the other Missy. "And just let us go."
C.C. slowly continued to stand, Missy training the gun on him the whole time. "Or what? You won't shoot me; you can't." He stood tall over Missy, the gun pointed right between his eyes. Belle was standing now as well, yelling to her.
"Come on! Kill him!" Missy's finger curled around the trigger, but never tightened enough for the hammer to fall. They stayed like that for several seconds before C.C. reached out and grabbed the gun back.
"Foolish. You think I wouldn't prepare for something like this?" He turned the gun around again to point at Missy. "Anything that is made in this compound has a gene implanted in them that make it so they won't harm me in anyway."
Belle scoffed a laugh. "So? That just means Dodger and this Missy won't do that...." She flicked her claws out, stepping towards C.C. again. "Doesn't mean me or Keesha can't harm you."
The human smiled. "Think so? I was the first to introduce your kind to the world; that same gene was passed on to each of you from your first ancestors."
Dodger watched the old man quietly, then asked. "How could you have made us when we have records dating back 200 years?"
C.C. just smiled, a less then charming sight this time. "Easy to do when I can clone myself as well." He watched the looked of surprise on the furries faces, then continued. "I am the 10th clone of the orginal C.C.; back then the name ment something, now it just stands for Continus Copy. Oh, it was nice when the orginal made his clone and tranferred his memories to the other; it could've changed the world. But, depending on how you look at it, fortunatly the first had a greedy and evil streak. He used his clone to help him in his research, amassing large amounts of money in a short time. But like all mortals, the original died when he was 60, leaving his younger clone to carry on."

	"The next logical step for the clone was to make a clone of himself when he turned 40, coping the memories and experiences to this new one. And so it continued, a young and an old C.C. running the company. Then I think it was the fifth copy that decided now that he had the resources, the money and the time, he would settle a debate. Which was indeed the better pet: Cats or Dogs?" C.C. leaned on his cane, his gun sight never leaving Missy. "And so your kind came into being. But for all those years, you just lived happily side by side, serving the humans; that's why I decided to mix things up a bit. I made a special batch of canines, designed to serve only me and to be quite fearsome. I believe you have met Mi-Al, Ja-Garr, and Canis; they were my prized soldiers." Out of the corner of his eye, C.C. saw Belle strighten a little, then crouch like she was ready to jump him.
"That means when you killed our parents, it was to test your troops?" Belle cut in. The human smiled and nodded.
"And quite a impressive test too....I had let you two live, to help settle the question of the better pet and kept tabs on your both the whole time; interesting how the felines eneded up showing more loyatly then the canines." The human shrugged. "But enough about the past; this information won't help you where you're going...." His finger pulled back on the trigger, aiming first at Missy, then swinging the gun to point at Belle. "Give my regards to Tom...."

	A new voice cut in from behind, causing C.C. to turn his head a little to look. "Thanks, but such regards aren't required....Father." The shock of the voice made C.C. jerk more then the sudden gun shot to the chest. The old human spun, his gun falling to the floor before he did; C.C. clutched at his chest, a large spot of red starting to seep through the suit. Belle never saw the old man land, but was looking towards the curtain where the voice had come from, a voice she knew very well, but thought she would never hear again.
"Tom?" she whispered and almost seemd to faint as the tall, red-headed human stepped forward. Missy dashed over to support her, glancing up at the human as he approached. He smiled softly, scritching his fingers between Belle's ears.
"Yeah, it's me, kitten. Surprise." He stepped around the two felines to look down at C.C., the old humans head shaking back and forth.
"N-not possible....you were....killed....never had access...."
"Never, Father?" Tom squatted next to the older human's head. "You never cared what I did, expect when I joined the Army. I had plenty of time to access your labs." The young human slowly stood, looking back towards the trapped Missy, gesturing to Keesha and Dodger. "Why don't you two see to getting her out of there?" The two nodded and starting looking over the controls. Missy was watching the human, still in a bit of shock herself. Tom smiled over to the two felines as he came to join them, leaving C.C. dying on the floor.
"Bu-but," Missy started. "I saw you die...." She stopped short as Tom shook his head.
"No. You have a memory of me dying." He nodded to the Missy the canine and fenine were now slowly withdrawing from the glass cylinder. "She was the who saw me....that is, my clone die." Belle seemed to recover from the first shock finally, rushing to hug Tom tightly.
"I thought I had lost you for good....I cried so much the night Missy told me....um, well, this Missy told me...."

	Keesha and Dodger had finally gotten the other Missy freed of the electrodes and lines conntected to her, lying her wetly in the floor. They crowded close as the feline's eyes started to open. Her first view was of Belle, smiling down at her and seeming to be cring as well. Missy tried moving her head slowly, next seeing Keesha and a strange looking canine; her eyes blinked, her head moving the other direction. She found herself suddenly looking up at herself. First thinking it was a mirror, Missy struggled to sit up, watching as the her other face turned out to be connected to a whole body like her's. Behind her sister and her double she saw Tom looking back at her. Opening her mouth to either ask a question or scream in shock, Tom got her to stop by raising a hand.
"Belle will explain later, Missy...." The human motioned for Dodger to pick the still woozy real Missy up and pointed to the stairs in the room. "Below you'll find a glider plane large enough to hold you all; I suggest you take it as I'm sure none of you want to be caught in the upcoming explosion." Belle quickly turned her head to look up at Tom.
"You are coming with us, right?"
Tom shook his head. "I'm afraid not, kitten. Someone needs to stay behind to set the destruct sequence." He reached out for the Missy standing next to him. "Missy, I'm going to need your help." The clone looked up at Tom for a moment, then nodded.
"Sure....I guess I'm not needed anywhere else now." She turned to Belle, extending a paw. "It was wonderful to meet you, Belle. I'm glad your sister is back now." Belle stared at the paw for a moment, then threw herself around the Missy she had rejoined with a few days ago.
"But you are my sister....in a way. I love you just a much." Belle gave her a kiss on the cheek, then stepped back. "Good luck." MissyClone smiled down at Belle.
"And to you. I'm sure I'll run into you again."
"You better." Belle grinned and gave her another hug before turning to Tom. "As for you...." She reached down and removed her locket, handing it over to the human. "It doesn't have the same pictures, but since you lost yours...." Tom smiled softly, kneeling to hug the small feline and kissing her on the nose.
"I'll be sure to return when I see you next time....now get going." Belle nodded softly, walking to the stairs. She paused for a moment to look back at Tom and her sister's clone, offering a soft wave before procedding downstairs.

	Once Belle was gone, Tom turned to the bank of computers, gesturing Missy over. "We still have work to do....I hope you don't mind me asking for your help." Missy shook her head and smiled.
"Belle's clone sacrificed herself for me....only fair I do it for her." Tom nodded, giving her instructions on how to set the destuct sequence, setting the timer to allow the group below to escape.

	Belle was helping to strap the still weak real Missy in to one of the chairs of the glider as Dodger and Keesha went over the controls. They felt the floor shake as the first of the explosions went off, the volcanic power source overloading the building's supply. With little time left, Dodger finally got the door under the glider to open, sending the light plane downwards quickly. The fenine hauled on the flight stick, the belly of the plane slapping against the tops of the jungle of the 'rejects'. Behind them, explosions could be heard as the grey building started to shudder. Now and then chuncks of the wall would be blown outward, the next one alway higher up then the previous. Finally the shaking was too much of a strain for the glass bridge near the top; it shattered in half, dropping the rounded section it supported to the ground along with anyone still inside. Belle watched it fall with saddness; Tom never made it to the plane and hadn't mentioned any other way out....

	The glider barly made it to the outskirts of Vegas, Dodger bringing them in for a slide landing in the sand. Taking their time with the confused Missy, they explained what had happened the past several days, each of them filling it parts the others had missed. Using old tunnels that only Keesha seemed to know about, the group once more made it back to Tom's apartment, safe at last. They stayed and rested for several days, Missy needing most of the rest after floating in the gel for so long; so it was a nice change for them to go out to one of the main floors, Keesha and Dodger looking enough like PureBloods that no one paid attention when they sat down to eat. At the end of the meal, a lean and almost nude begal  made her way to their table and introduced herself as Lucy.
"The rebellion leaders couldn't believe that you two had survived," she whispered at first to Belle and Missy, then sat when gestured. "When you're ready to come back, they have a job that requires both of specailites."
Belle couldn't help but smile. "Sound good to me....let's get going." She stood, but stopped when Missy put a paw on her arm.
"Hang on. I thought you wanted to get out of the war. And what about Keesha and Dodger?"
Belle looked down at her sister. "They can come along too....it'll be great. Besides how long can the war go on now that that C.C. is dead....?" The two started arguing back and forth after that, as Keesha and Dodger watched on and smiled. Lucy just looked confused as anyone else would've if they didn't know the two feline sister; only one other person smiled as he watched a from a couple of floor above. He shook his head and grinned down at the small black and white feline next to him, then turned and wandered into the crowd, MissyClone pausing long enough to watch the sisters, then hurring along behind....


					The End.


Epilouge:
	The only light deep below the leveled compound came from the lava river, the black rock glowing red and orange. The mishappened shapes walking around didn't need that much light or seemed to care how hot it was; they had their orders and were following them under the watchful eye of a tall figure standing on a rock cliff. The figure stayed in the shadows, watching his rejects comb through the crumbled rocks, but they were the best creatures to use. If one fell into the lava, none stopped to mourn; they just walked more carefully so as not to duplicate the mistake. A sudden commotion brought everyone's attention to the side of a rock wall; had they finally found it? The watching figure moved through the crowd of twisted creatures, pushing them aside to see if they had actually succeded. What luck. They had stumbled upon a twisted and broken body, parts of limbs missing, but that could be fixed. The figure withdraw a small computer, attaching a lead from the back to a small hole behind the mangled body's ear. A few minutes of transferring commands and programs and the body blinked open a red eye. The eyes roved in it's socket, taking in it's dark surroundings before settling on the one holding the computer. The young and newest C.C. clone pulled the attachment out of  the hole, then turned to return to the surface.
"Pick him up and follow. We can salvage the rest later." Several 'rejects' nodded, and using as many parts they could and had extra of, lifted the body and carried it along behind the human. From his head's upside position, Canis' lips pulled back into a smile.....