I lived as the beast, now. She made herself a new lair and we hadn’t been discovered, though more than once a police aircar or officer on foot has come too close for comfort. Each time, we’ve moved on and found another place to hide. After a couple of days, the police seemed to move back, maybe giving up the search, but I didn’t think so. I could sense other presences in the area–new scents–one not human but not a hunting dog, either. I crouch low in the dilapidated shack leaning against one wall of an enclosed courtyard. There are only two doors into this courtyard, and both of them are closed.
A burst of a sickly-sweet scent heralded activity as one door eased open slowly, too silent for its age. The upright being that sliped even more silently through that doorway was definitely not human. He–I think it was a he–looked more like a fox, le renard, with erect ears, russet coat and plush tail. He wore a plain green kilt around his hips and a Sam Browne belt from which a slender sword hung at his left side. A yellow cape hung from a collar around his neck to just above the base of his tail. He almost looked like a creature you would see in that story, The Island of Doctor Moreau. Strangely, the Beast, she was curious, now. Not afraid. With that sword, she knew he was not harmless, yet somehow she felt…
Pop! Pop! Popopopop pop! The roar of jets sounds from above as a huge armored figure dives into the courtyard. Green vapors rise from the tiny glass spheres that had rained down around the shed in which I lay. An acrid stench caused the Beast to choke and cough, eyes watering from the fumes. Great, metal arms reachd out and gathered me in, helpless to struggle against that steel grip. “I’ve got her!” That gravelly voice–Vengeance! I will not go back!
Clang!
“What?” The arms drop me as the jets seem to roar out of control. “Tracker! You again! I’ve got you now, fox!” I heard a thump as Vengeance jettisoned the jet pack and let it fly free. Vengeance grunted as he grabbed at fallen cinderblocks and hurled them at his opponent. The fox fought silently as he sparred with that slender sword against his armored foe, touching here, there, never quite piercing that armor, but yet clearly frustrating Vengeance.
“Arrrgh!”
Electricity seemed to shimmer over the armor as a metal ball clanged against it and rebounded into the hands of another man wearing a forest-green combat suit matching the color of the fox’s kilt. On the left breast pocket, blazed a stylized letter ‘D’ in a yellow circle. The fox darted in again and stabbed at an elbow joint on the armor, this time drawing blood.
“Yow! I’ll get you for that, fox!” He swung out with a massive backhand blow, missing hugely as the fox darted out of reach. Time for me to go.
Slipping through the wall into another empty storeroom, I listened as the battle continued. A moment later I heard the distinctive burst of compressed air and the hiss of air jets as yet another combatant entered the fray. Easing through yet another door, I slip out of the building and into the next, this time scrabbling up a set of stairs I found towards the upper floors. The sounds of fighting faded and soon ended. But not the sounds of violence resumed as the building shook, Vengeance using his heavy, armored fists to batter the wall and making his own way into the building. He crashed around on the ground floor, smashing through doors and walls, regardless of their original purpose and tried to climb the steps, only to have the old wood collapse under his weight. Fortunately for him, this building didn’t seem to have a basement level, as he landed with a crash on the floor, cursing loudly as boards clattered around him, showering him with plaster. Unfortunately for me, he’d just destroyed my easiest path of escape.
I continue upwards, heading for the third floor. Glass shattered as a pneumatic air burst blew in a window on the top floor. I ducked into an open room and around a corner. Glancing behind, the Beast’s paw prints are clearly visible in the carpet of dust on the old hardwood floor. Reaching out, I flex my claws into a rug and draged it towards the doorway. Letting it fall from my grasp with a soft flop and a fresh cloud of dust, I stifled the urge to sneeze and waited.
Air hissed as Pneumata glided through the building. She paused at each doorway, but didn’t move deeply into any room as far as I could tell. I listened as she worked her way along the floor above, then down the staircase to my floor. She paused at the door to my hiding place and looked in, but the air of her jets soon sent enough dust flying that the light dimmed. Not daring to cough or sneeze, I hold my breath and wait. A moment later, she was gone, working her way down the hallway as she’d done on the floor above. When she reached the other end of the hallway, rather than turning around and descending the stairs to the second floor, she simply used an air blast to smash the window and flew down the one level to enter the second floor the same way.
I began to breathe softly, covering my nose with my paw to filter some of the dust. Other than that, I waited motionlessly for Pneumata to leave. However, apparently hoping to catch me by surprise, she ascended the stairs again and pauses at the door to my hiding place. This time, she shuts down her jets and landed lightly just outside of the room.
“I know you’re in here, girl,” she announces. Your pawprints come right up to the door and stop. You can’t fool me.“ She waited, listening for a response. Crouching low, I waited in turn for her to enter. Pssht! Pssht! She sent blasts of air through the doorway into the room with enough force enough to blast through the flimsy cabinets opposite me, sending dust and splinters everywhere. Another blast knocked a hole in the wall inches above my head and into another row of cabinets. My muscles tensed, but still I didn’t move.
”Damn! I think she got away, Vengeance. It’s no wonder Blacksnake wanted her. That ability to pass through walls makes her nearly untraceable!“
”Keep looking, Pneumata,“ the gravel voice came through her headset. ”If she’s not in that building, she’s in one of the others. She can’t run far without creating a ruckus, and I think the three of us can handle a couple Defenders long enough to find her and drag her back to the car. I don’t mind smashing down walls, but it’s a lot slower than flying!
“Oh, if you happen to run into that fox, give him a blast for me. It’s like trying to swat a fly with a hammer–a fly with a bite.“
Triggering her airjets, Pneumata glided back down the hallway and out the window over the fire escape. As soon as the hiss of her jets faded out hearing, I eased forward and peeped out into the hallway. I couldn’t see her through the broken window, so I took a chance and returned to the stairwell, climbing as silently as I could to the fourth floor. Here, her air jets stirred up the dust enough that she almost left me a clear path to follow, but in this I sensed a potential trap. They’d already tracked me once by my paw prints through the dust, and I certainly couldn’t hide the fact that I’d climbed the stairs, but if I went on up to the roof access, I wouldn’t leave any tracks that she could see through a window down the hallway. I might even get a chance to…
A new sound assailed my ears. A jet pack, and a strong one. Almost as strong as Vengeance’s. But since he just complained he didn’t have one, did this mean…? I listened more closely. Yes! These… Defenders! They’ve attacked Vengeance again! I raised my head just enough to look out over the roof of my building through the open doorway. Glancing around quickly, I duck my head back down as I heard Pneumata approach on her way to the battle. Crouching down, I bunch my muscles and spring, passing through the roof of the access shed on my way up to intercept that annoying fly. I reached out and manage to hook my claws in her thigh, one claw snagging on the harness holding her air tanks, where I manage to drag her back down to the roof. I grin with satisfaction as she first screams out her pain and then curses me as she tries to use her air jets against me.
She’s an easy toy. I merely ducked my head as the air slamed against my shoulders, my great weight unaffected by the force of her blast. Keeping my claws retracted, I swatted at her, knocking her from one side of the roof to the other, bounding behind to swat her again when she tried to rise to her feet. Once, she managed to trigger her air jets again, but a lucky grab not only snagged her harness, but this time my claws cut the hose to one of her lifting jets. I’d broken the bird’s wing. I swat her again, watching her roll across the roof. As I bounded after her, she managed to trigger a burst from her hand jet and throw herself over the edge. I watched as she fell towards the ground, saving herself by skillful use of her hand jets along with her remaining flight jet. Combined, they weren’t quite strong enough to give her full, controlled flight, but she was clearly out of the fight, too. I giggled as she bounded clumsily away from the battleground towards an alley a couple blocks away.
Turning my head, I watched as the fox attempted to maintain his assault on Vengeance while dodging the ruby beams of Lumen’s lasers, herself trying to dodge another flyer and some sort of bird. She broke off the fight and dived for the same alley Pneumata had disappeared into. A moment later, apolice car rolled up to block the alley, but Vengeance, enroute to the same destination, merely slapped it away and started lumbering down the street, acting as blocker for a heavy, black groundcar that followed in his wake. I watched as another flyer, also in a forest-green combat suit, followed the car out of sight while the bird followed the one who had been annoying Lumen down to the fox and the first uniformed man. Clearly was my cue to disappear again.
