The Shadow of a Fox Ch. 4

Chapter 4

Ordo is the first one awake, as always. He awakes with a puddle of drool under his mouth and a blanket draped over him. He sits up and wipes the drool from his face with his hand. He's still so drowsy that most wouldn't even consider him alive let alone awake. He reaches for his iced tea hoping that he didn't knock it over in his sleep and when he doesn't find either a glass nor a puddle he turns and looks where it should be but only to find it missing. "Where the hell did it go? I swear that I put it right here." He says aloud to himself while he continues to look around for it. He finds it on a nearby table and proceeds to retrieve it. He grabs the blanket and goes to remove it but stops halfway with it still in his hand. "Where did you come from? I didn't fall asleep with a blanket…. Did I?" he thinks about it for a moment then continues talking to himself, "I hate mornings, I always wake up confused." He finished getting out of the blanket, downed the remainder of his first tea, and put the final pieces of his suit on before proceeding with the morning.

KrystalBlaze came out of her room with her suit already on to find Ordo testing the limits of his new knives, extending then retracting them over and over again. She just ignored him as she carried necessary supplies to her truck and placed them on the bed. As she placed the final packages in the truck she noticed an empty parking space, "He left before I even got up," Ordo said to her like he knew what she was thinking.

"Oh," she replies disappointedly, "that's unlike him to leave so early."

"That's unlike him to be AWAKE so early." Ordo corrected her, "you know how much mornings don't agree with him."

"Yeah, the only times he's actually awake early is when he pulls an all-nighter." KrystalBlaze looks off to the side whispering to herself, "I hope I wasn't too hard on him and he's ok."

Felecia came strolling out of Ordo's room completely ready for the day. "Good morning all." She said with a very cheery tone. She appeared to have been awake for quite a few hours already as well.

"Good morning Felecia," KrystalBlaze said to her, "I wasn't aware that you were such a morning girl."

Ordo remains silent because he is busy thinking, was I really the last one to wake up? Something's not right here. However it is a slow process because he hasn't had enough caffeine for his mind to be working completely this early in the morning. They both look at him intently as he stares blankly into the room. He feels them staring and his consciousness returns to the present, "oh, morning."

"Are you ok?" Felecia asks him.

"Yeah, I was just thinking," he admits.

KrystalBlaze looks past him at his second glass of tea that surprisingly isn't empty yet, "He hasn't had his caffeine fix yet," she jokingly claims.

Ordo sidetracks, "speaking of which, where did I put that glass?" after a few seconds of looking around he spots and retrieves it, purposefully removing himself from the conversation.

Felecia joins KrystalBlaze in the kitchen section of the room, "How well did you sleep last night?"

"Not all that great. I can never a good night's sleep the night before a mission."

"It looks like a lot more than just the night before," Felecia lowered her voice, "You look terrible, almost like you haven't had a good full night's sleep for weeks. This isn't healthy, you have to tell him."

KrystalBlaze, ignoring the topic, turns around to face Ordo, "any idea where you're going to start looking?"

"I'm going to catch up with some of my old squad mates that stayed in the military to see if they know anything. And then after that just do what I do best, wing it." He answers her. "What about you? How are you going to pull this one off?"

KrystalBlaze looks around anxiously almost as if she was looking for the answer, "well… …I have no idea." She sadly admits. "But I know it's going to require as much stealth as possible."

"Ha, well if any of us could do that it's you. We all know stealth isn't my strongest suit." Ordo starts to walk toward his car. He places his hand on her shoulder as he walks by and stops right next to her, "I'm sure you'll be able to figure something out. We have faith in you," he tells her then continues past the two females.

Felecia finally decides to chime in, "I know she will. Besides I'll be feeding her intel throughout the whole mission."

Ordo laughs, "Noncombatant huh? Just give it time and we'll see just how long that lasts."

"Hey! Good luck." KrystalBlaze yells to him.

"You too." And with that he climbs into his Viper and takes-off down the driveway leaving just the two females in the base.

A few hours later Felecia decides to end their conversation. "You should get going too. That's a long trip to the Alps and even longer if you miss your ride to Europe." Felecia informs KrystalBlaze.

KrystalBlaze takes a long breath, "You're right. Wish me luck."

A week's time has passed and each member of the foursome is each doing his or her own part.
KrystalBlaze found a small cabin at the base of the mountains to rent out and use to prepare for her mission. Felecia used her time to research and examine the target and his stronghold. She has also formulated a plan KrystalBlaze could use to get in. Neither of them had heard anything from Ordo and ShadowFox had only called in once just to see how everything was going; the two females could tell that the inactivity was killing him.

KrystalBlaze has all of her equipment laid out on the floor in front of her to figure out what she was going to use.

"…looks like more snow in the forecast. That could be very helpful for you with all of your light colors," Felecia states over KrystalBlaze's earpiece.

"So did you figure out how I'm going to get in yet?" KrystalBlaze asks as she starts attaching suppressors to her pistols.

"Well actually, I have. If the building is still similar to the schematics that I have here then the easiest way into the building will be in through the…"

KrystalBlaze cuts her off, "don't say it. I know what you're going to say and that only happens in movies."

Felecia starts to argue with her, "Well it will work. It's a factory storehouse and has large industrial ventilation ducts. You should be able to easily fit in them and still be able to move, well, somewhat. So what have you found out?"

"They have six external patrols of two or three units. Every other hour they swap out with their replacements. I'm thinking that right after they switch to make my move because that should give me enough time to get in."

"Alright then you'll…"

KrystalBlaze finishes her sentence for her, "…I'll use the vents to get into the core of the building. Communication is going to be a problem once I get in though."

Felecia thinking that it would be a signal issue, "I can boost broadcast strength."

"No that's not the problem. The problem is the fact that they will hear me when I talk to you," KrystalBlaze corrected her, "that was ShadowFox's biggest argument when designing my open helmet."

"Ok. Well thanks to our informant that was so kind to tell us that their next 'auction' will be tonight. What did you do with him anyway? You didn't put him back on the street did you?"

KrystalBlaze regrettably answers, "Yes." her tone changes slightly, "but how about a couple days after that, the police found him and he was pretty messed up. I would hate to run into whoever did it to him."

"I would shake their hand."

"Felecia!" KrystalBlaze was stunned by Felecia's very uncharacteristic reaction.

"Alright, suit up. It's almost time to get going."

"Right." KrystalBlaze donned the rest of her suit and gear, "I'm activating the F.O.V. (field of view) let me know when you have a visual."

"Looking good, it's crystal clear. This should make it easier for me to guide you."

"Wish me luck." At that moment KrystalBlaze took a deep breath and set off into the snow.  The weather lightened up as she made it to the warehouse and stopped once she had a clear view of it. She watched the building from behind a snow bank and waited for the patrols to change out. Just like clockwork they did, "There they go and once they round the corner I'm going to move in." she started to get up but froze when she noticed something that was out of place, "Hey wait a second! Are you seeing this? Where did that forth one come from?" there was a forth silhouette that quickly chased after the squad and caught up with them as they rounded the corner. She decided to wait for the next shift change just to be safe but after five minutes had passed she decided to take advantage of the lack of guards. KrystalBlaze swiftly ran up to the building and proceeded up the maintenance ladder to the roof.

"Ok, to your left should be your entrance to the building." KrystalBlaze looked around and quickly found the duct Felecia was referring to. "How well do you think those knives ShadowFox gave you will work as can-openers?"

"Only one way to find out," KrystalBlaze answered her as she extended the blades and punched them through the sheet metal, "like a hot knife through butter." KrystalBlaze cut a hole into the vent that was just big enough for her to fit through and climbed into it.

As she dropped into the vent Felecia warned her, "Be careful, those vents are suspended from the ceiling and it's over a two story drop to the concrete floor."

KrystalBlaze stops upon hearing that and whispers into the comm, "How am I supposed to get out of this thing then?"

"Not to worry there is a system of catwalks suspended from the ceiling as well and they occasionally passes under some of the vent openings for maintenance purposes. You can drop onto one of them. You'll just have to be careful not to be noticed."

KrystalBlaze slowly crawls through the vents looking for a safe place to drop down and stops when she finds a trio of guards talking below her on a catwalk. She edges closer to the opening in an attempt to hear them better.

"Stay sharp," the one states, "we have an intruder in the facility."

"Damn it they know I'm here," KrystalBlaze thought to herself.

The guards continued, "Yeah I heard that it took out three maybe even four squads and we have no idea where it is."

"But you didn't kill anyone. Did you?" Felecia asked sounding confused.

"No" she answered. The guards stopped and looked up at the vent.

"What the… Intruder!" one yelled as all three started to raise their firearms.

There wasn't enough room in the vent for KrystalBlaze to draw her pistols; she couldn't return fire. She frantically tried to crawl away but something was caught up on a few of the vent's rivets and couldn't get away. Her eyes watered up as she waited for the gunfire and her impending fate. Then the sound firing assault rifles echoed through the vent, Felecia felt helpless as she heard the gunfire and felt terrible because it was her idea for KrystalBlaze to use the vents.

Suddenly KrystalBlaze's voice came over the comm, "Wait they're not shooting at me…" the firefight could still be heard and she edged back over to the vent cover to look again. Two of the guards were dead and the third was still firing at the vent from behind the cover of one of his fallen comrades. "But how…" KrystalBlaze whispered then she noticed spent bullet casings falling down to the catwalk, "Another intruder? So they haven't seen me yet."

Abruptly the other intruder leapt from the ironwork above the vent onto the catwalk causing it to shake. The movement of the catwalk caused the guard to become off-balanced and stop firing while he tried to steady himself. The intruder took advantage of this and lunged for the guard catching him by the throat. Clutching the man's neck the intruder lifted him into the air and started asking him questions that KrystalBlaze couldn't fully hear. KrystalBlaze examined the intruder as he questioned the guard. His body structure showed that he was an anthromorph canine. She couldn't figure out anything beyond that though because he was completely draped in stealth tactical gear. Every part of the intruder was shielded from view even his tail was covered by the bodysuit. He was very well armed but there was one piece of his equipment that stuck out to KrystalBlaze, he had a bow and quiver of arrows on his back.

"There he is. Get him!" it was another patrol squad at the end of the catwalk. They started advancing on him moving swiftly down the catwalk, pausing only to shoot at him.

The intruder tossed the screaming guard over the railing to the ground below and sprinted to the other end of the catwalk out of KrystalBlaze's view. The guards quickly pursued after him.

KrystalBlaze laid in the vent for a moment trying to block out the gruesome image of the guard hitting the ground. "I need a mental distraction. Felecia on the computer I have a playlist of music I like. Pick a song and play it."

"Excuse me?" Felecia asked not fully understanding the request.

KrystalBlaze tried to explain it to her, "That's what ShadowFox and Ordo do, they play music as a mental distraction so they act only on reflex."

"Ok…" Felecia responded still not completely sold on the idea, "Will Renegade work?"

"Just play it!" Felecia started the song and KrystalBlaze let herself get absorbed in it as she removed the vent cover. She took a deep breath and dropped through the opening feet first. KrystalBlaze hung onto the edge for a second to ensure that she was going to land on the pathway and released her grip to drop the rest of the way down. However she never landed on the catwalk.

There was another guard, a lion, standing in her blind spot, waiting for her to climb out of the vent, and grabbed her by the wrist as she fell. KrystalBlaze knew that there was no use in struggling to free herself because his overpowering strength would thwart the attempt. Thinking quickly she fully extended the blade from her gauntlet. It easily ripped through the flesh and bone of the lion's arm causing him to let loose a roar of pain and release KrystalBlaze's arm allowing her to land on the catwalk. Even though she was no longer in the lion's grip her situation failed to improve because others heard his roar almost as if it was an alarm in itself and were rushing to his position.

"You need to shut him up and get the hell out of there! And quickly!" Felecia barked at her through the headset, "Anyone that could hear that is bound to be running to see what's wrong."

Prior to Felecia being half way through her statement KrystalBlaze had already raised up one of her pistols as she sang along with the lyrics, "…Oh mamma I'm in fear for my life from the long arm of the law…" and she depressed the trigger placing a lone bullet between his eyes, "…And I don't have very long."

Before his body hit the walkway she was sprinting towards a door that she hoped no one was on the other side.

"Well at least the guards have two of you to worry about now and they won't be focused entirely on you," Felecia stated into the headset trying to make light of the situation but quickly refocused when KrystalBlaze failed to share her enthusiasm, "you need to get to the ground floor quickly."

"I'm working on it!" KrystalBlaze shouted back at her, "The only faster way would be to jump. What's behind this door in front of me?"

"Looks like a service tunnel." As Felecia is talking KrystalBlaze can hear her typing frantically to find more information. After a little Felecia continues, "Go ahead and take it. I've got a new plan."

KrystalBlaze carefully opens the door and slips through it. Breathing heavily she asks Felecia, "What's the new plan? Now that they know that someone is here time is going to be a critical factor." She walks over to some of the pipes that run along the wall and checks the gages. "All of these lines are still pressurized. Do you have any idea what's in them?"

"I'm not sure, there isn't a listing on these layouts. I just recommend staying clear of them. Anyway here is my idea. Whoever the other intruder is it looked like he has enough firepower to win a small war and should work well as a distraction for us."

KrystalBlaze cuts her off, "but we don't know his motive for being here and if it's because he's after the hit on Zaraden as well then I don't think he'd be too happy with me taking it from him."

"We're just going to have to act fast then." Felecia started giving her instructions to KrystalBlaze, "There is a flight of stairs at the end of this hall. Go down two levels and that should put you back on ground level. And that should make it easier for us to find a way for you to get into the sublevels."

KrystalBlaze made it halfway through her decent when suddenly the other intruder burst through the door below her and vanished farther down the steps. "What's down there?" KrystalBlaze asks Felecia.

"I don't know. On all of these layouts the stairs stop at the ground floor." Laughing slightly Felecia continues, "looks like we found our way in."

"Yeah but it also looks like he's a step ahead of us too." KrystalBlaze hurried to catch up to him. She passed the door that they originally planned for her to go out of and continued to descend. She rounded the corner and made it about halfway to the next landing before freezing in place. The intruder was waiting for her and already had an arrow trained on her. They were both frozen with gazes locked on each other for what felt like an eternity. Suddenly he released the bowstring and the arrow shot just over KrystalBlaze's shoulder, it was close enough for her to feel the breeze off of it's fins. Just then something pulled her to the ground mere seconds before an explosion erupted behind her.

"Are you alright?" Felecia asked.

"I think so." KrystalBlaze answered as she started to get up.

"What just happened?" Felecia continues.

KrystalBlaze turned around to see the destruction behind her. The explosion caused the landing above the door to collapse and prevent any possible access, "Well whatever it was I'm going to need to find another way out of here."

"It's a good thing that he missed you."

"You know Felecia I'm starting to think that he is trying not to hurt me. I think that… he may have pulled me away from the blast." KrystalBlaze states warily with a tone of confusion. Felecia remains silent and KrystalBlaze resumes her decent, "but how is he always just that little bit ahead of us?"

Finally Felecia speaks up, "Krystal, there is something I have to tell you." There was a hint of concern and worry in her tone causing KrystalBlaze to stop so she can give Felecia her full attention, "right as you reached the perimeter of the warehouse there was a strange flux in the transmission but it vanished before I could pinpoint its cause."

KrystalBlaze failed to see it's significance, "it was probably just standard interference. I mean I am in the mountains during a snow storm."

Felecia sighed and continued, "well that's what I thought as well but it started happening at a regular interval. So I set the computer to continually scan for any anomalies hoping to catch it as soon as it came up again."

"And…?"

"It worked. It turns out that someone has been pinging your receiver and listening in on our conversations." Felecia answered.

"What do you mean pinging my receiver?!" KrystalBlaze asked in a slightly irritated voice.

"A radio ping, kind of like a sonar, used to…" Felecia paused for a second and didn't make KrystalBlaze feel any better about the situation, "…to track your position."

"What!!! You mean to tell me that someone has been tracking me and listened to everything that we've said?!?" KrystalBlaze starts to calm down as the initial shock from Felecia's information starts to wear off, "This would have been nice to know sooner. Can you at least figure out who it is?"

Felecia sighs, "No, and I would actually prefer if they tried to interfere with the communication…"

KrystalBlaze cuts her off, "Excuse me!?!"

Felecia attempts to continue, "Well I can't trace the signal back to them because they are just listening to us by picking up on our broadcasted signal. If they tried to interfere then they would also put out a signal that I could trace back to its source. You don't think that this other intruder has something to do with it do you? He does seem to always be a step ahead of us. I guess we should just cut our losses and get you out of there."

"No!" KrystalBlaze quickly barks at her. Felecia is taken aback by her quick and sudden reaction to the suggestion. "I have a mission to complete." She continued with a force of self-assurance that appeared to have come out of thin air.  Felecia just didn't know how to respond to KrystalBlaze's outburst and there was a moment of radio silence until KrystalBlaze got an idea. "You said that they are using my radio almost like a form of sonar right?"

Felecia hesitantly answers, "Yeah, why?"

"Well is it possible for you to do the same thing and display it on my HUD where Fox just installed the new upgrade?" KrystalBlaze continues enthusiastically.

"I think I know what you're getting at." Felecia states, "just give me a second."

KrystalBlaze reached the bottom of the stairway and didn't wait long until she heard a strange noise in the headset and a small wire-frame map of her surrounding area appeared in the corner of her HUD.

"Thanks, this should give me the edge I need to get to the target first." KrystalBlaze said with a devious smile and took of down the hallway after her competitor.

Felecia was amazed by KrystalBlaze's sudden change of character and how she was almost someone else entirely. Felecia was drawing KrystalBlaze's route on a piece of paper to map out the maze of hallways so KrystalBlaze wouldn't get lost if she needed to make a quick retreat. However KrystalBlaze wasn't making it easy for Felecia because her movements were so fluid and precise as she danced down the corridors avoiding the sight of the cameras that littered the entire lower level.

As KrystalBlaze moves through the corridors she can hear Felecia softly speaking, "left, twelve feet, left, eight feet, right, eight feet…"

KrystalBlaze stopped and pressed herself up against a wall, "Felecia, might I ask what it is that you're doing? It sounds like you're either trying to give someone directions or enter a cheat code into one of Ordo's games."

"Oh, sorry," Felecia answers, "it's just that I've been mapping out your path in case you get lost or need to backtrack in a hurry."

"Well I think I'm getting close," KrystalBlaze whispers as she carefully peers around the corner, "the cameras are thinning out and there is a patrol in this hallway"

Felecia examines KrystalBlaze's LOS, "any sign of the other intruder?"

"No. It's almost like he hasn't come down here at all." KrystalBlaze pauses then chuckles a little, "I hope this is the right way. I'm going to need to move fast. The longer I take from the point of first contact the less of a chance we have at success. Felecia, I need another distraction."

Felecia quickly browses through the list, "Got it. I found one I like too. Good luck."

The intruder watched the vixen from around a corner behind her. KrystalBlaze closes her eyes as she takes a long deep breath. She looks up and with a determined look in her eyes extends her viper-blades and vanishes down the corridor.

A sigh escapes the intruder, "Good luck. You're on the clock." He activates a stopwatch and carefully follows her.